Thursday, December 27, 2007

At the Edge of 17


In Egyptian mythology, Osiris was killed on the 17th day of Athyr, the third month of the ancient calendar. Though not acknowledged, 17 seems to be a very meaningful number in the Mystery traditions, sort of equivalent to the Cross in Christianity. It symbolizes an unjust death and the promise of rebirth. 



Incidentally, Lazarus, whom many Biblical scholars believe was an adaptation of Osiris (Lazarus coming from El Ausur, Hebrew for "the god Osiris") was raised by Jesus in John 12:17. One of Lazarus’ sisters was named Marta, which means ‘mistress of the house’, the exact meaning of Nephthys.

The first officially acknowledged Masonic body, the Grand Lodge of England, was established on the Feast Day of John the Baptist in 1717. The most powerful Masonic body in the World, the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite has its headquarters on 1733 16th St. in Washington, DC. There are 33 degrees in Scottish Rite Masonry.

The last manned mission to the Moon was the Apollo 17 mission. The next is the Orion 17.

As Herodotus tells us, the Greeks identified Horus with Apollo: "Before these men, they said, the rulers of Egypt were gods, but none had been contemporary with the human priests. Of these gods one or another had in succession been supreme; the last of them to rule the country was Osiris' son Horus, whom the Greeks call Apollo; he deposed Typhon, and was the last divine king of Egypt. Osiris is, in the Greek language, Dionysus." -Herodotus, Book 2, Chapter 144

Orion was identified with Osiris
, who again died on the 17th day of the third month. "Month," of course, derives from the root word moon. So how many crescent moons do we see on the Orion 17 mission patch?


Note we have 3 crescents, a0 stars and a vector standing in for a 7  

=3/17


Additionally, the so-called “Sacagaewa” dollar (the actual woman on the coin is unnamed), which was minted in the year 2000, depicts a woman and a male infant on the obverse and an eagle surrounded by 17 stars on the reverse. The alleged “Sacagaewa” wears an earring depicting a point in a circle, which Freemasons associate with the seed of Osiris in Isis’ womb.



3/17 is also the date of a Masonically-created holiday, St. Patrick’s Day. The story has it that the holiday was established by high level Freemason, George Washington, allegedly to reward Irish soldiers in the Continental Army. But “St. Paddy’s” has traditionally been a very minor Saint’s day in Ireland. 

Considering that the day has become America’s defacto Bacchanal (which takes us back to Osiris) it’s worth noting some of the parallels of this day with Solar mythology.


• Osiris was believed to be the source of barley, which was used for brewing beer in Egypt.
• It’s customary to wear green on St. Patrick’s Day and Osiris was known as the “Green Man”
• St. Patrick’s Day is five days before the Spring Equinox, associated with the rebirth of Osiris.
• The root word of Patrick is pater, the Latin word meaning father. Osiris is the father in the Egyptian Trinity.

The 17th card of the Tarot is the Star Trump, which features the water-bearer, associated with the constellation of Aquarius.



Most astrologers believe that we are entering the Age of Aquarius, where the Sun will rise in the constellation of Aquarius for the nest 2,000 years or so. Hippies and New Agers celebrate the new age as one of peace, understanding and consciousness. 

Occultist Aleister Crowley named this new age "The Aeon of Horus." He wrote about this in several of his works, including his novel, Moonchild. His vision of the new age was one of war, cruelty and chaos.



On the right is the cover of Moonchild. On the left is the obverse of the Sacagaewa dollar.