How the Constellations Got Their Names, Part III

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CANCER: Cancer, the Crab rose after dusk during the lunar month of Mekhir

(Sun in Capricorn). This was the month of the winter solstice when the Sun

had sunk to its lowest elevation (declination). From the date of the summer

solstice the Sun had been declining (dying!), but on midwinter's

day--Christmas Day in the 2nd century B.C.--it commenced to increase its

declination again, and its altitude at local noon. This turning point was

hailed as the resurrection or birth of the Sun and was celebrated by all

nations in antiquity with festivities and rejoicing. In the Eqyptian

zodiacs, the constellation is represented by the scarabaeus (Scarabaeus

sacer) which lays its eggs in a ball of dung which it compacts by pushing the

pellet uphill on the sandy slopes in the hot sunshine and allowing it to roll

backwards again. This

pushing is done with the hind legs. This beetle became the symbol of Kheper,

the god of creation, rebirth, resurrection and transformation; and the ball

of dung became the symbol of the Sun.

 

At the winter solstice, like a crab walking sideways, the Sun crept around

an arc of the horizon, never attaining to any great altitude, before it

finally set. In Egyptian, Babylonian and Mithraic religions the date of the

winter solstice was celebrated as the birth of the Sun, in Christianity as

the birth of Christ. The constellation Cancer contains the remarkable star

cluster Praesepe (Cancer 13 degrees), the " crib " or " manger " and the two

Aselli or " asses " (Cancer 14 degrees and 15 degrees), which rose acronychally

during this Christmas month, recalling the crib and asses in the stable in

Bethlehem. Praesepe also was known as the beehive " and in Egypt the lunar

month Mekhir was noted for the swarming of bees and for the sowing of seeds.

It also was the lambing season and the time when the fields were fertilzied

with

manure.

 

LEO: The constellation Leo rose at eve during the lunar month of Phamenoth

(Sun in Aquarius). The most conspicuous feature of this great constellation

is a brilliant group of star known as the Sickle or Sickle of Leo. The

Eqyptian phonetics for a sickle are m3 (Ma). The same phonetics form the

root name for a lion m3i (May), so it is obvious that the symbol of a lion is

only a homophone or rebus for a sickle. Egyptian astronomical and religious

texts abound in the use of similar homophones, when for superstitious

reasons the scribes were adverse to using the original names. This very fact

alone attests that it was the Egyptians who invented the zodiac and gave the

zodiacal constellations their names; for in what other great nation of

antiquity were the phonetics for a sickle and a lion identical?

 

In the Graeco-Roman atlases the stars which compose the conspicuous Sickle

of Leo are embraced in that constellation and thus extend it some seven

degrees in excess of the normal thirty. But in the Egyptian zodiac they were

known as the " Bow Stars " and were included in the constellation Cancer. Both

the " Bow " and " Arrow " (Sirius) rose simultaneously in Egypt during the

dynastic period. The Bow stars were personified by the goddess Satis, who is

represented holding a bow and

arrow. In the circular zodiac of Denderah she is seen shooting an arrow

beneath the lion, while in the Esna zodiac she walks before the lion holding

in her right hand a reed sicklewise above her head while carrying her bow and

arrows in her other hand. Incidentally, the famous shower of shooting stars

observed about November 15 of any year, and known as the Leonids, diverge

from a radiant point within the Sickle. Its approximate position is Leo 2

degrees 17 minutes at latitude 9 N 51. Immediately underneath the " Bow " are

the " Stars of the Waters. " These include the brilliant star of the first

magnitude, Canopus (pilot of the Argo, which carried the heroes to Colchie in

search of the Golden Fleece), personified by Satis' companion Anqet, goddess

of the Inundation, because Canopus rose heliacally in Egypt when the

inundation was in full flood. In the circular zodiac of Denderah, Anqet will

be seen seated behind Satis, and holding in each hand a water vase (cf. Hapi

and his water jar).

 

It will be noticed that there is an unmistakable resemblance between the

shape of the Eqyptian Sickle and the hind leg of a lion! The same shape will

be seen on the legs of royal chairs and thrones and also on the prow of

Egyptian ships.

 

VIRGO: The harvest constellation Virgo, the " Maid, " rose after sunset in the

lunar month Pharmouthi (Sun in Pisces). The first part of the month was

devoted to flower planting; but with the acronychal rising of Spica, " the ear

of corn, " the harvest began. This period tallied with the month of

February-March, Gregorian. The records attest that without question this was

the time of harvesting in ancient Egypt. But was it also the time of

harvesting for any other great nations of antiquity? Records also prove that

the usual time of harvesting was in the fall and certainly not in the early

spring. This fact alone will demonstate once again that it was the Egyptians

who invented the zodiac. The Full Moon of the lunar month Pharmouthi, which

would fall

in propinquity to the " Ear of Corn " (Spica), was known as the Harvest Moon.

 

The constellation Virgo contains an important star known to the Egyptians

of Ramesside times as t3.nfr (tsha-nefre), " the beautiful or good boy " which

the Egyptians of the late period identified with their infant Horus in the

arms of his mother Isis. The Greeks called this star Protrygeter, the " first

fruit picker " and the Romans called it Vindemiatrix, the " grape-gatherer, " or

Ampelos, the favorite of Bacchus. Ampelos is represented as an infant boy

holding a grape, in the arms of his mother Erigone (born in the morning),

because the heliacal rising of Ampelos ushered in the grape harvest.

 

In the Magian version of the Sphere Barbarica, written by Teukros of

Babylon, the ascension of the constellation Virgo is described thus, " Next

there ariseth the first decan of Virgo, the adra nedefa, pure virgin. She

holds in her hand two ears of corn (Spica) and a child on her arm. She

feedeth him and giveth him suck. She bringeth up the child in a place that

is called Abrie (Hebrew-land) and the child's name is called 'Isu' (Jesus)... "

 

In the zodiac on the main porch of the church of Notre Dame in Paris, the

constellation Virgo is represented by the Virgin-Mother and Child. In Titus

Andronicus, Act IV, Scene 3, Shakespeare speaks of an arrow being shot up to

heaven to the " good boy in Virgo's lap. " The sidereal longitude of Tsha

Nefre is Virgo 15 degrees 06 minutes and latitude 16 N 11.