THE ALPHABETS AND THE CALENDAR (4)

(BEING CONTINUED FROM 3/02/15)

It is also interesting to note that when one rotates the astrological symbols of the zodiac  as one does the Phoenician letters, the forms of these symbols resemble the couplets very closely.
For instance, the symbol for Leo seems at first a bit abstract for the constellation to be seen as a  lion. But when one rotates the symbol ninety degrees, as seen in Figure 5b, it not only gives a  shape that resembles the overall form of Leo, but it quite nicely resembles the Corneto sign of  Leo (which shows the tail of the lion curled around its body like the sphinx). It also looks very
much like the Hebrew “lamed,” which is part of the Leo couplet.
Also, and even more interesting, is the astrological symbol for Virgo. When one rotates it,
as seen in Figure 5c, it not only correlates to the “M” shape of the Phoenician letter “Mem,” but  it is also clearly seen in the upraised legs of Virgo in the Chinese lunar zodiac. However, the  most interesting correlation is with Scorpio; I hadn’t noticed an “M” shape in the couplet till just  recently. But once I rotated the astrological sign for it (see Figure 5c), I then immediately noticed
the large “M” that makes up its claws in the Phoenician couplet. The letter with this “M” in it is  “tsade.” The stinger also curves in the same shape/direction as the Phoenician letter Pe. Even  when one looks to the old character for the Chinese Branch for sheep (see Scorpio in Figure 5c),it has the same “m” shape to its form (its claws). Even the circular shape to Libra (fall  equinoctial sun. See Figure 5c) resembles quite closely the circular letter “’ayin” that is also  prominently seen in the sign for Libra in the Dendera zodiac (both long and circular).
Thus these astrological symbols just might help prove a correlation between the  Phoenician letters and the zodiac. For instance, both Virgo and Scorpio are in the shape of the  letter “M,” which is “mem,” but why? There appears to be much speculation as to their origin,which goes back to medieval Byzantine manuscripts that contained ancient horoscopes. But why was the letter “M” chosen for Virgo? It seems more than a coincidience that it matches perfectly  with the Phoenician letter couplet of Virgo (mem/nun). Furthermore, I soon realized that the  astrological symbol for Virgo has another surprise. Not only is it composed of the letter M (mem,which makes up the Proto-Indo-European root “ma” — “mother”), but it also has the Phoenician  symbol for fish attached to it (Liungman 1991:38). What’s particularly interesting about the fish is that the Phoenician letter nun also means “fish.” Thus you have in the astrological symbol  couplet for Virgo the letter M and the symbol for the letter N, and in the Phoenician letter couplet  you have again the letters mem and nun, which symbolize and make up the form of Virgo. These
two couplets correlate perfectly. Whoever designed the astrological symbol for Virgo understood  the connection to the alphabet, but hid the second letter “nun” as a fish so that it wouldn’t be that  obvious (and rotated it just like the letters of the alphabet). This all seems more than a  coincidence.

Furthermore, the letter nun also means snake in Aramaic (“nun”) and in Arabic (“nun”),
with the word for snake being “nachash” in Hebrew. I feel it’s also not a coincidence that the  Chinese calendar sign for Virgo is Snake! But more interesting still, this letter “n” came out of  Egypt, and the goddess that symbolizes Virgo is Nut, whose name begins with “n,” and whose  body is divided in half (like the Phoenician letters/bull/Draco — the latter of which is a  dragon/snake) by the spear of Anu (see SPP 219). Virgo, as I show in SPP 219, is really just an  extension of the great bull (Draco and Ursa Major) in the northern sky (which was the goddess as both a bull and a snake. As discussed, Draco was also seen in the form of a snake/serpent).1
What’s also interesting is that the fish, Nun, is the head of Virgo. As the head is symbolic  of the seed/son/sun/logos (see SPP 219), I’m sure the inventors of the alphabet switched it to a  fish symbol for the age of Pisces (before that, it was a bull’s head during the age of Taurus, and a  ram’s head during the age of Aries. Furthermore, the Chinese word for woman is “nu” — like
nun/nut — and if the oracle bone character is rotated, like the letters/symbols, it shows a woman  lying prone with a bull’s head, exactly like Virgo. See SPP 196). The bull’s leg/chisel/spear of  He/Waw wouldn’t seem to work as well as the fish does. Thus the Corneto and Roman amulet  zodiacs that I just found might represent transitional signs — a missing link between the two
(Pisces as a chisel/leg, etc., in the Egyptian star charts/alphabet and as a fish for the new Age of  Pisces).
It also seems clear that you have to rotate the astrological symbols to get the actual shape  of the constellation in the same way that you have to rotate the Phoenician letters to get the shape  of their respective constellations. A great example of this is not only Gemini, but Capricorn. See  Figure 8.

Figure 8 shows an early-nineteenth-century depiction of Capricorn that matches the  astrological symbol exactly — complete with circular tail and front foot that bends slightly at the  bottom (or top horn if flipped vertically). But the only way to really see this is by rotating the  symbol.
Aside from the shape, another important feature of the new Pisces symbol I recently  chanced upon in the Roman Amulet is the long tail in waw that leads the eye to the center of the  amulet in a spiral and then points back up towards Gemini. This same tail movement towards the  center of the zodiac might also be seen in the Corneto zodiac as well (thanks to the keen eye of  Professor Mair), as the tail extends beyond the line that frames all the other signs and seems to  point towards the center of the mural. As the image doesn’t show all of the painting, there is no  way to know if the line actually extends towards the center, but it certainly seems plausible, as it  does extend/point (like the Roman Amulet Pisces) in a way that the others don’t. This movement
from Pisces to Gemini seems to indicate that small loop I found in the alphabet/zodiac (see SSP,196): That is, from Taurus to Aries to Pisces, with an abrupt shift back to Gemini. In terms of  letters/numbers, this small loop goes from Aleph/letter 1 to Zayin/letter 7, which again suggests a  relationship to pi (22 total Phoenician letters divided at letter 7/Zayin. 22/7 = 3.14. Furthermore,as has already been alluded to, the three constellations that make up this small alphabetic loop on
the ecliptic are merely a reflection of three key constellations in the circumpolar region of the
northern sky — the division/opening of the Great Bull by the spear/equinox of Anu to release the
sun/son. See SPP 219/Part One, n. 1, and forthcoming Part Two). See Figure 9 for not only an
example of the two alphabetic loops, but also for the letters reversing direction at the solstices
(see SSP 196). I explain that wherever there is a Phoenician letter couplet with an “X” in it,
which just happens to be a couplet that is either the summer or winter solstice, the letters, like the
sun on the horizon, then reverse direction. This seems quite complex, logical, and intentional on
the part of the inventors of the alphabet and more than mere coincidence.

Figure 9. The astro-alphabet with its distinct two loops that suggest a  relationship to the mathematical constant pi (22 letters divided at letter 7/Zayin  = 3.14…). Note that when a letter couplet contains an “X,” which indicates a  solstice, the letters reverse, just as the sun reverses on the horizon.

In comparing Figure 5a with Figure 9, it seems that the reason the Phoenician letters are  seen normally in a vertical column might be due to the way the constellations are seen as they  enter the western horizon. That is, as letters from above, they are sown, so to speak, as the  seed/logos, into the earth/horizon/vessel of the goddess in the same way that a scribe sows the  letters onto a papyrus. It is only when the constellations are at their zenith (what I call the  “Primal Pattern”; see SPP 219), that the letters are seen to be rotated counter-clockwise 90 degrees. In fact, all of the couplets are seen exactly as they are when entering the western
horizon (that is, vertically), except Gemini and Capricorn. These two contain zaiyin and taw,which are letters 7 and 22, which again, indicate pi. Furthermore, due to the two loops that are  formed to indicate pi, these two are exceptions; that is, if the constellations all followed in  normal sequence, they would appear in a vertical column exactly as they would be seen as they
entered the western horizon.
Another interesting aspect of those zodiacs I recently noticed is that Gemini is shown not  as twins or as a candle in three of the four zodiacs (Figures 4, 7a, and 7b), but, rather, it is shown  as a circle that is divided by a line, which again indicates pi (pi is a circle divided by its  diameter). The Egyptian zodiacs in Figure 7a and 7b show Gemini as a circle (grain?) divided by  a line, which, once again, seems more than a coincidence. Based on the evidence that I gathered  so far, it looks like pi was built into some of the Eygptian’s astro-theology.2
Also, the symbol of Gemini in the shape of a circle with a line through it in Figures 7a  and 7b not only might show an earlier stage of the square with a line (the Phoenician letter heth  as part of Gemini, which in turn, correlated with the Gemini candle  glyphs/hieroglyphics that  made up such words as “the great door of heaven,” “the door of sunrise,” “house of Horace,”
“palace of the god,” etc.; see SPP 196), but they also show a strong link to the Egyptian  Hieroglyph P (which is used to form words such as per-em-nub/“gold house” — i.e.,sarcophagus chamber; peru-heru/“houses above” — i.e., celestial mansions; pa/“flame, fire,spark”; papa and pestch/“to shine, to illumine”; pest-t/“ray of light”; petr/“wick of a lamp”)3 and  to the Chinese character for sun, ri . In terms of the latter, ri evolved from a circular shape  with a small line in it as an oracle bone , to a rounded rectangle with a line through it as a Seal  script character , to the rectangle with a line through it in the modern character for sun  (which looks like the Phoenician Heth , but Wei also noted that the Phoenician/Hebrew letter  heth is “similar to the Chinese OB glyphs which are the original forms of the word hu  (*ga?) , meaning ‘door,’ ‘gate,’ ‘house.’” She also links heth/geng to the Sumerian glyphs
(gan), meaning “enclosure”; see SPP 196 and Wei 1999: 26-27).

Lastly, it is worth noting that the zodiac found at Serabit El-Khadim (Figure 7b), is  interesting in that this zodiac was found at a location to which the origins of proto-alphabetic  letters have been traced. That is, at the spot at which researchers have found some of the earliest  alphabetic letters, they also found a zodiac, which could help demonstrate that the two are  connected.

(TO BE CONTINUED)

by  Brian R. Pellar
Boston, Massachusetts