Horoscopes & Astrology

Astrology and horoscopes were first used by the ancient Greeks (the word horoscope comes from the Greek word horoskopos (marker of the hour), who felt that every individual's life was subject to a destiny pre-determined by the position of celestial bodies, including our sun, the moon and various stars present at the time and place of his or her birth.
Over the Centuries, different cultures started using horoscopes for the purpose of divination and prediction of the future, gradually evolving into what we understand them to be today.

Basically, every person is born under a specific zodiacal sign (there are 12 in total, each named after a particular constellation), according to time, date and year of their birth. Each sign is assigned to one of the four elements of fire, water, air and earth. Applied to an individual, they can give an indication as to this persons positive/ negative traits, his or her temperament and who should be compatible with him or her.

Aries, Sagittarius and Leo, for example are fire signs, and those born under these signs are said to be spontaneous, impulsive, quick with emotional responses and have a lively imagination.
Earth signs Virgo, Caprico
and Taurus are known to be slow to react, emotionally deep rooted and thus slow to change and enduring, whereas Air signs Aquarius, Gemini and Libra are animated and quick, applying their energy in many ways. They like to express expectations and feelings in itellectual ways.
Water people Scorpio, Pisces and Cancer are sensitive about their feelings and have deep, rich imaginations.

However these are generalisations, as are the horoscopes we see in many of today's newspapers and magazines, which are mainly produced for entertainment as the complexity of a true horoscope makes it impossible to mass produce accurate readings.

A true, accurate horoscope can only be produced and interpreted for one individual at a time and and represents a map or chart of celestial bodies over a particular location at a specific moment in time, mostly from a geocentric perspective.
Time, date and place of the individuals birth are required to produce a chart, which will include the position of planets, stars, sun and moon, as well as calculated factors like lunar nodes, house cups, ascendants, midheaven points, descendants, lots, fixed stars and Zodiac signs. Aspects (angular relationships between planets and other relevant points) are also determined and included.

The whole process is too long and complicated to describe here, but it involves conversion of the time of birth from local time to universal time, the consultation of ephemeris (a set of tables listing sun, moon and planetary positions at any given time) and a variety of other calculations before the reader can begin to interpret the chart.

The interpretation then depends on which tradition is used (with the most frequently used being either the Western or the Chinese traditions).
The horoscope will then give an insight into the individual’s personality, the relevant situation and the way this situation may be heading.