GOD SOL.

In determining the characteristics of the supreme divinity of astral worship, it must be borne in mind that its founders taught that he was evolved or engendered by the Father, or first person in the sacred Triad, from his pure substance, which as we have shown was constituted of chaos or the primeval fire into which they supposed all things were reduced through the agency of that element at the conclusion of 12,000 year cycles. Hence, designating that mythical being as the only begotten of the Father, they personified him as God the Son, or second person in the sacred Triad; and recognizing the Sun as the ruling star, very appropriately made him the presiding genius of that luminary, under the title of God Sol. According homage to light as his chief attribute, he is referred to in the allegories as “The true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world,” John i., 9; and, although designated as the only begotten of the Father, his co-existence with him, under the title of the Logos or Word, is shown in the text which reads, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” John i., 1.

Personifying the principles of Good and Evil in God Sol, the ancient Astrologers consecrated the six divisions of the 12,000 year cycle, corresponding to the reproductive months of Spring and Summer, to him as Lord of Good, and symbolizing him by the constellation of the Zodiac in which the Vernal Equinox successively occurred, as explained hereafter, they dedicated the six divisions of that cycle, corresponding to the destructive months of Autumn and Winter, to him as Lord of Evil, and as such, symbolizing him by the serpent, marked the beginning of his reign by the constellation “Serpens,” placed in conjunction with the Autumnal Equinox. Personifying in him the opposing principles of Good and Evil, he was to the ancients both God and Devil, or the varied God, who, in relation to the seasons, was described as beautiful in Spring, powerful in Summer, beneficent in Autumn and terrible in Winter. Thus under various names, intended to represent God Sol in relation to the diversified seasons, we find recorded in the Scriptures, or solar fables, numerous portrayals of imaginary conflicts, in which the Evil principle, triumphing during Autumn and Winter, is conquered at the Vernal Equinox by the Good principle, who, bringing back equal days and nights, restores the harmony of nature.

The eternal enmity between the principles of Good and Evil, as manifested in the diversity of the seasons, we find portrayed in the Constellations Hercules and Draco, placed in the northern heavens, in which the heel of the former, representing one of the most ancient of the imaginary incarnations of God Sol, to which we will refer hereafter, is resting upon the head of the latter, as referred to in Genesis iii., 15, which makes God Sol, or the Lord God, say to the serpent, “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” The woman alluded to in this text is the Virgo of the Zodiac, as will be made apparent hereafter.

Of all the divinities of the ancient mythology God Sol was the only one distinguished by the exalted title of Lord or Lord God, for the reason that he was made the organizer of chaos and governor of heaven and earth. Hence, having constituted him the lord of light and darkness, as well as good and evil, the ancient astrologers in composing the solar fables made him say of himself, “I form the light and create darkness; I make peace and create evil, I the Lord do all these things,” Isaiah xlv., 7. “Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?” Amos iii., 6. Besides the title of Lord or Lord God, the solar divinity is also designated in the allegories as the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings, the Invincible, the Mighty God, etc.

Subjecting the mythical genius of the sun, in his apparent annual revolution round the earth, to the four stages of human life from infancy to old age, the ancient Magi fixed the natal day of the young God Sol at the winter solstice, the Virgo of the Zodiac was made his mother, and the constellation in conjunction with her, which is now known as Bootes, but anciently called Arcturus, his foster father. He is represented as holding in leash two hunting dogs and driving Ursa Major, or the Great Bear, around the north pole, thus showing that the original occupation of the celestial foster father of the young God Sol was that of a bear driver, and that his sons, referred to in job xxxviii., 32, are the dogs Asterion and Chara. It will be observed that Virgo is represented in our illustration with a child in her arms, for the reason that she is so represented in the ancient Zodiacs, and the fact will be readily conceded that she is the only Virgin who could give birth to a child and be a virgin still.