Away in a Manger!

As it is about two weeks before Christmas day, I thought it would be a good idea to write up an article about Christ. I wrote this about three months ago for an essay I had to do for college, although it was in much less detail as I was limited by a word count. So I have adapted it and added more to it for my blog. It was originally called " Why Christ is a mythological character", but since adding more detail to it, I have changed its title to a more fitting one appropriate for this time of the year, with the meaning of becoming apparent at the end of the article. 

Before we look at the reasons for why Christ should be perceived as a mythological personage, we need to see what evidence there is to prove he was a real living person. Believe it or not, there are only six sources of so called evidence that are used to prove his real existence! We shall take a brief look at each of these next in their chronological order.

The Jewish historian named Josephus Flavius, who lived from 37 – 100 CE, makes reference to Jesus Christ in two passages of his work entitled: Antiquities of the Jews.

“Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross,[ those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.” (93-94 CE, Book 18, Chapter 3)

“and Albinus was but upon the road; so he assembled the sanhedrim of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others”. (93-94 CE Book 20, Chapter 9)

  

The next piece of evidence is from the Roman historian, Pliny the Younger who lived from 61-113 CE. All this piece of evidence consists of is a letter from Pliny to the Emperor Trajan, mentioning some of the Christian's practices and asking for his advice on how to deal with the Christians (112 CE, Letters, 10.96-97). There are another two Roman historians who mention Christ in their writings. Tacitus, who lived from 56-117 CE, briefly mentions the crucifixion in his Annals: 

“Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus” (116 CE, Book 15, Chapter 44).

Suetonius, from 69-122 CE, whose two references are very scanty at best. One not even mentioning Christ at all, while the other mentions a Chrestos figure during the reign of an Emperor who ruled after the supposed date of the crucifixion! (110 CE, cited Murdock / Acharya, 2004)

Outside of the so called historical references there are only two other sources which are excepted as evidence. The apocryphal gospels not being excepted as evidence because the Church made out they were false, in particular the Infancy gospels which tell part of Jesus' life that is not mentioned in the canonical gospels.  

The first is a collection of Jewish writings dating back no further than 2^nd century AD, called the Talmud, with there being a lot of academic debate over which of the passages actually refer to Jesus. The other source is none other than the Gospels themselves, which are also written after the time of Christ and by unknown authors. Although, there is some compelling evidence that suggests they were written before the birth of Jesus! As one of the early Christian historians suggest when talking about the Essenes or Therapeutae:

“These things seem to have been stated by a man who had heard them expounding their sacred writings. But it is highly probable that the works of the ancients, which he says they had, were the Gospels and the writings of the apostles, and probably some expositions of the ancient prophets, such as are contained in the Epistle to the Hebrews, and in many others of Paul's Epistles.” (Eusebius, Book ii, Chapter XVII. 324 B.C.E).

The common problem with the evidence for Jesus’ historicity is that it was all written down sixty to two hundred years after the so called life of Christ. Because of this and the fact that none of these authors give any references via sources to back up their claims about Jesus, the evidence can only really be claimed as hearsay and cannot be taken as historical proof for the physical existence of Jesus Christ. Taking this into account with there being no archaeological evidence to date, and no written records left by the Romans (who were renown for meticulously making records of their events) for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, all implies that there must be another meaning to Christ’s story other than as a historical event.

The evidence we have at hand to show why Christ is a mythological character is plenty more forthcoming than the evidence for his historicity. For a start, the story of Christ is found to have the same parallels with certain other pagan deities which preceded his apparent birth by hundreds of years. For example; the Hindu god Krishna was born of a virgin, was the son of God, (incarnation of Vishnu) was a shepherd, performed miracles, was resurrected and ascended to heaven. In Greek mythology there is Dionysus, the god of wine. He was also born of a virgin, son of god (Zeus), was celebrated with a communion of bread and wine, was crucified by being ripped apart by the Titans and was resurrected by being restored back to life. Even earlier than Greek mythology in the ancient land of Khem, there can be found:

  

“The Story of the annunciation, the miraculous conception (or incarnation), the birth and the adoration of the Messianic infant had already been engraved in stone and represented in four consecutive scenes upon the innermost walls of the holy of holies (Meshkhen) in the temple of Luxor, which was built by Amen-hetep III, about 1700 B.C., or some seventeen centuries before the events depicted are commonly supposed to have taken place.” (Massey. Page 757, 1907)

Surprisingly, even the early church fathers noticed the similarities between their Christ and other pagan deities. As Justin Martyr confirms in his First Apology. Chapter. 21 

“And when we say also that the Word, who is the first-birth of God, was produced without sexual union, and that He, Jesus Christ, our Teacher, was crucified and died, and rose again, and ascended into heaven, we propound nothing different from what you believe regarding those whom you esteem sons of Jupiter.” (Anon, 2006, Page 15, lines 47-50)

Justin Martyr’s answer to this was that the devil knowing the coming of Christ, came before and taught people pre-copies of Christianity!

In the historic writings of Israel by Philo of Alexandria (25 BCE – 47 CE) there is no mention of Jesus whatsoever! Now considering Philo was a Hellenistic Jewish Biblical philosopher and lived at the supposed time of Christ, then surely he would of included into his writings such an important figure as Jesus, especially as he was causing such a stir among the priests of the Jewish religion at that time. Philo, afterall; 

“did write extensive apologetics on the Jewish religion and commentaries on contemporary politics. Not once does he say anything at all about Jesus” (Humphreys, 21,11,2011).

One of the best examples to help sway us in the direction of favouring the mythological meaning for Christ comes from the New Testament itself. Here in black and white the Bible categorically states that the crucifixion is nothing more than a spiritual transaction!

“And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified” (Revelation. 11.8.)

As Revelation blatantly suggests the Crucifixion is a spiritual allegory, surely the other books of the New Testament should also be treated as allegorical interpretations too. Especially as they were chosen by the early church Fathers from a long list of other books known as the apocrypha which they dismissed as false and heretical, even though they were written in the same context and style as the books that were chosen to form the canonical Gospels. This context and style is the magical language of mythology which is used to impart the spiritual nature of things to the mind of man. Just as it was claimed by Philo of Alexandria, as Eusebius tells us:

“And after some other matters he says: The whole interval, from morning to evening, is for them a time of exercise. For they read the holy Scriptures, and explain the philosophy of their fathers in an allegorical manner, regarding the written words as symbols of hidden truth which is communicated in obscure figures”. (Eusebius, Book ii, Chapter XVII. 324 B.C.E).

Once the ancient writings are interpreted in the allegorical way in which they were written, they will shed much light upon our understanding of them and ourselves spirituallly, as A.B. Kuhn explains:

“The Mysteries solve the great mystery of the Gospels. In whole or in part, the Gospels were just the written transcript of the great religious ritual-drama that had been almost the ancient world’s sole theme of sacred literature” (Kuhn, p.321, 1948).

What does this leave us with at this time of the year then, when people are celebrating in the name of someone who probably never really existed! False hope, confusion and empty meaning! No, not at all. To bring clarity of thought to what has been written about Christ, it has to be seen as allegory. In this way all of his stories can be understood in a logical way, without the need of reverting to supernatural explanations. For Allegory, metaphor and analogy was the esoteric method used in the ancient writings through the process of story telling to teach spiritual truths.

If we apply the esoteric interpretation to the story of the birth of Jesus, it reveals much more insight into mystical thought than does an actual supposed physical birth of a divine child. For example; the place where Jesus was said to be born is a stable. What is a stable, but a place where animals come in at night to usually "stand still" in stalls, hence the word "stable" also means stabilization, a cessation of activity. In evolutionary terms this is where animal evolution comes to stand still, in order to allow the the divine soul to be incarnated into the animal body of the natural man. This is beautifully explained in one of those apocryphal books, called the Protevangelium of St. James:

"And leaving her (Mary) and his sons in the cave, Joseph went forth to seek a Hebrew midwife in the village of Bethlehem. But as I was going (said Joseph) I looked up into the air, and I saw the clouds astonished, and the fowls of the air stopping in the midst of their flight. And I looked down towards the earth, and I saw a table spread, and working people sitting around it, but their hands were upon the table and they did not move to eat. They who had meat in their mouths did not eat. They who had lifted their hands up to their heads did not draw them back; And they who lifted them up to their mouths did not put anything in; But all their faces were fixed upwards. And I beheld the sheep dispersed, and yet the sheep stood still. And the shepherd lifted up his hand to smite them, and his hand continued up. And I looked into a river, and saw the goats with their mouths close to the water, and touching it, but they did not drink" (Anon. 125 C.E. Chapter 13)

This is the same reason why Joshua commanded the sun and moon to stand still because it is with this stabilization of spirit and matter, here symbolised as the sun and the moon, that the Christ consciousness can be born. It shall come as no surprise that this time of the year is called the “solstice” which means “to stand still.” This is precisely what happens at this time of the year, when all nature appears to be still with no gain of light or darkness. It is as if there is a battle with neither side winning. That is, until, the darkness gives way to the light, which starts to make a come back by battling against the darkness and gaining in strength everyday, when it finally supersedes the darkness of matter's inertia at the spring equinox and arises in full glory of its resurrection.

In order for the animal nature to make this alchemical transformation, it must feed upon the divine sustenance of the soul. It is no wonder that the divine child is said to lay in a “manger”, because “manger” is the French word “to eat.” This is where the animals eat. This is where the Christ was laid to become the sacrificial offering. (Kuhn, 1936. page 190.)

“And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.” (Matthew 26:26).

“For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst” (John 6:33-35)

As bread is the symbol of divine sustenance, it is no wonder that Jesus was said to be born in Bethlehem, which means the house of bread! So at this time of the year when celebrating the winter solstice with Eucharistic rites, why not invoke Christ into your circle even if you like to call yourself a pagan because, if his story is interpreted in the ancient mythological way, then he is just as pagan as any other solar deity you may invoke today!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all who read this!

                                                              References

Acharya. S. 2004. Sons of God, Krishna, Buddha & Christ Unveiled. Available from: http://www.truthbeknown.com [Accessed 15 - October – 2012]

Anon, 125 C.E. Protevangelium of St. James. Available from: http://www.orthodox.cn/patristics/apostolicfathers/protevan.htm [Accessed 10 – December - 2012]

Anon, 2006, Shema, Martyr: Is Jesus Pagan? Available from: http://shemaantimissuonary.tripod.com [Accessed – 15 - October - 2012]

Eusebius. 324, B.C.E. The Church History (Book II), Available from: http:www.newadvent.org/fathers/ [Accessed 10 – December - 2012]

Flavius. J. 93-94 CE. Jewish Antiquities. Available from: http://www.theistic-evolution.com [Accessed 15 – October – 2012]

Flavius. J. 93-94 CE. Jewish Antiquities. Available from: http://www.sacred-texts.com [Accessed 10 – December - 2012]

Humphreys. K. 21,11,2011. Available from: http:www.jesusneverexisted.com [Accessed 10 – December - 2012]

Kuhn. A. B. 1948. Who Is This King Of Glory. San Diego, California: The Book Tree.

Kuhn. A. B. 1936. Alvin Boyd Kuhn's Collection. 2011, U.S.A. ZuuBooks.

Massey. G. 1907. Ancient Egypt The Light of the World. London. T. Fisher Unwin.

Pliny. 112 CE. Letters. 10.96-97. Available from: http://www.earlychristianwritings.com [Accessed 15 – October - 2012]

Tacitus. C. 116 CE. Annals. Available from: http:www.jesusneverexisted.com [Accessed 15 – October - 2012]

The Underworld & it's Inhabitants

This blog article is going to carry on from a certain point I made about the underworld in my last blog entry, called Summer's End. But, before I start, I would just like to say that my ideas I present here are not just theoretical musings! They are an accumulating data of knowledge that I have specifically asked the spirits I have worked with to help me understand. The spirits I have worked with in order to gain a knowledge of the Mysteries and an understanding of particular systems of magic, range from the Egyptian neteru and the Greek deities, to the spirits of the medieval and Renaissance grimoires. Such as; the Heptameron, Ars Goetia and Rudd's Nine Angelic Hierarchies.

Now it is all good and well for me to say that the information I am giving forth here on my blog is based upon received gnosis from actual magical work with specific beings. But, unless it can be backed up through research and evidence, it basically means diddly-squat! This is where many go wrong in their magical works because they are all to keen to trust what the so called spirits have said to them, often to the total neglect of academic research. When the magician is on the right track, being properly guided by the beings he/she chooses to work with and not by fictitious phantasms of their own creative imaginations, then he/she will find the evidence through research to back up their magical experiences. It is with this in mind that I share with you the realisations I have come to understand and find out about the underworld and it's inhabitants.

As I said previously, this article is a follow on from a specific point a made in my last blog entry about the underworld. So just to recap, the point I made was this:

“The kingdom below the spiritual world is none other than our very own earth, physical matter. This, unbeknown to almost everyone in the occult scene at the moment, (unless of course they have kept very quiet about it) is the underworld!”

Looking at the creation myths in the ancient writings it often shows that they are consistent on dividing two realms of being; heaven and earth, sky and sea, or spirit and matter. Each representing an upper and a lower realm of being. The upper realm is considered to be divine, and is known as the celestial world, while the lower world is the material plane that is also called the sub-lunar world because it resides underneath the moon, which we naturally see when we look up from the earth. Therefore, the underworld can refer to nowhere else but the physical level of here and now, where we presently live and experience our everyday lives. Even though it is known as the underworld it is not underneath the earth as most people often surmise. This is because it is the level of reality that is underneath the spiritual world which is classed as being up there, in regards to the natural world which is down here. This can be seen by the context in which the word “life” is used in the ancient writings, where it always equates its meaning to spiritual consciousness. As is often shown in the Bible: “he that believeth not the Son shall not see life” (John 3:36). And in Job 7:7. “O remember that my life is wind ”. Here wind is used as a symbol to represent life as something that is spiritual because the word spiritual pertains to wind, breath and air.

It is not just within the Bible that such words are used in the same context to refer to the spiritual nature. In the “Mystical Theology And The Celestial Hierarchies” the context of the word life is clearly set forth:

“proclaiming the Intellect and wisdom of God, both essentially, as the source of being, and also as the true cause of existence; and they make it equivalent to Light, and call it Life ” (Dionysius the Areopagite)

According to the writings of Pietschmann, the Egyptian god Thoth was perceived as the god who gave life in the land of the living and; “The Land of the Living was the Invisible World, a glorious Land of Light and Life for the seers of ancient Egypt” (G.R.S. Mead,1906, p,51).

In the writings of Plutarch: Concerning the Mysteries of Isis and Osiris, he says; “Moreover, we hear Homer also on every occasion calling the good variously “godlike” and “equal to gods”, and as “having directions from gods”” (Ibid, p, 299).

What about the context of the words used in association to the underworld. The most obvious example is with the word “death”. But one must bear in mind that this is not meant in the sense of physical death but a spiritual death; as is explained by Mead:

“the Italian Cardinal Patrizzi appends to his labours the following beautiful words (attributed by some to a 4^th century A.D. Platonic Philosopher called Chalcidius)

“Till now my son, I, banished from my home, have lived expatriate in exile. Now safe and sound I seek my home once more. And when but yet a little while I shall have left thee, freed from these bonds of body, see that thou dost not mourn me as dead. For I return to the supreme and happy state to which the universe's citizens will come when in the after-state. For there the Only God is supreme lord, and He will fill his citizens with wondrous joy, compared to which the state down here which is regarded by the multitude as life, should rather be called death” (Ibid, p19-20)

There are plenty more examples in the Bible too, but to finish of this part of the article an appropriate one is; “For to be carnally minded is death : but to be spiritually minded is life and peace” Romans 8:6. Now that we have ascertained that the proper location of the underworld is where we live out our earthly lives, lets take a look at some of its more well known inhabitants.

The first inhabitant of the underworld I am going to discuss is the one who is associated with the soul's entrance into Hades, this is the ferryman called Charon. He is the son of Nyx (night) and Erebus (darkness) who is said to ferry the newly dead across the marshes of the river Styx, or the river Acheron, also known as the river of hate and the river of woe. He holds a pole in his right hand leaving his left hand free to receive the dead from Hermes. In order for the dead to cross over into Hades, a payment of a low valued coin called an obel has to be made to the ferryman. According to Virgil (Aeneid. Bk VI. 299) only those who had received a proper burial were allowed aboard Charon's vessel, while the unburied were left to wonder the shores for 100 years like ghosts.

To enable us to understand the esoteric meaning of Charon's myth, we must keep in mind the allegorical meaning of death, as the ancients used it. That is, it refers to the death of the divine part of the soul as it is plunged into the sea of matter, not the death of the physical body! Once this is grasped, a whole new light of understanding should enable us to interpret the myths associated to the underworld with much more clarity of thought.

Charon is ferrying the souls of the newly dead who are literally the living, therefore he cannot be taking them to the hereafter, so instead the only logical explanation is that he must be taking the souls to physical matter to incarnate! Here is the answer as to why he will not take those who have not received a proper burial. This is because “burial” in the ancient symbolic writings is the metaphor for the soul being placed in to the body. Just as Plato suggests that the grave is the body which the soul is confined (buried) within.

“ Who knows whether being alive is being dead and being dead is being alive. Perhaps in reality we are dead. Once I even heard one of the wise men say we are now dead, and that our bodies are our tombs, and that part of our souls in which our appetites reside is actually the sort of thing to be open to persuasion and to be shift back and forth. ” (Plato, Gorgias, 492e-493)

And therefore it is common sense to say Charon cannot take the souls who do not have a body to gain entry into Hades (physical life) with. What about the low valued coin you may well ask. It is obviously symbolic because money is used to acquire material things, and therefore has no use in the realm before life, or even after life. The act of giving away the thing that enables one to purchase material desires with, must therefore be a purely symbolic gesture that betokens a sacrifice of the lower desires in order to progress and spiritually develop through the material level.

As now can easily be seen, the ancients who created these myths, did so out of common sense with purpose and meaning, and not out of superstition of some long forgotten ancient rite. As many would have us believe.

Another Greek spirit associated with the underworld is Thanatos, also being a son of Nyx and a brother to Hypnos (sleep).

“In Roman sculptural reliefs he was portrayed as a youth holding a down turned torch and a wreath or butterfly symbolizing the soul of the dead ” (http://www.theoi.com/Daimon/Thanatos.html).

The symbol of the butterfly is most interesting because the word for soul (which it symbolizes) in many languages means life, consciousness or spirit. The torch that has been turned upside down must signify the light of spirit from above, which has been placed in to the underworld of our earthly existence. Another interesting image depicting Thanatos is given by Pausanias in the c2nd A.D. where he describes Thanatos as an infant child being held with his brother Hypnos in each arm of their mother Nyx (IBID). The intriguing point of this description is that each child is said to have their feet turned in different ways. I would think this means that death brings the soul downwards through the last phase of the journey of involution towards life on the physical plane. While through the sleeping state (as certain Greek philosophers describe people to be in) the soul starts the walk of evolution in the opposite direction upwards, towards the divine spiritual state of being.

The imagery of using an infant child to represent death in its metaphorical context is again suggestive that Thanatos represents the stage in which the state of physical life begins, while being held in the arms of night. The darkness of night is another symbol for the lower life on the material plane. In the writings of Euripides called Alcestis, there is an account of how Thanatos prepares Alcestis for death:

"Talk all you will, you get no more of me! The woman shall go down to the dwelling of Hades. Now must I go to consecrate her for the sacrifice with this sword; for when once this blade has shorn the victim's hair, then he is sacred to the Lower Gods ” (Euripeds nd).

The shaving of hair is seen as a sign of contrition as the soul becomes subject to the natural law of sin for being born into the lower carnal nature of the body. In the ancient Egyptian mysteries Isis is said to have cut off a lock of her hair and put on a morning robe when she heard of the death of her husband, Osiris (Plutarch). This is explained by Isis representing the force that is seen as the wisdom of the spiritual nature. She laments for the death of the divine part of the soul (the god Osiris) which has to naturally die in order for the soul to incarnate into matter. This is because divinity is achieved through the spiritual evolutionary development in life on the physical plane of matter, the names of which from different cultures include; Amenta, Sheol, the Underworld, Hell and Hades, which actually means 'that which cannot be seen.' This is because the divine part of the soul cannot be seen on the material level. That is until its awakening through some type of spiritual development process, such as ceremonial magic.

The next god that we shall take a look at is Hades. The son of Cronus (time) and Rhea (space). Also known as god of the dead. Now considering we now realise that “the dead” is a metaphorical statement that the ancients used to refer to everyday people living lives on the material plane, it will therefore go to show that Hades is in fact the god of the living. When seeing him in this light, all of his attributes start to make a lot more sense, as we shall now see.

First of all he is said to own the helm of darkness or cap of invisibility. This was given him by the Cyclopes and on occasions it would be borrowed by other gods and heroes, such as Perseus, who received it from the water nymphs. The obvious reason for Hades possessing this helmet of invisibility, would be for it to symbolise the fact that he represents the hidden god in nature, or life on earth. During life in the lower nature of the body and mind on the physical level, the divine nature of the soul is generally kept hidden away from us by the earthly temptations and desires of the flesh that occupy the thoughts of our minds. Hence the invisibility symbol being a helmet which covers the head, just like the material thoughts and desires which hide the doorway to the divine state within our own minds.

Hades was also called Pluto, giver of wealth and riches. Now this title could quite easily have a double meaning, for no where else but on the material level of life are wealth and riches experienced. It is also because of such lusts and desires for material riches that can also be a contribution to the cause that keeps the spiritual nature of the soul hidden and kept from being discovered. But, when this title is interpreted from a spiritual perspective, it's meaning can be given a different twist, which represents the wealth and riches of divinity that lay hidden deep within the soul awaiting discovery.

It was also said that Pluto holds a key: “ As to the key they say that what is called Hades has been locked up by Pluto and nobody will return back again there from. ” ( Pausanias. 5.20.3 Votive offerings in the temple of Hera).

I would take this to imply the necessity of reincarnation, which will keep on occurring to the individual soul until the realisation of its own divine reality that will unlock the door that leads to the spiritual life in the empyrean. Heaven being where the soul comes from, and when this state is realised again, it will allow the soul to escape from the prison of earthly confinement. This idea is what also seems to be expressed by the words of Jesus;

“ I am he who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forever more. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of death ” (N.T. Revelation 1:18).

The wife of Hades is Persephone, whose mother is Demeter the Earth Mother, or more precisely, Grain Mother. Also called by the Romans, Ceres.

“All such figures - heavenly manna, bread, wheat, ambrosia, nectar, meat, corn, wine, honey, barley – are forms of typology suggestive of the deific life ordered to mortals for their immortal nutrient. The body of spiritual intellect, Ceres, which was true 'cereal' food for man was crushed into bits and then welded into a cake so that it might be 'eaten' by mortals ” (A . B . Kuhn, nd, p. 212 ).

From this interpretation it is easy to see how the symbolism of grain was used to indicate the spiritual significance of the role Demeter/Ceres represented in the Elusinian Mysteries. While in the exoteric meaning, Ceres represents the agricultural goddess who receives the seeds into the ground to bring forth the fruits of the earth for human consumption. While this seems to be the general interpretation for the uninitiated, aimed at a basic level of understanding, while at the same time it also exemplifies a deeper level of understanding to the initiated. This being that the seeds of divinity are sown into the soul's lower nature, (earth) and through their cultivation, will result in the fruition upon the higher levels of the soul. Or as Thomas Taylor notes:

“The philosopher Isocrates thus bears testimony “She (Demeter) gave us two gifts that are the most excellent; fruits that we might not live like beasts; and that initiation, those who have part in which have sweeter hope, both as regards the close of life and for all eternity. ” (T.Taylor, 1891, p 19).

This implies that unless the soul partakes of the divine fruit, then it will remain to live like an animal, dead to the higher divine nature. It is no wonder then that the Athenians were said to of called the dead “Demeter's people (demetrioi)" (Y. Bonnefoy. 1992, p. 155). This is because it is us in our deadened state while on the earth, who are to receive the divine nourishment from the Goddess to enable our spiritual development to take place.

The myth related to Demeter's daughter, Persephone, who is taken by Hades to the Underworld is suggestive of the demise of life in the dark half of the year, when nature seems lifeless and barren only to return again in the spring, when sprouting leaves and buds on the trees and the shoots of flowers in the fields portend Persephone's return to the upper world. But, as always with mythology the initiated interpretation remains veiled behind the outward general meaning, and in this case the myth of Persephone's abduction, is nothing but a clear indication of the descent of the soul to the lower world, where the soul becomes wedded to the lower nature, and lives in the darkness of life until it awakens to it's spiritual life. This awakening is symbolised by the spring time in the light half of the year when the sun starts to increase in light, which signifies the soul coming forth into the light of day, its divine spiritual nature. And here we have a perfect example of nature demonstrating for us, the outward objective manifestation of the inner spiritual transformation that can happen to the human soul. Nature is but a mirror that the magician peers into, to see the truth of inner spiritual reality reflected. As above so below.

 

Bibliography

Dionysius, 1965, Mystical Theology and the Celestial Hierarchies, 2nd ed. Surrey. The Shrine Of Wisdom.

G.R.S. Mead, 1906, Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Studies In Hellenistic Theosophy And Gnosis, Forgotten Books.

Virgil, Aeneid Book six.

J, M, Cooper, 1997, Plato Complete works, 1st ed, U.S.A. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.

A.B. Kuhn, nd, Lost Light An Interpretation of Ancient Scriptures, Filiquarian Publishing, LLC. 

T. Taylor, 1891, The Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries, New York, Blibliolife.

Y. Bonnefoy. 1992, Greek and Egyptian Mythologies, U.S.A. The University of Chicago Press.

Summer's End!

Before I start I would just like to say that for ease of convenience when I use the term "man" in this blog post I am referring to both sexes.

It is that time of year when ghosts, goblins, monsters and witches come out to play. Yes, it is Halloween again, also called Samhain, which roughly translates as “summer’s end.” It is originally supposed to be a Celtic pagan festival when the year ends and the start of winter heralds forth the beginning of the New Year. Now then, I am not going to bore you by keeping on about the associations of Halloween with its ancient pagan origins and practices, but, instead, I am hopefully going to help you to step outside the box of what has mundanely come to be the normal excepted way of thinking about death, especially in regards to this festival. I will explain in a clear and easy to understand way the esoteric meaning to this most misunderstood time of the year.  Although, While doing so, my thoughts upon this topic are either going to be very much welcomed by those who have an open mind, or most earnestly rejected by many of those in the occult world through fear of jeopardising certain modern beliefs.

Halloween is said to be one of the times of the year when the veil between the worlds is at its thinnest, and therefore the dead are much more easily contacted. This makes perfect sense when looking at the astrological sign the Sun enters into at this time, which is Scorpio. The scorpion is the symbol of death, and therefore matter, because it is matter that brings forth death. In Greek mythology the earth goddess Gaia (in some versions Artemis) sends the scorpion to kill the god Orion by stinging him to death.

There is a really interesting story in ancient Egyptian mythology, as is shown on the back of the Metternich stela, which has an image of Horus standing on crocodiles while holding snakes and scorpions in his hands. The young Horus (Harpokrates) is killed by the sting of a scorpion not long after he is born. This causes his mother Isis, to utter many heartbreaking laments which are heard by her sister Nephthys, (who is also weeping for Horus) who comes from the marshes with the scorpion goddess Serqet. The scorpion goddess advises Isis to pray to the gods of heaven, and after doing so her voice reaches the Boat of Millions of Years, and causes the Sun to stand still. Thoth then descends from the celestial boat, and comes down to utter his magic spell, raising Horus back to life from the dead. (E. A. Wallis Budge, 1912)

Although the previous story is ancient Egyptian, it has some particular interesting associations to Halloween. What with death by a scorpion, lamenting, and the raising of the dead, you could easily be forgiven for thinking you are reading about Goetia! In the ancient writings, such creatures like scorpions and the like, were seen as manifestations of negative forces. As is also shown in the Bible with the words of Christ:
“Behold, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” (Luke 10: 18.)

Besides just possibly being arbitrary associations to this time of the year, what does all of the above have to do with Halloween? To explain this we first need to briefly turn back to the autumn equinox, which is the previous pagan festival falling around September 21. This is when the hours of light and darkness are of the same length. It is at this period (which just so happens to be called the “fall”) when life in nature appears to be dying as the light of the Sun begins to wane. Esoterically, this symbolises the death of the divine soul, and the divine part of the soul is always symbolised as the Sun in the ancient writings. Also at this time the Sun enters the astrological sign of Libra, which signifies balance. This, according to esoteric knowledge is the balance between the forces of spirit and matter. Which are always symbolised in pairs of opposites, like light and darkness, or day and night. From here on the forces of matter take predominance, and the soul becomes subjected to the woes of matter's influence. This is the reason why in many myths the innate divinity is lamented, because it has to die to its spiritual state in the heavenly realm above, in order to incarnate into the kingdom below.

The kingdom below the spiritual world is none other than our very own earth, physical matter. This, unbeknown to almost everyone in the occult scene at the moment, (unless of course they have kept very quiet about it) is the underworld!! I hinted at this in one of my previous blog posts about the “Penitential Psalms” where I spoke about the esoteric meaning of the so called “dead,” here: http://theoccultscrivener.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/seven-penitential-psalms-their-purpose.html

The etymology of the word “underworld” taken from Chambers, suggest exactly this premise: “underworld. 1608, the lower world, Hades, 1609, the earth as distinguished from heaven” (Chambers Dictionary of Etymology 1988)

This is in accordance with how Apuleius describes the celestial and infernal gods in The Golden Ass:

 “I approached near unto hell, even to the gates of Proserpine, and after that I was ravished throughout all the elements, I returned to my proper place: about midnight I saw the sun brightly shine, I saw likewise the Gods celestial and the gods infernal, before whom I presented myself and worshipped them.” (Apuleius, n.d.)

Here in the spiritual awakening of Apuleius, he describes where man will stand, which is on earth at midpoint between the infernal beings below him, and the higher spiritual beings above him. A relevant etymological link that could easily apply here is with the word “man”, which is linked to the root “men” - to think. Because it is the thinking capability of the mind that makes us human. Therefore, the conscious mind of man is exactly midpoint between the influences of the material forces of hell below that act through the sub- consciousness, and the spiritual forces of heaven above, which act through the super-consciousness. Heaven, earth and hell are states of being reflected through the mind of man, and which can all be experienced here on the physical plane! Cue the music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngmakCXGe7M  :D

This type of perspective can also be seen to be prevalent in the grimoires of the Renaissance period, as shown in Stephen Skinner and David Rankine's Sourceworks of Ceremonial Magic -Volume 2. The Keys To The Gateway of Magic, being a transcription of a British Library Sloane MS 3825, called Janua Magica Reserata. Where it says:

“As therefore amongst, the good spirits, there is a proper Keeper or protector, Deputed to & set over every one corroborating the mind of man to good &c – so from amongst orders of Evil Spirits, there is by Divine permission, sent forth an Enemy ruling over the flesh, & the desires thereof; & the Good spirits fight for us as a preserver against the Enemy of the flesh. Now man lies between those two, in the middle, & safe (amidst those contenders) in the Hand of his own Counsel, to which of them he will give Victory” (Anon., n.d.)

The festivals of the year are the celebrations of the turning points in the evolution of man’s spiritual development. Therefore the equinox represents the fall of the divine soul to its incarnation into matter; this was symbolically termed the death of the soul! Halloween is the festival that esoterically celebrates the death of the soul, not the death of the physical body!

It just so happens that the period between the autumn equinox and Halloween is forty days long. This is a significant number that is used in the scriptures numerous times. For example; Jesus fasted for forty days and forty nights in the wilderness, while being tempted by the devil (Mathew 4:1-2). The Israelites were in the wilderness for forty years (Deuteronomy 8:2). So what does this significant number represent? This is lucidly put forth with these words:

“Forty days was the ancient cryptogram in number for the period of the seed’s incubation in the ground or matter before germinating, therefore a glyph for the general fact of incarnation, the end of all the forty day periods would signalise the perfection of the product of the incarnational experience. Halloween ends the forty days from the vernal equinox, as Easter ends the forty days of Lent. So Candlemas ends the forty days from Christmas. The conclusion of the period of the soul’s tenancy of the body is presumed to have raised the constituent matter of the body in which it was housed to final purification” (A.B. Kuhn, 1948).

What happens when the soul incarnates into matter? It houses itself into a body of flesh which is governed by the natural animal instincts and desires. Just like Virgil said: “The lower part a beast, a man above” (The Aeneid, n.d.)

In the Chaldean Oracles, according to Thomas Taylor in one of his footnotes in Iamblichus's, On The Mysteries of the Egyptians, Chaldeans and Assyrians.  It says: “The wild beasts of the earth shall inhabit thy vessel” (Anon, n.d.)

The divine soul that dies when incarnating into an animal body, and hiding behind the mask of the personality, brings a much more logical meaning to the revelries of Halloween than does the current exoteric interpretation that is excepted by the masses!

The day after Halloween celebrates the Christian feast of All Saints day, what can this mean, but to imply after the incarnation into matter the soul seeks to attain its spiritualised state of mind. Halloween is about the development of the animal, which must come before the development of the spiritual. 

 As St Paul said:

 “Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural: and afterwards that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven” (Corinthians 15:46-47)

I could go on and on with more references and quotes from the ancient writings that confirm all these ideas presented in this blog post. But, that will be enough to take up a book! ;-)

References

E.A. Wallis Budge., 1912. Gods of The Egyptians. Dover Publications June 1, 1969

Anon., 1988. Chambers Dictionary of Etymology. 10 ed. Croydon: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd.

Apuleius, L., n.d. The Golden Ass. s.l.:s.n.

S. Skinner & D. Rankine. 2005. The Keys to the Gateway of Magic: Summoning the Solomonic Archangels and Demon Princes.1^st ed. Singapore: Golden Hoard Press.

A.B. Kuhn. 1948. Who Is This King Of Glory. San Diego. The Book Tree.

Virgil, n.d. The Aeneid. Book Six.

Iamblichus, n.d. On The Mysteries of the Egyptians, Chaldeans and Assyrians. 1^st U.S. ed. Miami. Cruzian Mystic Books

Anon, n.d. The Bible.

The Goddess of Love

“Heavenly, illustrious, laughter-loving queen, Sea-born, night-loving, of an awful mien; Crafty, from whom necessity first came, Producing, nightly, all-connecting dame” (1).

Aphrodite, the goddess of love who was born from the sea foam which came about around the castrated genitals of Uranus, after his son, Cronus, had thrown them into the sea. This is a tantalizing explanation for the birth of a goddess, but what can it mean? To find out we need to understand what principle Uranus represents.

Uranus represents the primordial power of heaven, and therefore spirit, the polar opposite to matter. The castration of Uranus is a symbolic expression to denote the cessation of involution when its time is fulfilled, (2) and which signifies the separation of spirit and matter, for after this event it was said that the “Sky came no more to cover the Earth at night.” (3) The earth is one of the symbols for the lower nature of the soul that becomes separated from spirit at the end of involution and the commencement of physical life, which is symbolised as night. This brings us to the beginning stage of evolution where the creative powers of spirit, symbolised as the genitalia of Uranus, are implanted into the sea of matter.

Another symbol for spirit as it progresses down the planes towards manifestation is air, which represents 'mind', therefore; “A common form of air and water mingled with some violence is foam or bubbles. Froth arises when air is forcefully associated with water. Here beyond doubt is the clue to the esoteric riddle of Greek symbology, which represented the birth of the goddess Aphrodite from the sea-foam. Here is the beautiful poetic figure hinting at the truth that Love is born in the evolutionary process when the energetic injection of god's power of fiery mind into the emotional life effects the blending of air (mind) and water (emotion) in the consciousness.” (4)

A good practical analogy to represent the above idea can easily be shown with a saucepan of water placed on a heated stove. For when the fire (divinity) heats up the water there arises foam/froth on top of the water in the saucepan. “Is not love the product of the conjunction of mind and emotion? Froth would indicate the elevation of emotion to the plane of thought, the injection of mind into feeling. The emergence of bubbles of air to the surface suggests how thought is generated out of the mud (sensation) and water (emotion) of the bodily experience.” (5)

In the Greek Magical Papyri it says : “Aphrodite's name which becomes known to no one quickly is NEPHERIERI – this is the name.” “Nepherieri is the Egyptian Nfr-iry.t, 'the beautiful eye' a suitable epithet for Aphrodite.” (6) If we take a look at the Egyptian version of Aphrodite, most commonly known by the Greek name, Hathor, we shall see that “she is most often shown as a beautiful woman wearing a red solar disc between a pair of cow horns.” Her name in Egyptian is “HWT-HR (Het-Heru) and means 'domain (or mansion) of Horus, which may make her the original mother of the celestial falcon. In the Pyramid Texts, the domain of Horus was a special part of the sky where the dead king would be rejuvenated. As Lady of stars, Hathor was associated with the nocturnal sky. As the Eye of Ra, she could be identified with the solar disk or the morning or evening star (Venus).” (7)

This sounds all well and good, but how does this apply to ourselves from a spiritual perspective? The answer to this lays in understanding how to interpret the symbolism that the ancient Egyptians used. After all, their religion was a very practical one being used to turn the Pharaoh into a god, so everything they have written has a purpose and meaning. Most of this is hidden behind the veil of their symbolism.

  In “The Book of Going Forth by Day” commonly referred to as “The Book of the Dead” it says : "Hathor, Lady of the West; She of the West; Lady of the sacred Land; Eye of Re which is on his forehead; kindly of countenance in the Bark of Millions of Years; a resting place for him who has done right within the boat of the blessed; who built the Great Bark of Osiris in order to cross the water of truth." (8) The way to interpret this is to apply the Ancient Egyptian esoteric law of “As Above So Bellow.” In other words one should apply this objective symbolism to the internal spiritual world. (See my previous blog entry on this here=http://theoccultscrivener.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/as-above-so-below.html ) The West is the place where the Sun sets, and the Sun is always the symbol of the divine part of the soul, so in the symbolism of the setting sun it is figuratively explaining the descent of the divine part of the soul into matter. The boat, and the bark is described as a resting place for the divine part of the soul, Osiris. This is because it is the body where the soul rests while sailing across the sea of matter until it breaks free from it, to reclaim its divine rite of rulership in the heavens. This is also confirmed in “The Theban Recension of The Book of Going Forth By Day” where it says : “I know the Souls of the Easteners; they are Horakhty, the sun-calf and the Morning Star.” (9) The souls of the 'Easterners' are those who have realised and awakened their divine state, because the Sun rises in the east, and is therefore used as a symbol of the awakened and risen divinity. “Horakhty is 'Horus of the Horizion' : the sun god, usually falcon headed.” (10) The horizon is a brilliant symbol to use to represent this, because the horizon is the place where sky and earth, spirit and matter, or consciousness and unconsciousness meet to give birth to that third state of super consciousness. This is the divine state of being, also known as the divine son, the product of its Father (spirit) and its mother. (matter)

It is through the beauty of the goddess of love in her many different forms that one can give birth to the divine state of being within ourselves. So let her of the beautiful eye open up to see and feel the love of divinity, so that we may unify the lower with the higher, and become more fully realised spiritual beings.

Dedicated to somebody I used to know ;-)

Notes

1. Orphic Hymn of Venus

2. Dictionary of All Scriptures & Myths. G. A. Gaskell. Page 780.

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranus_%28mythology%29

4.The Ultimate Cannon of Knowledge. A.B.Kuhn. Page 138

5. Ibid

6. PGM IV. 1265-74

7. Egyptian Mythology. Geraldine Pinch. Page 137.

8. The Book of Going Forth by Day. The Papyrus of Ani. Plate 37. Chapter 186.

9. The Theban Recension. Chapter 109.

10. The Book of Going Forth By Day. Page 174 Chronicle Books.