LEO the LION

 

LEO the LION

23 July – 22 August

The Water Serpent

As the Sun enters the Tropical sign of Leo, the great and famous Sirius becomes the morning star to herald the day. The month of August breaks with the planet Jupiter looking at the planet Pluto across the vault of heaven reflecting on from the end of July. Those looking to improve their situation need to profoundly transform their current outlook on both big and small situations. By the end of July the Full Moon will reactivate this situation, which now reaches a high point. Those things that have been in go slow or stalemate  over the past weeks, as the planet Mercury dithered in its orbit, are now likely to get a move on, and early August sees us with the opportunity of making the necessary and practical adjustments to improve our situation. Integrate the old and the new with as little anguish and anger as possible. 

Around mid-August the fiery planet Mars is telling us to focus on domestic situations, its comfort or not.  Go deep and think about the situation.  How selfish and self-centred have we all been?

Rise like a Phoenix. 

Aberdeen Bestiary 1200 CE

Stone and Fire-Water

 

Everyone one seems to be getting a tad itsy about Saturn meeting Neptune in the sky. It happens approximately every thirty-six years but this time the pair of planets are moving together into a new zodiac sign, ARIES, the sign of new beginnings and new cycles. Aries is the beginning of the zodiac circle. This is causing all a bit of a stir, especially as AI is taking over quite a lot in all sorts of areas of life and business, perhaps redefining the space-time parameters within which we live. Externally we see this chaotic shift happening through the experience of the horrific wars going on around the planet, both national and personal. The intensity of this combination of planetary energies is about to ramp up as the conjunction of Saturn and Neptune becomes exact over the period 15^th to 21^st February 2026. But we don’t necessarily expect an immediate happening, although it can occur, more likely it will wait for a more precise trigger to set the big planets in motion but we will feel the growing energy of important changes. To prepare for a positive response to these coming changes look back 30 years or 300 years, to get a flavour of our present time and so that we can avoid previous mistakes and the potential sorrow of reflection on things not done.

Saturn bringing new foundations

The sign of ARIES is all about a new beginnings, beginnings in life and in cosmic cycles. These beginnings, in true Arian fashion, are not thought about but chased after with great unthinking enthusiasm – please don’t stand in my way cause I know what I’m doing and where I’m going and can be very forceful and careless in doing so. That is unless there is a degree of maturity and wisdom at play as well!!!!!! – to give guidance and the necessary direction to enthusiasms.

The planet Neptune hasn’t been in the sign of Aries for approximately 161 years, that is way back in the 19^th century when Queen Victorian of England immersed itself in engineering innovation driven by under-paid workers, or human robots, and there was pseudo spiritual awakening to amuse the wealthy hiding a more productive movement of human spiritual growth. Are we too on the verge of robotic slave labour and a tsunami of spiritual confusion? We are sure that readers can delve into more areas of mess-up!! Look out for new waves of colonisation during the power-shifts, as all the outer planets join Saturn and Neptune in moving into new signs of new influence.

Leonardo portraying wisdom

As we progress through the year, look out for those suffering, avoid the anxiety of irrational fears and anxieties growing due to too much self-centred navel gazing. Drop the ego and aim for humility, be extra diplomatic before making that heated opinion. Avoid drugs like the plague. Work hard and be self-reliant so that your ideals, imagination and intuition can find constructive and healthy outlets that contribute to progress however small or big. This could be a time of great creativity and successful business ventures or a time of losing control and spinning out in the chaos of confusion, scandal and defamation. Watch the sky as it goes through a kaleidoscope of change over the next two years or so. 

As the recent young Australian surfer demonstrated, may the heroic acts of personal sacrifice of time and energy made for the greater good of humanity, out run the self focused destruction of non-action and woolly thinking. May charity replace lack of awareness and consideration of the rights of ALL. May creative endeavour replace warped thinking. 

If the global weather patterns of wind, rain and tide settle down, then we will know that we are on the right road to recovery. If not, it comes to mind that the alternative might be a revisit to Noah’s Ark or that of Hindu Vaivasvata or Chaldean Nuah. 

The painter Hieronymous Bosch said it all way back in history:- 'Death & the Miser'

      

Astrological perspectives of this combination of planetary energies, seen in the past, are also indicated in what we are seeing and experiencing today. These are problems of finding a new combination of exclusive traditional form and inclusive universal principles. A new level of being and living needs to be found, one that balances clear focus and definition of goals with a broad idealistic perspective. Such may be accompanied by vast political changes that arise out of the objections to old institutions and established regimes living beyond their use by date. And yet let us not forget a balanced approach to solutions rather than swing too far in the opposite direction. Intellect must combine with spirit, the individual with the community needs, understanding with the demands of ‘rights’, then a new beginning can be positive. Many are trying to move in this direction and the impetus must be sustained. Can the young show us the way without too much arrogance.                                  

                   

AAL’S LABYRINTH HISTORY An Alternative Viewpoint…..contd. #71

FOURTH CENTURY BC (399-300)

4C BCE       The Chinese produce the earliest known atlas of comets, called the ‘Book of Silk’, it is a silk ribbon about 5 feet long illustrating 29 forms of comets and listing various types of catastrophes that they herald. The work will be discovered in a Chinese tomb in 1973 CE. (81)

The Mawangdui silk, a 'textbook' of Comets

from early Chinese observation

                    Babylonian horoscopic techniques are introduced into Greece early in this century following Alexander the Great’s victory over Babylon. (46)

Babylonian sky observation

390 BCE          CELTIC tribes of Europe attack and sack the Italian city of Rome.

 

c380              EUDOXUS OF CNIDUS (c408-c355 BCE) as a Greek geometer and astronomer  gives an explanation of the motion of Sun and planets around the Earth. His work is equal in accuracy to the work of Nicolas Copernicus of nearly 2000 years in the future. In geometry, Eudoxus establishes the principles that laid the foundations for the work of Euclid (330 BCE) and he introduced an ingenious system of 27 nested spheres in an attempt to explain planetary motion. Eudoxus was born and died at Cnidus, Asia Minor. (12) Eudoxos’ calendars indicate a Greek zodiac and in his work ‘Phainomena’ on spherical geometry, he divides the Ecliptic into twelve signs. [323]

Eudoxos studies the heavens

                  CAMBRA tribal queen of the Sicambrians provides the heritage which is to become the female line of the Merovingian dynasty of the future (417 CE). The Sicambrian peoples came originally from Scythia, north of the Black Sea and were referred to as the 'Newmage'. They will eventually combine with the tribes of the Frankish peoples to produce the Merovingian line of descent. (131)

 

 ]

AAL’S LABYRINTH HISTORY An Alternative Viewpoint…..contd. #70

 

Greek god Dionysius

vase painting

c415 BCE        PROTAGORAS (c490-421 BCE) a Sophist at the time of Critias. In reaction to the ‘ass’ of contradicting ideas of the preceding Greek philosophers, the Sophists recognised that each person had his own experience and therefore his own reality. The result being that all understanding is according to subjective opinion and moral standards held; understanding arises from convention and knowledge is relative. In response the Sophists concluded in favor of a flexible atheism or agnosticism in metaphysics and a situational morality in ethics, all was open to humanly created conventions and that invisible deities no longer existed. (19)

Marduk & Tiamat of Babylon

410 BCE          Earliest known individual birth chart or horoscope, of a Babylonian birth, is recorded. It is probably based on the constellation zodiac rather than the tropical zodiac. (46) which won’t come into common before the 4^th century CE. 

Orvieto Cathedral marble bas-relief ‘Creation of Eve’

by Lorenzo Maitani 14^th century 

c400               Compilation of a second version, of the first of the 5 books of Moses. The Hebrew ‘Bereshit’, ‘In the Beginning’. It will be called ‘Genesis’ when translated into Greek in the Third Century. (9). It is taught that Adam is the first man and from him was created Eve. The first Greek translation of the Hebrew ‘Book of Law’ was said to be the ‘Septuagint’ of the time of. Ptolemy II Philadeplus (c347-285 BCE).

                    At the end of the 5^th century BCE, Hestia of Mount Olympus is replaced by the rule of Dionysius.(33)

Hestia, goddess of the sacrificial fire.

AAL’S LABYRINTH HISTORY An Alternative Viewpoint…..contd. #68

 Athenian College as depicted by Raphael 16^th century CE

c465               ANAXAGORAS of Clazomenae (c500-428 BCE) Greek Ionian philosopher who teaches at Athens. He is the teacher of Euripides, Pericles and possibly Socrates.  Anaxagoras believes that all matter is composed of ‘seeds’ or minute particles. He explains the true nature of eclipses.  Towards the end of his life Anaxagoras will be exiled from Athens for his ‘impious’ teaching that the sun is a white-hot stone and the moon to be composed of earth and merely reflected the sun’s rays rather than having a light of its own. Anaxagoras believes that matter is infinitely divisible; that any piece of matter, regardless of how small it is, contains portions of all kinds of matter; he believes that order is produced from chaos by an intelligent principle. Anaxagoras posited that the universe is constituted of an infinite number of minute, qualitatively different seeds moved by a transcendent primordial Mind known as ‘Nous’. (12.19.114)

Anaxagoras studies Ecliptic cycles.

c460               EMPEDOCLES (c490-430 BCE) Greek philosopher and poet, born at Acragas, Sicily. He writes ‘On Nature’, a work in which he agreed with Parmenides that there could be no absolute coming into exist or ceasing to exist; that all change in the world is the result of two contrary cosmic forces, ‘Love and Strife’. These forces separate and mix to create four everlasting elements, Earth, Water, Air and Fire. This doctrine of four elements will become central to Western thought for 2000 years through its adoption by Aristotle. (6) Much of Empedocles work derives from ancient Orphic sources. (6.162)

c455               SOPHOCLES (496-406 BCE) a Greek playwright of genius whose tragedies are destined to become looked upon as the high point in Attic drama. His play ‘Oedipus Rex’ is one of the most influential plays ever written and records a powerful conjunction of character and destiny. The relentless recognition of hidden truth, in this work, its paradoxes of human knowledge and ignorance, will provide Aristotle [361 BCE) with his model tragic plot of his ‘Poetics’. Far into the future, the work ‘Oedipus Rex’ will be the inspiration for Sigmund Freud to write, ‘The Interpretation of Dreams’ (1900 CE) a work which will give a mythic prototype for Sigmund’s ‘Oedipus’ complex, and a central feature of the future millennium of 20^th century psychoanalytic theory. (102)

Oedipus. Painted by Giroust 18C CE

c454               HERODOTUS (b.c.484 BCE) known as the father of factual history. A Greek born in Asia Minor, he is a great traveller of the known world of his time. He will be remembered in the future as being an authority on the ancient Persian wars and which archaeological research will eventually confirm.  Herodotus gives much information on the customs and practices of the Egyptians of his time. (6) Herodotus is the first major source of Egyptian history from antiquity. His works are based on the viewing of monuments and on interviews conducted. Herodotus said ‘the priests told me it was Men (Menes, meaning the first influx of light) who was the first king of Egypt. (49) Herodotus identifies the Egyptian god Thoth, with the Greek god Hermes. Many Greeks, such as Thales, Solon, and Pythagoras, will take initiation into the Egyptian Mysteries when on their travels to that land. In this way, the ancient knowledge will be transmitted on to the Hellenic world of Greece. (277)

c440               ICTINUS Greek architect, who with others, designs and builds the Parthenon on the Acropolis of Athens. Ictinus is also architect of the ‘Temple of Apollo Epicurius’ at Bassae, Arcadia. This is the first appearance of Corinthian architecture. Ictinus also works on the ‘Telesterion’ or ‘Hall of Mysteries’ at Eleusis. (102)

c435               EURIPIDES (c484-406 BCE) youngest of the three great Greek tragedians, the other two being Aeschylus (480 BCE) and Sophocles (c455 BCE). Euripides’ world view reflects the political, social, and intellectual crises of late 5^th-century Athens. (102)

Herodotus, historian & traveller. 

2C CE Roman copy of earlier Greek bust.

To Talk about the Soul

 Sun aligned with the star Dubhe of the constellation Ursa Major. The morning star is Sirius of the constellation Canis Major.

Can we describe the SOUL from an astrological chart?

Soul is a self-perpetuating, self-progressive, self-knowing energy form. Soul is moved by spirit but enmeshes into material conditions to become self-knowing; ‘to know itself’ – as the Delphic Oracle commands. 

The Delphic Oracle of Greece

This knowledge of the self comes through an encounter with the not-self, an encounter with what is opposite to self. We come to know our strengths, not merely by tensing our muscles but by straining against antagonism; by contrasting self with not-self; by pitting ourselves against the oppositions of the environment and other people’s points of view. The vehicle of gaining this soul knowledge is the physical body, challenged by a physical world.

Sunrise across the desert

The reason that we forget that we are a soul in a separate physical body, and yet all of one common origin, is that the challenges of life would be removed if this were the case. If we remembered where we came from and how all is united by thought and energy, what would be the point of fighting and challenging? It seems that real power of growth, knowledge and understanding can only come from combat – in this case by engaging in material conditions. Through the play of hate and love, we come to know ourselves. To remember our primal happiness would be a deterrent to this process. 

The blood of Sekhmet, Egyptian Lion goddess of the constellation Leo.

After a period of refreshment [called death] the impulse towards fresh experience and unfoldment becomes potent once more and the soul again descends to take up residence in a physical body, at a time and place appropriate for experiencing its wishes, choices and aspirations for growth and self-knowledge. AND this will be captured in the horoscope of birth. 

 

[Adapted from C.E.O.  Carter, ‘The Zodiac and the Soul’ 1972]

Sirius rising in Australia on the 8^th day of the 8^th month

Some call it the Lion’s Gate.

When the Sun is in the tropical zodiac sign of Leo and aligns with star Dubhe, then the great star of goddess Isis, called Sirius, can be seen rising before the Sun in the early morning light. Egyptian mythology says that the soul of Isis resides with this star. Isis-Hathor, nourisher of the world and its creatures.

Hymn of Isis

“Behold me, Lucius; moved by thy prayers, I appear to thee;

I, who am Nature, the parent of all things, the mistress of all the elements,

The primordial offspring of time, the supreme among Divinities,

The queen of departed spirits, the first of the celestials,

And the uniform manifestation of the Gods and Goddesses;

Who govern by my nod the luminous heights of heaven, the salubrious breezes 

Of the ocean, and the anguished silent realms of the shades below:

Whose one sole divinity the whole orb of the earth venerates 

Under a manifold form, with different rites, and under a variety of appellations.

The Phrygians call me Pessinuntica, the Mother of the Gods; 

The Aborigines of Attica, Cecropian Minerva; the Cyprians, Paphian Venus; 

The Cretans, Diana Dictyanna; the Sicilians, Stygian Proserpine; 

The Eleusinians, the ancient Goddess Ceres.

Some call me Juno, others Bellona, others Hecate, and others Rhamnusia.

The Aethiopians and the Egyptians, call me by my true name, Queen Isis.

Lucius Apuleius ‘Golden Ass’, Book XI.

Mother Isis

WEALTH HAPPINESS PEACE & HARMONY

 

Dove of Peace & Truce 

As the Sun moves towards and enters his domain of the zodiac sign Leo, Venus will meet Jupiter in the sign of Cancer for most of the month of August.  This meeting of two fortunate and friendly planets in the sign of the nurturer and the Moon, can only happen once in 12 years according to the cycle of Jupiter. A time therefore to make the most of moving forward to a better world and circumstances. Venus will kiss Jupiter briefly one last time mid-2026 before this cycle of these two planets moves on and Jupiter leaves the sign of Cancer for another 12 years.

Is this an auspicious time under the dominating cosmic ‘KITE’ formation, which involves all the heavy and transcendental planets?  Can we, under this influence, achieve a modicum of world peace or at least make substantial moves in that direction? Let us all put our minds to the wheel and push it in the right direction. At the very least this can be a time of happiness and healing within the family unit. 

Major Arcana ‘Wheel of Changing Fortune’

Most business enterprise should also get a boost and financial institutions feel better than they have for a while. Will they share their good fortune?

At some level this is a bountiful time. Venus brings love and good relationships based on forgiveness and tolerance. Jupiter brings expansion, growth and benefits to living, and the heart to encourage understanding and generosity.

However, keep it all under control and within sensible limits so that you don’t lose your heartfelt, hard acquired bounty to waste and over-indulgence just because there is so much ease and opportunity. Pay homage to mighty Jupiter also known as Zeus, who wishes us beneficial guidance without over-doing want. Salute lady Venus, the gentle caring Hathor of Egypt, mother goddess that brings life to fruition but keeps the physical senses under control. Bring these two great symbols together in the merry dance of life that sees the energies well channelled into constructive action.

Major Arcana ‘Sun Garden’

Bring joy and a smile to the little ones; nurture their bodies and their souls. Make peace in the family, for without a doubt this is where the pain or contentment of the world originates and drives the political choices and then the world stress. In this way we all contribute to the state of our living.

The simple sunflower of Light, Life 

And Love And endless symbolism.