Part 9

The origin and meaning of the mystical [Symbol: T cross], that symbol of "hidden wisdom" as it has been denominated by scholars of our days, found on all Egyptian monuments, in the temples, in the hands of the gods, in the tombs on the breast of the mummies, also met with in the ancient edifices of Mayax, and on the statues and altars in the temples at Palenque, has given rise to many speculations on the part of modern savants. They have not reached yet any conclusion, although its name TAU says plainly, that it is nothing more or less than a representation of the "_God of Rain_" the "Southern Cross." Effectively _tau_ is a Maya word composed of the three primitives _ti_, here, _a_ for _ha_, water, and _u_ month, which translated freely means "_This is the month for water_;" hence for the resurrection of nature--for the new life to come.

The complex form of the mystical [Symbol: T cross] which is formed of a cone with two arms extending, one each side, and an oval placed immediately above them, has been denominated by the Egyptologists _cruz-ansata_. It is not of Egyptian origin. It has its prototype in the conoidal pillar, surmounted by a sphere, used by the Babylonians as symbol of life and death; death being but the beginning or nursery of life. This emblem was only a reminiscence of the _yaxche_, the sacred tree of the Mayas, under the roots of which, the natives assert, is always to be found a source of pure cold water. The trunk of the yaxche, from the foot to the top, forms a perfect cone from which the main branches shoot in an horizontal direction. Its leafy top, seen from a distance, presents the appearance of a half sphere of verdure. The _cone_, the _tau_ and the _cruz-ansata_ were for those initiated to the mysteries the same symbol, emblematical of Deity, of the life to come, of the dual powers, of fertility. The Mayas and other peoples of Central America, in the sculptures or paintings, always represented their sacred trees with two branches shooting horizontally from the top of the trunk, thus presenting the appearance of a cross or tau.

In straying apparently so far from the main object of these pages, and tracing to their true origin the primitive traditions of mankind and many of the religious symbols common to all the civilized nations of antiquity, by dispelling the mists that have accumulated around them in the long vista of ages, my aim has been to show that they all emanated from one and the same source, and that this source was the country of Mayax, in the "Lands of the West." Ancient sacred mysteries, have been celebrated in the temples of Egypt, Chaldea, and India, from ages so remote that it is no longer known by whom or where they were first instituted. Herodotus tells us that the daughters of Danaus instituted the Thesmophoria in honor of the goddess Ceres, in imitation of the mysteries celebrated in Egypt in honor of Isis, and taught them to the Pelasgic women. That Eumolpus, king of Eleusis, instituted in his own country the Eleusinian mysteries on his return from Egypt, where he had been initiated by the priests as Orpheus who founded in Thracia those that bear his name; but who taught the rites of initiation, the use of the symbols and their meaning, to the Hierophants of Egypt, to the magi of Chaldea, to the Gymnosophists of India?

The mode of initiation, the use of the same symbols, with an identical signification ascribed to them, by peoples living so far apart whose customs and manners were so unlike, whose religion, so far at least as external practices were concerned, differed so widely, show that these mysteries originated with one people, and were carried to and promulgated among the others. As we do not find it mentioned anywhere that they originated either with the Egyptians, Chaldees, or Hindoos, and we have seen that their primitive traditions have been derived from the history of the early rulers of Mayax, is it not natural that we should look for the institution of the mysteries among the Mayas, since we find the same mysterious symbols, used by the initiates in all the other countries, carved on the walls of the temples of their gods, and the palaces of their kings? Their history may afford the clue to the original meaning of said symbols, as their language has given us the true signification of the words used by the celebrating priest to dismiss the initiates in the Eleusinian mysteries, or by the Brahmins at the end of their religious ceremonies, and as it has revealed the so long hidden mystery of the mystical TAU.

That sacred mysteries were celebrated from times immemorial in the temples of Mayax, Xibalba, Nachan (Palenque of to-day), Copan and other places of Central America there can be no doubt, since besides the symbols sculptured on the walls of the temples and palaces, in two distinct instances, we see the rites and the trials of initiation described in the Popol-Vuh; and as these rites and trials were identical with those to which the applicants to initiation in the mysteries of Egypt, Greece, Chaldea and India were subjected, we are justified in seeking in Mayax for the causes that may have induced the founders of the sacred mysteries to select the odd numbers 3, 5, and 7, instead of the even 2, 4, and 6 for mystic numbers.

The symbolization of number 3 may possibly be accounted for in two different ways. One is suggested by the sceptre of Poseidon, that Plato says was the first king of Atlantis, and is represented by the Greek mythologists as being a son of Kronos; his three-pronged trident being an allusion to the _three_ great islands that formed his kingdom, North and South America and Atlan, that now lies buried under the waves of the Atlantic ocean. The emblem [Symbol: trident with wiggly prongs] placed in the hands of _Vul_ the god of the atmosphere in the Chaldean mythology, found also in those of the Hindoo gods, may likewise represent the three worlds or great regions that the Egyptian and Maya hierogrammatists designed by the character [Symbol: three-pointed crown] in the hieroglyph for the name of the "Lands of the West," which the latter also figured as the sacred tree with three branches,[4] a simile of which we find in Scandinavia, in the _three roots_ of the sacred ash Yggdrasil, mystic-world tree, and the _three_ heavens, and the three worlds whose destruction, by water, was prophesied by Vishnu.

The deification of the "World" composed of three parts forming a great whole, may have been the origin of the Trimourti, or Triune god, so prevalent among the ancient nations of antiquity, and probably led to the mystification of number 3. We find it symbolized all over the earth, in every nation. We see it in Mayax in the three platforms on which are raised the most ancient edifices; in the three rooms that formed the temple where the mysteries were performed; in the three steps that led to the first or lower platform in all sacred edifices; in the 21 metres (3 × 7) of all the principal pyramids in Yucatan; in the three concentric circles of the Zodiac. We meet with it constantly in India, in the _vyahritis_ or three sacred words; the three ornaments or _saranas_; the three principal classes; the three ways of salvation; the three fetters of the soul or _gunas_; the three eyes in Siva's forehead; the three strands of the sacred cord worn by the initiates of the three principal classes; the three letters of the sacred word A.u.m. In Egypt the three thonged flagelum of Osiris; the triple phallus carried in procession at the festival of the Paamylia in honor of the birth of Osiris, and also the triads, as likewise in Chaldea.

Another way of accounting for the mystification of number 3, is by taking heed of the indications of Orpheus, Plato, Proclus, and the other Greek philosophers who had been admitted to the participation of the secrets communicated in the mysteries to those worthy of being entrusted with them. They tell us that the _three_ intellects of the Demiurgos, of the triple deity, were "_three kings_."

The author of the Troano MS., relates at some length the history of the three sons of king _Can_; and of the troubles that arose among them when, after the death of their father, the reins of the government fell into their hands. Of that fact a faint tradition, very much distorted, seems to have still existed among the aborigines of Central America at the time of the Spanish conquest; for Bishop Landa states: "That it was said that once upon a time three lords, brothers, governed the country together." Those three brothers, sons of king _Can_, are realities, personages who have certainly lived a mundane existence, since we not only have their portraits, their weapons, and their ornaments, but also their mortal remains. They recall vividly the three sons of Adam, the three sons of Seb, and the three sons of Kronos. The author of the Troano MS., informs us that the members of the family of king _Can_ were deified after their death, and worshiped in temples, the ruins of which still exist buried in the depths of the forests of Yucatan under a shroud of verdure. It is not at all improbable that _Cay_, the elder brother and high-pontiff having instituted with his father the sacred mysteries, took as symbol of the various degrees into which they divided them, the number of the members of their family, in order to perpetuate their name and history through the coming ages. This explanation seems the more plausible, if we remember that Eusebius tells us that the Egyptians represented the supreme Deity under the shape of a serpent (Canhel) that was as superior to the triads, as the father is to his children in whom he rejoices. "_Numero Deus impare gaudet_." In this connection the _three Hoang-ti_, of Chinese mythological times, might also be mentioned. They too had the shape of serpents.

Among the ancient civilized nations of the eastern continents number 5 was also considered mystic. Frequent mention is made of it in their sacred books. In China it occupies a conspicuous place among the celestial or perfect numbers, as 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, are called in the _y-king_, or Canonical book of Changes; a very ancient work, so highly esteemed by the wise philosopher Confucius (Kong-fou-tse) that he was seldom seen without it. There we read of the five elements, water, fire, wood, metal, and earth; of the five kinds of grain; of the five colors, black, red, green or blue, yellow and white; of the five tastes, salt, bitter, sour, acid, and sweet; of the five tones in music; of the five relations of life between men; those between a king and its ministers, a father and his children, a husband and his wife, elder and younger brothers, and between friends; of the five virtues, philanthropy, uprightness, decorum, prudence, fidelity; of the five organs of the body, kidneys, heart, liver, lungs, and spleen; of the five Chang-ti, or elementary generations; of the five parts that form the heavens; of the five seasons of the year; of the five genii that govern the five elements; of the five principal mountains of the empire; of the five tutelary mountains.

In India number 5 is also very prevalent in things pertaining particularly to psychological conceptions or religious observances; so they speak of the five organs of intelligence, by means of which the external objects are perceived; of the five organs of action; the five elements, the five great oblations; of the five great sacrifices; the five great fires, etc. In Mayax it was likewise a mystic number, since we find this simbol [Symbol: five dots] carved at each end of the southern apartment in the edifice consecrated to the celebration of the sacred mysteries. It appears in the number of steps leading from the courtyards or terraces to the principal apartments in the "House of the Governor," "the palace of king _Can_" and other edifices at Uxmal, and in other buildings. It is the number particularly set apart for the second of the three platforms that compose the base on which all the ancient temples and palaces of the Mayas are raised. In the rites of modern Freemasonry, it is still the sacred number related to the second degree. In the Troano MS., the legends of all the compartments into which the work is divided, as in chapters, are composed of five characters, to indicate that said legends are the headings, that is _ho-ol_, the beginning, the head.

This number may have become sacred, in the mysteries, among the Mayas, in remembrance of the number of the children of king _Can_; for besides his three sons _Cay_, _Aac_, and _Coh_, he had, by his wife _Zoo_, two daughters, _Moo_ and _Nicte_, whose names bear a striking resemblance to _T-Mau_, one of the names of Isis and _Nike_ her sister. So king _Can_ by his wife _Zo[c]_, had five children, just as _Seb_ had by his wife _Nut_ in Egypt; these being _Aroeris_, _Set_, _Osiris_, _Isis_, and _Nike_. Strange coincidence, that may, however, give us a knowledge of the origin of the mystification of number five.

SEVEN seems to have been the sacred number _par excellence_ among all civilized nations of antiquity. Why? This query has never been satisfactorily answered. Each separate people has given a different explanation, according to the peculiar tenets of their religion. That it was the number of numbers for those initiated to the sacred mysteries there can be no doubt. Pythagoras, who had borrowed his ideas on numbers from the Egyptians, calls it the "Vehicle of life," containing body and soul, since it is formed of a quartenary, that is: _Wisdom and Intellect_; and a _trinity_ or _action_ and _matter_. Emperor Julian, in _Matrem_ and in _Oratio_, expresses himself thus: "Were I to touch upon the initiation into our secret mysteries, which the Chaldees bacchised, respecting the _seven-rayed_ god, lighting up the soul through him, I should say things unknown to the rabble, very unknown, but well known to the blessed Theurgists."

Whatever that knowledge may have been, and their esoteric explanation of the cause of the mystification of number seven, can only be surmised to-day; but it is not improbable that it was to be found in some event in the early history of the race whose traditions we find scattered broadcast over the Earth. We have seen that the family of king _Can_ was composed of _seven members_, who became rulers of the _seven_ cities that bear their names, the ruins of which still exist in the forests of Yucatan, and by the beauty and richness of the ornamentation, the massiveness and finish of the walls of their temples and palaces, excite the admiration of the beholder. These personages, deified after their death, have been worshiped in various countries, and are yet in some, under different names. May not the remembrance of the existence of these _seven_ ancient rulers of Mayax, have been the origin of the tradition of the _seven_ divine rulers of Egypt; of the _seven Manous_ that according to the Brahmins, governed the world in the night of times; of the _seven Richis_ or holy personages who assisted them; of the _seven princes_ of the Persian court; and the _seven councillors_ of the king; of the _seven Ameshaspants_ or first angels; of the _seven great gods_ of the Assyrians; or the _seven primitive gods_ regarded by the Japanese as their ancestors and said by them to have governed the world during an incalculable number of years; of the _seven Cabiri_, worshiped by the Pelasgians at Lemnos and Samothracia; the _seven_ great gods in theogony of the Nahuatls? Do we not see a simile of the _Ah Ac chapat_ or _seven-headed_ serpent of the Mayas, totem of their _seven primitive Rulers_, that is of the _seven members_ of king _Can's_ family, in the _seven-headed heavenly Serpent_ on which rests Vishnu, the Indian creator, that corresponds to the Egyptian _Kneph_ or the _Mehen_ (_Canhel_) of the Mayas; or in the _seven_ serpents that form the crown of _Siva_; or again in the _Seven-rayed god Heptaktis_, of which the emperor Julian was so reluctant to speak?

It would seem that the duration of certain religious festivals was fixed to commemorate the existence on Earth of these _seven_ primitive gods or rulers, the tradition of which we find in all countries where we meet with vestiges of the Mayas. So we see the _seven days_ of the festival of the Eleusinian mysteries; the _seven days_ of the festival in honor of the bull Apis, a symbol of Osiris; the _seven days_ of the feast of the tabernacles. The septenary system was also adopted for the same purpose no doubt, in Mayax, since we find the _seven_ cities dedicated to each of the members of king Can's family; the _seven_ pyramids that adorned the city of Uxmal; the _seven_ turrets that ornamented the south façade of the north wing of king Can's palace at Uxmal, each turret inscribed with the name of one of the members of his family; those dedicated to the females being on the east end of the wing. The _seven gradients_ into which is divided the third or uppermost of the three platforms that serve as a substructure to the temples and palaces; the _seven superposed gradients_, forming all the pyramids calling to mind the _seven terraces_ of the temple of the _seven_ lights at Borsippa, the most perfect form of Chaldee "temple tower," and the "pyramid degrees" at Sakkara, although in this Egyptian pyramid the gradients are more numerous. The _seven rooms_ built on the west side of the conical mound that supports the temple in which the mysteries were performed at Uxmal: each room again being dedicated to one of the members of king Can's family; the bust of the person to whom it was consecrated being affixed over the doorway. The _seven courses_ of the stones used in the construction of the walls and of the triangular arches that form the ceilings of the rooms. The same system prevails in the arrangement of the grand gallery in the centre of the great pyramid at Ghizzeh in Egypt. In that monument as in all the antique edifices of Mayax, the proportional scale followed by the architects in the drawing of their plans is in accordance with the numbers 3, 5, 7, and their multiples.

The predilection of the nations of antiquity in which the sacred mysteries were celebrated, for number _seven_ appears in many ways. The _seven days_ that the rainfall that produced the deluge lasted, according to the Chaldeans, is reproduced in the _seven days_ of the prophesy of the deluge by Vishnu to Satyravata, as we read of it in the _Bhagavata purana_; and the _seven days_ of the prophesy of the same event, made by the Lord to Noah, according to Genesis; on account of the _seven days_ of rainfall the Babylonian priests used _seven vases_ in the sacrifices; and in the hierarchy of Mazdeism, the _seven Marouts_ or genii of the winds; the _seven rounds_ of the ladder in the cave of Mithra. The Aryans had the _seven horses_ that drew the chariot of the sun; the _seven Apris_ or shapes of the flame; the _seven rays of Agni_; the _seven steps_ of Buddha at his birth. The Egyptians had divided their nation into _seven classes_; the week into _seven days_: according to them the creation was completed in _seven days_. Among the Hebrews, we find the _seven lamps_ of the ark, and of Zacharias vision; the _seven branches_ of the golden candlestick; the _seven days_ of the feast of the dedication of the temple; the _seven years of plenty; and the seven years of famine_. In the Christian dispensation, the _seven churches_ with the _seven angels_ at their head; the _seven golden candlesticks_; the _seven heads_ of the beast that rose from the sea; the _seven seals_ of the book; the _seven trumpets_ of the angels; the _seven vials_ full of the wrath of God; the _seven last plagues_ of Apocalypse. In Greek mythology, the _seven heads_ of the hydra killed by Hercules, the _seven islands_ sacred to Proserpine mentioned by Proclus.

The prevalence of _seven_ as a mystic number among the inhabitants of the "Western Continent" is not less remarkable. It frequently occurs in the _Popol-Vuh_. We find it besides in the _seven families_ said by Sahagun and Clavigero to have accompanied the mystical personage named _Votan_, the reputed founder of the great city of Nachan, identified by some with Palenque. In the _seven caves_ from which the ancestors of the Nahualts are reported to have emerged. In the _seven cities_ of Cibola, described by Coronado and Niza, the site of which has been accurately fixed by Mr. Frank Cushing in the immediate neighborhood of the village of Zuñi. In the _seven Antilles_; in the _Seven heroes_ who, we are told, escaped the deluge.

Can it be maintained that this acceptation of _seven_ as a mystic number by nations so heterogeneous and living so far apart, and from the remotest ages, is purely accidental? The origin of its mystification has never been explained. It has been transmitted to us by our predecessors, who themselves had accepted it from theirs, without knowing why it was made the sacred number of the third degree in the rites of initiation into Freemasonry. True, in receiving the degree the initiated are told the esoteric meaning attached to it in modern times; but this meaning does not give the origin of its mystification. In fact, it is an invention of our days.

That it was the sacred number of the highest degree of the sacred mysteries in Mayax is evident. We have seen that 3 was the number of the male children of king Can; 5 that of his sons and daughters; 7 was consequently that of the members of the whole family. It is not therefore improbable that to commemorate that fact, 7 was made the sacred number of the third degree of their sacred mysteries, and that this was the origin of its mystification.

In these pages I have presented, without commentaries, a few of the facts that twelve years researches among the ruins of the antique temples and palaces of the Mayas, a knowledge of their language (still spoken by their descendants, and in some places, as in the vicinity of Peten, in all its pristine purity); the deciphering of certain mural inscriptions; the study of the sacred book of the Quiches, and the interpretation of passages in the Troano MS., have disclosed to me concerning the history, civilization, cosmogonical conceptions, religious tenets and practices of the ancient inhabitants of Yucatan.