The Age of Aquarius |Celestial Equator |Constellations and Signs |Precession of the Equinoxes

Throughout the year, the Sun makes an apparent trek slowly along the ecliptic in a leftward movement. Once it has reached the spot where the sky equator intersects the ecliptic, the time span for days and nights become equal.

The Vernal Equinox (Spring) occurs on or about March 21st, and this time frame becomes the point where the Sun will enter the zodiac sign Aries. This is not to be confused with the constellation of Aries. Another way to look at this is that if Spring was the result of influences coming from the constellation of Aries, then it would have to enter a bit earlier every year so as to keep up with the precession of the equinoxes. This is an idea which simply doesn't make sense.

Before that time, it is seen in a position which is south of the celestial equator and the nights become longer than the days in the northern hemisphere. After the Sun passes over the celestial equator from a southern to northern declination, the days will become longer than the nights. Because the Earth has a slight wobble, the actual point where the Sun will pass the intersection of the ecliptic and the celestial equator happens each year at a somewhat different location against the backdrop of the stars. Therefore, the signs, which are calculated from the equinox, slowly shift away from the constellations, whose names they have taken on and which make available the motionless sphere against which the vernal point moves gradually backward. This retrograde movement is known as the precession of the equinoxes. In astrology, the 30° of the ecliptic known as the sign Aries, counted from the vernal equinox even though as the years pass, the unhurried retrograde movement of the equinoctial point along the ecliptic adds up to about fifty seconds of a degree which equals one degree every seventy two years. In setting up a chart, allowance should be made for the 50 seconds a year time difference due to the procession of the equinoxes. By the age of 72, this can add up to 1°. The vernal equinox marks an accepted point of beginning, which becomes apparent when the lenght of the day is the same as the night. The constellations are subjective divisions of the cosmic sphere. Exactly where they begin has yet to be determined.

The precession oif the equinoxes must be taken into consideration when figuring decanates, which would be calculated backwards.