The True Zodiac

Vedic Sidereal Zodiac

The firmament contains countless stars that we know little about. But those that concern us from an astrological viewpoint because of their influence on earth and its inhabitants are located in the zodiac belt that extends 9° on each side of the ecliptic (upward and downward) to form an imaginary 360° sphere divided into 12 equal parts called zodiac signs.

Since the zodiac is not a straight line, but a circular or ecliptic belt, how can the beginning or starting point be identified? The Jyotisha establishes that point on the basis of fixed constellations, specifically the Ashwini (or Arietes according to modern astronomy) at 0°. The starting point for Western astrology, however, is the vernal equinox (in the Northern Hemisphere), on March 21. This happens when the sun moves northward to a spot precisely over the equator. At that moment, night and day last the exact same length of time anywhere on earth. When the spring equinox coincided with the Ashwini 0° position about 1800 years ago, the two zodiacs, the sidereal (Vedic) and the tropical (Western), were identical. However, the retrograde movement of the equinoctial points (a phenomenon known as the precession of the equinoxes) creates a constant delay of 1° every 72 years, meaning that today there is a difference of over 24° between the true zodiac based on the constellations from which the signs take their qualities and, in some cases, their names, and the zodiac used today in Western astrology.

So, according to the sidereal zodiac, the Sun is not in the sign of Aries between March 23 and April 22, as shown in Western horoscopes, but is located there between April 14 and May 13. The same difference of over 23° is to be found in the position of the ascendant and in that of the other planets.

In order to calculate a birth chart according to the sidereal zodiac, if Western birthdays are used, the correction known as ayanamsha must be made. The term Ayanamsha is a combination of two Sanskrit words: ayana, which means “solstice” and amsha which means “a portion”, and establishes the difference between the present location of the spring equinox in relation to the fixed constellations, and the beginning of the Aries constellation. In other words, it is used to calculate the constellational longitude of a point or a celestial body when its position has been taken from Western birth dates.

The official Ayanamsha used by the Government of India is the Lahiri, according to which the beginning of the Ashwini constellation and the vernal equinox coincided in the year 258 A.D.

An error handed down by the Greeks

Modern Western astrology has inherited the Greek error of measuring the zodiac from the spring equinox. A great deal of the literature on which current astrology is based was written and translated in the third century and at that time the vernal equinox coincided with the beginning of the Ashwini or Aries constellation. The Greeks made the mistake of considering that point unchangeable. The spring equinox today still occurs in the third week of March, as it did at that time; however, it is no longer in the Aries constellation, but in the Pisces because of equinoctial precession.

The popular idea that we are living in the Age of Aquarius is another misconception arising from that same error; in actual fact, this is the Age of Pisces and it will be another four centuries at least before the Age of Aquarius sets in.

It is important here to stress that the signs of the zodiac do not exist apart from the constellations; they are imaginary spaces that correspond to a given group of stars.

This also means that the horoscopes published in Western newspapers and magazines are meaningless, because the position of the Sun is their only reference point and in 75% of the cases this position is incorrect, having been calculated according to an obsolete zodiac. In India, however, the Bangalore monthly, “The Astrological Magazine,” and other similar publications contain horoscopes based on the Moon, which is used to calculate planetary courses, as we shall see later. Most of the people there can benefit from reading a true horoscope based on Lunar planetary courses.

The Vedic sidereal zodiac corresponds to visible and certifiable astronomical phenomena

Physicist Georges Charpak and Professor Henri Broch, in their scientific book "Debunked", published in France, seek to “unmask” mystical philosophies and beliefs, together with certain paranormal phenomena like levitation, walking on coals, and so forth. They use the following argument to demonstrate the alleged falseness of astrology:

“In fact, the zodiac birth signs so common in astrological columns, along the supposed personal qualities for those born under them, are mostly based on astronomical positions traced out thousands of years ago. The problem with this is that the axis of the Earth's rotation is in continual change. The axis pivots, in a way similar to a spinning top, completing a revolution in about 25,790 years. As a result the zodiac signs in use today by astrologers do not correspond at all to the constellations represented when the charts were originally drawn up”

The authors conclude that modern society is infected with thoughts that have little to do with science and that it is not so rational or scientific, after all. In seeking to discredit astrology in general, Charpak and Broch brandish an argument that, as we have seen, is not applicable to Vedic astrology, whose zodiac recognizes and adjusts to the continuous changes in the axis of the earth’s rotation they mention in their book. Astrology, for them, apparently refers only to that practiced in the West. It is true, then, that modern society is neither so rational, nor so scientific, for, with the exception of a very small group of people, it is unfamiliar with the goldmine of knowledge and information to be found in the Vedas and believes that the civilization of ancient India was based exclusively on superstition and religious fanaticism, without any philosophical or scientific basis whatsoever.

When modern astronomers and students discover the existence of the Vedic zodiac, they will realize that the wise men of old India were extremely familiar with facts that they are only now beginning to glimpse with the advances in technology. They will find themselves, thanks to this discovery, looking upon that civilization and culture with respect and admiration and will want to learn from it. We predict that in the not-too-distant future, there will be very few astrological practitioners who don’t use the Vedic sidereal zodiac.