Western zodiac

The modern western astrological signs are simplifications of conventional pictorial representations of the signs, used since Hellenistic times. The characters are encoded in unicode at positions U+2648 to U+2653 (hexadecimal numbers).The glyph representation of these characters will depend on the font in which they are displayed.

Below are the Roman names of the signs of the zodiac (with the ecliptic longitudes of their first points). These figures represent the equivalent J2000.0 ecliptic longitudes for the sidereal zodiac described here in this article. The figures also represent ecliptic longitudes for a tropical zodiac where 0° Aries is understood as the vernal equinox:

Aries (0°) (The Ram)

Taurus (30°) (The Bull)

Gemini (60°) (The Twins)

Cancer (90°) (The Crab)

Leo (120°) (The Lion)

Virgo (150°) (The Virgin)

Libra (180°) (The Scales)

Scorpio (210°) (The Scorpion)

Sagittarius (240°) (The Archer)

Capricorn (270°) (The Sea-goat)

Aquarius (300°) (The Water Carrier)

Pisces (330°) (The Fishes)

Indian zodiac

Traditional Hindu astrology has a sidereal coordinate zodiac system with twelve signs. The names of the Hindu zodiacal signs, or r??is, are similar to Graeco-Babylonian signs, apparently as a result of Indo-Greek contact:

1. me?a “ram” (Aries)
2. v??abha “bull” (Taurus)
3. mithuna “a pair” (Gemini)
4. karka “crab” (Cancer)
5. si?ha “lion” (Leo)
6. kany? “girl” (Virgo)
7. tula, from tul? “balance” (Libra)
8. vrushchik “scorpion” (Scorpius), also kaurpi, loaned from the Greek
9. k?rmuka, c?pa, dhanus “bow, arc”, c?pin “armed with a bow” (Sagittarius)
10. e?a, m?ga “antelope”, also makara “sea-monster” (Capricornus)
11. kumbha “pitcher, water-pot” (Aquarius)
12. matsya “fish”, also jha?a, timi, m?na after specific kinds of fish (Pisces)

This “Hindu zodiac” (adhvan, r??i) thus has similarities to Greek zodiac. The Graeco-Babylonian system of twelve signs overlays the native Hindu system of nine grahas or planets.

Chinese and other zodiacs

Chinese astrology also has a system of twelve signs sometimes also referred to as “zodiac”. This does not necessarily imply a common origin, since the number of twelve naturally suggests itself from the number of synodic months in a year; in other words, the extent of a zodiacal sign corresponds to the path covered by the Sun between two new moons. It is interesting to note, that despite the lack of a common origin, the Chinese zodiac also consists of animals. However, the Chinese zodiac associates each animal with both one month and one solar year. Thus the signs repeat themselves every twelve year cycle. The animals of the Chinese Zodiac are: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit (or hare), dragon, snake, horse, sheep (or goat), monkey, rooster (or phoenix), dog and pig (or boar). For a list of how these animals map to the months and years see Chinese astrology. There is also a Chinese lunar zodiac comprised of twenty-eight lunar “mansions”, each corresponding to a Chinese constellation.

Beyond the traditional Chinese system, in New Age or Occultist movements there are sometimes claims of even other systems such as a “Celtic zodiac”[3][4] based on the lunisolar Celtic calendar, or a “Galactic zodiac”.[5] Other evidence suggests Mayan, Incan and Aztec cultures of the Western hemisphere also noted celestial events along the zodiac. The Maya for example, certainly possessed a zodiac of some kind. The Mayan name for the constellation Scorpio was also ’scorpion’, while the name of the constellation Gemini was ‘peccary’. There is evidence for other constellations being named after various beasts, but it remains unclear.

The following are a cool collection of Zodiac tattoos:
Click the image to enlarge

Read more about cool angel tattoo designs