Image from Hamlet’s Mill
What do an ancient astronomical cycle, a mysterious 20th-century book, the Bard of Avon, and a Danish stargazer have in common? This is the first video in a series where I will explore the Great Year, or what is commonly known as the Precession of the Equinox. In this first video, I explore:
- The Great Year – the vast precessional cycle of Earth’s axis and its cultural echoes through history.
- Hamlet’s Mill – Giorgio de Santillana & Hertha von Dechend’s groundbreaking work linking myth to astronomy.
- Shakespeare – subtle cosmic symbolism in the play Hamlet, about a Danish prince whose story is based on the Norse tale Amleth.
- Tycho Brahe – the brilliant Danish astronomer… and how the names of his own cousins ended up as characters in Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
Shakespeare is commonly thought to hold hidden clues, messages and ciphers. Perhaps the authors of Hamlet’s Mill picked up on this and, for this reason, named their book Hamlet’s Mill. All of these themes weave a story that may help us to shift our perspective when considering the great year, how it works and where we are in its cycle.
In episode two, I will explore how an off-handed comment in Hamlet’s Mill may help us reorient our perspective, and in episode three, I will look at hints in one of the Dendera Zodiacs, so make sure to subscribe to get notified about future episodes.
I am drawing from information contained in my book, Binary Star Astrology. You can read the first three chapters in the Wild Sky Mystery School Library