Your correct / real SUN Sign

Article updated in 2011. Published first in July 2009. This is not  to be confused with Moon Sign or as folks call it Indian sign or Chandra-Rashi, Birth-Rashi or simply Indians call it Rashi. The Western world that follows Sun Sign Calendar is tropical one and is wrong. The REAL Sun signs are the side-real ones as given below. So when you read Linda Goodman Sun Signs you should read it as per the sign below. But you can continue to check ENGLISH Dailies or Western predictions as per your birth-date range (say times of India if you are born on April 11 -- you will continue to read Aries BUT when you read Linda Goodman Sun Signs or any characteristics -- PISCES is your Sun Sign. So characteristics would be as per real sun sign calendar bellow)

Know your REAL / Correct Sun-Sign below. Check the Side-real dates in the table included below and then read Linda Goodman again but now the correct Sun Sign! :)

Lately there have been a lot of discussions and articles on “additional sun sign” which is downright bogus and not even worthy of taking a note of it. There have been some other (FoxNews) talks such as “Your Sign is different and all the weekly and monthly predictions are worthless etc etc”. These articles are written by folks based on discussions with some HALF-Baked Potatoes! J It is partially true:

1. They are correct in the sense that the “Real Sun signs” are different than the Western Astrology follows. i.e. Aries REAL Sun sign is from April 15 (USA) to May 14/15^th (USA) and not from March 21 to April 20 etc.

2. But they are WRONG in saying that the predictions by Western Astrologers are wrong! The reason is simple: They also calculate Saturn, Jupiter and other planets with the same (wrong) calendar! J So two wrong cancel out and they get similar results! (Well almost!)

3. If you are born on say April 9^th – You are Piscean Sun Sign (and not Aries) and you should read Linda Goodman in that way but prediction would not change that much:

4. EXAMPLE: If you are a 9^th April Born or

a. Indian Astrologer would say – Pisces Sun – From May 2011 to Dec 2011 – Shani will be in Kanya (Virgo) directly (close degrees) opposite to your Sun – This shows issues/trouble from/with seniors/authorities at workplace or Govt.

b. Western Astrologer would say – You are Aries – The Saturn is in Libra and hence opposite to your Sun and hence this shows issues/trouble from/with seniors/authorities at workplace or Govt until Saturn is in Libra! J

c. There will be some differences due to SIGN characteristics considered but Western astro predictions would not be completely out of place.

The Indian Astrology has been using CORRECT SUN Signs for thousands of years as explained below by correcting for “Procession of Equinox” which is caused by Earth’s Axis being wobble! J

(There have been some debates in India which “Ayanash” to use. (Lahiri, KP, Chitra, Tilak Panchang etc). I found Lahiri the most trust-worthy! B. V. Raman’s Astrological journal uses incorrect Ayanansh. It is a great journal though – One of the best! The difference is not huge though!)

Know your REAL / Correct Sun-Sign below. Check the Side-real dates in the table below and then read Linda Goodman again but now the correct Sun Sign! :)

1. Basically the Axis of the Earth is not stationary and also rotates in a gigantic circle and takes 84600 years to complete the rotation. (It is called as "Paranchan Gati" of the Axis).

2. Due to this movement of the axis, every 72 years, the Equinox moves 1 degree farther -- Called as "Procession of Equinox". This process goes on for 26,000 years.

3. So every 72 years the Sun Sign Calendar needs a movement of 1 day ahead. (I will need to check if this has to happen endlessly – at some point in time, due to rotation of the axis – the reduction could also start happening?? – I will need to get more information.) I just wanted to add that some 1728 (aprx) years back – TROPICAL Sun Signs coincided with the SIDEREAL ones. After that every 72 years it is going 1 day/degree (aprx) ahead.

4. That is why Makar-Sankranti was celebrated in India on 14th of Jan in last century and now slowly becoming 15th of Jan.5. Makar (i.e. Capricorn) Sankranti is the day when SUN enters Capricorn sign. This is the RULE OF THUMB if you do not remember complete calendar of Sun Signs.

You can search it on wiki with "sidereal" keyword: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidereal_astrology.

Check Sidereal Dates below (In BOLD FONT are the real ones – They are American Dates, Subtract 1 for Indian dates)

Sign	Tropical-date	Sidereal-Date
Aries	March 21 - April 20	April 14 - May 14
Taurus	April 21 - May 21	May 15 - June 15
Gemini	May 22 - June 23	June 16 - July 15
Cancer	June 24 - July 23	July 16 - August 15
Leo	July 24 - August 23	August 16 - Sept 15
Virgo	August 24 - Sept 22	Sept 16 - October 15
Libra	Sept 23 - October 23	Oct 16 - Nov16
Scorpio	October 24 - Nov 22	Nov 16 - Dec16
Sagittarius	Nov 23 - Dec 21	Dec16 - January 14
Capricorn	Dec 22 - Jan 19	Jan 14 - Feb14
Aquarius	January 20 - Feb 18	Feb14 - March 14
Pisces	February 19 - March 20	March 14 - April 13

“Vedic astrology is based on the sidereal or Zodiac" href="file://wiki/Sidereal_zodiac"visible zodiac, accounting for the shift of the equinoxes by a correction called ayanamsa. The difference between the Vedic and the Western zodiacs is currently around 24 degrees. This corresponds to a separation of c. 1700 years, when the vernal equinox was approximately at the center of the constellation Pisces and the tropical zodiac coincided with the sidereal one (around 285 AD according to N C Lahiri). The separation is believed to have taken place in the centuries following Ptolemy, apparently going back to Indo-Greek transmission of the system. But earlier Greek astronomers like Eudoxus spoke of vernal equinox at 15° in Aries, while later Greeks spoke of vernal equinox at 8° and then 0° in Aries (cf. p.16, S. Jim Tester in ref.), which suggests use of sidereal zodiac in Greece before Ptolemy and Hipparchus. The ayanamsa correction has always been made in Vedic astrology, whose existence spans around thousands of years.”