"Zeitgeist" Online Movie: Part One

Refuted©

Posted: August 23, 2007

Is the Gospel Story Derived from the Zodiac?

The narrator appears to rely heavily on D.M. Murdock’s thesis that religious mythologies in general “took the form of a play, with a cast of characters, including the 12 divisions of the sky called the signs or constellations of the zodiac. The symbols that typified these 12 celestial sections of 300 each were not based on what the constellations actually look like but represent aspects of earthly life. Thus, the ancient peoples were able to incorporate these earthly aspects into the mythos and project them onto the all-important celestial screen.” 1 Using this reasoning, the narrator and D.M. Murdock claim that the mythical Jesus recognized the coming of the age of Pisces and that Jesus’ twelve disciples are truly the twelve constellations of the Zodiac.

The early Apostolic Father, Clement of Rome (circa 95 C.E.), believed that Peter was a historical figure—not an allegorical expression of the zodiac. Clement writes the following towards the end of the first century C.E.:

“But not to dwell upon ancient examples, let us come to the most recent spiritual heroes. Let us take the noble examples furnished in our own generation. Through envy and jealousy the greatest and most righteous pillars [of the church] have been persecuted and put to death. Let us set before our eyes the illustrious apostles. Peter, through unrighteous envy, endured not one or two, but numerous labors; and when he had at length suffered martyrdom, departed to the place of glory due to him. Owing to envy, Paul also obtained the reward of patient endurance, after being seven times thrown into captivity, compelled to flee, and stoned. After preaching both in the east and west, he gained the illustrious reputation due to his faith, having taught righteousness to the whole world, and come to the extreme limit of the west, and suffered martyrdom under the prefects. Thus was he removed from the world, and went into the holy place, having proved himself a striking example of patience.”

The narrator then mentions that the number 12 is common throughout the Bible.

Historian and Christian apologist Michael Licona contacted Noel Swerdlow regarding D.M. Murdock’s thesis. Dr. Swerdlow responded:

"In antiquity, constellations were just groups of stars, and there were no borders separating the region of one from the region of another. In astrology, for computational purposes the zodiacal signs were taken as twelve arcs of 30 degrees measured from the vernal equinox. Because of the slow westward motion of the equinoxes and solstices, what we call the precession of the equinoxes, these did not correspond to the constellations with the same names. But . . . within which group of stars the vernal equinox was located, was of no astrological significance at all. The modern ideas about the Age of Pisces or the Age of Aquarius are based upon the location of the vernal equinox in the regions of the stars of those constellations. But the regions, the borders between, those constellations are a completely modern convention of the International Astronomical Union for the purpose of mapping . . . and never had any astrological significance. I hope this is helpful although in truth what this woman is claiming is so wacky that it is hardly worth answering.(5) So when this woman says that the Christian fish was a symbol of the 'coming age of Pisces', she is saying something that no one would have thought of in antiquity because in which constellation of the fixed stars the vernal equinox was located, was of no significance and is entirely an idea of modern, I believe twentieth-century, astrology.(6)"



Licona proceeded to write:


“In other words, the ancient ‘Christ conspirators’ could not have recognized the 12 celestial sections in order to incorporate them into a Christian myth and announce the ushering in of the Age of Pisces as Murdock claims, because the division into the celestial sections did not occur until a meeting of the International Astronomical Union in the 20th century!(7) Therefore, her claim is without any merit.

Ms. Murdock also holds that when we see 12 figures in the Bible that these are representative of the 12 zodiacal signs. She writes, ‘In reality, it is no accident that there are 12 patriarchs, 12 tribes of Israel and 12 disciples, 12 being the number of the astrological signs . . .’(8) If we want to accept her thoughts on this, we also need to accept that Dunkin Donuts is owned by an astrologer since they give a discount when you buy a dozen donuts. Grocery stores are also run by astrologers, since you buy eggs by the dozen. Even our legal system must have been influenced by astrology, since there are 12 jurors. When you want to see astrology in something, you see it, even when it requires that you read in foreign meanings into the texts.”

Concordantly, Marcia Montenegro also writes the following in response to the film’s thesis:

“How would one know that Virgo means a virgin will give birth to the son of God? If Virgo just means virgin (and I believe that in the pagan context it was a young woman and not necessarily a literal virgin), how does anyone get a story out of that? You can't just make a story out of names like Virgo, Leo, Taurus, etc. And why doesn't the story begin with Aries? If it did, then Leo comes before Virgo, yet Leo is supposedly Jesus, the Lion of Judah. It seems it would come after Virgo, not before, in a story. And where are the signs for sin, God's grace, and the cross? I don't see any of the zodiac signs symbolizing any of that. Where is resurrection, for that matter? Even if you say Scorpio is resurrection based on how astrologers view it now, until Pluto was discovered, Scorpio was ruled by Mars, the god of war, so you can't say any of those zodiac signs are resurrection. One has to know what to look for in order to make these zodiac signs symbolize anything. No one could come up with the gospel story from the zodiac if they didn't already know the gospel story.” 2

The film displays an image of Jesus in the Zodiac. However, as the film indicates, this depiction dates to the 11th century C.E. The film also compares the shape of the “cross of the Zodiac” to the cross shapes found on some church steeples. However, these pieces of art all post-date the New Testament writings, meaning the narrator is using anachronistic reasoning.

Endnotes:

1. Acharya S, The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold (Kempton, IL: Adventures Unlimited, 1999), 151-152.

2. This quote is taken from the author’s email exchange with Marcia Montenegro on July 26, 2007.

Continue to: Did a Mythical Jesus Usher in the "Age of Pisces"?