Indian astrology, also called star or sidereal astrology and most often Vedic astrology, is becoming increasingly popular among Western astrologers. It differs from ours in that in the West we use the tropical zodiac, whose starting point is the spring equinox (21 March), that is, zero degrees Aries. In Vedic astrology the point of reference is the actual position of the constellations.
This system takes into account the phenomenon known as the precession of the equinoxes, which results from variations in the Earth’s rotation. From its point of view, our signs are shifted by 25 degrees. Put more simply, a person born roughly between the 1st and the 18th day of the month belongs, according to Indian astrology, to the previous zodiac sign. The signs of Vedic astrology are assigned to the elements just as in Western astrology, and their links with the planets are the same too. Vedic astrology does, however, have two concepts unknown in the West. The first is the very old idea of the “lunar mansions”. These are defined by dividing the celestial sphere into 27 parts, each covering about 13 degrees. Each mansion bears the name of one of the wives of the Moon god and has its own meaning. The second, somewhat newer concept involves dividing the 360 degrees of the ecliptic – the apparent path of the Sun around the Earth. Indian astrology is used more for predicting the future than for describing the character of the person consulting it.
