The Sun

"Come up here with me, if you would meet the ancient father of our world...Come, and I shall tell thee first of all the beginnings of our sun, and the sources from which have sprung all the things we now behold - the earth and the billowy sea, the damp vapor and the titan air that binds his circle fast round all things." - Empedocles 450bc

Solar Deities

The sun has been worshipped in many cultures since the dawn of time under such aspects as creator, light bringer, and time regulator. Sun worship is nearly universal, yet today we are the most familiar with the cults that existed in ancient Persia, Armenia, Syria, Chaldea, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. In Egypt we find one of the most notable sun gods, Ra, Mithra to the Persians, called Rama by the Hindu's and Ray-mi in Peru. Many of the great cities of the ancient world were known as "The City of the Sun", such as Baalbec, Rhodes, and Heliopolis. More then just cult centers, these cities often contained the scientists of their day, people who studied the sun, moon and planets in an effort to devise accurate calendar systems. Around the world, most time keeping schemes followed the typical evolution of using first the easily visible moon phases, then fixed stars, as their knowledge increased, the sun. During the moon era, many ancient cultures thought it was the moon that marked out time, 13 lunar months, from which we derive the original zodiac. The sun was thought to control light vs dark. Later, when the solar year had been devised, many cultures incorporated a solar calendar, and began extensive efforts to track when solar and lunar methods came into sync, eventually dropping the 13th lunar month (origin of the modern 13th number as a sort of taboo) and instituting 12 months in it's place. Some cultures, such as Islam and the Hebrews still use a lunar calendar today, and the modern "Christian " holiday of Easter, based on the Germanic goddess Eoster's spring festival is still timed according to the full moon.

Often assumed to be a male deity, among the Indo-Europeans the sun was a goddess, and the moon was male. In all descendant languages such as German, Gaelic etc., the word for sun is still female. Typically this was a sign of people who had lived in colder climates, where nights were cold and days warm. As a reflection of the sun's importance, ancient maps always depicted the east at the top, although today we use north. Many words still in use today also reflect an ancient solar association. In Sanskrit "sun" was Surya, in Gaul Sulis, Lithuanian Saule, and in Latin and German Sol. Today, the official English name of our sun is Sol. In addition, sama was Sanskrit for solar year, and this appears in a variety of contexts as deity and other names, and is also the origin of the modern English word "summer" and Celtic words such as "Samhain", meaning "summer's end".

Many of the solar tales and myths found throughout the ancient world are more then just mere stories or fancy, as under the eye of the astronomer they reveal hidden scientific knowledge regarding solar and lunar cycles, calculation of the solar year, and the timing of equinoxes and solstices. Many tales feature the sun as a solar warrior, such as Heracules and his 12 Labors, whose adventures dictated the zodiac and changing of the seasons. (The original hero was a devotee of the goddess Hera, his name has since been corrupted to the modern Hercules). Another common scenario involves the annual death and rebirth cycle of the sun deity, dying at the summer solstice, (thousands of years ago in the sign of Cancer, once the sun's highest point in the sky, hence the modern title Tropic of Cancer), and being reborn at the winter solstice, (likewise once in the sign of Capricorn, once the sun's lowest point in the sky, hence the title Tropic of Capricorn). Due to precession, these high and low points have changed but we have retained their names.

Unwittingly perhaps, remnants of ancient solar cults still abound in our modern day lives. We still divide circles into 360 degrees , because in Egypt and Babylon the solar year was believed to be 360 days long at the time of creation, and later adjusted by divine means to extend to 365 days as we know it today. Our days of the week are also reflective of ancient German deities, Sunday literally meaning Sun Day, the day sacred to the sun. And although the Jews used Saturday as their Sabbath, because the Roman cult of Mithra honored their sun god on Sun Day, the early Christian Church followed suit and chose Sunday over Saturday. And what we call the "dog days of summer", had it's origins in the Egyptian tracking of Sirius the dog star, and it's annual conjunction with the sun which fell in the late summer and was believed to increase the heat of the sun.

Egypt

In Egypt, sun worship and science are to be found everywhere. Sundials were long known in Egypt, and began simply as a palm pole raised by forked sticks at each end and aligned to the north-south axis. Posts stood in to represent the east-west, and often stones were placed around in a circle to represent the hours. Many temples were aligned to the sun, moon, or stars, called "horizontal telescopes" by astronomers. A beautiful example exists at the temple of Edfu, where sunlight comes through carefully executed openings in the ceiling to illuminate pictures of the each of the 12 hours on the wall. In dozens of other temples, sunbeams from the solstices are guided carefully to align to the inner sanctuaries of temples or to illuminate statues or depictions of deities.

Although Ra is a more familiar solar deity, in very early areas of Egypt, Het-Heru, or Hathor was considered the solar dawn, the very mother of Ra birthing him each morn. Wearing a sun disk between her horns, she was depicted in prehistoric Egypt by a cow head on a pole, very likely forming a rudimentary sun dial. In the "Hall of the Cycle of the Gods" temple dedicated to the precession of the equinoxes, serious rituals took place dedicated to Hathor. Here she reigned as a sun goddess, while mirrors on each side represented the solstices. A later tale involving Hathor says that Ra, grown old and paranoid, sends Hathor on a mission to destroy his human enemies. Her rage was so great, that she was only stopped by the reflection of the dawn, her own face, in a makeshift mirror, a pool of beer.

"One climbs the Aha, the lonesome place of the majestic soul,
the high room of the intelligence which moves across the sky,
one now opens the door of the horizon building of the primordial
god of the two countries in order to see the mystery of Horus shining."
- Karnak 840bc.

One of the most famous of all astronomical temples in Egypt is the mighty temple at Karnak, dedicated to Ammon-Ra, though inscriptions bear witness to a combination god of Ra and Horus, called Ra-Hor-Akhty the "sun rising sun brilliant on the horizon". An axis line, once aligning to the winter solstice sunrise runs straight through the entire complex. Here the first beams of light were magnified by the silver floor, and focused upon an inner altar. It has been said that access to this inner sanctuary was strictly guarded, and that few priest-astronomers were entitled to witness the event within. This miracle of the sun's rebirth was celebrated by the sunbeam focused precisely upon the erect member of a statue of Ra, symbolizing the Great Rite between the goddess of the Dawn and Ra himself.

Middle East

One of the greatest and most advanced cultures of all time, was that of ancient Sumer. In many ways, their society equaled our own as they had scientists, school teachers, universities, pharmacies, lawyers, and were advanced in natural sciences. Sumer formed the foundation for those that were to follow, including the Babylonians and Hebrews. From them come many of the stories considered "Hebrew" such as the Great Flood, the Tree of life, and Adam and Eve. It should be noted however that these stories in their original form as quite different from those found in the Hebrew Genesis. Unfortunately, over the thousands of years that stretched between them the story line became convoluted, but an examination of the two cultures will show Sumer to be the true origin.

In Sumer, it was thought that the immortals lived on the primordial mountain of heaven & earth, "the place where the sun rose" at the dawn of creation. This later turns into the Hebrew Garden of Eden concept. The sun and moon, Utu and Nanna were considered to be two special deities that "saw all" that humans did from their lofty positions in the sky, and who attended their judgment to give witness to each person's deeds. Babylon takes this idea farther, saying that the sun and moon, Shamash and Sin are themselves born from the great mother serpent in the sky, Tiamat, who we now know to be the constellation Draco which once contained the pole star many thousands of years ago. The Babylonian king Hammurabi credited Shamash with creating the famed Hammurabi Code of laws. Also known as Bel or Baal, in Phoenicia the sun god had the combination name of "Baal-Samin, the great god, the god of light and the heavens, the creator & rejuvenator'' . The root word samin for sun later occurs in the Hebrew tale of Samson, the blind and super strong hero who pulls down the beam of the millhouse. It is known that this tale is a metaphor for the sun god Samin and the precessional cycle by which the "old" sun cycle comes to an end with the movement of the celestial pole. The 12 signs of the zodiac are also represented in Hebrew culture by the 12 tribes of Israel, and by the 12 stones that are worn on priests chestplates. The stones represent the order of the sun's progress through the zodiac signs, starting with jasper and ending with amethyst. The two sardonyxes on the shoulders represented the two "eyes" of god, the sun and moon.

India

In India, we find mention of what was called the Rama culture, a world wide civilization once said to rule the world. It is of unique interest that the name 'Ra' plays such a strong role in Hindu astronomy myths as it does in Egypt. Rama was said to be the 7th incarnation of Vishnu. More of a spiritual deity of light then personifying the sun, early Hindu texts, like those of Greece and Egypt associate the dawn with a goddess. One stated "The man who will speak to the Goddess at dawn can have no enemies."

Originally having a pantheon of 12 primal gods called "the Aditya", the ancient Hindu's also believed that creation took place on a sacred mountain, Mt. Meru where the first dawn shone into the sky. From it flowed 4 rivers whose source was the celestial sacred river, the Milky Way, which they symbolized by the Ganges.

Hindu texts also describe a lesser deity known as Rahu, and a lunar eclipse as "When Rahu stole a sip of the forbidden amrita, (the equivalent of the Greek ambrosia, Egyptian beer, and Norse mead, the drink of the gods) the sun and moon, ever the cosmic eyes on the world, told the deity Narayana, who sliced off his head with a discus before he could swallow." An ancient Hindu astronomer once described a similar event to his king as "Rahu the demon will swallow the Lord of the Lotus (moon)," and the moon will "come out his neck".

Greece/Rome

It has often been said that Greece was the seat of western civilization. Be that true, the Greeks in their pagan glory contributed much to what is termed "classical mythology". Cousins to both Hindu's and the Norse, all three have much alike in myth, science and practice due to their common ancestors, the Indo-Europeans. Very early texts of the Greeks mention a goddess associated with the sun or dawn. Circe it was said, a daughter of the sun, lived on the sacred primordial island guarding the a magic cup of the gods, from which "whoever tasted, lost his upright shape, And downward fell into a groveling swine". One Deomocritus however, regarded this ambrosia as "the vapours by which the sun is nourished." Aurora, another dawn goddess, was said to arise as the dawn each morn and open the gates of the sky for Apollo.

Other variations of the sun deity appear under the guise of Helios, the sun. Oft considered a male god, much evidence exists that points to an earlier sun goddess under the name of Helice, and closely linked with the Norse goddess Hel. The ancient compass, was called the "cup of Helios", and one of the wonders of ancient world, the Colossus of Rhodes in 280bc was in fact a representation of Helios. Two modern words remind us of Helios, whether male or female. The element Helium was named after Helios when it was first discovered on the sun, and the Christian "halo" comes from the Greek word "halos" or "helos" meaning the circular disk of the sun or moon, often depicted on the head of celestial deities.

The Greeks were extensive travelers. Ever thirsting for knowledge, the Greeks were known to have visited both ancient Egypt and India. We will never know if many of their "discoveries" were theirs alone or based on other sources, but they have left us with some intriguing insights into their astronomy and cosmology. Though we may never find telescopes as we know them as such, the Greeks were well aware of the earth's celestial pole, and a unique feature of our orbit known as the analemma. The origin of the modern "sideways 8" or infinity sign, an examination of the sun each day for a year at the same time will reveal such an 8, which reflects the path of the earth around the sun. In both Greek and Norse myths, this was sometimes nicknamed the "horse fetter", in the idea that this bridled in the "horse" (sun) and kept it to it's path.

"Some say that the earth is at rest, but Philolaus and the Pythagoreans says
that it is carried in a circle round the fire on a slanting circle,
in a similar fashion to the sun and moon."- Greek text

With the Roman conquest of Europe, and as the original prototype of the Catholic Church, much of what exists today in modern Christianity descends from a blend of native European paganism and the Roman cult of Mithra. Our modern word "solstice" stems from the Latin "sol stetit", or literally the "sun stands still", and the official modern name of our sun, Sol, also finds it's origins in Latin, where sol is a feminine noun meaning "sun".

Perhaps a Persian counterpart to the Egyptian Ra, the god Mithra found it's way into Rome and established a stronghold as the official religion of the military. Often associated with the sun deity known as the "Invincible Sun", Mithra had many astronomy attributes marking him for a celestial deity. Depictions of Mithra show him with the typical halo of sun rays from his head, and wearing a serpent belt, symbolizing the constellation Draco. Mithraeums, underground temples to Mithra, had ceilings painted with stars, and contained skylights at the east and west, and in many of these temples the arrangement was such that a beam of sunlight would fall upon the altar at noon on the solstice. Born on the winter solstice to represent the returning unconquered sun, the date was later changed to the familiar December 25th. Exact dates for the conversion of the date to a Christian holiday differ, but around 360ad the Roman Emperor Constantine converted from the cult of Mithra to Christianity, and retained the practices and holidays of the former into the new religion. The overlaying of Mithra by Jesus is incredibly evident in many of the early structures built by the Vatican in Rome and Europe. The famed city of Nicaea was a replica of the primordial mountain over which the sun rose at creation, built in a square with the 4 quarters marked by four gates and four roads, forming a crossroads, at the center of which used to be a pagan temple. Later claimed by the church, the solar cross which it formed they declared, was now the cross of Jesus.

In Vatican City is a another site known as the Torre dei Quatro Venti, the Tower of the Four Winds. This tower contains a Calendar Room which has line where a "circular line on the globe passes through Rome and the North and South poles. At midday the sun would traverse the plane of this circle. In the south wall of the room there was a small hole through which the sun's rays were admitted so as to fall on the floor with this line." This marvel of architecture created none other then the sun's analemma on the floor. Up until the medieval ages, the Christian church also claimed there was a solar eclipse when Jesus died, once again linking him with Mithra's role as a sun god.

Some modern authors studying astronomy have gone as far to say that even the Jesus birth tale is a reworked astronomy myth. Directly overhead at midnight of the winter solstice stood the star of Sirius, changed into the star of Bethlehem. Nearby are the 3 stars in Orion's Belt which do indeed in European folklore have the nickname of the "3 Kings". The constellation Virgo, also associated with the goddess Isis to the Egyptians, and Demeter to the Greeks, is at this point rising in the east, and from this point rises the first sunrise after the solstice, hence the "virgin birth" of the sun. As further evidence for this early Christian association of Virgo and Mary, the Catholic church determined that the Assumption of Mary occurred on August 15th, at the same time that the sun entered Virgo. The Birth of Mary took place on September 8th, when the sun left Virgo!

Norse

Europe, itself named after the goddess Europa, has a long history with celestial deities. In ancient times, a people known as the Teutons colonized much of what is now territory in European countries. Cousins to the Greeks and Hindus, Teutons stemmed from an even older people known to us as the Indo-Europeans. Though much about these mysterious people is not known, we can piece together many of their basic beliefs. Like their cousins, the early Teutons too believed in a sun goddess, Sol and a moon god Mani. Even today in the German language, sun is Die Sonne, a female noun, and moon is Der Mond, male. And much like the dawn goddesses of the Greeks, Hindu's and Egyptians, the early Germans sported a dawn goddess known as Ostara, or Eoster. Note the similarities in name with the dawn goddess Eos of the Greeks and Aurora. It is this very goddess from whence the Christians incorporated the holiday known as Easter, and her season, lencten in Anglo-Saxon, or literally "spring", became the Christian "Lent" leading up to the Easter holiday. For this reason, comes the medieval belief that the sun "danced" on Easter day. And though it is now commonly an "Easter lily" which is considered the official flower of the day, the ancients Norse held the sunflower to be Eoster's special symbol. Yet Eoster's most dominant symbol yesterday and today remains the egg which symbolizes birth and renewal. In the Harz Mountains, decorated eggs were hung from tree branches at this season, and have close ties to what are known as "Ukrainian Eggs" in the Ukraine. Having a black background representing the darkness of winter, the eggs traditionally featured yellow, orange, and red decorations typically in the geometric shape of six or right pointed "suns".

Though not known for their astronomy or cosmology, the celestial knowledge of the Norse is often to be found buried in symbols and myth. For thousands of years, the most sacred and important symbol was the Wheel of the Year, represented by a 6 or 8 spoked wheel, or by a solar cross within a wheel. Such wheels are depicted on the famed silver cauldron of Gundestrup, which shows a horned deity touching a wheel. The Norse that colonized what is now Yorkshire often cut the solar wheel on the tops of mounds and inserted a pole or pillar to make a solar compass or sun dial. These places were called moots, and this term is the origin of the modern word "meeting". The calculation of the Norse calendar was done at great moots during the midsummer solstice, as the solstices played a key role in their lives, customs and religious traditions.

Among the Norse, the god Balder is the most closely associated with the solstices. In a myth that explains the actions of the midsummer and midwinter sun, Balder the son of the god Odin, (himself the leader of the 12 celestial deities that lived on the central mountain, nearly identical to Greek, Roman, and Hindu beliefs) was said to die at the hands of his evil brother and a mistletoe stake each summer solstice, and be reborn at the winter solstice or what is still known in Germany as Mother Night. (The "mother" in question being the goddess who births the newborn sun back into existence.) Today in Scandinavia, on the eve of the summer solstice, thousands flock to the hillsides to light bonfires and to watch the sun set, following a tradition started in the dawn of time. Though originally a tribute to the sun, the event has since been assimilated by the Christians and transferred to St. John. Another notable and still living midsummer tradition is for large wheels made of wood or straw to be constructed, which are then lit on fire and rolled down hills to represent the sun's journey toward the winter. Likewise at winter, the Norse celebrated the 12 sacred days of Yule, absorbed by Christians into the "12 Days of Christmas". It is said that for these 12 special days, the god Odin would walk the earth to visit mankind, disguised as an old man. Also known as Nik in some locales, Odin is clearly the origin of the figure known today as Santa or Christianized into St. Nick. An interesting commentary should be made however regarding these 12 days. In some older Indo-European cultures, the New Year was celebrated by a 12 day celebration which re-enacted the creation of the universe. Day 1 began with the primordial chaos, and by day 12 official order had been re-established. There may be some evidence of this in the Roman version of the winter solstice celebration known as the Saturnalia, where Saturn, a god associated with time was said to rule, and a "Lord of Mis-rule" (or chaos) would be chosen to represent the season.

Sun themes abound in other Norse myths and artifacts as well. In the epic of Sigmund, also known as Sigurd or Siefried, his magic sword is named Balmung which means "sun beam". In this tale, the hero comes across a valkrie surrounded in a ring of fire, the lovely Brunhild who symbolizes a dawn maiden. The Saxon god Saxnot ("sax-sword") also had a magic sword, and one was said to have hung in his temple in such a way as to reflect the dawn's first light. Even Odin was associated with the sun. The tale explains that Odin, in search of wisdom, once went to the well of Mimir ("memory") to drink deeply and gain knowledge in the process. The guardian of the well named the price for the act, one eye. Odin plucked the eye and threw it into the well where it became "the sun". At first glance, this may seem to be yet a fanciful tale. And yet, as a student of archeaoastronomy will tell you, around the world many ancient cultures used deep wells as a sort of telescope, by which they could watch the transit of the sun via it's reflection in the water!

Sun themes of the ancient Norse are still with us today in another way, embedded in what is commonly assumed by the masses to be Christian customs. Similar to St. Nick, in some areas of Germany the "Christkind" now makes a visit to homes over the winter solstice. This is typically a girl child, not male, who wears a white gown and wears a gold crown. In her hands she may carry a candle, symbol of the returning sun. In Sweden, December 13th is "Little Yule", an ancient solstice holiday Christianized into St. Lucia's ("light") day. Once believed to be the date of the winter solstice, on this day the youngest girl in the house appears dressed in white, and wearing a wreath of candles on her head, appears at dawn awaking the family with song. Another symbol of the sun, at Yule large logs were burnt well into the Victorian age, so large that in some villages the fire remained alight for the entire 12 days. This special log also represented the rays of the returning sun.

England/Ireland/Scotland

Invaded by Norse tribes such as the Angles and the Saxons, many English, Scottish and Irish customs are a blend of Norse and native people's of the area such as the Celts and Picts. The Celts, also descended from the Indo-Europeans, reveal the relationship in the Irish name for the sun, Grian which is female. Also prizing the concept of the solar cross and central mound cosmology, sacred centers such as Tara where constructed in such a way that a central station existed from which extended four divisions or provinces. On holidays such as Samhain, which means "Sun's end" large bonfires would be lit in these sacred centers and on the tops of mounds across the countryside.

"Happy is the bride the sun shines on." -English folk saying

Much overlooked as a sun goddess, the Irish spring goddess Bride, ("bright") who has much in common with the Norse Ostara, was honored at a special temple complex in Kildare, originally known as Cill Dara "the place of the oak". Her temple there was a circular building with an eternal flame burning in it, stoked with sacred oak wood. Her holiday on February 2, known as Imbolc is often associated with the fertility of sheep, however her most important aspect is her reign as the new year's returning sun, demonstrated admirably by the modern day Catholic nuns which have absorbed not only the goddess and her shrine but also the ancient customs. Once a year, followers of St. Bride still go to the spiritual center where they circle a central pillar with a candle, visibly re-enacting the yearly journey of the sun. Another Irish sun goddess was Aine, who had an annual festival each summer solstice. Aine had the ability to transform into a horse, perhaps referring to an ancient memory of the "horse fetter", the analemma of the sun. Lugh, a Celtic sun god, was said to be honored each year at the harvest festival of Lughnasad. His temple site gave name to what is today called London.

Carvings of suns also appear in many Irish passage-graves, which support the idea of an ancient association with the dead and the sun. A multitude of other structures, such as megaliths, stone circles, graves and religious sites, feature special alignments with the sun that occur on solstices, equinoxes or cross quarter days. The famed passage grave at New Grange, An Liamh Greine, "The Cave of the Sun" has such an alignment to the winter solstice, where a beam of sunlight illuminates spirals and wheels on the inside of the structure for approximately 17 minutes. Such associations have given rise to modern day superstitions in Ireland, as demonstrated in the idea that those carrying the deceased past a graveyard or sometimes a standing stone had to circle it sunwise two or there times to avert ill, or that a sunbeam falling on someone at a funeral foretold their death! In 17th century Scotland, we find a very similar concept tying life with the sun. When a child was born, a ceremony called "saining" was done. An attendant would carry a candle sunwise round both the mother and baby. Like most other pagan customs, this was later absorbed by Christianity, and the meaning inverted from receiving a blessing by the sun, to warding off the devil. In Gaelic, we also find the source of the modern day word used by Wiccans when casting a circle. "Deosil" which means "sunwise", means to walk in the clockwise direction of the sun. To this day, pagans are still tracing the sun's path, even though many would associate their Craft more with the moon.

Due to it's diverse history, England is awash with ancient pagan sites, culture and traditions. As in Ireland and Scotland, standing stones, stone circles and graves often have alignments to the sun, moon, and stars. The Romans left behind sites such as the Chanctonbury Ring, called "Mother Goring" by locals. An age old custom involved running sunwise round the ring at dawn on May Day, whereafter "the devil" (Mother?) was supposed to appear and offer a sip from a cauldron. Archaeologists that have researched the site say it is actually the remains of a Romano-British temple, and the rites involved a reenactment of the hero's quest around the celestial circle, and the final victory of reaching the sun. The Cerne Abbas giant in Dorset is a sun deity carved on a hillside, some say the Saxon god Heil, Hayle, or Helis, equivalent to the Greek Helios and the Norse Hel. Julius Caesar recorded that the Celtic druids in Gaul used to meet at a site known as Carnute, (later Christianized to Chartres cathedral, France) until Tiberius cut down the sacred groves there. The association with celestial matters continued well into the Christian era however, as in one of the stained glass windows at noon on the summer solstice, a beam of sun sunlight still shines through to illuminate a golden strip on the floor.

St Michael's Mont in Cornwall was originally called Dinsul, meaning "mount of the sun". The mountain is an island, and legend has it that it is the sole remnant of an ancient lost culture called Lyonesse, which many associate with the Celtic Isle of Avalon or the Norse Summerland. Cornwall has a large number of such historic sites, including the standing stone called the Men-an-Tol. A large circular stone with a central hole (this stone was in a scene with Merlin in the movie "Excalibur") it retains a tradition that to gain health, one must crawl through the hole towards the sun. At the stone circle Long Meg & Her Daughters, there is an alignment to the winter solstice sunset, and the site of Castlerigg aligns to both the midsummer sunset and February 1st, ancient Imbolc. Dozens of dozens of such ancient sites can be found, and are many more are just now being studied thanks to the relatively new science of archeaoastronomy.

Perhaps the most famous of all such sites in England however is Stonehenge. Clearly an astronomical calculator, this site was apparently used by ancient priest-astronomers to set the calendar and track the heavens, as well as serving as a religious center. One of it's most misunderstood aspects however concerns a stone called the Heel Stone. For decades it has been debated why it so named, with all parties apparently overlooking the obvious. At the height of it's alignment on the summer solstice the sun rises directly "over" this stone, seeming to sit on the top or perhaps rise up from within the stone itself. It is the opinion of this author that the Heel stone is a corruption of Welsh hayil, or Norse Hel, both of which mean "sun"! Likewise in the English town of Helston, a stone once stood called the Hel Stone, though it has long since been removed by zealous Christians.

Last but not least, a popular folk custom can still be found in England as traditional Morris dancing or mumping, and in the U.S. as the Mummers parade of Philadelphia. Although the Philly version has lost the better part of it's original meaning and retains only the masks and costumes, in England the dancers still perform the more traditional dances. The themes are always a life/death/renewal theme, signifying the death and renewal of the sun. In some of the older dances such as in Yorkshire, swords play a central role in the dance as dancers at midwinter use their swords to form eight pointed stars or sun shapes.

Americas

South American cultures have long been a mystery to many researchers. Highly sophisticated in math, astronomy and agriculture, the ancient Inca were known to have had a string "computer" called a quipu, and had mastered the science of hydrodynamics via their extensive canal building and irrigation techniques. Though Spanish greed made them better known for their ornamental use of gold, "tears wept by the sun", the Inca utilized the metal for it's sacred connection to the sun rather then it's for a monetary value. Gold was highly prized, and in Cuzco, the sacred sun temple was literally covered with it. Referred to as Coricancha, the Place of Gold, the western wall of the temple contained a veritable god made of gold, positioned so as to catch the western sunlight. Nearby to the temple, the Inca raised special pillars to serve as sundials. At the time of solstices when no shadow was cast, they declared that "the god sat with all his light upon the column".

The Mayans had many similar alignments. At winter solstice, a beam of sunlight falls into the famed pyramid of Lord Pascal, and lights upon a carved sarcophagus cover. Made famous by Eric von Daniken in the 1970's, it has long been debated whether the scene illuminated depicts Lord Pascal falling off of the tree of life into the mouth of the creatrix, depicted as gaping mouth of a serpent, or as man flying a spaceship! Whichever one the Mayans intended, the light of the reborn sun clearly sends a strong visual message.

Mayan life literally centered on astronomy and the calculation of time. Many Mayan kings ascended to the throne on May 1, the date of the Pleiades-sun conjunction. Often depicted with an upright staff, kings in actuality were holding a sacred gnomen, or sundial in their hands to demonstrate their connection and understanding of the sun. On the solstices in Mayan lands, the sun at noon cast no shadow from these upright sticks, which was considered to be one of the most sacred events of the year. Many of their ancient sun rituals were Christianized by Spanish missionaries, and still occur under that guise today. A fairly good example is in the modern religious holiday called the "Passions". At this festival, once in honor of the sun's influence on growing corn ("sunbeams of the gods"), modern Mayans refer to Jesus as the "Lord Sun" and demonstrate the annual battle between the summer sun and the darkness of winter.

Ritual ballgames were a facet of not only South American life, but can be found throughout North American native cultures also. These games had an astronomical theme, and took place on holidays to explain important events in the skys above. The ball in these games represented the sun, and the court was the Milky Way. Scoring meant sending the sun-ball into a conjunction with a goalring in the center of the court, which represented the galactic center of our galaxy. (No slouches in astronomy, the Mayans believed this center to lie in Sagittarius, exactly where modern astronomers have placed it with the aid of their expensive high powered telescopes!) The Mayan ballcourt at Chichen Itza mirrored the Milky Way on Summer solstice noon 865, which was apparently a significant date to them.

The most famous of all Mayan cities is Chichen Itza, founded over 2,000 years ago. A famous pyramid is featured here, called the Pyramid of Kukulcan. Each year on the spring and autumn equinox, around 4pm the sun casts a shadow on this stepped structure, and as if by magic, a shadow appears forming a slithering serpent which slides down the face of the pyramid to the earth below. This serpent being represents the deity Quezalcoatl the "feathered serpent", also known as Kukulcan. Sometimes assumed to be a male god, the natives of the area had long sheltered a belief in a divine serpent goddess who had fostered life on earth and delivered mankind. So important was this belief to the Mayans, that recently an astounding discovery has been made, whose meaning we can only yet guess in it's entirety. On May 20, 2000, the sun, Pleiades, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury and Mars will all conjunt and will align directly with the top of pyramid! This same day will also witness a solar eclipse. In the Mayan calendar, this day is 10 Chicchan, which means "serpent", and according to Mayan prophecy, this celestial event heralds the return of the great serpent, the Milky Way Mother. Perhaps this alignment signals more to come, as the Mayans have another prediction which concern our sun. On the winter solstice, December 21, 2012, the Mayans foresaw the alignment of our sun with the galactic center of the galaxy, entering a dark space in the Milky Way which they called the Black Road of Souls. A death and a rebirth, the Mayans would calculate no further dates beyond this point, stating mysteriously that beyond this, was a different time and space.

Astro Topics