In this chapter we are going to learn about Egypt’s four minor sphinxes, Ezekiel’s four cherubs, or the four genii as they are called in some of our more ancient legends. Let us begin by looking at the word “genii,” which is the plural form of the word “genius.”

    One could define genius as a person of phenomenal and original powers or as the guardian spirit of an individual. A genius is higher and more spontaneous than talent, less dependent than others on instruction, and not always amenable to training. Genii can have an extra-ordinary influence over another being or humanity in general.

    The four geinii, or cherubim, are found in many legends and mythologies of the original creation. The most ancient ones called them Pillars of Heaven or Pillars of Him who Dwells in the Heavens. The heavens were sustained by four pillars, and each pillar had one of the four genii as a keeper to take charge of it. These four guardians are sometimes represented as the four cardinal points of a cross in the Zodiac. We will also discover them in another chapter as the four corner sockets of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

    The Maya called them Kan Bacab (yellow, and placed in the East), Chac Bacab (red, and placed in the West), Zac Bacab (white, and placed in the North), and Ek Bacab (black, and placed in the South).

    To the Chaldeans they were the protecting genii of the human race: Sed-Alap or Kirub, a bull with a human face; Lamas or Nigal, a lion with a man's head; Ustar, a human; and Nattig, an eagle with a human face.

    We can also find the four genii in Chinese and Hindu mythologies. If you are interested in this subject, secure a copy of The Lost Continent of Mu by Colonel James Churchward, and you won't be disappointed.

    The Jewish populace will come across the four genii in the Old Testament under Ezekiel 1:10: As for the likeness of their faces, the cherubim, they had a face of a man; and they four had the face of a lion on the right side; and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four had also the face of an eagle.

    Christians call them the four heads of the beast, the four living creatures, or the four cherubim. We can read about them in the New Testament under Revelations 4:6-7: The floor around the throne was like a sea of glass that was crystal-clear. At the very center, around the throne itself, stood four living creatures covered with eyes front and back. The first creature resembled a lion, the second an ox, the third had the face of a man, while the fourth looked like an eagle in flight. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are also known, in Chrisitianty, as the Man. Lion, Bull, and Eagle respectively.

    All through Egyptian antiquities and artifacts we see the four genii depicted as the four minor sphinxes. We find this depiction, for example, in much of the Egyptian or English documentation of the Great Pyramid, and of other Egyptian temples — one a sphinx with a lion’s head, one with a bull’s head, another with an eagle’s head, and the last one with a human’s head.

    The four cherubim are called Kerubim in the Thoth Tarot Deck. They are placed in the four corners of Trump Card V (The Hierophant), Trump Card VI (The Lovers), and Trump Card XXI (The Universe). We can also locate these four heads illustrated in many other cards together or separately.

    They are also pictured as the four minor Egyptian sphinxes on Trump Card VII (The Chariot). They are pulling the chariot with a man whose only function is to bear the Holy Grail. He is throned in the chariot rather than conducting it, because the whole system of progression is perfectly balanced and proceeding in a very natural flow.

    The tarot is an illustrated model of the forces of nature as conceived by the ancients. Rota is a wheel. Hence we get the word tarota or in modern times tarot. The solar system, with the planets revolving around the solar sun, is not a sphere. It is a wheel. The planet's orbits are elliptical. The ancients paid very close attention to the rim or belt of this wheel, and they called it the Zodiac.

    Even the origin of our modern playing cards can be historically traced to the four suits of the tarot cards. Don’t let any misuse of the tarot deck detract you from the ancient origins and knowledge contained in pictorial form within them.

    Everything we have been talking about in all these chapters has been based on the Spring Equinox which takes place on March 21. What do we know about the Autumnal Equinox, on or near September 22, when the sun’s plane crosses the equator heading south towards the Tropic of Capricorn?

    Almost everything we have said about the Vernal Equinox holds true for the Autumnal Equinox, except that the Fall-Equinox sun crosses on the opposite side of the celestial equator.

    The Vernal Equinox is going into Aquarius, the Man, at this time in the Platonic year, and the Autumnal Equinox is just dawning into Leo, the Lion, for the next 2,150 years. That accounts for two heads of those winged beasts or cherubim if I am counting right.

    If I thought I could make this chapter any easier for us to digest by eating those two winged monsters and having the other two for dessert when they finish stewing in my brain, I would do so (even though I am a total vegetarian). It would be worth it just to free the universe for all time of these spiraling monsters. Next time we should make them Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy. Our descendants might find these four genii much easier to comprehend. .

    Let us make a model to see if we can locate and understand the two missing cherubim. Picture a right angle cross with four arms of equal length. Next, place the Autumnal Equinox and Leo the Lion at the end of the top arm. Position the Spring Equinox and Aquarius the Man on the bottom arm of the cross on the same line as Leo the Lion.

    Now take the Sphinx, that runs around binding things together, and skewer it on the vertical beam of the cross between Aquarius and Leo. Calm Down! We’re using imaginary lines, so it doesn’t hurt. Now that we all have the Great Sphinx of Giza on the vertical beam of the cross binding the Man and the Lion, we are getting our first glimpse of the male aspect of this hermaphroditic Sphinx.

    In due time, we will meet the Sphinx and a few of its mythological friends on our journey to the twilight zone. They will unite to reveal their hidden-timely symbol, but, as you can plainly see, I don’t mind lifting a few veils to expose some clues along the way.

    Let us remove the Great Sphinx from our imaginary cross and return it to the Zodiac to bind Virgo, the Virgin, and Leo, the Lion. Now the Sphinx has its feminine face or aspect again.

    Place the Summer Solstice of June 21 on the right arm of the cross. It is just Dawning into Taurus, the Bull, at this time in the Platonic year. Now, put the Bull over the Summer Solstice. The Summer Solstice will take the next 2,150 years to travel westward through the constellation of Taurus.

    Let’s place the Winter Solstice on the left arm of the cross, and then we can go find that Eagle who cohabits with a Scorpion. Yes, they dwell in the constellation of Scorpio, which Abraham of Biblical fame always called the Eagle. Put that Eagle on the left end of the cross.

    If we check the heavens on December 21, we will find the Winter-Solstice sun is just dawning into Scorpio, and it will be traversing that constellation for the next 2,150 years.

    We are now observing how the four cherubim look when the cross lines up with them at this time in the Platonic year. Let us take the four genii off the cross and put them into the wheel of the Zodiac where they belong. We will leave the Spring and Autumnal Equinoxes, along with the Summer and Winter Solstices, attached to the ends of the cross.

    Now put the cross in the middle of the Zodiac and spin it. Don’t hold your breath! The cross is going to take 25,800 years to make one revolution. Notice! We have the ancient and universal symbol for the planet Earth — a cross in a circle.

    Let me show you a trick. Turn the cross to put the Vernal Equinox in Aries where it was 2,000 to 4,000 years ago. Now check the right arm of the cross where the Summer Solstice is attached. If all is going well, it should be in the constellation of Cancer.

    This gives us the Tropic of Cancer on every map and globe. Check the location of the Winter Solstice. That’s right! It is in the Tropic of Capricorn that is also depicted on our maps and globes. That was our position in this great year 2,000 to 4,000 years ago.

    Turn the Vernal Equinox to the sixth age of the world or the Piscean Age. That is where the first day of spring has been for the last 2,000 years. We now have the Tropic of Gemini replacing the Tropic of Cancer on the Summer Solstice. We also find the Winter Solstice on the Tropic of Sagittarius instead of the Tropic of Capricorn.

    The map and globe makers must have fallen asleep with the tropical astrologers for the last 2,000-plus years! It is beginning to look as if they may have their work cut out for them. Using 10 percent of our brain’s potential at the end of the sixth age, maybe we are all a little behind the times.

    One of the purposes of this book is to remind the map makers and the astrologers of their responsibility to rectify the names of the solstices and the equinoxes on our charts, maps, and globes. When we finish reading this book and you fully comprehend the secrets being revealed to you, I hope that you will support me when I request that we upgrade our maps and charts.

    Let us keep turning the cross and put the first day of Spring at the dawning of Aquarius, where we are at this time in the Platonic year. Yes! Our four cherubim are lining up again.

    Our Summer Solstice is in Taurus, so we can change the Tropic of Cancer on our maps and globes to the Tropic of Taurus. Ah, the Winter Solstice is in Scorpio, so the Tropic of Capricorn needs to be renamed the Tropic of Scorpio.

    Now we have the Autumnal Equinox in Leo the Lion, the Vernal Equinox in Aquarius the Man, the Summer Solstice in Taurus the Bull, and the Winter Solstice in Scorpio with the Eagle.

    Spring, or a new beginning for man, is progressing into Aquarius, and our Fall is heading into the Lion at this time in the Platonic year. I believe, as we enter this major turning point, we begin to remember who we are and from whence we sprang. Our lower-animalistic essence and the misinterpretations of our myths start to fall into the fire of Leo as our spiritual beings re-emerge into the heavens or air of Aquarius.

    When your ready, take the cross and spin it 180 degrees. This puts the Spring into the beast or Lion and the Fall into the Man. This is 13,000 years ago when the continent of Atlantis supposedly sank..

    This era in the Platonic year can be interpreted in some of the creation stories as the fall of man into the beast or the fall from the garden. This was the time when mankind’s spring was cut short because he was bullheaded enough to be tricked and stung by the scorpion. Man was expelled from the garden and cast into the darkness of the lion's jungle.

    Genesis 3:24 says: When God expelled man from the Garden of Eden, he settled him east of the garden, and he stationed the cherubim and the fiery revolving sword to guard the way to the tree of life.

    Has anybody heard this allegory before? If this information is ringing a bell and you are still interested in un-weaving some more fascinating material, take a deep breath, close your eyes, and let what we are learning sink in. When you’re ready, spin into the spelling class coming up in the next chapter, and we will have some more fun playing school.