Arthropods in Astronomy

Abstract

Peoples of all cultures, past and present, have perceived important aspects of their earthly worlds mirrored in the heavens. Terrestrial and celestial events are linked in great mythic creations that bind together the elements of a culture's archetypal consciousness. The ancient expression, "As it is above, so shall it be below," characterizes this relationship between the celestial cycles and those of our more immediate human experience (Saul 1993 ). We see our world writ large in the heavens and tend to place our own face and stamp on everything in nature, including the creatures that share our environment. Particularly for nonliterate cultures, the images perceived in the constellations, as well as the planetary peregrinations among them, serve as an eternal mnemonic record for the recall of the vital oral traditions that maintain those cultures. These are among those universals derived from comparative studies of ancient and native celestial lore, religion, and worldview-what we call archaeoastronomy (see glossary)-and the presence of arthropods in astronomy is no exception.