The Tropical zodiac reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Tropical zodiac

The tropical zodiac is based upon tropical time, or the apparent motion of the sun across the sky over the course of a year. The tropical zodiac fixes the position of the sun in the heavens at the northern hemisphere vernal equinox as the first point of the sign of Aries. The signs of the zodiac in tropical astrology are therefore currently divorced from the actual constellations of the zodiac. This is due to the Precession of the equinoxes.

This is in contrast to the sidereal zodiac, which is based on the apparent motion of the sun against the actual constellations of the zodiac in the sky.

The tropical zodiac continues to be used by the majority of western astrologers but a minority use the sidereal zodiac.

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