Category:Zodiac

The ecliptic forms the center of the zodiac, a celestial belt about 20° wide in latitude through which the Sun, Moon, and planets always appear to move. Traditionally, this region is divided into 12 signs of 30° longitude, each of which approximates the Sun's motion in one month. The signs correspond roughly to 12 of the constellations that straddle the ecliptic. These signs are sometimes still used in modern terminology. The "First Point of Aries" was named when the March equinox Sun was actually in the constellation Aries; it has since moved into Pisces because of precession of the equinoxes.

As the Moon and other planets travel through each station of the ecliptic plane, they begin to exhibit the energies within it. Likewise, as the earth revolves around the sun, the apparent motion is that the Sun itself is moving through the stations as well, and it radiates the energies of each zodiacal station.