Cool Moon Facts by Whip

Real astronomy and dated history, with sources. Documented traditions and folklore. Modern lunar astrology · symbolic, not predictive.

Chart basics · Traditions · Intermediate

Sidereal zodiac

A zodiac anchored to the fixed stars, used by Indian (Jyotish) and Western sidereal astrology.

A sidereal zodiac keeps its signs aligned with the background stars, so it moves against the seasons at the rate of precession. Converting a tropical position to sidereal means subtracting an ayanamsa, currently about 24°. This site's chart does not offer a sidereal switch: a sidereal chart needs its own house practice, vocabulary and interpretations, and swapping the numbers under Western readings would produce a misleading hybrid.

Where sources differ
Sidereal astrologers do not agree on one ayanamsa; Lahiri is the most used in India, and Fagan-Bradley among Western siderealists.
  • Kind: Calculation, Tradition
  • Tradition: Sidereal astrology, Indian (Vedic) astrology
  • In this site’s birth chart: not used

Related: Ayanamsa, Tropical zodiac, Vedic astrology, Precession of the equinoxes

Written for Cool Moon Facts in its own words. An astrology source documents what astrologers believe or practise; it does not establish that astrology works.

All terms · Your birth chart

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