Three traditions
Western astrology uses the tropical zodiac (twelve thirty-degree signs based on the seasonal year), the seven classical planets plus the modern outer planets (Uranus, Neptune, Pluto), and twelve houses representing life areas. Vedic (Jyotiṣa) astrology uses the sidereal zodiac (aligned to the actual fixed stars), an additional system of twenty-seven nakṣatras (lunar mansions), and substantially different predictive techniques. Chinese astrology operates on entirely different principles — the twelve animal signs, five elements, and the sixty-year cycle. The three are not interchangeable.
What it actually claims
The serious astrological position is as above, so below — the Hermetic principle of correspondence applied to the relationship between celestial and human cycles. It is a claim about meaningful coincidence, not about physical causation by planetary gravity. The honest astrologer is interested in pattern recognition and timing, not in predicting specific events deterministically.
In the index
Pam Gregory is the index's most consistent voice on the contemporary Western tradition — her bi-monthly updates work the major transits in plain English without leaning on jargon. Her work on the long Pluto-in-Capricorn period (2008-2024) and the current Pluto-in-Aquarius transit (until 2044) are the cleanest explanations in the index of why the major outer-planet movements are felt collectively rather than only individually.
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