AAL’S LABYRINTH HISTORY An Alternative Viewpoint…..contd. #56

c703 BCE        NUMA POMPILIUS (715-673 BCE) second king of Rome is credited with building the first temple to Vesta and establishing the institution of the Vestal Virgins. The temple is round to represent earth, has a domed ceiling to represent the celestial vault and in it a perpetual flame burns, symbol of the earthly hearth and heavenly spirit. (9)

Vestal Virgins of the Goddess Vesta

[historyhogs.com] 

                 Numa established most of the priesthoods of ancient Rome, particularly those of the gods Jupiter, Mars and Quirinus, known as the 3 Flamines. He also established the Salii, the priests who danced through the city twice a year carrying their special sacred shields, one of which had fallen from the sky as a gift from Jupiter. Numa also organized the first systematic Roman ritual calendar (324) and began the calendar year from when the sun reached the mid-point of the constellation Capricorn, following on from the winter solstice that is marked by the sun entering into the sign of Capricorn.(11)  The constellations and similarly named Ecliptic signs have not yet been distinguished or separated, this will occur in the third century.

King Numa is the recipient of a magical shield from the planetary god Jupiter, similar to that given by Zeus to Dardanus the first king of Troy (3000 BCE).  This shield is a copy of the Palladium or aegis worn by the goddess of wisdom, Minerva or Athena of Greece. To protect the valuable shield, Numa made 11 copies of it and appointed the above mentioned 12 priests of the Salii as their guardians. (247]

Numa Pompilius 

[sculptor Moitte 1806]

c700 BCE    HESIOD: Greek poet who in his work called ‘Theogony’, records and systemizes the Olympian pantheon along with Greek stories of creation. In this creation, first came the ‘gods’ Chaos and Gaia with their son Kronos, to be followed by second generation of ‘gods’ made up of Kronos and his wife Rhea, with their son Zeus who is born on the island of Crete. Zeus devours his own pregnant wife Metis, goddess of wisdom, and gives birth to Athena out of his head. Athena will become the patron and protector of the city state of Athens. This switch of genders some authors think symbolizes a growing male domination over female. (9)

Is this Hesiod?

                    Hesiod’s introduction of personifications of the gods recalls the Egyptian concept of ‘Maat’ expressed through the interaction of their gods. This is similar to the ‘Wisdom of God’ as recorded by the Hebrews in their ‘Book of Proverbs’. [185]

 

                Many Greek mythologies were set is Italy where the Greeks had established colonies. Here were located the ‘Phlegrean Fields’ that hid the entrance to the Kingdom of Hades near Naples. Etna in Sicily is regarded as the site where Zeus, who with the help of Hercules, fought the Titans, the ancient old gods. Etna is also the abode of the Cyclops and Hephaestus or Vulcan, god of Fire. The Tartara River near Etna is nominated as the site of Greek Kore’s kidnap by Pluto god of Hades or the underworld. The River Po which runs through Turin, the plane of Lombardy and exits in the Adriatic, is also the site of many Greek myths. (182]

Phlegrean Fields

Entrance to Hades, world of Vulcan and Pluto

                    Western thought is systemized by the Greeks around the end of this century and into the next and will reach its high point with Plato (365 BCE) in the fourth century of this era.  The ancients conceived the essences of life as gods, and Plato in the future will give these gods archetypal form. (19)

Vulcan, god of Fire

[detail from ‘Parnassus’ by Mantegna 1497]

                Around the turn of the century, the first kingdom of Media is established from a federation of Iranian tribes. From these tribes will arise the Achaemenid dynasty of the future. (102) In the European Late Bronze Age development, it is the time of the ‘Urn-field Culture’ of the Celtic people.

SOMBER SATURN

The planet strongly associated with the sign of Capricorn is Saturn; and well does Saturn, alias Chronos, reflect the qualities and character of that sign. Saturn marks the edge of the Universe, as the ancients knew it, the edge of the space-time continuum, from here it is a leap out into the unknown where the constraints of time and space no longer apply. Umm, so do you fall out of the tree, so to speak, or do you embrace with open arms the magnificent, if a little scary, vistas of the far beyond that are the prize of giving homage to necessity, duty, responsibility and hard work, according to Saturn’s demands.

Chronos looking a little wearily upon

capricious foolishness of mankind.

Saturn in history was known as the planet that guarded the limits of our universe and therefore provided the boundary to our experiences. Saturn only provides a boundary to keep mere mortals safe, but this boundary is not impenetrable and if there is the courage to peek into the unknown, beyond everyday life and thinking, then the magic can be wonderful. The compatriot of Capricorn is Aquarius, who is also ruled by Saturn. However, in this latter sign, due to its dual rulership of both Saturn and the radical planet Uranus, it is probably easier for the Aquarian to accept alternative possibilities than it is for the Capricorn person.

Without the influence of Saturn there would be no structure in our world, no form to anything, no skin to keep you contained, no deep thinking, no constructive accomplishment in the material world. Now these serious aspects of life can appear to many as limitations and restrictions but without them life would be but chaos, everything floating around without form! Such conditions only seem like barriers to achievement when we don’t pay homage to Saturn’s needs, or our own. There is a hidden side to Saturn that guides us on to discover our soul. Perhaps sometimes found in those precious moments of time, cut off from the hectic pace of modern life. Some might be ahead of the pack and take pondering in isolation very seriously, and even follow the life of the hermit.

Is this an hermit’s house?

Life can be a struggle under the influence of a too heavy Saturn influence but that struggle has the purpose of building stronger and deeper foundations of life and character, without too much self-interest or lack of recognition of the beauty in life. If those foundations are not made from the point of view of pure motive then you can be sure that they will dissolve at some later point in time and not be as productive as they could have been. If foundations are laid solid through life experience and contemplation, then these foundations will be the platform from which to shoot for the stars via Uranus.

The well known first publication of the famous astrologer Liz Greene, is called, “Saturn: a new look at an old Devil’ and is certainly worth a read if you are studying astrology.

A beautiful luminous Saturn from online Astronomy Magazine 30.7.10

 And to crack Saturn and begin your journey to the stars, try Robyn Sharma’s ‘’Leadership without Title’. A weekend read won’t get you there, but it will open your mind to possibilities and sign post the first steps.