Have the zodiac signs changed

Answer 1

There has been much speculation regarding the news that the Zodiac signs have changed. There will always be several schools of thought on the subject, but thus far, all professional astrologers I have contact with state that they have not changed.

Answer 2

Actually, that is a very debatable topic.

The original story reported that an astronomer had corrected the star signs and come up with a 13th Zodiac sign. However, the astronomer that answered the reporter's questions doesn't even believe in Astrology and just explained precession.

The Zodiac signs haven't changed... just someone predicted what people in the past might have meant, and there is no way to really know.

Here is the chart we've been using:

Aquarius: Jan. 20 - Feb. 18

Pisces: Feb. 19 - March 20

Aries: March 21 - April 19

Taurus: April 20 - May 20

Gemini: May 21 - June 20

Cancer: June 21 - July 22

Leo: July 23 -Aug. 22

Virgo: Aug. - Sept. 22

Libra: September 23 - Oct. 22

Scorpio: Oct. 23 - Nov. 21

Sagittarius: Nov. 22 - Dec. 21

Capricorn: Dec. 22 - Jan. 19

Here is the "new" chart:

Capricorn: Jan. 20-Feb. 16

Aquarius: Feb. 16-March 11

Pisces: March 11-April 18

Aries: April 18-May 13

Taurus: May 13-June 21

Gemini: June 21-July 20

Cancer: July 20-Aug. 10

Leo: Aug. 10-Sept. 16

Virgo: Sept. 16-Oct. 30

Libra: Oct. 30-Nov. 23

Scorpio: Nov. 23-29

Ophiuchus: Nov. 29-Dec. 17

Sagittarius: Dec. 17-Jan. 20

I think people should choose whatever sign they think fits them the most, but the main astrology community will continue to use the top chart.

See the Related links below for an explanation of both sides of the debate.
Zodiacs are always changing, but very slowly. Western convention chose to ignore the 13th zodiac (Ophiuchus) even the Sun had always passed through this constellation. People like things to be neat and evenly spaced, but the zodiacs simply aren't equally spaced in the sky.

Answer 3

You're probably thinking of the supposed addition of Ophiuchus, the Snake-Handler, as a "new" sign of the Zodiac. Ophiuchus is not part of the traditional Zodiac, which has twelve signs (corresponding to the twelve New Moons--or Full Moons--in a year). These were marked out and named after the twelve constellations along the line of the apparent path the Sun, Moon and planets (the ecliptic). In one sector of the sky, there are Ophiuchus and Scorpio. Ophiuchus is a fairly faint constellation, while Scorpio is very prominent constellation (in fact, one of the only ones that is even recognizable as what it is said to be). A lot of Scorpio's stars lie well to the south of the ecliptic, but that didn't matter to the astrologers -- they called that sector of the sky after the dominant constellation. And the Moon goes quite a long way north and south of the ecliptic anyway, so the Zodiac is more of a band than a line.

Astronomers are a little more fussy and they have established very fixed, rectilinear boundaries between the constellations, and, according to their reckoning, a segment of the ecliptic line passes through the area they label Ophiuchus. (And very little of the ecliptic line passes through Scorpio.)

However, the band of the ecliptic is a different matter, and anyway the astronomers' boundaries are completely irrelevant to astrologers; on top of which, most western astrologers don't even use a form of the Zodiac that lines up with the constellations.

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Does_the_addition_of_13th_zodiac_really_changed_your_zodiac_sign#ixzz1UAIDxBxE

Answer 4

This brings to 13 the number of known astrological star signs.

Hard wording newspaper astrologers will now have to produce 13 daily predictions just at a time when cuts are already affecting the accuracy of newspaper horoscopes, already at their the least accurate for fifty years.

The new star sign is Rabbit, it runs from October 11th to October 22nd, cutting star sign Libra in half.

Librans have been amongst the first to criticize the discovery calling the news 'confusing', 'illogical' and 'doolally'.

As many as 300 million Libran's futures may be affected by these changes.

Also the Earth has been tilting for the past 3000 years. And the discovery of this is what confused everybody.So if you found your horoscope accurate before, it probably still is. You were born with your horoscope, so it doesn't matter how tilted the earth gets, its staying your horoscope.

Answer 5

Sort of.

They were, and always have been, nonsense. But a few decades back, someone suddenly noticed that due to the precession of the equinoxes, the astrological signs had become disconnected from the actual position of the constellations (it was always a semi-tenuous relationship anyway, since the constellations don't take up equal amounts of space on the ecliptic).

What difference that makes depends on who you believe (note that "none of these wackos" is a perfectly reasonable choice).

Tropical astrologers say they never actually had anything to do with the physical constellations anyway, so the signs not matching the stars is not a big deal and nothing changed.

Sidereal astrologers say the stars are important, and the dates of the signs do indeed change over time. Sidereal astrologers are split into a further two camps.

One of these that says that the traditional equal 30 degree divisions are the appropriate ones to use, so their "signs" are the same as the tropical signs, but shifted about 25 days later in the year.

The other says that the size of the constellations also matters, and so their signs are rather more complicated. For example, Virgo in this system lasts for a whopping 45 days, and Scorpio just 6. They also sometimes (though not always) include the constellation Ophiuchus, which the Sun crosses in early December.

Answer 6

Yes, they changed the dates that determine your sign and even added another sign.