Greetings and welcome back to our study and opinion of Albert Pike’s Morals and Dogma as we continue on with chapter 25, which is a very long chapter, yet very informative as we study the ancients astrological beliefs, which we find is pertinent to freemasonry today.
As we begin, Pike explains thw means in which astrological signs are observed.
And now, LET’S READ PIKE!
It is to be noticed that when the Sun is in a particular constellation, no part of that constellation will be seen, except just before sunrise and just after sunset; and then only the edge of it: but the constellations opposite to it will be visible. When the Sun is in Taurus, for example, that is, when Taurus sets with the Sun,
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[paragraph continues] Scorpio rises as he sets, and continues visible throughout the night. And if Taurus rises and sets with the Sun to-day, he will, six months hence, rise at sunset and set at sunrise; for the stars thus gain on the Sun two hours a month.
Going back to the time when, watched by the Chaldæan shepherds, and the husbandmen of Ethiopia and Egypt,
"The milk-white Bull with golden horns
"Led on the new-born year,"
we see in the neck of TAURUS, the Pleiades, and in his face the Hyades, "which Grecia from their showering names," and of whom the brilliant Aldebarán is the chief; while to the southwestward is that most splendid of all the constellations, Orion, with Betelgueux in his right shoulder, Bellatrix in his left shoulder, Rigel on the left foot, and in his belt the three stars known as the Three Kings, and now as the Yard and Ell. Orion, ran the legend, persecuted the Pleiades; and to save them from his fury, Jupiter placed them in the Heavens, where he still pursues them, but in vain. They, with Arcturus and the Bands of Orion, are mentioned in the Book of Job. They are usually called the Seven Stars, and it is said there were seven, before the fall of Troy; though now only six are visible.
The Pleiades were so named from a Greek word signifying to sail. In all ages they have been observed for signs and seasons. Virgil says that the sailors gave names to "the Pleiades, Hyades, and the Northern Car: Pleiadas, Hyadas, Claramque Lycaonis Arcton." And Palinurus, he says,
Arcturum, pluviasque Hyadas, Geminosque Triones,
Armatumque auro circumspicit Oriona,--
studied Arcturus and the rainy Hyades and the Twin Triones, and Orion cinctured with gold.
Taurus was the prince and leader of the celestial host for more than two thousand years; and when his head set with the Sun about the last of May, the Scorpion was seen to rise in the South-east.
The Pleiades were sometimes called Vergiliæ, or the Virgins of Spring; because the Sun entered this cluster of stars in the season of blossoms. Their Syrian name was Succoth, or Succothbeneth, derived from a Chaldæan word signifying to speculate or observe.
Orion is mentioned in the Old Testament book of Job when Job’s God asked him, rhetorically, “Can YOU loose the cords of Orion?”
We learn in these paragraphs of Orion’s now vain attempt of persecution as he soars through the heavens, where Orion is one of the most identifiable constellations in the northern hemisphere.
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The Hyades are five stars in the form of a V, 11° southeast of
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the Pleiades. The Greeks counted them as seven. When the Vernal Equinox was in Taurus, Aldebarán led up the starry host; and as he rose in the East, Aries was about 27° high.
When he was close upon the meridian, the Heavens presented their most magnificent appearance. Capella was a little further from the meridian, to the north; and Orion still further from it to the southward. Procyon, Sirius, Castor and Pollux had climbed about halfway from the horizon to the meridian. Regulus had just risen upon the ecliptic. The Virgin still lingered below the horizon. Fomalhaut was halfway to the meridian in the Southwest; and to the Northwest were the brilliant constellations, Perseus, Cepheus, Cassiopeia, and Andromeda; while the Pleiades had just passed the meridian.
ORION is visible to all the habitable world. The equinoctial line passes through the centre of it. When Aldebarán rose in the East, the Three Kings in Orion followed him; and as Taurus set, the Scorpion, by whose sting it was said Orion died, rose in the East.
Orion rises at noon about the 9th of March. His rising was accompanied with great rains and storms, and it became very terrible to mariners.
In Boötes, called by the ancient Greeks Lycaon, from lukos, a wolf, and by the Hebrews, Caleb Anubach, the Barking Dog, is the Great Star ARCTURUS, which, when Taurus opened the year, corresponded with a season remarkable for its great heat.
Next comes GEMINI, the Twins, two human figures, in the heads of which are the bright Stars CASTOR and POLLUX, the Dioscuri, and the Cabiri of Samothrace, patrons of navigation; while South of Pollux are the brilliant Stars SIRIUS and PROCYON, the greater and lesser Dog: and still further South, Canopus, in the Ship Argo.
Sirius is apparently the largest and brightest Star in the Heavens. When the Vernal Equinox was in Taurus, he rose heliacally, that is, just before the Sun, when, at the Summer Solstice, the Sun entered Leo, about the 21st of June, fifteen days previous to the swelling of the Nile. The heliacal rising of Canopus was also a precursor of the rising of the Nile. Procyon was the forerunner of Sirius, and rose before him.
In these paragraphs Pike continues his dissertation of the movements of the constellations through the heavens. I will refrain from opinion regarding these movements and welcome the reader to reflect on what personal meanings this may have to you.
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There are no important Stars in CANCER. In the Zodiacs of Esne and Dendera, and in most of the astrological remains of
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[paragraph continues] Egypt, the sign of this constellation was a beetle (Scarabæus), which thence became sacred, as an emblem of the gate through which souls descended from Heaven. In the crest of Cancer is a cluster of Stars formerly called Præsepe, the Manger, on each side of which is a small Star, the two of which were called Aselli little asses.
In Leo are the splendid Stars, REGULUS, directly on the ecliptic, and DENEBOLA in the Lion's tail. Southeast of Regulus is the fine Star COR HYDRÆ.
The combat of Hercules with the Nemæan lion was his first labor. It was the first sign into which the Sun passed, after falling below the Summer Solstice; from which time he struggled to re-ascend.
The Nile overflowed in this sign. It stands first in the Zodiac of Dendera, and is in all the Indian and Egyptian Zodiacs.
In the left hand of VIRGO (Isis or Ceres) is the beautiful Star SPICA Virginis, a little South of the ecliptic. VINDEMIATRIX, of less magnitude, is in the right arm; and Northwest of Spica, in Boötes (the husbandman, Osiris), is the splendid star ARCTURUS.
The division of the first Decan of the Virgin, Aben Ezra says, represents a beautiful Virgin with flowing hair, sitting in a chair, with two ears of corn in her hand, and suckling an infant. In an Arabian MS. in the Royal Library at Paris, is a picture of the Twelve Signs. That of Virgo is a young girl with an infant by her side. Virgo was Isis; and her representation, carrying a child (Horus) in her arms, exhibited in her temple, was accompanied by this inscription: "I AM ALL THAT IS, THAT WAS, AND THAT SHALL BE; and the fruit which I brought forth is the Sun."
Nine months after the Sun enters Virgo, he reaches the Twins. When Scorpio begins to rise, Orion sets: when Scorpio comes to the meridian, Leo begins to set, Typhon reigns, Osiris is slain, and Isis (the Virgin) his sister and wife, follows him to the tomb, weeping.
The Virgin and Boötes, setting heliacally at the Autumnal Equinox, delivered the world to the wintry constellations, and introduced into it the genius of Evil, represented by Ophiucus, the Serpent.
Very interesting paragraphs here where Pike describes the importance of Virgo, whom Pike reveals as the goddess Isis.
This myth pre dates the christian myth of the virgin birth of Jesus, we learn here of the virgin Isis depicted carrying Horus as an infant in her arms, she calls this child “the sun”.
Another interesting aspect in this paragraph is the words that Isis is depicted as saying “I AM ALL THAT IS,THAT WAS, AND THAT EVER WILL BE…."
Which is similar to words John the Revelator quoted Jesus as saying in the Book of Revelations in the New Testament
“I am Alpha and Omega. The begining and the end…"
It is important, I believe to keep our minds open to the idea that these myths we are taught to revere, might be the same myths passed down through time where the names and faces change to appease the cultures that are reading the myths in any certain time or place.
In my view, this idea of the stories being the same, yet retold does not diminish the beauty or morals of the story, in fact if these myths are indeed the same passed through the ages, it should show the reader the strength of the story having held up on their own merits over this long of time.
They held up because they teach us valuable lessons of life and morality.
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At the moment of the Winter Solstice, the Virgin rose heliacally (with the Sun), having the Sun (Horus) in her bosom.
In this short paragraph that will end our study for this time, we read why it may be why christians celebrate Christmas very near the winter solstice. The virgin rising with the sun (son) in her bosom.
Christians celebrate the arrival of their savior at the same time of this astronomy.
We find once again the importance of being open to more truths than only the truth we are taught to revere. It seems many truths are interwoven and build upon one another, and as we unravel the myths, we find a treasure trove of moral stories that have been shared through the millennia.
Thank you so very much for reading along today. I hope you leave this study with food for thought and with new ideas.
Feel free to contact me at universalfreemason03@gmail.com if you have any questions or ideas that might help me along, too!
Have a wonderful day, see you here net week as we continue on with chapter 25!
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