Astrology: A Brief Introduction

Astrology is an ancient practice that dates back thousands of years. Since the beginning of human civilization, people have looked up to the heavens as a source of inspiration and guidance. Over time astrologers began to become aware of and record correspondences between the movements of the stars and planets, and the patterns of everyday life.

The ancient astrological proverb is "as above, so below", which emphasizes the link between different levels, a holistic relationship between life on earth and the surrounding universe.

Astrologers believe that the movement and arrangement of celestial bodies either directly influence life on Earth or relate to events experienced on a human scale. Modern astrologers define astrology as a language, an art form, and a form of divination. Despite the differences in definitions, a common notion of astrology is that celestial placements can facilitate in the interpretation of past and present events and the prediction of the future.

The main traditions used by modern astrologers are Vedic or Indian astrology, Western astrology, and Chinese astrology.

Vedic and Western astrology share a common origin as horoscopic systems of astrology, in that both traditions focus on the creation of an astrological chart or horoscope, a interpretation of celestial bodies, for an event based on the position of the Sun, Moon, and planets at the time of the event.

Vedic astrology uses the sidereal zodiac, linking the signs of the zodiac to their original constellations, whereas Western astrology uses the tropical zodiac. Because of the precession of the equinoxes, after many centuries the twelve zodiacal signs in Western astrology no longer correspond to the same part of the sky as their original constellations. In essence, in Western astrology the link between sign and constellation has been broken, whereas in Vedic astrology it remains of paramount importance.

Natal astrology is the system of astrology based upon the idea that each individual's personality and life path can be determined by constructing a natal chart for the precise date, time, and location of a person's birth. Natal astrology can be found in both Indian and Western traditions.

In Horoscopic astrology, an individual's personality is predicted by the construction of the horoscope or birth chart for the person involved, showing the positions of the sun, moon, the planets, and the angles or aspects between them.
After the horoscope has been constructed the process of interpretation begins, which involves building a complete picture of the personality of the person. Interpretation is comprised of three main steps - noting the important features of the chart, and the processes of chart weighting and chart shaping.