Round Towers of Ireland - The History of the Tuath-De-Danaans

I will as substantially establish, that they were, what has already been affirmed, in reference to those in Ireland, viz. temples in honour of the sun and moon, the procreative causes of general fecundity, comprising in certain instances, like them, also the additional and blended purposes of funeral cemeteries and astronomical observatories.

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The principle of all mysteries having been already elucidated, it only remains, that in this concluding chapter, I point out a few more instances of their practical application.

In the Gospel, then, according to St. Matthew, I find the words, "O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" And in that according to St. John, the following, "We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God."

The juxtaposition of these texts, one with another, and the comparison of them, mutually, with the explication of the serpent, will not only confirm the truth of all the foregoing developments, but satisfy you further, what I am very certain you did not before identify, viz. that the phrases generation of vipers, and the being born of fornication, are one and the same-the viper, or serpent, being the symbol of lustfulness, making the former equivalent to ye offspring of concupiscence; that is, in other words, ye born of fornication! And the very stress laid upon this mode of geniture, implies not only the possibility of a different sort, but its frequency also!

"In the Purana prophecies concerning the expected Saviour," say the Asiatic Researches, "it is said, that he was the son, or rather the incarnation, of the great serpent: and his mother was also of that tribe, and incarnate in the house of a pot-maker. She conceived, at the age of one year and a half, the great serpent gliding over her while she was asleep in the cradle: and his mother, accordingly, is represented as saying to the child, once that she brought him to a place full of serpents-'Go and play with them, they are your relations.'"

Here it will be seen that, under the form of a serpent, is personified the Deity, or the generative power.

Nunez de la Vega, Bishop of Chiapa, in Mexico, when describing Nagualism, in his Constitutions, as observed in that country, says: "The Nagualists practise it by superstitious calendars, wherein are inserted the proper names of all the Naguals, of stars, the elements, birds, beasts, fishes, and reptiles; with observations upon the months and days; in order that the children, as soon as they are born, may be dedicated to that which, in the calendar, corresponds with the day of their birth; this is preceded by some frantic ceremonies, and the express consent of parents, which is an explicit part between the infants and the Naguals that are to be given to them. They then appoint the melpa, or place, where, after the completion of seven years, they are brought into the presence of the Nagual to ratify the engagement; for this purpose they make them renounce God and His blessed Mother, instructing them beforehand not to be alarmed, or sign themselves with the cross: they are afterwards to embrace the Nagual affectionately, which, by some diabolical art or another, appears very tame, and fondly attached to them, although it may be a beast of a ferocious nature, as a lion, a tiger, etc. They persuade the children, by their infernal cunning, that this Nagual is an angel sent by God to watch over their fortunes, to protect, assist, and accompany them; and that it must be invoked upon all occasions, business, or occurrences, in which they may require its aid!"

It is very clear, that the Nagualism above notified is but a degenerate offshoot of that serpent worship, which is coeval with the fall: yet, degenerate as it is, it is equally indisputable, that this good man's zeal outsteps far his judgment, the exaggerations of his fancy even committing him so far, as to make him imperceptibly contradict himself!

Surely, were it a principle of action with those unfortunate beings to make their children, on their entrance upon active life, to renounce God, they would not teach them, at the same time, to reverence a brute creature, merely as being a subordinate servant of that God!

To reconcile the Bishop, therefore, to something like truth, I will suppose him to mean by the word God, where it first occurs, Christ, which is evident from the context, of "His blessed Mother": and then the prohibition against the sign of "the cross," must be understood exclusively as in reference to him; a conclusion which is confirmed by an additional reference to that oath, which I have before mentioned, as still prevalent amongst the Irish.

By the cross is the oath, accompanied by a transverse location of the forefinger of one hand upon that of the other: and the addition alluded to is of Christ, which is never volunteered except when equivocation is suspected; and then it is exacted as a matter of distinction between His cross and the more antecedent one!

But no further proof is requisite to prove the Bishop's want of candour than his withholding documents from the public eye, which would appear to illustrate the subject.-"Although in these tracts and papers there are," says he, "many other things touching primitive paganism, they are not mentioned in this epitome, lest, in being brought into notice, they should be the means of confirming more strongly an idolatrous superstition." He should have had more confidence in his own cause, and feel that-"If anything, in consequence of this scrutiny, totter and fall, it can only be the error which has attached itself to truth, encumbering and deforming it. Truth itself will remain unshaken, unsullied, fair, immortal!"

Now, in the description of the ancient city, near Palenque, quoted before, I find some words, which prove an affinity between the worship of the ancient inhabitants of America and those of Ireland, and which rescue both from the imputations of bigotry. "I am Culebra," says Votan, one of the early princes, I believe, of Mexico, who wrote an historical tract in the Indian idiom, "because I am Chivim."

The man's name, you perceive, was Votan, but his ambition was to be considered Culebra, or the snake, that is, the deity so personified: the mode whereby he sought to establish it is foreign from my inquiry.

The Gadelglas of the ancient Irish was precisely similar to this Culebra of the Americans: gad signifying a snake, or tortuosity: el, god; and glas, green-in all, the green snake-god! And conformably with this import, we are assured by a man who knew very little as to the reason why, but whose testimony is here valuable in a matter of record, not of opinion; namely, that the "Milesians, from the time they first conquered Ireland, down to the reign of Ollamh Fodhla, made use of no other arms of distinction in their banners than a serpent twisted round a rod, after the example of their Gadelian ancestors."

You have now the proof of "who puts the snakes upon our ancient crosses?" And, independently of such proof, the antiquity itself of all the traditions associating the serpent with the early memoirs of our ancestors was so great as to appal even the monks! And as they could not, in their system of transferring our history, bring down this serpent to the era of the saints, they resolved, at all events, to have him in their dispensation, and so made Moses the hero!

This they contrived by inventing the name of Gadel for one of our forefathers, and then transplanting him to the coast of the Red Sea, just as the Legislator of the Jews was conducting them out of Egypt! They then very unsacerdotally make a serpent bite him in some part of the heel, but very graciously afterwards restore him to sanity by Moses's interposition! with a stipulation, however, that the former sore should ever appear glass or green! And thus was he called Gadelglas, or Gadel the Green!!! In truth, it was from this green snake-god, above explained, that the island obtained the designation of Emerald; and not from the verdure of its soil, which is not greater than that of other countries. The Arabians have a tradition, that Enoch was the first who, after Enos, son of Seth, son of Adam, wrote with a pen, in the use of which he instructed his children, saying to them additionally, "O, my sons, know that ye are Sabians!"

Although the substance of the religion, couched under this designation, has been already explained, yet the origin of the name itself remains yet to be unfolded.

Then be it known, that in the sacred, i.e. Irish language, the word Sabh, has three significations-firstly, voluptuousness, or the yoni; secondly, a snake, or sinuosity; and, thirdly, death or life! And in accordance with this triple import, if you roll back the leaves, you will find in the plate inserted there, and which has been transcribed from the sculptures of the ancient Palencian city before alluded to, those three symbols, viz. the yoni, the serpent, and death, all united in design, and illustrating my development of that mysterious scene wherein- "Eve tempting Adam by a serpent was stung."

The sculpture itself is intended to pourtray the situation of those progenitors of the human species in the Garden of Eden. And yet, striking as it is, would its tendency remain ever a secret, were it not for the instrumentality of the Irish language!

"That the society of free and accepted Masons possess a grand secret among themselves is an undoubted fact. What this grand secret is, or of what unknown materials it consists, mankind in general, not dignified with the order, have made the most ridiculous suppositions. The ignorant form incoherencies, such as conferring with the devil, and many other contemptible surmises, too tedious to mention, and too dull to laugh at. While the better sort, and more polished part of mankind, puzzle themselves with reflections more refined, though equally absurd. To dispel the opinionative mist from the eye of general error is the author's intention; and however rash the step may be thought, that he, a mere atom in the grand system, should attempt so difficult, so nice a task, yet he flatters himself that he shall not only get clear over it, but meet with the united plaudits both of the public and of his brethren. And he must beg leave to whisper to the ignorant, as well as the judicious, who thus unwarrantably give their judgment, that the truth of this grand secret is as delicately nice as the element of air; though the phenomenon continually surrounds us, yet human sensation can never feelingly touch it till constituted to the impression by the masonic art. The principal, similar to the orb of light, universally warms and enlightens the principles, the first of which, virtue, like the moon, is heavenly chaste, attended by ten thousand star-bright qualifications. The masonic system is perfectly the emblem of the astronomic; it springs from the same God, partakes of the same originality, still flourishes in immortal youth, and but with nature will expire."