Constellation Boötes Astrology

Constellation Bootes the Herdsman, sites north of constellation Virgo, between constellation Coma and constellation Orion. It spans over 35 degrees of the Zodiac in the signs of Virgo, Libra and Scorpio. Boötes contains 15 named fixed stars.

(Star positions for year 2000)

According to Ptolemy, the influence of the constellation is like that of Mercury and Saturn, though the star Arcturus is like Mars and Jupiter. It is said to give prosperity from work, strong desires, a tendency to excess, a fondness for rural pursuits, together with some liking for occultism. The Kabalists associate it with the Hebrew letter Teth and the 9th Tarot Trump, “The Hermit”. [1]

“True is the name men have given him (the Bearwarden), threatening-like he presses forward as one does over a team of bullocks. To those born under Arctophylax – Arcturus, fortune herself makes bold to entrust her treasures, so that the wealth of monarchs and temple finances will be in their keeping; they will be kings under kings and ministers of state, and be charged with the guardianship of the people or, as the stewards of grand houses, they will confine their business to the care of another’s home.” [2]

“His name has long been something of a puzzle, for there are several possible sources for it in the Greek. The probability is that the name comes from a word meaning to shout and clamor, for well armed though he is, he is a protector of all creatures, and does not strike with his weapons if fearsome noise will assert his authority instead. This is certainly how the Arabs interpreted the name, for they made him Al Awwah, the Barker, and also gave him charge of a dog, which the Hebrews before them had managed to see there with him. The name Al Awwah has another significance too, being close to Al Awwal, ‘the First’ implying closeness to God, if not even God Himself. That was in pre-Islamic times, of course; no such human representation is countenanced now. But The Quran does speak of a man as Regent placed upon Earth, with dominion over other creatures, so Al Awwal can be read that way too. Bootes then represents not God but all of us, in the role that God has given us to fill. [3]

“He is pictured as a man walking rapidly, with a spear in his right hand and a sickle in his left hand. The Greeks called him Bo-o-tes, which is from the Hebrew root Bo (to come), meaning the coming. It is referred to in Psalm 96:13:

For He cometh,
For He cometh to judge the earth;
He shall judge the world in righteousness,
And the people with His truth.” [4]

“Febagh Beg in County Lei trim, Ireland represents Bootes. The Fenagh Beg capstone is in the shape of Bootes showing that we pay too little attention to the shape of the constellations of stars they represent.”[5]

References

1. Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology, Vivian E. Robson, 1923, p.32.
2. Astronomica, Manilius, 1st century AD, book 5, p.329.
3. The Living Stars, Dr. Eric Morse, 1988, p.140-141.
4. The Witness of the Stars, E. W. Bullinger, 1893, p.36.
5. Stars, Stones and Scholars: The Decipherment of the Megaliths as an Ancient Survey of the Earth by Astronomy, Andis Kaulins, 2008, p.195.