CHAPTER THREE

Jesus and His Church

Part 1 - Catholics and Protestants

It would take a work of immense scholarship to track down all the dates - and especially times - of every event in Christian history worth studying in relation to this chart, and indeed perhaps this will follow in time. However, in this initial overview we can examine a few patterns of particular interest, and you will see how powerfully they echo those of Jesus himself, founder of his Church.

Roman Catholicism

Dates for the arrival of the Apostle Peter into Rome, for his ministry there, for his execution, and so for the earliest beginnings of the Church of Rome (although this was simply then the Church of Christ) are not available to us. However, the Roman Catholic Church can be said to have been born in the Great Schism of 1054, when the increasing strife between the Popes and some of the reforming elements of the church - particularly the Nestorians - resulted in the splitting of Christianity into the Roman and the Orthodox Churches. The latter was formally excommunicated from Rome by letters deposited at Santa Sophia in Constantinople on July 16th that year ... eleven days after a star exploded in Taurus, creating the Crab Nebula. (BC037)

The N.Node was in Taurus - 10º Sidereal and 22º Tropical - so the eclipses were falling across Jesus' horizon that year. Pluto was moving to and fro across his IC. The dominant pattern on the day that the Orthodox were sundered from Rome was a conjunction of Sun with Mars/Mercury, squaring an opposition of Neptune and Uranus, the Sun-Neptune tightly configuring Mars in the Nativity. Fittingly for a leap into the unknown, the noon chart has a setting Chiron. Saturn was at 1º Aries, and the Moon was in her S. Node close to the Scorpio Ascendant of Jesus. No wonder the Christian world has been left such a legacy of strife and confusion. Only the Dragon's Head in Taurus, conjunct Aldebaran and so close to Jesus' Sun, points the way to peace through commitment to his example. With the transiting Jupiter-Pluto midpoint in 14º Taurus, the reins of spiritual power are still firmly in his hands.

But I am not satisfied with this chart. So far, all the key maps for Christianity have borne truly dramatic patterns, and to me it seems as if this was only a stage in a longer process of schism, the deciding "birth" moment having taken place some time before. Recourse to my reference books revealed that it was as early as AD 451 that the first and most serious division came about which led inevitably to the excommunication of 1054; this was the rebellion of the sect known as Monophysites, who believed that after his incarnation Jesus had only one nature, divine, rather than humanity and divinity combined. This rift came to a head at the Council of Chalcedon (the modern Kadikoy in Turkey) and out of it were born the Coptic, Abyssinian, Jacobite and Armenian Churches, the beginning of Eastern Orthodoxy as compared to Roman Catholicism.

As a date for this Council has not come to light, the only way to test this event has been to look at the Solar Returns for Jesus at that time. There are two possible Solars - for AD 450 and for 451 itself, depending on when the Council was convened. And the pattern for AD 450 (BC038) is exactly what one would expect to find at a time of power-struggles and major schism, for here is an 8th-house Sun close to the S.Node, square a massive 11th-house stellium of Uranus-Moon-Jupiter-Neptune in mid-Leo as Saturn rises. Relocated westwards to Chalcedon  itself, Sun and Mercury are in the 9th house of religious affairs. The life that started in Bethlehem and founded the Christian Church is still involved with the human world he loves, and now embarks on a year of strain and sadness as he sees the peace and unity of the Christian family breaking up in a confusion of stubborn religious ideas. The church, Jupiter, is at cross-purposes with Jesus as spiritual authority becomes a big issue and only division can resolve it. His Mercury is radix in the 9th, trine the rising Saturn, but also Mars has come opposite his natal Sidereal Mars; he will speak quietly and seriously to those who will hear him, but also feel the pain of the sword he brought into the world. In the following year, AD 451 (BC039) although the Sun-Uranus/Neptune square still holds, Jupiter trines the Return Sun from a 9th-house conjunction with the Midheaven in Bethlehem.  We can see the processes of change resolving into a purer, more humble and serving Church once more, cheering his heart, even though back in Chalcedon there are still signs of upset and in-fighting as Mars holds to the MC and Uranus joins Neptune in the 9th, working for change.

The Protestants, and the Priesting of Women

Of course, this was not to be the end of differences and schisms. They continue to the present day. The Solar return for May 1992 (BC040) has the Sun culminating in the 9th house at Canterbury, squaring Saturn in 6th, a 10th-house Moon in Gemini square rising Jupiter, and Scorpio Pluto at the IC. A year of radical change was ahead, its crowning achievements not without pain, frustration and argument. The Sidereal Moon is only 2º from the Sun, at 12  Taurus, Sidereal Mars on the 7th cusp ... and here were the Church of England women pressing to join the men in the priesthood. The decision to permit this enormous change of policy was announced by Archbishop Carey at precisely 4h59m47s pm GMT on November 11th 1992 (BC041) with culminating Draconic Ceres and Sidereal Moon/ASC all back at 11º /12º Taurus opposite Sidereal Mercury in 13º Scorpio, with Sidereal Venus opposite Jesus' Sidereal Moon and the Tropical Moon/ASC trining Jupiter. Tropical Sun was at 19  Scorpio - all this cosmic activity across the axis of ASC/DESC/Aldebaran - Jupiter - Sun in the Nativity. The Draconic (Karmic) Moon/Asc-Desc/ Mercury, with Sidereal  (historic) Jupiter lies right across Jesus' Pluto - Uranus in Virgo-Pisces.
It very much looks from these patterns as though Jesus fully intended this great step for the women of his Church, despite the intellectual and emotional resistance from many of the clergy and laity, and that the Archbishop and his supporters really were guided by the promptings of Jesus, through the Holy Spirit. A powerful Grand Cross in the Helio pattern (BC042) ensured that the Anglican Church has since been cracking at the seams.

Just under two years later on March 12th 1994 (BC043) the patterns around the Sun were again fraught - but the Earth/Moon was beautifully configured with the three outer planets, just as the Sun - and Moon - were in a lovely geocentric chart. It was 5h46 pm GMT, a New Moon was about to set over Bristol, leaving Venus in the West as the Evening Star, and Jupiter was at 14º25' Scorpio opposite Jesus' Sun as hands were laid on his  first official Anglican woman Priest. Veritas (the Truth) is on his sidereal Sun. Asteroids Mary and Eucharis, with sidereal dwad Mary and Christa, conjoined the draconic New Moon opposite Peter and the sidereal conjunction of Mercury and King. Many lovely alignments express the integrity of the act taking place in that sunset, notably the New Moon and Descendant conjunct Priestley, Maria and Paradise,  opposite the ascending Credo and Church. The joy experienced by these dedicated women as they were granted their vocation will have been shared by their Lord and by Mary, who were most surely spiritually present

As this is a spiritual event, the draconic pattern has great power: firstly, the draconic Sun is in Cancer and the Moon so close by is nevertheless in early Leo ... man and woman have swapped roles!!! Priesthood is essentially solar activity, which is the real reason why so many people’s gut reaction is to oppose the priesting of (lunar) women. But the spiritual core of every incarnate soul is solar. There is that deep self of pure light in every woman as in every man, and if that light is determined to shine into the world, it may well find its vocation at a Christian altar. Secondly, the contacts between the draconic and tropical and sidereal highlight the religious ceremony taking place - on its Midheaven is sidereal Jupiter, on its Jupiter-Ceres axis is the tropical Asc-Desc, and on its own Ascendant we find the sidereal conjunction of Neptune/Uranus bringing in a completely new spiritual energy.

We can look at the composite of this momentous event with Jesus (BC044) : interdimensionally we find an alignment of Pluto/Sun across the ASC/DESC, joined with draconic Jupiter-Uranus and sidereal Moon; also the Midheaven collects draconic Venus and the sidereal Moon's Nodes. sidereal Mars and tropical Neptune combine with the draconic Sun/Pluto-horizon  on his birth Venus ( and his Current Draconic Venus - the arc between the transiting N.Node and the natal planet - has reached the Midheaven of the Nativity.) What a striking pattern! It is so clear from this that it is the time of great destiny for womankind in his life, when they are given a new, historic, spiritual role as priests for Christ. In the gospel of Thomas, remember, Jesus required a women to "become like a man"  in order to enter the Kingdom - that is, to fulfil and then transcend her womanhood to become a Solar being in her own right, independently of any man. This was the moment when his requirement were being fulfilled. Here in this important composite Moon meets Sun and becomes one with him in spiritual power, compassion  and insight. If ever further proof were needed that we are here working with the chart of Lord Jesus Christ, this must surely be enough. No random chart is able to tell the truth with such clarity and simplicity time after time after time.

Luther

Meanwhile! ... back in the Mediaeval Church, the next most significant development was the increasing unease felt by numerous clergy and scholars at the Roman Church's slide into luxury and corrupt practices - notably the sale of indulgences that were supposed to buy sinners out of their allotted time in Hell. In the forefront of this movement against corruption was the young Martin Luther, born in Eisleben, Germany on 10th November 1483 (BC045). Here yet again we find a chart strong in the degrees of Jesus' Nativity - born at 11 pm according to his mother, 15º Taurus culminates, putting his Saviour's Sun on his own Midheaven, dominating his life and his work, while a Venus-Saturn conjunction opposite in 12  Scorpio gives him his taste for uncompromising simplicity in his worship. Draconic Chiron ‘sets’: here again is Luther’s commitment to his Saviour - and also his own maverick soul! Sidereal Sun in Scorpio 9  (on Jesus' Neptune) and draconic Mercury/Neptune in Scorpio 10  complete a powerful, spiritually receptive alignment, and draconic Uranus together with sidereal Mercury/Neptune lies close to the Ascendant in Jesus' own sidereal chart, promising him work for radical change. Luther would have felt deeply an identification with the commitment, the suffering and the courage of Christ; his one concern would be to strip away all the trivia and dross polluting the Church's spiritual life in order to perceive and honour the profounder truths. The Draconic Libran Sun and Sidereal IC in his S.Node conjoining Jesus' gentle Mars, point firmly to the sacrifice of his time and energy in emulating and teaching the Way of Jesus. This is fundamentally quite a good man; in his heliocentric pattern is only one square, between Capricorn Mercury and Pluto, betraying a certain amount of intellectual pride hopefully to be subordinated and redeemed by his efforts, and a cold, wrong-headed authoritarian pessimism that did spoil his earthly record as it spread in his branch of the Church; but this is compensated by much sweetness and generosity of spirit. If you centre his triwheel on the historic sidereal,  it  graphically displays his fame in the Church through draconic Sun and tropical Jupiter/S.Node at the sidereal IC.

Luther's Solar Returns of 1516 (BC046) find  - as we have come to expect - Uranus at the IC of the historic Precessed (Sidereal), with Pluto rising in Sagittarius, succinctly descriptive of the religious revolution he was to author in the succeeding months, and Sun close to the IC in the Tropical, making an impact on his roots.

But what happens when we add the relevant asteroids and examine the results interdimensionally? The two Returns are the usual ½ day or so apart, but both include a Taurus/Scorpio Meridian, which carries the first line of the Revolution pattern, tropical Uranus, draconic Jupiter-Neptune and Roma, and sidereal Bellona, goddess of war (on Jesus' sidereal Mars). Roma at Scorpio 6º links to the next line, draco Gutemberga (printing), sidereal Sun (on Jesus' Neptune) and tropical Mars, and these last join the alignment in mid-Taurus/Scorpio ( in the first Return of November 9th) of draconic ASC/DESC across 14  Taurus-Scorpio, tropical Parsifal, Bellona, Porta Coeli (the gates of Heaven) and Phaethon (who couldn't handle the Solar Chariot), plus sidereal Moon (tropically conjunct Jesus' Moon), Fides (Faith) and Vaticana. (Unfortunately I can't display all this in a single graphic; interdimensional asteroid charting is a challenge yet to be met!)

If you have read An Introduction to Interdimensional Astrology  you will be familiar with the way these extraordinary descriptive "phrases" collect across a band of sky. Here we have a cosmic phrase outlining the plans for the year ahead in Martin Luther's life - like Parsifal, seeking the Grail of spiritual purity and integrity, he is to open the gates of Heaven, and throw a printed challenge to the Vatican, heart of the popular Roman Catholic faith; he is to "go public" with his demands for religious reformation, at whatever cost to himself. In the event, the posting of his 95 theses at Wittenburg led not to physical martyrdom but to eventual excommunication; but the Reformation which was to become Protestantism had begun in earnest.

Luther had problems with free will, and his Scorpio nature could be quite ruthless; but much of his motivation here was, I am sure, being guided by Christ; for in the first Return of November 9th we also have an alignment of Christa with Jupiter, Gutemberga, Roma, Neptune and Ara (the altar) on the draconic Meridian, and that of November 10th carries the other powerful axis in Cancer-Capricorn, of the angular Mars/Uranus, tropical S.Node with Painleva (the uplifted Bread) and Vinifera ("the true vine") opposite, and the tropical opposition of Ara and Christa. In that second Return, of the sidereal Sun, draconic Christa  is at the sidereal Aries IC, overshadowing the Mars-Uranus drive for reform. If Christ is not present in the action, then that action is most certainly intended as on his behalf. To the contacts with the Nativity italicised above, we can also add an important alignment with his MC, of tropical  Jupiter-Gutemberga, sidereal Prometheus, and draconic Mercury opposite Roma. Whatever Jesus' own intentions were at this point in Luther's career, he was certainly going to be profoundly affected by the changes brought about by this audacious monk's writings and the life-long arguments with Rome.

On the day itself - October 31st 1517 (BC047) - although we do not have the time when Brother Martin nailed his 95 theses to the door of Wittenburg Cathedral - Sunrise occurs on Jesus' own Ascendant - and on the MC is a close conjunction of asteroids Roman and Church! All day, the asteroid now named for Martin Luther himself was conjunct Scorpio Mars and opposite Uranus, full of ruthless revolutionary zeal; and as that pattern hit the meridian before Noon  a cataclysmic conjunction was rising in humourless Capricorn, of Pluto, the South Node and asteroid of war, Bellona. At 11h00 am Uranus was at the IC with the conjunction of Saturn and South Node late in the church’s sign of Sagittarius, suggesting that this may have been the key moment when Roman Catholicism was faced with its dire short-comings; by 11h15 Mars was in the Midheaven as Pluto rose - his rebellious act probably sparked a riot.

What all this does  mean, is that as the inceptional chart or "nativity" of Protestantism itself , we have a picture of what Christianity means to the Protestant - a mixture of passion and outward calm, with that Gemini Moon opposite Mercury and Venus much emphasis on fine words, a solemn, simplified, often gloomy faith, and a built-in antagonism toward the Roman Catholic Mass with which its doctrines are forever polarised. There is a square between Sun (and Helio Earth) and Neptune; there is little room for Mystery in this church, and an often overt dislike of incense and imagery. The greatest iconoclasts have been Protestants. Composites of this chart with the Nativity (BC048) emphasise the stern, ascetic Jesus and his power to punish or redeem, in the two conjunctions of Sun/Saturn - on Jesus' natal IC - and Mars/Pluto; these are the parts of his nature with which the churches of the Reformation were most comfortable, and used - or abused - tham to justify all manner of psychological and physical cruelty. Sadly this reflected the composite South Node in 14º17' Scorpio (rising with Jesus’ Ascending degree in the sunrise composite) in precise opposition to the conjunction of Jesus’ own Sun at the composite Dragon’s Head ... the eternal, challenging call of the gentle Jesus. But the quintet of solar and mercurial energies at the IC of this vivid composite chart offers, through the combined efforts of Jesus and his rebel church, a potentially revolutionary message of hope that has lasted even into this often sceptical and agnostic New Age.

As for direct connections to the Nativity (BC049), the draconic Sun and MC for Noon conjoined Jesus' own MC, with tropical Neptune at his IC, signalling the re-inspiring  (or dissolution?) of Christianity's heart. However, the sunrise chart is the one with most words to say! - The tropical chart collects sidereal Scorpio Mercury onto its own and Jesus’ Ascendant, also the draconic Mercury-Moon opposition onto its meridian. Most significantly, the sidereal Sun was conjunct Jesus’ Libra Mars; so on the ‘plus' side,  Luther with his pages of  fighting talk is wielding Jesus' sword on his behalf, in attacking the lies the Roman Church had fallen into. And of course these are all the very same axes that we find prominent in the chart of Martin Luther himself. The interdimensional composite of Luther and Jesus is very telling (BC050): the close Mercury-Venus conjunctions  suggest mutual understanding, draconic Sun with tropical Jupiter reveals shared holy joy, but the Saturn-Uranus-Jupiter configuration foretells the splitting of Christ's Church, and the several ASC/S.Node/Pluto combinations bring shared power and shared sacrifice, the two lives linked by destiny. Luther can either share completely in Jesus' self-giving, dying and rising with him, or he can take the power and the mission for himself, and in arrogance crucify his Lord all over again. Since he is only human, both are probable. A whole book could be devoted to the reforming monk; but in the meantime we must move on.

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