Many devout and loyal believers in astrology rely heavily on their zodiacs and daily horoscopes to provide them with guidance. Additionally, people often use their zodiac to fall back on in terms of explaining their personalities and individual characteristics. As the world keeps turning, could it be possible that the zodiac you’ve associated with your entire life is wrong? Here are some compelling reasons to suggest it could be so.
Shifting Planets
Ancient astrologers wanted to set up an unchanging system. An article written by Pedro Braganca for livescience.com explains, “The first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere was once marked by the zero point of the Zodiac. Astronomers call this the vernal equinox and it occurs as the ecliptic and celestial equator intersect on approximately March 21. Around 600 B.C., the zero point was in Aries and was called the “first point of Aries.” The constellation Aries encompassed the first 30 degrees of the ecliptic; from 30 to 60 degrees was Taurus; from 60 to 90 degrees was Gemini; and so on for all 12 constellations of the Zodiac.” This all seemed fine, until precession was discovered.
This phenomenon is a 28,000+ year cycle that the earth experiences. It involves the earth ‘wobbling’ on its axis due to gravitational attraction from the moon to the Earth’s equator. This has resulted in some changes to the zodiac. The above mentioned article goes on to say, “Over the past two-and-a-half millennia, this wobble has caused the intersection point between the celestial equator and the ecliptic to move west along the ecliptic by 36 degrees, or almost exactly one-tenth of the way around, to the border of Pisces and Aquarius. This means that the signs have slipped one-tenth — or almost one whole month — of the way around the sky to the west, relative to the stars beyond.”
Implications
What does all this information mean? It means that modern day constellations look very different than they did a couple millennia ago. It also means that the zodiac sign you currently associate with may no longer be accurate. Here’s an updated list of each zodiac sign based on the path the sun is currently traveling on.
Capricorn – Jan. 20 to Feb. 16
Aquarius – Feb. 16 to March 11
Pisces – March 11 to April 18
Aries – April 18 to May 13
Taurus – May 13 to June 21
Gemini – June 21 to July 20
Cancer – July 20 to Aug. 10
Leo – August 10 to Sept. 16
Virgo – Sept. 16 to Oct. 30
Libra – Oct. 30 to Nov. 23
Scorpio – Nov. 23 to Nov. 29
Sagittarius – Dec. 17 to Jan. 20
Astrology enthusiasts take their zodiac signs and the accompanying characteristics very seriously. The loyalty and connection they feel to their current signs runs deep. While the zodiac already has and will continue to change, it’s unlikely that these changes will ever be widely accepted.
