Western versus Vedic Astrology (Jyotish)

By Alan Annand

Jyotish is generally considered to be the mother of all astrology, dating back 5,000 years. From India, the practice of astrology fanned out into the rest of the ancient world, evolving en route into its Chinese, Arabic and western variants. Western astrology likely arose as a
result of Jyotish having migrated over time and distance through the Arab world and then into Europe, courtesy of Gypsies, the Greeks, and Moorish invaders .

Because western astrology has developed far from its original source, some original principles and techniques have undergone transformation or outright loss. Although the differences in the two systems are many, they can be summarized as follows:

WESTERN

• Western astrology uses the tropical
  zodiac, which is based upon the
  seasons. Essentially, this system
  says that on the first day of spring,
  when the Sun appears to move from
  south to north of the equator, the Sun
  enters the first degree of Aries. As for
  the other planets, their zodiacal
  positions are determined relative to
  that of the Sun.
  

• Western astrology uses all of the
  known planets in the solar system, ie,
  the visible ones as well as the outer
  planets Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.
  In addition, many western astrologers
  use several of the asteroids, eg,
  Pallas, Athena, Juno, Vesta, and
  Chiron in their charts.
  

• Western astrology principally makes
  use of only the birth chart (the map of
  the heavens that shows where all the
  planets were positioned at the
  moment of birth relative to the specific
  place of birth) to analyse and interpret
  the character, health, relationships,
  career, etc, of the client.
  

• For predictive purposes, most
  western astrologers rely heavily on
  transits, or the motion of current
  planets through the zodiac relative to
  the original birth chart, to make
  predictions. Some astrologers,
  depending on their level of expertise,
  use other techniques called
  directions or progressions (eg,
  equating each day after birth to each
  year after birth) to supplement the
  indications of transits.
  

• Western astrology is oriented
  principally toward psychological
  understanding of the client, with a self-
  empowerment approach that
  assumes anyone with adequate effort
  can make the best of a bad situation.

  JYOTISH

• Jyotish uses the sidereal zodiac, or
  the starry background of the
  constellations, to determine the
  zodiacal position of any planet. On
  the first day of spring, a Vedic
  astrologer would look beyond the
  Sun and see it in the constellation of
  Pisces, roughly 24 degrees earlier in
  the "zodiac" than suggested by a
  western astrologer.
  

• Jyotish, which existed for millenia
  prior to the invention of telescopes,
  uses only the two luminaries Sun &
  Moon, the five visible planets Mars,
  Mercury, Jupiter, Venus & Saturn, and
  the moon's nodes Rahu & Ketu,
  which are accorded the status of
  planets.
  

• Jyotish uses the same birth chart in a
  different form, but also employs
  sixteen or more other amshas (sub-
  divisional charts) to cover a range of
  specific subjects such as career,
  relationships, etc. Among these, the
  navamsa is considered so vital that
  no Vedic astrologer conducts a
  serious analysis of the birth chart
  without it.
  

• Jyotish uses a scheme of planetary
  periods whose sequence is triggered
  by the Moon's position at birth. These
  dasas (major periods of 6-20 years)
  and bhuktis (sub-periods of several
  months to a few years) provide the
  background against which individual
  karma unfolds. If transits are the
  actors on a stage, dasas and bhuktis
  provide the stage setting, without
  which the drama has no context.
  

• Jyotish has an undeserved reputation
  as being fatalistic when in fact it
  recognizes karma comes in three
  forms -- fixed, unfixed and mixed --  
  and that some people are inherently
  lucky or unlucky no matter what they
  do, while others are truly balanced,
  and capable of tipping the scales in
  the direction of their efforts.
  

 

Bottom line, although these two forms of astrology co-exist in modern times, one of them has evolved far from its original sources, while the other has remained faithful to its roots, despite the passage of the centuries. Western astrology as commonly practiced today generally provides a psychological understanding of the client, but is less capable of what
Jyotish has to offer -- a perspective contextualized by an understanding of karma, and the ability to make predictions from the mundane to the sublime.

We must acknowledge, however, that just as there are many fine carpenters who work without modern power tools, so too are there many astrologers who achieve good results with the western system. Based on my experience with both systems, Jyotish has a greater array of techniques, and in the hands of equivalent practitioners, offers greater capacity to
render results for the client.

 

Alan is a Vedic astrologer and palmist with 24 years experience in consulting, teaching, lecturing, and media work. He regularly provides helpful insight and counsel to his clients regarding self-actualization, relationships, career, health, family, finances, relocation, travel, spirituality, sexuality, etc. His work encompasses birth chart analysis in either Vedic or western formats, compatibility analysis, question and answer scenarios, as well as short- and long-term predictions. Aside from consultations, he is available for individual tutoring, group classes, public lectures or media work on palmistry or any facet of astrology, both Vedic and western. More can be found on his website at www.navamsa.com