So, every so often, this ridiculous idea that there is a 13th (or even 14th — which is another whole conversation) astrological sign goes around.
It’s completely untrue, and you’ve been trolled by people making fun of astrology when you buy into it. AND, astrologers look like the stereotypical-believe-anything-flat-earthing gullible cliché when they buy into it.
Serious astrologers throw up in our mouths a little as we watch the tenuous validity of astrology get flushed ever further down the loo with stuff like this. There are times I just want to wash my eyeballs when I spend too much time in social media “astrology learning groups.”
Ophiuchus as a Sign is a Troll to Make Astrologers Look Stupid… Nothing More (And it WORKED!)
See, it starts when NASA as a whole or people like Degrasse-Tyson get in the mood to troll astrologers. At first, I thought perhaps the scientists were good at science but didn’t understand astrology — then I realized it was a joke to see if we’d take the bait and look like a naïve, gullible stereotype. Then, when their troll was successful, it seemed a lot of people who called themselves astrologers didn’t understand the basics of astrology, either.
Astrology is more than memorizing the archetypes of the signs, understanding the movement of the planets and their meanings, or knowing what a house is. The inner workings of astrology, the whys and hows of the system — these aren’t things that are often taught with any standard in your average astrology social media group.
Astrology is Gaining Popularity
As astrology gains popularity in the mainstream again, it is often completely skewed (I mean, what isn’t?) on social media. Sun Sign memes (which, of course, are sometimes really funny), people going to groups in search of chart readings by amateurs and hobbyists, and made-up theories/opinions abound.
So, how would the person with casual interest be able to take their knowledge up a notch and be able to tell the real stuff from what amounts to astrology fake news?
Read. Read. Read… and team up with a local astrologer who has more than a decade or two of research and practice under their belts.
In a time when this age-old practice is being used by a brand new generation, it is important to get back to basics — understanding that some of the people who claim to be experts online and on social media are like astrological catfish. Sometimes they want a following, sometimes money… but often they just want to feel important, even though they have no flipping idea what they are talking about.
Ophiuchus is Just Another Constellation
There are more than 80 constellations visible from Earth — most of which are not signs. It isn’t new. In fact, it was named in the second century A.D. by Ptolemy, and even Ptolemy knew it wasn’t an astrological Sign.
If Ophiuchus was an astrological sign discovered by NASA in like 2017 (and NASA actually didn’t think astrology to be bunk), we’ve all been stuck in an alternate universe or something and didn’t notice it’s astrological value as a Sign for, oh, I don’t know, only many centuries.
Now, some kinds of astrology use stars, even though Western astrology mostly ignores them with the exception of our Sun. The stars in Ophiuchus have been used by Sidereal and Galactic astrologers for a very long time….
But not as a Sign.
The Stuff in Space Moves
Of course the constellations aren’t exactly where they used to be from our perspective when astrology was used in ancient times. We are hurtling through space. The Sun and the solar system move at about 448,000 mph through space and we move with them, plus our Earth moves around the Sun at about 66,627 mph.
There’s this thing called the Precession of the Equinoxes. The Earth isn’t a perfect circle, and that also shifts our perspective of the constellations in the sky.
Part of Ophiuchus does connect with what’s called the ecliptic (as does another constellation, too) — the celestial area where the other constellations of the Zodiac are. However, that still doesn’t make it a sign. Ptolemy, when deciding that the precession of the equinoxes made a logical system that uses the Vernal Equinox as the start of the Astrological year and as zero degrees of Aries, and gave birth to what we now call Tropical Astrology.
So… Tropical/Western Astrology uses the Equinoxes and Solstices to determine the Signs, NOT the constellations. (If you would like to read more about that, we have a few articles that will help it make more sense here and here!)
So, friends, jumping on the Ophiuchus-is-a-sign train actually shows a lack of understanding of how astrology works and alll the skeptics sit back and says, “See? These guys will believe anything! LOL”
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