Chapter 13

European Influence

While the tumultuous atmosphere of Christian rivalry in the Eastern Desert was brewing, north-western coast of Europe had it shares.

An individual born in Britain to a Romanized family and at age of 16 was abducted and eventually reunited with his family after 6 years. Many stories traditionally associated with St. Patrick, including the famous account of his banishing all the snakes from Ireland are untrue, the products of hundreds of years of exaggerated storytelling. St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, is one of Christianity's most widely known figures. But for all of his prevalence in culture namely the holiday held on the day of his death that bears his name his life remains somewhat of a mystery.

Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick is a cultural and religious celebration held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (c. 385 – c. 461), the foremost patron saint of Ireland.

Saint Patrick's Day was made an official Christian feast day in the early 17th century and is observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion especially the the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Lutheran Church. The day commemorates Saint Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, and celebrates the heritage and culture of the Irish in general. Celebrations generally involve public parades festivity and the wearing of green attire or shamrocks. Christians who belong to liturgical denominations also attend church services and historically the Lenten restrictions on eating and drinking alcohol were lifted for the day, which has encouraged and propagated the holiday's tradition of alcohol consumption.

Saint Patrick's Day is a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador and the British Overseas Territory of Montserrat. It is also widely celebrated in the United Kingdom, Canada, United States, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand, especially among Irish diaspora. Saint Patrick's Day is celebrated in more countries than any other national festival. Modern celebrations have been greatly influenced by those of the Irish diaspora, particularly those that developed in North America. However, there has been criticism of Saint Patrick's Day celebrations for having become too commercialized and for fostering negative stereotypes of the Irish people.

In Ireland, the people were easily converted by Patrick (Padraig) because he presented it in a Druidic way. Even Druids and Bards made up a large number of the first ordained Christian priests in the Celtic lands. The festivals of the Celtic faith were kept and well preserved in detail, but given Christian names. Shrines and sacred healing springs once dedicated to older goddesses were assigned to the Virgin Mary. Ceremonies to Lugh the sun god were now to Jesus. The Pagan trinity of Dagda or Aed Álainn (father), Lugh (son), and Danu or Brigit (Earth mother) by a little slight modification of hand was transformed into the Christian Trinity. The shamrock was already the symbol of the Celtic Pagan Trinity so it became the symbol of the new Christian Trinity. Irish Pagans already had a cross. It was a very intricately decorated cross with a central circle and interweaving matrix pattern with nature symbols. It had been in Ireland for at least 600 years before Christ.

But it did not have the image of a corpse on it. Initially the corpse bearing Christian Crucifix was ridiculed by resistant Druid Pagans as the "Dead God." So for centuries the Celtic Christian cross remained the old Pagan Celtic cross with no body of Christ attached. Because Ireland lay beyond the reach of the Pope, she could get away with displaying the very beautiful old cross and maintain a married clergy, until after the Norman and English conquests.

Christianity's Pagan Inheritance:

· Baptism (Mithraism)

· Eucharistic Meal of symbolic eating of God (Mithraism)

· Saving Grace (Mithraism)

· Mitre of Mithraic bishops adopted by Christian Bishops

· Christmas – December 25 birthday of Jesus, Mithra, Lieu, Ligh, Hesus, Aten and Sol Invictus

· "Sun" Day Sabbath – canceling the Judaic 7th day Sabbath

· Spring Equinox – from Ostern Nordic festival

Celtic Mythology and Celtic Religion

We do know that the Celtic religion was nature based (trees, water, etc.), what Neo-Pagans now call "earth spirituality". It is thought that there were three classes of "clergy", druid, bard and ovate, with differing functions, though it's difficult to pinpoint these differences. Some feel it was a question of degree and level of training. Seer ship was a highly developed and a very important function. Druids not only led spiritually, but functioned as arbiters and judges. There is some evidence to suggest that the druid hierarchy spanned Celtic Europe with some arch druids (àrd-draoidh) having ultimate jurisdiction over large areas.

These manuscripts were Irish and Welsh, with the Irish being earlier. Since this site deals with Scotland, it's the Irish tradition we will discuss, as that is the mythology that went to Dal Riada along with fledging Christianity and that informs Highland folklore and customs to this day (as well as many of your own).

Esus was one of the main gods in the Gallic Pantheon who came into prominence before Roman influence. He was known as the son of Gudt, the Gallic Sun god (Son of the morning, Son of God). As a solar deity, he was said to be born on the 25th of December, to the virgin Mayence. Known also as the god of healing and symbolized by a rounded cross made of woven twigs. The cult of Esus practiced prayer to the dead, crucifixions, marriage vows, holy water, and burying of the dead as opposed to cremation.

The Romans would later contemplate, or identify Esus as Mithras, at this point he was adopted into the Roman Pantheon. Esus also became associated with the cult of Serapis and also of Sol Invictus, a small group of gods who identify as Solar Deities. With the approval of the cults of Serapis, Mithras, and Sol Invictus, the Nicene Creed is approved and enforced throughout the Roman Empire. Of all the previous names mentioned, Iesous Christos was selected as the primary title of their newly labeled savior.

Esus has many similarities with Jesus, too many. His stance towards people however, is a bit different. Jesus was sacrificed for the sins of man, but Esus wanted sacrifices for the sins of man. Some sort of cults adjustment, blending and streamlining to be in tone with the most prevailing dogma of the given period.

The Celtic calendar was lunar based, with thirteen months. Extra days as needed were added at New Year's as a "time between times." Their year was divided into eight segments, each with a corresponding festival. The four fire festivals take place on the last evening of a month and the following day because the Celts, like the Jews, count a day from sunset to sunset. That's why we celebrate All Hallows Eve, Midsummer's Eve and so on.

Fire Festivals

Samhain is celebrated on October 31-November 1 (your Halloween). It is the end of the harvest, the beginning of winter and once marked the Celtic New Year. At Samhain, the barrier between your world and the Otherworld thins, allowing contacts between the spirits (faeries) and humans. Normal rules of human conduct do not apply and one may "run wild". Great bonfires are lighted and participants join hands and circle the fire, or young men take blazing torches and circle (sun wise) their homes and lands to protect them from evil spirits. This was also a festival of the dead and the church was easily able to transform these holidays into All Saint's Day (November 01) and All Soul's Day (November 02). This is about halfway between the autumn equinox and winter solstice. It is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festival along with Imbolc.

Historically it was widely observed throughout Ireland, Scotland ad Isle of Man. It is believed to have Celtic pagan origins and some Neolithic passage tombs in Ireland are aligned with the sunrise at the time of Samhain. It is first mentioned in the earliest Irish literature, from the 9th century, and is associated with many important events in Irish mythology. The early literature says Samhain was marked by great gatherings and feasts and was when the ancient burial mounds were open, which were seen as portals to the Otherworld. Some of the literature also associates Samhain with bonfires and sacrifices.

The festival was not recorded in detail until the early modern era. It was when cattle were brought down from the summer pastures and when livestock were slaughtered. As at Beltaine, special bonfires were lit. These were deemed to have protective and cleansing powers and there were rituals involving them. Like Beltaine, Samhain was a liminal or threshold festival, when the boundary between this world and the Otherworld, meaning the spirits or fairies could more easily come into our world. On Samhain, they were appeased with offerings of food and drink, to ensure the people and their livestock survived the winter. The souls of dead kin were also thought to revisit their homes seeking hospitality, and a place was set at the table for them during a Samhain meal. Mumming and guising were part of the festival from at least the early modern era, whereby people went door-to-door in costume reciting verses in exchange for food. The costumes may have been a way of imitating and disguising oneself. Divination was also a big part of the festival and often involved nuts and apples.

In the 9th century the Western Church endorsed November 01 as the date of All Saints' Day, possibly due to the influence of Alcuin, and November 02 later became All Souls' Day. It is believed that over time Samhain and All Saints'/All Souls' influenced each other and modern Halloween. Folklorists have used the name 'Samhain' to refer to Gaelic 'Halloween' customs up until the 19th century.

Imbolc is celebrated February 1-2 (later transformed into Candlemas by the church, and popular now as Groundhog Day). Imbolc marked the beginning of spring, the beginning of new life (in Britain the beginning of lambing season). Dedicated to the ancient mother goddess in her maiden aspect, it was later transformed into a feast day for the Irish saint of the same name (and attributes) St. Brigid.

Imbolc is a Gaelic traditional festival. It marks the beginning of spring, and for Christians it is the feast day of Saint Brigid, Ireland's patroness saint. It is held on February 01, which is about halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. Historically, its traditions were widely observed throughout Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. It is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals, along with Samhain. Imbolc is mentioned in early Irish literature, and there is evidence suggesting it was also an important date in ancient times.

It is believed that Imbolc was originally a pagan festival associated with the goddess Brigid, and that it was Christianized as the feast day of Saint Brigid, who could be a Christianization of the goddess. The festivities on the feast of Saint Brigid did not begin to be recorded in detail until the early modern era. In recent centuries it was marked by the making of Brigid's crosses and a doll-like figure of Brigid (a Brídeóg) would be paraded from house-to-house by girls, sometimes accompanied by 'strawboys'. Brigid was said to visit one's home on the eve of the festival. To receive her blessings, people would make a bed for Brigid and leave her food and drink, and items of clothing would be left outside for her to bless. Brigid was also evoked to protect homes and livestock. Special feasts were had, holy wells were visited, and it was a time for divination.

Although many of its customs died out in the 20th century, it is still observed by Christians as a religious holiday and by some non-Christians as a cultural one, and its customs have been revived in some places.

Bealtaine in Scots Gaelic; meaning May Day, celebrated April 30-May 01. This is the third festival of the agricultural year. The myth surrounding this festival is common to many ancient pagan religions. The god, Bel or Cernunos, the horned god of Ireland dies but was reborn as the goddess son. He then impregnates her ensuring the never-ending cycle of rebirth. This is very basic Fertility worship. May Day traditions includes young people picking flowers in the woods and spending the night there dancing around the May Pole, weaving red (for the god) and white (for the goddess) streamers round and round. A great bonfire celebrates the return of the sun. In Ireland, the first bonfire was lighted on Tara by the High King followed by all the others. On May Day itself, the Highland tradition has the entire community leading the cattle to summer pasturage, not to return until Samhain.

May according to Irish mythology was a very important time indeed for your ancient ancestors. It marked the first day of summer and was known as Bealtaine. Legend has it that the festival of Bealtaine was particularly associated with the "Hill of Uisneach" in Irish County Westmeath, and like most ancient Irish festivals, it was celebrated with fire. It was believed that the first Ireland fire was kindled by Nemedian Druid Mide at Uisneach.

At 600 feet high, the hill is not tall, yet twenty counties can be seen from the summit on a clear day. Historically and mythological, it was regarded as the center point, or navel of Ireland, symbolized by the presence of a great stone called the Ail na Mirean, or Stone of Divisions. This limestone boulder stands close to 20 feet tall and is estimated to weigh thirty tons. Sometimes known as the Cat Stone due to its resemblance to a pouncing cat (you have to squint a bit, and use your imagination when looking at it), it is also said that the Danann Goddess Eriu, who gave her name to Ireland, is buried beneath it.

The Stone of Divisions sits on the southwest side of the Hill in a circular enclosure, where it was believed the borders of Ireland's five provinces, Leinster, Munster, Connacht, Ulster, and Mide met. Nowadays, there are only four provinces; ancient Mide being absorbed into the counties Meath and Westmeath. This archaeologically rich site also contains the remains of circular enclosures, barrows, Cairns, a holy well, and two walkways, or ancient roads, spread over a slightly over a one-mile area.

In fact, one of the roads has actually been discovered to connect the Hill with the nearby, more well-known site of the Hill of Tara. Whilst Tara was associated with Kingship rituals, Uisneach is believed to have been a place of Druid worship and ceremony. On the summit lies Lough Lugh. Here, according to legend, the Danann High King, Lugh of the Long Arm - "Lugh Lamfháda" in Irish - was said to have been drowned after a fight with the three vengeful sons of Cermait and buried beneath a cairn beside it. This must be the origin of the Stonehenge on England.

Lughnasadh (Lammas in England) is the final celebration of the agricultural year. It is the feast of the god Lugh and the first fruits of the harvest (generally wheat or corn). Lughnasadh is celebrated August 31-September 1. In Scotland, the first stalks of corn are called "John Barleycorn", of course, and were used to make the first beer of the fall season. Now, John Barleycorn refers to that greatest of Scots drinks (many distilleries are closed for August, reopening for the fall whisky-making season on September 1). This festival, as celebrated in England, gives me the willies, reminding me of that great horror novel by Thomas Tryon, Harvest Home. At Lammas, the Corn King dies (to be reborn at spring), ensuring plenty for the winter.

The other four holidays of the Celtic year are the Solar festivals of Light. They celebrate the spring and fall equinoxes and the winter and summer solstices. Each name contains the word "Alban" meaning "Light of". The name for ancient Scotland was Alba.

Lughnasadh or Lughnasa is a Gaelic festival marking the beginning of the harvest season. Historically, it was widely observed throughout Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. In Modern Irish it is called Lúnasa, in Scottish Gaelic: Lùnastal, and in Manx: Luanistyn. Traditionally it is held on 01 August, or about halfway between the summer solstice and autumn equinox. In recent centuries some of the celebrations have been shifted to the Sunday nearest this date.

Lughnasadh is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals, along with Samhain, Imbolc and Beltane. It corresponds to other European harvest festivals such as the Welsh Gŵyl Awst and the English Lammas.

Lughnasadh is mentioned in some of the earliest Irish literature and has pagan origins. The festival itself is named after the god Lugh. It inspired great gatherings that included religious ceremonies, ritual athletic contests (most notably the Tailteann Games), feasting, matchmaking, and trading. Lughnasadh occurred during a very poor time of the year for the farming community when the old crops were done and the new ones not yet ready for harvest. Traditionally there were also visits to holy wells. Evidence shows that the religious rites included an offering of the First Fruits, a feast of the new food and of bilberries, the sacrifice of a bull, and a ritual dance-play in which Lugh seizes the harvest for mankind and defeats the powers of blight. Many of the activities would have taken place on top of hills and mountains.

Lughnasadh customs persisted widely until the 20th century, with the event being variously named 'Garland Sunday', 'Bilberry Sunday', 'Mountain Sunday' and 'Crom Dubh Sunday'. The custom of climbing hills and mountains at Lughnasadh has survived in some areas, although it has been re-cast as a Christian pilgrimage. The best known is the 'Reek Sunday' pilgrimage to the top of Croagh Patrick on the last Sunday in July. A number of fairs are also believed to be survivals of Lughnasadh, for example, the Puck Fair.

Since the late 20th century, Celtic neopagans have observed Lughnasadh, or something based on it, as a religious holiday. In some places, elements of the festival have been revived as a cultural event.

An altar depicting a three-faced god identified as Lugh/LugusIn Irish mythology, the Lughnasadh festival is said to have begun by the god Lugh as a funeral feast and athletic competition in commemoration of his mother or foster-mother Tailtiu. She was said to have died of exhaustion after clearing the plains of Ireland for agriculture. Tailtiu may have been an earth goddess who represented the dying vegetation that fed mankind. The funeral games in her honour were called the Óenach Tailten or Áenach Tailten and were held each Lughnasadh at Tailtin in what is now County Meath. According to medieval writings, kings attended this óenach and a truce was declared for its duration. It was similar to the Ancient Olympic Games and included ritual athletic and sporting contests, horse racing, music and storytelling, trading, proclaiming laws and settling legal disputes, drawing-up contracts, and matchmaking. At Tailtin, trial marriages were conducted, whereby young couples joined hands through a hole in a wooden door. The trial marriage lasted a year and a day, at which time the marriage could be made permanent or broken without consequences.

A similar Lughnasadh festival, the Óenach Carmain, was held in what is now County Kildare. Carman is also believed to have been a goddess, perhaps one with a similar tale as Tailtiu. The Óenach Carmain included a food market, a livestock market, and a market for foreign traders. After the 9th century the Óenach Tailten was celebrated irregularly and it gradually died out. It was revived for a period in the 20th century as the Tailteann Games.

Lughnasadh is a struggle for the harvest between two gods. One god – usually called Crom Dubh – guards the grain as his treasure. The other god – Lugh – must seize it for mankind. Sometimes, this was portrayed as a struggle over a woman called Eithne, who represents the grain. Lugh also fights and defeats a figure representing blight. In surviving folklore, Lugh is usually replaced by Saint Patrick, while Crom Dubh is a pagan chief who owns a granary or a bull and who opposes Patrick, but is overcome and converted. Crom Dubh is likely the same figure as Crom Cruach and shares some traits with the Dagda and Donn. He may be based on an underworld god like Hades and Pluto, who kidnaps the grain goddess Persephone but is forced to let her return to the world above before harvest time.

Pilgrims climbing Croagh Patrick on "Reek Sunday". It is believed that climbing hills and mountains was a big part of the festival since ancient times, and the "Reek Sunday" pilgrimage is likely a continuation of this. Many of the customs described on the great, great ancestor's journal marked "x asterisk x" were being practiced into the modern era, though they were either Christianized or shorn of any pagan religious meaning. Many of Ireland's prominent mountains and hills were climbed at Lughnasadh. Some of the treks were eventually re-cast as Christian pilgrimages, the most well-known being Reek Sunday—the yearly pilgrimage to the top of Croagh Patrick in late July. Other hilltop gatherings were secular and attended mostly by the youth.

In Ireland, bilberries were gathered and there was eating, drinking, dancing, folk music, games and matchmaking, as well as athletic and sporting contests such as weight-throwing, hurling and horse racing. At some gatherings, everyone wore flowers while climbing the hill and then buried them at the summit as a sign that summer was ending. In other places, the first sheaf of the harvest was buried There were also faction fights, whereby two groups of young men fought with sticks. In 18th-century Lothian, rival groups of young men built towers of sods topped with a flag. For days, each group tried to sabotage the other's tower, and at Lughnasadh they met each other in 'battle'. Bull sacrifices around Lughnasadh time were recorded as late as the 18th century at Cois Fharraige in Ireland (where they were offered to Crom Dubh) and at Loch Maree in Scotland (where they were offered to Saint Máel Ruba). Special meals were made with the first produce of the harvest. In the Scottish Highlands, people made a special cake called the lunastain, which may have originated as an offering to the gods.

Another custom that Lughnasadh shared with Imbolc and Beltane was visiting holy wells, some specifically clootie wells. Visitors to these wells would pray for health while walking sunwise around the well; they would then leave offerings, typically coins or clooties. Although bonfires were lit at some of the open-air gatherings in Ireland, they were rare and incidental to the celebrations. Traditionally, Lughnasadh has always been reckoned as the first day of August. In recent centuries, however, much of the gatherings and festivities associated with it shifted to the nearest Sundays – either the last Sunday in July or first Sunday in August. It is believed this is because the coming of the harvest was a busy time and the weather could be unpredictable, which meant work days were too important to give up. As Sunday would have been a day of rest anyway, it made sense to hold celebrations then. The festival may also have been affected by the shift to the Gregorian calendar.

In Ireland some of the mountain pilgrimages have survived. By far the most popular is the Reek Sunday pilgrimage at Croagh Patrick, which attracts tens of thousands of pilgrims each year.The Puck Fair is held each year in early August in the town of Killorglin, County Kerry. It has been traced as far back as the 16th century but is believed to be a survival of a Lughnasadh festival. At the beginning of the three-day festival, a wild goat is brought into the town and crowned 'king', while a local girl is crowned 'queen'. The festival includes traditional music and dancing, a parade, arts and crafts workshops, a horse and cattle fair, and a market.

Alban Arthuan (Light of Arthur),or Alban Geamhradh (in Scotland) like Winter Solstice celebrations all over the world, celebrates the return of the sun following the shortest day in the year. It's no wonder the church adopted these holidays as the birthdate of the Son. From ancient Celtic and Norse mythology we enjoy such holiday traditions as holly and mistletoe (sacred to the druids), the Yule log, Santa Claus in his aspects of Father Christmas or the Holly King. Supposedly, King Arthur was born on the winter solstice in Breatainn (and he, too, will come again). In Ireland and Scotland it is Lugh, the Sun God, and son of the High God Aed Álainn. Lugh is also born of a Human Virgin, much like the later story of Jesus. [And like Jesus he is to return to save the Celts.]

Ireland celebrates Christmas much more enthusiastically than Scotland. Under the Old Christian Kirk at its strictest, Christmas was viewed as an idolatrous celebration and not observed. Today, the more secularized Scots put most of their merry-making efforts into Hogmanay, the New Year's celebration.

The spring (vernal) equinox is celebrated as ALBAN EILEAN* (Light of the Earth). The equinoxes were considered a time of balance, not only between dark and light, but between worlds as well and, therefore, a time of high magical potential. More mundanely, this festival signified the time for spring planting and fertility rituals.

In the recent Druidic tradition, Alban Arthan is a seasonal festival at the Winter solstice. On the solstice, it has recently been speculated (with very little evidence) that druids would gather by the oldest mistletoe-clad oak. The Chief Druid would make his way to the mistletoe to be cut whilst below, other Druids would hold open a sheet to catch it, making sure none of it touched the ground. With his golden sickle, and in one chop, the Chief Druid would remove the mistletoe to be caught below. This ritual was recorded by the great, great ancestor 24-79 CE in Natural History journal marked " *x.x** " not as a part of a seasonal festival, but in the context of a sacrifice of two white bulls to invoke prosperity from the gods.

The holiday is observed in a manner that commemorates the death of the Holly King identified with the wren bird (symbolizing the old year and the shortened sun) at the hands of his son and successor, the robin redbreast Oak King (the new year and the new sun that begins to grow). The Battle of the Holly King and Oak King is re-enacted at rituals, both open and closed. The battle is usually in the form of words but there have been some sword battles.

Some Druid Orders believe this means the Light of the hero King Arthur Pendragon who is symbolically reborn as the Sun Child (The Mabon) at the time of the Solstice. Others see the Light belonging to the star constellation known as the Great Bear (or the Plough) – Arthur, or Art, being Gaelic for Bear. This constellation shines out in the sky and can symbolize the rebirth of the Sun. At this point the Sun is at its southernmost point almost disappearing beyond the horizon, and the days are at their shortest.

This was a time of dread for the ancient peoples as they saw the days getting shorter and shorter. A great ritual was needed to revert the course of the sun. This was probably calculated by the great circles of stone and burial grounds which are aligned to this festival, such as Newgrange in Co. Meath, Eire. Sure enough, the next day the Sun began to move higher into the sky, showing that it had been reborn. This time of year is very cold and bleak, which is why so many celebrations are needed to help people get through the Winter months. It is significant that many civilizations welcomed their Solar Gods at the time of greatest darkness – including Mithras (the bull-headed Warrior God), the Egyptian God Horus and, more recently, Jesus Christ.

Alban Traigh (Light of the Shore) is celebrated as Midsummer's Day with games, picnics, and all manner of light-hearted fun. The antics of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" well captures the spirit of this festival, including the interaction between our people and those of the faerie world.

Finally, Alban Uisge (Light of the Water) is observed at the autumn equinox and, like the spring equinox, is a very sacred time when the line between worlds is thin and magical possibilities abound.

Much more seems to be known about the four fire festivals (which are still celebrated in many traditional ways) than the four solar festivals. Were the solar festivals mainly druidic sacred times in which lay

participation was minimal (it would seem that some of the neo-druids have taken this view and make rather more of these dates than the Irish and Scots do)? Or could the solar celebrations pre-date druidism, belonging to the Stonehenge builders, the Tara People, and falling slowly into disuse? This seems a possibility since the Celtic calendar is lunar based, rather than solar. [Genetic markers show that the Scottish Highlanders and the Irish of West Ireland and Ulster are the major descendents of the Tara People, the Henge builders.]

In any case, we find in Celtic mythology a strong foundation in ancient goddess (mother earth) known by different names (Sila na nGig, Danu, or Brigit.) Celtic Religion is/was a fertility religion (common throughout the ancient world.)

It merged with the peculiar emphasis on the Other World and its accessibility to mankind found in the druid religion. More than any other people, perhaps, the Celts live with one foot in this world and one in the other. The druid belief was that we are composed of mind, body and spirit with spirit acting as the bonding agent between body and mind, rather than an elevated or qualitatively different state of being. Similar beliefs in Christianity suggest the possibility that they were Druidic beliefs incorporated in the composite religion of Christianity.

Thereby, we are enabled to travel between worlds, if we know how, or if we are born with the gift. Combined with the druidic belief in reincarnation, there is little fear of the Otherworld and the faerie world is simply an alternate reality, rather than a higher plane.

There are lots of books here to choose from organized roughly from top to bottom in the areas of ancient Celtic mythology and religion, the Irish myths (I did not include the Welsh myths, as it was the Irish sagas that traveled to Scotland), and, finally, druidism.

The subject of the old religions only take issue with the comment that Christianity was invented suddenly and thus differs from those religions that evolved with human cultures. The mechanics of Christianity in fact evolved over about 8000 years or more. It was only the name which came about more or less suddenly in the reign of Emperor Constantine. The particular patchwork religion that Constantine sanctioned was composed of many parts of older religions. The Syncretism of those Pagan Religions with a rather distorted version of Judaism into one organized state cult was rather sudden.

But all of the components of the composite religion known as Christianity had indeed evolved over many millennia.

Christianity is not very unique. Many religions have been constructed from bits and pieces of older religions. Christianity is only unique because it was invented in historical times when its gestation/embryology could be recorded.

Paul was the catalyst if not inventor of early Christianity. He is a good candidate because he was a Jew. But he was no ordinary Jew. He was a "Hellenized Jew" fluent in Greek, and Aramaic. He was raised in a city called Tarsus not in Palestine. It was in Cilicia, an Indo-European region of Asia Minor, where people were mixed Luvian, Achaean Greek, Armenian, with remnants of Hittites, Cappadocian, and Macedonians. Those people all adhered to variations of the Old Indo-European Religion of 8000 BCE which gave rise to Old Persian, Zoroastrian, Old Aryan to Hinduism, Tocharian, Thracian-Cimmerian, Greek, Hittite, Roman, Illyrian, Celtic, and Germanic etc. These were polytheistic and evolved into the "Eastern Mystery Cults" in the Eastern Roman Empire.

The major ones in Cilicia/Tarsus were Mithraic (most men and most soldiers), Cybele (women only), Sol Invictus, Neo-Platonic, Stoicism, and the Imperial Roman Cult. There was a Jewish minority but under heavy Indo-European influence. Paul was likely more familiar with Mithraism than Judaism. But he was familiar with the Jesus Cult in Palestine, a sect of Judaism based on a Yeshua who may have lived and died during the reign of King Alexander Jannaeus before the Romans arrived on the Jerusalem scene. Yeshua taught moral principles with compassion and love deviant from the harshness of Old Judaism.

Legend here in Ireland has it that when Padraig (Patrick) converted Ireland, he won the support of Druid by appointing them as Christian priests on the same day that they would agree to convert. Celtic Christianity for the early centuries was believed to incorporate Druid philosophy.

Aed Álainn or Dagda became God the Father. Lugh the Son of Aed Álainn by impregnation of a human virgin, was a god-man long before Jesus, became Jesus. The Mother Goddesses Brigit, Sila na nGig, or Danu were represented at sacred springs. The Goddesses were merged into the Virgin Mary who also inherited most of the springs. Brigid held on to a few by being transformed from a Goddess into a Christian Saint. Bel the Antlered God of Ireland (Cernunnos of Britain and Gaul) the bringer of spring rebirth and protector of nature was degraded to the Christian Evil God, Satan. (BTW, Satan is in every way a god, the counterpart of the Zoroastrian Aingra Maingu or Ahriman God of Darkness. Satan/Aingra Maingu) opposes the Good God of Light Ahura Mazda (Ormuzd) or Dagda, Jupiter, and Zeus (all of whom are Father of the Gods, or Eochaidh Ollathair in Irish.)

So while Celtic Christianity was just Druidism under a new set of names, it became Catholicism only after the Norman Conquest placed the Celtic Church under the Roman Pope's authority, in the 12th Century. It was then that Roman Catholic priestly celibacy was imposed on the Irish.

Christianity continues to Evolve. In the Americas, it incorporated Native Mayan, Aztec, and Inca rituals and even the gods. Native American animist festivals are still celebrated today with the local parish priest taking part.

Jesus as the Putative God

Jesus was crucified in the middle of the day or afternoon. He was taken down before sunset. It means his time on the cross may have been anywhere from one to five hours. Victims of crucifixion often lingered an agonizing death on the cross for up to three days. Death in a couple of hours is fishy.

So he was supposedly placed in a tomb/cave much like Mithra had been placed. If sundown was 7 pm, and he was in the tomb, at that time, then he spent 5 hours on Friday, 24 hours on Saturday, and 7 hours on Sunday when he walked out. That is 36 hours. Three days, or Three nights is misleading. The number three was picked because it is a magic number and applied to Jonah, Mithra, Apollonius, and most of the other virgin born god-man resurrecting redeemers.

If the couple hours on the cross produced hypoxia, and brain ischaemia, with acidosis so severe as to kill Jesus then we have a different scenario. He may have dropped his blood pressure so low or suffered cardiac arrest to lose consciousness. In this case his brain was getting no oxygen and no blood flow. He not only had anoxia. He had lack of blood perfusion with O2 and glucose. There was no venous blood removing CO2 and other toxins of metabolism. The build-up of neurotransmitter amines and glutamate plus the destruction of calcium channels in the neurons led to Calcium influx, potassium out flux, water permeation and cell swelling and bursting.

After a couple hours in this severe state the neuronal nuclei would break up. Mitochondria would burst and cease cellular metabolism. Swelling cells would rupture. In a few more hours his brain, axons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes would necrose. His capillary network would fragment with clots in the stasis of blood flow.

Then the brain would turn into a semi-liquid mush. All fiber circuits would be erased. All memories, language functions, learned motor skills (walking), cognitive processing, emotional circuits, vision, hearing, and autonomic regulation. That rather multi-modal autonomic network would control temperature regulation, sweating, cardiac rate regulation, blood pressure control systems, sexual accessory sequence programs, and the conscious on-off ARAS switch. All of this would have already been lost.

In such a body, the necrotic brain can produce no electrical salutatory transmission. No synapses would be left anyway. This is "Brain Death" which are compelled to determine to a great sadness in patients about once per week. Once true Brain Death is determined by:

1. Loss of pupillary reflexes;

2. Loss of reflexive eye movements (Doll's eyes and caloric responses);

3. Loss of corneal responses;

4. Absence of any spontaneous breathing trigger with measured hypoxial hypercabia;

5. Loss of patterned motor responses (flaccid paralysis);

6. Flat lined EEG done twice 24 hours apart, or non-flow on MRAngiography;

7. In the 24-hour period, blood tests showing zero sedative drug levels;

8. Then that is the final form of death, irreversible Brain Death/necrosis.

None have ever recovered if all 8 criteria are met, in multiple different studies. Since there are no shortages of people dying, the numbers in studies summated are 5 digits. Unfortunately the gospel writers never mentioned the following;

1. No one noted a carotid, radial or femoral pulse of Jesus;

2. No one noted pupillary reactions, (size, symmetry, light and accommodation);

3. No one noted his ocular motor reflexes (Doll's eye, Cold water calorics);

4. No one checked his patterned motor responses that may persist in some reversible comas;

5. No one recorded total flaccid paralysis, decerebrate or decorticate rigidity, myoclonus;

6. No one noted listening to his heart according to the gospels;

7. No one noted listening to his lungs with an ear or stethoscope;

8. No one noted presence or absence of corneal reflexes;

9. No one noted muscle tone.

Naturally no EEG was done. So we don't know if he was flat-lined. All of the above minus the EEG are very specific easy tests for brain death. Roman soldiers may have known those reactions, especially their medics.

So we can't say with certainty if he died…on the cross or later of senile dementia or other cause. Until very recent times and in many substandard medical care facilities, determinations of death or brain death prove to be incorrect when the patient awakens screaming in the Morgue. Did Jesus actually die based on the written narrative? We may never know. And if did not die, the rest of the story would be different. There would not have been a resurrection. It would have be recovery from reversible coma not death. And we would be celebrating Mithra's birth on December 25, as Mithramas.

So if Jesus really died, and was dead 36 or 39 hours, his brain was a featureless mush. No blood flow meant no oxygen, no removal of glutamate, no prevention of open Calcium ion channels, and no maintenance of membrane stability of neurones. Then apoptosis (cell death) occurred. There was nothing with which to activate the cortex for consciousness, no perception, no awareness, no vision, no hearing, no tactile sensation, no motor neuronal firing along axons to activate muscles, no circuits to think, or circuits to talk. There would be no neurons, no axons, and no synapses to transmit data.

To truly resurrect as the person Jesus, his entire brain would have to be remade from scratch with intact neurons, axons, myelin sheathes, synapses, ample concentrations of neurotransmitters at pre-synaptic nerve endings, and normal transmitter receptors on healthy dendrites of neurons. The new brain would have to be an exact copy of his original brain down to each synapse in the right place. And the trillions of circuits (and million billion synapses) of the individual person would have to be exactly re-duplicated in the pre-death patterns. His entire life memories would have to be reinstalled into the circuitry of his brain, the most complex computer in history.

That has never been known to occur. One must postulate very special magic, and magic has yet to be proven to exist. The burden of proof that Jesus died and resurrected is on the person making that extraordinary implausible claim. What is the proof that he died? Nobody did even a superficial cursory neurological exam. And how can they explain the rewiring of the most complex computer ever known aside from magic.

So a truly dead Jesus resurrecting would not be possible outside of the realm of fantastic magic and fantasy thinking. Believers would say nothing is impossible with the excuse...miracles (i.e. magic). But that is not provable. Magic is a cop out when one cannot explain the impossible. It is trying to explain the impossible with the unknown.

So either Jesus died end of story; or he awoke from transient shock-trauma coma (not a true resurrection from the dead.) But we can't have both. And we will never know.

Option 1. Jesus died in on the cross, brain liquidities, and there could have been no resurrection.

Option 2. Jesus didn't die on the cross, but recovered lying in the tomb and awoke from transient coma, to some day die of some other natural cause such as Old age in India (one story)

Option 3. Jesus didn't exist in real life. He was a fictional hero of the Joseph Campbell variety. His life was founded on the virgin birth, god-man, redeemers who died and resurrected in 16 older Pagan cults. Paul, and other Church Fathers superimposed the personality of Melchizcedek to satisfied the supposed coming of the redeemer or simply infused with Mithraism, consciously or unconsciously absorbed Mithra's biography for the fictional Jesus.

On this particular sequence of time Farex the youngest among the old great, great, great, ancestors of Izra clear his throat as if hesitant to continue his litany. "It was my last league of Space patrol when the man called Jesus of Nazareth came into the political and religious scene on the desert people when Romans almost dominated half of the planet. Although sometimes we help some individuals but the Federation Non-Interference Policy should prevail. Jesus was exceptional."

Remnants of Nestorius Christian based in Antioch, Damascus (Eastern Christians) had split from the doctrine of Nicaea Trinity continue their teaching down to the Arabian headland.

Another religion amalgamation from the eastern desert was Prophet Mohammad Ibn Abdullah Remats PBUH - an Arab religious, social and political leader, founder of Islam considered as World Religion and proclaimer of Qur'an. He was born in Mecca, Arabia (now Makkah, Saudi Arabia) circa 570 and died June 8, 632 in Medina, Saudi Arabia. His full name is Abu Al Qasim Muhammad Ib Abd Allah Ibn Al Muttalib Ibn Hashim

An Islam Overture

Before the Islamic era of headland Arabia the practice was largely polytheistic society. Many gods were worshipped, from local deities to more fundamental creator and weather gods, at multiple sites across the subcontinent. One of these sites was located at the Kaaba, which would later become the destination for the Hajj and the most sacred site in Islam. This association of gods with specific locations and the need to travel to be in the presence of the god in order for a believer's prayers to be heard, necessitated the need to travel to these sites. Practical considerations meant that prayers would ordinarily be made to local gods, who could easily be reached.

Other beliefs in the area allowed for worship while travelling through the landscape. The nomadic Bedouins, ever a practical culture, worshipped on the move. However, some sites which were popular destinations for pagan polytheistic worship started to attract association with more and more gods. This was another eminently practical solution, as many gods could be prayed to in a single location.

The Pre-Islamic Kaaba was a key location for such worship, famous across Arabian Peninsula and said to contain 100 gods, represented by pagan idols. This would have helped Mecca prosper, as many would be drawn to the city to worship their god, or to be heard by the pantheon generally. So there were certainly individual pilgrimages to sites including the Kaaba made by pagan Arabs in the centuries before Islam. But these individual journeys were very different from the Hajj, with its processional ceremony.

However, there is evidence of ritual in the pagan pilgrimage too. Some pagan Arabs believed in complete silence during the pilgrimage. Others, such as the Quraysh, performed a ritual known as "tawaf" where they would strip naked.

Although Muslims believe that the Islamic Hajj can be traced back to the times of Abraham, the Islamic Prophet Muhammad established the current rituals of the Hajj. He travelled to Mecca with his followers and destroyed the pagan idols that surrounded the Kaaba. This seems to be a clear break with previous traditions, a removal of the old pagan ways and the introduction of Islam in their place. But are there elements of the previous pagan rituals which were retained, despite this.

As an example, there is recorded evidence of pagan idol worship where the statue of the deity is placed in a central location, and then devotees walk around the statue to venerate it. The parallels between this and the Hajj ritual where you must walk anti-clockwise seven times around the Kaaba are clearly apparent. The pagan goddess Al-Lat was associated with the later Islamic symbols of the crescent moon and the star.

Other earlier traditions were retained as well. The wearing of the hijab by free women and praying five times a day were also traditionally practiced by earlier pagans. And the symbols of the pagan goddess Al-Lat, the crescent moon and the morning star, are found on many flags of Islamic countries today.

Does this mean that Islam is just an iteration on the pagan religions practiced in the region for centuries before, rather than revolutionary? This is clearly wrong and a gross misunderstanding of the fundamental changes Islam brought to the region.

The core beliefs of Islam are very different to the worship of pagan idols in pre-Islamic Arabia, and the destruction of these idols is a key moment in the life of the Prophet. There are clear parallels with similar instructions from the monotheistic god in the Hebrew Bible, through the destruction of the statue of a golden calf, and in the Ten Commandments.

In practical terms, the replacement of a multitude of faiths with a single religion dominating the region was a powerful unifying force. Other aspects of Islam, like allocating responsibility for worldly matters primarily to men, have no basis in earlier pagan beliefs where the sexes were often more equal.

It may be that a solution to this question can be found in these practical considerations. The need for a pilgrimage, and the importance of suitable ritual customs being observed during this pilgrimage were felt equally by Muslims and pagans were coincidental.

But that does not necessarily make Islam derivative of earlier pagan beliefs, or that aspects of the polytheistic religions were borrowed by the Prophet Muhammad. The processional aspects of both, for example, would naturally occur in any situation where large numbers of devotees converge on a single location: this is not the same as saying Islam copied pagan rituals.

There is also the risk of the western world misunderstanding the fundamental shift in religion in Arabia which came from the rise of Islam. The western world has often mistrusted Islam and paganism alike, and the collective classification of all such religions by Christians as "other" invites assumptions that they are all the same deriving from Abraham but latter branch out due to personal interest and belief.

It would be incorrect to look at the sites of pagan worship being the same as the Islamic holy sites and assume that they are a continuation of the same traditions. While the Hajj does have similarities with earlier pagan pilgrimages, it is essentially Islamic, one of the five key pillars of Islam, and should stand apart.

One might as well quibble that the Hebrew God has pagan origins, or that the stories of Christ were not real. In the end, each individual must find their own answers to these questions. To a disinterested and atheist observer, Islam does seem to contain many holdovers from earlier traditions in the region. But then, so does any religion.

The Prophet on His prime was a noted merchant in Mecca, a simple and kind person with vision of enlightenment and pacifier. It was not his motive to propagate another version of religion nor to establish a system of governance but his desert experiences in caravan trading urged him to formulate some sort of moral ascendancy to guide Nomads on the Basic Principle of Righteousness. Faith in the Power of Almighty should motivate those desert menace to minimized if not eliminated harassment to the caravan trades. Indeed the motivation was supposed socio-economic sustainability of their community. Something has to be done until Allah the Almighty through Archangel Gabriel summoned Him and interned on the cave for self-retreat. In there, miracle happened to a non-lettered Man and begun to write what was being dictated to Him by Allah. Everything were written by the Grace of Allah and the Prophet emerged from the cave-retreat as Holy Man and Proclaimed the Qur'an to the community. Great, great ancestor's Foot note: "Mohammad Abu Al Qasim was once selected for his kindness and righteousness as a person of dignity in the Arabian Headland."

According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet, divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monotheistic teachings of Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and other prophets. He is believed to be the Seal of the Prophets within Islam. Muhammad (PBUH) united Arabia into a single Muslim society, with the Quran as well as his teachings and practices forming the basis of Islamic religious belief.

Muhammad (PBUH) was born approximately 570 CE in Mecca. He was the son of Abdullah ibn Abd al-Muttalib and Amina bint Wahb. His father Abdullah was the son of Quraysh tribal leader Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim, and he died a few months before Muhammad's birth. His mother Amina died when he was six, leaving Muhammad an orphan. He was raised under the care of his grandfather, Abd al-Muttalib, and paternal uncle, Abu Talib. In later years, he would periodically seclude himself in a mountain cave named Hira for several nights of prayer. When he was 40, Muhammad (PBUH) reported being visited by Gabriel in the cave and receiving his first revelation from God. In 613, Muhammad (PBUH) started preaching these revelations publicly proclaiming that God is only One and that complete submission to God is the right way to life and that he was God appointed prophet, similar to his predecessor in righteousness and peace (Islam).

Muhammad's followers were initially few in number, and experienced hostility from Meccan polytheists for 13 years. To escape ongoing persecution, he sent some of his followers to Abyssinia (now Ethopia) in 615, before he and his followers migrated from Mecca to Medina later in 622. This event, the Hijra, marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar, also known as the Hijri Calendar. In Medina, Muhammad united the tribes under the Constitution of Medina. In December 629, after eight years of intermittent fighting with Meccan tribes, Muhammad gathered an army of 10,000 Muslim converts and marched on the city of Mecca. The conquest went largely uncontested and Muhammad seized the city with little bloodshed. In 632, a few months after returning from the Farewell Pilgrimage, he fell ill and died. By the time of his death, most of the Arabian Peninsula had converted to Islam.

The revelations (each known as Ayah – literally, "Sign [of God]") that Muhammad (PBUH) reported receiving until his death form the verses of the Quran, regarded by Muslims as the verbatim "Word of God" on which the religion is based. Besides the Quran, Muhammad's teachings and practices found in Hadith and Sira literature are also upheld and use as sources of Islamic Law.

When people of Mecca challenged the Prophet to perform miracle as proof of his divine mission, his defense was to appeal boldly that the book taking shape on his supervision to be so wonderful works expressing profound and majestic of religious truth. Surely, had not written by a mere man as himself for he was unlettered but a miracle that had come down from heaven. On those period, the Land of Abraham almost had parallel faith with similar terminology like; Qumran and Qur'an, Kaba and Kaballah, Allah and Kaballah and Alaha as the God of Hebrews. They should be one; a United Faith on the same God.

During his initial preaching in circa 622, was chased by Meccan tribes and took refuge in Medina where he lived with Jewish community. Mustering strength in circa 630, conquered Mecca where he established his domain. Also around those period that he motivated Jihad to boost the moral of his people in depending His good cause.

After His death in circa 632, his friend Abu Bekr succeeded him and organized the records properly and were transcribed. At about circa 650, a fresh version was prepared and regarded as the canonical virtue. Three copies were made integrating guidelines for traditional governance and sent each to Damascus, Basrah and Kupa. The original was preserved in the Mosque at Medina. There

is no reason to doubt that indeed Qur'an posses excellent and wonderful verses.

The promoters of the present extremism are rigorists who took advantage to hide themselves in religion and inject anathema to move people and exploit the primitiveness of knowledge for the satisfaction of their designed greed.

This strategy is a reckoning of the 12th century when Orthodox Sunnites, who were the followers of Prophet Mohammed and the Unorthodox Shiites who only accepted the earthly rule of the Prophet descendants.

Some Shiites further branched to Ishmaelite where Hassan Ben Sabban after so many oddities traveling around promoting Ishmaelism reach Daylam, part of Persia southern highland adjacent to the Caspian Sea. Atop the two thousand meters rock in Elburr Mountain, he found the castle of Alamut, which was the refuges of the independent Shiites.

Here he installed himself the Chief or the Sheik, choosing Sheik Al Jebal, literally translated as the old man of the mountains that instilled respect amongst his men and terrorized his opponents. After him came the three Dai-Al Kirbal or the summoner and then the Dai's as missionaries who went out to conduct recruitment, the Fidas or the devoted ones were the predecessor of Fadayeen and later the Al Queda on Middle East during the closing of 20th and beginning of 21st century. Below them were the Lasiks or the masses that were used for menial works but knew nothing of the upper echelons.

It was undoubtedly a genius organization as shown in the manner on how Hassan took over the castle and from this vantage location, he sent out his missionaries to surrounding villages to convert inhabitants into Ishmaelism while housing his recruits around the castle. Exotic chambers and gardens were created at Alamut where neophytes were catered and thought about paradise. Dancing girls and musical instruments entertained the new comers and hashish were served to provide great satisfaction.

During their demanding training, they come to be convinced that they shall go to heaven immediately after their death if they die in the line of duty. The garden that Hassan has been building and where the young girls were educated in various arts by Miriam, the confidant of Hassan. All the recruits were brainwashed by Hassan to submit for total obedience by deceiving them, feeding hashish to numb their brain and afterwards be carried into the simulacrum of heaven.

Therefore, fedayin believe that Allah has given Hassan the power to send anybody to Heaven for a certain period. Moreover, some of the fedayin fall in love with the garden, and Hassan unscrupulously uses that to his advantage.

Novitiates have ultimate sensual pleasure, which now controlled their wellbeing and then brought to the sheik with assurance of eternal pleasure in paradise and would repay implicit and blind obedience. The drugged youths underwent brainstorming sessions after sessions and with great emphasized of the word … KILL! … KILL! … KILL! After their minds were under controlled, graduated with a golden dagger. So the hashish or hashasin eaters gave their name as Assassins, which later your dictionaries adapted the word.

Hassan exploited the blind obedience of those assassins to the outmost satisfaction of his greed. On his reign, whoever ran against his teaching of Ishmaelism was assassinated. And now on your modern times, bombs instead of golden daggers are use but the same paradise and religious anathema and motivations are being employed in obtaining blind obedience to the "Unlucky Recruits".

Now, to rationalize the true motive of the above, can they qualify to be called Muslim? Muslim is a teaching of Islam and Islam is peace. This is the true motive of Prophet Mohammad (Peace be upon Him) when preaching righteousness amongst the nomadic tribes. Or are we dealing with "Designed Greed".

It appears now that some quarters inclined on the Fundamentalism of Ishmaelite and hence Ishmaelism had departed from the principle of Shiite dogma where Shiite had also deviated from the original Sunnite that was the Orthodox Muslim where Islam is the sole teaching. The general feeling therefore, that true sense of Fundamentalist does not belong anymore to Islam but just keep on using Muslim as their cover and protection to pursue their designed greed. They have to use genius and all drastic means to endeavor their "WILL" to the world inhabitants as had Hassan Ben Sabban, the self-proclaimed sheik has done to took-over the Castle of Alamut for the foundation of Ishmaelite Doctrine with the used of his Assassins.

Now the people of this planet must know that ISLAM IS PEACE and like other religion this God Fearing Doctrine is indeed for righteousness.

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