VENUSIAN SCALES

 The sun is now passing through the Tropical zodiac sign of Libra, the sign of the Scales of Balance and Justice, which may account for the Libran tendency to weigh up matters, sometimes to the point of extreme annoyance for those observing and in futile procrastination for themselves. But where would we be without them on a good day when they can maintain the harmony and balance of relationships so essential to profitable progress. Such progress in personal development is well guided through AMORC http://www.amorc.org/ and probably would contribute much to the world situation at the moment. When will we give up war and see another’s point of view?

    Libran Scales of Justice 

The beautiful planet Venus has a close attachment to the sign Libra, so that when the whole is synchronising, there is much peace and love in the world. However, don’t be fooled into thinking that anything associated with this sign and planet is therefore simplistic and empty headed just because it likes peace and quiet. The complicated cycles of Venus, if studied will soon dispel this mistaken view.

The Birth of Venus

The Swan is an emblem of Venus and Libra, symbol of their desire to bring love and companionship to its highest form; but neither the swan nor the Libran enjoys being caged simply for another’s pleasure alone. Libran Swans can dance the dance of peace but should this condition be disturbed, watch out for an attack in order to return that peaceful and tranquil state. Everything has its two sided nature!!

The swan has the magic of music in it movement. It is the desire for love and harmony, for justice seen to be done, that can sometimes make the Libran quite combative and whirl into a flurry of fury and indignation. Watch a full grown mother swan in flight when her babies are threatened. Librans can often be found amongst those fighting for human rights and defending those unable to do so for themselves, and even going to war if this is the only way perceived to return the missing equilibrium. That is, unless it is a Libran on an eternal holiday of rest, relaxation, coffee mornings and sun baths, because they just couldn’t get up the energy to take part in life!

This image is an 18^th Century woodcut of Tressan’s retelling of the story of Tristan and Iseult from the Arthurian cycle. It is a party but hides something deeper for those who would chase the Grail Cup.

Around the 17^th October the Sun will be with the star Spica which marks the ear of corn held by the Virgin in that constellation. Although bearing the same name, the constellation is not the same space as the Tropical sign of the Virgin. The constellation and the Ecliptic sign once coincided but due to the phenomena of ‘Precession’ they have moved apart. Some systems of Astrology still use the celestial groups of stars rather than the 30 degree divisions of the Ecliptic.

AAL’S LABYRINTH HISTORY An Alternative Viewpoint…..contd. #63

 

Cyrus the Great of Persia

549                 CYRUS the GREAT (600-529 BCE) son of Persian Cambyses I and Median Princess Mandane. As King of Persia he establishes the great Persian/Mesopotamian Empire and secures the Achaemenid Dynasty (from the founder Achaemenid c650 BCE). Building a great empire Cyrus took over Media, Lydia (Turkey) and Babylon but failed to take Egypt. The Empire expanded under his successors Cambyses II (529-522 BCE) Darius (522-486 BCE) and Xerxes (486-465 BCE). From this civilization came the so called ‘Arabic’ numerals. 

                       The Persians under Darius will use the Phoenician alphabet [to write in Arabic] rather than the cuneiform script of Babylon and Sumer. (176) The Persian triad of gods by this time are; Ahura Mazada, Mithra and Anahita. (102)

                       It is around this time that the zodiac is introduced to the Greeks. [16]

Anaximenes

Engraver  Girolamo Olgiati 1580

c545               ANAXIMENES (c585-528 BCE ) Ionian Philosopher born at Miletus, member of the Greek philosophic group, along with Anaximander and Thales.  Attempting to resolve the problem of the origin and structure of the universe, Anaximenes held that the fundamental and most pervasive thing in the world was air, which being infinite, allows for the manifold processes of nature. (114) Air (‘pneuma’ or cosmic breath) is thus taken as the primary form of matter, from which all things, such as water, earth and stone are formed by successive stages of compression or in the case of fire, by rarefaction. (13]

                       As the primary source, air, is taken as the basic essence of life which can remain itself whilst undergoing many transformations. Thus, the ‘arche’ or the beginning or originating cause becomes the ‘principle’, something that eternally maintains its own nature while transmuting itself into many transient and changing phenomena of the visible world. (19)

                       With the establishment of the Ionian school of philosophy, mythology gradually shed and replaced anthropomorphic deities with a world whose source and substance is a primary element such as water, air or fire. Eventually these primary substances cease to be endowered with divinity or intelligence and become understood as purely material entities mechanically moved by chance or blind necessity. 

539                The Persians conquer Mesopotamia as part of the expansion of the Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus II, known as Cyrus the Great. They make Aramaic the state language, whilst ink and papyrus now replace cuneiform tablets. (46)

                  From these cuneiform texts it is known that the Babylonian priests of Mesopotamia had made astronomical observations of the planets through the twelve constellations of the sidereal zodiac. The original delineation of this sidereal zodiac, at the physical/astronomical and spiritual/occult levels, is attributed to Zoroaster (580 BCE) who is to carry forward the ancient wisdom of ancient Egypt. (50a)

Cyrus liberates the Jews.

Painting: Jean Fouquet [1420-81]

Court painter to Louis XI

538 BCE          The Babylonian Jewish diaspora return to Jerusalem to rebuild their temple that was destroyed in 586 BCE after standing for the previous 400 years to house the tablets of Moses. This temple will be embellished by the future King Herod the Great, and others, until the time of its own and final destruction in 70 CE. These exiles returning from Babylon are to be led by the High Priest Ezra. It is from this period of the Second Temple that the Torah becomes the scriptural basis for the Jewish religion. The Oral Torah now becomes the written ‘Five Books of Moses’ or the ‘Pentateuch’ of the Old Testament. [226] When the priest Ezra returned to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon be brought with him ‘The Book of the Law of the Lord’, (198) which was probably added to the existing ancient Hebrew writings.

Building Temple of Jerusalem

Painting: Jean Fouquet [1420-81]

c525               Persians capture Egypt, and the Roman Republic gets going with its ideals of democracy. Persian conquest of Egypt dramatically increased the influence of Mesopotamia in that country and of the Chaldean star knowledge. (29)

CLEVER MERCURY

 The small planet Mercury, with deep meanings, is said to have a close affinity with the sign Virgo. This planet is also closely associated with the sign Gemini. Other planets of the ‘traditional’ 7 group also have affinity with two signs of the zodiac, unlike the Sun and Moon which rule only one sign each. These other traditional planets in order from the Sun are, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. These 5 planets plus the Sun and Moon are known in astrology as the ‘traditional’ seven planets. They are observable in the sky by the naked eye [in clear skies] and they formed the basis of astrological interpretation for a very long time before the ‘new’ planets of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto entered into the human consciousness. These late comers were ‘discovered’ with the aid of new technological innovation, that is the telescope. 

 

Mercury is a very important planet, one whose qualities indicate how we perceive and intellectually respond to the world around us, and what our nerve energy is like, are we quick or slow or over-stressed from too much worry. In Ancient Egypt the god Thoth represented these qualities, those of communicating by letter and voice. Later this role was taken over by the Greek god Hermes.

 

THOTH Ancient Egyptian god of writing and

communication, who opens the 4 doors

By the time of the Greeks and Romans

Thoth had become Hermes/Mercury [Larousse]

In Egypt, Thoth as master of writing, transcribed the word of the gods so that humans could understand what was being communicated. The gods being represented by the other planets and acting as symbols for the different human traits such as loving [Venus] giving [Jupiter] conserving [Saturn]. feeling [Moon] generosity [Sun]

 

In Greece, as a descendent of Thoth, Hermes too communicated between the gods and humans; he wears wings on his heels for speedy transport between the two worlds, that of man and that of the gods. This hints at another Egyptian god, that of Anubis who also commutes between worlds and is known as a psychopomp or one who leads and guides the dead to the world of the spirit or gods.

Here is an amusing composite of Anubis and

the Greeco-Roman Hermes/Mercury. [Barnett]

Moving back through time we follow the evolution of communication, both physical and spiritual; from Roman Mercury who inherited from Greek Hermes, who inherited from Egyptian Thoth. The Greeks called an inherited collection of ancient Egyptian essays on Divine Wisdom, ‘The Hermetica’. Try the Solos Press edition.