Image from Wikimedia Commons
Astronomer Parke Kunkle’s news about a 13th zodiac sign, Ophiuchus, has sparked debate all over the Internet and has left those who check their daily horoscope confused about what sign they actually are. But for those who have a Virgo tattooed on their ankle or an Aquarius pendant dangling from a necklace, have no fear—your sign has not really changed. The confusion came from mixing astronomy, the study of celestial bodies, with astrology, the belief and tradition of the effect that celestial bodies have on earthly matters, such as human personality.
“This is a story that circulates every so often,” said St. Louis astrologer Laurence Hillman. “It’s really like comparing apples with oranges.”
When the Babylonians invented astrology 3,000 years ago, it was the same thing as astronomy, says Hillman. They viewed the worldly beings as connected with the universe, so when they studied the stars, it wasn’t just a science it also played into the lives of human beings, he says.
“The heavens were enchanted in those days, and they had meaning,” he says. “Now, since we have become so scientific, nothing means anything anymore. A tree is just a tree. If you cut it down it doesn’t matter. Back then, you would say sorry to the tree if you had to cut it down because the tree had a meaning and a spirit.”
Now, the two studies are distinct, which causes some people to mix them together.
He says that astronomers often discredit astrology because they don’t like looking at the universe in a non-scientific way. But, he says, there is no right or wrong; it’s just two ways of looking at the same heavenly bodies.
For example, although astronomers have demoted Pluto as a planet, astrologers still use Pluto the same way as they always have, he says.
“There are arbitrary decisions done by scientists that have an impact on people who pay attention to these things,” he says. “People who look at their horoscopes base a lot of their understanding of themselves on that, so when scientists come in and say something has changed, people assume that has to be right and now everything we believed before is wrong.”
Regardless of this new astronomic theory, astrology has not changed. Astrologers don’t use constellations to study personality traits, rather they look at the movement of the solar system and the paths of the sun based on the original Babylonian chart, says Hillman.
“If you were a Leo, you are still a Leo,” he says. “It will have absolutely no impact on your horoscope.”
Some theories circulating are that this “new sign” only affects those born after 2009 and that all of this has to do with the doomsday Mayan prediction of December 21, 2012, all of which Hillman says is incorrect and unrelated to western astrology.
“This just another way for astronomers to mess with astrologers,” he says. “Bottom line is that you have one sign…and you will always have that one sign.”
