When the Dragon Wore the Crown is a beautifully illustrated, sublimely written treatise that explores the connections between the precession of the equinoxes and the religious and artistic themes of history’s great civilizations. Qualitatively, the research involved in gathering all the various pieces of this amazing thesis is of the highest academic standards, yet the coffee table format is both engaging and delightful. One can spend many hours musing over the full-color artwork that ushers the reader into a profound worldview. Most simply put, it’s about One People on One Planet sharing One Sky.
The Dragon is a reference to Draco, the constellation that in past ages included the star closest to the celestial North Pole. Nowadays, that star is Polaris, the brightest star in the constellation Ursa Minor. But due to the precession of the equinoxes, this point moves around. In past ages the pole star was Thuban, which was Draco’s primary star. The basic astronomy necessary to successfully navigate these pages is introduced in the first few pages, including explanations for the key concepts, the Vernal Equinox (VE) and the North Celestial Pole (NCP). Diagrams help illuminate why these two points slowly shift though the ages. The essential theme of Cerow’s work can be summarized by this equation: VE + stars = Creation + myth. What this means is that whatever constellation the Vernal Equinox is passing over, the creation myths of that era tend to resonate or involve themes associated with that constellation. Spring is the time when everything comes alive, when nature and agriculture can create their abundance. The exact time when this occurred is celebrated in creation myths.The story begins at the dawn of human consciousness, when the earliest artistic artifacts were being made, and the VE was passing through the constellation of Gemini. During the Age of Gemini, between 6300 and 4800 BC, the most prevalent themes involved Twins and spiraling or coiled serpents. Serpents are equivalent to dragons, symbolically, and when they are depicted as spiraling around a central shaft or egg, it’s a reflection of the constellation Draco spiraling around that era’s north star. Artwork from ancient Egypt, the Dogon of West Africa, China, Ireland, and other ancient cultures bring home the message that everyone was being inspired by the night sky, even if they were separated by thousands of miles and were basically incommunicado. Cerow weaves his narrative around the enhanced story-telling and expanded travels that overtook the peoples living during the Age of Gemini. In this sense, the author is describing how the constellation was astrologically shaping humanity’s evolution. When the VE enters Taurus around 4300 BC, the religious and artistic themes shift to bull or cow motifs, while still embracing the dragon or serpent symbols. Thuban reached its most northerly position on 2788 BC when humanity was experiencing a surge in development, most notably, centered on the construction of the Great Pyramid. During the Age of Taurus, humanity yoked the cow and developed the plow, enabling the cultivation of crops and the establishment of permanent settlements. Most intriguingly, when the VE passed over a star in the constellation of Taurus, the mythology reflected the change. In this way, we see that mythology is elastic. In the earliest years of the Age of Taurus, when the VE was passing over the bull’s horns, Egyptian gods and goddesses were depicted with bull’s horns. Centuries later when the VE took place in the back of the Bull, new myths and rituals arose depicting this celestial signpost. In Crete, for example, the Bull-leaping ceremony featured a young athlete who would leap over the horns of a charging bull and land on his back. Again, the illustrations that decorate every page in this book clarify the narrative and the awe-inspiring thesis. When the VE reached the Pleiades, a famous cluster of stars in Taurus, we have tales of partying and debauchery popping up in the myths around the world. The author cites examples from China, the Aztecs, the Greeks, and Egyptians. How is that that these diverse cultures could envision similar meanings to the same star group at the same time, yet they were separated by oceans? The narrative evokes Biblical references, Roman power, and the decline of the Egyptian empire when the VE enters Aries. The planet Mars suddenly becomes the dominant archetype, as individual feats are celebrated. Take, for example, the legend of Jason and the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece (the ram’s wool). Or Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, or Moses, leading his people out of Egypt into the Promised Land. Heroes proliferate. This marvelous book closes and we’re just getting into End Times messages and the beginning of the Age of Pisces. By way of explanation, the author writes, “We will examine this Epoch of Pisces, but as a separate work. It is the door through which we must pass if we want to better understand the dawning of Aquarius.” We can hardly wait! In passing we are told that Polaris reaches its closest approach to true north in 2100 AD. As history has shown us, whenever one of these critical points is reached, civilization experiences dramatic growth in new directions. The author refers to this transition as a time when Heaven wears a New Crown. When the Dragon Wore the Crown links the evolution of human consciousness with the art history of humanity as only the astrologically-literate could appreciate.
Book Reviewed for Dell Horoscope magazine
June 2014 by Chris Lorenz
When the Dragon Wore the Crown
by Don Cerow
Ibis Press, PO Box 540206, Lake Worth, FL 33454-0206; 2013, paper, 235 pp., (8 ½” x 11”), $26.95, ISBN 978-089254-205-5.
One previewer of Don Cerow’s When the Dragon Wore the Crown, referred to the author as a “cosmo-linguist”, an interesting alternative to “astrologer”. Perhaps the term is a more accurate description of what Cerow does since he is as much a cosmologist as one who investigates the influence of the planets. Over the course of the last 40 years, he traced humanity’s evolution based on the premise that the skies formed an integral part of reality, of the collective consciousness.
