1.6

The 365 day length of the year would be obtained using the figurate T₁₇ ( 153 ) and the synodic month average of 29.53 days, rounded down

The synodic period is the time Venus takes to be seen again from the Earth in the same position with respect to the Sun (but not necessarily to the stars). It is 584 days long (583,92 days to be exact) or just over 19 months

This is the diagram ( Below ) on the zodiac that Venus makes in eight years. After that period, Venus, the Sun, the Earth and the stars are again in the same relative positions. It means that Venus, seen from the Earth, is in the same position with respect not only to the Sun, but also to the stars. This happens because five periods of Venus take eight years (When we round Venus' synodic period to a whole number 584, we can calculate that 584x5=2920 days, 2920/365 = 8 years). Take a particular point in a synodic revolution of Venus, for instance the greatest elongation east which places it in one zodiacal constellation. After an interval of 584 days (or nearly 19 months) later, greatest elongation east will take place again, this time almost seven constellations away. These events repeat every nineteen months and the result is that in eight years the eastern elongation point will return close to the point where it started - only about two degrees less - making a pentagram on the zodiac

A lot of modern fundamentalist eisegesis is based on ignorance of history, and naturally the pentagram has gotten a lot of bad press, mainly for the reason it was adopted for use by occultists circa the 1500's ( De Occulta Philosophia libri III - Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, as an example )

The pentagram was actually the old city seal for Jerusalem. From around 300-150 BCE the pentagram stood as the symbol of Jerusalem, marked by the 5 Hebrew letters ירשלם spelling its name

In a recent study, Efrat Bocher and Oded Lipschits of Tel Aviv University identified six different types of such pentagram seal impressions on pottery handles, all with a pentagram and the five letters of Jerusalem between the points

In Jewish tradition, the Pentagram is said to represent Justice, mercy, and wisdom ( source ? )

The pentagram was common on coins and jewelry ( Greek, Roman, etc )

In early Christianity, it was associated with the five wounds of Christ

The pentagram was the archaic Sumerian ideogram that represented the " four quarters of heaven " ( Cf the ruler of the four quarters title )


In early (Ur I) monumental Sumerian script, or cuneiform, a pentagram glyph served as a logogram for the word ub, meaning "corner, angle, nook; a small room, cavity, hole; pitfall" ( This later gave rise to the cuneiform signs for UB)