Q&A Friday: What Is the Zodiac, Anyway?

Astrology's astronomy

“So, what is the Zodiac, anyway?” I’m always happy to answer this question because there are so many misunderstandings surrounding it. Even astronomers and scientists like Neil deGrasse Tyson and Bill Nye clearly don’t understand the astrological Zodiac, or they’d stop trying to shoehorn Ophiuchus in where it doesn’t belong.

Essentially, the Zodiac is a way to locate planets (and other objects) in space in their relationship to Earth and to each other. The astrologer draws a chart of those locations, putting the three-dimensional reality of the solar system into a two-dimensional map centered on Earth, and interprets that map based on the symbolism of the Zodiac. The map is astronomically accurate; the Zodiac is a metaphysical template laid over it.