From the night of time, the period when the sun moves northward has always been regarded as a festival season.
Robert: Welcome! Inner sight is simply seeing that which is always present but not yet fully recognized. You have within you the ability to see yourself and the world around you in a new way with new eyes, so stay with us and together we’ll look at the world and ourselves with inner sight. Our topic for today is the light of Christmas. All the work and effort that you hear in the show comes from Alice Bailey, the founder of the Lucis Trust organization. Lucis Trust sponsors this show, and all of the dialogue that you hear on this show emanates from her twenty-four volumes of literature, as does the following thought: From the night of time, the period when the sun moves northward has always been regarded as a festival season; for thousands of years, it has been associated with the coming of a Sun-God, bringing light to earth. Can you say more about this Sun God in world religions?
Sarah: Yes, it’s one of those absolutely fascinating aspects of the inner spiritual tradition that runs throughout many of the world’s religions, and it’s very ancient. The winter solstice, which usually comes on December 21st each year, is the time when the sun ceases its southern journey in regard to the northern hemisphere and begins its northward climb bringing greater light to the northern hemisphere until the summer solstice on June 21st. So, the next six months are a time of increasing light and this moment of the winter solstice is a deeply sacred moment in many of the world’s faiths. Even today it is recognized by people as a time of spiritual significance because I notice there’s a lot of meditation activity that is undertaken on December 21st—groups of people that meet together in meditation of various sorts to recognize and honor the energy of the day when the light in the world begins to increase again. One of the interesting things for me about the winter solstice is that at the time of greatest darkness—meaning the days are shortest, the nights are the longest—there is at that moment the birth of what is called the Sun God, of Christ, but as your opening thought mentioned it’s been regarded as such a time for thousands of years so that implies that it goes back much earlier than the time of Christ, and it does.
Dale: Yes, it goes way back even into mythology and Greek mythology which is replete with many Sun gods and that sort of thing.
Sarah: In the Persian religion the Sun god that they called Mithras was said to have been born on December 25th. And interestingly, he was said to have been born of a virgin mother, so there’s a parallel in that tradition, and I believe in the Egyptian religion the god Horus was born at this time of year. There are a number of similarities in some of the different religions of the world that suggest that December 25th has been recognized by not just Christianity, but the Egyptian faith, the Persian religion, and I think a few others as the moment when the Sun god was born. What that signifies is that at the time of greatest darkness, there is the gift of light to humanity. In other words, humanity is never left without a light to show its way back to the feet of the Father. That’s the whole underlying significance of Christmas and of all of these ancient traditions. And when you think about it, the deepest darkness provides the matrix, you could say, for the recognition of the brilliance of light. If you think about when the moon is new, there’s very little light in the nighttime sky, and that’s when the stars shine most brilliantly. And I think that that suggests that this time of darkness is when light makes its greatest impact.
Dale: There’s been some controversy—well, even way back two thousand years ago— about the exact birth date of Jesus. Finally, I think the 25th of December was settled on by, as I recall, Pope Julius in 337 AD. Pope Julius finally set the date of December 25th because it, at that time, corresponded with a pagan holiday. The pagans were busy with their ceremony. It was a pagan holiday honoring Bacchus.
Sarah: Was it a distraction? Was that what he was thinking?
Dale: Yes. So, in order to avoid this distraction, the Christians corresponded their holiday on December 25th, the same time that the pagans were celebrating Bacchus.
Sarah: Well, it sounds like it provided safe cover, in a sense.
Dale: It was. It was so that the Christians might perform their rites “undisturbed,” as it is said. So, it’s rather interesting, the way they can coordinate the pagan religion and Christianity; they came together there.
Sarah: There are many pagan traditions in Christmas. The Yule log, the tradition of holly, the Christmas tree, all come from the pagan religion.
Dale: Yes, the Yule log was more of a Saxon contribution—the Yule log means jollification. That’s the meaning of the Yule and that’s what gave us the merry and joyous character of the celebration of Christmas.
Sarah: One of the most interesting aspects of the Christmas festival is the idea of the virgin birth, and I didn’t know this until recently—that the idea of the Sun god, the world savior, being born of a virgin mother is an ancient belief that’s not just found in Christianity, in the relationship of Mary and Jesus, but it’s found in the Egyptian religion. Isis was the virgin mother of the god Horus. Even in Buddhism, the Chinese interpretation of the Buddhist religion taught that Maya was the virgin mother of the Buddha. So, I think there is an astronomical and an astrological reason for this because at the time of December 25th—or even December 21st— at that time of year, the rising constellation on the horizon is Virgo, which is the Latin term for virgin. That constellation is rising on the horizon at that time of year, and Virgo is an interesting constellation because the brightest star within Virgo is the star Spica. That name, Spica, I believe means ear of corn or sometimes it’s called a shaft of wheat. The constellation of Virgo is a woman bearing a sheaf of wheat in her arms. So, this significance of Virgo and the virgin birth is very deep in Christianity and other religions. What’s more interesting is that Christ was born in Bethlehem, and Bethlehem means house of bread.
Dale: It’s also related to this idea of the Sun God. The God brings light to the world, and that’s one of the reasons for the birth of Christ. It was to bring more light into the world at that time. I think sometimes we tend to forget that. It’s a time for giving presents, but also it’s the time you can correspondingly see that light was given to the world. That’s the greatest present that humanity could receive at the time: added light, which is essentially the light of the soul. And this is a very great gift.
Sarah: What’s interesting is that although traditional church teachings say that Christ was born in a stable, I think in fact research and certainly the esoteric doctrines say that he was born in a cave. That suggests the coming of light into the deepest depths of earth, of the material realm, which bears up what you’re saying, the significance of the world savior or the Sun God coming to Earth at the time of greatest darkness and coming into the deepest, densest materiality to bring the light of pure spirit.
Dale: It’s the light that is needed in humanity, even 2,000 years ago. It was a time when there was a great need for light in the world, and light in terms of knowledge basically. There are many aspects of light that one could speak about. There is light of knowledge, which is what we’re all very familiar with, and the accumulating of knowledge and scientific knowledge, and then there’s the light of wisdom, which is essentially the light of the soul. Beyond that, there is even a greater light, which is the light of the intuition, which comes from an even higher source than the soul. So, there are many aspects of light that one could go into and explore.
Sarah: Isn’t another aspect of light the light that makes one aware of who one really is? Because not only was Christ born as the World Teacher, but his birth in the cave enacts the awakening of the Christ principle in every human heart. We’ve talked in past programs about the first initiation which is the birth of the Christ in the cave of the heart, which is a way of saying the awakening of the soul principle within the human being is the event that coincides with the first initiation when that person then sets foot on the spiritual path and takes his spiritual development in hand, you could say.
Robert: In the materialization of Christmas, are we losing sight of its true meaning?
Sarah: We really are, and people have been complaining about this for ages, but it is increasingly recognized that Christmas is virtually completely given over to giving of material gifts. The focus is on the material aspect of gift-giving, when in fact there’s a much deeper, more sacred meaning to the festival. Mary, the mother of Jesus, is, by the significance of her very name, the matter aspect, and matter is that which nourishes and fosters the growth of spirit in form. We talked a few minutes ago about the birth of the Sun God in a cave in the deepest, densest aspect of earth. That’s the symbolism of the coming of spirit to matter and that’s what the Sun God reveals. Mary, who gave birth to Jesus, is the symbol of matter as the nurturing, shielding aspect that brings to birth the soul principle, and it’s through form and matter that God seeks to reveal Himself to humanity. So, matter does have a place.
Dale: Yes, of course it does, because everything has to appear through matter, because it’s God essentially in manifestation here. I think what’s happened with Christmas is like the last-ditch stand of the forces of materialism that have taken over, or at least that’s the way it seems sometimes. We should say there’s nothing really wrong with giving gifts and giving presents, because even after all, the three wise men brought gifts to the Christ child. But I think the problem is when this gift-giving becomes obsessive, and the only purpose and meaning behind Christmas is seen as giving of these material gifts. When gift giving generates the feelings of jealousy and hurt, in children and adults, because they might not have received the right present or the great toy that’s in vogue this particular season, and if they don’t receive that they get hurt and jealous and they cry, et cetera, et cetera. Are these the kind of feelings that we want to generate during Christmas? Is this what Christmas is all about? And the answer to that is, of course, no. I don’t want to sound like an old Scrooge here, but I think there has to be a limit on this gift-giving.
Sarah: Coming back to the fact that Christ was born in Bethlehem, which means house of bread, I think that the whole symbolism and the purpose of gift giving is meant to be an expression of sharing. The writings of Alice Bailey say that when the World Teacher, the Christ, returns, he will come at a time when humanity has finally grasped its responsibility to share. I think we have a long way to go yet on that front, but I think the gift-giving element of Christmas is the expression of sharing. When you think about it in that way, wouldn’t it be nice at Christmas time to make a gift, a contribution to your favorite charities? Working for a nonprofit organization, as we do, we so appreciate the gifts that come our way, especially at this time of year. Many of our listeners have sent contributions and nice letters and we so appreciate and depend on that support. Pick a charity or two or three and make a gift to that charity. Some people like to ask at their church or synagogue for a recommendation of a family that’s impoverished and could use special help, and that’s another way to express sharing through giving. But it isn’t, as you say, giving the favorite toy of the year to someone who probably has more than enough toys. Things have changed a lot in recent years on that score.
Dale: I think it’s time to begin to simplify and synthesize one’s life and simplify one’s gift giving; simplify one’s understanding of what Christmas really means. The greatest gift that one can give to others is the gift of love, because that’s the basic message of Christ and the birth of Christ. Those are the things that we should really be considering, I think, at this time of year.
Sarah: The birth of Christ in the cave of the heart, which is the birth of Christ in every human being, is, as we’ve said in past programs, expressed by a turning around of one’s physical plane life. We talked about how people who undergo this first initiation often become very focused on physical disciplines like vegetarianism, celibacy, and so on, physical fitness. These, again, are an expression of the coming of spirit into the physical realm. This is all part of what is enacted by Christ’s birth at Christmas and it’s a tradition that’s reenacted every year to document or reenact what has to happen in every human being: the awakening of light in the sense of consciousness.
Robert: You mean it’s not all about Santa Claus? (laughing)
Sarah: Santa Claus! Well, I don’t know. He was a great saint who was born in Turkey.
Robert: Oh, was he really? I always thought he was a mythical figure.
Sarah: No, as I understand it he was a real person who was born in southern Turkey and was a great saint and a very holy person. But look at how we’ve taken that person’s life and turned it into something almost farcical.
Robert: That’s interesting. I never knew that there was anything to Santa Claus. I thought it was something Walt Disney conjured up. (laughing)
Sarah: No, there was a core of spirituality even in Santa Claus, but it’s been long lost.
Dale: It was St. Nicholas. He did go around giving gifts, and that’s where that whole myth began. So, he had the right idea, but it just got out of hand.
Robert: You have mentioned something interesting before that I wanted to ask you more about. You mentioned that the Christmas tree was a pagan symbol. I always thought it was a part of Christianity. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Sarah: Well, as I understand it, it came from Germany. In pre-Christian times, there was a tradition in the German tribes to have a Christmas tree at the darkest time of year. Again, it symbolizes light in the midst of deep darkness. But the pagans understood the gift of light long before Christianity developed.
Robert: That’s about all the time we have for our discussion. In closing, there is a world prayer called the Great Invocation. It’s a call for light and love and goodwill to flow into the world and into our hearts. Let’s listen for a moment to these powerful words.
Sarah: Closes the program by reciting the adapted version of the Great Invocation.
(This is an edited transcript of a recorded radio program called “Inner Sight.” This conversation was recorded between the host, Robert Anderson, and the then President and Vice-President of Lucis Trust, Sarah and Dale McKechnie.)
(Transcribed and edited by Carla McLeod)
(#125)