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Before continuing any introduction to metaphysical astrology, I'd like to address a specific issue. There is growing awareness of many different schools of astrology that requires a new openness towards the idea of AND. Instead of arguing about whether Vedic astrology is better than Western, or any other "my way is better" stance, astrologers need to realize that all astrologies are part of one family, and can stimulate, feed, and cross-fertilize each other. The principles and significations of Horary astrologers are useful for all astrologers to know. The special aspects of Vedic astrology can definitely be applied to Western charts. And the Western use of the outer planets is priceless, and a great loss if not used by Vedic astrologers also The AND principle is simply put: Chinese AND Vedic AND ancient Greek AND Medieval AND Aztec AND Modern Western AND Horary astrologies all work and all are valuable to each other. The key to the successful use of astrology is the blending of the intellect, intuition, and the artistic and creative abilities with as synthetic a view of the chart as possible. Blending the chart factors into a whole functioning living understanding of the person, query, or event is what astrology is about. We must learn how to evaluate which planets are stronger, what they each represent and influence, and how they fully interact with each other. In the same way that one's head, being connected to the rest of the body, interacts with one's feet, even if they are not contiguous; so does every planet -- in the end -- connect to every other planet in a chart. While I am a strong proponent of principle that unaspected and disconnected points have a very important meaning -- and do represent schisms -- in a person's psyche and life, for example, I also realize that we are talking about an individual, who in some ways forms a whole unit. (The use of minor aspects, in part, is one way of seeing connections that might otherwise be invisible to the astrologer.) Therefore, we need to keep growing in our understanding of the structure and function of the person as mirrored by the chart. To that end, I use -- among other methods -- the doctrine of signatures and the disproportionate factors in the chart to learn about the whole person. The doctrine of signatures is simple the idea that each chart carries some planetary themes more strongly than others. For example, if a person has Sun in Capricorn, Moon in Aquarius, and Saturn aspecting the Ascendant, then they would be said to have a strong Saturn signature in their chart, and as such the lexicon of Saturnian words (e.g. solitary, anxious, serious, tight, critical, disciplined, etc.) might particularly describe the individual's character. Similarly, if a person has an absence of air, or a predominance of cardinal planets, the disproportion of this factor will indicate significant specificities about the individual. Remember, however, that people can form paradoxical reactions to an excess or deficiency in their chart. I've seen people with no earth in their charts who became compulsive about details, and people with a predominance of cardinal planets who became paralyzed by being pulled in too many directions at once. Lest the beginner feel like losing all hope, at this point, of ever becoming fluent in the astrological art, may I suggest that it is by abandoning effort and struggle to understand charts that the greatest mastery occurs. Learn the elements of astrology as well as you can, and then let go and let your deeper self reveal to you the insights and depths of the chart(s) in front of you. May your journey to the stars be enriching, enlivening, and pure joy. Click to Return to 
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