Christo-Pagan Information

[theoccultchrist]

This was one of the first sites I came to - when I started researching online the idea of combining Christian ideas/thoughts/concepts and beliefs with that of paganism.

northernway.org/cpinfo.html

What is this term, Christo-Pagan? Isn't it a contradiction? Well, the truth is: your ancestors were probably Christo-Pagans. In Europe the historical Dual Faith period lasted from approximately 450 AD to 1100 AD, some say it began with Christianity itself. Indeed, Christianity has undeniable pagan roots. During the Dual Faith period our European ancestors were able to practice both their "pagan" ancestral religions and the "New Religion" coming up from Rome. Tolerance of this Dual Faith practice existed in various degrees, depending on one's country. France was the first to get pretty nasty toward anyone trying to hang onto both faiths, while Scandinavia held onto its paganism (more accurately called heathenism there) the longest of all.


Christo-Pagan Prayers | Christo-Pagan Saints | Christo-Pagan Gods | C-P Heroes, not Saints


One of the things modern Dual-Faithers bring back to Christianity is the presence of the Feminine Divine. Too long has Christianity been a lopsided masculine only "family" of God. Ironic that mainstream Christianity uses the phrase "family of God" since it is a dysfunctional family with no females, daughters or spouses. Humans naturally resonate with and respond to both a God and a Goddess. Christo-Paganism restores a much needed balance.

"Putting the Goddess, The Sacred Feminine back into Judeo-Christianity."

The Christian Goddess exists, there is even a Hebrew Goddess. God-the-Mother, wife of God-the-Father, was long ago removed from the Bible. But not quite. Traces of her worship remain in the Old Testament, and are recorded in other ancient writings. We now know she was equally worshipped and revered right alongside her consort Yahweh, Jehovah, El. She was the Mother Goddess, the Nurturer.

GoddessChristians Discussion List -- Join us here at the Goddess Christians forum for ongoing discussions and announcements regarding the restoration of the Sacred Feminine to Judeo-Christianity and western thought.

Judeo-Christian Goddesses
Even Christianity couldn't quite stamp Her out, and she has come down to us as Mother Mary, Sophia, even Mary Magdalene. And the Mother Goddess is still part of Christian culture in a watered down form as "Mother Nature."

Mother Earth or Mother Nature is the spouse whom Yahweh embraces in his original ancient function as the Sky-God. Earth and Sky meet, embrace, and create life in so many of the world's mythologies and religions. The Divine Feminine Force has always been at work in the universe, co-creating and co-equal with the Divine Masculine. Ignored, forgotten, lost, hidden, veiled, disguised among us... She now emerges from the shadows once again. Have you seen Her yet?

See the links above on the left, as well as our Mystery School for studies based on the Dual Faith Christo-Pagan religion.

Here are some perceptive answers to one of our Mary of Nazareth, Christian Goddess lessons from Initiate Reuben Isaac (aka Rick Davis).

1. A masculine force must have a balancing force to exist -- a female counterpart. If we are to believe that God is whole, and the author of male and female, it is reasonable to assume that God possesses traits of both sexes.

Further, the idea that God includes a balance of male and female energies might be found when we view the track record of religious history that has been, by and large, male dominated. Such imbalance allows religious history to be virtually synonymous with military history.

This is to say that war is often the result of imbalance. As traditional religious hierarchy stripped feminine energy, it overemphasized aggression, and waged war in a futile effort to convert all people to one "right" mode of thinking. Such rigidity is a symptom of imbalance.

2. The exoteric [mainstream Christian] Church defines Mary as virgin, so that to this day she is often revered to as the Blessed Virgin Mother. In relegating Mary's role to the "immaculate" and sexless, we find an accounting of her life that denies that she gave birth to other children, had more than one lover, and that she even had sex.

In stripping her of this humanity, she is lowered to the role of a frigid mother, rather than the Goddess of all creation. If we are to accept a God of balance and completeness, there must be a partnership of divine male and female energies.

3. Mary was sanitized in redefining the role that she played in everyday life in relationship to the disciples. The Gospels and Gnostic literature suggest that Mary was revered by the disciples for her wisdom, and power. She was approached by the Disciples as one would approach a Rabbi (learned teacher), and she was shown to possess the mysteries of creation, but unable to utter the words for fear of destruction by fire.

This is to say that her learning contained such power that it could destroy all of the earth. It was a supernatural power that the disciples were not able to comprehend.

This sanitizing was in accordance with the mores of the time. The Rabbinic hierarchy included a complex hierarchy of laws that only allowed men to be Priests. Yet, Mary, "low" in the social hierarchy of her time as a woman, Jew and one born into poverty, was chosen by the Divine partnership to give birth to Divinity. Such a role reversal topples the Rabbinic norms of the time, and introduces power arising from "below."

This is dangerous for many. It threatens the Divine right of Kings, and introduces the idea of partnership into worship. In such fashion, we move toward another, rather than seeking to dominate. We are defined in equal relationship to another, rather than by adhering to arbitrary standards from one with higher status. Those at ground level are empowered, and those at the top of the hill are asked to make room. Power is no longer consolidated. The Church is redefined from that which codifies law, to a community in equal and loving relationship.

4. Question: How do you picture Mary?
Answer: I am close to Mary, and find the image presented of Mary as suitable. I pray to her -- more often than not, through Guadalupe, the image of the Aztec Mother.

I see her as young -- as "innocent," meaning that she is kind, compassionate and still idealistic enough to trust all who come before her.

When I was a child I was struck by the sober white statues of our church. I prefer color -- the gleaming energy of Guadalupe -- as though her very energy can release sparks of Divinity in all that she touches.

I picture Mary as being surrounded in blue and purple lights. Purple is a mystical color -- signifying the layers of love and wisdom that lie beneath the surface. Blue is of sky -- expansive -- but also of waters...and Mary is the Mother of all. We are largely water, and her energy not only nourishes us, but is in us. The Blue sky protects Mother Earth, as he guardianship is the energy behind all creation. Her waters cleanse all with forgiveness, and banishes fear with the bathing warmth of life giving water. She bathes all with nourishing love -- the spiritual "food" that all of us require.
The above questions are part of a lesson from our Mystery School's Order of the Divine Mother.


A Short History of the Christian Church -- Christianity has Pagan DNA Christo-Pagan Prayers | Esoteric Christian & Pagan Saints
| Christo-Pagan Gods | Heroes, not Saints
J
acques de Molay, last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, Saint and Martyr of Esoteric Christianity. Martyred on March 18th, 1314 for refusing to lie by publicly "confessing" the Knights Templar had committed heresy. He went "down in a blaze of glory" for his beliefs and the honor of his Order. Esoteric Christians and Christo-Pagans remember and revere him to this day. Read about more Saints of our Esoteric Christian church.

[theoccultchrist]

Yeshua / Jesus what was he like?

Jesus was anything but the mild-mannered, soft-spoken, almost wimpy character the exoteric church has described to us. He had charisma, personality, he was human with emotions like anger, frustration, grief. The Gospel of Mark is the best of the four New Testament portrayals of Jesus' personality. Tradition says it was written by John-Mark, a child student of Jesus and son of the widow Mary of Jerusalem, also a student in Jesus' mystery school. John-Mark grew up and travelled with Paul to Rome and later wrote the book of Mark.

Jesus/Yeshua was a rebel sage. He came into the stuffy, legalistic, misogynist Judaism like a whirlwind. His teachings flew in the face of just about everything the monotheistic male dominated religion of his people was teaching at the time. Judaism was controlled by the Temple in Jerusalem, whereas Jesus and his band were from Galilee, a northern province that had been forcibly converted to Judaism a hundred years before Yeshua's birth. The northern Galileans still had some of their pre-Jewish practices and were easily recognized by their accents. Remember how the distraught Peter is recognized after Jesus' arrest by his northern accent, "your speech betrays you!" says the High Priest's servant woman. Because they weren't considered "true" Jews, we read in the New Testament the Jerusalemites saying things like, "can anything good come out of Galilee?" So Yeshua would have grown up with a less strict attitude toward Jewish law and most certainly would have known the Greek language which for centuries has been debated. He was exposed to other pagan religions and philosophies because evidence now shows that he lived within walking distance of a very sophisticated Greco-Roman city-center, and several merchant fishing towns. One of the best books on the subject is Jesus: the Evidence, by Ian Wilson. Wilson uses Scriptures, noncanonical writings, and research from a variety of disciplines to penetrate pious mythology and historical distortions. To committed Christians, this book offers a fascinating new perspective on their beliefs. To the skeptic, it provides a convincing explanation of why the beliefs centered on this one man have proven so powerful and pervasive.

For more about the real Yeshua right now, please continue reading the articles below.

The Church of the Way
In Greek, the main language of the early Christians, Church of the Way is written: Eklisia ton Tropon.

Yeshua's true teachings are very hard to discover when reading the New Testament. It sometimes seems like Paul founded Christianity, almost making it up as he went along. But Yeshua did found a Mystery School and Church of the Way. He had students, they had rituals, he taught them techniques, prayers and rites. It was probably less like a religion, a church, than a way of life. And what would it be called, if not the Church of the Way? It is interesting to note, that the Chinese Tao also means The Way, and is a religion of balance with its famous black and white yin-yang symbol.

Yeshua was a rebel sage, a Master of secret teachings in the ancient mystery school tradition. In the New Testament he repeatedly tells his students, "these things I tell you in private, are not for the masses, they would hear but not understand." He alludes to a hidden core of knowledge, a secret underlying current running deep below the surface of mainstream religion. You get the sense that the churches and ceremonies we attend today, the prayers and spell-songs we sing only touch the very tip of the iceberg.

The Church of the Way is the inner core of teachings dispensed by the Esoteric Mystery School. Our Kristian Adepts and Mages consider themselves followers of Yeshua's true Way. This is their Church, the Church of Yeshua and Mary Magdalene, co-saviors who came as God and Goddess to straighten us out again. God and Goddess occasionally take the flesh, whenever things go too far astray. Krishna, the Christ-like god of India says in the Gita (India's Bible written around 1500BC), "In every age I come back." He/She comes back whenever things get too rough here on earth.

Perhaps it's time for another of their visits? The Millenium Prophecy Of Sophia says...

And I come for a second time, in the manner of a woman, and I shall speak with them,
And I shall instruct them about the coming end of the realm.
And I shall instruct them about the beginning of the coming realm,
Which does not experience change,
And in which our appearance shall change.

(Prophecy of Sophia translated from the Trimorphic Protennoia, a Gnostic Text)


Creed of the Church of the Way

I believe in One Godhead of Sacred Masculine and Sacred Feminine
by which all things, seen and unseen, came into being.

I believe in the Incarnation of the Divine Son, Yeshua, Logos,
begotten by the Father and born of the Mother;
Light of Light, true God of true God.

I believe in Mary Theotokos, God-Bearer, who was the Divine Mother Incarnate.

I believe in Pneuma, the Holy Spirit and Life-Giver;
the Power, Wisdom and Breath of Deity
working in all Worlds of Matter and Spirit.

I believe in Mary Magdala, an Incarnation of the Divine Feminine
who did anoint the Son of Man to seal His Divine Kingship;
to prepare Him for His death, descent into Hell and Resurrection.

For Yeshua and His Bride the Magdala did come in the flesh,
were wed, and together showed us The Way to freedom from suffering,
to balance, to wholeness and union with Our Creators.

I acknowledge their continued presence among us.
They are co-Redeemers in joint priest- and priestess- hood leading all
back into kinship with the Creative Godhead.

I work to embody that compassion,

look for their guidance,

and labor in the furtherance of this mission.

Amen

King of Royal Blood? Top

Jesus (Yeshua) was called a "Son of David" in the New Testament. However, genealogy for Jews was and still is determined by the mother's side. Some historians believe Joseph may have been Jesus' actual father, but because Yeshua was conceived out of wedlock he may not have been recognized as Joseph's. No genealogy for Mary, Jesus' mother, was ever compiled, though Vatican supported church tradition says her parents were Joachim and Anna. It would be rather easy for her to have been from the line of David, since King David had many wives, and many offspring. His son Solomon had even more wives and children, something like 700 wives! So one of Yeshua's parents may have descended from David, and thus had "Royal Blood." But during the reign of the House of Herod, and under the Imperial rule of Rome, such blood was not recognized, and was even considered dangerous. [It is also very possible that Yeshua's great-grandparents were uncircumcised gentiles without a drop of Jewish blood in them. This is because only 100 years before Yeshua's birth, the economically thriving and strategically placed province of Galilee was forced into Judaism by the Jerusalem Maccabees.]

Yeshua's wife, Mary d'Magdala, could also be traceable to David, though some researchers say she was from the Tribe of Benjamin, or may have even been of Gentile descent. (See Woman with the Alabaster Jar and Holy Blood Holy Grail in our Bookshoppe). Galilee, where both Mary Magdalene and Yeshua were from, was called "Galilee of the Gentiles," because it was had recently been converted to the Jewish religion. It is important to note that Galileans were all practicing Jews, but most were probably of different races indigenous to the Holy Lands, such as Syrian, Persian or Sumerian. Father Abraham, founder of the Hebrew people, was originally a Sumerian. He came, you recall, from Ur a city near Babylon whose ruins have been found.

The Gospel of Matthew attempts to put Jesus in the line of David in order to validate his messiahship in the eyes of the Jewish people. But we can see this lineage is in doubt and the other gospels don't help much. However, Yeshua did come in the spirit of David, from the Lion of Judah. He was called the Lamb, yet he came as the Lion of Judah. These are all deep archetypal symbols with special meaning, perhaps it is not vital that Yeshua be a literal descendant of King David. What's important is that the people of Jerusalem thought he did, and so did Rome, so this is why he was executed for treason and a sign, "King of hte Jews" was put above his head. History also records that his "family" ---supposedly a brother and two sons were later interviewed in Rome to make sure they weren't a threat of royal blood. The Roman record says they were found by Tiberius' investigators to be nothing more than "peasants" and were sent on their way. Tradition states that they were on their way to Europe to re-settle most likely in one of the French southern coastal towns known for large Jewish quarters.

If Yeshua or Mary Magdalene were of Jewish Royal blood, could they have quested to restore the House of David into power, or did their followers have this ambition for them? Perhaps they did have a political agenda alongside their worldshaking religious one because it was for political reasons Jesus was killed. The Romans labeled him "King of the Jews," and executed him for treason. Luckily he got the last word in...

---by Rev. Jason Collins and Dr. Katia Romanoff

Top

Myth of the Dying God

The Mediterranean World and the Middle East are full of ancient stories of dying and resurrecting gods. The God often dies annually in order to "renew" or bring "salvation" to the people with his blood. He then comes back later in the year, this being called the Myth of the Return. When we think of Yeshua, we see he fits this annual pattern. He is born to us each year at Winter Solstice time, when the sun is "born" each year and the light returns to the darkened winter world. Then in Spring, Yeshua dies so that his blood can renew and save us. See "Similar Gods," below for more info. And have a look at Margaret Starbird's article: Imaging God as Partners which further discusses the dying and resurrecting god myth. Just because this myth is a common theme does not take away from the validity of Yeshua's life and message. He came to embody that sacred archetype. He epitomized the resurrecting salvatory shepherd king, supported by his earth-mother mate, the embodiment of the sacred feminine and its functions of nurturing and teaching. A line from a famous Jewish prayer says, "My father my Guide, my mother my Teacher."


Yeshua's Birthday

Yeshua's Birthday was officially changed to December 25th by the Roman Catholic Church to coincide with Mithras' birthday (see Similar Gods). For the first three centuries, many of the Early Christians celebrated his birthday on January 7. Yet his original birthday has been claimed to be somewhere around the Spring Equinox, in the range of March 20-March 25th. Yeshua said he was the Aleph and the Tau, the Beginning and the End, which would be consistent with a birthday on the cusp of Pisces and Aries. Note the symbolism of the Pisces fish and the Aries sacrificial ram. Also, since the inaccuracy in the calender, any of these days between the 20th and the 25th could be correct. According to the Roman Catholic Church, and some other documents, the exact date was the 25th of March, which made it easier to change to the 25th of December.


About His Name

Yeshua, a variant of Joshua, is the Hebrew name for Jesus, and is the true way his name was spoken. "Jesus" is the warped English pronunciation of the Greek word "Iesous." And "Jesus Christ," is a Greek phrase, coined by Paul. To say Yeshua's name the way his friends, family and students would have spoken it, would be "Yeshua haMoshiach." Pronounced Ye-SHU-ah ha Mah-SHEE-ock. It means Yeshua the Messiah, or the literal translation: Yeshua the Anointed One. But since he didn't go about bragging that he was the Messiah, he might have gone by Yeshua the Teacher or Master Yeshua (Rabbi or Rabboni).


Top

Similar Gods

Mithras, Adonis, Dumuzi, Hercules, Zeus

Adonis and Dumuzi were both Middle Eastern fertility gods that died every year during Spring planting season in order to fertilize the crops for the "salvation of all." Adonis' death was mourned in a special cave shrine in Bethlehem where legends also said he was born. The early Christian church fathers, said we can't have this! We must get these pagans out of that cave---it's also the spot where Jesus was born. One church father wrote: "In the cave where our lord was born, women weep for Venus' dead lover!" And so the pagans were kicked out eventually and the famous church of the Nativity got built on the spot, and still stands today. You can go down into the small cave portion and sit or stand. Wow, it does seem like you're in a cocoon within the earth. You feel the awe of the ancient pilgrims, those that came for Jesus , Dumuzi and for Adonis. Mingled with your own awe and the sense of the sacred it makes a powerful experience. When I was there we were the only ones in the cave-room until a small group of Orthodox priests came in. They did a little ritual and chanted several prayersongs while we quietly watched.

Dumuzi or Tammuz, whose worship is mentioned in the Old Testament, was ritually resurrected each Spring after a three day descent into hell. He was buried each year in a garden tomb. A priestess, representing his wife, would go alone to the garden tomb and find it empty, just as the legend said his wife Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth had done when Dumuzi died and was resurrected the first time. In exactly the same manner, Mary Magdalene, now believed to have been Jesus' wife goes alone to the tomb--in a garden--and finds it empty. Yes, the similarities are striking, there is no doubt about it. Yeshua filled the role of that ancient archetype, the Shepherd King. He was fulfilling a lot more than just Old Testament Hebrew prophecies. He was embodying the entire Mediterranean mythos. Even Egypt has a dying and resurrecting god---Osiris---with a loyal nurturing mother goddess Isis, all connected to the annual cycle of fertility and renewal of the spring flooding of the Nile.

Hercules was born of a heavenly sky-god (Zeus) and a mortal woman. His official title was "Prince of Peace." Jesus was born of Yahweh, sky-god of the Hebrews, and a "mortal woman," Mary.

In Greek, the name for Jesus-- Iesous --is very similar to the name Zeus. When Emperor Constantine decided to make Christianity the official state religion of the Roman Empire back in the 300's A.D., the people didn't want to give up Zeus and other pagan gods. Constantine couldn't bear to tear down the famous statues of Zeus in the Temples in Rome and Athens. So he instructed his new Christian priests to simply rename them as Jesus. All statues of Zeus were turned into Jesus! Early images of what Jesus looked like were heavily influenced by the traditional bearded appearance of Zeus.

Now for the clincher: Are Jesus and Mithras the same God? Read this and see what you think....

From "The World of Myth" , a mythology textbook (and good paperback
reading, too!) by David Adams Leeming, Professor of English and
Comparative Literature, University of Connecticut

**************************************

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Persian Myths of the Gods:

Mithras

The god Mithras (or Mithra) was a major influence on Christianity until the fourth century C.E. In this version of his story, by Barbara Walker, the parallels between the two cults are emphasized.

Mithra was the Persian Savior, whose cult was the leading rival of Christianity in Rome, and more successful than Christianity for the first four centuries of the "Christian" era. In 307 A.D. the emperor officially designated Mithra "Protector of the Empire."

Christians copied many details of the Mithraic mystery-religion, explaining the resemblance later with their favorite argument, that the devil had anticipated the true faith by imitating it before Christ's birth. Some resemblances between Christianity and Mithraism were so close that even St. Augustine declared the priests of Mithra worshipped the same deity as he did.

Mithra was born on December 25th, called "Birthday of the Unconquered Sun," which was finally taken over by Christians in the 4th century A.D. as the birthday of Christ. Some said Mithra sprang from an incestuous union between the sun god and his own mother, just as Jesus, who was God, was born of the Mother of God. Some claimed Mithra's mother was a mortal virgin. Others said Mithra had no mother, but was miraculously born of a female Rock, the petra genetrix, fertilized by the Heavenly Father's phallic lightning.

Mithra's birth was witnessed by shepherds and by Magi who brought gifts to his sacred birth-cave of the Rock. Mithra performed the usual assortment of miracles: raising the dead, healing the sick, making the blind see and the lame walk, casting out devils. As a Peter, son of the petra (rock), he carried the keys of the kingdom of heaven. His triumph and ascension to heaven were celebrated at the spring equinox (Easter), when the sun rises toward its apogee.

Before returning to heaven, Mithra celebrated a Last Supper with his twelve disciples, who represented the 12 signs of the zodiac. In memory of this, his worshippers partook of a sacramental meal of bread marked with a cross. This was one of seven Mithraic sacraments, the models for the Christians' 7 sacraments. It was called mizd, Latin missa, English mass. Mithra's image was buried in a rock tomb, the same sacred cave that represented his Mother's womb. He was withdrawn from it and said to live again.

Like early Christianity, Mithraism was an ascetic, anti-female religion. Its priesthood consisted of celibate men only. Women were forbidden to enter Mithraic temples. The women of Mithraic families had nothing to do with the men's cult, but attended services of the Great Mother in their own temples of Isis, Diana, or Juno. (One of which was usually always beside a Mithraic temple).

To eliminate the female principle from their creation myth, Mithraists replaced the Mother of All Living in the primal garden of paradise (Pairidaeza) with the bull named Sole-Created. Instead of Eve, this bull was the partner of the first man. All creatures were born from the bull's blood. Yet the bull's birth-giving was oddly female-imitative. The animal was castrated and sacrificed, and its blood was delivered to the moon for magical fructification, the moon being the source of women's magic lunar "blood of life" that produced real children on earth.

Persians have been called the Puritans of the heathen world. They developed Mithraism out of an earlier Aryan religion that was not so puritanical or so exclusively male-oriented. Mithra seems to have been the Indo-Iranian sun god Mitra, or Mitravaruna, one of the 12 zodiacal sons of the Infinity-goddess Aditi. Another of Aditi's sons was Aryaman, eponymous ancestor of "Aryans," whom the Persians transformed into Ahriman, the Great Serpent of Darkness, Mithra's enemy.

Early on, there seems to have been a feminine Mithra. Herodotus said the Persians used to have a sky-goddess Mitra, the same as Mylitta, Assyria's Great Mother. Lydians combined Mithra with his archaic spouse Anahita as an androgynous Mithra-Anahita, identified with Sabazius-Anaitis, the Serpent and Dove of Anatolian mystery cults.

Anahita was the Mother of Waters, traditional spouse of the solar god whom she bore, loved, and swallowed up. She was identified with the Anatolian Great Goddess Ma. Mithra was naturally coupled with her, as her opposite, a spirit of fire, light, and the sun. Her "element," water, overwhelmed the world in the primordial flood, when one man built an ark and saved himself, together with his cattle, according to Mithraic myth. The story seems to have been based on the Hindu Flood of Manu, transmitted thru Persian and Babylonian scriptures to appear in a late, rather corrupt version in the Old Testament.

What began in water would end in fire, according to Mithraic eschatology. The great battle between the forces of light and darkness in the Last Days would destroy the earth with its upheavals and burnings. Virtuous ones who followed the teachings of the Mithraic priesthood would join the spirits of light and be saved. Sinful ones who followed other teachings would be cast into hell with Ahriman and the fallen angels. The Christian notion of salvation was almost wholly a product of this Persian eschatology, adopted by Semitic eremites and sun-cultists called Essenes, and by Roman military men who thought the rigid discipline and vivid battle-imagery of Mithraism appropriate for warriors. Under emperors like Julian and Commodus, Mithra became the supreme patron of Roman armies.

After extensive contact with Mithraism, Christians also began to describe themselves as soldiers for Christ; to call their savior Light of the World, Helios the Rising Sun, and Sun of Righteousness; to celebrate their feasts on Sun-day rather than the Jewish Sabbath; to claim their savior's death was marked by an eclipse of the sun; and to adopt the seven Mithraic sacraments. Like Mithraists, Christians practiced baptism to ascend after death thru the planetary spheres to the highest heaven, while the wicked (unbaptized) would be dragged down to darkness.

Mithra's cave-temple on Vatican Hill was seized by Christians in 376 A.D. Christian bishops of Rome pre-empted even the Mithraic high priest's title of Pater Patrum, which became Papa, or Pope. Mithraism entered into many doctrines of Manichean Christianity and continued to influence its old rival for over a thousand years. The Mithraic festival of Epiphany, marking the arrival of sun-priests or Magi at the Savior's birthplace, was adopted by the Christian church only as late as 813 A.D.

northernway.org/god.html

[theoccultchrist]

The Christian Goddess


Descent of Ruah-Shekinah, the Holy Spirit
Note the two women on either side of Mary in the painting. Who are these women? Surely Mary Magdalene is one, perhaps on Mary's right since MM often is shown wearing green. Or would she sit at the left hand of Goddess and is the mysterious one barely visible behind and to the left of Mary? Perhaps the other one is Salome, Joanna, Susanna, or one of Yeshua's own sisters. There are several female Deities that can lay claim to the title Christian goddess. Mary, the Mother of Jesus/Yeshua, first comes to mind. There is Mary Magdalene the "Goddess in the Gospels" the Church refused to acknowledge as the wife of Yeshua and probably co-Messiah. "Mary" is a Greek pronunciation of the Hebrew name Miriam or Miriamne. There are many theories about this name, such as Mary might not even be a name, but a title meaning Priestess of Goddess.
Many theologians and scholars believe the Holy Spirit written as, Pneuma in Greek everytime it appears in the New Testament, is a feminine being. Note that Pneuma is a neuter word in Greek, but in Hebrew the word Ruah (Spirit) and in Aramaic the word Shekinah (Presence) are feminine words and imply a feminine divine presence. The Holy Spirit is possibly a Christian Goddess, not a mysterious invisible member of an all-male Trinity "club." Or more provocatively, maybe there is a Feminine Trinity of God-the-Mother (Sophia and Mary?), God-the-Daughter (Mary Magdalene) and Goddess-the-Spirit-Presence (Shekinah, Ruah). The Holy Spirit appears at Yeshua's baptism in the form of a dove. The dove has long been a symbol of the Goddess in the Ancient Near East, and was never used to symbolize any male Being or God.


We must also look in the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible, and consider the Goddess Sophia. Her name means "Wisdom." She is the Goddess of Wisdom referred to repeatedly in scripture as the wife of God-the-Father. See Proverbs, Song of Songs, (also called Song of Solomon) in the Hebrew Bible, and see the Book of Sirach and the Book of Wisdom in the Apocrypha found in the center of any Catholic Bible.

Here is an excerpt from The Decline of the Feminine and the Cult of Mary
In Greco-Roman Christianity, probably because of the dangers of Gnosticism, the biblical images of God as female were soon suppressed within the doctrine of God. God as Wisdom, Hokmah in Hebrew, or Sophia in Greek, a feminine form, was translated by Christianity into the Logos concept of Philo, which is masculine and was defined as the Son of God. The Shekinah, the theology of God’s mediating presence as female, was de-emphasized; and God’s Spirit Ruah, a feminine noun in Hebrew, took on a neuter form when translated into Greek as Pneuma. The Vulgate translated Ruah into Latin as masculine, Spiritus. God’s Spirit, Ruah, which at the beginning of creation brings forth abundant life in the waters, makes the womb of Mary fruitful. In spite of the reality of the caring, consoling, healing aspects of divine activity, the dominant patriarchal tradition has prevailed, resulting in seeing the female as the passive recipient of God’s creation; and the female is expressed in nature, church, soul, and finally Mary as the prototype of redeemed humanity. Because God as father has become an over literalized metaphor, the symbol of God as mother is eclipsed. The problem lies not in the fact that male metaphors are used for God, but that they are used exclusively and literally. Because images of God as female have been suppressed in official formulations and teaching, they came to be embodied in the figure of Mary who functioned to reveal the unfailing love of God.

Visit our Hebrew Goddess page for more information on Asherah, Shekinah, and Sophia, goddesses once worshipped by the Children of Israel as the wife of their Creator-god, Yahweh.


God-The-Father Has A Wife

The Lord's Prayer, often called the "Our Father," only addresses the masculine side of Divinity. It is a prayer to Yahweh, the Jewish and Christian Father-God. But what many have forgotten, or refuse to admit, is that Yahweh had a wife.

Asherah, the Shekinah, was originally worshipped right alongside her lover/husband Yahweh, or El, as He is also called in ancient writings. You've probably noticed His name in names like Mi-cha-EL, Gab-ri-EL, Rach-EL, which mean respectively, "Who is like God?", "Power of God," and "Fair One of God."

In Genesis, God the Father turns to some companion, we are never told whom, and says, "Let us make man after our own image." Jewish mystics and scholars of the Kabbalah have pointed out the obvious: Yahweh is talking to His wife.

Even more intriguing: many researchers say it is She that is speaking to Him. The Hebrew word used for "God" in Genesis is Elohim, the plural of Eloah, a feminine title for the Goddess. Eloah (sometimes spelled Elat) is the female "half" of El. This Hebrew Goddess in Genesis is Asherah, the Shekinah, the Lady, speaking with Her mate.

They agree to create, and so here we are. Perhaps a little sex magic is used in their grand creation project, who knows? It would be logical for the Divine to have intimate physical relations, since they made us such wonderfully sexual beings. We should never feel ashamed of, nor try to suppress, our sexual natures.

When two people, committed to each other and to Goddess & God, join in sexual communion they are actually performing an honoring, a ceremony of worship toward the Divine Couple. They are the great original Masculine and Feminine. They wish to channel into, and through men and women of their creation. You and your partner might try channeling the Lady and Lord the next time you are intimate.

Many ancient religions, including the Greeks, believed that heaven is a male God who "covers" the feminine earth, Gaia in an intimate embrace. The earth, thus regularly impregnated, bears fruit.

Great symbolism, there. It's sexual again-----but we can handle it!


Litany to the Christian Goddesses of Love
by Rev. Mark Raines for Valentines' Day, 2002
Give glory to our Father in Heaven;
And give glory to our Mother, Primordial Waters.
Give honor to our Brother, Lord of Fire;
And give honor to our Sister, Spirit of Earth.

Come Holy Spirit, Pneuma, Ruach, Breath of Deity -
Bring us the love we deserve and desire!

Holy Mary, grant us love.
Bride of Yahweh, grant us love.
Isis Incarnate, grant us love.
Temple Virgin, grant us love.
Betrothed to Joseph, grant us love.
Jewel of David, grant us love.
God's Desire, grant us love.

Holy Magdalene, fulfill our desires.
Bride of Yeshua, fulfill our desires.
Inanna Incarnate, fulfill our desires.
Queen of Hearts, fulfill our desires.
Lover of the Faithful, fulfill our desires.
Song of Solomon, fulfill our desires.
Love's Light, fulfill our desires.

Holy Shekinah, bring us together.
Bride of El, bring us together.
One with Asherah, bring us together.
Queen of Tsion, bring us together.
Israel as Bride, bring us together.
Lover of Prophets, bring us together.
Affectionate Hope, bring us together.

Thanks be to our Divine Creators,
And to their Children who were sent to the world -
May we share in their divine mission of love.
Edgar Allan Poe wrote of his relationship with
the Christian Goddess in 19th Century
Baltimore, Mary-land.

At morn, at noon, at twilight dim
Lady thou hast heard my hymn:
In joy and woe, in good and ill,
Goddess, Mother, be with me still.

When the hours flew brightly by
And not a cloud obscured the sky,
My soul lest it should truant be,
Thy grace did guide to thine and thee.

Now, when storms of fate o'ercast
Darken my present and my past,
Let my future radiant shine
With sweet hope of thee and thine.

Hail Mary
by Darlene Kenney

Hail Mary, full of grace
The dust of whose feet are the hosts of heaven,
You are the white moon among the stars
And the desire of human hearts.
You are the mystery that if that which I seek
I find not within, I will never find it without.
For You were here at the beginning
And You are that which is attained at the end of
desire.

Read more prayers to Mary
Sign up for our Order of the Blessed Mother
and make a positive step
toward restoring Her
to Her rightful place in religion
and the hearts of men and women.

northernway.org/goddess.html

[theoccultchrist]

Old Testament Deities:
Sophia, Goddess of Wisdom
El
Yah
Yahweh
Elohim
Shekinah
Asherah
New Testament Deities:

Mary Magdalene
Mary Theotokos
(Mother Mary, AKA Virgin Mary)
Yeshua the Anointed
Abba (God the Father)
Eema (God the Mother)
Paraclete
(Male Holy Spirit, "Comforter")
Pneuma (Female Holy Spirit)

Bad Gods in the Bible:

Melek, Moloch
Shaitan
Dagon

Ancient Deities of Sumer and Canaan,
merged with Judeo-Christian:
Ba'al
El
Ancient Deities of Egypt merged with Christian:

Isis
Osiris
Horus
Set
Ancient Deities of Europe influencing European Christians:

Tyr, Tiwaz, Zio, Tuisto
Uni, Etruscan goddess (word universal comes from her name)
Zisa, (proto-germanic word for Isis)
Baldur (christlike, died impending return at "End of World")
Odin, Woden
Nerthus: Earth-Mother, Mother-Nature
Ancient Deities of India influencing Christian:

Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva (Trinity of Gods)
Krishna, incarnation of Sustaining Father Vishnu,
a Son of God, similar to Yeshua
Buddha's mother & Mary

Other Gods & Goddesses of the World:
Buddha
Tara, the Female Buddha
Kuan Yin

northernway.org/gods.html

[theoccultchrist]

Christo-Pagan Prayer Book

Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker
St. Patrick's Lorica Celtic Protection Prayer Prayer-spell Against Powers of Darkness

Be God with Me (Celtic)

Be the eye of God betwixt me and each eye,
The purpose of God betwixt me and each purpose,
The hand of God betwixt me and each hand,
The shield of God betwixt me and each shield,
The desire of God betwixt me and each desire,
The bridle of God betwixt me and each bridle,
And no mouth can curse me.

The Lord's Prayer
(from the New Zealand Prayer Book)

Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven:
The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and for ever. Amen

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Christo-Celtic Spell-Prayer
Against the Powers of Darkness
attributed to St. Patrick
On Terra (earth) in this fateful hour
I place all Heaven with its power
the sun with its brightness
the snow with its whiteness
the fire with all the strength it hath
the lightning with its rapid wrath
the winds with their swiftness along their path
the sea with its deepness
the rocks with their steepness
the earth with it starkness
all these I place
With God's almighty help and grace
between myself and the powers of darkness.

Amen.


A Celtic Prayer for Protection
a Christo-Druid prayer
(notice the title Krist of the Trees, clearly a druidic theme)
Thou Michael of militance,
Thou Michael of wounding,
Shield me from the grudge of ill-wishers this night,
Ill-wishers this night.

Thou Brigit of the kine,
Thou Brigit of the mantles,
Shield me from the ban of the fairies of the knolls,
The fairies of the knolls.

Thou Mary of mildness
Thou Mary of honor,
Succour me and shield me
With thy linen mantle,
With thy linen mantle.

Thou Krist of the trees,
Thou Krist of the cross,
Snatch me from the snares of the
Spiteful ones of evil,
The spiteful ones of evil.

Thou Father of the waifs,
Thou Father of the naked,
Draw me to the shelter-house
Of the Savior of the poor,
The Savior of the poor.



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St. Patrick's Lorica
A Christian Warding Spell from Middle Ages Ireland
(Also called the "Deer's Cry" or the Breastplate of St. Patrick)

The Gaelic prayer-poem, “St. Patrick’s Lorica,” or breast­plate, later came to be known as the Breastplate of St. Patrick. It is a powerful Christian warding spell, not merely a "poem" or prayer. A “lorica” was a magikal garment that was supposed to protect the wearer from danger and illness, and guarantee entry into heaven. Scroll way down, or click here to read the original English translation. And here to find why it's also called the Deer's Cry.

Here follows a short adapted version of the Lorica, by Initiate Saules Meita

For Invoking Mary Magdala:
She who shows the Way
Magdala as the shadow,
Reflecting the totality of dark and light, guide me!
Magdala as a shield, o'ershadow and cover me!
Magdala be under me! Magdala be over me!
Lady be beside me, On the left hand and right!
Goddess, be before me, behind me, about me;
This day, be thou within and without me!
For Invoking Yeshua the Krist...
LogosKrist as a light,
Illumine and guide me!
Krist as a shield, o'ershadow and cover me!
Yeshua be under me! Yeshua be over me!
Lord, be beside me, On the left hand and right!
God be before me, behind me, about me;
This day, be thou within and without me!


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The lyrics of the church hymn are based on a translation of the Gaelic poem, “St. Patrick’s Lorica,” or breast­plate. Cecil F. (Fanny) Alexander penned the following words in 1889 at the re­quest of H. H. Dickinson, Dean of the Chapel Royal at Dublin Castle. He was surprised that it only took her one week. To hear the music that goes with this old hymn, go to: www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/s/t/stpatric.htm

I bind unto myself today
The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same
The Three in One and One in Three.

I bind this today to me forever
By power of faith, Christ’s incarnation;
His baptism in Jordan river,
His death on Cross for my salvation;
His bursting from the spicèd tomb,
His riding up the heavenly way,
His coming at the day of doom
I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself the power
Of the great love of cherubim;
The sweet ‘Well done’ in judgment hour,
The service of the seraphim,
Confessors’ faith, Apostles’ word,
The Patriarchs’ prayers, the prophets’ scrolls,
All good deeds done unto the Lord
And purity of virgin souls.

I bind unto myself today
The virtues of the star lit heaven,
The glorious sun’s life giving ray,
The whiteness of the moon at even,
The flashing of the lightning free,
The whirling wind’s tempestuous shocks,
The stable earth, the deep salt sea
Around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today
The power of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, His might to stay,
His ear to hearken to my need.
The wisdom of my God to teach,
His hand to guide, His shield to ward;
The word of God to give me speech,
His heavenly host to be my guard.

Against the demon snares of sin,
The vice that gives temptation force,
The natural lusts that war within,
The hostile men that mar my course;
Or few or many, far or nigh,
In every place and in all hours,
Against their fierce hostility
I bind to me these holy powers.

Against all Satan’s spells and wiles,
Against false words of heresy,
Against the knowledge that defiles,
Against the heart’s idolatry,
Against the wizard’s evil craft,
Against the death wound and the burning,
The choking wave, the poisoned shaft,
Protect me, Christ, till Thy returning.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name,
The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three.
By Whom all nature hath creation,
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
Praise to the Lord of my salvation,
Salvation is of Christ the Lord.

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The Breastplate of St. Patrick (in its original form)

I arise today through a mighty strength, the invocation of the
Trinity, through belief in the Threeness, through confession
of the Oneness of the Creator of creation.

I arise today through the strength of Christ with His Baptism,
through the strength of His Crucifixion with His Burial
through the strength of His Resurrection with His Ascension,
through the strength of His descent for the Judgment of Doom.

I arise today through the strength of the love of Cherubim
in obedience of Angels, in the service of the Archangels,
in hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
in prayers of Patriarchs, in predictions of Prophets,
in preachings of Apostles, in faiths of Confessors,
in innocence of Holy Virgins, in deeds of righteous men.

I arise today, through the strength of Heaven:
light of Sun, brilliance of Moon, splendour of Fire,
speed of Lightning, swiftness of Wind, depth of Sea,
stability of Earth, firmness of Rock.

I arise today, through God's strength to pilot me:
God's might to uphold me, God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look before me, God's ear to hear me,
God's word to speak for me, God's hand to guard me,
God's way to lie before me, God's shield to protect me,
God's host to secure me:
against snares of devils, against temptations of vices,
against inclinations of nature, against everyone who
shall wish me ill, afar and anear, alone and in a crowd.

I summon today all these powers between me (and these evils):
against every cruel and merciless power that may oppose my body and my soul,
against incantations of false prophets,
against black laws of heathenry,
against false laws of heretics, against craft of idolatry,
against spells of women [any witch] and smiths and wizards,
against every knowledge that endangers man's body and soul.
Christ to protect me today
against poison, against burning, against drowning,
against wounding, so that there may come abundance of reward.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right,
Christ on my left, Christ in breadth, Christ in length,
Christ in height, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.

I arise today through a mighty strength, the invocation of the
Trinity, through belief in the Threeness, through confession of the
Oneness of the Creator of creation.
Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord.
Salvation is of Christ. May Thy Salvation, O Lord, be ever with us.

Here's why St. Patrick's Lorica is also called the Deer's Cry:
St. Patrick composed this hymn in the time of Loegaire son of Niall. The cause of its composition, however, was to protect St. Patrick and his monks against deadly enemies that lay in wait for the clerics. This is a breast-plate of faith for the protection of body and soul against devils and men and vices. When anyone shall repeat it every day with diligent intentness on God, devils shall not dare to face him; it shall be a protection to him against every poison and envy; it shall be a defense to him against sudden death; it shall be a breast-plate to his soul after his death. St. Patrick sang this hymn when ambushes were laid against his coming by Loegaire, that he might not go to Tara to sow the Faith. Those who were lying in ambush saw wild deer (St. Patrick and the monks), with a fawn (St. Benen) following them carrying the books, and let them pass. St. Patrick arrived at Tara; his Easter fire was the first spring light, conquering darkness forever. (from the Celtic Missal at celticchristianity.org/stowe.html)

northernway.org/cpprayers.html

[theoccultchrist]

Esoteric Saints Early Church &
Middle Ages Saints
Jacques de Molay
Simon Magus
Apollonius Tyanaeus
Hypatia
Bernard of Clairveaux
Dagobert
Hermes Trismegistus

New Testament Saints
James, brother of Yeshua
(Gal 1:19)
Joanna (Luke 8:3 & 24:10)
Salome (Mark 15:40 & 16:1)
Susanna (Luke 8:3)
Junia, female Apostle
(Rom 16:7)
Andronicus, forgotten Apostle
(Rom 16:7)
Prisca ("Priscilla," Rom 16:3,
2 Tim 4:19, Acts 18:26)
Phoebe, Diakonissa
(Romans 16)

Old Testament Saints
Miriyam (sister of Moses)
Dinah (Gen 34:1)
Mother of the 13th Tribe of Israel
Tamar (Gen 38:6)
Forgotten Women of the OT

Jacques de Molay 1244 to 1314. Last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, Saint and Martyr of Esoteric Christianity. Martyred on March 18th, 1314 for refusing to lie by publicly "confessing" the Knights Templar had committed heresy. He went "down in a blaze of glory" for his beliefs and the honor of his Order. Esoteric Christians and Christo-Pagans remember and revere him to this day. Click on the link above to read about more Saints of our Esoteric Christian church. Here are his legendary last words, as reported by Templar historian, Charles Addison. "To say that which is untrue is a crime both in the sight of God and man. Not one of us has betrayed his God or his country. I do confess my guilt, which consists in having, to my shame and dishonor, suffered myself, through the pain of torture and the fear of death, to give utterance to falsehoods imputing scandalous sins and iniquities to an illustrious Order, which hath nobly served the cause of Christianity. I disdain to seek a wretched and disgraceful existence by engrafting another lie upon the original falsehood." Unbeknownst to the world, the Pope had pardoned him as a newly re-discovered document in the Vatican archives now proves. Full article available at this link: London Times OnLine but here is the text.
Were the Templars Pardoned?
Excerpts taken from an article in The Times dated Saturday 30th March 2002, by Richard Owen in Rome

Another document is found after being 'lost' for almost 700 years.

Vatican documents have 'come to light' showing that the wholesale massacre of the Knights Templar for alleged 'heresy, idolatry and sexual perversion', took place even though Pope Clement V had exonerated them in a secret trial. Was this to shift the blame from the Vatican to the court of Phillip IV of France ?

'The relevation will put pressure on the present Pope, who has asked the Muslim world for forgiveness for the Crusades, to apologise for the persecution of one of the main Crusading Orders as well. The Templars, whose legendary power and wealth still exerts a fascination, were disbanded by Pope Clement V at the Council of Vienne in France in 1312.

L'Avvenire, the Catholic daily, said that the record of the Pope's investigation was thought to have been lost when Napoleon looted the Vatican during his invasion of Italy in the 18th century, and that its rediscovery was an exceptional event.

The Templar Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, was burnt at the stake on the orders of Phillip IV of France, who coveted the Templar order's land and treasure and began a campaign of dawn arrests and torture in 1307. At least 2,000 Knights were killed in an attempt to obliterate the order altogether. To this end he failed, as the Knights treasure and their large fleet that lay in the harbour, disappeared before the arrests commenced.

'The concensus among historians was that Clement V, who was himself French and former Archbishop of Bordeaux, had been pliant and weak, and had colluded in Phillip IV's scheme to wipe out the Templars and seize their fortune. But documents found in the Vatican archives, including a long-lost parchment, proved that the Pope had in fact maneouvred 'with skill and determination' to ensure that his own emissaries questioned de Molay and other leading Templars in the dungeons of Chinon castle in the Loire in 1308, in what amounted to a papal trial.

Signor Frale, who is writing a book based on the Chinon parchment, says that the result was the complete exoneration of the Knights.

Noting that de Molay and the Knights had asked his pardon, the Pope wrote "We hereby decree that they are absolved by the church and may again receive Christian sacraments". The Pope had failed to make this absolution public because the scandal of the Templars had aroused extreme passions and he feared a church schism. Phillip IV had de Molay and other Templar leaders put to death before the Pope's verdict could be published and it was subsequently lost.'



Top Simon Magus, flourished c. 35 AD

A Gnostic mage with a large following including many of the disciples of John the Baptist.

Blavatsky wrote of Simon Magus describing his abilities and stating that he lived in the 2nd Century AD rather than the time of Yeshua, and was so famous that the Romans erected a statue of him.

Simon Magus was another prominent miracle-worker of the second century, and no one denied his power. Even Christians were forced to admit that he performed miracles. Allusion is made to him in the Acts of the Apostles, viii: 9-10. His fame was world-wide, his followers in every nation, and in Rome a statue was erected in his honor. He had frequent contests with Peter, what we in this day would call miracle-matches in order to determine which had the greater power. It is stated in 'The Acts of Peter and Paul' that Simon made a brazen serpent to move, stone statues to laugh, and himself to rise in the air; to which is added: 'as a set-off to this, Peter healed the sick by a word, caused the blind to see, &c.' Simon, being brought before Nero, changed his form: suddenly he became a child, then an old man; at other times a young man. 'And Nero, beholding this, supposed him to be the Son of God.' "In 'Recognitions,' a Petrine work of the early ages, an account is given of a public discussion between Peter and Simon Magus.
The booklet above is called, Simon Magus : An Essay on the Founder of Simonianism Based on the Ancient Sources With a Re-Evaluation of His Philosophy and Teachings by G. R. S. Mead



Many of the Baptist's disciples joined Yeshua's school, but many more stayed with Simon Magus as their leader because Yeshua couldn't take them all. There is no evidence that Yeshua and Simon ever "fought" over students, and they were probably friends. Simon was later accused of sorcery and heresy by the Church and some rather fantastic tales were made up about him. He is mentioned in Acts Chapter 8. Supposedly he was baptized and even traveled with Philip for a time. The practice of Simony was named after him because he supposedly asked to "buy" the magical tricks of the Apostle Peter and John. One account of the time, however, says it was Paul who tried to buy these "powers" from Yeshua's direct disciples, not Simon. When the Paulists later reconciled with the rest of the early Christians---when indeed, Paulanity became the central teaching of christianity---Simon Magus' name was inserted in the story in place of Paul's. This makes sense because Simon would not have asked for another baptism by one of Yeshua's disciples when he himself had already been baptized by none other than John the Baptist. Paul never met Yeshua and had to overcome his bad name as a killer of christians and somehow bring legitimacy to the form of christianity he was espousing (inventing?). Paul wanted to be called an Apostle, but the word was reserved for only those who had studied under Yeshua, or at least met him in person. One wonders if the story of his "meeting" Yeshua on the road to Damascus was made up by him to satisfy this requirement. At any rate, many of the early christians sure thought Paul was a fraud, they were called anti-Paulists, and it was a long time before they were wiped out and the church had to find a fall guy for the story in Acts. Simon Magus ticked off certain church "fathers" because his Simonianism was big competition for their new version of christianity, a patriarchal state run church. The Roman's had loved Simon, even erected a statue of him, but the church "fathers" (more like hijackers) hated anything gnostic and wanted to label anything that was not their idea as heresy.

So Simon got a bad name and new stories were made up about him such as he fell to his death during a flying bout during a battle of the sorcerers between St. Peter and Simon.

To this day fundamentalist christians call Simon the "perfect example of a Satanic believer." Poor Simon got seriously bad press, but it was all after his death, so hopefully he didn't mind. It is unclear how he died and there are even theories that two or three Simon Maguses existed, thus the stories of him living in 200 AD as well as at the time of the Apostles.

Here is a good link for more about him: Biographical sketch of Simon Magus

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Apollonius Tyanaeus, born 4 BC
Also called Apollonius of Tyana or simply Apollon. This pagan philosopher who lived at the same time as Yeshua, was of noble blood. He studied under a Pythagorean philosopher in Tarsus, oddly enough the birthplace of Paul - though the two are like night and day. Sickened by materialism and pleasure-seeking of his society, he became a cave-dwelling hermit for awhile. Then he went on to a mission of learning, healing, and teaching throughout the world - in Asia Minor, Assyria, Babylonia, Greece, Italy, Spain, Egypt, and India. He had Jain (then called "Gymnosophists") and possibly Buddhist influences, and was later initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries. After his death, legends of his miracle-working, prophesying, and charismatic spiritual teachings were recorded. His detailed life story, including some uncanny similarities to Yeshua's life, was compiled by Flavius Philostratus (lived 170 to 250 AD) at the command of Emperor Severus.

Blavatsky writes of him:

Apollonius Tyaneus was the most remarkable character of that period, and witnessed the reign of a dozen Roman emperors. Before his birth, Proteus, an Egyptian god, appeared to his mother and announced that he was to be incarnated in the coming child. Following the directions given her in a dream, she went to a meadow to gather flowers. While there, a flock of swans formed a chorus around her, and, clapping their wings, sung in unison. While they were thus engaged, and the air was being fanned by a gentle zephyr, Apollonius was born."
This is a legend which in days of old made of every remarkable character a "son of God" miraculously born of a virgin. And what follows is history. "In his youth he was a marvel of mental power and personal beauty, and found his greatest happiness in conversations with the disciples of Plato, Chrysippus and Aristotle. He ate nothing that had life, lived on fruits and the products of the earth; was an enthusiastic admirer and follower of Pythagoras, and as such maintained silence for five years. Wherever he went he reformed religious worship and performed wonderful acts. At feasts he astonished the guests by causing bread, fruits, vegetables and various dainties to appear at his bidding. Statues became animated with life, and bronze figures ' from their pedestals, took the position and performed the labors of servants. By the exercise of the same power dematerializaton occurred; gold and silver vessels, with their contents, disappeared; even the attendants vanished in an instant from sight.

"At Rome, Apollonius was accused of treason. Brought to examination, the accuser came forward, unfolded his roll on which the accusation had been written, and was astounded to find it a perfect blank.

"Meeting a funeral procession he said to the attendants, 'Set down the bier, and I will dry up the tears you are shedding for the maid.' He touched the young woman, uttered a few words, and the dead came to life. Being at Smyrna, a plague raged at Ephesus, and he was called thither. 'The journey must not be delayed,' he said, and had no sooner spoken the words than he was at Ephesus.

"When nearly one hundred years old, he was brought before the Emperor at Rome, accused of being an enchanter. He was taken to prison. While there he was asked when he would be at liberty? 'To-morrow, if it depends on the judge; this instant, if it depends on myself.' Saying this, he drew his leg out of the fetters, and said, 'You see the liberty I enjoy.' He then replaced it in the fetters.

"At the tribunal he was asked: 'Why do men call you a god?'

" 'Because,' said he, 'every man that is good is entitled to the appellation .'

" 'How could you foretell the plague at Ephesus?'

"He replied: 'By living on a lighter diet than other men.'

"His answers to these and other questions by his accusers exhibited such strength that the Emperor was much affected, and declared him acquitted of crime; but said he should detain him in order to hold a private conversation. He replied: 'You can detain my body, but not my soul; and, I will add, not even my body. Having uttered these words he vanished from the tribunal, and that same day met his friends at Puteoli, three days' journey from Rome.

"The writings of Apollonius show him to have been a man of learning, with a consummate knowledge of human nature, imbued with noble sentiments and the principles of a profound philosophy. In an epistle to Valerius he says:

"'There is no death of anything except in appearance; and so, also, there is no birth of anything except in appearance. That which passes over from essence into nature seems to be birth, and that which passes over from nature into essence seems, in like manner, to be death; though nothing really is originated, and nothing ever perishes; but only now comes into sight, and now vanishes. It appears by reason of the density of matter, and disappears by reason of the tenuity of essence; but is always the same, differing only in motion and condition.'

"The highest tribute paid to Apollonius was by the Emperor Titus. The philosopher having written to him, soon after his accession, counselling moderation in his government, Titus replied:

" 'In my own name and in the name of my country I give you thanks, and will be mindful of those things. I have, indeed, taken Jerusalem, but you have captured me.'

"The wonderful things done by Apollonius, thought to be miraculous, the source and producing cause of which Modern Spiritualism clearly reveals, were extensively believed in, in the second century, and hundreds of years subsequent; and by Christians as well as others.

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Hypatia of Alexandria
Born: about 370 in Alexandria, Egypt
Died: March 10, 415 A.D. in Alexandria, Egypt
"...she was not only intellectual but also beautiful, eloquent, and modest."

Murdered for her brains and beauty. Certain christian monks felt threatened by her and what she represented--the pagan wisdom of the ages as housed in the Library of Alexandria. She was head of the Platonic Academy in Alexandria. March 10 is her feast day in Greece.

"... by her eloquence and authority ... attained such influence that Christianity considered itself threatened ... "

Read about her life, work, books and philosophy at: Hypatia of Alexandria Biography

A bunch of Hypatia books and links.



Following is an Excerpt from Hypatia
Hypatia was a mathematician, astronomer, and Platonic philosopher. According to the Byzantine encyclopedia The Suda, her father Theon was the last head of the Museum at Alexandria. [And she is said to have been the librarian of the Great Library of Alexandria.]

Hypatia's prominence was accentuated by the fact that she was both female and pagan in an increasingly Christian environment. Shortly before her death, Cyril was made the Christian bishop of Alexandria, and a conflict arose between Cyril and the prefect Orestes. Orestes was disliked by some Christians and was a friend of Hypatia, and rumors started that Hypatia was to blame for the conflict. In the spring of 415 C.E., the situation reached a tragic conclusion when a band of Christian monks seized Hypatia on the street, beat her, then burned her remains.

"Whatever the precise motivation for the murder, the departure soon afterward of many scholars marked the beginning of the decline of Alexandria as a major centre of ancient learning."

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Bernard of Clairveaux

Bernard of Clairveaux was born in 1090 in Fontaines, France, near Dijon. While still young, he was sent to school at Chatillon-sur-Seine, where he developed a taste for literature and poetry, and a devotion for Mary the Blessed Mother. In 1113, he and about 30 of his closest buddies and relatives entered the Cistercian Abbey at Citeaux (currently under the leadership of St. Stephen). Three years later they were sent out to found their own daughter house, in a valley which Bernard named Clairveaux, which in tern spawned several daughter houses within a few years. In 1120, he wrote his first works, " De Gradibus Superbiae et Humilitatis" and "De Laudibus Mariae".

However, among Esoteric Christians, Bernard is best known for his work at the Council of Troyes (1128), wherein Bernard proved to be a major supporter of the Knights Templars, for whom he gave an altered version of the Cistercian rule and presented them with the red cross on white which became their hallmark. Bernard then went on to publicly praise the order in "De Laudibus Novae Militiae".

Bernard grew to become the one of the most powerful men in Christendom, even seen as more powerful than the Popes he served, as he was seen to have put the Popes on the Throne of Peter himself. However, throughout his career, he never lost his initial devotion to the Blessed Mother, and his theological works never lost their shimmer. Esoteric Christians may be interested by his sermons on the Song of Songs, and his On Loving God.

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Hermes Trismegistus has a unique name meaning "Thrice Great Hermes." A true esoteric Christo-Pagan saint, he even has his own feast day, May 24. The Greek word on the cloud in the picture at right says God or Theos. During the Renaissance he was known as the "Gentile Moses," because his wisdom writings rivalled the books of Moses but were "pagan". His teachings are a blend of Egyptian, Gnostic and Greek paganism combined with early primitive Kristianity. He is the father of the Hermetic Tradition and Hermeticism because of his body of writings which are called "body of Hermes" or corpus hermeticum. You've heard of the body of Christ, well check out the body of Hermes. Groups like the famous Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn helped bring his work into modern mystery schools. His earthly name is unknown because it was the custom to sign written works with the godname who inspired them. Therefore he is associated with Hermes (Greek), Mercury (Latin) and Thoth (Egyptian) referred to as the "triple god," who were all three messenger-gods or message writers (scribes) of the Gods. Read the thirteen lines of his most famous work, the Emerald Tablet. Many a mage has been assigned the task of memorizing it. The famous line "as above, so below" comes from the Emerald Tablet and is said to pre-date Christianity. Thrice-great Hermes is often pictured holding a book with that line either illustrated with symbols (as pictured left), or written out in Latin, the language of the Renaissance. Check out the hermetic related works and source materials at the Hermetic Fellowship website.



northernway.org/saints.html

[Senbecc]

These are all very interesting posts Paul, but don't you feel they would be a little easier to respond to if you kept them a little shorter? Maybe put the information into your own words? By doing so you learn more, and it keeps the information down to a manageable level that others can easily walk away from having learned something.

I'm not giving you a hard time or anything, your free to post anything you'd like...Just giving you some advice.