This December, I published a new book from Taigensha Co.,Ltd. This is the first book to explain traditional astrological prediction methods in Japan. It guides modern astrology enthusiasts with at least two years of experience and those beginning to learn traditional astrology. The purpose of this book is two-fold: to reread one’s birth chart while learning the four predictive techniques. It also shows the discrepancies between modern and traditional astrology and rearranges them as two different divination techniques.
In this book, I take the position of traditional astrology, which was based on classical science, and modern astrology, which is entirely free from it. For example, as far as I know, traditional astrology books written in modern never mention the difference in the fundamental assumptions that separate the two. It is also true of the teachers and courses I have studied. And this is one of the reasons for the confusion of beginning students. What has happened is clear. Astrology developed along with astronomy and mathematics on the premise that it was a discipline and lost that premise entirely in the 17th century. It is the historical incident that separated the two. And while the basic hierarchy dealing with divination and the unknowable realm remained the same, a new divination system, modern astrology, was reconstructed in the upper hierarchy in the late 19th century. So, modern astrology does not need traditional techniques, even if I deduct my familiarity with modern astrology from my favoritism. Because the premise is different, on the other hand, traditional astrology needs inheriting techniques because they developed with them as one of science.
I introduce four traditional astrological techniques: Profections, Solar Revolutions (Solar Returns), Primary Directions, and Secondary Progressions. All of them are traditional techniques inherited from the time of Vetius Valens (2CE). In the first half of the section, I compare and differentiate between traditional and modern astrology, mainly how to deal with benefic and malefic planets and think about fortune and infortune. The middle half deals with the use of the four techniques. Finally, in the last part, I explain how to put predictive astrology into practice, using the career paths of five artists as examples.
