Only a quick little post. Seems the viral community has been going wild for the fact that astrology has been proved wrong.
It turns out there are actually 13 signs of the zodiac and not the traditional 12. Ophiuchus is the black sheep of the family we’ve been trying to forget about. Apparently, it slots nicely between Scorpio and Sagittarius and throws all of our “beliefs” in astrology out the window.
So why did we forget about poor little Ophiuchus? Apparently, when they were all set up 2000 years ago, it wasn’t a problem. But the Earth very unkindly wobbles on its axis (precession) and this, over time, has thrown everything out of sync:
But according to astrologers there are 12 signs of the zodiac. Wrong! There are 13 signs of the zodiac; Ophiuchus is the ‘new’ one yet for some curious reason I have never come across an Ophiuchian!
Taking the concept of the signs of the zodiac, I was born in July which means that when I was born the sun was in Cancer. Wrong again. Originally yes, the sun would have been in Cancer when the star/sun charts were produced about 2000 years ago. But in reality, the wobble of the Earth on its axis — which we call “precession” — has led to them being all out of sync.
In fact, when I was born, way back in July 1973, the Sun was in Gemini. News Flash: you’re all reading the wrong star signs! All those astrology columns you’ve read that seemed spot-on were a fluke. Surprising eh?
Mark Thompson
Technically, the Sun passes through Ophiuchus, and in fact is in the constellation longer than it’s in Scorpius! But we don’t include it in the zodiac for a couple of reasons; one is that the stars in it are pretty faint, while those of Scorpius are brighter and easier to recognize, and another is that we can’t have 13 constellations, can we? So poor Ophiuchus is sent off to hold his serpent by himself.–Phil Plait, Bad Astronomy
This now makes me a Libra.
Good job I never got that Scorpio tattoo I was looking at!!
Capricorn: Jan. 20-Feb. 16.
Aquarius: Feb. 16-March 11.
Pisces: March 11-April 18.
Aries: April 18-May 13.
Taurus: May 13-June 21.
Gemini: June 21-July 20.
Cancer: July 20-Aug. 10.
Leo: Aug. 10-Sept. 16.
Virgo: Sept. 16-Oct. 30.
Libra: Oct. 30-Nov. 23.
Scorpio: Nov. 23-29.
Ophiuchus: Nov. 29-Dec. 17.
Sagittarius: Dec. 17-Jan. 20.
