Table of Contents

**Working Tirelessly to Bring the Opposites Together.** The opening ceremony of the Gotthard base tunnel was characterized by its oppressive atmosphere, full of dark symbolism, and by the centrality of two main metaphysical concepts: the cyclical death and resurrection of Nature (represented by the Sun), and the Union of Opposites. The latter can be seen represented in the image above by the androgyny of the dark angel that the tireless workers strive so hard to bring into our world.

1. Introduction

The Gotthard Base Tunnel (Alps, Switzerland) is a railway tunnel that opened in 2016. It is the world’s longest railway and deepest traffic tunnel.¹²³

The tunnel became famous and controversial because of its inauguration ceremony (Sacre del Gottardo, directed by Volker Hesse), which was described as “disturbing” and “demonic”, among other things.⁴

The opening ceremony´s guests included the Federal Council, as well as heads of state and government from neighboring countries. Public institutions participated in the celebrations, too (e.g., the Swiss Post issued a special stamp⁵, while the Swissmint issued gold and silver coins dedicated to the opening).

Nine people died during its construction.

**Image 1. Worshipping Mother Earth at the Summit.** The inauguration of the world’s longest tunnel saw how, paradoxically, Europe’s highest political echelons gathered in the ethereal Swiss mountains to witness an act of reverence for the earth and its periodic cycles of life and death.

2. The Myths Surrounding the Tunnel

The opening ceremony was allegedly based on the myths surrounding the region (Schöllenen Gorge). The most relevant legend, given the imagery used, is that of the “Devil’s Bridge” (Teiffels Brucken).

2.1. The Devil’s Bridge

This legend, of uncertain origin (it does not appear to have existed before the 16th century), attributed the construction of one of the bridges of the region to the Devil himself.

Different retellings of the legend exist (e.g., Johann Jakob Scheuchzer [1716]; Meinrad Lienert, Schweizer Sagen und Heldengeschichten [1915]), but all revolve around the people of Uri recruiting the Devil in order to build the bridge, deemed a difficult task.

The Devil, as payment for his services, demands the soul of the first man to pass the bridge. The townspeople, however, send an animal instead in order to trick him.

*Image 2. Detail from* The Devil´s Bridge legend. The picture shows the *holy man preventing the Devil from hurling the rock*. Picture: *Johann Jakob Scheuchzer’s Nova Helvetiae Tabula Geographica (1712); Illustration: Johann Melchior Füssli).*

The legend ends with the enraged Devil deciding to smash the bridge with a large rock only to be stopped by a holy man who scolds him or by an old woman who marks the rock with the sign of the cross. In either version, the demon flees the scene leaving the large rock (the Devil’s Stone, actually a large block of granite that can still be found near Göschenen) behind.⁶

In the following sections, we will analyze the symbolism employed in this ceremony, as well as its narrative structure, in order to find the apparent meaning being conveyed. We will also search for any possible parallels with esoteric schools or spiritual traditions that would make this ceremony something more akin to a ritualistic event instead of merely an artistic one.

3. Sacre del Gottardo: Factual Analysis of the Opening Ceremony

The ceremony begins (the full video can be seen, for example, here) inside the base tunnel, with a horse-drawn carriage speeding into it, representing the past use given to the pass road. The painting possibly inspiring this opening act is called The Gotthard Post (Rudolf Koller, 1873) and can be seen on the Tre m ola San Gottardo.

The carriage is followed by a long line of modern workers, in their workmen’s clothes, all moving in unison, with extreme seriousness. Some of them start to dance brusquely on a metal train scabbard that enters the tunnel. The rest of the workers follow them. The feeling conveyed is that the robot-like workers are cogs in a well-oiled machine focused on a single mission.

More wagons follow, bringing in additional workers, who sing. The music is dark and oppressive, based on percussion. The abrupt movements of the strange dance become more furious and the workers begin to abandon their previous order to move in a chaotic and agitated manner, apparently excited about the arrival of the next wagon. This wagon brings with it half-naked young men and women dressed in white, throwing white powder into the air and grabbing and dancing with each other.

In the center of the carriage, a dark androgynous angel, with black eyes and an angry shouting expression. The angel, with an oversized baby’s head, begins to fly and exits the wagon. The scene leaves a sense of polarity or duality (men and women intermingling/fighting with each other; the androgyny of the angel). A big rising sun enters the scene in the background.

Some workers hang from chains on the ceiling, simulating helplessness, while the dark angel flies around them. The rest of the workers on the ground pretend to fall and get up repeatedly in their race to follow the angel. An additional wagon carrying a man banging chains on the floor enters the scene, after which, the hanging workers are released and begin to dance ecstatically with the dark angel. The sinister music speeds up the tempo. The overall meaning is one of liberation.

A new wagon enters the scene carrying a goat-man who screams and awakens other otherwordly creatures, of a chthonic nature, of which we never see more than the long hair that covers them. The music ceases to give way to the sound of the goat-man’s laughter, which sounds like an archetypical evil one.

The chthonic beings get off the train and start moving chaotically in a non-human way, in circles, rolling on the ground. The goat man stirs them up.

The general feeling is that of the awakening of previously dormant dark forces. The previous somberness begins to turn into a dark celebration.

Well-dressed people in black enter the scene in a procession carrying trunks of dead trees.

Workers parade carrying the skulls of horned animals as standard bearers.

The workers, the well-dressed people and the awakened creatures all parade together, with the latter still dancing. Some additional creatures drop from the ceiling and join the celebration.

The camera cuts to a close-up of a stuffed lamb held aloft by the procession. The lamb, which is one of the most important Christian symbols, symbolizing the Incarnation of God (God-man), is here inverted and associated with the procession of the goat-man.

Another procession of young women dressed in white carrying horns enters the scene. The tone returns to one of solemn seriousness.

A traditional Swiss goatherd enters the now silent scene. He is yodeling and telling a second man-goat-creature to come along.

On platforms located on both sides of the singing goatherd, a group of singers wearing hats shaped by floral motifs, grass and dead branches acts as his chorus in an atmosphere of absolute solemnity.

Once the goatherd leaves the scene, the chorus follows. A car under construction, with workers working on it (welding, cutting metal) passes quickly through the tunnel. This is followed by a festive procession with cheerful music, which is in stark contrast with the initial oppressive atmosphere.

The procession is made up of people dressed in bright colors, waving, jumping and laughing. Different cars carrying colorful characters pass through the tunnel, including one car carrying the pope with two nuns and another carrying what appears to be a representation of the local aristocracy. The goat man dances with the celebrants and sits at the head of a new wagon carrying a classical music band and the previous singers. The festivities and dances increase in number of participants and in intensity, with the prominent presence of the rising sun in the background.

The rising sun and processional giants are being carried away by the last car leaving the scene. They usually represent the aristocracy. They are accompanied by sharply dressed concelebrants.

They leave behind a small remnant of people who jump and joyfully say goodbye to them. A classical painting can be seen behind them.

The zombie-like workers working in unison return. This time, walking towards a giant screen where the mountains of the region can be seen. At some point, they run towards the screen and try to climb the mountain depicted, falling and getting up again and again. This represents their determination to finish their work. Later, the workers abandon their robotic behavior and begin to dance, undress and use white powder, looking exactly like the angel bearers before.

The workers, with anxious faces, begin to convulse and dance aggressively, just as at the beginning of the ceremony. The atmosphere is once again dark, chaotic and oppressive. Workers continue to fall down the slope in despair. The screen shows how they fall through the tunnel or what appears to be an abyss. Suddenly, the abyss becomes a giant eye (pupil and iris). Three white “spiritual” figures rise up in the air. The pupil dilates, emphasizing the black emptiness inside it.

A group of beings covered in a white veil “emerge” from the abyss and walk down the slope towards the viewer. They move slowly and sing in an “angelic” way, contrasting with the preceding chaos. A winged angelic figure accompanies them, as does the goat-man. The screen, from this moment on, will only show images representing sphericity, circularity and unity (e.g., a worker can be seen dancing like a Sufi dervish).

The goat man returns to the foreground, shouting gutturally. His frenetic “dances”, accompanied by his chthonic subordinates, return to the scene. The angelic beings move to the sides. The agonizing faces of the angelic beings, now screaming, can be seen through the veils that cover their faces.

The screen shows the goat-man, uttering unintelligible sounds, and three scarab beetles (kheper, an Egyptian symbol related to the Sun, to death and rebirth).

The rotating circle in the center of the screen shows an abyss formed by eyes, while both angelic and demonic beings “dance” or stir under discordant sounds.

The winged angelic figure embraces the goat-man, the master of ceremonies. The eerie atmosphere causes a great feeling of discomfort. The chthonic beings become extremely agitated, as well as the goat-man, which now seems to brag. The angelic beings worship the goat-man on their knees. After that, the goat-man screams in pain and lies on the ground. He is left alone.

The solemn singers return to the scene, carrying in procession symbols of death (skulls, dead tree trunks).

And also of rebirth: a tree where the first green leaves are coming out is carried at the head of the procession and emphasized.

The procession ascends the slope towards the “portal” represented on the screen, now showing the dead branches of an inverted tree.

Images suggesting well-oiled mechanical mechanisms working together (the part and the whole) are seen.

The festive music returns when the goat-man rises resurrected, with smiling and horned dancers around him. The atmosphere is one of joy but also of mockery.

Three giant-faced figures appear on the scene, while penguins wearing ties can be seen on the screen. This seems to represent the nameless executives, managers, officials and decision-makers involved in the work, higher in “stature” than regular workers. Everyone dances together joyfully in a carnivalesque way. Applauses can be heard. The creatures mix with the spectators.

A clock representing Time (Cronus/Saturn associations) is shown on the screen. The chorus sings “Gloria, Gloria”, while everyone walks slowly and solemnly towards it.

The music reaches its climax, with everyone kneeling in worship. The first train is shown coming out of the tunnel while everyone bursts with joy. Applause. The End. Pictures of the ceremony: Ruptly.

European leaders participated in the ceremony and were the first ones to travel through the tunnel.

3.1 Summary of the Ceremony

Summarizing, the whole ceremony was divided into two halves (inside and outside the tunnel). Both halves, however, followed the same structure, mirroring each other.

Each one of them started by showing the determination to fulfill their mission of the lower-class robot-like workers. This mission, apparently, was related to the coming out and the manifestation of some supernatural entity that emerged from a portal-like structure (symbolized by the tunnel or the eye/abyss represented on the exterior screen).

These entities, from a Christian point of view, used the classic symbolism that represents the demonic: e.g., dark angel and horned goat-man. If we look at it from a Neo-Pagan point of view, however, the goat man may very well symbolize Pan, the god of nature, while the rising Sun and the scarab beetles clearly represented the Sun god and his Egyptian cycle of periodic death and resurrection.

Both halves of the ceremony continued with chaotic celebrations rejoicing at the coming of said entities. Important political and religious figures, “of greater stature” than the common nameless workers, joined these carnivalesque celebrations. They were accompanied by the solemn choruses of well-dressed singers wearing floral and earth-like motifs on their heads (inverting the relationship feet=ground, head=mind or spirit).

The second half of the ceremony, in addition, contained some especially significant motifs such as the polarity of “angelic” and chthonic beings being united in the worship of the goat-man, and the latter´s death and resurrection. This Union of Opposites (heaven and earth, up and down) mirrored the previous union of the sexual poles shown by the figure of the androgynous dark angel inside the tunnel (male/female, right and left: also symbolized by the intermingling of his/her attendants in a sexually suggestive fight/dance).

The ceremony ended with everyone, including the giants representing the authorities, worshiping on their knees a clock symbolizing time and the coming out of the first train from the tunnel.

Overall, the ceremony parallels fairly closely what would be expected from a modern-day fertility Neo-Pagan ritual, with some Christian symbolism added into the mix in order to “honour” (by inverting) the original Devil´s bridge legend.

The original myth showed how Christians could triumph over the Devil, which had no power when confronted with the holiness of believers. This ceremony, in stark contrast, seems to re-enact a death and resurrection, Sun-worshipping fertility ritual, while adding some inverted Christian symbolism and a burlesque tone into the mix (e.g., the celebration of the coming of the fallen angel, the dead lamb). In this ceremony, the goat-man is celebrated, not scolded.

Maybe the sexual symbolism inherent to a train (phallic symbol) and its tunnel (yonic one) was deemed appropriate for such a representation.

4. Parallelisms with Other Esoteric or Religious Traditions

4.1. The Rising Sun and Scarab Beetles (Kheper) of Ancient Egypt

Clear parallels can be established between this ceremony and ancient Egyptian religion, which could be summarized as the worship of the Sun and of the periodic renewal of life.

The dung beetle was considered sacred due to its association with the former. The scarab-faced god Khepri (or Kheper), in turn, represented the rising or morning Sun, symbolizing creation and life´s resurrection, just as the Sun “renews” itself every morning.⁷

Image 3. The Sun god Khepri in the form of a dung beetle holding the Sun.

4.2. The Androgynous Angel and the Alchemical Rebis

Image 4. The Rebis, as depicted in *Theoria Philosophiae Hermeticae* (Heinrich Nolli, 1617).

The symbolism of Complementary Dualism and the Unity of Opposites, most clearly exemplified by the androgynous fallen angel, is found in most mystical and esoteric traditions. The one which placed a greater emphasis on it, however, is probably Alchemy.

On it, we find the end result of the Great Work of the Philosophers (the alchemical Magnum Opus) represented by the Rebis (meaning dual matter), the divine hermaphrodite. The Rebis represents the reconciliation of all opposites (e.g., spirit and matter; usually also good and evil), because “God” is identified with an impersonal totality, the Absolute.

4.3. The Inverted Kabbalistic Tree of Life and the Whirling Dervish

The inverted tree shown on the screen may represent the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, especially considering that the screen is depicted as the source from which the spirits come out.

In Kabbalah, the Tree of Life is the name given to the ten principal attributes (Sefirot) of the Divine, separated into three columns or pillars. Two of them are opposed and complementary to each other, while the one in the center represents the “middle way” between opposites. This diagram is conceived and sometimes represented as an inverted tree with its roots in the sky, since everything is believed to emanate from the Godhead (the impersonal no-thingness or pure potentiality of Ein Soph).

At some point during the ceremony, a worker dressed and dancing like a Sufi dervish can be seen. We may ask ourselves: is there any link between Kabbalah and Sufism? The answer to that question is that, even though they share many commonalities as well as differences, the key aspect in both of them is the same: their view of the Divine.

What Kabbalah and Sufism have in common is that both mystical traditions modified the strict Monotheism of their parent religions (Judaism and Islam, respectively) and became increasingly panentheistic over time, embracing an impersonal view of “God” instead. This view, in turn, implied the acceptance of all the usual doctrines of the “religions of the One”, such as Emanationism and Complementary Dualism, which as we have mentioned had a predominant place in this ceremony (especially the latter).

4.4. The Link with Neo-Paganism

However, the strongest association we can find, both in content and aesthetics, is with Neo-Paganism.

The scenes of a festive ritual parade rejoicing in the cyclical nature of existence and the passage back from death to life bear an uncanny resemblance to the well-known horror film The Wicker Man (1973).

Image 5. Scene from Christopher Lee´s classic horror film The Wicker Man (1973), depicting a fictional, Celtic pagan, nature-worshipping, Christian-mocking cult. The concepts of cyclical life and reincarnation are at the forefront of the cult´s beliefs.

A wicker man was, purportedly, a large humanly-shaped wicker statue believed to be used by some druids to make burning sacrifices (animal and, probably, human too).⁸⁹¹⁰ In recent times, a non-sacrificial wicker man may be burned at some Neo-Pagan ceremonies and festivals such as Burning Man.¹¹

The beliefs of the ancient Celtic religion (or Celtic Paganism¹²¹³¹⁴) are lost to time, since no primary sources have been preserved. However, they are believed to have been polytheistic¹⁵(maybe henotheistic) and, possibly, animistic in nature.¹⁶They seem to have worshipped both a father god of the dead (Toutatis, as in the Asterix comics) as well as a fertility mother goddess¹⁷. Many of the gods were characterized by their triplicity.

Image 6. The Wicker Man (1973). The concepts of cyclical renewal of life and reincarnation, as well as that of propitiatory sacrifice, are at the forefront of the cult´s beliefs. In the end, pagan beliefs assert that death is a necessary counterpart to life. This is opposite to the Christian view on salvation and eternal transcendent life (Theosis), which excludes death as an unnatural consequence of sin granted only temporal existence. In Christianity, the only thing that dies in the end, is death itself.

a. Pan: The God of Nature

The goat-man imagery, related to nature, also points to the Greek god Pan (Roman Faunus). He was believed to be the god of the wild, shepherds, flocks and rustic music.¹⁸ Among the gods, he was seen as especially attuned to sex, fertility and the spring season when the death of winter is left behind.¹⁹

Pan is a significant figure in the twentieth-century Neo-Pagan movement²⁰. Since his earliest literary appearance²¹, he was associated with a mother goddess (possibly Rhea or Cybele)²², just as the Egyptian Osiris/Isis or the Celtic Father (Toutatis) / Mother (Matrona) deities.

Pan was not worshipped in temples, but in natural, usually underground settings (caves and grottoes) which, together with the above observations about him, is consistent with the symbolism used in the ceremony at hand.

b. Maypole Fertility Rites

Image 7. The horror film Midsommar depicts a fictional modern-day Neo-Pagan Swedish cult. The movie, notorious for its darkness and oppressive atmosphere, shows most of the themes discussed in this article. Note the inversion of the Christian symbolism of the crown of thorns shown in the image above, depicting the protagonist transformed into the May Queen (female, an incarnation of Nature itself, wearing a headdress made of living vegetation). The image is the opposite of that of Jesus Christ (male, the Incarnation of the Logos, who wore a crown of dead thorns).

In connection with the “revival of Nature” aspect of the ceremony and its ornamental vegetal motifs, a link can be found with the ceremonial festivities of the Maypole.

A Maypole is a tall wooden pole erected as a part of various folk festivals²³ happening on 1 May (or at Midsummer in Scandinavian countries). The Maypole ceremonial dance often takes place around it.

Its origins are unknown, but it is believed to be related with Germanic Paganism (Iron Age).

In this event, the phallic pole is garlanded with greenery or flowers and often hung with ribbons woven into intricate patterns by the dancers, in a spring/summer rite to ensure fertility.

c. The Worship of Time (Cronus/Saturn) and the Saturnalia

Finally, the worship of time, in addition to the celebration of the cyclical renewal of natural life, also points to the ancient Greek (and Roman) deity Cronus (Saturn).

Although not always believed to be the same deity, during antiquity, the Greek god Cronus was identified with the personification of time itself (Chronos).²⁴²⁵²⁶

The influential Neo-Platonist Proclus, for example, stated that Cronus is the “One cause” of all things, being equivalent to “Chronos”.²⁷He is also believed to be equivalent to the deity Aion, a symbol of cyclical time. This ambivalent god is usually depicted as a callous old man with a scythe.²⁸

**Image 8.** **Chronos and His Child.** Depiction of the Titan as “Father Time” in its destructive aspect, wielding a harvesting scythe and “devouring his sons”. The past and older generation consuming the future and the newer one.Picture: Giovanni Francesco Romanelli (seventeenth-century). National Museum, Warsaw.

The Gnostic text Pistis Sophia also references the name Cronus, portraying the deity as the great ruler over others within the Aeons.

Despite its ambiguous character, Saturn had his own Roman celebration: the Saturnalia (Greek Kronia).²⁹ On it, the harvest and sowing were celebrated, while the social restrictions were relaxed. The revelries that took place on the Saturnalia were intended as echoes of the now-lost “Golden Age” where Saturn ruled before being overthrown. These disorderly aspects make sense when, as is the case here, the primordial god is conceived as a pre-formal force (e.g., Chaos) prior to any notion of order and structure.³⁰

According to Macrobius, the Saturnalia was a festival of light leading into the winter solstice, symbolizing the quest to achieve illumination (knowledge and truth).³¹ The coming of the new year, and its consequent renewal of light, was subsequently celebrated in the late Roman Empire as the Dies Natalis Solis Invicti (“Birthday of the Unconquerable Sun”; 25th of December, before Christianity modified the meaning of this day to remember the Incarnation of God).³²

ADDITIONAL POSSIBLE PARALELLISMS [Click Here]

The main concepts discussed in this article are far from being unique to the Gotthard base tunnel opening ceremony. On the contrary, they tend to be repeated quite frequently, indicating that they are widespread among the spheres of those who produce and consume them.

An example is the short opera-film Symmetry, recorded at CERN (Geneva; site of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s largest and highest-energy particle collider), where the concept of the eternal “dance”, love and complementarity between opposites is the key to the whole work.

Image 9. A scene from the opera film Symmetry, where opposites (e.g., male/female, black/white, inside/outside) fight (dance) but “love” each other, discovering themselves as complementary and implying each other. An analogy with the positively charged proton and the negatively charged electron is suggested, implying the hard coding of Complementary Dualism into the very fabric of reality. This is analogous to the esoteric (e.g, hermetic) concept of polarity.

Image 10. The film’s protagonist finds himself reaching a vast ocean of no-thingness, where a multiplicity of partly real and partly virtual bodies float disorderly in space. This imagery suggests the indeterminacy and, at the same time, all-possibility of the quantum vacuum, analogous to the esoteric impersonal force that is believed to be the source of everything in panentheistic systems and to the ancient notion of Chaos.

Others, additionally, have seen a link with the aesthetics of the extravagant parties of the world’s economic “elites”.

Image 11. The Rothschild‘s Surrealist Ball (1972). In the picture: Guy de Rothschild and Marie-Hélène de Rothschild.

5. Concluding Remarks

In this article, we have investigated the esoterico-religious influences that can be seen in the symbolism present in the inauguration ceremony (some would say ritual) of the world’s longest railway and deepest traffic tunnel.

In it, we have seen that both the narrative structure of the event and the concrete symbolism used are, not only compatible, but analogous to those used in ancestral fertility rituals and celebrations of a certain conception of the Divine that today we would describe as Neo-Pagan.

From here, we leave it to each one to draw their own conclusions as to why such events are increasingly common and are attended by the highest political leaders of our day.³³

Notes

“Gotthard- und CeneriBasistunnel: die neue Gotthard-Bahn nimmt Gestalt an.” Geomatik Schweiz (2016).
“Wer hat die grösste Röhre?” [Who has the longest tube?]. Tages-Anzeiger (graphical animation, in German). Zürich, Switzerland (2016).
“Gotthard tunnel: World’s longest and deepest rail tunnel opens in Switzerland“. BBC News (1 June 2016).
“Bizarre Show” an der Gotthard-Eröffnung: Die Welt wundert sich über die Schweiz“. Blick (2020).
“Timbre-poste spécial avec de la pierre du Gothard” (press release) (in French). Swiss Post. 11 May 2016.
Johann Jakob Scheuchzer, Naturgeschichte des Schweitzerlandes vol. 2 (1747 [1716]), p. 94.
van Ryneveld, Maria M. (1992). The Presence and Significance of Khepri in Egyptian Religion and Art, University of Pretoria (South Africa), Ann Arbor.
As testified by Roman general Julius Caesar (Commentary on the Gallic War [1st century BC])and some archaeological evidence.
“Others have figures of vast size, the limbs of which formed of osiers they fill with living men, which being set on fire, the men perish enveloped in the flames.” Caesar, Julius (1915). Caesar’s Commentaries. Translated by Macdevitt.
Koch, John (2012). The Celts: History, Life, and Culture. ABC-CLIO, pp. 687–690.
Jordan, Mark (2003). “The Body”. In Gary Laderman (ed.). Religion and American Cultures. ABC-CLIO, p. 341.
Ross, Anne (1974). Pagan Celtic Britain: Studies in Iconography and Tradition. London: Sphere Books Ltd.
Hutton, Ronald (1991). The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles: Their Nature and Legacy. Oxford, UK and Cambridge, USA: Blackwell.
Jones, Prudence and Pennick, Nigel (1995). A History of Pagan Europe. Routledge.
Cunliffe, Barry (2018) [1997]. “Chapter 11: Religious systems”. The Ancient Celts (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 275–277, 286, 291–296.
Miranda Green. (1992:196) Animals in Celtic Life and Myth. London: Routledge.
Koch, John (2006). Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. pp. 1488–1491.
Edwin L. Brown, “The Lycidas of Theocritus Idyll 7″, Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, pp. 1981:59–100.
Neto, F. T. L.; Bach, P. V.; Lyra, R. J. L.; Borges Junior, J. C.; Maia, G. T. d. S.; Araujo, L. C. N.; Lima, S. V. C. (2019). “Gods associated with male fertility and virility”. Andrology. 7 (3): 267–272.
Hutton, Ronald. The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft. Chapter 3.
Pindar´s Pythian Ode iii. 78.
The Extant Odes of Pind ar. See note 5 to Pythian Ode III: “For Heiron of Syracuse, Winner in the Horse-race.”
Festivals found across Europe but also found in India, pre-Columbian Latin America and the celebration garlands common in Britain and Ireland.
Marcus Tullius, Cicero. De Natura Deorum, 25.
“These men [the Egyptians] are like the Greeks who say that Cronus is but a metaphorical name for χρόνος (time).” Plutarch, On Isis and Osiris, 32.
Plato, Cratylus, 402b.
Proclus, Commentary on Plato’s Cratylus, 396B7.
Marcus Tullius, Cicero. “De Natura Deorum, § 2.64”.
Hansen, William F. (2002). Ariadne’s Thread: A guide to international tales found in classical literature. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, p. 385.
Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius. Saturnalia, 1.1.8 – 1.10.4. and 1.8.5.
Macrobius. Saturnalia, 1.1.8–9; In Jane Chance, Medieval Mythography: From Roman North Africa to the School of Chartres, A.D. 433–1177 (University Press of Florida, 1994), p. 71.
Robert A. Kaster, Macrobius: Saturnalia, Books 1–2 (Loeb Classical Library, 2011). Note on p. 16.
For discussion on the possibility that there may exist a voluntary intention to portray today’s elites as satanic, and why this might make sense, click HERE.

SYMBOLIC ANALYSIS

GOTTHARD BASE TUNNEL INAUGURATION CEREMONY: Neopaganism in High Places

SUMMARY

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SUMMARY OF SYMBOLS, CONCEPTS AND WORLDVIEWS