About Jonathan
A lifelong curiosity about the sky and the lives we live beneath it.
I’ve been studying astrology for most of my life.
My brother Daniel drew my first birth chart by hand, long before there were 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 on who we are, what we encounter, and how we might live more intentionally.
Most astrology practiced in the West uses Tropical astrology. Tropical astrology is based on the Earth’s seasons, rather than on the visible positions of the constellations in the sky. I use a system called True Sidereal astrology that uses the visible sky as it is now, not as it was 2000 years ago.
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 your Sun, Moon, rising sign, and planetary placements in a sidereal chart may be different from the signs you’ve always known.
True Sidereal Astrology instead aligns the chart with the actual locations of the constellations and planets as they appear in the sky.
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.