Tammuz could not in the end stand up to the demons while Jesus could not in the end stand up to the Romans – now we are standing up against the bankers – and we will win.
Tammuz or Dumuzi (DUMU.ZI(D), “faithful or true son”), the name of a Sumerian god of food and vegetation who originated as a Sumerian shepherd-god, was consigned to the Underworld in order to secure Inanna’s release. Recent discoveries reconfirm him as an annual life-death-rebirth deity.
Tammuz was the consort of Inanna and, in his Akkadian form, the parallel consort of Ishtar. The Levantine Adonis (“lord”), who was drawn into the Greek pantheon, was considered by Joseph Campbell among others to be another counterpart of Tammuz, son and consort.
Attis was the consort of Cybele in Phrygian and Greek mythology. His priests were eunuchs, the Galli, as explained by origin myths pertaining to Attis and castration. Attis was also a Phrygian god of vegetation, and in his self-mutilation, death, and resurrection he represents the fruits of the earth, which die in winter only to rise again in the spring.
Baldr (also Balder, Baldur) is a god in Norse mythology, who is given a central role in the mythology. Despite this his precise function is rather disputed. He is often interpreted as the god of love, peace, forgiveness, justice, light or purity, but was not directly attested as a god of such.
Baldr’s wife is Nanna and their son is Forseti (Old Norse “the presiding one,” actually “president” in Modern Icelandic and Faroese).
Jacob Grimm in his Teutonic Mythology (ch. 11) identifies Old Norse Baldr with with Old English bealdor, baldor “lord, prince, king” (used always with a genitive plural, as in gumena baldor “lord of men”, wigena baldor “lord of warriors”, et cetera).
In Greek mythology, Nana became pregnant when an almond from an almond tree fell on her lap. The almond tree had sprung from the spot where the hermaphroditic Agdistis was castrated, becoming Cybele, the Mother of the Gods. Nana abandoned the baby boy, who was tended by a he-goat. The baby, Attis, grew up to become Cybele’s consort and lover.
In sumerian mythology, Inanna/Ishtar set her accompanying demons on Dumuzid/Tammuz, who fled to his sister Geshtinana, the so-called “heavenly grape-vine” and consort of Ningisida, who attempted to hide him but who could not in the end stand up to the demons. In her house he is changed into a gazelle before being caught and transported to the underworld.
However Inanna repents. Inanna relents and changes her decree thereby restoring her husband Dumuzi to life; an arrangement is made by which Geshtinana will take Dumuzid’s place in Kur for six months of the year: “You (Dumuzi), half the year. Your sister (Geštinanna), half the year!”
After her death, Geshtinanna, the daughter of Enki and Ninhursag, became the goddess of wine and cold seasons. She is a divine poet and interpreter of dreams.
Beginning with the summer solstice came a time of mourning in the Ancient Near East, as in the Aegean: the Babylonians marked the decline in daylight hours and the onset of killing summer heat and drought with a six-day “funeral” for the god. In cult practice, the dead Tammuz was widely mourned in the Ancient Near East.
These mourning ceremonies were observed at the door of the Temple in Jerusalem in a vision the Israelite prophet Ezekiel was given, which serves as a Biblical prophecy which expresses the Lord’s message at His people’s apostate worship of idols:
“Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord’s house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. Then said he unto to me, ‘Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these” (Ezekiel 8:14-15). It is quite possible that among other Judeans the Tammuz cult was not regarded as inconsistent with Yahwism.
According to some scholars, the Church of the Nativity, a basilica located in Bethlehem, West Bank, is built over a cave that was originally a shrine to Adonis-Tammuz.
The Church Father Jerome, who died in Bethlehem in 420, reports in addition that the holy cave was at one point consecrated by the heathen to the worship of Adonis, and a pleasant sacred grove planted before it, to wipe out the memory of Jesus.
Some modern mythologists, however, reverse the supposition, insisting that the cult of Adonis-Tammuz originated the shrine and that it was the Christians who took it over, substituting the worship of their own God.
The church was originally commissioned in 327 by Constantine and his mother Helena over the site that is still traditionally considered to be located over the cave that marks the birthplace of Jesus of Nazareth.
The Church of the Nativity site’s original basilica was completed in 339 and destroyed by fire during the Samaritan Revolts in the 6th century. A new basilica was built 565 by Justinian, the Byzantine Emperor, restoring the architectural tone of the original.
The site of the Church of the Nativity has had numerous additions since this second construction, including its prominent bell towers. Due to its cultural and geographical history, the site holds a prominent religious significance to those of both the Christian and Muslim faiths.
The site of the Church of the Nativity is a World Heritage Site, and was the first to be listed under Palestine by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The site is also on UNESCO’s List of World Heritage Sites in Danger.
Jesus (7–2 BC to AD 30–33), also referred to as Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus Christ, is the central figure of Christianity, whom the teachings of most Christian denominations hold to be the Son of God. Christians believe Jesus is the awaited Messiah (or Christ, the Anointed One) of the Old Testament.
After Jesus’ death, his followers believed he was resurrected, and the community they formed eventually became the Christian church.
Christian doctrines include the beliefs that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, was born of a virgin named Mary, performed miracles, founded the Church, died by crucifixion as a sacrifice to achieve atonement, rose from the dead, and ascended into Heaven, whence he will return.
Most Christians believe Jesus enables humans to be reconciled to God, and will judge the dead either before or after their bodily resurrection, an event tied to the Second Coming of Jesus in Christian eschatology; though some believe Jesus’s role as savior has more existential or societal concerns than the afterlife, and a few notable theologians have suggested that Jesus will bring about a universal reconciliation.
The great majority of Christians worship Jesus as the incarnation of God the Son, the second of three persons of a Divine Trinity. A few Christian groups reject Trinitarianism, wholly or partly, as non-scriptural.
In Islam, Jesus (commonly transliterated as Isa) is considered one of God’s important prophets and the Messiah, second in importance only to Muhammad. To Muslims, Jesus was a bringer of scripture and was born of a virgin, but was not the Son of God. According to the Quran, Jesus was not crucified but was physically raised into Heaven by God. Judaism rejects the belief that Jesus was the awaited Messiah, arguing that he did not fulfill the Messianic prophecies in the Tanakh.
Islamic tradition holds that Jesus, the son of Mary, was a Prophet and the Masîḥ (مسيح) (messiah) sent to the Israelites, and that he will return to Earth at the end of times, along with the Mahdi, and defeat al-Masih ad-Dajjal, the “false Messiah” or Antichrist.
A messiah (literally meaning “the Anointed King”) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people, most commonly in the Abrahamic religions. In the Hebrew Bible, a messiah is a king or High Priest traditionally anointed with holy anointing oil. However, messiahs were not exclusively Jewish, as the Hebrew Bible refers to Cyrus the Great, king of Persia, as a messiah for his decree to rebuild the Jerusalem Temple.
Gethsemane (Greek: Γεθσημανή, Gethsēmanē; Hebrew: גת שמנים, Gat-Šmânim; Syriac: ܓܕܣܡܢ, Gaḏ Šmānê, lit. “oil press”) is a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, most famous as the place where Jesus prayed and his disciples slept the night before Jesus’ crucifixion.
Geshtu-(E) (also Geshtu, Gestu) is, in Sumerian and Akkadian mythology, a minor god of intelligence. Legend says that he was sacrificed by the great gods and his blood was used in the creation of mankind.
Geist is a German word. Depending on context it can be translated as the English words mind, spirit, or ghost, covering the semantic field of these three English nouns. Some English translators resort to using “spirit/mind” or “spirit (mind)” to help convey the meaning of the term. Analogous terms in other languages include the Ancient Greek word pneuma, the Latin spiritus, the French esprit and the Sanskrit prana.
Prana is the Sanskrit word for “life force” or vital principle. In Hindu philosophy including yoga, Indian medicine, and martial arts, the term refers collectively to all cosmic energy, permeating the Universe on all levels. Prana is often referred to as the “life force” or “life energy”. It also includes energies present in inanimate objects.
In the literature, prana is sometimes described as originating from the Sun and connecting the elements of the Universe. This life energy has been vividly invoked and described in the ancient Vedas and Upanishads.
Gestalt is a German word for form or shape, and may refer to holism, the idea that natural systems and their properties should be viewed as wholes, not as collections of parts.
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