Ophiuchus Meaning: What You Need To Know About The New Zodiac Sign

With the addition of Ophiuchus, many people are wondering one simple question: What is it?

Ophiuchus, Greek for 'serpent-bearer,' is a large constellation that falls along the celestial equator, and falls between Aquila, Serpens, and Hercules in the northwest center of the Milky Way. While the origins of the character himself remain questionable, the constellation was one of the 48 discovered by the ancient philosopher Ptolemy.

The constellation has also gone by the name Serpentarius, the Latin version of its current name. Ophiuchus is depicted as a man holding a snake, as the constellation splits Serpens into two smaller constellations, Serpens Caput and Serpens Cauda, which are otherwise counted as one.

However, the internet has been abuzz with speculation on the "real" meaning of the name as some try to cope with their sign change.

Check out some Twitter reactions to the new sign, Ophiuchus, below, and submit your own! Also, be sure to check how your Facebook friends have been impacted by the zodiac sign change here.

 

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Erika Curry

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My new Zodiac sign sounds more like a physiological disorder. #Ophiuchus

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Oscar Groom said on 16 Sunday 2011 am31 5:42 am: Chaos has been unleashed upon the world as the 13th sign emerges. The 13th Sign - Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Hugh Jackman. In theaters this April.

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Comments

[Chris BigSib Sibley]

07:49 PM on 01/25/2011

Ok well for so long we had 12 months 12 zodiac. Now we have 12 months 13 zodiac it may seem confusing but it is still correct let me explain shall I. There are 4 quarters in a calendar year each consist of 3 months for a total of 13 weeks each. So if we remove one week from each quarter we technically have a 13 month also.There for actually having a month for this new zodiac. This is just my way of thinking I agree to disagree comments are very welcome.

[ThinkCreeps]

07:13 AM on 01/20/2011

What is Ophiucus?

It's a random pattern of stars in the sky, that the greeks imagined looked a bit like a serpent-holding deity. The sun's path on the sky passes through it.

Does it affect your chances of being hit by a bus or getting laid today? Nope.

[AgingLady]

02:50 PM on 01/19/2011

Guess I'll stick with what shows up in the newspaper.

[Anthony Charles Capoccia]

03:25 AM on 01/17/2011

You are officially an astrologer when you start trying to revise zodiacs and tell people what to base astrologic­al interpreta­tions on. In addition to being an astrologer this Kunkle guy that started this mess of ignorance and confusion appears to be the most lowly and ignorant kind - a modern astrologer­, and Sun-sign based one to boot! Modern astrologer is a recreation of astrology based in the 18th century spirituali­st movements like the Theosophis­ts, in which everyone thought a new age of spontaneou­s enlightenm­ent was about to dawn (just as their fluffy new age successors also believe), and bears almost no resemblanc­e to the almost over a millienia of serious natural philosophi­c inquiry into horoscopic astrology begun in the Hellenisti­c world in the first centuries BCE (these guys also invented the first computer, and it was to calculate charts! - http://en.­wikipedia.­org/wiki/A­ntikythera­_mechanism ) and further developed by primarily Persians writing in Arabic in the early medieval period. I'm just an amateur historian of science, but for an astrologer this guy doesn't seem to be the sharpest tool in the shed. He doesn't even understand what a Zodiac and Signs are and how these differ from Constellat­ions. Anyway, the top despots of the academic in the NSF have officially said that belief in astrology indicates that one has "not acquired the critical thinking skills they to distinguis­h fact from fiction." Well, we already knew you lacked those. Look out Mr. Kunkle, your career is at risk.

[KelsKels Cretcher]

12:15 AM on 01/27/2011

Please tell me you understand the difference between an Astrologer and an Astronomer. Kunkle is an ASTRONOMER, as in he studies space and such, not mystical meanings behind crap. He isn't an Astrologer.
So your "lack of critical thinking skills" comment applies to you, who obviously never learned the difference.
An Astronomy professor's career is nowhere at risk. Why? because its based on scientific facts, last time I checked no one question that stars and planets exist...

[Nikki Star]

05:18 PM on 01/16/2011

Astronomy and astrology is completely different. Stop spreading disinformation. If you are going to debunk something then you actually need to know what it is you are debunking first. As a lot of the comments below point out the signs have not changed because astrology is not based on the constellations. Broaden your horizons, people.

"In order to truly understand how astrology works, it's important to go to people who actually study astrology for your answers. Astronomy is a very different science and should be treated as such. Also, those who do not understand a particular field of study should not be out there on soapboxes telling the rest of us how it works. This whole uproar would never have happened if people had understood those seemingly simple facts.

Continue reading on Examiner.com: Just say "no" to Ophiuchus: A crash course on how Western astrology works - National new age | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/new-age-in-national/just-say-no-to-ophiuchus-a-crash-course-how-western-astrology-works#ixzz1BEtket2w"

and:
http://www.mountainastrologer.com/standards/editor's%20choice/articles/why_ast.html

[feavero]

11:02 AM on 01/16/2011

So, another zodiac. Last week, there were two - tropical and sidereal. Neither of them corresponded exactly to any constellations - in both systems, each sign occupies 30 degrees of the ecliptic, yet none of the constellations are 30 degrees wide. Parke Kunkel is an astronomer at a community college in Minnesota, not an astrologer. People who look at the stars for their physical properties are "Astronomers". Astrologers use the relationship of the planets in the solar system to the earth to describe psychological characteristics, among other things. Astrology is the study of the energetic relationship of the sun, moon, and planets.
Whether you are a sidereal Cancer or a tropical Leo, both systems will describe you in the same terms. So, if you want to use Orphiuchus as a sign in either zodiac, the truth is, it won't change the interpretation for people born during the weeks when the Sun is in Orphiuchus (relative to the earth, duh).
Whether you use 12 or 13 constellations, the tropical or sidereal zodiac, is irrelevant compared to the angular relationships between the planets. Everyone having fun worrying about Orphiuchus most likely has a bad Sun/Pallas relationship, anyway.
If you've never had a reading from a good astrologer but are spending money on a shrink, do yourself and your bank account a favor. You will learn more about yourself, regardless of the system they use, than you would in years of couch time.
Oh baby, my Orphiucus is rising.

[Oscar Groom]

05:42 AM on 01/16/2011

Chaos has been unleashed upon the world as the 13th sign emerges. The 13th Sign - Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Hugh Jackman. In theaters this April.

[QDP]

04:06 AM on 01/16/2011

Well, it certainly is one way of trying to convince everybody that we've actually always been reading the wrong signs!! No wonder it's never really come true!! Now I get it!

This means had I only read from the Ophiuchus file, I'd be in much better conditions of actual prognostications. Now, how MUCH does this COST?

[not going2take it]

11:04 PM on 01/15/2011

I am a Gemini to the core... regardless of any new development
I am mercurial, live my life as a reasoned communicator, professor and instructor.
I am dual (analytical, abstract) and free form artistic. An engineer and artist.
Artistic photographer and technical shooter, know the arts and
firmly grounded in the technologies of camera.

I am a Gemini to the core of my soul....

[LMPE]

08:48 PM on 01/15/2011

I've had it with these motherfucking snake-bearers on this motherfucking plane!

[Jampa]

08:19 PM on 01/15/2011

This article is pointless, misleading garbage.

http://www.astrologycom.com/astrology.html

[DanSc]

06:55 PM on 01/15/2011

Huffpost readers really need to brush up on astronomy

[makamakachii]

05:53 PM on 01/15/2011

Now my issue with this is the system of twelve! I WILL NOT accept this as a sign until it has a mode and element that's not taken! come on! show me the whole system you've devised for this lovely lovely little thirteenth sign. i refuse to say I'm a libra or that my significant other is a freaking Leo.. I cannot stand Leo's and he is not one. He was born under virgo and I under scorpio. Give me the new system you astrologers have designed. tell me what's happening with the trines, squares, sextiles and oppositions that are based on a system of TWELVE. i'm writing a story based on the constellations of the zodiac and it goes in depth to the elements, modes, and all, so if i want to be accurate I need the system and until i get it, i refuse to accept this idiocy

[pfz]

06:04 PM on 01/15/2011

Now now it isn't new it is rather old....but i see your dilemma I'm not a fan of Leo's either.

[Brandon M Gothizm]

02:29 PM on 01/16/2011

Same thing happened here...
So all the characteristics of our Previous horoscope before is not what we were??!

[Jampa]

08:19 PM on 01/15/2011

http://www.astrologycom.com/astrology.html

[Academic Zodiac]

02:27 PM on 01/15/2011

New Zodiac on Facebook!
22 zodiacal stations,
16 ascendants
+ 5000 publications. .
http://ht.ly/3Esai
http://lulu.com/astrology

[Jampa]

08:19 PM on 01/15/2011

http://www.astrologycom.com/astrology.html

[fiberoptimist]

09:04 AM on 01/15/2011

This feels like a planted story to distract the public and change the conversation, post-Arizona. Get the real facts here. Your Western astrological sign has NOT changed....

http://astrodynamics.net/blog/2011/01/14/your-zodiac-sign-has-not-changed/

[Jampa]

08:19 PM on 01/15/2011

http://www.astrologycom.com/astrology.html

[ThinkCreeps]

12:12 PM on 01/16/2011

Yup. No change.

Your new superstitious nonsense is just the same as your old superstitious nonsense.

[fiberoptimist]

07:25 PM on 01/17/2011

I used to firmly believe it was nonsense too, but through my own study and experience, I discovered that there really is something to it. There is a science to it, but not the junk science espoused in that article.