Virgo was like a 'yoga' station, where the front (en face) side of the year was ending in order to be joined to the hairy back side.
The Chinese had placed Virgo at the beginning of their structure for the year, after the September equinox. And from Spica to the December solstice there were 355 - 282 = 73 (= 365 / 5) days:
The Archer (Sagittarius) stood like a guard late in December. Then came the Goat Fish (Capricornus) - another 'yoga constellation' - together with Aquarius.
The Great One (Aquarius) has his left hand up in the air and his right hand touching the fishy tail of the Swallow. He is looking up towards us, which means time runs counterclockwise in this zodiac. ... Now birds and fishes are born under the sign of the Yin [Moon], but they belong to the Yang [Sun]. This is why birds and fishes both lay eggs. Fishes swim in the waters, birds fly among the clouds. But in winter, the swallows and starlings go down into the sea and change into mussels ... Hevelius has demonstrated the dry part of Capricornus by placing a dry towel above in the left hand of Aquarius:
From Spica to Albali (the Swallower, at the left hand of Aquarius) there were 394 - 282 = 112 days = 16 weeks, leaving 36 weeks for the rest of the year. 36 * 7 = 252 and 252 + 112 = 364. ... in the ceremonial course of the coming year, the king is symbolically transposed toward the Lono pole of Hawaiian divinity ... It need only be noticed that the renewal of kingship at the climax of the Makahiki coincides with the rebirth of nature. For in the ideal ritual calendar, the kali'i battle follows the autumnal appearance of the Pleiades, by thirty-three days - thus precisely, in the late eighteenth century, 21 December, the winter solstice. The king returns to power with the sun. Whereas, over the next two days, Lono plays the part of the sacrifice. The Makahiki effigy is dismantled and hidden away in a rite watched over by the king's 'living god', Kahoali'i or 'The-Companion-of-the-King', the one who is also known as 'Death-is-Near' (Koke-na-make). Close kinsman of the king as his ceremonial double, Kahoali'i swallows the eye of the victim in ceremonies of human sacrifice ...
The Hindu nakshatra structure, on the other hand, was beginning with the female counterpart of the First Point of Aries followed by the place of birth, viz. at Bharani. Ashvini (the wife of the Ashvins) was in April 17 (107), which evidently coincided with the 16th Chinese station where the ferocious Wolf had been bound to become the domesticated Dog. From Ashvini in April 17 to Bharani in May 1 (11 * 11) there were 121 - 107 = 2 weeks.
The text on side b of the C tablet was probably designed to begin with Sheratan and Mesarthim. And with Krittikā (the Nurses of Kārttikeya) in May 15 (135), arriving 4 weeks later, we should search for Bharani in between:
Niu. Palm tree, coconut tree; hua niu, coconut. Vanaga. Coconut, palm, spinning top. P Pau., Ta.: niu, coconut. Mgv.: niu, a top; niu mea, coconut. Mq.: niu, coconut, a top. Churchill. The fruit of miro. Buck. T. 1. Coconut palm. 2. Sign for peace. Henry. The sense of top lies in the fact that the bud end of a coconut shell is used for spinning, both in the sport of children and as a means of applying to island life the practical side of the doctrine of chances. Thus it may be that in New Zealand, in latitudes higher than are grateful to the coconut, the divination sense has persisted even to different implements whereby the arbitrament of fate may be declared. Churchill 2. |
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