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Astrotheology (a work in progress)
a lecture by Jordan Maxwell
Steve Allen once said that there are two kinds of facts. The kind you look up and the kind you make up. And too much of our world is comprised of educated people who are teaching facts which are made up. They have no basis in actual fact. And in the Jewish religion, there is a concept in Judaism that says if you tell a lie when under testimony, then your entire testimony is to be thrown out. Because if you lie one time, you're just a liar and consequently you testimony is of no value, period. That being the case there is a maximum in Roman Law that says let him who wishes to be deceived be deceived. So that was an article of Roman Law. If you're so stupid that you want to buy into something and be deceived, hey, go ahead, that's up to you.
Let me give you an example of how we are being manipulated and exploited by people who would present their notions as true in point to fact having no factual basis at all. In the Holy Talmud of the Hebrews, Gittin 57B says that four billion Jews were killed by Romans in the city of Bethar. Four billion Jews killed? In Gittin 58A, the Talmud says, sixteen million children were wrapped in scrolls and burned alive by the Romans. Sixteen million children burned by the Romans, four billion people killed? As far as I'm concerned it is part imparcel of what I have come to learn about theology in the forty three years that I've been looking at theology.
There's a very important question you might want to ask yourself. How important is it, really, to know the truth about anything? And especially in America. How really important is it to know the factual truth about anything? If you have a rope and you're going to ship a heavy box you take the rope and you wrap the box up with it and most likely that rope is going to be sufficient to ship any kind of a box. But if you're going to take that rope out to the edge of a ten story building and you're going to hang your body off the building on that rope, now you'd better check the integrity of that rope, because now you're hanging your life on it. Consequently, if you owned a second story building and you're up on the second floor, and you're going to put a lot of heavy weight on that floor the smart thing to do, logic would tell you, is to go down to the first floor and get on a ladder and pull the ceiling tiles away and check the foundations of that floor to see if the weight is going to be too much for the floor, to make sure that it's going to be able to hold that weight. So what you're doing is you're standing under that foundation and this is where we get the concept of the word understanding. In order to truly understand something, you need to stand under it. And see what it's really based on before it all falls down on you and collapses.
Again I will ask the question how important is it to know the truth about anything especially about God? Because so many people in this country talk about worshipping God and having a relationship with The Divine, and have no concept of what the bible actually teaches, of what the ancient Hebrews actually believed, what the ancient cultures taught, and consequently what we have today is not a country of laws, we're told that Moses gave us the law and so many people are following the Mosaic law. We don't have a nation of laws, no one has under-standing, no body's tested the rope, people just believe whatever it is they've been told, and it never occurred to anyone to think about why is that we can understand that some one's born in the middle of China, that they wouldn't know about God or they wouldn't know about our understanding, they wouldn't know about the New Testament. What about someone that's born in the wiles of Africa? They wouldn't understand our beliefs and our belief systems. What makes you think that your belief system is any better than theirs? Again, one needs to do their homework on what we believe and where these beliefs have come from.
Let me give you an example and I've given this example here before. I think it's appropriate again. When we believe in our judicial system. All American law is collected in something called Corpus Juris Secundum. Corpus Juris Secundum is a huge volumes set of American laws and it's the bottom line on all of American law. Under the sub-heading in Corpus Juris Secundum, under Attorney and Client says this, "An attorney has an obligation to the court and to the government, not no less significant than his obligation to his clients, thus an attorney occupies a dual position which imposes dual obligations. His first duty is to the court and to the government and not to his client and whenever the duties of his client conflict with those he owes as an officer of the court, the former must yield to the latter." So if you're in court and your attorney is doing something you don't like it just don't matter He's not working for you. He is an officer of the court. He works for the government. Now under Attorney and Client it goes on to say, "A client is one who applies to an attorney or a lawyer for counsel or advise in a question of law." Therefore if you hire an attorney you are known as a client by law. It goes on to say that, "clients are called wards of the court" in regard to their relationship with their attorneys, so if you hire an attorney you're a client and if you're a client you are referred to by law as a ward of the court. Black's Law Dictionary, under the heading of Wards of the Court says, "A ward of the court is an infant or a person of unsound mind." So if you hire an attorney by law you're an idiot. That's what the law says. Why? Because if you had any brains, which you don't, but if you did you wouldn't even be in court. You wouldn't even have to go to court. Why do you have to go to court? You play tennis on a court. You play basketball on a court. What do you play tennis on a court with? You play with a racket, that's the reason why it's because the whole thing is a racket. You think it's by chance that these words and terms are used? You better go back and do your homework. The people who run this country use words and terms and emblems and they are telling you something all of the time and you don't see it.
Let me conclude this little beginning of this subject which I wish to deal with tonight which is the root of all religions. But, there was an interesting quote in the book called The New Totalitarians by Roland Humphrey and in the book The New Totalitarians there's a quote by Julian Huxley in the book called 1984. In the book 1984 Julian Huxley in England wrote the forewords to 1984 and in the forewords Julian Huxley said this, "as political and economic freedom diminishes, sexual freedom tends compensating to increase. And the dictator, unless he needs cannon fodder or families with which to colonize empty or conquered territories will do well to encourage that freedom. In conjunction with the freedom to daydream under the influence of narcotics, the movies, the radio. It will help to reconcile his subjects to the servitude which is now their fate." So what he's saying is that as your political, social and economic freedoms are diminishing, they're giving you plenty of sex, drugs, rock-n-roll and entertainment to keep you occupied as they're planning your demise because the people of this country are hated by the most powerful bankers in the world and America is the most hated country in the world because the men who founded this country went against the most powerful banking families in the world to establish this country and basically said to The Queen of England, "you come over here, we'll whip your ass" and they did. There was only two percent of the male population in this country stood up against the British fleet and sent the British back home with their tales between their legs bleeding. And you've got to understand this, young people will understand this, if you beat somebody up in the mob or in a gang war, you look like a big important guy but it ain't over yet. They're coming back. You just opened up a can of worms. Consequently, when the men that founded this country defeated the British in battle, they opened up a war against the most powerful banking families in the world and it's not over yet. They're coming back. And they're going to do a number on this country to teach America, don't you ever, ever again talk about being free. America being the land of the free and the home of the brave. We're not free or brave. We're slaves in our own country. One of the most recent and most important reasons why we're slaves is because we're ignorant. Thomas Jefferson said, "No country and no people can remain free and ignorant at the same time." No body's going to be free and ignorant. You can either be ignorant and stupid or you can be free. You can't be both.
Which brings me to my subject, the root of all religions. I find it to be amazing that so many people in this country give lip service to God. They talk about God. They talk about the presence of The Almighty and have no concept in the world where the word God comes from. Have no concept in the world where the theological ideas and concepts have come from in the western civilization. God is simply the word dog spelled backwards. This is why churches have dogma. You need to understand that the root word for God coming out of Europe is goth in German which gives us Gothic cathedrals, Gothic architecture. That's German for God. In Scandinavia the word is not goth it's gut so when you say I've got a gut feeling and it's like God's telling me something, gut is Scandinavian for God. You go back to the word God, as I said God is dog spelled backwards, why? Because in the ancient Egyptian religion the most powerful, divine being in all of Egypt was Osiris and Osiris said that the gods who came from the star system of Osirius, Osiris. Osirius or the star system of Sirius came to this Earth. This was the teachings of the ancient Egyptians, that the gods, aliens if you please came from another world called Sirius and they came here and set up a divine arrangement in Egypt and this is where we get the word sir. Yes, Sir. And today we know that Sirius is called the Dog Star.
So when you begin to look at the movies, television, and research these subjects for many years, you begin to see how words, terms and symbols are being used to manipulate our thinking and again I ask, how important is it, really, to know the truth? In Indiana Jones and The Raiders of the Lost Ark he is in his classroom at the begining of the movie and he is saying to his class that, "If you are looking for the truth, you are in the wrong room, that's down the hall and to the left. That's religion philosophy department." He said, "I am an archeologist, I'm looking for facts, not truth." Because what's truth to one person may not be truth to another. So only if truth is founded on facts can you begin to build a life and again, if you're hanging by the belief in something which is untrue, somewhere along the line it's going to bring you trouble.
So when you understand that there is an ancient linage of theology in religion that connects to government because in the ancient world kings and rulers always occupied two differenct positions at the same time. Ancient kings were always, of course, the head of the kingdom but they also were the comminication with the gods so consequently whatever the king did he had a divine right because he was in with the gods. We still have such people today who think that they have a god given right to rule over the human family. Somewhere along the line I believe there's going to come a time when the divine presence in the universe that we call God is going to show itself and when it does it's not going to be like anything you've ever anticipated. It is my belief that we have not even come to know God. We have not even come near to understanding the implications of what is in the bible.
Let me say at this point that I am not an athiest. I'm not even a humanist, though I respect both groups. The thing I respected about Steve Allen.. Steve Allen was a good friend of mine, we did a lot of projects together, television and radio together. But when we were speaking before audiences Steve Allen was a humanist and of course his stature was far better than mine before an audience, but I always appreciated Steve Allen when he would say to the audience that, "Jordan and I have different views on some subjects but just because I have a different view with him does not mean that he's wrong and I'm right. That's not what it means at all. It just means that we have a different view and that perhaps I'm wrong and maybe he's right." That struck me as being a very big man to be able to say that because in point to fact that's true. I don't think anyone has the whole truth on anything and I think that we learn every day from people and the bible says that we learn it from children. Even a child will lead us. Children will tell you some of the most off the wall things about you that are right on target and they're not playing. They mean what they're saying.
Moses was the leader of the moon cult. How many Jews know that? That Moses was the leader of a moon cult? The children of Israel worshipped the moon at the time of Moses. Moon cult.. the Lunar god. This is why today all celebrations and holidays in Judaism are celebrated after sun down. Do you know why all the celebrations in Judaism are celebrated after sun down? Hm? It's because they were worshipping the moon and that's when the moon comes out is after sun down. When you begin to see how the stories of Moses giving us the Law, the ten commandments, go back and read the ten commandments you'll find out, first of all, there are two renditions of the ten commandments in Genesis. One says one thing, one says the other. But the ten commandments of Moses is based on the Egyptian story called The Twelve Negative Confessions. The Twelve Negative Confessions were borrowed from The Law of Hammurabi and The Law of Hammurabi goes back to the most ancient laws that this world has ever known in the Assyrian Hammurabi King so there's a lot going on here.
I said to some of the young people a while back before I started this that in Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade.. What are you talking about a last crusade? I've never met Steven Spielberg personally but I am convinced that Steven is many things but stupid isn't one of them. He doesn't make movies that are based on absolute, total fiction. This guy is around and in the company of brilliant people. Hollywood is turning out some impressive material. You need to do your homework and look at these stories that are coming out. In the.. what we would refer to.. and I'll get back to Steven Spielberg, I have a reason for bringing that up. In what we would call the White Man's System, which is a Druidic, Northern European, Religio-Political Economic System, for a thousand years before the Roman Empire.. Western Europe, Scandinavia, Britain, was what we might call the white establishment on the Earth. And one of the most important priesthoods in that ancient establishment were the Druids and the Druids had a very important symbol that they used that we still have today. It was a magic wand. Many of the Druid priests used magics wand like Merlin the magician with his magic wand. Magic wands were always made out of the wood of a holly tree. It was made out of holly wood and they're still working their magic on us in Hollywood today. This is where the word comes from.
So I am of the opinion that unless and until we are prepared to look at the actual, factual foundations of where our belief systems have come from we're never going to be able to honor the God that we give lip service to. I am so totally convinced, in my own mind, that there is a Divine presence in the universe that men have called God. I have no problem with that idea at all. I'm totally convinced that this is an absolute fact. That there is some sort of a divine "matrix". Incidentally I produced a television show called Matrix back in 1989. Nobody ever gave me anything for the new movie, but uh.. Going back to the fact that I believe that there is a God. I believe that there is a divine presence in the universe. But I'm also well aware that that presence has been misrepresented for many reasons usually for ignorance alone and this is why I wanted to talk a little bit this evening about the religion that we hold holy and where it came from. Keep in mind that all of the religious teachings of the western world, in our western civilization, all of the religious concepts and ideas that we hold dear have developed in the northern hemisphere. In the western world we have no religious concept or belief that originated in the southern hemisphere. They all started in the northern hemisphere and that's important.
As far back as we can go into ancient history.. and I've spent forty-three years looking at ancient history with a particular eye to theology and politics.. as far back as.. well, the point being is that the more we change the more we stay the same. We're still believing the same thing, we're teaching the same things that were taught some 6,000 years ago we just don't know it. It's like Hollywood bringing out a movie that has been made six times and everybody thinks it's so great except the old guys that have seen this same show been done five times. It's the new guys, the kids, they think it's great. Well the same thing is true with our belief systems, the things that we hold dear. There's nothing new under the sun and I hope that I can show you some of that tonight.
Put yourself back some 6,000 years ago when we don't have indoor plumbing, we don't have heat, mankind living on the great deserts of the world from the Serengeti in Africa to the Fertile Crescent in Iraq and Iran. 6,000 years ago the ancient world, and probably far further than that, but lets just go back 6,000 years. The world was a very hostile place to live in for humans. It got very cold at night and the predator animals came out at night looking to get something to eat, something that was warm blooded so the idea is that if you didn't protect yourself when the sun was up, when the sun goes down it's going to get cold and you'd better have something to protect yourself. So the very first.. and in the researching of theology and religion of the ancient world it becomes obvious that the first, most ancient belief system in the world, was that the greatest enemy that this human family, that we as humans have ever faced on this Earth, the greatest enemy that we have ever faced, the ancient people said, was darkness. It gets cold and scary at night in the desert 6,000 years ago so darkness was the first great enemy of the human family.
Consequently the sun was the greatest gift that the creator could possibly give to the people of the Earth. The sun of course was the giver of life and so many people have said that the ancient peoples were sun worshippers in point to fact that's not true. There's never been a people in the world that were sun worshippers. That's a mistranslation. In point to fact the sun has been used as a symbol of mankind's concept of deity. The ideas that we hold about God, the sun symbolically represents. The sun is not ours of course. It doesn't belong to Africa, it doesn't belong to China, it doesn't belong to us it belongs to God.. so, it was God's sun and he was the light of the world and so the sun is the light of the world. And if you go out at night and you look up at the stars, what are you looking into. You're looking into the sky. What's another word for the sky? Well, you're looking into heaven, that's right. So where's God's sun? Well, he's up there in heaven. Yeah, that's where he is.. up there in heaven. Where else would the sun be if he isn't in heaven? He's the light of the world, well of course. What else lights the world if it isn't the sun? He is referred to in the ancient Egyptian religion as our risen savior because in the morning the sun would rise and the Egyptians felt that the sun was their savior and in point to fact the sun is your savior. You don't think so? Wait 'till it don't come up. The sun keeps us alive so it was our risen savior. The Egyptians and the ancient peoples of the world realized that the sun was giving off energy and energy is translated into plants, we take in the energy for life so energy is life. Without energy we're dead. We're like a battery, without the energy, we're just dead so without the energy from the sun feeding the plants which we eat to get energy, the idea was developed in Egypt that god's sun, the light of the world who is our risen saviour is giving us energy to live so he is sharing his life, he is giving his life so that you might live. So consequently the sun, if it didn't give it's life, we would be dead. So God's sun is giving his life so that you might live. As I said he was called the risen saviour.
The sun had different names in different times in history of the Egyptian empire. When the sun came up in the morning he was known as the new born sun. His name was Horus and Horus was our risen saviour. He was the risen one, Horus.Today we still say that the sun comes up on the Horus-rising. This is where we get the word. Horizon is Horus-rising. So God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that's right.. there's only one sun and without it we're dead and it gives us everlasting life. The Egyptians said that when the sun came up everything was peaceful and man was in control again, but when it went down we're not in control, the animals are. It's cold and it's scary out there in the dark. So God's sun was called the prince of peace in the daytime. Incidentally, when the sun came up in the morning it was called Horus. It walked across the sky, the Egyptians said, in twelve steps. This is where alcoholics get the twelve step program. This is where kids get the twelve step program, you start in the first grade and you end in the twelfth. It's a twelve step program so consequently the twelve step program goes back to Horus because Horus walked across the sky in twelve steps. In the morning he was Horus of the first step, later he was Horus of the second step and he walked across the sky in twelve steps. Today we take the word Horus, H O R U S and we turn it around and we make it H O U R S, twelve hours. Twelve hours is simply turning the U and the R around in Horus. The twelve hours are the twelve Horus'. The sun walks across the sky in twelve steps. The sun brought light into the world. Consequently in Latin the word light is Lucius. This is why we get Luke Skywalker who does battle with Darth Vader. Wake up, get a life and understand Hollywood symbolism. Darth Vader is prince of darkness but in Egypt the prince of darkness was called Set. They noticed that he came out to rule the world at sunset. So Luke Skywalker is merely the sun.. Lucius.. Luke. The evil that ruled over the night was as I said was ruled over by the prince of darkness so you take evil and you put a D in front of it, it becomes devil. Devil is simply the word evil with a D in front of it. The root word for God goes back to as I said the German word which gives us our word good so you take one of the Os out of good it becomes god. God is good and Devil is evil.. Church dogma. So consequently the bottom line at the very beginning of the world was the war between light and darkness. The basis for all religion on the face of the earth is quite simply the war between daylight and dark. Now follow me, this is why cop cars are black and white. The black of the night, the white of the day. Understand that the most ancient concept in the world of God was the battle between light and darkness. The sun is able to say of itself that I am the light and the truth. I am the truth and the light and no man comes to the father less he come through me. If you go back to the old Hebrew reference works you will begin to see that when the bible talks about and let me stop here and add this in first, that when I talk about Jesus and the New Testament, from as far as I can understand, and I've only been looking at this for forty-three years that Jesus is a metaphor. Jesus is a metaphor, a symbolic metaphor. It's symbolizing something when you talk about Jesus. One of the names in the ancient Greek was for Horus was Iesus.
The Incas, which had a great technology when the Europeans were still barbaric nomads, said that their technology was taught to them by Viracocha who was described as a caucasian, bearded man.Legends of the Aymara Indians say that the Creator God Viracocha rose from Lake Titicaca during the time of darkness to bring forth light. Viracocha was a storm god and a sun god who was represented as wearing the sun for a crown, with thunderbolts in his hands, and tears descending from his eyes as rain. He wandered the earth disguised as a beggar and wept when he saw the plight of the creatures he had created.
Viracocha made the earth, the stars, the sky and mankind, but his first creation displeased him, so he destroyed it with a flood and made a new, better one, taking to his wanderings as a beggar, teaching his new creations the basics of civilization, as well as working numerous miracles. Viracocha eventually disappeared across the Pacific Ocean (by walking on the water), and never returned. It was thought that Viracocha would re-appear in times of trouble.
Pre-Inca religions centered in Tiahuanaco City which is where we first learn of a cult of a sky and thunder god named Viracocha. Gods with thunder bolts link with Zeus the main god of ancient Greece.
Viracocha was generally depicted as having staves in both of his hands and an aureole around his head. The aureole suggests the qualities of a sun god, represented on the bas-relief in the upper part of the famous Sun Gate in Tiahuanaco as well as on ceramic.
Quetzalcoatl was identified to Egypt, Sumer, then later to Mesoamerica and Peru as Quetzacoatl.Quetzalcoatl ("feathered snake") is the Aztec name for the Feathered-Serpent deity of ancient Mesoamerica, one of the main gods of many Mexican and northern Central American civilizations.
The name "Quetzalcoatl" literally means quetzal-bird snake or serpent with feathers of the Quetzal (which implies something divine or precious) in the Nahuatl language. The meaning of his local name in other Mesoamerican languages is similar. The Maya knew him as Kukulkán; the Quiché as Gukumatz.
The Feathered Serpent deity was important in art and religion in most of Mesoamerica for close to 2,000 years, from the Pre-Classic era until the Spanish Conquest. Civilizations worshiping the Feathered Serpent included the Olmec, the Mixtec, the Toltec, the Aztec, and the Maya.
The worship of Quetzalcoatl sometimes included human sacrifices, although in other traditions Quetzalcoatl was said to oppose human sacrifice.
Mesoamerican priests and kings would sometimes take the name of a deity they were associated with, so Quetzalcoatl and Kukulcan are also the names of historical persons.
One noted Post-Classic Toltec ruler was named Quetzalcoatl; he may be the same individual as the Kukulcan who invaded Yucatan at about the same time. The Mixtec also recorded a ruler named for the Feathered Serpent. In the 10th century a ruler closely associated with Quetzalcoatl ruled the Toltecs; his name was Topiltzin Ce Acatl Quetzalcoatl. This ruler was said to be the son of either the great Chichimeca warror, Mixcoatl and the Colhuacano woman Chimalman, or of their descendant.
The Toltecs had a dualistic belief system. Quetzalcoatl's opposite was Tezcatlipoca, who supposedly sent Quetzalcoatl into exile. Alternatively, he left willingly on a raft of snakes, promising to return.
When the Aztecs adopted the culture of the Toltecs, they made twin gods of Tezcatlipoca and Quetalcoat, opposite and equal; Quetalcoatl was also called White Tezcatlipoca, to contrast him to the black Tezcatlipoca. Together, they created the world; Tezcatlipoca lost his foot in that process.
The Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II initially believed the landing of Cortés in 1519 was Quetzalcoatl's return. Cortes played off this belief to aid in his conquest of Mexico.
The exact significance and attributes of Quetzalcoatl varied somewhat between civilizations and through history. Quetzalcoatl was often considered the god of the morning star and his twin brother, Xolotl was the evening star (Venus). As the morning star he was known under the title Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, which means literaly "the lord of the star of the dawn". He was known as the inventor of books and the calendar, the giver of maize corn to mankind, and sometime as a symbol of death and resurrection. Quetzalcoatl was also the patron of the priests and the title of the Aztec high priest.
Most Mesoamerican beliefs included cycles of worlds. Usually, our current time was considered the fifth world, the previous four having been destroyed by flood, fire and the like. Quetzalcoatl allegedly went to Mictlan, the underworld, and created fifth world-mankind from the bones of the previous races (with the help of Cihuacoatl), using his own blood to imbue the bones with new life.
His birth, along with his twin Xolotl, was unusual; it was a virgin birth, born to the goddess Coatlicue. Alternatively, he was a son of Xochiquetzal and Mixcoatl.
One Aztec story claims Quetzalcoatl was seduced by Tezcatlipoca but then burned himself to death out of remorse. His heart became the morning star (see Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli).
Quetzalcoatl was a god of such importance and power that nearly no aspect of everyday life seemed to go untouched by him. Secondly, as a historical figure, his actions would nor could not be contained by the history and thus eventually evolved into myth. And as a legend, he would signal the end of mortal kingship. An interesting phenomena that distinguished Quetzalcoatl is that despite the fact he is not the most powerful of gods within the Mesoamerican pantheon, or one of the eldest, he is nonetheless an integral part of the system. This was partially accomplished by his ability to integrate himself so securely to attributes of his fellow brethren, to such an extent that it is virtually impossible to tell if Quetzalcoatl was the true originator or vise versa. Hence, to establish a single definitive personality to a god is extremely difficult.
Lastly, it must be kept in mind that despite Quetzalcoatl being an Aztec name, the cultures preceding them had their name for him as well, and applying their own unique attributes to him. Consequently, Quetzalcoatl is related to many names and incarnations, and seems to play a prominent role in a pantheon of virtually all the other Mesoamerican deities. Quetzalcoatl himself goes by the names of Gukumatz, Nine Wind, and Kukulcan among others. These are the most common names found in the general Aztec and Mayan cultures, with Quetzalcoatl maintaining a host of avatars with whom he is intimately connected with or represented by. There are also certain gods that Quetzalcoatl is involved with most of the time as well, such as Xolotl, Tlaloc, Xipe, and Tezcatlipoca. These "upper level" gods are either contrary, complimentary, or both at the same time towards Quetzalcoatl, creating a sense of duality around these myths.
Duality itself runs rampant in myth, as well as being found in the astronomical/cosmological associations between Quetzalcoatl and the heavens and stars. Questions run the gamut from his morning star associations (as Venus) to the possibilities of his connection with Mercury. Ultimately it is this symbolism that runs through the myth and its astrological and cosmological incarnations which raise the questions and hint at Quetzalcoatl's power and pervasiveness.
Vishnu, preserver of human life is one of the three gods of the Trimurti. He is a generous God and known as being ‘Sattvaguna’ (kind and merciful). Vishnu is the only God of the Trimurti who is reborn whenever there is a crisis on earth.If ‘Dharma’ (righteousness) is disturbed, Vishnu descends to earth as an avatar (a human form) to fight the forces of evil.
The Puranas list the Dasavatars’, ten avatars, Vishnu took on to sustain the cosmos. Seen in order, they represent the evolution of mankind from the fish stage to ‘Purusha’ (man).
These avatars were Matsya (fish), Kurma (tortoise), Varaha (boar ), Nara-simha (man-lion), Vamana (dwarf), Parashurama (a powerful warrior), Rama, Krishna, Buddha and Kalki (white horse).
A romantic aspect of the myths, is that whenever Vishnu descends to earth he marries Lakshmi (his Goddess wife). They are destined to marry on earth as in heaven. When Vishnu is Rama, Lakshmi is born as Sita. As Krishna he marries her as Rukmini.
Matsya (Fish)
The story of the fish avatar, is Hindu, but the likeness to Noah is uncanny. A great flood threatened to submerge Manu (a patriarch who once ruled the earth). Manu asked a for a bowl of water which he needed for his religious rites. In the bowl was a fish who told Manu that if he looked after him, Manu would be saved from the flood. Manu agreed and took the fish to the ocean.
In the ocean the Matsya grew to whale-like proportions. Taught by Matysa how to build a ship Manu could sail during the flood.
While the deluge ripped the land apart and treacherous waves rose from the ocean, Manu was safe. Matsya was his tether who towed the ark to safety. When they reached the shores they found a dead and barren land ravaged by the storm.
Manu found the cargo contained the seeds for every form of life, from which he could sow the world. Vishnu as Matysa supported Brahma who renewed the world together.
After the deluge, many cosmic treasures sank deep into the ocean. The Asuras (demons) were in race against the Devas (minor gods) to churn the oceans for amrit (the nectar of immortality).
Vishnu appeared as Kurma (the tortoise) who sided with the Devas. Together, they decided they would create a churn for obtaining the amrit.
The serpent Vasuki was threaded around Mount Mandara to create a churn. Kurma dived to the floor of the ocean and balanced Mount Mandara on his back. In the grip of Kurma’s cosmic force, Mount Mandara could not sink into the ocean bed.
The Gods churned, and the nectar of immortality came to their hands. As they continued to churn, fourteen treasures appeared. For Kurma the most precious was Lakshmi, the Goddess of beauty and good fortune who would be his wife.
When the demon, Hiranyaksha dragged Bhoomi Devi (Mother Earth) underwater, Vishnu took the form of Varaha (a wild boar). After a fierce battle he overpowered the demon and lifted Bhoomi Devi from the waters. He pushed with his snout and the land puckered forming the Himalayan Mountains. He dragged more land from the sea and shaped the Indian subcontinent.
During the satayuga (first epoch) a tyrannical Daitya (demon) tormented the world. No god could overcome him and with each battle he won, the Daityas pride grew. Crazed by his invincibility he shot an arrow at a pillar to defy Vishnu. Vishnu burst out as Narasimha (man-lion) and tore Daitya to shreds.
Later Bali, the King of the Daityas had become ruler of the world. He had wisely worshipped Vishnu who had granted him a special boon. Protected by this boon Bali became a cause for celestial concern. When all the other Gods were overcome they pleaded to Vishnu for help.
Vishnu took the form of Vamana (a dwarf), and was born as the stunted child of Kasyapa and Aditi. He went as Vamana to a yagna (sacrifice) being performed by Bali.
Bali was offering sweets to all those present at the yagna.. Vamana held out his hands and said he was a poor peasant. He asked for as much land as he (Vamana) could cover in three steps. Bali took a look at the dwarf peasant and granted him this boon.
Vamana expanded to a cosmic size. His first step covered the earth, the second reached heaven. Vamana’s third step would have reached the lower world but Bali bowed before Vamana realising he had to be Vishnu. Pleased by Bali’s humility, Vishnu spared him and gave Bali a kingdom of his own in the netherworld.
In the Treta epoch, (the age of the sacred fires) the warrior class were becoming dominant. Their weaponry made them aggressive. They were subjugating ordinary people. The Gods wanted power to revert to the priests. Vishnu appeared as Parashurama, and took away the powers of the warriors returned it to the scholars.
As Rama, Vishnu came on earth to slay the demon Ravana. A legendary man, his compassionate nature and his belief in duty elevated him as ‘Maryada Purusha’, ideal man.
In his eighth Avatar, Vishnu was Krishna the greatest teacher whose words form a priceless Hindu scripture, ‘The Bhagwad Gita’ or the guide to life.
As the Buddha, Vishnu is a great religious teacher of India. He revealed the secrets of moksha and the path to Nirvana.
Vishnu’s final avatar will be as Kalki (white horse). At the end of the present age (Kal-Yuga) he will come back riding a white horse. Predictions say Kalki will brandishing a flaming sword and destroy last demons on earth.
In his cosmic form Vishnu is seen reclining on a many headed serpent called Ananta and the oceans lie subdued under him. He holds a chakra (discus) in a hand with which he maintains order in the universe. The shankha or conch was retrieved by him during the churning of the oceans, and its deep humming sound is an evocation of the sea. He holds a lotus for peace and a gada (mace) a controlling weapon. Garuda the eagle is his celestial vehicle.
As god and in each of his avatars Vishnu plays the role of the preserver making the earth a safe heaven for his believers.
Enki walks out of the water to the land.
Enki was the leader of the first sons of Anu that came down to Earth. He played the pivotal role in saving humanity from the global Deluge. He defied the Anunnaki ruling council and told Ziusudra (the Sumerian Noah) how to build a ship on which to save humanity from the killing flood. Ea would have been over 120 sars old at that time, yet his activity with humanity continued to be actively reported for thousands of years thereafter.
Enki's youngest son, Ningizzida, was Lord of the Tree of Truth, in Mesopotamia. He played the role of Thoth in Egypt and Hermes the Magician - the Alchemist. The ancient Mystery School Teachings of Thoth were past down to his Initiates who became the priests. They hid the secret knowledge of creation, passing it down through the ages.
"At first they led a somewhat wretched existence and lived without rule after the manner of beasts. But, in the first year appeared an animal endowed with human reason, named Oannes, who rose from out of the Erythian Sea, at the point where it borders Babylonia. He had the whole body of a fish, but above his fish's head he had another head which was that of a man, and human feet emerged from beneath his fish's tail. He had a human voice, and an image of him is preserved unto this day. He passed the day in the midst of men without taking food; he taught them the use of letters, sciences and arts of all kinds. He taught them to construct cities, to found temples, to compile laws, and explained to them the principles of geometrical knowledge. He made them distinguish the seeds of the earth, and showed them how to collect the fruits; in short he instructed them in everything which could tend to soften human manners and humanize their laws. From that time nothing material has been added by way of improvement to his instructions. And when the sun set, this being Oannes, retired again into the sea, for he was amphibious. After this there appeared other animals like Oannes."An account rendered by Berossus.
Berossus (Akkadian Bêl-re'ušunu): Babylonian priest, who wrote a Greek history of Babylonia in the first half of the third century BCE.
The Fisher Kings Viracocha, Quetacoatle, Enki, Vishnu, Oannes!
Pre-Inca Civilization - Crystalinks
http://timepiece.shubhkaamna.com/vishnu.htm
Gautama Buddha: Definition and Much More from Answers.com
Sumerian Gods and Goddesses - Crystalinks
OANNES - The Origins of Western Civilization by Bruce Magnotti
16 As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen.
John 21:1-17
1 ¶ After these things Jesus shewed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and on this wise shewed he himself.
2 There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples.
3 Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing.
4 But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.
5 Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No.
6 And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.
7 Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher's coat unto him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea.
8 And the other disciples came in a little ship; (for they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits,) dragging the net with fishes.
9 As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread.
10 Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught.
11 Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken.
12 Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord.
13 Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise.
14 This is now the third time that Jesus shewed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead.
15 ¶ So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.
16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
The Pope's Mitre
LIKE JESUS, I WILL BE A SHEPHERD,
LIKE PETER, A FISHER OF MEN
The fish-like form was a symbol of fruitfulness, and as such was likely to be adopted by seafaring
tribes in the representation of their gods, which is why Rome who ruled the seas easily adopted the
mystery religion from the Philistines. Here we see carvings and diagrams of Dagon priests and their
fish head hats along side the Pope with his similar fish head hat. The carving on the left shows the
Dagon priests sprinkling holy water.
The caption reads, "MESOPOTAMIAN MEDICINE MEN, clad in fish garb in homage to a
water god, invoke magic against demons who enfeebled a youth."
When threatened by Romans in the first centuries after Christ, Christians used the fish mark meeting places and tombs, or to distinguish friends from foes. According to one ancient story, when a Christian met a stranger in the road, the Christian sometimes drew one arc of the simple fish outline in the dirt. If the stranger drew the other arc, both believers knew they were in good company.
Greeks, Romans, and many others used the fish symbol before Christians. Hence the fish, unlike, say, the cross, attracted little suspicion, making it a perfect secret symbol for persecuted believers. So the early Christians made practical use of this symbol for practical convenience. It is somewhat similar to the use in our days of bumper-sticker and business-card practice to be recognised by strangers.
As early as the first century, Christians made an acrostic from this word: Iesous Christos Theou Yios Soter, (ICTYS) i.e. Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior, using the Greek word for fish "ichthys." The Greek word Ichthus (Iota Chi Theta Upsilon Sigma), pronounced ich-thoos, upper case: 
, and lower case: 
, is the word used throughout the New Testament for the English word fish.
The fish has plenty of other theological overtones as well, for Christ fed the 5,000 with 2 fishes and 5 loaves (a meal recapitulated in Christian love-feasts) and called his disciples "fishers of men." So that was an easy association: "fishers of men" and the acronym for the word fish in Greek, and thus the symbol resembling a fish.
In certain non-Christian beliefs the fish also has been identified with reincarnation and the life force. Sir James George Frazer noted in his work, "Adonis, Attis, Osiris: Studies in the History of Oriental Religion" (Part Four of his larger work, "The Golden Bough") that among one group in India, the fish was believed to house a deceased soul, and that as part of a fertility ritual specific fish is eaten in the belief that it will be reincarnated in a newborn child.
Before Christianity adopted the fish symbol, it was known by pagans as "the Great Mother", and "womb". Its link to fertility, birth, and the natural force of women was acknowledged also by the Celts, as well as pagan cultures throughout northern Europe.
The Romans called the goddess of sexual fertility by the name of Venus. And thus it is from the name of the goddess Venus that our modern words "venereal" and "venereal disease" have come. Friday was regarded as her sacred day, because it was believed that the planet Venus ruled the first hour of Friday and thus it was called dies Veneris. And to make the significance complete, the fish was also regarded as being sacred to her. The accompanying illustration, as seen in "Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism", shows the goddess Venus with her symbol, the fish. The similarities between the two, would indicate that Venus and Freya were originally one and the same goddess and that original being the mother-goddess of Babylon.
The same association of the mother goddess with the fish-fertility symbol is evidenced among the symbols of the goddess in other forms also. The fish was regarded as sacred to Asherah, the name under which the Israelites worshipped the pagan goddess. And in ancient Egypt, Isis is represented with a fish on her head, as seen in the accompanying illustration.
A Philistine deity. It is commonly admitted that the name Dagon is a diminutive form, hence a term of endearment, derived from the Semitic root dag, and means, accordingly, "little fish". The name, therefore, indicates a fish-shaped god. This the Bible also suggests when speaking of the Dagon worshipped in the temple of Azotus (1Sa 5:4) and his trunk. Coins of various Philistine or Phænician cities, on most of which Dagon is represented as a composite figure, human as to the upper part of the body, fish-like as to the lower. From this it may well be inferred that Dagon was a fish-god. He had face and hands and a portion of his body resembled that of a fish, in accordance with the most probable interpretation of "the stump of Dagon" (verse 4). Dagon is sometimes associated with a female half-fish deity, Derceto or Atargatis, often identified with Astarte.
Resources
Mark 1:16-20
The Inaugural Address of Pope Benedict XVI
Origin of the "Christian" Fish Symbol
The Fish Symbol: Christian Resource Centre (Bermuda)!
The legend of Osiris begins with Thoth, who was credited with having introduced all the arts and sciences, including astronomy and hieroglyphs, to the Ancient Egyptians. He was also the spokesman, or messenger, of the gods and the keeper of their records. "Thoth" is actually the Graeco-Roman form of the Egyptian name "Djehuti". Thoth was usually represented as an ibis bird or a baboon. Because he was regarded as the moon god he was sometimes seen represented together with a winged moon. In legend Thoth had played a game of draughts with the moon and won from him a seventy-second part of his light, from which he created an extra five days in the year. Prior to that time there were 360 days in the Ancient Egyptian Calendar.Osiris was Thoth's master, and in this capacity he was both God and the source of all knowledge in Ancient Egypt. Osiris is frequently pictured with ebony skin, which is usually considered as symbolic of his role as Lord of the Dead. His wicked brother Set who wanted the throne of Egypt murdered him. The plan was to induce Osiris to lie down in a magnificent coffin under the pretext of a game at a banquet. Set and his seventy-two conspirators immediately closed the lid and threw the coffer into the Nile.
Osiris' wife Isis, who was also his sister, searched for and found the chest which had been borne down the Nile and across the sea to what was later identified as the Phoenician coast, where it was deposited at the foot of a tamarisk tree. (The reference to Phoenicia was added at a later date to illustrate that the Ancient Egyptian culture was adopted by the Phoenicians, possibly around the 16th century BCE, when Phoenicia was brought under Egyptian control. The Phoenicians are also known by the more familiar title of Canaanites.) As the tree grew it enclosed Osiris and the chest within its trunk ... which was later cut down by the king of Byblos and used as a pillar in his palace. The fragrance of the pillar became renowned far and wide, and when Isis heard about it she immediately understood its significance. Isis returned the pillar, and the body it contained, to Egypt.
Unfortunately Set discovered the body of Osiris by chance and this time, to ensure his brother's complete demise, he cut up Osiris' body into fourteen pieces and scattered them far and wide throughout Egypt. Isis found all the pieces of Osiris' literally dismembered body except the phallus, and through purification by Thoth, together with magical incantations in which the actual sound of Thoth's voice played a significant part, the resurrection of Osiris and the subsequent fathering of Horus was achieved. Following in the wake of his resurrection Osiris had conferred upon him the title and position of the God of the Dead. In fathering Horus, Osiris embodied the Masculine Creation Principle. In mothering Horus, Isis embodied the Female Creation Principle.
Her name literally means female of throne, i.e. Queen of the throne. Her original headdress was an empty throne chair belonging to her murdered husband, Osiris. As the personification of the throne, she was an important source of the Pharaoh's power. Her cult was popular throughout Egypt, but the most important sanctuaries were at Giza and at Behbeit El-Hagar in the Nile delta.
The hieroglyph for her name originally used meant (female) of flesh, i.e. mortal, and she may simply have represented deified, real, queens. The most commonly used name for this deity, Isis, is a Greek corruption of the Egyptian name; and its pronunciation as eye-sis is a further corruption by English speakers.
The true Egyptian pronunciation is unknown, as Egyptian hieroglyphs only recorded consonants, and left out most of the vowels. The Egyptian hieroglyphics for her name are commonly transliterated as jst; as a convenience, Egyptlogists pronounce that as ee-set.
Titles
In the Book of the Dead, Isis was described as She who gives birth to heaven and earth, knows the orphan, knows the widow, seeks justice for the poor, and shelter for the weak. Some of Isis' many other titles were:
Isis later had an important cult in the Greco-Roman world, with sanctuaries at Delos and Pompeii. To the Greeks she was known as Demeter - to the Romans as Ceres - though she played other goddess roles in all ancient civilizations.
Hathor was an ancient goddess, worshipped as a cow-deity from at least 2700 BC, during the 2nd dynasty, and possibly even by the Scorpion King.
The name Hathor refers to the encirclement by her, in the form of the Milky Way, of the night sky and consequently of the god of the sky, Horus.
She was originally seen as the daughter of Ra, the creator whose own cosmic birth was formalised as the Ogdoad cosmogeny. An alternate name for her, which persisted for 3,000 years, was Mehturt (also spelt Mehurt, Mehet-Weret, and Mehet-uret), meaning great flood, a direct reference to her being the milky way.
The Milky Way was seen as a waterway in the heavens, sailed upon by both the sun god and the king, leading the Egyptians to describe it as The Nile in the Sky.
Identities
It was said that after the world was created, Horus landed on a perch, known as the djeba, which literally translates as finger, in order to rest, which consequently became considered sacred. On some occasions, Horus was referred to as lord of the djeba (i.e. lord of the perch or lord of the finger), a form in which he was especially worshipped at Buto, known as Djebauti, meaning (ones) of the djeba (the reason for the plural is not understood, and may just have been a result of Epenthesis, or Paragoge). The form of Djebauti eventually became depicted as an heron, nevertheless continuing to rest on the sacred perch.
The story goes as follows: Seth (brother of Osiris) was jealous of Osiris and fought him to the death. After he killed Osiris he cut his body up into 14 pieces and spread the pieces throughout Egypt. Isis (Osiris' wife) found out that her husband was killed and she searched egypt looking for his body parts. She found all but one (his penis) and using her magic she put his body together and buried him, during the process of putting him back together she became impregnated with her son Horus. She gave birth to Horus who became the god of the sky and later avenged his fathers death by killing his uncle Seth.
Son of Geb and Nut. Brother of Isis, Nephthys, and Osiris. The husband of Nephthys or sometimes the husband of Taurt.Man with the head of an unknown animal. Some times he takes the form of a crocodile. He is represented as a hippopotamus or a black pig in his battles with Horus. Red of hair and eyes, pale of skin, Seth is the god of evil, of drought, of destruction, thunder and storm. Seth tore himself from his mother's womb in his hurry to be born. Every month Seth attacks and devours the moon, the sanctuary of Osiris and the gathering place of the souls of the recently dead.
Early in Egyptian history, Seth is spoken of in terms of reverence as the god of wind and storms. He was even known as the Lord of Upper Egypt. Horus being the Lord of Lower Egypt. It was Seth who stood in the front of the solar barque to defended the sun god Ra from his most dangerous foe, the serpent Apep. At this time, he seems to have had no conflicts with the cults of Isis or Osiris. In fact, he was part of the same family of gods, and married to his twin sister, Nephthys.
However, it appears the followers of Seth may have resisted the followers of Horus and the First Dynasty pharaoh, Menes, when he united Upper and Lower Egypt. This struggle for control of Egypt seems to be reflected in the mythology. At this point, Seth is portrayed as questioning the authority of his brother, Osiris. The Osiris cults took this opportunity to discredit the followers of Seth; he was now considered to be Osiris' evil brother. And the story was told that Seth was evil since birth, because he ripped himself from his mother's womb by tearing through her side. In the Osiris legends, it is Seth who tricks and murders Osiris. He is also the antagonist of Horus. By the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, Seth was the embodiment of evil. He was depicted with red eyes and hair. The ancient Egyptians beleived red represented evil.
Magia D' La Luna
Thoth, God of the Moon, Magic and Writing...
The Osiris Legend and Precession
The son of Cronus and Rhea, he was the youngest of his siblings. He was married to Hera in most traditions, although at the oracle of Dodona his consort was Dione: according to the Iliad, he is the father of Aphrodite by Dione. Accordingly, he is known for his erotic escapades, including one pederastic relationship, with Ganymede. His trysts resulted in many famous offspring, including Athena, Apollo and Artemis, Hermes, Persephone (by Demeter), Dionysus, Perseus, Heracles, Helen, Minos, and the Muses (by Mnemosyne); by Hera he is usually said to have sired Ares, Hebe and Hephaestus.
His Roman counterpart was Jupiter, and his Etruscan counterpart was Tinia.
As a result of his association with the bountiful and virtuous Golden Age, Cronus was worshiped as a harvest deity, overseeing crops such as grains, nature, agriculture, and the progression of time in relation to humans in general. He was usually depicted with a sickle, which he used to harvest crops and which was also the weapon he used to castrate and depose Uranus. In Athens, on the twelfth day of every month (Hekatombaion), a festival called Kronia was held in honor of Cronus to celebrate the harvest. Cronus was also identified in classical antiquity with the Roman deity Saturn.
The etymology of the name is obscure. It may be related to "horned", suggesting a possible connection with the ancient Indian demon Kroni or the Levantine deity El. In the Alexandrian and Renaissance periods there was some confusion with the word χρόνος, Chronos, meaning time.
The Roman equivalent is Ceres.
Demeter is easily confused with Gaia or Rhea, and with Cybele. The goddess's epithets reveal the span of her functions in Greek life. Demeter and Kore ("the maiden") are usually invoked as to theo ("The Two Goddesses"), and they appear in that form in Linear B graffiti at Mycenaean Pylos in pre-classical times. A connection with the goddess-cults of Minoan Crete is quite possible.
According to the Athenian rhetorician Isocrates, the greatest gifts which Demeter gave were cereal (thus the Latin name for Ceres; also known as corn to the British) which made man different from wild animals, and the Mysteries which give man higher hopes in this life and the afterlife.
Although often referred to in modern culture as "the goddess of love", it is important to note that this was not love in a Christian or romantic sense, but specifically Eros (physical or sexual attraction).
Hades was also known as Pluto (from Greek Ploutōn), and was known by this name, as "the unseen one", or "the rich one", as well as Dis Pater and Orcus, in Roman mythology; the corresponding Etruscan god was Aita.
The term hades has sometimes been used in Christianity to mean the abode of the dead, where the dead would await Judgment Day either at peace or in torment.
Zeus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Zeus: Images of Ancient Greek Mythology, Religion, Art
Cronus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Demeter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Aphrodite - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hades - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jupiter is a vocative compound derived from archaic Latin Iovis and pater (Latin for father), this was also used as the nominative case. Jove is an English formation based on Iov-, the stem of oblique cases of the Latin name (accusative Iovem, genitive Iovis, dative Iovi and ablative Iove - an irregular declension). Linguistic studies identify his name as deriving from the Indo-European compound *dyēus- pəter- ("O Father God"), the Indo-European deity from whom also derive the Germanic Tiwaz (after whom Tuesday was named), the Greek Zeus, and the Vedic Dyaus Pita.
The name of the god was also adopted as the name of the planet Jupiter, and was the original namesake of the weekday that would come to be known in English as Thursday (the etymological root can be seen in various Romance languages, including French jeudi, Castilian jueves, Italian giovedì and Catalan dijous, all from Latin Iovis Dies, whereas English takes his Norse equivalent, Thor).
Saturn had a temple on the Forum Romanum which contained the Royal Treasury. Saturn is the namesake of Saturday (dies Saturni), the only day of the week to retain its Roman name in English. The planet Saturn is also named after the Roman god, being the furthest observable planet of the seven classical planets of antiquity.
In Babylon he was called Ninib and was an agricultural deity. Saturn, called Cronus by the Greeks, was, at the dawn of the Ages of the Gods, the Protector and Sower of the Seed and his wife, Rhea, (called Ops by the Romans) was a Harvest Helper. Cronus was one of the the Seven Titans or Numina and with them, reigned supreme in the Universe. The Titans were of incredible size and strength and held power for untold ages, until they were deposed by Zeus.
The first inhabitants of the world were the children of Gaia (Mother Earth) and Ouranos (Father Sky). These creatures were very large and manlike, but without human qualities. They were the qualities of Earthquake, Hurricane and Volcano living in a world where there was yet no life. There were only the irresistible forces of nature creating mountains and seas. They were unlike any life form known to man.
Three of these creatures were monstrously huge with one hundred hands and fifty heads. Three others were individually called Cyclops, because each had only one enormous eye in the middle of their foreheads. Then, there were the Titans, seven of them, formidably large and none of whom were purely destructive. One was actually credited with saving man after creation.
Ouranos hated the children with the fifty heads. As each were born he placed them under the earth. Gaia was enraged by the treatment of her children by their father and begged the Cyclopes and the Titans to help her put an end to the cruel treatment. Only the Titan, Cronus, responded. Cronus lay in wait for his father and castrated him with his sickle. From Ouranos's blood sprang the Giants, a fourth race of monsters, and the Erinyes (the Furies), whose purpose was to punish sinners. They were referred to as "those who walk in darkness" and were believed to have writhing snakes for hair and eyes that cried blood. Though eventually all the monsters were driven from Earth, the Erinyes are to remain until the world is free of sin.
With the deposing of his father, Cronus/Saturn became the ruler of the Universe for untold ages and he reigned with his sister, Rhea/Ops, who also became his wife.
It was prophesied that one day Cronus would lose power when one of his children would depose him. To prevent this from happening, each time Rhea delivered a child Cronus would immediately swallow them. When her sixth child, Zeus, was born, Rhea had him spirited away to the island of Crete. She then wrapped a stone in his swaddling clothes. Her deception was complete when Cronus swallowed it, thinking it was the child. When Zeus was grown, he secured the job of cup-bearer to his father. With the help of Gaia, his grandmother, Zeus fed his father a potion that caused him to vomit up Zeus's five siblings, Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades and Poseidon.
A devastating war that nearly destroyed the Universe ensued between Cronus and his five brothers and Zeus and his five brothers and sisters. Zeus persuaded the fifty headed monsters to fight with him which enabled him to make use of their weapons of thunder, lightning and earthquake. He also convinced the Titan, Prometheus, who was incredibly wise, to join his side. With his forces, Zeus was victorious and the Olympians reigned supreme. Cronus and his brothers were imprisoned in the Tartarus, a dark gloomy region at the end of the Earth.
In Roman mythology when Jupiter (Zeus) ascended the throne, Saturn (Cronus) fled to Rome and established the Golden Age, a time of perfect peace and harmony, which lasted as long as he reigned. In memory of the Golden Age, the Feast of Saturnalia was held every year in the winter at the Winter Solstice. During this time no war could be declared, slaves and masters ate at the same table, executions were postponed and it was a season for giving gifts. This was a time of total abandon and merry making. It refreshed the idea of equality, of a time when all men were on the same level. Christians adopted the feast and renamed it Christmas. When the festival ended, the tax collectors appeared and all money owed out to government, landlords, or debtors had to be accounted for. This is another side to Saturn and it's ruling sign, Capricorn: the settling of accounts.
Hesiod wrote of the five ages of mankind: Gold, Silver, two ages of Bronze and an age of Iron. The Age of Gold was the purest age, when no labor was required and weather was always pleasant. It was virtually a place of pleasant surroundings and of abundance. Death was not an unpleasant eventuality and people occupied their time in pleasant pursuits. Cronus ruled over this Golden Age.
Medieval and Renaissance scholars associated Saturn with one of the four humors of ancient medicine, melancholy. Physicians, scholars, philosophers and scientists, which includes writers and musicians, seem to have a strong Saturn placement which tends to lean such natives toward melancholy. The bright side is that Saturn can impart serenity and wisdom. And the wisdom of Saturn is the wisdom of the Earth itself.
Astrological Saturn has always been associated with the letter of the law and Gnostics and Kabbalists have identified Saturn with the god of Early Scripture, whom they regarded as a tyrannical father, obsessed with rigid enforcement of the law. There is a symbolic link between Saturn and the God of Early Scripture through the use of Saturday. Saturn's Day, the seventh day of Scripture, the holy day of rest.
There is a symbolic connection between the Trinity of the New Testament and Ouranos (Uranus) Saturn (Cronus) and Jupiter (Zeus). Ouranos, the first father figure, was the Greek version of Varuna, the Vedic creator god. Then Saturn castrated Ouranos, ending his generative power. Finally, came Jupiter, who, like a Jesus figure, was perceived as a savior, so that future generations would not be tyrannized by an obsessed deity.
Saturn is the most complex sign in the zodiac. Most of the other planets reveal their negative or problematic side when combined with Saturn yet, when Saturn is in a beneficent position, it's rewards are more substantial than those of any other planet.
Saturn has a somewhat polarized role against Jupiter in astrology. Saturn gets the blame for all the things sad, unfortunate, and terrible while Jupiter gets the credit for all things positive, good and however, as in real life, this unfair and untrue.
Saturn often stands for the father in the natal chart, as does the however, with Saturn it usually indicates problems with the father. Saturn indicates a tyrannical, domineering parent who seeks to mold his children in his own image and force them to live by his standards. Children often become "swallowed up" by such domination. Cronus became domineering and swallowed up his children in a need to control Fate. It was the fathering style he was taught, which modern day psychologists tell us is what happens in dysfunctional families. We learn how to parent from our parents. Zeus broke the pattern, which is the example which we ideally seek in dysfunctional parenting. To break the pattern, one must learn to develop the positive side of Saturn. Mastering Saturn as the inner teacher is a difficult task as it forces one to deal with the problematic side of Saturn as well.
Saturn is esoterically linked to Karma. Saturn intensifies feelings of isolation, sadness, depression, etc. Cronus spent the last of his life as a prisoner of Tartarus, a dark, gloomy place that can be described as a pit of blackness. Depression is often a pit of darkness to those who suffer from it. Saturn, badly aspected, gives us this feeling. But once the dark side of Saturn is recognized, his bright side can be brought into view and enhanced. Sadly, Saturn has been regarded only as miserable and attributed to despair and darkness, lending to the thought that there is no way to escape it's confines. Feelings of shame, fear, guilt and humiliation shackle us and keep us confined to the pit of darkness. The way to get out of the pit is to stop placing blame on others and take personal responsibility for our situation in life.
Saturn, therefore, represents our limitations in power and control (by his rulership and its coming to an end), in confinement or isolation (by his banishment to Tartarus) and capacity (as Saturn's placement as a planet, which until modern times was the boundary of our Solar System). Taking all this into consideration, it is no wonder we face difficulty when attempting to transform Saturn from a controlling force to a teaching force because we encounter all our limitations in every aspect of our lives.
Saturn's connection with agriculture suggests the nature of time. Seeds must be sown at their proper times and harvest can only occur when their time of fruition has occurred. Chronos is derived from the Greek word Cronus meaning "time". Cronus/Saturn represents limitations. He is the symbol for Father Time, for he brought all things to an end that have a beginning. Saturn's domain is patience, stability, maturity and realism. Saturn effects us by delaying rewards until they are earned.
The Golden Years is a term we use to describe the retirement years and Saturn rules old age. Those who have learned the lessons of Saturn; perseverance, confrontation of limitations, tyrannies, and inner darkness; who learn to accept the world around them with tolerance of others and self-acceptance, age with dignity and acquire wisdom.
Saturn represents our limitations, our restrictions,yet it is also our inner mentor and teacher. His lessons are manifested only over time, after which we go through inner rebirth and enjoy spiritual growth. The times these life changing events can occur are usually when Saturn returns and testing takes place within different disciplines. Saturn returns every 29 ½ years with appearances at age 29, when we face the discipline of maturity; at 58, when we face the discipline of acceptance and wisdom; and at 87, few people make it to the third return. However, coming in right behind a Uranus return, it is without a doubt, a profound event.
Ceres was the daughter of Saturn and Ops, wife-sister of Jupiter, mother of Proserpina by Jupiter and sister of Juno, Vesta, Neptune and Pluto. Works of art depicted Ceres conventionally with a scepter, a basket of flowers and fruit, and a garland made of wheat ears.
Jupiter (mythology) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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His name is related to óðr, meaning "excitation," "fury" or "poetry," and his role, like many of the Norse pantheon, is complex: he is god of wisdom, war, battle, and death. He is also attested as being a god of magic, poetry, prophecy, victory, and the hunt.
Óðin is the greatest of the Æsir. He is the one-eyed god of wisdom, and poetry, and of battles and the slain. He is the patron of warriors, rulers, and poets. He is the lord of hosts and the god of inspiration.
Óðin's thirst for knowledge drives his actions in many of the myths. He became all-wise by drinking from Mímir's fountain, at the cost of one of his eyes. He impaled himself with his spear on Yggdrasil, the tree of life, for nine days to learn the secrets of writing (runes). He is Alföður (all father), father of many of the Æsir, and creator of the first man and woman. He won the mead of poetry from the giants at Jötenheim, and occasionally shares it with men of Miðgarð. In his hall, Valhöll, he entertains the special chosen of the slain warriors who are to battle at his side at Ragnarök. From his high seat Hliðskjálf in his hall Valaskjálf, he can survey all that happens in all the nine worlds. His ravens Huginn (thought) and Muninn (memory) fly out into the world every morning and return at nightfall to whisper into Óðin's ears all the news they have seen and heard. Óðin rides the eight-legged horse Sleipnir, and carries the spear Gungnir. He is recognized by his floppy hat and long cloak.
Óðin's character is far more complex than any of the other gods, and that complexity is mirrored by the long list of names used by Óðin: Alföðr (Father of All), Valföðr (Father of the Slain), Hangaguð (god of the Hanged), Haptaguð (god of Captives), Farmaguð (god of Cargoes), Hár (High One), Grímr(Hooded One), Svipall (Changeable), Hnikarr (Inflamer), Báleygr (Fiery Eyed), Bölverkr (Evil Doer), Viðurr(Destroyer), Yggr (Terror), Veratýr (god of Men), and even Jálkr (Gelding). The names show the many sides of Óðin, as a god of war, a giver of victory, a sinister and terrifying god, and a god who can not be trusted. The name of Jálkr probably refers to the fact that Óðin practices seiðr, a powerful but unseemly and effeminate magic that calls into question his masculinity.
On at least one occasion, Óðin is known to have broken a ring oath, the most sacred and inviolable promise conceivable to a Norseman. That act is perhaps the most significant of the missteps that have led the gods from the carefree early days of the golden era to the turbulent times of the present recorded in the Norse myths.
Óðin is notable for revoking his favor from a warrior in the heat of battle, resulting in the death of the fighter. Óðin defends his actions by saying that he needs the best warriors with him at Valhöll in Ásgarð, to fight at his side at Ragnarök. Again and again, the stories show that Óðin is not to be trusted. While he can be generous with treasures and wise counsel, he can also be treacherous, and capricious. He routinely uses deception, misdirection, and seduction to achieve his aims.
The common man looked upon Óðin with respect, rather than love; only the high born chose to embrace him.
Þór (Thor) is the son of Óðin and is god of thunder, and of the household. Powerful and virile, he is a protector and the guardian of gods and men alike. Þór's hammer Mjöllnir is the main defense against the giants, enemies of the gods. He is the patron of the karls, the common freemen. Of all the gods, he is the most beloved and respected by the sons of men. Since he controls the weather, his favor is frequently requested by sailors and travelers.
Þór is quick to anger. His usual response to any problem is to use Mjöllnir to smash the offender's skull down between his shoulders. To a Norseman, the sound of thunder was reassurance that Þór was on the job, protecting the worlds from enemies.
Þór is thick-skulled and susceptible to ridicule; in a battle of wits, he usually comes out second best. An example occurs in Hárbarðsljóð, in which Óðin, disguised as Hárbarð, and Þórengage in a flyting, the traditional Norse exchange of insults. The winner is the one who best proves his courage and manhood while demonstrating the cowardice, laziness, and effeminacy of his opponent. Þór is so outclassed in this exchange that he doesn't even realize he's lost the flyting.
Freyja is the goddess of love. She is the sister of Freyr. Like Freyr, she is a Vanir, and was one of the hostages exchanged at the end of the war between the Æsir and the Vanir.
Perhaps a more accurate description would be to say the Freyja is the goddess of sex and lust. She is sought after by giants (the mason who rebuilds the Wall of Ásgarð; by Hrungnir who duels with Þór; and by Þrym who steals Þór's hammer). Loki accuses her of being a whore in the poem Lokasenna.
In addition, Freyja is associated with war. She collects the chosen of the slain warriors with the val-kyrja after a battle. Half of them go to Óðin, while Freyja keeps half of them for herself.
Freyja travels in a chariot drawn by cats. She possesses a cloak made of the feathers of a falcon, which allows the wearer to fly. But Freyja's most treasured possession is her Brísingamen. This is a fantastically valuable piece of jewelry, but just what sort of jewelry is unclear from the surviving stories. The consensus is that it is a necklace. The story of how Freyja acquired the necklace exists only in fragmentary form today.
Loki Laufeyjarson is the mythical being of mischief in Norse mythology, a son of the giants Fárbauti and Laufey, and foster-brother of Odin. He is described as the "contriver of all fraud". He mixed freely with the gods for a long time, even becoming Odin's blood brother. Despite much research, "the figure of Loki remains obscure; there is no trace of a cult, and the name does not appear in place-names". In mythological terms, Loki is not a god, as he has no cult or followers (no evidence has ever been found or even referenced such), rather he is a mythological or mythical being. This is further supported by the fact that he was not a member of Vanir and is not always counted among the Æsir, the two groupings of gods. Sources inconsistently place him among the Æsir; however, this may only be due to his close relation with Odin and the amount of time that he spends among the Æsir (as opposed to his own kin).Loki is a trickster, a shape-changer, and the master of lies and deceit. He is the father of three monsters: the wolf Fenrir, who will swallow Óðin at Ragnarök; the monster Jörmangandr, who will drown Þór in venom at Ragnarök; and the monster Hel who presides over the hall of the dead in Niflheim, and whose hospitality includes offering visitors drinking horns full of urine.
Loki plays a central role in many of the stories of the Æsir. And, he is unique among the gods in having a character which changes through the stories. At first, he was a prankster, not to be trusted, but helpful on many occasions, such as in the story of rebuilding the walls of Ásgarð. With his lies, and his habit of revealing secrets, Loki constantly stirred the gods against each other, such as in the story of Freyja's necklace. Later, he became spiteful and malevolent, such as when he cut Sif's hair. The gods' merriment over the agonies of his punishment probably turned Loki's maliciousness into a vindictive desire to destroy them.
Ultimately, Loki caused the death of Baldr, wisest of the gods. As punishment, Loki now lies in a cave, bound to a rock by the entrails of his sons. A snake fastened to a stalactite above him drips venom into his face. Loki's faithful wife Sigyn catches the venom in a bowl, protecting Loki from harm. When the bowl fills, she carries it away and empties it into a rock basin in the cave. During those moments, Loki is left unguarded, and the snake's venom splashes in his face. In torment, he shudders and writhes. This is the cause of earthquakes. Loki will remain bound in the cave until Ragnarök, when he will lead the monsters and the giants into battle against the gods.
Odin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hurstwic Norse Mythology: Odin
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Hurstwic Norse Mythology: Thor
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Hurstwic Norse Mythology: Freyja
Loki - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hurstwic Norse Mythology: Loki
Hurstwic Norse Mythology: Loki's Flyting and Loki's Binding
Ba‘al (baʕal; Hebrew: בעל) is a Northwest Semitic title and honorific meaning "possessor", "master" or "lord" that is used for various gods, spirits and demons particularly of the Levant, cognate to Assyrian bêlu.
Ba‘al can refer to any god and even to human officials; in some texts it is used as a substitute for Hadad, a god of the sun, rain, thunder, fertility and agriculture, and the lord of Heaven. Since only priests were allowed to utter his divine name Hadad, Ba‘al was used commonly. Nevertheless, few if any Biblical uses of "Ba‘al" refer to Hadad, the lord over the assembly of gods on the holy mount of Heaven, but rather refer to any number of local spirit-deities worshipped as cult images, each called ba‘al and regarded as an "idol". Therefore, in any text using the word ba‘al it is important first to determine precisely which god, spirit or demon is meant.
Ba‘al is the name used throughout the Old Testament for the deity or deities of Canaan. The term was originally applied to various local gods, but by the time of the Ugarit tablets (14th cent. B.C.), Ba‘al had become the ruler of the universe. Ba‘al (Hadad) is regularly denominated "the son of Dagan," although Dagan (biblical Dagon) does not appear as an actor in the mythological texts. Ba‘al also bears the titles "Rider of the Clouds," "Almighty," and "Lord of the Earth." He is the god of the thunderstorm, the most vigorous and aggressive of the gods, the one on whom mortals most immediately depend. Ba‘al resides on Mount Zaphon, north of Ugarit, and is usually depicted holding a thunderbolt. Ba‘al, also known as El. In 1978, Israeli archaeologists excavating at an eighth-century B.C. site in the eastern Sinai desert found several Hebrew inscriptions mentioning Ba'al and El in the form of "Elohim," a name used to refer to God in the Hebrew Bible. Further, whenever the Jews refer to God they use "Eloh, Elohaino or Elohim." Ēl (אל) is a Northwest Semitic word and name translated into English as either 'god' or 'God' or left untranslated as El, depending on the context.
In the Levant as a whole, El or Il was the supreme god, the father of mankind and all creatures and the husband of the Goddess Asherah as attested in the tablets of Ugarit.
The word El was found at the top of a list of gods as the Ancient of Gods or the Father of all Gods, in the ruins of the Royal Library of the Ebla civilization, in the archaeological site of Tell Mardikh in Syria dated to 2300 BC. He may have been a desert god at some point, as the myths say that he had two wives and built a sanctuary with them and his new children in the desert. El had fathered many gods, but most important were Hadad, Yam and Mot, each of whom has similar attributes to the Greco-Roman gods Zeus, Poseidon or Ophion and Hades or Thanatos respectively. Ancient Greek mythographers identified El with Cronus (not Chronos).
Biblical references have been taken to indicate that a goddess Asherah was worshipped in Israel and Judah, as the Queen of Heaven whose worship Jeremiah so vehemently opposed:
Jeremiah 7:17–18
"Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger."
Jeremiah 44:17
"... to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem ..."
The Hebrews baked small cakes for her festival.
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Theologians have ascribed certain attributes to God, including omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, perfect goodness, divine simplicity, and eternal and necessary existence. He has been described as incorporeal, a personal being, a source of moral obligation, and the greatest conceivable existent. These attributes were supported to varying degrees by the early Christian, Muslim, and Jewish scholars, including St Augustine, Al-Ghazali, and Maimonides.
All the notable medieval philosophers developed arguments for the existence of God, attempting to wrestle with the contradictions God's attributes seem to imply. The last few hundred years of philosophy have seen sustained attacks on some of the arguments for God's existence. The theist response has been either to contend, like Alvin Plantinga, that faith is not a product of reason, but is properly basic; or to pursue, like Richard Swinburne, an approach of rational apologetics.
Judaism, Christianity and Islam see God as a being who created the world and who rules over the universe. God is usually held to have the following properties: holiness, justice, sovereignty, omnipotence, omniscience, omnibenevolence, omnipresence, and immortality. He is also believed to be transcendent, meaning that God is outside space and time. Therefore eternal and unable to be changed by earthly forces or anything else within His creation.
Trinitarian definition
Within Christianity, the doctrine of the Trinity states that God is a single Being who exists, simultaneously and eternally, as a perichoresis of three persons (personae, prosopa): Father (the Source, the Eternal Majesty); the Son (the eternal Logos or Word, human as Jesus of Nazareth); and the Holy Spirit (the Paraclete or advocate). Since the 4th Century AD, in both Eastern and Western Christianity, this doctrine has been stated as "One God in Three Persons," all three of whom, as distinct and co-eternal "persons" or "hypostases," share a single Divine essence, being, or nature. Following Thomas Aquinas and others, the Son is described as eternally begotten by the Father. This generation does not imply a beginning for the Son or an inferior relationship with the Father. The Son is the perfect image of His Father, and is consubstantial with Him. Speaking in anthropomorphic terms (which necessarily must be analogous), the Father, upon seeing His own being in His Son, loves His Son and so loves Himself. The Son returns that love, and that union between the two is the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. Again, the Holy Spirit is consubstantial and co-equal with the Father and the Son.Thus God contemplates and loves Himself, enjoying infinite and perfect beatitude within Himself.This relationship between the other two persons is called procession. It should be noted that although the theology of the Trinity is accepted in most churches, there are theological differences, notably between Catholic and Orthodox thought on the procession of the Holy Spirit (see filioque). Many Christian communions do not accept the Trinitarian doctrine, at least not in its traditional form. Notable dissenting groups include the Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Christadelphians, Unitarians, Arians, and Adoptionists.
Islamic concept
Allah (Arabic allāhu الله) is the Arabic word for "God", and is used by Arabic-speaking Muslims, Chistians and Jews and Mizrahi Jews alike. Muslims consider God to be perfect, unique, eternal, self-sufficient, omnipotent and omniscient. He is said not resemble any of his creations in any way. The Qur'an describes God as being fully aware of everything that happens in the universe, including private thoughts and feelings.
Negative theology
Some Jewish, Christian and Muslim Medieval philosophers, including Moses Maimonides and Pseudo-Dionysius, as well as many sages of other religions, developed what is termed as Apophatic Theology or the Via Negativa, the idea that one cannot posit attributes to God and can only be discussed by what God is not. For example, we cannot say that God "exists" in the usual sense of the term, because that term is human defined and God's qualities such as existence may not be accurately characterized by it. What we can safely say is that it cannot be proven empirically or otherwise that God is existent, therefore God is not non-existent. Likewise God's "wisdom" is of a fundamentally different kind from limited human perception. So we cannot use the word "wise" to describe God, because this implies he is wise in the way we usually describe humans being wise. However we can safely say that God is not ignorant. We should not say that God is One, because we may not truly understand his nature, but we can state that there is no multiplicity in God's being.
God as unity or Trinity
Muslims, Jews, Jehovah's Witnesses and a small fraction of other nominal Christians are unitarian monotheists. Unitarian monotheists hold that there is only one "person" (so to speak), or one basic substance, in God. Some adherents of this position consider Trinitarianism to be a form of polytheism.
Binitarianism
A view within Christianity that there were originally two beings in the Godhead, the Father and the Word that became the Son (Jesus the Christ). Binitarians normally believe that God is a family, currently consisting of the Father and the Son. Some binitarians believe that others will ultimately be born into that divine family. Hence, binitarians are nontrinitarian, but they are also not unitarian. Binitarians, like most unitarians and trinitarians, claim their views were held by the original New Testament Church. Unlike most unitarians and trinitarians who tend to identify themselves by those terms, binitarians normally do not refer to their belief in the duality of the Godhead, with the Son subordinate to the Father; they simply teach the Godhead in a manner that has been termed as binitarianism.
Conception of God in Sikhism
The Sikh term for God is Vahigurū and Nānak describes him as niraṅkār (from the Sanskrit nirākārā, meaning formless), akāl (meaning eternal) and alakh (from the Sanskrit alakśya, meaning invisible or unobserved). At the very beginning of the first composition of Sikh scripture is the figure "1" — signifying the unity of God. Nānak's interpretation of God is that of a single, personal and transcendental creator with whom the devotee must develop a most intimate faith and relationship to achieve salvation. Sikhism advocates the belief in one God who is omnipresent and has infinite qualities. This aspect has been repeated on numerous occasions in the Gurū Granth Sāhib and the term ik ōaṅkār signifies this. In the Sikh teachings, there is no gender for God. When translating, the proper meaning cannot be correctly conveyed without using a gender definition, but this distorts the meaning by giving the impression that God is masculine, which is not the message in the original script.
Conceptions of God in Hinduism
The Sanskrit word for God, that is used most commonly, is Ishvara (IAST: īśvara IPA: / iːʃvərə /, originally a title comparable to "Lord" or "Excellency" < from the roots īśa, lit., powerful/supreme/lord/owner, + vara, lit., choicest/most excellent). Hindus believe that Ishvara is only One. This must not be confused with the numerous deities of the Hindus known as devas, are said to number up to 330 million. Deva may be translated into English as "god" (sic), "deity", "demi-god", "angel" or any celestial being or thing of high excellence, and hence is venerable. The word is, in fact, cognate to Latin deus "god".
Conception of God in Buddhism
Buddhism is non-theistic: instead of extolling an anthropomorphic creator God, Gautama Buddha taught that there was no creator god and believed the more important issue was to bring beings out of suffering to liberation. Enlightened ones are called Arhats or Buddha (e.g, the Buddha Sakyamuni), and are venerated. A bodhisattva is an altruistic being who has vowed to attain Buddhahood in order to help others to become Awakened ("Buddha") too. Buddhism also teaches of the existence of the devas or heavenly beings who temporarily dwell in celestial states of great happiness but are not yet free from the cycle of reincarnations (samsara). Some Mahayana and Tantra Buddhist scriptures do express ideas which are extremely close to pantheism, with a cosmic Buddha (Adibuddha) being viewed as the sustaining Ground of all being - although this is very much a minority vision within Buddhism.
In the Abrahamic traditions there are many differences in how these properties are expressed. The importance placed upon those properties is often debated by each group. In the past, as well as modern times people have gone so far as to suggest each group is speaking of a different "god." These religions all share the same roots and God, yet simply differ on the details.
Muslims are not iconodules and this extends to all religious aspects (including any iconographic depiction other than in writing) so that it does not lead to idolatry. Instead, they focus on His 99 "names" that are stated in the Qur'an, the holy book of the Muslims. Nearly one third of the book is used describing God's attributes and actions. Also, "hadith qudsi" are special recorded sayings of Muhammad to Muslims where he quotes what God has taught him.
The reason that this theology was developed was because it was felt that ascribing positive characteristics to God would imply that God could be accurately described with terms that were used to describe human qualities and perceptions. As humans cannot truly comprehend what kind of wisdom an eternal transcendent being might have, or what infinity might be like, we cannot in fact know or characterize His true nature. It is beyond human ability and would only mislead people. The proponents of this theory often experienced meditation which they viewed as the only effective way of having a personal relationship with God. It involved trying to reach beyond the words commonly used to describe Him and His more ineffable characteristics, and to comprehend in a mystical manner the truths about Him which could not be achieved through religious language. Thus many sages and saints of both monotheistic and other traditions experienced mystical trances, or raptures and stated they were unable to describe God or their visions fully.
The vast majority of Christians have been and still are Trinitarian monotheists. Trinitarian monotheists believe in one God that exists as three interdependent persons who share the same substance/essence; the Christian version of this is called the Trinity. The Hindu version Trimurti, differs from Christianity in holding that God has three aspects, though shown as anthropomorphs. Trinitarians hold that the three persons of God have the same purpose, holiness, and sovereignty, and therefore each can be worshipped as God, without violating the idea that there is only truly one God to which worship belongs.
Trinities of gods are not a new concept and have been part of religion since ancient history and still exist today. For instance, the pantheons of ancient Egyptian religion were periodically dominated by triads of gods at times when leaders of different political groups gained power. Often, one god in particular was denoted as the chief god for the divine trio or even merged with others via syncretism. This has led to triads of gods forming, one namely Ptah-Seker-Osiris.
While the Hindu Trinity is not a unquestioned doctrine in Hinduism, it is taught as one postulated understanding of the universe's divine order.
"The word “binitarian” is typically used by scholars and theologians as a contrast to a trinitarian theology: a theology of “two” in God rather than a theology of “three”, and although some critics prefer to use the term ditheist or dualist instead of binitarian, those terms suggests that God is not one, yet binitarians believe that God is one family. It is accurate to offer the judgment that most commonly when someone speaks of a Christian “binitarian” theology the “two” in God are the Father and the Son...A substantial amount of recent scholarship has been devoted to exploring the implications of the fact that Jesus was worshipped by those first Jewish Christians, since in Judaism "worship" was limited to the worship of God" (Barnes M. Early Christian Binitarianism: the Father and the Holy Spirit. Early Christian Binitarianism—as read at NAPS 2001). Much of this recent scholarship has been the result of the translations of the Nag Hammadi and other ancient manuscripts which were not available when older scholarly texts (such as W. Bousset's Kyrios Christos, 1913) were written.
Nānak further emphasizes that a full understanding of God is beyond human beings. However, Nānak also describes God, who in his fullness is unknowable, is not wholly unknowable. God is sarav vi'āpak (omnipresent) in all creation and visible everywhere to the spiritually awakened. Nānak stresses that God must be seen from "the inward eye," or the "heart" of a human being - that meditation must take place inwardly to achieve enlightenment progressively. Nānak emphasizes this revelation in creation as crucial, as its rigorous application permits the existence of communication between God and human beings.
The Sikhs believe in one God who is the God of all the peoples of the World; the Creator; has existed from the beginning of time; never dies and will survive forever. He/She is genderless; without form; fearless; without enemies; self sufficient; not subject of the cycle of birth and death; All Powerful; etc - God's qualities are too many for people to narrate. Many names are used for God:- Waheguru - The Wonderful Lord; Satnam - Thy True Name is TRUTH . Malik - Master; Karta Purakh - The Creator, etc.
God in Sikhism is depicted in three distinct aspects, viz. God in Himself, God in relation to creation, and God in relation to man. God by himself is the one Ultimate, Transcendent Reality, Nirguna (without attributes), Timeless, Boundless, Formless, Ever-existent, Immutable, Ineffable, All-by Himself and even Unknowable in His entirety. The only nomenclatures that can rightly be applied to Him in this state of sunn (Sanskrit, sunya or void) are Brahma and Parbrahma (Sanskrit, Parbrahman) or the pronouns He and Thou. During a discourse with Siddhas, Hindu recluses, Guru Nanak in reply to a question as to where the Transcendent God was before the stage of creation replies, "To think of the Transcendent Lord in that state is to enter the realm of wonder. Even at that stage of sunn, he permeated all that Void" (GG, 940). This is the state of God's sunn samadhi, self-absorbed trance.
The Vedantic school of Hindu philosophy also has a notion of a Supreme Cosmic Spirit called Brahman, pronounced as / brəh mən /. Brahman is (at best) described as that infinite, omnipresent, omnipotent, incorporeal, transcendent and immanent reality that is the divine ground of all existence in this universe. In the two largest branches of Hinduism, Shaivism and Vaishnavism, it is believed that Ishvara and Brahman are identical, and God is in turn anthropomorphically identified with Shiva or Vishnu. God, whether in the form of Shiva or Vishnu has six attributes. However, the actual number of auspicious qualities of God, are countless.
The All is the Hermetic version of God, to some and not to others. Alternatively, it has been called The One, The Great One, The Creator, The Supreme Mind, The Supreme Good, The Father, and The Universal Mother. In essence, The All is, as seen by some to be a panentheistic view of God, which is that everything that is, or at least that can be experienced, collectively makes up The All. One Hermetic maxim states, "While All is in THE ALL, it is equally true that THE ALL is in All." (Three Initiates p. 95) The All can also seen to be hermaphroditic, possessing both masculine and feminine qualities in equal part (The Way of Hermes p. 19 Book 1:9). These qualities are, however, of mental gender, as The All lacks physical gender.
The Rosicrucian conception of God
The Western Wisdom Teachings present the conception of The Absolute (unmanifested and unlimited "Boundless Being" or "Root of Existence", beyond the whole universe and beyond comprehension) from Whom proceeds the Supreme Being at the dawn of manifestation: The One, the "Great Architect of the Universe", Whose three aspects are Power, the Word, and Motion. From the threefold Supreme Being proceed the "seven Great Logoi" Who contain within Themselves all the great Hierarchies which differentiate more and more as they diffuse through the six lower Cosmic Planes. In the Highest World of the seventh (lowest) Cosmic Plane dwells the God of the Solar Systems in the Universe. These great Beings are also threefold in manifestation, like the Supreme Being; their three aspects are Will, Wisdom and Activity.
According to Hermetic doctrine, The All is a bit more complicated than simply being the sum total of the universe. Rather than The All being simply the physical universe, it is more correct to say that everything in the universe is within the mind of The All, since the ALL can be looked at as Mind itself. (Three Initiates pp. 96-7) The All's mind can be seen as infinitely more powerful and vast than any of us could hope to achieve. (Three Initiates p. 99) Therefore, it may be capable of keeping track of each and every particle across the expanse of the Universe, as well as maintain symbolism that applies to many lesser entities such as that seen in astrology and numerology. However, even with everything in the universe being part of The All, it is possible that other things exist outside of The All.
According these Rosicrucian teachings, in the beginning of a Day of Manifestation a certain collective Great Being, God, limits Himself to a certain portion of space, in which He elects to create a Solar System for the evolution of added self-consciousness. In God there are contained hosts of glorious Hierarchies and lesser beings of every grade of intelligence and stage of consciousness, from omniscience to an unconsciousness deeper than that of the deepest trance condition. During the current period of manifestation these various grades of beings are working to acquire more experience than they possessed at the beginning of this period of existence. Those who, in previous manifestations, have attained to the highest degree of development work on those who have not yet evolved any consciousness. In the Solar system, God's Habitation, there are seven Worlds differentiated by God, within Himself, one after another. The mankind's evolutionary scheme is slowly carried through five of these Worlds in seven great Periods of manifestation, during which the evolving virgin spirit becomes first human and, then, a God.
In his Metaphysics, Aristotle discusses meaning of "being as being". Aristotle holds that "being" primarily refers to the Unmoved Movers, and assigned one of these to each movement in the heavens. Each Unmoved Mover continuously contemplates its own contemplation, and everything that fits the second meaning of "being" by having its source of motion in itself, moves because the knowledge of its Mover causes it to emulate this Mover (or should).
The Ultimate
Arguably, Eastern conceptions of The Ultimate (this, too, has many different names), except for Shaivism and Vaishnavism, which do focus on a personal God, are not conceptions of a personal divinity, though certain Western conceptions of what is at least called "God" (e.g., Spinoza's pantheistic conception and various kinds of mysticism) resemble Eastern conceptions of The Ultimate. Christian theologian Paul Tillich, in the first volume of his Systematic Theology defines God as being that factor about which we have, in his language, ultimate concern. In this view, true self, zero, God, or the Absolute all have legitimate grounds to be called the Ultimate.
Aristotle's definition of God attributes perfection to this being, and as a perfect being can only contemplate upon perfection and not on imperfection, otherwise perfection would not be one of his attributes. God, according to Aristotle, is in a state of "stasis" untouched by change and imperfection. The "unmoved mover" is very unlike the conception of God which one sees in most religions. It has been likened to a person who is playing dominos and pushes one of them over, so that every other domino in the set is pushed over as well, without the being having to do anything about it. Although, in the 18th century, the French educator Allan Kardec brought a very similar conception of God during his work of codifying Spiritism, this differs to the interpretation of God in most religions, where he is seen to be personally involved in his creation.
'Process theology' is a school of thought influenced by the metaphysical process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947), and 'Open theism' is a theological movement that began in the 1990s, is similar, but not identical, to Process theology.
Posthuman God
A Posthuman God is a hypothetical future entity descended from or created by humans, but possessing capabilities so radically exceeding those of present humans as to appear godlike. One common variation of this idea is the belief or aspiration that humans will create a God entity emerging from an artificial intelligence. Another variant is the hypothesis that humanity will create or evolve into a posthuman God by itself; for some examples, see technological singularity, and omega point.
Extraterrestrials
Some comparatively new belief systems and books portray God as extraterrestrial life. Many of these theories hold that intelligent beings from another world have been visiting Earth for many thousands of years, and have influenced the development of our religions. Some of these books posit that prophets or messiahs were sent to the human race in order to teach morality and encourage the development of civilization. (See e.g. Rael). Francis Crick, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, suggested that life on Earth originated far away because of what he considered to be a minuscule timeframe allotted by scientists for the emergence of life on Earth.
Phenomenological definition
The philosopher Michel Henry defines God in a phenomenological point of view. He says: "God is Life, he is the essence of Life, or, if we prefer, the essence of Life is God. Saying this we already know what is God, we know it not by the effect of a learning or of some knowledge, we don’t know it by the thought, on the background of the truth of the world ; we know it and we can know it only in and by the Life itself. We can know it only in God." (I Am the Truth. Toward a Philosophy of Christianity).
In both views, God is not omnipotent in the classical sense of a coercive being. Reality is not made up of material substances that endure through time, but serially-ordered events, which are experiential in nature. The universe is characterized by process and change carried out by the agents of free will. Self-determination characterizes everything in the universe, not just human beings. God and creatures co-create. God cannot force anything to happen, but rather only influence the exercise of this universal free will by offering possibilities. Process theology is compatible with panentheism, the concept that God contains the universe (pantheism) but also transcends it. God as the ultimate logician - God may be defined as the only entity, by definition, possessing the ability to reduce an infinite number of logical equations having an infinite number of variables and an infinite number of states to minimum form instantaneously.
The concept of a posthuman god has become common in science fiction. Arthur C. Clarke, world-renowned science fiction author, said in an interview, "It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God, but to create him." Clarke's friend and colleague, the late Isaac Asimov, postulated in his story "The Last Question" a merger between humanity and machine intelligence that ultimately produces a deity capable of reversing entropy and subsequently initiates a new Creation trillions of years from the present era when the Universe is in the last stage of heat death. In Frank Herbert's science-fiction series Dune, a messianic figure is created after thousands of years of controlled breeding. The Culture Series by Iain M. Banks represents a blend in which a transhuman society is guarded by godlike machine intelligences. A stronger example is posited in the novel Singularity Sky by Charles Stross, in which a future artificial intelligence is capable of changing events even in its own past, and takes strong measures to prevent any other entity from taking advantage of similar capabilities.
This Life is not biological life defined by objective and exterior properties, nor an abstract and empty philosophical concept, but the absolute phenomenological life, a radically immanent life which possesses in it the power of showing itself in itself without distance, a life which reveals permanently itself.
Mary is the most prominent feminine figure in Christianity and the most meritorious saint in church history. She is said to have miraculously appeared to believers countless times over the centuries.
The main sources of information regarding Jesus' life and teachings are the four canonical Gospels of the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Most scholars in the fields of history and biblical studies agree that Jesus was a Jewish teacher from Galilee, who was regarded as a healer, was baptized by John the Baptist, and was crucified in Jerusalem on orders of the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate under the accusation of sedition against the Roman Empire. A small number of scholars and authors question the historical existence of Jesus, with some arguing for a completely mythological Jesus.
Christian views of Jesus center on the belief that Jesus is the Messiah whose coming was promised in the Old Testament and that he was resurrected after his crucifixion. Christians predominantly believe that Jesus is God incarnate, who came to provide salvation and reconciliation with God by atoning for the sins of humanity with his death. Nontrinitarian Christians profess various other interpretations regarding his divinity. Other Christian beliefs include Jesus' Virgin Birth, performance of miracles, fulfillment of biblical prophecy, ascension into Heaven, and future Second Coming.
In Islam, Jesus (also known as Isa) is considered one of God's most beloved and important prophets, a bringer of divine scripture, and also the Messiah. Muslims, however, do not share the Christian belief in the crucifixion or divinity of Jesus. Muslims believe that Jesus' crucifixion was a divine illusion and that he ascended bodily to heaven. Most Muslims also believe that he will return to the earth in the company of the Mahdi once the earth has become full of sin and injustice at the time of the arrival of the Anti-Christ-like Dajjal.
God - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Conceptions of God - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mary (mother of Jesus) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jesus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Satan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The actual birthday of Jesus was forgotten by the early Christian movement. in those days, various groups celebrated his birth on JAN-6, APR-21 and MAY-1. By the 4th century, the church selected the approximate time of the winter solstice as the date to recognize Jesus' birth. They picked up this date from Pagan sources. As luck would have it, the autumn equinox might have been a more accurate choice.
The winter solstice occurs about DEC-21 each year. It is the day of the year when the night is longest and the daytime shortest. Using the crude instruments available, ancient astronomers were able to detect by DEC-25 of each year that the daytime had become noticeably longer. This date was chosen, and remains, the traditional date for followers of many different Pagan religions to celebrate the rebirth of the sun. Following the solstice, each succeeding day has slightly more sunlight than the previous day. It was seen as a promise that warmth would return once more to the earth. Numerous pre-Christian Pagan religions honored their gods' birth or rebirth on or about that day. Their deities were typically called: Son of Man, Light of the World, Sun of Righteousness, Bridegroom, and Savior. Some examples are:
There have also been many legends surrounding the lore of the Christmas tree. In one story Saint Boniface, an English monk, came upon a group of pagans who had gathered around an oak tree and were preparing to sacrifice a child. To stop the sacrifice and save the child, the Saint flattened the oak tree with one blow of his fist. A small fir sprang up in its place, which Saint Boniface told the pagans was the Tree of Life and represented the life of Christ.
Another legend tells of Martin Luther, the founder of the Protestant religion, walking through the woods late one night. As it was clear, many stars were shining through the branches of the trees giving the impression of twinkling lights. Luther was so inspired by the beauty of the sight that he cut down a small evergreen and brought it home. He recreated the stars by putting candles on the tree's branches.
The use of a Christmas tree indoors appears to have begun in Germany. German Christians would bring trees into their homes to decorate. In some areas evergreen trees were scarce so the families would build a Christmas pyramid, simple wooden structures which they decorated with branches and candles.
The tradition of the Christmas tree eventually spread through out Europe. The English Royalty help popularize the tree in England by decorating the first Christmas tree at Windsor Castle in 1841. Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, decorated the first English Christmas Tree with candles, candies, fruits, and gingerbread.
When the German immigrants went to American they also brought along their Christmas trees. In the 1830's most Americans still considered the Christmas tree an oddity. One of the first public displays of a Christmas tree was set up by German Settlers in Pennsylvania. At the time many still considered the tree to be a symbol of pagans and it wasn't until the late 1800's that Americans began accepting the Christmas tree.
Early Christmas trees were often decorated with apples, nuts, cookies, colored popcorn and candles. The invention of electricity in the early 20th century and use of electrical Christmas lights helped spread the use of the Christmas tree.
It is now common in most communities through out the US to feature public displays of Christmas trees. Every year the President of the United States lights the National Christmas Tree in Washington and in New York skaters spin beneath the lighted tree of Rockefeller Center. Through Europe and the rest of the world the Christmas tree has also become readily accepted and adored.
The equinox occurs each year on March 20, 21 or 22. Both Neopagans and Christians continue to celebrate religious rituals linked to the equinox in the present day. Wiccans and other Neopagans usually hold their celebrations on the day or eve of the equinox. Western Christians wait until the Sunday on or after the next full moon. The Eastern Orthodox churches follow a different calculation; their celebration is often many weeks after the date selected by the Western churches.
There are other Easter traditions that are pagan in origin. The Easter sunrise service is derived from the ancient pagan practice of welcoming the sun on the morning of the spring equinox, marking the beginning of spring. What we now call Easter lilies were revered by the ancients as symbols of fertility and representative of the male genitalia. The ancient Babylonian religions had rituals involving dyed eggs as did the ancient Egyptians.
In pagan times, the "Easter hare" was no ordinary animal, but a sacred companion of the old goddess of spring, Eostre. The Easter bunny has its origin in pre-Christian fertility lore. The Hare and the Rabbit were the most fertile animals known and they served as symbols of the new life during the Spring season. Since long before Jesus Christ was born, parents told their children that the magic hare would bring them presents at the spring festival. The presents were often painted eggs, as these represented the new life starting at this time of year." Hares are animals which look like rabbits, but are larger and in many countries quite rare. In most places, the Easter rabbit (bunny) has replaced the Easter hare completely.The bunny was first used as a symbol of Easter in 16th century Germany, where it was first mentioned in German writings. The first edible Easter bunnies, made primarily of pastry and sugar, were produced in Germany as well, during the early 1800s. Also in Germany, children made nests of grass and placed them in their yards. They believed the Easter Bunny would fill these baskets with brightly decorated eggs during the night.
The Easter bunny was introduced to American folklore by the German settlers who arrived in the Pennsylvania Dutch country during the 1700s. The arrival of the "Oschter Haws" was considered "childhood's greatest pleasure" next to a visit from Christ-Kindel on Christmas Eve. The children believed that if they were good the "Oschter Haws" would lay a nest of colored eggs.
Thus the custom of making nests also spread to America. Children would build their nest in a secluded place in the home, the barn or the garden. Boys would use their caps and girls their bonnets to make the nests . The use of elaborate Easter baskets would come later as the tradition of the Easter bunny spread through out the country.
However, when Christianity spread to the lands of these ancient cultures, the exchanging of colored eggs became incorporated in the memorial celebration of Jesus' resurrection, the holy day that came to be known as Easter. These Easter eggs were colored and given as tokens to remind Christians of the tomb and Jesus' triumphant victory over death.
Under the rule of Emperor Claudius II Rome was involved in many bloody and unpopular campaigns. Claudius the Cruel was having a difficult time getting soldiers to join his military leagues. He believed that the reason was that roman men did not want to leave their loves or families. As a result, Claudius cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome. The good Saint Valentine was a priest at Rome in the days of Claudius II. He and Saint Marius aided the Christian martyrs and secretly married couples, and for this kind deed Saint Valentine was apprehended and dragged before the Prefect of Rome, who condemned him to be beaten to death with clubs and to have his head cut off. He suffered martyrdom on the 14th day of February, about the year 270. At that time it was the custom in Rome, a very ancient custom, indeed, to celebrate in the month of February the Lupercalia, feasts in honour of a heathen god. On these occasions, amidst a variety of pagan ceremonies, the names of young women were placed in a box, from which they were drawn by the men as chance directed.
The pastors of the early Christian Church in Rome endeavoured to do away with the pagan element in these feasts by substituting the names of saints for those of maidens. And as the Lupercalia began about the middle of February, the pastors appear to have chosen Saint Valentine's Day for the celebration of this new feast. So it seems that the custom of young men choosing maidens for valentines, or saints as patrons for the coming year, arose in this way.
Winter solstice celebrations of Christianity, Judaism, Neopaganism, etc.
The selection of December 25 for Christmas
Easter - Its Origins and Meanings
What is the origin of the Easter Bunny
Saint Valentine's Day - February 14th
1. And he said, Whoever discovers the interpretation of these sayings will not taste death.
2. Jesus said, Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and will reign over all. [And after they have reigned they will rest.]
3. Jesus said, If your leaders say to you, 'Look, the (Father's) kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the (Father's) kingdom is within you and it is outside you.
When you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will understand that you are children of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, then you live in poverty, and you are the poverty.
4. Jesus said, The person old in days won't hesitate to ask a little child seven days old about the place of life, and that person will live.
For many of the first will be last, and will become a single one.
5. Jesus said, Know what is in front of your face, and what is hidden from you will be disclosed to you.
For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed. [And there is nothing buried that will not be raised.]
6. His disciples asked him and said to him, "Do you want us to fast? How should we pray? Should we give to charity? What diet should we observe?"
Jesus said, Don't lie, and don't do what you hate, because all things are disclosed before heaven. After all, there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, and there is nothing covered up that will remain undisclosed.
7. Jesus said, Lucky is the lion that the human will eat, so that the lion becomes human. And foul is the human that the lion will eat, and the lion still will become human.
8. And he said, The person is like a wise fisherman who cast his net into the sea and drew it up from the sea full of little fish. Among them the wise fisherman discovered a fine large fish. He threw all the little fish back into the sea, and easily chose the large fish. Anyone here with two good ears had better listen!
9. Jesus said, Look, the sower went out, took a handful (of seeds), and scattered (them). Some fell on the road, and the birds came and gathered them. Others fell on rock, and they didn't take root in the soil and didn't produce heads of grain. Others fell on thorns, and they choked the seeds and worms ate them. And others fell on good soil, and it produced a good crop: it yielded sixty per measure and one hundred twenty per measure.
10. Jesus said, I have cast fire upon the world, and look, I'm guarding it until it blazes.
11. Jesus said, This heaven will pass away, and the one above it will pass away.
The dead are not alive, and the living will not die. During the days when you ate what is dead, you made it come alive. When you are in the light, what will you do? On the day when you were one, you became two. But when you become two, what will you do?
12. The disciples said to Jesus, "We know that you are going to leave us. Who will be our leader?"
Jesus said to them, No matter where you are you are to go to James the Just, for whose sake heaven and earth came into being.
13. Jesus said to his disciples, Compare me to something and tell me what I am like.
Simon Peter said to him, "You are like a just messenger."
Matthew said to him, "You are like a wise philosopher."
Thomas said to him, "Teacher, my mouth is utterly unable to say what you are like."
Jesus said, I am not your teacher. Because you have drunk, you have become intoxicated from the bubbling spring that I have tended.
And he took him, and withdrew, and spoke three sayings to him. When Thomas came back to his friends they asked him, "What did Jesus say to you?"
Thomas said to them, "If I tell you one of the sayings he spoke to me, you will pick up rocks and stone me, and fire will come from the rocks and devour you."
14. Jesus said to them, If you fast, you will bring sin upon yourselves, and if you pray, you will be condemned, and if you give to charity, you will harm your spirits.
When you go into any region and walk about in the countryside, when people take you in, eat what they serve you and heal the sick among them.
After all, what goes into your mouth will not defile you; rather, it's what comes out of your mouth that will defile you.
15. Jesus said, When you see one who was not born of woman, fall on your faces and worship. That one is your Father.
16. Jesus said, Perhaps people think that I have come to cast peace upon the world. They do not know that I have come to cast conflicts upon the earth: fire, sword, war.
For there will be five in a house: there'll be three against two and two against three, father against son and son against father, and they will stand alone.
17. Jesus said, I will give you what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, what no hand has touched, what has not arisen in the human heart.
18. The disciples said to Jesus, "Tell us, how will our end come?"
Jesus said, Have you found the beginning, then, that you are looking for the end? You see, the end will be where the beginning is.
Congratulations to the one who stands at the beginning: that one will know the end and will not taste death.
19. Jesus said, Congratulations to the one who came into being before coming into being.
If you become my disciples and pay attention to my sayings, these stones will serve you.
For there are five trees in Paradise for you; they do not change, summer or winter, and their leaves do not fall. Whoever knows them will not taste death.
20. The disciples said to Jesus, "Tell us what Heaven's kingdom is like."
He said to them, It's like a mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds, but when it falls on prepared soil, it produces a large plant and becomes a shelter for birds of the sky.
21. Mary said to Jesus, "What are your disciples like?"
He said, They are like little children living in a field that is not theirs. When the owners of the field come, they will say, 'Give us back our field.' They take off their clothes in front of them in order to give it back to them, and they return their field to them.
For this reason I say, if the owners of a house know that a thief is coming, they will be on guard before the thief arrives and will not let the thief break into their house (their domain) and steal their possessions.
As for you, then, be on guard against the world. Prepare yourselves with great strength, so the robbers can't find a way to get to you, for the trouble you expect will come.
Let there be among you a person who understands.
When the crop ripened, he came quickly carrying a sickle and harvested it. Anyone here with two good ears had better listen!
22. Jesus saw some babies nursing. He said to his disciples, These nursing babies are like those who enter the (Father's) kingdom.
They said to him, "Then shall we enter the (Father's) kingdom as babies?"
Jesus said to them, When you make the two into one, and when you make the inner like the outer and the outer like the inner, and the upper like the lower, and when you make male and female into a single one, so that the male will not be male nor the female be female, when you make eyes in place of an eye, a hand in place of a hand, a foot in place of a foot, an image in place of an image, then you will enter [the kingdom].
23. Jesus said, I shall choose you, one from a thousand and two from ten thousand, and they will stand as a single one.
24. His disciples said, "Show us the place where you are, for we must seek it."
He said to them, Anyone here with two ears had better listen! There is light within a person of light, and it shines on the whole world. If it does not shine, it is dark.
25. Jesus said, Love your friends like your own soul, protect them like the pupil of your eye.
26. Jesus said, You see the sliver in your friend's eye, but you don't see the timber in your own eye. When you take the timber out of your own eye, then you will see well enough to remove the sliver from your friend's eye.
27. If you do not fast from the world, you will not find the (Father's) kingdom. If you do not observe the sabbath as a sabbath you will not see the Father.
28. Jesus said, I took my stand in the midst of the world, and in flesh I appeared to them. I found them all drunk, and I did not find any of them thirsty. My soul ached for the children of humanity, because they are blind in their hearts and do not see, for they came into the world empty, and they also seek to depart from the world empty.
But meanwhile they are drunk. When they shake off their wine, then they will change their ways.
29. Jesus said, If the flesh came into being because of spirit, that is a marvel, but if spirit came into being because of the body, that is a marvel of marvels.
Yet I marvel at how this great wealth has come to dwell in this poverty.
30. Jesus said, Where there are three deities, they are divine. Where there are two or one, I am with that one.
31. Jesus said, No prophet is welcome on his home turf; doctors don't cure those who know them.
32. Jesus said, A city built on a high hill and fortified cannot fall, nor can it be hidden.
33. Jesus said, What you will hear in your ear, in the other ear proclaim from your rooftops.
After all, no one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, nor does one put it in a hidden place. Rather, one puts it on a lampstand so that all who come and go will see its light.
34. Jesus said, If a blind person leads a blind person, both of them will fall into a hole.
35. Jesus said, One can't enter a strong person's house and take it by force without tying his hands. Then one can loot his house.
36. Jesus said, Do not fret, from morning to evening and from evening to morning, [about your food--what you're going to eat, or about your clothing--] what you are going to wear. [You're much better than the lilies, which neither card nor spin.
As for you, when you have no garment, what will you put on? Who might add to your stature? That very one will give you your garment.]
37. His disciples said, "When will you appear to us, and when will we see you?"
Jesus said, When you strip without being ashamed, and you take your clothes and put them under your feet like little children and trample then, then [you] will see the son of the living one and you will not be afraid.
38. Jesus said, Often you have desired to hear these sayings that I am speaking to you, and you have no one else from whom to hear them. There will be days when you will seek me and you will not find me.
39. Jesus said, The Pharisees and the scholars have taken the keys of knowledge and have hidden them. They have not entered nor have they allowed those who want to enter to do so.
As for you, be as sly as snakes and as simple as doves.
40. Jesus said, A grapevine has been planted apart from the Father. Since it is not strong, it will be pulled up by its root and will perish.
41. Jesus said, Whoever has something in hand will be given more, and whoever has nothing will be deprived of even the little they have.
42. Jesus said, Be passersby.
43. His disciples said to him, "Who are you to say these things to us?"
You don't understand who I am from what I say to you.
Rather, you have become like the Judeans, for they love the tree but hate its fruit, or they love the fruit but hate the tree.
44. Jesus said, Whoever blasphemes against the Father will be forgiven, and whoever blasphemes against the son will be forgiven, but whoever blasphemes against the holy spirit will not be forgiven, either on earth or in heaven.
45. Jesus said, Grapes are not harvested from thorn trees, nor are figs gathered from thistles, for they yield no fruit.
Good persons produce good from what they've stored up; bad persons produce evil from the wickedness they've stored up in their hearts, and say evil things. For from the overflow of the heart they produce evil.
46. Jesus said, From Adam to John the Baptist, among those born of women, no one is so much greater than John the Baptist that his eyes should not be averted.
But I have said that whoever among you becomes a child will recognize the (Father's) kingdom and will become greater than John.
47. Jesus said, A person cannot mount two horses or bend two bows.
And a slave cannot serve two masters, otherwise that slave will honor the one and offend the other.
Nobody drinks aged wine and immediately wants to drink young wine. Young wine is not poured into old wineskins, or they might break, and aged wine is not poured into a new wineskin, or it might spoil.
An old patch is not sewn onto a new garment, since it would create a tear.
48. Jesus said, If two make peace with each other in a single house, they will say to the mountain, 'Move from here!' and it will move.
49. Jesus said, Congratulations to those who are alone and chosen, for you will find the kingdom. For you have come from it, and you will return there again.
50. Jesus said, If they say to you, 'Where have you come from?' say to them, 'We have come from the light, from the place where the light came into being by itself, established [itself], and appeared in their image.'
If they say to you, 'Is it you?' say, 'We are its children, and we are the chosen of the living Father.'
If they ask you, 'What is the evidence of your Father in you?' say to them, 'It is motion and rest.'
51. His disciples said to him, "When will the rest for the dead take place, and when will the new world come?"
He said to them, What you are looking forward to has come, but you don't know it.
52. His disciples said to him, "Twenty-four prophets have spoken in Israel, and they all spoke of you."
He said to them, You have disregarded the living one who is in your presence, and have spoken of the dead.
53. His disciples said to him, "Is circumcision useful or not?"
He said to them, If it were useful, their father would produce children already circumcised from their mother. Rather, the true circumcision in spirit has become profitable in every respect.
54. Jesus said, Congratulations to the poor, for to you belongs Heaven's kingdom.
55. Jesus said, Whoever does not hate father and mother cannot be my disciple, and whoever does not hate brothers and sisters, and carry the cross as I do, will not be worthy of me.
56. Jesus said, Whoever has come to know the world has discovered a carcass, and whoever has discovered a carcass, of that person the world is not worthy.
57 Jesus said, The Father's kingdom is like a person who has [good] seed. His enemy came during the night and sowed weeds among the good seed. The person did not let the workers pull up the weeds, but said to them, 'No, otherwise you might go to pull up the weeds and pull up the wheat along with them.' For on the day of the harvest the weeds will be conspicuous, and will be pulled up and burned.
58. Jesus said, Congratulations to the person who has toiled and has found life.
59. Jesus said, Look to the living one as long as you live, otherwise you might die and then try to see the living one, and you will be unable to see.
60. He saw a Samaritan carrying a lamb and going to Judea. He said to his disciples, that person ... around the lamb. They said to him, "So that he may kill it and eat it." He said to them, He will not eat it while it is alive, but only after he has killed it and it has become a carcass.
They said, "Otherwise he can't do it."
He said to them, So also with you, seek for yourselves a place for rest, or you might become a carcass and be eaten.
61. Jesus said, Two will recline on a couch; one will die, one will live.
Salome said, "Who are you mister? You have climbed onto my couch and eaten from my table as if you are from someone."
Jesus said to her, I am the one who comes from what is whole. I was granted from the things of my Father.
"I am your disciple."
For this reason I say, if one is whole, one will be filled with light, but if one is divided, one will be filled with darkness.
62. Jesus said, I disclose my mysteries to those [who are worthy] of [my] mysteries.
63 Jesus said, There was a rich person who had a great deal of money. He said, 'I shall invest my money so that I may sow, reap, plant, and fill my storehouses with produce, that I may lack nothing.' These were the things he was thinking in his heart, but that very night he died. Anyone here with two ears had better listen!
64. Jesus said, A person was receiving guests. When he had prepared the dinner, he sent his slave to invite the guests.
The slave went to the first and said to that one, 'My master invites you.' That one said, 'Some merchants owe me money; they are coming to me tonight. I have to go and give them instructions. Please excuse me from dinner.'
The slave went to another and said to that one, 'My master has invited you.' That one said to the slave, 'I have bought a house, and I have been called away for a day. I shall have no time.'
The slave went to another and said to that one, 'My master invites you.' That one said to the slave, 'My friend is to be married, and I am to arrange the banquet. I shall not be able to come. Please excuse me from dinner.'
The slave went to another and said to that one, 'My master invites you.' That one said to the slave, 'I have bought an estate, and I am going to collect the rent. I shall not be able to come. Please excuse me.'
The slave returned and said to his master, 'Those whom you invited to dinner have asked to be excused.' The master said to his slave, 'Go out on the streets and bring back whomever you find to have dinner.'
Buyers and merchants [will] not enter the places of my Father.
65. He said, A [...] person owned a vineyard and rented it to some farmers, so they could work it and he could collect its crop from them. He sent his slave so the farmers would give him the vineyard's crop. They grabbed him, beat him, and almost killed him, and the slave returned and told his master. His master said, 'Perhaps he didn't know them.' He sent another slave, and the farmers beat that one as well. Then the master sent his son and said, 'Perhaps they'll show my son some respect.' Because the farmers knew that he was the heir to the vineyard, they grabbed him and killed him. Anyone here with two ears had better listen!
66. Jesus said, Show me the stone that the builders rejected: that is the keystone.
67. Jesus said, Those who know all, but are lacking in themselves, are utterly lacking.
68. Jesus said, Congratulations to you when you are hated and persecuted; and no place will be found, wherever you have been persecuted.
69. Jesus said, Congratulations to those who have been persecuted in their hearts: they are the ones who have truly come to know the Father.
Congratulations to those who go hungry, so the stomach of the one in want may be filled.
70. Jesus said, If you bring forth what is within you, what you have will save you. If you do not have that within you, what you do not have within you [will] kill you.
71. Jesus said, I will destroy [this] house, and no one will be able to build it [...].
72. A [person said] to him, "Tell my brothers to divide my father's possessions with me."
He said to the person, Mister, who made me a divider?
