When you first get into learning astrology you spend a lot of time looking down. We are looking down at symbols and lines in a circle learning the meanings. Well, those symbols and lines are more than just things inside a circle moving around. As much time as you spend looking down and reading, you should also spend just a little time looking up, because that is where all those symbols and lines are actually taking place and how all of this astrology began in the first place, looking up then down. If there were no TV, no phones, no electricity at the end of the day, when you’re sitting around the fire, what do you think you would be doing? Other than tell stories and eat and all that, you would probably watch the sky. While looking up, they started making observations. They noticed that while most stars stayed fixed, in their positions, 5 moved about through the sky. These 5 unique stars along with the sun and moon were known as the 7 wanderers.
Sky watching has been going on since the beginning, but keeping track of placements in the sky can be traced as far back as 2100 BCE in Mesopotamia which is modern day Iraq. We all know there are 9 planets but, back then, there was no telescope so they could only go by what they could see with the naked eye. One really cool thing to observe, if you’re ever are outside around 5 am, just before day light, you will notice all the rest of the stars have disappeared except the planets. Your view depends on your physical position on earth, at that time, as well as the planet’s locations in the sky.
I used to walk my dog around that time before leaving for work and, if you follow me on social media, you may have seen some of the pictures I’ve posted of different planets. I think the last one I posted was a picture of Mars, Saturn, Jupiter and the moon, all together in the sky. The 7 wandering stars move about through the sky on the same path, which is called the ecliptic plane. All of the wanderers move about this ecliptic plane at different speeds, but they pretty much stay in this belt line as they move around. I guess one day someone decided, you know, maybe we should start keeping track of the placements of these wanderers. This was the beginning of astronomy. The way they kept track is from the back drop of the fixed stars. They noticed that if you connect the dots of these fixed stars that are close together they resembled living objects in the sky.
Things like a ram, a lion, a scorpion, scales and so on are known as the places but we know them as the 12 zodiac signs. They used this zodiac, to not only map the sky, but, to keep track of the movement of the wanderers. As they were looking up they started noticing things that were happening below. Like, when the Sun was in The Goat Horned one or The Crab or The Ram or The Scales marked the beginning of the 4 seasons. When the sun was in The Bull or Lion or Scorpion or Water Pourer marked the middle of the 4 seasons. When the sun was in The Twins, The Maiden, The Archer or The Fishes marked the change of the seasons. It began to be used as what we now know as a calendar. You can easily tell what season we’re in just by looking at the constellation the sun rises in every morning.
Since I brought up the sun, it may be a good time to shift into the planets themselves. What does the sun do? It gives off light. This light is pretty much the basis from which all of the concepts are formed. I keep saying there is a yin and yang to everything, so the yang of light is darkness. Now, I said there are 5 wanderers and 2 luminaries. The sun and the moon are the 2 luminaries in the sky. Why? Because they give off the most light, in the sky. When you look up, the sun being the head honcho. Why? Because the sun is the one giving off the light. The moon doesn’t give off light, it reflects light from the sun. What we see of the moon is because of its proximity to the sun and the reflection of the sun’s light. The moon is full when it’s directly opposite the sun. Full moon equals full light from the sun. Going back to the yin-yang for a second: When it comes to the luminaries, the sun gives off light and the moon receives the light. This is the yin yang. Another thing, the sun’s rays are penetrating, male, and the moon receives the light from the sun, female.
We all know the names of the planets, but different cultures have given them different names. The names that may stand out to us modern day folks is Helios (Sun), Selene (Moon), Hermes (Mercury), The Twinkling One, Aphrodite (Venus), The Light Bringer, Ares (Mars), The Fiery One, Zeus (Jupiter), The Radiant One and Kronos (Saturn), The Shining One. If you’ve watched any Greek era movie or read anything around this era, you have heard these names before, the Greek gods. But, what you may not have known was the gods they were referring to were the wanderers moving about the sky. One thing I do want to bring your attention to is not the Greek gods names given to the planets, but the words after. The Radiant One, The Twinkling One, The Light Bringer, The Fiery One, The Radiant One, The Shining One all have something in common in their names. Light! The type of light that each gives off.
Now, I said earlier, they started looking up then looked down. From this looking up first, then down, they started making more observations and correlations with stars. Not just with the light they give off, but things like ‘when this was here, this happened’, ‘when that was there, this happened. Over time, they built up significations for the wanderers not only from the light they give off, but from earthly observations as well. The sun came to signify the perception of the soul. The soul is light inside your body. When your soul leaves your body, you will return back to (source) light. The body is simply a vessel. Which brings me to the moon which signifies the physical body. Without a body, a soul cannot roam the earthly plane. Another yin yang between Sun and moon, the merger of the soul and body.
Before I move off the sun and moon, I want to mention one last yin yang, Father and mother. The sun is father, moon is mother. Hermes (Mercury) is the messenger of god and bestower of critical thinking. It signifies thoughts and communication. Aphrodite (Venus) signifies love and desire, but Ares (Mars) war and violence hence the name Fiery One, and the yang to Venus. Zeus (Jupiter) begetting of good things, hence its name, Radiant One. Jupiter is big and bright like it’s bestowing gifts. And Lastly we Have Kronos (Saturn). I listed this one last because it is the last of the visible planets. Bring back the yin yang if Saturn was the last of the visible and The sun was big bright and the giver of life Saturn, the last, has to be the opposite of that. If the sun gives life what must satan, I mean Saturn do? Take life? Saturn was not seen as a positive planet. How do you come from the underworld? Through The Gates of Hades! How is standing at that gate? Hmmm- The sun rules the summer…longer days shorter nights, but Saturn is the ruler of the winter…shorter days longer nights. Sun rules the day but Saturn rules the night. A little side note: You have heard the saying ‘I hope you burn in hell’, right? Actually, that’s a flawed concept. A more accurate statement would be I hope you freeze in Hell. Hell is cold, not hot. Things grow in the sun and summer but fall off and die in the winter. Warmth equals growth, life. Cold equals no growth, death. Would you prefer warmth or cold? Warmth, huh? So, hell is cold.
Let’s move on now. Earlier, I said that they used the movement of the sun as a calendar which we still use today. In the bible, how many days was it said that it took God to create the earth? 7! Days of the week, how many do we have? 7! Hmmmm. I wonder where that number of days came from. Sunday is Suns day. Monday is moon’s day. Tuesday is Mars’s day. Wednesday is Mercury’s day. Thursday is Jupiter’s day. Friday is Venus’s day. Venus rules love and desire. What do you try to do on Friday night? And Saturday, the last day of the week, and the last visible planet is Saturn’s day. Funny how that works out, huh? Another side note, Jews are the church of Saturn, they worship on Saturday. Christian’s are the church of the sun, they worship on Sunday. They also tell you in all the pictures you see. I’ll bet, if you start pulling up Christian logos, you will see the Sun in the picture somewhere. You see pictures of Jesus and holy people with A halo behind them. What did I say the name for the sun was? Helios. What does that sound kind of like? Halos?
There are 7 Archangels Michael, Ariel, Raphael, Gabriel, Jophiel, Azrael and Chamuel. How about 7 deadly sins: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth. Oh Lucky #7! If I really wanted to, I could point out how all of those 14 different things I just listed has planetary signification. What is wrath? Look up Mars signification, does that sound like Mars run amuck? Pride could equal Sun run amuck. Archangel Gabriel sounds similar to Mercury.
Lastly, I know you may be thinking, “Well, Paul, you missed 3 planets.”. Well, I was talking about the way the ancients looked at the planets. I know in modern astrology they have worked in the use of Neptune Uranus and Pluto and they have their own significations but in terms of astrology these 3 are still very new. We have ideas of their significations, but the ones I spoke of have come about from looking up then down for thousands of years. We have only been looking at the last 3 for maybe a little over hundred. We may have a little more observing to do.
KNOW THYSELF
BALANCE YOUR ENERGY
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