The Babaos of the stars

 

The story of Babaos and the killing of the dragon that occurred in the hills around Perillos could be real. In short, the story of the killing of Babaos is that of a dragon-like monster that haunts the area. The local lord decides to hunt the animal, killing the animal.
But like many legends, its historicity is more difficult to confirm – or deny – then pointing out that the story itself has clear legendary aspects to it. Many ancient accounts have been depicted in the stars, from the story of Jason and the Argonauts to the story of Troy. Thus, the killing of a monster could also have a celestial interpretation.

The Dragon

The dragon is a well-known astrological image. A lunar node is either of the two points where the orbit of the moon intersects the plane of the orbit of the earth. The ascending node of the moon (as the moon goes north) is known as the dragon’s head. The descending node of the moon is called the dragon’s tail.
In astrology, the nodes were elevated to planetary status, as the movement of the Nodes has a very significant effect on human life and on the destinies of all beings that dwell on the surface of the Earth.

The Dragon's Head, a "shadow planet" exalted in Gemini, is considered beneficial (good), whilst the Dragon's Tail, exalted in Sagittarius, is considered malefic (evil) in influence.
The Dragon's Head represents the objectives in this lifetime. It points the way towards soul growth and evolution. The Dragon's Tail displays the results of innate unconscious tendencies as they emerge in the life. They tend to be separative and destructive. In astrology, the position of the Dragon's Tail is generally indicative of past life connections or commitments in a relationship analysis.

The Hunter

The story of the evil dragon would thus seem to be linked with Sagittarius and should be interpreted as a situation that is now affecting his people, which he as their ruler needs to deal with.
Sagittarius is the constellation of the Archer. We note that in the story of Babaos, the monster is killed by the lord of Perillos using arches (three) to kill the animal. We thus find that the story of Babaos can be identified with the evil dragon – descending lunar mode – linked with the sign of Sagittarius.
The death of the evil creature is of great joy and in medieval astrology, we find that the planet in control of Sagittarius is Jupiter. Jupiter is the planet of joy, pleasure. As a consequence, we find that the lord of Perillos also plays the role of Jupiter – he is the lord that controls the arch, like Jupiter is the planet that controls Sagittarius. Jupiter is often known as the “king” of planets.

Order over Chaos

Apart from those identifications, the Hunter is also identified with the constellation Orion, who in Greek myth is Hercules (and Horus in Egyptian mythology). Equally, the dragon is a constellation, which is said to have been slain by Hercules.
In either scenario, the story of the hero slaying the dragon was an expression of order ruling chaos, and the killing of the Babaos is, of course, a restoration of order, by the lord of the land. It is similar to the transformation of the WasteLand that we find in the myths of King Arthur or the Grail.

Arabian tales

The world of astrology may seem far removed from the lords of Perillos, but nothing could be further from the truth. Astrology was well-known in Arabic countries, of which Spain had been one until the early 12th century. Perillos sat on the borders of both Arabic and Western civilisation – and was influenced by both.
One of the sciences that were seeded from Arabic countries to Western Europe was astrology and astrological geomancy, a technique of divining the future by interpreting the stars.

Astrology and illness

The story of the dragon was also linked with medicine. Hugh of Santalla was instrumental in leveraging the Arabic knowledge to Western Europe. This incorporated an entire tradition of medicine and herbal lore.
“Master Hugh of Santalla says that in the case of illness, one should find out what the first sign will be and, if Saturn or Mars is there, or the evil tail of the Dragon which holds the whole world in its circle.”
We thus find a clear parallel of how the tail of the Dragon – the evil tail – could hold the entire world in its spell – as it clearly did for the region of Perillos. With this observation, we need to ask whether Babaos was indeed a physical creature, or whether it was a description of an astronomical alignment.

Dragonwort

It is stated that when a dragon was slain, “dragonwort” springs up from the blood.
The plant is known as in the Grail stories, it was said to possibly be able to heal the wounds of Anfortas. The Hermetic tradition established a correspondence between dracontea and the zodiacal sign of Aquarius.
Dragon Arum (Dracunculus vulgaris) is a flowering plant from the Mediterranean. As a natural antidote against serpents, we need to wonder whether we are confronted here with memories or parallels to the serpent of the Bible – and Satan?

Horoscope

A specific horoscope can thus be made for the night of February 2-3, 1290, for Perillos, in which the search would be for lunar nodes, Jupiter and Sagittarius. The output of this adds no further hints in regards to these key events.
However, what can be confirmed is that around midnight, the constellation of the Dragon and of the Hunting Dogs was visible in the sky – provided the sky was, of course, not overcast. In itself, it is not evidence enough that the account that draws attention to the date of February 2-3, 1290, incorporated the date to reflect astronomical knowledge.
Nevertheless, it is clear that the legend of Babaos contains detailed information that can be mapped onto the sky. And perhaps it is this reason why the legend continued over the centuries; in the end, it may have been a real event, which was later transposed onto the sky’s canvas – as may have happened with the battle over Troy.

The night's sky on the evening of the hunt for Babaos

Filip Coppens