Perseus Constellation Meaning

Perseus Constellation

Perseus Constellation [Stellarium]

Constellation Perseus the Champion, is a northern constellation sitting above constellation Taurus and below constellation Cassiopeia, and between constellation Andromeda and constellation Auriga
u. Perseus spans 28 degrees of the Zodiac in the Signs of Taurus and Gemini, and contains 12 named fixed stars.

Constellation Perseus Astrology

Perseus Constellation gives an intelligent, strong, bold and adventurous nature, but a tendency to lying. [1] The constellation is indicative of events affecting large numbers of people, especially those events caused by major meteorological phenomena. [2]

Constellation Perseus Stars
14 ♉ 35
23 ♉ 52
24 ♉ 12
25 ♉ 54
26 ♉ 10
26 ♉ 21
27 ♉ 41
28 ♉ 42
01 ♊ 09
02 ♊ 05
03 ♊ 08
04 ♊ 58
ψ Perseus
π Perseus
M34 Perseus
ρ Perseus
β Perseus
ω Perseus
κ Perseus
η Perseus
ο Perseus
α Perseus
ζ Perseus
ξ Perseus
Seif
Gorgonia Secunda
Capulus
Gorgonia Tertia
Algol
Gorgonia Quarta
Misam
Miram
Atiks
Mirfak
Atik
Menkib

(Star positions for year 2000)

Zeus visited Danae in the form of a shower of gold and got her pregnant with Perseus. As a young man Perseus undertook a mission to kill the Medusa. He was furnished with the sword, cap and wings of Mercury and the shield of Minerva. He killed the Medusa by cutting off her head and afterwards killed the sea monster Cetus and then rescued and married Andromeda. Perseus founded a city, having dropped his cap or found a mushroom at Mycenae.

Perseus, the Champion, formerly was catalogued as Perseus et Caput Medusae. Perseus is shown in early illustrations as a nude youth wearing the talaria, or winged sandals, with a light scarf thrown around his body, holding in his left hand the Gorgoneion, or head of Medusa-Guberna, the mortal one of the Gorgons, and in his right the, or falx, (scythe) which he had received from Mercury. A title popular at one time, and still seen, was the Rescuer, for, according to the story, Perseus, when under obligations to furnish a Gorgon’s head to Polydectes, found the Sisters asleep at the Ocean; and, using the shield of Minerva (Athena) as a mirror, that he might not be petrified by Medusa’s (Algol) glance, cut off her head, which he then utilized in the rescue of Andromeda.

Constellation Perseus Astrology

Constellation Perseus [Urania’s Mirror]


Aratos (ca. 310 BC – 240 BC) characterized the stellar hero as “stirring up a dust in heaven,” either from the fact that his feet are in the celestial road, the Milky Way, or from the haste with which he is going to the rescue of Andromeda… Classical poets called it Pinnipes, referring to the talaria; Cyllenius, the Hero having been aided by Mercury; Abantiades and Acrisioniades, from his grandfather and father; Inachides, from a still earlier ancestor, the first king of Argos; and Deferens caput Algol, Victor Gorgonei monstri, Gorgonifer, Gorgonisue, and Deferens cathenam, from the association of Perseus with Medusa and the chain of Andromeda.

Cacodaemon was the astrologers’ name for this constellation, with special reference to Algol as marking the demon’s head. The constellation is 28° in length, — one of the most extended in the heavens, — stretching from the upraised hand of Cassiopeia nearly to the Pleiades, and well justifying the epithet perimeketos, “very tall,” applied to it by Aratos. It offers a field of especial interest to possessors of small telescopes, while even an opera-glass reveals much that is worthy of observation. Argelander gives a list of 81 naked-eye stars, and Heis 136. [3]

Here we have set before us a mighty man, called in the Hebrew Peretz, from which we have the Greek form Perses, or Perseus (Rom 16:13). In the Denderah Zodiac His Name is Kar Knem, he who fights and subdues. It is a beautiful constellation of 59 stars, two of which are of the 2nd magnitude, four of the 3rd, twelve of the 4th, etc.

Their names supply us with the key to the interpretation of the picture. The star α (in the waist) is called Mirfak, who helps. The next, g (in the right shoulder), is named Al Genib, which means who carries away. The bright star in the left foot is called Athik, who breaks!

In his left hand he carries a head, which, by perversion, the Greeks called the head of Medusa, being ignorant that its Hebrew root meant the trodden under foot. It is also called Rosh Satan (Hebrew), the head of the adversary, and Al Oneh (Arabic), the subdued, or Al Ghoul, the evil spirit. The bright star, β (in this head), has come down to us with the name Al Gol, which means rolling round.

It is a most remarkable phenomenon that so many of these enemies should be characterised by variable stars! But this head of Medusa, like the neck of Cetus, has one. Al Gol is continually changing. In about 69 hours it changes from the 4th magnitude to the 2nd. During four hours of this period it gradually diminishes in brightness, which it recovers in the succeeding four hours; and in the remaining part of the time invariably preserves its greatest lustre. After the expiration of this time its brightness begins to decrease again. Fit emblem of our great enemy, who, “like a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8); then changing into a subtle serpent (Gen 3:8); then changing again into “an angel of light” (2 Cor 11:14). “Transforming himself” continually, to devour, deceive, and destroy. [4]

References

  1. Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology, Vivian E. Robson, 1923, p.56.
  2. Fixed Stars and Judicial Astrology, George Noonan, 1990, p.14.
  3. Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning, Richard H. Allen, 1889, p.329-331.
  4. The Witness of the Stars, E. W. Bullinger, 27. Perseus (the Breaker).