You're unique -- and so are your stars!
Jan. 13th, 2012 11:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
my_starzFor all of the things we humans have in common, no two of us are ever exactly alike. From the microscopic subtleties of our DNA, on through our fingerprints, and extending past the merely physical into and beyond personality and beliefs, we are each a one-of-a-kind facet of creation. The combination of nature and nurture produces individuals, not clones, and anything that attempts to define or describe us has to take that individuality into account if it's going to stand a chance of being an accurate picture.
No two of us are born at exactly the same place, exactly the same time -- even identical twins are separated by an interval ranging from mere moments to possibly hours. And in relationship to the rest of the Universe, we are in constant motion: our earth both rotating on its axis & revolving in orbit around the sun, and our entire solar system spinning within the galaxy. And the astrologically relevant portions of these systems are in constant motion related to us, as well: each planet changes position in our skies as it moves in its own endless cycle of revolution.
Given this ever-changing kaleidoscope of planets and stars, a little bit of thought should make it clear that at the time of our birth, the relative positions of our birthplace and time to the stars and planets is utterly unique: never before, and never again, will the Universe be arranged in quite that manner. This singular arrangement, all our own and never anyone else's, is what makes up an astrological natal chart.
The twelve signs of the zodiac comprise a frame, or background, against which we track the movement of the planets, as well as the shifting positions of the sun and the moon. Most folks are familiar with where the sun falls in their chart -- this is the 'sun sign', the best known portion of the practice of astrology. If that's all that mattered, astrology would, unfortunately, be nothing more than that which I've dismissed in an earlier post: a division of humanity into 12 sets of identical clones. But with the addition of each new celestial body to one's chart, that number is multiplied by twelve: combine the sun's position with that of the moon, and we're up to 144 variations; factor in Mars, and it grows to 1,748; Venus increases that to 20,736; do that six more times and the number becomes (pardon the pun) astronomical: 61,917,364,224 (that's just short of 62 billion)!
And while that may seem like a lot of unique astrological snapshots, there is far more variation in natal charts than just a static awareness of which sign each planet appears in: it takes time for a celestial body to move across the sky's framework from one sign into another, and just *where* within each sign a planet is placed has an impact on a person's chart, as well. But that's *still* not all that goes into making each of our natal charts uniquely our own!
But that is enough for today's entry, methinks. I'll be back soon to continue setting up the context for future discussions and history, by providing more details on the components of a well-constructed natal chart! Watch for it!
No two of us are born at exactly the same place, exactly the same time -- even identical twins are separated by an interval ranging from mere moments to possibly hours. And in relationship to the rest of the Universe, we are in constant motion: our earth both rotating on its axis & revolving in orbit around the sun, and our entire solar system spinning within the galaxy. And the astrologically relevant portions of these systems are in constant motion related to us, as well: each planet changes position in our skies as it moves in its own endless cycle of revolution.
Given this ever-changing kaleidoscope of planets and stars, a little bit of thought should make it clear that at the time of our birth, the relative positions of our birthplace and time to the stars and planets is utterly unique: never before, and never again, will the Universe be arranged in quite that manner. This singular arrangement, all our own and never anyone else's, is what makes up an astrological natal chart.
The twelve signs of the zodiac comprise a frame, or background, against which we track the movement of the planets, as well as the shifting positions of the sun and the moon. Most folks are familiar with where the sun falls in their chart -- this is the 'sun sign', the best known portion of the practice of astrology. If that's all that mattered, astrology would, unfortunately, be nothing more than that which I've dismissed in an earlier post: a division of humanity into 12 sets of identical clones. But with the addition of each new celestial body to one's chart, that number is multiplied by twelve: combine the sun's position with that of the moon, and we're up to 144 variations; factor in Mars, and it grows to 1,748; Venus increases that to 20,736; do that six more times and the number becomes (pardon the pun) astronomical: 61,917,364,224 (that's just short of 62 billion)!
And while that may seem like a lot of unique astrological snapshots, there is far more variation in natal charts than just a static awareness of which sign each planet appears in: it takes time for a celestial body to move across the sky's framework from one sign into another, and just *where* within each sign a planet is placed has an impact on a person's chart, as well. But that's *still* not all that goes into making each of our natal charts uniquely our own!
But that is enough for today's entry, methinks. I'll be back soon to continue setting up the context for future discussions and history, by providing more details on the components of a well-constructed natal chart! Watch for it!
Yes...
Date: 2012-01-13 09:05 pm (UTC)