V. ASTROMYTHOLOGY

Books: Light of Egypt

The Astro-Mythological system of the ancients, though forming the

last section, so to say, of the mysteries of the Divine Urania,

is, perhaps, the most beautiful of its general features, and

perfect in the complete fulfillment of the purpose for which it

was intended, viz.:-- to convey to the human mind a lesson, a

moral, a truth in Nature; and last, but not the least, to serve

as a basis upon which its inner aspiratio s and its more external

faith might rest in security.



When we come to examine the deep, philosophical principles of

such a wise system, we are almost astounded at the result of our

researches and the wisdom of human nature displayed in

formulating such perfect analogies of truth, semi-truth, and of

falsehood, according to the plane occupied by the individual.



Let us take one instance, which will clearly explain all the

rest, for they are built and formulated after the same model.

Aeneas, of Greek myths and fables, is reputed to be the son of

Venus by a MORTAL father, upon the plane of reality. As that of

actual PARENT and CHILD, of course this is an utter falsehood. To

the rural population of long, long ago, and their simple, rustic

conceptions, IT WAS A TRUTH.



Why so? Because they believed it, and to them it taught the

required lesson of obedience to the powers that be. But if in

reality it was a falsehood, how can it become a truth by the

simple addition of acceptance and belief? Because it possessed a

metaphysical truth, though not a physical one, in the sense

accepted.



Aeneas, son of Venus, whose history is so beautifully preserved

by the immortal Virgil, was (metaphysically speaking) son of the

goddess, because he was, in his astral and magnetic nature, ruled

and governed by Venus, born under one of her celestial signs and

when she was rising upon the ascendant of the House of Life, even

as Jesus Christos was born of a virgin, because Virgo was rising

at His birth.



Thus Aeneas was, in strict metaphysical reality, a son of Venus.

Having satisfied the rural mind, which thus, unconsciously,

accepts an absolute truth under a physical disguise, the

metaphysical thinker, the philosopher, also accepts the same

fable, knowing and realizing its more abstract truth,



But, again, we are met with the objection that such a truth is

only apparently a truth; i.e., on the plane of embodied

appearances, and naturally the question arises, where (if at all)

is the real truth of the mythos? That truth which is beyond the

mere metaphysical thinker and commonplace philosopher; the truth

which the Initiates recognize--where is it? That truth lies far

beyond the purview of Astro-Mythology. It is connected with the

center of angelic life. Sufficient here to say that, as there are

seven races of humanity, seven divisions to the human

constitution, seven active principles in Nature, typified by the

seven rays of the solar spectrum, so are there seven centers of

angelic life, corresponding to the seven planetary forces

formulated in "The Science of the Stars," and, as each one of us

must of necessity belong to one of the particular angelic centers

from which we originally emanated, the Initiate can see no reason

why AENEAS MAY NOT IN REALITY belong to that celestial vortex

represented by Venus upon the plane of material life. This being

the case, we see how beautiful the ancients' system of temple

worship must have been. The simple rustic, in reverence and awe,

accepting the gross and physical meaning--the only one possible

to his dark, sensuous mind. The scholar and philosopher bow their

wiser heads with equal humility, accepting with equally sincere

faith the more abstract form of the allegory; while on the other

hand, the priest and the Initiate, lifting their loftier souls

above the earth and its formulas of illusion and matter, accept

that higher and more spiritual application, which renders them

equally as sincere and devout as their less enlightened

worshipers. It is thus we find these astro-myths true for all

time, true in every age of the world, and EQUALLY TRUE OF ALL

NATIONS. And this is the real reason why we find every nation

under the Sun possessing clear traditions relating to the same

identical fables, under different names, which are simply

questions of nationality. And when mythologists, archaeologists,

and philologists once recognize the one central, cardinal truth,

they will cease to wonder why nations, so widely separated by

time and space, possess the same basic mythology. They will then

no longer attempt its explanation by impossible migrations of

races, carrying the rudiments with them. They will find that this

mythology was a complete science with the ancient sages, a

UNIVERSAL MYSTERY LANGUAGE, in which all could converse, and that

it descended from the Golden Age, when there was but ONE nation

on the face of the Earth, the descendants of which constituted

the basic nucleus of every race which has since had an existence.

In this light all is simple, clear, and easy to comprehend--all

is natural.



The astronomer-priests of the hoary past, when language was

figurative, and often pictorial, had recourse to a system of

symbols to express abstract truths and ideas. In order to impress

the minds of pupils with a true concept of the attributes of the

celestial forces, we call planets, they personified their powers,

qualities, and attributes. Just as the average mind of to-day

cannot conceive of Deity apart from personality, so did primitive

man clothe his ideas in actual forms, and in these

impersonations, they combined the nature of the celestial orb

with that of the zodiacal sign or signs, in which the planet

exerted its chief and most potent activities. For instance, the

planet Mars, whose chief constellation is Aries, was described as

a great warrior, mighty in battle, fierce in anger, fearless,

reckless, and destructive; while the mechanical and constructive

qualities were personified as Vulcan, who forged the thunderbolts

of Jove, built palaces for the gods, and made many useful and

beautiful articles. Then, again, we find that Pallas Athene was

the goddess of war and wisdom. She sprang from the head of Zeus.

Aries rules the head, and represents intelligence. Athene

overcame her brother Mars in war, which shows that intelligence

is superior to brute force and reckless courage.



Here, we see three different personages employed to express the

nature of the powers and phenomena produced. They were called

gods and goddesses. This was quite natural, as the planets of our

system are reflections of Divine principles. Esoterically, Mars

symbolizes strength, victory--attributes of Deity.



Mars is said to have married Venus, teaching us that the union of

skill and beauty are essential in all artistic work.



Mythology tells us that the god Mars was supposed to be the

father of Romulus, the reputed founder of Rome. Romulus displayed

many characteristics of the planet. The mythos is no doubt a

parallel to that of Aeneas. Rome was founded when the Sun in his

orbit had entered the sign Aries, and Mars was the god most

honored by the Romans. In time, with the degeneration of human

races and their worship, to the rural mind, the subjects of the

mythos became actual personalities, endowed with every human

passion and godlike attribute, the former characterizing the

discordant influence of the heavenly bodies upon man.



Gai, Rhea and Ceres, or Demeter (Greek), represent the triune

attributes of Mother Earth. Gai signifies the Earth as a whole,

Rhea the productive powers of the Earth, and Ceres utilizes and

distributes the productive forces of Rhea.



In the charming story of Eros (Divine Love), son of Mars and

Venus, he (Eros), we are told, brings harmony out of chaos. Here,

we see the action of Aries and Taurus, ruled respectively by Mars

and Venus.



The beautiful myth of Aphrodite, born of the sea foam, is Venus

rising out of the waters of winter, to shine resplendent in the

western skies at evening, and typifies the birth of forms, as all

organic forms have their origin in water.



In all lands the Sun was known under various names, typical of

solar energy, especially in reference to the equinoctial and

solstitial colures.



Henry Melville, in his valuable work, "Veritas," says no reliance

can be placed upon ancient dates, either of Europe, Asia, or

anywhere else, and he conclusively shows that such dates are

Astro-Masonic points on the celestial planisphere, the events

recorded being, as it were, terrestrial reflections of the

celestial symbols.



To attempt to wade through all the various systems of mythology,

and explain each in its proper order, would be to write a large

encyclopedia upon the subject. We have given a few examples as

keys, and suggest works for study. We have here given the real

key, and the student must fathom particulars for himself. The

chief work, and most valuable in its line, is Ovid's

"Metamorphoses." The next, also the most valuable in its line, is

"The Mythological Astronomy of the Ancients," with notes (these

latter are the gist and constitute the real value), by S. A.

Mackey; and last, and, perhaps, in some sense, not the least, is

the "Wisdom of the Ancients," by Lord Bacon. This is published in

"Bacon's Essays."



A careful study of Ovid, with the key which this chapter

supplies, will reveal ALL that pertains to ancient gods,

demi-gods, and heroes, while a study of Mackey, and a careful

comparison with "La Clef" and "La Clef Hermetique" will reveal

all that pertains to cosmic cycles and astral chronology, which

is the only chronology that is quite trustworthy, as far as

ancient history is concerned.



While we are on this subject, we must point out some of the

delusions, into which the subtle, magical teachings of the Orient

would lead the student.



All the monster sphinx, half human, half animal, etc., which the

ancients have preserved, are simply records of the past. They are

chronological tables of cosmic time, and relate to eras of the

past, of the Sun's motion, and not by any means to living

creatures of antediluvian creations, as some wiseacres have

imagined. Many of these ancient monuments, monstrous in form, are

records of that awful period of floods and devastation known as

the Iron Age, when there was a vertical Sun at the poles; or, in

other words, when the pole of the Earth was ninety degrees

removed from the pole of the ecliptic. To those who can read

aright, every lineament tells as plainly as the written word the

history of that awful past, marking the march of time, recording

the revolutions of the Sun in his orbit of 25,920 years, and

relating with wonderful accuracy the climatic changes, in their

latitudes, which took place with each revolution of the Sun and

corresponding motion of the Earth's pole of less than four

degrees. All the greater myths of the dim past were formulated to

express cosmic time, solar and polar motion, and the phenomena

resulting therefrom. These monuments of antiquity prove that, the

ancients knew a great deal more of the movements of heavenly

bodies and of our planet than modern astronomers credit them

with.



Madame Blavatsky, in her "Secret Doctrine," seriously states that

all these monstrous forms are the types of actual, once living

physical embodiments, and, with apparent sincerity, asserts that

the Adepts teach such insane superstitions.



Such, however, is not the case, neither is there anything true,

or even approaching the truth, in the cosmogony given in the work

in question.



And, lastly, we have but one more aspect of the grand old Astro-

Mythos to present to your notice. This aspect reveals the whole

of the ancient classification of WORK and LABOR, and gives us a

clear insight into the original designs, or pictorial

representations, of the twelve signs and the twelve months of the

year. It also clearly explains many things which are to-day

attributed to superstitious paganism.



As each month possesses its own peculiar season, so are, or were,

the various labors of the husbandman, and those of pastoral

pursuits, altered and diverted. Each month, then, bad a symbol

which denoted the physical characteristics of climate and the

temporal characteristics of work. As the Sun entered the sign, so

the temple rites varied in honor of the labors performed, and the

symbol thus became the object of outward veneration and worship.

So we see that the twelve signs, and principally the four

cardinal ones, became Deities, and the symbols sacred, but in

reality, it was the same Sun to which homage was paid.



There is a large sphere of study in this direction, as, of

course, each climate varied the symbol to suit its requirements.

In Egypt there were three months when the land was overflowed

with water; hence, they had only nine working months out of

doors, and from this fact sprang the Nine Muses, while the Three

Sirens represented the three months of inactivity in work, or

three months of pleasure and festivity.



Mackey tells us that the great leviathan mentioned in the Book of

job was the river Nile.



In nearly all mythologies, we find that the gods assembled on

some high mountain to take counsel. The Olympus of the Greeks and

Mount Zion of the Hebrew Bible mean the same, the Pole-Star; and

there, on the pictured planisphere, sits Cephus, the mighty Jove,

with one foot on the Pole-Star and all the gods gathered below

him. The Pole-Star is the symbol of the highest heaven.



With this we close, leaving the endless ramifications of this

deeply interesting subject to the student's leisure and personal

research, trusting the keys we have given in this chapter and

their careful study may induce the reader and student of these

pages to search out for himself the meaning concealed in all

Astro-Mythologies.