The Zodiac: Map or Magic?

Part 3 An Irrational Astrology

As I have shown, there may be a rational and natural basis for regarding birth signs as indicative of future health and prospects, if only by representing the seasonal variation in the pregnant mother's diet, but astrology imparts far greater significance to the zodiac, not only in the motions of the stars but also to the many groups of objects that have in time become associated with it. Any set of twelve lends itself quite readily to being linked with the zodiac of twelve signs; and for those objects or qualities where no clearly defined group of twelve exists, someone will always be ready to select what they consider to be the twelve most appropriate.

Sets of twelve from the Bible are obvious candidates for linkage; these include the Hebrew tribes, the twelve Prophets and the twelve Apostles. As far as I can ascertain, there is no valid reason for connecting the latter two sets with the zodiacal signs but the twelve tribes can perhaps be so linked from the way in which Moses arranged them around the Ark in their encampment, not only circularly but in sets of three with regard to compass direction. Ancient gods also tend to have existed in sets of twelve and their several personal attributes often find a nice fit in the zodiac. But many other associations such as colour, gemstone, perfume, plant, animal, body part, etc. - even the weapon - can surely be no more than whim. Or can they? I will finish this short essay with a veritable little jewel of a tale about one family of my cousins which, if it is more than mere coincidence, is a glimpse of the true reality underpinning this illusory existence.

Hermetic Union

The significance (if any) of the little jewel of a tale about my cousins will not be perceived without prior understanding of Hermetic Union. It seems that one of the most important and fundamental patterns in the universe is to be found by a division of unity into the negative, or female, aspect and the positive, or male, aspect, and then re-combining them in a special way: one aspect is reversed and the two are then re-joined head to head (or sometimes tail to tail, if you prefer it that way), sometimes 'butt-jointed' and sometimes overlapping. The computer encoding of colour noted above is such an overlapped, or linked, re-joining of the primary and secondary colours. As an elegant example of head to head butt-jointing, consider Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis. The two are female and male, five letters and six letters, Water and Air, Roman and Hellenised Semitic. When Adonis is reversed and the two re-joined, they form the sequence:

SINODAVENUS

Since I am familiarly known to some as Dave, my burning inclination is to assist in launching the child of this elemental union and float DAVE to the front:

DAVESINONUS

Whatever meanings (if any) of the transformation, it is clear that all five English vowels, A, E, I, O and U, now appear evenly distributed throughout the sequence in the correct alphabetic order.

Lamp and Wand

And now, finally, to my cousins. There were five in the family, all male, and, with the exception of a 4-year gap between the 4th and 5th, they were all born roughly two years apart.

Brother Birth date Birth sign Weapons of sign
Allen 30th Mar, 1950 Aries The Horns
Michael 19th Sep, 1952 Virgo Lamp & Wand
Paul 5th Oct, 1954 Libra The Cross
David 19th Sep, 1956 Virgo Lamp & Wand
(no child was born to my Uncle and Aunt in 1958)
Andrew 21st Dec, 1960 Sagittarius The Arrow

It will be seen that the sequence of their initials is

- A M P D - A -

and that two of the brothers, Michael and David, shared the same birthdate, 19th September, in Virgo whose weapons are Lamp and Wand. Could it be no more than the workings of chance, that the two words, Lamp and Wand, appear joined in Union as

L A M P D N A W

when the three names not in Virgo are repeated - making a total of 42 letters - and their last letters judiciously placed before the sequence, after it, and in the gap?

. . p a u L . . . . . .
. . . . . A l l e n . .
. . . . . M i c h a e l
. . . . . P a u l . . .
. . . . . D a v i d . .
. a l l e N . . . . . .
. . . . . A n d r e w .
a n d r e W . . . . . .

May this essay illuminate and point the way . . .

Astrology: . . . Wonders

Ink Amera

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