ORION – The Key To The Kingdom Of Heaven

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Símbolos de los Cuatro Evangelistas

 Mateo: Hombre
 Marcos: León
 Lucas: Toro
 Juan:  Aguila

Los cuatro autores de los Evangelios (San Mateo, San Marcos, San Lucas y San Juan) han sido relacionados simbólicamente con los cuatro seres vivientes del Apocalipsis 4,7:  

"El primer Viviente, como un león;
el segundo Viviente, como un novillo;
el tercer Viviente tiene un rostro como de hombre; el cuarto viviente es como un águila en vuelo." Ap 4,7.

El Apocalipsis se inspira en los símbolos del Antiguo Testamento.

Ezequiel 1,10
En cuanto a la forma de sus caras, era una cara de hombre, y los cuatro tenían cara de león a la derecha, los cuatro tenían cara de toro a la izquierda, y los cuatro tenían cara de águila.

Los Padres de la Iglesia recogieron este simbolismo pero su vinculación a los Evangelistas no siempre coincide. Con el tiempo prevaleció la siguiente: 

Ver también: Redacción de los Evangelios

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 & LEO...COULD THIS BE THE ORIGIN FOR THE "JESUS STORY" #9

LEO & JESUS: JULY 23 - AUGUST 22

We move on tracing the path of the Sun through the Zodiac and in so doing we now come to the constellation Leo. The Sun passes through Leo, the Lion between July 23- August 22. The zodiacal constellation Leo, the lion, is one of a handful of constellations that really does look like its namesake. Leo's brightest star is blue-white Regulus, one of the brightest stars in the night sky. Regulus rises almost due east, with the body of the lion following it into the sky over the next couple of hours. Once Regulus climbs into the sky, look to its left — toward the north — for a group of stars forming a backward question mark. These stars outline Leo's head and mane. Leo features in ancient Egyptian religion. The Egyptians worshipped the celestial lion, and the ancient scribes used it to predict the flooding of the Nile. Leo has always been associated with the Sun. Pliny wrote that Egyptians worshiped the stars of Leo because they knew that the Sun appeared to enter them during the time when the Nile flooded to bring fresh fertile soil onto the land. Because of this, it was thought that the Sun rose in Leo at the time of creation. Thus, Leo was the emblem of the fire and heat that nourished the land, intimately associated with all the blessings that rained down from the greatest of the gods that filled the world with light each day. In this regard, it has been suspected that the great Sphinx represents both the Sun and the constellation Leo. It is shown, however, with the body of the Lion and the head of the beautiful Virgo, the constellation next to the east along the zodiac. Not all scholars of Egypt agree with this: some say the Sphinx has the head of one of the early kings or, perhaps, one of the gods.

Some say that a strange mythological creature, half human and half animal, once represented the summer Sun. Summer was to the Egyptians the most important of the seasons, for the rising of the Nile led to the life-giving floods that in turn led to the promise of bountiful harvests. These people gave over their thoughts to the coming of the season, and their symbolism carried into their astronomy. At this time of year lions from the outlying deserts came down to the Nile Valley to seek relief from the heat. Lions, then, were associated with the coming of summer when the Sun was approaching the constellation we know as Leo. In mid-summer the Sun passed from the stars of Leo and into those of Virgo, the Virgin, representative of the harvest. These two star groups seemed to be in control of the Sun during the most crucial time of the year. And so, as the two signs of summer met, a creature with the body of a lion and the head of a woman was born—the Sphinx.

The star Regulus, the luminary of Leo, has been called the "regulator" of heaven. Marking the heart of the great lion in the sky, it gave the celestial creature life, and its association with the Sun moving through the zodiac was thought to regulate the seasons. From this, many have supposed that it regulated affairs on earth as well as ruling the heavens. For Persians it was one of four Guardian stars of Heaven. Regulus has been called the "Royal Star," and "Kingly Star," being associated in many ways with kings on earth. Thus, both the star and its constellation became a cherished symbol of royalty. Representing such a powerful animal, in addition to its symbolic representation of the Sun, Leo the Lion became the symbol found on royal arms in England and elsewhere.

To our ancestors, the qualities of the Lion were associated with rulership and divinity. Wherever this animal was encountered, its characteristics were attributed to gods and goddesses. For many cultures, the symbol of a lion serves as a guardian. Lion figures stand fast against darkness and evil intent in the doorways of palaces, temples, and in the rituals of the Chinese New Year.

In Greek mythology, the constellation of Leo is explained through the tale of Hercules and the Nemean lion. More than a lion, this beast was the sibling of the infamous Sphinx, whom Oedipus encounters. The creature had terrorized the countryside for years and all weapons were useless against it. Hercules was sent to kill the beast by Hera, who hated him as an illegitimate son of Zeus. However, Hercules proved successful in defeating the Nemean Lion and even went so far as to make a cloak and helmut from the creature's hide. In honor of this great feat, Zeus set the form of the fearsome Lion in the night sky.

The constellation Leo has been known as a Lion from nearly all the early lands of the Near East; certainly from Sumeria, Babylonia, Persia, and Syria, as well as from the Greeks and Romans. It was the tribal sign of Judah, and in the Middle Ages it was referred to as one of Daniel's lions. Its association with the Nile River is the likely reason that the heads of lions with open jaws were carved on the gates of canals used to carry off the flood water that irrigated the Nile Valley. Perhaps the many other lion heads with water spouting from their mouths, in so many medieval and modern fountains, might have derived from the Lion in the sky.

The principal star in the constellation is Regulus, the heart of the lion, or Cor Leonis. This was the first of the four Royal Stars of ancient Persia, with Antares, Fomalhaut and Aldebaran. These stars are separated by about six hours in right ascension, and so they well marked the four quarters of the sky. Regulus is a first magnitude star, although it is surpassed in brightness by 20 other stars. It lies almost exactly on the plane of the ecliptic, so that once a year, on about August 23, it is eclipsed by the Sun. Infrequently it is occulted by the Moon.

These are the strong hot days of summer. The Sun has now passed the Summer solstice. This is a time of strength when the Sun goes to the end of the growing season to the time of harvest. At the end of the growing season, food is plentiful, and seeds have to be stored for the next season.

LEO AND THE "JESUS STORY"

I have always thought it strange that the Gospels depict the ministry of Jesus beginning with the meeting of Jesus with John the Baptist and then John the Baptist just disappears until mid-way through the same Gospel when he mysteriously appears and we find the account of his death. Nothing is said about John the Baptist till the Gospel record is half over. Then all of a sudden John the Baptist reappears and is beheaded.

Matt 14:2 2 And said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead; and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him. (KJV)

First of all you should take note of the fact that we are chronologically progressing through the life of Jesus Christ as depicted in the New Testament. This is important when we realize that accordingly the Sun is making its progressive path through the Zodiac as well. According to the New Testament John the Baptist has been raised from the dead.

It is assumed that the reader is well familiar with what we learned in the beginning of this series when studying the path of the Sun through the constellation Aquarius and remembers the link to John the Baptist. That being so then the reader recalls how the constellation Aquarius moved below the western horizon at sunset as the year went from January to February and the Sun traveled from Aquarius to Pisces. Each Zodiac constellation in turn goes below the horizon at sunset as each month passes.

Answer for yourself: Why is this 6 month notation very important? Well we saw as well that when one sign of the Zodiac rises in the East then one correspondingly sets in the West. If you look at the picture you see that opposite the sign of Leo (just count to 6 more signs) we find the sign of Aquarius (John the Baptist). That being the case then after six months following the setting of the constellation Aquarius then the same constellation of Aquarius begins to rise on the eastern horizon at sunset as Leo is now setting. Thus the relationship between these two constellations in the Biblical account and the Gospel depiction of the "Jesus Story".

Answer for yourself: Why again is this important? Well here is the uniqueness of it. Recall at the beginning of the allegory in our article on Aquarius how Aquarius moved below the western horizon at sunset as the year went from January to February and the Sun traveled from Aquarius to Pisces. Each Zodiac constellation in succession goes below the horizon at sunset as each month passes. As far back as Egypt we see that this setting of a constellation in the Western horizon was considered as it's "death". That is why Egypt buried their dead west of the Nile river. The Heavens keep moving and after six months the constellation of Aquarius begins again to rise on the Eastern horizon as the constellation Leo sets at sunset, and it appears that the head of Aquarius is cut off by the horizon. This celestial phenomena became the story about John the Baptist (in the form of the constellation Aquarius) rising from the death, the dead being those who are below the earth. So we not only find that John the Baptist rises from the dead but also the position of the stars that make up the head of this "waterbearer" become very important. This event, when the head of Aquarius, the waterbearer, rises just above the eastern horizon, is said to be the beheading of John the Baptist by the personified Darkness in the form of King Herod. Herod remember is a type of personified Darkness which reigns supreme at night. When Aquarius rises on the Easter horizon it appears that the head of Aquarius is cut off by the horizon. Aquarius is down there in the underworld as seen in the picture slipping into "death" below the Western horizon, where the dead are, or is figuratively "put in prison". Some 6 months later after the setting of Aquarius in the Western horizon, if you wait a few hours after sunset, you'll see Aquarius 2 stars (head) poking its head up above the eastern horizon, rising from the underworld, and it appears as if Aquarius is being beheaded by the horizon once its 2 stars emerge above the horizon. This is nothing more than the movement of the Heavens and the Zodiac. Aquarius figuratively "rises from the dead" and is beheaded by the night's horizon as Aquarius rises. Aquarius is close to disappearing below the horizon at the end of August. At this time, the Sun exits Leo and enters Virgo. Aquarius has two faint stars on its head which can barely be seen; it almost looks headless. This produced the tradition that Aquarius, as John the Baptist personified, had his head cut off by Leo (personified royalty in the form of Herod the King).

Answer for yourself: Why is Leo chosen to be King Herod? Simply because Leo is connected with royalty and is opposite the sign of Aquarius (6 months separate these signs).

There is some inference that John somehow survives this beheading and "rises from the dead" intact.

Mark 6:16 16 But when Herod heard thereof, he said, It is John, whom I beheaded: he is risen from the dead. (KJV)

And sure enough as the night progresses we see all of Aquarius rising intact from below the horizon.

This explains why John the Baptist just vanishes from the pages of the New Testament and surfaces half-way through it again. It does so 6 months later since again the Synoptic Gospels teach that Jesus, in the "Jesus Story", has a one year ministry. No wonder that we go along reading about John the Baptist and then he just "vanishes" from the pages of the New Testament. You now see that he has "set" in the West and it will be some time before he "rises" again in the East and when the constellation does then we have his head emerge above the horizon and it appears as if it was cut off thus giving us the myth of John the Baptist being beheaded.

But we are not through yet.

Answer for yourself: Who is responsible for beheading John the Baptist? Herod.

Answer for yourself: What have we already learned about Herod?

Regulus, the star of kingship, is the brightest star in the constellation Leo the Lion. Leo was the constellation of kings, and it was associated with the Lion of Judah. But it was also associated with Herod.

We saw that the story of the child who threatens the reign of a ruling monarch is a common motif found in many ancient religions. It is also found in the Old Testament with Moses as a baby being placed in a basket and sent down the river to avoid the mass slaughter of all the children. Herod, as the personified darkness, hears a child will be born that will overthrow him. Indeed when the Sun rises it will conquer the darkness. So darkness orders all the stars extinguished. Allegorically all the children of the land are to be killed. What better way to insure darkness rules than to murder all those little points of light. All the stars are killed, but the Sun survives the slaughter and rises anyway, conquering the darkness.

Comparative Religion shows that all the ancient religions were forms of Sun worship. The story of Jesus is just another allegorical personification of the Sun as will be shown here. Herod is personified darkness in this tale and this is substantiated in that there exists not one piece of writing or evidence that such a design to kill all the infant male children of the historical Herod ever existed or was carried out. We have seen this in the article on Herod and how Darkness is the original evil. There is no historical record of this mass infanticide slaughter ever actually happening or being ordered. It never really happened on Earth. Our whole story takes place in the starry night sky. Paul says,

"For our conversation is in heaven [i.e. the stars above] from whence also we look for the Saviour [the Sun], the Lord Jesus Christ." (Philippians 3:20)

The ancient religious stories personified the evil Darkness and gave it names. In this case the name for "Darkness" is Herod. Darkness reigns supreme at night until overpowered by the rising Sun (personified Jesus) in the morning. The Sun rising in the morning is figuratively a form of the Sun being born. Just before the Sun rises all the stars disappear. Figuratively this is Darkness trying to save itself by killing all the stars. What better way to keep things dark than to kill all those little points of light. But Darkness fails to kill the Sun. The Sun rises, overpowering the Darkness, the darkness dies, and its reign is ended.

But now we are past the Summer solstice and the powers of Darkness are slowly increasing since the days are getting shorter and less light appears with each one of them. The Sun is now resided that it will die and sets its face to travel to its death.

Matt 16:21 21 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. (KJV)

We have already discussed the importance of this "third" day in relationship to both the Winter solstice and the Summer solstice where the Sun remains still for 3 days as if "dead" only to be presented "alive" the following day. Such is the allegorical symbolism behind this Astronomical phenomena. The war and struggle between light and dark intensify as the days get shorter as the Sun recedes from the Sky following the Summer solstice. The Sun is still strong, but the forces of evil are gaining power and the power of the Sun is beginning to diminish. The Sun finds itself in the sign of Leo. Again we must remember that the Sun is personified as Jesus in the "Jesus Story" in the New Testament and was understood as such by the Ancients. That may seem strange to us today only because we have been far removed from the traditional Ancient understanding of these religious texts. Being on the other side of the rise of fundamentalism at the beginning of this century we should not wonder at the loss of this earlier knowledge. It amazes me when I read books from the 1700s and the 1800s how plentiful is this Astrotheology in many, many books when today we have to look long and hard to find and restore these Ancient truths. The picture to the right reveals the personification of the Sun in the sign of Leo taken from the fifteenth century. This is but one example of the loss of these Ancient understanding of the Gospels as "allegories" and not as "literal truths".

So we see that this "Jesus Story" is as Thomas Payne said: "The Christian religion is a parody on the worship of the Sun, in which they put a man whom they call Christ, in the place of the Sun, and pay him the same adoration which was originally paid to the Sun."

Understanding this eternal struggle between Darkness and Light then we should not be surprised to find Jesus encouraging one to be strong against adversity and you will be saved. Again this is nothing more than an allegory with little historical truth.

Mark 13:11-14 11 But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost. 12 Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death. 13 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. 14 But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains: (KJV)