Do you believe that astrology is just a holdover from a less enlightened time before our understanding of the cosmos, or do you believe that the positions of the stars and planets really do affect our everyday lives? And it can also determine our character. There is no denying that astrology has had an impact on society.
At the heart of astrology is the zodiac – a strip-shaped area of the sky that extends approximately 8° north or south of the Sun’s apparent path through the sky – and its 12 astrological signs.
Although astrology seems to be determined by the movement of the Earth through space and the position of astronomical objects in the sky, astrology and astrology are very different fields.
What is a zodiac sign?
On the surface, determining a zodiac sign seems devilishly simple. As the Earth orbits the Sun, our star appears in front of a variety of stars – clusters of stars that make up familiar objects, usually animal shapes.
The zodiac signs are Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces, each of which occupies 30 degrees on the great circle that represents the Sun’s annual path. . Stars – also known as ecliptic.
The zodiac was initially developed around 600 BCE and defined its zero point as the point where the ecliptic intersects the celestial equator – the great circle of the terrestrial equator on the celestial sphere.
This intersection is also known as the Vernal Equinox and Vernal Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere because it is considered the first day of spring.
2,200 years ago this zero point occurred in Aries, hence the name “first point of Aries”. As a result, Aries occupies the first 30 degrees of the eclipse; 30 to 60 degrees were taken by Taurus, and Gemini was taken from 60 to 90 degrees. The other astrological signs of the zodiac are similarly divided, each touching a 30-degree slice of their ecliptic.
The problem was that these ancient astrologers were not aware of such a ‘swing’ in the movement of the Earth, which would seriously distort their system over time.
The broken earth sign touches the zodiac dates
The reason for the shift in the zodiac signs is precession, the usual ‘wobble’ the earth experiences as it revolves around the sun.
The gravity of the Moon and Sun, and to a lesser extent the planets, act on the Earth’s equatorial bulge – caused by the Earth’s rotation – to shift its axis of rotation. This ‘bubble’, known as precession, has a cycle of 25,800 years.
To picture this progression, imagine a literal pole outside the Earth at the North Pole. Looking at this pole over a period of 25,800 years, we will see that it traces a circle over the Earth.
This means that the North Pole does not always point in the same direction as the background stars of the celestial sphere, and this effect is cumulative. Over the past 2,500 years, the intersection of the celestial equator and the ecliptic has moved west along the ecliptic by 36 degrees—about one-tenth of its length.
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The precession also had the effect of moving the Earth’s equinoxes — the two points of the year at which day and night are of equal length — along with the ecliptic. For this reason, it is often called the precession of the equinoxes.
As a result, the astrological signs are also shifted one-tenth around the ellipse to the west with respect to the background stars. This means that each cycle now occurs one-tenth of a year – roughly one month – later than it did when astrology was being developed.
But horoscopes published in newspapers and magazines do not follow this classical system. As a result the zodiac signs no longer coincide with the position of the sun.
For example, the astrological sign Taurus is said to rule the period between April 20 and May 20, because it is the constellation in which the Sun once appeared during that period.
So take 2010 as an example – an ‘average year’ sandwiched between two leap years – a child born on April 26, 2010, despite the fact that the Sun was actually in Aries on that day and Will not move. Until May 14 in Taurus.
This means that if Zodiac’s founders had been aware of the precession, she would have been an Aries instead of going through her entire life as a Taurus. There is another problem with the zodiac as astrologers see it and with the position of the sun. Astrologers actually ignore the 13th constellation of eclipses – Ophiuchus – and instead, climb the 12-sign zodiac. Ancient Babylonian legends—which are often credited with beginning astrology—acknowledge that there were 13 constellations in the zodiac, but Ophiuchus was left out.
What is your “real” zodiac sign?
Below are the dates that the astrology-based zodiac would actually give to each astrological sign, while the dates that astrological systems developed two thousand years ago are given in brackets.
Capricorn – January 20 to February 16 (December 23 to January 21)
Aquarius – February 16 to March 11 (January 22 to February 20)
Pisces – March 11 to April 18 (February 21 to March 19)
Aries – April 18 to May 13 (March 20 to April 20)
Taurus – May 13 to June 21 (April 21 to May 21)
Gemini – June 21 to July 20 (May 22 to June 22)
Cancer – July 20 to August 10 (June 23 to July 22)
Leo – August 10 to September 16 (July 23 to August 22)
Virgo – September 16 to October 30 (August 23 to September 22)
Libra – October 30 to November 23 (September 23 to October 22)
Scorpius – November 23 to November 29 (October 23 to November 22)
Ophiuchus – November 29 to December 17 (no astrological counterpart)
Sagittarius – December 17 to January 20 (November 23 to December 22)
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Astrology and Astrology: What’s the Difference?
The clear and obvious difference between astronomy and astrology is that the former is a science and the latter, is not. This means that astronomy – the study of everything outside the Earth’s atmosphere, including stars, galaxies, other planets, and black holes – is based on observation, testing and empirical evidence, astrology is based on belief and little else.
Astronomy is the scientific study of everything in space. Astronomers and other scientists know that stars many light years away have no influence on the normal activities of humans on Earth. NASA said in a Tumblr post (opens in new tab). “Astronomy, meanwhile, is something else. It is believed that the positions of stars and planets can influence human events. It is not considered science.”
Understanding Science, the website of the University of California Museum of Paleontology, points out that astrology’s inclusion of ostensibly scientific trappings such as star charts and the movement of astronomical objects is considered by some to be science. However, it relies heavily on anecdotes as evidence – statements such as “Yes, it works for me– led many to the conclusion that astrology is actually a pseudoscience.
There is also doubt as to whether the key theories of astrology are testable – something scientists agree is important to the scientific discipline. Compared to observations of the natural world, astrology has to make specific and precisely testable predictions.
However, most of the predictions made by astrology are very general and open to interpretation.
Although they are very different today, astronomy and astrology have the same ancient roots. Both were strongly supported by the need to understand the motions of objects in the Earth’s celestial sphere.
As observations of the heavens became more accurate and data increased, astronomy changed by meeting important criteria for science – when new evidence was discovered.
On the other hand, the discoveries that mankind has made about the Earth and the stars in the last 2,000 years have not changed the main dogmas of astrology.
Additional reading
Earth’s solstices are associated with astrological history and thus astrology. Read more about the Winter Solstice here.
The equinox also played an important role in the development of astrology. Read about the twice-yearly event known as the equinox here.
Bibliography
“Astrology and Astronomy in the Ancient World.” (opens in new tab)” Encyclopedia.com (2022). [acessed
“Your Astrological Sign May Not Be What You Think It Is.” Space.com (2007).
“What is the zodiac (opens in new tab)?” EarthSky (2022). [https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/what-is-the-zodiac/]
“The customer.” (opens in new tab)in the sky, 2020, [https://in-the-sky.org/article.php?term=ecliptic]
Astrology: Is it scientific? (opens in new tab)Understanding Science (2002).
“The Advancement of Equality.” (opens in new tab)Britannica (2002).
