What is a Horoscope?

Most of us are used to the daily horoscopes presented in the newspaper or sold in digest form at the supermarket check-out magazine rack. Full of pithy, vague predictions and general advice, these representations of astrology have rightly earned the scepticism and scorn of critics.

A true horoscope, however, is a precise chart as technical as a blueprint and, in the hands of a skilled interpreter, as revealing as a CAT scan. As much a work of art as science, a complete horoscope is a wonderous symphony of astronomical, mathematical, and temporal data which serves as a guide to understanding personality.

While not meeting the standards of modern science for reproduceable results, virtually every developing culture at some point depended heavily on the advice of those who studied the stars. The pyramids of Egypt, Mesoamerica, and the Fertile Crescent are all built on designs carefully aligned with the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars.

To some, the notion of a relationship between the time of birth and personality seems like ancient superstition, despite the widespread and enduring practice of astrology in cultures as diverse as China and the Mayans. Today, we are most familiar with the system formulated by the Greeks, who defined with vivid imaginations the shapes of stars as figures from legends and myths.

The critical terms of a horoscope are the Sun Sign, the Rising Sign, also known the Ascendent. Nearly everyone is familiar with the Sun sign, which designates the month of birth according to the position of the sun witing a given constellation. The Rising sign is calculated from the time of day birth occurred.

A common complaint that astrology skeptics voice is the unlikelihood that all people of the same sun sign could really share such personality traits. There are always individual differences. This objection, however, arises from ignorance of the many variables accounted for in a complete horoscope.

By plotting the position of the the planets within one of the twelve Houses, an experienced astrologer can make a personality analysis so complete as to bend the incredulity of even the most steadfast skeptic.

For many, the advice of an astrologer is critical before any important decision is made. Today, such individuals tend to be branded as unusual or worse. For thousands of years, it was common for kings to maintain a wizard in the court and to base the gravest of choices on the verdict of the chart.

One misconception about astrology is that it is mystical, or implies some metaphysical agency responsible for making us adhere our behavior to that of the stars. While many do indeed find spiritual meaning in the startling accuracy of their horoscope, it may not be that mysterious after all that earthbound events often mirror celestial ones.

A great many ancient calendars recognized a cyclical nature to time, which at all levels is measured against repeating, regular astronomical events. Perhaps the ancients, unburdened by the need to replicate their experiments to the satisfaction of stubborn empiricists, discovered a logic to the pattern of the universe, which, like a great clock, moves each cog in turn to a perfect rythmic harmony of the spheres.

© Amana Mission Publishing Ink 2008 All Rights Reserved

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