The Lost Zodiac

The River of Night - Mar 1 to 12, Apr 10 to 18 and May 9 to 15

The Legends behind your Star Sign

Life and Time, flowing from an unknown source, were envisaged in the ancient world as a great river, welling up from the beyond.

The River Eridanus, whose heavenly counterpart, the River of Night ( as it was so called in Babylon), flows down from the stars around Orion's feet towards the Southern Pole, was thought by the Greeks to come from Paradise, the timeless Islands of the Blessed.

The Sun God's Chariot

The story of the Eridanus is also the story of the proud and foolish Phaethon, Helios the sun-god's handsome son, who pleaded with his father to be allowed to drive his blazing chariot for one day. With the inexperienced hands of Phaethon on the reins, the Sun's bright horses bolted through the heavens, scorching the earth and drying up the rivers. North Africa was turned into the Sahara, and to save the universe, which would have been destroyed by flames, Zeus struck Phaethon with a thunderbolt, and he plunged headlong, like a shooting star, into the waters of the Eridanus far below, his auburn hair aflame. His sisters, the Heliades, who came to mourn for him, were transformed into popular trees, and their tears turned into drops of amber, the river's jewel, which was found along its banks.

His friend and lover, Cycnus, also came to weep for him and was transformed into a swan.

The Ancients' Ocean Stream

The heavenly river is also Oceanus, the ancients' Ocean Stream, which encircled the whole universe. From it arose all the stars - with the exception of the Great Bear - only to plunge back again, like Phaethon. Married to his sister Tethys, with whom he shared a palace in the far west of the world, Oceanus was the essence of all things. He was the father not only of three thousand rivers and of three thousand sea-nymphs, but of the sea and of all the waters which gushed forth from the earth as springs.

River Nymphs and Gods

To the ancient Greeks, all the streams and rivers were alive. The rivers, depicted as vigorous young men with horns and beards, were worshipped by the young, who sacrificed their hair to them. Oaths were sworn in their name, and horses, bulls and rams were thrown into their waters as offerings to the gods who dwelt in them.

The nymphs or naiads, who lived in every pool and spring, cared for plants and cured the sick, while their burbling voices inspired poets and gave prophecies. In nearly every culture, though, they were known to lure beautiful young men into their depths: the fate of Hylas, the handsome friend of the heroic Hercules (or Heracles). Hylas and Hercules had joined Jason and the Argonauts on the epic journey to find the Golden Fleece, but, when they arrived in Turkey, Hylas wandered off alone and lay down beside a stream. The water-nymphs fell in love with him, and coaxed him to join them.

Hercules, distraught, searched for him high and low, and called for him, but Hylas's cries for help from the nymphs' pool were too faint for Hercules to hear.

Living on the food of the gods, ambrosia, the life span of the naiads was approximately 9,620 years, and they were forever young.

The Elixir of Life

Ambrosia, the heavenly food on which the spirits of the waters fed, is known in India as Amrita, the 'non-dead', the elixir of eternal life, which circulates through the universe as water, sap milk and blood, nourishing all living beings.

It flows through this world as the Ganges, and to this day, the city of Allahabad, where it is believed to emerge from heaven, and where its yellow waters, which wash away all sin, meet the blue stream of the mighty Jumna, is the scene of a great pilgrimage.

Life and Time

The river is a symbol both of the life force and of the irrevocable passage of time, and it was upon the banks of the great rivers of the Ganges, the Euphrates and the Nile that civilisation, as we know it, first began.

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The Star Sign

For those born under the sign of the River of Night, life is a great journey. Just as every river flows towards the sea, so, in their heart of hearts, they have a longing to return, in the end, to the ocean where all life began, and where all separate sense of self is lost.

Not that they are in any hurry to arrive there - they are quite happy to dally along the way - but for them existence has a final goal: a merging and reunion with all life.

Wanderers and optimists, whatever they experience on their journey will never shake an underlying faith in life, which they see as a great pageant of events and people flowing towards some distant destination.

With a well-developed sense of history, and of the slow passage of time, the ever-rolling river can make them seem world-weary; even when still very young, those born under the River can give the impression that in some mysterious way they have seen it all before.

They appear to be old souls whom nothing can surprise. They do not pass moral judgements, nor do they criticise. Because they always take the line of least resistance they can seem passive, but they are not really so. Flowing around every obstacle they encounter, they are unstoppable: all attempts to hold them back are doomed to fail. They may allow themselves to be penned in, but only for a while, for what they fear most is stagnation, and however settled they may seem, they will leave if they believe that a relationship is going nowhere. Sooner or later, when the time is right, they will break free and, turning into a raging torrent, show their latent power as they continue on their journey.

They may not be ambitious - they know what happens to those who fly too high, like Phaethon - but they are determined, especially when thwarted, and they are also subject to a vast range of moods.

They can be quiet and still, and then, quite suddenly, become wild and fast and dangerous; they are nearly always cheerful - when the circumstances suit them and they are not opposed - but appearances can be deceptive, as however easygoing they may seem, they often have swirling currents of emotion beneath a calm exterior.

Hidden depths, which others rarely fathom, conceal aspects of their being that are quite different from the face they show the world.

Forever unpredictable, however, the quiet and private River can be suddenly transformed into a babbling brook, sharing all its secrets with whoever cares to listen. Like the water-nymphs, those ruled by the River also have an insight into situations and character that can verge on the prophetic; as their intuition hardly ever lets them down.

In many ways those born under this sign are wanderers and loners, but, as we have already seen, their destination is the ocean and their deepest instinct is to unite with others - preferably, the whole world, but failing that, with others of like mind. Until they run into someone who can really share their goals, they can be lonely. When they find true kindred spirits, they stick by them to the end, and are always happy to share whatever comes; provided, of course, that the other person does not try to slow them down or trap them, and as long as they share a common goal.

They may not like feeling trapped or stagnant, but they do enjoy tranquillity, and when they are content in their relationships, they are great life-givers and enhancers. Without the River's fertilising waters the world would be a desert; River people can create an atmosphere of peace and gentleness, of green and tranquil meadows, which is almost unrivalled.

But their desire to merge with others on equal terms is only one aspect of the River's complex nature. They can also use their charms for better or worse. They can be helpful and inspiring, but they can also be destructive and deceptive, lulling others into wasting time with them and like the water-nymphs, luring them away from the real world - although they would react violently if anyone tried to do the same to them.

The River has another unique gift. Water is nature's only mirror, and people involved with those born under this sign can find it hard to get to know them, as they can, and do, reflect whatever face is shown to them. One can learn a lot about oneself, which can be an education, but very little about them, unless they choose to let you see beneath their often sparkling and mysterious surface. Their reluctance to show their feelings is often a defence, as the River is one of the most emotional and sensitive of signs.

As they mature, however, those born under the sign of the River move beyond their wild, tempestuous phase, and it is often in the second half of life that they really come into their own. Then, with mountains and steep ravines behind them, they can meander through the plains and open valleys, their powerful feelings changed by time to wisdom, and they often grow into great philosophers - and civilizers - of mankind. Thanks to their sense of harmony and flow, they are also often singers, poets, or musicians.

Born under The River of Night

Maurice Ravel, Antonio Vivaldi, Glenn Miller, Fred Astaire, Hector Berlioz, Kiri Te Kanawa, Kurt Weill, Harry Belafonte, Florence Nightingale, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Mikheil Gorbachov, Michelangelo, James Dean, J. M. Barrie, Thornton Wilder, Henry James, Kenneth Grahame, Daphne du Maurier.

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Discovering the Twenty Two Lost Star Signs

As an astrologer, I sometimes looked for reasons for traits of character which did not seem to be explained exclusively by what the birth chart tells us. For me, the discovery of the importance of the stars and constellations lying beyond the zodiac band turned out to be the missing link.

They do not undermine conventional astrology, but to add a lost dimension to it.

The Earliest Astrologers and The Sacred, Living Sphere

We have grown so used to seeing the planets and the zodiac alone as powerful that it can come as a surprise to find that for the early practitioners of astrology, the whole celestial sphere, from pole to pole, was filled with starry gods and supernatural beings who influenced the life of man. For them, all the stars had power over our lives. They worshipped them, wove myths around them and built their temples in alignment with them.

For the ancient Greeks, therefore, who inherited this vision of a living sphere, and who gave many of the constellations the names and forms which they still have today, it seemed quite natural to believe that Orion and the Great Bear, Perseus, the glittering hero, and the Lyre of Orpheus, the legendary musician, among others, influenced our destiny, just like the narrow zodiac band of stars which forms the pathway of the sun and moon and planets, with which we are familiar.

These twenty two lost star signs reconnect us to the ancient vision of a sacred, living cosmos, and to the great celestial sphere around us.

Your Sign Beyond the Zodiac Linked to your Sun Sign

These star signs are the ancient constellations which lie to the North and South of the zodiac band of stars, and were used in conjunction with it.

The brightest and most powerful star, or constellation of stars, which falls nearest to the sun by longitude on your birthday is 'conjunct' your sun.

This constellation was considered to be your 'sign beyond the zodiac'.

Why Were They Forgotten?

So why did these important star signs, which embody so many of the great myths and symbols of our culture, vanish from the scene ?

In the second century AD the great astronomer, Ptolemy, tried to simplify astrology by excluding the constellations to the North and South of the zodiac band. However, even he could not deny their astrological significance, and described the influence of their individual stars. In 'L'Astrologie Grecque' (1899), Bouche-Leclerq, the leading authority on the history of astrology, quotes Ptolemy as saying that he will 'leave to one side as impracticable the ancient method, which took account of all, or nearly all, the stars'.

But 'the exclusion of the constellations beyond the zodiac is so artificial that it could not be maintained, even by Ptolemy ... all stellar mythology cries out against the privileged position of the zodiac'. Adds Bouche-Leclerq.

The Age of Aquarius, ruled by Uranus, the Personification of the Starry Sphere

They are also highly relevant to the times we live in.

Thanks to the moving equinoxes, we are now entering the new Aquarian Age, which will be ruled by Uranus, the planet named after the ancient Greek sky god who personifies the starry sphere and is the ruler of Aquarius.

To look beyond the zodiac, and beyond the 'village' of our solar system, as astronomers are now doing, towards deep space - the domain of Uranus - is, symbolically, in keeping with the coming age. One of astrology's most important tenets is that the discovery of a new planet heralds an important shift in human consciousness. The discovery of Pluto, in 1930, for instance, which was named after the Roman god of the underworld, and which rules the depths of the unconscious mind, coincided with the rise to popularity of psychoanalysis. The reintroduction of these 'Uranian' signs beyond the zodiac, therefore, and our renewed awareness, when we find our personal star sign in the sky, of our links with the galaxies of stars around us, can be seen to coincide with our entry into the Aquarian Age.

Our Myth and Personal Quest

From my research as an astrologer, it is remarkable how accurate, and how literal, these ancient star signs can be.

Born under the sign of Andromeda, the princess chained to a rock as a sacrifice for her country, for instance, are Houdini, Queen Elizabeth II and Sylvia Pankhurst, the leader of the suffragettes who fought for the emancipation of women.

These ancient signs are rich, dynamic symbols, and can describe the myths behind our lives and the 'Journey of the Soul of Man'. Perseus, for example, by cutting off the gorgon's head, conquers and comes to terms with neglected instinct and emotion, which the gorgon represents. The winged horse of inspiration, Pegasus, learns to distinguish between truth and illusion, in the form of the Chimaera. Andromeda, the chained princess, discovers freedom, and the Swan its human form. Ophiuchus wrestles with the Serpent and transforms its poison into medicine. For the River of Night, which wells up from paradise, life is a journey back towards the sea, where all separate sense of self is lost, and Orpheus overcomes the sovereigns of the underworld with the music of his lyre.

Each one has its own personal quest and compliments our birth chart and our Sun sign.

The Roman Astrologer, Manilius

I knew of the importance many astrologers give to the fixed stars, but my first real encounter with the actual signs beyond the zodiac took place over twenty years ago, when I read the 'Astronomica' of Manilius, the great Roman astrologer and astronomer. Much of the 5th book of his 'Astronomica' is dedicated to their meaning: 'The child of the Lyre will sing beguiling songs at the banquet, his voice adding mellowness to the wine and holding the night in thrall...and, left to himself, he will ever burst into song which can charm no ears but his own...When the Dog Star rises over the rim of the sea...it will fashion unbridled spirits and impetuous hearts...the child of the Crown will cultivate a garden budding with bright flowers, and slopes grey with olives...his heart is set upon elegance, fashion, and the art of adornment, upon gracious living and the pleasures of the hour...', and so on, at great length, for all the extra-zodiacal signs.

What Modern Psychology Has to Add

Beautiful as his descriptions are, our understanding of the myths, and of what they can tell us about the soul of man, has changed and grown, of course, since Roman times. What, I wondered, could modern psychology tell us abut the meaning of these age-old stories set amongst the stars, and so about ourselves ?

With the help of psychology, which I had studied for many years, and of the modern school of astrology, which uses myth and symbol to give the zodiac and the planets a new and deeper dimension, I began to see what it could mean to be born under these ancient signs. I then applied this to famous people, both alive and dead, and to my family, friends and clients.

The results were startling. And, as I continued, an image slowly grew and crystallised of the kind of person each one represented, and of the life-issues they were most concerned with. As with the zodiac signs, each one had its own preoccupations, its own problems and its own outlook on the world.

But the rediscovered signs are different as they tell us more about where our life is leading and describe our inner quest.

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