Theory and Observation in Astrology
October 24, 2007 by kishner
In the comments section of Gemini, Devil’s Advocate, Jara writes, “Jeff, are you basing your opinion on the stereotype of Gemini or actual Geminis you know?”
There are two different but overlapping ways to learn astrology: studying the theory from teachers and books, and observing a correlation between human behavior and planetary placements in the natural world. Although I am not well-versed in the history of astrology, I imagine the ancients observed natural events co-occurring with astronomical phenomena. Only after many observations would they state with authority that a specific event in the sky meant such-and-such.
Observation
For people born in the 20th century who read popular astrology texts, they often don’t believe in astrology until they observe Sun sign characteristics in their friends and family members. If there is any danger in this approach, it is that they associate some personality characteristics with Sun signs incorrectly, due to the fact that they have failed to recognize the complexity of the horoscope — namely, that every native has 10 ‘planets’ as well as an Ascendant, Midheaven, aspects, and so on.
One reliable way to filter out the garbage is through the use of one’s theoretical knowledge of astrology. Astrology is ruled by Aquarius. Although this sign rules the sky, it also governs the ‘laws of the Universe,’ the abstract mathematical truths that are the foundation of physics and metaphysics.
Theory
What are the theoretical underpinnings of zodiac signs?
- Mode - Is the sign cardinal, fixed or mutable? Does the sign initiate, conserve or disperse energy?
- Element - Is the sign fire, earth, air or water? How does the sign process experience: through intuition, senses, thought, emotions?
- The archetype of the constellation – Why are no air signs symbolized by animals? What can we intuit about the behavior patterns of a sign by knowing that it’s associated with a ram or a bull or a centaur?
- The sign’s ruling planet – How can we understand the sign by looking not only at our astrological understanding of its ruling planet, but the mythology of the Greco-Roman god or goddess with which it is associated? (And beyond that, gods and goddesses from other cultures that astrologers have associated with the signs — Nordic, Egyptian and so on.)
How I Work
Every astrologer comes to this field differently, and approaches astrology based on their unique history and astrological signature. I did not pay astrology any attention until my mid-20s, when a friend of mine convinced me to take an astrology course. The instructor did not even work with the signs of the zodiac — rather, he focused on the angles that planets made to each other. (This approach has roots in the cosmobiology of Reinhold Ebertin.) Hence, for the first number of years of my astrological studies, I had very little use for signs of the zodiac. They only helped me determine what angles two planets were making to each other. The ‘meaning’ of the signs was virtually irrelevant.
It was only over time that I saw the limitations of this approach and started studying the signs of the zodiac and the houses of the horoscope. However, I still ground my understanding of astrology in the planets. After all, it is the ‘planets’ that move through the sky. You cannot have a Sun sign without a Sun.
Also — perhaps because I have my Sun in Pisces and Moon in Aquarius — I am somewhat of a loner and comfortable with the ‘abstract.’ I do not have a wide collection of acquaintances from which to draw zodiacal anecdotes. I do work heavily from my theoretical understanding of astrology as well as my astrological counseling work with clients.
I would not say that I draw from Sun sign stereotypes. However, I recognize my limits … and one of strengths of this blog is the level of participation in the comments section. I appreciate that you all have shared your personal experiences in response to my blog posts, and as a result, I believe we all — including myself — have benefitted by developing a greater understanding of astrology.
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“You cannot have a Sun sign without a Sun.”
True!
RE Jara’s post: Jara, I think that you’re denying others’ experience in a lot of your posts. You write very persuasively but I see this undertone that seems to communicate: “Well, I haven’t encountered that particular kind of Virgo or Gemini or Leo, therefore it can’t be true, no matter what you yourself have experienced.”
I don’t think you’re doing this consciously or maliciously but I do want to point this out to you bc I’ve seen it again and again and, frankly, it’s dangerous territory. However real and true your experiences are, that doesn’t give you the right to deny others’ experience. People naturally get pissed off about that. I feel that I can say this to you bc you are very perceptive about others’ weaknesses so I figure if you can dish it out, you can certainly take it, right? At least I respect you enough to be willing to point this out to you.
Now, I think that if we want to have astrology taken seriously as a science, then we have to go beyond our own experiences in delineating aspect and sign characteristics. Yes, we have to ground ourselves in the empirical but we also have to be aware that our experiences are not necessarily indicative of an iron-clad law. Let me give a non-astrological example: There are women who only gravitate to abusive men. In relationship after relationship, they end up with the same abusive guy. Well, if you ask them, ALL men are abusive. After all, it’s been their experience! And who can deny that experience? Nevertheless, those of us who have known non-abusive, kind men know that what seems like a universal gender law to them is not actually one. Up until very recently all Scorpios were vindictive, manipulative and dangerous. When people mentioned the good Scorpio qualities, I just didn’t believe them. “A good Scorpio?! Get out of here!”
A coworker has a similar bugaboo with Cancer men. In her experience, Cancer men are aggressive, competitive, uber-masculine, extremely bad-tempered. Now, we all know that this is not the stereotypical Cancer male and we might find her male Cancerian foreign. So right away I know that she’s attracting a certain type of Cancerian guy–someone who’s the archetypal Cancer, probably with Aries mixed in. I find that I attract a Scorpio/Virgo/Libra combo again and again so the Scorpios I’ve attracted are not necessarily pure Scorpio.
Sorry, I meant, NOT the archetypal Cancer.
I’ve been interested in astrology since I was very young, and by now I tend to be a very “experiential” astrologer…basing things on personal experience…when it comes to sun, moon and rising sign. When I was a teenager, I knew the sun signs of all my friends, and by now, I can often guess a person’s sign when I first meet them.
But as my astrological exploration gets deeper, I’m forced to rely much more on theory. For example, I haven’t known 50 people in my life with “Sun square Saturn” in their chart (I mean, maybe I have, but people don’t go around talking about that sort of deeper aspect) the way I’ve known 50 Geminis. So it’s harder to have a full, deep, instant experiential understanding of what complex aspects mean.
Which is too bad…it makes it harder for me to understand and work with my own chart at a deeper level. As soon as I have enough money, I’ll go to some professional astrologers and see what they say.
I agree Jeff, I take that writing about astrology on a blog or anywhere else is more of an abstrat and that its helpful to make statements so we all can learn, but when we meet people for the first time I think it is important to not make a judgement about them by their sign. Now if you want to say it to their face and be honest go for it thats the way to be.
Nice response, Jeff.
(Warning: a very long post ahead.)
Eme Kah, I understand what you’re saying about how my posts may come across. Of course, you’re entitled to your opinion.
I like Jeff’s response in this post because he’s saying theory and observation both belong in astrological study. I’ve had quite a few written conversations with Jeff and kind of have an idea on what part of astrology he likes to focus on. Since he handles a lot of the theory part, I feel compelled (unh huh, Gemini trickster stuff in my chart) to provide the observation part.
I actually agree with a lot of stuff that he (and others) writes about, but “me too!” posts are boring to me. I like to provide the exceptions to the rule (Gemini in my chart), but am lazy about writing all of the “except this” and “except that” stuff that would include other points of view (Leo Mercury). In my writing, I am trusting that people get the gist of my point without me having to be too detailed about it (Sag ascendant, Asc. trine Mercury). This probably comes across as me not taking other POVs into consideration. That’s not the case. I enjoy other people’s POVs, but it’s very time consuming to account for all caveats, so I usually just go from Point A to Point D. Not to say Points B and C aren’t important, but I have a short attention span, especially when communicating. If I don’t get to Point D quickly, I will forget my point entirely (Mercury square Uranus).
I’m aware that my not mentioning the details or other POVs is a flaw within my communication style (Virgo in Saturn). If I was actually trying to write a “persuasive” essay, for example, I would include opposing or alternative viewpoints. But I’m not. That’s one of the reasons why I stopped posting on Saturdays. I’m writing from my own POV and that’s all I’m responsible for in the comments section.
Hopefully, this helps you understand where I’m coming from a bit better. A lot of times I generalize for comedic effect as well. I see now it’s probably not that funny to some people.
@Lucia,
Same here about being a very “experiental” (if that’s not a word, it should be. lol) astrologer. I consider myself a lifelong student of everything. The way I study is I learn the theory and then for it to be interesting to me, I have to see how it applies in my life. In other words, how can the theory be used? To me, theory is no good if it’s not applicable or practical. At some times I like to delve deep and look at the humanistic part of something (Cancer Sun, Sun in 8th house, Scorpio Moon) but at other times, I just want to study something under the microscope for the sake of learning something new and then move on. Like you, I can now guess pretty accurately a person’s rising, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars (and sometimes Jupiter and Saturn) placements within 10 minutes of talking to them. I don’t think that’s a coincidence. There’s something to say for the “experiental” side of astrology (or just learning in general).
On the other hand [this is for you, Eme Kah
], without theory, there’s nothing to quantify or qualify our experiences of something. Theory recognizes and explains the patterns that we observe. I wouldn’t “believe in” astrology if one of those aspects were missing – if I hadn’t noticed the patterns or if astrological theory didn’t accurately explain/justify my observations.
I have always had a thing about birthdays. I love the sentimentality of celebrating them. (There’s the stereotypical Cancer coming out in me). So while I haven’t always been a student of astrology, I have always made a point to remember people’s birthdays. While trying to grasp astrology theory, I went back and did charts of countless people I’ve known in the past and present. Since I’ve moved around a lot, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and knowing LOTS of people. Checking out charts of people I know plus people I don’t know (celebs) helped make astrology real for me. Of course, the inherent bias is that these people I know may not be randomly selected. I believe we attract people into our lives – and are attracted to other people – for a reason. A large part of that reason could be what’s in our charts (I tend to believe in the chart as destiny with allowances for free will theory).
At this point, I guess what types of aspects are in a person’s chart for fun. With aspects, I’m right about 52% of the time. Hopefully, I’ll always be wrong some percentage of the time. Otherwise, I won’t have anything else to learn and I’ll be forced to obsess/flit over the next subject that intrigues me.
bis said..
that is fun about birthdays. i am the opposite, i always dismissed at my birthday before recently when i got into astrology. i was just like uh what a stupid day. now i am totally celebrating it every day, every day is my birthday, it is a fabulous day the second day of gemini. only for gemini would the second day be the true first most complete day.
btw my cancer best friend does the same w/ being very strong in her opinions and open about this is what she ‘thinks’ (rather, ‘the way it is’). we get along thou. i always think of this t shirt my old (piscean actually) friend used to have- “i’m cute not crabby”.
Bis, can you explain this more? What does this mean?=> “only for gemini would the second day be the true first most complete day.” What made you want to celebrate your birthday after not caring before?
My mom doesn’t really care about her birthday. She doesn’t particularly care about celebrating any holiday really. I feel guilty when I don’t acknowledge her birthday, even though that’s probably what she would rather me do. I used to do special things for her, but now I just say happy birthday and that’s it. It’s weird. If I get her something really thoughtful, she will get all mushy and love it, but not really want to celebrate. It’s hard to say what her mood from year to year will be.
“I’m cute not crabby” hee! Where can I get the t-shirt that says “I’m cute and crabby” or “I’m cute because I’m crabby” or “I’m crabby, come cuddle me!”?
Lucia G., I bet you would not be able to guess my Sun sign on first meeting me
re Jara: “Bis, can you explain this more? What does this mean?=> “only for gemini would the second day be the true first most complete day.” What made you want to celebrate your birthday after not caring before? “
Olaaaa the cutie crabbeh. i was not v serious to be honest, just promoting my own bday as in like gemini is in doubles, the twins, so the second day mussssst be special….shifty eyes. lol, in any event.
as for my birthday, i dont know..i just never felt on a good mood on my birthday like i would want for a party anyway. very apathetic except this past year, 21 was a good practical one(!)! now its even negative however, like im just another year older. another year and im still the same loser i was before lol. i like it for the presents thou. ha, cant stop wont stop materialism. i like celebrating other people on the other hand.
also i like attention but not being the center i see myself more à la special guest star, best supporting actress, the angelina to winona. ok not to be inflated or anythin, im modest and practical basically like my mom, brother (both aquas too) and dad (scorp) who also arent into birthdays. we are all indifferent.
my dad is finickiest he was going all crazy, craaaaaazy, that a stranger to him might get invited to his birthday lunch this weekend lol.
–bis
my Mom doesn’t care about my birthday either