Christians usually (not always) dismiss the Zodiac as Satanic. But, let's just imagine for a moment that the Zodiac itself is not Satanic at all, but rather God telling His story of redemption in the stars.
Although there a a couple books out on this subject, my favorite is, "The Amazing Secrets of the Zodiac" by Rev. Les Brittingham.
Les is pretty outside the box when it comes to certain issues and I admire him for that. I also admire him for having the guts to write a book that could be construed as heretical by some. I'm not one of them.
The history of the Zodiac is argued to be 4000 years years old and constellations are mentioned in the earliest written book of the Bible - Job.
The evidence is circumstantial, but is also abundant:
For a very quick example, the Zodiac starts with Virgo and Jesus is born of Virgin. The Zodiac ends with Leo, and Jesus returns in Revelation as the "Lion of Judah".
Les goes into enormous detail concerning all 12 Signs, the 36 Decans, and the Three Books, concerning the the Zodiac and how it depicts the story of God written to us displayed across the sky.
I won't go into great detail here as I am still learning it myself, but I would like to end with this thought:
If indeed God has told His great story by placing the stars in their proper places long before us, should we stop rebuking what pagans have searched in and actually embrace it? Should we not use the stars to tell our story and in that maybe even find a place of commonality with those that we so hastily dismiss, and worse rebuke?
Should we not bring resurrection to the story of the ancient stars telling of the resurrection?
I for one, look forward to reading more...
Matthew Stone at Journeys in Between
Christianity, Paganism, and Literature at Notes from the Underground
John Smulo at JohnSmulo.com
Heathens and Pagans and Witches ... oh my! at Calacirian
Sam Norton at Elizaphanian
Erin Word at Decompressing Faith
Chasing the Wild Goose at Eternal Echoes
Visigoths Ahoy! at Mike's
Musings
Belief and Being: The difficulty of communicating faith at Phil Wyman's Square No More
Steve Hollinghurst at On Earth as in Heaven
Undefined Desire at Igneous Quill
A Walk on the Wild Side at Out of the Cocoon
Observations on Magic in Western Religion at My Contemplations
Tim Abbott at Tim Abbott
Rejection, Redemption, and Roots at One Hand Clapping
12 comments:
Yeah great topic,
I've got two of the other books - by Bullinger, and Seiss. I was at the Cathedral of Notre Dame earlier this month, and the zodiac is found in one of the rosette windows as a symbol of God's declarations being found in the heavens.
Ultimately we have an English lady who wrote Mazzaroth to thank, but beware, you'll certainly be called a heretic bro.
If some Christians think that the Zodiac is satanic, do they think that Satan made the stars? What then do they make of Job 38:7?
Ohhhh ... I want to hear about The Bull?? Cause that would be me ... Taurus.
I was into a lot of astrology when I was younger ... not the kind you read in the paper, but not enough into it that I could read charts either. I never had enough money to buy the charts ... I was a teen! But I was slidin' down that road and certainly interested enough. There is a lot to it in terms of character and the like.
Very, very interesting. I hope you post more on this later as you have a chance to read the book ...
I will post more as I get into it.
:-)
I recommend the book too if you can. It's a good read.
Yup David,
The stars are a wonderful place to gaze and ponder faith in God. I just watched "Contact" with Jodie Foster and lead a discussion with a group about reaching out to an invisible God based on Yancey's book by that title. We may have some clues to the celestial dimensions but have so much more to experience. I love the thought of the universe as continually expanding--it helps me not to put God in a box. I think that is a big misunderstanding of the modern-era of Christianity. I am only a small glimmer of light in the context of God's universe. Thanks for listening.
Peace in Christ,
Kevin
That sounds like a great book...thanks for mentioning it.
Nice thoughts from the edges David.
The church almost killed Galileo for saying the earth revolved around the sun, even though he was right.
Nice post David.
Are you aware of this book http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beyond-Prediction-Tarot-Your-Spirituality/dp/0745950353/ref=sr_1_1/203-4821472-4810305?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190818577&sr=8-1
Not exactly zodiac, but a reminder of how tarot can tell the story of God.
Come to think of it, I could have written about this for my post on this synchroblog! Oh well...
A few thoughts.
First, there's a difference between seeing patterns in the stars (we humans are very good at finding patterns, even when they're not there - what about all those "Jesus in my toast" pictures?), and astrology. I'm happy about the first, and even using the patterns to tell stories or for allegorical purposes, but very unhappy about the second.
Second, let's not forget the Magi, who were almost certainly astrologers...
Fascinating! And what about the Three Magi who followed the star to Bethlehem? And the four beasts of the evangelists being the symbols of the four fixed signs of the zodiac?
Thanks alot. I was looking for some material to present to students in our small group, and although this site was just a stepping stone, it was still encouraging. Its amazing though, after being a christian my whole life to just learn that the Zodiac signs were originally intented to spell out the life of Jesus.
Thanks Luke,
I love it when people find "old" posts!
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