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Astrology is a group of systems, traditions, and beliefs in which knowledge of the relative positions of celestial bodies and related details is held to be useful in understanding, interpreting, and organizing information about personality, human affairs, and other terrestrial matters. A practitioner of astrology is called an astrologer.
Historically, the term mathematicus was used to denote a person proficient in astrology, astronomy, and mathematics. Although the two fields share a common origin, modern astronomy is entirely distinct from astrology. Astronomy is the scientific study of astronomical objects and phenomena, whereas astrology is concerned with relating these phenomena with earthly affairs. Both Western and Vedic astrology employ a zodiac which divides the ecliptic (the apparent path of the Sun through the heavens) into twelve astrological signs of equal length. The Western tropical astrology starts with the first point of Aries, which is defined as the point at which the ecliptic crosses the celestial equator at the spring equinox. It is important to note that the tropical zodiac signs at this stage no longer bear any relationship to the astronomical constellations after which they were originally named, due to a phenomenon known as the precession of the equinoxes which produces a slow change of the time of year when constellations are visible in the night sky over a 25,000 year cycle. Western sidereal astrology and Indian Vedic astrology use signs which more or less coincide with the stellar constellations of the same name, although this involves adjustments to allow for the precession of the equinoxes. Because the calendar is defined by the movement of the Earth around the Sun, and its orbit is very nearly circular, the sign in which the Sun falls on any day of the year is fairly predictable, though it will vary a little due to the effect of the extra day in leap years. -Wikipedia.org |
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