Painting the Constellations...

People often ask why I paint constellations. The paintings began with a spark of divine inspiration by a photo of Steve the cat (which you can read about here). And I continue to paint constellations because the more I learn, the deeper I'm drawn into their kaleidoscopic blend of science, spirituality, history, math, myth, logic, folklore, and creativity. They're not merely fanciful designs created by bored or intoxicated ancients! There is so much more to the constellations (and the zodiac) than people realize.

Capricorn - acrylic on canvas, 15"x 19" framed.

This is Constellation Capricornus, one of the original 48 constellations documented by the Roman mathematician Ptolemy around 150 AD. But the constellation, and the zodiac, were created much earlier than that in the Sumerian or Babylonian civilizations, somewhere between 4100-1600 BC. There isn't much information available from that time, but even back then, Capricorn was represented as half-goat and half-fish. The Greeks adopted and adapted that god into the myth of Pan, the half-man/half-goat god. As the god of the untamed wild, Pan warned the other gods that Typhon, a deadly monster, was coming for them. The gods hid from Typhon by changing themselves into animals. Pan changed himself into a goat, then, in a panic, jumped into the Nile River and changed the parts below the water into a fish.

Title page of an 1814 almanac written by Nathanael Low, M.D., and published by Munroe and Francis in Boston, Mass.

The zodiac was created by the Babylonians to document the order of patterns they recognized in nature throughout the year. They noticed that certain stars or constellations appeared in the sky at the same time every year. It begins with the Spring equinox when the constellation Aries appears in the Western sky. From there the zodiac is divided into twelve roughly month-long segments and named for the most prominent constellation in the sky at that time.

At some point in the course of civilization, man began looking for spiritual guidance in the stars. It makes some sense. If one can anticipate seasonal changes and navigate the seas using the stars, why not use them to anticipate personality traits and navigate the course of one's life? People born in the sign of Leo are said to be confident while Libras love harmony. Geminis are curious while Aquarians (me!) are intelligent, creative, and independent (all true, of course!). Beyond looking at those general traits that correspond with the constellation symbol of one's date of birth, some people go further and study individual horoscopes. The practice of reading tarot cards also has some relation to the stars. And even the idea of "wishing upon a star" came from good ol' Ptolemy who wrote that shooting stars may be caused by a god opening a hole in the sky to peer down at the world allowing a star to slip through. That hole gives direct access to the gods, so it's the best time to make desires known.

And so we've come full circle back to Ptolemy the mathematician. The various aspects of studying the stars are as myriad as the stars themselves! An endless source of fascination and inspiration for me.

From my journal circa 1993

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