Astrology: Are Zodiac Signs Reversed In Earth's Southern Hemisphere? - A Whole-Earth, Dual-Sign, 6-sign, or Mirror Zodiac:
A Possible Solution To The Problem Of Matching Astrology's Seasonally-Derived, Northern Hemisphere Zodiac Signs To Countries In The Southern Hemisphere
NEW! Please also see my four-part video presentation of this theory on YouTube
This article was presented to the Los Angeles Chapter of the National Council for Geocosmic Research (NCGR), December 2010.
The Zodiac as we know it, is a system of dividing up the portion of sky through which the Sun, Moon and planets seem to travel, known as the ecliptic. This system was originally invented in countries in earth's Northern Hemisphere, where astronomers named the constellations according to environmental observations linked to the seasons. For example, the constellation that the sun seemed to pass through every year at the beginning of Spring was named Aries - The Ram, because "the sun breaks up the frozen earth as a ram attacks with its horns" Similarly "...In the month of Taurus oxen work to prepare the ripening of the corn". (please see full quote from Rupert Gleadow's book The Origin Of The Zodiac below).
Below is a diagram of how we experience light and other electromagnetic energy from the Sun as Earth orbits round it, giving us our four seasons, Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter
The problem about using this Northern Hemisphere derived system in countries of the Southern Hemisphere, such as Australia, South America and South Africa, is that the Aries to Pisces signs that we know, do not fit the seasons, which are of course reversed. This problem becomes accentuated when we try to use the Zodiac astrologically, overlaying the original seasonal and agricultural measuring system with occult correspondences. For example, the sign Capricorn in the Tropical Zodiac (please see explanation of the Sidereal and Tropical Zodiacs below) starts at the Winter Solstice, around December 21st, in the Northern Hemisphere, and this sign has profound occult and mythological associations with the constriction or limiting of light associated with the sign's Saturn ruler. The sun is said to die in this sign, and then be reborn after three days as light from the physical sun increases. This is perhaps why the Christian church instigated the celebration of Christmas, the birth of Christ or "light" at the old pagan celebration of the Winter Solstice. But in the Southern Hemisphere, December 21st coincides with height of summer, or the Summer Solstice, after which the light from the sun decreases, not increases as in the North. Even though many Australians and South Africa still celebrate Christmas at this time, we can see how the logical and esoteric association to the season is completely lost.
There are several solutions to this problem which astrologers have come up with, including the ideas one of the last century's great astrologers, Dane Rudhyar, and these are discussed below. I have taken the ideas of Rudhyar a bit further, combining them with the idea of a 6-sign Zodiac, also sometimes known as a "Dual Sign" or "Mirror Zodiac" to try to solve the problem of the seasonal mismatch.
The Tropical Zodiac, which is the Zodiac which most astrologers in Europe and America use when calculating birth charts/horoscopes, was invented by the astronomer Claudius Ptolemy in the 1st century AD. Ptolemy named his 12 signs after the names of 12 of the constellations which lie on or near the Ecliptic, and the diagram below shows the backdrop of these constellations as seen from Earth as we orbit the Sun.
Ptolemy's motivation for inventing this Zodiac, instead of using the older Sidereal Zodiac which corresponded more closely to the constellations, was to solve the problem of Precession, which is the gradual movement of the equinoxes westward along the ecliptic relative to the fixed stars. It is caused by the shift in the orientation of Earth’s axis of rotation, rather like a wobbling top, which traces out a cone cycle of approximately 26,000 years called a Great or Platonic year.
Ptolemy placed the 12 signs of the old Zodiac into a theoretical circle of measurement based on the earth's Equinoxes and Solstices.
In Figure 1, we can see the apparent path of the Sun as it appears to move Northwards at what the Northern Hemisphere calls the Spring Equinox, reaches the Tropic of Cancer, appears to stand still at the summer solstice - the word literally meaning sun-still, and then appears to move Southward to cross the Equator again at what the Northern Hemisphere calls the Autumn Equinox. On December 22nd the Sun appears to have reached the Tropic Of Capricorn, at what the Northern Hemisphere calls the Winter Solstice, turn around and head North again. Of course we know that it is not the Sun that moves, it is the earth, but this sine-wave motion is our perception of the seeming motion of the Sun from earth. We can see that on December 22, for example at the station that the Northern Hemisphere countries call the Winter Solstice, it is actually summer in the Southern Hemisphere, so that the names of the signs of the Zodiac do not fit the seasons as well as they do in the Northern Hemisphere.
The idea of dividing the path of the planets through the Zodiac into 360 degrees originated independently in Babylon, Egypt and China, probably based on the length of the year, so that the sky returns to the same point every 365 days. The division of the year into twelve is probably because twelve is a more convenient number than thirteen or fourteen months, which occurred in countries where the calendar was determined by the moon. However, all months were originally moon-periods, and in Islamic countries the month still begins with the first appearance of the new crescent moon after sunset. In Rupert Gleadow's book The Origin Of The Zodiac, the author quotes a 9th century monk by the name of Helpericus, who speculated on the origin of the names of the Zodiac signs:
“Aquarius and Pisces are explained by the rainy season, Leo by the heat, and Libra by the equinox; in Cancer the Sun begins to move backwards (like a crab). The Scorpion’s sting and the Archer’s arrow are both compared to the sting of hail-showers, and Capricorn is the lower turning point of the sun because goats graze uphill. The Ram, however, was either named because the sun breaks up the frozen earth as a ram attacks with its horns, or else because rams, having slept on the their left side all the winter, now start to sleep on their right. In the month of Taurus oxen work to prepare the ripening of the corn, but the explanation of Gemini is an incoherent allusion to Castor and Pollux. Virgo finally is so called because the earth is exhausted and no longer bears any fruit – the transition from the pretty girl to the old maid on the way.” We can see how these names intimately fit the seasonal changes in weather and agriculture.
In Ptolemy’s treatise on celestial mechanics, The Tetrabiblos, the astronomer says “The Zodiac, being a circle, has no natural beginning so the sign of the Ram, which begins from the Vernal Equinox is taken as the beginning of the twelve; and, as if the zodiac were a living being, they make it begin with the excessive moisture of spring and make the other seasons follow, because all creatures in their first youth have an excess of moisture and , like the spring, are still delicate and growing.” (Tetrabiblos I, 10)
Like Ptolemy, most astrologers of the past thousand years have lived in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, where earth's seasons are opposite to those in the Northern Hemisphere, Ptolemy’s reasoning of applying Aries, The Ram to Spring would not apply, because in April, when it is Spring in the Northern Hemisphere and the days are getting longer, it is autumn in the Southern Hemisphere and the days are getting shorter. This problem has been largely ignored by astrologers, except by a few brave ones who have addressed it.
One of those astrologers was Dane Rudhyar. In his book Astrological Timing, The Transition To The New Age, available for view at the Khaldea Archival Project website: Rudhyar addresses this problem thusly:
“What is the solution of the problem in so far as an astrology based on the tropical-seasonal zodiac is concerned? The simpler solution is that Aries becomes Libra in the south hemisphere. Southern-hemispheric birth-charts should therefore have all their zodiacal signs reversed, so that if a person in Buenos Aires is born in early August his Sun is in Aquarius."
It is true that the constellations do not suddenly change their positions when we view them from the Southern Hemisphere, although they do appear upside down.
What Rudhyar was suggesting was that we change the names of the segments of sky in the Tropical Zodiac to fit more exactly to the season we are experiencing when viewing them at a particular time of the day, for example, at dawn. The Zodiac was invented - by the Babylonians and Egyptians as a measuring device to help predict seasonal changes which would help agriculture. The Babylonians also used the Zodiac and position of the planets as a form of prognostication, in the days before modern scientific reasoning. Hence the idea that the stars and planets had some sort of power over events on earth.
A more scientific understanding of the stars and planets is that they are simply markers, rather like the hands and divisions on a big cosmic clock, telling us where we are in time and space, but they do not have any power of themselves. The only bodies that have any measurable effect on life on earth are the Sun and Moon; our Sun is our master star, ultimately controlling all the cycles of weather and plant growth, and our moon's gravity effects the ocean tides and other bodies of water. Since our bodies are made up of 70% water, it has been suggested that the moon's gravity might have some measurable effect on our blood and hormones.
It is helpful to remember that the Tropical Zodiac is a theoretical or imaginary Zodiac. It is not the actual constellations, and because of the precession of the equinoxes mentioned earlier, it is now about 24 degrees away from the actual constellations on which it was originally based. The Vernal Equinox point - where the first degree of Aries begins in the Tropical Zodiac is now actually near the beginning of Pisces in the Sidereal Zodiac, and in a few hundred years move into the constellation Aquarius. Hence the derivation of the term The Age Of Aquarius. Basically the Tropical Zodiac signs are segments of sky.
Dane Rudhyar divided the globe into three zones, a Northern Zone, having the Zodiac as we know it, a Southern Zone, having a reversed Zodiac with its own pole star, and a middle "Equatorial Zone", having an astrology of its own. There have also been other suggestions about how to solve the reversed seasons problems, for example, Australian astrologer Caroline Tully, at her Earthsong website, says:
“..if Australians had created Astrology, firstly we would have viewed the signs along the Ecliptic upside down and would not have seen them as a Ram, a Bull and so on but perhaps as a Kangaroo, or an Emu, a spotted Cuscus or a Blue-tongued Lizard and secondly we would have been seeing the same actual constellation as the Northern Hemisphere but experienced it in the opposite Season and therefore named it something that related to the Season it was experienced in.” This is certainly one solution to the problem, but we lose the traditional Tropical Zodiac symbolism as it evolved in the Northern Hemisphere, and all the occult associations from kabbalah that go with it.
Another Australian astrologer quoted by Tully, Craig McIntosh, suggests that we should adapt the meaning of the signs to the Southern Hemisphere without changing the familiar names or positions of those signs, so that the Autumn (in Australia) sign of Gemini is “ - A time to be given over to mental pursuits and the development of ideas as we move inside”, or the Spring (in Australia) sign of Scorpio becomes “ - The intense energy of the bud bursting forth with the sexuality of Spring.” But this is not at all elegant, in my opinion. It means that astrology books written in Australia would not be relevant for Northern Hemisphere countries. A more elegant solution is proposed below.
This more elegant way to overcome the problem is to have six dual or double Tropical signs, instead of twelve single signs. These six dual signs would be Aries-Libra, Taurus-Scorpio, Gemini-Sagittarius, Cancer-Capricorn, Leo-Aquarius and Virgo-Pisces.
A person born in April, for example, would be born under Aries-Libra, but would be more weighted towards Aries in the Northern Hemisphere and Libra in the Southern Hemisphere, as shown above. Someone born in August would be a Leo-Aquarius. If they were born in London they would be more weighted to Leo, but if born in South Africa they would be more weighted towards Aquarius. A person born on the Equator on the same day would have equal weighting of Leo and Aquarius.
The idea of polarity is a strong theme in astrology. For example, we cannot really understand the sense of self-hood and identity of Aries without considering the idea of “other” represented by Libra. We also would find it difficult to describe plant or animal growth, represented by Taurus, without considering the food and fertilizer provided by dead organisms, represented by Scorpio. The discriminatory faculty of the human mind, which enables thought and communication (sometimes known as the “lower mind”, assigned to Gemini is mirrored by the concept gathering faculty (sometimes known as the “higher mind”) assigned to Sagittarius. The inner receptivity of Moon-ruled water sign Cancer provides nourishment both physical and emotional to those closest to us, like family, but food needs to be grown, following the laws of agriculture, or costs money, which has to be earned, so Cancer is mirrored in its opposite sign Capricorn, whose focus is on the outer structure of the physical world. The royal Sun ruled Leo would be out of a job if he or she did not rule with the social justice of Aquarius, and from a biological point of view, whereby the Zodiac signs rule areas of anatomy, changes in our peripheral circulatory system, ruled by Aquarius, such as hardening or build up of plaque in our arteries eventually effect the master pump, the heart, ruled by Leo. The precision, analysis and meticulousness of Virgo works hand in hand with the imaginative input from the Piscean subconscious mind – for example a good poem, which conjures up images and inspires us with hidden meaning would not exist without thoughtful use of words, and a beautiful photograph or video depends partly on the use of a fast camera lens and accurate focusing mechanism – all accurate technical abilities of Virgo. Both sides of these polarities are necessary for an understanding of the complete cycle of life.
In the diagram below, I have superimposed the sine wave diagram of the apparent path of the sun through the year (Figure 1) on a double globe showing the Dual/Double signs.
Yes. In ground-breaking research , Dr. Douglas McMahon at Vanderbilt University has shown that the biological clocks of mice may be set at the time they were born. Mice are actually relatively close to humans on the evolutionary tree, so it is not unreasonable that similar effects would be found in humans. It has also been demonstrated that individuals are more prone to certain diseases, for example schizophrenia, for example if they are born in the winter or early spring, and this might be because their mothers lacked an essential nutrient while they were developing in the womb, or be due to the flu virus, more common in cold weather. This scientific evidence is very similar to observations made by astrologers for thousands of years; astrologers have known that individuals born in the winter, under the measuring device sign of Tropical Capricorn are often cautious, frugal, disciplined and rather pessimistic compared to their summer-born fellow human beings. Do these traits reflect the harsh, cold conditions of many winter environments, where parents have to work harder to nourish their children then in summer, when plant food is more available? A summer baby, born during July in the Northern Hemisphere, would have more time devoted to him from his parents, and more food, so therefore might develop more of what we know as a Cancerian, family minded personality, with more time to devote to his inner, emotional needs rather than constantly defending him or herself from a harsh environment. The science of epigenetics is also showing us that early environment can actually change the gene make-up of an individual.
Finding a causal mechanism for how how astrology might work, apart from the very basic beginnings of a theory for Sun signs, based on the Seasonal Biology research above, is a current challenge for astrologers. What astrologers would have to show, is scientific evidence that the cycles of the planets in our Solar System are directly or indirectly related to to biochemical processes which occur in the body, such as absorption of certain nutrients from food, which would in turn would govern brain and other organ structure and function, effecting a person's health and personality. Astrologers would also have to cite evidence that planetary cycles correspond to established theories of human social development, such as those proposed by 20th century developmental psychologists, such as Freud and Piaget.
One such developmental psychologist was Daniel Levinson, who in his book Seasons Of A Man's Life, suggested that a person's life is divided into four periods: Childhood and Adolescence (age 3-17), Early Adulthood (age 22-40), Middle Adulthood (age 45-60) and Late Adulthood (65 to death). These periods are interspersed with transition periods, such as Early Adult Transition (17-22), Mid-Life Transition (40-45) and Late Adult Transition (60-65). Don't forget that these periods and transition periods were derived from observation, by social psychologists.
Knowing the cycle length of the planets, for example Uranus takes 84 years to circle the Sun (and therefore takes the same amount of time to cycle a horoscope, which is a view of the Sun and planets from earth), Saturn takes 30 years, Jupiter takes 12, The Early Adult Transition coincides with fractions of these planetary cycles; Uranus square Uranus, Saturn square Saturn, and Jupiter square Jupiter. Here we have the beginnings of some sort of empirical (by social psychology standards) evidence that astrology is related to human social development.
As for direct physical relationships between human biology and planetary cycles, we know that some cells have a faster turnover than others, for example, in men, sperm cells take 60-72 days to mature, whereas red blood cells are replaced every 36 days (plasma takes 2-3 days). If we gathered data for all the types of cell in the body, and tried to correlate these rates with fractions of the planetary cycles, we might find some correlation.
It is always difficult to talk about evidence when discussing astrology, because the subject is not an empirical science. Most of the knowledge or wisdom of astrology (astrology literally means the word or "logos" or the stars "astro") is based on intuitive ideas or a system of magical correspondences drawn from occult belief systems such as The Kabbalah, or from myths such as the Greek myths. Much of modern astrology relies on correlating planetary positions or aspects in horoscopes to certain personality traits in people or to world events in hindsight. A huge criticism of astrology is that what astrologers call proof or evidence is simply Confirmation Bias, which is the tendency for people to find evidence which backs up their previously held beliefs about a subject. If we keep confirmation bias in mind, however, and try not to be influenced by the tendency, perhaps we can find some validation for reversing horoscopes by analyzing the charts of celebrities who were born in the Southern Hemisphere.
In the charts below, the left hand chart is the regular Tropical chart, as calculated by Astrodienst, and the right hand chart is the reversed chart, which I have done manually with Windows software, reversing the signs but keeping the same degree of house cusp as the Northern chart. The aspects between the planets, as indicated in the aspect grid on the Astrodienst chart, do not change; it is only the signs of the Zodiac that have changed to their opposite, indicating that the Southern Hemisphere chart is more weighted towards the opposite polarity of the Mirror/Dual/6-sign Zodiac.
Eva Peron’s Tropical Taurus Sun, Mars and Ascendant become more weighted towards the Scorpio polarity of the Dual sign of Taurio in Argentina where she was born. The square to Moon and Saturn in Aquarius (rather than Leo) corresponds well with Peron’s political involvement with Argentina’s trade unions as wife of the president Juan Peron, where she fought on behalf of labor rights. She also ran the Ministries of Labor and Health, campaigned for women’s suffrage and founded and ran the nation's first large-scale female political party, the Female Peronist Party. This passion and combativeness, skill in politics and ability with other people's money seems fitting for a personality weighted towards Scorpio rather than Taurus as the latter is usually more concerned with building up wealth for one’s self rather than distributing it to others.
The Scorpio polarity also fits well with the secrecy she maintained about her real birthday, and even the secrecy about her death. Peron often claimed that she was born three years later than the day on her birth certificate, and when her husband Juan Peron was overthrown in 1955 Eva's preserved body was taken to a secret grave in Italy where it stayed until 9/23/1971. Peron was mourned with much grief by the people of Argentina after her death and became a legend in her own country and throughout the world, even inspiring British composer Andrew Lloyd Weber and lyricist Tim Rice to write a musical about her called Evita, the name she was fondly called by her countrymen and women. It is almost as if she continues to live after physical death, fitting in well with the Scorpio archetype.
Another correlations to a Scorpio, the sign of sex, weighted personality is that her Sun, conjunct Mars is the apex of a T-square involving Moon conjunct Saturn and Uranus (unexpected or socially challenging events). Eva was born out of wedlock and was sexually assaulted as a young girl. She was very sensitive to the plight of illegitimate children in Argentina and actually had the law changed so that these children were not stigmatized. The challenging aspects to Peron’s Southern Hemisphere Scorpio-weighted Sun correlate with a possible predisposition to weaknesses of the reproductive area of anatomy; Eva died of uterine cancer.
In Nelson Mandela's reversed horoscope, his Cancer Sun becomes more polarized towards the Capricorn polarity of the Mirror Zodiac's dual sign of Cancercorn. Capricorn seems more fitting for a man who was so interested in politics and who was to ultimately change the oppressive regime of apartheid in South Africa. The sign Capricorn rules the skin, and the purely outer appearance of the physical level of experience. Mandela freed people's minds from the bondage that we sometimes put ourselves and others into when we judge by outer appearances.
In Mandela’s Southern-weighted Zodiac horoscope, which would have quite a lot of weight because his birth place is at 31 degrees south of the equator, Saturn and Neptune are in Aquarius, sign of social justice. Saturn can indicate patience and endurance, and Mandela had to wait a long time for his ideal (Neptune) of social equality, a fact reinforced, if this rectified birth time is correct, by the astrological symbolism of these planets being square to his Moon (emotions) in the 12th house of confinement. Planet of revolution, Uranus, is by Northern standards in Aquarius in Mandela's chart, but in his Southern Hemisphere chart it is weighted towards Leo. Mandela shines, and will roar through the history books for being a revolutionary. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 and became the nation's first black president on May 2, 1994.
Mandela's natal Mars-Pluto square is a good example of how in astrology, the aspects between two planets are much more important than the signs they straddle. This strong aspect, doesn't seem to change it's symbolic import when the signs are reversed for the Dual Zodiac, but only illustrates another principle of modern psychological astrology which is that aspects can point either way; in this case, Mars-Pluto may show a tendency for violence, whether directed outwardly to others or received from outside. In his younger activist days, Mandela did propose a violent resistance to the then white oppressive government's treatment of blacks in South Africa, and was sentenced to his long jail sentence for it. It was in prison that he completely turned this aspect's symbolism around, learning to forgive even the people who had imprisoned him.
Tolkien, author of The Hobbit, Lord Of The Rings and The Silmarillion, has a Sun sign polarized towards the Cancerian side of Cancer-Capricorn in the Dual Zodiac, rather than a Capricorn Sun for someone born in January in the Northern Hemisphere, and this correlates well to his love of family life, his novels being mainly for children. His Mars and Uranus in Scorpio also polarize into Taurus weighted placements, correlating well to his explicit descriptions of nature, forests, glens and the natural world.
Tolkien was born during the outer planet conjunction of Neptune and Pluto in effect during the late 1880s and early 1890s. This conjunction, representing the combination of Neptunian spirituality which sees beyond the material plane and Plutonian insight, is channeled through Tropical Gemini in Tolkien’s Northern Hemisphere peers through the communication of ideas. Paramahansa Yogananda, for example, (1893) wrote about his spiritual enlightenment in his book Autobiography Of A Yogi and started a correspondence course in yoga and esoteric meditation. Cole Porter (1893) had the conjunction widely conjunct his Gemini Sun, empowering his creativity as a song writer, and Harpo Marx had the conjunction opposite his Gemini Sun and Mercury, focusing attention on the fact that he never spoke during performances with his brothers, the Marx brothers. . In Southern horoscopes however, applying the Mirror Zodiac, this conjunction is in Sagittarius, sign of what is known in astrology as the Higher Mind, as the sign focuses on broad issues and beliefs, as opposed to the Lower Mind of Gemini which focuses on mental discrimination of ideas. It seems very fitting therefore that Tolkien became a professor at Oxford in his later life, and channeled these great spiritual impulses into higher education.
If we delineate Assange's "Southern chart", keeping in mind Confirmation Bias, we find:
*The ruler of his Taurus ascendant, Venus is in his Eighth House, the house corresponding to the sign Scorpio, and squared by Pluto, Scorpio's ruler, giving him all those "Scorpionic" traits concerned with secrecy and power that astrologers see when delineating his Northern Hemisphere chart.
* Venus is also the ruler of his Moon, which relates to his parents. Assange says that the main reason he is so obsessed with digging up and revealing the dirty works of others is that he spent his early childhood (Moon) running away with his parents from a cult that they belonged to (this Venus square Pluto) - parents/early environment conflicts with power struggles, secrecy - Pluto in the 11th house of groups.
Assange's Moon is still in his 12th house, whether we look at his chart from the Northern Hemisphere or the Southern Hemisphere Tropical (Dual/Mirror) Zodiac, and this correlates very well with him having "no known address". His security (Taurus) and that of his Wikileaks organization stem from the fact that his and their whereabouts are "non physical" - a principle related to astrology's 12th house. This evasiveness can also be seen in his First House Jupiter (travel) and Neptune - ruler of Pisces and its corresponding 12th house (illusion).
*Assange's MC would be Aquarius (not Leo as in the Northern chart), indicating his reputation (10th house/MC) as a person valuing social justice, scientific technology and social networking.
*His Capricorn Sun and Mercury are in the 9th house of publishing and foreign travel. He disseminates information across borders, expanding people's consciousness.
* Saturn, often an indicator of one's career, or where one disciplines oneself, is in Sagittarius, sign of philosophy and in his 7th house, the house of others. His task, or burden (Saturn) is to materialize expansive ideas in a practical way for others.
As a final example, let's look at the regular and reversed charts of someone who was born on the Equator; according to the theory of the Mirror Zodiac, they should exhibit traits of both polarities of the Mirror signs, in exactly equal measure.
Biologist, skeptic, atheist, and strong proponent of Darwinian evolution, Richard Dawkins was born in Nairobi, Kenya, which is 1° S 17´ from the Equator. He would therefore, according to the Mirror Zodiac, be just a minute amount away from being equally balanced between an Aries and Libra Sun, and the rest of his planets would also share equal weights of opposite sign polarity. Both charts are “hypothetical dawn charts”, with the Sun on the imaginary ascendant, as we do not know what time of day Dawkins was born.
Dawkin's Northern Latitude Aries Sun is quite noticeable, as he is a trail-blazer for the facts of biological evolution as shown by scientific evidence, and does not suffer anyone with religious, spiritual or non-evidence based counter-arguments easily. He is also a leader (Aries) in his career of biological research. But he also has a very partnership orientated side, giving his antagonists a good deal of open discussion and fairness, traits which are very Libran. Dawkins’ Saturn-Jupiter-Uranus conjunction indicates his talent as a great teacher with a revolutionary edge.
These Taurus placements in Dawkins’ Northern chart, correlate well to his ideas being about the external natural world of plant life. But this Taurus polarity is equally balanced by Scorpio, which better describes how it all got here, by means of sexual reproduction. Darwin’s theory of evolution, which Dawkins has come to be a spokesperson for, has sexual reproduction as its mechanism.
Dawkins’ chart also shows the opposition between Venus in Pisces and Neptune in Virgo (Northern versions). This opposition between Virgo and Pisces represents the balance between science and spirituality. When we swap the signs round, so that Neptune is in Pisces, and Venus is in Virgo, we still have these signs’ planets in opposition, and either way, this coincides with Dawkins' awe at the scientific observations of the universe (see, for example his book Unweaving The Rainbow. Dawkins also has an opposition between Mars in late Capricorn and Pluto in early Leo, which could be interpreted as an awareness of a leadership (Leo) role in the recognition of the scientific method. Sometimes he might come across as over forceful (Mars opposite Pluto) but more positively he combines both poles to inject warmth and creativity (Leo) into his advocacy of the scientific method (Capricorn). But if we swap the opposition round, Mars is in Leo and Pluto is in Capricorn. This opposition would correlate to the way that Dawkins, with the support of his rationally-minded friends Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris and Daniel Dennet argue for a complete transformation (Pluto) of the structure and organization of society (Capricorn) with a special focus on the science education of children (Leo).
A question which is sometimes asked about the Bipolar/Dual Zodiac is what happens if people born in the Southern Hemisphere travel to the Northern Hemisphere? Do they suddenly become weighted towards their opposite Sun sign, with all the other planets swapping signs too? The answer is no, because a person’s horoscope depends on the time and location of where they were born. However, if a person moves East or West, their horoscopes will become subject to the law of astrolocality, so that the horoscope will change ascendant and house cusps depending upon the number of degrees a person moves East or West of their birthplace.
In the charts we have already looked at, of Nelson Mandela and J.R.R. Tolkien, their South Africa birth place was not very far East or West from the Greenwich Meridian, so that when these people moved to or visited England their natal horoscope house cusps would not change dramatically.
With Australian birth places however, there is a huge difference in longitude from England, Europe or Northern America. With London and Sydney, for example, the latter is not only “down under”, but these cities are literally on opposite sides of the world. Astrocartography is important to remember when assessing the validity of “flipped” Southern Hemisphere charts, because in many cases, a person born in one location did not become famous until they moved to another location, perhaps biasing an astrological assessment unless we keep house cusp changes in mind.
A good example of this principle is feminist writer of “The Female Eunuch”, Germaine Greer.
“Flipping” Greer’s Northern Aquarius Sun and Ascendant horoscope makes her a double Leo, with Sun and Ascendant in this fixed Fire sign. Her Sun is still in the 12th house, which correlates well being a symbol for the former repressed half of society - women, her early acting endeavors with the Cambridge Footlights while lecturing at the university, and her photographs in London’s progressive magazine Oz, which were mostly nude (Sun square Moon and Uranus in Scorpio/Taurus/Taurio). Of course it is tempting to argue that a woman who was an avowed Marxist, and became such a revolutionary in the field of women’s sexuality should remain an Aquarian, as her Northern chart suggests, but when we examine the aspects in Greer’s chart more closely, we see that her Sun is opposite Pluto. This opposition, from the signs Leo and Aquarius, correlates very well with the insight and transformative power of her whole life expression. Pluto in Aquarius signals an undercurrent of repressed social issues which must be brought up to the surface in order to heal, and with a direct opposition to Greer’s Sun, she was the person to express this transformation through her creative endeavors.
But when we relocate Greer’s reversed chart to London, England, where she spent much of her life after her undergraduate days, her Leo ascendant becomes Aquarius again! Her ascendant and house cusps revolve with longitudinal position, but the internal structure of planets and Southern Hemisphere signs continue to match Greer’s outspoken ideas on gender and politics. This changing of a person's ascendant and houses through astrolocality/astrocartography is important to remember if we are trying to make a non-scientific judgement of whether the Bipolar Zodiac works or not, because planets which were prominent in one location, being near the cardinal angles of a chart might become less prominent in another location, thereby making the correlation of the person's personality to their supposed Sun sign more difficult.
The above examples of Northern and Southern weighted horoscopes will "work" if we clever enough at adapting astrological delineations to fit our previously held beliefs. It therefore seems sensible to chose the horoscope which has the most logical, scientific link to a causal mechanism for astrology, and that is the changes in light and temperature, plant growth and human emotional reactions connected with the earth's seasons.
In order to make Southern Hemisphere horoscopes reflective of the seasons, which Ptolemy intended, we need to reverse the Tropical Zodiac horoscope for those regions. A logical way to do this is by having a Six-Sign, Dual, or Mirror Zodiac as suggested above. This adaptive Zodiac would also be in harmony with modern scientific evidence that shows that personality is dependent on season of birth.
Since writing this article in 2010 I have had many emails and questions about the concept. I have distilled some of the main ideas into this second web article entitled Questions And Comments About The Mirror Zodiac
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