Astrology: Summer Solstice June 21, 2023, Part 2 Chart

Field of Dreams

The prognostic for the Spring Equinox was:

The Sun sextile Pluto aspect brings a strong impetus for transformation and introspection, to which are added intuitive, and communicative tendencies. Spiritual inspiration can be quite vivid, but with tendencies for escapism and delusion. Deep personal transformations affecting close relationships are favoured. This is accompanied by some volatile energies that could see conflicts, power struggles, surprise turnarounds, and sudden shifts to the oncoming tendency for greater collective impetus to better understand social problems and actively discuss solutions. How this combination of intense, dreamy, quirky introspection with boisterous, outspoken extraversion plays out could make for some picturesque moments.

One of the more visible manifestations of this prognostic which I have noticed are instances of resolution to long-standing crime cases, information emerging leading to re-opening cold cases, surprise breaks in cases, that kind of thing (which seems related to the Mars-Pluto opposition). There are several cases of more violent crimes, but one example is an arrest in the case of theft of Dorothy’s red slippers (The Wizard of Oz).

With a close Jupiter sextile Saturn (June 19) and a tight Mercury sextile Mars (June 21), this is a pretty positive chart overall, which can serve as a forecast of the entire semester, but with a fair bit of complications, various aspects that can factor in more passionate, creative, imaginative tendencies.

Mercury sextile Mars Mental alertness, enthusiasm, and energetic communications figure now. Quick You are productive and take “busy-ness” in stride. Your conversations are animated and expressive now, and spontaneous impulses tend to work for rather than against you.

Mars square Uranus (June 26) A volatile transit that continues the difficulties of Sun opposite Pluto aspect of May 20, in effect from roughly June 12 to July 10. Passions and anger that you may not even know you had emerge during this transit. All of that anger “slush” that has been accumulating inside you surfaces. Need to assert independence. Accidents, possibly unusually surprising, especially if your activities and your energy levels are erratic. Conflicts and violence are possible.

Moon, Venus, Mars conjunction

The Moon, Venus, Mars conjunction brings a more passionate, imaginative, emotional, intuitive energy that figures in an intense, but wide Moon, Jupiter, Pluto T-Square that can challenge the more focused Jupiter sextile Saturn and Mercury sextile Mars aspects.

Venus conjunct Mars You are especially creative now. Cooperating with others is easy. If an existing relationship needs a boost, now is the time to put the extra effort forth.

Moon conjunct Venus Feeling sentimental. Your mood is especially romantic and sensual. Let it guide you, and you might just find yourself in a very fortunate situation. This energy is excellent for any behind-the-scenes or domestic activities.

Moon conjunct Mars Your emotions intensify and you instinctively desire change and adventure. This is a time when you are likely to feel irritable if you don’t have something adventurous, challenging, or physical to do. This is a good time to take a chance, say what you feel, or do something exciting outside of your normal routine.

Moon, Jupiter, Pluto T-Square

Moon opposition Pluto

An issue from the past may come up to haunt you now, or you could lose something. This is a time when that which is hidden has a tendency to surface. Someone close to you might be dredging up the past. Intensity in your personal relationships and/or some sort of inner emotional turmoil is possible.

Jupiter square Pluto Overly ambitious, self-righteous, competitive tendencies.

Moon square Jupiter You may be feeling less hopeful or optimistic during this brief transit. On the contrary, you could be feeling over-confident or enthusiastic to the point of over-excitement and potential letdown. The bottom line is that you are not especially realistic due to moodiness. You’re not as inclined to consider the consequences of over-eating, over-drinking, or overdoing in general.

A few more aspects, of which Sun square Neptune is tight, adding more confusion to the T-square, tend to balance each other out.

Sun square Neptune (June 18) can be difficult knowing where or how to direct your willpower under this influence. It’s also a challenge knowing where you stand with others. Confusion

Mercury square Neptune You are not thinking clearly just now, preferring perhaps to daydream or inclined towards overly fanciful thinking. Technical facts can be glossed over at this time.

Sun trine Saturn You feel grounded and stable right now. It’s easy to stick to a specific task and make headway. Productivity may be slow, but it’s steady. You have common sense at your disposal.

Mercury sextile Venus This transit favors diplomacy, charm, social graces, negotiations, presentation of ideas, romantic overtures, teaching, business deals, publishing, commerce, public relations, and joint ventures or partnerships.

Ukraine has made progress in pushing back Russian forces, but the return of Pluto in Capricorn will probably tend to favour the conservative Russia. Most of the aspects that signalled the invasion have faded, but I think that it’s unlikely that peace discussions will progress much until Pluto returns to Aquarius on January 21, 2024. After that, the overall conditions will be quite favourable, but since the conflict has causes that go far back, it is difficult to say if things will improve in 2024.

Overall, the chart tends to indicate a favourable, productive Summer,with good potential for imagination and creativity, balanced with practicality. The passions and enthusiasms could tend to get out of hand and a Pluto opposite Moon would tend to make things uncomfortable by being too restrictive and bringing up deeply-repressed emotional issues.

Summary

The Jupiter-Saturn sextile brings a balanced, productive, efficiency while Mercury sextile Mars brings clear-minded, focused, articulate communication. A Moon, Venus, Mars conjunction brings creative, imaginative, romantic inspirations, but is complicated by an opposition to Pluto, which is part of a T-square with Jupiter. Hence there could be confused, deluded, exaggerated postures, with an underlying tendency for repressed emotional baggage to surface. Moreover, a volatile Mars square Uranus can bring conflicts based on need for asserting independence.

References 

https://cafeastrology.com/thisweekinastrology.html

 

Astrology: Summer Solstice June 21, 2023, Part 1 Review

It's really been quite a Spring, marking a big step into the new 20-year Jupiter-Saturn cycle, which should be more complete when Pluto moves back into Aquarius in January 2024.

March 7 Saturn enters Pisces brought a lessening of restrictions and more discipline in holistic views

March 24 Pluto enters Aquarius brought a foretaste of more socially-conscious power structures

April 20 Total Solar Eclipse in Aries

Highlighted Pluto control issues

May 5 Lunar Eclipse in Scorpio

Highlighted the volatile nature of social change

May 16 Jupiter enters Taurus

Brought a slower, more practical outlook

May 17 Jupiter square Pluto

Increased ambitious tendencies, with problems of dogmatism and fanaticism

June 11 Pluto Retrograde re-enters Capricorn

Favours more conservative, strict, rigid tendencies

June 19 Jupiter in Taurus sextiles Saturn in Pisces

Brings a period of focused, balanced productivity

Just to give an idea of how that has played out:

 

March 21, Spring equinox

Russia and China had an important meeting, Xi,Putin reaffirm partnership in 2nd day of talks. and there was an earthquake in Pakistan and Afghanistan.  

 

March 24, Pluto entered Aquarius, there were major tornadoes in midwestern, southern U.S. Ex-US president, Donald Trump was arrested. Also, there were U.S.airstrikes on Iranian targets in Syria.

April 20 Total Solar Eclipse in Aries, there was a civil war  flare-up in Sudan that began a week earlier. Moreover, a rocket ship blew up. Super Heavy's 33 powerful Raport engines malfunctioned on ascent.

 

May 5 Lunar Eclipse in Scorpio, the end of the COVID emergency was declared, and there was a shooting incident in Allen, Texas.

May 17 Jupiter square Pluto

May 20 Mars opposite Pluto

May 22 Mars square Jupiter

Some typical events could include a terrible India train crash and widespread forest fires in Canada. For more examples, all of the main news events for May 25 could correlate to these aspects. The Nato Resource Conference was held in Ottawa on May 23-25, 2023.

 

June 11,  Pluto Retrograde re-enters Capricorn, and we've seen an escalation in the Russia-Ukraine war and an indictment of an ex-US president.

 

June 19  Jupiter sextile Saturn

Nato works on first defense plans since Cold War.

Astrological Symbolism: Taurus, part 2

Rulership of Venus

Blavatsky relates some ideas of Kabbalist J. Ralston Skinner on Venus as ruler of Taurus:

'The author's idea is to show the mystic blending by the Gospel writers of Jehovah, Cain, Abel, etc., with Jesus (in accordance with Jewish kabalistic numeration); the better he succeeds, the more clearly he shows that it was a forced blending, and that we have not a record of the real events of the life of Jesus, narrated by eyewitnesses or the Apostles. The narrative is all based on the signs of the Zodiac: Each a double sign or male-female [ in ancient astrological Magic] - viz.: it was Taurus-Eve, and Scorpio was Mars-Lupa, or Mars with the female wolf [ in relation to Romulus]. (Page 154) So, as these signs were opposites of each other, yet met in the centre, they were connected; and so in fact it was, and in a double sense, the conception of the year was in Taurus, as the conception of Eve by Mars, her opposite, in Scorpio. The birth would be at the winter solstice, or Christmas.

1-Venus, Ruler of Taurus & Libra

On the contrary, by conception in Scorpio - viz., of Lupa by Taurus - birth would be in Leo. Scorpio was Chrestos in humiliation, while Leo was Christos in triumph. While Taurus-Eve fulfilled astronomical functions, Mars-Lupa fulfilled spiritual ones by type. [ Op. cit.,296.] The author bases all this on Egyptian correlations and meanings of Gods and Goddesses, but ignores the Aryan, which are far earlier. Mooth or Mouth, was the Egyptian cognomen of Venus, (Eve, mother of all living) [as Vach, mother of all living, a permutation of Aditi, as Eve was one of Sephira] or the moon.' (Isis I, 374).

Blavatsky adds: ‘Isis was sometimes called Muth, which word means mother . . . (Issa, אשח woman). (Isis, p.372). Moreover: ‘Isis, he says is that part of Nature, which, as feminine,contains in herself, as (nutrix) nurse, all things to be born. . . “Certainly the moon, “ speaking astronomically, “chiefly exercises this function in Taurus, Venus being the house (in opposition to Mars, generator, in Scorpio), because the sign is luna, hypsoma.  (Secret Doctrine 3, 127-28)

2-Europa & Zeus as white bull

Greece

In Greek tradition, the sign is customarily related to the myth of Europa. Europa was the daughter of Argiope and Agenor, a Sidonian. Jupiter, changing his form to that of a bull, carried her from Sidon to Crete, and begat by her Minos, Sarpedon, and Rhadamanthus. Her father Agenor sent his sons to bring their sister back, or else not to return to his sight. Phoenix set out for Africa, and there remained. From this the Africans are called Phoenicians. Cilix from his own name gave the name to Cilicia. Cadmus in his wanderings came to Delphi. There the oracle told him to buy from farmers an ox which had a moon-shaped mark on its side, and to drive it before him. Where it lay down it was fated that he found a town and rule. When Cadmus heard the oracle, he did as he was told. While seeking water he came to the fountain of Castalia, which a dragon, the offspring of Mars, was guarding. It killed the comrades of Cadmus, but was killed by Cadmus with a stone. Under Minerva's instructions he sowed the teeth and ploughed them under. From them sprang the Sparti. These fought themselves, but from them five survived, namely, Chthonius, Udaeus, Hyperenor, Pelorus, and Echion. Moreover, Boeotia was named from the ox Cadmus followed. (Hyginus, Fabulae, § 178  EUROPA)

3-Hyades saving Alcmena

Graeco Roman myths relate stories pertaining to the Hyades, a major constellation of Taurus.

The face of Taurus is marked by the V-shaped group of stars called the Hyades (Ὑάδες in Greek). Ovid in his Fasti asserts that the name comes from the old Greek word hyein, meaning ‘to rain’, so that Hyades means ‘rainy ones’, because their rising at certain times of year was said to be a sign of rain. In mythology the Hyades were the daughters of Atlas and Aethra the Oceanid. Their eldest brother was Hyas, a bold hunter who one day was killed by a lioness. His sisters wept inconsolably – Hyginus says they died of grief – and for this they were placed in the sky. Hence it seems equally likely that their name comes from their brother Hyas. In another story, the Hyades were nymphs who nursed the infant Dionysus in their cave on Mount Nysa, feeding him on milk and honey. The Romans had a different name: they called the Hyades suculae meaning ‘piglets’. (Ian Ridpath, Star Tales)

Another major constellation in Taurus, the Pleiades , is also part of Greek mythical tradition:

4- the Pleiades

Even more famous than the Hyades is another star cluster in Taurus: the Pleiades (Πλειάδες in Greek), commonly known as the Seven Sisters. To a casual glance, the Pleiades cluster appears as a fuzzy patch like a swarm of flies over the back of the bull. According to Hyginus, some ancient astronomers called them the bull’s tail. So distinctive are the Pleiades that the ancient Greeks regarded them as a separate mini-constellation and used them as a calendar marker. Hesiod, in his agricultural poem Works and Days, instructs farmers to begin harvesting when the Pleiades rise at dawn, which in Greek times would have been in May, and to plough when they set at dawn, which would have been in November. 

In mythology the Pleiades were the seven daughters of Atlas and the oceanid Pleione, after whom they are named. One popular derivation is that the name comes from the Greek word plein, meaning ‘to sail’ – so Pleione means ‘sailing queen’ and the Pleiades are the ‘sailing ones’, because in Greek times they were visible all night during the summer sailing season. When the Pleiades vanished from the night sky, it was considered prudent to remain ashore. ‘Gales of all winds rage when the Pleiades, pursued by violent Orion, plunge into the clouded sea’, wrote Hesiod. Alternatively, and possibly more likely, the name may come from the old Greek word pleos, ‘full’, which in the plural meant ‘many’, a suitable reference to the cluster. According to other authorities, the name comes from the Greek word peleiades, meaning ‘flock of doves’.

5- Orion

A famous myth links the Pleiades with Orion. As Hyginus tells it, Pleione and her daughters were one day walking through Boeotia when Orion tried to ravish her. Pleione and the girls escaped, but Orion pursued them for seven years. Zeus immortalized the chase by placing the Pleiades in the heavens where Orion follows them endlessly.  (Ian Ridpath, Star Tales)

Rome

Ovid recounts how the feast of Nefastus  on April 20:  (vv. 713-720) marks the Sun’s entrance into Taurus:

When Memnon's saffron(-robed) mother (i.e. Aurora) next comes to view the broad earth on her rosy steeds, the Sun abandons the leader of the woolly flock who betrayed Helle (i.e. Aries, the Ram): a greater victim is there in his path (i.e. the constellation of Taurus): its front is evident, (but) its hind-parts are hidden. But whether this star-sign is a bull (i.e. the bull which had carried Europa) or a heifer (i.e. the heifer into which Io had been transformed), it has its reward for love-making against the wishes of Juno (Ovid, Fastii, Book 4, April).

Judaism

In terms of Kabbalistic symbolism, Blavatsky states that: ‘Taurus is under the asterisk A, which is its figure in the Hebrew alphabet, that of Aleph; and therefore that constellation is called the “ One ”, the “ First ”, after the said letter. Hence, the “ First-born” to all of whom it was made sacred.’ (Blavatsky, Taurus, Theosophical Glossary)

According to Shaul Youdkevitch: ‘The symbol of the astrological sign of Taurus is an ox. In the story of the Merkava, in the book of Ezekiel, Ch. 1, the Left Column (the desire to receive for the self alone) is symbolized by the ox. This image of the Left Column, symbolized by the ox, can be found in many places in the Bible and in many other writings of Kabbalah.’

Christian

6-Tetramorph, Bull symbol, Luke

The animals associated with the Christian tetramorph originate in the Babylonian symbols of the four fixed signs of the zodiac: the ox representing Taurus; the lion representing Leo; the eagle representing Scorpio; the man or angel representing Aquarius. (Mesocosm, The Tetramorph; The Sumerian Origins of a Christian Symbol)

Historically speaking, Rupert Gleadow gives some basic considerations concerning the origin of the symbol: The Bull on the other hand is not Egyptian. Had it been so, then its ruler, when ruling planets were allotted, should have been Saturn and not Venus, just as Mars would have been the ruler of Leo. The Egyptians called Saturn 'Horus the Bull of Heaven', and bulls are not uncommon in Egyptian astronomy, but they are not attached, like the Babylonian Gud.anna, to this part of the sky (The Origin of the Zodiac, 1968 212-213).

 

Images References

1-15 c. Lombard manuscript De Sphaera  https://fineartamerica.com/featured/venus-ruler-of-taurus-and-libra-photo-researchers.html?product=duvet-cover

2- Apulian Red Figure Kylix ca 330 - 320 B.C. https://www.theoi.com/Gallery/K1.8.html

3- The Hyades saving Alcmena. Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Göttingen, 1845- Dresden, 1923), Ausfürliches Lexikon der griechisches und römisches Mythologie, 1884. https://www.maicar.com/GML/HYADES1.html 

4-Greek vase painting  https://www.thoughtco.com/recommendations-for-greek-mythology-120539 

5- Ceiling Frescoe, Villa Farnese - MAP OF THE HEAVENS - Giovanni Antonio da Varese - 1575 https://www.peoplesguidetothecosmos.com/constellations/orion.htm

6-Tetramorph. Fresco, Meteora. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetramorph#/media/File:Tetramorph_meteora.jpg

Part 1

Astrology: Jupiter sextile Saturn, June 19, 2023

As we approach the Summer Solstice, following the Jupiter square Pluto, May 17, we cap off a very eventful Spring semester with  Jupiter sextile Saturn, June 19.

With the intense Pluto T-square fading, there was a terrible India train crash and widespread forest fires in Canada. The intensity  continues with a volatile Mars square Uranus, exact June 26 .

On June 11,  Pluto Retrograde re-enters Capricorn, and we've seen an escalation in the Russia-Ukraine war and an indictment of an ex-US president.

 Jupiter sextile Saturn

Jupiter, at 7° Taurus 13′, forms a sextile with Saturn, at 7° Pisces 13′ on June 19, 2023. This is a one-off transit (it doesn’t repeat two more times over the course of many months as many outer-planet transits do).

With Jupiter forming a sextile to Saturn, opportunities to put our plans into motion arise. We’re balanced in our approach to new endeavors, seeing both the potential benefits and pitfalls, and this improves our judgment. This influence helps to crystallize and lock down lessons learned and endeavors begun recently.

This is a period of constructive accomplishment. We are practical, realistic, and our judgment is especially sound–and we derive much satisfaction from practical accomplishment. We find a good balance between planning and discovering.

It’s also a time when we value learning and valid information from trustworthy sources. We respect reasonable, ethical, and sound approaches.The key to harnessing this wonderful energy is to identify and find pleasure in the simple things that make us happy.

Fun Facts:

The last time Jupiter formed a sextile to Saturn was in 2017. However, the last time Jupiter formed an upper sextile to Saturn like this Jupiter-Saturn sextile was from November 2003 to August 2004 when Jupiter was in Virgo and Saturn was in Cancer.

https://cafeastrology.com/events/jupiter-sextile-saturn/

 

Jupiter sextile Saturn transit is a time of cautious expansion. Some growth opportunities are likely to be offered, and you can rely on sound judgment skills to choose only those right for you. These opportunities may be in your career, through investment or business deals, or in your personal life as significant material possessions or relationship choices.

Patience, perseverance, and a strong work ethic mean you are most likely to succeed now. Common sense and sustained effort are required because this is a serious and long-term project you are working on. It may not be an exciting phase of life, but you will gain great satisfaction and contentment. The results of your achievements will still be enjoyed long after this transit has passed.

You may earn a promotion or take on more responsibility, and you will come out of this experience wiser, wealthier, or happier. Business investments will bring you financial stability and long-term steady growth. Investing in property or blue-chip stocks would be especially good for wealth creation. This is an excellent time to start a savings plan, buy a house, or create a small business.

https://astrologyking.com/jupiter-sextile-saturn/

Astrological Symbolism: Taurus, part 1

H.P. Blavatsky describes Taurus as a ‘most mysterious constellation of the Zodiac, one connected with all the “First-born” solar gods. The Bull is the symbol of force and procreative power—the Logos’ (Blavatsky ‘Taurus’, Theosophical Glossary). Moreover, the ‘worship of the Bull and the Ram was addressed to one and the same power, that of generative creation, under two aspects— the celestial or cosmic, and the terrestrial or human. The ram-headed gods all belong to the latter aspect, the bull—to the former. the emblems of the generative, or of evolutionary power in the Universal Kosmos’ (Blavatsky, Bull-Worship, Theosophical Glossary).

She gives a general overview of the Bull symbol in different traditions: ‘The bull Nardi, the vehan of Siva and the most sacred emblem of this god, is reproduced in the Egyptian Apis; and in the bull created by Ormazd and killed by Ahriman. The religion of Zoroaster, all based upon the "secret doctrine," is found held by the people of Eritene; it was the religion of the Persians when they conquered the Assyrians. From thence it is easy to trace the introduction of this emblem of LIFE represented by the Bull, in every religious system. The college of the Magians had accepted it with the change of dynasty; Daniel is described as a Rabbi, the chief of the Babylonian astrologers and Magi (Book of Daniel, iv,v); therefore we see the Assyrian little bulls and the attributes of Siva reappearing under a hardly modified form in the cherubs of the Talmudistic Jews, as we have traced the bull Apis in the sphinxes or cherubs of the Mosaic Ark; and as we find it several thousand years later in the company of one of the Christian evangelists Luke’ (Isis Unveiled 2, 235-6).

1-Nandi [Bull] 2nd c. AD Mysore

Nandi is the bull vahana of the Hindu god Shiva. He is also the guardian deity of Kailash, the abode of Shiva. Almost all Shiva temples display stone-images of a seated Nandi, generally facing the main shrine. According to Saiva Siddhanta, Nandeeswarar is considered to be chief among the Siddhars, initiated by Mother Parvati and Father Shiva. He passed on what he had learned to his 8 disciples, namely, the Four Kumaras, Sundaranandar who later becomes Tirumular by a chance happening, Vyagrapada (also known as Pullipani), Patanjali, and Sivayoga Muni. They were sent out in eight different directions, to spread wisdom (Gopinatha Rao, T. A. (1997). Elements of Hindu Iconography, Volume 2. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. p. 213).  Subba Row gives an esoteric account of the Hindu astrological symbol:  Rishabha. This word is used in several places in the Upanishats and the Veda to mean Pranava (Aum). Shankarâchârya has so interpreted it in several portions of his commentary. [Example: Rishabhasya – Chhandasam Rishabhasya Pradhânasya Pranavasya]  

2- Nandi, zoo-anthropomorphic form

For the Egyptian symbolism, Blavatsky gives a rather specific instance of the god Apis: “It is not simple chance,” we are told, “that has placed in certain spheres, on a throne, the head of that bull (Taurus), trying to push away with the ansated cross on its horns, a Dragon; the more so, since this constellation of Taurus was called ‘the great city of God and the mother of revelations,’ and also ‘the interpreter of the divine voice,’ the Apis pacis of Hermoutis, in Egypt, which (as the patristic fathers would assure the world) preferred oracles that related to the birth of the Saviour” (Pneumatologie, iv., 71) …  The serpent was the symbol of Wisdom; and the Bull (Taurus) the symbol of physical or terrestrial generation. Thus the latter, pushing off the Dragon, or spiritual, Divine Wisdom, with the Tau, or Cross — which is esoterically “the foundation and framework of all construction” (Secret Doctrine 1, 657) . Moreover, the 'black bull Mnevis, the son of Ptah, was sacred to the God Ra at Heliopolis; the Pacis of Hermonthis—to Amoun Horus, &c., &c., and Apis himself was a hermaphodite and not a male animal, which shows his cosmic character' (Blavatsky, Bull-Worship, Theosophical Glossary).

3- Apis, Bull with moon, 1823-25

Regarding Apis in the form a bull, this animal was chosen because it symbolized the courageous heart, great strength, and fighting spirit of the king. Apis came to being considered a manifestation of the king, as bulls were symbols of strength and fertility, qualities that are closely linked with kingship. "Strong bull of his mother Hathor" was a common title for Egyptian gods and male kings, being unused for women serving as king, such as Hatshepsut.

As early as the time of the Narmer Palette, the king is depicted with a bovine tail on one side, and a bull is seen knocking down the walls of a city on the other.  Occasionally, Apis was pictured with the sun-disk symbol of his mother, Hathor, between his horns, being one of few deities ever associated with her symbol. When the disk was depicted on his head with his horns below and the triangular marking on his forehead, an ankh was suggested. That symbol always was closely associated with Hathor.

4-Apis statue

Early on, Apis was the herald (wḥm) of Ptah, the chief deity in the area around Memphis. As a manifestation of Ptah, Apis also was considered to be a symbol of the king, embodying the qualities of kingship. In the region where Ptah was worshiped, cattle exhibited white patterning on their mainly black bodies, and so a belief grew up that the Apis calf had to have a certain set of markings suitable to its role. It was required to have a white triangular marking upon its forehead, a white Egyptian vulture wing outline on its back, a scarab mark under its tongue, a white crescent moon shape on its right flank, and double hairs on his tail.

The calf that matched these markings was selected from the herds, brought to a temple, given a harem of cows, and worshiped as an aspect of Ptah. The cow who was his mother was believed to have conceived him by a flash of lightning from the heavens, or from moonbeams. She also was treated specially, and given a special burial. At the temple, Apis was used as an oracle, his movements being interpreted as prophecies. His breath was believed to cure disease and his presence to bless those around with strength. A window was created in the temple through which he could be viewed and, on certain holidays, he was led through the streets of the city, bedecked with jewelry and flowers (Griffith, Francis Llewellyn (1911). "Apis". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 168).

Blavatsky also points out the story of the bull in the Zoroastrian Avesta: 

5- Persepolis mural: death of Gavaevodata

Kain, presiding over the Taurus (Bull) of the Zodiac, is also very suggestive. Taurus belongs to the earthy trigon, and in connection with this sign it will not be amiss to remind the student of an allegory from the Persian Avesta. The story goes that Ormazd produced a being — source and type of all the universal beings — called LIFE, or Bull in the Zend. Ahriman (Cain) kills this being (Abel), from the seed of which (Seth) new beings are produced. (Isis Unveiled 2, 465).

 

6- Gozu Tenno

The Bundahishn of the Middle Persian era tells of the world created by the deity Ahura Mazda. The great mountain, Alburz, grew for 800 years until it touched the sky. From that point, rain fell, forming the Vourukasha sea and two great rivers. The first animal, the white bull, lived on the bank of the river Veh Rod. Gavaevodata is the Avestan language name of the primordial bovine of Zoroastrian cosmogony and cosmology, one of Ahura Mazda's six primordial material creations and the mythological progenitor of all beneficent animal life. However, the evil spirit, Angra Mainyu, killed it. Its seed was carried to the moon and purified, creating many animals and plants (Boyce, Mary (1975), A History of Zoroastrianism, vol. 1, Leiden: Brill, pp. 138–139)

Jean-Marie Ragon relates how the bull in Japanese myths relates to this sign (La Messe et ses Mysteres, 1844, p. 347). With the fusion of Shinto and Buddhism, Susa-no-O was identified with GozuTenno ("Bull-headed King of Heaven"). 

Image References

1- 2nd-century CE sculpture of a Nandi in Mysore https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nandi_(Hinduism)#/media/File:Nandibull.jpg

2-Painting on paper, c. 1820s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nandi_(Hinduism)#/media/File:Nandieshvara.jpg 

3- "Api or Hapi (Apis, Taureau Consacré a la Lune)", 1823-25. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apis_(deity)#/media/File:Api_or_Hapi_(Apis,_Taureau_Consacr%C3%A9_a_la_Lune),_N372.2.jpg 

4- Apis statue http://www.globalegyptianmuseum.org/glossary.aspx?id=70

5- Persepolis mural: The death of Gavaevodata/Gawiewdad, the primordial bovine, whose cithra is rescued by the moon. https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Mah 

6- Ox-Headed Deva King, gozu tenno 牛頭天王 The Japanese god of plague https://heianperiodjapan.blogspot.com/2015/09/gozu-tenno-legends.html

 

Part 2