Astrology can be understood as a philosophy that helps to explain life, rather than a type of mysticism that can be used as a predictive tool. Instead of discussing what the Planets do to us, we can explain ourselves based on Planetary indications.
The Signs work the same way: Each of the twelve Signs is a unique combination of one of the four Elements and one of the three Qualities. The Elements and Qualities demonstrate that we are all part of the environment. There is a connection between all living things and all matter on this Planet.
Astrology ties humans together: We are all faced with the same Planetary interactions, and we are all part of the same cycles.There are two major types of Astrology practiced today in the Western World: Tropical and Sidereal.
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Tropical Astrology assigns the 12 zodiac signs (each consisting of 30 degrees) based on their position in relation to the Spring Equinox, which marks the Astrological New Year and usually falls on March 21. The Equinox represents 0 degrees Aries.
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Sidereal Astrology (found mostly in India) assigns positions based on constellations, rather than in relation to the Equinox. It acknowledges the precession* and adjusts the signs of the zodiac accordingly.
At present, Sidereal Astrology is 24 degrees behind Tropical Astrology, so a person born under 23 degrees Libra in Tropical Astrology is born at 29 degrees Virgo in Sidereal Astrology.
* The earth wobbles on its axis, describing a great circle in space once every 26,000 years. The wobble, called precession, continually changes the points at which the celestial equator and the plane of the ecliptic intersect to create equinoxes. The vernal equinox shifts backwards along the ecliptic through one full constellation every 2,166 years (one-twelfth of the time it takes the Earth to complete its wobble.)
The modern notion of astrological ages, such as the Age of Aquarius, is based on the precession of the equinoxes. The constellation that rises with the Sun on the vernal equinox stays the same for more than 2,000 years and gives its name to the age. Thus the Age of Aries was ending about 2,000 years ago, and Pisces was beginning. Pisces now yielded to Aquarius.
Astrologers do not present a unified front when it comes to explanation how astrology works. In general, their explanations fall into two broad categories:
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causative,
postulating an actual cause-and-effect relationship between the sky and people's life on earth, and -
synchronistic,
postulating that the whole universe is synchronized so that certain celestial occurrences coincide with particular events below, as if earth and stars were different parts in a vast, wind-up watch...
To learn more about Astrology Basics follow the links below:
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Simplified Scientific Astrology
by Max Heindel [1865-1919]
A Complete Textbook on the Art of Erecting a Horoscope
With Philosophic Encyclopedic and Tables of Planetary Hours -
Ancient Astrology: Theory and Practice: Matheseos Libri VIII
We can read your mind!
If you do not believe it try this:
Click on the "Astrological Mind Reader"
You will be amazed... and amused...
Astrology
by Rich Anders
In ancient times astronomers were also astrologers. With the advent of science a gradual separation took place and presently astronomers distance themselves from something as unscientific as astrology is thought to be. This is understandable because astronomy deals with the physical aspects of the universe and astrology deals with spiritual aspects.
Science only recently has discovered the realm of the quantum vacuum, which can also be called the realm of spirituality, and so far does not understand this realm. It comes as no surprise that scientists arrogantly dismiss something that's beyond comprehension for them. It's the easy way out, which keeps them from getting in trouble with the mainstream scientific establishment.
Astrology is very popular. People really want to know what the future will bring and whether a relationship is right for them and a lot more. Astrology is practiced all over the world. It is found on the Internet and also in the printed media. Books on astrology are available in bookstores all over the world and some are excellent. Based on horoscopes, gifted astrologers can provide very precise information. It has been proven many times throughout history that astrology is a valid tool to predict future events, analyze relationships and describe personal character traits.
Astrology is a very complex and demanding field and it takes a lot of knowledge, practice and experience to be able to make good use of its phenomenal potential. Therefore, it depends on the astrologer's skill, whether he/she can make use of this potential. For the novice it is deceptively simple to take aspects, which the sun, the moon and the planets form with specific locations of the horoscope and to use ready made texts out of a book to find out what they mean. The problem is that sometimes it works and it even can work quite well. But it is not this easy.
There are many books about astrology that prove that astrology works. So far, I have not seen a single one that explains w h y it works. After all, the distances between an earthling and the cosmic bodies, which are the determining factors of a horoscope, are immense. It makes sense that the sun and the moon influence life on earth because of their relative proximity and the radiation coming from them. It dos not make sense that, for instance, the planet Pluto, which is a small object at the outer limits of the solar system, should affect life on earth. And yet it can have profound effects on someone's life because this planet moves so slowly that its influence through a specific aspect is felt over several years.
Considering the vast distances separating this planet from the different cosmic bodies important for astrology it is obvious that the influence coming from "the stars" cannot be physical. While gravity is a constant factor, which could be taken into consideration electromagnetic influences coming from celestial bodies vary considerably in strength. Moreover, they follow no apparent pattern and, thus, are unpredictable. This automatically excludes them as possible influences in horoscopes, as these depend on predictability. The universe is a dual structure: primarily it is spiritual and secondly it is material. The material plane does not explain the influences "the stars" have on somebody's life. Therefore, the spiritual plane must provide the basis for the influences cosmic bodies have on life on earth.
Science calls it the realm of the quantum vacuum; some call it ether. It is better known as the realm of the spiritual energies. These are the energies attached to matter. To facilitate understanding let's call them spiritual energies. While matter exists in a four dimensional time/space structure in the realm of the spiritual energies there is neither time nor space and everything is interconnected. Most importantly, spiritual energies can be programmed.
Programming spiritual energies can be done in many ways. Education, teaching in schools, prayer, religious rituals, black or white magic and having positive or negative thoughts establish spiritual patterns, which make things happen in the material plane. But the most important programming of a person happens at birth.
When the umbilical cord is cut the spiritual entity, which had been with the pregnant woman since conception gets attached to the baby's body and the newly born starts a life of his/her own. That's the moment when like a software program being loaded into a computer cosmic influences are programmed into the spiritual energies of a brand new person. These programs called fate, destiny or karma etc. will accompany this person from birth to death and determine what will happen throughout the entire life.
The factors responsible for this programming are many. The major influences come from the stars, the sun, the moon and the planets. There are others of minor importance but for simplicity's sake let's just deal with these. - A horoscope is subdivided in the 12 signs of the zodiac with 30 degrees each, which accounts for the 360 degrees of the full circle. The stars exert their influence through these signs. Depending on the position of the sun, the moon and the planets in specific signs the personality of the newborn will develop specific characteristics. These positions also determine what kind of life a person will have.
The sun, the moon, and the nine planets; they each have very specific meanings and exert very specific influences, which are modified according to their location in one of the 12 signs of the birth horoscope (natal chart). Furthermore, the horoscope is divided into 12 houses, which correspond to the 12 signs but have a totally different meaning. The houses differ in size and change according to the time of the day. The top of the first house, the ascendant, is the point that rises on the horizon at the moment of birth. While the position of the sun determines the basic character traits, the ascendant determines a persons attitudes and behavior. The locations of the sun and the ascendant are the most important factors for someone's life.
For convenience, from now on we'll include the sun and the moon when we speak of planets. - We have 11 planets times 12 zodiac signs times 12 houses. To this one needs to add the degrees of separation between the planets. There are positive angles and negative angles. Oppositions can be either one. Angles can be strong or weak. - Before it gets too confusing let's just state that there are so many different variants in a horoscope that every single person in this world can have an individual horoscope, which specifically determines his/her life.
Twins are in a special situation. In their horoscopes the positions of the planets in signs are the same unless there was a major interval in between cutting the umbilical cords. This has a decisive influence and accounts for the similarities in the twins' personalities; it also can cause same or similar events in the life of twins. Differences in behavior, attitudes and fate of twins are the result of the advance of the ascendant. The changes in the location of the cusps of the houses and the changes in the shape of the houses between the first and the second cutting of the respective umbilical cords account for further differences between twins.
In 24 hours the ascendant moves through all the signs of the zodiac. This means that every minute the ascendant moves one degree and a half. This may not seem a lot but if the birth of the second twin is only five minutes later the ascendant has moved 7.5 degrees. This can put the cusp of the first house in the next sign, which would make a significant difference in behavior and attitudes. The 11 planets can be in different houses and their aspects to the cusps of the houses would vary in strength or would not be there at all. Therefore, one can state that the differences in attitudes, behavior and fate of twins depend on the time elapsed between cutting their umbilical cords.
Interpretation is the purpose of a horoscope and there are several methods in use. It would take several volumes to go into details and there are many books that do just that. For the purpose of this article these methods will be mentioned but not discussed in detail to give the casual reader an impression what astrology can do.
A personality analysis interprets the location of the 11 planets in signs and houses as well as the degrees of separation between them. Additionally, the location of the ascendant and the medium Cole, that's the highest point of a horoscope at the cusp of the tenth house, are very important. Each one of these factors has a number of influences that vary according to their locations in signs or houses. The importance and significance of each one of the 11 planets and of the ascendant and medium coeli depend on their location. For instance, a planet located right on top of the ascendant carries enormous weight and will establish dominance over this horoscope. In comparison, the other planets will just modify this influence but they won't be able to override it. Example: a woman with Venus at the cusp of the first house, the ascendant, will be charming, lovable, friendly, generous in love and life, and very popular with men and women alike. On the downside: marriage will be a source of continuous frustration, grief, humiliation and expenses. No matter how much hardship life might bring to her, this woman will not change her positive attitudes and behavior. Most importantly, her positive outlook on life will help her to overcome whatever difficulties other influences will bring.
Personality analysis can be used to compare the compatibility of people in business, love etc. For instance, lovers check whether they are compatible enough to get married and have a chance to have their marriage last. There is a trick, though. If a person's horoscope indicates he will have two marriages the best compatibility won't keep the first marriage from breaking apart. The primary advantage of a comparative analysis is pointing out which areas are the strengths or weaknesses of a union. Knowing about situations that bring tensions and conflicts can help a lot to diffuse them before real damage has been done. On the other hand knowing the strong points of a relationship is a valuable tool to make a relationship succeed.
Predicting the future is the most popular use of a horoscope and it is done with several methods. We'll explain just the three most important ones. As said before, it would take several volumes of books to really deal with this matter in detail.
Each one of the cosmic bodies of the solar system known in antiquity - sun, moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn - represents a period of time in a person's life. The moon dominates childhood, Mercury dominates the growing period up to adulthood, Venus dominates the end teens and twenties, Mars dominates the thirties and sometimes the early forties, Jupiter dominates the forties and fifties and Saturn dominates the sixties and up. The position of the respective planet in a sign and in a house and its aspects to the cusps of the houses and the other planets determine what the eras of life will be like. For instance, Mars with several negative aspects to other planets or cusps of houses will bring a very turbulent time during the thirties. The planets forming an aspect with Mars and the houses they are located in determine what kind of turbulence this will be. For instance, if a negative aspect comes from Pluto in the eighth house this person will be repeatedly in danger of getting killed during the thirties.
Progression of the planets by one degree for each year of life forms aspects with other planets and cusps of the houses. When a planet meets the natal position of another planet then it activates all the aspects this one has. If progression forms a valid angle with any relevant point of the horoscope then this point becomes activated according to the degree of the connection formed. For instance, if a Venus progression meets Jupiter at an age of the horoscope owner that love and marriage are possible then love it will be for sure and marriage as well as long as there are not very strong negative influences on this aspect.
The daily motions of the planets form aspects with significant positions in the horoscope. These are called transits and their influence can last from several hours up to approximately three years. The faster a planet moves the shorter is its influence. Therefore, transits of sun and moon are insignificant and make for changing moods at the most. Transits of Mercury and Venus have little influence unless they result in a loop.
The planetary motions relevant for a horoscope are seen from the earth because this is where the owner of the horoscope is located. This results in an optical illusion because the planets will advance, get slower, stop, and then turn around. Going back this scenario repeats until the planet moves forward again and runs off.
A planet can form two or three consecutive aspects with the same horoscope location when in a loop. During this time the aspects are activated and influence daily life. When the aspect is exact action ensues. For example, someone has a positive Venus aspect in a loop. The first time the aspect is exact the horoscope owner meets someone interesting. He/she starts dating this person. The second time the aspect is exact the partners start having sex. After the third time the aspect is exact the relationship ends or the nature of the relationship is changed because some other aspect takes over influencing the relationship.
The duration of a loop's influence depends on the planet running through it. Mercury loops take about a month while Pluto loops can take up to three years. The slower a planet the longer the loops last. Therefore, the outer planets very much influence periods of our lives. Depending on the structure of a loop this can be good or bad, beneficial or devastating.
While interpretations of aspects in a book can give relevant information of single transits to make a complete analysis of a horoscope one needs to consider its structure. - Planets and the cusps of the houses are not evenly distributed in a horoscope. A planet can stand isolated or have several aspects. Aspects can connect only two locations or they can span locations in the entire horoscope, for instance, in a complete square, which is a very bad thing to have. A triangle connects several locations with 120 degrees and this is about as good as it gets.
A horoscope's structure determines its owner's life. If someone has a complete square or even two of them he will experience catastrophes in his life again and again. Every time a planet in transit activates the complete square the entire negative structure will be activated. Ramifications will be felt in all the areas determined by the houses where the planets touched by an aspect are located. The nature of the influence will depend on the nature of the planet in such house. For instance, a complete square has a planet in the tenth house, the fourth house, the first and the seventh house. A negative planet in transit will attack the planet in the seventh house, the house of marriage; in the first house, the house of behavior; in the tenth house, the house of emotions and career; and in the fourth house, home and family. Such transit will bring a situation, which will threaten marriage and family life, cause severe depressions and bring emotional instability, which will affect the work place, as well. In all probability this will result in a divorce, destruction of family life and loss of the home of the horoscope's owner. Additionally, the work place is in danger.
Depending on the attacking planet, until the final result is reached this can be an "on again off again" situation, Pluto; a sudden totally unexpected and severe definite blow, Uranus; deceit, delusions and treachery, Neptune; misfortune, losses, and health problems, Saturn; miscalculations, bad judgement, wishful thinking gone wrong, loss of money, investments gone bad, infidelity etc. Jupiter. - Please note that this is just an example. To interpret a horoscope thoroughly the nature of the participating planets has to be considered according to their locations in signs and houses of the natal chart and their aspects.
Having explained why and how astrology is working all that remains is to re-state that every living being is part of the universe. In this universe everything is interconnected through the energies of the quantum vacuum, the spiritual energies.
Astrology is the tool to find out how spiritual energies of cosmic bodies are influencing and determining life on earth.
Copyright Rich Anders, January 2003
Reproduction of this article in part or whole only with the author's written consent The author can be contacted at richanders@msn.com
History of Astrology
How, where, when, did astrology originate? How, where, when, why did man first begin to believe that the Sun, Moon and visible planets influence his character and life, the health of his beasts, the quality of his crops, the weather — indeed, every aspect of life on earth?
The answer must be, almost as soon as he was capable of intelligent thought, for he then realized that the Sun as a source of warmth and light ruled all living things; that with the Moon the tides swelled and sank, that it affected other natural cycles, that it had an effect upon emotional stability. Here was the basis of an astrological theory. Interestingly, some of the earliest astrological artefacts to have survived come from the Middle East where, in about 15,000 BC, the earliest agricultural systems evolved — gardeners have always recognized that there is a difference between the quality of morning and afternoon light, and that the times at which plants are planted, herbs picked, seem to affect their growth and virtue.
On the whole, it must have been man’s natural reverence for the magical, strange moving lights in the sky, regarded as gods, that led to the development of astrology. Out of the thick mists that conceal the earliest history of the subject have come down to us a number of cuneiform tablets — brick and stone slabs inscribed with triangular or wedge-shaped characters — recording the very simplest astronomical phenomena: eclipses of the Moon, certain planetary movements, interpreted as predicting famine or war or peace or plenty.
Babylonia during the 18th-17th centuries BC was riddled with superstition, and many omens were used and recorded — the bites of certain animals, dreams, patterns of bird flight, the appearance of new-born babies (’When a woman bears a child with small ears, the house will fall into ruin’), and such eccentricities as the appearance in one’s house of a pig with palm fibres in its mouth. Astronomical phenomena were only one aspect of man’s attempts to predict the future, but a very widespread one: an interest in the earliest form of astrology was common to several early civilizations, not only in the Middle East, from Anatolia to Persia, but in the Far East and in the Incan, Mayan and Mexican civilizations, where those planets that could be seen by the naked eye — Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn — were identified as gods with various names and personalities, and where their movements against the background pattern of the stars were regarded as obviously significant.
Astronomer-astrologers slowly acquired more and more knowledge about the planets, and began not only to observe eclipses but the way in which the planets moved — sometimes hesitating, sometimes appearing to move backwards, sometimes seeming to meet each other, then part; as they did so, they elaborated the predictions they based on the movements. Only the roughest forecasts were being made in the time of Ammisaduqa, tenth king of the First Dynasty, in the 17th century BC, but royal libraries of the Assyrian kings at Nineveh, Calah (Nimrud) and Ashur in the 8th-7th centuries BC, and the temple libraries of the chief cities of Babylon, had on their shelves a collection of over 7000 astrological omens recorded on 70 tablets (now known, after the opening words of the first omen, as Enuma Anu Enlil).
The reason why this elaboration of the astrological theory took place in the Middle East rather than, say, among the American Indians of Wisconsin or among the Aztecs, who certainly had an equally keen early interest in the subject, was that the Babylonians were better astronomers and mathematicians; they evolved a calendar, and by 500 BC were already moving towards the invention of the zodiac, that essential element in the personalization of astrology.
The Babylonians puzzled for centuries over the patterns in the night sky before producing a calendar reliable enough to enable them to predict eclipses and to work ‘backwards’ in order to figure out the celestial events of the past. They seem to have started by simply working out the duration of day and night, then of the rising and setting of the Moon and the appearance and disappearance of Venus. The very earliest calendars date a new month from the first appearance of a new Moon. But the fact that the interval between new Moons is irregular — on average, 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes and 3 seconds — meant that it was extremely difficult to devise a calendar in which each month began with the new Moon, but each year began at the spring equinox. (To do so, you have to declare an extra month every two or three years — and even then you will be one and a half days out every eight years.)
The details of early calendars and their evolution are complex; suffice to say that the problem was solved with reasonable accuracy (and, let us remember, without the aid of mechanical clocks) by the Babylonians. Since then, there have been additional complications and evolutions. Julius Caesar had to summon an astronomer from Alexandria to sort out the muddle into which the Roman calendar degenerated, and his Julian calendar eventually fell out of phase by no less than eleven days, so that in 1752 Britain was forced to adopt the Gregorian calendar (established in the rest of Europe by Pope Gregory in 1582), cutting eleven days from the year. At midnight on 2 September came 14 September, and people rioted in the streets because they thought the civil servants were doing them out of eleven days of life.
Once a calendar had been devised, observation and the application of mathematics meant that planetary movements could be predicted. The next step was the invention of the zodiac.
In the first place this was devised as a means of measuring time. It is a circle around which twelve constellations are set, each marking a segment of thirty degrees of the ecliptic, the imaginary path the Sun seems to follow on its journey round the earth. Because that journey takes more or less 365 days, astronomers in Babylon, Egypt and China independently arrived at the idea of dividing the ecliptic into 360 degrees, easily divisible into twelve sections.
The circle, for practical purposes, had to start somewhere. In ancient times it started variously from certain fixed stars — from Aldebaran or the Bull’s Eye, for instance, or from Regulus, the brightest star in Leo. In modern astrology it starts from the vernal equinox — the point at which the Sun seems to cross the equator from south to north at the spring equinox of the northern hemisphere on 20, 21 or 22 March each year.
But the equinox not only never occurs in the same spot for two years running, but its place slowly seems to rotate around the sky, taking about 28,800 years to complete the circuit (a phenomenon known as Precession of the Equinox). This is because the Earth, as it rotates, wobbles like a top slowing down; the Pole thus describes a circle, moving backwards through the zodiac. Similarly, if the zodiac is measured from a fixed point (say the first degree of Aries), it moves slowly backwards. However, this is the system used by most modern astrologers; it is known as the tropical zodiac. Some astrologers, like the ancients, use the fixed or sidereal zodiac, measured from the stars (not as fixed as all that, however, for it too moves — by one day in every 72 years!).
Copyright Julia and Derek Parker 1983
Biorhythm
Are biorhythms based on scientific research?
Biorhythms were discovered by two scientists working independently of one another. Dr. Hermann Swoboda, a professor of Psychology at the University of Vienna, and Dr. Wilhelm Fliess, a nose and throat specialist, recognized the existence of biorhythms in the early 1900s. Through extensive scientific research, the doctors reached nearly identical conclusions. Each doctor published his discoveries, establishing biorhythms as an area of scientific study. Today, researchers continue to evaluate biorhythms in hopes of determining how they affect the human condition.
What are the three biorhythmic cycles?
Humans have three repeating biorhythmic cycles:
- Physical, which lasts for 23 days
- Emotional, which lasts for 28 days
- Intellectual, which lasts for 33 days
The length of each cycle is the same for everyone. The cycles are based on your birth date, and are tracked in tandem throughout your life. So, you can find out what kind of day you are going to have tomorrow, next week, or in three years!
How does the physical cycle affect me?
The physical cycle occurs over 23 days. Throughout those 23 days, the quality of your physical performance will vary, depending on where you are within the cycle.
During the positive phase of the cycle you experience better physical endurance and strength. During the negative phase of this cycle you are more susceptible to fatigue, disease, and coordination problems.
How does the emotional cycle affect me?
The emotional cycle governs how you feel about and react to certain situations.
The cycle lasts 28 days. Some researchers also believe that the emotional cycle is responsible for "bio-luck," the concept that you are lucky on some days and unlucky on others.
Generally, any endeavors you undertake will have a better outcome during the positive phase of the emotional cycle. The higher the sine wave, the better the outcome!
How does the intellectual cycle affect me?
The intellectual cycle governs judgment, decision-making, and memory. Your intellectual abilities cycle over a 33-day period.
During the positive phase of the cycle, your mind is quite sharp — almost as if the synapses in your brain are firing faster. During the negative phase of the intellectual cycle, you may find it difficult to recall information, such as phone numbers and names.
©2002 Biosoft
Horoscope and Natal Chart
Horoscope is an astrological forecast based on a diagram of the relative positions of planets and signs of the zodiac at a specific time (as at one's birth). It helps astrologers to determine individual character and personality traits as well as for foretelling events of a person's life.
One of the fundamentals of astrology is a natal chart. The astrological natal chart is based on a diagram showing the relative positions of planets and signs of the zodiac at a specific time.
The image above illustrates the basic principle behind creation of a natal chart. In this example, only inner planets are shown. The appearance of the zodiac constellations is not affected by the annual motion of earth because they are very, very far. Note: The image is not to scale. Enlarge this picture.
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BOOKS & Software
 | Ancient Astrology: Theory and Practice: Matheseos Libri VIII by Julius Firmicus Maternus (August 14, 2003) The lengthiest astrological treatise that has come down to us. Several sections contain material that is found nowhere else. |
| About the Author Comment: Julius Firmicus Maternus, a native of Sicily, was a Roman lawyer of the senatorial class. He lived from c.280 to c.360. He was a student of Greek astrology, which forms the basis of this book. Firmicus wrote for his patron, one Quintus Flavius Maesius Lollianus Egnatius, known in the book as Mavortius. Roman civilization faded soon after Firmicus, his manuscript lay ignored for centuries. The Matheseos, along with many other Classical works, was rediscovered in the Middle Ages. It was studied by generations of astrologers, from around 1000 AD, to the astrological twilight of the late 1600's. The celebrated English astrologer, William Lilly (1602-1681), had a copy in his library. Jean Rhys Bram's 1975 translation was a precursor of the astrological revival that started in the mid-1990's & continues to the present. This is also one of the best-translated books we have seen. The English is modern, clear & direct. Book Description | |
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