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While you may be familiar with the term, do you really know what Astrology is past what pop culture has told you it is? Maybe you were introduced to the word when flipping through a magazine some years back with a title along the lines of "What to Expect in Your Love Life This Week Based on Your Zodiac Sign?", or maybe someone you just met asked you when your birthday is to see if the stars show if you're compatible or not. While these ideas aren't completely off base, there is so much more that goes into astrology than these simple one-sentence questions.
(To clarify - yes, using predictive astrology you can see what your love life holds this upcoming week, no it's not by looking to your sun sign. And yes, your birth chart compared to another's can show your compatibility, however, using just your sun sign won't be a strong indicator of that. Moral of the story, astrology is much more than your Sun sign.)
What Is Astrology?
Astrology is a tool that can be used to look at a snapshot of the sky on any given day and from there, you can begin to put together a native's potential for what is to unfold during this lifetime based on the influence of the planets and where they are present in one's chart. To be able to put together a birth chart, for example, you would need some information such as the date, exact time, and location you were born. This information will then give you the capability to see how the stars looked exactly when you were born, which will then have an energetic effect on your life as it unfolds. This is a practice doesn't just work for a person, but it extends to businesses, events, and more!
I picture this to be that when we are born, we get marked with an invisible tattoo over our physical bodies. This invisible tattoo consists of the constellations that we are made up of, that are present in that specific moment and location in space and time. And at various points in our life, certain aspects (houses, planets, and zodiacs) of this invisible tattoo will be more present than others and play a stronger role in our life during that time.
Astrology works with; 10 planets (the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto) that each have a special meaning and way they show up in our lives, 12 Houses (each symbolizing a different aspect of life), and 12 zodiac signs (Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces.)
A birth chart can show so much of the native's life. From personality and life interests, career, money, routine, family and home life, relationships, physical/mental health and spiritual well-being, to upcoming transits - Astrology gives you a preview of it all. In more recent years, it's been used as a tool to help increase one's self-awareness, to see where healing work can be done, and what one's life purpose on this planet may be.
*While Astrology is often used to look at one's birth chart, it can also be used to look at day-to-day transits, compatibility with partners and friends, business, and more.
Where Did Astrology Originate From? A Mini History Lesson
Humans from all over have looked to the stars and planets for guidance on various aspects of life from the beginning of time. Astrology has been developed over many cultures, building off of each other over centuries to get to what is practiced today. Western Astrology comes from the Sumerians making astrological observations that the Babylonians then continued to research. After thousands of years, they produced the first astrological system. It was noticed that there was a sequence of constellations along which the sun and other planets appeared to move in their passages. Around 700 B.C. is when the zodiac wheel that we use today (including planets and houses) was created.
When Alexander the Great conquered Babylonia the Greeks started making their own astrological advances. The influence the Greeks had on astrology can be seen in the updated modern names for planets and zodiac signs that were given from Greek literature. The Greeks' interest in philosophy and the idea of the individual helped contribute further knowledge to astrology by giving more depth to the human experience and by adding psychological factors. When the Roman Empire fell, the Western version of astrology disappeared for about 500 years, however during this time India continued growing their astrology system and continued developing Greek astrology.
Astrology was originally used to predict the weather, the growth of crops, personalities of individuals, and health. Doctors, astronomers, and mathematicians all practiced astrology during the Middle Ages. While in modern times we have other ways to forecast the weather and what to expect from crops - it can and is still very much used to determine personalities and various aspects of life that an individual can expect.
One of many examples of the use of Astrology over the years is how influential in decision-making it was when King Charles IV was rebuilding the bridge over the Vltava River in modern-day Prague, Czech Republic. He consulted astrologers for their advice before building the bridge. He wanted to know when the best time to build the bridge would be, which they found to be July 1357. 15 years after the previous bridge was destroyed by the river. The reason for this date was because Mars, a planet that is a symbol of great achievement, was in the sign of Cancer at the same time that the moon was in Pisces. Both of these astrological signs being water signs made the Astrologers feel confident that building a bridge in strong water energy would be beneficial.
Additionally, the Sun, an alchemical symbol of gold, was in the sign of Leo. The symbol for Leo is a lion, which is the heraldic symbol of the Czech Kingdom. A finalized date was chosen to begin construction on the bridge. The date being July 9th, 1352 - specifically at 5:31 am. These numbers also formed a palindrome (1-3-5-7-9-7-5-3-1) which was considered to be of good fortune even further. All this time later, it’s safe to say that King Charles and his Astrologers chose the timing correctly as it has withstood all the seasons and weather that Prague has gone through over the years.
What Astrology Is Not
While Astrology has many great benefits, it's important to keep in mind the limitations that astrology has as different parts of your chart can be active at different points in your life, and more importantly, you always have full control over the decisions and paths you take. You always have free will to choose whatever paths you want in life.
As previously mentioned, Astrology is not only your Sun sign. While it may be fun to compare Sun signs to see how compatible you may be with someone - remember there's much more to a chart. Additionally, if you click with someone - you click with them! Don't write someone off just because you're an Aries Sun and they're a Pisces Sun. On top of the free will involved in the situation, there could be many other placements in your chart that do show potential connections and success in a relationship!
Astrology is meant to be a tool to help you! It is not meant to set limitations on your life because you feel the stars say one thing and your gut says another. Often I'd say go with your gut as astrology isn't meant to be limiting. It is also not meant to cause fear. While astrology may point to certain events that could come up in your life, it is meant to help prepare you for those events. It isn't for you to start trying to micromanage your life to avoid bad things from ever happening. Everything happens when it's meant to... AKA divine timing!
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This article only covers a brief idea of what Astrology is, and how it can be used. To further your own self-discovery, you can check out our services below. These services include platonic and relationship, birth chart, Chiron, and transit readings.
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