What is Astrology?
Ask most people what they understand by astrology and they will think about the sun sign forecasts that can be found in many newspapers and websites, for example:
Aries - this is your lucky day.
Gemini - today you will meet a handsome stranger
Not even the authors of these columns would pretend that they were a serious contribution to astrology. They are just for fun.
Astrology is a very wide subject and covers a broad range of people. These include:
- esoterics
- who see the influence of the planets in almost everything and who are often interested in spirituality and karma
- scientists
- who fully accept the physics behind planetary influences on the earth and who seek to understand the extent to which they apply to human beings and the mechanism of this process
- practicals
- who accept the traditional sun sign and house based astrology system and believe that the horoscope assists human understanding of the world about them
- neo-astrologers
- who regard much of traditional astrology as folklore but who believe that there is clear statistical evidence to support certain elements of it and who therefore concentrate their focus on these
Astrologers themselves vary in the work they do. Some are involved with the media and producing simplistic forecasts based around the twelve sun signs. Others are serious psychologists who use astrology as part of their consultations. Some astrologers like to specialise in particular areas such as
- natal astrology - delineating character based on the time and date of birth
- synastry - comparing two or more charts to assess how people will relate, perhaps at work, often in a family or personal relationship
- horary - seeking the answers to specific questions
- ancestral - a variation of natal astrology which concentrates on people who are long dead and seeks to integrate what is known about their characters with the social history of their time
- predictive - forecasting what challenges and opportunities are likely to come somebody's way on the basis of transits, progressions and returns
This website focuses on natal and ancestral astrology but also on the application of natal astrology to recruitment. For further details on each, follow the links above.
Our philosophy is that astrology is like a signpost: it shows whether the path to things like financial comfort or happy relationships or career success will be rocky or smooth. The planets do not compel and people always have total freedom of choice in life. However, just as it is sensible to check the sky before going out so that one can wear appropriate clothing or pack things like sunscreen, umbrellas or snow shovels, so a reading of planetary influences can help one prepare for what lies ahead and encourage focus, be that developing strengths or attending to weaknesses.
Sarah Andrews has been a professional astrologer and HR manager for almost twenty years. She uses her interest in history to specialise in ancestral astrology. Her book on the characters of Britain's Kings and Queens since Tudor times is due to be published next year.