Okay, This Is Weird

I am reading a book on mythology and symbolism called "Dictionary of Symbols, Myths and Legends" by Didier Colin, Hachette Livre, 2000. Yesterday, while reading a section on Cancer, I came across something very strange. To quote the author: "It is worth pointing out here that the planets in the zodiac and the 12 zodiac signs move in the same direction as water on earth. There is a physical explanation for this: the rotational movement of the earth is shared by the movement of the planets from east to west and the streams and rivers flow in one direction rather than another precisely because the earth is spinning on its axis."

Now I'm no geologist, but don't rivers and streams flow in all directions? Have I misinterpreted what is being said here? Can anyone help shed light? I've heard of water in a toilet spinning in one direction or another because of the earth's rotation, but rivers and streams? hmmmm....

-fof

the author is probably referring to larger bodies of water (oceans and seas rather than rivers or streams) and how the oceanic currents move across the globe.

But even that doesn't make sense. Sure there's the major current in each ocean, but it ends up being circular, going up one coast and down another. It can't just go one way till it hits land and stops. Each ocean has a circle in progress.

Rivers and streams flow downhill or to a larger water source. I don't see where the author was coming from. You'd think he'd be up to date with today's satelite images & studies since the book was published in 2000. Even watching a few National Geographic or Nova specials should have clued him in.

And even then, the author is not really correct. The currents change from time to time for unknown reasons.

I think that maybe the author was trying to make a general observation about the overall physics of water/rotational axis and did not intend it to be taken quite so literally or specifically. When referring to a system of such phenomenal proportions, it is probably necessary to keep to sweeping statements to keep it simple and sweet. Doesn't mean to say that it is invalid, just that to do justice to the topic in more detail (including the minutae and exceptions to the rules) would be another book in its own right.

Or maybe he/she is wrong....who can say

Fury x

Rivers flow based on gravity. Here in the USA we have something called the Continental Divide which is the the wiggly line that determines whether the river flows east or west, i.e. into which ocean/sea. Based on the book, all our rivers would flow into the Pacific, which is nonsense.

http://earth.usc.edu/~stott/Catalina/Oceans.html

For ocean currents. If you look at the map you will see that the ocean currents flow in a clockwise direction in the northern hemisphere and counterclockwise in the southern hemisphere. So not all water flows from east to west in the ocean. Makes me wonder about the quality of the author's other informaton.

In many myths The 'Ouroborus' the serpent or Dragon encircles the whole world and is the supposed circular course of the waters surrounding the Earth. Maybe that is where he gets his comment in the book from? The ancients saw the circle of animals (Zodiac) containing what is now called the constellation Hydra as a river of stars going the same way as the waters on Earth. I agree it was a strange way to state the physical reason for this. ~Rosanne