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Leo daily horoscope: see Cancer

When 19-year old Philadelphia University student Lauren Fox woke up on Jan. 10, she had no idea that everything was about to change.

She quickly got into her usual routine of making her morning coffee and toasting her plain bagel. She showered and brushed her teeth, the same as any other morning.

Then it happened.

The moment when things would never be the same for this physician’s assistant major: she read her daily horoscope.

For the first 7,616 days of her life, Fox had been classified as a Pisces, but on that day in January, this Pisces, usually shy and romantic, was instead an unemotional and detached Aquarius.

What. What? Parke Kunkel, astronomy instructor at Minneapolis Community and Technical College, made public last week his belief that a 13th zodiac sign should be included in the zodiac calendar.

But, according to experts, this announcement isn’t anything to the new science community and actually wouldn’t have been considered new to Galileo or Copernicus. This 13th “sign,” based on the constellation Ophiuchus [O-Fee-AKiss or O-Few-Shuss], has been known by scientists for about 2,500 years and dates back to the Babylonians.

With a 13th sign in place, all previous signs shift about a month. Some people who were once Leos would instead be Cancers, while some Libras are now Virgos.

One DCCC student expressed his distaste for Kunkel’s proclamation.

“I’ve been an Aquarius my whole life,” said Eric Trexler, 21, a business management major. “I’m not just going to switch now because some random guy says I should.”

According to Daniel Childers, professor of earth and space science at DCCC, the sun does indeed pass through a small section of Ophiuchus, in between Sagittarius and Scorpio.

“Although the sun goes through a small bit of Ophiuchus and actually a similar amount of Scorpio, the stars are much brighter in Scorpio,” Childers said.

“That’s one reason why [Ophiuchus] was never included. The stars were difficult to see.”

Childers credits the viral nature of this information to the 24-hour media outlets.

“When one person puts something out there, a lot of people can see it,” Childers said.

“After a while, one person tells two people, they tell four people, and eventually it’s viral.”

Some students believe the new zodiac won’t affect them at all.

“I was never significantly concerned with my zodiac sign before the recent reclassification,” said Steve Boraske, 21, a political science major at St. Joseph’s University. “Had I actually paid attention to my horoscope, I would have been following the wrong stuff anyway. [This] only serves to vindicate my apathy towards a ‘science’ that I think is almost entirely rubbish.”

For another student, however, this change isn’t upsetting or unimportant, but simply annoying.

“I’m probably going to slip up for a while when people ask me what sign I am,” said Matt DeVito, 20, a business administration major and former Gemini. “After that happens enough times, I’m most likely just going to get tired of correcting myself and revert back to my original sign.”

Some in the business sector say they too are feeling an impact.

Mother and daughter astrologers Carmella and Crystal Reed, owners of Psychic Readings & Astrology by Carmella in Norwood, Pa., say their business has been booming these past few weeks.

“We’ve had several dozen people call or come in since last week, asking about their sign,” said Carmella, who has been an astrologer for 38 years. “People are worried if their sign really is their sign.”

According to Crystal, who is in her 24th year as an astrologer, “People got so used to their sign and started to love it. Now some feel it’s been ‘taken away’ from them and it came as a shock. If you find out your child was switched at birth, you’re not going to abandon it and not love it anymore. That’s kind of what this is like.”

But, according to Gisele Terry, president of the International Society for Astrological Research, none of these people have anything to worry about at all.

“In astrology we don’t go by the constellations, we go by signs,” Terry said.

“Ophiuchus is just a small constellation near Scorpio and has nothing to do with astrology.”

There are 88 official constellations and to include this small one as a major sign would be ridiculous, she said.

Considering the many different opinions about this new sign, it seems Fox has quite the decision to make. Should she seamlessly slip back into her old life as a Pisces, or should she take a gigantic leap of faith towards a new life as an Aquarius? “I think I’ll still wake up every morning and make my bagel and drink my coffee,” Fox said. “And then I’ll take a look at both horoscopes and choose which one I prefer that day. The way I look at it, I can’t lose.”

Contact Andrew Wiley at communitarian@mail.dccc.edu

The Communitarian Opinion Policy: The opinions expressed on the editorial and the op-ed pages do not necessarily reflect those of The Communitarian staff or college. We welcome your comments on any matter relating to Delaware County Community College, and responsible rebuttal is encouraged. Write to communitarian@mail.dccc.edu. Please write “letter to editor” in the subject box.