Solar deity
[4] In Germanic mythology, the solar deity is Sol; in Vedic, Surya; and in Greek, Helios (occasionally referred to as Titan) and (sometimes) as Apollo.
In Proto-Indo-European mythology the sun appears to be a multilayered figure manifested as a deity but also perceived as the eye of the sky father Dyeus.
[28] A gold solar boat model from the tomb of Queen Ahhotep, dating from the beginning of the New Kingdom (c. 1550 BC), was mounted on four-spoked chariot wheels.
For instance, in the poem Suffering from the Shortness of Days, Li He of the Tang dynasty is hostile towards the legendary dragons that drew the sun chariot as a vehicle for the continuous progress of time.
Other European cultures that have sun goddesses include the Lithuanians (Saulė) and Latvians (Saule), the Finns (Päivätär, Beiwe) and the related Hungarians.
Sun goddesses are found around the world in Australia (Bila, Wala); in Indian tribal religions (Bisal-Mariamma, Bomong, 'Ka Sgni) and Sri Lanka (Pattini); among the Hittites (Wurusemu), Berbers (Tafukt), Egyptians (Hathor, Sekhmet), and Canaanites (Shapash); in the Canary Islands (Chaxiraxi, Magec); in Native America, among the Cherokee (Unelanuhi), Natchez (Oüa Chill/Uwahci∙ł), Inuit (Siqiniq), and Miwok (He'-koo-lās); and in Asia among the Japanese (Amaterasu).
When male deities became associated with the sun in that culture, they began as the offspring of a mother (except Ra, King of the Gods who gave birth to himself).
Albanian major traditional festivities and calendar rites are based on the Sun, worshiped as the god of light, sky and weather, giver of life, health and energy, and all-seeing eye.
[49] In Albanian tradition the fire – zjarri, evidently also called with the theonym Enji – worship and rituals are particularly related to the cult of the Sun.
Ritual calendar fires or bonfires are traditionally kindled before sunrise in order to give strength to the Sun and to ward off evil.
[62] Albanian beliefs, myths and legends are organized around the dualistic struggle between good and evil, light and darkness, which cyclically produces the cosmic renewal.
[63] The most famous representation of it is the constant battle between drangue and kulshedra, which is seen as a mythological extension of the cult of the Sun and the Moon, widely observed in Albanian traditional art.
[64] In Albanian traditions, kulshedra is also fought by the Daughter of the Moon and the Sun, who uses her light power against pride and evil,[65] or by other heroic characters marked in their bodies by the symbols of celestial objects,[66] such as Zjermi (lit.
[67] In Armenian mythology and in the vicinity of Carahunge, the ancient site of interest in the field of archaeoastronomy, people worshiped a powerful deity or intelligence called Ara, embodied as the sun (Ar[68] or Arev).
[69] (Russian and Armenian archaeoastronomers have suggested that at Carahunge seventeen of the stones still standing were associated with observations of sunrise or sunset at the solstices and equinoxes.
[77] Similarly, Étaín has at times been considered to be another theonym associated with the Sun; if this is the case, then the pan-Celtic Epona might also have been originally solar in nature.
[72] The Welsh Olwen has at times been considered a vestige of the local sun goddess, in part due to the possible etymological association[81] with the wheel and the colors gold, white and red.
[citation needed] First century historian Tacitus, in his book Germania, mentioned that "beyond the Suiones [tribe]" a sea was located where the sun maintained its brilliance from its rising to its sunset, and that "[the] popular belief" was that "the sound of its emergence was audible" and "the form of its horses visible".
[85][86][87] In Greek mythology, Helios, a Titan, was the personification of the Sun; however, with the notable exception of the island of Rhodes and nearby parts of southwestern Anatolia,[a] he was a relatively minor deity.
[citation needed] During the Roman Empire, a festival of the birth of the Unconquered Sun (or Dies Natalis Solis Invicti) was celebrated on the winter solstice—the "rebirth" of the Sun—which occurred on 25 December of the Julian calendar.
[109] The pseudodocumentary Zeitgeist: The Movie (2007) asserts that Judas Iscariot is an allegory of Scorpio (with Jesus being a personification of the sun passing through the twelve constellations).
[123][124] The earliest-known example of the idea that Christians chose to celebrate the birth of Jesus on 25 December because it was the date of an already existing festival of the Sol Invictus was expressed in an annotation to a manuscript of a work by 12th-century Syrian bishop Jacob Bar-Salibi.
The scribe who added it wrote: "It was a custom of the Pagans to celebrate on the same 25 December the birthday of the Sun, at which they kindled lights in token of festivity.
In this portrayal, he is a beardless figure with a flowing cloak in a chariot drawn by four white horses, as in the mosaic in Mausoleum M discovered under Saint Peter's Basilica and in an early-4th-century catacomb fresco.
[137] In Thelema, Ra-Hoor-Khuit represents the active, warlike aspect of the solar deity Horus, embodying the principles of strength and power.
The Stele of Revealing, a funerary tablet from the 26th dynasty of Egypt, plays a central role in Crowley's cosmology, symbolizing the New Aeon of Horus.
[138] One of the key practices in Thelema is the daily performance of Liber Resh vel Helios, a set of solar adorations composed by Crowley.
The practice aims to align the practitioner with the natural cycles of the Sun and to integrate the physical and spiritual dimensions of existence in accordance with Thelemic principles.
[139] The adoration of Ra-Hoor-Khuit and the performance of Liber Resh are intended to serve as daily reminders of the central Thelemic tenet, "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
"[140] By engaging in these rituals, Thelemites seek to harmonize their personal will with the divine will, achieving greater spiritual enlightenment and alignment with the cosmic order.
