The Ancient Biblical teaching of the Ages Part 3

Part 3 - The Mazzaroth: The Zodiac and the Bible

I mentioned that studying the Ages led to two Biblical mysteries – what the terms “Age”, “End of the Age”, and “Age-enduring” actually mean in the original languages, and what the symbolic meaning of the zodiac (which features prominently in scripture) actually is. By living in a very different world-view, our eyes tend to be closed to these picture-symbols in scripture.

Genesis 1:14 – Then God said, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. Let them serve as signs, and mark the seasons, days, and years”.

The purpose of the sun and moon and stars is given as being a calendar – to mark days and years, (that’s what the sun and moon do) and to be for “signs” and to mark “seasons” – the seasons, (presuming they are the four seasons), are marked by the sun in the solstices and equinoxes, but also by the constellations in the sky and which “house” the sun is currently in, for they not only mark seasons but they also serve as “signs”. “For there shall be signs in the heavens above, and wonders on the earth below” (Acts 2:19-20).

As “signs”, as picture-symbols, the constellations contain a message – a message not in regular language or speech, but in the language of symbols:

They contain a message

Psalm 19:1-4 – The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world.

Their message is the gospel –

Paul quotes the above verse about the message of the stars, and says they have proclaimed the “gospel” in their message:-

Romans 10:17-18 – So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Gospel about Christ. But I ask, have the people of Israel actually heard the message? Yes, they have: “their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world.”

Their message marks time periods –

Genesis 1:14 – Then God said, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. Let them serve as signs, and mark the seasons, days, and years”.

Here is, very basically, how it works: the moon revolves around the earth, the earth itself rotates, and it also revolves around the sun; but further out in deep space, are the stars which make up the constellations, and in particular, the 12 “houses” of the zodiac.

They (appear) to also rotate around the earth, but at a much slower speed, due to their immense distance from us, (actually, they don’t really rotate, its the earth that rotates, but from our vantage point on earth, the constellations appear to rotate and they appear to be clustered in particular groups).

As they (appear to) rotate, the sun (appears to) pass through each of the twelve “houses” or “gates”. The sun is in one house or constellation for approximately 2160 years (give or take a few decades) and the entire 12 houses are passed through in one period of about 25,920 years.

This was known as the Great Year in the ancient world – the regular year having 12 months, the Great Year having 12 Ages. This is known as the “precession of the equinoxes” in astronomy. Each of these 12 constellations mark a particular period of time – an “Age”. Most ancient cultures had Ages as part of their calendar – Plato used it, the Hindu Yugas are their Ages, even the Mayan calendar showed the “end of an Age” in 2012 (which was popularly, but incorrectly, proclaimed to be “the end of the world” – there we go, misunderstanding Ages again). Perhaps this is a good place to point out that I am not talking about horoscopes or fortune telling, (that is what the Babylonians did with the constellations), but rather, the constellations serve two main purposes – to mark seasons and to be signs – to mark out time periods (Ages) and to tell a message (the gospel or good news). Click here for a brief 1 minute video of how that works

Here is the message they tell, which Paul said was the “gospel”: (I will take some space to describe Virgo, and how it relates to scripture, but then only give a brief description of the rest – you will get the basic idea from the Virgo description)

Virgo – a virgin shall give birth to a son. Even though the zodiac is a repeating cycle, we know that Virgo is the place to start because in the Egyptian temple at Dendera we see a painting of the circle of the zodiac, but it is broken by the sphinx (a “living being” like we see in Scripture) whose female face is pointing towards Virgo, and whose lion body is pointing towards Leo – so the circle starts with Virgo and ends with Leo, (its worth remembering that Moses was “schooled in all the wisdom of Egypt” – Acts 7:22 ). In Revelation 12 we see an interesting “sign in the heavens” –

Then a great and mysterious sight appeared in the sky. There was a woman, whose dress was the sun and who had the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was soon to give birth, and the pains and suffering of childbirth made her cry out. Another mysterious sight appeared in the sky. There was a huge red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and a crown on each of his heads. With his tail he dragged a third of the stars out of the sky and threw them down to the earth. He stood in front of the woman, in order to eat her child as soon as it was born. Then she gave birth to a son, who will rule over all nations with an iron rod. But the child was snatched away and taken to God and his throne.

It is very interesting to note that this account in Revelation, as well as being an allegory, actually, literally, happened in the constellation of Virgo! The “woman clothed with the sun, with the moon beneath her feet, and a crown of 12 stars on her head” is quite clearly Virgo, but who does Virgo identify and signify? When we go back into the Old Testament, we see Joseph’s dream of “the sun, moon, and eleven stars bowing down” to him (he himself, obviously being the 12th star). The meaning of the dream is clear, as his father says to him, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” (Gen 37:10). These people are the “patriarchs” of the future nation of Israel, each of the 12 sons being the founder of one of the 12 tribes of Israel – and they are symbolized as 12 stars (with the father & mother being the sun and moon). Using Old Testament symbolism, this woman is Israel! Or rather, she is a virgin mother from Israel – “the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’)”. (Isaiah 7:14).

We don’t know exact dates for Jesus conception and birth, but we know the general time period, and at that time, in the constellation of Virgo, the sun entered her “house” – Virgo literally became “pregnant” with the sun, and the moon was below her feet. Her young male child (Jesus) was threatened by “the dragon” working through one of its “heads” (head of state – Herod in this case) and had to flee. The son eventually “ascends” back to God in the image. Just before Jesus ascension was his death and resurrection – and at the cross, there was an eclipse when “the sun was eclipsed” (Like 23:45). We know from astronomy that an eclipse of the sun took place then, producing a “blood moon” (“signs in the heavens above and wonders on the earth below, blood (of Jesus on the cross) fire (of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost) and billows of smoke (at the destruction of Jerusalem), the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood red ..” (Acts 2:17-19). That blood moon eclipse took place once again in the constellation of Virgo, or to put that another way, when the bloody, dead body of Jesus was being taken down from the cross and laid at the feet of his mother Mary on earth, in the sky there was a blood moon lying at the feet of Virgo. (see this video here for more fascinating information on that)

Then the constellations go on – here is a very brief description of their message. Im sure you can think of scripture passages that go along with each point:

1. Virgo The virgin holding a branch and an ear of corn; the promised seed of the woman.
2. Libra The scales; the price deficient balanced by the price that covers.
3. Scorpio The scorpion; the attack of the enemy; the redeemers conflict.
4. Sagittarius The archer; the gracious one; the redeemers triumph.
5. Capricornus The sea goat; the goat of atonement slain for the redeemed.
6. Aquarius The water bearer; the living waters of blessing poured forth for the redeemed.
7. Pisces The fishes; the multitudes who will follow; the blessings of the redeemed.
8. Aries The ram or lamb; wounded and slain, the blessings of the redeemed consummated.
9. Taurus The bull; the congregation of the judge; the coming judge of all the earth.
10. Gemini The twins; two natures; the reign of the prince of peace.
11. Cancer The crab; assembled together; the redeemers possessions held fast.
12. Leo The Lion of the tribe of Judah; the consummated triumph of the redeemer in the end.

That’s the story they tell, through all the Ages, yet each sign also marks the time period of one particular Age, and each Age is an evolutionary step upwards for humanity, as we gradually lay aside childish things, and go on to maturity, becoming more and more spiritually enlightened, wise, civilized, progressive. Here are some more examples:

Job 38:31-33 – God speaks to Job – “Can you direct the movement of the stars— binding the cluster of the Pleiades or loosening the cords of Orion? Can you direct the constellations through the seasons or guide the Bear with her cubs across the heavens? Do you know the laws of the universe? Can you use them to regulate the earth?”

The word for “constellations” used here is “Mazzaroth” – it is the Hebrew term for the twelve constellations of the zodiac. Notice that the other constellations (not just the 12) are mentioned – Pleiades, Orion, (who is the ‘messianic figure’ in ancient Egyptian mythology), the Great Bear and its cubs – and notice that their influence “regulates the earth”. For example, the moon “regulates” the sea tides – so it’s not a stretch to see how the heavenly bodies do excerpt some influence on the earth.

The Calendar of the Ages

As well as one zodiac symbol being prominent each month, one is also prominent each Age. Due to the Precession of the Equinoxes, the 12 constellations not only form the annual year, but also The Great Year (approximately 25,800 years – with each sign being the ruling sign for approximately 2,160 years). In the chart below, the T stands for “transition period” between the Ages, although the first T could also be taken as the cross.

For more information on this topic, see here*”