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Edited on Tue Feb-26-08 11:45 AM by Dover
lest we become too dogmatic and stuck in our boxes. As you might expect, it's a controversial issue for astrologers (just one of MANY controversies), and there are many thoughtful perspectives on the different systems. My own thoughts, though I'm certainly no expert or astro-historian, is that during the rationalist movement which among other things introduced a more dualistic perspective and nourished the growing objectification of experience, astrology at some point (for various reasons not the least of which was convenience) broke its bond with the heavens and shifted from a Sun-centered perspective to that of an Earth-centered or geocentric one. The precession of the equinoxes, a phenomenon discovered c. 130 BC by Hipparchus and known to Ptolemy, results in a shift between the two systems of about one degree every 70 years.
The vernal equinox lay near the beginning of the Aries constellation around 500 BC, consistent with a Babylonian origin of the system.
While classical tropical astrology is based on the orientation of the Earth relative to the Sun and planets of the solar system, sidereal astrology deals with the position of the Earth relative to both of these as well as the stars of the celestial sphere. The actual positions of certain fixed stars as well as their constellations is an additional consideration in the horoscope. (Over very long astronomical time scales, these fixed stars are of course themselves far from stationary.)
Some sidereal astrologers denounce tropical astrologers for failing to relate to the "actual heavens," seeing in this a fundamental degeneration of the subject (Kenneth Bowser, The Traditional Astrologer magazine, (Ascella), Issue 14, May 1997, pp.23-27 <1>).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidereal_astrology And for our Western world it has remained that way for some time, although as we have opened up to Eastern influences Vedic astrology, which is based on a Sidereal system, as well as other small groups of astrologers interested in recovering the ancient sidereal system, began to shift our modern understanding yet again in the other direction. I've said before as regards accuracy vs. collective belief, that it really depends on what 'reality' one lives in, and the consciousness (or lack thereof) driving that reality more than it is a matter of any one system being more accurate than another...or whatever else the argument. So until we are prepared to fully reconnect with the heavens, and a Sun rather than Earth-centered view of reality, the reality of the Tropical zodiac will live on and reflect back to us its portrait of us through geocentric eyes. Of course the whole issue is more complex than that, so I'm posting the links on Sidereal Astrology if you care to look more deeply into this matter. And I'm sure the other astrologers have some wisdom and their own perspective to contribute to this issue as well. Many Sidereal Astrologers look upon the Tropical system as a regressive geocentric viewpoint...as useless as the flat earth theory...though, as has been stated, if one goes back beyond the rationalist period, we find that the sun-centered Sidereal view is rooted in the more ancient form of astrology. Here's a rather strongly biased explanation in favor of Sidereal Astrology (though this group may be growing, it's still dwarfed by the Tropical astrology group): First, we must realize that the wisdom of the true astrology of the ancients, as with other esoteric (Gnostic) wisdom, was transferred (taken) from Babylon, Caldia, and Egypt, and then it was eventually bastardized into a confused menagerie. This seems to have started with the dominating influence of Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia (336 to 323 B.C.), who catalyzed an amalgamation of Egyptian, Babylonian, and Greco-Roman thought into a new cultural expression in the 4th century B.C.; and later by Ptolemy.
Subduing Egypt during his conquerings and explorations, Alexander proclaimed himself Pharaoh in 332 B.C. while placating native priests at Memphis. He founded Alexandria, which was to become a primary intellectual center, and which was primarily Greek and Jewish. Here, miss-understood Egyptian mysteries and Greek philosophies merged into the "Mysteries of Serapis." This was the cultural emergence of esoteric teachings prominent throughout Alexandria's golden age. (Mysteries simply means esoteric teachings about life, not unfathomable or secret.) Also a center for Jewish learning, the Great Temple of Serapis is believed to be where the Old Testament was translated from Hebrew into Greek. Alexander's dominating influence in coastal Egypt and his further conquest of Baylon along with much of Asia Minor laid the foundations for the various religious factions of the Greco-Roman world. (Alexander attempted to create a master race through a genetic fusion of Macedonian men with Persian women--just one example of this megalomaniac's brutal conquests.)
Beginning with the death of Alexander in 323 B.C. and continuing through around 31 B.C., the Hellenistic Period gave birth to a diversity of esoteric philosophies and occult practices, all derived from the Egyptian and Babylonian mysteries. The cultural peak of this period, from 280 B.C. to 160 B.C., produced Euclid, Hipparchus, Eratosthenes, Dionysius and many other creative thinkers, who all expounded upon the cultural influence of Ancient Egypt. However, although this period carried forth some of the ancient esoteric teachings in a new intellectual language, it also produced a highly intellectualized amalgamate of confused ideas. The Hellenists bastardized Egypt's already cryptic and esoteric language into near total confusion because the majority of the Hellenistic culture did not have the perceptual awareness to comprehend matters of the soul, nor had they the capacity to intellectually comprehend Egypt's mythical picture language. Instead of grasping the language (astronomical mythical images as well as Egyptian hieroglyphics) from a soul perspective and realizing the transcendent wisdom of the evolutionary journey of the soul, the Greco-Romans attempted to translate this picture language from the perspective of the limited personality. This reduced Ancient Egypt's esoteric wisdom into a non-sensible confusion of men worshipping a pantheon of gods and stars. The dispersion of this confusion from Alexandria into Eastern Europe through the centuries ahead led to confused occult practices and perverted systems of belief that ran rampant throughout Eastern Europe at the time. The Roman Empire, Christianity and Byzantium, and their various sects--all derivations of the esoteric wisdom of Ancient Egypt--were the eventual result of this confused cultural fusion that originated in and migrated from Alexandria.
Prior to the early few centuries of the first millennia, planetary measurement was always referenced to the fixed stars (sidereal) as was the astrology of the ancients (Babylonia, etc). Astronomy and astrology were always one and the same until the Greco-Roman church-state astronomers began to record planetary ephemerides referenced to the moving vernal point rather than to the fixed stars, but ignoring that the vernal point moved with precessional, and while maintaining that all other heavenly bodies rotated around the Earth--a statement certainly affirming true egoic consciousness. (This was due in particular to Claudius Ptolemaeus (c. 90 - c. 168 AD) who was employed by the Greco-Roman controlling faction. Ptolemaeus was a mathematician, not a true astronomer. Some assert he never even looked into the heavens as an astronomer would look (Allen).) To say anything other than Earth was the center was heresy, so only those willing to sell out to the manipulative ploys of the church-state, and perpetuate the asserted geocentric dogma of western Christendom, stayed on the pay-role and kept their heads (actually, they were burned at the stake!). Here was planted the bastardization of true soul level astronomical astrology, and here began the Hellenistic, Ptolemaic, tropical astrology in an age of suppression, and which is still in vogue today.
This manipulation and bastardization of the true astrological artscience into tropical astrology also affirmed that people had a finite life at the end of which they would either be saved or punished depending if they followed the dictums of the controlling political-religious faction, thus squelching any desire for individuals to spiritually aspire and awaken to the greater truth that they were durative, continually evolving souls; parts of, not separate from a greater unified intelligence. The true and greater art-sciences including astronomical astrology, Pythagorean sacred geometry, harmonic math, and other such art-sciences, were forced underground until the later time of Nicolaus Copernicus in the 1500’s who finally triumphed in eradicating the perpetuated dogma that Earth was the center around which all other heavenly bodies rotated--the egoic head-trip of the Greco-Roman church-state. From here, others would follow: Tycho Brahe (1546-1601), Johann Bayer, and later yet, Johann Kepler (December 27, 1571 - November 15, 1630), who, in the early 1600’s, brought forth the truth of the occulted astronomical and mathematical wisdom based in harmonic resonance that had been long lost. Kepler's most famous book is "Harmonia Mundi" (Harmony of the Worlds). Kepler was a mathematician, astronomer AND astrologer (responsible for revealing the affect of many astrological aspects / harmonics). Kepler is sometimes referred to as "the first theoretical astrophysicist."
It is interesting to note that many of the religions of the world, as well as the perpetuation of "tropical astrology" still in vogue today are based on the confused mentalities common to the early first millennia. It is also interesting to consider that the perpetual use of tropical astrology today may be an energetic and harmonic affirmation that perpetuates a chiasm in time that continues to widen at the rate of Earth's precession, one keeping the masses drifting in time-confusion rather than living in the truth that the true sidereal zodiak reveals. Perhaps Pluto's transit through sidereal Sag starting in 2006 will help open the way for the truth of the heavens to eventually shine.http://www.lunarplanner.com/siderealastrology.htmlOther links: http://www.westernsiderealastrology.com/Rob Hand on the History of the Zodiac: http://www.zodiacal.com/articles/hand/history.htmBooks: The Origin of the Zodiac http://books.google.com/books?id=qGJcsrkPTToC&dq=sidereal+astrology&pg=PP1&ots=-DeRib7gNz&source=citation&sig=w4Y-OcNVab8LThLXTfua1mJPDs4&hl=en&prev=http://www.google.com/search?q=Sidereal+astrology&btnG=Google+Search&sa=X&oi=print&ct=result&cd=1&cad=bottom-3resultsAstrology of the Seers: A Guide to Vedic/Hindu Astrology By Dr. David Frawley http://books.google.com/books?id=uAQZGITZhYQC&dq=sidereal+astrology&pg=PP1&ots=dvQ9GTOcWM&source=citation&sig=gcAs6_OY32pwe_FkcdXzJWBTYZ4&hl=en&prev=http://www.google.com/search?q=Sidereal+astrology&btnG=Google+Search&sa=X&oi=print&ct=result&cd=2&cad=bottom-3results
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