Pondering Divine Epiphanies

O GOD, who by the leading of a star didst manifest thy only-begotten Son to the Gentiles; Mercifully grant that we, who know thee now by faith, may after this life have the fruition of thy glorious Godhead; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A blessed Epiphany to the readers of JUST GENESIS.

By 4245 BC, the priests of the Upper Nile had already established a calendar based on the appearance of the star Sirius, known to the ancient Egyptians as the Sothic cycle, which is a span of 1,461 sidereal years (365.25 x 4) in which the heliacal rising once again “syncs up” with the solar calendar. In 3000 BC, the heliacal rising of Sirius and the flooding of the Nile occurred around June 25th, near the summer solstice. This also marked the Egyptian New Year.

Clearly, Nilotes had been tracking this star (and its binary twin) and connecting it to seasonal changes and agriculture for thousands of years. This is verified by the Priest Manetho who reported in his history (241 BC) that Nilotic Africans had been “star-gazing” as early as 40,000 years ago. Plato, who studied in Egypt, claimed that the Africans had been tracking the heavens for 10,000 years.

How the heavens influence patterns on Earth:

Wisdom Seeks to Understand
The Dung Beetle and Heavenly Lights
Jesus: From Lamb to Ram
Solar Imagery of the Proto-Gospel
Christ's Sign in Creation
Religion of the Archaic Rulers
The Sun and the Sacred
The Sun and Moon in Genesis
A Tent for the Sun
Iron Seeds from Heaven
Celestial Symbols that Speak of God
The Swelling of Sun and River Speak of God
Horite Expectation and the Star of Bethlehem
The Celestial Dance Observed by the Magi
A Blessed Epiphany
Ancient African Astronomers
Seven Planets, Seven Bowls

A Blessed Epiphany

Alice C. Linsley

A blessed Epiphany/Theophany to all!

As in the beginning, when God subdued the watery chaos in the creation of the world, so Christ our God restores the waters to health for the sake of the world.

Lord Jesus Christ, only-begotten Son, who are in the bosom of the Father, true God, source of life and immortality, Light from Light, who came into the world to enlighten it, flood our mind with light by your Holy Spirit and accept us as we bring you praise and thanksgiving for your wondrous mighty works from every age, and for your saving dispensation in these last times. By it you clothe yourself in our weak and beggared matter and coming down to the measure of our servitude, King of all, you accepted also to be baptized in the Jordan by the hand of a servant, so that, having sanctified the nature of the waters, you, the sinless one, might make a way for our rebirth through water and Spirit and re-establish us in our original freedom. As we celebrate the memory of this divine Mystery, we entreat you, Master, lover of mankind: Sprinkle on us, your unworthy servants, cleansing water, in accordance with your divine promise, the gift of your compassion, that the request of us sinners over this water may become acceptable by your goodness and that through it your blessing to be granted to us and to all your faithful people, to the glory of your holy, venerated Name. For to you belong all glory, honor and worship, with your Father who is without beginning, with you all-holy, good and life-giving Spirit, now and forever, and to the ages of ages. Amen. (from the liturgy for the Blessing of Waters)

Jesus Christ, our God, transformed the water when He entered the Jordan at His Baptism. This is recognized and ritualized when the Orthodox worldwide go to the waters on the feast of Theophany. The photos show two such ceremonies.

Russian Orthodox blessing the waters at Bering Island 2009.


Blessing of the waters at the Kennebec River in Maine on Theophany 2010.








Related reading: The Blessing of Waters; Epiphany Joy; Who Were the Wise Men?

Epiphany Joy

A blessed Epiphany!

The Feast of Epiphany (or the Theophany) traditionally falls on January 6. On this day, depending on one's tradition and church calendar, the revelation of Jesus Christ as God's Son is celebrated with remembrance of his Baptism in the River Jordan or the visitation of the Magi.

Eastern Churches following the Julian Calendar observe the Theophany on January 19. Saint John Cassian, who lived in the 5th century, reported that the Egyptian monasteries celebrated the Nativity and Baptism together on January 6.

St. Clement of Alexandria made what is perhaps one of the earliest reference to the Feast in Stromateis, I, xxi, 45:

And there are those who have determined not only the year of our Lord's birth, but also the day… And the followers of Basilides hold the day of his baptism as a festival, spending the night before in readings. And they say that it was the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, the fifteenth day of the month of Tubi; and some that it was the eleventh of the same month.

The 11 and 15 of Tubi correspond to January 6 and 10. Among the ancient Egyptians January 6 or Mechir 22 was the Feast of Horus, the Son of Ra, whose emblem was the Sun. Horus was regarded as the one who divided the primal waters and set their limits.

Three Wise Men 
by Joseph Christian Leyendecker (1900)

Regardless of when it is celebrated, the Epiphany Feast is marked by joy and thanksgiving for God's great self-revelation in the person of Jesus Christ. He came into the world as a man and lived among us. He gave himself for our salvation, trampling down death by death. At his baptism the Trinity was made manifest and every time a Christian makes the sign of the cross, he or she comes under that holy Name.

This year I enter the Epiphany Feast with excitement, thanksgiving, and a natural anxiety. As I write this, my youngest daughter anticipates the arrival of her first child. Maybe by this time tomorrow, God willing, my newest grandchild will be born. Her name is to be Juliette Alice Williams Wharton. I bid your prayers for mother and child.

God bless you all!

Alice / Jandy

Related reading: Theophany and the Gates of Hades; Nimrod and the Baptism of Jesus; The Blessing of Waters; Rumination on the Magi and Their Gifts; The Wise Men's Gifts (for my Hispanic friends); An Epiphany Poem; Royal Babies

The Blessing of Waters

Lord Jesus Christ, only-begotten Son, who are in the bosom of the Father, true God, source of life and immortality, Light from Light, who came into the world to enlighten it, flood our mind with light by your Holy Spirit and accept us as we bring you praise and thanksgiving for your wondrous mighty works from every age, and for your saving dispensation in these last times. By it you clothe yourself in our weak and beggared matter and coming down to the measure of our servitude, King of all, you accepted also to be baptized in the Jordan by the hand of a servant, so that, having sanctified the nature of the waters, you, the sinless one, might make a way for our rebirth through water and Spirit and re-establish us in our original freedom. As we celebrate the memory of this divine Mystery, we entreat you, Master, lover of mankind: Sprinkle on us, your unworthy servants, cleansing water, in accordance with your divine promise, the gift of your compassion, that the request of us sinners over this water may become acceptable by your goodness and that through it your blessing to be granted to us and to all your faithful people, to the glory of your holy, venerated Name. For to you belong all glory, honor and worship, with your Father who is without beginning, with you all-holy, good and life-giving Spirit, now and forever, and to the ages of ages. Amen. (from the liturgy for the Blessing of Waters)

Jesus Christ, our God, transformed the water when He entered the Jordan at His Baptism.  This is recognized and ritualized when the Orthodox worldwide go to the waters on the feast of Theophany.  The photos show two such ceremonies.

The photo at shows a Russian Orthodox blessing the waters at Bering Island 2009.

The photo  at right was taken at the blessing of the waters at the Kennebec River in Maine on Theophany 2010.








As in the beginning, when God subdued the watery chaos in the creation of the world, so Christ our God restores them to perfect health for the sake of the world.


Related reading: The Blessing of Waters; Epiphany Joy

The Celestial Dance Observed by the Magi

Alice C. Linsley

Rick Larson spent over eight years researching the Star of Bethlehem and discovered the difference between sidereal astronomy and astrology. Sidereal astronomy is real science, based on observation of the arrangement and movement of the fixed stars and planets. This science originated among Abraham's Nilo-Saharan ancestors who had recorded information about the fixed stars and clock-like motion of the planets and constellations for thousands of years. They shared this knowledge with the kings of Egypt.

For the ancient Egyptians the stars in the constellation of Leo were especially important because the Nile rose when the Sun passed through the constellation of Leo. Therefore, the Lion and the rising strength of the water were associated.

The Magi were sidereal astronomers who lived east of Israel, probably in Babylon. They were heirs of the same astronomical knowledge as the ancient Egyptians because they were from Judah, like Daniel and the other men of Judah (Jews) who served as advisers to King Nebuchadnezzar.

They clearly were aware of God's promise concerning a King whose kingdom shall endure through all the ages (the Messianic Psalm 145:13, which is found repeatedly in Daniel, punctuates the theme of the rise and fall of kingdoms). These astronomers from the East recognized the singular event of Jupiter's triple spiral that brought it in close proximity to Regulus. The Babylonians called Regulus 'Sharu', which means 'king.' The Persian (Farsi) word shir means lion (leo).

Using Starry Night, a soft ware program that can track celestial events at any time in history, Larson discovered that Jupiter, the Planet of Kings met Regulus, the Star of Kings at the beginning of the Jewish New Year in the year 3 BC. The conjunction produced the appearance of a single extraordinarily bright star. Larson believes that this is when the Angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she was chosen to bear Messiah.

Larson explains, "In 3/2 BC, Jupiter's retrograde wandering would have called for our magus' full attention. After Jupiter and Regulus had their kingly encounter, Jupiter continued on its path through the star field. But then it entered retrograde. It 'changed its mind' and headed back to Regulus for a second conjunction. After this second pass it reversed course again for yet a third rendezvous with Regulus, a triple conjunction. A triple pass like this is more rare. Over a period of months, our watching magus would have seen the Planet of Kings dance out a halo above the Star of Kings. A coronation."

We know from the number symbolism of the Afro-Asiatic peoples that the number 3 associated with a King means universal shalom. This message of peace corresponds to the angels' proclamation to the shepherds tending their flocks outside Bethlehem at the time of Jesus' birth.

If you haven't watched Rick Larson's Star of Bethlehem DVD, I encourage you to do so. You can order the Star of Bethlehem DVD here: http://www.bethlehemstar.net

The plurality of stars, planets and constellations speaks of the immeasurable nature of the universe, yet all are the work on the Ancient of Days, who alone is God, dwelling in light. The unique celestial events that surround the Annunciation, Nativity and Visitation of the Magi (the first Christmas) confirm that God set the universe's clock from before time. The orderliness of the heavens was such that the astronomers of old, whose work it was to observe the heavens, could not have missed the conjunction of Jupiter and Regulus and the emergence of Virgo, the Virgin, with the sun at her head and the moon at her feet.

As Vern Poythress has said, "So, at the very beginning of arithmetic, we are already plunged into the metaphysical problem of unity and plurality, of the one and the many. As Van Til and Rushdoony have pointed out, this problem finds its solution only in the doctrine of the ontological Trinity."

Related reading: Horite Expectation and the Star of Bethlehem; Who Were the Wise Men?; David's Royal City; The Ark Rested in Bethlehem