Why do zodiac signs exist

Jump to main content. Well, first of all, if you want to refer to yourself as a Lupus or a Lyra, you have our permission. People develop affinities for various constellations, not just those included in the "zodiac. Zodiac constellations are those through which the Sun appears to travel during the year. Of course, this motion is illusory, as Earth revolves around the Sun and therefore the Sun's position relative to the background stars changes continuously. Presently, the Sun appears to be migrating through Virgo the Maiden.

At the end of October, the Sun will move into Libra the Scales. These thirteen constellations just happened to be aligned in such a way as to make the Sun appear to pass through them. If we wanted to and were endowed with supernatural powers , we could alter Earth's orbit so that the Sun appears to move through other constellations.

People tend to turn to astrology in times of stress. According to American Psychological Association survey data, since , Millennials have been the most stressed generation, and also the generation most likely to say their stress has increased in the past year since Millennials and Gen Xers have been significantly more stressed than older generations since And Americans as a whole have seen increased stress because of the political tumult since the presidential election.

Fifty-six percent of people said reading the news stresses them out, and Millennials and Gen Xers were significantly more likely than older people to say so. Lately that news often deals with political infighting, climate change, global crises, and the threat of nuclear war. On September 6, the day after the Trump administration announced it was rescinding DACA—the deferred-action protection program for undocumented immigrants—Nicholas sent out her typical newsletter for the upcoming full moon.

It read , in part:. The full moon in Pisces May help us to empathize with others May we use this full moon to continue to dream up, and actively work toward, creating a world where white supremacy has been abolished. In , when Sandhya was 32 years old, she downloaded the Astrology Zone app, looking for a road map. She felt lonely, and unappreciated at her nonprofit job in Washington, D. She wanted to know when things would get better and Astrology Zone had an answer. So Sandhya spent the next year making room for Jupiter.

She started staying home more often, cooking for herself, applying for jobs, and going on more dates. Jupiter entered Leo on July 16, That same July, Sandhya was offered a new job. That December, Sandhya met the man she would go on to marry. But I followed what the app was saying. So I credit some of it to this Jupiter belief.

Humans are narrative creatures , constantly explaining their lives and selves by weaving together the past, present, and future in the form of goals and expectations. I take such a long time to make decisions because my Mars is in Taurus. The number of constellations in the Western zodiac comes from the cycles of the Moon, which orbits the Earth Roughly speaking, the Sun appears against a different constellation every new Moon, the stars forming a distant backdrop to the Sun.

Though the stars are not visible during daytime, you can know what constellation the Sun is in by looking at the nighttime sky. There you will see the opposite constellation. Astrology suggests that each sign of the zodiac fits neatly into a degree slice of sky — which multiplied by 12 adds up to degrees.

In actuality, this is not the case, as the constellations vary a great deal in shape and size. For example, the Sun passes through the constellation Scorpio in just five days, but takes 38 days to pass through Taurus.

This is one of the reasons astrological signs do not line up with the constellations of the zodiac. The gravity of the Moon and Sun pull on the bulge, which causes the Earth to wobble like a top. This movement alters the view of the zodiac from Earth, making the constellations appear to slide to the east, roughly a degree per human lifetime. Though slow, precession was discovered with the naked eye by Hipparchus of Nicaea around B. In ancient times, the vernal equinox — or the first day of spring — was in Aries.

Due to precession, it moved into Pisces around B.