After exploring the pagan roots of the midwinter festivals and the
dying Sun God, we travel into the darkness of the far north. This is where
we’ll find the origins of Christmas, its real meaning, and a hint at our true
purpose on this earth.
In the first part of this article we found that the birth of Jesus
represents the rebirth of the sun after the darkness of midwinter. In the
northern hemisphere, this cosmic metaphor can be observed on 21st December when the sun appears to rise to its lowest point in the sky. It rises
in the same spot for three days, and then on 24th December resumes
its ascent. The Sun King is reborn!
This myth is about renewal and the hope that life will continue and
be reborn in the spring. It’s often interpreted literally, in the sense that
the community will survive the harsh winter, the crops will flourish, and
families will be fruitful. But it has an inner meaning too.
The transformation of rebirth is a shamanic act, and the myths point
towards consciousness and the awakening of our true nature.
What does this have to do with Christmas trees, presents, flying
reindeer, and a jolly fat man in red and white? The answer is that all of these
things are shamanic in origin.
Santa is a Shaman
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| Tatiana, Evensk shaman from Kamchatka |
Many of the tribes in Siberia have shamanic practices that
survive from prehistoric times. These include the ceremonial use of entheogens
derived from the Amanita muscaria, or Fly Agaric mushroom. The shamans dress in
red and white, and gather the mushrooms using a sleigh pulled by reindeer. In
the harsh conditions of midwinter, the shaman would serve the community by
visiting each home to perform ceremonies. They distributed the dried mushrooms
and guided the recipients through the experience.
The mushrooms would be carried in a sack, and if the front door of
the yurt was snowed in, the shaman climbed in via the smoke hole in the roof.
The freshly harvested mushrooms would sometimes be hung by the fire in socks to
dry them out over night. Or to make them easier to carry, the shaman would dry
them out whilst harvesting them by placing the mushrooms in the branches of a
fir tree where they would dry in the sun.
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| Edible baubles |
If you imagine a fir tree covered in red and white
mushrooms, it’s easy to see how this might resemble a Christmas tree decorated
with baubles. In fact, some of the oldest Christmas ornaments were red and
white, and they were often edible too. Apples were hung in the tree to
symbolise the fruit of the Tree of
Knowledge, and these were later replaced by shiny red balls.
So here we have the symbol of a man or woman dressed in red, who
travels on a sleigh to deliver ‘presents’ carried in a sack, and climbs in via
the chimney. The shamanic Santa was often a shamaness, and this has come down
to us as the myths surrounding Holda who we met in part 1. She is found in the
folktales of northern Europe and travels in a carriage delivering presents on
Christmas Eve.
Which brings us to the flying reindeer.
The Fruit of the Tree
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| Amanita muscaria showing three stages of growth |
The Amanita group of mushrooms can be found around the
world with types that range from perfectly edible to deadly poisonous. The
Amanita muscaria type contains the psychoactive chemicals muscimol and ibotenic
acid which have toxic side effects if the mushrooms are eaten fresh. They grow
around the roots of certain evergreen trees, such as the pine, birch and oak,
and are found in Russia and all over Europe.
The toxic substances cause chills, sweating, salivation, nausea and
vomiting, but if the mushrooms are dried or boiled these effects are reduced.
The positive, psychotropic effects of the mushroom include visions and altered
states of consciousness, a sense of euphoria, impaired balance, and clarity of
mind.
Reindeer are known to enjoy eating these mushrooms. They seek them
out and will even dig through snow to reach them. After snaffling the mushrooms
they stagger about, wild eyed and deliriously happy (presumably!). Humans who
ingest the Amanita muscaria report sensations of flying. Nobody is sure how the
reindeers feel under the influence, but they wouldn’t eat them if they didn’t
like it!
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| Ok, so this is a moose blitzed on apples, but you get the idea |
So now we have our flying reindeer, but there’s more to be said
about these mushrooms. The use of entheogenic plants is generally considered to
be the origin of religion, so let’s take a closer look at these mushrooms.
The Amanita muscaria only grows around evergreen trees and they have
a symbiotic relationship, feeding nutrients to each other. The mushrooms can’t
grow without the tree and are seen as the fruit of the tree.
They start their growth cycle in an egg form, then the red cap
bursts through the top. As it grows larger, the cap flattens to form a
disc-like surface, and then it slowly inverts, the sides turn upwards and it
forms a cup shape. Once it gets to this stage it’s almost at the end of its
cycle. The cap lifts and resembles wings, and then it collapses in on itself
and decomposes leaving nothing but the white filaments, or mycelium, which
attach to the roots of the tree, where the cycle starts again.
The lifecycle of the mushroom itself embodies the
birth/death/rebirth cycle that it symbolises, and it’s sometimes likened to the
mythical phoenix. This is the bird that is reborn from its own ashes, but never
leaves the nest. As soon as it tries to fly away, it bursts into flame and
dies, only to be reborn again – over and over and over.
Shamans use these sacred plants for healing, meditation,
communicating with the ancestors and spirits, and for undergoing rites of
passage. The shamanic vision provides training for the afterlife and brings the
shaman into direct contact with the truth about who we are. This is why the
mushrooms are called the Fruit of the Tree. The Amanita muscaria, and other
entheogenic plants, are the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. They
weren’t always forbidden and the story behind their suppression is a long and
sorry tale. But the good news is that the truth is hidden in the myths and
stories that we still celebrate every year at Christmas.
The Oldest Religion
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| One tiny part of the site that's rewriting history - Gobekli Tepe |
Before the Sun Gods rose to prominence, another religion
was practiced around the globe. Its form varied depending upon the culture, but
each had certain key factors in common. This prehistoric religion was centred
on the Goddess and the Moon, and its main focus was the cycle
of birth, death and rebirth. GobekliTepe in Turkey may be the oldest temple dedicated to this religion that has
been found so far, dating back to around 10,000 BCE at the end of the Ice Age.
The roots of this religion stretch back into Palaeolithic times when
the Pole Star was venerated. The
Pole Star is a fixed point in the sky because it’s aligned with the Earth’s
axis and sits close to the celestial pole. At the moment, this star is Polaris,
which can be seen directly overhead at the North Pole, but due to the wobble of
the Earth’s axis the pole star changes over time. Around 16,000 BCE the pole
star was Deneb in the constellation of Cygnus. Cave paintings at Lascaux have
been found that illustrate this connection.
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| The 'bird on a stick' represents Cygnus at the pole |
The Pole Star cults are also known as the Pillar religion. They called the highest point in the sky “the
throne of the most high”, and it was seen as the top of a holy mountain, or the
sacred mound. This sacred mountain was the “Axis of the Universe” or the World Tree, the central pillar around
which the entire universe revolved.
The cosmic axis of the World Tree has roots which reach down into
the underworld, the trunk is the everyday world or ‘middle earth’, the branches
reach into heaven, and the tip of the tree touches the pole star. During
ceremonies, the spirit of the shaman climbs the World Tree and passes into the
realm of the ancestors and the gods. Once there, the shaman can heal, gather
information, and prepare for the ultimate journey – death. One example from
myth: Odin (another shaman) hung upside down from the Yggdrasil to gain insight
into the mysteries of life.
The links with Christmas and the midwinter festivals are obvious.
The Christmas tree is the World Tree complete with a star on top. Santa the
shaman lives at the North Pole and flies around the world in 24 hours. The
stars which circle the pole complete the circuit once everyday. One of these
constellations is the Big Dipper, or Ursa Major, which is seen as a wagon or
cart in many cultures. This is the chariot used by Odin and Holda to travel
across the sky, and may just as well be called Santa’s sleigh.
The True Meaning of Christmas
The Pole Star cults of the Pillar religion were overthrown by the
Sun Gods and the patriarchal religions grew to dominate the world. But many of
the old shamanistic elements of the goddess cultures were incorporated into the
mythologies of the new religions. The men and women who created the original
myths had a profound understanding of spiritual truths and these were encoded
into the stories for us to discover. Although the true meaning of these ancient
myths has been suppressed and trivialised (and branded evil by some), it
continues to seep through the traditions of Christmas, albeit in a distorted form.
Let’s look at the main elements of the myth and the meaning of the symbols.
The entire mythology is a metaphor for awakening to our true nature.
This is stated as a belief that we are destined to return to the realm of the
immortal stars that circle the pole. We reach the stars by climbing the Tree of
Life and then travel along the Milky Way to arrive at the Pole Star. For
example, in Egyptian mythology it was believed that the pharaoh ascended to the
imperishable stars where he joined the gods.
“O You Who are high in the stars, You shall never die.” - The Ancient Egyptian Prayer Book
The stars circling the pole are considered to be immortal because
they never set. They represent divine love which is always present and is our
true nature.
Sacred mountains are found in religions all over the world and
they’re often seen as the home of the gods: Mount Parnassus and Olympus
(Greek), Meru and Sumeru (Hindu and Buddhist), Zion (Hebrew), and Kunlun
Mountain (Taoist). Myths often portray people going up mountains to receive
religious instruction or spiritual insight from the god or gods. The top of the
mountain touches the pole star and so represents eternal life, and to travel to
the top means to gain insight into our divine nature.
Holy mountains are the pillars of heaven and the axis around which
the world turns. The World Axis is often represented by ziggurats, obelisks,
djed columns, pyramids, and steeples. Symbolically speaking the pillar is the
spine. This can be seen most clearly with the djed column in Egyptian
mythology, which is also seen as a sacred tree. It represents the backbone of
Osiris and is sometimes depicted with a winged solar disc at the top. Here's some examples:
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| Raising the Djed column at Abydos |
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| Ancient Egyptian Tree of Life |
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| Sumerian Tree of Life |
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| Totem pole with wings |
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| Caduceus |
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| Chakra system with Kundalini pathways |
There are many representations of the World Tree and the Christmas
Tree is the most recent. The Tree of Life is an esoteric symbol for the energy
system of the body. The chakras, or energy vortexes, are rooted on the spine
and the process of awakening involves the Kundalini serpent rising up the spine
to the crown chakra at the top of the head.
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| Abstract Xmas tree with serpentine tinsel plus star on top! |
So the Christmas Tree actually represents the process of awakening:
the tree itself is the spine, the angel or star at the top is the opening of
the crown chakra, and the tinsel is the serpent winding its way to the top!
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| End of the polar night in Lapland |
Ultimately all religions and all mythology tell one
story – the tale of our death and rebirth. We are here to evolve our
consciousness so we can remember who we are, and this development is essential
to the evolution of the universe. The unconscious wants to become conscious and
it can only do that through us – through human consciousness.
These myths help us to remember and point us towards the realisation
of our true nature as essentially divine and at one with the cosmos. Midwinter
is the perfect time to wake up. Christmas is a liminal place and magic is in
the air. If you look up to the stars, who knows what you might see!
So whatever you’re doing this holiday season, I hope you have a good
time (and don’t end up in a tree!). I’ll be back in the New Year, reborn and
ready for another turn around the sun.
Merry Christmas!
Images: Shaman; Xmas Tree; Drunk Moose; Mushrooms;
Gobekli Tepe; Lascaux; Pillars: Djed, Totem, Chakras; Lapland
First Posted here: http://jessicadavidson.co.uk/2014/12/20/the-origins-of-christmas-2-shamanic-roots/
