Rose's Astro Academy | An Astrology Podcast

E19 *Topic* The Four Branches of Astrology Part 1: Natal and Mundane

• Rose Potts • Episode 19

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In this episode of Rose's Astro Academy, we delve into the first two branches of astrology: natal and mundane astrology. This is part one of a two-part series where we’ll be breaking down the four main branches of astrology to help you get a clearer understanding of how each branch operates. Natal astrology focuses on a unique birth chart for an individual and offers insights into their life path, personality, karmic patterns, etc. On the other hand, mundane astrology looks at the fascinating connection between astrological transits and collective cultural shifts. 

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Speaker 1:

Hello and welcome to episode 19 of Rose's Astro Academy, where we demystify the system of astrology piece by piece. For our topic episode this week, we're doing part one of a two-part series on the different branches of astrology. There are four main branches of astrology, which are natal, mundane, inceptional and horary. So today we'll be talking about the first two, natal and mundane, and next Monday we will get into inceptional and horary Astrology, which tend to be the two murkier and less well-known branches of the astrology tree. I think for most people when they're starting out learning about astrology, it's easy to think of astrology as just one thing, so this talk on the four different branches can be particularly illuminating. Starting off with natal astrology, this is what comes to mind for most of us when we think about astrology, and it's really common for people to think that this is the only way that astrology is practiced. Natal astrology is the casting of a chart for the moment someone is born, including the specific time and location, and then using that chart to speak about their life circumstances, personality, karmic patterns, unfolding of fate, etc. This and mundane astrology are the two most common types of astrology that are practiced in the world today. Natal astrology in the western world goes back about 2,000 years, where we see the casting of charts for the time of one's birth in the Hellenistic region of the world. So that would be the area in and around ancient Greece. Vedic astrology in India has a natal tradition that goes back even farther than this. In natal astrology, one takes the positions of the planets in the signs and in aspect one another in the sky currently and then grounds them into a birth chart which places the signs into particular houses. Each house represents a different topic or area of life, and this allows for the chart to speak to the individual and also to be very unique. There are 12 houses and 12 signs, and the placement of the houses in these signs changes every couple of hours. So people born on the same day will have very different birth charts because the change in houses will cause a cascading change of factors around the chart. Now that might sound a bit confusing, so let me bring this into a tangible space for you.

Speaker 1:

In astrology there is something called rulership, and this is where a planet is said to rule signs. So, for example, venus rules Libra and Taurus, and then Libra and Taurus will occupy two specific houses in someone's chart, and then those houses represent topics or areas of life. So say, someone had Libra in their 10th house of career and Taurus in their 5th house, which represents children, but can also represent creativity. And then let's say Venus was located in their 7th house of relationships, which would be Cancer in this example. Okay, let's break this down. Would be cancer in this example. Okay, let's break this down. So to examine the topics of career and creativity in the person's life, the astrologer would look at Venus in their chart. Venus would speak to both of these topics by virtue of her ruling, the signs that occupy them. So we could say that we can likely see a connection between these areas of life as well. So maybe the person does something creative or works with children for their career and, because Venus is also in the seventh host of relationships, maybe they work alongside their partner as well.

Speaker 1:

This is a very simplistic reduction, but it shows us how natal astrology takes the planets in the signs when someone was born and then how the placement of those signs into houses then grounds that into topics and areas of life, and how the change of houses can cause cascading changes around the chart, making it very unique and individual for people born on the same day. So I said that houses change signs about every two hours, so does that mean that two individuals born on the same day within two hours have the same chart? That's a very common question asked and not exactly. It gets much more individual than this as well. There are four very important degrees in the chart the ascendant, descendant, ic and MC and these are actually moving minute to minute, so this allows for a lot more variation in one's chart. There are also a lot of factors beyond planetary aspects that astrologers consider when interpreting a birth chart, and there are a lot of ways to break down specific degrees in a sign as well. So there are a lot of factors that are changing even within a couple of hours. So, anyways, that's my very brief introduction to natal astrology.

Speaker 1:

Moving on to mundane astrology, this is going to be a little bit more of a thorough treatment because I got a little caught up in it when writing this episode, but it was really fun. So mundane astrology is basically looking at how the current astrological transit can be impacting and influencing the collective. This is basically what we see a lot of astrologers doing on their various platforms day to day, when you hear an astrologer talking about transits or the astrology of October 2024 or things like that. That's all mundane astrology. That's also what I'm doing on this podcast every Monday when we do transit talks.

Speaker 1:

Mundane astrology is not to be confused with the word mundane, which means lacking interest or excitement or being dull. I know it has an odd name, but do not let that fool you. It is really, really fascinating when you get into it. So mundane astrology focuses on the positions of the planets and how they speak to world events, the collective societal trends and cultural shifts, things like that. Most often, astrologers will be natal astrologers who also talk about mundane astrology, which is what I do.

Speaker 1:

The other two branches of astrology, which we will explore next week, do have much fewer practitioners, though horary astrology does seem to be gaining more and more momentum as of late, which I think is really cool. A big difference between needle and mundane astrology is that with mundane astrology there aren't any house topics. In mundane astrology, we focus on the current aspects between planets and then we layer that into the signs that the planets occupy, the guest host, dynamics between planets, things like that and what I mean by guest hosts is, for example, venus. Right now is in Scorpio. She's being hosted by Mars, who rules Scorpio, who is in Cancer, and Mars in Cancer is being hosted by Jupiter and Gemini. So it starts to get really complex. So a lot of practicing mundane astrology, especially when we're beginning, is about learning how to focus on one aspect at a time, which is why on my Monday talks, I typically just choose one transit to talk about for the week.

Speaker 1:

So why do most natal astrologers also practice mundane astrology? Well, examining, reflecting on and thinking about how transits are influencing us collectively is a great way to become a better natal astrologer. It's kind of like working your archetypal muscles. Also, when an astrologer is doing natal chart readings, they typically always look at transits, which would be comparing what's happening in the sky currently or what's coming up with how that will impact someone's natal placements and activate different areas of their chart. As transits go through someone's chart, they kind of cause certain patterns to blossom and decline in the chart. Kind of like you have a year-round garden and at different times during the year some plants are going to grow and others will not. So on one hand, an effective needle astrologer needs to have a solid background in mundane astrology. On the other hand, it's really interesting to see collective events and cultural shifts manifesting in response to the movements of the planets.

Speaker 1:

A really great book that is an invaluable resource demonstrating this is called Cosmos and Psyche by Richard Tarnas. In this book he tracks primarily the movements of the outer planets Uranus, neptune and Pluto, but also Saturn and Jupiter as well, and he speaks to the big cultural shifts and big historic moments that took place in tandem with the different aspects these planets were making. For example, in his book he talks about how the 1960s countercultural movement really embodied the Uranus-Pluto conjunction that took place at that time, and this conjunction is important because it only happens once a century. In his book he describes this archetypal combination of Uranus and Pluto as Uranus and I'm quoting from him here being emancipatory, rebellious, progressive, innovating, awakening, disruptive, destabilizing, unpredictable, serving to catalyze new beginnings and sudden, unexpected change. And he describes Pluto as elemental, instinctual, powerfully compelling, extreme in its intensity, arising from the depths, both libidimal and destructive, overwhelming and transformative, and ever-evolving. He also says that Pluto is empowering, intensifying and compelling whatever it touches on a massive scale. We can see how these archetypes combining with one another in a very rare once-in-a-century conjunction, could lead to a big collective event like the 1960s countercultural movement.

Speaker 1:

So in his book Cosmos and Psyches, richard Tarnas does a great job of examining how we can use mundane astrology to look at the influence of these large, slow-moving transits and how they can influence large spans of time, large collective shifts and big historic events. But mundane astrology can also be narrowed down to the day-to-day subtle changes in energy. One of the best ways we can look at the day-to-day changes is by tracking the moon cycles. Tracking the moon is a fascinating mundane astrology tool. The moon moves very quickly around the chart and so it's changing so often. It changes signs about once every two days and then it's always in a different phase of its cycle and then it's always forming and unforming aspects with the other planets. So I'll give you an example of tracking the moon by looking at today.

Speaker 1:

So today, when I'm releasing this podcast, is October 16th, and let's say that at 9 am eastern time zone, the moon is at 10 degrees of Aries. The moon is about to make a full moon, so she's in her waxing gibbous phase. The moon has just crossed the north node in aries and, aspect wise, the moon last made a sextile to pluto and the moon's next aspect is a sextile to jupiter. So based on this, we could say that the moon is in a very fiery energy today. Being in aries a fire sign but also when the moon is about to make a full moon, this is a very fiery energy today, being in Aries a fire sign, but also when the moon is about to make a full moon, this is a very yang energy for the moon to be in, because she's about to reach the climactic point of the cycle. She made a sextile to Pluto right as she crossed from watery Pisces to fiery Aries, which kind of spurred her out of that watery energy. The north node also amplifies whatever it touches, so it amplifies the fiery element and the masculine yang qualities even more. Jupiter also has a tendency to expand and aggrandize what it touches as well as give a feeling of optimism and expansion.

Speaker 1:

Aries is a cardinal sign which marks beginnings, whereas Pisces marks a pivot point or change to a new direction. So perhaps the last couple of days, as the moon was moving through Pisces, we've been switching gears and that switch is really crystallizing for us today as we enter the cardinal fire sign of Aries. So if you're listening to this on October 16th, maybe you could be feeling more of that inner fire and vitality today compared to yesterday. Maybe, maybe not. That's a very simplistic reduction of this, but that's just to give you an example of how focused we can become on these subtle day-to-day shifts. And that's only by looking at the moon, not even including what the other planets are doing in the chart. So we can use mundane astrology to look at great spans of time like the 1960s. We can also use it to look at the day-to-day changes and everything in between. We can use it to look at week-to-week changes and month-to-month changes as well.

Speaker 1:

Reflecting on the current astrological transits is a really great place for beginners in astrology to start, and that's why I share transit talks on my podcast. For example, I just did the talk about Mercury moving into Scorpio, so we can reflect on that energy and, as Mercury is in Scorpio for the next little bit, we can see how that energy might be showing up and manifesting in our lives and collectively and then in the future. If we're doing a chart reading, if that's something that you want to do and the person has Mercury and Scorpio, then we've already done all this work around reflecting on that placement and noticing how that placement shows up. So it becomes much easier for us to be able to speak with someone about this in a chart reading. Reflecting on and thinking about the current transits helps us work our mental muscles for archetypal combinations, and then we can take that and start to examine our own birth charts or those of friends and we can start to kind of take what we've learned in mundane astrology and apply it to natal astrology. So mundane astrology is a great tool for recognizing the different energetic weather patterns that are moving through and being able to notice them in our zeitgeist, in the ever-changing culture, and notice them within our lives and the lives of those around us as well. It's a great way to be in a reflective relationship with these energetic weather patterns rather than being unconsciously swept up by them. So this has been the first part of our talk on the four branches of astrology. Next week we'll look at the other two branches, which are Inceptional and Horary, and these two are quite obscure and fascinating, so make sure you tune in for that as well.

Speaker 1:

I hope you enjoyed this talk. If it raised any questions for you, feel free to email them to rosesastroacademy at gmailcom. New episodes air every Monday and Wednesday. If you want to book a reading with me. You can do that on my website, rosesastroacademycom, and you can follow along on my Instagram at rosesastroacademy. Finally, if you enjoyed this episode and you want to see this little seedling of a podcast grow, you can help out by leaving a review of the podcast and sharing it with your astrology-loving friends. Well, that's all I have for you. See you soon for a new episode.