SCORPIO EAGLE

The sun has now entered the much maligned tropical zodiac sign of Scorpio. This rather complex sign has three symbols just to demonstrate how complicated Scorpio can be; they are the scorpion, naturally; the serpent, and the lesser known golden eagle.

Scorpio has received a lot of bad press by those who do not know their astrology too well. Yes, sure its influence can make a person at their worst, cruel and controlling, but when these people reach the height of their best expression, WOW, the sky is the limit – thus the third symbol of the high soaring and dignified Golden Eagle.

When Elizabeth I of the Tudor Age, [who had Scorpio on the Mid-heaven] consulted her astrologer John Dee on a particularly thorning question relating to governing, he is reported to have replied

‘Soar like an Eagle, my Queen’.

Here was one dignified, resourceful and life-changing character who ruled in a ‘Golden Age’ of Britain. The Mid-heaven of a horoscope indicates the best way to interact with the world at large.

The intermediate Scorpio symbol of the Serpent alone has multiple layers of meaning. The scientific-mystical viewpoint is well discussed in Mark Balfour’s ‘The Sign of the Serpent’, where that creature represents the mysterious energy that drives the Cosmos. Sign of the Serpent: The Key to Creative Physics.

Scorpio people have a driving need to understand what makes the universe tick; a driving ambition to get to root causes and find solutions; either through modern orthodox scientific method or if they are a little less traditional, by ploughing the by-ways of ancient arcane knowledge. ‘Life, the Universe and Everything’ really does apply to this sign.

Now, as if having 3 phases of metamorphosis were not enough for our Scorpions to deal with, this sign is the first in the series of twelve to have what is known astrologically as a dual rulership. That means two not one planet is associated with the sign; Mars the ‘traditional’ ruler, and Pluto the newest ruler, allocated after its ‘discovery’ and therefore entrance into human consciousness in 1930.

Some parts of the Tropical 30* arc of Sagittarius (constellation Scorpio) actually cut across the constellation of Ophiuchus, which has been postulated as a 13^th sign of the zodiac, but whose energies are yet to come into play fully for life on earth. Ophiuchus is roughly opposite the constellation Arachne, another contender for a 13^th Ecliptic sign, or perhaps a 14^th ?

Nebula ‘Rho Ophiuchi’

MOON DRAGONS # 1

BEAUTIFUL VENUS

The beautiful planet of Venus is closely associated with the sign of Libra and with that of Taurus. Venus is the planet of love and harmony bringing the desire for companionship and reconciliation after the war or competition. Venus likes to eat and dance, to make music and create. Venus needs to find her comfort zone and enjoy that pleasure to its fullest until she grows wise, then she needs to satisfy the mind.

 This is the Egyptian goddess Hathor representing the planet Venus. [from Budge]

And here is an Ancient Egyptian hymn to the goddess.

HYMN TO HATHOR

All hail, Jubilation to you, O Golden One,

Sole ruler, Uraeus of the Supreme Lord himself!

Mysterious one who gives birth to the divine entities,

forms the animals, models them as she pleases, fashions men..

O Mother!...Luminous One who thrusts back the

darkness, who illuminates every human creature with her rays,

Hail, Great One of many names..

You from whom the divine entities come forth in this your name of Mut-Isis!

You-who-cause the throat to breathe, daughter of Re,

whom he spat forth from his mouth in this your name of Tefnut!

O Neith who appeared in your barque in this your

name of Mut!

O Venerable Mother, you who subdue

your adversaries in this your name of Nekhebet!

O You-who-know-how-to-make-right-use-of-the-heart,

you who triumph over your enemies in

this your name of Sekhmet!

It is the Golden One...the lady of drunkenness

of music, of dance, of frankincense, of the crown,

of young women, whom men acclaim because they love her!

It is the Gold of the divine entities who comes forth at

her season, in the month of Epiphi, the day of the

new moon, at the festival of 'She is Delivered'....

Heaven makes merry, the earth is full of gladness,

the Castle of Horus rejoices.

(Translation after M. Alliot, Le Culte d'Horus a Edfou. From Lucy Lamy Egyptian Mysteries: New Light on Ancient Knowledge (Art and Imagination)   )

VENUS in the astrological natal chart represents a search for balance, love and harmony – in the form of inner contentment, and in the outside world through satisfying relationships with other people and pleasant sensations.

The Greeks anthropomorphised the concept of love and beauty in the goddess Aphrodite.

[Picture from Larousse]

The ultimate aim of the sensory experience of Venus is to awaken the inner spirit or soul. This is achieved as life experience teaches one to truly evaluate the material world and not just succumb to its pleasures. By and through the symbol of Venus one attracts what one thinks one would like. The lesson being, to discriminate between what one truly likes, loves and what is simply a passing desire on the one hand, or on the other simply an uncontrollable fascination or wanting.

In her orbit Venus hurries after the sun and they travel the zodiac almost together for Venus is never more than 48º from that great star, although sometimes running ahead of him, and sometimes behind. Thus Venus sometimes rises before the sun and sometimes she sets after the sun. In this way she acquired the names of ‘morning star’ and the ‘evening star’ depending on where she is in her orbit.

 Birth of Venus by Botticelli

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 and futile procrastination. 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/

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. http://www.lunarplanner.com/HCpages/Venus.html

The Swan is an emblem of Venus and Libra in 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.

The swan has the magic of music and symbolises one of the polarities of the great cosmic energy. J.C. Cooper in his ‘Symbolic Mythological Animals’, supplies a wealth of knowledge on the spiritual symbolism of earthly and imaginary creatures. Although this particular book doesn't appear to be available any more you could try Cooper's  An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols

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. 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 is an 18^th Century woodcut of Tressan’s retelling of the story of Tristan and Iseult from the Arthurian cycle.

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.

BLUE EQUINOX

 The whole of life is a struggle to balance the scales of MAAT, that is the scales of Truth and Justice.

 And so we come to one of two points in the year of equal day and night reflecting the great Cosmic scales. This one is known as the Libran Equinox and it occurs over the 3 days 22^rd, 23^th and 24^th September.

This year the Libran Equinox is heavily emphasised by a tense astrological formation known as a ‘T square’. This means that 3 or more planets hold aspects between each other of 90º and 180º. In this present scenario, Pluto is in the cardinal sign of Capricorn and is 90º from Jupiter and Uranus on the cusp of Aries-Pisces and 90º from Saturn in Libra on the other side of the zodiac.

This back-ground of global tension, indicated by such a stress pattern in the heavens, is likely to be sparked off by the Full Moon occurring during the 3 days of the Equinox. A Full Moon on the Equinox doesn’t happen every year, but it does this year. Perhaps we all need to send out into the Cosmos a little prayer for equality, freedom and understanding commensurate with Libran traits; let us have peace not war; compromise not argument.

[Apologies for mistakenly putting Solstice instead of Equinox. My head was already looking at the coming Solstice of December which is also building to a point of tension]

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’ 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, in relatively recent times.

Mercury is a very important planet, one whose qualities indicate how we perceive and intellectually respond to the world around us, what our nerve energy is like. In Ancient Egypt the god Thoth represented these qualities and later this role was taken over by the Greek god Hermes.

THOTH Ancient Egyptian god of writing and communication. [Budge]

By the time of the Greeks and Romans Thoth had becomes 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] strength [Mars] 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 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, Mercury -> Hermes -> Thoth. The Greeks called an inherited collection of ancient Egyptian essays on Divine Wisdom, ‘The Hermetica’. The Corpus Hermeticum

MERCURIAL VIRGIN

 The glorious sun has now entered the gentle but astute sign of Tropical Virgo, the sign of the Virgin. Virgo people like to be neat and organised, in striving for cleanliness and purity in their life. These qualities taken to extreme become ‘nit-picking’ and overly critical of themselves and all those around. Then there are those who rebel in their own quiet way and take to the bohemian road of complete disregard for the conventional ways of living. Then Virgo is inclined to spurn the rules of ‘neat and tidy’ or the careful attention to practicalities and duty.

 This sign has always been a bit of a mystery, especially as it is really difficult to have a baby if you are a virgin – or is it. The fact that Virgo is ruled by the planet Mercury would point to a mental virgin rather than a physical one; that is, someone with uncorrupted thinking processes or a pure heart. Such a person is best placed to see things clearly and truthfully without personal prejudice and bias.

This part of the zodiac has been associated with the Virgin Mary carrier of the Christ principal and possibly indicating an Essene priestess or priest, and before her time there was Isis and her son Horus, the well-known god and goddess of ancient Egypt.

Fred Gettings spent 16 long years researching his book    The Secret Zodiac   

from which the following wood cut was taken of the ‘Wheat Maiden’, a symbol of the sign Virgo. Gettings has much to say about the zodiac located on the floor of the Basilica of San Minato in Florence with reference to the Virgin giving birth to the Piscean sun/son.

 Virgo people have careful thinking processes that can take them to the height of their profession, and equally are they careful and practical in producing their creations, which are often in the form of potting and weaving.