what's the scoop about my sign!!??

have you been bombarded with the media frenzy recently with reports everywhere online and in the news with headlines like:

*Wobbly Earth means your horoscope is wrong*
*you may not be the sign you thought you were!*
(i think i even heard that chicken little was crying that the sky is falling, the sky is falling) :-)

all this hoopla is certainly another way that i realize that what is reported in the media may have an element of truth in what is being said, but it doesn't give the whole picture.

so here is the rest of the story:

short and sweet is that there are two different systems in which a chart can be cast.....the sidereal and tropical.

jyotish or vedic astrology uses the sidereal system (this is the system eastern astrologers and some western astrologers use).....it looks at the planets as they are placed against the backdrop of the stars and constellations.

tropical astrology (which is what most western astrologers use) is based on the seasons of the year we have here on our planet......you can look at a globe and see the latitude line in the northern hemisphere that is called the tropic of cancer. in the southern hemisphere, you will see a line that is called the tropic of capricorn. these are the latitudes of 23.5 degrees N or S. they mark the most northern and southern position that the sun travels in it's journey when mapped onto the earth. the first day of summer the sun is at the most northern point on this journey, and the first day of winter is the most southern point. when casting a chart with the tropical system, it is also what corresponds to the 0 degrees of cancer and caprico
respectively. when the sun is crossing the equator on this journey north it is at 0 degrees aries, the first day of spring, and on the journey south, it is at 0 degree libra, the first day of autumn. (and btw....these are important parts of the chart because of how they represent initiating a change as related to the sun and seasons)

some globes also show you the path that the sun travels and where the direct rays hit the earth in her orbit around the sun...it is a circle that you can follow..... that circle on the globe is called the ecliptic. if you have ever seen a chart, the ecliptic is represented by the outside circle.

for me, tropical astrology speaks to our cycles as we experience them here on earth, as we see in the seasons. (if you recall from your earth science class way back when, the earth is tilted at 23.5 degrees on her axis, which is what gives us the seasons.) astrology is a metaphorical language based on archetypes of energy that the planets and signs represent.....how we go through cycles and seasons of our life can be related to the life giving force that the sun is and the cycles of ALL of the planets and what they represent. the moon cycles through our entire chart every 28-29 days. you would have to live for 248 years for pluto to cycle through all parts of your chart. if you know an astrologer, you have probably heard her (or him) talk about the satu
return, which happens about every 29 years, when satu
is in the same place it was when you were born and at that point. satu
cycles through your chart once at age 28-29 and then again at around 58-59. as i said, the tropical system for me is relevant to the cycles that represent the seasons of our life that bring us our experience on earth. it is personal and relates to the planet where i place my feet...at least on some days!

several thousand years ago these two systems were in sync. the earth wobbles as it rotates, much like a spinning top, (but in much slower motion.) the wobbling of the earth effects the poles. in that wobble it takes 26,000 years for the poles trace one complete, small circle in the sky. during that 26,000 year cycle the poles point to different stars and constellations (which is the basis of the sidereal system, and about which the media is in it's frenzy). right now, the difference between the two systems is about 23-24 degrees. so, you can take any planet in your chart, subtract those 24 degrees of the sign it is in and see what signs they may be in, in the sidereal casting of a chart. all this who-ha in the media has to do with where the poles are pointing, and how the sky is different from those several thousands of years ago. signs in tropical astrology are still based in the path of the sun as mapped on the earth that will still relate to the change in seasons. as a tropical system astrologer, i will continue with business as usual, casting a chart that is related to seasons as the guide

(if you are in an overwhelm of astrological info now, you can skip the rest of this!)

now, onto another part of astrology, beyond the signs that the planets are in (sidereal or tropical), what is of utmost importance is the relationship that the planets have to each other.....that gives us the internal dynamics of how we are wired. if you take the signs away, a chart will still look the same whether in sidereal or tropical....the planets in the sky did not change position from one system to the other!! and all of the planets will be in the circle of your chart in the same place. tropical or sidereal will not change that! the relationship that the planets have to each other gives the astrologer important information about how the different parts of who we are relate (such as your emotional core and the way you think.)

if you have not studied your whole chart, what you mostly know about astrology is what sign your sun is in. that is an important part of your chart, but just 1/10 of the whole picture. we need to look at all of the planets (astrologers consider both the sun and the moon a planet...and, yes, we know that they aren't'!!). you may be a scorpio in terms of your sun sign, but have your venus, pluto, moon and satu
in libra....so, you will have a huge dose of that sign, too. we are a composite of all of the energies that make up who we are, as represented by the all of the planets, (and the sign they are in and where they are in your chart).....we need to look at all of them to see who we are as a whole (and holistic!) being. in my chart, while my sun (and sun the sign it is in) is important, it is actually the planets of mercury and uranus (and the archetype of which they are a part) that have more influence. you have to look at the whole chart to see what your gifts and challenges that you came in with are. that is the job of the astrologer.

so, that is a thumbnail sketch of *what’s the scoop with my sign!?*
stay in the light!
laveta piemme
www.astrologicalconsultations.com