We opened up a chapter on the 4th sub-race of the Atlantian Root Race. The monads of this sub-race were, collectively, known as the Turanians. Sequentially, they started their journey after the first three sub-races, the Rmoahals, the Tlavati and the Toltecs, although there was considerable overlap between the second and third sub-races. We skipped through the history of this less-than-stellar sub-race but have alighted on a period, starting 30,000 years ago because there is a link to the culture of this group and a later civilisation found in Mesopotamia, which we mistakenly think of as the cradle of civilisation. If there was one redeeming feature of these peoples, it was the degree to which they developed astrology and how they used it to govern their lives. So, with that said, let us continue with our investigation into the ancient Chaldeans and their astrologer priests.
The priests calculated the position and action of the spheres of influence, as a guide to practical life. Sorry to report but these priests did not issue daily horoscope forecasts, as they were not interested in such divinative arts. So I guess there is no point in their reincarnation after all. For each year these priests drew up a sort of official almanac, by which the whole life of the race was largely regulated. They decided the best times for agricultural operations, for the breeding of plants or animals for the administration of remedies, etc, Their followers were divided into classes, according to what modern astrologers call their ”ruling planet.” The calendars would contain such warnings as: ”On the seventh day, those who worship Mars should be on the watch especially against irritation ”; or: and so on. I wonder if you could use that as an excuse not to show up to work that day. Would your boss buy it?
Certain daily hours of prayer, regulated by the apparent movements of the sun, were observed by everyone. At sunrise, noon and sunset, certain anthems or verses were chanted by the priests at the temples: those who were able to do so attended the temples at those times; others recited a few phrases of prayer or praise. Apart from these observances, common to all, each person had their special prayers to the particular Deity to whom, by birth, they were attached. It may be misconstrued that we are dealing with a polytheistic culture, as though this was somehow wrong. For simple people, they somehow knew that they were somehow inextricably linked to a force, we call it a ray and that this ray was governed by an entity. We call this a monad. So, for them, this was a god, one of many but of special significance to their existence. For each person, significant days in a calendar varied when they could call upon their particular deity. This was linked with the motion of the planet. However, the most favourable alignment was that when any significant planet crossed the meridian and next to that came the times of its rising and its setting. But it could be invoked any time it was above the horizon, and, in an emergency, even when it was below the horizon, though then by an entirely different ceremonial. I don’t see the point in invoking anything. The rays are going to have an effect regardless of any chanting you may offer up. However, focusing people’s minds, especially, in the direction of a supposed deity, seems to have been the way the ruling classes have always pacified the masses. Some may jump in and say, that this was a way to refine their emotional and mental envelopes. This is true to a certain extent, but it is difficult to untangle such cultural practices from other less noble objectives and sentiments.
What may be called special calendars or periodical prayer books were issued for each planet, and every person was careful to possess the one appropriate to themselves. These calendars were considered also to possess various talismanic properties so the people carried prayer books with them. At whatever hour the time for religious meditation or exercise arrived, however inconvenient, each devotee observed it faithfully, taking the view that at such a time it would be foolish and ungrateful not to take advantage of the special blessing their particular Deity was beneficently pouring out.
Gorgeous public ceremonies also were held, each planet having at least two great feast days in the year, the Sun and Moon considerably more than two. Each planetary Spirit had their temples in every part of the country, to which the devotees of that planet visited; but for the greater festivals vast multitudes assembled at the unique group of magnificent temples near their capital city. These temples were arranged to represent, on suitable scales, the proportionate sizes of the planets and their distances from the sun. The temples differed in design, every variation presumably having its special significance. Each of them, however, possessed a brilliantly coloured hemispherical dome, the diameter proportionate to the size of the planet concerned.
The place in the scheme where the earth should have been represented was occupied by the temple of the Moon. Close by, there was an isolated dome of black marble supported by pillars, typifying the Earth, but containing no shrine. In the space, correctly calculated, between Mars and Jupiter, there was no temple, but instead several columns; each ending in a tiny hemispherical dome; these presumably represented the asteroids. Satellites were indicated by correctly proportioned subsidiary domes, and Saturn’s rings were also clearly shown.
On the principal festivals of any given planet the devotees of that planet wore brilliantly coloured mantles or capes of the colour sacred to the planet. The colours were as follows:
The Sun: the mantle was made of a delicate silken material, interwoven with gold threads so that it looked like cloth of gold, but as flexible as muslin.
Vulcan: Here the cape was flame-colour, very striking and gorgeous.
Mercury: had a brilliant orange cape, shot with lemon-colour.
Venus: has a colour of a pure sky-blue with an underlying thread of light green, giving a quivering iridescent effect.
Moon: well, this was obviously going to be white, interwoven with threads of silver, which in certain lights showed pale violet shades.
Mars: was brilliant scarlet with a strong crimson shade underlying it and, in certain lights, showing as the predominant colour.
Jupiter: The cloth was a gleaming blue-violet dappled with tiny silvery specks.
Saturn: had sunset green, with pearl-grey shades underlying it.
Uranus: was deep rich blue – the colour of the South Atlantic.
Neptune: This cape was plain-looking, dyed dark indigo, though unexpectedly rich in high lights.
This must have been quite a spectacle when all the citizens decided to parade down the street together. The devotees; thus arrayed, marched in procession to the temples, decked with garlands of flowers, bearing banners and gilded staves, sonorously chanting. The Sun-God feasts afforded the grandest display, the whole multitude, each person arrayed in their own planet’s colour, performing the solemn circumambulation of the Sun-Temple, the followers of each planet forming a concentric ring in its appropriate place relative to the Sun-temple in the centre. Circulating around an object of devotion can be seen today in Islam, for instance, with pilgrims circling the Kaaba. It is wonderful to think that in this culture the people would celebrate the structure of their solar system in the form of their worship.
The temple of the Sun was built according to this diagram, which is practically self-explanatory. The immense concave mirror behind the main altar was of metal, probably silver, very highly polished, it being considered a religious duty to keep it bright and free from dust. Along the line marked SS was a narrow slit in the roof so that the light from a star exactly on the meridian fell upon the mirror; and was brought to a focus at the spot where the brazier is shown. Incense being thrown on the brazier, the image of the star gleamed in the light grey smoke. The worshippers bowed their heads and the priests chanted, reminiscent of the elevation of the Host in Catholic church practices. Sometimes a flat mirror; suspended above the brazier, would be lowered to the focal point of the concave mirror, to catch the image of the planet and reflect it upon a certain spot on the floor of the temple. On that spot were laid the sick for whom that particular influence was considered beneficial. The diagram illustrates the arrangement in outline.
On the western altar burnt always what was called the ”sacred Moon-fire,” which was allowed to go out only on the night before the spring equinox. The following morning the rays of the Sun, passing through an orifice above the eastern altar, fell upon and were concentrated by a glass globe filled with water, the Sun himself thus relighting the sacred moon fire, which was kept burning for another year.
The inside of the dome was painted to represent the night sky, a complicated mechanism causing the principal constellations to move over it exactly as the real stars move. The planets were represented by luminous bodies, which originally were materialisations produced by the Adept Teachers, and which moved freely in the air. Later these were replaced by ingenious mechanical contrivances. The outside of the dome was thinly plated with gold, with a peculiar dappled effect intended to represent the ” willow leaves” or ” rice grains” of the Sun.
Beneath the temple was a crypt, used exclusively by the priests for meditation and self-development. Light, reflected when necessary, was admitted only through thick plates of a crystal-like substance of various colours, and directed onto the various chakras or centres in the body, thus aiding in the development of the power of divination, clairvoyance and intuition.
A hollow rod, or thyrsus, which was tipped by a pine cone, and charged with electric or vital fire, also was used here, as in the Grecian Mysteries. Note the symbology of the pine cone. You see it is Chaldean art all the time and the Catholics also knew the significance of this symbol. What was that significance? It was the representation of the pineal gland, which symbolised psychic vision.
We will finish off our look at this ancient Chaldean civilisation in the next presentation.