Confusion & Ignorance About Different Astrology Systems and the Constellations

  Every few years, "news" of some sort, about Ophiuchus, as the "new" sign of the zodiac, is trotted out to shake things up... and it does...  briefly! I think the last time was four years ago, but with an increase in social networking, the scary "news" spreads like wildfire. Fortunately, it has nothing to do with how most western astrologers practice their skill.

  Astrologers have been familiar with the precession of the equinoxes for thousands of years. Precession is an astronomical phenomenon that divides modern astrology into two systems - sidereal and tropical. For the most part, Western astrologers practice "tropical" astrology using the twelve-fold division of the Ecliptic, or Sun's path around the Earth, where the Zodiac signs are based on the seasons.  Indian, or Vedic astrologers, use the sidereal zodiac, in which the signs refer to the specific constellations. I have not studied Vedic astrology enough to speak intelligently about it, so I will not address how it works.

  While Ophiuchus IS a constellation, like a lot of others... it ISN'T a zodiac sign! Besides, it doesn't fall  into the zodiac belt ( the 23.5 degree band of the ecliptic or sun's path around the earth) and it isn't counted as one of  the twelve signs used in Western astrology! So, all you wanta' be Ophicuihians will just have to embrace your real sun sign and find out where the rest of your personal planets fall in the zodiac!
  

   A few words about fixed stars... there are billions of them... and they comprise the backdrop of the heavens, making up the constellations through which the planets move. While fixed stars, and therefore the constellations, do move slightly, all astrology systems and computer programs in existence take this into account.  

  None of this is "news" to astrologers... it's just another pathetic attempt to debunk astrology, a system most astronomers and scientists haven't studied and therefore, don't know anything about. Scientists and reporters who go on promoting such stories without asking astrologers what we know or how we deal with this information are not doing their homework and are practicing poor journalism and even worse science!

  Remember, while keeping your head in the stars and your feet on the ground, trust the people you know to be giving you information you can rely on!