Occultic Symbolism (Daniel T. Lewis)

Occultic Symbolism

by Daniel T. Lewis

The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus (clandestine, hidden, secret), referring to "knowledge of the hidden". Thus by definition occult symbolism is that which we see in everyday life, but are unaware of its meaning.

Occultism is the study of occult or hidden wisdom. Christian Theism holds that God has reveled himself in three distinct ways, through his creation, through his written word (the Bible, and through his Son Jesus Christ. From the traditional Christian Theistic worldview the occult involves anything supernatural or paranormal which is not achieved by or through God, and is therefore the work of an opposing and malevolent entity, Satan. Because of the malevolent nature of the occult it is important for all of us, especially Christians, to be aware of the meaning of Occultic symbolism.

The Fall of Satan: The obvious place to begin a discussion of Occultic symbols is with a discussion of the symbols for Satan. An obvious way to understand the symbols for Satan is to understand what the Bible tells us about Satan. Generally, Christian teaching holds that Satan was Lucifer, who rebelled against God. Job 38:4-7 tells us that angels were created before mankind: 4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.

5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?

6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; 7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Two important phrases in verse seven are ―morning stars‖ and ―sons of God‖. The phrase ―morning stars‖ comes from the Hebrew word for ―morning‖ (boqer) and the Hebrew word for ―stars‖ (kowkab). The word is sometimes, as in this verse used as an idiom to refer to rulership of angles. The phrase ―sons of God‖ comes from the Hebrew for ―son‖ (ben) and the Hebrew word used to describe God throughout the Old Testament, (elohiym). The earth and perhaps its foundation were created on day one of the creation week (seen Genesis 1:1-5). The foundation of the earth would have at latest been created on day three when dry land appeared (see Genesis 1:9 – 13). The stars were not created until day four (see Genesis 1:14 through 19), so the morning stars mentioned in Job 38 cannot refer to the actual physical stars, but must be an illusion to angles. Genesis 1:31 tells us that at the end of the creation week God saw everything that he had made, including all angles, and that it all was very good.

Ezekiel 28 relays prophecy against the wicked king of Tyrus, but it goes beyond the mere human king to the wicked power behind the throne. The attributes described in these verses only can fit Satan.

12 Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.

13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.

14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.

16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the

stones of fire.

17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.

18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.

19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.

Another passage about the fall of Satan is given in Isaiah 14 12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! [how] art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, [and] consider thee, [saying, Is] this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; 17 [That] made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; [that] opened not the house of his prisoners?

18 All the kings of the nations, [even] all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house.

19 But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, [and as] the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.

20 Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, [and] slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.

The Morning Stars Mercury and Venus: From these verses one may conclude that Satan is identified with the morning stars. Both Mercury and Venus are both evening and morning stars. That is because they are nearer to the sun than the earth is, so they can never appear very far from the sun in the sky. In other words, when the sun sets in the evening they might be in the west, near the sun as an evening star. Or they could be in the morning sky before sunrise, again, near the sun. But neither Mercury nor Venus can be opposite the sun in the sky, such as rising at sunset. Hence, they are called the evening and morning stars.

Actually, "evening star" or "morning star" nearly always refers to Venus, which is by far the brightest celestial object in the sky after the sun and moon. Mercury is much dimmer and only visible for a few weeks of the year. This then means that Satan is identified with Venus.

Artistic depictions of Venus

The Romans called the goddess principally associated with love, beauty and fertility Venus. Venus‘s attributes largely arose from the Greek goddess Aphrodite. In Roman mythology Venus acts as consort to Vulcan. Vulcan presided as the Roman god of beneficial and hindering fire. Romans considered Venus the ancestor of the legendary founders of Rome. Venus and Aphrodite acted as the goddess of love, lust, and beauty. In Roman mythology Venus became associated with myrtle, the dove, the sparrow, and the swan. Venus was known as Inanna among the Sumerian people, Astarte among the Phoenicians, and Turan among the Etruscan. Venus parallels the Indo-European dawn goddesses such as Ushas or Aurora. The planet Venus is named for the goddess.

When Venus passes behind the sun a superior conjunction occurs. When Venus passes between the earth and the sun an inferior conjunction occurs. In both instances the view of Venus from the earth becomes obstructed. Plotting the Venus' westward elongation from the Sun, over five consecutive synodic periods creates the points of a pentagram (five pointed star). This period is 584 days long. Each period produces a different point of the pentagram. It takes about eight years, five days to completely trace the entire pentagram. The pentagram figure slowly revolves within an oval in a clockwise direction, alternating either one or two points ascendant roughly every 160 years. No observation point on Earth yields a regular pentagram. Moving further north elongates the figure while on the equator the figure is an irregular pentagon.

The Serpent, Snake, and Dragon: The Biblical account about the fall of mankind recorded in Genesis 3 introduces a creature called "the serpent". The Hebrew word rendered "serpent" in Gen. 3:1 is nachash (Strong‘s Number 5175), and means a serpent or a snake (see The Complete Word Study Dictionary by Warren Baker and Eugene Carpenter pg 1798). With different vowel points the word would be (Strong‘s number 5172) the Hebrew verb which means to practice divination or sorcery. Yet another set of vowel pints yields the Hebrew word for brass or copper (Strong‘s Number 5174). During the ninth and tenth centuries AD, the Masoretes, Jewish scholars in Tiberias, Galilee, perfected a system of points or nikkud for vowel notation and added it to the received consonantal text. The vowel points were added to ensure proper interpretation and reading of Hebrew Scripture, and are known as the Masoretic or Tiberian vowel points. This point system was added without altering the spacing of the text. Thus historically and grammatically nachash means serpent or snake.

The Bible makes clear the identity of who or what used the body of this 'beast of the field', not only to speak to Eve, but also to persuade her to disobey almighty God? Jesus once told the Pharisees, "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning . . . he is a liar, and the father of it " (John 8:44).

The best event to fit this description is the fall, which occurred right after mankind was created. The serpent lied to Eve when he said, "Ye shall not surely die", and as this is the first lie recorded in Scripture, the title 'father of it' [it = lies or lying] would seem to be a very apt description of the person doing the lying on this occasion.

Since the serpent's efforts resulted in the penalty of death falling not only on Adam and Eve, but on the whole human race. Jesus' term of 'murderer' therefore certainly applies to whoever tempted Eve. The work of the serpent is thus the enactment of everything that Jesus ascribed to 'the devil' in John 8:44. Furthermore, there is no other event in recorded history that better fulfils this description of the devil than does the account of the temptation by the serpent in Genesis 3. A further tie-up between the serpent of Genesis 3 and Satan, or the devil, is given in Revelation 12:9 and 20:2: "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world.‖ The Hebrew word from which we get Satan "adversary" — primarily to God, secondarily to men; the term "devil" signifies "slanderer" of God to men, and of men to God'.

In the Genesis account the real serpent or snake was the agent in Satan's hand. This is evident from the description of the reptile in Genesis 3:1 and the curse pronounced upon it in Genesis 3:14, ". . . upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy Life." John 13:26–27 recalls that before Judas left the Upper Room to go and betray Jesus that Satan entered into him. In the same manner demons can indwell either human bodies or animal bodies — for

example, Mark 5:1–13 tells of the time Jesus cast out a legion of devils from a man, and they then entered a herd of pigs which ran down a steep place into the sea. We may safely conclude that Satan appropriated and used the body of a specific serpent on this occasion to carry out his subtle purpose of tempting Eve to sin.

It is also clear that the use of euphemisms about the serpent, such as calling him 'the personification of evil', or calling the whole incident "myth" or "theological poetry", will not do. The Bible presents this episode as a historical encounter between Eve and Satan, as real as that between Christ and Satan in the wilderness.

The Goat, Ram, and Pan: The inverted pentagram represents the goat head, or Baphomet. The goat head also signifies the Goat of Mendez. The Goat of Mendez is, of course, the god of the witches. Mendez is another spelling of Mendes, a city of ancient Egypt where fertility worship-Ba'al worship-was practiced. The Ba'al worship at Mendes was particularly sexually perverse. It was Levi who, in the mid-1800s, first drew and published the now-familiar image shown here of Baphomet as a seated, hermaphroditic, winged, goat-headed and goat-footed man with women's breasts, a flame on his forehead and a caduceus at his groin. The hermaphroditic nature of Baphomet is represented in the East by the Ying-Yang symbol (both signifying the union of the male and female as with the hexagram). Baphomet is winged to show him as a fallen angel. The inverting of the pentagram represents Lucifer‘s fall. Goat attributes of Baphomet occur in reference to the Goat of Mendes.

Baphomet and Ying-Yang In Mendez, a ram actually became the object of worship. Thus the symbol originally represents the ram‘s head with horns. Today it can be taken both to represent a ram‘s head or a goat‘s head. Elipas Levi correlated this symbol with the Sigil of Baphomet has its origins in accusations of demonic worship by the medieval Knights Templar. Hebrew letters inscribed at each of the five pints of the pentagram spell the name Leviathan, a sea serpent associated with Satan in the Old Testament. Leviathan is commonly associated with Satan, and the fourth book of the Satanic Bible is named the Book of Leviathan.

The Church of Satan‘s founder Anton Szandor LaVey adopted the Goat of Mendez as the Church of Satan‘s official insignia. Satanist and witches commonly will represent the goat or ram head with a hand signal

Top row from left: Anton LaVey, George W. Bush, Prince William, Kid Rock, Miley Cyrus a.k.a. Hannah Montana Bottom row from left: Amy Grant, Spider Man, and John Lennon all make the sign of Satan

The Greek god Pan shares the goat and human characteristics of the Baphomet. Pan was the Greek god of shepherds and flocks, of mountain wilds, hunting and rustic music.

This perfectly fits the description of Satan in the Bible. Like Venus, Pan is connected to fertility and season of spring.

Pan as depicted in the films Pan's Labyrinth (left and center) and The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (right) Also notice the Dodge Ram logo.

The light bearer Lucifer or Hermes: The flame on the forehead of the Baphomet symbolizes the light bearer (Lucifer or Hermes). The caduceus was the winged staff with two serpents twined around it, carried by Hermes, and thus refers to Baphomet as Hermes. Hermes is the Olympian god of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of thieves and road travelers, of orators and wit, of literature and poets, of athletics, of weights and measures, of invention, of commerce in general, and of the cunning of thieves and liars. Hermes is analogous to the Roman Mercury (the other morning star). According to mythology, Hermes seduced Venus with the help of Zeus. She bore him a son named Hermaphroditos. Pan is also considered to be a son of Hermes. Hermaphroditos was the bisexual offspring of the messenger god Hermes (Mercury) and Aphrodite (Venus), the goddess of love. Thus Hermaphroditos is identified with the Baphomet, Ying-Yang, and the goat of Mendez.

The Ying-Yang shows how the female cycles into the male and the good cycles into the bad. The distinction between good and bad is eliminated. All things act under what is called the Law of the Will, ―Do what Thou Wilt Shall Be the Whole of the Law.‖ ―Thou‖ is the universal governing force, known in the East as Karma. Freedom form the eternal cycling of the Ying-Yang come by being enlightened by the Light Bearer (Lucifer or Hermes). This is the occult meaning of liberty.

Prometheus' Torch: (Starting at the top left) Prometheus is depicted in a painting bringing fire to mankind. The same scene is depicted in a sculpture of Prometheus in front of Rockefeller Center in New York City. The bearing of the Olympic Torch commemorates the theft of fire by Prometheus from Mount Olympus. To this day the Olympic torch is lit in a pagan ceremony at Olympia Greece. The 1996 Atlanta Olympic Logo featured both the torch of Prometheus and the upright and inverted pentagrams. The Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World holds the torch of Prometheus. The Statue of Liberty is the ancient Roman goddess Libertas who was honored during the second Punic War by a temple erected on the Aventine Hill in Rome by the father of Tiberius Gracchus. A statue in her honor was also raised by Clodius on the site of Marcus Tullius Cicero's house after it had been razed. The figure also resembles Sol Invictus, the Roman god of sun. In America the goddess of liberty became personified as Columbia. The goddess of Liberty is seen in the logo for Columbia Pictures movie studios. Columbia is a feminine form derived from Christopher Columbus, one of the first Europeans to explore the Americas after the Vikings. Columbia is the origin of the name for the District of Columbia, the federal district which is coextensive with the federal capital, Washington. The Better Business Bureau and Standard Oil Company both use the torch of Prometheus as a part of their corporate logos. Another version of the torch of Prometheus is in the form of the lamp of knowledge, for Prometheus brought mankind knowledge. The torch symbolically represents this esoteric knowledge as illumination, thus the lamp of knowledge. Bob Jones University uses the lamp of knowledge in its monogram and school crest.

The goddess of Liberty: Frederic Auguste Bertholdi, the sculptor who designed the Statue of Liberty was greatly influenced by the ancient sculptor Phidias who made gigantic statues of the ancient goddesses, particularly Athena, the "goddess of wisdom" and Nemesis (another name for Venus), a goddess who held a cup in her right hand. Bertholdi competed for a commission for a giant statue of the goddess "Isis," the Egyptian Queen of Heaven, to overlook the Suez Canal, before he began work on the Statue of Liberty. This statue of Isis was to be of "a robed woman holding aloft a torch."

While, Bertholdi never made the statue of Isis on the Suez Canal, he did eventually design a statue of a robed goddess holding a torch – The Statue of Liberty. The architect of the pedestal, Richard Hunt based his design on a study of ancient pyramids, mounds, and ziggurats. Pyramids and mounds were likely based on the more ancient Babylonian ziggurats, which in turn were inspired by the Biblical Tower of Babel.

The American and French Freemasons who built the Statue of Liberty produced one of the largest statues in human history. They bestowed upon her the name "Liberty Enlightening the World." Emma Lazarus‘ poem "The New Colossus" calls her the "Mother

of Exiles." In reality this statue depicts "Mother of harlots and abominations of the earth" (Rev.17:5).

The liberty promised by this false goddess conceals her true offerings of enslavement to a Satanic New World Order. The God of the Bible condemns this evil system based upon that vile Babylonian cult of Nimrod and Semiramis. New York City stands as a modern Babylon offering every wicked vice and every financial fraud and deceit typical of this world's system of financial enslavement and captivity. At the mouth of New Yorks Harbor sits the statue of the original "Queen of Heaven," the "goddess of fortifications," the Queen-Mother of Babylon, also known as Isis, Cybele, Feronia, Ishtar, Astarte, Ashtoreth, and Easter.

Beckoning the world "Come hither."

The God of the Bible commands that we "Flee fornication" with this world's evil and corrupt system of rebellion against God and His laws (I Cor.6:18). Paul says, 14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?

16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.

18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. (2 Corinthians 6:14-18).

Nimrod, Semiramis, and Tammuz: The narrative of the Biblical Tower of Babel begins with the first kingdom established after the Great Deluge. The Bible tells us that Noah‘s son Cush begat Nimrod. Nimrod became mighty and established the kingdom of Babel (Gen.10:8-10). Nimrod styled himself as a deliverer of mankind from the rule of God. Nimrod was trying to present himself as the promised redeemer.

Nimrod began to be known as "Phoroneus," which has several meanings, among which was "Emancipator," or "one who sets free," or gives liberty. All "Nimrod" managed to do was deliver the masses of people from the lordship and worship of God. According to tradition Nimrod‘s consort was Semiramis, who in a strange tale became to be identified as his mother-wife. The Romans worshiped Semiramis as Feronia, the goddess of liberty. Another name for Semiramis or Isis was Cybele in Rome. She was also an architectural deity -- the "goddess of fortifications." This version of the goddess is universally represented as wearing a turreted crown, like the Statue of Liberty. She was so depicted because she was thought to have erected the first towers after the Great Deluge.

Semiramis, a very beautiful and politically powerful figure, was the wife of Nimrod. Nimrod and Semiramis established themselves as the gods Marduk and Astarte. The Tower of Babel was in all probability a temple to Marduk. Both Nimrod and Semiramis had ziggurats constructed throughout Mesopotamia as centers for the worship of Marduk and Astarte. After the death of Nimrod, Semiramis bore a son, Tammuz. Since she could not have conceived the child from the dead Nimrod, she proclaimed it to have been a miracle conception and that Tammuz was Marduk reborn or reincarnated. At first, Semiramis, Tammuz, and Nimrod were worshiped as a counterfeit of the Biblical trinity. It is important to recall that from the fall of Satan he has sought to be like the Most High, so the legends of the deification of Semiramis, Tammuz, and Nimrod just represented another step in this process.

Satan had promised Adam and Eve that they could be as the gods before they sinned. This was the original temptation. After the fall, God promised mankind Salvation, "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it

shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." (Genesis 3:15). The protoevangelium of Genesis 3:15 became well known among Adam and his descendants. After the deluge, Nimrod, Semiramis, and Tammuz promoted themselves as the fulfillment of the prophecy of Genesis 3:15. In reality they were a Satanic counterfeit. Eventually, Nimrod‘s father role was diminished, almost to the point of exclusion. At this point worship centered on the image of the mother with the god-incarnate son in her arms.

Mother goddesses of the world Mother/ child worship soon spread throughout the ancient world: In ancient Egypt they became known as Isis (Auset) and Horus.

The mother figures was worshiped as Nana (Ishtar or Inanna) in Sumeria. In India they were known as Devaki and Krishna. In Rome they were known as Fortuna and Jupiter, in Greece as Ceres the Great Mother, with the babe at her breast. The Etruscans worshipped Nutria. The ancient Germans worshiped Nerthus (or Hertha). The Scandinavians called her Disa and pictured her with a child. The Chinese called the mother Singmoo. They were worshipped as Cybele and Deoius in Asia Minor. The Ephesians worshipped Diana. In the ancient Middle East the mother goddess was Astarte also known as the chief deity of Tyre, Sidon, and Elat. In some cultures the mother only was worshiped as a fertility goddess. While in others both the mother and child were worshipped. By implication a mother goddess has a child or children, even if those children are not worshipped along with the mother. Often the mother goddess is also worshipped as a fertility goddess. The image of the mother with child in her arms became so firmly entrenched in the pagan mind that it was quickly adopted by the Roman Catholic Church after Christianity arrived. For Roman Christians it became the Virgin Mary and the god-incarnate son Jesus. In reality the mother and child always represented Semiramis and Tammuz.

Bacchus: Bacchus, Dionysus or Dionysos is the Greek/ Roman god of wine, the inspirer of madness, and a major figure of Greek mythology.

He represents not only the intoxicating power of wine, but also its social and beneficial influences. The geographical origins of his cult were unknown, but almost all myths depicted him as having "foreign" (i.e. non-Greek) origins. Dionysus had been with the Greeks and their predecessors a long time, and yet always retained the feel of something alien.

The bull, the serpent, the ivy and the wine are the signs of the characteristic Dionysian atmosphere, and Dionysus is strongly associated with satyrs, centaurs, and sileni. The Babylonian bull is sometimes called the bull of Nimrod. Red Bull Energy Drink uses two opposing bull symbols superimposed over a sun symbol for their logo. Merrill Lynch also uses the bull as a logo. Taurus Financial Services also identifies itself with a bull logo. Represented as the serpent we see a connection to the Minoan Mother Goddess or Snake Goddess (the serpents symbol is covered as a separate section of this article).

Bacchus or Nimrod and his Wreath Bacchus is often shown riding a leopard, wearing a leopard skin, or in a chariot drawn by panthers, and may also be recognized by the thyrsus he carries. The thyrsus associated with Dionysus (or Bacchus) and his followers, the Satyrs and Maenads, is a composite symbol of the forest (pine cone) and the farm (fennel). It has been suggested that this was specifically a fertility phallus, with the fennel representing the shaft of the penis and the pine cone representing the "seed" issuing forth. Sometimes the thyrsus was displayed in conjunction with a wine cup, another symbol of Dionysus, forming a male-and-female combination like that of

the royal scepter and orb.

Besides the grapevine and its wild barren alter-ego, the toxic ivy plant, both sacred to him, the fig was also his symbol. The pinecone that tipped his thyrsus linked him to Cybele, and the pomegranate linked him to Demeter. The Dionysia and Lenaia festivals in Athens were dedicated to Dionysus. Initiates worshipped him in the Dionysian Mysteries, which were comparable to and linked with the Orphic Mysteries, and may have influenced Gnosticism Bacchus or Dionysus, the "sin or cup bearer", was symbolized with the spotted fawn. Bacchus actually means son of Cush. Another title of Bacchus was Aithiopais, or "son of Ethiops." Ethiops is another name for Cush. Thus Bacchus the son of Cush was Nimrod, for we read in Genesis 10:8 "And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth." Nimrod appeared under many different names in ancient pagan religions. One of the meanings of Nimrod is "subduer of the leopard." In Greece, which had no leopards, Nimrod was portrayed as the spotted fawn. The Greeks call the spotted fawn "Nebros." The image of Cush holding the fawn symbolizes Cush holding his son Nimrod. The Septuagint renders the name "Nimrod" as "Nebrod". The Greeks used "Nembros" as a synonym for "Nimrod." The fivelimbs of the ivory branch symbolize that was in the fifth generation form the flood.

Freemasons use both the ivy Branch and ivy wreath as a representation of Nimrod. As the god of drunken revelry and orgies.

Mackey‘s Encyclopedia of Freemasonry shows the ivy wreath around the compass and square. Bacchus held a cup of wine in one hand and a five-limbed ivy branch in the other hand. The name of the cup in the languges of the mystery priesthood was khus, or chus, the last four letters of Bacchus, which means "Cush." The ivy branch symbolized Bacchus as the branch of Cush. On the limbs are thirty-three ivy berries.

Wherever the rites of Bacchus occurred the ivy wreath or ivy band was sure to appear. Participants in orgies honoring Bacchus adorned themselves with the wreath of ivy. Over time the ivy wreath came to symbolize the seed of Cush. Roman emperors wore the wreath of Bacchus to identify themselves with Nimrod and his style of world government. In this way, the ivy wreath came to stand for the unification of nations under the Roman Empire. This very much parallels the unification of Rome under the fasces.

The ivy wreath also became a symbol for the Roman god Cupid. Bacchus may also be identified with the Roman Young Jupiter or Cupid. Roman coins pictured Caesar Augustus wearing the wreath of Bacchus. Napoleon Bonaparte had himself painted wearing the wreath of Bacchus. The United Nations incorporates the wreath of Bacchus in their symbol. Sheraton Hotels, Cadillac, and Harvard university all use the wreath of Bacchus as a part of their logos.

Diana of the Ephesians: Among the Ephesians Semiramis became known as Diana -- the goddess of towers. When the apostle Paul began to preach the true gospel in Ephesus, he faced opposition from the cult of Diana. One may read about this in the Book of Acts: 23 And the same time there arose no small stir about that way.

24 For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen; 25 Whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth.

26 Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands: 27 So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth.

28 And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.

29 And the whole city was filled with confusion: and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theatre.

30 And when Paul would have entered in unto the people, the disciples suffered him not.

31 And certain of the chief of Asia, which were his friends, sent unto him, desiring him that he would not adventure himself into the theatre.

32 Some therefore cried one thing, and some another: for the assembly was confused; and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together.

33 And they drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward. And Alexander beckoned with the hand, and would have made his defence unto the people.

34 But when they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice about the space of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.

35 And when the townclerk had appeased the people, he said, Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter?

36 Seeing then that these things cannot be spoken against, ye ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rashly.

37 For ye have brought hither these men, which are neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddess.

38 Wherefore if Demetrius, and the craftsmen which are with him, have a matter against any man, the law is open, and there are deputies: let them implead one another.

39 But if ye enquire any thing concerning other matters, it shall be determined in a lawful assembly.

40 For we are in danger to be called in question for this day's uproar, there being no cause whereby we may give an account of this concourse.

41 And when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly. Who was this Diana, the goddess whose followers hated the true people of God and threatened Paul and his followers and helpers?

Sun Symbols Sun Symbols and Sun Worship: Almost every culture worshipped the sun in one form or another. All of these gods are in fact representation of Satan. In Japan Amaterasu was worshipped as the sun goddess. The Greeks and Romans worshipped Apollo as the sun God. Another Roman sun God was Sol Invictus. Many historians now speculate that Constantine, rather than becoming a Christian was converted to the cult of Sol Invictus. Another sun god among the Romans was Mithras. The Greeks also had Helios as a sun God. Before Apollo became the sun god of the Greeks, Helios held that position. The Norse called Freyr and Sol their sun gods. Among the Hindu people Garuda was the sun god. The Aztec sun god was Huitzilopochtli (Uitzilopochtli), while the Inca worshipped Inti as sun god. The West African sun god was Liza. The Celtic sun god was Lugh. In Egypt various gods were associated with the sun, or depoicted with sun disks, but chief among these was Ra. The center for sun worship in Egypt Heliopolis. Later associated with Horus as ReHorakhty. Also combined with Amun to form Amun-Ra, a solar creator god. Surya Is the Hindu sun God. The Aztec worshipped Tonatiuh as sun god. In Mesopotamia the sun god was Utu. For most of human history, mankind regarded the spherical earth as the both the spiritual and literal physical center of the universe.

About 270 B.C. Aristarchus of Samos became the first person to present written arguments suggesting that the earth moves about the sun. According to James William McAllister in his book Beauty & Revolution in Science some forms of sun worship that remained popular during the Renaissance also supported the view of a sun centered universe. Finally Copernicus wrote: At rest, however, in the middle of everything is the sun. For in this most beautiful temple, who would place this lamp in another or better position than that from which it can light up the whole thing at the same time? For, the sun is not inappropriately called by some people the lantern of the universe, its mind by others, and its ruler by still others. [Hermes] the Thrice Greatest labels it a visible god, and Sophocles' Electra, the all-seeing. Thus indeed, as though seated on a royal throne, the sun governs the family of planets revolving around it‌. Meanwhile the earth has intercourse with the sun, and is impregnated for its yearly parturition.

During the Renaissance, an underground cult of the Hermetic, Egyptian, Magus orientation greatly influenced Copernicus, Kepler, Bruno, Newton, and perhaps Galileo. Copernican helocentrism became a central teaching of this cult of sun worshipers. A humanist named Marsilio Ficino became one of the anti-Christian sun worship during this time. This anti-Christian sun worshipping played an enormous role in the lives and science of these men. Since the conversion of Constantine into the cult of Invictus Sole in 312 A.D. at the Milvian Bridge the Roman Church became a de facto center of sun worship. Maurice A. Finocchiaro in The Galileo Affair: A Documentary History documents from sources within the Vatican archives that the persecution of Galileo was purely an outward manifestation of an inward power struggle within the Roman Church. This power struggle occurred within the historical context of the post-Reformation period. At the beginning of the affair the Dominicans, who were in powers led the persecution of Galileo, while the Jesuits, who sought power, supported him. By the end of the affair the Jesuits, who now opposed Galileo, had taken power from the Dominicans, who now supported Galileo.

The heliocentric hypothesis is nothing but a Satanic ploy to challenge the authority of Holy Writ, which emphatically states that the earth is at rest in the center of the universe, and that sun moves about the earth once a day. This lie has been documented to be the foundation for the theory of evolution. Just a Copernicus demoted the earth to be just another planet going around the sun, Darwin made mankind just another animal on the evolutionary web of life. All of this undermines the authority of God, which is Satan‘s ultimate purpose.

In mystical/occult traditions the worship of certain gods and or goddesses carried with it an astronomical correlation. The sun was worshipped as a male god that creates life within the female goddess earth. The sun came to be symbolized in a number of ways.

The most fundamental depiction of the sun is in the form of the circle and the point. The sun can also simply be symbolized as a solar disk. In ancient Egypt Horus was depicted with a solar disk above his head, while the Mayans also uses a solar disk in creating the colander. Drawing two perpendicular lines through the center point in a circle produces what is known as the sun cross.

The sun cross may also be represented as a cross without a circle (with the arms of equal or unequal length). When shown by itself the cross is a phallic symbol, and as such it may be shown as the Tau cross or the Ankh cross. With its generative phallic powers the Ankh is also seen a symbol for life. A slight modification of the solar cross produces the Swastika with rounded corners. The Swastika with straight corners also represents the sun. Imposing an additional solar cross on top of a single solar cross produces the double solar cross. In ancient Babylonia the double solar cross was depicted as a solar wheel. The male sexuality of the sun is often represented by the phallus in its many forms: the circle and the point, the obelisk, the Ankh cross, Tau cross, the cross, the blade, the spade, and the chevron.

From antiquity the cross was a pagan phallic symbol. It was no accident that Jesus was put to death by the agents of Satan upon an instrument fashioned in the shape of one of the world‘s most vile and corrupt symbols. Hebrews 12:2 states: "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." Jesus took that shameful cross and made it into the implement that allowed Him to dies to rise again on the third day, once and for all having victory over Satan and death.

The Use of Sun Symbols The Uses of sun symbols is very common in today‘s world. The American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) uses the sun disk in its corporate logo. The peacock is the male of a variety of a pheasant species. The Peacock is the national bird of India and is considered to be sacred in many cultures and societies. It is an apparent solar symbol, too, because of the resemblance between the rays of the sun and the circular fan of the tail in full display. In J.E. Cirlot‘s ‗Dictionary of Symbols‘, Ars Symbolica has been referred to as this blue-green bird that represents the blending of all the colors of the spectrum and hence, the idea of totality.

Tibetan culture among many others also views green as the mixture of all hues. In 1963, the peacock was declared as the ‗National Bird of India‘ because of its rich religious and celebrated involvement in Indian traditions. The National Broadcasting Corporation uses the solar symbol of the Peacock as its corporate logo. Various architectural elements of the U.S. Supreme Court (and other government buildings) employ a squared off version of the double solar cross. Great Britain‘s Union jack also incorporates the double solar cross of ancient Babylon. The Today show on NBC also uses solar symbolism in its logo. St. Peter‘s Square in Rome uses both the double solar cross (solar wheel) as well as obelisk. The Washington Monument is another example of an obelisk solar symbol. Both the Washington Monument and the Obelisk at St. Peters also forma point in a circle.

More Sun Symbols The sun is very often depicted both in symbolic and more literal forms. Target stores have as their logo the ancient occult solar symbol of the point and circle. SunTrust Bank shows the sun rising over their name. British Petroleum chose a stylized sun burst as their logo. The Shell Oil Company also uses a sun burst stylized into the shape of a shell as their corporate logo. The shell itself is a symbol of the goddess Venus, who is often depicted coming out of the sea and emerging from a shell. New Horizon Pediatrics has also chosen to use the sun in their logo. Notice also that the sun in this logo forms a pyramid. The San Diego Convention Center also uses the sun. Barack Obama has chosen a rising sun to symbolize his bid for the Presidency of the United States. Dole features sun symbolism in their logo as well. Zenzele Recruitment also uses the sun as a part of its logo.

The Winged Sun Disk: The winged sun disk is a symbol originating in Assyria and Egypt and has been used by a variety of groups such as Freemasonry, Spiritists, Theosophy, the Rosicrucians and the Watchtower Society (Jehovah‘s Witnesses). Emblematic of the element of air, this consists of a circle or solar-type disk enclosed by a pair of wings. In ritual magic it is suspended over the alter in an easterly direction and used when invoking the protection and co-operation of the sylphs. From ancient through modern times the Occultic winged sun disk has found many forms of expression.

Winged Sun Disk Symbol Halo as a Sun Symbol: A halo or gloriole is a ring of light that surrounds an object. They are often used in religious works to depict holy or sacred figures.

Holy persons or are depicted with a halo in the form of a golden, yellow or white circular glow around the head. Round "solar discs" above the head are seen in depictions of many deities of Ancient Egypt, including Ra and Hathor, and symbols resembling later halos, such as the sun cross, are found in many ancient religions, especially in connection with sun worship. The Standing Buddha 1st-2nd century AD (or earlier) was depicted with a halo. The halo represents an aura or glow of sanctity which was conventionally drawn encircling the head. It first appeared in the culture of Hellenistic Greece and Rome, possibly related to the Zoroastrian hvarena - "glory" or "divine luster" - which marked the Persian kings, and may have been imported with Mithraism (a cult tied to sun worship). In a late second century AD floor mosaic from Thysdrus, Apollo Helios (the sun god) is identified by his effulgent halo. Another haloed Apollo in mosaic, from Hadrumentum, is in the museum at Sousse. Some time after this mosaic was executed, the Roman Emperor began to be depicted with a halo, which was not abandoned when they became Christians.

Halo images ancient and modern Religious images with a halo are actually pagan images of the sun god. The mother and child are Semiramis and Tammuz. Even symbolic representations of Christ, such as IHS symbols are converted into solar icons. In the Roman and Orthodox Church the saints are depicted with sun god halos, as is the mother goddess Semiramis. George W. Bush, Condoleezza Rice, Tony Blair, former U.S. Senator Bill Frist, and Gholam-Reza Aqazadeh head of the Iran Atomic Energy Organization all have been photographed to appear as though they have a halo.

Double Cross: The double cross is known as the Cross of Lorraine. It consists of one vertical and two evenly spaced horizontal bars. It is double armed red colored cross on a white background. A very old form of this cross, a depiction of a shepherd's staff, was used in ancient Sumeria as an ideogram for rulership. It is a heraldic cross, used by the Dukes of Lorraine (previously known as the Dukes of Anjou). Rene d‘ Anjou introduced the cross of Lorraine as a symbol for the House of Lorraine. Rene d‘ Anjou was very steeped in occult traditions. Rene d‘ Anjou became a major figure of the Southern European Renaissance. Rene d‘ Anjou saw to it that esoteric texts from Greece and Egypt made their way to Europe and were translated into European languages. Hermetic alchemists of the Renaissance used the emblem as a symbol of earth and spirit by combining the square earth cross with the cross of Christ. In alchemy is also symbolizes white lead which is a group of poisons. When drawn symmetrically, it symbolized the hermetic maxim, "As above, so below."

Double Cross The cross of Lorraine is related to the Crusader's cross of the Occultic Templar, the standard of Joan of Arc, and the six globes of the Medici family. The Lorraine cross was carried to the Crusades by the original Knights Templar, granted to them for their use by the Patriarch of Jerusalem. Furthermore, the symbol can also be traced back to the Knights of Malta and the destruction of Jerusalem in the 11th century. The Lorraine Cross is used in Freemasonry as a degree symbol for the Royal Secret. In the Catholic Church, the equal-armed Lorraine Cross denotes the office of Cardinal. Through their anent Michael de Notre Dame, the House of Lorraine tried to overtake the power of their rivals the House of Guise (a cadet branch of the House of Lorraine).

Double cross is also a phrase meaning to betray. The phrase originates from the use of the word cross in the sense of foul play; deliberate collusion to lose a contest of some kind. Some claim the term arose from a British military counter-intelligence operation during World War II aimed to turn known German agents into sources of disinformation. The operation met regularly in room 20 at headquarters. The number on the door to the room was written in Roman numerals, hence XX. Allegedly members began calling themselves "Room 20," and finally, the "double cross" operation. Some documentary evidence suggests that the term did exist in the 19th century. The idiom "double cross" has a strict negative connotation and thus a double-cross wouldn't be considered a friendly symbol.

In 1940, the cross of Lorraine was adopted by Admiral d'Argenlieu (commander of the Free French Forces) as a symbol of the French Resistance, chosen as a symbol to stand against the Nazi Swastika. In Charlie Chaplin's film The Great Dictator, the "double cross" is a surrogate for the Nazi swastika of the fictional dictatorship "Tomania" in an unflattering parody of the Third Reich, its ideology and its leadership. The oppressive government in the film V for Vendetta used a double cross for their symbol.

The American Lung Association and the 79th Infantry Division in World War II use the Cross of Lorraine.

The double cross, or Cross of Lorraine, is seen prominently in the Exxon logo. It can be seen that the second "X" is not proportionate in the logo and is then not an X at all. The extra X is not an X, but a T, or a Tau cross, symbolizing the archetype of deity in the minds of the Americans driving past it every day. The slant of the cross reflects incompletion, or being in motion and not at rest. The slant to the left represents involutionary movement, movement opposing evolution. The single armed cross, the Latin cross which is most commonly associated with Christianity, maintains a strong egregore symbolizing divine power.

Skull and Crossbones: A skull and crossbones is a symbol consisting of a human skull and two bones crossed together under or behind the skull. The uses of a literal skull and crossbones dates at least to the time of the Templars, but as a symbolic representation the basic shape may be traced back to Ancient Egypt and the tomb of Tutankhamun. One finds Tutankhamun holding the scepter or flail and crook, a symbol of universal power. The Flail was used to beat animals (or indeed people) into submission and shows authority like the scepter hence their interchangeable nature. The crook was a shepherd's tool, used to pull stray animals by the neck without hurting them. Here we have an image of push and pull. This shepherd aspect of the king is as old as Mesopotamia and possibly beyond.

These two symbols reveal the two opposites of the duality spoken of by the Gnostics, the push (positive/male) and pull (negative/feminine). Anyone therefore that mastered these symbols had mastery over the self and was enlightened in the mysteries.

Tutankhamun was seen with these devices held upon the chest in the diagonal cross form, making a replica of the skull and crossbones in form, whereas many other Pharaohs held them outwardly away from each other. When dead, the king becomes Osiris, and the same image is seen with Osiris and is therefore his symbol a symbol of the ultimate universal power and borrowed by his earthly representative the Pharaoh.

The Skull and Crossbones Once one moves beyond looking at the skull and crossbones as a literal image one will also notice the resemblance to the Chi-Rho symbol, so called because it is composed of the Greek letters chi (X) and rho (P). Historians discovered evidence this symbol‘s symbols use hundreds if not thousands of years before Christianity. Those who claim it as a Christian symbol allege that it comes

from the first two letters of Christ (Christos) in Greek. Rocks found in Sumeria and dated from 2500 B.C. contain carvings of the Chi-Rho symbol, where it was used a sun symbol. Notice the resemblance to the solar wheel discussed earlier. The Chaldeans also used this as a sun symbol. It was also used on the coins of Ptolemeus III from 247-222 B.C. Egyptologist, Sir Flinders Petrie, claims that the monogram Chi-Rho was the emblem of the Egyptian god, Horus, thousands of years before Christ and is therefore a link between Horus the saviour, and Christ the saviour. It should be noted that Christos is not a name, as commonly used today, but rather a title. In Greek Christos means the "the anointed one." In Theosophy Christos means the anointed and it applied in the Greek Mysteries to a candidate who had passed the last degree and become a full initiate. Also the immanent individual god in a person, equivalent in some respects to Dionysos or Krishna.

The second century B.C Greek Ptolemys are said to have borrowed the Chi-Rho from the Africans. In this scenario the Greeks called their version of Horus, Herecles or Hercules and applying the Greek Xpnc (Chres) to him. This suddenly gave the ancient Horus the title of Lord, Chrestos, and inevitably Christ. This, if true, shows again the direct link between Horus, the Chi-Rho monogram. Apparently the Greek word Cristos originated from the Egyptian term Karast, and Kristos or Christos is the KRST (Karast). Karast is a person who is anointed as a Heru (Hero) during his or her own lifetime. It is only when deceased that one receives the great term a KRST or Ausur. This Ausur is none other than Osiris, the same Egyptian god found with the skull and crossbones symbol with the flail and scepter. In Hebrew the term Messiah means the "anointed one." The Hebrews often referred to their king or leaders as "Messiah."

The skull and crossbones symbol is an ancient symbol of universal power. The skull and crossbones symbol was used as a funerary symbol in ancient Christian catacombs. No doubt in this context it was being used to stand for the Chi-Rho. A further possible Christian connection is that Jesus was crucified on Golgatha, the place of the skull. Some crucifixes feature a skull and crossbones beneath the corpus. It is likely early Christians adopted the ancient pagan symbol as a hope of resurrection and eternal life. This meaning would have been identical to its menaing in the ancient world. Actual skulls and bones were used, dating back to the 1700s, to mark the entrances to Spanish cemeteries. It is interesting to note how the skull and crossbones (depicted on headstones in the 1700s) evolved into the cherub head with wings by the mid-1800s. In either form the skull and crossbones came to represent death, sometime after it came into common usage at the entrances of graveyards.

In Kabbalah the skull and crossbones symbolize the sephirah, death or da‘at on the Tree of Life. Daath is the gateway to an enhanced understanding that can occur only through spiritual death and rebirth. The Knights Templar used the skull and crossed bones as an important religious symbol. In the formative years of the Knights Templar, they were heavily influenced by Eastern Mysticism. The particular legend of how the skull and crossbones came to become a symbol among the Templars recalls how Templar, a Lord of Sidon, loved a lady of Maraclea. The lady of Maraclea died in her youth, , and on the night of her burial, this wicked lover crept to the grave, dug up her body and violated it. Then a voice from the grave told him to return in nine months to retrieve his son. He obeyed the command and when none months had passed he opened the grave again and found a head on the leg bones of the skeleton positioned like the skull and crossbones. The same voice told him to protect it well, for it would be the giver of all good things, and so he carried it away with him. It became his protecting genius, and he was able to defeat his enemies by merely showing them the magic head. This aspect of the legend obviously alludes to the ancient symbolism of universal power associated with the skull and crossbones. Eventually, the skull and cross bones passed to the possession of the Knights Templar and became a symbol associated with that order. The Templars incorporated this symbol in their the unique burial tradition. Exhumed bodies of Templars have their legs removed from the torso and crossed in an arrangement similar to the intersecting bones featured in the traditional skull and crossbones.

The Templars became immensely wealthy and powerful during the crusades. They created a powerful banking system. The Order of the Templars also maintained a fleet of ships that transported goods and pilgrims to and from the Holy Land. The Templarsw became very successful at maritime activities, including evading pirates, which had been known since at least 2000 B.C. It is very well possible that during this time the Order adopted a flag featuring their infamous skull and crossbones as a means of protection and warning to would be pirates. The skull and crossbones made a natural maritime battle flag for the Templars for several reasons.

The flag would have identified ships with a symbol that was well known to belong to the Templars. It also conveyed the idea of protection of the legend of the Skull of Sidon. Finally it sent a warning that attack upon a ship bearing this standard would lead to

certain defeat. A reputation of excellence in warfare preceded the Templars, so any symbol of this Order would have struck fear in any would be attacker.

On Friday October 13, 1307 King Philip and Pope Clement arrested the Templars on grounds of heresy. Attempts by the King and Pope to seize the Order's money and assets failed. Many of the members of the Order along with the Order‘s wealth escaped to England and Scotland. The Order was officially disbanded on March 19th, 1314 when the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, Jacques de Molay, was burned at the stake. Some suspect that around this time the Knights Templar went underground in England and Scotland.

The Templars enjoyed protection from the Scottish House of Stuart. In 1603 King James Stuart VI of Scotland became James I of England, and brought with him a band of banished Templars. The Knights who traveled with James purchase property in London that became the financial district of London, known as the Corporation of the City of London. The Stuarts and Templars were exiled to France after the Glorious Revolution of 1688. After the Glorious Revolution the scattered lodges of English Freemasonry were united under one Grand Mother Lodge in 1717. In 1725 the Templars founded French Freemasonry, which by 1775 became known as the Scottish Rite. The Templar nautical battle flag began to be used by pirates and privateers. The use of the Templar nautical battle flag among pirates and privateers has two possible origins. Either pirates and privateers were seeking to immolate and be associated with the great maritime Templars, or pirates and privateers were infiltrated by a rogue remnant of Templars who sought revenge for the events of 1307-1314. The once renowned Knights Templar would make excellent pirates now that they were marked for execution. They might be inclined to seek out Ships flying under the British East India Company and Vatican flags as revenge. What most people know as the pirate flag, containing the skull and crossbones, became known by the name "Jolly Roger."

Charles Johnson cites two pirates having named their flags "Jolly Roger" in A General History of the Pyrates, published in 1724.

Bartholomew Roberts used the name in June of 1721 and Francis Spriggs used it in July of 1723. Even thought Spriggs and Roberts used the same name for their flags, their flag designs were quite different, suggesting that already "Jolly Roger" was a generic term for black pirate flags rather than a name for any single specific design. Neither Spriggs nor Roberts used skull and crossbones in the flag they call "Jolly Roger." David Hatcher Childress in Pirates & The Lost Templar Fleet asserts that the flag was named after the first man to fly it, King Roger II of Sicily (c.1095-1154). Roger was a famed Templar and the Knights Of The Temple were in conflict with the Pope over his conquests of Apulia and Salerno in 1127. Many years later, after the Templars were disbanded by the church, at least one Templar fleet split into four independent flotillas dedicating themselves to pirating ships of any country sympathetic to Rome, thus the flag was an inheritance, and its crossed bones a reference to the original Templar logo.

The "Jolly Roger" (and many variations thereof) represent direct adaptation of the legend, Lord of Sidon and thus, the once revered and feared Templar nautical battle flag.

Through the Templars, the skull and crossbones passed into usage among Freemasons. Freemasons crafted their own legend to account for the skull and crossbones being a symbol that they used. After three apprentices murdered Hiram Abiff, they dug a shallow grave, but the body would not fit, so they removed the legs and crossed them on Abiff's chest. When the skeleton was found, the crossed leg bones positioned below the skull looked like the familiar skull and crossbones. This symbolism may be seen on a coffin at the bottom of the Masonic apron given by Grand Master Lafayette to George Washington. In the Freemasonic tradition, the skull and crossed bones represents overcoming the material world. The symbol is used in initiation rituals in order to represent rebirth. The sign of Skull and Crossbones is used in Freemasonry to denote a master mason, who where this symbol on their ring.

The Skull and Bones Society, a secret society at Yale University uses the skull and crossbones as a fraternal logo. The Order of Skull and Bones, once known as The Brotherhood of Death, is a senior or secret society based at Yale University, in New Haven, Connecticut. The society's alumni organization, which owns its properties and oversees all the organization's activity, is known as the Russell Trust Association (R.T.A.), and is named after one of Bones' founding members. In conversation, the group is known as "Bones," and members have been known as "Bonesmen."

On December 5, 1776, students at William and Mary College founded a secret society, Phi Beta Kappa. Phi Beta Kappa is the first three Greek letters, for "Philosophia Biou Kubernetes" or "Love of wisdom, the helmsman of life." Avery Allyn writes about the true nature of Phi Beta Kappa in A Ritual of Freemasonry: Illustrated by Numerous Engravings. published in 1853. When Phi Beta

Kappa was founded, its members developed signs, grips, jewels, and secret words that could be used to identify its members in secrecy when they met in public. The society was founded upon the philosophy of illuminism. Thomas Jefferson is credited with encouraging the creation the first chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. Jefferson may not have been a card-carrying Mason, but his philosophy and actions certainly paralleled Masonic ideals and practices.

Paul Rich wrote in the The Scottish Rite Journal in June 2002 that Masons might well take a closer look the Greek-letter fraternities. The Greek-letter fraternities owe their origins, at least indirectly, to Freemasonry. This is because the very first fraternity, Phi Beta Kappa, was heavily influenced by Freemasonry. A Masonic lodge existed in Williamsburg since at least the 1750s, and in 1773 it received a charter from the grand lodge in England. Thomas Smith, a member of the Williamsburg lodge, was among the founding members of Phi Beta Kappa. Smith served as the first clerk of the Phi Beta Kappa Society and became its president on May 3, 1777. Nine other members of the society joined the Masonic lodge during the next year.

A second chapter of Phi Beta Kappa was formed, at Yale, in 1780. The anti-Masonic movement in the United States during the 1820s held groups such as Phi Beta Kappa in a bad light. Rich continues to explain that Phi Beta Kappa was forced to abandon its secretive nature and cryptic ritualistic traditions in the early 1800s at the same time that other Greek fraternities were being established with many of the same features. The society's members found themselves being lumped with the Freemasons and the Illuminati as evil-worshippers and infidels.

William Huntington Russell studied in Germany from 1831-32. While in Germany, Russell formed a warm friendship with a leading member of a German secret society, probably the Ancient Illuminated Seers of Bavaria (the Illuminati). He brought back with him to Yale, authority to found a chapter of the German secret society at Yale. William Huntington Russell and Alphonso Taft, father of Bonesmen and President of the United States William Howard Taft, formed Skull and Bones at Yale in 1832. The group originated out of a debating society called the Society of Brothers in Unity. The Illuminati founded five fraternal groups at Yale: the Skull and Bones, the Scroll and Key, the Book & Snake, and the Wolf‘s Head and Berzellus. At Princeton they started the Ivy Club and the cottage Club. At Harvard they started the Porcelain Club. Skull and Bones was modeled after Phi Beta Kappa.

Because of increasing public pressure Phi Beta Kappa went public. This is noted by some researchers as the direct cause of the appearance of Yale's Order of Skull and Bones. A genealogical chart of general Greek-Letter college fraternities in the United States, shows Phi Beta Kappa as the parent of all the fraternal systems in American higher education. The skull and crossbones is also used by the Kappa Sigma, Sigma Phi Epsilon, Sigma Sigma Sigma and Phi Kappa Sigma Fraternities.

There is only one "side" lineal descendant of Phi Beta Kappa the Yale chapter of 1780. The line then continues to Skull and Bones in 1832, and on through the other "only at Yale" senior societies, Scroll & Key and Wolf's Head. Today Skull and Bones corporate name is The Russell Trust Association, which funds Skull and Bones, and also supervises the Order's adherence to the tradition.

Members of Skull and Bones call themselves Knights of Eulogia. Every ceremony of the Bonesmen is in honor of Eulogia. They meet inside a secretive crypt on the campus of Yale University dubbed The Tomb. Dozens of skeletons and skulls, human and animal, dangle from the walls. According to Skull and Bones legends, in 322 B.C., a Greek orator died. When he died, the goddess Eulogia, the goddess of eloquence, arose to the heavens and didn't happen to come back down until 1832, when she happened to take up residence in The Tomb. That's where the 322 featured below the skull and crossbones originated. The Bonesmen begin each session in the tomb by unveiling a sort of a guilt shrine to Eulogia. The most secretive room in the building, known as the Inner Temple, or Room 322, contains a case with a skeleton that Bonesmen refer to as Madame Pompadour. Compartments in the case guard the society's cherished manuscripts, including the secrecy oath and instructions for conducting an initiation.

Variations on the skull and cross bones have been used by several military forces. The skull and crossbones has been used by a succession of lancer regiments in the British Army. The Queen's Royal Lancers continue to use the skull and crossbones in their emblem, inherited from its use by the 17th Light Dragoons - a unit raised in 1759 following General Wolfe's death at Quebec, with an emblem of a death's head and the words 'Or Glory' in commemoration of him. The cap badge was later used by the 17th/21st Lancers and its present-day successor, the Queen's Royal Lancers who are still nicknamed the 'Death or Glory Boys'.

In Chile, during the independence battles, a paramilitary guerrilla group against the royal Spanish army, called "Los husares de la muerte ("The Death Hussars") wore a Skull with two crossed femurs on the neck of their jackets. In World War II, Nazi SS troops made use of the "Totenkopf" (German word for "dead man's head") as an insignia (in particular, the 3rd SS Division, which was a part of the larger Waffen SS). United States Marine Corps reconnaissance battalions also use a skull and cross bones on their emblems. VFA-103, Strike Fighter Squadron 103 (the Jolly Rogers) is a U.S. Navy fighter unit that was formed in the Pacific and adopted the skull and crossbones on all-black tails on their aircraft and is today perhaps the most recognizable squadron markings in the world. Finally the skull and crossbones is also an architectural feature in many Roman Catholic churches.

Two Pillars: Among Freemasons the two pillars, a prominent symbol of their Craft, represent the pillars Jachin and Boaz which Hiram of Tyre made for Solomon, and set one on either side of the entrance to the Temple, to commemorate the pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night which guided the Israelites in their forty years' wanderings in the wilderness. These twin pillars are now, and as they have been, very prosaic features in all of our Masonic Lodge rooms. Boaz ("fleetness, strength") stood on the left, and Jachin ("founding") stood on the right. Manly P. Hall explains the meaning of the two pillars in his book Secret Teachings of all Ages The right Tablet of the law (Moses' Decalogue) further signifies Jachin-the white pillar of light; the left Tablet, Boaz-the shadowy pillar of darkness. These were the names of the two pillars cast from brass set up on the porch of King Solomon's Temple.... On top of each pillar was a large bowl-now erroneously called a ball or globe-one of the bowls probably containing fire and the other water. The celestial globe (originally the bowl of fire), surmounting the right-hand column (Jachin), symbolized the divine man; the terrestrial globe (the bowl of water), surmounting the left-hand column (Boaz), signified the earthly man. These two pillars respectively connote also the active and the passive expressions of Divine Energy, the Sun and the Moon, sulphur and salt, good and bad, light and darkness. Between them is the Sanctuary they are a reminder that Jehovah is both an androgynous and an anthropomorphic deity. As two parallel columns they denote the zodiacal signs of Cancer and Capricorn, which were formerly placed in the chamber of initiation to represent birth and death-the extremes of physical life. They accordingly signify the summer and winter solstices, now known to Freemasons under the comparatively modern appellation of the "two St. Johns...In the mysterious Sephirothic Tree of the Jews, these two pillars symbolize Mercy (Jachin) and Serverity (Boaz). Standing before the gate of King Solomon's Temple, these columns had the same symbolic import as the obelisks before the sanctuaries of Egypt. When interpreted Qabbalistically, the names of the two pillars mean 'In strength shall My House be established (p.307-8).

The Two Pillars Hall explains that the two pillars were topped with fire and water, two of the five elements recognized in the occult and ancient alchemy. Hall further explains that the right-hand column (fire) symbolizes "the divine man." Freemasonry seeks to unite mortal man with the divine man, or bring out man‘s god consciousness. The terrestrial globe (water) symbolizes the earthly man. The pillars are also supposed to symbolize the active divine energy of the male sun (phallic) and the passive divine energy of the female moon (yonic) also seen in the compass (phallic) and square (yonic) symbol. For Freemasons the pillars represent the whole host of dualistic opposites. One could even say that they are a symbol of dualism. Hall goes on to say that they also symbolize "that Jehovah is both an androgynous and an anthropomorphic deity." Being androgynous is essentially the same as being a hermaphrodite. Freemasons commonly describe Jehovah as a hermaphrodite both in words and the symbols employed in the lodge.

This teaching contradicts the Bible which frequently uses masculine pronouns when referring to God. Strictly speaking the God of

the Bible is not an anthropomorphic deity. The Bible teaches that mankind was created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27).

Sometimes the Bible even uses anthropomorphisms to describe God, but this doesn‘t mean that God is anthropomorphic. The Bible tells us that men "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things" (Romans 1:22 and 23). In this regard the pillars are also compared to the summer and winter solstices. In true Masonic allegory the two Saints were adopted purely in consequence of the two important feast days they were assigned in their honor rather than their particular relationship with the Craft in general. By history, custom, tradition and ritualistic requirements, the Craft holds in veneration the Festival Days of St. John the Baptist on June 24th, and St. John the Evangelist on December 27th. Thus, Freemasons associate the two pillars with the two St. Johns.

In the Tree of Life as presented in Qabala, these two pillars symbolize Mercy (Jachin) and Serverity (Boaz). When interpreted Qabbalistically, the names of the two pillars mean "In strength shall My House be established." Standing before the gate of King Solomon's Temple, these columns had the same symbolic meaning as the obelisks before the sanctuaries of Egypt. Obelisks were set in pairs, at the entrances of temples, and to some Old Kingdom tombs and closely related to the cult of the Sun God Ra also known as Atum. Obelisks symbolized the stability and the creative force of Atum. Atum was a deity in Egypt. His name is thought to be derived from the word 'tem' which means to complete or finish. Thus he has been interpreted as being the 'complete one' and also the finisher of the world, which he returns to watery chaos at the end of the creative cycle. As creator he was seen as the underlying substance of the world, the deities and all things being made of his flesh or alternatively being his kas. Obelisks were believed to act as magical protection to the monuments such as temples and tombs.

The two pillars erected in Solomon‘s Temple and represented in the Masonic lodge have a pagan and anti-Biblical meaning. The Bible says that King Hezekiah instituted a religious iconoclastic reform, and removed the objects from the Temple. When the young reforming king came to the throne of Judah in the late 8th century BC: He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan. 2 Kings 18:4.

The Masonic symbol of two pillars may be seen on American Social Security Cards, in Barcelona, Spain, at the University of Southern California Olympians Zamperini Plaza, The American Home Bank logo, and the Iloilo National High School – (Ephyscience) Special Science Class logo.

The Unicorn: The mythological unicorn (from Latin unus 'one' and cornu 'horn') often appears in fantasy stories, picture book, novels, and is a common decoration on children‘s items such as lunch boxes, curtains, and bead sheets.. The traditional unicorn distinguishes itself from a horse by having a billy-goat beard, a lion's tail, and cloven hooves. Modern popular images often simply show a horse with a spiral horn on forehead. Even the earliest references describe the unicorn as fierce yet good, selfless yet solitary, and always mysteriously beautiful. In the 4th century BC, Greek historian Ctesias told about a wild animal with healing powers and a spiral horn on its forehead. The unicorn could be captured only by unfair means, and his single horn was said to neutralize poison.

Medieval myths suggested it could only be caught with help from a virgin who would befriend it.

Unicorns The unicorn became a symbol of physical virginity. Alchemists saw the unicorn as the hermaphrodite, Lucifer. Sill others argue that the twofold sexuality of the unicorn transcends sexuality itself. Among paganized Christians the unicorn symbolized the Virgin who has conceived by the Holy Spirit. Medieval Christians regarded the unicorn as a symbol of Christ. These paganized Christian traditions continue the sexual transcendence of early pagan symbolic meaning of the unicorn in that the unicorn is ascribed both a female (the Virgin mother) and a male (the incarnate Son, Jesus) attribute. Thus the adoption of the unicorn as a Christian symbol is really just another example of the grafting of pagan philosophies into Christian theology.

The single horn also stood for the differentiation from biological procreation to psychic evolution and to sexual sublimation. This single horn has also been compared with ‗a frontal penis‘ or ‗phallus of the psyche,‘ the symbol of spiritual fecundity. Wearing of unicorn amulets and charms exemplifies the sexual power of the unicorn. The unicorn became the traditional symbol of fertility and sexuality, the unicorn is worn by those who desire to increase their sexual magnetism. The unicorn's horn, or alicorn is sometimes worn as a horn pendant.

For many New Agers the unicorn means power, purification, healing, wisdom, self-knowledge, renewal and eternal life. The single horn of the unicorn may represent the pineal gland, or third eye, which is the spiritual cognition center in the brain. Along this same line of thought, the mystery schools adopted the unicorn as a symbol of the illumined spiritual nature of the initiate, the horn with which it defends itself being the flaming sword of the spiritual doctrine against which nothing can prevail. The single horn set in the middle of its forehead symbolizes a spiritual arrow, a sun-ray, the sword of God, divine revelation or the godhead penetrating its creation.

At the end of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn‘s "Practicus Ritual" the initiate is given the mystic title of "Monocris de Astris," which means the "Unicorn from the Stars." While some claim the Golden Dawn did not practice "sex magic" it was an initiate of the Golden Dawn, Aleister Crowley, who introduced "sex magic" (Tantric Yoga) to the West. Tantrics understand the sexual act on multiple levels. The male and female participants are conjoined physically and represent Shiva and Shakti, the male and female principles. Beyond the physical, a subtle fusion of Shiva and Shakti energies takes place resulting in a united energy field or a spiritual fusion. On an individual level, each participant experiences a fusion of their own Shiva and Shakti energies.

When the unicorn is considered to transcend gender then it makes perfect sense to consider the unicorn as a symbol of the physical/spiritual union achieved during Tantric Yoga.

The Eye of Horus:

The use of the Eye of Horus The eye of Horus or all Seeing Eye is a very common Occultic symbol. It is used in the: Great Seal of the United States (reverse side), the corporate logo for Fidelity Investments, Canada's Culture Channel, the log for Britain‘s intelligence Service MI V, the corporate logo for the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the America Online (AOL) corporate logo, Pinkerton Security corporate logo,

Road Watch corporate logo, Kinder Care logo, and the logo for the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS). The eye of Horus, especially when placed above a pyramid, is symbolic of enlightenment.

The Cheveron: The chevron is a simplistic symbol for the sun god, and a variation of the chevron is the triangle. For occultist, the triangle symbolizes the concept of three-in-one (as in Semiramis, Tammuz, and Nimrod). The triangle also symbolizes twin rays proceeding from a central point, and when the other ends of these lines are joined, the base line signifies that which is produced by the interaction and interblending of the two formative rays. The apex, the side lines, and the base thus represent the three chief stages of cosmic evolution. The idea is further elaborated in the square pyramid. The square pyramid as a symbol is an amplification of the triangle: it has lines, triangles, and a square, proceeding from a point downwards or conversely upwards merging into a point at the apex. Thus we have the four numbers of the tetraktys represented by point, line, triangle, and square.

The ancient pyramids are regarded to have been built by the initiates of sacred mystery knowledge. In a larger sense the pyramid may be seen to symbolize the initiate sitting in a meditative pose (Lotus position) in order to open his third eye (the Eye of Horus).

As such the pyramid is seen as holding the powers of ancient wisdom. Many pyramids were used for initiation ceremonies. When the candidate passed through the processes of initiation he enacted in his own person the self-same processes which occur on the cosmic scale, on the principle of the master-key of analogy, the size, shape, and orientation of the passages and chambers signifying at once cosmic and human mysteries. It should come as no surprise to find very abundant use the pyramid and triangle.

The Pyramid and Triangle:

The use of the pyramid and triangle Not only are symbols of pyramids being used abundantly in corporate logos, but many modern structures are also being built in the shape of a pyramid. The Louvre Pyramid in Paris, France, in the court of the Louvre Museum acts as an entrance to the museum.

The Transamerica Pyramid is located in San Francisco, California. The 32-story Pyramid Arena in Memphis, Tennessee (built in

1991) was the home court for the University of Memphis men's basketball program, and the National Basketball Association's Memphis Grizzlies until 2004. The Slovak radio building in Bratislava, Slovakia is shaped like an inverted pyramid. The Walter Pyramid, home of the basketball and volleyball teams of the California State University, Long Beach, campus in California, United States, is an 18-story-tall blue pyramid. The Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, United States, is a 30-story pyramid with light beaming from the top. The Summum Pyramid is a 3 story pyramid in Salt Lake City, Utah, used for instruction in the Summum philosophy and conducting rites associated with Modern Mummification. The Palace of Peace and Reconciliation in Astana, Kazakhstan is also built as a pyramid. The three pyramids of Moody Gardens in Galveston, Texas are another example. The Co-Op Bank Pyramid or Stockport Pyramid in Stockport, England is a large pyramid-shaped office block in Stockport in England. (The surrounding part of the valley of the upper Mersey has sometimes been called the "Kings Valley" after the Valley of the Kings in Egypt.). Other examples of modern pyramids include the GoJa Music Hall in Prague, the Muttart Conservatory greenhouses in Edmonton, Alberta, and the unfinished Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang. Small pyramids similar to those of the Louvre can be found outside the lobby of the Citicorp Building in Long Island City, Queens NY. The City Stars Complex in Cairo, Egypt also features pyramids.

Another example is the pyramid building belonging to 3DPLM Software Solutions, at Hinjwadi, Pune, India.

Modern Pyramid Buildings Triquetra: A somewhat more complex representation of the triangle is the triquetra. Triquetra is a word derived from the Latin tri- ("three") and quetrus ("cornered"). Its original meaning was simply "triangle" and it has been used to refer to various three-cornered shapes.

Presently it refers exclusively to a certain more complicated shape formed of three vesicae piscis, sometimes with an added circle in or around it.

Ttriquetra To the ancient Celts, as well as to other pre-Christian Europeans, the number three was associated with the Goddess, and with femininity in general. This was due to their observation that one of the main things that women have in common is what they called "the three stages of a woman's life." These stages are unique to women, as they revolve around the menses. The first stage called "Virgin" or "Maiden occurs before a girl has her first period. The second stage called the "Mother" years or the childbearing years, begins with the onset of menstruation. The final stage called the "Crone" or "Wise Woman" stage begins at menopause. "Virgin, mother, crone" or "maiden, mother, wise woman;" just as the three points of the Triquetra represent this concept, the association of this "power of three" is seen in other Pagan symbols as well. The virgin, mother crone represents a pagan trinity. It also stood for the Celtic philosophy that everything has three distinct yet interlocked levels - physical, mental and spiritual.

The triquetra often occurs in art produced in the post-Roman British Isles. Drawings of triskeles or triple spirals often incorporated the triquetra as a design element. The term triskele or triskelion applies to a symbol consisting of three interlocked spirals, or three bent human legs, or any similar symbol with three protrusions and a threefold rotational symmetry. The triple spiral motif appears as a Neolithic symbol in Western Europe. Neolithic artisans carved it into the rock of a stone lozenge near the main entrance of the prehistoric Newgrange monument in County Meath, Ireland. The wall in the inner chamber of the passage tomb contains a variant of the symbol. The triskelion symbol appears in artifacts from Mycenaean, Lycia, Pamphylia, Pisidia, and Anatolia. The Gauls who invaded and settled Galatia provide possible evidence for the Celtic origin for the triskelion. The triquetra has been found on runestones in Northern Europe and on early Germanic coins. It presumably had pagan religious meaning and it bears a resemblance to the Valknut, a symbol associated with Odin (see Odin under Santa Clause below). The valknut is a symbol consisting of three interlocked triangles.

Christians adopted the pagan triquetra as a symbol of the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). This appropriation was particularly easy because the triquetra conveniently incorporated three shapes that could be interpreted as ICHTHUS symbols. Once Christians had accepted the pagan ICHTHUS symbol it became very easy to accept the equally pagan triquetra as a symbol.

A common representation of the triquetra as a symbol is with a circle that goes through the three interconnected loops in the triquetra. The circle emphasizes that through the combination of the three elements, a whole is created, and the latter is influenced by each of the elements. Among the occult the circle is an ancient and universal symbol of unity, wholeness, infinity, the goddess, and female power. It represents the feminine spirit or force, the cosmos or a spiritualized Mother Earth, and a sacred space. Gnostic traditions linked the unbroken circle to the "world serpent" forming a circle as it eats its own tail.

Among Germanic Neopagan groups the triquetra symbolize their faith. For Celtic Reconstructionist Pagans the triquetra symbolizes either one of the various triplicities in their cosmology and theology, or one of the specific triple Goddesses, most notably Brigid, representing the mother, the maid and the crone. Wiccans and some New Agers use the to triquetra symbolize either the Wiccan triple goddess, the interconnected parts of our existence (Mind, Body, and Soul), or many other concepts that seem to fit into this idea of a unity.

On the TV series Charmed (a series about three young witches) the cover of the Book of Shadows featured the triquetra. A triquetra is one of the four symbols on the cover of the Led Zeppelin album, Led Zeppelin IV, where it used as the personal symbol of bassist John Paul Jones. The triquetra has recently been adopted as the logo of the Ontario New Democratic Party in Canada. The band Payable on Death (P.O.D.) uses this symbol on most of their CD covers. The triquetra is used on the cover of The New King James Version Bibles, published by Thomas Nelson, Inc. It is used in fashion on Lionheart Apparel clothing. The triquetra makes an appearance on the cover of The Aquarian Conspiracy by Marilyn Ferguson. The Institute for Transpersonal Psychology uses the triquetra in their logo. The cover of The Craft: A Witches Book of Shadows by Dorothy Morrison is decorated with the triquetra.

The rock group Deicide uses the triquetra as artwork on their album "Once Upon the Cross." State farm insurance uses the triquetra as a part of their logo.

The Connection Church of North Richland Hills, Texas and the Parish of Llandudno, and Trinity Lutheran Church and School in Elkhart, Indiana use the triquetra as their logo. A closer look at the triquetra reveals that it is actually composed of three

intertwining sixes. While many Christian groups use the triquetra it is clearly of a sinister origin.

Symbols of Baal: Among the Canaanites the sun God was Baal. The ancient Hebrews often fell into idolatrous worship of Baal. Baal, literal meaning is "lord," in the Canaanite pantheon was the local title of fertility gods. Thus Ball was often represented by the Obelisk. The obelisk is a phallic symbol. The Obelisk is among the most common Occultic symbols. In London stands an Egyptian Obelisk known as Cleopatra‘s Needle. Another Egyptian Obelisk stands in the middle of St Peter‘s Square in Rome. The Washington Monument is another monument to Baal. The City and County of Denver has placed its obelisk between the City and County Building and the Colorado State Capitol. Indianapolis Indiana has an obelisk erected in the middle of town. George Washington‘s tomb is flanked by two obelisks. Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Jackson are buried beneath an obelisk. Wikipedia lists well over fifty examples of modern obelisks.

Phallic representations of Baal Church towers and steeples are another common variation on the obelisk. Other modern variations on the obelisk include the Seattle Space Needle, the Berlin TV Tower, the Gherkin Building in London, the Prayer Tower at Oral Roberts University, City Hall in Philadelphia, and the Coit Tower in San Francisco California. A number of companies and organizations have phallic symbols as their corporate logo: Deutscher Volleyball-Verband, The Equality Authority, The Orchard Street chop House (steakhouse), Dick Clark Productions, Double Tree Hotels, Pontin‘s (notice the "T"), and Enlargel just to name a few.

Phallic representations in Disney Films Disney has become infamous for the depiction of phallic symbols on the cover of the Little Mermaid. Disney also placed phallic trees in Cinderella. Snow White was also seen next to phallic columns. In Bambi his tail is made to appear like a phallus.

Pinocchio‘s nose was another obvious phallic symbol used in Disney films. In Fantasia Mickey conjures the phallic broom.

Dumbo‘s nose was also a phallic symbol. In Lady and the Tramp the bread sticks made nice phallic symbols. In 101 Dalmatians Cruella De Vil appears as a phallic symbol within a purple vulva. Disney also gave a number of the characters in the Jungle Book phallic appearances. Finally the logo used by Walt Disney Pictures has a castle with phallic towers.

The phallic rose of Baal Another phallic representation of Ball is the Rose. The Red Rose is used as a symbol for socialism and the worker‘s party in England. The annual Rose Bowl uses the Rose as a part of its logo. Rose Brick and Materials and Rose Reality are among many companies that have included the name Rose in their company name and incorporated the rose as a part of their company logo.

Daonippon Shuitomo Pharmaceutical Company uses a stylized rose as a part of their corporate logo. The Cystic Fibroses foundation also uses the rose motif. Capital Bank, HSBC bank and Chase Bank all use a stylized rose as their corporate logo.

Another variation of the rose is the compass rose. Mohegan Sun casino, NATO, the Seattle Mariners, Evergreen, the CIA, the Anglican Communion Network, Armstrong Atlantic University, and many other companies all use the compass rose as their logo.

Another depiction of the rose is the rose window in many churches and cathedrals. The phallic rose in its many variations is among one of the most widely used Occultic symbols.

The worship of Baal extended from the Canaanites to the Phoenicians who also were partially an agricultural people. Both Baal and his cohort Ashtoreth, or Astarte, who is equivalent to the Greek goddess Aphrodite, were both Phoenician fertility symbols. Baal, the sun god, was fervently prayed to for the protection of livestock and crops. Priests instructed the people that Baal was responsible for droughts, plagues, and other calamities. People were often worked up into great frenzies at the prospects of displeasing Baal. In times of great turbulence human sacrifices, particularly children, were also made to the great god Moloch and goddess Ishtar.

The Bell: According to the Lexicon of Freemasonry (by Albert Mackey), another name for Ball was Bell. Some may wonder about the claims that the bell is an Occult symbol based on the name association with the variant spelling (Bell) of Baal. Even apart form this correlation the bell is important to the Occult and witchcraft. The bell also has magical associations. It has been believed for

centuries to possess a magical and/or spiritual power. They are associated with the divine: their sound is symbolic of creative power, their shape a symbol of the female force and celestial vault. The bell is an uncommon tool. There is no one way to use the bell. The bell may be used to open and close the sacred circle, Invoke the goddess, ring to ward off negative energies (as well as invite positive energies ), or use it to signal different sections of a ritual and/or Sabbat.

The Bell: Witches use the bell in their rituals. For many centuries bells were used in pagan religious ceremonies in India. The American Liberty Bell combines a representation of Bell with the concept of Libertas the goddess of Liberty. Bell Telephone uses the Occult bell symbol enclosed in a sacred circle. Taco Bell uses a bell which also contains the Eye of Hourus as its corporate logo. The Wausau School District also uses a bell enclosed in a sacred circle as their logo. The Philadelphia Phillies use a bell (the Liberty Bell) as a part of their logo. Notice also that two pentagrams have been placed on the bell in the Phillies logo.

Combining the god and goddess: The masculine fertility symbol is represented by the blade, or upward pointing triangle. The female fertility symbol is the chalice, or downward pointing triangle. The combination of these two symbols produces the hexagram, or six pointed star. The hexagram is also known as the Star of David, Megan David, Jewish Star, and Seal of Solomon. Solomon turned to the occult in his old age and thereby lost the blessing of God. It is considered one of the most powerful symbols in the occult. The hexagram is also a Mandala symbol called satkona yantra or sadkona yantra found on ancient South Indian Hindu temples. It symbolizes the perfect meditative state of balance achieved between Man and God, and if maintained, results in "Moksha," or "Nirvana" (release from the bounds of the earthly world and its material trappings). The Hebrew nation began to be identified with the hexagram in the Middle Ages, religious usage maybe archeologically traced to the third or fourth century. Some Christian churches have incorporated the hexagram as a symbol in architectural elements such as, stained glass windows. Muslims use the hexagram in artwork and architecture. Hindu art also uses the hexagram. The Hexagram appears in Masonic art. Theosophy prominently displays the hexagram within the symbol chosen for its movement.

Hexagram and Compass and Square The prefix in hexagram is "hex." Interestingly "hex" has two meanings: it is the prefix denoting the number six (as in hexagram – a six pointed star and hexagon – a six pointed geometric shape). It also has the meaning of a witch or evil curse. The Bible refers to that very star in two places: 37 This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.

38 This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers:

who received the lively oracles to give unto us: 39 To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, 40 Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.

41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.

42 Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?

43 Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.

[26] But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.

[27] Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts. Amos 5:26 – 27 Acts 7:43 is a quotation form the Septuagint's Amos 5:26. In the Septuagint raiphan or rephan stands for the Hebrew Chuin or Kewan. Most Bible scholars attribute Kewan to be the Old Babylonian Kayawanu, the planet Saturn, another (the Akkadian) name for which is Sakkut, which appears as Siccuth in the earlier part of the verse. Saturn is the 6th planet and (in the occult) is linked to Cain. Chiun is another name for Saturn. H.P. Blavatsky holds that in Egypt the god of time was Chium or Saturn and she also further Chium with the Biblical Cain (The Secret Doctrine pgs 897:390). Chiun is sometimes called Kaiwan, or spelled Khiun, which means star. The "star" Saturn was a god called Sakkuth or Chiun among Assyrians. In Akkadian texts both names refer to the planet or "star", Saturn.‖ The joining of the male and female is sexual union is also depicted with the Masonic Compass and Square. The meanings of the Compass and Square in Freemasonry include a symbolic representation of the creation of the universe by the sexual union of the male and female creative powers. In societies where god is acknowledged, Freemasons place a "G" at the point of sexual union to represent god. In atheistic cultures the "G" may be reversed (reversals are very common in Occultic symbols) to symbolize the antigod. The "G" may also be stylized into an "arm" and hammer configuration. The communist Party used yet another variation of this symbol as the hammer and sickle. East Germany used both this symbolism and the Masonic Compass.

Bank of America uses a variation of the Masonic Square and Compass as a part of their corporate logo. The Real Yellow Pages use fingers to form the Masonic Compass, while the pages of an open book form the Masonic Square. Hypo Group Alpe Adria Bank uses a stylized compass and square in their logo. While Wall Mart prefers to use the Occultic Pentagram in its logo Sam‘s Club and Jack in the Box go for the stylized compass and square. Notice also that in the Jack and the Box logo the letters o and x are positioned to form the Ichthys symbol. Volkl makes very obvious use of the compass and square design.

The Square: Mackey‘s Symbolism of Freemasonry explains that in Freemasonry the square is a symbol of morality, or the strict performance of every duty. The Entered Apprentice learns that the Square represents one of the three Great Lights of Freemasonry. Freemasons consider the square one of their working tools. Freemasons use the Square as one of the Jewels of the Lodge, and the special Jewel of the Master of the Lodge. Masons consider the square one of their most important tools, whether an Operative or a Speculative one, for it connects and more or less includes the Level and the Plumb Rule, and it is the only tool by which the rough Ashlar can be prepared and tested; and unless the ashlars are perfect the building cannot be built after any wise plan, or with strength, or with beauty. It is used to form the rude and to prove the perfect mass, and therefore it is of the utmost importance that an implement on which so much depends shall be itself perfectly correct. It should come as no surprise that the square is commonly used by companies to represent the company and its products.

Logos with the Masonic Square Square Investment uses the square as a part of its corporate logo. Notice also the incorporation of the Square and Compass themes.

Lego, Coca Cola, Quaker State, the Florida Lottery, Compass Bank, Home Depot, JVC, Swiss Second Life Bank, Blog Spot, the United States Postal Service, Comfort Inn, Wells Fargo, and Quality Suites all use the Masonic square as a part of their logo. A number of companies such as the Florida Lottery, Compass Bank, and Comfort Inn also incorporate obvious sun imagery into their logos. It is also important to notice the prevalence of the color red. Red is the color associated with the planet mars, the Red Planet.

Mars was associated with warfare and bloodshed.

Another Masonic symbol is the canted square. This is a square with a angular deviation from a vertical or horizontal plane or surface; an inclination or slope. Within the rituals of occult orders, such as the Freemasons, it is required that the candidate circle the altar of the lodge in a particular manner. It is called circumambulation. Circumambulation is the practice of making a circuit about a thing or in an area of reverence. Freemasons go around the alter, while keeping the right hand toward the altar. This symbolizes the motion of the sun across the sky and was undoubtedly derived from the ancient sun-worship. During the circuits of the lodge room, corners should be squared in accordance with the ancient tradition of ―squaring the lodge". The Canted Square is produced by the union of the Compass and Square and may be seen in corporate logos for Jack in the Box and Sam‘s Club.

Cube Symbols: The cube or ashlar blocks are used in the construction of many old buildings as an alternative to brick. Generally the external face is smooth or polished, occasionally it can be decorated by small grooves achieved by the application of a metal comb, this is usually only used on a softer stone ashlar block. This decoration is known as mason's drag. To Freemasons the ashlar has a great symbolic meaning. In Masonry you are to work from the rough ashlar to the perfect ashlar. To a Mason, the rough ashlar ―is a symbol of men‘s natural state of ignorance. But if the perfect ashlar be, in reference to its mode of preparation, considered as a symbol of the social character of Freemasonry, then the rough ashlar must be considered as a symbol of the profane world. In this species of symbolism, the rough and the perfect bear the same relationship to each other as ignorance does to knowledge, death to life, and light to darkness. The rough ashlar is the profane; the perfect ashlar is the initiate.‖ Mackey‘s Symbolism of Freemasonry (p.323)

Cube Symbols Thus like the square, the cube is also frequently used as an occult symbol in our daily lives, with its true meaning obfuscated for the uninitiated. Just a few companies that uses the cube in their logo include Star Carpool, Gateway, Game Cube, Play Station, and Health Systems Impact Assessment.

Blockbuster = Mason: Freemasons historically claim to derive their name from stone masons of the Middle ages. Stone masons work by busting blocks of stone. The shape of the Masonic Lodge is said to be two cubes, or a rectangle. The lower degrees of Freemasonry are called the Blue Lodge. The symbolism is the Blockbuster logo is very obvious to those familiar with Masonic and occult symbolism.

Star of Babalon: This seven pointed star is the symbol chosen by Aleister Crowley to symbolize Babalon, the Thelemic Goddess who is the personification of the kabbalistic sphere of Binah. The seven points are the seven letters of the name Babalon, the seven planets, the seven "veils," and the seven chakras.

Star of Babalon Ishtar the Owl god: Ishtar is the Assyrian and Babylonian counterpart to the Sumerian Inanna and to the cognate northwest Semitic goddess Astarte.

Ishtar is a goddess of fertility, love, and war. In the Babylonian pantheon, she "was the divine personification of the planet Venus".

Ishtar was above all associated with sexuality: her cult involved sacred prostitution; her holy city Erech was called the "town of the

sacred courtesans"; and she herself was the "courtesan of the gods". Ishtar had many lovers. Ishtar was also known as Semiramis.

She was depicted in many forms including that of an owl. Ishtar needed appeasement with child and human sacrifice.

Moloch, Molech, Molekh, or Molek went by many names including, but not limited to, Ba'al, Moloch, Apis Bull, Golden Calf, Chemosh, as well as many other names, and was widely worshipped in the Middle East and wherever Punic culture extended (including, but not limited to, the Ammonites, Edomites and the Moabites). Baal Moloch was conceived under the form of a calf or an ox or depicted as a man with the head of a bull. No ancient records or artifacts show Molec depicted as an owl. Due to the mock human sacrifices performed at the Bohemian Gove, many falsely assume that the owl at the Grove is Molec, when in fact the Owl is Ishtar.

Ishtar the owl god

In the ancient world, Ishtar was depicted in many forms including an owl. The Bohemian Club and Bohemian Grove have used the owl of Ishtar as their logo. Members of the Bohemian Grove conduct a mock human sacrifice in front of a 40 foot statue of Ishtar depicted as an owl. Freemason Pierre Charles L'Enfant laid out the streets surrounding the U.S. Capitol in the shape of the Owl of Ishtar. The National Press Club uses both the Owl of Ishtar and the Luciferian Lamp of knowledge in their logo. The U.S. Forest Service used Woodsy the Owl to promote their environmental agenda. Losabia uses the owl as a corporate logo. Athena Consulting also uses the owl as a part of its logo. Also notice the sun symbolism of the point and circle. Buildings like the AT&T Building in Nashville Tennessee, the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and the Frost Bank Tower in Austin, Texas were all constructed to resemble an owl.

Dagon the Fish God: The Philistines worshipped Dagon the fish god. Dagon combined attributes of man and fish. The name "Dagon" is derived from "dag" which means "fish." Dagon was imagined in the shape of a merman (similar to the Babylonian fish-god Oannes). Although there was a deep affection from Dagon's worshippers to their deity, the symbol of a fish in human form was really meant to represent fertility and the vivifying powers of nature and reproduction. The Babylonians had a myth that a being emerged from the Erythraean Sea who was part man and part fish and thus adopted the deity into their culture in their earliest days in history. Their have also been discoveries of the fish-god in the sculptures found in Nineveh, Assyria. According to mystic traditions Dagon was also the father of Baal. Among the Canaanites, Baal eventually assumed the position of god of fertility, which Dagon had previously occupied. Dagon was sometimes associated with the mermaid deity Dagon was also the father of Baal. Among the Canaanites, baal eventually assumed the position of god of fertility, which Dagon had previously occupied. Dagon was sometimes associated with the mermaid deity Derceto.

Symbols of Dagon In Syrian myth, Derketo was the mermaid-goddess, mother of Atargatis and grandmother of the Babylonian Queen Semiramis.

Derketo and Derketa were variant names of the same goddess rather than male and female incarnations of the same god. Dagon, who was originally perceived as a male deity, was later reinterpreted as female by Athanasius Kircher in his Oedipus Aegypticus (Rome, 1652) and wound up looking a lot like a mermaid. Danish author Hans Christian Anderson wrote the children‘s book the Little Mermaid. This book is memorialized by a statue in Copenhagen‘s harbor of the Little Mermaid. Walt Disney Pictures made an animated version of the book into a film by the same title.

In the children‘s story the mermaid is named Ariel and her father is named Triton. Ariel is an archangel found primarily in mysticism and Apocrypha. According to this mythology, Ariel is the opposite of Lucifer. While Lucifer may be seen as evil or bad, Ariel is seen as good. Mythology identifies Ariel as the Gnostic Demiurge (Creator god), thus assuming a counterfeit role of the

true God of the Bible. Presented as an authority over the Earth and its elements, Ariel has also been called an angel of healing, wrath & creation. Traditionally Ariel was the demon with power over the Earth. Ariel may well be derived from the Demiurge's Zoroastrian counterpart Ahriman (who is likely the predecessor of the Mithraic "Arimanius"). In ancient Persian religion (Zoroastrianism), Arimanius (aka Ahriman or Angra Mainya) stood high in the ranks of the enemies who opposed Ahura Mazda (aka Ohrmazd or Oromasdes). Ahriman is thought to be the first personification of "the Devil." Thus by tracing the name Ariel to its Zoroastrian Ariel becomes the dualistic opposite of Lucifer which the Taoists represent as Ying and Yang.

In the story Ariel‘s father is Triton. Triton is a mythological Greek god, the messenger of the deep. He is the son of Poseidon, god of the sea, and Amphitrite, goddess of the sea. He is usually represented as a merman, having the upper body of a human and the tail of a fish. Like his father, he carried a trident. Tridents feature widely in mythical, historical and modern culture. Called "the devil's pitchfork," it has symbolized major gods in various pagan cultures. In India, it is linked to the Hindu "trident-bearer" Shiva or Siva, spouse of the skull-bearing goddess Kali. With the trident Shiva destroys evils and restores order. The trident stands for the triple qualities of nature, namely, sattva (the pure), rajas (quality of activity) and tamas (the force which promotes one or more of the following: darkness, death, destruction, ignorance, sloth, or resistance). Shiva is the master of maya (fundamental reality) and thereby master of these three qualities with which he controls the worlds. The trident symbolically represents the fact that Shiva is the controller of the worlds and controller of all illusion. The trident also represents the three aspects of time, the past, the present and the future.

Siva is master of Time, Kal Bhairav, who determines the progress of the worlds according to his will. The trident represents the three paths to self-realization, namely the path of knowledge, the path of action and the path of devotion. With these three paths, Shiva transforms his devotees and destroys the evil in them. The trident stands for the three primary evils which need to destroyed in order to make progress towards the divine. They are the evil of anger, the evil of lust and the evil of pride.

Triton's special attribute was a twisted conch shell, on which he blew like a trumpet to calm or raise the waves. Since time immemorial, the conch shell functioned as the original horn trumpet. Ancient Indian epics describe how each hero of mythical warfare carried a mighty white conch shell, which often bore a personal name. The conch shell became one of the main emblems of Vishnu. Vishnu‘s conch bears the name of Panchajanya, meaning 'having control over the five classes of beings.' Tibetan Buddhists use the conch to call together religious assemblies. During the actual practise of rituals, it is used both as a musical instrument and as a container for holy water. In India the conch shells may also be used as a symbol of the fourfold caste division is also applied as follows: The smooth white conch represents the Brahmin caste (priests); the red conch, the kshatriyas (warriors); the yellow conch, the vaishyas (merchants); and the grey conch, the shudras (laborers). Triton's conch‘s sound was so terrible, that when loudly blown, it put the giants to flight, who imagined it to be the roar of a mighty wild beast. In this way the attributes of Triton are strikingly similar to those of Vishnu.

A common characteristic of these gods is the presence of the miter as a headdress. The Ancient depictions of Dagon show a miter.

As do the depictions of Shiva and Vishnu. In antiquity the priests of Dagon and other false gods wore the ceremonial miter. The mitre, also spelled miter derives from the Greek word meaning 'headband' or 'turban.' The miter is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial head-dress in a number of religions around the world. Many historians trace the development of the miter to the use of a tiara. For example, in a painting from 1219 Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) is depicted wearing an early papal tiara. The Papal tiara probably developed from the Phrygian cap, or frigium, a conical cap worn in the Greco-Roman world. The Phrygian Cap developed as the classic cap of the god Mithra; the sacrificial cap; and the miter. In classical sculptures Mithra is depicted wearing the Phrygian Cap. The Priests of Mithra wore the Phrygian Cap during sacrifice. When worn by a male, it had its crest, comb, or point set jutting forward; when worn by a female, the same prominent part of the cap is in reverse, or on the nape of the neck, as in the instance of the Amazon's helmet, displayed in antique sculptures, or that of the goddess Athena. In ancient Rome the goddess Cybel, whom we have discussed previously, was also depicted wearing a miter.

In ancient Israel, the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) wore a headdress called the Mitznefet (often translated into English as "miter"), which was wound around the head so as to form a broad, flat-topped turban. Mitznefet often rendered as "mitre" or "headdress" and was more than likely a turban, as the word comes from the root "to wrap". Thus the headdress of the Hebrew High Priest was different from that worn by priests of other gods at that time. The Mitznefet worn by the High Priest was much larger than the head

coverings of the kohenim (priests) and wound so that it formed a broad, flat-topped turban, resembling the blossom of a flower.

The head covering of the kohenim was different, being wound so that it formed a cone-shaped turban, called a migbahat. While the migbahat some-what resembles the miter of antiquity, both the migbahat and Mitznefet are quite different from the ancient miter and should not be confused.

The late Buddhist Lama Chhimed Rigdzin Rinpoche frequently wore a miter. Since at least the tenth century, Roman Catholic Bishops and Popes have worn the miter of Dagon. Pope Benedict XVI continues this pagan tradition. The miter is also prominently featured in the official crest of Pope Benedict XVI. The 104th and current Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Douglas Williams also likes to sport the miter of Dagon. Like the Pope, the Archbishop of Canterbury also uses a miter as a part of his crest.

In light of the miters origin as the Mithric Phrygian Cap the cult of Mithra and the Phrygian Cap warrant further examination.

Mithras was the nominal object of devotion in a Greco-Roman mystery religion of late antiquity. The cult, which was known as the Mysteries of Mithras and was reserved for male initiates only, developed in the eastern Mediterranean around the 1st century and continued to be practiced throughout the Roman Empire until about the 5th century. The origin of the "the mysteries of Mithras" appears rather to be shrouded in antiquity. Some scholars argue that Mithras was founded by Zoroaster. While others assert that the practices of "the mysteries of Mithras" didn‘t develop until the first century Anno Domini. In all likelihood the mysteries of Mithras may be traced back to the cult originating at the Biblical tower of Babel. By the third and fourth centuries the cult of Mithras had become very common among soldiers of the Roman Empire. Mithraism disappeared from overt practice after the Theodosian decree of 391 banned all pagan rites, and it apparently became extinct thereafter.

In every Mithraic temple, the place of honor was occupied by a representation of Mithras killing a sacred bull. In the depiction, Mithras, wearing a Phrygian cap and pants, slays the bull from above while (usually) looking away. A serpent that symbolizes the earth and a dog seems to drink from the bull's open wound (which often spills blood but occasionally grain), and a scorpion (sign for autumn) attacks the bull's testicles sapping the bull for strength. Sometimes, a raven or crow is also present, and sometimes also a goblet and small lion. Cautes and Cautopates, the celestial twins of light and darkness (pictures of Lucifer‘s post-fall condition), are torch-bearers (the light bearers Lucifer), standing on either side with their legs crossed, Cautes with his brand pointing up and Cautopates with his turned down. Above Mithras, the symbols for sun and moon are present in the starry night sky.

Mithraism was an initiatory order, passed from initiate to initiate. Mithraism was not , based on a body of scripture, and hence very little written documentary evidence of the belief system of Mithraism survives. No Mithraic scripture or first-hand account of its highly secret rituals survives, with the possible exception of a liturgy recorded in a 4th century papyrus, thought to be an atypical representation of the cult at best. Current knowledge of the mysteries is almost entirely limited to what can be deduced from the iconography in the Mithera that have survived. Some historians have argued that early Christian art and perhaps belief systems were influenced by Mithera.

The Phrygian cap is a soft, red, conical cap, worn in antiquity by the inhabitants of Phrygia, a region of central Anatolia. The cap was also worn by the priests of Mithera. The Phrygian cap likely was the processor of the miter used in many of the world‘s religions. In Antiquity the Phrygian cap had two meanings: for the Greeks it represented a distinctive Eastern (Persian) influence of non-Greek "barbarism." Among the Romans it became a badge of liberty. In its association with the Mitheric Mysteries the Phrygian cap came to be an outward sign of enlightenment or illumination. For example, in a sixth century mosaic from the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, Italy the three Wise Men (thought to be initiates of the Eastern Mysteries) are shown wearing the Phrygian cap. During the Roman Empire the Phrygian cap (Latin, pileus) was worn on festive occasions such as the Saturnalia, and by former slaves who had been emancipated by their master and whose descendants were therefore considered citizens of the Empire. This usage is often considered the root of its meaning as a symbol of liberty.

In the 18th century, the red Phrygian cap evolved into a symbol of freedom, held aloft on a Liberty Pole during the American Revolutionary War. The Phrygian cap became very popular during the French Revolution as a symbol of liberty. It is important to recall that this liberty is the Satanic counterfeit as represented by the pagan goddess of liberty in all of her forms. In France Marianne was shown wearing a Phrygian cap. The U.S. army adopted the Phrygian cap as a part of their seal since 1778, when they adopted the ―War Office Seal‖. Since 1886 the U.S. Senate has used the Phrygian cap as a part of its seal. Pope Benedict will also

on occasion sport a red Phrygian cap.

Santa Claus: Another figure to be seen is a Phrygian cap is Santa Clause. Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, or simply "Santa", is a figure in Western cultures, described as bringing gifts on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, or on his feast day, December 6. Santa Claus often is characterized as a gnome. A gnome is a mythical creature characterized by its extremely small size and subterranean lifestyle. The word gnome is derived from the New Latin gnomus. It is often claimed to descend from the Greek gnosis, "knowledge", but more likely comes from genomos "earth-dweller."

From Satan to Santa The traditional history of Santa Clause begins with a tradition among seventeenth century Dutch children of placing their shoes by the fireplace on December 5, for Saint Nicholas. The next morning, they awoke to gifts and goodies in their shoes, left by Saint Nicholas. Like today‘s Santa, Saint Nicolas traveled from housetop to housetop, and getting gifts into the house through the chimney. In the Dutch language Saint Nicholas is "Sint Nikolass," which was shortened to "Sinter Klaas," of which the anglicized form is "Santa Claus."

Saint Nicholas of Myra is usually considered the primary inspiration for the Christian figure of Santa Claus. Allegedly he was a 4th-century Greek Christian bishop of Myra in Lycia, a province of the Byzantine Anatolia, now in Turkey. Nicholas was famous for his generous gifts to the poor, in particular presenting the three impoverished daughters of a pious Christian with dowries so that they would not have to become prostitutes. Unfortunately little to no historical evidence verifies that he ever even existed. In 1969 Pope Paul VI officially removed the Feast of St. Nicolas from the Roman Catholic calendar. Nicolas and other saints were removed because of doubts that they ever existed. However, in Europe (more precisely the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and Germany) he is still portrayed as a bearded bishop in canonical robes. Historical research indicates that the traditional tale that Santa Claus is the anglicized corruption of the Dutch Sinter Klaas is also incorrect. Santa Claus is not a characteristically Dutch corruption. The place it has survived from early times in Switzerland and southern Germany. According to the St Nicolas legends, St Nicolas had a helper known as Knecht Rupprecht; Pelznickle; Ru-Klas; Swarthy; Dark One; Dark Helper; Black Peter; Hans Trapp; Krampus; Grampus; Zwarte Piets; Furry Nicholas; Rough Nicholas; Schimmelreiter; Klapperbock; Julebuk; a demon; evil one; the devil and Satan. One of his dark duties was to punish children and "gleefully drag them to hell."

In Germany the Saint Nicholas figure itself is the Dark Helper, a devil who wants to punish children, but is stopped from doing so

by Christ. Black Pete, the ‗grandfather‘ of our modern Santa Claus. Known in Holland as Zwarte Piet, this eighteenth-century German version, is—like his ancient shamanic ancestor—still horned, fur-clad, scary, and less than kind to children. Although portrayed as the slave helper of Saint Nicholas, the two are, in many villages, blended into one character. This figure often has the

name Nikolass or Klaus, but has the swarthy appearance of the Dark Helper. By the mid-nineteenth century Zwarte Piet had acquired may of the characteristics of the African race, which due to the theories of the Great Chain of Being and Darwinism were considered to be inferior.

Many Santa researchers agree that some traits of Santa was borrowed from Norse (Scandinavian) mythology. Numerous parallels have been drawn between Santa Claus and the figure of Odin or Woden, a major god amongst the Germanic peoples prior to their Christianization. Odin lived in Valhalla (the North) and had a long white beard. Odin would fly through the sky during the winter solstice (December 21-25) rewarding the good children and punishing the naughty.

Other researchers connect Santa Clause to the Norse God Thor. Thor is the Norse god of thunder. He is a son of Odin and Jord, and one of the most powerful gods. Thor is married to Sif, a fertility goddess. His mistress is the giantess Jarnsaxa ("iron cutlass"), and their sons are Magni and Modi and his daughter is Thrud. Thor is helped by Thialfi, his servant and the messenger of the gods. The Norse people represented Thor as an elderly man, jovial and friendly, of heavy build, with a long white beard. His element was the fire, his color red. Thor rode in a chariot drawn by two white goats (called Cracker and Gnasher). The rolling of his chariot produced the rumble and roar of thunder. His struggle with the giants of ice and snow resulted in him becoming the Yule-god, who lived in the Northland. Our pagan forefathers considered Thor as the cheerful and friendly god, never harming the humans but rather helping and protecting them. The fireplace in every home was especially sacred to him, and he was said to come down through the chimney into his element, the fire. Thor is among histories most celebrated and worshipped pagan gods. The fifth day of the week is names Thursday or Thor‘s day. Thor is also know as the chief antagonist (enemy, adversary, or replacement), of Christ in Scandinavian mythology. This clearly identifies Thor as Satan.

The cult of St. Nicholas became the most intensive of any non-biblical saint in Christendom. By the height of the Middle Ages, St. Nicholas was probably invoked in prayer more than any other figure except the Virgin Mary and Christ Himself. 2,137 churches were dedicated to St. Nicholas in France, Germany, and the Low Countries before the year 1500.

Another problem in the "St. Nicholas is Santa Claus" legend involves the date of December 25. The Feast and Visit of St. Nicholas is celebrated on December 6 (the fictional date of his death), not December 25. Even today, St. Nicholas Day and Sinter Klaas are still celebrated on December 6. The date of St. Nicholas Day has never been December 25.

Washington Irving‘s December 1809 publication of A Knickerbocker History of New York created the modern American version of Santa Clause and falsely claimed that Dutch settlers brought the idea to America. The fact is that the early New Amsterdam Dutch were Reformation Dutch who believed the veneration of saints as evil heresy, especially St. Nicholas. The early Dutch passed laws prohibiting any celebration of St. Nicholas. Historians have found no evidence for the presence of St. Nicolas in the culture of New Amsterdam for the first century after that settlement was established.

Inspired by Irving‘s book, Dr. Clement Clarke Moore, a New York Theology professor wore a titled, "A Visit from St. Nicholas" in 1822. This poem was later renamed "Twas‘ The Night Before Christmas." In 1863, inspired by Moore‘s poem cartoonist Thomas Nast illustrated scores of Santa pictures in Harper’s Weekly. The German Pelze-Nicol contributed greatly to the images of Santa Clause produced by Thomas Nast. When Nast was given the task of drawing Santa Clause, he relied on images from his Bavarian childhood of fur-clad, small, troll-like figure, quite unlike the tall Dutch Sinterklaas, who was traditionally depicted as a Catholic bishop. Nast instead drew Saint Nicholas‘ dark helper, Swarthy, or Black Pete (a slang name for the devil in medieval Dutch).

According to the legends it was not St. Nicolas that came down the chimney, but his evil side kicks Black Pete, who was originally described as black because he was covered in soot. All throughout Europe Black Pete is associated with the Devil, whom St. Nicolas is supposed to somehow have subdued. In older English and Dutch the Devil was often called Nick. In the popular Medieval Miracle Plays the Devil would enter and say, ―Ho, Ho, Ho‖, known as the Devil‘s bluster. One can only conclude that the original ancestor of our modern Santa Claus is none other than Satan or the Devil. Santa and Satan are alter egos.

The Names of the Days of the Week: Sunday is derived from the Old English Sunnandaeg, "day of the sun". That originated from the Latin dies solis. The English

language name preserved the pagan meaning of the day. Monday is derived from the Old English Monandaeg, or "day of the moon". That originated from the Latin dies lunae. This derivation is more obvious in French (lundi) and Spanish (lunes). The moon gets its name from Mani ( Old English Mona), the Germanic Moon god. Tuesday comes from the Old English Tiwesdaeg, or "Tyr's day". Tyr, the Norse god of war, is associated with the Roman god of war, Mars, and the name originated from the Latin dies martis, or "day of Mars". This derivation is more obvious in French (mardi), and Spanish (martes). Wednesday comes from the Old English Wodnesdaeg, or "day of Woden (or Odin)". Odin is associated with the Roman god Mercury, both of which were gods of poetry and music, and the name is derived from the Latin dies Mercurii, or "day of Mercury". Consider the French (mercredi) and Spanish (miercoles) for a more obvious connection. Thursday comes from an Old English word meaning "the day of Thor".

Thor was the Norse god of Thunder and was closely associated with Jupiter (or Jove), and the name is derived from the Latin, dies Iovis, or "day of Jove". The derivation is more obvious in French (jeudi) and Spanish (jueves). Friday comes from the Old English Frigedaeg, or "day of Frige". Frige was a goddess of beauty, and was associated with Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. The name is derived from the Latin dies Veneris, or "day of Venus". Consider the French (vendredi) and Spanish (viernes) for a more obvious connection. Saturday is the only one that retains its Roman roots. From the Latin dies Saturni, or "day of Saturn".

EVIL HOLIDAYS: Many of the symbols seen in our daily lives, even at churches are actually evil, Satanic, and Occultic symbols. A great many of the pagan symbols present in today‘s culture were introduced during the reign of Constantine. Allegedly Constantine became a Christian at the Battle of Milvian Bridge, where he had a vision of a cross, and herd the words, "in hoc signo vinces" or "by this, conquer." According to Lactantius, a historian who lived at the Time of Constantine, Constantine had dreamt of the Labarum. On waking he ordered his soldiers to put the emblem on their shields; that very day they fought the forces of Maxentius and won the Battle of the Milvian Bridge (312), outside Rome. The Labarum is a solar symbol used widely in the cult of Sol Invictus (the Invincible Sun) or also as Apollo or Mithras (discussed above) .

Images Associated with Pagan Holidays Constantine was a pagan sun-worshipper who had a "Christian experience" (actually a conversion to a sun worshipping cult) that wanted to unite his empire, both Christian and pagan together. He achieved this by re-writing history and re-naming pagan feasts with Christian names.

VALENTINE'S DAY Pagans in Rome celebrated the evening of February 14th and February 15th and as an idolatrous festival in honor of Lupercus "the hunter of wolves". It was not until the reign of Pope Gelasius that the holiday became a "Christian" custom. "As far back as 496, Pope Gelasius changed Lupercalia on February 15th to St. Valentine's Day on February 14th." The original Saint Valentine was Nimrod, on this day in February, Semiramis, the mother of Nimrod, was said to have been purified and to have appeared for the first time in public with her son as the original "mother and child." Valentines day is also associated with Cupid. Cupid is none other than the Roman from of the Young Jupiter or Bacchus. In reality Valentines Day is a love affair with pagan traditions and gods.

MOTHER'S & FATHER'S DAY Mother's Day dates back to ancient cultures in Greece and Rome. In both cultures, mother goddesses were worshipped during the springtime (Easter) with religious festivals. The ancient Greeks paid tribute to the powerful goddess Rhea, the wife of Cronus, known as the Mother of the Gods (Queen of Heaven). Similarly, evidence of a three-day Roman festival in Mid-March called Hilaria, to honor the Roman goddess Magna Mater, or Great Mother, dates back to 250 BCE. As Christianity spread throughout Europe, the celebration of the "Mother Church" replaced the pagan tradition of honoring mythological goddesses. The fourth Sunday in Lent, a 40-day fasting period before Easter, became known as Mothering Sunday. To show appreciation for their mothers, they often brought gifts or a "mothering cake" (Jeremiah 7:18) and over time, it began to coincide with the celebration of the Mother Church. Mother's Day always falls on the second Sunday of May, and like so many other holidays rooted in pagan sunworship including Father's Day which always falls on the third Sunday of June, usually fall on the day near the summer solstice.

The sun is always typified as a male generative power as seen in its phallic representations. Pagan names for the summer solstice calibrations include Midsummer, Litha, Samradh, Alban Hefin, and Aerra Litha.

EASTER SUNDAY Easter is Ishtar, (Semiramis, widow of Nimrod, mother of Tammuz) the bare breasted pagan fertility goddess of the east. Legend has it that she came out of heaven in a giant egg, landing in the Euphrates river at sunrise on the first Sunday after the vernal equinox, busted out, and turned a bird into an egg laying rabbit. The priest of Easter would then sacrifice infants (human babies) and take the eggs of Easter and die them in the blood of the sacrificed infants (human babies). The Easter eggs would hatch on December 25th, the same day her son Tammuz the reincarnate sun-god would be born...how convenient!

In second century Europe, the predominate spring festival was a raucous Saxon fertility celebration in honor of the Saxon Goddess Eastre (Ostara), whose sacred animal was the rabbit. Even today rabbits are known for their great fertility. It was only natural to selct a rabbit as a symbol of fertility and fertility festivals.

The colored eggs associated with the bunny are of another, even more ancient origin. The eggs associated with this and other Vernal festivals have been symbols of rebirth and fertility for so long the precise roots of the tradition are unknown, and may date to the beginning of human civilization. Ancient Romans and Greeks used eggs as symbols of fertility, rebirth, and abundance- eggs were solar symbols, and figured in the festivals of numerous resurrected gods. The solar worship association of Easter relates to the concept of resurrection. In some pagan traditions the sun was said to die when it set at night and be resurrected when it rose the next morning. The tradition of holding Easter sunrise services may be linked to the original sun worship aspects of the spring fertility festivals.

Pagan fertility festivals at the time of the Spring equinox were common- it was believed that at this time, when day and night were of equal length, male and female energies were also in balance. The hare is often associated with moon goddesses; the egg and the hare together represent the god and the goddess, respectively. Once more we see symbolism indicating both the male and female generative forces. This is a very common theme with Occult symbols and their meanings.

Moving forward fifteen hundred years, we find ourselves in Germany, where children await the arrival of Oschter Haws, a rabbit who will lay colored eggs in nests to the delight of children who discover them Easter morning. It was this German tradition that popularized the 'Easter bunny' in America, when introduced into the American cultural fabric by German settlers in Pennsylvania.

Many modern practitioners of Neo-pagan and earth-based religions have embraced these symbols as part of their religious practice, identifying with the life-affirming aspects of the spring holiday. (The Neopagan holiday of Ostara is descended from the Saxon festival.) Ironically, some Christian groups have used the presence of these symbols to denounce the celebration of the Easter holiday, and many churches have recently abandoned the Pagan moniker with more Christian oriented titles like 'Resurrection Sunday.' The name change doesn‘t change the fact that Easter had a pagan origin.

According to the Bible Jesus was crucified and resurrected at the time of the Hebrew Passover. The Hebrew Passover was set on

the Hebrew lunar calendar to occur in the spring to commemorate when Israel was delivered out of Egypt. The Passover was also a type of Jesus‘ redemptive work. A lunar month is roughly 29.5 days. Twelve lunar months equals 354 days; eleven days less than the solar year. Passover is kept in the month Nissan by the use a thirteen month leap year about every three years. During these leap years, a second month of Adar was added to the calendar. Passover was to fall after the Spring Equinox, when Spring-like conditions were very well established. In the fourth century A.D. the Hebrews adopted a perpetual calendar which is followed today. This calendar is comprised of nineteen year cycles, each cycle containing seven leap years.

It should be noted that the use of a solar calendar itself is based upon pagan sun worship. The Gregorian calendar is the most widely used calendar in the world today. It was first proposed by the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius, and decreed by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom it was named, on 24 February 1582 by papal bull Inter gravissimas. It is a reform of the Julian calendar.

The Julian calendar was a reform of the Roman calendar which was introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC and came into force in 45 BC (709 ab urbe condita). It was chosen after consultation with the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year, known at least since Hipparchus. Hipparchus was the pagan sun worshiper who first suggested the heresy that the earth spins on its axis and moves around the sun once in a year. This tropical year has a regular year of 365 days divided into 12 months, and a leap day is added to February every four years. Hence the Julian year is on average 365.25 days long.

The Romans got the idea of a solar calendar form the Egyptians. God had established a lunar calendar for the use of His people.

Physiologically and psychologically the human body functions in conjunction with lunar cycles. Just like the seven day week (based on the Creation Week) with six days of work and the seventh day of rest works better for human time keeping, a lunar calendar carries with it many similar benefits. Historically the solar calendar is based on pagan sun worship.

HALLOWEEN All Saints' Day was followed by All-Souls' Day, November 2, unless that was a Sunday then it was November 3, this was another Catholic adaptation of pagan festivals for the dead (Samhain). Prayers for the dead are an integral part of the traditional All Saint's Day services, which are scheduled in Catholic churches on November 1, and on the next Sunday. Halloween gets its name from the Catholic holiday, it is a Hallowed evening, because it precedes All Hallows' Day, thus: Hallow'en. Halloween is a pagan holiday to honor the dead and evil spirits. We are warned not to take part in customs and traditions like this in the Scripture (see Deuteronomy 12:30-31). Many pagan cultures celebrate the day of the dead.

What is often overlooked, however, is that there is also the remembrance of the "Day of the Dead" followed by a New Year. This occurs on our calendar at the end of October or the beginning of November. Note that Genesis 7:1 states that it was on the 17th day of the 2nd month that the vast cataclysm of the Flood erupted on the earth. On the Old Testament calendar employed in Genesis (similar to the modern Jewish calendar) the first month of the year runs from mid-September to mid-October (cf. Genesis 26:12 where sowing and reaping take place in the same year, thus indicating an autumn New Year). Therefore, the commencement of the Flood would be the end of October or the beginning of November. Note as well how Genesis 7:21-23 stresses the theme of universal death: 21 And all flesh died that moved upon the earth...

22 So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground‌ 23 They were destroyed from the earth.

Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. The salvation of Noah and those in the Ark is completed by their leaving the Ark and starting anew on the 27th day of the 2nd month of the following year: that is, in November. According to the Biblical account the old world perished in November and a year later a new era commenced in the same month. Both of these facts are indelibly enshrined in the memory of the human race. To many people around the world November brings the Day of the Dead. In a number of ancient and primitive calendars November also brings a New Year at a time which has neither solstice nor equinox nor astronomical event to justify it. Thus the almost universal celebration of the Day of the Dead, although pagan in origin bears testimony to the accuracy of the Biblical text.

Halloween is a perfect example of the activities discussed in Deuteronomy 12:30-31. Pagans served their gods by honoring the evil spirits on Halloween. They did this by dressing up like the evil spirits and giving offerings to the evil spirits. This is why candy is

given out on Halloween, as offerings for the evil spirits. The phrase trick or treat was attributed to this practice because pagans believed the evil spirits would do something bad (trick) to them if they did not leave an offering (treat) for them.

THANKSGIVING The pagans in Rome celebrated their thanksgiving in early October. The holiday was dedicated to the goddess of the harvest, Ceres, and the holiday was called Cerelia. The Catholic Church took over the pagan holiday and it became well established in England, where some of the pagan customs and rituals for this day were observed long after the Roman Empire had disappeared. In England the "Harvest Home" has been observed continuously for centuries.

In the Americas, among the Aztecs of Mexico, the harvest took on a grimmer aspect. Each year a young girl, a representation of Xilonen, The goddess of the new corn, was beheaded. The Pawnees also sacrificed a girl. In a more temperate mood, the Cherokees of the American Southeast danced the Green Corn Dance and began the new year at harvest's end. The practice among the Cherokee would also coincide with Day f the Dead celebrations. Harvest is often symbolic of death and rebirth (reincarnation), for seeds die when planted and then come to life in the spring for harvest in the fall.

No wonder Chief Massasoit and his ninety braves felt right at home with the Pilgrim Fathers on that day in 1621! Obviously, the idea for this "first Thanksgiving" did not just "pop" into the mind of Governor Bradford as most people believe! On the contrary Thanksgiving, in the guise of the pagan harvest festivals, can be traced right back to ancient Babylon and the worship of Semiramis!

CHRISTMAS Christmas was celebrated by pagan sun-worshippers for thousands of years before the Messiah was born. It all started during the building of the tower of Babel. Nimrod supervised the operation and was called the sun-god and worshipped as such. Then a prophet of the Most High killed him and cut his body into pieces and scattered those pieces all across the land. Ishtar or Easter, also known by her biblical name Semiramis was the widow of Nimrod, she was called the queen of heaven. She claimed to be impregnated by the rays of the sun (Nimrod) and later had a son by the name of Tammuz who had a miraculous birth on December 25th. All of the pagan sun-worshippers celebrated the birthday of the reincarnate sun-god Tammuz on December 25th. Scripture is very clear that we are not to celebrate this particular holiday.

The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead [their] dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger (Jeremiah 7:18).

Within the context of Jeremiah 7, verse 18 is dealing specifically with the idolatrous practices of God‘s people. The queen of heaven referenced in verse 18 is none other than Nimrod‘s widow Ishtar. The cakes or beaked goods were being made as meal offering along with a drink offering to Ishtar. Today this pagan practice has been replaced with leaving milk (a drink offering) and cookies (beaked goods) for Santa on Christmas Eve. Santa is of course none other than Satan. Consider also the following Bible verses: 2 Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.

3 For the customs of the people [are] vain: for [one] cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. 4. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not (Jeremiah 10:2-4) Jeremiah 10 serves as a warning to God‘s people carried way into the land of the Chaldeans, a country notorious above any other for idolatry and superstition; and they are here cautioned against the infection of the place, not to learn the way of the heathen (Jeremiah 10:1,2), for their astrology and idolatry are both foolish things (Jeremiah 10:3-5), and the worshippers of idols brutish, Jeremiah 10:8,9. So it will appear in the day of their visitation, Jeremiah 10:14,15. They are likewise exhorted to adhere firmly to the God of Israel, for there is none like him, Jeremiah 10:6,7. He is the true God, lives for ever, and has the government of the

world (Jeremiah 10:10-13), and his people are happy in him (Jeremiah 10:16).

The Christmas tree is specifically a Babylonian symbol. On Christmas Eve the Yule Log is thrown onto the fire. On Christmas Day there is the tree, covered in decorations and surrounded with presents, representing the resurrected Nimrod of Babylon. Specifically the erect tree is a phallus symbolizing Nimrod's erect masculinity. The tree was evergreen because evergreen trees are full of life year round. The tree was pointed at the end to complete the phallic representation of Nimrod. Mithra was another sun-god that was born on December 25th. Thousands of Christians and Jews were crucified in honor of the sun-god Mithra.

The obvious next question is then, when exactly was Jesus born? Most Biblical scholars agree on the point that it was not December 25 for a number of reasons linked to the historical record of Jesus‘ birth as recorded in the Bible. Meteorological studies of Israel‘s climate show that it has been pretty constant for the last two millenniums. In December the area near Bethlehem experiences average temperatures of 44 degrees Fahrenheit (7 degrees Celsius) but these can drop to well below freezing, especially at night. The area will have frost during the months of December, January, and February.

The Bible clearly states that at the time of Jesus‘ birth that shepherds were attending their sheep in the fields at night (see Luke 2:8). Traditional Hebrew shepherds kept their sheep in the field from April to October, but brought them home to sheltered areas during the cold winter. The fact that the shepherds were still in the fields, meant that it was not yet October, and the fact that they were in the fields at night meant it could not have been later than September. Climate conditions in Israel make a winter, especially December 25 birth an impossibility.

Dr. Luke, one of the premier historians of the time, also records that Jesus was born during the time of a census (Luke 2:1-7). The Roman and Judean rulers knew that taking a census in winter would have been impractical and unpopular. Generally a census would take place after the harvest season, around September or October, when it would not seriously affect the economy, the weather was good and the roads were still dry enough to allow easy travel. Desiring any sort of participation in the census and in consideration of the safety of their subjects, no official would have thought of scheduling a census during the winter months. For such an agrarian society, an autumn post-harvest census was much more likely.

In 525 Pope John I commissioned the scholar Dionysius Exiguus to establish a feast calendar for the Church.. Dionysius estimated the year of Christ's birth based upon the founding of the city of Rome. Unfortunately because of insufficient historical data he arrived at a date at least a few years later than the actual event. The Gospels record Jesus' birth as occurring during the reign of Herod the Great. Herod's death is recorded by Jewish historian Flavius Josephus and occurred in the spring of 4 B.C. In the first 200 years of Christian history, no mention is made of the calendar date of Jesus' birth. Not until the year 336 do we find the first mention of a celebration of His birth. Why this omission? In the case of the Church fathers, the reason is that, during the three centuries after Christ's life on earth, the event considered most worthy of commemoration was the date of His death and resurrection. Historically these events were connected with the Hebrew Passover and not the Spring Equinox, as they are today. In comparison, the date of His birth was considered insignificant.

Speculation on the proper date began in the 3rd and 4th centuries, when the idea of fixing Christ's birthday started. Quite a controversy arose among Church leaders. Some were opposed to such a celebration. Origen (185-254) strongly recommended against such an innovation. "In the Scriptures, no one is recorded to have kept a feast or held a great banquet on his birthday. It is only sinners who make great rejoicings over the day in which they were born into this world" (Catholic Encyclopedia, 1908 edition, Vol. 3, p. 724, "Natal Day"). During this time eight specific dates during six different months were proposed by various groups. December 25, although one of the last dates to be proposed, was the one finally accepted by the leadership of the Western church.

Sextus Julius Africanus popularized the idea that Christ was born on December 25 in his Chronographiai, a reference book for Christians written in AD 221. The earliest reference to the celebration of the nativity on December 25 is found in the Chronography of 354, an illuminated manuscript compiled in Rome in 354. Christmas was promoted in the Christian East as part of the revival of Catholicism following the death of the pro-Arian Emperor Valens at the Battle of Adrianople in 378. The feast was introduced to

Constantinople in 379, and to Antioch in about 380. The feast disappeared after Gregory of Nazianzus resigned as bishop in 381, although it was reintroduced by John Chrysostom in about 400.

In Rome December 25 was made popular by Pope Liberius in 354 and became the rule in the West in 435 when the first "Christ mass" was officiated by Pope Sixtus III. This coincided with the date of a celebration by the Romans to their primary god, the Sun, and to Mithras, a popular Persian sun god supposedly born on the same day. Early in the fourth century there begins in the West (where first and by whom is not known) the celebration of December 25th, the birthday of the Sun-god at the winter solstice, as the date for the nativity of Christ. In the fifth century, the Western Church ordered it [Christ's birth] to be observed forever on the day of the old Roman feast of the birth of Sol [the sun god], as no certain knowledge of the day of Christ's birth existed From the Bible, we can at least determine the probable season and year of His birth. The most convincing proof of when Jesus was born comes in understanding the evidence that is presented in the book of Luke concerning the birth of John the Baptist. Luke 1:517 says: 5 THERE was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.

6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

7 And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years.

8 And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course, 9 According to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.

10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense.

11 And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.

12 And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.

13 But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.

14 And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.

15 For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb.

16 And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. 17 And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

Zechariah was of the division of Abijah (Luke 1:5,8). Back in King David's day, the priests had been separated into 24 turns or divisions. These turns began in the first month of the Jewish calendar (1 Chronicles 27:2), March or April of our modern calendar.

According to Talmudic and Qumran sources, the turns rotated every week until they reached the end of the sixth month, when the cycle was repeated again until the end of the year. This would mean that Zechariah's division served at the temple twice a year. We find in 1 Chronicles 24:10 that Abijah was the eighth division of the priesthood. Thus, Zechariah‘s service would be in the tenth week of the Jewish year. Why the tenth week? Because all divisions served during primary feast weeks of the Jewish year. So all of the divisions of the priesthood would serve during Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread (the third week of the year).

Likewise, all of the divisions of the priesthood would serve during the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost (the ninth week). Thus, the eighth course of the priesthood would end up serving on the tenth week of the year.

Zechariah's division served at the temple twice a year. The Bible does not specify which of the two shifts of service it was.

Regardless, nine months after one of the two dates John the Baptist was born. This would place his birth in March or September.

Luke appears to be recording Zechariah's first shift of service for the year as evidenced when one fixes the dates John the Baptist's and Jesus' birth. Therefore, the date of Zechariah's service would be the Jewish date of Sivan 12-18. Continuing in Luke 1:23-25: 23 And it came to pass, that, as soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house.

24 And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying,

25 Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me, to take away my reproach among men.

After his service in the temple, Zechariah went home to his wife. Due to the laws of separation (Leviticus 12:5; 15:19,25), two additional weeks have to be counted. It appears highly likely that Zechariah and Elizabeth conceived a child very close to two weeks after Zechariah's return. This would put the birth (nine months later) of John the Baptist at the time of the Passover. The Old Testament prophets had said that God would send Elijah before the coming of the Messiah (Malachi 3:1; 4:5-6). According to these calculations John the Baptist was born at Passover. Remember the angel's words to Zechariah? The angel said that John the Baptist was to come "in the spirit and power of Elijah" (Luke 1:17). Elijah came at Passover! Continuing in Luke 1:26-36: 26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, 27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.

28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.

30And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God. 31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. 32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: 33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?

35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. 36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.

Luke tells us that at the time Mary conceived Elizabeth was already six months pregnant (Luke 1:36). The beginning of Elizabeth's sixth month would have been the celebration of the Jewish feast of Hanukkah, which occurs in December of our modern calendar.

Hanukkah (Chanukkah) is known as the "Feast of the Dedication" (John 10:22) because it is connected with the dedication of the second Jewish temple and the rededication of the temple after the Maccabean revolt. Mary was being dedicated for a purpose of enormous magnitude: God's presence in an earthly temple, i.e. a human body (John 2:18-21).

If Mary did conceive on Hanukkah, John the Baptist would have been born three months later at Passover. And assuming a normal pregnancy of 285 days, Jesus would have been born on the 15th day of the Jewish month of Tishri (September 29 by modern reckoning). This is significant because it is the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot). It is a high day, a special Sabbath, a time of great rejoicing. The birth of Jesus can reasonably be shown to have occurred in the autumn of the year on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles. There are some very interesting connections in Scripture with Jesus and aspects of the Feast of Tabernacles. John 1:14 tells us that Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us. This term is analogous to the Glory of God Dwelling in the Tabernacle and Temple in the Old Testament. The Greek verb SKENOO used by John means "to pitch tent, encamp, tabernacle, dwell in a tent." The allusion is clearly to the Feast of Tabernacles when the people dwelt in temporary booths.

In seeking to describe the Messiah‘s first coming to His people, John chose the imagery of the Feast of Booths since the feast celebrates the dwelling of God among His people. The Circumcision of our Lord took place therefore on the eighth day, the last day of the Feast, the "Great Day of the Feast" of John 7.37 ("Tabernacles" had eight days. The Feast of Unleavened Bread had seven days, and Pentecost one. See Lev. 23).

Jesus was born while Herod the Great was still living (Matthew 2:1). Wise men appeared in Jerusalem asking about "one who has been born king of the Jews?" Of course, this upset Herod, who had been given the title "King of the Jews" by the Roman Senate.

Herod talked to the wise men secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared (Matthew 2:7). The wise men then journeyed to Bethlehem and found Jesus, Mary, and Joseph in a house (Matthew 2:11) and they bowed down and worshiped

Jesus.

When the wise men did not return to give Herod a report, "Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the wise men. He was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the wise men" (Matthew 2:16).

This tells us that Jesus may have been born two years before the appearance of the wise men and the death of Herod. Herod died the spring of 4 B.C. (according to the Jewish historian, Josephus). Let's assume that the star appeared at Jesus' birth. Let's also assume that Herod was already close to death when the wise men appeared. It was the custom in ancient Israel to count the years of one's age from the date of conception - in other words, when a child is born he is one year old until his first birthday (this is still a practice in some oriental cultures). Therefore, Herod actually killed the children one year old and under according to the way that age is calculated today. This would mean that Jesus had to have been born in 6 B.C. (if Jesus was one year old) or 5 B.C. (if Jesus was under one year and Herod was just being extra careful).

This date for Jesus' birth fits with other Biblical data such as Jesus being "about thirty years old" when He began his ministry (Luke 3:23). From evidence given to us in John 2:20 about the construction of the temple, we know Jesus' ministry began in A.D. 26.

Counting forward from 6 B.C. to A.D. 26 (one year has to be subtracted because there is no year zero) would make Jesus 31 years old when he began his ministry -- that is, about thirty years old. Counting forward from 5 B.C. to A.D. 26 would make Jesus 30 years old when he began his ministry. The birth years of 5 or 6 B.C. also fit with the best date for the crucifixion, that is A.D. 30.

Assuming the wise men would want to come at once and the time for a journey from Babylon to Jerusalem takes only four months, one would conclude that Jesus was born in 5 B.C. Perhaps one cannot be absolutely certain about when Jesus was born, , because such calculations deal with implications and assumptions, but a good guess from the Scriptures and history is September 29, 5 B.C. By the same line of evidence a December birth date for Jesus can be almost totally ruled out.

SUNDAY OBSERVANCE: Early believers kept Saturday as the Sabbath until March 7, 321 A.D. when Pope Constantine passed a law requiring believers to worship on Sunday, the day the pagans worshipped the sun-god. Believers still kept Saturday as the Sabbath until another law was passed eleven years later. This law signed into decree by Pope Constantine forbid believers to worship on the Sabbath (Saturday) and it was punishable by death by the Catholic Church. Many believers were burned to death by the Catholic Church for keeping the Sabbath. Some may argue that the day was changed to Sunday, instead of Saturday because Jesus rose on the first day of the week. However the historical evidence appears to disprove such claims.

Conclusion: This article documents that Occult symbols, or symbols with hidden meanings permeate our modern society and have done so for thousands of years. Along the way, some of the hidden meanings of these very common symbols have been explained. No doubt, many individuals, groups, and companies that use these symbols are largely unaware of their meaning. In many instances symbols and observance have become part of the traditions of true Christians. On the other hand, many of these symbols are being used intentionally by the enlightened ones to flaunt their control over our society, if nothing else at least to each other. In many ways these symbols serve a similar function to gang symbols, which are used to mark territory. In the same way many of these symbols send a clear message that the brotherhood of the enlightened ones is presumably in control. Ultimately the brotherhood of the enlightened ones is in control serves Satan, and thus any power they enjoy is actually the power of Satan. When one sees an overtly Occult symbol it is wise to proceed with caution. The purpose of this article is simply to educate and inform. The Great Seal of the United States provides and example of many overt Occult symbols being employed.

All contents copyright, 2008 Daniel T. Lewis