All 52 chapters
  1. Part 1 · The sky and the chart
  2. The sky above us
  3. Time and place of birth
  4. Two zodiacs
  5. How a chart is drawn
  6. Part 2 · The building blocks
  7. The 9 planets
  8. The 12 signs
  9. The 27 nakshatras
  10. The 12 houses
  11. The lagnas
  12. Part 3 · How planets work together
  13. How planets interact
  14. Friends, dispositors, exchanges
  15. House lords
  16. Reading one placement
  17. Part 4 · Strength and condition
  18. Dignity in depth
  19. A planet's mood
  20. Planetary strength
  21. Ashtakavarga in depth
  22. Part 5 · Patterns: yogas and doshas
  23. Yogas
  24. Doshas
  25. Part 6 · The nakshatras up close
  26. Reading a nakshatra
  27. Tara Bala
  28. Part 7 · Divisional charts
  29. Divisional charts
  30. Navamsa in depth
  31. Part 8 · Timing
  32. Dashas
  33. Transits
  34. The annual chart (Tajika)
  35. Part 9 · Relationships
  36. Compatibility
  37. Marriage in depth
  38. Part 10 · Advanced systems
  39. Special points
  40. Jaimini astrology
  41. Arudha padas
  42. KP astrology
  43. Nadi astrology
  44. Part 11 · Choosing the moment
  45. Panchanga
  46. Muhurta
  47. Prashna (horary)
  48. Part 12 · Life areas
  49. Career, money and business
  50. Travel, abroad, spirituality
  51. Health and longevity
  52. Karma and past lives
  53. Remedies
  54. Rectifying a birth time
  55. Part 13 · Western astrology
  56. Western astrology basics
  57. Aspects and chart shapes
  58. Western prediction
  59. Synastry
  60. Horary and electional
  61. Part 14 · The wider world
  62. Mundane astrology and eclipses
  63. Astrocartography and branches
  64. Part 15 · Putting it all together
  65. How it all fits
  66. How AstroMatch4u scores a chart
  67. Using astrology well
Part 13Western astrology
CHAPTER 43

Western astrology: the basics

How is the astrology in magazines different?

Western astrology grew from the same Babylonian and Greek roots as part of Indian astrology, then went its own way. It uses the same twelve signs and houses but differs in four big ways:

Tropical zodiacSigns follow the seasons (the zodiacs chapter), about 24° ahead of the Vedic signs.
Ten planetsThe seven classical planets plus Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.
Degree aspectsAspects are exact angles between planets, with an allowed margin (orb).
Psychological focusModern Western astrology mostly describes character and growth rather than predicting events.

The outer planets

UranusFound in 1781. Sudden change, freedom, invention, rebellion. About 7 years in a sign.
NeptuneFound in 1846. Dreams, imagination, compassion, confusion. About 14 years in a sign.
PlutoFound in 1930. Power, depth, endings and rebirth. 12 to 30 years in a sign.

Because they move so slowly, everyone born within a few years shares their signs, so astrologers read their house and aspects for the individual and their signs for a generation.

Points

Ascendant (ASC)The rising sign and degree: your manner and how you meet the world.
Descendant (DSC)Opposite the ascendant: partners and what you seek in others.
Midheaven (MC)The top of the chart: career, public life, ambitions.
Imum Coeli (IC)The bottom of the chart: home, roots, private life.
North and South NodeThe Moon's nodes (Rahu and Ketu in Vedic): growth direction and comfort zone.
ChironA small body found in 1977, called the "wounded healer": the hurt that becomes your gift to others.
Black Moon LilithThe point of the Moon's orbit farthest from Earth: raw instinct and what is suppressed.
Part of FortuneAscendant + Moon − Sun (for a day birth): where ease and well-being flow.
VertexA point on the western side of the chart linked with fated meetings.

House systems

Western astrologers choose among many ways to cut the houses. Placidus is the most popular today; Whole Sign is the oldest (and the one Vedic astrology uses); Equal, Koch, Porphyry and Regiomontanus (favoured in horary) are others. They agree on the ascendant and differ on where the other houses begin.

All chapters