Zodiac Signs Horoscope columns in popular newspapers and magazines
might lead you to suspect that the zodiac signs in which the Sun appears in
horoscopes is of such over riding importance that little else matters.
The truth is that the zodiac signs in which the Sun appears is assigned much
more importance in modern astrology than was the case in ancient times.
Then, each planet the Sun and the Moon being counted amongst the planets
signified a particular area of life as indicated in the individual birth chart.
In particular, the planet that rules the ascendant the zodiac sign rising at birth,
and its sign and house position, was seen as having special significance for
the individual. I believe this ancient tradition still holds true.
Nevertheless there is no doubt that sun signs in horoscopes do have
importance the ancients acknowledged this too, and I offer these thumbnail
sketches of the meaning of each. The twelve zodiac signs are divided into
four elements:
Fire - Aries,
Leo and Sagittarius;
Earth - Taurus,
Virgo and Capricorn;
Air - Gemini, Libra and Aquarius;
Water - Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces.
Zodiac denotes an annual cycle of twelve stations along the ecliptic, the
apparent path of the Sun across the heavens through the constellations that
divide the ecliptic into twelve equal zones of celestial longitude.
The zodiac is recognized as the first known celestial coordinate system.
Babylonian astronomers developed the zodiac of twelve signs.
The term zodiac comes from the Latin zodiacus, from the Greek zodiakos meaning circle of animals, derived from zodion, the diminutive of zoon
animal. The American Heritage Dictionary 1970 derives the word further
from Indo European gwei, to live. zoe, life is listed as the suffixed form
of this Indo European word. However, the classical Greek zodiac also
includes signs also constellations that are not represented by animals
Aquarius, Virgo, Gemini, and for some Libra.
Another suggested etymology is that the Greek term is cognate with the
Sanskrit sodi, denoting a path, i.e., the path through which the Sun travels.
The zodiac also means a region of the celestial sphere that includes a band
of eight arc degrees above and below the ecliptic, and therefore
encompasses the paths of the Moon and the naked eye planets Mercury,
Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
The classical astronomers called these planets wandering stars to differentiate them from the fixed stars of the celestial sphere Ptolemy.
Astrologers understood the movement of the planets and the Sun through
the zodiac as a means of explaining and predicting events on Earth.
