Tibetan-Mongolian Astrology and Karma

[Dover]

The study of Tibetan-Mongolian astrology deals with many topics. Most people think of astrology only in terms of calculating and interpreting horoscopes; and when you train in Tibetan-Mongolian astrology, you certainly learn to do this. Tibetan and Mongolian horoscopes, however, provide not only pictures of the personality with which someone is born - the natal chart. They also elaborate how the person's life may unfold over the years - the progressed chart - derived in a way very different from that in Western horoscopes.

You cannot draw a horoscope if you do not have someone's birth date and the progression of their life span in the context of a calendar. Thus, a major part of the study involves mathematics and the calculations for making the Tibetan and Mongolian calendars, which are also quite different from the Western one. Further, you cannot make a horoscope if you do not know the precise location of the planets at the time of birth and later in life. Another large part of the training, then, is the mathematics for calculating the Tibetan-Mongolian ephemeris, in other words, the positions of the planets each day. A few tables of these positions are available for ready consultation, as in the West; but Tibetan and Mongolian astrologers mostly calculate everything by hand.

In conjunction with the calendar, the astrologers also make almanacs. An almanac indicates the days and hours that are most auspicious for starting to plant the crops in the fields, for harvesting them, and other such things that are important for a society.

As is the case with Tibetan-Mongolian medicine, Tibetan-Mongolian astrology uniquely blends aspects that derive from Indian, Ancient Greek, Chinese, Central Asian, and native Bon origins. The material divides into two major aspects: "white calculations" and "black calculations." This nomenclature has nothing to do with good or bad, as in the terms "white" or "black" magic. White and black are abbreviations for the Tibetan names of India and China respectively. India in Tibetan is known as "the vast land where people wear white" and China as "the vast land where people where black." ..cont'd

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