Vox stellarum: part five — Cancer

The Voice of the Stars: the testament of the Zodiac unveiled

Introduction

In part five of our comprehensive survey of the hidden message of the stars we turn our attention to the constellation and Zodiacal Sign of Cancer — the foremost sign of the Second Division of the Zodiac — that of Resurrection. In the accompanying Afterword we will explore the rich symbolism of the extra-Zodiacal constellations of Eridanus and Argo Navis or the Ship. Our principal aim in this investigation remains to reconcile Astrology with its lost sibling — Astronomy, so that we might restore something of the Wisdom they embodied when they were one, unified Science. If you have not read the previous four parts of this investigation or our afterwords to them, please do so before continuing, or you will not obtain a complete understanding of the many subjects under discussion. Before we take up the study of Cancer we would like to say something about the Tortoise and the Turtle. These two zootypes have been associated with this constellation since the earliest times and predate its figuration as a Crab.

The name of the Tortoise and Turtle in Egyptian was Sheta. The two animals were not distinguished in the hieroglyphs and bear the same meaning as symbols. They figure prominently in the religion, mythology and folklore of almost every country in the world. Their impenetrable armour and prodigious ability to defend themselves from predators made them symbols of protection from the earliest times. This quality is shared by the Crab which, as we shall see later on, is an uncanny match for the qualities and habits of the sons and daughters of the Zodiacal Sign of Cancer. In many of the world’s ancient mythologies the Tortoise and the Turtle were also associated with death and the passage between the land of the living and that of the dead. The animal depicted on the Zodiac of Dendera is clearly intended to represent a Tortoise rather than a Crab. This suggests the planisphere was constructed no earlier than about 1,300 B.C., as before this date Cancer was represented not by the Crab or by the Tortoise, but by the Scarabeus beetle. The stellar iconography of Egypt underwent many changes over time as one symbol replaced another in accordance with the prevailing theological conception. The change from Beetle to Tortoise and later to Crab did not alter the underlying symbolism or meaning of these three zootypes; it merely presented it in a different way. The Tortoise like the Crab is distinguished by the durable shell that protects its soft interior. In Chapter LXXXIII of the Book of the Dead reproduced in the Papyrus of Ani, the eponymous scribe declaims: "I flew up out of primeval matter. I came into being like the god Khepera. I germinated like plants. I am hidden like the Tortoise in his shell."

Egyptian cosmetic palette in the form of a Nile tortoise — Pre-Dynastic ca. 5,000 B.C.

The Egyptologist Budge, in his commentary to this chapter, subtitled "the Chapter of making the transformation into the Bennu Bird', confesses that: "the allusion to the Tortoise is not quite clear." He goes on to suggest that this means Ani is clothed with a garment which is as durable as the shell of this animal. But there is nothing in the hieroglyphic text to support his view. The clue to the real meaning of this rather odd statement by Ani is found in the word hidden. Long before Western astrologers codified the qualities associated with the Crab, the Egyptian sages taught the symbolic meaning of a vulnerable, defenceless creature concealed inside a bony carapace. The Tortoise, Scarabeus beetle and Crab all share this characteristic. Hence, Ani is praying for spiritual protection from the forces of evil that, even though he is now in the Egyptian Heaven, may still assail him. But there is much more concealed in Chapter LXXXIII. Before we examine it more closely, it is important to consider the Rubric which accompanies it. This is wanting in the Papyrus of Ani but is found in many other copies of the Book of the Dead. Here it is as found in Edouard Naville's translation of the book. "If this chapter be known by the deceased he shall come forth pure by Day after his death, and he shall perform every transformation which his soul desireth to make. He shall be among the Followers of Un-Nefer (i.e., Osiris), and he shall satisfy himself with the food of Osiris, and with sepulchral meals. He shall see the Sun, he shall be in good case upon earth before Ra, and his word shall be truth in the sight of Osiris, and no evil thing whatsoever shall have dominion over him for ever and ever."

The reference to being "in good case upon earth before Ra" after dying ("come forth pure by Day") shows that this is an initiatic text. Otherwise it makes no sense. One cannot die and re-appear on earth at the same time, unless reincarnation is meant, which interpretation the Rubric does not support. What we have here is a concealed reference to that part of the rites of initiation when the candidate was immured in a sarcophagus in the King's Chamber of the Great Pyramid for three days, during which his soul (Higher Mind) left the body and travelled through the various regions of the astral world (Amenta). On the third day he was awoken by the Supreme Hierophant, represented by the God Ra in the Rubric, who initiated him with a sacred kiss. Having entered the Great Pyramid (or some other holy place of initiation) as a mere man, albeit one possessed of much occult knowledge, he emerged from his ordeal as a Master of the Mysteries, a veritable god in the eyes of the Egyptians.

Proem: Khepera, the Scarabeus

There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. 1 Corinthians 15:41

The scarabeus beetle was the symbol on Earth of the god Khepera. The insect itself was the subject of many curious theories among ancient classical writers. Aelian, Porphyry and Horapollo thought that beetles were all males, and that as there were no females among them they were all self-produced. This view arose from the fact that to the ordinary observer the male and female are very much alike, and because the male and female each take part in rolling along the ball which is so frequently seen with them. The female digs a hole in the ground in which she deposits one egg. Whilst she is doing this the male collects a quantity of dung, which he rolls over and over again until it becomes a tolerably compact ball. Then he rolls it to the hole in which the female has deposited her egg, and, sometimes alone and sometimes helped by her, he pushes the ball into the hole on top of the egg, where it remains until the young beetle is hatched out, when the ball serves for its food. It used to be thought that the ball contained many eggs, which were mixed up together with the dung on which the larvae were to feed, but it has since been proved that the female beetle lays only one egg at a time.

Anon. — Khepera — the evolver and transformer — coloured pencil and gold on board. 1986.

These characteristics led the Egyptian Sages to choose the scarabeus beetle to represent the Creator of the material Kosmos from the earliest times. However, creation for the Egyptians was not a single, unrepeatable event as we find it described in the Bible, but a continuous, cyclical process. The Horus-Sun of dawn is transformed into the full majesty and power of the Ra-Sun at noon, only to appear as Toom setting in the West to enter Amenta — the Egyptian Underworld. There, the luminary travelled through many regions, some dark and forbidding, others light and welcoming, from whence it emerged as the victorious, all-conquering Sun. This journey perfectly mirrored the life-cycle of the scarabeus beetle. Buried in the earth it rose again at daybreak with the sun clasped firmly in its claws. The beetle was also one of the harbingers of the Egyptian inundation which rolled up its seed in little balls of dung and buried them upon the riverbanks for safety against the coming flood. Busy on the banks of the Nile, the beetle was placed in the Zodiac as an uranograph which showed the beginning of the new inundation in July according to our calendar. At the same time a beautiful water-bird known as the Bennu — a prototype of the mythical phoenix — came to Egypt as a herald of the inundation, and was given the most glorious of extra-Zodiacal signs.

The Egyptian name for the scarabeus beetle was Kheper, the curious etymology of which we discussed in our investigation of the evidence for an ancient Egyptian colony in the British Isles more than 3,500 years ago. The word was pronounced 'kee-fur' in Egypt, exactly as it is in Germany today. Budge tells us that Khepera was a very ancient god associated with the creation of the world and of everything in it. His common title in Egypt was Khepra kheper tchesef which means Khepera, the self-produced. He is usually represented in human form with a beetle upon his head, but sometimes a beetle takes the place of the human head. Budge goes on to say that "There can be little doubt that the cult of the beetle is far older than that of Ra of Heliopolis, and when we find the priests of Ra identifying their god with Khepera, we must understand that it is only another example of their method of grafting new beliefs on the cult of the old indigenous gods of their country." Hence, we find that as far back as the Vth dynasty (ca. 3000 B.C.) a text of the pharaoh Unas which runs: "This Unas flieth like a goose (or duck), he alighteth like the beetle; he flieth like a goose (or duck), he alighteth like the beetle upon the empty throne in thy Boat, O Ra."

In our investigation of symbolism in ancient Egyptian Art we said that dung might be regarded as a rather indelicate substance to symbolize the universe and all it contains. The Egyptian Sages who selected their stellar symbols with such meticulous care knew what they were about when they choose the Scarabaeus sacer to represent the Creator and Fashioner of the Kosmos. Proof of this is to be found in The Secret Doctrine in which we may read: "Eight houses were built by Mother. Eight houses for her Eight Divine sons; four large and four small ones. Eight brilliant suns, according to their age and merits. Bal-il-u (Marrtanda) was not satisfied, though his house was the largest. He began (to work) as the huge elephants do. He breathed (drew in) into his stomach the vital airs of his brothers. He sought to devour them. The larger four were far away; far, on the margin of their kingdom. They were not robbed (affected), and laughed. Do your worst, Sir, you cannot reach us, they said. But the smaller wept. They complained to the Mother. She exiled Bal-i-lu to the centre of her Kingdom, from whence he could not move. (Since then) he (only) watches and threatens. He pursues them, turning slowly around himself, they turning swiftly from him, and he following from afar the direction in which his brothers move on the path that encircles their houses. From that day he feeds on the sweat of the Mother’s body. He fills himself with her breath and refuse."

This allegorical account of the formation of the Kosmos requires some explanation. The 'Eight Houses' refer to the Sun and planets of our solar system. The 'large ones' being the Sun, Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus, and the 'small ones' Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. Quite how those who wrote the ancient commentary Blavatsky quotes knew of the existence of Uranus which was only discovered (re-discovered?) in 1781 is a question outside the scope of this investigation. In any event, the commentary tells us that the formation of our solar system was not a calm or orderly event. Battles were fought, orbits shifted, until in the end, the Sun took up the position it occupies today in 'the centre of her Kingdom' as the commentary puts it. What of the mysterious 'sweat of the Mother's body'? How does this relate to the dung the young of the scarab beetle feed upon? Blavatsky explains the enigma later on in the book. "Having evolved from Cosmic Space, and before the final formation of the primaries and the annulation of the planetary nebula, the Sun, we are taught, drew into the depths of its mass all the Cosmic vitality he could, threatening to engulf his weaker 'brothers' before the law of attraction and repulsion was finally adjusted; after which he began feeding on 'The Mother's refuse and sweat'; in other words, on those portions of Ether of the existence and constitution of which science is as yet absolutely ignorant" (The Secret Doctrine, vol. I, p.100-102).

You may recall that we previously discussed this mysterious substance in part one of our investigation of the Book of the Dead. Here we have the reason why the Sages of ancient Egypt chose the scarabeus beetle to represent the phenomenon of the Sun 'feeding' off the Ether of Space. On page 144 of the same volume, Blavatsky says further: "However it may be, 'The Breath of the Father-Mother issues cold and radiant and gets hot and corrupt, to cool once more, and be purified in the eternal bosom of inner Space,' says the Commentary. Man absorbs cold pure air on the mountain-top, and throws it out impure, hot and transformed. Thus — the higher atmosphere being the mouth, and the lower one the lungs of every globe — the man of our planet breathes only the refuse of 'Mother' therefore, "he is doomed to die on it." In a footnote, she adds: "He who would allotropise [transform] sluggish oxygen into Ozone to a measure of alchemical activity, reducing it to its pure essence (for which there are means), would discover thereby a substitute for an 'Elixir of Life' and prepare it for practical use." Having discussed some interesting points in connection with the zootypes of the Tortoise and the beetle, we shall now consider the constellation and Sign of Cancer.

CANCER, the Crab: the Teacher or Prophet

As we learned in our introduction, the Crab, the Tortoise, the Turtle and the Beetle have all represented Cancer at different times in different parts of the world. All four are similar in many respects. They are hard shelled, insignificant in appearance, and sluggish in their movements. It is this latter attribute that aptly typifies the Sun's apparent slow movement when it arrives in this constellation during midsummer in the Northern Hemisphere. Although it is the most inconspicuous of all the zodiacal constellations, Cancer is very ancient, and was known to the Chinese and Hindus in the remotest past. Because of its dim appearance it has sometimes been described as "black and without eyes," and it is true that it is difficult to locate in the night sky with the naked eye as only two of its stars are brighter than the fourth magnitude. Pollux, on the other hand, which we discussed with you in the previous part of this investigation, is one of the brightest stars in the night sky.

The Chaldean astronomers called Cancer the "Gate of Men," through which they believed the soul entered into corporeal life on Earth. This gate had it's opposite in the "Gate of the Gods." This was located in the constellation of Capricorn that is opposite to Cancer in the Zodiac, so named as it was the place where the soul found freedom from its material bonds. There is much truth in this as we shall see. Cancer, you will recall from the previous parts of this investigation, is the First Sign of the Second Division of our four-fold testament — that of Resurrection. As there can be no resurrection without a prior death, it follows that Cancer is that point in the Zodiac where this metaphysical event was first enacted, to be completed in the following signs of Leo and Virgo. This reprises what we said earlier when we told you that the crab or the turtle is associated with crossing between the land of the living and the dead. This does not mean that Cancer and Capricorn are unique. As we discussed in part one, every one of the twelve Signs of the Zodiac is a gate through which we enter or leave this world.

The most distinctive feature of this constellation is a swarm of beautiful stars on the Crab's breast known as Praesepe or beehive. In keeping with its faint and nebulous light this asterism has been called by ancient observers Nephelion, or Little Cloud and Achlus, or Little Mist. Praesepe is also the Greek word for manger; and on either side of Praesepe we find two stars known by the Greeks as Onoi, or the asses. These are also known as the northern ass and southern ass. The Arabs called them Al Himarain, which means The Two Assess or Donkeys. So long before the birth of Christ we have the figure of the manger set between two asses or donkeys as you can see in the stellar map reproduced above, and located in a part of the sky associated with birth and rebirth as John Temple showed in his analysis of the Bible story of Nativity. The two asses have also been linked with the two Egyptian lion-gods of the upper and lower Heaven, or the higher and lower realms of the Astral World. In this way, as we said in the first part of this investigation, do the stars depict the origin and destiny of all things, living and dead, animate and inanimate, in a moving picture show that all can see every night but that few can read, and even fewer understand.

As we mentioned earlier, it is doubtful whether the Crab was the original image of this constellation. In ancient art the figure varies; sometimes it is more like a tortoise, a scorpion or a beetle than a crab. Though the Scorpion is a symbol for life, and even for resurrection as we shall see when we come to discuss Scorpio in part nine, we doubt whether it was the original figure for Cancer, as some scholars have suggested. The scorpion is contrary in nature to the characteristics and qualities of the people born under this sign; the Crab is much more suitable, or even the tortoise. But with the beetle it is different, and this may have been the original figure representing the symbol for Cancer and Cancerians. We stress the word 'symbol', for we would not wish any of our readers to think that we are comparing them with beetles, tortoises, turtles, scorpions or crabs! On the other hand, when we behold the shapes and behaviour of some people born under the twelve signs, we can only wonder at the great Wisdom of the Sages who first worked out these symbols and figures, for they all 'work', and there is no doubt about it. In the Hindu Zodiacs the figure for Cancer looks more like a beetle than a crab, or like any insect one can imagine. Hence, we incline to the view that it was the scarabeus beetle which was first associated in the mind of the ancients with Cancer. For, as we saw in our Proem, here we have a stellar zootype, sacred to the Egyptians, employed as a tangible expression of an elevated religious concept, embracing the future life of the human soul, or being, new birth, and so on. The scarab was known long before the so-called first King of Egypt, Menes or Mena, who is thought to have reigned about 4,000 B.C. If this was a remnant of a much earlier, divine revelation, and we believe it was, then the source could only have been the civilization of Atlantis.

Astrologically, Cancer is a Cardinal, watery sign ruled by the Moon. Our near neighbour is the satellite of the Earth in one respect only, in that it physically revolves round the Earth. But Occult Science teaches that in every other respect it is the Earth which is the satellite of the Moon, and not vice versa as you may read in The Secret Doctrine. Startling as this statement may seem to some readers it is not without confirmation from material science. It is evidenced by the tides, and by the cyclic changes in many forms of disease, especially mental disorders, which coincide with the lunar phases. It can also be observed in the growth of plants, and it is very marked in the phenomena of animal and human fertility, conception and gestation. Of course, there are some scientists who, having made a deep study of the Moon’s influence on all things terrestrial will object that the influence of the Moon is confined simply to physical attraction, which causes her to circle around the Earth, insisting that this fact alone is sufficient proof that the Moon is truly the Earth’s satellite. H. P. Blavatsky's reply to such sceptics was to ask "whether a mother, who walks round and round her child’s cradle keeping watch over the infant, is the subordinate of her child or dependent upon it; though in one sense she is its satellite, yet she is certainly older and more fully developed than the child she watches" (The Secret Doctrine, vol. I. pp.179-80).

Blavatsky tells us that the frequent allusions to the Tuat (she spells it Tiaou) in the Book of the Dead contain a mystery. So they do, and one which is intimately associated with Cancer — the Zodiacal Sign of Motherhood and the Home — and its ruler, the Moon. The Tuat, as we may read in The Book of Gates by E. A. Wallis Budge, is the path of the Night Sun through the inferior hemisphere, or the infernal region of the Egyptians, placed by them on the concealed side of the Moon. The Egyptians taught that the human soul (Higher Mind in our terminology) came out from the Moon which Blavatsky rightly calls a "triple mystery — astronomical, physiological, and psychical at once. From thence he crossed the whole cycle of existence and then returned to his birth-place before issuing from it again." In the Book of the Dead, the deceased is shown arriving in the West, being judged before Osiris, resurrecting as the god Horus, and circling round the sidereal heavens, which is an allegorical assimilation to Ra, the Sun. Then having crossed Nut (the celestial abyss), he returns once more to the Tuat: an assimilation to Osiris, who, as the God of life and reproduction, inhabits the Moon. The 1st century Greek historian, Plutarch, in his treatise on the religion and Egypt, De Iside et Osiride (Isis and Osiris) describes the Egyptians celebrating a festival called "The Ingress of Osiris into the moon." In chapter II of the Book of the Dead (the Chapter for Coming forth by day and Living after death.) the deceased prays: "Oh thou Only One, who shinest from the Moon (Osiris), let me come forth amid thy followers and let me be counted as one of the glorious ones. Open to me the Tuat and let me come forth to do what I have to do upon Earth among the Living." Blavatsky goes on to say that: "For it is the Moon and her conjunctions that regulate conceptions, and every astrologer in India knows it."

Western biologists, on the other hand, wedded as they are to a mechanical concept of human fertility rooted in scientific materialism, regard such occult facts as the grossest of superstitions. Nonetheless, Blavatsky wrote the truth, fantastic as it may seem to some. We find confirmation of this in the fact that Moon-goddesses were connected in every mythology, especially the Grecian, with child-birth, because of the lunar influence on women and conception. Readers who are interested in learning more about the occult properties and influence of the Moon are referred to The Secret Doctrine, a book which we cannot emphasise often enough is overflowing with real occult knowledge and truth, and which so many occultists and seekers after truth so sadly neglect. So much for the rulership of the Zodiacal Sign of Cancer, what of the characteristics of the natives born under its influence?

Isabelle M. Pagan, whose perceptive analysis of the Signs of the Zodiac we are greatly indebted to for some of the material in this investigation, has this to say about the highly evolved Cancerian. "He is the master of many moods, both in himself and in others; for when he has fully developed the faculty of expression he is the musician to whose piping all the world must dance. His true function is to vitalise and inspire the men and women of his own generation." These words might have been written about H. P. Blavatsky who had Cancer rising at her birth. Isabelle Pagan goes on to say that this peer among occultists: "lifted up her lament against the prophets who prophesy falsely and the priests who bear rule by their means; urging her pupils and followers, in the true Cancerian vein, to turn their thoughts back to the days of the Fathers and Founders of religion, and forward to the glory that shall be when Truth reigns over all." This perfectly illustrates the qualities of the True Teacher and the methods they employ to deliver their message, whether in occultism, science, the arts, the humanities, or any other sphere of human activity. Despite the calumnies and lies heaped upon her head by her many critics and detractors Madame Blavatsky was an exemplar of this type.

All Cancerians are romantic and imaginative where the affections are concerned, though often too shy or proud to betray the fact; for ridicule is torture to these sensitive souls. The influence of the Moon infuses a strong maternal element into the intense love of which this sign is capable, characterised by a great yearning to give, while asking for little or nothing in return. The spiritual and moral characteristics of the evolved specimens of this sign are exemplified in the writings of the prophets of all times and nations. One of the most striking examples is to be found in the lamentations of Jeremiah whose wonderful imagery and emotional intensity show the influence of Cancer, which the following verse illustrates:

"A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests bear rule by their means; And my people love to have it so: And what will ye do in the end thereof?"

(Jeremiah 5:30-31).

The tragic intensity of this passage has no equal anywhere in the Bible. That the teaching of the nation should be corrupt, that its prophets should hold up false ideals, that its priesthood should find it convenient to accept them, and — most poignant cry of all — that the people should love to have it so! In this lies the true tragedy of national life; the very root and source of corruption and evil laid bare. Does the prophet's lament sound familiar? It should do, for he describes the present state of the world and the attitude of most people to the many evils which encompass them only too clearly. We know a great many folk who "love to have it so," and we're sure you do too!

What of the primitive type? It has to be said that the unevolved specimens of this sign are not a pretty sight! Primitive Cancerians are the slaves, instead of the masters, of their fluctuating moods. Like the Moon in its phases, they are as changeable as our unpredictable weather. Inept minstrels, vainly trying to tune the many-stringed harp of life, ever striving to find the key to harmony, they are doomed to disappointment; altering its pitch fitfully and spasmodically, sweeping its chords ignorantly and impatiently, and making of its music a miserable jangle, just like the 'Children of Harmony' in our allegorical tale of The Broken Violin. Helplessly they wander from string to string forcing each to vibrate in turn; now calling arrogantly to their little world to listen to their attempts, only to later relapse into the silence of despair. They are a constant prey to sentimentalism, sensationalism, and exaggerated emotion of every kind. The worst specimens are mere aggravating bundles of contradictions and inconsistencies in the eyes of the majority of their fellow men and women. A sense of latent power, as yet unexpressed and inexpressible, gives the undeveloped specimens an absurd sense of their own importance, and of the deference and consideration due to them by others.

Moods of exalted self-sufficiency are followed by others of exaggerated shyness and humility. Fierce pride and independence alternate with the helplessness and loneliness of the child who has lost his way. There is as wide a difference between the two conditions as there is between the crab in his normal state when he is encased in his natural armour, ever ready for defence, if not outright aggression — and the same creature at its period of growth, when it slips off its old shell and becomes scarcely recognisable — a thin-skinned, helpless, semi-transparent object, lying hidden in the crevices of the rock and trembling at the approach of every foe. In like manner, Cancerians will give way to morbid feelings of self-consciousness, shyness and depression. Even the highly evolved specimens display a tendency to dramatic methods and fluctuating moods. The late Princess Diana of Wales is a tragic example of this type. The false prophet, the cunning impostor, the snake-oil salesman and the charming charlatan are all found under this sign treading the early stages of this path of evolution. Some might place the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush, born with the Sun in Cancer squaring the Moon, Jupiter and Neptune in Libra in this category; we couldn't possibly comment...

What of the lesson this gate of the Zodiac has to teach those who enter life on Earth through it? Cancer is, as we have said, the First of the three signs within the Second Division that speak of Resurrection, the others being Leo and Virgo. None of the three ever speaks of death, but all of resurrection, none more so than the Sign of the Crab. Isabelle M. Pagan states that the keynote of Cancer is Patience. There is no better illustration of this virtue than the long, drawn-out ordeal of a crab shedding its shell. During this process the crab removes its legs, eye stalks, mouth parts and gills, its oesophagus, its stomach lining, and the last part of its intestine. It must even detach its muscles from its shell before shedding, leaving it barely able to move for several days before and after the event. Without patience such a transformation would be impossible. But there is another quality the crab needs if it is to endure and successfully accomplish this resurrection, and that dear reader is INNER PEACE. This is the great lesson that Cancer teaches those born under its influence. The moods of exalted happiness alternating with despair — often coinciding with the phases of the Moon — the changeability, emotionalism and sentimentality of the primitive type discussed earlier, are the complete antithesis of Peace. It is this mighty Power, working patiently and persistently that transforms the primitive, unevolved members of this tribe into the heroic Teacher exemplified by Blavatsky or the compassionate Jewish prophet Jeremiah. In short, the resurrection of the inner individuality encased in the shell of the Earthly personality, or the Higher Mind triumphing over the lower.

NOW READ PART SIX

In part six we discuss the constellation and Zodiacal Sign of Leo — the central sign of the Second Division of the Zodiac — that of Resurrection. In our concomitant Afterword we explore the hidden meaning of the extra-Zodiacal constellations of Orion the Hunter and the enigmatic creature he appears to chase — Lepus the Hare.

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Constellations

Part five: Eridanus and Argo Navis.

In this, the fifth of the afterwords accompanying this investigation, we continue our exploration of some of the extra-zodiacal constellations.

In part one we told you about the Perseus Family. In part two we looked at the fascinating trinity of constellations known as Hydra, Corvus and Crater. In part three we discussed Ursa Minor and Major, and Draco, the Dragon. And in part four we explored Canis Major and Canis Minor, Auriga, the Charioteer and Monoceros. If you have not read the previous afterwords now is the time to do so or you will not obtain a complete understanding of the subjects under discussion.

In this fifth Afterword we shall explore the symbolism and esoteric meaning of Eridanus or the River — the sixth largest constellation in the Night Sky. The 3rd century B.C., Greek astronomer Eratosthenes thought it represented the celestial River Nile. Whether he was right to do so, or wrong as the modern 'authorities' who dismiss his claim maintain we shall see as we explore the rich symbolism of this stellar stream. The celestial vessel in which we shall do so is Argo Navis, or The Ship. Plutarch tells us that the Greeks derived this extra-zodiacal constellation from Egypt where it was known as "The Boat of Osiris." Again, we shall see what truth there is in this.

ERIDANUS is an inconspicuous but immense river of stars in the form of a gigantic question mark situated in the southern celestial hemisphere. It extends further in the night sky from north to south than any other constellation. A clear night when the moon is absent from the sky is required to trace its sinuous course which stretches all the way from the constellation of Taurus to Pisces.

In the Zodiac of Dendera Eridanus is depicted as a river under the feet of Orion, and is named Peh-ta-t, which means the mouth of the river. Orion was figured as the god Sah in Egypt who was the husband of Sepdet whom we discussed in the previous part of this investigation. This at once connects Orion with Osiris and Isis and their son Horus, who was the celestial hero par excellence.

Flowing westwards, Eridanus passes Cetus which we discussed in our Afterword to part one. Looping back on itself it descends southwards past the faint modern constellations of Columba and Caeleum, before turning west again, terminating beside another modern star-grouping — Phoenix — as you can see in the illustration reproduced below.

Whereas Eratosthenes thought Eridanus, winding its way across the winter skies, represented the River Nile, others have identified it with the River Euphrates. There may well be something in this as the Babylonian records contain many references to a mighty river of stars that may point to this constellation. On the other hand, it is just as likely that it was the Milky Way which was intended, for this, as we shall see in the final part of our investigation, is the most conspicuous river of stars in the night sky, including 30 constellations in its course.

The Arab name for Eridanus was Al-Nahr, meaning the River. The 'River Jordan', the 'Red Sea' and 'the River of the Judge' are all names that have been associated with this most conspicuous river of stars. It has also been identified with Homer's stream flowing around the earth, and sometimes bore the titles 'Oceanus', and 'the River of Ocean'.

Here, then, we have a mighty river flowing forth from beneath the feet of the glorious Hero Orion. During its serpentine descent towards the lower regions the terrible sea monster, Cetus, strives in vain to arrest its progress. Eridanus continues its stately course to Achernar, the ninth-brightest star in the night sky, which appropriately enough, means "The End of the River" in Arabic.

Unlike Rigel, which can be seen on winter evenings in the Northern Hemisphere, Achernar is located in the southern celestial hemisphere and never rises above the horizon higher than 33° north, hence is invisible in our northern latitudes and is best seen from the Southern Hemisphere.

Before we end our survey of Eridanus we cannot omit to mention the so-called 'Supervoid' which cosmologists discovered within it in 2007. In cosmology, a void is an unusually cool area of space devoid of galaxies. We shall return to this significant anomaly again, for this discovery confirms an important occult fact that reveals the place and purpose of this stellar stream in the evolution of man. So much for the river, what of the ship that sails upon it? As we shall see these constellations are inextricably linked in the Testament of the Zodiac.

ARGO NAVIS is one of the largest extra-Zodiacal constellations. It traverses seven Signs of the Zodiac, stretching all the way from Cancer to Capricorn. Nowadays it is no longer officially recognised as a constellation in its own right, having been split up into three: Carina, the Keel, Vela, the Sails and Puppis, the Stern. The ancient Egyptians were wiser and knew that the white waters of Eridanus symbolise the river upon which the boat of the soul makes its perilous way home. Argo Navis is the mystical vessel that ascends the celestial stream. It is an occult journey in an occult ship whose significance is quite unknown to any astronomer, unless it should happen that he or she is an occultist too, which is not impossible.

It is depicted in old planispheres as a wooden ship of ancient design. Its prow is surmounted by the golden head of a ram and the stern ends in the tail of a fish. It is three decks high, and on its mast hangs an enormous square sail. Four huge oars of ebony decorated with gold are fastened to the vessel's ribs, while one gigantic timber forms the keel, the solid backbone of the ship. Its rudder steers the way to the realm of rest. The ram is the symbol of Amen-Ra and the fish of Sebek, the crocodile god who retrieved the parts of Osiris’ body when it had been lost in the Nile.

Many of the ancient myths about Argo Navis revolve around the mysterious ship of the legendary Argonauts who embarked upon their expedition to recover the Golden Fleece — itself a synonym for Wisdom. It is a sacred ship carrying those whose earthly shell is wearing thin to the Haven of Rest and built by shipwrights who know the way Home. In Egypt it was connected with The Boat of Osiris and the Boat of the Ra; that is to say the boat of the Moon and the boat of the Sun.

In Hinduism it performed the same office for their gods; and their ancient tradition made it the ship Argha for their wandering Sun. The Druids of ancient Britain represented the sacred vessel in their Mysteries. In Egypt Horus the Younger was the child of the Sun who sailed the constellation Eridanus, avoiding or overcoming the perils of nearby Cetus, the terrible sea-monster discussed in the Afterword to the first part of this investigation.

The journey begins with the birth of the child and results in the emergence of the adult from the mystic stream close to the constellation Orion. The pilot, helmsman or steersman of the ship is the star Canopus, which marks one of the oars of the ship you can see in the illustration below. It is he who plumbs the depths with line and weight.

The attentive reader will recall that this voyage has been meticulously described by Paul G. Vaughan in his perceptive interpretation of an Egyptian painting which depicts the allegorical voyage of a sacred boat through the regions of Amenta — the Egyptian Heaven. This sacred ship was constellated ages earlier in the starry vault by Argo Navis. Many inspired poets and writers have described this mystical journey without them consciously knowing its full import, J. R. R. Tolkien, among them. In The Lord of the Rings we find the following poignant verse sung by Galadriel.

"The leaves are falling in the stream, the river flows away. O Lórien! Too long I have dwelt upon this Hither Shore. And in a fading crown have twined the golden elanor. But if of ships I now should sing, what ship would come to me, what ship would bear me ever back across so wide a Sea?"

That 'sea' is of course the Astral Light, and we ourselves are the ship that bears us across it each time we enter or depart this life. Curiously, in Kircher's celebrated Egyptian Planisphere that ship is represented by two vessels, not one whose prows are surmounted by rams' heads. One of the ships occupies four segments of the sphere (from Taurus to Virgo), while the other occupies four from Leo to Capricorn as you can see in the illustration below.

Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680) was a German scholar who claimed to have deciphered the Egyptian language almost two centuries before Champollion. The fact that Wikipedia dismisses Kircher's hieroglyphic researches with the words that he "was held back by a belief in the mystical nature of the symbols," inclines us to think that he knew rather more than the contributors to this bastion of scholastic orthodoxy. When we further learn that he "relied upon such discredited sources as the Corpus Hermeticum," we are certain that his depiction of two ships rather than one is no accident. We shall return to this important point later.

From all we have said so far it is clear that the ancients regarded Argo Navis as the 'collector of souls' sailing upward for the circumpolar paradise along the River Eridanus — the celestial archetype of its terrestrial mirror, the River Nile. Argo Navis is the only constellation that is figured facing backwards on the scroll of the heavens. This, as we shall see, is no accident either. The Greek scholar and poet Aratus, in his Phaenomena writes:

"Stern-foremost hauled; no mark of onward-speeding ship.
Sternward she comes, as vessels do
When sailors turn the helm
On entering harbour: all the oars back water,
And gliding backward, to an anchor comes."

Curiouser and curiouser as Alice said in her exploration of Wonderland. What can be the meaning of a celestial ship that makes its way through the waters 'above the firmament' — the higher aether — in this backwards way? Gerald Massey tells us that: "We can but infer that it was an object-picture of the ark of Nu, as 'the bark of millions of years' receding in this backwards fashion as it made the circuit of Precession."

This explains the retrograde motion of the ship. But it does not unlock the inner meaning of this mystery, for that we must turn once more to ancient Egypt. It was the ancient Egyptians who first pictured the Milky Way as the celestial river upon which the souls of men figuratively travel along the path of the ecliptic, back to the Source from which they first ventured forth. From Massey we learn that all day the Manes (souls of the dead) make their voyage in the solar barque, and come at sunset to the land of the West. At this landing-stage they leave the Maatet (day) boat and embark on the Sektet (night) boat.

The sun goes down to Amenta in the west each night, but their sun sets now no more. They have done with the illusions of this world symbolised by the Mount of Earth in the Mythos and now attain the Higher Realms of light symbolised by the Mount of Glory. But there is still a great gulf fixed between the Mount of Earth and the stellar Mount of Glory. This is the Cavern of Putrata where the dead fall into darkness. But as Gerald Massey points out, the Egyptian hell was not a place of everlasting torment for the wicked, but of the extinction of the souls of the irretrievably evil.

It is also called the Void of Apap; mark this well! We said we would return to the subject of voids in space, and now is the place to do so. Massey tells us that this void lay between the place of sunset on the western side of the Mount of Earth and the heaven of the setting stars. It is the prototype of the abyss or pit of outer darkness in the superstitious Christian distortion of the Egyptian wisdom.

This void was the great gulf that was fixed between those who remained in the lower Amenta and those who had attained the bosom of Ra. In other words those who, regardless of their virtue and merits, were doomed to further reincarnations on Earth, and those who had, through great suffering and personal effort, liberated themselves from further servitude on Earth and now enjoyed the freedom of the Higher Realms of light figured as the circumpolar paradise by the Egyptians.

The way to that paradise was by means of a ship that could ascend the stream of the Milky way, that is to say, travel backwards along that celestial river. Here, then, is the glorious consummation of this revelation; a heavenly vessel which can transport the Manes to the circumpolar paradise, never to return to darkling Earth ever again. For, as we learned earlier, the constellation Argo Navis stretches all the way from Cancer to Capricorn — a distance that traverses no less than seven Zodiacal Signs and three Divisions of our Testament — Resurrection, Judgement and Consummation.

In Cancer, the Manes are resurrected, having cast off all desire for further incarnations on Earth. In Leo they are crowned with their hard-earned virtues. In Virgo they reap the harvest of those virtues. In the next Division — that of Judgement — those virtues are tested to breaking point. Which way will the scales (Libra) fall? Will the lower self (Scorpio) be victorious, or the Higher (Virgo)? The Archer (Sagittarius) will decide the outcome and the consummation will be seen in Capricorn, the first sign of the Fourth Division. This, then, is the full solution of the great mystery that was anciently constellated as Argo Navis, the heavenly ship ascending backwards on the white waters of Eridanus or the Milky Way.

Because science cannot yet explain the existence of voids one cosmologist has claimed that they are evidential of the existence of 'parallel universes.' In our article 'Why study Occult Science?' we said that any given fact, phenomenon, property, principle or law is subject to three conditions.

Known to both occultists and scientists.
Now known only to occultists, but of such a nature that it may be understood later on by material science and,
Known only to occultists, because it is of such a nature that it cannot be discovered by the methods of material science.

Should the detection of voids eventually lead scientists to discover that there are other dimensions of so-called 'reality' — the planes of the Astral World that surround and interpenetrate our own physical plane — then they will have learned a fact that was previously known only to occultists. But perhaps it is better that they don't find out, for the consequences of such a fateful discovery is more likely to pave the path to Hell than Heaven.

In our next Afterword we discuss Orion, a pivotal constellation in the Testament of the Zodiac, as well as Lepus the Hare which Orion hunts. In the meantime, we hope that you have enjoyed the fifth of our surveys of the hidden messages of the Stars.

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