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Naming the Zodiacal Constellations:
We will never understand how and why the zodiacal constellations got their popular glyphs and names unless we constantly bear in mind, as I have so often stated in all my writings, that in ancient times in the Near East, the day of twenty four hours began at sunset, as it still does with the Hebrew and Islamic peoples; and as it did with the Florentines, Bohemians and Czechs up to comparatively modern times. Eve commenced with sunset and it marked the first hour of the day of twenty four hours. Eve, the rib of Adam, is of course the name of the thin crescent of the New Moon seen immediately after sunset and which marked the commencement of the first hour of the new lunai month as well as the first day of the new lunar year, 1st Pakhon (Greek); 1st Chonsu (Coptic); 1st Nisannu (Babylonian); but these lunar months must not be confused with like names occurring in the common Egyptian calendar The planets that rose at this breathtaking moment of sunset, weaved the fortunes of the day, as the faithful in mute adoration caressed the earth. Before they inclined upward to their culmination, these eastern stars were for that particular moment of time the true birth stars. They were indicative of the physical person of the native and not those which clothed the setting Sun in the diametrically opposite constellation. In short, anciently one was considered to be born under those fixed stars and planets (if any) that crossed the eastern horizon at the precise moment of one birth. As stated elsewhere, the degree of the ecliptic that transited the eastern horizon at this particular moment constituted one horoscope, also known as the Hora, or Ascendant. In all matters of life and death, sickness, physical injury, and health generally, this point, or its progressed or quotidian positions, must be involved directly or by configuration, because it alone symbolizes the physical body of the native. Furthermore, we must never overlook the fact that ancient Egyptian and Babylonian astronomy and astrology were observational and lunar. They devolved on what was seen by the unaided sight. The unseen, no matter how realistic, was rigorously excluded. When these astronomers referred to the New Moon, for instance, in all cases they referred to the first appearance of the fine, thin lunar crescent as first observed in the west after sunset. They never meant the so-called astronomical New Moon, otherwise known as the syzygy, or conjunction of the Sun and the Moon. This also is invisible except at eclipses. In the lunar months of antiquity the astronomical New Moon, invariably a day of evil omen because on this day eclipses of the Sun can occur, marked the last or the penultimate day of the preceding lunar month. When the astronomers of Egypt and Babylon referred to the tropics of Capricorn and Cancer, they most certainly were not talking about the Sun in these constellations. Has anyone ever seen the fixed stars of any constellation when the Sun was shining within it? Of course not. How could he? So in all such references these astronomers had in mind the Full Moon. In fact, the Full Moon day for most people of antiquity was the most important and often the most sacred day of the lunar month. Frequently it was a day of festivities. It usually commenced at eve of the 14th day of the lunar month as did the Pasch or Passover. Hence, for these peoples of antiquity, the tropic of Capricorn denoted midsummer and the tropic of Cancer denoted midwinter. In short, Egypto-Babylonian astronomy may aptly be called Full Moon astronomy. In their desire to appear highly intellectual, scientific and mathematical, the Greeks, probably about the time of Alexander the Great, adopted the solar nomenclature, thereby turning ancient zodiacal symbolism topsy turvy and making it sheer nonsense. In direct violation of natural symbolism, these Greeks interpreted the tropic of Cancer as denoting midsummer and the tropic of Capricorn as denoting midwinter! Now let us find out how and why the zodiacal constellations got their glyphs and names. In the long history of Egypt, the great annual event was, of course, the overflow of the river Nile—the longest river in the world. Every summer when this occurred, almost the whole of ancient Egypt was so covered with water as to be turned into a vast lake or sea. But far from being an annual calamity, it was the greatest of blessings as the rising waters from the distant Ethiopian highlands carried down thousands of tons of fertilizing silt and spread it all over the land! Without this the Egyptians could not have survived, as their land was intrinsically barren. Naturally, therefore, it was of vital importance to know precisely when this inundation would happen. It would have been disastrous if such should have caught the people unawares and unprepared. The ancient common calendar of 365 days, without any provision for a leap year day, could not really be of help. While this was useful about the 3rd millennia B.C., it ceased to tally with the seasonal year in the 2nd and 1st millennia B.C.
They discovered that a certain group of fixed stars seemingly always rose above the eastern horizon immediately after sunset when the inundation commenced. So they identified these particular stars with Hapi, the naked boy-god of the river Nile. They noticed, too, that when the Moon became full among the stars, the inundation was upon them. This was because the Full Moon rises simultaneously with the setting of the Sun, for at Full Moons the Moon is always diametrically in opposition to the Sun. So weeks ahead it could be estimated when the Moon would be full among the stars and thus, well in advance, the date of the overflow could be predicted and the necessary preparations made. Any astute student of astrology will instantly notice that the stars of Hapi, subsequently identified by the Romans as Aquarius, the water bearer, solely because of their rising at sunset which is the time when the fixed stars first become visible in the night skies, synchronized with the overflow of the Nile. But these stars rise everywhere in the world once every day, but such risings do not tally with the flooding of great rivers. In ancient Egypt alone, the flooding of the Nile only occurred when the star of Aquarius rose immediately after sunset. This implies that the Sun was in the opposite constellation Leo. There is no record from the old world that any great river commenced to overflow its banks and turn the surrounding land into a vast lake when the Sun was in the tropical Leo (July). The Tigris overflowed its banks at the beginning of March (Gregorian), attaining maximum flooding about May 10th; while the Euphrates rose in the middle of March and reached its highest level towards the close of May. (Maspero: Dawn of Civilization, p. 549). There is no only of service when the waters had commenced to rise, which was then too late. So, perforce, they had to rely on the stars to give them the earliest warnings. They discovered that a certain group of fixed stars seemingly always rose above the eastern horizon immediately after sunset when the inundation commenced. So they identified these particular stars with Hapi, the naked boy-god of the river Nile. They noticed, too, that when the Moon became full among the stars, the inundation was upon them. This was because the Full Moon rises simultaneously with the setting of the Sun, for at Full Moons the Moon is always diametrically in Opposition to the Sun. So weeks ahead it could be estimated when the Moon would be full among the stars and thus, well in advance, the date of the overflow could be predicted and the necessary preparations made. Any astute student of astrology will instantly notice that the stars of Hapi, subsequently identified by the Romans as Aquarius, the water bearer, solely because of their rising at sunset which is the time when the fixed stars first become visible in the night skies, synchronized with the overflow of the Nile. But these stars rise everywhere in the world once every day, but such risings do not tally with the flooding of great rivers. In ancient Egypt alone, the flooding of the Nile only occurred when the star of Aquarius rose immediately after sunset. This implies that the Sun was in the opposite constellation Leo. There is no record from the old world that any great river commenced to overflow its banks and turn the surrounding land into a vast lake when the Sun was in the tropical Leo (July). The Tigris overflowed its banks at the beginning of March (Gregorian), attaining maximum flooding about May 10th; while the Euphrates rose in the middle of March and reached its highest level towards the close of May. (Maspero: Dawn of Civilization, p. 549). There is no evidence that the Indus, Ganges, or any other great rivers in India annually overflowed their banks and swamped the land on anything like the scale the Nile swamped Egypt during the summer months. In spite of these facts, some devout Hindus never tire of reiterating their claim that the ancient Aryavarta (India) was the cradle of astrology. Rise and Fall of the Nile Lest it be assumed that the acronychal (sunset) rising of the constellation Aquarius at the commencement of the inundation was a mere coincidence, as some contend, let us cast an eye on the diagram of the glyph showing the rise and fall of the Nile. Copied from a similar diagram (Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. 16, pp. 452-453, 1962) it represents graphically in millions of cubic feet per day, the average rise of the Nile for every month of the Gregorian calendar for the years 1870-1952, but transposed to the year 200 A.D. when (a) the sidereal and tropical versions of the zodiac and (b) the Julian and Gregorian calendars coincided. The common calendar at the bottom of the diagram gives the actual degrees of the zodiac on the eastern horizon at the actual (cosmical) moment of sunset. It should be noted that while 200 A.D. is a leap year in the Julian calendar, it is not so in the Gregorian. Here, 200 A.D. is treated as being Gregorian for the sake of convenience. To obtain the acronychal equivalent merely add about 7 degrees to the cosmic longitudes, because stars of the first magnitude do not become visible to the unaided sight until the Sun has dropped by this amount below the western horizon, or about half an hour after apparent (true) sunset. Thus, on January 1st the stars of the 12 degree of Cancer will be on the Ascendant at the actual moment of sunset, but because of sunlight they will not be visible. The first to appear, if of the first magnitude, will be those about Cancer 19 degrees in mundo. In respect to the sidereal version of the zodiac, these longitudes decrease with time at the mean rate of 13.8 degrees every one thousand years. From the year 800 B.C., the cosmical longitude would be about Cancer 26.5 degrees, and the acronychal about Leo 4 degrees. latromathematica. Every student of astrology is familiar with the fact that the popular Duodennary or twelve-fold division of the mundane sphere is divided into twelve equal divisions of time running counterclockwise. The Hora or Ascendant was known as the Aipheta or Giver of Life, because it was at this point of the mundane sphere that the Sun, the symbol of life, rose above the horizon (sunrise); while the Descendant or cusp of the 7th house was recognized as the Anaereta or Destroyer of Life, because at this point the Sun set below the horizon and sank into Duat or the Underworld, such setting being regarded as its death. From the remotest times the 1St mundane house was given dominion over the head; the 2nd over the neck and throat; the 3rd over the shoulders and arms, and so on. In their inordinate worship of schematism, believing such to be scientific, the Greek astronomers made the signs of the zodiac synchronize with this Duodennary arrangement of the houses commencing Aries with the 1st house, Taurus with the 2nd, and so on. To this day solar synchronicity is the popular vogue among tropical astrologers. This arrangement implies that the day of twenty four hours commences at sunrise—which we know is not the case. In pre-Greek or lunar astrology, the anatomical dominions of the signs of the zodiac were diametrically opposite to the modern notation. For instance, during the Aries Age, that is, the period between B.C. 1955 and A.D. 221, when the Neomenia or 1st New Moon of the lunar year occurred in the constellation Aries, the anatomical dominion of the zodiacal constellation ran more or less as follows: Held dominion over: In considering the origin of the popular glyphs and names of the zodiacal constellations, one must always bear the below (Table 2.) zodiacal melothesia, or distribution of parts of the body to the zodiacal constellations, in mind. During the Taurus Age, B.C. 4152 to B.C. 1955, Scorpio held dominion over the head and the other constellations followed in sequence; while during the present or Pisces Age, A.D. 221 to A.D. 2376, Virgo holds dominion over the head, Libra the throat and so on in sequence. Table 2.
Naming the Zodiacal Constellations continued...
In the above melothesia, it will be noticed that Capricorn held dominion over the breasts and adjoining parts of the body, probably extending to the armpits. In this respect, the odor which emanated from under the armpits was known to the Romans as Capra, a she-goat. According to the Greeks, the horned and cloven Pan., the god of flocks and shepherds, and the pastoral divinity of summer, was the foster brother of Amalthaea (Capricorn). The Greek Sileni and Satyros with their horns and cloven heels were associated with Capricorn. When the Full Moon was in Capricorn (midsummer) they were given to excessive revelry. Indulging in an extravagance of wine drinking, they were addicted to all forms of sensual pleasure, no matter how gross, and no mortal was safe in their company, whence the medical term satyriasis. At this time of the year, with the rising waters of the Nile, fish once again became abundant. As a nemonic, the Egyptian scribes affixed the ideogram of a fish to the tail of the goat, the omen reading “when this constellation rises at eve, or when the Moon becomes full in it, there will be Sun above and fish below in Egypt.” This simple calendar of acronychal phenomena, graphically illustrated by ideograms (hieroglyphics) is what we today recognize as the ancient zodiac. It was intended for the use of the fluvial and agricultural communities of Egypt and it is devoid of any mysterious implications. But those who had a hankering for mystery invested the simple names and symbols of the constellation with a mysterious occult meaning that they simply did not possess. Adjacent to Capricorn are the constellations Knm. t the Vulture (Altair) or Eagle (Aquila), and Stwy (Shetyu) the Tortoise (Lyra). Perched high in his eyrie, the eagle also symbolized the maximum elevation attained by the Sun at the summer solstice. In the circular zodiac of Denderah, as already stated, the summer solstice is represented by a crown hawk, Horus, the “Sun,” perched on the top of a papyrus pole. When a tortoise was seized, the eagle would drop it from a great height so as to break its shell; and in Egypt, the “Tortoise” (Lyra) was near the zenith at its culmination. In modern astrology, it is a common error to associate the eagle with Scorpio. Scorpio represents Serpens, the serpent, but in ancient symbolism both the eagle and the vulture were antiscions of Capricorn.
Yet the Egyptians of the Pyramidic period made another far reaching discovery. They noticed that the beginning of the inundation seemed to tally with the heliacal rising of the brightest fixed star in the heavens, namely Sirius. This occurred annually about July 16th, Julian. So, the beginning of the Sothic (Sirius) year began with the heliacal rising of this star and with the acronychal sunset rising of the constellation Aquarius, at which time the inundation was well under way. This fact is beautifully commemorated in the 17th card of the Egyptian Tarot.
Preceding Khonuy are a group of pentades falling in the constellation Aquarius and having the ideogram of three jars in a stand. This is a syllabic for knt.t (khentet) which means “he who is in front.” This refers to the Full Moon in Aquarius which occurred at the inauguration of the Sothic Cycle and which led the planetary procession reading from west to east. In some celestial diagrams this is illustrated by the pictogram of the disc of a Full Moon in the middle of a boat, which bears the legend hr ib w13 (her yeb weya) which means “(He who is) in the middle of the boat.” It should be noted, however, that the scribes were not always scrupulous in putting these pentades in their proper sequences, especially as they thought they would never be seen by living eye again. When compared, decan lists often show considerable variations in this respect.
Sr. t (Aries) rose acronychally during the month of September (Sun in Libra). This was the month of the autumnal equinox when the inundation was at its highest. Associated with Aries is Cetus, the Sea Monster. The waters of the Nile were now so high that crocodiles and hippopotami swam over the erstwhile pastures. But in those pastures that remained dry, the ewes were separated from the rams at this period. In the decan lists and in the circular zodiac of Denderah, the ram is shown in a position of repose, indicative of sunset. It is depicted facing back to front in order of the constellations with its tail foremost and its head rearmost. It has been suggested that its position of repose was possibly due to the fact that it was kept in its pen as the inundation was then at its greatest. The lunar regent of this month (Athyr) was Hathor, the cow-headed goddess. Hathor literally means “House of Horns” (The Sun) or “the visible heavens.” In the great temple of Hathor at Denderah, the massive head of the goddess marks the eastern horizon or place of the Ascendant. The Sumerians called this constellation hun.ga and the Babylonians agaru, both words meaning a “hired laborer” (Langdon: Babylonian Menologies, p. 3), a fact that strongly militates against the view that the zodiac originated in Babylon. Pliny (11, 31) suggests that it was Cleostratus of Tenedos who introduced both Aries and Sagittarius into the Greek zodiac towards the close of the 6th century B.C. In the demotic texts Aries is represented by the determinative for a hide, dhr (deher), which exhibits a long tail. The Greeks identified Aries with the Golden Fleece which was suspended in the grove of Ares (Mars) in Colchis and was guarded day and night by a dragon (Cetus) until it was captured by Jason. It is the last of the zodiacal constellations.
In the decan lists from Asyut, three pentades which ended Aries and commenced Taurus were known to the Egyptians as 3hwy (Akhuy), the “shining ones,” because about the Pyramidic period, the Sun rose in one or other of them on New Year’s Day of the lunar calendar. In other words, they marked the place of the vernal equinox, Taurus 11 degrees, 12 minutes, B.C. 2767. The feminine form of Akhu, namely Akhot, means the “place of sunrise,” or the Ascendant.
The regent of Tybi was Mm, the ithypallic god of Panopolis and Koptos. On the monuments he is depicted naked and standing erect. Crowned with the lofty plumes of Amun, he holds on high a flagellum in the act of striking. He was the Egyptian god of procreation. Below Taurus and Gemini shines the glory of the southern skies S3h (sah), the “Toe,” but known to us as the mighty constellation Orion. In the celestial diagrams Sah is shown as a human figure, wearing the hdt (hedjet) or white crown of the south and standing in his boat welcoming the rising of Isis-Sirius, who issues at his toe! The Babylonians knew this constellation as sib.zi.an.na, the True Shepherd of the Sky.
At the winter solstice, like a crab walking sideways, the Sun crept around an arc of the horizon, never attaining to any great altitude, before it finally set. In Egyptian Babylonian and Mithraic religions, the date of the winter solstice was celebrated as the birth of the Sun, in Christianity as the birth of Christ. The constellation Cancer contains the remarkable star cluster Praesepe (Cancer 13 degrees), the “crib” or “manger” and the two Aselli or “asses” (Cancer 14 degrees and 15 degrees), which rose acronychally during this Christmas month, recalling the crib and asses in the stable in Bethlehem. Praesepe also was known as the “beehive” and in Egypt the lunar month Mekhir was noted for the swarming of bees and for the sowing of seeds. It also was the lambing season and the time when the fields were fertilized with manure.
In the Graeco-Roman atlases the stars which compose the
conspicuous Sickle of Leo are embraced in that constellation and thus extend
it some seven degrees in excess of the normal thirty. But in the Egyptian
zodiac they were known as the “Bow Stars” and were included in the
constellation Cancer. Both the “Bow” and “Arrow” (Sirius) rose simultaneously
in Egypt during the dynastic period. The Bow stars were personified by the
goddess Satis, who is represented holding a bow and arrow. In the circular
zodiac of Denderah she is seen shooting an arrow beneath the lion, while in
the Esna zodiac she walks before the lion holding in her right hand a reed
sicklewise above her head while carrying her bow and arrows in her other hand.
Incidentally, the famous shower of shooting stars observed about November 15
of any year, and known as the Leonids, diverge from a radiant point within the
Sickle. Its approximate position is Leo 2 degrees 17 minutes at latitude 9 N
51. Immediately underneath the “Bow” are the “Stars of the Waters.” These
include the brilliant star of the first magnitude, Canopus (pilot of the Argo,
which carried the heroes to Coichie in search of the Golden Fleece),
personified by Satis’ companion Anqet, goddess of the Inundation, because
Canopus rose heliacally in Egypt when the inundation was in full flood. In the
circular zodiac of Denderah, Anqet will be seen seated behind Satis, and
holding in each hand a water vase (cf. Hapi and his water jar).
The constellation Virgo contains an important star known to
the Egyptians of Ramesside times as t3.nfr (tsha-nefre), “the beautiful or
good boy” which the Egyptians of the late period identified with their infant
Horus in the arms of his mother Isis. The Greeks called this star Protrygeter,
the “first fruit picker” and the Romans called it Vindemiatrix, the
“grape-gatherer,” or Ampelos, the favorite of Bacchus. Ampelos is represented
as an infant boy holding a grape, in the arms of his mother Erigone (born in
the morning), because the heliacal rising of Ampelos ushered in the grape
harvest. In the zodiac on the main porch of the church of Notre Dame in Paris, the constellation Virgo is represented by the Virgin-Mother and Child. In Titus Andronicus, Act IV, Scene 3, Shakespeare speaks of an arrow being shot up to heaven to the “good boy in Virgo’s lap.” The sidereal longitude of Tsha Nefre is Virgo 15 degrees 06 minutes and latitude 16N 11.
In this statement, we are not including the late period when the Egypto-Greeks tried to have different calendars adopted. But the mere fact that Chonsu tallies with the Paschal New Moon suggests that in the prehistoric period, that is before 4,000 B.C., it was the vogue with the common Egyptian folk, before being replaced by the common calendar. However, there is evidence to believe that for religious purposes in the temples, the lunar calendar was observed during the historic period. When the Paschal New Moon is first seen, it, like any other New Moon, first appears just above the western horizon. Simultaneously, the constellation Libra rises in the east. So, from the point of view of the mundane houses (divisions of time) during the Arian Age, Libra becomes the first of the constellations, although Taurus remains the first one, cosmically speaking. So Libra occupies the first house commencing with the Ascendant (eastern horizon). Every astrologer must know that sunrise occurs on the Ascendant and nowhere else. The common glyph for Libra is not as is commonly believed, the representation of the beam of a scales, but is a very ancient Egyptian ideogram, 3 t (Akhet), which depicts the Sun in the process of rising over the hilltops, and which translated reads “the place where the Sun rises,” meaning, of course, the Ascendant. Thus, unmistakably, Libra became associated with the first house and not with the seventh. Incidentally, during this lunar month the Egyptian harvest was weighed, stored and sold.
It would appear that the Egyptians also identified this constellation with Serpens, the serpent, the stars of which intermingle with those of the Scorpion. In Egyptian symbolism, the serpent always has been associated with the winds. The evening rising of Scorpio ushered in the deadly Khamsin (Arabic—SO days wind) bringing with it pestilential hot sandstorms from the Sahara and hordes of scorpions to infest the land. This was the most parched, oppressive and sickening month of the year and frequently brought plague or similar contagion. It was during this month that the waters of the Nile were at their lowest and arid death stalked the land. In symbolism, Scorpio, the snake sign par excellence, is an airy sign.
Our particular Island Universe, known as the Galaxy or Milky Way, comprises all of the known fixed stars and millions that are as yet unknown. But it does not comprise spiral and other nebulae which are other Island Universes in space; and there are millions of them! The center of our Island Universe is situated in Sagittarius 2 degrees 05 minutes, latitude south 5 degrees 32 minutes. The examination of any popular Graeco-Roman star atlas will show that the four successive constellations, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces and Aries, are represented as being amphibious if not entirely aquatic in form. Capricorn appears as a horned goat complete with fish’s tail; Aquarius is but the Greek variant for Hapi, the god of the Nile; at the feet of the chained Andromeda swim the tethered fish (Pisces); while below the reposing ram lurks Cetus, the sea-monster. These four constellations rose acronychally during the summer months of the Egyptian Inundation, when the Nile overflowed its banks and turned the land into a sea. This is yet another pointer to the fact that it was the Egyptians who named the constellations and not the Babylonians as is commonly supposed. The representations of the zodiacal and other constellations are but ideograms, differing but little from those which compose Egyptian hieroglyphic writings. In the unrolling papyrus of the eastern skies, the whole story of the Inundation can be read at dusk in the rising of these four constellations. Their symbolism fits only Egypt, for she alone of all the nations of antiquity suffered the annual transformation of her countryside into an immense lake during the four months when these constellations rose at eve.
ASTROLOGICAL ORIGINS: CYRIL FAGAN:
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 _ Taurus: May15-June16  ` Gemini: June16-July17  a Cancer: July17-Aug.17  b Leo: Aug.17-Sept.17  c Virgo: Sept.17-Oct.17  d Libra: Oct.17-Nov.17
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Capricorn:
Scanning the graph of the rise and fall of the
Nile we find that the river is at its lowest level when Sagittarius, the
mounted archer, rose at sunset and at some places was actually fordable by
cavalry. The river began to swell with water when Capricorn rose at eventide,
that is about May-June. On the ancient monuments, Capricorn is depicted as
half-goat and half-fish. Its acronychal rising coincided with midsummer when
the Sun attained its greatest altitude at southing, symbolized by the giddy
goat climbing to the peak of the mountain. Naturally, it was the hottest time
of the year, and around the effigy of the goat the Greeks of later times
weaved their inevitable myths. According to them, the infant Zeus (Jupiter)
was suckled by the goat-nymph Amalthaea on the island of Crete. When Zeus
became Father-of-the Gods, in gratitude he set Amalthaea’s image among the
stars as the constellation Capricorn. To this day, the she-goat is frequently
alluded to as the nanny-goat and babies’ nurses are known as nannies.
Aquarius. This particular constellation of fixed stars was
identified by the Greeks as Ganymede, the most beautiful boy born of mortal
parents (Homil, Clement 5, 17: Era thosh, 26, 30). According to one legend,
Zeus, taking the form of an Eagle (Aquila), carried the boy off from Mount Ida
and made him his favorite. As cup-bearer to the gods, he personified the
“fountain” of the Nile and caused that river to overflow its banks annually (Pindar
frag. 282): Gany mede thus becomes identified with Hapi, the god of the Nile.
Incidentally, Antinous, another youth famous for his
beauty, was associated with the constellation Aquila and with the Nile. He was
the minion of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. When Antinous was drowned in the Nile
in A.D.130, the grief of the Emperor knew no bounds. He enrolled him among the
gods, caused numerous statues of him to be made, founded the Egyptian city of
Antinopolis in his honor, and erected a temple to him at Mamtinea. Finally, in
A.D. 132, he placed him in the starry skies right below the constellation of
the Eagle. Antinous thus gives his name to Eta Aquilae in sidereal longitude
Capricorn 5 degrees 36 minutes and latitude 21 N 32. The Romans, of course,
styled Ganymede Aquarius, the water-bearer, and gave it dominion over all
large rivers and the like. Most appropriately, tm3. t (Themat) the “river,” is
one of several pentades that tally with the constellation Aquarius.
Pisces: The oldest known so-called decan lists were found
on coffin lids at Asyut, which Egyptologists assign to the IXth and Xth
Heracleopolite dynasties, circa 2300 B.C. One of these decans shows a device
of two fishes with the legend hnwy (khonuy). Treated as a pentade it
synchronizes snugly and nicely with the constellation Pisces. Khonuy (Pisces)
rose at sunset during August, when the Sun was in the opposite constellation,
Virgo. At this time the inundation was so excessive as to turn almost the
whole of Egypt into a sea, abounding in fish and river life and shipping was
the only means of transport. Obviously, therefore, the Egyptians could
estimate the date many months in advance when the Moon would become full in
Pisces, and when fish plus other marine life would be swimming freely over
their pastures and tilled lands. Naturally, therefore, by means of the
grammatical device of dual fish, they indicated that this group of fixed stars
“belonged to” (the month of) the fish. Precisely the same group of stars is
known today as Pisces.
Aries: As we have seen, the pictograph of a ram seems to
have been used by the Egyptians as a sort of zodiacal road sign to indicate
something significant. In the later period such were used as the places “from
whence the winds blew” or to mark where the zodiacal constellations commenced.
In the Pyramidic period, the culmination of the sr Ram and sr. t Ewe pentades,
which in the aggregate constituted the constellation Aries, heralded the
rising of Sirius, the Star of Egypt. So these sheep stars constituted a very
useful zodiacal traffic signal for them. To the religious minded Egyptian
priests it was of the utmost importance to know well in advance the moment
Sirius would rise.
Taurus: Taurus, the Bull, rose at eve during the lunar
month of Khoiak (October). Not only was this the month in which the cattle
were coupled, but the waters of the Nile had so far receded as to permit the
oxen to be yoked and the land to be plowed. Thus, this constellation gets its
name. The constellation melothësia table informs us that Taurus holds dominion
over the generative organs of both sexes. Now the Egyptian phonetics for a
bull is k3 (ka), but k3 also is the Egyptian for a phallus. The table shows us
that Taurus holds dominion over the phallus, thus clearly proving that the
Egyptian astrologers read such acronychally and not as in Greek astrology
which puts the phallus under Scorpio. But in Egyptian, k3 also meant the soul,
and in several murals in the temples of Denderah, the soul (k3), in the form
of the b3 (Ba-bird) is seen leaving the body at death via the phallus!
Nowadays one rarely refers to an ox, but much more commonly to a bull or a
cow, which are connotations of gender but not of genus. Taurus was held to be
the most fertile of all the zodiacal constellations for which reason it was
regarded in high esteem and much revered. When the Full Moon occurred in
Taurus, the Sun was, of course, in the opposite constellation, Scorpio.
Gemini: Gemini, the Twins, rose at eve during the lunar
month of Tybi when the Sun was in the opposite constellation, Sagittarius. The
constellation was probably named because of its brilliant twin stars which the
Romans knew as Castor and Pollux. The Egyptians knew them as the air-god Shu
and his wife and sister Tefnut, the lion-hearted goddess of the Sun’s heat. In
the Babylonian mul-APIN tablet, this constellation is known as Mash. tab. ba.
gal. gal. and Mash. tab. tur. tur., the Great Twins and Little Twins,
respectively. The chief agricultural pursuit was the sowing of seeds and the
sending of sheep and horses to pasture. With the acronychal rising of Gemini,
birds of passage took their departure.
Cancer: Cancer, the Crab, rose after dusk during the lunar
month of Mekhir (Sun in Capricorn). This was the month of the winter solstice
when the Sun had sunk to its lowest elevation (declination). From the date of
the summer solstice the Sun hail been declining (dying!), but on midwinter’s
day—Christmas Day in the 2nd century B.C.— it commenced to increase its
declination again, and its altitude at local noon. This turning point was
hailed as the resurrection or birth of the Sun and was celebrated by all
nations in antiquity with festivities and rejoicing. In the Egyptian zodiacs,
the constellation is represented by the scarabaeus (Scarabaeus sacer) which
lays its eggs in a ball of dung which it compacts by pushing the pellet uphill
on the sandy slopes in the hot sunshine and allowing it to roll backwards
again. This pushing is done with the hind legs. This beetle became the symbol
of Kheper, the god of creation, rebirth, resurrection and transformation; and
the ball of dung became the symbol of the Sun.
Leo: The constellation Leo rose at eve during the lunar
month of Phamenoth (Sun in Aquarius). The most conspicuous feature of this
great constellation is a brilliant group of stars known as the Sickle or
Sickle of Leo. The Egyptian phonetics for a sickle are m3 (Ma). The same
phonetics form the root name for a lion m3i (May), so it is obvious that the
symbol of a lion is only a homophone or rebus for a sickle. Egyptian
astronomical and religious texts abound in the use of similar homophones, when
for superstitious reasons the scribes were adverse to using the original
names. This very fact alone attests that it was the Egyptians who invented the
zodiac and gave the zodiacal constellations their names; for in what other
great nation of antiquity were the phonetics for a sickle and a lion
identical?
Virgo: The harvest constellation Virgo, the “Maid,” rose
after sunset in the lunar month Pharmouthi (Sun in Pisces). The first part of
the month was devoted to flower planting; but with the acronychal rising of
Spica, “the ear of corn,” the harvest began. This period tallied with the
month of February-March, Gregorian. The records attest that without question
this was the time of harvesting in ancient Egypt. But was it also the time of
harvesting for any other great nations of antiquity? Records also prove that
the usual time of harvesting was in the fall and certainly not in the early
spring. This fact alone will demonstrate once again that it was the Egyptians
who invented the zodiac. The Full Moon of the lunar month Pharmouthi, which
would fall in propinquity to the “Ear of Corn” (Spica), was known as the
Harvest Moon.
Libra: The constellation Libra, the Scales, rose at dusk
during the lunar month of Pakhons when the Sun was in the opposite
constellation, Aries. The Greek words Pa Khons, or the Coptic Pa Chons,
literally mean “the traveler of the night skies.” Chonsu is generally
represented on the monuments as a handsome boy Khensu.p. khard) “Chonsu the
Child,” bearing the symbol of the New Moon on his head, and wearing the lock
of hair of youth, and all the appurtenances of divinity and royalty. In
assigning Chonsu to the month when the Sun was in Aries, the Egyptians make
this New Moon identical with the Paschal (Easter) or first New Moon of the
ecclesiastical lunar New Year. The first of the lunar Pachons would tally with
the first Nisannu, Babylonian and the first Nisan, Jewish. During the historic
period, that is since about 4,000 B.C., there is no documentary evidence that
the Egyptian people ever used any calendar other than their common one,
comprising twelve months of precisely thirty days with five added days at the
end of each year, without any provision for a leap-year day, but this has
already been explained elsewhere.
Scorpio: The evening rising of the constellation Scorpio
occurred during the lunar month of Payni when the Sun was in Taurus. The
Egyptians of the Pyramidic period identified the Scorpion with Srkt, the
scorpion-goddess Serket, or to give her full Pyramidic name, Srkt. Ii tw,
which translated means “she-who-relieves-the-windpipe” (Pyr.606; PSBA 39, 34). According to our constellation
melothesia table, this immediately identifies Scorpio with the second mundane
house. In modern conventional astrology, the windpipe comes under the dominion
of Taurus!
Sagittarius:
With the abatement of the Khamsin, the Nile
more easily fordable, and the harvest finally secure, the acronychal rising of
Sagittarius, the soldier archer, in the lunar month of Epiph when the Sun was
in Gemini, found the Egyptian army prepared to set out on foreign expeditions.
In the representations of Sagittarius, the strong arms pulling the bow are the
most marked feature; and the third mundane house is credited with holding
dominion over the shoulders and arms.
