Traditions and Current Traditions

Zodiac signs, 16th century European woodcutThere are many traditions of astrology, some of which share similar features due to the transmission of astrological doctrines between cultures.

Other traditions developed in isolation and hold different doctrines, though they too share some features due to drawing on similar astronomical sources.

Vedic and Western astrology share a common ancestry as horoscopic systems of astrology, in that both traditions focus on the casting of an astrological chart or horoscope, a representation of celestial entities, for an event based on the position of the Sun, Moon, and planets at the moment of the event.

However, Vedic astrology uses the sidereal zodiac, linking the signs of the zodiac to their original constellations, while Western astrology uses the tropical zodiac.

Because of the precession of the equinoxes, over the centuries the twelve zodiacal signs in Western astrology no longer correspond to the same part of the sky as their original constellations.

In effect, in Western astrology the link between sign and constellation has been broken, whereas in Vedic astrology it remains of paramount importance.

 Other differences between the two traditions include the use of 27 (or 28) nakshatras or lunar mansions, which have been used in India since Vedic times, and the system of planetary periods known as dashas.