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

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. 

Website: rosesastroacademy.com

Book a reading: rosesastroacademy.com/readings

Podcast Transcripts: rosesastroacademy.buzzsprout.com

Contact: [e-mail]

Instagram: @rosesastroacademy (changed from @astro.hooper)

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hello and welcome to episode 19 of Rose's Astro
Academy, where we demystify thesystem of astrology piece by
piece.
For our topic episode this week, we're doing part one of a
two-part series on the differentbranches of astrology.
There are four main branches ofastrology, which are natal,

(00:32):
mundane, inceptional and horary.
So today we'll be talking aboutthe first two, natal and
mundane, and next Monday we willget into inceptional and horary
Astrology, which tend to be thetwo murkier and less well-known
branches of the astrology tree.
I think for most people whenthey're starting out learning

(00:53):
about astrology, it's easy tothink of astrology as just one
thing, so this talk on the fourdifferent branches can be
particularly illuminating.
Starting off with natalastrology, this is what comes to
mind for most of us when wethink about astrology, and it's

(01:13):
really common for people tothink that this is the only way
that astrology is practiced.
Natal astrology is the castingof a chart for the moment
someone is born, including thespecific time and location, and
then using that chart to speakabout their life circumstances,
personality, karmic patterns,unfolding of fate, etc.

(01:37):
This and mundane astrology arethe two most common types of
astrology that are practiced inthe world today.
Natal astrology in the westernworld goes back about 2,000
years, where we see the castingof charts for the time of one's
birth in the Hellenistic regionof the world.

(01:58):
So that would be the area inand around ancient Greece.
Vedic astrology in India has anatal tradition that goes back
even farther than this.
In natal astrology, one takesthe positions of the planets in
the signs and in aspect oneanother in the sky currently and

(02:18):
then grounds them into a birthchart which places the signs
into particular houses.
Each house represents adifferent topic or area of life,
and this allows for the chartto speak to the individual and
also to be very unique.
There are 12 houses and 12signs, and the placement of the

(02:39):
houses in these signs changesevery couple of hours.
So people born on the same daywill have very different birth
charts because the change inhouses will cause a cascading
change of factors around thechart.
Now that might sound a bitconfusing, so let me bring this
into a tangible space for you.

(03:02):
In astrology there is somethingcalled rulership, and this is
where a planet is said to rulesigns.
So, for example, venus rulesLibra and Taurus, and then Libra
and Taurus will occupy twospecific houses in someone's
chart, and then those housesrepresent topics or areas of

(03:22):
life.
So say, someone had Libra intheir 10th house of career and
Taurus in their 5th house, whichrepresents children, but can
also represent creativity.
And then let's say Venus waslocated in their 7th house of
relationships, which would beCancer in this example.
Okay, let's break this down.

(03:44):
Would be cancer in this example.
Okay, let's break this down.
So to examine the topics ofcareer and creativity in the
person's life, the astrologerwould look at Venus in their
chart.
Venus would speak to both ofthese topics by virtue of her
ruling, the signs that occupythem.
So we could say that we canlikely see a connection between

(04:05):
these areas of life as well.
So maybe the person doessomething 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.
This is a very simplisticreduction, but it shows us how

(04:26):
natal astrology takes theplanets in the signs when
someone was born and then howthe placement of those signs
into houses then grounds thatinto topics and areas of life,
and how the change of houses cancause cascading changes around
the chart, making it very uniqueand individual for people born

(04:49):
on the same day.
So I said that houses changesigns about every two hours, so
does that mean that twoindividuals born on the same day
within two hours have the samechart?
That's a very common questionasked and not exactly.
It gets much more individualthan this as well.

(05:10):
There are four very importantdegrees in the chart the
ascendant, descendant, ic and MCand these are actually moving
minute to minute, so this allowsfor a lot more variation in
one's chart.
There are also a lot of factorsbeyond planetary aspects that

(05:32):
astrologers consider wheninterpreting a birth chart, and
there are a lot of ways to breakdown specific degrees in a sign
as well.
So there are a lot of factorsthat are changing even within a
couple of hours.
So, anyways, that's my verybrief introduction to natal

(05:53):
astrology.
Moving on to mundane astrology,this is going to be a little bit
more of a thorough treatmentbecause I got a little caught up
in it when writing this episode, but it was really fun.
So mundane astrology isbasically looking at how the
current astrological transit canbe impacting and influencing

(06:17):
the collective.
This is basically what we see alot of astrologers doing on
their various platforms day today, when you hear an astrologer
talking about transits or theastrology of October 2024 or
things like that.
That's all mundane astrology.
That's also what I'm doing onthis podcast every Monday when

(06:38):
we do transit talks.
Mundane astrology is not to beconfused with the word mundane,
which means lacking interest orexcitement or being dull.
I know it has an odd name, butdo not let that fool you.
It is really, reallyfascinating when you get into it
.
So mundane astrology focuses onthe positions of the planets

(07:02):
and how they speak to worldevents, the collective societal
trends and cultural shifts,things like that.
Most often, astrologers will benatal astrologers who also talk
about mundane astrology, whichis what I do.
The other two branches ofastrology, which we will explore
next week, do have much fewerpractitioners, though horary

(07:26):
astrology does seem to begaining more and more momentum
as of late, which I think isreally cool.
A big difference between needleand mundane astrology is that
with mundane astrology therearen't any house topics.
In mundane astrology, we focuson the current aspects between
planets and then we layer thatinto the signs that the planets

(07:49):
occupy, the guest host, dynamicsbetween planets, things like
that and what I mean by guesthosts is, for example, venus.
Right now is in Scorpio.
She's being hosted by Mars, whorules Scorpio, who is in Cancer
, and Mars in Cancer is beinghosted by Jupiter and Gemini.

(08:10):
So it starts to get reallycomplex.
So a lot of practicing mundaneastrology, especially when we're
beginning, is about learninghow to focus on one aspect at a
time, which is why on my Mondaytalks, I typically just choose
one transit to talk about forthe week.
So why do most natal astrologersalso practice mundane astrology

(08:34):
?
Well, examining, reflecting onand thinking about how transits
are influencing us collectivelyis a great way to become a
better natal astrologer.
It's kind of like working yourarchetypal muscles.
Also, when an astrologer isdoing natal chart readings, they
typically always look attransits, which would be

(08:57):
comparing what's happening inthe sky currently or what's
coming up with how that willimpact someone's natal
placements and activatedifferent areas of their chart.
As transits go throughsomeone's chart, they kind of
cause certain patterns toblossom and decline in the chart
.
Kind of like you have ayear-round garden and at

(09:19):
different times during the yearsome plants are going to grow
and others will not.
So on one hand, an effectiveneedle astrologer needs to have
a solid background in mundaneastrology.
On the other hand, it's reallyinteresting to see collective
events and cultural shiftsmanifesting in response to the

(09:40):
movements of the planets.
A really great book that is aninvaluable resource
demonstrating this is calledCosmos and Psyche by Richard
Tarnas.
In this book he tracksprimarily the movements of the
outer planets Uranus, neptuneand Pluto, but also Saturn and

(10:00):
Jupiter as well, and he speaksto the big cultural shifts and
big historic moments that tookplace in tandem with the
different aspects these planetswere making.
For example, in his book hetalks about how the 1960s
countercultural movement reallyembodied the Uranus-Pluto

(10:21):
conjunction that took place atthat time, and this conjunction
is important because it onlyhappens once a century.
In his book he describes thisarchetypal combination of Uranus
and Pluto as Uranus and I'mquoting from him here being
emancipatory, rebellious,progressive, innovating,

(10:43):
awakening, disruptive,destabilizing, unpredictable,
serving to catalyze newbeginnings and sudden,
unexpected change.
And he describes Pluto aselemental, instinctual,
powerfully compelling, extremein its intensity, arising from
the depths, both libidimal anddestructive, overwhelming and

(11:07):
transformative, andever-evolving.
He also says that Pluto isempowering, intensifying and
compelling whatever it toucheson a massive scale.
We can see how these archetypescombining with one another in a
very rare once-in-a-centuryconjunction, could lead to a big

(11:27):
collective event like the 1960scountercultural movement.
So in his book Cosmos andPsyches, richard Tarnas does a
great job of examining how wecan use mundane astrology to
look at the influence of theselarge, slow-moving transits and
how they can influence largespans of time, large collective

(11:49):
shifts and big historic events.
But mundane astrology can alsobe narrowed down to the
day-to-day subtle changes inenergy.
One of the best ways we canlook at the day-to-day changes
is by tracking the moon cycles.
Tracking the moon is afascinating mundane astrology

(12:10):
tool.
The moon moves very quicklyaround the chart and so it's
changing so often.
It changes signs about onceevery two days and then it's
always in a different phase ofits cycle and then it's always
forming and unforming aspectswith the other planets.
So I'll give you an example oftracking the moon by looking at

(12:31):
today.
So today, when I'm releasingthis podcast, is October 16th,
and let's say that at 9 ameastern time zone, the moon is
at 10 degrees of Aries.
The moon is about to make afull moon, so she's in her
waxing gibbous phase.
The moon has just crossed thenorth node in aries and, aspect

(12:54):
wise, the moon last made asextile to pluto and the moon's
next aspect is a sextile tojupiter.
So based on this, we could saythat the moon is in a very fiery
energy today.
Being in aries a fire sign butalso when the moon is about to
make a full moon, this is a veryfiery energy today, being in
Aries a fire sign, but also whenthe moon is about to make a
full moon, this is a very yangenergy for the moon to be in,

(13:17):
because she's about to reach theclimactic point of the cycle.
She made a sextile to Plutoright as she crossed from watery
Pisces to fiery Aries, whichkind of spurred her out of that
watery energy.
The north node also amplifieswhatever it touches, so it
amplifies the fiery element andthe masculine yang qualities

(13:39):
even more.
Jupiter also has a tendency toexpand and aggrandize what it
touches as well as give afeeling of optimism and
expansion.
Aries is a cardinal sign whichmarks beginnings, whereas Pisces
marks a pivot point or changeto a new direction.
So perhaps the last couple ofdays, as the moon was moving

(14:02):
through Pisces, we've beenswitching gears and that switch
is really crystallizing for ustoday as we enter the cardinal
fire sign of Aries.
So if you're listening to thison October 16th, maybe you could
be feeling more of that innerfire and vitality today compared
to yesterday.

(14:23):
Maybe, maybe not.
That's a very simplisticreduction of this, but that's
just to give you an example ofhow focused we can become on
these subtle day-to-day shifts.
And that's only by looking atthe moon, not even including
what the other planets are doingin the chart.
So we can use mundane astrologyto look at great spans of time

(14:47):
like the 1960s.
We can also use it to look atthe day-to-day changes and
everything in between.
We can use it to look atweek-to-week changes and
month-to-month changes as well.
Reflecting on the currentastrological transits is a
really great place for beginnersin astrology to start, and

(15:09):
that's why I share transit talkson my podcast.
For example, I just did thetalk about Mercury moving into
Scorpio, so we can reflect onthat energy and, as Mercury is
in Scorpio for the next littlebit, we can see how that energy
might be showing up andmanifesting in our lives and
collectively and then in thefuture.

(15:30):
If we're doing a chart reading,if that's something that you
want to do and the person hasMercury and Scorpio, then we've
already done all this workaround reflecting on that
placement and noticing how thatplacement shows up.
So it becomes much easier forus to be able to speak with

(15:50):
someone about this in a chartreading.
Reflecting on and thinkingabout the current transits helps
us work our mental muscles forarchetypal combinations, and
then we can take that and startto examine our own birth charts
or those of friends and we canstart to kind of take what we've
learned in mundane astrologyand apply it to natal astrology.

(16:15):
So mundane astrology is a greattool for recognizing the
different energetic weatherpatterns that are moving through
and being able to notice themin our zeitgeist, in the
ever-changing culture, andnotice them within our lives and
the lives of those around us aswell.
It's a great way to be in areflective relationship with

(16:37):
these energetic weather patternsrather than being unconsciously
swept up by them.
So this has been the first partof our talk on the four
branches of astrology.
Next week we'll look at theother two branches, which are
Inceptional and Horary, andthese two are quite obscure and

(16:59):
fascinating, so make sure youtune in for that as well.
I hope you enjoyed this talk.
If it raised any questions foryou, feel free to email them to
rosesastroacademy at gmailcom.
New episodes air every Mondayand Wednesday.
If you want to book a readingwith me.
You can do that on my website,rosesastroacademycom, and you

(17:24):
can follow along on my Instagramat rosesastroacademy.
Finally, if you enjoyed thisepisode and you want to see this
little seedling of a podcastgrow, you can help out by
leaving a review of the podcastand sharing it with your
astrology-loving friends.
Well, that's all I have for you.

(17:47):
See you soon for a new episode.