Five Things to Know When You Begin Studying Astrology

Astrology

Oct 17

Astrology has the power to make us be seen, but often, when we start studying, it can feel overwhelming.

I thought I would write a post that introduces a few key things to keep in mind as you begin studying astrology. Hopefully, this will help you counter the overwhelm, work through the imposter syndrome, feel a sense of connection to the planetary spirits, and so on.

There are as many different approaches and types of astrology as there are healing modalities or schools of thought

This was a fascinating thing to me when I first realized it a long ass time ago. I pulled my chart on two different sites early in my studies and that made me realize there are multiple ways to cast a chart. As an astrologer, I use the Whole Sign House System for my charts because it feels intuitively right and is the go-to in Hellenistic. In using Whole Sign, I’ve been able to see the powerful shifts of transits. But guess what? There are eight ways to cast a tropical chart in my software (I know others have way more). Placidus and Whole House Sign systems are probably the most popular with Equal and Koch following closely after. Now, these are types within the tropical zodiac system, but guess what, there are even more options for sidereal systems! This is where things get even wilder! If you know about Vedic astrology, they use a form of sidereal chart casting. I won’t get too far into it, but basically, instead of being a Sun Capricorn like in the tropical zodiac, in that system, I would be a Sagittarius and the meaning of the signs would shift within this system as it’s based off a different set of mythologies and meanings. So, keep this in mind when you’re browsing and reading about transitions online. THERE ARE SO MANY WAYS TO WORK WITH ASTROLOGY!

there are many ways to use and view astrology!

For example, some astrologer’s truly believe in fate and use astrology to determine what their path is and the path of the people whose chart they read! Others don’t believe in fate at all. Some people study astrology to look for signs of past lives. Others use astrology to check out issues in regards to health. Electional astrology is using the celestial bodies to decide the right time to host a specific type of event (a marriage for example). When you first begin studying, you may lean towards one type of belief system or use for astrology, but as you learn more and shift, your ideals may shift as well.

I share this point to make it clear that not everything you read online needs to be considered a total truth and you need to go and study and form your own ideas! It’s cool to trust certain people you vibe with, but if you see one person go viral saying that you should really ONLY do money magic or AVOID ENTIRELY any deliveries or contracts because Mercury is retrograde, then you don’t necessarily need to subscribe to the same views. That is what is so great about the fact that there are so many ways to view and use astrology. Learn how it works for you. Now, there are some generally agreed-upon truths across most of the systems and types of astrology, but understanding these ideas comes with time.

Your sun sign isn’t the most important aspect of your chart

Sun sign horoscopes are actually like REALLY fucking new in comparison to the whole of astrology. People originally used electional and horary astrology more than anything. The Sun sign horoscopes can be helpful but they’re not necessarily the most important part of your chart. Reading your horoscope for your Rising sign is much more beneficial, some folks find it helpful to read for the moon sign as well.

The Houses aren’t limited to the key words you find easily via google and house meanings change across traditions.

Like, okay, if I google “second house” I’ll get that this is a house that deals with possessions. But this house is more than just about possessions. It’s about how we extend ourselves into our possessions. The things outside of ourselves that we care about and how they're an extension of us. So in a way, this house is also about our values, what matters to us in the material world. It’s the one that deals with how we extend our identity outside of ourselves. It’s a house also associated with the underworld according to traditional astrology. So, as you can see, it’s easy to find simple definitions of a house sign, but you have to think about the journey of the zodiac and how these keywords translate to you.

Finally, Astrology is a lifelong study. You will never stop learning.

Not only because there are so many different topics to explore and so many ways to see things, but because this is essentially a study of patterns too! When you begin reading charts, you’ll start seeing new patterns. When you build your understanding of each planet, and the houses, and the rulers you can move on to studying other bodies. You can begin to study specific cycles of planets. You can move on and use astrology to elect events, to find remedies, to connect to spirits. And so on.