The zodiac, the 12 signs listed in a horoscope, is closely tied to how the Earth moves through the sky. We derive these signs from the constellations that mark out the path that the sun appears to take through the year. You might think that dates in a horoscope correspond to when the sun passes through each constellation.
One article claimed that that means zodiac sign dates, based on the mathematical division of the year, basically correspond today to the presence of the sun in the constellations of the signs that come before them.
How to calculate your zodiac sign?
The fact is that the Sun passes from one sign into another at various times in different years. If you were born at the conjunction of two signs, then, to exactly calculate your zodiac sign, you must take into account not only the month and the day, but also the year of your birth.
How are zodiacs used?
The zodiac is a very elegant combination of astronomical and calendrical principles. Although the correlation of zodiac degrees and days in a year is not precise, the use of the zodiac as a reference system that monitors planetary movements and interactions, or considers the impact of seasonal changes, remains perfectly valid.
A common query we ran across in our research was “Is the zodiac still used in astronomy?”.
Although the zodiac remains the basis of the ecliptic coordinate system in use in astronomy besides the equatorial one, the term and the names of the twelve signs are today mostly associated with horoscopic astrology.
What does zodiac sign mean?
In Western astrology, Zodiac Sign or Astrological Sign or simply Astrology Sign is one of the twelve segments of the celestial sphere divided into equal sections. At dawn of the new era, the border projections of the zodiacal constellations on the ecliptic almost coincided with the borders of the corresponding signs.
Thus, in the middle of the 1st millennium BC, Greeks formed the concepts and names of the Zodiac signs, which are still in use today. The Greeks also created their mythology for each of the constellations, explaining its origin:.
Not only is astrology and the zodiac incredibly complex and fascinating, but there might also be something to it. The universe works in mysterious ways and what astrology attempts to explain is the symbiotic relationship between the way the universe works and the way we work as beings within that universe.
What is the Chinese zodiac and how does it work?
The Chinese zodiac consists of twelve animal signs (the year you are born in), five elements (dependent on which year it is), and twelve rising signs or ascendants. These are based on the time you are born. The belief is that there is a life force on this earth (called qi or chi).