Astrologers today study the same principles that were at work two thousand years ago, when the first comprehensive astrological work, Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos, was written. What would astrologers have looked for as they gazed heavenward? Some historical authors claimed Saturn ruled over the Jews    First, they knew a New Age was dawning. The vernal equinox was shifting out of the constellation Aries into Pisces. Rumors reported that the Saturn-Jupiter conjunction in Pisces foretold the birth of a new Jewish king. Saturn, according to several older sources, was the planet associated with the Jews. Tacitus goes so far as to equate him with the god of the Jews. According to an old Jewish tradition, Saturn protected Israel.    It is not at all surprising that Jews were familiar with astrology. During their period of captivity, and since the time of Nebuchadnezzar, many thousands had lived in Babylon. Some had even studied at the School of Astrology in Sippar. For an extended period, these two cultures had coexisted, and were familiar with each other's wisdom. With time interweaving the two traditions, it makes sense that the Chaldeans (the astrologers or magi), might have been familiar with Jewish writings and prophecies.    And when one considers Saturn literally went forward and halted over the place where the Messiah was born, this is a simple astronomical observation, but one not generally noted by any except astrologers, as being important.    "...for we have seen his star in the East..."    The helical rising of a star represents when it first appears out of the glare of the morning Sun, only to quickly disappear in the growing daylight. The next morning, it's visible a little longer, and so on; until it slowly ascends in the early morning night sky. A planet must be between 7 and 15 degrees ahead of the Sun to rise helically. Jupiter's helical rising in 7 BC occurred during the first week of March. Saturn made its helical appearance in the middle of the same month. March represented the start of their observational cycle, when the Magi would have seen the 'star in the East' from Babylon, at sunrise.    Every astronomer/priest knew that Jupiter was faster (and much brighter) than Saturn, and was about to catch, and conjunct it. The first alignment between these two occurred at the end of May. Since this was the celestial signal which had alerted the magi, it's probable that the Messiah was actually born on, or within a few days of, May 29, 7 BC; however, the Bible does not stipulate this. After the conjunction, Saturn and Jupiter moved 'forward' in the heavens, until the end of the first week in July, when Saturn pivoted over Bethlehem, starting its retrograde motion. Ptolemy would later state that the pivots of Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars were auspicious, with the cities over which they pivot being most strongly affected.    The one date in this series that we can ascertain with a fair degree of confidence, if we believe the story the Bible records for us, is the pivot over Bethlehem. This was the day the magi left Jerusalem to witness the star's 'coming to a halt' over the place where the child was born. This would have been July 7th, 7 BC, in the Julian calendar. The timing makes it improbable that the legendary 'Christmas birth' of the child was, in fact, the true birthdate, if our seasonal timetable is correct. The Star of Bethlehem Christmas Day    "Christendom celebrates Christmas from December 24th-25th. Astronomers and historians, secular and ecclesiastical, are however unanimous that December 25th of the year one was not the authentic date of the birth of Christ, neither as regards the year nor the day. The responsibility for this lies at the door of the Scythian monk Dionysius Exiguus, who made several mistakes and miscalculations. He lived in Rome, and in the year 533 AD he was instructed to fix the beginning of the new era by working backwards. But he forgot the year zero which should have been inserted between 1 BC and AD 1. He also overlooked the four years when the Roman emperor Augustus had reigned under his own name Octavian."    '...when Jesus was born... in the days of Herod the king...'   "In 40 BC Herod was designated king of Judaea by the Romans. His reign ended with his death in 4 BC. Jesus must therefore have been born before 4 BC." -The Bible as History, Werner Keller, p.331. Translate to: Français | Deutsch | Italiano | Português | Español If you're on a Mac,  and you're NOT using Netscape,  you're missing the special font,  by way of TrueDoc Dynamic Fonts,  as seen in this CLIP: So if you like the font, and you've got the time, download