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Fixed Star Lessons: Number Three
Aldebaran and Antares, Two Other Royal Stars of the Persians
Last time, we looked at the fixed star Regulus, which is currently in the last degree of Leo. Placed in the heart of the lion of the constellation Leo, Regulus is the best known of the Royal Stars of the Persians. It also is almost exactly conjunct the ecliptic.
In the development of culture, these Four Royal Stars are quite interesting important. Around 3000 BCE, they were aligned to the beginnings of the four seasons. At that time Regulus was at the place of the Sun at the Summer Solstice. Regulus was the Watcher of the North.
Aldebaran, the “Eye of the Bull,” would have been the Watcher of the East, conjunct the Sun at the Spring Equinox – it was at the “Aries Point.” Antares, otherwise called Cor Scorpio or the “Heart of the Scorpion,” would be the Watcher of the West and would be in our Libra. Fomalhaut, which we’ll discuss next time, was the “Watcher of the South.”
Remember that at this time there was not the tropical zodiac as we would to know and love, but these star positions helped set the calendar for the solar year and acted as a proto-zodiac a long time ago. If the Vernal Point was conjunct Aldebaran, this would be within “The Age of Taurus.”
Where are Aldebaran and Antares located in our current zodiac? Here’s some good news for the beginner with this material – they are almost exactly opposite one another in the Zodiac. The 2000 position for Aldebaran is 9 degrees of Gemini and forty-seven minutes, and for Antares it’s 9 degrees of Sagittarius forty-six minutes. Pretty close! Because of their opposition in the Zodiac, we tend to think of these two stars together.
Aldebaran and Antares are both the alpha-stars, or the brightest stars, of their respective constellations Taurus and Scorpio. They are also both five degrees of latitude south of the ecliptic. Aldebaran is seventeen degrees north declination, and Antares is twenty-six degrees south declination. The difference is, of course, because Aldebaran is in Taurus, which is north of the celestial equator, and Antares is in Scorpio, south of the celestial equator.
Enough of the factoids - now for some interpretation!
The brighter fixed stars can have an outer-planet feel to them – they were what our fore bearers used millennia before the outer planets were discovered to relate to experiences of extremes or fate.
Ptolemy gives Aldebaran the nature of Mars, although there clearly seems to be a large dose of Jupiter present. Vivian Robson, in his classic Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology, says this about Algebra's influence: “It gives honor, intelligence, eloquence, ferocity, a tendency to sedition, a responsible position, public honors and gain of power and wealth through others, but its benefits seldom prove lasting and there is also danger of violence and sickness.” Having heard all this, do you want a planet or angle conjunct this star? Well, maybe.
In her more updated treatment in her Fixed Star book, Bernadette Brady states that the Four Royal Stars all bestow honor and glory and all that but with a major obstacle to overcome. She looked at basic myths related to Aldebaran and concluded that one could succeed while overcoming challenges to one’s integrity. Among others, she notes that George Bernard Shaw, Galileo, and Machiavelli all represent different qualities of working with issues of success and integrity. One may also note, however, that Aldebaran is conjunct Jackie Kennedy’s seventh house Jupiter and Jack Kennedy’s Sun.
Now let’s look at Antares. Ptolemy gives it the nature of Mars and Jupiter, but, since it is the Heart of the Scorpion, what do you think? As you are now imagining, Antares is very volatile and Mars-like, associated with rashness, stubbornness, destructiveness, and violence. The native would be given to extremes, for either good or ill. Bernadette Brady states that people with Antares prominent may well cause their own undoing – they may have to conquer themselves first before they can make a contribution to others. Brady notes Antares prominent in the charts of Nelson Mandela, Agatha Christie, and, a personal favorite, Joan of Arc.
How can a fixed star be prominent in a person’s chart? The clearest possibility is conjunct a planet or angle, and modern authors tend to give an orb of one degree. This may become tricky when a star is well away from the ecliptic.
The other possibility has to do the co-angles between a star and a planet, known as paranatella. Paranatella are, by the way, the basis of Astrocartography, and I’ll say much more about them next time.
Next time I’ll introduce using paranatella (or parans) with two stars south of the equator – the remaining Royal Star Fomalhaut, and the all-important Sirius. Stay tuned!
Home Back One-- Introduction Two--Regulus Three--Aldebaran & Antares Four--Fomalhaut & Sirius