OPHIUCHUS (THE SERPENT BEARER)

Pronounced 'o-few-cus', this is one of 13 constellations that both our sun and moon pass through during the year yet mysteriously, having originally been identified by Ptolemy, it does not feature in either the tropical or sidereal zodiacs that are used by astrologers today!!

Considering that this constellation is at the centre of both the divine cross in the heavens, formed by the galactic equator and the ecliptic, and the terrestial mundane cross formed by the equinoxes this is quite a serious omission especially since these two crosses align every 13,000 years and are about to do so once more in 2012.

Astrology and astronomy were originally indistinguishable as subjects but over a relatively short period of time the former has been relegated to a lesser science which is referred to as Judicial astrology or stromancy rather than natural astrology which is synonomous with astronomy.

The table below compares the different zodiacs and illustrates how, like our calendar, modern day astrology is out of synchronisation with the universe because it has been 'homogenised' - divided into 12 equal 30 degree segments when in fact the sun occupies each sign for considerably varying lengths:

So you can see that the sun spends the shortest amount of time in Scorpio before it enters Ophiuchus and that the rest of the zodiac signs are all misaligned with the real zodiac resulting in 89% of the world's population having a different sign to that which they believe - modern day astrologers have adapted well to interpreting charts using only 12 of the 13 signs and indeed would be completely flummuxed by an odd number as it could not neatly accommodate the elements, and therefore the triplicities, nor the qualities of fixed, cardinal and mutable. Furthermore since the dates in the real zodiac actually advance by a day roughly every 70 years the signs will eventually become associated with completely different periods. The real zodiac currently begins each year in Pisces rather than Aries which is appropriate since we are at the end of the age of Pisces.

Instead of each zodiac sign representing approximately 8.3% of the world's population the thirteen signs would range from Scorpio with less than 2% to Virgo with 12.3% and the signs of Cancer and Ophiuchus governing just 5%.

Ophiuchus is not the 13th sign of the zodiac but the 10th sign and interestingly it's symbol of two snakes entwined around a staff is still associated with the medical profession today via the cadeucus or rod of Hermes (Mercury) - the right hand image at the top of this page. There is also a version with a single snake known as the rod of Asclepios - a famous Greek physician who in mythology discovered the secret of immortality and was punished by being placed in the constellation of Ophiucus - which today is the astrological glyph that represents this 10th zodiac sign! 

Interestingly, the time when our sun is in this constellation also marks an annual event when the earth is hit by an inter-stellar helium-rich wind!

Given that the real zodiac starts in Pisces rather than Aries, Aquarius is actually the 13th sign of the zodiac and through the cycle of precession it is the age of Aquarius that is approaching.

Most of the world has been led to believe that the number 13 is unlucky yet ancient civilisations based their measurement of time on 13/20 rather than our modern day 12/60 and it would seem that information has been deliberately suppressed over the centuries to hide the truth from the masses. It is only with the advent of the internet that containment of information is growing increasingly difficult. The relatively short amount of information available online about Ophiuchus suggests that in the past it has been easier to conceal his existence than introduce a 13th sign to zodiac systems which action would of course only serve to discredit astrologers and prove that the Sumerian race were more advanced than we are today as their zodiac was based on 13 constellations and 26 stars!

The fact is that 13 is a significant, if not, extremely powerful number (a prime & a fibonacci) which appears in many facets of our daily lives. For more info visit these websites here and here.

This page appears here not only because we believe you have a right to know that your sun sign is probably wrong but also because it has a bearing on the 2012 prophecies detailed elsewhere on this site.

There is really only one web site that provides a good overview on Ophiuchus and it is by an astrological historian, Dr Shepherd Simpson. Another site explains why the symbology is associated with medicine.