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Planets, the Nature of the Wanderers
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Seven bright ones dance across the stars
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These are the classical seven planets:
sun,
moon,
mercury,
venus,
mars,
jupiter,
saturn,
The name planet means wanderer. The wanderers move in relation
to each other and the stars, but they don't wander all over.
They stay in roughly the same orbital plane and are seen in the
sky against that band of stars termed the zodiac. In mythology
this zodiacal plane is termed the earth.
The planets bear the names and attributes of the gods. Their
independent motions suggest great power and strength and
intelligence.
Names and attributes of planetary gods vary from culture to
culture, but there are certain similarities across many cultures.
These are not arbitrary or obscure they relate to the observable
nature of each planet.
In modern English, we call most of them by the names of Roman gods
who were associated with those planets.
Each planet is associated with a day of the week. Sunday, Monday,
and Saturday are obvious enough. The associations of the other
days are more obvious to the English speaker in the Spanish or French
day names which are closer to Latin and the Roman planet names we are
most familiar with. These other day names, in English, are based on the
corresponding Germanic gods.
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Sun
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Sunlight is so powerful it blots out the view of the other stars.
All our energy ultimately comes from (or came from at the earth's
forming) the sun.
In the northern temperate regions, the Sun is always somewhat to
the south. At midwinter when the days are short and cold, the Sun
is as far south as it gets and does not rise as high in the sky.
At midsummer it reaches its northernmost point and rises higher in
the sky.
In the tropics depending on your latitude the Sun actually passes
directly over head either once or twice per year.
We get our definition of a year from the Sun's cycle.
Sun's Personality: ranges from a bright, sunny personality
to a fierce, scorching one, depending on climate and time of year.
Associated with leadership and life.
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Moon
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Next brightest is the Moon which is bright enough to be visible
during the day. The full Moon lights up the night.
The Moon's dramatic cycle - from invisible (up with the sun)
- through setting crescent at sunrise
- through rising full at sunset,
- to rising predawn crescent,
- and invisible once more,
is the period of time on which we originally based months.
Lunar eclipses, which only happen on full moons, are common.
Visible solar eclipses which happen on new moons are rarer.
The Moon's pull causes the tides of the seas.
The cycle of the Moon is roughly the
same length as most women's menstrual cycles.
Moon's Personality: lunatic, fluctuating, associated with the sea
and with women.
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Mercury
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Fast-moving Mercury always sticks close to the sun, and it appears to
go backwards (retrograde) quite frequently.
Mercury's Personality: mercurial, sudden changes, messenger,
trickery, and cleverness.
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Venus
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Venus also stays fairly close to the sun, but it can stray farther.
Venus is larger, brighter, and easier to see than Mercury.
The pattern of Venus-Sun conjunctions marks out the points of a
five-pointed star around the sky every eight years.
Venus follows a complex cycle as it switches between being a morning
and an evening star. One segment of the cycle is the same length of
time as the average human gestation period.
The book "Stairway to the Stars" describes Venus's cycles in some
detail.
Venus's Personality: venereal, sex, love, relationships
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Mars
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Mars is called the 'red planet' because it does indeed look red.
Mars moves slower than Venus, but much faster than Jupiter.
Unlike Venus, Mars does not stay always by the Sun, but wanders to
the opposite side of the sky in its dance.
Mars Personality: martial, warfare, discipline
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Jupiter
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Much larger than the other planets Jupiter can appear to have a
slightly bluish tint. Jupiter moves sedately through the sky taking
about 12 years to return to the same place in the sky.
Jupiter's Personality: jovial, expansive, generous, establishment
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Saturn
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Although large, Saturn is dim for a planet.
Slow moving Saturn takes about 28 years to complete a full circuit.
About a human generation.
However every twenty years there is a conjunction of Jupiter and
Saturn. These conjunctions occur approximately one third of a turn
through the stars, so every 60 years they trace a sort of triangle
in the sky. Because the conjunctions are not exactly 120 degrees
apart, it takes 2400 years for the conjunction to occur in the same
part of the sky.
These conjunctions allow storytellers to describe the time in which
their tales are set. The lesser cycle being approximately a lifetime,
the larger one approximately a world age.
Saturn's personality: saturnine, stern teacher, giver of laws, old one
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