Occupational hazard deter the 13th star affecting you

 

Him - Position of mars will have high influence on you starting this year (Mangal dosh/Chowa dosham)

Me - Sir, why do Neptune(yet to be named locally) not affecting us then ?

Him - Because, we do not consider it in our system.

Me - why?

Him - blah..blahh ..blah..........

Atleast some of you might have been through that phase of life where the 1st statement had made 'him' (i hope you know who) hinder your dreams from coming true, stalled your personal life and so on. But rarely we resemble 'Me' who ask the question - "why so?" to 'him' .Though we preach we are seekers by culture, in reality it's a general understanding that we should swallow whatever 'he' would say and advice. 

Is there a logic to what he pronounce ? 

Does planet Mars really impact your life in any form?

You can answer yourself at ease on similar questions at the end on this 3 min read.

I hope you might have understood what we are talking about here. Yes it's about 'Astrology', one of the greatest invention that dates back to 5000 years. It's undeniably the most beautiful and grandeur invention that was developed with the involvement of  several generations of bright minds. Like any other invention, this also had evolved out of a problem that persisted at the time when calendar and watch were not invented. The problem was 'how do we keep track of time'. 

Babylonians and Egyptians are known to be the first developers and consumers of this system.  Horoscope is the chart or graphical representation of astrological concepts that were observed and studied.

Horoscope can be simply understood as a tool that generally provide you the positions of certain constellations(zodiacs)& planets(including sun and moon). 

So what are zodiacs ? 

Those are nothing but the constellation in background over which the sun passes during an year.

It can be visualized as the path shown in the below GIF. You can imagine a line drawn through the sun to the stars. These groups of stars that fall behind the Sun over a course of year are the zodiacs. There are 88 constellation that are recognized by the International Astronomical Union, out of which 12 of them are the zodiacs that we generally consider. 

Why 12? 

because there are only 12 constellations over which the sun passes through in the sky in an year, and this repeats.

The first zodiac sign being followed as per the system is Aries (March 21 – April 19) / Medam. The order in which zodiacs are arranged in the horoscope also follows the same order. Why?

Because it takes into consideration the constellation where the sun is seen in front of during the day of vernal equinox (equal day and night). On this day the sun can be seen in front of constellation Aries when looking standing upright from earth. 

The interesting part is, these dates are observation from 1500BC, and never revised as time passed by. At present, during the day of vernal equinox the Sun is in front of constellation Pisces. This is slowly shifting to Aquaris. Those born between March 21- April 19, consider themselves as Aries. However, today the reality is that they belong to Pisces. 

* why this change is not reflected in the horoscopes made now? 

source: Wikipedia

source: stockunlimited

The reason for the shift in position of these constellation is 'Precession', or the wobbling of earth. Earth takes long 26000 years to complete one round of motion , i.e  change of 1 degree in 72 years. 

Earth wobbles the similar way like a spinning top.

Another example is the Polaris or the North star that is accepted as the reference to locate true north. When the Pyramids were under construction 5000 years ago, it was 'Thuban', in place of Polaris. This change(precession) is very slow that it takes generations to observe this change. If human race lives through another 15000 years they could probably rewrite history of 'true north' from Polaris to Vega.



Western zodiac signs and it's Indian names. The dates being followed in the system and the actual dates for different constellations.

source: Astronomy magazine

The best visualization (at least what i could find) on how precession looks like.

Precession of earth

  

1. There are only 8 classical planets being looked at in Horoscopes. This include Sun(ra), Moon,       Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. 

Why is Uranus and Neptune not considered?

Uranus and Neptune are not visible to unaided eyes. So, we had to wait long till 17th century for the    invention of Telescope and 18th & 19th century to discover Uranus and Neptune respectively. And       when these planets were discovered, why were it not added or considered in astrology.  

So, the question arise why is astrology not consistent? If planets really have influence in our day to day chores and life, why does Neptune and Uranus not affecting us, do we have an answer?

2. 'Lagna' in horoscope is tagged to the constellation at east horizon (where the sun rise) at the time of our birth. It is said that Lagna is pivotal to one's way of life. So, is 'Lagna' sidelined for people living at polar regions as they do not experience sun for 6 months. So are they not in the radar of Lagna.

3.  The prevailing sentiment with horoscope is that it can precisely expose the nature of a human being and forsee the future. But, why the gender can not be distinguished from a horoscope, unless mentioned by the holder. 

These are a few unsettling questions among many to which i am unable to find any logical reason.

And a surprise to ones' who are born between November 29 & December 17. You are not 'SAGITTARIUS' anymore and were not for many long years. 'OPHIUCHUS' , that's who you are. Sun passes through constellation 'OPHIUCHUS' during the the above mentioned time frame. Some of you might be knowing this already, but i believe there are still many who are grey about this fact. It's not just the case with Sagittarius, over past 2500 years, this wobble has caused the signs to shift almost one month around the sky to west, relative to the stars beyond. Now, you can think how much sense it makes to ponder with daily horoscope in newspapers. 

Science is always definite and data backed and so is 'ASTRONOMY',  But, when it comes to 'ASTROLOGY', it's a pseudoscience. I am not keeping away the astonishing invention called 'Horoscope', but just taking a small effort to debunk the customized interpretation that's been given and well received even by the so called educated community. 

Ask why?, if we don't get an answer, take a moment to think before we swallow what's been told.

The truth is still the truth even if no one believes it. A lie is still a lie, even if everyone believes it.
                                                                                                                                        -Unknown