When the woman’s Seed, the virgin’s Son, was born, we are shown the same great enemy inciting Herod to slay all the babes in Bethlehem (Matt. ii.), but again he is defeated. In the wilderness of Judæa, and in the Garden of Gethsemane the great conflict is renewed. “This is your hour and the power of darkness,”(41) He said to His enemies. The real wounding in the heel was received at the Cross. It was there the scorpion struck the woman’s seed. He died, but was raised again from the dead “to destroy the works of the devil.” To show us this; to prevent any mistake; to set forth the fact that this conflict only _apparently_ ended in defeat, and that it did not really so end, we have the first two constellations belonging to this sign presented _in one picture_! Indeed, the picture is threefold, for it includes the sign itself (as shown on the cover)! If these pictures had been separated, then the conflict would have been separated from the victory; the deadly wound of the serpent’s head from the temporary wound in the Victor’s heel. Hence, _three_ pictures are required, in which the _scorpion_, the _serpent_, and the _man_, are all involved, in order to present at the same time the triumphant issue of the conflict. Hence, we must present, and consider together, the first two sections of this mysterious chapter. 1 and 2. SERPENS and OPHIUCHUS. _The Struggle with the Enemy._ Here, _Serpens_, the serpent, is seen struggling vainly in the powerful grasp of the man who is named _O‐phi‐u‐chus_. In Latin he is called Serpentarius. He is at one and the same moment shown to be seizing the serpent with his two hands, and treading on the very heart of the scorpion, marked by the deep red star _Antares_ (wounding). Just as we read the first constellation of the woman and child _Coma_, as expounding the first sign VIRGO, so we have to read this first constellation as expounding the second sign LIBRA. Hence, we have here a further picture, showing the object of this conflict on the part of the scorpion. In Scorpio we see merely the effort to wound _Ophiuchus_ in the heel; but here we see the effort of the serpent to seize THE CROWN, which is situated immediately over the serpent’s head, and to which he is looking up and reaching forth. The contest is for Dominion! It was the Devil, in the form of a serpent, that robbed the first man of his crown; but in vain he struggled to wrest it from the sure possession of the Second Man. Not only does he fail in the attempt, but is himself utterly defeated and trodden under foot. [Illustration] Plate 10: SERPENS (the Serpent) and OPHIUCHUS (the Serpent Holder) There are no less than 134 stars in these two constellations. Two are of the 2nd magnitude, fourteen of the 3rd, thirteen of the 4th, etc.