Consecutive Conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn from BC 185 to AD 114

First published in the International Planetarium Society Journal Volume 14, #3, 3rd quarter, 1985

ABSTRACT

Researching possible explanations for a more accurate telling of the "Star of Bethlehem" has led to a rediscovery of the "method" used by Johannes Kepler to determine important dates in world history. Kepler argued that great events in history occurred every 800 years using multiples of Jupiter/Saturn conjunctions.

Johannes Kepler's Method

The "method" plots geocentrically the consecutive conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn (See Table 1). Each conjunction occurs on the average every 19.85 years and they are approximately 117 degrees apart. The figures used in the diagram below are from Bryant Tuckerman's, Planetary Lunar and Solar Positions, Volumes I & II, Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society , Philadelphia.

The diagram leads me to ask the following questions:

1. Did the Magi use or know about this "method"?
2. If they knew about this "method," how did they interpret it?
3. 3) Are "triple" conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn really significant?
4. 4) Do written records of this "method" exist in ancient literature or mythology?
5. 5) How does one interpret seven consecutive conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn, in Pisces, approaching the vernal equinox?

THE ROLE OF JUPITER/SATURN CONJUNCTIONS IN MYTHOLOGY

The heart of this thesis, originated by Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend in their book, Hamlet's Mill (l977), and supported by Harald A. T. Reiche of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, holds that "myths were vehicles for memorizing and transmitting certain kinds of astronomical and cosmological information!" The mythological formula identified by the authors is really a mechanism to precisely explain the slowest of all observable motions of the heavens, the precession of the equinoxes. According to de Santillana and von Dechend, "Number gave the key. Way back in time, before writing was even invented, it was measures and counting that provided the armature, the frame on which the rich texture of real myth was to grow!"

The mythological framework is splendid indeed, for it is the celestial sphere. Within the celestial sphere, we find the "Mythical Earth." This Mythical Earth is not the physical planet but instead the implied plane through the four points of the year, marked by the equinoxes and solstices . In other words The Mythical Earth is the Celestial Ecliptic plane! Von Dechend and de Santillana explain that the zodiacal constellations that rise helically are the points that locate the "Mythical Earth!" However, the framework is not fixed but constantly changing due to precession of the equinoxes. That, they argue, is what prehistoric, preliterate man was trying to tell us or preserve knowledge of, by using his scientific language, mythology.

But the most important aspect of the Jupiter/Saturn mythological relationship is seen with the realization that Saturn and Jupiter can be used as a clock for keeping track of "cosmological" periods of time, particularly, precession of the equinoxes.

According to von Dechend and de Santillana, there is no doubt that the Greek Kronos (Saturn) is the same as Chronos (Father Time). In dialogue between Kronos (Chronos) and Jupiter (Zeus), we learn:
"kai panta ta metrates holes demiourgias endidosin"
which translates as, "Saturn gives Jupiter all the measures of creation." With this act of Jupiter overthrowing his father, the sun, moon and planets are set in motion. During each successive conjunction, Saturn gives Jupiter "all the measures of creation!" Furthermore, successive Jupiter/Saturn conjunctions can be used to keep track of even longer periods of time.

Successive conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn are one of the easiest-to-observe, long-period astronomical cycles. That this cycle repeats in almost twenty year intervals (more precisely (19.85 years on the average) is less important than the fact that it is a re-occurring, measurable period of time.

Johannes Kepler was the last of the great "Mythographers". In De Stella Nova. Kepler applied observational data (i.e." successive conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn) to reconstruct the history of the world. His chosen method was borrowed from the "lingua franca" of astrology. This method has nothing to do with astrology per se, but Kepler found in it a simple, "bookkeeping" style for tabulating large quantities of time.

The Diagram below illustrates successive plots of Jupiter/Saturn conjunctions. To understand the diagram, the following relationships are of value:

1. Any conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn is called a "great conjunction."
2. Three successive "great conjunctions" form a triangle called a "Trigon".
3. A Trigon is equivalent to a passage of approximately 60 years. (59.55 years)
4. Twelve 'great conjunctions' equal a 'middle conjunction'. (238 Years)
5. Four 'middle conjunctions' equal a 'big conjunction'. (952.8 years)
6. Three 'big conjunctions' equal a 'mighty conjunction'. (2858.4 Years)

    

The diagram shows that in every 60 year period (59.55 years to be more exact), a "great conjunction" occurs near or slightly displaced from the point of origin. While successive "great conjunctions" are about 117 degrees apart, the vertices of successive trigons move approximately 360 - (117 x 3) = 9 degrees farther eastward in this same period. We can see that it takes 40 "great conjunctions" to return to our initial starting point (9 degrees times 40 = 360 degrees).

The elapsed time counted by proceeding from conjunction to conjunction and back to the origin is thus 40 times 20 years = 800 years, or more precisely, 794.25 years. This represents one-third of a "rotation" of the initial trigon. Similarly, the elapsed time counted by proceeding from trigon to trigon, continuing around the zodiacal circle and back to the original starting point is 40 x 60 years = 2,400 years. A more accurate value for the actual elapsed time is 2,382 years.

What we see here is a very neat method for keeping track of cosmological periods of time. The amount of elapsed time observed by the ancients would be incredibly close to the amount of time necessary for the vernal equinox to actually move through one zodiacal constellation (25,800 years divided by 12 equals 2,150 years). Now let us return to Kepler and his method for determining great moments in history, using this "lingua franca" of astrology.

Astrology had grouped the 12 zodiacal constellations into four collections called "triplicities!" or Trigons. These triplicities, and their associated "elements" are:

Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius…………..Fire
Taurus, Virgo and Capricornus…………Earth
Gemini, Libra and Aquarius……………Air
Cancer, Scorpius and Pisces ………….Water

Successive great conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn will remain in one triplicity about 200 years (10 successive conjunctions). In other words, it will take 800 years or 40 successive great conjunctions to pass through the four triplicities once. However, in order for all the great conjunctions to return, the cycle must be repeated two more times, for a total of 2400 years.

According to Kepler, great worldly events thus took place in this manner every 800 years when great conjunctions entered a Fiery Triplicity.

Using this bookkeeping method, it is possible to predict when and where succeeding great conjunctions will occur every 59.55 years. In following this line of reasoning, it becomes imperative to see the great conjunctions as they occurred during the centuries preceding the Christian Era. (Refer back to Figure 1.) The diagram contains plots of successive great conjunctions from 185 B.C. to 114 A.D. and see diagram below plotted using Starry Night Pro V 5

Great Conjunctions are plotted from 185 BC to 54 AD.

Assuming that the constellation of Pisces covers some 45 degrees of sky, 7 Great Conjunctions took place in Pisces in from 185 BC to 54 AD. Each succeeding conjunction occurred closer and closer to the vernal equinox.

This fact, combined with a knowledge that the vernal equinox itself was moving from Aries into Pisces during this era symbolically marking the end of a "World-Age" may thus be the key to understanding the nature of the Star of Bethlehem. It is certainly the theory favored by von Dechend and de Santillana.

The Great Conjunctions of 7 B.C. is unusual in that it was a "triple conjunction". Triple Great Conjunctions are rare and do not happen in a predictable pattern. However there was a "triple" Great Conjunction in 146 B.C., so it was probably known that triples do occur.

Also note that on February 9th and March 4th of 6 BC Mars joined Jupiter and Saturn forming what Kepler called a Grand Conjunction. Kepler saw a similar massing of the planets (a Grand Conjunction) of Jupiter, Saturn and Mars in in 1604 AD. Co-incidentally Kepler saw a Super Nova in the same year (1604). Those events got Kepler thinking about an explanation for the Star of Bethlehem. But, what did the Magi know, and who were they and why were they looking for a "king"?

Consider the following: Santillana and von Dechend in Hamlet's Mill, interprets the Persian word used for the constellation of “Aries” as meaning the established title for supreme power, in other words “Ruler of Aries”

Also in “Hamlet’s Mill,” we learn of a marvelous Persian myth featuring a Hamlet-like figure called Kai Khusrau. This figure was not a real person, but the “supreme power of Iran,” a mythical person who existed only in the celestial realm. Upon his crowning, Kai Khusrau states:

“The whole world is my kingdom all is mine
From Pisces downward to the Bull’s head.”

Professor von Dechend characterizes Kai Khusrau’s kingship as “a reign not only of heaven, it is essentially of time.” Kai Khusrau was a “world age leader. The story, as quoted from “Hamlet’s Mill,” goes on to say of the great holy leader that he:

“prepares his departure, takes leave of his paladins,
leaving aside their supplications and those of his whole army.”

A cry arose from the army of Iran:
The sun hath wandered from its way in heaven!

The chieftains’ heads were heavy at the news.
The warriors slept in pain, and when the sun
Rose over the hills the Shah had disappeared.

The five paladins were lost and buried in a snowstorm.

We must conclude that the vernal equinox and the equinoctial sun no longer belonged to Aries. The supreme power of the equinoctial sun was passed to someone else! The supreme ruler of Pisces! Is this why the Magi were searching for a new “king.” They were looking for the new bearer of the power of equinoctial sun, which had passed' to Pisces the Fish?

In short, was the Star of Bethlehem really an equinoctial sun entering the constellation of Pisces??

“And, lo, the star which they had seen in the East
went before them, till it came to rest
over the place where the young child lay.”

I am writing a "book" about the Magi's Star

Details about the book will be posted here shortly. Thanks!

http://uofgts.com/Magi.html

4000 BC Adam Creato mundi
3200 Enoch Latrocinia, urbes, artes, tyrannis
2400 Noah Diluvium
1600 Moses Exitus es Aegypto, Lex
 800 Isaiah Aera, Graecorum, Babyloniorum, Romanorum
 0 Christ Monarchia Romana Reformatio orbis
 800 AD Carolus Magnus Imperium Occidentis et Saracenorum
1600 Rudolfus II Vita, facta et vota nostra qui haec disserimus

    Thus, in 8 years Venus has 5 inferior conjunctions (when it lies between earth and sun) and 5 superior conjunctions (when it lies on the opposite side of the sun). Plotting either of these sets of 5 conjunctions in relation to the zodiac produces a five-pointed star or pentagram, the segments of the constituent lines being related according to the golden section. There is a slight irregularity, for the pentagram is not completely closed, there being a difference of two days at the top. This irregularity generates a further cycle, as it means that the pentagram will rotate through the whole zodiac in a period of about 1200 years. It is interesting to note that the pentagram was associated with the Babylonian goddess Ishtar-Venus, and that depictions of Venus as a five-pointed star have also been found at Teotihuacan in Mexico. In theosophy, Venus is said to be closely connected with our higher mind (manas), the fifth principle of the septenary human constitution.

Fig. 9.2 Teotihuacan: stellar symbol of Venus dispensing its influence
downwards towards the earth.

Fig. 9.3 The Venus pentagram.

    According to theosophy, the key numbers to the solar system lie in a combination of the year of Saturn and the year of Jupiter, expressed in earth-years (Purucker, 1973, pp. 3-15). About 12 earth-years (11.86) make 1 year of Jupiter, and about 30 earth-years (29.46) make 1 year of Saturn: 12 x 30 = 360, the number of degrees in a circle and the number of days in an ideal earth-year. (Theosophy says that an earth-year oscillates above and below 360 days over very long periods of time.)

    The whole process of evolution can be summed up as a descent of divine consciousness-centres or monads into matter, and their subsequent re-ascent to spirit, enriched by the experience gained on their aeons-long evolutionary journey. This process can be symbolized by two interlaced triangles, known as Solomon’s seal or the sign of Vishnu, the upward-pointing triangle representing spirit, and the downward-pointing triangle representing matter. Significantly, as Saturn and Jupiter revolve around the sun, they mark out two interlaced triangles around us every 60 years! The upward triangle is formed by their conjunctions and the downward triangle by their oppositions. Once again, there is a slight irregularity: after 60 years the conjunction does not take place at exactly the same point; there is a gap of 8 degrees, so that the interlaced triangles slowly rotate through the entire zodiac in a period of 2640 years. There are 432 of these 60-year Jupiter/Saturn cycles in a precessional cycle of 25,920 years.

Fig. 9.4 Conjunctions and oppositions of Jupiter and Saturn.

    The sun is the heart and brain of the solar kingdom and the regular sunspot cycle is akin to a solar heartbeat. The sunspot cycle has a major impact on earth, especially terrestrial magnetism and the climate. Over the past 250 years its length has varied irregularly between 9 and 14 years, averaging 11.05 years. Sunspots peak shortly after Jupiter passes the point in its orbit closest to the sun. (The ‘ideal’ sunspot cycle is said in theosophy to be 12 years, so there would be one such cycle for each year of Jupiter.) The sunspot maximum does not occur exactly in the middle of the sunspot cycle. The ascending part of the cycle has a mean length of 4.3 years – very close to the figure of 4.22 years that would divide the 11.05-year cycle exactly according to the golden section.*

*Theodor Landscheidt, ‘Solar activity: a dominant factor in climate dynamics’, www.john-daly.com/solar/solar.htm.

 

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