Each of these signs corresponds with a particular portion of the year, varying according to the slow movement known as the precession of the equinoxes, by which all the signs are moved forward very slightly year by year, at the rate of one degree in 71 or 72 years, until, at the end of about 2,152 years, a whole sign has moved forward into the position previously occupied by the sign immediately preceding it. This is caused by the failure of the sun to reach the same point in the same time in his apparent circuit each year; and thus it happens that, in a period of rather less than 26,000 years, each sign will have moved completely round the zodiacal band. Now, by careful calculation it has been found that the vernal equinoxial point coincided with the first degree of Aries about 28,000 years ago, with the first degree of Libra about 17,000 years ago, with the first degree of Taurus B.C. 4,340, with that of Aries B.C. 2,188, and with that of Pisces B.C. 36; so that, at the present time, the vernal equinoxial point is really occupied by the sign of the fishes, although, for astronomical purposes, the sign of the ram is always placed in that position, and will, for the future, always be considered as the first sign of the zodiac, no matter what sign may really occupy that position. Thus there is now what is called a fixed zodiac, which never changes, and which is an arbitrary arrangement made for scientific purposes, and a real zodiac whose figures move steadily and slowly year by year, until at the end of rather more than two thousand years the vernal equinoxial point is occupied by the sign immediately following the one which occupied it during that period of time.
Although now the fixed zodiac is an established fact, such an arrangement was undreamed of by the ancients, who regulated their almanacks from the actual sign at the time occupying the vernal equinoxial point; so that between the years 4340 B.C. and 2188 B.C. the sign of the bull was the first and chief sign of the zodiac, while during the two thousand years following—that is, until 36 B.C.—the sign of the ram or lamb took its place. The vernal equinox falls on March 21st each year, at which time the sun, having ascended from its lowest point of declination (December 21st), arrives at that portion of its annual course at which the equator and the ecliptic cross each other; and thus during the period when the sign of the bull was the vernal equinoxial sign the sun was said to be in Taurus, while in the following period, when the sign of the ram took the place of that of the bull, the sun was said to be in Aries. In order to understand thoroughly the apparent annual march of the sun round our earth, it will be necessary to observe the actual double motions of our earth round the sun and upon its own axis. Let us suppose that we are again in the period when the sun was in Aries at the vernal equinox; on the 21st of March our earth, in travelling round the sun (annual motion), has reached a point at which the sun is placed between us and the first stars of Aries, which are then, of course, invisible, because when the sun is visible it is daytime—that is, the part of the earth on which we stand is opposed to the sun, which renders all the stars in that part of the heavens invisible; but, as the earth continues to turn upon its axis (daily motion), we gradually lose sight of the sun, and as the darkness closes around us the stars upon the opposite side of the heavens become visible; so that, when the sun is in Aries, or any other sign, that sign is always invisible to us, and at night we see the sign that occupies the opposite side of the zodiac. Day after day, as the earth continues to move round the sun, a few more stars in the sign Aries are covered, until at the end of a month the sun reaches the next sign, Taurus; and the opposite signs, which we see at night, have also moved on to the same extent. Thus at noon on March 21st the sun is at its highest daily ascension, south of the zenith, or highest point of the heavens, obliterating by its effulgence the first stars of the sign Aries, through which it is apparently about to pass, and at midnight following the opposite sign, Libra, is seen at the same distance from the nadir, or highest point of the darkened heavens; while a month later, when the sun at noon is in Taurus, the sign Scorpio is seen at the opposite point at midnight; and so on through all the signs, one month being occupied by the passing of the sun through each sign, so that it passes through Aries in March, Taurus in April, Gemini in May, Cancer in June, Leo in July, Virgo in August, Libra in September, Scorpio in October, Sagittarius in November, Capricornus in December, Aquarius in January, Pisces in February. This was precisely what occurred in the zodiac during the years from B.C. 2188 to B.C. 36; but in the period of two thousand years immediately preceding this, owing to the precession of the equinoxes, the order was changed, so that Taurus was the sign of March, Gemini of April, and so on, each sign being a month earlier; while at the present time Pisces is the sign of March, and each other sign one month later than when Aries was at the vernal equinoxial point. Each of these signs occupies 30 degrees of the zodiac, the whole twelve making up 360 degrees, which is the total length of the imaginary sphere of the heavenly vault; and the ancients again divided each of these signs into three portions of ten degrees each, called decans making 36 decans for the complete zodiacal circle. When the sun was passing through a sign the astrologers publicly proclaimed the exact moment of its entry upon the first decan, which they called the upper room, the whole sign being called the house of the sun; the second decan they called the middle or inner room, and the third the lower room. On each side of the zodiacal band there are also a number of what are called extra-zodiacal constellations, which never vary their position with regard to the zodiacal signs, the constellations on either side of Aries always rising and setting at the same time with that sign, those on each side of Taurus doing likewise, and so on through all the signs.
As the various astronomical figures became endowed by the ancients with divine honours, each of these signs became associated with a number of romantic stories, until at length the struggles, victories, and defeats of the gods were told in such a variety of ways that sufficient lore existed to fill, if written down, whole libraries. The zodiacal signs were all gods of great importance; the planets were gods, the sun was a god, the moon was a goddess, and the extra-zodiacal constellations were either gods or heroes; but all were not of equal importance, and, owing to the constant changing of positions, some were powerful and victorious at one time and weak and dying at another. The chief deity, which to the Aryans was Dyaus, the day-father, became in later times a concentrated essence of all the gods, and was supposed to undergo all the vicissitudes to which they were subjected; but, inasmuch as the new-born sun was the life of the world, bringing back happiness, and the vernal equinoxial sign was the one at which his influence began to be felt, these two deities were looked upon as god par excellence, a dual deity, separate yet conjoined, and of equal power and authority. So, when the bull was the vernal equinoxial point, the sun-in-Taurus was supreme god; and when the ram, or lamb, was the vernal equinoxial point the sun-in-Aries was supreme God; and, although it was only in March that the sun was at the vernal equinoxial point, yet the bull-god, for two thousand years prior to B.C. 2188, was always supreme, and the ram-god (in Egypt) or lamb-god (in Persia) after that date. On leaving the vernal equinoxial sign the sun passed into the next in order; but, although then not actually in conjunction with the chief sign, it yet was but slightly removed from it, the distance growing larger as each fresh sign was occupied; and never were the sun and the principal sign actually separated from each other in the zodiac, so as to pass into opposite hemispheres, until the autumnal equinoxial point was crossed, after which the sun passed successively through all the winter constellations, being separated for the space of six months from the sign of the vernal equinox. Therefore the six summer signs were accounted specially bountiful and holy, the sign of the vernal equinox being the head and chief of the six, while the six winter signs were accounted less holy, but quite as powerful for evil as the others were for good.
From this was formed the main drama of all subsequent mythological systems, the groundwork of which was, briefly, as follows:—The saviour-sun-god was born at the winter solstice, and ascended to the vernal equinox, where he was united with the bull, becoming the bull-god, and in aftertime with the ram or lamb, becoming the ram-god or lamb-god: after crossing the equator at the spring covenant, or coming together of the equator and ecliptic, he ascended to the summit of the heavens, becoming the lion-god, at the height of his power, and then descending again to the autumnal covenant, or equinox, to pass through the winter or scorpion signs, alone, and mourning the loss of the vernal equinoxial sign, which was torn from him at the autumnal equinox. This simple narrative received numerous embellishments in after times, according to the fancy of the astrologers and priests, who, in many cases, contrived to make out of it a beautiful poem or a sublime allegorical drama.
In describing the entry of the sun upon any particular sign the ancient astrologers were in the habit of referring, not only to the sign itself and to its decans, but also to the accompanying extra-zodiacal constellations, as well as to the visible zodiacal signs and extra-zodiacal constellations of the opposite hemisphere. For instance, during the period of the lamb’s supremacy (B.C. 2188 to B.C. 36) the position of the stars at the moment of the commencement of the annual apparent march of the sun round the zodiac was as follows:—The first stars of the zodiacal sign Capricornus were at the winter solstitial point, December 21st, and invisible to the eye, being directly south of the zenith at noon, the extra-zodiacal constellations Picis Australis on the south, and Aquila on the north, being on either side of it, and the zodiacal signs Sagittarius in front and Aquarius behind, accompanying it in its march; while on the opposite side of the zodiac, at midnight, was seen, directly to the south of the nadir, the sign Cancer, in which were the Præsepe, or stable of Augias; the Io-sepe, cradle of Jupiter or manger of Jao; and the Aselli, or two asses; on the east the sign Virgo was just about to appear above the horizon; on the western horizon was the sign Aries, above which, and crossing the equator, was the extra-zodiacal constellation Orion, with the three large stars in his belt; and immediately below which was the sea monster Cetus, just sinking below the horizon. In proclaiming the birth of the sun at Christmas, therefore, the astrologers would make mention of all these points; and, consequently, the more prominent and interesting of them would become impressed more or less upon the minds of the people, to be converted in after times into various fantastic and romantic fables, as the manufacture of gods out of these astronomical phenomena proceeded.
The principal astronomical features of this annual sun-birth were, therefore, as follows:—The birth took place in the house of the goat, exactly opposite to which were the manger of Jao and the stable of Augias, between two asses; at the same moment the virgin was about to appear above the eastern horizon; the lamb was, as it were, hurling the sea monster Cetus below the western horizon; and the three brilliant stars, called the three kings, in the belt of Orion, were shining above the lamb, on the opposite horizon to where, after the lapse of sixteen days (January 6th), would appear that brilliant star Vindemiatrix, the Virgin by that time having risen sufficiently high above the horizon for that orb, which is situated in her elbow, to be seen at midnight.
All the subsequent fables concerning the birth of a saviour-god were but modifications of this. Mithra, Krishna, Horus, Bacchus, Jesus, and, in fact, all the sun-gods, were born on December 25th, at midnight; and the stories related of each bore a marked resemblance to each other. The real birthday of the sun-god was December 22nd, at the first hour; but it was always reckoned from the same time on December 25th, because at that moment, and not before, the first stars of Virgo appeared above the horizon, which was the sign by which it became known that the birth had actually taken place three days and three nights previously. This gave rise to a popular notion that the sun-god struggled for that length of time at each of the solstitial and equinoxial points, and accounts for the fable of the two crucifixions when the sun-god, in crossing the equator in March and September, was, for three days and three nights, in torture before he finally ascended to heaven in the one case, and descended to hell in the other.
The Christian myth of the birth and death of the saviour-god, although now considerably amplified and converted into a long history, was originally, no doubt, of a much simpler form, and, probably, of the following nature:—Jesus, the sun-god, was born at midnight, between December 24th and December 25th, his mother, Virgo, having been three days and three nights in the agony of childbirth; the virgin, not being allowed to enter the house of the goat, being on the opposite side of the zodiac, was obliged to seek refuge in the stable of Augias (Cancer), and place her baby in the manger of Jao, at which moment the lamb of god, Aries, hurled into the abyss the great monster of evil, or Cetus; the three kings in the belt of Orion, perceiving, on January 6th, the great star Vindemiatrix rise in the east, which was their guiding star, made obeisance to the new-born god and disappeared below the horizon, going down by the west, instead of returning by the east, or way they had come. Growing from this moment, the young sun-god commenced his journey towards the city of god, the summer solstice, at the top of the hill, or height of annual ascension, meeting at the outset Aquarius, the man with the pitcher of water, or John the Baptist, with whom he remained for a time; after which he entered upon the season of fasting, or the sign Pisces, the fishes, and prepared by austerities for the coming feast of the Passover, or coming together (covenant) of the ecliptic and equator, when he would be crucified—that is, be placed cross-wise on the two lines (ecliptic and equator). After this he entered into the sign, Aries, the lamb, having been shown the way by the man with the pitcher of water, Aquarius, and partook of the feast in the upper room or first decan, immediately after which he was crucified as the lamb of god—that is, passed the crossing of the equator and ecliptic in the sign of the lamb. For three days and three nights he struggled in the tomb, or suspense, and then ascended into heaven, accompanied by the lamb, passing the signs Taurus and Gemini, saying to the twins that he could stay with them but a little while, and where he was going they could not go (John xii.), and finally reaching the city of heaven, Jerusalem, or Cancer, passing over the two asses (Aselli) at the entrance to it. Here, on the top of the mount, or at the height of his annual ascension, he had another three days and three nights of tribulation, struggling with the devil, the heavenly serpent, who had led or preceded him up the mount, but who left him as soon as he arrived at the top; for Serpens, at this point, returns while the sun commences his descent towards the autumnal crucifixion. Passing into Leo, he was transfigured on the mount—that is, became more resplendent than ever, after which he entered Virgo, where the seductions of the lady sorely tempted him, for being offered the juice of the autumn grape he drank copiously with the damsel until none was left; whereupon she suggested that he should turn water into wine, but he resisted further temptation, exclaiming, “Woman, what have I to do with thee?” and pursued his course towards the autumnal equinox, where he passed into Libra and crossed the equator and ecliptic again, or, in other words, was crucified in Egypt as the “just man,” being at length separated from Aries for six months, which caused him to exclaim in grief, “My ram! my ram! why hast thou forsaken me?” After three days’ and three nights’ struggle he descended into hell, the tomb, or the dark regions, to be born again at the winter solstice as before; after which he would reconquer the powers of evil, or the winter signs, and again become the lamb of god, “slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. xiii. 8) the Amen, or Jupiter Ammon, of the Apocalypse, at which moment he exclaims, “I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold I, Amen, am alive for evermore” (Rev. i. 18), and “These things saith Amen, the true and faithful witness, the beginning of the creation of God” (Rev. iii. 14). The winter period, commencing with Libra, was called by the ancients the period of scorpions, because Scorpio was the principal sign of the period, and next after the equinoxial sign; Egypt (see Rev. xi. 8), because, that being the most southerly country then known, the sun appeared to descend into it at that time of the year; and Sodom, Gomorrah, etc., because it was a period of evil. The sea-monster, Cetus, is the same that is referred to in Rev. xiii. as blasphemy, with a mouth like a lion, feet like a bear, and leopard-like marks on its forequarters, and whose number was declared to be 666, which figure being made up of ס 60, ת 400, ו 6, and ר 200, stands for the word סתור, Setur, the concealed one, the Latin equivalent of which is Cetus. This was probably something like the original Christian myth, which, as time wore on, became converted into the absurd story presented to us in the four Gospels.
The story of Adonis being separated from his darling Venus for six months, and being afterwards re-united to her in love for another six months, was fabricated from the same source; as also were the legends of Osiris and Horus, Vishnu and Krishna, Ormuzd and Mithras, Jupiter and Apollo, Jupiter and Bacchus, and Jupiter and Hercules. The cult of Bacchus, indeed, was almost a fac simile of those of Jesus and Adonis, the three being but representations in different countries of the very same drama. The twelve labours of Hercules were no more than the passage of the sun through the twelve signs of the zodiac, just as the twelve patriarchs, the twelve tribes, the twelve stones, and the twelve apostles were the twelve signs themselves. In my “Popular Faith Unveiled” I have pointed out the reasons for thinking the twelve sons of Jacob and the twelve apostles to be the twelve zodiacal signs; but I may here state that, on re-consideration, I am inclined to modify the order maintained there in regard to the twelve sons of Jacob (p. 122) by changing the places of Benjamin and Zebulun, the former being, in my present opinion, the sign Gemini, and the latter Capricornus; and as to the twelve apostles, I may here supply an omission made in the same work, by stating that Andrew (p. 198) represents Aries, of March, being always depicted with a ×, which forms the angle made by the crossing of the equator and ecliptic on March 21st. The mystic number seven was derived from the summer signs of the zodiac, including the two equinoxial signs, which were called the pillars of the temple, the vault of the summer heavens being the temple itself. Thus arose the allusions to the seven trumpets, the seven candlesticks, the seven churches, and the seven seals in the Apocalypse, each of which was a summer zodiacal sign; and here I may again supply an omission in my “Popular Faith Unveiled” (p. 246) by stating that the church of Smyrna represented Virgo, of August, in which month bundles of myrrh were always offered to the sun, the word Σμυρνα signifying “myrrh.”
Besides mystic numbers, there were a number of mystic symbols in use among the ancients, by which the great and important phenomena in nature were kept constantly before the eyes of the people. The chief and most widely known symbol is the cross, representing the ascending sun bringing back fresh life to the world at the vernal equinox; but the cross was by no means the only symbol of this important occurrence; trees, torches, the male organs of generation, or phallus, and various animals were frequently used for the same purpose—in fact, the symbolical worship of the ancients assumed gigantic proportions, almost every conceivable device being seized upon to render homage to the great re-fertiliser of the earth. No one of the religious cults was free from a large admixture of what is known as phallic worship—that is, worship of the fertilising principle; and it was a common custom for people to swear by their generative organs, as being the most sacred things on earth, representing the divine energy in a state of procreative activity. Thus we find in Psalm lxxxix. 49 the following words (literally translated): “O my Adonis, where are thy endearments of old, which thou swearedst for the sake of love by thy phallus, O Ammon?” The Hebrew letter ת was the sign of the cross, or phallus, which was also used by the Phœnicians, being derived from the Arabic תױ], the sybol of the life-giver. This passage evidently had reference to the violent death of Adonis, who, at the autumnal equinox, was attacked by a wild boar, which tore away his generative organs and rendered him consequently impotent, until he was born again, when he acquired fresh powers and grew in beauty and stature, ready to re-unite with Venus at the spring equinox.