One Pagan’s Perspective of: Yuletide, Xmas, Christmas & the Winter Solstice
Well then, we did it again and survived yet another
year. So much for the doom and gloom brigade that glibly ‘wrote off’ humanity throughout this year. If you are reading this
in late 2012 or early 2013 then my prediction came true. I previously said:
“No
folks, one thing I can predict with 100% certainty is that 2012 will come and
go.”
Nostradamus, the Mayan Calendar or Revelations - is doom around
the corner?
Yuletide/Midwinter Solstice is a critical element of
our indigenous, Pagan spiritual heritage. It resides so deep within us that we
cannot possibly resist it. Charles Dickens inadvertently marked it exceedingly
well in his classic novella, A Christmas Carol, which oddly
enough was published on the ‘same’ day in mid-December that I find myself
writing this particular piece, but way back in 1843. Possibly Charles’s
inquisitive spirit is influencing my actions today – who knows?
The Solstice itself, this semi-autonomous,
celebratory thought form, conjoins us with the phenomenal seasonal energies of
this planet of which we are all an integral part. We should always celebrate
and enjoy it to the full! Nevertheless, we need to fully understand how this
part of our psyche has been manipulated, via historically-indoctrinated
prejudice, if we are ever to achieve true spiritual liberation.
Are we in a
modern, pluralistic 21st Century society sincerely thinking for
ourselves or just being spoon -fed religious propaganda decade after decade?
Moreover, is the widely-accepted Jesus Myth the real ‘Reason
for the Season’ - or just more fundamentalist misinformation? Let’s
delve a little deeper into the heart of the matter…
Christmas
Traditions: What You Need To Know About Them!
The present-day Christian feast day of Christmas (Christ’s
Mass) originates from the immense storehouse of our ancient Pagan past. The
specific date of the assumed Jesus Christ's birthday is unidentified. Even the
gospels fail to identify the exact time of this mythological figure’s
origination. In fact the Church only set up the administrative date of Christ's
birth in AD 273. The early Church, enthusiastic to win new converts from the
natural old earth-orientated faiths, saw a colossal theocratical benefit to be
gained by adopting this native midwinter festival. This astute spiritual
stratagem was applied with equal vigour to all our indigenous Pagan feast days.
So, it’s worth remembering that Christians celebrate Christmas on
the 25th of December as the birth of their saviour. However, the
date of such an alleged event is not actually know or recorded and has only
been estimated throughout the centuries. Even the numerous versions of the Bible
do not record the supposed birth date. Moreover, the historical authenticity of
a man called Jesus, who fits the bill of being a man-god, is seriously doubted
by many. As with everything else in the Bible, the only thing we can be assured
of is Christian fundamentalist propaganda, sectarian deception, and centuries
of repressive religious and political mind control. Just because millions have
fallen for the charisma of this manmade book does not make anything within its
pages accurate, truthful, or in the slightest bit dependable.
The entire Christian year is surreptitiously grafted
onto a much older Pagan agricultural calendar, which links closely with the
solar orb/seasonal cycles. Thousands of years before the Christian cult was
first instigated, our Pagan forefathers were celebrating the joyful feast of
the Midwinter Solstice. Everywhere people honoured the birth of the 'Sun God' under his abundant titles and
epithets.
Midwinter marked the critical phase when the sun was
at its lowest point in the sky. This truth was recognised and vitalised on a
spiritual level by the ancients as the time of 'New birth.' From now onward the days would grow lighter as the
solar power of the great ‘Life giver’
increased.
Christianity simply took the name 'Sun' and converted it into 'Son' so as to give the new fanatical devotion
from the East a more satisfactory countenance for our Pagan ancestors. This
clever manoeuvre ensured that the aboriginal peoples would still maintain their
old celebration dates, whilst jettisoning their original rich native mysticism
for the new man-made monotheistic dogma.
The Origin of most Xmas Customs - the Roman Saturnalia
Most Christmas folklore traditions and customs are evidently
based on the old Roman feast of the 'Saturnalia,' which was enjoyed for seven days
(although times varied), toward the end of December. During the celebration of
the god Saturn all schools, courts, businesses etc would remain closed. Slaves
and masters would reverse roles with masters serving their subordinates at
table etc. By the way, this custom still remains within our native
consciousness even today. The charity/giving characteristic of the Solstice are
widespread to almost everyone. Most comically, the aspect of charity is
regularly associated with the Christian faith yet its origins are transparently
Pagan.
Army officers still serve their subordinates at Xmas
dinner; employers worldwide still give large parties for their workers and folk
exchange loving presents. A small cap known as a 'Pileus' was the Roman sign of
a freeman. During the Saturnalia slaves
were allowed to wear this head covering at the banquet. This is a fact worth
remembering when people next enter into the party spirit and put on childish
hats at their Xmas banquet.
The word ‘Yule’ stems from the old Viking word 'Iul'
meaning Wheel - Yule being the lowest ebb in the sun's travel through the wheel
of the year.
A few Well – Loved Traditions of Yule …..
The Yule log was traditionally cut from
an oak-tree. This wood was sacred to the Thunder God Thor, who is also known as
'Thunor. This deity gives his name to Thursday (Thor’s-day). The Yule log,
after being licked by fire, was believed to protect a dwelling from lightening
strike.
Mistletoe
was seen as an all-healing plant and sacred to the Norse deity Balder. This
plant was used by druidic priests and native healers to promote fertility. It
is still used today in a magical sense, i.e. the tradition of kissing under the
mistletoe!
Holly is of course a
customary part of Yuletide and like the mistletoe it has long-established
connections. It is sacred to Saturn, God of the Dying Year and was hung outside
houses by the Romans to avert psychic attack, lightening and perceived evils of
any kind.
Ivy is an evergreen climbing
plant symbolising immortality. It has been perceived as a representation of
eternal life in numerous Pagan faith systems including Druidism, the spiritual
ethos of the Celtic peoples.
Today's Father Christmas/Santa image is
based upon the Holly-King figure of Odin, the Norse Father - God who rode
through the night's sky not on a reindeer but a fast white charger. The aspect
of his red and white costume (and flying through the sky) is possibly linked to
the use of the brightly coloured hallucinogenic mushroom, Fly Agaric by Norse shamans
and warriors before battle.
Xmas
trees originate from ancient rites of the great, Phrygian
Mother Goddess ‘Cybele’. Her worship was brought to Rome in 204BC. A pine tree
was felled and placed within her sacred temple then decorated with lavish
adornments of attractive flowers and coloured wools, etc. I deem that it is
quite probable that the tree custom travelled with the legions into Germanic
localities and amalgamated with native tradition there at some later date. We
should possibly give credit for the tree's contemporary usage in celebration to
Drusus the Elder who embarked upon a military campaign for Roman dominance
against the Germanic and Raetian tribes in 15 BC.
The
‘Born Again’ Sun!
Any seriously unbiased investigation into the
historical side of Christmas traditions clearly reveals that Christianity has
no right whatsoever to claim an exclusive monopoly over the Sun/Resurrection
god situation. The Christian re-born Sun-God Myth is but the latest in a long
line of deity modifications.
So
why did the Church seize original Pagan Midwinter Solstice celebrations and
replace them with Xmas? Why the 25th December?
Let us scrutinise a few hard facts, rather than
continue to propagate the same old fundamentalist misinformation about
midwinter celebrations.
Numerous crucified sun gods have their
customary birthday on December 25th. This is because the ancients
acknowledged that the sun makes a yearly descent southward in anticipation of December
21st or 22nd , the Winter Solstice,
when it stops moving southerly for three days and next starts to move northward
again. During this period our shrewd ancient forbears avowed that God’s
sun had died for three days and was ‘Born again’ on December
25th The ancients realised
that they needed the sun to come back every day and that they would be in enormous
difficulty if the sun continued to move southward and did not stop and repeal
its direction. Consequently, limitless diverse cultures celebrated their ‘Sun
of God’s’ anniversary on December 25th. Fundamentalists within the early Christian Church simply
adopted the heathen, earth-orientated midwinter celebrations to equate with
their newly-fashioned version of the Sun
God, Jesus Christ, known as the Son
of God!
Societies everywhere fell for this clever Church
ruse as they still do to this day!
Sun God mythos – how the Church skilfully manipulated your mindset
The Christian Christmas practice stands as a prime
example of smart, theocratical mind control of the masses.
The following list stands as the outstanding
qualities of the ubiquitous Sun God
mythos, which can be related to contemporary Christian recycling of much older
Pagan mythology.
Consider the following:
·
The sun dies for three days on December 21/22nd,
the Winter Solstice; when it stops its travels southward, to be born again
(resurrected) on December 25th, when it continues its progress
north.
·
In various areas, the calendar
originally began in the constellation of Virgo and the sun would consequently
be perceived as being ‘Born of a virgin.’
·
The sun is of course the ‘Light of the World.’
·
The sun ‘Cometh on clouds and every eye
shall see him.’
·
The sun rising in the morning is the ‘Saviour of mankind.’
·
The sun wears a corona, crown of thorns
or ‘Circle of light’ (halo).
·
The sun is seen to ‘Walk on water.’
·
The sun's follower’s helpers (disciples)
are the 12 months and the 12 signs of the zodiac or constellations, through
which the sun has to pass.
·
The sun at 12 noon is in the
house/temple of the ‘Most High,’
consequently ‘He’ begins ‘his Father's work’ at the age of 12.
·
The sun enters each sign of the zodiac
at 30°; hence, the ‘Sun of God’
begins his ministry at the age of 30.
·
The sun is hung on a cross (crucified)
which represents its passing through the equinoxes, the spring/vernal equinox
being Easter, at which time it is then reborn.
It does not take a mastermind to distinguish the
great similarities with the above when compared to the popular Jesus Myth. The Church fathers simply
used earlier heathen legend/tradition and symbolism to fashion their
innovative, patriarchal doctrine.
Yes
folks – it’s all been done before!
The early Church made light work of selling its
newly-formed Christ god template to the trusting Pagan masses and quite easily
substituted the wholesome solar/agricultural calendar for a new man-made one
based on its theocratical, monotheistic prospectus.
In
view of the above, can ‘You’ see how you have been clandestinely manipulated,
by shrewd fundamentalists of old; into believing an exceptionally clever,
religiously-based falsehood?
There is of course - nothing new under the sun!
The older god forms related to Xmas
Attis, Adonis, Sol, Mithras, these gods and numerous
others were celebrated during seasonal solar cycles long before the ‘Jesus
story’ was ever manufactured by sectarian, monotheistic interest groups with an
axe to ground against the social structure of the day! I wonder ‘Who’ will
contest the Sun God title next. We would do well to recall the old maxim: ‘History repeats itself.’
But what about the term ‘Xmas: is it an abridged adaptation
of the word ‘Christmas’ or something else entirely…? Well
in fact the answer is - No!
December, under the earlier Roman calendar, used to
be, the 10th month of the year: the 1st month (March)
being given to the god Mars. The Roman numeral for 10 is of course ‘X’, thus X-mas rather than being an
abbreviation of a present Christian festival can be seen as being the
Pagan ‘Mass of the 10th month’; a joyful time when the
Saturnalia was celebrated with great merriment.
The genuine ‘Reason for the Season’ has been
carefully concealed by devious fundamentalists with hidden agendas, aimed at
keeping ‘you’ in the darkness of ignorance, over the centuries. And billions of individuals seeking spiritual
deliverance, through the generations, have fallen for this gargantuan religious
deception without as much as a question.
Mr
Scrooge Was Right To Celebrate Madly, Even
Though His Reasoning Was Flawed!
Old Mr Scrooge was absolutely right to give in to
the festive escapism of spiritual deliverance; although his motives were
subconsciously overshadowed by centuries of clever, wide-scale, religious
indoctrination before him.
The ecstasy of a benevolent open heart, mind and
spirit never had to be dependent on any crusty half-truths pumped out at
Ebenezer’s local church hall. No, it was ‘always’ there in the first place -
just waiting to be discovered.
This most recently recycled Christian dogmatisation
of the wholesome Midwinter Solstice celebration is nothing but a man-made
ecclesiastical distortion of a much older organic truth that links humankind to
the planet, the universe and beyond.
The tremendous storehouse of our Pagan
birthright is immeasurable and it is there; waiting like the first snow of
winter, to be freely discovered by all.
I
sincerely wish all genuine seekers a very joyful Yuletide, Midwinter delight,
and Saturnalian blessings.
Pat Regan © 2012
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