ASTROLOGY
AND THE WTS
( Investigator 41, 1995
March)
B J Kotwall
Three articles
in Awake!
magazine
(1994 July 8) derided astrology and star worship. What is missing in
these
articles is an admission of what the Watchtower Society (WTS) used to
teach.
For 62 years,
1891 to
1953, the WTS taught
that God resided on the star Alcyone in the Pleiades constellation and
that from this star he governed the universe!
This belief was taught in 1891 in Volume
3 of Studies in the Scriptures p. 327 and was based on passages
in the Bible.
The WTS
also taught that
the Great Pyramid
of Egypt provided additional proof of God's throne in the Pleiades!
(The
Golden Age 1924 September 10 pp. 793-794)
From: Studies
in
the Scriptures
(1891) Vol. 3 p. 327 (Retyped)
The Great Pyramid
327
this
distance to
be
from ninety to ninety six millions of miles, their
latest calculation and conclusion being ninety-two millions. The Great
Pyramid has also its own way of indicating that most correct standard
of
all weights and measures, based upon the size and weight of the earth,
which it is also claimed to indicate.
Commenting
upon
the
scientific testimony and the location of this majestic
"Witness," Rev. Joseph Seiss, D. D. suggests:
"There
is a yet
grander thought embodied in this wonderful structure.
Of its five points there is one of special pre-eminence, in which all
its
sides and exterior lines terminate. It is the summit corner, which
lifts
its solemn index finger to the sun at midday, and by its distance from
the base tells the mean distance to that sun from the earth. And if we
go back to the date which the Pyramid gives itself, and look for what
that
finger pointed to at midnight, we find a far sublimer indication.
Science
has at last discovered that the sun is not a dead center, with planets
wheeling about it, and itself stationary. It is now ascertained that
the
sun also is in motion, carrying with it its splendid retinue of comets,
planets, its satellites and theirs, around some other and vastly
mightier
center. Astronomers are not yet fully agreed as to what or where that
center
is. Some, however, believe that they have found the direction of it to
be the Pleiades, and particularly Alcyone, the central one of the
renowned
Pleiadic stars. To the distinguished German astronomer, Prof. J. H.
Maedler,
belongs the honor of having made this discovery. Alcyone, then, as
far
as science has been able to perceive, would seem to be the ‘midnight
throne'
in which the whole system of gravitation has its central seat, and from
which the Almighty governs his universe. And here is the wonderful
corresponding
fact, that at the date of the Great Pyramid's building, at midnight of
the autumnal equinox, and hence the true beginning of the year* as
still
preserved in the traditions of many nations, the Pleiades were
distributed over the meridian of the pyramid...
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The International
Bible Students Souvenir
Convention Report of 1914 says:
The Pleiades,
the
center
of the universe,
are located in Taurus, and as though to emphasize the foundation, the
original
meaning of Alcyone, one of the chief stars of the Pleiades, is
"foundation".
How significant that the whole universe should throughout the ages
swing
about that constellation and that star which alone picture so clearly
the
Ransom! The bullock offered on the brazen altar in the court was indeed
the foundation: it represented the sacrifice of the Lord. The bullock
in
the sky represented the very same thing. (pp. 252-253)
The book Reconciliation
says:
But the
greatness in
size of other stars
or planets is small when compared to the Pleiades in importance,
because
the Pleiades is the place of the eternal throne of God. (p. 14)
From: Reconciliation (1928) p. 14 (Retyped)
14
Reconciliation
man sees
that the
earth occupies a place of great importance in God's
plan and purposes and that in his due time every creature in heaven and
in earth will be brought into one grand harmonious whole or unity. To
this
effect the inspired witness of Jehovah wrote:
"Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his
good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: that in the
dispensation
of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in
Christ,
both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him." – Eph.
1:
9, 10.
The
constellation
of
the seven stars forming the Pleiades, appears to
be the crowning center around which the known systems of the planets
revolve
even as our sun's planets obey the sun and travel in their respective
orbits.
It has been suggested, and with much weight, that one of the stars of
that
group is the dwelling-place of Jehovah and the place of the highest
heavens;
that it is the place to which the inspired writer referred when he
said:
"Hear thou from thy dwellingplace, even from heaven" (2 Chron. 6:21);
and
that it is the place to which Job referred when under inspiration he
wrote:
"Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands
of
Orion?"—Job 38: 31.
The
constellation
of
the Pleiades is a small one compared with others
which scientific instruments disclose to the wondering eyes of man. But
the greatness in size of other stars or planets is small when compared
with the Pleiades in importance, because the Pleiades is the place of
the
eternal throne of God. For a like reason the various groups of
stars,
greater
in size than the planet earth, must in the eyes of...
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In 1953 the
doctrine
about Alcyone and
the Pleiades was discarded:
Some attribute
striking
qualities to these
constellations or star groups and on the basis of such they then offer
private interpretations of Job 38:31, 32 that amaze their hearers… when
viewed scripturally they are completely without foundation. (The Watchtower 1953
November 15 p. 703)
The Bible
verses
quoted in this 1953
article which were used by "Some" to "amaze their hearers" were in fact
the verses used by the WTS to prove that God resided on the Star
Alcyone!
(The Watchtower 1915 June 15 p. 185; The Golden Age 1928 May 16 p. 540)
A different link
of WTS
doctrine with astrology
appeared in The Watch Tower of 1903. There astrology and
planetary
positions were said to support the WTS's predictions of "the long
promised
era" to start by 1914. (Watchtower Reprints 1903 May 1 p. 3184)
IFrom: Zion's
Watch Tower 1903
May 1 p. 3184 (Retyped)
AN
ASTROLOGER'S
OUTLOOK
We
seriously
question all the claims of astrology; yet the following – from
whatever source the suggestions come, even though of the adversary
himself – seem
remarkably true to our expectations based upon the Word of the Lord.
For
this reason alone we present them here, – as follows:–
"Saturn
is the
representative of the great motive power that has dominated
the mind of man up to the present time. The great organizations of
Capital,
attracting now so much attention, are in reality the last great
struggle
of this Saturn-god to save his throne. But his efforts will be futile,
yet far from useless, for he is blindly doing service for a still
greater
God in the same way as the other planets have contributed blindly to
Saturn's
glory.
"Jupiter,
representing law, religion and morality, has been perforce
subservient to Saturn's greater and more potent force. It explains why
the church, the law, the charitable and educational institutions have
contributed
to increasing the power and prestige of the worldly and material
Saturn,
whose selfish monopolizing material nature must be disposed of and made
tributary to a higher, nobler force that will carry out the work of
human
evolution.
"Jupiter
must also
transfer his allegiance from the grasping Saturn
to the newly discovered factor that stands for universal brotherhood;
namely,
Uranus. When Uranus and Jupiter meet in the humane sign of Aquarius
in
1914, the long-promised era will have made a fair start in the work of
setting man free to work out his own salvation, and will insure the
ultimate
realization of dreams and ideals of all poets and sages in history.
"Uranus
is
preparing
the way for Neptune, who symbolizes love in its
very highest form – the fulfilling of the law. By this, we see that
Socialism,
or whatever the new order may be called, will not and can not be the
rule
of the common or ignorant masses but the leadership of the very highest
developed members of the human family.
"In 1903
Jupiter
will be in the Sign of Pisces – sign of the feet, or
understanding, and the synthesis of the new religion is Love; – Love
that
words cannot define. We are nearing a condition where "masters" will be
unknown – where humanity will instinctively conform to the
injunction, 'Call
no man master, neither be ye called master.'
"Note –
Uranus:
Great commotions are expected when it shall take its ascendancy
over Saturn."
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The
constellations of
the
Zodiac are presently
considered by the WTS as being of Pagan origin. (Insight on the
Scriptures
Volume 2 1988 p. 1240) The same were regarded in 1914 as of Divine
origin
with each of the 12 Zodiacal signs having numerous correspondencies
with
the Bible.
To my
knowledge the WTS
has not directly
admitted their error about God's throne on the Star Alcyone. Their
latest
history book JWs Proclaimers of God's Kingdom (1993) which they
claim is "objective" and "candid" is silent on the subject.
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