Reptile house

I was born under an unlikely sign.  When you spin a top, it does not spin exactly straight, but rather the upper end of it traces a circle in the air.  This type of movement is called 'precession', and may be found in all spinning bodies, the Earth included.  Because of this phenomenon, which star is our "north star" gradually alters - in another few thousand years Polaris will no longer be usable as a fixed reference.  It also has some impact on the field of astrology.
One's birth sign is determined by drawing a line from the Earth through the sun and out into space.  Whatever constellation this line intersects with is the sign you were born under.  The sun is pretty far away, so the determinations remain mostly constant.  Mostly.  Due to the precession of the Earth there is now, briefly, a thirteenth astrological sign.  Which I was born under.
I don't know much about Ophiuchus, except he was a dude that held a snake.  But that's alright, I guess.  I've always liked The Crocodile Hunter.  And if I was a Harry Potter character I'd be in Slytheryn for sure.  So maybe there is something to it.
I don't believe the stars have any influence on our lives... the people who drew constellations to make sense of the heavens could not have guessed the vast distances between the tiny points of light they watched dance through the year.  They did not consider that apparent closeness might only be relative: the star Tabit, in Orion, is twenty-six light years away; right next to it by our view is Pi4 Orionis - twelve hundred light years further.

I like snakes.  The poison ones are scary, but the rest are cool.  Like, I wouldn't mind holding one, I mean.  And it feels sort of secret cool to know that I was born under some weird snake sign.  Astrology is silly, and deriving personal significance because of the movement of the Earth around the sun is silly.   Still, I am glad I'm not a "Cancer".  

-J