The Sidereal Zodiac

I have developed an interest in the sidereal zodiac after reading the following excerpt from my Cayce Past Life Report:

Sidereal Sun/Moon Pisces

Coming under the influences of Pisces, water and religion or spiritual matters are likely to have an untold influence on you. Of course, this depends upon the way you respond to these kinds of experiences, for they have probably played an important part or at least have been innate in your experience through many lifetimes in the earth.

Pisces means or symbolizes what is naturally, or by its very nature, representative of influences of the higher soul or higher spiritual level. [816-3, 1506-1, 997-1]

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[overly long quote of copyrighted text against forum rules - Moderator]

Is anyone familiar with the sidereal zodiac? I am curious how to synthesize both the tropical and sideral zodiacs into an overall interpretation...



Arian Maverick

AM: hello again!!

I think that attempting to combine sidereal with tropical charts can lead to all sorts of wierdness. If the tropical chart is incorrect, then why dilute the accuracy of the true one?

It's only been a couple of days since I discovered my sidereal chart, but I think about astrology every day and I am really thinking now there is something to the sidereal perpective.

I'm not sure if I'll hear much response about this.....but I am a very independent thinker and I'm not afraid of being different. I do hope other astrologers will give this matter more thought, however, especially if they are practicing professionals.

Hi Arian and Ostara,

Sidereal Zodiac is based on constellations and is the basis of Vedic Astrology.
Progressions with Sidereal Zodiac are supposed to be good with timing.

However another system known as Vimoshottari Dasha System in Hindu Astrology is very well known for the timing of events. it is based on a general lifetime of a human in this age which is 120 years.

The Sidereal and Tropical Zodiac differ in what is a generally accepted term called the Lahiri Ayanamsa which currently is 24 degrees.

So if you see the tropical chart subtract 24 degrees from signs and planets and you will get the new degrees. Most likely this the planets will be in the same house.

You can generate the Sidereal chart on astro.com by selecting the Zodiac option as Hindu. Of course there are other sidereal options as well.

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Hope this helps.

yeah, finding that option on astro.com was really helpful. my sun, moon and ascendant are the same, but i feel that the energies of my venus and mars make more sense in the sidereal. i'm pretty good at reading energy- i can often guess a lot of the placements a person has before i know their birthdate.

thanks!!

Since you mentioned an interest in the epoch around Christ's presence on Earth, I just happened to find some links to sidereal charts of events in his life. The person who posted these said that Christ is an example of universal human awareness so the aspects of his chart could be used as tools for undertanding your own chart better.


Scroll down and you will see links for sidereal charts of important events in Christ's life. Hopefully these times are correct- I sure wasn't there LOL

http://www.astrogeographia.org/elijah_come_again

Arian Maverick said:

...Is anyone familiar with the sidereal zodiac? I am curious how to synthesize both the tropical and sideral zodiacs into an overall interpretation...

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Don't know anything about it AM, but there is a useful article by Kevin Burk at http://www.astrologycom.com/precession.html

What I find interesting is the fact that the charts of Western Sidereal Astrology appear to be Tropical Charts + adjustment for precession of the Equinoxes........So, Tropical Charts "progressed" (for evolutionary development) on the basis of 1 degree = 71.5 years........perhaps symbolising that the Tropical chart reveals "where we are now" and the Western Sidereal Chart reveals "where we should be" (in terms of evolution of consciousness/Soul development).

EJ

I do not know how to combine the sidereal and tropical zodiac interpretation, but here is a brief sideral interpretation provided by my Kepler/Sirius software.

Moon in 26th nakshatra(mansion):

The Moon is in the Upthara Bhadrapada, the twenty-sixth nakshatra (3 deg. 20 min. to 16 deg. 20 min. of Pisces). You have great intellegence and wit, and are able to succeed in life, overcome obstacles, and circumvent potential problems with your clever ideas. You have a strong sense of values that guides your life, and you are likely to be content, and have a happy, busy family life with your spouse, children and relatives.

That is actually a very nice interpretation of the mansion of the Moon. It gives me a much harsher prediction.

samsum78 said:

Hi Arian and Ostara,



Hope this helps.

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Hmm...that would make me still an Aries Asc but with a sun in Capricorn and moon in Libra. The fact that I don't value tradition, don't wanna do things a certain way and just WANT to be different shows, at least to me, that any form of siderreal astrology is bogus. My tropical chart is full of air, and I am a highly intellectual person. Earth is definitely an element that LACKS in my chart so this further leads me to believe Tropical to be the most accurate. Viewing other peoples signs in the siderreal system also proves that it is highly innacurate, in my own (and their) opinion.

As a sidereal-Vedic astrologer with a strong Western tropical beginning, you can't mix the two zodiacs. You can however use the western style chart like I do on my site, and you can use the so-called western aspects.

I find the sidereal zodiac is all around better, but a lot of people don't see past their wanting to stay with a "tradition" (regardless of how weak it is). Therefore a lot of people use little self-mind-tricks to justify the tropical zodiac.

More and more people however are starting to use Vedic, which is also called Jyotish.

Curtis

I'm for what makes the most sense, traditional or not. Sidereal just doesn't make much sense when considering natal aspects, in my chart and others. Not sure about horary astrology, but I do know that tropical is much more accurate for birthcharts. I would like to hear a good argument about why sidereal is better for natal/progression charts.

Sidereal and Vedic astrology is very good for predicting and timing events.
Tropical astrology is more related to the psychology and traits. I usually look for psychological factors in tropical charts.

Horary, I prefer Tropical than sidereal. However main events like marriage, death etc. makes more sense looking at Sidereal. Looking at tropical charts simultaneous also helps.

I will still consider that if a system works well for you it might be worth to stand by it. Even in vedic there are many sub-systems that are followed which may have the same conclusion. However different systems offer deeper understanding and may be useful in predicting.

Strength of planets is very useful from a sidereal point of view. Vedic astrology has a complete and thorough system for strength of planets through divisonal charts.

Sidereal systems define who you are and where you come from. Since tropical systems include the precision of the equinoxes, I believe tropical systems depict the ever changing dynamic universe and hence portray the psychological traits and how things occur. Transits are key events.
Progressed charts may be more or less similar in both systems as mainly aspects are given primary importance.

Would you mind letting me know of any really useful websites you use for the sidereal part of things (especially the strength of planets thing)? I agree that it would make sense that Sidereal would work better for timing and predicting, and that tropical is better for the personal uses.

On a closer look to Sidereal astrology, my birthchart made sense when compared to a tropical one. Either one describes me in an accurate way, but both could be right. But it seems that you can't use a combination of both the tropical/sidereal systems.

Best way is to google it.

Basics of sidereal astrology
http://www.lunarplanner.com/siderealastrology.html

Strength of planets is available in books in Vedic astrology.

Also Vedic Astrology books which involve divisional charts will refer to Shadabala or Strength of planets

One book I know where you can preview chapters involving strength of planets is online on google books.

A text book of varshaphal (annual Horoscopy) by Dr. K.S. Charak

These are pretty intense systems and involve traditional astrology so you do not consider Uranus Neptune and Puto in this case for individual charts.
Its better to read a book and practice on some charts.

No its not worth combining the systems but there are systems that work well on their own or both systems may show similar characteristics when applied to a particular chart.

All Vedic sidereal astrology is based on constellations and these characteristics are more important than just signs. Wiki has a table matching these nakshatras or constellations to western star names.

Wiki link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakshatra

As a tropicalist who made the switch ten years ago, I refer to the sidereal zodiac as karmic, that is focusing on actions and the fruits thereof.

Tropical position I see best as a picture of the subjective state of the individual; their thoughts and feelings.

Curtis

I just decided to make the switch after reading an A.R.E. book about Astrology. Sidereal charts were said to be more accurate. Somehow I missed that when I read it years ago.
When I saw my Sidereal chart, it explained some things. Over the years, I noticed some sensitive degrees that were not showing up in the tropical chart. I see them in the sidereal.
I have gotten some pretty accurate weather readings with the tropical chart. What has been your experience with doing other charts besides natal using the sidereal system?

I believe that there is a fundamental difference between signs, as reflective of the "fixed" qualities of the directions of space, and constellations, reflective of the ever changing manifestations of the qualities derived from space. To me, the tropical zodiac represents the qualities of the directions of space as "curtains of the earth", the constellations (and planets) represent in inflowing of celestial forces, modified as these pass through that "curtain". However, I personally have certain "problems" with the established constellation-based systems (jyotish, Fagan siderealist), which I shall not go into at this time (I believe that both of the above yield excellent results, both in analysis and prediction, when applied by experts in those systems) I do, though, frequently utilize constellations (especially the 19 constellations of the ecliptic against which all of the planets move) in various astrological considerations.

Planets are closer to the earth as compared to fixed stars (brightest stars in constellations). The fixed stars just like the pole star are 100 's of light years away from the earth and hence appear fixed from the earth. Sidereal astrology (Vedic astrology) is based on these fixed stars.

Tropical zodiac should be considered when planets orbit the signs as this describes the psyches and characteristics The planets being much closer are subjected to the position of the earth's axis and hence tropical zodiac should be used for planet transits.

This explains the ~ 25,765 Great year and the 12 sign cycle of the sun. This is the minor cycle unlike the vedic cycle based on the fixed stars. Thus we have ages and it traverses backwards. We are slowly transiting to the age of aquarius in a few hundred years.