[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.The Hero is born at the winter solstice, dies at the spring equinox, and,conquering death, rises into mid-heaven.[Page 135]The following remarks are interesting in this connection, though looking at mythin a more general way, as an allegory, picturing inner truths: "Alfred de Vigny hassaid that legend is frequently more true than history, because legend recountsnot acts which are often incomplete and abortive, but the genius itself of greatmen and great nations.It is pre-eminently to the Gospel that this beautifulthought is applicable, for the Gospel is not merely the narration of what has been;it is the sublime narration of what is and what always will be.Ever will the Saviourof the world be adored by the kings of intelligence, represented by the Magi; everwill He multiply the eucharistic bread, to nourish and comfort our souls; ever,when we invoke Him in the night and the tempest, will He come to us walking onthe waters, ever will He stretch forth His hand and make us pass over the crestsof the billows; ever will He cure our distempers and give back light to our eyes;ever will He appear to His faithful, luminous and transfigured upon Tabor,interpreting the law of Moses and moderating the zeal of Elias".[Eliphas Levi.The Mysteries of Magic, p.48.]We shall find that myths are very closely related to the Mysteries, for part of theMysteries [Page 136] consisted in showing living pictures of the occurrences in thehigher worlds that became embodied in myths.In fact in the Pseudo-Mysteries,mutilated fragments of the living pictures of the true Mysteries were representedby actors who acted out a drama, and many secondary myths are these dramasput into words. The broad outlines of the story of the Sun-God are very clear, the eventful life ofthe Sun-God being spanned within the first six months of the solar year, the othersix being employed in the general protecting and preserving.He is always bornat the winter solstice, after the shortest day in the year, at the midnight of the24th of December, when the sign Virgo is rising above the horizon; born as thissign is rising, he is born always of a virgin, and she remains a virgin after she hasgiven birth to her Sun-Child, as the celestial Virgo remains unchanged andunsullied when the Sun comes forth from her in the heavens.Weak, feeble as aninfant is he, born when the days are shortest and the nights are longest weare on the north of the equatorial line surrounded with perils in his infancy, andthe reign of the darkness far longer than his in his early days.But he livesthrough all the [Page 137] threatening dangers, and the day lengthens towards thespring equinox, till the time comes for the crossing over, the crucifixion, the datevarying with each year.The Sun-God is sometimes found sculptured within thecircle of the horizon, with the head and feet touching the circle at north andsouth, and the outstretched hands at east and west "He was crucified".Afterthis he rises triumphantly and ascends into heaven, and ripens the corn and thegrape, giving his very life to them to make their substance and through them tohis worshippers.The God who is born at the dawning of December 25th is evercrucified at the spring equinox, and ever gives his life as food to his worshippers these are among the most salient marks of the Sun-God.The fixity of thebirth-date and the variableness of the death-date are full of significance, when weremember that the one is a fixed and the other a variable solar position."Easter"is a movable event, calculated by the relative positions of sun and moon, animpossible way of fixing year by year the anniversary of a historical event, but avery natural and indeed inevitable way of calculating a solar festival.Thesechanging dates do not point to the history of a man, but to the Hero of a solarmyth.[Page 138]These events are reproduced in the lives of the various Solar Gods, and antiquityteems with illustrations of them.Isis of Egypt like Mary of Bethlehem was ourImmaculate Lady, Star of the Sea, Queen of Heaven, Mother of God.We see herin pictures standing on the crescent moon, star-crowned; she nurses her childHorus, and the cross appears on the back of the seat in which he sits on hismother's knee.The Virgo of the Zodiac is represented in ancient drawings as awoman suckling a child the type of all future Madonnas with their divine Babes,showing the origin of the symbol [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl trzylatki.xlx.pl
.The Hero is born at the winter solstice, dies at the spring equinox, and,conquering death, rises into mid-heaven.[Page 135]The following remarks are interesting in this connection, though looking at mythin a more general way, as an allegory, picturing inner truths: "Alfred de Vigny hassaid that legend is frequently more true than history, because legend recountsnot acts which are often incomplete and abortive, but the genius itself of greatmen and great nations.It is pre-eminently to the Gospel that this beautifulthought is applicable, for the Gospel is not merely the narration of what has been;it is the sublime narration of what is and what always will be.Ever will the Saviourof the world be adored by the kings of intelligence, represented by the Magi; everwill He multiply the eucharistic bread, to nourish and comfort our souls; ever,when we invoke Him in the night and the tempest, will He come to us walking onthe waters, ever will He stretch forth His hand and make us pass over the crestsof the billows; ever will He cure our distempers and give back light to our eyes;ever will He appear to His faithful, luminous and transfigured upon Tabor,interpreting the law of Moses and moderating the zeal of Elias".[Eliphas Levi.The Mysteries of Magic, p.48.]We shall find that myths are very closely related to the Mysteries, for part of theMysteries [Page 136] consisted in showing living pictures of the occurrences in thehigher worlds that became embodied in myths.In fact in the Pseudo-Mysteries,mutilated fragments of the living pictures of the true Mysteries were representedby actors who acted out a drama, and many secondary myths are these dramasput into words. The broad outlines of the story of the Sun-God are very clear, the eventful life ofthe Sun-God being spanned within the first six months of the solar year, the othersix being employed in the general protecting and preserving.He is always bornat the winter solstice, after the shortest day in the year, at the midnight of the24th of December, when the sign Virgo is rising above the horizon; born as thissign is rising, he is born always of a virgin, and she remains a virgin after she hasgiven birth to her Sun-Child, as the celestial Virgo remains unchanged andunsullied when the Sun comes forth from her in the heavens.Weak, feeble as aninfant is he, born when the days are shortest and the nights are longest weare on the north of the equatorial line surrounded with perils in his infancy, andthe reign of the darkness far longer than his in his early days.But he livesthrough all the [Page 137] threatening dangers, and the day lengthens towards thespring equinox, till the time comes for the crossing over, the crucifixion, the datevarying with each year.The Sun-God is sometimes found sculptured within thecircle of the horizon, with the head and feet touching the circle at north andsouth, and the outstretched hands at east and west "He was crucified".Afterthis he rises triumphantly and ascends into heaven, and ripens the corn and thegrape, giving his very life to them to make their substance and through them tohis worshippers.The God who is born at the dawning of December 25th is evercrucified at the spring equinox, and ever gives his life as food to his worshippers these are among the most salient marks of the Sun-God.The fixity of thebirth-date and the variableness of the death-date are full of significance, when weremember that the one is a fixed and the other a variable solar position."Easter"is a movable event, calculated by the relative positions of sun and moon, animpossible way of fixing year by year the anniversary of a historical event, but avery natural and indeed inevitable way of calculating a solar festival.Thesechanging dates do not point to the history of a man, but to the Hero of a solarmyth.[Page 138]These events are reproduced in the lives of the various Solar Gods, and antiquityteems with illustrations of them.Isis of Egypt like Mary of Bethlehem was ourImmaculate Lady, Star of the Sea, Queen of Heaven, Mother of God.We see herin pictures standing on the crescent moon, star-crowned; she nurses her childHorus, and the cross appears on the back of the seat in which he sits on hismother's knee.The Virgo of the Zodiac is represented in ancient drawings as awoman suckling a child the type of all future Madonnas with their divine Babes,showing the origin of the symbol [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]