Paranormal
The twelve current zodiac symbols trace their origins to the times of the Greeks and Romans, and in some cases, as far back as the Mesopotamians or Sumerians. Since it has always been human tendency to discern a pattern in the chaos, they may have seen hundreds of objects in the sky, like animals, people, warriors, etc. As time went on, stories were associated with it. Fast-forward to today, and these have been reduced to a tiny column in the Sunday newspapers, read for the purpose of entertainment, guidance, or out of sheer boredom.
Nevertheless, here are the original stories behind the 'creation' of these constellation. It's oriented towards the Greek and Roman stories, since they're where we got these from in the first place.
Aries
Aries is involved with one of the epics of Greek mythology, that of Jason and the Quest for the Golden Fleece. The story starts off with a boy Phrixus, and his sister Helle, children of King Athamas and Queen Nephele. But the marriage of Athamas and Nephele was an unhappy one. Nephele died, and Athamas married Ino. Ino hated the children, of course, and she developed a plot to get rid of them.
She first spread disease among the crops in the country, and as was the tradition in the times, Athamas sent a messenger to the Oracle at Delphi to ask the reason for the crop failure. Ino bribed the messengers to return with the message that the children should be sacrificed to save the crops. Reluctantly, Athamas agreed, and took them to the top of a hill to do the sacrifice.
Nephele was watching from the heavens, and she bade the gods to send down a golden ram to carry the children to safety. This was Aries, the Ram. Aries arrived just before the sacrifice, and took the children on his back. Helle, the sister, fell off on the way to Asia, but Phrixus held on and went to the land of Colchis (Georgia). Phrixus sacrificed the Ram to Zeus (What a way to thank someone), and presented the golden fleece to the ruler of the land, King Aeetes. Aeetes hung the golden fleece on an oak tree and set a dragon to guard it.
Jason's story comes later, with a challenge to him to retrieve the Golden Fleece. But that's not one of the Zodiacs, so we won't go there.
Taurus
Zeus, the philandering King of the Gods (a.k.a Jupiter), had taken a fancy to Europa, princess of Phoenicia. He turned himself into a snow-white bull of exquisite beauty. He went down to Tyre where she was bathing with her girlfriends, and mingled among the bulls there. Europa was impressed by this bull's beauty, charm and gentleness. They played together on the beach. He had charmed her to the point where she dared to sit on his back.
At that very moment, the bull sprang away with her and carried her to Crete. Zeus then revealed himself, and seduced Europa. The result of this union was King Minos of Crete.
Gemini
Queen Leda of Sparta was seduced by Zeus (the philandering god), in the form of a swan. The very same night, she also slept with her husband, King Tyndareus. As a result, she bore twins. One was mortal, and the other immortal.
Castor and Pollux were their names, Castor being mortal, and Pollux immortal. Castor and Pollux were identical twins, in spite of the fact that they had different fathers. They were inseparable and devoted to each other. Both had excellent hunting and war skills. Castor is said to have taught the art of sword fighting to Hercules.
The twins went through a lot of adventures together, including sailing with Jason and the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece, and fighting for their sister Helen in the Trojan War. One day, they had a quarrel with another pair of twins, over some women, and in the fight that followed, Castor was run through with a sword. Pollux was about to be attacked, by Zeus struck the attackers with a thunderbolt.
Pollux grieved the loss of his twin brother. He prayed to Zeus that he could share his immortality with his brother. Zeus acknowledged and showed them mercy, and set them together eternally among the stars as the constellation Gemini.
Cancer
The story behind this constellation is somewhat small and not as significant as the others. Hercules, in his many labors was sent to slay the multi-headed snake-monster, Hydra. In his struggle with the monster, Hera, who was wife of Zeus and hated Hercules (because he was the product of Zeus' infidelity), sent Cancer the Crab to nip at the hero's heels.
However, the crab was crushed under the feet of the hero. Nevertheless, Hera placed the crab in the constellations as a reward for its faithful services.
Leo
Hercules very first labor was to slay Leo the Lion, who lived in a cave near Corinth. The lion though, was said to be the spawn of a terrible monster named Typhon, or that of the two headed dog Orthrus. Whichever the case, the lion had a tough hide like metallic armor. No weapon could pierce it, and the entire countryside was in terror.
Hercules battled the lion for a month, and eventually got the better of it by strangling it to death. He then used the Lion's own claws to tear its hide, and from then on, Hercules wore the Lion's skin as a cloak.
Virgo
The story of Virgo is hazy and unclear, but the most general one is that during the Golden Age of Man, she was one of the spirits whos province was Justice. As a result, she was known as Justitia to the Romans. Her emblem were the scales, which is why Libra appears right next to Virgo.
The other Guises of Virgo are:
- Dike, Goddess of Justice (Romans call her Justitia)
- Persephone (Prosperpina), who was abducted by Hades, God of the Underworld (Pluto).
- Erigone, Daughter of Icarius, who received the secret of wine making.
- Tyche, Goddess of Fortune
- Atargatis, Syrian Fertility Goddess
- Minerva, Roman Goddess of Wisdom (Athena to the Greeks)
- Diana, Roman Goddess of the Hunt (Greek Artemis)
- Cybele, Roman Goddess of Nature and Fertility
- Urania, Muse of Astronomy
Libra
The constellation of Libra is sometimes seen as the Scales of Justice. This leads to an association with the constellation of Virgo, who has been identified with Astraea or Dike, the Goddess of Justice. It is the Goddess who judges the souls of men after their death by weighing them in her balance.
Scorpio
Orion was a large, powerful hunted of reknown, who happened to offended the Goddess Artemis, either by hitting on her or by boasting that he could kill any animal. Artemis then sent Scorpius (Scorpio) the Scorpion to sting the hunter as a punishment. Orion died, but did not remain so for long. He was resurrected by Ophiuchus, the Serpent Wrestler, who treated Orion and brought him back to life.
In an interesting note, Orion and Scorpio are almost halfway around the Zodiacs from each other, so that as Scorpio rises, Orion is setting, and vice versa. It is also said that they were placed such so as to avoid any further conflicts.
Sagittarius
Centaurs were a mythological beast, being half-man, half-human. A certain centaur named Chiron was a very skilled archer, musician, physician, and was known for his gentleness.
Chiron was accidentally shot and killed by Hercules, with an arrow that had been dipped in the Hydra's poison. Being immortal, but being in agony, Chiron offered that he would substitute himself for Prometheus. Prometheus was the god that had given mankind fire, and was being punished by being chained to a rock, and having his liver devoured by an eagle every day. So Prometheus was freed, and Chiron went in place of him. Zeus recognized his goodness and placed him in the stars.
Capricorn
Capricorn is represented by a half-goat, half-fish. The origin of this story goes back to Pan, Son of the Messenger God Hermes. All Pan ever did was chase after girls or get drunk and sleep somewhere. It was during the battle of the elder gods, the Titans and the younger gods, led by Zeus that the Earth itself, Mother Gaia, brought forth a monster named Typhon that terrified all of the gods.
As Typhon was approaching, Pan shouted a warning and told the gods to disguise themselves as certain animals. He himself jumped into the water, and the part below the water become a fish, and the upper part became a goat.
After the battle, Zeus placed him in the stars as a gesture of thanks for the rescue. He is now known as Capricorn.
Aquarius
Ganymede was the son of King of Tros. Ganymede had been watching over his father's flock of sheep one day, when Zeus noticed the beauty of the boy. He changed himself into an eagle, and swooped down and carried the boy off to the heavens. Since then, Ganymede, or Aquarius, the water bearer, has served nectar to the Gods in the heavens.
Pisces
As mentioned in Pan's story above, Pan had shouted a warning to the Gods of the approach of the Monster Typhon. Aphrodite (Venus) and her son Cupid were bathing by a river bank when they heard the warning. Aphrodite tied the little boy to her body, and they turned into fishes and swam away. The constellation appears as two fishes bound by a cord, represented love (Venus) and desire (Cupid).
