Let’s set aside these too much-sophisticated interpretations while we can, and alchemically, observe that a knife, an eagle, a cross, and an eight spokes wheel might be basic symbols of basic operations to achieve a lion, which is on the top of the scene. Of course, our alchemical lion, or the product of the last fixation. A knife can symbolize dissolution, an eagle of sublimations, or a cross of fixations. But let’s concentrate on the wheel since the interpretation as a piece of “time” suits me, but the lasting of a ruling time. It is hard to believe the Carthusian monks did not know that an eight spokes wheel was a common symbol representing the eight parts in which the lunar-solar year was divided before Julius Caesar’s new calendar.
Although the laws of the twelve tables just mentioned the rising and falling of the Sun, in their origin, roman people, like most ancient people, used a lunar calendar in which a month corresponded to a lunation. They did not count the days from the beginning of the month: 1 2 3 4 etc.., but counted the days until the calendae, idus, or nonae, depending on which one of them was closer, as when counting the days until an important event, in the short countdown. The first day of the month was the “calendar,” or the first day of the new moon, the ” nonae” was an intermediate between the new moon and the “Idus”, or the full moon, that’s to say, nine days to a full moon. The term month derives from the latin mensis, which, together with month, also means Moon. And this was the same with germanic people and their monat month-moon.
Under the rule of the first king Romulus, a lunar-solar year had ten months and a day constant of 12 hours of light and dark, but during the winter, the light hours were shorter, while during the summer were longer than the night ones. Numa Pompilius adjusted the situation by adding two other months ( January and February) to balance lunar and solar paths. But as we can imagine, due to imprecisions, agriculture works were also ruled by the sidereal year or the rising and setting of the stars.
This calendar, linked to stellar phenomena, led the Romans to divide the year into eight parts. The Equinoxes and Solstices did not indicate the start of the seasons but the middle period. The beginning of summer coincided with the heliacal rise of the Pleiades in May, and the beginning of autumn coincided with the acronic sunset of Lira. Solstices and equinoxes were a reference for campaigns. Acronic is a synonym for atemporal. Heliacal, from greek Ήλιος, or Sun, rising and setting of a star to signify the exit or entry of it in the rays of the sun that prevents the observation. The rising and setting of a star are nothing more than an appearance or disappearance. So we have:
- Acronic rising: the rise of a star on the eastern horizon at the same time as the Sun sets.
- Acronic Sunset: is the set of a star on the western horizon at the same time as the Sun rising. During its acronic set, a star is always invisible because of the sunlight.
- Heliacal rising is the becoming visible of a star in contrast to the light of the Sun.
- Heliacal morning rising: the first appearance of a star on the eastern horizon before dawn.
- Heliacal Vespers rising is the first visibility of Venus or Mercury on the western horizon after the Sun’s sunset.
- Heliacal Sunset: the becoming invisible of a star because of its proximity to the Sun.
- Heliacal morning Sunset: it is the last visibility of Venus or Mercury on the eastern horizon before dawn.
- Heliacal Sunset Vespers: is the last visibility of a star on the western horizon after the Sun sunset.
The heliacal phenomena are an integral part of the rhythm of the sky, so many ancient cultures, by which the observation of the sky was widely practiced, included them in the list of celestial phenomena considered essential and, as such, worthy of careful and continuous observation and recording, mainly because of their high temporal resolution. In most cases, the heliacal phenomena had to do with the development of the first calendars with the cadence of the rituals throughout the year. Observing the sequence of the heliacal risings that were visible in a particular place allowed the easy and unambiguous delineation of well-defined dates during the year. Virtually all the ancient people of which we have written documentation relative to their customs and traditions used this method to define with reasonable accuracy the key dates relevant to agricultural planning and navigation; remember the greek Hesiod and his work ” Works and Days”.
Often, concurrently at the time of the heliacal rising of a particular star, was celebrated a festival that was generally associated, in terms of ritual, with both the astronomical event that determined the occurrence and the social event that should be celebrated. We know from the available documents that in ancient Egypt, the heliacal risings of Sirius were observed and established at the beginning of the Egyptian agricultural calendar. The heliacal rising of Sirius preluded to beneficial flooding of the Nile, which was crucial for the agricultural economy of the people. The Maya divided their ritual calendar into four segments based on the dates of the heliacal rising of the planet Venus, a phenomenon currently observed even at Babylon and which we have accurate records in cuneiform on clay tablets in India and China. The Babylonians did start the year with the heliacal rising of Hamal (Alpha Arietis). Also, the Celts in Europe used to set the basis of the four key festivals of the Celtic year, basing them on the dates of the heliacal rising of the stars (3).
Four out of the eight spokes of the time wheel were indeed solstices and equinoxes. The remaining four should not be taken for granted. Calendars, or means to calculate the right time, have always been substantial (4). This is known as ” Signatures”, which is not only an issue of “weights” but also of external conditions.
Other articles on the Wheel allegory: Amiens Cathedral, Fulcanelli and Two Paradoxical Wheels , Heiligen Dreifaltigkeit and Secret Iconography of the Wheel .
The picture at the top of the first page has been taken from www.angolohermes.com .
- Nicola Severino “Antologia Di Storia Della Gnomonica”, Roccasecca 1995 ;
- See also Two Stars in a Venetian Geocentric Sky ;
- Cernuti S., Gaspani A., 2006, “Introduzione All’Archeoastronomia: Nuove Tecniche Di Analisi Dei Dati”, Atti della Fondazione Giorgio Ronchi, vol. LXXXIX, 190 pp. Edizioni Tassinari, Firenze, 2006. A. Gaspani, 2000, “Archeoastronomia, Astroarcheologia, Paleoastronomia”, Ad Quintum, No.6, Novembre 2000 ;
- See also San Miniato Sun Path or the Sky as Seen from Earth , Thesaurus Hermeticum & Dry Pythagorean River , Nuisement and the Sun Resisting Capture , Voynich Manuscript and the Unknown Part of the Rhythm , Pietro Perugino and the Lady of the Wind , Santi Pupieni and the Raising Black-New Moon ;