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