The stars had always been regarded by many as harbingers of fate, a channel where one gets a glimpse of the future. Stars play a big role in an astrology reading, along with the moon, sun, and nine planets. Zodiac signs are employed in astrology readings, where events are foretold depending upon the planetary alignment and the stars during an individual's birth.

Astrology reading is widely believed to have started around 3,000 years ago. The ancient Assyrians and Chaldeans divined the future with astrological readings. The ancient Babylonians developed the twelve-sign Zodiac, but the principles of the modern astrology it was provided by the Greeks. Astrology reading has spawned many forms, the most prevalent form of which is the Western Horoscope, a Sun sign astrology. Almost all major newspapers in the world carry astrological forecasts using the horoscope. Horoscope describes the Zodiac's map (which is made up of 12 zones, with names derived from the constellations found in its particular zone) during a individual's birth.

Astrology readings in the East use several systems, as opposed to Western astrology which only uses two - sidereal and tropical. A sidereal year is calculated in relation with the stars. It is the entire period necessary for Earth to completely its orbit orbit around the sun - 365 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes, and 9.5 seconds using the mean solar time. Sidereal astrology employs the exact constellation where the sun was positioned at the time of a individuals's birth as its basis. Incidentally, sidereal year is used only by fewer astrologers. On the other hand, a tropical year is measured relative to the sun - 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds using the mean solar time. Tropical astrology is the more widely known form of Western reading. It assigns its divination based on the time of the year. It basically ignores the positioning of heavenly bodies in relation with each other.