Astrology's
Different Flavors
Back before I knew "Jack-Doolittle" about astrology, I'd always naively
assumed that: astrology was astrology was astrology...
It
tain't so, gang! There's Tropical, Western Sidereal, Vedic, Mayan, Chinese,
etc., etc., etc... and,
paradoxically enough, each one of the different types (or systems) of
astrology appears to have its own validity...
Don't
go into shock - but if there's one thing I've learned in this life,
then it's this one simple fact: No one (and nobody) has ever been
able to obtain the registered patent on "the one, true, and perfect
map of reality." Life on planet Earth is way too complex and/or
multifaceted to allow that to happen.
However
- in spite of the validity of being able to view life through more than
one single, imperfect lens - I've also learned that I have to live with
my own practical limitations.
Some
of my limitations consist of lack of time, lack of patience, and lack
of necessary brain power. Yep! I'd say that it's virtually impossible
for any one single human being to achieve satisfactory proficiency in
all the many varieties and/or flavors of astrology.
So...
I've chosen (as have most Western astrologers) to primarily stick with
looking through the lens of Western Tropical Astrology that uses the
"Tropical Zodiac."
So
what in the heck is "Western Tropical Astrology?" Relax, and
remain calm... Western Tropical Astrology is the same astrology you're
likely already semi-familiar with (via the daily Horoscopes in your
local newspaper). Western Tropical Astrology is the type of "Western"
astrology you most likely grew up with (if you're from that part of
the globe called the Western world) - and you probably already know
if you happen to be a Sun Sign Gemini, a Sun Sign Virgo, or a Sun Sign
whatever...
Big
Surprise! Precession of the Equinoxes
Perhaps this is a good time to briefly touch on what some folks consider
to be a controversial Zodiac "issue" - the Precession of the
Equinoxes. It's a simple fact about Western Tropical Astrology (and
the construction of the Tropical Zodiac) that catches most folks by
surprise.
Every
5 years or so, an astronomer trots out a pronouncment about the Precession
of the Equinoxes in order to warn the masses that we aren't really the
Zodiac sign that we think they are. And during the past 20 years or
so they now also inform us that's there's a new 13th Zodiac sign called
Ophiuchus.
Trust
me... the flavor of the month astronomer passing judgement - whose stated
agenda is to discredit astrology - doesn't get to make the rules.
None
of this is new. The discovery of the Precession of the Equinoxes is
attributed to to a fellow by the name of Hipparchus (190 BC –
120 BC). So, duh... we Western Tropical astrologers have known about
this astronomical phenomenon for quite some time.
However...
for the person now making "the discovery" they start thinking
that we naughty Western Tropical astrologers have somehow been purposely
keeping it a deep, dark secret and keeping it hidden away from general
public knowledge...
But
the truth is... in the minds of Western Tropical astrologers, this supposedly
controversial Zodiac "issue" is a rather meaningless "So
what?" non-issue.
Tropical
Astrology Zodiac Based on Vernal Equinox
Tropos - in the Greek - literally means "turning." For the past 2000
years, Western Tropical Astrology is, was, and will always be based
on the "turning of the seasons" (spring, summer, autumn,
and winter) in the Northern Hemisphere.
Western
Tropical Astrology is based on the path of the Sun traversing the Earth
(the ecliptic) in relation to the "turning of the seasons."
For Western Tropical astrologers the exact moment when the Sun passes
over the vernal equinox (spring) is calculated as being 0 degrees of
Aries (the first sign of the Tropical Zodiac).
What the above statement means (restated) in "semi-plain"
English is that the Western Tropical Zodiac is not based on the
positions of the Fixed Stars and/or zodiacal constellations in the sky.
I'll
repeat that one more time, just in case it slipped past you... the Western
Tropical Zodiac is not based on the positions of the Fixed Stars and/or
zodiacal constellations in the sky. Western Tropical Astrology is, was,
and will always be based on the "turning of the seasons"
(spring, summer, autumn, and winter).
Many
Western Tropical astrologers take the position that the archetypal images
and content of the Western Tropical Zodiac (i.e. the signs of the Zodiac)
were created first, and then later the configuring of the constellations
(and their naming) was based on these (already) preexisting symbols
of the Zodiac. (See Walter Sampson's - The Zodiac: a Life Epitome,
1928 1st Edition)
In
the early 1900's, depth psychologist Dr. Carl G. Jung agreed with Western
Tropical astrology's position on the matter:
"We
are born at a given moment in a given place and like vintage years
of wine we have the qualities of the year and of the season in which
we are born. Astrology does not lay claim to anything else."
And
also - "I dare say that we shall one day discover in astrology a good
deal of [psychological] knowledge that has been intuitively projected
into the heavens. For instance, it appears that the signs of the zodiac
are character pictures, in other words libido symbols which depict
the typical qualities of the libido at a given moment."
(See
the Unus Mundus and the Astrology
and Jung sections of this site for more on Carl Jung and his
fascinating theories regarding the human psyche, and for more of
his correspondence with Freud regarding astrology.
As
I said - just above - each of the many varied and different astrological
systems appears to have its own validity. So, in the end, each (and
every) astrologer will have his/her own individual reasons for having
chosen to stick with a particular type of astrological system.
Having
said all that - even when choosing to stay within the general parameters
and boundaries of Western Tropical Astrology - there's still often a
wide variance in the techniques used (and not used) when gauging the
potential patterns of the future as contained in the natural unfolding
of the birth chart... Each
and every astrologer has his/her own "mixed bag of techniques" for gaining
insight into the past, present, and future through means of the astrological
chart.
Well?
Can you tell I'm stalling a wee bit? I'm
sitting here nervously fidgeting while trying to figure out just how
I'm going to explain any of the "why's" and "how's" of all this.
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