Astrology is a language made of up symbols which are placed on a mandala. In this language each symbol has deep meanings that have been with us through the centuries. These meanings are complex, reaching out to us from antiquity and reaching into many areas. There is an area of meaning/energy/focus for each planet, each sign, each house, each aspect. The symbolic language of “Leo Sun in 5th square Scorpio Uranus in 8th says many things. It also says different things to different astrologers and different things to the same astrologer in different charts. Not only are there many ways to put together phrases using these symbols, there are also differences if the two planets stand alone in these signs & houses or, alternatively, they are directly aspected to each other or to other planets.
THE LANGUAGE OF LIFE:
I have found that this symbolic language of astrology applies very well to grappling with the issues of life. It offers both a view to and help with structuring the situations that life brings to us. A person’s life can be portrayed as a sequence of choices made continuously as we move through life. It can also be seen as a spiritual journey. The symbolic language of astrology offers an opportunity to put this set of possibilities down in writing, using symbols that come together as map, a horoscope. Using that map and its symbols offer a Language of Life that speaks to us and offers images that illustrate the structure and possibilities tied to whatever the focus of that horoscope is, believe it or not!!
Both life, and any attempt to chart life, are complex undertakings. Astrological symbolism can be applied to different belief systems and seems to work within different systems. Some systems assume that life and events in life is fated. Others assume at least partial free will. Do you believe in free will?? There are different astrological systems used by astrologers and lay people throughout the world; some approach life as fated and some not. Some use a tropical approach to the current placement of planets in signs where the beginning of Aries correlates to the time of the spring equinox. Some, instead, use the actual current location of the signs of the zodiac such that the Sun enters Aries almost a month after the spring equinox due to precession of the equinoxes. Some utilize the language and symbols in a more psychological approach, focusing on personal growth and self-development, while others are more focused on the more pragmatic life events, either attempting to determine or divine events, or simply discuss possible life event alternatives. However, in all different scenarios they all use the same set of symbols. Others use this language for far more mundane uses completely outside the realm of individual personal analysis, examples being determining timing for stock market events, the current status of economic enterprises of specific businesses, how different cities fit each person as a place to live. In all of these approaches the practitioners are working with the symbolic meanings that come with the various astrological symbols. This language does not fit well into the scientific model. Think about it for a minute. Life itself does not fit well into the scientific model. Life is complex and impossible to plan for or predetermine. Yet science wants to denigrate astrology because it, like life, cannot be “statistically proven” or offer predetermined outcomes.
Please see my other posts that discuss the background for the various symbols. The post: “Order in the Astrological Universe” gives detail background on the creation and history of astrological symbols for the aspects, planets and signs of the zodiac.