Earth's shift adds a 13th Zodiac sign - OPHIUCHUS (THE SERPENT BEARER)

You may be celebrating your fortune based on your horoscope as a Capricorn today, but you might be surprised to find that you’re probably a Sagittarius by now.

A set of new zodiac sign dates was unveiled recently, the Minnesota-based Star Tribune reported, with each symbol’s covered dates being moved by a month thanks to the moon’s gravitational pull that, as astrologers note, ‘wobbled’ the Earth’s rotation on its axis recently.

“The ancient Babylonians based zodiac signs on the constellation the sun was ‘in’ on the day a person was born. During the ensuing millenniums, the moon's gravitational pull has made the Earth "wobble" around its axis, creating about a one-month bump in the stars' alignment,” Star Tribune’s Bill Ward noted.

A blog post on the Washington Post website have also shed light on this matter, citing the explanation provided by Park Kunkle, a board member of the Minnesota Planetarium Society.

“The moon's gravitational pull has slowly moved the Earth in its axis, creating about a one-month bump in the stars' alignment... Now, during what we think as the month of Pisces, the sun is actually in the sign of Aries…”

Thus the adjustment of zodiac dates as follows:

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- Nov. 29
Ophiuchus: Nov. 29- Dec. 17
Sagittarius: Dec. 17- Jan. 20


Kunkle added that science has not proven a clear connection between the stars and the universe and its direct affects on people’s character and behavior. “Sure, we can connect harvest to the stars. But personality? No.”

"Historically, people looked at the sky to understand the world around us," he said. "But today I don't think people who are into astrology look at the sky very much." 

The constellation, Ophiuchus, has been known since ancient times, and is better known as Serpentarius, the Serpent Holder. It is included in the list of 48 constellations described by Ptolemy. Ophiuchus is depicted as a man handling a serpent; his body dividing the large snake into two parts, giving way to the symbol used today as an Asclepius - the medical staff. Astrologers have not included Ophiuchus in the wheel of Astrological signs because the Sun spends only about nineteen days in this 13th sign of the Mazzaroth. Not that there wasn't a 13th sign in the Heavens, but as far as Astrologers were concerned, the Sun traveled from the constellation 'Scorpius' and then proceeded directly into the sign of Sagittarius. In reality, this was not the case. The Sun, for 19 days of the year, travels through the star constellation 'Ophiuchus' before entering Sagittarius from Scorpius - see chart below. thus The sign of Ophiuchus is patterned after the original 'Serpent Holder', Enki, a Sumerian god. 


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