THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE VEDIC (SIDEREAL) ZODIAC AND THE

WESTERN (TROPICAL) ZODIAC

by Prash Trivedi

It is important to know what differentiates Vedic Astrology from the more well known
Western Astrology.

Vedic Astrology or Jyotish (its Sanskrit name meaning Jyoti - Light and Isha - Lord)
is based upon the Sidereal Zodiac as opposed to the Tropical Zodiac used in
Western Astrology.

Although the Sidereal Zodiac was used by Western Astrologers like Ptolemy in the
beginning, over the course of time a more symbolic zodiac was adopted which is
astronomically inaccurate.

This difference between the two zodiacs is called the "Ayanamsha". The Ayanamsha
takes into account the revolution of the earth's axis, a phenomenon in Astrology
known as the "precession of the equinoxes".

To explain this in the simplest way possible the earth spins(wobbles to be more
precise) on its own axis in a conical motion and takes approximately 25,800 years to
complete one revolution. It means that every 2000 years the position of the vernal or
spring equinox, which marks the beginning point of the first sign of the zodiac Aries
is always changing and moving forwards in time.

Consequently the pole star also changes every few thousand years as seen in the
figure below.
When a person born today has the Sun at 10 degrees in Aries using the Tropical
Zodiac, in actual astronomical reality the Sun will be 23 degrees backwards placed
in the sign of Pisces.

For example when the Sun used to move into Aries on the 21st of March at 200 A.D.
today it will enter the sign of Aries around the 14th of April. When the Sun moved
into the sign of Scorpio on the 22nd October at 200 A.D. today it will enter the sign
of Scorpio around the 14th of November.

This the reason why the present day

SUN-SIGN ASTROLOGY is COMPLETELY WRONG.
It is a complete joke in more ways than one - it has very little to do with Real Astrology. It is
time that it was erased from public/media consciousness.

The Sidereal Zodiac used in Vedic Astrology is astronomically accurate because it takes the
shifting of the earth's axis into account when calculating the longitudes of the planets and
constellations.

The Tropical Zodiac used in Western Astrology is a Symbolic Zodiac based upon the position
of the planets and constellations as they were in the sky 2000 years ago.

The Sidereal zodiac is the real zodiac as it actually appears in the sky at any given moment.

In order to convert a Western (tropical) horoscope into a Vedic (sidereal) horoscope one needs
to subtract the current ayanamsa from the Tropical longitudes of the planets and signs to get
their Sidereal positions. Because the earth's axis is always changing its position the ayanamsa
changes slightly every year.

In January 1, 1900 the ayanamsa was 22 degrees 27 minutes 59 seconds.

Today the ayanamsa is 23 52' degrees.

There are various ayanamsas in use today. There are some disagreements on the actual
measurement of the ayanamsa or longitudinal difference between the two zodiacs. The most
popular and widely accepted ayanamsa in India was introduced by N.C. Lahiri. He calculates
the precessional rate to be around 48 seconds per year.