The ecliptic is the circle of the celestial sphere. Wow, sounds medieval, doesn't it? ;)

If you view the planets from a geocentric (earth-centred) point of view--which we have to do on earth--the sun's 'rotation' around us is actually the way the earth travels through the constellations of the zodiac--though of course we see it as the sun travelling on a path through them (I'm not gonna explain about great years, that would be way too techie).

At least that's as close as I can get so's you'll understand it without knowing a lot of astronomy.

CK
Astronomer from age 4, didn't get into the astrology thing til age 8. Back then you had to know the former before you could even start on the latter.