The Ishtar Gate was the 8th gate to Babylon and its walls contained bulls and dragons (serpents) that were depicted interchangeably. Through the gate ran the Processional Way into the city to the temple of Marduk. At a right angle to the walls of the gate we find a wall adorned with Lions! The Ishtar Gate is symbolizing two of the four Cherubim signs of the zodiac at right angles exactly as they appear on the zodiac and may therefore represent the fixed cross or the Galactic Cross.
The famous Sphinx at Giza is facing due East where it aligned with its celestial counter part in the sky Leo (The Lion) at the vernal equinox around 10.500 BC (Time of the Great Flood). This was the time that the summer solstice Sun aligned with the Dark Rift of the Milky Way; it was the time of a Great Celestial Conjunction.
Here we are nearing 2012.. perhaps a Leap of Faith from the Lion's mouth (gate) will usher in the new Eon, as we gradually eclipse the Dark Rift of the Milky Way for the the first time in thousands of years.. We welcome back the Central Sun.