This pre-Columbian document outlines Aztec cosmology, describing five successive "suns" or ages of the world.
Aztec tradition divides cosmic history into eras, each governed by a "sun" and ending due to divine intervention or natural disaster:
First Age (Sun of Earth or Jaguars): An era of giants who inhabited the world.
Second Age (Sun of Wind): Characterized by human-like beings.
Third Age (Sun of Fire): An age associated with further human development.
Fourth Age (Sun of Water, Atonatiuh): Lasting approximately 4,008 years, this era featured advanced societies.
The sun crosses the equator, initiating a new cycle for the southern hemisphere, bringing balance and a new start.
Deity: Nephthys symbolizes maturity and the peak of summer, where the sun is closest to Earth, providing the maximum energy needed for crops to mature.
Significance: This is a period of hibernation and introspection, as the sun is at its furthest point from Earth.
Mkhulu Nsingiza:"Our ancestors calculated time based on the rising of the sun, unlike the Western Gregorian calendar.
The equinoxes signify equal day and night, while the solstices mark the sun's closest and furthest points from Earth.
For example, the summer solstice, on December 21, is when the sun is closest to Earth in the southern hemisphere, and the winter solstice, on June 21, marks the sun's return journey towards the southern hemisphere, which we consider the African Christmas."
Mkhulu Nsingiza:"In December, the summer solstice brings the sun closest to Earth, associated with maturity and the first fruits celebration.
Mkhulu Nsingiza:"March, controlled by Osiris, signifies the departure of the nurturing sun and the storage of seeds.
July, governed by Sekhmet, the purifier, prepares us for the rebirth of the sun.
Our ancestors believed that the sun was God because the sun gives life, sustains life, and holds the solar system together.
The masculine was represented by the sun, and the feminine by the moon, incorporating the elements of fire, earth, water, and air.
Inanga, directly translating to "birth of the sun," and "Pang" meaning "sunrise," through our language, you can understand how important the sun was to our spirituality and way of life.
It tells us that we have two Sun Signs, not just one.
Through my study of the ancient Dendera, I discovered that I have two Sun Signs: Taurus and Aries.
Longer than the age of the Earth or the Sun and about half the time since the Big Bang.
Solar Dynasty (Suryavansha): This dynasty is said to have been founded by Ikshvaku, a son of the sun god Surya.
At our solar system’s distance from the center — 26,000 light years or about halfway from center to edge — it takes the sun about 225 million years to make one revolution around the Milky Way.
Ra (Helios): The sun god, Ra, was believed to have ruled for 1,000 years.
He was a central figure in Egyptian mythology, often depicted with a falcon head and a sun disk.
The 5 Suns - Aztecs
Your Sun is on the outer part of the arm, and it takes approximately 26,000 years for your Sun to make a complete cycle relative to the Central Sun — the center of your galaxy.
One cycle is when your Sun’s position is below the line, and the other cycle is when it is above the line.
In one major Atlantis narrative, the nation’s sacred emblem is not a sun disk alone and not a simple Christian cross.
Bridgman-Metchim’s 1900 book Atlantis: The Book of the Angels, it is that four-armed Cross: the victorious standard of Emperor Tekthah, later feared and venerated in every Temple of the Sun.
Afterwards I knew that all the other cities had, in their Temple of the Sun, that same emblem, feared and venerated throughout the land and — Oh, confusion as I write!
Later every city keeps the same emblem in its Temple of the Sun.
A short related detail in the same book pairs the cross with the sun.
A sceptre is shaped like the national standard, four-armed and cruciform, but surmounted by an orb of solid gold signifying the Sun.
That pairing reinforces why Temple of the Sun placement matters on this trail.
For the wider Temple of the Sun research habit I use on this site, see worship of the sun.
The sacred symbol in that 1900 Atlantis narrative is Tekthah’s four-armed Cross, the victory standard later kept in each Temple of the Sun.
Temple of the Sun placement ties this page to sun-worship research already on this site.
It began as Tekthah’s rally-signal and later stood in every city’s Temple of the Sun as the sacred emblem of victory.
How does this help Atlantis research?The four-armed Cross plus Temple of the Sun placement gives a clear literary symbol trail.
Worship of the sun: Temple of the Sun research, with fiction and comparative layers kept distinct.
The people of Atlantis worshipped various idols and natural objects, including the Sun, gems, the dragon (emblem of the sun), the moon and stars, oxen, cats, frogs, and other animals.
In religion, the Atlanteans held advanced beliefs, including the concept of one universal, omnipotent God, symbolized by the sun, and the immortality of the soul.
Numerous cultural practices, such as sun worship and agricultural ceremonies, found in civilizations as diverse as the Chinese and Peruvians, further support the theory of a common Atlantean origin.
Gold and silver held sacred significance across various ancient cultures, often associated with the sun and the moon.
Gold, with its brilliant luster, was associated with the sun, while silver, with its cooler, reflective surface, was linked to the moon.
Peru: Gold was revered as "the tears wept by the sun" and was used exclusively in religious contexts, adorning temples and sacred objects.
The Inca temple of the sun at Cuzco, known as the "Place of Gold," was an opulent display of gold and silver wealth.
Assyria: Gold and silver were dedicated to the sun and moon, respectively.
A pyramid in the palace of Nineveh featured stages covered in different colors representing celestial bodies, with gold at the top symbolizing the sun and silver representing the moon.
all these that sacred island, lying beneath the sun, brought forth in abundance.
The pyramidal imitations, dear to the hearts of colonists of the sacred mountain upon which their gods dwelt, was devoted, as perhaps the mountain itself was, to sun and fire worship.
Their temples were on those "high-places." The most ancient pyramids in Mexico are at Teotihuacan, eight leagues from the city of Mexico; the two largest were dedicated to the sun and moon respectively, each built of cut stone, with a level area at the summit, and four stages leading up to it.
He considers the analogy established in eleven particulars, as follows: 1, the site chosen is the same; 2, the structures are orientated with slight variation; 3, the line through the centres of the structures is in the astronomical meridian; 4, the construction in grades and steps is the same; 5, in both cases the larger pyramids are dedicated to the sun; 6, the Nile has "a valley of the dead," as in Teotihuacan there is "a street of the dead;" 7, some monuments in each class have the nature of fortifications; 8, the smaller mounds are of the same nature and for the same purpose; 9, both pyramids have a small mound joined to one of their faces; 10, the openings discovered in the Pyramid of the Moon are also found in some Egyptian pyramids; 11, the interior arrangements of the pyramids are analogous.
Ancient civilizations such as the Peruvians, Egyptians, Babylonians, and Phoenicians practiced sun worship.
Peru: Worshipped the sun, moon, and planets, with rituals involving sacrifices of fruits and flowers.
Egypt: In early ages, the Egyptians worshipped the sun and planets.
Ptah was the father of Ra, the sun-god, who was the supreme divinity.
Babylonians: Their trinity included Hea, Anu, and Bel, with Bel representing the sun.
The Greeks also worshipped the sun, as seen in the adoration of Apollo, one of their chief deities associated with the sun.
Solar Worship: The Aditya's solar association resonates with the sun-worshipping practices attributed to the Atlanteans.
Atl-tona-ti-uh: The Mexican calendar stone refers to the sun as Atl-tona-ti-uh, linking it to the deluge and again to Atlantis.
Fourth Sun (Nahui-Atl, Water Sun)
The Aztec legend says, "The sun was much nearer the earth then than now, and his grateful warmth rendered clothing unnecessary."
These four brothers were noble youths, born of one mother, who sallied forth from Tulan, the golden city of the sun, and divided between them all the land from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to the confines of Nicaragua, in other words, all the known world.
In the Cakchiquel Annals, as in the Popol Vuh and the Maya Chronicles, we hear of the city of the sun god, Tulan or Tonatlan, as the place of their origin, of the land Zuiva and of the Nonoalcos, names belonging to the oldest cycles of myths in the religion of the Aztecs.
The religion of the Atlanteans, described by Plato as pure and simple, involved worshipping the sun and making offerings of fruits and flowers.
Chaldean legends describe Khasisatra burying inscribed tables in the City of the Sun.
Then Yima stepped forward, in light, southwards, on the way of the sun, and (afterwards) he pressed the earth with the golden seal, and bored it with the poniard, speaking thus: 'O Spenta Armaiti, kindly open asunder and stretch thyself afar, to bear flocks and herds and men.'
Then Yima stepped forward, in light, southwards, on the way of the sun, and (afterwards) he pressed the earth with the golden seal, and bored it with the poniard, speaking thus: 'O Spenta Armaiti, kindly open asunder and stretch thyself afar, to bear flocks and herds and men.'
Then Yima stepped forward, in light, southwards, on the way of the sun, and (afterwards) he pressed the earth with the golden seal, and bored it with the poniard, speaking thus: 'O Spenta Armaiti, kindly) open asunder and stretch thyself afar, to bear flocks and herds and men.'
The one thing missed there is the sight of the stars, the moon, and the sun, and a year seems only as a day.'
Worshipped the moon, considered more powerful than the sun.
A great rebellion was being plotted, and a man of strange and evil knowledge, — a 'Lord of the Dark Face/ leagued with the dark Earth-Spirits who form the Kingdom of Pan, the semi-human, semi-animal creatures who are the originals of the Greek satyrs — was gradually gathering round himself a huge army which followed him as Emperor, the Emperor of the Midnight Sun, the Dark Emperor, set over against the White.
The seven Schemes are shown in Diagram I, around the central sun and at any one period of time only one of the rings in each Scheme will be active ; each ring of each of these seven Schemes is composed of seven globes; these are not figured separately but form what we here have drawn as a ring, in order to save space.
A kind of crater, where the sun was reflected from the rocks, served as a forcing-house and they produced there a fruit of the size of a cocoa-nut, of which they seemed to be inordinately proud.
While these seismic changes were in progress, the Manu's community was left undisturbed by absolute cleavagfe or change of surface ; but the people were constantly terrified by the recurring earthquakes, and were almost paralysed by the fear that the sun (which had been rendered invisible for a year by masses of cloud, largely composed of fine dust) had gone out for ever.
Peruvian Religion: Simple, joyous sun-worship.
The temples were arranged to symbolize the solar system, with the Sun temple at the center.
It will be remembered that among the Peruvians the religious cult was a simple but extremely beautiful form of Sun-worship, or rather worship of the Spirit of the Sun ; its tenets were few and clear, and its chief characteristic was its all-pervading spirit of joyousness.
It was not the Sun alone that was reverenced there, but all the Host of Heaven, and the religion was in fact an exceedingly elaborate scheme of worship of the great Star-Angels, including within it, as a practical guide to daily life, a comprehen-
All its physical constituents — the sun with his worderful corona, all the planets with their satellites, their oceans, their atmospheres, and the various ethers surrounding them — all these collectively made up His physical body, the expression of Him on the physical plane.
Certain daily hours of prayer, regulated by the apparent movements of the sun, were observed by all alike ; at sunrise, noon, and sunset, certain anthems or verses were chanted by the priests at the temples, and the more religious of the people made a point of being regularly present at these short services, while those who could not conveniently attend them nevertheless observed each of these hours by the recitation of a few pious phrases of praise and prayer.
Each of the planets had as signed to it at least two great feast days in the year and the Sun and Moon appropriated considerably more than two.
B: far the largest and the most splendid of all was th huge temple of the Sun, which it will presently b< necessary to describe somewhat more in detail.
The difference in size between the Sun and the smaller members of his family is so immense, and the distances between them are so enormous, that unless the buildings were mere dolls ' houses no country would be large enough to contain the entire system.
The shrines devoted to the inner planets made a sort of irregular cluster which seemed quite close under the walls of the great Sun-Temple, while those of the giant outer members of the solar family were dotted at ever-increasing intervals over the plain, until the representative of far-away Neptune was almost lost in the distance.
The dress worn by the followers of the Sun was a beautifully delicate silken material, all interwoven with gold threads, so that it appeared a veritable cloth of gold.
Vulcan's hue was flame-colour, striking, gorgeous, and distinctive — possibly typical of the extreme propinquity of Vulcan to the Sun, and the fiery physical conditions that must obtain there.
The garments of the Moon were naturally of white material, but so interwoven with threads of silver that practically it might be called cloth of silver, as the Sun's was cloth of gold.
But the grandest display of all was at one of the great feasts of the Sun-God, when the people came together, each robed in the gorgeous vestment of his tutelary Deity, and the whole immense multitude performed the solemn circumambulation of the Suntemple.
On such an occasion the worshippers of the Sun filled the vast building to overflowing, while next to the walls marched the bands of Vulcan, next outside them those of Mercury, then the followers of Venus and so on, each planet being represented in the order of its position with reference to the Sun.
The whole mass of people, thus arranged in concentric rings of flashing colour, swept slowly, steadily round like a colossal living wheel, and, under the flood of living light poured down by that all but tropical Sun, they formed perhaps as brilliant a spectacle as the world has ever seen.
In order that some account may be given of the even more interesting ceremonies that took place on such occasions within that great temple of the Sun, it is necessary that we should attempt a description of its appearance and arrangement.
Joseph in a Catholic cathedral, fcr one of them was consecrated to the Sun and the other to the Moon, and some of the regular daily services connected with these two luminaries were celebrated at them.
The lighting of certain sacred fires when the Sun himself crossed the meridian was achieved by means of the same mechanism, though one of the most interesting ceremonies of this nature was always performed at the western altar.
The following morning the rays of the Sun, passing through an orifice above the eastern altar, fell directly upon that at the west end, and by means of a glass globe filled with water which was suspended in their path and acted as a lens, the Sun himself relit the sacred Moon-fire, which was then carefully tended and kept burning for another year.
The outside of this huge dome was thinly plated with gold ; and it was noteworthy that a peculiar dappled effect was produced on the surface, evidently intended to represent what are called the * willow-leaves ' or * ricegrains' of the Sun.
The only light admitted came through thick plates of a crystallike substance of various colours, which were let into the floor of the temple, but arrangements were made to reflect the sun's rays through this medium when necessary, and the priest who was practising his meditation allowed this reflected light to fall upon the various centres in his body — sometimes upon that between the eyes, sometimes upon the base of the spine, and so on.
The produce from public lands was split between the king and the priests of the Sun.
The priests of the Sun used their share to support the temples, provide free education, care for the sick, and maintain the elderly.
The Peruvian religion was centered around the worship of the Sun, viewed as the source of all life and power.
Their rituals and beliefs emphasized joy and gratitude, with death seen as a transition to a closer communion with the Sun Spirit.
The produce from public land was split between the king and the priests of the Sun.
The priests of the Sun provided for all sick individuals, who became 'guests of the Sun' and received free care.
Any one who had so failed would have been regarded as an uncivilised being, unworthy of the high privilege of citizenship in this great Empire of 'The Children of the Sun,' as these early Peruvians called themselves; he would have been looked upon with something of the same horror and pity as was an excommunicated person in mediaeval Europe.
This public land was itself divided into two equal parts (each of which therefore represented a quarter of the whole arable land of the country), one of which was called the land of the King, the other the land of the Sun.
And the law was that the land of the Sun must first be tilled, before any man turned a sod of his own private land ; when that was done, each man was expected to cultivate his own piece of land, and only after all the rest of the work was safely over was he required to do his share towards tilling the land of the King — so that if unexpected bad weather delayed the harvest the loss would fall first upon the King, and except in an exceedingly inclement season could scarcely affect the people's private share ; while that of the Sun would be safeguarded in almost any possible contingency short of absolute failure of the crops.
Until the lands of the Sun were fully watered, no drop of the precious fluid was directed elsewhere; until every man's private field had all that it needed, there was no water for the lands of the King.
Thus it will be seen that a quarter of the entire wealth of the country went directly into the hands of the King; for in the case of money derived from manufactures or mining industries the division was stil) tlio same — first one-fourth to the Sun, then onehalt7 to the worker, and then the remaining fourth to the King.
It will be better not to pause now to describe the special work of the army, but rather to fill in the remainder of our rough outline of the polity of this ancient State by indicating the place held in it by the great Guild of the Priests of the Sun, so far as the civil side of the work of that priesthood is concerned.
First, they kept up the splendid temples of the Sun all over the land — kept them up on such a scale that many a small village shrine had golden ornaments and decorations that would now represent many thousands of pounds, while the great cathedrals of the larger cities blazed with a magnificence which hap never since been approached anywhere upon earth.
It is not meant that they were merely the physicians of the period (though that they were also), but that the moment a man, woiLan or child fell ill in any way, he at once came under the charge of the priests, or, as they more gracefully put it, became the 'guest of the Sun'.
The sick person was immediately and entirely absolved from all his duties to the State, and, until his recovery, not only the necessary morlioiTipp, but also his food, were supplied to him free of all charge from the nearest temple of the Sun, while in any serious case he was usually taken to that temple as to a hospital, in order to receive more careful nursing.
If the sick man were the breadwinner of the family, his wife and children also became ' guests of the Sun' until he recovered.
Fourthly — and perhaps this statement will be considered even more astonishing than the last — the entire population over the age of forty-five (except the official class) were also ' guests of the Sun/ It was considered that a man who had worked for twenty-five years from the age of twenty — when he was first expected to begin to take his share of the burdens of the State — had earned rest and comfort for the remainder of his life, whatever that might be.
But in any case he was absolved from all work for the State, and his maintenance was provided by the priesthood of the Sun.
It will now be obvious why the work of the priests was considered the most important, and why, whatever else failed, the contributions to the treasury of the Sun must not fall short, for on them deponded not only the religion of the people, but the education of the young and the care of the sick and the aged.
If we had to classify their faith among those with which we are now acquainted, we should be obliged to call it a kind of Sun-worship, though of course they never thought for a moment of worshipping the physical sun.
They regarded it, however, as something much more than a mere symbol; if we endeavour to express their feeling in Theosophical terminology, we shall perhaps come nearest to it by saying that they looked upon the sun as the physical body of the LOGOS, though that attributes to them a precision of idea which they would probably have considered irreverent.
They would have told an enquirer that they worshipped the Spirit of the Sun, from whom everything came, and to whom everything must re* turn — by no means an unsatisfactory presentment of a mighty truth.
They were quite certain that man was immortal, and they held that his eventual destiny was to go to the Spirit of the Sun perhaps to become one with Him, though this was not clearly defined in their teachings.
Praise was offered daily to the Spirit of the Sun, but never prayer; because they were taught that the Deity knew better than they what was required for their welfare — a doctrine which one would like to see more fully comprehended at the present day.
Fruit and flowers were offered in their temples, not from any idea that the Sun-God desired such service, but simply as a token that they owed all to Him; for one of the most prominent theories of their faith was that all light and life and power came from the Sun — a theory which is fully borne out by the discoveries of modern science.
He spoke to them of their Lord the Sun, calling upon them to remember how everything that they needed for their physical well-being was brought into existence by Him; how without His glorious light and heat the world would be cold and dead, and all life would be impossible ; how to His action was due the growth of the fruits and grains which formed the staple of their food, and even the fresh water, which was the most precious and necessary of all.
Then he explained to them how the wise men of old had taught that behind this action which all could see, there was always another and still grander action which was invisible, but could yet be felt by those whose lives were in harmony with their Lord's; how what the Sun in one aspect did for the life of their bodies, that same office He also performed, in another and even more wonderful aspect, for the life of their souls.
He pointed out that both these actions were absolutely continuous — that though sometimes the Sun was hidden from the sight of His child the earth, yet the cause of such temporary obscuration was to be found in the earth and not in the Sun, for one had only to climb far enough up the mountains in order to rise above the overshadowing clouds, and discover that their Lord was shining on in glory all the time, entirely unaffected by the veil which seemed so dense when seen from below.
The full benefit of the Sun's action, continued the priest, could be experienced only by those who were themselves in perfect health.
Now the sign of perfect health on all levels was that men should resemble their Lord the Sun.
The man who was in the enjoyment of full physical health was himself a kind of minor sun, pouring out strength and life upon all around, so that by his very presence the weak became stronger, the sick and the suffering were helped.
In exactly the same way, he insisted, the man who was in perfect moral health was also a spiritual sun, radiating love and purity and holiness on all who were happy enough to come into contact with him.
And both these objects together could be attained in one way, and in one way only — by that constant imitation of the benevolence of the Spirit of the Sun, which alone drew His children ever nearer and nearer to Him.
It will be remembered that, besides what we may call their purely religious work, the priests of the Sun had entire charge of the education of the country.
Every child, for example, was taught how to prepare and cook certain simple kinds of food, how to distinguish poisonous fruits from wholesome ones, how to find food and shelter if lost in the forest, how to use the simpler tools required in carpentering, in building, or in agriculture, how to make his way from place to place by the positions of the sun and stars, how to manage a canoe, as well as to.
They understood that the planets differed from the rest of the stars, and spoke of them as the sisters of the earth — for they recognised that the earth was one of them — or sometimes 'the elder children of the Sun.
' They knew that the earth was globular in shape, that day and night were due to its rotation on its axis, and the seasons to its annual revolution round the sun.
They were aware also that the fixed stars were outside the solar system, and they regarded comets as messengers from these other great Beings to their Lord, the Sun; but it is doubtful whether they had anything like an adequate conception of the real size of any of the bodies involved.
They were able to predict eclipses both of the sun and moon with perfect accuracy, but this was not done by observation, but by use of a traditional formula; they understood their nature, and do not seem to have attached much importance to them.
He highlighted the importance of changes in the eccentricity (shape) of the Earth's orbit around the sun.
When the orbit is more elliptical, the difference in distance from the sun at various points in the orbit increases, leading to greater seasonal contrasts.
The Aztec legend says, "The sun was much nearer the earth then than now, and his grateful warmth rendered clothing unnecessary."