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Article TO THE EDITOR OF THE FREEMASONS' REVIEW. ← Page 4 of 8 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
To The Editor Of The Freemasons' Review.
latter being attached to , or forming the support of the former animal . —This , consequent !} ' , is a Hindoo Mythological Hieroglyp hic , and its explanation depends upon the idolatrous notions which are still prevalent with respect to the Tropics , or boundaries of the Solar course in the heavens . According to the Ancients , the universe was represented by a circle , divided equally by a line drawn
across the centre , —the superior semicircle , or Northern Hemisphere , being termed Heaven , and the inferior , Tartarus , Hades , or Hell . Of these two divisions , the Tropics were considered the gates ; the tropic of Cancer being the portal oi Heaven , ancl that of Capricorn the gate of Hell . When , therefore , the Sun reached the Northern Trojuc , the gate of Heaven was said to have been opened , and the luminary was then declared to have reached the summit of the hill Merit-, or utmost extremity of his ascending course .
Jupiter was thus fabled to be seated on Ida , or Olympus ; Apollo on Parndssii-s ; and Mahadeva , on Kailas , or Mem—the whole of those fictitious mythological representations bearing a direct allusion to the Solar luminary , or the Northern Tropic , at the extremity ofhis ascending journey , on midsummer ' s day . But according to mythological opinions as they have descended
to us , —the world commenced with the Sun in Taurus , and by means of the Precession of the Equinoxes , the Earth having retrograded a sign , the Sun has retrogaded also ; and thus the luminary at his heig ht in the northern Hemisphere appeared formerl y in Leo , and not in Cancer . The Lion , or sign Leo , was , in consequence of the Tropical sign having been Leo , thus rendered the
emblem of solar light , solar heat , and solar strength , —and this sign , or the Leonine symbol , became accordingly the emblem of the arrival of the Sun upon tbe Northern Tropic , or was the sign of solar ascent .
On the other hand , while the Lion was thus rendered the Regent or guardian of the Northern gate of the Temple , or heaven , the inferior Hemisphere was placed under the dominion of the Serpent , known to the Greeks and Romans by the names of Pytho and Draco , — and to the Hindoos , by the appellation of Sesha Naga . When the Sun descended towards the Tropic of
Capricorn , he was , therefore , said to have entered the dominions of the Serpent , and accordingly a Hieroglyphic was constructed expressive of that fact , or the arrival of the Sun upon the Southern Tropic . Now the emblem of the Solar luminary among the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
To The Editor Of The Freemasons' Review.
latter being attached to , or forming the support of the former animal . —This , consequent !} ' , is a Hindoo Mythological Hieroglyp hic , and its explanation depends upon the idolatrous notions which are still prevalent with respect to the Tropics , or boundaries of the Solar course in the heavens . According to the Ancients , the universe was represented by a circle , divided equally by a line drawn
across the centre , —the superior semicircle , or Northern Hemisphere , being termed Heaven , and the inferior , Tartarus , Hades , or Hell . Of these two divisions , the Tropics were considered the gates ; the tropic of Cancer being the portal oi Heaven , ancl that of Capricorn the gate of Hell . When , therefore , the Sun reached the Northern Trojuc , the gate of Heaven was said to have been opened , and the luminary was then declared to have reached the summit of the hill Merit-, or utmost extremity of his ascending course .
Jupiter was thus fabled to be seated on Ida , or Olympus ; Apollo on Parndssii-s ; and Mahadeva , on Kailas , or Mem—the whole of those fictitious mythological representations bearing a direct allusion to the Solar luminary , or the Northern Tropic , at the extremity ofhis ascending journey , on midsummer ' s day . But according to mythological opinions as they have descended
to us , —the world commenced with the Sun in Taurus , and by means of the Precession of the Equinoxes , the Earth having retrograded a sign , the Sun has retrogaded also ; and thus the luminary at his heig ht in the northern Hemisphere appeared formerl y in Leo , and not in Cancer . The Lion , or sign Leo , was , in consequence of the Tropical sign having been Leo , thus rendered the
emblem of solar light , solar heat , and solar strength , —and this sign , or the Leonine symbol , became accordingly the emblem of the arrival of the Sun upon tbe Northern Tropic , or was the sign of solar ascent .
On the other hand , while the Lion was thus rendered the Regent or guardian of the Northern gate of the Temple , or heaven , the inferior Hemisphere was placed under the dominion of the Serpent , known to the Greeks and Romans by the names of Pytho and Draco , — and to the Hindoos , by the appellation of Sesha Naga . When the Sun descended towards the Tropic of
Capricorn , he was , therefore , said to have entered the dominions of the Serpent , and accordingly a Hieroglyphic was constructed expressive of that fact , or the arrival of the Sun upon the Southern Tropic . Now the emblem of the Solar luminary among the