The emergence of Ophiuchus into the public eye has taken astrologers by surprise, and evoked many different responses. Uranus rules astrology, and Jupiter is there to cause great excitement (or exaggeration) in the last degrees of Pisces. I find this meaningful since Uranus/Jupiter together shake us out of our established ways of thinking, and Pisces has to do with the illusions of time.
The Pisces way of knowing alerts us that we live in a dynamic symbolic universe. And in some ways, the Tropical Zodiac is a shared metaphoric illusion that works because of the energy we give it. This gets into trippy discussions about how the universe is a hologram that changes as our perception of reality changes. In the words of Melody Scott Zindell today, "Both systems work. Just a different facet on our holographic reality. Both systems resonate with an individual because there is always the synchronicity of resonant energies regardless, for those open minded enough to feel into it."
Jupiter/Uranus in these last degrees of Pisces can open us to other kinds of knowing, for a fusion of the intellect and intuition. Interestingly, today there's an article in Natural News with its telling title, Big Picture Thinking Trumps Narrow Minded Expertise. The Pisces kind of knowing includes promptings from unknown sources, that some call Universe itself.
For example, last night I reached for a book called Unplugging the Patriarchy to pick up where I left off months ago. To my surprise, there was the image of the caduceus -- two entwined snakes around a staff, used by the medical profession as the symbol of healing. The author Lucia Rene writes of snakes as symbols of the power of the Sacred Feminine, wisdom, and the kundalini life force coiled at the base of the spine.
And then this morning, I came across Elizabeth Jones' article Ophiuchus, The "Sign" of Things to Come" in which she expands on the significance of its emergence now. Since Jupiter and Uranus both send us on quantum leaps into the future, I find that an apt title.
With Pisces, we touch our immortality by experiencing the divine self that transcends time. The archetype of Ophiuchus, named in this Space.com article, the "Celestial Medicine Man," is linked to Aesculapius in Greek myth. As this article explains, King James I of England (who ruled in the 1600s) called Ophiuchus "a mediciner after made a god," for never losing a patient. From the article, "The association with a serpent may have come from the belief that, by shedding its skin, it is rejuvenated."
The idea of shedding skin, like the snake, conjures the death and rebirth process. And the awareness that we never really die, just slip in and out of time. I don't know there is all leading. No, your Sun sign didn't change overnight. But it'll be interesting to see if Ophiuchus persists in making his presence known. And the impact it has on our different Zodiacs, and ways of finding patterns in time.
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Molly, I liked your thoughts on Patrick and the snakes and more last night. Forum mate Galloglass has made an interesting comparison between the ’secret’ 13th month in the Celtic lunar calendar and this 13th constellation that I thought was really neat.
Each come around at roughly the same time of year, and each have to do with death and rebirth. It’s here on the forums if you’re interested.
Love your take on this, Molly, and I absolutely agree.
My take on Ophiuchus is that he works very well incorporated into Scorpio. I’ve written about him from that perspective (will not be so crass as to self-promote with a URL here). Many Scorpios I know have amazing healing powers, with an uncanny ability to see beneath the surface to the source of a problem or illness.
The frustrating thing is that readers seem to side with the scientific opinion, since it has more “credibility” to most people. It’s hard to make a case against that and to explain in an easy to understand way why they are flat-out wrong.
Thanks for a great post!
Hi Molly,
I love everything that Ophiuchus represents even with its timing into our consciousness now!! The presence of a shifting zodiac and intro to an ancient constellation is just a reflection of what you’ve been writing about regarding “change” and the struggle to move forward and break through old traditions while creating a broader definition for the future.
I’ve been coming across this a lot and thought I should clarify for those interested in symbols, that even though the Caduceus is a symbol for medicine in our age today, it’s actually a mistake made in the West (it’s actually a symbol for merchants and tradesmen – Mercury). The true symbol for medicine and healing is the rod of Asclepius (with only one snake coiling around a single wooden staff). For more info, Wiki gives a succinct explanation of the folly. This should make the presence of Orphiucus even more credible, as you mentioned it’s also known to represent Asclepius in Greek mythology or Imhotep in Egyptian.
Much love, and thank you so much for all your blogs…am an avid reader!
Hi Pat, thank you and if you see this, I would love to see how you integrated it with Scorpio. Go ahead and share your link – or I’ll look for it on your site.
I hope I’m not adding to the confusion because I see here two different issues. One is a mix up between the sidereal and the tropical Zodiacs. The astronomer that set this all off was correct in saying that the signs are not physically where they were when the Greeks named the 12 signs of the Western Zodiac.
Those that follow where the stars are now, with precession of equinoxes into account, are known as Sidereal Astrologers. That’s where your sign is the one before it.
The 2nd issue is Ophiuchus and this fascinating emergence into the spotlight of the Snake Wrangler.
I see Uranus-Jup in Pisces whipping up a frenzy, some chaotic thinking and throwing everything into a cauldron — mixing it up. On his show today, Robert Phoenix said he thinks this is intentional, since nothing happens on major media by accident. To provoke confusion, identity crisis.
I see a chance here to integrate this — if we choose and be curious, rather than shut off to something new.
I know I’m excited to learn more, and am pretty sure my Neptune is in this part of the sky (will have to double-check).
Thanks again for all your comments – just wonderful!
Molly,
I am so glad you addressed this. Also, at one time weren’t there 13 months and was changed to 12 months (hence the blue moon)? Was that 13th month Ophiuchus?
Love your point on the “identity crisis” –
Thanks so much for being on top of this. I was so hoping a noted Astrologer would address this quickly. Thank you!
Thanks Alicia – on the identity crisis….
one way to look at this news for those that didn’t know there were two systems is to remember the day you found out your Chinese sign and element. There’s a lot of unnecessary freaking out going on. This can be something that expands our idea of who we are, rather than limits.
Maybe it’ll inspire some to look at Vedic astrology.
And on the Moons, Fiona has got a discussion going on this in the forum. And a reader brought up the Celtic Calendar of 13 months, which has a period aligning with Ophiuchus end of November. The way it was described reminded me of its mystery — and if you think of that time of year, maybe this is a veil dropping on the mystery, so we understand this sign a little better, and its relationship to Scorpio and Sagittarius.
The Zodiac is hinged on the Gregorian calendar, so with this emergence, it could inspire more to look into the Lunar calendar of 13 months.
Some like Jose Arguelles argue that we are held in an unnatural system of time that reins in our consciousness. With Jup/Ur in Pisces, this could inspire more to explore at 13 month model. Though it would throw everything in chaos, since so much is based on 12 – with elements/modalities.
And also re-marry astronomy and astrology.
So let’s see if all this excitement is a spike that dies down and a few look deeper into it. Or it’s the beginning of questioning how we measure time, and our evolving understanding of the universe.
thanks for commenting!
You are fantastic! and very inspirational. Thank you for your reply. My concern too was the confusion and chaos this news is to everyone – Astrology is such a great tool and resource for understanding ourselves and others; I was so disappointed in the Astronomer’s comments and the chaos it has brought however you summarized it perfectly and really put this development into perspective in a way that shows its not a threat to Astrology’s usefullness but an ongoing evolution like us all. Thank you again!
On Yahoo! Homepage…. interesting timing!
http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/life/has-your-horoscope-changed-2439951/