Western Astrology: The Astrological System Of Western Countries

Western astrology, as the term suggests, is the astrological system that is popular mainly in the Western countries. This form of astrology has been in practice in Europe and Arabia for thousands of years. The concept is based upon a system where the location of the Sun, as seen from Earth, is studied. The practitioners study the path of the Sun through the heavens. The constellations (known as zodiac in astrology) lie along this path. However, this form of astrology is geocentric. In the geocentric system, the Earth is in the center and the Sun revolves around it.

Origin

The origin of this astrological system dates back to the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamia. Gradually, it started spreading from Mesopotamia to the other parts of the world. First, it reached Egypt where it went through various developmental stages. But, it was the Greek astronomer and astrologer, Ptolemy, who formed the foundation of the Western astrology tradition. Ptolemy is considered as the father of Western version of astrology. He described the basics of this concept in his work, Tetrabiblos.

The Planets

As per the concept of Western astrology, the location of the planets indicates impulses or basic drives in the human psyche. These planets have been classified into three groups - classical planets, modern planets, and the moon's nodes.

Classical planets include seven heavenly bodies discovered in the ancient time - Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. The modern planets are the heavenly bodies discovered in the modern times. They include Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and Ceres. The Moon's nodes are also important in this form of astrology. The nodes are the exact points where the path of the Moon crosses the ecliptic. Here is a brief rundown on what each planet indicates:-

Sun - life force, self-expression
Pluto - regeneration, birth, death, elimination
Neptune - arts, deceptions, illusions, dreams
Uranus - insights, stress, sudden changes
Saturn - ambitions, lessons, burdens, responsibilities, duties
Jupiter - excess, opportunity, expansion, luck
Mars - sexual expression, willpower, accidents, energy, action
Venus - social life, beauty, creativity, love life
Mercury - short journeys, business matters, communication, speech, thoughts
Moon - parents, home, cycles, intuition, emotions
Ceres - family bonds and relationships, pregnancy and gestation, reproductive issues of an adult woman, climactic changes, women's independence
North Node - ingrained habits, past life
South Node - the purpose of your soul

( noted from: http://www.myfreehoroscopes.net)