History
Jyotish, also known as Vedic Astrology, traces back to Indus Valley civilization with the earliest reference in Veda, precursor of Hinduism. Parashara, an accomplished monk and seer, wrote the monumental classic Brihat Parashara Hora Sastra, a bible-level work on Vedic Astrology. Jyotish’s meticulous and sometimes fatalistic approach attracts only the serious few and deters many.
Western astrology originated in ancient Greece 2500 years ago. Ptolemy, a Greek philosopher, was credited with laying the foundation for modern western astrology in Tetrabiblos. Though originally also fatalistic, current western school is mainly guided by the ‘psychological’ approach of Alan Leo as he attempted to avoid legal issues of ‘fortune-telling’ back in the late 19th century England.
Zodiac
Earth has three motions, though most people only know the first two. Spinning on its tilted axis creates day and night. Rotating around the Sun generates equinoxes and solstices, thus, seasons. Picture a tilted spinning top; it would wobble in a circular motion. In other words, if the spinning top is perfectly perpendicular, such wobble would never happen. This is the third movement: Earth’s tilted axis wobble one circle per 26000 years, or 1 degree per 72 years. The motion creates precession of equinox where the position of Sun on the first day of spring (the vernal equinox) shifts westward a tiny bit every year. This shift creates two zodiacal systems, as well as astrological ages, i.e. Age of Pisces, Age of Aquarius, etc.
Western astrology operates on tropical zodiac where the first day of Aries is the vernal equinox. Jyotish uses sidereal Zodiac where the first day of Aries is when Sun ingresses into constellation Aries. They were once the same day about 2000 years ago. Due to precession of the equinox, these two started to diverge. In Jyotish, this discrepancy is called Ayanamsa, and currently it is at 24°, meaning someone born with Sun at 23° Aries in Western system translates to Sun at 29° Pisces. Both Zodiacs are legitimate and are used for different purposes. Being Aries in western system and Pisces in Vedic system is like being 6 feet 1 inch in the imperial system and 1.86m in metric system.
My personal experience with the two systems
Started with western and transitioned into Jyotish, I found many astrological concepts better defined in Jyotish. For example, lunar Nodes in Western astrology refers past life to South Node and next life to North Node. These wishy-washy descriptions don’t go much deeper. In contrast, clearer explanation can be found in Jyotish: South Node describes a meditative mental state and North Node describes an anxious mental state. Another difference between two systems lies in their relative spiritual integration. Unlike Western astrology, Jyotish is deeply rooted in Hinduism and offers not only psychological understandings but also spiritual insights. It not only pinpoints personal gifts and weaknesses but also offers practical methods for achieving individual goals and aspirations.
I started with the western tradition, but transitioned into Jyotish when I found many astrological concepts better defined in Jyotish. For example, lunar Nodes in western astrology refer past lives to the South Node and next life to North Node. These wishy-washy descriptions don’t go much deeper. In contrast, clearer explanations can be found in Jyotish; the South Node describes a meditative mental state and North Node describes an anxious mental state. Another difference between two systems lies in their relative spiritual integration. Unlike Western astrology, Jyotish is deeply rooted in spirituality and offers not only psychological understandings but also spiritual insights. It not only pinpoints personal gifts and weaknesses but also offers practical methods for achieving goals and aspirations.
Which is better
Is the western system better? Is Jyotish better? Is Tarot better? Is I-Ching more accurate? Which one should I work with? For gamers, Windows is better than Mac since more games are published on Windows. For videographer, Mac is better because Apple’s chips are configured for video editing. One astrological system is better for one thing while not so great for another. In fact, comparing these divinatory practices is akin to comparing languages. Though all language is capable of conveying large spectrums of information and emotion, it still depends on the proficiency of the speaker.
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