Introduction to Constellations

Cygnus

Signs of the Zodiac

• Common Constellations

Aquarius: The Water Bearer

• In Greek mythology Aquarius was Ganymede, "cup-bearer to the gods". Alpha Aquarii ("Sadalmelik") and beta Aquarii ("Sadalsuud") are twin supergiants with nearly identical names. The names mean, respectively, "The Lucky One of the King" and "The Luckiest of the Lucky". Gamma Aquarii shares in the good fortune: "Sadachbia": "The Lucky Star of Hidden Things" Incidentally, if the "Age of Aquarius" was celebrated in the 1960s, the real event is still some 600 years off: at that time Aquarius will contain the vernal equinox, marking the return of the Sun into the northern celestial hemisphere.

Aquarius: The Water Bearer

Aries: the Ram

• Aries, "The Ram", is an ancient constellation which was of considerable importance since the sun passed through it at the vernal equinox.
• This point has now moved into Pisces, but the vernal equinox is still known as the First Point of Aries. In another six hundred years the point will have moved into Aquarius.
• The Ram in question may have been the one whose golden fleece was the object of Jason's quest.
• There is some reason to believe that the Greeks just took over a much older horned animal at this time of the year; the horn being a symbol for fecundity, renewal, and so on. As the Sun came into this constellation, at the vernal equinox, the year itself was being renewed.

Aries: the Ram

Cancer The Crab

• The name comes from the Latin; cancer means crab. The crab in question is the one sent by Hydra to attack Heracles. It was only a bit part, but one which secured its immortality.

Cancer

Capricornus the Sea-Goat

• The Sea Goat or Goat-Fish, as a creature with the head and body of a goat and the tail of a fish, may well have originated from Assyro-Babylonian depictions of their god of wisdom Oannes, who was half-man, half-fish.