i keep getting emails about this and until now have been so busy i was not able to respond. but after getting the zillionth question about this i figured it’s worth making the time to respond :)
so is there a 13th sign? YES there is! there is a 13th sign- and it has validity.
BUT nasa has not announced that the zodiac is changing and so that part is a hoax. this news item comes up every couple of years to try to invalidate astrology, confuse people and generally just circulate misinformation (i always wonder about the person who starts it up again and if they are really just doing it for kicks or if they actually believe what they are writing?)
vedic astrology is based on the constellations, western is based on the seasons. i do western astrology- so from a western standpoint the first degree of libra was yesterday at the autumnal equinox. in vedic the sun is still in virgo right now- as they are not based on seasons (equinoxes and solstices) but are instead based on the constellations. in vedic the sun is at or around 8 degrees of virgo right now.
but actually if you want to be literal none of the signs are exactly 30 degrees with the sun moving through them for 30 days- as we have the zodiac divided. in truth the sun moves through virgo about 45 days and only goes through scorpio about 7 days. this is what the article about nasa changing the zodiac is speaking to.
and yes the sun when moving on the ecliptic actually does move through the foot of ophiuchus (my daughter is ophiuchian and my midheaven and chart ruler neptune are there as well). some say that the reason this constellation was not included was because the whole thing was not on the ecliptic (it’s only his foot) but that doesn’t make sense as there are other signs that the entire constellation is not showing on the ecliptic (see attached picture). some conspiracy theorists say that the 13th sign was left out intentionally- as 13 is connected to the Goddess, ophiuchus was holding a serpent (a symbol of the Great Goddess and also of wisdom and the occult), and ophichus was a great healer (who originally was seen as a woman) who could raise people from the dead and his magic was so powerful ‘the powers that be’ did not want this archetype to be made conscious in the collective. so from a conspiracy theory perspective this sign was left out intentionally.
does this make astrology as we know it invalid? NO! there are many different types of astrology and they all have merit. and for me personally discovering the 13th sign archetypally was HUGE and it was quite an awakening and activating discovery for me. so much so that i wrote a blog on it which you can find linked here- https://www.divineharmony.org/c109-writings/c60-writings/my-thoughts-on-ophiuchus-the-13th-sign-v15-125/
and i am also cutting and pasting the entire article below.
so if you want to see your sign as changing- great! and honestly looking to see if you have any planets or angles in ophiuchus can be very enlightening (anything from 8-25 sagittarius in western would be in ophiuchus). and if you don’t want to see it as changing- great! and if you prefer to take the both/and route like i do- great! ;) did you know the key to accessing the Great Mystery is being willing and able to hold the tensions of the opposites and be with paradox without necessarily trying to resolve it? ;)
for anyone interested in seeing the table of dates for the 13th sign version of the zodiac it is listed below
blessings…
~dh
p.s. if you have not heard about the FREE ASTRO SUMMIT 2.0- you can find more info about that here- http://summit.astrologyhub.com/?orid=1930&opid=33&sid=2016
my talk on the DARK GODDESS and SHADOW WORK airs TODAY. it’s FREE to sign up- so do it now! :)
OPHICUHUS ZODIAC DATES
these are the days the sun literally goes through these constellations as seen by observing the sun move along the ecliptic:
ARIES = APRIL 19 – MAY 13
TAURUS = MAY 14 – JUNE 19
GEMINI = JUNE 20 – JULY 20
CANCER = JULY 21 – AUG 9
LEO = AUGUST 10 – SEPTEMBER 15
VIRGO = SEPTEMBER 16 – OCTOBER 30
LIBRA = OCTOBER 31 – NOVEMBER 22
SCORPIO = NOVEMBER 23 – NOVEMBER 29
OPHIUCHUS = NOVEMBER 30 – DECEMBER 17
SAGITTARIUS = DECEMBER 18 – JANUARY 18
CAPRICORN = JANUARY 19 – FEBRUARY 15
AQUARIUS = FEBRUARY 16 – MARCH 11
PISCES = MARCH 12 – APRIL 18
MY ARTICLE FROM 2011
a while back i heard about ophiuchus, the hidden or forgotten about 13th sign. the idea of a missing sign intrigued me and the fact that it was the 13th- a number that is sacred to the goddess but feared by man and made to be evil- made me wonder about the potential ‘conspiracy’ of hiding said 13th sign. as i explored the myth of ophiuchus i found it compelling. ophiuchus is also know as asklepios- he was a healer, said to have really existed, who was so powerful he could raise people from the dead. this angered hades- the god of the underworld who up until that point had the final say on who died and who remained alive. hades went to zeus and complained and zeus, although impressed with asklepios’ gifts of healing, also agreed that he was stepping over the boundary between mortals and gods. so zeus struck him down and killed him, but because of his amazing gift he set him in the sky as the constellation ophiuchus.
ophiuchus is known as the serpent bearer- and in the constellation you can see a man holding a serpent from head to tail. the serpent, along with the number 13, both have ties to the ancient goddess who has been demonized and removed from and/or demoted in human consciousness. the serpent is also connected to kundalini- a potent manifestation of the goddess involving an energy that once awakened starts the process of spiritual evolution at a rapid pace (watch out for awakening kundalini before you are ready- your life will fall to pieces before your very eyes!). ophiuchus is a sign associated with healing, magic, and the goddess- aspects of life that are not given their due respect in many areas of the world. it is interesting that the potential 13th sign governs things that are often degraded, demoted or distastefully looked upon. perhaps the reason the sign was left out was because it governed things the patriarchy has tried to get rid of for ages?
physically the zodiac as western astrology knows it is off. when looked at literally western astrology does not account for the change in the position of constellations (aka the precision of the equinoxes). western astrology is based on seasons which comprise of signs- 12 signs which are divided evenly into 30 degrees for each sign. i was born on june 24th and my sun is 3 cancer- but literally the sun when i was born was approximately 23 degrees earlier than that in the sign of gemini. so in western astrology i am a cancer, but in sidereal (aka vedic) i am a gemini. sidereal may seem to be more accurate since it accounts for the change of position in the constellations over time- but actually the constellations don’t divide themselves evenly. virgo, for example, is way bigger than 30 degrees. so if you were trying to account for things literally we’d have to divvy up the signs differently. there would be no easy division process where each sign had an equal slice of the zodiac wheel. (for more specific info go here- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zodiac and scroll down to ‘table of dates’ to see a table that shows the actual solar stay for each sign)
as for ophiuchus- the entire constellation of ophiuchus does not fall into the zodiac wheel. so many astrologers say that it is not included because only a small portion of it falls there (literally the foot of the man holding the serpent). but the international astronomical union recognizes ophiuchus as being within the boundaries of the zodiac constellations that lines the ecliptic- so technically ophiuchus is the 13th sign. so for the approximate dates of november 30th to december 18th- the sun is literally and actually transiting the sign of ophiuchus (ophiuchus lies between scorpio and sagittarius). incidentally when you look at things literally the sign that is the smallest is scorpio- which the sun only transits for 8.4 days!
so back to the argument of a 13th sign. in my perspective on things the different kinds of astrology are like different languages. there is western, sidereal/vedic, chinese, mayan, human design and more- just as there are many languages in the world. languages are a means to communicate. i might prefer french to german or i may know nothing of latin- but it doesn’t mean french is better or latin is invalid. they all work if you learn how to speak them and have people to speak them with! in the same vein i see the 13th sign version of astrology as another way of looking at the heavens and interpreting what is going on down here. i have seen ophiuchus used in ways that totally resonates for me. i have also seen western work, sidereal, mayan, human design, chinese and more! to me it’s about picking which ‘language’ you want to speak and then speaking it. i don’t agree that using 13 signs is WRONG- but i also don’t agree that only 12 signs is RIGHT. it’s all about what resonates and what you are drawn to.
for me the symbolism of a hidden 13th sign connected to the goddess, kundalini, magic and healing is quite compelling. but heck- my midheaven (and the great attractor- for you astrology people who know what that is) is in ophiuchus. so is my new daughter’s sun sign :)
so those are my thoughts on the 13th sign. i love things that are hidden, occult and esoteric- so i am drawn to ophiuchus. and maybe it’s been hidden because we weren’t ready for the wisdom ophiuchus has for us collectively- but now people are taking notice because we are. but because it is not easy to cast a literal chart when things aren’t easily divisible by 12 i don’t read for it currently in my writing or in my consultations. but that may change in the future- who knows?
hope that helps for all of you who have written to ask me about it :)
~divine harmony