Yule and Noel The Saga of Christmas Alvin Boyd Kuhn, Ph.D. YU ! AND N"!

The Birthday of #umanity Could any statement fall on the mind of the general reader $ith greater astonishment and in%redulity than the assertion here and no$ to &e made that $hile every&ody has %ele&rated the great festival of Christmas year after year for some seventeen %enturies, no&ody truly and 'rofoundly (no$s $hat it means) *t is +uestiona&le $hether a single 'erson %ould &e found today $ho $ould &e a&le to give a sound and su''orta&le elu%idation of the signifi%an%e of the traditional rites and %ele&ratory %ustoms %onne%ted $ith the annual o&servan%e of the solstitial holiday. *n millions of homes the head of the household, $ith su''ressed anti%i'ation of delight, drags into the house a green 'ine tree and in ha''y mood la&ors late into the night of De%em&er t$enty,fourth to de%orate it $ith shining &au&les and gifts. Yet it is safe to say that not in %enturies has a single one of these %ele&rants entertained the remotest idea of the origin and inner meaning of his %ustomary 'ro%edure. *t is done &e%ause it has &e%ome fi-ed in the %ommunal mind as traditional routine. .e$ even 'ause to $onder ho$ or $hy the several usages have %ome to 'revail, and $ould &e sur'rised if some one raised the +uestion. No$ and again a ne$s'a'er arti%le $ill venture to relate the origin of one or another %ustomary feature, &ut %loa(s the a%%ount in un%ertainty and %on/e%ture. The sym&olism of the 'ine tree, the mistletoe and the Yule log tra%es &a%(, it $ill say, to Celti% or Nordi% 'rovenan%e, &ut as to vou%hsafing any authenti% intelligen%e as to the inner signifi%an%e of the rites mentioned, it ma(es little 'reten%e at (no$ledge. *t is 0 ne%essary to add that in su%h attem'ts to thro$ some light on an%ient %ustoms %onne%ted $ith the festival most of the e-'lanation advan%ed falls $ide of the mar( of truth. *f +uestion $as as(ed $hy the Christmas 'ine tree is trimmed $ith &right o&/e%ts, or $hy a gold star is usually hung ato' the highest &ran%h, there $ould &e %om'lete inno%en%e and a &lan( stare. *f it $as in+uired $hy the t$o strongly %ontrasted %olors of red and green $ere universally a%%e'ted as traditionally a''ro'riate to the festival, similar default of (no$ledge $ould &e en%ountered. !ven the 'ra%ti%e of 'resenting the Yuletide gifts to family mem&ers and friends is not too %lear to the average 'erson, although there is a ha1y im'ression that it someho$ is %onne%ted $ith the sentiment of 2od3s great gift of his Son to redeem man(ind. *t $ould &e as(ing far too mu%h e-'li%it +uestion $hy the Norse and the Anglo,Sa-ons at an earlier time used to drag in and &urn the Yule log on the old,time hearth, and $hy they s%attered 'ar%hed $heat u'on the doorste' or the hearth,stone of the house. !+ually vain $ould it &e to as( $hy they sus'ended a t$ig of mistletoe under $hi%h lovers might steal a (iss. And $hat the signifi%an%e of the %andle set in the $indo$ to send its tiny gleam a&road in the dar( night of De%em&er) Perha's some one might venture the e-'lanation that it sym&oli1ed the light &rought to the $orld &y the &irth of the Christ, to shed his &enignant rays u'on a &enighted humanity. 4

*S C#5*ST6AS A C#5*ST*AN .!ST*7A ) .or %enturies in 8estern %ountries Christmas has &een 'ro%laimed to &e a 'urely Christian %ele&ration, %ommemorating the &irth of the Christ, the Savior of man(ind, in an%ient 9udea. Yet so stolid and unthin(ing are the masses that it has hardly ever entered the &rain of one in millions that 'ra%ti%ally nothing %onne%ted $ith the o&servan%e is in any $ay distin%tly Christian e-%e't the one item of the &irth of 9esus of Na1areth. The Christian religion has over these many %enturies &erated and flouted the Pagan $orld and its religions. Yet the odd truth is that here in its most %olorful festival of the year the Christian $orld is found 'er'etuating the %ele&ratory rites and traditional 'ra%ti%es of that same Pagan system that it tradu%es. !n%y%lo'edias and a'ologeti% $riting in the Christian $orld have to &e %ontent to say that this is due to the fa%t that as Christianity s'read over the northern Teutoni% and Nordi% lands of !uro'e, it insensi&ly %ommingled its o$n ideas $ith the ineradi%a&le %ustoms of the ne$ %onverts in those %ountries. *nstead of ousting %om'letely the religious routine and addi%tions of the 'eo'les it had ne$ly $on over, it had to &e satisfied to ma(e a &lending of its &asi% Christology $ith the ritual usages of the nations it overs'read $ithout u'rooting these from their native hold on these 'eo'le. *n short it gra%iously %ondes%ended to allo$ its Pagan %onverts to %ontinue undistur&ed in the grooves of hereditary %ustom, aiming the $hile to read a Christian meaning into those survivals of the olden time and su%h early religions as the Druidi%. This is the %ommon &elief, the general understanding. #o$ far it falls short of the truth $ill %onstitute : the astounding revelation of this &ro%hure. So far from its &eing true that Christianity %a'tured Paganism in its Christmas institution, the fa%t of history is that as regards the mode of the Christmas %ele&ration, it $as Paganism that %a'tured Christianity. .or the astounding truth a&out the matter is that the entire &ody of meaning foisted u'on the festival &y Christianity has missed the mar( of true signifi%an%e &y many a mile, $hile for a %om'rehension of the 'rimordial motives e-'ressed in and &y the ritual and sym&oli%al %ustoms and rites, $e have to go &a%( to the mysteries of o%%ult Pagan formulations. To the su&stantiation of this e'o%hal 'ronoun%ement the 'resent essay $ill &e dedi%ated. This de%laration virtually asserts that Christmas finds its true and more 'otent s'iritual signifi%an%e for us $hen treated as a Pagan rather than as a Christian ordination. The inferen%es from this dedu%tion are not dodged. They $ill &e o'enly a%%e'ted and %onfirmed in their general %orre%tness. The %laim is here advan%ed that not through Christian &ut through Pagan forms of %ele&ration and %hannels of understanding does this great solstitial %eremony derive its highest moving and u'lifting moral and s'iritual 'o$er. Christianity has diverted the true original meaning off into dead,end &y,'aths. This has ha''ened &e%ause it has lost the underlying sense of the Pagan formulations. The sad result is that no&ody in Christian lands has the dimmest %on%e'tion of the true signifi%an%e of the stri(ing rituals and sym&ols that still 'revail to mar( this as the most %herished festival of the Christian year. This is a strange and anomalous 'henomenon indeed. ;

C#5*ST6AS "N 6A5C# <:. *n the first 'la%e there is the matter of the date, the year, month and day of the anniversary and the %ele&ration. *n all Christian understanding the assum'tion is that Christmas %ommemorates the &irth of the infant 9esus at a given 'la%e and hour. *t is 'erha's $ell enough (no$n that the e-a%t time of this event is not a matter of histori%al re%ord, and therefore the anniversary %hara%ter of the %ele&ration is hardly any longer %onsidered. *t is (e't in the dar( &a%(ground of silen%e &e%ause to agitate it o'ens the door to s%ores of 'ertinent +uestions for $hi%h religionists have no authenti% ans$ers. The t$enty,fifth day of De%em&er is a%%e'ted no$ as a token date of the &irth, though fe$ even 'ause to $onder any more $hat led to the sele%tion of this date, if it is not to &e held to &e the a%tual &irthday of the 2alilean 6essiah. *n the %ase of a festival of su%h im'ortan%e and 'rominen%e as Christmas, it is a thing of no light insignifi%an%e that the Christian Chur%h (ee's from its 'eo'le the sim'le and singular fa%t that the early Christians %ele&rated the &irth of their Savior for over the first three and a half %enturies on March 25. *t is to &e +uestioned $hether its %lergy are generally a$are of this fa%t definitely and su%%in%tly. *t $ould involve the revelation of their faith3s early (inshi' $ith Paganism. *t is therefore (e't from 'u&li%ity. But the $ords of the de%ree issued &y the Po'e of Christendom, 9ulian **, in the year 04: A.D., are still to &e read, and they inform us that in that year he de%reed that hen%eforth it $as fitting that the follo$ers of the Savior, the ord 9esus Christ, should unite with the followers of Mithra and of Bacchus in %ele&rating the re&irth of the deity under = solar sym&olism at the $inter solsti%e> #ere again it is histori%ally esta&lished that even the day and date of the Christmas event $as not an original Christian institution, &ut $as an a%%ommodation of Christian 'ra%ti%e to Pagan o&servan%e. *n this same de%ree it is logi%ally esta&lished that the date is not set as an anniversary %ommemoration, sin%e the only %onsideration governing its sele%tion is astrologi%al sym&olism> No 'reten%e is made that it is to &e regarded as the natal day of the Son of 2od in human &ody. Surely it is of first im'ortan%e to in+uire $hy, &efore Po'e 9ulian3s de%ree, Christian 'ra%ti%e had set the %ele&ration of the Savior3s &irth on 6ar%h <:. #ere, too, the dominant motives are found to &e 'rimarily astrologi%al. 6ar%h &rings the vernal e+uino-, and the most moving dramati% rituals of the an%ient Pagan religion $ere %onsummated on or a&out 6ar%h <?, the date of the sun3s %rossing north$ard over the e+uatorial meridian. Annually at this e'o%h every allegori%al re'resentation of the aeonial %y%le of soul3s involvement in matter and &ody %ame to final stage and to vi%tory $ith the sun3s as%ent out of the dar(ness of $inter, ty'ifying the soul3s resurre%tion out from under the thraldom of @death@ in mortal &odies. This $as in fa%t the final and %lima%ti% a%t in the drama of the &irth of the Son of 2od from out its material $om& of flesh. #en%e it %ame to &e regarded in Pagan modes of 'i%toriali1ing s'iritual 'ro%esses as the true &irth of s'irit, the %on%e'tion having ta(en 'la%e &a%( on Se'tem&er <? and the @+ui%(ening@ from @death@ having o%%urred on De%em&er <?,,,all in 1odia%al sym&olism. As the advent of the human %hild from the mother3s $om& is as virtually a resurre%tion as any readily %on%eiva&le, so the resurre%tion sym&oled &y the 'assing over the line of division &et$een heaven As'iritB and

C earth AmatterB &y the sun on 6ar%h <? %ould /ust as 'ermissi&ly &e %lassified as a &irth. !very &irth is a resurre%tion, every resurre%tion a ne$ &irth. *t re+uires no s'e%ial genius to 'oeti1e the vernal e+uino- as the &irthday of the sun of s'ring, and, follo$ing solar sym&olism, the &irthday of the s'iritual or deifi% @sun@ in the %onstitution of man. #en%e on the 'attern of nature sym&olism 6ar%h <? $as held to &e the &irthday of the 6essiah. .rom the first the Christians had /oined $ith the Pagans in %ommemorating at the e+uino- of s'ring a festival %alled ady3s Day, out$ardly in honor of nature3s re&irth from the universal 6other !arth, esoteri%ally in to(en of the re&irth of @dead@ s'iritual %ons%iousness a%%ording to the inner tea%hings of the 6ysteries. The Christians thus %ele&rated it for almost three and a half %enturies, an e-%e'tional item of no slight histori%al signifi%an%e. The statement to this effe%t is made &y Clement of Ale-andria and others of the early Christian $riters. *t is %onfirmed &y the 9ulian de%ree. *t %an &e affirmed, then, that the Christian %ele&ration of the festival on De%em&er <: dates from the year 04: A.D. But $hy the t$enty,fifth days of 6ar%h and De%em&er, and not the t$enty,first Aor t$enty,se%ondB) #ere is a +uestion $hi%h, as far as general (no$ledge goes, has found no authoritative ans$er. The reason is to &e found, no dou&t, in the 'e%uliarity of an%ient %ele&ratory %ustom. *t is in fa%t the same reason $hi%h 'res%ri&ed the mythi%al @three days@ in $hi%h the Son of 2od lay in the tom& &et$een death and resurre%tion. @As 9onas $as three days and nights in the &elly of the $hale, so must the Son of 6an &e three days in the &o$els of the earth.@ These three @days@ of the in%arnational immersion of s'irit in the three (ingdoms of matter, mineral, vegeta&le and ani, D mal, $ere held to &e of su%h ma/or signifi%an%e in the ritualism of ar%hai% religion that many of the more im'ortant festivals %ommemorating the soul3s %ru%ial e-'erien%es in the flesh $ere instituted as three,day %eremonies, the first day mar(ing the entry of soul into matter3s domain, and the third day %onsummating its rising out of that realm of @death.@ *n "ld Testament 'ro'he%ies, it $as again and again stated that $e $ould rise out of the tom& of @death@ in these 'hysi%al &odies @on the third day.@ As Hosea A;E<B has itE @Come let us return unto the ordE for he $ill &ind us u'. After t$o days $ill he revive usE in the third day he $ill raise us u', and $e shall live in his sight.@ After s'ending three @days and nights,@ or 'eriods of in%u&ation and release, in the three lo$er (ingdoms of nature, s'irit,soul $ould a$a(en from its aeonial su&mergen%e in the dar( un%ons%iousness of matter and %ome to its &irth into more e-'anded &eing in the mind and heart of man(ind. So the 2os'el allegory re'resented the Christ as emerging from the &oat and $al(ing forth on the $ater Athe &ody is seven,eighths $ater>B to save his dis%i'les from sin(ing in the sea @in the fourth $at%h of the night.@ *n%arnation has al$ays &een sym&oled as the night,time and the $inter,time of the soul, its light and life, li(e the sun3s, going @dead@ in the %oldness and dar(ness of matter. #en%e at all the four %ardinal 'oints of the 1odia%, 9une, Se'tem&er, De%em&er and 6ar%h, the great %eremonial festivals $ere set at three days length, &eginning on the t$enty,first or t$enty,se%ond of the month, and %ulminating three days later on the

t$enty,fifth, or @after three days.@ *t has &een indi%ated that the early Christians $ho %ommemorated the Savior3s &irth on 6ar%h t$enty,fifth ?F $ere not in reality totally mis%on%eiving the signifi%an%e of the festival a''ro'riate to that date. !ven more %ogently than Christmas, !aster is the &irthday of the Christ grade of sentient &eing. The distin%tion &et$een the %ommemorative values of the t$o dates is to &e found in the allegori%al 'i%turing of the Christ3s develo'ment at the t$o em&lemati% seasons. "n De%em&er t$enty,fifth the Christ is &orn as an infant. Not having &een here &efore, he then ma(es his first a''earan%e in the life of animal humanity, or has his first a$a(ening in the $om& of &ody. As a ne$,&orn 'o$er he is yet the undevelo'ed 'otential of Christliness, the &a&e in s$addling %lothes, the 'rin%eling, the (ing,to,&e. #e is germinally, seminally, the King of 2lory. But in 6ar%h he has &e%ome a full,gro$n deity, the (ing on his throne $ielding all the fulness of his divine 'rerogative in the life of man. The Christ,%hild has matured into fulness of the stature of the nature of 2od, the infant deity has de'loyed into e-'ression the total 'ossi&ility of his deifi% genius. To summari1e it tersely, he is in De%em&er the Christ a$a(ened in the $om& of matterG in 6ar%h he is the Christ a$a(ened out of the $om& of matter. *n one he is the &a&eG in the other the man,Christ, e-er%ising %om'lete lordshi' over the 'hysi%al life of his &ody. *ndeed, in the true sense of a &irth, Christmas is less the &irth,time than it is the time of $hat $as %alled the @+ui%(ening.@ St. Paul in 'arti%ular uses this $ord to intimate the rise in %ons%iousness of the dynami% 'oten%ies of the Christ nature. This $as a natural form of ty'ism dra$n from the stru%ture of 1odia%al sym&ology that $as universally used in the esoteri% s%ien%e of the an%ient day. i(ening the des%ent of the soul into matter to the falling dire%tion and de%reasing 'o$er of the sun from 9une to De%em&er, the sym&ologists of old ?? figured the &irth of the divine sun,of,soul at the De%em&er solsti%e, follo$ing u'on its %on%e'tion in the %osmi% mind at the 9une solsti%e. Des%ending from the 9une 'oint of generation in 2od,mind, it entered into matter at the Se'tem&er e+uino-, $hi%h $ould signali1e its 'hysi%al %on%e'tion in 6other Nature3s $om&. .rom Se'tem&er <? on to 6ar%h it endured its em&odiment in matter, its 'eriod of in%u&ation or gestation 're'aratory to its ultimate &irth at !aster. But from Se'tem&er on do$n to De%em&er it 'lunged dee'er and dee'er into the dar(ness of &odily @im'risonment.@ *t lost daily to the 'o$ers of matter, gro$ing more inert, the s'iritual a$areness sin(ing into a slee' or %oma as it $as 'rogressively su&merged under the dominan%e of the flesh. *n this its dee'est immersion in matter all an%ient allegorism de'i%ted the Christos as lying inert in @death.@ .rom this aeonial @death@ its resurre%tion $ould %ome at !aster, its 'reliminary +ui%(ening at Christmas. The signifi%ant item of this dramatism is that at the De%em&er solsti%e the sun,of,soul halts its des%ent and stands for a time &alan%ed and e+uili&rated $ith the 'o$ers of matter. The inertia of matter, offering resistan%e to the energies of s'irit, &rings the do$n$ard movement of soul into matter to a full sto', and for the 'eriod of the solsti%e

holds it immova&le in its em&ra%e. *t is at this 'oint and in this sta&ili1ed %ondition that the soul of the s'iritual energy $hi%h has gone @dead@ in matter is suddenly @+ui%(ened@ out of its tor'id state and feels the first tou%h of its a$a(ening to &irth for a ne$ %y%le of gro$th. #aving @des%ended into hell,@ Aas the %reed has itB he no$ a$a(es to an in%i'ient a$areness of his 'osition and the %ons%iousness of his ne$,&orn strength. That $hi%h lay &uried in the tomb of @death@ is no$ +ui%(ened in its womb of ne$ &irth. And as a mother,to,&e suddenly feels the stirring of the ?< em&ryoni% &a&e $ithin her, so 6other 6atter feels the same stirring of ne$,&orn mind and the Christly im'ulse $ithin her domain. As St. Paul so stri(ingly 'uts it, @All the %reation groans and travails in 'ain until no$, $aiting for the manifestation of the Sons of 2od.@ Christmas at the $inter solsti%e then memoriali1es this +ui%(ening of the foetal Christ $ithin the heart, mind and soul of humanity. *t stages a festival of re/oi%ing at the (no$ledge that in the %ir%uit of alternate involution and evolution, the deifi% solar 'o$er of Christliness, ma(ing its round of des%ent into the &ody and return, has ended the long 'eriod of its lifeless insensi&ility as mere seed of divinity in the soil of mortal &ody, is no$ +ui%(ened out of its s'ell of @death@ and a$a(ened to the glorious %on+uest of life in a ne$ %y%le of gro$th. The season thus %ommemorates the &irth to a%tivity of the Christ, mind in the nature and &ody of man(ind. *t is to &e remem&ered al$ays that it is only the birth of that Christ,mind, the deifi% 'o$er in its infan%y, in its first unsure rea%hings and gro'ings amidst the strong elemental surges of the irrational and 'assional nature of the flesh. But it is no longer lifeless, inert, s'ee%hless, dum& and &lind, as an%ient sym&olism 'i%tured it in this %ondition. *t is a$a(ened to %at%h the sense of events and the signifi%an%e of e-'erien%e. *t is ready to res'ond in ever in%reasing intelligen%e to the im'a%ts of environment and sensuous life, and drain out of them their moral value for its 'erfe%tion. This delineation is of %ru%ial im'ortan%e for general %om'rehension and for its 'sy%hologi%al &enefi%en%e, &e%ause a very faulty %on%e'tion of the @&irth of Christ@ and the @%oming of 6essiah@ has $idely ingrained the &land assum'tion that &y the alleged histori%al event of Bethlehem &irth the Christ influen%e has indeed &een in/e%ted into the &ody and soul of human life. All ?0 an%ient 'resu''osition that %entered u'on the 6essiani% fulfilment %ontem'lated the immediate s'irituali1ation and transfiguration of the $orld3s elan and morale u'on this 'ostulated advent of the only,&orn Son of 2od. This o'inion has altered &ut little in the su%%eeding time to the 'resent. 7ague Christian &elief %redits this @&irth of Christ@ $ith &ringing the first true light to shine in heathen dar(ness, and %redulously 'ro'agates the legend that the $orld has &een elevated to higher level of righteousness and s'irituality as a result of this event of t$o thousand years ago. ?4 T#! AD7!NT AT T#! S" ST*C! A more %om'etent envisagement of the sym&oli% intimations, ho$ever, a%%entuates the

thesis that $hat is %ele&rated at Christmas is &ut the first a$a(ening of that Christ 'o$er that sle't $ithin the %onfines of the mortal nature until the turn of the %y%le at the solstitial 'oint of evolution. *n the first %ha'ter of I Samuel it is said of #annah, $ho, li(e Sarah and !li1a&eth, $as to &ear the Christ,%hild in her old age, that @at the turn of the year she &ore her son.@ 6other Nature gives &irth to the 6essiani% %ons%iousness at the turn of the %y%le of the aeonial @year,@ $here involution %omes to a halt and after the 'eriod of solstitial motionlessness s$ings around as on a 'ivot and ta(es initial ne$ dire%tion u'$ard to$ard evolution. But human fan%y has not &een shar' enough to 'reserve the su&tle distin%tion &et$een the o%%ult sense of the soul3s @+ui%(ening@ out of its ante%edent @death@ and its @&irth@ as an a%tive 'o$er in the $orld. 8hat might &e %alled a %onfusion of tro'es has %ome in to &efuddle %ommon understanding. There are several senses in $hi%h the @+ui%(ening@ may &e %on%eived as the Christ3s @&irth.@ *t is &y no means ina''ro'riate to thin( of the %osmi% event signali1ed &y the Christmas allegorism as the &irth of the Christ, if one is s%hooled to moderate the %on%e'tion $ith the (no$ledge that the Christ motivation is under Yuletide sym&olism %on%eived as only at the in%e'tion of its o&/e%tive (ingshi' in history, and that only the lives of humans individually and %olle%tively $ill set the Prin%e of Pea%e on the throne of human life in the $orld. As said, all e-'e%tation of 6essiah3s %oming in the an%ient $orld envisaged the immediate transfiguration of humanity &y divine gra%e and the near &eatifi%ation of $orld history &y the %osmi% event. #o$ egregiously ?: falla%ious and irrational this high anti%i'ation has &een %an no$ &e seen in histori%al retros'e%t from the 'resent. Not only did the 'ro%laimed &irth of Christ &y the Christian movement not ma(e the slightest a''re%ia&le %hange in the tone and %hara%ter of mundane history at the time Aindeed it seems not even to have &een heard of for %lose to t$o hundred years after its de%lared in%iden%eB, &ut the re%ord of history for the t$o thousand years sin%e the great divine o&lation, and more 'arti%ularly as manifested in and among the nations &lessed $ith the message of that 5edeemer, is one $hose &la%(ness and sho%(ing inhumanity e-%eeds anything of the (ind in all $orld annals of the 'ast. #istory in effe%t enfor%es the %on%lusion that the %oming of 6essiah in the form of a histori%al &irth, so far from inaugurating in the $orld an e'o%h of light, 'ea%e and %harity among nations, has &een follo$ed &y the long night of $hat the historians have seen fit to designate the @Dar( Ages.@ *f 6essiah had truly %ome in the Bethlehem event and %ome in the %ommonly a%%e'ted sense, as having &rought &y his 'ersonal 'resen%e the &enison of divine gra%e, light and truth to the $orld, his long,heralded, &reathlessly,a$aited and %elestially,'ro%laimed advent has %ulminated as the $orld3s su'reme disa''ointment. The Christian thesis of the Savior3s histori%al &irth in 9udea assumedly in the year ? A.D. is %hallenged and /eo'ardi1ed &y several %onsiderations that are glaring enough to &e %ru%ial for the $hole future of the faith of the 8est. 8hen the Chur%h .athers settled u'on the date of the Bethlehem &irth as the year ? of a ne$ dis'ensation, and inaugurated a ne$ %alendar re%(oning $ith that year, they $ere $ithout &enefit of %ertain histori%al data that have %ome to light from authenti% histori%al re%ord sin%e that time. T$o fa%ts stand out as 'roving the fi-ed date to &e erroneous,,,assuming that there $as the &irth of a di,

?; vine 'ersonage a&out $hose life the 2os'els $ere ela&orated. "ne is the dis%overed date of the death of #erod, Tetrar%h of 2alilee, in the year 4 B.C. The other is the re%orded time of the rulershi' of @Cyrenius,@ governor in Syria $hen the 5oman ta- $as levied $hi%h too( 6ary and 9ose'h to Bethlehem, so that the divine &irth, heralded in S%ri'ture, might o%%ur at that village to fulfil an%ient 'ro'he%y. This time is found, on %ertified governmental re%ord of Syrian history, to have &een &et$een the years ?0 and ?? B.C. #erod and Cyrenius Afound to &e $ritten Huirinus in the 5oman re%ordsB $ere &oth mentioned A&y MatthewB as reigning $hen 9esus $as &orn. The date set for the &irth is therefore found to &e at least four years too late to have in%luded #erod3s effort to destroy the infant Christ &y the Ano$ generally admitted unhistoricalB @Slaughter of the *nno%ents,@ and some t$elve or thirteen years too late to have trans'ired @$hen Cyrenius $as governor in Syria.@ *t is nota&le that even a Catholi% 'u&li%ist, in an arti%le in the Sunday American Weekly maga1ine early in ?D4=, %on%eded that the Bethlehem &irth must &e 'la%ed at least as early as = or C B.C. 8ith these t$o enfor%ed %orre%tions a host of other minor, though still im'ortant, %on%lusions and s'e%ulations that have &e%ome offi%ially a%%e'ted as Christian history must 'erfor%e &e thro$n out, &eing %onfused &y the t$o (no$n dates. *ndeed some of the dis%laimers rea%h &eyond minor items and 'ut in /eo'ardy some of the &asi% %laims on $hi%h the entire fa&ri% of Christian histori1ation rests. The fran(ness of Chur%h leadershi' in fa%ing the im'li%ations of these emendations has not &een o'en and sin%ere. *t is deemed &est to let the dis%losures 'ass $ith as little 'u&li%ity as 'ossi&le. #aving engrafted so mu%h Pagan usage u'on its o$n tree, it is little $onder that Christianity has evolved and 'reserved so little of the meaning of these e-traneous ?= and e-oti% %ustoms $hi%h most of the northern %ountries of !uro'e, and their des%endant 'o'ulations in the Ameri%as, have 'ersisted in featuring in the %ele&ration of Christmas. *t has felt that it %an %ondes%endingly tolerate the admi-ture of Pagan @foi&les@ that %ling li(e &arna%les to its Nativity %ommemoration, $ithout im'eriling the fundamental strength and hold of the festival on its o$n %ommuni%ants. *t %an afford to remain un%on%erned a&out e-'ounding the re%ondite signifi%an%e underrunning the Pagan a%%outrements that have &een su'erim'osed on the o%%asion, as to do so in any nota&le manner $ould &e to lend gratuitous im'ortan%e and enhan%ement to Pagan formulations. And this %overt a''rehension and su&terfuge is &y no means groundless. *ndeed the revelation of the true esoteri% magnifi%en%e of the s'iritual and theologi%al %on%e'tions adum&rated and allegori1ed &y the Nordi%,Teutoni%,Celti%,Sa-on festival usages $ill &e seen to 'resent a definite %hallenge to the $hole authenti%ity of the Christian system, not so mu%h as 'resenting the light and &eauty of a rival or o''onent religion, as in lending to the Christian revelation the re'resentations of the meanings of its own %ele&ratory elements, $hi%h it has lost or never (no$n and 'u&lished. *n fa%t the startling asseveration %an &e made that the medley of Pagan ritual forms %onne%ted $ith Christmas %arries a truer and more illuminating message of the inner signifi%an%e of the gala day than do the distin%tly Christian elu%idations. This line of 'ursuit indeed runs so dee' into the %onte-t of Christmas dramatism and sym&olism as to %ome %lose to demonstrating

that there is nothing in the %ele&ration that is e-%lusively Christian at all, every single item &eing tra%ea&le to Pagan origins. Su%h a flat and drasti% statement $ill &e severely %hallenged. The 'resent essay $ill stand as an ans$er to that %hallenge. ?C T#! ANC*!NT *N!A2! ". C#5*ST6AS The fundamental theses underlying the solstitial festival of deifi% re&irth tra%e &a%( 'rimarily to an%ient 9udaism, and &a%( of that to the ar%hai% !gy'tian theurgi%al s%ien%e. U&i+uitous in !gy't3s religious systematism $as the theme of the %oming of 6essiah. #orus, the %entral Christ figure in the te-ts, $as des%ri&ed as @he $ho ever %omes,@ @he $ho %omes regularly and %ontinuously,@ or $ho %omes 'eriodi%ally. *n some of the hymns he is hailed as @The Comer> The Comer>@ *sis, the goddess mother and +ueen of heaven, entreats him to %ome and lift her out of her desolation. 8hat &e%omes indu&ita&ly %lear from sear%hing study of these old te-ts is that the 6essiani% @%oming@ they refer to is the advent into the evolving life of humanity on this earth 'lane of a form, grade or degree of %ons%iousness $hi%h $as not genera&le in the order of nature itself, &ut $as the flo$ering to maturity of the %ons%ious 'otential inherent in a seed of divine mind im'lanted in the natural order from above. As any mother has to re%eive the seminal essen%e of a ne$ &irth and mature it to its generation, so the maternal order of nature, the material $orld, had to &e im'regnated at a 'oint of readiness in its evolution $ith the seed of a divine grade of mind, give it &irth and rear it to its maturity. *ts re%e'tion in utero $ould &e signali1ed 1odia%ally at the Se'tem&er date, its &irth at the De%em&er 'eriod and its rearing and gro$th %om'leted at the 6ar%h %onsummation. But in the salient features of the sym&olism its &irth $ould &e allo%ated to the De%em&er solsti%e. Christmas $ould %ele&rate the emergen%e of the divine order of %ons%ious mind in the human ra%e, the in%e'tion of the human grade of &eing to %ro$n the ?D former 'ure animal level of su&%ons%ious and instin%tive e-isten%e. *t mar(ed the entry of mind, reason, and the $hole vast 'otential of the a%tivity of thought into human motivation, installing the intelle%t as (ing over human a%tion. The interior meaning of Christmas %an never &e realisti%ally gras'ed until it is understood that it %ele&rates the %oming of mind as King over the lo$er instin%ts, a''eten%ies and 'assions of the 'rimitive animal stage of &iologi%al evolution. The Christmas advent of the Prin%e of Pea%e $ould eventuate finally in the !aster %ro$ning of the King of ove, for mind $as to &e glorified in the end &y the s$eet aura and radiant light of divine ove. "f infinite signifi%an%e it is to (no$ that in all the ante%edent and @'ro'heti%@ literature and religious ritual stemming into 9udaism and Christianity from the venera&le lore of old !gy't, the %onstru%tions dealing $ith the 6essiani% %oming indu&ita&ly refer to this advent of the ne$ higher dis'ensation that $ould su'ervene on earth from the &irth of the thin(ing 'rin%i'le in human a%tion, and /ust as indu&ita&ly %an not &e ta(en to refer to the 'hysi%al &irth of any 'ersonali1ed Christ or 6essiah. Study of the an%ient field of religious literature reveals no 'revalen%e of the notion that 6essiah $ould %ome on earth in the form of a human &a&e and man,Christ until a&out the se%ond and third %enturies of the Christian era, and then 'redominantly only in the region around the !astern end of the

6editerranean Sea. Tersely, it %an &e stated as verifia&le truth that the %on%e'tion of the Christ,6essiah as a human &eing of flesh and &lood had not &een e-tant in the an%ient $orld until it too( form in the degenerate 'hiloso'hi%al 'eriod of the early Christian %enturies. .rom the heyday of 2ree( 'hiloso'hi%al &rillian%e in Plato3s age some five hundred years &efore this there had ensued a tragi% de, <F %line and de%ay in s'iritual $isdom, $hi%h Sir 2il&ert 6urray has famously %hara%teri1ed &y his 'hrase @the failure of nerve@ on the 'art of the 2ree( mind. And it $as at the very lo$est e&& of the 'hiloso'hi%al s'irit that a 'henomenon o%%urred $hi%h %ast the shado$ of ignoran%e that dee'ened into the @Dar( Ages@ of 6edieval !uro'e. *t $as at this e'o%h that the %on%e'tion of Christos,6essiah as a 'rin%i'le of higher %ons%iousness $as transmogrified into the form of a man,2od Savior, the Christ as 'rin%i'le turned into the Christ as a man. This $as the su'reme tragedy of human %ultural history. *t generated and released the fren1y that $as to &urn the Ale-andrian li&rary, murder #y'atia and Bruno, %lose u' the Platoni% A%ademies and end the &enignant light of an ar%hai% s'iritual $isdom older than an%ient !gy't. .ully five thousand years &efore a #e&re$ maid 6ary nursed an infant of Na1areth the haloed 6adonna and the Child $ere e-tant in !gy't as *sis holding her infant #orus. "n the $alls of the tem'le of u-or, at a date as early as ?=FF B.C. there $ere %arved four s%enes $hi%h have &een re'rodu%ed in the 2os'els as first,%entury Christian history. The first s%ene de'i%ts a grou' of angels on a %loud ma(ing the annun%iation of the %oming of the 6essiah King to a &and of she'herds in the fields. The se%ond re'resents a single angel announ%ing to a young maiden that she is to &e the mother of this %oming King. A third 'i%tures the Nativity s%ene, $ith the t$o animals, the o- and the ass, 'resent. And the fourth sho$s three no&lemen (neeling &efore a &a&e and offering gifts. #o$ $e are e-'e%ted to a%%e't the thesis that an%ient !gy'tian dramati% and sym&oli% re'resentation of man3s evolutionary history turned into fa%tual history in the year ? A.D. has not &een made %lear to any reasoning mind. "ne must go dee'ly <? into the study of this remote &a%(ground of the 9udaeo,Christian S%ri'tural literature to &e im'ressed $ith the 'ivotal signifi%an%e of findings su%h as these, for they are multitudinous and staggering in their im'li%ations. The setting of the sun or a star in the $est had &een for long %enturies the sym&ol of the des%ent of soul into in%arnation as similarly the alternate rising of sun or star in the east at morning had allegori1ed the resurre%tion or re&irth of soul out of its &urial in the dar( %ave of fleshly &ody. The three stars in the hunter3s &elt in the %onstellation of "rion had &een from remote times denominated the @Three Kings@ $ho attended the &irth of the %oming ord. The figure of the Christ &orn among animals, or e-'osed to &e saved &y animals in a sta&le or a %ave, $as %ommon at a very early 'eriod. The sym&olism of midnight, $inter and the solsti%e $as universally 'revalent as de'i%ting the 'eriod of the Christ,&irth in the de'th of the @dead@ %ondition of soul &uried do$n under &odily inertia. "ne is safe in saying that not a feature of the traditional forms of %ele&ration of Christmas is missing in the an%ient &a%(ground of our religion. And as one %anvasses these identities and %orres'onden%es &et$een 2os'el narrative and ante%edent allegorism, there

gro$s the %onvi%tion of the non,histori%ity and from that the ridi%ulousness of the 2os'el a%%ounts of the &irth of the Christ $hen ta(en as assumed o%%urren%e in o&/e%tive history. The su'remely &eautiful s%enario of the angeli% heralding of the &irth of Christ in uke!s 2os'el &e%omes tradu%ed into una%%e'ta&le reality if ta(en as history. The singular fa%t of ostensi&le @history@ that 9esus $as &orn /ust si- months after his forerunner 9ohn the Ba'tist %an &e given rational,,and most sensationally enlightening signifi%an%e only in referen%e to the sym&olism of the 1odia%al %hart. That !li1a&eth, the mother of 9ohn, gave &irth to her son in << her old age, as did &oth Sarah and #annah &ear their sons *saa% and Samuel, %arries a signifi%an%e that has not &een 'ro'erly envisaged. The referen%e to the 1odia%al sign of Aries, the 5am, in the items of the Christ featured as the @ am& of 2od@ and the she'herds $ith their flo%(s in Christmas 'ageantry, has &een entirely overloo(ed, as have also the o&vious Pis%ean im'li%ations of the Christ3s t$elve dis%i'les %hosen as @fishermen,@ and the 2ree( %hara%teri1ation of the early Christians as @little fishes@ and the Christ figure himself as *%hthys, the .ish Avatar of deity. *n the 're%ession of the e+uino-es the sun $as entering the sign of Pis%es, the .ishes, a&out the time of the founding of Christianity, and $e are +uite ignorant today as to the %on%ern of an%ient religious interest $ith &oth astrologi%al and natural sym&oli% re'resentation. To inter'ret an%ient S%ri'tures solely from the histori%al 'oint of referen%e and ignore the 'oeti%, figurative and em&lemati%, $ill %ontort their %ry'ti% esoteri% signifi%an%e into gross %ari%ature of real meaning. Then there is the item of the name of the lo%ation of the 2os'el &irth. "ne is no$ in 'osition to say that if the divine &a&e3s &irth'la%e had &een lo%ali1ed in Patagonia, a'land, Alas(a or Si&eria, or ondon or Ne$ Yor(, he $ould still have &een truly &orn in @Bethlehem.@ Be%ause it is as %lear as anything $ell %an &e that the name, Bethlehem, %arries no 'ossi&le referen%e to the village of that name in Palestine. 8hat then does Bethlehem mean) The #e&re$ di%tionary tells us that the $ord is made u' of beth" meaning @house,@ and lehem meaning @&read.@ *t therefore means @house of &read,@ and is a cry#tic desi$nation of the human body. 8here else %an the Christ %ons%iousness &e &orn &ut in the human &ody and its &rain) As the @5ed Sea@ in &oth "ld and Ne$ Testament sym&olism is a gly'h for <0 the human &ody &lood Asin%e it is a%tually sea $ater and is red>B, so the @Bethlehem@ house of &read is a semanti% veil for the human &ody. *n the ar%hai% 1odia%al sym&olism the sign of 7irgo, the 7irgin 6other, $as 'oeti1ed as the house of &read,,from the fa%t that in it $as the great star, S'i%a, the head of $heat, sym&ol of the divine &read %oming do$n from heaven,,$hile /ust si- months a%ross from it $as the sign of Pis%es, the .ishes. The Sages of anti+uity 'ortrayed 7irgo as the mother of the first or natural man and Pis%es as the 6other of the se%ond Adam or the Christ. #o$ astonishingly signifi%ant it must &e, then, to note that in the @mira%le@ of the feeding of the five thousand the t$o foods given $ere the em&lems of these t$o houses of the 1odia%, 7irgo and Pis%es, the one the 6other of 9ohn, the forerunner, the other the mother of 9esus, /ust si- months later> At least t$o of the an%ient goddesses in religious dramatism $ere styled @.ish, mothers@ of divinity, Atergatis and Semiramis. The semanti% relevan%e of the mermaid in

an%ient mythology is %onne%ted $ith this area of referen%e. <4 T#! 5!D AND T#! 25!!N #aving $oven again the threads of %onne%tion of the great festival $ith its 'rimal sour%es in an%ient sym&oli% s%ien%e, the $ay is %lear to delineate as lu%idly as 'ossi&le the &asi% signifi%ations of the various rites, modes and sym&ols of the %ustomary %ele&ration. The e-'lanation of the meaning of the t$o vividly %ontrasting %olors $hi%h stand as the @theme %olors@ of Christmas, red and green, seems the most 'ro'er item $ith $hi%h to &egin the e-egesis. And the &asi% rationale underneath these %olors $ill itself formulate the essential ground,s%heme for the inter'retation of most of the other sym&oli% features. No treatise %an dissertate u'on su%h a matter as the &irth of the Christ $ithout &lue, 'rinting a %hart of the interrelation of the several diverse &ut interlo%(ed natures $hi%h enter into the %onstitution of man, the human,divine %om'osite. The true,,&ut long lost,, &ases of sound religious 'hiloso'hy are to &e lo%ated in the realm of anthro'ology. 5eligious e-'erien%e is a 'henomenon trans'iring $ithin the elements of human nature. *t is, so to say, a 'sy%hosomati% ferment amongst the sensual, emotional, intelle%tual and s'iritual %om'onents of man3s %om'ound e-isten%e. 6ost gra'hi%ally des%ri&ed, man is, in Plato3s analysis, half god and half animalG a god &y virtue of his mind, an animal &y virtue of his &ody. #e is a god inha&iting the &ody of an animal. #e is thus fa&ri%ated out of four se'arate natures, $hi%h are interfused and interrelated in one organism. #e is in toto a %om&ination in one 'hysi%al form of four organi% entifi%ations of &eing or %ons%iousness, the 'hysi%al, the emotional, the mental and the s'iritual, ea%h fun%tioning in and through its o$n <: distin%t &ody, $hi%h in ea%h %ase is %om'osed of matter in a state of atomi% te-ture and organi1ation %onsonant $ith its degree of fineness or %oarseness in the evolutionary s%ale. These four &odies are maintained in %ommunal relation to ea%h other $ithin the %onfines of the outer 'hysi%al frame &y the 'lay of affinities and atomi% energi1ations that life and nature readily, if mysteriously, su%%eed in regulating, the finer &odies inter'enetrating and animating the %oarser. Their diversity of stru%ture is seen as a matter of the differen%es in fre+uen%y, $ave,length and other modes of vi&ration of the four grades of matter %om'osing them. The t$o %oarser and, in the evolutionary sense, lo$er &odies and their a%tivated ty'es of %ons%iousness %onstitute $hat an%ient ar%ane s%ien%e denominated the lo$er, or natural man, %alled in Pauline Christianity the first Adam, or the @man of the earth, earthy,@ $hile the t$o finer and higher ones %om'osed the @s'iritual man,@ the se%ond Adam, Paul3s @ ord from heaven.@ The first t$o, sym&oled res'e%tively &y earth and $ater, united to form man 'hysi%alG the se%ond t$o, em&lemed &y air and fire, %onstituted man s'iritual. The four united man earthly $ith heavenly man. 8hen the Bi&le 'oeti%ally says that heaven and earth have (issed ea%h other, it refers to the union of the t$o natures in the &ody and life of man(ind. 6an3s %om'lete %onstitution, then, %onsisted of four natures so %on/oined as to ma(e him a dual %reature, $ith a material &ody %om'osed of earth and $ater, and a s'iritual &ody

%om'osed of air A atin s#iritus means @air@B and fire, $ith the former housing the latter, &ut &eing animated and ensouled &y it. As religion is the relation &et$een man3s 'hysi%al, animal nature and that of this ind$elling god $ithin him, the gist of all meanings 'resented in the S%ri'tures and theology relates to <; the inter'lay &et$een these t$o %o,tenants of the 'hysi%al &ody, the 'sy%he and the soul. This analysis 're'ares the ground for the e-'li%ation of the red and green %olors so vividly flaunted in the Yule dis'lay. The strongly %ontrasting yet %om'lementary green leaves and red &erries of the holly &ran%h are not only &eautiful to the sense, &ut stand as mentally %ogent ty'es of the t$o natures in man. 2reen is the universal %olor of nature on this 'lanet, at least in the vegeta&le realm. *t therefore sym&oli1es the first or natural man, the man $hose life, li(e that of green leafage, is dra$n u' out of the earth. "n the other side red ty'ifies the se%ond Adam, or man s'iritual, &e%ause the age,old and invaria&le sym&ol of s'irit universal throughout the $orld $as fire% and red is the %ommon %olor of fire. The red stands for the fiery essen%e of divine s'irit, the soul of man. The Christmas message that is mutely &ut elo+uently s'o(en &y the holly s'rig is indeed a moving sermon. *t &es'ea(s the life, history and %om'osition of the human soul, for it 'resents in dum& 'antomime the gro$th of man natural as the green stem and its leaves, and then the generation out of these ra$ natural elements of man s'iritual, as the fiery red 'rodu%t flo$ing at the summit. The %olorful holly &ran%h thus de'i%ts man3s 'otential divine s'irit as the &eautiful flo$er and fruit of a 'hysi%al gro$th in the natural order. 6an %an ga1e u'on the holly tree and see his o$n life,drama mirrored in outline and in miniature, or as the analogue of all natural 'ro%ess. #is &ody is the gro$th and evolution of a rudimentary nu%leus of life over a long 'eriod. *t is his natural self, gro$n under the order of the $orld of nature and the o'eration of natural la$. But in the fulness of time, it, too, &ears its glorious fruit at the to'most rea%h of its @green@ &ody, <= $hi%h in the %ase of man is the head. And this fruit of the tree of life $hen fully ri'ened, $ere it visi&le to all human eyes, $ould &e seen flashing out in the form of a radiant %ro$n of ineffa&le s'iritual &eauty efflores%ent in the 'urest of %olors. *n &oth nature and in man the first or natural order of %reation gives &irth at its a'e- to the se%ond or s'iritual man. The 'hysi%al %reation, the @mother,@ la&ors to generate her son, the %ons%ious %reation, the ogos. As the s'iritual &ody or &odies in $hi%h this s'iritual %ons%iousness is instrumentali1ed are %onstituted of the glo$ing radian%e of solar light, the %olor of fire is the most a't earthly sym&oli% re'resentation of their nature. The $orld of green nature &ears on its to' &ran%h the &right red of the s'irit. *f one %an imaginatively see all this in the holly, or the 'oinsettia, or the &ar&erry, one $ill find these em&lemati% o&/e%ts the mental goad to reali1ations of the most 'otent %atharti% virtue. They unite the mental and the emotional through the su&tle 'o$er of an aestheti% dynamism. They 'ortray vividly the &irth of the Christ in man as the &urgeoning of red fire of s'irit at the to' of the green stem of the natural &odily life. #ere $e have the &asis of the old !nglish legend of the &lossoming of the thorntree at 2laston&erry at Christmas. *t is sym&olism. The tree of nature, here the thorn&ush, is

'ro%laimed to 'ut forth its &loom at the $inter solsti%e, as 're%isely at this 'oint in the %y%le $here involution Athe soul3s des%entB turns into evolution Athe soul3s reas%entB, the Christ,%hild of noeti% %ons%iousness is &orn. The thorn&ush $as in all li(elihood %hosen as %arrying on the "ld Testament allegory of the thorn&ush of &'odus aflame $ith divine fire. 8ith the tree introdu%ed as ty'ogra'h of man3s natural self, the elu%idation %omes to the Christmas 'ine <C tree. And $ell may the 2erman fol(song %arol its adoration of the firtree3s 'erennial greenness> " Tannen&aum> " Tannen&aum> A" fir,tree> " fir,tree> 8ie green sind deine Blaetter> #o$ green are thy leaves>B .or here nature is green, not only for the seasonal %y%le of summer, &ut all the year round. The life of nature, 're'aratory as it al$ays is to the &irth of %ons%iousness, is in its essen%e everlasting. 6atter is indestru%ti&le, though its forms of manifestation may %ontinually %hange. The root essen%e of material su&stan%e is im'erisha&le. *t is al$ays a 'oten%y, latent during the alternate 'eriods of non,manifestation, a%tive during the o''osite %y%les of s'irit3s $a(ing e-isten%e. Perha's fan%y $ill not stray too far afield into $himsi%ality $hen it li(ens the dar(er shades of the 'ine3s $inter green or former years3 gro$th to the dullness of matter in the ina%tive or latent state, $hile seeing in the &righter shades of the green of the summer3s ne$ gro$th an em&lem of the more radiant energi1ation of matter $hen ensouled &y &right s'irit in the %y%les of manifestation. *n the tem'erate and frigid 1ones nature has 'rovided a ty'e of the eternality of life and matter in never,fading greenness of the northern 'ine. Sym&ol of the immortality of life, it &rings into the Christmas ritual mu%h the same signifi%an%e as the green of the holly. *t re'resents outdoor or $ild nature, thus again ty'ifying the first or natural man in the human %onstitution. <D T#! 2"D D"6!ST*CAT!S T#! AN*6A But for Yuletide %eremonialism the 'ine is %ut do$n and &rought in and set u' in human ha&itations. 8hat %an this &eto(en other than the &ringing of the natural man $ithin the 'ale and the aura of the influen%e of the god,nature in the human &eing) *n the life of the human $hen &ody is ensouled &y the more 'otent dynami% of s'iritual %ons%iousness, the e-ternal &odily nature is in the full sense of the $ord &eing domesti%ated &y the divine Self that is from a&ove. The im'lanted heavenly grade of mind, as it develo's, ta(es the natural under its %are and tutelage and la&ors 'atiently to transmute its norm of %ons%iousness from %rude animal instin%t to intelligen%e and reason. The $ild animal nature is &eing tamed and transformed &y the im'a%ts u'on it of the influen%es of @the ord from heaven,@ $hose ruling motivations are those of &enevolen%e and love,$isdom. *n the "ld Testament it $as !sau, and in the Ne$ it $as 9ohn the Ba'tist, &oth of $hom stood as the ty'e figure of the first or natural man, $ho lived in the $ilds of e-ternal nature. Untamed $ild &rutish nature is to &e tamed and gradually %hanged into the li(eness of its s'iritual tutor. *n the transfer of a 'rodu%t of outdoor nature into the human

d$elling there is signali1ed the &ringing of the @$ild &east@ segment of man3s dual %om'osition under the influen%e of the divine,human grade of mind and su&/e%ting it to the im'a%t of the for%es that $ill in time %onvert it from &rute to human. !ventually su'erhuman glory a$aits it. But the semanti% dramatism does not sto' $ith the &ringing of the green 'ine into the home. 8hen the outer man is &rought $ithin the radiation of the soul3s more u'lifting 'o$ers, it does not long remain &lea( and 0F &are in its greenness. *t &e%omes in the transforming 'ro%ess lighted u' $ith divine glories. The %ro$ning of the human,animal $ith su'ernal grandeur of &right s'irit is dramati1ed &y the de%oration of the green &ran%hes of the tree $ith glittering o&/e%ts. Not only is the 'rodu%t of ra$ nature introdu%ed into the human domi%ileG it is &edi1ened $ith every sort of tinsel and gaudy &rillian%e. And ato' its %entral &ough is hung the great gold star> *f the mind of the ordinary householder $ho trims the Yule tree %ould have any full measure of the dee'er signifi%an%e of this &right de%(ing of the Christmas 'ine as an evolutionary transa%tion $ithin the range of his o$n nature, no ritual in all the year3s round of festivals %ould 'ossi&ly engender a more dynami% e-altation of his s'irit than this tas( of the late hours of Christmas eve. .or it 'oeti1es $ith aestheti% &eauty the drama of the inner life of man himself. *t ena%ts in reality the living 'ro%esses &y $hi%h man3s o$n &odily organism, itself a tree of natural gro$th, lights u' $ithin its o$n organi% stru%ture a series of glo$ing %enters of glinting radian%e, $hi%h the #indus have %alled chakras" or @$heels.@ They are des%ri&ed as sau%er,li(e in sha'e and of a %orus%ating &rillian%e, as they shine $ithin the $atery %onfines of the &ody. 8hen the an%ient Sages s'ea( of the soul3s %oming to earth to @(indle a flame $ithin the tom& of the &odyG@ and the !gy'tian &oo(s announ%e its %oming to generate @a &urning $ithin the sea,@ they are not indulging in e-travagant flings of fan%y, &ut are 'i%toriali1ing a%tual 'ro%esses that ensue u'on the s'irit3s transfiguring o'eration $ithin the 'hysi%al &ody. *n fa%t it is to &e understood that deity enters the sta&le of the animal,human &ody at its &irth, and as its latent 'o$ers of divinity unfold their %a'a&ilities into 0? a%tivity and $or( their magi%al effe%t u'on the 'hysi%al organism, it su%%eeds finally in lighting u' t$elve lam's of a radian%e never seen on land or sea, $hi%h shine $ithin the or&it of the &ran%hes of the tree of man3s life. *n a $ord, one may say that the 'hysi%al tree of man3s &ody is lighted u' $ith the fires of divinity at the e-tremity of the t$elve &ran%hes of his develo'ment. *n the Ka&alisti% literature of the #e&re$s there is the great Se'hirothal Tree, $ith the three higher and the seven lo$er lights en(indled u'on its ten distin%t &ran%hes of radiation. And this %osmi%al tree is &ut the ma%ro%osmi% re'li%a of $hat is re'eated in miniature in the human mi%ro%osm. The mighty $or( of great Deity is to %ause light to shine out of the a&ysmal dar(ness. *f that Po$er %an generate in fish living in dee',sea dar(ness a light that ma(es their $orld %lear to vision, so it %an %ause the lights of s'iritual intelligen%e to glo$ $ithin the divini1ed &ody of man. #umanity is to generate t$elve divine lights u'on the &ran%hes of its tree of life. This is set forth $ith e-'li%it

e-a%tness in the last %ha'ter in the Christian Bi&le, (evelation <<, $here it is said that the tree of life shall &ear t$elve manner of fruits u'on its &ran%hes, and its leaves shall &e for the healing of the nations. Again a stri(ing 'assage from the Bi&le, in the language of St. Paul, says that @2od $ho hath %aused the light to shine out of dar(ness hath shined in our heartsG &ut $e have this treasure in earthen vessels.@ 8e hold it in these 'hysi%al &odies of ours. The &right ornaments on the Christmas fir,tree do indeed sym&oli1e our 'ossession of the t$elve @treasures of light,@ $hi%h are deity3s immortal gift to animal man $ithin the s%o'e of the Christmas ritualism. 0< And the 'o$er that $ill %ause these t$elve lights to glo$ u'on the &ran%hes of the organi% human tree is /ust that s'irit of good,$ill, love and fello$shi' that is denominated the @Christmas s'irit.@ As the transfiguring gra%e of the lo$er 'o$er lights u' the human %ountenan%e, so in 'ositive 'hysi%al reality $ill the rule of &rotherhood and %harity in the %ons%ious life of man(ind generate these t$elve &ea%ons of the divine love, light in evolving human nature. The &irth of the Christos in the %ons%iousness of humanity $ill %ause the %olle%tive tree of human nature to &e mira%ulously trimmed $ith lights that $ill illumine the 'ath$ay of $orld history ever more &rilliantly unto the day of man3s deifi%ation. @* $ill %lothe thee $ith light as $ith a garment,@ says the 2od of the "ld Testament. #e might have 'ara'hrased itE @* $ill trim the t$elve &ran%hes of your nature tree $ith the lights of the Christ,&orn radian%e of love. @.or 3Christmas3 means 3Christ,&irth.3@ The mas is from the !gy'tian mes @to &e &orn.@ Mess)iah means the @Ane$B &orn Iah* A+ahB, or 9ehovah,,,2od. And 2od might have addedE @* $ill %ro$n your tree of &rillian%e $ith the su'er,&right Star ato' the %entral &ran%h.@ YesG for the t$elve &ran%h lights are the lesser lights, and the great light of the Christ %ons%iousness glo$s in su'reme glory in the %enter of all. "n the 6ount of Transfiguration, as re%ounted in the early 2nosti%,Christian $or(, the ,istis So#hia, 9esus, seated in the midst of the t$elve dis%i'les, is transfigured $ith su'ernal &rightness in their %enter. St. Paul says that $e are all mem&ers of one s'iritual &ody, of $hi%h Christ is the head. The divine s'lendor shines out in full 'o$er in the head, $here the s'ar( and fire of godli(e intelligen%e glo$s li(e a living flame. The end and %onsummation of man3s gro$th %omes $ith this deifi% glorifi%ation in his head. A living flame &ursts forth in 00 form li(e the 'etals of a fiery lotus, so that the an%ients %alled it @the thousand,'etaled lotus in the head@ of divini1ed man. This is the 'ure &eauteous flame of divine love and %om'assion $hi%h has its glorious &irth in the head of man the human, and is the &right Bethlehem star $hose rise in the east heralds indeed the &irth of the savior of the $orld. *f this &right star of the morning is not &rought to shining in human hearts the Christ is not &orn in the $orld. 8here %an the Christ,mind &e given &irth if not in the human minds and hearts) Could ten thousand Christs of Na1areth im'lement Christliness in the $orld if its gra%ious s'irit did not govern the lives of mortals) Not until all Christendom ma(es that $hi%h the Bethlehem &irth &eautifully sym&oli1es a living reality in the daily run of its $orld,life $ill the Christmas tree of humanity &e de%(ed $ith its t$elve lights

and its to'most Star in anything &ut em'ty form. *nstead of the gold star on the to'most lim&, an%ient ingenuity also devised the figure of the one &ran%h of the tree that 'ut forth golden leaves,,the 2olden Bough. This $as used to sym&oli1e the Christos nature, $hose golden light of s'iritual s'lendor &e%ome the glorious end 'rodu%t of the $hole natural %reation, $hi%h, St. Paul says, groans and travails in the 'ains of 'arturition until it manifests the Sons of 2od, or the Christ. *t is a most signifi%ant fa%t that in many tongues the $ord for @gold@ is the same as the $ord for @light.@ *n the #e&re$ @light@ is aor" in .ren%h @gold@ is or" in atin aurum" giving us the !nglish ore. The !gy'tian Hor)us is the golden light of the divine Christ grade of &rillian%e. That his name for %enturies $as *usa &efore it $as #orus, &es'ea(s again the dire%t sour%e of the later name, 9esus. 04 2ree( and 5oman mythologies made the golden &ough the 'ass'ort in the hands of the heroes $ho $ould adventure into the dar( de'ths of the Stygian @under$orld,@ $hose mislo%ation &y the s%holars for %enturies has thro$n all e-egeti%al effort sadly a$ry of true %om'rehension and inter'retation. Not only $as it the hero3s 'ass'ort of entry into the nether $orld of Sheol, Amenta, #ades and hell, &ut it $as his ne%essary e-it,'ermit from those same um&rageous grots and %averns $here the shades of the @dead@ flitted a&out in the dar(some re%esses of semi,night. #is 'ossession of the 'o$ers sym&oli1ed &y the &ough of s'iritual gold alone guaranteed his emergen%e in safety from this underrealm of fleshly dus(. 0: T#! YU !, "2 AND T#! 6*ST !T"! *n mu%h the same &road signifi%an%e as the 'ine tree %omes the sym&olism of the Yule og. As the log again 'ortrays outdoor nature, its ritual treatment $ithin the house differs only in form from that of the green 'ine &y the &rightness of the ornaments. *n the %ase of the log the @fire@ is a%tually 'rodu%ed, as the $ooed is 'la%ed dire%tly on the hearth and &urned. #ere the em&lemism of &eing @%onsumed in the fire@ is introdu%ed. All Bi&le students are familiar $ith this figure of the lo$er, %oarser elements of man3s %om'osition, the dross and the %haff, &eing %ast into the fiery furna%e and utterly %onsumed. This %arries the signifi%an%e here. The log of $ood, %reation of the natural $orld, s'ea(s of the natural man $ith all his gross 'ro'ensities s'ringing from the %arnal nature. Under so many names and figures in the old S%ri'tures these are to &e defeated, routed and slain &y the s$ord of the s'irit of 2od. The @animal@ $as to &e &urned u'on the four,s+uare altar of the dou&ly,dual nature of man. *n this $orld of mingled soul and &ody fires, flames of 'ure s'iritual %ons%iousness &eing smudged &y lurid flames of the sensual instin%ts, the mightier 'oten%y of the diviner flame %on+uers in the end and %oarse matter is &urned out, leaving the flame %lear and &eauteous. The !gy'tians %alled the &ody $herein these t$o fires %ontend for mastery @the %ru%i&le of the great house of flame.@ Again they denominated the earth, or the earthy &ody of man, @the Pool of the Dou&le .ire.@ The %haff is %ast into the fiery furna%e of earthly 'assion and %onsumed. The &urning of the Yule log on the hearth in the old days 0; stands as &eautiful ty'ism of this great segment of the festival3s meaning.

Then there is the strong suggestive sym&olism of its &eing &urned on the hearth in the home of humans. *t is o&vious that the $ord @hearth@ is %losely %onne%ted $ith @heart.@ The hearth $ell re'resents in the house the innermost holy of holies of the sa%red tem'le of religion. *t is in the dee'est mind and soul of the human that this %onversion of the lo$er elements of his nature into the all,%onsuming fire of redeeming love ta(es 'la%e. The hearth of old times $as the %enter and, so to say, the altar of the family life. .itting and im'ressive it is, then, that the Yule log &e laid u'on the hearth and in the very heart of the home &e lighted u' and transformed into the ty'e of s'iritual and deifi% essen%e. #igh u' on the great oa( gre$ the mistletoe, so uni+uely em'loyed &y the Druids,,$hose name is derived from the 2ree( $ord meaning @oa(@,,as a sym&ol of the divine elevation of the soul in man. *ts semanti% im'ort stems from the fa%t that it is a 'arasite and gro$s aloft on the &ran%hes of its host. "f most 'ertinent signifi%an%e it is that it does not dra$ its sustenan%e dire%tly from the earth, &ut se%ondarily lives u'on a gro$th that does e-tra%t its strength and nutriment of energy transmuted from earthly elements, in %om&ination $ith the vital essen%es it %an a&stra%t from the air, the sun and the rain. .rom these &asi% data the 'lant &e%omes an a't figure of the Christos. .or the Christ,self gro$s high u' on the tree of the natural life, and li(e$ise must dra$ its sustenan%e from $hat the nature,gro$th has dra$n u' from earth and %onverted into forms of nourishment for its rootage and su''ort. This 'hase of the imagery $ill glo$ more &rilliantly in the light of the %andle sym, 0= &ol. But it shines out %learly here as $ell. The Christ nature %an not evolve and &lossom to mature loveliness unless sustained from &elo$ &y the 'rodu%ts of the life of the 'hysi%al organism. *t is, in a stri%tly sym&oli% sense also a 'arasite, living on the 'hysi%al &ody of its host. The divine 'lan %ountenan%es this interde'enden%e of host and guest on the su%%essive 'lanes of nature. A lo$er material organism must 'lay host to a higher life energy, $hile the latter on its 'art ensouls the form that sustains it in the dual relationshi'. The idea of lovers (issing under the mistletoe s'rig a%%entuates the %on%e'tion that the &irth of the Christ follo$s u'on the union of the t$o lovers in man3s nature, the s'irit,soul and the &ody,soul. The mistletoe suggests the Christ, &orn high u' on the evolutionary tree of life, su&sisting u'on that tree3s natural elements, and generated &y the union of the @female@ 'hysi%al %om'onents of the tree3s life derived from the soil $ith the @male@ s'iritual 'rin%i'les of the air and the sun. "n our 'lanet there is no life genera&le $ithout the union of these four elements. The mistletoe sym&oli1es this union of the human and divine, or male and female, elements, the @(issing@ or %ommingling of $hi%h &ring the Christ to his &irth. 0C T#! PA5C#!D 8#!AT A Nordi% %ustom of the Christmas %ele&ration that has fallen into desuetude $as that of s'rin(ling $heat on the doorste' outside the house or u'on the hearth inside, or of 'ar%hing $heat in the fire of the Yule log. *t should need no dissertation to elu%idate the signifi%an%e of $heat and its edi&le 'rodu%t, &read, in religious literature. 9ohn, Paul, the Christ figure himself and many another allegorist of the s'iritual life have made $heat and &read the great %entral sym&ol of the divine soul in man. @This is that &read $hi%h

%ame do$n from heaven, that if a man eat of it he shall hunger no more.@ The Christos says that his As'iritualB &ody is the &read of life, &ro(en into 'ie%es that all may eat of it, and that all $ho $ill eat of it shall have eternal life. But the allegori%al genius of the an%ients 'i%tured the unground and un&a(ed grain as the @ra$@ or undevelo'ed germ of future Christhood, the seed of divinity that had to undergo 'lanting in the soil of human nature, initial @death@ in that dar( under$orld, then germination, gro$th and eventual ri'ening of its manifold harvest in the 'erfe%ted 'rodu%t. This 'ro%ess $rote the history of the youthful Sons of 2od as they first des%ended into in%arnation, &eing 'lanted in the ground of human life, @dying@ as divinities to &e re&orn as men, regaining their Paradise through gro$th and evolution, and returning to the .ather3s house as vi%tors over the $orld and the 'o$er of matter. These 'ure @virgin souls@ Afor they $ere named in *ndia -umaras" meaning @virgin youths,@ @%eli&ate young men,@ sin%e they $ere %hildren of 2od, &orn of his eternal mind, not yet ever $edded to material &odies and no$ in their first des%ent into &odily lifeB $ere li(ened to the ra$ 0D $heat grain, needing to &e ground, mealed, &a(ed and made nourishing for man. So St. Paul saysE @And that $hi%h thou so$est, thou so$est not that &ody $hi%h shall &e, &ut bare $rain" it may %han%e of $heat, or of some other grainE But 2od giveth it a &ody as it hath 'leased him, and to every seed his o$n &ody.@ This is to remind us that 2od does not 'lant in our nature the full,gro$n tree of the Christ %ons%iousness, &ut only its seed 'otential. .ailure to re%ogni1e this true element in religious ideology has led to untold fanati%ism and dementia. This @&are grain@ of ine-'erien%ed and undevelo'ed divinity is to suffer ma%eration, to &e refined, then mi-ed $ith @$ater,@ then &a(ed and finally eaten &y man for his eternal nutriment. #ave $e suffi%ient analogi%al s(ill to see that the grinding, the milling, the flouring of the ra$ grain is /ust the &rea(ing u' of the unity of Christhood on its o$n high level, as it is fragmented in its division and 'artition amongst the &odies of mortals, and its %rushing &et$een the good and evil of the rough human e-'erien%e undergone in its life as the ensouling 'rin%i'le in mortal &odies) The Christ himself in the drama says that $e must eat his @&ody $hi%h is &ro(en for you.@ *n the a'o%ry'hal &#istle of I$natius to the (omans there is found one of the most stri(ing analogi%al de'i%tions of this 'ro%ess in all Christian literature, in the 'assage in $hi%h the soul, s'ea(ing, saysE @.or * am the $heat of 2odG and * shall &e ground &et$een the teeth of the $ild &easts that * may &e found the 'ure &read of Christ.@ 2round &et$een the teeth of the $ild animals indeed is its fate, for the allegory refers to these animal &odies of ours $ithin $hose %onstitution it ma(es its earthly so/ourn. The &are $heat grain is the des%ending virgin soul of divinityG the animals are these 4F &odies of oursG the grinding is the %rushing and &ruising &et$een the u''er and the nether millstone of our dual natureG the $ater that %ements the flour into %a(e form is the $atery nature of the &odyG the fire that &a(es the %a(es is the dou&le fire of heavenly flames of love and the mur(y flares of the @earthly, sensual, devilish@ lo$er self that rage $ithin usG and the @'ure &read of Christ@ is the finally 'erfe%ted and fully nourishing %a(e of the

divine soul glorified. 2od 'lants the $heat grains of his generated %hildren in the soil of humanity, and loo(s to see the milling and the %a(e,&a(ing ta(e 'la%e in the @%ru%i&le of the great house of flame.@ The !gy'tian Book of the .ead tells of the soul &eing @moistened $ith $ater and roasted $ith fire in the under$orld.@ And the under$orld, let mystified s%holars &e enlightened at last, is this $orld of ours. A shorter sym&ol, or analogue, that +uite $ell %arried the same &road meaning $as the 'ar%hing of the ra$ $heat grains. Par%hed $heat is itself a tasty and nutritious edi&le. So that to s%atter $heat a&out the door, or to 'ar%h it on the hearth, es'e%ially in the flames of the Yule log, $as to dramati1e faithfully the 'urifying and divini1ing e-'erien%e of the soul in the 'rogress of its develo'ment of the Christ nature through life in the flesh. 4? T#! CAND ! *N T#! 8*ND"8 And the %andle $ith its en%ir%ling halo of mysti%al radian%e,,$hat is its message of &eauty and signifi%an%e) 6ore $onderfully even than the 'ine tree and the Yule hearth, fire and the holly does this enlightening sym&ol of the Christ,&irth announ%e its meaning for the intelligen%e of thin(ing man. #ere is the flame that %onnotes the fire of deifi% &eing in the mortal %onstitution. *t is atta%hed to and holds its %onne%tion $ith the &ody of animal tallo$ &y means of the $i%(, ti''ed &y flame at its to', &ut immersed dee'ly in a &ody of animal derivation &elo$. The $i%( %orres'onds to the animal soul, or 'sy%he, $hi%h in the human organism is the %onne%ting 'rin%i'le &et$een s'irit,soul and 'hysi%al &ody. Then there is the solid &ody of oil,ri%h material from the animal $orld. The %andle thus %onstitutes an almost e-a%t redu'li%ation of the organi1ation of the three &odies in man. The 'o$er of s'irit, re'resented &y the flame, is im'arted to the $i%( &y the energies of intelligen%e in an order of %ons%ious &eing far trans%ending the 'hysi%al $orld. .rom the $i%( it is &rought into relation $ith the tallo$, ty'ifying the lo$er $orld. *n the meeting of these t$o, flame and tallo$, ta(es 'la%e the 'hysi%al,%hemi%al o'eration that should s'ea( in volu&le tones to the mysti%al sense of man(ind. By the 'o$er inherent in its nature the flame is a&le to a%t u'on the tallo$ so as to %hange its state from solid to li+uid, then from li+uid to gaseous, and in this form %onvert it, transmute it, into the essen%e of its o$n magi%ally 'o$erful nature. Thus it %ontinues to feed u'on the strength of the elements &elo$ it in the stru%ture and so 'er'etuates its e-isten%e in the manifest $orld. 4< The 'arallel $ith man3s life is 'erfe%t. The flame of divine s'irit at the summit of his nature %ommuni%ates itself through the intermediary $i%( of the human,animal soul to the elements of the animal,&ody itself. These it %ontinues to refine and su&limate through its effi%a%ious %onta%t $ith their more sluggish nature, until in the end it %onverts them @into the li(eness of its o$n glorious &ody,@ as St. Paul 'hrases it. *t is the fire of divinity $ithin us that, $hile dra$ing its o$n nourishment and 'rolonging its o$n e-isten%e in the &ody &y feeding u'on the lo$er elements of the 'hysi%al, is at the same time lifting that &ody into its u''er (ingdom &y its 'o$er of transu&stantiation, a mystery that must &e thought of in the terms of a s'iritual al%hemy. The flame of s'irit,soul feeds u'on the su&ordinate elements of man the natural, the $hile it %onverts them into the similitude of

its o$n trans%endent life. Su%h is the grandilo+uent message of the Christmas %andle in the $indo$ or a&ove the altar, 'ro%laiming silently, &ut &eautifully the &irth of the Christos. The 'hiloso'hi%al moral of this elu%idation is all too li(ely to &e missed &y those @s'iritual@ %ultists of the 'resent day $ho most need to &e im'ressed $ith $hat the $ondrous analogue has to tea%h them in %orre%tion of their over$eening laudation of @s'irit@ and %orres'onding derogation of @matter.@ "ne $ho has ever dee'ly refle%ted on the %andle flame as he sees it re'lenished, refueled &y the %ontri&ution of &aser matter to its maintenan%e %an never again /oin the &latant %horus of 'hiloso'hi%al %ondemnation of matter. 8ithout matter to feed its life, s'irit %ould not for a moment maintain its %onne%tion $ith living e-'erien%e in the $orld, and its o$n evolution $ould &e at a standstill. All too mu%h of uns%hooled 'hiloso'hy has &erated matter, de%ried s'irit3s allian%e $ith it and %hara%teri1ed the 40 soul3s relation to it as its sin and fall into degradation. "rthodo- theology has tainted its systematism $ith the same allegation of the @fall@ into matter and generation. But all this is sim'ly an un&alan%ed and unintelligent mishandling of su&tle elements of the old %osmi% dramas. Soul3s lin(age $ith matter in in%arnation is the natural and $holly salutary and &enefi%ent 'lanting of a seed in its 'ro'er soil. 8ithout the union of seed and soil there %an &e no ne$ gro$th. The human &ody and its sensuous life 'rovide the fertile soilG the unit of soul %ons%iousness is the divine seed. S'irit must &e a&le to relate itself to matter so as to &e a&le to dra$ u'on the sustaining 'o$er of the energy in the atom if it is to esta&lish itself ane$ in a %y%le of gro$th. *t is time the endless 'rattle of ages against $hat early Christian do%trinism %alled @the malignan%y of matter@ &e silen%ed &y the fuller understanding of the eternal role of &enignant 'ur'ose $hi%h matter 'lays in the %osmi% evolutionary e%onomy. 2od 'rodu%ed his material %reation, sun, moon, stars, earth, animals, vegetation, manG and 'ronoun%ed it good. "nly erring half,taught religionists have 'ronoun%ed it evil. The religion that has im'lanted the universal idea that man $as &orn in sin &e%ause the soul %ame to share the life of the flesh has 'ro/e%ted a most &aleful influen%e into the stream of human ideology. 6an3s life $ould rise many grades in the s%ale of dignity and ha''iness if he $ould %ease to des'ise his &ody. "f a surety his flesh is not to dominate him. But it is to &e honored for the indis'ensa&le and no&le servi%e $hi%h it 'erforms together $ith the soul. A sound 'hiloso'hy $ill not hea' %ontumely on the flesh, the handmaid of the soul. 44 T#! STA5 *N T#! !AST The star of Bethlehem and the three 6agi it guided a%ross the Ara&ian desert> Are they to &e ta(en as histori%al a%tualities) #ardly. 6any Christian $riters no longer vie$ them in this light. They are %lassed as legend and 'oetry. They %onstitute another of those s'lendid allegories of the as%ent of &right s'irit from out the region of material night to regain %elestial glory. @8e have seen his star in the east and are %ome to $orshi' him.@ So s'a(e the three @8ise 6en@ from the !ast at the &irth of Christos.

The 6essiah %omes not as a single unit of %ons%iousness, &ut as a threefold 'o$er. *t is S'irit,Soul,6indG three in one, yet one in three. #e %omes, so to say, and his advent &rings his three as'e%ts to manifestationG or he %omes as these three. S'irit, as manifest in the flesh, is ever a trinity of fa%ulties. *ts lo$est fa%et, the only one that %omes immediately into the &rain %ons%iousness, is 6ind. A&ove that stands Soul, and still higher is S'irit. As these three rays of his 'o$er may &e said to %onstitute his %oming in three forms, they are said to a%%om'any him to earth. And as their %om&ined develo'ment is $hat in reality &rings him here, they are said to %ome to 'ay homage to him. They %om&ine to %onsummate his greatness and %om'leteness. *n the 2os'el allegory this relation to him %ame out as @$orshi'.@ As to the star,,$hat is it) Can it &e ta(en astronomi%ally) Again and most em'hati%ally, no> !ven staid astronomers, deluded &y the %ommonly assumed histori%ity of the 2os'el story, have %hildishly gone on re%ord as affirming that @some$here near@ the time of 9esus3 &irth there $as an e-%e'tional and rare %on/un%tion of five of the 'lanets. "nly a fe$ years ago $e 4: $itnessed the interesting s'e%ta%le of five of the 'lanets %losely &un%hed in the $estern s(y of evening. The 'henomenon &rought no &irth of divinity, $ith the most savage of all $ars going on at the time. The guileless astronomers had overloo(ed the statement in Matthew!s 2os'el that made their guessing $eird and 're'osterous. @No$ the star %ame and stood over the 'la%e $here the young %hild $as.@ et us 'i%ture 9u'iter,,itself some hundred times larger than the earth,,,Saturn, 6ars, Ne'tune and Uranus, all %ro$ding in the heavens dire%tly a&ove the tiny sta&le in Bethlehem village> *t is not to &e overloo(ed that su%h irrationality is only one instan%e of the havo% that religious infatuation and hy'noti1ation %an $or( in other$ise %a'a&le minds. The Star of Bethlehem is the &right radian%e of the divine soul shining in the innermost re%esses of evolving human minds, and rising $ith man as he emerges, sym&oli%ally on the east, from out the dar( night of his immersion in matter and &ody. As it gro$s to its adult state the soul &e%omes a shining star of &right ray in the human head. 8hen it shines forth there arises the gleam of its manifestations as the three @s'iritual magi%ians.@ The &ursting out of the light of this tri'le star u'on infant humanity, as the ra%e &egins to in%or'orate Christly 'rin%i'le in its a%tion, is naturally 'i%tured as &ringing the three 6ages or Sages of $isdom to the earthly %radle $here, all meanly $ra''ed in s$addling %lothes of earthly flesh, he lies 'i%tured as the infant at the &eginning of his %areer to redeem animal man to divinity. Their offering of gifts of in%ense, s$eet myrrh and gold &eto(ened their %ontri&ution to his unified %om'leteness. 2old em&lems the highest life of s'iritG in%ense is the s$eet odor of &alsam treated $ith fire, the sym&ol of nature transmuted &y soulG and myrrh is 4; the s$eet,savored vegeta&le that ty'ifies the natural %ontri&ution to the life of s'irit. Some$hat a(in in signifi%an%e to the red holly &erry and the 'oinsettia $as the red rose of Christmas sym&olism. Pi%tured on the %ross at the /un%tion of the t$o arms, it em&lemed the Christ,&irth as the 'rodu%t of s'irit and matter @%rossed@ in the life of man. i(e the 2laston&ury thorn&ush it, too, $as legendarily asserted to &loom at midnight of

Christmas !ve. As the @tree@ of the %ross on $hi%h the Christ $as %ru%ified $as dramati1ed as the far,des%ended &ran%h of the tree of life in the 2arden of !den, so the Christmas rose on the %ross $as su''osed to have &lossomed forth in De%em&er as a stem from 9esse3s an%ient rod of divinity. As a si-teenth %entury 2erman %arol 'uts itE * (no$ a rose,tree s'ring .orth from an an%ient root, As men of old $ere singing. .rom 9esse %ame the shoot That &ore a &lossom &right Amid the %old of $inter, 8hen half,s'ent $as the night. By an%ient sym&oli% re%(oning the solstitial 'eriod in De%em&er mar(ed the half,$ay 'oint in the @night@ of the soul3s in%arnation. And it $as 're%isely at this 'oint, also &y sym&oli% %onnotations, that the Christ 'rin%i'le ended its slee' of @death@ in matter and $as +ui%(ened to a ne$ &irth. The Christ $as the red rose flo$ering at midnight in the solsti%e of @$inter.@ As 9esse $as the father of David this Christ,rose $as in the other tradition of 9e$ry to &e the 6essiah @&orn of David3s line@ in the %ity of @Bethlehem.@ 4= @CA5" , B5"T#!5S, CA5" @ The %arols of Christmas must have their due 'la%e in the e-'osition. These musi%al &allads that thousands of throats send thro&&ing in sin%ere /oyousness u' to the rafters of %hur%hes em&ody man3s most &lithesome e-'ression of his Christmas s'irit. 6any are magnifi%ent &eyond $ords. *f all those $ho sing %ould %at%h the faintest true %on%e'tion of the a$esome &urden of the 'rofounder esoteri% signifi%an%e of the sonorous 'hrases %horused at the Yuletide, their hearts and minds $ould fairly 'al'itate $ith the overmastering reali1ation of the grandeur of the human,divine e'i% hidden in these ma/esti% runes. A Christmas !ve servi%e in an !'is%o'alian Chur%h attended &y the 'resent $riter in ?D:0 o'ened $ith the tenor solo sung &efore the 'ro%essional. The 'rogram announ%ed that it $as %onsidered to &e the oldest (no$n Christmas %arol, dating a$ay &a%( of the fifth %entury. *t $as sung in atin and sim'ly hailed the Christ, son of the 7irgin 6ary. But the first four $ords suddenly stru%( the mind $ith the most a%ute reali1ation of their 'rofounder signifi%an%e. They $ere as follo$sE *A solis natus carine . . .* 5eferring to the Christ, these $ords said that he $as @&orn on the hin$e of the sun.@ The astonishing %ir%umstan%e here $as that if this $as truly a Christian %arol, it %ould &e inter'reted in %lear meaning only &y Pagan formulas> .or Christianity (no$s nothing of the sym&olism of the Christmas dating in relation to the $inter solsti%e, or the fa%t that this dating allo%ates the divine &irth to the %onditions of the &alan%e &et$een soul and &ody, $hen soul, having rea%hed the nadir of its des%ent into matter, slo$ly turns and 'ivots, as it $ere, on the hin$e of the solstice to &egin its 4C

u'$ard 'ath of return to heaven. The De%em&er solsti%e is the hinge on $hi%h des%ending soul s$ings around at the nadirG the 9une solsti%e is li(e$ise the hinge of the sun at its u''er turn. But the Christ is &orn in the @$inter.@ 8hat is 'erha's the most salient feature a%%entuated in the %arols generally has &een little noted. *t is the oft,re'eated lin(ing of heaven and earth together in the /u&ilee, to stress mightily the fa%t that &oth hemis'heres of life $ere &enefi%iaries of the great gift of Christhood to the $orld of men. The first verse of the fine old hymn, +oy to the World" $ell e-em'lifies this featureE 9oy to the $orld, the ord is %ome> et earth re%eive her (ing> et every heart 're'are him room And heaven and nature sing> #eaven and earth are e-horted to sing together. 8e must as( $hy heaven is to /oin in re/oi%ing over the advent of divinity to this 'lanet. #ere $e %ome &a%( to the holly, the 'ine tree and the Yule log. Both nature on the one side and %ons%iousness on the other $ere to &e &lessed &y the des%ent of 6essiah to earth. Nature, in the form and 'erson of her to',most 'rodu%t, man 'hysi%al, $as to re%eive as her honored guest the s'ar( of %elestial fire, $hi%h under her tutelage $ould eventually elevate the natural man to the order and ran( of divine intelligen%e. Nature $as to have the germinal 'otential of soul im'lanted in her &osom, and only this tie gave it the %han%e to rise in the s%ale of develo'ing &eing. *t $as indeed the great aeonial o%%asion for nature3s re/oi%ing. She $as to &e elevated from &lind instin%t to mind. As to heaven, it $as the grand %osmi% o''ortunity for those %iti1ens of heaven, those deifi% mind,&orn Sons of 2od, to lin( their 'otential %a'a&ilities $ith the gen, 4D erative 'o$ers of matter and nature in human &odies, and thus a%hieve a ne$ &irth and further gro$th in the eternal advan%e. .or &oth heaven3s sons and nature3s %reation it $as e+ually the grand event of all the ages. 8ell indeed might man and nature unite to %ele&rate the high festival. *t meant a nearer a''roa%h to godhood for &oth, and full a'otheosi1ation for those already at the threshold of divinity. *t $as 2od3s gift to them of a ne$ rea%h and range of life that $ould in the event lift ea%h to a higher (ingdom of &eing, an e-'anded dimension of %ons%iousness. *f this is not the due o%%asion for &oth heaven and nature to re/oi%e, then %reation furnishes no ade+uate ground for /u&ilation. This analysis underlies the reason $hy the Christ3s advent $as 'ro%laimed from heaven to men on earth. *t rang from the s(ies. @#eaven3s ar%hes rang@ $ith the e-ultant shouts of the %elestial hosts, and @earth gave &a%( the sound@ from its 'lains &elo$. !arth sent &a%( to heaven the e%ho of its /oyous halleluiahs, resounding throughout the em'yrean. The hosts of the t$elve legions of angels, sons of the 2od,6ind, $ho $ere 're'aring to migrate do$n$ard to our 'lanet, $ould in the round of the aeon return re/oi%ing, vi%tors over @death,@ having &urst asunder the &ars and gates of this lo$er @hell.@ *t $as the festal day of all the earth and no less the gala day for the angeli% hosts a&ove. The festival $ould la%( its true im'ort unless &oth men and angels ali(e reali1ed its meaning in &oth s'heres of &eing. .or the event meant a ne$ heaven for s'irits of light and a ne$ earth

&rightened $ith heavenly glory for men. So angels in the %louds of heaven announ%ed the %oming to she'herds a&iding in the fields, (ee'ing $at%h over their flo%(s &y night. As the 6essiah %oming in this era of the 1odia%al %y%le $as to %ome in the sign of Aries, the 5am, $hen he $as to &e heralded as the :F am& of 2od, slain from the foundation of the $orld, inevita&ly the drama 'ersonified these humans $ho $ere to domesti%ate and %are for this tender am& in its infan%y as @she'herds.@ So the annun%iation $as made to she'herds in the fields, in the night and $inter of in%arnation. *t is said that no shee' are ever $at%hed out in the fields of Palestine or Syria at night later than "%to&er of ea%h year. #en%e the allegori%al %hara%ter of the story is %onfirmed &y its o&vious non,histori%ity. The 'ageantry of sno$y $inter attending the 6essiah3s &irth is of %ourse altogether Northern and astrologi%al sym&olism. *t de'i%ts the $inter solsti%e and the Northern $inter $ith its sno$ and all its 'oeti% in%itements. But the true sense of all this has &een lost. The i%iness of the season is the out$ard ar%ti% sym&ol of the %old deadness of the soul $hen it has gone to its tor'id slee' of inertness, its @hi&ernation@ under nature3s %hilling s'ell and lies $ra''ed in un%ons%iousness, li(e the $heat grains in $inter3s soil, until a$a(ened to ne$ life and regeneration &y A'ril3s strengthening sun. At the solsti%e the sun stands still for a 'eriod of a&out ten days, neither losing nor gaining in its light. #ere is the astrologi%al sym&ol of s'irit3s e+uali1ed relation $ith matter, $hen it is $eighed in the s%ales of the e-a%t &alan%e or e+uili&ration &et$een the for%es of soul and &ody. #umanity at its 'resent state stands at 're%isely this 'oint of sta&ili1ation &et$een the 'o$ers of soul and those of sense. *n this %lose relation the o''ortunity is afforded to &oth these elements to %onsummate their interlo%(ing and their @marriage@ and 'rodu%e the Christ,%hild as their offs'ring. Thus the solsti%e of $inter is the 1odia%al 'ortraiture of every as'e%t of the relation of soul to &ody, out of $hi%h the Christos is to have its ne$ generation. i(e the sun of late De%em&er, the unit of soul,mind :? has gone as far do$n the s%ale into matter3s de'ths as it %an go. There it stands, held fast &y the e+uili&rated 'o$ers of matter. The t$o %onfli%t and $ar $ith ea%h other until their re%on%iliation is effe%ted through the intermediary offi%es of the Christ as its 'o$er evolves. And the final at,one,ment is a%hieved as the t$o learn to syn%hroni1e their natures. 8ith the harmony thus esta&lished %omes the 'ea%e on earth and good,$ill among men that the angels announ%ed to the she'herds. But the horrid s%roll of history sin%e the first %entury &elies any histori%al referen%e to the meaning of 6essiah3s %oming at a given e'o%h in a given 'ersonality, and sets the seal of truth on the hy'othesis that the 2os'el story is the dramati% re'resentation of man3s total evolution to divinity, a goal $hi%h is yet to &e a%hieved in anything li(e its fulness. *t is far &etter to (no$ that 6essiah has not yet %ome,,in the final sense of an overt event in o&/e%tive history,,than to %herish the %ommon &elief that he has %ome, and that su%%eeding history has dis'layed more in human savagery than any age &efore it. *f $hat

has eventuated in history sin%e the divine event fulfills the meaning of 6essiah3s &irth, there is little a&out $hi%h to sing halleluiahs and &ede%( the hall $ith holly. The ho'e of humanity is in the reali1ation that the Christ is yet to %ome, and to %ome not in any manger &ed or %ham&er of lu-ury, &ut to reign as King of ove in the lives of individuals and in the state%raft of the nations. To 'ro%laim that 6essiah has %ome,,and left the $orld groveling in &rutish lust for &ut%hery,,$ould &e to %rush man3s s'irit in des'air. The failure of t$o thousand @&lithe Noels@ to &ring the Christly s'irit to &irth in the $orld is easily a%%ounted for. Ta(en as overt histori%al event o%%urring 'ersonally to one man, and not understood as the im'lanta, :< tion of the @&are grain@ of the future gro$th of godliness in all hearts, the mighty %atharti% and transforming for%e of the a%%olade to infant deity went out from all hearts and dissi'ated itself u'on the imagined figure of this one alleged 'ersonage, $hen it $as intended that it should $o inward to $or( its &enign effi%a%y u'on all souls. The Christ $as o&/e%tively heralded &ut not su&/e%tively re%eived. #e $as hailed out there in history, &ut not $el%omed into the inn of ea%h heart. #omage $as lavished u'on his 'hysi%al 'ersonality, $hen his s'iritual &ody should have &een sa%rifi%ially eaten and 'sy%hi%ally assimilated. The enormous %olle%tive stream of 'sy%hi% adoration dou&tless fo%used over the mythi%al sta&le in Bethlehem and formed a verita&le She(inah there. And there it is reanimated and reinfor%ed year after year at Christmas. But, if the +uality and %hara%ter of 8estern history &e a %om'etent %riterion, evidently there it stays. Bethlehem re%eives a vast emotional inundationG someho$ the rest of the $orld is left $ithout &eatitude. The Yule greeting goes out voluminously to 9udeaG all too o&viously it does not return to the senders. *t is s'ent out$ardly u'on a su''osed histori%al event, and a''arently e-hausted in the s'ending. The vast 'sy%hi% out#ourin$ is $asted u'on the sym&ol, $hen the sym&ol, its ma/esti% %onnotation %onverted into the realities of love and &rotherhood, should generate the $ondrous leaven of universal %harity and send it 'ulsing through all the hearts in the $orld. The histori1ation of the drama and the &eautiful allegory s$allo$ed u' the s'iritual effi%a%y of the annual ritual, and therefore sim'ly failed to %arry home to any minds the 'ivotal truth on $hi%h its &enefi%ent leavening of humanity entirely de'ended. The nu& of the great s$ee'ing signifi%an%e $as the %ardinal truth that :0 unless the Christ &e &orn, loved, reared and e-alted as ruler in the %ons%ious life of every individual mortal, his &irth has not &een &rought to 'ass. "ne &irth in Bethlehem is not enough to leaven the $orld. All men must &e re&orn, and only in this %olle%tive re&irth is the Christos &orn. *f he is not re&orn in ea%h heart, he has had his &irth no$here. #e %an not &e &orn outside of human hearts, minds and %ons%ien%es. 8hat good %ould one man3s divine love do in a $orld ran(ling $ith the 'etty selfishness of individuals and the unrelenting animosity of nations) Christos $ill &e &orn, 6essiah $ill %ome, $hen ove reigns in the human &reast, and humanity $ill &e &orn as it gives &irth to the King of ove. Phili's Broo(s in his tou%hing / ittle 0own of Bethlehem 'leads that the s'irit of Christos Be &orn in us today.

*f Christmas does not im'lant the s'irit of divine love ever more dee'ly in all souls, it is %ele&rated in vain. And never $ill the festival of gladness generate its high %atharti% 'o$er to s'irituali1e the ra%e until, instead of the 'hysi%al &irth of one &a&e in the im'ossi&le Bethlehem story Ata(en as historyB, the anniversary at the solsti%e s'ea(s volu&ly to every intelligent human of the &irth $ithin the area of his o$n %ons%iousness of the soul of divine gra%iousness and %om'assion. :4 B!T# !#!6 AND B!T#ANY Bethlehem itself is hardly to &e ta(en geogra'hi%ally in %onne%tion $ith the event. S%holars have &een un%ons%iona&ly slo$ to derive any %entral signifi%an%e from the etymology of the to$n name. Beth)lehem means, as any #e&re$ (no$s, @the house of &read.@ This $as an em&lemati% designation of the house of 7irgo, the 7irgin in the Iodia%. The $heat sym&oli1ed &y the great star S'i%a in that house of the heavens em&lemed the Christ %oming as the divine &read to &e eaten mysti%ally &y all souls. ASee the author3s 0he ost i$ht for a full and revealing ela&oration of this entire theme.B *ndeed it %ould &e affirmed that the an%ient &oo(s $ould have 'ro%laimed the Christ,&irth as @o%%urring@ in Bethlehem even if no su%h to$n had stood on the ma'G or rather they $ould have seen to it that a to$n a''ro'riately lo%ated a%%ording to some semanti% s%heme $ould have &een given the name of Bethlehem. AThat the name of this 'arti%ular to$n is to &e a%%ounted for in this $ay is indeed fairly 'ro&a&le, for this $as the an%ient religious %ustom.B .or some thousands of years the venera&le do%uments of !gy't allo%ated the 6essiani% &irth to the to$n of Annu AAnuB in the Nile valley. *n Annu, the &oo(s stated, Christ had gone to his @death@ and there he $ould &e &orn again. And it is a &reath,ta(ing dis%overy in Com'arative 5eligion study that Anu is in one 'assage des%ri&ed as the @'la%e of multi#lyin$ bread.@ This !gy'tian &a%(ground %an not &e dis%ounted as the genuine sour%e of the @mira%le@ in $hi%h 9esus feeds the five thousand enhungered gathering &y multi#lyin$ the loaves and fishes. The 2ree(s named Anu #elio'olis, the @%ity of the sun,@ the s'iritual %ity $here the :: sun of divine soul $ent to its @death@ and had its resurre%tion. Anu in the !gy'tian system $as the 'la%e of in%reasing the divine &read of eternal life> And this @%ity@ is finally the human body itself" $here soul first goes to its @death,@ then has its glorious resurre%tion. i(e$ise this @%ity@ is Beth)lehem" the house of &read, $hen the 1odia%al sym&olism is transferred from !gy'tian to #e&re$ name and ty'e. !gy't had 'ro%laimed the solstitial &irth of the Son of 2od ages &efore it &e%ame the %urrent legend in #e&re$ hands. 8hat little there is to Christmas that %an &e %laimed as distin%tively Christian is itself marred &y misguided %om'rehension of its relevan%e and +uite erroneous a''li%ation of its sym&olism. *t is almost a $holly Pagan festival that $e %ele&rate. The dire tragedy is that $e no longer have the 'ers'i%a%ity to dis%ern in it the trans%endent glory of the original Pagan signifi%ations. The gala,day of all human,divine history goes off as a mere anniversary %ele&ration in the s'irit of a $orldly %arnival. That fe$ o&serve it in the e-alted a''re%iation of its 'rofound mysti%al values &es'ea(s the de'ths of our 'hiloso'hi%al failure and the de%ay of our %ulture.

:; YU ! AND N"! *t remains to &uild u' the stru%ture of the t$o familiar names atta%hed %losely to the Christmas gaiety. They are 1ule and 2oel. No$here has there &een seen any s%holar3s derivation of 1ule from its o&vious 'hilologi%al sour%es. *t almost in%ontesta&ly s'rings from the an%ient !gy'tian name of Deity, I3, meaning @Athe DeityB $ho %omes,@ and the #e&re$ & " @2od.@ *ts total rendering $ould then readE @The Deity that %omes as 2od,@ or, more sim'ly, @the %oming 2od.@ The !gy'tians many times %alled #orus, or *usa, @he $ho %omes regularly and %ontinually,@ and in hymns he is hailed and a''ealed to as @The Comer>@ I3 is the ver& meaning @to %ome.@ *n %ourse of Nordi% and Angli% transmission, the I3 &e%ame 13 and the & more 'honeti%ally %on/oined to it as &" giving us in the end 13 &. As the Divinity under 1odia%al sym&olism @%ame@ at the $inter solsti%e, the late De%em&er 'eriod &e%ame designated as the Yuletide and its festival @the Yule.@ As to 2oel" ado'ted as the .ren%h name for Christmas, the same terminal el unites here $ith the 2ree( root of all $ords meaning divine (no$ledge, the 'rimal root of the 2ree( ver& $i$nosko" @to (no$,@ and the no in the !nglish $ord @(no$.@ 2o is the 2ree( stem meaning the divine noetic mind of 2od, or in essen%e and 'otentiality the mind of the Christ. The 2ree( $ord for @mind@ is itself 2ous" meaning of %ourse the %osmi% 6ind. 2oel $ould then mean @the mind of 2od,@ as manifested in his Son or Sons &orn on earth. The &irthday of the Christly 'rin%i'le $as allo%ated to the $inter solsti%e. 8hen, therefore, %hoirs %hant /oyously @Sing 8e All Noel>@, the im'ort is that $e mortals %an in this festive %ele&ration e-ult in the &irth or initial advent of that same mind $hi%h $as also in Christ into the s%o'e := of our %ons%ious life. And %ertainly earth offers nothing more $orthy of rha'sodi% song from mortal li's than this event. *f $e fail to rise to e%stati% /oy over the %ontem'lation of this %ru%ial e'isode in our ra%ial history, $e are @sto%(s and stones, and $orse than senseless things@ indeed. So 'otent, ho$ever, is a sym&oli% ritual that, even though the millions $ho ena%t the annual %eremonials and go to the %onsidera&le la&or and sa%rifi%e of 'resenting the round of gifts year after year have little or no real %on%e'tion of the e-'li%it meaning of their a%tivities, they still %at%h something of the ine-'li%a&le im'ressiveness of the o%%asion. *n s'ite of the fa%t that the meaning es%a'es the individual %ele&rant as a %ommemoration of an evolutionary %risis and the end and &eginning of distin%t e'o%hs, and adum&rates a s'iritual transformation that he %an %onsummate for himself, still the sheer &eauty of the sym&olism and imagery of the memorial, standing in their 'urely e-ternal form, rea%hes dee'ly into the 'sy%hi% %ons%iousness and stirs there 'rofound intimations of human &rother,hood and the love emotion. .or a fe$ short hours on De%em&er t$enty,fourth and t$enty,fifth the Christian $orld is &rought to some measure of reali1ation of the loveliness of %harity and fraternity. 8orldly %ares, an-ieties and %on%erns of the daily struggle are forgotten for an interlude, $hile elders enter into the glee of %hildhood elated over engaging toys. A &rief foretaste of $hat it $ould &e to live in a $orld of amity and heartfelt good,$ill is en/oyed, a &it $onderingly. But all too +ui%(ly the glo$ of humanism fades, the %arols give $ay to the 'revalent de%adent @'e' musi%,@ and the daily

interests and the tone of se%ularity %ro$d out the ne$,&orn Christ s'irit from the heart. Christmas is the salvation to a large e-tent of $hat true Christian s'irit is e-tant. *ts anti%i'atory eager, :C ness and the momentary tou%h of fello$shi' engendered &y it (ee' the soul of &rotherhood from threatened e-tin%tion in the modern $orld of s%ien%e and engrossment in the e-ternalities of e-isten%e. But it is the earnest 'resentment of this essay that if to the e-ternal &eauty of the Yuletide ritualism there $as added the full intelle%tual a''rehension of the 're%ise sym&oli% signifi%an%e of all the %onventional %ustoms 'er'etuated in &eautiful traditional fashion every year, there $ould &e released from out the su&liminal de'ths of man3s divine su&%ons%ious 'otential su%h a flood of Christly love, &orn of &eauty and understanding %om&ined, as $ould s$ee' Christianity into the hearts and minds of the age. This $ould %ome &e%ause it $ould tou%h and &estir in man3s dee'er nature the latent 'o$ers of the Christ %ons%iousness themselves. 8ith their a$a(ening $ould %ome the &irth and later the adult develo'ment of the Christ mind. *t $ould &ring the s'irituali1ation of the $orld, the a'otheosi1ation of humanity. The for%e of ritual is 'o$erful in its sheer out$ard 'erforman%e. !ven $hen its forms and movements are $ithout rational a''eal, they stir the soul to feelings of &eauty. But if there $as added the still more 'otent for%e that $ould flo$ in 'o$erfully from the mind3s %lear gras' of the sym&oli% intimations of the rites, the o'eration $ould lift the very soul to moments of ineffa&le e-altation. This is 're%isely the 'sy%hologi%al element la%(ing in the festival3s annual in%iden%e, the one fa%tor re+uisite to ma(e it the effi%a%ious %hannel of s'iritual 'urgation and u'lift. The mind is un+uestiona&ly the %entral dynamo of all 'sy%hologi%al energi1ations. But merely out$ard feelings sensually e-%ited &y 'ageantry, no matter ho$ &eautiful in themselves, %an not &estir the soul3s dee'est :D sensi&ilities as 'rofoundly and as lastingly as %an the logi%al %ognitions of understanding. Philoso'hy is the mother of understanding and that in turn of affe%tional states, and these set the norm and tenor of individual sta&ility and 'sy%hi% integration, the health of the mind %arrying the health of the &ody $ith it. *nstead of &eing merely a 'eriodi% re%urren%e of gifting and a ha''y time for %hildren, $ith a fe$ %arols thro$n in, Christmas %ould &e the o%%asion of a verita&le annual re, &a'tism of the %ons%ious mind in a flood of su'ernal &enignan%y released from the hovering "versoul of divinity, the immanent,trans%endent 2od $ithin man, that $ould %onstitute a 'eriodi%al %atharti% 'urifi%ation of the soul and a dynami% regeneration of the s'irit in the &ody. *t %arries an ordination of an%ient $isdom designed to utili1e astronomi%al features of the season to im'ress u'on human understanding the signifi%an%e for man himself of all that $hi%h the outer natural 'henomena %an adum&rate for him of the interrelation of soul,%ons%iousness and mundane &ody. i(e the $inter sun, his o$n sun,soul has gone do$n into the under$orld of material dar(ness and lies @dead@ and inert in that %ave of earth. The solsti%e tells him that for the

'eriod of the human evolution that soul of his is &ound in $ith matter in a state of sta&ili1ation, or e+uili&ration of its energies. .or a long time,,'i%tured &y the ten days of the solsti%e,,that soul, a divine unit in its o$n right,,$ill $age an even &attle $ith the elemental 'o$ers of this 'lane of e-isten%e. But slo$ly the %y%le $ill s$ing around 'ast its solsti%e, the soul $ill &egin to gain on the inertia of matter and the sluggish inhi&itions of &odyG and finally it $ill have 'ut all material 'o$ers under its feet, and emerge vi%tor over @death@ and the @grave.@ ;F AN2! *C S"N2S A5! 5*N2*N2 These enno&ling truths the seasonal festival $ill im'ress u'on human intelle%tion $ith ever more realisti% %ogen%yG until the tree, the holly, the lights and star, the %andle, the %radled &a&e, the %arols and the organ $ill release su%h a tide of s$ee'ing reali1ations in man3s 'sy%hi% realm as $ill %ause his heart to thro& in thrilled e%stasy, $ith a%%ess of a more than /oyous sense of &rotherhood of mortals lin(ed together in the &onds of %osmi% &enefi%en%e. A %hoir mar%hing 'ast him in a %hur%h aisle, $ith ea%h singer %arrying a lighted %andle, and 'ouring out the strains of #ar(> The #erald Angels Sing, 2lory to the Ne$,Born King. $ill lift the 'sy%he %lose to the level $here truly the song of angeli% voi%es might &e %aught in mysti% en%hantment. And as surges of trans%endent emotion of &eauty, love and goodness inundate his mind, he $ill indeed reali1e $hat in truth it means to give glory to the ne$,&orn King. .or it $ill %arry far &eyond the mere out$ard idea of 'aying homage to a &a&e in remote time and 'la%e,,&eautiful though this is as sym&ol,,and %ause to glo$ $ithin the &reast that star of inner light that lighteth every man that %ometh into the $orld. There are those $ho have &een im'ressed $ith this vie$ of the Yule festival and $ho mentally assent to its essential %orre%tness. But they demur to it as a detra%tion from the 'sy%hi% for%e and im'ressiveness of the holiday if it is thus redu%ed to a 'sy%hologi%al and intelle%tual reali1ation and not invigorated $ith its signifi%an%e as the %ommemoration of a histori%al event of trans%endent im'ortan%e. They raise the demurrer that ;? to denude it of all outer dress of histori%al asso%iation and leave it standing as mere drama of an internal and 'urely su&/e%tive ideation in %ons%iousness sadly detra%ts from the realisti% and affe%ting un%tion of the festival. To this there must &e entered here a vigorous %ounter,%laim. No mista(e %ould &e greater than this assum'tion. #istory has no$ demonstrated that the im'ressive 'o$er of the festival, $hen &ased on its alleged histori%al foundations, has fallen short of the saving effi%a%y it should have yielded. The fa%t, strange &ut true, is that not only $ould the rituals not lose their dynami% dramati% 'o$er from the understanding that they are out$ard sym&oli1ations of an internal s'irituali1ing 'ro%ess and not histori%al events revie$ed in %ommemoration, &ut they $ould ta(e on a tenfold greater for%e of 'sy%hi% &eatifi%ation from the re%ognition that it is a &irth in all men and not in one single

histori%al individual that they %ele&rate. *nstead of going flat and meaningless &e%ause this vie$ atta%hes no single event of history to them, the ritual $ould rise to unimagina&le heights of e-alting emotional 'o$er from the (no$ledge that they memoriali1e not one, &ut all s'iritual re&irth in history, 'ast and still to %ome. 8hen the mind %at%hes the universal and at the same time 'ersonal meaning and referen%e of the %ustoms, the &eauty of the o&servan%e $ill lift the %ons%iousness to ineffa&le mysti%al e-'erien%e. The $eight of %osmi% re%ognitions and intuitions of trans%endent insight %ould &e%ome almost insu''orta&le. *t is a strange and illogi%al argument to %ontend that the 'rofounder intelle%tual %om'rehension of the rites $ould diminish their for%e and their moving 'o$er. 8hile the outer histori%al signifi%an%e is lessened or even entirely dismantled, the Nativity legend and all the mythi%al e'isodes of the ;< festival3s &a%(ground $ould &e vested $ith a greater and more %ogent aura of 'sy%hi% 'ertinen%e than &efore. They $ould &e%ome lovelier than ever, sin%e the mind has freighted them $ith meanings of dynami% im'ort to the soul of the %ele&rant himself. They $ould &ring their meaning and signifi%an%e home to the individual and they $ould remain $ith him as a leaven of divini1ing ferment from one Yule to the other. The name, dignity and authority of @(ing@ stands in mu%h disesteem and disre'ute in the $orld today. But the $orld sadly la%(s the &asis of that 'ro'er homage and $orshi'ful reveren%e $hi%h it should never fail to a%%ord to the true and rightful King of 5ighteousness, $hose &irth and later rising $ith healing in his $ings the great Yuletide festival $as set to %ommemorate. Until moderns %an /oin their voi%es $ith angeli% %hoirs %aroling eternal 'raise to this King and thus &y their o$n divine initiative seat him at last on the throne of the nations, the %ontinued %ele&ration of Christmas %an avail little. Can there &e any +uestion $hether it $ere &etter to hail a (ing in an%ient 9udea, or a (ing of Christly gra%iousness in the %olle%tive heart and mind of humanity) #uman destiny hinges on the %hoi%e, as at this e'o%h in ra%ial evolution the divine soul of humanity s$ings slo$ly around from outgro$n animalism to the s$eet %harity of a heavenly gra%e on the solstitial @hinge of the sun.@ The su'reme message of the Yule is that $e have &een given, dee' $ithin the %onfines of our o$n natures, a divine &a&e of %ons%iousness to raise from infan%y to the fulness of the stature of his godly nature. #is %oming has lin(ed us $ith the s(ies, for he is a %hild of %elestial (ingliness. #en%e it is that the dominant note of Christmas /oyousness is the uniting of our earthly voi%es $ith the %hoirs of heaven. Those %hoirs are %hanting ;0 halleluiahs in /u&ilation over the gift of heaven to earthG on her 'art earth must lift her voi%e to hail in utter /oy the advent of her divine visitant from the em'yrean. So the Yule resounds $ith the strains of @angels &ending near the earth, to tou%h their har's of goldG@ of hosts of heavenly %iti1ens %aroling @Pea%e on earth, good,$ill to men.@ And, in the dee'est sense of its su&lime %onnotation, the sym&olism of angeli% hosts filling the s(ies of Christmas,time $ith soul,lifting musi% must &e translated 'sy%hi%ally into the realities of surges of mysti%al s$eetness s$ee'ing through the u''er areas of the human soul. .or the angeli% voi%es that man %an hear are the e%hoes in his o$n %ons%iousness of the out'ouring of divine radiations of ove and ight from the mind of 2od. And man in his

u'$ard mar%h must ultimately 'rovide the $ondrous ans$er to the +uestion %ou%hed in the lines of the Christmas hymnE,, #ar(> 8hat mean those holy voi%es S$eetly sounding through the s(ies)