By M. Pierre
Termier
ATLANTIS is the subject of a short but important article appearing
in the Annual Report of the Board of Regents of The Smithsonian
Institution for the year ending June 30th, 1915. The author, M.
Pierre Termier, a member of the Academy of Sciences and Director
of Service of the Geologic Chart of France, in 1912 delivered a
lecture on the Atlantean hypothesis before the Institut Océanographique;
it is the translated notes of this remarkable lecture that are published
in the Smithsonian report.
"After a long period of disdainful indifference," writes M. Termier,
"observe how in the last few years science is returning to the study
of Atlantis. How many naturalists, geologists, zoologists, or botanists
are asking one another today whether Plato has not transmitted to
us, with slight amplification, a page from the actual history of
mankind. No affirmation is yet permissible; but it seems more and
more evident that a vast region, continental or made up of great
islands, has collapsed west of the Pillars of Hercules, otherwise
called the Strait of Gibraltar, and that its collapse occurred in
the not far distant past. In any event, the question of Atlantis
is placed anew before men of science; and since I do not believe
that it can ever be solved without the aid of oceanography, I have
thought it natural to discuss it here, in this temple of maritime
science, and to call to such a problem, long scorned but now being
revived, the attention of oceanographers, as well as the attention
of those who, though immersed in the tumult of cities, lend an ear
to the distant murmur of the sea."
In his lecture M. Termier presents geologic, geographic, and
zoologic data in substantiation of the Atlantis theory. Figuratively
draining the entire bed of the Atlantic Ocean, he considers the
inequalities of its basin and cites locations on a line from the
Azores to Iceland where dredging has brought lava to the surface
from a depth of 3,000 meters. The volcanic nature of the islands
now existing in the Atlantic Ocean corroborates Plato's statement
that the Atlantean continent was destroyed by volcanic cataclysms.
M. Termier also advances the conclusions of a young French zoologist,
M. Louis Germain, who admitted the existence of an Atlantic continent
connected with the Iberian Peninsula and with Mauritania and prolonged
toward the south so as to include some regions of desert climate.
M. Termier concludes his lecture with a graphic picture of the engulfment
of that continent.
The description of the Atlantean civilization given by Plato
in the Critias may be summarized as follows. In the first ages the
gods divided the earth among themselves, proportioning it according
to their respective dignities. Each became the peculiar deity of
his own allotment and established therein temples to himself, ordained
a priestcraft, and instituted a system of sacrifice. To Poseidon
was given the sea and the island continent of Atlantis. In the midst
of the island was a mountain which was the dwelling place of three
earth-born primitive human beings--Evenor; his wife, Leucipe; and
their only daughter, Cleito. The maiden was very beautiful, and
after the sudden death of her parents she was wooed by Poseidon,
who begat by her five pairs of male children. Poseidon apportioned
his continent among these ten, and Atlas, the eldest, he made overlord
of the other nine. Poseidon further called the country Atlantis
and the surrounding sea the Atlantic in honor of Atlas. Before the
birth of his ten sons, Poseidon divided the continent and the coastwise
sea into concentric zones of land and water, which were as perfect
as though turned upon a lathe. Two zones of land and three of water
surrounded the central island, which Poseidon caused to be irrigated
with two springs of water--one warm and the other cold.
The descendants of Atlas continued as rulers of Atlantis, and
with wise government and industry elevated the country to a position
of surpassing dignity. The natural resources of Atlantis were apparently
limitless. Precious metals were mined, wild animals domesticated,
and perfumes distilled from its fragrant flowers. While enjoying
the abundance natural to their semitropic location, the Atlanteans
employed themselves also in the erection of palaces, temples, and
docks. They bridged the zones of sea and later dug a deep canal
to connect the outer ocean with the central island, where stood
the palaces And temple of Poseidon, which excelled all other structures
in magnificence. A network of bridges and canals was created by
the Atlanteans to unite the various parts of their kingdom.
Plato then describes the white, black, and red stones which they
quarried from beneath their continent and used in the construction
of public buildings and docks. They circumscribed each of the land
zones with a wall, the outer wall being covered with brass, the
middle with tin, and the inner, which encompassed the citadel, with
orichalch. The citadel, on the central island, contained the pal
aces, temples, and other public buildings. In its center, surrounded
by a wall of gold, was a sanctuary dedicated to Cleito and Poseidon.
Here the first ten princes of the island were born and here each
year their descendants brought offerings. Poseidon's own temple,
its exterior entirely covered with silver and its pinnacles with
gold, also stood within the citadel. The interior of the temple
was of ivory, gold, silver, and orichalch, even to the pillars and
floor. The temple contained a colossal statue of Poseidon standing
in a chariot drawn by six winged horses, about him a hundred Nereids
riding on dolphins. Arranged outside the building were golden statues
of the first ten kings and their wives.
In the groves and gardens were hot and cold springs. There were
numerous temples to various deities, places of exercise for men
and for beasts, public baths, and a great race course for horses.
At various vantage points on the zones were fortifications, and
to the great harbor came vessels from every maritime nation. The
zones were so thickly populated that the sound of human voices was
ever in the air.
That part of Atlantis facing the sea was described as lofty and
precipitous, but about the central city was a plain sheltered by
mountains renowned for their size, number, and beauty. The plain
yielded two crops each year,, in the winter being watered by rains
and in the summer by immense irrigation canals, which were also
used for transportation. The plain was divided into sections, and
in time of war each section supplied its quota of fighting men and
chariots.
The ten governments differed from each other in details concerning
military requirements. Each of the kings of Atlantis had complete
control over his own kingdom, but their mutual relationships were
governed by a code engraved by the first ten kings on a column'
of orichalch standing in the temple of Poseidon. At alternate intervals
of five and six years a pilgrimage was made to this temple that
equal honor might be conferred upon both the odd and the even numbers.
Here, with appropriate sacrifice, each king renewed his oath of
loyalty upon the sacred inscription. Here also the kings donned
azure robes and sat in judgment. At daybreak they wrote their sentences
upon a golden tablet: and deposited them with their robes as memorials.
The chief laws of the Atlantean kings were that they should not
take up arms against each other and that they should come to the
assistance of any of their number who was attacked. In matters of
war and great moment the final decision was in the hands of the
direct descendants of the family of Atlas. No king had the power
of life and death over his kinsmen without the assent of a majority
of the ten.
THE SCHEME OF THE UNIVERSE ACCORDING
TO THE GREEKS AND ROMANS.
From Cartari's Imagini degli Dei degli Antichi.
By ascending successively through the fiery
sphere of Hades, the spheres of water, Earth, and air, and the
heavens of the moon, the plane of Mercury is reached. Above
Mercury are the planes of Venus, the sun, Mars, Jupiter, and
Saturn, the latter containing the symbols of the Zodiacal constellations.
Above the arch of the heavens (Saturn) is the dwelling Place
of the different powers controlling the universe. The supreme
council of the gods is composed of twelve deities--six male
and six female--which correspond to the positive and negative
signs of the zodiac. The six gods are Jupiter, Vulcan, Apollo,
Mars, Neptune, and Mercury; the six goddesses are Juno, Ceres,
Vesta, Minerva, Venus, and Diana. Jupiter rides his eagle as
the symbol of his sovereignty over the world, and Juno is seated
upon a peacock, the proper symbol of her haughtiness and glory.
Plato concludes his description by declaring that it was this
great empire which attacked the Hellenic states. This did not occur,
however, until their power and glory had lured the Atlantean kings
from the pathway of wisdom and virtue. Filled with false ambition,
the rulers of Atlantis determined to conquer the entire world. Zeus,
perceiving the wickedness of the Atlanteans, gathered the gods into
his holy habitation and addressed them. Here Plato's narrative comes
to an abrupt end, for the Critias was never finished. In the Timæus
is a further description of Atlantis, supposedly given to Solon
by an Egyptian priest and which concludes as follows:
"But afterwards there occurred violent earthquakes and floods;
and in a single day and night of rain all your warlike men in a
body sank into the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner
disappeared, and was sunk beneath the sea. And that is the reason
why the sea in those parts is impassable and impenetrable, because
there is such a quantity of shallow mud in the way; and this was
caused by the subsidence of the island."
In the introduction to his translation of the Timæus, Thomas
Taylor quotes from a History of Ethiopia written by Marcellus, which
contains the following reference to Atlantis: "For they relate that
in their time there were seven islands in the Atlantic sea, sacred
to Proserpine; and besides these, three others of an immense magnitude;
one of which was sacred to Pluto, another to Ammon, and another,
which is the middle of these, and is of a thousand stadia, to Neptune."
Crantor, commenting upon Plato, asserted that the Egyptian priests
declared the story of Atlantis to be written upon pillars which
were still preserved circa 300 B.C. (See Beginnings or Glimpses
of Vanished Civilizations.) Ignatius Donnelly, who gave the subject
of Atlantis profound study, believed that horses were first domesticated
by the Atlanteans, for which reason they have always been considered
peculiarly sacred to Poseidon. (See Atlantis.)
From a careful consideration of Plato's description of Atlantis
it is evident that the story should not be regarded as wholly historical
but rather as both allegorical and historical. Origen, Porphyry,
Proclus, Iamblichus, and Syrianus realized that the story concealed
a profound philosophical mystery, but they disagreed as to the actual
interpretation. Plato's Atlantis symbolizes the threefold nature
of both the universe and the human body. The ten kings of Atlantis
are the tetractys, or numbers, which are born as five pairs of opposites.
(Consult Theon of Smyrna for the Pythagorean doctrine of opposites.)
The numbers 1 to 10 rule every creature, and the numbers, in turn,
are under the control of the Monad, or 1--the Eldest among them.
With the trident scepter of Poseidon these kings held sway over
the inhabitants of the seven small and three great islands comprising
Atlantis. Philosophically, the ten islands symbolize the triune
powers of the Superior Deity and the seven regents who bow before
His eternal throne. If Atlantis be considered as the archetypal
sphere, then its immersion signifies the descent of rational, organized
consciousness into the illusionary, impermanent realm of irrational,
mortal ignorance. Both the sinking of Atlantis and the Biblical
story of the "fall of man" signify spiritual involution--a prerequisite
to conscious evolution.
Either the initiated Plato used the Atlantis allegory to achieve
two widely different ends or else the accounts preserved by the
Egyptian priests were tampered with to perpetuate the secret doctrine.
This does not mean to imply that Atlantis is purely mythological,
but it overcomes the most serious obstacle to acceptance of the
Atlantis theory, namely, the fantastic accounts of its origin, size,
appearance, and date of destruction--9600 B.C. In the midst of the
central island of Atlantis was a lofty mountain which cast a shadow
five thousand stadia in extent and whose summit touched the sphere
of æther. This is the axle mountain of the world, sacred among many
races and symbolic of the human head, which rises out of the four
elements of the body. This sacred mountain, upon whose summit stood
the temple of the gods, gave rise to the stories of Olympus, Meru,
and Asgard. The City of the Golden Gates--the capital of Atlantis--is
the one now preserved among numerous religions as the City of the
Gods or the Holy City. Here is the archetype of the New Jerusalem,
with its streets paved with gold and its twelve gates shining with
precious stones.
"The history of Atlantis," writes Ignatius Donnelly, "is the
key of the Greek mythology. There can be no question that these
gods of Greece were human beings. The tendency to attach divine
attributes to great earthly rulers is one deeply implanted in human
nature." (See Atlantis.)
The same author sustains his views by noting that the deities
of the Greek pantheon were nor looked upon as creators of the universe
but rather as regents set over it by its more ancient original fabricators.
The Garden of Eden from which humanity was driven by a flaming sword
is perhaps an allusion to the earthly paradise supposedly located
west of the Pillars of Hercules and destroyed by volcanic cataclysms.
The Deluge legend may be traced also to the Atlantean inundation,
during which a "world" was destroyed by water.,
Was the religious, philosophic, and scientific knowledge possessed
by the priestcrafts of antiquity secured from Atlantis, whose submergence
obliterated every vestige of its part in the drama of world progress?
Atlantean sun worship has been perpetuated in the ritualism and
ceremonialism of both Christianity and pagandom. Both the cross
and the serpent were Atlantean emblems of divine wisdom. The divine
(Atlantean) progenitors of the Mayas and Quichés of Central America
coexisted within the green and azure radiance of Gucumatz, the "plumed"
serpent. The six sky-born sages came into manifestation as centers
of light bound together or synthesized by the seventh--and chief--of
their order, the "feathered" snake. (See the Popol Vuh.) The title
of "winged" or "plumed" snake was applied to Quetzalcoatl, or Kukulcan,
the Central American initiate. The center of the Atlantean Wisdom-Religion
was presumably a great pyramidal temple standing on the brow of
a plateau rising in the midst of the City of the Golden Gates. From
here the Initiate-Priests of the Sacred Feather went forth, carrying
the keys of Universal Wisdom to the uttermost parts of the earth.
The mythologies of many nations contain accounts of gods who
"came out of the sea." Certain shamans among the American Indians
tell of holy men dressed in birds' feathers and wampum who rose
out of the blue waters and instructed them in the arts and crafts.
Among the legends of the Chaldeans is that of Oannes, a partly amphibious
creature who came out of the sea and taught the savage peoples along
the shore to read and write, till the soil, cultivate herbs for
healing, study the stars, establish rational forms of government,
and become conversant with the sacred Mysteries. Among the Mayas,
Quetzalcoatl, the Savior-God (whom some Christian scholars believe
to have been St. Thomas), issued from the waters and, after instructing
the people in the essentials of civilization, rode out to sea on
a magic raft of serpents to escape the wrath of the fierce god of
the Fiery Mirror, Tezcatlipoca.
May it not have been that these demigods of a fabulous age who,
Esdras-like, came out of the sea were Atlantean priests? All that
primitive man remembered of the Atlanteans was the glory of their
golden ornaments, the transcendency of their wisdom, and the sanctity
of their symbols--the cross and the serpent. That they came in ships
was soon forgotten, for untutored minds considered even boats as
supernatural. Wherever the Atlanteans proselyted they erected pyramids
and temples patterned after the great sanctuary in the City of the
Golden Gates. Such is the origin of the pyramids of Egypt, Mexico,
and Central America. The mounds in Normandy and Britain, as well
as those of the American Indians, are remnants of a similar culture.
In the midst of the Atlantean program of world colonization and
conversion, the cataclysms which sank Atlantis began. The Initiate-Priests
of the Sacred Feather who promised to come back to their missionary
settlements never returned; and after the lapse of centuries tradition
preserved only a fantastic account of gods who came from a place
where the sea now is.
H. P. Blavatsky thus sums up the causes which precipitated the
Atlantean disaster: "Under the evil insinuations of their demon,
Thevetat, the Atlantis-race became a nation of wicked magicians.
In consequence of this, war was declared, the story of which would
be too long to narrate; its substance may be found in the disfigured
allegories of the race of Cain, the giants, and that of Noah and
his righteous family. The conflict came to an end by the submersion
of the Atlantis; which finds its imitation in the stories of the
Babylonian and Mosaic flood: The giants and magicians '* * * and
all flesh died * * * and every man.' All except Xisuthrus and Noah,
who are substantially identical with the great Father of the Thlinkithians
in the Popol Vuh, or the sacred book of the Guatemaleans, which
also tells of his escaping in a large boat, like the Hindu Noah--Vaiswasvata.
" (See Isis Unveiled.)
From the Atlanteans the world has received not only the heritage
of arts and crafts, philosophies and sciences, ethics and religions,
but also the heritage of hate, strife, and perversion. The Atlanteans
instigated the first war; and it has been said that all subsequent
wars were fought in a fruitless effort to justify the first one
and right the wrong which it caused. Before Atlantis sank, its spiritually
illumined Initiates, who realized that their land was doomed because
it had departed from the Path of Light, withdrew from the ill-fated
continent. Carrying with them the sacred and secret doctrine, these
Atlanteans established themselves in Egypt, where they became its
first "divine" rulers. Nearly all the great cosmologic myths forming
the foundation of the various sacred books of the world are based
upon the Atlantean Mystery rituals.
THE MYTH OF THE DYING GOD
The myth of Tammuz and Ishtar is one of the earliest examples
of the dying-god allegory, probably antedating 4000 B. C. (See Babylonia
and Assyria by Lewis Spence.) The imperfect condition of the tablets
upon which the legends are inscribed makes it impossible to secure
more than a fragmentary account of the Tammuz rites. Being the esoteric
god of the sun, Tammuz did not occupy a position among the first
deities venerated by the Babylonians, who for lack of deeper knowledge
looked upon him as a god of agriculture or a vegetation spirit.
Originally he was described as being one of the guardians of the
gates of the underworld. Like many other Savior-Gods, he is referred
to as a "shepherd" or "the lord of the shepherd seat." Tammuz occupies
the remarkable position of son and husband of Ishtar, the Babylonian
and Assyrian Mother-goddess. Ishtar--to whom the planer Venus was
sacred--was the most widely venerated deity of the Babylonian and
Assyrian pantheon. She was probably identical with Ashterorh, Astarte,
and Aphrodite. The story of her descent into the underworld in search
presumably for the sacred elixir which alone could restore Tammuz
to life is the key to the ritual of her Mysteries. Tammuz, whose
annual festival took place just before the summer solstice, died
in midsummer in the ancient month which bore his name, and was mourned
with elaborate ceremonies. The manner of his death is unknown, but
some of the accusations made against Ishtar by Izdubar (Nimrod)
would indicate that she, indirectly at least, had contributed to
his demise. The resurrection of Tammuz was the occasion of great
rejoicing, at which time he was hailed as a "redeemer" of his people.
With outspread wings, Ishtar, the daughter of Sin (the Moon),
sweeps downward to the gates of death. The house of darkness--the
dwelling of the god Irkalla--is described as "the place of no return."
It is without light; the nourishment of those who dwell therein
is dust and their food is mud. Over the bolts on the door of the
house of Irkalla is scattered dust, and the keepers of the house
are covered with feathers like birds. Ishtar demands that the keepers
open the gates, declaring that if they do not she will shatter the
doorposts and strike the hinges and raise up dead devourers of the
living. The guardians of the gates beg her to be patient while they
go to the queen of Hades from whom they secure permission to admit
Ishtar, but only in the same manner as all others came to this dreary
house. Ishtar thereupon descends through the seven gates which lead
downward into the depths of the underworld. At the first gate the
great crown is removed from her head, at the second gate the earrings
from her ears, at the third gate the necklace from her neck, at
the fourth gate the ornaments from her breast, at the fifth gate
the girdle from her waist, at the sixth gate the bracelets from
her hands and feet, and at the seventh gate the covering cloak of
her body. Ishtar remonstrates as each successive article of apparel
is taken from her, bur the guardian tells her that this is the experience
of all who enter the somber domain of death. Enraged upon beholding
Ishtar, the Mistress of Hades inflicts upon her all manner of disease
and imprisons her in the underworld.
As Ishtar represents the spirit of fertility, her loss prevents
the ripening of the crops and the maturing of all life upon the
earth.
In this respect the story parallels the legend of Persephone.
The gods, realizing that the loss of Ishtar is disorganizing all
Nature, send a messenger to the underworld and demand her release.
The Mistress of Hades is forced to comply, and the water of life
is poured over Ishtar. Thus cured of the infirmities inflicted on
her, she retraces her way upward through the seven gates, at each
of which she is reinvested with the article of apparel which the
guardians had removed. (See The Chaldean Account of Genesis.) No
record exists that Ishtar secured the water of life which would
have wrought the resurrection of Tammuz.
The myth of Ishtar symbolizes the descent of the human spirit
through the seven worlds, or spheres of the sacred planets, until
finally, deprived of its spiritual adornments, it incarnates in
the physical body--Hades--where the mistress of that body heaps
every form of sorrow and misery upon the imprisoned consciousness.
The waters of life--the secret doctrine--cure the diseases of ignorance;
and the spirit, ascending again to its divine source, regains its
God-given adornments as it passes upward through the rings of the
planets.
Another Mystery ritual among the Babylonians and Assyrians was
that of Merodach and the Dragon. Merodach, the creator of the inferior
universe, slays a horrible monster and out of her body forms the
universe. Here is the probable source of the so-called Christian
allegory of St. George and the Dragon.
The Mysteries of Adonis, or Adoni, were celebrated annually in
many parts of Egypt, Phœnicia, and Biblos. The name Adonis, or Adoni,
means "Lord" and was a designation applied to the sun and later
borrowed by the Jews as the exoteric name of their God. Smyrna,
mother of Adonis, was turned into a tree by the gods and after a
time the bark burst open and the infant Savior issued forth. According
to one account, he was liberated by a wild boar which split the
wood of the maternal tree with its tusks. Adonis was born at midnight
of the 24th of December, and through his unhappy death a Mystery
rite was established that wrought the salvation of his people. In
the Jewish month of Tammuz (another name for this deity) he was
gored to death by a wild boar sent by the god Ars (Mars). The Adoniasmos
was the ceremony of lamenting the premature death of the murdered
god.
In Ezekiel viii. 14, it is written that women were weeping for
Tammuz (Adonis) at the north gate of the Lord's House in Jerusalem.
Sir James George Frazer cites Jerome thus: "He tells us that Bethlehem,
the traditionary birthplace of the Lord, was shaded by a grove of
that still older Syrian Lord, Adonis, and that where the infant
Jesus had wept, the lover of Venus was bewailed." (See The Golden
Bough.) The effigy of a wild boar is said to have been set over
one of the gates of Jerusalem in honor of Adonis, and his rites
celebrated in the grotto of the Nativity at Bethlehem. Adonis as
the "gored" (or "god") man is one of the keys to Sir Francis Bacon's
use of the "wild boar" in his cryptic symbolism.
Adonis was originally an androgynous deity who represented the
solar power which in the winter was destroyed by the evil principle
of cold--the boar. After three days (months) in the tomb, Adonis
rose triumphant on the 25th day of March, amidst the acclamation
of his priests and followers, "He is risen!" Adonis was born out
of a myrrh tree. Myrrh, the symbol of death because of its connection
with the process of embalming, was one of the gifts brought by the
three Magi to the manger of Jesus.
In the Mysteries of Adonis the neophyte passed through the symbolic
death of the god and, "raised" by the priests, entered into the
blessed state of redemption made possible by the sufferings of Adonis.
Nearly all authors believe Adonis to have been originally a vegetation
god directly connected with the growth and maturing of flowers and
fruits. In support of this viewpoint they describe the "gardens
of Adonis, " which were small baskets of earth in which seeds were
planted and nurtured for a period of eight days. When those plants
prematurely died for lack of sufficient earth, they were considered
emblematic of the murdered Adonis and were usually cast into the
sea with images of the god.
THE GREAT GOD PAN.
From Kircher's Œdipus Ægyptiacus.
The great Pan was celebrated
as the author and director of the sacred dances which he is
supposed to have instituted to symbolize the circumambulations
of the heavenly bodies. Pan was a composite creature, the upper
part--with the exception of his horns--being human, and the
lower part in the form of a goat. Pan is the prototype of natural
energy and, while undoubtedly a phallic deity, should nor be
confused with Priapus. The pipes of Pan signify the natural
harmony of the spheres, and the god himself is a symbol of Saturn
because this planet is enthroned in Capricorn, whose emblem
is a goat. The Egyptians were initiated into the Mysteries of
Pan, who was regarded as a phase of Jupiter, the Demiurgus.
Pan represented the impregnating power of the sun and was the
chief of a horde rustic deities, and satyrs. He also signified
the controlling spirit of the lower worlds. The fabricated a
story to the effect that at the time of the birth of Christ
the oracles were silenced after giving utterance to one last
cry, "Great Pan is dead!"
In Phrygia there existed a remarkable school of religious philosophy
which centered around the life and untimely fate of another Savior-God
known as Atys, or Attis, by many considered synonymous with Adonis.
This deity was born at midnight on the 24th day of December. Of
his death there are two accounts. In one he was gored to death like
Adonis; in the other he emasculated himself under a pine tree and
there died. His body was taken to a cave by the Great Mother (Cybele),
where it remained through the ages without decaying. To the rites
of Atys the modern world is indebted for the symbolism of the Christmas
tree. Atys imparted his immortality to the tree beneath which he
died, and Cybele took the tree with her when she removed the body.
Atys remained three days in the tomb, rose upon a date corresponding
with Easter morn, and by this resurrection overcame death for all
who were initiated into his Mysteries.
"In the Mysteries of the Phrygians, "says Julius Firmicus, "which
are called those of the MOTHER OF THE GODS, every year a PINE TREE
is cut down and in the inside of the tree the image of a YOUTH is
tied in! In the Mysteries of Isis the trunk of a PINE TREE is cut:
the middle of the trunk is nicely hollowed out; the idol of Osiris
made from those hollowed pieces is BURIED. In the Mysteries of Proserpine
a tree cut is put together into the effigy and form of the VIRGIN,
and when it has been carried within the city it is MOURNED 40 nights,
but the fortieth night it is BURNED!" (See Sod, the Mysteries of
Adoni.)
The Mysteries of Atys included a sacramental meal during which
the neophyte ate out of a drum and drank from a cymbal. After being
baptized by the blood of a bull, the new initiate was fed entirely
on milk to symbolize that he was still a philosophical infant, having
but recently been born out of the sphere of materiality. (See Frazer's
The Golden Bough.) Is there a possible connection between this lacteal
diet prescribed by the Attic rite and St. Paul's allusion to the
food for spiritual babes? Sallust gives a key to the esoteric interpretation
of the Attic rituals. Cybele, the Great Mother, signifies the vivifying
powers of the universe, and Atys that aspect of the spiritual intellect
which is suspended between the divine and animal spheres. The Mother
of the gods, loving Atys, gave him a starry hat, signifying celestial
powers, but Atys (mankind), falling in love with a nymph (symbolic
of the lower animal propensities), forfeited his divinity and lost
his creative powers. It is thus evident that Atys represents the
human consciousness and that his Mysteries are concerned with the
reattainment of the starry hat. (See Sallust on the Gods and the
World.)
The rites of Sabazius were very similar to those of Bacchus and
it is generally believed that the two deities are identical. Bacchus
was born at Sabazius, or Sabaoth, and these names are frequently
assigned to him. The Sabazian Mysteries were performed at night,
and the ritual included the drawing of a live snake across the breast
of the candidate. Clement of Alexandria writes: "The token of the
Sabazian Mysteries to the initiated is 'the deity gliding over the
breast.'" A golden serpent was the symbol of Sabazius because this
deity represented the annual renovation of the world by the solar
power. The Jews borrowed the name Sabaoth from these Mysteries and
adopted it as one of the appellations of their supreme God. During
the time the Sabazian Mysteries were celebrated in Rome, the cult
gained many votaries and later influenced the symbolism of Christianity.
The Cabiric Mysteries of Samothrace were renowned among the ancients,
being next to the Eleusinian in public esteem. Herodotus declares
that the Samothracians received their doctrines, especially those
concerning Mercury, from the Pelasgians. Little is known concerning
the Cabiric rituals, for they were enshrouded in the profoundest
secrecy. Some regard the Cabiri as seven in number and refer to
them as "the Seven Spirits of fire before the throne of Saturn."
Others believe the Cabiri to be the seven sacred wanderers, later
called the planets.
While a vast number of deities are associated with the Samothracian
Mysteries, the ritualistic drama centers around four brothers. The
first three--Aschieros, Achiochersus, and Achiochersa--attack and
murder the fourth--Cashmala (or Cadmillus). Dionysidorus, however,
identifies Aschieros with Demeter, Achiochersus with Pluto, Achiochersa
with Persephone, and Cashmala with Hermes. Alexander Wilder notes
that in the Samothracian ritual "Cadmillus is made to include the
Theban Serpent-god, Cadmus, the Thoth of Egypt, the Hermes of the
Greeks, and the Emeph or Æsculapius of the Alexandrians and Phœnicians.
" Here again is a repetition of the story of Osiris, Bacchus, Adonis,
Balder, and Hiram Abiff. The worship of Atys and Cybele was also
involved in the Samothracian Mysteries. In the rituals of the Cabiri
is to be traced a form of pine-tree worship, for this tree, sacred
to Atys, was first trimmed into the form of a cross and then cut
down in honor of the murdered god whose body was discovered at its
foot.
"If you wish to inspect the orgies of the Corybantes, " writes
Clement, "Then know that, having killed their third brother, they
covered the head of the dead body with a purple cloth, crowned it,
and carrying it on the point of a spear, buried it under the roots
of Olympus. These mysteries are, in short, murders and funerals.
[This ante-Nicene Father in his efforts to defame the pagan rites
apparently ignores the fact that, like the Cabirian martyr, Jesus
Christ was foully betrayed, tortured, and finally murdered!] And
the priests Of these rites, who are called kings of the sacred rites
by those whose business it is to name them, give additional strangeness
to the tragic occurrence, by forbidding parsley with the roots from
being placed on the table, for they think that parsley grew from
the Corybantic blood that flowed forth; just as the women, in celebrating
the Thcsmophoria, abstain from eating the seeds of the pomegranate,
which have fallen on the ground, from the idea that pomegranates
sprang from the drops of the blood of Dionysus. Those Corybantes
also they call Cabiric; and the ceremony itself they announce as
the Cabiric mystery."
The Mysteries of the Cabiri were divided into three degrees,
the first of which celebrated the death of Cashmala, at the hands
of his three brothers; the second, the discovery of his mutilated
body, the parts of which had been found and gathered after much
labor; and the third--accompanied by great rejoicing and happiness--his
resurrection and the consequent salvation of the world. The temple
of the Cabiri at Samothrace contained a number of curious divinities,
many of them misshapen creatures representing the elemental powers
of Nature, possibly the Bacchic Titans. Children were initiated
into the Cabirian cult with the same dignity as adults, and criminals
who reached the sanctuary were safe from pursuit. The Samothracian
rites were particularly concerned with navigation, the Dioscuri--Castor
and Pollux, or the gods of navigation--being among those propitiated
by members of that cult. The Argonautic expedition, listening to
the advice of Orpheus, stopped at the island of Samothrace for the
purpose of having its members initiated into the Cabiric rites.
Herodotus relates that when Cambyses entered the temple of the
Cabiri he was unable to restrain his mirth at seeing before him
the figure of a man standing upright and, facing the man, the figure
of a woman standing on her head. Had Cambyses been acquainted with
the principles of divine astronomy, he would have realized that
he was then in the presence of the key to universal equilibrium.
"'I ask,' says Voltaire, 'who were these Hierophants, these sacred
Freemasons, who celebrated their Ancient Mysteries of Samothracia,
and whence came they and their gods Cabiri?'" (See Mackey's Encyclopædia
of Freemasonry.) Clement speaks of the Mysteries of the Cabiri as
"the sacred Mystery of a brother slain by his brethren," and the
"Cabiric death" was one of the secret symbols of antiquity. Thus
the allegory of the Self murdered by the not-self is perpetuated
through the religious mysticism of all peoples. The philosophic
death and the philosophic resurrection are the Lesser and the Greater
Mysteries respectively.
A curious aspect of the dying-god myth is that of the Hanged
Man. The most important example of this peculiar conception is found
in the Odinic rituals where Odin hangs himself for nine nights from
the branches of the World Tree and upon the same occasion also pierces
his own side with the sacred spear. As the result of this great
sacrifice, Odin, while suspended over the depths of Nifl-heim, discovered
by meditation the runes or alphabets by which later the records
of his people were preserved. Because of this remarkable experience,
Odin is sometimes shown seated on a gallows tree and he became the
patron deity of all who died by the noose. Esoterically, the Hanged
Man is the human spirit which is suspended from heaven by a single
thread. Wisdom, not death, is the reward for this voluntary sacrifice
during which the human soul, suspended above the world of illusion,
and meditating upon its unreality, is rewarded by the achievement
of self-realization.
From a consideration of all these ancient and secret rituals
it becomes evident that the mystery of the dying god was universal
among the illumined and venerated colleges of the sacred teaching.
This mystery has been perpetuated in Christianity in the crucifixion
and death of the God-man-Jesus the Christ. The secret import of
this world tragedy and the Universal Martyr must be rediscovered
if Christianity is to reach the heights attained by the pagans in
the days of their philosophic supremacy. The myth of the dying god
is the key to both universal and individual redemption and regeneration,
and those who do not comprehend the true nature of this supreme
allegory are not privileged to consider themselves either wise or
truly religious.
THE SECRET TEACHINGS OF ALL AGES by Manly P. Hall [1928,
copyright not renewed]