I. Introduction
Brief explanation of astrology
Western Tropical Astrology is cast as a 360 degree circle, split into 12 sections. Each section comprises one Sign of the 12 Signs zodiac (or these can overlap depending upon methods used). At the moment of your Birth the planets were aligned in a certain manner, from the perspective of our Earth. The symbol for each planet is drawn inside the circle where they were at this moment of your Birth.
Its popularity and relevance in modern times
Astrology is an ancient Art and its popularity through modern times may have fluctuated but it has never diminished. Today Astrology remains hugely popular and is currently experiencing a profound resurgence, as more Astrologers take to social media.
The insights that Astrology offers Psychological therapy were highlighted with the founding of the Centre for Psychological Astrology by Liz Greene and Howard Sasportas in 1983 in London. Astrology offers psychologists, counsellors and our clients insights into their lives, which are often perceived as nothing short of amazing.
Astrology today is used inside therapy and by any Individual who seeks to know themselves better.
II. History of Astrology
Origins of astrology
If we look back through history at some Astrologers you will already know of we find names like Nostradamus. Since the Astrologers were some of the first healers we find names like Nicholas Culpepper, who discovered herbalism, and psychologist Carl Jung. But we can go back at least to the Pre-Socratic Greeks for the first Physicists who looked up to the skies (approximately 600 BC) to fathom who they were and where they came from. “Know thyself” is an edict said to have originated back then (or earlier) and is perhaps the key phrase and most important purpose of Astrology for most, or all, Practitioners of this Science / Art.
Evolution of astrological practices across cultures
Astrology is found everywhere across the world. Vedic Astrology operates differently to Western Tropical Astrology but is still based on the positions of the stars and planets. It doesn’t have an Earth perspective and so the planetary positions are deemed different but both systems work. Astrology for many different cultures is a daily practice and reference point for many when it comes to health, pathways and even fortune.
Astrology is both a Divination Tool, as well as a studied Science of the semiotics of Symbols that are reflected through actual mathematics of planetary movements.
III. The Basics of Astrology
Explanation of zodiac signs and their meanings
Each Sign has an Element (Fire, Air, Earth or Water) and a Modality (Moving, Changeable or Fixed) to describe its temperament.
Fire is said to be ‘inspirational’. Air is said to be ‘logical’. Earth is said to be ‘practical’ and ‘sensual’. Water is said to be ‘emotional’ and ‘feeling’.
With the Modalities, ‘moving’ is moving energy. ‘Changeable or Mutable’ is about energy that can change direction easily. ‘Fixed’ is often associated with stubbornness, but is also about energy that can maintain its position for long periods of time.
Aries is Moving Fire, so where Aries sits in your chart will be an area where you take action and you may also be quite passionate or quick in this area or ‘House’ of your chart.
Taurus is Fixed Earth so where Taurus is you can get some very Earthly things accomplished. Just make sure that your efforts are going into something worthwhile.
Gemini is Changeable or Mutable Air. Where Gemini sits on your wheel will be where you can come very quickly to answers and can move around very quickly through diverse and interesting areas. Just make sure that you consider your own feelings and those of others when doing so.
Cancer is Moving Water. Where Cancer is on your chart will be where you are quite nurturing because Cancer is the Moon Ruled Sign who is like the Lioness (not the Lion) of the Pride. Her reactions can be swift based on her instinctive feelings to protect and nurture.
Leo is Fixed Fire. The King of the jungle rules with Inspiration and staying power. Wherever Leo sits in your chart will be where Joy feels inspirational to you and where the activities of this house are like a labour of Love.
Virgo is Changeable or Mutable Earth. Where Virgo is in your chart will be where you are practical but able to shift. Surviving earthquakes or causing them. Where Virgo is in your chart you may be somewhat enigmatic in that you will be able to change even your most strident beliefs when it becomes practical or ‘real’ to do so.
Libra is Moving Air. Where Libra sits on your wheel will be where you can use your listening and logic to relate to others. Libra is the scales of justice and wants to give everyone a fair hearing. Logic is often brought about through language.
Scorpio is Fixed Water. Scorpio is another enigmatic sign because what is fixed water? Ice? Ice melts and becomes liquid. Liquid heated becomes mist. Wherever Scorpio sits on your charted circle will be where you might be emotionally stubborn and maintain very deep feelings (water), which will eventually transmute you. Emotion, not thought, is how behaviour is truly catapulted into change. So your Scorpio house will be the house of your Transmutation but its ‘Fixed’ quality will reveal the kind of enduring stuff that both Leo and Taurus also share.
Sagittarius is Changeable or Mutable Fire. Where your Sagittarius sits on your wheel will be an area of Life for you that is ‘Big’. Where you feel inspired by many things, sometimes so many things that the rest of your chart may have to adapt to keep up!
Capricorn is Moving Earth. We saw what your Virgo ‘Earth’ house (area of life) was up to, and it was mutable/changeable. So what will it be like for you in Capricorn’s Moving Earth House? Luckily, Capricorn’s Moving Earth moves a bit more slowly than Aries’ Moving Fire! Capricorn is where you want to excel. It may be your area of Ambition. Sometimes Ambition is attained quickly, only to cause the need to find new ambitions. Sometimes this area of your chart can reveal a Life Time of achievement.
Aquarius is Fixed Air. Where Aquarius is your Ideals and Ideas can be huge. You can have a stubborn zeal about bringing forth an Idea in this area of your chart. Where Aquarius is in your chart you may be very social. There is a desire to share your idea about this area of your life with many others.
Pisces is Changeable or Mutable Water. Where Pisces resides in your chart will be where higher octaves of Unconditional Love reside. This house is where everyone and everything is ok and contains a sense of the divine. Water is feeling. Changeable water respects moving, fixed, water, mist, ice and something more than where we end and others begin.
The significance of planetary movements and their influence on astrology
Now you have begun to comprehend your Houses, or Areas of Life above that correspond to certain Signs, we can now add the Planets themselves.
At the time of your Birth the Planets actually sat inside certain Signs. If you were born late October your Sun will be sitting in the Sign of Scorpio. But your Mercury may be sitting in Libra.
Astrology is both a Science and an Art for most Astrologers and there is a great deal to learn. But simply put Planets behave differently when they sit in different signs. Not only because they take on issues and traits of that Sign, but because they also have their own personalities and these personalities are either naturally brought out in some signs, but can be obstructed if they find themselves in other signs. So, if we look at Astrology inside Psychology we begin to ‘see’ in the chart itself some of the frustrations of the client. But the good news is that Astrology also offers many options for growth or emancipation through the events that these Planets get to meet.
Astrologically, nothing stays still for long. There is always change and planetary movements and so we begin to add other charts to our readings, including Transit charts, Progressed charts, Solar Return charts, and even more than this.
Sometimes we find that an area of our lives is now being visited by a bunch of others planets, each with their own ‘Aspects’ that come and go through ‘Transits’ and at these times some ‘Events’ take place in our Lives that reflect the energies of those Planets and Signs they touch.
IV. Astrology and Personalities
How astrology is used to understand personalities
Each ‘House’ in your Wheel, or Chart, corresponds to one of the 12 sections we formed. Each of these Sections has one or more Signs. Each of these Sections represents a part of our Lives. If we just stay with the first Section, or ‘Ascendant’ Sign we can already discover a lot about someone’s Personality.
If you have Capricorn Rising on your Ascendant and someone else has Sagittarius Rising on their Ascendant you will absolutely find these two to behave very differently! Our Ascendant Sign is the first sign we encounter when we meet each other. Now there are some compounded variables to take into account of course, but basically your Capricorn Rising will display the Moving Earth traits we read about Capricorn above, while the Sagittarius Rising Individual will display the Changeable Fire traits we read about above! And, interestingly, each will also contain physical attributes of these signs (yes Astrology used in Health even maintains the visible biology of the Signs). So your Rising Sagittarius may be either of the tall breed with very strong legs and ‘horsey’ mouth or contain other signs’ influences but still have one or more of the Sagittarian biological traits such as thick thighs.
Different approaches to astrological personality analysis (e.g., birth charts, sun signs)
Most Astrologers will identify as prolific Readers and Scholars. Astrology is a very big subject. And, like all the Anthropological ‘isms’ there are also different Schools of Thought in Astrology. So there are many Approaches to Reading someone’s Personality Analysis. These do not disagree with each other. They each just come to the same body of information from different perspectives of what’s most important to them, or the School they align with.
For example, Evolutionary Astrologers might look at a chart in terms of how far this Individual has ‘evolved’ and so when doing a ‘Reading’ for a Client they will speak in terms of how their personality is being worked with in order to ‘evolve’. A more Humanist leaning Astrologer may not view evolution as relevant at all to an Individual’s Life. However, if the Client themselves feels this is important then the Astrologer can certainly offer therapies from Evolutionary Astrology. All Counsellors do the same with different Psychological therapies and techniques. The aim is the same for all. To ‘Know Thy Self’. Or to assist the Client, using Astrology, to Know Themselves better so they can navigate Life with more interest, more confidence, and more depth of their sense of the enormous Value of their Life!
V. Debunking Astrology Myths
Addressing common misconceptions about astrology
For some people Astrology is anti-religious, or the work of some devil. And this fallacy was perhaps purposefully put in place by those who wanted to be the only ones with access to Astrology. For example, the most antiquated Astrology books that most Astrologers would love to get our hands on, are imprisoned and censored by the Vatican regime. Inside this tomb of what is it’s own City State / Corporation is encrusted a great deal of pure gold into its very walls, whilst people starve and beg in its assembly areas. So those who feign leadership in Religion may want their followers to stay away from Astrology so they can dictate to people what to think about themselves, instead of learning for themselves
There is nothing in Astrology that speaks against any theology. God made the Heavens so Astrology is a part of whatever belief system you may hold dear to your own heart. Astrology is not judgemental. It is a higher form of Logic that does not dispute pure essences of Religious teachings.
All the early medics were Astrologers. They deciphered people’s health by their ‘Temperaments’, according to what planetary influences aligned at their birth time. From here they were able to work out their ailments and their relationships to these ailments. So if someone has a lot of heat and water in their charts they might experience different ailments to others whose charts were colder in temperament, etc. When Rockefeller and another Industrialist took over Medicine by establishing Hopkins Medicine then although Billionaires use Astrology (so they say) Astrology does provide far too many arguments that might question medical sponsored reports today.
Because Astrology is about ‘Knowing Thy Self’, it is a powerful tool of Anarchy. Like Socrates in Ancient Greece, or today perhaps like Julian Assange, Knowledge is Power and those in Power do not want to share this.
Providing scientific perspectives on astrology
Astronomers sometimes debunk Astrology as not being a Science at all. However, several scholars of Astrology have provided specific astronomical evidence of why Astrology has credence as a Science as well as an Art.
Schools of thought from physics offers Astrologers more science based data to support our Profession. However, I posit that no Astrologer would want to lose the Art based perspective of Astrology because there remains so much we don’t know about how Astrology works, only that it does work. And to define Astrology only as a science might be a detriment to its continued research and usefulness. It seems, to some Astrologers at least, that Astrology provides us with tools that allow us to do things we haven’t yet worked out how they work, but they do. Experiential research, or Phenomenological scientific approaches to research do provide difficult to refute, valid evidence within a scientific approach to Astrology.
VI. Practical Applications of Astrology
How astrology is used in daily life
Some ways to use Astrology in daily life:
- Assistance with confronting challenges in any area of Life.
- Support for projects.
- Tools for working with others.
- Help with comprehending world events.
- Astrology is about Timing and has always been used to assist with when to planet and when to seed.
- Astrology provides a fertile ground for thinkers of new realities.
- Astrology can be used to write scripts, providing fleshed out layers to the creation of characters.
- Comprehending why we behave one way in some circumstances but contradictory in other areas of our lives.
- Knowing when our ‘air’ logic might be clouded by Neptune’s illusive cloudiness.
- There are as many uses of Astrology as there are events in each of our Lives.
- However, the most important and significant use of Astrology, in my view, is that it proves you and I are Valuable and Unique! And in doing so it breeds compassion for each other in each of us.
Using astrology for self-reflection and personal growth
To start using Astrology start with your Birth Chart. You will need to know where you were born and what time you were born, If you don’t have your time of Birth then try to locate this at the hospital or elsewhere. If this is not possible then you can still use Astrology for many purposes but you will need to locate a professional Astrologer who can work with you over many months to create a ‘Rectified Chart’ for you to access more applications. This is like reverse engineering of events and physical traits. It is complex but possible.
If you have your Birth Chart you can learn the basic tools of Astrology and what these mean.
- Houses
- Signs
- Planets
- Aspects
VII. The Future of Astrology
Emerging trends in astrology
Many Astrologers have broadened their Profession by including both ancient Hellenistic and other antiquated Astrological findings in with more modern libraries of endless charts and research. Today there are more good Professional Astrologers than probably ever before in our ‘modern’ times.
Astrology is about Cycles and Astrology (in the discourse Culpepper used) falls under the Dominion of Uranus, co-ruler of Aquarius. We are now in the Age of Aquarius (for many Astrologers) or at least in the significant transition points for everyone from the Age of Pisces to the Age of Aquarius. It is not a coincidence that Astrology is now becoming more main stream and more indepth.
Astrology's place in the modern world
Astrology’s place in our world is growing more popular and demanding more serious attention as a tool that is extremely helpful to each of us.
VIII. Conclusion
Recap of the significance of astrology
If you think that you have no power. You don’t. You don’t take any action. You lose interest. You drink or party far too much, while spinning yourself a tale of having fun until you die.
If you think that everything wrong that happens to you is your own fault only, then you start to dislike yourself. Once this happens you feel guilty or unworthy or worse.
However, when you really ‘Know Thy Self’, and there are figures and writings there in front of you that provide you with so many amazing things about yourself, that inwardly resonate with your own Heart so you ‘know’ they are true, then you begin to Love yourself. There is real meaning about ‘you’ that starts to take shape. And once you realise your own Value, then the next logical step is to recognize that every single Individual has their own Unique Astrology Chart that proves their Value. So I guess Astrology agrees with the essence of pure religious thought – Love Thy Self and Love Thy Neighbour. And when we reach this stage (which is easily encouraged by Astrology and very difficult to dispute) then we are sparked on with new Ideas (Aquarius’ Big Ideas) for better and better Worlds for every single one of us to enjoy.
Encouragement for further exploration and understanding of astrology
But maybe for right now, for you, you are just trying to navigate a new career choice, or where you want to call home. Then a booking with an Astrologer, or by learning Astrology yourself, you will be able to decipher the 10th and 4th Houses of your own Chart for the answers to these specific questions.