December 17, 1997. Copyright, 1997, Graphic News. All rights reserved

THE MYSTERIES OF THE ZODIAC
By Oliver Burkeman

LONDON, December 17, Graphic News- ASK a modern-day astronomer what the stars have in store for you and youÕre likely to receive short shrift. Yet for most of the millennia that humans have sought to fathom the mysteries of the cosmos, scientists saw no fundamental division between astrology and astronomy: Ptolemy, the Roman astronomer, not only charted the stars but also wrote the earliest surviving astrological textbook, the Tetrabiblos.

The signs of the zodiac assumed their central importance for astrologers hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus. A large part of the menagerie of myths associated with the signs originated with ancient Greek stargazers: ÔzodiacÕ is Greek for Ôlittle zooÕ. Noticing how the sun, moon and planets appeared to circle the earth, scholars divided the route they traced through the sky into twelve segments, assigning the now-familiar names Ð Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces Ð to the constellations of stars they observed in each.

Some received their names from the stars themselves Ð Gemini, the twins, for example, merely refers to the two bright stars Castor and Pollux. But their significance has always been held to be far greater, for they are believed to channel the cosmic forces embodied by the planets into specific patterns of physical, emotional, and intuitional urges which make up a distinct personality.

Their influences are negative as well as positive: thus Aries is assertive but aggressive, and Gemini is witty but superficial. Scorpio is shrewd and masterful, if sometimes criminal, while LeoÕs warm-heartedness can descend into pomposity.

The signs quickly entered the complex webs of Greek and Roman mythology. One tale holds that the stars of Virgo represent Erigone, a legendary figure who hanged herself after her father was killed by drunken shepherds. Taurus may derive from the Babylonian bull sacrificed at New Year to placate the god of thunder and lightning, while CapricornÕs goat-fish symbol is said to evoke the Bablyonian god Ea, Ôthe antelope of the seasÕ, who emerged from the ocean dressed as a fish to impart wisdom to humans.

Later, Christians adapted the legends, equating Virgo with Mary and Pisces with Jesus. The Piscean symbol is the same as that used to direct worshippers to banned Christian meetings in Roman catacombs. 

Reliance on the signs of the zodiac was seriously challenged by the rationalism of the Enlightenment, and an 1824 law even made astrology an offence in Britain. But the revival of mysticism in the twentieth century has heralded a renaissance for the zodiac, and few people today do not take at least a passing interest in their horoscopes.

Sources: ParkersÕ Astrology; Astrology: The Celestial Mirror; Zodiac Signs, by Frederick Goodman