Predicting the Future - it is(n't) written in the stars

The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.

The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course.

All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again. Ecclesiastes, 300BC

To be able to make any plans in your life, it is useful to know what might happen in the future. Nowadays, we can assume certain things are likely to happen - passing exams will probably lead to a job, income, and then more exams. In ancient times we wanted to know long a year was likely to be, when to plant crops, when to gather the harvest, and when we were past the middle of the winter.

Thus the geometric positions of the Earth as it orbits around the Sun were marked by the year's religious festivals, and although we commonly think of 'time' as a straight line going ever forward into the unknown, it is an interesting exercise to mark the year out as a circle:
In 45BC, Julius Caesar (with a little help from Sosigenes) designed the modern European calendar, with the same number of days and months, starting on the 1st January. The Spring Equinox was fixed on the 25th March, but due to inaccuracies in the leap year system, by the time of the Council of Nicea in 325 AD, the equinox, important for calculating when Easter occured, had shifted back to the 21st March, where it was deemed fixed.
  • Easter falls on the first Sunday following the first ecclesiastical full moon that occurs on or after the day of the Vernal Equinox;
  • this particular ecclesiastical full moon is the 14th day of a tabular lunation (new moon);
  • and the vernal equinox is fixed as March 21
  • resulting in that Easter can never occur before March 22 or later than April 25

 

The 25th March was adopted by England as the legal and tax year end in the twelfth century, and it was only in 1752, when the equinox had shifted back to the 10th March, that Britain changed from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar, and we had to readjust this date. Before 1752, it was possible for a baby to be born in March, and die in February the same year.

With the loss of 11 days, the 25th March became 5th April - which until recently was our end of the Tax year. At the same time we decided to revert to 1st January as our New Year's Day, although Scotland had done so in 1600 - perhaps that's why they celebrate Hogmanay so much.

Confusing, isn't it?

This is probably also the reason that we celebrate our midwinter festival on the 25th December, not the 20th/21st when the Winter Solstice occurs.
Astrology
At a time when the true nature of stars and planets was obscure, it was possible to believe that the only way that the planets moved was magical and divine. People tended to look for meanings in the various positions of the things in the sky, and they tried to tie in times of the year with happenings in the heavens, making themselves believe that the stars/planets/sun/comets could influence people on earth.
Of course, one way that seasonal variations could possibly influence somebody, would be to change what their mother was eating whilst they were in her womb. So perhaps if you were pregnant during the winter when there wasn't much fresh veg, you might have a child with different characteristics than if the pregnancy occured in the summer, with loads of fruit in the diet. Or perhaps the amount of daylight or warmth would influence maternal hormones of pregnancy.

Anyway, as mentioned before, the Sun and planets appear to take a particular path across the background of the fixed stars, due to the angle of rotation of the Earth, and its orbit around the Sun. This line is called the ECLIPTIC, and it passes through about 12 constellations (actually 13). The band 6 degrees either side of the ecliptic is called the Zodiac.

A long time ago, the Babylonians (Northern Iranians to you and me), marked out the year according to which constellation the sun appeared to be moving through, starting the year at the Spring Equinox (now March 20th or 21st). Here is a schematic diagram, showing the signs of the zodiac, with approximate dates.

The constellation that contained the Spring Equinox, when the sun leaves the dark half of the year, and enters the light half of the year, was always thought to be the dominant celestial entity.

Between 4200 B.C. to 2000 B.C the Spring (vernal) Equinox (circled in white) occured when the Sun seemed to be passing through Taurus the Bull.
Some people think that is why the mediterranean peoples worship the Bull, including the sacred cows of the Hindus.

The Egyptians worshipped Apis, the god bull - seen here with the sun resting in its horns. This is the chap that Moses caught his people worshipping when he came down from Mount Zion with the Ten Commandments. He wasn't very happy, and killed quite a few of his uncles, aunts and cousins.

Nasty temper, old Moses.
Here is Fillipo Lippi's picture of the bull worshippers. The bull has the crescent moon emblazoned on its shoulder.
It was found that over time, the Vernal Equinox changes constellation. The time when Taurus was 'defeated' as the dominant constellation seems to be repeated in Mithraism, a religion common in the Roman Army, and related to Zoroastrianism.
We also have the myths of Theseus slaying the Minotaur on Crete, and it is commemorated in ritual bull fighting.

Between 2000BC and 7BC, the constellation of the vernal equinox was Aries, and the point where the Ecliptic crosses the Celestial Equator is still known as the First Point of Aries.

Here is a sacrificial Ram - ready for Abraham.
However, due to the Precession of the Equinoxes, the actual constellation in which this point occurs, has been Pisces for the last 2000 years

This is the appearance of the sky between June and December, 7BC. You can see that the Vernal Equinox (ringed white - the Ecliptic is yellow) has just moved into the constellation Pisces, and that there also is a conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in that constellation. These conjunctions happen around the zodiac every twenty years, but for it to occur in the constellation of the vernal equinox is very rare. This would have set the world alight, and astrologers everywhere would be predicting a great event.

Undoubtedly the Three Wise Men were Persian (Parsee - from northern Iran) astrologers who noted a particular celestial event, possibly this conjunction, and journeyed to Palestine to look for the new king. This is certainly one explanation of the Star of Bethlehem.

In about 600 years, the vernal equinox will be in the constellation of Aquarius.
Tyge Brahe was employed mainly as a court Astrologer - paid to predict good and bad days for his employer to do things, e.g. start a war etc, depending on where the planets were in the sky.
When Halley's comet was seen at Harold Godwinson's coronation in 1066, it was taken as a bad omen. It was certainly bad for King Harold, who ended up dead within nine months.

But as we learned more about what we could see in the sky, it turned out that the heavenly bodies were no more able to help us predict the future than the insides of chickens, tea leaves, or tarot cards, which is a bit disappointing, as we now have to take responsiblity for our own actions, whilst realising that God/fate will undoubtedly have a part to play in the eventual outcome. And the Sun will come out tomorrow. Probably.

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