The Fourth Day:
G-d said, "Let there be luminaries in the firmament of the heaven to separate between the day and the night; and they shall serve as signs, and for festivals, and for days and years; and they shall serve as luminaries in the firmament of the heaven to shine upon the earth."
And it was so. And G-d made the two great luminaries, the greater luminary to dominate the day and the lesser luminary to dominate the night; and the stars. And G-d set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, to dominate by day and by night, and to separate between the light and the darkness. And G-d saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
Genesis 1 vs 20-23
The Talmud identified the 12 constellations of the zodiac with the 12 months of the Hebrew calendar. The correspondence of the constellations with their names in Hebrew and the months is as follows:
Aries - Ṭaleh - Nisan
Taurus - Shor - Iyar
Gemini - Teomim - Sivan
Cancer - Sarṭon - Tammuz
Leo - Ari - Av
Virgo - Betulah - Elul
Libra - Moznayim - Tishrei
Scorpio - 'Aḳrab - Cheshvan
Sagittarius - Ḳasshat - Kislev
Capricorn - Gedi - Tevet
Aquarius - D'li - Shevat
Pisces - Dagim - Adar
Some scholars identified the 12 signs of the zodiac with the 12 sons of Yakov/Jacob/twelve tribes of Israel. It should be noted that the 12 lunar months of the Hebrew Calendar are just that: based on the 12 lunar months of 29.53 days each and the lunar year of 354 days. To ensure that the holiday of Passover falls in the spring, a leap month is added 7 times in the 19-year calendar cycle. The calendar originally alternated between 29-day months and 30-day months based on witness testimony before the Sanhedrin, and the leap month added when deemed necessary. Subsequently, with the end of the Sanhedrin, the modern Hebrew calendar was adopted based on mathematical calculation. For astrological purposes therefore, the months continue to match approximately with the assigned constellations (in contrast to a purely lunar calendar, which would shift association of the relevant Hebrew month with the dominant astrological Sun sign). The season aspect of the signs corresponds with the seasons in Israel. Thus, the water signs fall in the winter months which mark the rainy season. When a leap month is required, it is always the month of Adar (the traditional end of the rain season), thus perpetuating the influence of Pisces for one additional month.
Project:
Fold an A3 piece of card into twelve sections...
With watercolours, paint each section dark blue...
Each section represents the sky, mark and punch holes for the constellations in each section...
Label each section...
Either make it into a consetina book or a poster.
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