Theos-Talk Archives (December 1997 Message tt00149)

>	"The 3rd day of the month was sacred to Pallas Athene, the goddess of
>Wisdom;  and January the 4th is the day of Mercury (Hermes, Budha), who is
>credited with adding brains to the heads of those who are civil to
>him...December the 25th was the day of the birth of the sun for those who
>inhabited the Northern hemisphere..."       ( - idem, p. 505 )
>

While HPB did give Jan. 4th as the theosophical new year, she did not say
why it was chosen.  Perhaps because Jan. 4 is (on average) the date of
the earth's closest approach to the sun.  This year it (perihelion) actually
does fall on January 4th.



--
Nicholas <> am455@lafn.org <> Los Angeles
  The only God which Theosophists worship is Truth; the only devil which
  they recognize and which they fight against with unabated fury is the
  Satan of egotism and human passions.  Blavatsky