VIRGO
THE DIVINE ANDROGYNE
"Everything begins with Virgo bringing forth the son of God. In Virgo, Libra, Scorpio and Sagittarius we see the first advent of Christ, His death, burial and resurrection, His battle against Satan." - J.R. Church (1053)
"We are again reminded of the protevangelium*, that 'the seed of the woman would destroy the seed of the serpent,' and of the great text in Isaiah 7:14: 'Behold! A virgin shall conceive, and bear a son.' That is, of course, a picture of Mary, the virgin mother of Christ... The second thing we note about the sign of Virgo is the emphasis upon her fertility** (her motherhood), because she holds in her right hand a branch and in her left hand some sheaves of corn, or seeds of wheat. There are various interpretations given concerning that.*** As Christians we can easily see here a reference to the seed of the woman (that is, the virgin) who will conceive and bring forth a child (Isaiah 7:14)." — D. James Kennedy, The Real Meaning of the Zodiac (872:20)
*Protevangelium of James: A gnostic apocryphal gospel exalting Mary's perpetual virginity. Much of the dogma responsible for the veneration of Mary can be traced to this document.
** The Egyptians knew Virgo as Isis, the Goddess of Fertility.
***Dr. Kennedy discreetly omitted these pagan interpretations.
THE MOTHER GODDESS
According to the ancient Egyptian sphinx, the first house of the Zodiac is Virgo, not Aries as in the modern Zodiac. It is common knowledge among occultists that, from remote antiquity, Virgo represented the Mother Goddess worshipped under various names by different pagan cultures. "Some of the mythological representations of Virgo are Nana, Eve, Istar, Demeter, Hecate, Themis, Hera, Astraea, Diana, Cybele, Isis, Fortuna, Erigone, Sibylla and the Virgin Mother. All representations of the Great Mother in some form. She who existed before the masculine gods of ancient and classical mythology." (905)Occultists claim that the word mother derives from the Egyptian hieroglyph ''Mut': "The Female Principle is recorded in the Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs 'Mut' meaning 'Mother'... The English word 'Mother' is a derivation of the Ancient Egyptian word 'Mut'." (903:3) The Egyptian mother goddess Mut wore a vulture headdress and was associated with the cow, the cat and the lioness. Mut was an androgyne, having breasts and an erect phallus. According to Ancient Worlds, an internet site which focuses on the ancient gods and goddesses of Egypt,
"There was also a composite deity called 'Mut-Isis-Nekhbet, the Great Mother and Lady' who was shown as a winged goddess with leonine feet, an erect penis and three heads - a lion head wearing Min's headdress, a woman's head wearing the double crown of Egypt and a vulture's head wearing the red crown of Lower Egypt." (1059)
It is believed by occultists that the human race lived in peace, love, harmony, and prosperity in an ancient civilization known as Lemuria, a land mass in the Pacific Ocean which was destroyed by a series of cataclysms. The Pacific Islands are a remnant of this lost continent, which is referred to as the Motherland of MU. American archaeologist and mystic, James Churchward, maintained in The Lost Continent of Mu that documents found in a monastery in India locate the Garden of Eden in MU.
"The Garden of Eden was not in Asia but on a now sunken continent in the Pacific Ocean. The Biblical story of Creation came first not from the peoples of the Nile or the Euphrates Valley but from this now-submerged continent, Mu — the Motherland of Man."
According to legend, the inhabitants of Mu were an ascended race that existed during the Age of Virgo, the Great Mother Goddess who ruled over a Golden Age:
"The Sacred Laws of Lemuria valued community, the individual and a peaceful co-existence. During the era of Mu, the consciousness of the entire planet became predominately intuitive and female. It was an experiment of love. It was an experiment with Goddess. Lemuria is believed to have achieved the highest level of civilization on Earth." (919)
According to Peter Dawkins, author of the Francis Bacon Research Trust Journal, it was during this period that Great Initiates from the star system Sirius left their perfect and harmonious realm to undertake a sacrificial mission to our planet.
"The Ancient Wisdom Traditions teach us that these mighty souls came to our planet approximately 18 million years ago, living in aetheric bodies and inhabiting the land subsequently known as Hyperborea ('the Land beyond the North Wind')... Establishing this area as their principle home and temple, they then moved across the world to other key areas in order to act as guides and teachers to the young races of humanity. Young humanity was, at the time of this great incarnation of 'God-men' and 'Sun-men', existing and evolving in areas of the world known as Mu, the Motherland." (902:39)
Dawkins claims this was also the period of Adam and Eve, who fell - not into sin - but into the material realm from their formerly ethereal estate:
"As a whole they are known historically as the Third Root Race of mankind, a Race of men that, 18 million years ago had just begun to exist in physical bodies, and to think rationally. They needed, at that dawn of rationality, sexuality and free choice, to be carefully guided, with teachers to answer their questions and to provide allegorical ideas of the life to be aimed for and the experiences to be undertaken. During this period the historic (rather than allegorical) story of Adam and Eve took place, followed by the division of Cain from Abel; the latter representing those souls who followed the teachings of the Christ souls, and the former representing those souls who chose otherwise." (902:39)
Gnostics misinterpret the account of the creation of Adam in Genesis 1 as the creation of a male-female or androgynous being in God's own image: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he them; male and female created he them." (Gen. 1:27) This androgynous First Adam, or Adam-Kadmon, was like the angels - eternal - until s/he separated from the divine, spiritual realm and became imprisoned in the material 3-dimensional world. As a result, Adam-Kadmon became differentiated into two sexes, the Second Adam and Eve. Some Gnostic versions of the fall of Adam-Kadmon contend that the Mother Goddess, Adam's first wife, Lilith or Sophia, separated herself when Adam tried to dominate her. According to the Encyclopedia of Religion's section on 'Androgyny', the medieval mystic and theosophist, Jacob Boehme, revived and popularized the concept of the primal androgynous Adam who fell into matter resulting in its division into Adam and Eve.
"The Judeo-Christian myth and theology of the androgyny of the primal man were successfully reinterpreted and revalorized by Jakob Boehme (1575-1624). For this great mystic and theosophist, Adam's sleep represents the first fall: Adam separated himself from the divine world and 'imagined himself' immersed in nature, by which act he lowered himself and became earthly. The appearance of the sexes is a direct consequence of this first fall... Another fundamental idea of Boehme...and other theosophists was that Sophia, the divine virgin, was originally part of the primal man. When he attempted to dominate her, the virgin separated herself from him." (146:279)
Jewish mysticism substitutes Eve or Lilith for Sophia as the better half of this androgynous Adam: "Even Adam, in Jewish legend, was at first androgynous, until Eve was separated from him and made autonomous." (100:11) From this false premise, Jewish and Christian Gnostics reason that God must also be androgynous. Referring to Jewish commentaries on Scripture, the Encyclopedia of Religion states: "The midrash on Genesis 1:27 explicitly states that when God created the first man he created him androgynous; thus Adam gave birth to Eve. If man be made in the image of God, the creator himself would be an androgyne, although there is nothing explicit about this in the text of Genesis itself." (146:277)
The Theosophical Glossary states that Sophia, the 'divine virgin' and symbol of wisdom, was, in fact, the Serpent, i.e. Lucifer. Coupled with the Gnostic doctrine of the androgynous Godhead, the Serpent becomes the female component of Adam-Kadmon.
"Ophites (Gr.). A Gnostic fraternity in Egypt, and one of the earliest sects of Gnosticism, or Gnosis (Wisdom, Knowledge), known as the 'Brotherhood of the Serpent'. It flourished early in the second century and, while holding some of the principles of Valentinus, had its own occult rites and symbology. A living serpent, representing the Christos-principle (i.e., the divine reincarnating Monad, not Jesus the man), was displayed in their mysteries and reverenced as a symbol of wisdom, Sophia, the type of the all-good and all-wise." (316:241)
VIRGINITY REDEFINED
The gods and goddesses of ancient mythology were not actual characters, but archetypes representing the ideal state to which mankind will supposedly attain in the New Age. Accordingly, the Mother Goddess archetype does not represent the Biblical model of motherhood but the Feminine Principle as defined and manifested in ancient mythology. Nor does 'Virgo, the Virgin' exemplify the Christian virtue of sexual purity, as per the Pagan Federation: "In ancient times, the meaning of 'virgin' did not mean the same as it does today, but meant an independent, self sufficient woman." (668) The Tarot cards are said to reveal the hidden meaning of the Zodiac. According to Ean Begg, author of The Black Virgin, the Tarot card Justice, which is generally associated with the star-maiden Virgo, exalted promiscuity rather than virtue:
"Rákóczi writes of this card: To the more licentious it represented the 'virgin quality' that is gained, not by pure living, but by plunging into the abyss of sexual indulgence; here we have the exultation of the prostitute as a saint and the saint treated as one who is 'impure'. Hence, Gypsies often call this the Magdalene card..." (272:138-9)
In esotericism, virginity has a very different connotation than it does in normal parlance. To the occultist, being a 'virgin' has nothing to do with sexual purity but rather with preparation for birthing the 'Christ child' through processes of initiation. In fact, rites of initiation frequently involve sexual immorality as the means to achieve this birthing. In the irrational world of the occult mystic, evil is good and good becomes evil. To justify sins such as immorality theologically, the Gnostic simply interprets the Bible allegorically instead of literally. In other words, God's Word is believed to have a hidden or esoteric meaning that transcends the literal statements which form the doctrinal basis of traditional Christianity. Thus, it's perfectly acceptable to occultists such as Peter Dawkins to deny the literal virginity of Mary prior to the birth of Christ, and then to redefine "virginity" with Mary as an archetype of the gnostic version of this term. Note that the spirit guide for this baptismal initiation, a pseudo-John the Baptist, is really the dragon-serpent:
"The Baptism of Water refers to the generative and transformative process undergone by the mortal soul... 'John the Baptist' is the...generative aspect of JIHOVAH: viz. the dragon-serpent JHVH that evolves and guides the natural soul through its 'wilderness' of experience until the soul becomes pure in heart, mind and action. The soul will then be a 'Virgin Mary' and ready to give birth (i.e. become) the 'Christ-Child' Jesus... This Baptism by Water — the transformative experiences of the natural soul — is also known as the Lesser Mysteries (or Degrees) of Initiation, in which the purpose is to produce the pure soul of the 'Virgin Mary'." (902:34)
Once the initiate attains to the new virginity (having been purified from a literal understanding and application of God's Word) there is yet another initiation to be undergone which transforms the virgin soul into a 'Christ':
"The Baptism of the Holy Spirit begins at the culmination of the Baptism of Water... The second Baptism refers to the 'Grace' of God — the blessing of illumination, the Christhood or Christ consciousness — upon the prepared and virgin soul... Through the preceeding Baptism by Water, JHVH (the Shakti or generative power) has been raised up from the root and reached the crown, where it 'marries' with IOA and allows IOA to flood the soul with light, with divine fire. The result is the transmutation of the reflective soul, Mary, to become the radiant Christ Soul, Jesus. The natural soul, Mary, dies in the fire of the Holy Spirit, and is resurrected as the spiritual soul, Jesus, like the flame arising from the candle." - 902:34
The archetypes of Virgo who are most revered by occultists—Eve, Isis, and Mary—are venerated not for their moral purity, but because they personally conceived the Christ-consciousness through asexual means. Alice Bailey wrote that each Mother Goddess advanced an aspect of the concept of "Christ in you, the hope of glory" per Colossians 1:27, which Bailey misconstrued as gnosis.
"The sign Virgo is one of the most significant in the zodiac for its symbology concerns the whole goal of the evolutionary process which is to shield, nurture and finally reveal the hidden spiritual reality...[T]he mother protects the germ of the Christ life; matter guards, cherishes and nurtures the hidden soul. The keynote which embodies the truth as to the mission of Virgo most accurately is 'Christ in you, the hope of glory.' There is no clearer or more adequate definition of this sign than that.
"In all the great world religions, the Virgin Mother appears... Three of these goddesses are Eve, Isis, and Mary... In these three Virgins and these three Mothers of the Christ, you have the history of the formation and the function of the three aspects of the personality through which the Christ must find expression. The sign of Virgo itself stands for a synthesis of these three feminine aspects—Eve, Isis, and Mary. She is the Virgin Mother, providing that which is needed for the mental, emotional, and physical expression of the hidden but ever present divinity. These three expressions are brought to the needed perfection in Leo, the sign of the individual, developed self-consciousness and personality unfoldment." - 137:2 (Virgo)
As Catholics venerate Mary who supernaturally gave birth to the Christ Child, Eve and Isis are similarly revered as aspects of the Mother Goddess, Virgo. New Agers believe that when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit they incarnated into matter and fell from their divine state. Alice Bailey states that, as an aspect of the Virgo, Eve "represents the lure of knowledge which prompts us towards incarnation. She took the apple of knowledge from the serpent of matter, resulting in the historical human undertaking of experiment, experience, and expression." (906 'Virgo')
In the secret doctrine, Eve was the consort of Satan, whose union produced Cain; Cain's descendants, in turn, were the Anunnaki, gods who came to earth in Genesis 6. Laurence Gardiner declares the demonic lineage of Cain:
"According to the Dragon tradition, the importance of Cain was that he was directly produced by Enki [Satan] and Ava [Eve], so his blood was three quarters Anunnaki. His half brothers Hevel and Satanael (better known as Abel and Seth) were less than half Anunnaki, being the offspring of Ateba and Ava (Adam and Eve)..." - 612 (Part I)
That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.- Gen. 6:1-3
Former Rosicrucian Grand Master, Max Heindel (1865-1919), identified Cain as the Masonic 'Son of the Widow':
THE MASONIC LEGEND has points of variance from as well as agreement with the Bible story. It states that Jehovah created EVE, that the Lucifer Spirit SAMAEL united with her but that he was ousted by Jehovah and forced to leave her before the birth of her son Cain, who was thus THE SON OF A WIDOW." - 953
The 'son of the widow' is acclaimed by Masonic authorities to be Osiris reincarnated in Horus in the legend of Hiram Abiff, which is reenacted by Master Masons in their initiation to the Third Degree. How many men who are initiated into the Third (Master Mason) Degree of Masonry, realize that they are impersonating Cain when they are symbolically buried and raised from the dead in a mock funeral and resurrection? Of course, Cain represents the religion of dead works which the Freemasons embrace, having rejected salvation by faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ, which Abel's sacrifice foreshadowed.
'"THE SONS OF CAIN WERE THRUST OUT OF THE TEMPLE WHICH THEY HAD BUILT, as their father, Cain, had been driven from the garden which he had tilled. This Hiram felt to be an outrage and an injustice; so he applied himself to prepare the means whereby the Sons of Cain might 'rend the veil' and open the way to God for 'whosoever will'." - 953
As an expression of Virgo in the ancient civilization of Egypt, the goddess Isis "represents a similar principle on the astral plane" for, like the Virgin Mary, she bore Horus through magical incantations instead of in the normal way.
[T]o ensure his brother's complete demise, [Set] cut up Osiris' body into fourteen pieces and scattered them far and wide throughout Egypt. Isis found all the pieces of Osiris' literally dismembered body except the phallus, and through purification by Thoth, together with magical incantations in which the actual sound of Thoth's voice played a significant part, the resurrection of Osiris and the subsequent fathering of Horus was achieved. Following in the wake of his resurrection Osiris had conferred upon him the title and position of the God of the Dead. In fathering Horus, Osiris embodied the Masculine Creation Principle. In mothering Horus, Isis embodied the Female Creation Principle...She was the Holy Mother who was represented with her child Horus by the Constellation of Virgo. Isis was considered Virgin as she was seeded after the death and resurrection of Osiris … minus the phallus. (903:4,6)
The myth of Horus is an allegorical perversion of the Genesis account of God's judgment of Nimrod and the Babylonian religious system from which Egyptian mystery religions derived. Osiris represents Nimrod whose plan to unite mankind in a revolt against God failed. (Gen. 10 and 11) Semiramis was Nimrod's mother who became his wife and bore Tammuz as the reincarnation of Nimrod; Isis, sister of Osiris who became his wife, bore Horus as the reincarnation of Osiris. Osiris became a type of victory over death because he was resurrected and reincarnated in his son, Horus.
"It is an indisputable fact that in Ancient Egyptian mythology Osiris did represent Death and Resurrection. His was the first Resurrection, the first Raising. His child Horus was the Son of the Widow, Isis." - 903 (Part 2)
High level occultists understand that the gods and goddesses of ancient mythology were archetypes, and not actual characters. The Masonic authors of The Templar Revelation consider faith in ideas and concepts more intelligent than faith in a living God.
"Isis...was worshipped as a holy virgin. But although she was also mother of Horus, this presented no problem to the minds of her millions of followers. For whereas modern Christians are expected to accept the Virgin birth as an article of faith and an actual historical event, the followers of Isis (Isians) and other pagans faced no such intellectual dilemma. To them, Zeus, Venus or Ma'at may or may not have once walked the earth: what mattered was what they embodied. Each of the pantheon ruled over his or her own area of human life; for example, the Egyptian goddess Ma'at dealt with the concept of justice, both in the material world and when the souls of the dead were weighed in the balance. The gods were understood to be living archetypes, not historical characters. Isians did not waste their time searching for cloths that may have wrapped the body of Osiris, nor did they consider it important to find splinters of the box in which he was confined. Far from being an unsophisticated and ignorant religion, theirs appears to have had a profound grasp of the human psyche." - 242:77
The ideas and concepts regarded by occultists as intellectually superior to Christianity are, as a rule, not merely unconventional but sinful in the extreme and calculated to destroy the social order established by God in His Word. Clive Prince and Lynn Picknett explain the exoteric meaning of the myth of the goddess Isis. Her wide appeal to women of all cultures was and is precisely because of her amoral character:
"Isis was worshipped as both Virgin and Mother—but not as a Virgin Mother. Isians would have considered the notion of the Virgin birth frankly ridiculous: the gods may be capable of wonders, but they do not demand that their worshippers suspend their disbelief quite so much. The worship of most major goddesses emphasized their essential femininity by dividing it up into three main aspects , each representing the lifecycle of real women. First, there is the Virgin, then the Mother, then the Crone; all three are also linked to the new moon, the full moon and the dark side of the moon. Each goddess, including Isis, was understood to stand for the whole female experience, including sexual love, and therefore could be invoked to help a woman with any kind of problem—unlike the Virgin Mary whose own personal purity is an impenetrable barrier for those who would like to share their sexual problems with her... Isis, a full-blooded woman who represents a complete female lifecycle... Isis, a beautiful girl-goddess to whom women could pray—with a clear conscience—about absolutely anything, appealed to women from all cultures. . ." - 242:77-8
The esoteric interpretation of the myth of Isis and Osiris—the hidden meaning understood only by the enlightened who have been initiated into the Egyptian mysteries—is revealed in the book, Spiritual Politics: Changing the World From the Inside Out:
"Like the goddess Isis, who found and restored all of the lost pieces of her husband, Osiris, many are restoring the unity of all life, bringing together the separate parts of humanity — different races, religions, and cultures." - 42:62
European mystics and esotericists viewed the androgyne as the primal and also the final perfected man. In other words, at the end of time, the human race is destined to be fused together into one androgynous entity. According to the Encyclopedia of Religion and other occult sources, the fall of man was not due to sin but rather his descent into matter. However, mankind's entrapment in the material realm will one day be reversed and men and women will be restored to their former ethereal and androgynous state:
"...the androgyne had existed at the beginning (Adam) and will be again at the end of time. [Franz von] Baader borrowed from Boehme the conception of Adam's first fall, the sleep in which his celestial companion was separated from him. But, thanks to Christ, man will again become like the angels... Baader considered that a theology presenting 'sin as a disintegration of man, and the redemption and resurrection as his reintegration' would conquer all other theologies." (146:279)
German romantics such as J. W. Ritter (1776-1810) believed that a new androgynous and immortal humanity will be produced in the likeness of Christ, whom they consider to be an androgyne.
"...the androgyne was the perfect, 'total' human being of the future... For Ritter the man of the future would be, like Christ, an androgyne. 'Eve,' he wrote 'was engendered by man without the aid of woman; Christ was engendered by woman without the aid of man; the androgyne will be born of the two. But the husband and wife will be fused together in a single flesh.' The body that is to be born will then be immortal." (146:279)
"With regard to Rev. 14:4 ('Those are they that are not defiled with women; for they are virgins') [Georg] Koepgen asserts, 'Here the new androgynous form of existence becomes visible. Christianity is neither male nor female, it is male-female in the sense that the male paired with the female in Jesus' soul. In Jesus the tension and polaristic strife of sex are resolved in an androgynous unity. And the Church, as his heir, has taken this over from him; She too is androgynous.'" - 146:281
According to the secret doctrine of the occult, the archetypal Mother Goddess, Eve, and God (Christ) produce an androgynous child; this "occult trinity" is a recurring theme in pagan religions, only the names of the characters are changed in each culture.
"Every triad, Blavatsky says, has a male, female and androgen... Eve is within Adam... They are the first androgen. I...found the same idea in 'The Gnostic Gospels'. [In] 'Isis Unveiled' Mme Blavatsky compares the Indian, Chaldean, and Ophite systems. The One becomes dual, or Father and Mother, when manifesting. From the union of the two emanates a third, which is the Son, or manifested Logos...
"Blavatsky had an idea about the creation process... [T]he male aspect of the Deity has the ideal thought for a creation. This implants a seed into the womb of the feminine aspect of Deity (Sakti), who then 'gives birth' to the Son, the Logos, The Word made flesh. She and others say that the 'Son' is actually an androgen 'Child.'" - 502
The occult concept of the Trinity as Father, Mother and the androgynous Son explains why the Gnostics spare no effort in order to misrepresent the Holy Spirit as female. Note well in the following excerpt two things: (1) that this false doctrine is supported by the Alexandrian stream of corrupt manuscripts, the Vatinicus and Sinaiticus, which underlie modern bible translations and (2) the 19th century textual critics and translators who supplanted the Greek Textus Receptus with these Gnostic texts.
"At one point [Jerome] has before him the gospel of the Hebrews used by the Syrian Christians which, as some now say, predated the four canonical gospels. In it, Jerome says that the Holy Spirit is expressed in the feminine gender and is considered the mother in law of the soul. (Library 11, commentary in Isaiah, chapter 11: Library 2, commentary. in Micah 7.6:) So here is some additional external evidence from an unrelated source that the Holy Spirit was originally considered feminine.
"Next we go to the detail of the internal evidence from the Greek texts existent today and then to the scope of scripture. As we examine the Greek texts it seems at first that we are at a loss. At all points in the accepted text the gender of the Holy Spirit and its associated pronouns are rendered in the neuter, yet when we look at the scope of scripture and consider that the Holy Spirit could be feminine, it still seems that it may be so. Finally, as we scour the accepted text and variant renderings used to translate it, we come across one small Greek letter in the text as an unaccounted gem of possible truth. It is in the tiniest of print in the variant texts at the bottom of page 290 in George Ricker Berry’s fifteenth printing of The Interlinear Literal Translation of The Greek New Testament. The more we turn this small gem in the light of the repetitive historical attempts to silence Paul and his revelation of the mystery, and in the light from the scope of scripture the more importance it seems to have and the more brilliantly it seems to shine. It is the Greek letter eta which is either the feminine definite article to which a feminine noun must be attached or the feminine third person singular pronoun which must also agree with its associated noun. It is present with the corresponding accent, which would make it the third person feminine pronoun, in the final phrase in the gospel of John in chapter fourteen verse sixteen as the majority of the Greek texts including Lachman, Tishendorph, Tragelles, and Alford attest. It is also present in Knoch’s literal interlinear which is based on the three major uncials of Alexandrius, Vatinicus, and Sinaiticus. Accordingly this verse should be translated as such: 'And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that she may dwell with you forever; John 14:16'" - 917
The Greek Textus Receptus does not support a feminine gender for the Holy Spirit. The 17th edition of the George Ricker Berry TR states: "'And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may dwell with you forever; John 14:16" The Greek word for "Comforter" (parakletos) is an accusative, singular, masculine noun (Strongs #3875). It is not neuter. While the verb dwell or abide is third person, and can be male, female or neuter, it must take on the gender of the subject.
What is really behind this Gnostic interpretation of the Holy Spirit is a subtle exchange of personages. The androgynous Adam-Eve of Genesis 1:27 and subsequent god-goddess archetypes of the male and female principles are, in fact, the androgynous God of the dualist heresy — Lucifer who poses as a kind and compassionate feminist god as opposed to the evil male god who created the corrupt material world and fosters male supremacy:
"So to Luciferians, God has a dual nature; he is the good god, Lucifer, and the bad god, Adonay, both supposedly equal in power, yet opposite in intent... Lucifer is further divided into Isis, the female principal, and Osiris, the male principal. The myth that a benevolent Lucifer still exists, is at the core of the secret societies. It paints Lucifer as being different from Satan—as some form of benevolent god who favors his followers on the basis of their level of 'illumination'." (William Still, New World Order & the Ancient Plan of Secret Societies) - 86:31
"In our opinion, the Catholic Church never wanted its members to know about the true relationship between Jesus and Mary, which is why the Gnostic Gospels were not included in the New Testament and why most Christians do not even know they exist.. "According to that censored material, which was deliberately rejected to prevent the true picture from being known, Jesus gave the Magdalene the title of 'Apostle of the Apostles' and 'the Woman Who Knew All.' He said that she would be raised above all the other disciples and rule the forthcoming Kingdom of Light. As we have seen, he also called her Mary Lucifer.' - 'Mary the Lightbringer'..." (The Templar Revelation) - 242:261
What the mystics are aiming for in their movement toward extinction of the sexes, is procreation through asexual means as the preferred method of reproduction. Eventually, human partners will be replaced with angelic beings who are androgynous and pass their genetic code onto their offspring. This ultimate experiment in eugenics will produce a race of demi-gods such as occurred in the days of Noah (Gen. 6).
And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. - Gen. 6:1-7
VIRGO-SCORPIO
According to The Secret Doctrine by H.P. Blavatsky, before the fall of Adam and Eve, Virgo was Virgo-Scorpio, a single sign representing the first man as a male-female or Androgyne:
"...in ancient times...only ten [signs of the Zodiac] were known to the profane; the initiates, however, knew them all, from the time of the separation of mankind into sexes, whence arose the separation of Virgo-Scorpio into two; which owning to a secret sign added and the Libra invented by the Greeks, instead of the secret name which was not given, made 12... The Adam of the first chapter is the spiritual, therefore pure androgyne, Adam-Kadmon. When woman issues from the left rib of the second Adam (of dust), the pure Virgo is separated, and falling 'into generation,' or the downward cycle, becomes Scorpio emblem of sin and matter." (209:502ff)
According to Gnostic doctrine, the Serpent was good Spirit (Holy Spirit) also known as the Logos and Divine Wisdom and its sign is Virgo-Scorpio:
"The 'Old Dragon' was pure spirit before he became matter, passive before he became active. In the Syro-Chaldean magic both Ophis and Ophiomorphis are joined in the Zodiac, at the sign of the Androgyne Virgo-Scorpio. Before its fall on earth the 'Serpent' was Ophis-Christos, and after its fall it became Ophiomorphis-CHRESTOS." - 930:323-327
The occult concept of the 'divine androgyne' (more accurately, 'demonic' androgyne) will be seen repeatedly along the gnostic 'way of salvation' presented in the Zodiac. As Blavatsky stated, the ancient Zodiac had only ten signs due the union of Virgo and Scorpio and the absence of Libra. With the fall of Adam and Eve into matter, the Virgo-Scorpio divided and Libra was added, making twelve signs. The original double sign of the 'divine androgyne', however, represented not only the fall of the heavenly (angelic) Adam into dense matter and division into sexes, but also the transformation of the world from a formerly spiritual and ethereal state into its present material condition.
According to this secret doctrine, the revised Zodiac reflected the fall of the human race, now trapped in matter, and its subsequent destruction as it undertook to regain its former estate. Thanks to a new sign invented by the Greeks, Libra reveals the Gnostic version of redemption, to wit, that when humanity reached the nadir of its existence of enslavement in matter, the scales of justice (requiring balance) initiated an equal reaction in the opposite direction resulting in an upward swing of the human race toward its previous spiritualized existence. However, mankind's return to the 'heavenly' state, aided by intermarriage with demons per Genesis 6, was rudely interrupted by the Great Flood during the sign of Pisces.
"Instead of the twelve signs now used, there were originally but ten known to the general public, viz.: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo-Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, and Pisces. These were exoteric. But in addition there were two mystical signs inserted, which none but initiates comprehended, viz.: at the middle or junction-point where now stands Libra, and at the sign now called Scorpio, which follows Virgo. When it was found necessary to make them exoteric, these two secret signs were added under their present appellations as blinds to conceal the true names which gave the key to the whole of creation, and divulged the origin of 'good and evil.'
"The true Sabean astrological doctrine secretly taught that within this double sign was hidden the explanation of the gradual transformation of the world, from its spiritual and subjective, into the 'two-sexed' sublunary state. The twelve signs were therefore divided into two groups. The first six were called the ascending, or the line of Macrocosm (the great spiritual world)—the mere reflection of the former, so to say. This division was called Ezekiel's wheel, and was completed in the following way: First came the ascending five signs (euphemerized into patriarchs), Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, and the group concluded with Virgo-Scorpio. Then came the turning-point, Libra. After which, the first half of the sign Virgo-Scorpio, was duplicated and transferred to lead the lower, or descending group of Microcosm which ran down to Pisces or Noah (deluge). To make it clearer, the sign Virgo-Scorpio...became simply Virgo, and the duplication...Scorpio, was placed between Libra, the seventh sign (which is Enoch, or the angel Metatron, or Mediator between spirit and matter, or God and man). It now became Scorpio (or Cain), which sign or patriarch led mankind to destruction, according to exoteric theology; but according to the true doctrine of the wisdom-religion, it indicated the degradation of the whole universe in its course of evolution downward from the subjective to the objective." - 195:456-7 (Vol II)
The real meaning of Virgo suggests a very different gospel than that which is proffered to the Christian masses in books such as Kennedy's Real Meaning of the Zodiac. Blavatsky states that when Virgo separated from Virgo-Scorpio, she became Scorpio.
"The name of Eve is composed of three letters, that of the primitive or heavenly Adam is written with one letter, Hod or Yodh; therefore it must not be read Jehova but Ieva, or Eve. The Adam of the first chapter is the spiritual, therefore pure androgyne, Adam-Kadmon. When woman issues from the left rib of the second Adam (of dust), the pure Virgo is separated, and falling 'into generation,' or the downward cycle, becomes Scorpio emblem of sin and matter...
"Cain...is the Son of the 'Lord,' not of Adam (Genesis vi.1.) The 'Lord' is Adam Kadmon, Cain, the Son of sinful thought, not the progeny of flesh and blood. Seth on the other hand is the leader of the races of the earth, for he is the son of Adam, and begotten 'in his own likeness, after his image. (Genesis v. 3) - 195:462-3 (Vol II)
It seems that the gods who came to earth to teach mankind how to evolve beyond the 3-dimensional state became disgusted at the warlike behavior of the human race and returned to heaven where they now reside in the Zodiacal signs. It is said that Virgo reigned over the earth during the Golden Age but, offended at the wickedness of mankind, she returned to her position in the sky:
"Hesiod says this figure is Themis; the daughter of Jupiter; but Aratus says she is the daughter of Astraeus and Aurora, and that she reigned over the human race during the Golden Age of mankind...." (570:206)
"Virgo was drawn in the Egyptian zodiac and was said to represent the goddess Isis. To the Romans she was Astrea, the goddess of Justice, holding the Scales of Libra in her hand. Astrea, sickened by the wars of men, was the last of the celestial beings to leave the earth for the heavens, hence she is sometimes depicted with the wings that she used to ascend to the stars." - 920
Peter Dawkins explains in The Great Vision that, after the civilization of Lemuria was destroyed, "Christ souls" from more advanced galaxies incarnated on the earth to enable mankind to evolve beyond their debased material condition. The next great civilization to appear was Atlantis:
"After Mu, the next great epoch of human civilization was in Atlantis, in which humanity is known as the Fourth Root Race... The Atlanteans are the Nephilim ('giants') of the bible, their ancestor being Seth, the third 'son' of Adam. During this period the Christ souls and their disciples—the 'sons of God'—incarnated totally into the dense substance of the planet, and into its human life cycle, taking on dense physical bodies and involving themselves far more completely with the experiences of younger humanity. Thus 'the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took wives of all which they chose.' Their progeny became 'the mighty men, the men of renown', the great initiate-teachers who lived amongst mankind and who established centres of the Ancient Wisdom of Atlantis, to teach the Mysteries of God and lead those who were ready and capable through initiation." - 902:39
It seems that the majority of Atlanteans wickedly disregarded the wisdom of the great initiated teachers and, preferring power and materialism to the transcendent state, brought destruction on the world through "...a large asteroid, dislodged from the solar system's asteroid belt by the probable influence of galaxial nebulae, and attracted to the Earth because of the greed of the people for energy and power, acting against the advice of the sages... This period of destruction constitutes the historical aspect of Noah's Flood; Noah and his family representing those of humanity, guided by the initiates and great sages, who took refuge and established 'Arks' or landscape temples in areas that could...withstand the destruction." - 902:39
Here we find a rather different account of the Deluge than set forth in the book of Genesis, chapter 7. New Agers claim that Atlantis had advanced very far along the evolutionary path; however, this great civilization was destroyed by the gods when men began to neglect the occult traditions.
"Atlantis [was] a highly evolved ancient civilization which developed and used advanced technologies such as those we are learning about today. The civilization misused some of the technologies by not integrating spiritual practices into their use and was destroyed by earthquakes and other cataclysms. The continent of Atlantis sank into the Atlantic Ocean on three separate occasions. Some Atlanteans escaped and went to such places as Greece, Egypt and Central America... - 45:368
Apparently, Noah received his intelligence about the coming judgment from the Ascended Masters, who are communicating with many today concerning the imminent transformation of Earth into a Garden of Eden of the Universe.
"In several messages received over the last few years, the Ascended Masters have spoken of the transformation Earth is presently going through. Often they included descriptions of the changes that would occur, to both land and people. They called it the birthing process for the planet...
"This transformation into the New Age was described once, by the Arcturians, as the birthing of a planet (earth) into a star in the Heavens. They said that it has been written since ancient Babylon that the Earth would journey into the Age of Aquarius and become a Garden of Eden in the universe...
"These Masters appear to be members of a group that oversees the entire plan of operations — at least for this section of the universe. Emphatically, they state that they work for God. They are here to assure us that all details of this plan run on schedule. Throughout history, when the time was right, they have communicated with souls such as ourselves. They cite Noah's being notified of the upcoming flood or John the Baptist's foretelling the coming of Jesus as examples. These historical figures received their messages in the same way that many are receiving this kind of information today." - 45:3,5
Occultists believe that, following the Deluge or whatever great cataclysm they invent to replace what really happened Genesis 7, the gods and goddesses either escaped by returning to the heavens, or to the underworld, and that those adepts whom they had trained in the occult traditions traveled to other parts of the world where they preserved the sacred knowledge that made Atlantis great. One of the great civilizations that developed from the pre-flood civilization was Egypt. Peter Dawkins wrote in Arcadia: The Egyptian Mysteries of the colonization of Egypt by the high adepts who escaped from dying Atlantis bringing with them the alchemical and sacred geometry teachings of Enoch, whom the Egyptians knew as Thoth, later renamed Hermes Trismegistus by the Greek Neo-Platonists:
"One of the earlier civilisations to arise from the ashes of Atlantis, although not on such a large scale, and which seriously attempted to create a Golden Age for itself, was that of Ancient Egypt...
"...it would appear that the civilisation which we know as Ancient Egypt was the result of a pre-planned and carefully controlled experiment in human civilisation, the organisation and knowledge for which had been carefully prepared over many thousands of years. The original knowledge was given to the first sages of Egypt by the 'Gods', and those sages are themselves said to have come as colonists from Atlantis during the last few thousands of years of that 'Titanic' period of man's development. In other words, there was a sacred tradition of wisdom knowledge handed on from the past via a line of sages or high initiates, that was said to have come from the great Atlantean sage, Enoch (as he was known to the Hebrews), or Thoth (as he was known to the Egyptians), who 'walked with God' and was raised up into the highest heaven to become the Messiah or Teacher of all mankind. He, in his turn, had received a sacred tradition of wisdom knowledge via a line of sages stemming from Adam, the first incarnate man, who had been instructed by God after his fall from Paradise. Enoch was known mystically as 'the seventh from Adam." - 889:15,28
Like Eve who was the better half of Adam-Kadmon, the occult portrays the Egyptian goddess, Isis, as the twin sister and female counterpart of Osiris who was the male portion of an androgynous or hermaphrodite deity. In ancient Egypt, as fraternal twins and husband-wife, Isis and Osiris were called the 'divine androgyne.' This secret doctrine of the hermaphrodite God, who is the generative power, is symbolized by the Masonic square and compass and also the six-pointed star:
"The Hermaphroditic figure is the Symbol of the double nature anciently assigned to the Deity, as Generator and Producer, as Brahm and Maya among the Aryans, Osiris [Saturn] and Isis [Venus] among the Egyptians. As the Sun was male, so the Moon was female; and Isis was both sister and the wife of Osiris. The Compass, therefore, is the Hermetic Symbol of the Creative Deity, and the Square of the productive Earth or Universe..." (Albert Pike) (39:155)
VIRGO: THE DIVINE ANDROGYNE |
LIBRA: EQUALITY & FRATERNITY |
SCORPIO: THE SERPENT HOLDER |
SAGITTARIUS: GATE OF THE GODS |
CAPRICORN: THE SEA BEAST |
TAURUS: ORION, THE STARGATE |
GEMINI: THE DIVINE TWINS |
CANCER: HEAVEN'S GATE |
LEO: THE LION KING |
