CHAPTER SIX

Media and Messages

Film and the Shroud of Turin

Two continuing phenomena have graced the 20th Century - multiple apparitions of Mary, mother of Jesus to ordinary people all over the world, often with warnings and teaching, and a relentless interest in the authenticity of the Turin Shroud which is held by the Roman Catholic Church to be the original burial-cloth of Jesus. This has been subjected to all kinds of scrutiny, and we have a few dates and times that may cast a little light on its true nature.
The most important - because it was the first time this had ever happened - was the moment that a photographer, Secundo Pia, set eyes on the picture he had taken on his plate camera on May 28th 1898 in Turin (BC074). This was at about 11h00 pm after the Cathedral where the relic is housed had closed, and he was allowed to work with the precious cloth.

The Midheaven was at 16º36' Scorpio; the Sun being conjunct Aldebaran was sidereally in Taurus 14º12' (how close!) opposite Saturn in Scorpio 15º, and aligned with Tropical Mercury in 13º Taurus. Jupiter was in the Autumnal Equinox at 0º Libra, Uranus opposite Jesus' Moon, and Neptune on his ruling Venus. The Moon and Neptune are known to signify images and visions; the silver of Moon and the chemistry of Neptune combine the two planets in the photographic process. Asteroids Christa  and Martir were directly aligned across the sky; from tropical Aquarius-Leo they contact the draconic Sun and the sidereal conjunction of Moon/Emanuela (‘God with us’), from sidereal  Capricorn-Cancer they join the tropical horizon to establish spiritual and historic identity. Osiris, the broken god, was on the Midheaven; asteroid Photographica was sidereally at 14º49' Taurus, conjunct the Sun.

This can be nothing but the image, on film, of the entombed Jesus.

Giuseppe Enrie was granted permission to take a second series of photographs on May 3rd 1931, again after the Cathedral doors had closed (BC075). At 11h12 pm by my calculation from published accounts, the tropical Ascendant conjoined the sidereal ASC of the Pia photograph in 26º Sagittarius (the Galactic Centre), and the sidereal Ascendant opposed Jesus' Moon. The sidereal Moon in 11º Scorpio was opposite the tropical conjunction of Sun and Chiron (a mythological type of Christ) in 12º and 18º Taurus, close to the Sun and DESC in the Nativity. The sidereal IC was almost at the Equinox. The dwad Sun is aligned from 1' of arc before  0º Libra. The dwad sidereal Sun falls in 14º38' Scorpio; asteroid Christa  was at Scorpio 17º(the degree of the N.Node as I first wrote this chapter, with Christa  rising in its 14th degree and 14º Taurus setting.)

When a television film was first made about the Shroud, screened in the UK on April 12th 1979 at 10h20 pm (BC076), it was called The Silent Witness. Scorpio 19º was rising with Uranus and draconic Chiron, and squaring this axis was the sidereal MC of 14º Leo conjunct Saturn. Opposite Jesus’ dwad Sun/IC from 22 Aries stood the Sun. Again the sidereal Moon figured strongly, being full in Libra 1º opposite the sidereal Sun at the end of Pisces. The sidereal Dragon's Head had come to the Midheaven of Jesus, and the draconic Uranus/ASC opposite his Moon. Tropical Christa  was in Jesus' sidereal N.Node at 3º Aries opposite that sidereal full Moon; once more Osiris was on the meridian, this time at the IC in 11º Pisces - joined by sidereal Christa.

The next documentary (BC077) was broadcast on October 17th 1988 at 7h10 pm, again in the UK. This was only a few days after the official announcement that the Shroud had carbon-dated to the mediaeval period and was therefore a fake. That once again we are nevertheless looking at a spiritually powerful image is testified by the presence of draconic Neptune and Pluto on the tropical angles, and the draconic Sun conjunct tropical Pluto. Again the Sun aligned with Jesus’ dwad Sun/IC, now in conjunction. The Riddle of the Shroud  had the sidereal Sun at precisely Libra 0º00', and this time the Uranus-Saturn conjunction was opposite Jesus' Moon from the sidereal... " Suddenly the image appears again." Christa was in 17º Scorpio. Four days earlier it was culminating in 16 Scorpio with Pia and Lumiere, opposite Anastasia (anastasis = resurrection) at the IC when the world was told it wasn’t real. “The Light of the Risen Christ” still blazed through that moment.

There are further important dates in the history of the Turin Shroud which you may like to explore:-

The fire which left holes and scorch marks on the cloth occurred in Chambery, France on December 4th 1532 OS.

The Shroud is first exhibited in Turin, May 4th 1535, and then regularly on May 4th NS from 1604 onwards. This is Jesus’ Solar Return.

On 1st June 1694 the Holy Shroud was first installed in the Guarini Chapel in Turin Cathedral.

On 16th June 1969 at 08h30 CEDT the first ever scientific examination of the Shroud took place in Turin.

The first Press Conference was called in Turin on November 22nd 1973, prior to an exposition for the Press. I have no confirmed times for the day’s events.

The extraordinary 3-D image on the Turin Shroud was first found in the mid-1970s by Dr. John Jackson of Colorado Springs. This was made public on September 6th 1981 - time and location uncertain.

Happily, in a lecture in Bromley UK on October 3rd 2000 at 18h45 BST (recorded in situ by my husband) a forensic expert Professor James Malcolm Cameron gave precise times for the critical events in 1978 and 1988. First, the STURP examination of the Shroud took place in Turin at 22h45 on October 8th 1978. Next, the infamous carbon dating in 1988 began when the precious cloth was taken from its casket in Turin Cathedral at 05h00 CEDT on April 21st. At 06h30 it was unrolled. Samples were taken that same day at 09h45 when the first sliver was cut, and 13h00 marked the formal completion of sampling. In the afternoon blood samples taken from the imprint of the crown of thorns, and at 20h30 the Shroud was returned to its casket. The public announcement that the Shroud was considered to be a mediaeval fake was made to the assembled media in London on October 13th 1988 at 14h30 BST.    

But the Shroud of Jesus refuses to be dismissed. BBC radio 4's Woman’s Hour included a discussion on its history on September 8th 1994 at 10h31 (I was listening, of course!)

And the next thing is the extraordinary claim that the Turin Shroud was a very clever piece of craftsmanship by none other than Leonardo da Vinci - including a self-portrait! An ingenious idea from Clive Prince and Lynn Picknett, but in view of all the forensic evidence collected over the past few decades, somewhat unlikely. Where would he get hold of 1500-year-old Palestinian pollen grains?

Believe it or not, this tortured cloth was for a second time almost consumed by fire. Late at night on April 11th 1997 Turin Cathedral caught fire; the rescue was dramatic and hazardous - but casket and contents were salvaged from the blaze. When Gerard and I made our own pilgrimage to see the Holy Shroud at its special millennial exposition in the summer of 2000, parts of the Cathedral were still covered in scaffolding and their own shrouds as work went on to complete its restoration after the fire. This exposition began at 7h00 am on August 12th 2000; we were able to stand before the image of Christ for a full seven minutes at 6h07 pm when on October 6th we entered Turin Cathedral. It was only three days after Cameron’s lecture.

The latest evidence for the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin was presented by Channel 4 TV at 8pm on December 30th 2009. Ray Rogers, doctor of chemistry at Los Alamos, who had initially been one of the most sceptical researchers in 1978, had re-examined the samples taken from the cloth, and published a peer-reviewed paper on his findings on 20th January 2005 (he sadly died two months later.)He realised to his dismay that the carbon dating had been seriously flawed - fibres in these tiny snippets were indeed mediaeval, but they had been skilfully interwoven with far more ancient threads when at some point in its eventful history the cloth had been invisibly mended. One of the last things he did as an honest scientist was to acknowledge that the Shroud and its image may indeed have originated in 1st century Judaea.

There are still people determined that the Shroud of Jesus and everything connected with its origins are nothing but fraud and myth, so the controversy continues. Each of us must make up our own mind. A good place to start is www.shroud.com.

There is one other photograph said to be of Jesus, unconnected with the Turin Shroud (BC078); on June 1st 1961 the holy being "Sananda" appeared "in a visible, tangible body" to a group of 30 archaeologists working at the ancient site of Chichen Itza in the Yucatan, and "permitted his photograph to be taken." The Sidereal Sun was in 16º Taurus, and less than 4º from Osiris.

Writing for Jesus

Jesus as well as Mary is said to have made direct contact with the world of men and women during this century. Perhaps the best-known occurrence is the dictation to Helen Schucman in New York, of the Course in Miracles. There had been a couple of days to begin with, when Helen heard the voice addressing her - and then on the evening of October 31st 1965 (see Absence From Felicity, Kenneth Wapnick Ph.D, Foundation for A Course in Miracles, 1991) she was asked to "Take notes", and the writing began. No precise time is given in the biography, but at this point the writer becomes involved in the story. Late on August 5th 1993 I was running these charts and needed some sort of time to feed into the computer, so resorted to use of the pendulum. ‘It’ chose 8h00 pm exactly from my assortment of odd and random times, so this was the time the computer was given to make a chart for the start of the Course in Miracles.

The chart (BC079) appeared from the printer showing the sidereal 14th degree of Taurus on the Ascendant opposite tropical Mercury in 14º00' Scorpio and Neptune at Scorpio 18º, aligned with the setting sidereal Yeshuhua/Mars/Venus in 15º-19º Scorpio. Christa was at Scorpio 17º26' again - so the phrase Yeshuhua-Christa, Jesus Christ, is written across this sky and angular at 8pm. Draconic Yeshuhua conjoins the sidereal Sun. Tropical Yeshuhua is on the draconic MC. Tropical asteroid Helensteel was right on the sidereal IC at that moment, and her draconic degree was ... 14º34 Taurus, ‘rising’ with the natal Sun of Jesus. The presence of Jesus with Helen is all over this chart.

Helen herself, for whose tri-wheel I have chosen - thus encouraged! - an 8pm Q-chart (BC080), when otherwise set as a Q-chart for the birth time of Jesus, has asteroid Mentor on the Midheaven opposite Christa at the IC. This channel for God's word was born - Jewish - on July 14th 1909 in New York with a conjunction in Gemini of sidereal Sun/Neptune, tropical Pluto and draconic Jupiter, all aligned with sidereal Uranus and resonant with the Tropical Galactic Centre (an area that also appears very often in these patterns.) Draconic Mercury - inspired writing - is on the sidereal IC at the Q-chart’s time of 8pm EDT, and once again we find Mentor on an Angle, setting. Conjunct her Sun are Mira and Christen. In the light of all the evidence shown so far, these two maps do indeed suggest an encounter with the real Jesus. Further support is given in the Course In Miracles chart by the draconic Sun on Jesus' Leo Midheaven, on the sidereal axis of Uranus/Pluto-Chiron (power to manifest and teach), the tropical Sun on his Mars, and the sidereal Sun at his sidereal S. Node with the draconic DESC (the historic encounter and gift.)

All this was so astonishing when I first saw it that a chart was run for the moment this pattern came from the printer (BC081). On the Ascendant at 11h20 pm on August 5th (interesting date...!) 1993 at Ospringe, Faversham, was 13º59' Taurus together with the sidereal S.Node (opposite the day's Christa as this was first re-written), square the mid-Leo Sun. The sidereal Sun was on the tropical IC in 18º Cancer opposite the culminating conjunction of Uranus and Neptune. Asteroid Christa almost precisely aligned with the Pisces Moon across this writer's ASC/DESC. Sidereal Pluto was on the Mars of Jesus. Helensteel was setting.

Finding Jesus

It is therefore useful to look at the patterns surrounding the discovery of the 5BC Nativity (BC082); this happened at 5h25 pm GMT on October 25th 1992 at Ospringe in Kent, at a New Moon. This fell tropically conjunct Jesus' sidereal Mars and progressed Sun in 0º Scorpio. At the moment the chart was made, this New Moon conjoined the setting Sidereal Mercury and the draconic IC. (At Jesus' 1993 Solar Return for Canterbury, Scorpio 1º rises opposite Tropical Mercury.) The sidereal DESC and Pluto were with draconic Mars at the very end of Libra on the Mars of Jesus. The sidereal Uranus/Neptune opposed his Venus and progressed Moon. The draconic New Moon, opposite sidereal Christa,  stood on a conjunction of Jesus' progressed MC and the writer's Mercury. The draconic Ascendant carried tropical Christa  and the writer's draconic Sun, opposite draco Mercury setting, in 2º Virgo-Pisces. On the sidereal MC were tropical Noel and Yeshuhua. Just about to rise was asteroid Christen, opposite Paradise. On the tropical MC was sidereal Galilea. Culminating in coelo, all in the same degree, were LeMaitre, Bornmann and Easterwood.

The Daily Progressions for Jesus, set for Faversham, show a conjunction of DPASC with progressed Pluto, unveiling his identity. Set for Bethlehem, his progressed Sun is at 0º01' Scorpio in the Ascendant with the all-important transiting New Moon and sidereal Pluto.

The writer's progressed Moon had reached 13º04' Taurus (opposite her Current Draconic Pluto) and conjoined her DPMC in Taurus 16º on sidereal Urania, so Moon/MC=Taurus 14½º . Her DPASC was on radix Chiron conjunct 12th-house N.Node at the end of Leo (Jesus' sidereal Midheaven.) Her sidereal Solar Return prior to the discovery, at 10h50m42s am GMT on January 20th 1992 shows Mars on her own tropical Christa leading a stellium of N.Node,Uranus, Mercury, Neptune over the Sagittarius MC opposite tropical Christa at the IC conjunct S.Node, and the dwad IC conjoins her Mars and progressed Christa. In the writer's birthchart, the Sun's arc from natal Christa is 15º41' Taurus, the arc of Christa - Mercury is 26º02' Taurus, Christa -Venus is 1º08' Gemini, Christa - Moon is 28º47' Libra..very close to the degrees of Sun, Mercury, Moon and Mars in the Nativity. Christa - Chiron actually comes back to conjoin Christa by 2º.  

Now, let's look at those all-important converse patterns - what do we find for Jesus at the time of the discovery? ... what we would hope to find. First, in the annual converse chart, Pluto is at the converse IC in 2º48' Virgo, the degree of Christa  on October 25th 1992. The converse Sun in 25 º Scorpio was being transited by the setting Mercury. The discovery Nodes lie close to the converse ASC/DESC. The converse Dragon's Head had reached the writer's Moon. Moving on to the daily converse chart, in the dwad we find Sun at 2º Virgo close to Pluto, and conjunct the dwad N. Node of the discovery. Are there any Current Draconic patterns for Jesus? Yes; the Sun-Jupiter conjunction itself comes by Current Draconic direction (the transiting N.Node -Equinox arc) to his Leo MC, and the CDIC was almost on his Moon.

"I Cannot Stay the Arm of My Son "

These are the words of Mary, mother of Jesus, during one of her appearances to the young visionaries at Medjugorje. She has been coming into the world with increasing frequency as the human situation deteriorates in country after country. The Roman Catholic Church has always seen her as a loving and concerned mother to us all, and on this occasion she was once again exhorting the world to change its ways, to turn from suspicion and hatred to love and reconciliation and prayer - otherwise it would be too late, and inevitably retribution would come, whether by default (we know we all have to rebalance our karma) or - as she seems to suggest - by direct intervention. This is very shocking to the modern-day Christian who cannot (must not!) conceive of the punishing God; it is certainly open to interpretation, but in the hellish light of what followed for many years in the unrepentant Balkans, one has to consider most seriously whether we have taken the tenderness of God's love too much for granted, and forgotten that our Father too is capable of "tough love", and will at least step away and oblige us to learn bitterly by our mistakes.

Our pilgrimage to Israel in 1994 took us to many of the towns and villages visited by Jesus during his ministry; Nazareth, his "home town" where he was loved and respected, is a bustling wonderful muddle of a town, packed over a baking hill in Southern Galilee and barely able to contain the thousands of pilgrims mingling with the friendly local people in the churches, streets and markets. But there is nothing left of Capernaum, nothing of Chorazim, only stones and partial reconstructions of what must have been. These were the busy, comfortable, commercially-minded towns cursed by Jesus for their complacency and wilful rejection of spiritual values. It can happen again (the current hubris of Dubai comes to mind). "He who lives by the sword shall die by the sword" -  he who lives by materialism shall die by materialism. Not necessarily in this lifetime, but eventually the old, trustworthy laws of karma make sure we all reap what we have sown, and the Mikado will have his poetic way!

This is not the place to examine the visions of Mary, which will follow in another book; but there is one episode in recent years that has prompted many to suggest that God did indeed hurl his thunderbolt ... and that was of course the moment on the 9th July 1984 at 02h10 am GMD (BC083) when lightning hit York Minster, and the entire South Transept burned down. It was barely three days after the installation in the Cathedral of the new Bishop of Durham, the Right Reverend David Jenkins (one of our mid-Aquarians) who seems to have done more than any other man of the cloth to undermine the traditional teachings of Christianity in favour of a confused intellectualism. Also, in common with many Cathedral churches, there was commercial activity within the anciently hallowed walls; the souvenir shop was in that very transept, and we know what happened when Jesus found the same sacrilege within the holy spaces of the Jerusalem Temple.

When the bolt struck, the sidereal Ascendant was 14º01' Taurus with Aldebaran, a conjunction of Chiron and N.Node was close by at Taurus 11º (Jesus' Aldebaran) with the draconic Sun, and Venus at 17º25' Taurus. Setting was sidereal Uranus in Scorpio 15º, conjunct tropical Mars and asteroid York at Scorpio 14º04' and 14º48'. Flammario was threatening Venus from Scorpio 17º46'. Opposite the Mars/Saturn midpoint was Ceres ... the  material resources of the transept shop directly in harm’s way! Pluto was transiting Jesus' Libran Mars, and the sidereal Sun was on his ruling Venus. In the tropical chart, the dwad Descendant conjoined Christa.

The dwad always shows us in more detail just what is going on, and here we have two spectacular charts. First we have the sidereal ‘historic’ chart with its dwad (BC084) where the destructive radix conjunction of Mars, York and Saturn holds the dwad Ascendant opposite that Ceres and Jesus’ own sidereal Saturn. Secondly here are the two most significant dwad charts, sidereal and tropical, mapped together (BC085) to show an exactly ‘setting’ Aries Mars and a power-packed tropical Jupiter-Mercury/Pluto/Ceres lining up with the sidereal meridian, Nodes and Chiron.
A fiery Celestial Finger was pointing at York that fateful day ... “It’s for YOU!”

Now do you believe that God, and Jesus the Christ, intervene in the world?

The Imitation of Christ

It is quite ironic that Thomas à Kempis wrote this classic in the 15th Century to encourage men and women to model themselves upon the person of Jesus, and yet when film became the medium for historical drama it was considered blasphemous to allow a mere actor to represent him in the Gospel stories. One way of circumventing this problem was never to show the actor's face; however, the rule was eventually relaxed and there have been a number of actors world-wide who have taken up this unique challenge. I have untimed data for several of them ... are they at all like the Jesus of this Nativity? We should find relationships again, if May 7th 5BC saw Christ enter the world.

The first is H.B.Warner (BC086) who was born on October 26th 1876 in London, died on Christmas Eve 1958, and played the part of Jesus in the 1927 silent film, ‘King Of Kings’.  His helio chart is benign and strongly spiritual, the geocentric showing an alignment of Sun with Neptune and Chiron. Astonishingly, this falls yet again across the Nativity's main axis in the draconic, his soul-level: 0h00 Sun at 14º26' Scorpio, Neptune at 14º55', Chiron opposite Jesus' own Neptune at 8º43' Taurus. Sidereal Venus and S. Node conjoin the sidereal MC of the Nativity. Tropical Pluto falls on Jesus' Taurus Mercury - and there are other, weaker contacts with his Moon, Saturn and Uranus/Pluto. This profound and powerful inner identification produced from Warner a performance of charismatic strength and delicacy.

(It was in the very same year, on June 1st 1927, that Ernest Lough's famous recording of the Christian air, ‘O, For The Wings Of A Dove’, was officially released for sale to the public. The sidereal chart for 0h00 GMD  (BC087) - the civil beginning of that summer day - finds the Sun at 15º45' Taurus with the dwad of setting Venus in Taurus 11º , and a trio of Mercury, Moon and N. Node with Jesus' Moon, in the 5th house.)Interestingly, the Scorpio dwad Sun is on radix Saturn - the agonising pull of gravity?

The next star is the young Jeffrey Hunter (BC088) - who was also the first Captain Kirk in Star Trek, but not re-engaged after the pilot episode. He had a short life, born on November 25th 1925 in New Orleans, to die at 43 on May 27th 1969. The film in which he starred, ‘King Of Kings’, was remade in 1961, full of sound and colour, and this handsome actor - just the right age - was cast as Jesus. At his heart in the helio he is a complex, imperfect, but often lovely human being; geocentrically much the same. And the contacts are there again - this time not directly with Jesus’ Sun/ASC, but powerfully from his own Sun/Christa/Nata and sidereal Mercury in Sagittarius aligned to Jesus’ Gemini Moon. His sidereal Sun and tropical Mars (the roles as hero) conjoin the Nativity's Neptune. Accordingly, his portrayal of Jesus is far more glamorous and heroic than Warner's, lacking to some degree the depth and seriousness of that earlier picture.

It is interesting to see how the film configures each time in the Solar Return; Warner's Venus had progressed to 19º Scorpio, and the Solar Return Mars was on Jesus' Sun, with Sun on Jesus' sidereal Mars! Hunter's Solar Return found progressed Mars on his Sun, opposite Jesus' Moon, Mercury in 13º Scorpio, and Neptune just past its own Return to the Nativity degree in 9º45' Scorpio - on his ‘historic’ sidereal Sun.

Max von Sydow appeared as Jesus only two years later in 1963, in ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told’. He was 34 years old - born in Lund, Sweden, on April 10th 1929 (BC089). Transiting (and Solar Return) Neptune had reached 14º Scorpio ... so there had to be a second film! Saturn was transiting Jesus' IC. Appropriately this solemn Swede was chosen, who had Jupiter in 15º Taurus and Chiron in Taurus 8º opposite draconic Saturn. Interestingly, von Sydow's identification is through the dwad of the Nativity; his tropical Sun and sidereal Jupiter in Aries fall opposite Jesus' dwad Sun and dwad sidereal Saturn in Libra, focussing on the very seriousness and spiritual loneliness that the glamorous Hunter couldn't express. When von Sydow came into the role he had a wonderful progression of Sun conjunct N. Node, which developed into a progressed Sun/Jupiter conjunction on Jesus' Mercury when the film was released. Progressed Venus was conjunct his Sun. He was born for this.

My next film actor is probably the most famous, and the most closely and ineradicably identified in the public mind with this extraordinary role. It is Robert Powell (BC090). Born in Salford, Lancashire on June 1st 1944, he was given the title role in Franco Zeffirelli's ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ in 1978 when, this time, Uranus was in 13º-14º Scorpio, and his Solar Return put Mars and Saturn on his progressed Mars/Jupiter at Jesus' Midheaven. It is no wonder that people instinctively responded to his portrayal of Jesus Christ; his sidereal Sun is at the Bull's Eye, conjunct Aldebaran, from its noon position of 16º53' Taurus, also conjoining Uranus at Taurus 15º, and tropical Mercury again at 16º, a multiple alignment with the tropical Sun, Descendant and sidereal Sun of Jesus. This is an actor capable of awakening the public mind to the humanity of the Prince of Peace. Additionally Powell contacts the Nativity Moon across all three levels - tropical Venus, draconic Neptune, sidereal Saturn, bringing to his portrayal of Jesus the friend and speaker an intelligence, sweetness and sensitivity that is also sombre and poignant. He has tropical Jupiter on the Nativity MC, and draconic Jupiter in Aries 21º opposite Jesus' dwad Sun/Saturn.  At noon, Christa is on the 7th cusp, and the sidereal Taurus stellium conjoins the draconic Ascendant.There is even more, in the antiscia and dwads, but the power of the above connections alone accounts for the integrity of his performance and its popular acclaim. This was no superficial skill either (as one might find in some Geminis) for the Helio chart, though not untroubled, is itself possessed of spiritual grace with its own "mystic rectangle", marking out a human being of considerable merit in his own right.

Six months later on December 3rd 1944 at ‘6 am’ (Clifford - British Entertainers - Flare 2003)the versatile Paul Nicholas came into the world in Peterborough (BC091).So we have at least approximate Angles this time. The two zodiacs that work most strongly in his case are - again - the sidereal, and the draconic. This suggests that Paul is engaging with the nature of Christ at the level of his soul. Not only do we find once more the Nativity Sun and horizon illumined by the actor’s sidereal Sun - in Scorpio 16º57' - with the surprise element of Uranus in Taurus 17º09' opposite, but his shiny draconic Sun in Leo 22º  is right on Jesus’ Midheaven. His Ascendant conjoins Jesus’ Neptune, fittingly for a young man re-imagining Christ on the stage. Carpenter and Phoinix are rising; sidereal Yeshuhua is on his tropical Sun. And the role, of ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ in the Lloyd-Webber musical  made him a star!

Probably the most controversial portrayal of Jesus was Willem Dafoe’s in ‘The Last Temptation of Christ’ in 1988 (BC092). Uproar was caused by the film’s implied relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalen. Shock and controversy should not be unexpected, as Dafoe has a close Sun/Uranus conjunction square Neptune. Tropical Saturn is opposite Jesus’ Sun from 14º Scorpio. Draconic Jupiter is only two degrees away at Scorpio 12º - but as there is very little else in the InterDimensional radix to connect this actor with Jesus, the pattern is unpromising - and the film was, I found, very depressing.

Controversial in quite another way was the far more recent film by Mel Gibson, ‘The Passion of the Christ’ (2003). Its director chose Jim Caviezel to play the role of the tortured Jesus, and many people who saw it found the film far too brutal in its portrayal of Christ’s suffering on the agonising journey to the Cross. All the dialogue was in ancient Aramaic; it was hard to know whether Caviezel had really got under the skin of the Son of God. The chart (BC092) gives few clues; sidereally at noon Jesus’ Sun is setting, and one could say that to take on this role therefore represented the actor’s highest achievement and lasting claim to fame. Draconic Neptune joins the 14º Scorpio Ascendant - a further re-imagining of Jesus. Sidereal Saturn has come to Jesus’ own tropical and draconic Saturn, and tropical Mercury is with Jesus’ Mars. None of this is comfortable stuff and there are few strong contacts elsewhere to lift the relationship between actor and role out of a sea of pain. Even Caviezel’s Libra Sun is in Jesus’ sacrificial South Node.

An actor plays the Christ that is in him.

* * * * * * * * * * * *