Vedic astrology is similar to Western astrology, with zodiac signs that corresponds to its western counterpart. However, there are a few interesting facets to Vedic astrology.
Positions of the Constellations
For calculations, the Western astrologers use the spring equinox on March 21 as the start of the astrological year, zero degrees Aries. The Vedic system, however, uses the actual positions of constellations, which takes into account the precession of the equinoxes, which is due to the variation of the Earth's rotation and causes discrepancies in the calculations.
Therefore, the Vedic zodiac signs are about 25 degrees behind the Western signs, which, according to Vedic astrologers, causes anyone born on the first 18 days of each month to belong to the previous zodiac sign.
A recent system used in Vedic astrology is the splitting of the apparent path of the sun around Earth into parts of 2 1/2 degrees (out of 360). In this way, the first 2 1/2 degrees of Aries, for example, would be sub-ruled by Aries, while the next 2 1/2 degrees would be sub-ruled by Taurus, the next by Gemini and so on.
This way, anyone born on, for example the first 2 1/2 degrees (around 3 days) of their zodiac sign would also have to take into account the characteristics of an Aries, and so on.
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