Watertown astrologer says don't believe the hype about zodiac

shift

Wicked Local staff photo by David Gordon

Astrologist Dorothy Oja sits for a photo in her living room on Tuesday afternoon, January 18, 2011.

By Laura Paine
Wicked Local Watertown
Posted Jan 20, 2011 @ 05:00 PM

WATERTOWN — Watertown astrologer Dorothy Oja wonders what Professor Parke Kunkle’s intention
was when he announced that a 13th zodiac sign should be added to astrological charts — and why he
doesn’t know the backstory.
Oja, who has been studying astrology for 39 years, said that this
information is not new.
Dozens books have been written about the shift of the zodiac and the
omission of the sign Ophiuchus. Kunkle’s announcement on Jan. 13
unnecessarily sent many people into a personal identity panic as they
discovered that they might not be the sign they always believed they
were.
“Every now and then people want to bring it up,” Oja said. “Ophiuchus
is a constellation that is off the zodiac path where the rest of the
zodiac [constellations] are. It wasn’t used because the sun doesn’t
shine into that constellation. The news that the sun has changed is
true — this is astrology 101.”
In Tropical astrology, which is primarily used in the Western world,
zodiac signs are defined by the season in which the sign rises in their
constellation. Oja said that it has always started at zero degrees in
Aries, the spring equinox, and then moves through summer, fall and
winter.
Despite the earth shifting 23 degrees, Oja says the precession of the
equinox hasn’t changed… and neither has anyone’s zodiac sign.
“The fixed point has always been used, but the backdrop has shifted,”
Oja said. “It is a symbolic language using a symbolic starting point.
The charts are the same. The way we use the charts have to be and
are different than 3,000 years ago. When the environment and culture
changes, we have to change.”
She said that a person born as an Aries 3,000 years ago would more
accurately fit the sign’s characteristics than someone born as an Aries
today.
“We’ve evolved,” Oja said. “We as humans are not the same as we
were 3,000 years ago. If we haven’t evolved in the way we use our
energies from 3,000 years ago, I’d be really sad.”
Oja said that there is some truth behind the theory that horoscopes
found in newspapers or online are written so they can apply to
anyone.
“The sun is the center and overall scope of your life,” she said. “It’s
our most powerful star. Every now and then you can find some truth,
but you can have the rest of the planets everywhere—we don’t know
what combination you are. It can be hit or miss in sun sign astrology.”
An astrological chart shows where the planets, sun and moon were
aligned at the exact date, time and location of a person’s birth. It’s
believed that these alignments can add characteristics to the ones
determined by a person’s zodiac sign.
Oja said people are constantly trying to debunk astrology, because
they want measurements and proof.
“Psychology is the closest profession to astrology,” she said. “It
measures some things, but not everything. You can’t measure a
complex human being or how they will handle [influences].”
Oja said she was not always a believer. When she learned her
grandmother had studied astrology, she thought it was “unusual.”
“As a teen I checked out star scrolls and I remember reading it and
thinking it was very stupid,” she said. “I dropped it. In my early 20s, I
picked it up again. Once I got hooked and started seeing there was
truth [behind it] that was it for me. It’s a big clock. The gears keep
changing and moving. I love what I do.”

Laura Paine can be reached at lpaine@cnc.com.