Thursday, August 09, 2018

Same Language, Subtly Different Cultures

In the early years of my life in the USA I used to read and contribute to a British Ex-Pat's forum. Subject matter often turned to the cultural and personality differences we new immigrants were quite surprised to find between British and American people. I've noticed a lot of questions and answers at Quora on a similar topic recently. Subtle differences between the English speaking races is a popular talking point. I sometimes get to wondering about astrologers in this regard.


When an American astrologer prepares a report for a British person or an Australian (or vice versa), or indeed for a person of any other nationality than their own, are cultural differences taken into account? Is the astrologer aware of the differences, or do astrologers say "people are people are people, and astrology is astrology, irrespective of the subject's nationality"? Do English-speaking astrologers of different nationalities use subtly different approaches ?

Although the "nuts and bolts" of astrological principles remain constant, how these are interpreted and expressed will differ from person to person, astrologer to astrologer, not forgetting that the astrologers' own astrological makeup has to be thrown into the mix. Beyond those individual differences though, there may be a blanket factor common to astrologers of the same nationality, who have lived with the same problems and joys, prides and prejudices. This has nothing to do with "Britishness" or "Americanness", stereotypes, patriotism or nationalism, it's simply a question of different experience, and the way it colours interpretation, understanding, and mode of expression.

Astrologers from past decades, such as C.E.O Carter (British), Grant Lewi and Carl Payne Tobey (American) seem to me to be further apart in their styles, outlook, and modes of expression than do current British and American astrologers. The world is shrinking fast, our common experiences are becoming more global than national, aided and assisted by the internet. I guess subtle differences will always remain, but with each generation these are likely to become less and less significant.

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