vedic astrology vs western astrology

indiangal

Member
i have a doubt in my birth sign
as per vedic astrology my sun and moon sign is leo
but as per western astrology my sun and moon sign is virgo.
how this is possible? planetry possitions are different from both the chart.
how my life affect due to different planetry possition?
what is the difference b/w vedic and western astrology?
which is the most accurate one? vedic astrology or western astrology?
i am following vedic astrology. my birthchart book was written in south indian style..
now which one to follow? vedic astrology or western astrology?

waiting for reply.
thank you all astrologers.
 

Riles

Well-known member
To give a very simple answer: Vedic Astrology is similar to Western Sidereal Astrology, as both use the positions of the constellations/stars. The more mainstream form of Western Astrology, however, is Tropical Astrology, which is based on the seasons.

http://lightonvedicastrology.com/articles-sidereal_tropical.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidereal_and_tropical_astrology

I personally like to look at both. My sun sign, either way, is Scorpio, but while my Moon is in Taurus in the Tropical system, my Vedic and Sidereal Moon is in Aries. My Tropical Ascendant is Sagittarius, while my Vedic and Sidereal Ascendant is Scorpio. The houses tend to change, in addition to the signs. To my knowledge, though, the aspects remain the same...at least the bulk of them, if not all.

I should tell you that I'm not an astrologer; I just love astrology as a hobby. But I've read a lot of articles differentiating Tropical and Sidereal Astrology. Just do a Google search and you'll find tons. For simplification purposes, Vedic and Sidereal can be used somewhat interchangeably in terms of researching differences. Vedic does, however, interpret things differently, for example personal appearance is based on the Moon/Rashi and the Moon/Rashi is considered the most important "planet" (not sure what to call it) in Vedic Astrology, while the Western Sidereal Moon operates just like the Western Tropical Moon, they're just calculated differently.
 
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ArtMuse

Member
Hi Indiangal!

I believe I can answer this question for you ~ I'll paraphrase Carol Allen:
Differences, between Vedic and what we commonly know (at least here in the States) as "Western", or tropical, astrology:
Vedic (Jyotish) ~
The earliest writings for vedic astrology, or Jyotish (meaning "the science of light") can be found in the Vedas (hence the name!); ancient Hindu texts...the oldest in existence were written some 5000-8000 years ago (astounding...). It is the science of observing the celestial bodies that reflect their energy and light upon the earth, believed to influence the course of human events.
Western astrology was devised by the Babylonians and Greeks, some 2000-3000 years ago (hmmm...). This study follows that the Sun is the most important 'celestial' body. The system uses the measured relationship of the Sun to the Earth's tropics (Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn).
On or around March 22 marks the start of Spring, and each astrological year. The Vernal Equinox, as it is called, has a day and night of equal lengths.
(A Roman Emperor decided upon Jan. 1st as the beginning of the Calendar year, unrelated to astrological year).
Western astrology dictates that Aries, the first sign, begins on the Vernal Equinox, with all other signs to follow in consecutive order.
Jyotish utilizes the Sidereal or Stellar Zodiac, looking to the fixed stars of the constellations for calculations. Sidereal means 'pertaining to the stars', thus...the Science of light.
This traditions does not see the use of measurements of Earth and Sun to be as accurate, due to the "procession of the equinoxes". Because the earth spins like a top in one direction and wobbles slightly in the other, the equinoxes precede (move backwards) @50 seconds per year. In lay terms; we lose an entire day every 72 years in our revolution. Every 72 years, signs shift backwards a day to remain astrologically literal.
Follow?
Western astrology does not adjust for this measurement discrepancy, which is why current Western tradition can no longer be astronomically observed.
Ah...
When Western astrology was devised, both systems had the same dates for all Sun signs.
Therefore, in Vedic/Jyotish, most of us are @ one sign back, (by about 25 days).
 

Raquel

Well-known member
All my life I used to believe in tropical system (because I never knew another one), Until a year ago, that found Vedic astrology.

To me, Vedic astrology is by far the most accurate of all. I see myself completely in the Vedic position of the planets... of sure, from a libra sun, mars, mercury I became a Virgo sun, mars, mercury... i never sympathize with virgo, but to be true, I see myself more in Virgo. And the most important planet in Vedic are the Rashi (moon) mine still in Pisces (which I see completely myself into before and after), and my lagna (ascendant) is in Cancer (totally agree)... I'm unstable socially, I'm shy and i'm humble... I'm very compassionate and emotional...
And I've always suffer with jealously problems (in romantic relationships), and per tropical my venus and mars were in Sagittarius and Libra... (none of these possessive) and I had no planet in Scorpio, unless Pluto (but being pluto an outsider, has almost no meaning)... But then I found, that my Venus in Vedic was in Scorpio... and to me, that was just one more thing that made me believe even more in vedic astrology... Because was always a sick feeling... and still being... I suffer allot with my jealously problems, paranoids, I even dream about it... and I end of destroying the good that I have in a relationship...
 
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Studying my western chart(which seemed accurate) to now learning that Vedic astrology is more substantive has made me doubt the entire science of astrology. More then half of my planets are now in different signs under the Vedic measure.

Was what I looking at just a function of confirmation bias? Was I believing and thus finding reasons to believe?
 
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