Belfast Zodiac

so I fished it out to look at it again and tried putting Mary Caines figures over the area around Belfast - they seemed to look so at home -

so here are some more graphics .

I've put a copyright sign on some of them so that nobody else can claim copyright to them but the intention is not to stop anyone using them . This is very much a work in progress - hopefully a collective work -and anyone is welcome to take it and run with it - and especially bring more local knowledge - and / or better zodiac understanding than I have .
 Or of course be better at writing about it - which shouldn't be difficult .

I will be putting the maps I've been using for this as downloads from the bottom of this page for if anyone would like to try moving them around to try a better fit of the stars over the landscape - this is my try but there may well be a better one

And please do not take it too seriously - there is much darkness but it is full of stars

 The Centre - I had originally been working with the Pole Star as a place where I found an earthstar on the pavement near the Albert Bridge beside the Short Strand , Belfast - which seemed as good a place as any
and this is why I have called it the " Belfast Zodiac "

but when I laid the  Kingston figures over the map ,the centre looks more like the Giant's Ring at Edenderry - maybe one is the Celestial and one is the Ecliptic pole ?

Where the centre is - is an issue I have not managed to resolve , see Putting the stars on the map - but for now we will use Belfast as the centre as this is the way it began

here are the bones of the Belfast Zodiac -

signs going anticlockwise -

Aquarius
- from Torr Head ( Marconi's first radio transmission )
 to where Lough Neagh empties into the sea ....just West of Portrush
- also maybe Coleraine , Ballymena ( Ecos centre) and Ballyclare ?

Pisces
- Antrim , Greenmount Argricultural college , Six Mile Water
- the area North of Lough Neagh where the two rivers run parallel - The Bann and the Maine - one Northwards and one Southwards -- these are the two fishes
- if you include Cetus the whale - that is Lough Foyle
- also
Magilligan strand - where the moon shells come in on the high tides

Aries
- the flying ram of the Golden Fleece . Here is Aldegrove , was a military airport , now the International Airport .
- Also Rams Island in Lough Neagh

Taurus
- here is Oxford Island Nature Reserve at the south of Lough Neagh
- Balinderry - Portmore Lough  - made by a meteor ? one of the Taurids?
- Portadown
.... not forgetting that the sign of Taurus is ruled by Venus and that Sam McGredy's world famous Rose nurseries were in Portadown - on the way to Drumcree and how Taurean is this ?
Also the Rose garden at Lady Dixon Park just South of Dunmurry

strangely the Bulls head on the other landscape zodiacs seems to face inwards - surely it should be facing outwards towards Orion ?
but whichever way the bull is facing - on his shoulder are the Pleiades which perhaps fall on the nature reserve and GreenLiving centre at Oxford Island

Gemini
- Armagh - Emain Macha - the Twins of Macha
also the two cathedrals in the city , Catholic and Protestant - but both Saint Patricks

Cancer
- Scarva ( potteries ) - Banbridge - Newry ( Newry Ship Canal )

Leo
- Narnia (according to CS Lewis, its the area around Rostrevor ) - Aslan - Aslan's table in the Mournes ?
- Castlewellan maze - solar
- Dundalk ( CuChulainn's home ) -
- Battle of the Boyne ( sovereignity)
- Boyne Valley ( Newgrange etc - Winter Solstice alignment - Return of the Sun )
- Tara ( Lia Fail- sovereignity )
- Dublin ( sovereignity ? )

Virgo
- Saintfield
- Downpatrick - graves of St Patrick , of Saint Brigid , of St Columcille
- the Man from God Knows Where
- gardens - Lismullen herbs , Rowallane , Seaforde garden and Butterfly House
- Ardglass - the high green place
- Corvus - The Crow - The Morrigan is behind Virgo - also Crater the Cup - Triple goddess - death of Cuchulainn

Libra
- the two sides of the ferry - these are the Scales
- also the area around Nendrum , Greyabbey ?
- perhaps the Libran dove fits over the shape of Belfast

Scorpio
- Comber , Scrabo tower - the Dark Tower
- all that Donaghadee coast - hardline attitudes and fishing for lobsters

Sagittarius
- the North Down coast - Arcadia - Holywood (the Holy Wood ) Arches ( Archers ) via Bangor to Groomsport
- Ark rare Breeds farm
- place of the Muses - Arts - Steiner School - stars of Lyra , the Lyre of Orpheus

Capricorn
- The Antrim coast - Carrickfergus , Larne , the Glens up to Cushendun
- rocky coast, Whitehead and Islandmagee
- Larne - very Capricorn
- the goats and the statue of the goat at Cushendun
- King Billy ( goat ) - lands at Carrickfergus
 ~~~
King Billy (in Capricorn - who is also a Unicorn and also a White Witch ) lands at Carrickfergus , rests at the White House in Newtonabbey and journeys down to the Boyne ( in Leo ) where a battle takes place in which he is always pictured on a white horse waving a sword ( see pic of unicorn )
The fight between the two kings is re-enacted every year at Scarva ( in Cancer ) around the time of the Summer Solstice ( when the sun is in Cancer )
and every year he - the Winter King of Capricorn - is victorious

I think this is what C S Lewis is talking about in " the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe " and he decides to change the pattern
but I will leave it to someone else to work out what is going on here

If CS Lewis was aware - consciously or not - of this Zodiac then it also explains his very strange short story " The Dark Tower " which features some distuirbing scenes of people with poisonous spikes growing out of their heads .
as he will have been thinking of Scrabo tower which is in Scorpio

...this is the very short version - have dozens of pictures but these are the bones
you will see that this zodiac isn't really to do with finding shapes in the landscape - the scale is too big for field boundaries to work - Mary Caine's Kingston shapes seem to fit very comfortably -
but its more about the nature of the areas

I mean that its really that Armagh could only be Gemini and the soft green hills on the way to Ardglass could only be Virgo
 Larne could really only be in Capricorn
and you just have to walk along the Ballydrain road to know you are in Scorpio
etc etc etc

ps - there is also the Girt Dog - going " Augher , Clogher and Fivemiletown - and pointing towards Devenish Island

,....or possibly towards Connacht generally - see " The Tain "
.................. the Girt Dog -  CuChulainn ?

marcellavee ( Anita Greg ) 24th April 2013

A Bit about Landscape Zodiacs

 Landscape Zodiacs are the projection of the stars onto the earth so they are reversed from the normal way we see the stars in the sky

The first Landscape Zodiac was discovered near Glastonbury by Katherine Maltwood in the 1920s and she supposed it to have been created by the Sumerians as they visited Somerset to trade

 in copper and tin .

This idea of Sumerian origins has gone out of fashion since many of the features turned out to be fairly recent
and has now moved towards some idea that they create themselves in some way NOT understood

perhaps they are created somehow by Induction the way that a magnet can magnetise plain iron

or grow outwards from a single point like mushroom rings or crystals

 Anthony Thorley has an explanation involving Quantum Physics which I thought I understood at the time but have now entirely forgotten

but there may be explanations in the book
" Signs and Secrets of the Glastonbury Zodiac "

....just haven't got there yet  ....

Aquarius
- from Torr Head ( Marconi's first radio transmission )
 to where Lough Neagh empties into the sea ....just West of Portrush
- also maybe Coleraine , Ballymena ( Ecos centre) and Ballyclare
 

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Pisces
- Antrim , Greenmount Agricultural college , Six Mile Water
- the area North of Lough Neagh where the two rivers run parallel - The Bann and the Maine - one Northwards and one Southwards -- these are the two fishes
- if you include Cetus the whale - that is Lough Foyle
- also
Magilligan strand - where the moon shells come in on the high tides

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Aries
- the flying ram of the Golden Fleece . Here is Aldegrove , was a military airport , now the International Airport .
- Also Rams Island in Lough Neagh

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Taurus
- here is Oxford Island Nature Reserve at the south of Lough Neagh
- Balinderry - Portmore Lough  - made by a meteor ? one of the Taurids?
- Portadown
.... not forgetting that the sign of Taurus is ruled by Venus and that Sam McGredy's world famous Rose nurseries were in Portadown - on the way to Drumcree and how Taurean is this ?

Also the Rose garden at Lady Dixon Park just South of Dunmurry

strangely the Bulls head on the other landscape zodiacs seems to face inwards - surely it should be facing outwards towards Orion ?
but whichever way the bull is facing - on his shoulder are the Pleiades which perhaps fall on the nature reserve and GreenLiving centre at Oxford Island

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Gemini
- Armagh - Emain Macha - the Twins of Macha
also the two cathedrals in the city , Catholic and Protestant - both Saint Patricks
 

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Cancer
- Scarva ( potteries ) - Banbridge - Newry ( Newry Ship Canal )
   ....... the gate where souls come into the World
 

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Leo
- Narnia (according to CS Lewis, its the area around Rostrevor ) - Aslan - Aslan's table in the Mournes ?
- Castlewellan maze - solar
- Dundalk ( CuChulainn's home ) -
- Battle of the Boyne ( sovereignity)
- Boyne Valley ( Newgrange etc - Winter Solstice alignment - Return of the Sun )
- Tara ( Lia Fail- sovereignity )
- Dublin ( sovereignity ? )
 

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Virgo
- Saintfield
- Downpatrick - graves of St Patrick , of Saint Brigid , of St Columcille
- the Man from God Knows Where
- gardens - Lismullen herbs , Rowallane , Seaforde garden and Butterfly House
- Ardglass - the high green place
- Corvus - The Crow - The Morrigan is behind Virgo - also Crater the Cup - Triple goddess - death of Cuchulainn

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Libra
- the two sides of the ferry - are the Scales
- also the area around Nendrum , Greyabbey ?
- perhaps the Libran dove fits over the shape of Belfast
 

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Scorpio
- Comber , Scrabo tower
- all that Donaghadee coast - hardline attitudes and fishing for lobsters [[

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Sagittarius
- the North Down coast - Arcadia - Holywood ( Holy Wood ) Arches ( Archers ) via Bangor to Groomsport
- Ark rare Breeds farm
- place of the Muses - Arts - Steiner School - the stars of Lyra fall here - being the lyre of Orpheus

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Capricorn
- The Antrim coast - Carrickfergus , Larne , the Glens up to Cushendun
- rocky coast, Whitehead and Islandmagee
- Larne - very Capricorn
- the goats and the statue of the goat at Cushendun
- King Billy ( goat ) - lands at Carrickfergus

 ~~~
King Billy (in Capricorn - who is also a Unicorn and also a White Witch ) lands at Carrickfergus , rests at the White House in Newtonabbey and journeys down to the Boyne ( in Leo ) where a battle takes place in which he is always pictured on a white horse waving a sword ( see pic of unicorn )
The fight between the two kings is re-enacted every year at Scarva ( in Cancer ) around the time of the Summer Solstice ( when the sun is in Cancer )
and every year he - the Winter King of Capricorn - is victorious

I think this is what C S Lewis is talking about in " the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe " and he decides to change the pattern
but I will leave it to someone else to work out what is going on here

If CS Lewis was aware - consciously or not - of this Zodiac then it also explains his very strange short story " The Dark Tower " which features disturbing people with poisonous spikes growing out of their heads .
as he will have been thinking of Scrabo tower which is in Scorpio

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Under Construction

interesting map of Ancient Ireland - showing Connacht ( painted brown ) from HERE

ref-  The Táin Bó Cúailnge for what this has to do with the Girt Dog

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I used this map of the zodiac centered around the Ecliptic pole over the map I was using of Northern Ireland and sized and rotated it until it seemed to fit best and then looked at where the centre fell .

 Unfortunately for convenience - the centre did not seem to fall  in or near Belfast - it seemed to fall in the centre of Lough Neagh .. And the Celestial pole ( aka Polaris , the Pole Star ) on the westerly bank of the Lough.

This is a bit of a problem - and not alone because I've already done a heap of graphics with the centre in Belfast - the main problem is that with the centre in Lough Neagh then the International airport , Ram's Island and basically the Aries places on the East side of the Lough are now on the east side of the centre ie/ between Sagittarius and Scorpio ..
I do not know how this is resolved

On the other hand - it does mean that the stars of Opiuchus  - aka Asclepios the Healer - now fall over Belfast  which can't be a bad thing
 And also that Orion's sword is over Devenish Island - and also the location of the G8 summit in June 2013 -

the Great Guardian Dog ( CuChulain ? ) is not marked on the map but is just below Orion , round about Upper Lough Erne
 - and Lepus the Hare just beneath his feet - somewhere in Sligo .

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Barnards Star

Under Construction

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Under Construction

Books

" Signs and Secrets of the Glastonbury Zodiac " a collection of very interesting essays about the Glastonbury Zodiac and related topics

Guide to Glastonbury's Temple of the Stars by Maltwood Katherine (26 Nov 1987)

Enchantments of Britain, The by Maltwood  Katherine (26 Nov 1987)

The Glastonbury Zodiac: Key to the Mysteries of Britain by Mary Caine (Dec 1979)

The Kingston Zodiac by Mary Caine (10 Apr 2002)

Cuchulain: Hound of Ulster (Heroes & Warriors) by R. J. Stewart and Richard Hook (22 Feb 1988)

The Táin: From the Irish epic Táin Bó Cuailnge: From the Irish Epic "Tain Bo Cuailnge" by Louis Le Brocquy and Thomas Kinsella (26 Sep 2002)

Websites

http://www.thealchemicaljourney.co.uk/articles/the-glastonbury-zodiac

~~~~

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Under Construction

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