who were worshipped by the Egyptians under similar 

 names. The crab was Anubis, the Egyptian Mercury. 

 The lion was Osiris, Ra, or Phthah, according to the 

 district and age, the sun-god at the height of his power 

 at the summer solstitial point, June 24th. The virgin 

 was Isis, the beloved of Osiris. The balances were 

 included with the scorpion, the two being worshipped as 

 Set-Typhon, Turn, or Sekru, according to the district 

 and age, the sun-god at the autumnal equinox, suffering 

 defeat at the hands of the powers of darkness. The 

 centaur-archer was the Egyptian Hercules. The goat 

 was Pan, or Mendes. The water-bearer was Horus, the 

 avenger of his father's defeat, born December 2ist, and 

 a conqueror on March 2ist; also Mises, the Egyptian 

 Bacchus, who, being the sign of the sun-god's birth, leads 

 the twelve signs out of the land of bondage, and insti- 

 tutes the feast of commemoration at the sign of the 

 lamb, whose horns he wears ; and also Harmachis. The 

 fishes are Oannes, the Egyptian saviour-fish, who, when 

 that sign was at the winter solstitial point, saved the 

 world as the new-born sun. 



These twelve signs of the zodiac were, in fact, the 

 twelve principal gods of all races \ the seven summer 

 signs, including the two equinoxial signs, being the 

 seven specially sacred gods, inhabiting the upper temple 

 of the most high god, which was the vault of the summer 

 heavens, supported by the two pillars of the equinoxes 

 or covenants. Almost every race had temples divided 

 into upper and lower courts or rooms, the upper one 

 being the residence of their chief gods ; and these tem- 

 ples were originally meant to represent the universe, 

 having an upper hemisphere, governed by the good prin- 

 ciple, and a lower hemisphere, governed by the bad 

 principle, this idea being frequently further represented 

 by a closed ark or chest, representing the lower or dark 

 hemisphere, upon which sat the chief deity, representing 

 the good principle of the upper hemisphere. The 

 Egyptians, according to Plutarch, enclosed the body of 

 Osiris in an ark every year at the autumnal equinox, 

 when the sun was in Scorpio, which was a rite emble- 

 matical of the annual death of the sun-god of summer ; 

 and the Jews, it will be remembered, suffered defeat at 



