MOON DRAGON #7

Earthly Queen

The Taurean Bull of course can be tracked back to the ancient Egyptian Apis Bull and his partner. The Apis Bull was the sacred symbol of Osiris and through him of his partner Isis/Hathor who sometimes sports the cow head. It is quite debatable which had the most authority, but it is highly suspicious that it was Isis, the goddess who had given birth to the child Horos or Hour, that is a segment of time-space, and symbol of her creative qualities as the Great Mother Goddess. However, make no mistake that Isis would remain barren without the stimulation and support of Osiris.

Venus is the planet most associated with Taurus and Venus is symbolised in the ancient Goddess Hathor. Hathor wears the cow head symbolised in the horns of potency and the disk of creation.

The other image of Venus is the classical Greek goddess Aphrodite, an image that over emphasises the feminine yet one can still sense some yang energies to keep the balance going; she has absolute ‘feminine’ appeal, yet with a hidden stress of being her own person.

In fact Aphrodite can be quite harsh in her search for equality, balance, harmony, and justice. When these desires are harnessed to the Bullish qualities of Taurus, there is not likely to be a middle path towards achieving that peace according to the Taurean will; a will-power that is strong and determined yet ready to play ball with the opponent if good practical reason is given.

Equally, as seen before in the Libran Venus, if Venus cannot be bothered with all the inconvenience of war then she is likely to sit down and refuse to move or to be concerned about the state of things.

Isis and Osiris are the cosmic polarities of the ‘All’; the male and female principles of life, and their story is retold by Plutarch. Plutarch had learnt a lot from the priestess Clea.  Plutarch: Concerning The Mysteries Of Isis And Osiris

TAURUS EYES

The sun has now moved into the sign of Taurus, symbolised by the bull. What a lovable little creature the young calf is, but watch out as they grow big. Some still maintain that seductive doe eyed gentleness, whilst others snort in rage when you get in their way.

Now this boisterous bull is ruled by the gentle and beautiful planet Venus and that should give us some clue to the other side of our Taurean. You have meet Venus before in the sign of Libra, now we again make her acquaintance as ruler of Taurus. When associated with the zodiac sign of Taurus, the qualities of Venus acquire a more practical and earthly expression of herself. You will see the Taurean Venus in the policeman maintaining harmony by applying man’s version of law and order. You will see the practical side of Venus in the ecstatic expressions of the artist and the dancer giving practical expression to the Taurean love of beauty.

Like most signs, Taurus can sometimes be hard to pin down, yet each sign shares an undeniable likeness of basic qualities and principles of that shared sign by those born with the sun in the same sign. What most of us forget is that an individual has a whole birth chart of 10 planets and is not only the sun.

So why do we need a bull in the zodiac? Because someone has to shovel the opposition out of the way or we would never advance as a group. Some bulls will literally go at the opposition with a full head on butt, whilst other bulls take the subtle gentle approach of silent stubbornness, in pursuit of their aims. Each one needs to harness these admirable qualities with an eye to the bigger picture so that they do not get caught on a one-track path that cannot see the beauty of other ways. For Beauty is essential to the soul of the Taurean – beauty of nature, of artifice, and of money for the beauty that it can procure.

It must not be forgotten that the great star Aldebaran of the constellation Taurus is the ‘All Seeing Eye’ and font of great wisdom. Vera Stanley Alder writes on this wisdom in ‘Finding the Third Eye’. The Finding of the Third Eye.  Wisdom in Practice

Spring Time in Ancient Crete where the Bull of Minos was venerated.

RAM FEVER

ARIES is the first sign of the zodiac circle because it is the sign of the northern spring equinox, which in turn is the point marking the beginning of the natural year. Ancient calendars used this point to start their solar year in contrast to our western artificial calendar, which starts its calendar year in the month of January.

So, with the rushing in of new energies for the start of a new solar year, the Ram was chosen as the symbol of the zodiacal sign of Aries. And Aries has great affinity with the planet Mars, or in astrological speak, Mars is the ruler of Aries.

An image of Mars from Albumasar’s ‘De Magnus Conjunctionibus’ [9^th Century]

Mars is hot and fiery, it is the life driving force that gives initiative to take action, drawing, as all the planets do, its own life from our sun, the hub of our universe. Mars was the planet particularly favoured by the Romans. This accords well with their pagan religion of Mithraism, the religion of fire, fire that makes so much possible in the lives of human beings.

We have met Mars previously in his association with the sign Scorpio, but here in Aries, the Martian energy is less complicated and therefore freer to have a more direct expression. Without Mars energy, little or nothing can be accomplished; no one would get out of bed in the morning, or strive for achievement in the world. Mars is the fighting energy that enables us to push our way through life. Of course too much push can make one very unpopular and too much fire makes an enemy of an otherwise very useful commodity.

The secret side of the Ram is seen in the Ancient Egyptian god Khnum who guards one of the 21 portals of the House of Osiris. As an ancient creator god, Khnum moulds man on his potter’s wheel or as Vulcan, hammers out man on his anvil with the aid of fire.

Khnum guarding a portal. From the Ancient Egyptian ‘Book of the Dead’. 

It takes persistence and courage to get through life, sadly when these ‘thrusting’ qualities are devoid of the human virtues and chivalry, one can descend into pointless war and aggression, instead of fighting for good like King Arthur or Parsifal.

Go on your own adventure with Parsifal/Parsival; Parsival or a Knight's Tale by Richard Monaco.

SPRINGING ARIES RAM

The sun entering Aries reminds us of the first energies of spring in the northern hemisphere and that powerful force propelling the bud out of the winter frozen earth. Aries people are driven by a similar first explosion of unstoppable, joyful and expectant energy.

This joyful fiery energy is the case whether an Aries person is born in the northern or the southern hemisphere, for we are referring here to deep space constellation influence rather than only planetary energies of the solar system. Thus the sun and the Ecliptic sign of Aries might be said to be focusing towards earth, the greater energies of the constellation Aries, whilst at the same time being over-laid by the energies of the constellation Aquarius, as the Vernal Point moves into that constellation. Complicated? Confused? Look back at the Equinox blogg and do some research on ‘Precession’ for a clearer understanding.

Whatever; Aries people are full of ‘spring’, energy and enthusiasm, wanting to get things done even before the rest of us have worked out just what has to be done! But watch out for their fire, it can be used like a Promethean gift to progress onwards and blaze a trail for others to follow, OR the fire will singe your toes and elbows so that the burns sting and make you uncomfortable.

 Salamander being transformed by fire, from the ‘Book of Lambspring’

 On a planetary level, another ‘springing’ time is early morning, when a daily sunrise quickens life energies for the coming 24-hour cycle. As the Vedic hymn to the dawn says:-

Listen to the exhortation of the Dawn!

Look to this Day, for it is life, the very life of life.

In its brief course, lie all the verities and realities of your existence;

The glory of action, the bliss of growth, the splendour of beauty.

For yesterday is but a dream, and tomorrow is only a vision.

But today well-lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness,

And every tomorrow a vision of hope.

Look well, therefore, to this Day.

The Ancient Egyptian rebel Pharaoh Akhenaten [c.1380 BCE] took a different tack on sun worship and wrote his own poem, part of which goes like this:-

‘Splendid you rise in heaven’s lightland,

O living Aten, creator of life!

When you have dawned in eastern lightland,

You fill every land with your beauty.

You are beauteous, great, radiant,

High over every land;…

All beasts browse on herbs;

Trees, herbs are sprouting,

Birds fly from their nests….

And if that sounds familiar, it is. From the Hebrew Bible, Psalm 104 reads:-

Lord…thou are very great;

thou art clothed with honour and majesty.

Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment;

Who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain:

Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters….

[that] give drink to every beast of the field…

the fowls of the heavens have their habitation…

….grass to grow for the cattle….

A good read on the rebel king of Egypt is Cyril Aldred ‘Akhenaten’. Akhenaten: King of Egypt 

Like the little lamb, young Arians frolic and gamble around the place, oblivious to the toes they step on. The older Ram has a different take on life and stands firm ready to ‘butt’ the opponent out of the way. Some will ‘butt’ even when there is no enemy, in their bid to be free to create something new.

MOON DRAGON #6

ARIES EQUINOX

We now reach another of the four cosmic angles of the year. This one is the Aries Equinox, a time of equal day and night, a time of yearly outpourings of a new pulse of energy at the beginning of a new cosmic year.

Spell 85 ‘I am the soul of Re who issued from the Abyss….’

Ram of Aries [Egyptian Book of the Dead]

In the northern hemisphere this important time of year in the natural earth cycle indicates the beginning of spring. In the southern hemisphere this same point in space and time indicates the beginning of autumn in the natural earth cycle of the seasons. But in the greater cosmic cycle we are looking at the inflow of a new impulse of fresh energies from the cosmic sea and which have a general influence on both sides of the globe.

The March Equinox is also called the Vernal Point or the First Point and is designated mathematically as 0 degrees of the Ecliptic circle [imaginary path of the sun]. It is the time of year when the day and night are of equal length, and marks the starting point of a new cosmic Earth year. The second point of equal day and night is at the September Equinox. Over the course of approximately 25,800 years [rounded out to 26,000] a period referred to as the ‘Great Year’, the Vernal Point referred to moves backwards across the constellations at the rate of approximately 2,000 years per grouping of stars, each grouping known as a constellation. There are 12 Ecliptic constellations as viewed from Earth and as this Vernal Point passes each constellation; a new era of human development is marked out. The groupings of stars or constellations have been named since ancient times and referred to as ‘Ages’. In order of precession, they are Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, Sagittarius, Scorpio, Libra, Virgo, Leo, Cancer, Gemini, Taurus and Aries. Precession is caused by a slow rotation of the Earth’s axis over a long period of time. A correlating change of ‘Pole’ star, to which the axis is directed, also occurs. Research reveals that long ages of historical periods correlate with this movement of the Earth’s axis.

Astrologically this Vernal Point has inherited the initiatory force of the qualities of Aries. This initiatory force is now working at a cosmic level through the constellation Aquarius. Thus we have the new age term ‘Age of Aquarius’. The transition from constellation Pisces to Aquarius has been a long and gradual one as there are no rigidly defined boundaries. Many astrologers believe that we are now well and truly into the beginning of this new 2000 year ‘Age of Aquarius’. Evidence might be seen in the fact that as a human race we are fighting for human rights on a global scale. But we are also seeing the downside of individual freedoms being suppressed for the greater ‘good’ of the whole. It is believed that the Mayan Calendar’s reference to the end of 2012 is a reference to this coming new age, which of course goes hand in hand with the so called ‘destruction’ of the world or age that has gone before.

This Equinox of March 20^th to 22^nd  follows close on the Full Moon and continues the stressful conditions that we have been seeing over the past months. Many will be called to task over the coming months, about how they are dealing with greed versus justice. Many things will continue to need radical adjustments, including the economy and all relationships, whether personal or global. Life is likely to be full of surprises and strange unexpected things as the Sun moves past the planet Uranus on its way into the ecliptic sign of Aries.

Spell 81A ‘I am this pure lotus which went forth from the sunshine….’

HYMN OF REBIRTH or of the Ogdoad to refresh the spirit and illumine the mind.

Be thou opened, O Earth, and ye trees, wave not your boughs;

I am about to sing the praise of Him who is both the ALL and the One.

Be ye opened, ye heavens, and ye winds, be still;

Let the immortal sphere of heaven receive my utterance.

For I am about to sing the praise of Him who created all things,

who fixed the earth, and hung heaven above;

who made the sweet water flow from Ocean into the lands wherein men dwell,

that it might serve for the sustenance of all mankind,

and gave command that fire should come forth,

to be used by gods and men in all their works.

Let us all with one accord give praise to Him,

who is seated high upon the heavens, creator of all that is.

It is He that is the eye of my mind;

may He accept the praise sung by my Powers.

Ye Powers that are within me, praise ye the One and ALL

sing ye in concord with my will, all ye Powers that are within me.

O holy Knowledge, by thee am I illumined,

and through thee do I sing praise to the incorporeal Light.

I rejoice in joy of mind;

rejoice with me, all ye Powers.

And do thou, O Continence, sing praise;

and thou, Endurance;

and thou, my Justice, praise the All through me;

O Truth, sing praise to Truth.

O Good that is in me, praise the Good;

O Life and Light, from you comes the song of praise, and to you does it go forth.

I give thanks to thee, O Father, who workest in my Powers;

I give thanks to thee ,O God.

Thus crying, the Powers that are in me accomplish thy will;

praising the All, they fulfil thy purpose.

It is thy Word that through me sings thy praise;

for by thee, O Mind, is my speech shepherded.

Through me accept from all an offering of speech;

for the All is from thee, and to thee returns the All.

O Light, illumine thou the mind that is in us;

O Life, keep my soul alive.

Thy man cries thus to thee by means of the things thou has made;

but he has got from thine eternity the praises which he utters.

I have seen that which I seek;

I have found rest according to thy purpose;

by thy will I am born again.

The Hymn of Rebirth is to be sung in an open place, facing south at the hour of sunset or facing east at the hour of sunrise. Let all nature receive the sound of my hymn. Hermes, Libellus XIII.