I've just published a new video entitled "The Twelve Disciples of the Zodiac: Philip the Evangelist."

Beginning with a sermon by the Reverend Robert Taylor delivered on May 29, 1831 entitled "St. Philip," this video explores the evidence that the twelve disciples described in the stories of the New Testament correspond to the signs of the zodiac through which the sun moves (from our vantage-point on the planet earth) during the annual cycle of the year.

The suggestion that the twelve disciples of Jesus in the New Testament (so-called), as well as the twelve children of Israel in the Old Testament (the Hebrew scriptures), may correspond to the twelve houses of the zodiac is probably well-known to most people with even the slightest familiarity with the subject of "astrotheology," a popular name for the study of the evidence that the events and characters described in the scriptures of the Bible are based on celestial metaphor.

However, in order to establish such a connection, more evidence than the simple fact that there are twelve disciples in the New Testament, or tribes of Israel in the Old, is needed.

Robert Taylor's sermon on Philip, delivered over 186 years ago, opens a window onto the astonishing wealth of evidence for this connection between the zodiac and the disciples of the New Testament and the children of Israel in the Old Testament. Philip is by no means the most well-known of the twelve disciples, but Robert Taylor shows that he corresponds to a very significant zodiac constellation -- a connection which points back to the important figure of Joseph in the book of Genesis, as well to one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse found in the Revelation of John.

Robert Taylor's sermons were transcribed and recorded on paper when he delivered them during the first half of the nineteenth century, and published after his death in two volumes entitled The Devil's Pulpit and Astronomico-Theological Lectures. I believe that they may be the first published texts in which the word "astro-theology" appears in print.

You can find links to both volumes from 1857 (as well as links to other helpful texts dealing with the world's ancient Star Myths) on the "Resources" page of my main website, starmythworld.com. A link which takes you to the "Resources" page can be found at the very bottom of any page on that website. I'd like to acknowledge that I myself was first introduced to the work of Robert Taylor by the great teacher Santos Bonacci -- "Mr. Astrotheology" -- many years ago.

This video is the longest video I've ever published, by a long shot, but that's because the number of connections opened up by an examination of the identity of the apostle Philip are simply astonishing in number (and even more could have been included beyond those shown). These connections go beyond those within the Biblical scriptures themselves, to ancient myths from other cultures including ancient India, ancient Greece, and many others. The study of the celestial foundations of the world's mythology and sacred traditions truly is an area in which scratching the surface of almost any story will reveal a web of connections stretching around the globe.

Even more extensive examination of the connections between specific zodiac constellations and the various children of Israel described in the book of Genesis (and their four mothers) can be found in my 2016 book Star Myths of the World, Volume Three (Star Myths of the Bible).

I hope you will find "The Twelve Disciples of the Zodiac: Philip the Evangelist" to be worth the time it takes to watch and to verify the evidence and arguments that are presented. As always, I recommend that people check out the original sources for themselves -- including the myths, the scriptures, and the actual stars and constellations -- rather than accepting someone else's opinions or conclusions.

You may also want to read through Robert Taylor's original 1831 lecture (linked above) in order to see which arguments in the video come from his assertions, and which come from my own analysis of the texts and the corresponding stars. I try to make those distinctions fairly clear during the video itself, but there are many places in which my own analysis goes beyond what Robert Taylor presents, based on what I have learned of the ancient system of celestial metaphor so far, and based upon access to some resources that were not really available in Robert Taylor's day -- including the inspired constellation-outlining system first published by author H. A. Rey in 1952, which contains amazing correspondences to specific clues in the ancient texts and ancient stories, as well as to artistic conventions going back centuries, all the way to the days of the ancient Greeks and even to artwork from ancient Egypt, ancient Mesopotamia, ancient India, and ancient China and Japan.

Longtime readers of this blog will also find connections to subjects discussed in previous posts, including:

. . . as well as many others.

Towards the end of the video, some of the possible reasons that the world's ancient myths employ this system of celestial metaphor are examined. I am convinced that the origin of this ancient system is extremely ancient -- predating the earliest civilizations known to conventional history, including those of ancient Egypt, ancient Mesopotamia, ancient China, and even the ancient Indus-Saraswati civilization, perhaps by many thousands of years.

I am also convinced that this extremely ancient system was devised in order to convey profound truths about an Invisible Other World which we would find difficult to grasp or comprehend if it were explained to us through more conventional methods. For more discussion of the concept of "the esoteric," please see previous posts such as "Wax on, wax off," "Montessori and 'thinging'," and "Like a Finger, Pointing a Way to the Moon" -- as well as the video "The Trinomial Cube and Humanity's Ancient Myths."

As always, please feel free to share this video with those to whom it might be a blessing. Also, please feel free to respond in the comments section on YouTube, or through the comments section in my main website, as well as on Facebook or Twitter.

There is so much evidence from around the world pointing to the conclusion that the ancient myths, scriptures and sacred stories of virtually every culture, on every continent -- and all the islands -- share a common system of celestial metaphor that I believe the question should no longer be in serious doubt.

The ramifications of this conclusion are extensive.

I believe that as we begin to understand the language that the ancient myths of humanity are actually speaking, we can better hear the wisdom that they are trying to convey to us -- for our benefit and blessing in this incarnate life.