A word or two may be added as to the “irregularity of
extent” of the constellations spoken of at the commencement which may perhaps
have somewhat puzzled the leader. The cause of this irregularity may be
conceived of as due either to our ignorance of the true limits of each
constellation-points on which astronomers are by no means agreed or else to the
circle of this Great Zodiac being to some extent oblique to the plane of the
solar system and to the latter being at the present time by no means in the canter
thereof, whereby the stars limiting each constellation appear “foreshortened”
nearer each other in some cases and farther away in others.
However, this may be, what we are really concerned with now
is the fact that the Zodiac of the Signs with which our study deals, in spite
of its sympathetic relation to this uneven Zodiac of the Constellations, is
itself quite evenly divided into twelve uniform spaces or “signs” of thirty
degrees each, familiar to us under the same names and possessing in themselves
the same nature as the Twelve Constellations.
As regards the constellations, it may be said briefly that
the Zodiac of the Constellations would seems to be concerned with macrocosmic
evolution, or the life of the Solar System as a whole, as distinguished from
microcosmic or human evolution, which is demonstrably related to the Zodiac of
the Signs; and that every point in each circle corresponds with the equivalent
point in the other.
Corresponds, it is to be noted, for the two Zodiacs do not
coincide in position, and therefore the “Signs” in one Zodiac overlap, so to
speak, the “Signs” in the other. (Infect, the first degree of the Zodiac of the
Constellations is in about the 19th degree of the Zodiac of the Signs, the
discrepancy being due to the “precession of the equinoxes.” Into a
consideration of which it is unnecessary to enter at our present stage. The two
Zodiacs did coincide, however, in about the year 480 A.D.
With these considerations we may dismiss all thought of the
Constellations, with which we have now nothing further to do, from our minds.
Dr. A. Shanker
www.ShankerAdawal.com
www.ShankerStudy.com