When you look up at the night sky, what do you see? Stars? The moon? That’s not all the dark night’s blanket carries around. The sky stores with it the secrets to all our lives and astrologers can help unveil their enigma.
Astrology is the art and science of studying the movement of celestial bodies to gain information about events that occur in the lives of people like you and me. It has been around as an indispensable part of our society since about the 2nd millennium BCE.
When you and I look up at night we can see the stars and join them to look like a tiger or a teddy bear. But when astrologers look up they see all our sun and moon signs and can draw patterns about any upswing or downswing that could occur in our lives.
When people are born it is not just their birthdate that is of significance; the position of certain celestial bodies at the time of birth are also very important. When you go to an astrologer to seek any advice they will first inquire about your birthdate and time. Based on this information they draw a chart which acts as a starting point for them to understand the effects of these celestial bodies in your life.
You can go to an astrologer and ask them questions about anything in your life; be it love, family, finance, education or your career. However, you must always keep in mind that astrologers, like you and me, are mere mortals. Many people take them to be fortune tellers and ask them to predict the future, however Astrology can only give you the road map you were born with and the pros and cons of those situations, however we as human beings have something known as free-will and if we take an action based on our free-will it will change the route on the map and thus at times you will see astrological readings for you going wrong or not matching with the chart you were born with.
Even the kind of questions you ask have an influence on how they can help you. As the saying goes, ask questions to which you wish to know the answer. Imagine if someone asked you something like “tell me about yourself”. Even if it sounds simple it is really difficult to just talk about yourself at the drop of a hat. But instead if they asked you to share some specific episodes from your life it would be easier. Similarly, asking astrologers open ended questions like, “how is my future going to be” is not going to get you anywhere. Instead if you asked for guidance in specific areas they could be of much better help.
Now let’s take a quick look at astrology in different cultures.
Western culture- astrology in the western world is studied under the larger discipline of divination. Astrologers study the sun, moon and stars and classify people into one of the 12 zodiac signs dominated by the movement of the sun.
Hindu culture- while the western world uses the sun as its main element, believers of Hinduism give greater importance to the moon. They classify people in a similar manner of horoscopes but the only difference is that these horoscopes are decided by the movement of the moon.
East-Asian culture- it can also be understood along the lines of Chinese astrology; East Asian astrologers adopted this practise primarily for political reasons. They charted their readings into 12 equal sections named after animals.
As a concluding remark it is important for us to understand that astrology is not magic, crystal ball reading or anything with some voodoo in it. It is a science that bases its beliefs and studies in celestial bodies. Ultimately it all boils down to your beliefs that can give planets or stars the power to guide you in your life.