Symbols, Sex, and the Stars PDF book (1949 ) by Ernest Busenbark With Illustrations









Origins of Moon and Sun Worship, Astrology, Sex Symbolism, Mystic Meaning of Numbers, the Cabala, and Many Popular Customs, Myths, Superstitions, and Religious Beliefs.

The use of symbols to convey knowledge to the initiated and to conceal it from the uninitiated is as old as civilization. A clear understanding of the symbolic way of thinking is necessary if we would unveil and comprehend the “esoteric” (hidden or secret) meaning of the symbols of ancient and modern faiths.Every object is connected with its origins through progressive change. The complex was evolved from the simple. In the realm of popular beliefs, however, especially of the theological type, the tendency has been to conceal from the common people the sources and nature of archaic symbols and practices.So long as men express thought by the use of sym¬bols, the explanation of the origin and nature of their use is worthy of the best efforts of scholars. Genuine culture cannot be based upon the undeciphered paleography of primitive ages.The ancient faiths had their “mysteries”, forms of initiation, secret signs of recognition, and a body of symbolic lore generally kept from the public. Supernatural belief evolved through many stages. The initial stages are of chief interest to the scholar and serious student. In the early form of such belief, we find the core from which present ideas and practices have evolved. As a belief is a composite of previous ideas and experiences, the primitive mentality revealed in early symbolism appears also in modern emblematic representations.In his “Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism”, Inman pertinently observes: “When there exist two distinct explanations, or statements, about the significance of an emblem, the one ‘esoteric’, true, and known only to the few, the other ‘exoteric’, incorrect, and known to the many, it is clear that a time may come when the first may be lost, and the last alone remain". (P. xii) Inman illustrates the thought by showing that the correct pronunciation of “Jehovah” was supposed originally to be known only to a select few, and later was lost, while the admittedly incorrect pronunciation survived.Every state of society continues from the point of development at which its predecessor left off. Every statement of belief takes on in the course of time different values or interpretations. The god of the ancient Hebrews or Christians is certainly not the god of modern believers, and present-day religious worship embodies many departures from that which the ancients accepted as the ultimate standard. To understand the nature of this cultural change requires the study of the development and migration of symbols and their utilization to express supernatural concepts. The social environment usually makes such a study seem inadvisable.