Does the Zodiac Have a 13th Sign?

    CHICAGO, IL, October 02, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- If there is one thing we can predict with unerring accuracy it's that astrologers will be chided in the media in response to some inane claim by an astronomer that Cancers are really Geminis due to precession of the equinoxes, or there are 13 rather than 12 signs to the zodiac.

"And even though astrologers refute these falsifications every time, the next year the same charges are leveled again, as if astrologers are a perennially stupid lot. Actually the stupidity is on the other side. Either that or it is simply willful ignorance," says Glenn Perry, PhD, an astrologer and licensed psychotherapist in Haddam Neck, Conn.

In an article posted on the Astrology News Service (ANS) website he points to a recent NASA story about a mysterious 13th zodiacal constellation - Ophiuchus.

"Like Mordred in Arthurian legend Ophiuchus keeps weaseling his way back into court to cause trouble. He does not, as the saying goes, belong at the round table. According to NASA, Ophiuchus has either been ignored or forgotten by astrologers. The unwanted intruder is said to occupy an 18 degree sector between the constellations Scorpio and Sagittarius," Dr. Perry says.

But Ophiuchus' existence is irrelevant. The controversy stems from a misunderstanding arising from conflation of the sidereal zodiac, which is based on the stars, with the tropical zodiac based on the seasons. For the past 2000 years, the vast majority of astrologers in the world consciously and deliberately use the tropical zodiac. And it is entirely unrelated to constellations.

"Zodiacal signs and zodiacal constellations are completely different things despite their sharing the same names Aries, Taurus, and so on. If astronomers do not already know this, they should. They have been told often enough," he says.

Whereas constellations are arbitrary groupings of stars that have no actual boundaries, zodiac signs are precise geometric angles derived from the equinox and solstice points that divide the year into four quarters (seasons). Astrologers further divide each season into three segments of 30 degrees each. Three segments multiplied by four seasons give us 12 zodiacal signs, which are consistent with 12 lunar cycles in the solar year, he explains.

Perry says seasons once corresponded to the predawn appearance of specific constellations Aries (vernal equinox), Cancer (summer solstice), Libra (autumnal equinox), and Capricorn (winter solstice). But that was over 3000 years ago when astrology first began and ancient astrologers wrongly assumed that the constellations caused the seasons. At that time, the equinoctial and solstice points were exactly in the middle of their respective constellations. However, due to precession of the equinoxes seasons and their old constellational corollaries no longer exactly correspond.

"To grasp the significance of this, we have to understand that seasons are not caused by the appearance of certain constellations prior to the rising of the Sun, as the ancients supposed. The four seasons are actually determined by the earth being tilted on its axis at an angle of 23 degrees relative to the plane of the ecliptic (the Sun's equator), he says, adding:

"If we imagine both equators extending out into space, they intersect twice a year at the spring and autumnal equinoxes, which give us 0 degrees Aries and 0 degrees Libra respectively. The term equinox means equal night and signifies that time of year when days and nights are of equal length.

"As the earth traverses its orbit about the Sun, we have a new season every 3 months. When earth's northern hemisphere is tilted at its maximum angle toward the Sun, we have the summer solstice, or 0 degrees Cancer. Conversely, when earth's northern hemisphere is tilted at its maximum angle away from the Sun, we have the winter solstice, or 0 degrees Capricorn.

"In effect, a zodiacal sign is determined solely by the earth's annual orbit about the Sun. It is the Sun's position as seen from the vantage point of earth that determines the Sun's sign-location. On March 21st (first day of spring), we don't say the earth is in Aries; we say the Sun is in Aries. This means the earth is actually in Libra at the time of the vernal equinox because the earth is always in the sign opposite the Sun-sign.

"A zodiacal sign measures the angle of the earth's orbital position relative to the vernal equinox. When the earth is opposite the vernal point, its angle is 180 degrees and the Sun is in the sign Aries. When earth moves another 30 degrees past its opposition to the vernal equinox, the Sun is in the sign of Taurus. If earth is conjunct the vernal equinox (0 degrees), the Sun is in Libra. While a constellation will always be behind the Sun at each of these times, the constellation is not the sign.

"The sign," Perry says, "is simply the angle of the earth's orbital position relative to the vernal equinox. Nothing more."

This release was prepared by the Astrological News Service (ANS). The news service is jointly sponsored by the American Federation of Astrologers (AFAA), the Association for Astrological Networking (AFAN), the International Society for Astrological Research (ISAR), the National Council for Geocosmic Research (NCGR), and the Organization of Professional Astrologers (OPA).

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