When the Dragon Wore the Crown: Putting Starlight Back into Myth

Advance Praise for When the Dragon Wore the Crown

Mythology has been confusing to most people because the keys to unlocking the symbols have been obscured. It is rare to find a book that deciphers large chunks of the mystery, tying elements together into a cohesive vision.

When the Dragon Wore the Crown is such a book. It introduces an astrological orientation in the context of large cycles of time. Much of what we learned in school and what is presented to us in mainstream media leaves pivotal secrets concealed as though keeping us in the dark has hidden value. Nevertheless, threads embedded in mythology have endured hidden in plain sight. When the Dragon Wore the Crown reveals much, pointing to connections that become obvious once one journeys into the book.

As a renowned astrologer, Don Cerow has penetrated deep into the collective unconscious. Linking symbolism from ancient cultures around the world, Don discovered patterns pointing to a science in the sky. Curiously, it seems the ancients were fully cognizant of these crucial cosmic relationships, well understood in times past. However, a darkness overcame the world and secrets of magic, oracles, cosmology and knowledge were driven out of our consciousness.

Compiling the research and the multiple images for this book has been a true labor of love for Don. Finally, an integrated and well-illustrated revelation is available for us all to appreciate. Bravo to Don for his persistence and for his vision which is of enormous import to humanity in these changing times.

—Carmen Boulter, PhD

www.interactive-u.com

www.pyramidcode.com

Our Dragon is a child of Time, and each culture that invokes the Dragon is wrestling with a deeper understanding of ‘Time’ and how it worked says Cerow—and takes us on a most exhilarating journey through the millennia in pursuit of this truth. Richly and lucidly illustrated, this book is a delight and an inspiration. I love it!

—REV PAM CRANE (author of The Draconic Chart)

"Don's investigation of precessional motion provides a fascinating look at the correlation between the stars, myth and history. Wonderful work!

—WALTER CRUTTENDEN

BinaryResearchInstitute.org

In When the Dragon Wore the Crown, cosmo-linguist Don Cerow draws us into the mythic realm as it has been dreamed into existence by sky-sages from around the world. He carries us to the dawn of consciousness, when the skies were known to be an integral part of our reality, both pragmatic—pinned to seasonal variations and agricultural cycles—and symbolic—showing the evolution of humanity. Don's unique deciphering skills lead us on a journey into that consciousness. We get the chance to peek over his shoulder as he decodes the myth, story, symbol and structure that reveal this cosmology, reawakening our awareness from some ancestral space and allowing its relevance to unfold before our eyes, alive and enlivening. It is a profound and magnificent experience that should not be missed.

—Terry Lamb, cosmo-linguist and author of

Born to Be Together: Astrology, Relationships, and the Soul

Photo credit Tony Jones of Horsham, UK

When the Dragon Wore the Crown—

Center and Circle

Putting Starlight back into Myth

*

Don Cerow

IBIS PRESS

Lake Worth, FL

Published in 2013 by Ibis Press

A division of Nicolas-Hays, Inc.

P. O. Box 540206

Lake Worth, FL 33454-0206

www.ibispress.net

Distributed to the trade by

Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC

65 Parker St. • Ste. 7

Newburyport, MA 01950

www.redwheelweiser.com

Copyright © 2013 by Don Cerow

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Nicolas-Hays, Inc. Reviewers may quote brief passages.

ISBN 978-0-89254-205-5

Ebook ISBN 978-0-89254-594-0

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Available Upon Request

Cover: Thanks to Fiske Planetarium Art Department

M-51 Spiral Galaxy

Book and cover design by Don Cerow

Book production by Studio 31

Printed in China

And the light dwelt in the darkness and the darkness knew it not.

—John 1:5

Acknowledgements

This has been a wide-ranging path which began years ago. Many have helped along the way. First, to Katie and Andy, for being so patient, understanding and supportive of their Dad.

I love you both, very much.

To Mom and Dad for everything (Here's the book, Dad)!

More recently, thank you Scott Silverman for your enthusiasm in helping to open the publishing door. To Yvonne Paglia, Jim Wasserman and Scott, my editors, and to the many friends who have helped with the book's evolution:

Linea Van Horn, Mark Taylor, Cynthia Cwynar, Martha MacBurnie, Marie Massud, Suzanne Keating, Rich Ware, Larry Shea, Michael Ford, Bob Spohn and Willow LaMonte, to name a few. To the Longmont, Colorado Astronomical Society, for sharing their passion. To Walter Cruttenden and Dr. Carmen Boulter for their trust and creative encouragement, and to Nancy and Patrick Hiester for providing shelter from the storm.

Naturally, to the staff and volunteers at Fiske Planetarium, with special thanks to Tito Salas, Julie Carmen, Will Fleming, Zane Lyon and Dr. Doug Duncan.

To John Thomas, for your warm and enduring friendship.

And finally, I would like to thank my wife, lover and best friend, Lisa Michel, for her wisdom and understanding over the years. Her encouragement and support have helped make the telling of this tale possible.

*

The disclaimer* at the bottom of this page represents the specific wording requested by Heritage Malta, but is true for all of those who contributed materials and images, including, but not limited to the countries, institutions of learning, or individuals who have so graciously agreed to allow their work be shared within these pages as part of a larger story-line.

A heart felt thank you, One and all.

This document* includes materials/images made available by Heritage Malta. The views expressed herein are those of the author and can therefore in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of Heritage Malta.

Dedication

Athena

Katie & Andy

Lisa, Gail, & Karen

Invocation

The Grey-Eyed Goddess

I begin to sing of Pallas Athena,

the glorious goddess, bright-eyed, inventive,

unbending of heart, pure virgin,

saviour of cities, courageous Tritogeneia.

From his awful head wise Zeus himself bare her

arrayed in warlike arms of flashing gold,

and awe seized all the gods as they gazed.

But Athena sprang quickly from the immortal head

and stood before Zeus who holds the aegis,

shaking a sharp spear:

great Olympus began to reel horribly

at the might of the bright-eyed goddess,

and earth round about cried fearfully,

and the sea was moved and tossed with dark waves,

while foam burst forth suddenly:

the bright Son of Hyperion stopped

his swift-footed horses a long while,

until the maiden Pallas Athena

had stripped the heavenly armor

from her immortal shoulders.

And wise Zeus was glad.

                    Hesiod's Hymn to Athena ⁰⁰

γνωθι σαυτoν

Contents

Acknowledgements

Dedication

Invocation

Inscription at Delphi

Preface

Turning on the Tides of Time

The Astronomy

Opening the Circle

Gemini

Taurus

The World Tree

Aries

Pisces

Closing the Circle

Preface

One night, long, long ago, I had a dream.

It was a sunny day beneath a bright blue canopy, without a cloud in the sky. There were streams and trees spotting the landscape here and there. All this stretched across a great, green vista of rolling hills, fading into the distance as far as the eye could see.

Passing by in front of me single-file was a long line of dragons, each with their left arm placed on the shoulder of the dragon in front of them. This serpentine column fanned out ahead, over the hill and into the valley beyond, only to reemerge in the distance and coil over the next hill and the next, until they too merged into the horizon.

As they moved, the long line pulsed, a visual reptilian ripple along its length. Together they chanted in unison a forgotten, hypnotic rhythm, repeated over and over again. Two steps forward, one back, roll out the hips down, around and back with a gutteral hun-unh.

Each happy to be there, undulating to the beat of an ancient serpentine secret.

Day after day, world without end.

Amen.

                Blessings,

Turning on the Tides of Time…

Photo credit Luis Benkard

When Theseus journeys across the Mediterranean as one of seven youths, he is part of an annual debt to Crete. His life is on the line. According to the terms of an old war treaty, Athens had to pay a yearly tribute to the Minoans. None of the other youths had ever returned to tell of their trials. In volunteering for this deed, Theseus does so over the earnest protests of his father, the Athenian king.

There are two dangers our brave lad must face in this far-off foreign land. First he must find, confront and defeat a fearsome creature legend has dubbed the Minotaur (Bull of Minos). Should he prove victorious, he must then work his way out of a mysterious labyrinth. Success in this quest would bring fame, while defeat means ignominy, dishonor, and possibly even death.

How to know which way to go?

Our youthful hero is helped on his quest by a beautiful, Minoan princess. She is immediately smitten by this daring foreign prince, falling in love with him at first sight, and decides to help him however she can.

Together, between excited whispers of love and affection, they devise a secret plan that just might help accomplish his aim.

One cool, clear evening just before the New Year ceremonies, the prince and princess quietly make their way to the walls outside the labyrinth. Here they fix a string she had hidden precisely for this purpose, securely attaching it so it can not be unintentionally undone. Taking firm hold of the other end of the life-line lest he become lost in the twists and turns of its dark, unfamiliar passages, Theseus then makes his way into the maze.

The rest, as they say, is history……or at least legend.

Minotaur and more

Just as Theseus did, we too will make use of a golden thread to weave our way through the heart of a maze containing both Minotaur and more. If you know where to look, the way can still be seen even after all these centuries. Adventurous souls willing to undertake this journey will travel a path once attempted only by the heroes of yesteryear. Ahead of us lie great opportunities, but together with them come great challenges.

Although these ties to the past are fascinating, what's more important is where they lead us. As you are about to discover, this thread is knotted in the not-so-distant future.

The trail we choose is not some forgotten backwoods footpath overgrown in underbrush and thorns, but rather the principal mythic highway of time. Yet while the maze may be complex, its solution is simple. Locked inside the enigma of the centuries is the key to both past and future.

Truth smiles with a simplicity that gently illuminates from within. Quiet reflection, repeated logic and a steady light will help to make our path clear.

As we prepare for our journey, know that we are getting ready to enter another realm; one in which the creatures of legend reclaim their place in the Underworld, on Earth and in Heaven above. We were once familiar with the mythical beings that eternally encircle us; but their watery reflections were perturbed, their outline confused long, long ago. We endeavor to walk a highway of diamonds with nobody on it, though these paths once teemed with traffic.

Yet even after centuries of neglect, these hearts beat with the stoic determination of those who cannot die.

They are immortal.

We are about to ride across the centuries on the back of a dragon. Athena will illuminate the way, as she has so often before.

For those who continue to feel that myths are merely the imaginative playthings of the fanciful, long ago uprooted from reality and cast into the compost of ignorance to be forever forgotten-think again. The lid of Pandora's box is being reopened.

Do you dare gaze upon what lies inside?

The time spoken of by the prophets is close. For those who have ears to hear, the call now goes out. Heed the Earth's drumbeat about you.

Witness Gaia's theater unfolding both near and far.

What was prophesied shall be revealed; the sands are running out.

We approach the gates.

As we look down on yesterday's pathways from our Slytherin seat, we will orient ourselves using recognizable landmarks. Viewed from above we will see familiar vistas from fresh perspectives. Most of the maps that once showed the way over these trails crumbled to dust long ago, lost to time. But we haven't been left entirely without guiding light. There have always been a few who have been able to unravel these knots and make clear the path. But there have also been those who have watched to make sure this information remained hidden, secreted not only in the shadows, but by the shadows.

What has changed is that events spoken of long ago are now at hand. Like a reservoir filled too full, the dam can no longer hold back the coming floods. The sands of our hourglass quicken their pace.

The hour draws near.

DaVinci's Dragon

Our story describes the journey along this path, both its remote past and more immediate future.

The time grows short.

We must begin…

It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.

—J.R.R. Tolkein

Parselzunge hier gesprochen

Dragon Eggs hatch as storms before ascending to heaven

The Answer

In our school texts while growing up, it was often the case that the answers were in the back of the book near the index. You read the chapter, did the problems, and then checked the correct answer. If the student copy didn't have this answer-key, then the teacher's edition certainly would.

In this work, however, the answer to the riddle is right on page one. In the many years it has taken to pull these tales together, I have thought about this matter often and see no way around it. It would seem that the answer should come only after a great deal of preparation; after painstakingly making your case, after sitting through the story line. Tensions build, and in theater, books, on TV, in movies and even jokes, the answer comes at the end. It just doesn't seem right otherwise.

Having said all that, the answer is this:

The Serpent is in the Center.

The Center of what, you might ask? The Serpent is in the Center of a Circle and it is in the Center of the Sky, for all the people who, a long, long time ago, looked up and used the Heavens to tell time.

The scientific method states that we should establish a hypothesis, and then check it empirically. So, let's transform the answer into a hypothesis in order to see how well it flies.

Is the Serpent in the Center?

From about 7,000 BC down to the collapse of the classical tradition during the Roman Empire, this is what people saw in the nocturnal skies. For them, there was a giant Snake going round and round, eternally it seemed, guarding the Central Core of Heaven.

Naturally, this simple equation has many variations; variations within cultures, mythological traditions and in the powers the Serpent was said to possess-but when we patiently observe its motion across the centuries, the answer becomes apparent. This is simply what was seen night after night, throughout the course of civilizations and across the millennia.

We will look at the astronomy and hear stories from various traditions around the world. We will see variations and we will see similarities, but in the end, it will all boil down to just one thing.

Can you guess?

The Serpent is in the Center.

The Astronomy

The astronomers

Dragon's Gold

Now that we have the answer, it's time to work on the question.

The Serpent in the Center equates to the Dragon in the Circle. Dragon is an ancient Greek word (Δρακων) which translates into English as "serpent." From the Greek comes the Latin term from which we derive our name for the constellation, Draco. It's simply another word for "snake".

Approximately 5,000 years ago, the star pictured as the ‘heart’ (Thuban) of the Dragon stood at the North Celestial Pole of heaven. Currently another star occupies this location. Its name derives from its location of central importance. It is the one visible star around which all others turn. It is called either alpha Ursa Minoris or Polaris, our pole star. It's also called the North Star, because it illuminates that cardinal direction.

Polaris is the last star in the tail of Little Bear (Ursa Minor). Five thousand years ago there was no Polaris. Alpha Ursa Minor was in the sky with all the others, but it didn't occupy the pole position.

There's a recorded memory of when we see Ursa Minor growing in importance as a ‘polar’ indicator. Ursa Minor is not mentioned by either Homer or Hesiod, our oldest Greek authors, but he is mentioned by Strabo (63/64 BC–ca. AD 24). According to Strabo, it was not admitted to the pantheon of Greek constellations until about 600 BC when Thales, inspired by its use in Phoenicia, suggested it to Greek mariners as a way to determine North in place of Ursa Major. Thales saw the seven stars of the Little Bear as part of the ancient wings of the Dragon.

All Creation turned on the ‘heart’ of the Dragon

In the 3rd millennium BC the pole was marked by the star known as the ‘heart’ of the Dragon. For more than a thousand years, Thuban had no rival. It was sole contender as North Star. The Arabs name the entire constellation Thuban after its alpha star.

The Earth's Tilt

Most people know what the North and South Poles are. They're locations of extreme cold in the Arctic and Antarctic, respectively. The ‘pole’ that runs through these two points is the axis around which the world turns, the Axis Mundi (Fig. 12). It is often depicted as an Earth with a column, arrow, stake or spear running through its middle, like an giant shish-ka-bob. The angle of this axis is not ninety degrees to the ecliptic (the path of the Sun), but ninety degrees to the Earth's equator. Because of the Earth's rotational speed, there's a slight bulge at the equator as it spins, as if the Earth had consumed a few too many carbs. Because the Polar Axis is inclined at an angle of 23 1/2 degrees, it looks as though our planet is slightly tipped when viewed against the plane of our Solar System.

Because of this ‘tip’, there are seasons when the northern hemisphere is more inclined towards the Sun, and other times when the reverse is true. It is this angle that engenders our seasons and not our distance from the Sun. When the northern hemisphere is tipped towards the Sun, it experiences summer; away from the Sun, winter. Our atmosphere is partly to blame for this phenomena. It acts as a blanket, wrapping and insulating us like the oceans. The more directly the Sun's rays hit the atmosphere ‘straight on,’ the greater the amount of Solar radiation that penetrates this blanket. The more oblique the angle at which the Solar rays hit the atmosphere, the more of its effects are thinned, with additional Sunlight being deflected and returned to space. Although it may seem counter intuitive, the northern hemisphere is actually farther from the Sun in summer, and closer in winter.

In the southern hemisphere, the trend is reversed. There the Sun is closer in summer, further away in the winter. One would suspect the southern hemishpere's seasons are more extreme because they are turned toward the Sun and closer. But, since there's less land mass in the southern hemisphere, the cooling provided by the collective southern oceans counterbalances these temperature extremes.

There's more than one way to cool a planet.

This imaginary axis which runs through the poles is often extended into space, marking the North and South "Celestial" Poles. If you were to go to the North Pole and look straight overhead, this would be the point around which all the stars rotate. Right now, we happen to be in a place in time when there is a star marker which helps us to identify this point in the night sky, and that marker is of course Polaris, the Pole Star. But such was not always the case.

Summertime in North America

Because of precessional motion, our pole, this huge imaginary shaft that runs through the planet, traces out a circle in the northern and southern skies. We speak of the Southern Celestial Pole less often, simply because it can't be seen unless one travels south of the Equator. Currently there is no pole star marking the South Pole. The Southern Cross is used to help determine its visual location.

Many myths around the globe tell stories of the great winged Serpent which flies overhead, sometimes seen hiding in the clouds, sometimes making himself invisible, but one for whom great fame and glory from time immemorial has been promised.

The notion of heaven turning on its axis was well known in the ancient world

The path of the North Celestial Pole through the northern constellations (see Fig. 278)

If we look to the northern circumpolar stars, we see the circle being traced out by the polar path of precession (Fig. 15). It takes 25,765 years for this circle to be traced out once. Alpha Ursa Minor (Polaris) is located close to the top of the circle and where the precessional pole is now.

In 2788 BC, alpha Draconis (Thuban) was close to the precessional pole. Neither Thuban or Polaris are ever exactly on the center, but they come closer than any other bright stars. Polaris is brighter than Thuban, and thus would have attracted the interest of navigators, but Thuban had centuries of tradition to help secure its reputation as pole star. Thales gives us a clue as to when interest in Polaris began to gain ground around 600 BC as precession carried our pole closer towards this star.

Like a spinning top wobbling back and forth, the pole of the Earth traces out a circle in heaven

The North Pole tracing out this circle among the stars is due to the gravitational attraction of both the Sun and Moon on the Earth. The Earth spins on its axis in a daily rotation; but like a top, as it spins on its axis, there is a slow back and forth rocking motion (Fig. 16).

As we can see from Fig. 17, the Polar Axis, indicated by the letters ‘N’ and ‘S’ are perpendicular to the Earth's Equator. Because the pole is slowly rockin' (and a rollin') to point to the stars indicated in Fig. 15, means that the Earth's Equator must be moving along with it. The North Pole is the Center of the Circle traced out by the Equator. The pole cannot move without affecting the position of the circle. The pole defines the "Circle, commanding its Center", but it is the Equatorial Circle which we most often hear about when discussing precessional motion. It's known as the Precession of the Equinoxes. Center and Circle are locked together in this great dance like a mantra:

The pole and equator are often thought of in terms of the Earth, but an extension of these positions into the skies is what gives us our celestial pole and celestial equator

Center and Circle; Center and Circle.

The Equinoxes are highlighted on the days the Sun crosses the Celestial Equator. In practical terms this means the hours of daylight and darkness stand in balance twice a year. On these two days, there are twelve hours of daylight and twelve hours of darkness. The Equinoxes are further defined as the intersection between the Circle of the Equator and the Circle of the Ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun.

Spring Stars

Across the Millennia

The path