Fresh Batch #144: Solstitial Temples or Scholarly Fantasy?

The Origin of the Ark, or Solar Barque

Lockyer wrote (Dawn Astr. pp. 83, 85.), “The important thing is that when we pass from Thebes (Luxor), and possibly Abydos, to the Pyramids at Memphis, to Saïs and Tanis, we find sostitial orientation changed to an equinoctial one. There is a fundamental change of astronomical thought.

“I confess I am impressed by this distinction; from the astronomical point of view it is so fundamental that almost a difference of race is required to explain it. I say this advisedly, although I know creed can go a great way, because among these early peoples their astronomy was chiefly a means to an end. It was not a story of abstract conceptions, or the mere expression of interesting facts whether used for religious purposes or not. The end was a calendar, of festivals and holidays if you will, but a calendar which would allow their tillage and harvest to prosper.”

He also noted the significance of the rise of the Nile that took place at the solstice, and as a result dominated the industry, astronomy, and religion of Egypt. I can’t corroborate any of this because I’ve never been to Egypt; I’ve written about my suspicions regarding the history of this part of the world. However, according to Conon, the Phoenicians made Egyptian Thebes their capital when they possessed the empire of Asia. Could Lockyer have stumbled upon traces of the different races that occupied Egypt in the distant past when he noticed the changing of astronomical thought?

Lockyer wrote (Ib. p. 88.), “The great temple of the sun at Pekin (Beijing) is oriented to the winter solstice. The ceremonials which take place there are thus described by Edkins:—‘The most important of all the State observances of China is the sacrifice at the winter solstice, performed in the open air at the south altar of the Temple of Heaven, December 21st. The altar is called Nan-Tan, south mound, or Yuenkieu, round hillock—both names of the greatest antiquity.’

‘Here also are offered prayers for rain in the early summer.’”

Panorama from the opposite view of the Imperial Vault of Heaven

Early summer is the summer solstice: June 21st. Regarding the Temple of Heaven, Edkins claimed its south alter was the most important of all Chinese religious structures. He wrote, “At the times of sacrificing, the tablets to heaven and to the Emperor’s ancestors are placed on the top; they are 2 feet 5 inches long, and 5 inches wide. The title is in gilt letters; that of heaven faces the south, and those of the ancestors east and west. The Emperor, with his immediate suite, kneels in front of the tablet of Shang-Ti and faces the north. The platform is laid with marble stones, forming nine concentric circles; the inner circle consists of nine stones, cut so as to fit with close edges round the central stone, which is a perfect circle. Here the Emperor kneels, and is surrounded first by the circles of the terraces and their enclosing walls, and then by the circle of the horizon. He thus seems to himself and his court to be in the centre of the universe, and turning to the north, assuming the attitude of a subject, he acknowledges in prayer and by his position that he is inferior to heaven, and to heaven alone. Round him on the pavement are the nine circles of as many heavens, consisting of nine stones, then eighteen, then twenty-seven, and so on in successive multiples of nine till the square of nine, the favourite number of Chinese philosophy, is reached in the outermost circle of eighty-one stones.

Inside the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.

“The same symbolism is carried throughout the balustrades, the steps, and the two lower terraces of the altar. Four flights of steps of nine each lead down to the middle terrace, where are placed the tablets to the spirits of the sun, moon, and stars and the year god, Tai-sui. The sun and stars take the east, and the moon and Tai-sui the west: the stars are the twenty-eight constellations of the Chinese zodiac, borrowed by the Hindoos soon after the Christian era, and called by them the Naksha-tras; the Tai-sui is a deification of the sixty-year cycle.” (Journeys in North China, Williamson. Vol. II. ch. xvi. Edkins, p. 253.)

According to this account, the Chinese Zodiac was borrowed by the Hindoos after the Christian era, which indicates the Mediterranean system didn’t come from India, since it had 48 constellations or asterisms prior to the Common Era, and if we’re being realistic, the Christian era wasn’t established till the 3rd century AD, which would betray an even more youthfulness to the Indian system.

Lockyer claimed Stonehenge was constructed in a similar fashion, that the shadow of one stone fell exactly on the stone in the center at sunrise during the summer solstice, which indicated to the priests that the New Year had begun, and possibly also fires were lighted to flash the news through the country, which could be the origin of the midsummer fires. (Ib. p. 91.) My contention with this would be that the Irish New Year is reckoned on November first, known as Samhain (pronounced sah-win), and that culture seems to have preserved their Etrusco-Phoenician systems best of all the people in Britain. (I appreciate Stonehenge is in England, but when speaking of Druidical systems, they cannot be separated from their ancient ancestors.) But other than what my contention could or would be, I don’t know that I have any objections to Lockyer’s idea because I don’t know enough about the subject at this time and there aren’t reliable inscriptions from the time of the Druids because their letter systems were secret.

Speculation from modern scholars doesn’t meet my standards. However, the day and month of Beal’s Fire (Bel/Baal) occurs at the halfway point between spring and summer: Beltane, not at mid-summer. But it seems historians contradict this by claiming the name midsummer is attested in Old English as midsumor, and refers to the time around the summer solstice. Astronomically, the solstice falls on June 21st, but traditionally, in northern Europe, the solstice and midsummer was reckoned as the night of June 23rd-24th, with summer beginning on May Day. (Harper, Douglas. midsummer. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2023-06-22.)

Likewise, in the ancient Roman world, the traditional date of the summer solstice was June 24th, (O'Neill, William Matthew (1976). Time and the Calendars. Manchester University Press. p. 85.) and Marcus Terentius Varro wrote in the 1st century BC that Romans saw this as the middle of summer. (Forsythe, Gary (2012). Time in Roman Religion: One Thousand Years of Religious History. Routledge. pp. 123, 182. “Varro places the equinoxes and solstices at the midpoints of the seasons… His dating for the beginnings of the four seasons are as follows: February 7 for spring, May 9 for summer, August 11 for autumn, and November 10 for winter. In the city of Rome, it was the festival of the goddess Fors Fortuna. People thronged the River Tiber and rowed in boats to the temples of Fortuna; after undisclosed rituals they rowed back, garlanded and inebriated. (Billington, Sandra (2002). The Concept of the Goddess. Routledge. p. 134.)

If this is the case, then why would Stonehenge have been built to align with the actual summer solstice while the Druids are alleged to celebrate the summer solstice in what is actually the middle of spring? If Lockyer is correct, then I suspect the historical record is not correct regarding the ideas that the summer solstice was celebrated in the middle of spring. These details create confusion where none ought to be, and any time I come across concepts that should be common sense and easy to understand, yet they are not because of intentional complication or speculation, it indicates that those causing the confusion are not correct.

To learn the ancient universal system of priestcraft, which includes religious symbolism that is inseparable from astronomy, read the Spirit Whirled series. From the fourth to the sixth books, I examined claims and established facts that I used to form my conclusions about The Real Universal Empire.

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