I can’t find a legit explanation on how the tropical zodiac can be legit while accounting for the earth’s wobble. Can someone explain or point me in the right direction?

[Charles]

Currently I am researching Vedic and Western astrology to decide what system to study. When I learned that the “sun” sign in western astrology doesn’t actually stand for where the sun is in the sky I got very thrown off. How can we say for example that the sun is in gemini on certain dates when the sun is actually in Taurus? I get that maybe it’s fixed and it represents the seasons, or the time of year, but then why for all the other planets we actually say what sign they are in but not for the sun? It doesn’t make sense to me. From what I’ve read it seems the people who created the western astrology system didn’t know about the earth’s wobble. Well, okay. But then why does western astrology still follow it if now we know? I really like western astrology and honestly just want to know if there is an explanation as to why this is the case? What is the reason? Is there validity to it?

Discussion

[yinay727]

Western astrology doesn’t use constellations to locate the sun or any other planet or point on a chart. The zodiac coordinate system begins from the position of the sun at the spring equinox, which is called the first point of Aries. In many ancient cultures, this was the first day of the year. Then the sky is divided into 12 parts starting from that point and those are the 12 signs. The stars aren’t in the right places, but astrologers have known this for at least 2,000 years.

[StellaGraphia]

The biggest misunderstanding in astrology is that we use the constellations, and therefore, need to account for the Precession of the Equinoxes (the earth’s wobble). But we don’t. We use ***signs.***

Neither western/tropical nor vedic/sidereal uses the actual constellations. We take the ecliptic, that narrow band around the earth that we see (from our viewpoint) the planets travel through, and divide it up into 12 equally sized ***signs*** of exactly 30 degrees each. Not constellations, but ***signs.*** Constellations vary a great deal in size, from 20 to 50 degrees, yet in our charts, each sign is exactly 30 degrees.

Western/tropical then takes 0 degrees Aries and places it at the spring equinox, and the rest of the zodiac (not constellations) flow from there, with 0 cancer at the summer solstice, 0 libra at the fall equinox and 0 capricorn at the winter solstice. Vedic/sidereal just places 0 aries in one of three other, different spots. And so, the signs are no more accurate to the constellations than western is. It would be impossible to display where one constellation ends and another begins anyway, as they overlap.

Scientists and others love to use the Precession of the Equinoxes as ‘proof’ that astrology isn’t ‘real’. But they have no understanding that we don’t even use the constellations of astronomy. We use the signs of the zodiac.

Not sure why you think the sun is handled differently than the other planets. That’s not the case, in either system. What IS in keeping with astronomy is the position of the plants ***in relation to each other.*** And the timing of events, such as eclipses, moon phases, etc., are all accurate within astronomy.

Retrograde planets aren’t “real” either. It’s only a phenomenon from our point of view. Rather like passing a car on the highway – it’s still moving forward just as we are, but appears to move backward as we pass by it.

[MaximalRecord]

Western astrology uses a seasonal or tropical zodiac, which has nothing to do with the constellations. The first point of Aries is the point where the ecliptic cuts the celestial equator at the precise moment of the Spring Equinox. Likewise zero degrees cancer is the point where the Sun has maximum declination, which is at the Summer Solstice.

[queendestroyer]

I will stop breathing if I look at my Vedic chart, I am NOT sun in TAURUS. I do not agree with it lol it doesn’t make sense at all. If western astrology was bad then why are people agreeing with it and using it? Same question can be asked for Vedic. I think use both, similarly, use both placidus and whole signs and see what makes sense.
But for me I resonate most with western. I will die if I ever open my Vedic chart again….(lmao jk)

I’m sun in Gemini btw