Young Tales of the Old Cosmos Read Online Free PDF Page A

“Oh yes?”
    “There are too many unanswered questions, as far as I’m concerned. I often find myself wondering about the solidity of our identities and why that basic issue hasn’t been settled to anyone’s satisfaction. What exactly are we? Our bodies consist of stars, that’s an undeniable fact, but beyond this nothing can be said with certainty. From different parts of the galaxy we have different shapes. From some vantage points we don’t even exist anymore. It’s highly troubling.”
    “Is he alluding to the legend of Sol?” wondered Cygnus.
    Pisces nodded. “Maybe he is.”
    “In a sense, I am,” confirmed Ophiuchus.
    For a few moments they all pondered in silence that old story that was also a philosophical conundrum. Somewhere in the galaxy existed a fairly normal star with an unremarkable family of planets. The name of this star was Sol and one of its planets, a bluish orb called Earth, was infested with fleas. Incredible as it sounds, according to the tale, without those fleas the constellations wouldn’t have been defined in their present configurations. It was the fleas that had ordained and named the sky patterns. Those fleas were true creators, because it was only from their perspective that the star signs attained their ideal shapes.
    “They call themselves ‘humans’,” said Ophiuchus.
    “The fleas, you mean?” said Leo.
    Ophiuchus nodded. “It’s my conclusion that the term ‘constellation’ has no real meaning, no intrinsic basis in the realm of facts, because the stars are not at equal distances from Earth. They are only patterns that happen to lie in the same direction as seen from that planet. Do you understand? There is no real connection between any of the stars in our bodies. Thus those fleas preserve our lives.”
    “So we are all optical illusions?” mumbled Libra.
    “Yes, that’s the gist of it.”
    “That’s extremely intriguing, but we were arguing about astrology, not metaphysics,” pointed out Orion.
    “In that case, let me tell you a story,” offered Ophiuchus.
    “Be our guest,” said Gemini.
    “I know a story too,” interrupted Virgo, “and it’s about a space giraffe that lived on one planet but had a neck so long he could stretch it across the vacuum of outer space to thrust his head deep into the atmosphere of a different planet and nibble the leaves from the tops of the trees. He had to hold his breath each time his head made the hazardous crossing from one world to another and one day he got a crick in his neck and couldn’t move his head and he had to exist with his body on one planet and his head on another until the orbits of the…”
    Taurus cleared his throat. Virgo looked up and saw that everyone was frowning at her and she fell silent.
    “My story is about some of those ‘humans’ influenced by being born under my sign,” added Ophiuchus.
    Gemini gasped in astonishment. “What did you say? Born under your sign? But you’re not a member of the zodiac! There are precisely twelve zodiac signs and you’re not one of them. I don’t mean to sound rude, but that’s a simple observation. Only the zodiac constellations emit mystical rays that can affect individual fates.”
    Ophiuchus held up a hand. “I have news for you. I do intrude into the zodiac. Check a star atlas if you don’t believe me. In fact I’m the forgotten thirteenth constellation. My extreme southern point lies between Scorpio and Sagittarius and the ecliptic passes midway between my stars Theta and Xi Ophiuchi. I’m most definitely a zodiacal constellation. I suppose you want to know what dates lie under my jurisdiction? That’s a complex question because we must first be aware of two incompatible astrological schools, the Western and Jyotish. In the former, Scorpio’s reign comes to a climax on November 22 nd each year and Sagittarius begins his rule the following day, but in the latter system the respective dates are December 15 th and 16 th , so my own secret