To us of the nineteenth century, who have our national institutions for
the discovery and propagation of scientific truths, thus being saved
the trouble of investigating for ourselves, having only to open a book
to see when the next eclipse of the sun will take place, or whether
the Easter holidays fall later, or earlier than usual, it seems almost
incredible that there once existed races of men who devoted almost
all their time to the study of astronomy; but such is nevertheless
the fact; and when we consider the different conditions under which
society existed in very remote times from what we are now subject to,
we shall at once see that it was not altogether a pleasure, but in
fact a stern necessity, that impelled the people of those early times
to make themselves thoroughly acquainted with the various natural
phenomena taking place around them day after day, month after month,
and year after year. In those days, when writing was either altogether
unknown or limited entirely to a few, and when such things as almanacks
and encyclopedias were not the order of the day, people had to trust
to their own knowledge of the movements of the heavenly bodies and the
properties and uses of plants, etc., for the successful carrying on of
their daily pursuits, which were then principally of an agricultural
nature. Instead of watches and clocks, the people had only the sun in
heaven to tell them the hours of the day; instead of monthly almanacks,
they had the moon for their guide; and, instead of annual calendars to
mark the commencement of the seasons, they had only the stars above to
teach them the proper times to till their lands and sow their grain.
Consequently, it was absolutely necessary that they should be well
acquainted with all the movements of the heavenly bodies; and we need
only glance at the earliest records of the human race to find that
they were more or less full of astronomical allusions—in fact, that the
principal study which engaged the attention of primitive man was the
study of the starry heavens.
In my lecture on “The Evolution of the God Idea” I have already pointed
out how the earliest religious conceptions arose from this study; and
in my “Popular Faith Unveiled” I have endeavoured to show that, in
naming the constellations, the ancients adopted the wise device of
giving to groups of stars the names of the particular earth productions
or earth phenomena that happened to take place at the time when such
star groups made their appearance in the heavens. Now, it is a very
remarkable fact that in those ancient countries of which we have any
exact knowledge the heavenly bodies received very similar and, in many
instances, identical names, which is just what we should expect if the
above theory of the naming be correct. Take the zodiac, for example,
which is the line of the apparent annual circuit of the sun, and we
find that in Egypt, India, Persia, and Greece it was divided into
twelve portions of 30 degrees each, the whole circuit consisting of
360 degrees; and the equivalent signs bore a wonderful similarity to
each other. In the old Indian zodiac published in the “Philosophical
Transactions” of 1772 the signs are as follows, commencing at the
vernal equinoxial point:—Ram, Bull, Man with two shields, Crab, Lion,
Virgin, Balances, Scorpion, Bow and Arrow, Monster with goat’s head
and fish’s hindquarters, Urn, Fish. In the Indian zodiac published by
Sir W. Jones they are as follows:—Ram, Bull, Youth and Damsel, Crab,
Lion, Virgin in a boat, holding an ear of rice-corn, Man holding the
balances, Scorpion, Centaur shooting with a bow and arrow, Monster
with antelope’s head and fish’s hindquarters, Man carrying a water-pot
on his shoulder, Two Fishes. The ancient Persian zodiacal signs were:
Lamb, Bull, Twins, Crab, Lion, Ear of Corn, Balances, Scorpion, Bow,
Goat, Pitcher of Water, Two Fishes. In the zodiac depicted on the
ceiling of the Egyptian temple of Isis at Dendera the following are
the signs:—Ram, Bull, Twins, Beetle, Lion, Virgin holding an ear of
corn, Balances, Scorpion, Centaur shooting with bow and arrow, Monster
with goat’s head and fish’s hindquarters, Man pouring water from two
water-pots, Two Fishes. In Kircher’s Egyptian zodiac the signs are:—Man
with ram’s horns, Bull, Twins, Hermes with head of an Ibis, Lion,
Virgin holding an ear of corn, Man holding the balances, Man with
serpents for legs and having a serpent twisted round his body, Centaur
shooting with bow and arrow, Monster with goat’s head and fish’s
hindquarters, Man with an urn from which water was falling, Woman with
fish’s tail. Ancient Greek zodiacs had the following signs:—Ram, Bull,
Twins, Crab, Lion, Virgin, Balances, Scorpion, Centaur shooting with
bow and arrow, Goat with fish’s hindquarters, Canobus with his pitcher
of water, Two Fishes. The Romans followed the Greeks, and these signs
have since remained unchanged in all modern zodiacs, being now known
under the following names:—Aries, the ram; Taurus, the bull; Gemini,
the twins; Cancer, the crab; Leo, the lion; Virgo, the virgin; Libra,
the balances; Scorpio, the scorpion; Sagittarius, the centaur-archer;
Capricornus, the goat-fish; Aquarius, the water-bearer; Pisces, the
fishes.
Each of these signs corresponds with a particular portion of the year,
varying according to the slow movement known as the precession of the
equinoxes, by which all the signs are moved forward very slightly
year by year, at the rate of one degree in 71 or 72 years, until, at
the end of about 2,152 years, a whole sign has moved forward into the
position previously occupied by the sign immediately preceding it.
This is caused by the failure of the sun to reach the same point in
the same time in his apparent circuit each year; and thus it happens
that, in a period of rather less than 26,000 years, each sign will have
moved completely round the zodiacal band. Now, by careful calculation
it has been found that the vernal equinoxial point coincided with the
first degree of Aries about 28,000 years ago, with the first degree
of Libra about 17,000 years ago, with the first degree of Taurus B.C.
4,340, with that of Aries B.C. 2,188, and with that of Pisces B.C.
36; so that, at the present time, the vernal equinoxial point is
really occupied by the sign of the fishes, although, for astronomical
purposes, the sign of the ram is always placed in that position, and
will, for the future, always be considered as the first sign of the
zodiac, no matter what sign may really occupy that position. Thus there
is now what is called a fixed zodiac, which never changes, and which
is an arbitrary arrangement made for scientific purposes, and a real
zodiac whose figures move steadily and slowly year by year, until at
the end of rather more than two thousand years the vernal equinoxial
point is occupied by the sign immediately following the one which
occupied it during that period of time.
Although now the fixed zodiac is an established fact, such an
arrangement was undreamed of by the ancients, who regulated their
almanacks from the actual sign at the time occupying the vernal
equinoxial point; so that between the years 4340 B.C. and 2188 B.C.
the sign of the bull was the first and chief sign of the zodiac, while
during the two thousand years following—that is, until 36 B.C.—the
sign of the ram or lamb took its place. The vernal equinox falls on
March 21st each year, at which time the sun, having ascended from its
lowest point of declination (December 21st), arrives at that portion
of its annual course at which the equator and the ecliptic cross each
other; and thus during the period when the sign of the bull was the
vernal equinoxial sign the sun was said to be in _Taurus_, while in
the following period, when the sign of the ram took the place of that
of the bull, the sun was said to be in _Aries_. In order to understand
thoroughly the apparent annual march of the sun round our earth, it
will be necessary to observe the actual double motions of our earth
round the sun and upon its own axis. Let us suppose that we are again
in the period when the sun was in _Aries_ at the vernal equinox; on the
21st of March our earth, in travelling round the sun (annual motion),
has reached a point at which the sun is placed between us and the first
stars of _Aries_, which are then, of course, invisible, because when
the sun is visible it is daytime—that is, the part of the earth on
which we stand is opposed to the sun, which renders all the stars in
that part of the heavens invisible; but, as the earth continues to turn
upon its axis (daily motion), we gradually lose sight of the sun, and
as the darkness closes around us the stars upon the opposite side of
the heavens become visible; so that, when the sun is in _Aries_, or any
other sign, that sign is always invisible to us, and at night we see
the sign that occupies the opposite side of the zodiac. Day after day,
as the earth continues to move round the sun, a few more stars in the
sign _Aries_ are covered, until at the end of a month the sun reaches
the next sign, _Taurus_; and the opposite signs, which we see at night,
have also moved on to the same extent. Thus at noon on March 21st the
sun is at its highest daily ascension, south of the zenith, or highest
point of the heavens, obliterating by its effulgence the first stars
of the sign _Aries_, through which it is apparently about to pass, and
at midnight following the opposite sign, _Libra_, is seen at the same
distance from the nadir, or highest point of the darkened heavens;
while a month later, when the sun at noon is in _Taurus_, the sign
_Scorpio_ is seen at the opposite point at midnight; and so on through
all the signs, one month being occupied by the passing of the sun
through each sign, so that it passes through _Aries_ in March, _Taurus_
in April, _Gemini_ in May, _Cancer_ in June, _Leo_ in July, _Virgo_ in
August, _Libra_ in September, _Scorpio_ in October, _Sagittarius_ in
November, _Capricornus_ in December, _Aquarius_ in January, _Pisces_
in February. This was precisely what occurred in the zodiac during the
years from B.C. 2188 to B.C. 36; but in the period of two thousand
years immediately preceding this, owing to the precession of the
equinoxes, the order was changed, so that _Taurus_ was the sign of
March, _Gemini_ of April, and so on, each sign being a month earlier;
while at the present time _Pisces_ is the sign of March, and each other
sign one month later than when _Aries_ was at the vernal equinoxial
point. Each of these signs occupies 30 degrees of the zodiac, the
whole twelve making up 360 degrees, which is the total length of the
imaginary sphere of the heavenly vault; and the ancients again divided
each of these signs into three portions of ten degrees each, called
decans making 36 decans for the complete zodiacal circle. When the
sun was passing through a sign the astrologers publicly proclaimed
the exact moment of its entry upon the first decan, which they called
the upper room, the whole sign being called the house of the sun; the
second decan they called the middle or inner room, and the third the
lower room. On each side of the zodiacal band there are also a number
of what are called extra-zodiacal constellations, which never vary
their position with regard to the zodiacal signs, the constellations on
either side of _Aries_ always rising and setting at the same time with
that sign, those on each side of _Taurus_ doing likewise, and so on
through all the signs.
As the various astronomical figures became endowed by the ancients with
divine honours, each of these signs became associated with a number of
romantic stories, until at length the struggles, victories, and defeats
of the gods were told in such a variety of ways that sufficient lore
existed to fill, if written down, whole libraries. The zodiacal signs
were all gods of great importance; the planets were gods, the sun was
a god, the moon was a goddess, and the extra-zodiacal constellations
were either gods or heroes; but all were not of equal importance, and,
owing to the constant changing of positions, some were powerful and
victorious at one time and weak and dying at another. The chief deity,
which to the Aryans was Dyaus, the day-father, became in later times a
concentrated essence of all the gods, and was supposed to undergo all
the vicissitudes to which they were subjected; but, inasmuch as the
new-born sun was the life of the world, bringing back happiness, and
the vernal equinoxial sign was the one at which his influence began to
be felt, these two deities were looked upon as god _par excellence_, a
dual deity, separate yet conjoined, and of equal power and authority.
So, when the bull was the vernal equinoxial point, the sun-in-_Taurus_
was supreme god; and when the ram, or lamb, was the vernal equinoxial
point the sun-in-_Aries_ was supreme God; and, although it was only
in March that the sun was at the vernal equinoxial point, yet the
bull-god, for two thousand years prior to B.C. 2188, was always
supreme, and the ram-god (in Egypt) or lamb-god (in Persia) after that
date. On leaving the vernal equinoxial sign the sun passed into the
next in order; but, although then not actually in conjunction with
the chief sign, it yet was but slightly removed from it, the distance
growing larger as each fresh sign was occupied; and never were the
sun and the principal sign actually separated from each other in the
zodiac, so as to pass into opposite hemispheres, until the autumnal
equinoxial point was crossed, after which the sun passed successively
through all the winter constellations, being separated for the space
of six months from the sign of the vernal equinox. Therefore the six
summer signs were accounted specially bountiful and holy, the sign of
the vernal equinox being the head and chief of the six, while the six
winter signs were accounted less holy, but quite as powerful for evil
as the others were for good.
From this was formed the main drama of all subsequent mythological
systems, the groundwork of which was, briefly, as follows:—The
saviour-sun-god was born at the winter solstice, and ascended to
the vernal equinox, where he was united with the bull, becoming the
bull-god, and in aftertime with the ram or lamb, becoming the ram-god
or lamb-god: after crossing the equator at the spring covenant, or
coming together of the equator and ecliptic, he ascended to the summit
of the heavens, becoming the lion-god, at the height of his power, and
then descending again to the autumnal covenant, or equinox, to pass
through the winter or scorpion signs, alone, and mourning the loss of
the vernal equinoxial sign, which was torn from him at the autumnal
equinox. This simple narrative received numerous embellishments in
after times, according to the fancy of the astrologers and priests,
who, in many cases, contrived to make out of it a beautiful poem or a
sublime allegorical drama.
In describing the entry of the sun upon any particular sign the ancient
astrologers were in the habit of referring, not only to the sign
itself and to its decans, but also to the accompanying extra-zodiacal
constellations, as well as to the visible zodiacal signs and
extra-zodiacal constellations of the opposite hemisphere. For instance,
during the period of the lamb’s supremacy (B.C. 2188 to B.C. 36) the
position of the stars at the moment of the commencement of the annual
apparent march of the sun round the zodiac was as follows:—The first
stars of the zodiacal sign _Capricornus_ were at the winter solstitial
point, December 21st, and invisible to the eye, being directly south of
the zenith at noon, the extra-zodiacal constellations _Picis Australis_
on the south, and _Aquila_ on the north, being on either side of it,
and the zodiacal signs _Sagittarius_ in front and _Aquarius_ behind,
accompanying it in its march; while on the opposite side of the
zodiac, at midnight, was seen, directly to the south of the nadir, the
sign _Cancer_, in which were the _Præsepe_, or stable of Augias; the
_Io-sepe_, cradle of Jupiter or manger of Jao; and the _Aselli_, or two
asses; on the east the sign _Virgo_ was just about to appear above the
horizon; on the western horizon was the sign _Aries_, above which, and
crossing the equator, was the extra-zodiacal constellation _Orion_,
with the three large stars in his belt; and immediately below which was
the sea monster _Cetus_, just sinking below the horizon. In proclaiming
the birth of the sun at Christmas, therefore, the astrologers would
make mention of all these points; and, consequently, the more prominent
and interesting of them would become impressed more or less upon the
minds of the people, to be converted in after times into various
fantastic and romantic fables, as the manufacture of gods out of these
astronomical phenomena proceeded.
The principal astronomical features of this annual sun-birth were,
therefore, as follows:—The birth took place in the house of the goat,
exactly opposite to which were the manger of Jao and the stable of
Augias, between two asses; at the same moment the virgin was about to
appear above the eastern horizon; the lamb was, as it were, hurling
the sea monster _Cetus_ below the western horizon; and the three
brilliant stars, called the three kings, in the belt of _Orion_, were
shining above the lamb, on the opposite horizon to where, after the
lapse of sixteen days (January 6th), would appear that brilliant star
_Vindemiatrix_, the Virgin by that time having risen sufficiently high
above the horizon for that orb, which is situated in her elbow, to be
seen at midnight.
All the subsequent fables concerning the birth of a saviour-god were
but modifications of this. Mithra, Krishna, Horus, Bacchus, Jesus,
and, in fact, all the sun-gods, were born on December 25th, at
midnight; and the stories related of each bore a marked resemblance
to each other. The real birthday of the sun-god was December 22nd,
at the first hour; but it was always reckoned from the same time on
December 25th, because at that moment, and not before, the first stars
of _Virgo_ appeared above the horizon, which was the sign by which it
became known that the birth had actually taken place three days and
three nights previously. This gave rise to a popular notion that the
sun-god struggled for that length of time at each of the solstitial and
equinoxial points, and accounts for the fable of the two crucifixions
when the sun-god, in crossing the equator in March and September, was,
for three days and three nights, in torture before he finally ascended
to heaven in the one case, and descended to hell in the other.
The Christian myth of the birth and death of the saviour-god, although
now considerably amplified and converted into a long history, was
originally, no doubt, of a much simpler form, and, probably, of the
following nature:—Jesus, the sun-god, was born at midnight, between
December 24th and December 25th, his mother, _Virgo_, having been three
days and three nights in the agony of childbirth; the virgin, not
being allowed to enter the house of the goat, being on the opposite
side of the zodiac, was obliged to seek refuge in the stable of Augias
(_Cancer_), and place her baby in the manger of Jao, at which moment
the lamb of god, _Aries_, hurled into the abyss the great monster of
evil, or _Cetus_; the three kings in the belt of _Orion_, perceiving,
on January 6th, the great star _Vindemiatrix_ rise in the east,
which was their guiding star, made obeisance to the new-born god
and disappeared below the horizon, going down by the west, instead
of returning by the east, or way they had come. Growing from this
moment, the young sun-god commenced his journey towards the city of
god, the summer solstice, at the top of the hill, or height of annual
ascension, meeting at the outset _Aquarius_, the man with the pitcher
of water, or John the Baptist, with whom he remained for a time; after
which he entered upon the season of fasting, or the sign _Pisces_,
the fishes, and prepared by austerities for the coming feast of the
Passover, or coming together (covenant) of the ecliptic and equator,
when he would be crucified—that is, be placed cross-wise on the two
lines (ecliptic and equator). After this he entered into the sign,
_Aries_, the lamb, having been shown the way by the man with the
pitcher of water, _Aquarius_, and partook of the feast in the upper
room or first decan, immediately after which he was crucified as the
lamb of god—that is, passed the crossing of the equator and ecliptic
in the sign of the lamb. For three days and three nights he struggled
in the tomb, or suspense, and then ascended into heaven, accompanied
by the lamb, passing the signs _Taurus_ and _Gemini_, saying to the
twins that he could stay with them but a little while, and where he
was going they could not go (John xii.), and finally reaching the
city of heaven, Jerusalem, or _Cancer_, passing over the two asses
(_Aselli_) at the entrance to it. Here, on the top of the mount, or
at the height of his annual ascension, he had another three days and
three nights of tribulation, struggling with the devil, the heavenly
serpent, who had led or preceded him up the mount, but who left him as
soon as he arrived at the top; for _Serpens_, at this point, returns
while the sun commences his descent towards the autumnal crucifixion.
Passing into _Leo_, he was transfigured on the mount—that is, became
more resplendent than ever, after which he entered _Virgo_, where the
seductions of the lady sorely tempted him, for being offered the juice
of the autumn grape he drank copiously with the damsel until none was
left; whereupon she suggested that he should turn water into wine, but
he resisted further temptation, exclaiming, “Woman, what have I to do
with thee?” and pursued his course towards the autumnal equinox, where
he passed into _Libra_ and crossed the equator and ecliptic again,
or, in other words, was crucified in Egypt as the “just man,” being
at length separated from _Aries_ for six months, which caused him to
exclaim in grief, “My ram! my ram! why hast thou forsaken me?” After
three days’ and three nights’ struggle he descended into hell, the
tomb, or the dark regions, to be born again at the winter solstice
as before; after which he would reconquer the powers of evil, or the
winter signs, and again become the lamb of god, “slain from the
foundation of the world” (Rev. xiii. 8) the Amen, or Jupiter Ammon, of
the Apocalypse, at which moment he exclaims, “I am he that liveth and
was dead, and behold I, Amen, am alive for evermore” (Rev. i. 18), and
“These things saith Amen, the true and faithful witness, the beginning
of the creation of God” (Rev. iii. 14). The winter period, commencing
with _Libra_, was called by the ancients the period of scorpions,
because _Scorpio_ was the principal sign of the period, and next after
the equinoxial sign; Egypt (see Rev. xi. 8), because, that being the
most southerly country then known, the sun appeared to descend into it
at that time of the year; and Sodom, Gomorrah, etc., because it was a
period of evil. The sea-monster, _Cetus_, is the same that is referred
to in Rev. xiii. as blasphemy, with a mouth like a lion, feet like a
bear, and leopard-like marks on its forequarters, and whose number was
declared to be 666, which figure being made up of ס 60, ת 400, ו 6, and
ר 200, stands for the word סתור, Setur, the concealed one, the Latin
equivalent of which is _Cetus_. This was probably something like the
original Christian myth, which, as time wore on, became converted into
the absurd story presented to us in the four Gospels.
The story of Adonis being separated from his darling Venus for six
months, and being afterwards re-united to her in love for another six
months, was fabricated from the same source; as also were the legends
of Osiris and Horus, Vishnu and Krishna, Ormuzd and Mithras, Jupiter
and Apollo, Jupiter and Bacchus, and Jupiter and Hercules. The cult
of Bacchus, indeed, was almost a _fac simile_ of those of Jesus and
Adonis, the three being but representations in different countries of
the very same drama. The twelve labours of Hercules were no more than
the passage of the sun through the twelve signs of the zodiac, just as
the twelve patriarchs, the twelve tribes, the twelve stones, and the
twelve apostles were the twelve signs themselves. In my “Popular Faith
Unveiled” I have pointed out the reasons for thinking the twelve sons
of Jacob and the twelve apostles to be the twelve zodiacal signs; but I
may here state that, on re-consideration, I am inclined to modify the
order maintained there in regard to the twelve sons of Jacob (p. 122)
by changing the places of Benjamin and Zebulun, the former being, in
my present opinion, the sign _Gemini_, and the latter _Capricornus_;
and as to the twelve apostles, I may here supply an omission made in
the same work, by stating that Andrew (p. 198) represents _Aries_, of
March, being always depicted with a ×, which forms the angle made by
the crossing of the equator and ecliptic on March 21st. The mystic
number seven was derived from the summer signs of the zodiac, including
the two equinoxial signs, which were called the pillars of the temple,
the vault of the summer heavens being the temple itself. Thus arose
the allusions to the seven trumpets, the seven candlesticks, the seven
churches, and the seven seals in the Apocalypse, each of which was a
summer zodiacal sign; and here I may again supply an omission in my
“Popular Faith Unveiled” (p. 246) by stating that the church of Smyrna
represented _Virgo_, of August, in which month bundles of myrrh were
always offered to the sun, the word Σμυρνα signifying “myrrh.”
Besides mystic numbers, there were a number of mystic symbols in use
among the ancients, by which the great and important phenomena in
nature were kept constantly before the eyes of the people. The chief
and most widely known symbol is the cross, representing the ascending
sun bringing back fresh life to the world at the vernal equinox; but
the cross was by no means the only symbol of this important occurrence;
trees, torches, the male organs of generation, or phallus, and
various animals were frequently used for the same purpose—in fact,
the symbolical worship of the ancients assumed gigantic proportions,
almost every conceivable device being seized upon to render homage to
the great re-fertiliser of the earth. No one of the religious cults was
free from a large admixture of what is known as phallic worship—that
is, worship of the fertilising principle; and it was a common custom
for people to swear by their generative organs, as being the most
sacred things on earth, representing the divine energy in a state of
procreative activity. Thus we find in Psalm lxxxix. 49 the following
words (literally translated): “O my Adonis, where are thy endearments
of old, which thou swearedst for the sake of love by thy phallus, O
Ammon?” The Hebrew letter ת was the sign of the cross, or phallus,
which was also used by the Phœnicians, being derived from the Arabic
תױ], the sybol of the life-giver. This passage evidently had reference
to the violent death of Adonis, who, at the autumnal equinox, was
attacked by a wild boar, which tore away his generative organs and
rendered him consequently impotent, until he was born again, when he
acquired fresh powers and grew in beauty and stature, ready to re-unite
with Venus at the spring equinox.
On the mithraitic monuments the spring equinox is represented by
lighted and elevated torches, trees covered with leaves, entire bulls,
and young men holding lighted torches; while the autumnal equinox is
represented by a hydra, or long serpent, a scorpion, reversed and
extinguished torches, trees loaded with autumn fruits, a bull with
its generative organs torn away, and old men holding reversed and
extinguished torches. The Rev. G. W. Cox, M.A. and scholar of Trinity
College, Oxford, in his “Mythology of the Aryan Nations,” says: “The
male and female powers of nature were denoted respectively by an
upright and an oval emblem, and the conjunction of the two furnished
at once the altar and the ashera, or grove, against which the Hebrew
prophets lifted up their voice in earnest protest.... In the kingdom
both of Judah and Israel the rites connected with these emblems assumed
their most corrupting form. Even in the temple itself stood the Ashera,
or the upright emblem on the circular altar of Baal-Peor, the Priapos
of the Jews, thus reproducing the Linga and Yoni of the Hindu. For this
symbol the women wove hangings, as the Athenian maidens embroidered the
sacred peplos for the ship presented to Athene at the great Dionysiac
festival. Here, at the winter solstice, they wept and mourned for
Tammuz, the fair Adonis, done to death by the boar.... Here, also,
on the third day, they rejoiced at the resurrection of the lord of
light. Hence, as most intimately connected with the reproduction of
life on earth, it became the symbol under which the sun, invoked with
a thousand names, has been worshipped throughout the world as the
restorer of the powers of nature after the long sleep or death of
winter.”
This symbol was from the earliest times venerated as a protecting
power, and Jacob, on his journey to Laban, slept under its protecting
influence: placed erect—sometimes as a tree, at others as a cross, and
often as a phallus—and resting on a crescent, the modified form of the
yoni, this symbol set forth the marriage of heaven and earth; and in
the form of a serpent, representing life and healing, it was worshipped
by the Egyptians and Jews. In the book of Genesis the phallic tree is
introduced, where it is called the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
From Plutarch we learn that the Egyptians represented Osiris with the
organ of generation erect, to show his generative and prolific power,
and that he was the same deity as the Bacchus of the Greek mythology
and the first begotten love (Ερως πρωτογονος) of Orpheus and Hesiod.
In an excellent work entitled “Discourse on the Worship of Priapus,”
by Richard Payne Knight, there are a number of plates illustrating the
mode in which this phallic worship was carried on by the ancients,
some of which are very curious and well worth the trouble of studying
carefully. One plate represents a celebrated bronze in the Vatican,
with the male organs of generation placed on the head of a cock, the
emblem of the rising sun, supported by the neck and shoulders of a man,
the whole being emblematical of god incarnate with man, and on the
base of which are inscribed the words ΣΩΤΗΡ ΚΟΣΜΟΥ, “Saviour of the
world.” Another figure on the same plate represents an ornament in the
British Museum, consisting of a male organ with wings and the foot of
a man suspended from a chain. Another plate shows two representations
of the god Pan, one with the organ erect, the symbol of power, or
spring, the other with the organ in a state of tumid languor, and
loaded with the productions of the earth, the symbol of the results of
prolific efforts. Both these last are copies of bronzes in the museum
of C. Townley. On another plate is a copy of another of Mr. Townley’s
treasures, representing the incarnation of deity, in the shape of a
man having sexual intercourse with a goat, the emblem of the new-born
deity at the winter solstice, to which is appended the following note
by Mr. Payne Knight: “At Mendes a living goat was kept as the image
of the generative power, to whom the women presented themselves naked,
and had the honour of being publicly enjoyed by him. Herodotus saw the
act openly performed (ες επιδειξεν ανθρωπων), and calls it a prodigy
(τερας). But the Egyptians had no such horror of it; for it was to them
a representation of the incarnation of the deity, and the communication
of his creative spirit to man. It was one of the sacraments of that
ancient church, and was, without doubt, beheld with that pious awe and
reverence with which devout persons always contemplate the mysteries of
their faith, whatever they happen to be.” This figure represented the
human male symbol as incarnate with the divine, instead of the divine
male incarnate with the human, as in the well-known one found among the
ruins of Herculaneum and kept concealed in the Royal Museum of Portici.
It is unnecessary to describe the whole of the interesting plates which
illustrate Mr. Knight’s work, copies of all of which I have carefully
taken.
There is abundant evidence in ancient authors as to the prevalence
of this worship of the generative organs, and all agree as to the
real meaning of the symbol. In every part of the then known world the
conquering sun bringing back life to the world at the spring equinox
was represented in some phallic form or other, either as a cross, a
phallus, a tree, a serpent, a goat, a bull, a torch, or some other
device emblematic of the sexual union of the powers of heaven with
mother earth. The cross was the most commonly used phallic symbol,
and was generally of the following form—☥, the о being the emblem of
the earth, or female organ, and the T that of the sun, or fecundating
principle, the combination forming a _crux ansata_, which was worn as
a charm by devout people. This was converted into a simple cross, in
which form, as well as in many others, it is found on ancient temples
of the most remote periods, as well as at the corners of roads, where
it evidently was used as a sign-post, as well as a religious symbol.
Among the paintings found at Pompeii there are some in which the god
Priapus is represented as a Hermes, on a square pedestal, with an
enormous phallus; and others in which he is represented with the usual
prominent feature, and, in addition, with a long stick in his hand to
point out the way to travellers. Herodotus thus describes a festival in
Egypt:—“The festival is celebrated almost exactly as Bacchic festivals
in Greece. They also use, instead of phalli, another invention,
consisting of images a cubit high, pulled by strings, which the women
carry round to the villages. The virile member of these figures is
scarcely less than the rest of the body, and this member they contrive
to move. A piper goes in front, and the women follow, singing hymns in
honour of Bacchus.”
Among the royal offerings to the god Amen by Rameses III. in the great
Harris Papyrus are loaves (called “Taenhannur”) in the form of the
phallus.[3] In the Pamelia the Egyptians exhibited a statue provided
with three phalli; and in the festivals of Bacchus, celebrated by
Ptolemy Philadelphus, a gilt phallus, 120 cubits high, was carried in
procession. St. Jerome tells us that, in Syria, Baal-Peor, the Hebrew
Priapus, was represented with a phallus in his mouth; and in Ezekiel
xvi. 17 we find the Jewish women manufacturing silver and golden phalli.
[3] “Primitive Symbolism,” by Hodder M. Westropp.
According to Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus, the worship of Bacchus was
imported into Greece by Melampus, who taught the Greeks the mysteries
connected with phallic worship; and Plutarch says that “nothing, is
simpler than the manner in which they celebrated formerly in my country
the Dionysiaca. Two men walked at the head of the procession; one
carried an amphora of wine, the other a vine branch; a third led a
goat; a fourth bore a basket of figs; a figure of a phallus closed the
procession.”
Tertullian tells us that that which in the mysteries of Eleusis is
considered as most holy, concealed with most care, and only explained
to the initiated at the last moment, is the image of the virile member.
The festival of Venus, held at Rome in the beginning of April each
year, was in honour of the sexual union of the powers of heaven and
of earth. The Roman ladies led a cart, in which was a huge phallus,
to the temple of Venus, outside the Colline gate, and there presented
the member to the sexual part of the goddess. Spring was, indeed, the
special season for phallic processions, as we learn from a passage of
“Iamblichus de Mysteriis,” given by Mr. Westropp: “We say the erection
of the phalli is a certain sign of prolific power, which, through this,
is called forth to the generative energy of the world; on which account
many phalli are consecrated in the spring, because then the whole world
receives from the gods the power which is productive of all generation.”
It is sufficiently obvious that the return of the sun to the vernal
equinoxial sign each year, or the union of the active and passive
principles, formed the cornerstone of the various religious systems,
and that this marriage, as it were, of heaven with earth, occurring
each springtime, and bringing with it such a train of good results,
gave rise to the most sacred institutions and rites, which to us may
appear disgusting, but which, to the ancients, were looked upon with
the greatest awe and veneration.
It was not to the generative organs that the ancients offered
homage, but to the principles represented by them—to the active and
procreative power of the god of nature, the prolific ram-sun, at
the spring equinox, and to the passive and recipient mother-earth,
the womb of nature, from which we all emanate and to which we all
return. It is, however, reasonable to imagine, with the Rev. G. W.
Cox, that “it is clear that such a cultus as this would carry with
it a constantly-increasing danger, until the original character of
the emblem should be as thoroughly disguised as the names of some of
the Vedic deities when transferred to Hellenic soil.” Indeed, it is
matter of history that these rites, which were held so sacred by the
Egyptians, were turned to the basest and most wicked purposes in after
times by the worshippers of Bacchus, Adonis, and other deities. The
Bacchanalian mysteries and secret rites called _Dionysia_, or Supper
of the lord Dionysos, were publicly denounced by the Roman authorities
at the commencement of our era, as were also the _Adonia_, or Suppers
of the lord Adonis, and the Love Feasts, _Agapæ_, or Suppers of the
lord Jesus. From Gibbon we learn that the early Christians were in the
habit of committing at their Love Feasts the most unnatural crimes
with sisters, mothers, and others, as is also clearly testified by
Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, Tertullian, and Minucius Felix; and Livy’s
account of similar practices indulged in by the Bacchanalians at their
_Dionysia_ leaves no doubt as to their participation in these horrors.
So widely spread was this phallic worship that, within one hundred
years of the present time, it was openly followed in some parts of
Europe, as appears from a letter of Sir William Hamilton, K.B., British
Minister at the Court of Naples, to Sir Joseph Banks, Bart., President
of the Royal Society. Accompanying the letter the writer sends an
amulet worn by women and children of Naples and the neighbourhood as
ornaments of dress, which they imagine will be a preservative against
_mal occhii_ (“evil eyes”), or enchantment. It represents a hand
clenched, with the point of the thumb thrust between the index and
middle finger, on one side, and a male organ erect on the other side,
with a ring, or female organ, above, and a flaccid male organ and
scrotum beneath, the whole in the form of a cross. The letter is so
remarkable that it is worth while reproducing a considerable portion of
it, as it appears in Mr. Knight’s work.
“The following is the account of the Fête of St. Cosmo and Damiano,
as it was actually celebrated at Isernia, on the confines of Abruzzo,
in the kingdom of Naples, so late as in the year of our Lord 1780. On
the 27th of September, at Isernia, one of the most ancient cities of
the kingdom of Naples, situated in the province called the Contado di
Molise, and adjoining to Abruzzo, an annual fair is held, which lasts
three days. The situation of this fair is on a rising ground, between
two rivers, about half a mile from the town of Isernia; on the most
elevated part of which there is an ancient church, with a vestibule.
The architecture is of the style of the lower ages; and it is said
to have been a church and convent belonging to the Benedictine monks
in the time of their poverty. This church is dedicated to St. Cosmus
and Damianus. One of the days of the fair the relics of the saints
are exposed, and afterwards carried in procession from the cathedral
of the city to this church, attended by a prodigious concourse of
people. In the city, and at the fair, _ex-voti_ of wax, representing
the male parts of generation, of various dimensions, some even of the
length of a palm, are publicly offered to sale. There are also waxen
vows, that represent other parts of the body mixed with them; but of
these there are few in comparison of the number of Priapi. The devout
distributors of these vows carry a basket full of them in one hand,
and hold a plate in the other to receive the money, crying aloud, ‘St.
Cosmo and Damiano!’ If you ask the price of one, the answer is, _Più
ci metti, più meriti_—’The more you give, the more’s the merit.’ In
the vestibule are two tables, at each of which one of the canons of
the church presides, this crying out, _Oui si ricevina le Misse, e
Litanie_—’Here Masses and Litanies are received;’ and the other, _Oui
si riceveno li Voti_—’Here the Vows are received.’ The price of a mass
is fifteen Neapolitan grains, and of a litany five grains. On each
table is a large basin for the reception of the different offerings.
The vows are chiefly presented by the female sex; and they are seldom
such as represent legs, arms, &c., but most commonly the male parts
of generation. The person who was at this fête in the year 1780, and
who gave me this account (the authenticity of every article of which
has since been fully confirmed to me by the Governor of Isernia), told
me also that he heard a woman say, at the time she presented a vow,
like that which is represented in Plate I., Fig. I., _Santo Cosimo
benedetto, cosi lo voglio_—’Blessed St. Cosmo, let it be like this;’
another, _St. Cosimo, a te mi raccommendo_—’St. Cosmo, I recommend
myself to you;’ and a third, _St. Cosimo, ti ruigrazio_—’St. Cosmo, I
thank you.’ The vow is never presented without being accompanied by
a piece of money, and is always kissed by the devotee at the moment
of presentation. At the great altar in the church another of its
canons attends to give the holy unction, with the oil of St. Cosmo;
which is prepared by the same receipt as that of the Roman Ritual,
with the addition only of the prayer of the Holy Martyrs, St. Cosmus
and Damianus. Those who have an infirmity in any of their members
present themselves at the great altar, and uncover the member affected
(not even excepting that which is most frequently represented by
the _ex-voti_); and the reverend canon anoints it, saying, _Per
intercessionem beati Cosmi, liberet te ab omni malo, Amen_. The
ceremony finishes by the canons of the church dividing the spoils, both
money and wax, which must be to a very considerable amount, as the
concourse at this fête is said to be prodigiously numerous.”
At the present day phallic symbolism is perpetuated in our church
steeples, in the crosses and circles on our altars and prayer-books,
in the pictures of the lamb holding a cross within a circle on our
church windows, in the cross-buns eaten at the paschal feast, in the
Easter eggs, and in various other ways; while the Pyramids of Egypt
and the Luxor obelisks—one in London, one in Paris, and one in St.
Petersburg—form a connecting phallic link between the ancient Egyptians
and ourselves. The sphynx has been said by some to be a phallic figure;
but I do not subscribe to this view at all, holding the opinion that
it is simply a union of two zodiacal signs, July and August of the
fixed zodiac. It appears to me that at a very remote time, when the
sign _Virgo_ was about to be supplanted at the vernal equinox by the
next sign, _Leo_—somewhere about fifteen thousand years ago, or rather
later—the priests or astrologers hit upon the idea of placing the head
of _Virgo_ upon the shoulders of _Leo_, thus manufacturing a new kind
of figure, which, on account of its partaking of the dual nature of the
then most prominent of the gods, became very popular, and was depicted
in various forms and in many parts of the country. This may also have
been the _modus faciendi_ of _Capricornus_ and _Sagittarius_, if we
can imagine a still earlier period when the zodiac was so different
from the present form as to have signs represented by a fish, a goat, a
horse, and an archer respectively.
Next to the vernal equinoxial sign the ancients held the winter
solstitial sign in the greatest veneration, and consequently the
goat was a very sacred animal and occupied a prominent place in all
symbolical mythologies. It was from this point that the Egyptians
calculated their new year, although the Persians always reckoned theirs
from the vernal equinox; and it was on December 21st that the Egyptians
fixed the creation of the world, which gave origin to the fable of a
goat having been the creator, thus accounting for the fact of the
early copies of the Samaritan Pentateuch commencing with the following
words: “At the commencement the goat (העז) renovated the heavens and
the earth” (Genesis I. 1). Here we meet with a very good example of the
patchwork style in which the Bible was compiled. In Egypt the new year
reckoned from December 21st, and the creation was supposed to date from
the same time of the year, and consequently in all records emanating
from the Nile district the celestial goat was honoured for the occasion
with the chief godship; but in Persia the new year commenced on March
21st, the date of the creation being fixed at the same point of the
zodiac, so that the chief godship was assigned to the celestial lamb
or ram and its five fellow signs of the summer hemisphere. Therefore,
as the Hebrews derived their creation fable from the Persians, using
also the Egyptian mythology with which to embellish their newly-made
cosmogony, the two fables became mixed somewhat in the minds of these
ignorant wanderers, the consequence being that in some of their MSS.
the creation was said to have been the act of the goat (העז), while
in others it was attributed to the ram-sun, Elyah (אליה), or the six
summer signs commencing with the ram-sun, and called on that account
the Elohim (אלהים), this word being the plural form of Eloh (אלוה) or
Elyah (אליה), a compound word made up of Yah (יה), the Hebrew name for
the sun-god, and El (אל), the celestial lamb or ram.
Not only were the three principal signs—the bull, the ram, and the
goat—held in great veneration by the Egyptians, but all the zodiacal
signs were worshipped in various degrees; indeed, each figure of the
zodiac can be easily assigned to one of the principal gods of Egypt,
as they were known prior to B.C. 2188. The ram was Amen, the Egyptian
Jupiter, called Zeus Amen (Ζευς Αμην) by the Greeks and _Jupiter Ammon_
by the Romans, who was represented with a ram’s head and horns. The
bull was Apis, or Serapis, worshipped as a living bull, the incarnation
of the principal deity at the vernal equinox. The twins were the Greek
Castor and Pollux, who were worshipped by the Egyptians under similar
names. The crab was Anubis, the Egyptian Mercury. The lion was Osiris,
Ra, or Phthah, according to the district and age, the sun-god at the
height of his power at the summer solstitial point, June 24th. The
virgin was Isis, the beloved of Osiris. The balances were included
with the scorpion, the two being worshipped as Set-Typhon, Tum, or
Sekru, according to the district and age, the sun-god at the autumnal
equinox, suffering defeat at the hands of the powers of darkness.
The centaur-archer was the Egyptian Hercules. The goat was Pan, or
Mendes. The water-bearer was Horus, the avenger of his father’s defeat,
born December 21st, and a conqueror on March 21st; also Mises, the
Egyptian Bacchus, who, being the sign of the sun-god’s birth, leads the
twelve signs out of the land of bondage, and institutes the feast of
commemoration at the sign of the lamb, whose horns he wears; and also
Harmachis. The fishes are Oannes, the Egyptian saviour-fish, who, when
that sign was at the winter solstitial point, saved the world as the
new-born sun.
These twelve signs of the zodiac were, in fact, the twelve principal
gods of all races; the seven summer signs, including the two equinoxial
signs, being the seven specially sacred gods, inhabiting the upper
temple of the most high god, which was the vault of the summer
heavens, supported by the two pillars of the equinoxes or covenants.
Almost every race had temples divided into upper and lower courts or
rooms, the upper one being the residence of their chief gods; and
these temples were originally meant to represent the universe, having
an upper hemisphere, governed by the good principle, and a lower
hemisphere, governed by the bad principle, this idea being frequently
further represented by a closed ark or chest, representing the lower
or dark hemisphere, upon which sat the chief deity, representing the
good principle of the upper hemisphere. The Egyptians, according to
Plutarch, enclosed the body of Osiris in an ark every year at the
autumnal equinox, when the sun was in _Scorpio_, which was a rite
emblematical of the annual death of the sun-god of summer; and the
Jews, it will be remembered, suffered defeat at the hands of the
Philistines, immediately after they had taken the ark out of Shiloh,
where it had been deposited, the word Shiloh being the name of a
tiny group of stars in the sign _Scorpio_. The movable temple of the
Hebrews, or tabernacle, as described in Exodus, is the best example we
have of this representation of the universe, being described in such
minute detail as to betray its meaning to the dullest mind. It was
divided into two portions—the lower or outer portion, and the upper or
inner portion, the holy of holies, where dwelt the Hebrew chief tribal
god, Yahouh, or Yah, sitting upon the ark of the covenant, representing
the winter part of the heavens between the two covenants or equinoxes.
On each side of Yah was a cherub, or monster with four faces (or,
according to some, with four bodies)—one like a bull, another like a
man, a third like an eagle, and the last like a lion, as we find fully
described by Ezekiel (chap. i.). In my “Popular Faith Unveiled” (pp.
131, 174, and 247) I have attributed these heads (or bodies) to the
four zodiacal signs of ascension after the vernal equinox, that like
a bull to _Taurus_, that like a man to _Gemini_, that like an eagle
to _Cancer_, and that like a lion to _Leo_; but, according to Sir W.
Drummond, in his “Œdipus Judaicus,” they correspond with the signs
at the four quarters of the sphere—viz., the man to _Aquarius_, the
ox to _Taurus_, the lion to _Leo_, and the eagle to _Scorpio_, this
calculation being based on the supposition that the cherubim were
first introduced during the period prior to B.C. 2188, when _Taurus_
was the vernal equinoxial point, while mine supposes _Aries_ to have
been the chief zodiacal sign. Which calculation is right the reader
must decide for himself, after carefully studying the reasons given
for both conclusions. Clement of Alexandria, in his “Stromata,” says
of these cherubim: “Each of them has six wings, whether they typify
the two bears, as some will have it, or, which is better, the two
hemispheres.... Both have twelve wings, and thus through the circle of
the zodiac, and of self-marrying time, they typify the world perceived
by the senses.” The table in the temple was symbolical of the earth,
as we learn from Clement of Alexandria again, when he says: “The
table, as I think, signifies the image of the earth; it is sustained by
four feet, answering to the summer, autumn, spring, and winter.” The
shew-bread was placed on the table in front of Yah, and was divided
into twelve pieces, typical of the twelve signs, as we find stated in
Ex. xxv. 22 and 30 (literally translated): “And I will hang [or be
deposited] there, set [or sitting] before thee; and I will talk to thee
from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim, which are
upon the ark of the testimony ... and thou shalt set shew-bread always
upon the table in front of me.” The candlesticks, with three branches
on each side and one in the centre, having seven lamps burning on them,
represented the seven summer signs, including both the equinoxial ones.
Josephus tells us that the candlesticks were divided into seventy
parts, answering to the seventy decans of the seven signs. The veil
of the temple was of blue, purple, and scarlet, and represented the
atmospheric vault of heaven tinged, as it frequently is, by the sun’s
rays. The pomegranates represented the fixed stars. The dress of the
high priest was ornamented with 566 bells, corresponding with the days
of the sidereal year, with two bright emeralds and twelve precious
stones, which, according to Clement of Alexandria, represented the sun
and moon and the twelve signs of the zodiac.
Sufficient has been said to leave no doubt as to the real meaning of
the tabernacle and its appurtenances, and, I think, to establish the
truth of what I have previously stated—viz., that the ancient religions
were of astronomical origin and abounding in symbolical rites and
ceremonies. It only remains for me now to repeat what I have maintained
before in other essays—that the Christian religion of to-day,
although modified by time and circumstances, having been considerably
manipulated so as to be brought within touch of modern requirements, is
nothing more or less than a rehash of the Egyptian, Persian, Hindu, and
Phœnician mythologies—an old worn-out faith, in fact, dressed in gaudy
and attractive garments.
[Illustration: THE EARTH OF THE VEDIC PRIESTS.]
[Illustration: HINDU EARTH.]
[Illustration: THE EARTH OF THE LATER GREEKS. B.C.]
[Illustration: POMPONIUS MELA’S COSMOGRAPHY.
1^(st) Century. Heathen.]
[Illustration: CHRISTIAN MAPS OF THE WORLD IN the 10th. Century.]
[Illustration: CHRISTIAN MAP OF THE WORLD IN THE 8th. Century.]
[Illustration: MAP OF MARCO POLO End of 14th. Century.]
[Illustration: COSMOGRAPHY OF S^(t) DENIS Mid 14th. Century]
[Illustration: EGYPTIAN PLANETARY SYSTEM]
[Illustration: PTOLEMAIC SYSTEM]
[Illustration: TYCHO BRAHE’S PLANETARY SYSTEM]
[Illustration: COPERNICAN SYSTEM]
[Illustration: THE IRON VIRGIN. Inside View.
The unbeliever or heretic was placed upright inside the virgin, and
the doors were closed so that the spikes penetrated the victim’s eyes
& chest, after which the body was dropped through the floor into the
river Pegnitz.]
[Illustration: THE IRON VIRGIN. Outside View.
Fixed in a vault cut out of the rock beneath the Nuremberg Town Hall,
in Bavaria, and used as an instrument of torture by the Christian
Church.]