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Indra Report
This interpretation of the birth chart is very comprehensive and in-depth. The Indra Report describes your basic motivations, perceptions, inclinations, and character from a number of different perspectives, giving a highly accurate composite view of your life. More...








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Astrology Glossary
An introduction to astrology - this page
About the Elements - Fire, Earth, Air, Water
about the Qualities - Cardinal, Fixed, Mutable
about the 12 zodiac signs
an introduction to the Planets
an introuction to the Houses
Rulership chart
Aspects and Transits
Aspect Patterns
Angles and Ingresses
about Declinations
about Retrograde Planets
about Progressions
about Solar Returns
about Lunar Returns
about Moon phases and void-of-course Moon
about your Sun sign
about your Ascendant
about your Midheaven
about Chiron
about the 4 Goddess Asteroids
Astrology legend

Introduction
Astrology is a fascinating subject. While almost everyone knows his or her astrological sign, they are not always familiar with the personal characteristics associated with it. Those who turn their interest into more understanding of the subject itself will gain some truly unique insights about themselves and others. I have rarely encountered a person totally immune from wanting to know more about astrology. The following paragraphs explain some of their most frequent questions.

What is astrology?
Astrology is the study of cycles. The sun, moon, and planets move in their own time and in their own space according to individual cycles. Similarly ordained, the earth and all life upon its surface carries forward in complicated, perhaps never-to-be-fully understood, patterns that make up the Grand Design of the cosmos. The Greeks believed this enthusiastically. Some of the greatest thinkers in the history of mankind did not at all think it unreasonable to study planetary cycles in order to gain a better understanding of how mankind in general and people as individuals, fit into the universal cosmos. The Greeks assembled the body of knowledge upon which modern astrology is based. They applied their advanced understanding of astronomy and mathematics to the descriptions handed down from the astrologers/astronomers (there was no distinction in those days) of ancient Egypt and Babylonia.

What is meant by one's astrological sign?
When people refer to their astrological sign, they are merely stating which sign of the zodiac the sun was in when they were born.

Why is the sun's position so important in astrology?
As stars go with respect to size and brilliance, our sun is not a very impressive specimen. However, in a universe incalculably cold and dark, it is fortunate for us that the earth unfailingly continues to circle around this little spot of warmth and light. Without it there would be no life. During the twelve months it takes to make one complete orbit around the sun, the earth receives life-giving solar rays from continually changing angles. This cyclical pattern produces the four seasons. Birth, growth, maturity, and death; the cycle of the seasons is ordained by the earth's relationship with the sun, and every individual life upon its surface is in imitation of this pattern.

The date when the Sun leaves one sign and enters another varies by just a day or two from month to month, occurring sometime between the 20th and 23rd. The astrological sign of those born during the one day when the sun moves into the next sign is determined by the time they were born. For example, people whose birth occurred on April 20th might be Aries, while others born on the very same day will be Taurus if they came into the world after the sun entered the new sign. Those born on or around these dates are often said to be on the cusp. What this really means is that they are not sure if the sun had entered another sign on the day of their birth. The confusion can easily be remedied. Many calendars and almanacs list the date as well as the time when the sun enters a new sign each month.

Doesn't astrology recognize that we all share the same traits?
Astrology reflects the principle that nothing in the universe is at once so simple or so complicated as man himself, from the simple human traits inherent in all humans at birth to the complexity of specific personality and behavior patterns of a single individual. Desirable and undesirable characteristics repeat themselves in the individuals of countless generations, appearing only slightly altered by the history of changing circumstances. Specific traits indicated as belonging to one astrological sign does not deny the fact that people born in any of the other eleven signs also possess these traits. What it means is that hundreds of years of recorded astrological observations have shown that certain traits are more prominent in the personality and temperament of those born in one sign than in another. That is the reason, for example, that moodiness becomes a trait associated with one sign or loquaciousness the hallmark of another.

On what are the astrological sign descriptions based?
Some traits are shared by certain signs. This can seem confusing unless you understand how traits are classified. Astrology uses two general classifications to explain how the same characteristic can be shared by different signs. These two classifications also focus on the true nature of each sign as they are distinct from each other. One classification is known as Elements which divides the twelve signs into four groups: Fire signs, Earth signs, Air signs and Water signs. The other classification is known as Qualities, which divides the twelve signs into three groups: Cardinal signs, Fixed signs, and Mutable signs.

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