Celtic Moon Signs: How the Mystical Power of the Druid Zodiac Can Transform Your Life. Helena Paterson
SIGNS
Polarity signs represent another projection of the personality and character that brings greater self-awareness and personal growth. Opposites are highly attractive to one another, because a relationship can reciprocally increase personal strengths and cancel out any weaknesses. Basically, it acts like a mutual support system, but there is a higher level of human and universal chemistry associated with polarities that has always been used in ancient magical rituals for reconciling opposite forces or elements. The ancient Greek symbol of the mercurial caduceus – two snakes entwined around a wand – represents two opposing forces now in harmony and balance, and is associated with the Geminian sign of the Twins – a fundamental duality found in every aspect of life that needs to be reunited in order to form the sacred ‘One’ or whole, which means being healthy and complete.
In Celtic astrology your polarity is the fire festival of Lammas or Lughnasa, celebrated on the first day of August – the time of reaping. While Brigantia symbolizes the time of sowing, on a personal level it is associated with expectations rather than achievement. You are therefore identified with scattering the seeds of new ideas, but at some stage in your life there should come a time when you will reap what you have sown. This is fundamentally a crucial stage of all human development which has much wider implications. For you it can mean fulfilling your true potential, but it all depends on the nature of those seeds.
In Sun sign astrology your polarity sign is Leo, ruled by the Sun, and it shows that your leadership potential should be more openly expressed. You are perhaps content to sit back and not get too personally involved in matters that you really care about. Aquarians are inclined to join groups and private clubs, but they dislike losing their individuality in a concerted team effort. Leos know how to work as a team and they are good organizers and leaders. Your success in life could be transformed by adopting their more direct approach, and for some of you this may have already occurred.
If, however, a personal relationship is not formed, people born under your polarity sign will have a habit of crossing your path at critical moments in your life as if to bring to your attention an alternative route or option that you might not have considered. You will find that what is currently ‘a situation’ in their life is very similar to the one in yours. As polar opposites any ups and downs affect both signs.
SUMMARY
The evolving spirit connected with Rowan Tree people places a question mark over how it will influence and direct your lives. Like the Aquarians, you have the ability to create new levels of thinking that could greatly influence future generations. You certainly like to change the rule books to suit yourself, and your lifestyle will be very different to everyone else because you set new trends rather than follow the conventional wisdom of the day. For all your laid-back attitudes, however, you are still inclined to believe in traditional values and there remains a conservative side to your nature, which relates to Saturn being the ruling planet of Aquarius before Uranus was discovered. Most astrologers agree there are two distinct types of Aquarians and this also relates to traditional virtues associated with Brigantia and the Rowan sign.
So, although we are all drawing closer to the Uranian influences of the New Age of Aquarius, Rowan signs and Aquarians (and this is largely the older generation) still have a deep vein of Saturnian or conservative character traits. If you read the previous chapter on the Birch sign and Capricorns, you may find that you share some similar characteristics. Nevertheless, you are born at the time of year that produces some highly unique individuals and the prevailing influences of Uranus, Brigantia and the Rowan Tree symbolize a very different mindset.
Archetypal Gods
Archetypal gods are said to represent ideal human characteristics, but they can also reveal vices or flaws in our character. As a psychological profile, however, they can provide a great insight into our basic natures and behavioural patterns. Archetypal gods primarily represent a record of human fears, frustrations, loves, strengths and weaknesses over thousands of years since human history began. They were the hierarchy of chief gods who were said to give life and structure to our very existence and for the rest of humanity.
URANUS
Your archetypal god Uranus was an ancient creation god in many world myths and, as an invisible sky god, there are some obscure and indefinable qualities attached to him. Though the planet Uranus was officially discovered in 1781 by Herschel, there are many ancient creation myths that referred to an invisible god beyond the planet Saturn who manifested in the restless elements of nature and the phenomenon of lightning.
Greek
In a Greek creation myth, Uranus was a sky god said to have been created by Gaia, who represented Mother Earth. In the beginning of this creation myth, however, Earth did not exist; it was a shapeless mass ruled by Chaos and his wife Nyx or Night. These two primitive divinities in time were dethroned by their two children Aether (light) and Hemera (day). They decided to create a world of great beauty and summoned their child, Eros (love), and between them they created Pontus (sea) and Gaia (Earth). There are several versions of this creation myth, but Gaia and Uranus eventually reigned supreme until their children, the Titans, displaced them.
These constant displacements symbolize the changing social structures of the Greeks and new ideas that meant new gods. In early times all ancient people applied their own expression of feelings or fear to the name of a god, and Uranus as a god of the sky, with its ever-changing aspects, came to denote fickle actions and inconsistent behaviour. But through his mythical genealogy Uranus was more than just a sky god, he had inherited the elements of Chaos as well as light and darkness. The Uranus myth also has a feminine counterpart, a daughter of Zeus called Urania, one of the nine sister goddesses associated with astronomy, mathematical instruments and a love of exact sciences. She also represents a time when the arts and sciences were not seen as separate or competing schools of thought. You may therefore be equally drawn to the arts, if the symbolic influences of Urania are active in your life.
Egyptian
In some of the earliest Egyptian creation myths a great Mother goddess had created the universe, the world and every living creature on earth. Then, due to foreign invasions, the Father gods arrived on the scene and battle commenced for the loyalty of their priests and people. Eventually, it was all reconciled, with Mother and Father gods sharing equal status. But it was a marriage of convenience which brought peace and prosperity for everyone, rather than a love match. As well as local tribal gods and their continuing adoption of foreign gods, the Egyptians absorbed a multitude of gods and goddesses. Bearing in mind the fact that new gods meant new ideas, it is not surprising that Egypt began to flourish as a great ancient civilization.
According to Dr Budge, acclaimed author of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, despite their crowded labyrinth of gods, the Egyptians believed in the existence of one great creator who had fashioned all the gods and the stars, the Sun and Moon and all creation. He said that they never attempted to make any figures, forms or likenesses because it had no gender and its attributes were beyond human comprehension. On rare occasions this incomprehensible spirit was referred to as ‘Nether’ or ‘Neter’ which means unknown. The Egyptian sphinx at Giza, near the pyramids, has the body of a lion and the head of a man and is said to represent the mysterious riddle of life itself. Today it is often associated with an inscrutable person – an apt comparison for your enigmatic god.
Celtic
In Celtic myth Uranus can be identified with Celi, as a god and a source of inspired speech and prophecy. Uranus is called ‘the Awakener’ in esoteric astrology and that is how the druids had described the forces in the sky at this time of year. In a Welsh creation myth, the druids also referred to an invisible god called Celi as an incomprehensible or limitless spirit that had formed a mystical union with Ceridwen, their great Mother goddess. These unions took place during the spectacular solar eclipses when the Moon stands between the Sun and Earth at the time of the new Moon. All eclipses were seen by the druids