Alternative Religion/ Library

It is plain that Crishna of India and the Persian Mithra furnished the copy for the Jesus of the Romish Church, all of whom mean one and the same thing--the second person in the Solar Trinity. By the Jews, who attempted to ignore the female principle, this God is called the "Lord of Hosts" and "God of Sabaoth," which astronomically means God of the stars and constellations, and astrologically the creator or producer of the multitudes. Of this God, ieue, I H S, the author of Anacalypsis says that he was the son of the celestial virgin, which she carries in her arms; the Horus, Lux, of the Egyptians, the Lux of St. John.

"It is from this infant that Jesus took his origin; or at least it is from the ceremonies and worship of this infant that this religion came to be corrupted into what we have of it. This infant is the seed of the woman who, according to Genesis, was to bruise the head of the serpent, which, in return, was to bruise his foot or heel, or the foot or heel of her seed as the figure of the Hindoo Crishna proves. From the traditionary stories of this god Iao, which was figured annually to be born at the winter solstice, and to be put to death and raised to life on the third day at the vernal equinox, the Roman searchers after the evangelion or gospel made out their Jesus. The total destruction of everything at Jerusalem and in Judea--buildings, records, everything--prevented them from coming to any absolute certainty respecting this person who, they were told by tradition, had come to preach the gospel of peace, to be their savior, in fulfilment of the prophecy which their sect of Israelites found in their writings, and who had been put to death by the Jews. From all these circumstances he came to have applied to him the monogram of I H S. . . . and to him at last all the legendary stories related of the god Iao were attributed."¹³¹

¹³¹ Godfrey Higgins, Anacalypsis, book vi., ch. iv., p. 455.

According to Faber, Jesus was not originally called Jesus Christ, but Jescua Hammassiah--Jescua meaning Joshua, and Jesus, Savior. Ham is the Om of India, and Messiah, the anointed. Commenting on this Higgins remarks: "It will then be, The Savior Om the Anointed, precisely as Isaiah had literally foretold; or reading in the Hebrew made, The Anointed Om the Savior. This was the name of Jesus of Bethlehem."

We have observed the fact that at the time of the birth of Christ the entire world was expecting a Savior--a new incarnation of the sun. The end of a cycle had come and the entire earth was to undergo a process of renovation.

In a poem by Virgil, who was a Druid, the birth of a wonderful child is celebrated, and the prophecy of a heathen Sibyl is seen to be identical with that of Isaiah.

"The last period sung by the Sibylline prophetess is now arrived; and the grand series of ages. That Series which recurs again and again in the course of our mundane revolution begins afresh. Now the Virgin Astrea returns from heaven; and the primeval reign of Saturn recommences; now a new race descends from the celestial realms of holiness. Do thou, Lucina, smile propitious on the birth of a boy who will bring to a close the present age of iron and introduce throughout the whole world, a new age of gold. Then shall the herds no longer dread the fury of the lion, nor shall the poison of the serpent any longer be formidable. Every venomous animal and every deleterious plant shell perish together. The fields shall be yellow with corn, the grape shall hang its ruddy clusters from the bramble, and honey shall distil spontaneously from the rugged oak. The universal globe shall enjoy the blessings of peace, secure under the mild sway of its new and divine sovereign."

There is no lack of evidence to prove that for several centuries great numbers of Christians regarded Christ as a solar incarnation similar to those which from time to time were born in the valleys of the Nile and the Ganges. By the fathers in the church Jesus Christ was named the New Sun, and in the early days of Christianity the Egyptians struck a coin representing O. B. or the holy Basilisk, with rays of light darting from his head, on the reverse side of which was figured "Jesus Christ as the New Solar Deity."

The similarity if not the actual identity of the religion of Christ and that of the pagans in the second century is shown by various writers. The Emperor Hadrian writing to his friend Servianus says:

"Those who worship Serapis are also Christians; even those who style themselves the Bishops of Christ are devoted to Serapis. . . . There is but one God for them all; him do the Christians, him do the Jews, him do all the Gentiles also worship."

It has been said that the head of Serapis supplied the first idea of the portrait of Christ. Before the figure of Serapis, in his temple, used to stand Isis, the Celestial Virgin, with the inscription "Immaculate is our Lady Isis." In her hand she bore a sheaf of grain.

As Serapis, or Pan, finally became Christ, so Isis, or the Queen of Heaven, became his mother, and to the latter were transferred all the titles, ceremonies, festivals, and seasons which from the earliest time had belonged to the great Goddess of Nature. Subsequently, probably about the close of the second century, Christianity began slowly to emerge from the worship of Mithras and Serapis, "changing the names but not the substance."

Upon the coinage of Constantine appears Soli Invicto Comita--"To the invincible sun my companion or guardian," and when the Greek and Roman Christians finally separated themselves from the great body of pagan worshippers they apologized for celebrating the birthday of their Savior on the 25th of December, saying that "they could better perform their rites when the heathen were busy with theirs." We are assured that the early Christians no less than the Maji acknowledged Mithras as the first emanation from Ormuzd, or the God of Light. He was the Savior which in an earlier age had represented returning life--that which follows the cold of winter. It was doubtless while they worshipped the Persian Mithras that many of the so-called Christians gathered their first ideas concerning the immortality of the soul and of future rewards and punishments.

The analogy existing between the festivals, seasons, mythoses, etc., of the various incarnations of the sun which were worshipped by the early historic nations and those belonging to Christianity is too striking to be the result of chance.

Buddha originally represented the sun in Taurus. Crishna was the sun in Aries. The laborings and sufferings of Hercules, a god who was an incarnation of the latter, portrays the history of the passage of the sun through the signs of the Zodiac.

All the principal events of Christ's life correspond to certain solar phases; or, in other words, all ecclesiastical calendars are arranged with reference to the festivals which commemorate the important events of his life from his conception and birth to his ascension and reception in heaven. Each and every one of the solar deities has been born at midnight, on the 25th of December, at the time when the sun has reached its lowest position and begins to ascend. Macrobius, a learned Roman writer, observes that the early historic nations "believed that the sun comes forth as a babe from its cradle at the winter solstice." Neith is made to say, "The sun is the fruit of my womb."

The 15th of August, assumption day, the time when Mary, the mother of Jesus, ascends to heaven is the day when the Zodiacal constellation Virgo, "the Greek Astrea, leaves the European horizon," and the "8th of September, when Virgo emerges from the sun's rays, is held sacred as the Nativity of the Queen of Heaven."

Of the mid-winter festival, Bede says: "The Pagans of these isles began their year on the eighth of the Kalends of January, which is now our Christmas Day. The night before that (24th Dec. eve) was called by them the Medre-Nak, or Night of Mothers, because of the ceremonies which were performed on that night."¹³²

¹³² Rivers of Life, vol. i., p. 430.

Among Christians as among Pagans the Christmas season was in honor of "returning light," the vernal equinox of "growing light" and St. John's day of "perfected light."

In England, among pagan Saxons, the midwinter festival lasted twelve days, during which time light, fire, the sun, huge stones and other similar manifestations of the Deity were adored. Christian and pagan alike worshipped these objects. They called Christmas "the birthday of the god who is light." The Savior, or the New Sun, was the true light which lighteth every man who cometh into the world. According to the testimony of various writers, the festival held by Christians on Christmas eve used to resemble the Feast of Lights, celebrated in Egypt in honor of Neith. The tokens distributed among friends were cakes made of paste in the form of babies. These cakes were called yuledows. Dow means to "grow bigger," or, "to increase."

The Kalends of January at Rome were sacred to Janus and Juno to whom sacrifices were offered. The Etruscans also worshipped Janus who was the god (or goddess) of the year. Although this Deity does not appear among the twelve gods it is said to be the parent of them all. It was represented as having two faces. Upon one were the letters representing 365, and upon the other were the keys of life and death. According to Bryant this Deity was called Junonius, from the goddess Juno, whose name resolves itself into Juneh, a dove. In the Hebrew this name is identical with Yoni or Yuni--the female principle. On the coins of this god (which was subsequently regarded as male) is usually figured a boat, although a dove with an olive branch is sometimes observed.¹³³

¹³³ See Faber, Pagan Idolatry.

Juno is thought to be the same as Jana, which came from Jah of the Hebrews. Diana was Diva Jana or "Dea Jana who is the same as Astarte or Ashtaroth of the Sidonians."

Regarding the transference of the mid-winter festival of the pagans to the Christian calendar, Forlong says:

"The early Christians undoubtedly selected this Roman Saturnalia as an important period in the life of Christ, at first calling it the time of his conception, and later of his birth, this last best suiting the views and feelings of their Solo- Christian flocks. The Jews called the day of the Winter Solstice The Fast of Tebet. The previous time was one of darkness, and on the 28th began their Feast of Lights."¹³⁴

¹³⁴ Rivers of Life, vol. i., p. 430.

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