"Patroness of the Americas
and of the Philippines"
Modern researchers say the star alignments represented on the mantle of Our Lady, as imprinted on the tilma of Juan Diego, match exactly the night sky as it was on Dec. 12, 1531.
By superimposing the night sky over Our Lady's image a miraculous story unfolds.
For instance, the Corona Borealis, a small constellation in the northern sky whose Latin name means "northern crown," is located on Mary's head — a crown representing Mary as the queen. The constellation Virgo, Latin for Virgin, is located on her heart.
Over her womb is the constellation Leo. "Leo represents the lion, and Jesus was called the 'Lion of the tribe of Judah,' in Revelation 5:5 to symbolize His victory over sin," says Fr. Anthony. "The star Regulus, meaning royalty, is Leo's brightest star and symbolizes Christ's kingship."
The constellation Orion is located where the Aztec warrior (or St. Michael or Juan Diego) is located. Orion represents the hunter. The hunter is pointing his bow at the constellation Taurus, the bull with the two horns. "There you have a battle between the warrior, or St. Michael, and the beast," says Fr. Anthony.
Indeed, just to review, Revelation 12:1-2 describes how "a great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of 12 stars. She was with child." Sound familiar?
Revelation 12 goes on to portray the power of evil, represented by a dragon, in opposition to God and His people. First the dragon pursues the pregnant woman, but her Son is saved and "caught up to God and His throne" (Rev 12:5). Then Michael and his angels cast the dragon and his angels out of heaven. After this, the dragon tries to attack the Child by attacking members of His Church. A second beast arises from the land, symbolizing the Antichrist, which leads people astray. The dragon continues to wage war against the rest of the women's offspring, "those who keep God's commandments and bear witness to Jesus" (Rev 12:17). - Read the whole story here.
Happy feast day!
Um, no. This is not going to fly with NASA.
ReplyDeleteI first came across this theory about 15 years ago, same diagram, in a little book on Guadalupe from the library. I was pretty psyched about it, until my left brain kicked in and told me to prove it for myself.
It can't be done. The stars on Our Lady's mantle are nearly as regularly spaced as the stars on the field of the American flag. The constellations have been squished down and moved about in order to fit. Just haul out your sky charts and see for yourself.
I was disappointed, but I learned.
However, the planetary aspects that day are somewhat interesting, so I wonder why they didn't go with that.
Thanks - so I'm posting mythalaneous drivel then. :)
DeleteHaving researched the Image of Guadalupe, I would like to share that Fr. Mario Rojas Sánchez and Dr. Hernández Illescas (the two men who discovered in 1981 that Guadalupe's stars indicate actual heavenly stars or parts of constellations *in reverse*) explained the "condensed" stars, so they are not moved about; they are viewed from Mexico City in what we call the southern hemisphere, in the hour before dawn on Dec. 12, 1531. Dr. Hernandez attributed it to anamorphosis - i.e., "making a semi-spherical reality intelligible on a flat plane." It is not easy to find this information, since (except for a few phrases) their 1983 study has not been published in English.
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