It’s hard to do astrology well if you are completely clueless about the astronomy. In ancient times, astrologers first learn how to calculate charts by hand. This doesn’t mean they were all astronomers, but they understood certain astronomical calculations and movements of the planets. In fact, the subtleties were built into the astrology texts of the day.
Understanding how the ecliptic intersects with the eastern horizon, to form the ascendant (or lagna “intersecting point”) is just the beginning. An awareness of this basic astronomy also allows us to understand issues we now see vexing the astrology community, especially related to zodiac’s and other simple “problems”.
It also helps us understand things such as “retrograde motion”, how to align the zodiac (which measures planets circling the earth) with the seasons and the earth going around the sun (called the “ayana”). The ancient vedic astrological texts assumed that a student understood these basic ideas and calculations. But sadly today, many do not.
In this Video I describe the nature of retrograde planets.
In this Video I give a brief overview on the astronomical principles and history – from the geocentric model that we use, to the heliocentric model that developed, to the ancient scholars such as Hipparchus, the Ptolemaic theory and the modern application of these teachings.
In my upcoming Class “Making Predictions with Transits” I will begin by explaining the necessary astronomy, so you will understand these issues from an astronomical point of view, not necessarily from a textual or historical point of view. Meaning, it’s one thing to quote what’s in the texts. It’s another thing to understand the movements of the heavenly bodies correctly.