Synopsis

Religion, Astrology and the Earth Cycle (A)

Religion, Astrology and the Earth Cycle (B)

The Cosmic Mandala (A)

The Cosmic Mandala (B)

The Symbolic Cycle of the Solar Gods (A)

The Symbolic Cycle of the Solar Gods (B)

The Sun God and the Zodiac (A)

The Sun God and the Zodiac (B)

The Christ Child as Horus. The Virgin Mother.

The Bull of Wisdom and the Lamb of Christ.

The Mithraic Rite of the Bull Slaying

The Bull, The Ram and the Fish

The Serpent Fohat of Aquarius and the Sun

Michael as Hermes-Mercury

The Ark as a Vehicle of the Star-Monads (A)

The Ark as a Vehicle of the Star-Monads (B)

The Fish and the Sea of Pisces (A)

The Fish and the Sea of Pisces (B)

Death as Maut (The Great Mother of Pisces)

The Rod of the Mysteries (The Aries-Libra Axis)

The key to the teachings of mythology lies in the understanding of the process of zodiacal evolution from Capricorn through the four Triads each composed of three signs of the zodiac. These Triads are Cosmic, Monadic, Solar and Lunar. The Lunar Triad is the Personality of each individual represented by the Soul imprisoned in the physical body or Lower Self (Scorpio).

The Higher Self or Christ-consciousness in man is the Solar Triad (Leo) or Individuality. Both the Higher and Lower Selves are dependent from the Monad or Father in Heaven. Their interaction is represented by Vishnu's Seal or the Star of David as a pair of interlaced triangles. Together they form the microcosmic hemisphere of the zodiac from Leo to Capricorn. Myth is not originally a fictional account or narrative. It is the means whereby highly spiritual teachings couched in symbolic language are transmitted from race to race. The original purity of these cosmological teachings became distorted therefore it is necessary to re-establish the study of comparative mythology so as to understand the original consistency of the teachings.

The sun-god cycles and the precessional cycle of the zodiac are vital keys to mythology, religion and esoteric psychology.

Twentieth century man is very primitive. He knows little or nothing of his spiritual anatomy. He is ignorant of the existence of the Angelic Hierarchies around him. He is unaware, in his physical body, of the superphysical planes which inter penetrate the physical plane. He has no knowledge of his reason for being on Earth and, therefore, no clear goal in life to guide him towards the Path of Return of the Soul towards its origin. He does not know that the Earth is a conscious evolving spiritual being. He refuses to accept that life and consciousness permeate atomic structures. He renounces his role as protector and guide to the mineral, plant and animal kingdoms. Quite simply twentieth century man has tended to reject or degrade the spiritual teachings of the ancient civilizations.

God made the Universe. God controls, through the Angelic Hierarchies, the cosmic and astrological forces of the Universe. The Earth and all other planets are spiritual conscious beings, each planet having an associated spiritual Hierarchy of angels and archangels. The cosmic energies connected with the equinoxes and the solstices are directly related to the vegetation cycle. The Angelic Hierarchies are the lesser gods who are concerned with the growth processes of Earth and humanity.

It is a mistake to think that the vegetation cycle of the Earth is not a spiritual process. The electromagnetic forces that play between the North and South Poles of the Earth are related to the serpent-fire of kundalini in man. The molten centre of the Earth is linked to the spiritual energies of the Sun. The Universe is an energy web.

Fohat is the cosmic serpentine energy behind light, magnetism, gravitation, etc. What the serpent Fohat represents in the macrocosm or universe is also to be found in man, the microcosm, as kundalini. The fire of the Earth's centre erupts through volcanoes. Similarly, the arousal of kundalini at the base of the spine in the muladhara chakram appears to be a fountain of fire or electrical energy through the spine to the head centres of the pineal and pituitary glands.

Man is the universe on a small scale. The psychic centres or chakras are planetary links.

The Secret Doctrine of H.P. Blavatsky is essentially a source book for the elucidation and exposition of this symbolic language programmed into the signs of the zodiac. These signs represent the Cosmic Mandala which is a powerful teaching device when expounded in a linear fashion to provide an interpretation of mythological teachings which then form the basis for a science related to the cosmos and man.

The psychological structure of man is intimately linked with the quadrature of the zodiacal circle and the four triadic emanations from Capricorn. (See The Aquarian Mandala.) The architectural structures (Stonehenge, ziggurats, pyramids, etc.) are closely identified with man's psychological structure through the rites of the Mysteries associated with the Masters of the Wisdom who still guide mankind.

Religion from re-ligare means the "binding back" of the consciousness of the individual to the Monad and the Godhead through a series of triadic reflections.

The Trinity of the Godhead manifests in each human being as a series of reflected triads through the sequence of the zodiacal signs.

The circle of the twelve zodiacal signs is split into the macrocosmic and microcosmic hemispheres and the four quadrants. This is a major symbolic key to mythological accounts of cosmogenesis.

Some of the primordial symbols can be related to the signs of the zodiac in the following manner.

SIGN	SYMBOL
Capricorn	Wise Old Man, Scythe, Hour Glass
Aquarius	Great Serpent, Lightning
Pisces	Great Mother, Cosmic Sea
Aries	Mountain, Tree of Life
Taurus	Bull, Earth Mother
Gemini	Twins, Brothers
Cancer	Womb, Sea, South, Moon, Silver
Leo	Lion, Gold
Virgo	Virgin, Wheat, Soul
Libra	Balance
Scorpio	Scorpion, Desire, Sex, Cave, Pit
Sagittarius	Archer, Spiritual Aims

This is the cycle of the Sun on its annual path. The journey of the Solar hero to the underworld is the descent of the Soul to the physical body. The language of symbols is the gnosis which enables the Soul to return to its source.

We as gods can unify the lunar consciousness of our Personality with the Solar consciousness of our Higher Self or Individuality. The Sun in Winter is buried in the physical body of the Earth. Likewise, we are crucified in the physical body during incarnation.

Apollo, Dionysius, Hercules, Mithras, Adonis, Attis, Osiris and Baal have similar lives.

(a) Issued forth at the Winter Solstice. (Capricorn)

(b) Came from a Cave or Rock Chamber. (Capricorn)

(c) Were called Light-bringers and Saviours. (Aquarius)

(Daiviprakriti - the Light of the Logos)

(d) Born of a Virgin Mother. (Pisces)

(e) Were vanquished by the evil powers. (Descended into manifestation by incarnation.)

(f) Descended into Hell.

(Spirit was incarcerated in a physical body.)

(g) Rose from the dead.

(Was freed from the physical body either by death, or the practise of meditation during life.)

(h) Became spiritual teachers. (Avatars)

(Joined the spiritual hierarchies responsible for our evolution.)

(i) Were commemorated by a Eucharistic meal.

Each man is a fragment or Monad from the Godhead. The wafer is a sun symbol of the Higher Self. The chalice of wine is a lunar symbol of the Lower Self. These are the symbols of fire and water joined together in the alchemical marriage symbolized by the dipping of the wafer into the chalice.

When the Sun is buried in Capricorn. Sirius (the Star in the East) is on the Midheaven.

In the Egyptian zodiac at Denderah the Virgin (Isis) is shown holding an ear of wheat (Spica) or spike of corn alongside the sign of Virgo. So Christ (the Sun) is born of the Virgin (Virgo) on the eastern horizon.

In Alexandria the Virgin Isis was worshipped with the child Horus. With the advent of Christianity the Virgin Mary was worshipped with the child Jesus on the same dates. The Assumption of the Virgin on 15 August related to the entry of the Sun into Virgo whereas the Birth of the Virgin is on 8 September when the Sun was leaving Virgo. The entry and departure dates now are 22nd August and 22nd September because of the precession of the equinoxes.

Aries is the point where the Celestial Equator cuts the Ecliptic. From that point in the Spring Equinox the Sun as a risen Saviour is denoted by the Lamb (or Ram). He comes from his burial in Capricorn at the Winter Solstice. The slain lamb of the Passover is the passing over of the Sun from Aries into Taurus.

Table of the Sun Gods (continues below...) 

GOD	BORN	TIME	VIRGIN BIRTH	FESTIVAL
Mithra	Cave	25th December	Yes	22nd December
Osiris	(Egypt)	27th December	Yes
Adonis	(Syria)		Yes
(Tammuz)	Half life with	Venus above ground,	half with Proserpine	below ground.
Attis	Loved by	Demeter (Cybele)	Yes	(Ripe pomegranate)
(Rome)	Bled to death	at foot of pine tree	(fertility of pine cone)
	Killed by boar	(symbol of	winter)
Hercules			Yes
(Heracles)			(Father)
Krishna	Cave	Devaki
Christ	Manger	25th Dec.	Mary	25 December
Apollo	Cave	25th December

2nd Half of Table:

GOD	COMPANIONS	IN TOMB	ASCENDED	EUCHARIST
Mithra	12	Yes	Yes	Yes
Osiris		Yes	Yes	Play at Abydos
Adonis		Yes		Yes
(Tammuz)				Yes
Attis		Foot of Tree	Yes
Hercules	Zodiac	Hades	Yes
Krishna	12 Gopis		Yes
Christ	12 Disciples	Yes	Yes	Yes

In Persia Mithra, the Saviour, was born in a cave (manger) at the Winter Solstice on 25 December. Mithra was worshipped in Gaul and Britain.

Horus, Krishna and Christ were all born at the Winter Solstice when the Sun or Solar-Monad emerges from the rock-tomb of Capricorn. Osiris was born of the virgin goddess Neith also at the time of the Winter Solstice. Neith is called Mother of God, Immaculate Virgin, Queen of Heaven, Star of the Sea (Pisces), the Morning Star, and the Intercessor.

The mother of Tammuz (the Christ-Child of Babylon) is Ishtar who is Astarte (Phoenicia), Aphrodite (Greece), Ashtaroth (Syria) and Hathor (Egypt). She is known as Mylitta, the Morning Star (Venus exalted in Pisces) and Goddess of the Tree of Life (the Aries-Libra axis). She is the Queen of Heaven with a crown of twelve stars (the zodiac) worn also by the Virgin Mary.

Behold a Virgin (Virgo the Intuition) shall conceive and the Star (Monad) of the Christ-Child (Higher Self) shall appear in the Heavens (in the consciousness of the Personality). The Light of Christ is enshrined forever in the human heart.

In India Budh or Buddha, the Lord of Love-Wisdom, is sometimes represented by a bull. Outside of the Shiva (Saturn) temples one sees the figure of Nandi the bull facing inwards to the shrine and lingam. The Welsh god Hu is called Bud or Budwa, the god of victory. In Babylon Merodach was represented by a bull as was Ea. Merodach was Gudi-bir, the bull of light, or the Sun. Egyptians worshipped the Apis bull. The Popes issue bulls as edicts.

These bull symbols relate to the period when the Sun by precession was in the astrological sign of Taurus for 2,160 years. When it moved into Aries for a further 2,160 years the religious symbol changed from a bull to a ram. [Age of Taurus: approx. 4,000 B.C. to 2,000 B.C. ed.]

In later Egyptian religion the gods Khnum, Amun, Osiris and Neith were adored as rams. Osiris appears at Mendes in the likeness of a ram and as monarch of the zodiacal circle of the gods. Jesus was represented as a lamb by the side of the cross until, in 680 A.D., Pope Adrian I confirmed that a man should appear on the cross. The ram of Aries must appear, because it is the head of man and the crown of the Tree of Life represented by the Aries-Libra axis.

During the height of the Mithraic religion the cutting of the Celestial Equator by the Ecliptic occurred in Taurus (the Bull). This determined the time of the Vernal Equinox (Spring). The Sun was in this position in Taurus in 4,000 B.C. This places the Summer Solstice in Leo, the Autumnal Equinox in Scorpio and the Winter Solstice in Aquarius us. These four fixed signs are the Tetramorphs or four Great Beasts of the Christian religion. They also contain the four major stars of:

In Mithraic sculpture the Sun God slays the bull (Taurus) and a scorpion (Scorpio) is seen to be sucking the blood. Scorpio rules the sex organs or vital energies at the base of the spine. Taurus rules the other end of the spine (the throat) through which kundalini can be raised. The depletion of the generative powers of the Bull by the Scorpion (22 October to 22 November) denotes the onset of Winter and the Death of the Sun God.

The movement of the Vernal Equinox from Taurus (Bull) to Aries (Ram) caused by the precession of the equinoxes coincided with the change in worship in Egypt from the Apis Bull to the veneration of the ram-headed god Amun also known as Jupiter-Amun.

The Bible relates that Moses became indignant when the Children of Israel were found to be worshipping the Golden Calf (a Taurean ritual). With the further move from Aries to Pisces coinciding with the advent of Christianity the Christians adopted the symbol of the Fish as a means of identification.

Christmas is related to the birth of Hercules. The infant state is the weakness of the Sun at the Winter Solstice. The powers of the two serpents strangled by Hercules relate to the male and female energies of Ida and Pingala in yoga which have to be transmuted or "raised from the dead" from their source in the muladharam chakra at the base of the spine (the pine tree of Attis). The spine of man is represented by the middle columns of the zodiacal signs of Virgo and Scorpio. These signs were united prior to the fall of humanity down to the physical plane. Libra is an inserted sign. Originally the zodiac had only ten signs.

The serpent represents the unfolded Circle or Cycle of manifestation which the Sun-Initiate must follow. In Babylon, Baal is the serpent with the disc and Moloch is the serpent without it. Baal as Tammuz, the incarnating Monad is depicted as slaying the snake or dragon. Bacchus and Heracles both strangle two snakes. Horus-Osiris and Apollo kill the serpent. The Aztec goddess Cioaocatl is seen next to a tree entwined with a serpent. In India Krishna destroys the serpent Kaliya by crushing its head whilst it bites his heel. In Genesis the woman bruises the head of the snake, and in Revelation Christ casts out the dragon.

In India the serpent as Wisdom is the Naga. This is the symbol of the Fo-Hi or Serpents of Wisdom who control Fohat, the source of cosmic energies. Over the couch of Vishnu is seen the seven-headed serpent Ananta, who represents the emanation of the Seven Rays from Pisces. Vishnu is depicted resting on the Cosmic Ocean of Pisces on the Lotus couch.

In Scandinavian mythology Ofnir and Sfoenir are the two serpents of the god Odin who guard the nether world. In Greece Aesclepius was worshipped as a serpent. In Central America the narrow passages in the pyramids were called "holes of the serpent". So in the spine of man we have chitrini.

Michael, the archangel, is the slayer of the dragon. As such he is depicted on the wall of Coventry Cathedral. Michael means "like unto God" and in Daniel he is one of the "first princes". He is the Mercury of the Celts as Dea-cead-ion the first God and ruler of Wednesday (Wodin's or Mercury's day).

He is the Ferouer or Double of the Sun God because the caduceus of Mercury is the Tree of Life of Aries-Libra, and the Sun is exalted in Aries. The spear or lance of Michael is this polar axis of the circle of the zodiac. The serpent he kills is the Lower Self or Satan, the "tester" of the Soul. Without Satan the Soul could make no progress. Pain causes the Soul to seek solace, and eventually it learns to cease from causing sorrow thereby removing sorrow from its life on Earth. The astral serpent of "desire" must be slain by the disciple otherwise consciousness can never escape from the Earth realm.

The Ark is the constellation Argo in the Waters of Space, or Pisces, ruled by the Virgin Mary as a shakti or power of the Godhead. It carries the "seeds of life" or Monads into manifestation in Aries. It is Stella Navis, the constellation of the Ship. The stone coffin in the pyramid transfers the Monad from latency in Capricorn to manifestation in Aries. The three days in the tomb are the three signs from Capricorn to Pisces.

The ark of the Divine Mother is the carris-navale or carnival such as that at Baris. The boat-shaped cups of the Mysteries are the arga of Zeus-Soter or Zeus-Pitar who is the "saviour" or "father" (pitri) who guides the Monads into and through the new cycle of manifestation. Zeus-Pitar is, of course, Jupiter, the planetary ruler of Pisces, the Great Sea.

In Athens at the Panathenaea the sacred ship was borne through the city to the temple of Demeter with the greatest reverence. An ark was also used in the mysteries of Bacchus held in March to accord with the zodiacal period of Pisces. The Celtic goddess Ceridwyn also had a sacred boat or ark (argat, arck or arawn) and the Christian church retains the nave or ship and the piscini or font of the fishes of Pisces before the altar at the East Point of Aries. So the Mysteries transcend Time.

It has been customary in the Christian festival of Shrove Tuesday to carry the Virgin Mary in a ship or ark to and from the church. This represents the passage of the Monad through the Great Sea of the Virgin Mother in Pisces.

In the rites of Astarte, Isis or Venus the ark is the "ship of life" which, as the ark of Noah, carries the seeds of life into manifestation. These are the seeds of the pomegranate on the hem of Aaron's ephod or robe. Birth is from the egg of Ra issued from the mouth of Kneph (the serpent energies of Fohat). In Babylonia the egg is sacred to Beltis or Ishtar as a symbol of resurrection and eternal life. It is the Easter Egg of Aries.

The Lotus floats like a boat on the Ocean of the Cosmos being, fecundated by the central cell in the procreative Waters. In Hinduism Vishnu urged the Manu Vaivasvata to build an ark to escape the flood. In fact the Manu Vaivasvata is the spiritual leader or controller of the Monads for a particular cycle (See The Aquarian Mandala).

Deucalion built an ark for his family and animals, as did Seisithros of Armenia, Xisuthros of Chaldea, Cox-Cox in Mexico, and Hyrm of Scandinavia. This is a Cosmic Symbol of the transfer of Monads.

The fish is sacred to Venus, who as the Virgin Mother is exalted in Pisces. Dagon and Vishnu are both preservers and saviours of mankind. The great fish-teachers emanate from the ocean of Cosmic Wisdom in Pisces and appear as avatars or teachers of mankind at times determined by the astrological cycles.

Oannes or Ea was described as having the body of a fish and was said to sink each night into the waters of the Persian Gulf to be with his disciples. (At night we can leave the physical body and travel to the "sea" of the astral plane where we can receive instruction from such teachers.)

The purpose of meditation is to free consciousness from the domination of the senses so that it can leave the physical body and return to its source in the Great Mother, ruler of the Piscean Sea of Love-Wisdom.

The fish has a spiritual significance in esoteric anatomy because of the need to preserve the lunar seeds in the physical body which are deposited each month by virtue of the lunar cycle. These seeds can then be transmuted through meditation to become spiritual energies in the superphysical bodies of man. These energies are known as pranas.

"Om Mani Padme Hum" - The dewdrop slips into the shining sea.

The Great Sea is Pisces (Mulaprakriti). It is the cosmic Wisdom of the Macrocosm. Directly across the Zodiac is Virgo (the Virgin) ruled by Mercury (Budha or Buddhi, Wisdom) which is the reflection of the Cosmic Virgin (Venus exalted in Pisces ruled by the mystical Neptune) in the microcosmic Virgo the Virgin. So the Soul (drop) descends from the ocean. It falls into the Lower Self and becomes muddied by Desire (kama-manas).

Therefore, Lao Tse, who called man a microcosm, asked,

"Who is there who can make muddy water clear?" This is done by separating or stilling the mind so that it becomes pure like the surface of a calm lake (such as Manasarovar near Mount Kailas in the Himalyas - Manas meaning Mind).

"Do not spill the waters of the mind (in desires) Hold them still and let them clear (meditation) Then Love shall bend over (Love-Wisdom or Buddhi) And catch his Likeness in You." (Christ consciousness)

"If a man worship the Self as his true state his work cannot fail." (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.)

Our consciousness is derived from the Great Cosmic Sea and ultimately it must return there. So the dewdrop once more slips into the shining sea.

The Great Mother Maut gives birth to man in Aries which rules the head. Maut or Death is symbolized by a man on his knees (descending into manifestation) with blood streaming from his head (the source of spiritual energies or "crown of thorns"). Hepet or Heqet means to land as a frog or frog-prince encased in the Lower Self, the end process of the descent of the Monad. The enemy or Mars in Aries hefts his spear (the Aries-Libra axis) in the side of Christ, and blood emerges to flow down the Tree of Life.

Osiris is cut in 14 (7+7) pieces to represent the descent through the seven planes with their positive and negative energies. This death is transitory and represents the temporary fall of the soul into a physical body.

The angel of death Sammael is Samuel, just as the Mahish (Exodus 12.13,23) or destroyer of the first-born (little ones or Star Monads) is Moses. Moses is found in the waters of the river Aquarius by an Egyptian princess (Venus in Pisces or the queen of Sheba). He leads the Children of Israel on their journey from Egypt (Capricorn) through the Sea of Pisces into manifestation in Aries. They then set up a brazen serpent on a pole (Fohat in Aries and kundalini in the spine). Moses ascends the Mount (Aries) and Aaron makes a golden calf Taurus. So the Monad falls to "death" in manifestation.

In the Greek mysteries the bearers of the cup on the rod are the Canephoroe or reed-bearers. This is the reed of hyssop (sorghum) given to Christ on the cross. He was not living on Earth at the time of crucifixion - he was descending into manifestation. He is Odin "hung on a wind-swept tree" or cross. This tree of the spine is the staff of Moses, the wand of the magician, the reed of the angel, the rod of Joseph that blossomed, the sceptre of the king, the thyrsus of the mysteries, the dorje of the Tibetans, the Middle Pillar of the Kabbalah, the candlestick, etc. It is the spine of the human body.

The Papal keys of the kingdom are the ankh cross with four bars representing the four lower planes of manifestation (Lower Mental, Astral, Etheric and Physical) in which the Lower Self is immersed or crucified. This key is the djed column of the Egyptians.

The ankh cross depicts the fall of the Spirit-Monad from the circle of the zodiac down the central pillar (or Tree) into the cross of crucifixion. The bar is the Cancer - Capricorn axis. The macrocosm is the circle in the upper hemisphere. The microcosm is the Tau cross embracing the Solar and Lunar Triads. The Ankh is the symbol of Venus who as the Great Mother gives birth to the Star Monads in Aries.