The Thirteenth Astrological Star Sign

Ophiuchus (pronounced off-ee-YOO-cuss) represents a man with a snake coiled around his waist. He holds the head of the snake in his left hand and its tail in his right hand. The snake is represented by the constellation Serpens.

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The Zodiac

The 12 “star signs” the astrologers use are the constellations that fall on the ecliptic, otherwise referred to as the zodiac. The ecliptic is merely the path the sun seems to follow as the earth revolves around it. So, if on a certain date you looked at the sun, the current “star sign” would be the constellation directly behind the Sun.

Star Sign (Constellation).............Date Sagittarius........................Nov 22 Dec 21 Capricornus.......................Dec 22 Jan 19 Aquarius...........................Jan 20 Feb 18 Pisces..............................Feb 19 Mar 20 Aries................................Mar 21 Apr 19 Taurus.............................Apr 20 May 20 Gemini..............................May 21 Jun 21 Cancer.............................Jun 22 Jul 22 Leo..................................Jul 23 Aug 22 Virgo................................Aug 23 Sep 22 Libra................................Sep 23 Oct 22 Scorpius...........................Oct 23 Nov 21

The zodiac is “A belt on the celestial sphere, about 8° either side of the ecliptic, which forms the background for the motions of the Sun, Moon, and planets.” The ecliptic passes through more than 12 constellations, it passes through 13, the thirteenth being Ophiuchus. Why do the astrologers ignore poor old Ophiuchus? Probably because it is not a particularly bright constellation. But that does not change the fact that the ecliptic passes through 13 constellations, not 12.

Star Sign (Constellation)..............Date Sagittarius.........................Dec 18 Jan 18 Capricornus........................Jan 19 Feb 15 Aquarius............................Feb 16 Mar 11 Pisces...............................Mar 12 Apr 18 Aries.................................Apr 19 May 13 Taurus..............................May 14 Jun 19 Gemini...............................Jun 20 Jul 20 Cancer..............................Jul 21 Aug 09 Leo...................................Aug 10 Sep 15 Virgo.................................Sep 16 Oct 30 Libra.................................Oct 31 Nov 22 Scorpius............................Nov 23 Nov 29 Ophiuchus..........................Nov 30 Dec 17

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The solar year has a little more than 364 days. The lunar month has just over 29 days. To reconcile these awkward figures the ancient astronomers devised a calendar of thirteen equal months, each of 28 days or four equal weeks. This calendar is all but regular, with the full moon falling one day and one hour later each month, and with only a small correction to be made at the end of the year.

NINGIZZIDA: A Goddess who can appear in serpent form and does magic and healing. Ningizzida was a fertility god. Originally depicted as a serpent with a human head, Ningizzida became known as a magical god of healing.

Ningishzida is the earliest known symbol of snakes twining (some say in copulation) around an axial rod. It predates the Caduceus of Hermes, the Rod of Asclepius and the staff of Moses by more than a thousand years

Serpent worship in early Christian art.

The lunar months (or 'moon ths'), were represented in the skies by the constellations of the zodiac; and on the ground by a circle of trees in the sacred grove. Twelve of the signs of the zodiac are familiar to us from the astrology columns in the daily newspapers, but what happened to the thirteenth, and what was its symbol? This question can be answered by consulting the works of the ancient astronomers. Ptolemy of Alexandria gives the name of the constellation, and also the bearing and magnitude of the stars which form it. The constellation was called Ophicius (in Greek) and Serpentarius (in Latin). Both names mean 'snake-holder', and refer to the pythoness, the high priestess of the goddess temples. The symbol of this sign, a bare-breasted woman holding snakes, occurred in the Sumerian; Minoan, and other cultures of the Archaic period. Thus the missing month, the month that we disrupted an orderly calendar to avoid, was the month of the Goddess.

A Serpent god (An old Chinese print)

Less familiar is the forgotten thirteenth sign, which lies "betwixt" them, Ophicius, the Snake-Holder, the symbol of which was a goddess or priestess brandishing two snakes, and which connoted the most important new moon in the goddess' lunar calendar. Milton, who also wrote the Book of Common Prayer used by Protestant congregations, has told us here in cryptic form that he was mindful that the Christian Satan (aka the Devil), was a new name given to an older but unmentionable deity, the goddess.