1. Kurdah - Xi Cepheus
0°22 Aries - 'The blaze' upon a horse's brow.
The Knock of inner spirituality on the brow. Inner Silence borne over the centuries and lifetimes makes heard its inner calling.
Divinity at the threshold knocking upon the third eye. The ancient Indians marked it as a mark on the forehead saluting this inner divinity.
The classical figment of the Horse sets this off. Aries Point, what in astrology is the end of process, consciously atleast.
How do you know a degree? This one says the world for many many centuries has known this Star to be the beginning of the Zodiac.
The star itself, Kurdah, is old language for a running horse. The blaze upon its brow, what the Indian mark as the ‘Tilak’.
The spot for the Horse, where would be the Unicorn’s horn.
But our world knows not of Unicorns, or flying horses in pegs & Pegasus-es, of centaurs or sea-horses, all vestiges of thousand of civilisations past.
The Star is the spot where the Horses look, inward in focus. As if running & chasing time itself where wonder and magic roamed free.
This is the First Degree of the Zodiac. It is said that the horse is the mind focussed to its thought(s). And thus the eyes like two horses, held in chariot of Focus.
The Point of Chariot, not quite the horse’s mouth, but rather the third eye, Ajna of the Horse.
The constellation that houses ‘Kurdah’ is Cepheus, of the King.
And like the Emperor’s messenger horse, we begin to know ourself in the stars.
The Message of this Star and Degree – Know Your Self.
To the Indian Nakshatra scheme, this is the first step station of the asterism Ashwini, of the Healing Horses. It is said to be ruled by the Tail of the Dragon or the Lunar Eclipse Ketu. And the Step station of this degree – Mars.
Naturally, this is a critical degree.
A coat of quotes and passing poetry
"Of the heavens and their light,All the stars but shining receptacles of the days you’d smile to think of me. Their moments to pass, like ancient histories in name at your beckon to ask.An under-pining warmth at nocturnal grasp. As an axis of response in a sideways glance, in the orbit of a celestial enhance albeit in the dusk of your signature nonchalance. "