East and West Astrology

By Das Goravani of
Website: www.goravani.com

What does the word “Vedic” imply about this type of astrology?

Vedic astrology differs from Western or Tropical astrology mainly in that it uses the fixed zodiac as opposed to the moving zodiac. Because of the gradual tilting of the earth in space on it’s axis, the zodiac, if you calculate it from the Sun’s relationship to the Earth, appears to be moving at the rate of a little less than 1/60th of a degree per year. Currently, the relative or movable zodiac is off or out of alignment with the fixed or real star-based zodiac by roughly 23 degrees, which is almost one whole sign of the zodiac.

So, first and foremost you should know that Vedic astrology sticks with that original, star-based zodiac and thus another term to describe Vedic astrology is that it is “sidereal astrology”, which simply means that the real zodiac is used to locate WHICH SIGNS THE PLANETS ARE CURRENTLY LOCATED IN.

The signs the planets are in is one important part of astrology. Because the two systems are skewed from each other by nearly one whole sign, most people’s “Sun Sign”, that which you can get from the paper each day, is usually one sign back when the chart is re-figured using Vedic astrology.

So, the first surprise using Vedic is that you are no longer the Sun Sign you always thought you were. This happens with many charts. However, if you were born in the last 5 days or so of the Western Sign month, then you will probably still be that sign in Vedic since the difference is 23 degrees currently, and signs are 30 degrees long in space (12 signs times 30 degrees each each a 360 degree circle surrounding the Earth).

Vedic astrology also has a great number of techniques for studying the charts once they are cast which give Vedic a predictive edge. For example, the “dashas” or “planetary ruling periods” system which is a part of the Vedic system give Vedic astrologers a tool for quite accurately predicting the trends, changes and events in your life with good accuracy regarding dating when things will take place. Therefore, Vedic astrologers are less limited to talking about your general overall self and can get more deeply into what’s going to happen in your life.