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September 21, 2007

Vandalism of Jesus Bust is Simple Ignorance

Christians across the country are taking it as an affront to their religion that a 160-year-old marble bust of Jesus was knocked from its perch by vandals at the main branch of the Boston Public Library, while a nearby matching marble bust of Lucifer was not disturbed. The funny part is that nobody seems to be asking the key question here: why would beautiful matching marble busts of Jesus and Lucifer both adorn the grand staircase of the Boston Public Library? And the failure to ask that question prevents the discovery of something very interesting. That is that those who commission such works and operate above the every-day mundane world don't see Lucifer – or Jesus – in the same way as most Americans do. In fact, they view the two figures as personifications of astro-theological concepts or forces, both for good.

It is amazing to me that the rich symbolic history of modern religion is so unknown to most Americans. Why it isn't taught in school is beyond me, but I suppose if it was, then true believers would have a conniption fit.

The official story is thus:

The head of Lucifer has long locks of curly hair to portray the archangel shortly after he fell from grace, before evil and sin sullied his good looks.

Sounds like a nice explanation of why Lucifer is so beautiful, doesn't it? Still, something isn't right. And here's an important clue: both busts rest atop a coiled snake. What can this mean? Well, first some background.

Whether Lucifer is evil or good depends on who you ask. Luciferians claim that Christians have distorted who Lucifer actually was based on a mistranslation of Isaiah 12:14, the only passage in the Bible in which Lucifer appears. They say the passage referring to how far Lucifer (literally written as "son of the morningstar") has fallen really is referring to the "arrogant Babylonian King Tiglath-Pileser III." When translated into Greek, the term "phosphorus" or shining one was used, and when it was subsequently translated into Latin, the word became Lucifer. This may well be true because Lucifer (or Lightbearer) was a Roman god who did not exist when Isaiah was written.

In Roman mythology he is the herald of Aurora, the dawn. Lucifer is the personification of the Morningsstar, the planet Venus. In Greek mythology Lucifer was called Phosphorus, the shining one, herald to the rosy-fingered Eos, sister of Selene and Helios, the Moon and the Sun. The Dawn, which lies between darkness and light, is a fitting symbol of initiation. Lucifer, the herald of dawn, becomes the initiator himself.

This is the origin of the concept that Lucifer and Jesus were brothers. As you can see here, in astrological-theological belief, Jesus is actually a personification of the Sun, while Lucifer is the personification of Venus. The parallels between the Bible and astrology are quite striking if you spend some time to look into them.

The snake symbolism in the sculptures, however, is an important clue to the real reasons these two sculptures probably were commissioned. The serpent symbolizes the kundalini, or divine power. It is also connected with wisdom and duality. In the Biblical account, a winged serpent tempts Eve with the knowledge of good and evil, or duality. This fits in with the myth of the plumed serpent, Quetzalcoatl, which is also associated with the planet Venus, bringing us back to Lucifer.

Throughout pop culture, we often see ancient symbolism even though we don't recognize it. Yet taking a closer look can result in discovery of deeper meanings for those who enjoy such pursuits. For instance, who would have thought that looking into the symbolic meaning of snakes, Jesus, and Lucifer would lead to an explanation for our symbol for drugs?

[S]erpents can also be seen as analogous to the kundalini energy generated at the base of the spine by Shamans and Yogis that goes up through the spinal column and chakras and activates the third eye or pineal gland sometimes in conjuction with entheogenic plants. In this symbol system the rod of the caduceus is the spine, the coiled serpents represent the energy moving through the chakras, the disc is the pineal gland and the wings are the brain. Here we see the genesis of the caduceus becoming our modern symbol for drugs…

In this symbolic system through astrotheolgy we also need to know that Jesus becomes synonymous with sun and light while he is also the mushroom (which is in its turn drugs and the caduceus) itself.

What? Jesus as the mushroom? More on that here. And if you're interested in still more, then check out this site.

The point is that by jumping to offense over the apparent attack on our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, whilst the Devil incarnate, Satan, a.k.a. Lucifer is left untouched, people are entirely missing the fact that those two sculptures were never intended to represent those well-known Christian figures. That is simply a child's cover for what some revere as symbols of deeper mysteries and deeper truths. They would likely view the act of vandalism in the same way most would view an ignorant school-yard prank – as nothing more than meaningless idiocy, and certainly nothing to take as a massive insult.

Posted by Becky at September 21, 2007 12:44 PM