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