Aquarius Beheaded

Recall how Aquarius went below the horizon early on in our story. Aquarius is down there in the underworld, where the dead are, or is figuratively "put in prison". Some months later, if you wait a few hours after sunset, you'll see Aquarius poking its head up above the eastern horizon, rising from the underworld, and it appears as if Aquarius is being beheaded by the horizon. Aquarius figuratively "rises from the dead" and is beheaded by the night eastern horizon.

By mid-May you only need wait until 11:00 PM to see the beheading of Aquarius. By July it's too late for this story, as Aquarius is already above the eastern horizon by sunset.

14. The head of Aquarius rises from below the eastern horizon (rises from the dead)
15. and appears beheaded by the horizon.

Following the Jesus story we come to the beheading of John the Baptist. John the Baptist, who baptizes with water, is our personification of Aquarius the water bearer, who starts the harvest cycle by bringing on the rainy season. In Matthew 14:1-12 John rises from the dead: "This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead!" (Matthew 14:2) and then John is beheaded by Herod, a personification of night. (See The Birth of Jesus for more on how Herod is a personification of night and the evil cold and darkness that comes with it.)

16. There is some inference that John somehow survives this beheading and "rises from the dead" intact (Mark 6:16 "When Herod heard this, he said, 'John, the man I beheaded, has been raised from the dead.'") And sure enough as the night progresses we see all of Aquarius rising intact from below the eastern horizon.

The Bible says Joseph took Jesus as a baby and fled to Egypt where they stayed until the death of Herod (Mat. 2:13-15). However, here we have king Herod apparently still alive and ruling 30 years later during Jesus' mission. And now we have a headless John running around still alive. This Jesus story is impossible to interpret literally, but quite easy to interpret using solar mythology. (We'll talk more about Herod in a later lesson.)

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