Autumnal Equinox

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Autumnal Equinox
A Wisdom Archive on Autumnal Equinox

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ARTICLES RELATED TO Autumnal Equinox

Autumnal Equinox: Encyclopedia II - Mithraism - Mithraic studies

The First International Congress of Mithraic Studies was held in 1971 at Manchester, England. Franz Cumont (1868 - 1947) was the main proponent of the theory that Mithraism came originally from Persia. Cumont's student, Maarten J. Vermaseren, author of Mithras, the Secret God (1963), was very active in translating Mithraic inscriptions. Walter Burkert, Ancient Mystery Cults, Harvard University Press, 1987. A book, based on his Jackson Lectures at Harvard University in 1982 ...

Autumnal Equinox: Spiritual Theosophical Dictionary on Zodiac

Zodiac (Ancient Greek). From the word zodion, a diminutive of zoon, animal.

This word is used in a dual meaning; it may refer to the fixed and intellectual Zodiac, or to the movable and natural Zodiac. "In astronomy", says Science, "it is an imaginary belt in the heavens 16° or 18° broad, through the middle of which passes the sun’s path (the ecliptic) ."It contains the twelve constellations which constitute the twelve signs of the Zodiac, and from which they are named. As the nature of the zodiacal light - that elongated, luminous, triangular figure which, lying almost in the ecliptic, with its base on the horizon and its apex at greater and smaller altitudes, is to be seen only during the morning and evening twilights - is entirely unknown to science, the origin and real significan?e and occult meaning of the Zodiac were, and are still, a mystery, to all save the Initiates. The latter preserved their secrets well.

Between the Chaldean star-gazer and the modern astrologer there lies to this day a wide gulf indeed; and they wander, in the words of Albumazar, "‘twixt the poles, and heavenly hinges, ‘mongst eccentricals, centres, concentricks, circles and epicycles", with vain pretence to more than profane human skill. Yet, some of the astrologers, from Tycho Braire and Kepler of astrological memory, down to the modern Zadkiels and Raphaels, have contrived to make a wonderful science from such scanty occult materials as they have had in hand from Ptolemy downwards. (See "Astrology".) To return to the astrological Zodiac proper, however, it is an imaginary circle passing round the earth in the plane of the equator, its first point being called Aries 0º. It is divided into twelve equal parts called "Signs of the Zodiac", each containing 30º of space, and on it is measured the right ascension of celestial bodies. The movable or natural Zodiac is a succession of constellations forming a belt of in width, lying north and south of the plane of the ecliptic.

The precession of the Equinoxes is caused by the "motion" of the sun through space, which makes the constellations appear to move forward against the order of the signs at the rate of 501/3 seconds per year. A simple calculation will show that at this rate the constellation Taurus (Heb. Aleph) was in the first sign of the Zodiac at the beginning of the Kali Yuga, and consequently the Equinoctial point fell therein. At this time, also, Leo was in the summer solstice, Scorpio in the autumnal Equinox, and Aquarius in the winter solstice ; and these facts form the astronomical key to half the religious mysteries of the world- - the Christian scheme included.

The Zodiac was known in India and Egypt for incalculable ages, and the knowledge of the sages (magi) of these countries, with regard to the occult influence of the stars and heavenly bodies on our earth, was far greater than profane astronomy can ever hope to reach to. If, even now, when most of the secrets of the Asuramayas and the Zoroasters are lost, it is still amply shown that horoscopes and judiciary astrology are far from being based on fiction, and if such men as Kepler and even Sir Isaac Newton believed that stars and constellations influenced the destiny of our globe and its humanities, it requires no great stretch of faith to believe that men who were initiated into all the mysteries of nature, as well as into astronomy and astrology, knew precisely in what way nations and mankind, whole races as well as individuals, would be affected by the so-called "signs of the Zodiac".

Autumnal Equinox: Spiritual - Theosophy Dictionary on Poles, Terrestrial Poles, Celestial Poles

Poles, Terrestrial Poles, Celestial Poles The poles of the earth are the extremities of its axis of rotation, and the great circle at right angles to this axis is the terrestrial equator. Corresponding to these in the celestial sphere are the celestial poles and equator.

The terrestrial poles are storehouses of cosmic vitality, and here the fohatic forces result in the auroral phenomena of colored light and sounds. The north pole is heaven, Olympus, Mount Meru, the abode of the higher gods, and the place of the first continent, the Sacred Imperishable Land. The south pole is the pit, hell, patala, the vent of the earth. These two are often called the Mountain and the Pit. In the Vendidad the north pole is a serpent who bites spring and turns it to cold. The poles are variously personified in mythology, often rather distantly, e.g., as Castor and Pollux.

The extremities of the axis of the ecliptic point to the poles of the ecliptic in the celestial sphere. The axis of the earth is inclined to the axis of the ecliptic at an angle of something more than 23 degrees, called the obliquity, which makes the angle between the ecliptic and the equator.

The obliquity is believed by modern astronomers to oscillate about a mean position to the extent of 1 degree 21 minutes on both sides in a period of about 10,000 to 18,000 years; but The Secret Doctrine states that the obliquity has been 90 degrees and 180 degrees, that it has had these positions repeatedly, and that the obliquity varies at the rate of nearly 3.6 degrees in each precessional cycle. It would appear from this that the earth's axis makes a complete circle or revolution with regard to the ecliptic axis, passing through angles of 90 degrees, 180 degrees, 270 degrees, and so back to the starting point. When the two axes coincide, there can be no seasons, no equinoxes or solstices.

When they are at right angles, either the northern hemisphere or the southern, as the case may be, has six months of spring and summer, the opposite hemisphere having six months of autumn and winter; and the ecliptic poles being in the equator. When the axis is entirely inverted, although the zodiacal constellations remain the same, of course, because of the rotation of the earth, they apparently have a reversed movement from their present one (SD 2:785). Herodotus learned from Egyptian priests that the two axes had once coincided and that they had been reversed three times since their records began; and the Denderah zodiacal charts show that the rectangular position and three inversions had taken place.

Considering the dynamic bearings of the shifting in space of the earth's axis in light of the phenomena of the gyrostat, and how the application of an external force will produce a change in the direction of the axis of rotation, a mathematician might deduce the nature and value of the external forces which must in past ages have acted on the rotating earth in order to produce these axial changes.

Autumnal Equinox: Spiritual - Theosophy Dictionary on Zodiac

Zodiac [from Greek zodiakos kyklos circle of animals]

The zone extending on both sides of the ecliptic, with a total width of about 16 degrees, so as to include the apparent paths of the planets and moon. It is divided into twelve equal parts or signs, which are counted from the position of the vernal equinoctial point. The position of this point recedes westward along the ecliptic at the rate of about 50" of arc per year. The Hindus call this the fixed zodiac, giving the name of movable zodiac to the zodiacal constellations. The ancient figure for the length of a precessional cycle is 25,920 years, also the length of an important racial unit in human evolution.

"A simple calculation will show that at this rate the constellation Taurus (Heb. Alph) was in the first sign of the zodiac at the beginning of the Kali Yuga, and consequently the Equinoctial point fell therein. At this time, also, Leo was in the summer solstice, Scorpio in the autumnal Equinox, and Aquarius in the winter solstice; and these facts form the astronomical key to half the religious mysteries of the world -- the Christian scheme included" (TG 387).

The zodiac is found everywhere among the civilized nations, such as the Chaldeans, Hindus, Egyptians, Chinese, and in Job (said to be the oldest book in the Bible); but its antiquity is lost in the night of time. The zodiac may briefly be described as a book on evolution in twelve chapters, and as such its applications and correspondences are innumerable. Time is marked by the passage of the planets through its signs, by their conjunctions in various positions, and by the movement of the nodes and apsides of planets; so that the whole course of cycles large and small can be calculated and the past and future read by those who understand. The twelve divisions of the ecliptic or fixed zodiac have the same names and significance as the zodiacal constellations. They may be applied to cycles in history, such as the Messianic cycle, to races of mankind, and to the human constitution, mental and physical. When applied to the globes of the earth planetary chain -- using the esoteric computation of a twelvefold system -- the rectors of the houses of the zodiac have each predominance over one globe of the earth-chain.

"Each of these constellations, together forming the twelve houses of the zodiac, is a cluster of stars karmically united by past bonds of destiny, each having its own . . . spiritual electricity or fohatic magnetism, . . . each one producing its own type of influences in the outflow of its emanations around its, and extending through space" (FSO 125).

There was once a division of the zodiac into ten signs because two were kept secret, and the twelve were made up by the Greeks by dividing Virgo-Scorpio into two and introducing between them the balancing sign Libra. An Egyptian mural painting shows a somewhat different arrangement of the ten and the twelve, there being twelve gods on ten seats, numbers 7 and 8, and 11 and 12 being paired. The Hindu astrologers have other divisions, subdividing the twelve houses; and also having 27 or 28 lunar mansions. Speaking of the knowledge of the ancient sages, Blavatsky remarks that "if such men as Kepler and even Sir Isaac Newton believed that stars and constellations influenced the destiny of our globe and its humanities, it requires no great stretch of faith to believe that men who were initiated into all the mysteries of nature, as well as into astronomy and astrology, knew precisely in what way nations and mankind, whole races as well as individuals, would be affected by the so-called 'signs of the Zodiac' " (TG 387-8).

The Chinese zodiacal system was quite complicated. Besides being divided into 28 and 24 parts, it included two distinct duodenary series. The Chinese method of dividing "the yellow road of the sun" was by means of twelve cyclic animals named the rat, ox, tiger, hare, dragon, serpent, horse, sheep, monkey, hen, dog, and pig. The opening sign corresponds to Aquarius, and it is interesting to observe that in the East, the rat is often used as an ideograph for water. But the Chinese series proceeds in a retrograde direction, against the course of the sun; thus the second sign (the ox) takes the position of Capricorn, etc.

The Aztecs had a month of 20 days, and seven of the names of the days of the month had animal appellations -- four the same as the Chinese (the hare, monkey, dog, and serpent), while three were strictly American animals, the ocelot, lizard, and eagle.

Autumnal Equinox: Encyclopedia II - Vernal equinox - Holidays

The Iranian festival of Norouz is celebrated on the vernal equinox, as are the Bahá'í Naw-Rúz (which marks the beginning a new year in the Bahá'í calendar), and the Wiccan Sabbat of Ostara (or Eostar). In Japan, Vernal Equinox Day (春分の日 Shunbun no Hi) is an official national holiday, and is spent visiting family graves and holding family reunions. Easter is celebrated on the Sunday after the first ecclesiastical full moon day on or after the ecclesiastical vernal equinox day 21 March (see computus). Earth Day was initially celebrated on the vernal equinox, 21 March 1970. It is c ...

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Autumnal Equinox

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