[204] It should be noted that many of the so-called “circles” are in reality elliptical.
[205] See, on this subject, Higgins’ “Anacalypsis,” vol. i., p. 315, et seq.
[206] We must look to the esoteric teaching of Mithraism for the origin and explanation of much of primitive Christian dogma. The doctrine of “regeneration,” which is a spiritual application of the idea of physical generation, was known to all the religious systems of antiquity, and probably the Phallic emblems generally used were regarded by the initiated as having a hidden meaning. I may, perhaps, be allowed to refer to the second volume of my “Evolution of Morality” for information on the subject of the “re-birth.”
[207] The serpent elevated in the wilderness is said to be typical of Christ. A Gnostic sect taught that Christ was Seth.
[208] Didron’s “Christian Iconography” (Bohn), pp. 272-286.
[209] It is a curious fact that Buddhist saints are often represented in the Vesica and with the nimbus. See Hodgson’s figures (Plates v. and vi.) in the “Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,” vol. xvi.
[210] Didron, pp. 27, 231.
[211] Ditto, p. 29.
[212] Ditto, p. 215.
[213] “History of Magic” (Bohn), vol. i., p. 253, et seq.