‘Normal Western’ astrology with its tropical zodiac vs. living sky astrology - what’s the difference?

In early 2024 I started exploring living sky astrology - also known as true sky astrology or astronomical astrology - which is based on where the planets and other celestial bodies are moving in the constellations from our perspective here on Earth. Did you know that the differences to the placements of Western astrology’s tropical zodiac signs are quite significant? So what is all of this about?

I’ll describe a few differences between the systems here, and what my current (constantly evolving) perspective is of these layers of reality in our lives. Based on diving into my own and others’ living sky astrology birth charts, a few ‘astrological mysteries’ that have perplexed me have been solved. 

The understanding I’ve gained about myself and my life just through ‘normal’ astrology has itself been awe-inspiring for the past years, but now it feels like another layer of the onion has been peeled back… And I’ve received wondrous validation for who I am at a level that’s not quite so readily visible in everyday life, getting me closer to my core essence, my higher self, my soul self.

Let’s start with what I mean by ‘normal astrology’: Most commonly, Western astrology is based on the tropical zodiac, which includes 12 equal-sized, 30-degree signs. What really happens in the sky is much more alive and less ‘engineerily specific’ reality.

So what does the sky look like?

There are 88 constellations in our sky in total, of which those making up the constellations that the zodiac signs are based on, are the ones more or less on the Sun’s path (the ecliptic) from our point-of-view on Earth. More broadly speaking, the ecliptic is not viewed as one line but a belt of about 8 degrees ‘above’ and 8 degrees ‘below’ the ecliptic. 

Regardless, there is no consensus on what the zodiac signs are, though usually, 12-14 signs are included. For example, the path of the Sun goes closer to the constellation of Cetus, which is not commonly accepted as part of the zodiac, than to Aries, which is a commonly accepted part of the zodiac. Also, the Sun very clearly travels through the constellation of Ophiuchus, after the constellation Scorpius, but Ophiuchus is also not usually considered a part of the zodiac.

Not to mention, there is hardly a uniform definition for the boundaries of constellations - where do they start and where do they end? There are multiple interpretations, since constellations themselves are human constructs. 

Where Western astrology divides up the zodiac into 12 equal-sized, 30-degree signs, the true size of the constellations in the sky can differ anywhere from around 15-50 degrees in longitude. There can also be ‘empty space’ between constellations depending on where the arbitrary constellation boundaries are placed, and sometimes the constellations ‘overlap’. Let’s look at a few examples to illustrate this:

Even though the tropical zodiac considers each sign to be 30 degrees wide, the constellations in the sky are of very varying sizes: the constellations commonly considered as part of the zodiac can be anywhere from around 15 to 50 degrees wide. The image shows you an example of the comparably large Virgo next to the comparably small Libra constellation. The yellow line marks the Sun’s orbit (the ecliptic), the grey line the Moon’s orbit and the green line represents the horizon at a point in time.

The tropical zodiac doesn’t recognize the ‘empty space’ between constellations. The picture illustrates that there is several degrees of empty space on the ecliptic between Taurus and Gemini constellations. This means that after leaving the Taurus constellation, the Sun spends several days out of any constellation before ‘arriving in’ Gemini. The Orion and Auriga constellations in the image are not part of the zodiac.

Constellations can also look like they ‘overlap’, as in the case of the Capricornus and Aquarius constellations: the arm of Aquarius extends ‘over’ Capricornus, so when planets move through a large portion of Capricornus, they are also simultaneously aligned to Aquarius. This overlapping is also something that the tropical zodiac does not take into account. 

The sky is divided into 360 degrees, as are astrological charts. The Sun, which from the perspective of Earth travels approximately 1 degree per day, spends a reasonably neat 30 days in each of the 12 signs of the tropical zodiac. In the sky this is not the case, because the Sun spends as many days in a constellation as the constellation is wide: as mentioned, anywhere from around 15-50 degrees for those constellations along the path of the Sun. Along its path it also travels through ‘empty’ or void space in between the zodiac constellations, and can be aligned with more than one constellation at a time.

Additionally, other planets and astronomical bodies travel on their own orbits which are not necessarily even close to that of the path of the Sun, so that means that they often activate different constellations than those on the zodiac. This is the case especially with some asteroids. In the images, a good example for visualizing different orbits is the grey line that represents the orbit of the Moon, versus the yellow line representing the orbit of the Sun - though their orbits differ only slightly. 

Locking the tropical zodiac into place 

The tropical zodiac signs are locked into place based on the spring and fall equinoxes as well as the summer and winter solstices, dividing the year up into the equivalent four seasons of the northern hemisphere. As the Sun moves from one zodiac sign to the next once a month, we shift for example from Pisces season to Aries season. In other words, the zodiac sign periods are defined by the Sun’s position at any given moment.

Locking the zodiac into place means that, for instance, the moment of the spring equinox always marks the Sun’s entry into the first degree of Aries - regardless of which constellation the Sun is actually in in the sky at that moment. Nowadays that’s the early degrees of the Pisces constellation (see screenshot of the sky app below). 

Spring equinox Mar 20th, 2024, when the Sun is at the first degree of Aries in the tropical zodiac, and near the beginning of the constellation of Pisces.

This divergence between the living sky and the tropical zodiac has arisen from a phenomenon in which the Earth’s axis completes a full 360-degree rotation around itself over roughly 26 000 years. Because of this movement, the sky appears to “shift” from our point of view - meaning it cannot actually be fixed in place.

As a result of this motion, the point of the spring equinox moves about one degree backward along the zodiac every 72 years - known as the precession of the equinoxes. So, the more time passes, the greater the difference becomes, though very slowly.

The tropical zodiac was standardized into twelve equal 30-degree signs already several centuries before Christ in Mesopotamia. From the beginning, it was intended to be a symbolic rather than a literal representation of the sky. Presumably, at the time when the zero point of Aries on the tropical zodiac was fixed into place over 2 000 years ago, the Sun at the spring equinox was also aligned with the early part of the constellation of Aries in the sky. The current offset of close to one whole tropical sign has therefore developed over the past two millennia.

At this point, it’s worth noting that, unlike the tropical zodiac commonly used in the West, the sidereal zodiac ‘corrects’ the starting point of the zodiac according to the precessional movement, to begin at the so-called right place in the sky. However, the sidereal zodiac still uses the same twelve equal 30-degree divisions, which differ significantly from the actual, uneven sizes of the constellations. For this reason, I personally don’t use the term sidereal to describe the form of astrology that follows the living sky.

Went over your head? No worries. 

The examples above are meant to showcase the philosophical differences between the systems: the more masculine, standardized, predictable sense of time according to the Western astrological system, compared with the more feminine, box-defying, ‘chaotic’ living sky. 

I’ll delve into what all this actually means from an interpretative point of view soon, but first: 

Do these systems have anything in common??

Absolutely.

Regardless of which zodiac we use as the basis for the astrological chart, the relationships between planets and other celestial bodies - that is, their aspects - always remain the same from one system to another, even though their sign positions may differ significantly from the actual constellational positions.

This is somewhat similar to house placements in different house systems: the planets and other celestial bodies may fall into different houses depending on which system you use, but their relationships to one another stay the same.

For instance, if you were born around the New Moon in the sign of Scorpio in November 1976, your tropical birth chart, shown below, would show Mars at the first degree of Sagittarius conjunct the New Moon aka the Sun and Moon at the last degree of Scorpio:

The New Moon of Nov 21, 1976, 5.10pm in Turku, Finland, at the last degree of the tropical zodiac sign of Scorpio.

This is what the same moment looked like in the sky, where the Moon, the Sun and Mars were also close together, in the constellation of Libra:

New Moon of Nov 21, 1976, 5.10pm in Turku, Finland, at the last degree of the tropical zodiac sign of Scorpio, in the constellation of Libra.

There is one notable difference here too, though: 

When we look at the sky view, we can see that the Moon and the Sun - although in an exact conjunction on the tropical chart - are not entirely ‘overlapping’ or ‘in conjunction’ in the sky. Because their orbits, as seen from Earth, differ from one another, they are on different planes: here, both of them share the same ecliptic longitude of 239°, but they differ in latitude, the Sun at 0°, the Moon at 1°.

Everything that appears as a conjunction on the flattened 2D astrological chart refers to the same or a nearby ecliptic longitude (depending on how exact the conjunction is), even though their latitudes may differ depending on how closely aligned the orbital planes of those celestial bodies are. 

So when looking at the living sky, it is therefore more accurate to say that the planets are ‘aligned’ rather than ‘in conjunction’ - unless they are really conjunct in both ecliptic longitude and latitude, which occurs in the sky much less often than astrological charts would lead one to believe. Planets that are aligned can, however, be interpreted in the same way as conjunctions in astrological charts are.

It’s good to remember that any astrological chart - which flattens the 3D sky into a 2D plane - is always a somewhat distorted visualization of reality. A useful comparison might come from school geography: just as different map projections distort our planet in various ways, the same principle applies when we simplify the sky into a chart.

Today, it’s easy to check where something is in the living sky, with publicly available sky apps such as Stellarium or Sky Safari. I personally use the latter, and all the sky screenshots in this blog are also taken from it.

Back to the similarities, however: just as aspects within a given astrological chart stay the same regardless of what zodiac is used, so do transits. Transits describe how the positions of planets and other celestial bodies at a given time in the sky activate - make a passing aspect to - planets and other celestial bodies in for example a person’s birth chart.

Let’s revisit the fictive person’s birth chart during the Nov 21, 1976 New Moon: their MC axis, representing their career and public aspirations, is at 8 degrees of Aquarius on the tropical zodiac. That person will be having Pluto transiting their MC in the upcoming years. This remains true even when viewed through the living sky, where Pluto will be located at the beginning of the constellation of Capricornus - but it still aligns with that same MC axis on the person’s chart.

Here is the visual difference:

Pluto in the tropical zodiac May 1, 2027, nearing the fictive person’s MC at 8 degrees of Aquarius.

Pluto on May 1, 2027, at the beginning of the constellation of Capricornus. 

The impact of these system differences on astrological interpretation

Ultimately, all zodiacal energies come alive within each of us in some way and in some area of life - just in very different combinations and compositions from person to person and from one life phase to another. Different systems may simply describe different layers of those compositions.

In my experience, depending on the person, a natal chart based on the Western astrology’s tropical zodiac may feel either accurate and empowering, limiting and constraining, or anything in between - and it can also be experienced differently at different times. On average, however, it seems that Western astrology still resonates well for many people, at least when it comes to interpreting the everyday self, our daily roles, life events, external expectations, and cultural conditioning. For many, it may also be a sufficient and holistic-feeling tool through which to interpret themselves and their lives, continuing to learn more from it throughout their lifetime.

The positions of the living sky and the tropical zodiac appear to me like the Sun and Moon within the lunar cycle, a dynamic formed by their relationship rather than by the Moon’s movement alone. The Sun represents the ‘pure seed of consciousness’ and life force itself. As Dane Rudhyar described, the Moon’s role is that of a ‘transformer’, enabling Earth’s inhabitants to gradually assimilate and utilize the Sun’s dazzling energy.

Thus, the tropical zodiac - a simplified version of the sky - is like scaffolding, a Moon-like construct designed to help human beings comprehend solar consciousness. From this perspective, charts that more closely mirror the living sky, or even better, the use of sky apps, may guide us ever deeper toward this core consciousness.

One significant difference I’ve discovered in my own birth charts is that in the living sky, my lunar nodes lie in the constellations of Pisces and Virgo, rather than in Aries and Libra as in the tropical chart. I can easily identify with the south node in Virgo, which is my familiar, safe mode of being practical, analytical, and organized. Ironically, this insight itself emerged as the understanding that I must ease my grip on the neatly categorized system of astrology as done by the tropical zodiac, which my inner Virgo mourns a bit. For my north node in Pisces calls me to grow precisely toward flow, chaos, and the living, ever-changing wholeness that defies rigid order, just like the sky itself, which cannot be confined to tidy boxes. I identify with this very strongly though: understanding now that my tropical north node in Aries challenges me to be the pioneer and initiating action-taker in my external reality, however my inner motivation does not come from Aries’ fight nor self-identiy, but from the living sky’s Piscean collective realms aiming at universal peace and love. 

Initially, diving into living sky astrology felt much like that moment when I first dove under the surface on my first snorkelling trip at the coral reefs off Australia’s east coast: a whole new world opened up instantly, one that took my breath away and that I was bewildered to not have known through personal experience before. And it permanently changed my sense of where ‘the limits of the world’ lie. Just as then, with the initial dip into living sky astrology, it felt like the journey of exploration had only just begun. 

Ever-evolving process with ever-evolving tools

In any case, the general understanding in astrology, regardless of the system, is that as human beings, we are ever-evolving processes, not something fixed or unchanging throughout life. Who is that true self that life continually challenges us to grow into?

It is quite possible that living sky astrology enters one’s path as a useful tool when one is ready to explore a deeper layer of interpretation, one that reveals the nature of one’s consciousness or soul identity beneath the everyday persona. In terms of interpreting collective timing with living sky astrology, it helps us understand the forces and motivations operating behind external circumstances and events.

A good chunk of humanity has invested 2 000+ years of collective energy and attention into the reality layer mapped by the tropical zodiac - so the living sky layer of the self might take a bit of tuning into to get in touch with. At the very least, a generous dose of curiosity towards examining one’s own human experience, and its layers, like peeling an onion. And that also brings the question, to which reality do you want to invest your attention going forward? That is a personal, much broader question for us, way beyond astrology into life in general, too. 

It’s highly likely that at different stages of life, the messages conveyed to us by different systems - and not only astrological, but any kind of symbolic interpretation, be that numerology, tarot, human design, etc - will resonate in different ways. The saying “what got you here won’t get you there” captures this perfectly: as we grow and evolve, so do our tools and approaches.

The sky is a living being, and so too does astrology evolve - developing along with time and technology, such as modern chart calculation software and sky applications. The tropical zodiac has long been, and still is, a valuable supporting framework for learning astrology, yet at some point in humanity’s evolution, I expect it will become obsolete, left behind as an outdated construct. There will be systems that go much deeper and offer more precise representations of the true sky, much more so than today’s tools. And perhaps, in some distant future, human consciousness will have evolved so far that no intermediary system will be needed at all, but our connection to the nature of time will be intuitively and directly experienced, ever-present in our awareness.

Want to dive into the insights of your birth chart viewed through the two systems? 

You are warmly welcome for an astrological consultation where we work with your birth chart both according to the living sky constellations as well as your chart according to the tropical zodiac of ‘regular Western astrology’.

This consultation helps you uncover the many layers within you and your life - and see who you are in the process of becoming.

Clarify your inner compass to support the growth of both your earthly and soul selves!

🧭 Read more and book here: Birth chart reading - living sky astrology / Western astrology comparison 

💭 Questions, comments, want to chat? Please get in touch at saila@purposeworks.fi