4. It remains to understand why the synodic cycle of Jupiter (399 days) has anything to do with the path of Sun over the year. Here the explanation presumably is the application of the structure of the week (which is only half a fortnight, only single like the face of Sun) to the year. 7 is a measure of the night (when the planets can be seen), and counting the path of Sun according to the measures of the night (Moon) number 420 = 6 * 70 could lead us to for instance the following table:
Saturn has no place in this game, because he represents a time without light. The path of Sun has only 6 steps, like the number of sides in a hexagon. However, the 'day of Jupiter' (281-350 above) does not contain 399, and therefore we ought to try another variant:
⅔ of 420 = 280 = 10 * 28 nights will now be on the front side and ⅓ of 420 = 140 = 20 * 7 will be on the back side. The back side 'belongs to Moon' and she should be counted twice, once for her waxing face and once for her waning face, i.e. with 20 nights per month. The Gilbertese Polynesians and the Mayas counted the month as 20 nights. The path of Sun is here beginning with Venus (who presumably is to be imagined as 'pregnant' with Sun) and it ends with Jupiter (the old calabash whose head is 'spitting' in order to come back next year). From a position high in the 'tree' his 'spittle' goes all the way down and the new generation has to begin at the bottom. Venus spends 8 nights 'down in the earth' before she reappears as morning star. |