‘Virgo’ plate 21 in Urania's Mirror, a set of celestial cards accompanied by A familiar treatise on astronomy ... by Jehoshaphat Aspin. London. Astronomical chart, one print on layered paper board : etching, hand-colored. By Sidney Hall.
As usual we’re observing the night sky in the west at around 9:35 p.m. This time we’ve been observing the constellation of Virgo. When you look west, you’ll be able to see what looks like a sideways diamond that has been squashed. That is the constellation Corvus.
Right above it is Virgo. We’ve been exploring the myths of Virgo. The zodiac sign is called, Virgo the virgin, so it’s always been associated with the image of a woman or maiden, as they called woman in olden times. You might recall that since it’s such an old constellation, there are many different stories on who the maiden actually is.
Many will agree that she is the daughter of Zeus and either, Themis, his second wife, or of Demeter, a companion. Their daughter is named Astraea, who some say is the goddess of innocence.
Legend says that at the beginning of mankind, we lived in perpetual spring, peace, prosperity and people never aged. It was called the Golden Age.
Astraea was born as a mortal and placed on Earth to rule over human justice. As humanity stopped honoring the gods and sank into corruption, she left our planet and went to the skies. When she left, it ended the Golden Age and perpetual spring and people began to suffer through disease and sickness.
In a more popular myth, the maiden is said to be Persephone, the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. Sometimes Persephone is the goddess of spring and sometimes she’s the goddess of the harvest. Sometimes her mother, Demeter, is mother earth and other times she’s the goddess of the harvest.
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In all versions, Persephone is kidnapped by Hades, the god of the underworld. Her mother is so devastated that she stops performing her duties as the Mother Earth. The Earth stops growing and people die of starvation.
In other versions, she purposely ruins the harvest because she’s so angry that she’s not able to see her daughter.
In one version, Demeter goes to Hades to retrieve her daughter. Following a lot of disputing and negotiation, Hades allows Persephone to leave with the condition that she returns and spend four months in the underworld.
In other versions, Zeus either goes to Hades to ask him to release his daughter or he decrees that she has to leave the underworld. Again, Hades it allows with the condition that she returns to the underworld for six months.
So, each time she leaves, the Earth dies and each time she returns (in the spring) the Earth comes back to life. This is how seasons were explained in Greek mythology.
It’s also worth noting that Tuesday is the summer solstice, also known as the longest day of the year!
Look Up appears in the weekend edition. If you have any astronomical questions or facts you’d like to share email news@smdailyjournal.com with the subject line “Look Up.”
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
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Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
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