Divine Whispers

Every time there is darkness, inner silence and openness to something greater than us, there also exists the possibility for something higher to manifest from within. In such a sacred moment, every thought, feeling and even artistic expression, becomes a prayer, a whisper, and we are simply vessels for the divine spark that longs to shine, always, in those hearts open enough to love wihout boundaries.

Circle Mêtis

Enzo
Circle of Reality in Japanese Zen Art

Mêtis is the particular quality of intense alertness that can be effortlessly aware of everything at once. While our wandering minds go off on their endless journeys, it always stays at home. And its home is everywhere. Mêtis feels, listens, watches; can even be aware at the same time, if left to itself, of every thought drifting into and out of our consciousness. It misses nothing.

This is how the circle begins.

When we really become aware of the sights and sounds and other impressions coming from all around us, after a while there is no longer the sense of just hearing and seeing this or that: instead, there is the awareness of everything as forming a single whole. Everything is exactly what it is, and always has been — but as a continuity now, all together, without any separation or division. And in this wholeness even the past and future start to merge until they are no longer separate. For they are both included in the now.

Then even the sense of any motion disappears. Mêtis is so fast in its response, so rapid in its alertness to the moment, that any movement is only perceived as stillness. But, by now, instead of just perceiving a tree or a chair you have become aware that you are perceiving one single being: whole, unmoving, quite still. 
And eventually, if you look, you will discover that instead of you perceiving reality, what in fact is happening is that reality is perceiving itself through you.

This is how the circle ends. 

And you may not be surprised that one of the symbols of mêtis is a circle. Mêtis is the encircler; the completer of the circle; the awareness that allows us at any moment, in spite of the ranging torrent of appearances,  to connect the beginning to the end.

(...) But really there is nothing at all to understand. For even to try to understand something is to step out of the one reality surrounding you in every direction and to separate yourself from it. These words are no different from any other shapes and sounds around you, with only one exception.

They are different in reminding you they are no different.

(Reality, pp.186–187, Peter Kingsley)

Such a quality of reality is not something complicated or otherworldly. On the contrary, it acts all over the universe, evidenced in the way stars and planets revolve effortlessly, in how the fish swim togeher in shoals, in how birds fly using the air currents, in how humans perform unbelievable feats,  dodging mortal blows, singing like angels, transforming negative emotions into positive on the spot, including rather than excluding, co-creating rather than destroying, finding the pathless path to the serene stillness around which all spins.

Mêtis & The Inner Cyclops

Odysseus in Polyphemus' Cave (Jacob Jordaens, 1635)

Following the thread of the previous posts, we delve  now into the famous, terrifying and humorous passage in the Book IX of Homer´s Oddyssey, where the sly Odysseus finds himself trapped with his crew inside a cave, where a Cyclops, one-eyed giant, starts devouring them mercilessly. And before we examine its meaning, let´s refresh it briefly:

We made a pleasant meal of wild goat, then next day I left everyone else behind and took my own crew over to the mainland. The first thing we saw was a big cave overlooking the beach. Inside were milking pens for goats and big cheeses aging on racks.

My men were for making off with the cheeses and the lambs that we found in the cave, but I wanted to see what manner of being made this his lair.

When the Cyclops –Polyphemus was his name– came home that afternoon, he blotted out the light in the doorway. He was as tall and rugged as an alp. One huge eye glared out of the center of his forehead.

He didn't see us at first, but went about his business. The first thing he did was drag a huge boulder into the mouth of the cave. Twenty teams of horses couldn't have budged it. Then he milked his ewes, separating out the curds and setting the whey aside to drink with his dinner. It was when he stoked his fire for the meal that he saw us.

'Who are you?' asked a voice like thunder.

'We are Greeks, blown off course on our way home from Troy,' I explained. 'We assume you'll extend hospitality or suffer the wrath of Zeus, protector of guests.'

'Zeus? We Cyclopes are stronger than Zeus. I'll show you hospitality.'

With that he snatched up two of my men and bashed their brains out on the floor. Then he ate them raw, picking them apart and poking them in his mouth, bones and guts and all.

We cried aloud to Zeus, for all the good it did our comrades. The Cyclops washed them down with great slurps of milk, smacked his lips in satisfaction and went to sleep. My hand was on my sword, eager to stab some vital spot. But I realized that only he could unstopper the mouth of the cave.

We passed a miserable night and then watched the Cyclops make breakfast of two more of our companions. When he went out to pasture his flock, he pulled the boulder closed behind him.

It was up to me to make a plan. I found a tree trunk that the Cyclops intended for a walking stick. We cut off a six-foot section, skinned it, put a sharp point on one end and hardened it in the fire. Then we hid it under a pile of manure.

When the Cyclops came home and made his usual meal, I spoke to him. 'Cyclops, you might as well take some of our liquor to savor with your barbarous feast.'

I'd brought along a skin of wine that we'd been given as a gift. It was so strong that we usually diluted it in water twenty to one. The Cyclops tossed it back and then demanded more.

'I like you, Greek,' he said. 'I'm going to do you a favor. What's your name?'

'My name is Nobody,' I told him. [1]

It turned out that the favor he intended was to eat me last. But when the wine had knocked him out, I put my plan into effect. Heating the end of the pole until it was glowing red, we ran it toward the Cyclops like a battering ram, aiming it for his eye and driving it deep. The thing sizzled like hot metal dropped in water while I twisted it like an auger.

Polyphemus came awake with a roar, tore the spike from his eye and began groping for us in his blindness. His screams of frustration and rage brought the neighboring Cyclopes to the mouth of the cave.

'What is it, brother?' they called inside. 'Is someone harming you?'

'It's Nobody!' bellowed Polyphemus.

'Then for the love of Poseidon pipe down in there!'

They went away, and Polyphemus heaved the boulder aside and spent the night by the open door, hoping we'd be stupid enough to try to sneak past him. Getting past him was the problem alright, but by morning I'd worked out a solution...

What does the "one eyed" Cyclops represents in ourselves? Aren´t there within us selfish impulses, mono-directional views, that devour all divine trace in our hearts, thwarting every possibility of evolving, of escaping the sublunar spheres? 

And what about Odysseus and his trickery?

To make the subject even more interesting, we may have a look at something Peter Kingsley unveils nicely in the work Reality: 

In front of the monster, he  introduces himself as Outis: Nobody. [...]

This is the point where the real  jokes begin –as Homer draws out through word-play after word-play all the ambiguities stretching from Outis through ou tis and mê tis, which in Greek are alternative forms for nobody, to mêtis.

As Odysseus laughingly comments about the episode, well after the events have taken place, it was his mêtis that allowed him to blind the monster because it allowed him to be nobody: ou tis, mê tis. 

(...)  from the time of the Odyssey onwards, mêtis would always be associated in the minds of Greeks with this particular episode; with this notorious play on words ou tis and mê tis. (Ibid p. 226)

Illusion

This monumental musical piece, Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis, composed by Ralph William Vaughan (1872-1958) in 1910, mirrors an intense emotional experience that does not differ much from Life, being a dynamic pallette of contrasts, tensions and release, colours and lights, shadows and darkness, anticipating a style that has come to be abundantly used in contemporary cinema. This "deceptive saturation" of the heart and the senses was one of the main features of the Romantic Era, as  we can also see in XIXth century paintings, like the one we have before our eyes: the famous Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, by Caspar David Friederich. 

This painting is  subject to interesting but opposite interpretations, idea which is not new, since the writer John Lewis Gadiss already pointed it is suggesting at once mastery over a landscape and the insignificance of the individual within it. We see no face, so it's impossible to know whether the prospect facing the young man is exhilarating, or terrifying, or both (Wikipedia).

Yet, there is much more in this painting, worthy of reflection, because it seems to express our situation in life. There are times when existence seems unbelievably beautiful, awe-inspiring, in contrast to the instants of fear, or even horror in some cases. And what to some people appears beautiful, to others can be terrifying. 

We may also think the young Wanderer has reached a “summit” from which the “clouds of life” can be contemplated beyond deception, or, on the contrary, the sense of reaching a summit casts him deeper into the clouds of ignorance, delusion, because, as Non Duality tells, in the end there is not a Supreme State to be reached, for Fullness, Suchness, shines in everything and everywhere. Although this is the most difficult and tricky realisation.

Our “states of being” shape our views of things, just as a caleidoscope shows different geometric patterns as it turns on the light. Life seems to move; our perceptions, thoughts, emotions and feelings seem to fluctuate, but does Reality really move?

Illusion –from the Latin ilusio or in lusio (within the act of playing)– is part of Reality, which plays hide and seek with itself, perhaps to be always itself, unfathomable, without boundaries. 

Can the art of living this deceptive game of Life be expressed as finding blissfull stillness, Being, in movement?

Deep Listening

In the true listening or “common sense”, sounds, vibrations, are not mere meaningless vibrations, even when they are not organised in a musical form. Audible or not, vibrations hint at the Song behind all songs, at the Silent Space where everything emerges, grows and perishes, at the Intelligent Light where they are perceived. 

In the beginning was the Word-Lógos (John I, 1)

Echoing Empedocles, vibrations are “pledges of the Muse”, and long to be listened to, consciously sent back to their Fountain Source.

How is the vibration of form, colors, smells and tastes? How do our body, thoughts and emotions sound? How is the sound of life and death? What happens when we include effortlessly, without resistance, the sounds we usually find boring or unpleasant? Doesn´t the mind feel an energy and openness that liberates us?

Easter Above, Easter Below –Part V

Tympanum of the Romanic Church of St.Trophim

In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow. And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you (Matthew, 28, 1-7).

Surprising is also to notice several coincidences. First of all,  it’s worth wondering why the expression Easter is by itself pointing to the East, where the sun rises and travels along the wheel, Galil, during the year.

And three days after the Winter Solstice –21st, 22nd of December–, comes Christmas, wrongly attributed to the birth of the Judeo-Christian Messiah on the 25th, the date for the celebration of the birth of Mithras, Sol Invictus, the Unconquered Sun or Mythras. From that moment the sun begins its ascent again on the horizon, making the days longer and longer.

Coupled with this, it is relevant to see that when our beautiful Earth reaches its maximum tilt on its two solstices (Summer and Winter), it takes a while to start leaning towards the other way, while it rotates and travels around Helios. Consequently, during this period of "three days" the Sun rises at the same spot and gives the impression of remaining tied to a post, like someone “executed at the stake”. Hence the term "solstice", from the Latin roots “sol” (sun) and "stitium" (stoppage) or "sistere" (to remain).

Thus, it seems no coincidence that before the first solstice, the Gospel says the following:

For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:40).

Having reached the bottom and dwelled in Darkness for three days, the Solar Hero starts ascending again, “always forward”, leaving the sign of Capricorn behind on the horizon. 

In the nineteenth century some scholars thought this might be the meaning of the Jewish ritual of the two goats, on Yom Kippur. One is sacrificed, while the other is left free into the wilderness, where it climbs on the mountains, carrying away the sins of Israel. And since Jesus was called the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world (John I: 29), some interpreters regarded him as the "escapegoat" of the Jewish prophecies (Isaiah 53) [1]. 

In a sense, the goat climbing the mountain would refer to the Sun rising on the new sign. On January 20 Helios enters Aquarius, the Water Bearer –seemingly connected to the famous Son of Man, one of the apellatives of Jesus–. And eventually the He reaches Aries again, Spring, "Easter time", when all began. His resurrection is therefore completed through three signs of Darkness (still Winter), and these are in fact "three days of the Sun", what resonates with the "third day of resurrection". Thus, not even the date of this celebration seems random.

Now, the universe is also within us, because, as Plato explained in the Republic, there are actually three suns: the physical, the psychic fire and the spiritual. Therefore, the solar resurrection is a "rebirth" on three levels. One must die on psychic level, leaving behing the dark passions and the donkey-mind that keeps us tied to vicious circles. And the traveller is called to ride the donkey, as Jesus did in his triumphal entry. The ancient imagery went even further, since another Christian symbol –incomprehensible to many– is the "crucified ass":

Alexemenos Graffito (first century A.D)

Some believe this was a mockery of the figure of Jesus, but that does not seem the case, since there is another historical reference to the Christian worship of this symbol. Moreover, the same teaching existed in Egypt, where Seth was shown crucified, having the head of an ass. Andi it is logical, for he who laughs last, laughs best. In the end the situation is reversed, since the vertical domination of the two donkey stars that appeared in Cancer, disappears when Helios leaves Capricorn. This is perhaps the reason why ancient authors –i.e Plato and Porphyry [2]– regarded Cancer as the Gate of Man –where souls incarnate on earth–, and Capricorn as the Gate of the Gods –where souls return perfected to the Source–.

Most of Jesus' ministry remains untouched in these posts, although it is up to each one to discover the connections in the "soul", studying the four gospels. It is enlightening to see how Jesus' encounter with John the Baptist matches the symbolism of Aquarius, which is followed by Pisces, which is bound to Jesus recruiting his first disciples, "the fishermen".

Before closing Easter, it is worth noting that according to the Gospels, the coming of the Son of Man is a Second Coming of Spirit, and it also has three levels. The Gospels teach that every sincere seeker must receive its baptism of “water” (Psyche), to endure the baptism of Spirit (Pneuma) and that of Fire (Father, Aither). No doubt this is one of the most enigmatic and profound aspects of the teaching, as it is also related to a time that is yet to come, if it has not already begun.

This “internal knocking on the door" relates not to the annual clock we have seen, but to the "precessional" one, which was also marked with the twelve signs of the zodiac. It will surely emerge as a central theme in other posts. Now we just remember that each precessional or Platonic month lasts about 2160 years and receives a different a "solar influence", because the Sun crosses different regions of space travelling around another star, during the Platonic Year (24,000-25,920 years approx) [3] [4]. And according to the precession of the equinoxes, the earth is now abandoning the Platonic Month of Pisces –symbolized by the Christian fish–. However, even though the movement of the stars is measured mathematically, it seems that the solar influence on each Platonic Month always starts before the expected, as mirrored on the evolutive and involutive cycles of humanity. Reasonably, someone very wise said:

Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh (Matthew 25: 13)

In other words: hands to the plow.

We leave for next week the issue of the historical Jesus, which should be addressed from an unconventional viewpoint.

_____________________

For a bibliography on the topics covered in these series, it is best to read the ancient classics, sacred texts and XIXth century authors (i.e Robert Taylor, Kersey Graves, Frances Rolleston) and then draw the own conclusions. Although the following books were inspiring in this research:

1.Hamlet's Mill: An Essay Investigating the Origins of Human Knowledge and Its Transmission Through Myth. Hertha von Dechend and Giorgio de Santillana, 1969.

2.Serpent in the Sky: The High Wisdom of Ancient Egypt. John Anthony West.

3.The Hero With A Thousand Faces. Joseph Campbell.

4.The Power of Myth. Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers.

References:

[1].History of constellations, i.e Capricorn:

http://www.constellationsofwords.com/

[2].Explicitly in Porphyry's On the Cave of the Nymphs, and veiled in Plato's Timaeus and The Republic (book X, myth of Er).

[3].The Holy Science. Swami Sri Yukteswar (Vedic astronomy and parallelism between the Christian and Vedic teachings).

[4].Lost Star of Myth and Time. Walter Cruttenden (on the twin star, the sun’s companion).

Easter Above, Easter Below – Part IV

After the crucifixion,

When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple: he went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed (Matthew 27, 56-60).

If we remember, in the astronomical level of understanding, Helios is sacrificed at the Ninth hour, pierced by the arrow of Sagittarius, the sign of the ninth month, November. At his death, Helios descends completely into the bowels of the underworld, the tomb of the Gospel. We are on Winter Solstice, December 21st, point of maximum darkness, shortest day of the year, marked on the sky by Capricorn, the tenth sign –hence December, from the Latin root Deca, ten, was always the tenth month, not the twelfth–. Naturally, this is consistent with the symbolism of Ten, which is the symbol of "completeness", as Pythagoras taught.

And with regard to the underworld, we emphasize it  has a "purifying" character rather than a frightening one. Many ancient cultures describe this dark stage as a journey in which the traveller meets "guardians" that either prey on the weak souls that only consist of lower passions, and therefore lack "spirit", or help the divine-human souls to get rid of the last remnants of dirt, so that these can ascend to the regions of Light. In Egypt and India these guardians were represented with the figure of a Crocodile or a Hippo, or a mixture of both, and these animals were associated with the hybrid sign of the Sea-Goat, Capricorn, also symbol of the "dual nature" of the psyche. It is curious to see how Leonardo Da Vinci himself seems to have mirrored this imagery on the painting we saw before yesterday, the Last Supper, in which the apostle that would correspond to Capricorn makes a peculiar gesture with both arms. What part of a crocodile is it reminiscent of?

Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation [Sabbath, Saturday], the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, saying: Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive: After three days I will rise again.Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead  (Matthew 27: 62-64).

And now that the tomb of our Solar Hero has been completely sealed, we can only wait until tomorrow,  to continue with the story. We shall then see how the process takes a surprising twist, where the beginning and end meet, where the stars blend into our soul and open the door to a future of true Hope.

Easter Above, Easter Below – Part III

Mosaic pavement in Synagogue at Beth Alpha, Israel (6th century)

Public Domain, Wikipedia

Good Friday. The solar hero, Lamb of God, is led to his "sacrifice":

And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. Then said Jesus: Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do (Luke 23: 33, 34).

Such an attitude of unconditional forgiveness is another way to illustrate the essence of the Christian teaching, which very few are able to practice truly. In ancient times the true Christians were those who before being killed by the Romans, or even by the Roman Church itself, still had enough power inside to release a last good wish for the slayer: pax tibi, the peace be with you. The Cathars of the Middle Ages were a great example.

This is the reason why the act of considering oneself a Christian can be extremely pretentious in many cases. It is much more prudent and humble to think that at most we can just "aspire to be".

Anecdotes aside, we focus now on the ancient mosaic shown above. As we can see, the Sun appears at the centre, in the middle of four figures, the four cardinal points. And if we look at it from the perspective of the crucifixion, then it seems too coincidental that Christ is said to be crucified between two malefactors, for, as we can see in the mosaic, when the Sun arrives at the Vernal Equinox on the horizon –in Capricorn, which appears almost erased in the mosaic–, to the right He has the Spring Equinox of Aries, and to his left, the Autumn Equinox of Libra, right below Virgo, the Virgin or Mother, as we remarked yesterday. A passage seems to be a explicit reference to this: Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene (John 19: 25). Furthermore, if we add the Summer Solstice in Cancer, at the top, the four corners of the Earth make a perfect cross, the Cross of Matter, the path of Helios, the Sun. 

Formerly the four evangelists –Matthew, Mark, Luke and John– were associated with these four cardinal points, which were also seen as the axes of a Cosmic Clock –both for the Solar System and the Galaxy–. In fact, the cosmic hours or seasons were marked by dividing a circle into four quadrants with three segments each (for months and zodiacal signs). And since the seasonal calendar starts with  Aries –three o´clock in the mosaic–, this sign would be the First hour, or Prima –in Spain we refer to Spring as Primavera–. Accordingly, the Summer would come at the end of the Third hour or Tertia, where Cancer begins; Autumn, at the end of the Sixth (Sexta), beginning of the Seventh (Septima, September) –around nine o´clock in the mosaic– etc. And somehow this seems to match with the following passage:

And it was the third hour, and they crucified him... And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Mark 15: 25, 33, 34).

 The Ninth hour (Nona) comes in November, when the days are much shorter than in Summer, as the Sun rises less from the horizon and sets earlier. "Oh, Light of Helios, why has thou forsaken us?". Such Darkness grows even further during the Tenth hour, the Winter Solstice, when the earth lives the shortest day of the year –near six o´clock in the mosaic–.

Nevertheless, we should never forget that this vision has several levels of understanding. Now the Sun is below Cancer and the Asses, which stay on the  vertical extreme, above, as if these ruled over the situation, what has a deep psychological meaning. At this stage the inner traveller suffers moments of despair and dejection, a certain "sour taste of life”:

And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said: Behold, he calleth Elias. And one ran and filled a spunge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink saying, Let alone; let us see whether Elias will come to take him down (Mark 15: 35, 36).

Yet the hero does not give up amidst the vital acidity:

They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink (Matthew 27: 34).

Returning to the astronomical level, vinegar represents the time when the Sun leaves Libra, the sign of September,  the Wine season. Thus, in the Gospel of John, after tasting the vinegar slightly, Jesus says: It is finished. An allusion to the inescapable prophetic cycle, since the Sun continues its descent into the Inferno (Hell) or Inverno (Winter), when there is no more “wine”, for it has become “vinegar”, and red leaves adopt a brownish yellow colour and fall from the trees, when the Solar Hero finally receives the "kiss of death" –associated with the Scorpion, Judas– and the "arrow" of Sagittarius, Spear of Longinos. If we look at the Zodical diagram, nothing seems random, not even the Gospel:

Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs. But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water (John 19: 32, 34).

Again, from the psycho-spiritual level, this can be seen as an inevitable consequence of living in the Cross of Matter, where we suffer the stings of "passion", "disease" and "death"; a death that should not only be physical but also internal. In moments of suffering one can only rely on the Highest and let go of the miserable ego that clings to the lower matter:

Jesus called out with a loud voice: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit”. When he had said this, he breathed his last (Luke 23: 46).

Thus the passion ends, and there is hope for us to continue with Easter in the following posts.

© Copyright 2013

Easter Above, Easter Below –Part II

The Last Supper, by Leonardo Da Vinci (1490)

We arrive to Holy Thursday, which starts with the act of "washing of the feet" performed by Jesus on his disciples, before the Last Supper. This ritual was widespread in the East, but was usually done by servants. With it Jesus exemplified his teaching:

If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet (John 13: 14). On one hand he emphasizes the central message that he communicates later: A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another (John 13: 34). On the other hand, this refers to a very important aspect, namely, the need to help one another to see and overcome our weaknesses in the inner journey, "washing each other’s dirt".

In ancient Egypt this ritual of “washing the feet” had a purifying character, and it was performed on the Pharao, in the context of “preparation for death”. The aspirant must leave all earthly burdens behind before dying:

The King says: I have bathed with Ra [the Sun] on the Lake of junks. The priest replies: Horus [son of the Sun] has purified your flesh, O king; Thoth has washed your feet, oh Shu lift the King up, oh Nut give your hand to the King (Pyramid Text 519).

The final announcement of death in our story happens after this ritual. Jesus and the twelve sit around the table and as they did eat, he said: Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me (Matthew 26: 21). We should already guess what that means, after what was pointed yesterday. But in order to make the journey even more exciting, let´s pay attention to the famous painting of Da Vinci, above. As one would expect, this advanced man knew the ancient Wisdom and left no room for doubt. If we look at the picture we will notice that the disciples are grouped into four trios, one for each season. And paying more attention we see that each one mirrors the main characteristics of the a zodiacal sign. Here we have some clues, the rest, for the seeker. In Wikipedia it is possible to observe each zone in detail:

Starting from left to right, we have the three signs of Spring. What’s the colour of that distinctive garment worn by the apostle over the blue one? Isn´t it reminiscent of a Shepherd’s clothing? May the form of the banquette’s paw, down on the left, be an allusion to the Ram? 

The next apostle seems to have a disproportionate neck and his right hand is resting on a shoulder. Coincidentally, neck and shoulders are associated with Taurus, the sign of Leonardo Da Vinci himself, that even resembles the apostle of the picture.

Thirdly we see someone whose hands seem to reflect the duality and complementarity of male and female. Which sign comes after Taurus?

Now the Summer group, which we mentioned yesterday. Isn´t it strange the posture in which the apostle holds the knife with his right hand? Does the knife look like a crab’s paw? Perhaps, and what’s more, if it were placed under the left hand, both hands would be almost like the famous inclined 69, characteristic of Cancer. And what can be said about the left hand of the apostle that is in front? Does it not seem like a claw? And he is looking at what appears to be a ...woman? Who is she?

To the left of Jesus we have the groups of Autumn and Winter, but we now leave curiosity do the rest and focus on the supper:

During the meal Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to the disciples and said: Take, eat, this is my body. And he took a cup and giving thanks: Drink ye all ... (Matthew Chapter 26).

Bread and wine. A frugal meal with several meanings. Which one fits into the astro-theological context?

In order to understand the cycles of the sun in tune with the zodiacal signs we should remember the seasonal stages, which are less known today, because people buy in supermarkets and children begin to believe that vegetables are manufactured by a man in blue uniform behind a refrigerating chamber full of boxes or that bread comes from plastic bags. 

Formerly everyone knew that Summer is the harvest season, associated with the Mother, known as Demeter or Virgin. And Virgo precedes Libra, the Balance, which marks not only a "Final Judgement", but it is the House of the Sun on September, the Wine season. In Spain and Italy some people know this well because there is a good tradition of wine.

Libra marks the beginning of the Autumnal Equinox, the point in which the Sun "descends" into Darkness and the days get shorter and shorter, and the Autumnal leaves of the trees turn red; red like Wine, like the sea Moses "crossed" with his fellow Hebrews. In other words, the Water that Aquarius and Pisces brought for the Spring of Aries is “miraculously” transformed into Wine, as Jesus did in the wedding at Cana, after his Mother said there was no wine (John II). 

At this point Helios seems sold out. It is thus comprehensible that Jesus was betrayed by Judas and delivered to the Romans, for the price of... how many silver coins?, how many degrees ocuppy each Zodiacal sign? Dividing 360º ​​by 12 we get the answer.

Of course, this is just a "level of interpretation", beyond the literal one. To remain here is to understand nothing, for Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. We need to delve into the "psycho-spiritual" level as well because each seeker is called to become a solar hero, and thus participate in Solar Consciousness or Christ. This also means that in life the traveller is also “betrayed by the selfish passions” and the "donkey-mind", and have to experience “falls”, like the sun does every year. But the hero falls seven times and stands up eight. In the upcoming articles we will continue investigating that, as well as the possible clues that may indicate the existence of a historical Jesus, or at least someone who later received such an appellative.