第23章

ASTRO-MYTHOLOGY

The Astro-Mythological system of the ancients, though forming the last section, so to say, of the mysteries of the Divine Urania, is, perhaps, the most beautiful of its general features, and perfect in the complete fulfillment of the purpose for which it was intended, viz.:-- to convey to the human mind a lesson, a moral, a truth in Nature; and last, but not the least, to serve as a basis upon which its inner aspirations and its more external faith might rest in security.

When we come to examine the deep, philosophical principles of such a wise system, we are almost astounded at the result of our researches and the wisdom of human nature displayed in formulating such perfect analogies of truth, semi-truth, and of falsehood, according to the plane occupied by the individual.

Let us take one instance, which will clearly explain all the rest, for they are built and formulated after the same model.Aeneas, of Greek myths and fables, is reputed to be the son of Venus by a MORTAL father, upon the plane of reality.As that of actual PARENT and CHILD, of course this is an utter falsehood.To the rural population of long, long ago, and their simple, rustic conceptions, IT WAS A TRUTH.

Why so? Because they believed it, and to them it taught the required lesson of obedience to the powers that be.But if in reality it was a falsehood, how can it become a truth by the simple addition of acceptance and belief? Because it possessed a metaphysical truth, though not a physical one, in the sense accepted.

Aeneas, son of Venus, whose history is so beautifully preserved by the immortal Virgil, was (metaphysically speaking) son of the goddess, because he was, in his astral and magnetic nature, ruled and governed by Venus, born under one of her celestial signs and when she was rising upon the ascendant of the House of Life, even as Jesus Christos was born of a virgin, because Virgo was rising at His birth.

Thus Aeneas was, in strict metaphysical reality, a son of Venus.

Having satisfied the rural mind, which thus, unconsciously, accepts an absolute truth under a physical disguise, the metaphysical thinker, the philosopher, also accepts the same fable, knowing and realizing its more abstract truth,But, again, we are met with the objection that such a truth is only apparently a truth; i.e., on the plane of embodied appearances, and naturally the question arises, where (if at all) is the real truth of the mythos? Thattruthwhichisbeyondthemeremetaphysicalthinkerand commonplace philosopher; the truth which the Initiates recognize--where is it? That truth lies far beyond the purview of Astro-Mythology.It is connected with the center of angelic life.Sufficient here to say that, as there are seven races of humanity, seven divisions to the human constitution, seven active principles in Nature, typified by the seven rays of the solar spectrum, so are there seven centers of angelic life, corresponding to the seven planetary forces formulated in "The Science of the Stars," and, as each one of us must of necessity belong to one of the particular angelic centers from which we originally emanated, the Initiate can see no reason why AENEAS MAY NOT IN REALITY belong to that celestial vortex represented by Venus upon the plane of material life.This being the case, we see how beautiful the ancients' system of temple worship must have been.The simple rustic, in reverence and awe, accepting the gross and physical meaning--the only one possible to his dark, sensuous mind.The scholar and philosopher bow their wiser heads with equal humility, accepting with equally sincere faith the more abstract form of the allegory; while on the other hand, the priest and the Initiate, lifting their loftier souls above the earth and its formulas of illusion and matter, accept that higher and more spiritual application, which renders them equally as sincere and devout as their less enlightened worshipers.It is thus we find these astro-myths true for all time, true in every age of the world, and EQUALLY TRUE OF ALL NATIONS.And this is the real reason why we find every nation under the Sun possessing clear traditions relating to the same identical fables, under different names, which are simply questions of nationality.And when mythologists, archaeologists, and philologists once recognize the one central, cardinal truth, they willcease to wonder why nations, so widely separated by time and space, possess the same basic mythology.They will then no longer attempt its explanation by impossible migrations of races, carrying the rudiments with them.They will find that this mythology was a complete science with the ancient sages, a UNIVERSAL MYSTERY LANGUAGE, in which all could converse, and that it descended from the Golden Age, when there was but ONE nation on the face of the Earth, the descendants of which constituted the basic nucleus of every race which has since had an existence.In this light all is simple, clear, and easy to comprehend--all is natural.