Astronomy and the Zodiac

[dark]

Well found out today that I am no longer a Pisces, but an Aquarius. The only reason I find this slightly interesting is because I am currently taking an astronomy class and next week we are going over ancient astronomers so I figured I would post this under here to add to later after I find more about it.

Zodiacs changed oddly enough.

 

[The Frood]

Did you know, that the sign you are born under is the constellation that is behind the sun, and impossible to see? :smiley_emoticons_mr

 

[dark]

Yeah that is what my Professor mentioned vaguely Monday. He said he would go over it more. I had thought I heard him wrong but from your statement I guess I didn't. So the sign we are born under is the one lined up from earth, sun and the constellation. So we can see all the others? I do know they are part of our visible cosmos at any given time etc. Guess it makes sense because then the model of the cosmos centered around Earth.

 

[dark]

Ok, I have taken another look and now CNN is saying the zodiacs haven't changed, doesn't bother me anyhow other than making me wonder why Fox News was posting it that they had haha.

Either way which ever story ends up being true I will just be happy to learn more about the visible cosmos.

 

[Cogwulf]

I don't fully understand it, but the dates of the zodiac vary slightly because the gregorian calendar doesn't match up exactly with the astrological one.

 

[Trebuchet]

The Earth precesses (wobbles a bit) in its orbit, and slowly the stars directly overhead at Noon of the vernal equinox (start of Spring) change. For example, 1000 years ago, at the start of Spring, the stars were shifted from where they appear today on the same date. There is a cycle of 26,000 years, and then it will be back where it was.

Right now we are in the Age of Pisces, because that is the constellation overhead at that time. Thus, astrologers could look at it as a shift in astrological sign. I studied astronomy, not astrology, so I am not sure what astrologers would do with this, but I am sure they have an answer.

The next age is the Age of Aquarius, which I learned in my astrophysics class was not for another 400 years or so, but apparently there is some debate on when exactly we start calling it that. As a fan of the musical Hair, I am happy to consider this the "dawning of the Age of Aquarius" and shift my sign by two.

 

[OrionzRevenge]

^^^ Good answer Treb.
Additional Insight: Why was Astrology important to the ancients.
As we remember that the solar system formed from a spinning disk of gas & dust, we understand that the planets still inhabit orbits in the wake of that disk. Thus, from our POV, the Sun, Moon, and visible planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) all travel along a narrow band in the sky called the ecliptic that just happens to cross 12 different constellations.

They assigned various meanings to these constellations and solar system objects (stars) that allowed them to play Tarot Cards by offering interpretations for a myriad of various configurations.

It is believed that a close approach of Jupiter and Saturn in the constellation of Aries was interpreted as a King of the Jews was being born as per the Bible.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...2.gif/280px-Sky_Jerusalem_South-7BC-11-12.gif

 

[Nocturne]

Hmmm... I became a Virgo instead of a Libra... But my nature corresponds better being a Libra. Astrology is funny...

 

[Trebuchet]

It is believed that a close approach of Jupiter and Saturn in the constellation of Aries was interpreted as a King of the Jews was being born as per the Bible.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...2.gif/280px-Sky_Jerusalem_South-7BC-11-12.gif

Interesting! I never knew that.

 

[Wizardry]

All of that trash does not matter. The thing is that ancient peoples noticed a trend with personalities and birth month. They did not understand how nutrition at different times of the year, hormones from food/drink, seasonal illnesses which can cause brain inflammation, etc affected fetal brain growth. They just knew that time passed and the stars in the skies changed and since the ancient people looked to the stars for guidance they made up some hooplah that stuck. Not as relevant these days since women have access to fresh food, better medicine, and genetic differences in general.

 

[EyeSeeCold]

It is believed that a close approach of Jupiter and Saturn in the constellation of Aries was interpreted as a King of the Jews was being born as per the Bible.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...2.gif/280px-Sky_Jerusalem_South-7BC-11-12.gif

Any of this have to do with Zeus and El?

 

[theory_of_everything]

Here's my take on Astrology:

Before, when agriculture was all the rage, farmers used the heavens to figure out when to plant crops. If you planted this crop during Libra and the same crop during Scorpio, they would turn out differently.

Astrology is a big clock. It doesn't control you, but some planets synchronize with certain parts of your life. For example, the planet Saturn. One Saturnal year is 29.5 Earth years. Saturn is the God of the harvest and often associated with one's careers.

Often times, around the time a lot of people turn 29 or 30, they take a big leap in their careers. If they've been doing what they're supposed to be doing, they get a big promotion. One friend of mine was an animator on the Simpson's and around this time of his life, when Saturn Returned, he got promoted to director. When Saturn came back for me, I was unemployed, yet I was nominated for the award I always wanted my whole life.

I'm sure that in ancient times, patterns were noticed among people born at certain times of the year. I have a theory that, depending on how your society and culture works, there are a few patterns that can show up.

I forgot which Malcolm Gladwell book it was, but he was talking about how most Hockey Players are born early on in the year. That's because there's little league hockey try outs once a year, in winter, and the strongest kids are usually the oldest. A few months age difference can determine the tallest kid in the class. And the tallest kid in class is going to feel more confident and that can affect his love life, career, what have you. As opposed to the shortest and born at the end of the year. He might grow taller than all the other kids during puberty, but he'll always feel a little like the scrawny kid who always got picked last on the team. Such factor can affect one's personality, perhaps more so in ancient times when things were less egalitarian.

Also, the lack of sunlight can make a person depressed (forgot the source of this scientific study) Can this subtlety affect the behavior of an infant whose brain is forming in the middle of winter?

I'm not saying that Astrology is a science or it can predict the future. It finds patterns.

An Astrologer friend told me its more about the big picture, not the day-to-day astrological forecasts in the newspaper. Saturn comes around when you're 30. By 27, your brain has completely developed-- your brain is out of the woods from being young and stupid, and it takes some time to realize that-- like 3 years.

Saturn comes back a second time, when you're 60. That's a good time to retire.

Its a clock.

4:00 isn't Siesta or Tea Time because the clock says 4:00. Its time to take a nap or ingest cafine because the way your body naturally works, it wants to take a nap, like everyone else.

 

[descendant]

sounds interesting
do share with us when your professor explains more about it

anyway I tried this online birth chart thing http://www.0800-horoscope.com/birthchart.php
but I don't really get it
maybe I should try reading some astrology stuffs now

 

[SpaceYeti]

... Um, yeah, Saturn takes about 30 years to orbit the sun. I don't see how that's relevant, though. The Earth takes one year to orbit the sun. Since Saturn orbits the sun in the same direction as Earth, the next time Saturn's at it's nearest to us is actually about 1 year and twelve days after the last time. So Earth going around the sun thirty times and Saturn's doing it once is just the ratio, not when we're nearest Saturn again, or so.

Granted, due to the elliptical shape of planetary orbits, there is one of those thirty orbits where Earth and Saturn are closest. However, that's during one of the thirty years relative to Earth and Saturn's distance, not every time someone becomes thirty as that happens every year regardless where Earth and Saturn are in relation to one another.

If we take numbers from the physical travels of celestial objects, I'm sure we could inject any old thing into them to make them seem important to our lives somehow, but it's an artificial injection. We did it. It doesn't mean that celestial body actually has any effect on our lives aside us taking interest in it. Here, I'm going to take some number from something Jupiter does, and see what sort of stuff tends to happen to humans that incidentally coordinate with that number...

Okay, it's orbit is about 12 years long. At about twelve, humans enter puberty. Twelve years after that humans tend to be graduating college and entering the work force, marrying, possibly having children, et cetera. About twelve years after that humans are about 36 and tend to go through mid-life crises. Twelve years later, at 48, humans are officially beginning the downward slope of their lives, too old to hire, too young to retire. Another twelve years and we tend to retire. 12 years after that, we're basically waiting for death, and life expectancy doesn't extend another twelve years.

Just because we can measure human life-span by units of twelve, it doesn't mean Jupiter's orbit has any effect on it.

 

[EyeSeeCold]

The Great Work

ZODIAC = CADOIZ = 3+1+4+15+9+26
Pi = 3.1415926

Sun = Gold
Moon = Silver
Mercury = Mercury
Venus = Copper
Mars = Iron
Jupiter = Tin
Saturn = Lead

Philosopher's Stone = Diamond

1. Tis true without lying, certain most true.
2. That which is below is like that which is above that which is above is like that which is below to do the miracles of one only thing.
3. And as all things have been arose from one by the mediation of one: so all things have their birth from this one thing by adaptation.
4. The Sun is its father, the moon its mother,
5. the wind hath carried it in its belly, the earth its nurse.
6. The father of all perfection in the whole world is here.
7. Its force or power is entire if it be converted into earth.
 Separate thou the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross sweetly with great industry.
8. It ascends from the earth to the heaven again it descends to the earth and receives the force of things superior and inferior.
9. By this means ye shall have the glory of the whole world thereby all obscurity shall fly from you.
10. Its force is above all force. for it vanquishes every subtle thing and penetrates every solid thing.
 So was the world created.
11. From this are and do come admirable adaptations whereof the means (Or process) is here in this.
12. Hence I am called Hermes Trismegist, having the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world.
13. That which I have said of the operation of the Sun is accomplished and ended.​

"And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." (Genesis 2;2-3 KJV)