"Astrology is symbolic; if you look at the symbols for the twelve signs of the zodiac, for the aspects between the signs, and for the planets that rule or govern these signs, you will learn a lot.

Developed in the era of the ancient Babylonians, astrology employed pictographs to express ideas. When you see the zodiac symbol for Scorpio, you see the sting in the tail of the symbol of the sign, the Scorpion, and when you see the zodiac symbol for Gemini (the Twins), you see two straight lines linked together. Right away you are reminded of a scorpion for Scorpio, and of the concept of duality for Gemini.

When you look at the symbol for a trine, a favorable aspect, you see three lines linked together in a triangle. A sextile, also a harmonious aspect, is a star shape with six points. A square, a challenging aspect, is in a box shape, and the opposition symbol is two circles opposite each other. It’s easy to grasp the astrological concepts just by looking at the symbols."

I thought this was really interesting!
RR

Yes, I like that, too.

Many other kinds of metaphysics use symbols to express a concept, too.  Most people couldn't read or write in the time when astrology and other metaphysics systems were begun.  These symbols were their way of remembering stories or history, and to communicate ideas.  The Tarot uses more complex symbols but it is the same thing...symbols for large concepts.  The Runes use symbols for concepts and so on.

It is really an efficient way to communicate.  "One picture is worth a thousand words," they say.