Publisher's Synopsis
When our ancestors gazed upon the skies thousands of years ago they looked up into the centre of Creation and saw a mighty Dragon, a great celestial serpent with wings circling ceaselessly above them, night after night, century after century. WHEN THE DRAGON WORE THE CROWN is a ground breaking book that covers a period of over six thousand years, focusing on what astrologers would call the Ages of Gemini, Taurus and Aries and taking us through the period of classical astronomy with the Greeks and Romans (approx. 7000 BC-200 AD). The book opens and closes with the Chinese mythological tradition and touches on Sumerian, Babylonian, Phoenician, Hindu, Norse, Native American and even Mayan myths, weaving together many of their celestial serpentine similarities. It focuses primarily on the role of the constellation, Draco, the astronomical marker of the North Celestial Pole for literally thousands of years. The importance of this simple astronomical observation helped facilitate the study of the calendar, navigation, farming and social organisation. The circuit of the seasons was marked by this cadence with the moving centre guarding the position of the zodiacal circle for literally thousands of years. The secret of the circle was hidden in its centre. The one had to be determined before the other. If the true centre was not accurately observed and determined, the entire circle was off. Don Cerow has spent a quarter century following the path of the celestial Dragon. In 2005 he produced a multi-media show for Fiske Planetarium at the University of Colorado, Boulder entitled "Stars, Myths and Dragons." WHEN THE DRAGON WORE THE CROWN is an expanded presentation of that show.
