Neptune Bob's Astrology - How does it work?

How Does Astrology Work?

That question has more than one possible meaning, so it requires a multi-part answer.

Part One: How?

If we take this question to mean "How do you create a birth chart, and then read it?", you must begin with accurate birth data: time, place, date and year. This is not "newspaper astrology", where only the month of birth matters. The results are much more accurate and detailed this way.

The positions of the planets are calculated for that exact time and place, based on the known positions from other times, usually the nearest noon or midnight, Greenwich Mean Time. These planetary positions are then plotted on a map of the sky ("chart" or "horoscope"), with the twelve signs of the zodiac drawn in. Then a system of houses are drawn in, based on the time of birth, which are just 12 mathmatically derived sections of the circle, separate from but overlapping the signs, symbolizing different areas of life.

The art of interpretation can become quite complex, but stated simply, each planet correlates with certain human traits or qualities. For instance, Mercury tends to represent communication, language, and conversational "tempo". The zodiacal sign where each planet is placed gives that planet a certain "color" or "flavor". A person who has Mercury placed in the sign of Cancer tends to communicate in a cautious way, in images as much as in concepts, with considerable emotional sensitivity. The house in which the planet is placed designates the area of life where it tends to find expression. A person with Mercury placed in the 5th House may tend to be a storyteller, a comedian, someone who enjoys word games and possesses wit and charm of expression, and might have a talent for writing jokes or romances. And finally, there is the relationship between the planets to each other. A person with Mercury conjunct Jupiter (which means that both planets are in the same position) is likely to be very talkative, jolly and perhaps even a little verbally overbearing, but in a cheerful, well-meant way.

Part Two: Why?

If we take this question to mean, "How do planetary positions affect human (or other) life?" or "Why does it work?", we need an entirely different answer. It is by no means well-established that the planets themselves affect earthly life at all - all that astrology claims is that there is a synchronicity, a correspondence, a correlation between the symbolic meaning of the planets and earthly life. ("As above, so below".) We do not know exactly why this is so, although there have been many theories put forward over the millenia.

Some ancient theories do not satisfy the contemporary emphasis on "scientific" understanding, and so would not find acceptance today. ("The planets are gods.") Others are more suited to modern day thought. None of them are proven and universally accepted, so we may take our choice of the theories that we find most acceptable, until such time as a more compelling theory is presented. There are many good books on this subject, and the reader is recommended to them if this short discussion only whets the appetite, as it should.

My favorite theory at present is the idea that the planets exert only a small magnetic or gravitational effect on distant planets (like Earth) - too little to have much effect on we who live on the surface of the Earth - but they are all part of the complex organism that is our solar system. Consequently, they can create standing waves (and null points) in the space between themselves and the Sun, in either the gravitational, ionic or magnetic environments (or all), and shielding each other at times of eclipse from the solar winds of the heliosphere. This effectively modulates the fields and energy that are being constantly created from the point of origin that is our sun, and bathing our planet in its fluctuating fields and shifting solar winds, acting in effect as a gigantic amplifier of the slight, weak "signals" represented by the planets themselves. According to this theory, it is these shifting fields and polarities that most likely affect earthly life, not the planets as such. But by watching the positions of the planets, we can draw some conclusions about the state of the solar winds, and the gravitational, magnetic and/or ionic standing waves that the planets may create. This theory also affords vast significance to the role of the Sun, which is consistent with its huge importance in an astrological chart.

Is that the ultimate answer? No. Even if it is correct, there is much detail that is not provided. Time will provide either more detail and corroborating data, or a more perfect theory. I will welcome either of those alternatives!

-- Neptune Bob