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the secret teachings of all ages
The Cross And The
Crucifixion
CHAPTER xxxviI
manly p. hall
ONE of the most interesting
legends concerning the cross is that preserved in Aurea Legenda,
by Jacobus de Vorgaine. The Story is to the effect that Adam, feeling
the end of his life was near, entreated his son Seth to make a
pilgrimage to the Garden of Eden and secure from the angel on guard at
the entrance the Oil of Mercy which God had promised mankind.
Seth did not know the way; but his father told him it was in an eastward
direction, and the path would be easy to follow, for when Adam and Eve
were banished from the Garden of the Lord, upon the path which their
feet had trod the grass had never grown.
Seth, following the directions
of his father, discovered the Garden of Eden without difficulty. The
angel who guarded the gate permitted him to enter, and in the midst of
the garden Seth beheld a great tree, the branches of which reached up to
heaven. The tree was in the form of a cross, and stood on the brink of a
precipice which led downward into the depths of hell. Among the roots of
the tree he saw the body of his brother Cain, held prisoner by the
entwining limbs. The angel refused to give Seth the Oil of Mercy,
but presented him instead with three seeds from the Tree of Life (some
say the Tree of Knowledge). With these Seth returned to his father, who
was so overjoyed that he did not desire to live longer. Three days later
he died, and the three seeds were buried in his mouth, as the angel had
instructed. The seeds became a sapling with three trunks in one, which
absorbed into itself the blood of Adam, so that the life of Adam was in
the tree. Noah dug up this tree by the roots and took it with him into
the Ark. After the waters subsided, he buried the skull of Adam under
Mount Calvary, and planted the tree on the summit of Mount
Lebanon.
Moses beheld a visionary being
in the midst of this tree (the burning bush) and from it cut the magical
rod with which he was able to bring water out of a stone. But because he
failed to call upon the Lord the second time he struck the rock, he was
not permitted to carry the sacred staff into the Promised Land; so he
planted it in the hills of Moab. After much searching, King David
discovered the tree; and his son, Solomon, tried to use it for a pillar
in his Temple, but his carpenters could not cut it so that it would fit;
it was always either too long or too short. At last, disgusted, they
cast it aside and used it for a bridge to connect Jerusalem with the
surrounding hills. When the Queen of Sheba came to visit King Solomon
she was expected to walk across this bridge. Instead, when she beheld
the tree, she refused to put her foot upon it, but, after kneeling and
praying, removed her sandals and forded the stream. This so impressed
King Solomon that he ordered the log to be overlaid with golden places
and placed above the door of his Temple. There it remained until his
covetous grandson stole the gold, and buried the tree so that the crime
would not be discovered.
From the ground where the tree
was buried there immediately bubbled forth a spring of water, which
became known as Bethesda. To it the sick from all Syria came to be
healed. The angel of the pool became the guardian of the tree, and it
remained undisturbed for many years. Eventually the log floated to the
surface and was used as a bridge again, this time between Calvary and
Jerusalem; and over it Jesus passed to be crucified. There was no wood
on Calvary; so the tree was cut into two parts to serve as the cross
upon which the Son of Man was crucified. The cross was set up at the
very spot where the skull of Adam had been buried. Later, when the cross
was discovered by the Empress Helena, the wood was found to be of four
different varieties contained in one tree (representing the elements),
and thereafter the cross continued to heal all the sick who were
permitted to touch it.
The prevalent idea that the
reverence for the cross is limited to the Christian world is disproved
by even the most superficial investigation of its place in religious
symbolism. The early Christians used every means possible to conceal the
pagan origin of their symbols, doctrines, and rituals. They either
destroyed the sacred books of other peoples among whom they settled, or
made them inaccessible to students of comparative philosophy, apparently
believing that in this way they could stamp out all record of the
pre-Christian origin of their doctrines. In some cases the writings of
various ancient authors were tampered with, passages of a compromising
nature being removed or foreign material interpolated. The supposedly
spurious passage in Josephus concerning Jesus is an example adduced to
illustrate this proclivity.
THE LOST LIBRARIES OF
ALEXANDRIA
Prior to the Christian Era
seven hundred thousand of the most valuable books, written upon
parchment, papyrus, vellum, and wax, and also tablets of stone, terra
cotta, and wood, were gathered from all parts of the ancient world and
housed in Alexandria, in buildings specially prepared for the purpose.
This magnificent repository of knowledge was destroyed by a series of
three fires. The parts that escaped the conflagration lighted by Cæsar
to destroy the fleet in the harbor were destroyed about A.D. 389 by the
Christians in obedience to the edict of Theodosius, who had ordered the
destruction of the Serapeum, a building sacred to Serapis in which the
volumes were kept. This conflagration is supposed to have destroyed the
library that Marcus Antonius had presented to Cleopatra to compensate in
part for that burned in the fire of the year 51.
Concerning this, H. P.
Blavatsky, in Isis Unveiled, has written: "They [the Rabbis of
Palestine and the wise men] say that not all the rolls and manuscripts,
reported in history to have been burned by Cæsar, by the Christian mob,
in 389, and by the Arab General Amru, perished as it is commonly
believed; and the story they tell is the following: At the time of the
contest for the throne, in 51 B. C., between Cleopatra and her brother
Dionysius Ptolemy, the Bruckion, which contained over seven hundred
thousand rolls all bound in wood and fire-proof parchment, was
undergoing repairs and a great portion of the original manuscripts,
considered among the most precious, and which were not duplicated, were
stored away in the house of one of the librarians. * * *Several hours
passed between the burning of the fleet, set on fire by Cæsar's order,
and the moment when the first buildings situated near the harbor caught
fire in their turn; and * * * the librarians, aided by several hundred
slaves attached to the museum, succeeded in saving the most precious of
the rolls." In all probability, the books which were saved lie buried
either in Egypt or in India, and until they are discovered the modern
world must remain in ignorance concerning many great philosophical and
mystical truths. The ancient world more clearly understood these missing
links--the continuity of the pagan Mysteries in Christianity.
THE CROSS IN PAGAN
SYMBOLISM
In his article on the Cross
and Crucifixion in the Encyclopædia Britannica, Thomas Macall
Fallow casts much light on the antiquity of this ideograph. "The use of
the cross as a religious symbol in pre-Christian times, and among
non-Christian peoples, may probably be regarded as almost
universal, and in very many cases it was connected with some form of
nature worship."
HISTORY OF THE HOLY
CROSS.
From Berjeau's History of the
Holy Cross.
(1) Adam directing Seth how to
reach the Garden of Eden. (2) Seth placing the three seeds from the Tree
of Life under the tongue of the dead Adam. (3) The Queen of Sheba,
refusing to place her feet upon the sacred tree, forded the stream. (4)
Placing the sacred tree over the door of Solomon's Temple. (5) The
crucifixion of Christ upon a cross made from the wood of the holy tree.
(6) Distinguishing the true cross from the other two by testing its
power to raise a corpse to life.
Not only is the cross itself a
familiar object in the art of all nations, but the veneration for it is
an essential part of the religious life of the greater part of humanity.
It is a common symbol among the American Indians--North, Central, and
South. William W. Seymour states: "The Aztec goddess of rain bore a
cross in her hand, and the Toltecs claimed that their deity,
Quetzalcoatl, taught them the sign and ritual of the cross, hence his
staff, or sceptre of power, resembled a crosier, and his mantle was
covered with red crosses." (The Cross in Tradition, History and
Art.)
The cross is also highly
revered by the Japanese and Chinese. To the Pythagoreans the most sacred
of all numbers was the 10, the symbol of which is an X, or cross. In
both the Japanese and Chinese languages the character of the number 10
is a cross. The Buddhist wheel of life is composed of two crosses
superimposed, and its eight points are still preserved to Christendom in
the peculiarly formed cross of the Knights Templars, which is
essentially Buddhistic. India has preserved the cross, not only in its
carvings and paintings, but also in its architectonics; a great number
of its temples--like the churches and cathedrals of Christendom--are
raised from cruciform foundations.
On the mandalas of the
Tibetans, heaven is laid out in the form of a cross, with a demon king
at each of the four gates. A remarkable cross of great antiquity was
discovered in the island caves of Elephanta in the harbor of Bombay.
Crosses of various kinds were favorite motifs in the art of Chaldea,
Phnicia, Egypt, and Assyria. The initiates of the Eleusinian Mysteries
of Greece were given a cross which they suspended about their necks on a
chain, or cord, at the time of initiation. To the Rosicrucians,
Alchemists, and Illuminati, the cross was the symbol of light, because
each of the three letters L V X is derived from some part of the
cross.
THE TAU
CROSS
There are three distinct forms
of the cross. The first is called the TAU (more correctly the TAV). It
closely resembles the modern letter T, consisting of a horizontal bar
resting on a vertical column, the two arms being of equal length. An oak
tree cut off some feet above the ground and its upper part laid across
the lower in this form was the symbol of the Druid god Hu. It is
suspected that this symbol originated among the Egyptians from the
spread of the horns of a bull or ram (Taurus or Aries) and the vertical
line of its face. This is sometimes designated as the hammer
cross, because if held by its vertical base it is not unlike a
mallet or gavel. In one of the Qabbalistic Masonic legends, CHiram Abiff
is given a hammer in the form of a TAU by his ancestor, Tubal-cain. The
TAU cross is preserved to modern Masonry under the symbol of the T
square. This appears to be the oldest form of the cross
extant.
The TAU cross was inscribed on
the forehead of every person admitted into the Mysteries of Mithras.
When a king was initiated into the Egyptian Mysteries, the TAU was
placed against his lips. It was tattooed upon the bodies of the
candidates in some of the American Indian Mysteries. To the Qabbalist,
the TAU stood for heaven and the Pythagorean tetractys. The
Caduceus of Hermes was an outgrowth of the TAU cross. (See Albert
Pike.)
THE CRUX
ANSATA
The second type was that of a
T, or TAU, cross surmounted by a circle, often foreshortened to the form
of an upright oval. This was called by the ancients the Crux Ansata, or
the cross of life . It was the key to the Mysteries of antiquity and it
probably gave rise to the more modern story of St. Peter's golden key to
heaven. In the Mysteries of Egypt the candidate passed through all forms
of actual and imaginary dangers, holding above his head the Crux Ansata,
before which the powers of darkness fell back abashed. The student is
reminded of the words In hoc signo vinces. The TAU form of the
cross is not unlike the seal of Venus, as Richard Payne Knight has
noted. He states: "The cross in this form is sometimes observable on
coins, and several of them were found in a temple of Serapis [the
Serapeum], demolished at the general destruction of those edifices by
the Emperor Theodosius, and were said by the Christian antiquaries of
that time to signify the future life."
Augustus Le Plongeon, in his
Sacred Mysteries Among the Mayas and Quiches, notes that the Crux
Ansata, which he calls The Key to the Nile and the Symbol of Symbols,
either in its complete form or as a simple TAU, was to be seen adorning
the breasts of statues and bas-reliefs at Palenque, Copan, and
throughout Central America. He notes that it was always associated with
water; that among the Babylonians it was the emblem of the water gods;
among the Scandinavians, of heaven and immortality; and among the Mayas,
of rejuvenation and freedom from physical suffering.
Concerning the association of
this symbol with the waters of life, Count Goblet d'Alviella, in
his Migration of Symbols, calls attention to the fact that an
instrument resembling the Crux Ansata and called the Nilometer
was used by the ancient Egyptians for measuring and regulating the
inundations of the river Nile. It is probable that this relationship to
the Nile caused it to be considered the symbol of life, for Egypt
depended entirely upon the inundations of this river for the irrigation
necessary to insure sufficient crops. In the papyrus scrolls the Crux
Ansata is shown issuing from the mouths of Egyptian kings when they
pardoned enemies, and it was buried with them to signify the immortality
of the soul. It was carried by many of the gods and goddesses and
apparently signified their divine benevolence and life-giving power. The
Cairo Museum contains a magnificent collection of crosses of many
shapes, sizes, and designs, proving that they were a common symbol among
the Egyptians.
THE ROMAN AND GREEK
CATHOLIC CROSSES
The third form of the cross is
the familiar Roman or Greek type, which is closely associated with the
crucifixion of Jesus Christ, although it is improbable that the cross
used resembled its more familiar modern form. There are unlimited
sub-varieties of crosses, differing in the relative proportions of their
vertical and horizontal sections. Among the secret orders of different
generations we find compounded crosses, such as the triple TAU in the
Royal Arch of Freemasonry and the double and triple crosses of both
Masonic and Roman Catholic symbolism.
To the Christian the cross has
a twofold significance. First, it is the symbol of the death of his
Redeemer, through whose martyrdom he feels that he partakes of the glory
of God; secondly, it is the symbol of humility, patience, and the burden
of life. It is interesting that the cross should be both a symbol of
life and a symbol of death. Many nations deeply considered the
astronomical aspect of religion, and it is probable that the Persians,
Greeks, and Hindus looked upon the cross as a symbol of the equinoxes
and the solstices, in the belief that at certain seasons of the year the
sun was symbolically crucified upon these imaginary celestial
angles.
The fact that so many nations
have regarded their Savior as a personification of the sun globe is
convincing evidence that the cross must exist as an astronomical element
in pagan allegory. Augustus Le Plongeon believed that the veneration for
the cross was partly due to the rising of a constellation called the
Southern Cross, which immediately preceded the annual rains, and as the
natives of those latitudes relied wholly upon these rains to raise their
crops, they viewed the cross as an annual promise of the approaching
storms, which to them meant life.
There are four basic elements
(according to both ancient philosophy and modern science), and the
ancients represented them by the four arms of the cross, placing at the
end of each arm a mysterious Qabbalistic creature to symbolize the power
of one of these elements. Thus, they symbolized the element of earth by
a bull; water by a scorpion, a serpent, or an eagle; fire by a lion; and
air by a human head surrounded by wings. It is significant that the four
letters inscribed upon parchment (some say wood) and fastened to the top
of the cross at the time of the crucifixion should be the first letters
of four Hebrew words which stand for the four elements: "Iammin,
the sea or water; Nour, fire; Rouach, the air; and
Iebeschah, the dry earth." (See Morals and Dogma, by
Albeit Pike.)
That a cross can be formed by
opening or unfolding the surfaces of a cube has caused that symbol to be
associated with the earth. Though a cross within a circle has long been
regarded as a sign of the planet Earth, it should really be considered
as the symbol of the composite element earth, since it is composed of
the four triangles of the elements. For thousands of years the cross has
been identified with the plan of salvation for humanity. The
elements--salt, sulphur, mercury, and Azoth--used in making the
Philosopher's Scone in Alchemy, were often symbolized by a cross. The
cross of the four cardinal angles also had its secret significance, and
Masonic parties of three still go forth to the four cardinal points of
the compass in search of the Lost Word.
The material of which the cross
was formed was looked upon as being an essential element in its
symbolism. Thus, a golden cross symbolized illumination; a silver cross,
purification; a cross of base metals, humiliation; a cross of wood,
aspiration. The fact that among many nations it was
customary to spread the arms in prayer has influenced the symbolism of
the cross, which, because of its shape, has come to be regarded as
emblematic of the human body. The four major divisions of the human
structure--bones, muscles, nerves, and arteries--are considered to have
contributed to the symbolism of the cross. This is especially due to the
fact that the spinal nerves cross at the base of the spine, and is a
reminder that "Our Lord was crucified also in Egypt."
THE EASTER ISLAND FIGURE SHOWING CRUX ANSATA
ON REVERSE
That the Crux Ansata migrated
to many parts of the earth is proved by the fact that it was sculptured
upon the back of at least one of the mysterious stone figures found on
Easter Island in the south Pacific. The statue in question--one of the
smallest in the group--was brought to London by a sailing ship, and is
now in the British Museum; the Crux Ansata on the reverse side is
plainly visible.
Man has four vehicles (or
mediums) of expression by means of which the spiritual Ego contacts the
external universe: the physical nature, the vital nature, the emotional
nature, and the mental nature. Each of these partakes in principle of
one of the primary elements, and the four creatures assigned to them by
the Qabbalists caused the cross to be symbolic of the compound nature of
man.
THE CRUCIFIXION--A
COSMIC ALLEGORY
Saviors unnumbered have died
for the sins of man and by the hands of man, and through their deaths
have interceded in heaven for the souls of their executioners. The
martyrdom of the God-Man and the redemption of the world through
His blood has been an essential tenet of many great religions. Nearly
all these stories can be traced to sun worship, for the glorious orb of
day is the Savior who dies annually for every creature within his
universe, but year after year rises again victorious from the tomb of
winter. Without doubt the doctrine of the crucifixion is based upon the
secret traditions of the Ancient Wisdom; it is a constant reminder that
the divine nature of man is perpetually crucified upon the animal
organism. Certain of the pagan Mysteries included in the ceremony of
initiation the crucifixion of the candidate upon a cross, or the laying
of his body upon a cruciform altar. It has been claimed that Apollonius
of Tyana (the Antichrist) was initiated into the Arcanum of Egypt in the
Great Pyramid, where he hung upon a cross until unconscious and was then
laid in the tomb (the coffer) for three days. While his body was
unconscious, his soul was thought to pass into the realms of the
immortals (the place of death) After it had vanquished death (by
recognizing that life is eternal) it returned again to the body, which
then rose from the coffer, after which he was hailed as a brother by the
priests, who believed that he had returned from the land of the dead.
This concept was, in substance, the teaching of the
Mysteries.
THE CRUCIFIED
SAVIORS
The list of the deathless
mortals who suffered for man that he might receive the boon of
eternal life is an imposing one. Among those connected historically or
allegorically with a crucifixion are Prometheus, Adonis, Apollo, Arys,
Bacchus, Buddha, Christna, Horus, Indra, Ixion, Mithras, Osiris,
Pythagoras, Quetzalcoatl, Semiramis, and Jupiter. According to the
fragmentary accounts extant, all these heroes gave their lives to the
service of humanity and, with one or two exceptions, died as martyrs for
the cause of human progress. In many mysterious ways the manner of their
death has been designedly concealed, but it is possible that most of
them were crucified upon a cross or tree. The first friend of man, the
immortal Prometheus, was crucified on the pinnacle of Mount Caucasus,
and a vulture was placed over his liver to torment him throughout
eternity by clawing and rending his flesh with its talons. Prometheus
disobeyed the edict of Zeus by bringing fire and immortality to man, so
for man he suffered until the coming of Hercules released him from his
ages of torment.
Concerning the crucifixion of
the Persian Mithras, J. P. Lundy has written: "Dupuis tells us that
Mithra was put to death by crucifixion, and rose again on the 25th of
March. In the Persian Mysteries the body of a young man, apparently
dead, was exhibited, which was 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 Savior. His priests watched his 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, Rejoice, O sacred initiated, your God is risen. His death,
his pains, and sufferings, have worked your salvation." (See
Monumental Christianity.)
In some cases, as in that of
the Buddha, the crucifixion mythos must be taken in an allegorical
rather than a literal sense, for the manner of his death has been
recorded by his own disciples in the Book of the Great Decease.
However, the mere fact that the symbolic reference to death upon a tree
has been associated with these heroes is sufficient to prove the
universality of the crucifixion story.
The East Indian equivalent of
Christ is the immortal Christna, who, sitting in the forest playing his
flute, charmed the birds and beasts by his music. It is supposed that
this divinely inspired Savior of humanity was crucified upon a tree by
his enemies, but great care has been taken to destroy any evidence
pointing in that direction. Louis Jacolliot, in his book The Bible in
India, thus describes the death of Christna: "Christna understood
that the hour had come for him to quit the earth, and return to the
bosom of him who had sent him. Forbidding his disciples to follow him,
he went, one day, to make his ablutions on the banks of the Ganges * *
*. Arriving at the sacred river, he plunged himself three times therein,
then, kneeling, and looking to heaven, he prayed, expecting death. In
this position he was pierced with arrows by one of those whose crimes he
had unveiled, and who, hearing of his journey to the Ganges, had, with
generation. a strong troop, followed with the design of assassinating
him * * *. The body of the God-man was suspended to the branches of a
tree by his murderer, that it might become the prey of vultures. News of
the death having spread, the people came in a crowd conducted by
Ardjouna, the dearest of the disciples of Christna, to recover his
sacred remains. But the mortal frame of the redeemer had disappeared--no
doubt it had regained the celestial abodes * * * and the tree to which
it had been attached had become suddenly covered with great red flowers
and diffused around it the sweetest perfume." Other accounts of the
death of Christna declare that he was tied to a cross-shaped tree before
the arrows were aimed at him.
The existence in Moor's The
Hindu Pantheon of a plate of Christna with nail wounds in his hands
and feet, and a plate in Inman's Ancient Faiths showing an
Oriental deity with what might well be a nail hole in one of his feet,
should be sufficient motive for further investigation of this subject by
those of unbiased minds. Concerning the startling discoveries which can
be made along these lines, J. P. Lundy in his Monumental
Christianity presents the following information: "Where did the
Persians get their notion of this prophecy as thus interpreted
respecting Christ, and His saving mercy and love displayed on the cross?
Both by symbol and actual crucifix we see it on all their monuments. If
it came from India, how did it get there, except from the one common and
original centre of all primitive and pure religion? There is a most
extraordinary plate, illustrative of the whole subject, which
representation I believe to be anterior to Christianity. It is copied
from Moor's Hindu Pantheon, not as a curiosity, but as a most singular
monument of the crucifixion. I do not venture to give it a name, other
than that of a crucifixion in space. * * * Can it be the
Victim-Man, or the Priest and Victim both in one, of the Hindu
mythology, who offered himself a sacrifice before the worlds were? Can
it be Plato's second God who impressed himself on the universe in the
form of the cross? Or is it his divine man who would be scourged,
tormented, fettered, have his eyes burnt out; and lastly, having
suffered all manner of evils, would be crucified? Plato learned
his theology in Egypt and the East, and must have known of the
crucifixion of Krishna, Buddha, Mithra [et al]. At any rate, the
religion of India had its mythical crucified victim long anterior to
Christianity, as a type of the real one
[Pro Deo et Ecclesia!], and I am inclined to think that we have
it in this remarkable plate."
THE TAU CROSS.
The TAU Cross was the sign
which the Lord told the people of Jerusalem to mark on their foreheads,
as related by the Prophet Ezekiel. It was also placed as a symbol of
liberation upon those charged with crimes but acquitted.
THE CRUX ANSATA.
Both the cross and the circle
were phallic symbols, for the ancient world venerated the generative
powers of Nature as being expressive of the creative attributes of the
Deity. The Crux Ansata, by combining the masculine TAU with the feminine
oval, exemplified the principles of generation.
APOLLONIUS OF TYANA.
From Historia Deorum
Fatidicorum.
Concerning Apollonius and his
remarkable Powers, Francis Barrett, in his Biographia Antiqua,
after describing how Apollonius quelled a riot without speaking a word,
continues: "He traveled much, professed himself a legislator; understood
all languages, without having learned them; he had the surprising
faculty of knowing what was transacted at an immense distance, and at
the time the Emperor Domitian was stabbed, Apollonius being at a vast
distance and standing in the market-place of the city, exclaimed,
'Strike! strike!--'tis time, the tyrant is no more.' He understood the
language of birds; he condemned dancing and other diversions of that
sort. he recommended charity and piety; he traveled over almost all the
countries of the world; and he died at a very great age."
The modern world has been
misled in its attitude towards the so-called pagan deities, and has come
to view them in a light entirely different from their true characters
and meanings. The ridicule and slander heaped by Christendom upon
Christna and Bacchus are excellent examples of the persecution of
immortal principles by those who have utterly failed to sense the secret
meaning of the allegories. Who was the crucified man of Greece,
concerning whom vague rumors have been afloat? Higgins thinks it was
Pythagoras, the true story of whose death was suppressed by early
Christian authors because it conflicted with their teachings. Was it
true also that the Roman legionaries carried on the field of battle
standards upon which were crosses bearing the crucified Sun
Man?
THE CRUCIFIXION OF
QUETZALCOATL
One of the most remarkable of
the crucified World Saviors is the Central American god of the winds, or
the Sun, Quetzalcoatl, concerning whose activities great secrecy was
maintained by the Indian priests of Mexico and Central America. This
strange immortal, whose name means feathered snake, appears to
have come out of the sea, bringing with him a mysterious cross. On his
garments were embellished clouds and red crosses. In his honor, great
serpents carved from stone were placed in different parts of
Mexico.
The cross of Quetzalcoatl
became a sacred symbol among the Mayas, and according to available
records the Maya Indian angels had crosses of various pigments painted
on their foreheads. Similar crosses were placed over the eyes of those
initiated into their Mysteries. When Cortez arrived in Mexico, he
brought with him the cross. Recognizing this, the natives believed that
he was Quetzalcoatl returned, for the latter had promised to come back
in the infinite future and redeem his people.
In Anacalypsis, Godfrey
Higgins throws some light on the cross and its symbolism in America:
"The Incas had a cross of very fine marble, or beautiful jasper, highly
polished, of one piece, three-fourths of an ell in length, and three
fingers in width and thickness. It was kept in a sacred chamber of a
palace, and held in great veneration. The Spaniards enriched this cross
with gold and jewels, and placed it in the cathedral of Cuzco. Mexican
temples are in the form of a cross, and face the four cardinal points.
Quexalcoatl is represented in the paintings of the Codex Borgianus
nailed to the cross. Sometimes even the two thieves are there crucified
with him. In Vol. II. plate 75, the God is crucified in the Heavens, in
a circle of nineteen figures, the number of the Metonic cycle. A serpent
is depriving him of the organs of generation. In the Codex Borgianus,
(pp. 4, 72, 73, 75,) the Mexican God is represented crucified and nailed
to the cross, and in another place hanging to it, with a cross in his
hands. And in one instance, where the figure is not merely outlined, the
cross is red, the clothes are coloured, and the face and hands quite
black. If this was the Christianity of the German Nestorius, how came he
to teach that the crucified Savior was black? The name of the God who
was crucified was Quexalcoatl.
The crucifixion of the Word in
space, the crucifixion of the dove often seen in religious
symbolism--both of these are reminders of pagan overshadowing. The fact
that a cross is formed by the spread wings of a bird in relation to its
body is no doubt one of the reasons why the Egyptians used a bird to
symbolize the immortal nature of man, and often show it hovering over
the mummified body of the dead and carrying in one of its claws the sign
of life and in the other the sign of breath.
THE NAILS OF THE
PASSION
The three nails of the Passion
have found their way into the symbolism of many races and faiths. There
are many legends concerning these nails. One of these is to the effect
that originally there were four nails, but one was dematerialized by a
Hebrew Qabbalist and magician just as they were about to drive it
through the foot of the Master. Hence it was necessary to cross the
feet. Another legend relates that one of the nails was hammered into a
crown and that it still exists as the imperial diadem of a European
house. Still another story has it that the bit on the bridle of
Constantine's horse was a Passion nail. It is improbable, however, that
the nails were made of iron, for at that time it was customary to use
sharpened wooden pegs. Hargrave Jennings, in his Rosicrucians, Their
Rites and Mysteries, calls attention to the fact that the mark or
sign used in England to designate royal property and called the broad
arrow is nothing more nor less than the three nails of the crucifixion
grouped together, and that by placing them point to point the ancient
symbol of the Egyptian TAU cross is formed.
In his Ancient
Freemasonry, Frank C. Higgins reproduces the Masonic apron of a
colossal stone figure at Quirigua, Guatemala. The central ornament of
the apron is the three Passion nails, arranged exactly like the British
broad arrow. That three nails should be used to crucify the Christ,
three murderers to kill CHiram Abiff, and three wounds to slay Prince
Coh, the Mexican Indian Osiris, is significant.
C. W. King, in his Gnostics
and Their Remains, thus describes a Gnostic gem: "The Gnostic
Pleroma, or combination of all the Æons [is] expressed by the outline of
a man holding a scroll * * *. The left hand is formed like three bent
spikes or nails; unmistakably the same symbol that Belus
often holds in his extended hand on the Babylonian cylinders, afterwards
discovered by the Jewish Cabalists in the points of the letter Shin, and
by the mediæval mystics in o the Three Nails of the Cross." From this
point Hargrave Jennings continues King's speculations, noting the
resemblance of the nail to an obelisk, or pillar, and that the
Qabbalistic value of the Hebrew letter Shin, or Sin, is 300, namely, 100
for each spike.
The Passion nails are highly
important symbols, especially when it is realized that, according to the
esoteric systems of culture, there are certain secret centers of force
in the palms of the hands and in the soles of the feet.
The driving of the nails and
the flow of blood and water from the wounds were symbolic of certain
secret philosophic practices of the Temple. Many of the Oriental deities
have mysterious symbols on the hands and feet. The so-called footprints
of Buddha are usually embellished with a magnificent sunburst at the
point where the nail pierced the foot of Christ.
In his notes on the theology of
Jakob Böhme, Dr. Franz Hartmann thus sums up the mystic symbolism of the
crucifixion: "The cross represents terrestrial life, and the crown of
thorns the sufferings of the soul within the elementary body, but also
the victory of the spirit over the elements of darkness. The body is
naked, to indicate that the candidate for immortality must divest
himself of all desires for terrestrial things. The figure is nailed to
the cross, which symbolizes the death and surrender of the self-will,
and that it should not attempt to accomplish anything by its own power,
but merely serve as an instrument wherein the Divine will is executed.
Above the head are inscribed the letters: I. N. R. J. whose most
important meaning is: In Nobis Regnat Jesus (Within ourselves reigns
Jesus). But this signification of this inscription can be practically
known only to those who have actually died relatively to the world of
desires, and risen above the temptation for personal existence; or, to
express it in other words, those who have become alive in Christ, and in
whom thus the kingdom of Jesus (the holy love-will issuing from the
heart of God) has been established." One of the most interesting
interpretations of the crucifixion allegory is that which identifies the
man Jesus with the personal consciousness of the individual. It is this
personal consciousness that conceives of and dwells in the sense of
separateness, and before the aspiring soul can be reunited with the
ever-present and all-pervading Father this personality must be
sacrificed that the Universal Consciousness may be liberated.
THE CRUCIFIXION OF QUETZALCOATL.
(From the
Codex Borgianus.)
From Kingsborough's Antiquities of Mexico.
Lord Kingsborough writes: "May
we not refer to the seventy-third page of the Borgian MS., which
represents Quexalcoatl both crucified, and as it were cut in pieces for
the cauldron, and with equal reason demand, whether anyone can help
thinking that the Jews of the New World (Lord Kingsborough sought to
prove that the Mexicans were descendants of the Jews] applied to their
Messiah not only all the prophecies contained in the Old Testament
relating to Christ, but likewise many of the incidents recorded of him
in the Gospels."
THE CRUCIFIXION IN SPACE.
From Higgins' Anacalypsis.
Of this remarkable Oriental
drawing, J. P. Lundy has written:----It looks like a Christian crucifix
in many respects, and in some others it does not. The drawing, attitude,
and the nail-marks in hands and feet, indicate a Christian origin; while
the Parthian coronet of seven points, the absence of the wood and of the
usual inscription, and the rays of glory above seem to point to some
Christian origin. Can it be the Victim, Man, or the Priest and Victim
both in one, of the Hindu mythology, who offered himself a sacrifice
before the worlds were?"
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