The Return of the Invincible Sun

The word Easter is derived from Eostre, the name of a goddess whose festival was celebrated at the vernal equinox; her name shows that she was originally the dawn-goddess." Compton’s Encyclopedia reads, "Our name Easter comes from Eostre, an ancient Anglo-Saxon goddess, originally of the dawn. In pagan times an annual spring festival was held in her honor." Academic American Encyclopedia reads, "According to the Venerable Bede, the name Easter derived from the pagan spring festival of the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre."

Ppagans observed festivals at the vernal equinox, which was and is considered the first day of spring, when the length of the day and the length of the night are equal, as the sun climbs in the sky of the northern hemisphere.

Encyclopedia International (1978) declares, "Many of the customs associated with Easter are derived from various spring fertility rites of the pagan religions which Christianity supplanted." The Catholic Encyclopedia declares, "A great many pagan customs celebrating the return of spring gravitated to Easter." Encyclopedia Britannica states, "Christianity ... incorporated in its celebrations of the great Christian feast day many of the heathen rites and customs of the spring festival." Compton’s Encyclopedia (1978) declares, "Some Easter customs have come from this and other pre-Christian spring festivals."

The Catholic Encyclopedia reads, "The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility." Encyclopedia International (1978) reads, "The Easter rabbit, legendary producer of Easter eggs, was also a symbol of fertility and new life." Encyclopedia Britannica reads, "The Easter hare came to Christianity from antiquity. The hare is associated with the moon in the legends of ancient Egypt and other peoples. Through the fact that the Egyptian word for hare, um, means also ‘open’ and ‘period’, the hare came to be associated with the idea of periodicity, both lunar and human, and with the beginning of new life in both the young man and young woman, and so a symbol of fertility and of the renewal of life."

Regarding Easter eggs, Encyclopedia Britannica states, "The egg as a symbol of fertility and of renewal of life goes back to the ancient Egyptians and Persians, who had also the custom of coloring and eating eggs during their spring festival." The New Book of Knowledge (1978) declares, "One of the best-known Easter symbols is the egg, which has symbolized renewed life since ancient days. The egg is said to be a symbol of life because in all living creatures life begins in the egg." Encyclopedia International (1978) states, "Eggs were a primitive symbol of fertility; but Christians saw in them a symbol of the tomb from which Christ rose, and continued the practice of coloring, giving, and eating them on Easter."

The New Book of Knowledge (1978) declares, "The custom of a sunrise service on Easter Sunday can be traced to ancient spring festivals that celebrated the rising sun."

Friday, the English name of the sixth day of the week, is the Germanic translation of "dies Veneris" or "Day of Venus." Venus was the Roman goddess of sexual love. A fertility symbol associated with Venus is the fish, because fish can produce more rapidly than any other creature. A single cod can spawn 9,000,000 eggs in a year! Eating fish on Friday is an act of adoration to Venus and her cohorts, and it celebrates by sympathetic magic the principles of fertility and reproduction.

Sun King - Harry Crosby

I exchange eyes with the Mad Queen

the mirror crashes against my face
and bursts into a thousand suns
all over the city flags crackle and bang
fog horns scream in the harbor
the wind hurricanes through the window
and I begin to dance the dance of the
Kurd Shepherds
I stamp upon the floor
I whirl like dervishes
colors revolve dressing and undressing
I lash them with my fury
stark white with iron black
harsh red with blue
marble green with bright orange
and only gold remains naked
columns of steel rise and plunge
emerge and disappear
pistoning in the river of my soul
thrusting upwards
thrusting downwards
thrusting inwards
thrusting outwards
penetrating
I roar with pain
black-footed ferrets disappear into holes
the sun tattooed on my back
begins to spin
faster and faster
whirring whirling
throwing out a glory of sparks
sparks shoot off into space
sparks into shooting stars
shooting stars collide with comets
Explosions
Naked Colors Explode
Into
Red Disaster
I crash out through the
window naked, widespread
upon a
Heliosaurus
I uproot an obelisk and plunge
it into the ink-pot of the
Black Sea
I write the word
SUN
Across the dreary palimpsest
I pour the contents of the
Red Sea down my throat
I erect catapults and
Lay siege to the cities of the world
I scatter violent disorder
Throughout the kingdoms of the wold
I stone the people of the world
I stride over mountains
I pick up oceans like thin cards
And spin them into oblivion
I kick down walled cities
I hurl giant firebrands against governments
I thrust torches through the eyes of the law
I annihilate museums
I demolish libraries
I oblivionize skyscrapers
I become hard as adamant
Indurated in solid fire
Rigid with hatred...
I am the harbinger of a
New Sun World
I bring the Seed of a
New Copulation
I proclaim the Mad Queen
I stamp out cast empires
I crush palaces in my rigid hands
I harden my heart against churches
I blot out cemeteries
I feed the people with stinging nettles
I resurrect madness
I thrust my naked sword
Between the ribs of the world.
I murder the world.