Hi all, I was wondering how to view astrology correctly. What role does it play and what should be truly studied and pursued and what should be regarded as new age bs that I see a lot of in media and in bookstores.
Like Mart, I think sidereal is more the way to go. If it's supposed to be the planets themselves affecting things, it doesn't make any sense to ignore what their orbits are in actuality.
That being said, one big thing that separates popular astrology from a serious study of it is emphasis on sun signs. You'll notice most normies solely think of their birth month, which is the sun sign. And then they'll treat this as the only thing affecting you astrologically. You're either a taurus or a scorpio, etc. In reality, though, your sun sign does have a lot of influence, it's only one part of a much bigger birth chart. Mercury, the moon, Mars, Venus and all the rest will be in their own parts of the zodiac as well, which will affect you in different ways. Then you take into account how each planet/celestial body was facing each other at the time of your birth, (this is where terms like opposition and conjunction come in) and a whole new layer of complexity is added.
In short, astrology is a thoroughly interesting and rewarding field of study, but popular interpretation of it is a tiny tip of the iceberg. Accurately making and interpreting someone's birth chart can also prove to be a challenging thing, unless you really know your stuff. Which is why there are people out there who get paid huge gobs of money to do so.