The Tarot of Eli, LLC: Easter -The Spring Equinox and the cycles of Rebirth.

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Before I get into the Matriarchal explanation of Easter (Ishtar), I thought that since Friday was the Christian celebration of Good Friday, I might also show its roots as both "Friday" and "Good" before it became Christianized.

Christianity is a noted Hodge-podge of revised Matriarchal traditions and "Goddess Friday" (latter revised to "God Friday" and then "Good Friday") began as a pagan day of celebration. Friday began as "Freya's day"; Freya being the Norse Goddess of Creation. Once, Freya was the Great Goddess of Northern Europe's early history and was known as the leader of the "primal Matriarchs" called Afliae ("powerful ones"), or Disir ("divine grandmothers"). In Hindu tradition, these "primal Matriarchs" were called matrikadevis or mother goddesses. Freya was seen as the Vanadis, the ruling ancestress (dis) of the elder gods called Vanir, who ruled before the arrival of Odin and the patriarchal Aesir ("Asians") from the East. The Norse Myths stated that Odin learned everything he knew about magic and divine power from Freya.

[Turville-Petre, 144-59]

Therefore, Friday began as the Day of the Goddess Freya, which was called unlucky by the Christian monks because their original misogynistic theology demanded that everything associated with female divinity was "evil". For example, Friday the 13th, was said to be especially unlucky because it combined Freya's sacred day with her sacred number, 13, that was drawn from the months of the pagan/matriarchal lunar calendar. Also, in Qabalistic Gematria, 13= 1+3=4; 4 is the Sacred number of Tetragramaton (Secret name of God) and the number of forms: Form being woman's creation.

The Roman's named the day of "Goddess-Friday" dies Veneris, after their own version of Freya, the Goddess Venus. (Friday is still called by the French- vendredi and the Italian-Venerdi).

Friday used to be the 7th day of the week. It was the original Sabbath of the Jewish lunar calendar and is still the Sabbath of Islam.

Fish were traditionally eaten on Friday, as fertility charms, in honor of Venus or Freya, whose totems were the fish symbol, which today is commonly sported on the cars of many Christians. Thus, the past Catholic tradition of eating fish on Friday, was totally of pagan origin.

During the time of the Middle Ages, when pagan votaries of Freya continued to celebrate her rites on Friday, churchmen designated her day as the day of "devil worship".

Good Friday is a Christian religious holiday commemorating the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Zeus Christos), a revision of the "Dying god" tradition. Good Friday (at first "God Friday" when the patriarchal votaries revised "Goddess Friday"), is celebrated during Holy Week, as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of Passover. Good Friday is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Black Friday, or Easter Friday.

What I find most interesting about Patriarch religiously sponsored traditional insistence in eradicating any knowledge of Matriarch, is that Jesus suffered on the Cross for six hours before he died. The number six is the number of the Sun (Son of God) and that of the Qabalistic 6th Sephiroth Tiphareth/ Beauty, the Christ/Buddha Consciousness. Before Christianity, there was the Qabalah, the belief in the Dual Divine Creative (Female/Male), the mysteries were the Three Wise men of Nativity tradition, got their degrees as Persian Magi/astrologers, and the common depiction of the Qabalistic Tree of Life, displayed the image of Adam Khadmon, as if crucified on this Tree of Creation. Adam Khadmon represented the "Ascended Man" and is neither male nor female but both--- a divine Hermaphrodite. The term "Ascended Man" means we keep our bodies, and the ascension is in the Mind that established dominion in the world of flesh.

It is thought by a majority of some scholars, that the "Myths of the Dying God" which all included resurrection, (Dionysus, Osiris, Odin, Mithra, Mazda, Christ, Shiva etc.) were just revised to create the Christian doctrine as more palatable for pagan consumption. Hence, there is an Adam Khadmon/Christ similarity in Western Hermetic Qabalah.

What is needed is a clarifying of the dying gods and the clearing out of dogmatic propaganda. Below is a balanced exploration of the question of whether Christ’s resurrection narrative is a direct “copy” of older dying-and-rising gods. We will highlight both the parallels noted by many scholars as well as key distinctions. Along the way, we’ll weave in Western Hermetic and Qabalistic considerations, showing how these myths—old and new—tap into universal archetypes of renewal and spiritual transformation.

1. Dying-and-Rising Gods in the Ancient World

Key Examples

• Osiris (Egyptian): Killed by his brother Set, Osiris is resurrected by his consort Isis, becoming Lord of the Underworld. His myth focuses on the cycle of fertility, the flooding Nile, and the promise of rebirth.
• Tammuz/Dumuzi (Mesopotamia/Shumer): The lover of the goddess Inanna (Ishtar). Tammuz descends into the Underworld and is mourned, then restored, symbolizing the renewal of nature each spring.
• Adonis (Greek/Phoenician): A beloved of Aphrodite (equated with Astarte in some regions), Adonis’s death and cyclical resurrection were marked by seasonal rites that celebrated vegetation reborn after winter’s end.

These narratives share common threads: a divine (or semi-divine) figure who suffers, dies, and then returns to life—often corresponding to agricultural or seasonal rhythms. Rituals that mourned the god’s death and rejoiced at his return were widespread in the ancient Near East and Mediterranean.

2. Is Christ’s Resurrection a “Copy” of These Myths?

Scholarly Perspectives

1. Similarity by Cultural Osmosis

   • Some scholars, especially in earlier comparative religion (e.g., James Frazer’s The Golden Bough), proposed that Christianity absorbed widespread myths of dying-and-rising gods. In that view, the story of Jesus was part of a broader religious syncretism in the Roman Empire, where mystery cults—like those of Osiris, Mithras, and Dionysus—flourished, making the resurrection theme culturally familiar.

2. Independent Emergence

   • Other scholars argue that while parallels exist, the Jewish context of early Christianity was distinct from the more polytheistic mystery cults. They see the Christ event as a unique theological unfolding tied to Jewish messianic expectations (e.g., the Hebrew scriptures’ prophecies of a suffering servant or the tradition of Passover).
   • The Gospels anchor Jesus’s Passion and Resurrection within a Passover context (springtime in Judaism), which some say “just happens” to overlap with the prime season for older fertility rituals.

3. Mythic Archetypes vs. Literal Copying

   • Many anthropologists and mythologists argue there’s a universal archetype of the “dying-and-reborn hero” embedded in the collective psyche: agriculture cycles, day-night cycles, and the human existential cycle of death and hope for renewal.
   • Rather than a straightforward copy, Christian theology might be re-expressing this archetype in the figure of Christ, shaped by the specific monotheistic and salvific framework of Judaism, then later crystallized in the ecumenical Church.

3. Western Hermetic and Qabalistic Insights

In the Hermetic tradition and Western Qabalah, stories of dying-and-rising gods are often viewed as spiritual allegories that illustrate universal processes:

1. Correspondence on the Tree of Life (Qabalah)

   • In Western Hermetic Qabalah, the sphere of Tiphareth (Beauty) is often linked to the archetype of the “solar hero,” including Christ. Just as the sun appears to “die” at sunset and be “reborn” at dawn, so does the god-man.
   • This reflects an inner process of spiritual transformation: the adept experiences a figurative death (ego transcendence) and a mystical rebirth (attaining a new level of consciousness).

2. Alchemical Symbolism

   • The cycle of putrefaction (nigredo), purification (albedo), and rebirth (rubedo) in alchemy mirrors the “dying and rising” theme.
   • The Christ story, like that of Osiris or Tammuz, exemplifies the soul’s journey from darkness (death) to light (resurrection).

3. Universal Mythic Resonance

   • Hermetic teachings emphasize the Hermetic axiom “As Above, So Below,” suggesting that cosmic patterns repeat in human religious and mythic expression. The pattern of a divine figure who conquers death to bring renewal or salvation resonates with deep spiritual truths, transcending one specific tradition.

. Key Distinctions to Remember

1. Historical-Religious Context

   • The core events of Jesus’s ministry, death, and resurrection were shaped by a distinct Second Temple Jewish backdrop, especially the Passover context.
   • Osiris, Tammuz, and Adonis cults revolve around seasonal/vegetative cycles, whereas Christian theology focuses on moral redemption and eschatological salvation.

2. Monotheistic vs. Polytheistic

   • Most dying-and-rising gods were part of polytheistic pantheons with multiple gods serving different domains.
   • Early Christianity insisted on a single deity (though triune) and placed Jesus at the unique intersection of humanity and divinity in that monotheistic framework.

3. Ritual and Mystery

   • Ancient resurrection cults often involved initiatory rites in secret temples (e.g., the Eleusinian Mysteries, Isis/Osiris cults).
   • Early Christian worship—though it developed sacraments like baptism and Eucharist—evolved from Jewish synagogue and home-based gatherings, leading to a public, communal form of worship rather than exclusively secret rites.

5. A Forward-Thinking View

1. Universal Patterns

   • On a symbolic plane, Christ’s resurrection resonates with older mythic structures about renewal after seeming defeat. In the cycle of nature, it’s “winter giving way to spring”; in the spiritual dimension, it is “death giving way to eternal life.”
   • These shared motifs need not negate the distinctiveness of Christianity; rather, they highlight our shared human search for hope beyond mortality.

2. Spiritual Transformation for the Modern Seeker

   • Whether one relates more to Osiris and Isis, Tammuz and Inanna, or the Christ story, the deeper Hermetic lesson is about internal alchemy: the transformation from the “deadness” of ignorance or despair to the “resurrected” state of awareness and spiritual empowerment.

3. Syncretic Harmony vs. Sectarian Divide

   • Recognizing parallels among ancient myths can foster interfaith understanding. We see that humans across cultures have long treasured the motif of a god or hero who overcomes death—offering consolation and meaning in the face of life’s impermanence.
   • Hermeticism, with its bridging approach, encourages us to see these myths not as contradictory dogmas, but as mirrors reflecting common spiritual truths in different cultural idioms.

Conclusion

While the early Christian resurrection narrative shares undeniable thematic parallels with older dying-and-rising god traditions, most scholars today see it as more complex than a simple “copy.” The cultural, religious, and theological frameworks of Second Temple Judaism and the nascent Christian Church provided unique contexts for Jesus’s death and resurrection event.

From a Western Hermetic perspective, these similarities are no coincidence: the theme of rebirth is a powerful, universal pattern that recurs in many mythic and spiritual systems. Whether one views the resurrection of Christ as a historical event with mystical implications, or primarily as a symbolic representation of the same universal cycle seen in Osiris, Tammuz, Adonis, and others, the underlying lesson remains: life triumphs over death, hope transcends despair, and the soul can be reborn into higher consciousness.

As most of us know, the Early Christian Church vilified pagan religions, especially Matriarchal ones, by calling their gods, both male and female, demons or canonized them as Christian saints while at the same time claiming the Pagan sacred days as their own. For example: the Springtime sacrificial celebration named for the Saxon Goddess Eostre, or Ostara, a Northern form of Astarte-Ishtar whose sacred month was Eastre-Monath, the Moon of Esotre. Truth be told, scholars argue whether Ishtar is pronounced Easter or that no one really knows how ancient Akkadian is vocally pronounced. Therefore, those who say Istar is pronounced Easter are not necessarily in error. Yet the Son of the Goddess was always the "dying" God......which happens to be our Trillions of-year-old DNA!

The Thoth Tarot card of the Princess of Disks best represents this Goddess of Spring, who is Persephone to the Greeks.

The Great Mother Kali of India seems to be the same as Eostre of the Saxons, as the Saxon poets mentioned Eostre in the epic poem of Beowulf; " Ganges' waters, whose flood waves ride down into an unknown sea near Eostre's far home."[Goodrich,18. ]

Below is an exploration of the ancient roots of Easter and its association with spring rites and goddesses around the world. We’ll also weave in some Western Hermetic insights, showing how these seasonal celebrations speak to universal themes of death, rebirth, and spiritual renewal.

. Origins and Cultural Appearances of the Moon Hare

1. Ancient Eurasian Myths

   • In certain Celtic and Germanic traditions, the hare was intimately associated with springtime goddesses (e.g., Eostre/Ostara). Because hares are highly fertile and active in spring, they became potent symbols of fertility and renewal.
   • The hare was sometimes perceived as a moon creature because of the nocturnal habits of rabbits and hares and the cyclical interplay between female fertility and lunar phases.

2. East Asian Lore

   • In Chinese mythology, the “Jade Rabbit” or “Moon Rabbit” is seen pounding the elixir of immortality in a mortar on the Moon, often alongside the moon goddess Chang’e. It’s a powerful image of lunar magic and regeneration.
   • Similar motifs can be found in Japanese and Korean folklore, underscoring how widespread the image of a “hare on the moon” is throughout human cultures.

3. Mesoamerican Traditions

   • The Aztecs also have a “rabbit in the moon” motif linked to various deities of pulque, fertility, and agricultural cycles.
   • Across continents, the hare or rabbit often merges with a Goddess figure due to the shared themes of cyclical life, fertility, and transformation.

2. Why the Hare? Key Symbolic Threads

1. Fertility and Abundance
   Hares and rabbits are famously prolific breeders. Their abundant fertility naturally ties them to the life-giving energies of spring, the waxing moon, and goddesses of love, agriculture, and renewal.

2. Quickness, Evasion, and Mystery
   Swift-footed and elusive, the hare exudes a kind of magical or shape-shifting quality. In many folktales, it’s a trickster or a messenger between worlds—the ephemeral, ever-elusive nature of moonlight.

3. Lunar Cycle Correlations

   • The 28-day lunar cycle parallels the average human menstrual cycle, making the Moon (and by extension the hare) a common symbol for feminine mysteries, birth, and rebirth.
   • Hares are crepuscular/nocturnal in their habits, tying them to the liminal realm of dusk and dawn—those threshold times governed by the moon’s influence.

3. The Hare as an Embodiment (or Similie) of the Goddess

1. Eostre/Ostara and the Hare

   • The most famous Western example of a goddess-hare link is in the figure of Eostre (or Ostara) from the Germanic tradition. According to some lore, Eostre is accompanied by a hare, or can transform into one, emphasizing spring’s fertility and the moon’s cyclical renewal.

2. Greek and Roman Echoes

   • Although not as prominent as in Celtic/Germanic myth, the hare occasionally appears in rites associated with Artemis (Greek) or Diana (Roman), both lunar huntress goddesses. Hares, like deer, are “moon animals” in certain contexts—wild, elusive, and connected to the feminine domain of the night.

3. Inanna/Ishtar and Other Fertility Goddesses

   • While the hare is not always front-and-center in Mesopotamian lore, Inanna/Ishtar’s dominion over fertility, love, and cyclical rebirth resonates with hare symbolism (energetic fecundity and renewal).
   • Many fertility goddesses across cultures have the hare as a totem or an attendant creature, reinforcing the cycle of life, death, and seasonal renewal.

4. Western Hermetic and Qabalistic Insights

1. Correspondence to the Sphere of Yesod

   • In Qabalistic tradition, the Moon is linked to the sephira Yesod, which governs subconscious forces, cycles, dreams, and fertility (both physical and imaginative).
   • The hare, as a lunar creature, can be viewed as a symbolic messenger of these shifting, fertile energies that underlie outward reality. Just as the moon’s reflection changes nightly, the hare’s elusive presence represents the fluid, shape-shifting realm of the subconscious.

2. Alchemy and Lunar Energies

   • In Hermetic Alchemy, lunar energies are receptive, reflective, and form the “cauldron” in which the solar “seed” is nurtured. The hare can be seen as an emblem of this potential for growth and manifestation.
   • The notion of the hare pounding the elixir (in East Asian lore) resonates with the alchemical idea of the lunar vessel where transformation happens. It’s a potent image of hidden, magical work taking place in the realm of the Goddess.

3. Inner Transformation and the Goddess Archetype

   • Hermetically, the Goddess represents nature’s generative power and the soul’s capacity for renewal. The Moon Hare becomes a similie (or stand-in) for this feminine force, embodying both the mysteries of birth and the wonders of mystical regeneration.
   • Embracing the Hare-as-Goddess in one’s personal spiritual practice can highlight the interplay between the conscious mind (sunlight) and unconscious or psychic realms (moonlight).

5. Why the Moon Hare Matters Today

1. Reconnecting with Nature’s Cycles

   • By contemplating the mythic hare, we tap into the broader rhythms of life and nature’s cyclical turning—from waxing to waning, sowing to reaping, death to rebirth.
   • This can foster a deeper ecological awareness, reminding us that human life mirrors seasonal and lunar patterns.

2. Understanding the Feminine Divine

   • In a time when many seek a balanced view of divinity (beyond purely patriarchal or solar conceptions), the lunar hare stands as a gentle but potent symbol of the feminine face of the sacred.
   • Incorporating hare symbolism in ritual or meditation can serve as a visual door into the mysteries of the Goddess—her power, fluidity, and adaptability.

3. Archetypal Resonance and Personal Growth

   • The hare’s vulnerability coupled with its speed and agility can be read as a psychological metaphor: sensitivity and intuition (lunar traits) need not be weaknesses but can become strengths when harnessed consciously.
   • In Hermetic practice, aligning with lunar archetypes such as the Hare helps balance the rational/solar and intuitive/lunar faculties, leading to holistic spiritual development.

Conclusion

The Moon Hare as a goddess similie weaves together strands of folklore, feminine mysteries, and Hermetic symbolism. In myriad cultures, rabbits and hares are revered as sacred, liminal creatures that straddle night and day, life and death, fertility and barrenness—just as the Moon waxes and wanes through her phases. By examining these ancient myths through a Western Esoteric lens, the Hare becomes an embodiment of lunar magic, reflecting the hidden, gestational power of the Goddess who presides over cycles of renewal and rebirth.

Whether viewed in Celtic-spring rites or East Asian moonlit legends, the Moon Hare stands as a living cipher for the fertility, adaptability, and mystical renewal at the heart of the Divine Feminine. Embracing this symbolism can guide the seeker to a deeper understanding of the subtle forces—within ourselves and in nature—that perpetually dissolve and recreate the fabric of existence.

Despite being one of the Churches "movable feasts", Easter/Ishtar or Eoster displays its pagan roots in a dating system based on the old lunar calendar (Menstrual calendar) and is fixed for the first Sunday, after the full moon, after the equinox, and was formerly the pregnant phase of Eostre passing into the fertile season. This is Shown in the Thoth Deck Tarot by the Pregnant Princess of Disks; However, after the Roman calendar was imposed on them in 632 A.D. Eoster was given a new date. The Christian festival wasn't called Easter until this name was given to it in the late Middle Ages.

Eggs were always an ancient symbol of rebirth thus the traditional oddity of the Moon-hare laying colored eggs. At first the colored eggs were always dyed red which is the Life color to the eastern Europeans. In the past, the Russian's used to lay red eggs on graves to serve as resurrection charms.

In Bohemia, Christ was honored on Easter Sunday and the Goddess on Easter Monday, which was the Moon-day as opposed to the Sun-day.

With research the seeker of knowledge (Gnosis) will find many references to the Goddess of Regeneration and Resurrection through the period in history before the Romans conquered Europe. As in most religions, literal meanings are superfluous as this is knowledge through metaphor; people attempting to describe the invisible forces at work in their world and as themselves. This Intelligence that I call, "The womb with a view", The Moon Goddess, is my Soul's Lady Love who is the Trinity Goddess Maid, Mother, Crone, and the Scarlet Woman/Babylon/Whore, and I shall always be her Husband as the Anglo-Saxons knew that title to be ("...keeper of her property").

I am Father Force (Spirit/fire), She is Mother- Form (Graäl/water). Now, because we have physical bodies, spirit is both "Force and Form" and the Human is the divinity of the "dying god", manifested (mt/DNA); the Son of such a mother. Therefore, we have the traditional 6, a union of trinities, Son, Father, Grandfather, and Maid, Mother and Crone. Of such miracles, we are 7 which is linked with the mysterious number of Babylon (Crowley's name for her). However, this image shows Womans powerful nature, her rule over the "sex-force" and/or Vital Life Force and this very thought would curdle the milk of the misogynist.

Instead of myth-theology, we now describe these metaphors as "Theoretical Physics" and/or "the sciences". No matter how you celebrate it, celebrating the rebirth of life after winter's destruction is a fine idea---and fun too! Besides giving us a good feeling as we bloom in the sun again. It helps us realize the miracles of the Sun's/Son's beautiful resurrection all around us and its rejuvenating power within ourselves.

Besides, Life as "alive" should be celebrated, so Celebrate Spring as Goddess/Goodness Day! Honoring the Great Creatrix-Binah who is the Qabalistic "Will Form" and the Divine Mother of Understanding, for this honors ourselves who are individual Life Forces.

Alleged association with Ēostre

In his 1835 Deutsche Mythologie, Jacob Grimm states "The Easter Hare is unintelligible to me, but probably the hare was the sacred animal of Ostara". This proposed association was repeated by other authors including Charles Isaac Elton^{[16][page needed]} and Charles J. Billson.^[17] In 1961 Christina Hole wrote, "The hare was the sacred beast of Eastre (or Ēostre), a Saxon goddess of Spring and of the dawn."^{[18][page needed]} The belief that Ēostre had a hare companion who became the Easter Bunny was popularized when it was presented as fact in the BBC documentary Shadow of the Hare (1993).^[19]

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Easter Bunny

The Easter Bunny (also called the Easter Rabbit or Easter Hare) is a folkloric figure and symbol of Easter, depicted as a rabbit bringing Easter eggs. Originating among German Lutherans, the "Easter Hare" originally played the role of a judge, evaluating whether children were good or disobedient in behavior at the start of the season of Eastertide.^[1] The Easter Bunny is sometimes depicted with clothes. In legend, the creature carries colored eggs in his basket, candy, and sometimes also toys to the homes of children, and as such shows similarities to Santa Claus or the Christkind, as they both bring gifts to children on the night before their respective holidays. The custom was first^{[2][unreliable source?]} mentioned in Georg Franck von Franckenau's De ovis paschalibus^[3] ('About Easter Eggs') in 1682, referring to a German tradition of an Easter Hare bringing Easter eggs for the children.

And the academic arguments continue to this day!

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