The melting point of diamond is over 4000 degrees C.

What is surprising however is that under normal atmospheric temperatures and pressures, graphite is the stable form of ncils) is another polymorph and in terms of hardness this material is very soft and right at the other end of the hardness scale. Both share the same chemistry – i.e. – the element carbon, but they have very different crystal structures and properties.

Diamond is colourless and transparent whereas graphite is opaque

Diamond is hard whereas graphite is soft

Diamond conducts heat better than any other material –five times greater than silver.

Diamond is an excellent electrical insulator whereas graphite is a good conductor of electricity.

Diamond is the ultimate abrasive material and is commonly used in oilfield drilling bits, graphite on the other hand is a very good lubricant.

The melting point of diamond is over 4000 degrees C.

What is surprising however is that under normal atmospheric temperatures and pressures, graphite is the stable form of ncils) is another polymorph and in terms of hardness this material is very soft and right at the other end of the hardness scale. Both share the same chemistry – i.e. – the element carbon, but they have very different crystal structures and properties.

Diamond is colourless and transparent whereas graphite is opaque

Diamond is hard whereas graphite is soft

Diamond conducts heat better than any other material –five times greater than silver.

Diamond is an excellent electrical insulator whereas graphite is a good conductor of electricity.

Diamond is the ultimate abrasive material and is commonly used in oilfield drilling bits, graphite on the other hand is a very good lubricant.

The melting point of diamond is over 4000 degrees C.

What is surprising however is that under normal atmospheric temperatures and pressures, graphite is the stable form of carbon and in fact all diamonds are being slowly turned to graphite. Fortunately this process is EXTREMELY SLOW!!!!

Diamonds are formed from graphite under conditions of extreme pressures and temperatures which are found deep within the earth.

The word Jasper means "treasurer" in ancient Persian. And tradition has it that it was the name given to one of the three kings (also known as the three Magi or wise men) who visited the newborn Jesus in the New Testament. Jasper is an impure opaque variety of red, green, black, or mottled quartz was used by the ancients as a gem as well as for vases and statues. The Indians of California picked it up on the beaches and carried it as amulets. It is mentioned as one of the stones of the High Priest’s breastplate (Exodus xxviii, 20) and some authorities claim as many as three other stones were also different coloured jasper. It was highly thought of by medieval physicians and recommended for pharmacy. It was said to quicken thought and action, and at the same time to ensure caution and avoidance of needless risk. Hildegard of Birgen (a 12^th century nun) in her "Subtleties of Diverse Creatures", advised women to hold a piece of jasper in the hand during childbirth to guard against the evil that could come to the mother and child by demons of the air.

Red jasper was sometimes used by the Egyptians in place of carnelian as the "Blood of Isis" and as the "Buckle of Isis" on the throat of the dead. It was especially fine for young girls, giving them grace and beauty and curing their diseases. Medicinally it was used; for the most part because of it colour affinity, to stop haemorrhage, strengthen the pulse, and to check the flux. Green jasper (jasper viridis) was often used in place of jade by the Chinese in the mouth of the dead. Medicinally it was thought that it aided the stomach and spleen by contact, and was worn over the kidneys to prevent retention of urine. In Elizabethan England it was called the "spleen-stone." It also drove away evil spirits and cured fevers, dropsy, and epilepsy, and prevented snakebite. A piece of this stone was inserted under the skin of an epileptic by a surgeon to prevent seizures. Physicians to aid them in their diagnoses also wore it.

Black jasper was formerly used as an aid to the capture of cities and fleets, (I think here there is that relationship with the God Of War. Even today it is occasionally by Italian farmers as a protection from lightning. Mottled jasper was used to prevent drowning or death on or near the water

Jasper is the granular counterpart of carnelian and sard, and is usually brown, red, yellow, and may have inclusions of metal oxides. The name derived from the Greek and means "spotted stone". Sometimes as parallel lines rather than spots. Several varieties can create what looks like miniature landscape scenes and are often referred to as "picture jaspers

Jasper is a chalcedony - one of the cryptocrystalline (crystals too small to be seen even by a microscope) varieties of quartz.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

In modern Astrology Taurus is an earth sign and is the second of the signs of the Zodiac. But it appears that this may not have been always the case.

Eight thousand years ago, the Sun’s position along the Zodiac on the first day of spring, or Vernal Equinox, was in that constellation we now recognise as Taurus, the Bull. This was the New Year’s Day for many peoples—and the most important date in the year, marking the time for ploughing and planting. For many centuries Taurus was considered to be the first and most important constellation of the Zodiac. Some have suggested that Taurus may have been the first Zodiac sign to be invented.

To the Hebrews the constellation was known as Aleph, the first letter of their alphabet.

The legends of Taurus The Bull goes back to at least 4000 BC and to the ancient Egyptian and Sumerian Civilisations. The Bull was the symbol for power and strength.

Rituals associated with preparing the dead were especially important in many cultures where the afterlife was as, or more, important than life on Earth. Copper was used extensively in ancient Egypt for purification rites prior to any service to a deity .They also called for the use of Copper mirrors, which were placed under the head of the body, whilst preparing the body for the after life.

In many ancient cultures sacrifice to a deity played a very important role in society and very often copper knives were used for this purpose

Prayer Diagrams carved on Copper stones or engraved on plates provided a method of connecting to the spirit world in many Eastern cultures

Even early Christian rites specified copper or bronze for candle holders and lamps for their rituals.

The so called Copper Age stor, Pollux, Clytemnestra and the beautiful Helen of Sparta. Castor and Pollux are sometimes known as the Dioscuri, meaning 'sons of Zeus' or sometimes the Tyndarides, meaning 'sons of Tyndareus,'. It was Tyndareus, the King of Sparta, was who was Leda's actual husband.

Castor and Pollux were legendary adventurers and fighters. They were members of the Argonauts, the group of brave young men who set off with Jason in pursuit of the Golden Fleece. The two brothers are also known for their constant rivalry with Theseus of Athens. Theseus, in fact, kidnapped their sister Helen one day and locked her up in Athens. When Theseus was away attending to other business, Castor and Pollux stormed the city and took Helen back.

As may seem fitting, the twins died fighting while they were still relatively young. Castor was killed in a struggle with the Leucippidae, who were actually cousins of his. Zeus saw the struggle and the death from his place in the heavens. The twins were among his favourite mortals, and Zeus did not want to see them both go to Hades, so he hurled a thunderbolt at the Leucippidae and killed them. When Castor was killed during a battle, Pollux was inconsolable and gave up his own life to be with his brother.  Zeus took Pollux up to the heavens, however Pollux did not want to be immortal while his brother was still in Hades. He begged Zeus to bring his brother up to the sky. Zeus finally consented, whereupon the brothers reunited and remained together forever. He placed their images among the stars, where they shine side by side. Two lines of stars makes up this constellation, and two bright stars at the top of each line represent Castor and Pollux's heads.

The Ruling Planet for GEMINI is MERCURY

Mercury immortalised as The Winged Messenger in Holst’s Planet Suite, is the closest planet to the Sun and the eighth largest. Mercury is smaller in diameter than Ganymede and Titan (Two of Jupiter’s Moons) but more massive. It has a diameter of 4880 Km and the orbit averages some 58 million Km from the Sun.

Until 1962 it was thought that Mercury's "day" was the same length as its "year" so as to keep that same face to the Sun much as the Moon does to the Earth. But this was shown to be false in 1965 by Doppler radar observations. It is now known that Mercury rotates three times in two of its years. Mercury is the only body in the solar system known to have an orbital/rotational resonance with a ratio other than 1:1 (though many have no resonances at all).

Mercury is in many ways similar to the Moon: its surface is heavily cratered and very old; Mercury is often visible with binoculars or even the unaided eye, but it is always very near the Sun and difficult to see in the twilight sky.

Mercury has been known since at least the time of the Sumerians (3rd millennium BC). It was given two names by the Greeks: Apollo for its apparition as a morning star and Hermes as an evening star. Greek astronomers knew, however, that the two names referred to the same body. Heraclites even believed that Mercury and Venus orbit the Sun, not the Earth. (And this was long before it was discovered in the Middle Ages, that planets revolve around the sun and not the earth.)

In Roman mythology Mercury was the 'Messenger of the Gods', son of 'Jupiter' and 'Maia' and the equivalent of the 'God Hermes' of ancient Greek mythology. The planet probably received this name because it moves so quickly across the sky.

Of all the planets within our solar system, Mercury is nearest to the Sun. There is a direct correspondence to this fact in the mapping of an individual's birth chart. With the exception of the Moon, Mercury revolves through the zodiac faster than any other planet; yet its proximity to the Sun insures that its placement will always be near to or on par with the subject's Solar sign

The metal which is associated with Gemini

Mercury was also known to the ancients and has been found in tombs dating back to 1500 and 1600 BC. There are also indications that it was prized and possibly worshipped by the Egyptians. Pliny, the Roman chronicler, outlined a purification technique by squeezing it through leather. He also noted that it was poisonous. In many ancient civilisations it was used to placate or chase away evil spirits. In 315 B.C., Dioscorides writes about how he made "hydra gyros" – meaning "liquid silver" by distillation from the mineral cinnabar, stating "An iron bowl containing cinnabar is put into an earthenware container and sealed with clay. It is then set on a fire and the soot which sticks to the cover is quicksilver". Methods changed little until the 18th century. Mercury's symbol is Hg from the word hydra gyros. The mineral cinnabar is mercuric sulphide and is one of the major sources of mercury.

Mercury was an important chemical for medieval alchemists as it was suspected of being an element of which all matter is made from, and when solid it was thought to become gold.

Mercury oxide (found in both red and yellow forms) led to the discovery of Oxygen by Joseph Priestley in 1774 who heated the oxide and found a gas was emitted that allowed burning to be more vigorous.

Quicksilver which of course is the common name for the metal and element. Mercury is a heavy metal with an atomic weight of 200.6 and atomic number of 80, which makes it denser than gold. It has some very unusual properties - it is liquid at room temperature (its melting point is -39 degrees C) and has a boiling point of 356 deg.C

Mercury vapour and all the compounds of this element are extremely toxic and all cause irreversible brain damage. The Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland is depicted because during the 19^th century, mercury was used extensively in the manufacture of felt top hats.

From the 15^th century right up to the mid 20^th century mercury was used as a cure for syphilis. I guess if you didn’t die from the syphilis you either went mad or died from mercury poisoning.

It readily forms alloys – called amalgams with metals such as silver and gold which are non toxic and are widely used in dentistry.

The colours which are associated with Gemini are ORANGE or SILVER

The main Planetary Stone associated with Gemini is the Tiger Eye, although some sources refer to tourmaline, citrine and agate. I think that the reason for these differences all come back to the controversy between Planetary Stones and Birthstones as referred to at the beginning of this article.

Tiger's Eye is a chalcedonic variety of quartz (silicon dioxide), generally brown in colour, sometimes with lustrous yellow or gold banding and parallel yellow and brown fibres. This effect is caused by inclusions of oxides of iron and/or metamorphosed asbestos fibres. Tiger's Eye has the property of chatoyancy, which means that it glitters with a small ray of light on the surface, much like the eyes of a cat or a tiger. Originally this stone was called Cat's Eye Quartz (18th century). There largest deposits of tiger's eye are in South Africa, Australia, Burma, India and the United States.

Tiger's Eye has the grounding energy of the earth, but is embellished with a glowing warmth, the influence of the yellow/gold highlights of the fibrous inclusions.

This is a stone for people who need more confidence to accomplish their goals. Tiger's Eye helps us recognise the resources within ourselves and use those resources for the attainment of our dreams. It helps us judge a situation and determine how best to approach it.

The image of the crab is thought to be originally of Babylonian origin. In Egypt, this sign was represented by two turtles, and sometimes as an obscure water creature, known as Allul.
However it is once again to Greek mythology we turn to for crab as a Zodiac symbol.

The name, cancer however derives from Latin, meaning literally, the crab.

This crab was also not a particularly benevolent creature while on the Earth. It was originally called Carcinus, which is Greek for 'crayfish.' It dwelled underwater, and was huge and rather malevolent.

(It is interesting to note at this point, that the disease – cancer can be likened in description as to a crab and the word carcinogenic, derived from the Greek word, is the word used for a substance which causes cancer
The Crab was the first symbol of the zodiac to be placed in the heavens by an immortal other than the mighty Zeus. The deed was done by a servant of Zeus' queen, named Hera.)

The story begins with Zeus having an affair with Alcmene, the queen of Tiryns. The result of this union was Heracles (the Romans named him our familiar Hercules). He was one of the most famous of Greek Heroes. Of course, this union and offspring did not go over too well with Hera, the wife of Zeus. Hera, in her jealous state, swore to kill Hercules.

Heracles was in the middle of the Twelve Labours, his punishment for crimes committed as a young man. In a fit of madness he had killed his wife and young sons. (This madness was placed onto Hercules by Hera, incidentally) The gods decreed that even though he wasn't entirely responsible for the crime, he would need to spend many years atoning for his sins. They put him in the service of his brother, Eurystheus, who was more than happy to set him to task after task, all of which seemed impossible to accomplish. Heracles was no ordinary man, and in the course of his labours. The first labour of Hercules incidentally was to kill the Lion of Nemea (Leo). He gained glory, renown and the favour of most of the Olympians. Hera, however, remained implacable in her hatred. At the time when Hera sent the giant crab to attack Heracles, the hero was fighting a much more terrible foe. This beast was the Lernean Hydra. It was a giant fire breathing snake with many heads. Each time Heracles cut off one head, two more would grow back in its place. Hera thought that Heracles would be too busy fighting the Hydra to pay attention to the giant crab, or that if the crab distracted him, the Hydra would have an opportunity to finish him. Hera however was mistaken and Heracles being so mighty in strength, killed the crab by smashing its shell with his foot and then turned his attention back to the Hydra, which he also slayed Hera, who had watched the incident, did not forget the animal that had died at her command. She placed it in the heavens to show that she was grateful for its efforts.

The Constellation of Cancer may be found between the constellations of Leo and Gemini.

It was called Luna by the Romans, Selene and Artemis by the Greeks, and many other names in other mythologies.

   The Moon, of course, has been known since prehistoric times. It is the second brightest object in the sky after the Sun. As the Moon orbits around the Earth once per month, the angle between the Earth, the Moon and the Sun changes; we see this as the cycle of the Moon's phases. The time between successive new moons is 29.5 days (709 hours), slightly different from the Moon's orbital period (measured against the stars) since the Earth moves a significant distance in its orbit around the Sun in that time.

The Moon has a radius of some 1,738 Km. It rotates around the earth in 27.3217 earth days at a distance of some 383, 000 Km. The Moon was first visited by the Soviet spacecraft Luna 2 in 1959. It is the only extraterrestrial body to have been visited by humans. The first landing was on July 20, 1969 and the last was in December 1972. The Moon is also the only body from which samples have been returned to Earth.  

The gravitational forces between the Earth and the Moon cause some interesting effects. The most obvious is the tides. The Moon's gravitational attraction is stronger on the side of the Earth nearest to the Moon and weaker on the opposite side. Since the Earth, and particularly the oceans, is not perfectly rigid it is stretched out along the line toward the Moon. From our perspective on the Earth's surface we see two small bulges, one in the direction of the Moon and one directly opposite. The effect is much stronger in the ocean water than in the solid crust so the water bulges are higher. And because the Earth rotates much faster than the Moon moves in its orbit, the bulges move around the Earth about once a day giving two high tides per day. (This is a greatly simplified model; actual tides, especially near the coasts, are much more complicated.)
 The orbit is synchronous with the rotation of the earth, i.e. it is locked in phase with its orbit so that the same side is always facing toward the Earth. Actually, the Moon appears to wobble a bit (due to its slightly non-circular orbit) so that a few degrees of the far side can be seen from time to time, but the majority of the far side was completely unknown until the Soviet spacecraft Luna 3 photographed it in 1959. (Note: there is no "dark side" of the Moon; all parts of the Moon get sunlight half the time (except for a few deep craters near the poles).  There are two primary types of terrain on the Moon: the heavily cratered and very old highlands and the relatively smooth and younger maria (From the Latin meaning Sea). The maria (which comprises about 16% of the Moon's surface) are huge impact craters that were later flooded by molten lava. Most of the surface is covered with regolith, a mixture of fine dust and rocky debris produced by meteor impacts. For some unknown reason, the maria are concentrated on the near side.  

   A total of 382 kg of rock samples were returned to the Earth by the Apollo and Luna programmes. These provide most of our detailed knowledge of the Moon. They are particularly valuable in that they can be dated. Even today, 20 years after the last Moon landing, scientists still study these precious samples.

   Most rocks on the surface of the Moon seem to be between 4.6 and 3 billion years old. The oldest terrestrial rocks are rarely more than 3 billion years old. Thus the Moon provides evidence about the early history of the Solar System not available on the Earth.

 The metal which is associated with Cancer is SILVER

Silver is one of the precious or noble metals and has been used for jewellery and as a currency for at least four thousand years. The Latin name for silver is argenta and it is from this name we get the chemical symbol for silver (Ag) and from which the country, Argentina was named.

Silver has been valued as an ornamental and coin metal since ancient times, it was mined in Asia Minor before 2500 BC, The deliberate extraction of silver from lead ores was apparently mastered by the end of the 3rd millennium BC, and employed in the production of objects using the same techniques used for gold in the Sumerian and the Middle East. Silver remained a restricted material until the late Roman Republic, 27 BC when huge quantities available to Rome made it a vehicle for trade and wealth, along with its use as coinage. The Romans valued silver greatly in terms of coinage and ornaments.

During the Middle Ages in Europe, silver was in short supply, and although many of the early kingdoms minted currency; chalices, gospel covers and other larger pieces were restricted to church use. Mines in Austria and Germany provided most of the new silver for the Middle ages, augmented after 1550 with silver form the Spanish mines in South America.

The late seventeenth century in Europe caused a shortage of silver throughout the popularity of larger items, like chandeliers and silver mounted furnishings, and was generally restricted to eating and drinking utensils...Of course, that was then, and this is now, and Silver is once again used by craftsmen everywhere as an expression of art and beauty.

The alchemists called the metal Luna after the Goddess of the Moon and ascribed to it the symbol of a crescent moon.

Sulphides and sulphur found in the air attack silver, and tarnishing it and in severe cases makes the surface black, is caused by the formation of silver sulphide on the surface of the metal.

With the exception of gold, it is the most malleable of all metals; harder than gold, but softer than copper. It melts at 962 degrees centigrade.

Silver conducts heat and electricity better than any other metal and so is used extensively in the electronics industry.

 The colour for Cancer seems to vary according to the source material. Some say Silver to match the shining colour of the moon, where as others quote GREY or GREEN  

The Planetary stone for Cancer is Moonstone (could there be any other??) calcium aluminium silicate.

The word, feldspar comes from the German "feldt spat", meaning "field spar", "spar" meaning common cleavable material - the material dredged up on farm lands during ploughing.

There are two main groupings of the feldspar minerals and these are named Orthoclase and Plagioclase. Orthoclase has the composition of potassium aluminium silicate where as the Plagioclase feldspars form a series of compositions between sodium aluminium silicate through to calcium aluminium silicate. The two end members of the Moonstone is the semi-precious gemstone variety of the silicate mineral Oligoclase which is one of the feldspar group of silicate minerals. It has the chemical composition of sodium series are: albite which is pure sodium aluminium silicate and anorthite which is pure calcium aluminium silicate. The mineral Oligoclase sits in between these two end members and has around 80% sodium and 20% calcium bonded with the silicate grouping.

The colours of plagioclase vary from grey to greyish-white but may also be white, pink or pale yellow. More semi-opaque than the other feldspars on average, and contains striations on some crystal faces or cleavage surfaces.

Moonstone is so called because when rays of light enter layers within the crystal they are refracted back and forth by deeper layers within the crystal before it finally exits the crystal. The refracted layers have a different character from when it entered the crystal and thus produces the moonlike glow or shimmer effect.

Its companion gemstone is called Sunstone and this is distinguished by the flashes of reddish colour. Sunstone is also Oligoclase but has inclusions of haematite (iron oxide) within its crystal structure.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Zodiacal sign, Leo is the fifth sign of the Zodiac in the Astrological year and is what is known as a Fire sign, in other words the element associated with Leo is Fire.

According to the Greek mythology, the constellation of Leo is explained through the tale of Hercules and the Nemean lion. More than a lion, this beast was the sibling of the infamous Sphinx, whom Oedipus encounters. This giant beast had terrorised the countryside for years and all weapons were useless against it. The animal's skin was impervious to iron, bronze, and stone. The First Labour of Heracles was to find the lion in its mountain lair and destroy it before it could completely wipe out the Nemean countryside. Once he had killed the lion, his brother and taskmaster Eurystheus demanded that he bring its hide back to the city as proof that he had actually accomplished the task.

Heracles (Hercules) was sent to kill the beast as the first of his 12 Labours (see the account in the section on Cancer above) Heracles’ arrows harmlessly bounced off the lion; his sword bent in two; his wooden club smashed to pieces. Heracles got around the serious obstacle of the impenetrable skin by wrestling the lion and strangling it to death... He then removed one of its claws, and used it to skin the animal. From then on, Heracles wore the skin of the Nemean Lion as protection. Heracles after the successful defeat of the Nemean Lion made a cloak and helmet from the creature's hide. He wore it during his encounter with the Hydra and subsequent appearance of the Crab during his second labour.

In honour of this great feat, Zeus set the form of the fearsome Lion in the night sky

Leo is a fairly compact constellation and, unlike so many other constellations, it is readily recognisable. The star Alpha Leonis in this constellation was named "Regulus" by Copernicus because it was seen as the Heaven's Guardian, one who regulated all things in the heavens. The star was better known in antiquity as Cor Leonis, the Lion's Heart.

 The surface of the Sun, called the photosphere, is at a temperature of about 5800 K. Sunspots are "cool" regions, only 3800 K (they look dark only by comparison with the surrounding regions). Sunspots can be very large, as much as 50,000 km in diameter. Sunspots are caused by complicated and not very well understood interactions with the Sun's magnetic field.

 The highly rarefied region above the chromosphere, called the corona, extends millions of kilometres into space but is visible only during eclipses. Temperatures in the corona are over 1,000,000 K.

 The Sun's magnetic field is very strong (by terrestrial standards) and very complicated. Its magnetosphere extends well beyond Pluto

 In addition to heat and light, the Sun also emits a low density stream of charged particles (mostly electrons and protons) known as the solar wind which propagates throughout the solar system at about 450 km/sec. The solar wind and the much higher energy particles ejected by solar flares can have dramatic effects on the Earth ranging from power line surges to radio interference to the beautiful Aurora borealis.

The Sun's output is not entirely constant. Nor is the amount of sunspot activity. There was a period of very low sunspot activity in the latter half of the 17th century called the Maunder Minimum. It coincides with an abnormally cold period in northern Europe sometimes known as the Little Ice Age. Since the formation of the solar system the Sun's output has increased by about 40%.

The Sun is about 4.5 billion years old. Since its birth it has used up about half of the hydrogen in its core. It will continue to radiate "peacefully" for another 5 billion years or so (although its luminosity will approximately double in that time). But eventually it will run out of hydrogen fuel. It will then be forced into radical changes which, though commonplace by stellar standards, will result in the total destruction of the Earth

The metal which is associated with Leo is probably the most noble of metals – GOLD.

It is an attractive and highly valued metal, and has been known for at least 5500 years. Gold is sometimes found free in nature but it is usually found in conjunction with silver, quartz (SiO₂), calcite (CaCO₃), lead, tellurium, zinc or copper. There also happens to be roughly 1 milligram of gold dissolved in every tonne of seawater, although extracting it currently costs more than the gold is worth. It has been estimated that all of the gold that has currently been refined over the past 5000 years or so could be placed in a cube with each side measuring 20 metres. Gold is the most malleable and ductile of all known metals. A single ounce of gold can be beaten into a sheet measuring roughly 5 square metres. Thin sheets of gold, known as gold leaf, are primarily used in arts and crafts for gilding. One sheet of gold leaf can be as thin as 0.000127 millimetres, or about 400 times thinner than a human hair.

Much of the gold which is fabricated today goes into the manufacture of jewellery.   However, because of its superior electrical conductivity and resistance to corrosion and other desirable combinations of physical and chemical properties, gold also emerged in the late 20th century as an essential industrial metal.  Gold performs critical functions in computers (it is used to make printed circuit boards and connectors) communications equipment, spacecraft, jet aircraft engines, and a host of other products. Gold is also a good reflector of infrared radiation and can be used to help shield spacecraft. Gold coated mirrors can be used to make telescopes that are sensitive to infrared light. A radioactive isotope of gold: gold-198, is used for treating cancer...

Although gold is important to industry and the arts, it also retains a unique status among all commodities as a long-term store of value.  Until recent times, it was considered essentially a monetary metal, and most of the bullion produced each year went into the vaults of government treasuries or central banks

Pure gold is soft and is usually alloyed with other metals, such as silver, copper, platinum or palladium, to increase its strength. Gold alloys are used to make jewellery, decorative items, dental fillings and coins. The amount of gold in an alloy is measured with a unit called a carat. One carat is equal to one part in twenty-four, so an 18 carat gold ring contains 18 parts pure gold and 6 parts alloy material.

The colour of choice, naturally for Leo is GOLD

Ruby has always held a special place in the Far East as a stone of great mystical importance.

This stone was given as offerings to Buddha in China and Krishna in India.

It was a common belief was that dreaming of rubies meant the coming of success in business, money matters, and love.

The ruby is thought to change colours (grow darker) when the owner was in danger or when an illness was coming. It was also thought that it would chase off the spirits of the dead and evil spirits not contained in hell.

In China and Europe, in the 10th century, dragons and snakes were carved in their surfaces to increase the flow of money and power to their owners.

RUBY is the red variety of corundum (all the other colours of corundum are known as SAPPHIRE – see May’s birthstones)

Corundum, chemically is aluminium oxide Al2O3 is the second hardest natural mineral known to science. The hardest mineral, diamond is still four times harder than corundum.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Zodiacal sign, Virgo is the Sixth sign of the Zodiac in the Astrological year and is what is known as an Earth sign, in other words the element associated with Virgo is Earth.

Virgo is the second largest constellation (after Hydra). As a member of the Zodiac, Virgo has a number of ancient myths and tales. The cycle of the heavens, reflects the cycles of the Earth. Thus, the wheel of the zodiac turns to Virgo, the virgin, and summer draws to a close and time nears for the harvest. The Sun passes through Virgo in mid-September, and is therefore the constellation which announces the coming of the harvest.

Virgo mythology links her to both Greek goddesses, Demeter and Astraea however in antiquity, before the rise of Greek Mythology she may have been Isis, the Egyptian goddess who protected both the living and the dead. She was the principal mother goddess. She was also Ishtar of the Sumerian-Chaldean civilisations, or "Inanna", meaning Queen of Heaven. Inanna is described as an ambitious, aggressive, and demanding goddess of love.

The Greek goddess, Demeter was the goddess of the harvest, and she made the earth lie fallow for half of every year. This goddess of agriculture was of the highest birth: born to Cronus and Rhea, she was the sister of Zeus. As evidence of her antiquity in Greek lore, her name has been found on a tablet from Pylos dating to the thirteenth century B.C. Demeter was said by Homer to have "lain with Iasion in a thrice-ploughed field", the result of which was the birth of Plutus, whose name translates as "riches from the soil" (perhaps "cornucopia" would be an appropriate description).

The goddess was depicted then, as now, as carrying a sheaf of wheat. But her influence carried not only to cereal crops, but to all kinds of food crops. Not surprisingly, perhaps, she was also the goddess of health, and of births and marriages. A ceremony held in her honour in ancient Greece was called Proarktouria, which possibly indicates that the festivities were held just before the rising of Arcturus. However the name may instead make reference to the constellation Virgo, which in fact rises just before the star Arcturus.

In Roman times the goddess Ceres was depicted: the goddess of the growth of food plants and harvests, and particularly corn. The Romans had simply adopted an earlier Greek goddess, Demeter.

According to the ancient poets however, the virgin is also sometimes known as Astraea and she lived on the earth during the Golden Age of man, which is described by Hesiod:

First a golden race of mortal men were
made by the immortals that have Olympian homes.
They lived in Kronos' [Saturn's] time, when he ruled the sky,
they lived like gods, with carefree heart,
free and apart from trouble and pain; grim old age
did not afflict them, but with arms and legs always
strong they played in delight, apart from all evils;
They died as if subdued by sleep; and all good things were theirs;

The fertile earth produced fruit by itself, abundantly and unforced;

Willingly and effortlessly they ruled their lands with many goods.

But since the earth hid this race below, they are daimones by the plans of great Zeus, benevolent earthly guardians of mortal men, who watch over judgments and cruel deeds, clothed in air and roaming over all the earth (Works and Days 109-125).

Astraea, was the daughter of Jupiter and Themses and considered the Goddess of Justice. The constellation is one of only three which represent women. The others are Andromeda and Cassiopeia. In combination, these can be seen as the three aspects of the feminine: maiden, mother and crone.
 As the legend goes, a long time ago people lived in peace, but as time rolled on people became unruly. Astraea, Goddess of Justice, searched everywhere for peace, but to no avail. So Astraea went to live in the heavens. She took with her a stalk of wheat which she broke and scattered the grains across the sky, making the stars.

An alternate belief suggests that the constellation of Virgo is associated with the tragic Coronis, lover of the Greek god Apollo. Coronis was mortal and feared that the god would tire of her as she aged, so she took another mortal, Ischys, as her lover. In his rage, Apollo shot her fatally, with an arrow. In some tales, this unjust act was carried out by Artemis, the sister of Apollo. The fact that Coronis was pregnant at the time, did not sway the god's sense of vengeance. Her child, Asclepius, was saved by Hermes, who delivered the baby on the funeral pyre. Entrusted to the care of Chiron, the child grew to become one of the greatest healers of ancient Greece.

The Winemaker's Daughter

Virgo is also identified with Erigone, the daughter of Icarius, who was famed for having received the secret of wine making from the Wine God, Dionysius. Icarius in myth was killed by peasants who thought they had been poisoned by his wine. Icarius' loyal dog Maera ran home howling in grief and led Icarius' daughter back to his body. Poor Erigone hanged herself in grief over the death of her father. The gods had mercy on Icarius and his family and transported Icarius into the sky as the constellation of Boötes. Erigone became Virgo, and the dog Maera, the constellation of Canis Minor.

Other Goddesses: Virgo has also been seen as Tyche, the Goddess of Fortune, or as Atargatis, the Syrian fertility goddess. She has been seen as Minerva the Roman Goddess of Wisdom known as Athena to the Greeks. She has been seen as Diana, the Roman Goddess of the Hunt, the Greek Artemis. She has also been identified as Cybele, the Roman goddess presiding over nature and fertility and with Urania, the Muse of Astronomy.

Nickel (Ni) is a transition element in the Periodic Table which exhibits a mixture of ferrous and nonferrous metal properties.   It is both siderophile (i.e., associates with iron) and chalcophile (i.e., associates with sulphur).  

Nickel is a hard, malleable, silvery-white metal. Found in the earth's crust in portions averaging 70 ppm. It can be polished to a lustrous finish. And there is virtually no corrosion under normal conditions.

Date of Discovery: 1751
Discoverer: Alex Cronstedt in Sweden.
Name Origin: From the German word kupfer-nickel (meaning false copper)

However once source I have found seemed to suggest that the name, Nickel came from the German word for a goblin. It is interesting to note that the term we often use for the Devil is Nick or more commonly Old Nick. The name appears to have been derived from the Dutch Nikken, the devil, which again comes from the Anglo-Saxon nac-an, meaning to slay-- the devil being "a murderer from the beginning." In the northern countries there is a river spirit named "Neck," "Nikke," or "Nokke" of the same nature as the water Kelpie, and the Merman of Triton.

The bulk of the nickel mined comes from two types of ore deposits:

laterites where the principal ore minerals are nickeliferous limonite [(Fe,Ni)O(OH)] and garnierite (a hydrous nickel silicate), or magmatic sulphide deposits where the principal ore mineral is pentlandite [(Ni,Fe)₉S₈].

Nickel sulphide deposits are generally associated with iron- and magnesium-rich rocks called ultramafics and can be found in both volcanic and plutonic settings.   Many of the sulphide deposits occur at great depth. Laterites are formed by the weathering of ultramafic igneous rocks and are a near-surface phenomenon.   Most of the nickel on Earth is believed to be concentrated in the planet's core.

Nickel is also found as a constituent in most meteorites and often serves as one of the criteria for distinguishing a meteorite from other minerals.

It is extensively used for making stainless steel and other corrosion-resistant alloys such as Invar(R), Monel(R), Inconel(R), and the Hastelloys(R). Tubing made of copper-nickel alloy is extensively used in making desalination plants for converting sea water into fresh water.

Nickel, used extensively to make coins and nickel steel for armour plates and burglar-proof vaults, and is also a component in Nichrome(R), Permalloy(R), and constantan.

Nickel gives glass a greenish colour. Nickel plating is often used to provide a protective coating for other metals, and finely divided nickel is a catalyst for hydrogenating vegetable oils. It is also used extensively in the manufacture of nickel-cadmium and nickel metal hydride re-chargeable batteries.

The Planetary gemstone for Virgo is the beautiful, SARDONYX.

A form of Onyx with white and red bands. It brings forth good luck, friendship, happiness, good fortune and romance. Protective of the young and of those who try new things. Associated with stamina, vigour, energy, and creativity. Teaches us to love nature's wild places and inhabitants.

Sardonyx is a chalcedony - one of the cryptocrystalline (crystals too small to be seen even by a microscope) varieties of quartz. Chalcedony or agate is divided into innumerable types that have been named for locally common varieties. Some of the more beautiful types have retained their names on a world-wide basis while other names have faded into obscurity. Some of the more common of these types are chrysoprase (a pure green agate), sard (a yellow to brown agate), sardonyx (banded sard), onyx (black and white agate), carnelian (a yellow to orange agate), flint (a colourful and microscopically fibrous form), jasper (a colourful impure agate) and bloodstone (a green with red speckled agate).

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Zodiacal sign, Libra is the Seventh sign of the Zodiac in the Astrological year and is what is known as an Air sign, in other words the element associated with Libra is Air.

The Romans invented the name Libra and gave it importance as a constellation of the Zodiac.  Libra was "the Scales of Justice" held by Julius Caesar.  The Romans choose a scale for the constellation because when the zodiac was still in its infancy, some four thousand years ago, the sun passed through this constellation at the autumnal equinox (September 21).  That is, day and night were of equal length.

There exists no specific myth or tale about Libra, the goddess of justice who had scales as her emblem.

In India, the constellation was called Tula, meaning "a balance," showed a man bent on one knee, holding the scales.

The ancient Chinese called the constellation Show Sing, "the Star of Longevity," but later generation changed the name to Tien Ching, meaning "the Celestial Balance."

As a symbol for equality, the constellation came to represent Justice in several Middle Eastern cultures.

The stars that make up Libra were known by the ancient Greeks as the Claws of the Scorpion. (Scorpius)

Eventually, however, these stars in this constellation came to represent the Golden Chariot of Pluto. The story of Pluto's abduction of Persephone is a widely known Greek myth, perhaps because it has such a strong astronomical association.

Although it has little bearing on the Zodiacal sign of Libra, it is still of interest to relate this myth.

Pluto's (or Hades') Golden Chariot was used whenever the Lord of the Underworld wished to visit the Upperworld, usually to seduce a nymph. But when he took Persephone back to Tartarus, the deepest part of Hades, the Upperworld would change forever. The name of the ruler of the Underworld was actually Hades. Hades was a brother of Zeus and of Poseidon; he was usually ignorant of the happenings of the Upperworld, only emerging rarely from his dark kingdom.

 Deep beneath the earth, he owned all its mineral riches, but his favourite possession was a gift from the Cyclopes: a helmet that rendered him invisible. It was considered imprudent and dangerous to mention the names of certain gods and goddesses. Thus the Furies, or Cronies, were called Eumenides (Kindly Ones), and Hades was called Pluto (Rich One).

His golden chariot was pulled by four jet-black horses. While he used the chariot to periodically visit the Upperworld, in order to seduce a beautiful nymph, he rarely wished the relationship to last. Until he saw Persephone, the daughter of Demeter and Zeus.

Demeter was the sister of Zeus and Hades, and one of the most important of goddesses as she was responsible for agriculture, and all growing things. Hades is so enamoured by the beauty of Persephone, he wants her for his own, so takes her by force down to his kingdom, where she becomes the Queen of the Underworld. Demeter mourns for her lost daughter and begs the other gods for help. So Theseus and Peiritheus (his brother) descend into Hades in search of Persephone, but are unsuccessful. In fact, they are held captive by Hades, and Heracles is sent to rescue them. He can only manage to bring back Theseus; Peiritheus is condemned to remain forever in Hades.

Demeter is so distraught about the loss of her daughter she decides to forbid any seeds from sprouting. A vast drought spreads throughout the Upperworld. Zeus becomes vexed, for he is owed a certain tribute, and if the drought continues his tribute will not be forthcoming.

Some accounts give Zeus a more noble reason for acting on his sister's behalf: that he empathises with Demeter and wishes to rectify her loss. In any event, he convinces his brother Hades to give up Persephone, so that the Upperworld can again become green and lush. Hades agrees, provides that Persephone hasn't eaten anything since her arrival. Alas, she had consumed six pomegranate seeds, so Hades claims she cannot return.

Zeus would have none of it, and rules that she must forever divide her time between the Upperworld and the Underworld; four months out of the year she must stay with her husband, while the rest of the year she may visit her mother, in the Upperworld. Thus every year the world retreats briefly into a cold and forbidding place, until the 21st of March, when Persephone is allowed to emerge from the Underworld, bringing Spring with her.

The stars of Libra are fairly dim, except for two two-magnitude stars, alpha2 and beta. The constellation has several objects of interest, including some fine double stars and an unusual variable. Alpha Librae is also known as Zubenelgenubi, a derivation of an older Arabic name that translates into "Southern Claw" (i.e. the Scorpion). The star is a wide binary of unequal stars. Beta Librae is called Zubeneschamali, "The Northern Claw". This white star has been described by some to be green in colour;

The symbol which is associated with Libra is the scales of balance which represents the balance that Librans continually seek in self and life.

The metal which is associated with Libra is BRONZE which is an alloy of Copper and Tin and it is probably the first alloyed metal ever to be used. It has been known and used in most of the ancient civilisations, it has been known in Britain from about 2000 BC. Metal working however is predated this time. Objects manufactured in gold and copper have been used from almost the dawn of Civilisation.

Gold of course has always been important for ornaments and a symbol of wealth. It was far too valuable and far too soft for use for tools or weapons. Copper however had been used in Britain around 2500 BC. Until the advent of mining only native copper (Where the copper is found in its elemental form rather than an ore) could be used. Copper had certain drawbacks when used to make tools and weapons. When molten, copper will absorb gasses from the atmosphere, which appear as holes when it solidifies. The longer it is exposed, the more holes there are in the casting.

It may have been a pure accident when bronze was first discovered. As technology improved the early metal workers discovered that they could produce metals using oxide or sulphide ores and reducing them to the metal in a furnace. Maybe an early metal worker whilst producing copper had some tin ore (cassiterite) mixed with the copper ore, and so the first bronze was produced. From then on the superior qualities of bronze over pure copper would be recognised for tools and weapons… With this knowledge the long Stone Age ended and the Bronze Age began. Bronze is a substance which is hard and durable enough to make lasting tools. People of Mesopotamia made bronze as early as 3500 BC. In some areas, such as the Near East, the Bronze Age began about 3000 BC. In Britain bronze first appeared around 2000 BC. From the outset this was superior to that which had been developed earlier in the Near East. In Britain the tin content was consistently around 10 % (8 – 14 %). This gives a bronze with good casting qualities and which is harder and tougher than copper, even before cold working. A higher level of tin, which was common amongst European metal work, rendered the metal increasingly brittle. A later development which produced a superior bronze was by the addition of a small amount of lead to the alloy. The use of lead bronze became more widespread as time progressed. This allowed for more complex castings to be made. By the late Bronze Age sophisticated two and three-piece moulds were made. Sheet metalworking was another prehistoric skill used in the manufacture of buckets, cauldrons and shields.

It is hard to imagine the impact that these first metal implements had on society.  But I think that they soon became objects of wealth and power. In a time when society would have been deeply ritualistic, the smelting of ores and  turning stones into metal,  (i.e. the metal ores)  must have appeared quite magical particularly when molten copper impinges on a naked flame producing an intense blue-green coloured flame. The golden colour of the pouring of the molten bronze could possibly  have been associated with the sun.  Some of the decorations found on axes were highly ritualistic in design. There are carvings of bronze axes found on Stonehenge, with the blade pointing upwards with no handles. I am wondering if perhaps this is a further indication of a ritualistic significance of bronze and veneration of the sun.

.

Over the next 800 years of the Early Bronze Age we see an intensive building of stone circles, and the embellishment of several henges with stone circles and later additions of avenues. Barrow cemeteries spread to create the enigmatic landscapes we see around Stonehenge and other prehistoric sites. As the artefacts are quite simple, people are unaware of the extraordinary effort the early metalworkers went to. It was a triumph of human ingenuity over a new material with limited equipment, - charcoal, clay, sticks and stones.

Today bronze is still used for statues and ornaments and variant known as phosphor bronze is used for various bearings and ships propellers.

The colour of choice for Libra is Blue

The Planetary gemstone which is associated with Libra is the precious Sapphire.

The Egyptians associated the clear sapphire with the eye of Horas, Greeks identified the white sapphire with Apollo and was used by the oracles at Delphi.

Sapphire was also used by the Greeks to stimulate the opening of the third eye and to tap into the subconscious and super conscious mind. Clear sapphires, like diamonds, are the guardians of love. When given to one another it enhances love for each other and tunes your psyches to one another. In the old days, it was used to banish envy and jealousy. It is considered for good luck in many ways and is one of the major healing stones

When someone lists the most famous gemstones such as diamonds, topaz, garnet, ruby or emerald, the name corundum does not usually get mentioned, however, its two varieties are sure to be on any list of gemstones. The red variety of corundum is known as RUBY and all the other colours of corundum are known as SAPPHIRE. Corundum, chemically is aluminium oxide Al2O3 is the second hardest natural mineral known to science.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Zodiacal sign, Scorpio is the Eighth sign of the Zodiac in the Astrological year and is what is known as a Water sign, in other words the element associated with Scorpio is Water.

The Scorpion was another monster summoned at the will of a wrathful goddess. Instead of Hera, though, it was Artemis, who called upon the creature to destroy Orion. Orion was not a human, but a giant. As such, he was more than mortal, but less than a god or goddess. He was the son of Poseidon, the sea god, and is often supposed to be the son of Gaia, as were all giants. Orion was prodigiously strong and very beautiful, but he shared the fatal flaw of many traditional Greek heroes. He thought much too highly of himself and forgot to show proper respect toward the immortals.

Another version of the Orion Myth was that this giant of a man, the son of Poseidon and Euryale, and was also said to be the most handsome man alive.  He and Artemis were hunting partners.  This made her brother, Apollo, jealous.  He went to Mother Earth and asked her to create a giant scorpion, which then stung and killed Orion.  Zeus placed both of them in the heavens as a constellation.  Scorpius is a pretty big constellation. The bright star, Antares, is the Scorpion's heart.

One story tells how Orion fled the Scorpion by swimming the sea to the island of Delos to see his lover Athena. Apollo, seeking to punish Athena, joined her and challenged her hunting skills by daring her to shoot a black dot approaching the island from the water. Athena met the challenge and unknowingly killed her lover.

Other sources say Gaia, the Earth goddess, placed the Scorpion's image in the night sky because she was displeased at Orion's wanting to kill all the Earth's wild animals. So she sent a giant scorpion to attack Orion.

In Roman mythology, the celestial Scorpion once had claws but Julius Caesar cut them off to form the constellation Libra.

But wherever you are, you can always recognise Scorpius by its bright heart, lit by the brilliant red super giant star, Antares. Antares is so bright; it is often mistaken for the red planet Mars when they are close together. Antares is three hundred times as big as the Sun and three thousand times the Sun's luminosity. Scorpius surely has a strong, brave heart!

Scorpio the Scorpion is the symbol of the constellation Scorpius. (Scorpius is the Latin for Scorpion)

More than any other star constellation, Scorpius resembles its given name. If you live in the northern hemisphere of the Earth, you will see Scorpius crawl across the southern sky, close to the horizon. But in the southern hemisphere, it passes high in the sky. With its striking tail, it is easy to recognize. The scorpion has survived on the Earth for over 400 million years and was revered by the ancients who preserved its image in stone.

In traditional belief, the flesh of the scorpion was thought to be a cure for its own sting. Ancient writers also said that when surrounded by fire, a scorpion will commit suicide by stinging itself.

The Orion constellation is the most conspicuous of all constellations. It is visible in both hemispheres and its brilliance shines out from the bright red star Betelgeuse, which marks Orion's left shoulder, and the blue-white star Rigel, marks his right foot.

The Great Nebula lies in the middle of his sword. This is the nearest and brightest nebula visible to the naked eye and it is busy making new stars. It can be seen with binoculars. The famous Horse Head nebula in Orion's belt is difficult to see but you will find fantastically beautiful photographs of it on NASA's web site in the public gallery.

However it appears that this has not always been the case, as Pluto was only discovered relatively recently – in 1930 and Ruling Planets associated with Signs of the Zodiac have been with us since Classical Greek and Roman times. The Ruling Planet for Scorpio in fact used to be MARS, the same as for Aries, The Ram. It is not clear when or why the change came about.

According to Roman mythology; following the defeat of the Titans by the Jovian gods, Pluto obtained the kingdom of the underworld. One day, while he was riding through the field of battle, the goddess Venus had her companion, Cupid, playfully shoot an arrow into the heart of Pluto.

Struck by Cupid's arrow, Pluto fell in love with the first young lady he saw; who happened to be Persephone Pluto promptly carried her off into the underworld to be his bride. Dead souls were escorted to the shores of the River Styx by Mercury, where they were received by the boatman Charon, who rowed them across the River Styx to Pluto's kingdom.
Pluto is usually the farthest planet from the sun and by far the smallest. Pluto is in fact smaller than seven of the solar system's moons (The Moon, Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, Titan and Triton). The diameter of Pluto is some 2274 Km and the average distance from the sun is almost 6000 million Km. (just over 3700 million miles)

The planet received its name of Pluto because in Roman mythology, Pluto was the god of the underworld – (the equivalent Greek god was Hades) perhaps because it's so far from the Sun that it is in perpetual darkness.  Pluto was discovered in 1930 by a fortunate accident. Calculations which later turned out to be in error had predicted a planet beyond Neptune, based on the motions of Uranus and Neptune.

After a careful sky search at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona Pluto was discovered in 1930.

 After the discovery of Pluto, it was quickly determined that Pluto was too small to account for the discrepancies in the orbits of the other planets.  Pluto is the only planet that has not been visited by a spacecraft. Even the Hubble Space Telescope can resolve only the largest features on its surface.

This mysterious planet is really a double planet system, since its moon, Charon (The Boatman who rowed the dead souls across the River Styx) is very close to Pluto and about the same size.

There are some who think Pluto would be better classified as a large asteroid or comet rather than as a planet. There is considerable merit to the latter position, but historically Pluto has been classified as a planet and it is very likely to remain so

 Pluto's orbit is highly eccentric. At times it is closer to the Sun than Neptune (as it was from January 1979 thru February 11 1999). Pluto rotates in the opposite direction from most of the other planets.

 The surface temperature on Pluto varies between about -235 and -210 C the "warmer" regions roughly correspond to the regions that appear darker in optical wavelengths.

 Pluto's composition is unknown, but its density (about 2 gm/cm3) indicates that it is probably a mixture of 70% rock and 30% water ice much like Triton. The bright areas of the surface seem to be covered with ices of nitrogen with smaller amounts of (solid) methane, ethane and carbon monoxide. The composition of the darker areas of Pluto's surface is unknown but may be due to primordial organic material or photochemical reactions driven by cosmic rays.

The metal which is associated with Scorpio is STEEL however one reference states the metal for Scorpio is Plutonium, which in a way is logical with its connection with Pluto. Pluto is a highly dangerous, toxic and radio active metal and is only a relatively recent discovery – since the atomic age. It would have been unknown to the ancients so as far as any mythical significance is concerned, I doubt that there would be any at all. I will therefore concentrate on the metal steel, whilst not known as such in ancient civilisations – the metal iron has been of major importance both culturally and industrially since at least 1500 BC. And of course iron and steel are very closely related as we shall shortly see.

The essential difference between iron and steel in its simplest terms is the amount of carbon present. Cast iron as we have already noted under section on iron (Aries) is very brittle and has very little strength in tension. Cast iron can have a carbon content of up to 5% whereas steel has typically a carbon content of around 1.5%. Steel is not a new innovation of the Industrial Revolution as it has been known for centuries. What the Industrial Revolution accomplished was the mass production of steel which came about when Henry Bessemer developed the technique of blowing oxygen through the molten metal to remove the carbon. This was the principle of the Bessemer Converter. If iron is cast into ingots (known as pigs) and then heated and then beaten repeatedly then this has the effect of removing most of the carbon from the iron. Carbon contents as low as 0.5% are typical of wrought iron. The Romans and many other civilisations throughout the world used these techniques in the making of fine swords. The process gave the iron great strength and flexibility and a fine edge could be honed onto the blades. The metal workers in the forges had no scientific method of controlling the amount of carbon present in their metal – they just had a "feel" and a good eye for it. One could therefore say that some of the blades were actually of steel if the parameter of 1.5% carbon is achieved. Steel as we know it, however comes in many forms from mild steel (typically the 1.5% carbon) to high carbon steels of around 3%. The difference is that the amount of carbon is carefully controlled and is dependent upon the use to which the steel is destined. In addition trace metals such as manganese, nickel, chromium and molybdenum are added to steels to give them particular properties of strength and corrosion resistance (i.e. stainless steels)

The colour of choice for Scorpio is Maroon

The Planetary gemstone associated with Scorpio is Garnet.

The name garnet probably comes from the Latin word "granatum" or "pomegranate," referring to the red colour of many garnets. To certain cultures, the red garnets were thought to stop bleeding and cure inflammation. They were also thought to smooth discord between enemies and prevent bloodshed. Conversely, other cultures believed that garnets increased the amount of blood flow. Hence, Asians and North American Indian tribes made garnet bullets, believing they would inflict deadlier wounds than regular bullets. The Greeks dubbed the red garnet "pyrope" (meaning "I see fire"). Romans also connected the red garnet with fire.

In Egyptian times they were taken into the tombs with the dead as payment to the gods of the nether worlds and for their passage through the nether world safely.

Sages in India, identified red garnets with the sun, the chief astrological influence on men's lives.

In the 13th century, garnets were worn to repel insects and evil spirits and the evil eye of others. Garnets belong to the group of silicate minerals which are commonly found in highly metamorphosed (= changed) rocks. Most of the garnet family are aluminium silicates with the addition of other metals such as Calcium, Iron, magnesium or manganese. Occasionally instead of aluminium it may be chromium or manganese. Some rare members of the garnet family contain vanadium, titanium or zirconium.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Sagittarius is the Ninth sign of the Zodiac in the Astrological year and is as a Fire sign, which means that the element associated with Sagittarius is Fire.

Sagittarians are truth seekers and are keenly interested in philosophy. Knowledge is the key to Sagittarians Those born under this Sign are clear thinkers and choose to look at the big picture most of the time.

It's the Archer which represents Sagittarians, although in this case it's a Centaur (half man, half beast) who is shooting the arrows.

These creatures were famed in Greek mythology.  They were rude, untrustworthy, cheating, violent, and deceptive and they drank too much.  There was however one Centaur, named Chiron and he was quite the opposite. According to myth, Chiron was the son of the Titan Kronos and the nymph Philyra. Kronos, fearing that his illicit affair with Philyra would be discovered by his wife Rhea, disguised himself as a horse. As a result, Chiron was born with the form of a centaur (he was half man, half horse). However, unlike most other centaurs, Chiron was both immortal (having a god for a father) and good-natured. Chiron was educated by the Apollo and Diana, (Goddess of the Moon and Wild Animals).  Chiron was kind, gentle, and wise in contrast to the mean and fierce, the other centaurs. Legend has it that Chiron was the oldest and wisest of the Centaurs and that he was taken in and educated by the gods. Chiron's many skills and wisdom became so widely known that he became the tutor of many a Greek Hero teaching them all manner of skills. Among his pupils were the mighty Hercules, Acteon, Jason and Achilles.
As the story goes, Hercules had travelled far one day and was very thirsty so he asked a friend, a centaur named Pholus to open a jar of the excellent wine kept in his house. This wine however was belonged jointly with the mean and nasty centaurs.  When Hercules drank from the jar however, the aroma of this fine wine flowed out over the countryside the other centaurs were furious and they galloped up to the house and demanded to know how he had dared open the wine without first consulting them.
 The centaurs attacked Hercules.  This was a mistake, for Hercules soon settled matters by killing many of them and driving the rest from the countryside, telling them never to return.  Chiron was nearby observing the battle, although he has not taken part.  Hercules of course knew Chiron, and deeply respected him, but sadly he was not able to not recognise his friend from a great distance and accidentally shot him with one of his poisoned arrows. Hercules immediately removed the arrow from Chiron's leg but the wound never healed and caused Chiron great pain. So great was his pain, that he wished for death as Chiron was an immortal, even death could not relieve his suffering. Meantime, a Titan named Prometheus, who was tethered to a rock in the dark, dismal abyss far below Hades, appealed to Zeus to end his suffering. Zeus agreed to free Prometheus, only if someone would take his place. Chiron gladly volunteered to end the pain he was suffering. To reward him for this noble deed, Zeus elevated Chiron to the stars to form the constellation Sagittarius.

It is well known that the Romans assimilated much of the Greek mythology into their own mythology. It was the Romans who gave the Constellation its name. The symbol for Sagittarius is the Archer and the word comes from the Latin sagitta, meaning ‘arrow’. The arrow from great archer in the sky and hence the star constellation Sagittarius is named. In the original Greek the constellation was named, Toxote.

There is however a Constellation which is mainly visible in the Southern Hemisphere which is called the Constellation of Centaurius. It is unclear which centaur Centaurius is to said represent.  It is either Chiron or Pholus.  Both centaurs are present in the stars, one as Centaurius and the other as Sagittarius. It is generally accepted that it was Chiron the centaur who Zeus sent to the heavens in Sagittarius. But it was the other centaur friend of Hercules – Pholus who kept the jar of the wonderful wine and when the battle with the other centaurs took place Pholus fled and left the battle to Hercules. After the battle was over and Hercules had wounded Chiron. Pholus looked over the dead and dying and wonders how Hercules' arrows could be so fatal.  He pulled one arrow out of a body and looks at it, but it slips through his fingers and strikes him on the foot, killing him instantly.

Hercules heard of the tragedy and returned to bury his friend at the foot of the mountain that bears his name, Mt. Pholoe.  This high plateau region in the interior of the Greek peninsula is just up the road from Olympia.  The mountain is now called Pholois; this is where the Centaur stories of old originated.
It is said that Zeus had held Pholus in very high regard, and therefore also put his likeness in the heavens.  The constellation Centaurius represents a centaur. Today it is mainly seen in the southern hemisphere but that wasn't the case 2,000 years ago, however, when precession had carried the southern stars of spring into the view of the ancient Greeks. They could see the Southern Cross and all the stars of the Centaur. Centaurius contains Alpha and Beta Centauri, the third and tenth brightest stars in the sky. Alpha Centuari is the nearest star to the earth other than the sun and has been a subject of many a science fiction epic.

Now here is a little conundrum one reference I have found and I quote... "A very large constellation, many objects reside in Sagittarius. The brightest star in the constellation is Alpha Centauri. It is the closest star to the Sun, and the third brightest in the sky. Alpha Centauri is really a triple star, two of its components form a double star, and the third component is a red dwarf which is 2 degrees away from the others. This red dwarf is 4 light years away from Earth. Sagittarius or Centaurius is also home to the brightest and largest globular cluster of stars in the sky. It is called Omega Centauri and it contains more than a million stars. The Sun enters the star constellation Sagittarius about 22nd November."

This source in other words equates Sagittarius and Centaurius as being the same constellation. Interesting? They are however two different constellations when equated with modern astronomy. I think that this all goes back to the ancient Greek astronomers and the development and relating of the mythology.

According to Roman mythology, Jupiter was the king of all gods and ruler of the Universe – he was in fact the Roman equivalent of the great Greek God – Zeus. He was the god of the sky, thunder and lightning, and he had the power to control the Earth's weather, find and fair, wild, windy and stormy. Jupiter made certain that mortals lived out their lives according to their fate. A son of Saturn, Jupiter and the other children of Saturn overthrew their father, and Jupiter took his place. He was named king of the gods in the special meeting that followed his overthrow of the god Saturn and the Titans. In the council of the gods that followed Saturn's overthrow, Jupiter was crowned Lord of Heaven and Earth and of all the gods.

Jupiter's brothers were the gods Neptune and Pluto, granting Neptune dominion over the sea and Pluto dominion over the underworld. His sisters were Ceres, Juno and Vesta. Jupiter was also the father of the nine Muses who inspired art, poetry and learning. The Romans built a wonderful temple for Jupiter on the Capitol Hill in Rome, where they had shrines to Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. The goddess Minerva was said to have sprung from Jupiter's head. Jupiter's symbols were the oak tree, eagle and thunderbolt. Jupiter is the supreme god of the Roman pantheon, called dies pater, "shining father"

Jupiter's wife was Juno (Hera in Greek mythology), who was very jealous of the attention that he paid to other goddesses and women. Jupiter would often disguise himself as a bird or animal in order to sleep with other women. Usually, when Juno found out about the affair, she would severely punish the woman. Although not often written about, Juno possessed great power. Those that made her angry paid the price.

Immortalised as The Bringer of Jollity in Gustav Holst's "The Planets Suite", Jupiter is the 5th, and largest, planet from the Sun, Jupiter is the most massive planet in our solar system and has more than twice the mass than all the other planets in the solar system put together. In composition, it resembles a small star. If Jupiter had been between 50 and 100 times more massive, it would have become a star rather than a planet. Composed mainly of the lighter elements Hydrogen and Helium (around 90% hydrogen and 10% helium) Jupiter is known as a Gas Giant.

When viewed through a telescope, Jupiter appears to have stripes, or 'belts'. These light and dark belts which are the visual effect caused by strong winds (at least 400 mph according to the latest data) in Jupiter’s upper atmosphere. Within these belts and zones are storm systems that have raged for years. The colours which can be seen through a simple telescope appear to correlate with the cloud's altitude: blue lowest, followed by browns and whites, with reds highest. Sometimes we see the lower layers through holes in the upper ones.

Jupiter doesn't have a surface as such, its is probably a dense, hot liquid – form of hydrogen called liquid metallic hydrogen – an exotic form of hydrogen only existing at extremely high pressures – something of the order of 58 million pounds per square inch! The pressure inside may be 30 million times greater than that on Earth.

Jupiter has a faint ring system, which was discovered by the Voyager 1 spacecraft in 1979.

Jupiter radiates more energy into space than it receives from the Sun. The interior of Jupiter is hot, and the core is probably at about 20,000°

When viewed through a telescope a large red spot can be seen. It is known as the Great Red Spot. It has existed for at least 400 years, and perhaps longer. Galileo reported seeing a similar feature. It was reported by Robert Hooke, in the 17th century. It is an oval feature of about 12,000 by 25,000 km, and is big enough to hold 2 Earths. It is actually a large storm in the upper atmosphere of the planet. Similar structures have been seen on Saturn and Neptune

 Jupiter has a huge magnetic field, much stronger than Earth's. Its influence extends more than 650 million km (past the orbit of Saturn!). Jupiter's moons therefore lie within this magnetic influence, a fact which may partially explain some of the activity on Io. Unfortunately for future space travellers and of real concern to the designers of the Voyager and Galileo spacecraft, the environment near Jupiter contains high levels of energetic particles trapped by Jupiter's magnetic field. This "radiation" is similar to, but much more intense than, that found within Earth's Van Allen belts. It would be immediately fatal to an unprotected human being.

Jupiter has many moons, and are generally named for other figures in the life of Jupiter (or Zeus) (mostly his lovers) It in fact resembles a "mini-solar system." The 4 largest moons were discovered by Galileo in 1610, (his discovery and theories by the way got him into trouble with the Inquisition!) And are known as the Galilean Moons in his honour. These are Ganymede, Callisto, Io and Europa. In addition to these 4, Jupiter has at least 35 others. Of these 35 only Metis, Adrastea, Almathea, Thebe, Leda, Himalia, Lysithea, Elara, Ananke, Carme, Pasiphea & Sinope have been named, the others being referred to by numbers. The last 11 were discovered in December 2001. Jupiter now has more known moons than any other planet.

The metal which is associated with Sagittarius is TIN, the 50^th element in the Periodic Table with an atomic weight of 118.7. The chemical symbol for Tin is Sn.

Tin has been known for at least 3000 years. It was this metal which our Bronze Age ancestor used to alloy with copper to make bronze (see the section on Libra for more information on Bronze). The Romans gave it the name stannum and it is from this name we get the chemical symbol Sn and how the majority of its compounds are named. For example stannous chloride SnCl₂ and stannic chloride SnCl₄ The principal ore of tin is cassiterite – tin oxide - SnO_{2 and} it is this ore which has been mined in Cornwall for many centuries. The metal is obtained from the ore by reducing the oxide with carbon in a furnace (The carbon in days gone by would have been charcoal), whereas today it would be coke. The chemical reaction being that the oxygen from the oxide combines with the carbon to form carbon dioxide, and the molten metal is left behind in the crucible.

Tin is a silver-white metal, is malleable, somewhat ductile, and has a highly crystalline structure. Due to the breaking of these crystals, a "tin cry" is heard when a bar is bent. The element has two allotropic forms at normal pressure. On warming, grey, or alpha tin, with a cubic structure, changes at 13.2^oC into white, or beta tin, the ordinary form of the metal. White tin has a tetragonal structure. When tin is cooled below 13.2^oC, it changes slowly from white to grey. This change from the alpha to beta form is called the tin pest. There are few if any uses for grey tin.

The uses of tin up till comparatively recent times was almost exclusively in the manufacture of bronze. Tin takes a high polish and is used to coat other metals to prevent corrosion or other chemical action. Such tin plate over steel is used in the so-called tin can for preserving food. Alloys of tin are very important for example soft solder, type metal, fusible metal, pewter, bronze, bell metal, Babbitt metal, White metal, die casting alloy, and phosphor bronze are some of the important alloys using tin. Organic compounds of tin have been used as pesticides – for example a compound called Cyhexatin or tricyclohexyl tin hydroxide used to be used for the control of red spider mite. Organic (tetrabutyl tin) tin paints also used to be sued for anti fouling on ships bottoms, but due to the high toxicity to the marine environment they are either not used anymore or their use is strictly limited.

The colour of choice for Sagittarius is RICH PURPLE Or ROYAL BLUE

The Planetary gemstone which is associated with Sagittarius; is the beautiful Topaz, a gem which comes in many different colours and it aids in bringing forth leadership qualities and enables the grasping control of any situation confronting life. Tradition has it that Topaz also promotes harmony. Topaz is a common gemstone that has been used for centuries in jewellery. Its golden brown to yellow colour is classic but is confused with the less valuable citrine, which is sold under the name topaz. The colour of Topaz can vary from clear to yellow, orange, red, blue and green blue, clear, pink, violet or green

The name Topaz is thought to have come from the island named Topazion (after the Greek "topazos"), which was later changed to Zebergit, and is now called St. John's Island, in the Red Sea. It is not found there, but it is believed that it may have been the name originally given to peridot (mineral olivine) which is abundant there.

Topaz is an Aluminium hydroxy fluoro silicate mineral which is formed at high temperatures in igneous rocks and veins, also hydrothermal replacements.

Topaz crystals can sometimes reach incredible size of a hundred kilograms or more. Topaz can make very attractive mineral specimens due to their high lustre, nice colours and well formed and multifaceted crystals.

.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

December 22 to January 19

Those born under the Capricorn sign are reliable individuals with a prudent, careful nature and they have a good sense of humour and patience,

Capricorn is the Tenth sign of the Zodiac in the Astrological year and is as an Earth sign, which means that the element associated with Capricorn is Fire.

As with most of the signs of the Zodiac there are different legends and myths surrounding Capricorn. One of the earliest references seems to be with the Babylonians, predating the Greeks. One of the gods who they worshipped was a powerful deity named Ea. He was a Sea Goat with the lower half a fish and a torso of a goat. This god lived in the ocean. He came out every day to watch over the land, and he returned to the sea every night.

The association of Capricornus with water also appears in other earlier cultures. The Egyptians and Chinese recognised this period as the commencement of the much anticipated rainy season.  Immediately following Capricorn are Aquarius, the Water Bearer, pouring moisture upon the earth, and Pisces, the Fish, immersed in the unseen life-giving forces of water.
It is once again to the Greek legends that we turn to for the origin of the constellation, Capricorn.

One Greek legend was that before Zeus became lord of all the gods his life was saved by a fish tailed goat called Amaltheia whilst he was hiding from his evil father Cronos (Saturn in Roman mythology). When Zeus had overthrown Cronos he eventually took one of the goat’s horns. This was later known as Cornucopia – The Horn of Plenty – which overflowed with whatever its owner asked for. In return for saving his life, Zeus elevated Amaltheia to the stars. To become the constellation of Capricorn.

Principal of the Greek legends relates Capricorn to a horned demi-god called Pan. He had the upper half as a man and the legs of a goat. He was the son of Hermes (Messenger of the Gods and Mercury in Roman mythology) and a forest nymph and according to legend, when the nymph saw her strange baby; she was very fearful and ran away. Hermes, however, loved his strange son. He took him to Olympus, where the other gods and goddesses also took a liking to Pan. He became the god of shepherds and flocks, taking the responsibility from his father. He did not dwell on Olympus; he preferred to live among the shady trees in the mountains. He amused himself by playing his beloved reed pipes (known as Panpipes), or by chasing nymphs through the woods.

One of the stories relates of the cosmic battle between the Titans – this was the great battle between the elder generation of gods, and the younger gods, led by Zeus.  In a vicious and destructive ten year war the younger gods overthrew their elders to take control of the universe. Mother Gaia the goddess of the Earth, was so outraged by the violence and destruction that she brought forth the terrible monster Typhon, a monster so powerful and uncontrollable that it could even threaten the gods with destruction.
As Typhon approached the gods they were almost taken by surprise but for Pan, who at the last minute shouted a warning and suggested that the various gods disguise themselves as various animals so that they could hide from the monster. Typhon was such a terrible monster that Zeus himself is said to have changed himself into the form of the ram, Aries. The other gods also changed themselves into animal forms. Aphrodite and Eros, for example transformed themselves into the two fishes Pisces.  Pan himself took to the river to hide also in the form of a fish. Pan was however only partly transformed because of the rush. Only his rear was transformed. The front part of him remained in the form of a goat.  It is here we see a connection with the Sea Goat god of Babylonian mythology.
Later Zeus grappled with the monster Typhon but he was severely injured in the fight. Typhon having cut out the tendons of Zeus' hands and feet. Typhon then hid the tendons in a cave in the land of Cilicia. Typhon chose the dragon-woman Delphyne, to guard the tendons. This dragon woman was half-serpent and half-woman. She wasn't a very good guard however and permitted the tendons to be stolen by the Hermes together with his son Pan.  The tendons were returned to Zeus making him fit once again. His strength regained, Zeus unleashed all his fury and killed the monster Typhon by hurling thunderbolts at him. For Pans' role in this battle against the Titans, Zeus gave him an honoured place in the sky as the constellation Capricornus. 
A Roman account talks of Egyptian priests and some poets relating a similar legend saying that once when many gods had assembled in Egypt, suddenly Typhon, an exceedingly fierce monster and deadly enemy of the gods, came to that place. Terrified by him, they changed their shapes into other forms: Mercurius [Hermes] became an ibis, Apollo, the bird that is called Thracian, Diana [Artemis], a cat. For this reason they say the Egyptians do not permit these creatures to be injured, because they are called representations of gods. At this same time, they say, Pan cast himself into the river, making the lower part of his body a fish, and the rest a goat, (The Sea Goat once again) and as a result they escaped from Typhon. Jupiter [Zeus], admiring his shrewdness, put his likeness among the constellations.

The sun passes through Capricorn from late January to mid-February. In ancient times the sun was in this constellation at the winter solstice. Due to the precession of the Earth axis, the sun is now in the neighbouring constellation Sagittarius at this time of the year. The latitude on Earth on which Capricorn appears overhead of an observer is still known as the Tropic of Capricorn.


The ruling planet for CAPRICORN is Saturn

Saturn was the Roman god of fertility, agriculture, of planting and harvest. To honour Saturn, every year the ancient Romans held a joy-filled feast known as the Saturnalia. This festival began near the end of December and lasted for a week. During the festival period, prisoners were freed from gaol as an act of good will, Roman armies were not permitted to start any new wars, and schools and shops remained closed to enable everyone to enjoy the festivities. The length of the festival was adjusted several times in the course of history, until, under Emperor Augustus, it was fixed at three days. In addition to the public observances at which private observances were also held. Families gathered, friends visited friends, and gifts were exchanged, and thee was much drinking and merry making, Even slaves were allowed extra liberties. The slaves would be given huge fees as their masters served.

The day Saturday was named after him.

Some historians think that a number of our modern Christmas customs including Christmas dinners, holiday parties, and the practice of exchanging gifts, may be traced to the Saturnalia.

He is believed to have brought cultivation to Rome, and with it, civilization. His time of rule was considered to be a golden age. Saturn was often identified with the Greek Titan Cronus, but Cronus was considered to be very violent- Saturn was peaceful. Greek legends tell us of Zeus (Jupiter) overthrowing the belligerent Cronus. Some believe that when Cronus was chased out of Olympus he came to Rome to rule as Saturn as the peaceful god of agriculture and was the king of a fertile region of land on the banks of the Tiber. He was taught agriculture by Janus. Janus was the Roman god of gateways and doorways and beginnings and endings. He was a two faced god who could look both forwards and backwards at the same time.

Saturn, The Binger of Old Age (Holst’s Planet Suite) is the sixth planet from the sun and the second largest and has been known since prehistoric times. Galileo was the first to observe it with a telescope in 1610;

 Saturn is the least dense of the planets; its density being less than that of water. Its composition is similar to Jupiter, and is about 75% hydrogen and 25% helium with traces of water, methane, ammonia and "rock". It is thought that the primordial solar nebula from which the solar system was formed had a similar composition.

 Saturn's interior is probably similar to Jupiter's consisting of a rocky core, with a liquid metallic hydrogen layer. The interior of Saturn, like Jupiter is very hot with a temperature of over 12000 degrees C at the core.  and radiates more energy into space than it receives from the Sun. Most of the extra energy is generated by the same processes which are thought to operate in Jupiter. The bands which are so prominent on Jupiter are much fainter on Saturn. They are also much wider near the equator. It was the ring system around Saturn which made it unique in the known solar system until 1977 when very faint rings were discovered around Uranus (and shortly thereafter around Jupiter and Neptune). There are two prominent rings around Saturn (known as A and B) which can be seen from Earth and with a powerful telescope an additional fainter ring can bee seen. The pictures from the Voyager spacecraft showed an additional four rings. Saturn's rings, unlike the rings of the other planets, are very bright.  Though they look continuous from the Earth, the rings are actually composed of billions of small particles which appear to be composed mainly of ice. They range in size from a centimetre or so to several metres, although a few kilometre sized objects have been observed. Saturn's rings are extraordinarily thin: though they're 250,000 km or more in diameter they're less than one kilometre thick. The origin of the rings of Saturn (and the other Jovian planets) is unknown. Saturn is easily visible to the unaided eye in a clear night time sky, although it is not nearly as bright as Jupiter. It is easy to identify Saturn as a planet because it doesn't "twinkle" like the stars do. The rings and the larger satellites are visible with a small astronomical telescope.

There are some 30 satellites which revolve around Saturn. Some 18 of them have been named, each with a name of a god or goddess from Greek or Roman mythology.

Pan is the innermost of Saturn's known satellites. In Greek mythology Pan the god of shepherds and flocks.

Atlas, the second satellite is named after the Titan Atlas who was condemned to bear the world upon his shoulders as punishment for attempting to storm the heavens.

Next is Prometheus, who In Greek mythology was another Titan and he stole fire from the gods and gave it to humankind.

Pandora is the fourth of Saturn's known satellites. In Greek mythology Pandora was the first woman on earth. She was given to Prometheus, bearing a jar which she was not to open. When she did, all evil contained escaped, except for one thing: Hope.

The fifth satellite is Epimetheus and in Greek mythology Epimetheus was the brother of Prometheus and husband of Pandora.

Janus is the sixth of Saturn's known satellites. In Roman mythology Janus was the god of gates and doorways, beginnings and endings.

The seventh satellite is Mimas and in Greek mythology Mimas was a giant and was slain by Heracles.

Next is Enceladus, the eighth of Saturn's known satellites and in Greek mythology Enceladus was a giant who was killed by a lightning bolt sent by Zeus and buried beneath Mount Etna by Athena.

Tethys the ninth of Saturn's known satellites who in Greek mythology was the personification of the fertile ocean and was the wife of Oceanus.

Telesto is the tenth of Saturn's satellites and Telesto was a sea nymph, a daughter of Oceanus and Tethys.

The eleventh satellite is Calypso and Calypso was a nymph who held Odysseus prisoner on her island Ogygia for seven years.

Dione is the twelfth satellite and in Greek mythology Dione was the mother of Aphrodite..

Helene is the thirteenth of Saturn's known satellites. In Greek mythology Helene was an Amazon who battled with Achilles.

The second largest satellite is Rhea and is the fourteenth of Saturn's known satellites. In Greek mythology Rhea was the mother of the gods, sister and wife of Cronus.

The largest of Saturn’s satellites is Titan and is the fifteenth of the known satellites. It is in fact larger than the planet Mercury. The Titans were a race of god-like giants, the personifications of the forces of nature.

Hyperion is the sixteenth of Saturn's known satellites. In Greek mythology Hyperion was a Titan, father of the sun-god Helios.

Lapetus is the seventeenth named satellite of Saturn and is the third largest. In Greek mythology Lapetus was another Titan and father of Atlas, Prometheus, and Epimetheus.

The eighteenth named satellite is Phoebe and Phoebe is almost 4 times more distant from Saturn than its nearest neighbour (Lapetus). In Greek mythology Phoebe is a Titaness, wife of Coeus and mother of Leto and Asteria.

The metal which is associated with Capricorn is LEAD

Lead is a very versatile and useful metal which has been used widely for thousands of years. It is known that the ancient Egyptians used it for coinage and ornamentation. The Romans and Babylonians used it widely. It has been mined in Britain since Roman times, although today there is very little lead mining being undertaken. It is a very dense metal which is virtually indestructible under normal conditions, as a protective oxide layer forms upon its surface thus preventing any further oxidation, thus many ancient artefacts made of lead have survived the progress of Time. It is known that the Romans used it for piping, roofing, ornaments, coffins, evaporation pans for the manufacture of salt, utensils, just to mention a few. The Latin name for lead is plumbum and it is from this name we get the words plumbing and plumber and the chemical symbol for the element - Pb.

Lead is a heavy metal, the 82^nd element in the periodic table and has an atomic weight of 207.2. It has a melting point of 327 degrees C and a boiling point of 1749 degrees C. There area number of isotopes of lead, one of which is the natural decay product of uranium. It has been the alchemists dream over the centuries to turn lead into gold. This actually can be achieved – in a nuclear reactor, but of course it is not a practical or economic way or making gold! The principal or of lead is called galena which is chemically, lead sulphide PbS and is found widely in Britain, particularly in the north Pennine area. It is generally found where hot (hydrothermal) solutions from deep within the earth, (associated with igneous activity) have crystallized out in veins within various sedimentary rocks. Galena is a heavy shiny metallic mineral and is easily identified by its cubic crystal structure.

Lead and all its compounds are extremely poisonous which makes it not a good idea anymore to use it for lead drinking water piping as has been used in the past. In hard water areas the question of lead poisoning from water pipes has not been a real issue because the hard water deposits a lime scale surface on the lead thus preventing the water slowly dissolving the lead (in very small amounts – but small amounts are enough to cause a problem) It is in soft water areas and particularly where the water is slightly acid as in moorland areas of the country is where there has been some major problems in the past, with lead poisoning from the drinking water.

It is a very soft metal, very malleable and can be easily beaten into sheets which has made it so useful in the roofing industry ever since Roman times. Churches since mediaeval times have always used vast quantities of lead. The Romans also used lead for all sorts of utensils and vessels, particularly in the high status villas. They did not know of course how toxic lead was, so how many people died through lead poisoning is anybody’s guess. Lead has been used for the manufacture of bullets and musket balls ever since the gun was invented. When mixed with tin, the alloy pewter is formed and has and still is used for beer tankards and other utensils. When manufactured it starts of as a very shiny metal but soon becomes dulled through the formation of an oxide layer on the surface. The fact that it is alloyed with tin gives the pewter very different properties, making it far less toxic than pure lead.

Lead of course used to be added to petrol in the form of tetra-ethyl lead, a very toxic organic liquid; even a few drops of the pure liquid on the skin would be absorbed into the body and cause severe lead poisoning and even death. It was added to petrol in very dilute amounts in order to boost the octane rating of the fuel it has been outlawed in many countries now due to the fact the exhaust fumes form the vehicles using it deposited lead throughout the countryside.

Today lead is still extensively used in roofing, in specialist windows and lead-acid batteries.

The colour of choice for Capricorn is BROWN and most dark colours.

The Planetary gemstone which is associated with Capricorn; is Lapis Lazuli.

Lapis lazuli has been mined for centuries from a locality still in use today in the remote mountain valley called Kokcha in Afghanistan. First mined 6000 years ago, the rock was transported to Egypt and present day Iraq and later to Europe where it was used in jewellery and for ornamental stone. Europeans even ground down the rock into an expensive powdered pigment for paints called "ultramarine". Today ultramarine is manufactured artificially. Although it is not now the only source of lapis, the source in Afghanistan still produces the finest quality material.

The names comes from the Persian "lazuward", meaning "blue" pigment,

Both acids and strong base easily damage it.

Lapis has been used for more than a thousand years as an ornamental stone, and was found in the possessions of Tutankhamen. It is usually cut into geometric shapes. It is also prized for carving

Lazurite is the primary mineral, but lapis lazuli is a physical mixture of calcite, pyrite, lazurite and other minerals to a lesser degree.

Chemically it is a Sodium Calcium Aluminium Silicate Sulphur Sulphate and is a silicate belonging to the felspathoid group of minerals

Lapis lazuli or lapis for short is mostly lazurite but commonly contains iron pyrites and calcite and some other minerals. The name means "blue rock" and is always a brilliant blue with violet or greenish tints. The rich blue colour is due to the sulphur that is inherent in the structure of lazurite. Small crystals of pyrites are always present in lapis and their brassy yellow colour is makes it a very attractive gemstone and popular but generally expensive mineral. Well-formed, deep blue crystals are rare and valuable.

Found as veins in limestone, and created at the contact metamorphic zone of marbles.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

AQUARIUS: The water Bearer

Aquarius is the Eleventh sign of the Zodiac in the Astrological year and is actually an Air sign, which means that the element associated with Aquarius is Air and not water as one expect.

Aquarians basically possess strong and attractive personalities. They fall into two principle types: one shy, sensitive, gentle and patient; the other exuberant, lively and exhibitionist, sometimes hiding the considerable depths of their character under a cloak of frivolity.

As with most of the other Signs and Constellations, here are a number of different legends associated with Aquarius. The name comes from the Latin for water Aqua, a word which is still extensively used today, particularly as a prefix word. (Aquarium for example.) Aquarius is the Water Bearer or the Water Carrier.

Aquarius is symbolic of the Gods nourishing the earth with life giving energies. Water was of vital importance to the ancients as indeed it is for us today. It is easy to appreciate the mythological significance of Aquarius to the ancient civilizations, as water was so very important to all of mankind. Their very existence depended upon the supply of life sustaining moisture. During the month of Aquarius, the rains came down from the heavens onto the land. In many regions of the ancient world, this was seen as the beginning the New Year, a time of new life cycles. It is not hard to understand why the figure of Aquarius was seen as a water bearing angel.
In many ancient cultures, including Babylonian, Egyptian and the ancient Greeks, there was a god known as the 'Water Bearer' or 'Water Pourer.' The bringer of water was a force which made rain come down from the heavens as without it Life would die. In Egypt, for instance, the constellation was thought to cause the Nile to give forth its annual floods. The waters of the Nile, far to the south, would start to rise in June as the rains from the Ethiopian highlands began to run off into the Blue Nile. The night sky, in June, would show Aquarius at its zenith: the bringer of water. Although Aquarius is at its Zenith in June, in the Zodiacal year however Aquarius is at the beginning of the year,(in January/February,) This is due to the fact that the sun is within the constellation of Aquarius at this time.

The Bringer of Water was therefore amongst the most revered gods by ancient peoples. In one of the Greek legends, Zeus, the lord of all gods was the Water Bearer. He was of course the god of many things, but one of his most important roles was as the god of weather and of storms. The constellation Aquarius could have originally been representative of Zeus as the Water Bearer.

Another Greek myth was the myth of Deucalion, the only man to survive the Great Flood**. The story of this flood is very similar to the Judeo-Christian legend of Noah's Ark. It took place at a time long ago and as the story goes, during this time, humanity had become more savage than the wildest animals. There was much fighting and killing amongst themselves. Nobody was safe on the roads or in their own homes. Both men and women were violent, bloodthirsty and utterly without morals. The words of the gods meant little or nothing to them. Zeus, despairing for mankind, sent a great flood upon the earth. The flood destroyed all the people in the world - with the exception of Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha. Zeus had met this couple during a previous visit to earth. They lived alone in a simple hut with very few material possessions. When Zeus came down to earth before sending the great flood he visited this couple. They did not know that he was a god but they fed Zeus all the same, although they had very little food to spare. They gave him shelter for the night and spoke kindly to him. They were the last good people on earth, so Zeus allowed them to survive the flood. After it ended, he helped them to create a new race of men, which was supposed to be stronger and better. Deucalion is known as the 'Water Bearer' because he not only lived through the flood, but he helped to bring life to a new generation.

** The Great Flood – there is evidence in the geological records that there was indeed a great flood around 9500BC which Plato records the sinking of Atlantis. It appears to have coincided with a huge volcanic explosion in the Aegean Sea, where one of the volcanic islands exploded, destroying the Minoan Civilization at the same time. The volcanic explosion caused produced a tsunami – a great tidal wave, destroying everything in its path.

A Roman myth was that the water carrier was represented by Ganymede, who was a beautiful Phrygian youth. Ganymede was the son Tros, the king of Phrygia. While tending his father's flocks on Mount Ida, Ganymede was spotted by Jupiter. The king of gods became enamoured of the boy and flew down to the mountain in the form of a large bird, whisking Ganymede away to the heavens. Ever since, the boy has served as cupbearer to the gods.

Ovid wrote the following tale: "The king of the gods was once fired with love for Phrygian Ganymede, and when that happened Jupiter found another shape preferable to his own. Wishing to turn himself into a bird, he none the less scorned to change into any save that which can carry his thunderbolts. Then without delay, beating the air on borrowed pinions, he snatched away the shepherd of Ilium, who even now mixes the wine cups, and supplies Jove with nectar, to the annoyance of Juno"

Aquarius is one of the most ancient of the constellations, and is a summer zodiacal constellation in the northern hemisphere, and it was one of original constellations recognised by Ptolemy. It is however a very faint constellation and would not be famous were it for the Zodiac. It is a summer constellation in the northern hemisphere, found near Pisces and Cetus. It is especially notable as the radiant for four meteor showers, the largest of which is the Delta Aquarid meteor shower in late July and early August. Ganymede is also one of the moons of Jupiter – how very appropriate to name one of Jupiter’s moons, Ganymede considering the aforementioned mythological association with Jupiter.

To the ancients however the ruling planet for Aquarius was Saturn but following the discovery of Uranus by in 1781, the ruling planet was changed to Uranus at some point after the name Uranus was given to it during the 19^th Century

Uranus, The Magician, (Holst’s Planet Suite) was the first planet to be discovered in modern times and it was discovered by Sir William Herschel, (1738-1822) in 1781. The discovery of this planet led to his position as private astronomer to the king in 1782. It had actually been seen many times before but ignored as simply another star (the earliest recorded sighting was in 1690 by John Flamsteed). Herschel named it "the Georgium Sidus" (the Georgian Planet) in honour of the king (George III). The name "Uranus" was first proposed by Bode in conformity with the other planetary names from classical mythology but didn't come into common use until 1850. .

The large reflecting telescopes that Sir William Herschel constructed, included one with a 40-ft (12.2-m) focal length which far surpassed in size those of his contemporaries and enabled him to discover this far distant planet. He also concluded from the motion of double stars that they are held together by gravitation and that they revolve around a common centre, thus confirming the universal nature of Isaac NEWTON's theory of gravitation. He also discovered in 1787 the first of the satellites of Uranus to be discovered and he named them Titania and Oberon (1787).

There is a creation story in Greek mythology which is not unlike the Judeo-Christian story in the Bible: In the beginning there was only chaos. Then out of the void appeared Night and Erebus, the unknowable place where death dwells. All else was empty, silent, endless, darkness. Then somehow Love (Eros) was born bringing a start of order. From Love came Light and Day. Once there was Light and Day, Gaea, the great earth goddess appeared.

Erebus then slept with Night, who gave birth to Aether, the heavenly light, and to Day, the earthly light. Night produced Doom, Fate, Death, Sleep, Dreams, and Nemesis.

Meanwhile Gaea gave birth to the god Uranus. Uranus became Gaea's mate and together they produced the three Cyclops, the three Hecatoncheires, and twelve Titans.

However, Uranus hated the Hecatoncheires and imprisoned them by pushing them into the hidden places of the earth, (symbolically, Gaea's womb). This angered Gaea and so she plotted against Uranus. She made a flint sickle and tried to get her children to attack Uranus. All were too afraid except, the youngest Titan, Cronus.

Gaea and Cronus set up plot to punish Uranus as he lay with Gaea at night. Cronus grabbed his father and castrated him, with the stone sickle, throwing the severed genitals into the ocean. The fate of Uranus is not clear. He either died, withdrew from the earth, or exiled himself to Italy. As he departed he promised that Cronus and the Titans would be punished. From his spilt blood came the Giants, the Ash Tree Nymphs and from the sea foam where his genitals fell came Aphrodite.

 Most of the planets spin on an axis nearly perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic but Uranus' axis is almost parallel to the ecliptic. At the time of Voyager 2's passage, Uranus' south pole was pointed almost directly at the Sun. This results in the odd fact that Uranus' polar regions receive more energy input from the Sun than do its equatorial regions. Uranus is nevertheless hotter at its equator than at its poles. The mechanism underlying this is unknown.

Uranus is composed primarily of rock, various ices, and of hydrogen and helium like Jupiter and Saturn, somewhat less though at about 15% hydrogen and a little helium (in contrast to Jupiter and Saturn which are mostly hydrogen).Uranus' atmosphere however is composed of about 83% hydrogen, 15% helium and 2% methane.

Uranus has bands of clouds that blow around rapidly. But they are extremely faint, visible only with radical image enhancement of the Voyager 2 spacecraft. Recent observations using these image enhancement techniques show larger and more pronounced streaks. Uranus has rings and like Jupiter's, they are very dark due to the low reflectivity of the particles and are composed of fairly large particles ranging up to 10 metres in diameter in addition to fine dust. There are 11 known rings, all very faint; the brightest is known as the Epsilon ring. The Uranian rings were the first after Saturn's to be discovered. This was of considerable importance since we now know that rings are a common feature of planets, not a peculiarity of Saturn alone. Uranus is therefore no longer the bland boring planet that it used to be thought of. By 2007 the Sun will be directly over Uranus's equator.

Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun and is the third largest in the solar system. It has an equatorial diameter of 51,800 kilometres (32,190 miles) and orbits the Sun once every 84.01 Earth years. It has a mean distance from the Sun of 2.87 billion kilometres (1.78 billion miles). The length of a day on Uranus is 17 hours 14 minutes.

 Uranus has 20 named moons (plus 1 recently discovered one which as yet has not been given an official name).

Unlike the other bodies in the solar system which have names from classical mythology, Uranus' moons take their names from the writings of Shakespeare and Pope.

 The metal which is associated with Aquarius is Aluminium

Aluminium is one of the most abundant metals on the earth’s surface, it is found as a chemical component of all clay minerals and in many igneous rocks such as granite. It is a low density alkali metal with an atomic number of 13 and an atomic weight of 27. This metal itself was completely unknown to the ancients, however the art of pottery making has been known for millennia, from at least 5000 BC. The clays which were used (and are still used) are generally essentially composed of hydrated aluminium compounds. Certain other Aluminium compounds such as "alums" (aluminium sulphate for example) were widely used by the Egyptians and Babylonians as early as 2000 B.C for use in the processes used in the dying of cloths with vegetable dyes. It is also believed that they used it for medicinal purposes also. Alums were also used in the dying processes in Britain during the Middle ages through to the 19^th century. One of the principal sources was the Jurassic mudstone cliffs at Ravenscar, near Whitby in North Yorkshire. The aluminium however could not be separated by any known method until the 19^th century, due to its tight chemical bonding with other elements, such as oxygen, hydrogen and silicon.

In historical terms Aluminium is a relatively new metal which was isolated early in the 19th century being recognised first by Sir Humphrey Davy in 1809. Davy fused iron in contact with alumina (aluminium oxide) in an electric arc to produce an iron aluminium alloy; for a split instant, before it joined the iron, Aluminium existed in its free metallic state for perhaps the first time since the world was formed.

In 1825 H.C. Oerstedt, a Dane, produced a tiny sample of Aluminium in the laboratory by chemical means. Twenty years later the German scientist, Frederick Wohler, produced Aluminium lumps as big as pinheads. By 1854 Sainte-Clair Deville had made improvements in Wohler's method and produced Aluminium globules the size of marbles. He was encouraged by Napoleon lll to produce Aluminium commercially and at the Paris exhibition in 1855 Aluminium bars were exhibited next to the crown jewels.

It was not until 31 years later, however, that an economical way of commercial production was discovered. On February 23, 1886, a basic electrolytic process which is still was worked out by an American, Charles Martin Hall,. He achieved his success, after He separated Aluminium from the oxygen with which it is chemically combined in nature by passing an electric current through a solution of cryolite and alumina.

Following this discovery the process was improved by Heroult in France and Bayer in Germany and today aluminium is an everyday commodity, rather than a precious metal. (it was considered to be a precious metal in the 19^th century as it was so expensive and difficult to produce.

Although deposits of an aluminous red earth have been known to occur in many Tertiary Limestone areas since the 1820's, it was not until the 1940's that their economic significance as an ore of Aluminium was recognised. In 1943, 2500 tonnes of ore was shipped to the USA for process investigation and it was realised that this deposit, known as bauxite was suitable for processing using Bayer technology, and today Bauxite mixed with small amounts of cryolite is the principal aluminium ore which is used for the metal extraction. The process involves the use of a high voltage electric current being passed through the molten ore and by the mechanism known as electrolysis, molten aluminium is produced.

Today Aluminium finds a wide variety of uses from aircraft to soft drink cans, because of its remarkable combination of characteristics: it does not rust, it is lightweight and easy to handle, it reflects heat, it is waterproof and it is available in a wide variety of finishes.

The colour of choice for Aquarius is TURQUOISE.

The Planetary gemstone which is associated with Aquarius; is the beautiful turquoise. Turquoise is a valuable mineral and is possibly the most valuable, non-transparent mineral in the jewellery trade. It has been mined for aeons since at least 6000 BC. by early Egyptians. Its history also includes beautiful ornamental creations by Native Americans and Persians. Its popularity is still quite strong today. Although crystals of any size are rare, some small crystals have been found in Virginia and elsewhere. Most specimens are cryptocrystalline, meaning that a microscope could only see the crystals. The finest turquoise comes from Iran.

Turquoise is often imitated by "fakes", such as the mineral, chrysocolla and poorer turquoise specimens are often dyed or colour stabilised with coatings of various resins. The name comes from a French word which means stone of Turkey, from where Persian material passed on its way to Europe. The name comes from the French "turquoise", which means "Turkey" as in the original great localities in Persia (today Iran).

It can be pure in colour from sky blue, bluish-green to pale green or may contain secondary minerals. These secondary minerals can form a pattern of interlocking polygons in a matrix and is sometimes called "spider-web" turquoise.

Chemically Turquoise is a Hydrated Copper Aluminium Phosphate and occurs as a secondary mineral in the alteration zone in hydrothermal replacement deposits.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

. © Soulgrowth.co.uk 2002

Pisces is the Twelfth sign of the Zodiac in the Astrological year and is Water Sign, which means that the element associated with Pisces is Water. Pisceans possess a gentle, patient, and malleable nature. They have many generous qualities and are friendly, good natured, kind and compassionate. They are sensitive to the feelings of those around them. They are also easygoing and affectionate and offer no threat or challenge to stronger and more exuberant characters.

The legends which are associated with Pisces all centre around the terrible sea monster – The Typhon...

The word pisces is simply a Latin word meaning fish. Fish have had a symbolic meaning throughout the ages. In the Bible, there are many stories centred fishing on the Sea of Galilee. Then there was the parable of the loaves and fishes when Jesus said to his disciples "Come and follow me and I will make you fishers of men" The fish was used as a symbol for the early Christians in Rome as a secret sign so that fellow Christians could meet and recognise each other for fear of being cast to the lions or the gladiatorial forum by Nero.

One variation of the legend talks of Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty, and her son Eros, the god of love, when they were walking along a river one day when this terrible monster called Typhon suddenly rose up out of the water. The Typhon hated love and beauty and was intent on their destruction. Typhon was ancient and awful and much feared by the gods. This fearsome creature belonged to the earlier age of the Titans, and was a terrifying force even for the greatest of the gods. Typhon was born from Gaia (Mother Earth) and Tartarus. This was Gaia's youngest offspring. He was by far the deadliest and the largest monster ever conceived. Its thighs were gigantic coiled serpents; its arms could spread across the heavens, and its head (in the shape of an ass's head) touched the stars. When it took flight, its wings blotted out the sun, and when it opened its mouth, out came burning boulders and his eyes shot flames. Instead of fingers, he had 100 dragon's heads sprouting from his hands.

Typhon was as strong as a Titan, and therefore as strong as the Olympians. He was as tall as the heavens. None of the Olympians had the power to destroy Typhon alone. All they could do was flee from him, when he rose up from the waters. Their method of escape from this terrible monster was by transforming themselves into animals. On seeing the Typhon, Aphrodite and Eros transformed themselves into fish and swam away. An alternative ending to the myth was that, after diving into the water they were rescued by two friendly fish, and were carried them to safety. Zeus then sent the two fish to the heavens where they hang in the sky, their tails intertwined, to commemorate the day when Love and Beauty were saved.

Another version of the myth is that when Typhon attacked Mount Olympus, abode of the gods. To escape from his wrath, each deity took the form of an animal. Zeus himself, shifted into the likeness of a ram. Aphrodite, and her son Eros, escaped the beast by transforming into a pair of fish and swimming away into the River Euphrates, and it was the goddess Minerva who placed the image of the fishes in the heavens so that the event would not be forgotten.

And yet another version states that the gods refused to fight when the Typhon attacked their mountain home so they escaped to Egypt Each god disguised itself into an animal: Zeus transformed himself into a ram and Aphrodite and Eros both disguised themselves as fish and swam up the Nile to escape the monster. Zeus then persuaded to take up battle with the Typhon by throwing his thunderbolts at him and eventually chasing him to Sicily. It was here that Zeus threw Mount Etna at the monster, finally subduing it. But under the earth, this buried monster still spews up fire and boulders every so often. The last major eruption of this volcano was in 2001. As for Aphrodite and Eros, who escaped the monster's wrath, Zeus gave them their fish-like images in the heavens, to commemorating the time Typhon nearly overran Olympus.

In fact Typhon also appears in the legends associated with Capricorn and Pan who was a half man half goat demi-god. The legend is very similar but with the emphasis upon the commemoration of Pans role in the battle with Typhon.

The zodiacal constellation Pisces represents two fish, tied together with a cord. The constellation is not particularly bright or easy to find, but is near Pegasus and Aquarius. The tails of the fish are connected at the star alpha Piscium.

Neptune is the Roman name for Poseidon, who was the Greek god of the sea, of horses and of earthquakes. He was the son of Saturn and brother to Jupiter and Pluto and he had two sons who were Triton and Pegasus.

Though Neptune is a god, astrologers consider him to possess many feminine qualities. The sea, which changes shape and moves in a tidal rhythm, is an embodiment of feminine energy and is a symbol of mutability.

Neptune's benevolent guise helps to calm the waters for passengers on vessels that travel over the waters. But when he is angered he can call forth storms, release the fog that confuses sailors, and whip up the waves that threaten to capsize ships.

He carried a trident, which had three prongs and he can be seen riding either a dolphin or a horse. When the sea is rough enough to show white tops to the waves, these are called sea horses.

Neptune, The Mystic (Holst’s Planet Suite) is named after this god. Neptune was first observed by in 1846 very near to the locations independently predicted by the astronomers Adams and Le Verrier from calculations based on the observed positions of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus. An international dispute arose between the English and French (though not, apparently between Adams and Le Verrier personally) over priority and the right to name the new planet; they are now jointly credited with Neptune's discovery. Subsequent observations have shown that the orbits calculated by Adams and Le Verrier are quite different from Neptune's actual orbit. And it only coincides with the calculated value for a relatively brief period of time, therefore if the search for the planet taken place a few years earlier or later it would not have been found anywhere near the predicted location. In fact more that two centuries earlier Galileo in 1613 observed this planet when it happened to be near Jupiter, but unfortunately he thought that it was a star.

Neptune is not normally the most distant planet from the sun (the average distance from the sun is some 2800 million miles) but as Pluto has a very eccentric orbit, it periodically crosses the orbit of Neptune thus making it the most distant planet from the sun for a few years.

It is thought that the composition of Neptune is very similar to that of Uranus, various "ices" and rock with about 15% hydrogen and a little helium. It is probable that it has a small rocky core (small being relative as it is about the size of the earth!) and an atmosphere of mostly hydrogen and helium with a small amount of methane. Similar to the other gas planets, Neptune has atmosphere is very violent with huge storms and vortices. Neptune's winds being the fastest known in the solar system, reaching some 1200 mph.

Neptune's blue colour is largely the result of absorption of red light by methane in the atmosphere but there is some additional as-yet-unidentified chromophore which gives the clouds their rich blue tint. Also like Jupiter and Saturn there appears to be an internal heat source so that it radiates more heat into space than it receives from the sun. As Jupiter has a Greta Red spot, Neptune has a Great White Spot, which is about half the size of the Red Spot. It was first seen by the spacecraft, Voyager. But subsequent observations in 1994 showed that this spot on Neptune had disappeared and then as it happened a few months later a new dark spot was seen in the atmosphere within the northern hemisphere. It is suggested therefore that the atmosphere of Neptune is very dynamic and there are rapid changes in addition to the very violent winds and storms which have been observed.

Neptune also has rings. Earth-based observations showed only faint arcs instead of complete rings, but the images from the spacecraft, Voyager 2 showed them to be complete rings with bright clumps. One of the rings appears to have a curious twisted structure. Like Uranus and Jupiter, Neptune's rings are very dark and are thought to be made up of meteoric dust formed when meteorites have crashed into Neptune’s moons.

Neptune can be seen with binoculars (if you know exactly where to look) but a large telescope is needed to see anything other than a tiny spot in the night sky

The equatorial diameter of this planet is some 30,760 miles and if it were hollow, it could contain nearly 60 Earths and it orbits the Sun every 165 years. 8 moons have so far been found circling Neptune and several of them have been named.

The metal which is associated with Pisces is: Platinum

Platinum is truly a magical metal with a history that takes us back to ancient Egypt where the remarkable metal workers became very skilled in the art of working with platinum. It is a very rare and enduring metal which must have been highly prized y the Egyptians and must have been exclusive to the Pharaohs and the high priests and priestesses. In fact a 2500 year old coffin of an Egyptian High Priestess was discovered and it was decorated with platinum hieroglyphs. Their polish and lustre were still perfect, giving dramatic proof of platinum's incomparable strength and durability. Another ancient people who created jewellery from platinum were the Incas. The invading Spanish Conquistadors saw little use for this metal, and deemed it "silver of lesser value". They even went so far as to throw great amounts of the metal into the sea, thinking that it might become a cheap imitation for silver.

It was not until about 1679 that platinum was first mentioned in Europe by a Bohemian Jesuit, who describes the metal as white gold.

In 1751 a Swedish chemist described platinum as a precious metal and that it would only dissolve in the highly corrosive acid known as aqua regia (a mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids)

Platinum is a metallic element with the chemical symbol of Pt with an atomic number of 78 and an atomic weight of 195. It is however considerably more dense than gold, having a specific gravity of 21. It is also much stronger than gold. It has an intense silver-white lustre which almost never tarnishes, remaining intact for centuries. It is also malleable and ductile making it ideal for use in jewellery.

Platinum is one of the rarest of all the precious metals with more than 90% of all platinum supplies coming from South Africa and Russia. In contrast with gold and silver, there are no large above-ground platinum stockpiles to protect against significant supply disruptions; all of the platinum mined being used very quickly. In fact all of the platinum ever mined would fit into an average sized living room! Each year only about 133 tons, compared with some 1782 tons of gold. It takes ten tons of ore to produce a single ounce of platinum. It takes five months to process platinum ore into pure platinum.

In addition to its uses in the manufacture of the finest jewellery, platinum is an extremely important metal used in various chemical processes – as a catalyst to speed up chemical reactions. It is also used extensively alloyed with the metal palladium (which also belongs to the platinum family of metals) in almost all of our car exhaust systems - The catalytic Converter! Where a ceramic honeycomb has been electrically sprayed with an extremely thin layer of the metal. What it does is to aid the conversion of excess hydrocarbons in the exhaust into carbon dioxide and water, carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides into nitrogen.

The colour of choice for Pisces is Soft Seagreen.

 The Planetary gemstone which is associated with Pisces is Aquamarine

Aquamarine is a blue variety of the precious and beautiful emerald. Emerald is green variety of the mineral Beryl and this family of minerals all have the general chemical formula of Beryllium Aluminium Silicate and is the prime source of the element Beryllium.Beryl is colourless in its pure form and it is the many different impurities which give it its colour.

Emerald is the green variety of this mineral and is caused by small amounts of chromium and iron. The gemstone aquamarine is the blue variety of this mineral.

All these minerals have a vitreous lustre (i.e. glass like) and the crystals are hexagonal and are transparent to translucent and often contain various inclusions and flaws which are not looked upon as a negative aspect but are considered as a part of the character of the gemstone.

They are generally found in pegmatites ( thees. It is also malleable and ductile making it ideal for use in jewellery.