Constellation Serpens Astrology

Constellation Serpens the Serpent, is a northern constellation sitting above constellation Scorpio, and in the arms of the Serpent Bearer, constellation Ophiuchus. It is split into two non-contiguous parts, Serpens Caput (Serpent’s Head) to the west and Serpens Cauda (Serpent’s Tail) to the east. Between these two halves lies the constellation of Ophiuchus the Serpent-Bearer. Serpens spans 60 degrees of the zodiac in the signs Scorpio, Sagittarius and Capricorn, and contains 9 named stars.

(Star positions for year 2000)

According to Ptolemy, Serpens is like Saturn and Mars. It is said to give wisdom, craft, deceit, malice, a feeble will and danger of poison. [1]

Ophiuchus means ‘he who holds the serpent’ and that is how he is depicted. The struggle will last forever, since they wage it on equal terms with equal powers. [2]

Serpens probably is very ancient, and always has been shown as grasped by the hands of Ophiuchus. Of the four stellar Snakes this preeminently is the Serpent, its stars originally being combined with those of Ophiuchus. In the astronomy of Arabia it was Al Hayyah, the Snake. To the Hebrews, as to most nations, this was a Serpent from the earliest times. The biblical school made it the serpent seducer of Eve. Serpens shared with Ophiuchus the Euphratean title of Nu-tsir-da, the Image of the Serpent. [3]

Here, Serpens, the serpent, is seen struggling vainly in the powerful grasp of the man who is named O-phi-u-chus. In Latin he is called Serpentarius. He is at one and the same moment shown to be seizing the serpent with his two hands, and treading on the very heart of the scorpion, marked by the deep red star Antares (wounding). Just as we read the first constellation of the woman and child Coma, as expounding the first sign VIRGO, so we have to read this first constellation as expounding the second sign LIBRA. Hence, we have here a further picture, showing the object of this conflict on the part of the scorpion.

In Scorpio we see merely the effort to wound Ophiuchus in the heel; but here we see the effort of the serpent to seize THE CROWN, which is situated immediately over the serpent’s head, and to which he is looking up and reaching forth. The contest is for Dominion! It was the Devil, in the form of a serpent, that robbed the first man of his crown; but in vain he struggled to wrest it from the sure possession of the Second Man. Not only does he fail in the attempt, but is himself utterly defeated and trodden under foot. [4]

References

1. Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology, Vivian E. Robson, 1923, p.62.
2. Astronomica, Manilius, 1st century AD, p.31.
3. Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning, Richard H. Allen, 1889, p.374-375.
4. The Witness of the Stars, E. W. Bullinger, 10. Serpens (the Serpent).