What is the reason for having two sun signs for each zodiacal sign? Is this accurate or not, and why are there two of them?
“What is the reason for having two sun signs for each zodiacal sign? Is this accurate or not, and why are there two of them?” is a question I answered on Quora.
Your question is confusing. You cannot have “two sun signs for each zodiacal sign.”
A sun sign IS a zodiacal sign occupied by the Sun.
But, what I think you are asking is why are there two zodiacs – which can provide two sun signs.
Well, you see there are two. And in the words of Michael Caine, “Not a lot of people know that!”
I’ll come onto answering your question below but first a bit about the two zodiacs… There is the sidereal zodiac and there is the tropical zodiac. The fact that not many people know of this isn’t surprising really, especially as pop astrology gets the two confused in its simplistic representation of Western astrology.
Sidereal Zodiac
The sidereal zodiac is drawn from the constellations of stars around the ecliptic belt – or the path the Earth takes around the Sun.
This zodiac is mainly used in Vedic astrology. Some Western astrologers also make use of it.
Tropical Zodiac
The tropical zodiac is based upon the seasons of the Earth to the Sun. The spring equinox marks the beginning of the cycle of twelve 30 degree signs. Cancer begins at the summer solstice, Libra at autumn equinox, and the winter solstice at the beginning of Capricorn. You could say that the only star involved in this zodiac is the Sun.
This zodiac is mainly used in Western astrology.
Precession of the Equinoxes
At one time there was just the one zodiac. Everything lined up. The cause of there being two zodiacs is due to precession of the equinoxes. This was discovered over two thousand years ago. What it means is that our spring equinox is gradually moving backwards against the background stars (of the sidereal zodiac) and it takes around 26k years to complete one cycle.
The two zodiacs are now out of line with each other to the tune of around 24 degrees. Our spring equinox is currently passing through the sidereal sign of Pisces – and heading towards Aquarius (hence the anticipated Age of Aquarius – which some will argue we are already in)
So, to answer your question: A person with their Sun at say 10 degrees of Scorpio (Scorpio Sun sign) in the tropical zodiac, will also have their Sun at 16 degrees of Libra (24 degrees back) in the sidereal zodiac. They therefore technically have two sun-signs across different systems.
If the same person had their Sun at say 25 degrees of Scorpio in the tropical system, they would still have their Sun in Scorpio in the other – at 1 degree.
This can all get confusing, so if you want my advice, it is stick with one system.
I hope this helps.
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