The Queen of Heaven, Saturn, and the Beast: How Pagan Thrones Masquerade as Christian Worship
- Michelle Hayman
- Aug 11
- 11 min read
This study brings together literary analysis, ancient religion, astronomy, and esoteric tradition to trace a recurring mythic pattern linking Saturn, Venus, and Apollo. While grounded in ancient texts, art, and cult practice, it also engages with symbolic and speculative frameworks to map how these figures were personified across cultures. It is my belief that Saturn is the Adversary; once worshipped by pagans—who also deceived Adam and Eve, fathered the Nephilim as his seed, and, as the “god of this world” described in Scripture, has worked through the ages to establish Mystery Babylon and deceive the nations. Virgil’s Fourth Eclogue serves as a literary keystone for this investigation, presenting a vision of Saturn’s Golden Age returning under a new ruler, a vision that resonates across mythic systems from Mesopotamia to Rome.
Virgil’s Fourth Eclogue (often called the “Messianic Eclogue”) provides a perfect literary bridge for exploring this Saturn–Venus–Apollo framework, for it speaks directly of Saturn’s Golden Age returning and a new ruler rising. Composed around 40 BC, the poem prophesies the birth of a wondrous child who will bring peace and inaugurate a new Golden Age. It declares that “the great order of the ages is born anew” (magnus ordo saeclorum nascitur), foretelling the restoration of Saturn’s reign and the descent of a new race from heaven. Virgil ties this renewal to cosmic portents, overflowing fertility, and a harmony pervading all creation.
Within the Saturn–Venus–Apollo pattern, the Eclogue aligns with the cycle of restoration I believe has been used by the Adversary to mask his counterfeit kingdom. Virgil’s words, “Now the Virgin returns, the reign of Saturn returns,” evoke both the zodiacal sign Virgo and the divine feminine figures—Venus, Astraea, Isis-like goddesses—who in myth herald the reestablishment of Saturn’s kingship. In this reading, Venus acts as restorer, preparing the way for the hidden Saturn’s return, whether understood in astrological terms or as the symbolic revival of his false sacred kingship.
The prophesied child can be seen either as an Apollo figure, the shining heir manifesting Saturn’s authority, or as a Mars figure, the warrior who enforces the renewed order. In Augustan propaganda, Apollo was emphasized—Augustus even built a temple to Apollo beside his Palatine home—while Mars remained central to Rome’s founding myth as the father of Romulus. In a Saturnian reading, Mars becomes the active force ensuring peace under Apollo’s light, the visible arm of the hidden ruler’s will.
Revelation 9:11 (KJB):
“And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.”
Scripture identifies this figure as “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4) who blinds the minds of unbelievers, weaving deception into both religious and political structures. Just as Virgil glorifies the return of Saturn’s Golden Age, the Bible warns of a coming time when “that man of sin” will exalt himself above all that is called God (2 Thessalonians 2:3–4), mirroring the ancient exaltation of false kingship.
From the beginning, the serpent’s deception in Eden (Genesis 3:1–5) introduced the rebellion that would define his reign—offering a counterfeit promise of wisdom and godhood. The Adversary’s seed continued in history through the Nephilim (Genesis 6:4), the offspring of the “sons of God” and “daughters of men,” producing giants who filled the earth with violence. This corrupted line mirrors the mythic “divine kings” of the pagan world who wielded authority in the name of their enthroned patron deity.
The “mystery” dimension of this Saturn's kingdom is also addressed in Scripture. Babylon, the archetype of the harlot city, is described in Revelation 17:5 as “Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth.” This image resonates with the role of the divine queen or restorer in the pagan cycle—Venus, Ishtar, Isis—who mediates between the hidden king and the nations, drawing them into his dominion. Yet in the biblical vision, this queen is not a benevolent restorer, but the harlot riding the beast, drunk with the blood of the saints (Revelation 17:6).
The final enforcement of this system falls to the warrior-figure—what John calls “the beast” who “was, and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit” (Revelation 17:8).
Scripture warns repeatedly about the worship of the beast and his image, tying it to the final deception that will sweep the nations. In Revelation 13:2, the beast receives his power, seat, and great authority from “the dragon,” and verse 4 makes clear that the dragon himself is worshiped through the beast: “And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast.” In the Saturn–Venus–Apollo framework, Saturn is the hidden king — the dragon — who remains concealed yet rules through his appointed heir. Apollo, whose Greek name Apollōn connects to Revelation 9:11’s “Apollyon,” becomes the visible ruler — the beast’s earthly and celestial manifestation.
The image of the beast, in this reading, is the Sun itself — the outward, radiant form of the hidden Saturn’s kingship, the “solar throne” that people can see and venerate. Across the ancient world, this solar emblem served as the visible face of divine rule.
In Egypt, the Aten or sun disc was depicted with rays ending in hands, reaching down to bless the pharaoh — a visual proclamation that the king’s authority came directly from the "god". In Mesopotamia, the sun god Shamash was represented by a radiant disc, the emblem of his power as judge and ruler over heaven and earth. In Greece, the sun was personified as Helios, often shown crowned with rays, especially on the coinage of Rhodes, and in later periods Apollo himself was portrayed with the solar halo. By the Hellenistic age, the radiate crown became a royal insignia, signaling that kings ruled by divine solar authority. In Rome, Sol Invictus and Apollo were given the same halo or crown of rays, appearing on coins, military standards, and temple reliefs as unmistakable symbols of imperial dominion.
This continuity of the solar disc as the visible emblem of kingship links directly to the prophetic imagery of the kingdoms in the Book of Daniel. Daniel’s vision of the statue in Daniel 2 — Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome — shows successive empires that inherited and adapted the same core religious symbols and mysteries, a lineage Scripture later calls “Mystery Babylon” (Revelation 17:5). Each kingdom, though politically distinct, bore the same spiritual marks: the exaltation of the “image” as a focus of worship (Daniel 3:5–6), the deification of rulers (Acts 12:22), and the sun as a primary sign of divine kingship (Ezekiel 8:16).
But how does the dragon give power to the beast? In the Saturn–Venus–Apollo framework, this transference is mediated through the light bearer, the light bringer ; Saturn’s consort, the Queen of Heaven, Venus. She is the one who restores the hidden king to power, carrying his authority back into the visible world. Yet it must be remembered — none of these so-called gods are true gods at all, but the fallen angels and rebellious powers that Scripture says “kept not their first estate” (Jude 1:6). Saturn, the “dethroned First King,” is in this view the same adversary who once sought to overthrow the throne of the Most High, and, for his pride, was cast down. His “light” and authority were lost not through some cosmic accident, but through divine judgment.
Inanna, the great goddess of Sumer; later known in Akkadian and Babylonian tradition as Ishtar; was the astral embodiment of the planet Venus, as Mesopotamian star catalogues like the Mul.Apin explicitly record. Her eight-pointed star, the ancient symbol of Venus, adorned the gates of Babylon as a celestial emblem of empire, later reappearing in Rome; Babylon 2.0, as the apostle Peter identified ; where the imperial cult fused political authority with astral worship.
Inanna descends into the underworld, stripped of her power before returning “bright.” In a Saturnian reading, she is the light-bringer, entering darkness to restore the fallen First King; Saturn ; who, through pride, sought to overthrow God’s throne, was cast down, and lost his light and authority. Her return brings back that stolen power, which she gives to the radiant son; Dumuzi, Horus, or Apollo; the visible enforcer and embodiment of the hidden king’s will.
Across traditions, the hidden king is Saturn (Anu/Enlil in Mesopotamia, Osiris in Egypt), the restorer queen is Venus (Ishtar/Inanna, Isis), and the solar son is Apollo (Dumuzi/Ninurta, Horus). Symbolically, Apollo is the reassembled, active Saturn — the “living Osiris”; shining as the outward form of the concealed ruler. In occult traditions, Saturn is venerated as the “Black Sun,” the hidden source of esoteric power, while his resurrected form is the visible Sun; Apollo; radiating that power into the world. Behind these myths lies the same ancient rebellion of the dragon and his angels, still deceiving the nations through counterfeit kingdoms, the Queen of Heaven, the beast, and the image.
If Saturn is the hidden king and Apollo his solar heir, then the sun disc becomes the literal image embodying that authority. Bowing before it; whether in the form of a carved relief, a temple icon, solar disc or the rising sun itself; enacts exactly what Revelation describes. Revelation 13:15 declares that the image of the beast will be given “life,” and will speak and cause those who refuse to worship it to be killed. In the ancient world, this “life” was understood in the belief that the Sun was the living eye, face, or presence of the god. Revelation 14:9 issues the stark warning: “If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark… the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God.” Ezekiel 8:16 gives an earlier example of this condemned practice, showing “about five and twenty men… worshipping the sun toward the east” — a direct rebuke of sun-disc veneration among God’s people.
This explains the verse, “the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ… should shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4). If the Sun is the reassembled Saturn; the adversary; in the form of Apollo, then of course he would not want people worshipping Christ. Neither would his ministers, who serve to direct worship toward the counterfeit light of the beast’s image rather than the true Light of the world.
In the depiction of Mithras/Saturn above, we see the rooster — a creature long associated with summoning the dawn and, in classical thought, tied to Apollo as the herald of the Sun. Within a Saturn theory reinterpretation, Saturn is the primordial ruler, dethroned and concealed; Venus is the Queen of Heaven who acts as intermediary and restorer; Apollo is the visible heir to Saturn’s hidden light; the solar face of restored kingship; In this reading, Poetically, Apollo may be seen as the “reborn” or “reassembled” Saturn, the king revealed in his radiant, solar aspect — though this remains an interpretive lens rather than an explicit ancient claim.
If Venus is the restorer and Apollo the shining manifestation of the king’s return, then Venus becomes the bringer of Apollo’s light, much like Inanna or Ishtar emerging from the underworld with the power of the hidden god restored to the heavens. In this framework, Apollo embodies the “daytime” face of Saturn’s reign.
Sorry if I'm repeating myself.
When Greek settlers came to Ephesus, they identified the local mother goddess with their own Artemis, a process known as interpretatio graeca. This fusion created the Ephesian Artemis—still bearing the name “Artemis” but stripped of the Greek goddess’s typical bow-and-arrow, huntress imagery. Instead, she became a city-protecting, fertility-giving, cosmic mother figure, far closer in character to Cybele or Astarte than to the virgin huntress of Greek tradition.
The famous statue of Artemis Ephesia is covered with multiple rounded objects; variously interpreted as breasts, gourds, eggs, or bull testicles; symbolizing nourishment and fertility, traits aligned with a mother goddess rather than a hunter. She also wears bands decorated with zodiac signs and animal motifs, visually linking her to the cycles of nature and cosmic order.
This fertility imagery parallels the Mithraic tauroctony, where the bull’s sacrifice released life-giving blood, semen, and grain, a motif Aleister Crowley later linked to Saturn’s cyclic authority and solar restoration through a heroic intermediary. In Ephesian belief, Artemis was the universal mother, nourishing all life, protecting the city like Cybele in Rome, and regulating cosmic order, as shown by the zodiac and animal motifs on her robe. Her spring festival, the Artemisia, may symbolically link to the constellation Virgo—the “Virgin” of late-summer harvest symbolism—reflecting a blend of purity and fertility themes that later Marian devotion to the mother of Jesus would echo. Notably, Marian feasts such as the Assumption (August 15), the Nativity of Mary (September 8), and Our Lady of Sorrows (September 15) all fall in late summer to early autumn, aligning with Virgo’s seasonal reign—yet none of these events are recorded in Scripture. This recalls the warning of Revelation 22:18 (KJB):
"For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book" (Revelation 22:18, KJB).
And.....
"Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you" (Deuteronomy 4:2, KJB).
These shared themes of fertility, motherhood, and cosmic order build a symbolic bridge between the ancient Great Mother and the Blessed Virgin. Acts 19 records the Apostle Paul’s confrontation with her cult, where the crowd shouted, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” after hearing Paul declare, “They be no gods, which are made with hands” (Acts 19:26 KJB). Thematically, her Venus-like traits recall the Queen of Heaven of Jeremiah 7 and 44, who in Near Eastern tradition was paired with the high god—Baal or Baal Hammon (Saturn). In a Saturnian reading, Artemis becomes the Venus figure restoring the hidden king’s power, an image reinforced by her solar disc crown, lions of dominion, and fertility emblems—motifs echoed from Babylon to Rome, successive kingdoms of Mystery Babylon in Daniel’s vision.
If the Holy Spirit “moved holy men of God” to give us the Scriptures through the apostles (2 Peter 1:21), and if “all scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Timothy 3:16), then from whose divine authority did the Roman Catholic Church presume to add Marian feast days—feasts never given by the Spirit, never recorded by the apostles, and not found in the Word of God?
The psalmist declares: “Thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name” (Psalm 138:2), showing that God exalts His Word even above His own Name. Again, the same Word warns: “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it” (Deuteronomy 4:2), and again, “If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book” (Revelation 22:18).
If these feasts were not instituted by God through His Spirit, then they must have come from another source of “divine” authority—a source that overrides God’s Word. Scripture teaches that the true Church is the body of all believers in Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27), with Christ Himself as its Head (Colossians 1:18). Nowhere does the Bible place the so-called “Queen of Heaven” in that role. In fact, the Queen of Heaven is condemned by name in Jeremiah 7:18 and 44:17–19, where she is linked to idolatry, rebellion, and judgment.
If the authority behind these additions is not Christ, then by their very nature they come from elsewhere—aligning with the ancient worship of the Queen of Heaven and her consort Baal-Hammon (Saturn). Under the plain warnings of Scripture, how can the Roman Catholic Church not be under the very curse God pronounces on those who add to His Word?
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