the-astrology-book

Heliocentric Astrology
This argument was persuasive enough to prevent the emergence of a true heliocentric
astrology until relatively recently. The two factors behind this emergence were (1) the
discovery that scientists had found a correlation between sunspot activity and angles
between the planets (the same basic aspects that are used in geocentric astrology) and
(2) the personal computer revolution, which made casting heliocentric horoscopes
quite easy. Use by NASA scientists of a form of heliocentric astrology—under the
rubric “gravitational vectoring”—to predict high sunspot activity was not just an
important verification of astrological principles; it also, because of the well-known
effects of such activity on weather conditions, on radio wave propagation, and on
other terrestrial events, alerted astrologers to the possibility that astrological forces
impacting the solar sphere had an influence on Earth’s astrological “atmosphere.”
The early solar charts presented a barren appearance: There were no house
divisions, no ascendant, no Sun, and, sometimes, no zodiac (because for the tropical
zodiac, the first sign always begins at the spring equinox, a notion that has no meaning
from a heliocentric viewpoint). Earth, which is always 180° away from where the Sun
would be in a geocentric chart, is drawn in as a cross surrounded by a circle (like the
symbol for the Part of Fortune, only shifted 45°). Because the Sun in traditional
astrology represents one’s deepest “soul” self, some heliocentric astrologers have proposed
that solar horoscopes chart the astrology of the soul.
Heliocentric astrologers began with the principle that the heliocentric perspective
would supplement rather than supplant the geocentric perspective. This principle
paved the way for a newer approach to heliocentric astrology that represents the
heliocentric and the geocentric positions in the same horoscope. These are technically
“geo-helio” charts. Astrologers who use this system claim that including the heliocentric
positions is like “finding the missing half of the horoscope.” The heliocentric
planets have the same meaning as when used geocentrically, although they are said to
manifest their influence in a different manner. This newer approach did not entirely
overturn the older heliocentric system, so there are now at least two distinct heliocentric
approaches, one purely heliocentric (but which does not reject the validity of a
geocentric chart, using it only in an entirely separate phase of the operation), and the
other a mixed geo-helio approach in which the two charts are merged.
Most contemporary astrologers, although not actually opposed to heliocentric
astrology, have not integrated it into their practice, primarily because there are so
many new techniques that no one astrologer can possibly master them all. The heliocentric
perspective is just one tool among a multitude available to the astrological
practitioner. Many astrologers have adopted the attitude that very good astrologers are
rare enough, so why not just stick to mastering the basics This argument has more
than a little merit. And, after all, if we adopt a Sun-centered astrology, why not also
make use of the many insights that are probably waiting to be discoved in a Mooncentered
or a Mars-centered or even a Ceres-centered astrology If a heliocentric
chart cast for one’s birth time gives valid insights for a native of Earth, then it should
be possible to apply the same principles to any planet or planetoid in the solar system!
Such considerations have caused many astrologers to greet heliocentric methods
with indifference. At the same time, the widespread availability of chart-casting
[298] THE ASTROLOGY BOOK