The Depth and Mystery of Scorpio Part I

by Genevieve Vierling

Scorpio takes us into some of the deepest and most complex of energies.  These energies often remain a mystery to many because they are traditionally labeled taboo.  Religious admonitions are ingrained in the collective that ‘the knowledge of good and evil’ is forbidden, yet Scorpio must deal with these issues.  Is it any wonder that people born under this sign sense a lack of understanding on the part of others; even at times a fear?

These taboo subjects and realms are all ‘Scorpio-ruled’:  power, sex, money (because money often equals power), and death.  The truth is that they are endless sources of fascination for most of us!  Scorpio, however, must go through a life immersion course in some, if not all of these arenas, and ultimately become changed at the deepest of core levels because of this journey into the forbidden realms.

This sign begins as Autumn is at its peak around October 23rd, and ends around November 22nd as the Sun is swiftly losing its strength in the northern hemisphere and the nights are becoming longer.  Decay is rapidly occurring as leaves fall from the trees, plants wither and die, birds migrate south, temperatures drop dramatically, and the silence and coldness of winder approaches.  In the southern hemisphere we have the opposite effect, thus teaching us about the polarity of this sign of death and re-birth.

Even in ancient Egypt the zodiacal sign rising during May was Scorpius, which for them heralded the blazing heat of the Sun as it scorched the earth and withered the plants, and brought migrations of scorpions into their midst with their deadly poison.  What we can conclude from each scenario is that Scorpio is a time of extreme change.

This is known as a fixed, water sign.  Cancer was the first, implying an original water source giving forth expression of feelings.  Scorpio represents water that can become solid through freezing, or even stagnant through lack of movement such as murky, swampy water, or perhaps deep water appearing tranquil on the surface yet concealing great turbulence farther down due to earth tremors or even volcanic activity.  These signatures can translate into the personality of a Scorpio as introversion, reserve and depth of strong feelings, or even a certain impenetrable quality difficult for others to perceive and completely understand.

Those born during this time of year with their Sun sign in Scorpio have the directive of first discovering the hidden depths of subconscious feelings and patterns acquired early in life that are often the frozen constellations of ancestral patterns which have long been buried and left to sit somewhere deep in the collective unconscious.  As these feelings and patterns emerge into the psyche of the Scorpio individual they then have the task of separating their conscious self from these ‘complexes’.  This may involve a separation from certain key members of their family of origin, and later experiences involving their intimate partners where they will also have to deal with these issues revolving around the taboo areas of life; money, sex, and power.  This journey, almost always involving both the simultaneous urge to merge, and the equally strong urge to separate, will take them into various life-altering dramas that are intense, confrontational, and ultimately transformative.

What is meant by transformation?  This is a term that we find associated with Scorpio over and over again.  According to Webster’s, ‘trans’ means ‘across’ or ‘through’.  Perhaps Scorpio must journey across one form to another, or through one form to another.  Transform in Webster’s is defined as changing form, appearance, or structure.  There is no particular ethic or moral code implied in this term.  A Scorpio can choose to make whatever change of form, structure, or appearance they so desire.  Yet the symbolism of Scorpio, from an astrological perspective, has come to imply a movement of consciousness that evolves from the most ancient and primal—the Scorpion and the Snake—to the most mystical and spiritual—the mythical ‘Phoenix Bird’.  To understand this we need to go back in time to ancient origins.

Ancient Stories and Symbols

The common thread running through Babylonian, Sumerian, Egyptian, and Greek tales of Scorpio was always one of connecting the sign with the ‘Underworld’ whereby a personally painful journey forced the hero or heroine to confront the demonic and thus find from that descent into the darkness and depths a return upwards, again, towards the light and resurrection.  Much of this occult wisdom was embodied in a four-fold process involving first anger (the Scorpion and it’s sting), then introspection (the lizard or snake who moves between the inner earth and the outer realm), the rebirth process (the soaring eagle’s flight towards the Sun), and ending in the realm of some kind of Holy Spirit (the white-winged dove and/or the mythical Phoenix bird rising reborn from it’s own self-made funeral pyre).

We see this transformational journey in the Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh when he encountered the Scorpion-men whose stare would strike death into those who looked deeply into their eyes.  They guarded Mashu, the great twin-peaked mountain which, in turn, guarded the rising and setting of the Sun.  In order for him to ‘pass through’ he had to first journey deep into the darkness for 12 leagues (a period of astronomical time).  His feelings of oppression were enormous as were the feelings of being abandoned.  Yet Gilgamesh, who symbolizes the individual’s Solar/heroic journey, kept his strength, courage, and survived his tribulations emerging after 11 leagues to see the light of dawn, and after the 12th league finally found himself in the garden of the gods.  The inner meaning of this tale implies a soul’s need to face the journey of descent into the unconscious with courage and strength in order to appreciate more fully the light of consciousness once their perils are over.  Reflecting through hindsight brings the realization that the difficulties one passes through are often what are needed to grow and mature.

Three other rich archetypal myths involve this descent into the ‘underworld’, but unlike the lone journey of Gilgamesh they involve a partner with whom the journeyer is closely paired.  In one story Ishtar journeys deep into the bowels of the underworld to find her love Tammuz, in another Kore/Persephone is abducted into the underworld by Hades/Pluto, and in the third Orpheus descends into the underworld to reclaim his beloved bride, Eurydice.

All of these mythic stories repeat common themes about Scorpio involving the paradox of the desire to merge, and the necessity to separate so that the individual is forced to master their inner emotional life.  The initial bond with one of the parents may have kept them under that parent’s deliberate control.  Later, through partnership they must struggle not to repeat that pattern and learn the lesson of gaining personal control in the face of deep emotional bonding.

The young and lovely Persephone (Kore) was snatched from her dream-like existence with her mother, Demeter by Pluto (Hades) and taken to his deep, mysterious world.  This was a world of raw and primal sexuality, as well as a new kind of bonding with her masculine counterpart.  In truth she gained the power of becoming a queen in this kingdom, while in that other realm of innocence her mother raged with grief at the loss of her child.  That she felt torn between the two realms says much about the turbulent energies that Scorpios must experience in their transformational cycles.  In the story she could have returned to her mother Demeter’s world had she kept herself untainted by desire.  But she just couldn’t resist the taste of the forbidden red, juicy fruit of the Pomegranate (shades of Eve and the Apple) and thus her fate was sealed. She could return for six months out of the year to the surface world of her mother Demeter, but the other six months were to be spent with Pluto.  Interestingly, we really don’t know from the myth how Persephone felt about this arrangement, but we get hints that perhaps she enjoyed her growing power as Hades’ queen when we go to the next story of Orpheus.

In this tale the mesmerizing and talented Orpheus falls deeply in love with Eurydice, and they become bonded through marriage.  In one version she is bitten by poisonous snakes and is taken from his side into the underworld.  His passion, bordering on obsession, compels him to pursue her into that other realm to plead for her return.  He meets and charms both Persephone and Pluto, and now we see Persephone as a mature woman equal to her mate.  But Orpheus, like those struck by the lightening of early adult love, cannot fathom a life without his beloved.  His pleadings are acknowledged and he is allowed to escort Eurydice up and out.  Sadly, he does not trust enough to believe that she is right behind him as they are both about to emerge from the underworld.  He has been warned that he cannot look back, but he does, so back into the Plutonian world she goes.

These mighty operatic dramas often fill the lives of those born with Scorpion planets highly stressed, for transformation involving such turbulent energies is part of the separation and regenerative processes whereby they evolve.  Scorpio just doesn’t do things half-way; it’s all or nothing, and the swings between these two polarities are both extreme and intense.

The Constellation of Scorpio

To the ancients this was one of the largest constellations with the curved tail of the scorpion, poised to sting, containing 62 visible stars including the brightest, Antares, meaning ‘like Mars’ or ‘rival of Mars’ according to the Greeks.

Antares is truly a giant star, 400 light years from our own Sun, and several hundred times its size.  Its volume is a billion times that of our Sun, yet a small companion, Antares B, just visible with a small telescope, is 100 times smaller, and is green in color.  This is part of the mystery, again, of this sign. Antares, one of the four royal stars marking the equinoxes and solstices, is considered the heart of the scorpion, and the Greeks believed its character to be a combination of the planets Mars and Jupiter; warlike, impulsive, and potentially dangerous.  They felt that anyone born with this star prominent in their birth map would achieve great honor through violence, yet if the star was combined with the Moon, they would find favor in business and domestic matters, and also show an interest in philosophy.

The ancient astronomer/astrologers felt most of the stars of Scorpio to be ominous in energies.  Today we know that this part of space contains the strongest X-ray source in the celestial sky, including Scorius X-1, a binary star.  These x-rays are caused by an acceleration of gas moving to speeds of light and streaming into intense gravitational and magnetic fields.

Interestingly, the boundaries of Scorpio were redrawn in 1928, just before the discovery of Pluto, Scorpio’s more modern ruler, so that today the Sun spends only 9 brief days each year passing through the stars of this constellation, while spending the remaining two-thirds of the month in the constellation of Ophiucus.  And, of course, now astronomers (well, a few!) have demoted Pluto from planetary status to some sub-group. Does this mean that our planetary consciousness no longer has struggles with money, sex, power, and death?  Hmmm…. Or is this called major denial by the plutocracy?

The Constellation of Ophiucus

This constellation actually sits above Scorpio slightly and today, because of the precession of the equinoxes, the Sun actually spends a great deal of time passing through it.  The ancients named it thus because to them it was an image of Asclepius, the healer and honor student of Chiron, wrestling with a giant serpent.  Symbolized here is a process.  In order to get from Scorpio to Sagittarius one must wrestle with this serpent power, and gain greater knowledge and control of the secrets of life and death which this serpent holds.

Serpent Wisdom

Serpent Wisdom is a very specific kind of knowing.  This wisdom can only be gained through the realm of feelings (water), and is not really accessible to the left brain of logic.  It is feminine wisdom, the chthonic, mysterious, dark, underworld side of the feminine that holds the keys to life, death, sex, and transformation whereby the active Shakti energy of the Devine Mother is released at the base of the spine, and travels upwards towards the crown chakra.  This vital, animating force is within every human being, but is not awakened necessarily by sexual activity alone unless the practice is one of sustained discipline through such methods as tantra.  It requires strong intention and introspective types of meditation, trance states, shamanic practices, or the sacred use of certain psychotropic plants, mushrooms, or sometimes even snake venom to chemically alter and spark the pineal gland into opening like the lotus flower into full-blown levels of awareness beyond the experience of duality, where the field of consciousness is both creative and unified.  This is truly the birth-right of every human being.  Why have we allowed it to be shut down by those ‘authorities’ who would prevent us from knowing the ultimate freedom?

Scorpios have a penchant for being able to access these trance-like states of consciousness.  Sometimes they are born gifted with the natural awareness, but lose it through the hypnogogic down-loading of ‘civilized’ conditioning.  Cassandra, the gifted prophetic visionary, was said to have been left as a child with snakes who were fond of licking her ears.  Some children have a natural love of snakes until conditioned fear cuts them off from ther chthonic source of wisdom.  Snake goddesses were common and prevalent in many older cultures such as Crete during the Taurean Age.  Serpents have come to represent the secrets of life, death, and rebirth.  The gifts of prophecy used to be linked to Serpent Wisdom as in the Oracle of Delphi.  Patriarchal religions managed to destroy this wisdom by propagating the belief that the snake was loathsome and evil.

Strangely, howver, the snake endures in spite of such overlays.  Take a look at the Caduceus again and you’ll see that modern AMA-type medicine continues to work with this powerful symbol even if they simultaneously prefer laboratory produced pharmaceuticals, radiation, and ‘chemical war-fare’ in their treatment of disease.  Mechanized views of reality divorce us from the primeval realm of nature, and now our bodies are treated more like bio-chemical ‘machines’ devoid of the life-force animating power of the Kundalini.  Some of this lopsidedness is now changing thanks to the merging of East-West philosophies, and quantum physics.  Bio-energetic medicine does work with this serpent life-force.

We see in all of this the movement of trans-formation at work. Scorpio is where we move between the realms in powerful and life-altering ways.  The occult wisdom of Scorpio teaches us that we must descend time and time again into the primal realms as a path to mastery before we can become fully conscious.

This ends Part I of our Scorpio journey.  In Part II I will look at Scorpio’s glyph, the qualities and characteristics of Scorpio people, the parts of the body ruled by Scorpio, the Shadow, Scorpio in relationship, and finally some famous Scorpio people.

http://www.bluelightlady.com/blog/2009/11/the-depth-and-mystery-of-scorpio-part-i/

Brilliant, mysterious Scorpio

Have the Monarch butterflies returned yet to Mexico after their summer in Canada and the US? Are they nestled for winter’s protection in the oyamel (sacred fir) trees? The butterflies’ return, holding the spirits of departed and loved one, reminds us it’s time for Los Dias de los Muertos (The Days of the Dead) - Halloween, All Saints Day and All Souls Day.

Of the 12 constellations, Scorpio is the largest, containing brilliant stars hidden in the Milky Way. This is the way of Scorpio – hidden, a mystery to most, complex and multi-leveled. At the center of Scorpio is the giant red star Antares. During Greek and Egyptian times, temples were built and oriented around the light of Antares. It’s interesting that the constellation of Scorpio and its stars are best seen in Mexico.

Veiled in mystery and secrecy, Scorpio rules the intimacy and the life functions of sex, death and rebirth - energies of change and transformation (Pluto). Great, vast and deep changes occur during the transitions of birth and death. And, there’s a subtle psychological change that occurs through intimacy (sex) as life forces are exchanged. Eventually, through these energy exchanges (electrical energies of male/female, radiating and receptive), unity (beginning with desire) is achieved on multiple levels. Many times, a new “current” (a child) of energy is created as a result of the interchange of two people’s atomic structure. Notice the depth of reality here: atom-ic. The atom bomb was made from plutonium. The ruler of Scorpio is Pluto.

Often misunderstood, Scorpio is careful of what and to whom they share themselves. Only when Scorpio trusts will they reveal their inner realities, beliefs, understandings and sense of the world. The sign of Scorpio represents a snake or scorpion, potent with an energy coiled to strike (if needed). The snake sheds its skin often, and when it does, it is blinded. This explains the deep sensitivity of Scorpio, a sensitivity little known or understood by others. Every seven years, like the snake shedding its skin, the cells in our bodies are shed and renewed. This is ruled over by Scorpio, sign of the phoenix rising from the fire.

Phoenix (mythology)

Phoenix

AKA: Phenix
The phoenix depicted in the Aberdeen Bestiary (ca. 12thC).
Mythology	Eurasian
Grouping	Mythology
Habitat	Air
Similar creatures	Fenghuang, Simurgh, Garuda, Roc, Thunderbird

Phoenix depicted in the book of mythological creatures by F.J. Bertuch (1747-1822).

The phoenix, or phenix (Greek: Φοίνιξ Greek pronunciation: [ˈfiniks], Persian: ققنوس, Arabic: العنقاء أو طائر الفينيق, Chinese: 鳳凰 or 不死鳥, Hebrew: פניקס), is a mythical sacred firebird that can be found in the mythologies of the Arabian, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Chinese, Indians and (according to Sanchuniathon) Phoenicians.

It is described as a bird with a colorful plumage and a tail of gold and scarlet (or purple, blue, and green according to some legends^[which?]). It has a 500 to 1000 year life-cycle, near the end of which it builds itself a nest of twigs that then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix or phoenix egg arises, reborn anew to live again. The new phoenix is destined to live as long as its old self. In some stories, the new phoenix embalms the ashes of its old self in an egg made of myrrh and deposits it in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis (literally "sun-city" in Greek). It is said that the bird's cry is that of a beautiful song. The Phoenix's ability to be reborn from its own ashes implies that it is immortal, though in some stories the new Phoenix is merely the offspring of the older one. In very few stories they are able to change into people.

History of the myth

The ancient Greek historian Herodotus gave the following account of the phoenix in the fifth century BC while describing the animals of Egypt:

Another sacred bird is the one called the phoenix. Now, I have not actually seen a phoenix, except in a painting, because they are quite infrequent visitors to the country; in fact, I was told in Heliopolis that they appear only at 500-year intervals. They say that it is the death of a phoenix's father which prompts its visit to Egypt. Anyway, if the painting was reliable, I can tell you something about the phoenix's size and qualities, namely that its feathers are partly gold but mostly red, and that in appearance and size it is most like an eagle. There is a particular feat they say the phoenix performs; I do not believe it myself, but they say that the bird sets out from its homeland in Arabia on a journey to the sanctuary of the sun, bringing its father sealed in myrrh, and buries its father there.^[1]

The Roman poet Ovid wrote the following about the phoenix:

Most beings spring from other individuals; but there is a certain kind which reproduces itself. The Assyrians call it the Phoenix. It does not live on fruit or flowers, but on frankincense and odoriferous gums. When it has lived five hundred years, it builds itself a nest in the branches of an oak, or on the top of a palm tree. In this it collects cinnamon, and spikenard, and myrrh, and of these materials builds a pile on which it deposits itself, and dying, breathes out its last breath amidst odors. From the body of the parent bird, a young Phoenix issues forth, destined to live as long a life as its predecessor. When this has grown up and gained sufficient strength, it lifts its nest from the tree (its own cradle and its parent's sepulchre), and carries it to the city of Heliopolis in Egypt, and deposits it in the temple of the Sun.^[2]

The phoenix or firebird originated in ancient mythology and has gone through a variety of representations in art/literature, ranging from being fully birdlike to having the head of a dog and suckling its young. Typically, it is considered benevolent, but some tales suggest that humans are not always safe around it.

The Bennu-bird

Flavius Philostratus (c. AD 170), who wrote the biography Life of Apollonius of Tyana, refers to the phoenix as a bird living in India, but sometimes migrating to Egypt every five hundred years. His account is clearly inspired by Garuda, the bird of the Hindu god Vishnu. He considered the bird as an emanation of sunlight, being in appearance and size much like an eagle. His contemporary Lactantius is probably the author who wrote the longest poem on the famous bird. Although descriptions (and life-span) vary, the Egyptian phoenix (Bennu bird) became popular in early Christian art, literature and Christian symbolism, as a symbol of Christ representing his resurrection, immortality, and life-after-death. One of the Early Church Fathers, Clement, related the following regarding the Phoenix in chapter 25 of the First Epistle of Clement:

Let us consider that wonderful sign [of the resurrection] which takes place in Eastern lands, that is, in Arabia and the countries round about. There is a certain bird which is called a phoenix. This is the only one of its kind, and lives five hundred years. And when the time of its dissolution draws near that it must die, it builds itself a nest of frankincense, and myrrh, and other spices, into which, when the time is fulfilled, it enters and dies. But as the flesh decays a certain kind of worm is produced, which, being nourished by the juices of the dead bird, brings forth feathers. Then, when it has acquired strength, it takes up that nest in which are the bones of its parent, and bearing these it passes from the land of Arabia into Egypt, to the city called Heliopolis. And, in open day, flying in the sight of all men, it places them on the altar of the sun, and having done this, hastens back to its former abode. The priests then inspect the registers of the dates, and find that it has returned exactly as the five hundredth year was completed.

Michael W. Holmes points out that early Christian writers justified their use of this myth because the word appears in Psalm 92:12 (LXX Psalm 91:13), but in that passage it actually refers to a palm tree, not a mythological bird.^[3] However, it was the flourishing of Christian Hebraist interpretations of Job 29:18 that brought the Joban phoenix to life for Christian readers of the seventeenth century. At the heart of these interpretations is the proliferation of richly complementary meanings that turn upon three translations of the word chol (חול) – as phoenix, palm tree, or sand – in Job 29:18.^[4]

The phoenix on top of Kinkaku-ji temple, Kyoto, Japan

Origins

Originally, the phoenix was identified by the Egyptians as a stork or heron-like bird called a benu, known from the Book of the Dead and other Egyptian texts as one of the sacred symbols of worship at Heliopolis, closely associated with the rising sun and the Egyptian sun-god Ra.

The Greeks subsequently pictured the bird more like a peacock or an eagle and identified it with their own word phoenix (Φοίνιξ), meaning the color purple-red or crimson (cf. Phoenicia) or a palm tree. According to the Greek mythology the phoenix lived in Phoenicia next to a well. At dawn, it bathed in the water of the well, and the Greek sun-god Helios stopped his chariot (the sun) in order to listen to its song.

Correspondent and similar mythical creatures

Phoenix on the portal of Nadir Divan-Beghi madrasah, Bukhara, Uzbekistan (part of Lyab-i Hauz complex)

The Fenghuang (Chinese Phoenix) at the Summer Palace, Beijing, China

Terracotta Phoenix head used as architectural decoration, from the 14th-15th century Trần-Hồ dynasty in Vietnam

In Persian mythology, Simurgh (Persian: سيمرغ, Middle Persian: senmurv) was a winged creature in the basic shape of a peacock, gigantic enough to carry off an elephant or a whale, but also endued with the head of a dog and the claws of a lion. The Simurgh appears in Iranian literary classics such as Farid ud-Din Attar's Conference of the Birds as instructor and birds leader, and in Ferdowsi's epic Shahnameh (The Book of Kings), in which also the Huma bird appears as the presumed "bird of paradise".

Indian mythology tells of Garuda, a large mythical bird or bird-like creature and lesser Hindu divinity, usually forming the mount of the God Vishnu. Avalerion is an Indian magic bird that drowns itself once it has laid its eggs.

In China, the phoenix is called the businiao (不死鳥; literally "immortal bird"), whereas the fenghuang (鳳凰) is a mythical bird of local Chinese origin, similar to the phoenix.^[5] It is imagined as a composite of many birds, or even as comprising some body part of a snake, a fish etc. It is one of the most-respected legendary creatures in China and the feminine counterpart to the dragon.^[6] Its rare appearance is said to foreshadow a great event or bear testimony to the greatness of a ruler.^[6]

In Japan, the phoenix is called fushichō (不死鳥^?), literally "immortal bird", and the local parallel is called hō-ō (kanji: 鳳凰).

In Korea, the phoenix is called bulsajo (Hanja:不死鳥 Hangul:불사조) literally meaning "immortal bird", and the East Asian variant is called bonghwangsae (Hangul:봉황새 Hanja:鳳凰새).

In Hebrew traditions Ziz is a legendary pure bird, the protector of all birds.

In ancient Arabic tradition the Ghoghnus or Ghoghnous is a bird having some mythical relation with the date palm. The Ghoghnus is said to have laid only one egg. It lived in the Arabian Desert many thousands of years ago.^[7]

Zumrud-u Anka (Zümrüdüanka), Tuğrul or Devekuşu, is a Turkish version of the phoenix. The word Anka comes from the word for "necklace", for the bird's neck is covered with white feathers forming like a necklace.

In Russian folklore, the phoenix appears as the Zhar-Ptitsa (Жар-Птица), or firebird, subject of the famous 1910 ballet score by Igor Stravinsky.

Kokko is a mythical bird of iron and fire from Finnish folklore, Turul is the correspondent in the myths of the Magyars. Adarna may be considered a Philippine version of the phoenix.

Modern symbolism

The Phoenix represented in the 60 years of peace coin of Belgium

ACS Logo

The constellation Phoenix, was introduced in the late 16th century by sailors organized by Petrus Plancius, probably one of Keyser or de Houtman and displayed on a globe from 1597 created by Hondius.

The phoenix has long been presented as a symbol of rebirth, immortality, and renewal. In modern Greece, the phoenix became established as a symbol of the nation's rebirth during the Greek War of Independence. It was first used in the flags of Alexander Ypsilantis, and was chosen as the official emblem of the Provisional Government (1828–1832) by Governor John Capodistria, who also named the first modern Greek currency "phoenix". Despite being replaced by a Germanic royal Coat of Arms, it remained a popular symbol, and was used again in the 1930s by the Second Hellenic Republic. However, its use by the military junta of 1967-1974 made it extremely unpopular, and it has almost disappeared from use after 1974, with the notable exception of the Order of the Phoenix, the country's second-highest award.

Likewise Lebanon, and Beirut in particular, is often depicted symbolically as a phoenix bird having been destroyed and rebuilt 7 times during its long history. The Belgian € 10 silver coin, commemorating sixty years of peace, depicts the phoenix as a representation of a new Europe, post 1945. Also the Iranian 500 rial coins issued since 2004 have an image of a phoenix on the reverse.

Provisional IRA badge

In the course of the colonization of Northern America a number of cities have received the name of Phoenix or have been associated with its symbolism. Phoenix, the capital of Arizona, was so named as it was built on the ruins of the Hohokam civilization that had existed on the site centuries before. The phoenix became the official symbol of Atlanta, Georgia in 1888 because it was "reborn" from the ashes after it was burned down in the American Civil War.^[8] The American Chemical Society uses a Phoenix rising from its own ashes as a logo. The logo is a symbolism for change, the essence of the study of chemistry; the science of interactions and changes.

Mitología e historia

Características

            Phoenix o el ave fénix, se trata de una pequeña constelación de unos 450º cuadrados situada en el hemisferio sur que cruza el paralelo austral de 50º,implica por tanto, que es observable en el hemisferio sur desde los meses de Julio hasta Enero culminando en el cenit; en cambio, para los habitantes del hemisferio norte es visible únicamente durante los meses de Octubre y Noviembre culminando a pocos grados por encima del horizonte. La constelación de Phoenix la localicé desde la localidad de Son Serra de Marina (Mallorca, España) el 21 de octubre de 1989 a la edad de 23 años.

            La constelación de Phoenix (Phe) se halla a menos de 10º del polo sur galáctico de nuestra galaxia, la Vía Láctea, por tanto, podemos observar muy pocas estrellas y campos estelares pobres sin cúmulos estelares y con una cierta cantidad de galaxias.

            Limita al norte con las constelaciones de Fornax (For) y Scultor (Scl) donde se halla en polo sur de la Vía Láctea; al este con la constelación de Grux (Gru); al sur con Tucana (Tuc) y al oeste con la constelación de Eridianus (Eri). 

Clues to the meaning of this celestial feature

History of the constellation

Phoenix, the French Phenix, the German Phonix, and the Italian Fenice, is one of Bayer's new figures, between Eridanus and Grus, south of Fornax and Sculptor, — its alpha, kappa, mu, beta, nu, and gamma in a line curving toward the south like that of a primitive Boat, by which figure, as Al Zaurak, the Arabs knew them. Al Sufi cited another name, — Al Ri’al, the Young Ostriches, — which Hyde wrongly read Al Zibal, perhaps a synonymous title; and Kazwini used Al Sufi's term in describing some stars of Al Nahr, the River, in which our Phoenix was then included by Arabian astronomers.

{Page 336} Others changed the figure to that of a Griffin, or Eagle, so that the introduction of a Phoenix into modern astronomy was, in a measure, by adoption rather than by invention.

But, whether Bayer knew it or not, his title is an appropriate one, for with various early nations — at all events, in China, Egypt, India, and Persia — this bird has been "an astronomical symbol of cyclic period," some versions of the well-known fable making its life coincident with the Great Year of the ancients beginning at noon of the day when the sun entered among the stars of Aries; and, in Egypt, with the Sothic Period when the sun and Sirius rose together on the 20th of July. Thompson further writes of this:

"A new Phoenix-period is said to have commenced A.D. 139, in the reign of Antoninus Pius; and a recrudescence of astronomical symbolism associated therewith is manifested on the coins of that Emperor."

Coincidently, Ptolemy adopted as the epoch of his catalogue the year 138, the first of Antoninus. With the Egyptians, who knew this bird as Bennu and showed it on their coins, it was an emblem of immortality; indeed it generally has been such in pagan as well as in Christian times.

In China the constellation was Ho Neaou, the Fire Bird, showing its derivation there from the Jesuits.

Julius Schiller combined it with Grus in his Aaron the High Priest. Gould catalogues 139 naked-eye stars here, from 2.4 to 7.

Belen Map — Satellite Images of Belen

original name: Belén
geographical location: Belen, Concepcion, Paraguay, South America
geographical coordinates: 23° 27' 58" South, 57° 15' 43" West

detailed map of Belen and near places

Welcome to the Belen google satellite map! This place is situated in Belen, Concepcion, Paraguay, its geographical coordinates are 23° 27' 58" South, 57° 15' 43" West and its original name (with diacritics) is Belén. See Belen photos and images from satellite below, explore the aerial photographs of Belen in Paraguay. Belen hotels map is available on the target page linked above.

http://www.maplandia.com/paraguay/concepcion/belen/belen/

 

¿Cristo nacio en Janukah o Sukot/Tabernaculos?

Everyone watched it
Few understood it

A moment right out of "Lucifer's Destiny" (4/18/2011), prophetically involving a set of magically intertwined motifs Venus, phoenix, Royal Wedding...

It was hidden, but it was there. I saw it. I could not miss it. Now you see it too here for the first time...

As above, so below
Timing is everything...

Unmistakable, for this was not the first time a meridional alignment was used for a major "ritual" for Prince William. His solstitial birth was also celestially commemorated there via a solar eclipse...

Case closed? No, we're just getting started, we've only scratched the surface. The rabbit hole goes much, much deeper...