Precession
When the zodiac which forms the basis of astrology was laid down in Greece, the astronomical sign of Aries was in the ascendant at the Spring Equinox. Unless you have been living on another planet for the last half-century, you will be aware that, due to the precession of the equinoxes, this is no longer the case and we are now at the beginning of the Age of Aquarius, ie the sun is now entering the sign of Aquarius at the Vernal Equinox.
If you are familiar with the Golden Dawn Tarot, you’ll know this system takes Leo as Ascendant, following most closely the discoveries in ancient Egypt when the newly found wisdom of a lost civilisation was studied.
How that civilisation disappeared may never be entirely proved but it’s interesting to note that the first mention of Atlantis comes to us from Plato who learned of it from an Egyptian priest. There is a parallel with Noah’s flood to be taken into consideration and the same tale surfaces in differing guises in many cultures. The various interpretations of this global disaster are of little importance here, more relevant is the realisation that all are based on a common historical fact.
Papus (1865-1916) in his Tarot of the Bohemians tells us, ‘When the Initiates found that a time was approaching when these doctrines might be lost to humanity, they made strenuous efforts to save the law of synthesis from oblivion.’ He goes on to investigate the method used to preserve the knowledge and laments that the original meaning has been lost into empty ritual, sectarianism and is much maligned in the Tarot.
He states, ‘In it, where a man of the people only sees a means of amusement, the thinker will find the key to an obscure tradition.’ The entire introduction to his book is well worth study.
