The Four Royal Stars

The Four Royal Stars

The four stars with their modern names, and their ancient Persian names (in brackets) were: Aldebaran (Tascheter) – vernal equinox (Watcher of the East) Regulus (Venant) – summer solstice (Watcher of the North) Antares (Satevis) – autumnal equinox (Watcher of the West) Fomalhaut (Haftorang/Hastorang) – winter solstice (Watcher of the South)

The Persians believed that the sky was divided into four districts with each district being guarded by one of the four Royal Stars.

The constellations of the Royal Stars were said to be fixed because their positions were close to the four fixed points of the sun's path.4 The sun was then surrounded by four bright stars at the beginning of every season.5 From this observation individuals began to denote them the Royal Stars.5

By 700 BCE the Assyrians had essentially mapped the ecliptic cycle because of the four stars and were in result able to map the constellations, distinguishing them from the planets and the fixed stars.

“Also included in the last pic is info on the four Royal Stars. These can be invoked using the same formula used when doing the LBRP: Before me - Aldebaran Behind me - Antares On my right hand - Fomalhaut On my left hand - Regulus. When doing this, the star itself is invoked instead of the archangel which rules it.”

• Damien