ZEITGEIST: THE MOVIE

Romans, Dr. Theony Condos of the American University of Armenia translates the pertinent
passage from the chapter ―Virgo‖ by Pseudo-Eratosthenes thus:
Hesiod in the Theogony says this figure is Dike, the daughter of Zeus...and Themis...
Some say it is Demeter because of the sheaf of grain she holds, others say it is Isis,
others Atagartis, others Tyche...and for that reason they represent her as headless. 210
Dr. Schmidt expands on the symbolism with regard to Isis/Nut:
Virgo, who now lends her name to this sign of the zodiac, is the heavenly Nut, the virgin mother of
Osiris, who was called the ―perfect one‖ and ―the ancient one,‖ and
symbolized light and goodness, concord or harmony, peace and
happiness. This virgin, the ―great mother,‖ the ―queen of heaven,‖ the
―inscrutable Neith, whose veil no mortal could lift and live...‖ 211
The identification of the Virgin Mary with Virgo was obvious and well known
enough such that the renowned theologian Albertus Magnus or Albert the
Great (1193?-1290) remarked (Lib. de Univers.):
We know that the sign of the celestial Virgin did come to the horizon at
the moment where we have fixed the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. All
the mysteries of the incarnation of our Saviour Christ; and all the circumstances
of his marvelous life, from his conception to his ascension, are
to be traced out in the constellations, and are figured in the stars. 212
As concerns the ―House of Bread‖ and ―Virgo,‖ these are two separate
motifs, with a shared theme: Virgo relating to virginity and House of Bread to
the birth of the sun/son in Bethlehem.
Summarizing this astrotheological theme, Carpenter says:
Immediately after Midnight then, on the 25 th December, the Beloved Son (or Sun-god) is born. If
we go back in thought to the period, some three thousand years ago, when at that moment of the
heavenly birth Sirius, coming from the East, did actually stand on the Meridian, we shall come
into touch with another curious astronomical coincidence. For at the same moment we shall see
the Zodiacal constellation of the Virgin in the act of rising, and becoming visible in the East
divided through the middle by the line of the horizon.
The constellation Virgo is a Y-shaped group, of which α, the star at the foot, is the well-known
Spica, a star of the first magnitude. The other principal stars, γ at the centre, β and ε at the
extremities, are of the second magnitude. The whole resembles more a cup than the human
figure; but when we remember the symbolic meaning of the cup, that seems to be an obvious
explanation of the name Virgo, which the constellation has borne since the earliest times....
At the moment then when Sirius, the star from the East, by coming to the Meridian at midnight
signalled the Sun‘s new birth, the Virgin was seen just rising on the Eastern sky—the horizon line
passing through her centre. And many people think that this astronomical fact is the explanation
of the very widespread legend of the Virgin-birth. 213
210 Murdock, CIE, 156.
211 Schmidt, 53.
212 Taylor, The Devil’s Pulpit. Dupuis (V, 96) recounts ―Albert le Grand‖ as saying: ―Nous savons...que le signe de la
Vierge Céleste montoīt sur l'horison au moment où nous fixons la naissance de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ...tous
les mystères de son incarnation divine et tous les secrets de sa vie merveilleuse, depuis sa Conception jusqu'à son
Ascension, se trouvent tracés dans les Constellations, et figurés dans les Etoiles, qui les ont annoncés.‖ On the
previous page, Dupuis cites "Coesi Coel. Astron., p. 74."
213 Carpenter, 30-31.