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Atlantis and the Gods
of Antiquity
p. 33
ATLANTIS is the subject of a
short but important article appearing in the Annual Report of the Board of
Regents of The Smithsonian Institution for the year ending June 30th, 1915.
The author, M. Pierre Termier, a member of the Academy of Sciences and
Director of Service of the Geologic Chart of France, in 1912 delivered a
lecture on the Atlantean hypothesis before the Institut Océanographique; it is
the translated notes of this remarkable lecture that are published in the
Smithsonian report.
"After a long period of
disdainful indifference," writes M. Termier, "observe how in the last few
years science is returning to the study of Atlantis. How many naturalists,
geologists, zoologists, or botanists are asking one another today whether
Plato has not transmitted to us, with slight amplification, a page from the
actual history of mankind. No affirmation is yet permissible; but it seems
more and more evident that a vast region, continental or made up of great
islands, has collapsed west of the Pillars of Hercules, otherwise called the
Strait of Gibraltar, and that its collapse occurred in the not far distant
past. In any event, the question of Atlantis is placed anew before men of
science; and since I do not believe that it can ever be solved without the aid
of oceanography, I have thought it natural to discuss it here, in this temple
of maritime science, and to call to such a problem, long scorned but now being
revived, the attention of oceanographers, as well as the attention of those
who, though immersed in the tumult of cities, lend an ear to the distant
murmur of the sea."
In his lecture M. Termier
presents geologic, geographic, and zoologic data in substantiation of the
Atlantis theory. Figuratively draining the entire bed of the Atlantic Ocean,
he considers the inequalities of its basin and cites locations on a line from
the Azores to Iceland where dredging has brought lava to the surface from a
depth of 3,000 meters. The volcanic nature of the islands now existing in the
Atlantic Ocean corroborates Plato's statement that the Atlantean continent was
destroyed by volcanic cataclysms. M. Termier also advances the conclusions of
a young French zoologist, M. Louis Germain, who admitted the existence of an
Atlantic continent connected with the Iberian Peninsula and with Mauritania
and prolonged toward the south so as to include some regions of desert
climate. M. Termier concludes his lecture with a graphic picture of the
engulfment of that continent.
The description of the
Atlantean civilization given by Plato in the Critias may be summarized
as follows. In the first ages the gods divided the earth among themselves,
proportioning it according to their respective dignities. Each became the
peculiar deity of his own allotment and established therein temples to
himself, ordained a priestcraft, and instituted a system of sacrifice. To
Poseidon was given the sea and the island continent of Atlantis. In the midst
of the island was a mountain which was the dwelling place of three earth-born
primitive human beings--Evenor; his wife, Leucipe; and their only daughter,
Cleito. The maiden was very beautiful, and after the sudden death of her
parents she was wooed by Poseidon, who begat by her five pairs of male
children. Poseidon apportioned his continent among these ten, and Atlas, the
eldest, he made overlord of the other nine. Poseidon further called the
country Atlantis and the surrounding sea the Atlantic in honor
of Atlas. Before the birth of his ten sons, Poseidon divided the continent and
the coastwise sea into concentric zones of land and water, which were as
perfect as though turned upon a lathe. Two zones of land and three of water
surrounded the central island, which Poseidon caused to be irrigated with two
springs of water--one warm and the other cold.
The descendants of Atlas
continued as rulers of Atlantis, and with wise government and industry
elevated the country to a position of surpassing dignity. The natural
resources of Atlantis were apparently limitless. Precious metals were mined,
wild animals domesticated, and perfumes distilled from its fragrant flowers.
While enjoying the abundance natural to their semitropic location, the
Atlanteans employed themselves also in the erection of palaces, temples, and
docks. They bridged the zones of sea and later dug a deep canal to connect the
outer ocean with the central island, where stood the palaces And temple of
Poseidon, which excelled all other structures in magnificence. A network of
bridges and canals was created by the Atlanteans to unite the various parts of
their kingdom.
Plato then describes the white,
black, and red stones which they quarried from beneath their continent and
used in the construction of public buildings and docks. They circumscribed
each of the land zones with a wall, the outer wall being covered with brass,
the middle with tin, and the inner, which encompassed the citadel, with
orichalch. The citadel, on the central island, contained the pal aces,
temples, and other public buildings. In its center, surrounded by a wall of
gold, was a sanctuary dedicated to Cleito and Poseidon. Here the first ten
princes of the island were born and here each year their descendants brought
offerings. Poseidon's own temple, its exterior entirely covered with silver
and its pinnacles with gold, also stood within the citadel. The interior of
the temple was of ivory, gold, silver, and orichalch, even to the pillars and
floor. The temple contained a colossal statue of Poseidon standing in a
chariot drawn by six winged horses, about him a hundred Nereids riding on
dolphins. Arranged outside the building were golden statues of the first ten
kings and their wives.
In the groves and gardens were
hot and cold springs. There were numerous temples to various deities, places
of exercise for men and for beasts, public baths, and a great race course for
horses. At various vantage points on the zones were fortifications, and to the
great harbor came vessels from every maritime nation. The zones were so
thickly populated that the sound of human voices was ever in the air.
That part of Atlantis facing
the sea was described as lofty and precipitous, but about the central city was
a plain sheltered by mountains renowned for their size, number, and beauty.
The plain yielded two crops each year,, in the winter being watered by rains
and in the summer by immense irrigation canals, which were also used for
transportation. The plain was divided into sections, and in time of war each
section supplied its quota of fighting men and chariots.
The ten governments differed
from each other in details concerning military requirements. Each of the kings
of Atlantis had complete control over his own kingdom, but their mutual
relationships were governed by a code engraved by the first ten kings on a
column' of orichalch standing in the temple of Poseidon. At alternate
intervals of five and six years a pilgrimage was made to this temple that
equal honor might be conferred upon both the odd and the even numbers. Here,
with appropriate sacrifice, each king renewed his
THE SCHEME OF THE UNIVERSE ACCORDING TO THE GREEKS AND ROMANS.
From Cartari's Imagini degli
Dei degli Antichi.
By ascending successively
through the fiery sphere of Hades, the spheres of water, Earth, and air, and
the heavens of the moon, the plane of Mercury is reached. Above Mercury are
the planes of Venus, the sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, the latter containing
the symbols of the Zodiacal constellations. Above the arch of the heavens
(Saturn) is the dwelling Place of the different powers controlling the
universe. The supreme council of the gods is composed of twelve deities--six
male and six female--which correspond to the positive and negative signs of
the zodiac. The six gods are Jupiter, Vulcan, Apollo, Mars, Neptune, and
Mercury; the six goddesses are Juno, Ceres, Vesta, Minerva, Venus, and Diana.
Jupiter rides his eagle as the symbol of his sovereignty over the world, and
Juno is seated upon a peacock, the proper symbol of her haughtiness and glory.
p. 34
oath of loyalty upon the sacred
inscription. Here also the kings donned azure robes and sat in judgment. At
daybreak they wrote their sentences upon a golden tablet: and deposited them
with their robes as memorials. The chief laws of the Atlantean kings were that
they should not take up arms against each other and that they should come to
the assistance of any of their number who was attacked. In matters of war and
great moment the final decision was in the hands of the direct descendants of
the family of Atlas. No king had the power of life and death over his kinsmen
without the assent of a majority of the ten.
Plato concludes his description
by declaring that it was this great empire which attacked the Hellenic states.
This did not occur, however, until their power and glory had lured the
Atlantean kings from the pathway of wisdom and virtue. Filled with false
ambition, the rulers of Atlantis determined to conquer the entire world. Zeus,
perceiving the wickedness of the Atlanteans, gathered the gods into his holy
habitation and addressed them. Here Plato's narrative comes to an abrupt end,
for the Critias was never finished. In the Timæus is a further
description of Atlantis, supposedly given to Solon by an Egyptian priest and
which concludes as follows:
"But afterwards there occurred
violent earthquakes and floods; and in a single day and night of rain all your
warlike men in a body sank into the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like
manner disappeared, and was sunk beneath the sea. And that is the reason why
the sea in those parts is impassable and impenetrable, because there is such a
quantity of shallow mud in the way; and this was caused by the subsidence of
the island."
In the introduction to his
translation of the Timæus, Thomas Taylor quotes from a History of
Ethiopia written by Marcellus, which contains the following reference to
Atlantis: "For they relate that in their time there were seven islands in the
Atlantic sea, sacred to Proserpine; and besides these, three others of an
immense magnitude; one of which was sacred to Pluto, another to Ammon, and
another, which is the middle of these, and is of a thousand stadia, to
Neptune." Crantor, commenting upon Plato, asserted that the Egyptian priests
declared the story of Atlantis to be written upon pillars which were still
preserved circa 300 B.C. (See Beginnings or Glimpses of Vanished
Civilizations.) Ignatius Donnelly, who gave the subject of Atlantis
profound study, believed that horses were first domesticated by the Atlanteans,
for which reason they have always been considered peculiarly sacred to
Poseidon. (See Atlantis.)
From a careful consideration of
Plato's description of Atlantis it is evident that the story should not be
regarded as wholly historical but rather as both allegorical and historical.
Origen, Porphyry, Proclus, Iamblichus, and Syrianus realized that the story
concealed a profound philosophical mystery, but they disagreed as to the
actual interpretation. Plato's Atlantis symbolizes the threefold nature of
both the universe and the human body. The ten kings of Atlantis are the
tetractys, or numbers, which are born as five pairs of opposites. (Consult
Theon of Smyrna for the Pythagorean doctrine of opposites.) The numbers 1 to
10 rule every creature, and the numbers, in turn, are under the control of the
Monad, or 1--the Eldest among them.
With the trident scepter of
Poseidon these kings held sway over the inhabitants of the seven small and
three great islands comprising Atlantis. Philosophically, the ten islands
symbolize the triune powers of the Superior Deity and the seven regents who
bow before His eternal throne. If Atlantis be considered as the archetypal
sphere, then its immersion signifies the descent of rational, organized
consciousness into the illusionary, impermanent realm of irrational, mortal
ignorance. Both the sinking of Atlantis and the Biblical story of the "fall of
man" signify spiritual involution--a prerequisite to conscious evolution.
Either the initiated Plato used
the Atlantis allegory to achieve two widely different ends or else the
accounts preserved by the Egyptian priests were tampered with to perpetuate
the secret doctrine. This does not mean to imply that Atlantis is purely
mythological, but it overcomes the most serious obstacle to acceptance of the
Atlantis theory, namely, the fantastic accounts of its origin, size,
appearance, and date of destruction--9600 B.C. In the midst of the central
island of Atlantis was a lofty mountain which cast a shadow five thousand
stadia in extent and whose summit touched the sphere of æther. This is
the axle mountain of the world, sacred among many races and symbolic of the
human head, which rises out of the four elements of the body. This sacred
mountain, upon whose summit stood the temple of the gods, gave rise to the
stories of Olympus, Meru, and Asgard. The City of the Golden Gates--the
capital of Atlantis--is the one now preserved among numerous religions as the
City of the Gods or the Holy City. Here is the archetype of the
New Jerusalem, with its streets paved with gold and its twelve gates shining
with precious stones.
"The history of Atlantis,"
writes Ignatius Donnelly, "is the key of the Greek mythology. There can be no
question that these gods of Greece were human beings. The tendency to attach
divine attributes to great earthly rulers is one deeply implanted in human
nature." (See Atlantis.)
The same author sustains his
views by noting that the deities of the Greek pantheon were nor looked upon as
creators of the universe but rather as regents set over it by its more ancient
original fabricators. The Garden of Eden from which humanity was driven by a
flaming sword is perhaps an allusion to the earthly paradise supposedly
located west of the Pillars of Hercules and destroyed by volcanic cataclysms.
The Deluge legend may be traced also to the Atlantean inundation, during which
a "world" was destroyed by water.,
Was the religious, philosophic,
and scientific knowledge possessed by the priestcrafts of antiquity secured
from Atlantis, whose submergence obliterated every vestige of its part in the
drama of world progress? Atlantean sun worship has been perpetuated in the
ritualism and ceremonialism of both Christianity and pagandom. Both the cross
and the serpent were Atlantean emblems of divine wisdom. The divine (Atlantean)
progenitors of the Mayas and Quichés of Central America coexisted within the
green and azure radiance of Gucumatz, the "plumed" serpent. The six sky-born
sages came into manifestation as centers of light bound together or
synthesized by the seventh--and chief--of their order, the "feathered" snake.
(See the Popol Vuh.) The title of "winged" or "plumed" snake was
applied to Quetzalcoatl, or Kukulcan, the Central American initiate. The
center of the Atlantean Wisdom-Religion was presumably a great pyramidal
temple standing on the brow of a plateau rising in the midst of the City of
the Golden Gates. From here the Initiate-Priests of the Sacred Feather went
forth, carrying the keys of Universal Wisdom to the uttermost parts of the
earth.
The mythologies of many nations
contain accounts of gods who "came out of the sea." Certain shamans
among the American Indians tell of holy men dressed in birds' feathers and
wampum who rose out of the blue waters and instructed them in the arts and
crafts. Among the legends of the Chaldeans is that of Oannes, a partly
amphibious creature who came out of the sea and taught the savage peoples
along the shore to read and write, till the soil, cultivate herbs for healing,
study the stars, establish rational forms of government, and become conversant
with the sacred Mysteries. Among the Mayas, Quetzalcoatl, the Savior-God (whom
some Christian scholars believe to have been St. Thomas), issued from the
waters and, after instructing the people in the essentials of civilization,
rode out to sea on a magic raft of serpents to escape the wrath of the fierce
god of the Fiery Mirror, Tezcatlipoca.
May it not have been that these
demigods of a fabulous age who, Esdras-like, came out of the sea were
Atlantean priests? All that primitive man remembered of the Atlanteans was the
glory of their golden ornaments, the transcendency of their wisdom, and the
sanctity of their symbols--the cross and the serpent. That they came in ships
was soon forgotten, for untutored minds considered even boats as supernatural.
Wherever the Atlanteans proselyted they erected pyramids and temples patterned
after the great sanctuary in the City of the Golden Gates. Such is the origin
of the pyramids of Egypt, Mexico, and Central America. The mounds in Normandy
and Britain, as well as those of the American Indians, are remnants of a
similar culture. In the midst of the Atlantean program of world colonization
and conversion, the cataclysms which sank Atlantis began. The Initiate-Priests
of the Sacred Feather who promised to come back to their missionary
settlements never returned; and after the lapse of centuries tradition
preserved only a fantastic account of gods who came from a place where the sea
now is.
H. P. Blavatsky thus sums up
the causes which precipitated the Atlantean disaster: "Under the evil
insinuations of their demon, Thevetat, the Atlantis-race became a nation of
wicked magicians. In consequence of this, war was declared, the story
of which would be too long to narrate; its substance may be found in the
disfigured allegories of the race of Cain, the giants, and that of Noah and
his righteous family. The conflict came to an end by the submersion of the
Atlantis; which finds its imitation in the stories of the Babylonian and
Mosaic flood: The giants and magicians '* * * and all flesh died * * * and
every man.' All except Xisuthrus and Noah, who are substantially identical
with the great Father of the Thlinkithians in the Popol Vuh, or the
sacred book of the Guatemaleans, which also tells of his escaping in a large
boat, like the Hindu Noah--Vaiswasvata. " (See Isis Unveiled.)
From the Atlanteans the world
has received not only the heritage of arts and crafts, philosophies and
sciences, ethics and religions, but also the heritage of hate, strife, and
perversion. The Atlanteans instigated the first war; and it has been said that
all subsequent wars were fought in a fruitless effort to justify the first one
and right the wrong which it caused. Before Atlantis sank, its spiritually
illumined Initiates, who realized that their land was doomed because it had
departed from the Path of Light, withdrew from the ill-fated continent.
Carrying with them the sacred and secret doctrine, these Atlanteans
p. 35
established themselves in
Egypt, where they became its first "divine" rulers. Nearly all the great
cosmologic myths forming the foundation of the various sacred books of the
world are based upon the Atlantean Mystery rituals.
THE MYTH OF THE DYING GOD
The myth of Tammuz and
Ishtar is one of the earliest examples of the dying-god allegory,
probably antedating 4000 B. C. (See Babylonia and Assyria by Lewis
Spence.) The imperfect condition of the tablets upon which the legends are
inscribed makes it impossible to secure more than a fragmentary account of the
Tammuz rites. Being the esoteric god of the sun, Tammuz did not occupy a
position among the first deities venerated by the Babylonians, who for lack of
deeper knowledge looked upon him as a god of agriculture or a vegetation
spirit. Originally he was described as being one of the guardians of the gates
of the underworld. Like many other Savior-Gods, he is referred to as a
"shepherd" or "the lord of the shepherd seat." Tammuz occupies the remarkable
position of son and husband of Ishtar, the Babylonian and Assyrian
Mother-goddess. Ishtar--to whom the planer Venus was sacred--was the most
widely venerated deity of the Babylonian and Assyrian pantheon. She was
probably identical with Ashterorh, Astarte, and Aphrodite. The story of her
descent into the underworld in search presumably for the sacred elixir which
alone could restore Tammuz to life is the key to the ritual of her Mysteries.
Tammuz, whose annual festival took place just before the summer solstice, died
in midsummer in the ancient month which bore his name, and was mourned with
elaborate ceremonies. The manner of his death is unknown, but some of the
accusations made against Ishtar by Izdubar (Nimrod) would indicate that she,
indirectly at least, had contributed to his demise. The resurrection of Tammuz
was the occasion of great rejoicing, at which time he was hailed as a
"redeemer" of his people.
With outspread wings, Ishtar,
the daughter of Sin (the Moon), sweeps downward to the gates of death. The
house of darkness--the dwelling of the god Irkalla--is described as "the place
of no return." It is without light; the nourishment of those who dwell therein
is dust and their food is mud. Over the bolts on the door of the house of
Irkalla is scattered dust, and the keepers of the house are covered with
feathers like birds. Ishtar demands that the keepers open the gates, declaring
that if they do not she will shatter the doorposts and strike the hinges and
raise up dead devourers of the living. The guardians of the gates beg her to
be patient while they go to the queen of Hades from whom they secure
permission to admit Ishtar, but only in the same manner as all others came to
this dreary house. Ishtar thereupon descends through the seven gates which
lead downward into the depths of the underworld. At the first gate the great
crown is removed from her head, at the second gate the earrings from her ears,
at the third gate the necklace from her neck, at the fourth gate the ornaments
from her breast, at the fifth gate the girdle from her waist, at the sixth
gate the bracelets from her hands and feet, and at the seventh gate the
covering cloak of her body. Ishtar remonstrates as each successive article of
apparel is taken from her, bur the guardian tells her that this is the
experience of all who enter the somber domain of death. Enraged upon beholding
Ishtar, the Mistress of Hades inflicts upon her all manner of disease and
imprisons her in the underworld.
As Ishtar represents the spirit
of fertility, her loss prevents the ripening of the crops and the maturing of
all life upon the earth.
In this respect the story
parallels the legend of Persephone. The gods, realizing that the loss of
Ishtar is disorganizing all Nature, send a messenger to the underworld and
demand her release. The Mistress of Hades is forced to comply, and the water
of life is poured over Ishtar. Thus cured of the infirmities inflicted on her,
she retraces her way upward through the seven gates, at each of which she is
reinvested with the article of apparel which the guardians had removed. (See
The Chaldean Account of Genesis.) No record exists that Ishtar secured
the water of life which would have wrought the resurrection of Tammuz.
The myth of Ishtar symbolizes
the descent of the human spirit through the seven worlds, or spheres of the
sacred planets, until finally, deprived of its spiritual adornments, it
incarnates in the physical body--Hades--where the mistress of that body heaps
every form of sorrow and misery upon the imprisoned consciousness. The waters
of life--the secret doctrine--cure the diseases of ignorance; and the spirit,
ascending again to its divine source, regains its God-given adornments as it
passes upward through the rings of the planets.
Another Mystery ritual among
the Babylonians and Assyrians was that of Merodach and the Dragon. Merodach,
the creator of the inferior universe, slays a horrible monster and out of her
body forms the universe. Here is the probable source of the so-called
Christian allegory of St. George and the Dragon.
The Mysteries of Adonis,
or Adoni, were celebrated annually in many parts of Egypt, Phnicia,
and Biblos. The name Adonis, or Adoni, means "Lord" and was a
designation applied to the sun and later borrowed by the Jews as the exoteric
name of their God. Smyrna, mother of Adonis, was turned into a tree by the
gods and after a time the bark burst open and the infant Savior issued forth.
According to one account, he was liberated by a wild boar which split the wood
of the maternal tree with its tusks. Adonis was born at midnight of the 24th
of December, and through his unhappy death a Mystery rite was established that
wrought the salvation of his people. In the Jewish month of Tammuz (another
name for this deity) he was gored to death by a wild boar sent by the god Ars
(Mars). The Adoniasmos was the ceremony of lamenting the premature
death of the murdered god.
In Ezekiel viii. 14, it is
written that women were weeping for Tammuz (Adonis) at the north gate of the
Lord's House in Jerusalem. Sir James George Frazer cites Jerome thus: "He
tells us that Bethlehem, the traditionary birthplace of the Lord, was shaded
by a grove of that still older Syrian Lord, Adonis, and that where the infant
Jesus had wept, the lover of Venus was bewailed." (See The Golden Bough.)
The effigy of a wild boar is said to have been set over one of the gates of
Jerusalem in honor of Adonis, and his rites celebrated in the grotto of the
Nativity at Bethlehem. Adonis as the "gored" (or "god") man is one of the keys
to Sir Francis Bacon's use of the "wild boar" in his cryptic symbolism.
Adonis was originally an
androgynous deity who represented the solar power which in the winter was
destroyed by the evil principle of cold--the boar. After three days (months)
in the tomb, Adonis rose triumphant on the 25th day of March, amidst the
acclamation of his priests and followers, "He is risen!" Adonis was born out
of a myrrh tree. Myrrh, the symbol of death because of its connection with the
process of embalming, was one of the gifts brought by the three Magi to the
manger of Jesus.
In the Mysteries of Adonis the
neophyte passed through the symbolic death of the god and, "raised" by the
priests, entered into the blessed state of redemption made possible by the
sufferings of Adonis. Nearly all authors believe Adonis to have been
originally a vegetation god directly connected with the growth and maturing of
flowers
THE GREAT GOD PAN.
From Kircher's dipus
Ægyptiacus.
The great Pan was celebrated as
the author and director of the sacred dances which he is supposed to have
instituted to symbolize the circumambulations of the heavenly bodies. Pan was
a composite creature, the upper part--with the exception of his horns--being
human, and the lower part in the form of a goat. Pan is the prototype of
natural energy and, while undoubtedly a phallic deity, should nor be confused
with Priapus. The pipes of Pan signify the natural harmony of the spheres, and
the god himself is a symbol of Saturn because this planet is enthroned in
Capricorn, whose emblem is a goat. The Egyptians were initiated into the
Mysteries of Pan, who was regarded as a phase of Jupiter, the Demiurgus. Pan
represented the impregnating power of the sun and was the chief of a horde
rustic deities, and satyrs. He also signified the controlling spirit of the
lower worlds. The fabricated a story to the effect that at the time of the
birth of Christ the oracles were silenced after giving utterance to one last
cry, "Great Pan is dead!"
p. 36
and fruits. In support of this
viewpoint they describe the "gardens of Adonis, " which were small baskets of
earth in which seeds were planted and nurtured for a period of eight days.
When those plants prematurely died for lack of sufficient earth, they were
considered emblematic of the murdered Adonis and were usually cast into the
sea with images of the god.
In Phrygia there existed a
remarkable school of religious philosophy which centered around the life and
untimely fate of another Savior-God known as Atys, or Attis, by
many considered synonymous with Adonis. This deity was born at midnight on the
24th day of December. Of his death there are two accounts. In one he was gored
to death like Adonis; in the other he emasculated himself under a pine tree
and there died. His body was taken to a cave by the Great Mother (Cybele),
where it remained through the ages without decaying. To the rites of Atys the
modern world is indebted for the symbolism of the Christmas tree. Atys
imparted his immortality to the tree beneath which he died, and Cybele took
the tree with her when she removed the body. Atys remained three days in the
tomb, rose upon a date corresponding with Easter morn, and by this
resurrection overcame death for all who were initiated into his Mysteries.
"In the Mysteries of the
Phrygians, "says Julius Firmicus, "which are called those of the MOTHER OF THE
GODS, every year a PINE TREE is cut down and in the inside of the tree the
image of a YOUTH is tied in! In the Mysteries of Isis the trunk of a PINE TREE
is cut: the middle of the trunk is nicely hollowed out; the idol of Osiris
made from those hollowed pieces is BURIED. In the Mysteries of Proserpine a
tree cut is put together into the effigy and form of the VIRGIN, and when it
has been carried within the city it is MOURNED 40 nights, but the fortieth
night it is BURNED!" (See Sod, the Mysteries of Adoni.)
The Mysteries of Atys included
a sacramental meal during which the neophyte ate out of a drum and drank from
a cymbal. After being baptized by the blood of a bull, the new initiate was
fed entirely on milk to symbolize that he was still a philosophical infant,
having but recently been born out of the sphere of materiality. (See Frazer's
The Golden Bough.) Is there a possible connection between this lacteal
diet prescribed by the Attic rite and St. Paul's allusion to the food for
spiritual babes? Sallust gives a key to the esoteric interpretation of the
Attic rituals. Cybele, the Great Mother, signifies the vivifying powers of the
universe, and Atys that aspect of the spiritual intellect which is suspended
between the divine and animal spheres. The Mother of the gods, loving Atys,
gave him a starry hat, signifying celestial powers, but Atys (mankind),
falling in love with a nymph (symbolic of the lower animal propensities),
forfeited his divinity and lost his creative powers. It is thus evident that
Atys represents the human consciousness and that his Mysteries are concerned
with the reattainment of the starry hat. (See Sallust on the Gods and the
World.)
The rites of Sabazius
were very similar to those of Bacchus and it is generally believed that the
two deities are identical. Bacchus was born at Sabazius, or Sabaoth, and these
names are frequently assigned to him. The Sabazian Mysteries were performed at
night, and the ritual included the drawing of a live snake across the breast
of the candidate. Clement of Alexandria writes: "The token of the Sabazian
Mysteries to the initiated is 'the deity gliding over the breast.'" A golden
serpent was the symbol of Sabazius because this deity represented the annual
renovation of the world by the solar power. The Jews borrowed the name Sabaoth
from these Mysteries and adopted it as one of the appellations of their
supreme God. During the time the Sabazian Mysteries were celebrated in Rome,
the cult gained many votaries and later influenced the symbolism of
Christianity.
The Cabiric Mysteries of
Samothrace were renowned among the ancients, being next to the Eleusinian in
public esteem. Herodotus declares that the Samothracians received their
doctrines, especially those concerning Mercury, from the Pelasgians. Little is
known concerning the Cabiric rituals, for they were enshrouded in the
profoundest secrecy. Some regard the Cabiri as seven in number and refer to
them as "the Seven Spirits of fire before the throne of Saturn." Others
believe the Cabiri to be the seven sacred wanderers, later called the planets.
While a vast number of deities
are associated with the Samothracian Mysteries, the ritualistic drama centers
around four brothers. The first three--Aschieros, Achiochersus, and
Achiochersa--attack and murder the fourth--Cashmala (or Cadmillus).
Dionysidorus, however, identifies Aschieros with Demeter, Achiochersus with
Pluto, Achiochersa with Persephone, and Cashmala with Hermes. Alexander Wilder
notes that in the Samothracian ritual "Cadmillus is made to include the Theban
Serpent-god, Cadmus, the Thoth of Egypt, the Hermes of the Greeks, and the
Emeph or Æsculapius of the Alexandrians and Phnicians. " Here again is a
repetition of the story of Osiris, Bacchus, Adonis, Balder, and Hiram Abiff.
The worship of Atys and Cybele was also involved in the Samothracian
Mysteries. In the rituals of the Cabiri is to be traced a form of pine-tree
worship, for this tree, sacred to Atys, was first trimmed into the form of a
cross and then cut down in honor of the murdered god whose body was discovered
at its foot.
"If you wish to inspect the
orgies of the Corybantes, " writes Clement, "Then know that, having killed
their third brother, they covered the head of the dead body with a purple
cloth, crowned it, and carrying it on the point of a spear, buried it under
the roots of Olympus. These mysteries are, in short, murders and funerals.
[This ante-Nicene Father in his efforts to defame the pagan rites apparently
ignores the fact that, like the Cabirian martyr, Jesus Christ was foully
betrayed, tortured, and finally murdered!] And the priests Of these rites, who
are called kings of the sacred rites by those whose business it is to name
them, give additional strangeness to the tragic occurrence, by forbidding
parsley with the roots from being placed on the table, for they think that
parsley grew from the Corybantic blood that flowed forth; just as the women,
in celebrating the Thcsmophoria, abstain from eating the seeds of the
pomegranate, which have fallen on the ground, from the idea that pomegranates
sprang from the drops of the blood of Dionysus. Those Corybantes also they
call Cabiric; and the ceremony itself they announce as the Cabiric mystery."
The Mysteries of the Cabiri
were divided into three degrees, the first of which celebrated the death of
Cashmala, at the hands of his three brothers; the second, the discovery of his
mutilated body, the parts of which had been found and gathered after much
labor; and the third--accompanied by great rejoicing and happiness--his
resurrection and the consequent salvation of the world. The temple of the
Cabiri at Samothrace contained a number of curious divinities, many of them
misshapen creatures representing the elemental powers of Nature, possibly the
Bacchic Titans. Children were initiated into the Cabirian cult with the same
dignity as adults, and criminals who reached the sanctuary were safe from
pursuit. The Samothracian rites were particularly concerned with navigation,
the Dioscuri--Castor and Pollux, or the gods of navigation--being among those
propitiated by members of that cult. The Argonautic expedition, listening to
the advice of Orpheus, stopped at the island of Samothrace for the purpose of
having its members initiated into the Cabiric rites.
Herodotus relates that when
Cambyses entered the temple of the Cabiri he was unable to restrain his mirth
at seeing before him the figure of a man standing upright and, facing the man,
the figure of a woman standing on her head. Had Cambyses been acquainted with
the principles of divine astronomy, he would have realized that he was then in
the presence of the key to universal equilibrium. "'I ask,' says Voltaire,
'who were these Hierophants, these sacred Freemasons, who celebrated their
Ancient Mysteries of Samothracia, and whence came they and their gods Cabiri?'"
(See Mackey's Encyclopædia of Freemasonry.) Clement speaks of the
Mysteries of the Cabiri as "the sacred Mystery of a brother slain by his
brethren," and the "Cabiric death" was one of the secret symbols of antiquity.
Thus the allegory of the Self murdered by the not-self is perpetuated through
the religious mysticism of all peoples. The philosophic death and the
philosophic resurrection are the Lesser and the Greater Mysteries
respectively.
A curious aspect of the
dying-god myth is that of the Hanged Man. The most important example of
this peculiar conception is found in the Odinic rituals where Odin hangs
himself for nine nights from the branches of the World Tree and upon the same
occasion also pierces his own side with the sacred spear. As the result of
this great sacrifice, Odin, while suspended over the depths of Nifl-heim,
discovered by meditation the runes or alphabets by which later the records of
his people were preserved. Because of this remarkable experience, Odin is
sometimes shown seated on a gallows tree and he became the patron deity of all
who died by the noose. Esoterically, the Hanged Man is the human spirit which
is suspended from heaven by a single thread. Wisdom, not death, is the reward
for this voluntary sacrifice during which the human soul, suspended above the
world of illusion, and meditating upon its unreality, is rewarded by the
achievement of self-realization.
From a consideration of all
these ancient and secret rituals it becomes evident that the mystery of the
dying god was universal among the illumined and venerated colleges of the
sacred teaching. This mystery has been perpetuated in Christianity in the
crucifixion and death of the God-man-Jesus the Christ. The secret import of
this world tragedy and the Universal Martyr must be rediscovered if
Christianity is to reach the heights attained by the pagans in the days of
their philosophic supremacy. The myth of the dying god is the key to both
universal and individual redemption and regeneration, and those who do not
comprehend the true nature of this supreme allegory are not privileged to
consider themselves either wise or truly religious.
Next: The Life
and Teachings of Thoth Hermes Trismegistus