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Editor's Note:
We are so excited
and grateful to be able to offer Robert Powell's
Christian Star Calendar in our monthly
StarWisdom newsletters. We would like to make
a few comments for Christians, non-Christians and
Those in Other religions:
Some
people do not align themselves with Christianity,
pointing to the Crusades and other such events for
evidence of why they want no part of it. Or
simply, they are affiliated with another religious
tradition altogether. If you are interested in
the stars, and you are not interested in
Christianity, you can still be very interested in
these associations of aspects in the heavens with
Christ events of the earth. These
associations typify - that is, give us the type - of
the phenomena about which we inquire in Star Wisdom.
This educates us all about what lives in certain
planetary influences and aspects. Thus, become
the scientist, finding out mare about how celestial
events impact the activities of human beings on
earth. Also, if you know of solid dates for
events of other religious and spiritual traditions,
please do not hesitate to
contact us
about them.
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Introduction:
The Christian
Star Calendar comprises an ephemeris page for
each month of the year computed with the help of
Peter Treadgold's AstroFire program, and a monthly
commentary by Robert Powell which relates the
geocentric and heliocentric planetary movements to
events in the life of Christ. The Christian
Star Calendar, in its printed and published
form, has many fine articles on Star Wisdom.
We have the privilege of publishing the monthly
highlights. This is Christological Star Wisdom
and meant to help you explore what lives in the
resonance of each day.
Background:
The Christian
Star Calendar is scientific, resting upon a
solid mathematical-astronomical foundation and also
upon a secure chronology of the life of Christ, and
at the same time it is spiritual, aspiring to the
higher dimension of existence that is expressed
outwardly in the world of stars. The
scientific and the spiritual come together in the
sidereal zodiac that originated with the Babylonians
and was used by the three magi who beheld the star
of Bethlehem and came to pay homage to Jesus a few
months after his birth. In continuity of
spirit with the origins of Cosmic Christianity with
the three magi, the sidereal zodiac is the frame of
reference used for the computation of the geocentric
and heliocentric planetary movements which are
commented upon in the light of the life of Christ in
the Christian Star Calendar.
Thus, all zodiacal
longitudes indicated in the monthly commentaries and
presented in the calendar are in terms of the
sidereal zodiac, which has to be distinguished from
the tropical zodiac in widespread use in
contemporary astrology in the West. The
tropical zodiac was introduced into astrology in the
middle of the second century A.D. by the Greek
astronomer Claudius Ptolemy. Prior to this the
sidereal zodiac was in use. Such was the
influence of Ptolemy upon the western astrological
tradition that the tropical zodiac became
substituted for the sidereal zodiac used by the
Babylonians, Egyptians, and early Greek astrologers.
Yet the astrological tradition in India was not
influenced by Ptolemy, and so the sidereal zodiac is
still used to this day by Hindu astrologers.
The sidereal zodiac
originated with the Babylonians in the sixth/fifth
centuries B.C. and was defined by them in relations
to certain bright stars. For example,
Aldebaran ("the Bulls' eye") is located in the
middle of the sidereal sign/constellation of the
Bull at 15 degrees Taurus, and Antares ("the
Scorpions' heart") is in the middle of the sidereal
sign/ constellation of the Scorpion at 15 degrees
Scorpio. the sidereal signs, each thirty
degrees long, coincide with the twelve astronomical
zodiacal constellations of the same name, whereas
the signs of the tropical zodiac, since they are
defined in relations to the vernal point, now have
little or no relationship to the corresponding
zodiacal constellations. This is because the
vernal point, the zodiacal location of the sun on
March 21, shifts slowly backwards through the
sidereal zodiac at a rate of one degree in
seventy-two years, ("the precession of the
equinoxes"). When Ptolemy introduced the
tropical zodiac into astrology, there was an almost
exact coincidence between the tropical and the
sidereal zodiac, as the vernal point, which is
defined to be 0 degrees Aries in the tropical
zodiac, was at 1 degrees Aries in the sidereal
zodiac in the middle of the second century A.D.
Thus, there was only one degree difference between
the two zodiacs. So, it made hardly any
difference to Ptolemy or his contemporaries to use
the tropical zodiac instead of the sidereal zodiac.
But now- the vernal point, on account of precession,
having shifted back from 1 degree Aries to 5 degrees
Pisces- there is a 25 degree difference and so there
is virtually no correspondence between the two.
Without going into further detail concerning the
complex issue of the zodiac, as shown in Robert
Powell's Hermetic astrology trilogy, (available
here at
StarWisdom.org) the sidereal zodiac is the zodiac
used by the three magi, who were the last
representatives of the true star wisdom of
antiquity. For this reason the sidereal zodiac
is used throughout the Christian Star Calendar.
Readers interested
in exploring the scientific (astronomical and
chronological) foundations of Cosmic Christianity
are referred to the
Chronicle of
the Living Christ: Foundations of Cosmic
Christianity (available at StarWisdom.org),
an indispensable source of reference (abbreviated:
Chron.) for the Christian Star Calendar, as
also are the four Gospels (Matthew = Mt., Mark =
Mk., Luke = Lk., John = Jn.). The chronology
of the life of Christ rests upon the description of
his daily life by Anne Catherine Emmerich in her
4-volume work, The Life of Jesus Christ
(abbreviated: LJC). Further details concerning
the Christian Star Calendar and how to work
with it on a daily basis are to be found in Robert
Powell's General Introduction to the Christian
Star Calendar. The General Introduction
explains all the features of the Christian Star
Calendar and how to work with it on a daily basis.
The new edition, published 2003, includes sections
on the mega stars (stars of great luminosity) and on
the 36 decans (10 degree subdivisions of the twelve
signs of the zodiac) in relation to their planetary
rulers and to the extra-zodiacal constellations,
those constellations above or below the circle of
the twelve constellations/ signs of the zodiac.
Further material on the decans, including examples
of historical personalities born in the various
decans, and also a wealth of other material on the
signs of the sidereal zodiac, is to be found in
Cosmic Dances of
the Zodiac by Lacquanna Paul and Robert Powell
(also available at StarWisdom.org)
