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Traditional Astrology is a catch-phrase for the main types of western astrology practised prior to the mid-19th century. It includes the Hellenistic Astrology of the Greeks and Romans, Arabian, Medieval, and Renaissance European systems of astrology. It is sometimes known as Classical Astrology; which does not imply restriction to a Classical period of western history or culture.
Traditional astrology nearly died out in the 1800s and was largely replaced by western Modern Astrology methods by the turn of the 20th century. Traditional astrology is gaining in popularity today, however, often as a combination of different historical techniques in the hands of its practitioners.
The early twentieth century "modern" astrologers hoped to revive astrology, but they disliked traditional astrology's seemingly negative view of human nature and people's negligible prospects for improving their lives. Moreover, becoming a temple-robber, shipwreck victim, or owner of runaway slaves were apparent problems in the past, but have limited relevance for modern urban society. The pioneers of modern astrology essentially streamlined traditional astrology by ignoring many of its techniques; and instead interpreted planets, signs, aspects, and houses through the teachings of psychology or human potential movements. Astrology witnessed a strong revival in the 1970s, including in the hands of practitioners who based their interpretations more on common-sense understandings of human character than allegiance to particular schools of thought.
By the 1990s some astrologers became disatisfied with what they saw as modern astrology's dismissal of astrology's historical foundations, its apparent lack of structure, and its overly optimistic view of human perfectability. Others hoped to retrieve old astrological texts from obscurity by translating them into English. Horary Astrology, which had little place in psychological interpretations of personality, gained a new following.
Today traditionalist and modern astrologers still wage major debates over which branch is best. However, many traditionalists today use modern tools (such as the outer planets) and intepret human character and events in ways that are decidedly oriented towards modern cultural values; while some modern astrologers apply traditional western and Hindu methods in their work.
If you have a background in modern astrology, there are several conceptual and methodological shifts that are necessary before you can approach the traditional methods of viewing and interpreting charts. This might seem disconcerting at first, as it calls into question some of the most basic understandings that inform your astrological practice. You shouldn't have to reject what you already know and have found valuable. But it will be useful to temporarily shelve these perspectives as you explore traditional techniques. Otherwise, you will likely face ongoing confusion and difficulty mastering the traditional (Hellenistic) system. At the conclusion of your studies of this material, you can then make an informed decision as to how you want to continue, which techniques and ideas to integrate into your current practice, and which parts of your current practice you might want to revise.
The basic components of astrological symbolism are planets, zodiacal signs, and houses. From the beginning of the astrological tradition, planets had special correspondences with certain signs and houses that were considered more conducive and beneficial to the expression of each planet's essential nature.
However, the planet/sign and planet/house correspondences of traditional astrology differ from the modern "twelve-letter alphabet" system popularized during the second half of the twentieth century. The twelve-letter alphabet teaches that the meanings of a particular planet, sign, and house are derived from the same principle—such as Mars, Aries, and the first house—and are thus interchangeable in interpretation. The same would hold true for Venus, Taurus, and the second house; Mercury, Gemini, and the third house, and so on.
But from the traditional standpoint, while Mars is associated with Aries as its lord, there is no basis for its association with the first house, nor is there any particular correspondence between Aries and the first house. This operating principle is especially evident and problematic in many modern "cookbook style" interpretation guides that present the same interpretation of a planet—for example, Mars—in either Gemini or in the third house. A traditional astrologer would have completely different criteria for delineating the meaning of Mars in a sign versus in a house, and would not equate Gemini with the third house.
Evidence of divination by astrology goes back to the second millennium BCE when cuneiform texts identified the seven visible planetary bodies: Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. These were the only planets known to ancient peoples, since Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and the asteroids weren't discovered until after the invention of the telescope in the seventeenth century. Thus, the systems of traditional astrology, as practiced by Babylonian, Hellenistic, Arabic, Indian, Medieval, and Renaissance astrologers, were developed and refined over a 4000-year period based solely upon the seven visible planets. The North and South Nodes of the Moon as well as Lots (Arabic parts) were also a part of the symbol systems of traditional astrology, but the outer planets and asteroids were not.
You should certainly continue to include the outer planets and the asteroids (as I do) in your chart analysis. But you will learn to regard them in different ways than the seven original planets. And you will learn how to extract much more information about the chart from the seven visible planets.
Most astrologers are aware of planetary rulerships, whereby each of the planets is said to rule a sign: for example, the Sun rules Leo. The ancient terminology states that each planet is the "lord" of a particular sign; when it happens to be located in that sign in a particular chart, it is thought to possess certain powers. There is general agreement between traditional and modern thought that the Sun rules Leo, the Moon rules Cancer, Mercury is the ruler of Gemini and Virgo, and Venus is the ruler of Taurus and Libra. But then the traditional and modern systems begin to diverge. When the modern planets Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto were discovered, they were assigned as rulers of the signs Aquarius, Pisces, and Scorpio respectively, displacing the ancient rulers: Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars. This stems from modern astrologers noticing an affinity between each of the new planets and these three signs that traditionally had dual rulership. The rationale for the traditional system of rulerships was based upon a geometrical substructure depicted by the thema mundi, the symbolic chart of the creation of the world, rather than upon the modern principle of affinities between planet and sign.
When practicing traditional astrology, it is necessary to use the traditional rulers of all twelve signs as indicated in the diagram above. In particular, use Saturn as a ruler for Aquarius as well as for Capricorn, Jupiter as the ruler of Pisces as well as for Sagittarius, and Mars as the ruler of Scorpio as well as for Aries. This is especially important when determining which planet is the ruler of a particular house in order to interpret the meaning of that house in an individual chart. For example, if someone were to ask about the topic of relationships—signified by the seventh house—and that house is occupied by the sign Pisces, you would look to the planet Jupiter rather than to Neptune to make your judgment.
For the first seven hundred years of horoscopic astrology during the Hellenistic and Arabic eras, the house system of choice was whole sign houses, where signs and houses are coincident. Each house contains all thirty degrees of one—and only one—sign. This differs from the quadrant house systems used in modern astrology, such as Placidus, Porphyry, Regiomontanus, and Koch, where houses are of unequal size and can contain a varying number of degrees of one, two, or even three different signs. Ancient astrologers were aware of and discussed other house systems such as Porphyry and equal houses, but used these sparingly and only for specialized inquires.
In whole sign houses, all of the degrees of the rising sign occupy the first house and all planets in that sign are read as first house planets, regardless of their degree. For instance, even if a planet is at three degrees of a sign and the rising sign is twenty-eight degrees of the same sign, the planet is still read as a first house planet. The Ascendant degree is a point floating somewhere in the first house. While it still marks the horizon, designating which degrees of your rising sign are above the horizon and which are below the horizon, it does not divide the first house from the twelfth house. The sign following the rising sign occupies the entirety of the second house, and all planets in that sign are considered second house planets, etc.
Planets may occupy different houses in a whole sign house system as compared to a quadrant house system. When considering one's own chart for the first time using whole sign houses, if planets shift houses, this different perspective can initially cause an identity crisis for many astrologers. But you are asked to reflect upon and consider the changes as you work through the process. As you look at the example chart, note which planets change house position.
While the first four steps mentioned above are primarily shifts of technique, this fifth step entails a major conceptual shift. In the modern approach, all of the planets in a particular chart are considered equal in their capacity to bring about their matters; they are thought to do so in different ways depending upon their sign, house, and aspects. Interpretation involves blending together various combinations of keywords.
However, in the traditional approach, some planets are more capable of manifesting their significations in stable, consistent, long-lasting, and beneficial ways for the individual. Prior to interpreting the meaning of a planet in a particular chart, therefore, the astrologer must first determine its condition. This is based upon a number of different criteria such as a planet's sect, zodiacal sign rulerships, its phase relationship to the Sun, and its aspects. Each of these factors was thought to have an influence on the planet's capacity to bring about positive outcomes for the individual.
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