Ophiuchus

     I thought it would be appropriate to post something about this since it seems to have people all up in arms with the startling change in astrology. First off, its not something someone made up, least of all that British person that "supposedly" made this new discovery which wasn't new it was incorporated at other sites and charts since 2007.

'You can read elsewhere on the Internet that the problem of Ophiuchus was invented by the Royal Astronomical Society several years ago to bedevil we astrologers. Alas, if it were that simple! The problem of Ophiuchus is very old: at least nineteen hundred years old, if not more. It dates back to at least the time of Claudius Ptolemy, the Classical father of astrology [c 130 - 170 AD].'

     The reason we never hear about it is simple, I think the main reason is it makes astrology more complicated or difficult since thirteen isn't divisible like twelve is. But I also blame it on those damn Romans and their Gregorian calendar with twelve months rather than the thirteen month moon cycle calendar we used to follow, the same kind of calendar those elusive Mayans followed.

'Why isn't Ophiucus in the Commonly-Used Western Zodiac? Ophiuchus is an Ancient Greek constellation. The Serpent Bearer is one of the original Ptolemy constellations, appearing in Al Magest Star Catalogue [c 130 - 170 AD]. He also appears on the Farnese Globe, a Roman copy of a circa 2nd century BC depiction of Atlas holding the Celestial Sphere above his head. So why isn't Ophiuchus a member of the standard astrological zodiac - the Tropical Zodiac? Ophiuchus is a Sun-sign. The Moon and planets all are seen against the stars of Ophiuchus. Unfortunately, the answer to the question is that Ophiuchus isn't in the Tropical Zodiac not because there is something wrong with Ophiuchus but because there is something wrong with the Tropical Zodiac. The Tropical Zodiac is an inaccurate oversimplification of the heavens dating from a time when we did not have telescopes or computers.'

     Ophiuchus has other names, including Serpentarius (coined from Scorpio and Sagittarius since Ophiuchus falls between the two of them; Asclepius, a Greek god of healing; and Imhotep, a high priest of Ra, architect, engineer, and physician.

The story went:
'He was the son of Apollo and Coronis. His mother was killed for being unfaithful to Apollo and was laid out on a funeral pyre to be consumed, but the unborn child was rescued from her womb. Or, alternatively, his mother died in labour and was laid out on the pyre to be consumed, but his father rescued the child, cutting him from her womb. From this he received the name Asklepios "to cut open". Apollo carried the baby to the centaur Chiron [a centaur, think Sagittarius ;) ] who raised Asclepius and instructed him in the art of medicine.


Zeus killed Asclepius with a thunderbolt because he raised Hippolytus from the dead and accepted gold for it. Other stories say that Asclepius was killed because after bringing people back from the dead, Hades thought that no more dead spirits would come to the underworld, so he asked his brother Zeus to remove him. This angered Apollo who in turn murdered the cyclops who had made the thunderbolt for Zeus. For this act, Zeus banned Apollo from the night sky and commanded Apollo to serve Admetus, King of Thessaly. After Asclepius' death, Zeus placed Asclepius among the stars as the constellation Ophiuchus ("the Serpent Holder").'

An alternate version of the story is:
'Asclepius learned the secrets of keeping death at bay after observing one serpent bringing another healing herbs. To prevent the entire human race from becoming immortal under Asclepius' care, Zeus killed him with a bolt of lightning, but later placed his image in the heavens to honor his good works.' 

     Because of that story Asclepius, like Mercury/Hermes is also associated with the caduceus.

     Now why I think its significant at this point in time is simple. We are nearing the galactic equator (center of the Milky Way galaxy which as well know has a super-massive black hole), which just so happens to be the area where the constellation of Ophiuchus is or near. The date for the sign of Ophiuchus is between November 30th and December 17th each year however the dates of the cusps move a little from one year to the next, so sometimes they are quoted as December 1st to December 18th (maybe it could be the 21st after all?) just falls short of December 21st which as we all know is the end of the Mayan calendar.
(no gloom and doom end of the world, Hailey's comet, poison kool-aid, armageddon apocalypse here, just simply a Shift of the Ages and it also forewarns that we are entering into a solar flare maximum cycle.)

     Its also significant because we are moving ever onward into the Age of Aquarius, the Water Carrier, the actual 13th, and last sign of the real solar zodiac and to those of you that know about the Tree of Life, Kabala type stuff you'd know that astrology is considered to be the magical power of Aquarius, coincidence? I think not! That's only there to say that astrology, or  the ability to recognize patterns in things, is more naturally inherent to an Aquarius, though all the signs have their own gifts/abilities/powers.

     People always think that astrology tells or reveals your destiny, which couldn't be anymore further from the truth. In point and fact it merely shows what has shaped or influenced (or will shape and influence) your personality, not your what controls the fate or destiny of your life. The re-inclusion of the "new" zodiac sign merely is adding a new influence to our personality. Maybe the root cause of why many people don't want to hear that their sign has changed is because they fear change on some level? The heavens are always in a constant state of flux, there is nothing that stays the same forever so why do we think we can? Do we all stay at the level of infants? No. We grow, mature, and become smarter and then that passes on to the next generation.

     Few people even realize that aside from this whole Ophiuchus thing there is another kind of astrology called Transpersonal Astrology. What this type does is it includes asteroids, meteorites, planetoids, and hypothetical planets. Its more concerned with expanding to higher levels of consciousness, beyond just the basics that most people are otherwise confined to and don't move beyond. There is even other sub-categories I guess you could call it which are called trans-Neptunian and trans-Plutonian planets. There may be trans-Uranian though I can't find a source off the top of my head but do believe I came across it at least once. I believe it was some Russian astrologer's site.