Ophiuchus
(Astrology Explored) Astrologers watched in bemusement and surprise that the internet literally blew up over a astronomer and community college professor Parke Kunkle’s pronouncement that “the earth had shifted” resulting in the magical creation of 13th zodiac sign, Ophiuchus, otherwise known as “the snake handler”. In fact, according to the SU Spectator reports that an unprecedented 17 out of 20 search queries were zodiac related. Astrologers were besieged with questions about Ophiuchus in every setting from television interviews to this astrologer’s experience, a funeral.
It is reported that about a quarter of the U. S. population “believes” in astrology and many more read their daily horoscope for hah hahs everyday. Clearly there is something to this astrology thing if it engages so many people. Yet what you see in the newspapers is just a tiny portion of what astrology is all about.
If you were to see an astrologer, what he or she does is take three pieces of information: your birth date, your birth time and your birthplace. Using either a computer or good old fashioned math and a three reference works, the astrologer will draw a map of heavens at the time of your birth. In a very real sense this map, called a natal chart, shows the Universe as it revolves around you. Every single planet in our solar system and a few mathematical points talk about your personality and how you act and react in the world. Some important points are:
Your ascendant—A mathematical point, the ascendant is the zodiac sign at the time on the horizon at the time of your birth. It governs your physical appearance and the first impression you give other people. The degree of the ascendant changes roughly every four minutes. You can be a Taurus and have Scorpio on the ascendant, or a Taurus with Leo on the ascendant, still be a Taurus, but be perceived by other people in vastly different ways.
Your Sun—What many people know as their “sign” the Sun is central player in the astrological chart. It is your core identity from which you draw many essential personality traits.
Your Moon—The moon moves swiftly through the zodiac signs each month spending roughly two and a half days in each sign. The moon represents your emotional center, your security needs, your early nurturing experience and how you feel about things. A Taurus with Scorpio on the ascendant and a Pisces Moon has a far different view of the world than a Taurus with a Leo ascendant and their moon in Aquarius.
These three elements, the ascendant, the Sun and the Moon, are the Big Three in the map of the heavens at the time of your birth charting your basic identity by not only the zodiac signs each of these points occupy but by their relationship to each other. These relationships are called aspects and range from easy connections to challenging. It is why you may feel one thing about something and act another way. And here is the kicker about aspects—they represent a significant portion of how you operate in the world. Sometime the aspects that planets make to each other nearly outweigh the zodiac sign in which the planets are placed.
But wait—there’s more!
Each of the other planets in the solar system has something to say about you as well. Mercury talks about your thinking processes, Mars represents your survival instincts and your sexual drive, Venus, your value systems, Saturn, your duties and responsibilities, Jupiter, your sense of social justice, Uranus, your unique gift to the world, Neptune, your spirituality and Pluto, what you need to transform in your life.
Is your head spinning yet?
We haven’t even talked about the houses, the two hour divisions of the twenty-four hour day that govern different portions of life on earth. Which house each of the planets tenant flavor the interpretation of that planet.
And then—
There is plethora of astrological techniques, types of charts and a slew of other things that add depth and meaning to an astrological reading, as if we needed more. But we do, because you come to us with questions about all parts of your life, from whether or not a relationship will work, whether you’ll get that new job, when you will have babies, and anything else that life throws at you.
Astrology is a complex study that few attempt and even fewer master. Maybe this is why so few people know that zodiac signs you know and love so well are based on the seasons and not the constellations. So yes, we do understand, in a certain way, the appeal a simple Sun sign horoscope has for most people. But you are more to you than just your Sun sign which is why astrologers aren’t really concerned about a 13th zodiac sign.
