‘You’re not a goat. You’re a crab!’
p2pnet view Cool:- Atlas shrugged, and the world changed.
Like really. 
When you woke up yesterday, you may have thought you were a Capricorn, or Aquarius, or maybe a Gemini.
But you weren’t.
As the Washington Post puts it, “So, you’ve spent your whole life happily smug in your star sign. You’re a fish! Swimming in two directions! You’re intuitive, imaginative, unworldly! And then today’s Web is aflame with the news: You are not a Pisces. You are an Aquarius.”
But “Your star sign has been wrong your whole life. All along, you’ve been a freaking water carrier. This is not cool.”
Not only but also, there’s a new Zodiac sign! Ophiuchus, aka Snake Man!
Says the Minnesota Star Tribune >>>
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.
The result?
“When [astrologers] say that the sun is in Pisces, it’s really not in Pisces,” said Parke Kunkle, a board member of the Minnesota Planetarium Society.
Indeed, most horoscope readers who consider themselves Pisces are actually Aquarians. So instead of being sensitive, humane and idealistic, they actually are friendly, loyal and inventive.
Or not.
New star dates >>>
- 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-Dec. 17
- Sagittarius: Dec. 17-Jan. 20
BUT —-
—- “Well, strike that, you don’t get to switch your sign”, says the Washington Post in an update, adding >>>
At least reader StarJack says so: “The stars are markers that drift, but our main points of reference are not directly the stars. They are the equinoxes (both spring and vernal) and the solstices which altogether make the four cardinal points of the zodiac which in turn determine the signs. The stars help us locate those points which define the SIGNS of the Zodiac which remain constant in relation to the equinox point. The CONSTELLATIONS do move about and we take that into consideration when locating planets.”
Update take 2: To address a couple issues readers have brought up: the purported “new” sign of Ophiuchus is not a new sign. According to the original constellation chart, Ophiuchus made the list. People born between Nov. 29-Dec. 17 now fall under the Ophiuchus sign, also known as the Serpent Holder sign (according to Time, you’d therefore be an interpreter of dreams and vivid premonitions and envied by your peers and favored by your father and authority figures).
However, the Babylonians discarded the 13th sign, to make for an even 12 signs two millennia ago.
Now you know.
Or do you?
(Cheers, Em)
Washington Post – New Zodiac sign dates: Don’t switch horoscopes yet, January 13, 2011
Minnesota Star Tribune – The stars might not actually be aligned in your favor, January 9, 2011
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
World War III will be a global information war with no division between civilian & military participation ~ Marshall McLuhan
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January 15th, 2011 at 2:37 am
Us in the western world have used the tropical zodiac for i think over 1000 years, which is based on the dates of the calender year so nothing has changed.
January 15th, 2011 at 11:19 pm
The zodiacal ecliptic passed through Ophiuchus ever since the ancients pointed at the stars and said, “Hey, that looks like a man holding a snake!”
However, there are actually 14 constellations that the ecliptic passes through. Ophiuchus is actually two constellations– the Bearer and the Snake.
January 16th, 2011 at 12:05 pm
“Hey, that looks like a man holding a snake!”
Cover your eyes, Billy. We’re going home now.
January 16th, 2011 at 10:17 pm
I must correct myself. I looked up in the star atlas and sure enough, though Ophiuchus is really two constellations, the snake does NOT pass through the ecliptic.
However, the ecliptic actually nicks the very corner of Cetus (The Whale), which means for about five minutes every year, newborns are named Willy. (Not Billy.)
January 17th, 2011 at 1:37 pm
“…about five minutes every year, newborns are named Willy. (Not Billy.)”
You do realize that “Billy” and “Willy” are both “William”, right?
January 18th, 2011 at 11:21 pm
Or in Mr. Herschel’s case, Wilhelm. Never mind, he made lousy chocolate.
January 19th, 2011 at 4:13 am
This actually panicked me for a moment since I have long identified with my star sign on a very deep level. Hmm – even with the adjustment still Leo. Not surprising then. =)