Celtic Astrology Primer

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Celtic Astrology Primer

By Ngetal MacKay

For Dancing Moon Inc.

Home of The "Jyotish Studio" Astrology Software

 

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===============================

Celtic Astrology Primer

===============================

 

(First, let me admit that there may be misinformation in this document.

With Celtic studies, this is made most probable because of the

sketchiness of so many of the historical facts.)

 

But with that said, here's what the research shows, and this is a

summary from a number of books, and not all of this is about astrology,

but it's all related to Celts.

 

The Celts used a Zodiac consisting of 13 tree signs, each of these 13

months consisted of 28 days, and that leaves one extra day each year,

which they gave to what we call December 23rd, and that was a special

day to them.

 

Note that their months consisted of roughly 27 degrees of the zodiac,

the lunar cycle, the original number of Nakshatras, or stars of the

Vedic system.

 

The reader should know that before the Celts came to Ireland and

Britain, there is ample evidence of a culture that used a 16 month solar

calendar. In fact, the oldest known calendars on Earth are the stone

inscriptions in Ireland. Furthermore, you should know that the Celts

came to Britain and Ireland, and apparently had little problem mixing

with the indigenous peoples, who had these calendars since long before.

 

Scholars suspect that this is because of common ties to Atlantis, also

shared by Greeks and Egyptians and others. There are common elements

running throughout the cultures of the Celts, Greeks, and Egyptions on

the one hand, and also, clear ties between these cultures and that of

Ancient India. There are many Celtic elements which are clearly the same

as in India, and there are elements which are common to Greece and then

Egypt.

 

The Celts did not build the Irish/British megalithic monuments, such as

Stonehenge, but they used them to calculate with, since these stones are

correctly aligned so as to be used to mark the seasons completely

correctly.

 

The Celts claim ancestry from Dis, God of the underworld, who is very

similar to the Greek Pluto, which in my personal speculation is most

like Shiva. I have a picture of a Celtic warrior, painted long ago,

where he carries a trident. They painted themselves blue. They fought

naked, ,some of them. So altogether, they ended up looking alot like

little Rudras running around. And since they collected heads after

battle sometimes, they did sometimes look a bit like Shiva all the more!

 

The main god of the Celts was Lugh, who is exactly Mercury. Hence, the

name "Luke Skywalker" from Star Wars, is a direct referrence to Mercury,

the Prince, who certainly wields a sword, and is called Luke, by the

Celts. This is also the base of names like London which is too similar

to the dham of lugh, or lugh-dham, a mix of Gaelic and Sanskrit. (This

is for fun, but Lugh is the root of many city names in Britain)

 

The other Gods worshipped by the Celts correspond to other planets, and

the Druids used stones as remedies as Hindus do. So planetary deities,

making offerings to them, the wearing of stones as cures for various

things, are things shared by Hindus and Celts.

 

The society in Ireland and England prior to the Celts used,

successfully, a 16 month Solar Calendar, which was replaced by the

Celtic 13 month Lunar Calendar, which was eventually replaced by the

Roman, then the Julian, Gregorian, up to present day.

 

Most of the East uses Lunar, including India and Arab countries, and the

Celts used the Lunar as well. The countries that firmly believe in

reincarnation, that is, the ancient Indian's and the ancient Celts, both

use Lunar Calendars.

 

One huge difference however, is that, just like today in the West, the

starting point for the Celtic year was the visible equinox. This means,

that their relationship to the zodiac of the stars was shifting as the

Western Zodiac does today. So, remember to use your tropical planetary

positions when using the table for the Tree Signs below.

 

The Celts and the people's that preceded them at least in England and

Ireland, observed the Sun's annual equinoxes, longest day, shortest day,

etc. They could see these. These were perceivable and real to them.

Then, with the Winter Solstice as the starting point of their Calendar

each year, they would then count by lunar days.

 

So what do you call that? A Soli-Lunar calendar is probably the best

word to use for it.

 

It's an interesting mix of the activities of both the Sun and Moon. It's

signs therefore are seasonal signs related to the North, where the Celts

lived. In fact, these trees do not exist everywhere in the world, so

this is not exactly a Universal type of Astrology. It directly relates

to Europe and possibly mostly to Ireland, where the most was written

down. Ireland is known to have been it's own little Celtic place, with

it's own language and ways. Irish Gaelic is not exacly the same as

Welsch or Scottish Gaelic, and there's other dialects of it as well. So,

this may very well be Irish-Version-Celtic Astrology, but there's also a

good chance, that is was uniform from Ireland to Switzerland at the

height of Celtic Culture, say in the thousand years preceding Christ.

Caesar does say that all of Gaul (Europe) had ties to England for the

purposes of Druidic training, so this may very indicate that the

astrology and calendar was basically standardized across Gaul.

 

In Gaelic, the Earth is called Buarth Beirdd, or Bovine Enclosure, with

symbol of white cow for Earth. Compare that to Bhumi Devi, the Goddess

of the Earth, also a White Cow, in Indian scripture. Note both begin

with "bu" sound, which in Sanskrit refers to the Earth level of

planetary systems, or Bhur Loka, as in the Gayatri, Om Bhur Bhuva, etc.

Here the Bhu sound is referring to the Earth plane. Celtic prayers would

have the same beginning sound for Earth, same symbol, feminity, same regard.

 

In Sanskrit, the Moon is Chandra, and in Celt (Gallic) it's Ceridwen.

Both consider the Moon to be the feminine essence.

 

Many ancient cultures, including the Celts and Hindus, use Pleiades as a

pivotal constellation in their lore. For the Celts, it's part of a

system of reasoning that points to their original homeland, Atlantis.

Other races, including the Singhalese of Sri Lanka, refer to Atlantis

and Pleiades, and it's in the Vedas, as the 7 rishis, and it's in the

exaltation of the Moon sign in Vedic Astrology, and here we see it's

importance to the Lunar based races. The rising of Pleiades is aligned

with the heel stone of Stonehenge. It was monitored by the Australian

Ancients and American Indians.

 

Plato lived 400 BC. He wrote how his ancestor, Solon, had visited Egypt

in 600 BC and was initiated into the secrets of their priesthood, and

was shown proof of the existence of Atlantis, and returned to Athens

with this information, which was passed down to Plato, who wrote about

it. All over the world, in ancient cultures, there is repeated reference

to Atlantis.

 

The Azores Islands are confirmed to be originally part of a larger

island, which you can see on maps as the Dolphin Ridge in the Atlantic.

This is thought to be the Sunken Atlantis. The Azores have an amazing

climate given their location, and many springs as was supposedly the

case on Atlantis. Apparently Atlantis was considered the homeland of a

number of ancient cultures, all of whom remember this original place,

which looks like it could have existed as stated by them all, in the

middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

 

The 13 month Lunar calendar has been found engraved on stones in America

and Australia. it is not unique to the Celts. It is related to placing

the Lunar force in the center, which is to place the feminine in the

Center. The Celtic Lunar Goddess shares both name and aspects with the

earlier Crete-Minoan Spider Goddess Arachne, who also presided over a 13

month lunar calendar. The Greeks later settled on 12, for rationality,

and also to rid their culture of the influences of the darker side of

Lunar femininity found in the older cultures, called names such as

Lilith and Kali.

 

The Celts believed in the power of the oral tradition and spoken word

power, just like ancient India. The Celts believed the same word can be

spoken correctly or incorrectly thus causing either good or bad. Think

of this as giving rise to why sometimes when casting spells, the witches

say it a little wrong, and the thing becomes a goat instead of a cat... ;-)

 

In India, the Lunar Calendar is used, and to adjust it to solar, they

inject months, called adhik maas, to make up, as necessary. Because the

Celts start with an equinox and their months bring them up to a whole

solar year minus one day, there is no need. It's a different typeof

calendar from India, quite different. One is sidereal, and based on

mathematical lunar days, not perceived lunar months, and has Adhik Maas

insertion necessities. The other is a tropical solstice based calendar,

which makes it at first a completely solar calendar, but then they count

nights, not days, by the moon cycle, which when it completes is a month.

This works very cleanly in terms of both function and visibility. It is

a functional civil lunar calendar, since it hinges off of the Sun's

solstice.

 

There is a chance, just a slim chance, that there is something

fundamentally wrong with this whole picture. I say this because, the

interpretation of the old manuscripts is still going on by various

persons. There is always a possibility that something will come out that

changes something dramatically about all of this. It's not likely, this

should be it, but I'm leaving it open, so that I don't appear like an

idiot later. I think that all of Celtdom is not yet really fully

researched and known as far as it can and eventually will be once more

people do more research.

 

The Celtic Calendar has 13 Lunar Months. Your sign is a Tree Sign, based

on where your Sun is, I believe. Of course, all your planets can be

placed. Remember to use your Western or Tropical planetary positions

when following the degrees I've shown below. This is NOT sidereal.

It is TROPICAL.

The Celtic Moon Months Conversion Table

 

The positions shown in the "From" and "To" columns are referring to the

TROPICAL zodiac only. Use your Tropical Sun position with this table, to

figure your Tree Sign, same with your Moon.

 

To format this into a table in your word processor, find and replace the

dash - the minus sign, with a tab character or hilite this text and ask

your program to turn it into a table. If it asks what the "delimiter"

is, then that's the dash or minus sign -

 

These are the tree signs, their Gaelic and English Tree Names, the

symbol for the sign, and a from and to position that this sign occupies

in the Western Tropical Zodiac.

 

 

Gaelic-English-Symbol-From-From-To-To

Beth-Birch-Eagle or Stag-2º 18'-Cap-0-Aqu

Luis-Rowan-Green Dragon-0-Aqu-27º 36'-Aqu

Nion-Ash-Trident-27º 36'-Aqu-25º 13'-Pisc

Fearn-Alder-Pentacle-25º 13'-Pisc-22º 49'-Ari

Saille-Willow-Serpent-22º 49'-Ari-20º 26'-Taur

Uath-Hawthorn-Chalice-20º 26'-Taur-18º 03'-Gem

Duir-Oak-Golden Wheel-18º 03'-Gem-15º 39'-Can

Tinne-Holly-Flaming Spear-15º 39'-Can-13º 16'-Leo

Coll-Hazel-Rainbow Fish-13º 16'-Leo-10º 52'-Vir

Muin-Vine-Swan-10º 52'-Vir-08º 29'-Lib

Gort-Ivy-Butterfly-08º 29'-Lib-06º 06'-Scor

Ngetal-Reed-Stone-06º 06'-Scor-03º 42'-Sag

Ruis-Elder-Raven-03º 42'-Sag-01º 19'-Cap

 

 

 

From 1º 19' Capricorn to 2º 18' Cap is the special day. Itis not in any

month and has no tree. But some texts give it "Missletoe", the most

sacred herb, to the Druids.

 

Interpreting the above signs requires knowledge of Celtic Tradition and

Lore. There are numerous legends, or histories, very similar to the

Indian Puranas, which recount the activities of Characters connected to

these times of year by Sun position, or the Trees themselves by qualities.

 

The trees have qualities, which is why they rule a certain sign. When

studying the lore or mythology that gives rise the readings, one is

struck by the awareness that there clearly is parallells with the

interpretations for the same regions of the Zodiac in the Vedic system.

In other words, the Celts note the qualities of a tree, and liken that

to a person's nature, just as we would liken a Taurus Sun person to "a

bull", so they say "a certain tree", since trees were so important to

them, as they lived completely naturally in the forests of Europe,

Britain, Ireland, etc. The Druids made various medicines out of the

various parts of the trees, and the nature of what the trees produced

for them gives rise to alot of the interpretations.

 

Obviously, the trees, especially from Taurus to Virgo, span two of the

normal signs we're used to in Indian and Greek Astrological systems. But

the readings for the trees tend to combine parts of these two signs

qualities.

 

Interestingly, the name for the Flaming Spear is Danu, similar to

Sanskrits Dhanus for bow.

 

There are extensive manuscripts in Ireland which record large amounts of

information about Celtic beliefs, sciences of medicine and herbology,

and so on. In fact, the medical manuscripts are considered to be perhaps

the largest body of medical literature from any ancient culture. The

Calendar on the stones of Ireland, the oldest on Earth.

 

The fundamental mathematical number on which this calendar of the Celts

and other parts of the ancient world is based, is the number of arc

degrees 27 degrees and 36 minutes. This represents the Monthly Lunar

orbital cycle. Thirteen (13) of those comes to almost 360 degrees, and

what's left is one solar day, and that is a special day for the Celts.

So the calendar lasted "one year and one day" and gave rise to the

saying "it took a year and a day" etc.

 

Note that 27 is of course the number of the nakshatras in Vedic Astrology.

27 is 3*3*3

36 is 3*3*4

27*4=108

36*3=108

 

So this number of degrees and minutes is quite special in both Vedic and

Celtic traditions.

 

The Celtic music is based on the beat of 3, not 4. And the art shows

recurring patters of 3 spirals together in a spiral, and this again

repeated 3 times. So the basis of 27, or 3*3*3 is repeated over and over

in Celtic affairs. I believe 3 is a number keenly representing the

feminine aspect.

 

Also noteworthy was that the overall Celtic Calendar was divided into 5

year sections, with 6 of these totalling a 30 year period. These 5 year

sections had their own names.

 

Also noteworthy: The Celtic neck tork, and other circular ornaments, are

most often referring to the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. The life

ends, and begins again, in a circle. The soul comes down and lives the

life and goes back up. Like a horse shoe hung over a door in America for

good luck, the tork is held that way to symbolize life. Held with the

opening up. It represents Samsara, to use the Sanskrit word for the

cycle of birth and rebirth.

 

Huge stashes of sheet gold loop neck torks have been found, at the

bottom of certain rivers and lakes in Europe. These are places where for

years Celts made precious offerings. This is the origin of the Western

tradition of throwing a coin into a "wishing well". That's exactly

where this came from. Many things were found, swords, shields, all kinds

of things.

 

Using the number of 108, which is how many Gopis or Girlfriends Krishna

is said to have in his Vrndavan pastimes, and using the Moon's cycle as

the month's basis, both of these, show the Celtic ties to feminine based

religion in alignment with other ancient cultures who also repeatedly

use these same numbers.

 

I hoped this has helped you to appreciate that there was an ancient

intelligent culture also in Europe. We usually hear about Egypt, India,

etc. But we rarely hear about the Celts. They were there, and they were

pretty awesome as well. They are ancestors for many of us. Be Merry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bibleography

 

The Celtic Lunar Zodiac, by Helena Paterson. This is an easy read.

Heavily illustrated in very nice Celtic motifs. Very beautiful book.

Gives complete interpretations for the Tree Signs. The subtitle is "How

to interpret your Moon Sign".

 

The Ancient Celts by Barry Cunliffe. This is very scholarly and

complete. Reviews most konwn data, digs, records, movements, very dense

and scholarly.

 

The Druids, by Jean Markale, this is easier to read and focuses on what

is known about the Druids and their religion, their gods, practices,

etc. This does not cover wicca or spells etc. It's more of a history and

Druidic religios overview.

 

Historical Atlas of the Celtic World by Angus Konstam. This is a nice

book in that it's very graphic, a regular full color coffee table kind

of book. So it has many illustrations you won't find elsewhere,

including an abundance of paintings made for the book, imagining Celtic

scenes.

[Guest guest]

Namasthe,

 

> Note that their months consisted of roughly 27 degrees of the

>zodiac, the lunar cycle, the original number of Nakshatras, or stars

>of the Vedic system.

 

27 nakshatra equal division is extensively used in bhaarata, probably

this is due to consideration of of rahu and ketu influence. Pls do

mind that 28 equal nakshatra divisions are in use for manvantara

tracking. Non equal 28 nakshtra usage is from recent handwaving origin

( Ref: Manu Samhita)

 

Regarding solar, lunar, son-lunar calenders-- This is erroneous

concept induced by those, who did not understand shaastrakaara

tradition. Vedic panchangam is not lunar, nor solar, nor luni-solar,

as you claim. I already explained this in Vedic Astrology list. I am

pasting that again here for good purpose.

 

vedic astrology/message/14942

 

 

> (1) Solar calendar: The ayana (6 month) bala is based on this

> (2) Lunar calendar: The paksha (half month) bala is based on this

> (3) Fixed calendar: The varsha, maasa, dina and hora balas are all

> based on this. Here a year of 360 civil days, a month of 30 civil

> days and a dina of 1 civil day are used.

 

First, one should define what they mean by lunar or solar calendar.

For example, Islamic lunar calendar is the only lunar calendar - here

one cycle of moon phase is one month, 12 such cycles by Islamic

definition is one year, period.

 

Solar calendars can be broadly said to be of two types:

 

Sun wrt nakshatra divisions is one - our samvatsara base;

Sun wrt seasons is the other - the varsha calendar.

 

There is also a third Solar calendar rarely used: when earth

gets to the same point on its orbit - the anamolous year.

 

Our panchangam method is not any of these - it is purely

obervational wrt nakshatra divisions, and seasonal change

points (solstices and equinoxes) are noted along the way.

Varsha begins on spring solstice (vasanta vishuvam) by Vedic

era convention (ref. agnyAdAna ceremony). Samvatsara begins

on yugaadi. Chaandra and saura yugaadi-s are close by in

nature, hence no need to get mixed up on this account. maasa

goes by the full moon "nakstatra zone": chitraa, vishaakhaa,

jyestaa, poorva/uttara-aashaada, shrONA, etc. If there is no

fullmoon, that paticular maasa is skipped (laya maasa); if

there are two fullmoons, that particular maasa is repeated

(adhika maasa). This is not made up by sages to "reconcile"

solar and lunar calendars (both don't exist in our scheme) -

it is the the way nature happens.

 

Of course, there is disagreement among panchangam traditions

on this count. Some say if there are two sankraanti-s in a

maasa, it is repeated (adhika maasa), and if no sankraanti,

it is a laya maasa. This does not fit in because, laya/

adhika maasa scheme existed thousands of years before (refer

to Bhishma niryaaNa) the notion of sankraanti was introduced

by Varaahamihira. Instead laya/adhika maasa is based on

paurNami "nakshatra zone" only.

 

We don't know when, but definitely before mahaabhaarata time

our ancestors had visualized the sky into 12 nakshatra zones

(the dvaadashaaditya-s of the Rigveda), each zone with 2-1/4

nakshatra divisions. This later got mixed up with "saura

maasa" appearing in the yajurAraNyaka. Such so-called saura

maasa is an erroneous concept. Since maasa by definition is

cyclical and connected to moon only (maasa = of chandramas),

there is no "saura maasa" that is cyclical. If we want to

rationalize this notion, it must be tied to the moon cycle.

There is no other way. Thus paurNami nakshatra zone is the

key.

 

Thus we see that there is no lunar or solar calendar in our

panchangam, because then we can't have laya/adhika maasa.

But as the ancient method went west, people lost the detail

knowledge of connecting every observation to nakshatra

divisions, and hence, broadly speaking, the "simpler" but

somewhat erroneous solar and lunar calendars sprang up in

Assyria, Mesapotamia, ancient Egypt, China, etc.

 

Gregorian calendar is seasonal calendar - many may think it

is solar but it is not. Pope Gregory tweeked Rome's Caesar

version such that December 21/22 always moves with winter

solstice. Sun's position wrt nakshatra-s on this day moves

by about a degree in every 70/71 years.Where exactly is Sun

or moon is of no consideration in Greg's scheme. Such details

may be found in astronomy websits (such as NASA's).

 

 

Regarding tropical zodiac/sayana : People, those understand the

structure of brahmaanda(universe) can easily understand niraayana

zodiac. Otherwise, it will take million births to grasp the essense,

like as primitive Indologists are trying to denigrade Veda-s.

 

 

And some people esp McCaulian-s and English hindu-s are trying to

prove that Jyotisha is borrowed from Greek. This makes no-sense. Be

open minded, learn sanskrit and understand it, rather than blindly

following english translation with bias.

 

-Shankara

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

> The reader should know that before the Celts came to Ireland and

> Britain, there is ample evidence of a culture that used a 16 month

>solar > calendar. In fact, the oldest known calendars on Earth are

>the stone inscriptions in Ireland. Furthermore, you should know

that the Celts

> came to Britain and Ireland, and apparently had little problem

mixing

> with the indigenous peoples, who had these calendars since long

before.

>

> Scholars suspect that this is because of common ties to Atlantis,

also

> shared by Greeks and Egyptians and others. There are common

elements

> running throughout the cultures of the Celts, Greeks, and Egyptions

on

> the one hand, and also, clear ties between these cultures and that

of

> Ancient India. There are many Celtic elements which are clearly the

same

> as in India, and there are elements which are common to Greece and

then

> Egypt.

>

> The Celts did not build the Irish/British megalithic monuments,

such as

> Stonehenge, but they used them to calculate with, since these

stones are

> correctly aligned so as to be used to mark the seasons completely

> correctly.

>

> The Celts claim ancestry from Dis, God of the underworld, who is

very

> similar to the Greek Pluto, which in my personal speculation is

most

> like Shiva. I have a picture of a Celtic warrior, painted long ago,

> where he carries a trident. They painted themselves blue. They

fought

> naked, ,some of them. So altogether, they ended up looking alot

like

> little Rudras running around. And since they collected heads after

> battle sometimes, they did sometimes look a bit like Shiva all the

more!

>

> The main god of the Celts was Lugh, who is exactly Mercury. Hence,

the

> name "Luke Skywalker" from Star Wars, is a direct referrence to

Mercury,

> the Prince, who certainly wields a sword, and is called Luke, by

the

> Celts. This is also the base of names like London which is too

similar

> to the dham of lugh, or lugh-dham, a mix of Gaelic and Sanskrit.

(This

> is for fun, but Lugh is the root of many city names in Britain)

>

> The other Gods worshipped by the Celts correspond to other planets,

and

> the Druids used stones as remedies as Hindus do. So planetary

deities,

> making offerings to them, the wearing of stones as cures for

various

> things, are things shared by Hindus and Celts.

>

> The society in Ireland and England prior to the Celts used,

> successfully, a 16 month Solar Calendar, which was replaced by the

> Celtic 13 month Lunar Calendar, which was eventually replaced by

the

> Roman, then the Julian, Gregorian, up to present day.

>

> Most of the East uses Lunar, including India and Arab countries,

and the

> Celts used the Lunar as well. The countries that firmly believe in

> reincarnation, that is, the ancient Indian's and the ancient Celts,

both

> use Lunar Calendars.

>

> One huge difference however, is that, just like today in the West,

the

> starting point for the Celtic year was the visible equinox. This

means,

> that their relationship to the zodiac of the stars was shifting as

the

> Western Zodiac does today. So, remember to use your tropical

planetary

> positions when using the table for the Tree Signs below.

>

> The Celts and the people's that preceded them at least in England

and

> Ireland, observed the Sun's annual equinoxes, longest day, shortest

day,

> etc. They could see these. These were perceivable and real to them.

> Then, with the Winter Solstice as the starting point of their

Calendar

> each year, they would then count by lunar days.

>

> So what do you call that? A Soli-Lunar calendar is probably the

best

> word to use for it.

>

> It's an interesting mix of the activities of both the Sun and Moon.

It's

> signs therefore are seasonal signs related to the North, where the

Celts

> lived. In fact, these trees do not exist everywhere in the world,

so

> this is not exactly a Universal type of Astrology. It directly

relates

> to Europe and possibly mostly to Ireland, where the most was

written

> down. Ireland is known to have been it's own little Celtic place,

with

> it's own language and ways. Irish Gaelic is not exacly the same as

> Welsch or Scottish Gaelic, and there's other dialects of it as

well. So,

> this may very well be Irish-Version-Celtic Astrology, but there's

also a

> good chance, that is was uniform from Ireland to Switzerland at the

> height of Celtic Culture, say in the thousand years preceding

Christ.

> Caesar does say that all of Gaul (Europe) had ties to England for

the

> purposes of Druidic training, so this may very indicate that the

> astrology and calendar was basically standardized across Gaul.

>

> In Gaelic, the Earth is called Buarth Beirdd, or Bovine Enclosure,

with

> symbol of white cow for Earth. Compare that to Bhumi Devi, the

Goddess

> of the Earth, also a White Cow, in Indian scripture. Note both

begin

> with "bu" sound, which in Sanskrit refers to the Earth level of

> planetary systems, or Bhur Loka, as in the Gayatri, Om Bhur Bhuva,

etc.

> Here the Bhu sound is referring to the Earth plane. Celtic prayers

would

> have the same beginning sound for Earth, same symbol, feminity,

same regard.

>

> In Sanskrit, the Moon is Chandra, and in Celt (Gallic) it's

Ceridwen.

> Both consider the Moon to be the feminine essence.

>

> Many ancient cultures, including the Celts and Hindus, use Pleiades

as a

> pivotal constellation in their lore. For the Celts, it's part of a

> system of reasoning that points to their original homeland,

Atlantis.

> Other races, including the Singhalese of Sri Lanka, refer to

Atlantis

> and Pleiades, and it's in the Vedas, as the 7 rishis, and it's in

the

> exaltation of the Moon sign in Vedic Astrology, and here we see

it's

> importance to the Lunar based races. The rising of Pleiades is

aligned

> with the heel stone of Stonehenge. It was monitored by the

Australian

> Ancients and American Indians.

>

> Plato lived 400 BC. He wrote how his ancestor, Solon, had visited

Egypt

> in 600 BC and was initiated into the secrets of their priesthood,

and

> was shown proof of the existence of Atlantis, and returned to

Athens

> with this information, which was passed down to Plato, who wrote

about

> it. All over the world, in ancient cultures, there is repeated

reference

> to Atlantis.

>

> The Azores Islands are confirmed to be originally part of a larger

> island, which you can see on maps as the Dolphin Ridge in the

Atlantic.

> This is thought to be the Sunken Atlantis. The Azores have an

amazing

> climate given their location, and many springs as was supposedly

the

> case on Atlantis. Apparently Atlantis was considered the homeland

of a

> number of ancient cultures, all of whom remember this original

place,

> which looks like it could have existed as stated by them all, in

the

> middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

>

> The 13 month Lunar calendar has been found engraved on stones in

America

> and Australia. it is not unique to the Celts. It is related to

placing

> the Lunar force in the center, which is to place the feminine in

the

> Center. The Celtic Lunar Goddess shares both name and aspects with

the

> earlier Crete-Minoan Spider Goddess Arachne, who also presided over

a 13

> month lunar calendar. The Greeks later settled on 12, for

rationality,

> and also to rid their culture of the influences of the darker side

of

> Lunar femininity found in the older cultures, called names such as

> Lilith and Kali.

>

> The Celts believed in the power of the oral tradition and spoken

word

> power, just like ancient India. The Celts believed the same word

can be

> spoken correctly or incorrectly thus causing either good or bad.

Think

> of this as giving rise to why sometimes when casting spells, the

witches

> say it a little wrong, and the thing becomes a goat instead of a

cat... ;-)

>

> In India, the Lunar Calendar is used, and to adjust it to solar,

they

> inject months, called adhik maas, to make up, as necessary. Because

the

> Celts start with an equinox and their months bring them up to a

whole

> solar year minus one day, there is no need. It's a different typeof

> calendar from India, quite different. One is sidereal, and based on

> mathematical lunar days, not perceived lunar months, and has Adhik

Maas

> insertion necessities. The other is a tropical solstice based

calendar,

> which makes it at first a completely solar calendar, but then they

count

> nights, not days, by the moon cycle, which when it completes is a

month.

> This works very cleanly in terms of both function and visibility.

It is

> a functional civil lunar calendar, since it hinges off of the Sun's

> solstice.

>

> There is a chance, just a slim chance, that there is something

> fundamentally wrong with this whole picture. I say this because,

the

> interpretation of the old manuscripts is still going on by various

> persons. There is always a possibility that something will come out

that

> changes something dramatically about all of this. It's not likely,

this

> should be it, but I'm leaving it open, so that I don't appear like

an

> idiot later. I think that all of Celtdom is not yet really fully

> researched and known as far as it can and eventually will be once

more

> people do more research.

>

> The Celtic Calendar has 13 Lunar Months. Your sign is a Tree Sign,

based

> on where your Sun is, I believe. Of course, all your planets can be

> placed. Remember to use your Western or Tropical planetary

positions

> when following the degrees I've shown below. This is NOT sidereal.

> It is TROPICAL.

> The Celtic Moon Months Conversion Table

>

> The positions shown in the "From" and "To" columns are referring to

the

> TROPICAL zodiac only. Use your Tropical Sun position with this

table, to

> figure your Tree Sign, same with your Moon.

>

> To format this into a table in your word processor, find and

replace the

> dash - the minus sign, with a tab character or hilite this text and

ask

> your program to turn it into a table. If it asks what

the "delimiter"

> is, then that's the dash or minus sign -

>

> These are the tree signs, their Gaelic and English Tree Names, the

> symbol for the sign, and a from and to position that this sign

occupies

> in the Western Tropical Zodiac.

>

>

> Gaelic-English-Symbol-From-From-To-To

> Beth-Birch-Eagle or Stag-2º 18'-Cap-0-Aqu

> Luis-Rowan-Green Dragon-0-Aqu-27º 36'-Aqu

> Nion-Ash-Trident-27º 36'-Aqu-25º 13'-Pisc

> Fearn-Alder-Pentacle-25º 13'-Pisc-22º 49'-Ari

> Saille-Willow-Serpent-22º 49'-Ari-20º 26'-Taur

> Uath-Hawthorn-Chalice-20º 26'-Taur-18º 03'-Gem

> Duir-Oak-Golden Wheel-18º 03'-Gem-15º 39'-Can

> Tinne-Holly-Flaming Spear-15º 39'-Can-13º 16'-Leo

> Coll-Hazel-Rainbow Fish-13º 16'-Leo-10º 52'-Vir

> Muin-Vine-Swan-10º 52'-Vir-08º 29'-Lib

> Gort-Ivy-Butterfly-08º 29'-Lib-06º 06'-Scor

> Ngetal-Reed-Stone-06º 06'-Scor-03º 42'-Sag

> Ruis-Elder-Raven-03º 42'-Sag-01º 19'-Cap

>

>

>

> From 1º 19' Capricorn to 2º 18' Cap is the special day. Itis not

in any

> month and has no tree. But some texts give it "Missletoe", the most

> sacred herb, to the Druids.

>

> Interpreting the above signs requires knowledge of Celtic Tradition

and

> Lore. There are numerous legends, or histories, very similar to the

> Indian Puranas, which recount the activities of Characters

connected to

> these times of year by Sun position, or the Trees themselves by

qualities.

>

> The trees have qualities, which is why they rule a certain sign.

When

> studying the lore or mythology that gives rise the readings, one is

> struck by the awareness that there clearly is parallells with the

> interpretations for the same regions of the Zodiac in the Vedic

system.

> In other words, the Celts note the qualities of a tree, and liken

that

> to a person's nature, just as we would liken a Taurus Sun person

to "a

> bull", so they say "a certain tree", since trees were so important

to

> them, as they lived completely naturally in the forests of Europe,

> Britain, Ireland, etc. The Druids made various medicines out of the

> various parts of the trees, and the nature of what the trees

produced

> for them gives rise to alot of the interpretations.

>

> Obviously, the trees, especially from Taurus to Virgo, span two of

the

> normal signs we're used to in Indian and Greek Astrological

systems. But

> the readings for the trees tend to combine parts of these two signs

> qualities.

>

> Interestingly, the name for the Flaming Spear is Danu, similar to

> Sanskrits Dhanus for bow.

>

> There are extensive manuscripts in Ireland which record large

amounts of

> information about Celtic beliefs, sciences of medicine and

herbology,

> and so on. In fact, the medical manuscripts are considered to be

perhaps

> the largest body of medical literature from any ancient culture.

The

> Calendar on the stones of Ireland, the oldest on Earth.

>

> The fundamental mathematical number on which this calendar of the

Celts

> and other parts of the ancient world is based, is the number of arc

> degrees 27 degrees and 36 minutes. This represents the Monthly

Lunar

> orbital cycle. Thirteen (13) of those comes to almost 360 degrees,

and

> what's left is one solar day, and that is a special day for the

Celts.

> So the calendar lasted "one year and one day" and gave rise to the

> saying "it took a year and a day" etc.

>

> Note that 27 is of course the number of the nakshatras in Vedic

Astrology.

> 27 is 3*3*3

> 36 is 3*3*4

> 27*4=108

> 36*3=108

>

> So this number of degrees and minutes is quite special in both

Vedic and

> Celtic traditions.

>

> The Celtic music is based on the beat of 3, not 4. And the art

shows

> recurring patters of 3 spirals together in a spiral, and this again

> repeated 3 times. So the basis of 27, or 3*3*3 is repeated over and

over

> in Celtic affairs. I believe 3 is a number keenly representing the

> feminine aspect.

>

> Also noteworthy was that the overall Celtic Calendar was divided

into 5

> year sections, with 6 of these totalling a 30 year period. These 5

year

> sections had their own names.

>

> Also noteworthy: The Celtic neck tork, and other circular

ornaments, are

> most often referring to the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. The

life

> ends, and begins again, in a circle. The soul comes down and lives

the

> life and goes back up. Like a horse shoe hung over a door in

America for

> good luck, the tork is held that way to symbolize life. Held with

the

> opening up. It represents Samsara, to use the Sanskrit word for the

> cycle of birth and rebirth.

>

> Huge stashes of sheet gold loop neck torks have been found, at the

> bottom of certain rivers and lakes in Europe. These are places

where for

> years Celts made precious offerings. This is the origin of the

Western

> tradition of throwing a coin into a "wishing well". That's exactly

> where this came from. Many things were found, swords, shields, all

kinds

> of things.

>

> Using the number of 108, which is how many Gopis or Girlfriends

Krishna

> is said to have in his Vrndavan pastimes, and using the Moon's

cycle as

> the month's basis, both of these, show the Celtic ties to feminine

based

> religion in alignment with other ancient cultures who also

repeatedly

> use these same numbers.

>

> I hoped this has helped you to appreciate that there was an ancient

> intelligent culture also in Europe. We usually hear about Egypt,

India,

> etc. But we rarely hear about the Celts. They were there, and they

were

> pretty awesome as well. They are ancestors for many of us. Be Merry.

Bibleography

>

> The Celtic Lunar Zodiac, by Helena Paterson. This is an easy read.

> Heavily illustrated in very nice Celtic motifs. Very beautiful

book.

> Gives complete interpretations for the Tree Signs. The subtitle

is "How

> to interpret your Moon Sign".

>

> The Ancient Celts by Barry Cunliffe. This is very scholarly and

> complete. Reviews most konwn data, digs, records, movements, very

dense

> and scholarly.

>

> The Druids, by Jean Markale, this is easier to read and focuses on

what

> is known about the Druids and their religion, their gods,

practices,

> etc. This does not cover wicca or spells etc. It's more of a

history and

> Druidic religios overview.

>

> Historical Atlas of the Celtic World by Angus Konstam. This is a

nice

> book in that it's very graphic, a regular full color coffee table

kind

> of book. So it has many illustrations you won't find elsewhere,

> including an abundance of paintings made for the book, imagining

Celtic

> scenes.