Zodiac Signs and Constellations

The chart on the left was cast for 1:40 pm today in Dingle. You can click on image to enlarge it. I am happy that the astrology program that I use, Solar Fire, is able to produce a chart with both signs and constellations. The outer ring shows zodiac constellations and the inner ring shows zodiac signs.

Every time I make a presentation on the stars the question of signs and constellations comes up. There is the impression on the part of the more scientifically minded people that only the constellations are real. They posit that since, in our time, the Sun rises in the constellation of Pisces at the spring equinox, the claim- that the Sun goes into Aries at that time- is untrue. I would like to suggest that both viewpoints are true, just the perspective is different.

Zodiac Constellations are twelve unequal segments along the ecliptic (apparent path of the Sun as viewed from the earth.) The dividing points between the constellations were decided by a scientific convention in the early 1930’s. Once a year, at the spring equinox, the Sun returns to the same point on the ecliptic, but not quite; after 72 years, an average human lifespan, the Sun slips back about 1⁰ in relation to the constellations of the zodiac. This is known as the precession of the equinox. The average size of one constellation is 30⁰ and therefore it would take about 2,160 years (72x30) before the spring Sun rises in the next constellation back. In ancient India the Sun rose in Cancer at the spring equinox, ancient Persia in Gemini, ancient Egypt in Taurus, Greco/Roman times in Aries and now it occurs in Pisces. The amount of time that the Sun takes to traverse all 12 constellations is called a platonic year (2,160x12= 25,920 years)

Zodiac Signs are twelve equal divisions of the stars along the ecliptic or apparent path of the Sun as viewed from the earth. The signs come about through the relationship of the earth and Sun. As you know, the seasons are brought about by the tilt of the earth’s axis and the rotation of the earth around the Sun. For those of us located north of the equator, summer solstice comes about when the northern hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun and the winter solstice when it is tilted away from the Sun. The spring and autumn equinox both occur half way between these two points. One could say that the zodiac signs exist in time rather than in space. The first sign, Aries begins at the spring equinox followed by Taurus and Gemini. Cancer begins at the summer solstice and then you have Leo and Virgo. At the autumnal equinox Libra begins followed by Scorpio and Sagittarius. At the winter solstice Capricorn begins followed by Aquarius and Pisces. Then we are back to spring and to Aries.

Most Western astrologers work with the zodiac signs and in India, where astrology is widely practiced, they use the zodiac constellations. The latter approach is becoming more popular in the West and is known as Vedic Astrology. Anthroposophically extended astrology takes both signs and constellations into consideration. In general you could say that the signs in a birth chart have to do with this life, with the here and now whereas the constellations have to do with the life before birth (the other world.) Another way to express this in anthroposophic terms would be to say that the signs have to do more with the physical and etheric bodies and the constellations with the more spiritual parts, the astral body and the ego (I.)

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