There are three main systems of Astrology in common use: Western Astrology, Chinese Astrology and Vedic Astrology (also known as Indian Astrology). All three systems use the position of the planets, the sun, and the moon at the date and time of your birth to help you understand your character traits and to predict events in your life.
Western Astrology
Astronomers define the zodiac as the ring of constellations that lines the ecliptic, which is the path the Sun appears to take across the sky over the course of the year. The Earth's Moon and all the Sun's the planets lie within the ecliptic.
Western Astrology divides the year in to 12 almost equally sized segments, of either 30 or 31 days. Each segment is named after the pattern of stars in the part of the zodiac which the sun moves through during that period. These 12 segments names are known as the Signs of the Zodiac.
Western Astrology believes that a person's characters traits are influenced by the Sign of the Zodiac of your date of birth.
Vedic Astrology (Indian Astrology)
Vedic Astrology uses the same Signs of the Zodiac as Western Astrology to divide the year into 12 segments, but it assigns different dates to each Zodiac Sign.
Like its western equivalent, Vedic Astrology believes that a person's characters traits are influenced by the Sign of the Zodiac of your date of birth.
Chinese Astrology
Chinese New Years are named after a cycle of 12 animals, which are said to be derived from a legend about Buddha. Chinese Astrology believes your character traits are influenced by which Animal of the Chinese Zodiac represents the year you are born in.
Compatibility of Western and Vedic Zodiac Signs
One of the most important uses of the signs of the zodiac in Western and Vedic Astrology is to determine if two people are compatible, by studying the zodiac signs they were born under. The study of the Compatibility of Zodiac Signs relates to both romantic and business relationships.
Compatibility of Chinese Zodiac Signs
In a manner analogous to that for Western and Vedic zodiac signs, in Chinese Astrology romantic and business compatibility is determined by their Chinese zodiac sign. The study of the Compatibility of Chinese Zodiac Signs is done by using the Chinese Year of the birth of the people concerned.
Horoscopes in Western Astrology
The other major use of zodiac signs, is for the creation of horoscopes which predict life events for a forthcoming period. Western Astrology makes horoscopes, or forecasts, for each year in general, and for each sign of the zodiac in more detail. See Astrology: Horoscope for 2012.
Horoscopes in Chinese Astrology
Chinese Astrology makes horoscope for the new Chinese Year in general, and for people belonging to each Chinese zodiac sign in more detail. See Chinese Astrology – Horoscope for 2011 Year of the Rabbit.
Sources:
Mark Tibbits - A professional writer and educator who writes about Astrology, South Asia/China, the UK, the British Royal Family, and Religion.
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