Astral Worship
Astral Worship
Astral Worship
BY
J. H. HILL
1895
Astral Worship By J. H. Hill.
©GlobalGrey 2018
globalgreyebooks.com
CONTENTS
Introduction
The Geocentric System Of Nature
The Sacred Numbers 7 And 12
The Twelve Thousand Year Cycle
The Ancient Triad
God Sol
The Ancient Cosmogony
Fall And Redemption Of Man
Incarnations Of God Sol
Fable Of The Twelve Labors
Anniversaries Of Solar Worship
Personifications Of The Divisions Of Time
Zodiacal Symbols Of Solar Worship
Signs Of The Cross
Future Rewards And Punishments
Jewish Or Ancient Christianity
The Prophecies
Roman Or Modern Christianity
Freemasonry And Druidism
The Sabbath
Pious Frauds
Conclusion
1
INTRODUCTION
All the evidences bearing upon the subject indicate that the founders of
the primary form of religion were a sect of philosophers, known as Magi,
or wise men, of the Aryan race of Central Asia, who, having lived ages
before any conceptions of the supernatural had obtained in the world,
and speculating relative to the "beginnings of things," were necessarily
confined to the contemplation and study of nature, the elements of
which they believed to be self-existent and endless in duration; but,
being wholly without knowledge of her inherent forces, they explained
her manifold processes by conceiving the idea that she was animated by
a great and inherent soul or spirit, emanations from which impressed all
her parts with life and motion. Thus, endowing man, and other animals,
with souls emanating alike from the imaginary great soul of nature, they
believed, and taught, that immediately after death all souls were
absorbed into their source, where, as "the dewdrop slips into the shining
sea," all personal identity was forever lost. Hence we see that although
recognizing the soul as immortal, considering it, not as an entity existing
independent of matter, but as the spirit of matter itself, the primary
religion was the exponent of the purest form of Materialism.
2
Being the Astronomers of their day, and mistaking the apparent for the
real, the ancient Magi constructed that erroneous system of nature
known as the Geocentric, and, in conformity thereto, composed a
collection of Astronomical Allegories, in which the emanations from the
imaginary great soul of nature, by which they believed all materialities
we're impressed with life and motion, were personified and made to play
their respective parts. Basing the religion they instituted upon their
system of Allegorical Astronomy, and making its personifications the
objects of worship, they thus originated the anthropomorphic or man-
like Gods, and, claiming to have composed them under the inspiration of
these self same divinities, they designated them as sacred records, or
Scriptures, and taught the ignorant masses that they were literal
histories, and their personifications real personages, who, having once
lived upon earth, and; for the good of mankind, performed the wondrous
works imputed to them, were then in heaven whence they came.
character only. At the beginning of the Christian era there were still in
existence a sect of Jews known as Sadducees, who were strict adherents
to the primitive form of worship, and their belief relative to the state of
the dead we find recorded in Ecclesiastes xii., 7, which reads: "Then shall
the dust return to earth as it was, and the spirit shall return to God who
gave it."
Thus were the votaries of the ancient Astral worship divided into two
distinct classes, the Esoterics, or Gnostics; and the Exoterics, or
4
Agnostics; the former comprising those who knew that the Gods were
mythical and the scriptures allegorical; and the latter, those who were
taught that the Gods were real, and the scriptures historical; or, in other
words, it was philosophy for the cultured few, and religion for the
ignorant multitude. The initiates into the secrets of these two systems
recognized them as the two Gospels; and Paul must have had reference
to them in his Epistle to the Galatians ii., 2, where he distinguishes the
Gospel which he preached on ordinary occasions from that Gospel which
he preached "privately to them which were of reputation."
Such was the system of Astrolatry, which, originating in the Orient, and
becoming, after being remodelled in Egypt, the prototype of all
Occidental forms of worship, was recognized, successively, as the state
religion of the Grecian and Roman Empires; and we propose to describe
the erroneous system of nature upon which it was based, and to develop
the origins of its cycles, dogmas, ordinances, anniversaries,
personifications and symbols, with the view to proving that it was the
very same system which was ultimately perpetuated under the name of
Christianity. We also propose to present the origins and abridged
histories of its two forms, the Jewish, or ancient, and the Roman, or
modern; and to give an account of the conflict between the votaries of
the latter, and the adherents to the established form of worship, which
culminated in the fourth century in the substitution of Christianity as the
state religion of the Roman Empire. We furthermore propose to show
the changes to which the creed and scriptures were subjected during the
Middle Ages, and at the Reformation in the sixteenth century, through
which they assumed the phases as now taught in the theologies,
respectively of Catholicism and Orthodox Protestantism. We also present
an article relative to Freemasonry and Druidism, for the purpose of
showing that, primarily, they were but different forms of the ancient
Astrolatry. We also devote a few pages to the subjects of the Sabbath, and
to that of "Pious Frauds."
The Earth.
Believing that the earth was the only world, that it was a vast circular
plane, and that it was the fixed and immovable center around which
revolved the celestial luminaries, the ancient Astronomers, in conformity
to the requirement of the doctrine of future rewards and punishments, as
inculcated in the Egyptian Version of the Exoteric Creed, divided it into
an upper and an under, or nether world, which they connected by a
sinuous and tenebrious passage.
The Firmament.
The azure dome, called the firmament in the book of Genesis, was
believed to be a solid transparency, which we find described, in the
fourth chapter and sixth verse, of that collection of Astronomical
Allegories, called the Apocalypse, or Book of Revelation, "as a sea of glass
like unto crystal." It was represented as being supported by four pillars,
resting upon the earth, one at each of the cardinal points, which were
designated as "the pillars of heaven." Conceiving the idea that there were
windows in the firmament, the ancient Astronomers called them "the
windows of heaven" and taught that they were opened when it rained,
and closed when it ceased to rain. Hence it is evident that the ancient
Astronomers did not refer to these pillars and windows in a figurative
sense, but as real appurtenances to a solid firmament, as will be seen by
reference to Gen. vii. 11, and viii. 2, Job xxvi. 11, and Malachi iii. 10.
The Planets.
Believing that the stars were but mere flambeaux, suspended beneath the
firmament, and revolving round the earth, for the sole purpose of giving
it light and heat; and observing that seven of these, answering to the Sun,
7
The Constellations.
The Zodiac.
But for the reason that, with only one exception, the forms of living
things, either real or mythical, were given to them, this belt, ultimately,
wad designated as the Zodiac; or Circle of living Creatures, see Ezekiel,
chap. i. Constituting the essential feature of the ancient Astronomy, we
present, in our frontispiece, a diagram of the Zodiac, as anciently
represented, to which, as well as to Burritts' Celestial Atlas, our readers
will be necessitated to make frequent reference.
Recent researches among the ruins of ancient cities have developed the
fact that several centuries before the beginning of our era the
astronomers had invented the telescope, and discovered the true or
8
heliocentric system of nature; but for the reason that religion had been
based upon the false, or geocentric system, it was deemed prudent not to
teach it to the masses. Hence, hiding it away among the other secrets of
the Esoteric philosophy, the knowledge of it was lost during the Middle
Ages; and when rediscovered, the hierarchy of the Church of Rome, upon
the plea that it was contrary to the teachings of Scripture, resorted to
inquisitorial tortures to suppress its promulgation; but, in spite of all
their efforts, it has been universally accepted; and, in this otherwise
enlightened age, we have presented to us the anomaly of a religion based
upon a false system of Astronomy, while its votaries believe in the true
system.
9
In reference to the planets, and the signs of the Zodiac, the numbers
seven and twelve were recognized as sacred by the ancient Astrologers,
and dedications were made to them in all kinds and sorts of forms. In the
allegories, the genii of the planets were designated as spirits or
messengers to the Supreme Deity, imaginarily enthroned above the
firmament, which we find described in Revelations iv. 5, as "Seven lamps
of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God;"
and which were represented by lights burning in seven branched
candlesticks set before the altars in the temples; the central light for the
Sun; the Moon, Mercury and Venus on one side; and Mars, Jupiter and
Saturn on the other. The seven branched candlesticks seen in all Catholic
churches, and in some Protestant ones, are intended to represent the
same planetary system.
In determining the duration of the period within which were to occur the
events taught in the doctrines of the Exoteric Creed, the ancient
Astrologers dedicated a thousand years to each of the signs of the Zodiac,
and thus inaugurating the cycle of twelve thousand years, taught that, at
its conclusion, the heaven and the earth, which they believed to be
composed of the indestructible elements of fire, air, earth and water,
would, through the agency of the first of these, be reduced to chaos, as a
preliminary to the reorganization of a new heaven and a new earth at the
beginning of the succeeding cycle. Such was the origin of the grand cycle
of the ancient Astrolatry, and it must be borne in mind that its authors
made its conclusion to correspond in time and circumstance to the
doctrines relating to the finale of the plan of redemption.
11
designated in the 4th chapter of Revelation, where, like Zeus and Jupiter,
of the Grecian and Roman mythologies, he is represented as seated
above the firmament, upon a throne from which "proceeded lightnings
and thunderings," and to whom all, the subordinate divinities were made
to pay homage. As the hurler of thunderbolts he was called "the
Thunderer," and as the opener of the windows of heaven, when it rained,
he was designated "Jupiter Pluvius." Such was the ancient Triad made to
say of himself, in an inscription found in the ruins of the temple at Sais
in Egypt, "I am all that has been, all that is, and all that shall be, and no
mortal has lifted yet the veil that covers me;" and such was the Triunity
referred to as the God Universe by Pliny, the Roman philosopher and
naturalist, who, flourishing in the first century of the Christian era, wrote
that he is "An infinite God which has never been created, and which shall
never come to an end. To look for something else beyond it is useless
labor for man and out of his reach. Behold that truly sacred Being,
eternal and immense, which includes within itself everything; it is All in
All, or rather itself is All. It is the work of nature, and itself is nature."
GOD SOL
Personifying the principles of Good and Evil in God Sol, the ancient
Astrologers consecrated the six divisions of the 12,000 year cycle,
corresponding to the reproductive months of Spring and Summer, to
him as Lord of Good, and symbolizing him by the constellation of the
Zodiac in which the Vernal Equinox successively occurred, as explained
hereafter, they dedicated the six divisions of that cycle, corresponding to
the destructive months of Autumn and Winter, to him as Lord of Evil,
and as such, symbolizing him by the serpent, marked the beginning of
his reign by the constellation "Serpens," placed in conjunction with the
Autumnal Equinox. Personifying in him the opposing principles of Good
and Evil, he was to the ancients both God and Devil, or the varied God,
who, in relation to the seasons, was described as beautiful in Spring,
powerful in Summer, beneficent in Autumn and terrible in Winter. Thus
under various names, intended to represent God Sol in relation to the
diversified seasons, we find recorded in the Scriptures, or solar fables,
numerous portrayals of imaginary conflicts, in which the Evil principle,
14
Of all the divinities of the ancient mythology God Sol was the only one
distinguished by the exalted title of Lord or Lord God, for the reason that
he was made the organizer of chaos and governor of heaven and earth.
Hence, having constituted him the lord of light and darkness, as well as
good and evil, the ancient astrologers in composing the solar fables made
him say of himself, "I form the light and create darkness; I make peace
and create evil, I the Lord do all these things," Isaiah xlv., 7. "Shall there
be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?" Amos iii., 6. Besides the
title of Lord or Lord God, the solar divinity is also designated in the
allegories as the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings, the Invincible, the
Mighty God, etc.
represented in the ancient Zodiacs, and the fact will be readily conceded
that she is the only Virgin who could give birth to a child and be a virgin
still.
16
Speculating relative to the order in which chaos had been organized, the
ancient Astrologers constructed a Cosmogony, which divided the labors
of God the Son, or second person in the Trinity, into six periods of a
thousand years each; and which, answering to the six divisions of the
12,000 year cycle corresponding to the reproductive months of Spring
and Summer, taught that in the first period he made the earth; in the
second, the firmament; in the third, vegetation; in the fourth, the Sun
and Moon and "the stars also;" in the fifth, the animals, fishes, birds,
etc., and in the sixth, Man.
That vegetation was made before the Sun was not an inconsistent idea to
the originators of the ancient Cosmogony. They imagined that the heat
and light, emanating from the elementary fire, were sufficient to
stimulate its growth, after which God the Son gathered it together and
made the Celestial luminaries. In the solar fables this imaginary element
is called the fire-ether, or sacred fire of the stars.
17
Having based the fables of the fall and redemption of man upon the idea
that he was impelled, without his volition, to pass from the dominion of
God to that of the Devil, or in other words, upon his subjection to the
inexorable necessity which makes the inclement seasons of Autumn and
Winter succeed the beneficent ones of Spring and Summer, its authors
composed the original of the text which, found in Romans viii., 20, reads
that "The creature was made subject to vanity (Evil), not willingly, but by
reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope."
But for the popular teaching in favor of its being literal history, no one
could read the account of the fall of man, as recorded in the third chapter
of Genesis, without recognizing it as simply an allegory; or fail to realize,
the force of the argument of no fall, no redemption, and if no
redemption, no God to reward or Devil to punish; no hell to suffer, or
heaven to enjoy. The fact is that these are but antithetical ideas which
came in together, and must survive or perish together. They cannot be
separated without destroying the whole theological fabric.
19
Believing that God Sol was necessitated to remain at his post to direct
the course of the sun, the ancient astrologers conceived the idea of
teaching that, attended by a retinue of subordinate genii, he descended
to earth through the medium of incarnations at the end of 600 year
cycles, to perform the work of man's redemption and, having made Virgo
of the Zodiac the mother of the Solar divinity, they taught in their
allegorical Astronomy, or scriptures, that his incarnations were born of a
Virgin. Hence we find that God Sol, usually designated by the title of the
Word, "was made flesh, and dwelt among us." John i., 14.
To impress the ignorant masses with the belief that the scriptures were
literal histories, and the incarnate Saviours real personages, the ancient
Astrologers caused tombs to be erected in which it was claimed they were
buried. Such sepulchres were erected to Hercules at Cadiz, to Apollo at
Delphi, and to other Saviours at many other places, to which their
respective votaries were induced to perform pilgrimages. In Egypt the
pyramids were built, partly for astronomical purposes, and partly as
tombs for Saviours, claimed to have been kings, who had once ruled over
the country; and why should we not recognize that magnificent structure
known as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, at Jerusalem, as but another
of those tombs of Saviours in which no Saviour was ever entombed?
Thus we have shown that it was God Sol, the only begotten of the Father,
or second person in the sacred Triad, to whom supreme adoration was
inculcated in all forms of the ancient Astrolatry; and that its cultured
votaries, understanding that the doctrines pertaining to the fall and
redemption of man were evolved from the figurative death and
resurrection of the solar divinity, recognized the doctrine of incarnation
as a priestly invention intended only for the ignorant masses.
21
The authors of the original solar fables, having lived in that remote age in
which physical prowess was recognized as the highest attribute of
humanity, conceived the idea that God Sol, while passing through his
apparent orbit, had to fight his way with the animals of the Zodiac, and
with others in conjunction with them. Hence, designating him as the
Mighty Hunter, and calling his exploits the twelve labors, they made the
incarnate Saviours the heroes of similar ones on earth, which they taught
were performed for the good of mankind; and that, after fulfilling their
earthly mission, they were exhaled to heaven through the agency of fire.
When these fables were composed the Summer Solstice was in the sign
of Leo, and making the twelve labors begin in it, the first consisted in the
killing of a lion, and the second, in rescuing a virgin (Virgo) by the
destruction of a Hydra, the constellation in conjunction with her. Upon
one of the Assyrian marbles on exhibition in the British Museum these
two labors are represented as having been performed by a saviour by the
name of Nimroud. In the constellations of Taurus, the bull of the Zodiac,
and of Orion, originally known as Horns, in conjunction therewith, we
have groupings of stars representing the latter as one of the mighty
hunters of the ancient Astrolatry, supporting on his left arm the shield of
the lion's skin, the trophy of the first labor, and holding a club in his
uplifted right hand, is engaged in performing the tenth labor by a conflict
with the former.
The Nativity.
With the knowledge of these facts we can readily see that this is the
Virgin and child which constituted the originals of those exquisite
paintings, by the old masters, known as the Madonna and Child.
In reference to the twelve signs through which the sun makes his
apparent annual revolution, the twelfth day after Christmas, answering
to the 6th of January, was observed by the votaries of the ancient
Astrolatry as the anniversary of the Epiphany or Twelfth Day. In
the solar fables, it was taught that a star appeared in the heavens on that
day to manifest the birthplace of the infant Saviour to the Magi or Wise
23
Men of the East, who came to pay him homage, and to present him with
the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, as related in Matthew ii. 11.
The reason for presenting these gifts is explained by the facts that of the
seven metals dedicated to the genii of the planets, gold was the one
consecrated to God Sol; and frankincense and myrrh were the gums
burned in censers in his worship.
In reading the account of the Magi's visit to the infant Saviour, we have
but to exercise our thinking faculties to realize that it is allegory instead
of literal history.
In the ancient solar fables it was taught that the persecutions to which
the incarnate Saviours were subjected while passing through the
dominion of God Sol as Lord of Evil, raged with greatest fury during the
forty days preceding the festival of Easter, which period, beginning when
the days were perceptibly lengthening, was called Lent, or the Lenten
season. It was during this season that the votaries of the ancient religion
were taught to manifest their sympathy for the Saviour in his imaginary
conflict with the Devil by abstaining from all festivities, and by fasting
and prayer; and, as that was the season in which the flocks and herds
were poor in flesh, while the seas and rivers abounded with fish in good
condition, the ancient priests, making a virtue of necessity, enjoined a
diet principally of fish, and for that reason placed the constellation Pisces
at the point in the Zodiac in which the Lenten season anciently began;
which, without regard to the day of the week, was always observed on the
15th day of February, the name of that month having been derived from
the Februa, or feast of purification and expiation of the old Roman
calendar.
At the council of Nice the Lenten season was made to begin on the fourth
day of the week, and in reference to the ancient custom of the more
devout sprinkling ashes upon their heads at the feast of the Februa, it is
called Ash Wednesday.
Hence we see that all years in which Ash Wednesday does not come on
the 15th of February, the Lenten season must necessarily contain a
greater or lesser number than the original assignment of forty days.
24
Passion Week.
The last seven days of Lent is called Passion Week, in reference to the
apparent passage of the sun across the Celestial equator at the Vernal
Equinox or 21st of March; the ancient astrologers having conceived the
idea that the sun stood still for the space of three days at each of the
cardinal points, and making it represent the figurative death of the
genius of that luminary, it was observed as the anniversary of the Vernal
crucifixion or passion of the incarnate Saviours; and in commemoration
of their imaginary sufferings and death it was the custom to expose in
the temples during the last three days of Passion Week figures
representing their dead bodies, over which the votaries of solar worship,
especially the women, made great lamentation. It was in reference to one
of these images, laid out in the temple at Jerusalem, to which the jealous
Jehovah, considering it a great abomination in his own house, is made to
direct the attention of Ezekiel, the prophet, who, looking, beheld
"Women weeping for Tammuz" as recorded in the eighth chapter. This
divinity was the Phoenician prototype of the Grecian Adonis, to whom
the women of Judea preferred to pay homage.
It was during the last three days of Passion Week that the votaries of
solar worship performed their severest penance. Besides fasting and
prayer, the more devout flagellated and slashed themselves and others
with knives and thongs, and carried heavy crosses up steep acclivities. In
all ultra-Catholic countries the priests, in imitation of the ancient
custom, expose in the churches figures representing the dead Saviour,
over which the laity, especially the women, weep and mourn; and the
more devout men cut and slash themselves, and each other, with knives
and thongs; and, in imitation of the imaginary tramp of Jesus with his
cross up Calvary's rugged side, bear heavy crosses up steep acclivities.
Passion Plays.
Then would begin the festivities of Easter, which corrupted from Eostre,
and derived from the Teutonic mythology, was one of the many names
26
Annunciation.
Ascension.
Assumption.
When the Summer solstice was in the sign of Cancer, the sun was in that
of Virgo in the month of August, and the anniversary of the Assumption
was observed on the 15th of that month, and is so observed at the present
time. The fact that the anniversary of the Ascension precedes that of the
Assumption explains why Jesus is made to say to his mother (Virgo)
soon after his resurrection, "Touch me not: for I am not yet ascended to
my Father." John xx. 17.
In the ancient solar worship the so-called ordinance of the Lord's Supper
was observed just before the anniversary of the autumnal crucifixion;
and consisting of bread and wine, in reference to the maturing of the
crops and completion of the vintage, was, like the modern festival of the
hardest home, a season of thankfulness to the Lord (God Sol) as the giver
of all good gifts. Hence being observed but once a year, it was in reality
not an ordinance but an anniversary; and the fact that Christians partake
of these emblems so frequently during the year indicates that the original
signification of the Lord's Supper has been lost.
Transubstantiation,
or the conversion of the bread and wine into the veritable blood and
body of Christ, is a doctrine of the Catholic church which was derived
from the ritual of the ancient solar worship.
orgies the participants give thanks for the wine by not only drinking all
of one cup, but many more; in fact they kept on drinking until they fell
under the table.
Autumnal Crucifixion.
Michaelmas.
In the calendar of the ancient Astral Worship, the fourth day after the
Autumnal Equinox was dedicated to the genius of Autumn. In the
Chaldean allegories the name of Michael was given to this
personification, and called Michaelmas, or feast of Michael. In the
Catholic calendar this anniversary is placed an the 29th of September,
instead of the 26th of that month, while that of St. Matthew, the
Christian genius of Autumn, which should be placed on the 26th of that
month, is observed on the 21st.
Thus we have shown that the anniversaries of the ancient Astral Worship
were all fixed, and from church history we learn that they were so
observed by the Christians until the Council of Nice in the year 325,
when the Bishops assembled at that celebrated convocation, desiring to
29
have the festival of Easter celebrated on Sunday, which had been made
the Sabbath by the edict of Constantine, in the year 321, ordered that it
should be observed on the Sunday of the full moon, which comes on or
next after the Vernal Equinox. Hence, converting it into a movable
festival, its allied feasts and fast days were also made movable.
30
In the ancient solar fables the several divisions of time were personified
and made to pay homage to the Triune Deity, supposed to be enthroned
above the firmament.
The Hours.
The genii of the hours were designated as Elders, and we find them
described in the 4th chapter of Revelation as sitting round about the
throne upon four and twenty seats, clothed in white raiment, and crowns
of gold upon their heads.
The Days.
Each day of the year was appropriately personified, and these genii of the
days constitute the saints of the Christian calendar. Of these we will refer
to but one. According to the ancient belief that the sun stood still for the
space of three days at each of the cardinal points, the 24th of June was
made the first of the decreasing days; and dedicating it to St. John the
Baptist, he is made to say in reference to his opposite, (the genius of the
25th of December, and first of the increasing days,) "He must increase,
but I must decrease." This text, found in John iii. 30, simply means that
the days of the one must increase in length, while the days of the other
must decrease.
The Months.
the other of a young man looking joyfully forward to the new year. This
personification, made the opener of the year, and represented as holding
a pair of cross-keys, was called "The carrier of the keys of the kingdom of
heaven." Hence, the Popes of Rome, claiming apostolic succession from
Peter, the Janus of the Christian twelve, wear cross-keys as the insignia
of their office. Sometimes a crosier, or shepherd's crook, is substituted
for one of the keys, in reference to his arrogated office of the leader of the
sheep! The authority for the assumption that the Popes are Peter's
successors is found in Matthew xvi. 18, 19; but its fallacy becomes
apparent when we bear in mind that the scriptures are but collections of
astronomical allegories, and that the Peter referred to in the text was not
a man, but the mythical genius of the month of January.
In reference to the last month, we find that the authors of the ancient
solar fables, ever doubting whether God Sol, after inaugurating Winter
by his supposed retreat from the earth, would return to revivify nature
with his life-giving rays, gave to the genius of the twelfth month the title
of the Doubter. In the Christian calendar this personification is known as
Thomas, and a more specific dedication of the shortest day of the year
having been made to him, the 21st day of December is called St. Thomas
day.
The Seasons.
In the ancient astrolatry, the half year of increasing days, extending from
the Winter to the Summer Solstice, was personified by the composite
figure representing the constellations of Taurus and Aquarius, which,
constituted of the winged body of a bull and the head and beard of a
man, was called the Cherubim. This personification we find portrayed
upon the Assyrian marbles on exhibition in the British Museum.
The half year of decreasing days, extending from the Summer to the
Winter Solstice, was personified by the figure, which, representing the
constellations of Leo and Aquila, and composed of the winged body and
limbs of a lion, with the head of an eagle, was called the Seraphim. These
last two personifications constituted the Archangels of the ancient Astral
Worship.
The last quarter of the year was personified in the ancient allegories as a
decrepit old man, who, stung by a Scorpion (Scorpio), and fatally
wounded by an arrow from the quiver of an archer (Saggitarius) dies at
the Winter Solstice; and, after lying in the grave for the space of three
days, is brought to life again.
and the Archangels; the Cherubim and Seraphim; and also poor old
Lazarus, are but personifications of the several divisions of time.
34
The Sphinx.
The Dragon.
When the Summer Solstice was between the signs of Leo and Virgo, the
Winter Solstice was between those of Aquarius and Pisces, and the figure
composed of the body of a man with the tail of a fish became the mid-
winter symbol of solar worship. Such was the form of this symbol to
which the ancient Phoenicians paid homage to the Lord under the name
of Dagon.
The Bull.
At the same time the Summer Solstice entered the sign of Leo, the Vernal
Equinox entered that of Taurus, and the bull becoming the spring
symbol of solar worship—the Lord was designated in the ancient
allegories as the bull of God which taketh away the sin of the world;
which, shorn of its allegorical sense, signifies the sun in Taurus, or sun of
spring, which taketh away the evil of Winter. Such is the purport of
hieroglyphical inscriptions upon papyrus rolls found in Egypt, and
engraved upon obelisks erected in the Nile valley, one of which has been
recently brought to the City of New York and set up in Central Park. In
the East Indies this symbol was represented by the figure of a bull with
the solar disk between his horns; and the Egyptians, who were of Hindoo
origin, perpetuating it in their "Apis," it was reproduced in the golden
calf of the ancient Israelites. The Assyrians represented this symbol by
the figure of a winged bull with the face and beard of a man; the
Phoenicians, in their "Baal," by the figure of a man with a bull's head and
horns; and the small silver bull's heads with golden horns, recently
discovered by Dr. Schliemann in the ruins of Mycenae, were jewels worn
by the women of that ancient city, when the Vernal Equinox was in the
sign of Taurus.
The Ram.
symbol of solar worship, changing from the bull to the ram, was
represented by ram-headed figures, two of which, found in Egypt, are on
exhibition in the British Museum. Then the text which read the bull of
God, was changed to the Ram of God which taketh away the sins of the
world.
The Lamb.
The Fish.
which date another was substituted, as will be shown under our next
heading.
38
But, if the water failed to rise to the required height, and the horrors of
starvation becoming the inevitable result, it was the custom of the people
to nail to these crosses symbolical personifications of the Demon of
Famine.
Thus, to the ancient Egyptians, this sign of the cross was blessed or
accursed as it was represented with, or without, this figure suspended
upon it.
39
lake of fire and brimstone, the smoke from which ascended into an upper
apartment.
In this system it was taught that the souls of the two extremes of society,
constituted of the righteous and the great sinners, would be consigned
immediately after the first judgment, the one to the Elysium, and the
other to the Phlegethon, where they were to remain until the second or
general judgment; while the souls of less venial sinners, constituting the
greater mass of mankind, before being permitted to enter the Elysium
would be compelled to suffer the expiatory punishments of the
Metempsychosis, or in the upper region, or "smoky row" of the Tartarus.
Such was the Egyptian purgatory, and its denizens constituted "the
spirits in prison" referred to in I. Peter iii. 19, from which the astrologers
claimed to have the power to release, provided their surviving friends
paid liberally for their propitiatory offices; and, from this assumption,
the clergy of the Catholic church derived the idea of saying masses for
the repose of the soul. These doctrines were carried by Pythagoras from
Egypt to Greece about 550 years before the beginning of our era; and
passing from thence to Rome, the Greek and Latin poets vied with each
other in portraying Hades and the joys and terrors of its two states.
and the dead to appear before the bar of the gods to receive their final
awards. At the second judgment, designated in the allegories as "the last
day," "day of judgment," "great and terrible day of the Lord," etc., it was
taught that the tenth and last saviour would make his second advent by
descending upon the clouds, and after the final awards, the elect being
caught up "to meet the Lord in the air" (I. Thes. iv. 17), the heaven and
the earth would be reduced to chaos through the agency of fire. In
reference to that grand catastrophe we find it recorded in II. Peter iii. 10,
that "the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements
shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein
shall be burned up."
After the organization of a new heaven and a new earth it was taught that
upon the latter would descend a beautiful city, with pearly gates and
golden streets, called the City of God, the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom
of Heaven or New Jerusalem, in which the host of the redeemed would,
with their Lord and Saviour, enjoy the Millennium, or thousand years of
happiness unalloyed with evil; and such was the Kingdom for the speedy
coming of which the votaries of Astral worship were taught to pray in
what is known as the Lord's Prayer.
The Egyptian version of the Gospel story, being more appropriate to the
Nile Valley than to the region from whence they came, the Greek
colonists of Alexandria adopted it, but preferring to pay homage to
Serapis, one of the ninth incarnations of God Sol, which they imported
from Pontus, a Greek province of Asia Minor, they erected to his worship
that celebrated temple known as the Grand Serapium; and, transferring
the culture and refinement of Greece to the new city, it became, under
the Ptolemian dynasty, a great seat of learning; the arts and sciences
flourished, an immense library was collected, the various forms of Astral
worship were represented and schools for the dissemination of the
several phases of Grecian philosophy and Oriental Gnosticism were
founded.
taken from the Gospel story of Bacchus, and to the statements that the
Saviour was the son of a carpenter and was hung between two thieves,
copied from the story of Christna, the Eighth, Avatar of the East Indian
astrolatry. Thus we see that, although the scene of the Gospel story of
ancient Christianity was laid in the land of Judea, its authors having
adopted a Greek version of that story as its basis, given a Greek title and
name to their Messiah, perpetuated a Greek name for their sect and
quoted exclusively from the Septuagint, or Greek version of the Old
Testament, the facts show conclusively that it was not Jews of Judea, but
Hellenized Jews of Alexandria, who were the real authors of the ancient
Christianity.
46
THE PROPHECIES
The clergy having ever claimed that the prophecies are Divine revelations
of events yet to occur, and having incessantly agitated society by
preaching their speedy fulfillment, we propose to expose the fallacy of
their teachings by showing that these scriptures are not the records of
future events, Divinely reavealed, but that they originated with the
founders of Astral worship, who predicated them upon predetermined
events of their own concoction, relative to the general judgment, and
setting up of the kingdom of heaven, which were to occur as the finale of
the plan of redemption and from which were derived the doctrines of
second adventism; and, in determining the exact time when then were to
occur, we have but to prove that it was coincident with the conclusion of
the last half of the grand cycle of 12,000 years, which, as we have shown,
was dedicated to man as the duration of his race on earth.
number of years required for the cardinal points to pass through one
whole sign, to determine that the Spring Equinox passed out of the sign
of Aries into that of Pisces 250 years before the beginning of our era, or
about 2,100 years ago. Now, from the projections of the astrological
science, we are assured that the last half of the grand cycle of 12,000
years, which was allotted to man as the duration of his race on earth, was
made to begin at a time corresponding to the Autumnal Equinox, when
that cardinal point was passing out of the sign of Virgo, and that of
necessity it had to come to an end at a time corresponding to the Vernal
Equinox, when that cardinal point was passing out of the sign of Aries;
from which we know why, at the last judgment, the office of trumpeter
was assigned to the Archangel Gabriel, the genius of Spring, and why
it was a ram's horn with which he was to "toot the crack o' doom."
When the time arrived for the fulfillment of the prophecies we can well
imagine that, fearing the wrath of the Lamb, there were weeping, wailing
and gnashing of teeth among the terror-stricken sinners, while those
who believed they had made their calling and election sure were looking
with feverish expectancy for the second advent of their Lord and Saviour;
and, doubtless, clothed with their ascension robes, they watched and
waited, with ears alert, to hear the sound of Gabriel's trumpet,
summoning the quick, and the dead to the general judgment. But not a
blast from the archangel's ram's horn was heard reverberating along the
skies, no Lord appeared descending upon the clouds to meet the elect in
the air, and, in the last act of the fearful drama of "judgment day," the
curtain refused to be rung down upon a burning world.
The fanacticism which prevailed among the earlier Christians was the
direct result of their dense ignorance, and to this sole cause we may
ascribe all the trouble which the Roman Government had with them, and
to become convinced of this fact we have but to study church history. In
reference to this subject Mosheim, in his Ecclesiastical History; Vol. 4,
part 2, chap. 1, says: "It is certain that the greatest part both of the
bishops and presbyters were men entirely destitute of learning and
education. Besides, that savage and illiterate party, who looked upon all
sorts of erudition, particularly that of a philosophicalkind, as pernicious,
and even destructive of true piety and religion, increased both in number
and authority. The ascetics, monks and hermits augmented the strength
of this barbarous faction, and not only the women, but also all who took
solemn looks, sordid garments, and a love of solitude, for real piety, were
vehemently prepossessed in their favor." In almost any history of
England we will find it recorded that, even in the ninth century, King
Alfred lamented that there was at that time not a priest in his dominions
who understood Latin; and even for some centuries after the bishops and
prelates of the whole Christian community were marksmen, i. e., they
supplied by the sign of the cross the inability to write their own names. If
53
the bishops and priests were so supremely ignorant what can be said in
reference to the literary attainments of the laity?
charge, that if any man be found to hide or conceal any book made by
Arius, and not immediately bring forth such book, and deliver it up to be
burned, that the said offender for so doing shall die the death. For as
soon as he is taken our pleasure is that his head shall be stricken off from
his shoulders." Rather a blood-thirsty, edict to be issued by the
"puissant, the mighty and noble Emperor," and a very inconsistent one,
considering that he soon afterwards readopted the Unitarian faith and
restored the banished bishops to their respective sees; but, regardless of
his action, the Church of Rome sustained the Trinitarian creed and
enforced the dogma of the supreme divinity of Christ.
Thus we see that the history of Christianity, in the first half of the fourth
century, cannot be written without incorporating considerable from the
life of Constantine, whose ensanguined record before his pretended
conversion marks him as the most brutal tyrant that ever disgraced the
imperial purple; but the appalling crimes he perpetrated afterwards,
among which were the scalding his inoffending wife to death in a bath of
boiling water, and the murdering, without cause, of six members of his
family, one of which was his own son, justify what a learned writer said
of him, that "The most unfortunate event that ever befell the human race
was the adoption of Christianity by the crimson-handed cut-throat in the
possession of unlimited power," and yet Constantine was canonized by
the Eastern church.
During the first three centuries, when Christianity was but a weak sect,
her bishops addressed numerous apologies to the Roman Emperors, in
which they claimed tolerance from the government on the ground that
their form of worship was virtually the same as the established religion.
But after Constantine's pretended conversion its hierarchy began to
labor for the recognition of Christianity as the state religion, and to give
to their demand some show of consistency they insisted that their
scriptures were really historical, and that there was no resemblance
whatever between the two forms of worship; while theirs was of Divine
authenticity the Pagans was purely a human institution.
For centuries after the convocation of the council of Nice the peace and
harmony of the several churches were disturbed by the rancorous
discussion of the same old questions of Trintarianism and Unitarianism,
the Western church adhering to the former while a majority of the
56
But it was impossible to stem the rising tide; the lessons which the
priesthood had taught the ignorant masses had been too well learned.
They were sure that their scriptures were historical; that Jesus Christ
was truly the incarnate saviour who had died and rose again for the
salvation of the elect, and that being the elect it would be pre-eminently
just and proper that the old Pagan form of worship should be abrogated
and theirs recognized as the state religion. Thus the conflict raged until
the year 381, when, under the reign of the Emperor Theodosius the
57
Great, this demand having been formally made, and the Senate, fearing
the tumult a refusal would excite, with a show of fair dealing ordered the
presentation, before that body, of the respective merits of the two forms
of worship. In that memorable discussion, which lasted a whole week,
Symmachus, a senator, advocated the old system, and Ambrose, Bishop
of Milan, the new, which resulting, as a foregone conclusion, in the
triumph of Christianity, a decree to that effect was promulgated.
Then the long deferred opportunity having arrived, the vengeful bishops,
hounding on a no less vengeful laity, ruthlessly murdered the priests of
the old religion, and, appropriating its emoluments to their own use,
they seized upon its temples, and demolishing some, converted others
into churches. With iconoclastic hands they destroyed some of the
statues representing the ancient divinities, or after mutilation exposed
others in public places to the derision of the populace. Subjecting the
adherents to the older form of worship, whom they designated as
infidels, to the most diabolical indignities and persecutions, they
destroyed their works of art, burned their libraries, suppressed their
schools of learning, and either killed or exiled their professors. Among
the atrocious acts perpetrated by these fiends in human shape none was
more barbarous than the one committed in Alexandria, in the year 415,
when Hypatia, the beautiful and accomplished daughter of Theon, who
had succeeded her father as professor of mathematics and philosophy in
the Alexandrian University, while on her way to deliver a lecture, was, by
order of Bishop Cyril, dragged from her chariot and murdered in a most
revolting manner.
Rejecting the ancient doctrines relative to the soul, and teaching that,
having proceeded from a purely spiritual deity, it would exist eternally as
an independent spiritual entity, they substituted for the ancient system
of limited rewards and punishments the one inculcating their endless
duration. These changes in the creed, which were confirmed at the
general council of Constantinople, in the year 553, necessitating further
alterations of the scriptures, the righteous were promised "eternal life" in
the Paradise of God beyond the stars; and, While consigning great
sinners to "everlasting punishment" in the Tartarian fires of the under
world, the less venial were to expiate their crimes in the same old
Purgatory. Thus, having invented an endless heaven and an endless hell
for purely spiritual souls, and neglecting to expunge the doctrines of the
resurrection of the body, the setting up of the kingdom of heaven upon a
reorganized earth and other materialistic teachings of the ancient
religion, they made of the creed and scriptures such a conglomeration of
"things new and old" that, without the Astrological key, it would be
impossible to determine what they originally taught.
At the Reformation in the 16th century Luther and his coadjutors, while
projecting into the Protestant creed all the cardinal tenets of
Catholicism, excepting that of Purgatory, made no change in the verbiage
of the scriptures. Thus retaining the awful doctrine of endless hell, the
59
The rites and ceremonies of Astral worship, under the name of Druidism,
were primarily observed in consecrated groves by all peoples; which
custom was retained by the Scandinavian and Germanic races, and by
the inhabitants of Gaul and the British Islands; while the East Indians,
Assyrians, Egyptians, Grecians, Romans, and other adjacent nations,
ultimately observed their religious services in temples; and we propose
to show that the modern societies of Freemasonry, and ancient order of
Druids, are but perpetuations of the grove and temple forms of the
ancient astrology.
season when the harvest was gathered and provisions laid up for Winter
use; the cenotaph or mock coffin with the sign of the cross upon its lid,
referred to the sun's crossing of the celestial equator at the Autumnal
Equinox, and to the figurative death of the genius of that luminary in the
lower hemisphere; whose resurrection at the Vernal Equinox is typified
by the sprig of acacia sprouting near the head of the coffin. The serpent,
issuing from the small vessel to the left, represented the symbol of the
Lord of Evil under whose dominion was placed the seasons of Autumn
and Winter; and the figure of a box at the right hand, represented the
sacred ark in which, anciently, the symbols of solar worship were
deposited; but which is now used by the masons as a receptacle for their
papers.
After, the promulgation, in the fifth century, of the edict by one of the
Emperors of Rome, decreeing the death penalty against all persons
discovered practicing any of the rites and ceremonies of the ancient
religion, a body of its cultured adherents, determining to observe them
secretly, banded themselves together into a society for that purpose.
With the view to masking their real object, they took advantage of the
fact that the square and compass, the plumbline, etc., were symbols of
speculative masonry in the temple form of Astral worship, they publicly
claimed to be only a trades-union for the prosecution of the arts of
architecture and operative masonry; but, among themselves, were
known as Free and Accepted Masons or Freemasons. In imitation of the
ancient mysteries they instituted lower and higher degrees; in the former
they taught the Exoteric creed, and in the latter the Esoteric philosophy,
as explained in our introduction. Inculcating supreme adoration to the
solar divinity the candidates for initiation were made to personate that
mythical being and subjected to the ceremonies representing his
figurative death and resurrection, were required to take fearful oaths not
to reveal the secrets of the order. To enable them to recognize each other,
and to render aid to a brother in emergencies, they adopted a system of
grips, signs and calls; and to guard against the intrusion of their
Christian enemies they stationed watchmen outside of their lodges to
give timely warning of their approach. Thus was instituted the original
Grand Lodge of Freemasonry, from which charters were issued for the
organization of subordinate lodges in all the principal cities throughout
the Roman Empire.
63
From church history we learn that in the year 596 of our era Pope
Gregory I. dispatched Augustin, and forty other monks of the order of St.
Andrew, from Rome to Britain, to convert the natives to Christianity;
but, while the Anglo-Saxons embraced the new faith, the Britons rejected
it, and, being persecuted by the Christians, retired to the fastnesses of
the country known as Wales, where, for a long period, they maintained
the observance of the Druidical form of worship; and although that
country has long since become Christianized, the society of the Ancient
Order of Druids has existed with an uninterrupted succession at Pout-y-
prid, where the Arch-Druid resides, and from, whence emanated the
64
THE SABBATH
Sunday was the first of the six working days, according to the fourth
commandment, their hatred to the Jews for refusing to accept their
Christ as the Saviour induced them to have it placed on the first day of
the week. Hence that obliging potentate, in the year 321, promulgated
the memorable edict, which, found in that Digest of Roman law known
as the Justinian Code, Book III., Title 12, Sec. 2 and 3, reads as follows,
viz.: "Let all judges and all people of the towns rest and all the various
trades be suspended on the venerable day of the Sun. Those who live in
the country, however, may freely and without fault attend to the
cultivation of their fields lest, with the loss of favorable opportunity, the
commodities offered by Divine Providence shall be destroyed."
This edict was ratified at the third council of Orleans, in the year 538;
and in order, "that the people might not be prevented from attending
church, and saying their prayers," a resolution was adopted at the same
time recommending the observance of the day by all classes. From
merely "recommending," the Church of Rome soon began to enforce the
observance of the day; but, in spite of all her efforts, it was not until the
12th century that its observance had become so universal as to receive
the designation of "The Christian Sabbath."
Cognizant of the manner in which Sunday was made the Sabbath, Luther
issued for the government of the Protestant communion the following
mandate: "As for the Sabbath, or Sunday, there is no necessity for
keeping it;" see Michelet's Life of Luther, Book IV., chapter 2. Luther
also said, as recorded in Table Talk, "If anywhere the day (Sunday) is
made holy for the mere day's sake; if anywhere anyone sets up its
observance upon a Jewish foundation, then I order you to work on it, to
dance on it, to ride on it, to feast on it, and to do anything that shall
reprove this encroachment on the Christian spirit of liberty."
Thus have we shown that, originating with the Catholics and adopted by
the Protestants, the Sunday Sabbath is purely and entirely a human
institution, and, being such, we must recognize all Sunday laws as grave
encroachments upon constitutional liberty; and it behooves the
advocates of individual rights to demand their immediate repeal; for
unless a vigilant watch is kept upon the conspirators who secured their
enactment, our fair land will soon be cursed by a union of church and
State, the tendency in that direction having been indicated by the
unprecedented opinion recently handed down by one of the Justices of
the United States Supreme Court that this is a Christian Government.
68
PIOUS FRAUDS
converts with being crafty and catching them with guile and of his known
and wilful lies abounding to the glory of God. See Romans iii. 7, and II.
Cor. xii. 16. If Christ and Paul were guilty of deception, their followers
had good excuse for the same course of conduct. Upon this subject
Beausobre, a very learned ecclesiastical writer, who flourished about the
beginning of the 18th century, says: "We see in the history which I have
related a sort of hypocrisy that has been, perhaps, but too common at all
times; that churchmen not only do not say what they think, but they do
say the direct contrary of what they think. Philosophers in their cabinets;
out of them they are content with fables, though they well know that they
are fables." Historie de Manichee, vol. 2, page 568. Bishop Synesius, the
distinguished author of religious literature and Christian father of the
5th century, said: "I shall be a philosopher only to myself, and I shall
always be a bishop to the people." Mosheim, the distinguished author of
Ecclesiastical History, Vol. I., page 120, says: "The authors who have
treated of the innocence and sanctity of the primitive Christians have
fallen into the error of supposing them to have been unspotted models of
piety and virtue, and a gross error indeed it is, as the strongest
testimonies too evidently prove." The same author, in Vol. I., page. 198,
says in the fourth century "it was an almost universally adopted maxim
that it was an act of virtue to deceive and lie, when by such means the
interest of the church might be promoted." In his Ecclesiastical History,
Vol. II., page 11, he says that "as regards the fifth century, the simplicity
and ignorance of the generality in those times furnished the most
favorable occasion for the exercise of fraud; and the impudence of
impostors in contriving false miracles was artfully proportioned to the
credulity of the vulgar; while the sagacious and the wise, who perceived
these cheats, were overawed into silence by the dangers that threatened
their lives and fortunes if they should expose the artifice." Thomas
Burnet, D.D., who flourished about the beginning of the 18th century, in
his treatise entitled De Statu Mortuorum, purposely written in Latin that
it might serve for the instruction of the clergy only, and not come to the
knowledge of the laity, because, as he says, "too much light is hurtful for
weak eyes," not only justifies, but recommends the practice of the most
consummate hypocrisy, and that, too, on the most awful of all subjects;
and would have his, clergy seriously preach and maintain the reality and
eternity of hell torments, even though they should believe nothing of the
sort themselves. See page 304. Hugo Grotius, the eminent writer of
70
Holland in the 17th century, says in his 22d Epistle: "He that reads
ecclesiastical history, reads nothing but the roguery and folly of bishops,
and churchmen." In the language of Robert Taylor, from whom we have
taken most of the quotations under this heading, we assert that "no man
could quote higher authorities," to prove "the roguery and folly of
bishops and churchmen."
71
CONCLUSION
charge them with being, indirectly, the cause of this lamentable state of
things; but it is a condition that might have been expected, for, when
entering the ministry, they engaged themselves, not so much to teach
ethics as to propagate faith in the doctrines of their respective sects.
Thus hampered they cannot do the good to society their better natures
might desire. Hence the only hope for improvement is for the people to
wholly ignore the dogmatic element of religion, and refusing to longer
support it, demand that moral training shall be the grand essential of
education. If this course were adopted and persistently followed, it would
be but a question of time when mankind would come into being with
such a benign heredity that crime would be almost impossible.
Then, since religion inculcates a salvation that does not save, let us rise
superior to its false teachings and, accepting science as the true saviour
of mankind, find our whole duty in the code of natural morality, the
spirit of which is embodied in that comprehensive precept known as the
golden rule, which, being the outgrowth of the discovered necessities of
association, without which society could not exist, it necessarily
constituted man's sole rule and guide long before priest or temple; and
founded in the eternal principles of right, truth and justice must remain
as man's sole rule and guide when priest and church are numbered
among the things that were. Spirit of progress! speed the day when all
mankind, redeemed from the bondage of superstition, will recognize the
great truth that nature, governed by her own inherent forces, is all that
has been, all that is and all that shall be; and that, ceasing to indulge in
the vain hope of a blissful immortality in a paradise beyond the stars,
will make a real paradise of this old earth of ours.