Vox stellarum: part seven — Virgo

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

Introduction

In this seventh instalment of our survey of the hidden message of the stars we turn our attention to the constellation and Zodiacal Sign of Virgo. This marks the end of the Second Division of the Zodiac — that of Resurrection. In the accompanying Afterword we explore the symbolism of the extra-zodiacal constellation of Boötes the Husbandman and Coma Berenices. Our principal aim 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 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 Virgo we would like to say something about the very ancient Goddess Net or Neith which was closely associated with this constellation and Zodiacal Sign by the ancient Egyptians. In the Zodiac of Dendera shown in part two of this investigation she is depicted holding a spike of wheat in her left hand. Immediately behind her we can see her consort — Up Uatu — the 'Opener of the Way', later identified with the God Anpu or Anubis. Below them we see Boötes the Husbandman standing behind Coma Berenices, depicted as a seated goddess, supporting a child in her left hand. These figurations are fraught with rich, occult meaning as we shall see in our Afterword.

Anon. — Net, the Lady of the West, the Mother of All — gouache on board. 1986.

Proem: Net, Lady of the West, the Mother of All

And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. Revelation 12:1

E. A. Wallis Budge tells us in The Gods of the Egyptians that Net (Greek Neith) is one of the oldest of the Egyptian deities, and that her worship was widespread even in Predynastic times. She is generally depicted in the form of a woman with the Red crown of the North upon her head, holding a uas sceptre of power or force in her left hand, and grasping an ankh — the symbol of life — in her right hand. Often, as in the illustration shown above, she holds a papyrus sceptre in her left hand while also grasping a bow and two arrows. At other times her sceptre terminates in an ear of corn representing the Sacred Mysteries, symbolism that still survives in the star Spica which marks the constellation of Virgo. However, it is clear from the monuments and the papyri that the bow and two arrows, one pointing to Heaven above and the other to Earth below, are her oldest and most characteristic symbols. Sometimes Net carries a shield in place of the bow, at others a shuttle, emblematic of the web of wisdom she weaves. Budge associates the bow and shield with war and hunting. This remains the prevailing view among orthodox Egyptologists. Viewed esoterically, she hunts the followers of Set — the fiends in human guise — and wages war against the forces of evil. Unfortunately, the symbolic meaning of the ancient Egyptian images and symbols is lost on most scholars, even Budge, who saw much further than most.

Budge tells us that the earliest form of Net's name is found on an ivory box where it occurs in connection with the word hetep, meaning Peace. This serves as a constituent part of the proper name of a First Dynasty queen — Net-Hetep — now transliterated as Neithhotep. She is thought to have been the wife of king Hor-Aha, who has been commonly, but on insufficient evidence, identified with Menes or Meniss (also written Mena), the supposed first historical king of Egypt. Frankly, the usual 'authorities' are completely at sea here. Fortunately we possess a more reliable historical source in Joan Grant whose Far-memory novel Winged Pharaoh recounts the life and times of the 1st Dynasty pharaoh Meri-Net or Meritneith as Wikipedia transliterates it. This book fills in the missing links in the chronology of these early kings and queens. We discussed this subject in our article on the Magic of Egypt so will not repeat ourselves, except to stress that neither Narmer or Menes were the first rulers of Egypt. Based on the information Joan Grant recalled psychometrically Net-Hetep was most probably the wife of her father, called "Za-Atet" in the book. Joan herself was their daughter "Sekeeta", who later reigned in her own right as the pharaoh Meri-Net.

This shows that the worship of Net was already ancient in the 1st Dynasty. Orthodox Egyptologists date the reign of Meri-Net to around 2950 B.C. Joan Grant herself dated it to about 5000 B.C. We know which date we prefer! Hence it is probable that, as H. P. Blavatsky and other occultists have stated, her worship goes back at least 12,000 years before our own era. From the earliest times Net was thought to be both the mother and the daughter of the Sun-god Ra. She had more than one form and possessed the power to conceive and bring forth the new Sun-god daily. Among her early titles is that of Up-Uatu, meaning "Opener of the ways," which, as we mentioned earlier, suggests that she was originally considered to be his female counterpart, as shown in the illustration at left.

In a hieroglyphic text published in Études Égyptologiques (Egyptological Studies) by the French archaeologist Paul Pierret (1836-1916) under the title "lady of the sycamore house," the goddess Net is addressed in the following words: "Hail, Great Mother whose birth is unrevealed. Hail, Great Goddess who art doubly hidden within the Tuat; thou unknown one! Hail, O Great Divine One whose veil hath never been lifted. O unveil thyself! Hail thou Hidden One, reveal the Holy Way to thy presence that the soul of this Osiris may be received by thee and protected by thy two hands." Budge tells us that: "it is very difficult to harmonize all the various statements which are made in the texts concerning the attributes of Net. They prove, however, that the opinions which the Egyptians held concerning her varied from time to time, and that contradictions in their statements are due, not so much to inconsistency or ignorance on the part of the priests and copyists, as to the attempt made to harmonize every new religious system of belief with every one which had existed before it."

There is much truth in this as we pointed out in our article about Symbolism in ancient Egyptian Art. We quote: "...any given symbol can and did have several different meanings depending upon the context in which it was employed and the era (or time) of its original conception. For, during the long history of ancient Egypt, such symbols and emblems underwent many modifications and changes, so that it is impossible to provide a definite meaning for any particular symbol which will be correct under all conditions." The same is true of the vast pantheon of Egyptian gods and goddesses and Net is no exception to this rule. However, it is also true that the further we go back in time the closer we approach to the original and primitive conception of deity. 'Primitive' as we have pointed out in several articles, does not mean crude or unsophisticated in the modern, vernacular sense of the word, but the first, or earliest form of something — in this case the attributes and functions of the Goddess Net. Hence, Net is the embodiment of Force and Wisdom; the first in rank of those who came forth from Neb-er-Tcher (Lord to the Uttermost Limit), and the only deity endowed with some of His Mighty attributes. As Wisdom is the most exalted quality of the Mind, and the Divine Mind is the perfection of Wisdom, all its qualities are attributes of that same Wisdom, under whose direction true and divine Power is exerted. In Egypt that Power was vested in many different goddesses at different times, such as Hathor, Nut, Isis and Mut, the consort of Amen-Ra. Mut means 'Mother' by the way. These different deities all represent one or more aspects or functions of the Great Mother of All.

Occult Science teaches that the mother principle is an essential constituent on every rung of the ladder of existence. It is also the so-called womb from which all created things and beings arise and re-emerge, which at once connects both Net and Virgo with Resurrection and the central division of the Zodiac. On the highest rung this is Universal Nature, known in India as Maia, Lakshmi, Sarasvati, and many others beside. In ancient Greece the Great Mother was known under such personifications as Astraea, Rhea, Persephone, Athena, Minerva, Ceres, Venus, Proserpine, and so on and so forth. She was often worshipped in her capacity as the fruitful Earth and as the goddess of grain. The Christian virgin mother of the saviour is a late expression of this very ancient mystery. But the ancient Egyptian original of the Great Mother of All has never been surpassed. As the Goddess Isis she was the great and beneficent mother, whose influence and love pervaded all heaven, and earth, and the abode of the dead. At the same time she was the personification of the great feminine, creative power which conceived and brought forth every living thing, from the gods in heaven, to man on Earth, and to the insect on the ground. What she brought forth she protected, cared for and nourished, and she employed her life in using her power graciously and successfully, not only in creating new beings but in restoring those that were dead. She was, besides all these things, the highest type of a faithful and loving human wife and mother.

We should not lose sight of the fact that, as we have said before, Virgo is the third of the three Zodiacal Signs that have to do with Life and Resurrection, the others being Cancer and Leo. It is in Virgo that the promises made in the two preceding signs are fulfilled in the birth of the Saviour. He is announced in the Sign of the Crab; his kingship is celebrated in the Sign of the Lion, but it is in the sign of the Great Mother that he comes forth to wage war on the powers of darkness and redeem the souls of the righteous. The seed sown by the Great Mother as represented in Virgo is the Saviour that the Egyptians knew as Horus, the Hindus worshipped as Krishna and we know as the Christ. We find confirmation of this in an ancient Babylonian list called the "Tablet of the Thirty Stars," which has been conservatively dated to around 3800 B.C., but is probably much older. In it we find a star called "The star of the Lady Mighty-of-the-abode-of- Life." We cannot think of a better or more correct name for the Great Mother and her ever-coming son. When, as shown in the star map below, we see pictures of Virgo holding a palm branch in her right hand and an ear of wheat in her left, we know at once that both these symbols apply to the Great Mother. As John Temple explains in The Search for Truth, palm branches were associated from the earliest times with Life and Resurrection, while the ear of wheat heralds the sowing of new life and Divine Wisdom.

As the embodiment of that Wisdom Net presided over the Sacred Mysteries of which Up Uatu held the keys. It is of her that the Old Testament speaks when discoursing on this supreme virtue. "Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace…For she is the breath of the power of God, and a pure influence flowing from the glory of the Almighty: therefore can no defiled thing fall into her. For she is the brightness of the everlasting light, the unspotted mirror of the power of God, and the image of his goodness. And being but one, she can do all things: and remaining in herself, she maketh all things new: and in all ages entering into holy souls, she maketh them friends of God, and prophets. For God loveth none but him that dwelleth with wisdom. For she is more beautiful than the sun, and above all the order of stars: being compared with the light, she is found before it. For after this cometh night: but vice shall not prevail against wisdom." No finer or truer description of the Great Mother of All has ever been written.

Virgo, the Virgin: the Servant and Critic

Until quite recently the planetary ruler of Virgo was given as Mercury and is still accepted as such by many astrologers today. Those who were unhappy with this less than ideal attribution employed the term "the negative side of Mercury" instead. Neither fits the characteristics of this Zodiacal Sign. A similar dilemma faces those astrologers who are unhappy about Venus being the ruler of Taurus, as we discussed in part three. We said then that Alan Leo suggested that the Earth itself was the best possible fit for Taurus, and that we agreed with this eminent astrologer. It is a long-held astrological belief that there are two undiscovered planets belonging to our Solar System which are thought to be the true rulers of Taurus and Virgo. These are the only signs in the Zodiac that share their rulership with two other signs, namely Libra (ruled by Venus) and Gemini (ruled by Mercury). As long ago as 1911, Isabelle Pagan wrote: "Recent astrologers have put forward the theory that the true ruler [of Virgo] is Vulcan, a planet whose existence is suspected by astronomers, and whose invisibility is accounted for by the smallness of its size and by its nearness to the Sun whose radiance eclipses it..." Pagan's suggestion was later taken up by American astrologer Linda Goodman (1925-1995) who, in her popular book Sun Signs, stated that Vulcan was the true ruler of Virgo. She added that: "Many astrologers feel that Vulcan will become visible through telescopes within a few years." Sadly, her prediction has yet to be fulfilled; very possibly because any astronomer foolish or reckless enough to look for Vulcan would face 'cancellation' and unemployment before you can say "astrology is bunk!"

Yet the astronomical evidence for the existence of Vulcan is considerable. The first recorded observation of the transit of an inter-mercurial planet was made by Dr Alischer of France on 27 March 1720. He saw it again on 15 March 1721. At least ten further observations were recorded by French, German and English astronomers throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. One of the most notable was made by Edmond M. Lescarbault, an amateur French astronomer on 26 March 1859 when he observed a small, solitary body crossing the Sun’s disc. He calculated the period of revolution at about 19 days, and estimated its distance from the Sun to be 13 million miles. Owing to the eccentricity of its orbit Mercury's distance from the Sun varies between 29 to 43 million miles. This huge, inexplicable variation — the greatest of any body in the solar system — supports the theory that another body is perturbing it. The only possible candidate is an inferior planet, closer to the Sun; an explanation science hotly rejects. Another observer was the distinguished American astronomer, Professor James Craig Watson (1855-1881). During the solar eclipse of 29 July 1878 he saw an object near the Sun which seemed to be the long sought little planet. His observation was confirmed by another astronomer, Lewis Swift. Later still in 1907, Captain Isbester, master of the British ship Dalgonar en route from Hamburg to Portland, Oregon, noticed a very large spot on the disk of the Sun moving with easily noticeable speed when his ship was about 250 miles off the coast of Northern California. Isbester concluded that the "spot" was visible on the Sun's surface from noon until late afternoon, or about four hours — the same duration of transit as Lescarbault noted 48 years earlier.

Unsurprisingly, Wikipedia has no time for Vulcan which it airily dismisses as a "hypothetical planet." At the end of a typically biased article it smugly concludes: "Einstein's theory of relativity showed that the peculiarities in Mercury's orbit were the results of the curvature of space-time caused by the mass of the Sun." This conveniently ignores the fact that Einstein himself had serious reservations about his famous theory. Moreover, we thoroughly debunked the ridiculous notion of the "curvature of space-time" in the Afterword to our investigation of Gravitational waves. The Greek philosopher Democritus (ca. 460-370 B.C.), stated that there were certain planets invisible and unknown to the common observers of his day. He might have added "and those of the future, too," but didn't! Pythagoras taught that it was common knowledge among astrologers in his times that there were "ten fiery circles" instead of seven, as in the profane and exoteric doctrine. The Chaldean Magi also knew of ten planets and not seven. The ancient Egyptians depicted Vulcan as a leopard surmounted by a winged human head on its back. Some occultists have posited that the Atlantean astrologers knew all about Vulcan and possessed complete ephemerides of its motion. As the Egyptians were the inheritors of the Atlantean wisdom we see no reason to dismiss this suggestion. In nativities, Vulcan appears to produce a kind of vehement eccentricity of character, the nature of which depends on its position by Sign and House and the aspects formed with other planets; the Sun excepted, as this tiny planet can never be more than 8° away from it, and is therefore always in conjunction with our parent star.

Vulcan (shown at left) was named after the Roman god of fire, a well merited title for the nearest planet to the Sun. The festival of Vulcan, known as the Vulcanalia, was celebrated in Rome on August 23 each year when the Sun entered the Zodiacal Sign of Virgo. This shows that the ancients knew the true rulership of all the signs of the Zodiac, knowledge which was subsequently lost when astrology became separated from astronomy. In ancient Greek mythology Hephaestus corresponds to the Latin Vulcan, and both are closely related to the various Gods of the anvil or the furnace who are found in almost all religions. One purpose of the Vulcanalia was to avert the threat of fire to the wheat harvest which took place at this time of the year — further evidence that Vulcan and not Mercury is the true ruler of Virgo. Moreover, this fast moving little planet is a good indication of the typical Virgoan who is swift in action and thought, putting fleet-footed Mercury to shame.

What of the constellation of Virgo itself? As we saw in our Proem Virgo represents the great Mother of All. The Arabs called it "The Constellation of the Spike" (of wheat). The Euphratean name for Virgo was Ki, which is equivalent to the Assyrian Siru, meaning "corn" and "corn in the ear." In this regard the Arabs were simply following the Chaldean Magi who called Virgo the Constellation of the Spike, or Ear of Wheat. This has a double meaning; one in which she casts forth the wheat, and the other in which she gathers it in, symbolising the emanation of all things and beings from a First Cause and their eventual return to it, laden with the Wisdom of experience. This again, confirms the principle of Resurrection which is the abiding quality of the Third Division of our Testament. In India Virgo was known as "the Maiden," and in the Singhalese zodiac she is represented as a woman in a ship with a stalk of wheat in her hand. Among the Babylonians the Virgin represented the goddess Ishtar, the daughter of Heaven, the Queen of the Stars. The sign of the sixth month in the Akkadian calendar signified "the errand of Ishtar" which complex allegory our regular readers will recall Erika Hahn interpreted for us some years ago. Among the Incas Virgo was known as "the Magic Mother," and "the Earth Mother," titles which perfectly describe the Great Mother of All.

This universal appellation finds its astronomical confirmation in the great number of nebulae packed into this region of the heavens. The British astronomer and discoverer of the planet Uranus, Sir William Herschel, found no fewer than 323 of these mysterious objects in Virgo. Modern observations have revealed that "The Virgo Cluster" as it is now known, comprises a mixture of more than 1,000 spiral and elliptical galaxies. Many of these are surrounded by smaller nebulae that are in the process of merging with them, while others are being born from the vast clouds of interstellar dust that weaves its sinuous folds among them. Here, as we learned in our Afterword to the previous part of this investigation, we see the Great Mother figured as Virgo bringing forth her seed in the form of new galaxies. This never-ending celestial drama is reflected below in the human process of parturition, proving the truth of the grand Hermetic axiom "as above, so below." It is in these and other ways that all the mysteries of life and death are prefigured above our heads in the wondrous tapestry of the starry firmament.

The Virgo Cluster — the starry womb of new galaxies

The brightest star in Virgo is Spica, known to astronomers as Alpha Virginis. It marks the ear of wheat which the Virgin holds in her left hand. In the Euphratean star list it bears the titles, "the Star of Prosperity," "the Propitious One of Seed," "the One called Ear of Corn," and "the Corn Bearer," all titles replete with occult significance, as some of our readers will know. Spica is a spectroscopic binary, meaning a system whose two stars are so close together they are egg-shaped rather than spherical, and can only be separated by their spectra. Whereas the heliacal rising of Sirius heralded the start of the annual inundation in Egypt (see part four), the heliacal rising of Spica heralded the harvest season. During the 18th Dynasty it was honoured as "The Lute Bearer," and Erpa, meaning prince or lord. The second most prominent star in Virgo is Vindemiatrix, the "female grape-gatherer." The Arabs called it "the Forerunner of the Vintage." This is the star which heralds the harvest, while Spica represents the sowing. As we shall see in our Afterword when we discuss the extra-zodiacal constellation Coma Berenices, Spica also represents the Holy Child of Life and Light brought forth by Virgo.

As we explained in the very first part of this investigation, the Zodiacal Constellations are not the same as the Zodiacal Signs that are named after them. This is as true of Virgo as any other constellation. Apart from the astronomical differences between the constellations and signs which, among other things, do not necessarily occupy the same areas of the celestial hemisphere, there are significant philosophical differences between them. One of the most important of these is that the constellations are mainly concerned with the supramundane Eschatology and the signs with the submundane Mythos. As these two terms may be unfamiliar to some readers, we think that a fuller explanation than the one we provided in the first part of our investigation of the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead may be helpful.

The word "eschatology" is derived from the Greek terms éschatos and logy, meaning the study of "last things." The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) defines eschatology as "the part of theology concerned with death, judgement, and the final destiny of the soul and of humankind." If this leaves you none the wiser it is because it is neither a very helpful or complete definition. The dictionary definition of Mythos is not any better. It merely tells us that it is derived from the Greek mythos, meaning a "report," "tale" or "story." Wikipedia tells us that it is a "worldview-based story or body of mythology." Whilst this is certainly an improvement on the dictionary definition it still doesn't explain what the Mythos actually is nor how it differs from the Eschatology. This is not helped by the fact that in modern usage the word Mythos has come to be associated with role playing in computer games of all things! Eschatology has not fared any better. Most dictionaries will tell you that there are four "elements" in Eschatology, namely "death", "the last judgement," "heaven," and "hell" — making up the so-called "four last things." The only bit of this definition that helps us is the word "last." It is only when we begin to delve a little deeper into the etymology of the word that we approach its true meaning from an occult point of view. We then learn that éschatos also means "the most remote in time and space" (our emphasis). This gives us the correct meaning of Eschatology: the universal laws, archetypes, qualities, beings and things existing beyond Time and Space as we know and conceive these two mysterious principles.

The great Chinese Sage, Li Wang Ho, whose wonderful occult teachings you can read on this website, had this to say about Time and Space: "Time stands fixed for ever; immovable from all Eternity to all Eternity! To think that Time moves forward or backward, or can be 'wasted,' is just as great an error as thinking that Space has Dimensions. All material things move within Space and Time, both for ever invisible to mortal eyes." This at once tells us what Mythos means. For the opposite or complement of Eschatology must be that which is changing from one moment to the next; "mobile from all Eternity to all Eternity" to misquote Li Wang Ho slightly. So, to sum up, the main difference between the Mythos and the Eschatology is that the former is represented in the Earth of time and material space, the latter in the Earth (or Region) of Eternity and Spiritual Extension. Or, we might say that the Mythos is concerned with all that exists Below whilst the Eschatology is concerned with all that exists Above, the two complementing one another, and each reflected in the other, so conforming to the little-known and less understood Hermetic axiom "as Above, so below" otherwise known as the Universal Hermetic Law of Correspondence.

Before we discuss the Zodiacal Sign of Virgo: its qualities and influence, we would like to remind the reader that much of what passes for astrology nowadays bears little resemblance to the science as it existed in the days when astronomy and astrology were one, unified, science. Human beings by their very (mostly lower) nature are more concerned with how the 'stars' may affect them personally for good or ill. They are not much bothered with, or concerned by the universal laws, archetypes, qualities, beings and things existing beyond Time and Space. What moves them is their immediate destiny and the concerns of everyday life, not what shapes entire universes and the destiny of nations. We might call the former "personal astrolatry" and the latter "transpersonal astrology." Madame Blavatsky defined astrolatry as: "the natural result of only half-revealed Astrology, whose Adepts carefully concealed from the uninitiated masses its Occult principles and the wisdom imparted to them by the Regents of the Planets — the 'Angels.' Hence, divine Astrology for the Initiates; superstitious astrolatry for the profane." This remains the case today when but a tiny handful are even aware of the existence of the true Science of the Stars we have endeavoured to put before you in this investigation, let alone wish to study it. In other words Sun-Sign predictions in newspapers for the masses, psychological astrology for the curious, while the Voice of the Stars remains unheard by all but the very Few. Some might consider these harsh words, but they are necessary if the reader truly wishes to understand the Testament of the Zodiac and not the empty shadow which passes for it on so-called 'astrological' websites and in the colourful columns of Womens' magazines.

The quality pre-eminently associated with Virgo is discrimination. In the evolved Virgoan this manifests as the marvellous power of separating, sifting, classifying and arranging resources, recognising at a glance the potential value of each, and organising the work so as to make the very best practical use of everything and everyone. In short, meticulous and exacting, attention to detail. This makes Virgoans excellent managers, enabling them to shine as public servants, and qualifying them to bear the burden of responsible work in large enterprises and important undertakings. In the primitive or unevolved specimens of the sign, these virtues become carping criticism and pettifogging nitpicking. Notwithstanding its fiery ruler, Vulcan, Virgo, like Taurus, is an Earth sign. But unlike Taurus it is a Mutable sign, meaning versatile and adaptable but also changeable and inconstant. The word mutable is comprised of two Latin roots, con, meaning together and munis, meaning serving and obliging — character traits associated with all four Mutable signs of the Zodiac, namely Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces. The term quadruplicity, meaning four-fold or a quaternary, is used by astrologers to describe this grouping. The qualities of changeability and inconstancy mean that drudgery and repetitive toil of any kind is anathema to Virgoans.

Isabelle Pagan denominates Virgo as the Sign of the Craftsman or Critic whereas Margaret Hone in The Modern Text Book of Astrology favours Servant and Worker. Both descriptions are correct, though we have chosen to combine the two in our subheading as Service and Criticism best define the essential qualities of Virgo. A desire for neatness and precision is combined with a concern for purity in all its forms. This may manifest as mild or obsessive tidiness and cleanliness, as well as an interest in hygiene and a strong sense of morality. The misuse or overstress of these qualities can result in prudishness, self-righteousness and puritanical propriety. In the lesser evolved Virgoan, meticulous attention to detail becomes constant fault-finding with everything and everyone, resulting in criticism of, and interference in the attitudes and activities of those less tidy, well organised and exacting than themselves. Hermione Granger, the reluctant heroine of the Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling exhibits these traits at several points in the story. Interestingly, although her date of birth is not mentioned in the books themselves, Rowling later informed her fans on social media that it was 19 September 1979 in London. The Sun was in conjunction with Saturn in Virgo on that day and the Moon was in the same sign from 3am until the following day, so we may safely say that Hermione was an archetypal Virgoan. Isabelle Pagan tells us that the Virgoan heart, "like the steel of Vulcan, is true metal, and not easily melted; but when once it finds itself in love's furnace it glows with a pure white heat, and takes a long time to cool." Any Harry Potter fans reading this may smile at this point, remembering the roller-coaster relationship between Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley! Ron's date of birth is given as 1 March 1980 which would make him a Sun-Piscean — the sign opposite to Virgo in the circle of the Zodiac. By another of those mysterious coincidences, Mars, the planet of male desire, was in close conjunction with Jupiter in Virgo on that day!

Like the other unevolved examples of the Zodiacal Signs we have analysed in this investigation, the primitive Virgoan is not a very prepossessing specimen. It is often said that a critic is someone who has failed to achieve success or renown in that which he or she criticises. It would be truer and more charitable to say that critics are those who are not yet sufficiently evolved to succeed. As we said earlier, whereas the evolved type possessed of clear vision and refined discrimination, sees at a glance all the possibilities and opportunities for improvement and offers tactful and practical advice, the primitive type only sees the errors and deficiencies. The developed specimen never asks for praise; the primitive specimen never gives it. The former will conquer adverse circumstances and makes his very handicaps contribute to his success. The latter quarrels with every condition imposed upon him, resents his limitations, and invariably blames circumstances for his failures. If he is hampered or restricted in his activities, he takes it out on others. Those readers familiar with the Harry Potter books will note the resemblance to Argus Filch — the caretaker at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry — in this description. We don't know his birthday, but his fierce resentment of those cleverer and more capable than himself (which is pretty much everyone in the books) and his obsession with cleanliness and abhorrence of dirt are typical of the lowly evolved Virgoan. Filch's horizon is bounded by the narrow circle of his own duties. His obsessive concentration on the details immediately under his crooked nose (such as the students' muddy footprints) prevents him from seeing the bigger picture. But we really must stop referring to the characters in the Harry Potter books or our readers will begin to think that the author of these investigations is several Knuts short of the full Galleon! In his defence he would like to assure those who have never read the books that they contain much wisdom and many philosophical truths which never made it into the Hollywood films, good as they are in their way.

There is a higher and nobler kind of servant which is everything Argus Filch is not, and Virgo is the Sign of the Zodiac that exemplifies this to a greater degree than any other. Many evolved Virgoans dedicate their whole lives to the service of others, toiling unremittingly, often for very inadequate pay and small, if any, thanks. It is unselfish SERVICE, freely rendered with no thought of reward which is the great lesson the Virgin of the Stars teaches those who come under her influence which — you will remember — is the last sign of the Second Division of the Zodiac — that of Resurrection. Nowadays the word 'service' has a less than positive meaning, connoting notions of fawning servility, oppression, and even slavery. Yet the Bible tells us that: "...whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant" (Matthew 20:27). This saying is repeated no less than half-a-dozen times in different words in the New Testament, affirming the importance the Apostles attached to it.

In the next part of this investigation we shall tell you about Har–Makhu or Harmachis — Horus of the Balance — and the constellation and Zodiacal Sign of Libra which marks the beginning of the Third Division of the Zodiac — that of Judgement. It is at this point in the Tapestry of the Heavens that the soul of Man is weighed in the balance. In our concomitant Afterword we shall explore the occult meaning of the extra-zodiacal constellations of Ara or the Altar, Corona Borealis and Lupus the Wolf.

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Constellations

Part Seven: Boötes the Bearward or Herdsman and Coma Berenices or Berenice's Hair.

In this, our seventh Afterword, we continue our exploration of some of the significant extra-zodiacal constellations. As we explained in part six and our Afterword to it, without an understanding of the symbolism of these repositories of the ancient wisdom the esoteric meaning of the twelve constellations and their corresponding Zodiacal Signs will be forever beyond our grasp. In this Afterword we explore Boötes the Husbandman and Coma Berenices or Berenice's Hair.

BOÖTES is represented by the figure of a mighty man with uplifted hand, holding in leash two hunting dogs, as you can see in the star map below. He seems to be pursuing the Great Bear around the Pole, and it is for this reason that Boötes has been referred to as "the Bear Driver."

The mythology of this ancient constellation is interesting and varied. According to some of the Greeks it represented Icarius the father of Origone; others claim it represented Erichthonius, the inventor of the chariot. It was also said to be Arcas, the son of Zeus and the nymph Callisto. All this, as we shall see, has a direct bearing (no pun intended!) upon the real meaning of Boötes, and its place and purpose within the unfolding Testament of Zodiac.

The Greek poet Aratus referred to Boötes as Arctophylax, which means Bear Keeper, Bearward, and so on and so forth, because it follows Arctos, that is Ursa Major, or the Great Bear. Boötes is the cultivator who drives the Bear around the Pole; the Bear which, as we saw in our Afterword to part three, pulls the Plough behind him, "tilling the Fields of Heaven," so that the rotations of the Firmament should never cease.

These myths provide us with the clue to the esoteric meaning of this pivotal constellation. They also shed further light on the legend of Arcas, the son of Callisto, whose patrimony and history we also discussed in the aforementioned Afterword. It is the exclusion of important information like this from modern astrology that has degraded the latter into little more than another branch of psychological character analysis.

But we must be careful here. Not every legend, myth or allegory necessarily elucidates the hidden meaning of the stars. Some lead down blind alleys, others are mere fancies. This difficulty is compounded by the fact that, as we have emphasised so often in our articles on symbolism, the literal interpretation of any myth is invariably completely wrong.

An example of this can be found in a so-called "modern classic of sky lore" in which we may read: "It is said that Boötes invented the plough to enable mankind to better till the ground and as such, perhaps, immortalizes the transition from a nomadic life to settled agriculture in the ancient world" (New Patterns in the Sky: Myths and Legends of the Stars by Julius D. W. Staal, 1988).

There is nothing much wrong with this statement from an occult point of view provided we read 'ground' as 'heavens', 'nomadic' as 'ignorance', and 'settled agriculture' as esoteric knowledge or wisdom. But there is everything wrong with it when read literally, for it then tells us nothing about the esoteric meaning of Boötes, or its place and purpose within our Testament.

The Greek poet Aratus, in his poem about the constellations, Phaenomena, was much nearer the truth when he wrote:

"Behind and seeming to urge on the Bear,
Arctophylax, on earth Boötes named,
Sheds o'er the Arctic car his silver light."

That 'car' is of course Ursa Minor, or the Little Bear, known to the Chaldeans as the "Wagon of Heaven," as we also pointed out in our Afterword to part three.

Do you see how all these things link up and just why we have gone to the considerable trouble to analyse the myths and legends associated with the constellations and stars? It is only by delving deeply into the rich body of star lore that has come down to us from Chaldea, India, Greece, Egypt and other places; lore which with every justification can be said to conceal the Wisdom of the Ages, that we can begin to piece together the meaning of the Tapestry of the Heavens.

It is to ancient Egypt we must look to discover the meaning of the Bear Keeper; the Celestial Husbandman who drives the two Bears around the Pole. It is Amsu, whose later form was the god Min, who is the original of the Greek Boötes. On the celestial globe, high over Spica, Boötes rises with the sickle in his left hand (the Corona Borealis) as a symbol of the husbandman, as you can see in the 20th century depiction shown below.

It is Amsu who issues from the tomb as the divine harvester, with the flail in his hand. He is also the good herdsman, the good shepherd, as is shown by the crook he carries, whether as goatherd or shepherd. It is the function of husbandman as guardian that is repeated by Boötes in the character of Bearward or Bear Keeper.

This is a perfect stellar picture of the Higher Mind in its character of the shepherd of the wayward senses of the lower mind; the guardian who watches over its charge with crook and flail. The crook that never fails to warn, guide and protect, and the flail that corrects in the form of the 'still, small voice within' called conscience so many of us ignore and disobey to our detriment.

Arcas, as we learned in our Afterword to part three, was ignorant of his true lineage, just as most people are ignorant of their true lineage as children of God the Father and the Mother. Despite being hidden away, Arcas suffered at the hands of a cruel king (Lycaon). He was either burnt on the sacrificial altar or cut into many pieces (just like Osiris), depending on the version of the myth, before being reconstituted by Zeus. In his regenerated state, he became king and, like his mother (Callisto), a great hunter of wild beasts.

This is a rich allegory of the sufferings of the soul (Higher Mind) during its many incarnations on Earth. Endless lifetimes during which it gradually learns all the bitter lessons life in a material body has to teach it. Only then is it ready and worthy to be 'reconstituted' for the Life immortal in the spirit, a consummation allegorised in the Greek myth by being transported to the heavens in the form of the constellations of the Bear and Bearward.

As we have seen throughout this investigation, such myths and legends can be considered from many different standpoints. In one aspect, Boötes represents Horus the Elder in his character of the Divine Husbandman and Harvester of souls (Higher Minds). It is no coincidence that agricultural symbolism features in so many myths and legends, for this was one of the earliest ways of enshrining and communicating occult truths in symbolic form.

The Bible is replete with agricultural symbolism, beginning with the allegory of the Garden of Eden, continuing with the parables of the Saviour about trees and fruits, and ending with the vivid descriptions of the Throne of God. "And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations" (Revelation 22:1-2).

Note the reference to twelve fruits, one for each month of the year which were for the 'healing', that is the instruction of the 'nations', or humanity. It is precisely in this way that so much astrological wisdom has been concealed in the Bible in plain sight of all. The Egyptian Book of the Dead speaks to us repeatedly of sowing, cultivation and harvesting. The object of the beatified deceased was to reach Sekhet Hetepet, the Fields of Peace, that he might take possession of his allotment there, and "be in glory there, and plough and sow and reap the harvest there for ever."

Hetep, as we saw earlier also means Peace. Amsu-Horus herds his flocks to the green pastures and the still waters. He is the Lord of the pastures and green meadows of the celestial paradise. There the victorious one is at ease beside the waters of peace in the paradisiacal gardens of the abundant Sun of Righteousness.

The stars of Boötes sing of the cycles of birth and death and Resurrection. After the labour in the fields, after the experiences of material life, the humiliation of defeat, the struggles to climb the mountain of Self, the pains of reconciliation, there comes the time of harvest, when the barns are filled with golden grain, the grapes hang heavy upon the vine, and the happy labourer sups the luscious Wine of Truth in the company of those who have completed the journey before him.

The principal star in Boötes is Arcturus, the fourth brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere. The name is the Latin form of the ancient Greek Arktouros, meaning the "Guardian of the Bear," derived from arktos (bear) and ouros (watcher or guardian). In Chaldea Arcturus was identified with Papsukal, the Guardian Messenger, while the Arabs called it the "Keeper of Heaven." Arcturus appears in an ancient Euphratean star list as the "Shepherd of the Life of Heaven," and the "Keeper of the Heavenly Flock," — all appellations eminently appropriate to this pivotal constellation.

We cannot leave Boötes without mentioning Canes Venatici or the Hunting Dogs. This is a faint asterism first catalogued by the German-Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius in 1690 located beneath the left arm of the Bearward. As you can see in the illustration shown earlier in this Afterword, the two dogs are held on a leash by Boötes.

In our Afterword to part six we mentioned that Horus pursues the powers of darkness with the dogs of Orion — marked by the stars Kyon and Procyon. In the Book of the Dead these dogs hunt the souls of the dead by night. Here we have further confirmation that Boötes and Orion are both representations of the same spiritual type whether in the guise of Amsu, Sah or Horus.

We should not lose sight of the fact that Up-Uatu, the 'Opener of the Way' and guide of the dead in the Egyptian Afterlife — later identified with the god Anpu or Anubis — is depicted either as a dog or dog-headed man. Nor should we forget that the god Mercury was symbolised in Greek mythology by the faithful dog that watches over the celestial flock, meaning vigilance guarding occult wisdom — a function prefigured in the Egyptian Mythos ages earlier.

As Boötes is another depiction of the archetypal celestial Hero we have discussed in the previous parts of this investigation, so is Coma Berenices another figuration of the Mother of All. But this, as we shall see, is not at all obvious from the way in which this extra-zodiacal constellation has been represented and regarded for the last few thousand years.

COMA BERENICES or Berenice's Hair, gets its name from a classical story invented by the Alexandrian Greeks in the 3rd century B.C. Coma, Latin for "hair of the head," is derived from the Greek Kome (hair) while Berenices refers to Queen Berenice II, the wife of Ptolemy III Euergetes (280-222 B.C.), the third Greek ruler of Egypt.

The story recounts how Berenice, famed for her long, beautiful hair, offered it to Aphrodite in payment for the safe return of her husband from his war against the Assyrians. When Ptolemy returned safe and sound Berenice told him about her promise to sacrifice her hair. He tried to dissuade her, saying it was her crowning glory, admired by all the people, and the inspiration of countless poets. But Berenice was adamant and went to the temple where her beautiful locks were cut off and laid on the altar by the priests.

The next day when the king went to the temple he was furious to find his wife's hair had been stolen. He was about to put the priests to death for their neglect when the court astronomer Conon of Samos, intervened, begging Ptolemy to wait until it was dark when the mystery of the missing tresses would be revealed.

That night Conon showed the king the star-studded sky, saying: "Look! Dost thou not see the clustered curls of thy queen, too beautiful for a single temple to possess, placed there by the gods for all the world to see? Look! They glitter like a woven net, as golden as they were on Berenice's head" (see illustration below).

Ptolemy looked aloft, and there between Boötes and Virgo, twinkled a mass of very faint stars. The astrologer explained to the king that Jupiter had descended from Olympus the night before to take the golden locks up to the heavens where they could be admired by the whole world, and not just by the people of Egypt.

A pretty story, is it not? Sadly, as we said earlier, not every stellar myth is true. Some lead down blind alleys, others are mere fancies, and the tale of Berenice's missing locks being miraculously re-constituted in Heaven by the god Jupiter as a lasting memorial to the sacrifice of her vanity, is about as fanciful as it gets!

Although Coma Berenices was introduced to Western astronomy as long ago as the third century B.C., by the aforementioned Greek astronomer, Conon, it was not recognised as a separate constellation until the 16th century when it was catalogued as such by Caspar Vopel. Previously it had been considered as an asterism in the constellation of Leo, represented by some Greek astrologers by the tuft of hair at the end of the Lion's tail.

This is almost as delusive as the association of the constellation with the hair of a Ptolemaic queen. As we shall see, both these myths tell us precisely nothing about the esoteric meaning of Coma Berenices. This is no accident. During the many millennia that had elapsed since the Atlantean Sages bequeathed their knowledge of the stars to the Egyptian astronomers, much of the Testament we have endeavoured to reconstruct in this investigation had been lost.

Whether this was the result of ignorance or deliberate obfuscation it is impossible to say after this length of time. What we can say is that there are several ancient constellations which have been lost. Asselli, the Two Donkeys, and Praesepe, the Beehive or Manger are examples of two constellations known to the Chaldeans and Egyptians that have since been 'absorbed' into Cancer, as we discussed in part five of this investigation. This is one reason among many why it is impossible to reconstruct the original Tapestry of the Zodiac as it was known and taught in ancient Egypt, and before that in Atlantis.

Coma Berenices was known to the earliest Egyptian astronomers as Shes-nu, meaning "the greatly desired son," and in later periods as Asht-sbaiu, "the starry multitude." The former and older name, as we shall now see, hints at the real nature and meaning of this important constellation, whereas the newer name which was in use during the 19th Dynasty belongs to the period when much esoteric knowledge of the stars was already lost.

This is probably why Coma Berenices is represented on the Zodiac of Dendera as a seated women holding a child in her arms and not as a field of stars, as you can see in the detail from the planisphere shown below. This is the child that is born of a virgin mother (Virgo) who is destined to "bruise the serpent's head," meaning our old friend the lower mind, figured in the Heavens as Hydra (see part two) and Serpens which we will discuss in part nine.

The figure holding a plough standing behind the woman and child is of course Boötes in the character of the husbandman and cultivator. Note the lunar crescent on his head, emblematic of his intimate association with the fertility of the soil (of Heaven) and Virgo, the Mother of all living things and beings. The 20th century star map of Coma Berenices reproduced below shows the figuration of the mother and child even more clearly.

Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi, Latinised as Albumasar, an Arabian astronomer of the eighth century said: "There arises in the first Decan, as the Persians, Chaldeans, and Egyptians, and the two Hermes and Asclepius teach, a young woman, whose Persian name denotes a pure virgin, sitting on a throne, nourishing an infant boy by some nations called Ihesu, which in Greek is called the Christos."

This confirms that the esoteric interpretation of this constellation we have given you is the correct one, not the pretty fantasy of a queen's golden locks! The child in the arms of the Virgin Mother is the universal Saviour common to all nations and times, as John Temple explains in The Search for Truth. But, as we said earlier, this figuration is absent from modern maps of the stars. This shows very clearly how the meaning of many of the ancient constellations has been lost or perverted, either through ignorance or intentionally. In this case, as in many others, the change has succeeded in entirely concealing the occult meaning of Coma Berenices.

It is interesting in this connection that Shakespeare in Titus Andronicus speaks of an arrow being shot up to heaven to the "Good boy, in Virgo's lap." Coincidence? We think not. Remember, as we have mentioned in several articles, Shakespeare was an occultist and an initiate. Thus does Coma Berenices reveal the ever-coming Saviour who is Horus in Egypt, Krishna in India and Jesus in Christianity, fulfilling the promise emblazoned across the starry firmament for all time and all peoples in the figure of the Great Mother of all — Virgo.

In our next Afterword the constellations of Ara, Corona Borealis and Lupus the Wolf will come under our lens. Meanwhile, we hope that you have enjoyed the seventh of our surveys of the hidden messages of the Stars.

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