It’s the night after December 24th, and as is wont in Scandinavian countries, that means all of X-mas has come and gone (we celebrate and exchange gifts all in one night). What is more, now that the kids are tucked in, it is the perfect time to round up the concept for the Passion installment of Astoria.

Passion is, appropriately, a backtracking of the main motifs of the New Testament: Birth, death, and resurrection. Being a modern heathen born into a christian culture, I try to deal with these concepts from a historical POV, identifying earlier instances of immaculate conception, messianic prophecy, sin atonement by slaying the saviour, and his rising from the dead. The almighty John B. Hare’s Sacred Texts website has been an immense help in supplying the following texts:

• Kersey Graves’ “The World’s Sixteen Crucified Saviors”
• Sir James George Frazer’s “The Golden Bough”

Also, I would have to acknowledge Robert Graves’ “The White Goddess”. All referenced works are factually wrong in a number of details, but are basically correct in assuming that a) Jesus was not the first crucified savior to be worshipped by man, b) the act of crucufixion has a deeper meaning than just hammering somebody to a pair of 2×4′s, and c) the mother worship predates by far that of the son.

Overall, I see the immaculate conception as a one-sided, masculine interpretation of actual, sexual conception. In the same manner, I think the crucifixion and “passion” of the christ is a male aggrandisement of death, in the martyr tradition of “glorious deaths” (an oxymoron if ever I saw one!). Instead, I believe the New Testament is a garbled metaphor of the female cycle of birth, life, and giving birth to new generations.

And, reading  Robert Graves and Kersey Graves, I find it obvious that  NT was not the first male-encoded myth of this original Mother Earth (or womanhood)-centered belief. K. Graves lists Krishna, Quetzalcoatl, Prometheus, and Mithras among his 16 previous, crucified saviours – and one might add Odin for having sacrificed himself on the World Tree.

Since this entire thing is of a cyclic nature, it is also fitting that the death of the saviour mirrors his conception (signifying the life, death, and conception of all living things) so that his impalement on the cross is, in fact, equal to springing from the Tree of Life, or the womb, like the first shoots of spring sprout from the crops of autumn.

In order to combine the historical progression of mythological wealth from saviour to saviour with the conjuring propaganda of priesthood, I juxtapose the clear instructiveness of IKEA construction manuals with the mystery of a matinée magician’s act.

Eych, as always words don’t suffice. Watch this space for updates and pictures!