The first Easter occurred a long long time ago, before there was water, before the earth was and well before Jesus was born.
The first Easter occurred before the universe was born. And it always begins with The-Hero. You see...
...There was a man
In The Boundless Spirit he dwelt
He was The Boundless Spirit
He was One with The-Spirit
And The-Spirit was One with him
And then they created
The next part of Easter is the volunary death of The-Hero. You see...
...In love
The-Man sent his seed forth
into The Boundless Spirit
And then he gave up his life
Creation resulted from the sacrifice of The-Man
Below are mythic excerpts showing how during creation, death resulted in new life.
Judaism/Christianity
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 22 Look at the meanings of the Hebrew word which we translate as “created” in the Bible:
Created H1254 - bârâ’ - baw-raw’ A primitive root; (absolutely) to create; (qualified) to cut down (a wood), select, feed (as formative processes): - choose, create (creator), cut down, dispatch, do, make (fat). 23 ‘Dispatch’ means put to death.
Vedic/Hindu
When the gods spread the sacrifice with The Man [Purusha] as the offering, spring was the clarified butter, summer the fuel, autumn the oblation. They anointed The Man the sacrifice born at the beginning, upon the sacred grass. With him the gods, sages and those who are yet to be fulfilled sacrificed 24
From that sacrifice in which everything was offered, the melted fat was collected, and he made it into those beasts who live in the air, in the forest and in the villages. From that sacrifice in which everything was offered the verses and chants were born, the meters were born from it, and from it the formulas were born. Horses were born from it and those other animals that have two rows of teeth; cows were born from it and from it goats and sheep were born. When they divided The Man, into how many parts did they apportion him? What do they call his mouth, his two arms and thighs and feet? His mouth became the Brahmin; his arms were made into the warrior, his thighs the people, and from his feet the servants were born. 25
The moon was born from his mind; from his eye the sun was born. Indra and Agni came from his mouth and from his vital breath the Wind was born. From his navel the middle realm of space arose; from his head the sky. From his two feet came the earth and the quarters of the sky from his ear. 26
Shinto
‘The names of the Deities that came into existence without being procreated in the plain of high heaven when the heaven and earth began were: Master-of-the-August-Centre-of-Heaven, High-August-Producing-Wondrous-Deity, Divine-Producing-Wondrous-Deity. These three deities came into being alone and hid their souls (died). A thing like unto a reed shoot sprouted up and from it came two more deities. The earth was young and like unto floating oil drifting about medusa like when they were born.” 27
Celts
Mother Earth and her children took counsel together against Father Heaven, and one of his sons, who was bolder than the others, undertook shamefully to mutilate Heaven; nay, he and his brothers stayed not their hands till they had cut the world-giant their father into many pieces. Out of his skull they made the firmament, and the spilling of the blood of his body caused a great flood, which, as it settled in the hollows of the earth, made up the sea. 28
Chinese
The emperor Hundun who was at the centre of the universe suffered because he had no eyes ears nose or mouth. The emperors Shu and Hu wanted to make him a gift of holes in his head for breathing seeing hearing and eating. They set to work drilling one hole per day in Hundun’s head. For the first six days all went well but on the seventh day Hundun died with the drilling of the seventh hole. In that very moment, the universe was born. 31
Pan-Gu (often depicted covered with leaves like a plant) died after having worked so hard creating the universe. His breath became the winds, his voice the thunder, his eyes the sun and moon, his hair the stars, his sweat the rain, his hands and feet the four corners of the earth and his body the mountains. His blood became the rivers and streams his flesh the fields, his body hair the grass and trees, his teeth and bones rocks and minerals, his semen and marrow pearls and jade. 32
The Tahitians
Ta’aroa (Unique) was the great Supreme Being who existed alone. He used his own body to create the universe. 33
Taaroa is the great god. He simply existed in space at the beginning of time before there was earth, sky, or humankind. In fact, he became the universe the sands, rocks, and light. Taaroa is the germ of life. He is within, under, above. The universe is his shell. It is said that Taaroa lived in his egg like shell for a long time, but that finally he broke out of it and held it up to make the dome-sky, Rumia. Out of himself he made the world. His spine he used to make a mountain range, his ribs became hillsides, his fingernails became shells and scales, and his feathers became trees and plants. 34
Gilbert Islands
Nareau made Na-Atibu and Nei-Teukez from sand. Nei-Teukez had many offspring including Nareau the Second who killed Na-Atibu and used his body to build the world. His eyes became the sun and moon and his brain, the stars. His flesh became islands and his bones became trees. 35
Ancient Scandinavia
Odin and his brothers killed the giant Ymir. From his blood they made the sea and the lakes. The earth was fashioned from his flesh and the mountain cliffs from the bones. They made stones and gravel from the teeth, the molars and the broken bits of bone. 36
“This was before the earth was created”, Third added 37
They also took his skull and from it made the sky and his brain they threw up into the air and from it they made clouds.38
From Ymir’s flesh was the earth created, from bloody sweat, the sea, cliffs from bones, trees from hair and from the head, the heavens.39
So it is that all things are made from The-Man. But after The-Man died and before anything was created there were the deep waters of Chaos...
...Soon there was nothing but the deep waters of Chaos
His body had fallen apart
Nothing holding one thing to another
Nor anything to hold a thing together as a thing in the first place
Just Chaos resembling an ocean of water
Here in lies the sacred rite of baptism, water representing death. "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death." Romans 6:1-11.
The Waters of Chaos Before Creation
Taino of West Indies
In the first era of creation Yaya the Supreme Spirit killed his son and placed his bones in the ground. When the ground was broken water flooded out and became the oceans.40
Yakima Indians
First there was water everywhere and only the great sky chief, Whe-me-me-ow-ah, to see it. 41
In the beginning, only Whememeowah “Great Chief” existed in the sky. To cure his boredom, he paddled in the primordial waters and made the world and all things in it from the mud at the bottom of the ocean.42
Yuma Indians
‘In the very beginning, there was nothing but water and darkness.’ 43
Islam
‘Are the disbelievers unaware that the heavens and the earth were but one solid mass which We [God] tore asunder, and that We made every living thing from water?’-44
‘It is He who created the heavens and the earth in six days and His Throne was upon the waters’45
Ancient China
‘Of old in the beginning, there was the great chaos, without form and dark. The five elements [planets] had not begun to revolve, nor the sun and moon to shine. You, O Spiritual Sovereign, first divided the grosser parts from the purer. You made heaven. You made earth. You made man. All things with their reproducing power got their being’46
Christianity
‘By the Word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of and by water.’ 47
Shinto
Now when chaos had begun to condense, but force and form were not yet manifest, and there was naught named, naught done, who could know its shape? Nevertheless heaven and earth first parted and the three deities performed the commencement of creation’. 48
Ancient Greek
“Verily at the first Khaos came to be, but next wide-bosomed Gaia (Earth), the ever-sure foundations of all the deathless ones who hold the peaks of snowy Olympus. From Khaos came forth Erebos and black Nyx (Night).” 49
“At the beginning there was only Khaos (Air), Nyx (Night), dark Erebos (Darkness), and deep Tartaros (Hell’s Pit). Ge (Earth), Aer (Air) and Ouranos (Heaven) had no existence. 50
“Ere land and sea and the all-covering sky were made, in the whole world the countenance of nature was the same, all one, well named Chaos, a raw and undivided mass, naught but a lifeless bulk, with warring seeds of ill-joined elements compressed together. No Titan [Helios the Sun] as yet poured light upon the world, no waxing Phoebe [Selene the Moon] her crescent filled anew, nor in the ambient air yet hung the earth, self-balanced, equipoised, nor Amphitrite’s [the Sea’s] arms embraced the long far margin of the land. Though there were land and sea and air, the land no foot could tread, no creature swim the sea, the air was lightless; nothing kept its form, all objects were at odds, since in one mass cold essence fought with hot, and moist with dry, and hard with soft and light with things of weight.51
Mongolia
When there was no earth, but only water, the Lama (superior one) descended from the heavens and stirred the waters.52
Zoroastrianism
Ormazd began his work of creation by casting some of his pure light into the vast abyss of the cosmos. 53
Bushongo
In the beginning, in the dark there was nothing but water and Bumba was alone. 54
Berossus of Babylon
In the beginning there was only darkness and water.55
Judaism
‘The earth was formless and void and darkness was over the surface of the deep and the Spirit of God fluttered, brooding over the surface of the waters.’56
During the death of The-Hero, The-Seed was sent forth and so...
..In the Chaos was the Seed of Order that The-Man had sent in the beginning
The-Seed lived for it was One with The-Spirit
The-Seed was The-Spirit
And over the Chaos The-Spirit brooded
The Egg During Creation
Like Jesus in the grave or in the waters of baptism The-Man was contained in the egg during creation.
Pueblo Zuni
Awonawilona is the creator of all that is. He existed before anything else in the great dark emptiness of the beginnings. He conceived himself by thought; as the container of all things, he created himself as himself.
Out of himself Awonawilona made the seed with which he impregnated the primeval waters.77
The Dogon of Mali
At the beginning of time Amma existed in the form of a great egg that contained the potential for all creation. The earth He made female.78
Amma created the primordial egg which had two yolks.79
Ancient Greek Orphics
In the beginning “Time” created the silver egg of the cosmos out of this egg burst Phanes-Dionysus. He was the first god to appear, the firstborn, and he became known as Protogonos. He bore within himself all the seeds of all gods and men. He was the creator of heaven and earth, of the sun, the stars. And the dwelling of the gods. Phanes first created Nyx; the night. Oh mighty first-begotten, hear my prayer. Two fold egg born and wandering through the air.80
Phoenician
Aer mated with Ether and gave birth to Oulanos who produced the cosmic egg from which came Ouranos and Gea.81
Hawaii
In the form of a bird Tangaroa laid an egg which floated on the primordial waters and broke to become the earth and sky.82
Naura Islanders
The beginning was a time when there was only the sea, in which the god Areop-Enap lived in a mussel shell. It was dark in there.83
Polynesia
Taaroa existed in an egg which dwelt in the primaeval waters.84
Tahitian
Ta’aroa (Unique) was the great Supreme Being who existed alone in a little world, in a shell like an egg revolving in dark empty space for ages. At length he burst out from confinement, and finding himself quite alone he conjured forth the famous god Tu who became his companion and artisan in the great work of creation. 85
New Zealand
A cosmic egg was dropped into the primodeal waters by a bird flying overhead and from this egg emerged man, animals and a canoe.86
The Bon-Pos
In the beginning there was an uncreated being. From it a white light shone and from it an egg came into existence that had the power to move and fly. After five months it broke open and a man emerged. He sat down on a throne positioned in the middle of the ocean and arranged the order of the universe. 87
Tibet
The two things first existing were black light and white light. These combined to form the cosmic egg.88
India
Ammavaru the mother goddess created the cosmic egg floating in the sea of milk from which the later Hindu gods were born.89
Japan
From ‘In’ and ‘Yo’ there formed a primordial egg which separated to form the heavens and earth.90
The-Seed is also the first egg, the first Easter egg. You see...
...The-Spirit brooded over the egg which was The-Seed of Order
The-Seed was the egg
The-Man did not simply die
The-Egg contained The-Man already being resurrected
The-Spirit During Creation
During creation The-Spirit is symbolized by birds.
Vedic/Hindu
He thought “There are these worlds; shall I send forth guardians of these worlds? Let me send forth food for them. He brooded over the water. From water thus brooded on matter was born 57
That one Lord having his eyes his face his arms and his feet in every place, when producing heaven and earth, forges them together with his arms and his wings. 58
The One God created the sky and the earth, fanning them with his arms. 59
The embodied Spirit dwelling within the city with nine gates of perception, the swan, fluttering outwards is the ruler of the whole world, of all that moves and all that is motionless.60
He is the one bird.61
The Iban of East India
The creators were Ara and Irik who flew in the form of birds over the waters. They drew two eggs out from which they made the world. 62
Taoism
‘In the darkness of the north there is a fish whose name is Vast. This fish is enormous; I don’t know how many thousands of miles long. It also changes into a bird, whose name is Roc, and the Roc’s back is I don’t know how many miles across. When it rises in the air, its wings are like the clouds of Heaven. When the seas move, this bird too travels to the south darkness, the darkness known as the pool of heaven.’ 63
Arikara Indians
‘The great sky spirit Nesaru had charge over the whole of creation. Below his sky world there was a limitless lake where two ducks swam eternally at peace.’ 64
Muskhogean Indians
‘In the beginning the waste of waters alone was visible. Over the dreary expanse two pigeons flew hither and thither, and in the course of time observed a single blade of grass spring above the surface.’ 65
The Absarkoes Indians
Once there was only water and Old Man Coyote. “I wish I had someone to talk to,” said Coyote, and when he turned around he found two red-eyed ducks.66
Ainu of Japan
In the beginning the world was slush for the waters and the mud were all stirred in together. All was silence; there was no sound. It was cold. There were no birds of the air. There was no living thing. At last the creator made a little wagtail and sent him down from his far place in the sky. “Produce the earth.” He said. 67
Iroquois Indians
‘The first people lived beyond the sky because there was no earth beneath. The chief’s daughter fell ill and no cure could be found. A wise old man was consulted and he told them to dig up a tree and lay the girl beside the hole. Many people began to dig but as they did so the tree suddenly fell right through the hole they had made and it dragged the girl along with it. Below was an endless sheet of water where two swans floated. The earth was still dark at this time’ 68
Southern Andean People
‘In the beginning the world was in darkness and the light was shut up within Chiminigagua who was the creator of all things that are. The beginning of creation was the shinning forth of light he held inside him. He first created large black birds, which flew over the mountain peaks breathing forth light.’69
Alaska
Long ago, even before the days of the animal people, the world was only a great ocean wherein was no land nor any living thing except a great Bird. The Bird, after a long, long time, flew down to the surface of the water and dipped his great black wings into the flood. The earth arose out of the waters. So began the creation. While the land was still soft, the first man burst from the pod of the beach pea and looked out upon the endless plain behind him and the gray salt sea before him. He was the only man. Then Raven appeared to him and the creation of other beings began.70
Ancient Egypt
‘In the form of a heron He perched above the waters of chaos occasionally breaking the silence with a cry. The bird call created a disturbance that set creation in motion, determining what is and what is not to be.’ 71
‘Amun, “the first one who gave birth to the first ones” in the waters of Nun gave a mighty honk like a goose and the first ones were created.’ 72
The Yoruba of Nigeria
‘In the beginning the world was all marshy and watery, a waste place. Above it was the sky where Olorun the Supreme Being and owner of the sky lived, attended by other gods. When Olorun had all the elements of creation ready, he sent the morning star to call the gods but only Orunmila (heaven knows salvation) came. The morning star told him that the materials of existence were kept in a snail shell in the bag of existence lying between the thighs of God. God told him that He wanted to create firm ground and asked him to set about the task. Orunmila took the snail shell and a pigeon and a hen with five toes. Orunmila threw the earth from the snail shell into the marsh and solid ground was formed. Then the pigeon and the hen started to scratch and scatter it about, before long they had covered much of the marsh and land and sea were separated.’73
Ancient Finland
There was Water-Mother. That which forms but is not itself formed. Short time passed thereafter; scarce a moment had passed over, before a beauteous teal came flying lightly hovering over the water, seeking for a spot to rest in, searching for a home to dwell in. Eastward she flew, westward she flew. Flew to the northwest and southward, but she found not the place she sought, not a spot, however barren where her nest she could establish, or a resting place could light on. Then she hovered slowly moving, and she pondered and reflected, “If my nest I ‘stablish rested on the billows, then the winds will overturn it, or the waves will drift it from me.” Then the Mother of the Waters, Water-Mother, maid aerial, From the waves her knee uplifted, raised her shoulder from the billows, that teal might establish her nest and might find a peaceful dwelling. Then teal, the bird so beauteous, hovered slow and gazed around her and saw the knee uplifted from the blue waves of the ocean, and she thought she saw a hillock fresh and green. There she flew and hovered slowly. Gently on the knee alighting and there she established her nest. And she laid her eggs all golden, six golden eggs within her nest and a seventh she laid of iron. Over her eggs the teal sat brooding and the knee of Water-Mother grew warm beneath her and she sat brooding for three days. Water-Mother felt hotter and hotter on her knee til she thought it burning and all her veins were melting. So she moved jerking and shaking. And she rolled the eggs into the water 74
Ilma was the goddess of the air. She had a virgin daughter named Luonnatar who lived in the stars. Luonnatar became lonely and came down to the great primordial sea, where she found no place to rest, floating for seven hundred years. Then she met a male duck who flew about looking for a place to nest 75
The final part of Easter is The Ressurection of The-Hero...
...Taking a small amount from the chaos and a large amount from the boundless Spirit he grew again just as he was before.
He busrt forth from The-Egg. He rose again from within the waters and commenced His work of creation
The Resurrection
In this section we shall see the resurrection of The-Man in both seed/plant form and egg form.
Ancient China
There was chaos before heaven and earth were separated but chaos took the form of moist darkness within an egg. At its heart was Pan-Gu the creator.93
Ancient Greek Orphics
Black winged Night, a goddess of whom even Zeus stands in awe, was courted by the Wind and formed a silver egg in her womb. Eros who some call Phanes was hatched from this egg and set the universe in motion. 94
Egyptian
Only ocean existed at first. Ra, came out of an egg or flower which appeared on the surface of the water. Before the existence of Great Ra the sun god; were darkness, watery abyss and hidden power. Ra emerged from the watery abyss and then all things came into being out of the words of his mouth. First he blew out the first air then he spat out the first moisture. These became the god of the air, Shu, who is the life force, and her husband, Tefnut, the organizing world order. 95
The words of Nebertcher (Ra) which he spoke after he had come into being. “I am he who came into being in the form of Khepera (he who comes into existence) I was the creator of all that came into being, things that came forth from my mouth. Before heaven and earth all upon the earth existed. I raised them up from out of Nu the Watery Abyss from a state of inactivity. I found no place to stand. I worked a charm upon my heart. I laid a foundation in Maa, in straightness and truth, in a careful and just plan and I made every attribute. I was alone for I had not yet spit in the form of Shu nor emitted Tefnut. No one existed who worked with me. I made a foundation in my own heart and there came into being the multitudes of things which came into being. 96
Madagascar
Zanahary made the earth, but left it desolate. Thereupon Ratovoantany, ‘self-created one’, shot up like a plant from the ground.97
Lakota North America.
In the beginning First Man emerged like a plant from the Great Plains earth. At first only his head was visible, and he looked around at the nothingness that surrounded him. There were not yet any rivers, mountains, grass, or animals. Gradually First Man pulled himself up out of the soil until he stood on the soft earth. It was the sun that gave solidity to the earth and strength to the man. Out of this man came the Lakota people. 98
Wahungwe of Zimbabwe
God created the first man, Mwuetsi. God gave him a ngona horn filled with ngona oil and told him he would live at the bottom of the waters. Mwuetsi said to God “I want to live on the land”.99
Yuki Indians
In the beginning there was foam that wandered around on the surface of fog-covered waters. A voice came from the foam followed by Taiko-mol, who had eagle feathers on his head. The creator stood on the moving foam and sang as he created in the darkness.100
Alaska
The Bird, after a long, long time, flew down to the surface of the water and dipped his great black wings into the flood. The earth arose out of the waters. So began the creation. While the land was still soft, the first man burst from the pod of the beach pea and looked out upon the endless plain behind him and the gray salt sea before him. He was the only man. Then Raven appeared to him and the creation of other beings began.101
Mandan Indians
Lone-Man was walking on the great waters. He did not know how he had come into being. He turned back and followed his tracks and found a blood striped flower. The red flower spoke, saying that she had given birth to him so that he may go about in the world. He knew there must be something below the waters from which his mother had her life. Then he saw two ducks and commanded them to bring up earth from below the waters. 102
Collao of South America – Incas
They say that in ancient times the earth was dark and there was no light or day in it. And they say that in those times when all was night in the land there came forth from a lake in the district called Collasuyu, a lord named Con TicciViracocha bringing with Him a certain number of people, though they don’t remember how many. 103
Ancient Australia
And Karora falls asleep, stretching his arms out on both sides. While he is asleep, something emerges from underneath his armpit in the shape of a bull-roarer [a carved piece of wood]. It takes on human form, and grows in one night to a full-grown young man: this is his first-born son, the living image of himself.104
Vedic/Hindu
‘There was neither non-existence nor existence then…What stirred? Was there water bottomless and deep? That One breathed, windless, by Its own impulse. Other than that there was nothing beyond. Darkness was hidden by darkness in the beginning; with no distinguishing sign, all this was water. The life force that was covered with emptiness, that one arose through the power of heat.’ 106
That which is beyond the sky and beyond this earth beyond the gods and the dark divinities – what was that first embryo that the waters received, where all the gods together saw it? He was the one whom the waters received as the first embryo, when all the gods came together. On the navel of the Unborn was set the One on whom all creatures rest.107
In the beginning the golden embryo arose. Once he was born he was the one lord of creation. He held in place the earth and this sky. Who is the god whom we should worship with oblation? 108
When the high waters came; pregnant with the embryo that is everything; bringing forth fire; he arose from that as the one life’s breath of the gods. Who is the god whom we should worship with oblation? He who in his greatness looked over the waters, which were pregnant with male creative power bringing forth the sacrifice, he who was the one god among all the gods - who is the god whom we should worship with oblation? Let him not harm us, he who fathered the earth and created the sky, who’s laws are true, who created the high shining waters. Who is the god whom we should worship with oblation?109
‘Verily, in the beginning all this was The Self, One only; there was nothing else that blinked whatsoever. He thought “Shall I send forth worlds?” He sent forth these worlds – ambhas [water] – marichi [light] – mara [death] and ap [water]. That ambhas is above the heaven and heaven is its support. The marichis are the sky. The mara is the earth, and the ap are the waters of the earth.’ He thought “There are these worlds shall I send forth guardians of these worlds?” He then formed Purusha The Man, taking him from the water. He brooded on him and when The Man had been brooded on, a mouth burst forth like an egg. From the mouth proceeded speech.110
It is The Man Purusha who is all this, whatever has been and whatever is to be. He is the ruler of immortality when he grows beyond everything through food. Such is his greatness and The Man is yet more than this. All creatures are a quarter of him; three quarters are what is immortal in heaven. With three quarters The Man rose upwards, and one quarter of him still remains here. From this he spread out into all directions, into that which eats and that which does not eat.111
In the beginning all this was The Self alone, like a person alone. He looked around and saw nothing else than Self. He first said “This is I” therefore He became “I” by name. Therefore even now, if a man is asked, he first says. “This is I” and then pronounces the other name which he may have. And because prior to all this, The Self had burnt down all sins, therefore He is Purusha [The Man].112
He, desiring to produce beings of many kinds from his own body, first with a thought created the waters, and placed his seed in them. That (seed) became a golden egg, in brilliancy equal to the sun; in that egg he himself was born as Brahman, the progenitor of the whole world. The waters are called narah, (for) the waters are, indeed, the offspring of Nara; as they were his first residence, he thence is named Narayana; From that (first) cause, which is indiscernible, eternal, and both real and unreal, was produced that male (Purusha), who is famed in this world (under the appellation of) Brahman. The divine one resided in that egg during a whole year, then he himself by his thought (alone) divided it into two halves and out of those two halves he formed heaven and earth, between them the middle sphere, the eight points of the horizon, and the eternal abode of the waters. 113
Brahma, self-created from the primaeval waters, also called the lotus-born because of his origin from a lotus sprung from the navel of Narayana, at the very beginning. He was asleep in the lotus floating on the primitive waters until he awoke and created the universe.114
Pacific Islands
Taaroa emerged from an egg which dwelt in the primaeval waters. In Tahiti they say that he then created Hina and mated with her to produce the world115
Pima Indians
‘In the beginning there was only darkness and water. The darkness congealed in certain places and formed the creator. He wandered aimlessly above the water and began to think. He became fully conscious of who he was and what he was to do. He reached into his heart and pulled out a magic creation stick.’92
And so it is that the Easter story has always been right there before us. Was it the Word of God in prophecy to us? or is it merely the human mind recycling and refreshing the few stories that we have to tell? I believe it is both.
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