VMs: Re: Meaning of Pisces?

["Rafal T. Prinke" <rafalp@xxxxxxxxxx>]

JJJRLandau@xxxxxxx wrote:

> "Precession of the equinoxes" means that the Zodiac ROTATES around the earth
> every 26,000 years.  If the sun is at the "first point of Aries" on a given
> day in the year x, then 26000/12 = 2167 years later it will be at the first
> point of Pisces on the same day, and in another 2167 years at the first point
> of Aquarius.  The people who write horoscopes for the newspapers---ignorant,
> cheap frauds, every last one of them---use Zodiac charts that were up to date
> at the time of Julius Caesar but are 2,000 years out of date, and hence every
> newspaper horoscope you see is off by a full constellation.

Not quite true. As Rene has already explained, the Zodiac 
is a misleading term as it may mean both the 12 equal divisions
of the ecliptic *and* the constellations through which the ecliptic
crosses. In order to distinguish them, the names are often
specified as "tropical zodiac" (ie. that of signs) and "sidereal
zodiac" (ie. of constellations).

In European astrology/astronomy it was the former that was in common
use ever since Ptolemy, while in Indian astrology, it was
the latter. So Roger Bacon, Copernicus, Dee and Kepler used
the same system as modern newspaper astrologers :-)

It thus cannot be said that the Zodiac "rotates" around the earth.
The Sun, in your example, will always be in 0 degrees of Aries
on the vernal point (as these terms are synonyms) - but that
point of the ecliptic (and the celectial equator, as those
two great circles cross at that point - as Rene explained)
will be seen 30 degrees farther against the background of
the constellations.

Best regards,

Rafal