TRAVELLING SAGGI

 We have arrived at Full Moon for the Saggi. This means that the Sun is in Sagittarius and the bright shiny moon is in the sign of Gemini. It is not a terribly positive full moon this time around and we need to be cautious not to add fuel to the fire of any antagonisms with an out of place comment or irritation. The planets Mars and Saturn are involved in this month's configuration and these two gods do not see eye to eye at the moment. Mars wants its own way and Saturn is counting the cautions and fears. 

 

The sun is now travelling through the zodiac sign of Sagittarius, the sign of the Centaur, that strange creature who always wants to be somewhere where they are not. Just like the arrow flying from its bow and shot by the Centaur into the air to far distant horizons, to land in some far off place we know not where. So also the Saggi person always seems to be running and aiming at some unseen and unknown distant or future point; sometimes on the back of a horse, sometimes on the back of a motorbike, in a car, on a boat, or sometimes out on the playing field just running.

Sagittarian people are generous and full of fiery energy; that sort of energy that needs constant circulation through plenty of physical activity. Thus driven, their main aim in life is to explore the hills and valleys of life, the oceans and the spaces, either physically or in the mental world. Some are deep thinkers and philosophers; others are rather more concerned about how other people are thinking, or about how to spin them a good yarn for amusement. 

Rodin's 'Thinker'

The planet associated with the sign of Sagittarius is Jupiter, that gas giant of the solar system. This should be a hint to the Saggi that they too can expand to too great a size if they are without a little self-discipline and reflection, either physically or in ego. But this is the sign of the philosopher and it is wisdom the world needs not over expansive verbalism or great weight. It is too easy for Jupiter’s children to spread their energies over too great a distance or to chatter incessantly. Contrast this with the other extreme of expression found in Capricorn who tends to get overly self-disciplined under the influence of Saturn his ruling planet.

The beautiful complications of planet

Jupiter

Saggi’s gift for words means that they need to transform their wide and deep knowledge into silent wisdom that can contribute to the expansion, growth and insight of other people. Then together we can all move forward in our understanding, with Saggi on his/her flying horse, leading the way to victory! 

Orveille Duomo, Italy, showing icons of the four fixed zodiac signs on its façade. 

Belief systems and ground plans need the stability of a 4-square structure. 

AAL’S LABYRINTH HISTORY An Alternative Viewpoint…..contd. #54

 EIGHTH CENTURY BCE (799-700]

Through the 8^th to the-4^th centuries BCE there is an intense mixing of cultures through war, invasion and migration; those peoples of the Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Assyrian and Persian nations. The Assyrians will destroy the ancient Babylonian Empire and rebuild it during this century under their Empire. The Assyrians will destroy the Babylonian Empire and rebuild it during this century. Magna Graecia will be created by a succession of Ionian, Achaean and Dorian colonists. (182) There commences a second period of cultural and trade contact between Greece and Mesopotamia [350]

 

 

786 BCE         There is the occurrence of an exact heliacal rising of the star Spica at the Northern Autumnal Equinox on September 29^th 786 BCE. The exact heliacal rising of the star Spica on an Autumnal Equinox on a Sabbath-day is called The Great Sabbath and marks this as a time of great importance for world affairs.  The Equinox Points at this time are recorded as sidereal Aries-Libra 13.8 degrees. (30)

Saturn the ruler of Saturday the Sabbath 

a time of prayer and study.

753                   ROMULUS is the first king of the Roman civilization and he establishes Roma, centre of Latium, lying between the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Apennine mountains. In 509 BCE, Rome will be established as a Republic, guided by two elected consuls who will eventually replace the king as ruler. (182)

                       Romulus consulted the gods and by their instructions laid out the sacred boundary of this first city of the Roman Empire. The first temple erected is to the god Jupiter Feretrius. Some of the major sacred festivals established at this time would continue to be celebrated for the next thousand years. At one of these rituals, the first Romans carried off the women of the neighbouring Sabine tribes of ‘star watchers’ who had come to observe proceedings. This event became known as the ‘Rape of the Sabines’. 

The Roman God Jupiter symbol 

Of Thunder and Lightening

                       Long before Romulus, the site of Rome had been occupied by exiles from Arcadia in Greece. These exiles were led by the Greek King Evander who established Greek religious customs in Italy, such as that of the ‘Rite of Hercules’. It is King Evander who welcomed the Trojan hero Aeneas after he left that burning city of Troy to re-establish a new Troy in Italy. Thus, Aeneas of the twelfth century BCE had previously established Lavinium and Alba Longa nearby where Rome is now to stand. Aeneas brought the statue of the goddess Pallas Athena from Troy to Italy for the establishment of the temple of Vesta in the Roman Forum, and there to be attended by the Vestal Virgins.

703 BCE            NUMA, the second king of Roma, will be responsible for expanding the priesthood of Salii and establishing the first Roman ritual calendar. Numa will also found the temple of Janus, the god who looks both ways at the point where the year changes from the past to the future. The fifth king of Roma will be an Etruscan called Tarquin the Elder and he will add to the Capitoline Hill, temples to Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. (324)

750                  ISAIAH a Hebrew prophet who lived and worked in Jerusalem from about 750-700 BCE. His prophetic ministry inspired the ‘Book of Isaiah’ in the ‘Old Testament’ of the Hebrews. (196) where is says, ‘A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jess, and a branch shall grow out of his roots’. (Is.11:1) This Messianic theme is of a new anointed one to come, upon whom the spirit is rested and who will exercise the office of king in virtue of this gift of spirit. Isaiah regards the anointed one’s commission as consisting pre-eminently in the establishment of divine justice on Earth. The anointed one is given such divine properties as omniscience and power to cause death by word alone. Isaiah makes reference to one who is to come in the future who is to spring from ‘the root of Jess’, the father of David. It is a new ‘David’ at whose advent Jahweh will restore the glory of the original Davidic Empire. It is suggested that the old Jerusalem will fall and the new ruler will come from Bethlehem. The question is posed: ‘Had the reigning members of the house of David lost their divine functions? And that the monarchy from David’s time had become a false development? Did the prophets (Isaiah and Micah) expect Jahweh to start again with a new messianic line?’ (197)

                         Isaiah spoke at a time when the kingdom of Israel was near its end and the dynasty of David faced peril. The dynasty had fallen from the ideal of even a good secular ruler. Isaiah formulated the previously proposed idea of an eternal dynasty presenting the ideal king in four titles; ‘Wonderful counsellor, Divine hero, Father forever, Prince of peace’, which all sounds very Egyptian. These titles designate a state of complete well-being of body and mind, of internal and external order. The ideal king is to be adopted as the son of the Lord. (198) A sun king.

A Sun King

PLUTONIC MARS

 

Plutonic Mars, that sounds like a mouth full. Mars and Pluto are the two planets associated with the sign of Scorpio, Mars of physical energy and war, linking up with Pluto the god of what is hidden underground, of potential power, and quite often what has to come to the surface and does so in a most forceful way. That’s a powerful combination.

 

Mars is also associated with the zodiac sign of Aries. In the natal or birth chart, Mars signifies physical strength and activity. It is also the will and determination to follow through on an idea. It is the heat of the body and passion.

 

Mars was the ultimate Roman god – the god of war, as in conquering circumstances in order to build an Empire. Athena is a female version of the warrior in the Greek Pantheon.

                                                           Greek Goddess Athena

 

But Athena was also venerated for her care and protection of the natural world and of human workers. 

 

Before being a war god, Mars was a god of the Earth and Nature, of that force which keeps things growing and changing, the cycle of life. This brings us to the other planet said to be associated with Scorpio, Pluto, the god of the otherworld, of hidden riches and raw life force.

 

In ancient Egypt the underworld is associated with the god Anubis who leads the soul to discover the mysteries of the hidden world.

 

Anubis leads the soul of Hunefer 

towards the mysteries of the secret world.

 

R. O. Faulkner has published a classic translation of these Egyptian mysteries called ‘The Coming Forth by Day’ under its more popular title ‘The Book of the Dead’.

 

In traditional astrology there were only 7 acknowledged planets, then with the aid of ever increasing discovery and invention another 3 planets were discovered and entered into human consciousness. That’s not a problem, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto had always been there, just not seen, and their ‘appearance’ simply signified another stage in human ongoing evolution or growing awareness. However, it did set the human’s a challenge to find out where the energies of the 3 new kids on the block should fit in, but true to their nature the astrologers solved this problem.

 

Alan Leo, known affectionately as the ‘father’ of modern astrology was also a Theosophist of 19th century and his chore was to bring back the spiritual dimension into ‘popular’ astrology with the aid of what these 3 ‘outer’ planets might signify for evolving human consciousness. Unfortunately Pluto had not yet appeared on the scene when he was writing, so his books have nothing to say on the matter, but otherwise, his many volumes are a treasure trove to the serious student.

 

Mars with the planet Venus signify complimentary energies; the quality of assertiveness and the quality of compliance are brought together in these two planets. When these two principles of action and reception get together on a good day, there is a spontaneous dance of life and love, often depicted by the Hindu god Siva whose dancing symbolises the 5 cosmic functions of creation, conservation, destruction, incarnation and liberation.

 

 

Siva dancing [from Larousse]