Gates of Life and Death

Follow the western edge of the Summer Triangle, from Vega to Altair, on to the right (western) horn of Capricorn the goat. The entire constellation is like a bow-tie, representing his horns.

Capricorn is one of the dimmest constellations of the Zodiac. Only Cancer the crab, squeezed between the grandeur of Leo the lion and the Gemini twins, has fewer bright stars. But it was just these two constellations, Cancer and Capricorn, that were of greatest significance to the ancients.

Two thousand years ago the Sun reached its lowest point when it was in the constellation of Capricorn; this marked the winter solstice. Six months later the Sun was at its highest point, in the constellation of Cancer. Cancer came to be known as the gate of life, the gate through which new souls came into the world, and Capricorn the gate of death, through which souls left the land of the living.

At latitude twenty-three degrees south, the celestial latitude of Capricorn, the Sun is overhead on December 21st. At latitude twenty-three degrees north, the celestial latitude of Cancer, it is overhead on June 21st. Between these latitudes are the tropics. In the tropics, the Sun is overhead on many days. But here in Vermont, it never is.

However, the axis of the Earth moves. The summer solstice occurs when this axis points most towards the Sun and the Sun is highest in the sky. Every two thousand years the axis of the Earth moves enough so the solstices move to the next constellation in the Zodiac.

Now, the Sun is highest when it is in Gemini, lowest when it is in Sagittarius. The tropics of Cancer and of Capricorn should really be called the tropics of Gemini and Sagittarius, but the old names stick. Really, Gemini is now the gate of life; Sagittarius, death.

(08/24/05)