Re: VMs: "Zodiac" signs and Regulus

[Pamela Richards <spirlhelix@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi, Rene!

"There actually is a stub of a cut out page
in the right place, and the remaining illustrations,
though quaint, unmistakably follow the normal
zodiac signs in the right order."

Yes.  But I'm watching my daughter scrap-booking right
now.  People can cut stubs and number pages. 
Especially very secretive people with something to
hide.

One thing I haven't really elaborated upon is the VMs
author's possible intention in skewing the
constellations he uses in his Zodiac.  It seems to me
that he may have anticipated that the signs of the
Zodiac are a vulnerable spot in his otherwise
impenetrable code.  And simply to change the names of
the signs by using unusual characters is no matter of
consequence to a code-breaker looking for "signs of
the Zodiac" equivalents.  Is it possible our
super-cypherer did not anticipate this eventuality? 
So he has not only encrypted the lexical code, IMHO,
he has also "encrypted" his astrology, by using
constellations and stars in different ways than we use
them in conventional astrology.  

And I tend to disagree with you about "normal" zodiac
signs.  Do I misunderstand you, or is Scorpius thought
to look like a cat?  Have you ever tried to draw a
cat?  They are quite hard to draw.  To make something
that "accidentally" looks anything like a cat is quite
an amazing feat.  This guy draws a beautiful lobster
(two!?! and where a single crab ought to be), but
thinks a scorpion is a mammal.  I must really have
that wrong.

If you read to the end of the article, you will see
why the author thinks the Celestial Equator was
important to people of that time.

But even if you already have your mind made up about
Mithraism, my idea is that something like a continuous
chain of constellations on a slightly different angle
might be an explanation for the unusual "Zodiac"
signs.  You don't have to swallow this particular
approach to understanding Mithraism to follow my
thinking for a moment.

Thanks for considering my suggestions!

Warmly,

Pam

--- Rene Zandbergen <r_zandbergen@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> 
> --- Pamela Richards <spirlhelix@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
> > Hi, Rene, Nick and all
> > 
> > I will look forward to seeing those links once
> they
> > are complete.
> 
> Give it a try with the current names. There is 
> a good chance that it will work.
> 
> > In the meanwhile, on tauroctony: here's a great
> > site.
> > 
> > http://www.well.com/user/davidu/mithras.html
> > 
> > It turns out that the murals decorating the walls
> of
> > Mithraic temples are now thought to be "star maps"
> > of a chain of constellations which are part of
> > the Mithraic myth. 
> 
> Hmmm, I've looked at the page, but I am not at all
> convinced. This looks more like an 'alternative' 
> explanation rather than 'new understanding'.
> Mind you, I'm no expert.
> 
> > These constellations begin with Taurus and move
> > through Scorpius, but they swerve from the
> ecliptic
> > and include constellations we don't usually think
> of
> > in connection with the conventional twelve signs,
> > like
> > Corvus the Crow.  And there are only seven of
> them.
> 
> It is claimed that it represents a feature of
> the heavens in the period 4000 BCE to 2000 BCE.
> Why would people in those days be interested
> in the celestial equator??
> How can we know that the constellations now known
> as Corvus and Hydra were also called the same
> then? I also see no explanation for the two
> guys with torches, whose names are Cautes and
> Cautopates in the traditional explanation (if I
> remember correctly.).
> And the complaint about the traditional explanation,
> which is that there is no known tradition of
> an Iranian god killing a bull, would apply to
> several aspects of this alternative explanation
> as well. 
> 
> And my pet peeve, the page author uses the now
> popular form 'Scorpio' which I would not expect
> from an expert. Scorpius is Latin, Scorpion 
> English and Scorpio is a car manufactured by Ford.
> But perhaps this is already a lost battle....
> 
> > I don't think we are necessarily looking at a
> > tauroctony in the VMs, but I do wonder if it is
> > something similar.  Those illustrations are
> > different
> > enough, yet still detailed enough, to suggest the
> > artist knew what he meant to convey--and it was
> not
> > quite the Zodiac as we know it.  Knowing the VMs
> > author's predilection for misdirection, it seems
> > difficult to demonstrate that the absence of two
> > signs is not intentional. 
> 
> There actually is a stub of a cut out page
> in the right place, and the remaining illustrations,
> though quaint, unmistakably follow the normal
> zodiac signs in the right order.
> 
> It is often said that the month names were written
> at a later date. Manly (1931) even suggests that 
> these emblems were only added at a later date.
> I guess with the new scans something more can be
> said about this....
> 
> Cheers, Rene
> 
> 
> 		
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=====
"I'd rather learn from one bird how to sing, than to teach ten thousand stars how not to dance."

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