Lux Nova
The Secret Vault: Lux Nova

Login

Please complete the highlighted fields

Register Password Reset


Romans Gods and Goddess: The Twelve Labours of Hercules

[ Home ] [ Books ] [ Biography ] [ Wars ] [ Myths ] [ Encyclopedia ] [ Quotes ] [ Authors ] [ References ]

I doubt whether there many people educated in the West that have not heard of Hercules; or as the Greeks called him Herakles. Renowned for his great strength and fearless courage, he was a formidable wrestler and warrior; famed for his long golden tresses, and rippling muscles he became the stuff of legend, and who can argue the Romans thought otherwise of Hercules, after all, being lovers of word games, they named him

H E R C U L E S

S E E H’is C U R L.

or,

H E’ S C R U E L.

Nevertheless, our Hero was never ever living person, his name was given to the constellation the Greeks called Herakles, who like Hercules became a god, although the Egyptians had many names for the constellation long before, and in the Biblical story of Adam, he (the constellation) is first called Cain, and in Noah’s story he is called Canaan.

Our hero occupies the stars in the sign of Scorpio, and like the stars of the Scorpion they are on the wane, that is to say, heading towards their lowest point in the heavens during Autumn, and while the Scorpion sinks below the horizon, the stars of Hercules remain above, so never completely disappear from the night sky of Autumn and Winter.

[ I need to clarify this statement; Astrology is one of those subjects almost everybody thinks they know something about, whereas in reality they know very little. People naturally assume that the stars of their birth sign are at the peak, their highest elevation and greatest power and influence during that month.

But in truth reality is totally opposite, the stars of any zodiac sign are at their end, their death, in their named month, the stars of Scorpio started their life in late early Pisces, as Hercules starts to rise so does the Scorpion as the Bull of Taurus is heading into the final stages of its descent, and thus the Scorpion is depicted stinging the Bull’s testicles.

Therefore, the lifespan, and influence, of Scorpio begins in Pisces, and continues through Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra before finally dying in Scorpio.

So, let us consider the truth behind the labours of Herakles called Hercules by the Romans.

1. The slaying of the Nemean lion.

Hercules, makes short work of this task, slaying and skinning the lion and then making a coat from the skin and putting it on, so nobody would notice what he had done.

The reason for his actions are simple enough. Hercules was never a real living person; Hercules is a name- title given to the sun as it enters Scorpio. In reality, the sun does not die, it is never killed; the simplest way to understand it, is to think that the sun as it passes through the year changes its personality. In Spring and Summer, it is generally life giving and supporting, but in autumn it turns and seeks to destroy what it has brought about. It is not some much as Hercules kills the Sun-Leo, but that Leo becomes, instantly transforms into Hercules; the Sun of Autumn. This same way of pretending that the Sun of Autumn killed the Summer SUN and PUT ON ITS SKIN, was a common understanding all over the world, and it had a dire and horrific consequence all too often. It was pretended by the Aztecs to name but one, that their equivalent of Hercules, the autumn Sun, did exactly the same thing. That is to say it killed, skinned and put on the suns skin and then proceeded to slaughter the former suns children. That is why the appointed Priest, ritually killed a chosen victim, skinned him and put on the flayed skin, he then proceeded to kill, sacrifice the remaining victims while wearing that skin.

Anyway, enough of the evil consequences of believing in astrological mysteries of the lying priests, who pretend they are doing what the sun god demanded.

All the labours of Hercules are merely ways the priests devised to help simple people understand how things worked. And they proved to be the perfect devices- tools, to control the masses, and get them to agree with things no man with a reasonable mind would ever have agreed to.

What had Hercules actually done?

Hercules as I said was not a man, he was the Sun of Scorpio, the Sun of Autumn. Autumn signifies the end of Summer, the fruitful growing period of the year is over, the green wheat, turns golden brown as the Sun, that brought and sustained life and growth, suddenly loses its head and kills its own children, thus causing, plants to die and seed, to make ready for harvest. So, the ancients pretended that the Autumn Sun killed the Summer Sun, but no one noticed because immediately Hercules had done the deed, he skinned it and put its pelt. Not man, nor beast, barley, or wheat knew anything had changed, little did they know the Sun, their devoted and dutiful father was about to turn his back on them, and let them die.

But the ending of Summer was not as easy as it seems, Hercules has still a lot more to do to clear up the excesses of Spring and Summer.

Hercules 2nd labour is the slaying of the Hydra.

The Hydra is commonly thought of as a giant snakelike serpent; and more accurately a ‘water snake’ which it is. It is most commonly credited with 7 heads, but some versions mention as many as 42 heads, some far greater numbers. Neither number is incorrect, they simple acknowledge 2 different Astrological cycles. The serpent Hydra signifies the life-giving waters of the 7 months allotted to Spring and Summer. The word Hydra gives us modern words like,

Hydroponics, = soilless culture, the art of growing plants without soil, in water impregnated with nutrients: also,

Hydrant, Hydrate, Hydraulic, Hydro, Hydrolysis, Hydrometer, Hydrophobia.

To Hercules frustration each time he decapitates one of the Snakes head’s it is replaced immediately with 2 more.

[ the easiest way to understand this, is to imagine a lawn or field of grass, every month you cut it between Spring and Summer, yet even though you have cut the grasses heads off the grass still grows, 6 times you cut the grass, and yet it continues to sprout heads and keeps growing].

To remedy this situation Hercules enlists the help of Sagittarius, who with his flaming arrows sets fire to the stubble left by harvests blows, finally ending, any chance of revival or regrowth.

And while Hercules was trying to slay the Hydra, he was further hindered by a crab, constantly nipping his heels; which unbalanced him and caused his blows to lose some of their force. Thus, Hercules finally enlisting Sagittarius’s help to sear and seal the necks of the beheaded heads of the Hydra, as he cut them off, he stepped back to align his blow and brought his heel thundering down upon the crab and crushed it.

Thus, Hercules completed his 2nd task, by cutting off the life sustaining waters, and thus ending the fruitfulness of Spring and Summer, for hidden in the belly of the Crab was a womb. It is this womb that Crab wishes to protect when it menaces Leo the lion, it is really attacking her attacker at his heels, hoping to cause him to stumble backwards, and thus reverse time, by starting Spring again, but the crab always fails in the end, as Hercules always triumphs. In astrological terms, the first three labours of Hercules are easy enough to figure out. As the constellation of Hercules begins to rise on one side of the heavens, so other signs on the opposite side start to disappear, first Leo descends; then as Hercules rises higher, he metaphorically cuts off the heads of the Hydra, as it too descends, its head sits under the Crab of Cancer, which disappears immediately afterwards. The next constellation to disappear from sight is Monoceros, which we depict as a Unicorn, but the Greeks called the Cerynean Hind, which they pretended had golden horns and bronze hooves. I must say I prefer the golden horned Unicorn, to a hind. [But it should be noted that one of the stars of Virgo, was variously called, the Gazelle, Goat or stag, or even King. I am reminded that Hathor Egyptian Moon goddess, after finding the blinded Horus, caught a Gazelle, milked it and poured into Horus eye sockets thus restoring his sight. The other 3 animals and title, king, are also of consequence, and concern the Messiah.]

From here on the labours of Hercules are not so obvious. Most authors who comment on the labours of Hercules, not only tell us very little, but they tend to think that somehow the 12 labours, relate to the 12 zodiac signs. This is a self- destructive error! You will never figure out what Hercules is doing if you insist, that each labour must relate to one, and only one of the 12 zodiac signs. These people say or think they understand sacred astrology, if they did; they would know that a sign is only influential while it is in the visible heavens, and generally that is taken roughly 6 months or 6 signs. Woe unto us who are blinded by our own and other’s assumptions.

Now basically Hercules as part of Scorpio begins to rise in Pisces, and reaches its lowest point in Scorpio itself, that roughly from late February and the first two thirds of March to October, so all his visible labours have to occur in that time frame.

So, Hercules fourth labour was to capture the Erymanthian Boar. Now I see no obvious Boar amongst the constellations. But the I could find no hind; but the Boar was sacred to the moon, as no doubt was the hind. But during the time Hercules was preparing for his labour, he was in the company of a Centaur. Now the Centaur, constellation of, slays the wolf, Lupus, as the Egyptians pretended Anubis did. Lupus is also called the Victim. Now we are told by Jacob that his son Benjamin. ‘Is a ravenous wolf,’ and Benjamin is allotted to the house of Gemini. Gemini is the birth sign of the Messiah. This was the birth sign of King David, it should have been the birth sign of Jesus, and surely, he qualified as a victim. Jesus was a god of Spring and Summer, just like, Osiris and Abel, son of Adam he is slain, like the lion of Leo at summers end. And the reason Hercules was forbidden to harm the hind and the Boar was that they were sacred to the moon and Virgo, and who would deny that Jesus was not sacred to the Virgin-Virgo Mary. There should be no doubt in your mind, Hercules captured or killed the Boar, disguised as Centaurus. But there is another good reason why the Greeks may have changed the wolf Lupus to a boar. Boars like their domesticated cousin’s pigs are great diggers, especially when rooting for food, like truffles or buried acorns and they have keen noses, but they can do a lot of damage while doing so. I have seen a single large Sow plough up an entire field, devastating it in a matter of days. In England pigs were often let loose forage the forests and woodlands in Autumn, to feed on acorns to fatten them up for winter. The fact that Lupus is in Scorpio, Autumn, only strengthens the case.

[note. I know full well that Ursa Minor and Ursa Major, now and for a long time have been portrayed as a young bear, and mother bear with cub, but had also been seen as a young hog, and Sow with piglet or hog respectively previously, and a pig or hog, might be considered a boar, but the stars of Hercules do not eclipse either of them in their ascending or descending, thus I stick to my guns, that Lupus was the boar in question. I also find Occultly that the Boar, is related to England, refer to my book on ‘The March of the Antichrists’ and the Leopard and Boar of Nostradamus, Napoleon and Wellington; if I am right Hercules will not harm the boar.]

The 5th labour of Hercules is to clean the Augean stables.

I was made to ponder this one a long time. The only stable I knew of in the heavens occurs in Cancer, it is the very stable they pretended Jesus was born in, and he was placed in a feeding trough for a crib. But Hercules had already stamped on the Crab, and crushed the womb and the stable.

And then I realized Hercules rises in Pisces. Did not Noah say, ‘let Canaan- Autumn be the slave of Spring- Japheth and Summer- Shem.’ It is Autumns job, to clear up the excesses and mess made by spring and Summer. The land had not been cleared of nature’s mess since the last autumn.

So here is Hercules pondering how he should clear up this mess without getting his hands dirty, and he spots Cetus, diverts the two rivers of Pisces through the stable and into the whale’s blowhole, and the dirty water is cleaned and comes out of its loins, hey presto, another labour completed.

[print 21, showing rivers of Pisces flowing into Cetus.]

His 6th labour is to get rid of the Stymphalian birds.

These man-eating birds, with armour piercing claws are a real menace, but once again Hercules is unsure how to proceed. Now we are told these creatures are like vultures, and the only Vulture in the heavens is the constellation ‘Vulture Cadens, it has the body of a harp, and is often depicted as a harp, would this be the sign that led to the invention of the Harpies, the ‘snatchers’? yes is the answer, for Vulture Cadens is next to Hercules, and the swan Cygnus next to the vulture. And we are told that Phylius, a friend of Hercules, was set the same first three tasks as Hercules, he also had to catch several monstrous man-eating birds, not unlike vultures, and after wrestling with a fierce bull, lead it to the alter of Zeus; before he could marry by Cycnus, a son of Apollo and Hyria. When all the tasks were achieved, Cycnus further demanded an ox that Phylius had won as a prize. Hercules advised him to refuse and press for rightful settlement. Cycnus, in desperation, leaped into the lake; after which it was called the Cycnean lake. His wife Hyria followed him to his death, and both were turned into swans. So Cycnus was Cygnus the Swan, and the Vulture sits between the swan and Hercules. So, there can be no doubt that the Stymphalian birds were the vultures and harpies Hercules was charged with getting rid of. But he had one small problem; the Vulture is in Sagittarius and Hercules could not cross over into that sign. The Greeks pretended that the birds lived in a marsh and that it was too wet for Hercules to cross on foot, but too thick to cross in a boat. Athene, Virgo who had been watching, grabbed the scales of Libra, and gave them to Hercules to use as a pair of bronze castanets. Hercules made such a noise with them, that the frightened birds took flight and headed away, but not before Hercules downed several with his arrows. Labour finished.

The 7th labour, demanded of Hercules was to capture the Cretan Bull.

The whole point of the labours of Hercules in agricultural terms, is that first he must end summer and growth, then clear up the mess left behind, and then prepare the land ready for the next Spring, and renewal- regeneration of life.

The capture of the Cretan Bull, is generally depicted as the Emasculation of the Bull. The only bull in the zodiac is in Taurus, and although Taurus had long been brought to bring forth its seed as the scorpion rose, it was necessary to spill its lifeblood on the ground to re-fertilise the ground for the seed to germinate which it generally does in the sign of Taurus, which was consider to be the month of germination by the ancients. 7th labour completed.

The 8th labour is to capture, tame and bring back a herd of vicious mares owned by Diomedes. Who were fed on the flesh of men.

Now in the treaty on CANCER, part 2, of the descendants of ADAM, where I divulged the true stories behind the sons of Jacob, I explained about how Pheaton, son of Helios disastrously tried to drive the Suns chariot. The Horses concerned were none other than Pegasus and Equulus. As Pheaton lost control the chariot came to close to the earth and burned to death everything beneath it. He himself fell off the chariot, still holding the broken reins in his hand, he fell on his knees, and could only look on despairingly as the horses went wild and devoured everything in their path. It was Hercules task to recapture, tame them and return them to the Sun god. Pheaton still sits there, above the horns of TAURUS, with the broken reins in his hand on bended knees and still covered in the mud from his fall, while the RAM climbed off the back of the bull and perched on Phaeton’s shoulder, ready, as Spring is to jump down and start the whole saga again.

The 9th labour. The girdle of the Hippolyte.

Hercules was told to retrieve the golden girdle of the Amazon Queen. This amazing Queen, is just another personification of The Harvest Queen, and thus she represents Virgo. In her story as Isis as so many others, she is a Virgin Queen, the Queen of Spring and Summer. Just as every culture has many names for her, in the Bible, we are deluged with them, first she is Sarai, barren wife of Abram, then Rebecca, barren wife of Isaac, then Rachel barren wife of Jacob, amongst others who player lesser roles; then she is Elizabeth barren wife of Zechariah eventual mother of John the Baptist, and finally Mary, the Virgin mother of Jesus. These names and almost countless others are all titles of Virgo, the Moon, and Mother earth. There is not, a single female title -name, in history that does not relate to one, two or all three of them,

Now it is this girdle, would be better understood, if it were called, what it is and represents, that is a chastity belt in plain English.

While the Amazon Queen is primarily Mother Earth, she is placed -personified in the heavens as Virgo. For they all believed the heavens mirrored the earth. In Spring mother earth gives birth to her offspring which she conceived at harvest when all things were brought to seed. But from that moment onwards she is barren, she is restricted, Hercules job is to clear up the mess of Spring and summer, by ending it and then preparing everything for the coming Spring. One of these labours, very appropriately the 9th labour, for that is the standard length of pregnancy both for women and Mother earth. For things are given to germinate in Taurus and spring forth in Gemini, 9 months after Hercules has removed the Virgins chastity belt. And even the ancient Egyptian goddess, Nun was barren until the word came forth, and renamed her Nut; and Sarai was barren before the Lord changed her name to Sarah.

After Hercules had retrieved the girdle, chastity belt, he used it to tie the wheat of harvest and flung it into the heavens, and it became Berenices hair for she was BARREN ISIS, for Isis, is sounded like Ices. It should also tell us that the tasks of Hercules where rightly called Labours.

So, let us consider why this chastity belt was called the Hippolyte girdle?

Here the Greeks played a blinder.

They rendered Hippo as signifying a horse, and they named the cow of the Nile a Hippopotamus, presumably a horse with a big tummy, pot. Now I can look at a picture of a hippopotamus all day, and never think it reminds me of a horse? Certainly, the ancient Egyptians would have never considered it so, they had no idea what a horse was.

Indeed, it is far more reminiscent of a cow, it has a cow’s ears, and spends much of its time munching weeds, Nile grass. But then the Greeks turned a Scarab beetle into a crab?

Now I have stated this before, it is but rarely that words lose their true meaning. The word giving Hipp, originally signified a restriction, even a chastity belt is seated on a woman’s hips, otherwise she could just slip it off when she pleased. Many men are excited by a woman wearing a girdle, why, because there is something in the mind that leads men to instinctively think, she will not, or is less likely to get pregnant. And you don’t have to be a psychologist to figure it out. That is why our doctors take a

HIPPOcratic Oath, a binding oath taken by doctors to observe a code3 of medical ethics.

HIPPOcras, an old English drink of wine flavoured with spices; which are strained through a material sieve, called

HIPPOcrates sleeve. Presumably having mixed up some sort medicine, and wishing to make it easier to swallow, and having nothing to hand, he tore the sleeve off his shirt, tied a knot in it and strained it, but I made that up, because I have not yet come across a reference to it.

A, HIPPOdrome, a round or oval race course, used for horse or chariot racing.

HIPsters, trousers cut so that the top encircles the hips.

HIPPOpotamus. Hippos were very dangerous, both on land but especially in the Nile, where they congregated they formed a severe restriction for boats, which they could on occasions easily overturn, as the Egyptian god Seth did, when he and Horus had a boat race. [see my work on Egyptian myths.]

All this is well and good, but if the Greek word rooted from Hipp-o, signified a horse, how did it also come to signify a restriction.

There is no doubt that the Greeks held chariot and horse races, and they had racing circuits. But it was a manmade restriction. But equally we might ask why they did not race horses and chariots on a straight course? It was nothing to do with making it easier for the watching crowd to see the full race; after all, Rome adopted everything Greek at one point or another, and yet their horse- chariot racing forums often had huge structures sometimes in the middle of the Hippodrome; so, no one could see every moment in the race, wherever they stood or sat. The answer lies in their beliefs, their astrologically based religion. They gave the Sun god horses and a chariot, and the Sun as far as they were concerned went around the earth. And the sun both brought life and restricted it. The sun as it drove its chariot around its annual circuit, opened Mother earths womb and closed -restricted it.

Just such a purely astrological circuit has in recent years been found near England’s Stonehenge, however, and the ends marked the Winter and Summer Solstice’s, and were used to plot the Sun’s journey through the entire year, it was not used for the purpose of racing. To look at it, its shape is reminiscent of a rolling pin or frankfurter with both ends rounded off, the outline of which are the borders of the circuit; but a racing circuit is slightly different.

And you cannot find a better or more obvious example of true circuit, than the Circus Maximus in Rome.

The circuit differs from that near Stonehenge, because it is concerned with the sun’s journey between the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes, it is the frankfurter cut in half, the main entrance gate marks the cutting point. Most chariot races consisted of 7 laps, this was to mirror the growing season, or points when Spring began and Summer ended. The Start gate for the races was under the protection of Hercules, and the race started with what were sculptured half eggs, this was because the race astrologically started in Gemini, and the Twins were supposedly born from eggs. The Twins were often depicted as wearing helmets that looked like half of an empty eggshell, with spears, riding pure white horses, even today we know of the goose that laid the golden egg, she laid it in Gemini. On side where start gates were, temples to Ceres, Venus and other goddesses of Virgo were erected. On the opposite side of the gates temples dedicated to grain storage gods, or gods of Harvest were built. The race began in Gemini and ended in Harvest Scorpio and finished completely as they hit the starting line again on the edge of Sagittarius: to which end the Romans added giant bronze dolphins, high above the central barriers to mark of the laps or end of the race. This is because the constellation of Dolphinus marked the end of the year and the beginning of the new year, being roughly situated between Capricorn and Aquarius. Thus, they were used to signify both the end of laps as well as the end of the race, presumably there were 7 of them. Thus, the race began as the seeds burst from the ground till they were harvested, hut just as the Hydra had seven heads, so there were seven laps. At other festivals, a race might be run over 4 laps, but this was with regard to the 4 seasons.

But before we come to the end of this labour let me play one last word game. For this we return to that amazing woman the Amazon Queen.

The word Amazon is formed from two roots.

A M A. - ZON and =

AMASS -AT- ZION.

Now AMA, just happens to be an internationally recognized abbreviation of both the American and Australian medical associations (Hippocratic Oath).

AMASS. Heap together, accumulate, stacking wheat, pillage etc.

AMphitearter, oval, circular building like a Hippodrome, and what better name for a Roman racecourse but,

HIPPO D’ ROME;

HORSE’S OF ROME.

AMulet, band worn as an ornament, around neck, arm etc. and AM like BE, carries the sense of surround, to be all over, all around. Thus AMA, to be all around the ZONE of ZION. The mount Zion of the Bible and Zodiac is in the area of Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, ZION- ZENITH, peak end of Summer. Which only leaves us with one word not explored,

H I P O L Y T E.

Like POLY deuces, she is a house of two forms, or astrologically, a house of two parts, one barren, one fertile: for seven months Virgo wears her girdle, for five she doesn’t. Furthermore, Typhon’s wife, who like himself was stationed in Scorpio, and is a version of Nephthys, who in turn was not so much the sister of Isis, she was Isis in her Autumn, Winter coat, in reality Seth who thought he had rapped Isis had rapped his own wife. For Virgo, like Isis and Nephthys is one made from two forms. As the Sun is always the Sun, whatever time of the year it is, but it too, is of Poly form, one side brings life the other harvest and death.

So, back to Hercules.

Hercules removes the virgin’s, Mother EARTHS, Girdle -chastity belt and she is ready to conceive again. The 9th labour well and truly completed.

The 10th labour, ‘The cattle of Geryon.

Hercules labour was too free these cattle, who had been stolen and penned up by Geryon. And were looked after by the giant herdsman Eurytion and a two-headed watchdog called Orthos.

Now, anciently cows belonged to Virgo and the moon. indeed, in the story of Moses birth, we are told that he is deposited in a wicker type basket, and set adrift on the Nile. The next thing we are told is that his sister watches over him from the river bank to see what will happen. Now, Moses like every other character in the Bible is not a living man, he is a sun god, and his sister is the moon. Then we are told, the daughter of the Pharaoh- a sun god, thus his daughter is a personification of the moon, along with her attendants goes to and walks beside the Nile, then her attendants spot the baby and inform Pharaoh’s daughter.

Now Abram’s wife Sarai was but a moon goddess, like Isis, she was renamed Sarah, which means Princess, and it was a Princess of the sun god- Pharaoh hovered over the Nile with her attendants, her maid servants, who were clouds, but as clouds they were also cows, they spotted the baby Moses, and she made him her own, adopted him, even though, we are told she knew he was a Hebrew child, and thus supposed to be killed.

Is this not the same as Isis did, for Isis knew her son Horus was not the son of her husband Osiris. She knew full well that Horus was the son of Seth, who got her drunk and raped her.

Nut the great Egyptian goddess of the heavens was portrayed always as a cow.

And it was the great herds of cows, that belonged to the moon goddess that pissed, brought the fertile rains to fall upon the earth.

[ There is a famous poem, and it recorded as truth, that the poet, had first written.

I wandered lonely as cow;

But a friend on reading it suggested he change the cow to a cloud. The Greeks would have understood it both ways.]

We are told in many myths that Aquarius captured the rainfall as it fell from the heavens and stored in his vast urn, thus denying the land of its life giving and reviving waters: till at last the urn got so heavy that he fell backwards and let all the water fall at once, and caused the annual flood of the Nile.

So, in Hercules labours it is pretended that the rain clouds are stolen and stopped from bringing life to the scorched earth. Hercules slays, topples Aquarius, the clouds-cattle are released and the rain rejuvenates the parched earth. Labour concluded.

The 11th Labour. The Apples of the Hesperides.

We are told the apples grew on a tree on mount Atlas; and it is said they were guarded by serpent or dragon called Ladon. Certainly, I have seen Hercules depicted holding in his outstretched right hand; apple branches, also, with apples with a three-headed serpent springing from them, hissing at him. And Sir Drummond tells, us that according to Chardin, the ancient Persians called the emblem of Dan, Eve. And Eve holds out the Apple to Adam. And I have already proved the Israelite tribe of Dan was allotted to Scorpio. R. H. Allen, in his book Star Names, tells us the Venetian illustrator of Hyginus in 1488 showed in the constellation figure of Hercules, an Apple tree with a serpent twisted around its trunk. I am inclined to think that of the 2 serpents near Hercules, Draco not Serpens- (Coluber- Augur) that defends the Apples. But the Greeks tell us Hercules returned the Golden Apples to Athene, who they belonged to. And Athene and Eve are both names of the moon and Virgo. Labour completed.

The twelfth and final labour, was to descend into underworld and capture the three-headed dog Cerberus. Was it is said guarded the gates of Hades-hell. But it is recorded that Cerberus was to be found between the head of Hercules and Cygnus, the Swan. If so it lay in the upper part of Sagittarius, at which point Hercules was technically dead, as he entered underworld in Scorpio. We already know Hercules could not enter Sagittarius, that is why he could not get near the Stymphalian birds, Vulture Cadens. I am inclined to think the Planisphere I have in my collection, which shows Hercules holding the apples and branches with three serpent’s heads darting their tongues towards him, is the Cerberus in question. As such, Cerberus being attached to Hercules would have entered underworld along with him. The French called it ‘Rameau et Cerbere’, and Rameau is a branch, undoubtedly the branch, being that of an apple tree. Thus. Hercules had achieved his final task.

The Mess created by the previous Spring and Summer had been cleared up, the wheat harvested; the apples, one of the last things to ripen had been collected, the rain clouds had been released and the land cleaned, and re-fertilized, the horses that pulled the Sun’s chariot had been recaptured tamed and returned to Helios, all was made ready for the coming Spring, 11 labours finished. His final labour was remove the guards that guarded the gate to underworld (hell), ripe out the gate and free the Signs of Spring and Summer from the grave. That is why the ancients had statues of Hercules holding a gate above his head that he had ripped out of the ground.

Explanation of the Gates

When one gate is fully closed the other is fully open, but the closed gate remains only fully shut for a short time then it begins gradually to open again, immediately it starts to open, the fully open gate begins to close. This is because the solstices occur when the Sun is furthest from the Equator, the Sun seems to linger, remain still, before rising towards the Equator again: the word ‘SOLTICE’ signifies from Latin, make or stand still, while ‘tropic’ from Latin, giving ‘turn’ as in turn about, around, return the way you had come.

Put it another way, the gate that stands in Cancer, began to open to let Spring begin in Aries, during March, in June, Cancer it is half open and by Libra fully opened, and the WINTER gate of Capricorn is fully closed locking Winter out. But it remains closed only a short time, then it begins to open again and Scorpio, Hercules and SAMSON, sneak in unnoticed, they have come to close the gate of Summer- Cancer, and lock Summer out and open the gate to Winter.

At this stage, it might seem Hercules and Samson differ, but we must not forget, the 12 labours were only part of Hercules story.

[ what’s in a word? The woman? Samson last joined with was called Delilah, signifying, to exhaust, consume, drain of strength, resources, tire out, attenuate, make thin, reduce in force-value-or virulence, she was delegated deliberately to delight, delay and delve into his secret, before delimiting and delivering him for deletion. I would say the name Delilah has something to do with the moon?]

Thus,

One day in a fit of rage Hercules slew a man and was sent to serve ‘Omphale’, queen of Lydia, by the gods as punishment; but he was so besotted by his new mistress that he bowed to her every whim, he cooked, he cleaned, he learned to spin and sow, while she lived a life leisure, even daring to put on Leo’s skin and playing with his great club. This is of course Scorpio reversing roles with Virgo, the great queen of Harvest. Omphale was like Isis,

O M P H A L E

O H M P A L E.

The weak Sun, a Moon goddess.

On another occasion Hercules fell instantly in love with a woman called Deianeira, daughter of Oeneus, {Deianeira being Diana, the Moon goddess. And Oeneus was the Ocean, and he had already promised his daughter to

A C H E L O U S. or,

S O U L A C H E. The river god.

But Hercules pronounced his love and desire to marry her and she agreed, but first said, he must free her from the arranged marriage. But it seems there was loss of love between them, soon they were engaged in a titanic wrestling match, in which Achelous used his powers to transform his shape and appearance at will to confuse Hercules, till he at last turned himself into bull and charged headlong at Hercules, who grabbing one of his horns pulled him down and held him tight, till the horn broke. The goddess of fortune, Fortuna grabbed it and filled it with goodies, hence forth it was called the Horn of Plenty. The battle was only shortly halted before they were at it again, eventually Hercules prevailed at took Deianeira as his prize. They walked hand in hand for many a mile, till they came to the river Evenus [evening], which was swollen and turbulent from recent storms. There a centaur called Nessus offered to carry Deianeira safely across. Hercules accepted his offer and helped her onto the centaurs back. The Centaur safely carried her over but when he reached the other side he legged it, with Hercules prize, Deianeira called to him and Hercules let loose one of his poisoned arrows, which felled the centaur in his stride. The dying Nessus begged forgiveness and bid Deianeira take his magic robe, telling her if Hercules love should demise, if he wore it his love would be revived. So, she took it and kept his words in mind. Time passed, and for a while she was the love of his life, till his duties brought him to see his first love, Iole, who had never aged with time. Besotted, Deianeira was far from his mind, not thinking his absence was unkind, at length he returned to her side. As women do, she knew and remembered Nessus words; she brought the robe and placed it before Hercules very eyes, who was easily persuaded to put it on, thinking to impress his first love when she arrived. But to both it was an awful surprise, for Nessus poisoned blood was still inside. Hercules blood boiled in his veins, and racked his body full of pains. He tried in vain to remove the cloak, but to his body it was stuck, tormented he sought to end his life, burned in fire of loves desire his dreams and life went up in smoke.

This river, Achelous, Astronomically, is obvious it ran through several months- signs of the Zodiac, that is how he could change his form at will, in Leo, he was a lion, in Cancer he was a crab, he was a bear, a dog, an ass and lastly in Taurus he took on the form of a bull. Iole, Hercules first love was a moon goddess as was Isis and Juliet, the moons of Spring and Summer. Deianeira, was Diana, or Delilah, and many more.

The fact is, the stories of Samson and Hercules are from the same Astronomical myth, based on the heavens and the seasons. They were never ever men, historical characters, no not ever. In fact, all the Greek stories of Troy, Jason and the Argonauts, etc were stories woven around the bare bones of Astrology, not historical fact.

Now, do not be deceived by any present authors, or anyone who pretends that they understand Sacred Astrology. For, as my old friend Randle Cotgrave wrote.

‘La fluer n’est qui cendre’.
The best is but trash;
The fairest no better than a dead flourish.

End of lesson.

See also, the book on Samson, he is just another version of Hercules.