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Ancient astrologers associated positive declination with good
fortune, since it meant warmer days and more food.
Recent research, however, shows a correlation between world
wars, booms and busts and negative declination, which means
the winter months. Either astrologers have been getting it
wrong for centuries, or we should all go to live in Australia!
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It's the first day of spring today, the spring
equinox, and also the first day of the new year for astrologers,
since the sun now enters Aries, first sign of the zodiac.
Although March 21 is always taken as the official day, the
time when the sun enters Aries varies from year to year. The
year is not 365 days long but a few hours and minutes more,
leading to leap years; the result is that Aries starts on
March 20 more often than the 21st, but this year it does fall
on March 21 (at 1am).
From today, in the northern hemisphere at least, there is
more daylight than darkness, and the sun gets a little higher
in the sky each day. In other words, summer is coming. How
high the sun gets is measured in 'degrees of declination':
positive values for summer, and negative for winter when the
sun is low. On March 21 and September 23, the spring and autumn
equinoxes, declination is zero, and the 24-hour day is divided
exactly into 12 hours of light and 12 of darkness. That's
what 'equinox' means, in fact; 'equal night'.
The signs of the zodiac are actually counted from today, from
the equinox, and not from the constellations � because the
actual constellations are different sizes, which makes things
difficult. Dividing the year into twelve from one spring equinox
to the next gives signs of equal size, which is better.
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