"Do You Have a New Zodiac Sign?"  My Thoughts on The Purported "New" Sign

Dear Friends, hope you are having a good week.  I don’t know about you, but my week sure has been flying by FAST!  In fact, this entire month is just racing by for me…it seems like 2011 is getting off to a very quick start.   Between social engagements and just trying to make it through my “to do” list while I prepare for my first Spiritual Psychic Development class of the year (this upcoming Saturday), I’ve had a VERY full plate lately.  And with today being the *full moon*, I imagine that I’m not the only one feeling a little bit “up to my ears” in energy & e-motion right now!

I actually love when the energies get moving like this, as according to one friend, I thrive best when I am running around getting things done like a little “Tasmanian Devil”.  However, this approach only works when I remember to stay balanced & centered, and to find my “calm within the storm” by connecting with Spirit.

This is why I was so glad to find a little “calm within the storm” last Sunday Sunset Spiritualist Camp when I went up there to hear my student Jamie make her debut as a speaker at the pulpit.   She gave a beautiful presentation on the rosary, and the promises that Mary has made to anyone who faithfully prays this prayer (Catholic, or otherwise…I definitely fall into the “otherwise” category…smile). 

After hearing Jamie speak on the rosary, I headed over to the “Jiggy Jaguar” basement radio show to make a surprise guest appearance.  (The “surprise” part was actually for my old friend Ross Long, who was the original producer & director of my former TV show, “Psychic Live!”)  The “Jiggy Jaguar” radio show was a boisterous *contrast* to my time spent in peaceful communion at Sunset earlier in the day.  I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into, but let me tell you, it was quite a wild ride. 

I don’t even know how to describe the “Jiggy Jaguar” show to you, except to say that it was me (the psychic), two renegade TV/talk radio hosts, a couple of exceptional Latino rappers from “Sick ‘n the twisted” (including “Cortez, the Conqueror”), a beautiful young acoustic guitarist/barista named Jessica, “metal mom” (the “mother” to the local “metal” music scene), a photographer/camera man named James, a doctor lecturing on the “cell phone diet”, and the editor of an upstart music & entertainment magazine (“Rock Thiz”). 

Not my “usual” kind of media appearance. What can I say?  I was following Jesus’s example, and bringing spirituality to “the people”.

 

In any case, everywhere I went that day, nearly EVERYONE asked me, “What do you think about this new 13^th sign?” 

I believe that they were referring to the “new” constellation Ophiuchus that scientists recently “discovered” (or re-discovered, depending on how you look at it).  Since it’s “discovery” about a week or so ago, most of the mainstream media has been putting out the MIS-INFORMATION that this means that there is now a 13^th sign.

I’d like to clear this up once and for all (or at least, for the rest of the week…smile), so I don’t have to keep explaining this over and over again to people I encounter at church or on radio shows or in the grocery store aisle, for that matter.  So here is my “official” statement on the matter…

If you follow “Western” astrology (which probably 98% of us do in the Western World), then the “discovery” of this “new” constellation does NOT change your sign. 

To make this as simple as possible, Western astrology is based on the TROPICAL zodiac, whose main points of reference are the EQUINOXES and the SOLISTICES, and *not* the stars.  The “signs of the zodiac”, as referred to in Western astrology, are determined by their constant relationship to these points (especially the equinox point), and NOT the un-constant position of the constellations.

This is my “short & simple” answer.  If you want to get more deeply philosophical, consider this…

According to an on-line article in the Washington Post, Ophiuchus actually *was* a zodiac sign in the original Babylonian astrology (which is where we trace our Western astrology back to).  It was called the “Serpent Holder” sign and “ruled” the time of the year between November 29^th to Nov. 17^th.  There is some very interesting mythology around Ophiuchus, especially considering that his “myth” is based on the healer Asclepius, who was an actual man that later became deified.

Why did this ancient Babylonians decide to throw this particular sign out two thousand years ago?  To be honest, I don’t know for sure why they choose to “eliminate” this particular sign, as I haven’t done the historical research on it.  However, I will say that the decision to eliminate one of the original 13 signs makes intuitive sense to me, as dividing a 360 degree ecliptic into even parts is easier to do when you are dealing with a number like “12”, and NOT a prime number like 13.

Translated into “English”, what I am saying is that it is much easier to divide the circular nature of the zodiac into 12 parts than it is 13.  It is also much easier to calculate mathematical relationships between heavenly bodies (also known as “aspects” in astrology) when you are using divisions based on an easily divided number such as 12. 

I mean, I’m sorry for “Ophiuchus” that he got “axed” from the zodiac two thousands years ago, but trying to divide a 360 degree circle (or ecliptic, as the case may be) into 13 parts just isn’t very pragmatic at all (smile).  The truth is that if we wanted to, we could divide the ecliptic up into as many “signs” or “parts” that we wanted, but some numbers are just easier to work with than others.

On the other hand, I certainly DO think it is significant that the sign of Ophiuchus got “axed” two thousand years ago, and is now being “rediscovered”.  Even though this doesn’t necessarily change “the signs”, I believe it does signal a potential shift in the consciousness of humanity. 

As I alluded to earlier, Ophiuchus is the heavenly name for Asclepius, who was the Greek God of medicine and healing, and probably based on the life of an actual historical man. The son of Apollo and the mortal Coronis, he was said to have learned healing from Chiron, the centaur healer.  This is significant astrologically, because the “centaur asteroid” Chiron was just re-discovered back in the 1970’s, and now plays an important part in spiritual-based interpretations of astrology charts.

Chiron represents (among other things) energy healing, holistic medicine & the wounded healer.  Since Asclepius has a relationship to Chiron, and is also a healer, my interpretation is that the “re-discovery” of Ophiuchus marks a shift in human consciousness towards more holistic ways of thinking & healing.  In particular, the temples of Ophiuchus/Asclepius were places where you could heal by “incubating” a dream.  Perhaps as we will now begin to see a return to the understanding of the power of dreams, and how we can all heal ourselves by working with the symbols in our subconscious, and also by practicing lucid dreaming.

 

I think that the important thing to remember with all of this is that astrology is simply a way of dividing up the Universe into equal parts, and making sense of them. At its heart, astrology is an esoteric system of classifying and understanding the manifestations of the Divine.  It really doesn’t matter how many parts we use to help us understand these manifestations.  All that truly matters is that these “parts” speak to us on a symbolic level, and help us to understand the deeper meaning of life on Earth.

I imagine that there will be some continued dialogue on this among astrologers.  This 13^th sign theory is actually not new to most of us, as any one who has studied Babylonian astrology will know that the zodiac was slightly different in its original form. 

Personally, I can say that I have found the “tropical” zodiac that we currently use to be HIGHLY accurate, both in terms of personality analysis, and making predictions.  However, if you are born between November 30^th and December 17^th, you might want to do some research on “Ophiuchus”, to see if any of it resonates with you.

 Infinite Blessings,Cynthia Killion, Spiritual Growth Mentor

www.cynthiakillion.com

cynthia@cynthiakillion.com  (or just “reply” to this e-mail)

  

P.S.  In case you want to read a little bit more about this issue, here are a few interesting short articles I would recommend:

 

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/blog-post/2011/01/new_zodiac_sign_dates_dont_swi.html

This is the Washington Post “Blog/Article” that I referred to earlier that also explains that you do NOT necessarily need to change your sign because of the recent discovery.

 

http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/asclepius.html

This is a nice little short article from the “Encyclopedia Mythica” about the God Aesclepius.

 

            If you want to hear the “other side” of the story, and see the perspective of someone who believes that Astrology should change with the “discovery” of this “new” constellation, I did find one interesting article on that.  Although I don’t agree with the author’s main premise (since, as I explained above, the zodiac that I follow is based on the Equinoxes & the Solstices, and not primarily the position of the stars), this article does contain some interesting history, as well as possible descriptions of the theoretical sign “Ophiuchus”.  Here is the link:

 

http://the-red-thread.net/ophiuchus2.html

2011 Spiritual Growth Desires & Intentions   January 6, 2011 

            Dear Friends, I’m up very early this morning tuning into Spirit and writing for you.  I guess that you might even say it’s still the “middle of the night” (at least for some). 

I awoke at around 4 am, just in time to do a few minutes of mantra-chanting at what is considered to be the most ideal time to say your mantras or affirmations (4 am).  In fact, the Hindu religion even has a special name for this time…..they call it the “Brahmamahurta”.  My inside joke with my husband is that the reason that it is called this is because it “hurta” the Brahmas to have to get up so early to chant their mantras (smile).

In any case, I’m not nearly as devoted as the ancient Brahmas were, so I rarely make it up for the “Brahmamahurta” hour (unless it’s one of those times when I got so inspired writing or meditating that I just didn’t go asleep at all…but that’s different).  So when I do wake up in time for the “Brahmamahurta”, I savor it.  I just love this time of day.  It is still and quiet and so ripe with possibility.  No wonder the ancients thought it a good time for chanting your mantras and prayers into the cosmic womb of creation.

 Last night (or to-night, depending on how you want to look at it) was Telechat Club night for me, which meant that me & other members of the club gathered for one of our twice monthly “Telechats” via telephone.  These Telechats are part live meditation, part class, part group spiritual coaching, and also part spiritual-community gathering and sharing. 

*Anything* can happen in a Telechat Club call, as I usually just try to stay open to be moved by Spirit and by the shared energy of whoever shows up on the call. I try not to “force” or even “direct” the call too much, but instead just show up and see what happens.  The only real “direction” I insist on is that we usually have a selected “sub-topic” for each call, which usually relates back to the larger “theme” that we are focusing on during one of our four month units. 

Currently, we are in the “Healing Heart” unit, and the sub-topic for last night’s call was “Awakening Your Inner Healer, Part 2”.  At least, that was its technical name.  With it being the New Year and all, it just so happened that we ended up flowing into a focus on tuning into our deepest desires for spiritual healing & growth, and connecting with our “Spiritual Growth Healing Intention” for 2011.    
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01/04/11 Solar Eclipse:  TAKE CHARGE!

Dear Friends, earlier this morning at about 4 am Eastern time there was a new moon solar eclipse at 13 degrees Capricorn. This eclipse released a tremendous charge of energy into the Universe.  In fact, if you are sensitive to psychic energy, you may have found it difficult to sleep last night (I know I sure did, which is why I was up late writing on the new curriculum for my next Spiritual-Psychic development). Or the opposite may be true for you…perhaps the incoming energies elicited such a feeling of peace within yourself, that you “slept like a baby” (when the baby is actually sleeping…smile).

            Whether you slept well or stayed up half the night creating like me, you may have awoken with a sudden inspiration or a glimpse into a creative solution for a situation that had previously “stumped” you.  At the very least, you probably noticed that you felt (or will soon feel) more hopeful and excited about life.  There is a new possibility stirring within you.

            This new moon solar eclipse is a time to make a new start.  It is not just a time to dream, hope or envision.  Rather it is time now to step forward and make that first move towards making the inspirations within your heart tangible.

            Today’s solar eclipse is connected to the previous lunar eclipse that we just had about two weeks ago on the Winter Solstice.  Whereas the Dec. 21^st eclipse favored the conception of new ideas and dreams, today’s eclipse triggers the desire and impetus to actually “take charge” and do your part to bring new creations into manifestation. 

In other words, it is time now to take action, no matter how small or miniscule that action may seem.  ANY action that you take towards the manifestation of your true heart’s desire is significant and meaningful and will have greater power now.  There are windows in time that open to magnify and amplify the effects of one’s actions and energy.  This is now such a time. 

Whatever you do now *COUNTS*, and it will count in a much bigger way than it usually does, with the effects of your actions and intentions going further and being stronger than ever before.  So make this time count!  Get off your bottom, “take charge”, and take that first step!

       P.S.  The Sabian symbol (or channeled picture) for the degree at which this eclipse takes place is an “ancient bas-relief carved in granite”.   This image suggests that now is an opportunity for us all to carve our physical realities into a more accurate reflection of our inner selves.  Right now, in this very moment, we are viewing the “blank slates” in our lives, so to speak, and deciding what it is we want to carve upon their surfaces.

            On the subject of “blank slates”….The lunar eclipse we had back on December 21^st also initiated a cycle of cleansing and purification that is continuing even to this moment.  The purpose of this cleansing was (and is) to wipe the slate clean in one or more areas of your life to make way for new growth.  You cannot reach forward to grasp that which you truly desire until you release your clutch on that which no longer serves you.

Habits, ideas, relationships, projects, jobs, and associations that no longer serve your soul’s highest growth will be “sloughed off” over the course of the next 6 months, as you shed your old identity and emerge into the new.

This process of purification will go a lot easier if you simply “release and let go”, and develop a state of softened, receptivity in your mind.  New solutions can never appear to those who think that they already know it all…..a cup that is overflowing cannot be filled with new sustenance.  You must become *empty* and open to receive the inspiration of Spirit.

If you’re not yet sure in which direction to go now with your new creations, then simply let your mind become relaxed and like an empty slate…let your mind, heart, and spirit open up to the inspiration of Spirit.  Mentally surround yourself in a beautiful white, opalescent light, and invite in your Spirit Teachers to show you the way.  Then listen.  Listen.  And listen.  You will receive an answer.  You will be led and directed by Spirit as to the best way to go next to manifest Its infinite creativity.

    As long as you are sufficiently relaxed and open when you ask for guidance, you will receive it.  You may not always know that you have received it, as usually spiritual information “downloads” into the subconscious first before it becomes known to the conscious mind.  However, even if your rational mind is not “consciously” aware of the guidance you have received, your subconscious mind will pick up the psychic “data” offered by your angels & guides, and begin directing you to the recommended new paths.