Extracted text
Editorial transcription, lightly normalized from the scan. Line-break hyphenation and unmistakable OCR errors have been repaired; the claims remain those of The Flaming Sword.
The Open Court of Inquiry.
Planetary Motions and Relations.
"I would be pleased to have you answer the following questions as clearly and thoroughly as space will admit, in the Inquiry Department of The Flaming Sword: (1) Give a brief synopsis of the laws of planetary movements from the Koreshan standpoint. (2) Why are Venus and Mercury the only two planets that transit the sun's face? (3) How do you explain the systems of moons so called, that accompany some of the planets? (4) You seem to take it for granted that there are no undiscovered planets in the stellar realm. Some astronomers believe that there is another planet between Mercury and the sun, and they have been trying to place it during solar eclipses. What do you think?" —A Reader.
(1) From the standpoint of the Copernican system of astronomy the planets we see in the sky are ponderable and material. They are supposed to rotate and revolve about the sun through some unknown force of impulsion. The Koreshan System not only explains the cause of the motion of the planets, but also gives the reason for their existence—the function they perform in the economy of the universe. The lights above us are not "heavenly bodies"; the visible planets are not ponderable, neither is the origin of their motion mechanical. The planets proper are mercurial discs in the shell of the earth—in the alimentary tract constituting the physical Zodiac of the cosmos. The laws of the motion of the planets are analogous to the laws of the motion of the substances in the digestive tract of the human system.
The principle of the motion is peristaltic. In the human system there is a succession of contraction and relaxation of the fibers of the walls of the canal; and where contraction takes place, the substances are moved along to the relaxed portions. In the physical cosmos there is a corresponding contraction and expansion of the metallic shells, through the action of the forces of the sun, and the discs of liquid mercury constituting the planets, are moved along in their progress through their material channels.
We see these discs through a process of reflection; and their apparent motion in the sky depends primarily upon the motion of their respective discs, and secondarily upon the complex effects of refraction of the planetary energies, which give the planets their so-called stationary positions and retrograde motions.
(2) In the Copernican system, Venus and Mercury are supposed to revolve about the sun in orbits of less diameter than the supposed orbit of the earth. While the usual reason that Mercury and Venus transit the sun may seem obvious, it is not conclusive, for the reason that the basis of the conclusion is an assumption. The visible Venus and Mercury have an apparent revolution about the sun, not in circles nor ordinary ellipses, but in orbits in the form of curved and flattened ellipses. The cause of these apparent motions is the oscillation of the points of reflection with reference to the solar projection, and the change of altitude of the spheres of force from which the visible planets are reflected. This admits of the two planets sometimes passing between us and the sun. In the case of Mars a corresponding change takes place in distance from the earth, but Mars is nearer the earth than the sun when in opposition to the sun; hence Mars never transits the sun's face. Every one of the planets have an apparent retrograde motion. In the case of Venus and Mercury the paths of retrogradation are equal to the paths of forward motion—that is, with reference to the sun. In the case of the other planets, the arcs of retrogradation are short compared with their orbits.
(3) The planets proper are discs of liquid mercury. The so-called planetary satellites are reflections from small discs or pools of mercury which move about the larger discs in their progress in the alimentary channel. Saturn's rings are reflections from rings of mercury surrounding the material planet in the earth's shell; and outlying the rings are the so-called moons—nine of which have been discovered.
(4) If the universe were constructed after the plan of disorder and waste, and utter disregard of principle or law, we should not be surprised at the discovery of manifold irregularities in the cosmos. But the universe is constructed according to the principles and laws of definite relation and order. Everything exists for use, and eternal function inheres in eternal form. There are just as many planets now as there were millions of ages ago. Their functions are definite. The planets belong to the lunar system, not the solar. The fact that the planets present phases similar to those of the moon, is proof of this. The planets are in the digestive tract of the physical cosmos. Each planet is in its own division of the alimentary canal, of which there are seven divisions.
If we admit a solar beam through an aperture and allow it to pass through a prism, we observe seven distinct colors in the spectrum. They are the seven primary colors. No one ever thinks of it being possible to discover another primary color, for the primaries of this order are in a series of sevens. It is conclusive that there are no more primary colors to be discovered. Neither are there more than seven whole tones in an octave. Correspondingly, there are just seven primary metals. The analogous relation of this series of sevens to the seven Messianic...
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The source scans remain the record. This page preserves the periodical's claims without presenting its conclusions as independently established results.
Source: The Flaming Sword · Vol. 18, No. 39 · March 7, 1905 · Physical PDF p. 12
The Flaming Sword · Vol. 18, No. 39 · Mar 7, 1905 · PDF p. 12