"Were all religions and all scriptures of the world to be lost, and were there nothing left to us except the starry heavens, the story of the zodiac and the significance of the names of the various stars found in the different constellations, we should be able to retrace the history of man, recover the knowledge of our goal and learn the mode of its achievement"     — Djwhal Khul The Tibetan

 

On each of the constellation pages under the subheading "Speculation on the meaning of this celestial feature", the symbolism and etymology of the name of the constellation is explored.

This study is based on the belief that each constellation has its own unique clusters of related concepts, and that the etymology of the name and associated key words of a constellation will express the essence of what the constellation means.

Etymology is the study of the history of words. English is an Indo-European language and related to most of the major languages of Europe and the northern Indian subcontinent. Click here for a list of Indo-European roots and see how linguists have grouped words that are etymologically related to each other. I believe that each constellation embraces a number of these Indo-European roots.

Along with using these roots supplied by modern etymologists I have liberally used interpretations of words from the 7th century AD Christian scholar Isidore of Seville (The Etymologies), and also from the 1st century Roman writer Marcus Terentius Varro (On The Latin Language).

In some of the pages on this website etymological suggestions are offered that at this stage may seem plausible to me, a non-linguist, but are not recognized as etymologically correct. I believe this subject calls for a looser structure than would be expected in the science of modern linguistics.

I am hoping to stimulate discussion and share information and insights, and that as understanding of the constellations progresses, patterns may emerge giving us a more true picture of what the constellations mean. Relatively little is known about this subject and if we do want to know more we have to start somewhere; reasonable assumptions and likely suggestions can be made until we can confirm whether or not these will fit into a given constellation pattern.

The whole heavens is the ultimate or 'overall' pattern in the concept of 'cosmic order'. Cosmic order relates to the Hermes Trismegistus' axiom 'as above, so below'; the harmony between the heavens and the earth, the earthly order corresponding to the cosmic order. The heavens is understood to be the macrocosm, and man the microcosm; and hence according to Paracelsus the structure of the human body itself is the structure of the entire universe. Man, the microcosm, the human being, is seen as the synthesis of all nature; animals, birds and each living thing emphasizing some unique or exaggerated feature that symbolically represents some function of the human condition, and may also represent some part of the human body.

There are 88 constellation of which 40 are modern, named by scientists and astronomers with little knowledge of myth, or with little appreciation for the 'sacredness' of what they were doing. If God named the stars as it says in the bible (Psalm 147:4: "He tells the number of the stars; he calls them all by their names") then it might be reasonable to assume that god inspired those namers and these modern names are just as valid as the ancient names. As this project progresses we might find that we can identify some myths with these new constellations.

If you would like to contribute ideas and insights on the constellations, please join the discussion.

This website is very much a work in progress, and as this study develops I intend to make lots of changes, additions and revisions.

© Anne Wright 2008.