Zodiac Ages and Their Presidencies

by John P. Pratt
29 Apr 2017, The Ram (S), 1 Iyar (PH), 1 Jeshua (P)

©2017 by John P. Pratt. All rights Reserved.

Index, Home

Contents

1. Zodiac Ages

1.1 Precession of Equinoxes

1.2 Four Seasons

1.3 Start and End Dates

1.4 The Sheep of Israel

1.5 The Age of Aquarius

2. Presidents

2.1 Age of Taurus

2.2 Age of Aries

2.3 Age of Pisces

2.4 Age of Aquarius

3. Two Counselors

3.1 Age of Taurus

3.2 Age of Aries

3.3 Age of Pisces

3.4 Age of Aquarius

4. Conclusion

Notes

Precise dates are derived for the zodiac ages defined by the precession of the equinoxes, such as the Age of Aquarius beginning on Sun 20 Mar 1836. Presidencies over each age are proposed.

Zodiac ages such as the Age of Aquarius are based on both solid astronomical science as well as sacred religious and priesthood time periods. Those familiar with sacred calendars know that there are many references in my work to the twelve constellations in the zodiac circle. They were revealed to the Prophet Enoch as symbolizing the gospel and roles of Jesus Christ.^[1] Moreover, they form an annual Star Calendar^[2] and they form the basis of long world ages caused by the precession of the equinoxes. The ages average about 2,000 years each, so all 7,000 years of our temporal history only lasts about three and half of those ages. Even though the Age of Aquarius has been popularized in the media and New Age hype (referring to it), it is actually a subject worthy of serious consideration.

New Age hype distorts the truth that knowledge will be poured out.

This article discusses the astronomy causing the precession which define these ages. It points out that not only are there ages based on the spring equinox, but there are also ages based on the autumn equinox as well as both the summer and winter solstices. All twelve of the zodiac constellations mark the boundaries of those ages. Exact dates are derived for each age using the Enoch Calendar season marker to determine the precise day. The stars which begin and end those constellations indicate the beginning and ending years. Scriptural confirmation of the proposed beginning date for the Age of Aquarius is given.

Previous articles have pointed out that Enoch was told by an angel that the bright stars represent God's faithful servants.^[3] The four bright stars which are called the "four royal stars" or the "four corners" have been identified with Adam, Noah, Enoch and Joseph Smith.^[4] This article proposes presidencies over each of the seasons of each zodiac age. If the reader wishes to skip the astronomical details involved in deriving the age periods and criteria for presidency selection, all of the key results are summarized in the conclusion.

1. Zodiac Ages

1.1 Precession of Equinoxes

Fig. 1. The earth precesses like a top.

Hopefully we've all played with a child's spinning top at some time, or perhaps with a toy gyroscope. As it slows down, the axis around which it spins begins to trace out a circle in a very regular manner, which is called "precession". As shown in Figure 1, the spinning earth does the same thing: its axis of spin (the line through its north and south poles) traces out a circle in the heavens. Sometimes this is referred to in elementary explanations as the earth "wobbling" on its axis. The word "wobble" suggests random variations, which is not so. The earth precesses at a very constant rate and traces out a nearly perfect circle in the heavens. It takes about 25,700 years for the earth to precess through one entire circle, which value is slowly changing and not known precisely. The value used by the ancients was 25,920 years which works nicely with a circle of 360° because that comes out even: the precession is then exactly 1° every 72 years (72 x 360 = 25,920).^[5]

The earth's precession causes two important phenomena. First, the two directions to which the earth's axis points are the two places in the heavens around which all stars appear to trace out circles every day. In the northern sky, the star Polaris is within one degree of that pole, so it only makes a tiny one degree circle around the north celestial pole every day. Thus, it always is found within one degree of true north.

Because of precession the point in the heavens where the earth's north pole points very slowly traces a large circle in the heavens with a radius of 23 ½° (see Figure 1). That means the "north star" changes throughout the ages. At the time of ancient Egypt the north star was Thuban, a star in Draco that is between the Big and Little Dippers. In about half of a precession cycle, the bright star Vega is on track to be the north star.

Fig. 2. The sun appears to traverse the zodiac annually.

The other principal phenomenon caused by the earth's precession is called the "precession of the equinoxes" which is short for "precession of the equinoxes and solstices". To understand that, let us first look at the twelve constellations of the zodiac.

As the earth orbits the sun, it appears to us that the sun is tracing out a circle in the heavens (See Figure 2). That circle in the sky looks like a line that encircles the heavens. That line is called the "ecliptic" because eclipses of the sun and moon occur along that line. The stars in the direction of the ecliptic circle are divided into twelve constellations which are called the zodiac constellations. The number twelve works out nicely with there being twelve months in a year because that way the sun spends about one month in each constellation. That is the origin of the astrological "signs" (another word for "constellation"): the idea is that the sun is supposed to have been in your sign when you were born. Of course, when the sun appears to be in a zodiac constellation, said to be "in" the constellation, we cannot see any of the constellations stars because the sun is so bright. So astronomers calculate where the sun would be by taking measurements at night.

Fig. 3. Precession causes the equinoxes and solstices to move around the zodiac circle.

Now let us combine the concept of precession with its effect on the seasons in which the sun appears to be in different signs of the zodiac. Figure 3 shows an expanded view of Figure 1 which includes the circle of the twelve zodiac constellations. Note that the north celestial pole is shown, which is the direction to which the earth's north pole points in the heavens. The 23 ½° angle of the earth's tilt causes the angle between the north celestial pole and the ecliptic circle which runs through the center of the zodiac stars. This is complicated stuff, but hang on just a little more, we are almost done with the astronomy lesson and it is really worth understanding.

Notice the disk which is shown tilted (23 ½°) to the ecliptic plane of the zodiac constellations. The edge of that disk is called the "celestial equator". It is a projection of the earth's equator onto the sky, even as the north celestial pole is a projection of the earth's north pole.

Now we are ready to talk about the seasons. Look again at Figure 3. There is a little white circle shown beneath Taurus the Bull labeled "spring equinox" (also called the "vernal equinox"). That point is at the intersection of the celestial equator disk and the ecliptic (zodiac circle). When the sun is at the vernal equinox on 20 or 21 March it is called the "first day of spring". The autumn equinox, also shown in Figure 3 above Scorpius, usually occurs on 22 or 23 Sept.

Fig. 4. Spinning coin.

Now notice what happens as the north celestial pole precesses in the big circle as shown back in Figure 1. Keep that precession circle of the north celestial pole in mind as you look at Figure 3. The celestial equator disk is attached to that axis, always being at right angles to it because both are attached to the earth. Thus, as the pole precesses, the disk also precesses, like a spinning coin as it slows down (see Figure 4). Thus, the point where the sun is located on the first day of spring slowly moves through the Bull toward the Ram (Aries). The direction is indicated in Figure 3 by the arrow attached to the autumn equinox. The arrow is attached to the disk showing that the autumn equinox is moving through the zodiac toward Libra. Note that this direction is opposite of the annual of the motion of the sun. This precession motion occurs at the rate of 1° every 72 years, which amounts to one constellation of about 30° every 2,160 years (360° in 25,920 years). In order to visualize how far 1° is, the diameter of the sun or moon is very nearly ½°, so it moves one sun width every 36 years. Even though it is slow, it was known to the ancient Greeks.

This all leads to the concept of world ages defined by what zodiac constellation the sun is in on the first day of spring. From about 4000 BC to 2000 BC it was in the Taurus the Bull. Look at Figure 3. The sun at the spring equinox was about a quarter of the way through the Bull on its way to the Ram. That means this illustration represents about 3500 BC. Then follows the Age of Aries, the Ram, from about 2,000 BC to 1 BC. Next comes the Age of Pisces from about AD 1 to AD 2000, and finally the Age of Aquarius. Hence all the hype about the Age of Aquarius beginning is because it is now about AD 2000. There has been great uncertainty in just when these ages begin and end because the constellations seem to have ill-defined or non-existent natural boundaries. Notwithstanding such uncertainty, this article attempts to pinpoint the beginning and end of each zodiac age to the very day.

Fig. 5. Precession of the spring equinox.

Figure 5 shows the precise location of the spring equinox of an actual star map where the stars are correctly placed. The black arc with little tick marks marking years is the ecliptic circle, the clockwise annual path of the sun. Find AD -4000 on the year scale between the horns of the Bull, which is an alternate way to refer to 4001 BC. Note that the position of the sun at the spring equinox would be between the horns of the Bull. This may well be the origin of the sun disk that is seen between the horns of the bull god Apis of Egyptian mythology and religion (see Figure 6). It could represent the Beginning of Mortality.^[6] That was most likely the "golden calf" made by the Israelites while Moses was on the mountain.

Fig. 6. Apis bull with sun between horns.

It can be seen that the Age of Taurus extends approximately from 4000 to 2000 BC, depending just where one defines the boundaries of Taurus to be. The usual method is to be fair and divide up the constellations into sectors of 30° each (360° divided by 12). If that were done, then each constellation would get 2,160 years, but then there is the problem of exactly where the 30-degree markers should be placed. Believe it or not, there is no general consensus for such zodiac constellation markers which divide up the zodiac equally. The one shown in this illustration was proposed in my work as best dividing them up into 30° divisions while doing the least amount of cutting up long constellations.^[7]

Similarly, the Age of Aries extends from about AD -2000 to AD 0. In fact, if the constellations are to be divided into equal lengths using my proposed starting point, the end of the Age of Aries would be exactly at the spring equinox of AD 0 (1 BC). Similarly the Age of Pisces would begin at that time and extend to AD 2160, after which the Age of Aquarius would begin.

As an example of how precession affects stars and seasons, the date of this article is the annual day on the Star Calendar of the star Hamal, the brightest star in the Ram (in the head, see Figure 5), called in English "the Ram", being the afternoon of Sat 29 Apr 2017. Almost 2,000 years earlier, that day of the Ram, which extends until noon on Sunday, was the date of the Resurrection of Christ before dawn on Sun 3 Apr AD 33. Thus, after about 2,000 years the star date now occurs about a month later.

But does God use equal divisions for the zodiac ages? How can we know what He has in mind, or if He is using such ages at all? After we consider the precession of all four seasons and not just spring, we will tackle those questions.

1.2 Four Seasons

Look at Figure 3 and follow the sun in your mind through one year. It moves annually in the opposite direction from the precession. Thus, it moves from Taurus toward Gemini and then to Cancer and Leo. At that point the sun in Leo is farthest above the disk of the celestial equator, which is attached to the earth. That means the sun appears to be at its highest point in the sky. That is when it rises at the point farthest north (in northern hemisphere), which is called the summer solstice or first day of summer. Solstice means "sun stopped", when it appears to stop rising further and further north and turns around to begin rising farther south again. Now picture the disk spinning again like the coin. During the 7,000 years while the spring equinox moves through Taurus to Aquarius, the summer solstice moves from Leo into Taurus.

Similarly, the autumn equinox moves in 7,000 years from Scorpius into Leo and the winter solstice moves from Aquarius into Scorpio. Thus, one can consider there to be a 2,000 year age for each of the twelve zodiac constellations, each associated with a different season. This concept is new in this article. While the concept of the big four world ages based on the spring equinox of Taurus, Aries, Pisces and Aquarius are well known, the idea of concurrent ages also being associated with the other constellations has not been suggested before to my knowledge.

Fig. 7. Precession years of all four seasons.
(click to enlarge)

Figure 7 shows the time line of the precession of both of the equinoxes and solstices each through 90°. That is one quarter around the 25,920-year precession cycle, or 6,480 years. The scale shows the dates from AD -4000 to 2400, being 6,400 years. Thus, the end of the Millennium is not indicated.

Now let us turn to the problem of discovering the start and end dates of each of these ages.

1.3 Start and End Dates

Rather than explain all of the reasons for choosing exactly how to determine the beginning and ending dates of each of the zodiac ages, just the results are presented here. If it is not desired to understand all of the reasons for choosing the criteria leading to these results, one can simply skip down to Table 1 which presents beginning and ending years of each zodiac age.

Each age starts on the equinox or solstice according to the Enoch Calendar.

It is proposed that the length of each zodiac age is determined not by some arbitrary boundary lines for each zodiac figure, but by the actual lengths of the constellations between the first and last stars of each figure. In order to do that, it is necessary to have an accurate version of each constellation. Many years of work have led up to this article in order to lay the necessary groundwork.

In studying the Greek star tables which identify the stars in each constellation, it became clear even from the admission of the ancient astronomers themselves that they had changed some of the figures from what they had received. In earlier articles, missing boundary stars of the constellations of Scorpius and Libra,^[8] as well as of Aquarius^[9] were restored. In the case of Libra the constellation had been entirely lost to the ancient Greeks who saw only the Claws of the scorpion there, so it had to be entirely restored. In the case of Aquarius, it was extended by many degrees with the restoration of one of the two entire streams which issues from his jar which flows under Pisces over to end at the tail of the Sea Monster (Cetus). This greatly affects the date of the beginning of the Age of Aquarius. Look at Figure 7 near the bottom under the purple fish in the center. The ending star of the newly discovered fiery left stream of cursings ends at about AD 1800, marking the beginning point of the Age of Aquarius, rather than where the long known blue right stream of blessings would have it start far past AD 2400!

The next question was what was the accuracy needed or expected to measure the positions of the stars. The answer decided upon was 1° accuracy. That is, the ecliptic was to be divided into 360 slots each 1° in width. Look at Figure 7 again. Mentally draw a line from the center of the circle through any star and see where it intersects the ecliptic circle. That point is called the "longitude" of that star and is measured clockwise in degrees around the circle. If that longitude falls anywhere into a one degree division, that star would be considered to be in that slot. That means the ages would all be multiples of 72 years in length because the precession occurs at the rate of 1° every 72 years.^[10]

Another question is where is the zero point on the ecliptic from which the longitude angle is measured. The traditional astronomical zero point is wholly inadequate because it is the vernal equinox itself, which point is always moving relative to the stars! It is as if longitude on earth were not measured from Greenwich, England, but instead were measured from a ship crossing the ocean! Because of this folly, star maps have to be redrawn about every 50 years! Accordingly, "sidereal longitude" was proposed in my work several years ago to measure longitude from a sure foundation of a fixed star.^[11] All of the stars in the sky then had their sidereal longitudes measured from that star in the head of Virgo (straight up in Figure 7).

Then a new star atlas was produced of nearly 4,000 stars which includes virtually all visible stars to the unaided eye. That catalog includes the sidereal longitude of each star.^[12]

The final step which was only taken during this month was to determine the zero point of the 1° slots into which the stars would be grouped. Because all things are centered on Christ only two possibilities were considered. The first was one of the slots began in the year of Christ's birth (AD 0). That would align perfectly with starting at the zero point of sidereal longitude because that year is exactly on a boundary line of the 30° sectors that were assigned to each constellation in the new sidereal longitude system. In other words, the sectors for the names of the constellations in Figure 5 are drawn every 30° around the circle from the star in head of Virgo which is the zero point. The line between Pisces and Aries is at exactly 210° (7 x 30°) sidereal longitude. Notice that it exactly lines up with the year AD 0.

Fig. 8. How to count time units.

In choosing the starting point one should also keep in mind how intervals are numbered in all of the sacred calendars. Figure 8 shows a set of calendar intervals such as days or years. The star represents the event which ends one period and begins the next, in this case the boundary star for a constellation. Year 1 of the next constellation is the first interval after the event. Thus, the last unit of the age ending is the 1° interval containing the star (numbered 30 in Figure 8). The first year of the next age begins with the next interval (numbered 1). In many sacred sacred calendars the last is numbered as 0 of the next. In that case, the first (0) is the last (30) and the last is the first, as with all things that the Lord has created (D&C 29:30).^[13]

The other choice was that the year AD 0 would be at the center of a slot. That makes more sense astronomically to have boundary stars near the center rather than at the edge of each slot so that less precision in measuring longitude would still result in the correct slot. The Greeks measured to 1/6 ° which would be more than adequate in nearly all cases.

Another vote in favor of having the slots center on Christ is that in the 10-week prophecy of Enoch, the birth of Christ is at the center point of one of the weeks: it occurred exactly at the 5 ½ marker of the 7,280 year history of the earth.^[14]

The final and winning argument in favor of centering the slots on Christ was given by the extremely important day on which Adam first breathed the breath of life: Sat 17 Oct -4069. If one of the slots is from AD -36 to AD 36 (centered on Christ's birth), then counting back by 72-year periods means that one slot began in -4068. Then the final decision is made to start each age on the first day of the season of that age according to the Enoch Calendar. The reason for that calendar choice is first that it measures those very seasons and second that it always begin each season on a Sunday and so does the Star Calendar.

Table 1. Lengths of zodiac ages.

Table 1 lists the results for both the beginning and ending years of each age as determined by what 72-year slot the beginning and ending stars of the constellation fell into. Those stars are also listed in the table so that others can verify the results. The beginning slot was taken as the first one after the year indicated by the star, following the pattern shown in Figure 8, and the ending year was taken to be the year of the slot containing the ending star. That way there could be a continuous set of ages with one starting in the same year the last one finished if the same star were the boundary for both. Clicking on Table 1 toggles to another table which shows the actual years in which the precession of the spring equinox crossed the longitude of beginning and ending stars, rather than the following 72-year slot which is the actual constellation boundary. Again, that information is provided mostly for others to be able to verify these results.

Notice that there are two witnesses of the beginning year: both the stars for the spring and summer indicate -4068 as the starting year. Because the system is centered on Christ, every 72-year interval after Christ has a corresponding one before Christ. For example, the end dates of the Age of Capricornus and the Age of Aries are AD -324 and 324 respectively. It is in order to see that symmetry around Christ's birth that years are shown in the negative AD notation rather than BC.

Thus, enough witnesses of the correctness of this table were found to merit publishing it as correct. Notice that some ages have considerable over lap with others. We are currently both centuries before the ending of the Age of Pisces and also nearly two centuries into the Age of Aquarius. Other ages have a gap between the ages of one season, such as over a century between the ending of the summer Age of Leo and the beginning of the Age of Cancer.

1.4 The Sheep of Israel

The lost sheep of Israel.

Why did Jesus refer to Israel as sheep? An interesting explanation as well as confirmation of the beginning of the Age of Aries comes from the Book of Enoch. It contains a prophecy of the entire history of the children of Adam. All of the main characters are represented by animals: all of the patriarchs from Adam through Isaac are white bulls, Abel is a red bull, Cain is a black bull, Ishmael is a zebra, Median is a donkey, Esau is a black wild boar, Jacob is a white sheep, Babylonians are lions, Assyrians tigers, Egyptians wolves and the Philistines are dogs. All of Jacob's twelve sons are also sheep (Enoch 88:18). Focusing just on the patriarchal line, all of them from Adam through Isaac are snow-white bulls and then Jacob is a snow-white sheep and all of his descendants are sheep. What is all of that about? Why did the line of bulls suddenly all turn into sheep?

Is this not a reference to zodiac ages? Is it not saying that all of the patriarchs from Adam through Isaac were born in the Age of Taurus, the Bull? Then Jacob was the first born in the Age of Aries, the Ram (sheep). Surely that is indeed implied by that unusual pattern. Moreover, it was apparently understood anciently that Jacob began a new age. One book states that it was so precisely timed that the new age began with the birth of Jacob just after the last one ended with the birth of Esau!^[15]

Jesus said he was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel, that is, the House of Jacob (Matt. 15:24) and He taught his disciples to do likewise at first (Matt. 10:6). Thus, we see that the House of Israel are all referred to as sheep in the Book of Enoch and that Jesus did likewise. Understanding the Book of Enoch expands the understanding to realize He was not sent to the lions, tigers, zebras, or even the wild boars!

The beginning date of the Age of Aries proposed in this work is Sun 23 Mar -1908. The date of Isaac's birth proposed in my work is Tue 16 Mar -1951 and that of Jacob (Israel) is Wed 20 Mar -1891. Thus, Isaac was born in the Age of Taurus and Jacob after the beginning of the Age of Aries. Remember that the proposed starting date was based on the location in the heavens of a star in the tail of the Ram, so this is a compelling confirmation that it is correct to use the actual beginning and ending stars to indicate the dates.

1.5 The Age of Aquarius

The Waterman pouring out blessings upon the head of the Church.
(Click to see two other renditions.)

Because the Age of Aquarius is of special interest, its precise starting date can be calculated as each of the dates can be. The Age of Aquarius began on the first day of spring of 1836 (because it is a spring age) as determined by the Enoch Calendar: Sun 20 Mar 1836. Thus, we have indeed been in the dawning of the Age of Aquarius for almost two centuries!

There exists a very strong scriptural witness that this date is correct. Just two weeks after the proposed date for the beginning of this age, the Lord appeared in His temple in Kirtland, Ohio, which had just been dedicated the week before. On Sun 3 Apr 1836, the Lord declared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery:

Yea the hearts of thousands and tens of thousands shall greatly rejoice in consequence of the blessings which shall be poured out, and the endowment with which my servants have been endowed in this house.

And the fame of this house shall spread to foreign lands; and this is the beginning of the blessing which shall be poured out upon the heads of my people. Even so. Amen. — D&C 110:9-10

There are at least four indications here that He refers to the beginning of the Age of Aquarius. First, He refers to "blessings which shall be poured out" which is an unusual phrase and exactly the imagery of Aquarius who is pouring out water. Second, He declares that the blessing "shall be poured out upon the heads of my people", again an unusual phrase. One stream which the Waterman pours out is indeed upon a head, that of the Southern Fish (Piscis Austrinus). Third, in the celestial symbolism, fish represent churches. In particular, the Southern Fish represents the Church of Christ, so that is also a match. Finally, He declares that "this is the beginning" of the time of that pouring out of blessings! That declaration was on a rare^[16] Easter Sunday on the Enoch Calendar (as well as on our Gregorian Calendar) only two weeks after the proposed starting date! Taking those four witnesses together leaves virtually no doubt that the Savior was referring to beginning of this age.

There is another scriptural witness which clarifies that one of the blessings to be poured out is knowledge. The Lord declared:

"As well might man stretch forth his puny arm to stop the Missouri river in its decreed course, or to turn it up stream, as to hinder the Almighty from pouring down knowledge from heaven upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints." — D&C 121:33

That appearance in the Kirtland temple is taken as yet another compelling witness that the 72-year divisions have been made correctly and also that the starting point of the constellation of Aquarius was restored correctly. It is also taken as a witness of the authenticity of D&C 110, which was not generally known in the Church until it was discovered in the official records of revelations received by the Prophet Joseph. It was then added to the 1876 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants. The words of the Lord it contains could only have been written by someone who knew exactly when the Age of Aquarius started and what its symbolism represented. It has excellent celestial witnesses that it is indeed an authentic revelation from the Lord.

2. Presidents

A third indication is the explicit statement in the Book of Enoch that there are four men who each preside over one season and that there are also men who preside over each month of thirty days (Enoch 81:11). It even lists many names, but none recognizable to me. This was a major incentive to begin work to determine just who these men are.

How can we know who these presiding men might be? One scripture has been my guiding star in all my calendar work. It is that the Lord promised that He would give us a pattern in all things that we may not be deceived (D&C 52:14). It has been my experience that the pattern will work in every case. A good man having twelve sons will not dress one in rich robes and another in rags (D&C 38:26). That scripture about patterns was the key to discovering the birth dates of the twelve sons of Jacob. If the birth pattern is that each would be born on a holy day on the Hebrew Calendar and also on the Sacred Round, then none of them would have to be told, "Sorry, it just didn't work out for you!"

The same must be true for any association of the Lord's servants with the zodiac ages. In the first 6,000 years of the history of Adam's family, there is one seasonal age named for each of the twelve signs of the zodiac. If the hypothesis is correct that there is one man presiding in some way over each age, then whatever the rule is of association it must hold true in every case. If it fails on any one, then the conjecture is disproved. On the other hand, if all twelve men fit the pattern then that becomes compelling evidence that the theory may well be correct.

The first proposed element of an association of a man with an age that seemed reasonable is that each president's mortal life must have occurred mostly within that age. Let's begin with that and then seek for other associations to confirm their order.

2.1 Age of Taurus

The first age sets the precedent for all of the others because we have the names of so many Biblical patriarchs at that time. Indeed three of the "big four" patriarchs throughout the ages lived at this time with each being represented by one of the four royal stars: Adam, who is associated with the star Regulus (the Prince) in Leo the Lion, Enoch with Antares in Scorpius, and Noah with Fomalhaut at the end of the stream of Aquarius. It would be surprising if any of these were not included as presiding over one of the four seasonal ages of this time.

As shown in Table 1, each of the constellations associated with these three patriarchs is represented in the first age: Leo (Adam) is summer, Scorpius (Enoch) is autumn, and Aquarius (Noah) is Winter. Thus, it seems like a "no-brainer" to align those patriarchs with those seasons. But wait, what about the fourth one? Taurus the Bull is associated with Joseph Smith, but he does not live in that age, so that won't work as a general rule if we keep the rule of living in the age presided over.

Fig. 9. The zodiac constellations contain three quartets of related roles.
(Click to see the other quartets.)

After trying several criteria of association, the one other which seems to work and which will be used is that each president plays the role during his life represented by the zodiac constellation. Each of the twelve constellations represents at least one role of Christ, as described in a previous article.^[17] For example, the star representing Joseph Smith is Aldebaran, the eye of the Bull. One of the principal symbolisms of the Bull is "Seer", represented by the eye (which "sees"). Look back at the Egyptian rendition of the white Bull in Figure 6. Note that the eye is the Egyptian representation of the "all-seeing eye", the eye of a seer. That clearly refers to Taurus.

Another role of the Bull is the "Lord of Hosts". That is what we might call an army general ("hosts" means "army"), well represented by a powerful bull. Note that Joseph Smith was both the general of the militia and also a seer. One problem in identifying what slots the patriarchs might fit into is that many of them fulfilled multiple roles. Moses was a lawgiver, a deliverer and offered himself as a sacrifice to save his people. Even though this criterion may not be ideal for finding uniqueness, it is worth investigating.

Figure 9 not only illustrates the twelve roles, it shows how they are related to each other in quartets that are at right angles to each other. Moreover, one of the four seems to be preside over others. Clicking on the illustration shows the other quartets. Being at right angles means that each would preside over a different season during the same age, which is perfect for the purpose being sought, so this criterion is promising indeed. With that in mind, let us begin with what appears to be a plausible assignment of men to seasonal ages of the zodiac.

Let's begin with Enoch. During his ministry, he was principally known as a seer (Moses 8:36). Thus, even though he was born in autumn and his constellation is Scorpius and as the angel Raphael his job is healing, let us start by assigning him to the slot of Taurus, the Seer.

The summer constellation is Leo the Lion and that is the constellation of Adam, who as an angel is Michael whose job is to rule over all nations. That seems like the right fit here also for as the patriarch of his entire human family, that looks like a match.

The autumn constellation of Scorpius represents the Judge. It was the sign of Dan, whose name means judge. Of the antediluvian patriarchs (in the Age of Taurus), one that stands out is Cainan, the great-grandson of Adam. The Book of Jasher, which has proved to be an excellent source of secular history,^[18] testifies that Cainan became very wise at age forty and "reigned over all the sons of men" (Jasher 2:11) . A major change in his life at that age is verified in modern revelation, (D&C 107:45). Whether he reigned as a king or judge is not specified, but a judge requires wisdom which he had. Thus, let us assign Cainan to the autumn slot of Scorpius, the Judge.

Finally, the fourth slot is for Aquarius, the Waterman, who represents two related roles. The first is that of a Teacher. In the New Testament, this is called "Master" in the sense of a schoolmaster. When the Savior was called Master, it did not refer to having dominion (which would be "Lord"), but it was referring to Him as a teacher, which is how the word "master" is often translated.^[19]

Aquarius also represents a lawgiver, which is a subcategory of teacher. Noah, one of the great patriarchs, was a giver of the little known Seven Laws of Noah, which were for all mankind to obey after the Deluge.^[20]. Thus, it is proposed that Noah presided over the first Age of Aquarius. That is also the constellation he is associated with as a member of the four corner constellations.

As illustrated in Figure 9, these four roles form a set. In this case, three of them (lord of hosts, lawgiver, and judge) correspond to our three branches of government (president, congress, supreme court) which are all combined into one in the role of king. Hence the king in the illustration has the largest arrow to indicate presiding over the others. Thus, putting Adam in the "King" slot seems appropriate indeed because he not only presides over that age, but he also presides over all mankind.

Moreover, placing Adam over summer means that he first breathed in the Age of Leo because it began on Sun 28 Jun -4069 (the beginning of summer on the Enoch Calendar) and then he first breathed on Sat 17 Oct -4069, just four months later. It should be noted that when any year (such as -4068) is listed as the beginning of an age, technically the summer, autumn and even winter ages begin in the preceding year. It is based on the pattern that a Hebrew calendar day actually begins with the preceding evening.

Thus, Adam, Cainan, Enoch and Noah all fit nicely into this proposed pattern to discover the "presidents" of each age by roles they fulfilled. This gives the needed encouragement to check out the later ages.

2.2 Age of Aries

The Age of Aries begins in 1909 BC nearly 150 years after the birth of Abraham. As noted above, his grandson Jacob was the first of that line to be born in that age. The Ram represents resurrection, so it is not obvious who fulfilled such a role back in those days. Let's look first at the other slots.

The summer age of Cancer does not begin until 1117 BC and lasts only until 109 BC. Cancer is the shortest constellation, being only 14° long, less than half of the 30° it would have been alloted if all constellations had equal lengths. This was the time of many famous prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, but being a prophet is not the main qualification. We are looking for men to preside and most of the examples have been patriarchs, meaning heads of families.^[21] One man who lived in this period was chosen to fill the role of turning the hearts of the children to the fathers (Mal. 4:5-6). That was the great prophet Elijah. Cancer represents a deliverer, and Elijah delivered Israel from the 450 prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:40). Thus, it is proposed that Elijah was the president of the Age of Cancer.

Fig. 10. Double conjunction in Libra at "Redeemed" star at Abraham's birth.

The autumn Age of Libra has a clearly indicated patriarch: Abraham. The role of Libra is the Redeemer. Abraham was a redeemer because all nations would all be blessed by his descendants (Gen. 26:4-5). Abraham was born on the Hebrew Day of Atonement when the sun was in Libra. Moreover, as shown in Figure 10, there was a conjunction of Mars and Mercury that morning right at the star named "Redeemed", which is the one representing the lower tray on the Balance. There was also a Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in Libra.

The winter Age of Capricornus requires a president who acted as a sacrifice for his people because the constellation is a sacrificial goat. The name of Isaac comes to mind because he was offered as a sacrifice, but it wasn't really his choice nor was it to save his people. It was mostly to test both him and his father to see if they would obey the Lord.

Moses offered to have his name blotted out in the Lord's book in order to save his people, whom the Lord was about to destroy (Exo. 32:32). Thus, while he was also a lawgiver (that slot already taken by Noah) and a deliverer (Elijah got that one), he also qualifies to fill the sacrifice role. This also puts Moses in with Elijah, and they are known to sometimes have been associated, such as when they both appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17:2-3)^[22].

Now let us return to the Age of Aries and the question of who represented resurrection. It is proposed that Joseph of Egypt presides over that age because he did have an event in his life representing death and resurrection. He was thrown into a dry pit with scorpions (Jasher 41:28) which was going to be his death. Later he arose from the pit alive and was then sold for 20 pieces of silver (Gen. 37:28). That sure seems symbolic of the death of Jesus Christ who descended into the underworld after having been sold for 30 pieces of silver and then rose from death. Thus, Joseph is proposed as a good candidate to represent the resurrection slot.

2.3 Age of Pisces

Pisces is the priesthood constellation. It is the Fishes which represent two congregations of Christ's Church. Levi, born with the sun in Pisces, fathered the priestly tribe of Israel. The spring Age of Pisces began in 109 BC and is still going on, so it is the age of Christianity. The head priesthood leader of Christ's Church was Peter, to whom were given the keys of the Kingdom. He still had them in these latter days (D&C 128:20). Thus, Peter is proposed to preside over the Age of Pisces.

Peter, James, John and Joseph.

The three main leaders of this age were Peter, James and John. Both James and John are good candidates for president roles. Looking at the start dates of the other ages in this group, we see that the Age of Gemini began in AD 324. That was after the death of all of the apostles except John, who was translated so he could tarry until the Second Coming (D&C 7:3,6), so he has lived during most of the Age of Pisces. John is a perfect fit for Gemini, which is the role of a Witness. John wrote the entire book of John as well as three epistles and Revelation as his witness of the Savior and of the truth (D&C 93:11,16). Jesus Christ as the Son of God was a witness of the Father. In the earlier paper on this subject, the role of Gemini was listed as "Son of God" which is now considered a special case of "Witness".

The autumn Age of Virgo is a good fit for James, the brother of John, because the role is that of a Shepherd. It is a role of nurturing and caring for the flock. The principal constellation accompanying Virgo, the Maiden, is the Herdsman (Good Shepherd). We don't know a lot about James, but this slot appears to be correct for him.

What about the winter Age of Sagittarius? It is proposed that the best fit here is the Prophet Joseph Smith. He was born on the Winter solstice of the Hebrew Calendar (1 Tebeth). Moreover, he was born in the constellation of Sagittarius on the star day of the Bow which apparently represented him as the bow of Joseph of Egypt (Gen. 49:24). The role of the Archer is that of being a savior of his people. In the law of Moses there were two lambs sacrificed daily. It has been suggested that one represented the Messiah ben Judah, being Jesus Christ, and that the other was the Messiah ben Joseph, being Joseph Smith.^[23] Moreover, he had an association with Peter, James, and John, the other three presiding over this period of time. Thus, Joseph is a good fit for being a Savior, even though he also fulfilled many of the other possible roles.

2.4 Age of Aquarius

What about the Age of Aquarius? It began in 1836 and the three other associated ages of the other seasons do not begin for almost two hundred more years (after AD 2200). This is the age containing the Millennium. What do we know about any leaders of this age?

The Millennium will apparently be an age when all the patriarchs and presidents will have resurrected and be present. The Savior will reign as King of Kings. We already have found a set of twelve presidents to fill the twelve slots of the three long ages totaling 6,000 years from Adam to date. Does that mean we have found all of the patriarchs and that those presiding in the Millennium will be chosen from those same twelve we have already found?

That appears to be a possibility. But let us also consider the possibility that the presidents of the Age of Aquarius will follow that same pattern as the others and be mortal men in this time period. After all, that was one of the requirements used so far in this article and a point was made about not varying from the pattern. Do the scriptures speak of future prophets that we are still awaiting?

One future prophet who has been named in the scriptures is named David. He is mentioned by name by Ezekiel:

And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.

And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the Lord have spoken it.

And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.

And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. — Ezek. 34:23-26

Much has been written about this "Davidic Servant" or "David the Servant".^[24] There are several other scriptures which mention him by name.^[25] Thus, all that need be said here is that this is an example of what is apparently a future prophet who will be a prince and a shepherd (i.e. lead a flock), and will "feed them". If feeding them refers to teaching them, then this is a match because the slot for the Age of Aquarius is for a teacher.

Moreover, another vote for this David being the president over the Age of Aquarius is that that prophecy also said that the Lord will make a covenant with his flock. It seems to be the pattern of many of these presidents to have made a covenant with God which has been extended to those in their flock.

Thus, it is proposed that this David fits the pattern of living mortals presiding and hence it is tentatively proposed that he might preside over the spring season of the Age of Aquarius.

As for the other three who must live a few centuries from now, no one is here proposed to fill those roles.

3. Two Counselors

3.1 Age of Taurus

Adam had two sons which could be considered candidates to be his "counselors" or assistants: Abel and Seth. Even though Abel was martyred early, he is apparently one of the seven chief angels of God.^[26] Moreover, he is in the chain of the Melchizedek priesthood line of Moses (D&C 84:6,14,16). But if the two counselors are patriarchs in the line given in Genesis, then Abel is out, having been replaced by Seth. The counselors would be be Seth and his son Enos.

Another argument in favor of Abel is that all of the other six angels are represented in the line. That is, along with Adam (Michael "Like Unto God"), Enoch (Raphael "Healer of God"), Noah (Gabriel "Man of God") and Joseph Smith (Phanuel "Face of God"), being the cornerstones, there are three others: Abel (Sariel "Prince of God"), Moses (Raguel "Friend of God") and Peter (Uriel "Light of God").^[27] Why would Abel be the only one left out? A similar question had been asked back when that research was done about why would Abraham have been left out of the list of seven when he was such a towering figure?

When this was pondered, it was remembered that there are really thirteen tribes of Israel, because Manasseh was adopted in (and Ephraim can be thought of the same as Joseph). In different lists of twelve tribes, each seem to take turns in being the "odd man out" of the list. Manasseh is not on the birth list, Lehi did not inherit land, and Dan is omitted from the 144,000 high priests (Rev. 7:4-8). So in that sense, Abraham may have been the odd man out of the seven and Abel out of the twelve. Why is Abel out? Perhaps because he had a different calling, namely to be the first to preside over the spirit world.

Thus, it is proposed that Adam's counselors were Seth and Enos. Similarly, it is proposed the Cainan's assistants were Mahalallel and Jared and that Enoch's were Methuselah and Lamech.

When we come to Noah, something is different. His two counselors are clearly Shem and Eber. Shem and Eber spent many years together tutoring both Isaac (Jasher 24:17) and Jacob (Jasher 28:18). Those two were a team in life. Shem was Noah's son but Eber was Shem's great-grandson! What is therefore different is that for the first time generations are skipped down to the next counselor. Eber is definitely also a patriarch, being the father of the 'Ebrews (Hebrews) which include Abraham. Thus, all of the patriarchs before the Great Deluge (Adam through Shem) form an unbroken father to son chain. Then things change and many generations can be skipped.

3.2 Age of Aries

What about counselors in the Age of Aries? If we follow the pattern set in the Age of Taurus, then the counselors should also be men (perhaps patriarchs) who worked closely with the president of that age. That is, they indeed would have been assistants.

Proceeding in chronological order, the first president was Abraham. Even as Adam was the principal president of the four in the Age of Taurus, as indicated by the biggest arrowhead in Figure 9, so also would Abraham be the lead president of the Age of Aries because he presides over Libra, which is the lead constellation of the next set of four. Clicking once on Figure 9 shows that Libra, representing the Redeemer, is the lead of that group.

Jacob blesses Ephraim and Manasseh.

Who are the obvious counselors for Abraham? Of course, here we see the familiar pattern of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. That threesome not only worked together, they follow the pattern set in the previous age of a father, son and grandson. Note that Abraham was several generations down from Eber, so those gaps are seen to be widening.

The next president is Joseph of Egypt, being over Aries. The most likely counselors for him would be his sons Ephraim and Manasseh, each being a patriarch over his own tribe of Israel. Again we have the direct father-son line. It may also be noteworthy to mention that this is where the direct father son line ends or at least begins to allow other presidents and counselors in who are not in the direct line of descent. Also, it should be noted that the ages are allowed to overlap. The age of Taurus ended in 1693 BC within two years of the death of Joseph^[28]

Who would be the counselors for Moses in the Age of Capricornus? The two most likely would be his spokesman, being his brother Aaron, and his successor Joshua. Aaron was the father of the priestly line of those allowed to hold the Aaronic Priesthood, but it is not clear that the children of Moses or of Joshua formed special tribes or families.

This brings us to another significant change that may have begun with Moses. Until Jacob the patriarchs have represented what has been called the Patriarchal Priesthood, which is passed down from father to one son in a single line. Moses is not a descendant of Joseph but of Levi. Moreover, this change seems to be related to the Melchizedek priesthood. Moses had the Melchizedek Priesthood which he received from Jethro (Reuel) who received it up the line to Abel, not to Seth. It is not a patriarchal priesthood, so it need not be passed from father to son.

Fig. 11. Melchizedek and Patriarchal Priesthood Presidencies.
(Click to see three other renditions.)

Joseph Smith mentioned in referring to the Patriarchal Priesthood that more would be revealed later after the completion of the Nauvoo temple.^[29] While he said that all priesthood is ultimately part of the same whole, he did not explain which of the two priesthoods is higher. In studying what is called in my work the "Priesthood Pattern of Seven" (see Figure 11) it became clear that the Patriarchal Priesthood is the higher of the two.^[30] Adam is the head of the Patriarchal Priesthood, whereas, it is proposed in my work that Peter is head of the Melchizedek Priesthood, having been given the keys of the kingdom by the Savior. The Melchizedek Priesthood presides over the Church but the Patriarchal Priesthood presides over the entire family of Adam. The Lord gave the pattern that the seventh of the seven (Michael or Adam) presides over the others (D&C 107:94). Note in Figure 11 that the seven share their secretary or scribe. Clicking on Figure 11 shows the names of the presidencies and their names as being the seven chief angels.

Thus, we now come to presidents who may not be patriarchs in the sense of holding the Patriarchal Priesthood. They hold the Melchizedek which does not require father to son lineage. The Lord told Joseph Smith that those with the Melchizedek Priesthood would be called sons of Moses and those with Aaronic are sons of Aaron (D&C 84:33-34). Note that in the order of the seven chief angels, Peter is president, Moses is first counselor and Abel is second counselor, so that is a match with Moses holding the Melchizedek priesthood (and perhaps not the Patriarchal). Moreover, his priesthood lineage traces back to Abel, not Seth (D&C 84:6,14,16) and Abel probably also never held the Patriarchal Priesthood. He is not listed as having received it in D&C 107:41-52.

In the Book of Enoch, all of the first bulls mentioned down through Isaac and then Jacob are described as being "snow-white". That seems to refer to holding the Patriarchal Priesthood. Then it simply says that all of Jacob's sons were sheep, but no colors are mentioned. Thereafter the only white animal is the huge snow-white bull at the end of time with black horns (See Figure 6) (Enoch 89:47). Thus, it will not be assumed that the presidencies after Jacob held the Patriarchal Priesthood.

That brings us to Moses and the Age of Capricornus. Who would his two counselors be? There seems to be no question that his first counselor would be his brother Aaron, who was his spokesman and companion throughout his ministry. The most likely second counselor appears to be Joshua, his successor. This is similar to the pattern set by previous presidencies, except that they are not father, son, grandson. A brother and successor are very similar but just not required to be in a straight patriarchal line.

Looking at the period of time covered by the Age of Cancer, namely 1117 - 109 BC, we see that it is well past the time of Moses (1450 BC) and falls when so many of the great prophets lived such as Isaiah (700 BC) and Jeremiah (600 BC). How shall we know to recognize the counselors of Elijah? Following the pattern of having the successor for a counselor seems like an excellent choice for the first counselor. When Elisha received the mantle of Elijah, he was apparently granted a double portion of his spirit (2 Kings 2:9), whatever that means. He had a very similar ministry and even performed some of the same miracles.

What about a second counselor? To choose from the many candidates, it seems best to fall back on the second criterion of selection: the role to be played. Cancer is the Deliverer, meaning one who physically leads a group of people out of bondage and/or sin and delivers them to a promised land. The crab can deliver things from the sea, which represents the realm of evil in celestial symbolism, and bring them up onto dry land, out of sin. Moses was a classic Deliverer when he delivered his people out of Egypt to the Promised Land of Canaan. The only reason he wasn't chosen in this article to preside over the Age of Cancer is that he lived at the wrong time.

Who then was a deliverer who lived within a few centuries of Elijah? When this was pondered the name Ezra bubbled up. Was Ezra a deliverer? What can you say about Ezra?^[31] Ezra and Nehemiah were not considered prophets by the compilers of the Bible, so their books were not placed in the section containing the prophets. But there is no requirement for this counselor to Elijah to be a great prophet. Indeed, we have no Book of Elijah in the Bible.

Reading the Book of Ezra shows that he was indeed a deliverer! Cyrus the Great, King of the Persian Empire, had given the decree allowing the Jews to return from their exile in Babylon to return to Jerusalem to rebuild their temple. The first ones arrived in Jerusalem and held a Feast of Tabernacles in 537 BC which appears to have marked the official end of their 70-year captivity.^[32] Nevertheless, much opposition to their effort arose, and in 458 BC, Artaxerxes, a later king of the Persian Empire, again made a decree to allow that work to be done and commissioned Ezra to head up the effort, giving him access to the treasury to cover expenses to complete the temple.

Ezra led a large group of Judah and Benjamin out of captivity in Babylon and delivered them to the promised land of Jerusalem. Actually, as in the case of Moses, it was God who delivered them from the hands of their enemies as they traveled to Jerusalem. In fact, the date of their deliverance is provided: It was 12 Nisan 458 BC (Ezra 8:31). That day was Wed 14 Apr 458 BC, a date derived using standard scholarly tables.^[33] On the sacred calendars that day was 13 Serpent on the Sacred Round, the same as the day of the Brazen Serpent when Israel was saved from the fiery flying serpents while being delivered to Canaan.^[34] The day was also 0 Birth on the Venus Calendar, as was both the beginning and end date of the forty years in the wilderness when Moses delivered the children of Israel! Moreover, it was also 0 Quickening (Uniform Venus) which is the equivalent of the Day of Atonement and the Brazen Serpent day was also the Day of Atonement on the Jubilee Calendar. Those similarities show its significance and qualifies it to be added to my Religious Chronology, being called Ezra's Deliverance.

Ezra the Priest (Ezra 10:10) was not just a new temple project manager in Jerusalem and a scribe, he was a true religious leader. He called them to repentance, especially for having married out of Israel. He had them all covenant to obey the law of Moses, to officially accept all of the scriptures they had been given, and to swear to obey them (Ezra 10:5). What Ezra did was very similar to Elijah calling Israel to repentance and having them choose to serve the Lord (1 Kings 18:24). Thus, it is proposed that Ezra the Priest was the second counselor to Elijah.

3.3 Age of Pisces

Mark was Bishop of Alexandria, Egypt.

Who would have been the counselors to Peter, James, and John in the Age of Pisces? In one sense, James and John were counselors to Peter forming a First Presidency of the Church of Christ, but each of these towering men were of such stature as to each be the president of an Age and have their own counselors. After all, in 1829 John the Baptist told the Prophet Joseph Smith that he was still working under the direction of Peter, James, and John who later appeared to Joseph Smith declaring that they still had the keys of the kingdom (D&C 128:20).

Most of the twelve apostles of Jesus worked in pairs and Peter is paired with his brother Andrew. Thus, Andrew is a logical choice for a counselor to Peter. Who might the other counselor be?

Mark was Peter's missionary companion. All of the early Church fathers were unanimous in declaring that Mark wrote the Gospel of Mark. Clearly most of the first-hand accounts in that gospel came from Peter, who was apparently training and preparing Mark as well as dictating his testimony of Jesus Christ to him. Mark later traveled to Egypt where he founded the Church of Alexandria and became its first bishop.^[35] It is here proposed that Mark was the second counselor to Peter.

Who were the counselors for James? This one could be harder because not much is known about James except that he was the first apostle martyred (Acts 12:2). Thus, to determine his counselors, let us turn again to the role played. The Age of Virgo is the age for a shepherd to preside. Virgo, the only female in the zodiac circle, represents nurturing. The constellation in her group of three others which best represents Christ is the Herdsman (Bootes), known anciently as the "Shepherd of the Heavenly Flock".^[36]. The office of bishop or pastor in the church refers to the shepherd of the flock. "Bishop" comes from the Greek for "Overseer" and "Pastor" is Latin for "Shepherd".

Who was the first presiding bishop of the Church of Christ? It was James the Just, the brother of Jesus Christ. It was James the Just who wrote the Book of James in the New Testament. He was a powerful leader, and as head (bishop) of the Church in Jerusalem, his ruling on important doctrinal points was binding on the other apostles such as Paul, such as whether circumcision was needed to be a Christian (Acts 15:19-20). Because bishop is a perfect fit for a shepherd, it is proposed that James the Just was the first counselor to James.

As for a second counselor to James, it is proposed that it was another of the original twelve apostles, namely James the Less, son of Alphaeus (Mat 10:2-3). He was the brother of Joses and the son of Mary (Mark 15:40), the sister of the Virgin Mary and wife of Cleopas (John 19:25) (also called Alphaeus). Thus, James the Less was a cousin to Jesus. Not much is known about him, but he was a close comrade of both of the other men names James.

What about John? This one is trickier because the Age of Gemini began much later, being from AD 324 to 1764. This is a good test of the requirement that presidency must all live during the age over which they preside. In this case, that is not problem for John the Beloved because he was translated and hence is still alive. But clearly his counselors will not be found among the early Church Fathers.

The role of Gemini, the Twins, is that of a Witness. In the case of Jesus Christ, it was his role as the Son of God, being in the express image of the Father (His "twin") and witnessing of His works. All of the writings of John such as the Gospel of John, his epistles and the Book of Revelation are witnesses of the light. John was a witness, even in his role as John the Revelator he is witnessing what he saw. Gemini is a perfect match for him.

When pondering who were later witnesses of the truth, several names of the Protestant Reformers came to mind. The most prominent of those is Martin Luther, who nailed to the Church door the 95 theses which witness of the departures of the Catholic Church from the teachings of Christ and the early church. There is no evidence known to me linking Martin Luther directly to John, but nevertheless, it is proposed that he is first counselor to John. He was a powerful witness for truth.

Prophetic Dream of Huss and Luther.^[37]

A hundred years before Martin Luther, another John prophesied of Luther's future coming.^[37] It was John Huss of Bohemia (now the Czech Republic). He was one of the very first reformers and was burned at the stake when his witness was declared heresy. He was the first to nail his witness of Church waywardness to the door of the church. His list was very similar to that of Luther, so it looks like they had some common inspiration. Thus, it is proposed that John Huss was the second counselor to John the Beloved. In fact, John Huss and Martin Luther were like "twin witnesses", appropriate for the Twins!

Once when the birth dates of the principal reformers were being researched on the sacred calendars, it turned out most of them were not very significant. That of Martin Luther, however, was one of the most similar dates in history to the birth of Enoch.^[38] The day of the martyrdom of John Huss is still a national holiday every 6 Jul in the Czech Republic. It was a holy day on several sacred calendars, the most of any reformer researched. So those two dates are also witnesses of the importance of these two spiritual leaders.

The Age of Gemini ended in 1764, just seven years before the birth of Joseph Smith, Sr., father of the Prophet Joseph. Thus, the presidency of John seems closely tied to the Reformation, at least in its timing, even though he is still most likely very actively working to bring forth Zion.

Who would be the counselors to the Prophet Joseph Smith in the Age of Sagittarius? The two most obvious seem to be correct. His brother Hyrum became the Church Patriarch and also the Assistant President. That makes him a great candidate for first counselor. On the other hand, Sidney Rigdon was declared by the Lord to be the official spokesman for Joseph (D&C 100:9), as prophesied by his ancestor Joseph of Egypt (2 Nephi 3:18). If the pattern of Moses and Aaron is followed (the only other prophet with an official spokesman), then Sidney also has good claim to be first counselor. Notwithstanding that, it is proposed that Hyrum is first counselor and Sidney is second.

It should be mentioned that Sidney Rigdon has a birth date impressive enough to fit in with the other counselors. He was born on Tue 19 Feb 1793. That day was the holy day 13 Rabbit (Sacred Round), 0 Prime (Venus), 0 Fulness (Uniform Venus and Uniform Mercury), and 0 Creation (Mercury). Moreover, on the current version of the Star Calendar (a work in progress) it was also a day in the celestial constellation of the Swan, which is associated with the presidency of the Melchizedek Priesthood. The day 0 Prime represents being born again and 0 Fulness represents the Fulness of the Priesthood which he received. Thus, it was a meaningful holy day on at least five sacred calendars.

3.4 Age of Aquarius

Now we come to a really tough one! Who might be counselors to David the Servant? What other future prophets are mentioned in scripture?

The Book of Revelation speaks of two witnesses who preach repentance with such power for three and a half years that they are able to seal the heavens so that it doesn't rain during that time. Then they are killed and lay dead in the streets for three and a half days while the wicked rejoice. Then they return to life and are raised up to heaven (Rev. 11:3-12). Who are these two prophets?

The pattern is that live mortal men are the Lord's servants. These two witnesses should be mortals and the two counselors should be mortals like all of the others. Thus, partly because of a lack of other candidates, it is proposed that these two witnesses might be the counselors to David. They should live at about the same time, all being before the Second Coming. If they follow the usual pattern of most of the presidencies, the president would also know at least one of them and possibly work with him as a team. Moreover, to fit the pattern they would all most likely be teachers, for that is the role of the presidency of the Age of Aquarius. We live in exciting times and time will tell.

4. Conclusion

Notes