BET EMET MINISTRIES

Hebrew For "The House Of Truth"

Craig M. Lyons Ms.D., D.D., M.Div.

bennoah1@verizon.net

TRACING THE SUN THROUGH THE ZODIAC & TAURUS...COULD THIS BE THE ORIGIN FOR THE "JESUS STORY" #6c

TAURUS & JESUS: APRIL 20- MAY 20

THE LATER MITHRAIC RELIGION....TAURUS IS REPLACED BY ARIES AT THE VERNAL EQUINOX

By now the reader is familiar with the Celestial Concept of the Precession of the Equinox as well as the allegorical representation of it in the "Jesus Story" as seen on different levels of interpretation:

• Historical...(myth taught through the medium of a "literal" and "presumed historical character" to serve as an example to be emulated by all mankind)
• Mythically...(personification of the Sun and its path through the Zodiac and the 4 seasons of the year)
• Mystically...(expressing a hidden metaphysical teaching, a secret wisdom, given under strict and exacting conditions to approved candidates by the Masters of Wisdom regarding the descent of the Soul/Logos into matter as well as its intended development during the life of a person, ie., mankind).

Paul speaks of this last interpretation:

Col 1:26-27 26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: 27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: (KJV)

Answer for yourself: Why is this "Mystical" interpretation of the "Jesus Story" so very important?

From our studies we are seeing conclusively that behind what we once thought was a "literal-historical" story of a man named "Jesus" in the New Testament is a "Metaphysical and Mystical" teaching of secret wisdom describing the Descent of the Soul (God) into matter; in particular "flesh". From beginning to end the Ancients studied the Sky and Heavens, the home of God, and over time came to understand "Spiritual Concepts" that lay behind the movement of the orbs of Heaven, in particular the Sun and its path through these Heavens. Developing a "pattern" of understanding that God was speaking to man of the "pattern" for all existence, that being "So Above, So Below", Ancient mankind came to understand that the Creator was speaking to all of His Creation through these movements of these Celestial orbs and from this understanding the Ancient Spiritual Masters came to understand that God was teaching man by example in the Sky deeper "truths" concerning not only about the very life that had been imparted to him physically, but "Spiritually" as well. It is very important you understand this concept for it underlies all our religious doctrines and dogmas in Judaism and Christianity in one way or another; sadly however existing today in various degrees of adulteration down through history from its simplest and most accurate representation as found in Ancient Egypt.

Tracing this evolution of the "Divine's descent into the "physical" and "Matter" by following the path of the Sun through the Zodiac we have discovered that when "personified" and "allegorized" this "Spiritual Understanding" of movement of the Sun through the Heavens parallels "exactly" the story of former "sungods" and in particular the "Jesus Story" from beginning to end! Out studies have shown and continue to show that the stories of the prior sungods that have existed since Egypt on down through history can be found duplicated in the "Jesus Story" as well.

Answer for yourself: What should that teach us? The overwhelming evidence amassed teaches us that behind the "Jesus Story", which has come down to us down through history which we have approached first as a "historical - literal" reality is not that at all, but rather a "Gnostic" or allegorical depiction of the intersection of the "Divine" into "matter" in a physical sense in Creation. Said another way, properly understood it is the "blueprint" not only for the "pattern" of man's physical creation (birth, life, death, and rebirth) but the "Spiritual development" of the Soul in mankind along with its evolution and maturation through life as taught by the medium of "personification" and the use of "anthropomorphic language" which we see in the depiction of a representative righteous human example of whom Christians know today as Jesus in the "Jesus Story". We have seen that prior nations had their own examples of this "Christ Within"; names were changed but the story was the same and interestingly and not to be missed is that every nation from the beginning of time understood these "representatives" of God in matter only as "allegories" of deeper "Spiritual Concepts" which were again vehicles expressing Divine Concepts that often defied exact understanding and transmission of Metaphysical realities. One such "example" that we touched on in an earlier article was the example of Mithra.

We only touched on the religion of Mithra in the earlier article and made mention that behind the "Mithra Story" is the same hidden revelation as behind the "Jesus Story"; namely, God speaking His message of the maturation of the Divine in matter to all mankind through allegory and personification which is applied to the Precession of the Equinoxes. We spent a lot of time on the Precession of the Equinox, in particular from Taurus to Aries in the prior articles and mentioned just briefly in passing the religion of Mithra. We need to look at this in more detail with special emphasis upon the sacrifice of Mithra in this article.

Mithra was a Persian savior, whose cult was the leading rival of Christianity in Rome, and more successful than Christianity for the first four centuries of the “Christian” era. Roman Mithraism was a mystery religion with sacrifice and initiation as its core doctrines. Like other mystery cults, there is little recorded literary evidence. What we know comes mainly from Christian detractors and archaeological evidence from mithraic temples, inscriptions, and artistic representations of the god and other aspects of the cult.

The theory that Roman Mithraism had its roots in Zoroastrianism was first put forward by Franz Cumont, a Belgian scholar in 1896 and 1899. Cumont compiled a catalogue of every known mithraic temple, monument, inscription, and literary passage relating to Mithras and claimed on the basis of his study of this body of evidence that Roman Mithras was, ultimately, Zoroastrian Mithra. Cumont argued by extension that if Roman Mithras had Iranian roots, the cult of Mithraism must have originated in the eastern provinces of the Roman empire and spread westward with legionaries in the Roman army, merchants from eastern provinces (often lumped under the broad misnomer "Syrians"), freedmen in the imperial bureaucracy, and slaves. For many years Cumont's theory was accepted but today it is questioned because of the work of David Ulansey.

In The Cosmic Mysteries of Mithras, David Ulansey says the main problem with basing Mithraism on a Zoroastrian cult is that there is no evidence that the Mithra of the Zoroastrians practiced bull killing, the central aspect of Roman Mithraic iconography. An image of Mithras killing the bull holds pride of place in each mithraeum (cave-like temple for the worship of Mithras). Ulansey believes the images of Mithras slaying the bull are actually astronomical star maps. In support of this he points out that all the figures represented in the iconography have a place in the Constellations (Taurus, Canis Minor, Hydra, Corvus, and Scorpio). He says that the other iconography and even the initiation ceremonies are consistently astronomical.

The place of Mithras as bull-slayer has cosmological significance because, if Ulansey is right, Mithraists attribute to their god the ability to shift the Equinox from the Constellation of Taurus to Aries:

"The killing of the bull symbolizes the supreme power of Mithras -- namely, the power to move the entire universe, which he had demonstrated by shifting the cosmic sphere in such a way that the Spring Equinox had moved out of Taurus the Bull."

The movement of the Sun out of the Constellation of Taurus into the Constellation of Aries at the Vernal Equinox explains the later appearance on earth of the Mithraic mysteries which centered around the sacrifice of the sacred Bull (the killing of the Cosmic bull to remove the constellation Taurus in the Heavens so Aries and the Cosmic Ram-lamb could take its place at the Vernal Equinox for the next 2,160 years).

Eclipsed as it was in later centuries by the faith of Christ, Mithraism – or rather, its Romanised form Sol Invictus – was the first ‘universal religion’ of the Greco-Roman world. By the Roman legionnaires, Mithra was called "the divine Sun, the Unconquered Sun." He was said to be "Mighty in strength, mighty ruler, greatest king of gods! O Sun, lord of heaven and earth, God of Gods!"

Most of the Roman cults of Mithras shared the same rituals and organization. The initiates were divided into seven classes, and were supposed to work their way up through them. This ascension through the various levels in the religion of Mithra represented metaphysically the rising of the Soul after death. This is very important to know for behind what might appear "pagan" to the Christian's thinking is really "Divine Concepts" portrayed as "allegory". Meetings were generally held in subterranean caves, most of which would hold no more than a few hundred worshippers. Within the cult there appeared to be no particular hierarchy: all of the full members were apparently equal. Initiations involved baptism, purifications, chastisement, and a community meal. One of the main tenets of Mithraic theology is that the Soul of man descended from Heaven through the realms of the seven plants, taking on vices at each level. The goal of the individual is to liberate his Soul from these vices and thus ascend to the realm of Heaven and the stars.

Mithraism anticipated Christianity in all major respects bar one, and enjoyed a ‘reign’ of at least five centuries. It peaked around the year 300 A.D. when it became the official religion of the empire. At that time, in every town and city, in every military garrison and outpost from Syria to the Scottish frontier, was to be found a Mithraeum and officiating priests of the cult. Mithraism, an ancient Hellenistic religion, based on worship of a "personified godman" (similar to Jesus) called Mithras who apparently was derived from the Persian god Mithra and other Zoroastrian deities. Mithraism is best documented in the form it had acquired in the later Roman Empire. It was an initiatory "mystery religion," passed from initiate to initiate, like the Eleusinian mysteries. It was not based on a supernaturally revealed body of scripture but rather a supernatural revealed observation of the Heavens and the path of the Sun through the Constellations of the Zodiac. Thus very little written documentary evidence survives. Soldiers appeared to be the most plentiful followers of Mithraism, and women were apparently not allowed to join.

Mithras’ rock tomb (and place of re-birth) – the ‘petra’ – was central to each Mithraeum. The rock connection was later re-worked into the legend of Saint Peter.

Matt 16:18 18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (KJV)

Legionaries took the cult with them into Palestine and back to Rome itself. Several hundred Mithraic monuments have been found in Rome (Coarelli, 1979). Adapted for Roman taste, the most popular Romanised form of Mithraism was Sol Invictus, the Unconquerable Sun, whose re-birth was celebrated as the climax of the mid-winter Saturnalia, on 25th December (the Winter Solstice). If you recall we have seen this celestial concept attached to every "dying/rising" god since the beginning of time and again these "myths" and "legends" are attempts to express the Divine Concept of "life after death".

The theology of Mithraism was centered upon the "dying/rising" Mithra, emerging fully grown from the ‘virgin dawn’ or rock. The association of gods with rocks or stones is not surprising: fiery rocks falling from the sky (meteorites) and even sparks released by colliding stones would equally strike the simple mind as ‘evidence’ of a godly presence within "matter". This is what I have been reiterating for a long time now; namely, the awareness of the Ancients that the very "Energy" or "Presence" of God dwelled within all matter including them as "fleshly creations".

Mithras’s supposed creation had occurred in a ‘time before men’, a cosmic creation in a celestial heaven. At no time was it believed that he had lived as a mere mortal and trod the earth unlike the later re-invention of Mithra in the form of the New Testament Jesus. Mithraism's failure to have anthropomorphized its god into a man – something which was to be accomplished so successfully by Christianity – weakened the cult's appeal to the uneducated and opened the door to the competition.

The cult of Mithras was actually of very ancient lineage, traceable in one form or another through at least two thousand years. In origin it was the primordial sun-worship – the father of all religion. Iconography showed Mithras, in Phrygian cap and cloak, riding his fiery chariot across the sky. In antiquity, the sun-god was represented as the driver of a fiery chariot who wore a crown of thorns or fiery rays. The chariot was the sun which was pulled through the sky above the clouds by four horses that represented the four seasons. He was later depicted as a key figure in the Mithraic mystery religion that was a key competitor with early Christianity. The sun was the most powerful astrological body in the ancient world and was worshipped as the image of God in almost every nation, especially in ancient Greece. The Neo-Pythagorean philosophers believed that God, called "The One," whose image was the Sun, talked to Man through the divine medium of geometry, arithmetic, words, signs, symbols and even the letters of their alphabet through the power of gematria! In ancient Egypt, the astrological symbol consecrated to the sun god Ra was a circle with a dot in the middle, which was also the symbol for the number "1," named "Divine Unity." He is shown on a relief in the Mithraeum under St. Prisca in Rome. In early Christian art, Jesus was sometimes represented as an incarnation of Helios such as in a fresco in the necropolis beneath St. Peter's in Rome.

In Christian imagery the lamb was the usual figure on the cross because Jesus is the new sun-god who supercedes the sign of Aries. The killing of the lamb of God, the Logos under the sign of Aries, was a repetition of the prior understanding of Mithras slaying the Bull of God in Taurus. In every zodiacal cycle of 2,160 years the sun assumes the role of that particular sign of the zodiac as the Logos or Messiah. That is why in mythology we find that the new sun-god always murders the old sun-god. But when the alleged historical life of Jesus was in danger of being forgotten amongst the plethora of Messianic sun-gods in most countries it was essential for survival of the Church to invent a god who was unique in the form of the physically crucified Jesus. So we see the theme of "killing" or "sacrifice" in both Houses of Taurus and Aries as related to the Spring Equinox where we find that "X" cross and intersection of the "celestial equator" and the "ecliptic". This again is the "Cross in the Heavens"!

For centuries the cross was the symbol of Christ and was addressed as if it were a living thing. Crucifixes have been found in Christian Churches before the 4th century with a human figure nailed to in the conventional way but the figure was not of Jesus but of the Greek god Orpheus. In the earliest representations of Christ a cross is missing although there was a dove by the cross which represented the form of the Holy Spirit.

The Gnostics rejected the literal images of the Christian story which the priests emphasized as the wounded body of Jesus on the cross. Christ was the rising sun of the new Age and he reflected the glory of the Sun in all its imperial splendor. The eastern Churches deplored the Roman tendency to glorify the image of the body to the neglect the spirit. They preferred the superiority of invisible power to that of a physical form. In the beginning no one dared to show a humiliated Jesus on the Cross even though he was adored for his self sacrifice. The Roman Church put the symbol Christ’s suffering love on the Cross when the memories of the Roman atrocities were dimmed. Several hundred years elapsed before the image worshipers won the day.

At the time of Constantine in the 4th century Christianity becomes the state religion and necessitates new forms to show its power and glory. The impact of Jesus’ life on the Roman concept of power is reflected in their changing portrayal of Jesus by the artists of the time. The transmutations of the face of Jesus through the history of western art respond to the changing religio-political pressures as they represent rituals like baptism and the Eucharist. The cross now appears as both emblem and object but scenes of the Passion and the Crucifixion are conspicuously absent as is the any version of the last Judgement. Just as both Caesar and Augustus drew upon the Roman traditions of divine right, Constantine positioned himself at the center of his new Christianized Imperial Rome. When Julian forced the empire to sever its ties with Christianity in his short three year reign he opposed this militant and authoritarian Jesus in the name of classical philosophy. But already Rome was worshiping Jesus in the form of Helios, the sun god, across whose face Constantine had seen the cross. That Jesus replaced the divine physician Aesculapius is testimony to the extraordinary ability of Christianity to maintain the double image of Jesus as both the only son of the supreme God and the savior of each individual. Later 5th century artists portrayed Jesus next to the cross as a lamb of God slain for the sin of the world. Then they threw caution to the wind and Jesus was finally portrayed on the cross in the 6th century in a long tunic with only hands and feet bare to show the nails. Jesus was shown aware and triumphant with a crown on his head. The first 10th century Greek representation of Jesus suffering on the cross was condemned as blasphemy before the Roman Church succumbed to the idea. Medieval piety demanded a more human Christ which could identify with the trials and tribulations that they could relate to in their short suffering lives. Artists then freely depicted Jesus in his agony on his cross with deep wounds and blood. It was then that the Lord Jesus is shown naked to graphically impress on the faithful the full extent of his suffering for them.

More needs to be said of Jesus being worshipped in the form of Helios. The similarities between Jesus and the previous Mithra are staggering. Mithra was also an eastern religion, reaching the Roman world from India via Persia. Traditional hostility with Persia did not favour Rome adopting a religion of its enemies. This changed however in the 60s B.C. when Pompey’s legions first entered Syria. Mithraism had so well established itself in the Commagene, Armenia and eastern Anatolia that whole dynasties of kings had called themselves ‘Mithradates’ (‘justice of Mithra’). Rome’s troops took to the ‘machismo’ faith, with its ceremonies of male-bonding and triumph over death, of self-control and resistance to sensuality. The precursor to later Christianity had just come to Rome as we see in Mithra's (the Christ for the Age of Taurus) later re-interpretation by Rome (the Christ for the Age of Pisces).

Central to Mithraism is the Tauroctony where the "bull of God" was slain (the theme of "killing" the bull (the Constellation) as a "sacrifice"). Acolytes were required to descend into a pit, which was then covered by boards filled with holes, and the blood of a sacrificial bull above would shower onto them. Thus sanctified they could re-emerge from the pit ‘reborn’ in Mithras having been "washed in the blood of the bull".

Answer for yourself: Can you guess how this phrase was changed with the Age of Aries? They were "washed in the blood of the lamb"!

Answer for yourself: What should this information about the tauronctony teach us? Simply that this sacrament, the ‘taurobolia,’ was the Mithraic forerunner of the Christian baptism where initiates were baptized "in Jesus" as had been the previous initiates "in Mithra".

Answer for yourself: Is this just a coincidence?

The most important icon in the mithraeum was the tauroctony, a depiction of Mithras in the act of killing a Bull (symbolic for the constellation Taurus being "killed" and moved out of the way in the Heavens thus making room for the Constellation of Aries). The tauroctony was either painted or depicted in a sculptural relief, sometimes on the altar. This killing is shown as occurring inside a cave, much like the mithraeum, where it is the central decoration. In the absence of any Mithraist scripture, all we know about Mithras is what can be deduced from his images in the mithraea that have survived. He is depicted as a man, sometimes in the act of killing the Bull, sometimes being "reborn, rising from a rock" (typically with a snake wrapped around it). It is commonly believed that the cave in Mithraism imagery represents the Cosmos, and the rock is the Cosmos seen from the outside; hence the description of this god as 'rising from the dead'.

Central to the mythos is that Mithra sacrificed himself to redeem mankind. Descending into the underworld, he had conquered death and had risen to life again on the third day.

Answer for yourself: Does this not remind you of a former "myth" of Osiris and the "resurrection" after 3 days being dead at the Winter Solstice? Again from the path of the Sun we find Divine Concepts taught by the God of Heaven of "sacrifice" and "life after death".

Answer for yourself: Since Mithra was associated with "rebirth from the dead" and the "Sun" then when should we expect to worship this icon? This holy day for this sungod was, of course, Sun-day.

Answer for yourself: Are you aware that the earliest "Chrestians" and "Christians" continued to follow the Jewish Sabbath until the fourth century?

Answer for yourself: What should this teach us? Namely that God sanctified the Sabbath and not Sunday as another of His "Appointed Times" as He did the Equinoxes and Solstices!

Mithra had many titles which included ‘the Truth,’ ‘the Light,’ and ‘the Good Shepherd.’ For those who worshipped God through Mithraic symbolism, invoking the name of Mithras healed the sick and worked miracles. Mithras could dispense mercy and Mithras could grant immortality; to his devotees he offered hope. By drinking his blood and eating his flesh (by proxy, from a slain bull) they too could conquer death (the Eucharist). On a Day of Judgement those already dead would be raised back to life.

All this may surprise modern Christians but it was very familiar to the Church Fathers [Justin, Origen, Tertullian], who filled their ‘Apologies’ with dubious rationales as to how Mithraism had anticipated the whole nine yards of Christianity centuries before the supposed arrival of Jesus – ‘diabolic mimicry by a prescient Satan’ being the standard explanation. Pagan critics were not slow to point to the truth:Christianity had simply copied the popular motifs of a competitive faith.

Mithra was also deemed "the mediator" between heaven and earth, a role often ascribed to the god of the Sun. Interestingly in one of the known forged Pauline epistles we find the clumsy attempt of later Roman monks and redactors to hide the fact that the real Paul was Gnostic and never believed that "Jesus Christ" was a human but only an allegory for the "Christ Within". Note if you will in this forgery the mention of "the Christ" being a human being which is assumed to be a tenet of the historical Paul but actually is not since Paul wrote only 7 authentic epistles and they are all "Gnostic" in tone.

1 Tim 2:5 5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; (KJV)

Regarding Mithra, Bryant states: Some make a distinction between Mithras, Mithres, and Mithra: but they were all the same Deity, the Sun, esteemed the chief God of the Persians.

In his letter to Laeta, Jerome relates the levels of Mithraic initiation as "Raven, Bridegroom, Soldier, Lion, Perseus, Sun, Crab, and Father." Like the bull, these initiation degrees have been determined to represent Constellations, as part of the Mithraic "star map," as demonstrated most recently by David Ulansey. In an article excerpted from his book, The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries: Cosmology and Salvation in the Ancient World, Ulansey says: "For the Constellations pictured in the standard tauroctony have one thing in common: namely, they all lay on the celestial equator as it was positioned during the epoch immediately preceding the Greco-Roman 'Age of Aries.' During that earlier age, which we may call the "Age of Taurus," lasting from around 4,000 to 2,000 B.C., the celestial equator passed through Taurus the Bull (the spring equinox of that epoch), Canis Minor the Dog, Hydra the Snake, Corvus the Raven, and Scorpio the Scorpion (the autumn equinox): that is, precisely the constellations represented in the Mithraic tauroctony…."

He goes on to say:

"…In this 'Age of Taurus' the celestial equator passed through Taurus, Canis Minor, Hydra, Corvus, and Scorpio: precisely the constellations pictured in the Mithraic bull-slaying icon….…Thus all of the figures found in the tauroctony represent constellations that had a special position in the sky during the Age of Taurus. The Mithraic tauroctony, then, was apparently designed as a symbolic representation of the astronomical situation that obtained during the Age of Taurus"

Mithra's slaying of the Bull was an act that became as central to Mithraism as was the crucifixion to Christianity. The Cosmic Bull of Taurus represented rebirth, fertility and fecundity, with his blood corresponding to the wine of the mysteries. The most common scenes show Mithras being born from a rock, Mithras dragging the bull to a cave, plants springing from the blood and semen of the sacrificed bull, Mithras and the sun god, Sol, banqueting on the flesh of the bull while sitting on its skin, Sol investing Mithras with the power of the Sun, and Mithras and Sol shaking hands over a burning altar, among others. These scenes are the basis for knowledge of mithraic cosmology. There is no supporting textual evidence. The sacrifice of the bull was reenacted in the Mithraic baptism, a mystery rite in which the initiates were splattered with the blood. The initiate was then said to have been "born again."

Concerning the Mithraic ritual, Halliday says:

Naturally enough, the baptism of bull's blood came to be interpreted in a more spiritual sense than that of its originally magical purpose. The bath of bull's blood cleansed the initiate from sin; its performance was regarded as the day of his spiritual birth…; he was reborn into eternity…

Answer for yourself: Now should we expect to find the same religious ideas later transferred to the changing of the Age from Taurus to Aries? Then should we be unsuspecting that some 2,160 years later we find that the "blood of a lamb" cleansed from sin?

Rev 7:14 14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (KJV)

Rev 12:11 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and (KJV)

Indeed, in slaying the Heavenly Bull, Mithra is essentially "sacrificing himself, in order to save the world": The bull appears to signify the earth or mankind, and the implication is that Mithra, like Christ, overcame the world; but in the early Persian writings Mithra himself is the bull, "the god thus sacrificing himself, which is a close approximation to the Christian idea".

This bloody sacrifice, also a baptism, occurred in many non-Mithraic cultures, with both human and animal victims. During this ceremony, participants would cry, to the effect, "Let his blood be upon us and our children!" -- a ritual response designed to provide expiation, forgiveness of sin and fertility. Bulls were particularly favored in this ritual because of the copious amounts of blood.

Answer for yourself: Ever heard that phrase before in the New Testament?

Although it may not be found in Persian iconography or literature, the bull sacrifice was "frequently represented" and abundantly practiced in Asia Minor where the followers of Jesus were first called "Christians". This should not be surprising since Christianity was the later "reinterpretation" of Mithra. This ritual can also be found abundantly in the culture from which Christianity purportedly sprang.

Thus the same Jewish sacrifice and blood baptism are reflected at Exodus 24:6-8 when Moses took the blood of oxen:

And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant, and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, "All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient. And Moses took the blood and threw it upon the people, and said, "Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words."

As you can see Moses was in "transitions" due to the process of the Precession of the Equinoxes as he at times uses the blood of bulls and later the blood of lambs.

The purpose of this rite is not only to perform ritual magic that provides future abundance or the cleansing of sins, but also to intimidate the people through gore into obeying the priesthood. In the Epistle to the Hebrews, this bloody sacrifice is addressed, as the author usurps it with the sacrifice of Christ (9:22). Concerning Hebrews, Weigall says:

…in the Epistle to the Hebrews…Christ is described as the High Priest who, to put away sin, sacrificed Himself. Similarly, Mithra sacrificed a bull, but this bull, again, was himself sacrificed...

The sprinkling of blood finds its way into the New Testament at Hebrews 12:24, and 1 Peter 1:2, the latter of which refers to the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.

Heb 12:24 24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. (KJV)

1 Pet 1:2 2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied. (KJV)

This bloody practice is clearly pre-Christian and thus not copied by Paganism from Christianity; indeed, the opposite is the case, with a substitution of the "Lamb of God" for the Bull and Jesus Christ for Mithra.

If one were to do serious study in these areas one would see that existing information that is very damaging to a "literal interpretation" of Christianity, such as the important correspondences between the "lives" of Mithra and Jesus, as well as identical symbols such as the cross, and rites such as baptism and the Eucharist. In fact, Mithraism was so similar to Christianity that it gave fits to the early Church fathers, as it does to this day to apologists, who attempt both to deny the similarities and yet to claim that these (non-existent) correspondences were plagiarized by Mithraism from Christianity. There are several problems with this argument, the first of which is that the god Mithra was revered for centuries prior to the Christian era so it is not Mithraism that copied from Christianity but Christianity that copied from Mithraism.

Furthermore, by the time the Christian hierarchy prevailed in Rome, Mithra had already been the official cult, with pope, bishops, etc., and its doctrines were well established and widespread, reflecting antiquity. Mithraic remains on Vatican Hill are found underneath the later Christian edifices, which proves the Mithra cult was there first. In fact, while Mithraic ruins from the first and second centuries are abundant throughout the Roman Empire.

In theory, ritual and practise Christianity parodied and duplicated Mithraism, and its central religious ideas:

• the birth of Mithra and of Christ were celebrated on the same day;
• Mithra (also spelled Mithras), a Graeco-Persian invention, was born of a virgin on the Winter Solstice - frequently December 25th in the Julian calendar;
• tradition placed the birth of both in a cave;
• both regarded Sunday as sacred;
• in both the central figure was a mediator who was one of a triad or trinity;
• in both there was a sacrifice for the benefit of the race;
• in both we find the purifying power of blood from the sacrifice was, though in different ways, a central idea,
• in both we find regeneration or the second birth was a fundamental tenet;
• the conception of the relationship of the worshipers to each other was the same -- they were all brothers;
• both had sacraments, which baptism and a common meal of bread and the cup were included;
• both had mysteries from which the lower orders of initiates were excluded;
• both set aside the day of the Sun or "Sunday";
• ascetic ideals were common to both;
• the ideas of man, the soul and its immortality, heaven and hell, the resurrection of the dead, judgment after death, the final conflagration by which the world is to be consumed, the final conquest of evil, were quite similar.
• Being a solar deity, Mithra was worshipped on Sundays.
• After Mithra had become amalgamated with Helios, he was depicted with a halo, nimbus, or glory around his head as we find in later Christian art when depicting Jesus and other Christian saints. In some cases it has been difficult to tell if ancient images were intended as depictions of Mithra or Jesus.
• The leader of the cult was called a pope (papa) and he ruled from a "mithraeum" on the Vatican Hill in Rome.
• A prominent iconographic feature in Mithraism was a large key, needed to unlock the celestial gates through which souls of the deceased were believed to pass. It would appear that the "keys of the Kingdom" held by the popes as successors to "St. Peter" derive from Mithra, not from a Palestinian messiah.
• The Mithraic priests wore miters, special headdresses from which the Christian bishop's hat was derived. (The Latin name for this Phrygian/Persian hat was mitra - which also was an acceptable Latin spelling for Mithra!)
• The Mithraists consumed a sacred meal (Myazda) which was completely analogous to the Catholic Eucharistic service (Missa, or Mass).
• Like the Christians, they celebrated the atoning death of a savior who was resurrected on a Sun-day.
• A major center of Mithraic philosophy was at Tarsus - St. Paul's hometown - in what now is Southeast Turkey.

Answer for yourself: Since we have seen that the "Mithra Story" has come from the Precession of the Equinox and this is an uncanny parallel to the "Jesus Story" as seen above then what chance is there that the "Jesus Story" is not taken from the Precession of the Equinox as well or is not as well the personification of the Sun as it passes through the Houses of the Zodiac? Well for a "thinking believer" not much!

Mithraism and Christianity have their origins in Astrology and Astronomy!

The Church Fathers, having received the oral tradition of a "historical Jesus", were themselves astounded at the resemblances, and could explain them only by the theory which has so often been applied in the history of the contact of Christianity in its missions to the pagan world -- observances of Mithraism were the cunning parodies devised by Satan. Christians copied many details of the Mithraic mystery-religion, explaining the resemblance later with their favorite argument, that the devil had anticipated the true faith by imitating it before Christ’s birth. Some resemblances between the two are so close that even St. Augustine declared the priests of Mithra worshipped the same deity as he did (Salomon Reinach, Orpheus, p. 73)

What we must never loose sight of is that like the vast majority of the ancient gods, Mithra was never a "real person." In actuality Mithra was originally represented by non-human forms, following the Persian abhorrence of "idols," as related by Herodotus, until Mithra was personified or anthropomorphized after his migration to Asia Minor as would be the Christian Christ later.

Answer for yourself: What should we learn from this?

The similarities between Mithraism and Christianity should teach us as well that Jesus, like Mithra, was never a "real person" but the personification of the path of the Sun through the Zodiac; in particular for our study here the Sun moving through the Constellation or House of Taurus into the House of Aries.

Mithra as the Mediator is unquestionably a concept that predated Christianity by centuries, and the deliberate reference to Christ as the Mediator at Hebrews 9:15 is an evident move to usurp Mithra's position. Concerning the Mediator, CMU relates:

"The next dogma we shall notice is that of the Saviour, or Mediator. This is evidently derived from the Christna of the Hindoo trinity, who, as the Redeemer of the human race, was the most important of the three. This personification of the sun seems to have been adopted by the Persian lawgiver, Zoroaster, under the name of Mithra (which still meant Mediator), when he founded the religion of the Mithraics, or worshippers of the sun. According to Plutarch, Zoroaster taught that there existed two principles, one good, and the other evil; the first was called Oromazes, "the ancient of days," being the principle of good or light; the other, Ahrimanes, was the principle of evil, or cold and darkness.

Answer for yourself: So what do we see here? Again and again we see the various different yet similar contrasts of "light" vs "darkness" in its many forms (good vs bad, etc.) and methods which finds its ultimate motif with the Sun vs the Darkness (Sun-set, or Satan). This fits in perfectly with the path of the Sun through the Solstices (greatest darkness at the Winter Solstice and greatest light at the Summer Solstice).

Between these two personified principles, we find Mithra, the personified Sun, who, as the source of gentle heat and life, annually redeems the human race from the power of evil, or cold and darkness of winter. From this beautiful allegory of the sun is derived the Christian dogma of the Saviour, of which proof may be found even amongst the fathers. (See Tertullian, Adv. gentes.)…"

As Weigall says: …December 25th was really the date, not of the birth of Jesus, but of the sun-god Mithra. Horus, son of Isis, however, was in very early times identified with Ra, the Egyptian sun-god, and hence with Mithra as well".

Another correspondence is that the Mithraic "Lord's Day," like that of other solar cults, was celebrated on Sunday, adopted by Christianity from Paganism. Robertson elucidates various other Mithraic-Christian correspondences:

"From Mithraism Christ takes the symbolic keys of heaven and hell and assumes the function of the virgin-born Saoshyant, the destroyer of the Evil One. Like Mithra, Merodach and the Egyptian Khonsu [Khonsu], he is the Mediator; like Horus he is grouped with a divine Mother; like Khousu he is joined with the Logos; and like Merodach he is associated with a Holy Spirit, one of whose symbols is fire"

Roberston further asserts that the Mithraic mysteries included the "burial and resurrection of the Lord, the Mediator, and Savior (buried in a rock tomb and resurrected from that tomb)," as well as the bread-and-water communion and the "mystic mark" upon the forehead. Like the death and resurrection of Osiris, these mystical Mithraic rites were practiced and represented anterior to Christianity.

Lundy describes Mithra's death and resurrection:

"Dupuis tells us that Mithra was put to death by crucifixion, and rose again on the 25th of March (Spring Equinox)".

Answer for yourself: Have we not already learned that the Sun, because of it sinking in the Sky along with the increased darkness daily as Winter advance was the reason that the Ancients believed that the Sun had died? The good news is that this "same" Sun, which was "born" or "reborn" on December 25th, following the Winter Solstice (the birth of personified sun-gods following the Winter solstice on Dec. 25th), was to later celebrate his "birth" at the Spring Equinox when the Earth was once again in bloom and exhibited its "fruitfulness"? This "new birth" or "rebirth" was actually realized not in the dead of winter but was manifested at the Spring Equinox when the Sun "passed-over" the "X" or "Cross in the Heavens" (the intersection of the plane of the Earth's celestial equator and the ecliptical orbit of the Earth around the Sun) and when the Earth burst forth in new "greenery" and foliage. We should have already seen these concepts if we have done our studies on our websites. This "same Sun" that died was reborn and this idea of "sameness" led man to understand that these "Divine Laws" and "Divine Principles" that operated in the Heavens above and in Nature all around was a "pattern" that would happen to mankind as well. This "same" body or person which would die will be, like the stars and Sun above and plants in Nature, the "same body/person" who will live again.

Answer for yourself: Why is this important? It is from this "same Sun" being born from the dead that the Ancients reasoned that God was speaking to them from Heaven that "life does not end in death"; but rather that "life" continues after "death". From these celestial observations Ancient mankind reasoned the Spiritual Concept of "Eternal Life" and "resurrection from the dead".These "Spiritual Concepts" were captured for all time by mankind in the various myths and legends of the "dying" and "rising" allegories attached to various "sungods" and "sungod-men", and although never to understood as if "literal-historical" they were to be understood as Divine Truths that operated in the Spirit realm.

In such a way the Sun, again personified as the "Son of the Sun" was understood to be "on the cross" and his resurrection or "rising" from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere at this time occurred at this time, the Vernal Equinox, or Spring Equinox. This is the "sacrifice on the Cross" that plays such a large and important part in the "Jesus Story".This special time of the year, the Spring Equinox, was dated to occur on the 25th of March which just happens to be the date given for the "resurrection" of Mithra and later applied to Jesus as occurring in and around this same time of the Vernal Equinox (March 21st).

Answer for yourself: Then are we to understand that the "resurrection" of the sun-gods like Dionysus, Attis, Mithra, and even Jesus are but "allegories" of Celestial events that occur in the Cosmos? Important to remember is that these stories of these "sungods" might not be "literal-historical" but the Spiritual Concepts that they teach are very real and understood as being the very messages to all mankind from the God of the Cosmos.

In the Persian Mysteries the body of a young man, apparently dead, was exhibited, which feigned to be restored to life. By his sufferings he was believed to have worked their salvation, and on this account he was called their "Saviour". His priests watched the tomb to the midnight of the vigil of the 25th of March, with loud cries, and in darkness; when all at once the light burst forth from all parts, the priest cried, O sacred initiated, your God has risen. His death, his pains, and sufferings have worked your salvation.

Other elements found within Mithraism that are paralleled in (and copied by) Christianity include the miter or mitre (see the article on Pisces), the bishops' headdress; the mizd, or "hot cross bun," which was shaped like the sun with a cross in the middle; and the mass. Another remnant of Mithraism within Christianity can be found in the phrases "soldiers of Christ" and "putting on the armor of Christ."

Moreover, the initiate into the Mithraic mysteries was considered the "son of Mithra," who became one with Mithra; he was also the "son of the Pater Patrum" ("Father of Fathers"). During the Mithraic mysteries, the initiate was often blindfolded, to be suddenly blinded by a great light, which represented the "moment of revelation," when the initiate became one with God. Obviously, Paul's conversion experience with the blinding light is a wink and a nod towards other initiates in the mysteries, who would certainly recognize it.

Answer for yourself: Have we forgotten that all this "theology" and "ritual" came from the path of the Sun as it moves through the Zodiac and the 12 Constellations as observed by Ancient mankind?

According to some accounts, Mithras died, was buried in a cavernous rock tomb, and was resurrected. Some commentators, inspired by James Frazer's theories, have labeled Mithras a life-death-rebirth deity, comparable to Isis, the resurrected Jesus Christ or the Persephone/Demeter cult of the Eleusinian mysteries.

Mithra's genesis out of a rock, analogous to the birth in caves of a number of gods, including Jesus, was followed by his adoration by shepherds, another motif that found its way into the later Christianity. In The Christ Myth, Evans says:

…early writers, including several of the [Church] Fathers, decided upon a cave as the true place [of Christ's birth], a decision exactly in accordance with the legend of a virgin, in a cave, on the 25th of December, symbolizing the renewed birth of the Sun after the Winter Solstice.

Mithra was born on December 25, called “Birthday of the Unconquered Sun,” which was finally taken over by Christians in the 4th century A.D. as the birthday of Christ (John Holland Smith, The Death of Classical Paganism, p. 146; John Campbell, The Mythic Image, p. 33) Some said Mithra sprang from an incestuous union between the sun god and his own mother, just as Jesus, who was God, was born of the Mother of God. Some claimed Mithra’s mother was a mortal virgin. Others said Mithra had no mother, but was miraculously born of a female Rock, fertilized by the Heavenly Father’s phallic lightning (Amaury de Riencourt, Sex and Power in History, p. 135). Regarding the birth in caves likewise common to pre-Christian gods, and present in the early legends of Jesus, Weigall relates:

…the cave shown at Bethlehem as the birthplace of Jesus was actually a rock shrine in which the god Tammuz or Adonis was worshipped, as the early Christian father Jerome tells us; and its adoption as the scene of the birth of our Lord was one of those frequent instances of the taking over by Christians of a pagan sacred site. The propriety of this appropriation was increased by the fact that the worship of a god in a cave was commonplace in paganism: Apollo, Cybele, Demeter, Herakles, Hermes, Mithra and Poseidon were all adored in caves; Hermes, the Greek Logos, being actually born of Maia in a cave, and Mithra being "rock-born."

Weigall further states that the "swaddling clothes" motif in the gospel story is taken from the story of Hermes, who was likewise wrapped and placed in a "manger," which in the original Greek referred to a basket. Furthermore, Dionysus and Ion, the father of the Ionians, were each born in a cave and placed in a basket/manger.

Unlike various other rock- or cave-born gods, Mithra is not depicted as having been given birth by a mortal woman or a goddess; hence, it is claimed that he was not "born of a virgin." However, a number of writers over the centuries have asserted otherwise, including Roberston and Evans. In Pagan Origins of the Christ Myth Jackson states: "Mithra, as 'the Personified Sun', a Persian sun-god, was virgin-born, in a cave, on December 25. His earliest worshippers were shepherds, and he was accompanied by twelve companions. In Pagan and Christian Creeds, Carpenter relates: "The saviour Mithra, too, was born of a Virgin, as we have had occasion to notice before; and on Mithraist monuments the mother suckling her child is not an uncommon figure". Carpenter's assertion is backed up by John Remsburg in The Christ Myth (ch. 7), in which he relates that an image found in the Roman catacombs depicts the babe Mithra "seat in the lap of his virgin mother," with the gift-bearing Magi genuflecting in front of them. Such iconography was common in Rome as representative of Isis and Horus, so it would not be unexpected to find it within Mithraism". As noted, Robertson maintained that Mithra was a virgin-born god: "…It seems highly probable that the birth-legend of the Persian Cyrus was akin to or connected with the myth of Mithra, Cyrus (Koresh) being a name of the sun, and the legend being obviously solar…."

Answer for yourself: And where do we find the imagery for this "virgin birth" from our prior studies? From the Constellation Virgo. Again we find "Astrotheology" at the heart of the Mithra-Jesus-Osiris stories!

As the "rock-born," Mithras was called "Theos ek Petras," or the "God from the Rock." As Weigall says: "Indeed, it may be that the reason of the Vatican hill at Rome being regarded as sacred to Peter, the Christian 'Rock,' was that it was already sacred to Mithra, for Mithraic remains have been found there". Mithra was 'the rock,' or Peter, and was also 'double-faced,' like Janus the keyholder, likewise a prototype for the "apostle" Peter. Hence, when Jesus is made to say that the keys of the kingdom of heaven are given to "Peter" and that the Church is to be built upon "Peter," as a representative of Rome, he is usurping the authority of Mithraism, which was the official Roman cult at the time, precisely headquartered on what became Vatican Hill".

Mithra’s birth was witnessed by shepherds and by Magi (wisemen) who brought gifts to his sacred birth-cave of the Rock (Homer Smith, Man and His Gods, p. 129; S.H. Hooke, The Siege Perilous, p. 85; Franz Cumont, The Mysteries of Mithra, p. 131). Mithra performed the usual assortment of miracles: raising the dead, healing the sick, making the blind see and the lame walk, casting out devils. As a Peter (son of Petra) he carried keys to the kingdom of heaven (Homer Smith, Man and His Gods, p. 129). His triumph and ascension to heaven were celebrated at the Spring Equinox (Easter), when the sun rises toward its apogee.

Answer for yourself: Does this not parallel the resurrection of Jesus as the Spring Equinox and Passover? Could this "Jesus Story" be again nothing more than an allegory of the Celestial events that occur at the Spring Equinox?

The theme of the teaching god and "the Twelve" is found within Mithraism, as Mithra is depicted surrounded by the 12 zodiac signs on a number of monuments and in the writings of Porphyry, for one. Regarding the Twelve, Robertson says: "On Mithraic monuments we find representations of twelve episodes, probably corresponding to the twelve labors in the stories of Heracles, Samson and other Sun-heroes, and probably also connected with initiation". As they have been in the case of numerous sun gods, these signs could be called Mithra's 12 'companions' or 'disciples'. Furthermore, the motif of the 12 disciples or followers in a 'last supper' is recurrent in the Pagan world, including within Mithraism":

[Mark] gave Jesus a last supper with twelve followers, identical in every way with the last supper of the Persian god Mithra, down to the cannibalisation of the god's body in the form of bread and wine:

Mark 14:22-26 22 And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body. 23 And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it. 24 And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many. 25 Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God. 26 And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives. (KJV)

Before returning to heaven, Mithra celebrated a Last Supper with his twelve disciples, who represented the twelve signs of the zodiac. In memory of this, his worshippers partook of a sacramental meal of bread marked with a cross (S.H. Hooke, The Siege Perilous, p. 89; Franz Cumont, The Mysteries of Mithra, p. 160). This was one of the seven Mithraic sacraments, the models for the Christians’ seven sacraments (E.O. James, The Ancient Gods, p. 250).

Answer for yourself: Do you know what this "sacramental meal" was called? It was called mizd, latin missa, English mass.

Mithra’s image was buried in a rock tomb, the same scared cave that represented his mother’s womb. He was withdrawn from it and said to live again (Homer Smith, Man and His Gods, p. 130, 201). Obviously, the Last Supper with the Twelve predates Christianity by centuries. It would therefore be a mistake to contend that Mithraism copied Christianity, rather than inheriting this motif from earlier Pagan religions.

What began in water would end in fire, according to the Mithraic eschatology. The great battle between the forces of light and darkness in the Last Days would destroy the earth with its upheavals and burnings.

Answer for yourself: Could this battle between "darkness" and "light" be an allegory of the path of the Sun through the Heavens; from the Winter Solstice to the Summer Solstice, and back again? From this "pattern" then was this understanding enlarged later to include "ethical concepts" that affect the Soul of man and the battle between "flesh" and "spirit"? You bet it was.

Virtuous and righteous ones who followed the "path of light" and teachings of the Mithraic priesthood would join the spirits of light and be saved. Sinful ones who followed the "path of darkness" and other teachings would be cast into hell with Ahriman and the fallen angels. The Christian notion of salvation was almost wholly a product of this Persian eschatology, adopted by Semitic eremites and sun-cultists like the Essenes, and by Roman military men who thought the rigid discipline and vivid battle-imagery of Mithraism appropriate for warriors. Under emperors like Julian and Commodus, Mithra became the supreme patron of Roman armies (Franz Cumont, The Mysteries of Mithra, p. 87-89).

The sprinkling or splashing of the bull's blood is to be likened and considered a baptism, especially since it is designed to convey immortality. Like this bloody rite, baptism with water, whether by immersion or sprinkling, is found in numerous pre-Christian religions/cults, dating back to ancient times. Baptism or lustration for the removal of evil or sins is also found in the Sumerian culture, 2,000 or more years before the Christian era. Originally it was the life-giving waters that neutralized, expelled or absorbed the malevolent influences and so freed those who had come into contact with evil from its contagion because being the substance out of which the universe was created it was endowed with all its creative potentialities. The location of the ancient city made it the natural cult centre of the god of the waters whose function was that of "washing away," purging, or in some way removing evil . Moreover, the Baptism by water to remove sins is also an ancient Egyptian motif: "Osiris takes upon himself 'all that is hateful' in the dead: that is, he adopts the burden of his sins; and the dead is purified by the typical sprinkling of water". This baptism for the remission of sins was "in vogue" in the 5th and 6th Dynasties of Egypt, 2,400 or so years before the Christian era. Such baptism doubtlessly existed in the neighboring Canaanite culture as well; it certainly was practiced in Palestine prior to Christ's purported advent, as Lundy relates: "The sacred annual bathing of Palestine pilgrims in the river Jordan is the same now as it was in John the Baptist's time; and precisely the same as it is and always has been in the sacred rivers of Hindustan. It is a custom far older than Christianity, and universally prevalent. John the Baptist simply adopted and practised the universal custom of sacred bathing for the remission of sins".

Another of these pre-Christian doctrines found in Paganism in general and Mithraism in specific is the Eucharist, Last Supper or Holy Communion. From early ages, the Mithraic Eucharist, which was said bestow immortality upon the participants, has been recognized to parallel that of the Christians. In reality, the rite is likewise very old and certainly did not find its way into Paganism from Christianity. The Catholic Encyclopedia concedes that the Eucharist is pre-Christian: "Mithraism had a Eucharist, but the idea of a sacred banquet is as old as the human race and existed at all ages and amongst all peoples. The Eucharist includes the "doctrine of transubstantiation," which claims that the wine or water and bread of the sacred meal are mystically and magically transmuted into the blood and body of the god, which, it is believed, creates union with the god." At the Mithraic ceremony, the following was said: "He who will not eat of my body, nor drink of my blood so that he may be one with me and I with him, shall not be saved" (Mithraic Communion, M J Vermaseren, Mithras, The Secret God).

Obviously, as is the case with the Eucharist itself, this ritual line is not original to Christianity. It was, in fact, part of the pre-Christian mysteries. Concerning the last supper and transubstantiation, Weigall elucidates: " The ceremony of eating an incarnate god's body and drinking his blood is, of course, of very ancient, and originally cannibalistic, inception, and there are several sources from which the Christian rite may be derived if, as most critics think, it was not instituted as an actual ceremony by Jesus; but its connection with the Mithraic rite is the most apparent".

The "last supper" can be found within the Egyptian religion, again, as part of the mysteries. Furthermore, the Eleusinian Mysteries included the sharing of the Goddess Ceres's "body" (bread) and the God Dionysus's "blood" (wine), centuries before the Christian era. The Eucharist is found also in Syria, an area in which Mithraism flourished. Indeed, the pre-Christian Essenes, some of whom became Christians, participated in not only baptism but also a "sacred meal".

As we have seen above Mithra presides over the changing of the seasons and the movement of the heavens themselves (the Zodiac). In the ancient cult Mithra was represented by the constellation Persus, who changes the position of the celestial sphere by "slaying" the constellation Taurus (the bull). The Bull Slaying was the central icon within the Western form of Mithraism and was present within every Temple. Here all the mystery of this tradition comes together, showing its Persian origins and the incorporation of Roman astrology and Greek mythology, giving rise to a esoteric path that must have had an everlasting impression on those who were prepared to follow its path. The scene shows Mithras facing away from the Bull (looking at the constellation moving to take Taurus' place) with one foot on the back of the bull, one hand holding the Bull's head and other hand stabbing the bull in the neck where blood pours forth.

Answer for yourself: What should we have learned so far? Christianity was derived as much from Mithraism as from Judaism. Understanding the origin of Mithraism is crucial to understanding the origin of Christianity. The mystery religion to which early Christianity seems most closely related is Mithraism.

Another more widely accepted interpretation takes its clue from the writer Porphyry, who recorded that the cave pictured in the tauroctony was intended to be "an image of the cosmos." According to this view, the cave depicted in that image may represent the "great cave" of the Sky. Interesting that apparently in early Christianity the story sometimes had it that Jesus was born in a cave, and at the end of the story he dies in a cave, to be resurrected 3 days later.

Answer for yourself: What should we learn from this?

We should learn that the "Jesus Story" is circular, like the year or the path of the Sun through the Sky in a solar year. This interpretation was supported by research by K. B. Stark in 1869, with astronomical support by Roger Beck (1984 and 1988), David Ulansey (1989) and Noel Swerdlow (1991). This interpretation is reinforced by the constant presence in Mitraic imagery of heavenly objects — such as stars, the moon, and the Sun — and symbols for the signs of the Zodiac.

In light of this interpretation, it has been suggested in recent times that the Mithraic religion is somehow connected to the end of the astrological "age of Taurus," and the beginning of the "age of Aries," which took place about the year 2000 BC. It has even been speculated that the religion may have originated at that time (although there is no record of it until the 2nd century B.C.).

The identification of an "Age" with an astrological sign is based on the Zodiacal position of the Sun during the Vernal Equinox of that age, as generally viewed in the Mediterranean region of the Northern Hemisphere. Before 2000 B.C.E., Taurus the bull was prominent at the Spring Equinox, culminating with Scorpio at the Autumn Equinox. Due to the Precession of the Equinoxes, every 2,160 years (approximately) this position advances to the next Zodiacal division. The depiction of Mithra killing the bull of Taurus represents this Precession of the Equinoxes which moves the Heavens and repositions each sign of the Zodiac through the Vernal Equinox every 2,160 years.

Now we can better understand that the sin of the children of Israel in the wilderness which so aroused the anger of Moses when he descended from the mount of the Lord and found them falling down before the golden calf was that they had reverted to a past and obsolete religion (Taurus-centered) which they should have left behind (since the Sun was now passing from the sign of Taurus into the sign of Aries historically in Egypt's Pyramid Age and 18th dynasty. Looking at Moses and his legacy we now understand how the Jewish dispensation itself was governed by the sign of Aries, the Ram, through which the Sun was passing for the next 2,160 or so years. Then we should expect a "Ram/lamb" centered religion in Israel and we find it in the appearance of the scapegoat in Jewish history (Yom Kippur, sacrifices, lambs offered in sin offerings, etc.). But even before Moses we find that we have the Bible story of the ram caught in the thicket and all this was due to the influence of the passing of the Sun through the sign of the Bull and into the sign of the Ram, etc. The "Ram-lamb" images of the Old Testament refer to the changing of the Zodiac due to the precession of the equinoxes and this influenced religion since it was God's Heaven and He was moving it around (Kosmokrator...which is later personified in the form of Mithra).A lot of religion can be created in 2, 160 years.

Something apart from the findings of academic astrology, which even at present only touch a very few people, produced these natural reactions. Some influence, emanating from the sign of the Bull and the sign of the Ram produced the symbology which conditioned the religious life of the people of that era. This becomes still more apparent when the Sun moved out of one constellation into the next constellation, the sign of Pisces the Fishes. We should later expect when the Age of Pisces replaces the Age of Aries and do find at the appearance of "Jesus Christ" fish symbology which runs so characteristically through the entire Gospel story (miracles of the fishes, call of fishermen, fishers of men, etc.). His disciples were largely fishermen. He performed the miracles with fishes and sent his apostles out after his death under the leadership of St. Peter with the injunction to be fishers of men. It is for this reason that the mitre (hat) which the Pope wears is the mouth of the fish.

Now, according to astronomy we are transiting into the sign of Aquarius, the sign of the water-carrier, the sign of universality, for water is a universal symbol. It is recorded for us in the New Testament that prior to his death Christ sent his disciples out to find the water-carrier who led them to an upper room where the communion service was instituted. All this was indicative of the recognition by the Christ (personified as the Sun) of the coming new era which would succeed his dispensation and into which we are at this time entering. Leonardo da Vinci's great picture of the communion in the upper room is the great symbol of the Aquarian age, for we shall sit down together under the loving direction of Christ (the Revelation of God) when brotherhood will be established and men will be banded together in the bonds of divine relationship. The old barriers between man and man and nation and nation will, during the next 2,160 years slowly disappear. Ironically this picture was known by the Ancients to have astrological connections as it represented again the Sun and the Zodiac "personified". Take a close look at the picture and how it has been divided by modern scholarship who is aware of its astronomical symbolism.

Regardless of attempts to make Mithraism the plagiarist of Christianity, the fact will remain that Mithraism was first, well established decades before Christianity had any significant influence. If Christian apologists will not yield to the well-attested assertion that Christianity "borrowed" from Mithraism in specific, they simply cannot deny that both copied from Paganism in general, from one or more of the numerous religions, cults and mysteries of the pre-Christian world. Hence, the effect is the same: Christianity took its godman and tenets from Paganism.

Answer for yourself: So why again is this important to know? The Ancients understood that the Creator was responsible for His Heavens and the orbs within them and was equally responsible for their movements. In these movements they saw and heard the message and voice of God to them as He wrote upon the blackboard of the Sky. It is for us to understand this "message" today for it contains:

The necessity for a new birth

TIME FOR A LITTLE MORE ASTRONOMY AND A LOT OF THEOLOGY

Views from the earth, the universe of stars seemed to the ancients to be attached to the great "celestial sphere" which had the earth as its center. The "celestial equator" is the projection of the earth's equator upon the inside of the sphere. The circle of the ecliptic is the path which the Sun appears to follow against the background of "fixed stars." The zodiac is a belt of sky, extending 9 degrees above and below the ecliptic, which can be divided into twelve zones of equal size, each characterized by the presence of a particularly prominent constellation. The moon and visible planets all appear to move within the confines of the zodiacal belt. The equinoctial points are two places where the equator intersects the ecliptic, at an angle of approximately 23.5 degrees. Around 128 B.C.E., Hipparchus of Rhodes discovered that the position of the equinoxes was not constant. He determined that the vernal (spring) equinox had once been in the constellation Taurus but had, by his day, moved ("precessed") almost all the way through the constellation of Aries. At the beginning of the Christian era, the Vernal Equinox moved into Pisces.

Because the earth wobbles as it spins on its axis, the north and south poles of its axis do not always point to the same spots on the celestial sphere. As a consequence, the equinoctial points become displaced with respect to the so-called fixed stars - including the stars forming the twelve zodiacal constellations. When Hipparchus discovered that the Vernal Equinox had been displaced from Taurus into Aries, he or some of his disciples felt that they had detected the labor of a hitherto unknown god (even he knew the Creator was moving the Heavens and it was His doing). Many Greeks felt that each natural phenomenon or physical force was actually the working of a particular god. For astrological reasons, this new god was identified with the ancient Persian god Mithra. The mystery religion known as Mithraism thus was born.Mithra was installed as a Time-Lord or chronocrat, the god who would rule over the Age or Aeon of Aries.

By the time Hipparchus and his Stoic colleagues understood that the Vernal Equinox had moved from Taurus into Aries, the equinox was almost out of Aries as well. Very soon it would move into Pisces, and a new Time-Lord would be needed. Just as movement of the equinox out of Taurus had been symbolized as the sacrifice of a bull, so too, the movement out of Aries would come to be symbolized by the sacrifice of a lamb. The first symbol of the new-age religion, the religion reigning in the age of Pisces, significantly, would be the fish. The cross, apparently, was originally the Greek letter chi (X) which reminds us of the intersection of the celestial equator with the ecliptic at an acute angle. This will later again be personified as "the cross of the Zodiac which will give rise to the later theology of the 'Sun on the Cross'" as the Sun sets on this "cross" or "intersection of the ecliptic and equator" which forms a CROSS! This is later called the "cross of the Zodiac". It is not surprising that in the oldest epitaphs and inscriptions it is actually two fish that were used to symbolize the New-Age cult - making the symbol of Christianity identical to the astrological symbol for Pisces, in obedience to the fact that Pisces is plural: the fishes.

The Magi mentioned in the second chapter of Matthew's gospel were Mithraic astrologer-priests, probably scouts looking for the new Time-Lord who was to rule the "new age" of Pisces. This should startle you to know that the simply Magi in the Gospel accounts were Mithraic Priests from Iran and not Israel! The Mithraic clergy involved actively in the astrology of the cult were known as Magi (Greek magoi), and are depicted as wearing Phrygian (pseudo-Persian) caps such as Mithra is supposed to have worn. These Magi, realizing that the age of Mithra was drawing to a close (the Equinox would move into Pisces from Aries some time during the first century C.E.), would have left their cult centers in Phrygia and Cilicia, in what is now East and Southeast Turkey, from cities such as Tarsus to go to Palestine to see if they could locate not just the King of the Jews, but the new Time-Lord, the ruler of the new age of Pisces.

Answer for yourself: Should we expect some relationship between Tarsus, the home of Paul, and his theology later written concerning "the Christ" and its overlap with Mithra? Well that is another study. Just let me say if you study Mithra and compare its "theology" with the theological doctrines of Paul's "Jesus Christ" you might be amazed at what you see. Many believe that Christianity is nothing more than a later adaptation of Mithraic religious beliefs.

Pisces was considered to have especial connections with the Jews. It is significant, I believe, that early depictions of the Magi's visitation of the Christ Child (including one in a church at Bethlehem) showed them wearing Phrygian (Mithraic) caps.

No written works of Mithraism are known, since like other mystery cults, it centered around a secret known only to persons initiated into its rites. Most of our knowledge about it is derived from the iconography of its temples. A Central element in them was the depiction of Mithra sacrificing a wild bull (Taurus) as depicted above.

"...By far the most important icon in the Roman cult was the tauroctony. This scene shows Mithras in the act of killing a bull, accompanied by a dog, a snake, a raven, and a scorpion; the scene is depicted as taking place inside a cave like the Mithraeum itself. This icon was located in the most important place in every mithraeum, and therefore must have been an expression of the central myth of the Roman cult." - David Ulansey, The Cosmic Mysteries of Mithras. "This, I propose, is the origin and nature of Mithras the cosmic bull-slayer. His killing of the bull symbolizes his supreme power: namely, the power to move the entire universe, which he had demonstrated by shifting the cosmic sphere in such a way that the spring equinox had moved out of Taurus the Bull." - David Ulansey, The Cosmic Mysteries of Mithras.

The Taurobolium "A central feature of the ceremonial associated with Mithras was the taurobolium, the ritual slaughter of a bull which commemorated and repeated Mithras' primeval act. The initiate was baptized in its blood, partaking of its life-giving properties. It may be noted that this part of the ceremonial closely resembled the ritual of the cult of Cybele, the Great Mother of Asia Minor, which had been brought to Rome three centuries before Christ.." - Ninian Smart, The Religious Experience of Mankind.

In time the Ancients saw and understood that they were approaching the end of the Age of Taurus. As the intersection of the celestial equator during the Spring Equinox moved to the constellation of Aries, the Age of Taurus came to an end - an event symbolized as the death of a Bull. Mithra has done a good job in killing Taurus thereby moving the bull out of the way for the coming of the Ram of Aries.

There is abundant symbolism connected with Mithra. The cloak of Mithras is the night sky with stars and the signs of the zodiac surround the whole scene. The symbols of the seven planets are present. The two torch bearers of Mithras stand at either side of the bull slaying scene. The central mystery represents the constellation Persus (Mithras), Taurus (Bull), Canis Minor (dog), Hydra (snake), Corvus (raven), Scorpio (scorpio). The wheat is the star Spica (the brightest star in Virgo). The blood is the Milky Way. The two torchbearers Cautes and Cautopates symbolize the equinoxes; Cautes torch is pointing upward - the spring equinox, while Cautopates torch is pointing down -autumn equinox. The meaning of the this star story lies within the procession of equinoxes.

The whole Bull slaying scene is therefore the representation of the 'heavens' as we moved from Age of Taurus to Age of Aries. That is, the constellation Persus, which is positionally above constellation Taurus, leads to the image of Mithras killing the bull, bringing an end to Age of Taurus by moving the entire universe. In a time when magic and science was based on a geocentric cosmos, with earth fixed in space and everything going around it, the procession could only be understood as a movement of the entire cosmos rather than earth. Mithras therefore became the Kosmokrator (cosmic ruler). The slaying of the constellation Taurus by the constellation Persus is perhaps one of the greatest star maps left to us. Mithras presides over the changing of the seasons and movement of heavens themselves.

Answer for yourself: Can you explain this changing of the cosmos astronomically as it ties to the precession of the equinox?

Answer for yourself: So what have we seen? We have spent a rather long time on precession of the equinoxes as it relates to Aries and Taurus and other signs of the Zodiac to explain their importance in theology of world religions. But more to the point of this article on how the "Jesus Story" is nothing more than the personification of the Sun as it passes through the constellations of the Zodiac we must remember that the Sun passes through Taurus, the Bull, April 20-May 20 on its way to Gemini. It doing so on its way to Gemini the Sun passes across the Milky Way which is that starry band that lies like a lake across the night Sky, between Taurus and Gemini (around May 21-June 4). In ancient Egypt, the Milky Way was called "the Nile in the Heaven". For them it was a river of stars in Heaven. At that time, if you looked in the south from somewhere near a pyramid, the Milky Way looked as if it had been connected to the Nile. The Milky Way has been likened to a river all over the world. It has been called "the River in the Heaven", "the Ganges in the Heaven," and "the Silver River". Modern scholars have noticed in readings of ancient texts--both Egyptian and non-Egyptian--that the Milky Way is often referred to as the great celestial waterway . . . a river in the sky. As the Sun crosses the Milky Way then we should expect to find following the calling of the New Testament accounts of Jesus calling his 12 disciples and their defining of their mission that we find the Sun personified crossing a large body of water and we find this exactly in the chronological study of the "Jesus Story". Jesus is made to cross the sea of Galilee. In April the Sun passed through Taurus and in early May the Sun passes across the Milky Way which is that starry band of stars that lies like a lake across the night sky. At this time in the "Jesus Story" we have the allegorical story of Jesus quieting the storm and the water as he "crosses" to the other side of the sea (Mark 4:35-41; Matthew 8:23-27; Luke 8:22-25; John 6:16-24).

Matt 8:23-28 23 And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. 24 And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep. 25 And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish. 26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. 27 But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him! 28 And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. (KJV)

Mark 4:35-39 35 And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side. 36 And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships. 37 And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. 38 And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? 39 And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. (KJV)

Answer for yourself: Is it a coincidence that Jesus "crosses the sea" as the Sun crosses the sea in the Sky, the Milky Way?

After the Sun crosses the Milky Way it moves into the constellation Gemini, the twins of Castor and Pollux. It always bothered me why Jesus would "walk on water" when he stresses in the Gospel of John that he has not come to seek his own glory but reveal the glory of his Father God but yet we find him doing some cheap circus trick as walking on water which bring only him glory and not the Creator. This is a huge paradox that is troubling until you come to find out the the "Jesus Story" is astronomical and neve occurred on earth.

Again this is but an allegory for the path of the Sun in the Heavens as it crossed the Milky Way known as the Nile in Heaven or the Silver River in Heaven with its band of millions of stars. It is not a coincidence that after choosing 12 disciples as "fishers or men" that the personified Christ should move to a lake and that is exactly what we find recorded in the New Testament. We find in the "Jesus Story" that Jesus crosses "the lake".

But the similarities do not stop here. We have seen the Sun move to the water in Aquarius in the form of John the Baptist, and the later symbolism of fish for Pisces and Jesus' selection of the 12 to be "fishers of men". We then noticed that in the Spring it is time for the lambs to be born in Aries and the flocks increase. With the rains of Spring come the abundance of crops and the need for a harvest. Jesus will say in Matt 9:37-38 37

Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; 38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest. (KJV)

The fields need plowing and tilling before the harvest can be gathered. The Ancients used bulls to till and plow the fields so the analogy applies to Jesus' disciples being his labors and his "bulls" so to speak. After choosing his 12 disciples (symbolic of the 12 constellations in the Zodiac) in Matthew 10, Jesus sends them forth with his message of "salvation".

Answer for yourself: What happens next? Strange that such good news should get a warning of persecution (Matthew 10:16-23) and resistance but it does. Who would not want to be "saved"? This again is but another allegory of the struggle of light overtaking the darkness of the night as the Sun endeavors to reach its zenith in the Sky and bring maximum light to mankind as understood by the Ancients as man's salvation. The Sun is on his way to the Summer Solstice where its light is maximized and brings the salvation needed to mankind. This will come on June 22 when the Sun enters the next constellation. There is much work to be done and Sun's struggle to regain mastery over the darkness has been hard as it has fought darkness and climbed northward in the Sky and the Sun needs his rest. We find that in keeping with our Bull-symbolism Jesus is made to say:

Matt 11:28-30 28 Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (KJV)

But there is another passage we must look at now.

Matt 10:34 34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. (KJV)

Answer for yourself: How are we to understand Jesus' saying in the Gospels that this supposed "prince of peace" has only come to bring a sword? Again we find the allegory of the Cosmic dualism of the struggle of darkness versus light depicted in the Sun's struggle to reach the Summer Solstice where the Harvest can come and man receive his "salvation" from God in the earth. This struggle of the Sun climbing the Sky toward the Summer Solstice is depicted again through the imagery of a sword.

Answer for yourself: What are we to make of the later statement attributed to Jesus when he asks "who is wise? This is a rather ironic reference to the dichotomy that exists between the "inner and outer mysteries" of the "Jesus Story". One one level the lay people are given a "literalized" account of the "Jesus Story" but the initiates into the inner mysteries receive the truth hidden from the masses. One of the aspects of the mysteries we can glean is that their rites and myths were presented first on a 'superficial' level, which the mind of the initiate could supposedly grasp more easily: a viewing of sacred objects, or a tale like that of Jesus Christ being crucified and descending to the lower world to fight the "dark-evil" or the "devil". Such things, with minimal explanation, were presented as the Outer Mysteries to beginning initiates. Later, if the initiate progressed further, such things would be perceived and explained according to the secret, mystical meanings, allegories for deeper truths which the rites and myths only symbolized. These constituted the Inner Mysteries. The essence of Gnosticism, too, was the penetration to that deeper meaning, and the knowledge (gnosis) it bestowed on the believer, a knowledge about the nature of the self and the world which made salvation possible.

After extensive contact with Mithraism, Christians also began to describe themselves as soldiers for Christ; to call their savior Light of the World, Helios the Rising Sun and the Sun of Righteousness; to celebrate their feasts on Sun-day rather than the Jewish Sabbath; to claim their savior’s death was marked by an eclipse of the sun; and to adopt the seven Mithraic sacraments. Like Mithraists, Christians practiced baptism to ascend after death through the planetary spheres to the highest heaven, while the wicked (unbaptized) would be dragged down into darkness. (See, Franz Cumont, The Mysteries of Mithra at 144-45) Mithra’s cave-temple on the Vatican Hill was seized by Christians in 376 A.D. (See, John Holland Smith, The Death of Classical Paganism at 146) Christian bishops of Rome preempted even the Mithraic high priest’s title of Pater Patrum, which became Papa, or Pope. (See, Homer Smith, Man and His Gods at 252) Mithraism entered into many doctrines of Manichean Christianity and continued to influence its old rival for over a thousand years. (See, Franz Cumont, Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism at 154) The Mithraic festival of Epiphany, marking the arrival of sun-priests or Magi at the Savior’s birthplace, was adopted by the Christian church only as late as 813 A.D. (See, H. Pomeroy Brewster, Saints and Festivals of the Christian Church at 55)

Answer for yourself: To what extent did Paul preach the equivalent of Outer and Inner Mysteries? Gnosticism always focused on scripture (principally Genesis) as the allegorical embodiment of a higher truth. Even Philo (a mystic certainly, though not a gnostic by any meaningful definition of the term) interpreted the Jewish scriptures as an allegory for a Platonic world view and a mystical understanding of and attainment to God. This insight Philo and others before him claimed had ultimately proceeded from Moses! Here there is always a strong dichotomy between what scripture says or seems to say, and what it is actually saying in regard to true reality. But that strong a dichotomy in Paul is not so evident. Despite what he says (1 Corinthians 2:11-3:3) about those who think or have capacities on a 'sarkic' (flesh) level and those more 'pneumatic' (spiritual) people who are possessed of the Holy Spirit, this may refer only to a graded level of capacity for understanding (which is to say, willingness to accept Paul's own doctrines), and not to two different levels of teaching on Paul's part, as though he tells of Christ one way to beginners or those of more limited intellect, and in a quite different way to his more Spirit-enabled listeners. Besides, the dichotomy in full-blown Gnosticism is based on the 'scriptural' tale of Jesus in the Gospels: presented as a seeming historical tale on the simpler level (the Outer Mysteries) and as merely allegorical on the higher level (the Inner Mysteries). But Paul didn't know the Gospel tale. That only appeared after him in the Gospel of Mark (which the authors acknowledge), and thus he hadn't those two layers of material and meaning to present in his preaching. It is more than interesting that second century gnostics like Valentinus and Marcion claimed Paul as their teacher and that he did teach their full-blown Gnostic doctrines. Certain aspects of Paul might better be styled "proto-gnostic." The bottom line to all of this is that Paul and his 7 authentic epistles never taught a "historical and fleshly Jesus Christ" but rather an "allegorical Christ Jesus" as found in the personification of Divine Principles as I am sharing here. Only later with the Roman forgery of much our current Pauline epistles are words put into Paul's mouth that support a "fleshly Jesus Christ". Paul's Christ was the "Christ within" which was the "Cosmic Christ" as the Divine expression of God in man.

Answer for yourself: So what did we see? We saw that the Sun passes into the constellation of Taurus at the Vernal Equinox for 2,160 years. Therefore the Age of Taurus, as you would now expect, became very important for mankind's theology during those years. Taurus played a key part in the development of much of the world's theology during those 2,160 years as mankind it seems had consciously advanced in areas of Astronomy and Astrology around the globe. We now understand better why Aaron made the rebellious people a "golden calf" when they had left Egypt since this was shortly after the changing of the Equinox to Aries from Taurus. The word translated "calf" in the narrative refers more specifically to a young bull. Thus the choice may well have related to the practice of bull worship, which was prevalent in ancient Egypt and Canaan. Fearsomely strong, notoriously quick-tempered, bulls were revered throughout much of the ancient world as symbols of strength and fertility. The bull appears in the art and sacred texts of Syria, Mesopotamia, and Egypt. Early records from Memphis, in Egypt, reveal that the Egyptians worshiped a live bull known as Apis. The animal was thought to be a manifestation of the city's patron deity, Ptah, creator of the universe. Apis became identified with Osiris, legendary god of the Sun and of immortality and later was "reinvented" in the "Jesus Story" as Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Egypt's goldsmiths turned out finely wrought effigies of Apis-Osiris and of his wife, Isis, represented by the head of a cow. When an Apis bull died at Memphis, its body was mummified. It was entombed in splendor during a period of mourning that lasted 70 days. In later centuries, the Apis bull became more closely linked with Osiris, so that after the conquest of Alexander the Great, Osiris-Apis was transformed into Serapis. In this new Hellenistic form, the ancient Egyptian bull-god became a prominent deity. In Mesopotamia, bulls were long venerated as symbols of majestic strength and potency. Savage wild bulls, called aurochs, once roamed the region, some weighing up to 3000 pounds, and colossal stone images of these beasts were set up to guard the entrances to the temples and palaces of Babylonia. In later years, the Assyrians adopted the bull-god as their guardian, often adding wings and a human face. When the Israelites reached the Promised Land in the 13th century B.C., the bull cult was already ancient there. Canaanite temples were sometimes built with images of bronze bulls in their foundations. It was perhaps for this reason that the Israelites in moments of doubt were tempted by bull cults.

We also saw that key teachings attributed to Jesus in the "Jesus Story" amazingly follow in chronological sequence along with Sun's passage in the Sky into next sign of the Zodiac (from Aries to Taurus). As we should expect Jesus in the "Jesus Story", as the personified Sun, which is now in Taurus to be connected with "bull symbolism" we find exactly that. We saw that allegory and symbolism connected with the Sun and its struggle to climb into the Sky is depicted in allegorical form in the continuing story of "Jesus Christ" as he travels through the Zodiac as well as the pages of our New Testaments. This "allegory" has lost its meaning to us today since being taught by our spiritual fathers to interpret the "Jesus Story" in a literal fashion instead of understanding it allegorically as the path of the Sun through the Heavens.

Now for some final thoughts. Taurus represents the material establishment of a civilization. It is a fixed-earth sign and as such, its vibrations produce the need to settle and identify man’s consciousness within a given geographical context. In essence, this entailed merging the resources of the people with the resources of the land. Thus we establish the concept of a national home, transcending tribal differences, the foundation for the creation of a civilization. Taurus is the sign associated with the tilling of the soil, the production of an agricultural society, and a sense of determination in the face of obstacles. It is ruled by the planet Venus, the patroness of the arts, an influence which imparts a great sensuality and creative inspiration to the cultures under its rays. Scorpio is the polar opposite to Taurus. It is associated with death, sex, rebirth, occultism, and great secrecy. These two signs were the primary astrological forces behind the creation of the most fascinating of all ancient civilizations: Egypt. One of the best known traditions of the Egyptians, one that tied together the two signs of the age, was their preoccupation with building gigantic temples and tombs to house the body after death. Cults of the Bull were the most popular form of religious worship during the Age of Taurus. Taurus is, of course, the sign of the Bull, and the veneration of this animal was extremely important. Students of hidden history have no doubt encountered the mysteries of Egypt in the course of their studies. The national deity was Osiris, god of the Dead and the Underworld. During the Age of Taurus, Osiris was often depicted as a man with a bull’s head. Later this changed to the head of the Ram when the age changed to Aries. In Egypt the pyramid symbolized the structure of society. The Pharaoh was the capstone of the social edifice, while the people were stratified according to rank. He represented the Spirit of Egypt – the incarnation of the Divinity in the body of man. Pharaoh was the personification of the collective Mind of Egypt, the unifying force of the country (which, by the way, had been divided into Upper and Lower Egypt, a leftover from the duality of the previous Age of Gemini, the ‘twins’). The power of Taurus gave the people of Earth a long period of stability and peace. It was in the Age of Taurus we find the important concepts that Egypt developed in religious thought – monotheism. In the history of the ancient Hebrews we find the transition period between two ages. The prophet Moses leads the Hebrews out of bondage to the land (Taurus) through the wanderings in the desert of Sinai (the cusp of the ages) to pioneer in a promised land (Aries). Here, the further evolution of God's Christ will gestate until revealed through Jesus of Nazareth in the later Age of Pisces.

Now we pick up our study to continue tracing the passage of the Sun through the Zodiac and noting parallels to the life of Jesus Christ as depicted in the New Testament as the "Jesus Story" move now from Taurus into the Sign of Gemini.

Let us continue with the next article in this series.

If you so desire, Bet Emet Ministries offers a comprehensive CD of all our Websites. Included with the CD is a "study plan" to assure the proper Spiritual evolution of your Soul and its proper development through following the in-depth studies. There is an order in which these numerous websites should be "studied" in order to maximize your learning and spiritual growth. Just click on this link for the details as to how you may obtain the CD that consists of the ministry's fifteen websites, or should I say, books that were written over the last fifteen years. Many of these sites are actually books, consisting of hundreds of pages of knowledge that the Roman Church intended you never come to know.

In our CD of all our websites contained on one disk we provide a "study plan" for the student and give detailed instructions as how to study these websites "in order" to facilitate one's study. Please inquire for the CD for such thorough study will take you some time if you ever hope of cracking the "Jesus Puzzle" and coming to the answer of the question: "Who do men say I am?" Hidden in this study is the manner by which you, a Christian, can come to the point in your life where the true power and demonstration of the Power of God in your life can be found and experience, where you can "say" to the mountains in your life "be gone" and they really flee. Just ask my wife who raised the Christ to life in her life, in a few short months, to reverse a disease process in her body and is alive today when medical science said otherwise. A mistaken literal and historical understanding of the sacred Scriptures "killeth," but a "mystical" and "metaphysical" understanding of the true indwelling Christ in you, as the real St. Paul teaches, raises you from the dead in this Earthly life and gives you the power and demonstration of the Power of God in your life. No tricks here, but just truth, truth kept from us by less than truthful group of men that changed the original understanding of the Ancient Wisdom to keep humanity ignorant and in fear, thus selfishly controlling them when they no longer had enough swords to do so. Don't let this ignorance of the truth continue in your life. It is time to experience the resurrection of Christ from the dead in you NOW!

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NOTE EL FRENTE DEL TEMPLO CON LAS COLUMNAS DE JACHIN Y BOAZ TIENE FORMA DE H/HERCULES/HORUS/HORA/ORO-EL MISMO NOMBRE YHWH ESTA CODIFICADO

  

 

HOURS = HORUS = HORSE = WHORES, with the significance of each relating to the luciferian agenda.

The whole configuration of the light particle and the geometric way its constructed, lends itself to the formulation of a thing called hours. However, this isn’t a very potent subliminal in itself, so let’s now attach a religious thought to the whole thing and called it Horus the sun god, or son of god. Now we feel compelled to take it a bit more seriously. However, to push the hypnotic suggestion even farther, let’s conjure up a creation that runs like the wind and call it a horse. This horse notion, and horse racing, may be the pasttime activity of the elite of the world. This sport of kings has helped cause the elite of the world to believe they’re really in control and in the know, but in reality, are the most deeply entranced of all.

http://illuminatimatrix.wordpress.com/alphabet/

EL TABERNACULO DE MOISES ESTABA DISEÑADO EN FUNCION A LAS 12 HORAS/12 CONSTELACIONES ZODIACALES

 

EL RELOJ TIENE UN PATRON TABERNACULAR Y ZODIACAL

 

LAS TRES PIRAMIDES DETRAS DE LA ESFINGE (ORION) ENTRE LAS DOS PIERNAS DE LA ESFINGE (JACHIN Y BOAZ), EN EL CONTEXTO A QUE ORION ES UNA CONSTELACION ECUATORIAL SON UNA OBVIA REFERENCIA AL SEXO MASCULINO. ESTO EXPLICA DESDE OTRA PERSPECTIVA EL OBELISCO UBICADO EN EL CENTRO DE LA PLAZA DEL VATICANO-ORION/ORINAR. EL MISMO CUERPO HUMANO ESTA DISEÑADO CON ESTE PATRON.

 

ECUADOR, ORION

Pleyades, Orion y Sirio (Misterio)

 

ORION/EL HIJO DEL HOMBRE

 

http://asteromia.net/constelaciones/constelaciones-orion.html

 

ECUADOR, UBICADO EXACTAMENTE EN EL ECUADOR-NEXO CON

 

 

EL NEXO ENTRE LAS DOS COLUMNAS (JACHIN Y BOAZ) QUE TENIA EL TABERNACULO Y EL TEMPLO DE SALOMON, ESTA EN CONTEXTO AL NUMERO 47 (2X23.5 GRADOS) CON REFERENCIA A LA DIFERENCIA EN GRADOS ENTRE EL TROPICO DE CANCER/GEMINIS Y EL TROPICO DE CAPRICORNIO/SAGITARIO. CONCRETAMENTE FATIMA ESTA INTERRELACIONADO KAVALISTICAMENTE , INSISTO, CON LA DIFERENCIA EN GRADOS ENTRE LOS DOS TROPICOS. ESTO EXPLICA DEL PORQUE FUE DESTRUIDA LA TORRE DE 47 PISOS EN EL 911 E INCLUSO TAMBIEN OBSERVAMOS SU NEXO CON LA INDEPENDENCIA DE EEUU (4 DE JULIO O 4/7) E INCLUSO CIENTIFICAMENTE DEL PORQUE EL NEXO DEL TEMPLO CON LA VIRGEN-MARIA MAGDALENA

 

 

 

 

 

The Master's Square - compares the Tabernacle, the Temple, and the New Jerusalem to the Masonic Temple, and investigates the universal, astronomically based, geometric method for Temple design and construction. This relates the patterns in the Masonic Floor to all the sacred objects in the Bible, as well as temples around the world.

FATIMA, NEXO MATEMATICO CON INDEPENDENCIA DE EEUU Y EL

¿QUE HAY DETRAS DEL DISEÑO DE YHWH DE NUESTROS OJOS?

EL 911 TIENE FUERTE NEXO CON MARIA MAGDALENA

NEXO FATIMA, 911, 119, PENTECOSTES Y ASUNCION DE LA

TORRE DE LOS SIETE DE EZEQUIEL 29:10 Y SU NEXO CON MARIA

JESUCRISTO (NEO BOOZ O BOAZ) Y MARIA MAGDALENA (NUEVA

LA POSICION DE LA VIRGEN ESTA JUSTO EN EL CENTRO ENTRE LAS DOS COLUMNAS, OSEA ENTRE LOS DOS TROPICOS, CONCRETAMENTE EN EL ECUADOR. EL NEXO DE LA VIRGEN, EN CONTEXTO A LAS FESTIVIDADES HEBREAS, ES CON REFERENCIA AL 21 DE MARZO Y 21 DE SEPTIEMBRE, OSEA CUANDO EL SOL ESTA EN FRENTE DEL ECUADOR. LA PIRAMIDE ENTRE LAS DOS COLUMNAS ES UNA REFENCIA IMPLICITA Y EXPLICITA A LA ESFINGE DE GIZE EN EL CONTEXTO A ORION/OSIRIS. JUSTAMENTE ORION ES UNA CONSTELACION ECUATORIAL

 

 

 

ISTAR EN LA ESTATUA DE LA "LIBERTAD", HOLLYWOOD, ETC-

 

COLUMBIA-LA PALOMA DE NOE-/CAN MAYOR

 

COLUMBIA ES EL ESTADO ADONDE ESTA WASHINGTON D. C

 

SIMBOLOGIA MASONICA EN WASHINGTON D.C. (NUEVA

 

EEUU, EL LOBO QUE SE INDEPENDIZO EN LUNA LLENA

 

WASHINGTON FUE UBICADO EN EL PARALELO PI

 

CIRCULO/NUMERO PI=3.14=22/7/MARIA MAGDALENA

 

 

¿PORQUE CRISTO RELACIONA A LA MADRE DE MARCOS CON LA VIUDA?

 

JESUCRISTO (NEO BOOZ O BOAZ) Y MARIA MAGDALENA (NUEVA RUTH/JAKIM)

 

 

 

FATIMA, NEXO MATEMATICO CON INDEPENDENCIA DE EEUU Y EL

 

¿QUE HAY DETRAS DE UN PAIS BANANERO?

ECUADOR, UBICADO EXACTAMENTE EN EL ECUADOR-NEXO CON

ESTA EN CLAVE LAS PLEYADES EN FUNCION A ORION

LAS PLEYADES EQUIVALE A LA MADRE Y ORION AL HIJO DEL HOMBRE

MAS=33

STER/STAR/ESTRELLA=43 LO QUE EQUIVALE A ORION M43

Job 38:31 Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?	Bk Chpt Vs
Verse # = 13825   |   Words = 7   |   Letters = 30 Data from Strong's Concordance KJV Hebrew Strong's # Value Canst thou bind קשר H7194 qashar 600 the sweet influences מעדנה H4575 ma`adannah 169 of Pleiades, כימה H3598 Kiymah 75 or loose פתח H6605 pathach 488 the bands מושכה H4189 mowshekah 371 of Orion? כסיל H3685 Keciyl 120	Total = 3431 Original Text Hebrew Value Inc התקשר 1005 מעדנות 570 כימה 75 או 7 משכות 766 כסיל 120 תפתח 888

כימה Kiymah {kee-maw'} from the same as 03558;; n f coll AV - Pleiades 2, seven stars 1; 3 1) Pleiades, a constellation of seven stars

Gematria: 75

כסיל Keciyl {kes-eel'} the same as 03684; TWOT - 1011e; n m AV - Orion 3, constellation 1; 4 1) constellation, Orion 1a) Orion, the constellation 1b) constellation (general)

Gematria: 120