Dawn of Ophiuchus leaves astrology buffs in a tizzy.

THOUSANDS of people woke up to the realisation last week that they aren’t who they thought they were.

Worse still, neither was that partner they always thought they were so compatible with based on their astrological signs, because last week it was announced that many of us were reading the wrong horoscope.

“Over the 2,500 years or so since the zodiac was established, your sign has moved about a month relative to the sun and stars,” wrote Robert Roy Britt in a posting on LiveScience that was republished by a newspaper in Minnesota, triggering the zodiac panic.

“You’re no longer what you think you are, and so if you’re an astrology buff, perhaps poised to make a New Year’s resolution based on the stars and a reading of your supposed personality, know that you’re actually following observations, predictions and advice aimed at another person entirely.”

The shift in the alignment of the stars, which has come about because the Earth has been wobbling on its axis for millennia, means most people go back a sign.

Warm-hearted, patient Taurus becomes selfish, quick-tempered Aries.

Eminently practical and prudent Capricorns are now blindly optimistic and careless Sagittarians.

And many Sagittarians are now Ophiuchus.

Oh what?

Ophiuchus. It’s the hitherto little-heard-of 13th astrological sign. Apparently the Babylonians had an Ophiuchus column in their daily horoscopes but it got dropped somewhere between their civilisation and ours.

In any case, news of the celestial shift and of Ophiuchus’s resurrection sent astrology buffs reeling.

If they weren’t wondering how to get rid of the Scorpio tattoo that they just had done when it turns out they’re really Libra, as Michele Zipp did in a blog posting on The Stir, they were pondering some of the other existential questions raised by the change.

What, for instance, are Ophiuchus’s personality traits? What signs are compatible with Ophiuchans? And do the lyrics to the song from Hair that go, “This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius” have to be rewritten?

It would become “the dawning of the age of Capricorn”, which doesn’t really work with the meter of the song.

Knowing that famous Ophiuchans include the late Sir Winston Churchill, rocker and reality show star Ozzy Osbourne, the late US comedian Richard Pryor, and pop star Britney Spears – all of whom were born between Nov 29 and Dec 17 – sheds little light on what the sign’s personality traits are.

In fact, wrote John Abbott in Kernel Press about Ophiuchus: “To claim that people as disparate as Ozzy Osbourne, Winston Churchill and Richard Pryor have a similar set of characteristics is nonsense.”

The news of the heavenly shift is in fact old. Britt’s story links to another published on LiveScience in 2007, in which the shift in the heavens and Ophiuchus were announced, and Abbott wrote his piece in 1996, which is why he didn’t mention Britney Spears – she released her debut album in 1999.

Britts and Abbott both point out that astrology is not a science, a hint that no one was supposed to take the redrawing of the zodiac map too seriously.

But for some reason, the whole thing went viral after the Star Tribune newspaper in Minneapolis picked up the story and got an astronomer – a real scientist – to comment on it.

The astronomer was swamped with phone calls, and the Star Tribune’s website got more than 183,000 hits last Thursday.

“If we had checked our horoscope, maybe we would have seen this coming,” chuckled the Star Tribune’s Bill Ward in his column last Friday.

According to a survey conducted in 2009 by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, a quarter of Americans believe in astrology.

That’s 75 million people who could now be worried that someone is trying to Ophiuchus. – AFP

Shift in the stars

If Ophiuchus is added to the zodiac, this is how your stars would change:

Capricorn: Jan 21-Feb 16

Aquarius: Feb 17-March 11

Pisces: March 12-April 18

Aries: April 19-May 13

Taurus: May 14-June 21

Gemini: June 22-July 20

Cancer: July 21-Aug 10

Leo: Aug 11-Sept 16

Virgo: Sept 17-Oct 30

Libra: Oct 31-Nov 23

Scorpio: Nov 24-Nov 29

Ophiuchus: Nov 30-Dec 17

Sagittarius: Dec 18-Jan 20

> The introduction of Ophiuchus as a new star sign has been raging online for the past week, with debates and dramas worldwide. Hot topics: if the change affects only those born after 2009; whether the Ophiuchus constellation has any impact on Western astrology (which is aligned to the solar system as opposed to the sky constellations); and, if a 13th month needs to be added to the calendar to accommodate 13 zodiac signs. Tell us what you think about this whole Ophiuchus ruckus and if waking up to a new star sign would change your world. E-mail star2@thestar.com.my.

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