Thirteenth zodiac sign?...

Question

Hello!

I just finished reading "My Sister's Keeper" by Judy Picoult and one of the characters in the book was an astronomer. He mentioned that back in the time of the Greeks, the sun was a bit tilted and so the exact placement of our 12 signs was off, leaving space for a thirteenth sign, Ophiochus. Now, I knew that long ago, being born on April 15th or so made you a Taurus, not an Aries, but I did not know that between the signs Scorpio and Sagittarius there was a gap of 14 days that was ruled by a "new" sign.

I tried to find out information on this sign, but nothing came up.

Does anyone know anything about it? I would really find it helpful!

Thank you!

Answer 1

Answered this enough times. This is not new.

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.

For astrology, it's really it is a numbers game. Ophiuchus is not used. The number of signs has to be 12 because it is very easy to divide. The four "elements" are alternated evenly. So do the three Cardinal, Fixed, and Mutable modes alternate. 12 cusps, 24 hour days, 30 degrees for each sign, 360 degrees for a circle. All need the number 12.



Prime numbers can not be divided at all. 13 is a prime number so that would mess a lot of things up. Having one less sign also can't work since 11 also is a prime number. Adding planets is no problem. Attributes can always be made up.

Answer 2

Ophiuchus is often mistakenly called the 'thirteenth sign of the zodiac' because the sign is thought of as an additional sign to the the twelve Tropical or Sidereal signs.

In fact, Ophiuchus is a Sun-sign in the Real Solar Zodiac.

Ophiuchus: "the Serpent Bearer" Dates: 30th November to 17th December