What do the Star Signs Really Say?
“What sign are you?” a female co-worker once asked me. She was into yoga, eastern mysticism, and neo-pagan meet-ups, so it didn’t surprise me that she was also a follower of horoscopes, or the zodiac. As any follower of this philosophy will tell you, there are certain traits common to people under the same star sign. She had no doubt observed me as a hard-working and reserved person at work, and had now just heard me play the piano at an after-work party.
Apparently, these traits suggest a quintessential Taurus – down-to-earth, conservative, and industrious but also passionate about music and dance. Had this girl known me better, she may have also seen qualities listed on a refrigerator magnet an ex-girlfriend once gave me. It was a picture of a bull with a manner of appearance suggestive of the adjectives surrounding him: self-indulgent, stubborn, materialistic, lustful, brooding, jealous, bull-headed, etc. (all the negative connotations of my star sign). A lot of tragic romantic types were Taurus: Shakespeare, Brahms, Hitler…who, by the way, was so obsessed with astrology that he employed a full-time staff of astrologers to help him run the Third Reich.
But what does all this mean? Star signs? Bulls? Horoscopes? The zodiac? And what is about them that fascinates people from your ordinary Chicago Tribune reader to dictators seeking global domination?
Look up zodiac in the Merriam Webster Online dictionary and you find the following definition: “An imaginary band in the heavens centered on the ecliptic that encompasses the apparent paths of all the planets except Pluto and is divided into 12 constellations or signs each taken for astrological purposes to extend 30 degrees of longitude.” According to Merriam Webster, the etymological origin comes from the Latin zodiacus or from the Greekzōidiakos, an adjective meaning “of carved figures”. In most dictionaries, the translation of this word is “animal sign” as most of these signs are figures of animals. But others say that the word is a Greek cognate derived from the Sanskrit word sodi, which means “a path.”
No matter how far back you go – Rome, Greece, Ancient Egypt, or Babylonia – all these cultures shared a remarkable similarity; they all had the same twelve signs, representing the same twelve things, in the same order. In the Temple of Esneh in Egypt, there is a sky painting of the zodiac where a sphinx sits between Virgo and Leo, her face looking at Virgo, her tail pointing to Leo, implying the starting and ending points of the zodiac. Astronomical cuneiform texts from the second millenium B.C. contain Sumerian names of constellations we now call Leo, Taurus, and Scorpio (Lion, Bull, and Scorpion) – animals that appear on Babylonian boundary stones from the same period. This is shortly after what many believe to be the oldest book in the bible was written – the book of Job. In Job 38:31-32 God says to Job and his friends, “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords or Orion? Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season or can you guide the Bear with its children? Mazzaroth is a Hebrew word which means “The constellations of the zodiac.” Here we have a clear reference to the zodiac in what may be the oldest book in human history. The Bible also tells us that God called all of the stars “the host of heaven” and set them in the firmament to be signs.
Is it possible that, over time, what God created as a proclamation of the gospel has been incrusted by Greek mythology and distorted by satanic cults? What is the real meaning of the zodiac’s twelve constellations? What do the signs really tell us?
D James Kennedy addresses these questions in his book The Real Meaning of the Zodiac. He draws upon history, science, and biblical knowledge to present a compelling case that the zodiac is really a picture play of the grand drama of redemption.
Act I - God the protagonist and savior
1st sign - Virgo (the Virgin) holds a seed in one hand and a branch in the other. In Genesis, the first book of the Bible, the first prophecy of the Virgin’s son, Jesus Christ, and His triumph over Satan is found in Genesis 3:15: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” Jesus is referred to as “The Branch” a number of times throughout Scripture. “For, behold, I will bring forth my servant the Branch. In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious.” (Isaiah 4:2) Each sign in the zodiac has three minor-signs, or decans. One of the stars in the second decan of Virgo is Centaurus (or in Hebrew, Bezeh, which means “Despised One”). A centaur, from Greek mythology, is a man with two natures: part man, part horse. Centaurs were heaven-begotten creatures hated by both gods and men. Chiron, an immortal centaur known for his goodness and wisdom, voluntarily agreed to sacrifice his own life to save Prometheus, a titan punished by Zeus and sentenced to an eternity of suffering. In this story is a conceit for the immortal Christ, “despised and rejected of men” (Isaiah 53:3), who gave up His life so that others may have everlasting life.
2nd sign – Libra “The Scales”. “You have been weighed in the balances [scales] and found wanting” (Daniel 5:27). This sign is a metaphor for the mission of Christ – redemption, a word from Latin meaning “to purchase back”, which is exactly what Christ did for believers when He died on the cross. The brightest stars in this constellation are Zuben al Genubi “The price deficient” (read: the work of man) in the lower scale, Zuben al Chemali “the price which covers” (read: the work of Christ) in the upper scale, and Zuben Akrabi “the price of the conflict.”
3rd sign – Scorpio. In Arabic and Syriac, this constellation is known as Al Akrab which means “Scorpion”, but also “Conflict” or “War.” “Their tails were equipped with stings, like scorpion tails. With those tails they were ordered to torture the human race for five months. They had a king over them , the Angel of the Abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, in Greek, Apollyon – “Destroyer.”(Revelation 9:10-11). The first decan in this constellation is Aesculapius, the “serpent holder,” which portrays a great man restraining the serpent. Aesculapius was a son of Apollo who, according to Greek mythology, cured the sick and brought the dead back to life. Called the “universal remedy”, he was raised from the dead and exalted to glory through the influence of his heavenly father. In Luke 10:19, Christ says “Behold, I give unto you power to read on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” While Christ the healer is represented in Aesculapius, Christ the Mighty God is represented in the third decan – Hercules. One of the stars in this decan, Ras-Al-Gethi, means “The Head of Him who Bruises”, which is another reference to the protoevangelium in Genesis 3:15, a verse which captures the root of the conflict. Hercules has in his hand Cerberus, the three-headed monster that guarded the gates to hell. In the constellations, as in Scripture, the devil is portrayed in different forms: a serpent, a dragon, a scorpion, a hydra, a sea monster, but always as a malignant creature, which the protagonist or god-begotten man destroys.
4th sign – Sagitarrius “The Archer”. The name of this constellation in Akkadian is Nun-ki, or “The Prince of the Earth”. Vega is a bright star in this constellation meaning “He Shall Be Exalted.” . In the decan Drago (The Dragon), the brightest star is Thuban, which means “The Subtle” in Hebrew. Thuban (also called Draconis) was the pole star 4,700 years ago, but it is not visible today due to a phenomenon known as the precession of equinoxes in which the gravitational influences of the sun and moon cause the Earth to wobble about its polar axis as it moves through its elliptical path around the sun. As a result, the position of the stars relative to the Earth shift predictably over a 26,000 year cycle. Thuban was the visible pole star 4,700 years ago, shortly after the fall of man described in Genesis. But it is not visible today. Polaris is the pole star today, which is part of a constellation found in Cancer, a sign which represents the Church. The symbolic implication here is that Satan has lost his place in the heavens to believers in Christ.
Act II - The story of the Church
5th sign – Capricornus – The Goat, or half-goat really. What’s interesting about Capricornus is that the goat half is dying, while the fish half is thriving. The symbolism is profound, and its message is metaphorically paraphrased in the decan Aquila. The stars that make up Aquila (latin for “The Eagle” areTarared, which in Hebrew means “The Wounded” or “Torn”, Al Cair “The Piercing”, and Al Okab “Wounded in the Heel”. In the absence of food, Eagles will go as far as tearing themselves with their own beaks to feed their young with their own blood. In a similar manner, Christ was pierced on a cross and He shed his blood for all believers so that they may have everlasting life. Before Christ, animals, such as goats, were sacrificed as propitiation for sin. Christ came into the world to be a “fisher of men”. That’s what other believers called each other – Pisces, which is Greek for fish. What we see in Capricorn is a representation of Christ offering Himself as the sacrifice (goat) for the everlasting life of His believers (pisces).
6th sign – Aquarius, The Water-Bearer. In Aquarius, water is being poured out upon the figure of a fish. In this sign, we see a fish/pisces/believer sustained by the risen Christ. In the book of John, Jesus tells the women at the well, “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:14). When believers receive the sacrament of Baptism, we receive water upon us as initiation into the faith. The first decan, Piscis Australis, The Southern Fish, pays homage to the Greek myth of Aphrodite who was transformed into a fish to escape a horrible monster named Typhon. This is another representation of a believer (pisces) escaping a malignant hostile creature (Satan). Pegasus, the winged horse, is the second decan. Pegasus, which is Greek for “Fountain Horse” was the flying steed upon which Perseus rode when he rescued Andromeda from the sea monster. The third decan is Cygnus, the Swan whose brightest star is Deneb, which translates as “The Lord or Judge to Come.”
7th sign – Pisces. For 2,000 years we have been in the age of Pisces. In other words, due to the precession of equinoxes, the vernal equinox points towards the constellation of Pisces. In about fifty more years, we will be in the age of Aquarius, the constellation whose brightest star means “The Lord or Judge to Come.” The first decan in Pisces is the Band. Aries, the Ram, has his paw upon the band which connects the two fishes, supposedly representing the union of the Old Testament and New Testament saints in Christ. The band makes two interesting intersections: the back of the head of Cetus, the Sea Monster, and the foreleg of Aries, The Ram, suggesting another representation of the protoevangelium. The second decan is Andromeda, The Chained Woman. In Greek mythology, Andromeda was a lovely maiden who was chained by jealous sea nymphs to a rock to be devoured by the great sea monster, Cetus. But a hero by the name of Perseus rescues her by cutting off the serpent’s head as it emerges from the sea. Perseus shares characteristics similar to Christ. Perseus was the son of a god born to a mortal woman who was put under persecution from the moment he was born. The third decan is Cepheus, which means “The Branch or the King.” The stars that make up this decan are Al Dermin “Coming Quickly”, Al Phirk “The Redeemer” and Alrai “He Who Bruises or Breaks.”
8th sign – Aries, The Ram or Lamb. The Hebrew name for Aries is Talehmeaning “The Lamb Sent Forth.” The Akkadians called it Baraziggar meaning “The Sacrifice of Making Right.” The first decan is Cassiopeia, The Enthroned Woman. In one hand she’s arranging her robe; in another, she’s holding a branch of victory and arranging her hair. Cetus, the Sea-Monster mentioned in the previous sign takes up more space in the sky than any other of the constellations. One of the brightest stars in this decan is Mira, which is Hebrew for “The Rebel.” The brightest star located in the nose is Menkar, Hebrew for “The Bound” or “Chained Enemy.” The second brightest star is called Diphda, which means “The Overthrown.” The final decan is Perseus, the god-begotten man discussed in the previous sign. Perseus’ rescue of Andromeda followed directly on the heels of another famous mission - the beheading of Medusa, one of three horrible gorgons who had serpents for hair and whose very appearance could turn men to stone. Medusa, in Hebrew, Spanish, Italian, and other languages means “jellyfish”, a poisonous creature that will likely bruise your heel if trodden underfoot. One of the bright stars in the constellation of Perseus is Rosh Satan, which is Hebrew for “Satan’s head”.
Act III - Christ's judgment on the world at the end of days
9th sign – Taurus marks the third act of the New Testament story, Christ’s coming in glory and judgment. In Greek mythology, Taurus was a form assumed by Jupiter for carrying away his loved one, the beautiful Europa, across the seas to the island of Crete. The Pleiades (the seven sisters) ride high upon the shoulder of Taurus. In the book of Isaiah, the namesake prophet warns his people of God’s coming judgment. “Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the Lord of hosts in the day of his fierce anger…Whoever is found will be thrust through. Wild oxen shall fall with them, and young steers with the mighty bulls.” (Isaiah 13:9, 13:15, 34:7). The first decan is Orion who, according to Greek mythology, was the greatest hunter who ever lived. He holds a club in the right hand and the skin of a slain lion in the left. Orion is mentioned twice in Job and once in Amos. A notable star in this constellation is called Rigel “the foot that crusheth” (another reference to the protoevangelium mentioned in Virgo). The second decan is Eridanus, a river of fire from Greek mythology and whose constellation flows out of the foot of Orion. “As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire. A stream of fire issued and came out from before him; a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened.”(Daniel 7:9-10). An inference can be drawn from the relative positions of Taurus(twelve 'o clock) and Scorpio (six 'o clock) that with Christ’s coming and judgment, Satan is cast down into eternal darkness, the “bottomless pit”.
10th sign – Gemini, the twins. Castor and Pollux (known as Apollo and Hercules in Greek) were the twin sons of Jupiter and great heroes who cleared the seas of Pirates. The name of the ship that the apostle Paul referred to in Acts was Castor and Pollux (their Latin names). The brightest star is Castor“Ruler” or “Judge.” In Hercules, the second brightest star Pollux means “The Strong One Coming to Labor or Suffer.” In Greek mythology, Hercules was subject to a series of penances, known as “The Labors of Hercules” (twelve to be exact). One of his assigned tasks was to clean the Augean stables of their filth, a task thought impossible; yet Hercules did it in a single day. Similarly, in Christ, we find the hope of cleansing in a spiritual sense which would otherwise be impossible without Him. Another star located in the left foot of Hercules is Al Henah, meaning “The Hurt” or “Afflicted.” In the right knee of Apollo is the star Mebsuta which is Hebrew for “treading underfoot.” The decan Canis Major contains the stars Naz (“Hawk”) and Seir (“Prince of all the Earth”). Interestingly, if you put these two together you get something very close to Nazarene, a person from Nazareth as was Jesus Christ.
11th sign - Cancer – the Crab. One of the brightest nebulous clusters isPaesepe, which means “The Multitude”, “The Offspring”, or “The Innumerable Seed.” In the first decan, Ursa Minor, is Polaris, the north star (as you may recall from the summary of Sagitarrius, the north star used to be Draconis). Ursa Major, the big dipper, is made up of seven stars. Among them are Al Naish “The Assembled together”, Dubheh “Herd”, and Merach “The Flock” (Hebrew). The final decan is Argo “The Ship” which means “Company of Travelers." There is a famous story in Greek mythology where Jason and the Argonauts embark on a quest for the Golden Fleece, which was the fleece of the ram that had saved Jason’s cousin and was sacrificed to Zeus in gratitude. Only Jason was able to destroy the serpent that guarded the fleece and recapture righteousness for his people. The Church is often referred to as a ship in the world but not of it. The Argo and its heroes endured many trials and sufferings before the ship finally came home to rest.
12th sign – Leo, the Lion. Leo means the same thing in Arabic, Hebrew, Coptic, or Syriac: “He that Rends, That Tears Asunder.” The lion is the king of the jungle. The lion is also a familiar figure in Scripture appearing over one hundred times. In Revelation 5:5 John was told “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that He can open the scroll and its seven seals.” In Hosea 13:7-8 God is clearly depicted as a lion: “So I am to them like a lion…I will tear open their breast, and there I will devour them like a lion…” The first decan in this constellation is Hydra, a hundred-headed monster from Greek mythology that grew two new heads for every one cut off. The only way this creature could be destroyed was with fire; therefore, every time our familiar hero Hercules cut off a head, he applied a red hot iron to sear the wounds and prevent the heads from multiplying again. The name Hydra means “He Is the Abhorred.” And one of the many stars in this constellation that describe Satan is Minchir al Sugia, which means “Tearing to Shreds of the Deceiver.” The second decan is Crater, or The Cup. “He also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of His anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.” (Revelation 14:10-11). Two stars that make up the base of the cup are also part of the Hydra, perhaps to serve as a reminder that the curse originally came into the world through the serpent but is now to be poured out upon him and all his followers. The third decan is Corvus, or The Raven. It is shown on the back of the Serpent in the planisphere. “The eye that mocks a father and scorns to obey a mother will be picked out by the ravens of the valley and eaten by the vultures.” (Proverbs 30:17). The name of this constellation in Arabic is Minchir al Gorab, which means “The Raven’s Piercing or Tearing to Pieces.” The brightest star, which is located in the eye of this ill-omened bird, is called Al Chiba, which comes from Hebrew and means “The Curse Inflicted.” “Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, ‘Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great’.” (Revelation 19:17-18)
Looking at these signs from a thematic point of view, three distinct acts emerge. The first four signs are a picture of Christ’s coming in to the world to pay the penalty for all mankind’s sin. The second four signs further introduce the work of His people and the story of the Church. The final four signs tell the story of Christ’s judgment on the world at the end of days. The protoevangelium, or the first gospel found in Genesis 3:15, is a recurring theme in the zodiac. God says “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” The protoevangelium is represented in Virgo who holds a seed in one of her hands, in Scorpio’s star Ras-Al-Gethis which means “The Head of Him who Bruises”, in Pisces’s star Alrai which means “He Who Bruises or Breaks”, and in the myth of Medusa, a woman with serpents for hair whose name means “Trodden Underfoot.” Even the position of the stars with relation to the earth is symbolic. At the time of man’s fall, Draconis was the star of heaven, but it has fallen like Satan, the "angel of light" himself (2 Corinthians 11:14) to be replaced by Polaris, the guiding light within a constellation that represents the church.
After reading D James Kennedy's book I had to challenge the popular view of the zodiac and its underlying logic. Am I a conservative earthy guy who appreciates harmony and beauty in all things, harbors a tendency towards sentimentality, and plugs along patiently until some heckler sets off my hair-trigger temper? I can certainly empathize with a lot of that. And P.T. Barnum, the famous circus master who coined the phrase “there’s a sucker born every minute”, understood the psychology behind it. People attach high accuracy to statements they believe are tailored for them when in reality they are vague and general enough to apply to a large group of people. For those seeking advice on finding love or a new career, they may be disappointed if they trust in the signs. Look what they did for Hitler.
The old testament prophet Isaiah was speaking to those who took the signs as their gods and the fortunetellers their prophets when he said the following: “You are wearied with your many counsels; let them stand forth and save you, those who divide the heavens, who gaze at the stars, who at the new moons make known what shall come upon you. Behold, they are like stubble; the fire consumes them; they cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. No coal for warming oneself is this, no fire to sit before!” (Isaiah 47:13)
Long before humans thought the planets revolved around the earth (a theory upon which the flawed logic of astrology is built) or Satan deceived Eve with a new revelation, could it be that a creator God painted His glory in the sky with a subtlety indicative of all great artists? And if our personalities seem to predictably conform to the signs under which we’re born, is that necessarily a cause for new religion? One can debate whether so and so is stubborn or good-natured or extroverted but those adjectives are largely subjective. And what I’ve presented here are merely facts that support the idea that perhaps the answers are not in the signs themselves, but in the One to whom they point.
Bibliography:
D James Kennedy, The Real Meaning of the Zodiac (Fort Lauderdale: Coral Ridge Ministries, 1989).
“equinoxes, precession of the.” Encyclopedia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. 17 2008 <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9032850>.
Edith Hamilton, Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes(Massachusetts: Little, Brown & Company, 1940).
“What sign are you?” a female co-worker once asked me. She was into yoga, eastern mysticism, and neo-pagan meet-ups, so it didn’t surprise me that she was also a follower of horoscopes, or the zodiac. As any follower of this philosophy will tell you, there are certain traits common to people under the same star sign. She had no doubt observed me as a hard-working and reserved person at work, and had now just heard me play the piano at an after-work party.
Apparently, these traits suggest a quintessential Taurus – down-to-earth, conservative, and industrious but also passionate about music and dance. Had this girl known me better, she may have also seen qualities listed on a refrigerator magnet an ex-girlfriend once gave me. It was a picture of a bull with a manner of appearance suggestive of the adjectives surrounding him: self-indulgent, stubborn, materialistic, lustful, brooding, jealous, bull-headed, etc. (all the negative connotations of my star sign). A lot of tragic romantic types were Taurus: Shakespeare, Brahms, Hitler…who, by the way, was so obsessed with astrology that he employed a full-time staff of astrologers to help him run the Third Reich.
But what does all this mean? Star signs? Bulls? Horoscopes? The zodiac? And what is about them that fascinates people from your ordinary Chicago Tribune reader to dictators seeking global domination?
Look up zodiac in the Merriam Webster Online dictionary and you find the following definition: “An imaginary band in the heavens centered on the ecliptic that encompasses the apparent paths of all the planets except Pluto and is divided into 12 constellations or signs each taken for astrological purposes to extend 30 degrees of longitude.” According to Merriam Webster, the etymological origin comes from the Latin zodiacus or from the Greekzōidiakos, an adjective meaning “of carved figures”. In most dictionaries, the translation of this word is “animal sign” as most of these signs are figures of animals. But others say that the word is a Greek cognate derived from the Sanskrit word sodi, which means “a path.”
No matter how far back you go – Rome, Greece, Ancient Egypt, or Babylonia – all these cultures shared a remarkable similarity; they all had the same twelve signs, representing the same twelve things, in the same order. In the Temple of Esneh in Egypt, there is a sky painting of the zodiac where a sphinx sits between Virgo and Leo, her face looking at Virgo, her tail pointing to Leo, implying the starting and ending points of the zodiac. Astronomical cuneiform texts from the second millenium B.C. contain Sumerian names of constellations we now call Leo, Taurus, and Scorpio (Lion, Bull, and Scorpion) – animals that appear on Babylonian boundary stones from the same period. This is shortly after what many believe to be the oldest book in the bible was written – the book of Job. In Job 38:31-32 God says to Job and his friends, “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords or Orion? Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season or can you guide the Bear with its children? Mazzaroth is a Hebrew word which means “The constellations of the zodiac.” Here we have a clear reference to the zodiac in what may be the oldest book in human history. The Bible also tells us that God called all of the stars “the host of heaven” and set them in the firmament to be signs.
Is it possible that, over time, what God created as a proclamation of the gospel has been incrusted by Greek mythology and distorted by satanic cults? What is the real meaning of the zodiac’s twelve constellations? What do the signs really tell us?
D James Kennedy addresses these questions in his book The Real Meaning of the Zodiac. He draws upon history, science, and biblical knowledge to present a compelling case that the zodiac is really a picture play of the grand drama of redemption.
Act I - God the protagonist and savior
1st sign - Virgo (the Virgin) holds a seed in one hand and a branch in the other. In Genesis, the first book of the Bible, the first prophecy of the Virgin’s son, Jesus Christ, and His triumph over Satan is found in Genesis 3:15: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” Jesus is referred to as “The Branch” a number of times throughout Scripture. “For, behold, I will bring forth my servant the Branch. In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious.” (Isaiah 4:2) Each sign in the zodiac has three minor-signs, or decans. One of the stars in the second decan of Virgo is Centaurus (or in Hebrew, Bezeh, which means “Despised One”). A centaur, from Greek mythology, is a man with two natures: part man, part horse. Centaurs were heaven-begotten creatures hated by both gods and men. Chiron, an immortal centaur known for his goodness and wisdom, voluntarily agreed to sacrifice his own life to save Prometheus, a titan punished by Zeus and sentenced to an eternity of suffering. In this story is a conceit for the immortal Christ, “despised and rejected of men” (Isaiah 53:3), who gave up His life so that others may have everlasting life.
2nd sign – Libra “The Scales”. “You have been weighed in the balances [scales] and found wanting” (Daniel 5:27). This sign is a metaphor for the mission of Christ – redemption, a word from Latin meaning “to purchase back”, which is exactly what Christ did for believers when He died on the cross. The brightest stars in this constellation are Zuben al Genubi “The price deficient” (read: the work of man) in the lower scale, Zuben al Chemali “the price which covers” (read: the work of Christ) in the upper scale, and Zuben Akrabi “the price of the conflict.”
3rd sign – Scorpio. In Arabic and Syriac, this constellation is known as Al Akrab which means “Scorpion”, but also “Conflict” or “War.” “Their tails were equipped with stings, like scorpion tails. With those tails they were ordered to torture the human race for five months. They had a king over them , the Angel of the Abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, in Greek, Apollyon – “Destroyer.”(Revelation 9:10-11). The first decan in this constellation is Aesculapius, the “serpent holder,” which portrays a great man restraining the serpent. Aesculapius was a son of Apollo who, according to Greek mythology, cured the sick and brought the dead back to life. Called the “universal remedy”, he was raised from the dead and exalted to glory through the influence of his heavenly father. In Luke 10:19, Christ says “Behold, I give unto you power to read on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” While Christ the healer is represented in Aesculapius, Christ the Mighty God is represented in the third decan – Hercules. One of the stars in this decan, Ras-Al-Gethi, means “The Head of Him who Bruises”, which is another reference to the protoevangelium in Genesis 3:15, a verse which captures the root of the conflict. Hercules has in his hand Cerberus, the three-headed monster that guarded the gates to hell. In the constellations, as in Scripture, the devil is portrayed in different forms: a serpent, a dragon, a scorpion, a hydra, a sea monster, but always as a malignant creature, which the protagonist or god-begotten man destroys.
4th sign – Sagitarrius “The Archer”. The name of this constellation in Akkadian is Nun-ki, or “The Prince of the Earth”. Vega is a bright star in this constellation meaning “He Shall Be Exalted.” . In the decan Drago (The Dragon), the brightest star is Thuban, which means “The Subtle” in Hebrew. Thuban (also called Draconis) was the pole star 4,700 years ago, but it is not visible today due to a phenomenon known as the precession of equinoxes in which the gravitational influences of the sun and moon cause the Earth to wobble about its polar axis as it moves through its elliptical path around the sun. As a result, the position of the stars relative to the Earth shift predictably over a 26,000 year cycle. Thuban was the visible pole star 4,700 years ago, shortly after the fall of man described in Genesis. But it is not visible today. Polaris is the pole star today, which is part of a constellation found in Cancer, a sign which represents the Church. The symbolic implication here is that Satan has lost his place in the heavens to believers in Christ.
Act II - The story of the Church
5th sign – Capricornus – The Goat, or half-goat really. What’s interesting about Capricornus is that the goat half is dying, while the fish half is thriving. The symbolism is profound, and its message is metaphorically paraphrased in the decan Aquila. The stars that make up Aquila (latin for “The Eagle” areTarared, which in Hebrew means “The Wounded” or “Torn”, Al Cair “The Piercing”, and Al Okab “Wounded in the Heel”. In the absence of food, Eagles will go as far as tearing themselves with their own beaks to feed their young with their own blood. In a similar manner, Christ was pierced on a cross and He shed his blood for all believers so that they may have everlasting life. Before Christ, animals, such as goats, were sacrificed as propitiation for sin. Christ came into the world to be a “fisher of men”. That’s what other believers called each other – Pisces, which is Greek for fish. What we see in Capricorn is a representation of Christ offering Himself as the sacrifice (goat) for the everlasting life of His believers (pisces).
6th sign – Aquarius, The Water-Bearer. In Aquarius, water is being poured out upon the figure of a fish. In this sign, we see a fish/pisces/believer sustained by the risen Christ. In the book of John, Jesus tells the women at the well, “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:14). When believers receive the sacrament of Baptism, we receive water upon us as initiation into the faith. The first decan, Piscis Australis, The Southern Fish, pays homage to the Greek myth of Aphrodite who was transformed into a fish to escape a horrible monster named Typhon. This is another representation of a believer (pisces) escaping a malignant hostile creature (Satan). Pegasus, the winged horse, is the second decan. Pegasus, which is Greek for “Fountain Horse” was the flying steed upon which Perseus rode when he rescued Andromeda from the sea monster. The third decan is Cygnus, the Swan whose brightest star is Deneb, which translates as “The Lord or Judge to Come.”
7th sign – Pisces. For 2,000 years we have been in the age of Pisces. In other words, due to the precession of equinoxes, the vernal equinox points towards the constellation of Pisces. In about fifty more years, we will be in the age of Aquarius, the constellation whose brightest star means “The Lord or Judge to Come.” The first decan in Pisces is the Band. Aries, the Ram, has his paw upon the band which connects the two fishes, supposedly representing the union of the Old Testament and New Testament saints in Christ. The band makes two interesting intersections: the back of the head of Cetus, the Sea Monster, and the foreleg of Aries, The Ram, suggesting another representation of the protoevangelium. The second decan is Andromeda, The Chained Woman. In Greek mythology, Andromeda was a lovely maiden who was chained by jealous sea nymphs to a rock to be devoured by the great sea monster, Cetus. But a hero by the name of Perseus rescues her by cutting off the serpent’s head as it emerges from the sea. Perseus shares characteristics similar to Christ. Perseus was the son of a god born to a mortal woman who was put under persecution from the moment he was born. The third decan is Cepheus, which means “The Branch or the King.” The stars that make up this decan are Al Dermin “Coming Quickly”, Al Phirk “The Redeemer” and Alrai “He Who Bruises or Breaks.”
8th sign – Aries, The Ram or Lamb. The Hebrew name for Aries is Talehmeaning “The Lamb Sent Forth.” The Akkadians called it Baraziggar meaning “The Sacrifice of Making Right.” The first decan is Cassiopeia, The Enthroned Woman. In one hand she’s arranging her robe; in another, she’s holding a branch of victory and arranging her hair. Cetus, the Sea-Monster mentioned in the previous sign takes up more space in the sky than any other of the constellations. One of the brightest stars in this decan is Mira, which is Hebrew for “The Rebel.” The brightest star located in the nose is Menkar, Hebrew for “The Bound” or “Chained Enemy.” The second brightest star is called Diphda, which means “The Overthrown.” The final decan is Perseus, the god-begotten man discussed in the previous sign. Perseus’ rescue of Andromeda followed directly on the heels of another famous mission - the beheading of Medusa, one of three horrible gorgons who had serpents for hair and whose very appearance could turn men to stone. Medusa, in Hebrew, Spanish, Italian, and other languages means “jellyfish”, a poisonous creature that will likely bruise your heel if trodden underfoot. One of the bright stars in the constellation of Perseus is Rosh Satan, which is Hebrew for “Satan’s head”.
Act III - Christ's judgment on the world at the end of days
9th sign – Taurus marks the third act of the New Testament story, Christ’s coming in glory and judgment. In Greek mythology, Taurus was a form assumed by Jupiter for carrying away his loved one, the beautiful Europa, across the seas to the island of Crete. The Pleiades (the seven sisters) ride high upon the shoulder of Taurus. In the book of Isaiah, the namesake prophet warns his people of God’s coming judgment. “Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the Lord of hosts in the day of his fierce anger…Whoever is found will be thrust through. Wild oxen shall fall with them, and young steers with the mighty bulls.” (Isaiah 13:9, 13:15, 34:7). The first decan is Orion who, according to Greek mythology, was the greatest hunter who ever lived. He holds a club in the right hand and the skin of a slain lion in the left. Orion is mentioned twice in Job and once in Amos. A notable star in this constellation is called Rigel “the foot that crusheth” (another reference to the protoevangelium mentioned in Virgo). The second decan is Eridanus, a river of fire from Greek mythology and whose constellation flows out of the foot of Orion. “As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire. A stream of fire issued and came out from before him; a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened.”(Daniel 7:9-10). An inference can be drawn from the relative positions of Taurus(twelve 'o clock) and Scorpio (six 'o clock) that with Christ’s coming and judgment, Satan is cast down into eternal darkness, the “bottomless pit”.
10th sign – Gemini, the twins. Castor and Pollux (known as Apollo and Hercules in Greek) were the twin sons of Jupiter and great heroes who cleared the seas of Pirates. The name of the ship that the apostle Paul referred to in Acts was Castor and Pollux (their Latin names). The brightest star is Castor“Ruler” or “Judge.” In Hercules, the second brightest star Pollux means “The Strong One Coming to Labor or Suffer.” In Greek mythology, Hercules was subject to a series of penances, known as “The Labors of Hercules” (twelve to be exact). One of his assigned tasks was to clean the Augean stables of their filth, a task thought impossible; yet Hercules did it in a single day. Similarly, in Christ, we find the hope of cleansing in a spiritual sense which would otherwise be impossible without Him. Another star located in the left foot of Hercules is Al Henah, meaning “The Hurt” or “Afflicted.” In the right knee of Apollo is the star Mebsuta which is Hebrew for “treading underfoot.” The decan Canis Major contains the stars Naz (“Hawk”) and Seir (“Prince of all the Earth”). Interestingly, if you put these two together you get something very close to Nazarene, a person from Nazareth as was Jesus Christ.
11th sign - Cancer – the Crab. One of the brightest nebulous clusters isPaesepe, which means “The Multitude”, “The Offspring”, or “The Innumerable Seed.” In the first decan, Ursa Minor, is Polaris, the north star (as you may recall from the summary of Sagitarrius, the north star used to be Draconis). Ursa Major, the big dipper, is made up of seven stars. Among them are Al Naish “The Assembled together”, Dubheh “Herd”, and Merach “The Flock” (Hebrew). The final decan is Argo “The Ship” which means “Company of Travelers." There is a famous story in Greek mythology where Jason and the Argonauts embark on a quest for the Golden Fleece, which was the fleece of the ram that had saved Jason’s cousin and was sacrificed to Zeus in gratitude. Only Jason was able to destroy the serpent that guarded the fleece and recapture righteousness for his people. The Church is often referred to as a ship in the world but not of it. The Argo and its heroes endured many trials and sufferings before the ship finally came home to rest.
12th sign – Leo, the Lion. Leo means the same thing in Arabic, Hebrew, Coptic, or Syriac: “He that Rends, That Tears Asunder.” The lion is the king of the jungle. The lion is also a familiar figure in Scripture appearing over one hundred times. In Revelation 5:5 John was told “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that He can open the scroll and its seven seals.” In Hosea 13:7-8 God is clearly depicted as a lion: “So I am to them like a lion…I will tear open their breast, and there I will devour them like a lion…” The first decan in this constellation is Hydra, a hundred-headed monster from Greek mythology that grew two new heads for every one cut off. The only way this creature could be destroyed was with fire; therefore, every time our familiar hero Hercules cut off a head, he applied a red hot iron to sear the wounds and prevent the heads from multiplying again. The name Hydra means “He Is the Abhorred.” And one of the many stars in this constellation that describe Satan is Minchir al Sugia, which means “Tearing to Shreds of the Deceiver.” The second decan is Crater, or The Cup. “He also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of His anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.” (Revelation 14:10-11). Two stars that make up the base of the cup are also part of the Hydra, perhaps to serve as a reminder that the curse originally came into the world through the serpent but is now to be poured out upon him and all his followers. The third decan is Corvus, or The Raven. It is shown on the back of the Serpent in the planisphere. “The eye that mocks a father and scorns to obey a mother will be picked out by the ravens of the valley and eaten by the vultures.” (Proverbs 30:17). The name of this constellation in Arabic is Minchir al Gorab, which means “The Raven’s Piercing or Tearing to Pieces.” The brightest star, which is located in the eye of this ill-omened bird, is called Al Chiba, which comes from Hebrew and means “The Curse Inflicted.” “Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, ‘Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great’.” (Revelation 19:17-18)
Looking at these signs from a thematic point of view, three distinct acts emerge. The first four signs are a picture of Christ’s coming in to the world to pay the penalty for all mankind’s sin. The second four signs further introduce the work of His people and the story of the Church. The final four signs tell the story of Christ’s judgment on the world at the end of days. The protoevangelium, or the first gospel found in Genesis 3:15, is a recurring theme in the zodiac. God says “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” The protoevangelium is represented in Virgo who holds a seed in one of her hands, in Scorpio’s star Ras-Al-Gethis which means “The Head of Him who Bruises”, in Pisces’s star Alrai which means “He Who Bruises or Breaks”, and in the myth of Medusa, a woman with serpents for hair whose name means “Trodden Underfoot.” Even the position of the stars with relation to the earth is symbolic. At the time of man’s fall, Draconis was the star of heaven, but it has fallen like Satan, the "angel of light" himself (2 Corinthians 11:14) to be replaced by Polaris, the guiding light within a constellation that represents the church.
After reading D James Kennedy's book I had to challenge the popular view of the zodiac and its underlying logic. Am I a conservative earthy guy who appreciates harmony and beauty in all things, harbors a tendency towards sentimentality, and plugs along patiently until some heckler sets off my hair-trigger temper? I can certainly empathize with a lot of that. And P.T. Barnum, the famous circus master who coined the phrase “there’s a sucker born every minute”, understood the psychology behind it. People attach high accuracy to statements they believe are tailored for them when in reality they are vague and general enough to apply to a large group of people. For those seeking advice on finding love or a new career, they may be disappointed if they trust in the signs. Look what they did for Hitler.
The old testament prophet Isaiah was speaking to those who took the signs as their gods and the fortunetellers their prophets when he said the following: “You are wearied with your many counsels; let them stand forth and save you, those who divide the heavens, who gaze at the stars, who at the new moons make known what shall come upon you. Behold, they are like stubble; the fire consumes them; they cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. No coal for warming oneself is this, no fire to sit before!” (Isaiah 47:13)
Long before humans thought the planets revolved around the earth (a theory upon which the flawed logic of astrology is built) or Satan deceived Eve with a new revelation, could it be that a creator God painted His glory in the sky with a subtlety indicative of all great artists? And if our personalities seem to predictably conform to the signs under which we’re born, is that necessarily a cause for new religion? One can debate whether so and so is stubborn or good-natured or extroverted but those adjectives are largely subjective. And what I’ve presented here are merely facts that support the idea that perhaps the answers are not in the signs themselves, but in the One to whom they point.
Bibliography:
D James Kennedy, The Real Meaning of the Zodiac (Fort Lauderdale: Coral Ridge Ministries, 1989).
“equinoxes, precession of the.” Encyclopedia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. 17 2008 <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9032850>.
Edith Hamilton, Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes(Massachusetts: Little, Brown & Company, 1940).