17/09/2020
“The Big Issue”, the weekly street sold magazine, which is also available in some high street shops for the duration of the Covid19 pandemic, has relieving news if you are watcher of the stars and a follower of the ancient alchemy of astrology. Perhaps you are an gay and trans pagan who follows the movements of the planets through the heavens to predict the future. Well, if you are, then you might have been alarmed during the summer to see in some mainstream papers like The Sun and the Daily Star that a “new” thirteenth sign of the Zodiac, named Ophiculus, should now shuffle into the existing signs somewhere between Scorpio and Sagittarius. The Big Issue fact checker page, which debunks falsehoods and distortions, reports that it's all a bit of fuss over old news. Ophiculus is actually an ancient constellation, but not considered part of the Zodiac. There are other minor asterisms which are on the fringe of the Zodiac wheel but they are not considered important by astrologers who interpret the stars. Of more relevance if you believe in star signs is the fact that over very long periods of time, the movement of the solar system in its drift around the Galactic centre – a huge orbit that takes some two hundred and fifty million years to complete once – means that the star positions move subtly with time. Hence, the summer solstice in the time of Ancient Babylon saw the sun between Gemini and Cancer, whereas today it is between Gemini and Taurus. If you are interested in astrology in more detail, then you can find a wealth of books on the subject in shops such as Gothic Image and the Speaking Tree in Glastonbury. Or from Watkins and similar occultist bookstores in London.
