I’ll say it up front: no one’s sign has changed, Ophiuchus doesn’t exist, and this article by Gawker and Huffington Post is a shoddy piece with exceptionally poor research and understanding of how and why astrology operates. There you have it – that’s the short and sweet answer to the ’2011 Zodiacal Identity Crisis’ right there. It doesn’t actually exist.

The long answer is a little more in-depth, and is divided into two sections:

Precession

The movement of the zodiac is well known to astrologers: it is called Precession. The actual constellations have moved – this is true, and the new positions of the stars are what are used in Vedic (Indian) Astrology, also called Sidereal Astrology. However, there is no 13th sign in Vedic or Western, regardless of whether the signs are Sidereal (literal) or Tropical (symbolic).

Western astrology uses the Tropical Zodiac – this zodiac is an ‘ideal’ zodiac, based on ancient positions of the stars which are now symbolic. The reason why we use it like this is simple: because it works. It works really really well. It works so well that Horary Astrology – question astrology – can answer questions about lost and missing objects and people with high levels of detail. Natal Astrology is well developed and again, it just works.

Astrology is a powerful tool due to thousands of years of accumulated symbolism – the operation of astrology is fundamentally subjective, like dreams, and the effect of observation on an environment. Its well known that if you pursue a particular school of dream analysis – Jungian analysis, for example – that your mind will start dreaming in specifically Jungian symbols. Its as if the unconscious learns a language, which it then speaks, and which can be interpreted. Astrology is an unconscious pan-national language in the same way, and on a deeper, more global level.

Vedic/Sidereal Astrology, on the other hand, works with greater collective notions of karma and one’s place in society. Its less individualistic, more practically orientated, and more superstitious in nature, and it is younger than Western astrology – Indian Astrology developed from Ancient Greek Astrology, not the other way around.

We pay attention to Precession on a communal level – the often discussed Age of Aquarius is a result of Precession. On an individual level, the Tropical Zodiac is much more effective in this astrologer’s opinion.

Ophiuchus

Ophiuchus is not a real sign, and in ancient times, when the zodiac was delineated, it was considered to be a part of the two constellations around it. Contrary to popular belief, the zodiac constellations are not based on their shape-zodiacal symbol association. The constellations are abstract. The way that the Babylonians and Egyptians first delineated it was by observing the effects that happened to them over time in relation to the stars (who they thought were gods) and designing their rituals around those occurrences. They laid a partly symbolic system in place that has continued for going on 6000 years (the Gawker and Huffington Post articles cite 2000 years, another shoddy piece of research.)

In Hellenistic times, Ophiuchus was recognised as a separate constellation, and named. However, the Greeks did not assign it a place in the Zodiac, because it is close to, but not on the Elliptic (where the Sun passes through the sky). Instead, they look at the effects of the individual stars in that constellation, which are called ‘fixed stars’, which is what we also do today.

The use of this ‘sign’ developed in the 70s, during the early New Age movement, and was referred to as ‘Astrology 13′. It has no foundation in history, and the characteristics of this sign embody the old, tired, egocentric  ‘specialness’ tropes of the New Age – you’re a suffering healer, you’re a messenger of light, on and on and on. According to one website, you are also condemned to love plaid for some reason, an assignation this Artist is yet to understand.

To conclude:  Fear not – your sign hasn’t changed, and the only way that signs CAN change is through the Progressed Horoscope. Sidereal astrology has its uses (namely objective global events), but on the individual level, it simply doesn’t work as well. And if you do happen to like plaid (like me), that’s likely not due to your Sun Sign.

Here is an excellent article on the technical details of this whole topic by someone who knows her stuff – http://planetwaves.net/pagetwo/2011/01/13/your-zodiac-sign-is-not-wrong/