The Origins of the Zodaic

Stonehenge

The Zodiac

We know very little of the origin of mankind's interaction with the signs of the Zodiac yet we are surrounded with stones, stories and symbols that show humanity has observed the stars for as far back as the architects of the Easter Island stone gods or the builders of Stonehenge.

The word zodiac comes from the Greek word: ωδιακός (zodiakos), meaning - "circle of animals”; a word taken directly from older Egyptian words: zo – “life”, and on - “a being" or live beings.

The Zodiac is a band of fixed stars about sixteen degrees wide, encircling the path the earth takes around the sun.

Ancient scholars knew that the zodiac was a small, but familiar part of what they called the body of the Great Cosmic Mother, the starry Universe. Humanity depended then on accurate knowledge of the Zodiac to predict what seasonal changes would be occurring. Even the ancient Native Americans and Australian Aborigine calculated the position of the stars. The Egyptians named the night sky Nut and thought of it as a protective mother goddess placing her image on the inside cover of sarcophagi to guide the dead on their journey in the afterlife. They could clearly see the beautiful cosmos from their flat desert homes, and where the Zodiac intersected the Milky Way at two points: in Gemini and in Sagittarius.

Early astrologers thought of the Cosmos as a Macrocosm (the Great World) and they applied the concept of The Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus: “As above, so below” and so attributed the influence of each of the zodiac signs to a part of the human body, which they called the Microcosm (the Little World). These zodiac influences have been applied, to every aspect of our lives ever since by these laws of correspondences.

Today, many of the myths regarding the Zodiac are written with reference to Greek or Roman mythologies that have been adapted into the cosmogony of the Christian Church. However, these myths, it seems, are based on stories that are far more ancient. The origin of constellation myths dates back to prehistory, and there is no direct path to follow, currently, no authority to lean on and only vague clues pointing to their makers. It cannot be denied that these ancient stories have left an indelible mark on the astrological meanings of each sign even today. Modern interpretations are clearly adaptations of a deeper and more sacred vein of knowledge.

_________________________________________

The zodiac is composed of twelve signs, each attributed to an image created by a pattern of stars in that sector of the night sky. Below is a basic chart of the signs and their symbols. In harmony with the seasons of the year, each sign has within it, a moment of spiritual awakening. This can be found in the symbols of its festivals and celebrations. Each month is unique and inspiring.