shepherd's crook, is substituted for one of the keys, in reference to
his arrogated office of the leader of the sheep! The authority for the
assumption that the Popes are Peter's successors is found in Matthew
xvi. 18, 19; but its fallacy becomes apparent when we bear in mind that
the scriptures are but collections of astronomical allegories, and that
the Peter referred to in the text was not a man, but the mythical
genius of the month of January.

In reference to the last month, we find that the authors of the ancient
solar fables, ever doubting whether God Sol, after inaugurating Winter
by his supposed retreat from the earth, would return to revivify nature
with his life-giving rays, gave to the genius of the twelfth month the
title of the Doubter. In the Christian calendar this personification is
known as Thomas, and a more specific dedication of the shortest day of
the year having been made to him, the 21st day of December is called
St. Thomas day.


The Seasons.

When the cardinal points were in the constellations Leo, Taurus,
Aquarius and Scorpio, the astrologers, objecting to the signification
of the latter, substituted the constellation in conjunction therewith,
which is known as Aquila (Ak-we-la) or Flying Eagle. In the allegorical
astronomy of that remote period these genii of the seasons were
designated as beasts, and as such we find them referred to in
Revelation iv. 7, which reads as follows: "And the first beast was like
a lion (Leo), and the second beast like a calf (Taurus, the bull calf),
and the third beast had a face as a man, (Aquarius, the waterman) and
the fourth beast was like a flying eagle (Aquila)." In the first chapter