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Has My Astrological Sign Changed?
by Mark Dodich
Due to a recent article in the media, I have been flooded with questions about whether your sign has moved back one sign. No, your sign has not changed. The topic is associated with a concept called precession of the equinoxes. Due to a slight wobble of the earth (think of a spinning gyroscope), the direction of the earth to the sky changes about one degree every seventy two years.
Currently, the pole star (north star) is Polaris in the Little Dipper constellation (Ursa Minor). The star Vega was the north star about 12,000 BCE and will be again in about 14,000 CE. All of this means that the zodiac is off by about 23 degrees right now. If you were born in the first 23 days of your astrological sun sign, the astronomy location would be in the previous sign. However, this does not mean that your sun sign is any different than what you always thought it was. This goes to the concept of a Great Year of about 26,000 years, where the zodiac goes through a sign in about 2,000 years. We are currently in the Age of Pisces and on the cusp of moving into the Age of Aquarius (probably in a couple hundred years). During the Age of Pisces, people put a fish on the back of their car. During the Age of Aries, there was the ram, and in the Age of Taurus there was the culture of the bull (remember the story of Moses coming down from the mountain to find people worshipping the bull, a story about the changing of the ages from bull to ram).
Ancient cave paintings suggest that the story of the constellations are far older than the first known astrology charts on papyrus (about 4,500 years ago). The idea here is that regardless of the various Ages of the Zodiac, that the symbology of the constellations continues to work regardless of precession of the equinoxes. So an Aquarius is an Aquarius, not a Capricorn. The zodiac western astrologers use is called the Tropical Zodiac. Eastern astrologers (Vedic, Jyotish) use a Sidereal Zodiac which is precise in terms of the astrology being aligned with the astronomy. If you go to an eastern astrologer, the Aquarius could very well be a Capricorn. However, there are other differences in the system too, so it is not a complete apples and apples comparison.
Regarding talk about a 13th constellation known as Ophiuchus: Astrologers have discussed this constellation at astrology conferences for years. It is known as the Snake Charmer or Snake Healer and is located at the beginning of Sagittarius (mostly). So if you were born at the end of November or early December, you could say that you are on Ophiuchian! The reason this constellation gets this attention is that it is actually closer to the ecliptic than Scorpio, making it a better measurement of the ring of constellations. Overall, the constellations are not as neat as it would seem to those who do not study astrology. Do you know that the constellation Libra is actually quite small and literally gets overlapped by Virgo and Scorpio. This is why you will see Virgo associated with justice in ancient texts, rather than Libra in modern texts. So know that the zodiac sign you thought you were is still valid. The article left out some important details, which is common when astronomers try to deal with astrology.
Mark Dodich www.astromark.us
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