Ophiuchus-13th Zodiac Sign

LIST OF KEY WORDS DESCRIBING THE SIGN OF OPHIUCHUS
interpreter of dreams, vivid premonitions,
attracts good luck and fruitful blessings,
serpent holder, lofty ideals,
a seeker of peace and harmony,
doctor of medicine or science, natural-pathic,
adds, increases, joins, or gathers together
poetical, inventive nature, expanding qualities,
seeks higher education and wisdom,
overseer, supervisor of work,
fame - either grand, or completely misunderstood,
longevity, aspirations of healing the ills of man,
architect, builder, reaches for the stars, figuratively and literally,
tax assessor, or levys taxes,
astrological talents, intuitive,
large family indicated, but apt to be separated from them when young,
the number twelve holds great significance,
foresight and good fortune to benefit from hard times,
has secret enemies in family or close associations,
many jealous of this subject,
notable father, apple of father's eye when young,
high position in life expected [depending on aspects] highest fame and legend comes after death
feelings of granular, wise, genius mentality,
likes to wear clothing of vibrant colors, and plaids in particular,
receives the favor of those in authority



The 13 Zodiac Signs




Capricorn: Jan. 20 - Feb. 16
Aquarius: Feb. 16 - March 11
Pisces: March 11- April 18
Aries: April 18- May 13
Taurus: May 13- June 21
Gemini: June 21- July 20
Cancer: July 20- Aug. 10
Leo: Aug. 10- Sept. 16
Virgo: Sept. 16- Oct. 30 

Libra: Oct. 30- Nov. 23

Scorpio: Nov. 23- Nov. 29
Ophiuchus: Nov. 29- Dec. 17 

Sagittarius: Dec. 17- Jan. 20

Thanks to Earth's wobble, astrological signs are, well, bunk. (Or even more bunk than you might expect.) Astrological signs are determined by the position of the sun relative to certain constellations on a person's day of birth. The problem is, the positions were determined more than 2,000 years ago. Nowadays, the stars have shifted in the night sky so much that horoscope signs are nearly a month off.

The 13th Sign: Ophiuchus

Everyone knows there are 12 signs in the zodiac, right? Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer,

Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Ophiuchus, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces.

Ophiuchus?

Mythology

Ophiuchus is the serpent bearer or serpent holder otherwise known as Asklepios

(sometimes written as Asclepius, Aesclepius or Aesculapius). The story goes that

Asklepios was the first doctor. The beginning of his medical mastery came about when

he was visiting a friend and a snake entered the room. Asklepios killed it, but then

another snake entered carrying an herb in its mouth and immediately revived the first

snake with it. Asklepios took the herb and thus began his medical career. He became

more masterful with this and other herbs, able to bring people back from death, such as

Hippolytus (by ‘gluing him back together’).

Hades was not thrilled about losing all those souls and perhaps being out of a job, so he

talked to his brother Zeus. Eventually, he argued, all mankind would be immortal, which

should only be a privilege of the gods. Zeus agreed with him and struck Asklepios dead

with a thunderbolt. He honored Asklepios’ talent, though, by placing him in the stars. We

humans have honored him as well, in our well known symbol of medicine, the rod of

Asclepius (right), which is sometimes mistakenly referred to as the Caduceus (another

story entirely; see further reading links below).

It is unclear to me how the name Ophiuchus is actually the Greek story of Asklepios, but

the most logical source I found seemed to indicate that Ophiuchus was sort of like his

nickname, because Ophiuchus comes from two Greek words meaning “serpent” and

“holding.”

Astronomy

The constellation of Ophiuchus lies between Scorpio and Sagittarius, or rather, sort of on

top of Scorpio. As the sun seems to dance across our sky, we can trace it’s path every

year. That path is called the ecliptic, the apparent path of the sun. In figure 2 you can see

the line of the ecliptic and some of the constellations lined up around it. The ecliptic is

the white line running roughly horizontally, curving through the whole image. The stars

of Ophiuchus are circled in red; the stars of Scorpius in blue. You can see that really both

share the same space in the sky, with only a tip crossing the line of the ecliptic, it’s just

that Scorpius hangs below and Ophiuchus above. In most artistic drawings of each

constellation, Ophiuchus and Scorpius overlap, with Ophiuchus’ foot on Scorpius’ back.

The 13th Sign

If Ophiuchus was considered the 13th sign of the zodiac, it would take up most of the

period of time each year that now belongs to the sign of Scorpio, about the first 20-24

days. So is Ophiuchus really the 13th sign? I guess the question is, what defines a sign?

I’m not sure that there was an original, definite, and unarguable criteria, but the logical

idea seems to be that the sun passes through the constellations that correspond to the

sign.

By that definition, Ophiuchus certainly seems to be a sign. It appears to have only a toe

(or rather, a leg, to be more specific) hanging over the actual ecliptic: 5 stars of the

constellation Ophiuchus are below the ecliptic; the rest are above. Scorpio seems to have

only a few stars crossing the ecliptic as well. The main measurement seems to be whether

or not the sun passes through it, and the sun passes through both Ophiuchus and then

Scorpius.

So what do I say to those people that think the exclusion of Ophiuchus in astrology is

incorrect?

20 years of experience with astrology have taught me that it is a fluid and changing

system, full of offshoots and misinterpretations and reinterpretations, and students of

each offshoot bang their pulpit at the other. New students are often frustrated by the

vastness of it all, even feeling betrayed when they discover that sometimes the best

answer to a question is “whatever works for you.” Why are there so many different ways

of dividing the astrological houses? Why are the signs and the constellations no longer in

alignment? What about all these new asteroids? What about this 13th sign?

It may not be as confusing and contradictory as it seems. I find that if we get caught up in

the rules, we can find ourselves in a never-ending maze of contradictions. But if we are

seeking meaning, we will often find the same truth at the end of many different paths. My

astrological reading experience has taught me that a chart will repeat itself. If there is an

important truth in there, the chart will communicate it several different ways, almost as if

it’s trying to make sure you don’t miss it’s essence. I believe that this Scorpius vs.

Ophiuchus issue is the same principle.

Some people have said that many of the Ophiuchus sign traits have been mistakenly

assigned to Scorpio. I can see that. Ophiuchus, from the stories in mythology, would

seem to indicate the ability to come back from death into life, to heal. The myth of

Scorpius says that it was the scorpion that was sent to kill Orion. So Scorpio, from the

stories in mythology, would seem to indicate death. Death and Life. That is the modern

interpretation of the sign Scorpio. Scorpio represents the transformative process of dying

and living again in a new state. It’s a snake shedding it’s skin or a phoenix rising from the

ashes.