How I Astrologic

I started my astrological journey with modern western astrology and sabian symbol astrology. But now I’m endeavoring to ground my practice in the western Hellenistic tradition. I am doing an updated Hellenistic and western Tropical approach now. “Updated” mostly means I like to include outer planets and astroids that were not known in the ancient times. I try to apply the logic of Hellenistic astrology as I understand it.

Hellenistic Astrology

Hellenistic Astrology is the origin of western astrology. It developed largely in Greece and Egypt during the Hellenistic era, with it’s own roots in Mesopotamia, and with developments added during the European Renaissance period. After having most of the original writings lost to time (Great Library of Alexandria, etc.), it’s being carefully reconstructed by a group of astrologers and historians, many of them affiliated with Kepler College, including Chris Brennan. This translation and reconstruction work has made great strides in the last 30 years. Much information is completely gone, but whatever can be salvaged is worth having.

Tropical Zodiac

“Tropical” means the zodiac I’m using is tied to the equinoxes, with the beginning of Aries on the Spring Equinox, rather than to the constellation’s literal location. This differs from Sidereal which ties itself to a fixed star. Astrologers need to pick between Tropical and Sidereal zodiacs to handle the precession of the earth’s axis (the planets are drifting a little in the sky relative to earth)—most western astrologers moved to the Tropical system when the precession was noticed about 2000 years ago. Vedic astrologers in India moved to the Sidereal system. I’m american and western, it makes sense for me to use the Tropical zodiac. I also think following the solar equinoxes makes good sense as a human living the seasons of earth.

Placidus House System

Houses are a time-based system that accounts for one’s local sky that offers a lot more precision with astrological predictions. There’s multiple methods to calculate the location of houses, and thus multiple named systems. I use the Placidus House system most of the time, which is the predominant system in western astrology. I’m familiar with Whole Sign too, which is more standard in Hellenistic astrology, and I am sometimes dabbling in Regiomontanus since one of the astrologers I follow prefers it for horary readings. The differences between these is something I continue to study.

Personally, I don’t see Whole Sign as being as accurate as Placidus in the charts I have studied of people I know well. It seems to me like Whole Sign Houses are accurate enough for the one third of people who have their ascendant in the first decan (10º subdivision) of a sign, and the rest have lower accuracy. My opinion on this may change with more experience. I still do comparisons between the two often. My supposition is that Whole Sign houses exist for convenience—ancient astrologers had to do calculations by hand and calculating the position of each house is very complex. Whole Sign houses would greatly simplify how many calculations you had to do. But I have a computer.

If you prefer a house system I don’t use, I am happy to switch to the system you prefer for your personal reading. As far as I have seen, the houses seem to be described the same way across all the systems, so a reading should be able to translate across them.

Teachers

I’m in the process of doing a training course by Chris Brennan, of the Astrology Podcast. Right now, I’m carefully studying his book Hellenistic Astrology before I begin a certification course. I like Brennan for being seriously involved in translating and reintegrating the ancient history of Western astrology. He’s also detailed and thorough in his communication. It’s important to me to understand the roots of astrology as best as I can.

I also particularly read and study content from Christopher Warnock of Renaissance Astrology. I like Warnock for being a diverse thinker and serious magic practitioner with special attention on the renaissance astrologers. I also appreciate his astrological magic teachings. Warnock has studied many spiritual traditions as well, and contributed important translation work.

I used to follow James Burgess and his website of Sabian Symbols. I still enjoy this system but find Burgess a little troubling as a personality. I think he’s a conservative British monarchist. I have a published copy of his book Sabian Alchemy that I reference sometimes. There are other astrologers, artists, and occultists involved in the creation of the Sabian Symbols system, notably: Ruby Fumizki, Elsie Wheeler, Marc Edmund Jones, Dane Rudhyar, and Arthur Young. Do check out Ruby’s amazing calculator. This symbolic imagery system—so distinct from traditional zodiac signs—is what first sparked my interest in astrology.

There are great many more astrologers and teachers I have listened to and learned from, but these have had the longest-standing impact on my approach thus far.

Written 2025-09-24. I’m available for personal readings and consultations on my site, sangastrology.com