Past Articles

AR 48 Jupiter in Libra

AR 47 Once in a Blue Moon

AR 46 Sedna Enters the Arena

AR 45 Royal Stars of Persia

AR 44 Ancient Formulas for Immortality

AR 43 Twelve Gates of Heaven

AR 42 Jupiter in Virgo

AR 41 Geometry of the Spheres

AR 40 Saturn in Cancer, June, 2003 to July, 2005

AR 39 The Poles of the Zodiac

AR 38
Uranus In
Pisces
2003-2011

AR 37
Twelfth Planet, Plutinos or
Planet X

AR 36
Eclipses – Promise or Peril?

AR35
Solar Fire

AR34
The Lunar Mansions of Vedic Astrology

AR 33
Children of the Gods

AR 32
Wheels Within Wheels

AR 31
Horoscopes of Destiny

AR 30
Zodicac of Dendera

AR 29
A Star Is Born

AR 28
Age of Aquarius

AR 27
Persia's Royal Stars of Ancients

AR 23
The Lore of a Shaman

“. . For we have seen his star in the East, and we have come to worship him.”  -   The Bible, Matthew 2:2

The modern calendar begins with the birth of Christ and refers to subsequent years as AD, meaning “Anno Domini,” the year of our Lord, and prior years as BC, Before Christ. This reckoning was developed by the monk Dionysius Exiguus and was based on his belief of when Christ was born. Other more politcally-correct systems have emerged such as BP, Before Present, or BCE, Before Current Era.

Scholars disagree with Dionysius on when the actual event occurred and believe that the well-meaning monk made unfortunate errors in his record keeping. Today, the most-agreed upon timeframe for the birth of Christ is between 8 BC - 4 BC.

In an effort to solve the calendar controversy and fix the date of Christ’s birth astronomers have tried to identify the Star of Bethlehem, using modern science and computers. Two thousand years ago planets were called “wandering stars” so stellar candidates for the Star of Bethlehem include planetary conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn (7 BC), Jupiter, Saturn and Mars (6 BC), and Jupiter and Venus (5 BC) as well as a comet and Nova in 5 BC, and a possible naked-eye spotting of Uranus. Not a bad margin of error, considering the calendar issue. However, no agreement among experts has moved scholars any closer to pinpointing Christ’s birth.

Silent Night

The story of the Christmas Star and the exotic Magi bearing gifts appears only in the gospel of Matthew (Matthew 2:2). The idea of Wise Men following a bright star until the miraculous light came to rest over the stable of a newborn king is compelling because of its mythic overtones. Thousands of years ago watching the sky was the domain of astronomer-priests who interpreted comets and conjunctions, reading omens and portents on behalf of king and country.

Magi is plural of Magus, Magoi in Greek, and is generally translated as “Wise Men,” but also magician, priest or astrologer. Religious and secular sources agree that the Magi were highly respected for their wisdom and that extensive knowledge of the night sky was their province.

The image of three kings mounted on camels and dressed in exotic clothing, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh has become cultural idiom. Symbolically gold signified kingship or royal status. Frankincense is a resin used for prayer and ceremony, so this gift affirmed his sacred mission. Myrrh is a balm which was used to “embalm” corpses, so this gift foretold his sacrificial death. The Bible makes no mention of the Magi’s number, and chroniclers of their journey number their party anywhere from two to twelve. Tradition has settled on three; one for each gift.

Different sources point to different Eastern origins for the Magi. Persian Zororastrian, star priests from Sheba, or Babylonian or Assyrian astronomers have been suggested. Likewise tradition has named them in various ways, the most common being Gaspar, Balthasar and Melchior. Typically, Gaspar is depicted as a black African, Balthasar a European with a long white beard and Melchior is shown as “Oriental” or Persian. Perhaps this diversity is intended to suggest the wide-spread expectation and acceptance of the new king’s birth and to explain Matthew’s political purpose for telling the tale.

If the Biblical account represents a historical event, I believe the country of Sheba, or Saba, home of the famous, dark-skinned queen from southern Arabia who paid Solomon a call, was the most likely origin of the Magi. At the time in question the land was ruled by Priest-Kings with profound knowledge of the sky. A temple to the moon god Illumqua was discovered by archeologists at Marib, which was once the capital of Sheba. The land of Sheba was also renowned for trade of spices and incense, especially frankincense, as well as gold and jewels.

As above, so below

What’s most telling about Matthew’s account is that no one but the Magi seems to have noticed the star. In fact, Matthew remarks that when Herod heard the news, “Herod, the king trembled, and all Jerusalem with him.” (Matthew 2:3) Given the times, if there had been a dramatic celestial occurrence it seems likely that others would have commented, but the Bible is strangely silent. That suggests that either the knowledge was esoteric, requiring wisdom of the night sky to recognize something extraordinary, or the star was symbolic. If nothing obvious or easy to identify appeared in the night sky around 5 BC, what drew the Magi to Jerusalem?

Those who watched the sky looked for changes or disasters, literally “disorder in the stars.” By observing and passing down patterns which recurred over thousands of years the nature of experience on earth could be predicted. The sky is fairly orderly, moving through predictable cycles of differing lengths, so any change was considered worth of note. Days, months and years are short and easy to monitor. Cycles like Precession of the Equinoxes are much longer and more difficult to track.

Precession is the effect, visible only over time, of the earth’s wobble. This motion causes stars which rise in the predawn sky to shift slowly backward at the rate of one degree of arc every seventy-two years. The visible effect of this motion may not have been noticeable in the course of a single star watcher’s lifetime, but in a tradition like the Magi, carefully handed down over long generations, the place where a star rose over a mountain peak or other point on the horizon would be noticed as it moved westward.

In modern times, the Greek astronomer Hipparchus is credited with discovering the phenomenon of precession, but alternative scholars, including the authors of Hamlet’s Mill, have offered compelling evidence that this knowledge reached much farther back in time and was transmitted through myth.

Precession has two effects from the sky-watching perspective. First, the motion causes the polar axis to shift relative to the night sky and slowly moves a different “pole star” into the northern sky over time. Second, precession causes sunrise to move backward (toward the west), against different constellations. This motion came to be tracked against the familiar constellations which circle the ecliptic, the apparent annual journey of the sun. What evolved over time we now call the astrological ages, as the backward motion of the sun (really the earth’s slow wobble) changes at spring equinox. Sometimes known as Grand Months the ages last approximately 2,160 years. Even if the wobble is regular, the constellations are not all the same size, so ages may have varied in length.

Westward leading

We really don’t know when the familiar constellations of the zodiac were formed, but historically, Babylonian astronomers fixed the zodiac at spring equinox in Aries about four thousand years ago. Western astrologers still call spring equinox the zero point of Aries even though the stars no longer line up with that constellation. Western Tropical Astrology analyzes the relative positions of sun, moon and planets through the temporal divisions of the solar year, beginning with spring equinox.

Through these stellar ages “gods” have embodied the archetype of the age determined by the constellation presiding over spring equinox sunrise. During the age of Taurus, the Bull (circa 4,300 BC to 2,100 BC), Minotaurs, Apis bulls and the Bull of Heaven dominated myth and legend.

Next the march of ages brought the ram-headed god Khnum of Egypt to the stellar throne while the constellation of Aries, the Ram provided staging for the spring equinox sunrise around 2,100 BC. The onset of the Christian era in approximately 4 BC began as the spring sun rose against the backdrop of the constellation of Pisces, the Fishes. From then until the present the Fisher of Men has been the Avatar, or God-King, of the age of Pisces. As we approach the much-heralded age of Aquarius, the stars of the Water Bearer will replace those of the Fishes. At some point a new Avatar/archetype for the Aquarian age will emerge, bringing the return of the “once and future king.”

Star of the East

Knowledge of precession would have been central to the sacred and secret tradition of the sky-watching Magi. As the Great Wheel slowly turned the Magi would have monitored and anticipated the arrival of a new constellation on the spring equinox horizon, speculating on the character of the new age.

An important change did occur in the predawn sky around 8 BC - 4 BC as a new star rose before the sun. Now designated Eta Pisces this fairly-ordinary star ascended due east at spring equinox and displaced the stars of Aries after more than two thousand years. The “Star in the East” wasn’t a flashing comet or brilliant planetary conjunction but a star in the constellation of Pisces, the Fishes, proclaiming the dawn of a new age.

What made the star special that the Magi followed “to Bethlehem, in Judah,” was not its outward brilliance or showy display but its position in the sky. Eta Pisces resides on the “border” of Aries and Pisces, and although unnamed some intriguing lore is connected with this star.

In his classic book, Star Names, Their Lore & Meaning, R.H. Allen states that another author, the German Orientalist, J. Epping (Astronomisches aus Babylon), insisted that this star marked the ecliptic point of the first constellation of the Babylonians. Since Eta Pisces was the first to rise after the stars of Aries passed the spring equinox marker in the epoch of 8 BC -4 BC, this is strong testimony that this star could have been seen as the announcer of the age of Pisces. Allen also tells us that another name for this star was “Dweller of the Fish.” An apt description for herald of an era symbolized by fish.

Holy Light

Ancient tradition informs us that each age brings forth a new Avatar, a Divine Incarnation, to intercede on behalf of humanity. Certainly the advent of such a new “King” would have been anticipated by Magi who lived at the cusp of an age. Whether a literal voyage of homage to Bethlehem occurred or not Matthew’s story was based on respected authority from an ancient lineage. A star which beckoned to the Magi and drew them to a humble birthplace bearing kingly gifts would have lent strong justification for the birth of the Messiah.

Whether the story is myth, history or a poetic combination, as the Lamb of God from the age of Aries was transformed into the Fisher of Men for the age of Pisces I believe the “Star in the East,” once called “Dweller of the Fish,“ marked the point in time of the transition.