n
of the sun in June, which is said to resemble the motions of a crab.

LEO, the Lion: ([symbol for LEO]).--Is the fifth sign in the zodiac,
and contains one star of the first magnitude, called Regulus, or Cor
Leonis--the Lion's Heart. The fervid heat of July, when the sun has
attained its greatest power, is now symbolized in our almanacs by
the figure of an enraged lion; and the feasts or sacrifices formerly
celebrated among the ancients during this month, in honor of the sun,
(which they also represented under the form of a lion,) were called
Leonitica. The priests who performed the sacred rites were called
Leones. This feast was sometimes called Mithriaca, because Mithra was
the name of the sun among the Persians. The sacred writings abound with
references to the "king of beasts;" among the most interesting of which
is the story of the battle between the lion and Samson, the Jewish
Herculus; while the most wonderful example of animal evolution on record
is found in the sixty-fifth chapter of Isaiah, where we are gravely
informed that "the lion shall eat straw like the bullock."

VIRGO, Virgin Mother, Venus, Eve, Isis, &c.--([symbol for VIRGO]).--Is
the sixth sign of the zodiac, which the sun enters about the 21st of
August. The myths and fables regarding the virgin which abound among all
nations and all religions, are both various and voluminous, and we may
add somewhat improbable. They all agree, however, in this, that the
female, shown on the preceding diagram, holding in her right hand a
branch of ripened fruit,--the apples of Paradise,--was intended
to represent the reproductive powers of nature,--the abundance,
satisfaction and contentment which mortals enjoy during the happy period
of harvest.

LIBRA, the Balance.--The seventh sign of the zodiac, directly opposite
to Aries, from which it is distant 180 degrees. It is marked thus
[symbol for LIBRA], after the manner of a pair of scales; to denote,
probably, that when the sun arrives at this part of the ecliptic, the
days and nights are equal, as if weighed in a balance. Hence the
period when the sun enters Libra, (about September 21st,) is called the
Autumnal equinox. On the 25th of September was born John the Baptist,
the forerunner of his cousin Jesus, who came to his exaltation of glory
on the 25th of March, the Vernal equinox. "The equinoxes and solstices,"
says Higgins, "equally marked the births and deaths of John and Jesus."
The one preceded and prepar