of Jacob (p. 122) by changing the places of Benjamin 

 and Zebulun, the former being, in my present opinion, 

 the sign Gemini] and the latter Capricornus ; and as to 

 the twelve apostles, I may here supply an omission made 

 in the same work, by stating that Andrew (p. 198) repre- 

 sents Aries, of March, being always depicted with a x , 

 which forms the angle made by the crossing of the equator 

 and ecliptic on March 2ist. The mystic number seven 

 was derived from the summer signs of the zodiac, in- 

 cluding the two equinoxial signs, which were called the 

 pillars of the temple, the vault of the summer heavens 

 being the temple itself. Thus arose the allusions to the 

 seven trumpets, the seven candlesticks, the seven 

 churches, and the seven seals in the Apocalypse, each of 

 which was a summer zodiacal sign ; and here I may again 

 supply an omission in my " Popular Faith Unveiled " 

 (p. 246) by stating that the church of Smyrna repre- 

 sented Virgo, of August, in which month bundles of 

 myrrh were always offered to the sun, the word ^vpva 

 signifying "myrrh." 



Besides mystic numbers, there were a number of 

 mystic symbols in use among the ancients, by which the 

 great and important phenomena in nature were kept 

 constantly before the eyes of the people. The chief and 

 most widely known symbol is the cross, representing the 

 ascending sun bringing back fresh life to the world at 

 the vernal equinox ; but the cross was by no means the 

 only symbol of this important occurrence ; trees, torches, 

 the male organs of generation, or ..phallus, and various 

 animals were frequently used for the same purpose in 

 fact, the symbolical worship of the ancients assumed 

 gigantic proportions, almost every conceivable device 

 being seized upon to render homage to the great re-fer- 

 tiliser of the earth. No one of the religious cults was 

 free from a large admixture of what is known as phallic 

 worship that is, worship of the fertilising principle ; and 

 it was a common custom for people to swear by their 

 generative organs, as being the most sacred things on 

 earth, representing the divine energy in a state of pro- 

 creative activity. Thus we find in Psalm Ixxxix. 49 the 

 following words (literally translated) : " O my Adonis, 

 where are thy endearments of old, which thou swearedst 



