he "symbol of life" held in the hand by the
Egyptian deities, is a cross or oval, i.e., the T with an oval at the
top; the circle with the cross inside, symbolises, again, the male and
female union; also the six-rayed star, the pentacle, the double
triangle, the triangle and circle, the pit with a post in it, the key,
the staff with a half-moon, the complicated cross. The same union is
imaged out in all androgynous deities, in Elohim, Baalim, Baalath,
Arba-il, the bearded Venus, the feminine Jove, the virgin and child. In
countries where the Yoni worship was more popular than that of the
Phallus, the VIRGIN and CHILD was a favourite deity, and to this we now
turn.

Here, as in the history of the cross, we find sun and nature worship
intertwined. The female element is sometimes the Earth, and sometimes
the individual. The goddesses are as various in names as the gods. Is,
Isis, Ishtar, Astarte, Mylitta, Sara, Mrira, Maia, Parvati, Mary,
Miriam, Eve, Juno, Venus, Diana, Artemis, Aphrodite, Hera, Rhea, Cybele,
Ceres, and others, are the earth under many names; the receptive female,
the producer of life, the Yoni. Black is the special colour of female
deities, and the black Isis and Horus, the black Mary and Jesus are of
peculiar sanctity. Their emblems are: the earth, moon, star of the sea,
circle, oval, triangle, pomegranate, door, ark, fish, ship, horseshoe,
chasm, cave, hole, celestial virgin, etc. They bore first the titles now
worn by Mary, the virgin mother of Jesus, and were reverenced as the
"queen of heaven." Ishtar, of Babylonia, was the "Mother of the Gods,"
and the "Queen of the Stars." Isis, of Egypt, was "our Immaculate Lady."
She was figured with a crown of stars, and with the crescent moon. Venus
was an ark brooded over by a dove, or the moon floating on the water.
They are "the mother," "mamma," "emma," "ummah," or "the woman." The
symbols are everywhere the same, though given with different names.
Everywhere it is Mary, the mother; the female principle in nature,
adored side by side with the male. She shares in the work of creation
and salvation, and has a kind of equality with the Father of all; hence
we hear of the immaculate conception. She produces a child alone in some
stories, without even divine co-operation. The Virgo of the Zodiac is
represented in ancient sculptures and drawings as a woman suckling a
child, and the Paamylian feasts were celebrated at the spring equinox,
and were the equivalent o