Athena's Web
Week of June 4th - 10th, 1999
The Mystique of the Star
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No star has captured the attention of more people, provoked more debate, or inspired more wonder, than the Star of Bethlehem. Prophecy stated that it signaled the birth of a new king; one that, as it turned out, was to rule western civilization for the next two thousand years.
Over the last few weeks, we have been examining the theory that the Saturn station, following the first Jupiter Saturn conjunction of 7 BC, was in fact, the star heralding the birth of the Messiah, and the one which the Wise Men followed. The literary evidence comes from the Book of Matthew, the first work in a New Testament of various authors. One common misconception people have is the image of a sudden brilliant light, or a powerful radiance in the sky associated with the Star of Bethlehem. Quite simply, this is not what Matthew says, and is nowhere mentioned in the Bible. It seems that this brilliance has been grafted retroactively onto the Star, but is not documented by scripture. A Saturn Jupiter conjunction, even if exact, is not much more dynamic than Jupiter by itself. Saturn is often mistaken for one of the 'fixed' stars of heaven, if measured in terms of brilliance alone. It is because it is a 'wanderer' that it is distinctive. It moves against the backdrop of the constellations, but is not that 'big' as seen from Earth's sky. None but the magi (and not kings, by the way) seem to have noticed this Star. We examined historical evidence that Saturn was thought to be linked to the Jews. Tacitus called it their 'God'. Astrological textbooks of the time taught their disciples to look for the precise stations of the planets, noting the specific cities over which they pivoted. We even have evidence that the Eastern astrological schools paid particular attention to the Jupiter Saturn conjunction of 7 BC. In 1925, a German scholar by the name of P. Schnabel deciphered a number of Neo-Babylonian cuneiform 'papers' from a famous institution of the ancient world; the School of Astrology at Sippar in Babylonia. Quoting from 'The Bible as History',
This represents substantial historical evidence within astrological circles in the East. We have documented interest in this conjunction. At least three of the magi thought enough of heaven's signs to make the trip to the Jewish promised land to witness and pay homage to the new born king. In the series of three conjunctions between Saturn and Jupiter in 7 BC, there is only one time that a planet could have moved forward and then halted. This is the initial retrograde pivot. Both Saturn and Jupiter pivoted after their first conjunction, but only Saturn's pivot occurred over Israel/Palestine. It's curious that the celestial indicator which marked the inception of the Age of Pisces and the Christian Epoch, should be rediscovered in the final year before the millennium? This is good news, and bodes well for the future. Somebody should tell the Pope.
Eastern Star"'We have seen his star in the east' (Matt. 2:2), said the Wise Men, according to the Authorized Version. The translation is however incorrect, for the words "in the east" are in the original "En té anatolé" -the Greek singular- but elsewhere "the east" is represented by "anatolaí " -the Greek plural. The singular form "anatolé" has, it is maintained, quite a special astronomical significance, in that it implies the observation of the early rising of the star, the so-called heliacal rising. The translators of the Authorized Version could not have known this. When "en té anatolé" is translated properly, Matt 2:2 reads as follows: "We have seen his star appear in the first rays of the dawn." That would have corresponded exactly with the astronomical facts, if the constellation under discussion, and this, of course, is the big question, was the Star of the Wise Men, the Star of Bethlehem, the Christmas Star."
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