Because this event occurs on the ecliptic, (the apparent path of the sun through the year), the stellar backdrop is formed by the slowly moving starry curtain of the twelve zodiacal constellations. An additional byproduct of this wobble causes the spring equinox sun (in the northern hemisphere) to rise due east against a backdrop of stars which slowly shifts. This imaginary stylus moves at the rate of roughly one degree of arc in seventy-two years. Like a slowly spinning top, earth's wobble causes the axis to trace an imaginary circle in the heavens. This tilt creates the seasons, and the wobble creates the phenomenon astronomers and astrologers alike call precession. A lesson in precessionĮarth wobbles as she spins and is also inclined on her axis of rotation. A brief review of celestial mechanics might be helpful. We are now approaching another of these junctures as Fomalhaut, holding the space for Aquarius, advances to the eastern, or spring, arm of this great cross. But at certain points in the Grand Year, (a full cycle of precession, lasting roughly 26,000 years), they move to hold the corners again. The fixed signs play a powerful role in the theme of precession, Although these Royal Stars once marked the cardinal points of the sky, due to the slow backward march of precession, their seasonal anchoring waxes and wanes. Fomalhaut is a bright star, shining alone in the fourth arm of the zodiacal fixed cross, and sharing the same celestial longitude, (similar to terrestrial longitude), with Sadalmelik, the alpha star of Aquarius, which is not as major a luminary. The first three correlate with the fixed signs, but Aquarius is missing from the quartet. Aldebaran is the alpha star of the constellation of Taurus, Regulus is alpha Leo, Antares is alpha Scorpio, and Fomalhaut is Alpha Piscis Austrinus. Each Royal Star also correlates with the "fixed" signs of astrology: Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius. Regulus watched the north, Fomalhaut presided over the south, while Antares guarded the west and Aldebaran the east. In this capacity these bright stars marked the seasonal sign posts of the year, the equinoxes and the solstices. Endowed with almost archangelic power, these legendary stars of antiquity are Aldebaran, Regulus, Antares and Fomalhaut, and in the epoch of 5,000 years ago they were considered to be guardians of the four corners of heaven and watchers of the directions, forming a heavenly cross near the ecliptic. The Royal Stars of Persia are so named because roughly 5,000 years ago, during the fabled pyramid age of Egypt, these luminaries held tremendous influence. North, which most cultures think of as "above" is therefore noon and summer, and south, is "below" the place of midnight and winter. The fourfold division of time seems to lead naturally to a four fold division of space, and the custom over ages has been to denote sunrise and spring to the east where day begins. This quartering of the circle is an ancient and world wide practice. Likewise our twenty-four hour day has four quarters of sunrise, noon, sunset and midnight. Watchers of the Directionsīecause we have four clearly defined seasonal events, two equinoxes and two solstices, the year is automatically divided into four. Although these gods were probably legacies of an earlier time, the stories of Zarathustra's Persian pantheon seem to tell the tales what we now call the four Royal Stars of Persia. It is safe to say that Zarathustra watched the skies and the cyclical patterns which unfolded there. His name in Greek is Zoroaster, meaning "star worshiper." Some scholars place his lifetime as early as 1,500 BC while others believe he lived around 500 AD. Historians say his followers honored the agricultural cycles of the year as a religious doctrine. Zarathustra was a legendary Persian prophet (modern Iran).
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