What To Look For In An Astrologer, By Zodiac Sign

What does a horoscope really mean? How is the information derived?  What the difference between predictive horoscopes vs advisory horoscopes? Those are a few of the questions I will venture to answer for you.

RELATED: What You Need Most, Per Astrology

Many people are often confused as to what a horoscope actually is. A Horoscope is both a short prediction such as found in a newspaper or magazine and its also the longer more complex natal chart, these are the both included under the term Astrology. Astrology generally uses a planetary and cosmic template to ascertain your personality and even your hidden desires and emotions.

It can also be used for compatibility as well as understanding our childhood lessons and the parents we were born to as well as the partners we may choose. This is found by way of a natal chart. A natal chart is a diagram using an ancient multilayered system of tracking the position of the planets and constellation at the exact time, date and place of your birth. 

A horoscope is a system of reading the placement of cosmic bodies at the time of your birth. In some ways like nature vs nurture, it's a glimpse of what energies were in place when you first emerged here.

It can certainly be affected by your environment and one could say a point in it all is can you overcome the negatives and build the positives into something greater? At best we grow and learn in our lives, and these energies will still be relevant, tugging on us for what they have to teach our whole lives. 

Numerology is often used as a horoscope predictive tool the same as astrology but with very different formulas, and no zodiac wheels, constellations or planets, using just the numbers 1-9 11, 22, and 33. 

Numerology is an ancient practice of ascertaining personality, traits, and character based on a system using your full name at birth and your birth date. It uses very simple arithmetic, could be a fun way to teach children about reducing numbers as that's the primary mode of calculations. 

Numeroscopes, as they are often called, are very similar to a typical astrology horoscope, I wonder if the two combined are better indicators of current energies than they are alone. Of course, using numerology you will be studying a personality level based on numerical associations.

I suppose that could actually be another similarity between the two because astrology is determined by numerological means too, in those measured angles and calculations of the interactions between planets and such. 

A typical horoscope is a way of using astrology to predict future events based on the energies present at that current time. Many Astrologers use only the sun signs to create these brief energy reads. You really need to take your full chart into context to get the best view. There are definitely plenty of great Astrologers to choose from these days. 

You'll soon see that there are websites that are really good too, such as Astrolibrary.com and Astro.com. Once you begin to explore you may even discover things like your Black Moon Lilith and such that add yet another interesting level. Astrology is an expansive art. 

There are arguments against astrology in particular that focus around what we may all have in common from time to time as humans, I feel those studies and experiments regardless of whether the subjects are blind or not, to be very limited due to the researchers understanding of astrology to be limited to sun signs typically.

Many don't know that the astrology signs themselves stack, that's not usually taken into account in sun sign astrology debunking. For example, a Virgo will have traits from the previous 5 signs in addition to the ones that are unique to its placement and house. 

Some astrologers read those energies purely for what they bring to us more in regard to how we may feel for a period of time. I enjoy these types of horoscopes as I find more often I tend to actually feel the energies as they are coming through and have many times already noted it prior to reading any horoscope, it just then feels more like a validation than a prediction.

I feel these can prove more reliably accurate than the predictive reads, as getting it just right for so many people regarding a specific event is not likely to be possible as we all have very different daily events and interactions occurring. 

Most of the Horoscopes you come across in newspapers and magazines etc will be using only your sun sign and if you are familiar with astrology you will already know we are much more than the just our sun signs, an entire natal chart more.

As you see from the video posted by YouTube astrologer Lada Duncheva, predictive astrology by zodiac sign can become quite complex and is often used for much more than a snippet in a publication for what will happen to all the worlds Leos for the day or month. 

I do see that much can be gained from reading the cosmic energy and understanding how those energies may affect us in a direct way such as the direct way our sun influences us. After it's about our own outward expression, how we show up to the party. I am a Leo Sun, that's my excuse, Ha! 

People that try to debunk astrology and horoscopes in general typically don't consider the entire multilayered system and the natal chart in its entirety,  nor do they seem to research the mathematical calculations involved in the art of astrology.  Yet they proceed to say things like "People just act like what they think they are supposed to based on their sun sign".

Everyone I personally know, myself included already behaved the way our natal chart indicates we may before we ever even explored astrology. It was all a delightful validation, once it was all discovered. The gift really that maybe things aren't as random and meaningless as we may have been told they are. I have even intuited signs prior to knowing the person's birth date. 

When I began my journey with astrology I initially felt confused because not everything about my sun sign seemed to match me. Of course, once, I explored deeper and realized there was an entire system of energies at play, it began to make more sense. We are not just the sum of one sign.

To recognize a good sun sign horoscope you'll want to consider if the astrologer is giving you energetic themes for days or month versus if they are attempting to give you specific events, I would approach the later with skeptical perspective. That's just me, I even tend to be skeptical of my own perceptions. It's great to challenge yourself.

The best advise I can really give on reading your horoscopes regardless of what type you're choosing to explore, is to approach with healthy skepticism and if it fits you personally take that as a sign that your on some path, If it doesn't fit, then remember with the vast levels at which energy can be expressed, you're not in that particular spot.

I bet if you take some time to consider the differences, you will likely know where you actually are on your own. After all give yourself some credit for knowing where you are and what you want.

Try not to let others decide how your day, week or month even life will go. You have your own valuable discernment. Trust it sometimes, then you give it a chance to get stronger. We learn to walk by falling down too.