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p. 53
The Zodiac and Its
Signs
IT is difficult for this age to
estimate correctly the profound effect produced upon the religions,
philosophies, and sciences of antiquity by the study of the planets,
luminaries, and constellations. Not without adequate reason were the Magi of
Persia called the Star Gazers. The Egyptians were honored with a special
appellation because of their proficiency in computing the power and motion of
the heavenly bodies and their effect upon the destinies of nations and
individuals. Ruins of primitive astronomical observatories have been
discovered in all parts of the world, although in many cases modern
archæologists are unaware of the true purpose for which these structures were
erected. While the telescope was unknown to ancient astronomers, they made
many remarkable calculations with instruments cut from blocks of granite or
pounded from sheets of brass and cop per. In India such instruments are still
in use, and they posses a high degree of accuracy. In Jaipur, Rajputana,
India, an observatory consisting largely of immense stone sundials is still in
operation. The famous Chinese observatory on the wall of Peking consists of
immense bronze instruments, including a telescope in the form of a hollow tube
without lenses.
The pagans looked upon the
stars as living things, capable of influencing the destinies of individuals,
nations, and races. That the early Jewish patriarchs believed that the
celestial bodies participated in the affairs of men is evident to any student
of Biblical literature, as, for example, in the Book of Judges: "They fought
from heaven, even the stars in their courses fought against Sisera." The
Chaldeans, Phnicians, Egyptians, Persians, Hindus, and Chinese all had
zodiacs that were much alike in general character, and different authorities
have credited each of these nations with being the cradle of astrology and
astronomy. The Central and North American Indians also had an understanding of
the zodiac, but the patterns and numbers of the signs differed in many details
from those of the Eastern Hemisphere.
The word zodiac is
derived from the Greek ζωδιακός (zodiakos), which means "a circle of
animals," or, as some believe, "little animals." It is the name given by the
old pagan astronomers to a band of fixed stars about sixteen degrees wide,
apparently encircling the earth. Robert Hewitt Brown, 32°, states that the
Greek word zodiakos comes from zo-on, meaning "an animal." He adds:
"This latter word is compounded directly from the primitive Egyptian radicals,
zo, life, and on, a being."
The Greeks, and later other
peoples influenced by their culture, divided the band of the zodiac into
twelve sections, each being sixteen degrees in width and thirty degrees in
length. These divisions were called the Houses of the Zodiac. The sun during
its annual pilgrimage passed through each of these in turn, Imaginary
creatures were traced in the Star groups bounded by these rectangles; and
because most of them were animal--or part animal--in form, they later became
known as the Constellations, or Signs, of the Zodiac.
There is a popular theory
concerning the origin of the zodiacal creatures to the effect that they were
products of the imagination of shepherds, who, watching their flocks at night,
occupied their minds by tracing the forms of animals and birds in the heavens.
This theory is untenable, unless the "shepherds" be regarded as the shepherd
priests of antiquity. It is unlikely that the zodiacal signs were derived from
the star groups which they now represent. It is far more probable that the
creatures assigned to the twelve houses are symbolic of the qualities and
intensity of the sun's power while it occupies different parts of the zodiacal
belt.
On this subject Richard Payne
Knight writes: "The emblematical meaning, which certain animals were employed
to signify, was only some particular property generalized; and, therefore,
might easily be invented or discovered by the natural operation of the mind:
but the collections of stars, named after certain animals, have no resemblance
whatever to those animals; which are therefore merely signs of convention
adopted to distinguish certain portions of the heavens, which were probably
consecrated to those particular personified attributes, which they
respectively represented." (The Symbolical Language of Ancient Art and
Mythology.)
Some authorities are of the
opinion that the zodiac was originally divided into ten (instead of twelve)
houses, or "solar mansions." In early times there were two separate
standards--one solar and the other lunar--used for the measurement of the
months, years, and seasons. The solar year was composed of ten months of
thirty-six days each, and five days sacred to the gods. The lunar year
consisted of thirteen months of twenty-eight days each, with one day left
over. The solar zodiac at that time consisted often houses of thirty-six
degrees each.
The first six signs of the
zodiac of twelve signs were regarded as benevolent, because the sun occupied
them while traversing the Northern Hemisphere. The 6,000 years during which,
according to the Persians, Ahura-Mazda ruled His universe in harmony and
peace, were symbolic of these six signs. The second six were considered
malevolent, because while the sun was traveling the Southern Hemisphere it was
winter with the Greeks, Egyptians, and Persians. Therefore these six months
symbolic of the 6,000 years of misery and suffering caused by the evil genius
of the Persians, Ahriman, who sought to overthrow the power of Ahura-Mazda.
Those who hold the opinion that
before its revision by the Greeks the zodiac consisted of only ten signs
adduce evidence to show that Libra (the Scales) was inserted into the zodiac
by dividing the constellation of Virgo Scorpio (at that time one sign) into
two parts, thus establishing "the balance" at the point of equilibrium between
the ascending northern and the descending southern signs. (See The
Rosicrucians, Their Rites and Mysteries, by Hargrave Jennings.) On this
subject Isaac Myer states: "We think that the Zodiacal constellations were
first ten and represented an immense androgenic man or deity; subsequently
this was changed, resulting in Scorpio and Virgo and making eleven; after this
from Scorpio, Libra, the Balance, was taken, making the present twelve." (The
Qabbalah.)
Each year the sun passes
entirely around the zodiac and returns to the point from which it started--the
vernal equinox--and each year it falls just a little short of making the
complete circle of the heavens in the allotted period of time. As a result, it
crosses the equator just a little behind the spot in the zodiacal sign where
it crossed the previous year. Each sign of the zodiac consists of thirty
degrees, and as the sun loses about one degree every seventy two years, it
regresses through one entire constellation (or sign) in approximately 2,160
years, and through the entire zodiac in about
[paragraph continues]
CHART SHOWING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE HUMAN BODY AND THE EXTERIOR
UNIVERSE.
From Kircher's dipus
Ægyptiacus.
The ornamental border contains
groups of names of animal, mineral, and vegetable substances, Their
relationship to corresponding parts of the human body is shown by the dotted
lines. The words in capital letters on the dotted lines indicate to what
corporeal member, organ, or disease, the herb or other substance is related.
The favorable positions in relation to the time of year are shown by the signs
of the zodiac, each house of which is divided by crosses into its three decans.
This influence is further emphasized by the series of planetary signs placed
on either side of the figure.
THE EQUINOXES AND SOLSTICES.
The plane of the zodiac
intersects the celestial equator at an angle of approximately 23° 28'. The two
points of intersection (A and B) are called the equinoxes.
p. 54
25,920 years. (Authorities
disagree concerning these figures.) This retrograde motion is called the
precession of the equinoxes. This means that in the course of about 25,920
years, which constitute one Great Solar or Platonic Year, each one of the
twelve constellations occupies a position at the vernal equinox for nearly
2,160 years, then gives place to the previous sign.
Among the ancients the sun was
always symbolized by the figure and nature of the constellation through which
it passed at the vernal equinox. For nearly the past 2,000 years the sun has
crossed the equator at the vernal equinox in the constellation of Pisces (the
Two Fishes). For the 2,160 years before that it crossed through the
constellation of Aries (the Ram). Prior to that the vernal equinox was in the
sign of Taurus (the Bull). It is probable that the form of the bull and the
bull's proclivities were assigned to this constellation because the bull was
used by the ancients to plow the fields, and the season set aside for plowing
and furrowing corresponded to the time at which the sun reached the segment of
the heavens named Taurus.
Albert Pike describes the
reverence which the Persians felt for this sign and the method of astrological
symbolism in vogue among them, thus: "In Zoroaster's cave of initiation, the
Sun and Planets were represented, overhead, in gems and gold, as was also the
Zodiac. The Sun appeared, emerging from the back of Taurus. " In the
constellation of the Bull are also to be found the "Seven Sisters"--the sacred
Pleiades--famous to Freemasonry as the Seven Stars at the upper end of the
Sacred Ladder.
In ancient Egypt it was during
this period--when the vernal equinox was in the sign of Taurus--that the Bull,
Apis, was sacred to the Sun God, who was worshiped through the animal
equivalent of the celestial sign which he had impregnated with his presence at
the time of its crossing into the Northern Hemisphere. This is the meaning of
an ancient saying that the celestial Bull "broke the egg of the year with his
horns."
Sampson Arnold Mackey, in his
Mythological Astronomy of the Ancients Demonstrated, makes note of two
very interesting points concerning the bull in Egyptian symbolism. Mr. Mackey
is of the opinion that the motion of the earth that we know as the alternation
of the poles has resulted in a great change of relative position of the
equator and the zodiacal band. He believes that originally the band of the
zodiac was at right angles to the equator, with the sign of Cancer opposite
the north pole and the sign of Capricorn opposite the south pole. It is
possible that the Orphic symbol of the serpent twisted around the egg attempts
to show the motion of the sun in relation to the earth under such conditions.
Mr. Mackey advances the Labyrinth of Crete, the name Abraxas,
and the magic formula, abracadabra, among other things, to substantiate
his theory. Concerning abracadabra he states:
"But the slow progressive
disappearance of the Bull is most happily commemorated in the vanishing series
of letters so emphatically expressive of the great astronomical fact. For
ABRACADABRA is The Bull, the only Bull. The ancient sentence split into its
component parts stands thus: Ab'r-achad-ab'ra, i. e., Ab'r, the Bull;
achad, the only, &c.--Achad is one of the names of the Sun, given him in
consequence of his Shining ALONE,--he is the ONLY Star to be seen when he is
seen--the remaining ab'ra, makes the whole to be, The Bull, the only Bull;
while the repetition of the name omitting a letter, till all is gone, is the
most simple, yet the most satisfactory method that could have been devised to
preserve the memory of the fact; and the name of Sorapis, or Serapis, given to
the Bull at the above ceremony puts it beyond all doubt. * * * This word
(Abracadabra) disappears in eleven decreasing stages; as in the figure. And
what is very remarkable, a body with three heads is folded up by a Serpent
with eleven Coils, and placed by Sorapis: and the eleven Volves of the Serpent
form a triangle similar to that formed by the ELEVEN diminishing lines of the
abracadabra."
Nearly every religion of the
world shows traces of astrological influence. The Old Testament of the Jews,
its writings overshadowed by Egyptian culture, is a mass of astrological and
astronomical allegories. Nearly all the mythology of Greece and Rome may be
traced in star groups. Some writers are of the opinion that the original
twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet were derived from groups of stars,
and that the starry handwriting on the wall of the heavens referred to words
spelt out, with fixed stars for consonants, and the planets, or luminaries,
for vowels. These, coming into ever-different combinations, spelt words which,
when properly read, foretold future events.
As the zodiacal band marks the
pathway of the sun through the constellations, it results in the phenomena of
the seasons. The ancient systems of measuring the year were based upon the
equinoxes and the solstices. The year always began with the vernal equinox,
celebrated March 21 with rejoicing to mark the moment when the sun crossed the
equator northward up the zodiacal arc. The summer solstice was celebrated when
the sun reached its most northerly position, and the day appointed was June
21. After that time the sun began to descend toward the equator, which it
recrossed southbound at the autumnal equinox, September 21. The sun reached
its most southerly position at the winter solstice, December 21.
Four of the signs of the zodiac
have been permanently dedicated to the equinoxes and the solstices; and, while
the signs no longer correspond with the ancient constellations to which they
were assigned, and from which they secured their names, they are accepted by
modern astronomers as a basis of calculation. The vernal equinox is therefore
said to occur in the constellation of Aries (the Ram). It is fitting that of
all beasts a Ram should be placed at the head of the heavenly flock forming
the zodiacal band. Centuries before the Christian Era, the pagans revered this
constellation. Godfrey Higgins states: "This constellation was called the
'Lamb of God.' He was also called the 'Savior,' and was said to save mankind
from their sins. He was always honored with the appellation of 'Dominus' or
'Lord.' He was called the 'Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the
world.' The devotees addressing him in their litany, constantly repeated the
words, 'O Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world, have mercy upon
us. Grant us Thy peace."' Therefore, the Lamb of God is a title given
to the sun, who is said to be reborn every year in the Northern Hemisphere in
the sign of the Ram, although, due to the existing discrepancy between the
signs of the zodiac and the actual star groups, it actually rises in the sign
of Pisces.
The summer solstice is regarded
as occurring in Cancer (the Crab), which the Egyptians called the scarab--a
beetle of the family Lamellicornes, the head of the insect kingdom, and sacred
to the Egyptians as the symbol of Eternal Life. It is evident that the
constellation of the Crab is represented by this peculiar creature because the
sun, after passing through this house, proceeds to walk backwards, or descend
the zodiacal arc. Cancer is the symbol of generation, for it is the house of
the Moon, the great Mother of all things and the patroness of the life forces
of Nature. Diana, the moon goddess of the Greeks, is called the Mother of the
World. Concerning the worship of the feminine or maternal principle, Richard
Payne Knight writes:
"By attracting or heaving the
waters of the ocean, she naturally appeared to be the sovereign of humidity;
and by seeming to operate so powerfully upon the constitutions of women, she
equally appeared to be the patroness and regulatress of nutrition and passive
generation: whence she is said to have received her nymphs, or subordinate
personifications, from the ocean; and is often represented by the symbol of
the sea crab, an animal that has the property of spontaneously detaching from
its own body any limb that has been hurt or mutilated, and reproducing another
in its place." (The Symbolical Language of Ancient Art and Mythology.)
This water sign, being symbolic of the maternal principle of Nature, and
recognized by the pagans as the origin of all life, was a natural and
consistent domicile of the moon.
The autumnal equinox apparently
occurs in the constellation of Libra (the Balances). The scales tipped and the
solar globe began its pilgrimage toward the house of winter. The constellation
of the Scales was placed in the zodiac to symbolize the power of choice, by
means of which man may weigh one problem against another. Millions of years
ago, when the human race was in the making, man was like the angels, who knew
neither good nor evil. He fell into the state of the knowledge of good
and evil when the gods gave him the seed for the mental nature. From man's
mental reactions to his environments he distills the product of experience,
which then aids him to regain his lost position plus an individualized
intelligence. Paracelsus said: "The body comes from the elements, the soul
from the stars, and the spirit from God. All that the intellect can conceive
of comes from the stars [the spirits of the stars, rather than the material
constellations]."
The constellation of Capricorn,
in which the winter solstice theoretically takes place, was called The
House of Death, for in winter all life in the Northern Hemisphere is at
its lowest ebb. Capricorn is a composite creature, with the head and upper
body of a goat and the tail of a fish. In this constellation the sun is least
powerful
THE MICROCOSM.
From Schotus' Margarita
Philosophica.
The pagans believed that the
zodiac formed the body of the Grand Man of the Universe. This body, which they
called the Macrocosm (the Great World), was divided into twelve major parts,
one of which was under the control of the celestial powers reposing in each of
the zodiacal constellations. Believing that the entire universal system was
epitomized in man's body, which they called the Microcosm (the Little World),
they evolved that now familiar figure of "the cut-up man in the almanac" by
allotting a sign of the zodiac to each of twelve major parts of the human
body.
p. 55
in the Northern Hemisphere, and
after passing through this constellation it immediately begins to increase.
Hence the Greeks said that Jupiter (a name of the Sun God) was suckled by a
goat. A new and different sidelight on zodiacal symbolism is supplied by John
Cole, in A Treatise on the Circular Zodiac of Tentyra, in Egypt: "The
symbol therefore of the Goat rising from the body of a fish [Capricorn],
represents with the greatest propriety the mountainous buildings of Babylon
rising out of its low and marshy situation; the two horns of the Goat being
emblematical of the two towns, Nineveh and Babylon, the former built on the
Tigris, the latter on the Euphrates; but both subjected to one sovereignty."
The period of 2,160 years
required for the regression of the sun through one of the zodiacal
constellations is often termed an age. According to this system, the age
secured its name from the sign through which the sun passes year after year as
it crosses the equator at the vernal equinox. From this arrangement are
derived the terms The Taurian Age, The Aryan Age, The Piscean
Age, and The Aquarian Age. During these periods, or ages, religious
worship takes the form of the appropriate celestial sign--that which the sun
is said to assume as a personality in the same manner that a spirit assumes a
body. These twelve signs are the jewels of his breastplate and his light
shines forth from them, one after the other.
From a consideration of this
system, it is readily understood why certain religious symbols were adopted
during different ages of the earth's history; for during the 2,160 years the
sun was in the constellation of Taurus, it is said that the Solar Deity
assumed the body of Apis, and the Bull became sacred to Osiris. (For details
concerning the astrological ages as related to Biblical symbolism, see The
Message of the Stars by Max and Augusta Foss Heindel.) During the Aryan
Age the Lamb was held sacred and the priests were called shepherds.
Sheep and goats were sacrificed upon the altars, and a scapegoat was appointed
to bear the sins of Israel.
During the Age of Pisces, the
Fish was the symbol of divinity and the Sun God fed the multitude with two
small fishes. The frontispiece of Inman's Ancient Faiths shows the
goddess Isis with a fish on her head; and the Indian Savior God, Christna, in
one of his incarnations was cast from the mouth of a fish.
Not only is Jesus often
referred to as the Fisher of Men, but as John P. Lundy writes: "The
word Fish is an abbreviation of this whole title, Jesus Christ, Son of God,
Savior, and Cross; or as St. Augustine expresses it, 'If you join together the
initial letters of the five Greek words, Ἰησοῦς Χριστος Θεου Υιὸσ Σωτήρ, which
mean Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior, they will make ΙΧΘΥΣ, Fish, in which
word Christ is mystically understood, because He was able to live in the abyss
of this mortality as in the depth of waters, that is, without sin.'" (Monumental
Christianity.) Many Christians observe Friday, which is sacred to the
Virgin (Venus), upon which day they shall eat fish and not meat. The sign of
the fish was one of the earliest symbols of Christianity; and when drawn upon
the sand, it informed one Christian that another of the same faith was near.
Aquarius is called the Sign
of the Water Bearer, or the man with a jug of water on his shoulder
mentioned in the New Testament. This is sometimes shown as an angelic figure,
supposedly androgynous, either pouring water from an urn or carrying the
vessel upon its shoulder. Among Oriental peoples, a water vessel alone is
often used. Edward Upham, in his History and Doctrine of Budhism,
describes Aquarius as being "in the shape of a pot and of a color between blue
and yellow; this Sign is the single house of Saturn."
When Herschel discovered the
planet Uranus (sometimes called by the name of its discoverer), the second
half of the sign of Aquarius was allotted to this added member of the
planetary family. The water pouring from the urn of Aquarius under the name of
"the waters of eternal life" appears many times in symbolism. So it is with
all the signs. Thus the sun in its path controls whatever form of worship man
offers to the Supreme Deity.
There are two distinct systems
of astrological philosophy. One of them, the Ptolemaic, is geocentric: the
earth is considered the center of the solar system, around which the sun,
moon, and planets revolve. Astronomically, the geocentric system is incorrect;
but for thousands of years it has proved its accuracy when applied to the
material nature of earthly things. A careful consideration of the writings of
the great occultists and a study of their diagrams reveal the fact that many
of them were acquainted with another method of arranging the heavenly bodies.
The other system of
astrological philosophy is called the heliocentric. This posits the sun in the
center of the solar system, where it naturally belongs, with the planets and
their moons revolving about it. The great difficulty, however, with the
heliocentric system is that, being comparatively new, there has not been
sufficient time to experiment successfully and catalogue the effects of its
various aspects and relationships. Geocentric astrology, as its name implies,
is confined to the earthy side of nature, while heliocentric astrology may be
used to analyze the higher intellectual and spiritual faculties of man.
The important point to be
remembered is that when the sun was said to be in a certain sign of the
zodiac, the ancients really meant that the sun occupied the opposite sign and
cast its long ray into the house in which they enthroned it. Therefore, when
it is said that the sun is in Taurus, it means (astronomically) that the sun
is in the sign opposite to Taurus, which is Scorpio. This resulted in two
distinct schools of philosophy: one geocentric and exoteric, the other
heliocentric and esoteric. While the ignorant multitudes worshiped the house
of the sun's reflection, which in the case described would be the Bull, the
wise revered the house of the sun's actual dwelling, which would be the
Scorpion, or the Serpent, the symbol of the concealed spiritual mystery. This
sign has three different symbols. The most common is that of a Scorpion, who
was called by the ancients the backbiter, being the symbol of deceit
and perversion; the second (and less common) form of the sign is a Serpent,
often used by the ancients to symbolize wisdom.
Probably the rarest form of
Scorpio is that of an Eagle. The arrangement of the stars of the constellation
bears as much resemblance to a flying bird as to a scorpion. Scorpio, being
the sign of occult initiation, the flying eagle--the king of birds--represents
the highest and most spiritual type of Scorpio, in which it transcends the
venomous insect of the earth. As Scorpio and Taurus are opposite each other in
the zodiac, their symbolism is often closely intermingled. The Hon. E. M.
Plunket, in Ancient Calendars and Constellations, says: "The Scorpion
(the constellation Scorpio of the Zodiac opposed to Taurus) joins with Mithras
in his attack upon the Bull, and always the genii of the spring and autumn
equinoxes are present in joyous and mournful attitudes."
The Egyptians, the Assyrians,
and the Babylonians, who knew the sun as a Bull, called the zodiac a series of
furrows, through which the great celestial Ox dragged the plow of the sun.
Hence the populace offered up sacrifice and led through the streets
magnificent steers, bedecked with flowers and surrounded with priests, dancing
girls of the temple, and musicians. The philosophic elect did not participate
in these idolatrous ceremonials, but advocated them as most suitable for the
types of mind composing the mass of the population. These few possessed a far
deeper understanding, as the Serpent of Scorpio upon their foreheads--the
Uræus--bore witness.
The sun is often symbolized
with its rays in the form of a shaggy mane. Concerning the Masonic
significance of Leo, Robert Hewitt Brown, 32°, has written: "On the 21st of
June, when the sun arrives at the summer solstice, the constellation
Leo--being but 30° in advance of the sun--appears to be leading the way, and
to aid by his powerful paw in lifting the sun up to the summit of the zodiacal
arch. * * * This visible connection between the constellation Leo and the
return of the sun to his place of power and glory, at the summit of the Royal
Arch of heaven, was the principal reason why that constellation was held in
such high esteem and reverence by the ancients. The astrologers distinguished
Leo as the 'sole house of the sun,' and taught that the world was created when
the sun was in that sign. 'The lion was adored in the East and the West by the
Egyptians and the Mexicans. The chief Druid of Britain was styled a lion.'" (Stellar
Theology and Masonic Astronomy.) When the Aquarian Age is thoroughly
established, the sun will be in Leo, as will be noted from the explanation
previously given in this chapter regarding the distinction between geocentric
and heliocentric astrology. Then, indeed, will the secret religions of the
world include once more the raising to initiation by the Grip of the Lion's
Paw. (Lazarus will come forth.)
THE CIRCULAR ZODIAC OF TENTYRA.
From Cole's Treatise--the
Circular Zodiac of Tentyra, in Egypt.
The oldest circular zodiac
known is the one found at Tentyra, in Egypt, and now in the possession of the
French government. Mr. John Cole describes this remarkable zodiac as follows:
"The diameter of the medallion in which the constellations are sculptured, is
four feet nine inches, French measure. It is surrounded by another circle of
much larger circumference, containing hieroglyphic characters; this second
circle is enclosed in a square, whose sides are seven feet nine inches long. *
* * The asterisms, constituting the Zodiacal constellations mixed with others,
are represented in a spiral. The extremities of this spiral, after one
revolution, are Leo and Cancer. Leo is no doubt at the head. It appears to be
trampling on a serpent, and its tail to be held by a woman. Immediately after
the Lion comes the Virgin holding an ear of corn, Further on, we perceive two
scales of a balance, above which, in a medal lion, is the figure of
Harpocrates. Then follows the Scorpion and Sagittarius, to whom the Egyptians
gave wings, and two faces. After Sagittarius are successively placed,
Capricornus, Aquarius, Pisces, the Ram, the Bull, and the Twins. This Zodiacal
procession is, as we have already observed, terminated by Cancer, the Crab."
p. 56
The antiquity of the zodiac is
much in dispute. To contend that it originated but a mere few thousand years
before the Christian Era is a colossal mistake on the part of those who have
sought to compile data, concerning its origin. The zodiac necessarily must be
ancient enough to go backward to that period when its signs and symbols
coincided exactly with the positions of the constellations whose various
creatures in their natural functions exemplified the outstanding features of
the sun's activity during each of the twelve months. One author, after many
years of deep study on the subject, believed man's concept of the zodiac to be
at least five million years old. In all probability it is one of the many
things for which the modem world is indebted to the Atlantean or the Lemurian
civilizations. About ten thousand years before the Christian Era there was a
period of many ages when knowledge of every kind was suppressed, tablets
destroyed, monuments torn down, and every vestige of available material
concerning previous civilizations completely obliterated. Only a few copper
knives, some arrowheads, and crude carvings on the walls of caves bear mute
witness of those civilizations which preceded this age of destruction. Here
and there a few gigantic structures have remained which, like the strange
monoliths on Easter Island, are evidence of lost arts and sciences and lost
races. The human race is exceedingly old. Modern science counts its age in
tens of thousands of years; occultism, in tens of millions. There is an old
saying that "Mother Earth has shaken many civilizations from her back," and it
is not beyond reason that the principles of astrology and astronomy were
evolved millions of years before the first white man appeared.
The occultists of the ancient
world had a most remarkable understanding of the principle of evolution. They
recognized all life as being in various stages of becoming. They
believed that grains of sand were in the process of becoming human in
consciousness but not necessarily in form; that human creatures were in the
process of becoming planets; that planets were in the process of
becoming solar systems; and that solar systems were in the process of
becoming cosmic chains; and so on ad infinitum. One of the stages
between the solar system and the cosmic chain was called the zodiac;
therefore they taught that at a certain time a solar system breaks up into a
zodiac. The house of the zodiac become the thrones for twelve Celestial
Hierarchies, or as certain of the ancients state, ten Divine Orders.
Pythagoras taught that 10, or the unit of the decimal system, was the most
perfect of all numbers, and he symbolized the number ten by the lesser
tetractys, an arrangement of ten dots in the form of an upright triangle.
The early star gazers, after
dividing the zodiac into its houses, appointed the three brightest scars in
each constellation to be the joint rulers of that house. Then they divided the
house into three sections of ten degrees each, which they called decans.
These, in turn, were divided in half, resulting in the breaking up of the
zodiac into seventy-two duodecans of five degrees each. Over each of these
duodecans the Hebrews placed a celestial intelligence, or angel, and from this
system, has resulted the Qabbalistic arrangement of the seventy-two sacred
names, which correspond to the seventy-two flowers, knops, and almonds upon
the seven-branched Candlestick of the Tabernacle, and the seventy-two men who
were chosen from the Twelve Tribes to represent Israel.
The only two signs not already
mentioned are Gemini and Sagittarius. The constellation of Gemini is generally
represented as two small children, who, according to the ancients, were born
out of eggs, possibly the ones that the Bull broke with his horns. The stories
concerning Castor and Pollux, and Romulus and Remus, may be the result of
amplifying the myths of these celestial Twins. The symbols of Gemini have
passed through many modifications. The one used by the Arabians was the
peacock. Two of the important stars in the constellation of Gemini still bear
the names of Castor and Pollux. The sign of Gemini is supposed to have been
the patron of phallic worship, and the two obelisks, or pillars, in front of
temples and churches convey the same symbolism as the Twins.
The sign of Sagittarius
consists of what the ancient Greeks called a centaur--a composite creature,
the lower half of whose body was in the form of a horse, while the upper half
was human. The centaur is generally shown with a bow and arrow in his hands,
aiming a shaft far off into the stars. Hence Sagittarius stands for two
distinct principles: first, it represents the spiritual evolution of man, for
the human form is rising from the body of the beast; secondly, it is the
symbol of aspiration and ambition, for as the centaur aims his arrow at the
stars, so every human creature aims at a higher mark than he can reach.
Albert Churchward, in The
Signs and Symbols of Primordial Man, sums up the influence of the zodiac
upon religious symbolism in the following words: "The division here [is] in
twelve parts, the twelve signs of the Zodiac, twelve tribes of Israel, twelve
gates of heaven mentioned in Revelation, and twelve entrances or portals to be
passed through in the Great Pyramid, before finally reaching the highest
degree, and twelve Apostles in the Christian doctrines, and the twelve
original and perfect points in Masonry."
The ancients believed that the
theory of man's being made in the image of God was to be understood literally.
They maintained that the universe was a great organism not unlike the human
body, and that every phase and function of the Universal Body had a
correspondence in man. The most precious Key to Wisdom that the priests
communicated to the new initiates was what they termed the law of analogy.
Therefore, to the ancients, the study of the stars was a sacred science, for
they saw in the movements of the celestial bodies the ever-present activity of
the Infinite Father.
The Pythagoreans were often
undeservedly criticized for promulgating the so-called doctrine of
metempsychosis, or the transmigration of souls. This concept as circulated
among the uninitiated was merely a blind, however, to conceal a sacred truth.
Greek mystics believed that the spiritual nature of man descended into
material existence from the Milky Way--the seed ground of souls--through one
of the twelve gates of the great zodiacal band. The spiritual nature was
therefore said to incarnate in the form of the symbolic creature created by
Magian star gazers to represent the various zodiacal constellations. If the
spirit incarnated through the sign of Aries, it was said to be born in the
body of a ram; if in Taurus, in the body of the celestial bull. All human
beings were thus symbolized by twelve mysterious creatures through the natures
of which they were able to incarnate into the material world. The theory of
transmigration was not applicable to the visible material body of man, but
rather to the invisible immaterial spirit wandering along the pathway of the
stars and sequentially assuming in the course of evolution the forms of the
sacred zodiacal animals.
In the Third Book of the
Mathesis of Julius Firmicus Maternus appears the following extract
concerning the positions of the heavenly bodies at the time of the
establishment of the inferior universe: "According to Æsculapius, therefore,
and Anubius, to whom especially the divinity Mercury committed the secrets of
the astrological science, the geniture of the world is as follows: They
constituted the Sun in the 15th part of Leo, the Moon in the 15th part of
Cancer, Saturn in the 15th part of Capricorn, Jupiter in the 15th part of
Sagittary, Mars in the 15th part of Scorpio, Venus in the 15th part of Libra,
Mercury in the 15th part of Virgo, and the Horoscope in the 15th part of
Cancer. Conformably to this geniture, therefore, to these conditions of the
stars, and the testimonies which they adduce in confirmation of this geniture,
they are of opinion that the destinies of men, also, are disposed in
accordance with the above arrangement, as maybe learnt from that book of
Æsculapius which is called Μυριογενεσις, (i.e. Ten Thousand, or an innumerable
multitude of Genitures) in order that nothing in the several genitures of men
may be found to be discordant with the above-mentioned geniture of the world."
The seven ages of man are under the control of the planets in the following
order: infancy, the moon; childhood, Mercury; adolescence, Venus; maturity,
the sun; middle age, Mars; advanced age, Jupiter; and decrepitude and
dissolution, Saturn.
HIEROGLYPHIC PLAN, By HERMES, OF THE ANCIENT ZODIAC.
From Kircher's dipus
Ægyptiacus.
The inner circle contains the
hieroglyph of Hemphta, the triform and pantamorphic deity. In the six
concentric bands surrounding the inner circle are (from within outward): (1)
the numbers of the zodiacal houses in figures and also in words; (2) the
modern names of the houses.(3) the Greek or the Egyptian names of the Egyptian
deities assigned to the houses; (4) the complete figures of these deities; (5)
the ancient or the modem zodiacal signs, sometimes both; (6) the number of
decans or subdivisions of the houses.
Next: The Bembine Table of Isis