The two most famous divisions of the Heavens, by seven, which is that 

of the planets, and by twelve, which is that of the signs, are found on 
the religious monuments of all the people of the ancient world. The 
twelve Great Gods of Egypt are met with everywhere. They were 
adopted by the Greeks and Romans; and the latter assigned one of 
them to each sign of the Zodiac. Their images were seen at Athens, 
where an altar was erected to each; and they were painted on the 
porticos. The People of the North had their twelve Azes, or Senate of 
twelve great gods, of whom Odin was chief. The Japanese had the 
same number, and like the Egyptians divided them into classes, seven, 
who were the most ancient, and five, afterward added: both of which 
numbers are well known and consecrated in Masonry. 

There is no more striking proof of the universal adoration paid the stars 
and constellations, than the arrangement of the Hebrew camp in the 
Desert, and the allegory in regard to the twelve Tribes of Israel, 
ascribed in the Hebrew legends to Jacob. The Hebrew camp was a 
quadrilateral, in sixteen divisions, of which the central four were 
occupied by images of the four elements. The four divisions at the four 
angles of the quadrilateral exhibited the four signs that the astrologers 
called fixed, and which they regard as subject to the influence of the 
four great Royal Stars, Regulus in Leo, Aldebaran in Taurus, Antares 
in Scorpio, and Fomalhaut in the mouth of Pisces, on which falls the 
water poured out by Aquarius; of which constellations the Scorpion was 
represented in the Hebrew blazonry by the Celestial Vulture or Eagle, 
that rises at the same time with it and is its paranatellon. The other 
signs were arranged on the four faces of the quadilateral, and in the 
parallel and interior divisions. 

There is an astonishing coincidence between the characteristics assigned by 

Jacob to his sons, and those of the signs of the Zodiac, or the planets that have
their domicile in those signs. 

Reuben is compared to running water, unstable, and that cannot excel; and he 
answers to Aquarius, his ensign being a man. The water poured out by Aquarius 
flows toward the South Pole, and it is the first of the four Royal Signs, ascending 
from the Winter Solstice.
 
The Lion (Leo) is the device of Judah; and Jacob compares him to that animal, 
whose constellation in the Heavens is the domicile of the Sun; the Lion of the 
Tribe of Judah; by whose grip, when that of apprentice and that of fellow-craft, - 
of Aquarius at the Winter Solstice and of Cancer at the Vernal Equinox, - had not 
succeeded in raising him, Khürüm was lifted out of the grave. 

Ephraim, on whose ensign appears the Celestial Bull, Jacob compares to the ox. 
Dan, bearing as his device a Scorpion, he compares to the Cerastes or horned 
Serpent, synonymous in astrological language with the vulture or pouncing 
eagle; and which bird was often substituted on the flag of Dan, in place of the 
venomous scorpion, on account of the terror which that reptile inspired, as the 
symbol of Typhon and his malign influences; wherefore the Eagle, as its 
paranatellon, that is, rising and setting at the same time with it, was naturally 
used in its stead. Hence the four famous figures in the sacred pictures of the 
Jews and Christians, and in Royal Arch Masonry, of the Lion, the Ox, the Man, 
and the Eagle, the four creatures of the Apocalypse, copied there from Ezekiel, 
in whose reveries and rhapsodies they are seen revolving around blazing 
circles. 

The Ram, domicile of Mars, chief of the Celestial Soldiery and of the twelve 
Signs, is the device of Gad, whom Jacob characterizes as a warrior, chief of his 
army. 

Cancer, in which are the stars termed Aselli, or little asses, is the device of the 
flag of Issachar, whom Jacob compares to an ass. 

Capricorn, of old represented with the tail of a fish, and called by astronomers 
the Son of Neptune, is the device of Zebulon, of whom Jacob says that he
dwells on the shore of the sea. 

Sagittarius, chasing the Celestial Wolf, is the emblem of Benjamin, whom Jacob 
compares to a hunter: and in that constellation the Romans placed the domicile 
of Diana the huntress.

Virgo, the domicile of Mercury, is borne on the flag of Naphtali, whose eloquence 

and agility Jacob magnifies, both of which are attributes of the Courier of
the Gods.

And of Simeon and Levi he speaks as united, as are the two fishes that make the
Constellation Pisces, which is their armorial emblem. 

Plato, in his Republic, followed the divisions of the Zodiac and the 
planets. So also did Lycurgus at Sparta, and Cecrops in the Athenian 
Commonwealth. Chun, the Chinese legislator, divided China into twelve 
Tcheou, and specially designated twelve mountains. The Etruscans 
divided themselves into twelve Cantons. Romulus appointed twelve 
Lictors. There were twelve tribes of Ishmael and twelve disciples of the 
Hebrew Reformer. The New Jerusalem of the Apocalypse has twelve 
gates. 

Morals & Dogma Albert Pike