Southern Hemisphere Astrology – How it looks like Northern Hemisphere Astrology
Astrology in the southern hemisphere has always been a subject of controversy among learned astrologers. The Western and Vedic astrological traditions developed in the Northern Hemisphere, and it is from that perspective that we interpret the movement of the planets (grahas), the houses (bhavas), and the signs (rashis). For the most part, astrologers have interpreted the movement of the planets in the southern hemisphere in the same way as in the northern hemisphere. But most serious people find this unsatisfying. How can we apply the same interpretations when, at the same moment, one hemisphere is under the winter solstice and the other is under the summer solstice?
By looking at the planets, houses, and signs in detail, we can determine how these concepts should be applied to horoscopes in the southern hemisphere. We find that the planets and houses can be interpreted almost the same as in the northern hemisphere. But the signs (rashes) must be completely redefined. We discuss the planets and houses here.
The planets/grahas exert the same influence in the Southern Hemisphere as they do in the Northern Hemisphere, except for the Lunar Nodes. To adapt the Nodes to both hemispheres, we must interpret the Nodes as the rise and fall of the polar regions, not as the rise and fall of the North Pole specifically. In the Northern Hemisphere, north is seen as height, south as depth. This sense of direction is reversed in the southern hemisphere.
In western astrology, in the Southern Hemisphere, we would interpret the North Node as the comfort zone or impediments to overcome, and the South Node as what we must achieve in life. This is the opposite of the Northern Hemisphere interpretation. In Vedic astrology, in the Southern Hemisphere, the North Node would be interpreted as Ketu, the worldly misfortune that brings enlightenment. The South Node would be interpreted as Rahu, the source of frenzy and addiction.
The meaning of the houses/bhavas remains the same (1st = me, 2nd = money, 3rd = neighborhood…). The temporal order of the houses remains the same. But the spatial position of the houses is reversed. They are a mirror image on the vertical axis. When we view the celestial equator and ecliptic from the southern hemisphere, we see that the eastern horizon (the Ascendant) is to our right, not our left. The signs/eruptions ascend or cross the Ascendant moving counterclockwise, not clockwise. In Western and Vedic astrology, houses/bhavas are assigned their meanings according to their time sequence, the order in which they cross the eastern horizon. This meaning is preserved in the southern hemisphere. The time sequence is the same as the North. But the spatial sequence is a mirror image. The first house (bhava) is below the horizon to the right (not to the left). The seventh house is above the horizon to the left (not to the right).
Copyright (c) 2012 Franz Josef Stern
