Sidereal astrology: Encyclopedia II - Sidereal astrology - Description

Sidereal astrology - Description

Most western astrologers adopt the tropical zodiac approach which defines the zodiac as beginning at the Northern hemisphere vernal equinox, thus linking their astrological meanings to northern seasonal changes rather than the actual position of stars in the sky as they are today.

Sidereal astrologers claim their approach is more in keeping with the ancient traditions of the subject. When Claudius Ptolemy defined the vernal point as 0° Aries around the 2nd century CE, the tropical and sidereal zodiac would have shown no difference. The precession of the equinoxes, a phenomenon known to the ancients but forgotten by western astronomers during the Dark ages meant that the western zodiac based on the calendar became out of step with the heavens. They argue that Western astrologers have never done a catching up exercise and many still do not fully understand the implications of their error.

Astronomers as well as tropical and sidereal astrologers still base their measurement of the sky on a zero point taken as the position of the vernal equinox on the ecliptic. This has the same significance in the sky as the prime meridian on the Earth’s globe, i.e. it is the zero point of a 360 degree arc which is used to give a location for any object in the sky known as right ascension. In the same way as longitude ( and latitude) give a position on the earth.

Sidereal astrologers add a correction to this point to allow for the precession of the equinoxes. They do this so that the zodiacal signs used in their astrology coincide with the constellations of stars to which they refer. This correction is called the ayanamsa and different sidereal astrologers use different precise values. This value is usually around 24 degrees at the present time and is constantly increasing as the equinoxes precess.

About 2,000 years ago, the two zodiacs were in approximate agreement and the vernal equinox fell at the start of the constellation Aries. Sidereal astrologers see the failure of most western astrologers to relate their work to the actual heavens which they claim to be interpreting as a sign of their ignorance of the astronomy and a fundamental degeneration of the subject.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Description", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki