SPRINGFIELD, NJ — In his new book, “The Zodiac Decoded,” Joseph T. Cappa attempts to unravel the astrological mysteries of zodiac signs and how they relate to everyone. For Cappa, a lawyer with three grown children who has lived in Springfield with his wife, Sheryl, for the last 31 years, the inspiration for the book came about a few years ago, as he approached middle age. A phone app had allowed him to identify the stars and constellations, and he was soon fascinated with both astronomy and astrology.
“I became fixated on the stars of the zodiac and started researching it. I realized that just about everything that we know about the zodiac is wrong and intentionally wrong,” Cappa said. “For example, there are 13 constellations of the zodiac, not 12. One of the things I discovered was that the zodiac existed for at least 1,000 to 2,000 years before the invention of astrology. The zodiac was written down by the first civilization, so, for that period of time, it had to have had an original meaning. That’s the riddle of the zodiac. What was it?”
In his studies, Cappa came to understand that the zodiac is not some random list of characters but rather a mass of symbols forming a pictograph — a story told in a series of pictures or characters. Each zodiac character symbolizes a chapter in the story.
“As I began to do more research, the thought occurred to me that perhaps those symbols that they used, in the order they are in, are for a reason,” Cappa said. “It’s not because they’re a random list of characters — a goat, a fish, a crab, a lion. Maybe each of those symbols means something where, maybe, if you add all of the pictures up together, they form a story, something we call a pictograph. That’s exactly what I found.”
According to Cappa, if you start from Capricorn and go clockwise across the sky, backward from the way we normally associate the zodiac, it forms a pictograph. He was astonished that, to his knowledge, no one else had uncovered this mystery before him.
“If you start with Capricorn and go right, each of the symbols is a stage of life, from newborn to senior citizen. Every person who’s ever been born will be every character in the zodiac, if you live a full and happy, reproductive life and live to old age. You’ll be every character in the zodiac,” Cappa said. “The word zodiac actually means ‘exalted life,’ not ‘circle of animals,’ as is generally understood.
“Greek philosophers and Babylonian clay tablets tell us the first law of the universe applies to the zodiac,” he continued. “The first law of the universe is ‘As above, so below.’ So, if the zodiac describes the small of something, such as the life cycle of one individual, it must, by definition, also describe the large of that same thing, which would be the life cycle of the entire human race. That’s exactly what it is.
“It’s the history of human civilization written in the stars going back to human civilization’s infancy, which was 21,700 B.C.E., when the zodiac’s record-keeping started,” said Cappa. “My book is all about the steps I used so that readers can see it for themselves … whether it be of the individual or of the stage of life of the entire human race, next to a zodiac symbol. It makes absolute sense.”
For example, he said, Capricorn — the half-goat, half-fish — describes the newborn, which is a water creature that emerges as a land animal. Cappa said Capricorn describes the intelligent mammal that can successfully navigate the waters of life, which aligns with the ancient definition of a newborn.
“Every mammal is a water creature that emerges as a land animal. Everyone who was ever born was Capricorn,” Cappa said. “If that’s true for the individual, then it means that all of human civilization starts in the Age of Capricorn, when the sun was in front of the constellation Capricorn in the spring equinox. That’s what we call ages.
“Everyone who was a crawling and teething infant was Sagittarius, the Hunter, where all newborns practice their primal hunting skills, racing around on all fours and putting everything they catch in their mouths,” he continued. “At 2 years old, we enter the terrible twos, so we strike out at our parents, screaming ‘I hate you’ or ‘no.’ That’s Scorpio, the Scorpion. At 3 years old, they know how old they are by counting on their fingers, learning their colors, their letters, their names and measuring things — Libra, the Scales. At 5 years old, they start school and their social life — Virgo, the Maiden. The bottom line is, everyone ever born will go through these stages if you live to a ripe, old age.”
Cappa explained that the human race is entering the Age of Aquarius, meaning enlightenment. He warned that the zodiac depicts humanity approaching middle age, a point at which we must begin taking care of our planet or, in addition to midlife crises, we will face — as we now are — such things as the pandemic, a loss of freshwater, lack of food, wildfires, etc.
“When you look at the sun on the spring equinox, we’re leaving Pisces and entering Aquarius,” Cappa said. “There is a direct correlation between the ages and the history of mankind. The zodiac tells us a lot of things. It tells us that we were hit by seven comet impacts where the sun roared like a lion about 10,800 B.C.E. It also says that there was massive global flooding in the Middle East during the Age of Cancer. So, it is our history.
“We should be seeing the symbol for Aquarius appearing in human society right now,” he continued. “The constellation for Aquarius is a man pouring water out of a pitcher, and it’s a great representation of man as the bearer of the waters of life. If we don’t start taking care of ourselves at midlife, we may not make it to the next age. We become the bearers of the waters of life. If not, we’re literally pouring the waters of life onto the ground.”
Cappa explained that the zodiac symbols were used to describe differing ages — Sumerians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans — to the rest of the world, supporting his Aquarian-aged theory. The known symbol of Aquarius is waves, and the constellation of Aquarius is of a man pouring water out of a pitcher. But many aren’t aware, said Cappa, that there is another symbol of Aquarius.
“A symbol for Aquarius is the rainbow,” he said. “So, if what we see is true, at the beginning of the Age of Taurus the Bull, we saw bull symbolism, bull religion, the minotaur. During the Age of Aries the Ram, we saw ram symbolism, and the ram’s horn was invented, as opposed to the bull horn. Only those who knew what the ram’s horn did answered the call. The beginning of the Age of Pisces, we had fish symbolism, including the fish symbolism associated with Christianity, which was a new way of thinking about the world.
“After the Age of Aquarius, we began seeing a rainbow appearing everywhere in human society. Aren’t we seeing the rainbow appearing again in society right now?” Cappa continued. “The LBGTQ community, which has a rainbow flag, has now declared itself. This all means that the zodiac is telling us the story of us. That’s what my book is all about: to prove to the reader that the zodiac truly is the story of us, and I believe it undeniably so.”
Cappa will be discussing his book at the Springfield Free Public Library on Monday, Aug. 23, at 7 p.m., via Zoom, and he said he hopes to reel in the public by what he believes is the story of humanity — both as individuals and as an entire human race.
“I’m going to set it up as a PowerPoint, because everything I’ve discovered is much more easily described in pictures,” Cappa said. “If I put a newborn next to Capricorn, you can see it. The examples will paint themselves.”
Michael Pine, a friend of Cappa, said he read the book and supports its theories, calling Cappa “the Copernicus of our time.”
“I have known Joseph Cappa for 20 years. He has a passion for learning. He never stops reading or striving to learn all he can learn. Therefore, there is no surprise he would want to write about something that means so much to him,” Pine said on Friday, Aug. 6. “I do believe there is truth to what he has to say. He creates a connection between the zodiac and the phases of life in human existence. Anybody that reads his book will surely see the connection as well. He describes it in a way that people will understand. I feel it may even change how we teach history in the future.”
John Rago, another lifelong friend of Cappa, echoed Pine’s sentiment.
“Joseph and I go back to kindergarten. All these years later, I barely have any recollection of our parents walking us to school and us developing a friendship. We have a personal joke that we’ve known each other since utero,” Rago said on Saturday, Aug. 7. “Storytelling and writing have been with us since the ancients, and here we are, in the tech age, with stories shared in all manners. I think Joe has seen the connection with the storytelling of the zodiac signs and, so often, how pieces of life, your life and all lives — whether animal or plant life — mimic each zodiac sign’s storyline, if you will.
“Joseph is onto something, and I can’t wait to see past the tip of this iceberg,” he continued. “It definitely can be influential in a day and age where I think we need varied influences of new and old ideas.”
“The Zodiac Decoded” is available on Amazon in paperback and e-book formats.