|
Ancient
astrology did not make quantitative inquiries where the
lore of the forefathers was still being transmitted orally.
Only after the establishment of an alphabet, primarily the
Hebrew alphabet, did the mythology which had been an oral
tradition, finally find its way into ink and paper.
The
Hebrew alphabet, because it was the first written alphabet
of the ancient world which could be memorized by a five-year
old was also the most compact with only 22 letters. This
alphabet could become absorbed by thousands of common people,
released from the secrecy of temple priests.
It could
only be at this time that all mythology relegated to the
stars were “frozen” on paper, for all time. The
myths may have been written too soon, making their fluid
portrayal among the constellations a thing of record, and
no longer a tradition of story-telling. The difference between
the experience in Nature and the effect of reading may have
rerouted the traditions into text, and no longer as artifacts
of Nature Herself.
The
fact that we expect our constellations to submit to a measurement
which is experienced only here on earth illustrates to what
degree we have become separated from the orally-transmitted
lore that at once encompassed history, astronomy and the
unconscious without intellectually-derived bounds. These
ancients who sought to answer their quandaries through their
experiences of nature, did not seek to measure, repeat experiments
or quantify their world. Their reaction was awe, and inspired
the roots of religion which still seep into our current
world experiences .
However,
today we find that astrologers are on either side of a zodiacal
argument, owing mostly to these facts. The sidereal zodiac
is a measurement which finds the zodiac, star by star, to
its position, no matter what relationship it has to our
elliptical view of it. On the contrary, the tropical zodiac
is firmly planted in a Sun/Moon relationship, and simply
divides the sky by 30-degree sectors, according to its mathematicians,
who saw fit to “correct” their math with a nip
and a tuck for latitude or longitudinal differences. We
may thus arrive at “intercepted” houses because
of a calculation for extreme longitudes.
Either
zodiac may be divided equally, or by any of the mathematicians,
whether Poryphory, Ptolemy, Regiomontanus and at least a
half-dozen others. So, what is the basis of the tropical
zodiac? And why are astrologers so difficult to convince
of their apparent “mistake” that when they say,
for the number of degrees “off” that the Tropical
Zodiac may be, that the Moon is in Scorpio, or the Sun in
Leo, when in fact (or according to the Siderealists) neither
is really true: the stars that represent that constellation
are long since past the motion of the Moon. If you are a
good observer of the night sky, the Tropicalist might admit,
“Yes, the moon does seem to be closer to the stars
which represent Sagittarius.”
It's
important to take a lesson in Greek to better understand
it. The word 'tropical,' takes its roots from the Greek,
"tropos," meaning "pivot" or "turn"
point. When we use it in other words of the English language,
its meaning becomes more clear. A drug which induces changed
perceptions would be called, "psychotropic," for
instance.
Where
are the "tropics?" These are the pivot points
of the Sun's greatest northern or southern declinations.
How do we experience these? June 21 and December 21 the
Sun "changes his mind," and pivots in the opposite
direction, signalling a return to longer nights or visa
versa, i.e., the Solstice Points.
It is
easy to think of the lines drawn on geographically-correct
globes in classrooms and libraries. There are two lines,
equidistant from the Equator, one called Capricorn (northern)
and the other Cancer. Why are these called the Tropics?
Because it is where the "Sun changes his mind,"
so to speak and returns to the opposite direction. But,
is it due to the Sun, really? No.
The
earth's axis performs this relational change which shifts
hemispheric weather patterns, changing our summer into winter,
but while we burn up in 100 degree weather, that same axis
makes it inevitable to those in Adelaide or Buenos Aires
to experience winter chill.
(View
the movement of the earth's
axis, and the view of the earth's seasonal
changes, from space.)
In the
northern hemisphere, the dominant cultures have either a
Greek, or Hebrew stream somewhere near their fountainhead.
It follows that European cultures (as illustrated by their
language saturations) lead the popular cultures. Holidays
like Christmas are therefore celebrated throughout the Southern
Hemisphere as well the northern, even though at Christmas
time, Sydney Australia is sweating and sipping iced tea
while we in the Northern Hemisphere are jing-jing-jingling
through the snow. I imagine Santa on a surfboard ubiquitous
in the Land "down under." (I’ve never been,
but I’m guessing this is so.)
Language
is the carrier of cultures, and so Australians and South
Americans (and many others) learn to tolerate the snowy
pictures from elsewhere, all wishing everyone a happy holiday.
Truly, cultures around the world recognize this fact very
well. I am drawing a picture of the ubiquitous “forces”
which maintain a kind of ancient “truth” about
Nature and the types of rites and rituals which come about
as our observations grow old, and perhaps no longer related
to the ancient and original meanings. Take the word, "Sidereal."
(See the article by Darby Costello, "Desire and the Stars"
for a wonderful tour of etymological depth; for what Jung
called, "the unconscious of the language.") "Sider"
refers to stars, from the Latin. It is deep inside words
like "consider," and "decide." To "con"
and "sider" is to be "with" or "together"
with the stars. In California we still pause by the state's
markers of a bell by the side of some roads, marking "El
Camino Real," meaning, the "royal" (real)
"road" (el camino). The etymological tracings
can go in many fascinating directions.
It is
important to understand that culture and the whims of our
religious practices have a deeply ingrained custom which
weighs upon us and to which we adhere, year in, year out.
We no longer question whether we believe the light will
increase, even if it is the longest night of the year on
December 21-22. We turn on a lighted tree or light a ceremonious
candelabra, and say Happy Christmas or Hannukah, or any
other fond greeting of fellowship, shared with those whom
we wish to endear while gathered around on a holiday.
In astrology,
these traditions come around in the form of Tropical Astrology.
Laura
Shamas, (HeadlineMuse.com) mythologist and
playright, "knows what she felt was an age-old reaction.
In ancient cultures fall was considered a period of renewal."
"The
Thesmophoria, the massive harvest festival of ancient Greece,
took place in the fall because after a fall harvest there
is replanting and hope for what the future yields,"
says Shamas. The pattern of fall as a new beginning was
ingrained in us and we built it into our agrarian and academic
cycles. But each year we're being torn away from those patterns
by year-round school, nonstop schedules, and workdays that
slow for no solstice.”
In ritual
fashion, we still return to school in the fall, set our
clocks to accommodate the change in light, be it in spring
or fall, and follow the directions on seed packets for planting
after the first frost.
We don’t
just do this by a princely whim of legislation only lately
imposed, we do it because the season changes us. So, the
stars rise and fall, and the world turns once more, and
the Siderealist that I become when I am outside on a summer
night to admire the Dipper and search for that little teapot,
the stars which formulate the constellation of Sagittarius,
can indeed locate the Moon. I remember to make the 15-degree
correction, and imagine that the actual stars (Sidereal)
of the Moon's location are not Scorpio, where the Tropicalists
insist on locating the moon tonight.
But,
when I’m an astrologer, I still feel that night is
the quiet of the day, noon is not the hour for bicycling
in the summertime, that dawn is the brightening new hope,
and that sunset is when I hang up my hat and consider plans
for dinner. That’s Tropical living. And, it’s
not my own little invention. It’s been since the language
first wrote down the observations of the ancients, and this
is the tradition that they used. And, it still works.
Ophiucius,
a new constellation of the Zodiac?
This
question of whether Ophicius should be included in the band
of the zodiac, that set of constellations which are 'under'
the orb of the Sun, has long been discussed. When I first
began studying astrology in 1969, a book had been published,
"The 13th Sign," and many other articles and titles
have appeared over the years with varying results. As far
as the adding or subtracting of another constellation into
the very antique, extremely well-established zodiac (which,
while we still have the Greek dictionary out) means "circle
of animals", we are constantly barraged by a crowd
of naysayers and fix-it types who want to "correct"
this circle to their personal whim. I say it's a waste of
time.
If we
feel that Mother Earth herself, who mutely accepts whatever
treatment we give her, must be defended, let us also include
another mute witness of time immemorial with Her: ancient
man. These are the populations who lived 100,000 years ago,
for whom the ancient skies created the magic which we today
transfer to television and web sites. These are the long-gone,
mute witnesses who should be called to the stand as well,
to testify as to why they named the constellations and ordered
them so.
Until
that Judgement day, I say leave well enough alone. Ophiucius
still belongs, he is part of the story which Wendy Ashley
includes in her "extra-zodiacal" readings, where
the myths which join all the constellations are threaded
together in cyclic stories. They cross the night sky like
the ancient seafarer, finding dangers here, harbors there--very
much like his ventures through the dangers of the world
he occupied. In his world, all the constellations belonged
to astrology, not just the zodiac. Just because we
know Leo's archetype doesn't mean we may, without impugnity,
also ignore that various other clusters relate to Leo: we
may as well allow them to also amplify our client's charts;
let's allow a connection to his story via Corvus the Crow
or Hydra, the water plant. That is the nature of the Mythological
connection in astrology, and yes, it's Sidereal in method.
The
two systems, Sidereal and Tropical, can actually support
eachother if the astrologer is prepared to understand them
in the contexts of their intent. Neither are completely
wrong, and conversely, nor are they superior to the other
in any fashion: their parallels together can create a stronger
astrology, if only astrologers did not succumb to the modern
and fashionable argument about Superiority.
Alas,
we moderns are not as astute as sky observers. We are more
insistently focused on technology, and pure math. Exactitude
as platitude is our homily. Ignorance, trampling and pure
disrespect borne out of superiority in machinery is our
technological unconscious at work.
This
derails the ancient man’s position, who if he suddenly
reappeared here on earth, may as well make hand signals
and talk to horses before he actually conveys to any of
us “modern people,” his intelligence and of what
he knows. That would be of course after he took off all
the electrical gadgets which measure his heart and brain
waves, and following the procedures which puncture him with
a syringe to get a sample of his blood. To him, we are evil
to plant these invasions on his body; we haven't even
heard his story.
However,
none of our measurements and quantifications were the concern
of very ancient man. Only the facts of Nature impressed
him. These were the death, birth and constant grinding of
his daily existence. Only they could retell his story, and
around each campfire his eyes glinted a greater insight,
and his progeny would tell the story again, only to add
their polish and experiences until it became the Mythos,
written down in canons only too recently--but still too
long ago to remember their sources. Sadly, today we worship
the text, not the context.
Perhaps
we might walk a few miles in his bare feet in order to get
at a more basic sense of respect for the lengthy lore that
still remains intact for our digestion. Something in our
attitude might bear a bit of honor to this "cave man,"
whom we continually disparage in the same act of superior
thinking which physically pollutes the earth.
In
answer to a question posed to the All_astrology discussion,
August 28, 2001
|