Page:Star Lore Of All Ages, 1911.pdf/74

34 conjunction with Aquarius at the time of the winter solstice, have described the fire of the solstitial sun as "hiding in, being born in, and rising out of the celestial waters of the constellation Aquarius."

Some suppose Aquarius represents Deucalion, who was placed among the stars after the celebrated deluge of Thessaly in 1500, and the creation legend connected with this constellation identifies it with the Flood. It may be that Noah, desiring to perpetuate the record of the Deluge, found in the scroll of night a parchment that never fades, and in the stars characters that time cannot efface.

Aquarius has also been identified with Cecrops, the Egyptian who journeyed to Greece and founded Athens.

Proctor in his Myths and Marvels of Astronomy tells us that Aquarius astrologically speaking is in the house of Saturn. Its natives, those born between Jan. 20th and Feb. 19th, are robust, steady, strong, and healthy, and of middle stature, delicate complexion, clear but not pale, sandy hair, hazel eyes, and generally of honest disposition. It governs the legs and ankles, and reigns over Arabia, Petræa, Tartary, Russia, Denmark, Lower Sweden, Westphalia, Hamburg, and Bremen. It is masculine and fortunate, and an aqueous blue colour is attributed to it.

The Anglo-Saxons called Aquarius "se Waeter-Gyt," the "Water Pourer," and it was also known by the queer title "Skinker," which signifies a tapster or pourer out of liquor.

The astronomical symbol of the sign &#x2652;&#xFE0E;, representing undulating lines of waves, is said to have been the hieroglyph for water. The faint stars that seem to trail southward from the water-jar are many of them in pairs and triples, thus bearing out a stellar resemblance to a flowing stream.

In this region of the sky the 25th Hindu lunar station was situated. The Hindu name for it signified "having a hundred physicians," and it included a hundred stars, the