One of the gods I highlighted in my book The Christ Conspiracy, and even more so in my book Suns of God, is the Mesoamerican deity Kukulkan or Quetzalcoatl. In Christ Con, I included the fact that mainstream scholarship does not allow for contact between the "Old" and "New" Worlds, but I suggested that the presence of the "mythos" or mythical archetype in Mexico centuries before "first contact" would serve as an indication that there was pre-Columbian contact. (However, the core shared traditions may also predate the first migrations of peoples into the Americas, possibly traceable to back to Africa or points in between. Some of these parallels may also emanate from observations of globally detectable natural phenomena directly from a local perspective.)
After making the above disclaimer, I commented: "However it got there, there can be no doubt as to the tremendous similarity between the Mexican religion and Catholicism." In both books, I quoted and cited the abundant scholarship reflecting what the conquistadors/Jesuits themselves had recounted, common knowledge among modern comparative religion and Mesoamerican scholars. Indeed, these correspondences were so commonly recognized that many natives reportedly converted to Christianity with relatively little effort because of the similarities between their religion and that of the Christians.
As American anthropologist Dr. C. Scott Littleton (1933-2010) remarks:
The speed with which many Mesoamerican people converted to Christianity had much to do with Quetzalcoatl. Some people converted because they identified Cortes with their god; they believed the new rituals the Spanish missionaries introduced were another version of practices used to worship Quetzalcoatl. This process was aided by a resemblance between the Spanish missionaries and the Aztec priests of Tenochtitlan, both of whom wore long black coats. Other people converted because they identified Christ with Quetzalcoatl. Both figures had a message of peace; in addition, the myth of Quetzalcoatl's descent into the underworld to find bones for a future human race, and the use of his own blood to bring the bones to life, had parallels in the story of Christ's crucifixion, death and resurrection. (Littleton, Gods, Goddesses and Mythology, v. 11. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 2005; p. 1203.)
I continue to explore how this phenomenon has come to be and to raise this issue of the Mesoamerican correspondences to Christianity, which I included in my new 2012 Astrotheology Calendar (2):
Like Christ, Quetzalcoatl is born of a virgin, the goddess Coatlique, and is a great teacher of civilization. Also like Jesus, Quetzalcoatl strikes down the Prince of Darkness and Evil (Tezcatlipoca), who attempts to deceive mankind. The Aztec godman descends into the underworld, where he "gathers the bones of the human beings of the previous epochs," while, in the apocryphal text [The Gospel of Nicodemus], Christ resurrects several kings and prophets of previous epochs out of the underworld. Quetzalcoatl's blood is used to convey life to the humans whose bones he saved, while Christ's blood delivers eternal life and saves humans from death.
Quetzalcoatl became the "second sun," while Jesus is the "sun of righteousness" arising with healing on his wings. (Mal 4:3) Both Christ and Quetzalcoatl are identified with the morning star. Quetzalcoatl also represents one of the four cardinal points, one of four "brothers," while Christ has four brothers (Mt 13:55).
Both figures are depicted as light-skinned and bearded, and it is claimed of both that they will return to vanquish their enemies. Jesus came with a sword and threatened to bring chaos to the earth, while Quetzalcoatl "caused a rain of fire to devastate the earth, drying up all the rivers and destroying man..." Quetzalcoatl's acts are also similar to several of the Jewish god Yahweh's in Genesis, for example.
Also like Jesus, who identifies himself (Jn 3:14-15) with the serpent Moses raised up at Numbers 21:0, Quetzalcoatl and Kukulkan are identified with the serpent, a relationship dramatically reflected at Kukulkan's temple at Chichen Itza.
These contentions are all cited using modern research such as can be found in National Geographic Essential Visual History of World Mythology (391), articles on Wiki, which have been vetted for accuracy, and primary sources wherever possible. There are many more such correspondences, in fact, that can be verified in the same manner, validating the scholarship of older sources such as in my books Christ Con and Suns of God.
Virgin Birth?
As concerns the virgin birth, it is clear that such a concept was understood to have been applied to a "priest-king" named Quetzalcoatl. Based on the abundantly pervasive concept of the virgin birth found elsewhere, as well as the fact that kings, priests and other "authorities" have frequently been identified with or as gods, it is logical to suggest that the attribute attached to the supposed "king" Quetzalcoatl was also that of the god.
In his book Living Myths: How Myth Gives Meaning to Human Experience, under the entry "The Story of Quetzalcoatl: The Hero Becomes a God," classical scholar J.F. Bierlein summarizes this issue:
Quetzalcoatl was many things: (1) a historical personage - a great priest-king and religious reformer who lived in approximately the tenth century A.D....; (2) a god of the winds, the sun, and the planet Venus; (3) the cultural hero and expected "messiah" of the pre-Columbian Mexicans; and (4) a god-hero who served as patron of the arts, writing and the cultivation of maize. These identities became fused together over time.
Concerning the birth of this composite figure, Bierlein further states:
There are several stories regarding the birth of Quetzalcoatl. One version has him born of a virgin named Chimalman, to whom the supreme god, Onteotl (the Great Father-Mother) appeared in a dream. Onteotl showed his/her face to Chimalman and her two sisters. The two sisters died instantly from the gaze, but Chimalman, pure of heart, survived and conceived a son, Quetzalcoatl. In another version, the virgin Chimalman swallows a sacred piece of jade and conceives Quetzalcoatl.
A third story of Quetzalcoatl's birth is directly tied to his identify as a deity of the sun and planet Venus. In this story, Quetzalcoatl is the son of a mother who already has four thousand children who have left her and now form the stars of the Milky Way. This mother was saddened to be alone and have her children so far from her bosom. She began to weep from longing. Onteotl took pity on her in her loneliness and caused a feather of the sacred quetzal bird to drift...
Some of the pertinent information concerning Quetzalcoatl's virgin birth can be found in the Codices Telleriano-Remensis and Vaticanus A, folio 27v, from a Spanish commentator, Pedro de los Rios.
Once more, many of these commonalities between Christ and Quetzalcoatl were remarked upon by the first non-native chroniclers, not a few of whom were so mortified to find basically their entire religion among the "savages" that they felt the need to destroy thousands of Mesoamerican writings and artifacts.
Again, for those who are interested in this fascinating information, I raise this issue because it exists and is part of the comparative religion I wish to share. And again, for my Christ Con revision, I am attempting to find out the reason behind these astonishingly detailed correspondences. One of the reasons, I have suggested repeatedly, is because these mythical motifs represent astronomical and natural phenomena observable globally, but some of the intricate details may serve as evidence of some type of post-Beringian and pre-Columbian contact between the Old and New Worlds.
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|2011-09-25 04:51:18 DanHopkins - Thanks for picking up the work!Thanks Acharya, another neglected subject!
The author of "An Inglorious Columbus; or, Evidence Hwui Shan and a party of Buddhist monks from Afghanistan discovered America in the 5th century” draws parallels between Quetzalcoatl and Buddha. He mentions that the first Christian missionaries to Mexico claimed Satan created a copycat religion just as the Christian missionaries reported of Central Asian Buddhism.
“”a resemblance so striking that the first Roman Catholic missionaries in Asia, like their brethren in Mexico, thought that it must be an imitation by the devil of the religion of Christ. Everyone who visits their monasteries can at once discover the resemblance. Their celibacy, their living in communities, their cloisters, their service in the choirs, their string of beads, their fasts, and their penances, give them so much of the air of Christian monks that it is not surprising that a Capuchin should be ready to hail them as brothers” p-570
He used art and textual/oral evidences such as showing Quetz was said & shown in art to have had a forehead broader than any other person, same said of Buddha and Odin among other non related persons. As usual, his 19th cent etymologies are questionable but he also shows flaws in the excepted derivations.
The book is very interesting but still leaves out some evidences showing Buddhist monks in the Americas and in a previous paper I examine the Aztec/Buddhist fable that says a rabbit/Bodhisat sacrificed himself to Quetzalcoatl/Sakra for food; as a reward Quetz /Sakr takes him to the moon and the author, Edward Payson Vining, is correct in finding the name Saka everywhere in Central Asia and Western America.
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|2011-09-25 19:20:20 Acharya SThanks, Dan! That's very interesting. Other than myths and, perhaps, some words, according to mainstream science there is no credible and accepted archaeological evidence of any post-Beringian, pre-Columbian contact between the worlds.
Recent genetic studies seem to confirm the thesis that American was populated via the Bering land bridge in only one migration. However, other studies have indicated four or nine different migrations.
Yet other studies have indicated that, as the natives supposedly claim, Mesoamericans possess Polynesian genetics, as well as Japanese. One scholar of Japanese culture has contended for a Japanese Buddhist migration to certain Native Americans at some point, explaining some of the peculiar commonalities between those Native Americans and these Asians.
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|2011-12-05 12:54:45 ApostateAbeAcharya S, I am with you on the point that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but, in my opinion, we need far better evidence than modern tertiary sources (like National Geographic or Wikipedia) before accepting some claims, because extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and, well, frankly, the claim--that a Mexican god shares a bundle of traits in common with Jesus because of common mythical origin--doesn't get much more extraordinary than that. I know that my skepticism makes me seem like a jerk, but I think that problem is very common among skeptics, I am working on it, and I could use your help. I am most humiliated and put in my proper place when I am proven wrong, and I think you can do that. What is the ancient evidence that Quetzalcoatl was born from a virgin?
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|2011-09-26 19:58:35 Thomas - Internal ContradictionsApostateAbe,
You said and i quote
"because extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence"
I would class the following propositions as being extraordinary claims:
1. a human female was impregnated by a cosmic being via a holy ghost
2. the person alleged to have been produced, we are told did the following: turn water into wine, raised dead persons,walked on water...
No scientific evidence has been produced for these claims - nil - zero
We have not been provided with extraordinary evidence for these assertions - nil - zero
If the option of classifying these claims as mythology or historical factual actualities, then I most readily choose mythology. I think an unbiased appraisal Acharya's work and others would confirm this position.
Again to quote a question from you
"What is the ancient evidence that Quetzalcoatl was born from a virgin?"
These belong to mythology not actual human beings.
Ergo
"What is the ancient evidence that Jesus was born from a virgin?"
Again mythology! not history
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|2011-09-27 10:41:49 DanHopkins - Virgin birthAbe,
Since, in a lazy sentence, you asked Acharya to do research for you, I thought I could help you. Now I feel compelled to ask you for something that your faith commands you to give. May I have your jacket & cloak?! (also, Jesus says that you must “give” your coat so I assume I am not required to “get it” from you!)
Just as different people known by the same name may develop into a single figure, people with similar bios may become one. The later Quetzalcoatl seems to have been partly an American composite and although I agree that the Virgin Mother is astrological, with the Buddhists it developed as a belief that the Buddha could not be the result of desires. The Quetzalcoatl priest and priestess also took vows of celibacy; I would guess they would have preferred a virgin birth for their hero..
"This nation {South America} is very superstitious. An ancient tradition states that the apostle Saint Thomas had preached the Gospel in their country, where some of his disciples had been sent; this at least is certain, that among the gross fables and the monstrous dogmas of which their religion is composed, some traces of Christianity may be discovered. It appears especially, if what they say is true, that they have a clear idea of a God made man for the good of the human race; for one of their traditions is that a VIRGIN, gifted with a perfect beauty, without having known any man, conceived a very beautiful son, who, when he had arrived at the age of manhood, worked great prodigies"-- Father Charlevoix, Society of Jesus (tome ii, livre, p. 274)
Although the father is obviously mistaken about any ancient accounts of “Saint Thomas” in the Americas, as church fathers were wrong about him in India, there are accounts of a visiting sage, but this would not stop many Christians from inserting both Thomas & Jesus into the native hero type and they had no sickly man god. Buddha first had a disciple who doubted the “Damas”, like Thomas, he was called “twin” and many Chinese Buddhist took on the name Dharma (Ta-mo).
Contrary to Hollywood’s Jesus, the early Jesus, molded around the hero of the second Isaiah, was said to have no noble features; the Buddhist not only claim Buddha eugenicized himself as an Adonis through past acts of sacrifice, but also they say tha after beings fall from grace, the first leader, was chosen, partly because of his good looks.
“Thereupon the people approached a person who was finer, handsomer, pleasanter, and more commanding than the rest, and said: "Come, fellow-being! Rebuke whomsoever is rightly deserving of rebuke, and upbraid or expel whomsoever is rightly deserving thereof; but we will provide for your share of the rice”
The Buddhists also believed that Buddha, Sakra (Indra), Bodhisattvas,etc.. all appear as beggers, paupers, vagabonds, maimed, etc, to invoke pity or to test resolve. The Pali and Sanskrit Buddhist texts state that the Buddha’s big eyes (Jesus depicted with them also) had the ability to make people feel compassionate and there may be some truth to this because every time I see a kid with thick lenses my heart just breaks for some reason?
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|2011-09-27 13:47:29 Hypathia - Dear Abe and Random"Abe Wrote" "What is the ancient evidence that Quetzalcoatl was born from a virgin?"
Whoa! I'll tackle this one!! Answer for Abe:
From the same evidence that Jesus was born of a Virgin. :-) (Sorry I couldn't resist!)
Ancient SYMBOLISM, you should learn to read it someday Abe.
Or you can learn Comparative Divine Research. Why don't you start here, and watch all 19 video's...His new 2011 book Sold Out in a day...(so I've heard).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RXxCvv9cbY
Now be a good little divine and pay attention. Instead of barking and sniping at A.S. Since you can't read--you may as well watch.
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|2012-10-23 10:19:59 Thomas - The Aztec connection? Sumerian-Egpytian-ChaldeanKukulkan along with the Sumerian Annunaki is another avoided subject or topic. People will avoid such topics so I felt like it could be addressed here. I enjoyed reading this article and look to get a hard back copy of Christ Con. someday. People just say things like Kukulkan was a "demon". Or these are just stories of Fallen Angels from the Bible. It's a deception from Satan, etc. etc. etc.
I think it truly is a neglected topic, that many (not all) Christians tend to dismiss. The similarities with the Annunaki and Quetzalquotl are pretty fascinating, and perhaps Acharya S. could comment on that further? Thank you
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|2013-03-08 15:07:56 Graham Khentiamentu - To answer the question of the "Virgin Birth"; partThe first date is December 6, 36 BC which is recorded as 6 Reed which is 60 days from 1 Reed the date of Quetzalcoatl's sign. The Date of December 6, 36 BC is also 25 Kislev in the Hebrew Calendar, which is our Equivalent of December 25th or the Nativity of Christ. Yet, 30 days ahead of 6 Reed is 10 House occurring on January 6, or rather, the 5th because December hath 31 days.
January 6th is the date the Vatican has hid from the public concerning the date for the Nativity or birth of Christ. I find it amazing that 30 days from the date on the Stela Stone in Chiapas Mexico has chiseled is the date of 10 House, January "6", because the Maya recorded the Crucifixion of the Christ on that same day, but it was on March 25th.
Important days in the Christian calendar - Macmillan Dictionary
www.macmillandictionary.com/.../Important-days-in-the-Christian-ca...M arch 25th, which Christians remember as the day when the Virgin Mary was told by a messenger from God that she would be the mother of Jesus Christ ...
March 25th is 9 months prior to December 25, so the Crucifixion of Quetzalcoatl that I place correctly in 69 AD 10 House, on March 25th, is where "THE IDEA" of conception of the Christ occurred, because 9 x 30 = 270 = the pregnancy cycle. IF Christ were crucified on the day of his conception then we can see how Mary remained a Virgin and how he was called first and last.
I also propose the reason for the 31 days in December is to throw off the fact that December 6 plus 30 days will fail to equal January 6th. It is the subtle cunning of this numbers game that has us defeating the terrorists today. We have made people believe in Christ to the point where no one questioned whether or not the Long count began because of him, in fact we are controlled because we were sold the perfect lie for 2012 years, more or less.
We just had the last birth of Venus for the Mayan calendar. It will be another 584 day's until Venus/Phosphorus is born again.