Forlong - Rivers of Life
Forlong - Rivers of Life Forlong - Rivers of Life
422 Rivers of Life, or Faiths of Man in all Lands. enough for the temperate one of England, so I will consider the year as divided into eight periods, as follows:— 1. The EARLY VERNAL, - - From Candlemas to Shrovetide. 2. 'I'he VERNAL, - - - End of March and beginning of April. 3. The OPENING SUMMER, - - Beginning of May. 4. The MID SUMMER, - - About 2d week of June. 5. The EARLY AUTUMNAL, - - Last week of August. 6. The AUTUMNAL, - - Last week of September. 7. The EARLY WINTER, - - First week of Novemeber. 8. The WINTER, - - - Last week of December to middle of January. This may be graphically shown by Curves of Intensity, or periods of greatest Festal Energy, when JAH’S worshippers more especially “sing praises unto his name and extol him,” 1 not only when “riding high in the heavens,” but when arising from his wintry entombment and bestowing gifts on men. In the following tables, these great periods are shown in red letters. Fig 166.—CURVES SHOWING PERIODS OF INTENSITY OF SOLAR WORSHIP This diagram, if studied in connection with the sychronous Table of Faiths which follows, will at once show us the climatic year, and enable my readers to judge for themselves as to the real cause of Festivals and Saints’ days. Of course priests and partisans, from the days of Brahmanism to the latest mushroom sect, say these days or times are sacred from the occurrence of special incidents in the stories of their sect, but it is for us to consider whether this be so or not. As regards the climatic coincidences, we must expect to find many divergencies, according to the country we are considering, or the climate we are individually acquainted with. The eight annual divisions are also undoubtedly too Anglified, but then I am here more immediately addressing my countrymen; added to this, we have a very considerable oscillation due to most faiths adopting lunar or “moveable feasts,” and to various parts of the world being subject to seasons of intense aridity and severe rains, when Ceres cannot in the first case unlock her stores, as in the Indian summer droughts, nor in the second refrain from opening thom. This variation of season is caused by the motion of the sun through the ecliptic, which gives different countries the same season in different months, but it necessarily complicates all such classification as is here attempted; bearing all this in mind, however, as we look at these English months in the following table, and remembering that we must adjust them synchronously as we best can for all nations, and where dates are given, for each particular kalendar, we can yet arrive at clear and important results, which, though not new, enable 1 Psalm lx.
Sun Worship. us to arrange our knowledge scientifically, and in a way favourable to memory and classification with other matter. The Indian, we know, sows his wet crops, such as rice and the millets, later in our summer, reaping them towards the end of our autumn; and sows his wheat crops in our winter, reaping them at our vernal equinox. Now, remembering all this as we consider each nation’s fetes separately, we cannot fail to see that whatever names in conneciton with “births,” “deaths,” or “ascensions,” priests or pietists have given to these periods (and they are quite right in hallowing them), that yet all these seasons or so-called events, are mere glosses which the philosophor must cast aside when he investigates the root or origin of the festal period. He will find that then, indeed, he must give Almighty El, Al or Jah his due, and own his imperial sway. These tables do not pretend to denote all the festivals even of the leading faiths, but only the most prominent ones, in order to satisfy the reader as to my statements that our religious fetes are nearly all of Solar origin, or have been adjusted, in the case of real events, to times of Solar phases. I am convinced that diligent enquirers, who take the trouble to work out these tables fully and accurately, will find great accumulation of evidence in substantiation of what I urge. The subject is one of intense interest and will bear vast elaboration, and merits special archeological investigations beyond the books and time at my disposal. It is difficult for those who live in the great centres of civilisation—especially if in a temperate zone, surrounded with luxuries and means at hand to ward off any disastrous effects of Sol’s heat or alternating seasons—to thoroughly realise with what vivid interest primitive peoples, in torrid and frozen zones, or on their borders, watched his various phases, which bring to them happiness, misery, and death; or sow the germs which ripen fatally, especially in the very young and aged. Most of us can now by care and forethought resist his fiercest noonday rays; by clothing, fire, and artificial light defy his wintry blasts, and cheer his days of gloom and long nights of darkness; and so we rejoice not with pristine man on the Sun’s victory over fierce Typhon, nor thank Jahveh as of old for “redemption and salvation,” which by diligence an science we have wrought out for oursielves. If unkind to us in one part of our planet, he cannot be so everywhere, and through ten thousand artificial channels, aided by an ever pulsating fluid, man can now call up the powers of nature at will from every land, to pour forth her treasures where she is richest, and she responds to us at once, obedient to the great commercial laws of supply and demand. In the tables I show many fetes and their characteristics, though now obsolete, in order to elucidate the connection with the ancient Roman festivals, and this especially so in the case of the Christian communities. Owing, however, to the early reckoning which made Christ’s birth occur in the September equinox, some confusion may at first sight appear; but every entry can be verified, though in several instances the ecclesiastical writers of “the middle ages,” and “the ancient fathers,” must be consulted. 423
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422<br />
<strong>Rivers</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Life</strong>, or Faiths <strong>of</strong> Man in all Lands.<br />
enough for the temperate one <strong>of</strong> England, so I will consider the year as divided into<br />
eight periods, as follows:—<br />
1. The EARLY VERNAL, - - From Candlemas to Shrovetide.<br />
2. 'I'he VERNAL, - - - End <strong>of</strong> March and beginning <strong>of</strong> April.<br />
3. The OPENING SUMMER, - - Beginning <strong>of</strong> May.<br />
4. The MID SUMMER, - - About 2d week <strong>of</strong> June.<br />
5. The EARLY AUTUMNAL, - - Last week <strong>of</strong> August.<br />
6. The AUTUMNAL, - - Last week <strong>of</strong> September.<br />
7. The EARLY WINTER, - - First week <strong>of</strong> Novemeber.<br />
8. The WINTER, - - - Last week <strong>of</strong> December to middle <strong>of</strong> January.<br />
This may be graphically shown by Curves <strong>of</strong> Intensity, or periods <strong>of</strong> greatest Festal<br />
Energy, when JAH’S worshippers more especially “sing praises unto his name and<br />
extol him,” 1 not only when “riding high in the heavens,” but when arising from his<br />
wintry entombment and bestowing gifts on men. In the following tables, these great<br />
periods are shown in red letters.<br />
Fig 166.—CURVES SHOWING PERIODS OF INTENSITY OF SOLAR WORSHIP<br />
This diagram, if studied in connection with the sychronous Table <strong>of</strong> Faiths which<br />
follows, will at once show us the climatic year, and enable my readers to judge for<br />
themselves as to the real cause <strong>of</strong> Festivals and Saints’ days. Of course priests and<br />
partisans, from the days <strong>of</strong> Brahmanism to the latest mushroom sect, say these days or<br />
times are sacred from the occurrence <strong>of</strong> special incidents in the stories <strong>of</strong> their sect,<br />
but it is for us to consider whether this be so or not. As regards the climatic coincidences,<br />
we must expect to find many divergencies, according to the country we are<br />
considering, or the climate we are individually acquainted with. The eight annual<br />
divisions are also undoubtedly too Anglified, but then I am here more immediately<br />
addressing my countrymen; added to this, we have a very considerable oscillation due<br />
to most faiths adopting lunar or “moveable feasts,” and to various parts <strong>of</strong> the world<br />
being subject to seasons <strong>of</strong> intense aridity and severe rains, when Ceres cannot in<br />
the first case unlock her stores, as in the Indian summer droughts, nor in the second<br />
refrain from opening thom. This variation <strong>of</strong> season is caused by the motion <strong>of</strong> the<br />
sun through the ecliptic, which gives different countries the same season in different<br />
months, but it necessarily complicates all such classification as is here attempted;<br />
bearing all this in mind, however, as we look at these English months in the<br />
following table, and remembering that we must adjust them synchronously as we<br />
best can for all nations, and where dates are given, for each particular kalendar,<br />
we can yet arrive at clear and important results, which, though not new, enable<br />
1 Psalm lx.
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