Astrological analysis

Tomorrow, the sun crosses the celestial equator, enters the sign of Aries and begins a new astrological year. You thought that the first day of spring was on the 21st? It always used to be, and for much of the twentieth century it was, but over cycles of hundreds of years the dates change slightly, and this year it's on the 20th. It was on the 21st last year, and it will be again in 2007, but otherwise that's it until 2102 - and to make matters worse, in 2044 and quite frequently thereafter it will be on the 19th. It's like policemen appearing to get younger the older you get - the seasons aren't as long as they used to be!

� It's nice that this year, in the UK at least, the actual moment of the equinox is at the start of the day: it always feels wrong to me when the signs change halfway through the afternoon! The precise time here in Britain will be a little after sunrise, at 6.49am. The sun should be clear of the horizon then and easy to see. Traditionally, the way to make a wish on the new year is to get up early and greet the sun as it rises.

Back in the middle ages they believed that God started to create the world on March 18th. Therefore the 21st, the 'proper' day of the spring equinox, was day four; when the sun, moon and stars were created and thus it became possible to measure time.

Astrologers all over the world are now swapping notes about the meaning and influence of the new planet, Sedna. Jonathan and I will have more to say about it soon. Meanwhile, though this influential new arrival is too far away to see, you can face in the right direction and 'tune in to it'. Find Venus bright in the west in the early evening, then go diagonally up and to the left to the cluster of the Pleiades. Now imagine a third point left of Venus and below the Pleiades to make a roughly equilateral triangle. That's where Sedna is, in the sign of Taurus.