User:Eusoon

Chapter of Heaven - The Ancient Oriental Zodiac System[edit]

Ancient oriental astronomer realized that the orbits of most of the Solar system’s planets lie closer to Jupiter's orbital plane than the Sun's equatorial plane and the fact that Jupiter completes an orbit every 11.86 years. After realised that whenever Jupiter changes signs, it impacts the rhythm of planet Earth, ancient oriental astronomer decided to adopt the apparent path of Jupiter, instead of the ecliptic of Sun, to denote an annual cycle of twelve stations along the apparent path of Jupiter across the heavens through the constellations that divide the path into twelve equal zones of celestial longitude Each of the zones is associated with both one animal sign and one Jupiter year. Thus the signs repeat themselves every twelve Jupiter year cycle. But the fact that Jupiter rotates counterclockwise make it difficult to replace the zodiac system that use the ecliptic of Sun, thus a virtual Jupiter is created. As Jupiter moves to the zodiac sign of tiger, the virtual Jupiter moves to the zodiac sign of ox. As Jupiter moves to the zodiac sign of rabbit, the virtual Jupiter moves to the zodiac sign of rat.

Constellations passed by Jupiter

星宿

Animal Sign Zodiac

十二

生肖

Western Zodiac

Ancient Name of the Year

星次

Virtual Jupiter Year

太岁

Jupiter Year

岁星

Dipper(斗)

Winnowing Basket(箕)

Tail (尾)

Tiger

虎

Sagittarius

析木

丑

(chǒu)

寅

(yín)

Tail(尾)

Heart(心)

Room(房)

Root(氐)

Rabbit

兔

Scorpio

大火

子

(zǐ)

卯

(mǎo)

Root(氐)

Neck(亢)

Horn<(角)

Chariot(轸)

Dragon

龙

Libra

寿星

亥

(hài)

辰

(chén)

Chariot (轸)

Wings(翼)

Extended Net (张)

Snake

蛇

Virgo

鹑尾

戌

(xū)

已

(sì)

Extended Net(张)

Star (星)

Willow (柳)

Horse

马

Leo

鹑火

酉

(yǒu)

午

(wǔ)

Willow (柳)

Ghost (鬼)

Well(井)

Sheep

羊

Cancer

鹑首

申

(shēn)

未

(wèi)

Turtle Beak (觜)

Three Stars(叁)

Net (毕)

Monkey

猴

Gemini

实沉

未

(wèi)

申

(shēn)

Net(毕)

Hairy Head(昴)

<Stomach(胃)

Rooster

鸡

Taurus

大梁

午

(wǔ)

酉

(yǒu)

Stomach(胃)

Bond (娄)

Legs (奎)

Dog

狗

Aries

降娄

已

(sì)

戌

(xū)

Legs(奎)

Encampment(室)

Wall(壁)

Rooftop(危)

Pig

猪

Pisces

娵訾

辰

(chén)

亥

(hài)

<Rooftop(危)

Emptiness(虚)

Girl(女)

Rat

鼠

Aquarius

玄枵

卯

(mǎo)

子

(zǐ)

Girl(女)

Ox(牛)

Dipper(斗)

Ox

牛

Capricorn

星纪

寅

(yín)

丑

(chǒu)

Table 1.Jupiter Year and the 12 animal zodiac signs

Twenty-eight Mansions or 28 Zodiac Signs

The use of virtual Jupiter explained why modern astronomers or astrologists were unable to associated the 12 animal zodiac signs of Jupiter year to any of the constellations of Twenty-eight Mansions.

Contrary to general belief that Twenty-eight Mansions reflects the movement of the Moon in lunar month, it actually reflect the movement of sun, moon and the five visible planets in a Jupiter year.

Using Big Dipper (北斗星) as a reference point, ancient oriental zodiac system divides the sky into 4 distinct sections. The 4 sections are: east azure dragon, south red vermillion bird, west white tiger and north black snake necked turtle. Each section consists of 7 constellations. Each constellation is associated with one animal sign. The constellations are arrange in the sequence of Jupiter (木) , Venus (金), Saturn (土), Sun (日) Moon (月), Mars (火) and Mercury(水) .