We have all looked up in the night sky and recognized certain patterns in the stars the illuminate the heavens. Some of us can name the constellations, while other just know a few familiar patterns. This was as true for our ancient ancestors as it is for us today.
To those ancient star gazers the patterns of light in the night sky held valuable information. With minds every bit as sharp as ours, our ancestors learned that certain pattens of stars always rose in the evening in the same seasons of the year. In a valley near a plain, one tribe may have named one of those patterns after the beast of the herds that passed at that time each year. Along a river valley in another part of the world the local peoples may have named that same pattern after the birds of the great flocks that migrated at that time each year. Along a distant coast by the sea elsewhere, the local fisherman may have named this pattern after the fish that schooled each year at this time.
Whether they saw fish, fowl or beast, the patterns of the stars held "Signs" that could be read by those ancient peoples. Signs that could be used prepare them to take advantage of the bounty of earth; Signs that could help them to brace themselves for the seasonal fluctuations of local weather; Signs that would allow them to prepare for the future. Such use of patterns of the stars is surly the origins of our modern astrological Signs, and probably the basic precursors of astrology itself.
A thousand years before the Egyptians built the Pyramids, the native peoples of the Britain had built hundreds of stone monolith circle to track the movements of the Sun and Moon and to follow the patterns of the heavens. All over the earth where archeologists unearth the remains of those prehistoric cultures that laid the foundations of modern civilization, peoples were incorporating observations of the heavens into their buildings, be it temple or tomb. We have no way to know how many different system of Signs there were in the world before the advent of writings. Only a very few of these systems have survived and their origins of often murky. We do, however, know the origin of the system of Signs we use today.
Astrology, as it is practiced today evolved from the astrology practiced in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. While many of the technical advances of astrology came from Mesopotamia, the Signs we use are of Egyptian origin. These signs seem to have come into being in the 3rd millennium B.C. In both cultures, sunset was marked as the beginning of the new day an the star pattern rising in the east was marked. Below is a profile of each Sign as it rose just after sunset.
September: Aries - Ewes are separated from the rams in preparation for breeding. (Aries was originally a ewe not a ram)
October: Taurus - The Nile floods subside and oxen are yoked to plough the land. Hence: the Bull.
November: Gemini - Two Brilliant star rise (Castor and Pollux). Hence: the Twins
December: Cancer - Of all the Signs the reason for Cancer is the least understood but since the Sun was at it’s lowest course in the heavens it may have referred to a crab like sideways motion.
January: Leo - Preparations were being made for the harvest. The phonetics for a sickle and a lion are identical. Hence: the Lion.
February: Virgo - Harvest time. Spica (‘ear of corn’) rises. Virgo was originally the Great Mother or corn goddess.
March: Libra - The harvest is weighed (partly for the assessment of taxes) and stored. Hence:the scales.
April: Scorpio - The land is parched, subject to sandstorms, and infested with scorpions. Hence: the scorpion
May: Sagittarius - The Nile is at it’s lowest flows and is fordable in places by cavalry, many of these where mounted archers. This is the time of year when many Egyptian military campaigns began. Hence: the archer/horse.
June: Capricorn - The Sun reached it’s maximum elevation in the sky, hence the mountain goat (the symbol for high places).This is also when the Nile started it’s annual rise, hence: goat with a fish’s tail.
July: Aquarius - The Nile starts to flood. Hence: the water bearer pouring water on the lands.
August: Pisces - The height of the annual floods and a time of ample fish. Hence: the fishes.
Because of the Precession of the Equinox’s, the constellation of Pisces now rises at the time of year when Taurus rose in those ancient sky’s. The Signs that meant one thing to the ancient people’s of Egypt mean something else to those of us today. Today, the Signs are associated not with the patterns rising at sunset, but with the motion of the Sun. Astrology is a body of knowledge in motion, evolving with each age and growing as our knowledge of ourselves grow. Like mankind, astrology is old, and yet, like mankind it is a realm of infinite new discoveries to be made.
~Information courtesy of BenevolentWizard~
~Page Created by MistressDragoness 2005~
