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Aries:
(21 March - 20 April). Stone circles built approximately 2400 BC.
Attributed to Atlanteans, Phoenicians, Druids, Romans, Giants, Queen
Boadicea, and Merlin. Its geometry suggests its use as an astronomical
obseratory and spiritual centre.
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Taurus:
(21 April - 20 May): The Great Pyramid at Giza. Astronomic temple and
stone monument built approximately 2170 BC. Served as burial chamber
for the Pharoach Cheops, and also functioned as an initiation temple,
astronomical observatory, calendar determinant, and as a standard for
ancient Egyptian surveying, wights and measures. The square and circle
determine its form, location, and the position of its passageways and
internal chambers.
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Gemini
(21 May - 20 June): A memory theatre, Vitruvius, Palladio, Dee, Fludd.
The classical Greek Ampitheatre described by Vitruvius was an image of
the world. The four equilateral triangles inscribed within a circle
also reflect the zodiac. Palladio's 1567 reconstruction is here adapted
to the magical meory ideas of Dr. John Dee and Robert Fludd (noted
late-Renaissance alchemists and esoteric philosophers). The memory art
produced a specific correlation between the audience, actors, and sets
which was probably used in th Globe Theatre of Shakespeare.
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Cancer
(21 June - 21 July). Jambudvipa World Diagram, Jaina Cosmos. Western
India Jaina diagram from the Seventeenth Century. This schematic
representation of the universe shows the regions through wich the
individual passes in approaching his liberation at the center, Mount
Meru. The positions upon the diagram are the layers of space, time and
matter which determine our fates, and indicate the proper actions
necessary for release.
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Leo
(22 July - 22 August). Figura Intellectus, Magicosmic Mnemormandala.
Based upon a diagram by Giordano Bruno in 1588, this meditation figure
synchronzes the operations and structure of the mind with the divine
astrological order of the cosmos. It provides a matrix for information
which indicates their magical correspondences and permutations.
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Virgo:
(23 August - 21 September). Sri Yantra, Hindu Tantric Yantra. Hindu
mandala of the Seventeenth Century. The divine powers and their
interrelationships are shown as linked trinangles surrounding the
mysterious matrix point in the center. The lack of images allow the
initiate to distill and concentrate his being in preparation for
unification with the Godhead.
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Libra
(22 September - 21 October): I Ching, squared and encircled. Ancient
Chinese oracle from the Second Millenium BCE, the I Ching Book of
Changes is a divinatory system based upon the permutations of positive
and negative energies in nature and man. The sixty-four hexagrams are
transitional states which are shown around a circle and within a square.
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Scorpio:
(22 October - 20 November): Tibetan Buddhist Mandala, Mahakala
Gonpo-Magpo Chakra. Tibetan Buddhist tantric mandala of the Seventeenth
Century: Mahakala, the Great God of Time, dances with his female
consort within the sacred precint of the four elements. This
eternal lovemaking dance symbolizes the recurrent creation and
destruction of the Universe by the powers of Time.
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Saggitarius:
(21 November - 20 December): Aztec Calendar Wheel, Precious Fire
Serpents. Stone carving thirteen feet in diameter from Fifteenth
Century Mexico. The Sun disk is both a calendar and a
historical-mythological record of the Aztec Indians. The Sun is the
center and is surrounded by four seasons and eras, twenty day names,
penetrating rays, and two great fire snakes recalling the cosmic
energies.
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Capricorn
(21 December - 19 January): Kabbalah-Sephiroth, Tree of Life. Medieval
Jewish mystical diagram, Kabbalah is the mystical system of the Jews
and the Tree of Life is a graphic system of classification used in
conjunction with it. The ten spheres are the pure numbers and the
twenty-two paths connecting them correspond to the letters in the
Hebrew alphabet, the whole being capable of leading the initiate from
the ignorance of Malkuth at the bottom to the Crown of Kether at
the top.
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Aquarius
(20 January - 18 February): Astrology, Cosmic Geometry. The most
ancient science and mantic art, based upon the correspondence of the
Cosmos and man. Originally it included astronomy, medicine,
mathematics, geometry and psychology, and underlies most religious
systems in history. The structure of astrology is the relationship
between the circular movements of planetary bodies and the squares and
triangles which subdivide them.
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Pisces
(19 February - 20 March): North Rose window, Chartres Cathedral. Leaded
stained-glass window in Chartres Cathedral, built in 1145 CE. This rose
window displays the principles of Christianity through images of the
Virgin held by her Mother, surrounded by the Doves of the Spirit, the
Kings of Israel, and the Twelve Prophets. The mysteries of the Church
are transmitted by the images, colors and geometrical relationships to
both the simple and the wise.
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