The Royal-Star Basiliscus
in the Initiation Teachings

By OVE VON SPAETH

The ancient cultures’ astronomical divisions of the sky, and the geometric
patterns shaped by stellar visual connection lines, and the planet’s orbits - were
all seen as special features or keys for an exclusive, religious insight.

The mystery cults in antiquity knew a celestial geometry based on cosmological teachings, a special knowledge also connecting to the ancient art of alchemy.

Esoteric Perception of Cosmic Structure

Early in history a learning which concerns the starry sky knowledge was seen connected with the art of alchemy. The ancient Egyptian alchemy was related to the god Ptah and was known as a process claimed to produce gold also for medical use - i.e. an alchemical all-healing agent with the later name panacea.

In the Renaissance, the Swiss doctor and alchemist Paracelsus (1493-1541) used gold dust for a “gold cure” against rheumatism/arthritis and this method is still in use today. However, in Egypt and the ancient world the process of gold production was also considered as a symbolic, spiritual process belonging to the teachings of the cultic mystery initiation. And in many respects astronomical knowledge was perceived to be very a connected with alchemy.

The Bible refers to Moses “was educated in all the wisdom of Egypt” - cf. his construction of the Israelite calendar (showing the knowledge of astronomy) and that he made the Israelites drink water containing gold dust produced of the Golden Calf’s Egyptian gold.

Among the ancient learned priests and initiated the geometric basic patterns were perceived as being expressed by the celestial divisions also related to the shapes of constellations and planetary orbits - and all these were considered as charged with religious significance. Geometry was perceived as connecting link between the spiritual and physical dimensions which took the shape from “the ideal matrix”, on which space both is built upon and comprises. It is well known that Plato (who had studied in Egypt for 13 years according to his pupil Eudoxus) linked the geometric doctrines directly with the creation.

From most ancient times the basilisk appeared in connection with cosmology, the stars, and
alchemy. The mythological symbols of the basilisk: its head as a cock and its tail as a snake.
Manuscript-illustration of a basilisk, from 1633 (Royal Danish National Library, Folio 51r).

Archetypical patterns in constellation shapes and planet’s orbits

Geometry is “spatially dimensioned mathematics”. Mathematical primal images are archetypical and divine logical - like crystalline geometric structures or the combinations of relations in the harmonies in music - and may in a natural way cause religious “excitement” by the perceiving person.

This was not a question about that everything could symbolize everything. In the tradition concerning understanding of the image creating, celestial exact lines - with archetypical patterns and structures - these were not seen as a result of contingencies or subjective interpretation. The many very precise astronomical conditions by themselves are of exact controllability, for instance concerning time and measures.

The ancient people’s widespread method of conducting observations of a certain pattern in the movements of some constellations during the night was this: Just after sunset it could be observed early in the night-sky that while the constellation The Greater Bear (Big Dipper) is setting partly below the horizon, the constellation Cassiopeia rises at a position from the horizon of the other side, almost directly opposite - all action taking place in the northern sky. By midnight Cassiopeia is close to its upper culmination (most high in the northern sky) while The Greater Bear simultaneously reaches its utmost lower position. Just before dawn The Greater Bear rises, now from the opposite side, while Cassiopeia is going down.

The so far most comprehensive encyclopaedia of antiquity and ancient history is the “Pauly-Wissowa’s Real-Enzyklopädie der classischen Wissenschaft” (Stuttgart 1894-1980). In this work some very fine material can be found concerning many “connecting lines between stars”. Some of the articles contain information presenting a survey on the interplays of “rising and setting of stars” in ancient times.

Other stars have a further precisely shaped pattern concerning their visually related risings and settings. For instance, such can be observed in the very precise relation - supported by the exact connecting line - between the stars Aldebaran and Antares, the two of the four so-called “royal stars”.

The celestial-geometric “archetypes” are thus created from lines of connection and sight to distinctive stars - often with special positions and characteristics. In ancient cultures the were known as connecting a conception system with an emphasis on cosmic patterns of interplaying actions - almost as in modern quantum physics-like conditions of synchronicity relations. Altogether, this belongs to a world of ideas long forgotten, a world with its own consequent logics, however, still recognizable in surviving fragments.

The oldest documented Greek horoscope depicted is a relief in the tomb of

King Antiochus I, in the Taurus Mountains. The time of this king’s coronation

(7th July, 63 BC) is visually noted here. Above the lion’s back: Jupiter, Mercury, Mars

can be seen and the Moon is on the mane - all in conjunction in the Leo constellation.

‘Little King’ - by the Celestial Geometry Mysteries

According to Greek astro-mythology the supreme god Zeus descended in the shape of the Swan - the constellation situated close to Lyra, the biggest star most high in the sky - and he fertilized earthly Leda (Ionic for ‘the woman’) representing Sirius, the Egyptians’ Isis. Lyra and Sirius are situated on exactly the same straight line of sight, with Sirius at the part outside the ecliptic’s celestial circle, which the line is crossing almost perpendicularly. The off-spring of Zeus and Leda became expressed or transferred as the pair of stars known as the Twins.

Also according to similar principles it was by a special understanding that the line was seen leading from “the Father” as the supreme, divine principle - here related to the Swan and especially the Lyra star. This line was a frequently used line of sight (the World-axis, latest seen in use by astronomer Ole Roemer, ca. 1700) and it leads as a basic line (hypotenuse) from the Lyra star down to “the Mother”, i.e. Sirius. In this way a perfect Pythagorean triangle appear with its top angle (rectangular) in “the Son”, the Prince, i.e. in Leo’s main star (Alpha Leo), Basiliscus, the “little king” (: “the king’s son, prince”).

In the esoteric celestial geometry - and in the present case with the cardinal numbers of 3, 4, and 5 of the Pythagorean triangle - the number symbolizing the Father is to be expressed as 3, i.e. the length of the triangle-side being opposite the vertex of the Father. Thus, the number of the Mother is 4 as relating to the triangle-side between the Father and the Son. The number of the Son is 5 and is expressed by the connecting line (the hypotenuse) from the father to the mother.

With the Father in the sky (Paradise), the Mother outside (earthly), and the Son exactly at the very ecliptic circle (“having a foot in both camps”) - this son, “the Crown Prince”, the human being, i.e. the Son of Man, appears half-worldly and half divine. The concept: the principles of the Father, the Mother, and the Son - is known in all major religions. And even the starry duplicate of the idea about the Father at the centre and the Son at the circle-line can be seen even in the late 1600’s in the star related learning of ideas at the beginning modern, western European science.

Until very late in history the World-axis was still used as in antiquity, i.e. as
a line of sight and reference. Around 1700 the illustration, above, was made
for Ole Roemer, the Danish astronomer and discoverer of the speed of light.

The Star of the Royal Births

In parables Jesus talks about him self as “a king’s son”. And concrete statements in The Gospels show his family is reaching back to King David who is registered among his royal ancestors - all this is, apparently, not the only relating. On a certain day every summer when the sun passes the star Basiliscus-Regulus, i.e. “the little king” or “the (royal) son”, probably may be the day of the birth of Jesus. Only 350 years after the time of Jesus, the church decided that his birthday should be determined to be on the birthday of Mithras, the god of cultic initiations - it was at the day of winter solstice, i.e. 25th December.

In the years around the birth of Jesus, the Basiliscus-Regulus star was situated at the very ecliptic circle right on the border between the constellations Cancer and Leo - in a location computed based on the position of the equinox point at that time.
Furthermore - on the same mentioned “day of Basiliscus” in the summer the star Sirius with its other name, The Greater Dog, began its special 30 “dog days” period - as they still are called - after that Sirius had disappeared and being out of sight for 70 days but now returned to show itself again above the horizon.

Then the celestial Pythagorean triangle, i.e. the Father, the Mother, and the Son could be observed/percepted simultaneously at sunrise (while the sun passed and covered Basiliscus). The day was especially the marking of the Egyptian New Year, approx. 20th July - which in the Roman calendar was the day of the Tammuz Festival and was signified as “the Day of Adam”.
The idea was imported from Babylonia - a syncretism, cf. the Roman use of elements of other religions - for instance, the Roman version of the Egyptian Isis cult.

Jesus was also called “the Son of Man” and “the Saviour”, St. Paul called him “the other Adam”, and Pilate called him “king”. Alexander the Great, another king, was also born on 20th July - Alexander is Greek for ‘Saviour of Man’. Likewise, Julius Caesar was favoured by some ‘royal’ prestige from the fact that he was born very close (a few days prior) to this date.

The constellation Leo, shown by Johs. Honter’s woodcut (inspired from Albrecht Dührer’s map, 1515)
in a publication – printed in Basel in 1541 – of Ptolemy’s book “Omnia quae extant opera”. Correctly

for the time the Leo main star, Basiliscus-Regulus, is placed in the middle of Leo’s 3rd decan.

The Serpent Hatching the World Egg

Today the basilisk is mostly known as something else - a recently discovered American lizard, of the group of tree-iguanas. The special type is also called the Jesus Christ Lizard because of its ability to walk on the water, in reality by running 10-20 metres across the water surface with many steps per second to avoid sinking. It got the basilisk name because of the scary look of the basilisk described in ancient Middle East myths where the traditional basilisk appears as a monster with the head of a cock, claws with dangerous spurs and wings of a cock, and a snake-like tail.

The characteristic of this basilisk (cockatrice) was that a snake had hatched this monster (or a toad, cf. “little king”) from a spherical, yolkless egg, laid during the days of Sirius (the Dog Star) by a seven-year-old rooster (cock)!

Sin some of the myths is added that the basilisk spit out such powerful venom that plants withered, and animals died when being hit. The eyes of the monster were flashing sparks - and had such a sinister power that everything the monster looked at died. Therefore it could not endure to look at its own reflected image. Only the cock (and weasel) possessed power to be in control - so when the basilisk heard a cock crow (metaphoric for the sun’s rise and appearance), it disappeared into the ground.

During the ages the basilisk was discussed by European writers, including Pliny the Elder (1st century AD, in his “Natural History”, Book 8:33), Lucan (1st century AD, in his “Pharsalia”, Book 9:849ff), and Isidore of Seville (7th century AD, in his “Etymologies”, Book 12, 4:6ff). In the Middle Ages the Church’s dignitar Pietro d’Abano wrote about the subject.

And later mentioning by the poets, e.g. in Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales”, William Shakespeare’s “Richard III”, and Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Ode to Naples”. Also in modern times the magic of the basilisk catches, such as in Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secret”.

The basilisk appears in Leonardo da Vinci’s “Bestiary” and in his Notebooks. Theophilus Presbyter gives a long recipe in his book for creating a basilisk in order to convert copper into “Spanish gold” (De auro hyspanico). And Albertus Magnus’ “De animalibus” claiming Hermes Trismegistus - but possibly not correct - as a source of the legends and as the creator of the account about the basilisk’s ashes being able to convert silver into gold.

The stars and alchemy

Again and again the idea about the basilisk appears among alchemists and astrologically initiated persons - even in late European history. The Italian theologian, Marcilio Ficino (1433-1499), the Renaissance Platonist philosopher at the Medicis, wanted to re-create a magnificent synthesis of the greatest ancient ideas and knowledge - and also including the star teachings.

In his work, “De vita coelitus compranda” (pp. 394-398), Ficini says about a type of magic that:
“... with the sage herb cleansed by means of manure - and while the sun and the moon were in conjunction in the second third of the Leo’s zodiacal sign - some Persian magicians once produced a bird like a black-bird with a serpent's tail. After the creature had been pulverized to ash they put it into a lamp resulting in that the house suddenly becoming full of snakes. That kind of magic is empty and hazardous to the health and should be avoided. But the other (magic), the necessary one, that connects astrology to medicine, should be maintained. ...” - (reference in Axel Haaning's book: “Light of Nature. Western Philosophy of Nature in the High Middle Age and Renaissance 1250-1650”, in Danish, Copenhagen 2001, pp. 189-190).

The mentioned manure and ash powder played an important part in alchemy. Especially the esoteric-astrological features are unmistakable. The sun’s annual passage follows the ecliptic circle through the 12 zodiacal signs of which each is divided into 3 parts of 10 arc degrees, a decan (of Greek deka,'10'). The ecliptic’s own movement - the precession - had at the time of Ficino caused that the Basiliscus star now was situated in the second (i.e. the middle) decan of the star sign of Leo.

           And when the sun passed through Leo it would thus be in direct contact with the Basiliscus-star, but the point of time should also be arranged that around here a culmination of the new moon also took place - mentioned by Ficino as the “conjunction” (with the sun).
          From Egypt is known the powerful sun god Ra - with his vehicle, the sun disc Aton - adopted by the Greeks as the sun god Apollon, with his vehicle, the sun as Helios, the largest celestial body. However, Apollon was the powerful figure, also in destructive connections, thus in Greek apollon was also a word for ‘destruction’ - and was used, for instance, in this meaning in the Bible’s New Testament (in The Revelation of St. John the Devine).
          The sun was symbolical connected with the cock in numerous old narratives. And the expression “... a bird similar to a black bird (though in Latin is here used merula, ‘a blackbird’) with the tail of a snake ...” points directly to traditions of Babylonian star knowledge - well-known earlier in the Greek-Roman tradition, which was much occupying Ficino.

Vega (alpha Lyra), one of the sky’s most luminous stars - originally the North Star - was in Babylonian named Tartugallu, i.e. the ‘King Rooster/Cock’. Later the Arabs changed this to Black Hen or Cock (cf. Babylonian tartu, ‘cock’ - and gal-lu, ‘king’, this with an extra, associative significance by that the expression in reverse order, i.e. lu-gal, meant ‘man’, ‘human being’). Concerning the “tail of a snake”, and also the black rooster, see the following.

In the teachings of the initiated the moon’s orbit - the snake-like

revolving path around the earth - was depicted as the coiling Cosmic

Serpent hatching the World Egg. From this the Basilisk was hatched out.

The Snake Coiling the Earth

Through the ancient cults' mystery initiations a special information was communicated in the shape of parables - often known as the so-called fables, as the fables e.g. of Aesop (620-560 BC) - a widespread practice and tradition also later being used frequently by Jesus. One of these Greek fables gives an image of a rooster/cock standing on the back of a dog standing on the back of a donkey. This simply expressed the previously mentioned World-axis (not to be mistaken for the axis of the earth) stretching along the Milky Way across the sky all the way up to Lyra.

          The World-axis was seen extending from the star Canopus - which, being the “donkey's hoof”, was a part of the ancient constellation The Donkey (with its underlying constellation Argo Navis) - and going up through the Sirius star (The Greater Dog, Canis Major) - up till the star Lyra/Wega close to the Swan (the Swan or Cygnus in European tradition, but the Cock in Babylonian perception).
          The idea of this image of the World-axis with three main stars - the Donkey, the Dog and the black Cock - was connected with the esoteric parable about the Cock (from ancient times, relating the principle of the sun) which from top of the World-axis laid a special egg, i.e. the Earth. It was well-known in antiquity that the Earth was round, spherical, a knowledge which was a condition for the existence of the ancient Greeks’ astronomical Antikythera computer.
          The egg was then hatched by the snake surrounding it (like the lunar orbit around the globe/earth). The principle of the concept is recognized from the mentioned Greek narrative about Zeus from the starry world creating a fertile connection to earth. Then the basilisk was hatched as a creature of special powers which, when uncontrolled, could be terribly destructive.

          The up to five possible annual lunar eclipses can only take place in two opposite nodes, which - during a fixed number of 19 years - having of currently changing positions, but only when these positions of the nodes are passing a pair of placement points out of the only possible 35 specific places on the ecliptic circle.
          In other words, the 35 places in the sky are from year to year a little variously distributed but always keeping their mutual distances of almost one decan (= 10°). Between these points the lunar orbit’s changing placements - when seen through the 19 years’ cycle altogether in the same picture - are situated on a course winding up and down as a giant snake around the earth.
          The ancient Babylonians with their extensive astronomical knowledge used such a symbolic expression of the lunar orbit’s zig-zag curve positions in space.

Descending to the Underworld

The mentioned two nodal points - “moon-nodes”, i.e. of the lunar orbit - which constitute the positions of the eclipses have from ancient times been called the Snake’s or Dragon’s “head” (at the ascending lunar orbit) and the Dragon’s “tail” (at the descending lunar orbit).
          In eastern Asia the same nodal points were called the Demon’s Head and the Demon’s tail.

In India the tradition concerning celestial subjects contains many elements of the ancient Babylonian tradition. A very important element of the teachings of the stars in India was the moon’s descending node, being the above mentioned celestial point of where the lunar orbit is crossing ‘downwards’ through the ecliptic. In all known tradition in India this nodal point was called Ketu - this, however, was an ancient Babylonian word meaning ‘the underworld’.

This concept was symbolized by a sea monster in the shape of the constellation The Whale (placed close to the beginning of the Aries constellation), and was known too by the Greeks, who - likewise inspired by the Babylonians’ name for it, Ketu - also named it Cetu(s). (However, the Egyptian-Greek astronomer, Ptolemy, and few Roman writers called it Balena or Belua - also meaning ‘monster’).

          In those days whales were - by their looks - considered also a kind of monsters, and according to the Hebrew Bible (in the Book of Jonah, 2:1-3), the prophet Jonah stayed for three days in “the belly of the whale” - literally: in the intestine of the fish(-monster), and the next verses states that Jonah cried out of “the bellow of hell” - Hebrew beten, ‘bellow’.
          In medieval times the simple theatre form still contained this reminiscence of antiquity’s religious mystery plays and metaphoric thinking - by arranging the stage with its one side being permanently set up depicturing the sky - and its other side: the Hell (underworld) with fire being shown in the open big, swallowing jaws of a monster. This monster devouring - as the “whale fish” devoured Jonah (symbol of the spirit) - is recognized as the original Cetus figure. (Stories in which “belly of the beast” appear were well-known in ancient Greek mythology and the Bible as well as later in Grimm’s Fairy Tales. It became a common metaphor in the literature, and e.g. it has been used also as film titles).
          Thus, Baten Kaitos is the traditional Hebrew name, ‘belly of Cetus’, of a special star (Zeta Ceti) - (Arabic: batn qaytus - ‘Cetus-belly’) - which is in the Cetus, the constellation of the underworld or sea monster (later called a whale fish) on the eastern part of the sky.
          In Greek mythology Cetus represents the sea monster sent to devour Andromeda (Greek for ‘controlling a course’). But in earlier times Cetus also was identified with the primeval Mesopotamian monster Tiamat, the ‘deep sea’, personified as a goddess or a female dragon (again, the lunar orbit), the name possibly derived from the more early Sumerian ti, ‘life’, and ama, ‘mother’ - life as originally connected with the sea (concerning the primordial biology).
          The Hebrew name Jonah means ‘dove’ - which is also the name of a star on the very same meridian as Cetus and is the symbol of the Holy Spirit. The Dove was a one of the Babylonian names for Andromeda. It was considered a special significance that the dove-star (Andromeda) and the monster-belly star (Baten Kaitos) are placed exactly on the same celestial longitude, respectively above and below the ecliptic (where the ecliptic is crossing the Earth-plane, i.e. the equator) in the same distance to each of them.
          Obviously, the biblical text in this way presents in a parable: that the “underworld” was visited by Jonah, the “spirit” (Jonah, the dove).

The two opposite placed nodes of the lunar orbit and the sun’s so-called “orbit”,
the ecliptic. These “moon-nodes” are slowly moving backwards on the ecliptic

(a cycle of 19 years) in the opposite direction of the planets. These two
points of crossing are the only places where occultation can take place.

The crossing nodal point of the lunar orbit, when leading down under the solar plane,

is named Ketu, ‘underworld’ - i.e. a name likewise the constellation Cetus resembling ‘the

underworld monster’ (here on the Bode star-map produced 1801-1817 from ancient tradition).

This Cetus constellation is placed where the nodal point (spring equinox) of the solar plane
crossing the plane of equator, had its position at the borderline of the zodiacal constellation
Aries 2,150 years ago when a new spring equinox cycle (a so-called Platonic age) started.
Through this “sun node” the sun, in springtime, arises from an ‘underworld’ (beneath
the equatorial plane) where the sun has been operating during the winter season.

The occultation line - the magic wall around celestial Paradise

From the very old background in the Greeks’ and the Indian’s special horoscopes of the moon-house system, the name of the Cetus constellation is still seen in current tradition - and is connected to the starting point in the first moon-house of these horoscopes.
According to this system - which in India’s tradition has Rahu and Ketu, the two lunar-node points, appearing with important significance almost like planets - this first moon-house is “ruled” by Ketu, the setting node of the moon.
Because the two nodes or cross-points on the ecliptic are the only places where the solar and lunar eclipse can occur, the name ecliptic, 'eclipse', was in use - actually from Greek: ekleipein, 'to leave or fail to appear’.

The first moon-house is the starting in the point of east - and in the biblical parable Adam and Eva were expelled through the Paradise’s eastern gateway to another world. In all ancient tradition the zodiacal constellations and houses were also designated: gateways of the sun. In this context the Paradise wall is the ecliptic circle, i.e. the line of occultation places as a magic border wall to be crossed through - in principle - via the mentioned eastern gateway.
This could have a symbolic meaning in connection with alchemy - in order to get the fine gold - which according to the Bible’s account on the creation, Genesis, is to be found by the rivers in the Paradise, the alchemist has to go through an occulted stage designated negrido.

Again, a main idea in the astronomical feature includes that the hatching snake’s (the lunar orbit’s) one half part originated from the underworld (and the other half reaches and connects to the “upper world”). Of the egg/earth the Basiliscus monster was hatched, a hybrid of the sun-and-moon principle actually transformed into a son of a king, a royal Prince as a refined principle of Man - a potential, activated by being the son of the “cosmic king/ruler”.

          Significant themes in all this show similarities with the biblical Genesis. Adam was later called “the first earthly king” but also “the first alchemist” because a tradition by initiated persons stated that “he carried with him out of Eden-Paradise an important prime-material”.
          The Bible was understood as a magical scripture - and the biblical Genesis as a perfect alchemic process - connecting with the geometrical dimensioning concept of the creation. At a next stage relations from planets to metals were incorporated, e.g. Mercury/mercurium (Latin, ‘mercury’), Sun/aurum (‘gold’, Latin aurora, ‘the sunrise colours’), Jupiter/pewter, originally named tin (‘tin’, a heritage of Etruscan designation for ‘Jupiter’), etc.
          As indicated, the alchemists seem to have connected the brightest star of the sky, Sirius (“the woman”, “the mother”), with the element sulfur. Thus it is of importance to see which elements were considered connected with the stars Lyra (“the father”) and Basilicus (“the son”, “Little King”). It may reasonably be inferred from Isaac Newton’s text that the element of antimony (“the Earth’s metal”), called stibnit, is relating to Basilicus (Regulus, alpha Leo).

At the Danish king’s Castle of Kronborg this manor tapestry shows Tycho Brahe (left), King Frederik II

(centre) and his son, the later Christian IV (right). The dogs symbolize the stars Sirius (called Greater Dog)

and Procyon (Lesser Dog). The king’s son, likewise, represents the Basiliscus-Regulus star (‘Little King’).

Knowledge Fragments Surviving

From the ancient “depots of knowledge” - being the mystery cults’ teachings, later also expressed by Hermetic philosophy - the celestial geometry with cosmological ideas of recognition and religious psychological archetypes were disseminated. Such kind of knowledge penetrates the biblical texts and the teachings of the Jews, Gnostics, Christians, and later Islamic tradition (for instance, in Sufism texts and even the Omar Khayyam poems); and also in the Renaissance by the early science at its start. Circumstances of this kind are rarely seen or expressed in history books and in theology.

Gradually the cultic mysteries’ code keys for occult celestial geometry were forgotten. Consequently the special perception of the “triadic concept” disappeared, i.e. the Father, the Mother, and the Son - and their celestial geometrical, Pythagorean rectangular duplicate. A part of the principle idea remained, however - later included as the special Christian “spiritual” Trinity as the Father, the Son, and now the Holy Spirit.

Fragments of this special knowledge survived in Western Europe - in the Neo-Platonism and Hermetic astro-philosophy. Such was known, for instance by the Danish pioneer of astronomical science, Tycho Brahe (1546-1601), and his German colleague and heir, Johannes Kepler (1571-1630).

Based on his metaphysic, scientific, and religious world of ideas Kepler had the numerical values of the celestial spheres transformed into music, and he tried to investigate the ancient idea about “the harmony of the spheres”. According to his contemporary, Galileo:
“... the Universe can only be read by understanding it as being written in a mathematical language, the letters of which are triangles, circles, and other mathematical patterns of figures ...”.

Tycho Brahe laid the foundation stone of his observatory-castle early in a certain summer morning when the sun formed a conjunction with the Basiliscus star. He belonged to an international group of highly initiated persons, also including kings. The National Museum of Denmark now holds a manor tapestry of a special kind, made for the king’s Castle of Kronborg - and Tycho Brahe is depicted on this contemporarily woven, royal tapestry.
The tapestry also shows the key figures King Frederik II together with a big dog - the king stands next to his son, the Crown Prince, the later King Christian IV, who is shown as a “small king” close to a “minor dog” - thus, correctly similar to a celestial pattern.

In reality this image symbolizes the king’s long marshal’s baton as representing the World-axis, here correctly situated near Sirius. Thus, he is placed together with Sirius, this important star called The Greater Dog. In addition, the star Procyon - the Lesser Dog, Canis Minor - is shown, and also the royal star, Basiliscus-Regulus (‘Little King’).

On the collar of the Greater Dog is written TIW, short for the king’s proverb, “Treu ist Wildbradt”, these words in German meaning ‘fidelity is roast of venison’ (being old slang for “the best available”). This may be a very suitable inscription on a sporting dog’s collar - however, to an alchemist the inscription is actually to be understood as tio (tiu) which is the Greek word for ‘sulfur’ - well-known as one of the most important materials in the alchemical process.
From the alchemic writings we hear about some main ingredients - especially gold, sulphur, and salt. The tiw (tiu) code strongly suggests here that the element sulfur was considered as associated with the Sirius star - as, in principle, the sun was regarded as having a connection to gold.

The occult and esoteric symbolism held the close attention of royal houses of earlier times. To the initiated kings the jesters, the only persons being allowed to contradict the kings, symbolised a “balanced challenge”. And when the kings employed expensively dressed dwarves - this contained certain features of a tribute to the homunculus motive, in alchemy the “little king” connected with the celestial royal star Basiliscus-Regulus.

          As Tycho Brahe belonged to the elite of his country, was a nobleman, had his own court, and presents as an initiated person - he had of course also a dwarf. This dwarf, Jeppe, most often called Per Geck (Gaek, ‘teasing’, ‘fun’), followed Tycho Brahe in his ‘exile’ to Prague and caught much attention there. Jeppe had clairvoyant skills and it was well-known that Tycho Brahe and his assistants were following his advice in many respects.
          The dwarfs by the kings and other great men connected to ideas which can be traced back to, for instance, the Greek Cabir cults in Asia Minor with the ancient “alchemist” kings, e.g. Midas and Croesus.
          Concerning the above mentioned Aesop with his so-called fables, often about animals but in fact belonging to the initiation cults’ teachings containing hidden astronomical and alchemistical themes, - it was stated by Plato in the Phaedo that Socrates spent his time, while he was in prison, turning Aesop’s fables into verse. Also, historian Herodotus wrote about him. During the later part of his life Aesop took residence at a famous place in Asia Minor, where he met Socrates’ “predecessor” Solon, actually it was while Aesop lived here at the court of the golden King Croesus.

This text includes extracts from Ove von Spaeth’s book “The Secret Religion”
(“Den Hemmelige Religion”) - which is the volume 4 of his series “Assassinating Moses”

( C.A. Reitzel, Publisher and Bookseller, phone (+45) 33 12 24 00 & info@careitzel.com )

More information: www.moses-egypt.net

In heraldry, the looks of shield supporters giving power to the coat of arms, were often inspired of
the basilisk - with extra details from lion and eagle - and are called griffins or gryphons. In the sky
the Basilisk star is in the Leo constellation, and the Cock (the basilisk's head) near the Eagle-stars.

Above, an example of basilisk-griffins holding on to a coat of arms for the von Spaeth nobilities,
of 1777 (an early version with the sun and more stars, instead of canons, was from the 1600's).

*

Bibliography

Allen, Richard Hinckley: Star Names. Their Lore and Meaning, New York, (Dover Publications), reprint 1963.

Ashbrook, Joseph: The Astronomocal Scrapbook. - Skywatchers, Pioneers, and Seekers in Astronomy, Sky Publishing Corporation, Cambridge University Press, 1984.

Bischoff, Erich: Der Sieg der Alchymie, Berlin 1925.

Christianson, John Robert: On Tycho's Island. - Tycho Brahe, science, and culture in the sixteenth century, Cambridge (Cambridge University Press), 2000.

Eisler, Robert: The Royal Art of Astrology, London (Herbert Joseph Ltd.) 1946, pp. 239-241.

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Postscript: the re-found knowledge of ancient antiquity and classical antiquity had some of the best conditions during the Renaissance - where alchemy and astrology as a philosophical system were mandatory subjects at the European universities - not least in order to better understand the philosophers of antiquity. Also, with a keen interest many kings and rulers had the classical symbolism from the ancient systems of ideas made connected with their architecture and the fine arts.

The Frederiksborg Castle north of Copenhagen was founded by the especially mystery interested King

Frederick II of Denmark, who held the patronage of Tycho Brahe and his experiments on the esoteric

sciences. Later the king's son, King Christian IV, expanded the castle.

The author Ove von Spaeth is here on his way exploring this rich Renaissance castle of which

both of the two kings so exuberantly had equipped with antiquity’s symbolic figures representing

a Hermetic legacy of special knowledge.