ZEITGEIST: THE MOVIE

date... Now begins a period in which the hours of light exceed the hours of darkness, symbolized
as the sun's resurrection from the Underworld...and with its regeneration, life and vegetation can
continue; the young sun redeems the world from darkness. 233
To repeat M.M. Mangasarian:
The fact that Jesus' death was accompanied with the darkening of the Sun, and that the date of
his resurrection is also associated with the position of the Sun at the time of the vernal equinox, is
further intimation that we have in the story of the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus, an
ancient and nearly universal Sun-myth, instead of verifiable historical events. 234
Adding to this knowledge, Barbara Walker concludes:
Christians ever afterward kept Easter Sunday with the carnival processions derived from the
mysteries of Attis. Like Christ, Attis arose when ―the sun makes the day for the first time longer
than the night‖... 235
As denoted before, there are multiple, astronomical meanings for the ―crucifixion.‖ The god hanging on a
cross, as we find in the story of Jesus, is a pre-Christian motif that revolves around the sun on the cross
of the equinoxes, when the day and night are equal in length. As Murdock elucidates:
… the cross has long been a symbol of the sun, representing significantly the crux of the
equinoxes, upon which the sun is ―crossified.‖ Hence, it can truly be said that the sun of God was
―crucified‖ at the vernal equinox—and this motif, we contend, is at the basis of the gospel
―crucifixion‖ at ―Easter.‖ 236
That the date for "Easter" is in reality based on astronomy, rather than an actual crucifixion of the Lord of
the universe, is demonstrated by the centuries-long battle within Christendom as to when precisely this
spring holiday should be celebrated. As stated by professor of History at the University of California,
Berkeley, Dr. John L. Heilbron, in The Sun in the Church: Cathedrals as Solar Observatories:
The old theologians decreed that Easter should be celebrated on the Sunday after the first full
moon after the vernal equinox—that spring day on which the hours of daylight and darkness are
equal. 237
33. Now, probably the most obvious of all the astrological symbolism around Jesus
regards the 12 disciples. They are simply the 12 constellations of the Zodiac, which
Jesus, being the Sun, travels about with. In fact, the number 12 is replete throughout
the Bible.
The symbolism of ―The Twelve‖ has been discussed under the sections concerning Horus and Mithra.
Briefly, the 12 motif in the tales of pre-Christian and non-Christian saviors and others is equated with the
hours of day and night, the months of the year, and the signs of the zodiac. We have already seen that
the 12 ―companions‖ of Mithra are the signs of the zodiac. When we understand that the Christian religion
was born, in part, out of Mithraism, using virtually the exact same symbolism, then we have an obvious
pattern that needs to be addressed. When it comes to the 12 of Jesus, given the ubiquitous historical
precedent put forth by prior religions, the relationship becomes obvious, enough so that it has been cited
by historians and other writers for centuries.
In the final analysis we can safely assume that the apostolic grouping of ―12‖ was indeed a literary device
and not the actual count of a group of followers who lived around 30 AD/CE. The use of 12 in the Bible
itself is so ubiquitous that it is logical to presume these groupings reflect not an actual count, but, rather, a
common formulaic theme, based on the prevalence of this sacred number in the Pagan world as well.
233 Busenbark, 119.
234 Mangasarian, 35-36.
235 Walker, B., WEMS, 78.
236 Murdock, 363-364.
237 Heilbron, 3.