The Conjunction (Marriage) of the Sun and Moon.
Over the Center of Europe
But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy"
And I will show wonders in the heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke.
The Sun (the Christian-Male principle) shall be turned into darkness, and the Moon (the Judaic-Female Principle) into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come:
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved...(Acts 2:16-21).
DARKNESS AT NOON...The last solar eclipse of the 20th century swept across Europe to the Middle East and India yesterday, giving millions of people a look at one of nature's most spectacular shows. Druids danced, Muslims prayed, Hindus bathed and Europeans stopped work and took to the streets as an eerie twilight followed by darkness covered their capitals during midday.
'Imagine what our ancestors must have felt like when it happened to them 2,000 years ago,' said astronomer David Hughes as the eclipse snuffed out the light at Land's End in southern England.
Pope John Paul, 'a keen astral watcher,' (the Roman patriarchy sorrowfully hasn't a clue to the meaning of it all), peered at the eclipse through a square of tinted glass and cut short his weekly general audience to be sure not to miss the event.
In Isfahan, where NASA said there was the best viewing Muslims performed the namaz-e ayat, a special prayer offered at times of natural phenomena to celebrate God's glory and power.
Thousands of Iranians and tourists poured into the majestic central square of the city, erupting in whistles, applause and shouts of Allahu Akbar (God is great).
The final homage to nature came from about 700,000 devout Hindus who took a 'lucky dip' in a gigantic pond in the northern city Indian city of Kurukshetra, a sacred city because it is where the Bhagavad-Gita (a story which also tells of the immense love between Krishna and Rhada, both of whom are indispensable to the other), a Hindu sacred work appeared...(USA TODAY).
The Key to the entire mystery lies at the Center
The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosencreutz is the English translation of the title of the remarkable German romance, or novel, or fantasy, published at Starsburg in 1616. It is the third item in the series which launched the Rosicrusion furore. The series came out annually for three years, the Fama in 1614, the Confessio in 1615, the Wedding in 1616, each adding to the mounting excitement about the Rosicrucian mystery. And the historical clue which we have found to the Fama and the Confessio can also help us in the unravelling of the Wedding, which is a romance about a husband and wife who dwell in a wondrous castle full of marvels...but is at the same time an allegory of alchemical processes interpreted symbolically as an experience of the mystical marriage of the soul--an experience which is undergone by Christian Rosencreutz through the visions conveyed to him in the castle, through theatrical performances, through ceremonies of initiation into orders of chivalry, through the society of the court in the castle.
THE NARRATIVE IS DIVIDED INTO SEVEN DAYS, like the Book of Genesis. The First Day opens with the author preparing himself on Easter Eve for his Easter Communion. Sitting at a table, he conversed with his Creator in humble prayer and considered many great mysteries "whereof the Father of Lights had shown me not a few...
THE SECOND DAY SEES THE HERO JOURNEYING TOWARD THE WEDDING, AMID THE REJOICING OF NATURE. Arrived at a royal portal on a hill, the porter demands his Letter of Invitation which, fortunately, he had not forgotten to bring with him, and asked who he was. He replied that he was a brother of the Red Rosey Cross. At the next gate, a roaring Lion was chained, but the porter drove him back and the hero passed in. Bells began to ring in the castle; the porter urged him to hurry or he would be too late. Anxiously he hurried,FOLLOWING A LAMP-LIGHTING VIRGIN, and only got inside the gate before it clapped shut...
ON THE THIRD DAY THE SUN DAWNED BRIGHT AND GLORIOUS, trumpets sounded for the assembling of the guests, and again the Virgin appeared. Scales were brought in and everyone was weighed, including several Emperors who were present. Some people came off very badly in this weighing. But when Christian Rosencreutz was weighed, who held himself very humbly and seemed less important than the others, one of the pages cried "That is he!"...
On the Fourth Day, Rosencreutz went out early to refresh himself at the Fountain in the Garden, where he found that the Lion, instead of his sword, had a tablet beside him with an inscription beginning HERMES PRINCIPS. The main event of this day was a theatrical performance, given before the King and Queen and attended by all the guests and household...
On the Fifth Day the narrator was exploring the underground parts of the castle, when he came to a Door on which was a mysterious inscription. When it opened, a vault was disclosed, into which the light of the sun could not penetrate; it was lighted by huge carbuncles. In the midst of it was a sepulchre adorned with many strange images and inscriptions...
The Sixth Day was occupied by hard work with furnaces and other alchemical apparatus. The alchemists succeeded in creating life, in the form of the alchemical Bird (a Dove? an Eagle? a Hawk)?...
ON THE SEVENTH AND LAST DAY, the party gathered upon the shore preparing to leave in their Twelve Ships which flew flags showing the signs of the Zodiac. The Virgin informed them that they were "Knights of the Golden Stone...A page read out from a book the rules of the Order of the Golden Stone, which were:
(1)...You, my Lords and Knights shall swear that you will at no time ascribe your order either unto and Devil or Spirit, but only to God, your Creator, and his hand-maid Nature.
(2)...That you will abominate all whoredom, incontinency, and uncleanness, and not defile your order with such vices.
(3)...That you, through your talents, will be ready to assist all that are worthy and have need of them.
(4)...That you desire not to employ this honour to wordly pride and high authority.
(5)...That you shall not be willing to live longer than God will have you.
The Chemical Wedding is...basically an alchemical fantasia, using the fundamental image of elemental fusion, the marriage, the uniting of the sponsus and the sponsa, touching also on the theme of death, the nigredo through which the elements must pass in the process of transmutation...The allegory is of course a spiritual one, typifying processes of regeneration and change within the soul...The Rosicrucian Enlightenment, by Frances A. Yates, pp.59-64.
The following is from the REAL ASTROLOGY column in the August 10, 1999 edition of the Village Voice, by Rob Brezsny:
"FOR ALL SIGNS: On August 11, (1999), a solar eclipse will anchor an unprecedented astrological array that some are calling a Cosmic Crucifixion. Mars in Scorpio will oppose Saturn in Taurus, creating one arm of the Cross, while the Sun and Moon in Leo will counter Uranus in Aquarius to form the other arm. Even now the heavens are pregnant with this initiatory spectacle. Will such extreme synchronicity bring cathartic terror or shocking redemption--or both?
Doom-and-gloomers expect the imminent fulfillment of Nostradamus's famous prophecy: "A great king of terror will come from the sky." (Compare Isaiah 14:4-14; See Isaiah 30:25; Psalm 18:1-10). In their fantasies a renegade asteroid rips into the earth, or NASA's plutonium-laden space probe, Cassini, explodes in a deadly rain; perhaps India and Pakistan hurl nuclear missles at each other, or extraterrestrials launch an Independence Day-style invasion.
Then there are the dazzling visions of the boom-and-zoomers. In a twinkling, they promise, time will no longer move in just one direction. Millions of angels will swarm into view of our naked eyes (see Genesis 1:16), and the restrictions of gravity will be abolished. Some prophets assure us that Christ (or maybe King Arthur) will return in the flesh.
What's my view? There may indeed be a global brouhaha that rouses Clinton-Lewinsky levels of media hysteria. But the real impact of this turning point will be felt by each of us in a very personal way, framed in the story lines of our most intimate dramas.
Will your role in the Cosmic Crucifixion be excruciating or liberating--or both? It is up to you, dear readers. I truly believe that God (or whatever passes for God in your world) will try to dismantle anything in the way of you expressing your soul's code--the blueprint you came to earth to embody. Will you cooperate or not?"
Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly:
Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: LET THE BRIDEGROOM GO FORTH FROM HIS CHAMBER, AND THE BRIDE OUT OF HER CLOSET...(Joel 2:15,16).
From Aries the Head to Pisces the Feet
The Sun and the Moon, Christianity and Judaism
TWELVE SIGNS
It was after the Creators' revelation to Adam in the garden of Eden, when humanity first perceived the Singular Presence (the ONENESS) of God in the whole of reality, that men's hearts and minds began to look upwards in earnest, searching the heavens above for indications of this great Reality. For the next two-thousand years (until Vedic and early Egyptian times) the children of Adam would slowly lay the historical groundwork (the Heaven-and-Earthwork) that would lead at last to the formulation of that great Hermetic principle "As above, so below." It would lead to those words in the Book of Job which say:
In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth (The Tree of Life and Ten Spheres)...Genesis 1:1.
...Hast thou with God spread out the sky, which is strong, as a molten looking glass?...(Job 37:18).
We will not spend any time arguing, or refuting the fundamentalist doctrine which holds that the study of the heavens, or the science of the Zodiac, is the work of the devil--as if God could be discovered in any other way than through the contemplation of the Cosmos and the instructions of Nature Herself--but will simply put the subject in its own historic perspective. The reader, themselves, can see where, and how the science was perverted over time and how it finally devolved in our own time...not only into the commercial arts of horoscopes and daily forecasts but into the dark and fallen disciplines of political science (Washington politics in particular) and Wall Street economics. How is it written?
For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me (see Revelation 18:7).
Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt NOT know from whence it riseth; and mischief shall fall upon upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.
Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast labored from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail.
Thou are wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticator's (the wizards of Washington and Wall Street), stand up, and save thee from the these things that shall come upon thee...(Isaiah 47:10-13; Ephesians 6:12).
But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of Darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be Darkness, how great is that Darkness...(Matthew 19-24).
An inverted Star, pointing directly down toward the Seat of Power....Isaiah 14; 2 Thessalonians 2.
I have laid a snare for thee O Babylon...Jeremiah, chapter 50 and 51; Revelation 18...(KJV).
There are indeed occult (hidden) forces operating in the universe. They are working toward the perfection of both good and evil:
MALACHI 4.
Stretch out the story from the East back to the West, and open the pages of the Book of Isaiah.
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem.
Saying, where is he that is born King of the Jews: for we have seen his star in in the East, and are come to worship him...(Matthew 2:1,2; Isaiah 7:14-17; 9:1-7).
Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the Sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the Moon and of the Stars for a light by night, which divideth the Sea when the waves thereof roar; the Lord of hosts is His name.
If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever...(Jeremiah 31:35-37).
__________
The heavens Declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth His handiwork...
Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
There is no speech not language where their voice is not heard.
Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. In them He hath set a tabernacle for the Sun.
Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.
His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof...(Psalm 19:1-6).
__________
He telleth the number of the Stars; He calleth them ALL by their names.
Great is our Lord, and of great Power: His understanding in infinite...(Psalm 147:5,6).
It has been generally believed that the science of the heavens (astronomy), and the subsequent rise of astrology as an associative discipline, had its earliest beginnings in Mesopotamia (in the time of Nimrod) and in Egypt (during the reign of the Pharaohs). Mark Hurn, in a chapter of his work entitled The Historical Development of the Zodiac, says:
"For the earliest recorded mention of the zodiac we must go to ancient Mesopotamia (roughly the area of modern Iraq). The Mesopotamians (particularly the people of Babylon) recorded astronomical events on clay tablets, many of which have been unearthed by archaeologists. These tablets first record the use of the zodiac in the 5th century BC. Other evidence for a Mesopotamian origin for the zodiac exists in the types of animals chosen for the constellations (e.g. lions and scorpions). From Mesopotamia the zodiac spread into Egypt and Greece.The earliest depiction of the zodiac we have is from Egypt. The ‘Dendera Zodiac’ is a carving on sandstone from the temple of Hathor in Dendera. It is now held in the Louvre Museum, Paris and is dated to the 1st century BC. It shows the twelve constellations of the zodiac we are familiar with as well as the Egyptian system of ‘decans’ – 36 constellations each representing ten days of the year.
Another Egyptian depiction of the zodiac can be found on the inside of a coffin lid found in West Thebes. It depicts the sky goddess, Nut (often identified with the Milky Way) surrounded by pictures of the signs of the zodiac. This is now held in the British Museum.The famous Greek astronomer Hipparchus (who is credited with discovering precession) was probably instructed by Babylonian astronomers and helped perpetuate the usage of the zodiac in the Greek world.
The most influential astronomer of the ancient world was Ptolemy who described the zodiac in his great book on astronomy the Almagest. Since this one book dominated astronomy up to the 16th century, the zodiac was preserved through to modern times. But can we take the history of the zodiac back further in history? That is to before the 5th Century BC in Babylonia?
A Russian professor of the history of science, Alexander Gurshtein, has proposed a theory that the zodiac was not originally twelve signs but just four. We have seen how there are four important points on the ecliptic, the vernal equinox, the summer solstice, the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. Gurshtein suggests that around 6-5000 BC these points were aligned with four constellations of the zodiac. GEMINI vernal equinox...VIRGO summer solstice...SAGITTARIUS autumn equinox...PISCES winter solstice
The effect of the precession of the equinoxes over two thousand years then shifted these points out of these constellations, and caused the early astronomers to make up new constellations, so that by 4-3000 BC the position was: TAURUS vernal equinox...LEO summer solstice...SCORPIUS autumn equinox ...AQUARIUS winter solstice
Another 2000 years on and we move into the arrangement we are familiar with: ARIES vernal equinox... CANCER summer solstice...LIBRA autumn equinox...CAPRICORNUS winter solstice.
It is a neat theory and evidence supporting it is offered. Gurshtein looks at the size of constellations (in square degrees) and suggests the older a constellation is, the bigger it is. He demonstrates that the earliest constellations in his theory (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces) are on average larger than the next four (Taurus, Leo, Scorpius and Aquarius) and the last four (Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricornus) smaller still. He also uses evidence from Mesopotamian mythology; note how the constellations marking the winter solstice are watery: Pisces (the fishes), Aquarius (the water carrier) and Capricornus (the sea-goat). This, he suggests could indicate their immersion in the subterranean ocean of Mesopotamian mythology. There is also the case of Sagittarius and Scorpius, ‘stinging’ or ‘arrowing’ the sun from the sky at the autumn equinox. Finally, there is evidence that Libra is a later constellation, as some early sources label it as the claws of Scorpius.
At one time I thought a Mesopotamian ‘astrolabe tablet’ held in the British Museum might provide evidence for Gurshteins ideas. It is meant to depict the zodiac, but appears to contain eight divisions not twelve, although dated to the 7th century BC, could this represent the earlier system of 4-3000 BC with just eight zodiac constellations? Unfortunately, it is incomplete and only two of the stars identified are in the zodiac, so its purpose remains a mystery. Whether we accept Gurshteins ideas or not, the continuing effect of precession has led to a major change in how we regard the zodiac.
Josephus, however, clearly an adept in the Hebrew/Christian mysteries, projects the subject even further into the past, and attributes the study of the heavens (the earliest formulations of the Zodiacal Circle) to the children of Adam (that is, to those adepts who brought these studies out of Atlantis with them, on their way to settling in both Mesopotamia and Egypt:
"Now, Adam, who was the first man, and made out of the earth (after Abel was slain and Cain fled away) was solicitous for posterity, and had a vehement desire of children, he being two hundred and thirty years old; after which time he lived other seven hundred, and then died. He had indeed many other children, but Seth in particular...
Now this Seth, when he was brought up, and came to those years in which he could discern what was good, became a virtuous man; and as he was himself of an excellent character, so did he leave children behind him who imitated his virtues. All these proved to be of good disposition. They also inhabited the same country without dissentions, and in a happy condition, without any misfortune falling upon them till they died. THEY ALSO WERE THE INVENTORS OF THAT PECULIAR SORT OF WISDOM WHICH IS CONCERNED WITH THE HEAVENLY BODIES AND THEIR ORDER..." Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book I.II.3.
This is the work of the children of Adam/Manu
The process was long, the science methodical, the story (the stories) of the heavens were slowly coaxed out of the ancient sky (inspired by the Heavens themselves), and adapted to man's own understanding of his place in the Cosmos, his relationship to God (the whole Natural world), and his emerging (prophetic) understanding of history--the great circular pattern of human events that would carry the mind of Adam from Genesis back to Genesis/Revelation again (out of the collapse of the Atlantean age, back to the rise of Atlantis again):
Out of the whole ancient story appeared Twelve. Twelve signs, Twelve tribes, Twelve Apostles...Malachi 4.
Stretch out the story from East to West. Aries the Head, Pisces the Feet...Psalms 19 and 20.
And He brought Abraham forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the Stars, if thou be able to number them (about Seven Thousand in the visible sky...Daniel 12:3): and He said unto him, So shall thy seed be...(Genesis 15:5; Deuteronomy 1:10).
"Having declared that the heavens reveal God's glory (Psalm 19:1-4), the Psalmist informs us that the heavens declare a message in a language that is understood by all peoples. The starry worlds, as such, do show forth His handiwork...but how can the stars be made to speak in a language everyone can understand?
The answer is quite evident. Pictures speak in all dialects. They speak a universal language...Somewhere in the earliest ages of human existence the visible stars were named. Certain ones arranged into groups by someone(s) thoroughly familiar with the laws of astronomy. Those names and groupings were at the same time included in certain figures, natural or imginary, but intensely symbolic and significant. Today we know them as Constellations.
Twelve constellations make up the Zodiac. These major stargroupings form a belt which circles the sky close to the plane of the earth's orbit around the Sun...It is well known that the ancient races drew charts of these Zodiacal Signs; that ancient astrology was actually the father of astronomy...The Signs of the Zodiac are part of the common universal language of astronomical science.
The Zodiac is found in religious faiths and pagan superstitions. Astrology is bsed upon it. The Bible is replete with it...The written words of Scripture parallel the words written in the heavens and preserved in the Signs of the Zodiac...The Glory of The Stars, A Study of the Zodiac, by E. Raymond Capt. pp. 3,4.
"When God created the heavenly worlds He said, and let them be for signs. A sign is something arbitararily selected and appointed to represent some other thing. To make any sense of the creative record, we must admit that God intended these orbs of light as expressions of some special teaching; something different from what is naturally deducible from them.
In the Book of Job (generally believed to be the oldest book in the Bible) the names of several stars and constellations are mentioned as being both ancient and well known...From repeated astronomical allusions contained in the Book of Job, various mathematicians have calculated that Job lived and wrote somewhere about 2150 B.C. This date would carry us back more than 1,000 years before Homer...And yet, in the time of Job, the heavens were already chartered and arranged astronomically. The Zodiac existed, with constellations and stars contained therein named; the figures drawn and recorded. Early Hebrews were conversant with these star charts and were impressed with their significance...
Job describes the power, majesty, and works of God. He informs us that God is responsible for the naming and placing these constellations, He telleth the number of the stars; He calleth them all by their names. (Psalm 147:4). A similar statement is made by the prophet Isaiah who declares: Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who created these (stars), that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth. (Isaiah 40:26).
In Genesis 15:5, the stars are spoken of as having been numbered (named) before Abraham's time. Stars were used to (symbolically) to illustrate God's promise to Abraham that his descendants would be an innumerable number: And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be...
It is also a matter of inspired record that God gave Adam special revelations. After the fall, God made known to Adam His purposes concerning the Serpent and the Seed of the Woman. The revelation contained the whole Gospel including the promises. This knowledge was not given to Adam/Manu solely for himself (themselves) or his posterity. He was to make it known to all the races of creation.
This agrees with writings of the most honored of the ancient philosophers and historians; those who delved the deepest into the origins of humanity. Baleus wrote concerning Adam and (their) fellowship with God: 'He was the first that discovered the motions of the celestial bodies and all other creatures. From his school (the school of the Atlanteans) proceeded whatever good (as well as evil) arts and wisdom which were afterward propagated by our (parents) unto mankind; so that whatever astronomy, geometry and other arts contain in them, he knew (intuited and foresaw) the whole thereof...
Adam and his immediate descendants...had ample time for observations and study; time to devise a means or recording and transmitting to all men the Creator's plan for humanity. The canopy of virgin stars was over them, just waiting to be named, grouped, and defined with certain symbols of the ideas they wished to convey. In this way they could transmit and explain to their posterity the names and figures assihned to each star-grouping. Among the objects of Nature, none could have been selected as appropriately as the stars, for the purpose of recording and conveying unchanging ideas to distant ages. Their message was utterly imperishable as long as man was cognizant of the Divine Nature of the Zodiac.
According to the historian Josephus and more ancient recorders, Adam and his son, Seth, are credited with the invention of letters (The earliest Hebrew-Phoenician letters). They were also the inventors 'of that peculiar wisdom which is concerned with the heavenly bodies, their appearance and arrangement.' Enoch is also acclaimed as being the recorder of special wisdom relating to astronomy and prophecy (Enoch, whose days were as the days of the Great Solar Year...Genesis 5:23,24; Jude 14,15...KJV). The Babylonians attributed the invention of astrology (astronomy) to Enoch. The Greeks knew Enoch as Atlas. The Egyptians and Arabian writers made him the same as the elder Hermes (Hermes Trismegistus) the Triple Great Shepherd. Through him the wisdom of the stars and other sciences were handed down to his posterity.
Long standing traditions indicate that the ancient Biblical patriarchs (and matriarchs) were the first to draw the celestial hieroglyphics. They named and grouped the stars, laid out the Zodiac and its constellations, and made the heavens a picture gallery for all the world. Their legacy has enabled mankind to gaze and read the wondrous story of the promised Redeemer, the redemption and the redeemed." The Glory of the Stars, pp. 27-29).
(1) ARIES (the Ram, the Powers of the East, Father of the Lamb)....(Exodus 15:3; Daniel 7:9,10; 8:20; Revelation 1:12-16).
(2) TAURUS (The Great Ox)...(Deuteronomy 25:4; Matthew 13; Luke 10:1-11; 1 Corinthians 9:7-16).
(3) GEMINI (The Twins...the Two sides of the Oracle)...(Deuteronomy 17:6-10; 19:15-21 Judge correctly here; Isaiah 43:10; Luke 10:1; Zechariah.4; 2 Corinthians 12:1 to 13:4; Revelation 11:3-13).
(4) CANCER (the symbol of all those things hidden directly beneath, in the Sea below; as it is written: Know that Summer is nigh...Matthew 24:32-34; Isaiah 27 to 29)...
(5) LEO (The Lion, Who shall rouse him up as the time approaches)?...(Genesis 49:8-12; Numbers 24:1-9; Psalm 48:1,2).
(6) VIRGO (The Divine Mother...descending again)...(Isaiah 7:14-17; 9:1-7; Matthew 1:22,23; Revelation 12:1,2...Please see Chapter 5).
The Sixth Day of the cosmic Week, named for Freya (Friday), the Nordic Mother
(7) LIBRA (The Scales of Justice)...(Please see those chapters entitled The Balances; and The Seventh Month; Daniel 5:25-31. Please study the structure of the Oracle itself. Revelation 2:7).
Ephesians 4:13,14; Genesis 5:1,2.
(8) SCORPIO...(And now we have returned to the place in the distant past, here in the West, where Adam first fell. Our first spiritual parents, or rather their Dark son, fell from (and afterwards perverted in every natural way), the initial revelation of God's Singular Presence in the affairs of the world. He began to partake in an evil way of the higher knowledge that was now streaming into the collective consciousness of humankind. This fall--this rebellious indifference to the words of the prophets--led to the demise of the Atlantean race. It also gave rise in turn to Seven world empires that rose up in its place, and finally an Eighth...America again)...
Revelation 17:9-15; Matthew 12:43-45; 2 Thessalonians 2; Hebrews 6:1-8 (KJV).
This Fall set in motion a Six thousand-year epic struggle between two forces in the earth, the spirit of Light (thereafter characterized by the figure of Abel) against the spirit of Darkness (characterized by Cain), a struggle that is now coming to its historic conclusion. It set in motion that peculiar story of Western civilization recorded and foreseen in the books of the Hebrew Prophets. As above (in the numerical structure of creation), so below. As in the East, so in the West.
Thus Scorpio symbolizes the very same place in the cosmic story to which we have returned, a place in time wherein both Light and Darkness are coming to their mutual states of perfection. (Open the Book of 1 John...KJV):
Samhain...All Saints Day AND Halloween (Good and Evil...Light and Darkness...1 Thessalonians 5).
It took (120 X 49 = 120 Jubilees = 5,880 years) for this great historical cycle to unfold. It was 40 Jubilees from the fall of Adam to the time of Abraham (Brahma, and the Vedic Age), another 40 Jubilees transpired to the time of Christ, and it took another 40 Jubilees to arrive back here in the West again. Several hundred years before the time of Christ, Ezekiel the prophet saw into the hidden structure of it all. To share in his vision (gaining an insight into the hidden structure of the Gospels at the same time), we must pull back the Vail as it were, that separates the outer world from the inner. It begins in the words: Behold, I send an Angel before thee...beware of him...(Exodus 23:20-23).
And they saw the God of Israel: and their was under his Feet as it were a paved work of a Sapphire Stone (the Sephirot), AND AS THE BODY OF HEAVEN IN HIS CLEARNESS...(Exodus 24:10).
The is the Metatron, the Angel of Divine Presence. He is the God of War, Terrible in His Glory and Fierce in his application of Divine Law. (Exodus 15:3; Deut. 4:24; Isaiah 66:15-18). He revealed himself to Moses and the children of Israel, and afterwards to the adepts of the early Church, explicitly warning: I will have no other gods before me. (Exodus 19 and 20). The American nation and almost the entire Western world is at war with him at this very time--for the Third time since the beginning of the First World War. (Matthew, chapter 24; Luke, chapter 21; Ephesians 1:17-23). And then He revealed himself in his lowly Two-armed form, as the Suffering Servant (the Hebrew/Druid Hesus) suspended on the limbs of the Cosmic Tree:
Numbers 21:5-9; 1 Corinthians 1:18-24; Colossians 1:13-29; 2:6-19; Galatians 2:20; 6:14-17.
"This is what God is creating. This is how you must behave in a time of war," he told them. It is through the crucifixion (the death and resurrection) of your own lower nature that you enter into the Fellowship of Life. There is no other way. It is not about words, it is about actual deeds, true transformation. It is about inheriting the age to come and worlds to come. (Matthew 5 to 7). So the prophet, foreseeing these things, took that line that leads from the constellation Leo to the constellation Aquarius, drew back the Veil and laid it down on the Right side of the Oracle. And then did the same with the line that leads from Taurus to Scorpio (or the Eagle).
Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of Four living creatures. And this was their appearance. THEY HAD THE LIKENESS OF A MAN.
And every one had Four faces, and everyone had Four wings (with Two did they fly, and with Two did they hide themselves).
And their Feet were straight Feet; and the sole of their Feet was like the sole of a calf's foot (understand Malachi, chapter 4): and they sparkled like the color of burnished brass (an alloy of materials--all races and religions--forged together)...
As for the likeness of the their Faces, THEY FOUR HAD THE FACE OF A MAN (Aquarius) AND A LION (Leo) ON THE RIGHT SIDE: AND THEY FOUR HAD THE FACE OF AN OX (Taurus) ON THE LEFT SIDE. THEY FOUR ALSO HAD THE FACE OF AN EAGLE (also called Scorpio)....(Ezekiel 1:5-10).
Open up the books of the Prophets at the Western ends of the Earth.
And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy Feet, and I will speak unto thee.
And the Spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and set me upon my Feet, and I heard him that spake unto me.
And he said, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very day...
And thou son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briars and thorns (the cares of the world) be with thee, AND THOU DOST DWELL AMONG SCORPIANS...(Eezekiel 2:1-7).
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Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his Feet.
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death....
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in Victory.
O DEATH WHERE IS THY STING? O GRAVE WHERE IS THY VICTORY?...(1 Corinthians 15:24-26; 54-56).
(9) SAGITTARIUS (After the fall of Adam: half man, half beast...Or, is it half beast and half man? History was moving now toward the future day of redemption, toward the birth of Light once more in the Earth. The process of human transformation was under way...Hebrews 5:12-14):
(Please see The American Military Establishment, and the Church That Supports It)
And moreover I saw under the Sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there, and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there.
I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.
I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, AND THAT THEY MAY SEE THAT THEY THEMSELVES ARE BEASTS...(Ecclesiastes 3:16-21).
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...Whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses...(Ezekiel 23:20; Leviticus 15:1-15).
Neither shall he stand that handleth the bow, and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself, neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself (in that day)...(Amos 2:15).
(10) CAPRICORN (From the depths of Darkness below to the height of Zion above. It is an arduous historic journey. The Solar Goat can negotiate the hazards...Recall: Goats [the Scapegoat included] on the Lefthand [Solar] side of the Tree, Sheep on the Right).
December signals the Birth of Light--and afterwards the Birth of Christ, the Sun of Righteousness (Malachi, chapter 4...KJV):
The History of Christmas
The history of Christmas dates back over 4000 years. Many of our Christmas traditions were celebrated centuries before the Christ child was born. The 12 days of Christmas, the bright fires, the yule log, the giving of gifts, carnivals(parades) with floats, carolers who sing while going from house to house, the holiday feasts, and the church processions can all be traced back to the early Mesopotamians.
Many of these traditions began with the Mesopotamian celebration of New Years. The Mesopotamians believed in many gods (many aspects and faces of the One God), and as their chief god - Marduk. Each year as winter arrived it was believed that Marduk would do battle with the monsters of chaos. To assist Marduk in his struggle the Mesopotamians held a festival for the New Year. This was Zagmuk, the New Year's festival that lasted for 12 days. The Mesopotamian king would return to the temple of Marduk and swear his faithfulness to the god. The traditions called for the king to die at the end of the year and to return with Marduk to battle at his side.
To spare their king, the Mesopotamians used the idea of a "mock" king. A criminal was chosen and dressed in royal clothes. He was given all the respect and privileges of a real king. At the end of the celebration the "mock" king was stripped of the royal clothes and slain, sparing the life of the real king.
The Persians and the Babylonians celebrated a similar festival called the Sacaea. Part of that celebration included the exchanging of places, the slaves (the spirit of antichrist in the earth) would become the masters and the masters were to obey.
Early Europeans believed in evil spirits, witches, ghosts and trolls. As the Winter Solstice approached, with its long cold nights and short days...SPECIAL RITUALS AND CELEBRATIONS WERE HELD TO WELCOME BACK THE SUN.
In Scandinavia during the winter months the sun would disappear for many days. After thirty-five days scouts would be sent to the mountain tops TO LOOK FOR THE RETURN OF THE SUN. WHEN THE FIRST LIGHT WAS SEEN THE SCOUTS WOULD RETURN WITH THE GOOD NEWS. A great festival would be held, called the Yuletide, and a special feast would be served around a fire burning with the Yule log. Great bonfires would also be lit to celebrate the return of the sun. IN SOME AREAS PEOPLE WOULD TIE APPLES TO BRANCHES OF TREES TO REMIND THEMSELVES THAT SPRING AND SUMMER WOULD RETURN.
The ancient Greeks held a festival similar to that of the Zagmuk/Sacaea festivals to assist their god Kronos (Time) who would battle the god Zeus and his Titans. The Roman's celebrated their god Saturn. Their festival was called Saturnalia which began the middle of December and ended January 1st. With cries of "Jo Saturnalia!" the celebration would include masquerades in the streets, big festive meals, visiting friends, and the exchange of good-luck gifts called Strenae (lucky fruits). The Romans decked their halls with garlands of laurel and green trees lit with candles. Again the masters and slaves would exchange places.
"Jo Saturnalia!" was a fun and festive time for the Romans, but the Christians though it an abomination to honor the pagan god. The early Christians wanted to keep the birthday of their Christ child a solemn and religious holiday, not one of cheer and merriment as was the pagan Saturnalia. But as Christianity spread they were alarmed by the continuing celebration of pagan customs and Saturnalia among their converts. At first the Church forbid this kind of celebration. But it was to no avail. Eventually it was decided that the celebration would be tamed and made into a celebration fit for the Christian Son of God.
Some legends claim that the Christian "Christmas" celebration was invented to compete against the pagan celebrations of December. The 25th was not only sacred to the Romans but also the Persians whose religion Mithraism was one of Christianity's main rivals at that time. The Church eventually was successful in taking the merriment, lights, and gifts from the Saturanilia festival and bringing them to the celebration of Christmas.
The exact day of the Christ child's birth has never been pinpointed. Traditions say that it has been celebrated since the year 98 AD. In 137 AD the Bishop of Rome ordered the birthday of the Christ Child celebrated as a solemn feast. In 350 AD another Bishop of Rome, Julius I, choose December 25th as the observance of Christmas.
And up in the center of Europe, the words:
Thus saith the Lord God; I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and I will set it: I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon an high mountain and eminent:
In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.
And all the trees of the field shall know that I the Lord have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the lord have spoken and have done it...(Ezekiel 17:22-24).
(11) AQUARIUS (The Water Bearer and dawning of the coming age). One can read the Oracles above, and see how as the events of our time shift from the Seventh emanation on the Tree of Life called Netsah, or Endurance, to the Eighth emanation named Majesty, that a passage is underway, from one state of human consciousness to the next, from one global paradigm to another. The shift has been underway since the 1950s and 60s and will come to fruition in the revelation of the True King(s). Christianity as a religion (the Solar bridge between the old and new) will conclude in the events of our time, and the New will be born:
He shall pour the water out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted...(Numbers 24:7).
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And they said unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare?
And he said unto them, Behold, WHEN YE ARE ENTERED INTO THE CITY (the True City), THERE SHALL A MAN MEET YOU, BEARING A PITCHER OF WATER; FOLLOW HIM INTO THE HOUSE WHERE HE ENTERETH IN.
And ye shall say unto the goodman of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the (evening) Passover with my disciples?
AND HE SHALL SHEW YOU A LARGE UPPER ROOM FURNISHED: THERE MAKE READY.
And they went, and found as he said unto them: and they made ready the (final) Passover...(Luke 22:9-13).
(12) PISCES (The Two Fishes)...The Two Feet (the end and beginning again) of the Christ Mystery. We have been being fed with these Two Fishes and the Five Loaves throughout the entire span of the Age of Pisces, from one end of the age to the other:
And the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.
When Jesus lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?
And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.
Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.
One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto him,
There is a lad here, WHICH HATH FIVE BARLEY LOAVES, AND TWO SMALL FISHES: BUT WHAT ARE THEY AMONG SO MANY?
And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place (understand Isaiah 40:1-8). So the men sat down, in number about Five Thousand.
And Jesus took the loaves and when he had given thanks, he distributed to his disciples, and the (twelve) disciples to them that were set down; AND LIKEWISE OF THE FISHES AS MUCH AS THEY WOULD.
When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.
Therefore they gathered them together, AND FILLED TWELVE BASKETS with the fragments of the Five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten...(John 6:4-13).
The Five sefirot (4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8) = 30 (Luke 3:15-23).
As the early Hebrew seers brought the story down out of the heavens, applying it as they did to their prophetic understanding of future human events, they saw many other things beside Twelve signs. They saw a Dragon (a great Serpent) in the center of the heavens and so reasoned one in the center of the Earth:
The constellation Draco, the Dragon.
And there it is...(Job, chapter 41).
Contemplating the figure of Orion in the night sky...
Seek Him that maketh the Seven Stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: and calleth for the waters of the Sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is His name...(Amos 5:8)
"The ancient Greeks saw the figure of the Greek myth Orion in the nighttime sky. There are several different stories about the birth of Orion. According to one version of the myth, Orion was the son of a poor shepherd called Hyrieus. Once, Zeus, Hermes, and Poseidon stopped by Hyrieus'house. Hyrieus was so generous with his guests that he killed the only animal he had-AN OX...
The Great Ox, Behemoth (The original Taurus...Job 40:15-24).
Hyrieus was not aware that his guests were gods. The gods wanted to reward Hyrieus'generosity by granting him a wish. Hyrieus' biggest desire was to have a child. The gods told him to bury the hide of the bull he had sacrificed to them and to pee on it. After nine months, a boy was born in that place. The child became a very handsome and strong man.
He was such a good hunter that he was hired by the king Oenopion to kill the ferocious beasts that were terrifying the habitants of the island Chios. Happy for his success, Orion said he would kill all the wild animals on the earth. But. the earth goddess Gaia, who was the mother of all animals, was not pleased with Orion's intention.
Then, Gaia set an enormous scorpion on Orion. Orion soon realized that his strength and sword were useless against that mighty beast. He tried to escape, but the scorpion stung him to death. As a reward, Gaia placed the scorpion in the sky as a constellation which appears to be constantly chasing after Orion whose figure was also placed among the stars.
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He was a mighty hero of Roman mythology, and he knew it! He would boast of his mighty deeds to anyone who cared to listen — and even to those who did not care to listen. Finally, Jove responded by sending a scorpion to kill him. As bold and as boastful as he was, he was no match for the sting of the tiny scorpion. Orion, the mighty hunter, was killed. After his death, he and the scorpion were transferred into the night sky, where Scorpio is in eternal pursuit of Orion. (And you thought you were just looking at stars!)
Many classical writers alluded to Orion as a calendar sign, for its morning rising indicated the beginning of summer, and its midnight rising marked the season of grape gathering. And it's evening appearance marked the approach of winter and winter's storms. Even Hindu literature made allusions to Orion's direful influence.
Later on, the Jews called Orion Gibbor, the Giant, considered as Nimrod, bound to the sky for rebellion against God. (Nimrod is the infamous mighty hunter of the Bible who was in charge of building the Tower of Babel, and you know how that idea turned out!)
Orion is the most recognizable constellation in the cold, winter sky. It's one constellation that actually does resemble what it was named after. In instructing beginners on how to find their way around the night sky for observing, it is helpful to remember that the celestial equator (0 degrees declination) runs through the belt of Orion. It is also the location of the Orion Nebula, in the hunter's belt. This Nebula can be seen easily in binoculars or a small telescope. It is one of the best known stellar nurseries, where baby stars are being born right now as I write this article!...By Linda Sensenig
...the seers were able to divine the struggle that would unfold in the last days between the spirits of Christ and Antichrist. Perceiving the Pleiades (the Seven Stars) trapped in the embrace of Taurus, they saw a figure of the Church age, and of all those who would become captive to the spirit of Darkness in the final times:
And in that day Seven Women shall take hold of One Man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name to take away our reproach.
In that day shall the Branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel...(Isaiah 4:1-3).
PLEIADES MYTHOLOGY
by Steve Gibson
http://www.ras.ucalgary.ca/~gibson/
The mythology associated with the Pleiades cluster is extensive; Burnham alone devotes eight pages to the subject, and Allen more than twice that number (see references). Here only Greek legends are presented. Even so, these are manifold and often contradictory, being patched together from many different cultures over a long period of time. Further uncertainty is added by most Pleiades sharing names with otherwise unrelated mythological characters. So enjoy, but please do not consider this information to be infallible...
POSSIBLE NAME DERIVATIONS:
plein, `to sail', making Pleione `sailing queen' and her daughters `sailing ones.' The cluster's conjunction with the sun in spring and opposition in fall marked the start and end of the summer sailing season in ancient Greece.
pleos, `full', of which the plural is `many', appropriate for a star cluster.
peleiades, `flock of doves', consistent with the sisters' mythological transformation.
GENEOLOGY:
The Pleiad(e)s were the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione, and half-sisters of the Hyades, whose mother was Æthra (`bright sky'; a different Æthra than the mother of Theseus). They were perhaps also half-sisters of the Hesperides, who were daughters of either Night alone, or Atlas and Hesperis (`evening'), or Ceto and Phorcys. Both Pleione and Æthra were Oceanids, daughters of Oceanus and Tethys, the titans who ruled the outer seas before being replaced by Poseidon (See Genesis 6:1-4). Atlas (`he who dares' or `suffers'; from the Indo-European tel-, tla-, `to lift, support, bear'), another titan, led their war against the gods, and was afterward condemned by Zeus to hold up the heavens on his shoulders. The Pleiades were also nymphs in the train of Artemis, and together with the seven Hyades (`rainmakers' or `piglets'; individual Hyad names are not fully agreed upon) were called the Atlantides, Dodonides, or Nysiades, nursemaids and teachers to the infant Bacchus. The Hesperides (`nymphs of the west'), apparently not counted in this, were only three, and dwelled in an orchard of Hera's, from which Heracles fetched golden apples in his eleventh labor.
INDIVIDUAL SISTERS
For each, a name translation is given first, followed by available biographical information, and parallel stories of like-named characters.
Alcyone or Halcyone - `queen who wards off evil [storms]' - Seduced by Poseidon and gave birth to either Hyrieus (the name of Orion's father, but perhaps not the same Hyrieus) or Anthas, founder of Anthæa, Hyperea, and Halicarnassus.
Another Alcyone, daughter of Æolus (guardian of the winds) and Ægiale, married Ceyx of Trachis; the two jokingly called each other Hera and Zeus, vexing those gods, who drowned Ceyx in a storm at sea; Alcyone threw herself into the sea at the news, and was transformed into a halcyon (kingfisher). Legend has it the halcyon hen buries her dead mate in the winter before laying her eggs in a compact nest and setting it adrift on the sea; Æolus forbids the nest to be disturbed, so the water is calm for 14 days centered on the winter solstice, called the Halcyon Days. The actual bird does not build nests however; instead the story probably derives from an old pagan observance of the turning season, with the moon-goddess conveying a dead symbolic king of the old year to his resting place. Though this Alcyone and the Pleiad Alcyone appear to be separate individuals, they may be related: in 2000 BC, a vigorous period of ancient astronomy, the Pleiades rose nearly four hours earlier than they do today for the same time of year, and were overhead at nightfall on the winter solstice, when the Halcyon supposedly nested; their conjunction with the sun during spring equinoxes at that time may have something to do with the association of the cluster with birds, which are often used as symbols of life and renewal.
Asterope or Sterope - `lightning', `twinkling', `sun-face', `stubborn-face' (Indo-European ster-, `star', `stellar', `asterisk', etc.) - In some accounts, ravished by Ares and gave birth to Oenomaus, king of Pisa. In others, Oenomaus was her husband, and they had a beautiful daughter, Hippodaima, and three sons, Leucippus, Hippodamus, and Dysponteus, founder of Dyspontium; or, Oenomaus may instead have had these children with Euarete, daughter of Acrisius. Another Asterope was daughter of the river Cebren. Still another was daughter of Porthaön, and may have been the mother of the Sirens, who lured sailors to their deaths with their enchanting singing.
A possible alternate name is Asterië (`of the starry sky' or `of the sun'), which may also be a name for the creatrix of the universe, Eurynome, in the Pelasgian myth. Graves mentions her as a Pleiad only in passing, with no other mention in the other references. Perhaps she was at one time a Pleiad when different names were used, or an earlier version of Sterope, whose name is similar; or perhaps Graves is incorrect. He also in passing calls the titan or oak-goddess Dione a Pleiad, without explanation or corroboration. Does the term have a broader meaning in some contexts?
Celæno - `swarthy' - Had sons Lycus (``wolf'') and Chimærus (``he-goat'') by Prometheus. No other data.
Electra or Eleckra - `amber', `shining', `bright' (Indo-European wleik-, `to flow, run', as a liquid); electrum is an alloy of silver and gold, and means amber in Latin (see Ezekiel 1:4), as does the Greek elektron; Thales of Miletus noted in 600 BC that a rubbed piece of amber will attract bits of straw, a manifestation of the effects of static electricity (outer charge stripping via friction), and perhaps the origin of the modern term - Wife of Corythus; seduced by Zeus and gave birth to Dardanus, founder of Troy, ancestor of Priam and his house. Called Atlantis by Ovid, personifying the family. May also, by Thaumas, be the mother of the Harpies, foul bird-women who lived in a Cretan cave and harried criminals, but this could be a different ocean-nymph of the same name.
Another Electra was a daughter of Oedipus, though this may not be the same Oedipus who killed his father and married his mother. She is said to be mother of DarDANus and Jason.
Yet another Electra was a daughter of Agamemnon and Clytæmnestra, with an alternate name of Laodice, and with brother Orestes and sisters Chrysothemis and Iphigeneia (or Iphianassa), though the latter sister may have been Clytæmnestra's niece, adopted from Theseus and Helen. Agamemnon was king of Mycenæ and led the Greeks against Troy; he was murdered at his return by Clytæmnestra and her lover Ægisthus, both of whom Orestes and Electra killed in revenge, whence the psychological term `Electra complex'. This Electra was also wife to the peasant Pylades, and bore him Medon and Strophius the Second.
Maia - `grandmother', `mother', `nurse'; `the great one' (Latin) - Eldest and most beautiful of the sisters; a mountain nymph in Arcadia. Seduced by Zeus and gave birth to Hermes (And therefore to Mercurius--Paul...Acts 14:12). Later became foster-mother to Arcas, son of Zeus and Callisto, during the period while Callisto was a bear, and before she and Arcas were placed in the heavens by Zeus (she as Ursa Major, he as either Boötes or Ursa Minor).
Another Maia was the Roman goddess of spring, daughter of Faunus and wife of Vulcan (his Greek counterpart, Hephæstus, married Aphrodite instead). Farmers were cautioned not to sow grain before the time of her setting, or conjunction with the sun. The month of May is named after her, and is coincidentally(?) the month in which the solar conjunction happens. By our modern calendar, the conjunction occurred in April in early Roman times, with the shift since then due to the precession of the Earth's axis; but calendars too have changed over time, especially before the time of Julius Caesar, so the month and the cluster's solar conjunction may have lined up then as well.
Merope - `eloquent', `bee-eater', `mortal' - Married Sisyphus (se-sophos, `very wise'), son of Æolus, grandson of Deucalion (the Greek Noah), and great-grandson of Prometheus...
Another Merope was daughter of Dionysus's son Oenopion, king of Chios; Orion fell in love with her, and Oenopion refused to give her up, instead having him blinded. Orion regained his sight and sought vengeance, but was killed by Artemis, or by a scorpion, or by some other means (many versions).
Taygete or Taygeta - ? tanygennetos, `long-necked' - Seduced by Zeus and gave birth to Lacedæmon, founder of Sparta, to which she was thus an important goddess. In some versions of the story, she was unwilling to yield to Zeus, and was disguised by Artemis as a hind (female red deer) to elude him; but he eventually caught her and begot on her Lacedæmon, whereupon she hanged herself.
One day the great hunter Orion saw the Pleiads (perhaps with their mother, or perhaps just one of them, as they walked through the Boeotian countryside, and fancied them. He pursued them for seven years, until Zeus answered their prayers for delivery and transformed them into birds (doves or pidgeons), placing them among the stars. Later on, when Orion was killed (many conflicting stories as to how), he was placed in the heavens behind the Pleiades, immortalizing the chase.
The information above was taken from:
Burnham's Celestial Handbook, Revised & Enlarged Edition, Robert Burnham Jr., 1976, Dover Publications Inc.
Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning, Richard Hinckley Allen, 1899, 1963, Dover reprint (Note: Allen's text on individual Pleiades stars can be found at Alcyone Systems.)
Star Lore of All Ages, William Tyler Olcott, 1911, 1931, G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York
Star Tales, Ian Ridpath, 1988, Universe Books
The Age of Fable, Thomas Bullfinch, 1942, Heritage Press
The Greek Myths, Robert Graves, 1960, Pelican Books
The Reader's Encyclopedia 2/e, William Rose Benet, 1965, Thomas Y. Crowell Company
American Heritage Dictionary, 1965
Fundamentals of Physics 2/e, David Halliday and Robert Resnick, 1986, John Wiley & Sons, New York
If you are aware of additional information or corrections, please let me know! Steven Gibson.But they that escape of them shall escape, AND SHALL BE ON THE MOUNTAINS LIKE DOVES OF THE VALLEYS, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity...(Ezekiel 7:16).
The early Christian seers (among them Paul) looked into the heavens...They read the words...
Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?
Canst thou bring forth Maz'za-roth in his season? or can thou guide Arcturus with his sons?
Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? can thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?...(Job 38:31-33).
they studies the signs...
The Great Bear constellation Ursa Major
and understood:
And he saith, Verily I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man...(John 1:51).
And there shall be signs in the Sun, and in the Moon, and in the Stars; and upon earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and waves roaring;
Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken...(Luke 21:25-28).
And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty angels,
In flaming Fire taking vengeance on them that know not God (and who say they do), and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ (Hesus Crishna).
Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his Power:
When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe because our testimony among you was believed in that day...(2 Thessalonians 1:5-10).