The Keys To Religion

[pi3141]

Now that I've lead you away from faith let me try and restore some. Despite my disparaging comments of the Christians I do believe the Bible holds some truths. The fact is there are many higher truths contained within the allegories in the Bible. Getting at the truth, well thats hard. The keys to this knowledge were long forgotten and even destroyed by the Church itself with the burning of the libraries and ruthless persecution of the Pagans, much of the knowledge that the Roman Church based its fiction on has been lost, I guess even to them, they don't understand the allegories in their fiction. But I note the Vatican owns and operates telescopes trained on the Sun so perhaps they do know its all about Sun worship, why else would they be so interested in it.

 

The fact that Jesus as a man did not exist and is a symbol of the Sun is undeniable, the name reduces to God of Fire, the birthday being a major point in the Sun's transit through the heavens and Jesus' similarity to the many other Sun gods proves he is a symbol of the Sun and the stories are allegories. Jesus the man is a myth however I do believe that some of the teachings that are contained in the Bible came to us from other great men, Prophets, who gave us truths and Light as best as they could, these teachings have been amalgamated into the Jesus story. 

 

I don't dismiss the Bible completely, the allegories do contain truth or light, you have a soul, there is a God, there is Heaven, you live on after this life. There is instruction for your souls journey in there. I often quote it because its important 'Treat everyone as you wish to be treated' that is the Maxim of ALL the Sages and Prophets that have come to us, it is the Golden thread of truth that exists within the Bible, its all we need to put into practice to achieve in building a 'Heaven on earth' That advice is the 'Keys to the Kingdom' So for me, there is Light in the Bible, but there are also a load of fables relating to Solar and Nature worship, Astrology etc if only we had all the keys to understanding all of it. But what we mustn't do is take all the stories literally. The Bible is a very powerful Spiritual Spell book.

 

Jesus is not 'The Saviour' your your own saviour, the Kingdom of Heaven is within. The example of Jesus is one way, not the only way, but if you look you'll probably find all the ways say the same thing - be good to each other, be charitable, don't get angry, be thankful for what you've got etc etc So there is merit in the Bible and the Jesus myth, there is Light in there.

Edited August 7, 2021 by pi3141

[pi3141]

More supportive information to support some of the assertions I have made, namely the etymological reduction of Jesus' name to 'Ies'

 

Taken from 'Antiquity Unveiled - Johnathan Roberts'

 

P70 / P89

...we conclude that the communication is authentically from the spirit of the founder of the Eclectic School of Alexandria, that he lived at the precise time when Jesus Christ is said to have lived, and that he attempted the greatest and noblest religious reformation that is known in the past history of the world. That Diogenes Laertius and Suidas, contemporaneous writers of the day, should have noted Potamon as the founder of a grandly beneficent school of religious reformers, and that they should have made no mention of Jesus Christ, as engaged in such a work, at the only period when it is pretended that he was engaged, puts an end forever to the misrepresentation that the teachings and inculcations of the New Testament were the work of any such human or divine being as Jesus.

 

Every rational person might have known that the writings of the New Testament, were the work of one man or a school of men who sought to blend such portions of the preceding creeds, doctrines, ceremonies, practices and religious formulas into a single religion, that would serve to harmonize and unite mankind in one common effort to advance the welfare of all. No person can attentively read the New Testament writings, and not perceive the fact that there is hardly a paragraph of them which does not contain very clear evidence that it is but a slightly modified reproduction of some tenet or doctrine of some one or more of the various religious systems prevailing at the time of their production, or that prevailed in the reign of Augustus, when Potamon lived and founded the Eclectic School of religious instruction.

 

The religious systems of China, India, Persia, Egypt, Greek, Rome, Palestine, and even the Druidical system of Northern and Western Europe, were largely drawn from to make up the Eclectic System of religion founded by Potamon; a religion which for a period of more than a hundred years after he died in exile, was suppressed, and then revived as being of divine origin, and attributed to 'Ies', the Phoenician name of the god Bacchus or the Sun personified; the etymological meaning of that title being, 'i' the one and 'es' the fire or light; or taken as one word 'ies' the one light. This is none other than the light of St John's gospel; and this name is to be found everywhere on Christian altars, both Protestant and Catholic, thus clearly showing that the Christian religion is but a modification of the Oriental Sun Worship, attributed to Zoroaster. The same letters I H S which are in the Greek text, are read by Christians 'Jes' and the Roman Christian priesthood added the terminus 'us' making the name of the ficticous author of the Eclectic system 'Jesus'. This was a tub thrown by the Parsee whale by the successors of Potamon. To that name the latter added the name of the Hindoo deity Christau, thus, as the representative of the new system, making not Potamon its founder, but Jesus Christ, the compound deified myth of the Orientals and Hindoos, the nominal head of the church.

 

 

[webtrekker]

My stance is simple ...

 

I believe in 'God.'

I don't believe in Religion.

 

 

 

 

[pi3141]

54 minutes ago, webtrekker said:

I believe in 'God.'

I don't believe in Religion.

 

SBNR - Spiritual But Not Religious

 

I sort of identify like you, I'm also a bit Agnostic and a bit of Universalism and Pantheism.

 

I'm religiously Eclectic! 

[pi3141]

On 7/7/2021 at 10:10 PM, pi3141 said:

The Bible stories are not literal, its a book of spiritual advice that has been written metaphorically or symbolically take for instance Jesus of Nazareth, there was no such place, The term Nazarene means 'one who consecrates his life to the service of God' Jesus being THE Nazarene means he was the most holy in that order. 

 

For proof of that the term Nazarene applied to a sect and not a geographical place I present the Bible itself - 

 

Acts 24:5

“We have found this man to be a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the Nazarene sect"

 

Hence the Bible tells us the term Nazarene denotes a sect not a place, Nazareth the town was founded later than Jesus' time.

[pi3141]

Isa (name)

 

Isa (Arabic: عِيسَى‎, romanized: ʿīsá) is a classical Arabic name and a translation of Jesus. The name Isa is the name for Jesus in the Quran. However, it is not the only translation; it is most commonly associated with Jesus as depicted in Islam, and thus, commonly used by Muslims.

 

Etymology

The English form of the name "Jesus" is derived from the Latin Iēsus, which in turn comes from the Greek Ἰησοῦς (Iēsoûs).

 

snip

 

Scholars have been puzzled by the use of ʿĪsā in the Qur'an since Christians in Arabia used yasūʿ before and after Islam,[4][5] itself derived from the Syriac form Yēshūaʿ by a phonetic change.[6][7] The Encyclopedia of the Qur'an by Brill Publishers states this has also come about because many Western scholars have held a "conviction that Jesus' authentic Hebrew name is Yeshua'"[2] and because of this they often "have been puzzled by the Qur'an's reference to him as 'Isa".[2] Brill's Encyclopedia of the Qur'an further states "It is not certain that Jesus' original name was Yeshua'"[2] However, the early Syriac/Aramaic form of the name Yeshua, the etymological link with 'salvation' (note the Hebrew consonantal root y-sh-`) in Matthew 1:21, all of the correspondences of Ἰησοῦς in the Greek OT and Second Temple Jewish writings, and the common attestation of Yeshua among 1st century Jewish names have led to a consensus among scholars of the gospels that Yeshua was "Jesus"'s original name. 

 

Link - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isa_(name)

 

 

So it says on Wiki, Jesus' English name comes from Latin Iesus, again, the 'us' depicting Latin and the Greek for Jesus is Iesous, again, the 'ous' depicting Greek origin. By removing the 'us' or the 'ous' on either the Greek or Latin names for Jesus we get 'Ies' which breaks down to 'I' the symbol for God and 'es' the Phoenician root for Fire.

 

Jesus' name means 'God of Fire' - The Sun.

 

This has got to be the most damming evidence that the Jesus myth is based on the Sun and is Astrotheological in its origin. 

 

And again its not known for certain that Jesus was his real name its only a guess or consensus among scholars that Jesus or Yeshua MIGHT have been his name. Are we really to believe the Son Of God came down here, ministered to multitudes, healed the sick performed miracles, was bought before the Roman authorities and nobody caught his real name?  Are we to believe Jesus was bought before Pontius Pilate with an assumed name? And Pilate, sentenced him to death without ascertaining the real name of the criminal bought before him? The Romans were more efficient than that, I'm sure if they were to try Jesus then they would have been sure to get his real name.

Edited August 13, 2021 by pi3141

[Thoth001]

I was a Christian from about 5 until around 26. I did always question why Yahweh and Jesus seemed so different. Yahweh was this tyrannical God that wanted to be worshipped while Jesus was about love and peace. In my head I could never figure out why it was so conflicted and why the God of the OT seemed just really mean. And many things in the Bible were just not adding up to me.

 

Interesting enough while I was in Iraq with the Air Force about 15 years ago, I had a lot of down time and I began my research on religion. It was quite the experience finding out all about it. One of the first things I found when researching if Jesus existed or not was from some channeled material called Cosmic Awareness and about the Jesus myth. It really opened my eyes to a lot of things and had my awakening there. Not long after that is when I found out about the David Icke books also. I was really relieved to find out what religion really was. But here is the link that started to open my eyes. And I understand this isn't for everyone and many people want to latch on to a religion, because it makes them feel safe and they like easy answers without dull diligence. But I think this link is a great starting point, if you want to start your quest on researching religion.

 

How the Jesus Myth was created

 

https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/master_file/jesusmyth.htm

 

 

 

 

[pi3141]

41 minutes ago, Thoth001 said:

How the Jesus Myth was created

 

https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/master_file/jesusmyth.htm

 

 

Thanks but I already read it a few years ago, and it corroborates a lot of what I've written on this thread.

 

Please feel free to add any quotes and links from there to this thread if you can think of anything that belongs here.

 

Might take another look myself and at some quotes from it to this thread.

 

I'm finding out that the 'Jesus is a myth and Sun God' theory and that Christianity is based on Paganism has been around a long time.

[Thoth001]

10 minutes ago, pi3141 said:

 

Thanks but I already read it a few years ago, and it corroborates a lot of what I've written on this thread.

 

Please feel free to add any quotes and links from there to this thread if you can think of anything that belongs here.

 

Might take another look myself and at some quotes from it to this thread.

 

I'm finding out that the 'Jesus is a myth and Sun God' theory and that Christianity is based on Paganism has been around a long time.

 

Thanks! And yes it has. Just off the top of my head "The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors" by Kersey Graves comes to mind. I know research goes a lot back further but that book is from about 1875 and it can be read in full here and I will add a little quote:

 

https://infidels.org/library/historical/kersey_graves/16/

 

IGNORANCE of science and ignorance of history are the two great bulwarks of religious error. There is scarcely a tenet of religious faith now propagated to the world by the professed disciples of Christ but that, if subjected to a rigid test in the ordeal of modern science, would be found to contain more or less error. Vast acquisitions have been made in the fields of science and history within the last half century, the moral lessons of which have done much to undermine and unsettle our popular system of religious faith, and to bring into disrepute or effectually change many of its long-cherished dogmas. The scientific and historical facts thus brought before the intelligent public, have served as keys for explaining many of the doctrines comprised in the popular creed. They have poured a flood of light upon our whole system of religion as now taught by its popular representatives, which have had the effect to reveal many of its errors to those who have had the temerity, or the curiosity, to investigate it upon these grounds. Many of the doctrines and miraculous events which have always been assigned a divine emanation by the disciples of the Christian faith, are, by these scientific and historical disclosures, shown to be explainable upon natural grounds, and to have exclusively a natural basis. Some of them are shown to be solvable by recently developed 'spiritual laws,' while others are proven to be founded wholly in error.

[Thoth001]

Introduction to the Bible and Biblical Problems

by Donald Morgan

 

The Bible consists of a collection of sixty-six separate books. These books were chosen, after a bit of haggling, by the Catholic Council of Carthage in 397 A.D.—more than three hundred years after the time of Jesus. This collection is broken into two major sections: The Old Testament, which consists of thirty-nine books, and The New Testament, which consists of twenty-seven books. (Catholic Bibles include additional books known as the Apocrypha.)

 

The Old Testament is concerned with the Hebrew God, Yahweh, and purports to be a history of the early Israelites. The New Testament is the work of early Christians and reflects their beliefs about Jesus; it purports to be a history of what Jesus taught and did.

 

The composition of the various books is thought to have begun around 1000 B.C., and to have continued for about 1,100 years. Much oral material was included. This was repeated from father to son, revised over and over again, and then put into written form by various editors. These editors often worked in different locales and in different time periods, and were not always aware of each other. Their work was primarily intended for local use and it is unlikely that any author foresaw that his work would be included in a "Bible."

 

No original manuscripts exist. There is not likely even one book which survives in anything like its original form. There are hundreds of differences between the oldest manuscripts of any one book. These differences indicate that numerous additions and alterations, some accidental and some purposeful, were made to the originals by various authors, editors, and copyists.

 

Many biblical authors are unknown. When an author has been named that name has sometimes been selected by pious believers rather than given by the author himself. The four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are examples of books that did not carry the names of their actual authors; the present names were assigned long after these four books were written. And—in spite of what the Gospel authors allege—biblical scholars are now almost unanimously agreed that none of the Gospel authors was either an actual disciple of Jesus or even an eyewitness to his ministry.

 

Although some books of the Bible are traditionally attributed to a single author, many are actually the work of multiple authors. Genesis and John are two examples of books which reflect multiple authorship.

 

Many biblical books have the earmarks of fiction. For example, private conversations are often related when no reporter was present. Conversations between God and various individuals are recorded. Prehistoric events are given in great detail. When a story is told by more than one author, there are usually significant differences between one and the other(s). Many stories—stories which in their original context are considered even by Christians to be fictional—were borrowed by the biblical authors, adapted for their own purposes, given a historical setting, and then declared to be fact.

 

The Flood story is an example of this kind of adaptation. Its migration from the earliest known occurrence in Sumeria, around 1600 B.C., from place to place and eventually to the Bible, can be traced historically. Each time the story was used again, it was altered to speak of local gods and heroes.

 

https://infidels.org/library/modern/donald_morgan/intro.html

[Forsaken Bankzy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9fR1vSxNEQ

[pi3141]

10 hours ago, Thoth001 said:

Thanks! And yes it has. Just off the top of my head "The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors" by Kersey Graves comes to mind. I know research goes a lot back further but that book is from about 1875 and it can be read in full here and I will add a little quote:

 

https://infidels.org/library/historical/kersey_graves/16/

 

Looks like you just handed me my next reading book!

 

Did a quick search around and found an academic rebuff to the book, in the rebuff the author mentions Rev Robert Taylor whom I have quoted earlier in the thread so looks like I'll be reading the book and the rebuff to it! And your link states the author is not a scholar and we should be cautious trusting anything in the book. But it intrigues me.

 

Thanks 

 

Midwestern Journal of Theology
 10.1 (2011): 145-65
Kersey Graves’s Sixteen Crucified Saviors:Prometheus as Test Case

 

If one wants to enter into the old discussion of the “dying and rising” gods, one must resign oneself to the idea of having to straddle the line separating real scholarship and pseudo-scholarly rubbish. 2  It comes with the territory. Claims that Prometheus is to be counted among the so-called “crucified saviors” hail almost exclusively from the rubbish side

 

Link - https://www.academia.edu/18607500/Kersey_Gravess_Sixteen_Crucified_Saviors_Promethius_as_Test_Case 

[Thoth001]

15 hours ago, pi3141 said:

 

Looks like you just handed me my next reading book!

 

Did a quick search around and found an academic rebuff to the book, in the rebuff the author mentions Rev Robert Taylor whom I have quoted earlier in the thread so looks like I'll be reading the book and the rebuff to it! And your link states the author is not a scholar and we should be cautious trusting anything in the book. But it intrigues me.

 

Thanks 

 

Midwestern Journal of Theology
 10.1 (2011): 145-65
Kersey Graves’s Sixteen Crucified Saviors:Prometheus as Test Case

 

If one wants to enter into the old discussion of the “dying and rising” gods, one must resign oneself to the idea of having to straddle the line separating real scholarship and pseudo-scholarly rubbish. 2  It comes with the territory. Claims that Prometheus is to be counted among the so-called “crucified saviors” hail almost exclusively from the rubbish side

 

Link - https://www.academia.edu/18607500/Kersey_Gravess_Sixteen_Crucified_Saviors_Promethius_as_Test_Case 

Your welcome! It is all very interesting and I am always interested in it. Have you ever read anything by Acharya S? Another book I have read in the past is The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold by Acharya S. sadly she died a few years ago and wasn't very old but her books are very in depth. I don't have a link to any of her whole books but here is some excerpts:

 

https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/biblianazar/esp_biblianazar_38.htm

 

https://stellarhousepublishing.com/

[pi3141]

On 8/14/2021 at 10:42 AM, Thoth001 said:

Your welcome! It is all very interesting and I am always interested in it. Have you ever read anything by Acharya S? Another book I have read in the past is The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold by Acharya S. sadly she died a few years ago and wasn't very old but her books are very in depth. I don't have a link to any of her whole books but here is some excerpts:

 

https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/biblianazar/esp_biblianazar_38.htm

 

https://stellarhousepublishing.com/

 

Thanks. I was reading up on the book last night. It seems I may have posted the source for these books and the Christ Myth Theory in general and while searching I found some surprising stuff. Posting below.

[pi3141]

From Wiki - 

 

Christ myth theory

 

The Christ myth theory, also known as the Jesus myth theory, Jesus mythicism, or the Jesus as historicity theory,[1] is described by Bart Ehrman paraphrasing Earl Doherty, as the position that "the historical Jesus did not exist. Or if he did, he had virtually nothing to do with the founding of Christianity."[q 1] It includes the view that the story of Jesus is largely mythological, and has little basis in historical fact.[2]

 

There are three strands of mythicism, including the view that there may have been a historical Jesus, who lived in a dimly remembered past, and was fused with the mythological Christ of Paul.[3][4][q 2] A second stance is that there was never a historical Jesus, only a mythological character, later historicized in the Gospels.[q 1] A third view is that no conclusion can be made about a historical Jesus, and if there was one, nothing can be known about him.[5]

 

Most Christ mythicists follow a threefold argument:[6] they question the reliability of the Pauline epistles and the Gospels to establish the historicity of Jesus; they argue that there is lack of information on Jesus in non-Christian sources from the first and early second centuries; and they argue that early Christianity had syncretistic and mythological origins, as reflected in both the Pauline epistles and the gospels, with Jesus being a celestial being who was concretized in the Gospels. Therefore, Christianity was not founded on the shared memories of a man, but rather a shared mytheme.

 

The Christ myth theory is a fringe theory that is rejected by most scholars and supported by few tenured or emeritus specialists in biblical criticism or cognate disciplines.[q 3][7][8][9] It is criticised for its outdated reliance on comparisons between mythologies and deviates from the mainstream historical view.[10]

 

snip

 

These critical methods have led to a demythologization of Jesus. The mainstream scholarly view is that the Pauline epistles and the gospels describe the Christ of faith, presenting a religious narrative which replaced the historical Jesus who did live in 1st-century Roman Palestine.[39][40][41][42][note 1] Yet, that there was a historical Jesus is not in doubt. New Testament scholar Bart D. Ehrman states that Jesus "certainly existed, as virtually every competent scholar of antiquity, Christian or non-Christian, agrees".[44][45]

 

Following the criteria of authenticity-approach, scholars differ on the historicity of specific episodes described in the Biblical accounts of Jesus,[46] but the baptism and the crucifixion are two events in the life of Jesus which are subject to "almost universal assent".[note 2] According to historian Alanna Nobbs,

 

While historical and theological debates remain about the actions and significance of this figure, his fame as a teacher, and his crucifixion under the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate, may be described as historically certain.[47]

 

Link - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_myth_theory

[pi3141]

From Wiki - 

 

Historicity of Jesus

 

The question of the historicity of Jesus is part of the study of the historical Jesus as undertaken in the quest for the historical Jesus and the scholarly reconstructions of the life of Jesus.[1][2][3] While the Christ myth theory proposes that Jesus never existed, virtually all historians reject the Christ myth theory and accept that a human Jesus existed,[note 1][4][5][6][note 2] although few events mentioned in the gospels are universally accepted.[7][8][9] Standard historical criteria have aided in evaluating the historicity of the gospel-narratives,[10][11] and two events subject to "almost universal assent" are that Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist and was crucified by order of the Roman Prefect Pontius Pilate.[8][9][7][12][note 3]

 

Link - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historicity_of_Jesus

[pi3141]

Anchor Bible Series

 

The Anchor Bible Series, which consists of a commentary series, a Bible dictionary, and a reference library,[1] is a scholarly and commercial co-venture which was begun in 1956, with the publication of individual volumes in the commentary series. Having initiated a new era of cooperation in biblical research among scholars, over 1,000 scholars—representing Jewish, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Protestant, Muslim, secular, and other traditions—have now contributed to the project.[1] Their works offer discussions that reflect a range of viewpoints across a wide theological spectrum. The Anchor Bible project continues to produce volumes that keep readers current on recent scholarship and are grounded in analysis. The works bring advances in science and technology to bear on biblical materials, making historical and linguistic knowledge related to the interpretation of the biblical record available to experts and students alike.

 

Link - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchor_Bible_Series

 

 

Anchor Bible Series - Genesis

 

Blurb from Amazon - 

 

Genesis is Volume I in the Anchor Bible series of new book-by-book translations of the Old and New Testaments and Apocrypha. Ephraim Avigdor Speiser was University Professor and Chairman of the Department of Oriental Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

 

Using authoritative evidence from archaeology, linguistics, and comparative religion, the author presents some startling conclusions about the first book of the Bible. He proves, for example, that the famous opening phrase, "In the beginning," is not true to the meaning of the first word, that the designation "Torah" for the Pentateuch is a misnomer, that the best-known stories of Genesis are grounded in pagan mythology. Speiser is an iconoclast in the tradition of Abraham; he exposes the false in order to help achieve truth. As he says in his introduction, he "is not motivated by mere pedantry...but by the hope that each new insight may bring us that much closer to the secret of the Bible's universal and enduring appeal."

[pi3141]

This has surprised me, the scholars seem to accept that Christianity is based on Pagan myths and I suggest rituals and practices and solar observances etc but also accept the validity of a famed teacher who was crucified, that a man Jesus actually existed.

 

So I ask myself, why do the Christians worship a man named Jesus when thats not his actual name and why do they celebrate his birthday on 25th December when thats not his birthday? If they didn't know the correct date and they guessed one, out of the 365 days they could have picked they chose the Winter Solstice, not October of April, December 25th when the Sun starts again to rise and the constellation Virgo is on the Eastern Horizon

 

This question needs to be answered and it seems to me that the early church, perhaps not actually knowing the birth date themselves had to supply one so chose a well known date for it, appropriating existing festivities and substituting them for their own.

 

So why the name? Again it seems they adopted a title because maybe the church didn't know the real man. 

So how well did the church know 'Jesus'? How well did they know his teachings?

 

It seems the church has built up a legend around a man or several men and based their mythology on his or their teachings as well as Pagan knowledge, festivals and rituals to make it acceptable at the time. Of this point their can be little doubt, even scholars concede that point, but equally scholars agree that the man Jesus did exist in history.

 

More investigation needed.

[pi3141]

Continuing on the Pagan Origin of religions theme, here's a famous one, posted for posterity. There are many links to this theory, just search 'Santa Claus Shaman'

 

 

Shaman Claus: The Shamanic Origins of Christmas

 

Have you ever wondered why in modern Christmas tradition we do the things we do?  What is the origin of the Christmas tree, with the star on top, decorations about, and all the brightly wrapped presents beneath?  Or the idea behind Santa Claus who jets around the globe in a magic sleigh with flying reindeer – defying both time and space – to deliver the world’s children a bounty of Christmas gifts?  And since when did Santa and the birth of Jesus have anything to do with each other?  Where do these stories come from – and better yet: what are we actually celebrating on Christmas morning?

There are answers to these questions.  And the history is not so far fetched or even that hidden.  You just have to know where to look.  And the first place we look is the North Pole; seriously – in ancient Siberia, near the top of the world.  The story of Santa and his likely origins begins where he supposedly lives: the frigid North.

 

THE EVENKI OF SIBERIA
In this wintry-wonderland, if you go searching for Santa, you may not find him or his Elvin factory – but you will find groups of indigenous people native to what we know as Siberia.  Among these cultures are the northern Tungusic people, known as the Evenki.  The Evenki were predominantly hunter-gatherers as well as reindeer herders.  Their survival depended largely upon the health and vitality of their domesticated reindeer.  The reindeer provided the Evenki and other northern tribes with everything from clothing, housing material, wares and tools from the bones and antlers, transportation (yes, they ride reindeer!), milk, as well as cultural and religious inspiration. 

 

The Evenki were also a shamanic culture.  The word “shaman” actually has its roots in the Tungus word shaman which means “one who knows or knows the spirits.”  Many of the classic shamanic characteristics that would later be reflected in cultures all over the world were originally documented by Russian and European explorers while observing the Tungus and related people’s religious life.  This includes the three-world system, the shamanic journey or soul flight, the use of altered states of consciousness, animistic belief in spirit, and so forth.

 

AMANITA MUSCARIA SANTA
A significant aspect of the shamanism practiced in this part of the world during that time was linked to Amanita muscaria, also known as the Fly Agaric mushroom.  This mushroom is more widely accepted in the modern world as the Alice in Wonderland mushroom.  It was held very sacred by these ancient people, and was used by the shaman and others for ceremonial and spiritual purposes.  Amanitas – as you can tell by the pictures – range from brightly red and white to golden orange and yellow.  They only grow beneath certain types of evergreen trees.  They form a symbiotic relationship with the roots of the tree, the exchange of which allows them to grow.  One of the reported ancient beliefs was that the mushroom was actually the fruit of the tree.  Due to the lack of seed, it is also commonly held that Fly Agaric was divine – a kind of virginally birthed sacred plant.

 

Although intensely psychoactive, Amanitas are also toxic.  One way to reduce the toxicity and increase the psychoactive potency was to simply dry them.  When out collecting the mushrooms, people would pick a bunch of them under the evergreen trees and lay them out along the branches while continuing to pick the mushrooms beneath other trees.  The result was something that looked very reminiscent of a modern Christmas tree: evergreen trees whose branches are dotted with bright red, roundish “decorations” – in this case the sacred mushrooms.  At the end of the session, the shaman or harvester would go around to each of their mushroom stashes and put them all in one large sack… a large sack?!!  Remind you of anything?!  Not only this, as the story of the tradition goes, the shaman would then, carrying this large sack, visit the homes of his or her people and deliver the mushrooms to them.  They would then continue the drying process by hanging them in a sock, near the fire!

 

Amanita Muscaria Reindeer
Another way to reduce the toxicity of the sacred mushrooms is through human filtration.  Once passed through the body, the toxic elements are apparently filtered by the liver and the resultant urine that comes out contains the still intact psychoactive elements.  So they drank the filtered urine.  But that’s only half the story.  Somewhere in the mythic origins of this practice is the reindeer.  Because the reindeer also love these mushrooms.  They dig through the snow to eat them, and they also drink their own urine afterwards.  So perhaps, long ago, one of the first shamans witnessed the reindeer’s love affair with this peculiar mushroom – as well as its propensity for eating its own freshly yellowed-snow – and saw how peculiarly it behaved as the romance heated up.  The curiosity (indeed a hallmark characteristic of a shaman) couldn’t be contained, and the shaman did what he had to do: he first ate some of the yellow snow himself… and without a doubt realized the profound wisdom and magic not only in the mushroom, but in the reindeer.  And so this romance, too, began…

 

However it may have happened in antiquity, the connection between the reindeer, the mushroom and the shamanism is apparent.  A very common vision that one has while under the influence of Fly Agaric is precisely that: flying.  Massive distortions of time and space occur, affecting scale in dramatic ways.  Not only do you observe yourself flying, but also other things… like reindeer.  It is not that difficult to connect the dots here.  Shamanic people are deeply invested in their environment.  They learn the magical and mystical properties of the natural world, and often assign a great deal of importance and sacredness to the bearers of that magic.  For some of these ancient Siberian people, this power was charioted by the reindeer and the sacred mushroom.  That the reindeer should have the ability to fly is evident not only in the vision, or their clearly altered state once intoxicated, but also in the wisdom they offered to the shamans by eating the mushroom in the first place, and for guiding them to do so just the same.

 

It wasn’t only the reindeer who could fly, but the shamans also took flight.  As mentioned, the shamanic journey or soul flight is a keystone in shamanic practice and especially so in ancient Siberian culture.  In order to interact with the spirits, the shaman had to be able to leave this world and enter theirs.  This was accomplished by projecting his or her spirit from the physical and into the immaterial.  They either needed the power to do this on their own, or use a spirit helper to take them.  It is very common for shamans to develop relationships with birds, naturally, as they have the power to fly.  But here, in the North Pole, what better animal to use than the magical, flying reindeer?

 

WORLD TREE + THE NORTH STAR

There is one other component to the shaman’s flight that corresponds to our Christmas exploration, and this has to do with how they got to the other worlds.  The shamanic cosmology often consists of three worlds: the Lower, Middle and Upper Worlds.  Connecting the three worlds is a cosmic axis, which is also commonly known as the World Tree.  The World Tree served as a bridge or portal that allowed a shaman and spirits to move between the three worlds.  It was the gateway as well as the highway.  In ancient Siberia, the same tree that also bore fruit to the amanitas was also a symbol for the world tree.  The Evenki and other indigenous groups lived in roundish, teepee like structures called yurts.  Sometimes they would place a pine tree in their yurts for ceremonial purposes.  This symbolized the World Tree, and they would harness its symbolic power to propel their spirit up and out of the yurt – through the smoke hole, i.e. the chimney.  Once the journey was complete, they would return through the smoke-hole/chimney with the gifts from the spirit world.  They also believed that the North Star was the very top of the Upper World, and because the World Tree was an axis that connected the entire cosmology, the North Star sat upon the very top of the World Tree – which is where the tradition of placing a star at the top of the tree comes from.

 

RITUAL OF GIFT GIVING

One of the final elements of the Christmas tradition that we know today is the whole concept of gifting.  What are we celebrating?  When you begin to unravel the experience of the shaman’s flight and dance with Amanita, you enter a world that is deeply sacred.  These shamanic cultures were intimately interwoven with their environments through the reindeer and the mushroom in a way that honored and celebrated the mysteries and magic that life and experience brought to the people.  The shaman’s journey and return was ultra-important to the survival of the whole community.  What they brought back with them was often a matter of life and death.  And time and again the shaman and the people, through these experiences that they deemed not only sacred but divine, would learn knowledge and wisdom directly from the sacred plants, their journeys, and from the spirits they interacted with.  This was a kind of life blood for their way of being.  This was the gift.  The celebration was actually a kind of celebration of life, continued survival and renewal; an honoring of the spirits, animals, plants and natural world that gave them the gift of life and knowledge of life.

 

BIRTH OF THE SUN (NOT SON) 

This brings us to the grand finale, the big present hidden way back under the tree: Jesus Christ, and the timing of his arrival on Earth.  Concurrent with Jesus’ storied birth is a yearly alignment with the sun.  On the December 21st winter solstice, the sun reaches its furthest southern point, bringing the northern hemisphere its longest night.  For 3 days the sun remains apparently unmoving.  On the morning of the 25th, the sun begins its northern ascent once again.  This can be looked at as the birth of the sun, which has spent the winter traveling in the lower world, or the world of darkness.  When the sun begins to climb once again, it is a time to celebrate the light – literally the return of the light, the source of life on Earth, and ultimately the assurance of the coming summer, which also means the survival of the natural world, the animals, the plants, the people and their way of life.  Hence, life and the people are saved.  To indigenous peoples who depended on the seasons’ movement and bounty – and especially for the far northern peoples of ancient Siberia – this was a monumental time.  The sacred Amanita with its red, golden and orange coloring as well as its capacity to offer direct experience and connection with divinity was also regarded as a symbol for the Sun and its life-giving and saving properties.  The Sun – or the Son – is the savior, born on the 25th of December as the bringer of light, harbinger and liberator of life on Earth.

 

This is the gift and the meaning of the holiday we know as Christ-Mass.  When you are decorating your tree, hanging the star, and doing your thing with red and white and presents – perhaps take a moment to reflect on the esoteric meaning of the shamanic origins of Christmas, and what the spirit of this tradition was and is all about.

 

Link - https://realitysandwich.com/shaman-claus-the-shamanic-origins-of-christmas/

[pi3141]

And of course the scholarly work of John Allegro, this work cost him his career.

The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross

The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross: A Study of the Nature and Origins of Christianity Within the Fertility Cults of the Ancient Near East is a 1970 book about the linguistics of early Christianity and fertility cults in the Ancient Near East. It was written by John Marco Allegro (1923–1988).[1][2]

 

Theories

The book relates the development of language to the development of myths, religions, and cultic practices in world cultures. Allegro argues, through etymology, that the roots of Christianity, and many other religions, lay in fertility cults, and that cult practices, such as ingesting visionary plants to perceive the mind of God, persisted into the early Christian era, and to some unspecified extent into the 13th century with reoccurrences in the 18th century and mid-20th century, as he interprets the fresco of the Plaincourault Chapel to be an accurate depiction of the ritual ingestion of Amanita muscaria as the Eucharist. Allegro argued that Jesus never existed as a historical figure and was a mythological creation of early Christians under the influence of psychoactive mushroom extracts such as psilocybin.[1]

 

His claims have often been subject to ridicule and scorn due to Allegro's unconventional theory. As Time magazine put it in an article headed "Jesus as mushroom":[3]

 

To some biblical scholars in Britain, the new book looked like the psychedelic ravings of a hippie cultist. To others, it was merely an outlandish hoax. One described it as reading "like a Semitic philologist's erotic nightmare."[3]

 

Link - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sacred_Mushroom_and_the_Cross

 

 

Edited August 23, 2021 by pi3141

[pi3141]

So we got Jesus as a Sun God, with his birth at the Winter solstice, born of a Virgin and heralded by 3 kings.

 

We have Jesus as a Mushroom with the Shaman influence of Santa Claus as part of religious mythology.

 

We have Easter as an offshoot of Fertility cults, celebrated at spring with the bringing in of new life to the world at spring and of course the spring solstice and this is again tied in with Jesus' death and resurrection.

 

We have the Harvest Festivals celebrating the fruits of the Suns rays and time in summer.

 

In the Bible it says Moses was educated in the Wisdom of Egypt. In spiritual terms when they talk of Wisdom they talk of spiritual knowledge so it seems logical that some of that knowledge would be included in the Bible and hence we are safe to assume that the Bible also contains knowledge from the ancient Egyptian Mystery Schools.

 

Genesis was taken from earlier Pagan myths by the Jews while in Babylon.

 

Revelations is based on earlier Persian and Chaldean myths and have an Astrological answer to the riddle.

 

Worshipping on specific day - the Day of the Sun, calling the Priest 'Father' kneeling and making hand gestures to pray, congregating in a Church aligned East to west, festivities and celebrations on certain days of astronomical significance, its all Pagan.

 

Then we have the Man Jesus, whoever that may have been, who taught spiritual lessons for our soul and how we should behave down here. Jesus was a 'Nazarene' - someone who consecrates their life to the service of God and Jesus was also a Priest in the Order of Melchizedek. He was also known as an Essene, again another religious sect. Thats 3 sects we can attribute Jesus to being in. Its logical to assume he would have incorporated teachings from these various sects into his own teachings.

 

Many other authors have made the comparison of Jesus' teachings with Buddhism.

 

Then there's the possibility of a husk of truth that the Jesus legend is based on at least one real person, someone may have given the Sermon on the Mount or at least gone about preaching those teachings. According to the Spiritualist's that man is Apollonius of Tyana.

 

Emperor Constantine combined myths from the Western Druids and their Hesus with myths and legends from the Hindus religion and created the Hesus Kristos story into which are encoded many lessons and knowledge from many traditions existent in the world at that time. Then Constantine destroyed all other religions and traditions and practices and enforced his religion on the world by force and ushered in 1000 years of darkness. While they lost the keys to understanding the knowledge and took the stories literally. Then they are accused of holding back science with their refusal to accept a spherical earth and their backward attitude towards science.

 

Hence so far in the Bible we have Hinduism and Buddhism, Druidism, Paganism which includes Solar, Moon, Nature and Fertility worship combined with Magic Mushroom Shamanism and the work of the man himself, the teachings of the one we know as Jesus, although we're not sure of his name or birth date or place of birth. 

 

There's Astrology, Astronomy, Chakra Energy Systems, Psychology, Physiology Moral and Spiritual lessons all encoded in the Bible which itself is a Spellbook designed to influence your thinking and mold your behavior. All this in a book from 2000 years ago. Well, finalized maybe 1300 years ago but based on writings that go back thousands of years before.

 

That the book is not divinely inspired is quite plain. There are several references in the book which show the authors to be 'Flat Earthers' I suspect a common belief among ancients, although the Pythagorean may have known it and so did the Phoenicians, because actually the truth is far more unbelievable. If the writers had genuinely been conversing with God they would have known the Earth was not flat, hence the inclusion of flat earth passages in the Bible betrays its the work of men.

 

Then there's the 'errors' the 'mistranslations' or perhaps 'misunderstandings' like the Valley Gehenna being taken for a literal place for the soul, Hell. And giving it its own God to preside over it - Satan. Inventing Lucifer on basically a typo and Original Sin - all Roman Christian inventions and errors.

 

If we can decode the symbology and allegory and remove the errors, alterations and additions I would hope we would get to the truth.  My feeling is its still there - Love on another, judge not, resist not evil, treat everyone as you wish to be treated, this is the truth and we would have heaven on Earth if we lived by it.

 

If the Vatican would open up its library to proper scholarly inspection I would hope the truth could still be found.

Edited August 23, 2021 by pi3141

[Useyournous]

I am not able to choose any religion because I know right from wrong without it. I feel we have the force of good in us and if there is a God why is it so narcissistic (praise me) and just leaves us arguing and guessing everything? Goodness should involve selfless, pure acts but many people who find God do it so they get to heaven even if they are nasty. I won't go into the causing wars bit. I'm sure if we just ignored religions but behaved ourselves any good entity would understand if we didn't go to church and adore it. I feel we can take good into our own hands because we do not need religion to do that.

 

I'm sorry to offend nice people with a religion but I'm not bothered if you are not nice. 

[pi3141]

10 hours ago, Useyournous said:

I am not able to choose any religion because I know right from wrong without it. I feel we have the force of good in us and if there is a God why is it so narcissistic (praise me) and just leaves us arguing and guessing everything? Goodness should involve selfless, pure acts but many people who find God do it so they get to heaven even if they are nasty. I won't go into the causing wars bit. I'm sure if we just ignored religions but behaved ourselves any good entity would understand if we didn't go to church and adore it. I feel we can take good into our own hands because we do not need religion to do that.

 

I'm sorry to offend nice people with a religion but I'm not bothered if you are not nice. 

 

Yes I agree with you, if God required worship it would be hardwired into our hearts from birth, we would KNOW, but we don't except supposedly Jesus came to tell us 2000 years ago how to worship and the church have supposedly passed that knowledge on. But thats a bit unfair to the millions of souls that lived before Jesus and hence must be in eternal Hell having never accepted Jesus according to the Roman state religion. Its illogical isn't it, if worship were required we would know and instinctively know how. Simple to program that in for God. But it gave us free will so its entirely our choice.

 

So no, God does not require worship - but, I like to quote the bible where I can in Mathew it says this - 

 

"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. ... But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

 

We do not need to attend a church with a priest acting as an intermediary between you and God. This is what the Roman church want you to believe is necessary to be saved. I believe they are so wrong. Misguided by their own mistranslations and misinterpretations and the belief that the Bible is literal rather than just allegorical with some real bits added in.

[gregory-peccary]

You might find the TV series 'Testament' made by John Romer in 1988. You can find it on YouTube. There is a book too.

It covers the history of the bible. How it came to be what it is now and the people who wrote it.

 

It is well done and in a way that does not offend believers unless they literally believe the bible to be the unaltered word of god.

[gregory-peccary]

A weird book you might like is 'Jesus The Man' by Barbara Thering. She uses the well known 'pesher' technique to extract a very different story about the life of Jesus from the New Testament. (he died in Rome an old man, for everything else you will have to read the book!)