Regulus and four other stars

Given yesterday's post, I do not want people to believe that I completely ignore the initiated version of late Victorian era astrology. I just happen to be very selective about what I play attention to.

As a regular rule of thumb, assume that the Tropical Zodiac is 24 degrees ahead of the Sidereal Zodiac. You can eyeball this without doing math. Or a full sign ahead if you are doing the initiated version; again no math needed. (If you want to do math, it is about one degree per 72 years from whenever you decide the origin year of the zodiac is.)

The most important part of the initiated version of astrology is the star Regulus, which Mathers allegedly instructed initiates to use as the starting point for the sign of Leo. (I have yet to see anyone produce a document that proves Francis King's claim.) Interestingly enough, I actually do a certain amount of work dealing with Regulus, thanks to belonging to a magical Order ruled by Regulus (to a lesser or greater extent) and the fact that Regulus is located at the midpoint between my Sun and Mercury.

(For those people who believe that my calling of BIORC as a magical Order a lie, just remember that BIORC is probably no longer a true Golden Dawn Order. BIORC is to Golden Dawn as BOTA is to AO--a descendant only in name by the best of standards; by the worst of standards, BIORC will always be a GD Order...make of that what you will.)

Given the importance of Regulus to both the Order I belong to, and to my personal birth chart, I have done a certain amount of research into the Four Watchers of the World--the four stars that the Ancient Persians believed guarded the world. (The quarter that they sit in, and the solar event that they correspond to, was established by the Persians in about 3000 BCE--by modern standards, the symbolism tends to make no sense, especially when looked at by people who do not really understand ancient astrology.)

The Four Watchers are:

Aldebaran, the Watcher of the East, corresponds to the Vernal Equinox (northern viewpoint), a red star called the Eye of the Bull, which nature is of Mars (and somewhat of Mercury, Jupiter, and the Sun). In 1980, it was located at 9 Gemini 31; in 1888, it was at 8 Gemini 14.

Regulus, the Watcher of the North, Summer Solstice, Heart of the Lion, nature of Mars and Jupiter. In 1980, it was located at 29 Leo 33; in 1888, it was at 28 Leo 16.

Antares, the Watcher of the West, Autumnal Equinox, the Heart of the Scorpion, nature of Mars and Jupiter. In 1980, it was located at 9 Sagittarius; in 1888, it was at 8 Sagittarius 12.

Fomalhaut, the Watcher of the South, Winter Solstice, nature of Venus and Mercury. In 1980, it was located at 3 Pisces 35; in 1888, it was at 2 Pisces 18.

And another star that I think that one should keep track of, if one is involved in esoteric Orders, is Sirius, the Dog Star, herald of the Ancient Egypt's flooding of the Nile (the start of the Egyptian year), nature of Jupiter and Mars (less so Neptune). In 1980, it was located at 13 Cancer 48; in 1888, it was at 12 Cancer 31.

For those people who worked with the methods of generating magical names from astrology charts, they might want to examine the use of these five stars to generate a name of power.