Why your Vedic sign may differ from your Western one
Many people look up their Vedic chart for the first time and find that their Sun sign has changed. A Leo becomes a Cancer; a Pisces becomes an Aquarius. Nothing is wrong with the chart. The two systems simply measure the zodiac from different starting points.
Two ways to draw the same circle
Western astrology uses the tropical zodiac, which begins at the spring equinox: the moment each year when day and night are equal. Whatever point in the sky the Sun occupies at that moment is called 0° Aries, by definition.
Vedic astrology, or Jyotish, uses the sidereal zodiac, which is anchored to the fixed stars. Its 0° Aries is tied to the actual star field behind the Sun.
Why the two drift apart
The Earth wobbles slowly on its axis, a motion called precession. Because of it, the equinox point slides backward against the stars by about one degree every 72 years. Over centuries, the two zodiacs have separated by roughly 24 degrees. The difference between them is called the ayanamsa, and most Vedic astrologers use the Lahiri ayanamsa to calculate it.
Since each sign spans 30 degrees, a 24-degree shift moves most placements back by one sign. Only planets in the last few degrees of a tropical sign stay in the same sign in the Vedic chart.
What matters most in a Vedic chart
Jyotish puts less weight on the Sun sign than Western astrology does. The rising sign (lagna) and the Moon, along with the Moon's nakshatra, or lunar mansion, carry more of the story. So if your Sun sign has changed, it is worth looking at your Moon and ascendant before deciding how well the chart describes you.
In future articles, we will look at the twelve houses, the nakshatras, and how dasha periods describe the timing of events in a life.
All articles