What Is Astrology?

The etymology of astrology is found in the Greek ?astrologia,? and is the amalgamation of two Greek words - astron, which means star; and logos, which means study. Astrology simply means studying the stars. Astrology has been known to the peoples of the ancient world for more than 5,000 years, and had been used to study how the celestial bodies affect the events, and the lives of people, on Earth. Tradition has it that astrology originated in ancient Babylon and ancient Mesopotamia before 2000 BC. From here, the system of studying the sun, moon, stars, and the planets, and their affect on Earth reached Greece around 2400 years ago, 400 years before the birth of Christ. Then, through Alexander?s conquests, the science spread to Egypt, the Middle East, and to India.

According to a different school of thought, astrology was already prevalent in India, and this form of astrology ? known as Vedic Astrology ? dates back to 6000 years.

The Different Astrological Traditions

There are many different traditions of astrology, some similar, and some based on different principles. Of the many different traditions, some are: Chinese astrology; Jyotish or Indian (Vedic) astrology; Babylonian astrology; Kabbalistic astrology; Tibetan astrology; Mayan astrology; Celtic astrology; and the Modern Western astrology.

These traditions are, in no way, exhaustive. Of these, the three major traditions used by modern astrologers are:

? The Chinese astrology
? Jyotish or Indian (Vedic) astrology, and
? The Modern Western astrology

Vedic astrology and the Modern Western astrology follow the horoscopic system, where there is a casting of a horoscope. A horoscope is an astrological chart. According to these two traditions, the horoscope represents the Sun, the Moon, the Stars, and the planets, and these celestial entities influence our lives in every aspect.

The Indian (Vedic) astrology is Sidereal - where the zodiac is aligned with 27 constellations, or fixed star groups. The Modern Western astrology, on the other hand, is tropical ? dividing the sky into twelve parts ? all equal. The Chinese system of astrology developed on entirely different principles, and similar traditions existed in the countries under the Chinese influence, such as the other countries of East Asia, including Japan, Vietnam, and Thailand.

How It Works

Astrology believes that our lives are influenced, our personalities are shaped, and the future course that our lives will take depends on how the celestial bodies, such as the sun, the moon, the stars and the planets, are placed when we are born.

We are quite used to the type of astrological readings we see in our newspapers every morning. This is the sun sign astrology, and is astrology in its simplest form. Only the date of your birth is required, and you get very limited results through this system. Serious practitioners of astrology do not use this system.

If you want your readings to be more accurate, the astrologer would require the exact time of your birth, to calculate where in the Zodiac each planet was at that time. He also needs to know in which signs of the constellation are the planets positioned. Drawing a precise horoscope is a complex procedure.

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.