Zodiac Glyphs

Digby's booklet measures 2.5" x 4" with 16 pages and costs £2.50 per copy, or £5 for 4 copies, which includes UK postage. The story of how Digby reached his conclusions has been made into a novel called DIGBY'S JOURNEY, which is looking for a publisher. See Chrichton Writers.

ASTRONOMICAL CLOCK in PRAGUE

   Digby first realised there might be a hidden meaning to the Zodiac Glyphs when he noticed an anomaly that led into the Zodiac circle on the upper face of the Astronomical Clock in Prague. In fact it led into the glyphs themselves and at the same time gave a strong lead as to what the secret might be.

If you examine the photograph opposite you may notice these medieval curiosities yourself as they are fairly visible, and the first person to say what they are and what the link is will receive a silver zodiac charm. Examination of the Zodiac circle itself shows it to be far from straightforward.

The mysterious beauty of the glyphs makes it impossible to believe they are accidental. More likely is the idea that they have been drawn carefully, each recognisable for the month it represents but also hinting at something deeper. This has raised a battery of questions that have been reviewed below.

ZODIACAL QUESTIONS

The first question is why are the Zodiac Glyphs so illogical? The Ram, Bull, Twins, Scales, Bowman and Water-carrier are easy enough to identify, but why are the others so obscure?

Why for instance does the Crab glyph look like a Chinese Yin-Yang when three simple lines would look like a crab? Is the Lion supposed to be a shepherd’s crook when Lions make such very bad shepherds? Why is the glyph for the Virgin like a letter M? Is she the Virgin Mary? Why does Scorpio look like the letter M? Is she another Mary? Why has the Goat lost its horns on the Prague clock? How is the weird last glyph supposed to represent the Fishes?

With more hope than conviction Digby started to link the Zodiac to farming, and in particular to Robert Burns’ version of the ballad ‘Sir John Barleycorn’, but this led into much deeper waters. The ballad opens in March /April, as does the Zodiac.

 'There was three kings into the east, three kings both great and high,
 'And they hae' sworn a solemn oath, John Barleycorn should die.
 'They took a plough and ploughed him down, put a sod upon his head,
 'And they hae’ sworn a solemn oath, John Barleycorn was dead'.

It then goes through the whole sequence of harvesting and making bread and beer, detailing the seven sacrifices described on Phoenician clay tablets dating back to 1500BC. They call the corn plant Aleyin, and the corn seed as Mot. Each died for the other. The corn spirit was passed into human society as bread and beer, (the body and blood of the corn) and back into the earth as seed for rebirth. The daughter of 'Old Thunderguts' presided over this whole sequence of events, with 'Mr Sunshine' nurturing the spirit in the corn ready for harvest.

At this point in his investigations Digby realised he was delving into the early dualist religions that were declared to be heresies when, to the dismay of the Church, they surfaced with the Cathars and Knights Templar around 1100AD. It was at that stage in his investigations that the book 'Holy Blood; Holy Grail' was published and he began to think he might be unearthing the foundations of the theories that book had brought to light. That led him back into the Zodiac. Digby's booklet, 'Zodiac Glyphs' is a good introduction to this fascinating field.

SILVER SIGNS of the ZODIAC (charms and pendants)

      When you read the booklet you will see that the glyphs are more about Sir John Barleycorn than Astrology and refer primarily to the months they represent, which means ... they are not affected by the Precession of Equinoxes. Of special interest to artists is the fact that they can be pushed into all kinds of fanciful shapes and still be recognisable, and thus are a constant inspiration for jewellery designs.

Those illustrated here are made by a designer jeweller on the Isle of Arran. Enquiries to ....

Ailsa Mcnicol Jewellery - The Rock Pool - Corrie - Isle of Arran - KA27 8JB - 01770 810 226

BIRTH–STONES

The idea of a gemstone for each month of the year is ancient. It comes from a time when they were still named by their colour, and not by their physical properties as they are today.

Thus Marco Polo mentioned 'a great mountain of Sapphire to the south' when he was travelling the Silk Road, but it was of course Lapis Lazuli. Chrysoprase likewise was called Emerald; Yellow Sapphire was called 'King Topaz'; golden Quartz was 'Scotch Topaz' and so on.

However the birthstones we have today seem to be the ones they have always been and are as full of character as ever they were, whatever they are called.

January ... Dark red Garnet.
February ... Purple Amethyst.
March ... Sky blue Aquamarine & blue Topaz.
April ... All clear sparkly white stones.
May ... Emerald & Chrysoprase.
June ... Pearl & Moonstone.
July ... Blood red Ruby & Cornelian.
August ... Peridot & leaf–green Tourmaline.
September ... Sapphire & Lapis Lazuli.
October ... Opal.
November ... All clear golden-brown stones.
December ... Turquoise.