Ophiuchus

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.

On October 17, 1604 Johannes Kepler, a German mathematician, astrologer and astronomer began observing a supernova and studied it because he knew it was highly important. As of 2011 it remains the only visible supernova we have seen in our era. What startled Kepler the most was the location of this historic event - inside the 13th sign of the zodiac (the word zodiac literally means animals and it refers to the patterns or configurations of creatures that can be seen or traced in the twinkling stars of night. Ophiuchus is the only one that is depicted as a human - a man crushing a serpent or snake) and this supernova was located right in the heel of Ophiuchus. The supernova lies about 13,000 light years away from Earth, and it is the last such object seen to explode in the Milky Way galaxy. A recent image of the supernova is shown to the right. Click on it for more details.

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.

Or as my favourite astrologer, Steve Judd, commented: "Until 1660, there was no astronomy, it came about as the visual side of astrology and then the scientists got hold of it. And of course astronomy can mathematically prove everything, whilst astrology can't. But astronomy has no magic, no soul and no spirit, whilst astrology has".

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 Ophiuchus - 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. 13 month calendars have actually been proposed to replace our existing 12 month Gregorian system such as the World Calendar & the International Fixed Calendar in which Friday the 13th occurs 13 times a year!!

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 we believe that it could have quite a significant bearing on the 2012 prophecies detailed elsewhere on this site.

In our opinion 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 and yet another describes the constellation's effect on our planet.

Are you an Ophiuchid/Ophiuchan? People often ask me how to incorporate Ophiuchus in to their own chart and unfortunately there is no easy answer. Vedic astrology may be an option. However I will share with you the following links:

How to interpret Ophiuchus as the Astrological Nativity

Walter Berg is a British astronomer/astrologer who wrote the book 'The 13 Signs of the Zodiac'

Bucksfanian astrology - don't forget to take the links from the menu on the right hand side of the page.

Attributes of Ophiuchus

Of course there is an alternative viewpoint on Ophiuchus as a zodiac sign presented by the much admired and respected astrologer, Eric Francis, through his excellent Planet Waves site! Similarly the world-renowned Astrodienst site has published a response to astronomer Parke Kunkle of the Minnesota Planetarium Society who brought the whole subject to the world's attention in January 2011.

...and to counter the above article here is an astronomer's point of view! According to Wikipedia the International Astronomical Union recognised Ophiuchus as the 13th constellation on the ecliptic as long ago as 1930 but this does not automatically infer the status of a zodiac sign! More facts on the constellation of Ophiuchus may be found here.

I've also added the following article which appeared on Lightworkers in December 2010:

Serpent Medicine

In esoteric traditions, long before fear and religious fervor distorted ancient teachings, Serpent represented the cosmic, creative force of the universe, Divine Source. Its awakening, uncoiling form is associated with rising life-force kundalini within us.

The Feathered Serpent of the Meso-Americans, named Quetzalcoatl, represents our enlightened state as God-realized beings embodied on Earth. The Fire Serpent with its coiled tail is a master symbol in the Eastern healing tradition of Reiki. The spiral-coil denotes the underworld in shamanic traditions. Two intertwined snakes form the symbol for modern medicine in the West.

In shedding its skin, the Serpent represents the potential of life beyond death, the shamanic promise of rebirth. Coiled, it is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.

Who, then, is Ophiuchus, the holder of the Serpent in the heavens? He is healer, shaman, magician, alchemist, sage and mystic. He represents the potential of humanity to attain enlightenment as we release fear, outdated beliefs and the emotional scarring of countless lifetimes.

Ophiuchus offers a glimpse of our own divinity to anyone who has the courage and desire to journey through this shamanic, multidimensional portal, the planetary gateway of year-end 2010.