How is it that you alone understand these things, and no one else?
That is very inaccurate. I am merely doing my part and carrying the torch. Many, many important personalities before me have discovered and advocated the same reform I am championing. Similarly there are many others (and their number is growing steadily by the day) who currently share this opinion with me.
In fact, you will be shocked to know that even the very committee who recommended the Lahiri sidereal ayanamsha as the Indian standard in the 1950s expressly stated that it was only a partial reform, and that further reform was required to return the zodiac to proper alignment with tropical seasons. Here are their words, and background, copied from research published by Dieter Koch.
Lahiri was inspired by the astronomy historian S. B. Dikshita, who in the late 19th century wrote an important book on the history of Indian astronomy [History of Indian Astronomy, Part II]. Dikshita came to the conclusion that, given the prominence that Vedic religion gave to the cardinal points of the tropical year, the Indian calendar should be reformed and no longer be based on the sidereal, but on the tropical zodiac. However, if such a reform could not be brought about due to the rigid conservatism of contemporary Vedic culture, one should choose the Ayanāṃśa in such a way that the sidereal zero point was in opposition to Spica, because this would be in accordance with the zodiac of the 16th century astronomer Ganeśa Daivajña.
A similar point of view was maintained by the Calendar Reform Committee, when it recommended the Lahiri Ayanāṃśa: “This recommendation is to be regarded only as a measure of compromise, so that we avoid a violent break with the established custom. But it does not make our present seasons in the various months as they were in the days of Varahamihira or Kalidasa. It is hoped that at not a distant date, further reforms for locating the lunar and solar festivals in the seasons in which they were originally observed will be adopted.” (Calendar Reform Committee Report, p. 5)
Vic DiCara's Astrology 
If you do use Vedic Tropical Astrology, would you stick with Equal or Placidus house system. Is it even possible to test, which one is more accurate?
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I do stick with whole-sign houses (slightly different than “equal houses”), because it is the classical way and I have a strongly classical orientation. Placidius and similar sky-based house systems do have classical roots as well, and one day I will carefully compare the results from both. To date I have not had the opportunity to do so sufficiently to make a statement.
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see if cancer,taurus,etc were just created to explain the nature of a particular sign then how can u explain the existense of other constellations like bootes,ophiuchus,andromeda,etc.and secondly if signs were a mere 30 degree division then why do vedic astrolgers mention certain signs as rising by head and certain signs as rising by tail(pristodya).and rising signs i personally find more suitable for constellations then some imaginary 30degree division since u see this constellations rising and setting and in ancient times it was easy to see certain constellations rising and setting.my logic is that constellations that lie on ecliptic like gemini,leo have nothing to do with astrology in fact they have more connection to greek mythology and astrology onli incorporated them into their beliefs and practices.
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Other constellations are ways of organizing the sky, but are not directly meaningful to astrology in any manner, because the planets do not enter into contact with any of them in any way. It is only the constellations on the “ecliptic” (path of the Sun, and area in which the planets travel) that are of direct import to astrology.
Your question about front-rising, etc is really one of the better, or perhaps even the best question I have gotten since I began “going public” about my faith that the tropical zodiac is genuine and authorized. In answer, please first really digest the facts and concepts I present in the video and text here: http://www.vicdicara.com/rashi – that will really explain why the tropical zodiac is genuine. Then, to answer your question, I would have to opine that the conception of front-rising, back-rising, etc is a late-classical or post-classical development in astrology, or in some way or other is a result of confusion arising over the difference between stars and signs. I do agree that a tropical zodiac provides no basis for front-rising, back-rising, etc. classification of the signs. On the other hand, what is more important is that the sidereal zodiac provides no basis for far more fundamental traits of the signs: modality and elements, whereas they are perfectly logical in the tropical system.
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well i thought the signs pisces,cancer and scorpio are called water signs because the symbols are of creatures which r connected to water in some way,pisces-fish,cancer-crab and scorpio-well the scorpion .similarly fire signs consist of symbols which portrayed and aggressive creature in greek,roman mythology.ram-male goat symbol of sexual drive and aggression hence represents fire,leo-lord of jungle and again a very aggressive,wild creature which is not domesticated,sagittarius-centaur with a bow and arrow again an aggressive creature in roman/greek mythology.air signs consist of two human(intelligent) signs and a sign of object used for measuring things and thus again an intellectual sign.gemini-human twins representing communication of great intellectual depth,libra-scales an object for measurement and weiging of things again representing intellect.aquarius-an intellectual man,similarly earth signs consist of capricorn,taurus,virgo.taurus- bull a farm animal connected to ploughing fields,virgo-a woman ie human sign again representing intellect(mercury) and connected to fields(corn in hand )thus earth,capricorn a goat again earth.so the constellations do explain elements but i guess u r correct about modality.i kinda guess they were intermixed (sidereal and tropical) because in those days there was not much of a difference and i guess both the time of year and the constellations were observed and astrology was born i suppose.
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That supposes that the pictures came first and the meaning followed. This is not very believable, to me, because the pictures are just dots / stars that don’t really look like anything and might as well make any pictures you like. So there must have been a pre-existing reason to group the dots into 12 pictures, and make the pictures what they are supposed to be.
Here is more information about the elements and modes: http://www.vicdicara.com/Reconciliation-of-the-Tropical-and-Sidereal-Zodiacs.pdf
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but i didnt get properly how do specific time of year are associated with specific elements like say sagittarius a fire ironically comes at a time when there is transition from autumn to winter,cancer a water sign begins after summer solistice,ie when the summer season is going to start and gemini an air sign starts when there is transition from spring to summer.this does explain modalities but i cant seem to find correlation between seasons and elements
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Elements are connected with directions. East is fire/dharma. West is air/kama. North is water/Moksha. South is earth/Artha. So the four cardinal signs take their elements according to their celestial directions. Aries is celestial east (the “vernal equinox”) and is thus a fire sign. Libra is celestial west (the “autumal equinox”) and thus is an air sign. Capricorn is the nadir of celestial south (the “winter” solstice) and is thus earth. Cancer is the apex of celestial north (the “summer” solstice) and is therefore a water sign. [I put the seasons in quotes because they are not important. It is the direction which is important.]
From these cardinal points the remaining signs take their elements in order that the the Sun moves through the houses after rising. It moves from the 1st to the 10th then sets in the 7th and moves to the fourth. So the order of elements follows the 1st, 10th, 7th, 4th signs [Aries, Capricorn, Libra, Cancer] in that order. Thus the order of elements is Fire, Earth, Air, Water (Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, [repeat]).
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but western astrologers call fire to be impulsive,water to be associared with emotions,wind to be associated with intellect,and earth to be associated with practicality and stubborness not like what u mentioned and they also talk about astrological ages like age of pisces coming after age of aries and aquarian age coming after pisces age which is i suppose related to precision i just want to know about this
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precession of equinox is what i meant,means i just wanted to know how can lets say an impulsive,aggressive fire sign can be dharmic or moralistic.doesnt fire represents desires and water ie emotions create attachments,sentimentalism ie in one way kama so how can it represent moksha,air ie intellect tells us to sit back and ponder over the consequence of our actions rather than fulfill our desires mindlessly.it also influences us to think deeply so i guess air seems to represent moksha better.and fire can also mean artha since it influences us to fulfill our ambitions which r normally materialistic in nature
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People are confused and sloppy about astrology all over the world, East and West.
Fire gives vision, confidence, and power. That would only be “impulsive” or “aggressive” in a negative scenario.
Water is about reflecting… reflecting upon the self is moksha, self-realization. But it is also about introspection, emotions, etc.
Air is about movement and newness (“cancalatva”)… newness is inventiveness which is genius.
Earth is about stability… security, financial, practical, etc. Stability is only “stubbornness” in a negative scenario.
Astrological ages such as the Age of Aquarius seem fanciful to me. The ages should be measured by fixed-stars (Nakshatra), in my opinion. It is also the Puranic opinion that centuries are measured in reference to the movement of the earth’s tilt in relation to the Saptarishi (Ursa Major)’s alignment with the ecliptic fixed stars (Nakshatra).
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yeah true but there is another question pertaining to sidereal and tropical debate. Wouldnt the situation be different in southern hemisphere for tropical zodiac because when there is winter in north there is summer in south and vice versa.so in tropical zodiac when aries starts during spring equinox there it will be the start of autumn equinox and vice versa since aries traditionally represents start of spring and libra the start of autumn and the scenario is completely opposite in sothern hemisphere !
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No. Nothing about the signs comes from specific seasons. Elements come from the directions, modes come the fact that the Sun is changing directions. We don’t care about the weather.
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