Freethought Nation

I gave the talk at the Canberra Astrology Club. The audience were all women, about ten. They meet every two months, and this was the biggest audience there in ages. We had a very lively discussion, touching on the existence of Christ, the archetype of Mary and Isis, the astronomy of precession, the cosmic egg, the twelvefold harmonic of the cosmos, climate change, etc.

So glad you found it of interest Acharya. I posted it on the Jesus Mysteries Yahoo Forum but it has not appeared there yet. I think they don't like anything to do with astrology.

Well, those women got an eyeful and earful - they're lucky to have you provide them with such enlightening information.

Sounds like there aren't any "mysteries" to be discussed at the Jesus Mysteries group. Why not call it the "Historical Jesus Endless Debate," if you're not really interested in the actual mysteries that the Christ myth encapsulates, which are significantly astrotheological?

Could be one reason I don't have any interest in that group, but do keep bringing the data to them, since they seem to have at least a passing interest in the history of Christian origins.

Apparently, they are clueless as to the scholarly discourses on the astrology in antiquity, including vis-a-vis Christianity?

Early Christianity and Ancient Astrology

Note Part B (p. 195): "Early Christian Accommodation of Astrology"


If the folks at the Jesus Mysteries aren't factoring in this particular aspect of Christian origins, they are wasting their time.



Here's a pithy quote from another scholarly work on ancient astrology, Locations of Knowledge in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, published by Brill:


As we can see, there is much more to the subject than meets the eye, and those who claim to be "experts" on Christian origins while ignoring the astrology/astrotheology are lacking a huge piece of the puzzle.

I can do this all day long - in fact, I do. There are in reality thousands of books published by Brill and other academic presses that discuss astrology.

Again, those who are debating the nature of ancient religion - including Judaism and Christianity - but are ignorant of astrology cannot be considered experts on the subject. If the subject of astrology in antiquity is important and good enough for E.J. Brill's authors, it's good enough for me.

To reiterate, there's much more to this story, as we can see, and, again, those scholars and students of ancient religion and Christian origins who do not factor in astral religion or astrotheology will not recognize what they are studying. In reality, said scholars - including New Testament specialists - cannot be said to be experts on Christian origins, since they completely rip Christianity out of its context and have little idea about the religious and mythological milieu/atmosphere in which the religious was birthed.

Those of you here who are interested in these subjects are the lucky ones to have this information make its way to you. I personally find it utterly fascinating and a huge - massive - addition to cultural achievements of antiquity. Without this enormous piece of the cultural puzzle, our ancestors would not have been nearly as interesting or accomplished. Moreover, much SCIENCE we possess today is traceable to this "religious" fervor.

For all those reasons, I have dedicated my life to bringing forth this most fascinating human cultural development, through a ridiculous amount of adversity, from both the believing AND unbelieving communities.

Imagine if this information had been shared by the mainstream media beginning 15+ years ago, when I first went online? How much more enlightened the world would be? How many wars and deaths could have been avoided? The deliberate ignorance and snubbing of the material I bring to light is not only foolish, it's dangerous.

Instead of enlightenment, humanity remains in the dark because of idiotic religious conditioning and prejudices. Unfortunately, the prejudices based on ignorance and a lack of vision have extended to members of the nonbelieving community as well, likewise keeping this fascinating and important information suppressed.

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Why suffer from Egyptoparallelophobia, when you can read Christ in Egypt? Try it - you'll like it:

Ancient Astrological Geography and Acts 2:9-11

And yet another juicy quote, from The Gospel of Judas in Context: Proceedings of the First International Conference on the Gospel of Judas (302):


It should be noted that "B. Metzger" is Bruce Banning Metzger, a very well-respected Christian scholar, a professor at Princeton Theological Seminary and one of the main editors of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible.

If the analysis of Christian origins and/or traditions in the context of ancient astrology is good enough for Dr. Metzger, it's good enough for me. (Whereas, Yahoo groups and other fora in which the analysis of Christian origins/traditions vis-a-vis ancient astrology is absent are NOT good enough for me.)

Acts 2:9-11:


Metzger finds the zodiacal signs in these obscure verses, but the astrotheological symbolism within Christianity, based on the traditions of countless cultures in the pertinent area up to that era, extends much, much farther than that.

For example, Jesus and the 12 represents the same mythical and mystical formula dating back millennia, as demonstrated in the post here called "The Twelve in the Bible."

Obviously, my work covers much other astrotheological symbolism in the Bible and Christianity, but this subject bears continual revisiting in light of Metzger's article, etc., which demonstrate that "astrology" is not a dirty word among professional scholars, even a few engaged in New Testament studies. To ignore this subject and yet pretend to be delving thoroughly into Christian origins constitutes disingenuousness or, to be kind, a sign of unawareness and non-expertise.

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Why suffer from Egyptoparallelophobia, when you can read Christ in Egypt? Try it - you'll like it:

I meant to say, thank you very much Acharya for your kind comments. I do appreciate you reading my talk as I generally find that most of what I say is despised and rejected. My aim was to provide a completely scientific approach to Egyptian myth and how it continued in hidden form in Christianity. If there are statements that I make for which people have doubts and would like evidence, please quote and I will be happy to discuss. And please, there are only a few dozen contentious claims at most, not thousands!

Note also, I edited the text after posting here, so the link in Acharya's quote will not go to the most recent version, which is at http://rtulip.net/astronomy

Thanks, Robert.

But, I didn't say this:


I said I couldn't vouch for every fact among the thousands you've provided. Your work is very dense, and it would take a long time to go through everything there, so I wanted people to understand that I hadn't vetted it for absolute accuracy when I "endorsed" it.

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Why suffer from Egyptoparallelophobia, when you can read Christ in Egypt? Try it - you'll like it:

No worries, sorry if my wording was clumsy. This paper does contain a number of original claims, most of which I have discussed here at some length, especially with Tat Tvam Asi. By saying they are contentious I simply meant that they are new, offering an analysis of the cosmic intent that informed the Bible, and presenting a coherent way to deconstruct traditional supernatural interpretations. Analysing the Bible against the Egyptian 'as above so below' cosmology presents a method to develop a whole new paradigm in theology, reconciling traditional myth with scientific understanding. I live in hope that objective readers will be able to identify claims that are new and seek clarification on any that seem unclear. In general I find there is a complete lack of interest in this area of study, so I appreciate being able to share my work here.

Hat tip to Rene for this video, which has some interesting commentary by VeggieBurger founder Gregory Sams regarding the solar religion and the ancient perception of the sun as sentient.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUC17X1Vx_M#t=2m51s

Later, Sams discusses the apparent "behavior" of other stars as if they are sentient:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUC17X1Vx_M#t=19m12s

Very interesting!

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Why suffer from Egyptoparallelophobia, when you can read Christ in Egypt? Try it - you'll like it:

Well done Robert, I was ready to come in here with two fist flying. I have been an astrologer for 40 yrs now. Once I started on the study of Astrology, what I thought is, was shattered immediately. The Old Testament is all about Astrology not Astronomy. It mattered not what a planet was made of, only the significance of its position to the date and placement of the Sun. The reason why so many structures were built to measure the Suns movement and relationship to the here and now.

There is also and understanding that our solar system is part of a binary system involving Sirius, and that the procession of the Equinox is a cycle of 24, 000 yrs. instead of the 26,000 yrs. Search out Sri Yukteswar and the Holy Science...a book written in 1894 believe it or not. This is one of the most enlightening revelations that I have ever read.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/35297919/Sri- ... ly-Science

Plus, I think we must re-evaluate the idea of what the word "WORSHIP" really recurs to in Gnostic understanding it means to "LEARN OR STUDY" not to bow down a give allegiance. And to understand. The first so called Christians referred to by history were not Christians at all, they were Gnostic in there understanding. They studied the Mystical Crafts. Christianity is a man made religion based on Control, not different than Islam or Judism...from a lesser god...sorry I forgot the letter "J" did not exist back then....LOL

Hi Apollo1, welcome. Thanks for the scribd link to The Holy Science. I have been wanting to read it for a while, since a conversation about it a few years ago with Walter Cruttenden.

Unfortunately, Yukteswar's Binary Star Theory is rubbish. Promoting it only advances the public view that all discussion of precession is pseudoscience. The video The Great Year narrated by James Earl Jones is damaging in this regard.

Precession is fully explained by Newtonian gravitational mechanics of the torque of the sun and moon acting on the equatorial bulge of the earth. Yukteswar and Cruttenden's theory sets the gravitational torque at zero, suggesting wrongly that the solar system is a fixed plate with no internal dynamics. It is simple to refute by measuring the gravitation relations between the earth, the moon and the sun. We have to start with physics if we are to convince anyone of theories in astronomy.

A candidate for ancient theories of the binary star is Canopus, but only in the sense that it moves back and forth from the south pole as a visual marker of precession, with no gravitational link to the Sun. The sun does not have a binary companion.

I've now skimmed through The Holy Science. The interesting thing about it is the use of Revelation and the Gospel of John as references against a Hindu religious framework. Also, the contraction of the old day of Brahma, with its absurd length, into a realistic time frame.

Yukteswar contracts the 4.32 billion years of the Day of Brahma into 24 000 years, roughly the period of the precession of the equinox. I find this interesting against the 12,000 stadia that the Bible suggests as the width of the holy city cube, suggesting 24,000 years for there and back again, as Bilbo put it.

The suggested cosmology is that the Golden Age, the Satya Yuga of Knowledge of God, was at the dawn of the Holocene 12,000 years ago, and we are now emerging from the depth of the Kali Yuga, the Iron Age of Ignorance of God. What I like about this cosmology is its exact match to actual scientific understanding of orbital cycles, with the darkest moment when the northern summer was furthest from the sun in 1296 AD, and the lightest moment when the northern summer was closest to the sun 12000 years ago.

Beyond that, The Holy Science is just theosophical mumbo jumbo. The cosmology is explained at the start, and the rest is just tedious dullness.

I thought you might enjoy astrologer Don Cedrow's, author of Athena's Web, take on astrology in the Old Testament:



http://www.athenasweb.com/AthenaReads.html

Also love Don's interpretation of Revelation:

http://www.athenasweb.com/1995/Column031795.html

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I am the Wind that blows over the Sea;
I am the Wave of the Deep;
I am the Bull of the Seven Battles;
I am the Eagle upon the rock;
I am a Tear of the Sun;

The Eclipse of Solar Mythology?

In the Jesus Mysteries thread started by Robert Tulip, he has raised up the frantic handwaving dismissals and frowning derogation by certain scholars concerning the astrotheological studies of religious origins. He cites Bart Ehrman's sneering about "New Age," when considering "astrology" or, rather, astrolatry as the basis of much religion, including ideas within Christianity.

This bad attitude towards religious origins can be traced to an effort in the 20th century to overturn the significant amount of research and scholarship largely during the 19th century demonstrating numerous ancient religious and mythological notions to have their foundations in nature worship and astral mythology or astrotheology. Here is where the irrational snobbery and bigotry derive, with the resultant severing of all hidden meanings of mythical motifs that date back thousands of years.

As we know here, solar mythology, astral religion and astrotheology most assuredly are at the basis of much religious ideation, so all the snickering and snorting merely reflect the ignorance of this scholarship in the first place. For an immediate example of this contention, we may turn to the Latin writer Macrobius (4th-5th cents. AD/CE), who was quite adamant that most if not all of the deities of his day resolved themselves to sun gods or solar heroes. According to modern scholars, we should ignore all that he had to say, as well as all the literature before and after his time as concerns solar symbols and astral mythology in ancient religion.

Here is the attitude exemplified in an article published in 1955 in The Journal of American Folklore (v. 68, n. 270, p.. 393-416) by Richard M. Dorson, entitled "The Eclipse of Solar Mythology." In this article, Dorson remarks:


So, now we know that all such studies should be dismissed as absurd, fantastic, ridiculous and even dangerous! Imagine entertaining for even one moment that an ancient god could possibly have solar aspects or be considered the sun!

One of these absurd fools, as these mid-20th-century scholars would have deemed him, is the well-known Bible scholar Rev. Dr. J. Glen Taylor, who - absurdly, fantastically, ridiculously and even dangerously - wrote his entire doctoral dissertation about the Jewish god Yahweh as the sun! Let us ridicule him!



As I relate in my ebook Jesus as the Sun throughout History, in his scholarly dissertation Yahweh and the Sun: Biblical and Archaeological Evidence for Sun Worship in Ancient Israel, Taylor (7) remarks:


The description of Yahweh and the Sun states:


As Taylor further says:


In his tome, Taylor discusses Yahweh as a sun god—terming this adulation "solar Yahwism"—as reflected in the sun worship by Israelites described in the biblical texts of Deuteronomy, the Prophets, Job and the Psalms. He also addresses linguistic evidence as well as various archaeological finds that reveal Israelite sun worship, including artifacts such as sun disks and temple/shrine alignments.

What madness this fine scholar must be possessed of to even follow along lines such as these! Bring back the Inquisition!

As I also included in Jesus as the Sun, as concerns the prevalence of solar Yahwism in ancient Israel, Taylor concludes:


Hence, the sun was worshipped by the Israelites, who associated it with their tribal god Yahweh. Indeed, we read from the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus (1st cent. BCE) that Yahweh is the same as the god Iao, while, according to Dr. Roelof van den Broek, a professor of Christian History at the University of Utrecht, "Iao stood for the Sun." Concerning the Iao-Yahweh connection, Dr. Campbell Bonner, head of Classics at the University of Michigan, relates:


As cited by Macrobius, the identification of JHVH/Iao with the sun also appeared in the work of Latin writer Cornelius Labeo (2nd-3rd cents. AD/CE), who in discussing the mysteries and the oracle of Apollo at Claros explained "splendid" Iao as the "supreme god of all gods" who is Hades in winter, Zeus in spring, the Sun in summer and Iao in the fall.

In his book, Taylor mentions Mark S. Smith, another scholar from Yale. Smith also demonstrated great interest in ancient solar and astral mythology - off with his foolish head! In his book Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel, Smith includes a section entitled, "Yahweh and the Sun," in which he provides a subsection, "The Assimilation of Solar Imagery."

The fact is that one cannot be considered an expert on the nature of the biblical god Yahweh without having studied these solar aspects. Hence, those who wave away this subject with sneering and guffawing cannot be considered authorities in this field.

As we can see, solar mythology is alive and well, and we are right to look towards the Bible as a major source thereof. From there, we can proceed to consider not only the Father but also the Son: "I and the Father are one." (Jn 10:30). Let us not, therefore, be dissuaded by those who have clearly not studied this subject in any relevant depth and who are therefore missing out on much fascinating data.

"The Sun of Righteousness will arise with healing in his wings."
Malachi 4:2

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Why suffer from Egyptoparallelophobia, when you can read Christ in Egypt? Try it - you'll like it:

Solar Mythology in the Land of the Rising Sun

Here's another illustration of the irrationality, ignorance and, frankly, cultural bigotry that lead certain scholars and others to ridicule and sneer at solar mythology and the astrotheological roots of much religious ideation dating back many thousands of years.

The Japanese sun goddess Amaterasu is depicted in mythology as emerging from her cave during the month of December, representing the winter-solstice "return" of the sun to bring much-needed and welcome warmth and light to the world. This myth is quite likely much older than when it is first found in writing, possibly in germ form dating back to the earliest periods when humans colonized the Japanese islands. It is quite logical that the "Land of the Rising Sun" would have a pronounced focus on solar mythology.

To ridicule that legacy is not only ethnically bigoted but it strikes foolishly at the very heart of humanity's civilization founded upon on logical and sensible observations of the natural world. For example, our calendars are based on the movements of the celestial bodies, especially the sun and moon. Without calendars, we would not be civilized. Naturally, the orbs that appear to create such relative regularity were looked upon as having sentience or at least being representative of a greater intelligence. Again, this perception is entirely logical, as is the innocent esteem associated with those august celestial bodies. Thus, astral religion or astrotheology was born, not out of madness but out of sane observations.

A truly excellent book on the subject of solar mythology from antiquity to today is Manjaneet Singh's The Sun. The author discusses the many cultures around the world who to this day incorporate a tremendous amount of solar symbolism - having its roots in religion and mythology dating back millennia - into their daily lives. These cultures would include those in India and the Slavic lands - Indo-Slavic tradition, in other words. Again, to dismiss all of this glorious nature-inspired culture from around the globe constitutes bigotry of a high order, as well as willful blindness that asks us to ignore a hugely significant aspect of the human experience.

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Why suffer from Egyptoparallelophobia, when you can read Christ in Egypt? Try it - you'll like it:

Here is what looks like a very cool and fascinating book from the 19th century that you should be able to get for free on Google Books.

The Old Testament in Light of the Ancient East

The book discusses the astral religion of Babylon and elsewhere in depth, including Shamash the sun god and Sin the moon god.

This is the type of book I can't put down. I want to read the whole thing in one sitting. It contains also a bird's-eye view of the happenings of the day in the fields of archaeology, Egyptology, Assyriology, Bible studies, comparative religion and mythology, etc. (Of course, we are supposed to ignore all that and just toss the worthless book on the garbage heap unread, because it doesn't follow our methodology and biases. Couldn't such mindless censorship be construed as a form of "book burning?")

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Why suffer from Egyptoparallelophobia, when you can read Christ in Egypt? Try it - you'll like it:

Thanks for the query.

Shamash the Sun and Saturn

The Hebrew word שמש or shamash/shemesh means (Strong's H8121):


This word is used 134 times in the Old Testament, translated in the Authorized Version as the following, including as "sun" 119 times:


The god Shamash as the Babylonian sun god is quite well known, but his role as Saturn is much less so. In antiquity, it is quite common for gods to take on attributes of other gods and goddesses, and many gods who were not originally sun gods adopted solar characteristics, as the solar cult became dominant.

As we also know, the moon, planets and many constellations were likewise part of this astral religion or astrotheology. Hence, many gods took on attributes of these various celestial entities as well. In this regard, the Jewish tribal god Yahweh possessed many solar and lunar attributes, while he was also said to be representative of Saturn or El in the Canaanite pantheon, the "God of thy Father." (Genesis 46:3) Hence, Jews worship on Saturn-day.

In turn, El possessed many solar attributes, so he could be considered both Saturn and the sun. Ditto with Shamash, apparently - you can see this development in the article that you referenced by Jastrow, who is the author of the book that is the subject of my previous post:


In the Semitic culture, Saturn is considered the "sun of the night," so this "confusion" is understandable, especially when one realizes that we are dealing with significantly "night-sky people," the Semitic peoples to a one using mainly the lunar calendar. Hence, they put great emphasis on the night sky, and the description of Saturn in this manner is logical. Saturn has a solar color, and with the naked eye the rings cannot be discerned easily, so it appears to be fuzzy and projecting rays, like the sun. Saturn was represented by a pointed star, like the sun: The hexagram or "Star of David." As we know, the sun is also a star. In this way, by combining these two powerful celestial bodies, one the bright star of the day and the other of the night, the priesthood could double its hoodoo, so to speak.

Deemed the "central and everlasting sun" because it served as the "pole star," Saturn is considered the great judge, a role traditionally held also by the day star. In stelli-lunar cultures, such as the desert tribes, the night sky is of greater focus, because it is during the night when most travel occurs, avoiding the scalding sun of day.

It is interesting to note that Saturn is called Shabbatai or Sabatai in Hebrew, essentially the same word for "sabbath," shabbat, which Jews celebrate on Saturn-day. As El, Saturn is mentioned many times in the Bible, but, again, El had other functions as well, including solar attributes. Shabbatai/Saturn possesses heavy juju in the system of Kabbalah, revealing Judaism's Saturn-worshipping roots.

Saturn is mentioned overtly in the Bible at Amos 5:26:


Here "Kaiwan your star-god" is Saturn, also transliterated Chiun and Kiyyun, written כיון or Kiyuwn in Hebrew. Strong's H3594 defines Kiyuwn as:



Regarding this passage, the Catholic Encyclopedia states:


Notice how, in discussing Sakkuth, a name for the Babylonian planet-god Ninib, the Catholic Encyclopedia points out that it was "merged with Saturn." Again, as we can see from this example alone, many gods and goddesses shared, traded and absorbed each other's attributes, which were often astrotheological.

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Why suffer from Egyptoparallelophobia, when you can read Christ in Egypt? Try it - you'll like it: