Commonly referred to as the Serpent Bearer, Ophiuchus is said to have been a real man. Star maps depicting the snake holder originated in ancient Greece during the first century.1 And now, more than 2000 years later, the mythology of Ophiuchus seems to be asking us to awaken to our destiny and embrace our spiritual evolution.
Both the Greeks and the Egyptians placed importance on the meaning of this ancient 13th constellation — for it is Ophiuchus who resides between the transformative sign of the Scorpion and Sagittarius. This is significant because the Sagittarian Archer points his arrow to the center of our Milky Way Galaxy and this pivotal point is where our solar system will align on the Winter Solstice of 2012. It is also at this time that the Mayan peoples have prophesized a spiritual rebirth for humanity.
Ophiuchus was described by the ancient Greek philosophers and Astrologers as the Doctor of Medicine, the seer of wisdom, and seeker of peace and harmony. Snakes are believed by many ancient cultures to be connected to healing and rebirth because they slough their skin every year. The Eastern traditions associate the serpent with Kundalini, which means coiled energy, or awakening of consciousness. Snakes are also representative of the underworld, transformation, and alchemy — turning base metal into gold — and “the Golden Age.”
Because Ophiuchus is a constellation and not a zodiac sign, Western Astrology does not recognize it within the Astrological horoscope. However, we certainly can integrate Ophiuchus’s archetypal meaning into our individual and collective consciousness to assist in the transformation of our spiritual evolution.
- The above map by Johann Bayer, Ophiuchus, is one of the 48 constellations named by Claudius Ptolemy for the Greek word “Serpent Bearer.” Ophiuchus is shown grasping the constellation Serpens. Bayer’s Uranometria is one of the most important celestial atlases of the 17th Century and the forerunner of allstar atlases which contained 51-star charts, of which 48 were Ptolemaic constellations. (https://www.raremaps.com)
Copyright 2011-2021 by Linda Kaye
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