Did you know that your Zodiac Sign or at least what you perceive to be yours, is incorrect? If you think that you’re a Sagittarius because you were born between the dates 22nd November to 21st December, then you’re misinformed. You better find something else to blame for your bad day and pathetic behavior, because your horoscope is incorrect too.
The nature of the Zodiac sign itself was to help people navigate through the year (back when calendars didn’t exist). These constellations fall on the ecliptic, that is the path of the sun across the sky. The constellation itself rises and sets with the sun, for roughly a month, and that’s how your Zodiac sign is calculated. There are 12 of these constellations that fall on the ecliptic starting from Aries to Pisces. You might not be aware of this, but there is a 13th constellation called Ophiuchus that falls to the north of Scorpius.
But, it is not a part of the Zodiacs as it didn’t “fit into” the 12 divisions of the sky done by the Babylonians 2500–3000 years ago, according to some sources. The reason could also be Earth’s wobble that causes the stars and constellations to appear differently now, than 30 centuries ago.
So, that means your actual Zodiac Sign is different, and let’s try to understand how. First of all, not many people know this, but the Earth engages in what’s called a Precession Motion, that causes its axis to wobble like a spinning top. It completes a 360° rotation every 26,000 years. This wobble itself happens due to the shape of the Earth. It is not a perfect sphere, but more of an Oblate Spheroid. So, spinning at about 450m/s at the Equator, the body of the Earth (which isn’t uniform throughout) itself stretches against the force of its gravity and towards the force of the Sun’s gravity. This causes the wobbling phenomenon called the Chandler Wobble.
And whatever point the north pole faces, becomes the point where all the stars you see from the Earth, orbit around (only from Earth’s POV). This shift, over the course of a century, accounts for 10 meters (on the earth’s surface). And if, for every 26,000 years, a 360° rotation happens, then for every century, an approximate shift of 1.3° takes place. The north pole currently points towards the star Polaris, which is also called the North Star. And since the pole is directly facing it, it neither rises nor sets, when seen from the Northern Hemisphere. Little Dipper, the asterism, is directly connected to Polaris which makes it go around, with Polaris being in the center.
This means when the axis points towards a different star, the Earth’s ecliptic is bound to change. And when the Earth’s ecliptic changes, the constellations that fall on it will change too.
The oldest undisputed timeline for the use of the Zodiac dates back to 1950 BCE, to the Mesopotamian Dynasty. 1950 BCE can be calculated to be about 4000 years or 40 centuries back. If for each century, a 1.3° shift takes place, then, 40 centuries ago, the north pole must have been facing 52° (1.3°*40 centuries) away from its current point. By running a simple simulation on an app, we can see that about 4000 years ago, the North Star was Kochab, from Little Dipper, while Polaris is orbiting it.
If 40 centuries ago, the Zodiac signs came about with their respective month, then the sign associated with the month in the current times, must be inaccurate due to this precession movement. And you can see that too if you are interested in looking at the stars’ movement. During the period 22nd March — 21st April, which is supposed to be the month of Aries, the Sun sits right in the constellation of Pisces, the sign before it. Running another simulation on the same program, it can be seen that the sun shifts to the next constellation every 100 years. This means, that just one century ago, the sun was in the exact position as it was during the Mesopotamian period.
Being born after the 19th century, we are all off by what we think of our Zodiac Sign is, by one sign. If you think you’re a Taurus, you are an Aries. And in 12,000 years, when Vega becomes the North Star, your zodiac will be off by 4 signs. Here’s the Math.
All this just goes to show that Science is always evolving, and it’s up to us to keep ourselves updated. Associating something spiritual like Astrology to some outdated Science because of the perception that Science is the answer to everything, diminishes its value. They are both unique and beneficial to people in different ways, and so should be embraced accordingly.