Druidic Craft of the Wise - The American Rite | Legends

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Legends 8
The Religions of the Ages

The Earth and her many cultures of people experience a new change in values and religious concepts about every 2,000 years. This corresponds with the relative motion of the Sun and Earth in what Plato called "The Great Solar Year". The progression of the Ages can be measured by the position of the Sun in relation to the constellations of the Zodiac at the time of the Spring Equinox.

The Sun takes approximately 2,150 years to pass through each of the Zodiacal signs, making a complete cycle each 25,800 years. For example, we very recently experienced the very beginning of the 2 millennia cycle of the Aquarian Age. About 2,000 years ago the "Bethlehem Star" marked the dawning of the Age of Pisces, the Fish. About 2,150 years prior to that, Moses helped usher in the Age of Aries, the Ram. For the two millennia prior to that, the Egyptians rose to power in the Age of Taurus, the Bull (Ba'al). The following is an accounting of humanity's progress and landmarks throughout the past eleven Ages since the Great Flood.

The power of the sun is modified by the different star constellations.
This causes a major change in the basic philosophy affecting the whole world.

The first religion was that of Capricorn. The religion of Capricorn,
as we know, is the religion of the Great God, Pan - The Mother religion,
or the beginning religion, of all. It was in existence at the time when
the people of the Aryan race, who later became the Celts, settled Europe.

But by precession the Sun left the sign of Capricorn.  The religions of the
world changed, and the Wise men brought to the world another religion.
This was that of Sagittarius, the religion of the nomads, in which heaven
is a happy hunting ground.  They are the wandering people. This was
very similar to the religion of some of the Native American Indians.  Then
the Sun changed in Scorpio and it was necessary to institute another religion.

Then the Wise Men instituted the religion of Scorpio in which the people
began to farm land and to settle and forsake their nomadic ways. They
elevated the agricultural part of the Old Religion until it was of prime
importance. Then as farms grew and multiplied, and 2,000 years passed,
the Wise Men again brought another religion.  This was the religion of the
age of Libra - the religion of business.  For farming had flourished and
trade became a necessity and business arose. And now business itself
became the religion of the day.  They began to build temples and for the
first time began to worship money.  It is noteworthy that the abbreviation
"lb" for Libra is also the abbreviation for the British pound of money.
And thus money was developed and money became God in this age.
To this day the remembrance of this religion lives on and there are
those who trust their souls to money above all else.

Religions never perish, but remnants of earlier religions remain on the
face of the earth at all times. While the majority of the world lagged
behind, the chosen people went on to the religion of the Virgo age.
The Wise Men brought this to pass.

Men began to worship the Mother Goddess, Virgo -- the perfect woman.
And for the first time, womanhood was elevated to a position of supremacy
in man's worship. This is the worship of Isis, Ashtoreth, Astarte, Cybele,
and dozens of other named goddesses by various nations. But in every
case it was the Worship of Woman, and lasted 2,000 years.

Then the sun went into Leo, and men rebelled against the rule of the
Mother Goddess, and the Sun assumed prime importance in the
religions of the age. Here Zoroaster established the greatest of all
religions for that age. The duality of the universe prevailed, and
everything was seen as either male or female, active or passive,
light or darkness, good or evil, and so on.

But in due time, the sun went into Cancer. Cancer is the sign of good
living, wines, food, and softness in general, for Cancer is the sign of
the belly. Here arose a religion which has been much misunderstood.
The religion of Bacchus was an attempt to obtain communion between
minds of men and with God, using alcohol as an aid. Later it
degenerated into orgies. But even here worship was more in
prominence than the more sensuous aspect of the orgy.

Two thousand years later, under the leadership of the Magi who were
now being called Druids among the Celts, the religion of Gemini
was established.  These were the people whom the Bible calls
"priests of the groves."  It was commonly supposed they were ignorant
people worshipping trees and performing all sorts of fertility rites with
trees.  This was far from true.  Their religion was more of a "Johnny
Appleseed" variety. They taught people that the highest religion was
obedience to the first commandment of the Heavenly Father - to dress and
keep the world as a Garden of Eden for man's happiness.  Therefore,
every time an apple or fruit was eaten the people were taught to put
the seeds in a pouch.  Every time one sat down to rest he was taught
to plant one seed. This they did throughout the whole continent of
Europe and soon the entire continent was covered with trees and
vines bearing fruits, nuts and berries.  People walked from one end
of Europe to the other living upon the fruits of the forest.

This they did, and there was no private property in all the world.
People wandered hither and yon from the northern regions of
Scandinavia to southern Italy. They followed their teachers in small
groups, discussing religion and philosophy, as they wandered north
and south, eating freely of every tree in the forest.

All of Europe began to resemble what the world will be like when people
obey the first commandment of God, "Be fruitful, multiply and
replenish the earth and make the whole earth a garden of Eden."

Certain people then decided to stay in a certain place because
they loved that particular area. And so they stayed there, lived there
and took care of a particular grove. And they were known as
the priests of the groves... and the people wandered freely back
and forth and many people gained perfection.

And then the Sun sign changed, and it was necessary again to
bring forth another religion.  And the Wise Men did so.  They did
so sorrowfully, because it was necessary to institute the religion of
Taurus.   For the first time the world was divided into mine and
thine, and the love of possessions started.  These possessions extended
even to people and the strong among the Taureans enslaved and
gathered together vast harems and herds of slaves. Egypt was the
stronghold of the chosen people of this era, and was known for its
many thousands of slaves. The lot of the common man was little
better than a slave. This was the Taurean religion at its height.

Moses, who had been raised in the king's court, was a member of the
Wise Men, learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptian priesthood.  This
man attempted to establish the Arian religion.  As is always done,
he went to the leaders; the priests and the rulers.  He said to them,
"Let us establish the religion of the new age." They would not, but
clung to the old. He then took the slaves and the outcasts of the
old religion and led them into the desert where he very cleverly
wandered around for four generations until they were one people.
They had amalgamated into one before he brought them out and
established the Hebrew nation - the chosen people of the Aries age.
And the religion lasted for its allotted space of time.

For more on this written by, Diogenes, another of Father Eli's students see:
Wisdom Through the Ages

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