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The Zodiac and Its Signs
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The Zodiac and Its Signs
Teacher's Story
The mysterious symbols of the Zodiac on the first pages
of almanacs are always a source of wonder and awe to
children, and remain a life-long mystery to most people
except fortune tellers; and yet the Zodiac is the
simplest thing in the world to understand. However, the
lesson should not be given until after the children
have had their lessons on the sun and the shadow-stick,
and also the lessons on the stars.
The ancients who believed the earth stood still and the
sun moved around it, noticed inevitably that the path
through the heavens pursued by the sun reached in
summer a point farther north and higher up than in the
winter, and they naturally wished to map this path, so
as to fix it in their minds and writings. Nothing could
be easier, for there in the skies were the eternal
stars always following the same fixed path through the
heavens and never wobbling up and down like the sun. So
they chose the constellation which marked the highest
point in the sun's path for each month, and these
constellations might be likened to a stairway with six
steps down toward the
south and six steps up toward the north, the highest
stair being reached by the sun in June, for then the
sun is highest in the heavens and the farthest north.
So beginning in June with Cancer, (the Crab), which is
high in the heavens, it steps down to Leo, (the Lion)
in July, takes another step lower to the Virgin in
August, another down to the Scorpion in September, and
comes to the lowest step of all, Sagittarius, (the
Archer), in November; for at the last of November, the
sun's path reaches its lowest point farthest south in
the heavens and then the days are shortest. But in
December it begins to climb and takes a short step up
to Capricornus, (the Goat), in January it rises to
Aquarius, (the Water Carrier), and in February rises
another step to Pisces, (the Fishes). In March it
reaches up to Aries, (the Ram), in April attains
Taurus, (the Bull), and in May reaches Gemini, (the
Twins), which step is almost as high and as near to the
North Star as was the Cancer, where the journey began
the June before.
It may be difficult for the pupils to learn to know all
these constellations, as some of them are not very well
marked; however, if they wish to learn them they can do
so by the use of the planisphere. Some of the Zodiac
constellations are marked by brilliant stars which have
already been learned. Regulus is the heart of Leo, the
Lion; Spica which means "ear" is the ear of wheat which
the Virgin is holding in the constellation Virgo. Red
Antares lies in the Scorpion; and the Milk Dipper,
which is shaped like the Big Dipper, but smaller, marks
Sagittarius. Red Aldebaran is the fiery eye of Taurus,
the Bull, while the Gemini, or Twins, are the most
conspicuous of the stars in the evening skies of
February and March. It should be noted, however, that
at the present day, owing to the peculiar movement of
our earth, the path of the sun in climbing up and down
these constellation steps is not quite the same as it
seemed to the ancients.
From Todd's New Astronomy
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