The language of the Bible has a way of leading unsuspecting readers into thinking it was recording human historical events when, in reality, it was referring to the patterns of the stars. A general overview serves to explain how the Bible's allegorical language reflects a superstitious fear of darkness. This page serves as an introduction to a series of articles on bible astrology.

Circle

We go back to the ancient world when it was believed that earth was enclosed by a metallic dome called the firmament. Because of sky's blue color, they believed the firmament shrouded them from the water above.

⁶And God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters."
⁷And God made the firmament and separated the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. (Gen. 1:6-7)

They believed that earth was stationary and that the stars moved in a circular fashion around earth.

¹⁰He has described a circle upon the face of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness. (Job 26:10)

Isaiah describes God sitting above the circle, and the dome as a curtain and a tent. Apologists who say that the word "circle" implies that they knew earth was spherical don't know what they are talking about.

²²It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; (Isaiah 40:22)

This circle (Figure 1) was divided into twelve sectors we know today as the Zodiac. The primary development of the Zodiac goes back to ancient Egypt, Babylon and Greece. The names we are familiar with today came from the Greeks, but other cultures in the ancient world had their own names and myths associated with the Zodiac. The task before us is to decipher how the Bible's language relates to the constellations.

Figure 1.

Zodiac Motifs

The pie chart (Figure 2) shows the twelve "houses" with their dates. It's the same chart used by astrologers today. Ancients were correct in seeing the sun and its light as indispensable to life, but to the point where they worried that as daylight hours got shorter, the sun was endangered of dying a permanent death. When sunlight hours began to increase again, they were relieved. Thus darkness was personified as evil, because to them, it was the sun's enemy. This tension between good and evil ebbed and escalated every year.

The chart has four quadrants that represent the four seasons of the year. Starting at the bottom of the chart, in their mindset, the sun was dead for three days from December 22 to 24. It came back to life, or it was resurrected on December 25 when daylight hours start to increase. Evil was in power during the dark winter months, but it was also a time, as daylight hours were increasing, when the sun was winning its way back to glory.

At the spring equinox, when daylight and nighttime hours are equal, the sun has nullified the dark forces. As the days get progressively longer, the sun is on its righteous path back to full strength. It is the only season of the year when there is no dissension and there is peace on earth.

At the summer solstice, when the sun is at its zenith, it is on its throne at full power. As the sun starts to descend, the dark forces are starting to edge their way back. As the days get progressively shorter, the sun is still strong, but its strength is being sapped by all this constant tribulation.

At the fall equinox, things begin to look bleak. There is not much more that can be accomplished before the sun is betrayed and killed.

The zodiac year has twelve sectors because the moon makes approximately twelve cycles in a year. By most accounts, the ancient Egyptians developed the themes used today.

They had their creation myths which began from a primeval sea. Thus Capricorn the sea goat represents that transition. In fact, the entire winter quadrant has to do with water. We see parallels in the first chapter of the Bible.

¹In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
²The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters. (Gen. 1:1-2)

When the sun emerges from darkness, God said "Let there be light".

³And God said, "Let there be light; and there was light. (Gen. 1:2)

Then God separated the waters.

⁶And God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." (Gen. 1:6)

In early spring, Aries the lamb symbolizes the time when lambs come out of their mother's womb. Taurus the bull represents the time when bulls were used for plowing. Gemini has the strength of two men. In the beginning of summer, Cancer the crab symbolizes a time of concern about which way the sun was going to go, because crabs move irregularly. When the summer months were the hottest, Leo the lion was the king of beasts. Virgo is at the end of innocence. Libra the scale weighs between good and evil. In the late fall months, Scorpio the scorpion and Sagittarius the archer were hurling their stings and arrows.

Figure 2.

Puns

Puns are words that have double meanings. Here is where the Bible trips up unsuspecting readers. The Bible's story motifs follow the course of the sun through the four seasons.

In the Old Testament there are several books like Psalms and Proverbs, called the wisdom literature. Wisdom, in biblespeak, comes from knowledge of astrology. God's plan is written in the stars. He reveals his plan by the way he moves the stars and planets, not by mental telepathy. Angels bring their messages by the angles of the stars.

When stars are said to fall from heaven, it means they are descending. Dissension grows until it crosses the fall equinox, and then the sun is said to be betrayed. Then dissension grows to all out war. The fall equinox also symbolizes the gates to hell. Satan rules during the lower half of the sun cycle in fall and winter. The sun dies in the pits of hell at the winter solstice. At night the sun was believed to go under the world, so we have the term "underworld".

When the sun, or son of God, starts to ascend again (Jesus' ascension), the dark forces are trying to thwart him. It enters the gates to heaven at the spring equinox. In the spring, the sun brings righteousness and glory. It is in power during the light months of spring and summer, and on its throne at the summer solstice. This is where the kingdom of God is, when he has the power to send the righteous to heaven. The good side is on the right and the bad side is on the left of his throne.

The sun if crucified at the cross of the solstices and equinoxes. Sirius, the brightest star next to the sun, was called the star of Bethlehem. The stars of Orion the hunter was called the Son of Man. Orion has three stars that form its narrow waistline. The same three stars were the wise men from the east because they align with Sirius, the star of Bethlehem on December 25. Virgo was Virgin Mary and Bootes was Joseph. John the Baptist was Aquarius the water bearer.

This is only an introduction. Full explanations can be found on the home page.

Figure 3.

The Great Year

Another one of Christianity's insanities has to do with the end of the world and Jesus' second coming. For 2,000 years they have been waiting without satisfaction. The King James Version of Matthew 28:20 reflects that view.

²⁰Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. (Matt. 28:20 KJV)

It was a misinterpretation. According to the authoritative Strong's Dictionary, "world" was mistranslated from the Greek, aion, meaning "an age". Ignorant of astrology, Strong's goes on to say aion implies "world". There are some powerful differences between world and age.

A fundamentalist favorite, the New International Version gets it right with "age".

²⁰teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matt. 28:20 NIV)

The "end of the world" implies some kind of calamity like a giant meteor or a nuclear war. If something like that happens, one's faith is not going to make a difference. The end of the age refers to an astrological age within the Great Year.

The Earth's rotation axis is not uniform. Like a rotating toy top, the direction of the rotation axis has a slow wobble or precession with a period of 25,920 years.

Since the rotation axis is precessing in space, the orientation of the Celestial Equator (Figure 3) also precesses with the same period. This means that the position of the equinoxes is changing slowly with respect to the background stars.

Thus, Polaris will not always be the Pole Star or North Star. The Earth's rotation axis happens to be pointing almost exactly at Polaris now, but in 12,960 years the precession of the rotation axis will mean that the bright star Vega in the constellation Lyra will be approximately at the North Celestial Pole, while in 25,920 more years Polaris will once again be the Pole Star.

Figure 4.

Astrologers call the 25,920 year cycle a Great Year and divide it into twelve Ages according to the constellations. When the sun enters the spring equinox, the constellation in the background determines the zodiacal Age. Figure 5 shows the sun entering the Age of Pisces at 6 BCE. 2160 years before, the sun was in the Age of Aries. 2160 years after Pisces, about 2012 CE, Aquarius will be in the background and it will be the Age of Aquarius. Because of the direction of precession, the Great Year cycle progresses in the reverse direction of the solar cycle.

Figure 5.

To summarize, the Age of Aries was marked in the Old Testament by the Passover lamb.

²¹Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover. (Ex. 12:21)

The Age of Pisces began when the sun entered Pisces at the spring equinox (Figure 5).

¹⁸As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.
¹⁹And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." (Matt. 4:18-19)

So when Jesus told his disciples he will be with them until the age, he meant the Age of Pisces. His time is almost over. There will be no end of the world, only the end of an Age.

²⁰teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matt. 28:20 NIV)

End

Take a tour of the Garden of Eden and see the stars of the Bible and where they fit in the Zodiac.

Adam and Eve and the Serpent

We are looking at the Zodiac where the sun passes through Libra and Virgo. There, we find our two original sinners and the talking snake. The story interprets the picture.

God formed beasts and birds, and brought them to the man to be named. - The term Zodiac means literally circle of animal figures.

⁹So out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. (Gen. 2:9)

God took a rib from the man and used it to create a woman. - Adam's arm is raised, exposing his rib cage.

²¹So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh; >
²²and the rib which the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. (Gen. 2:21)

The serpent asked Eve if she was told not to eat from the garden. -The serpent lies at the feet of Adam and Eve.

¹Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God say, 'You shall not eat of any tree of the garden'?" (Gen. 3:1)

Eve saw the fruit was good for food, so she picked it and ate it. She gave some to Adam. - Eve has her arm outstretched as if reaching for the fruit. She is holding a chaff of wheat, but we will not quibble over whether the fruit was an apple or some other kind of fruit.

⁶So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate. (Gen. 3:6)

The serpent was cursed above all the wild animals. - There is a second serpent, one that circles around the North Pole every day without setting. That puts him above all the wild animals. In this position, he is glaring down on earth as if to be spreading evil.

¹⁴The LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all cattle, and above all wild animals; (Gen. 3:14)

He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. - As Draco circles around the Pole, his head is either below or above Hercules' heel. The top position represents who is doing the bruising.

¹⁵I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel."(Gen. 3:15)

He drove out the man. At the east of the garden he placed a cherubim and a flaming sword. - We will pass over the cherubim for some other time. The flaming sword is represented by Perseus' sword as it circles around the Pole. We note that Perseus is close to the sun's ecliptic near Taurus and Aries. The significance is that those two constellations mark the two zero hours during the 4,000 years of biblical history, or more specifically, where the sun passes during the vernal equinox. So Perseus' sword is in a sense at the entrance to Eden.

²⁴He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. (Gen. 3:24)

Salvation

What is equally significant is the fact that the foundation of the doctrine of Christian original sin rests on the credibility of the fall of Adam and Eve. (See Original Sin.) Now that we can see that the first sin was in imaginary story, there is nothing to support the doctrine of salvation.

The downfall of Adam and Eve and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden, by Michalangelo.

Cain and Abel

The full story of Cain and Abel can be found here. For the sake of brevity, Cain and Abel were brothers, the only two children of Adam and Eve. Both made sacrifices to God; Cain offered what he grew and Abel offered the firstborn from his flock. As Cain began to see God showing more favor towards Abel, he got angry. When God noticed, he advised Cain to master his desires; which Cain did by murdering Abel. For that, God cursed him and sent him away. When Cain pleaded for mercy, God put a mark on him to protect him. Cain left Eden for the land of Nod, found a wife, built a city and and lived happily ever after.

¹⁵Then the LORD said to him, "Not so! If any one slays Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold." And the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest any who came upon him should kill him. (Gen. 4:15)

¹⁶Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
¹⁷Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch; and he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch. (Gen. 4:16-17)

The legend takes place when the sun is in Scorpio. Hercules personifies Abel, and Ophiuchus personifies Cain. There are two reasons why we know Ophiuchus personifies Cain. First, he is holding a snake. Second, his head is represented by only one star, which would be the Mark of Cain. (I’ve highlighted Ras Alhague with a yellow dot.) On a scale of -1 to 19, with -1 being the brightest, Ras Alhague has a magnitude of 2.1. That's easily visible and close in magnitude to the North Star Polaris.

As for Abel, we see him upside down as the slain brother lying on his back. (We can ignore the apples and club in his hands; that comes from the Hercules myth.) Libra represents the the justice mete out to Cain after Abel's murder. As the sun drifts toward Virgo, Cain fades away and we see Cain's wife, Virgo.

I'm going to take a guess at what "east of Eden" means with regard to the whereabouts of the land of Nod: As the days pass, the stars drift towards the west until they set in the west. A few months later they rise in the east again. So to ancients, the west symbolizes death and east symbolizes life. It means Nod is extant. The evil Cain symbolizes the enemies of the Hebrews, perhaps Babylon.

Cherubim

What are they? Ezekiel describes Cherubim as a composite of man, ox, lion and eagle. Opinions vary as to what they represent, or even if they are Cherubim. The According to one theory,  the man is Aquarius, the ox is Taurus, the lion is Leo and the eagle is Ophiuchus in Scorpio-claiming that the eagle is an ancient form of Ophiuchus. On the surface, it seems to make sense. Each of the constellations is three months apart as if they represent the four cardinal directions. It's bothersome that the writer doesn't explain his source of the claim that Ophiuchus is the eagle. Then there is the theory that based on the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, Scorpio is the man. This boundary stone below left shows a scorpion with a man's body. Below right, Wikipedia suggests Cherubim where originally statues found in pairs protecting doorways. That would apply as a statue representation.

¹⁰He rode on a cherub, and flew; he came swiftly upon the wings of the wind. (Psalm 18:10)

²³The nave and the holy place had each a double door.
²⁴The doors had two leaves apiece, two swinging leaves for each door.
²⁵And on the doors of the nave were carved cherubim and palm trees, such as were carved on the walls; and there was a canopy of wood in front of the vestibule outside. (Ezek. 23-25)

I suggest that all of the above theories are false. The evidence on this page argues for Cherubim composed of Taurus the bull, Leo the lion, Orion the man and Aquila the eagle. Genesis tells us that Cherubim were stationed "to guard the way to the Tree of Life." The evidence will demonstrate that the way is the Milky Way. Each is stationed at a strategic point on the Milky Way: beginning, end and two flanks. There is a fifth constellation, Perseus with his sword, who guards the middle.

Drawing © Stephane Beaulieu Used by permission

Cherubim described

Genesis tells us Cherubim were placed in the Garden of Eden to guard the way to the tree of life (not the Tree of Life itself). God placed a flaming sword turning every way to guard the way to the tree of life. In other words, there is a path of some sort to the Tree of Life. We will return to the sword later.

²⁴He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. (Gen. 3:24)

In chapter one, Ezekiel describes "living creatures" as having the face of a man in the front, the face of a lion on the right, the face of an ox on the left, and the face of an eagle at the back. He doesn't explicitly call them Cherubim. We need more information.

The cloud describes the Milky Way. "A stormy wind out of the north" means a spirit from the north side of the Zodiac. Of course, terms like "burning coals of fire" and "flash of lightning" refer to the stars.

⁴As I looked, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud, with brightness round about it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, as it were gleaming bronze.
⁵And from the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had the form of men,
⁶but each had four faces, and each of them had four wings.
⁷Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf's foot; and they sparkled like burnished bronze.
⁸Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. And the four had their faces and their wings thus:
⁹their wings touched one another; they went every one straight forward, without turning as they went.
¹⁰As for the likeness of their faces, each had the face of a man in front; the four had the face of a lion on the right side, the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four had the face of an eagle at the back.
¹¹Such were their faces. And their wings were spread out above; each creature had two wings, each of which touched the wing of another, while two covered their bodies.
¹²And each went straight forward; wherever the spirit would go, they went, without turning as they went.
¹³In the midst of the living creatures there was something that looked like burning coals of fire, like torches moving to and fro among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.
¹⁴And the living creatures darted to and fro, like a flash of lightning. (Ezek. 1:4-14)

The River of Heaven described

In the passage below, the river that interests us is the River Pishon. We recognize the Tigris and Euphrates. As for the River Gihon, the Zodiac has a second river in the southern hemisphere called the River Eridanus (not shown here).

¹⁰A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers.
¹¹The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
¹²and the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there.
¹³The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which flows around the whole land of Cush.
¹⁴And the name of the third river is Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. (Gen. 2:10-14)

³Now the cherubim were standing on the south side of the house, when the man went in; and a cloud filled the inner court.
⁴And the glory of the LORD went up from the cherubim to the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the glory of the LORD. (Ezek. 10:3-4)

Ezekiel sees Cherubim by the river Chebar. Each has four faces and four wings. The firmament (celestial sphere) was over their heads. The best that I can make of the number four is that it represents four cardinal directions as the constellations rotate. The wheels symbolise the stars turning around the pole star.

¹⁵And the cherubim mounted up. These were the living creatures that I saw by the river Chebar.
¹⁶And when the cherubim went, the wheels went beside them; and when the cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the wheels did not turn from beside them.
¹⁷When they stood still, these stood still, and when they mounted up, these mounted up with them; for the spirit of the living creatures was in them. (Ezek. 10:15-17)

Ezekiel identifies the living creatures by the river Chebar as Cherubim.

²⁰These were the living creatures that I saw underneath the God of Israel by the river Chebar; and I knew that they were cherubim.
²¹Each had four faces, and each four wings, and underneath their wings the semblance of human hands.
²²And as for the likeness of their faces, they were the very faces whose appearance I had seen by the river Chebar. They went every one straight forward.
²²Over the heads of the living creatures there was the likeness of a firmament, shining like crystal, spread out above their heads.
²³And under the firmament their wings were stretched out straight, one toward another; and each creature had two wings covering its body. (Ezek. 10:20-23)

Putting it alltogether

We have a map of the north celestial sphere below and a lot of descriptions from Genesis and Ezekiel. For the thesis to work, the descriptions should fit the map. I started with the assumption that the Milky Way is the river of heaven by coloring it blue. If it is a wrong assumption, the other pieces won't fit. The picture is inverted from the way we would see it from earth. The arc at the bottom represents the sun's ecliptic rising above us. Assume a viewing position in the middle on earth looking up towards the arc in the south.

Three descriptions fit the Milky Way. Genesis says the River Pishon flows out of Eden - so does the Milky Way in the sense that it extends beyond the Zodiac. Ezekiel tells us to look for Cherubim by the River Chebar. Genesis says the Cherubim and the flaming sword are in Eden to guard the way to the Tree of Life - the Milky Way. The flaming sword is on the east side where Genesis placed it.

From our viewer position, as Ezekiel described, we see the face of Orion in front of us, the eagle in the back, the lion to the right, and the ox to the left. Cherubim are guarding the river of heaven, or as Genesis put it, the way to the Tree of Life. The Tree of Life will be identified below.

Revelation calls the Milky Way the "water of life" that flows "from the throne of God." To see where the throne is, follow Orion from the picture above to the picture below. At the high end of the Milky Way, the sun rises over Orion's body, to where his head would be. The outline of Lepus below looks like a throne, and the outline of Gemini looks like a pharaoh's hat.

¹Then he showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb
²through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. (Rev. 22:1-2)

So then, the Milky Way is the river to the Tree of Life. In other parlance, it is the cloud of heaven from where Jesus will come to whisk believers off to heaven. It is the path that takes the souls of the dead to meet God. Perseus with his sword guards the river in the middle. The Cherubim guard the river at each end and at the sides. The lion is on the right and the ox is on the left, both watching the river. Orion, the man, guards the river by the front and Aquila the eagle guards the back. When the sun is at the summer solstice over Orion's body, God is said to be on his throne.

¹⁶"O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, who art enthroned above the cherubim, thou art the God, thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth. (Isa. 37:16)

Genesis places the Tree of Life in the midst of the garden. That would imply in the center at the pole. We can imagine the imaginary pole line as the trunk of the tree. The celestial sphere or firmament represents the branches. And, according to Revelation, the twelve constellations of the Zodiac are the fruit.

⁹And out of the ground the LORD God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Gen. 2:9)