At noon each year on or about June 21-22 the Sun reaches its highest position in the sky in the Northern Hemisphere, and this recurring event is known as the Summer Solstice. When this occurrence takes place the Sun is in its zenith at the Tropic of Cancer, and from the most ancient times the constellation of Cancer has always been known as “The Northern Gate,” or as “The Gate of Men.”
For three days during the solstice period there seems to be no movement of the Sun in relation to Earth, and then the minutes of daylight slowly begin to shorten—an initial decrease of light. It is not coincidence that one of the two Johns in Christian legends is honored at this time. Thus in Christian gospel John the Baptist is portrayed as having said, “He must increase and I must decrease.” We should remember here that the other John, “Saint John”, is feasted on December 27th, right after the winter solstice, and represents the cycle of increasing light in the Northern Hemisphere. It was an open secret among the Pagans that the name John when used in gospel accounts always personified some aspect of light. Indeed the Pagans through the Dark Ages guardedly spoke of the year as being divided between the two Johns rather than openly acknowledge the periodic occurrence of the solstices. The reason for this was that the church considered such wisdom of nature to be “blasphemous” and would retaliated with brutal severity.
John, as the baptizer, is subtly associated with water which is the traditional symbol of life’s flow in nearly all cultures. In prehistory times and prominent in Pagan background, the understanding of baptize was to be dipped under the waters of the world: meaning a commitment by each self-aware consciousness to take up its experience in physical-matter life. By the gospel account of John baptizing Jesus it is obvious that baptismal rites were very ancient and had long been practiced in Pagan tradition. From deliberate misinterpretation of the Pagan understanding that each self emerges out of the creative process as honored with the Pagan rite of baptism there arose the Christian practice where the recipient is alleged to be cleansed of original sin, given a name, and admitted into a specific system of belief.
As constellation Cancer assumes it periodic dominance in the skies, there always arises with it the constellation of considerable length known as Hydra, which Pagan cultures regarded as symbolizing desire and greed that accompanies life forms. Baptismal rites in Pagan cultures therefore sought to cleanse, or at least dilute, these negative traits from contaminating one’s matter-borne spirit. The gods of ancient Egypt, Greece, India, etc. were all portrayed as being baptized: indeed, John’s role as baptizer is a reflection of Egyptian myth in which the god Anap was the baptizer of the gods. In all the Pagan myths the baptismal episode was always ornamented with supernatural phenomena. So it is recorded in Luke 3:21 that “…Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, (22) And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.” The same type of ornamentation is even found in the account of the call to duty of Mohammed in which it is declared, “Celestial regions were shaken by the tumult in the prophet’s soul.” Then it is claimed that stars fell from heaven and frightened jinn fled in terror. After this the angel Gabriel allegedly brought Allah’s direct command to Mohammed.
John the Baptist is honored during the dominance of the sign of Cancer. He is presented in gospel as being somewhat older than Jesus, and the honor of John taking place in June thus established that he would be six months older. The story incident of John leaping in Elisabeth’s womb when she and pregnant Mary met in quiet jubilation is an allusion to the time of the Autumnal Equinox, the halfway or adjustment period which heralds the Winter Solstice.
John is said to have preached “in the wilderness” (Matthew 3:1), and in sacred language code “wilderness” always refers to pre-physical conditions that are active in the early involvement of Creation energies. Also, John is portrayed as a “wild man” who was not especially capable of much love or patience for the primal conditions around him. Because John the Baptist personifies first light emanation that accompanies creation, Jesus is depicted as saying that no one born of woman is higher than John the Baptist (Matthew 11:11).
The NT account of Jesus’ baptism by John is a most picturesque and dramatic presentation of transformation, and it is identical in meaning as OT stories where transformation of character is portrayed: i.e. Abram becoming Abraham, and Jacob becoming Israel. The hidden meaning in these tales is the physical life that is taken up and made manifest is where qualification of primal energies embodied in each matter-form are to be utilized for advanced manifestation.
And the reason for the alleged beheading of John is identical in meaning as the “first-born” being slain in the myths of Exodus. Sacred language is used in both story renditions to disguise a scientific principle active in the Creation process. That principle involves the heaviest elements in the atomic table. The heaviest elements are the first to be affected with dissolution and radiation. It is the process of disintegration and radiation that creative elements are made free to create biologic forms, and atomic energy is converted into biotic energy. Thus is all matter-life baptized in the waters of Creation.
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