The Astrological Concepts Of Zodiac
The word Zodiac comes from the Latin zodiacus, and from the Greek word whose meaning is little animals in a circle. Another school of thought suggests that the word was itself derived from sodi from Sanskrit meaning a path the path traveled by the sun. To most astrologers, the latter etymology is more probable, as not all the signs of the Zodiac are animals.
The twelve signs of the Zodiac that are associated with the stars lying along the path the Sun takes, was developed by the Indo-European cultures.
The Ancient Signs Of The Zodiac
The first known celestial coordinate system dividing the elliptical into a dozen equal celestial longitudinal zones can be attributed to the ancient Babylonian astronomers circa 1000 BC. The Zodiac, understood to be a part of the celestial orb, included a strip of eight degrees in the form of an arc, on both sides of the elliptic.
This led to encircling the path the Moon takes, along with the paths taken by the planets that could be seen by the naked eye. These planets - Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Saturn and Venus were known as the wandering planets, differentiating them from those known as immovable stars.
The classic Zodiac also has signs not represented by the animals, such as Libra, Virgo, and Gemini. Those ancient astrologers, along with the astrologers of the Indo-European and the Chinese cultures understood that the way the celestial bodies moved through the elliptical Zodiac explaining and predicting the future occurrences on Earth.
The classic astrologers of old, it is believed, specified the signs of the zodiac by using the Aldebaran and Antares, which respectively are the stars in Taurus and Scorpius the two constellations. These are two stars, on the opposite sides, and serve as equatorial nodes (or poles). These stars were near the very heart of their respective constellations, as well as on the opposite sides of the elliptic. They were designated Taurus 15 (the center of 30° designated for each portion of the Zodiac) and Scorpius 15.
Zodiac And Astrology
Astrologers observe the celestial bodies and their movements in the sky at night for the purpose of divination. Even in modern astrology, Zodiac plays a major part, though there are two different astrological systems the Sidereal and the Tropical.
It does not matter which system the astrologers, to chart the locations of the celestial bodies the Sun, the Moon, and the planets vis-ΰ-vis the signs of the Zodiac, use. When charting out a horoscope it is the association between a sign and its properties, with the planets (including the Sun and the Moon) with their properties, positioned in those signs, which matters.
The planets are known to influence the events on Earth (the very basis of astrology), but the sign within which they are positioned, along with its influence, personalizes the way they do. Therefore, the system used Sidereal or Tropical does not matter. The results ought to be the same.
The Vedic astrology follows the Sidereal system, and the Western astrology the Tropical.
Ambrosia Knight is an author for Astrology Questions. A resource website exploring horoscope, zodiac signs, tarot cards, & chinese horoscope. Discover exciting information you will never read from daily horoscope reports on newspapers. You may find yourself pleasantly surprised reading about your sign or of those people you know. Visit Astrology Questions.com for all your astrology related questions.
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