Software -- If you have any questions, ask me. I will be glad to try to help.
you see letters instead of glyphs below, you will need to get this font. It is the one listed as Astrology TrueType Font.
| Aries | A | Libra | G |
| Taurus | B | Scorpio | H |
| Gemini | C | Sagittarius | I |
| Cancer | D | Capricorn | J |
| Leo | E | Aquarius | K |
| Virgo | F | Pisces | L |
| Saturn | W |
| Jupiter | V |
| Mars | U |
| Sun | Q |
| Venus | T |
| Mercury | S |
| Moon | R |
In response to a student's question:
What I mean is that by day, the planet is more comfortable in his day house, and at night is more comfortable in his night house. I'm not talking triplicities, the subject recently on the lists. This is rulership of the sign, not the triplicity. I think of it kind of like each planet has a regular house and a summer house. A person is usually a bit more comfortable in their regular house than in their summer house. Which sign is which depends on the sect of the chart.
Saturn makes his home in Aquarius by day and Capricorn by night.
Jupiter makes his home in Sagittarius by day and Pisces by night.
Mars makes his home in Aries by day and Scorpio by night.
Sun makes his home in Leo by day and night.
Venus makes her home in Libra by day and Taurus by night.
Mercury makes its home in Gemini by day and Virgo by night.
Moon makes her home in Cancer by day and night.
Q: so day is fire and air and water and earth are night<
A: Yes.
The Chaldean order of planets is a very persasive order, yet usually overlooked. The Chaldean order begins with the slowest, heaviest planet (Saturn), followed by the second slowest planet (Jupiter), and so on down to the fastest, lightest planet (Moon). Notice above that every time list the planets, I do so in the Chaldean order. So? Check this out:
The order of the rulerships is symmetrical and in order from heaviest to lightest (I actually should have drawn it with the Saturn signs on top, so just rotate it 180 degrees). You will find this theme repeated frequently throughout all of traditional astrology.
As you may know, there are two zodiacs in use. When we look up into the sky, we see constellations that make up the zodiac. However, if we look at an ephemeris, we may note that, say, Mars is in Taurus right now. If we look to the sky, we would see that he is in the constellation of Aries. Why is this? This is due to a phenomenon called the precession of the equinoxes. Due to the wobble of the earth on its orbit, the signs seem to move in relationship to their constellations. It does this very slowly, moving less than a minute of a degree of a sign each year. Some people, most notably those who practice Vedic astrology, use the constellations we can see as the zodiac. This is called the sidereal zodiac. Sidereal comes from the Latin word sider, which means star. So the sidereal zodiac is the zodiac of the stars. The zodiac used in Western astrology is the one that shifts. It is based not on the stars of the constellations, but on the moment the Sun crosses the equator in its yearly trek. In the sidereal zodiac, 0 Aries is the very start of the constellation of Aries. In the tropical zodiac, 0 Aries is the degree where the Sun reaches its equinox. We can easily see why our Eastern comrades use the sidereal zodiac; it makes intuitive sense. So why do we use the tropical zodiac? It is because the Sun is the most important object in the sky for us. Without the sun, there would be no life on earth. Our seasons are based on his rhythms, his rising, his setting, his waxing, his waning. Western astrology recognizes this and that is why we use the tropical zodiac. Does that mean that the sidereal is flawed? No. Both zodiacs are equally valuable, but only in the context of the astrology systems that were designed around them. Vedic astrology is just as accurate as Western, but only if you use the sidereal zodiac and Western astrology is just as accurate as Vedic, but only if you use the tropical zodiac. You cannot mix the two methods.
Comment: I agree you can't mix them but a lot of people try !!
My Reply: And look at their results! :)
Time is also affected by the difference between the sun and the stars. There are two important times to be aware of in astrology. In order for you to better see the relationship between the two, I will refer to solar time using the 24 hour system, so 6 pm would be 18:00.
Solar time is what we use everyday. The sun always rises sometime between 03:00 and 09:00 every day, depending on where we live and what season it is. The sun always peaks overhead somewhere between 12:00 and 14:00, depending on how far we are from the time zone change and whether or not we are in daylight savings time. Solar time is based on the daily rising and setting of the sun.
Sidereal time is just as simple, but a bit foreign. Sidereal time is based on the rising and setting of the stars. Let's make up a star for our example. Let's be really original and call it Sider. Now we know that the sun travels across the various stars throughout the year, much like the hour hand travels around the face of the clock throughout the day.
Q: > When you say the sun is travelling, do you mean what gives the appearance of the constellations and specific stars rising and set? <
A: Yes.
Q: As in around nov the pleiades rise?
A: Exactly.
So let's say that the sun rises at the same time as Sider on March 21. So let's say that that time is 06:00 (yes, we are on the cusp of a time zone). So the sidereal time would also be 06:00. Now 6 months later, the sun is rising when Sider is setting. This is because we move in relationship to the sun far more than in relationship to the star Sider. The solar time is still (because we are on a time zone cusp and it is the other equinox) 06:00. But now the sidereal time is 18:00, because the star Sider came up at 06:00 sidereal time, and set 12 hours later. I only chose the equinoxes because the sun rises at the same solar time every where on earth on the equinoxes. I hope the concept is clear, though. This site has a wonderful little animation that can show you visually what I am trying to describe in words. I am not sure which star exactly is used in calculating sidereal time, but I don't have to because it is printed in our ephemeris. Sidereal time really only comes into play when calculating house cusps. Since we are using software, we don't have to worry about it, but if you were to ever cast a chart by hand, you would need to know so you can find the ascending degree in a table of houses.
