The tale of Samson and Delilah is laden with solar imagery: his name means 'of the Sun', the 'out of the dead shall come forth the living' lion/bee/honey riddle can indicate the Sun (colour yellow, hexagonal shape, lion sun, open 6-leaved gold-yellow Spring daffodil!): he has his hair shorn (once a Midsummer's Day goddess ritual) and he loses his strength. Think Autumnal Sun - polled verses Apollo, ?unpolled (Now this mirror works in English - but whether it actually obtained or not is another thing altogether, note, but the contrast still makes the point that that half-year twin and consort was shorn of his sun-symbolising/Samson locks and then pulled to bits/dismembered. Samson escapes this fate. He is bound firstly to a treadmill and then between two pillars. Being 'between two pillars' was an image met with on Tarot II (note I I). We find it in the Long Man of Wilmington and Tarot XXI (the 22nd card of the Major Arcana - where 22 is 2 X 11):
It may come as surprise, but the Bible evidences people actually looking heaven-wards! On Tarot Le Monde (aka the World and Universe card) we find (top left) Cherub, (bottom left) Bull, (bottom right), Lion, and (top right) Eagle. We find the same on Waite's Tarot X (noting it is card 11 - as in the two sticks/pillars and Priestess cross, above?):
These correspond exactly with the REVELATION (4, 7) progression of Lion, Calf, Man and Eagle - with one notable exception! REVELATION takes us through these in a clockwise direction, but the earth moves through the zodiac in an anticlockwise direction (like Tarot X and XX1). Now Earth's 'wobble' means that Taurus becomes Aries becomes Pisces becomes Aquarius over time (the 'Age' the Earth is 'in'), a phenomenon is termed precession - and you are looking here, in this context, at what are known as the 4 Fixed Signs of the Zodiac. In circa the 3rd Millenium BC, precession delivered a Spring of Taurus Aldebaran, a Summer of Leo Regulus, an Autumn of Scorpio Antares and a Winter of 'Aquarius' Fomalhaut - 4 Royal Watchers. These, in turn, were Aldebaran= East, Regulus= North, Antares= West and Fomalhaut= South.* Since the zodiac is a circular, fixing any start (March21st/ Spring Equinox in this system= start) is utterly arbitrary. What applied, astronomically, in the 3rd Millenium BC no longer applies (due to precession). The counterclockwise astrological year, however, is fixed to a March 21st/Equinox/ Aries start** and the attached symbolism - borrowed from Babylon - possibly appears in the Bible at II KINGS, (2, II), ZECHARIAH (6, 2-6), EZEKIEL (1, 5-10) and REVELATION (4, 7). Does it also apply the REVELATION (6, 2-8) 4 Horseman of the Apocalypse? Are the four Biblical horses also the Babylonian Royal Watchers? Certainly, if it comes in 4s, it's been thrown at this basic model: ..
*Note: the Cardinal directions.
**0 degrees Aries would fit to circe 2000 BC/2160 BC, in this scenario, using an astrological rather than sidereal zodiac. 25920/12 zodiac houses = 2160 tears per sign (but wiki mentions 2000) and Jesus Christ's birth seems to be on the cusp (changeover) from the Age of Aries (Lamb of God) to that of Pisces (hence the fish sign of the early Christians). But there are a number of ways of looking at this area: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Aries#The_Age_of_Aries
Notice wiki dates the (arbitrary) identification of 0 Aries to the spring Equinox to about 500 BC (noting it also mentions the possibility of 2700 BC) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zodiac Spring-Taurus-Bull-Aldebaran-Earth-Morning/Dawn-East-Right-Pentacles-Diamonds-St. Luke-Michael-Melancholic-(?) Black Bile-Cold/Dry
** The second - these are NOT Galen's values, they're mine. His are.Spring-Left-Jupiter, Summer-Down-Mars, Autumn-Right-Saturn and Winter-Up-Moon/Venus. In other words, Galen and his 4 Humours owe nothing to the 4 Royal Watchers for their inspiration. The two systems are NOT part of the same tradition. Audrey, "Audrey's Ancient Egyptians" site, gives the Taurus Bull as Autumn and the Scorpio Eagle as Spring and Galen also swaps some Air features with Earth ones (and vice-versa). Elsewhere, I find Galen's Humours distributed Sanguine-Spring-Hot/Wet-Left, Choleric-Summer-Hot/Dry-Down-Mars, Melancholic*-Cold/Dry-Earth-Autumn-Right and Phlegmatic-Cold/Wet-Winter-Up. But then expressions like 'Left' and 'Up' are moveable things - they depend utterly on your perspective - put two people face-to-face and ask them to extend their left arms sidewise! Similarly,. are you picturing the image from below it or above it? Whatever one's perspective, however, it is quite clear that a Royal Watchers approach is at variance to other 'traditions'.
In divinatory tarot, the suits of cups/hearts, swords/clubs, batons/spades, and (pentacles on - me) coins/diamonds are said to correspond to water, air, fire, and earth respectively ... "Although these elements are often thought to be the meaning behind the suits in a deck of playing cards, the real symbolism is to that of the four pillars of the economy, church, military, commerce and agriculture" (Source: Wiki). See, for instance Tarot I, the Magus card. Or is Earth spades: deoxy.org/w_cross.htm Or is it www.cafeastrology.com/fortunetellingcards.html or one of (a fascinating site!) http://occult-advances.org/elements.shtml
*Also identified as Saturn and Magic Square 3, to be 'balanced' by (sanguine) Jupiter and Magic Square 4 ... apparently (noting the publication of Cornelius Agrippa was 1510 AD!).
In Witchcraft and Freemasonry I, also, find combinations like:
East (Right)-Air-Spring( or Imbolc*)-Bull-Dawn-Pentacle (Female)
South (Down)-Fire-Summer Solstice (or Beltane*)-Midday-Lion-Wand (Male
)
West (Left)-Water-Autumn (or Lugnasadh*)-Sunset-Eagle-Chalice (Female)
North (Up)-Earth-Winter Solstice (or Samhain*)-Night-Man-Dagger (Male)
*Cross-Quarter Days
A possible fit I've suggested (with caveats) is on GHMB:
If you study/have studied The Compass of the Wise, you'll find the 4 elements on the two (J and B) pillars. Hence (although this is by from being the only distribution of the various 4-somes). A possibility that ticks some bases is:
Solar North-Lion-Staff-Fire-Male (Hot) South-Man-Sword-Air-Male (Dry)
The "two pillars" thus become a (Greek) cross - as sometimes portrayed on the High Priestess, Tarot II. I threw in Galen (et al) in brackets ... but, though this system looks fairly coherent to me, at least, it is at variance with others. But wouldn't an east-west sun better fit to this, logically?
geoffss BOF
But ... wouldn't one also associate the Scorpio Eagle with Air and the Aquarius Water-Bearer with Water? Um! Then there's Berossus, C3BC, to consider: Oannes. This man-fish is identified with either the god Ea or his son Adapa/Uan and, by Joseph Campbell, with the (Pan) goat-fish, Earth-sign Capricorn, sign 10 of the zodiac and the one right next to the Aquarius. Capricorn begins 22nd December, circa the (fire-festival) Solstice (v the Midummer water one assoc. John the Baptist's birthday). Now, Oannes/Uan ... Ioannes ... Iohannes ... Johannes .... John. But water's identified with west (it says above) but Oannes is south ...
Note: the zodiac signs are distributed sequentially (starting Aries) Fire-Earth-Air-Water X 3. I currently have absolutely no idea as to why, who decided and when. Somebody must have - noting also these 4 Element identifcations predate Socrates, apparently, 469-399 BC. Help here most welcome!
This from my friend Paul Ashworth (Morph, GHMB, 29-04-09 ... and my thanks):
Hi Geoff, My understanding of the four living creatures is that they are representative of Eagle/Mercury/Air.... Ox/Venus/Water ....Man/Earth/Earth...Lion/Mars/Fire. Equating these to the stars suggested is problematic, take a look for example at the setting of the four as seen on a couple of basillica in Assisi; it can't equate with zodiac positioning as seen for example on the 6th century mosaic from Israel, or the Tarot card positioning .
My suggested distribution and Morph's "Cross-Quarter Day" St Andrew's X (Tarot) seem to gel a tad in Geber, an C8th AD alchemist (Scroll down to the Wiki "In Alchemy"): www.answers.com/topic/philosopher-s-stone
Now the logic would appear similar to mine allied to Galen: you might arrange it (as I do above) so the X was tipped Hot (top/left), Dry (top/right), Cold (bottom/right) and Moist (bottom left) with the Cardinal points (possibly) being North Fire Hot Dry, East Earth Cold Dry, South Air Cold Moist and West Air Hot Moist. BUT this leaves the basic model collison unaltered: Water and Air. Which should be assigned where? And consider, too: books.google.co.uk/books?id=vAghVdnHfS4C&pg=PA402&lpg=PA402&dq=The+four+divisions+at+the+four+angles
Trouble is this puts the Eagle (and the Sword - of "Hallows" and Tarot Sword, Cup, Wand and Pentacles) and in the East contrary to the idea it is Scorpio and West and contrary, also, Daggers/Swords in the North! Here's the Pike illustration accompanying his entry (which lends itself to Paul Ashworth's X distribution rather than my +, I note, but with different distribution to Paul's idea:
Now this Pike illustration is evocative of the 4 standards of Israel's marching and camping order out of Egypt - with 3 tribes per standard: Lion Bull, Eagle and Man and the formation being a 4 by 4 square* with their tabernacle at the centre. I used www.hope-of-israel.org/mottoes.htm to source this - and my thanks. My thanks, too, for the observation about the American Eagle and its identification with to the west (right) - which doesn't appear to be Ezekiel's, 1, 10, "on the left side ... the face of an eagle". Of course, left and right identifications depend on which way you are facing! "To the west" can be a solar indication but , if so, it's the opposite of masonic "towards the light" (east).. *some posit 5 X 5.
I surmise, from Pike, that the distribution was:
LL BB L B M E MMEE
This is not - apparently - a Royal Watcher distribution given Eagle (not Man) opposite Lion. Tarot XXI (The World, above top), by contrast is. Where the X in Pike/Ezekiel is essentially Lion-Man-Eagle-Bull, the X of Tarot XXI is Man-Bull-Lion-Eagle - it's even counterclockwisely correct! (L/Summer-E/Autumn-M/Winter-B/Spring). They are not, apparently, "singing off the same songsheet". The actual camp was (my thanks to http://www.betemunah.org/tribes.html):
And neither is this Hebrew camp order (Numbers 2, 1-34): Spring/Bull opposite Summer/Lion and Winter/Man opposite Autumn/Eagle. Numbers 10, 14 gives the marching order as Judah (Lion), Reuben (Man), Ephraim (Bull) , Dan (Eagle): Summer, Winter, Spring, Autumn.
If we look at the ancient (astrological) "rulers" of the signs we find Leo ruled by the Sun (Gold?) and Aquarius by Saturn (Lead?) - the hot and the cold. Strangely, though, our E-W signs have Mars (Iron?) allocated to Scorpio and Venus (Copper?) to Earth. In fact, Venus is considered "sign detriment" to Scorpio. That can be seen as remarkably odd considering Scorpio's Fixed Star/Royal Watcher is Antares - literally Anti-Mars/Mars (with Ares = Mars) but also, and less problematic, perhaps, Mars-like/Rival of Mars!?
Caveat: the above distributions (and any mistakes in them!) are mine - geoffss, 15-04-09. They are deduced/posited from an/my arbitrary "RoyalWatchers rules, OK" start. Others advance variations as indicated partly below. Note, though, the contrasting Midsummer-North-Waterv Midwinter-Fire-South system which finds curious echo in the "St John" (baptiser by water) midsummer birthday v the "Jesus" (baptiser by fire) midwinter one system.There again,noting "almost universally",www.yellowknife.com/save-on/tarot/tarot01.htm
Proceeding from the right, the points are East, South, West and North. East is where the sun rises, and in Native American lore it is the "Place of Beginnings." In the northern hemisphere, South is the direction of the midday sun (Fire), represented by Wands or Batons, and North is the direction of Winter's icy, cutting wind (Air), represented by Swords. Since West is almost universally recognized as the direction of Water, that only leaves Earth for the East. This makes perfect sense if one lives in continental Europe where the cards originated, the vast land-mass of Asia is to the east, and the Atlantic Ocean is to the west.
*The first system 'weakness' to note in my distribution/assignments: Scorpio is a Water sign and Aquarius Air. The Fire in the south above is obviously another ... possibly!
But this model, besides having been utterly arbitrarily fixed at and by 0 degrees Aries, is also at variance with such as Galen where the distribtion is Hot Dry = Male and Cold Wet = Female, thus creating this possible 4 Humours combination:
WET COLD
HOT DRY
The Cardinal points are Down= Male HotDry), Up=Female (Cold wet) with Across Male-Female combinations. What's more, Galen has Spring on the left and Autumn on the right. He also has "rulers", different ones: Spring=Jupiter, Summer=Mars, Autumn=Saturn and Winter=Moon/Venus. * See below for the Cross Quarter Day (X Equinox/Solstice) idea **In real time, after 2160 years from the 0 degrees Aries start, Aries would become a female (even) sign via precession.
The Witchcraft/Freemasonry progression is clockwise, unlike the fixed star (precession and my) model. Despite some inconsistencies (like assignment of elements - Taurus to Air?) between the models notice they DO share much the same thematic mirror/complement/ opposite + circularity basis - albeit reassigned. To the chalice/Cups some assign the Galen's Hot/Wet Sanguine blood - but surely logic indicates a Spring?Summer placement, as in Galen and Audrey (rather than 'Autumn, Summer to some')*? The circle (read either way) is Bull-Lion-Eagle-Man-(Bull ... )* - so there's some consistency there but the assignment of Zodiac threesomes seems to be a moveable feast largely provided by having male and female axes rather than male W-N v female S-E sides (of an imaginary seasonal square). Note that the idea of male and female axes rewrites Galen, whose system had male-female polarities rather than axes. We are now nearly 1/5 of the way (5000 years - and Taurus through Aries through Pisces to Aquarius dawning Age of) into precession - from an Aries=21st March start.*
* To make a point: the earth moves counterclockwise (both through the zodiac and on its own axis) - it therefore 'explores' its zodiac in that order. Ptolemy, circa AD 150 (contemporary to Galen), has the Spring Solstice as 0 degrees Aries with Aldebaran valued at 15 Taurus and Antares at 15 Scorpio. Each zodiac sign is quite arbitrarily assigned a 30 degree spread (X 12 = 360 degrees = full circle). 15 Taurus = half way through Taurus, so 0 degrees Aries to half way through Taurus (an anticlockwise move) = 45 degrees, So Aldebaran APPEARS to have moved 45 degrees (of 360) from when it marked the Spring Equinox. Does this work? 45/360 X Platonic 25920 = 3240 years. The date is circa 150 AD ..... so Aldebaran was due East in circa 3090 BC. 3044 BC is the correct answer, so Da -Daaaah! This is an astrological chart start (though note some presentations and ?understandings above are clockwise in appearance!). The chart has Aries due LEFT! so left is East here - I'd be more comfortable rotating it through 180 degrees for that, visually, so East is Right, personally. Below Aries is Taurus - moving counterclockwise, notice! Precession, however, caused by the equator 'bulge' (and hence 'wobble') moves the other way, clockwise. If you look at a newspaper horoscope listing, then the order Aries down to Pisces goes counterclockwise (as illustrated here) but precessional Taurus to Aries etc GOES THE OTHER WAY. Note astronomical clockwise presentation: precession of the zodiac Ages. This is Chambers ENCYCLOPAEDIA :
Notice precessional progression of Taurus to Aries to Pisces now seems anticlockwise whilst the anticlockwise zodiac now appears clockwise!* The Daily Telegraph sky-at-night articles also show the night sky as above - but at least specify Northern horizon = 'up' and Western horizon = 'right': in other words, a mirror, with west and east swapped over!
*Incidentally, note (as others have!) the similarities twixt the zodiac 'Ages' and the 12 labours of Hercules: Cretan Bull Taurus, Nemean Lion (Leo), Girdle of Hippolyta (Virgo) etc. Some also note Jacob and his 12 children, Charlemagne and his 12 Paladins, Arthure and 12 Knights (nights) of the Round Table and Jesus with his 12 disciples. If it comes in 12s + 1 .... Basically, the whole area seems TO ME to be largely coherent in intent but, for all that, largely a contradictory, presentationally inappropriate, confusing and/or inconsistent mess: I find NO holistic esoteric (or exoteric) 'underground (or overground!) stream' - but, hey, I've been wrong before and welcome advice/comment here! Even the Bible confuses me: in ZECHARIAH (6, 2-6), the progession is introduced as White, Red/Black//Grisled and Bay but these are then ordered Red/Black (North), White (after Black)/Grisled (South). He calls them the 'four spirits of the heavens' and they come from 'between two mountains'. EZEKIEL (1, 5-10) puts Man and Lion on the right side, Ox on the left, whilst mentioning - but not assigning - Eagle. There are 4 of these 'tetramorphs' which are also called 'wheels', and they seem to fit to II KING'S 2 11 (eleven) 'and there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire ... '. In REVELATION (4, 7), they appear ordered Lion, Calf, Man and Eagle - exactly the wrong way round in sequence, really, but, at least, consistent? See Denelder -www.denelder.com/glossary/t- for "Tetramorph" and the Cross-Quarter Days. I note Freemasonry seems to have north as fire, south as water, west as earth and east as air : sacredfems.blogspot.com/2006/02/tour-of-masonic-lodge.html I have wondered whether the Sun rising in the East, setting in the West, being Northernmost at Midsummer etc. informs the thinking at all? It's worth noting, too, that the two poles idea (pi and phi to some) can be indicative of 'measure', 'ruling' - and figures in Freemasonry. These poles can be parallel mirrors OR symmetrical axes - and, as + diagonals of a diamond lozenge, they indicate the Sun (as sometimes worn by the High Priestess on Tarot II). Yhe two pillars can also be considered (see Samson above) to be the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, perhaps, which "constrain" the sun?
An Orphic 4-headed year comprised Ram-Lion (Summer) -Serpent (Winter) - Bull (New Year) - Graves, R. Here, the lion seems to be identified with Summer (and Midsummer) and, often, the Sun (as in the Lion deity Hepta). In Egypt, this Lion Sun was once characterised born from a water lily. Detail from David Wood, GENISIS. In Christian art, Christ is sometimes explicitly portrayed in the vesica piscis implicit here - and stylised in Le Monde, Tarot XXI, above. Note 'Adam and Eve' (click on Geometry/diags. and find the Durer paintings).
David Wood places the 4 Beasts on what appears to be a tetrahedral star - or, possibly, and as he says, just a hexagram Star of David - with Eagle atop, Lion right, Bull left and Man central, 'man and beast' emerging from the incorporated 'female vulva' (Fig. 82, GENISIS).. This distribution does not satisfy an EZEKIEL distribution! Where not Summer/Sun, Lion is Spring, be the system bipartite Lion and Serpent (or Boar), the Lion, Goat, Serpent (Chimaera combination), Lion, Dog, Horse (Hecate combination) or Bull, Lion, Serpent (Dionysus combination). A Bull-Calf for the New Year could give a four-part year (Bull, Ram, Lion, Serpent), and other 4-part combinations were our Royal (Fixed Star) Watchers, EZEKIEL's Bull, Lion, Eagle, and Seraph (Bull, Lion, Scorpion, Sea-Serpent) or Bull, Lion, Boar, Sea-Serpent or, lastly, Bull, Lion, Boar, Vultures. The 5 season Lion, Goat, Horse, Serpent, Bull-Calf is also possible - see Graves, R. THE GREEK MYTHS 2. pp. 428-9, for all of this and more. including the problem posed astrologers fitting the Labours of Hercules and 'Crab' together!. Graves 4-Season fit given is to Labours 1, 4, 7, 11 and he notes them falling on equinoxes and solstices (which would date it to circa 2500 BC!). I make it zodiac houses in months 2-3 (Aquarius), 4-5 (Taurus), 7-8 (Leo), 10-11 (Scorpio)*. Note also that the Midsumnmer Honey-Bee is the spirit of the dead/slaughtered Lion King of the 1st half of the year! Note also that Jesus was 'of Judah' - symbol? Lion. The Lion symbolised the bright waxing year; boar or serpent (and John) were the Dark waning year. In the above, the Scorpio Eagle gets also to be Scorpion and Boar, whilst the Aquarian Water-Bearer gets also to be Sea-Serpent and, in one case, Vultures!.
* Western/Tropical ....... as against Hindu/Sidereal (which seems to be a bit later, monthwise. Scorpio, for example starts 23rd Oct. in the former (2010) but 13th Nov. in the latter).
Here's a Steiner-related distribution:
Detail from John Fletchers Art Inspired by Rudolf Steiner - Seal 2, by Clara Retrich: "The Archetypal Animals and Man".
Scorpio eagle top, Aquarius (?lady? angel styled "Man"?) bottom, Taurus bull left opposite Leo lion right: it's not a seasonal distribution (autumn-summer-winter-spring - Um!)
For a fascinating exploration of these four "beasties" in the context of REVELATION - and Denise Been's thesis that what is being described there is precession, notably as relates to the various pole stars it features, look at her site:
www.gisus.org- I particularly like the colour-wheel idea on her page 4!*
* I must make it clear, though, I do not endorse the content - or those parts of it concerning letters and words (like lamb). REVELATION was wrtiiten it Greek (amion was lamb) but the authoress finds significance in the English ...
"Very early Christian art (9th century AD depicted here) shows this continuing association of St John and his unique Gospel with the eagle, symbolizing the spiritual heights to which St John rises in his Gospel. St Matthew (man - top left), St Mark (lion - top right), St Luke (ox - bottom left), and St John (eagle - bottom right)."
Winter Spring Autumn Summer (anticlockwise). Not very Pike-ish ... In fact, it's an exactly opposite distribution pattern to that in Steiner - Man-Lion-Eagle-Ox- to Ox-Eagle-Lion-Man- (they mirror). Pike is Man-Lion-Ox-Eagle.
MOVING ON (and speculation):
In a tripartite year, Lion is 5, Goat 10 and Taurus 2. A maths model would be 6-10-2 (equilateral). Its mirror would be the Water signs Cancer-Scorpio-Pisces, 4-8-12. Were the model symmetrical/mirrored, then the Leo Lion would have to be the Virgo Virgin. Water would be opposite Earth (see Steiner-related art/Retrich). It could be said that 1. No-one shall see Isis naked, and 2. the REVELATION Woman (Virgo) is literally "clothed with the sun" (Leo - 'ruler', the sun) - 12, 1. It is this distribution of mirrors that places Earth opposite Water and Fire opposite Air (the 4 chariots of three Starsign Horses, as it were, geometrically rotated as equilaterals), otherwise, Air seems somewhat better suited (in my esteem/model) to Scorpio's Eagle as Water is to the Aquarius Water-Bearer?* However, the Alchemical Pillars (see 'Compass of the Wise' at www.geoffss.plus.com/tarotII.htm ) place Fire and the Polarity (literally!) of Air. and Earth of Water (as represented by various pyramid sigils). The Water-Earth and Air-Fire poles/pillars fit to the Royal Watcher 4 scenario. In Witchcraft, etc., however, E-S v W-N.
Note: returning to the subject I notice that Galen seems to fit to the 4 Watchers if Hot, Cold, Wet and Dry are assigned to Cross-Quarter Days (ish) appropriately creating the various Solstice and Equinoctal 'combinations' that comprise the 4 Humours. In this model the N-S axis is male and the E-W one female. This is the one assigned to St John the Evangelist, the Beloved Disciple said by some to be female in Leonardo's Last Supper. This creates a new problem: alchemically the (male) 'J' pillar comprises Fire and Air with (female) 'B' as Water and Earth, with geometric symbols as mirrors Air to Earth and Fire to Water. But the idea here considered has Fire opposite/mirroring Air.
Whether you have a system where Fire mirrors (logical, Water-bearing and geometric symbol) Water, or one where it mirrors (Royal Fixed Stars) Air, another problem comes with Jesus and John: Jesus is Fire but Midwinter whilst John is Midsummer but Water (and Eagle!!!), whilst the Fixed Stars give Fire and Summer not Winter and Water is Autumn and Eagle! It's a mess ...
However ... I've met with the idea of male N-S axis to female E-W before, in the context of 'Horus' maths, the maths of (Euclid 47) right-angled triangles and the maths of Latitudes. E-W would be horizontal, Isis, and N-S would be vertical, Osiris. Their child is Horus, the hypotenuse. If Isis is, say, the Square Root of 33 and Osiris 4, then Horus will be 7 (33 + 4sq. = 7 sq.). And the Latitude will be the Tan value 4/Sq. Rt. 33 = the Sine value 4/7 = the Cosine value Sq. Rt. 33/7. Think of a Latitude as a horizon ... Horus? ... Horizon? Doubtless you can substitute other family trio names.
*This last paragraph is pure me-thinking-out-loud speculation. I'm not suggesting for a moment it actually obtains - or obtained - but, just playing with it a little more, we'd have a Leo spring - so Leo would have to be, say, where Aries was in 150 AD = March 21st Equinox. Now Aries is 1 to Leo's 5 = roughly 5 X 2160 = 10650 BC. Some speculate about the Sphinx in that timeframe (Lion/Serpent). Now, if Leo were Spring, then Capricorn would be Summer and Taurus-y would be Winter (New Year). It does fot to the 4 part year scenario rather?!
And what of Yin and Yang? Shadow-Female-Wet-Earth-Moon-Compliant/Accommodating v Brightness-Male-Dry-Heavens-Sun-Active/Firm? We have our complements and opposites - and the (inverted) triangles (of the dark 'B' pillar/Earth and Water ... and Moon/Mater) are a "popular symbol for" female - but there are also inconsistencies with other ideas advanced above. Yin and Yang are polarities/opposites, but their imagery is also the mirror/complementary circle made by 6 9 run together with white for male (+ black dot) and black for female (+ white dot). There is obviously similarity to ideas above. If I try to fit Yin and Yang to the 4 Royal Watchers, though, male is the N-S (Sun-Air) axis and female is the E-W axis (Earth-Water). They are not polarised opposites. The symbology of the triangles - upright male and inverted female - found on alchemical J and B pillars fits to the axes, but it is hard to see how any of this is consistent, say, with White Woman of the West and Red Man of the East, the alchemical Moon and Sun. Galen will not fit, either. This female lunar Mercury- male/solar Sulphur symbology is at variance to female Red Rose v Male White which fits to Hindu wedding colours (+ gold) but apparently other cultures/religions have reversed values ...
Um! Water and Winter in the North ... but note the pairings 9-1 (South and North) 2tc = all 10s. Apart from the trigrams, it's the Magic square of Saturn, basically, where all lines = 15 when summed with the middle 5.
Here's something connected, possibly, to the above and to Feng Shui. Both apparently relate to Magic Squares, the numbers of Precession (and of my model!) and all sorts of stuff. Both carry the 8 trigrams. The one below looks like binary 0-7 to me (expressed as twinned pairs): top 7 to bottom 0, then (clockwise and counting out out from the centre, where __ = 1 , then 2, then 4 and -- = 0 wherever it is) 6 and 1, 2 and 5, 4 and 3. Search PMac I Ching and Lee Burton Lo Shu/Rodin for more on this, the 8 spoke wheel and the 9-stack mountain et al. Well worth it. And/or visit
This collective study lacks coherence .... largely or partly because the subject matter does. Some themes exist in common, though, despite this. Whether this evidences a commonn tradition though ...* *See elsewhere the presentational problems in (and of) where there is no agreement about what belongs to what (ida male or female/pingala female or male) and whether these are the pillars to equate to the Tree of Life or the intertwining (DNA) serpents a la caduceus related to the 7 chakra system. There is the common idea beneath the presentational disparities of mirrors-complements-balance et al.
P.S. Here's Isaac Newton on the 7 Heavenly Bodies, the 4 Humours and the Philospher's Stone (c/o Ariston/Latona - and my thanks):
Note the lack of balance: in both the sexes and the Humours!
And here's a fascinating Mormon Meridian Magazine extract (and my thanks to Arion Love, GHMB):
Table 1. Cornerstone Constellation Symbolism.
ConstellationLionBullWater BearerScorpion
Royal StarRegulusAldebaranFomalhautAntares
Star LocationHeartEyeHeadHeart
Tribe of IsraelJudahJosephReubenDan
Tribe Name MeansPraisedIncreasedBehold a SonJudge
Cherubim FaceLionOx/CalfManEagle
Tribal BannerLionBullManSerpent
BlessingLionWild OxPower, WaterSerpent
Balaam's ProphecyLionWild OxPour out waterBreak bones
ColorRedWhiteBlueBlack
Horse ColorRedWhiteGrizzled, PaleBlack
DirectionEastWestSouthNorth*
ElementFireAirWaterEarth
Living SoulBloodSpiritWaterDust
BaptismFireHoly GhostWaterBurial
Aspect of LifeEmotionalSpiritualMentalPhysical
Symbol of AspectHeartMightMindStrength
AngelMichaelPhanuelGabrielRaphael
Angel Name MeansLike Unto GodFace of GodMan of GodGod is Healer
Star Name MeansPrinceFollowerMouth of FishLike Ares
Star SymbolizesAdamJoseph SmithNoahEnoch
Gospel StoryMillennial KingGather IsraelBless ChurchConquer Death
Christ's RoleKingLord of HostsTeacherJudge/Healer
from The Lion and Unicornby John P. Pratt
An article in a Mormon publication, Meridian Magazine
Feb 10th, 2001
*Note (geoffss, 11-02-09): if Regulus is east, how can Aldebaran be west? Having identified the 4 Royal Watchers in their traditional order near the beginning of Part 1, they end up (Part 2) with Summer (as east) opposite Spring (as west) and Winter opposite Autumn? How would that work? Um!
I think this is an edifying post and it is clearly goliath and learned. furthermore, Escorts in Delhi I should thank you for the undertakings you have made recorded as a printed copy this article.
Tema anterior
Primer 
