CHAPTER XV
ANCIENT RELIGIOUS CONCEPTIONS

Max Müller says:

"Religion is a mental faculty which, independent of, nay, in spite of sense and reason, enables man to apprehend the Infinite under different names and under different disguises. Without that faculty no religion, not even the lowest worship of idols and fetishes, would be possible; and yet if we will but listen attentively we can hear in all religions a groaning of the spirit, a struggle to conceive the inconceivable, to utter the unutterable, a longing after the Infinite, a love of God.

"The intention of religion, wherever found or wherever we meet it, is always holy. However imperfect, however childish a religion may be, it always places the human soul in the presence of God; and however imperfect, however childish the conception of God may be, it always expresses the highest ideal of perfection which the human soul, for the time being, can reach and grasp.

"Every mythology appears as the result of the earliest efforts of the human mind to explain the mysteries of the Universe: the sky - the sun - the planets; the winds and the clouds, the summer and winter, the dawn and darkness, and the varied elemental phenomena which are of supernatural significance to the simple fancies of uncultured people."

A myth starts from a conception, an idea. The mind invents facts to embody and present it. Myths are the expression of the way primitive man represented things to himself under the influence of naturalism.

Müller in "Early Religions," says:

"In one sense every religion has been a true religion at the start; they were the only religions that were possible at the time, which were compatible with the language, the thoughts, and the sentiments of each generation, which were appropriate to the age of the world. We ought therefore to put the most charitable interpretation on the apparent absurdities, the follies and the errors of ancient religions.

 

As soon as we know anything of the thoughts and feelings of man, we find him in possession of a religion, a religion of faith or worship, of morality or ecstatic vision, a religion of fear and hope, or surmise, a reverence of the so-called gods.

"In order to approach the religion of primitive peoples we must, so to speak, get at its heart, and feel its life currents. We must place ourselves in sympathy with these ancient peoples, listen to their hymns and prayers, and witness their rites and ceremonies; we must endeavor to know their religious ideals. When Thales declared all things were full of gods, and when Buddha denied that there were any other gods except the Supreme Being, both were stating their religious convictions.

"The external aspect of a religion as presented to strangers is not one often to be trusted. In the earliest and purest days of Christianity, if we were to believe the most enlightened of the heathen writers, the Christian religion consisted of the worship of animals. This idea possibly arose from the fact that the earliest pictures of Mary nursing Christ show the cow's horns of the Egyptian goddess Sati on her head, and sometimes the horns of Hathor."

From the Book of the Dead

Hathor in Egyptian means "the house of horns."

Hathor is frequently represented with the attributes of Isis. Hathor symbolizes and personifies not only all that is beautiful, but also all that is true. Isis was the personification of the female or creative attribute of the Deity.

Sati had the same attributes as Hathor. She wears the crown of Upper Egypt with cow's horns, and symbolizes motherhood.

Müller, in "Ancestral Worship," says:

"Ancestral worship sprang out of the universal faith of primitive peoples in the persistence of human responsibility after death. This form of worship seems to have been almost universal among mankind during a certain stage of development. Traces of it are found in all parts of the earth. The religious ideas of the Hebrews present traces of ancestral worship. The indication is strong that the special God of the Hebrew patriarch, the family God of Abraham, with whom he conversed and held personal relations, represented an ancestral divinity."

From the reading of a number of ancient writings, I have come to the conclusion that ancestral worship originated through the destruction of Mu. Ancestral worship or the reverence shown to forefathers appears prominently in the Egyptian sacred rites and ceremonies, where their forefathers of the land of Mu furnish the principal theme.

It is also reflected in the inscriptions on some of the Maya monuments; also in the Greek alphabet.

Müller, in "Origin of Religious Laws," says:

"The belief that the religious law-giver enjoyed some closer intimacy with the Deity than ordinary mortals pervades the ancient traditions of many nations. According to a well-known passage in Diodorus Siculus, the Egyptians believed their laws to have been communicated to Mnevis by Hermes. The Cretans held that Minos received the laws from Zeus. The Lacedaemonians held that Lykurgus received his laws from Appolon. The Aryans believed that Zathraustes received them from the Good Spirit.

 

According to Gatel, Zamolscis received his laws from the goddess Hestia, and according to the Jews, Moses received his laws from the God Lao.¹

"There was a primitive Aryan religion, a primitive Semitic religion, and a primitive Turanian religion, before each of these primeval races was broken up and became separate in language, worship and national sentiment. The highest God received the same name in the ancient mythology of India, Greece, Italy and Germany, and had retained that name whether worshiped in the Himalayan mountains, or among the oaks of Dodona, on the Capital or in the forests of Germany. He shows that his name was Dyaus in Sanskrit, Zeus in Greek, Jovis in Latin and Tiu in German.

"They bring before us with all the vividness of an event which we witnessed ourselves but yesterday, the ancestors of the whole Aryan race, thousands of years it may be before Homer and the Veda, worshiping an unseen being under the same name, the best, the most exalted name they could find in their vocabulary - under the name Light and Sky. Let us not turn away and say that this after all was nature worship and idolatry. No, it was not meant for that, although it may have been degenerated into that in later times.

"Dyaus did not mean the blue sky, nor was it the sky personified ; it was meant for something else. We have in the Veda the invocation Dyaus Pitar, the Greek Zeus Pater and the Latin Jupiter, and that means in all these languages what it meant before these languages were torn asunder. It means 'Heaven Father,' or 'Heavenly Father.'"

1 Unquestionably the Seven Sacred Inspired Writings of the Motherland are the foundation of this universal belief.

Owen, writing on the ancient religion of China, says:

"The oldest classics in China, going back to the time of Abraham, show a wonderful knowledge of God. There are passages in these classics about God worthy to stand side by side with kindred passages in the Bible. God was omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent; the moral governor of the world and the impartial judge of men."

Man's first religion was a simple, pure worship of the Deity.

The extravagances which later crept into and disfigured it were the results of that inevitable degradation which priesthood always inflicts upon great ideas committed to its charge. The original religion became discordant in many particulars, and sorely overlaid by corruptions, inventions and misconceptions.

Manetho, the Egyptian historian, tells us that,

"animal worship was introduced into Egypt in the reign of the second king of the Eleventh Dynasty."

In all my Egyptian research work I have been unable to find any traces of animal worship during the early dynasties, and it is rarely even referred to between the age of Kufu and the reign of Rameses II. What is shown, however, is that quite early the Egyptians apparently began to worship the symbols instead of what they represented, which was the first step that led to animal worship.

Manetho says:

"It was not until the Eighteenth Dynasty that animal forms of gods were depicted in the memorial chambers of the departed. Under Thotmes III these figures are constantly met with, having the head of the symbolic animal that was embalmed. After the reign of Rameses, the worship of animals grew and expanded greatly."

Here is an example of an unscrupulous priesthood, craving for power and control of wealth, degrading the pure, simple, beautiful Osirian religion, as taught by Thoth at Sals, to accomplish their ends.

From ancient records it would appear that, about 2000 B. C., religions all over the world became degraded, dropping in many places to fiendish human sacrifices. Only Moses stood up against it and kept his people in the true road. They have been called "God's favored people." They were favored when they were selected to retain and carry on the worship of the Deity; they were called upon and were not found wanting.

The creation of the world and man has ever held a prominent place in the mind of man; for as soon as we know anything about the thoughts of man we find he has a conception about Creation.

It matters not whether it is the conception of the prehistoric sages, the more modern philosopher, or the present-day cannibalistic savages - all conceptions of the Creation are substantially the same. They may vary a little in phraseology, and do; but the main points are identically the same, showing that they all have a common origin.

This subject, the Creation, permeates the writings and traditions of prehistoric and ancient peoples. These traditions have been handed down to us and have been accepted by us, because science and geology prove them to be correct.

All of the prehistoric writings are written in symbolic phrases, and symbols are used in place of the names of the actual objects. Knowing the import of these symbols, however, makes reading of them easy, so that we arrive at their true meanings and they become perfectly intelligible and understandable.

Throughout all ancient traditions, even down to the time of Moses, we see "water above the firmament and waters below," a distinction being thus made by pluraliz-ing. Water in all these cases refers to the ether which fills space beyond atmosphere.

There can be no question about it; all traditions of the Creation, wherever found, have a common origin. It matters not whether it is our Biblical traditions, the traditions of the Hindus, Chaldeans, Egyptians, Mayas, Polynesians or others; their original source was the same and dates back to very early man, tens of thousands of years ago, and maybe even more.

A dissection of all of the traditions brings some astonishing facts before the eyes of the reader. Probably the most astounding of all is the fact that the Polynesians, who have been shut in from the rest of the world for over 12,000 years, should have among themselves traditions of the Creation identical with the Biblical account, such as the names of the first man and woman; and that the first woman was made out of man's bones; that man was a special creation of God.

The Marquesans and other Polynesians could not possibly have got these traditions from the outside world. The traditions of the Polynesians start from 12,000 years back, and how much more no one can surmise. The Biblical tradition started with Moses some three thousand years ago, which proves that it was handed down to Moses in some form.

The Naacal and Egyptian show us in what form it was handed down and from whom.
 

Serpents

From the most remote times, the Serpent has been held by every people in the greatest veneration, as the embodiment of divine wisdom.

In my research work I have invariably found that all myths have a foundation, and that the foundation is some legend or tradition. The myths, inventions, legends and traditions about the Serpent are exceedingly numerous. Let us now see the result of a little research. Eusebius tells us that the Egyptians called the Creator Kneph, who was symbolized by a serpent. This makes clear why the serpent was held in such high veneration by the ancients - the serpent was their symbol for the Creator.

The Mayas in their sculptures represented the Creator of all things as being protected within the coils of a serpent.

Much is to be learnt from the Hindu on the subject. Manava Dharma Sastra, a Hindu book, refers to the Serpent as the Creator.

In Aytareya Bhramana, a Hindu book, we find:

"Sarpa Rajni, the Queen of the Serpents, the mother of all that moves." And again: "Caisha, the Seven-headed Serpent, the Creator."

The Mayas of America symbolized the Creator with Ah-ac-chapat, the Seven-Headed Serpent.

In Popol Vuh, the Quiche sacred book, we have:

"The Creator, the Maker, the Dominator, the Serpent covered with feathers."

After many years of research, including an examination of what has been written about the serpent by modern writers, the perusal of many ancient writings and inscriptions, considering legends, traditions and myths, and noting where and how the ancient carvings of the serpent have been placed and used, the following are my deductions:

1. Much of what has been written by our present-day scientists and authors has not a particle of foundation for it. It is purely speculative.

2. The serpent adorned, as with feathers, wings or a plurality of heads, is a symbol only of the Creator and Creation.

3. The serpent unadorned was the symbol of the waters.

4. The circular serpent was one of the symbols used for the universe.

Let us now see what grounds there are for my various deductions:

1. The Serpent Adorned. - This has been shown to be the symbol of the Creator among the Mayas, Hindus and Egyptians.

2. The Serpent Unadorned is the ancient symbol for the waters. From the Maya we find that it was selected because the movements of its body were a duplication of the ocean's roll. It originated in the Motherland, and from there was carried to Burma, India and Babylonia - and from the Motherland to Yucatan, to Central America, Greece, Asia Minor and Egypt.

 

The Serpent unadorned, being the symbol of the waters, and the waters being the mother of Nature's life, the serpent naturally in the ancient mind was associated with Creation. The ancients, however, appear to have been careful to differentiate between the Deity and Nature's Creative Forces by adorning the serpent that symbolizes the Great Creator.

In all the ancient writings the Sun is always symbolically shown as fighting and overcoming the serpent of the waters - the unadorned one.

In dealing with this symbolism, many writers have erred: they have failed to differentiate between the symbol of the waters and the symbol of the Creator, both being serpents. The Sun is not fighting the serpent of the waters; as a matter of fact, he is not symbolized as fighting at all. The spear, arrow or dart is the symbol of activity. The Sun's Forces are penetrating the waters and bringing into life the cosmic eggs that are contained therein.

In Egypt we find Horus symbol of the Sun piercing the head of the serpent Aphophis - the waters - with a spear.

In Greece Apollo, their symbol of the Sun, overcomes the serpent Python, their symbol of the waters.

In India Vishnu, the Sun, overcomes Anatha the Serpent, the symbol of the waters.

The Christians in some way received this conception, for to this day the Church of Rome pictures the Virgin Mary with a serpent at her feet.

3. The Serpent Circular. - A circular serpent having its tail in its mouth is one of the oldest symbols for the Universe. I found it in Naacal pictures. The Egyptians sometimes used it as a part of the headdress of their symbols for the Deity.

The Seven-headed Serpent, the symbol of the Creator and Creation, was fully explained in the first chapter of this book.

The Tree and The Serpent

Innumerable legends color ancient and modern literature about the Tree of Life and the Serpent.

All these legends have drifted into myths; and finally, a good crop of apples grew on the tree. These apples became necessary to carry out the myth: for, without them, how was Eve to tempt Adam ? They were necessary to cause Adam's fall, according to the myth. Thus through this myth poor woman has been accused of being the cause of all the evils that have fallen to man.

A monumental piece of cowardice on the part of man, and Ezra was to blame; had Ezra been able to read correctly, the symbols which appeared in the writings of Moses, he would have given a very different version of the wily old Serpent and the Tree of Life.

The small cut is a vignette from the Sacred writings.
 

I must first mention in regard to the religious conceptions of early man, that he was taught there was only one real life on this earth, Man's Soul, which was sometimes called by the ancients The Man, also The Inner Man.

Man's material body was only a temporary habitation. All other forms of what we call life were also of a temporary nature, taken from the earth and to mother earth returned.

Of all the forms of earthly creations, man only had an imperishable part which survived the material body and lived on for ever: therefore, Man's Soul was the only true life on earth.

Man first appeared on earth in the Land of Mu: therefore the first actual life on earth appeared in Mu. Man was also spoken of as a fruit. Trees bear fruit, and man was the "first fruit" of a tree and the fruit was life. The Land of Mu was the Tree of Life. Thus Mu was symbolized as a tree - the Tree of Life.

The Vignette in the Naacal writings, shows the tree with a Serpent coiled around it: thus surrounding the tree.

The Serpent is called Khan, the unadorned Serpent, therefore this serpent is the symbol of the waters. It is symbolically shown that Mu was surrounded by water. Mu had no land connection with any other continent. The Serpent is the waters surrounding Mu. The foregoing shows clearly and intelligently explains what the Tree of Life was and why a serpent is coiled around it.

In the Biblical legend it states that angels wielded swords of fire around the Garden of Eden (Mu) to prevent the reentry of Adam and Eve.

Here Ezra failed to read correctly a compound Egyptian glyph. The glyph reads: Mu sinking into a fiery abyss. The flames of the fires of the underneath rose and enveloped her body as she went down.

Her sinking and submergence made it impossible for man to return to the land. Mu - the Garden of Eden - was dead and buried beneath the waters.²
 

2 Many writers have asserted that the unadorned serpent was called Can. This is an error; the symbol of the waters was called Khan. Can is the numeral four and is generally written with four dots, four circles, four disks, or four straight line.

One of the reasons why the ancients assigned so many symbols to the Deity was because they thought themselves unworthy to mention His name, and always referred to Him as "The Nameless."

The various symbols represented His various attributes.

We now come to a subject that has generally been placed before the public in a manner that has caused false impressions to be entertained - ancient religious rites and ceremonies. Whether the writers have been incapable of translating correctly, or are ignorant of the subject, I am not prepared to say, nor does it interest me; but the writings on these subjects that have found their way into print have generally attempted to cast a blot on ancient religions in the minds of the readers instead of reverence for our forefathers who so faithfully tried to apprehend the Deity.

It is the true understanding of the ancients that makes Max Miiller's writings so fascinating. I most envy his power of concentration and his ability of allowing his soul to carry back his mind, and mentally to associate with and live in the hearts of the people he is writing about.

All rites and ceremonies practiced in the ancient temples were symbolical - not literal, as is generally thought by writers on this subject. They were symbolical of the life a man must lead to attain perfection, so that in the end, when the time came for him to pass into the Great Beyond, he would do so with a clear conscience and without trepidation. They tried to symbolize to him what Heaven was, what God was, and the glory that awaited him if he were not found wanting.

Many of their conceptions would appear ridiculous to us today, were it not for the fact that we can mentally place ourselves beside them, appreciate their untutored mentality and realize that at that time the teachings and the mode of teaching were as complex as could be comprehended.

Max Müller was absolutely correct when he wrote:

"One should never judge any of the ancient religions from appearances."

We must first remember that all we see is symbolical and not literal.

A great blot, however, came upon and disfigured the escutcheon of ancient religions. The Mayas, Egyptians, Phoenicians, and other of the ancients, about 3000 years ago, turned the pure worship of God into horrible forms of idolatry. They were taught by the unscrupulous priesthood to worship first the symbols, then fetishes of wood and stone and finally - the crowning horror and disgrace - human sacrifice.

It is known that the early books of our Old Testament were written by Moses from Egyptian temple records. Hieroglyphics and symbols were the common form of writing in ancient times.

A hieroglyphic or a symbol is an emblem of something, and therefore must not be taken literally. They must be taken as representing something, but not as that something itself. The failure to differentiate between the symbol and what it represents has caused many decipherings and translations to be erroneous, and often, in religious matters, leaves the impression of idolatry where there is a profound reverence for, and a worship of, the Deity.

This has been especially prominent in deciphering and translating records relating to the Osirian religion. By Osirian religion I mean that taught by Thoth at Sai's, at the commencement of Egyptian history, and not as it was preached and taught and practiced by the unscrupulous Egyptian priesthood of a later period, which commenced during the reign of the second king of the Eleventh Dynasty and reached its climax during the Eighteenth Dynasty.

According to the Old Testament, Moses wrote that man was a special creation and made his advent on earth in the Garden of Eden.

Where was the Garden of Eden? The Biblical boundaries of the Garden of Eden are geographically impossible, as anyone can see by consulting an atlas and tracing them. Rivers are made to run over mountains and across oceans. Here is a Biblical error; how did it occur? Moses was a Master - he had attained the highest degrees in religion and learning.

It would have been impossible for him to have suggested such impossibilities; so that we must look elsewhere to find the origin of the many Biblical errors.

What Moses wrote, without doubt, were plain facts, in symbolical language - a symbolically written history, true in all respects. Subsequent translations perverted his writings.

The writings of Moses were in Egyptian hieroglyphics and hieratic characters. I have been informed by Hebrew scientists that some were on clay tablets, others on papyrus: this point I pass on as I received it.

Eight hundred years after the Israelites Exodus from Egypt, Ezra, with a body of co-workers, collected all the tablets and writings of all descriptions which were connected with the family history of the Israelites, and put them into book form, which became the Bible.

Those written by Moses were in Egyptian hieroglyphics. Is it any wonder that so many mistranslations were made by Ezra and his associates, when none of them was capable of thoroughly understanding the Egyptian writings of Moses? Only a Master could understand them, and neither Ezra nor any of his associates were Masters.

Their incapability is clearly shown by comparing their translations with the original records which we find in the Egyptian, Chaldean, Hindu and Mayan. Moses wrote sense; his translators made nonsense out of many of his passages. Moses wrote in the symbolical style of his day and his translators tried to translate literally. In this they only half succeeded, and when they came across a set of hieroglyphics they did not understand, they added myth to sound history.

The boundaries of the Garden of Eden form one of their myths.

From incontrovertible evidences gained through my research work it is shown that Moses wrote the first books of the Bible from the temple records brought to Egypt from the Motherland by the Naacals via Burma and India; and that these Egyptian temple records were copies of the Seven Sacred Inspired Writings of the Motherland - Mu. These were written on clay tablets and referred to the Creation. The legends of the Garden of Eden, the "Flood," the last magnetic cataclysm, and the raising of the mountains, are records of later date.

Moses could have made no mistake in copying these writings, so they undoubtedly left his hands perfect copies of the originals. Eight hundred years after, an attempt was made to translate them into Hebrew by men who did not understand the old Egyptian esoteric temple writings, hence the difference between what was produced and the original.

So little did Ezra and his associates understand these writings that I doubt if there is a single Hebrew today who knows the meaning of the burnt sacrifice and what it symbolized.

Before the submersion of Mu, the word sacrifice was unknown in any language. It was coined to describe the way in which Mu was destroyed; and a fire upon an altar symbolizes the remembrance of the beloved Motherland.

Ancestral Worship. The worship of ancestors, or ancestral worship, is so universally acknowledged to be of common origin that I think it unnecessary to prove it here; so I shall confine myself to showing what land it was that first fathered this custom. In order to do this, I shall quote from records of many countries.

Egypt, "Papyrus IV" (Boulak Museum):

"Bring offerings to thy father and to thy mother, who rest in the valley of tombs; for he who gives these offerings is as acceptable to the gods as if they were brought to themselves. Often visit the dead, so that what thou doest for them they may do for thee."

India, "The Dharma Lastra":

"The ceremony in honor of the Manes is superior, for the Brahmins, to the worship of the gods; and the offerings to the gods that take place before the offerings to the Manes have been declared to increase their merit"

China, Confucius in "Khoung Tsen":

The whole of Chapter XIX is dedicated to the description of the ceremony in honor of ancestors, as practiced twice a year in the spring and in the autumn.

Confucius in "Lun Yu" says:

"It is necessary to sacrifice to the ancestors as if they were present."

Japan:

On the fifteenth day of the Japanese seventh month, a festival is held in honor of their ancestors, when a repast of fruit and vegetables is placed before the Itays, on wooden tables of peculiar shape, on which are written inscriptions commemorative of the dead.

Peru, "Fables and Rites of the Incas":

"These festivities were established to commemorate deceased friends and relatives. They were celebrated with tears, mournful song, plaintive music, and by visiting the tombs of the dear departed, whose provision of corn and chicaha they received through openings arranged on purpose from the exterior of the tomb to vessels placed near the body. The Peruvians had great festivals in honor of the dead in the month of Aya-Marca."

Le Plongeon, in "Central America," says:

"Even today the aborigines of Yucatan, Petan and other countries of Central America, where the Maya language is spoken, are wont, at the beginning of November, to hang from the branches of certain trees in clearings of the forests, at cross roads, and in isolated nooks, cakes made of the best corn and meal they can procure. These are for the souls of the departed."

R. G. Haliburton, who is considered one of our best authorities on ancestral worship, in writing of the "Festival of Ancestors", says:

"It is now, as it was formerly, held at or near the beginning of November, by the Peruvians, the Hindus, the Pacific Islanders, the people of the Tonga Islands, the Australians, the ancient Persians, the ancient Egyptians and the northern nations of Europe, and continues for three days among the Japanese, the Hindus, the Australians, the ancient Romans and the ancient Egyptians."

This startling fact at once drew my attention to the question: How was this uniformity in the time of observance preserved, not only in far distant quarters of the globe, but also through that vast lapse of time since the Peruvians and Indo-Chinese first inherited this primeval festival from a common source?

Between the columns in the Temple of Sacred Mysteries at Uxmal there was a grand altar, and on this altar, placed at the door of the inner chamber, they were wont to make offerings to their Manes.

This decides the land of common origin. The offerings to ancestors was a sacred rite and was practiced in the Temple of Sacred Mysteries. It has already been shown that the sacred rites and ceremonies practiced in this temple came from the Motherland. Therefore the land of Mu originated ancestral worship.

The custom remains dear to us today, though in a modified form; for do we not visit and place flowers on the graves of our dear departed ones? Little do those who thus place flowers on graves know that the ceremony originated more than 12,000 years ago, and that they are practicing a very ancient ceremony.

Language. Language is admitted to be the most accurate guide in tracing the family relations of various peoples, even when inhabiting countries which are separated by vast expanses of water and extents of land.

A startling fact is that we find Maya words in every language of the world. In Japan, one-half of their language is Cara Maya. In India, a large proportion of the languages spoken came, without a doubt, from the Naga Maya. The proportion, however, varies in each language.

The Candian Cingalese is full of the original Maya words, and all of the European languages are permeated with them, especially the Greek, whose alphabet is composed of Cara-Maya vocals.

Fully fifty per cent of the Mexican Indian language is Cara Maya. A Mexican Indian and a Japanese can converse intelligibly without the aid of an interpreter, so many words are common to both languages. The same may be said of the Incas. The old Akkadian and Chaldean languages were largely Naga Maya; also the Egyptian. One might, with research, go on indefinitely to prove the common origin.

Naturally time has made many changes in words. This is inevitable, of course, but the root still remains in many of these changes. For instance, in Greek we often find the letter g replacing the Maya k. D often replaces the Maya t, and r often replaces the Maya L.

This last replacement, by the way, occurs in many languages.

In all words where the letter c is sounded k, the word will be found to come out of the Maya. The greatest changes in language, however, are found where the art of writing is unknown, and where the grammar has been lost or is unknown.

Max Müller says:

"There was an original language."

This statement is confirmed wherever a study of language and its origin is made.

In all languages are to be found some words, roots of words, and vocals, which are identically the same ; and in all instances they are found to convey substantially the same meanings, thus proving a common origin.

In "Six Thousand Years of History" we find this statement:

"The comparison of words in Sanskrit, the ancient language of the Hindu; Zend, the old speech of Persia; Greek, Latin, English and other tongues, has shown that all these languages came from a distant common original, spoken by some race yet unparted by migration. In all, or nearly all of these tongues, the names of common things and persons, the words expressing simple instruments and actions, the words for family relations, such as father, brother, daughter and son, the earlier numerals, the pronouns, the very endings of nouns and verbs, are substantially the same.

 

Accident could not have caused this phenomenon, and, since many of the nations speaking thus have for long ages been parted from each other by vast stretches of the earth's broad surface, they could not learn them in historic times from one another.

 

Borrowing and imitation being thus excluded, the only possible account is that these words and forms were carried with them by the migratory Aryan tribes as part of the possession once shared by all in their original home."

Each of these universal words may be traced back to the ancient mother Maya language. The natural deduction, therefore, is that the Maya tongue was, the mother tongue, or one of the very earliest offshoots from it.

It must be understood that the present Maya language is no more like the Maya language of five or ten thousand years ago than the English of today is like that of five hundred years ago. The Maya language of today is very much like the English language, made up of various other languages that are intertwined with the original, these changes being brought about by conquests. Much Aztec and Nahuatl has been added to the original Maya.

The original language was, without doubt, very contracted and short of words, so that one word had many meanings. As far as I have been able to decipher ancient writings, I should say that the meaning of a word would somewhat depend on its position in a sentence and how the word was accented when it consisted of more than one syllable.

For instance, the Maya word ma means "mother," "earth" and "country." In the Egyptian, the word ma also means "mother," "earth" and "country"; but when prefixed to nouns, verbs or adjectives, it is the sign of negation. This also occurs in the Greek and Cingalese languages.

To show how the ancient Maya words had more than one meaning, I have selected a few from Brasseur's translations:

NAGA-MAYA / ENGLISH
Be, to go, to leave, to walk, to move, to progress.
Chi, a mouth, an opening, a border, an edging.
Ka, the soul, barriers, sediments, anything ejected.
Kaachac, exceedingly, abundant, plentiful.
Kab, a hand, an arm, a branch, anything extending.
Kak, to finish, a fire, to burn, to destroy.
Kul, to worship, the seal, the rump.
Lal, to empty, to take away, to dispose of.
Nij a point, a ridge, a summit, a mountain.
On, circular.
On-onx, circular, whirling, whirlpool, a tornado.
Pad, a break, an opening, to open.
Ta, where, a place, smooth, ground, level ground.
Tan, towards, near, before, in the center.
Tel, deep, depth, bottom, abyss.
Zi, cold, frozen, vapor, smoke.
Ha, water, moisture.
Pe, come, from, out

On account of the ancient words having so many meanings, it becomes an exceedingly difficult task to translate the ancient writings and inscriptions so as to convey in modern language the thoughts of the ancients.

Although the general meaning may be set forth, I doubt whether the exact meaning in all details is ever obtained.

Translations are, to a great extent, dependent upon the temperament of the translator. If, for instance, he has an Oriental mind, his translations will be figurative, flowery and often exaggerated; whereas, if the translator be of a phlegmatic nature, his translations are apt to be of a cold, blunt, abrupt, curtailed nature.
 

THE FOUR GENII
The Four Genii is another ancient conception.

They are found in all histories and traditions of the Creation. Hitherto their origin has been untraceable. The Mexican tablets, however, give their complete history and origin.

As heretofore shown, there were Four Great Primary Forces that by command of the Great Creator carried out creation, and when creation was completed these Four Great Forces were given charge of the Physical Universe. The very, very ancients called them "The Four Pillars of Heaven"; that is, they sustained and upheld the creations that had been completed. The very, very ancients had another meaning: their expression "Pillars of Heaven" meant Pillars of Him who dwells in Heaven.

The ancient symbol for the earth was a square.

The square has four cardinal points:

• North

• South

• East

• West

Then the conception came that Heaven was sustained by the Four Pillars which were resting on the four corners of the earth.

To carry out some form of symbology - what, I do not know - each pillar had a keeper appointed to take charge of it These keepers were called the Four Genii.
 

THE MAYA

• Kan Bacab, the Yellow Bacab, placed in the South.

• Chac Bacab, the Red Bacab, placed in the East.

• Zac Bacab, the White Bacab, placed in the North.

• Ek Bacab, the Black Bacab, placed in the South.

EGYPTIAN
According to the Egyptian there were Four Genii of Amenti, one placed at each cardinal point.

• Amset, the genius at the cardinal point in the East.

• Hapu, the genius at the cardinal point in the West.

• Tesautmutf, the genius at the cardinal point in the North.

• Quabsenuf, the genius at the cardinal point in the South.

CHALDEAN
The Four Protecting Genii of the human race, as believed in by the Chaldeans, were; Sed-Alap, or Kirub, represented as a bull with a human face.

• Lamas or Nigal, represented as a lion with a man's head.

• Ustar, after the human likeness.

• Nattig, represented with the head of an eagle.

HINDU
Four gods or genii who presided at the four cardinal points:

• Indra, the King of Heaven, placed in the East

• Varouna, the God of Waters, placed in the West

• Rouvera, the God of Wealth, placed in the North

• Yama. the Judge of the Dead, placed in the South

CHINESE
The four mountains, Tse-Yo, of the Chinese four quarters of the globe (as they were wont to designate their country) are:

• Tai-Tsong, being the Yo of the East

• Saing-Fou, being the Yo of the West

• Chen-Si, being the Yo of the North

• How-Kowang, being the Yo of the South

JEWISH
The conception of the four gods, pillars or genii, or whatever they may be termed, was not entirely rejected by the Jews.

Although there is no mention of them in the books written by Moses, that is no criterion, because some of the books written by Moses were lost, and the reference to the four cardinal points may have been in one of the lost books.

Later we see the conception among the Jews in Ezekiel 1: 10

"They four had a face of a man, the face of a lion, the face of an ox and the face of an eagle."

And in 10:14

"The first face was that of a cherub, the second that of a man, the third that of a lion and the fourth that of an eagle."

The foregoing is given as a vision of Ezekiel. At the time he wrote these lines he was a captive among the Chaldeans.

Let me compare his vision with the Chaldean creed, which had been in existence for thousands of years, because these conceptions came from the Motherland, either through the Caucasian colony or through the Naacals from India.

• Chaldean. Four Genii. Human face, bull, lion, eagle.

• Ezekiel. Four beasts: Man, ox, lion, eagle.

If Ezekiel's vision was not an embellishment of the Chaldean creed I should like to know what it was.

Four of these very beasts are now in the British Museum, having been brought there from the ruins of Nineveh. Ezekiel was without question familiar with them, as they were among the common architectural adornments of prominent buildings.
 

The Triune Godhead

The conception of a Trinity or Triune Godhead has been handed down to us from the beginning of man.

It was preserved in the works of the philosophers, and is still held sacred by many, among them the Christians and the Brahmins. The ancient symbol for the Trinity was one of the oldest of the sacred symbols - the Equilateral Triangle.

Whenever or wherever this symbol is found, in any form of record or inscription, it is either in reference to, or represents, the ancient Trinity and Heaven.
 

Maya

The equilateral triangle representing the Trinity is constantly found among the temple carvings of Yucatan. I have, however, been unable satisfactorily to determine the original names of the Maya Triune Godhead.

Le Plongeon and others have given sets of three, and even five, which form the full Godhead, but to me all of them appear incorrect from the fact that names are given of people who lived tens of thousands of years after the Triune Godhead was conceived.
 

Guatemala

"Popol Vuh."

"All that exists is the work of Tzkol the Creator, who, by his will, caused the universe to spring into existence; and whose names are Bitol the maker; Alom the engenderer and Quhalom, he who gives being."

Tzkol is shown as the collective God.
 

Peru

"The Incas of Peru worshiped a mighty unseen Being who they believed had created all things, for which reason they called him Pacha-Camac - he being incomprehensible. They did not present Him under any shape or name.

"Pacha-Camac stood at the head of a trinity composed of Himself, Pacha-Camac, Con and Uiracocha."

Hindu

In the "Sri Santara" of the Hindus the Great Aum, the "nameless," is figured as a trinity by the equilateral triangle.

In the Hindu book "Niroukta" it is three times affirmed that,

"there are three gods only, and that these three gods designate one Sole Deity."
"The Gods are three only."
"Pradjapati, or, as He is sometimes called, Mahatma, the Lord of all Creatures, is the collective God."

Chaldean

The Chaldeans symbolized "Ensoph the Great Light" as a trinity, by the equilateral triangle.
 

Egyptian

The Triune Godhead of the Egyptians consisted of "Shu, Set and Horus."
 

Greek

Plato and Orpheus refer to the trinity as three kings - "Phanes, Ouranos and Kronos."

Proclus asserts that,

"the Demiurgos or Creator is triple. The three component parts of the Deity are three intellects or kings - He who exists, He who possesses, and He who beholds."

Pythagoras taught his disciples that God was "numbers and harmony."

He caused them to honor numbers and the equilateral triangle with the name of God.
 

Christian Churches

We see in the ancient Catholic churches, over the main altar, an equilateral triangle, and within it an eye.

The addition of the eye to the triangle originated in Egypt - "the all seeing eye of Osiris." For many years I searched in India, trying to find out the origin of the conception of the Trinity. I traced it back to the Motherland - without finding its origin.

One day, talking about it with my old Hindu friend, he said:

"There is a legend about it; it may be truth or it may be a myth; I cannot say. The legend tells that the Motherland consisted of three lands, that each land was raised by a separate god, so that it took three gods to raise the whole continent; but that the three gods were only one after all, all being joined together like the sides of a triangle."

I shall say to you as my dear old friend said to me,

"It may be the truth, or it may be a myth; I cannot say."

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