What's All the Fuss About Ophiuchus? What Does it Mean to Astrology?

There's a lot of fuss at the moment about the discovery of a new constellation Ophiuchus and whether this so-called 13^th zodiac sign will make a difference to astrology.

The answer is: this isn't in fact a new discovery and the existence of the constellation Ophiuchus between the constellations of Scorpio and Sagittarius will have absolutely no affect on the astrology system we use in the West.

Sometimes old knowledge makes for 'new' news and that's what's happening now. This argument about the 13^th zodiac sign has cropped up many times before and will no doubt do so again. Originally referred to as Serpentarius, the constellation of Ophiuchus was actually one of the forty-eight original constellations chartered by Ptolemy (in around 85 AD!)

There are 88 official constellations and thirteen constellations of the zodiac through which the Sun passes during the course of the year. So why hasn't Ophiuchus ever been included in the astrology zodiac signs?

It's because there's a mistaken belief that the zodiac signs represent the star constellations when in fact astrology signs take the names of the constellations but are not constellations. Because the earth wobbles on its axis, we now see the star constellations in different positions to when they were first observed.- Some use this as an argument against astrology too.

But there are many different systems of astrology and there are two zodiacs: the Sidereal Zodiac and the Tropical Zodiac. The astrology system we use in the West uses the Spring Equinox as the fixed point of the start of Aries to start the Tropical Zodiac. Whereas the Sidereal astrology system uses the backdrop of constellations in the skies as we see them today.

So, Sidereal astrologers use visual astronomy whereas the Tropical astrology system is a one that uses fixed points to determine a mathematically exact zodiac of 360 degrees divided into twelve equal sections (or astrology signs) of 30 degrees each. So, of the 13 star constellations through which the Sun passes during the course of a year, Ophiuchus was the one not attributed to an astrological sign. Not because astrologers did not want to recognise it existed but purely because the mathematics of astrology did not require this 13^th astrology sign.

Astrology is very much planet-based in that relationships (or aspects) between the planets are an important consideration when calculating horoscopes. The planets' relationships to each other will not be altered because of this so-called extra constellation. It has in fact always been there. Just as Astrology signs as we know them remain the same and always will, no matter how many new constellations are discovered.