I’m now an Ophiuchus? Hey, what’s your sign?
Caution: This blog is a bit confusing, I topic-jump for informational purposes. I do this because I’m a little confused myself. Last year I was a Sagitarius, this year I’m an Ophiuchus. I think it’s better, not sure, maybe, ah hell I don’t know!
Disclaimer: Some information was read from Internet sites, and I forgot which because I deleted the history file. Sorry, I like to reference material when I’m not confused.
Astronomer Parke Kunkle dropped a bomb shell in the Astrological community recently by saying we now have a thirteenth zodiac sign, Ophiuchus.
Ophiuchus: Known as Serpentarius, the Serpent Holder, is depicted as a man handling a serpent, his body dividing the large snake into two sections depicting the symbol used today as an Asclepius, or the medical staff. The constellation of Ophiuchus is the only sign of the Zodiac which is linked to a real man. This man lived in ancient Egypt around the 27th century BCE and his name was Imhotep (patterned after Enki). Imhotep brought the technique of healing to mankind.
Zodiac: Greek word meaning “The circle of animals”. Each one of the twelve signs placed among the stars represented great feats of heroism and valor.
The zodiac is made up of constellations which lines up with the ecliptic. The ecliptic is the path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of a 12 month calendar. The zodiac is an ecliptic coordinate system, using the ecliptic as the origin of latitude, and the position of the sun at vernal equinox as the origin of longitude. Got it? Still confused? Stay with me.
Astronomers during the Babylonian era divided the ecliptic into twelve equal zones of celestial longitude to establish the very first celestial coordinate system. A calendar was devised which assigned a constellation to each month starting with the location of the Sun at vernal equinox. During that period the constellation Aries was considered the first astrological sign we moved into. They did have thirteen zodiac signs but decided to only use twelve. Why? I don’t know maybe because in “numerology” the number twelve is very significant?
So now what’s all the hub bub, Bub?
Astronomers from the Minnesota Planetarium Society stated “Because of the moons gravitational pull on the Earth, the alignment of the stars was pushed back about a month.” Huh? Oh yea, I got it.
As an amateur astronomer I know that eventually (not in my life time) I won’t be able to manually calibrate my telescope towards Polaris, the North Star. This is because of the “Axial” precession. Manually calibrate your telescope? Yep, if you don’t have GPS on your scope, you calibrate the telescope towards the North Star. Then when you turn on the scope’s worm drive, no matter what planet or globular cluster you look at, the image will never fade from your eyepiece view. Your telescope actually moves tracking the constellations. Visualize Polaris being the center of a spiral, all stars and planets appear to rotate around it. Photographers are very creative taking pictures of the night sky by pointing their cameras at Polaris, using delay shutter speeds, thus creating awesome star trails. Ok, back to Axial precession. (See I just jumped off topic.)
Axial precession is the movement of the rotational axis of an astronomical body. (ie. Earth) The axis slowly traces out a cone type configuration. The Earth goes through a complete precessional cycle in a period of about 26,000 years in which the position of the stars will slowly change from our view point. The Earth’s north axial pole moves or wobbles like a top, 1 degree of shift within 72 years. What causes the wobble? Well the gravitational pull of the moon. This lunar pull has bumped the constellation alignment by about a month. Ok, here’s something to think about. (Jumping the topic again, stay with me.)
Our moon is slowly moving away from this planet anywhere from 1.5 to 3.8 cm per year depending who you talk to. It’s been moving away from our planet since its formation more than 4 billion years ago. Scientist speculate the movement will increase per year as the moon gets farther from our gravitational hold. This will affect our tides and the rotation of the Earth.
Did I previously mention a precessional cycle of about 26,000 years? Have you heard that number somewhere else? (Jumping the topic again, hang on!) How about in reference to the 2012 Mayan prophecy? The Mayans watched the stars better than the majority of our so-called astrologers and they knew about the Earth’s wobble and measured it. Pretty good for a race we may not consider as intelligent as us. Or were they? Here’s some more scary yet interesting information I found. (Roller coaster topic curve yet again!)
Some researchers say the Earth’s pulse (like a heartbeat) had been stable for thousands of years at 7.3 cycles per second. Around 1980 something occurred within our planet which bumped the pulse up to 12 cycles per second. Some speculation by researchers say that when the pulse reaches 13 cycles per second, the Earth will stop rotating for 3 days, then will start rotating the other way! This will shift the magnetic fields and the poles. This phenomenon occurs every 26,000 years or the completion of the processional cycle, 2012! Is this the medium point where the moon’s gravitational pull on the Earth has reached an equilibrium? I don’t know!
Didn’t mean to get off track or scare you, but modern day science is not predicting the Earth to stop and reverse its rotation in 2012. Yet I would keep an open mind at this time mainly due to the abundance of dead birds and fish popping up lately. (Off topic again?) Could it be the magnetic poles are starting to shift, could it be a skip in the Earth’s heart beat, how about ET interference or combating ET. (That’s a theory I just heard.) Well not to get too far off track, and totally confuse you, let’s go back to astrology.
Leading astrological experts say they won’t bow to the thirteenth sign because they follow Western astrology. This form of astrology adheres to the Tropical zodiac which is fixed to our seasons. The Sidereal zodiac observed in Eastern culture is the one associated to the constellations and this form of configuration would change. The Tropical zodiac has been established since the second century and will not change. Why, because they don’t want to. I guess they’re lazy, unlike the Mayans who were totally in tune to our Earth and stars.
As for me and this confusing blog, I accept the change and will therefore now consider myself, an Ophiuchus! Why? Because I’d rather be associated with one that heals, rather than one which is half man and half horse with a big butt! And what I know now about the horse’s anatomy is, it doesn’t take much to hurt a horse…. and I don’t like pain! (Especially if you kick me in the shin, I’ll just pass out. Don’t tell anyone.)
But what about those who refuse to change signs, and prefer the sign they are? The nice thing about life is you get to choose. Stick with the Western astrology which follows the seasons. Oh damn, the seasons could change due to Global Warming and former Vice President Al Gore’s latest book! Now what Western astrologers?
Me, I’ll change with the tides, the moon and the stars, and let nature take it’s course. It’s better to be aware of your current surroundings…. so you can accomplish better decisions in life..
Ciao astro-nuts, and let me know what you think about, “What’s your sign?”
Revised dates of astrological signs
Capricorn: Jan. 20 – Feb. 16
Aquarius: Feb. 16 – March 11
Pisces: March 11- April 18
Aries: April 18- May 13
Taurus: May 13- June 21
Gemini: June 21- July 20
Cancer: July 20- Aug. 10
Leo: Aug. 10- Sept. 16
Virgo: Sept. 16- Oct. 30
Libra: Oct. 30- Nov. 23
Scorpio: Nov. 23- Nov. 29
Ophiuchus: Nov. 29- Dec. 17
Sagittarius: Dec. 17- Jan. 20
Category: Chuck Zukowski, In the News, The Z-Files
