Western astrology (tropical, geocentric)

There are many different systems of astrology, so I thought a brief explanation of why I use the common western tropical, geocentric system of astrology was in order.

Geocentric means "earth-centered". This system of astrology shows the planets from the point of view of the earth. Another system is Heliocentric, or "sun-centered". You could argue that sun-centered astrology reflects more of what we know about the solar system - the planets orbit the sun, not the earth. That's fine, but we live on the earth. In astrology, we are only concerned about the planetary energies as they fall to earth and influence our lives on earth. Heliocentric astrology is fine if you live on the sun!

Tropical astrology is the system commonly used in the west. In India, and other eastern countries, they use something called sidereal astrology. Tropical astrology is based on the seasons. Aries always begins at the spring equinox. Cancer always begins at the summer solstice. Libra always begins at the fall equinox. Capricorn always begins at the winter solstice. If you understand the exoteric and esoteric significance of the signs, you understand that this is appropriate.

Sidereal astrology is more astronomically accurate in that it takes into account the precession of the equinoxes. If you live in the west, the sun sign you've always thought you were born under is probably a different sign in sidereal astrology. Sidereal (or Vedic) astrology is also an appropriate system.

Why do I use tropical astrology if sidereal astrology is more astronomically accurate? The simple answer is that I live in America and have a European background. Things aren't accidental. Western astrology was given to western cultures for a reason. With that said, East and West are coming together, and we can learn from Eastern astrology too. Astrology is enormously complex. Each type of chart gives us a new layer of information. I believe that both Western and Eastern astrology are totally valid on some level.

There are several different house systems in western astrology. I use the Koch house system. It takes into account the actual place of birth.