If you are a Sagittarius, then you know you crave freedom. You are historically unhappy when tied to a normal routine and can become restless in situations where there is not enough variety involved.
Well, guess what?
For many of you Sagittarians, you are about to get a serious roundhouse kick to the face of your normal routine when we tell you that you might actually not be a Sagittarius at all. If you were born between November 30 and December 17, according to Space.com, you are actually not a Sagittarius but an Ophiuchus. It’s true. There are, in fact, 13 signs of the zodiac, not 12 like originally detailed by the ancient Babylonians more than 3,000 years ago.
Zodiac sign — there are now 13, not 12 constellationsSave
The discovery of the Babylonian-omitted Ophiuchus makes all the other zodiac signs shift a bit. That means you may not be the sign you’ve always been. Image: nasa.tumblr.com
According to NASA, when the Babylonians created the zodiac, they had already created a 12-month calendar that was based on the phases of the moon. Even though they discovered 13 constellations that make up the zodiac, they decided to leave one out so the zodiac signs would better align with their 12-month calendar.
That unlucky, long-forgotten constellation is Ophiuchus, pronounced “O-few-cus.”
But before all of you Aries and Cancers and Leos start poking fun at your new Ophiuchus friends, the addition of this 13th constellation shifts every zodiac sign’s time frame slightly, meaning that although I have enjoyed my life as a textbook Pisces, in doing my research, I learned that I am now actually an Aquarius. (Gasp!)
This information, although 3,000 years old, resurfaced last year when NASA released some scientific data about the Earth’s axis, which has shifted and doesn’t point in exactly the same direction it once did, which affects the amount of time each constellation is visible in the sky.
The astrology world (and Twitter) went bonkers, and many avid followers thought NASA “added” a sign to the zodiac, throwing chaos into the signs we all know and love. But that’s not true. NASA didn’t add an astrological sign. According to their blog post on Tumblr, they “just did the math.” If you want to blame someone, blame the ancient Babylonians for leaving Ophiuchus out in the first place.
Astrology vs. Astronomy
NASA was also quick to point out that astronomy (science) and astrology (legend) are very different. Astronomy is the scientific study of everything in space — including constellations. Astrology, NASA says, is not science because no one has ever proven that astrology can truly be used to predict the future or describe people based on their birth dates.
The only thing the two have in common is stars and clusters of stars called constellations.
As the Earth circles the sun over the period of a year, different constellations that line up with the Earth’s axis were said to be “in the zodiac.” The Babylonians divided the zodiac into 12 equal parts and assigned a constellation to each part. As the Earth orbits the sun, the sun would appear to pass through each of the 12 parts of the zodiac.
But the problem is that the Babylonians didn’t include the 13th constellation – and – they didn’t assign proper timeframes to the 12 they did pick. For example, according to NASA, if you draw an imaginary line from the Earth through the sun, it points to Virgo for 45 days, but points to Scorpius (Scorpio) for seven days. The original Babylonian zodiac assigned equal amounts of time for each constellation.
But according to the astrologers who placed characteristics on the newfound sign of the zodiac, those of you newfound Ophiuchuses are curious, open to change and passionate. But you also have a good sense of humor, so let’s see all of this for what it is, shall we?
Many astrology websites like this one don’t acknowledge the Ophiuchus sign anyway. So, if the new astrological sign had you questioning your mate or your career choice, just stick with the one you know.
Being the intuitive Pisces that I am and being known for my wisdom, according to astrology-zodiac-signs.com, I’m never judgmental and always forgiving, so to the ancient Babylonians who opted to jack with our zodiac system, I say “no biggie.”
We hope you will, too.
Below are the traditional signs of the zodiac, followed by the zodiac calendar that includes Ophiuchus. Since neither one is scientific, feel free to make a random choice as to which one you want to follow.
12 Signs of the Zodiac
Aries – March 21 to April 19
Taurus – April 20 – May 20
Gemini – May 21 – June 21
Cancer – June 21 – July 22
Leo – July 23 -August 22
Virgo – August 23 – September 22
Libra – September 23 – October 22
Scorpio – October 23 – November 21
Sagittarius – November 22 – December 21
Capricorn – December 22 – January 19
Aquarius – January 20 – February 18
Pisces – February 19- March 20
13 Signs of the Zodiac
Capricorn: Jan. 20 to Feb. 16
Aquarius: Feb. 16 to March 11
Pisces: March 11 to April 18
Aries: April 18 to May 13
Taurus: May 13 to June 21
Gemini: June 21 to July 20
Cancer: July 20 to Aug. 10
Leo: Aug. 10 to Sept. 16
Virgo: Sept. 16 to Oct. 30
Libra: Oct. 30 to Nov. 23
Scorpio: Nov. 23 to Nov. 29
Ophiuchus: Nov. 29 to Dec. 17
Sagittarius: Dec. 17 to Jan. 20
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