About Jonathan, CTSA, MBA
A lifelong curiosity about the sky and the lives we live beneath it.
I’ve been studying astrology for much of my life.
My brother Daniel drew my first birth chart by hand, long before there were online programs and apps that could generate one in seconds. That chart opened a path which I’ve been walking through ever since.
I’ve spent decades studying astrology and reading charts, always interested in the ways the sky can offer another reflection and perspective regarding how our personalities and lives are reflected in the cosmos. I’m interested in how this awareness can bring insight to our deeper purpose in life.
Most astrology practiced in the West uses Tropical astrology. Tropical astrology uses outdated measurements that have not kept up with how the Earth has shifted its postion in relation to the constellations over 2000 years. I use a system called True Sidereal astrology that uses the actual planetary positions in the constellations as seen in the visible sky.
Decades ago, knowing some astronomy, I looked up in the sky and wondered why the Moon was not in front of the constellation that my Tropical astrologer told me it was in. That led to exploring an alignment between astrology and astronomy that sidereal astrologers like Cyril Fagan, Ken Bowser and Athen Chimenti have pioneered to bring to the West. My work stands on their shoulders.
I bring decades of samatha and vipassana meditation experience to my practice in astrology, seeing how the planets can reflect and inform the spiritual dimensions of our lives. I invite you to receive a reading.
Why Sidereal Astrology?
Most astrology practiced in the West uses the tropical zodiac, which is tied to the Earth’s seasons.
In tropical astrology, Aries begins at the spring equinox regardless of which constellation is actually behind the Sun at that time.
Sidereal astrology takes a different approach: it relates the chart to the stars and constellations themselves.
Sidereal and Tropical Astrology
Roughly two thousand years ago, the tropical zodiac and the constellations in the sky were aligned.
Since then, a slow movement of the Earth’s axis called precession has gradually shifted their relationship.
Today, the tropical zodiac is roughly 24 degrees removed from the astronomical positions of the stars. That means the signs that you thought your Sun, Moon, Rising Sign, and planetary placements were in may be different than the actual astronomical positions in the sky and a true sky sidereal birth chart.
True Sidereal Astrology instead aligns the chart with the actual locations of the constellations and planets as they appear in the sky. Curious?
Precession
I use True Sidereal Astrology because I want the chart I’m working with to reflect the sky as it actually appeared at the time of your birth — with the Sun, Moon, planets, and constellations in their astronomical positions.
That connection with the visible sky has always mattered to me.
Through decades of studying and reading charts, I’ve found this to be a particularly meaningful and useful framework for understanding the patterns reflected in our lives.