Time Frames and Taboo Data Blog

Throughout the ancient world the advent of the winter solstice marked the first point of Capricorn and signaled mounting luminary blessings to come.  There was also a noteworthy occurrence that always accompanied the winter solstice, for at midnight of the solstice the great star Spica in constellation Virgo (virgin) began to rise above the eastern horizon.  The so-called “Pagan” cultures referred to the night of the winter solstice—the longest night of the year—as “Mother Night,” and this is why myths have always tied the Virgin to the birth of a divine son—in actuality, the Sun.

The first magnitude star Spica on the meridian at midnight during the winter solstice was therefore seen to illustrate the bearing forth of the Life Principle out of void conditions so that the Sun might continue to safeguard (save) the world (all matter-life).  To paraphrase a traditional Christmas carol, it was thought of as the night divine, the night when light was born.  Consequently, all savior figures of various cultures were said to have been born on December 25th, when the Sun again took up its northerly course.  This movement began only after a suspenseful three days during the solstice period when the Sun seemed to hang low and unmoving in the southern sky.

In ancient Egypt, for example, the birth of the son, Horus, god of day, to the fertility goddess Isis, was celebrated on this date.  Persians celebrated on December 25th the birth of the “prophet” of ancient Iran, Zoroaster.  In pre-Christian Rome the twenty-fifth of December was known as Natalis Solis Invict, meaning “birthday of the Sun.”  All such celebrations of various “Pagan” cultures were in recognition that an increase of light would follow the longest night of the year.

In many pre-Christian observances during the period of longest darkness, a midnight rite was observed which was known as the “Vigil of Light.”  The culmination of the rite often involved the lighting of a great bonfire on the highest ground in the area from which they conducted the colorfully symbolic ceremony of the “Yule” wheel.  In readiness for the celebration was a great wheel made of dried twigs, leaf stalks, small tree limbs and coarse grasses.  As darkness seemingly engulfed the whole world, the wheel was set ablaze and sent rolling down the hillside into a lake or other body of water.  This ceremony commemorated the Sun’s descent into its period of apparent rest, which was regarded as occurring within the waters (energies) of Creation.  The bonfires were generally kept burning on the hilltop throughout the rest of the night.

Today’s rigorously structured faith systems, of course, deride this ceremony as nothing more than “heathen ignorance.”  The truth is that such ceremonies demonstrated a closer understanding of cosmic processes than pretending that the longest night of the year marks the incarnation of some demigod or is associated with some supernatural “miracle” of oil lamps providing light for eight days for the devotees of some man-conceived faith system.  Of course the wholesome understanding of Creation’s patriarchal principles and universal order that was honored by the Pagans does not contribute to the ego-pampering ideas of godly favoritism that is the bedrock of every organized faith system.

A celebration of increasing light is also part of Hindu observance, and is similar in some respects to Christmas and Hanukkah.  This celebration occurs in November of the Julian calendar, however.  Since the observance is spoken of as being the darkest night of the year, it suggests that it is really a displaced observance of the winter solstice (as with Islamic observance of Ramadan).

The noticeable movement of celestial objects that occur in the heavens is the true substructure of every organized faith system, although that relationship is always heavily disguised.  The early representatives of contrived religious doctrines were so fearful that the uneducated followers would discover the true association that the promoters of those contrived religious movements condemned Pagan astronomical observation and study as “star worship.”

Stories of the birth of savior-like beings also invariably included three wise men or kings or magi who “came from the east” bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh for the newborn.  Older pre-Christian tales relate that three magi bearing identical gifts attended the birth of Krishna, Osiris, Mithras, Zoroaster, Confucius, Socrates, and a list of others.  The three “gifts” of gold, frankincense and myrrh are indeed precious to the Life Principle, for they represent the three energy planes that integrate for the development of physical-matter manifestation.

As for the “star” that is said to have led most of these kings, wise men or magi to their destination, it is mythic representation of those involving energies that radiate in the process of matter manifestation.  That just may be the reason that there have never been any genuine history accounts anywhere that verify such a celestial phenomenon of a stationary star hovering over a specific earthly location.

This entry was posted on December 24, 2011 at 10:49 pm and is filed under Atheist, belief, Bible, faith, prehistory, random, religion with tags birth of saviors, traditional christmas carol, winter solstice, Yule wheel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.