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By Root 1236 0

planets, of which that is the number. . . . Now the vestment of the high priest being made of linen, signified the earth; the blue denoted the sky, being like lightning in its pomegranates, and in the noise of the bells resembling thunder.... Each of the sardonyxes declares to us the sun and the moon; those, I mean, that were in the nature of buttons on the high priest's shoulders. And for the twelve stones, whether we understand by them the months, or whether we understand the like number of the signs of that circle which the Greeks call the Zodiac, we shall not be mistaken in their meaning.

The 12 stones, of course, are the tribes or "sons" of Jacob, which Josephus firmly establishes as the constellations.17 Josephus is also explicit in relating other aspects of Jewish "history" as being astrological. Therefore, this astrological or astrotheological meaning of the Bible has been known a very long time. As Higgins says:

... the Mosaic account . . . is allowed by all philosophers, as well as most of the early Jews and Christian fathers, to contain a mythos or allegory-by Philo, Josephus, Papias, Pantaenus, Irenaeus, Clemens Alex., Origen, the two Gregories of Nyssa and Nazianzen, Jerome, Ambrose ...l8

Jacob and his Sons and Ladder

The "father" of these 12 constellations or tribes, Jacob, is "the supplanter" (lakovo), which was a title for the adversary and twin of the sun, Set, or Seth, the night sky. Each of the 12 tribes had its own totem, god and religious accoutrements, brought "out of Egypt." As demonstrated by the biblical texts, these groups did not reside peacefully with each other but fought constantly among themselves and with outsiders over whose god was superior and whose rituals and symbols were divinely inspired and correct.

As to their zodiacal designations, Jacob's first-born, Reuben, is Aquarius, the "the beginning of my strength . . . unstable as water." Simeon and Levi, "the brothers," are Gemini. Judah, the "lion's whelp," is Leo. Zebulun, who ". . . shall be for an haven of ships," may correspond to Libra, "the ship sign, or arc, or ark."'9 Issachar is a "strong ass, crouching between the sheepfold's burdens," possibly corresponding to the bull of Taurus, the "workhorse." Of Jacob's son Dan, Anderson relates:

"Dan shall be the serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backwards." This is . . . the scorpion, or serpent, and alludes to that constellation which is placed next to the centaur or armed horseman, or Sagittarius, which falleth backward into the winter solstice of ICapricornl.l°

Jacob's son Gad is a reversal of Dag, the fish god, possibly representing Pisces. It was said of Asher that he would have "rich food" or "fat bread;" thus, he would correspond to Virgo, the bread-giver or fall harvest. Naphtali is "a hind let loose," representing Capricorn, the goat. Joseph, who was fiercely attacked by archers, is Sagittarius. The son of Rachel the "Ewe," Benjamin, the "ravenous wolf" who "divides the spoil," would be Aries, who "comes in like a lion" and divides spring and winter. According to Anderson, the "fruitful bough" of Joseph representing his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, could share the "portion divided between them" of the "double-sign" of Cancer. Joseph himself, of course, is "an interpreter of dreams and a noted magician" with a magical "silver cup," by which he divines.

Jacob's ladder with the 72 angels ascending and descending represents the 72 decans, or portions of the zodiac of five degrees each. The same ladder story is found in Indian and Mithraic mythology, as Doane relates:

Paintings representing a scene of this kind may be seen in works of art illustrative of Indian Mythology. Manrice speaks of one, in which he says:

The souls of men are represented as ascending and descending (on a ladder), according to the received opinion of the sidereal Metempsychosis."

... And Count de Volney says:

"In the cave of Mithra was a ladder with seven steps, representing the seven spheres of the planets by means of which souls