Radical Uranus

 The planet Uranus has a special affinity with the sign of Aquarius. Saturn was the traditional ruler of this sign and still maintains its influence, for not all can respond positively to the rarefied atmosphere of Uranus, well not until they have passed the tests of Saturn. The Uranian influence was consciously added to our living experience of the planet Saturn, when it was rediscovered in 1781.

Kronos, reaper, time keeper and boundary marker

Saturn experience, and labour, lays down the much needed preparations and foundations for life and action so that the Uranian genius and inspiration has a solid platform to work from – the engineer needs good training in theoretical mathematics before reaching the point of being able to make the inventions and designs functional; the artist and writer needs to practise their techniques to give form to their dreams and imagination; the astrologer/astronomer needs years of observing and perfecting calculations before being able to apply the information intuitively to his/her understanding of people, events and the world; a successful revolution driven by Uranian forces needs the careful planning and organization of Saturn if it is to meet its intended purpose, that is to overthrow what used to be. Can you see the potentially useful balance of Saturn and Uranus energies combined? Without Saturn discipline and hard work, Uranus cannot manifest the change, the genius, in any positive and sustained way that is of use to use in our material world.

 

Uranus, deity of the starry sky, can fly because although he doesn’t like or observe boundaries, he has to utilise them, for unfortunately that is the way our material world works. The Female polarity of Uranus is the Egyptian sky goddess Nut.

The Egyptian Nut goddess of the starry night overarching creation. 

Related to the Greek/Roman god Uranus the smasher of boundaries.

Saturn lays the boundaries and the rules and then a Uranian influence comes along and wakens us up to greater possibilities, either accepted or not. Imaginative ideas need a structure within which to work. Have you ever tried flying without wings; have you ever had wonderful ideas that you couldn’t catch; have you only thought about the idea of doing good for the group? If you have then perhaps you need a little more Saturn structure and application in your life to define and execute these wonderful ideas. Combine the principles of these two planetary influences and you have unique rhythms and potential of extraordinary output.

The Tarot Magician

As Dione Fortune says, ‘If we try to escape from the discipline of matter before we have mastered the lessons of matter, we are not advancing heavenwards but suffering from arrested development.’

AQUARIAN WATERS

 The sun is now in the zodiac sign of Aquarius said to have as its ruler the planet Uranus the disturber of complacency. Aquarians shares with Saggi the thirst for adventure, albeit more of the mind than the body. Aquarius also shares with Capricorn the ability to work to the rules of Saturn. If these widely opposing traits of adventure and rules can be successfully combined, you may have here the potential for a genius; but remember that Saturn requires you to be humble about it, should you discover that your destiny allows you to reach way beyond lesser mortals. Genius has the hubris of devastation.

That’s a strange sign, air and water combined; or does the water stand for something else that we cannot explain, yet has the quality of fluidity and waves? Aquarians are attracted to waves and unseen energies, combined with their naturally creative side they probably like photography, others like to play with particle matter, others definitely live with their heads in the stars or flying through the sky in dreams or more practically in an aeroplane. Whatever level of expression they find themselves at, Aquarians use their creativity to penetrate the mysteries of life, the universe and everything, either professionally or as a part-time interest. The flow of electricity is another of Aquarius-Uranian interests.

Hapi, Egyptian god of the waters [Budge]

Like the preceding sign of Scorpio, Aquarius has a dual rulership which means that two planets are associated with this sign, in this case it is Saturn the keeper of time and Uranus the breaker of those very time boundaries; oh, what confusion. No wonder some stick with the safe routine of Saturn in order to avoid the disorientation of rocking the boat too much under the influence of Uranus. So, like Scorpio, the Aquarian has much to deal with in the apparent conflicts within its nature. Some tread the same old road of Saturn where they know what to expect and feel safe. Others are more adventurous Aquarians and follow the eerie call of Uranus and don’t let the continual upsets and surprises of life flurry them in the pursuit for their variety of the truth. Some Aquarians cannot resist the weird and wonderful.

‘The Wing’ by sculptor Ken Kelleher

Uranus & Saturn conversing?

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.

MOUNTAIN CLIMBING GOAT

The calendar year begins with the sun sailing through Capricorn. That’s a bit strange an EARTH sign being related to sailing over the sea. Maybe the clue lies in its ancient symbol of a goat with a fish tail. Capricorn is one of the cardinal signs of the zodiac, an important gateway to the rest of the Cosmos, spiritually speaking, although you may not think so when you first meet our Goat. Perhaps that is because some of them have not yet found their path and insist on going around in circles trying to find the way out of their enclosure limited by outmoded restraints. Once the exit sign has been found, they also find their legs and their hidden reserves and go bounding up the rocky mountain of discovery ahead of the rest of us.

If our Capricorn goat is feeling a little dour and down, it is probably an indication that they haven’t made contact with their higher self, their real self, have not accepted their need to climb whilst contemplating the seriousness of the world, without allowing it to overshadow the beauty of nature and all that surrounds them. After all it is reported in mythology that Saturn the planet of Capricorn ruled in a ‘Golden Age’, and this in spite of his reputation for being led like and boring. The ‘Golden Age’ is said to have ruled in a time before Jupiter-Zeus got the Olympiad organised.

Capricorn needs to lead and show others the way, but first they need to have trodden the path themselves. This they can do through applying themselves in conscientious hard work, asking for little compensation, although some become over ambitious and won’t do anything for nothing. Other Capricorns tend to be loners and hide themselves away in isolation so that they can contemplate either their own woes or alternatively the troubles of the world; maybe this is the clue to the sailor.

 

It may be significant that the great star Vega is located in this zodiac sign, Vega of the constellation Lyra, the harp of Orpheus. The sun passes by Vega on the 5^th January. How many Capricorns play the harp or a similar stringed instrument?

 

Time is important to the Capricorn for it sets limits and boundaries to their intentions and actions, thus giving these intentions the power of achievement. Thus the goat is very good at keeping a schedule and meeting deadlines, whether self-motivated or enforced by outside pressures. Capricorn can take back its power by applying this self-motivation and discipline. The down side is that in becoming so careful to avoid waste, the Capricorn can become mean time-managers and too caught up in economy measures.

An astrological clock,

as kept in many European Renaissance churches.

 

For the curious or the fanatic see, David Christianson, ‘Timepieces’.

AAL’S LABYRINTH HISTORY An Alternative Viewpoint…..contd. #55

747 BCE          Babylonian chronological tables record the lunisolar cycle. (14)

 

725             The Kushites conquer the whole of Egypt and form the XXV Dynasty of the Pharaohs ruling over that country.

 

722                 NINEVEH LIBRARY in the land of Assyria holds documents of reports by official astrologers and these indicate that the concept of the Ecliptic has been established. The records also list heliacal risings of constellations, the synodic revolutions of the 5 visible planets and predictions of eclipses. 721 BCE is the oldest surviving dated recording of an eclipse at Babylon. (15)

Royal Library of Ashurbanipal

As collected by British Museum

c721              SARGON II the Assyrian King at this time captures the Israelite (Hebrew/Jewish) kingdom and establishes a resurgence of the Assyrian Empire. The ten tribes of Israel, as organised entities, dissolve and disappear from history.  

                       In 717 BCE Sargon II will build a fortress city at Khorsban. He dies in 705 and the city is never used but abandoned and left to fall into ruins. Sargon’s son, Esarhaddon rebuilds Babylon as part of the Assyrian Empire, then divides the kingdom between his two sons, Shamash, who rules Babylon and Ashurbanipal II who rules the rest of the Empire. (76)

Sargon of Assyria

710                 KING SHABAKA/Shabaqa third Kushite king of the 25^th Dynasty, Egypt. He commissions a stone copy to be made of an ancient papyrus text from the Old Kingdom 5^th Dynasty, which stone is erected in the Great Temple of Ptah at Memphis. The language of this text is of the archaic period and resembles that of the Pyramid Texts. The new stone copy becomes known as the ‘Shabaka Stone’ and is a recording of the ‘Memphite Theology’. It treats consecutively of three interrelated topics; that of Ptah as the king of Egypt and unifier of the land; that of Memphis as the capital of Egypt and the link between upper and lower Egypt; the third topic being that of Ptah as the supreme god and the creator of the world. (293)

Shabaqa,

[Cairo Museum]

708           DEIOCES (708-655BC) establishes the Median Empire of ancient Persia. (40) Persia, named from the ancient province of Persis, will become Fars of Iran/Afghanistan in the future and geographically located on the Iranian Plateaux. (102)

GIANT JUPITER

 The planet Jupiter is closely associated with the zodiac sign of Sagittarius and also with the sign of Pisces. Jupiter is the planet that indicates growth and abundance when looked at in the personal horoscope or birth chart. Jupiter can, for some people, bring all that luck and fortune that so many crave. But as the wise man said, there can be too much of a good thing. When possessions and ‘good fortune’ accumulate too much or get too big, the weight can weigh you down most terribly. On the other hand, one can run hither and thither scattering energy wastefully trying to achieve or accumulate what is not possible under the urgings of Jupiter to make it big or too far reaching. 

Egyptian god Horus, Lord of the Ladder to Heaven [Budge]

The beneficial side of Jupiter is seen in his ability to give optimism and protection in the harsher times of life, to balance out his polarity seen in Saturn. These two planets act in unison, or should do for a good working of the horoscope and of the personality attached;  Jupiter bringing wealth and growth, whilst Saturn balances that wealth and growth with the sort of control and discipline necessary to give the growth some direction that it might lead to practical accomplishment of use to the self and those other people contacted in life. Saturn keeps Jupiter within sensible limits and Jupiter prevents Saturn from making everything too austere and limited. When working in harmony and cooperation, these two are achievers; however, for some this is harder work and takes longer than for others.

Roman conception of the great god 

Jupiter-Zeus whose syzygy is Juno-Hera.

Jupiter enjoys a bit of pomp and ceremony as well as a bit of fun and a good belly laugh. When he or his wife are not having a good belly laugh at the absurdities of life, they can see the bigger picture, that picture that puts all the smaller events of everyday living into perspective. There is Zeus/Jupiter riding high with Juno on throne or horse and there they go mingling amicably with the people and with full understanding of their needs and foibles. That’s wise Jupiter-Juno.

Greek impression of the mother goddess 

Hera-Juno Syzygy of Jupiter-Zeus