Astrology: The Luminaries of the Firmament (The Clock of the Stars)
From Middle East it came other phenomena such as Astrology, which is the science that studies the luminaries and their fixed and relative movements. In the New Age, it considers, mainly, 12 zodiacal signs -Horoscope- and 10 celestial bodies - Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto-. It also works on the aspects or the angles between these luminaries. Astrology is a science of long existence and supposedly developed by various civilisations independently of the Kabbalah, the result of observing how certain stars, particularly the Sun, influenced the change of the seasons and the success of the harvests. On the basis of these observations, they carried out a broader system in which the movements of the stars, such as the wandering ones, influenced or represented other aspects of life -all the fixed stars maintain a similar pattern of movement, while the wandering ones, like planets or comets, seemed to have their own movements (like human beings)-. The Zodiac was divided into twelve equal parts of thirty degrees each, preserving the names of the same constellations. The Chaldeans -magicians and soothsayers-, inhabitants of Babylonia in Mesopotamia, carried out very defined and detailed studies and observations on the movements of the luminaries of the day and night -Sun and Moon-, and of the five wandering stars -Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn- that could be seen from solid ground. They also attributed specific characteristics to various luminaries, based on certain aspects. The Chinese also observed the behaviour of the lights in the sky in 2000 BC, as in India and in the Mayan civilisation where other varieties were developed. Around the 5th century BC astrology spread to Greece, where philosophers such as Pythagoras and Plato incorporated it into their studies of astronomy, considering both sciences as complementary.
The astronomical astrology of the Babylonians was the main source from which astronomy arose. From them we inherit our 7-day week and 24-hour day. The order of the days of the week and their names also come from them. They were the ones who assigned the name of the day of the week according to the planet that governed the first hour of the day, and according to a rule that established an order among the planets -ascension and position in the heavens and illumination-. So it is, for example:
if the Moon –Monday/Lunes, in Spanish in honour of the Luna/Moon- ruled the first hour of a certain day, Mars –Tuesdays/Martes, in Spanish, in honour of the god Mars - would be the next, then Mercury –Wednesday/Miercoles, in Spanish, in honour of the god Mercury-, Jupiter –Thursday/Jueves, in Spanish, in honour of the god Jupiter-, Venus –Friday/Viernes in Spanish, in honour of the goddess Venus-, Saturn –Saturday/Sabado, in Spanish, in honor of the God Saturnand then, the Sun -Sunday-.
But of course, that during the modern era, where the first day of the week was Monday -day of the Moon-, and ended on Sunday -day of the Sun-, this would be, because the Gregorian, Catholic-liturgical calendar -calculates the moons-, considered that God rested on Sunday, the day of the Sun -when Jesus, the reincarnated son, supposedly rose from the dead-. On the other hand, for the Hebrews, Jews, paganism, and some Christian branch -Anglican or Orthodox, for example-, the day of the week began on Sunday, the day of the Sun, and ended on Saturday, the day of Saturn -the God of time-. In Germanic mythology:
The Sun is personified as a goddess, Sunna, and the day of the week that is understood as Sunday, they called it Sunnandaeg –Sunday- means day of the Sun. For Monday, they personified the god Maní, which old English written as Monandaeg – Monday-, and means day of the Moon. For the day of Mars, they used it is equivalent in the Norse pantheon, they called that god as Tiwesdaeg -Tuesday-, or day of Tiw, the German god of war and the sky. For the day of Mercury, the Germans called it Wodnesdaeg -Wednesday-, referring to the German god Wodan -Odin among the Norse-, god of the gods. For the day of Jupiter, they called it Tunresdaeg -thursday-, in reference to the god of thunder, the god Thor. On the day of Venus, the Germans called it Frigedaeg, in reference to Odin’s wife; Freya –Friday-, the goddess of love and beauty in the Germanic pantheon. Finally, the day of Saturn, was known as Saeturnesdaeg, and means: the day of washing. And that could be related to the Jewish Shabbat.
Mostly, when we look up at the sky, we see nothing but clouds and stars. We can distinguish the sun and the moon. But do we really know the difference between all that bunch of trapped fireflies? Apparently, our ancestors knew how to differentiate it. The names of the planets with which we name them today are of Greco-Roman origin. But in their day, they were assigned by the names of the gods of Mesopotamia.
The day of the Sun: Sunday was dedicated to the Sun god Utu, in Sumer, and the Sun god Shamash, in Babylon. The day of the Moon: Monday was dedicated to the Moon god Nannar, in Sumeria and the Moon god Sin, in Babylon The day of Mars: Tuesday was dedicated to the god of the underworld and plagues, Nergal, in Babylon The day of Mercury: Wednesday was dedicated to the god of wisdom and writing, the god Nabu, in Babylon The day of Jupiter: Thursday was dedicated to the god Enlil, father of the gods, in Sumeria, on the other hand, for the Babylonians, this day of the week was dedicated to the god Marduk The day of Venus: Friday it was dedicated to the goddess of love, sex, beauty, fertility and war, which the Sumerians called Inanna, while the Babylonians called her Ishtar The day of Saturn: Saturday was dedicated to the agricultural God Ninurta, for the Sumerians.
The word planet comes from a Greek word planete that means wandering or wandering body: The wandering body that wanders the skies. Any of us knowing this can prove it in fact. If we contemplate during several nights, we will see them change their position among the fixed stars of the sky. The other planets were supposedly discovered between the 18th and 19th centuries AD: Uranus in the year 1776, Neptune in the year 1836 and Pluto in the year 1868. These names were given to them out of respect for our ancestors –that’s what they said-, thus continuing with the mythological naming that they ritualised. As technology has increased and the heliocentric theory has permeated the collective-, the map with which we contemplate the sky has been changing -or solar system-. Other planets of similar size have been found in our solar system such as Eris -further away than Pluto- and Ceres -between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter-, which the latest studies affirm has a huge ocean inside. There are also other similar objects found and that are still under investigation. These luminaries and possible future dwarf planets are: Sedna, Orcus, Varura, Ixion, Vesta, Pallas, Hygiea among several others to be named.
The 12 zodiacal signs composed and taken into account in this secret doctrine are:
Aries, Taurus and Gemini who make up the first order. Cancer, Leo and Virgo that make up the second order. Libra, Scorpio and Sagittarius that make up the third order. Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces that make up the fourth and last order.
Astrology details the cycles of life and expresses the essence of each of the numbers as the wheel of life turns. In other words, they work from space and time. Hence, these orders that reflect the beginning and the sowing with the spring equinox, first order. The second order begins with the summer solstice and the collection of such sowing. The third order with the autumnal equinox and the fall of the old The fourth order with the winter solstice and the void or revision that leads to a new sowing.
All civilisations developed their own calendar based on the zodiacal horoscopes. As well as the Egyptians, Mayans, Native Americans -who called it a medicine wheel-, Aztecs, Chinese, Celts, etc.
