OPHIUCHUS:  THE MEDIA & THE "NEW" ZODIAC???!!!

For some reason this constellation comes into the news every few years and people who are not astrologers become very concerned.  This is from a few years ago when the news media picked up on some old information and made people crazy with it. I wrote this in response to phone calls and emails that I was receiving asking if our Sun Signs had changed and if everything we had believed was now wrong.

Is there a new 13th sign and are we all different astrological signs than we thought? No.

It's just that someone picked up on this information as though it were actually news and everybody jumped on the bandwagon.

First off, precession is not at all new and the constellations and zodiac signs not matching up is also not new. In fact, they've been off for a few thousand years. And every 26,000 years or so, they line up to our zodiac signs again! It's normal and has been known and understood for millennia.

There are various astrological systems. They are all good and they all work.

The system that stays with the alignment of the actual constellations is Sidereal Astrology and is used in India as Vedic Astrology. It is a completely different system than what is commonly used in the West.

We use a Tropical system which is based on the seasons and the ecliptic of the Earth and Sun. "0" (zero) degrees Aries is always the Vernal Equinox, usually falling on March 21, 22 or 23 and varies in these dates. It is the moment that the Sun enters the sign of Aries and so the zodiacal year begins. "0" degrees Cancer is the next point and is the Summer Solstice which falls on June 21, 22 or 23 and varies from year to year as do the other "Cardinal" points. Autumn is "0" degrees Libra, which occurs at the Autumnal Equinox, usually on September 21, 22 or 23. Finally we have the Winter Solstice at "0" degrees Capricorn, which would be on December 21, 22 or 23 depending on the year.

(There are 30 degrees to each sign.)

These points are the basis of Western astrology and are the system that we use. All of the information on the news right now is not at all new to astrologers and doesn't really affect us in working with the Tropical system of calculation and interpretation. We are working with the symbolic energies of the planets and signs and how they affect our world and ourselves. So whatever sign you were before all this news hoopla, that's the sign you are still.