Ancient Symbolism Illustrated.

rr . KsiA ? rsviir . 0 T , s . curious figure of tlie Persian god Azon , iu ivhich we have a perfect Heliac or Solar Triad . The circle or disk of the sun ,

THE PEES 1 AK A 7 . 0 EX . the serpent and wings , and our deified ancesfcer Noah , are all symbols of the generative attribute . Having now finished my observations on serpent worship , and showed its connection with the disk or circle , I must

revert to the Hindu worship of Siva and Parvati , premising that , with the Egyptians , their Isis and Osiris is a conjunction similar to the Hindoo Siva and Parvati . An oval or circle is amongst oriental writers the immediate type or symbol of Parvati , the consort of Siva in her character of Venus Generatrix . She is b y nature passivealthoughb

, , y a seeming contradiction tlie active energy or Sakti ( as Hindoos call ifc ) , of Siva , but in another character is herself the omnific power , both father and mother of men , gods , and things . All natural clefts , fissures , caves , hollows , concavities , and profundities , anything in fact containing fancied fcypicals of her , as are wells and tanks ; and thus fountains

and wells were created holy fountains , holy wells , & e . , they are called by the Greeks Agicesmata . To these founts or wells multitudes flock to invoke the saint of Genius Loci . Of such things this is the symbol 0 or O ; while , as has been alread y shown , pyramids , obelisk's , cones , and furcated hills , are Sivaic , and of these a perpendicular line is the character . A biforked hill , or hill with two summits , according to

Moor ' s Hindu Pantheon , is the terrestrial paradise of Siva and Parvati , and is thus symbolized—the two

perpendicular lines or pyramids , the symbols of Siva ; the circle between , the emblem of Parvati tlie Begeneratrix . •¦ And now liaving for a long time reasoned in a circle , around which I have not , I trust , materially erred , I will come to tho description

of the point . The circle , as has been already shown , like man y of the antient symbols , has been sometimes employed as a sacerdotal distinction of other symbols , and afc other times as an emblem of fche Deity itself . In its former capacity we perceive it contains the punctum or point , which is in itself the very centre of the symbol and

chief object of its importance . The sun , according to the ancient system learned by Pythagoras from the Orphic and other mystic traditions , being placed in the centre of the universe , with the planets moving round , was , by its attractive force , the cause of all union and harmony in the whole , and hy the emanation of its beams , the cause of all motion

and activity in its parts . This system , once so objected to , but now so fully proved to be true , was taught secretly by Pythagoras , the premature divulging of which caused the ruin of himself and his society . Of this central cause and circular distribution the primitive temples , of wliich we almost everywhere find vestiges , appear to have been emblems , for they universally consist of circles of rude stones , in the centre of which was placed the symbol of the deity . Such were tho Pyrrethea of the Persians , the Celtic temples of

the North , and the most ancient recorded of the Greeks , one of which , built by Adrastus a generation before the Trojan war , remained at Sicj-on in the time of Puusanius . Most of the places of worship in the Homeric times were of this kind ; for though temples and even statues are mentioned in Troy , the places of worship of the Greeks consisted generally of an area and an altar only . With the Persianswho were the

, Primatists or Puritans of heathenism , their places of worship , according to Herodotus aud Strabo , were , circles of stones , in fche centre of which they kindled the sacred fire , the only symbol of their god . The Oyclopeans , who , according to Thucydidi'S , were the most ancient inhabitants of Sicily , and wero the original Ophite , who worshipped the serpent as a

symbol of the sun , or generative attribute , wero a species of . Freemasons , who improved their simple circle of stono by erecting round towers famed for their hei ght , with a circular ' opening or window near their tops , where they kept the sacred fire constantly burning . The stature of the Oyclopeans has been confused , by the poets with their stupendous buildings ; they have been described by Homer and Justin as persons of an enormous stature , and differing from the rest of mankind

in countenance , having only one large eye , whicn , contrary to the usual situation of that organ , was placed in the middle of their foreheads ; the idea of their gigantic form and size beingborrowed from fche sacred edifices erected by them . These edifices were Petra or Temples of Ccelus , where that deity was worshipped . In after ages they were used as beacons , and we have copied their designs in our lofty round

lighthouses , with their windows of fire , or eye in the centre of their foreheads , or tops of the buildings . It is a subject for reverential wonder and deepest interest to trace back through the dark ages of idolatry , somo of the symbols employed by the heathen as emblems of their gods , and wliich have been evidently prophetic symbols , the real ,

meaning of which can only be unveiled by the volume of the saored law . Much of this relative to the punclumi , or point within the centre , might be adduced of deep theological and 1113 'stical importance , but as it would be impossible to do so without invading the landmarks of the Templar degree , I shall content myself with quoting from Moore that the circle between two parallel lines in a Hindoo sectarial symbol seen on the forehead of several Deities given in the Hindoo Pantheon , and mythologically resolves itself into one—th e