THE IDOL OF SATURN

THE BLACK STONE OF MECCA

“This stone (the Black Stone) that they talk about is a head of that Aphrodite
whom they used to worship and whom they called Khabar.” (John of Damascus) 1

In reference to the shrine of Astarte at Byblos, and her cult there, Philo of Byblos states
that “Astarte set the head of a bull upon her head as a mark of royalty; and in travelling
round the world she found a star that had fallen from the sky, which she took up and
consecrated in the holy island of Tyre. And the Phoenicians say that Astarte is
Aphrodite.”2

Aphrodite was represented by a black conical stone that was believed to be animated by
the spirit of the goddess. The black baetyl was believed to be a meteorite that had come
from the stars and to be a gift from the gods. ‘Baetyl’ derives from the Semitic languages
and literally means the house of god.

A coin from Emesa clearly shows the conical Baetyl of El-Gabal. Herodian says that the
shrine containing the sacred conical stone was dedicated to the sun god who was
worshipped under the Phoenician name of El-Gabal. A great temple was erected to this
god and lavishly decorated in gold and silver.

“No statue made by man in the likeness of the god stands in this temple, as in Greek
and Roman temples, the temple does, however, contain a huge black stone with a
pointed end and round base in the shape of a cone. The Phoenicians solemnly maintain
that this stone came from Zeus; pointing out certain small figures in relief, they assert
that it is an unwraught image of the sun, for naturally this is what they wish to see.”3
Some of the baetyls were carved to make them more anthropomorphic. The cult object
at Ephesus was believed to have been carved from a meteorite. The Nabataeans
similarly carved baetyls to emphasise certain cult features. Where the baetyl was
believed to be a meteorite it was considered to be a manifestation of the power of the
god now incorporated on the terrestrial plane.

Plutarch describes the tearing away of heavenly bodies from the revolving aether of the
heavens. He further describes the plunge of the heavenly bodies to earth demonstrating
the fascination of the ancients with the phenomenon of meteorites.

“... for according to the common belief, a stone of vast size had fallen from heaven at
Aegospotami, and it is shown to this day by the dwellers in the Chersonese, who hold it
in reverence. Anaxagoras is said to have predicted that if the heavenly bodies should be
loosened by some slip or shake, one of them might be torn away, and might plunge and
fall down to earth; and he said that none of the stars was in its original position; for being
of stone, and heavy, their shining light is caused by friction with the revolving aether, and
they are forced along in fixed orbits by the whirling impulse which gave them their
circular motion, and this was what prevented them from falling to our earth in the first
place, when cold and heavy bodies were separated from universal matter.”4

Thus the baetyl was the body of a star that enclosed the spirit of the deity. Pliny
describes the baetyls as sacred objects with supernatural powers. “Sotacus mentions
also two other varieties of ceraunia, one black and the other red; and he says that they
resemble axes in shape. Those which are black and round, he says, are looked upon as
sacred, and by their assistance cities and fleets are attacked and taken: the name given
to them is baetyli, those of an elongated form being known as cerauniae. They make out
also that there is another kind, rarely to be met with, and much in request for the
practises of magic, it never being found in any place but one that has been struck by
lightning.”5

These sacred objects functioned as a medium between the gods and humans and
contained the living gods. The stones were thus animated by the spirits of the gods and
functioned as a type of extraterrestrial relic that contained magical powers. The
Phoenicians believed that the god Uranus devised the baetyls and contrived to put life
into the stones.

Uranus, the god of the vault of the heavens, sent the meteorites or baetyls as gifts to
humans on earth. Urania, the daughter of Uranus, also symbolized the heavens and by
extension these sacred stones. She was combined with Aphrodite to form a deity that
encapsulated the qualities of the fallen stars.
Aphrodite Urania was worshipped across Asia Minor. The Nabataeans considered her as
the direct equivalent of the goddess al-’Uzza. She formed a triad of goddesses
worshipped at the pre-Islamic shrine at Mecca.

This triad sometimes formed a syncretism with al-Lat, one of the other goddesses, who
shared qualities with al-’Uzza. This enabled the triad to be simply referred to as al-Lat,
the generic name for goddess. Herodotus considered that al-Lat was the equivalent of
Aphrodite.”The Assyrian name for Aphrodite is Mylitta, and the Arab name Alilat (al-Lat);
the Persians call her Mitra.”6

The great moon goddess of the Phoenicians was Ashtoreth. She was the equivalent of
the Assyro / Babylonian deity Ishtar and was the great goddess of love and fertility. The
Greeks called Ashtoreth by the name of Astarte and considered her the same as
Aphrodite.

All of these identities were represented by the morning / evening star which is the visible
evidence of the path of the planet Venus. The worship of this star suggests that al-’Uzza
is associated with a wider fertility cult. Consequently al-’Uzza was subsumed into the cult
that was spread across a greater geographic region.

This is confirmed by the importance of the morning and evening stars to the cult of
al-’Uzza. John of Damascus writes about the idolatrous rites of Mecca linking the
morning star to the goddess worshipped there. “These used to be idolaters and
worshipped the morning star and Aphrodite, whom in their own language they called
Khabar, which means great.”7

The Black Stone in the Kaaba is linked to the worship of these deities and this worship
also perfectly synchronizes with the Satanic Verses of the Qur’an. These are the verses
that Satan was said to have cast onto the tongue of Muhammad and therefore to have
contaminated the Qur’an. They seek the intercession of the three pagan goddesses.

“Have ye thought upon al-Lat and al-’Uzza

‘Gharaniq’ is usually interpreted as meaning cranes. The last two lines of these satanic
words have been expunged from the Qur’an. They are said to be the chanted invocation
of the Quraysh as they made the seven ritual circumambulations of the Kaaba and the
Black Stone.

The worship of al-’Uzza is now a heresy and her shrine was destroyed in 630 CE. The
worship of the Black Stone or Aphrodite is still however a central component of the
contemporary rites of Islam.
“Then God sent down the revelation. ‘By the star when it sets! Your companion has not
erred or gone astray, and does not speak from mere fancy …’When he reached God’s
words, ‘Have you seen al-Lat and al-’Uzza and Manat, the third, the other?’ Satan cast
upon his tongue, because of what he had pondered in himself and longed to bring to his
people, ‘These are the high-flying cranes and their intercession is hoped for.”8

This intercession is sought by the worshippers of the Black Stone at Mecca, the “head”
of the satanic al-’Uzza / Aphrodite. The high-flying cranes symbolize these sacred stones
that either traverse or have fallen from the heavens.

An influential Persian text, The Dabistan, relates that “they also say that among the
images and statues left in the Kaaba by Mahabad and his renowned successors, one is
the Black Stone, the emblem of Saturn. They also say that the prophet of Arabia
worshipped the seven planets, and he therefore left undisturbed the Black Stone or
Saturn’s emblem, which had remained since the time of the Abadian dynasty; but that he
broke or carried away the other figures introduced by the Kuraish, and which were not
formed according to the images of the stars.”9

In this passage The Dabistan says that “the prophet of Arabia worshipped the seven
planets” and also states unequivocally that the Black Stone is “the emblem of Saturn.”

Therefore the worship of the Kaaba and the Black Stone revolves around the worship of
Saturn. This planet had a unique status in antiquity as the furthest of the visible planets
from the earth. The path traced by Saturn across the heavens took approximately thirty
years and the planet was seen as the ultimate determinant of human history.

Saturn was the seventh of the known celestial bodies of the solar system (the sun, the
moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn) and is represented by the seven
circumambulations of the Kaaba. “The sun and moon and five other stars, which are
called the planets, were created by him in order to distinguish and preserve the numbers
of time; and when he had made their several bodies, he placed them in the orbits in
which the circle of the other was revolving in seven orbits seven stars.”10

“It is certain that the star called Saturn is the highest, and therefore appears the
smallest, that he passes through the largest circuit, and that he is at least thirty years in
completing it.”11

“But above all in importance, they (the Chaldeans) say, is the study of the influence of
the five stars known as planets, which they call ‘Interpreters’ when speaking of them as a
group, but if referring to them singly, the one named Cronus (Saturn) by the Greeks,
which is the most conspicuous and presages more events and such as are of greater
importance than the others, they call the star of Helius, whereas the other four they
designate as the stars of Ares, Aphrodite, Hermes, and Zeus (Mars, Venus, Mercury,
Jupiter), as do our astrologers. The reason why they call them ‘Interpreters’ is that
whereas all the other stars are fixed and follow a singular circuit in a regular course,
these alone, by virtue of following each its own course, point out future events, thus
interpreting to mankind the design of the gods.”12

“Others maintain that they do this in honour of Saturn, either because their religious
principles are derived from the Idaei, who are supposed to have been driven out with
Saturn and become the ancestors of the Jewish people; or else because, of the seven
stars which govern the lives of men, the star of Saturn moves in the topmost orbit and
exercises the mightiest influence, and also because most of the heavenly bodies move
round their courses in multiples of seven.”13

The Black Stone then is a pagan entity and as such the rites connected with it are those
of pagan celestial worship. These rites invest the stone with the status of an idol that
celebrates the path of the stars.

The Dabistan states that the Black Stone is the emblem of Saturn and also states that
the colour that symbolically represents Saturn is black. Black is the colour of the Kiswah
that is wrapped around the Kaaba and covers the shrine. “It is stated in the Akhtaristan,
that the image of the regent Saturn was cut out of black stone … His temple was also of
black stone …”14

Like the Black Stone the high-flying cranes were the emblems of Saturn and represent
the movements of celestial bodies. “Amongst birds those are Saturnine, which have long
necks, and harsh voices, as Cranes, Estriches (ostriches), and Peacocks, which are
dedicated to Saturn and Juno.”15

The meteorites are the seed of the gods (or supreme deity) cast upon the earth. The
Dabistan refers to the Black Stone of Mecca as “the symbol of male energy” and is “the
symbol of female productiveness.” This male energy is clearly referred to as a force of
human fertility.

“In the Kabah and in the idol temple is his stone the symbol of male energy, and his is
the symbol of female productiveness; in one place it is the Black Stone of the temple of
Mecca; in another place an idol of the Hindus.”16

Therefore the Black Stone is the emblem of Saturn cast down upon the earth as a gift
from the heavens and worshipped as a symbol of the universal procreative energy.

“He says that before the stone fell, for seventy-five days continually, there was seen in
the heavens a fiery body of vast size, as if it had been a flaming cloud, not resting in one
place, but moving along with intricate and irregular motions, so that fiery fragments,
broken from it by its plunging and erratic course, were carried in all directions and
flashed fire, just as shooting stars do.”17
1. John of Damascus - Heresies
2. Philo of Byblos
3. Herodian - History of the Roman Empire 5.3:4-5
4. Plutarch - Lysander 12.1-2
5. Pliny - Natural History 37.51
6. Herodotus - Histories 1.131
7. John of Damascus - Heresies
8. Al-Tabari - Ta’rikh
9. The Dabistan
10. Plato - Timaeus
11. Pliny - Natural History 2.6
12. Diodorus Siculus - Library of History 2.30
13. Tacitus - Histories 5.4
14. The Dabistan
15. Agrippa - De Occulta
16. The Dabistan
17. Plutarch - Lysander 12.4