Learning Traditional Astrology at the AFA

(Astrology Explored) Tempe, AZ–Astrology as it is practiced now is a recovered art. The methods and practices of ancient astrology has been lost to modern practitioners when astrology fell into disrepute in the 17th century. When astrology resurrected in the late 19th and 20th century, energized by fresh insights of the new practice of psychoanalysis, astrology was transmuted in a model of understanding the human psyche. However, Western astrology bears little resemblance to astrology as it was originally practiced.

With the translations of ancient works by James H. Holden, a flood of new information became available to the modern astrologer and created interest in a new generation of astrologers in learning from ancient texts.

Here in Tempe, Arizona, the American Federation of Astrologers brought together Demetra George, Chris Brennan, and Benjamin Dykes to give a comprehensive treatment of traditional astrology.

Though a basic form of astrology existed for 2 thousand years prior, Hellenistic astrology formed around 1 century BCE as a fusion between Mesopotamian and Egyptian astrology.

To interpret a chart traditionally you need first to put aside what you’ve learned about planets, zodiac signs and houses.

To first start you need to put aside the use of the idea of the “12 letter alphabet”. While in Western astrology we tend to interchange zodiac signs, planets and houses, this is not the case with Traditional Astrology.

We only use the 7 visible planets and traditional rulerships.

We use a whole sign house system.

In traditional astrology great weight is given to judging the “condition” of a planet. The starting point is whether you have a day or night chart, judged by whether you Sun is above or below the horizon in your chart. A day chart or a night chart will assign you to either a diurnal sect or a nocturnal sect where particular planets of either sect are more prominent in your chart than others.

This certainly is a different way to look at a chart and something worth learning about.