I’ve been wondering for a while – if I live in the US, is current astro info still valid if it comes from Australia? I know it’s a different sky, different stars, different latitudes and longitudes and whatnot, but Idon’t know much about anything else, astrologically speaking…
The good news is, it’s all the same sky and the same stars and planets, wherever you are in the world! The difference in latitude and longitude just describes your perspective on the sky (this is why one sees different constellations in the night sky “down under” than we do here in the Northern Hemisphere). Longitude is also connected to time zones, which describe the difference in the time of day between two places seeing the same thing.
The only adjustment you need to make to use astrological information from someone in Australia is an adjustment in time zone… and possibly, date.
Here’s how it works.
Let’s say you’re living in the Eastern Time Zone in the United States (in New York, for instance), and I’m in Pacific Time Zone. The Academy Awards are starting, and we both sit down, flip on our local ABC channel, and start to watch. At that moment, here in San Diego, the clock on my wall says 6:00 p.m. But the clock on your wall says 9:00 p.m. The Academy Awards are happening, live, at that very moment – but it’s currently a different time of day where you live than where I live. That’s why people here on the West coast are bewildered when people on the East coast complain about how late the show ends – here, things wrap up by about 9:00 p.m., but on the East Coast it’s midnight!
Basically, it’s the same with astrology: What’s going on in the sky at any given moment is happening, live, at that very moment – but as it happens, the time on the clock will be different depending on where you live.
What makes Australia an interesting example is that the time difference is quite dramatic – about 18 hours (depending on Daylight Saving Time) between Sydney and Los Angeles! By the time it’s 6:00 a.m. in Los Angeles, it’s about 1:00 a.m. THE NEXT DAY in Sydney!
For instance, an Australian astrologer might write something like, “The New Moon is on March 23.” The New Moon happens when it happens, no matter where we are on the planet. But you want to know what the time will be in your world when the New Moon happens. So unless you live in Australia, you need to convert the time, and probably the date, from what the Australian astrologer says to what the time will be at the time of the New Moon where you live.
Fortunately, in this internet age there is a quick, easy way to make this conversion. Go to:
http://timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html
- Enter a date, time, and place to convert from. If an astrologer based in Sydney writes, “Such and such aspect happens on such and such date and time,” enter that date and time, and put Sydney, Australia as the location.
- Then, in the “convert to” field, select the city where you live (or the largest city near you that is in the same time zone). Click “Convert Time” – and you’ll see when the event happens for your location.
I hope that all made sense! It’s a little complicated, but much simpler than it appears at first glance, I promise.
