In today’s time Valentine’s Day seems to be all about sharing love and spending special time with a special someone, sending chocolates and flowers, and romantic candle-lit dinners. However, is there something unholy beneath the surface of this?
History
From the mid 15th century, the word Valentine originates from the late Latin word Valentinus a name from Italy. This Italian name comes from the word valentia which means “strength, capacity.” Choosing one’s “valentine” began on this day in the 14th century as a custom from the English and French. The first recording of valentine being defined as a message or card sent to one’s sweetheart was in 1824.[1]
Obviously the day is named after a popular Roman saint, who is commemorated on this day and supposedly known for his traditions of courtly love. St. Valentine was executed on the 14th around the year 270 and the reason behind why he was executed has several different theories. Through the Catholic church they state that all saints are not to rest in peace and instead are to keep busy performing miracles. They continue to say that being imprisoned or dead is no excuse for the non-performance of the supernatural.
From the Catholic church we can also find that boys drawing the names of girls is a superstitious custom to honor the goddess Februata Juno on the 15th.[2] This goddess is also called Juno Februtis which is said to be a purifier and fertility goddess which is also connected to the month February and can be seen just by the word relation.
The Customs of the Holiday
The month of February gets its name from the Latin root word februa which means “religious purification” so, in other words, a month of purification. The month can easily be seen from where there are several festivals that take place which include Lupercalia, Parentalia and the Feast of Vali.
Lupercalia, which is held on the 15th of February, is a very ancient Roman purification ceremony/festival that was celebrated for the hopes of better fertility among the people. The festival is to be related to another god called Lupercus which derives from the word lupus meaning “wolf.” During this “wolf” festival, they would sacrifice dogs and goats then turning the goat skin into a loincloth. The loincloth would be worn by a certain group of younger males that controlled the borders called Luperci (meaning brothers of the wolf). Along with the loincloth, some of the Luperci even wore the dog heads. Anyone who was to get in their way, would be struck with whips (which were also made from goat). The striking of the whips were thought to do away with bad things while at the same time giving way for good things. Women who wanted to have luck in fertility, whether getting pregnant or an easier time with child-birth, would deliberately put themselves against the Luperci to be struck.[3]
Aside from the Romans, the Greeks also had their purification ritual related to dogs called periskylakismos. This ritual consisted where if one wanted to be “purified” they would literally rub puppies all over their body and then sacrifice them to a Greek goddess called Hecate (or Hekate).[3]
The next festival being Roman, called Parentalia (meaning festival of the ancestors) was held from February 13th until the 21st. Throughout this festival people gave offerings to the dead and even more so on Feralia (the 21st) which is the propitiation (the act of regaining or gaining favor of a god, spirit, or person) of the dii manes (the divine and powerful dead). Some of these sacrifices included flower-garlands, wheat, salt, wine-soaked bread, and violets. These acts were to try to strengthen and protect the ties between the living and the dead.[3]
Moving away from the Greek and Roman festivals we find the Feast of Vali being a Nordic ceremony. Not much is entirely known about this specific event as far as its heritage of where it came from. What is known about the feast is that it is celebrated on behalf of the returning of light, of romance, and marriage. Besides this, the only other information is that it also is in recognition of the death of Hoder by Vali’s hands. This act was in avenging the death of Balder who was killed by Hoder.[4]
The Mythology
Before looking at what the bible has to say about all this, we can get more of a grasp on things if we look at these mythological people and what they represent.
Statue of Juno
The first one we came across was the goddess Februtis (or Februata). This is actually one of Juno’s many epithets (an alias) describing the goddess. This alias defines Juno as the protector during pregnancy and also describes her as being the goddess who retains the blood of childbirth inside herself. To understand more, one would have to study about the goddess Juno which is said to be quite complex. The complexity comes from the many roles and titles of hers but in short she is titled the goddess of marriage and the queen of the gods. She is also associated being in a constant state of youth, a symbol of fertility, and a military figure.[5,6]
Pan
The next is a god called Lupercus, the wolf god related to Aridian witchcraft. This god, yet again, is stated as one that is very confusing. In tradition he is seen as a great golden wolf who drives away the wolves of night. In the Roman mythology they claim that a wolf nursed the two twins Remus and Romulus. These twins are supposedly the ones who founded Rome taking shelter in a cave. Another interesting thing is that Lupercus is said to be an alias of Faunus which is equivalent to Pan. Bringing this out, makes things a bit easier to understand. Pan is the god of the untamed nature and fertility being horned and half goat. As the equivalent, Pan was known for sexual powers and it is claimed that his most successful accomplishment was with Selene the moon goddess. In this “accomplishment” Pan disguised himself as a sheep and seduced the goddess (sound familiar?). Some statues of Pan even depict him in the disgusting act of bestiality.[7,8]
Hecate
Moving on to the Greek mythology, the third to come up was Hecate (or Hekate). This goddess is known for being associated at crossroads, entrances, dogs, light, the moon, magic, witchcraft, necromancy, sorcery, and her ability with herbs and poisonous plants. She is sometimes compared like the dog, a creature of protection at barriers such as the realm between the living and the dead along with probably being assumed that she had contact with the spirits and ghosts that move between this “realm.” The more modern depictions of her are her being in triple formation similar to the creature Cerberus the three-headed dog that guarded the gates of Hades. Hecate is also known for being the “patron” goddess of Wiccans and even Aleister Crowley wrote about her in his books. At this point, it should be more obvious.[9]
Norse god Vali
Finally, we move to the Norse mythology of Vali. In this mythological word, Vali (pronounced valley) was one of the sons of the god Odin. Being a former Marvel Universe fan and having the favorite character of Thor, this is more of my familiarity. To make the connection for those who do not know, Thor was also a son of Odin making Vali and Thor brothers. The other brother was Baldr who was accidentally killed by Hodr. Vali’s sole purpose was to avenge his brother Baldr’s death by killing Hodr and is suggested to survive the Norse mythological apocalypse called Ragnarok. Symbolically he portrays the incarnation of the light of days and being an archer shoots arrows of light. Beams of sunshine was often described as arrows; somewhat similar to that of Apollo.[10,11]
Cupid
Well wait a minute, there is another god associated with Valentine’s day; Cupid. Cupid has always been related on this day because he is the Roman god of passionate love. This name derives from the Latin word cupido which means “desire, love.” We should all know how Cupid perform’s his action, by shooting the individual with one of his arrows. After being shot, they are filled with an uncontrollable desire of love. It is also suggested that his bow is in the shape of lips. The way cupid has been displayed is no random act however. He is majority of the time, portrayed as being a child representing, that in choice, love is deceptive. As a male he represents the irrational behavior and having wings symbolizes the likelihood of changing decisions. Arrows are used because love is said to wound the heart as well. Lastly, on the topic of arrows, he is considered to have either between two or three types of arrows. The first set, of having two types, is one that has a sharp golden point (representing uncontrollable desire) and the other that has a blunt tip of lead (representing one that feels aversion and wants to flee). The second set, of having three types consists of gold (for gentle smiting), silver (more compelling actions), and then steel (for a wound of love that never heals).[12]
What the Bible Has To Say
Since we have looked through the history, the customs, and the meanings behind these mythological gods we should have a pretty solid foundation. Now it is time to compare everything to the bible to see if this is a holy day.
The first activity we came across was the mention of boys drawing names of girls where the Catholic church states this is a superstitious activity honoring Juno. From part one of this study, we learned that being superstitious is putting faith in magic and/or good luck while having the fear of the unknown and a redirection away from having faith in God. A bit more is added here since this activity is honoring Juno; equating to idol worship.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; [Exo. 20:3-5 KJV]
This set of verses is the base context of all the mythological gods that are in association of this day/event. We can see from the Ten Commandments that God declares that it is a sin to firstly, have another god let alone to make, worship, to serve, or to bow down to another so-called god.
Next we come into the “religious purification” ceremonies of Lupercalia that brought in the hopes for good luck and success in fertility while worshiping an alias of Pan. Once again the activities of trying to bring in good luck has already been looked at as witchcraft. So let us go to the fertility part of this ceremony. We have the understanding that women would go to extremes of trying to get hit by these young men, that were almost completely naked, in order to have good luck with child-birth or to have a child. At the same time we know that Pan is a god of fertility, had a dark side of even seducing another goddess, and his followers performed their rituals naked.
Let us take this one step at a time and first look at the Luperci and the story of Pan seducing the moon goddess. Luperci wore goat loincloths and often even wore dog heads. Next, Pan disguised himself in sheepskin to fool the moon goddess. Note to also remember that originating word lupus which means “wolf .”
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. [Matt. 7:15 KJV]
This hits the nail on the head and very clear at that. Wolves scatter the flock while causing chaos and harm to the sheep (the Christians). What else is there? There is a lot. So far, in this section, we have brought in Juno and Pan both representing fertility. You should be able to see where this is going but I will obviously make it clear. It shouldn’t be hard to assume that the locations having this “wolf” festival was just one big fornication party just like Sodom and Gomorrah. Let us look at several verses on this.
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man. [Matt. 15:19-20 KJV]
That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well. [Acts 15:29 KJV]
The bible clearly states that one should stay away from this action. So what exactly is fornication? Fornication is simply defined as sex between two consensual people not married to one another.
Alright, so now to move on to Parentalia. From the previous sections on this study, this one should be quite clear. The first aspect is that it all revolves around staying in favor with the spirits of the dead. A red light should have come on just from understanding that concept when it was first looked at but I will continue to go further. They do these activities for Hecate while viewing her as a protector for them. Look again at what she is evolved in: crossroads, entrances, dogs, light, the moon, magic, witchcraft, necromancy, sorcery, and her ability with herbs and poisonous plants. I will bring up some verses covered in part one and point out the words that are in relation:
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. [Gal. 5:19-21 KJV]
There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or awitch. Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee. [Deut. 18:10-12 KJV]
Those that were pointed out cover the majority, but what about those still remaining? Hecate’s knowledge in herbs and plants would fall into alchemy which this is still related to witchcraft. Alchemy is claimed as somewhat of an ancient science. It is defined as a power or process of transforming one thing to another in a mysterious way while also being explained that it was the attempt of turning worthless metals into gold.
Another that was mentioned about Hecate is that she had association to the moon. This is a light but rather a dim or dark light that comes out during the night. It only has light because it imitates or reflects the sun’s light but does not produce its own true light. In symbolism, biblically speaking, the sun can represent the gospel and Jesus Christ. On the other side, the reflection is the moon while what light is being reflected is being darkened and having impurities (sin). Who is the opposite of Jesus Christ? Lucifer.
This all fits perfectly and I did not bring up the name Lucifer for nothing. The name Lucifer is Old English for Satan but remember that also it means “morning star.” If you look at the word, there are two parts that have derived from two words. The first originating word is lucis meaning “light” and the other being ferre meaning “carry” resulting in light carrier or light barer.
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: [Isa. 14:12-13 KJV]
And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. [Luke 10:18 KJV]
Everything with the light from Lucifer is why Illuminati uses torches, illumination, enlightenment, and the word Illuminati itself. All of this is the dark corrupted light of Satan that he skews from the pure light of Jesus Christ.
Let me get back on track again. So all that is left is dogs, crossroads, and entrances. Dogs can be quickly associated back to Lupercus/Pan and the wolf even though they of a more domesticated version of the wolf. However, if you want to associate the good of a dog being a protector and guardian we can change that bit of perspective. So if a dog is a protector they would be classified as a guard dog. Hecate being a guard would thus have to be “guarding” the way to the real truth (blocking it) and redirecting to the false truth of Satan. Same concept as the biblical symbolism of the moon and the sun.
Jumping on, to quickly explain that of the Norse god Vali, it is simple. Vali’s entire purpose was that of revenge.
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. [Rom. 12:19 KJV]
Conclusion
Looking back through everything it is clear that this holiday was not founded upon the roots of being holy in God’s eyes. It’s roots are that of lust and fornication being celebrated and served unto very unholy gods/goddesses to where it would seem, to this day, that it is still all same. Showing appreciation for a loved one is nothing of being sinful but in which the manner is produced it can be. Those who are not married should stay abstinent and stay pure. Celebrate the love you have for each other on a more holy approach and pick a more random day. What says “I love you” more, than a day that is more unique and random? Partaking of the Valentine’s day (wolf day) is still that purification festival which was done in remembrance of evil gods.
References:
- http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=valentine&searchmode=none
- http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=159
- http://www.thaliatook.com/OGOD/februtis.html
- http://www.asatru.org/holidays.php
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juno_%28mythology%29
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juno_Februata
- http://www.collegeofthecrossroads.org/Lupercus.htm
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_%28god%29
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hecate
- http://www.viking-mythology.com/aesir.php
- http://norse-mythology.org/vali/
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupid
Revelation Unfolding 