01-14-2011, 08:44 PM
CNN) â Tattoo parlor owners must be salivating. An assertion in a Minneapolis Star Tribune article that our understanding of the zodiac is off by about a month â and that therefore people have been identifying themselves with the wrong sign â caught fire on the internet Thursday, and many folks are in an absolute panic on social media. âIf my zodiac symbol has been changed to a Libra, what am I supposed to do with my Scorpio tattoo?!?!,â read one tweet Thursday.
Some vowed to get their tats removed. Others groaned about losing the sign with which theyâve identified themselves for years. The zodiac and related terms â including Ophiuchus, said to be a 13th and neglected sign â were trending Twitter topics much of Thursday.
But before astrology fans scrape the ink from their arms because they think theyâre now a Virgo instead of a Libra, they should consider this: If they adhered to the tropical zodiac â which, if theyâre a Westerner, they probably did â absolutely nothing has changed for them.
Thatâs worth rephrasing: If you considered yourself a Cancer under the tropical zodiac last week, youâre still a Cancer under the same zodiac this week.
Thatâs because the tropical zodiac â which is fixed to seasons, and which Western astrology adheres to â differs from the sidereal zodiac â which is fixed to constellations and is followed more in the East, and is the type of zodiac to which the Star Tribune article ultimately refers.
Two zodiacs. Thatâs nothing new.
âThis story is born periodically as if someone has discovered some truth. Itâs not news,â said Jeff Jawer, astrologer with Tarot.com.
The hubbub started with Sundayâs Star Tribune article, which said the following: âThe ancient Babylonians based zodiac signs on the constellation the sun was âinâ on the day a person was born. During the ensuing millenniums, the moonâs gravitational pull has made the Earth âwobbleâ around its axis, creating about a one-month bump in the starsâ alignment.â
âWhen [astrologers] say that the sun is in Pisces, itâs really not in Pisces,â Parke Kunkle, a board member of the Minnesota Planetarium Society, told the Star Tribune.
âIndeed,â the article continued, âmost horoscope readers who consider themselves Pisces are actually Aquarians.â The article also asserts Scorpioâs window lasts only seven days, and that a 13th constellation, Ophiuchus, used to be counted between Scorpio and Sagittarius but was discarded by the Babylonians because they wanted 12 signs per year.
True enough, Jawer says, the sun doesnât align with constellations at the same time of year that it did millennia ago. But thatâs irrelevant for the tropical zodiac, codified for Western astrology by Ptolemy in the second century, he says.
In the tropical zodiac, the start of Aries is fixed to one equinox, and Libra the other.
âWhen we look at the astrology used in the Western world, the seasonally based astrology has not changed, was never oriented to the constellations, and stands as ⦠has been stated for two millenniums,â Jawer said.
People who put stock in astrology can ask whether they should adhere to the tropical zodiac or the sidereal zodiac. Jawer argues for the tropical.
âAstrology is geocentric. It relates life on Earth to the Earthâs environment, and seasons are the most dramatic effect, which is why we use the tropical zodiac,â he said.
Some vowed to get their tats removed. Others groaned about losing the sign with which theyâve identified themselves for years. The zodiac and related terms â including Ophiuchus, said to be a 13th and neglected sign â were trending Twitter topics much of Thursday.
But before astrology fans scrape the ink from their arms because they think theyâre now a Virgo instead of a Libra, they should consider this: If they adhered to the tropical zodiac â which, if theyâre a Westerner, they probably did â absolutely nothing has changed for them.
Thatâs worth rephrasing: If you considered yourself a Cancer under the tropical zodiac last week, youâre still a Cancer under the same zodiac this week.
Thatâs because the tropical zodiac â which is fixed to seasons, and which Western astrology adheres to â differs from the sidereal zodiac â which is fixed to constellations and is followed more in the East, and is the type of zodiac to which the Star Tribune article ultimately refers.
Two zodiacs. Thatâs nothing new.
âThis story is born periodically as if someone has discovered some truth. Itâs not news,â said Jeff Jawer, astrologer with Tarot.com.
The hubbub started with Sundayâs Star Tribune article, which said the following: âThe ancient Babylonians based zodiac signs on the constellation the sun was âinâ on the day a person was born. During the ensuing millenniums, the moonâs gravitational pull has made the Earth âwobbleâ around its axis, creating about a one-month bump in the starsâ alignment.â
âWhen [astrologers] say that the sun is in Pisces, itâs really not in Pisces,â Parke Kunkle, a board member of the Minnesota Planetarium Society, told the Star Tribune.
âIndeed,â the article continued, âmost horoscope readers who consider themselves Pisces are actually Aquarians.â The article also asserts Scorpioâs window lasts only seven days, and that a 13th constellation, Ophiuchus, used to be counted between Scorpio and Sagittarius but was discarded by the Babylonians because they wanted 12 signs per year.
True enough, Jawer says, the sun doesnât align with constellations at the same time of year that it did millennia ago. But thatâs irrelevant for the tropical zodiac, codified for Western astrology by Ptolemy in the second century, he says.
In the tropical zodiac, the start of Aries is fixed to one equinox, and Libra the other.
âWhen we look at the astrology used in the Western world, the seasonally based astrology has not changed, was never oriented to the constellations, and stands as ⦠has been stated for two millenniums,â Jawer said.
People who put stock in astrology can ask whether they should adhere to the tropical zodiac or the sidereal zodiac. Jawer argues for the tropical.
âAstrology is geocentric. It relates life on Earth to the Earthâs environment, and seasons are the most dramatic effect, which is why we use the tropical zodiac,â he said.