The Lost Zodiac

The Crown of the North Wind - Oct 27 to Nov 10

The Legends behind your Star Sign

Great Goddess of the Paleolithic

Thirty thousand years ago in Europe, men lived in the mouths of caves and made shrines to the Great Goddess in their inmost chambers. Deep within the earth, the vast caverns of her womb-like sanctuaries were painted with the bison and wild horses of the ancient landscape. From her all life emerged, returning to her at death, only to be born once more.

The Cretan Labrynth

The twisting, tortuous passages which led to the Great Goddess's shrines, and which often wound for two miles in total darkness underground, were the forerunners of the Cretan labyrinth, where, 25,000 years later, Theseus killed the Minotaur with the help of the princess, Ariadne, winding to its centre on his journey of initiation, as men had done so long before.

The Minotaur

When Theseus arrived in Crete, it was a land in need of liberation. Many years before, Minos, King of Crete, had refused to sacrifice a bull sent for that purpose by Poseidon, the god of the sea, and in punishment for this broken promise the gods had inspired Pasiphae, queen of Crete, with an unnatural passion for the great white bull; the Minotaur, Asterion, 'the starry', a human child with a bull's head, was born.

The Labyrinth

To hide their shame, the king and queen asked the master craftsman and inventor, Daedalus, to create a twisting labyrinth, where the Minotaur could live in darkness, hidden from men's eyes. There he lived alone and fed on human flesh. Every seven years, seven youths and seven maidens from distant Athens were thrown to him, until one day the handsome Athenian hero, Theseus, landed on the shores of Crete, saying he was the son of the great sea-god, Poseidon.

The Sea Queen's Glimmering Crown

Minos threw his golden signet ring into the sea, challenging the hero to fetch it and so prove his claim. Theseus plunged beneath the waves, and swam down to the sea-nymphs' palace, escorted by a school of dolphins and returned triumphant, not only with the ring, but with the sea-queen's wedding crown. Some say that it was made of apple blossom, and it was the crown we now see in the skies. As Theseus surfaced it dripped with water and gave off a glimmering light.

Ariadne's Thread

The princess Ariadne, the Minotaur's half-sister, fell in love with Theseus at first sight. The creator of the labyrinth, Daedalus, had given her a magic ball of thread, which she offered to the handsome stranger if he would marry her and take her back with him to Athens. Theseus tied the thread to the lintel of the labyrinth's door and wound his way in darkness to its centre. There he killed the lonely Minotaur with the sword which Ariadne had also given him, and retraced his steps back from the underworld into the light.

Naxos

Theseus and Ariadne sailed at dawn for Athens, stopping on the island of Naxos to break their journey. There Ariadne fell asleep upon the shore and Theseus left her. Why he did so remains a mystery. When she who had been his saviour and his guide awoke alone and found him gone, she cried out to the universe for vengeance, and her voice was heard. Theseus, made careless by his triumph, forgot to lower his black sail and hoist a white one in its place, as he had promised to his aged father he would do. Aegeus, watching anxiously for his son's safe return from the high acropolis in Athens, saw the black sail and plunged headlong to his death.

The Wine God, Dionysus

Meanwhile, on Naxos, the sound of laughter and of flutes and tambourines was heard, and Dionysus, the young god of wine and ecstasy, dressed in a panther skin with grapes and vine leaves in his curling hair, appeared to Ariadne, with his wild retinue of satyrs, fauns and centaurs. Soon after, they were married and Dionysus placed the crown which he had given her, made of fiery gold and red Indian jewels set in the shape of a rose, amongst the constellations.

Arianrhod's Silver Castle

To the old Welsh bards, Ariadne was Arianrhod, the 'silver-circled daughter of Don', the king of the fairies and the lord of the Milky Way. Her silver castle, 'at the back of the North Wind', where the souls of kings, poets, heroes and magicians went after death to await their resurrection, is the constellation of the Northern Crown, or the Crown of the North Wind, behind which lie 400 galaxies a hundred-thousand light years distant.

Like Ariadne, whose name means 'the most Holy', and who is really the Great Goddess in disguise, she is the guide of the great heroes from this world to the next and back again, on their labyrinthine journey through uncharted regions of the soul to conquer death and darkness, and then to be reborn.

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The Star Sign

'The child of the Crown will cultivate a garden budding with bright flowers and slopes grey with olives or green grass. He will plant pale violets, purple hyacinths, lilies, poppies which vie with bright Tyrian dyes, and the rose which blooms with the redness of blood.... for his heart is set upon elegance, fashion, and the art of adornment, upon gracious living, and the pleasure of the hour....'

So wrote the Roman astrologer, Manilius, and with her crowns of glimmering blossoms from the sea, and of red Indian jewels set as roses, a great sense of luxury and beauty surrounds the mysterious Ariadne, princess of the colourful palace of the decadent land of Crete.

At first glance, those born under her sign often seem to be exclusively concerned with comfort, elegance and pleasure. No one has better taste or is more able to put others at their ease. But apart from their love of beauty, there is nothing simple about them, for the Crown of Ariadne, the sophisticated mistress of the labyrinth, is one of the deepest and most complex of the signs, and beneath their colourful exterior they have a much more serious side.

They are a mine of information on as many subjects as you care to mention, for, like Ariadne, to whom the master craftsman and inventor, Daedalus, gave his magic ball of thread and explained the mysteries of the labyrinth, they have a great love of learning and are usually well-read. Physically, they can be quite lazy, and they often spend a lot of time curled up in a pile of cushions with a book, or discussing the meaning of existence, which they can do for hours on end. Their curiosity is boundless, for they have a burning need to understand. For them, life is a journey of discovery to find its meaning, which is hidden deep within the maze. They also seem to know instinctively that the road to the centre leads through strange realms and uncharted zones.

Their real problem is that, often, they know too much, and, seeing the pros and cons of every situation, they can find it hard to make a choice and act. Words alone do not slay monsters, which is where Theseus comes in.

To those born under Ariadne, there is always something irresistible about decisive, active people like Theseus, and their arrival on the scene feels like a breath of fresh air, long-awaited. Here, at last, is someone who can do something about the situation. Someone who can cut a way to the heart of the matter in a few, swashbuckling strides. So Ariadne often falls in love with Theseus, putting all her know-how and wisdom at his disposal, in the hope that Theseus will free her from her convoluted thoughts and make her feel alive.

For Ariadne is the child of a culture which is caught up with the clever ins and outs of life, the icing on the cake, and has lost touch with freedom and simplicity in a twisting intellectual labyrinth of its own creation.

Theseus, of course, is just as drawn to Ariadne - for a while. She is the great Initiator and Guide, the only one who knows the lay-out of the labyrinth and can help him make the journey to its centre. Theseus usually moves on, however, once he has slain the monster, looking for new challenges, leaving Ariadne weeping and alone. But only for a while.

For it is not really Theseus who is Ariadne's destined soul-mate. He may be brave and handsome, but he is also proud - and callous - and far less sensitive and wise than she is. Nor is it really Theseus who saved her from the labyrinth and the monster.

Luckily for her, her wisdom does not only come from books, and her great strength is her courage - and the power of her feelings, both to suffer and enjoy. Because she loves Theseus, she acts, at last, and makes a clear-cut choice: to help him kill the Minotaur, even though the monster is her brother. By doing do, she frees the life-force, whose symbol is the bull, which has lain trapped within the maze, and has become a thing of darkness only because it has been hidden from the light. Theseus may leave her, but she does not need him once the darkness has been vanquished, and when her true love, Dionysus, appears she gets her just reward and can really start to live her life.

This is, of course, where those born under Ariadne come into their own. To marry Dionysus means to learn how to let go and enjoy life, living in the moment for its own sake. The darkness of the labyrinth is replaced by sun and music. What was once complicated and obscure is now simple, and they can start to do what they are best at, which is living for 'the pleasure of the hour', as Manilius, the Roman astrologer, believed.

Offering their magic ball of thread to help others through the maze, they can guide them, too, into the light. Theseus may kill the Minotaur, but Ariadne's initiation into the mysteries of life is a journey at the end of which she learns simplicity, which is the hardest lesson, and wins the glittering crown.

Born under The Crown of the North Wind

Marie Antionette, Ezra Pound, John Keats, Karl Baedeker, Joseph Wilson Swan (inventor of the incandescent electric lamp), Dylan Thomas, Sylvia Plath, Ivan Turgenev, William Hogarth, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Martin Luther, Louis Malle, Albert Camus, Francis Bacon, Alain Delon, John Cleese, Bram Stoker, Marina Warner (one of whose stories is called 'Ariadne After Naxos'), Catherine Tennant.

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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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