ARIES

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Aries is the first sign of the zodiac. The Greeks associated Aries with the Ram who carried Phrixus and his sister Helle on his back to Colchis (the Georgian region of the Caucasus) to escape the evil designs of their stepmother, Ino, who was about to kill them. In crossing the strait that divides Europe from Asia, Helle became giddy and lost her hold, falling off the Ram into the sea when she disobeyed a warning not to look down, the place thereafter became the Hellespont which today separates Greece and Turkey. Continuing his flight, the ram bore the boy to Colchis, at the eastern end of the Euxine or Black sea. On reaching his journey's end Phrixus sacrificed the ram and hung its fleece in the Grove of Ares where it was turned to gold and became the object of the Argonauts' (Argo Navis) quest. I suggest that one possible consequence of Helle falling off the Ram might be symbolic over-representation of the masculine element in the Arian psyche.

TAURUS

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"The Bull plays a splendid part in the Greek mythology. It was under this form that Jupiter carried Europa into Crete, and thereby gave the name of Europe to one of the quarters of the Earth." [The Analytical Dictionary, David Booth, 1836.] The Taurus constellation is for the most part composed of two main groups of stars; the Pleiades and Hyades. Both groups have connections to rain; pluvial, a word related to Pleiades is a Latin term for rain; and hyein, a Greek term meaning 'to rain' is related to the word Hyades. Taurus comes from the Indo-european root *tauro-, Bull. Derivative of stā-, but an independent word in Indo-European. 1. taurine (taurocholic acid and found in the fluids of the muscles and lungs of many animals), Taurus, toreador (bull-fighter), torero (a matador); bittern (wading birds of the genera Botaurus), from Latin taurus, bull.

GEMINI

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The constellation Gemini depicts the two Dioscuri or heavenly twins, Castor and Pollux, the names of the two brightest stars in the constellation. The twins were the sons of Leda, wife of Tyndareus, the king of Sparta. Castor was the mortal son of Tyndareus, and Pollux the divine son of Zeus who seduced Leda in the guise of a swan. They were born or hatched from an egg and were pictured with half of the severed egg on each of their heads as a cap or helmet. In mythology the Twins were involved in cattle theft, it was during a dispute over the division of spoils of a cattle raid with their cousins that Castor met his death. Pollux was granted immortality by Zeus, but he persuaded Zeus to allow him to share the gift with Castor. As a result, the two spend alternate days on Olympus (as gods) and in Hades (as deceased mortals) [6]. The stars Castor and Pollux are never above the horizon at the same time.

CANCER

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Cancer is the sign of the summer solstice, and represents the sun at the highest point of summer. The constellation is identified with the crab, Karkinos, or Carcinus, that was sent by Hera to bite the foot of Hercules as he battled with the monstrous Hydra. Hercules crushed the crab with his foot. Hera placed the crab in the sky for this service. The crab is a symbol of powerful gripping and holding power. According to Chaldaean and Platonist philosophy, Cancer was the 'Gate of Men' through which souls descended from heaven into human bodies, or into creation. Its opposite sign Capricorn represents the 'Gate of the Gods' where souls of the departed ascended back to heaven. Kuhn in The Lost Light explains; "in sign of Cancer the crab is emerging from the water and in Capricorn the goat (half goat or land animal, half fish or sea animal) is in the water. The crab lives part of its time on the earth, and part in the water. In this constellation there is a configuration of two Asses, the Aselli (gamma, Asellus Borealis, and delta, Asellus Australis) outflanking a star cluster called the 'Manger' (Praesaepe). Some think this might be the origin, as seen in nativity pictures of the birth of Christ, of the positioning of a donkey always behind the manger. The baby born in a manger might relate to this idea of Cancer being the 'Gate of Men'.

LEO

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Leo the Lion, from Latin leo, 'lion', the word was borrowed by the Greeks from some unknown source. The Latin word is related to Greek leon, leontos (earlier *lewon, *lewontos), which appears in the name of the Spartan king Leonidas, Lion's son. The Greek word is somehow related to Coptic labai, laboi, lioness. In turn, Coptic labai is borrowed from a Semitic source related to Hebrew labi and Akkadian labbu [AHD]. Compare also Homeric liz, 'lion', which is probably a loan word from Hebrew layish, 'lion' [Klein]. Related names: Lionel, Leander, Leonard, Leonid, Leonine. In Greek and Roman myth Leo represented the Nemean Lion slain by Hercules, giving the titles for this constellation: Nemeaeus, Nemeas Alumnus, Nemees Terror, Nemeaeum Monstrum. The first of Hercules' twelve labors was to slay the Nemean Lion and bring back its skin to his cousin Eurystheus who had set twelve labors for him.

VIRGO

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Virgo was often drawn with a staff or rod in her right hand and an ear of wheat in her left hand. Virgo is thought to represent Erigone who on finding her father Icarius (Bootes) dead, hanged herself in grief and was raised to heaven for her piety. An alternative story (cf. Aratus, Phaen. 98 ff.) identified her as Astraea, daughter of Jupiter (or Astraeus), who at the advent of the Bronze Age fled to heaven. [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century A.D, Introduction, p.xxiv]. Astraea has been identified with the Greek goddess Dike, and Roman Justitia. The word virgo is Latin for virgin. Klein explains the word virgo; "is probably related to virga, 'a young shoot, twig', virgate", virgate (shaped like a wand or rod, also an early English measure of land area), from Latin virgatus, 'made of twigs', from virgo, 'twig, switch, rod', which is of uncertain origin. It stands perhaps for *wiz-ga, from Indo-European base *weis-, 'to turn, twist', whence also Old English weoxian, 'to wipe'". Indo-European base *weis-, gives as derivatives: whisk, from Old English weoxian, 'to wipe', 'quick stroke, sweeping movement' (with a whisk or brush), 'implement for beating eggs, etc' [1], whisker, 'hair of a man's face', originally a playful formation, from Middle English wisker, anything that whisks or sweeps' [2], whiskey (an obsolete word meaning a light vehicle. — Formed from whisk)

LIBRA

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Astraea was the last of the gods to stay on Earth, as mankind became wicked, she ascended to heaven to become the constellation Virgo; the Scales of Justice she carried became the nearby constellation Libra. Originally the Greeks saw the Scales of Balance as being the claws of the Scorpion. Read what writers on mythology have said about Astraea on this Theoi Project webpage "They named Libra from the equal balance of this month because on September 24 the sun makes the equinox while running through this sign. Whence Lucan also says (Civil War 4.58): To the scales of just Libra” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.106.] The word Libra, from Latin libra, plural librae, Greek lithra, a weighing scale, is related to the words: level, lira, deliberate, equilibrium (from æquus, equal + libra), litra (name of a Greek weight and coin), litre (liter, a metric unit of volume)", librate (land worth a pound a year, the word used to mean; to vibrate as a balance; to be in equipoise; to waver between one thing and another). The process of librating or swinging from side to side is spoken of as libration.