Are there actually 13 constellations of the zodiac instead of 12?!


Question: I studied astrology for quite a while now, but only recently it has come to my attention that there may actually be 13 constellations instead of 12. If that's true that pretty much writes off everything that I've been studying, including my own birth chart.


Answers: I studied astrology for quite a while now, but only recently it has come to my attention that there may actually be 13 constellations instead of 12. If that's true that pretty much writes off everything that I've been studying, including my own birth chart.

There are two zodiacs, one for the signs; the other for the constellations, which have the same names. Picture the Earth’s equator and project it outward so that it is perpendicular to the “ground” or is a plane on edge. Then picture a second circle of equal size inside the first at a 23 degree angle to the first. The second circle is the apparent path of the Sun moving around the Earth against the background of fixed stars. It is, of course the Earth moving around the Sun, but we’ll deal with it as it appears. This apparent path of the Sun is called the “ecliptic.” The other circle is called the celestial equator or for our purposes just the “equator.”

The ecliptic intersects with the equator at two points: one East and one west. The point where it intersects at the east is called the vernal equinox or first day of spring or 0 degrees Aries. The day and night are of equal length. From there the Sun apparently travels north until it is 90 degrees from the vernal equinox, which is the first day of summer (0 degrees Cancer) or the longest day of the year. From there it opposed the vernal equinox at the autumnal equinox (0 degrees Libra) and day and night are equal again, and the last point is the southernmost point of the Sun’s travels, the first day of Winter (0 degrees Capricorn).

The Sun’s apparent path is considered a circle and the circle is divided into 12 equal sections of 30 degrees each. Each section is a sign. Because this system uses the seasons and because it is the astrology developed in Western Civilization it is called Western Tropical Astrology. This is the astrology used by most astrologers in the West.

The 12 constellations of the zodiac have the same names as the signs, but they are of varying size, and position. Aries for example is very small and occupies less than 30 degrees of the ecliptic. Pisces is huge and occupies much more than 30 degrees of the ecliptic. Aquarius is not exactly on the ecliptic. These constellations are also called the sidereal zodiac. A minority of Western astrologers use a sidereal zodiac defined by Irish astrologer Cyril Fagan (1896 – 1970). Although few in number these astrologers claim excellent results

The Aries point or 0 degrees areas or the vernal equinox is, moving backwards against the background of fixed stars so that, if one were standing on the Earth’s equator on the day of the vernal equinox and could see the stars, the Aries point would appear to be in the beginning of the constellation Pisces. As it continues backwards it will one day appear to be at the end, 29 degrees plus, of the constellation Aquarius (This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius – get it?). The problem with plotting by the constellations of course is where to they begin and end?

The so-called 13th sign Ophicus, is a constellation, part of which passes through the ecliptic, and ever on the lookout for something “new” a handful of astrologers claimed this to be a 13th “sign.” But as we have seen, there are only 12 signs. The origin of the constellations of the zodiac (the one we use today is the latest of several) is a subject worthy of a book in itself and one or two have been written.

Tom

Please show your source...would be interested to know.

***Oh, thank you Curios....nice article~!***

Yes 13 signs
http://www.geocities.com/astrologyzodiac...

Seriously, I would like to know more about this as well... and how exactly it affects what I have learned about astrology.

That's interesting.
I act much like a Libra I believe(born on Nov 3rd, Libra according to that) and I took a "true sign" quiz and it said Libra but yet I don't have anything but mercury in Libra.

13th sign would be Spica (The serpant). Over the years, centuries, decades the Calanders and months were changed so many times we lost much information. Read also on the African Dogon Tribe.

Ophiuchus !

I've answered this pretty much the same way.

It's a numbers game.
According to the boundaries for the constellations adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1921, there are 13 signs of the zodiac instead of the usual 12; time from Ophiuchus the snake handler is usually included in time given to Scorpius. If you already know your astrological sign from reading an astrology column in a newspaper or from consultation with an astrologer, you may be surprised that few of these dates correspond to the dates listed in the newspaper's astrological column. Why? Generally, listed astrological signs and the dates given by most astrologers assume that you were born around 140 AD.

Even without counting Ophiuchus, the zodiac is off about one full sign. Precession of the equinox is the reason. (See link.) Constellations are of different sizes. Some take up more area than others but astrologers decided to make each sign more or less 30 days.

The number 12 is favored because it is easy to divide. The four "elements" are alternated evenly. So do the Cardinal, Fixed, and Mutable modes alternate. 13 is a prime number so that would mess a lot of things up. Having one less sign can't work since 11 is a prime number too.

Pluto was not discovered for another nine years. It took a little while to make up attributes and be accepted by astrologers. They will not let go just because it is no longer a planet. But adding a sign is big trouble. Only when there is an advantage does astrology change.



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