BİRİNCİ FEN · İKİNCİ BÂB · İKİNCİ FASIL · Birinci Madde
First Article
It describes the eighth sphere.
O, esteemed one! Know that astronomers have said: The spheres and elements possess thirteen layers encompassing one another, each touching the other so that there is not even a particle of emptiness between these spheres and elements, but rather they are completely filled. All of them rotate and have become a husk and envelope for your body.
Thus, the outermost envelope is the great sphere, as described in the preceding articles. Immediately within it is the eighth sphere, known as the sphere of the constellations and the sphere of the fixed stars. It is recognized by its stillness within the void of the great sphere. Its center is the center of the universe, and its pole is a spherical body surrounded by two surfaces inclined 23.5 degrees from the poles of the universe.
The outer convex surface of the greatest sphere is filled with contact upon the inner concave surface. The outer convex surface of Saturn’s sphere, which lies within the inner concave void, has touched it. It is illuminated and adorned with planets and countless fixed stars. It is embellished with colors as if embroidered with twelve constellations formed from imaginings.
The eighth sphere, along with the sphere of spheres (the great sphere), which is the common axis of rotation, moves from east to west around the center of the universe; and completes its revolution every twenty-four hours together with all its satellites. Furthermore, it rotates with a movement unique to itself upon an area inclined by the amount of its own pole on either side of the equator, moving slowly from west to east. And with its slow motion, it carries along in the direction it travels the fixed stars that move with it. In one year of the sun, it traverses only one degree of its region. Consequently, in two thousand one hundred years, it passes only one sign; and in twenty-five thousand two hundred years, it completes a great revolution.
The philosophers have said: When this period is completed, all beings on land and sea change. Everything in the universe is renewed from top to bottom according to the decree of God, who best knows its secrets.
It is not necessary to assume that there are other smaller spheres beneath the eighth sphere; rather, it is assumed that the constellations circle, which lies within the great circles between the two poles of the eighth sphere, and the forms of the twelve signs are determined to be present within this belt itself. Furthermore, the six major circles mentioned above are also assumed to intersect at the two poles of the eighth sphere, dividing the eighth sphere into twelve sections like lines on a melon or watermelon rind; each section is given a separate name and accepted as an independent sign. For example, the Ram/Aries sign has been named.