March 25, 1988 This is written for those of you who have some interest in Astrology, but are not sure what to make of it. Is it something that is real and works, or is it just a bunch of generalizations that could fit anybody? This will not be your usual explanation of astrological meanings or arguments as to the validity of astrology. It is about a mistake that was made around the 4th century A.D., and has continued in the West until the present. The mistake is basically this. The planets in the Tropical Zodiac are not in the positions indicated when compared to what's really up there in the sky as far as an astronomer is concerned. In other words if the position of your Sun at your birth was in 24 degrees in the Constellation of Aquarius, there are 12 constellations in the Zodiac divided by 12 is 30 degrees each, then the "real" position according to astronomy would be around 1 degree Aquarius. This is a mistake of over 23 degrees! How could this be? How could astrologers be doing charts for people that are not accurate with what is really up there? Well back in the good old days of Hipparchus in 139 B.C. There was a desire to be able to calculate astronomical positions of the known planets. Since the Greeks at that time thought the Earth was the center of the universe they decided that various points in space were fixed and never changed. One of those points was the Vernal Equinox. They decided that on the date of equal day and night in spring the Sun was entering the constellation of Aries at 0 degrees. They also thought that 0 degrees Aries would be forever on this date of March 21st. Boy were they ever wrong! Long before this the people in Babylonia and Egypt knew that the sky was always on the move. Too bad the Greeks didn't check it out with them. Back in the days of Babylonia and Egypt they used a different Zodiac. The Sidereal Zodiac. Back then there was no difference between the Astrological and Astronomical positions of planets. They used a simple method. They looked up in the sky and measured for themselves. Here we are in the present day and after 2000 years we have a effect called the Precession of the Equinoxes know well by anyone into astronomy. Back 2000 years ago the sun was entering 0 degrees Aries from our position on Earth on March 21st, but today on March 21st the sun is in about 5 and 1/4 degrees of Pisces. How come astrologers don't know this? Well many of them do, but they just say that the real planets don't really have anything to do with the Astrological Planets, which are suppose to be some kind of mental planet or something along those lines. Actually most people that are into astrology aren't very interested in astronomy and don't even know there is a problem. The astrologers that do know are like anyone who has a group of clients that have been following advice for quite a while. Is this astrologer now suddenly going to tell his clients that everything that was told him is now wrong. Not a good way to keep your business going. What I am saying is that almost everyone who has been really into astrology for a while is stuck in this mistake, and unless this person doesn't have something at stake, he or she is most likely not going to change or admit to being wrong. This has been the real problem all these years. When you have a chart done in Tropical Astrology some things fit and some things don't. But if you do a chart in Sidereal Astrology there is a very obvious difference. I have been doing astrology for about 14 years as a hobby. I do not do it for money. I have no clients, just friends who are also interested in the subject, that I do charts for. When I first got into this I knew nothing about Sidereal. I noticed that when I had my chart done some of the descriptions fit while others didn't. This just didn't seem to make any sense. I thought either there is something to this or it's just rubbish. Well a year later, a friend told me about Sidereal and I made up my chart again. What a difference. It was just like having a puzzle with many pieces missing and now finding those pieces and everything just fitting together as it should. I think much of the hostility towards astrology comes from the actions of the astrologers themselves. You have many of them out there who will make a chart fit a client even if it really doesn't. On the other side you have people who just not even accept the possibility of the planets being a factor in their lives. To both of those groups nothing that I have said here will matter, but to those of you who are open to the possibility that there is much out there that we do not know about, and you are willing to explore. Sidereal astrology can be a great learning experience. There is much more that can be said on this subject, but it is more fitting for a book. If anyone is interested in learning more about sidereal I will give a list of some books on the subject. Also I will be available to anyone who has questions. If anyone is very interested I will also calculate a chart for anyone who wants to make up their own chart and interpret it themselves. Just send me your birth data, which is date, time, and place and I will send you back your planetary and house positions. Again you will have to get an astrology book in order to be able to figure out what all the positions mean. Finally I would like to say something about experiments that have been conducted in the past. First of all these experiments were conducted using tropical astrology and being that as far as astronomy is concerned over 3/4 of the planet positions would be in the wrong constellation, so of course these experiments will always prove that astrology has no accuracy to it. Second and even more important is that like many things in life, if you want to know if something is true or not you have to experience it for yourself. You can setup experiments to analyze many things, but an experiment will never tell you what chocolate tastes like if you have never tasted it. Well I know that astrology is not going to be experienced by your physical sensations, it is nevertheless something that you do experience and you will know if the astrological description fits you or not. Here's a list of some books--- Primer of Sidereal Astrology by Cyril Fagan Littlejohn publishing Isabella, Mo. 65676 The Solunars Handbook by Cyril Fagan Clancy publications, Tucson, Az. Astrological Origins by Cyril Fagan Llewellyn publications St. Paul, Minn. 55165 Synetic Vernal Point Ephemeris by Stahl-Allen Solunar Research publ. PO Box 1073, Station A Bay City, Mich. 48706 The New Instant Astrologer by J. Eshelman The Astro Press 7453 Melrose Ave. Los Angeles, Ca. 90046 and here is a general tropical astrology book for interpretations, not bad. The Astrologer's Handbook by F. Sakoian Harper & Row If anyone has comments, questions or would like their Sidereal positions calculated. I can be reached at ParaNet Sigma, Intervision at 603-547-6485. Leave a message with the sysop. Or at Compuserve ID# 73320,2317. Mark Hochman