The Gothic cathedrals and Romanesque churches are known for their rich symbolism which reflects, in addition to the pure preaching of the Christian doctrine of salvation, the mythical river of the “secular” tradition, inter alia, astrology. Thus, a major piece of work of Romanesque sculpture is the tympanum of the Basilica of St. Madeleine of Vézelay in Burgundy (France).

Christ in the center is blessing his disciples on both sides with outstretched hands. This is the representation of the “miracle of Pentecost.” Around this scene there is a first round arch of smaller figures in eight groups: These are the peoples to whom the Gospel is brought. The next arch with its 29 rosetted representations is of our interest here: in this part of the tympanum we see, alternately with allegories of human activities in the annual cycle, twelve beautifully carved medallions representing the signs of the Zodiac (in the image below they are highlighted in green).

Two French authors, G. Audebrand and I. Ravi, both fully dedicated to traditional astrology, wrote an article about the zodiac of Vézelay in a peculiar and interesting manner. We are not going into details of their work and merely point out the most obvious in the symbolism of this particular Zodiac.

The arrangement in the bow of the Zodiac is striking. It is divided into an ascending and descending half. Above the head of Christ there are the signs Cancer ♋ and Leo ♌, and at the two lower ends there are the signs of Aquarius ♒ and Capricorn ♑. The signs of summer appear on top, the signs of winter below. By this division of the Zodiac, the solstices of winter and summer have a meaning which could be explained succinctly as follows:
The cycle of the sun represents a semi-circle into the darkness of the Underworld (coming to death) and, alternatively, a semi-circle into the light of the kingdom of the Upper World (giving birth).

In order to pursue this thought, a small digression has to be done into what the representatives of the philosophia perennis consider as the primordial wisdom: the Vedanta. In its eschatological teaching, the “divine journey” of the Self or God is associated in a direct way with the track of the sun during its annual cycle. The Bhagavad Gita (VIII, 24-26) distinguishes between the ascending and descending path of the sun, the “bright” and the “dark” path as two ways of passing from this world — one into light and one into darkness:

Fire, light, daytime, the crescent moon, the bright fortnight, and the six months of the northern solstice — by following this path, persons who are knowers of Brahman attain Brahman when they die.
Smoke, night, and also the dark fortnight and the six months of the southern solstice — by following this path the yogi, having reached the lunar light, returns.
These two courses of the world, which are white and black, are verily considered eternal. By the one a man goes to the State of Non-return; by the other he returns again.

in the Vedantic tradition, the rising course of the sun is called the “Way of the Gods” (Devayana). The summer solstice is the turning point where the course ends. The sun is at its highest point. It is the entry into “heaven”, the “heaven’s gate” (Janua Coeli), as this place is called in the Western tradition. The fact that at this stage the signs of the zodiac, Leo ♌ and Cancer ♋, are to be found, is obvious when one considers that the two “lights”, sun and moon, are generally ascribed to them. In religious myths, these two “lights” play a central role. The “invincible sun” in the sky, the Sol Invictus , is a hero that triumphs against the forces of darkness. But the moon is also called a hero, a “great hero”, as in the Babylonian hymns. The light from these so callled stars brings victory over the enemy, it is the salvation of man.
According to the Christian tradition the moon and the sun are “conveyors and images of a great Mystery” as Hugo Rahner points out in his “Mysterium Lunae” (in: Symbols of the Church, Salzburg, 1964, 92f.).

Three main ideas (…) can be analysed from the wealth of ideas of the lunar theology of the church, and they are based in the symbolism, invented by the Greek spirit, of the scenery in the sky between Helios and Selene : Selene is dying, conceiving, beaming. Dying in the darkness of the new moonly encounter with the bridegroom, maternally conceiving life in her growing up in light from the death of the new moon, beaming in her full moon shine, again and again. The visibility of the heavenly lights and their mysterious destiny, together with the richness of Hellenistic wisdom speaking of Helios and Selene, have inspired the minds of the Fathers of the Church to transfigure the mystery of Helios and Selene into the mystery of “God and Man” in its Christian uniqueness, that is in the mystery of “Christ and the Church”.

As to the descending sequence of the Zodiac from the summer turning towards winter, it is the descent of the sun into the night and darkness, the “Way of the Ancestors” (Pitriyana), as the Vedas say. At the lowest point the sun reaches the “Entrance of the cavern”, (Janua Inferni). We are now in the realm of the shadows, in the field of Saturn, the traditional “guardian of the threshold”. Hence it is not surprising that in the lowest part of the arch the tympanum of Vézelay shows the signs Aquarius ♒ and Capricorn ♑, traditionally the realm of Saturn. It is now the time of Christmas, when the “periodic Savior” will be reborn in this “lower world” and when he is closest to mankind. Here the light light begins to grow again. Crescit lux.