What most people know about astrology is their “sign,” which refers to the position of the Sun in relation to one of the 12 constellations of the zodiac. Some of them also know the sign of their Ascendant. They believe this is the essence of astrology. Definitely wrong! In reality this is a form of sun-sign astrology upon which newspaper horoscopes are based, and I am sure that you know already that predictions in newspapers and magazines have little to do with “real astrology”. Actually this kind of astrology was not invented until 1930 by the astrologer R.H. Naylor just with the objective of deliver something that newspapers could publish daily, weekly or monthly. Many astrologers will tell you that this form of astrology is so simplistic that it produces very limited results: actually I don’t even read horoscopes based on this kind of analysis.
Accurate readings require to check what sign each planet was in at the time of birth and the geometrical relations between planets (technically “aspects”). The planets and signs combine with other elements, such as houses and angles to form a complex and extremely specific profile of a subject’s personality, resources, challanges and future prospects.
Astrology has developed throught the millenniums in all parts of the word, following different lines. Ancient cultures all practiced their own forms, some of which combined and evolved into today’s common western astrology. Eastern cultures continue to practice their own forms of astrology: Chinese, Vedic and Tibetan astrology are among the most well-known.
Nevertheless, even within western astrology, there is a considerable diversity of methods and philosophies. I will not offer a list of categories, because it’s not so easy to label different approaches, techiques, philosophies, but I can go randomly through some of the “words” you may have heard…just to confirm that Sun-sign astrology is a merely 1% of the astrological world.
- Natal Astrology – This is what most people think of when they think of astrology and sun-sign astrology is only a little part of it. Natal Astrology seeks to make predictions and analyses based on the date of a person’s birth. Natal astrology is praticed following different approaches: psychological astrology, humanistic astrology, medical astrology etc.
- Mundane Astrology – This is used to examine world events and make predictions about national affairs, international conflicts and economies.
- Interrogatory Astrology – This branch can be further subdivided, but generally refers to astrology that seeks to make specific predictions or analyses about the subject’s objectives or events within the subject’s life: horary astrology and electional astrology are part of it
- Transits, solar or lunar progressions, solar returns are techinques used to make previsions
