What Is Halcyon?

By common contemporary definition, the Halcyon Days denote a period of time in the past that was idyllically happy and peaceful.

In respect to the year, the seven days leading up to, and the seven days following, the Winter Solstice are known as the Halcyon Days of Winter, from which tradition the Christian faith modified this into the ''Twelve Days of Christmas''.

As a noun, Halcyon is defined as:

• A tropical Asian and African kingfisher with brightly colored plumage.

To be more exact,  the kingfisher bird typically has a rust red belly and a teal blue back, denoting the two baptisms.

• A mythical bird said by ancient writers to breed in a nest floating at sea at the winter solstice, charming the wind and waves into calm

...perhaps on a sea of sand...

The word ''Halcyon'' is a Greek term also used to reference the ''Dog Days of Summer'' and is itself intimately tied to the Star Sirius. 

Halcyon breaks down to two root-words - Hal and Cyon. In Greek, Hal is sourced in the ancient Greek translation name of the Egyptian deity Horus. 

The star that rises just before Sirius is called Procyon, which in Greek means ''Before (Pro) The Dog (Sirius)". Cyon thus equates to the Dog Star Sirius. In correlation with the Winter Solstice, it is Sirius - Cyon - which rises at the evening to appear directly overhead at midnight... as the Star of Bethlehem.  The Star of Bethlehem is the Star of Cyon, which according to ancient Egyptian tradition initiates the resurrection of the Sun/Son.

On another page, I referred to Spica in Virgo as the Star of Bethlehem, which should be addressed here. Bethlehem literally breaks down to the "House of Bread", a reference to Spica in Virgo being symbolized as a sheath of wheat in the outstretched hand of Virgo the Virgin. Spica denotes the sheath of wheat from which bread is made:, and Virgo is the House. However, it is the Virgin Virgo whom typifies the House of Bread - the manna within her womb, and as such, at the Winter Solstice, the Virgin - herself the House of Bread - is in the House of Capricorn, giving first-birth to the newly resurrected ("newborn") Sun. In the zodiac of Virgo, the Virgin is shown as the connection between the manna of the upper, spiritual world represented by the sheath of wheat she holds in her hand, and the well of the abyss below her, represented by the star Crater, under which Hydra the Serpent seeks out prey. Crater symbolizes both the gateway and maternal womb of the lower world. Virgo is thus the epitome of the Equinox, having within her grasp the means of creating both manna and chaos in a balance paralleling the scales of Libra. Virgo thus epitomizes the Autumn Equinox itself, which in turn symbolizes the balance between night (arcana) and day (mundana), revealed by the meaning of the term Equi (Equal) Nox (Night). Libra was the House of the Autumn Equinox during the Age of Aries, just as Virgo is the House of the Autumn Equinox during the Age of Pisces.

In Virgo (the current House of the Autumn Equinox), Spica denotes the manna of the salvation of the world - the bread of Virgo, which is allegorically eaten as the flesh of her immaculately conceived child. Virgo is thus the conception point of the "bread within the house"... the virgin's womb which thus becomes the House of God. From that point on, the "bread" stays with the virgin until it is "second-born" ("born again") at the Summer Solstice, symbolized by the Star Sirius rising parallel with the Sun at dawn.

At the third month of her pregnancy (the Winter Solstice) the "oven goes cold": the Sun enters its the final stage of its allegorical dying state, and it is Sirius that is said to resurrect the Sun by rising at dusk on the 25th of December (literally known as "dead winter") when it reanimates the Sun at midnight on the third day of the solstice (solstice literally means "Sun (Sol) "stands still (stice)"... after three days of lying in state in the tomb of the Tropic of Capricorn - its furthest point south of the equator. Note that this is the complete opposite aspect of High Noon on the Summer Solstice.

At the sixth month - the Vernal Equinox, Sirius has become a day star, rising at around 1:00 PM in the northern latitudes. 

At the ninth month - the Summer Solstice, Sirius rises parallel to the Sun at dawn after "standing still" for three days at the Tropic of Leo ("in the House of Judah") - the empty tomb at dawn ("...He has risen, but you can see him in Galilee..."). From then on, as the warm summer sun in all its glory, he must decreaseth, in order that his next essence of his manifestation can begin to increaseth.

Just as Sirius is attributed with the Winter Solstice (the Halcyon Days), it is likewise attributed to the Summer Solstice as well. The Greeks call the period of time leading up to and following the Summer Solstice the "Dog Days of Summer" because it was believed that Sirius' parallel rising with the Sun during this period added to the sun's heat.

While on the topic of Houses, doesn't it seem strange, that although the Bible admits that Zechariah raised Mary in the Temple, when it was time for Mary to go to Zechariah's house, no mention was made of it likewise being Zechariah's house? In fact, if there was nothing to hide, the passage would have been written as Mary going to Zechariah's house. Nothing in the Bible is by chance: the intentional absence of Zechariah's name being mentioned in reference to the time of Christ's conception rings louder than a million church bells.

Sirius - Cyon is the Star of Zion, and the Star of Isis (Elizabeth), El Isa Beth - Lady Isis of the House. Egyptian BOTD: "Isis is the one allotted unto Sirius, for it is she who brings the rains" (the annual inundation of the Nile at the Summer Solstice in ancient Egypt). 

Considerations:

Wikipedia: Zechariah (New Testament Figure)

After Elizabeth completed her fifth month of pregnancy, her relative Mary was visited by the same angel, Gabriel. While still a virgin, Gabriel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 'How will this be,' Mary asked the angel, 'since I am a virgin?' The angel answered, 'The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.'"

1. Mary was visited by Gabriel - the same angel whom had visited Zechariah six months prior. These were the only two people whom were ever visited by the angel Gabriel.
2. John was conceived at the Autumn Equinox and Jesus at the Vernal Equinox.
3. How can the Most High cast a shadow on someone?
4. Gabriel has something to do with the equinoxes. He visited Zechariah at the Autumn Equinox, and Mary at the Vernal Equinox.
5. Both of the conceptions occurred at equinoxes. Further, Jesus' crucifixion "back into spirit" occurred on the 31st anniversary of his conception.

Mary then traveled to visit her relative Elizabeth, having been told by the angel that Elizabeth was in her sixth month of pregnancy. Mary remained about three months before she returned to her own house (Luke 1:23–45;56).

1. Why did Mary travel to Elizabeth's house after speaking with Gabriel?
2. Where was Mary living prior to going to Elizabeth?
3. Mary did not know Elizabeth was pregnant prior to being told so by Gabriel?
4. Notice that it seems the moment Mary found out she was to conceive, her immediate response was to go to Zechariah's house.
5. Is it to be assumed that Mary was living with her fiance Joseph, or was she still living at the Temple under the domain of Zechariah?
6. Mary arrived at Zechariah's house at the Vernal Equinox, which coincides with the time when she became pregnant.
7. Mary stayed with Elizabeth until around the Summer Solstice, which coincides with the time of John's birth.
8. Mary's house would have been associated with the Temple regardless of her betroathal to Joseph.

Elizabeth gave birth, and on the eighth day, when their son was to be circumcised according to the commandment, her neighbors and relatives assumed that he was to be named after his father. Elizabeth, however, insisted that his name was to be John; so the family then questioned her husband. As soon as Zechariah had written on a writing table: "His name is John", he regained the power of speech, and blessed "the Lord God of Israel" with a prophecy known as the Benedictus or "Song of Zechariah" (Luke 1:57–79).

1. Was Zechariah's being unable to speak a punishment for something other than his doubting Gabriel's message? 
2. Was his lack of speech an allegory referring to his being unable to carry out his duties at the temple?
3. Mary doubted Gabriel's message as well: why was she not unable to speak?

The child grew up and "waxed strong in spirit", but remained in the deserts of Judæa until he assumed the ministry that was to earn him the name "John the Baptist" (Luke 1:80; 3:2–3; Matthew 3:1).

1. Waxed like the Sun?
2. The "deserts of Judea" typify the ignorance of the people

The Gospel of James, a 2nd-century apocryphal work, recounts that, at the time of the massacre of the Innocents, when King Herod ordered the slaughter of all males under the age of two in an attempt to prevent the prophesied Messiah from coming to Israel, Zechariah refused to divulge the whereabouts of his son (who was in hiding), and he was therefore murdered by Herod's soldiers. This account is also present in subsequent Eastern Orthodox tradition.^[8]

1. Under the age of two - a possible reference not in years, but in months counting from the Winter Solstice: Aquarius and Pisces - when the Sun is most vulnerable.
2. Aquarius and Pisces: Fishes and Man ("Fishers of Men")
3. Herod = Herut = Hydra - the Egyptian serpent Apophis, who threatens to eat the Sun on its journey through the underworld: Seth.
4. The Son was in hiding - the Sun was in hiding
5. Herod's soldiers = Seth's soldiers who chopped Osiris into 13 pieces.

The Catholic Church commemorates him (Zechariah) as a saint, along with Elizabeth, on September 23 as it is believed that his temple duty before John the Baptist's conception took place on the Day of Atonement.^[9]

1. September 23 is the date of the Autumn Equinox
2. Zechariah presided over the Temple on the Day of Atonement - the most sacred day of the Jewish year.
3. His Temple duty on the holiest day of the year would make Zechariah the true Kohen Gadol (High Priest).

Zechariah (Arabic: زكريا Zakariyya) is also a prophet in Islam, and is mentioned in the Qur'an as the father of Yaḥyā (John the Baptist). Zechariah is also believed by some Muslims to have been a martyr. An old tradition narrates that Zechariah was sawn in half,^[16] in a death which resembles that attributed to Isaiah in Lives of the Prophets.

1. Just a Zagreus was torn to pieces
2. Note the title name Isaiah: root Isa and suffix Iah, similar to Elisabeth - roots Isa and Beth, prefix El.

Wikipedia - Absalom's Tomb

Absalom's Pillar is approximately 20 metres (66 ft) in height. The monument proper stands on a square base and consists of two distinct parts. The lower section is a monolith, hewn out of the rocky slope of the Mount of Olives, while the upper part, rising higher than the original bedrock, is built of neatly cut ashlars.

1. The Mount of Olives was where Lazarus was interred and where Jesus was arrested and interred.
2. Note that there is no mention of a tomb where Jesus rose from nearby
3. Nor is there a tomb attributed to the Raising of Lazarus nearby
4. Jesus raising Lazarus may have reverted him back to being considered a Zechariah.

In 2003, a mid-4th-century inscription on one of the walls of the monument was discovered. It reads, "This is the tomb of Zachariah, the martyr, the holy priest, the father of John". This suggests that at the time, the monuments was considered to be the burial place of the Temple priest Zechariah, father of John the Baptist,^[11][9] who lived 400 or so years earlier than the inscription date.

These two inscriptions are part of a secondary use of the monument during the Byzantine period, when Christians gave new interpretations to Jewish Second Temple period tombs from the Kidron Valley, associating them with characters and events from the New Testament, Apocrypha, and Christian traditions. The association of the so-called Tomb of Absalom with Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, has led to confusion with the nearby so-called Tomb of Zechariah, associated by local folklore with a much earlier figure, the Temple priest Zechariah ben Jehoiada; however, that structure is not a tomb and might also be a monumental marker (nefesh) for the nearby burial cave of the priestly family of Hezir.