The Golden Gate of the Ecliptic

Beginning a Circle

When making one’s way around a circle, where should they begin? It’s difficult to answer such a philosophical question with a definite, practical answer. In fact, to successfully enter the Ravenclaw dorm room in the Deathly Hallows, Luna Lovegood answers the riddle “Which came first, the Phoenix or the Flame?” with “a circle has no beginning”. But in regards to the Celestial Circle, I will suggest a more definite answer, and hope to argue it’s merit with clarity and succinctness.

The Pleiades

Just North of the constellation of Taurus sits a feature that demands attention. At first glance, it appears to be a Full-Moon sized cloud sitting in the sky. But upon further inspection, 5-6 bright stars in close proximity can be discerned. When using a pair of binoculars, even more stars come into view. With a telescope, dozens! In reality, hundreds of stars are densely packed in this small spot.

This group of stars are an Open-Star Cluster, a group tied together by a common gravity, due to being birthed within the same Nebula (gas-cloud). It is among the closest clusters to the Earth at around 450 Lightyears away. Since it’s members ignited relatively recently, hot, bright, massive, short-lived blue Class-B stars make up most of the visible group.

The Pleiades star-cluster, photographed by Brandon Hansen

This iconic asterism has been the fascination of many cultures, and therefore has many names; to the Greeks they were the “Pleiades”, to the Vedic culture “Krittika”, in Arabic “Azoraya”, to Polynesian peoples “Matariki”, and “Subaru” in Japan. In mythologies too numerous to describe in detail here, they have been daughters of the Titan Atlas and Pleione (Greek), divorced wives of Sages who form the Big Dipper (Vedic), a single star split into many in a great battle of Gods (Polynesian), orphan boys (Canadian Indigenous People), a Hen and her Chicks (Vikings), a Sieve or Net (Scandinavian/Baltic). Their sightings have marked different holidays and seasons, like the beginning of Sailing times (Greek), or harvesting (Indigenous peoples of South America), the ceremonial remembrance of loved ones passed on (Celtic). They’re even the namesake and logo of the car-manufacturer Subaru, which formed from the conglomeration of 5 smaller companies.

This in-exhaustive list of astronomical qualities and cultural influences might on their own be enough to justify starting the Circle here, but let’s explore a bit deeper.

The Hyades

Within the constellation of Taurus itself, making up its face, a second open-star cluster is located very near to the Pleiades. Like the previous group, it appears as 5-7 stars to the naked eye, with more emerging with magnification, but form a distinctive V-shape, pointing to the horns of the Bull. They sit even closer to Earth, only around 150 lightyears away, so they appear larger and more spread out. Its members are fairly older, with the brightest of them having consumed the hydrogen in their cores, causing them to balloon in size, and gain more yellow-to-red variations in color.

The names and mythologies of the group are more limited, with them being most well-known as the Hyades, their Greek name. In the stories, they are related to the Pleiades as half-sisters, also daughters of Titan Atlas, but with the Oceanid Aethra. Their placement in the sky came after the death of their brother Hyas, and their deep mourning and unending tears come from an association to rainfall, to cultures spread across Europe.

Though not part of the cluster itself, gravitationally independent and mythologically distinct, a very bright, red star sits on the West border of the Hyades, forming the Bull’s Eye. This star is usually referred to by it’s Arabic name, Aldebaran or Al Debaran, which means “The Follower”, in reference to how it follows the Pleiades into the sky after they rise. Biblical associations pair it with the Archangel Michael. In Sanskrit, its name Rohini can be translated to “arousing woman”, a descriptive name for its bright redness.

Either of these star clusters would be noteworthy on their own, but their proximity as neighbors with only a small space between them greatly heightens their collective significance. However, there is a bit more to discuss before we conclude the answer to our question.

The Ecliptic

While it often appears as though only a bit of empty sky separates the two star-clusters we’ve discussed, at other points of time, it is filled, significantly! At the beginning of this year, it was occupied by the red planet Mars for the entirety of January, as it stationed direct (held still in the sky) in this space, and a comet dropped on it’s head. If you’ve gone out to watch the Sunset this week, these two clusters emerge around an the extremely bright planet Venus. And at other points through the years and decades, the space is occupied by Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, as well as the Sun and Moon. The slow-moving and usually invisible Uranus will spend more than an entire year in this space from 2026-7.

Venus approaching the Golden Gate, April 8, 2023

Because our Solar System has spread out in a relatively flat disc around the Sun, our home Star and planetary siblings move around the sky on a particular path called The Ecliptic. This “Celestial Equator” is the very Circle for which we are attempting to find a beginning.

In a breathtaking display of cosmic coincidence, the orientation of the Sun and Planets in the galaxy has them each journey directly between the two most iconic stellar-clusters in the sky during their orbits, as viewed from Earth.

Read that again, and again, and allow yourself to more fully digest this heavenly phenomena.

The Golden Gate

Our ancient ancestors certainly took notice of this heavenly marvel, and found it to be extra-ordinary. This is in part because human beings were first taking careful notice and documentation of the sky while the Vernal Equinox occurred between these clusters a few thousand years ago. One of the first astro-archeological depictions of the sky is the Tal-Qadi Sky Tablet, found on the Mediterranean island for which it was named. It is a fan-shaped piece of stone with these two star clusters, and the ecliptic between them, carved around 2500 BC.

Another of the oldest depictions of the sky is the Nebra Sky Disc, a circular piece of Bronze also shows the Pleiades, inlayed with gold, with Luminaries passing below them. It has been dated to around 1700 BC, and was discovered buried outside of Nebra, Germany (and subsequently sold on the black market until it was recovered, and placed into Museums for viewing).

This stellar feature has thus been given a special designation, the Golden Gate of the Ecliptic, with the Pleiades and Hyades standing as Pillars on either side of the celestial path of the Wanderers. Though it no longer holds the Vernal Equinox, another astronomical feature that we might argue begins the great Circle, it still serves and a glittering and captivating doorway to the heavens. No other place where the planets travel is nearly as magnificent.

Annular Designation

Due to these factors, the divot on an Annulus which lies between the Pleiades and Hyades will be referred to as E1, the start of the Ecliptic Circle which continues around the board. In variations with 72 divots, each represents 5° of the Zodiac, and modernly, the Golden Gate is currently placed at the Tropical Degrees of 0-5 Gemini. If you have any planets here natally, or see them in another chart, envision them crossing through this magical gate as part of your meditation and interpretation.

In my own personal birth chart, Mercury sits on E1, at 0 Gemini, having just entered through the Golden Gate passed the Pleiades. This placement has additional interest, due to Mercury/Hermes being the mythological son of the oldest Pleiadian sister Maia, with Zeus. Homer’s Hymn to Hermes recounts the adventure of his first day of life, and is one of my absolute favorites. Mercury will next be seen within the Golden Gate at Dawn the mornings of June 12-16, greeted by a Waning Crescent Moon as it exits on the 16th, a stargazing event certainly worth waking up early for! ⭕️