#this is a suprisingly common thing in Greek mythology

[knockknockwhosthereartistism]

Gotta start their training early

Og pic below cut v

[dahniwitchoflight]

Zodiac - “Circle of Animals”

Recently I’ve been thinking about zodiac signs because the meaning of Zodiac always bugged me because the signs it represents doesn’t match what it means

Zodiac means “Circle of Animals” representing the animal constellations along the circle of the equator in the sky at night

But in western Astrology, our modern constellations are not all Animals, we have some human figures (Gemini, Virgo) as well as inanimate tools (Aquarius, Libra) as well as some mythological or chimerical creations (Saggitarius, Capricorn)

and I was wondering, if we did assign actual real life animals to those signs, what would they possibly be? and why?

So I went back to the roots of it all, Sumerian and then Babylonian star catalogues to try and find an answer, after all, the modern signs were only based off of these older signs, they have become changed in the process, usually during Greek and Roman times and then later sort of “solidified” in modern times (And then also with a sprinkling of mythological tales common in those star regions to see the association between the animal and the meaning of the modern signs)

and what I discovered was actually very interesting, a lot of the times, the actual direct lines and boundaries between constellations were very often blurred, changed, moved, warped and argued about, so that actually over time, you can find that a lot of different symbols were associated with different constellations at some point in time

but overall, I discovered themes between constellations and their neighbors, the ones they would usually share boundaries, and therefore you could share their symbols with as well

One of the more famous ones of these being Scorpio and Libra, aka back in the day they were of one constellation, called the Scorpion, the region of the sky that we know as Libra today was simply known then as “the Scorpion’s Claws” with Scorpio being the Body and the Stinger

but also the region of the sky nearest Libra was associated with various reptiles, serpens Cauda, the snake’s head and hydra the dragon (i promise this isn’t a homestuck joke astrology post lol)

as well as in certain phases of history we instead see that whole region drawn differently, or connected the stars differently as “the eagle fighting the snake” 

Now, there is a lot of snake symbolism and mythology out there that would actually suggest that Scorpio as a water sign associated with (Esp Male) sexuality and mystery and named for a “sting” would be better served by the Serpent symbol, and Libra, as an Air sign associated with ideals of justice and balance fits in pretty well with the Eagle!  but also both signs being associated with Swords as well is a neat association (Scorpion was seen as an amoured beast, and called the Sword of Heaven, associated with War and Battle, Libra is where we get our Lady Justice figure from, Scales in one hand, Sword in the other, the Eagle is a very modern symbolism of War as well) makes the idea of them being figures “battling” eachother fit in with the imagery of the Snake and the Eagle quite well as well! Not to mention the imagery in the first place comes from the fact that the Eagle and Snake are natural enemies, eagle carries away snake, snake bites eagle

So, for me, I rather much associate Scorpius constellation with a Serpent, and Libra with an Eagle (Could be other Birds of Prey specifically, but Eagle is the one actually named)

as well as Corvus the Raven and Hydra the Snake were next to eachother and near Libra as well, Aquila the eagle is near as well

next, the constellation next to these guys, Virgo!

this one was actually very interesting the turn it took me, but I quite like the animal I ended up with

to begin with, the original constellation here is called “The Furrow” meaning a tilled portion of a farmer field, and was associated with various earthy things like growth, ears of corn specifically as symbols and farming in general

the direction modern symbolism took this in was to associate “The Furrow” with earthy mother goddesses of corn because women invented farming from our earlier hunter-gather days and well, Furrow also basically meaning hole in the ground where things grow out of, hint hint, feminine sexual symbolism we’ll say

but myths also associated the area with Dogs, and their domestication! like the story of Erigone and Maera. the story goes that Erigone’s father was taught the art of making wine out of grapes by Dionysus, her father gave the wine to some travellers, but they, thinking he had been poisoned by him not knowing was intoxication was, killed him and buried him under a tree. Erigone not knowing her father’s status couldn’t find him but, but her close dog companion Maera was able to catch the scent of wine from her father and led her to find his body, where, she ended up killing herself out of grief, hanging herself on the tree and her dog killed itself out of grief for her and jumped in a well to kill itself, Dionysus was enraged by the travellers behaviour ruining the family he intended to bless and raised them all into the stars, Erigone becoming Virgo, Maera Canis and her father as Bootes.

not suprisingly Canis Minor/Canis Major are Dog Constellations that are near Virgo, but perhaps more surprisingly is that Leo, Virgo’s neighbour, in times where Leo is drawn with some of Virgo stars as a different constellation is also called The Dog

so, Virgo is a Dog! But what do Dogs have to do with Women and Farming and Virgos modern associations with being neat and orderly and in control of everything?

Well, think of what dogs were being domesticated for in that time, mostly they were sheep dogs, and much closer to in those days to domesticated repurposed wolves than our modern cute little pet pomerianians (the word for dogs in most cultures pre domestication was everything between “child snatcher” and “corpse eater” and modern dog-based insults are remnants of that)

So you have the images of an Alpha Wolf, Leader of the Pack or even “Mama Wolf” figure, transformed and trained into a loyal partner for the farmer in a delicate dance of submission, turned from dangerous stranger inhabiting our midst to a coperative cohabitor, helping them shepherd their livestock by “acting” as wolves to scare herds into their proper places, like getting all your ducks in a row, training their natural behaviour for a humanly useful and utilitarian purpose, and over time through selective breeding becoming the sort of dogs we are familiar with today

So with that in Mind, I think for the Zodiac’s symbolism purposes Virgo as either Dog or Wolf would be accurate, but Canine in general is the point

a point for wolf though is another older close to virgo sumerian constellation being Wolf also called “Seeder of the Plough”, another association between Wolves domesticated by Farmers

Next we’ll talk about Aquarius, the Water-Bearer and his associations

also an air sign despite the name and the symbol, and in modern times associated with rebellion, eccentricity but also servitude and knowledge, the “water” he pours in most mythologies surrounding the constellation is life and creation, as a god in sumeria he was Ea or Enki, he is the Giver of life and all good things, aka his “water” poured into the earth’s “furrows” was what created all of life and creation (yes, the sexual imagery was intended) but aquarians as air signs are intellectual but flighty never really holding to one thing unless their stubborn and always going against the flow and contrary for the sake of contrariness always talking and in general just flying all over the place and getting into everything

the constellation itself was literally called “the Great One” for Ea the god, but the animal associations are a bit more tenuous here, the areas in the sky he is nearest to, and in some places depictions of Ea himself with wings and birdfeet, all have birdllike qualities, the Square of Pegasus is near, as well as once again, the boundaries between Pisces and Aquarius were different and nearer the Pisces half you have this old constellations called “The Tail of the Swallow” and “The Swallow” or also “The Dove” (through Pisces being associated with a human goddess of doves at one point as well) depicting a small bird with a forked/split feather tail (and were argued about if they were one constellation or two, much like Libra/Scorpio)

So, I can probably say that like Libra, Aquarius is also a Bird, but unlike Libra’s larger more warlike birds of prey, Aquarius’s bird is something much more akin to that gentle Dove or flightly Swallow

a Dove would certainly be the stronger symbol of the two, but Swallow was the one named so *shrug* like Wolf or Dog, the most important thing is Small Prey Bird, rather than Large Predator Bird

then there’s also the fact that the common image of a Dove Carrying the Signs of Life, from Noah’s ark like an olive branch or tree leaf, is a very common strong symbol that connects it directly to Aquarius’s Carrier of the Waters of Life. aka theyre both Life Carriers

Nest Again we have Capricorn, whose usually mythology is that of the Sea-Goat

but since while this one is an animal, its a mythological animal

but surprisingly back in ye old sumerian days, Capricorn was a constellation that represented the symbols of the god Ea, representing his loyal animal servants

and in those days, Capricorn (though obs it wasnt called capricorn) was equally depicted as either the Sea Goats or the Turtle! as those were both his servants

it was just random chance I guess that Sea-Goat ended up being the more popular depiction as time went on

But the Turtle/Tortoise fits surprisingly well with Capricorn’s established imagery as an Earth sign heavily associated with Water imagery, as well as Capricorn’s nature of being hardworking stubborn, slow and steadily climbing the ladder, and much more serious looking and longevital with forward long term plans as the Turtle than as the more playful and silly shortlived Goat

and even though a turtle might be more of a water creature youd think, Capricorn, Pisces and Aquarius are all water associated because there in an area of the sky called the Great Sea where a bunch of watery signs all live, and Turtle is still very heavily an Earthy water creature, just like the Swallow or Dove is associated with the myths of the Great Flood, think Noah’s ark where its always some form of small bird that is the first to discover the receding waters and bring hope to humanity

Nest then we have Saggitarius, the Archer, this one is a lot more simple compared to the other ones, its a Horse, obviously

but the reasoning goes much deeper than that, because it turns out, Horse may have been the intended Animal Symbol from the very start!

because back in Sumerian Days, while they had domesticated Dogs, Cattle, Sheep, Oxen etc they hadn’t yet domesticated things like Horse or Camels! so the images of the Centaur, the Man Upon the Horse, was misinterpreted from them seeing other cultures riding upon these apparently wild and undomesticated animals, and mistaking them instead for creatures with a horselike body and human top part

likely they saw foreign warriors or hunters hunting on horseback with the obvious tool, arrows, and misunderstood it as a strange mythological creature associated also with bows and arrows and thusly named it Centaur, and the mythical creature just happen to stick around and be a thing even after later peoples domesticated horses

anyway the orignal sumerian symbol was indeed a Centaur, but not called a centaur, it was called Pabilsag and was actually also associated with various forms of Ea and Enki, but depicting him as half horse was only one variation of him in the saggitarius section of the sky rather than in the Aquarius side, often here he was very chimerical, taking upon various animals parts of various things, dog heads, bird wings, snake tails, horse bodies, scorpion bodies etc and was really more like a hodgepodge of various zodiac animals with Ea on top

but since no other parts of the sky was associated was anything horselike (besides like, Pegasus but only later for greek myth) 

to me it makes sense that Saggitarius’s Real Animal is simply the humble Horse

Finally we have the last non real animal sign left and that is Gemini

Gemini actually has the weakest connection to any real life animal out of all the signs, because Gemini has been pretty solidly The Great Twins since the original sumerian constellations, once they were absorbed into Orion to become “The Giant” but thats pretty much it

however!

Gemini as the Twins were also associated as the two faces/aspects/sides of Nergal, Babylonian god of the underworld, and the Panther is the sacred beast of Nergal, the Babylonian lord of the dead also known as “The (storm)demon with the wide open mouth “ often depicted as a great black panther or a panther griffin beast, think sort of their version of a cerberus creature!

so, we got another big cat in the Zodiac, but, the imagery we can take from a cool dark underworld Panther is very different then the one we get from the great roaring sunny Lion

if we start with Gemini as a Panther, we can use Gemini’s astrological meaning to further shape it

Gemini’s are fast talking, witty, charming, silver tongued, mysterious, surprisingly often hated by people because theyre misunderstood, just have a different overall way of interacting and airy personality and thoughts, but can be overactive and crazy and lovable and cute all at once

and when combine all that with “Black Panther” you get a symbolism image much more in line with how modern people think of House Cats in general, or even Black Cats if you wanna get really specific, it lends itself really well to Gemini;s meaning, and it has its base in something associated with Gemini from the beginning

so the Cat it is!

and with that we have our revised true western “Circle of Animals”

Aries - Ram

Taurus - Bull

Gemini - Cat (or Small Cat)

Cancer - Crab

Leo - Lion (or Big Cat)

Virgo -  Wolf (or Dog/Canine)

Libra - Eagle (or Large Predator Bird)

Scorpio - Serpent (or you can keep Scorpion, but I’ve fallen in love with Serpent Scorpio)

Saggitarius - Horse

Capricorn - Turtle/Tortoise

Aquarius - Swallow/Dove (or Small Prey Bird)

Pisces - Fish