ABSTRACT

Mrs. Sawyer's question is in regard to the relationship between ordinary astrology and the precession of the equinoxes. I will state the problem again. You see, ordinary astrology suggests that our life is dependent upon the so-called vibrations of the planets that are in a certain relative position at the moment of our birth and, they say, actually influence that moment and all our life. So if a planet crosses the same place it was in at that moment, perhaps twenty years later, it produces a special effect. Astrologers still hold to the actual place of the planets, but here we are confronted with the fact that today there is no correspondence between the positions ascribed to them and their actual position in the skies. Since 100 B.C. the spring-point has been artificially fixed at zero degrees Aries, but astronomically that is no longer true. In reality, on account of the precession of the equinoxes, the spring-point has passed from Aries to Pisces and it is shortly to enter Aquarius. So our calculations are simply arbitrary, having to do only with time and not with the actual position.