Fortunaltely most of the horoscopes are based on our current seasons and have nothing to do with the Earth getting out of alignment with the 3,000 B.C. star chart! So lucky to be the same sign I always was!!!! Not the new snake guy thingie…..
I remember reading an article on this same thing – 35 years ago. It was written by Isaac Asimov, and appeared as one of his monthly science columns in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
I was a Virgo, which I have never been too happy with. Not butch enough, I felt. A little wimpish I always thought. However, it appears I am now a Leo. Wowee. Well macho, eh? (Gives a little roar and exits stage right).
The Xtians will have to deface the carved imagery on quite a few churches and Cathedrals now. Chartres, Autun and Amiens are all famous for their zodiac stone work, for example.
Capricorn tends to be placed as the top symbol, due to the ‘code’ that identifies it with Jesus. They’ll have to chip out Chartres’ window and rotate it by 30 degrees, before grouting it back in and hoping no-one notices!
Runar, I remember the Asimov article too, although I saw it reprinted in one of his numerous and excellent non-fiction books when I was in my first few high-school years. I tried to ‘convert’ my fellow students but hey, it was [an ultra-conservative] high school and nobody was really interested in learning anything.
It would be unsurprising if the time of year you were born in — which month — had significant effect on your personality and life IN AN AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. Nutritional levels, early life events and so on would be at least impacted over the first year or two by where in the year you were born.
Of course — there are almost no agricultural societies left. The social clock doesn’t depend on the seasons, but on the corporate accounting cycle.
So, even if astrology was meaningful 500 years ago — it’s completely stupid now. What we need is a new “corporate zodiac” based off of where in the financial cycle you were born. Did Dad get a Christmas bonus? Was mom pissed because of end of the year audits?
It looks like the name of the Asimov book might be The Stars in Their Courses. I haven’t read that one, but luckily there is a local copy available by interlibrary loan. Thanks for the tip.
The ancient Chaldean astronomers divided the sun’s apparent circular path around the earth into twelve sections (what modern astrologers call “houses”) of 30 degrees each. They fixed the start of the sun’s “year” at the Vernal Equinox, which in those days happened to be in the constellation of Aries. Hence the term “first point of Aries”, which refers to the sun’s position at the point when it crosses the celestial equator. The 12 divisions/houses were named after constellations convenient at the time. Astrologers work with the houses, not with constellations, so the effect of the precession of the equinoxes is not considered relevant. On the other hand, they do seem to impute to each house many of the characteristics associated with the names of the original constellations, and as this all dates from a particular time there is no reason to suppose that it has any authority other than tradition. So it’s rubbish, probably. So forget I said all this.
Brilliant comic, by the way. So glad I discovered it. Please ignore all those people who want more animation. It’s perfect the way it is.
Well what do you know? According to the ‘new star-sign’ site I used to be Capricorn and am now Saggyhairyarse. Trouble is, according to every book on astrology – and every newspaper / magazine horoscope I’ve ever seen – my birthday originallly made me Aquarius.
You know that something’s nonsense when even a debunking site run by someone who once did it for a living can’t get it right!
I used to be Ophiuchus but now I’m Reticulum (I blame the Zetas). That’s a shame, I always thought of myself as more of a Retarius or perhaps Gadolinium.
Ophiucus: today you will make a hot drink which will cool perceptibly over time. You will move electrons and slightly warp space-time a bit. Your lucky colour will be blank and your fortunate number 7,738,857,756,638,904,943.6 . Watch out for beans, red dogs and things that tick. Cut the green wire. Don’t eat that.
Jesus & Mo (the characters) are absurd, blinkered, and oddly very sweet. J&M (the cartoon) is brilliant: sharp, delicious, irresistible. Salman Rushdie
Jesus and Mo cartoons are wonderfully funny and true. Richard Dawkins
Jesus and Mo make the world a better place, bless their little hearts. Ophelia Benson
In a world defined by outrage and offence and liberal spinelessness, Jesus and Mo is a treasure, whose value we should never fail to recognize. Read them. Laugh. And think. Kenan Malik
The brilliant, celebrated, freaking hilarious atheist comic strip ... Greta Christina
...rays of sanity in a befuddled world. Keri Hulme
The liveliest depictions of Muhammad currently available... Malise Ruthven
J & Mo is the funniest and most consistently thought-provoking cartoon strip on the Net. In a saner world, it would run in a major newspaper. Nelson Jones, Heresy Corner
Consistently amusing, frequently thought-provoking and often heart-warming. New Humanist
Jesus & Mo is one of the most wonderful things on the internet.. JT Eberhard
Wittily captures much of the absurdity of religious apologetics. Mano Singham
I love jesusandmo.net cartoons - witty and sharp! Katha Pollitt
Often hilarious, frequently wry, these cartoons do what all the best cartoons do: they tell the truth through humour. Terry Sanderson, NSS President
...a wonderfully acid British cartoonist... Nick Cohen
I love the scrappy mockery of Jesus and Mo. Freedom of speech
includes the freedom to mock any person, any thing, any activity, and
any belief -- and J&M stands up for this unflinchingly Richard Stallman
...empowering, important and deeply progressive, not to mention hilarious... Council of Ex-Muslims
March 18, 2009
Whohoo!! I’m still a Sagittarius! I’m so happy Jesus didn’t become one of us. He would not fit our gang.
I’m now a Gemini. Now i have to get rid of all my Cancer nick-nacks.
Fortunaltely most of the horoscopes are based on our current seasons and have nothing to do with the Earth getting out of alignment with the 3,000 B.C. star chart! So lucky to be the same sign I always was!!!! Not the new snake guy thingie…..
I remember reading an article on this same thing – 35 years ago. It was written by Isaac Asimov, and appeared as one of his monthly science columns in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
don’t worry, jesus, you’re still a capricorn to the eastern orthodox!
Funny: I don’t feel different.
I was a Virgo, which I have never been too happy with. Not butch enough, I felt. A little wimpish I always thought. However, it appears I am now a Leo. Wowee. Well macho, eh? (Gives a little roar and exits stage right).
1. I like the sub-headline on the newspaper.
2. How come there’s no *bear* starsign, other than “the water BEARer”?
As a Cancer you were good at BMX tricks. Cancer people are often boring.
As a Gemini you will be required to be unable to communicate. Gemini people have a tendency to speak in tongues
That site is awesome, now I know who i really am 😛
“Ignore the data, or change the belief”?
Well, I know heresy when I read it, and it seems like Mo is on that slippery slope we often hear about.
A clever calculating quack
Changed the soothsayer’s zodiac
The old one is trash
The new one means cash
Cus the suckers will keep coming back.
Nassar, that’s a good one
Jesus was a Capricorn
he ate organic foods
he beleived in peace and love
and never wore no shoes
– kris kristopherson
The Xtians will have to deface the carved imagery on quite a few churches and Cathedrals now. Chartres, Autun and Amiens are all famous for their zodiac stone work, for example.
Capricorn tends to be placed as the top symbol, due to the ‘code’ that identifies it with Jesus. They’ll have to chip out Chartres’ window and rotate it by 30 degrees, before grouting it back in and hoping no-one notices!
Runar, I remember the Asimov article too, although I saw it reprinted in one of his numerous and excellent non-fiction books when I was in my first few high-school years. I tried to ‘convert’ my fellow students but hey, it was [an ultra-conservative] high school and nobody was really interested in learning anything.
Okay — this one is a rare “stupid both ways”.
It would be unsurprising if the time of year you were born in — which month — had significant effect on your personality and life IN AN AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. Nutritional levels, early life events and so on would be at least impacted over the first year or two by where in the year you were born.
Of course — there are almost no agricultural societies left. The social clock doesn’t depend on the seasons, but on the corporate accounting cycle.
So, even if astrology was meaningful 500 years ago — it’s completely stupid now. What we need is a new “corporate zodiac” based off of where in the financial cycle you were born. Did Dad get a Christmas bonus? Was mom pissed because of end of the year audits?
so, that would be a corpiac?
It looks like the name of the Asimov book might be The Stars in Their Courses. I haven’t read that one, but luckily there is a local copy available by interlibrary loan. Thanks for the tip.
[…] I could go on but won’t. Instead, I shall give the last word to Jesus and Mo: […]
The ancient Chaldean astronomers divided the sun’s apparent circular path around the earth into twelve sections (what modern astrologers call “houses”) of 30 degrees each. They fixed the start of the sun’s “year” at the Vernal Equinox, which in those days happened to be in the constellation of Aries. Hence the term “first point of Aries”, which refers to the sun’s position at the point when it crosses the celestial equator. The 12 divisions/houses were named after constellations convenient at the time. Astrologers work with the houses, not with constellations, so the effect of the precession of the equinoxes is not considered relevant. On the other hand, they do seem to impute to each house many of the characteristics associated with the names of the original constellations, and as this all dates from a particular time there is no reason to suppose that it has any authority other than tradition. So it’s rubbish, probably. So forget I said all this.
Brilliant comic, by the way. So glad I discovered it. Please ignore all those people who want more animation. It’s perfect the way it is.
I’m still a scorpio, which means I’m naturally sceptical and hung like a baboon..
I love the quotes round “not true”. Straight from the Guardian style guide.
There’s a Monty Python horoscope in one of their books, and its prediction for Scorpio is
something like the following:
Scorpions are nasty things that should be stamped on. Prediction: you will be stamped on.
Congratulations, Jesus and Mo!
Let me be the second (rats) to congratulate you on the well-deserved Riffy award!
(Now don’t let it go to your head and go all Randall Monroe and jump the shark on us, please!)
So the Riffy award for Best Comic was actually won by the best comic? What is the world coming to?
YAY!
Is there any prize money?
Oh dear, I was born on a cusp. I’m not sure if that makes me a cuspidor or a bicuspid.
Well what do you know? According to the ‘new star-sign’ site I used to be Capricorn and am now Saggyhairyarse. Trouble is, according to every book on astrology – and every newspaper / magazine horoscope I’ve ever seen – my birthday originallly made me Aquarius.
You know that something’s nonsense when even a debunking site run by someone who once did it for a living can’t get it right!
I used to be Ophiuchus but now I’m Reticulum (I blame the Zetas). That’s a shame, I always thought of myself as more of a Retarius or perhaps Gadolinium.
Ophiucus: today you will make a hot drink which will cool perceptibly over time. You will move electrons and slightly warp space-time a bit. Your lucky colour will be blank and your fortunate number 7,738,857,756,638,904,943.6 . Watch out for beans, red dogs and things that tick. Cut the green wire. Don’t eat that.