Astrology is the study of the positions and aspects of celestial bodies in the belief that they have an influence on the course of natural earthly occurrences and human affairs. Planetary observation is the basis of Astrology.

The history of Astrology is an important part of civilization and goes back to the early days of the human race. Some of the well-known civilizations of the world used this field extensively.

The ancient Babylonians were the first to name the days of the week after the Sun, Moon, and planets. They were also the first to set out the twelve houses of the horoscope. Egypt contributed a lot towards the development of Astrology. It is thought that some of the astrological signs of the zodiac originated in Egypt.

Greek astronomer Ptolemy was the first ever person to write a book on Astrology. He codified the sun sign astrology that we know today. Ptolemy tried to predict the positions of celestial bodies relative to each other and the earth through knowledge of their orbital motions. During his time, astrology was a part of astronomy. Later, astronomy became an exact science and Astrology remained a part of Theology.

Chinese astrology stresses on the five elements, metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Even the zodiac signs used by them are also different from other forms of astrology.

India has a rich history of Astrology. Astrology was practiced even in the Vedic times in India. Astrology is one of the six disciplines of Vedanga. Ancient Hindu Scriptures too give a lot of importance to the various aspects of planetary motions and its effects on humans. It is regarded as vital in Indian culture. It is used to make decisions about marriage, starting of new businesses, and moving into a new house etc. The Hindus believe that human fortune or misfortune in life is due to karma, and karma is believed to be influenced by the movements of the planets. Among the Hindus, Brahmins are considered to be the best authorities on astrology.

The astrologers in India claim that it is a scientific method to predict the future. They still club this field of study within the parameters of Hinduism. Hindus almost unanimously believe in astrological predictions. More and more Indians have started to build their houses according to the principles of Vastu Shashtra.

This ancient Indian tradition is also governed by astrological implications. Hindus believe that the overall prosperity and benefits of the occupants is dependant on the Vastu principles while building the house. Indian Astrologers claim that they can prove that astrological predictions are indeed scientific.

Horoscope is a part of Astrology. Reading the horoscope daily has become a trend even in the developed countries of the West. The Western mind has always put everything subject to scrutiny and they tend to rely solely on scientific facts.

But that is not preventing the western people from being obsessed with their horoscopes. Suddenly, the western world has woken up to the possibility of knowing and improving their future with the use of astrology. More and more westerners have started to believe in the possibility of getting affected by the powerful planets and stars.

Western scholars have included the subject of astrology in their research. Astrology was never scrutinized and researched ever before the way it has been done over the last few years. In this regard, the Indian astrologers should come forward and show the world the power that astrology holds.

Learn how your destiny is not framed but not defined with Vedic Astrology

Vedic Astrology is the study of positions of heavenly bodies like Sun, Moon, and planets of the solar system, with respect to the zodiac and the interpretation of the effect of such heavenly bodies on the events in earth in the life of an individual. It is called Vedic Astrology, because the principles on which the study and interpretations are made were first enumerated in the ‘Vedas’ - the first treatise of ancient Hindu philosophy.

What is Zodiac?

If we imagine a path in the sky at approximately 18 degrees arc in the width encircling the earth in an east west direction, groups of stars will appear to be apparently fixed in relation to earth along this imaginary path. There are 27 groups of stars in the path which are recognized by Vedic Astrology. These groups of stars in the imaginary path are called zodiac. This zodiac forms the reference for fixing up the position of any planet or star in the sky. Since this zodiac is encircling the earth it can be measured as 360 degrees, where these 27 groups of stars are evenly placed, hence each of them have a span of 360 degrees/27 = 13 degrees 20′ arc.

What are Zodiac Signs or Rashis?

When the zodiac is divided into 12 equal parts each having a span of 30 degrees arc, then each of this arc is called a zodiac sign. A sign, therefore, will consist of 2 ¼ groups of stars. A particular group of stars called Ashwini, in the zodiac is considered the starting point of the zodiac and is called the star no.1. Similarly, there are individual name for the 26 group of stars. Ashwini (1), Bharini (2), Krittika (3) are the first three stars in the zodiac. As stated earlier, the first span of 30 degrees arc in the zodiac will consist of Ashwini, Bharini and ¼ of Krittika constitute the first zodiac sign called ‘Aries’. The name of the remaining 11 zodiac signs after ‘Aries’ are : Taurus(2), Gemini(3), Cancer(4), Leo(5), Virgo(6), Libra(7), Scorpio(8), Sagittarius(9), Capricorn(10), Aquarius(11) and Pisces(12).

What are Heavenly Bodies?

Influencing the events on earth Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Rahu, and Ketu all loosely termed as planets, appear to revolve around the earth continuously while always staying within the limits of zodiac. Vedic astrology in the ancient text had recognized these 9 entities. Out of which, the Sun is a star. Moon is the satellite of earth. Rahu and Ketu are two mathematical points on the zodiac and the rest are planets. Modern Vedic Astrologers also consider the effect of distant planets like Neptune, Uranus and Pluto.

What is an Ecliptic?

The apparent movement or path of the Sun along the zodiac is called the Ecliptic. The ecliptic passes through the center of zodiac and is inclined at an angle of 23 degrees and 28 minutes to the center of zodiac.

Learn how your destiny is not framed but not defined with Vedic Astrology

Indian Astrology, called the Jyotish, is universal and timeless. Jyotisha is one of the most time-tested and oldest systems of astrology in the world. In Western countries, it is called Vedic astrology, which refers to Indian or Hindu astrology.

Indian Astrology originated from Vedic Scriptures, dating back at least ten to twenty thousand years. The Vedas the oldest books of the world library. They are the world’s most ancient scriptures and the most vast, complete system of knowledge known to man. Indian Astrology is the science of understanding the subtle influences that come to us from the greater universe.

The most popularly followed astrological classics today are the ones written by Rishis like Parashara, Varahamihira, Garga, Jaimini and their followers. People in those days had no satellites or telescopes and yet the planetary positions and their motions recorded by them are as accurate as the planetary positions and degrees recorded today using the space satellites. Our ancient astrologers used their divine intuition to record these planetary movements and their effects on us.

Astrology has undergone several changes over time. In the past, everything was calculated without the aid of modern technologies and exact recordings were very difficult to calculate, which created contentious issues of accuracy.

In addition, the calculations themselves were very time consuming – taking the finest astrologers several hours to calculate Shadbala. For an ordinary astrologer it could take days to complete.

Today people who consult astrologers need everything within minutes. They do not have time for such lengthy calculations. Which is where software comes in.

Highly precise calculations can now be accomplished very quickly, with a level of accuracy not possible previously.

However, once the data has been produced, the analysis of that data for predictive purposes can only be accomplished by an accomplished astrologer.

But this does not undermine the impact of technology in this sacred field of astrology. No longer do you need those heavy panchangas and booklets to calculate a horoscope.

Learn how your destiny is not framed but not defined with Vedic Astrology