What Are Horoscopes? How Do They Work?
Horoscopes are based on the signs of the zodiac—specifically your rising sign and sun sign. They help astrologers make astrological predictions.
Definition
Horoscopes can be personalized for a particular person or generalized for the collective. But in general, horoscopes represent an astrologer’s unique interpretation of how the planets are affecting us during everyday transits such as a moon entering Virgo, or certain astrological events like a new moon or Mercury retrograde.
They can reflect the current day, week, month, or year—depending on what you’re attempting to get a horoscope about. Overall, horoscopes provide a deep understanding of what you’re currently going through based on where the planets are in respect to your personal birth chart.
How They Work
Horoscopes are created based on your rising sign. That’s right! Creating horoscopes has nothing to do with your sun sign. (Though, it’s smart to read the horoscope of both your sun and rising signs.)
The rising sign is important because that’s the sign that sets up the Houses in your birth chart. So, when astrologers look at planetary transits, they can easily identify which House the transit in question will fall.
For example, if you’re a Cancer rising, and Mercury is currently in Taurus and moving through your 11th House, an astrologer would describe this as a very socially active time for this rising sign in particular. Since each rising sign will have Mercury transiting a different house in their birth chart, they can each expect to be affected by Mercury in Taurus in different ways.
FAQs
Is astrology fake?
No, and the great thing about astrology is that it doesn’t need anyone to believe in it in order for it to work! Whether you believe that the planets affect us or not, they still do. For thousands of years, astrology has provided a way for humans to understand certain life events based on the movement of the sun, moon, and the rest of the celestial bodies.
What’s the difference between horoscopes and zodiac?
Horoscopes are essentially a predictive tool to understand how each of the 12 zodiac signs can expect to be affected by the week, month, or year ahead. The zodiac, however, represents the 12 zodiac signs that the planets move through, but the planets don’t get their meanings from the zodiac.
Each of the 12 zodiac signs is ruled by a planet. For example, Aries is ruled by Mars, Taurus is ruled by Venus, etc. As a planet moves through each sign of the zodiac, it’s able to express its energy in a different way. But it is not defined by the sign it’s in. The meaning of every planet always remains the same.
What’s the difference between astrology and horoscopes?
Horoscopes are a predictive tool within the practice of astrology. Astrology is a practice that has various methods, tools, and uses. Horoscopes are just one of those uses.
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