Morgan Drake Eckstein

Last month, you might have heard from Fox News that your traditional sun sign was quite possibly wrong, thanks to precession (the slow drifting of the Vernal Equinox westward over the centuries) and the fact that there are actually thirteen constellations along the ecliptic (the apparent path of the sun). This may have caused you some concern, or it may have merely caused you to roll your eyes.

In my case, I said a few unprintable words and continued with my day. After all, this information was being reported on a slow news day, and their expert was an astronomer. I didn’t expect the internet to explode with searches for information about this new “zodiac sign.” I should have---after all, since the 1970s periodic eruptions of this constellation-based astrology have occurred.

The first attempt to make astrology match astronomy (which I know of) was made in 1970 by Steven Schmidt. In his book, Astrology 14, he argued that modern astrologers should be using fourteen constellations, the traditional twelve plus Ophiuchus and Cetus. Astrologers who tried his system (for the most part) decided that his proposed system did not work.

Another serious attempt was made in 1977, or so it seemed. Arachne Rising: The Thirteenth Sign of the Zodiac, by James Vogh, made the claim that astrology should be using a thirteen sign system. The thirteen sign was Arachne, the spider. This was a serious attempt…to discredit astrology and all who believe in it. James Vogh was a pseudonym of the American science fiction writer John Sladek, who more or less proved that if you toss enough “proof” at people, they would believe anything. It turns out that he invented the constellation of Arachne---lock, stock and barrel.

Now, some astrologers during the recent interest spike pointed out that the Eastern astrologers uses a system called the Sidereal (the Western twelve sign system is the Tropical). What they failed to mention is that there is some disagreement about where the zero point of their zodiac is; they also ignored the fact that some Sidereal astrologers use Serpentarius as a thirteenth sign. This is the part of the Sidereal astrology’s attempt to bring their system in line with the modern constellations. Few Sidereal astrologers actually use this thirteen sign.

This brief history illustrates some of the problems with the system of constellational astrology. Or at least, I hope that it does. So do the zodiac signs have anything to do with the constellations?

According to The Essential Cosmic Perspective, 4^th edition (Bennett, Donahue, Schneider, and Voit), “A constellation is a region of the sky with well-defined borders; the familiar patterns of the stars merely help us to locate these constellations.” The International Astronomical Union chose the current 88 official constellations in 1928; this is the same organization that in August 2006 demoted Pluto down to a “dwarf planet.”

What is not mentioned in this definition is the fact that the constellations have changed though the ages. For instance, the modern constellation of Libra, the scales, was originally the claws of an earlier version of the constellation of Scorpio. Something else not mentioned is that while the modern constellations bear the same names as the zodiac signs, their only relationship is the names.

The zodiac is actually a system of measuring positions on the ecliptic. Around the sixth century BCE, the zodiac got divorced from the constellations, and became the current system of dividing the ecliptic into twelve equal parts. The only difference between the Tropical and Sidereal zodiacs, outside of those astrologers trying to synchronize their art with the modern science of astronomy, is the point where we start our measurements.

My advice is to all concerned, stick with your old zodiac sign until the constellational astrologers get their act together. The zodiac signs have been around for over two thousand years, while the constellations that some people think we should adopt have only been around for eight-two years.

Morgan Drake Eckstein occasionally writes about Golden Dawn, Tarot and astrology on Associated Content.