Minnesota Astronomers Mislead the Public about Astrological Signs

 Astronomers Mislead the Public

Tue, 01/18/2011 - 07:48 by Jeff Jawer
The "news" of the discovery that the astrological signs are wrong exploded in a media frenzy last week. It's been said that "Truth is the first casualty of war," which was certainly the case here. This is a long-standing struggle waged against Astrology by astronomers who periodically repeat the big lie that the signs of the zodiac are wrong. It takes less than 30 minutes of research to debunk this falsehood, but some so-called scientists are so threatened by astrology's existence that they allow their fears to overcome reason.
An honest inquiry into the subject would show that astrologers have been using a seasonally-based system called the Tropical Zodiac for over 2,000 years. Aries, the first sign, begins on the first day of spring, Cancer on the first day of summer, etc. 99% of astrologers in the western world use the Tropical Zodiac and know that it does not align with the constellations. The big lies are that we use the stars to determine the signs and that we don't know what measurements we're using.
I've recently mentioned the possibility of runaway polemics with expansive, judgmental and philosophical Jupiter joined with disruptive Uranus in emotional Pisces. This non-story story of the zodiac and the reactions to it are a good example of such a loss of reason. Only it's not us fuzzy minded metaphysical types who slipped off the reality track; it's the supposedly logical scientists whose glasses are so fogged with their emotional illusions that they make factual lies about Astrology. I spent two days online challenging an astronomer quoted in the New York Times to provide evidence for his claims about what zodiac astrologers use now and have used historically. He never cited one source for his assertion. I presented the simple and direct evidence of Ptolemy's "Tetrabiblos," the foundation text of western Astrology published in the second century AD. You can find Harvard's Loeb Classical Library version online and do a word search for "Tropical," and will find that the seasons, not the stars, are how the signs are determined. This has not changed.
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Astralreflections disagrees with Minnesota Astrologer
Dear Reader,

Recently, the media has carried a story claiming that the astrological signs are all “in the wrong place” – and that you are really a different Sun sign than you thought you were. I have received so many email queries about this story that I have prepared a form response, below. In addition, I have written the January 23 Astral Reflections column preamble on this subject, to explain the actual facts about “the signs.”

As you know, the recent assertion that there are really 13 zodiac signs, and that all the signs are in the wrong place, comes from an astronomer in Minnesota. This astronomer has declared that there should be a 13th sign, “Ophiuchus,” and that Scorpio should only cover 6 birth dates, rather than the usual 30 days. (Presumably Oppy gets to shoulder Scorpio from the sky.) He claims his views are based on ancient Babylonian beliefs. Let me get this straight – an astronomer, whose views are respected because he’s a “scientist,” is attacking astrology because he’s inspired by ancient Babylonian beliefs? That’s the basis of his argument? Why doesn’t he just say, “my Mummy told me so.”

At the very least, his history is bent – evidence suggests that astrology emerged between 5,000 and 7,000 years ago in India, not Babylon, and that the system of 12 Sun signs has been in effect virtually since that time – even the Bible, contemporaneous with Babylonian civilization, implies 12 signs. Wikipedia says about this supposed 13th sign: “Ophiuchus and some of the fixed stars in it were sometimes used by astrologers in antiquity as extra-zodiacal indicators (i.e. astrologically significant celestial phenomena lying outside of the 12-sign zodiac proper).” If we follow our astronomer’s logic, we should actually have 88 signs, since astrologers have recognized 88 constellations for millennia. Yet, while using these constellations as sources of meaning, they have never elevated them to Sun signs. Astrologers have also used about 200 individual stars for meanings, but that does not make 200 zodiac signs! 
http://www.astralreflections.com/

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