Jesus was baptized in water by John the Baptist in the River Jordan. We are told in the New Testament that the Holy Spirit descended on him in the form of a dove. (Luke 3:22)
But it is the voice that tells the tale: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
Up until now, I have presumed that these words were spoken by God. Now I understand that I may have been mistaken. The implication is that the voice was feminine. This was a goddess speaking to him.
Do you see the significance of that?
The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him–the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. (Isaiah 11:2)
The Bridal Chamber
Mary Magdalene was the ‘keeper of the doves’: in other words, a priestess of the Goddess Isis. She and Jesus are symbols of the God and Goddess reuniting here on Earth. As Osiris, Jesus would have needed Mary’s help in putting himself back together. Only one part was missing at the end, sexuality. Theirs was a spiritual union.
Now, that probably seems a bit blasphemous, but I have tried to demonstrate before that nothing is as it appears: it is a symbolic myth to explain how we are reborn of the spirit, in the Bridal Chamber.
True union happens when the masculine and feminine parts of ourselves are joined together in our hearts, when we each become an ‘individuum’
I was baptized as a three-year-old by the Basilian Fathers in Toronto. That made me a Roman Catholic for life. I was christened Christopher David Benedict Stewart. And so began my newly purified existence. Holy water on a child’s head can do that.
‘Billy Graham’s first Canadian Crusade, held in Toronto at Maple Leaf Gardens, drew 356,000 people over the course of the meetings. Thousands made decisions for Christ during the month-long campaign. During this Crusade, legendary Crusade soloist George Beverly Shea – a Canada native – performed what would later become a signature song, “How Great Thou Art,” for the first time. Both Shea, and “How Great Thou Art,” were staples at Billy Graham Crusades in the 50 years that followed.’
I was there, too. It amazed me to see people flocking to the front of the stage to accept Jesus into their lives. The form of ‘mass hypnosis’ was startling, but I was aware, already.
It took another three years before I, too, accepted Jesus into my life at a Baptist Day Camp in the Kawartha Lakes district of Ontario. I wanted to be free of the pain and suffering of life in this world. In truth, it made no real difference to me.
Hypnotherapy
As discussed previously, I underwent regression in my late 30’s to overcome my fear of the future. I got to relive my own birth, after eavesdropping on my father and mother arguing over my existence in the womb.
In some ways, I spontaneously experienced what Primal Therapy was supposed to help a person undergoing the treatment. Only I didn’t scream; I suddenly realized why I had felt so unworthy my whole life. That was liberating.
Inner Guide Meditation
I had an interesting ‘inner’ journey undergoing this meditation. It is based in part on the birth chart. One’s inner guide is Pluto (honestly!) and his job is to point out in the inner landscape where the Sun is. My Sun was the image of Apollo, so that was nice.
Apollo gave me the keys to my heart, and told me to remember him every day in return.
I didn’t question this “fact” at the time, but it became more significant later.
Forgive Me Father For I Have Sinned
Most of us ‘sin’ (i.e. ‘err’) and seem to get away with it. It’s a little trick our ego plays on us: “Nobody knows, so ‘no harm, no foul’.” Only, we forget that we know what we’ve done. And that is where we become the Prodigal Son.
Can we find our way back to the kingdom? Of course, we can: by acknowledging what we have done, and resolving to lead a new life. In the Roman Catholic Church this is the sacrament of reconciliation. This is confession.
Now, this is a very delicate issue. When one’s particular sin is uncovered, the rest of the world gets to be judge and jury. How may any one individual survive that?
By realizing that you are already forgiven, and accepting that Grace.
Then the Holy Spirit enters into your life, when you acknowledge that it (your life) is no longer your own. In truth, it never was your own, anyway, but you forgot that along the way. When you wake up to this fact, you become enlightened.
Here Comes The Sun
1At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like littlechildren, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. 6“If anyone causes one of these little ones-those who believe in me-to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. 7Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! 8If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. 9And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell. (Matthew 18:1-9)
In other words, to be humble, again. To be open to Life, again.
We have come a long way from the beginning of this post to here. It is so easy to be jaded about life and this world, especially if you now 70 years young, like me.
But the love and joy of a little child is always there, somewhere inside of you. All you have to do(!) is let your inner child out to play. Then the world will be reborn right in front of your eyes. That is what is meant by the term “born again”.
It’s like trying to split an atom: if you succeed, it may well explode in your face.
We are so used to splitting hairs to define terms and concepts that we miss the forest for the trees.
Are there any other similes, metaphors or sayings that will convey my message?
Know Thyself
From the Acts of John 94-96, in New Testament Apocrypha II 227-232, as quoted in The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagel (page 19):
“Since it has been said that you are my twin and true companion, examine yourself so that you may understand who you are . . . I am the knowledge of the truth. So while you accompany me, although you do not understand (it), you already have come to know, and you will be called ‘the one who knows himself.’ For whoever has not known himself has known nothing, but whoever has known himself has simultaneously achieved knowledge about the depth of all things.”
On Friday, Raymond, in our Faith & Science group Zoom meeting, wanted to demonstrate the use of words as conveyors of deeper, hidden symbolism. He then said a word in French, la colombe. Instantly, someone (I think it was Robin) responded with ‘dove’. Then we discussed, as a group, its deeper meaning as a peace symbol.
The synchronicity is obvious when you compare this early part of our Zoom meeting to the latter part which included discussion about the Cathars and the Knights Templar. (See yesterday’s post.) But, that’s not the end of it, is it?
My daughter, Rosanna, works for a charity in the U.K. called Shekinah. After she posted something on Facebook about it, today, someone asked what it meant. Here’s what Wikipedia says:
The Shekhinah (Biblical Hebrew: שכינה šekīnah; also Romanized Shekina(h), Schechina(h), Shechina(h)) is the English transliteration of a Hebrew word meaning “dwelling” or “settling” and denotes the dwelling or settling of the divine presence of God. This term does not occur in the Bible, and is from rabbinic literature.
It is probably the oldest and yet simplest of codes: a simple letter substitution, following the instruction, “The first shall be last and the last shall be first.” (Matthew 20:16)
The reason for looking at this ancient code is to help understand a very negative chapter in human history, the rounding up and elimination of the Knights Templar.
Under torture, the Knights Templar admitted to worshipping a bearded male head that they called Baphomet. This ‘invented’ idol did not exist then. During the Crusades, the Islamic enemy was heard to be calling out Baphomet’s name, and quite rightly this has been interpreted as Mohammed. It was recreated by Eliphas Levi in 1856 as a way to explain why the Templars were suppressed. It is now called the Sabbatic Goat, and is an image of the Devil.
Notice the third description on this card: spiritual awakening. It’s a hint, folks.
Here’s a quote from the Wikipedia post about Baphomet:
Hugh J. Schonfield (1901–1988),[45] one of the scholars who worked on the Dead Sea Scrolls, argued in his book The Essene Odyssey that the word “Baphomet” was created with knowledge of the Atbash substitution cipher, which substitutes the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet for the last, the second for the second last, and so on. “Baphomet” rendered in Hebrew is בפומת (bpwmt); interpreted using Atbash, it becomes שופיא (šwpy‘, “Shofya'”), which can be interpreted as the Greek word “Sophia“, meaning wisdom. This theory is an important part of the plot of the novel The Da Vinci Code.
That is my understanding as well. Wisdom is what they worshipped, not the devil or Mohammed, or any other perverted concept that the Roman Catholic Church levelled at the Knights Templar.
At the time of the Profumo Affair, as it is known, the idea that a ‘call girl’ could be sleeping with a government minister under Harold Macmillan and associating with a Soviet consular official at the same time was considered scandalous. Hence the title of this film.
But, since I was a pre-teen during these events, I didn’t examine what might have really been going on. It was a classic “honey trap” meant to turn a Soviet spy into becoming a double agent for MI6. So, everything was ‘known’ at a higher level, including the identity of the ‘mystery man’ photographed from behind in one of Stephen Ward’s parties. The season two, episode ten of The Crown suggests that it might have been Prince Philip, and that’s the essence of the true scandal.
“In the 1989 edition of their book Honeytrap, Summers and Dorril add a postscript that provides extra details of Ward’s last hours, his movements and his visitors. The postscript includes details of an interview with “a former MI6 operative” who asserted that Ward had been murdered by an agent working on behalf of MI6. The main motive for the killing was, supposedly, Ward’s continuing ability to embarrass the government and the Royal family. There is no direct evidence to support this story. The reporter Tom Mangold, one of the last to see Ward alive, dismisses the murder theory, while allowing that there are unexplained circumstances relating to Ward’s death.” (Wikipedia note)
So, it wasn’t so much that a member of government was sleeping with a young girl (because that probably happened a lot), but that the Royal Family was implicated and the public knowledge of that ‘secret’ couldn’t be tolerated.
A rare picture of Prince Philip of Greece at the public school of Gordonstoun, Elgin, Scotland.
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (Jun 10, 1921)
Oh, boy. There have been rumours for decades about Prince Philip, Consort to Elizabeth II. There might be something to those stories, but can they be repeated in mixed company?
Philip’s birth time has always been problematic. Most charts show 9:46 pm, which would make him a Capricorn Rising individual. That would be ridiculous. Even the screenwriter for The Crown spoke of his restlessness. He could never keep still, always wanting to be out and about, on the town, or with his friends. That’s more like Sagittarius Rising. So, I rectified his chart by recognizing that 9:46 may have been written as 19:46, which would actually be 7:46 pm instead.
Immediately, the missing pieces of his character fall into place…
Mercury Inconjunct Ascendant
You are likely to have some problems, but not serious ones, in communicating with others. The problem is that people’s first impression of you may not fit in what what you say or your manner of thinking and speaking. People tend to hear what they expect to hear, and they may not listen to you as carefully as they should. So you will have to be as clear as possible and insist that others listen to what you are really saying. If others do not understand you, it is up to you to set them straight.
This pattern also works in reverse in that what you say may make people respond n ways that you can’t accept. For example, you may be outspoken and frank but dislike it when others are, preferring to be treated gently and sensitively.
This aspect may mean that you enjoy working with your mind, learning new skills and ways to do things. You may also like working with your hands and using tools. You like to make practical use of your skills as well, so you don’t enjoy learning something new unless it seems useful for your life.
This aspect can be a sign of nervousness, so it will help to keep every part of your life in order, because clutter and confusion will make you feel even more nervous and scattered. Some persons with this aspect want to have everything organized and are upset by disorder because they intuitively understand that disorder is bad for them. Even if you are not aware of this, it is true for you too.
Uranus Inconjunct Neptune
This aspect indicates a generation that had mixed feelings about its ideals and how to implement them. They often felt very confused about their ideals, and when they found that their ideals failed because they were badly formulated, this group became disillusioned. States of consciousness beyond the ordinary are very confusing to them, and they prefer not to get involved with such matters.
His Relationship with Queen Elizabeth II
People often wonder why some couples get married and then stay together, in spite of their apparent differences. That’s where astrology can help us see more clearly.
As an astrologer, I look for links and echoes between the individuals to see what attracts them, and what keeps them on course. There is a lot of links between Philip and Elizabeth. (And I have shown the relationship from his point-of-view, because he is older than her.)
The reciprocal link of his Moon to her Neptune, and her Moon to his Neptune would be enough to bind them together. But it can also be a point of conflict for them, due to the emotional confusion that those links embody. Everything is hidden and deep.
But Elizabeth’s Rising sign of Capricorn would make her appear cold, especially when her Saturn is conjunct her Midheaven in Scorpio. Philip’s Mars is conjunct his Sun in Gemini, and both inconjunct to her Saturn/Midheaven. At the same time, her Mars/Jupiter conjunction in Aquarius is inconjunct to his Saturn in Virgo. There is a lot of frustration, here. Also, her Ascendant is inconjunct to his Sun/Mars conjunction.
But let’s face it: being married to the Queen would be a challenge for any macho man, let alone one that is an eternal Peter Pan. However, the above photo combination speaks to the longevity of their union (over 70 years now). Now that’s love…
