Astrological Signs Compatibility

The astronomer Claudius Ptolemy lived from approximately 100-170 AD. Very little is known of him, including where he was born. Claudius means citizen of Rome, while Ptolemy means resident of Egypt. Some sources indicate that he was a citizen of Rome, others that he lived in Alexandria, Egypt.

He was also a mathematician, geographer and astrologer. In a way, he was to his era what Leonardo da Vinci was to the Renaissance. While many of Claudius Ptolemy’s work has been refuted, his treatises on astronomy, astrology, geography and music were the foundations from which subsequent scientists built their theories.

The Ptolemaic system of the universe became the dominant cosmological model for centuries thereafter, and was not displaced until the seventeenth century by Kepler and Copernicus.

Modern astrologers consider Ptolemy as the author of one of the oldest complete manuals of astrology, - the Tetrabiblos (Greek) meaning Four Books. Although we know Ptolemy did not invent his methods of astrology we recognize his contribution as being one of orchestrating the mass of Eastern star lore into an organized and reasoned exposition. The Tetrabiblos offered a detailed explanation of the philosophical framework of astrology, enabling its practitioners to answer critics on scientific as well as religious grounds.
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Tropical Astrology is the old astrological division of the sky. When the Zodiac was invented, the position of the constellations were written down. But since then, the whole Zodiac has shifted almost a whole sign due to the Precession, so whoever was once born a Virgo, is now probably born a Leo - with the personality changes that come with it. Tropical Astrology ignores this, and keeps using the old tables - which have nothing to do with where the planets actually are in the sky.

Sidereal Astrology acknowledges the problem with the shifting signs, but digs itself deeper into the ludicrous: The more sidereal astrologers try to follow the real division of the sky, the more they are distancing themselves from the old wisdom. Sidereal astrologers cannot claim to build on ancient knowledge, but have to change the signs and characteristics over time. They are in turn making the whole concept of Astrology invalid. The real astronomical signs are a few days off from the Sidereal system by now - so not even Sidereal Astrology is using the correct star signs.

Sidereal astrology uses the actual constellation in which the sun is located at the moment of birth as its basis; tropical astrology uses a 30-degree sector of the zodiac as its basis. Tropical astrology is the most popular form and it assigns its readings based on the time of the year, while generally ignoring the positions of the sun and constellations relative to each other. Sidereal astrology is used by a minority of astrologers and bases its readings on the constellations near the sun at the time of birth.
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Where did the practice of astrology come from? Did it evolve in one part of the world and then become used by people in other parts of the world? How old is astrology, anyaway?

When you study the ancient civilizations in the Middle East, Central America and in Asia, there are many things the same in how they lived their lives to be in harmony with the rhythms of earth and the cosmos. Consider that there are pyramids in Mayan and Aztec cultures, as well as Egyptian ones. And that many pyramids are constructed around and point to key events in the solar system, such as equinoxes and solstices.

Similarly, astrology is thought to have developed independently in Babylon and Central America. The astrology systems in India and China most likely were derived from those in Babylon. Chinese astrology is a bit different than Western astrology but it’s also very interesting.
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