Ara constellation, the Altar, is a southern constellation sitting below the tail of the Scorpion, constellation Scorpio, between constellation Lupus and constellation Cygnus. Ara spans 12 degrees of the Zodiac in the Sign of Sagittarius and contains 2 named stars.

Ara Constellation Stars

2000	B		Mag.	Orb
19 ♐ 10	η		4.06	1°00′
19 ♐ 50	ε1		3.77	1°10′
20 ♐ 05	ζ		3.12	1°30′
20 ♐ 05	γ		3.31	1°30′
24 ♐ 28	β		2.84	1°40′
25 ♐ 12	α	Choo	2.84	1°40′
25 ♐ 43	σ		4.56	1°00′
25 ♐ 49	δ		3.60	1°20′
26 ♐ 43	λ		4.76	1°00′
27 ♐ 29	μ	Cervantes	5.12	1°00′
01 ♑ 27	θ		3.65	1°20′

(Star positions for the year 2000)

Ara Constellation Astrology

According to Ptolemy, its influence is similar to that of Venus and also Mercury in some degree (idealistic, psychic, handsome, neat, lovable, refined, genteel, intelligent.) It is said to give aptness in science, egoism, devotion, and a love of ecclesiastical matters. [1]

Ara is said to give aptitude in science, a devotion to God, and success in ecclesiastical matters. The α-star is called the Censer. When rising this star was said by Maternus in Mathesis to indicate priests, prophets, theologians, and others associated with religion. [2]

Ara (the Altar) rises in the first degree of Scorpio. Those who are born when this star is rising with influence of benefic planets will be priests, prophets, temple attendants, ministers of the most sacred religions, or diligent interpreters of divine doctrine.

But if this star is at its setting and Mars and Saturn are in threatening aspect, the natives are sentenced for some kind of sacrilege. If Jupiter is in aspect, they are either sacrificed to the gods or killed in some
religious rite.

Whoever has the ascendant in the first degree of Scorpio will be a
magician who lessens hidden pains by the power of words.

Those who have the ascendant in Ara will make a living from sacrifices; they will die of burning. [3]

During the war between the Gods and Titans, the Gods leagued themselves together and swore to withstand their enemies, confirming their oath upon an altar built for the by the Cyclops. After their victory, the altar was taken up to the heaven to commemorate the good resulting from unity. Ara represents the heavenly altar created by the gods of Mount Olympus to celebrate the defeat of the titans where the gods swore their allegiance to the supreme god Zeus/Jupiter. The smoke from the later was said to pour out to create the Milky Way. According to another account, Ara was the altar on which the Centaur Chiron (Centaurus) offered his sacrifices. Ara was also known as the altar that Noah built after the great flood. Ara lies in a dense part of the Milky Way south of the tail of the Scorpion. It is usually shown as an altar on which incense is burnt and occasionally shown as a pyre placed on the summit of a temple or a tower, or serving as a lighthouse.

Ara, the Altar… in classical times was intimately associated with Centaurus and Lupus, which it joined on the west before Norma was formed. It also was Altare, Apta Altaria, Altarium; Sacrarium and Sacris; Acerra, the small altar on which perfumes were burned before the dead; Batillus, an Incense Pan; Prunarum Conceptaculum, a Brazier; Focus, Lar, and Ignitabulum, all meaning a Hearth; and Estia (Hestia), or Vesta, the goddess of the hearth.

Pharus also appears, altars often being placed upon the summits of temple towers and thus serving the ancients as lighthouses, of which the Alexandrian Pharos was the great example. [Pharus, or Pharos, the Great Lamp, or Lighthouse, of Alexandria]

The Alfonsine Tables added to some of these titles Puteus, a Pit; Sacrarius, and Templum, a Sacred Place; but represented it as a typical altar. The Leyden Manuscript made it a tripod censer with incense burning; the illustrated editions of Hyginus of 1488 and 1535, an altar from which flames ascend, with demons on either side; and an illustrated German manuscript of the 15th century showed the Pit with big demons thrusting little ones into the abyss.

Its varied classical names show disagreement as to its form, yet great familiarity with its stars, on the part of early observers, with whom it was of importance as portending changes in the winds and weather… There alpha, 2.9 magnitude, was Choo, a Club or Staff; and with beta, gamma, and iota, Low, Trailing. With theta it marks the top of the Altar’s frame, culminating, on the 24th of July, just above the horizon in the latitude of New York, — 40° 42′ 43″ at the City Hall… beta, a 2.8-magnitude, gamma, delta, epsilon, and zeta mark the flame rising toward the south. In China delta, 3.7, with zeta, was Tseen Yin, the Dark Sky; epsilon, a 4th-magnitude, was Tso Kang, the Left Watch; and e 602 of Reeves was Tseen O, Heaven’s Ridge. [4]

Here we have an altar or burning pyre, placed significantly and ominously upside down! with its fires burning and pointing downwards towards the lower regions, called Tartarus, or the abyss, or “outer-darkness.” It is an asterism with nine stars, of which three are of the 3rd magnitude, four of the 4th, etc. It is south of the Scorpion’s tail, and when these constellations were first formed it was visible only on the very lowest horizon of the south, pointing to the completion of all judgment in the lake of fire.

In the Zodiac of Denderah, we have a different picture, giving us another aspect of the same judgment. It is a man enthroned, with a flail in his hand. His name is Bau, the same name as Hercules has, and means He cometh. It is from the Hebrew Boh, to come. In Arabic, it is called Al Mugamra, which means the completing, or finishing. The Greeks used the word Ara sometimes in the sense of praying, but more frequently in the sense of imprecation or cursing. [5]

References

1. Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology, Vivian E. Robson, 1923, p.30.
2. Fixed Stars and Judicial Astrology, George C. Noonan, p.74.
3. Mathesis: Liber Octavus, XXIII 1-2, XXIX 15,  Firmicus Maternus, 4th Century AD, p.278, 290, 291.
4. Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning, Richard H. Allen, 1889, p.61-64.
5. The Witness of the Stars, E. W. Bullinger, 14. Ara (the Altar).