Galery

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Later in the years, religious institutions have begun to deny astrology. This is happening nowadays too. And here comes the question “Why?”. I do not want to draw too much attention to the “war” between religious teachings and astrology. Because it should be clear for every astrologer that there is no contradiction between them. But the fact is that astrology has always been subjected to devastating criticism and thrown in the corner. Of course, not without reason as there are controversial formulations, and translations were not always accurate, even changed somewhere – "to get lost in translation" is perhaps the most concise and precise definition.

Is it because people, by reason of civilization development, have become increasingly unable to accept the fact that they can’t control nature and when they are touched by astrology are trying to remake it? Or there should really be limited access to astrology because it gives knowledge, which most of the people (especially in the western world) are not ready for?! And perhaps it should not fall into their hands? These are such curious questions that probably nobody knows their answers.  

On the other hand, there is India. The astrological knowledge has developed quite separately there and it is much better preserved because it was passed down as family heritage, and because of the fundamentally different attitude of the East towards it. Nobody in the East world criticizes astrology. On the contrary - they particularly respect and honour it and consult astrologer only at certain times. The man from the East is rarely curious to get interpretation of the personal horoscope just because it's interesting. It shows a deeply rooted wisdom that to look ahead, you first need to be prepared, to have a reason to do it and accept it humbly.

Astrology there is part of the Vedas – the sacred texts of India. It is believed that they were not created by ordinary people, but by ancient sages with superhuman abilities, known as rishi. It is also called the eye of the Vedas. It is very difficult for most of the people of the West to perceive the Indian astrology as it has preserved the original Sanskrit terminology. But exactly this is what is most unique. And the moment you learn that terminology, astrology somehow acquires a completely different meaning - it comes alive and all of a sudden you are really able to “see”. Indian sages have thought that the sounds in Sanskrit are sacred and penetrate the soul of living beings passing (like music) universal meanings of things in nature, the human, the universe.

One of the most contentious issues in astrology is the precession of the Earth's axis (also called precession of the equinox) [1] and the existence of two zodiacs for this reason - Tropical [2] and Sidereal [3]. And this is the basic difference between the astrological systems in the Western and Eastern world.

[1] Precession - slow rotation of the Earth's axis at angle around the axis of the ecliptic (visible path of Sun), caused by the gravitational forces of moon and sun. It is shown as precession circle on the image. Because of precession the spring equinoctial section moves through the zodiac constellations with a step of 1 ° in 72 years.

[2] Tropical Zodiac - based on the so-called tropics. It means “belonging to reversal”. Tropic is a Greek word that means “turning point”. This term is used for the days of summer and winter solstice. The four basis points of the Tropical zodiac are fixed and connected with the movement of the Sun - spring and autumn equinoxes, summer and winter solstice. This zodiac may also be called solar zodiac, since it depends only on the apparent path of Sun.

[3] Sidereal Zodiac – this is the circle of real constellations. Sidereal means “belonging to the stars”.
Western astrology uses the Tropical Zodiac, whose home is the vernal equinox. Indian astrology uses Sidereal Zodiac - the real constellations. But due to precession the Tropical Zodiac shifts by a sign compared to the Sidereal Zodiac every 2160 years. The vernal equinox point is positioned approximately to 6^th degree of the Pisces constellation as of today. In other words, the vernal equinox in the Tropical Zodiac is always 0° in Aries, but it is 6° in Pisces in the Sidereal one for 2010.  

In practice, if a man was born on March 25, the Sun is 4° in the constellation Aries according to western astrology, and according to Indian astrology the Sun is 10° in the constellation of Pisces. In fact, exactly this shift defines the so-called eras/epochs. I guess all of you have heard that we have entered the Age of Aquarius. Is it necessary, however, this issue to be controversial?

Here comes another theme – reincarnation. Although the main text of Ptolemy says nothing about this any intelligent person would ask himself – and what is the meaning of astrology without rebirth? How could that astrology “work”, if the fate of man is not created before his physical birth? The answer probably lies in the very name of both the zodiacs. The Tropical one is called “belonging to reversal” and the Sidereal one is called “belonging to the stars”. In India, to indicate the Tropical Zodiac they use the term Sayan Chakra - spinning wheel. Turning, spinning wheel, in the context of reincarnation, probably means one turning, one existence. To indicate the Sidereal Zodiac they use the term Narayan Chakra - free wheel movement. In the context of reincarnation this leads to existence in a global scale. Therefore, both of the zodiacs have their meaning and application. Which in fact makes the question - which zodiac is the right - unnecessary.