To us of the nineteenth century, who have our national institutions for the discovery and propagation of scientific truths, thus being saved the trouble of investigating for ourselves, having only to open a book to see when the next eclipse of the sun will take place, or whether the Easter holidays fall later, or earlier than usual, it seems almost incredible that there once existed races of men who devoted almost all their time to the study of astronomy; but such is nevertheless the fact; and when we consider the different conditions under which society existed in very remote times from what we are now subject to, we shall at once see that it was not altogether a pleasure, but in fact a stern necessity, that impelled the people of those early times to make themselves thoroughly acquainted with the various natural phenomena taking place around them day after day, month after month, and year after year. In those days, when writing was either altogether unknown or limited entirely to a few, and when such things as almanacks and encyclopedias were not the order of the day, people had to trust to their own knowledge of the movements of the heavenly bodies and the properties and uses of plants, etc., for the successful carrying on of their daily pursuits, which were then principally of an agricultural nature. Instead of watches and clocks, the people had only the sun in heaven to tell them the hours of the day; instead of monthly almanacks, they had the moon for their guide; and, instead of annual calendars to mark the commencement of the seasons, they had only the stars above to teach them the proper times to till their lands and sow their grain. Consequently, it was absolutely necessary that they should be well acquainted with all the movements of the heavenly bodies; and we need only glance at the earliest records of the human race to find that they were more or less full of astronomical allusions—in fact, that the principal study which engaged the attention of primitive man was the study of the starry heavens.

In my lecture on “The Evolution of the God Idea” I have already pointed out how the earliest religious conceptions arose from this study; and in my “Popular Faith Unveiled” I have endeavoured to show that, in naming the constellations, the ancients adopted the wise device of giving to groups of stars the names of the particular earth productions or earth phenomena that happened to take place at the time when such star groups made their appearance in the heavens. Now, it is a very remarkable fact that in those ancient countries of which we have any exact knowledge the heavenly bodies received very similar and, in many instances, identical names, which is just what we should expect if the above theory of the naming be correct. Take the zodiac, for example, which is the line of the apparent annual circuit of the sun, and we find that in Egypt, India, Persia, and Greece it was divided into twelve portions of 30 degrees each, the whole circuit consisting of 360 degrees; and the equivalent signs bore a wonderful similarity to each other. In the old Indian zodiac published in the “Philosophical Transactions” of 1772 the signs are as follows, commencing at the vernal equinoxial point:—Ram, Bull, Man with two shields, Crab, Lion, Virgin, Balances, Scorpion, Bow and Arrow, Monster with goat’s head and fish’s hindquarters, Urn, Fish. In the Indian zodiac published by Sir W. Jones they are as follows:—Ram, Bull, Youth and Damsel, Crab, Lion, Virgin in a boat, holding an ear of rice-corn, Man holding the balances, Scorpion, Centaur shooting with a bow and arrow, Monster with antelope’s head and fish’s hindquarters, Man carrying a water-pot on his shoulder, Two Fishes. The ancient Persian zodiacal signs were: Lamb, Bull, Twins, Crab, Lion, Ear of Corn, Balances, Scorpion, Bow, Goat, Pitcher of Water, Two Fishes. In the zodiac depicted on the ceiling of the Egyptian temple of Isis at Dendera the following are the signs:—Ram, Bull, Twins, Beetle, Lion, Virgin holding an ear of corn, Balances, Scorpion, Centaur shooting with bow and arrow, Monster with goat’s head and fish’s hindquarters, Man pouring water from two water-pots, Two Fishes. In Kircher’s Egyptian zodiac the signs are:—Man with ram’s horns, Bull, Twins, Hermes with head of an Ibis, Lion, Virgin holding an ear of corn, Man holding the balances, Man with serpents for legs and having a serpent twisted round his body, Centaur shooting with bow and arrow, Monster with goat’s head and fish’s hindquarters, Man with an urn from which water was falling, Woman with fish’s tail. Ancient Greek zodiacs had the following signs:—Ram, Bull, Twins, Crab, Lion, Virgin, Balances, Scorpion, Centaur shooting with bow and arrow, Goat with fish’s hindquarters, Canobus with his pitcher of water, Two Fishes. The Romans followed the Greeks, and these signs have since remained unchanged in all modern zodiacs, being now known under the following names:—Aries, the ram; Taurus, the bull; Gemini, the twins; Cancer, the crab; Leo, the lion; Virgo, the virgin; Libra, the balances; Scorpio, the scorpion; Sagittarius, the centaur-archer; Capricornus, the goat-fish; Aquarius, the water-bearer; Pisces, the fishes.

Each of these signs corresponds with a particular portion of the year, varying according to the slow movement known as the precession of the equinoxes, by which all the signs are moved forward very slightly year by year, at the rate of one degree in 71 or 72 years, until, at the end of about 2,152 years, a whole sign has moved forward into the position previously occupied by the sign immediately preceding it. This is caused by the failure of the sun to reach the same point in the same time in his apparent circuit each year; and thus it happens that, in a period of rather less than 26,000 years, each sign will have moved completely round the zodiacal band. Now, by careful calculation it has been found that the vernal equinoxial point coincided with the first degree of Aries about 28,000 years ago, with the first degree of Libra about 17,000 years ago, with the first degree of Taurus B.C. 4,340, with that of Aries B.C. 2,188, and with that of Pisces B.C. 36; so that, at the present time, the vernal equinoxial point is really occupied by the sign of the fishes, although, for astronomical purposes, the sign of the ram is always placed in that position, and will, for the future, always be considered as the first sign of the zodiac, no matter what sign may really occupy that position. Thus there is now what is called a fixed zodiac, which never changes, and which is an arbitrary arrangement made for scientific purposes, and a real zodiac whose figures move steadily and slowly year by year, until at the end of rather more than two thousand years the vernal equinoxial point is occupied by the sign immediately following the one which occupied it during that period of time.

Although now the fixed zodiac is an established fact, such an arrangement was undreamed of by the ancients, who regulated their almanacks from the actual sign at the time occupying the vernal equinoxial point; so that between the years 4340 B.C. and 2188 B.C. the sign of the bull was the first and chief sign of the zodiac, while during the two thousand years following—that is, until 36 B.C.—the sign of the ram or lamb took its place. The vernal equinox falls on March 21st each year, at which time the sun, having ascended from its lowest point of declination (December 21st), arrives at that portion of its annual course at which the equator and the ecliptic cross each other; and thus during the period when the sign of the bull was the vernal equinoxial sign the sun was said to be in Taurus, while in the following period, when the sign of the ram took the place of that of the bull, the sun was said to be in Aries. In order to understand thoroughly the apparent annual march of the sun round our earth, it will be necessary to observe the actual double motions of our earth round the sun and upon its own axis. Let us suppose that we are again in the period when the sun was in Aries at the vernal equinox; on the 21st of March our earth, in travelling round the sun (annual motion), has reached a point at which the sun is placed between us and the first stars of Aries, which are then, of course, invisible, because when the sun is visible it is daytime—that is, the part of the earth on which we stand is opposed to the sun, which renders all the stars in that part of the heavens invisible; but, as the earth continues to turn upon its axis (daily motion), we gradually lose sight of the sun, and as the darkness closes around us the stars upon the opposite side of the heavens become visible; so that, when the sun is in Aries, or any other sign, that sign is always invisible to us, and at night we see the sign that occupies the opposite side of the zodiac. Day after day, as the earth continues to move round the sun, a few more stars in the sign Aries are covered, until at the end of a month the sun reaches the next sign, Taurus; and the opposite signs, which we see at night, have also moved on to the same extent. Thus at noon on March 21st the sun is at its highest daily ascension, south of the zenith, or highest point of the heavens, obliterating by its effulgence the first stars of the sign Aries, through which it is apparently about to pass, and at midnight following the opposite sign, Libra, is seen at the same distance from the nadir, or highest point of the darkened heavens; while a month later, when the sun at noon is in Taurus, the sign Scorpio is seen at the opposite point at midnight; and so on through all the signs, one month being occupied by the passing of the sun through each sign, so that it passes through Aries in March, Taurus in April, Gemini in May, Cancer in June, Leo in July, Virgo in August, Libra in September, Scorpio in October, Sagittarius in November, Capricornus in December, Aquarius in January, Pisces in February. This was precisely what occurred in the zodiac during the years from B.C. 2188 to B.C. 36; but in the period of two thousand years immediately preceding this, owing to the precession of the equinoxes, the order was changed, so that Taurus was the sign of March, Gemini of April, and so on, each sign being a month earlier; while at the present time Pisces is the sign of March, and each other sign one month later than when Aries was at the vernal equinoxial point. Each of these signs occupies 30 degrees of the zodiac, the whole twelve making up 360 degrees, which is the total length of the imaginary sphere of the heavenly vault; and the ancients again divided each of these signs into three portions of ten degrees each, called decans making 36 decans for the complete zodiacal circle. When the sun was passing through a sign the astrologers publicly proclaimed the exact moment of its entry upon the first decan, which they called the upper room, the whole sign being called the house of the sun; the second decan they called the middle or inner room, and the third the lower room. On each side of the zodiacal band there are also a number of what are called extra-zodiacal constellations, which never vary their position with regard to the zodiacal signs, the constellations on either side of Aries always rising and setting at the same time with that sign, those on each side of Taurus doing likewise, and so on through all the signs.

As the various astronomical figures became endowed by the ancients with divine honours, each of these signs became associated with a number of romantic stories, until at length the struggles, victories, and defeats of the gods were told in such a variety of ways that sufficient lore existed to fill, if written down, whole libraries. The zodiacal signs were all gods of great importance; the planets were gods, the sun was a god, the moon was a goddess, and the extra-zodiacal constellations were either gods or heroes; but all were not of equal importance, and, owing to the constant changing of positions, some were powerful and victorious at one time and weak and dying at another. The chief deity, which to the Aryans was Dyaus, the day-father, became in later times a concentrated essence of all the gods, and was supposed to undergo all the vicissitudes to which they were subjected; but, inasmuch as the new-born sun was the life of the world, bringing back happiness, and the vernal equinoxial sign was the one at which his influence began to be felt, these two deities were looked upon as god par excellence, a dual deity, separate yet conjoined, and of equal power and authority. So, when the bull was the vernal equinoxial point, the sun-in-Taurus was supreme god; and when the ram, or lamb, was the vernal equinoxial point the sun-in-Aries was supreme God; and, although it was only in March that the sun was at the vernal equinoxial point, yet the bull-god, for two thousand years prior to B.C. 2188, was always supreme, and the ram-god (in Egypt) or lamb-god (in Persia) after that date. On leaving the vernal equinoxial sign the sun passed into the next in order; but, although then not actually in conjunction with the chief sign, it yet was but slightly removed from it, the distance growing larger as each fresh sign was occupied; and never were the sun and the principal sign actually separated from each other in the zodiac, so as to pass into opposite hemispheres, until the autumnal equinoxial point was crossed, after which the sun passed successively through all the winter constellations, being separated for the space of six months from the sign of the vernal equinox. Therefore the six summer signs were accounted specially bountiful and holy, the sign of the vernal equinox being the head and chief of the six, while the six winter signs were accounted less holy, but quite as powerful for evil as the others were for good.

From this was formed the main drama of all subsequent mythological systems, the groundwork of which was, briefly, as follows:—The saviour-sun-god was born at the winter solstice, and ascended to the vernal equinox, where he was united with the bull, becoming the bull-god, and in aftertime with the ram or lamb, becoming the ram-god or lamb-god: after crossing the equator at the spring covenant, or coming together of the equator and ecliptic, he ascended to the summit of the heavens, becoming the lion-god, at the height of his power, and then descending again to the autumnal covenant, or equinox, to pass through the winter or scorpion signs, alone, and mourning the loss of the vernal equinoxial sign, which was torn from him at the autumnal equinox. This simple narrative received numerous embellishments in after times, according to the fancy of the astrologers and priests, who, in many cases, contrived to make out of it a beautiful poem or a sublime allegorical drama.

In describing the entry of the sun upon any particular sign the ancient astrologers were in the habit of referring, not only to the sign itself and to its decans, but also to the accompanying extra-zodiacal constellations, as well as to the visible zodiacal signs and extra-zodiacal constellations of the opposite hemisphere. For instance, during the period of the lamb’s supremacy (B.C. 2188 to B.C. 36) the position of the stars at the moment of the commencement of the annual apparent march of the sun round the zodiac was as follows:—The first stars of the zodiacal sign Capricornus were at the winter solstitial point, December 21st, and invisible to the eye, being directly south of the zenith at noon, the extra-zodiacal constellations Picis Australis on the south, and Aquila on the north, being on either side of it, and the zodiacal signs Sagittarius in front and Aquarius behind, accompanying it in its march; while on the opposite side of the zodiac, at midnight, was seen, directly to the south of the nadir, the sign Cancer, in which were the PrÆsepe, or stable of Augias; the Io-sepe, cradle of Jupiter or manger of Jao; and the Aselli, or two asses; on the east the sign Virgo was just about to appear above the horizon; on the western horizon was the sign Aries, above which, and crossing the equator, was the extra-zodiacal constellation Orion, with the three large stars in his belt; and immediately below which was the sea monster Cetus, just sinking below the horizon. In proclaiming the birth of the sun at Christmas, therefore, the astrologers would make mention of all these points; and, consequently, the more prominent and interesting of them would become impressed more or less upon the minds of the people, to be converted in after times into various fantastic and romantic fables, as the manufacture of gods out of these astronomical phenomena proceeded.

The principal astronomical features of this annual sun-birth were, therefore, as follows:—The birth took place in the house of the goat, exactly opposite to which were the manger of Jao and the stable of Augias, between two asses; at the same moment the virgin was about to appear above the eastern horizon; the lamb was, as it were, hurling the sea monster Cetus below the western horizon; and the three brilliant stars, called the three kings, in the belt of Orion, were shining above the lamb, on the opposite horizon to where, after the lapse of sixteen days (January 6th), would appear that brilliant star Vindemiatrix, the Virgin by that time having risen sufficiently high above the horizon for that orb, which is situated in her elbow, to be seen at midnight.

All the subsequent fables concerning the birth of a saviour-god were but modifications of this. Mithra, Krishna, Horus, Bacchus, Jesus, and, in fact, all the sun-gods, were born on December 25th, at midnight; and the stories related of each bore a marked resemblance to each other. The real birthday of the sun-god was December 22nd, at the first hour; but it was always reckoned from the same time on December 25th, because at that moment, and not before, the first stars of Virgo appeared above the horizon, which was the sign by which it became known that the birth had actually taken place three days and three nights previously. This gave rise to a popular notion that the sun-god struggled for that length of time at each of the solstitial and equinoxial points, and accounts for the fable of the two crucifixions when the sun-god, in crossing the equator in March and September, was, for three days and three nights, in torture before he finally ascended to heaven in the one case, and descended to hell in the other.

The Christian myth of the birth and death of the saviour-god, although now considerably amplified and converted into a long history, was originally, no doubt, of a much simpler form, and, probably, of the following nature:—Jesus, the sun-god, was born at midnight, between December 24th and December 25th, his mother, Virgo, having been three days and three nights in the agony of childbirth; the virgin, not being allowed to enter the house of the goat, being on the opposite side of the zodiac, was obliged to seek refuge in the stable of Augias (Cancer), and place her baby in the manger of Jao, at which moment the lamb of god, Aries, hurled into the abyss the great monster of evil, or Cetus; the three kings in the belt of Orion, perceiving, on January 6th, the great star Vindemiatrix rise in the east, which was their guiding star, made obeisance to the new-born god and disappeared below the horizon, going down by the west, instead of returning by the east, or way they had come. Growing from this moment, the young sun-god commenced his journey towards the city of god, the summer solstice, at the top of the hill, or height of annual ascension, meeting at the outset Aquarius, the man with the pitcher of water, or John the Baptist, with whom he remained for a time; after which he entered upon the season of fasting, or the sign Pisces, the fishes, and prepared by austerities for the coming feast of the Passover, or coming together (covenant) of the ecliptic and equator, when he would be crucified—that is, be placed cross-wise on the two lines (ecliptic and equator). After this he entered into the sign, Aries, the lamb, having been shown the way by the man with the pitcher of water, Aquarius, and partook of the feast in the upper room or first decan, immediately after which he was crucified as the lamb of god—that is, passed the crossing of the equator and ecliptic in the sign of the lamb. For three days and three nights he struggled in the tomb, or suspense, and then ascended into heaven, accompanied by the lamb, passing the signs Taurus and Gemini, saying to the twins that he could stay with them but a little while, and where he was going they could not go (John xii.), and finally reaching the city of heaven, Jerusalem, or Cancer, passing over the two asses (Aselli) at the entrance to it. Here, on the top of the mount, or at the height of his annual ascension, he had another three days and three nights of tribulation, struggling with the devil, the heavenly serpent, who had led or preceded him up the mount, but who left him as soon as he arrived at the top; for Serpens, at this point, returns while the sun commences his descent towards the autumnal crucifixion. Passing into Leo, he was transfigured on the mount—that is, became more resplendent than ever, after which he entered Virgo, where the seductions of the lady sorely tempted him, for being offered the juice of the autumn grape he drank copiously with the damsel until none was left; whereupon she suggested that he should turn water into wine, but he resisted further temptation, exclaiming, “Woman, what have I to do with thee?” and pursued his course towards the autumnal equinox, where he passed into Libra and crossed the equator and ecliptic again, or, in other words, was crucified in Egypt as the “just man,” being at length separated from Aries for six months, which caused him to exclaim in grief, “My ram! my ram! why hast thou forsaken me?” After three days’ and three nights’ struggle he descended into hell, the tomb, or the dark regions, to be born again at the winter solstice as before; after which he would reconquer the powers of evil, or the winter signs, and again become the lamb of god, “slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. xiii. 8) the Amen, or Jupiter Ammon, of the Apocalypse, at which moment he exclaims, “I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold I, Amen, am alive for evermore” (Rev. i. 18), and “These things saith Amen, the true and faithful witness, the beginning of the creation of God” (Rev. iii. 14). The winter period, commencing with Libra, was called by the ancients the period of scorpions, because Scorpio was the principal sign of the period, and next after the equinoxial sign; Egypt (see Rev. xi. 8), because, that being the most southerly country then known, the sun appeared to descend into it at that time of the year; and Sodom, Gomorrah, etc., because it was a period of evil. The sea-monster, Cetus, is the same that is referred to in Rev. xiii. as blasphemy, with a mouth like a lion, feet like a bear, and leopard-like marks on its forequarters, and whose number was declared to be 666, which figure being made up of ? 60, ? 400, ? 6, and ? 200, stands for the word ????, Setur, the concealed one, the Latin equivalent of which is Cetus. This was probably something like the original Christian myth, which, as time wore on, became converted into the absurd story presented to us in the four Gospels.

The story of Adonis being separated from his darling Venus for six months, and being afterwards re-united to her in love for another six months, was fabricated from the same source; as also were the legends of Osiris and Horus, Vishnu and Krishna, Ormuzd and Mithras, Jupiter and Apollo, Jupiter and Bacchus, and Jupiter and Hercules. The cult of Bacchus, indeed, was almost a fac simile of those of Jesus and Adonis, the three being but representations in different countries of the very same drama. The twelve labours of Hercules were no more than the passage of the sun through the twelve signs of the zodiac, just as the twelve patriarchs, the twelve tribes, the twelve stones, and the twelve apostles were the twelve signs themselves. In my “Popular Faith Unveiled” I have pointed out the reasons for thinking the twelve sons of Jacob and the twelve apostles to be the twelve zodiacal signs; but I may here state that, on re-consideration, I am inclined to modify the order maintained there in regard to the twelve sons of Jacob (p. 122) by changing the places of Benjamin and Zebulun, the former being, in my present opinion, the sign Gemini, and the latter Capricornus; and as to the twelve apostles, I may here supply an omission made in the same work, by stating that Andrew (p. 198) represents Aries, of March, being always depicted with a ×, which forms the angle made by the crossing of the equator and ecliptic on March 21st. The mystic number seven was derived from the summer signs of the zodiac, including the two equinoxial signs, which were called the pillars of the temple, the vault of the summer heavens being the temple itself. Thus arose the allusions to the seven trumpets, the seven candlesticks, the seven churches, and the seven seals in the Apocalypse, each of which was a summer zodiacal sign; and here I may again supply an omission in my “Popular Faith Unveiled” (p. 246) by stating that the church of Smyrna represented Virgo, of August, in which month bundles of myrrh were always offered to the sun, the word S???a signifying “myrrh.”

Besides mystic numbers, there were a number of mystic symbols in use among the ancients, by which the great and important phenomena in nature were kept constantly before the eyes of the people. The chief and most widely known symbol is the cross, representing the ascending sun bringing back fresh life to the world at the vernal equinox; but the cross was by no means the only symbol of this important occurrence; trees, torches, the male organs of generation, or phallus, and various animals were frequently used for the same purpose—in fact, the symbolical worship of the ancients assumed gigantic proportions, almost every conceivable device being seized upon to render homage to the great re-fertiliser of the earth. No one of the religious cults was free from a large admixture of what is known as phallic worship—that is, worship of the fertilising principle; and it was a common custom for people to swear by their generative organs, as being the most sacred things on earth, representing the divine energy in a state of procreative activity. Thus we find in Psalm lxxxix. 49 the following words (literally translated): “O my Adonis, where are thy endearments of old, which thou swearedst for the sake of love by thy phallus, O Ammon?” The Hebrew letter ? was the sign of the cross, or phallus, which was also used by the Phoenicians, being derived from the Arabic ??], the sybol of the life-giver. This passage evidently had reference to the violent death of Adonis, who, at the autumnal equinox, was attacked by a wild boar, which tore away his generative organs and rendered him consequently impotent, until he was born again, when he acquired fresh powers and grew in beauty and stature, ready to re-unite with Venus at the spring equinox.

On the mithraitic monuments the spring equinox is represented by lighted and elevated torches, trees covered with leaves, entire bulls, and young men holding lighted torches; while the autumnal equinox is represented by a hydra, or long serpent, a scorpion, reversed and extinguished torches, trees loaded with autumn fruits, a bull with its generative organs torn away, and old men holding reversed and extinguished torches. The Rev. G. W. Cox, M.A. and scholar of Trinity College, Oxford, in his “Mythology of the Aryan Nations,” says: “The male and female powers of nature were denoted respectively by an upright and an oval emblem, and the conjunction of the two furnished at once the altar and the ashera, or grove, against which the Hebrew prophets lifted up their voice in earnest protest.... In the kingdom both of Judah and Israel the rites connected with these emblems assumed their most corrupting form. Even in the temple itself stood the Ashera, or the upright emblem on the circular altar of Baal-Peor, the Priapos of the Jews, thus reproducing the Linga and Yoni of the Hindu. For this symbol the women wove hangings, as the Athenian maidens embroidered the sacred peplos for the ship presented to Athene at the great Dionysiac festival. Here, at the winter solstice, they wept and mourned for Tammuz, the fair Adonis, done to death by the boar.... Here, also, on the third day, they rejoiced at the resurrection of the lord of light. Hence, as most intimately connected with the reproduction of life on earth, it became the symbol under which the sun, invoked with a thousand names, has been worshipped throughout the world as the restorer of the powers of nature after the long sleep or death of winter.”

This symbol was from the earliest times venerated as a protecting power, and Jacob, on his journey to Laban, slept under its protecting influence: placed erect—sometimes as a tree, at others as a cross, and often as a phallus—and resting on a crescent, the modified form of the yoni, this symbol set forth the marriage of heaven and earth; and in the form of a serpent, representing life and healing, it was worshipped by the Egyptians and Jews. In the book of Genesis the phallic tree is introduced, where it is called the tree of knowledge of good and evil. From Plutarch we learn that the Egyptians represented Osiris with the organ of generation erect, to show his generative and prolific power, and that he was the same deity as the Bacchus of the Greek mythology and the first begotten love (???? p??t??????) of Orpheus and Hesiod. In an excellent work entitled “Discourse on the Worship of Priapus,” by Richard Payne Knight, there are a number of plates illustrating the mode in which this phallic worship was carried on by the ancients, some of which are very curious and well worth the trouble of studying carefully. One plate represents a celebrated bronze in the Vatican, with the male organs of generation placed on the head of a cock, the emblem of the rising sun, supported by the neck and shoulders of a man, the whole being emblematical of god incarnate with man, and on the base of which are inscribed the words SO??? ??S???, “Saviour of the world.” Another figure on the same plate represents an ornament in the British Museum, consisting of a male organ with wings and the foot of a man suspended from a chain. Another plate shows two representations of the god Pan, one with the organ erect, the symbol of power, or spring, the other with the organ in a state of tumid languor, and loaded with the productions of the earth, the symbol of the results of prolific efforts. Both these last are copies of bronzes in the museum of C. Townley. On another plate is a copy of another of Mr. Townley’s treasures, representing the incarnation of deity, in the shape of a man having sexual intercourse with a goat, the emblem of the new-born deity at the winter solstice, to which is appended the following note by Mr. Payne Knight: “At Mendes a living goat was kept as the image of the generative power, to whom the women presented themselves naked, and had the honour of being publicly enjoyed by him. Herodotus saw the act openly performed (e? ep?de??e? a????p??), and calls it a prodigy (te?a?). But the Egyptians had no such horror of it; for it was to them a representation of the incarnation of the deity, and the communication of his creative spirit to man. It was one of the sacraments of that ancient church, and was, without doubt, beheld with that pious awe and reverence with which devout persons always contemplate the mysteries of their faith, whatever they happen to be.” This figure represented the human male symbol as incarnate with the divine, instead of the divine male incarnate with the human, as in the well-known one found among the ruins of Herculaneum and kept concealed in the Royal Museum of Portici. It is unnecessary to describe the whole of the interesting plates which illustrate Mr. Knight’s work, copies of all of which I have carefully taken.

There is abundant evidence in ancient authors as to the prevalence of this worship of the generative organs, and all agree as to the real meaning of the symbol. In every part of the then known world the conquering sun bringing back life to the world at the spring equinox was represented in some phallic form or other, either as a cross, a phallus, a tree, a serpent, a goat, a bull, a torch, or some other device emblematic of the sexual union of the powers of heaven with mother earth. The cross was the most commonly used phallic symbol, and was generally of the following form—?, the ? being the emblem of the earth, or female organ, and the T that of the sun, or fecundating principle, the combination forming a crux ansata, which was worn as a charm by devout people. This was converted into a simple cross, in which form, as well as in many others, it is found on ancient temples of the most remote periods, as well as at the corners of roads, where it evidently was used as a sign-post, as well as a religious symbol. Among the paintings found at Pompeii there are some in which the god Priapus is represented as a Hermes, on a square pedestal, with an enormous phallus; and others in which he is represented with the usual prominent feature, and, in addition, with a long stick in his hand to point out the way to travellers. Herodotus thus describes a festival in Egypt:—“The festival is celebrated almost exactly as Bacchic festivals in Greece. They also use, instead of phalli, another invention, consisting of images a cubit high, pulled by strings, which the women carry round to the villages. The virile member of these figures is scarcely less than the rest of the body, and this member they contrive to move. A piper goes in front, and the women follow, singing hymns in honour of Bacchus.”

Among the royal offerings to the god Amen by Rameses III. in the great Harris Papyrus are loaves (called “Taenhannur”) in the form of the phallus.[3] In the Pamelia the Egyptians exhibited a statue provided with three phalli; and in the festivals of Bacchus, celebrated by Ptolemy Philadelphus, a gilt phallus, 120 cubits high, was carried in procession. St. Jerome tells us that, in Syria, Baal-Peor, the Hebrew Priapus, was represented with a phallus in his mouth; and in Ezekiel xvi. 17 we find the Jewish women manufacturing silver and golden phalli.

According to Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus, the worship of Bacchus was imported into Greece by Melampus, who taught the Greeks the mysteries connected with phallic worship; and Plutarch says that “nothing, is simpler than the manner in which they celebrated formerly in my country the Dionysiaca. Two men walked at the head of the procession; one carried an amphora of wine, the other a vine branch; a third led a goat; a fourth bore a basket of figs; a figure of a phallus closed the procession.”

Tertullian tells us that that which in the mysteries of Eleusis is considered as most holy, concealed with most care, and only explained to the initiated at the last moment, is the image of the virile member. The festival of Venus, held at Rome in the beginning of April each year, was in honour of the sexual union of the powers of heaven and of earth. The Roman ladies led a cart, in which was a huge phallus, to the temple of Venus, outside the Colline gate, and there presented the member to the sexual part of the goddess. Spring was, indeed, the special season for phallic processions, as we learn from a passage of “Iamblichus de Mysteriis,” given by Mr. Westropp: “We say the erection of the phalli is a certain sign of prolific power, which, through this, is called forth to the generative energy of the world; on which account many phalli are consecrated in the spring, because then the whole world receives from the gods the power which is productive of all generation.”

It is sufficiently obvious that the return of the sun to the vernal equinoxial sign each year, or the union of the active and passive principles, formed the cornerstone of the various religious systems, and that this marriage, as it were, of heaven with earth, occurring each springtime, and bringing with it such a train of good results, gave rise to the most sacred institutions and rites, which to us may appear disgusting, but which, to the ancients, were looked upon with the greatest awe and veneration.

It was not to the generative organs that the ancients offered homage, but to the principles represented by them—to the active and procreative power of the god of nature, the prolific ram-sun, at the spring equinox, and to the passive and recipient mother-earth, the womb of nature, from which we all emanate and to which we all return. It is, however, reasonable to imagine, with the Rev. G. W. Cox, that “it is clear that such a cultus as this would carry with it a constantly-increasing danger, until the original character of the emblem should be as thoroughly disguised as the names of some of the Vedic deities when transferred to Hellenic soil.” Indeed, it is matter of history that these rites, which were held so sacred by the Egyptians, were turned to the basest and most wicked purposes in after times by the worshippers of Bacchus, Adonis, and other deities. The Bacchanalian mysteries and secret rites called Dionysia, or Supper of the lord Dionysos, were publicly denounced by the Roman authorities at the commencement of our era, as were also the Adonia, or Suppers of the lord Adonis, and the Love Feasts, AgapÆ, or Suppers of the lord Jesus. From Gibbon we learn that the early Christians were in the habit of committing at their Love Feasts the most unnatural crimes with sisters, mothers, and others, as is also clearly testified by Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, Tertullian, and Minucius Felix; and Livy’s account of similar practices indulged in by the Bacchanalians at their Dionysia leaves no doubt as to their participation in these horrors. So widely spread was this phallic worship that, within one hundred years of the present time, it was openly followed in some parts of Europe, as appears from a letter of Sir William Hamilton, K.B., British Minister at the Court of Naples, to Sir Joseph Banks, Bart., President of the Royal Society. Accompanying the letter the writer sends an amulet worn by women and children of Naples and the neighbourhood as ornaments of dress, which they imagine will be a preservative against mal occhii (“evil eyes”), or enchantment. It represents a hand clenched, with the point of the thumb thrust between the index and middle finger, on one side, and a male organ erect on the other side, with a ring, or female organ, above, and a flaccid male organ and scrotum beneath, the whole in the form of a cross. The letter is so remarkable that it is worth while reproducing a considerable portion of it, as it appears in Mr. Knight’s work.

“The following is the account of the FÊte of St. Cosmo and Damiano, as it was actually celebrated at Isernia, on the confines of Abruzzo, in the kingdom of Naples, so late as in the year of our Lord 1780. On the 27th of September, at Isernia, one of the most ancient cities of the kingdom of Naples, situated in the province called the Contado di Molise, and adjoining to Abruzzo, an annual fair is held, which lasts three days. The situation of this fair is on a rising ground, between two rivers, about half a mile from the town of Isernia; on the most elevated part of which there is an ancient church, with a vestibule. The architecture is of the style of the lower ages; and it is said to have been a church and convent belonging to the Benedictine monks in the time of their poverty. This church is dedicated to St. Cosmus and Damianus. One of the days of the fair the relics of the saints are exposed, and afterwards carried in procession from the cathedral of the city to this church, attended by a prodigious concourse of people. In the city, and at the fair, ex-voti of wax, representing the male parts of generation, of various dimensions, some even of the length of a palm, are publicly offered to sale. There are also waxen vows, that represent other parts of the body mixed with them; but of these there are few in comparison of the number of Priapi. The devout distributors of these vows carry a basket full of them in one hand, and hold a plate in the other to receive the money, crying aloud, ‘St. Cosmo and Damiano!’ If you ask the price of one, the answer is, PiÙ ci metti, piÙ meriti—’The more you give, the more’s the merit.’ In the vestibule are two tables, at each of which one of the canons of the church presides, this crying out, Oui si ricevina le Misse, e Litanie—’Here Masses and Litanies are received;’ and the other, Oui si riceveno li Voti—’Here the Vows are received.’ The price of a mass is fifteen Neapolitan grains, and of a litany five grains. On each table is a large basin for the reception of the different offerings. The vows are chiefly presented by the female sex; and they are seldom such as represent legs, arms, &c., but most commonly the male parts of generation. The person who was at this fÊte in the year 1780, and who gave me this account (the authenticity of every article of which has since been fully confirmed to me by the Governor of Isernia), told me also that he heard a woman say, at the time she presented a vow, like that which is represented in Plate I., Fig. I., Santo Cosimo benedetto, cosi lo voglio—’Blessed St. Cosmo, let it be like this;’ another, St. Cosimo, a te mi raccommendo—’St. Cosmo, I recommend myself to you;’ and a third, St. Cosimo, ti ruigrazio—’St. Cosmo, I thank you.’ The vow is never presented without being accompanied by a piece of money, and is always kissed by the devotee at the moment of presentation. At the great altar in the church another of its canons attends to give the holy unction, with the oil of St. Cosmo; which is prepared by the same receipt as that of the Roman Ritual, with the addition only of the prayer of the Holy Martyrs, St. Cosmus and Damianus. Those who have an infirmity in any of their members present themselves at the great altar, and uncover the member affected (not even excepting that which is most frequently represented by the ex-voti); and the reverend canon anoints it, saying, Per intercessionem beati Cosmi, liberet te ab omni malo, Amen. The ceremony finishes by the canons of the church dividing the spoils, both money and wax, which must be to a very considerable amount, as the concourse at this fÊte is said to be prodigiously numerous.”

At the present day phallic symbolism is perpetuated in our church steeples, in the crosses and circles on our altars and prayer-books, in the pictures of the lamb holding a cross within a circle on our church windows, in the cross-buns eaten at the paschal feast, in the Easter eggs, and in various other ways; while the Pyramids of Egypt and the Luxor obelisks—one in London, one in Paris, and one in St. Petersburg—form a connecting phallic link between the ancient Egyptians and ourselves. The sphynx has been said by some to be a phallic figure; but I do not subscribe to this view at all, holding the opinion that it is simply a union of two zodiacal signs, July and August of the fixed zodiac. It appears to me that at a very remote time, when the sign Virgo was about to be supplanted at the vernal equinox by the next sign, Leo—somewhere about fifteen thousand years ago, or rather later—the priests or astrologers hit upon the idea of placing the head of Virgo upon the shoulders of Leo, thus manufacturing a new kind of figure, which, on account of its partaking of the dual nature of the then most prominent of the gods, became very popular, and was depicted in various forms and in many parts of the country. This may also have been the modus faciendi of Capricornus and Sagittarius, if we can imagine a still earlier period when the zodiac was so different from the present form as to have signs represented by a fish, a goat, a horse, and an archer respectively.

Next to the vernal equinoxial sign the ancients held the winter solstitial sign in the greatest veneration, and consequently the goat was a very sacred animal and occupied a prominent place in all symbolical mythologies. It was from this point that the Egyptians calculated their new year, although the Persians always reckoned theirs from the vernal equinox; and it was on December 21st that the Egyptians fixed the creation of the world, which gave origin to the fable of a goat having been the creator, thus accounting for the fact of the early copies of the Samaritan Pentateuch commencing with the following words: “At the commencement the goat (???) renovated the heavens and the earth” (Genesis I. 1). Here we meet with a very good example of the patchwork style in which the Bible was compiled. In Egypt the new year reckoned from December 21st, and the creation was supposed to date from the same time of the year, and consequently in all records emanating from the Nile district the celestial goat was honoured for the occasion with the chief godship; but in Persia the new year commenced on March 21st, the date of the creation being fixed at the same point of the zodiac, so that the chief godship was assigned to the celestial lamb or ram and its five fellow signs of the summer hemisphere. Therefore, as the Hebrews derived their creation fable from the Persians, using also the Egyptian mythology with which to embellish their newly-made cosmogony, the two fables became mixed somewhat in the minds of these ignorant wanderers, the consequence being that in some of their MSS. the creation was said to have been the act of the goat (???), while in others it was attributed to the ram-sun, Elyah (????), or the six summer signs commencing with the ram-sun, and called on that account the Elohim (?????), this word being the plural form of Eloh (????) or Elyah (????), a compound word made up of Yah (??), the Hebrew name for the sun-god, and El (??), the celestial lamb or ram.

Not only were the three principal signs—the bull, the ram, and the goat—held in great veneration by the Egyptians, but all the zodiacal signs were worshipped in various degrees; indeed, each figure of the zodiac can be easily assigned to one of the principal gods of Egypt, as they were known prior to B.C. 2188. The ram was Amen, the Egyptian Jupiter, called Zeus Amen (?e?? ???) by the Greeks and Jupiter Ammon by the Romans, who was represented with a ram’s head and horns. The bull was Apis, or Serapis, worshipped as a living bull, the incarnation of the principal deity at the vernal equinox. The twins were the Greek Castor and Pollux, who were worshipped by the Egyptians under similar names. The crab was Anubis, the Egyptian Mercury. The lion was Osiris, Ra, or Phthah, according to the district and age, the sun-god at the height of his power at the summer solstitial point, June 24th. The virgin was Isis, the beloved of Osiris. The balances were included with the scorpion, the two being worshipped as Set-Typhon, Tum, or Sekru, according to the district and age, the sun-god at the autumnal equinox, suffering defeat at the hands of the powers of darkness. The centaur-archer was the Egyptian Hercules. The goat was Pan, or Mendes. The water-bearer was Horus, the avenger of his father’s defeat, born December 21st, and a conqueror on March 21st; also Mises, the Egyptian Bacchus, who, being the sign of the sun-god’s birth, leads the twelve signs out of the land of bondage, and institutes the feast of commemoration at the sign of the lamb, whose horns he wears; and also Harmachis. The fishes are Oannes, the Egyptian saviour-fish, who, when that sign was at the winter solstitial point, saved the world as the new-born sun.

These twelve signs of the zodiac were, in fact, the twelve principal gods of all races; the seven summer signs, including the two equinoxial signs, being the seven specially sacred gods, inhabiting the upper temple of the most high god, which was the vault of the summer heavens, supported by the two pillars of the equinoxes or covenants. Almost every race had temples divided into upper and lower courts or rooms, the upper one being the residence of their chief gods; and these temples were originally meant to represent the universe, having an upper hemisphere, governed by the good principle, and a lower hemisphere, governed by the bad principle, this idea being frequently further represented by a closed ark or chest, representing the lower or dark hemisphere, upon which sat the chief deity, representing the good principle of the upper hemisphere. The Egyptians, according to Plutarch, enclosed the body of Osiris in an ark every year at the autumnal equinox, when the sun was in Scorpio, which was a rite emblematical of the annual death of the sun-god of summer; and the Jews, it will be remembered, suffered defeat at the hands of the Philistines, immediately after they had taken the ark out of Shiloh, where it had been deposited, the word Shiloh being the name of a tiny group of stars in the sign Scorpio. The movable temple of the Hebrews, or tabernacle, as described in Exodus, is the best example we have of this representation of the universe, being described in such minute detail as to betray its meaning to the dullest mind. It was divided into two portions—the lower or outer portion, and the upper or inner portion, the holy of holies, where dwelt the Hebrew chief tribal god, Yahouh, or Yah, sitting upon the ark of the covenant, representing the winter part of the heavens between the two covenants or equinoxes. On each side of Yah was a cherub, or monster with four faces (or, according to some, with four bodies)—one like a bull, another like a man, a third like an eagle, and the last like a lion, as we find fully described by Ezekiel (chap. i.). In my “Popular Faith Unveiled” (pp. 131, 174, and 247) I have attributed these heads (or bodies) to the four zodiacal signs of ascension after the vernal equinox, that like a bull to Taurus, that like a man to Gemini, that like an eagle to Cancer, and that like a lion to Leo; but, according to Sir W. Drummond, in his “Œdipus Judaicus,” they correspond with the signs at the four quarters of the sphere—viz., the man to Aquarius, the ox to Taurus, the lion to Leo, and the eagle to Scorpio, this calculation being based on the supposition that the cherubim were first introduced during the period prior to B.C. 2188, when Taurus was the vernal equinoxial point, while mine supposes Aries to have been the chief zodiacal sign. Which calculation is right the reader must decide for himself, after carefully studying the reasons given for both conclusions. Clement of Alexandria, in his “Stromata,” says of these cherubim: “Each of them has six wings, whether they typify the two bears, as some will have it, or, which is better, the two hemispheres.... Both have twelve wings, and thus through the circle of the zodiac, and of self-marrying time, they typify the world perceived by the senses.” The table in the temple was symbolical of the earth, as we learn from Clement of Alexandria again, when he says: “The table, as I think, signifies the image of the earth; it is sustained by four feet, answering to the summer, autumn, spring, and winter.” The shew-bread was placed on the table in front of Yah, and was divided into twelve pieces, typical of the twelve signs, as we find stated in Ex. xxv. 22 and 30 (literally translated): “And I will hang [or be deposited] there, set [or sitting] before thee; and I will talk to thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim, which are upon the ark of the testimony ... and thou shalt set shew-bread always upon the table in front of me.” The candlesticks, with three branches on each side and one in the centre, having seven lamps burning on them, represented the seven summer signs, including both the equinoxial ones. Josephus tells us that the candlesticks were divided into seventy parts, answering to the seventy decans of the seven signs. The veil of the temple was of blue, purple, and scarlet, and represented the atmospheric vault of heaven tinged, as it frequently is, by the sun’s rays. The pomegranates represented the fixed stars. The dress of the high priest was ornamented with 566 bells, corresponding with the days of the sidereal year, with two bright emeralds and twelve precious stones, which, according to Clement of Alexandria, represented the sun and moon and the twelve signs of the zodiac.

Sufficient has been said to leave no doubt as to the real meaning of the tabernacle and its appurtenances, and, I think, to establish the truth of what I have previously stated—viz., that the ancient religions were of astronomical origin and abounding in symbolical rites and ceremonies. It only remains for me now to repeat what I have maintained before in other essays—that the Christian religion of to-day, although modified by time and circumstances, having been considerably manipulated so as to be brought within touch of modern requirements, is nothing more or less than a rehash of the Egyptian, Persian, Hindu, and Phoenician mythologies—an old worn-out faith, in fact, dressed in gaudy and attractive garments.

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The unbeliever or heretic was placed upright inside the virgin, and the doors were closed so that the spikes penetrated the victim’s eyes & chest, after which the body was dropped through the floor into the river Pegnitz.

Fixed in a vault cut out of the rock beneath the Nuremberg Town Hall, in Bavaria, and used as an instrument of torture by the Christian Church.

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