Astrology in the southern hemisphere

This article is updated from an earlier version (art link here).

Tropical astrology is based upon the turning of the wheel of the seasons, with Aries at the Spring equinox and the rest of the cardinal signs marking the beginning of the other equinoxes and solstices.  But what happens in the southern hemisphere where the seasons are reversed?  When the first day of Aries marks the first day of autumn, does astrology still work?

For some reason I have more clients in Australia than in any other country outside the U.S., and often when reading charts for people born “down under” the question of the accuracy of “northern-centric” astrology comes up.  Time and time again, the chart proves its accuracy.

Two of the flagship astrological software programs, Solar Fire and Astro Gold, come to us from Esoteric Technologies in Australia.  Charts in these programs for southern hemisphere births are calculated exactly the same as for those in the northern hemisphere.

Western astrological symbolism comes down to us from the ancient Greeks, Babylonians, and Vedic scholars who all saw the sky  from the perspective of the northern hemisphere which is a mirror image of the sky from the southern hemisphere. Still, other forms of astrology arose south of the equator such as the famous Mayan calendar of Meso-America and the indigenous astronomy of the First Australians which focused on the fixed stars as many Australian astrologers do today.

Some other astrologers (just do a Reddit search) have proposed reversing the astrological chart to better fit with the astronomical reality of the southern hemisphere.  Others disagree, including Brian Clark who is himself Australian (article no longer available online):

For contemporary astrologers, signs are seasons, however they are psychological seasons, not literal ones.  While the Sun in a sign pinpointed the time of year (since this is how time became measured) any another planet in a sign does not equate with these literal seasons. Metaphorically Aries is a beginning whether it marks the beginning of spring or not.  Jupiter in Aries may be a robust beginning but obviously is not spring.  Seasonal metaphors for the twelve zodiacal signs are solar based.  Northerners often ponder whether the meaning of the signs should be reversed to accommodate the seasonal differences.  Again this is fixing the zodiacal metaphors from the Sun’s point of view.  Carl Jung often used to refer to astrology as a “projected psychology”.  Onto the heavens we cast our myths animating the constellations with our human psychology.  Here in the South hemisphere the zodiacal signs are also able to be adapted seasonally with Capricorn being dry or Cancer being wet.  The archetypal zodiac responds to its projections.

Astrology is a system that is based on synchronicity: A series of events that appear to be meaningfully related but which have no causal connection.  The archetypes embedded in the art of astrological symbolism exist in all climates, no matter the actual weather.  Capricorn is still cold and geared towards a lack of emotionality whether it exists in a hot desert or in the frigid Arctic circle.  Cancer is still touchy and sensitive even when it falls in the dead of the southern hemisphere winter.  So if you live in the southern hemisphere you can be confident that astrology will work for you.