.

SIC

CRYPTOGRAPH

SERIES.

No.

PUBLISHED BY

ROGER BROTHERS
IXTH AVENUE,

PRICE,

NEW

YORK,

ONE DOLLAR

N.

Y.

r~

OZ

IT

Or
T// /v/^fi/

Digitized by the Internet Archive

in

2011

http://www.archive.org/details/crossofmagiunveiOOhigg

The

CROSS OF THE MAGI

AN UNVEILING OF THE GREATEST

OF ALL THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES

BY

Frank

C. Higgins, F. R. N. S.

Author of Copper Coins of Modern Europe.

The Chinese Numismatic Riddle, Etc., Etc

E>

* %

it is

or through symbols that man. consciously or unconsciously,

works and has his being.

in

lives.

Highest of all symbols are those wherein the Artist or poet has risen
into Prophet and all men can recognize a present God and worship
the same.

Carlisle Sartoi

ROGER BROTHERS
NEW YORK
1912

LONDON,

L.

N.

FOWLER

ENT. STA.

HALL

8c

Co.

Resartiu.

Copyright 1912, by the Author.

All rights reserved.

TO
The "Cross
to

my

of the

MY FRIENDS.

Magi"

is

cordially

esteemed colleagues of the

and gratefully dedicated

Xew York Numismatic

Club,

through whose appreciative moral support I have been encour-

aged

to persist in a line of research

sure,

an altogether new light on

many

which throws,

am

quite

obscure numismatic prob-

lems.
I also

wish to acknowledge the generous and sympathetic co-

operation of Brother Franklin B. Huntington, 32" and Knight

Templar, and of Edward T. Newell, Esq., in

the fruits of

my

my

efforts to place

researches, in fitting dress, before the public.

THE AUTHOR.

PREFACE.
To those who are moved

regard the materials of which

this little book has been constructed rather commonplace when
compared with the importance attributed to them, let us say
that the greatest mystery of life lies in the manner with which
it envelops, surrounds and permeates us with its unceasing miracles without so much as attracting attention unless we are in
the

mood

to

to philosophize.

The ancient world,

in seeking the ultimate cause of being,

sought neither riddles nor enigmas, but the truth.

It realized that the "infinite", as an abstract proposition,
must embrace both the great and the small within one all sufficing law.
The macrocosmos was shown mathematically to be
reflected in the microcosmos as the yellow orange is the humble
image of earth or sun and so mankind felt the divine impulsion
to "seek and find".
The philosophies of number and proportion are those which
lie the closest to human perception through the medium of the
senses.

gateways of reason and we

hope to retrace in a sense the footsteps of humanity which have
followed the path from darkness to light impelled by the greatest
of God's gifts, the desire of wisdom, and lighted by the glory of
His universe, the manifest correlation and vivid symbolism of
every atom of Yeation.

They

constitute, at least, the

neither our imagination or invention that these fundamental truths were perceived, grasped and their lessons applied
by races long vanished.
They foresaw, as we foresee in turn, that a time comes when
It

is

which remains of the thought and sentiment of a generation

is that which it is able to indite, paint or engrave upon material
ca pa hie <f withstanding the ravages of time far beyond the duall

ration of individual

human

existence.

and patience, premature revelation to the profane of their own and .later days on the one hand
and on the other, the danger that symbolic interpretation of the
divine premeditation revealed in nature might be lost in its very
trueness to the original pattern and thus pass for mere artistic
imitation without its metaphysical intention being perceived,

Evading with

infinite tact

the ancient world contrived the graphic symbol.

preoccupation

symbolisms of the
which
they had their rise and
pasl with the material facts in
their manifold expressions in every time and clime prior to our
own materialistic age in order that they may be permitted once
more to teach their own lessons in the manner intended by their

Our

sole

is

to confront the

transmitters.

X.'w York, dime loth, 1912.

FRANK

C.

HIGGIXS.

INTRODUCTION
To whatsoever

ancient system of philosophy we turn, irreits age or the geographical boundaries of its influence,
we find such of its axioms and elucidations as have been preserved to us, accompanied by the tradition of a lost arcana, or
inner secret, for which so much potency is claimed, that its
transmission is generally ascribed to the simple credulity of
past ages and its existence dismissed as a meaningless myth.
The serious student of the lore of by-gone ages is not, however, so sure that the repeated indications which he discovers
on every side, of at least the assumption of hidden knowledge,
is not based upon a foundation of fact.
The delver into archaeology, is confronted with strange
symbolisms, which, while there is always some one to hazard a
guess at their meaning, leave him utterly bewildered.
The scholar, saturated with Oriental classics, the Hellenic
philosophies and the mysteries of the ancient religious arts, is
convinced of their interest, but left as unsatisfied upon the
threshold of the inner shrine, as though his knowledge mocked
him. Modern mystics amuse themselves and each other, with
fragments of age-old wisdom, which have reached us, each interpreting, after a fashion of his own, the odds and ends of folklore, which pass for authentic history.
For these reasons, a recapitulation of all which speculative
writers have penned upon the subject, would be pure loss of time
in the present connection although they will always retain the
highest interest for the student.
A stupendous tissue of guess-work, is laden upon the bookspective of

shelves of the world.

The sacred Yih King of the Chinese, is an almost meaningless jargon, because of the loss of a mysterious "Tablet of Destiny", which is the key to its inner meanings; but which no

memory of history, has seen.

"
The Divine Tablet", which the Sumerian monarch, Emmedmanki, "received from the hands of the Babylonian trinity,
Ann, Bel and Ilea", is but an historical hint, like the "Tables of
Judgement", of the latter people and the Urim and Thummim,
human

eye, within the

of the Jew.

Sabaism, the ancient religious cult, which gave rise to both

scientific astronomy and the reputed sister science of astrology,
recollected by history as a vulgar "Star Worship".
is only
Magianism, which led the shepherd three to the feet of the Babe
For high upon two
of Bethlehem, has no Letter explanation.
thousand years, the final word of human salvation has been
claimed to he settled tor all time upon the tradition that these
people performed certain extraordinary actions, because they
were convinced that "a King was born unto the Jews, for they
had seen HIS Star in the East."
Yet not one step has been made by historians, in the direc-

knowledge of events, which are deemed true

enough to base the whole Christian theory of human relation to
the Creator of the Universe upon them.
The answer of the believer, that the statements of Holy Writ
do not require confirmation, is the fountain head of Atheism;
tion

of accurate

while the denial of the Atheist,

is

as unsatisfying to himself, as

most devout Churchman.

The legendary traditions, the authentic historical records,
the tangible, visible; monuments and archaeological remains of
all peoples, of all times and places, are there to attest the one
time comprehension of something, which was in itself a concealment from the vulgar eye, of a secret, the possession of which
to the

perished

distant date.
Modern science has, however, been long keenly upon the
scent y)\' the truth and when that truth is fully realized, the world
will look with amazement upon the innumerable near approachat a

es which have been made

mundane mystei

to a solution of the greatest o^ all the

tes.

The approaches in question, have mainly consisted of the

great masses of evidence, built up by students of comparative
anthropology and ethnology, that the enbound together by a common heritage of tradition and symbolism, weak hut manifest among savage races,
Strong and abounding in circumstances, wherever the hand of
civilized man has stamped his seal.
Specialization, while it has endowed the world with master piece- of successful research, has, however, retarded the rereligion, archaeology,
tire

human

race

Ls

discovery o\' the greatest of the mysteries, because the latter,

the product of a period when the now scattered elements of humanity must have been knit closer together, has also had its
primitive elements so dispersed, that no modern scholar of the

specializing school, has broadened his range of vision, so as to

embrace them all and, recognizing the analogies, bring them
together.

The success

of the writer in this direction, should

have been

that of an infinitely more learned scholar, but the generalization,

which the latter might have disdained, has been essential to

achievement.

knowledge of the whole world, has done more to

produce the particular result, than the most profound special
acquaintance of one, or even two, or three, ancient civilizations,
would have aided to accomplish.
little

The labor

of unravelling the great puzzle of antiquity, has

occupied a quarter of a century, in the acquirement of the neces-

sary appreciation, through Numismatic study and world travel

special research, verification and meditation,
after the first conception had taken root.
The acquirement of the central arcanum, simple as it may
appear, in its perfected condition, required the combination and
systematic grouping of ideas, derived from, First: Pythagorean
arithmetical philosophy; Kecond: European astronomy; Third:
ancient Mexican mythology; Fourth: Chinese cosmogony.
With all this seeming complication and impossibility of
securing a result, until these widely diversified fields of research
had been reviewed in turn, without at first, the slightest idea of
what would result therefrom, the completed fabric takes shape
and substance, with the simplicity and beauty of God's nature,,
of which it is the eternal type.
We are compelled to accept the testimony of the ancient
symbolisms to two very important theses, especially where they
attest origin from geometrical formulae, the comprehension, let
alone development of which, is out of range of the ordinary, normal mind concerned with the materialities of every day life.
Oik; is that such manifest subtleties of calculation could not
have been the work of other than men of great mental capacity
and highly developed reasoning powers, living at periods immeasurably remote from those in which we begin to find historical
traces of recognized schools of philosophy or of individual Phil-

and over a year of

osophers.
that the geometrical figures selected by the
hierarchies of ancient religions to graphically portray conceptions of spiritual truths bear witness to the fact that those whoi

The other

first

put,

them

is

into circulation

were profound thinkers along

theosophical

meaning

to

lines

which,

humanity, arc

having never
still

lost

the basis of

their
all

interest

or

the world can

glean of the supernatural.

This being established compels us to recognize the existence, at time- tart her hack than those of which history can give
us any account, of a humanity no less mentally keen than that
with which we are contemporary and to look for the origines of
symbolism in something else than the fetichism of the savage or
the superstitions oi the uncultured and barbarous.
We find, lor instance, the Swastika still employed a-

an

amulet by the red Indians of the American plains and the homeless nomads of northern Asia after having passed in review
much evidence of its veneration by all the peoples of antiquity.
So long as the nature of symbols was but imperfectly known we
have been entirely justified in assuming' that it was merely an
attractive arbitrary figure to which any age or race might attribute its own significance, but the moment we are confronted with
scientific evidence that it is the correct geometrical solution to
an intricate problem of Eternal Wisdom, we are compelled to
recognize the mental parity of its originators with ourselves.

THE GREAT SOLAR MYTH

''Behind all the religions of the world", wrote Ignatius
Donnelly, "lies a great Solar Myth."
The great Solar Myth, need be a "myth" no longer, for it
only became such, through the loss to the world of one of the
most beautiful, inspiring and intellectual contemplations, which
human thought has ever grasped.
Prepared to prove it, let us say at once that the great Solar
Myth, man's earliest expansion of heart and soul, lifted in grateful exaltation to his maker, has from its earliest and most primitive conception, persisted, evolved, developed and manifested
down to our own age and day. When we thoroughly understand
what it is and of what it consists, we shall be astounded to realize
the treasure of purposeful meaning, which has been lying within
it, behind the veil of man's mis-conception and mis-understandThe well-spring and fountain of every
ing, these ages past.
system of religion the world has ever known, from the most
primitive cull of barbarism to the most cultured Christianity,
the Solar Myth has passed through every philosophical transformation, which the human mind has been capable of giving it,
yd it remains, in its essence, essentially the same as in the beginning, which was not in the ignorance of the savage, but in the
intellectual power to grasp eternal truth, of the fully developed,
highly illuminated mind and that at a period so remote, that he
may only approximately realize it, who is able to conceive of a
time, when the scattered family of earth, were as closely allied
in thought, as at the present day, even if in order to seize upon
the idea, we must credit the notion of a one time great dispersion, from some central home of humanity.
Granted the wonderful phenomena of physical nature and
the splendour of the celestial panorama, the Solar Myth
"myth" only to those who have lost all of its original sense
was lar more than a blind adoration of the Solar disc in the
sense of a huge, glittering, barbarian fetish, miraculously poised
in n

marvellous firmament.

races of mankind, viewed the orb of day,

under aspects which have been completely lost sight of for cen-

The primitive

THE CROSS OF THE MAC

12

which, nevertheless, may well surprise us by tire profluidity of their "wisdom and the divinity of their purpose, when
we realize thai sueli contemplation was the parent of our every
art, science, philosophical speculation and religious conception
turies;

of to day.

"Solar Myth", took cognisance, not only of

the "King of Day", but of the "Queen of Night" and her siderial retinue- terms far older than most of us suspect.
We can well conceive of a time, when both the Sun and the
Moon, may have been blindly worshipped by the unenlightened,

The

but,

in

so-called

the rapt

divine ruler

and

confidence of humanity in their ever visible

phenomena to which their ap-

his consort, the

preciable natures and movements gave rise, were duly compared

with what could be gathered from terrestrial experiences, and
that with mo.-t astonishing results.

Ancient Babylonians engaged in ceremonies relating- to the Magian

worship of tlic heavenly bodies. The Cross is a geometrical Messianic
Symbol and the crossed hands of the assemblage are in token of adoratios of the Sun, Moon and Zodiac.
(From contemporary sculptures;)

The precise individual applications of the great Solar Myth.

by the ancients, are, of course, matters of great detail, but when
the theories upon which they labored are correctly comprehended, the mass of controversial mis-understandings between both
historians and theologians, which is cleared away, is beyond
simultaneous grasp.
'The system should rather, perhaps, be termed Soli-Lunar,
for it will be found, as we proceed, that the dwellers of the an-

THE CROSS OP THE MAGf

cient world regarded the

Moon

as far

13

more intimately associated

with the earth than the Sim, in connection with- certain phases
of their philosophy of creation.
The Sim, they certainly viewed as father and visible presence of the supreme creator, fructifier of earth, regulator of the
Seasons and diurnal time; but they also recognized in the Sun,
a masculine independance and periodical wandering, from the
immediate vicinity of earth, while, on the contrary, the Moon
supplied more the attributes of motherhood, hovering ever near,
tending and watching over the slumbers of her progentiure,
while dividing into smaller and more comprehensive periods,
the larger measures of time, defined by the Solar orb. The apparent regulation by the Moon, of many of the most important
minutiae of the maternal functions matters which have been
taken ample note of by scientists and need not be here enlarged
upon, decided the primitive view of the intimate relations be-*
tween Sun and Moon; leaving it to the wisdom and application
of those duly set apart for such purposes, to examine and define
the relation of all things terrestrial, to the cosmic parents of the
Universe and their recognized progeny, the planets of our own
system, which were with unerring accuracy singled out from
among the heavenly host. All of this is, of course, skimming
rapidly over a most fascinating story, which has been told and
re-told, and which may be luxuriated in, in detail, in many absorbing volumes; but it is necessary to re-capitulate it, in a
establish our own connection.
measure,
It is to the immensely ancient Solar priesthood, known to
ages much nearer our own times than those of their origin, as
the Magi, that we must ascribe the discovery and embodiment of
natural principles, in myth, dogma, prophecy and symbol. All
speculations as to the precedence of one ancient religious system
over another, fall behind the clearly demonstrable, self-evident
precedence of the great Soli-Lunar cults over all. It will be universally recognized, sooner or later, that the tide of evidence can
that all of our most
be neither dammed, nor "damned" back;
extensions
but
and amplificamodem dogmatic conceptions, are
tion- thereof Christian and Turk, Jew and Polynesian, Mongol,

Redskin and Teuton,

same

all

drawing their "water

of life",

from the

spiritual source.

There is really nothing shocking in this, to the devout mind,

from whatsoever point of view. It is certainly a jar, as the
<udden awakening from a slumber of ages, must inevitably be;

THE CROSS OF THE MAGI

14

humanity, to feel the certitude

world
of spiritual contemplation,
the
that the many discords,
arc hut due to mis-conceptions and time altered versions of a
great cosmic drama, in which the structure of the visible finite,
world, is made manifest, as the image and symbol of the invisible and infinite.
[s it, indeed, disquieting that the mystic tragedy of Calvary.
but

it

is

surely

something

to

in

written large by the hand of the Eternal, in the intimate structure of every rock and stone, every leaf and flower, each warming sunbeam and each cooling flake of snow?
We shall never grasp the true spirit of ancient prophecy,
until we are brought face to face with what the utterers thereof.
is

custodians of the ancient wisdom, had in their hearts and souls,

when they spake the burning phrases, which pointed unerring
fingers at the manifestation of a Saviour of mankind.
The fires of fanaticism, effectually exterminated all possessors of the Magian lore, although there are many evidences
of its retention, down to a late period of the Middle Ages. Even
then, it is perhaps doubtful, whether or not, the main key remained in existence. The lack of certainty as to the puzzling
analogies with which comparative religion is fraught and the
absolute impotence of any human agency, to satisfactorily explain the consistency of early prophecies with later events, called
for a stringenl muzzling of all curious enquiry which the self
proclaimed custodians of all Divine wisdom were unable to satisfy.

We

shall

see

about some things.

that

these ancient philosophers were right

THE GEOMETRIC GENESIS

It is Pythagoras who has come the
nearest to putting us
upon the track of almost all herein contained, for
he has left us
the most transcendant and illuminating
proof that he knew, although silent, m the famous figure, known as the
Forty-seventh
problem of Euclid. In so great an extent indeed
does

the Divine
truth (We prefer that term, even to
"science") of Geometry
enter into the matter that we are inclined
to refer to the world's
earliest conception of divine power and
wisdom, as that derived

irom boli-Lunar Geometry.

The Forty Seventh Problem of Euclid, acquired by

Pythagoras of Crotona from Hur-Amen, a Priest of
the Sun at Heliopolis, Wgypt and while ostensibly set-

ting forth a
cealing- the

We may

simple geometrical truth,

mystery of the Universe.

in

reality con-

tabulate the earliest intellectual efforts of dawning

have embraced conception of those abstract notions, which were most intimately related to the conditions of

civilization to

THE CROSS OF THE MAGI

16

the creature, as indeed they did, for we find no race, ancient or

modern, without some definite notion of the rotation of the seas-

on- and the cardinal points of the compass. Association of both

of these idea- with the Sun and later with the rest of the celestial

firmament, is simple enough.

Did not the Sun-god in his majesty govern both of the seasons hy his relative proximity and the sense of direction by his
unerring course
When man, emerging from barbarism, learned to express
the latter graphically, by a single line, drawn in the direction of
the course of the Snn. he had still to express the directions before and behind him and so by a stroke of some barbarian linger
in the sand, long ago, the "Sign of the Cross" was transmitted
:

ss

of

tl<-

Cardinal points.

.Man's first step in

human

culture.

from the unfathomable mind of the Eternal, to the enquiring

spirit of man.
The association of the extremities of this figure
with the number "four" was inevitable and it soon became apparent that the simple cross, surrounded by a boundary of four
line-, like those of which it was composed, might be made to repent many things, by way of illustration.

THE CROSS OF THE MAGI

The

arms

17

still
cross
the
continued to represent North, South,
East and West; while the four ensuing smaller squares might represent
the four phases of Solar influence, oc-

of

curring between the periods of greatIt might also have been observed
that every time a square was tuns
thus divided by a cross, that a
division into three additional parts was effected and that, thus,
scales of accurate multiplication and division were established.
Eventually the crossed squares would be still further rendered
practical, by intersection, from corner to corner, establishing
the four intermediate points of the
compass, when the resulting figure
would and did present a rude hieroglyph of the Sun. Furthermore,
the regular proportions and consecutive multiplications, would have
attracted attention and been endowed with a sacred significance which is indeed precisely what
Ilu, the character expressing
occurred, for we find
surviving in the cuneiform of
the name of God, still
est intensity

and

east heat.

Babylonian

the

in

inders,

As

^^
*^J[/
^\|K

^r |V

scribed bricks, seals and cyl-

metical precision exhibited in

the building up of even this simple figure we owe to it all we
possess of that which lifts man above the primitive savage, for
it
was not only the observation and study of the phenomena of

2.

to the arith-

Silver coin of

Abdera

in

(Tetrax), B. C. 500:
Copper coin of Ancient
of Pythagorean Square.

Thrace, with the Pythagorean four-square

Sicily

showing eight-rayed sun

.

in

centre

Magi but the examinaproportion,

of these regular
tion, line by line and proportion by
figures, drawing from them arithmetical schemes, which duly
compared with those determined by the procession of the unithe heavens which engrossed the early

THE CROSS OF THE MAGI

18

l.

Early Egyptian Scarabaeus with Cross, later extensively used by the Gauls.
has the quadruple significance of the elements of the Square, the Gammadion or Swastika, is a formula for the Squared Circle of equal area and the
5x7 squares of tin- Septenary Calendar. 7-4 connects it with the Equilateral
Triangle. (About XIV -XV Dynasty.)
Coin <>f tlit- Veliocassi, Cauls inhabiting- the Valley of the Seine near Rouen
All of the emblems including the Sun Cross
at the time <>f Caesar's conquest.
arc of the ancient Magianism.
Reverses of Byzantine Coins showing the earliest form of the Crucifix, the
letter X.
The "10" of the Tetrax on a Latin cross. Its identity with the Ilu
of the Maui need not be questioned.
Both of these pieces bear busts of the
Redeemer on their faces.
It

;:-i

verse,

were deemed sacred and propitious in relative degree to

their coincidence.

The

and of both Solar and Lunar discs, sufficed to bring this figure under speculative examination from similar motives almost as soon as interest had been
established in the phenomena of the cross and square. It was
found that the circle was susceptible to all of the symbolical
meanings of the square and that even
in a more picturesque degree, also that
boundaries might be described for ev^sdKMiJ cry manner of plane surface, expresscircular form of the horizon

^^^^w

^^|/\

ADO
^^l^^y
^^1^^

gou and octagon,

to the

ed in every shade of polygonal gradnation, from the three sided triangle

through square and pentagon, hexa-

figure ot so

many

sides that further

distinguishing of one from another became impossible, while

every point on the perimeter seemed equi-distant from the centre
the Circle.
Thus were the chief figures of what we now
term "Geometry" established and their extension to the description o\' solid masses made the basis of all that is involved
in our physical science of to-day.

THE CROSS OF THE MAGI

It

was found, upon experiment, that

19
all

of these

figures

possessed wonderful inter-relation, by which their volumes or

extents might be compared with such precision that the processes might be described either through arithmetical formulae,
or graphically, showing how by the designation of certain intermediate proportions, one figure could be instantly demonstrated
to be equal in one or more respects to another.

now became

suspected, and rightly, too, that these transitions had been the means employed by God in the creation of the
universe to produce an apparent infinite variety of matter from
a single elementary substance, designated as "chaos".
Finally, the greatest triumph of all was achieved, the determination of the relations of the diameter or radius of a circle,
to its circumference, known as the Pi (Greek letter n), proporIt

tion, giving rise to an arithmetical process by which the circle

might be squared.
It must be remembered that in the beginning these laborious
researches were not pursued with any idea of rendering service
to humanity by engendering inventions, or improving conditions.
They were purely and simply enquiries into the nature of matter
as far as could be derived from the latter 's ascertainable properties, the processes of divine creation and the relation of the

creature to the creator.

At the same time the heavens were being eagerly scanned
for corroboration of the theories being established below and
strange as the sequel may show it to be, with results so far reaching as to extend their tremendous impress upon the human race
down to the most intimate associations of the present time.

THE MAGI DISCOVERED THAT THE ARITHMETICAL

NUMBERS EXPRESSED BY THE CHRONOLOGICAL RELATIONS OF SUN AND MOON TO EARTH WERE IDENTICAL WITH THOSE WHICH SOLVED THE GEOMETRY
CAL PROBLEM OF THE SQUARING OF THE CIRCLE.
Occupying themselves with both arithmetical numbers and

geometrical proportions, they discovered that the precision of

the latter was an infallible guide to the application of the form
er and so built up the exact science of arithmetic, concerning the
origin of which there have been so many fruitless speculations.
For this purpose they employed from the very first the division
of the square by the cross, finding- two systems of progression.
each with a definite value and purpose and blending- at frequent
intervals, one employing a single square as its unit or nucleus

and building up around

it

on

a.

progressive ratio of

1925

THE CROSS OF THE MAGI

20

other dividing a square by a cross into a group of four

central compartments and building upon a consequent ratio of
4 1636 etc. (See Forty Seventh Problem), counting not only
upon the total sums procured by each additional encircling row
of squares, but the number in each row required to complete the
It is from this latter scale that the three systems of nocircuit.
tation which have reigned throughout the world, the Quaternary (2 4 8 lb etc.,) employed by the Semites and the Chinese, the Decimal and the Duodecimal (by dozens) are derived.
While the digital system of "fives" agrees with the Decimal
system, it will be clearly perceived as this is examined into, that
it was by no means its origin.
In addition to the wonderful properties of the foregoing
system was discovered a similar notation, built up by sub-dirision of the Equilateral Triangle by other equilateral triangles.
The smallest Dumber of Equilateral Triangles into which any
ing four, the progression
one could be divided bely the same as that of a
was found to be precisecentral group of four,
square, starting from a
ing the Equilateral Triinasmuch as by numberangles from left to right,
the last figure of each
row always expresses the
"square" of the downetc., tin-

The Equilateral Triangle an infinite "Square" of numbers. The

Squares from two to ten is 384, the days of the ancient
.

Interculary or "embolismic" year.

THE CROSS OP THE MAGI

21

ward counting number

of the row, while each total is the same

as the total of a square figure of an equal number of divisions per
This coincidence was in itself enough to place the Equiside.

on a parity with the square as a source of sacred" numbers, but the multiple Equilateral Triangle, was discovered to embody many extraordinary arithmetical properties
of its own not the least important of which was the development
in the up-pointing Equilateral Triangles of the first four rows,
of the famous TETRAX appropriated by Pythagoras as the baslateral Triangle

is

of his

own

'

'

philosophical system.

By

the time this point was

reached, the Magi had achieved great dexterity in demonstrating the manifold yet always orderly and mathematically exact relations between
the various geometrical figures
of equilateral proportions and
the circle, executing elaborate
calculations by horizontal, perpendicular and diagonal intersections of given squares which
The Tetrax of Pythagoras.
exhibited the results in pic(Tetragrammaton)
tures as well as sums. The discovery of the Tetrax, the sum of the first four digits equalling
the whole number 1+2+3+4=10, (Expressed by the four angles of the Cross), and the infinity of multiplications by nine
reducible to nine (9x9=81 etc.,) encouraged experiments in similar operations with the sums of numbers, so that certain numbers obtained significance not only with reference to their own
properties but as the sums of dissimilar numbers added together. As the sum of 1 to 4 was 10, so the sum of 1 to 7 was
28, the sum of 1 to 8, 36, and the sum of 1 to 16, 136, all figures
which came to have great significance in the Magian system.
Thesr priests, prophets, astronomers and astrologers, gradually came to concern themselves with everything which could
be accounted for through correspondences of form, number, or

proportion and their great power was derived from their abilunity to successfully demonstrate a relation of all which came
der their range of observation to the heavenly bodies.
Thai the mystical should predominate in their appreciations is no more than natural. We shall see that without any

THE CROSS OF THE MAGI

22

charge of superstition they had a rig-lit to be awe stricken at

some of then- discoveries and we shall before we have finished
our examination, rather ask if we have not the same right to be
held

wonderment ourselves.
The mosl wonderful of all
in

their achievements

was

their de-

termination of the almost supernatural qualities attached to the

number 64 (sixty four) which set out, according to their system
in chequered squares, was undoubtedly the so-called "Mosaic
pavement". This is stated by the Bible, (Exodus XXIV, 10)
to have been revealed to Moses and the Seventy Elders upon
Mount Sinai, where the congregation of Israel received God's
direct command to employ it as a pattern for the plan of their
Tabernacle and it also reaches us from the ancient Babylonians,
Chinese and Egyptians, as the familiar kk draught", or ChessBoard. The number sixty-four is the heart of the entire Magian
system, because around it and its central ''four" the Tetrax,
revolves the whole numerical and geometrical system, to which
the .Maui sought to reduce the universe and the centre of that is

THE CROSS.

m gas P^

yj A

WmmM
liil

-<

r
tr

lit

1*1

U
7

/M jjii
/1

V l

'5%

Enlarged Impression of Ancient Babylonian Cylinder Seal showing

Sun ami Cress as objects of worship. The first word of the Cuneiform
Inscription

is

"Ilu"

The

Cod.

THE CROSS OF THE MAC

2tf

/*p

Q
O

P^oX
\

[0GOG 00O]
\

\j

0/

Prehistoric Crosses of Ancient America.

1. Hopi, Moqui, Navajo and Zuni
Indians of Arizona and New Mexico. 2-6. Crosses engraved on Shell gorgets by
the Mound Builders. 7-8. Central American Crosses from Nicaragua. No. 3 is a
Circle Squaring formula. No. 5 exhibits the "Dual principle" through the double
curve which as the letter 'Jod' of the Semite expresses 10 or the Tetrax. 7-8
are each allusions to the "Forty Seventh problem".

fa

H
U|

=rn

in

im

IE

HP

Crosses from the Habbakhorten Mosque

which cruciform decorative features abound.

Central America.

Kashmir, a

district

in

Compare with those from.

NOM CHRISTIAN CROSSES OF ANCIENT TIMES.

MAGIAN MATHEMATICS

not forget in the midst of these

arithmetical speculations, that the units with which we are dealing, are for the most part expressed by numbered squares. The
reason for the selection of sixty -four, as the Divine number by
the Magi, resided in the ascertained fact that upon the reduction of their premises to the test of numbers, as expressed either
It

Is

essential that

we do

geometrically, or arithmetically, sixty-four proved to be the determinating factor of each and every one.
Aletheia

Truth,

Kabbalah.

The true Mosaic Pavement,

of Sixty-four Squares.

THE CROSS OF THE MAC

Here are a few

of the considerations involved:

number 64

The

chief

aside from that of it being the

cube of four, resides in its being the sum of 36 and 28. These
numbers, according to the Magi, expressed the Sun and the
Moon, respectively because the, by them computed Solar year
significance of the

Hundred and Sixty days, or ten times 36,

while the more closely computed Lunar year was one of thirteen
times Twenty-eight, or Three Hundred and Sixty-four. These
was one

of Three

may

be verified by consulting any encyclopaedic article,

upon the Calendar, ancient and modern. The discrepancy between the figures quoted and the true year amounts to five
days, in one case and one in the other, but these lost days were
utilized as feast days in Solar or Lunar honor and compensated
for by intercalary years and the employment of cycles in the
course of which all irregularities righted themselves.
The real reason of this approximation, however, was to>
details

or book

bring the annual revolution of the universe into accord with

the Quadrature of the Circle. A curious corroboration of this

day in the ancient Jewish celebration of

c'Hanukah, a festival which so closely coincides with Christmastide that there can be no doubt of its Solar inspiration. The
rite involves the burning of a given number of candles during
eight days, starting with one on the first day, two on the second
and so on to the eighth day, when one additional candle called
the Shammas candle (Babylonian Shamash, the Sun) is placed
in front. The significance of this
scheme is entirely numerical. It
#
fact exists to this

the addition of the digits 1 to

8, which we have already alluded
which produces the Solar
to,
number 36, that upon which the

is

Pythagorean Mysteries were sworn to secrecy. The

completed figure is that of an
initiates of the

triangle,

equilateral

eight.

of

The
units to one side.
again represents Adonai,
muz, in his Solar aspect
eight "squared" by the

triangle-

or

Tam-

and the
equilat-

Thiris sixty-four.
triansrle
eral
u <^
a1 /'
/
Dtegram Illustrating the .Jewish *'
j +tTTO
c'Hanukah Observance, (The Greater fcy.gix UPWard pointing and. tWeUJ
,

'

Tetractys of Pythagoras.)

ty-eight

downwardj
i

smaller triangles.

^^i^tln^
pcmtmj

THE CROSS OF THE

26

MAT.

the final day, the addition of the single candle gives the
last row the value of nine, which is the diminutive of 36, leaving
This custom,
in the hack-round the full Lunar number of 28.
candles
of the
which is undoubtedly the origin of the lighted
Christmas Tree, must extend hack to the remotest antiquity.

On

'Gnostic Triangle", Bz8x8, symbol of the Manifested Logos. EsThe 36

the relative Solar and Lunar numerical proportions.
upturned points correspond to the c'Hanukali diagram preceding.

tablishes

The dimunition of 36 and 28 to 9 and 7 is a matter of relative proportion as well as of number, the latter being the Lowest
which the same proportions are preserved and the
Lesson sought to he inculcated is that nothing is too great to be
brought within the ken of human intellect by such reduction.
There are not only one but two squarings of the circle. One
in which the perimeter, or Length o\' line of a given circle is -hown
The second is the proto be equal to that of a given square.
duction of a circle the contained area of which is equal to thatcontained in a given square.
The slight difference between the two circles which respond
to one and the same square is in favor of the former.

factor-

In

THE CROSS OF THE MAGI

27

To discover

the significance of the relative values of 9 and

7 in this respect we must turn to the pyramid system of the ancient Egyptians, who by the base line, sides, and vertical axes
of these monuments expressed geometrical relations. The great
Pyramid of Gizeh in this manner expresses the first named problem, in its base of 5 and sides of 4, (5 plus 4 equals 9), while the

Vertical

sections

of

Egyptian Pyramids which express the two

squarings of the Circle.

other, if expressed in the same manner would call for base of 4

and sides of 3, (4 plus 3 equals 7.) The vertical axis is in each
case the radius of the correct circle while the base line of the
pyramid is that of the square. The same proportions, differently expressed, are the basis of the wonderful Pythagorean problem of the square on the hypothenuse, which conceals almost

the entire

Magian system.

The agreement of 7x963, also comes so close to the united

number as to nearly complete a numerical circle, 4X7+4X9=
7

X 9-j_l = 64.

On the "Chess-board" system of numeration, 41220

as a "square"
28, we have 4+12+20 presenting the number 36,
lofo' (6 2 ) surrounded by 28 smaller squares. Another row of 36,
'around, gives us

a total of

ONE EUNDRED, the'"square"

iand origin of the decimal system.

of 10
Further instances abound in

Other and widely varying demonstrations.

nuwas certainly among the Magi that those interesting

Osmerical puzzles known as "Magic Squares" had their rise.
displaytensiblv the idea was to so align arithmetical numbers,
in every sense,
ed within a certain number of squares, that added
'thev would produce the same sum.
as might
The idea of the " Magic Square" was not, however,
II

"

attributable entirebeginning with the zero ( ),

ly to a natural property of numbers,
constitute horrows of which, in sequence, and aligned so as to
offer an identical
izontal and perpendicular series, invariably

jibe supposed, due to

human

ingenuity, but

is

THE CROSS OF THE MAGI

28

addition

in

every sense, thus constituting the

ILU

figure arithmetically as well as geometrically. No

more perfect example of this principle could be
offered than the thirty-live squares of our familial-

monthly calendar, which always bring the

-nine figures into perpendicular alignment.

t@ aa
I,

This

a:

ad IT

KS1

i.

!7

.0

The ancient Septenary Calendar Tablet we still use. The outlined

figures at the left show the manner of its perpetuation by continually
setting to the left the right perpendicular row.

calendar designed to exhibit, numerically tabulated with relation to the month, four weeks of seven days, together with the
three, or four, remaining to complete the mensual period is
founded on a most curious Cabalistic "square", involving the
elements of a table of multiplication, subtraction, division and
addition, through the prime factor

The number

7.

of squares involved

is

only thirty-five, but a remarkable metaphysical hint is given in the upper left
hand square of nine figures, when the
month begins on a Monday. The sums of
the cruciform additions are each 24,
three of them 1815, 7 89,

28

but the remaining fourth is 816,

clearly indicating an unrecorded thirtysixth figure a zero, the symbol of the
INon-being-Being", which sustains such an important role in
14,

THE CROSS OF THE MAG:

1\)

the theosophy of the ancient world.

Upon the 35 square the
"0"
does not exist until the relation between the 8 and
cipher
the 16 shows that a symbol for non-existence must be placed in
advance of the figure "1", to complete the divine symbol. The
"0" possesses the same significance with reference to the "X"
of 80, 7
1, and the cross of 80 of which the 2 is the apex.
Thus the position of the zero "0" is shown clearly to precede
"1" instead of following "9" and to demonstrate metaphysically the existence of non-existence prior to the development of
"1" the Pythagorean "Monad", or first manifestation of exist-

ence.

The square thus symbolizes

the "Xon-be-

ing-Being", the Trinity, the Circle and Diam-

Beginning and End, 7+0=7, the Lunar

10,
number, 8+1=9, the Solar Number.
"Ten", the Tetrax, also symbolized by 12
34, 17=28 (Lunar), 18=36 (Solar) and
eter,

*JI

+ 8+l+0=16,

the "TetragrVmmaton" This

the Diis the true Cabalistic interpretation of the beginning of
vine labor of Creation on the first day of the week, followed by
cessation of labor and repose upon the recurring period of the
7

lunar septenary, which is the inspiration of the whole arrangement.

The amplification of the diagram to forty compartments, for
sake of demonstrating the Cabalistic relation of the numbers,
the

identification, as the eterIts base of eight squares and vertnal measure of fleeting time.
show it to be another of the
ical axis of five squares will at once
mysteries embodied in the Great

one to another,

in

ao

way obscures

Pyramid

t
t

of Gizeh.

its

most curious example of

the Magic Square, from which is
said to have been derived the
Jewish appellation of the eternal
Elohim, is a combined Magic
Square and anagram of the Hebrew form of the word ALHIM,
exDVtfK"> having a numerical
<
5,
10, n
pression of d 40,
Ar5
31.
4-1
^_3 _L, or
l<

?s

ranged in a square of 5x5.

reads as here exhibited:

it

THE CROSS OF THE MAGI

30
It

Men that the play is upon the numbers 3, 4 and 5,

word ALIILM reads from the bottom to the top and left

will be

that the

to righl as a cross.

The centre

is

a Sun-Cross

either sense, in the midst of a 9

square of 28, while the top horizontal and left
perpendicular lines are 3 14 1 5 (deci-

adding

!)

in

mal y 3.1415), which is the mathematical formula of the n proportion. The central Cross
also supplies another circle squaring formula
I

to the Initiate.
There are several other

S 3
3

Magic Squares extant which are of

Magian origin, but none transcending in vital inaway back at the dawn of civilization was
deemed worthy to serve as a plan of the Heavens and key to the
Firmament.
self-evident
terest

that

Mithraic
BOlar

which,

Gem showing

emblem

at

the Cross as a
the extreme left.

Zodiacal

coin

of

Peiinthus

showing
Mithras
enthroned
with above his head the Sun
represented

by a Cross.

THE CELESTIAL SQUARE.

That the discovery of the arithmetical qualities
square antedated the usage to which it was put there is

shadow

of a doubt.

The

latter is altogether arbitrary.

of

this

not the

Scien-

have puzzled their brains for ages as to why there were just
twelve signs of the Zodiac, precursurs of the twelve gods of
Olympus^ the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve Apostles,
but so far as we can inform ourselves, no wonderment has ever
been expressed that there should be four seasons instead of two,
why the Mexicans should have adopted a Zodiac of twenty animal figures and why the Chinese should have taken an inner
Zodiac of twelve figures and an outer one of twenty-eight constellations (the Astrological "Houses of the Moon"), together
with a cycle of twelve years. The application is world wide,
from Pekin to Peru, westwardly, but the correspondence with
12
20 28)
the Magian cosmogonic square of Sixty-four- (4
was too strong to escape attention and the temptation to seek to
discover if it was more than accidental, pressing. Recent experiments with the Magic Squares offered the suggestion of consecutively numbering the squares of each row according to their
Zodiacal sequence, commencing with the central "4" and giving
kk
" to the first of the Seasons, the Spring Equinocthe number
Directly beneath this would come Aries, placing Taurus,
tial.
the second sign of the western Zodiac in the proper corner.
Commencing the following two rows immediately below in turn,
in each case brought the Equinoctial and Solstitial signs into
tists

their proper corners:

^'w
NI"W
|

with the following result:

THE CROSS OF THE MAGI

32

11

12

14

13

10
9

15

16

17

18

SL3L

12

19

20

nj?

j\

a.

21

10

22

11

a?

23

1L

12

28 27
i<>

26

25

The immeasurably ancient Magian Square which gave the Zodiacal system
lie root of all religions past and present.
The censquare at once explains the Cross as the symbol of "Ten",
3
4.
2

the world and so lies at

tral

24

Hi)

A few minutes

study, forces one to the realization that here

to be round the most remarkable "Magic Square" of antiquity, a conviction which hours of experiment only serve to
heighten.
Naturally, acquaintance with the Pythagorean system of
arithmetical metaphysics fits the possessor for readier perception- than are possible without it, but enough is readily appar-

is

show

even the casual observer the extraordinary character of the combination.

ent to

to

THE CROSS OF THE MAGI.

The same

results

which are otherwise obtainable and dem-

onstrable through geometrical figures are here also presented

through arithmetical numbers, the whole scheme being evidently
intended to exhibit the creative functions of the number- k, .'>"
and "4", the powers of the Tetrax, (1-2-3-4) and the revelation
of the cross. The first figure which obtains our attention is the
cross instituted by the fourth and fifth vertical lines with the
fourth and fifth horizontal lines. The sum of each is 13(3, but so
divided that the fifth vertical column contains 36 and the fourth
100.
The sums of the fourth and fifth horizontal columns are
both 68, totalling 136 but the left arm of the cross adds 36 and
the right arm 100, while the halves of the upright bar each add
up 68. The central cross is of the Solar 36 exhibited as 10+26
=36, 18+18=36, alternating in the same manner while the diag14=36; the whole giving the
onals in the inner square are 22

complete ILTJ figure of

of four

2w_

numbers constituting

36,

every number or group

the centre of a perfect numerical

Cross.
secret of the entire square of 64 numbers is,
however, revealed by its own diagonals, which are 11+8+5+2,

The supreme

4+11+18+25=84, and 18+13+8+3+1+2+ 3+4

equalling 52,
as multiplied 84x52 equalling
B total of again 136 as added hut
the sum
4368, which will he found also upon computation to be
12, or one cycle of twelve Lunar years.
of 364
The addition of the vertical columns supply sums which are
(esremarkable factors to the ancient calendar year of 360 days
period between full
synodical
pecially the number 21), the
moons), while the horizontal additions are in precisely reversed
'

halves

L16

'

<

'

9276-686876-92116,

sum total of <04,

when explained. The
a

number of marvellous significance

occupying
"as above below" additions of dissimilar numbers,
agaiu

halves of the square is

relative places in the upper and lower
Finally, as far as the writer
also a sou.,-, of perpetual curiosity.
cardinal point numbers
has been able to discover, the sixteen
themsquare constitute
tfhich are 11m. diagonals of the whole

THE CROSS OF THE MAC

34

selves a "

X.

Magic Square ". do

S.

\Y

E.

remarkable, being as follows:

less

The sum total is, of course, 52+

84=136. The additions are vertically and horizontally identical,
though reversed, 10

The sums

2(i

58.
4-2

of the nine sets of four

contiguous squares are 26 74

501818-^0,
10
34
26

numbers which

comchanges

inter-add.

bine and re-combine in

upon the grand total of 136 (itself 1 plus 3 plus 6 equals 10) in

manner which can hardly be

conceived by anyone who has not
made the experiments. The cena

tral
Tin-

Mai

Square of
l

th

cardmai

oints.

ways

and outer pa rail el Is are

68, as

is

also the

sum

al-

of the

two diagonals.

pass unnoticed by those acquainted with the formula of the squaring of the circle for equal perimeters that the
base of the square being equal to 8 and the radius of the circle
equal to 5 identical measures that the 84 52 of the figure to
It will not

which we have been giving attention, is within a minute fraction

of the same proportions besides expressing the "ILU" figure to
perfection.
This method of procuring numerical crosses being
continuable to infinity gave the ancients' conception of the starry universe, of which they took it as a type and we have every
reason to believe that this plan (possibly extended to 12x12, or
the 144 square) was the basis of Saint John's mystery of the
Heavenly City of the Apocalypse.
Thai it was one of the numerous mysteries embodied in the
Pythagorean problem (47th of Euclid) and which must have
been the very centre of the philosophical speculations of the
Pythagorean school at Crotona is self demonstrable. The tablet
here given is restricted to the proportions of (i4, or 8x#, as within those confines are found the considerations most important
As we have said, however, the system of
to our present essay.

which

the centre

extensible to infinity witli identical results.

Every square, except those lying directly on the middle
vertical line below the Zodiac, where highest and lowest figures
it

is

is

meet, whether of one, four, nine, sixteen, or other number bounded by four equal sides, is the centre of a numerical cross. The

THE CROSS OF THE MAC

35

Pythagorean problem exhibits three such Crosses, which may be

realized by merely omitting the corner squares. They may be
utilized thus, as guides, in counting.

The Clues

Thick

to

dosses

the Arithmetical

Seventh emblem.

of the Forty

East [ndian Native Copper Coins bearing th<

ancienl Cruciform Symbols of the Magi.

Egyptian

with
the

Mohammedan

he Numerica

Pythagorean

<

Coins

Crosses ol

Problem.

THE CROSS OF THE MAGI

3<i

Aunt her Turkish coin

Turkish Coin struck

under Sultan
Man-

of

mud

same period show-

ing Solar-Lunar geometrical figures.

A.
H.
[I.
1233
Bag-dad, showing
the Pyl hagorea n Tel -

;n

ragrammaton.

Stater Of MallOS, AnGreece, showwi'

Pyramid
ing
f orCircle-squa r ing

cient

mula A-r
ca

B.

(4-::i.

Cir-

C.

88

88

Devices of early Irish coins of the

of

Magi an knowledge.

The astonishing
which the centra]

fact

is

Norman

rulers

showing evidence

also apparent that on

TETRAX

all

Crosses of

the heart, the halves

of the vertical lines will he found to equal the halves of the horizontal arm after the following
(1-2-3-4)

is

formula: A-B, (MI and C-E, D-F

arc equal amounts, the sums of
A-B and (J-II will he unequal, the

sums

of

C-E and

D-F will be
C-D and E-F

equal and those of

unequal, bul C-D will equal A-B
and (J-II will equal E-F, while
A G and B-H equal C-E and D-F
respectively
The formulation of the rule by
which this wonderful chart is

'

governed may be possible to an

1 ffl
advanced mathematician, bul it
seems to the writer and re-discoverer to, while making apparent
m:n y intt resting arithmetical principles, defy exhaustive analy-

Many

"Magic Squares" involved

count, not only

vertically and horizontally but diagonally, in the same sums, as
sis.

of the

THE CROSS OF THE MAGI

wholes, equal

1
l

t<%

51'

1;

37

or

unequal

Magic Square which

parts,

exhibits

the 68-136 potentiality in the very

highest degree exists as the very
heart of the Calendar, with the
additional peculiarity, that it exhibits the larger sum as an OCTAGON as well as in the usual
ILU form. The ground which
we have covered, in this necessarily short resume of a tremendous subject, is, while it covers
the essential features, but an infinitesimal part of the stupen-.

dous whole.

The

study only begins here, when, one by one, we apply

the test of either number or proportion to the whole range of
ancient symbolisms, and discover that they and the philosophies
of which they are the illustrations are all parts and parcels of
the one great cosmic mystery.
Swastikas, Triquetras, Crosses, Suns, Stars and Crescents,
Anklis, Taus, the "palmettos", lotuses and ornamental traceries
of Palace and Temple, The gods of Olympus, the Pyramids of
the old world and the new, the "Calendar-Stones" of the Aztecs,
the " Prayer-sticks" of the Cncas, the Totems of the frozen north,
the Labarynth through which roamed the Cretan Minotaur, the
winged Bulls of Sargon and Sennecherib, the hidden wisdom of
Mede, Persian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Chaldean, Israelite, Hindoo, Gaul, Viking, Mongol and painted savage are all bound up
in the system which we have jusl dissected in part and which
affords countless proofs of its authenticity in the sense claimed
for it, now in our poi session.
Besl of all, we find the entire unfolding of the theological
system, which beginning with the forecasts of the Sabaean Magi,
shaped the prophecies of Israel and culminated in the mystery
of the fulfilling life, passion and death of Jesus, the Christ.
We find therein he key to the tribal and heraldic devices
Of the ancient world and the beginnings of modern Heraldry.
We learn the secret of the architecture of the temple and
real

the orientation of the sacred grove.

All these were derived in secret from the mysteries of Soli-

Lunar geometry and

it

adds

not a little to our

wonderment

to

THE CROSS OF THE MAGI

38

the revelations of the microscope concerning the structure of various kinds of matter, that no laws of structural proportions or types of form arc to be discovered higher than those
find

in

wonderful
years ago.

figures

worshipped by our ancestors thousands of

CROSSES AND SWASTIKAS

The division

of the perfect square into sixty-four quadrilateral divisions, is one which from the wide range of its applications to ancient symbolism, must have been held in peculiar

by those who extracted from

reverence,

it

so mucli pertaining

to>

most sacred contemplations. As we have already hinted,

identity with the legendary Mosaic pavement of Solomon's
Temple, is far from problematical.*

their
its

In our easy familiarity with the

more common mathematical processes,
connected with our ordinary daily transactions, we seldom if ever stop to reflect

Jar of the Bronze Age

found oear Bologna, Italy.
Decorated With Swastikas,
Circles and hints at the 3-4

upon the fact, that both the numbers we

use and the systems upon which we use
them, had to be evolved and perfected,
at some stage of the world's history.
Judging by the mathematical perfection of most of the monuments of antiquity, which have remained to our day,
the man of B. C. 5,000 was little intellect
tually inferior to his descendant of our

Having been enabled to form

an estimate of his reliance upon geometrical formula, as the basis of all truth, human and divine, let us
see if many of our most familiar emblems, do not owe more than.

proportion.

own

time.

passing association to such convictions.

We have no need to enter into a dissertation upon the Game'
game or of its
ol* Chess, to prove either the antiquity of that
companion, Draughts, or "Checkers", for that of both is attested l,\ history to extend backward to the dawn of civilization.
Then went up Moses and
*
"Andlhey saw the Cod of

Aaron,

Nadab and Abihu, and seventy

as it were
and there was under his feet
of hea\en u
it were the body
the*
'iff
their pattern, which was shewed
after

Israel:

an as
stone, and
...-.i work
ork of aa sapphire
aannhire stone
a l>a\l
.harness." Exodus XXIV, vv. 9-10.

41.
n1A
3S"lff7ilTt8?LK-

Id

in the mount."

.1

4k

Ibid.

*w.

XXV,

40.

linrtl
them
i

of the eld-

THE CROSS- OF THE

40

We

.MAGI

why

the number "(;4 \ should have

been selected not only as that of the squares of the Chess Board,
but to figure in countless association- with religio-geometrical
formula and we think we answer the question partly in our
statement, that as the sum of 36 and 28, it became sacred to the
Sun and the Moon, and consequently to all religion of Solar-

do ask, however,

exact half, 32, has uses and a symbolical significance entirely its own, of the highest importance.
The ancients had the same moral conviction as ourselves, in
their case based upon pure geometry, that the Supreme Being

Lunar

inception, while

was made up

its

of infinite space,

infinite

time, infinite wisdom,

power, strength, and truth, the latter expressed above all mathmatically and geometrically.
The mathematical axiom of truth, is that it must iit all other
truths just as untruths could only be made to fit other untruths,
which must be manufactured to fit them.
Therefore, geometrical symbols of Divinity must prove
themselves, by their entire fidelity, not only to the known facts
of the visible and calculable universe, but by their accordance,
one with the other, so that whatever the apparent differences,
the application of the Solar-Lunar mathematical, or geometriq
test

would

attest

by the preciseness of

its results,

the principle

of Divinity.

The most ancient expression of the Supreme Being, is that

of the "square", typifying the universe and divided into four
equal parts by a cross, indicating intrinsically, the outstretching
arm- from a centre to touch the limits of space as does the
Sun, and developing by its relation to its sides a Swastika, typical of the eternal revolution of time, a circular movement, corof

responding with the disc of the Sun.

To entirely surround the four square, thus
constituted with squares of exactly equal size,
requires, as we have seen, just twelve and these
are the squares to which were apportioned,
the
teen

signs

Zodiac,
sixthe
the
entire
"
constituting the famous
Tetragrammaton" of the Jewish - Kabbalah". We have noted that the total
of these squares is one fourth of 64 and one twenty-fourth part
of 384.
Another boundary of squares, on the outside of this
requires 20 to establish, which is an eighteenth of 360 and added
to the 1(5 within makes 36, the tenth of the same number. Another row all around, adds 28 squares, a thirteenth of 364, bringof

THE CROSS OF THE MAGI

41

Lng the sum of all up to (54. The

larger figures will be at once
recognized as the basis of most
of the ancient Calendars.
It is not patent to our present argument, but important
as showing the natural origin
of the decimal system, that a
single
additional
row
of

squares requires exactly 36 and

that the total thereof is one
hundred.
This number will
then be made up of four equal
Eight pointed Cross representing obdivisions of 25 squares, each of
jectively the number Sixty-four.
which, taken in the same sense,
will be found to be built up around one central square, on a scale
of 1+8+16=25. We have reviewed the sacred significance of
these squares, as expressed in numbers.
It seems almost impossible to convert these 100, or 64
squares into anything but Calendrical figures, by the subtraction of small squares from the corners, so as to produce Latin
Crosses, or by symmetrical diagonal intersection, the form of
the so-called Maltese and other Crosses, which occasion so much
surprise in those who, supposing them to belong exclusively to
modern Heraldry, find them as amulets, on the necks and wrists
of Babylonian, Ninevite and Persian Monarchs of the earliest
dynasties. There is no doubt, but that the original Cross and
Swastika, were the lines indicating divisions, but by extension
they came to have compart-

ments of their own and we

find

them blocked out on the square

of (J4, oi' in more numerous dias

visions

symbols
1
;

--!

the
cult of the times which produced
The whole family of
them.
Crosses and Swastikas, as well

A diSo-called "Jerusalem" Cross.

of sixty-four into thirty-six

and twenty-eight

of

pointed crosses,
which partake of both the nature
of crosses and stars, belong
""
as

vision

geometrical
Chronological

perfect

of

"

certain

n their entiretv
J

to the nature-

42

THE CROSS OF THE MAGI

All speculaof Solar amulets, blocked out upon such squares.

tion as to the reason for the selection of given numbers for the
division of time is entirely silenced by this remarkable testimo-

ny, which embraces the

most sacred symbolism of the ancient

world and connects it with
our own age, by an association at once touching and reassuring of unswerving purpose in the eternal intention. In the presence of these
time hallowed monuments
of

the

Mede and

Persian,

Chaldean and Babylonian,

Jew and Gentile, Mongol
and Scyth, Greek and LatA bronze fibula or brooch of the ancient in, Hindoo and Celt, Blonde
Etruscans, of which a Swastika is the
swarthy
Scandinavian,
principal motif.
Redskin and tatooed Maori.
the veil of time is torn away indeed and we realize that the eternal Kronos is He who is and was and ever shall be.
There is to be found, scattered among the libraries of the
world, a great mass of pre-historic cross and Swastika literature, devoted, not to elucidation of the

mysteries they are

re-

marvel at their inexplicability, in view

of their undoubted universality. There is no denying that the
Cross was a world wide symbol, ages before it became commemorative of the Christian religion, and we think that in the
preceding narrative, we have brown much light upon the reasons why.
Says Mis. Murray- Aynsley, in her: kk Symbolism of the Kast
and West." (George Redway, London, 1900).
tv
It is only within the last 1'ew years that the Cross lias been
known to have existed among the pre-historic peoples of North
America, as well as among some of its present Indian tribes,
who use it both as a Sun and a weather symbol. The so-called
"Mound Builders", were also familiar with the cross.
In a narrow valley, near the little town of Tarlton, Ohio,
there is a remarkable earthwork, in the form of a Greek Cross.
It is raised about three feet above the adjacent surface, round
is
it
a shallow ditch, exactly corresponding to its outline.
Amongst other relics which have been found, on opening some
of these mounds, are inscribed shells, or shell "gorgets", as
puted to conceal, but

to

THE CROSS OF THE MAGI

43

they have been styled, on the assumption that they were probably neck and throat ornaments.
One of the most remarkable, is
the so-called Bird gorget, in the
centre of which

Greek type
within a

the

waved

is

line

numerically
at the

given

Cross of the

around which is
a star of twelve points, an apparent combination of the Cross
and the Sun. Opposite the four
arms of the Cross"(and as Mrs.
Murray- Aynsley fails to note,
constituting a Swastika) are
rudely drawn bird's heads."

The famous "Bird Gorget" a shell

breast pendant of the Ohio Mound
Builders, made ages before ColumThe 3-4
bus discovered America.

proportion

is

(illustrated), placed

circle,

European savants concur

in

right.

testing the existence

all

in at-

over the

Moon, and Fire symbols, (Fire being accepted as symbolical of the heavenly luminaries), which
are cut upon stones and boulders in a variety of ring, cup and
cross shapes, and as ornaments belonging to the Bronze Age, are
to be found the " Wheel Cross', considered to be an emblem of

European Continent,

of Sun,

the chariot in which, according to the most ancient belief, the

Sun was supposed to drive through the sky."

15]

Swastikas and C osses comb

Habbakhorl >n Mosque,
the
tndia.

Corean
Swastika

Amulets showing the

Cross surrounded by

From H. A. Ramsravs.
dens "Corean Charms and Amu-

Solar
lets".
(i,

fro

ashmi

China, who
Jesuil Father, Louis Gaillard, of Shanghai,
subject in hand, says
is the world's greatesl authority on the
" Croix et Swastika en Chine". "The Swashis learned treatise

The

THE CROSS OF THE MAGI

44
tika

is

of great relative age in Asia, because

Ramayana (on

it

is

found men-

the boat of Rama). Elsewhere, the

tioned in the
Buddhist books pretend that when the mourners desired to burn
the body of Gautama Sakyamouni, (Sakyamouni, means Scythian Prince-Buddha was a white Aryan of what would now be
called Slavonic extraction) his remains were found to be incombustible by natural fire. Suddenly, however, a flame burst forth
from the Swastika tatooed upon his breast and reduced the
corpse to ashes. The most striking feature of this symbol, is its
universality in all times and in every place.
It is found throughout the immense region bounded by the
British Esles and those of Japan, taking in not only all of Asia,
but the African coasts and Mediterranean archipelago, where it
was in use at the time of Confucius. (050-479 B. C). Crossing
the Atlantic, (or the Pacific), it is found among the Peruvians,
and Mexicans, of the "New AVorld", in Yucatan, Paraguay and all over the North
American Continent. There is no important excavation of an ancient site made,
which does not reveal it and the time does
not seem far distant when we shall be able
to constitute a map of its geographical area,
which will be greater than that of civilization.
When shall we be able to determine
the time when our ancestors, Iranian, or Turanian, first evolved it!
It seems beyond
the possibility of doubt that the " Swastika", to preserve its Indian name, was above
all and before all a symbol in the mysterious,
or mystic sense.
Christian archaeologists
have vied with each other, in searching for
proof that the Swastika was the most ancient form of the Sign of the Cross".
In
this they are correct, the moment that it is
admitted that combined with the Latin cross
Swastika
in
beadwork of North Amerin the square, it represented the universal
ican Indians.
God of time and space, whose personal symbol was the Sun. M. Mortillet, author of "La Musee Pre-historique" and Le Signe de la Croix avant le Chris tianisme, affirms
that the cross is simply borrowed from the old Indian religions 7 \
The origin of the cross has been most erroneously sought in the
Egyptian "symbol of life", the Ankh, as well as in the Swastika.

THE CROSS OF THE MAGI

45

Neither assumption

is correct in the sense sought to be conveyed.

the latter as one of the characters of the
of
The employment
Chinese dictionary as the arbitrary sign for Wan, meaning

10,000, but extension given the sense of infinity, is a key to its

The Japanese acclamation Ban Zai, is only
primitive sense.

the Chinese

Wan

Soi, ten

thousand years and the "ten thous-

and"

equally
expressible
by a Swastika or Wan, a scorpion, the body of which is composed of a cross, within a circle (old
style), or within a square (new
style).
The reverence in which
the Swastika is held by Buddhists, is evinced by its multiple
application to the famous sign of
the foot-prints of Buddha, which
are cut in the rocky paths, in all
countries where the cult of Sakymouni is paramouunt, for the adoration of the faithful an example which Roman Christians
if
Buddhi
have not failed to copy (See
The presence of many six petalled flowers, (or
is

The "Footprint!

"Quo Vad:V).
stai s),

surroundin

the

kt

Wheel

of the

Law" or Sun

disc,

speak

for themselves.

Schliemann says that From

ages, Cross and
the remotest
Swastika alike, have been the
most ancient symbols of our Aryan ancestors and George Moore
Dr.

inserts

Lost

hi:

(page L6), a significant symbol

which he calls the "Tree of luddha", without, however, disclosing

its

Jeremon

al

Apron

of ancient people

Nicaragua with Cross of the "Tetrax" and sixteen pen( nts.

of

origin.

and
ontinent, toof the American
expanse
Swastika over the whole
stars and figures
gether with ample evidence that geometrical
is attested by the
derived tll e r efrom were widely venerated,
of Washington and
splendid records of the Smithsonian Institute
conducted at the expense of
various l. S. Government surveys,
records of which have been
the Department pf the Interior, the

The spread

of

the

cross

46

THE CROSS OF THE MAC

printed from time to time.

While the Mounds

of California

have proved most prolific of cruciform symbolism, no part of

America is exempt, Ohio and Tennessee being particularly favored.
As for Mexico, the home of the far famed Palenque and
countless other symbolical crosses, and Central America, we reserve their interesting phases of the subject for more extended
comment.
The Swastika is extensively employed on the coins of the
Greeks, Bactrians, Western Mongols and peoples of India. We
have noticed at least one instance of it in connection with the
six-pointed star of the Mohammedan coins, and we have it in
our possession roughly outlined in hlue pigment on the breast

Japanese decorative patterns in which the lines form Swastikas

and the plane figures are Crosses.

of one of the three figures of a baked clay Triad of the PuebiO

[ndians o\' Arizona. Even so distinguished an Orientalist as the

Professor ^\Iax Muller was not, upon his own written statement to Dr. Schliemann, who had desired him to throw if possible, some light upon it, able to give any reasonable explanation
of the Swastika, beyond its etymology from the Sanscrit, its
mention in the Rig- Veda, as one of the signs employed in marking cattle and its Buddhistic associations. It was, said he T the
firsl oi' the sixty-five auspicious signs recognized by Buddhists
in the sacred foot-prints of the Master and among- the Jains, the
sign of their seventh Jinn (Genie) Suparsva.
The use oi' the Swastika in place of the Sun on coins and
other objects has long been recognized by scholars, the only alternative thought of any value suggested, that given the employment by the ( hinese of a square containing a Cross to indicate an inclosed space of earth, it might have meant by extension the terrestrial world.
late

THE CROSS OF THE MAGI

This
behind

it

notion

has more
than casually meets

latter

the eye.
The Swastika is certainly a symbol of the revolution
of some body or system. It too
often alternates with wheel and
cross amid the same attendant

symbols for this not to be apparent, but its specialized form

gives

the right to consideration upon its own individual

merits.
it

Our demonstration of its development,

first from the linear
sh^rtK
01
8
elements ui
cicniciito
of the
iiitf urusstsu
crossed square
Sk
Se Tw% 5r?^SXin|
principle".
and then as a geometrical figure
of definite contents, as an unmistakable figure of the revolution of the whole Solar system,
would lead us to regard it as a symbol of planetary revolution in
general, applicable to any revolving body of the universal cosmogany, but of rourse more especially to the Sun.
The whole problem hangs upon the amouunt of assumption
which we are warranted in entertaining that all of the ancients,
were at all times densely ignorant of the present known facts of
the procession of the universe.
This is a question, which has been much under discussion
without being brought to any such satisfactory conclusion that
Science has felt warranted in
pronouncing dogmatically upon
it.
We however have the au-

sw^^itSln^h
tLX
,

thority of many of the ancient

writers not only for the globular form of the earth, but for the
existance of conditions in far
distant regions which are the
direct result of this form of the

earth coupled with

its relations

Sun and Moon as

ascertained and also

to

cient

A Chinese lattice with the Swastika

., ms (Vntnil >lolir.
on Solai

"

'

knowledge

at present

of the anof lands vul-

garly held to be discovered at a

much later period of the world's
hivtnrv
lU-mviJ-

THE CROSS OF THE MAGI

48

The

known

teacher of the globular form of the Earth

was Pythagoras Eudoxus of (nidus, who lived circa 370-60 B. C.
at which time he offered the mathematical proofs of his assertion and was the instigator of the division of both celestial and
terrestrial plans into zones.
A huge globe, so divided, was constructed at Pergamum,
by one ('rates of Mallos (l()0-50 B. C.) (See Coin of Mallos, page
36), and the representation of a celestial sphere in the hands of
Crania, goddess of Mathematics, was only one of its significant
applications in early times. The subject of the Swastika brings
us to the consideration of one of the most remarkable of all Dr.
Schliemann's discoveries at Hissarlik on the site of ancient Troy,
that of terra-cotta spheres or small globes upon some of which
are clearly indicated the Sun and Moon with many stars and
others of which are marked with encircling* zones or bands, exactly in number and position indicating the Artie, north temperate, equatorial, south temperate and antartic regions, the
path of the Sun around the equator being marked with a circle
of Swastikas, and a single sign like a capital "N" laid on its
side. There was a bitter controversy between Professor Schliemaim and his critic, Dr. E. Brentano of Prankfort-on-the-Main,
upon the subject of these clay balls, the latter vehemently contending that they so conclusively proved that the people who
piod need them were so well acquainted with the globular form
of the earth that the locality claimed to be Homer's Troy by,
Dr. Schliemann, must be comparatively modern.
Mr. Edward Thomas, of London, who shares with Father
Louis Gaillard, S. J., the reputation of special competence concerning Swastika signs, has said in his ''Indian Swastika and
Its Western Counterparts", "As far as I have been able to trace
or connect the various manifestations of this emblem, they one
and all resolve themselves into the primitive conception of solar
motion which was intuitively associated with the rolling or
wheel like projection of the Sun, through the upper or visible arc
of the heavens, as understood and accepted in the crude astronomy of the ancients. The earliest phase of astronomical science
we are at persent (1880) in a position to refer to, with the still
extant aid of indigenous diagrams, is the Chaldean. The representation of the Sun, in this system commences with a simple
ring or outline circle, which is speedily advanced towards the
impression of onward revolving motion by the insertion of a
cross or four wheel like spokes within the circumference of the
earliest

THE CROSS OF THE MAGI

normal

As

the original Chaldean

typified by a single ring, so the Indian
ring.

which remains

49

emblem of the Sim was

mind adopted a similar

day as the ostensible device or

caste mark of the modern Sauras or Sim worshippers. The tendancy of devotional exercises in India, indeed, seems from the
firts to have lain in the direction of mystic diagrams and crypto
symbols rather than in the production of personified statues of
the gods, in which is must be confessed that unlike the Greeks.
the Hindoos did not attain a high style of art."
definition

to this

Adds Schliemann, "The

or

may

be found

countries of Europe and in many countries of Asia.

see them on one of the three pot bottoms found on Bishop's
Island near Konigswalde, on the right bank of the Oder as well
whole row of
as on a vase found at Reichersdorf near Guben.
in nearly

all

We

Fragmenl of Archaic Gre k Vase discovered at Athens. A funeral

scene in which both SwastUcs s and other indications of a geometrical
are lavishly employed,
i

ii

them may be seen round the famous pulpit of St. Ambrose at Milan.
The sign occurs a thousand times in the Catacombs of
Rome. We find it very frequently in the wall paintings of Pompeii, even more than one hundred and sixty times in the so-called
Streel of Vesuvius.
We see it in three rows and thus repeated

THE CROSS OF THE MAGI

50

sixty times upon an ancient Celtic funeral urn found at Shropliani in the Comity of Norfolk, and now in the British Museum.
I find it very often on ancient Athenian and Corinthian vases
and exceedingly frequent on the jewels in the Royal tombs at
Mycenae, also on the coins of Leucas and Syracuse and in the
large mosaic in the Boyal palace garden in Athens. The Rev.
W. Brown Kerr, who visited me in 1872 at Hissarlik, assured

me

innumerable times in the most ancient

Hindoo temples and especially on those of the Jains. I see also
a Swastika on a vase which was found in the County of Lipto, in
Hungary, and is preserved in the collection of Majlath Bela;
further on terra cottas found in the cavern of Barathegy, Hungary."
L
Most scholars resident in China have been so impressed with
the prevalence of the Swastika, ancient and modern, singly and
as the motif of innumerable decorations that they have become
convinced that it was thoroughly Chinese, while during the Ashantee war some rectangular and hexagonal bronze weights were
that he had seen

it

Swastika known as the "Triskeles", which the Island of

used as its symbol. This is a Solar symbol of ThirtySix Triangles inspired by the almost triangular shape of the island.

The form of
Sicily anciently

THE CROSS OF THE MAC

tj

looted at Coomassie which bear the most perfect Swastikas im

aginable."

We

have quoted in the foregoing

of our contentions, including

all

mass

of testimony to all
the distorted view points which
a

savants have been constrained to assume because of the utter ab

sence of any clue to the primitive intention. The secrecy and
esotericism of all peoples or records which could have been ex
pected to throw any light on the subject is most plain.
Xo association of the Swastika with other Solar, Lunar and
geometrical symbols any where approaches in volume and im
portance their employment on the coins of the Celts over their
entire path

seem

from the Mediterranean to the North

inseparable from Druidical worship.

Sea.

They

The writer
possesses, himself, coins of the Veliocasses, a Gaulish tribe which
settled before the dawn of north European history, in the valley
of the Seine, just above the Parisii, which unites the five pointed
geometrical pentalpha to an "ILU" Solar symbol, flanked by
bird and reptile, precisely as we find this combination on the
to be

national

emblems

of Chinese

and Japanese to-day.*

Of Zodiacal

signs, geometrical figures, Celtic crosses, diapered (Chess-board)

squares, triangles, Pyramids and "Zigurats" there is no end, in

fact we find all the essential features of our whole proposition
in vast profusion extending over immense expanses of territory
embracing Spain, France and Ireland.
The prevalence among these numismatic relics of the well
authenticated coin types of Philip II of Macedon and his son
Alexander the Great, on many of which it has been sought to
convert the chariot wheel of the Macedonian Stater into a Sunwheel and assimilate the Rhodian rose and other self evident
Druidical symbolism, would seem to indicate that these people either flourished contemporaneously with
the Macedonian conqueror or were (perhaps both) a race which
fled before the advance of his arms from some more central habitat, perhaps the (Jalatia of Asia Minor which gave birth to the

Greek coin types

to

Apostle Paul.

'See

fltfiin-

on

|>;ilv'

:!<!.

WHAT THE SWASTIKA REALLY

IS.

how near humanity

lias come, again and

Swastika,
without crossing the
again, to the real secret of the
conjecture
between
and
certainty.
The Swaswhich
exists
line
tika is all that it has been deemed to he and something more. Its
symbolic associations with solar motion have been too remarkable not to have placed it in the category of solar symbols, but
it lias remained for us to indicate its true character and a fresh
array of considerations which show it to be far more wonderful
than anything so far surmised.
Xo one can fail to recognize its numerical value as a calendrical symbol suggestive of the revolution of periods of time in
tin blocking out on our system of numerical squares of a figure
of four seasons, twelve months and fifty-two weeks.
We have entered, in our observations concerning the ''Forty-seventh problem of Euclid" and its far reaching- bearings
upon the various geometrical formulae having to do with the
Squaring of the Circle and also determined the reason- which led
the ancients to divide the cube of "Four" (64) into a Solar 36
It

is

astonishing

and

Lunar

28.

!\
\
1

.1

The Squared Circle of Equal Areas.

of

The Circle laid directly on the Square

to indicate the function of the Swastika

Having ascertained the relative proportions of our

equal area to our Square of "Sixty-four", blocking the

Circle
latter

THE CROSS OF THE MAGI

53

out into a Swastika expressing a year of Fifty two weeks and

supposing it to be endowed with rotary motion, we see thai ae it
turns, the inner angles of the arms precisely trace the Circle
that the Swastika becomes a most realistic image of the great
Cabalistic secret, the Squaring of the Circle by the Heavenly
bodies in their annual revolution.

HIT

'

7^

"/

Wr

seseLSssts sssaras s?
development.

CIRCLE SQUARING .SWASTIKAS EXPLAINED.

Formosa

-";"/-.
"
" iVi. Taiwan
Chinese Silver Yuan
19-I6
li it> proportions
Pv
Showing double Swastikas and the 3-4 and
dots.
grouped
by ingeniously

double jointed,
of Swastika, which is
inner angle is inscribproves to he so constructed that while the
outer ones is tracing that
the ( lircle of equal area, one of the

The Asiatic form

ing

THE CROSS OF THE MAGI

54

of equal perimeter or within a small fraction of it. A very little

reflection will show that while the fundamental idea of the Swas

tika starts with the broken "Iki" square, that it may be seen
in the "Male principle" "Nine" of the Euclid problem, where

even

that low stage of

at

The Squared
<

development

Circle of Equal Perimetei

Approximate
>.

Sun with the creative power.

it

serves to connect the

The same overlaying Square so as to show

relation of Oriental Swastika to both Circles and relative proportion of each to the
other.

The space between the two

cir-

much used by

the devotees of Eastern religions and philosophical cults to express the realm of "Chaos" existent between
Heaven and the Universe, became in the West the Zodiacal
Circle, receiving the figures from the corresponding divisions of
the earlier Zodiacal Square. This arrangement at once confers
upon the Swastika the character of a symbol of the Four Seascles,

which causes the second Zodiacal sign, Taurus to fall to a corner place. Xow we well know from the general
position that this lower left hand corner must correspond with
the early part of the year, so if we are to determine the arms of
the Swastika, as the Equinoctial and Solstitial points, we will
see that a still deeper significance is intended; nothing more nor
less than that great cyclical revolution of the whole Universe,
which, at intervals of thousands of years apart, carries the beginnings of the Equinoxes and Solstices, slowly from a position
Ufliverof the Sun in one sign of the Zodiac to one in another.
ons,

device

THE CROSS OF THE MAC

56

chronology and the length of time wind,

separates u- Prom
the beginning of the world, was reckoned
I, the ancients
on
assumption hat when God created the
Universe, II,. started I,
great pendulum of Tune swinging, with
the Sun in the -i., of
Aries. Hence the great esoteric
connection
sal

of Ram and Lamb

with various religions.
In the course of several milleniums, the
Spring
arm of the great cosmogomc Swastika had swung Equinoctial
around to the
sign of Taurus, the Bull, and this is the
main evidence thai the
great geometrical revelation took place at
some time during the
''Tauric" period, when Circle squaring, the
Zodiac and the
Swastika, all coincided as we see them in the

following figure

The Swastika and the Zodiacal

The Hon.

Circle.

E. M. Plunkett (Ancient Calendars and Constellations) says with regard to this subject
"The beginning of the

Medean year was

Equinox, and
remaining true to that season, followed no star mark. The great
importance, however, of Tauric symbolism in Medean art, seems
to point to the fact, that when the equinoctial vear wa> first
fixed to the season of the Spring-

established, THE SPEING EQUINOCTIAL POINT WAS IX

TJJK CONSTELLATION TAURUS.
Astronomy teaches us, that was the case, speaking in round
numbers, from 2,000 to 4,000 B. C."
The Swastika "of the double Circle' is even more precise
in its Solar Lunar numeration than the simpler form, for laid
'

56

THE CROSS OF THE MAGI

out upon a square of 16x16 or 256, it divides that volume into

four arms of 28 each, without counting the centre 4, which added
to the spaces between the arms gives us four sections of 36 each.

An ornamental form of the Chinese

character Hsi, meaning- Eternal Life.

PUBLISHERS NOTICE

THE CROSS OF THE MAGI

Will be followed at an early date by the second monograph
of

the

BASIC

A.-.

CRYPTOGRAPH SERIES entitled

U,. M,.

MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH

BY THE SAME AUTHOR
(Profusely Illustrated)

circumstantial demonstration of the fact that the Forty-

Seventh Problem

of Euclid

is

the

secret shrine of a further

Divine Mystery transcending the most

ever conjured concerning

THE

BASIS

it.

That

it

is

vivid imaginations
in fact

OF THE BIBLE

BY THE SAMK AUTHOR

The

CHINESE NUMISMATIC RIDDLE

Full text and

Frank

illustrations of the
C. Higgins, President

remarkable address delivered by

of the

New York Numis-

matic Club, before the 1910 Convention of

the

American Numismatic
Association.

THIRTY ILLUSTRATIONS
Not only

Numismatic document

of the highest interest to those inter^

eastern" coins but an archaelogical discovery
which opened an entirely new field of research among the earliest
a

ested

in "far

monuments

The

of civilization.

of the preservation on Chinese "Temple Money" of the

earliest religious symbols of the human race, how these symbols
have affected all subsequent beliefs and found their way to
America in prehistoric times.

story

SENT POST FREE BY

THE ELDER NUMISMATIC PRESS

32 E. 23rd Street,

OX RECEIPT OF THE

PUBLICATION PRICE OF

New York
Twenty=Five Cents

City