They cast horoscopes (a process much simplified by the development of appropriate computer programs) and suggest interpretations. Although some of the rules may be standardized, how each rule is to be weighed and applied is a matter of judgment-and “art.” It also means that it is very difficult to tie down astrology to specific predictions or to get the same predictions from different astrologers.Īstrologers today use the same basic principles laid down by Ptolemy nearly 2000 years ago. The detailed interpretation of a horoscope is a very complicated business, and there are many schools of astrological thought on how it should be done.
Each sign, each house, and each planet-the last acting as a center of force-is supposed to be associated with particular matters in a person’s life. There are more or less standardized rules for the interpretation of the horoscope, most of which (at least in Western schools of astrology) are derived from the Tetrabiblos of Ptolemy. Thus, the position in the sky (or “house” in astrology) must also be calculated. However, as the celestial sphere turns (owing to the rotation of Earth), the entire zodiac moves across the sky to the west, completing a circuit of the heavens each day. To know that constellation, you must look for the sign before the one that includes your birthday.Ī complete horoscope shows the location of not only the Sun, but also the Moon and each planet in the sky by indicating its position in the appropriate sign of the zodiac. When you look up your sun sign in a newspaper astrology column, the name of the sign associated with your birthday is no longer the name of the constellation in which the Sun was actually located when you were born. This means that the astrological signs and the real constellations are out of step the sign of Aries, for example, now occupies the constellation of Pisces.
In most forms of astrology, however, the signs have remained assigned to the dates of the year they had when astrology was first set up. Thus, today the real stars have slipped around by about 1/12 of the zodiac-about the width of one sign. Because of precession, the constellations of the zodiac slide westward along the ecliptic, going once around the sky in about 26,000 years. However, more than 2000 years have passed since the signs received their names from the constellations. When someone today casually asks you your “sign,” they are asking for your “sun sign”-which zodiac sign the Sun was in at the moment you were born. The signs of the zodiac are shown in a medieval woodcut.
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