Just over a decade ago, the Royal Astronomical Society officially revised the Zodiac of twelve constellations as thirteen, by including a thirteenth constellation called Ophiuchus. This is not any new discovery at all, as is commonly misunderstood by many. The constellation Ophiuchus, which is there all the time, can be seen even by naked eye. It is only those, who are not aware of its astronomical implications have contributed to the confusion. The constellation Ophiuchus was and is in existence from time immemorial, in the celestial firmament. Ophiuchus is a large constellation located around the celestial equator. The name is from the Greek, meaning "serpent-bearer," and it is commonly represented as a man grasping the snake that is represented by the constellation Serpens. The constellation of Ophiuchus is the only sign of the Zodiac, which is linked to a real man. Ophiuchus was one of the 48 constellations, listed by the second-century astronomer Ptolemy and it remains to be one of the 88 modern constellations. It was formerly referred to as Serpentarius.

By including Ophiuchus as one of the zodiacal constellations, what the astronomers have done is to add one more division to the existing twelve of the zodiac. It is only an attempt to re-define the zodiac, astronomically, for reasons discussed below.

The ecliptic is the great circle on the celestial sphere, representing the apparent annual path of the Sun relative to the stars and is inclined at 23.45° to the celestial equator; it cuts this constellation between the Scorpio and the Archer. For Centuries, astronomers were aware that out of the 25 days from the 21^st November to the 16^th December, only nine days were spent by the Sun in its transit of the Scorpio. During the other sixteen days, the Sun is passing through Ophiuchus. This is exactly the reason why the astronomers had to reckon Ophiuchus as a zodiacal constellation, though the official ratification came only some years earlier, from the Royal Astronomical Society.

The Indian astrologers have nothing to worry about this change. This is because the Indian astrologers are not following the twelve- constellation-concept at all. The other astrologers, in different parts of the world, following the twelve-constellation concept, however may have some difficulty to adjust themselves to this change. In fact, they have freedom to accept or reject this 'astronomical' change as they deem fit. As the change now effected is purely astronomical, they can as well retain the earlier scheme and continue their prophecies. Or else they may have to formulate new set of rules for Ophiuchus. It has to be noted that most of the astrologers have preferred to continue the existing scheme only, for their astrological reckonings, as they fear that the change, if adopted, may require introduction of new rules for Ophiuchus and create unnecessary confusion.

The scheme of the date-spans used in Western astrology for the old Zodiac signs and how they will get changed by the introduction of Ophiuchus are shown below in a Table. It compares the different zodiacs and illustrates how, the modern day astrology is out of synchronization with the actual movements of the Sun. In other words, the Zodiac has been regulated or divided into 12 equal parts of 30 degree segments when actually the Sun occupies each sign considerably for varying lengths:

We can find that the Sun spends the shortest amount of time in Scorpio before it enters Ophiuchus. Viewed astronomically, the rest of the zodiac signs are also mis-aligned with the real zodiac. Technically a majority of the world’s population will therefore be having a different sign to that which they believe and are used to. In short, according to the astronomers, the astrologers are accustomed to interpret the charts using only 12 instead of 13 signs. Another fact to remember is that the dates in the real zodiac actually will advance by a day roughly every 70 years. Therefore these signs will eventually become associated with completely different periods. The real zodiac currently begins each year in Pisces rather than Aries. It looks appropriate, since we are at the end of the age of Pisces. It must however be noted that this change has nothing to do with the Hindu astrological system, as it relies on a twenty-seven-constellation division.

Mythology: As stated at the outset, Ophiuchus is not a new constellation. In mythology, this group is identified with Asclepius, the first physician who accompanied the Argonauts. He was so successful in curing the ill and the wounded, preventing them from dying. To avoid de-population of the underworld of the dead, Jupiter, concerned with the problem, disposed him with a thunderbolt but agreed to place him in the sky. It will be interesting to see that the snake twined around a staff remains, as the symbol of medicine to this day.

Ophiuchus, though is tremendous in its size, is not conspicuous, as it has only very few bright stars in it. Perhaps this was the reason why it was omitted in the earlier reckoning. In the Hindu lore, of course not very ancient, it will be interesting to note that it was known as Sarpadhaari.

What is this zodiac? Zodiac, in astronomy and astrology, is the belt around the heavens extending approximately 8° to 9° on either side of the ecliptic, the plane of the earth's orbit and of the sun's apparent annual path. The size and number of zodiacal constellations varied in antiquity and became fixed only with the development of mathematical astronomy. The orbits of the moon and of the principal planets (except Pluto) also lie entirely within the zodiac. The 12 astrological signs of the zodiac are each considered occupying 1/12 (or 30°) of its great circle. These signs no longer correspond to the astronomical constellations in which the Sun actually appears. These constellations themselves are irregular in size and shape. The sun regularly passes through all the twelve constellations of the Zodiac. Until recently, Ophiuchus was not considered a member of the Zodiac, which has now been done, making the total divisions 13.

During Ptolemy’s time, the constellations were named to mark more specifically the division of the Zodiac. Due to precession of equinoxes, now, the zodiac divisions no longer coincide with these constellations. The Mexicans and the Incas are known to have used a zodiac of twenty divisions while the Babylonians for some time employed 18. The Greeks introduced the familiar twelve-fold division linking the signs of the zodiac more closely with the monthly lunation. It could thus be seen that the division of the Zodiac is itself arbitrary. It is intellectual in form and purely symbolic in concept. It does not alter the Sun’s movement rate at all. Astronomically, the duration of transits of the Sun, in terms of days, in each of these zodiacal divisions, is not uniform.

The basic difference between the Vedic and the western systems is that while the Vedic astrology follows a Sidereal zodiac which co-exists with the zodiacal constellations, the western astrology follows a symbolic division of the tropical zodiac, measured annually from the vernal equinox. Therefore, Ophiuchus or no Ophiuchus, the Vedic system of astrology goes unaffected, since these 12 or 13 zodiacal constellations have nothing to do with it. Here the zodiac is divided into 27 equal parts called Nakshatras of 13° 20' arc and subdivided further into 108 parts of 3° 40' each, to accommodate nine Nakshatra-padas or quarters in each rasi, thereby evolving a perfect Navamsa system for both computational and procrastination excellence. This is the peculiarity of Vedic astrology.

Abhijit: In India, the ecliptic-stars were divided into 28 parts in the early times. This was inclusive of the star Abhijit. These clusters did not cover equal lengths. The span of Abhijit was only 4° 14' 15" while for others it varied from 13° 10' 35" to 19° 35' 17". The unequal division had to be abandoned due to problems faced in computational astronomy necessitating the dropping of Abhijit. It did not affect the astrologers even then. However, selective employment of Abhijit can be seen in electional and horary astrology even now. Its arc is 276° 40' to 270° 53' 20"

12 as a number taken for the division of the Zodiac could be because of its computational versatility. The number 12 is divisible by 2, 3, 4, 6. Number 2 forms the basis of the Binary system. It makes up the fundamental elements of the beliefs based on the opposite of Yin and Yang. Four is the number of seasons of the year and associated with the natural cycles of life. These numerical principles were used by the Babylonians, Pythagoras, Medieval Arabs, seventeenth century hermetic philosophers and in fact by everyone who has had anything to do with formulating astrology.

Movable and Fixed Zodiacs: Astrology based on Sun signs or Moon signs are popular with their respective followers. In fact, what makes the difference in both is the concept of movable and fixed zodiacs. Vedic astrological techniques are too complex. They are not compressed in any rasi delineations alone. Our ancestors, the ancient sages of India, took a holistic view of the universe and formulated subtle principles of astrology, for which they used a fixed zodiac of 12 divisions and 27 constellations. It is meaningless to tag these postulates, under the garb of research or quest, to other factors, which have no relevance to Vedic astrology.

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