The Significance of the 16 to 17 Degree Angle of Declination and Sirius

A Reader provided us with the following information and insight about Celtic Festivals, which might be of value to anyone who wishes to further investigate a very ancient and perhaps much deeper connection with Sirius.

[Charles] Muses discusses the 4 main festivals of Celtic shamanism in his "Lion Path; the Big Picture". These days, Samhain (Celtic new year) is celebrated on Oct. 31/ Nov. 1, as Halloween; Imbolc is on Feb 1, as Candlemass; Beltane on May 1, as May Day, and Lughnasadh on Aug. 1, as Lammastide. 

However, Muses says these dates are "only solidified approximations and corruptions of the real times of these ancient festivals," and that he re-discovered the timing of the original festival days on Samhain, 1998, ("Access", 12.) He suggests that the key times actually occur at the new and full moons. Thus: Samhain occurs at the new moon in Scorpio. It is the time "when the doors open between the seen and the unseen." Imbolc occurs at the new moon in Aquarius. It invokes "the power of the Goddess to nurture and sustain." Beltane occurs on the full moon in Scorpio, and sees the blossoming and fulfillment of the seed planted at Samhain. Lughnasadh is at the full moon in Aquarius, and is the time of hierosgamos, the blossoming and fulfillment of Imbolc.

I came across these ideas in the weeks after one of my early morning forays into astrology led me to see the interesting concordance between the dates of the modern festivals and what I call the "extremes" between the path of the sun and the path of Sirius through the sky; ie, between their declinations.

The sun is parallel in declination to Sirius at 4 times in the year: on its path south of the equator, it shares the declination of Sirius about Nov. 7. On its path back north, it repeats this contact about  Feb. 3.
About May 6, the sun's declination to the north is the same as Sirius' to the south. About Aug. 5, the same position occurs.

I "discovered" this cycle on Nov 7, 1999. This was an especially potent time because it held both the new moon in Scorpio and the sun's conjunction with Sirius by declination.

There are 3 other extremes, these derived mostly from the ecliptic plane. Of course, Sirius culminates at midnight about Jan 1--ie, it is opposite the sun by ecliptic longitude. This is celebrated as a new year by many cultures. Around July 3, the sun is opposite its position at the Sirian culmination--oddly, July 4 is birthday of USA, Bacon's "New Atlantis". At the summer solstice, the sun is at its furthest distance from Sirius, by latitude.

I researched to try to find some support for my idea. For years, I found nothing. Then one day in March 2005, I was reading for pleasure and glanced again through an old book, "Beyond Stonehenge", by Gerald Hawkins. Eureka! The jewel I sought was tossed into my lap.(page 276.)
He writes about the Beltane fires lit at various times in the British Isles since Celtic times at least. He reports that the fires were built on the 4 equinoctial dates, and also " were lighted on four other dates when the sun's declination was 16.3 degrees, north or south." (!!!)

But he doesn't see the association with Sirius! He goes on to say, "This declination fixed calendar dates which were one-eighth of a year after the solstices and equinoxes, approximately Feb 4, May 6, Aug. 8, and Nov 8 on the present Gregorian calendar. The year was therefore divided into eight approximately equal portions. These divisions are very close to the solar alignment dates found in the megalithic structures by Thom, and by Lockyer before him. Since the megaliths predate the Celtic Druids, the Beltane Fires might be something handed down from the darkness of prehistory."

What is the importance of knowing this cycle? According to Muses, it permits a person to meditate/concentrate/contemplate/open up intuitively to certain awarenesses at the most pregnant moments, to grow. It is not about counting and naming pieces of the material world.

J.S.

see also Point to Ponder