Zodiac Sign: Time To Debunk The Myth

Are you the type of person who faithfully follows his or her own zodiac sign?  Are you fascinated by the flowery tone of your horoscope, that “supposedly” applies to every single human being ever born under your sign from all over the world since the beginning of time? Well, it’s time you learned the TRUTH about the zodiac.

Lifestyle
Like Santa Claus, most people follow and believe in their zodiac sign simply because they’ve been conditioned to do so. Our parents did it. Their parents did it. All of our friends are doing it.  So, as a means of belonging, we do it too.  We’ve frequently been told that “Taurus” is this or “Cancer” is that, so we’ve chosen to believe that without ever attempting to learn anything on our own. In fact, some people have made critical life choices by entering or even exiting a relationship based solely on the myth of a zodiac sign.

So, for all of you lazy “couch psychologists” out there who live your lives based on your zodiac sign without ever taking a single second to actually learn anything about astrology, here’s a lesson that will change your entire life.

Do you know the origins of the zodiac? Of course, you don’t. After all, why would you, when you can simply look into a magic crystal ball called a horoscope and get all the answers to the secrets of life? Well, according to NASA, the zodiac signs were invented 3000 years ago by the Babylonians, who linked them to the constellations they saw in the skies above them. However, a lot has changed in 3000 years — on the earth and in the sky.  As the space agency notes, a wobble in the Earth’s axis has caused the position of those constellations to shift over time. Additionally, the world is no longer following the 10-month calendar used during the days of the Romans that originally began with the month of March:

Martius (31 Days), Aprilis (30 Days), Maius (31 Days), Iunius (30 Days), Quintilis (31 Days), Sextilis (30 Days), September (30 Days), October (31 Days), November (30 Days), December (30 Days).

In modern times, we added the months of January and February as well as Daylight Saving Time and Leap Year, which stretched the calendar from 304 days to 365.  So, even if you believe in what the Babylonians saw 3000 years ago, those constellations are no longer in the same spots today as they were then — which means that the time of year the Babylonians believed a zodiac sign occurred in now occurs in a totally different month than we think.

“When [astrologers] say that the sun is in Pisces, it’s really not in Pisces,” noted Parke Kunkle, a member of the Minnesota Planetarium Society. Your astrological sign is determined by the position of the sun on the day you were born (and not the position of the sun 20 or more years later on the day you celebrate your birthday).  Or, in other words, everything you thought you knew about your zodiac sign is INCORRECT!

If you ask NASA’s opinion on astrology, it doesn’t mince words: “It’s not science,” the space agency notes with a banner headline that reads “First Things First: Astrology Is Not Astronomy!”

NASA spokesman Dwayne Brown wanted to make this particular point crystal clear: “NASA studies astronomy, not astrology.”  For anyone who’s unclear, astronomy is the study of objects and matter outside the earth’s atmosphere and of their physical and chemical properties. Astrology is more of a carnival game and is defined as the divination of the supposed influences of the stars and planets on human affairs and terrestrial events by their positions and aspects.

One is real. The other is a make-believe relic of ancient history.

Lifestyle
No, astrology is not science. No one can prove that the alignment of the stars some 3000 years ago can accurately predict the future or even describe what people are like today based solely on the date of their birth. Still, like Santa and the Easter Bunny, humans love a good fantasy. For them, it provides a false sense of security that a “horoscope” from the newspaper will allow them to see into their future and offer a roadmap on how they should live their everyday lives.

For example, Mary’s birthday is August 4th. When she says, “I’m a Leo,” she means that on her birthday, the imaginary line from Earth through the Sun and out into space on the other side of the Sun points to the constellation Leo.

The only problem is, it doesn’t! It may have 3000 years ago.  However, with factors that have affected our measurement of time, it no longer does today.

Zodiac signs have convinced us that every person EVER born or EVER TO BE born under an invisible line of constellations somehow share the exact same personality traits.  Never mind that the human brain and the function of human personality is one of the most complex systems ever invented.  Astrology believers are convinced that personality complexities are magically simplified and easily summed up in a neat, little box by, you guessed it: a zodiac sign.

Such is the power of conditioning.

Interestingly, we don’t allow society to place us in a box and say (for example) that all white people are racist, or all gay people have HIV. Yet, we allow society to place us in a box and say all Gemini’s are schizophrenic or all Scorpios are stingers. Does that really make any logical sense?  Of course not!

When the Babylonians first invented the 12 signs of the zodiac, a birthday between July 23rd and August 22nd referred to being born under the constellation Leo. Now, 3,000 years later, the sky has shifted because Earth’s axis (North Pole) doesn’t point in quite the same direction.  So, using our earlier example, Mary’s August 4th birthday would mean she is not a Leo but was actually born under the sign of Cancer (one constellation “earlier”).

Modern-day zodiac enthusiasts are quick to boast about how much they (allegedly) know about signs — yet, few are aware that the original astrology wheel held 13 constellations and not 12 and included a sign known as Ophiuchus.  However, in order for their zodiac to make sense and fit the time and theory they were attempting to create, the Babylonians eliminated Ophiuchus.  Even then, some of their chosen 12 signs didn’t fit neatly into their assigned slice of the pie and slopped over into the next one. Additionally, Libra didn’t even enter the picture until the era of Julius Caesar (of whom the month of July was eventually named).

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FAST FACT: A variety of other cultures and traditions recognize as many as 24 constellations in the zodiac. Ancient Chinese culture believes in a system connected to animals, such as the Year of the Rat, or the Year of the Rooster. Whose system is right?

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Yes, this is a lot of information to consume — particularly for those who may have spent decades following some astrological belief system without ever really learning the facts.  So, here is a summary of what we know:
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• The Babylonians invented the zodiac based on the position of the stars and an imaginary line in space some 3000 years ago.
• The zodiac is based on the theory that the imaginary line has never shifted even an inch during its 3000 years, which would throw the entire concept of signs out of its intended alignment.
• There was originally a 13th sign that was deleted in order to accommodate the desired need for an even set of 12 zodiac signs.
• The change of earth’s rotational axis over 3000 years, as well as modern tweaks to our current day calendar, prevents the total accuracy of the original zodiac within our generation.
• With 7.125 billion people living on earth, it’s mathematically impossible and factually illogical to read a newspaper horoscope and believe those few lines of type somehow magically apply to at least a million living humans (from the rice fields of China to the Amazon forests of Brazil) who supposedly fall under the category of a particular sign.

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Oh, and here’s another: Astronomy is not astrology. One is a science that should be taken seriously, while the other is a carnival game for entertainment purposes only. While 31% of society believes in the zodiac, 61% of society is wise enough to know better.

Which one are you?

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Zodiac sign… fact or fiction?