The Birth of the Sun

It is tempting to blame the suppression of the “old ways” – the pagan/goddess/nature-based religions – on Christianity. However, the fact that the Greek myths predate the advent of Christianity by a few hundred years begs the question – is Christianity the cause of the suppression or merely a symptom?

A new force is on the ascent; Christianity appears at a time when this new way of thinking is sweeping the West. What better way of reflecting a new, solar mindset than with a new, solar religion?

That Jesus fits the characteristics of a solar deity is well-documented elsewhere (for example here). Born on the winter solstice when the light of the Sun is ‘reborn’, surrounded by twelve disciples just as the Sun is surrounded by the twelve houses of the Zodiac, and so on. When Christianity appears on the scene, it is a case of right time, right place.

The origins of monotheism can be traced back to Akhenaten, a curious pharaoh who reigned during the eighteenth dynasty of the Egyptian civilisation. Akhenaten favoured the worship of one god, Aten (depicted as the Sun-Disc) over the traditional polytheism of ancient Egypt. Akhenaten was a religious revolutionary, in many ways a forerunner of the changes that were to come. However, despite turning the old ways on their head, his ideas didn’t persist beyond his reign. After his death, the old order was re-established.

Like the metaphor of the rising ego needing to break free of the collective mind or face re-absorption, Akhenaten’s brief run stands as an example of how easily the new solar ego can sink back into the collective. The group mind of Egypt – the pull of the old ways – was so strong that after his reign, the changes Akhenaten made were overturned and his name obliterated from many records.

In order for the surface tension of the old ways to be broken, a separation needed to be made: the new solar order breaking out of the body of Egypt and making a fresh start. This is exactly what happened in the story of the Jews’ flight from Egypt.

In time, Judaism gave birth to Christianity, which became a global force when the emperor of Rome, Constantine, converted to Christianity in 312.