Skyscript Astrology Forum

(continued from previous post)

Al-Biruni, the Zodiacs and Mansions

Another surprising find in reviewing al-Biruni’s books is that in the short period of time between Abu Mashar (d. 886) and al-Biruni (973-1049), the concept of a fixed zodiac seems to have disappeared into the mists of time except in India. Al-biruni seems unaware that such a zodiac even existed, and instead comments on the ignorance of the Hindus:

The scantiness of the knowledge of the Hindus regarding the motion of the fixed stars is sufficiently illustrated by the following passage from the Samhita of Varahamihira [lengthy text passage quoted]...This passage shows that Varahamihira had no knowledge of the motion of the fixed stars toward the east. He considers them...as fixed, immovable stars, and represents the solstice as moving towards the west....The solstice has kept its place, but the constellations have migrated, just the very opposite of what Varahamihira has fancied. (India, p. 493-494)

Biruni also seems mystified by records of the solstice’s location near the stars in other mansions in earlier times:

...I have found in some books of Hermes, the vernal equinox coincides with the rising of the Pleiades. This statement must have been made about three thousand and more years before Alexander. God knows best what they intended! (Chronology, p. 342)

This last comment of Biruni’s is very interesting because it seems to indicate that thousands of years earlier the sources for “the books of Hermes??? were aware of the equinox and that it precessed against the stars.

At any rate through the centuries the mansions have become associated with the stars within their boundaries. A century after al-Biruni, John of Seville, Spain (c.1150) keeps the stars in their mansions, and 10 degrees of precession are mentioned. (See Dykes, Astrology of the World I, p. 223.)

By the time of Johannes Schoener (1477-1547, Renaissance) the stars were firmly entrenched in the lunar mansions and were precessed with the zodiac. Schoener begins the first mansion (Horns of Aries) at tropical Aries 19 deg 56 minutes. Schoener relates the mansions to weather, and each mansion was considered to be either fortunate or unfortunate. Schoener writes: “[Ancient writers] divided the whole zodiac in 28 mansions and they imposed names, natures and properties on them from the fixed stars.??? (Opusculum Astrologicum, Golden Hind Press, 1994, p. 63)

Then in contemporary times Robson places the 27th Arabic mansion at the beginning of tropical Aries (1920) and follows the 28 mansions through the zodiac from there. (Vivian E. Robson, The Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology, Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1969, now available in reprint)

Probably beginning in the Renaissance, the Arabic mansions have been considered mainly for elections, much of the interpretation coming from India’s sidereal nakshatras or from “Dorotheus,??? early Hellenistic texts. The problem persists of interpretations based on India's 27 sidereal mansions (with some confusion due to misplaced nakshatra stars) applied to 28 tropical mansions in combination with (sidereal or tropical?) garbled Hellenistic sources.

As a postscript for those familiar with Indian texts, Biruni quotes from Brahmagupta, Aryabhata, Varahamihira and Vitesara. There is some mention of Kalyana Varma (Saravali), but no mention of Parashara at this early date. Biruni died in 1048.

Al-Biruni’s books:

The Chronology of Ancient Nations (trans. Dr. Edward Sachau), Forgotten Books.com, 2017. (Very nice inexpensive re-print)

Al Biruni’s India (trans. Dr. Edward Sachau), Rupa Publications, India, 2002-2016).

The Book of Instruction in the Elements of the Art of Astrology (trans. R. Ramsay Wright), London: Luzak & Co., 1934. (Now available in facsimile reprint from several publishers.)

Those books of Hermes could have been written by anyone (in the Medieval ages there were hundreds of Hermes floating around) and that statement seems a bit legendary to me, even though it does acknowledge precession.

There is another statement, that is much more worth investigating. The formula of Theon of Alexandria, who exposits a very accurate sidereal frame which is ascribed to ancient astrologers. Note that Alexander Jones (1999) and Dorian Greenbaum and Alexander Jones (2017) claim:

''Abundant evidence exists that when Ptolemy’s tables were used for astrological purposes during the third and fourth centuries, the tropical longitudes obtained from the tables were generally converted to sidereal by adding 8° minus one-eightieth of a degree for every year since 158 BCE, a formula explicitly reported by Theon of Alexandria as employed by the “astrologers of old.''

Sources:
Greenbaum and Jones (2017) ISAW Papers 12 (2017) P.Berl. 9825: An elaborate horoscope for 319 CE and its significance for Greek astronomical and astrological practice -
http://dlib.nyu.edu/awdl/isaw/isaw-papers/12/

Jones, Alexander (1999) Astronomical Papyri from Oxyrhynchus, American Philosophical Society, pg. 343

That formula is much more accurate in equinox measurement than the one of Hipparchus and Ptolemy, which add a degree per century, an approach that was followed by Hephaistio of Thebes and Anonymous of 379 who place Aldebaran at 15 Taurus in their tropical zodiac.

With this statement and evidence in mind, it appears easier to explain the accurate charts in Valens and others who used a Aries 8 VP in the second century, they probably applied a formula like the above and used Babylonian sidereal measurements I argued for here - http://skyscript.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9812 .

Keeping the VP stationed at that degree and using a formula instead of just changing it, does favor the theory that many thought it was a trepidation and that it will return to it at some point. One of the ''ancients'' might have been Valens as a result.

Accepting the trepidation theory as the most prevalent theory at the time helps explain sidereal measurements and statements with Aries 1, 8, 10, 15 VP confusions in early Hellenistic astrology.

Back in Fall of 2015, I got and read Babylonian Star-lore by Gavin White which led me to get so interested in Mesopotamian Astrology that I converted from the Tropical Zodiac to Sidereal Zodiac.
I temporarily converted back in 2012 after reading Cyril Fagan's books, but I went back to Tropical Zodiac out of habit.
Gavin White opened my eyes.


I have Moon and Mars in Sidereal Aquarius. They are in the constellation, Aquarius. My Moon is conjunct alpha Aquarii Sadalmelek and theta Aquarii Ancha.
My Moon is conjunct gamma Aquarii Sadalbachia and Ancha in Right Ascension.
My Moon is in a 3D conjunction with Ancha. Even though My North Lunar Node is in Sidereal Capricorn, it is conjunct epsilon Aquarii star Albali.
I really don't like using projected ecliptic conjunctions. Bernadette Brady influenced me to have a preference for parans. Kenneth Bowser and Robert Hand has influenced me to use Right Ascension,Declination,and rotating Parans. However, David Cochrane has recently led me to change my mind to work with his method of rotating parans and not the methods that Starlight and Solar Fire uses.

The stuff that Gavin White wrote about Aquarius deeply resonated with me. That's something that Diana Rosenberg and Bernadette Brady failed to do with me when I read their histories of the Aquarius constellation.
Unlike them, Gavin pointed out that Aquarius was Gu-la 'The Great One' which represented Ea/Enki who was the God of Water,Wisdom,Magic,and the Arts. He was also a fertility god. He resided in the Apsu which is a watery region located between the Earth and the Netherworld. Capricorn was Sahur-Mas-ku 'The Goatfish.' Ea's symbol was the goat-fish. Both Gu-la and Sahur-Mas-ku were associated with him. Piscis Austrinus was Ku 'The Fish', and it was associated with Ea too. As-Gan ' The Field' was the other constellation associated with Ea.

In the Mul.Apin, Gu-la is identified as Ea.




I don't believe in using elements and ruling planets for the Sidereal Zodiac. The Babylonians didn't use them. That's all Hellenistic. I strongly disagree with what Western Sidereal Astrologers and Vedic Astrologers are doing. I don't want to use the Greek names for the zodiac signs like the Western Sidereal Astrologers.

I want to use the Mesopotamian names for the zodiac and interpret the zodiac signs based on the Mesopotamian star-lore which means that Gu-la (Aquarius) and Suhur-Mas-ku (Capricorn) would be water signs due to them being Ea/Enki and his symbol, the goat-fish. I'd see my Moon and Mars in Gu-la and North Lunar Node in Suhur-Mas-ku as watery placements with no connection to Uranus and Saturn. Mas-tab-ba-gal-gal (Gemini) would be Martian due to them being Twin Warriors that guard the Underworld ruled by Nergal which was the deity that was associated with Mars. Zi-ba-an-na (Libra) would be a strong and favorable placement for the Sun due to the fact that the scales is sacred to the Sungod, Shamash and that the sign represents him in his role as God of Truth and Justice. I view my Sun (especially), Mercury, and Venus in Zi-ba-an-na to have a solar-influence and not a Venusian influence.

A study by Huber in 1958 showed that for some of the zodiacal signs the dates predicted in Babylonian Almanacs for when a planet will cross from one sign to another coincide with the dates predicted for when the planet is in conjunction with one of the so-called ‘Normal Stars’ (a group of reference stars used by the Babylonians) in the Normal Star Almanacs. More recently, Jones has found the same coincidences in the observational texts known as the Astronomical Diaries. These studies imply that the Babylonian zodiac was ???xed sidereally (i.e., with respect to the stars), rather than tropically (i.e., with respect to the equinoxes) as in Greek astronomy. The discovery of two Babylonian catalogues of Normal Stars listing the positions of the stars in degrees within zodiacal signs supports this conclusion

The zodiac appears in ???ve principal contexts within Babylonian astronomy:

1. The zodiacal sign in which a visible planet is located during a month is reported in the summary at the end of an Astronomical Diary. In later Diaries, beginning in the last quarter of the third century B.C., this information is supplemented with the date on which the planet crossed from one zodiacal sign to the next.

2. The zodiacal sign in which a visible planet is predicted to be located at the beginning of a month and the date on which the planet is expected to cross from one zodiacal sign to the next is recorded in the Almanacs.

3. The zodiacal sign in which a planet is located on the day of its ???rst and last visibilities and at its stations is recorded in the Astronomical Diaries, the Normal Star Almanacs, the Almanacs, the Goal Year Texts and in several planetary compilations. In some cases the zodiacal sign is quali???ed with the adjective ‘beginning’ or ‘end’.

4. The zodiacal sign in which the moon is located during a lunar eclipse is occasionally recorded in the Astronomical Diaries, the Normal Star Almanacs, the Almanacs, the Goal Year Texts and in some eclipse texts. In some cases the zodiacal sign is quali???ed with the adjective ‘beginning’ or ‘end’.

5. In the texts of mathematical astronomy the positions of the sun, moon and planets are given in degrees and fractions within zodiacal signs.

www.academia.edu/2360664/A_Study_of_Bab ... the_Zodiac???


The Normal Stars

a series of 32 individual stars located close to the ecliptic that the Babylonians used to indicate the positions of the moon and planets in the Astronomical Diaries. The list derived from Astronomical Diaries and related texts from Babylonia by Hunger and Sachs, 1988, pages 17-19




The bright star of the Ribbon of the Fishes

The front star in the head of the Hired Man

The rear star in the head of the Hired Man

The Star Cluster

The Bull's Jaw

The northern (rein) of the Chariot

The southern (rein) of the Chariot

The front star of the Twin's feet

The rear star of the Twin's feet

The star of the Twin's close to the Shepherd

The star of the front Twin

The star of the rear Twin

The northern star at the front of the Crab

The southern star at the front of the Crab

The northern star at the rear of the Crab

The head of the Lion

The King Star

The small star 4 cubits behind the King Star

The hindquarters of the Lion

The rear foot of the Lion

The single star in front of the Furrow

The bright star in front of the Furrow

The bright star of the Furrow

The southern part of the Scales

The northern part of the Scales

The central star in the head of the Scorpion

The upper star in the head of the Scorpion

The Lisi Star

The bright star on the tip of Pabilsag's arrow

The horn of the Goatfish

The front star of the Goatfish

The rear of the Goatfish




The Babylonians had Moon's nisirti 'secret place' (precursor to exaltation) as The Star Cluster which is the Pleaides.
Both Tropical Zodiac and Sidereal Zodiac have early Taurus as the Moon's exaltation.
In Tropical Zodiac, the Pleiades are at the end of Taurus/beginning of Gemini.
In Sidereal Zodiac, they are at the beginning of Taurus.