...continuation of "The True Identity of Fulcanelli and The Da Vinci Code"
 

A Shaman is, as Historian of Religion, Mircea Eliade describes, a Technician of Ecstasy. This is an essential qualification and/or result of contact with the Divine. More than that, in order to be in direct contact with the Divine, the human being must be able to "see the unseen."

This Seeing is the capacity of human beings to enlarge their perceptual field until they are capable of assessing not only outer appearances, but also the essence of everything in order to access the level of being that enables them make choices that are capable of initiating a new causal series in the world. It has nothing at all to do with "hallucinations" or mechanical means of altering brain perceptions: it is a "soul" thing, so to say.

The word "shaman" comes to us through Russian from the Tungusic saman. The word is derived from the Pali samana, (Sanskrit sramana), through the Chinese sha-men (a transcription of the Pali word).

The word shaman, may be related to Sarman. According to John G. Bennett , Sarmoung or Sarman:

"The pronunciation is the same for either spelling and the word can be assigned to old Persian. It does, in fact, appear in some of the Pahlawi texts...

The word can be interpreted in three ways. It is the word for bee, which has always been a symbol of those who collect the precious ’honey’ of traditional wisdom and preserve it for further generations.

A collection of legends, well known in Armenian and Syrian circles with the title of The Bees, was revised by Mar Salamon, a Nestorian Archimandrite in the thirteenth century. The Bees refers to a mysterious power transmitted from the time of Zoroaster and made manifest in the time of Christ."

"Man" in Persian means "the quality transmitted by heredity and hence a distinguished family or race. It can be the repository of an heirloom or tradition. The word sar means head, both literally and in the sense of principal or chief. The combination sarman would thus mean the chief repository of the tradition..."

"And still another possible meaning of the word sarman is... literally, those whose heads have been purified."

 

[John G. Bennett, Gurdjieff: Making of A New World]

Those whose heads have been purified! What an interesting idea!

The central theme of Shamanism is the "ascent to the sky" and/or the "descent" to the underworld. In the former, the practitioner experiences Ecstasy, in the latter, he battles demons that threaten the well being of humanity. There are studies that suggest evidence of the earliest practices is in the cave paintings of Lascaux with the many representations of the bird, the tutelary spirits, and the ecstatic experience (ca. 25,000 B.C.). Animal skulls and bones found in the sites of the European Paleolithic period (before 50,000 - ca. 30,000 BC) have been interpreted as evidence of Shamanic practice.

The "ecstatic experience" is the primary phenomenon of Shamanism, and it is this ecstasy that can be seen as the act of merging with the celestial beings. And merging results in Forced Oscillation that changes Frequency. Continued interaction with Celestial beings is a form of Frequency Resonance Vibration.

January 14, 1995

Q: (L) We have some questions and the first one is: You have told us in the past that you are us in the future and that you are moving this way to merge with us.
A: Yes.

Q: (L) As we measure time, how far in the future are you us?
A: Indeterminate as you measure time. [...] What is "future," anyway?

Q: (L) The future is simultaneous events, just different locales in space/time, just a different focus of consciousness, is that correct?
A: Yes, so if that is true, why try to apply linear thinking here, you see, we are merging with you right now!

The idea that there was a time when man was directly in contact with the Celestial Beings is at the root of the myths of the Golden Age that have been redacted to the Grail stories of the 11^th and 12^th centuries. During this paradisical time, it is suggested that communications between heaven and earth were easy and accessible to everyone. Myths tell us of a time when the "gods withdrew" from mankind. As a result of some "happening," i.e. "The Fall," the communications were broken off and the Celestial Beings withdrew to the highest heavens.

But, the myths also tell us that there were still those certain people who were able to "ascend" and commune with the gods on the behalf of their tribe or family. Through them, contact was maintained with the "guiding spirits" of the group. The beliefs and practices of the present day shamans are a survival of a profoundly modified and even corrupted and degenerated remnant of this archaic technology of concrete communications between heaven and earth such as the Cassioopaean Transmissions.

The shaman, in his ability to achieve the ecstatic state inaccessible to the rest of mankind, due to the fusion of his emotional center via suffering, generally, (witness the metaphor of the Crucifixion), was regarded as a privileged being. More than this, the myths tell us of the First Shamans who were sent to earth by the Celestial Beings to DEFEND human beings against the "negative gods" who had taken over the rule of mankind. It was the task of the First Shamans to activate, in their own bodies, a sort of "transducer" of cosmic energy for the benefit of their tribe. This was expressed as the concept of the "world tree," which became the "axis" or the Pole of the World and later the "royal bloodlines."

It does seem to be true that there is a specific relationship between this function and certain "bloodlines." But, as with everything that has been provided to help mankind, this concept has been co-opted by the forces seeking to keep mankind in darkness and ignorance. The true and ancient bloodlines of the First Shamans have been obscured and hidden by the false trail of the invented genealogies of the Hebrew Old Testament supposedly leading to certain branches of present day European royal and/or noble families, which seek to establish a counterfeit "kingship" that has garnered a great deal of attention in recent times. I devote some attention to this subject in The Secret History of the World.

As we have already noted, BEFORE the Fall, every human being had access to communication with the higher densities via the "Maidens of the Wells" of ancient Celtic legend.

AFTER the Fall, it seems that a specific genetic variation was somatically induced by the incarnation of certain higher density beings who "gave their blood" for the "redemption of man." That is to say that they changed the body and DNA by Forced Oscillation. It is likely that this was done through the female incarnations because of the role of the mitochondrial DNA, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself here, so we will leave that for the moment.

Nevertheless, the presence of this DNA, depending upon the terms of recombination, makes it very likely that there are many carriers of this bloodline/Shamanic ability on the earth today, though very few of them are carrying the "convergent" bloodlines.

The Sufis have kept the "Technician of Ecstasy" concept alive in their tradition of the "Poles of the World." The kutub or q’tub (pole of his time) is an appointed being, entirely spiritual of nature, who acts as a divine agent of a sphere at a certain period in time. Each kutub has under him four awtads (supports) and a number of abdals (substitutes) , who aid him in his work of preserving and maintaining the world. The interesting thing about this idea is that the individual who occupies the position does not even have to be aware of it! His life, his existence, even his very physiology, is a function of higher realities extruded into the realm of man. That this has a very great deal to do with "bloodlines," as promulgated in recent times is true, but not necessarily in the ways suggested.

In the present time, it seems that those with the "bloodline" are awakening. It is no longer feasible to be a "Pole of the World" who is asleep, because there are some very serious matters of choice and action that may be incumbent upon the awakened Shaman. The first order of business seems to be to awaken and accumulate strength of polarity.

Shamans are born AND made. That is to say, they are born to be made, but the making is their choice. And, from what I have been able to determine, the choice may be one that is made at a different level than the conscious, 3rd density linear experience. Those who have made the choice at the higher levels, and then have negated the choice at this level because they are not able to relinquish their ordinary life, pay a very high price, indeed.

A shaman stands out because of certain characteristics of "religious crisis." They are different from other people because of the intensity of their religious experiences. In ancient times, it was the task of the Shamanic elite to be the "Specialist of the Soul," to guard the soul of the tribe because only he could see the unseen and know the form and destiny of the Group Soul. But, before he acquired his ability, he was often an ordinary citizen, or even the offspring of a shaman with no seeming vocation (considering that the ability is reputed to be inherited, though not necessarily represented in each generation.)

At some point in his life, however, the shaman has an experience that separates him from the rest of humanity. The Native American "vision quest" is a survival of the archaic understanding of the natural initiation of the shaman who is "called" to his vocation by the gods.

A deep study of the matter reveals that those who seek the magico-religious powers via the vision quest when they have not been called spontaneously from within by their own questing nature and feeling of responsibility for humanity, generally become the Dark Shamans, or sorcerers; those who, through a systematic study, obtain the powers deliberately for their own advantage.

The true Shamanic initiation comes by dreams, ecstatic trances combined with extensive study and hard work: intentional suffering. A shaman is expected to not only pass through certain initiatory ordeals, but he/she must also be deeply educated in order to be able to fully evaluate the experiences and challenges that he/she will face. Unfortunately, until now, there have been precious few who have traveled the path of the Shaman, including the practice of the attendant skills of "battling demons," who could teach or advise a course of study for the Awakening Shaman. In my own case, over thirty years of study, twenty years of work as a hypnotherapist and exorcist, and the years of "calling to the universe" that constitute the Cassiopaean Experiment stand as an example of how the process might manifest in the present day.

The future shaman is traditionally thought to exhibit certain exceptional traits from childhood. He is often very nervous and even sickly in some ways. (In some cultures, epilepsy is considered a "mark" of the shaman, though this is a later corrupt perception of the ecstatic state.) It has been noted that shamans, as children, are often morbidly sensitive, have weak hearts, disordered digestion, and are subject to vertigo.

There are those who would consider such symptoms to be incipient mental illness, but the fact is that extensive studies have shown that the so-called hallucinations or visions consist of elements that follow a particular model that is consistent from culture to culture, from age to age, and is composed of an amazingly rich theoretical content. It could even be said that persons who "go mad," are "failed shamans" who have failed either because of a flaw in the transmission of the genetics, or because of environmental factors. At the same time, there are many more myths of failed Shamanic heroes than of successful ones, so the warnings of what can happen have long been in place.

Mircea Eliade remarks that:

"... The mentally ill patient proves to be an unsuccessful mystic or, better, the caricature of a mystic. His experience is without religious content, even if it appears to resemble a religious experience, just as an act of autoeroticism arrives at the same physiological result as a sexual act properly speaking (seminal emission), yet at the same time is but a caricature of the latter because it is without the concrete presence of the partner."

Well, that’s a pretty interesting analogy! It even suggests to us the idea that one who attempts to activate a Shamanic inheritance within the STS framework of Wishful Thinking, has an "illusory" partner as in the above-described activity, with similar results. In other words, Sorcery is like masturbation: the practitioner satisfies himself, but his act does no one else any good. And, by the same token, a Shaman who operates without knowledge is like the proverbial "three minute egg": he gets everybody all excited, and then leaves them hanging! In both cases, such an individual has satisfied only themselves, and it could be said that, in the latter case, it is actually worse because another individual has been used for that satisfaction.

But, such amusing vulgarities aside (even if they DO make the point remarkably well) the thing about the shaman is that he/she is not just a sick person, he is a sick person who has been CURED, or who has succeeded in curing himself, at least spiritually!! The possibility of achieving the Shamanic powers for Service to Self also exists, so great care has to be used in trying to "see the unseen."

In many cases, the "election" of the shaman manifests through a fairly serious illness which can only be cured by the "ascent to the sky." After the ecstatic vision of initiation, the shaman feels MUCH better! After the response to the calling of the gods, the shaman shows a more than normally healthy constitution; they are able to achieve immense concentration beyond the capacity of ordinary men; they can sustain exhausting efforts and, most importantly, they are able to "keep a cool head" in the face of experiences that would terrify and break an ordinary person.

Another point that should be emphasized is that the Shaman must be able to be in full control of himself even when in the ecstatic state! (Trance channeling with no memory of what transpired is NOT the activity of a Shaman!) This ability to "walk in two worlds simultaneously" demonstrates an extraordinary nervous constitution. It has been said that the Siberian shamans show no sign of mental disintegration well into old age; their memories and powers of self-control are WELL above average.

Castaneda’s Don Juan calls this state being "impeccable." This idea is also reflected in the archaic systems of the Yakut, where the shaman must be "serious, possess tact, be able to communicate effectively with all people; above all, he must not be presumptuous, proud, ill-tempered." The true shaman emanates an inner force that is conscious, yet never offensive. At the same time, it should be noted that a true shaman might evoke very negative responses from those who are under the domination of the Entropic forces. I have certainly experienced this more times than I care to mention.

Getting back to the infirmities, nervous disorders, illness of crisis and so forth that are the "signs of election," it is also noted that, sometimes an accident, a fall, a blow on the head, or being hit by lightning are the signs from the environment that the shaman has been elected. But, being "called" is not the same as being "chosen," or, more precisely, choosing. "Many are called; few choose to respond."

This choosing is a process, and it is a process of struggle and pain and suffering because, in the end, what is being killed is the ego.

The pathology of the Shamanic path seems to be part of the means of reaching the "condition" to be initiated. But, at the same time, they are often the means of the initiation itself. They have a physiological effect that amounts to a transformation of the ordinary individual into a technician of the sacred.

(But, if such an experience is not followed by a period of theoretical and practical instruction, the shaman becomes a tool for those forces that would use the Shamanic function to further enslave mankind as we have already noted.)

Now, the experience that transforms the shaman is constituted of the well-known religious elements of suffering, death and resurrection. One of the earliest representations of these elements is in the Sumerian story of the descent of Ishtar/Inanna into the Underworld to save her son-lover, Tammuz. She had to pass through Seven "gates of Hell" and, at each door or gate, she was stripped of another article of her attire because she could only enter the Underworld Naked. While she was in the underworld, the earth and its inhabitants suffered loss of creative vigor. After she had accomplished her mission, fertility was restored.

The most well known variation of this story is the myth of Persephone/Kore, the daughter of Demeter, who was kidnapped by Hades/Pluto.

The Shamanic visions represent the descent as dismemberment of the body, flaying of the flesh from the bones, being boiled in a cauldron, and then being reassembled by the gods and/or goddesses. This, too, is well represented in myth and legend, including the myth of Jesus: Suffering, death, and resurrection. In short, the crucifixion - the Burial of Christ - is a symbol of the Shamanic Transformation:

A Yakut shaman, Sofron Zateyev, states that during this visionary initiation, the future shaman "dies" and lies in the yurt for three days without eating or drinking. ...

Pyotr Ivanov gives further details. In the vision, the candidate’s limbs are removed and disjointed with an iron hook; the bones are cleaned, the flesh scraped, the body fluids thrown away, and the eyes torn from their sockets. After this operation all the bones are gathered up and fastened together with iron.

According to a third shaman, Timofei Romanov, the visionary dismemberment lasts from three to seven days; during all that time the candidate remains like a dead man, scarcely breathing, in a solitary place. [Eliade, 1964]

According to another Yakut account, the evil spirits carry the future shaman’s soul to the underworld and there shut it up in a house for three years (only one year for those who will become lesser shamans). Here the shaman undergoes his initiation. The spirits cut off his head, which they set aside (for the candidate must watch his dismemberment with his own eyes), and cut him into small pieces, which are then distributed to the spirits of the various diseases. Only by undergoing such an ordeal will the future shaman gain the power to cure. His bones are then covered with new flesh, and in some cases he is also given new blood.

According to another account, the "devils" keep the candidate’s soul until he has learned all of their wisdom. During all this time the candidate lies sick. There is also a recurring motif of a giant bird that "hatches shamans" in the branches of the World Tree which is an allusion to an "Avian bloodline" that is opposed to a Reptilian heritage. The following excerpts are from the available accounts obtained in field research and should be read with the awareness that we have now entered a world of pure symbolism:

"...The candidate ...came upon a naked man working a bellows. On the fire was a caldron "as big as half the earth." The naked man saw him and caught him with a huge pair of tongs. The novice had time to think, "I am dead!" The man cut off his head, chopped his body into bits, and put everything in the caldron. There he boiled his body for three years.

There were also three anvils, and the naked man forged the candidate’s head on the third, which was the one on which the best shamans were forged. ...

The blacksmith then fished the candidate’s bones out of a river in which they were floating, put them together, and covered them with flesh again. ...

He forged his head and taught him how to read the letters that are inside it. He changed his eyes; and that is why, when he shamanizes, he does not see with his bodily eyes but with his mystical eyes. He pierced his ears, making him able to understand the language of plants.

…The Tungus shaman Ivan Cholko states that a future shaman must fall ill and have his body cut in pieces and his blood drunk by the evil spirits. These throw his head into a caldron where it is melted with certain metal pieces that will later form part of his ritual costume.

...Before becoming a shaman the candidate must be sick for a long time; the souls of his shaman ancestors then surround him, torture him, strike him, cut his body with knives, and so on. During this operation the future shaman remains inanimate; his face and hands are blue, his heart scarcely beats.

...A Teleut woman became a shamaness after having a vision in which unknown men cut her body to bits and cooked it in a pot. According to the traditions of the Altain shamans, the spirits of their ancestors eat their flesh, drink their blood, open their bellies and so on.

...In South America as in Australia or Siberia both spontaneous vocation and the quest for initiation involve either a mysterious illness or a more or less symbolic ritual of mystical death, sometimes suggested by a dismemberment of the body and renewal of the organs.

...They cut his head open, take out his brains, wash and restore them, to give him a clear mind to penetrate into the mysteries of evil spirits, and the intricacies of disease; they insert gold dust into his eyes to give him keenness and strength of sight powerful enough to see the soul wherever it may have wandered; they plant barbed hooks on the tips of his fingers to enable him to seize the soul and hold it fast; and lastly they pierce his heart with an arrow to make him tenderhearted, and full of sympathy with the sick and suffering.

...If the alleged reason for the renewal of the organs (conferring better sight, tenderheartedness, etc.) is authentic, it indicates that the original meaning of the rite has been forgotten.

...Then the master obtains the disciple’s "lighting" or "enlightenment," for [this] consists of a mysterious light which the shaman suddenly feels in his body, inside his head, within the brain, an inexplicable searchlight, a luminous fire, which enables him to see in the dark, both literally and metaphorically speaking, for he can now, even with closed eyes, see through darkness and perceive things and coming events which are hidden from others...

The candidate obtains this mystical light after long hours of waiting, sitting on a bench in his hut... When he experiences it for the first time "it is as if the house in which he is suddenly rises; he sees far ahead of him, through mountains, exactly as if the earth were one great plain, and his eyes could reach to the end of the earth. Nothing is hidden from him any longer; not only can he see things far, far away, but he can also discover souls, stolen souls, which are either kept concealed in far, strange lands or have been taken up or down to the Land of the Dead.

...The experience of inner light that determines the career of the Iglulik shaman is familiar to a number of higher mysticisms. In the Upanishads, the "inner light" defines the essence of the atman. In yogic techniques, especially those of the Buddhist schools, light of different colors indicates the success of particular meditations. Similarly, the Tibetan Book of the Dead accords great importance to the light in which, it appears, the dying man’s soul is bathed during his mortal throes and immediately after death; a man’s destiny after death (deliverance or reincarnation) depends on the firmness with which he chooses the immaculate light.

...The essential elements of this mystical vision are the being divested of flesh. ...In all these cases reduction to the skeleton indicates a passing beyond the profane human condition and, hence, a deliverance from it.

...Bone represents the very source of life. To reduce oneself to the skeleton condition is equivalent to reentering the womb for a complete renewal, a mystical rebirth. ...It is an expression of the will to transcend the profane, individual condition, and to attain a transtemporal perspective.

...The myth of renewal by fire, cooking, or dismemberment has continued to haunt men even outside the spiritual horizon of shamanism. ...

The myth of rejuvenation by dismemberment and cooking has been handed down in Siberian, Central Asian, and European folklore, the role of the blacksmith being played by Jesus or other saints.

 

[Eliade, Shamanism, 1964]

The reader may now have a better idea of what the strange images of work being done on the initiate’s head, including the hammering of the head on an anvil, must mean: the Shamanic Initiation, the Alchemical Transmutation via Techniques of Ecstasy. We now better understand what Fulcanelli was trying to tell us:

The strongest impression of my early childhood - I was seven years old - an impression of which I still retain a vivid memory, was the emotion aroused in my young heart by the sight of a gothic cathedral. I was immediately enraptured by it. I was in an ecstasy, struck with wonder, unable to tear myself away from the attraction of the marvellous, from the magic of such splendour, such immensity, such intoxication expressed by this more divine than human work.

These same ideas of death and re-birth are well represented in Alchemical literature as the various processes of "chemical transmutation." As we have quoted already:

In order to respect the principle of hermetism adopted by the Tradition, we must understand that esoteric teachings are given in a sibylline form.

St Isaac the Syrian points out that: The Holy Scriptures say many things by using words in a different sense from their original meaning. Sometimes bodily attributes are applied to the soul, and conversely, attributes of the soul are applied to the body. The Scriptures do not make any distinction here. However, enlightened men understand.

We also now have a better understanding of the ancient image of the skull and crossbones surrounded by little tongues of fire that is prominently displayed in Auch Cathedral.

Years ago I read the story promoted in the book Holy Blood, Holy Grail, that Jesus had a wife and that she was Mary Magdalene. I immediately consulted with friends in France who live in Marseille about this so-called “well-known” legend. What I learned is that yes, it was said that Mary Magdalene came to France accompanied by other individuals. She was closely associated with St. Maximin, but never, until the raft of books following Holy Blood, Holy Grail, was she thought to have been the wife of Jesus.

Clearly, in 1548, and much, much earlier, it was known that Jesus had a wife as is depicted in the statues of Auch Cathedral, but it clearly wasn’t Mary Magdalene. We cannot even be certain that the depiction of a "wife" means that literally, that it does not indicate to us a process rather than an actual state of physical marriage.

So, the question is: who was the wife of Jesus and does this depiction suggests a "physical" wife, or does it depict an Initiatory process?

I will deal with that question in a future volume, but for now, let me share with the reader additional clues.

We come now to the intriguing link between Marguerite of Navarre and Leonardo da Vinci who died in 1519 while he was a guest of Marguerite and her brother Francis. A Venetian ambassador of the time praised Marguerite as "knowing all the secrets of diplomatic art," and thus, a person to be treated with deference and circumspection. We see here a definite clue since Fulcanelli repeatedly referred to the Green Language as "The Language of Diplomacy."

By 1508, Leonardo’s career was drawing to a close though it would yet be ten years before his death. Only two paintings survive from that period; the Louvre’s Virgin and Child with St. Anne and St. John.

Leonardo had made Milan, ruled by the French, his home for some time. In 1512, an alliance of Swiss, Spaniards, Venetians and papal forces drove the French out of Milan which was a minor issue of history for France, but a major disaster for Leonardo. He was about 60 years old and had been treated by the French with understanding and compassion. Now, he suddenly found himself without patronage or income, verging on total poverty. His fame had faded and, while the new rulers of Milan were not openly hostile toward him, he was certainly not accorded any honor or comfort.

In February of 1513, Pope Julius II died and was succeeded by Leo X - made famous by saying "It has served us well, this myth of Christ" - a Medici. The Medici had never shown Leonardo any special favor, but he apparently decided to throw himself on their mercy since they were, after all, patrons of the arts.

In September of 1513, the aging Leonardo set off for Rome. Pope Leo X was persuaded to give Leonardo a small commission - subject unknown - but the result was a disaster. When Leonardo started the project by compounding a special preservative varnish, the Pope reportedly threw up his hands saying "This man will never accomplish anything! He thinks about the end before the beginning!" Leonardo’s notebooks record, around this time: "We should not desire the impossible." and "Tell me if anything was ever done..."

Not surprisingly, Leonardo became ill. The nature of his illness is unknown, but it is thought from other clues that he suffered a mild stroke affecting his right side. (He was left handed, fortunately.) Leonardo’s self-portrait was apparently made during this time. His last painting was completed in Rome, noted to have been done without commission, but due to some inner compulsion. It is in the Louvre: St John.

Sick and forgotten in Rome, the French did not forget Leonardo. Francis I, brother of Marguerite of Navarre, offered Leonardo a manor house in France near the royal chateau of Amboise, and any funds he might require for his needs, wants, and any project he might, on his own, wish to undertake. Francis only wished the pleasure of Leonardo’s company.

Leonardo set off for France taking with him his notes, his drawings, his last two paintings: The St. John, The Virgin and Child with St. Anne, and a portrait described as "a certain Florentine Lady."

When Leonardo arrived at the royal castle at Amboise, he was given the title: "Premier peinctre et ingenieur et architecte du Roy" not for anything he was expected to do, but for what he had done already. Francis always went to see Leonardo, taking the view that it was easier for a vigorous 22 year-old king to make a call on an aging artist than vice versa.

Leonardo must have made quite an impression on Francis because, 24 years later, Benvenuto Cellini, then in the French service also, wrote:

King Francis being violently enamored of his great talents took so great a pleasure in hearing him discourse that there were few days in the year when he was separated from him... He said that he did not believe that there had ever been another man born into the world who had known as much as Leonardo, and this not only matters concerning sculpture, Painting and Architecture, but because he was a great Philosopher.

It was in 1517, while Leonardo was at Amboise, that Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the church at Wittenberg. Most of his activities in France are unknown. He died on May 2, 1519.

Vasari, Leonardo’s biographer, raised a smoke screen around Leonardo’s religious beliefs (or lack of them). In the first edition of his "Lives of the Painters," published in 1550, he wrote that "Leonardo was of such a heretical frame of mind that he did not adhere to any kind of religion, believing that it is perhaps better to be a philosopher than a Christian." In the second edition (1568), he omitted the sentence, writing instead:

"He desired to occupy himself with the truths of the Catholic faith and the holy Christian religion. Then, having confessed and shown his penitence with much lamentation, he devoutly took the Sacrament."

Leonardo himself had written about Christian funerals:

"Of the dead who are taken to be buried: The simple folk will carry a great number of lights to illuminate the journeys of all those who have wholly lost the power of sight. O human folly! O madness of mankind!"

But it seems that Leonardo was not an atheist either. The name of the Creator appears often enough in his writings and indicates that he had an extraordinary conception of a divine power. Certainly, if he had wished to be explicit about it in words, he was quite capable. But he didn’t explain - except perhaps, in his art. Before his death he wrote:

"See: one’s hopes and wishes to return to one’s homeland and origin - they are just as moths trying to reach the light. And the man who is looking forward with joyful curiosity to the new spring, and the new summer, and always new months and new years - and even if the time he is longing forever comes, it will always seem to him to be too late - he does not notice that his longing carries within it the germs of his own death.

"But this longing is the quintessence, the spirit of the elements, which through the soul is enclosed in the human body and which craves for return to its source. You must know that this very yearning is the quintessence of life, the handmaid of Nature, and that Man is a model of the world."

As he aged, Leonardo’s dark view of mankind and his general pessimism grew. He was reported to erupt into fury liberally laced with scatological phrases such as the diatribe about man penned by Jonathan Swift:

"Men who can call themselves nothing more than a passage for food, producers of dung, fillers up of privies, for of them nothing else appears in the world, nor is there any virtue in them, for nothing of them remains but full privies."

Francis I had such great respect for Leonardo that he required nothing of him at all - he just wanted to be able to drop in as often as possible and talk to the Master. It was in France, an "alien land," that Leonardo gave his final trumpet blast in an apocalyptic series of drawings called "The Deluge" which he predicted would one day inundate the earth and end the world of Man.

These drawings, almost abstract in their abandonment of traditional artistic styles, were obviously vivid exercises of his imagination. His scientific knowledge is applied here with devastating effect, showing how puny are the means of man when pitted against nature.

"Ah, what dreadful tumults one heard resounding through the gloomy air!" he wrote in the commentary to these drawings; "Ah me, how many lamentations!"

His depictions of The Deluge were terrifying:

"Let the dark, gloomy air be seen beaten by the rush of opposing winds wreathed in perpetual rain mingled with hail... All around let there be seen ancient trees uprooted and torn in pieces by the fury of the winds... And let the fragments of some of the mountains be fallen down into the depths of one of the valleys, and there form a barrier to the swollen waters of its rivers, which having already burst the barrier rushes on with immense waves..."

This was Leonardo’s Last Judgment on the World, his last message to mankind. Strange that it is the message of Auch Cathedral, the message of Fulcanelli, Kardec, Nostradamus, etc. And strange that they are all tied together via their connections to Marguerite of Navarre.

Recall that the burial scene of Christ in Auch Cathedral was inspired by Margaret of Austria, who married into the family that was in possession of the Shroud of Turin. Margaret’s husband, Philibert de Savoie was a cousin of one of the bishops that was involved in the commissioning of the work of the cathedral, Francois de Savoie, and that Marguerite of Navarre, the second cousin of Margaret of Austria, was closely associated with Auch Cathedral.

Remember: Marguerite of Navarre takes us right back to Fulcanelli via François Rabelais whose series, Le Tiers Livre des faicts et dicts héroïques du bon Pantagruel (1546), was dedicated to her.

It was after the death of Leonardo that Marguerite became involved in the movement for the reform of the church, meeting and corresponding with the leading reformers of the period. In 1527, apparently by her own choice, (rare in those days) Marguerite married Henri d’Albret, King of Navarre (though most of his kingdom was in Spanish hands). Henri d’Albret was the son of Catherine de Foix, descended from a famous Cathar family.

Recall also that another of Marguerite’s associates and correspondents was Jules Cesar Scaliger who was a close friend and associate of Nostradamus, that Nostradamus, as mentioned, was born in Alet-le-Bains, in Foix lands, and that Nostradamus also attended school with Rabelais.

Recall: It was around 1531, Marguerite allowed a poem she had written to be published, Miroir de l’ame pecheresse (Mirror of the sinful soul). Marguerite gave a copy of Miroir to one of her ladies in waiting, Anne Boleyn, and it was later translated into English by Anne’s 12 year old daughter, Elizabeth I. Recall as well that Anne Boleyn had previously been the lady in waiting to Margaret of Austria before she went to serve Marguerite of Navarre.

The connections are just simply too much to ignore, too much to consider "coincidence," in my opinion. And so it is that I believe it is only in the brief context I have been able to present here (more fully explicated in Secret History of the World), that we can truly come to some understanding of the REAL "Da Vinci Code."

After his death, Leonardo left his notebooks and manuscripts to his companion, Francesco Melzi. He took them all to his home near Milan where he guarded that "as though they were religious relics." Until Melzi’s death, they were in safe hands. On his death, he left them to his son, a lawyer, trusting that he would honor them as well. Apparently not.

The progress of dispersal began and the manuscripts and unbound sheets were sold, stolen, given away, and scattered over half the planet. In more recent years, attempts have been made to assemble at least facsimiles, but no one knows how much was lost. In the late 19^th century, a great number of pages in the possession of the British Crown somehow disappeared and the guess is that they were hidden, not destroyed. One has to, of course, wonder why?

In any event, as mentioned, there are portions of his notebooks that have been collected together and a close study of his available writings give us many clues as to what he wished to "speak" about in his art. For example:

The mind of the painter must resemble a mirror, which always takes the colour of the object it reflects and is completely occupied by the images of as many objects as are in front of it. Therefore you must know, Oh Painter! that you cannot be a good one if you are not the universal master of representing by your art every kind of form produced by nature. And this you will not know how to do if you do not see thyem, and retain them in your mind.

We know very well that errors are better recognized in the works of others than in our own; and that often, while reproving little faults in others, you may ignore great ones in yourself. To avoid such ignorance in the first place make yourself a master of perspective, then acquire perfect knowledge of the proportions of men and other animals, and also, study good architecture that is so far as concerns the forms of buildings and other objects which are on the face of the earth; these forms are infinite and the better you know them the more admirable will your work be.

The universal practice which painters adopt on the walls of chapels is greatly and reasonably to be condemned. Inasmuch as they represent on historical subject on one level with a landscape and buildings, and then go up a step and paint another, varying the point [of sight], and then a third and a fourth, in such a way as that on one wall there are 4 points of sight, which is supreme folly in such painters. We know that the point of sight is opposite the eye of the spectator of the scene; and if you would [have me] tell you how to represent the life of a saint divided into several pictures on one and the same wall, I answer that you must set out the foreground with its point of sight on a level with the eye of the spectator of the scene, and upon this plane represent the more important part of the story large and then, diminishing by degrees the figures, and the buildings on various hills and open spaces, and can represent all the events of the history. And on the remainder of the wall up to the top, put trees, large as compared with the figures, or angels if they are appropriate to the story, or birds or clouds or similar objects; otherwise do not trouble yourself with it for your whole work will be wrong.

When you have well learnt perspective and have by heart the parts and forms of objects, you must go about, and constantly, as you go, observe, note and consider the circumstances and behaviour of men in talking, quarrelling or laughing or fighting together: the action of the men themselves and the actions of the bystanders, who separate them or who look on.

When you compose a historical picture take two points, one the point of sight, and the other the source of light; and make this as distant as possible.

Historical pictures ought not to be crowded and confused with too many figures.

Of composing historical pictures. Of not considering the limbs in the figures in historical pictures; as many do who, in the wish to represent the whole of a figure, spoil their compositions. And when you place one figure behind another take care to draw the whole of it so that the limbs which come in front of the nearer figures may stand out in their natural size and place.

The figure is most admirable which by its actions best expresses the passion that animates it.

You must show a man in despair with a knife, having already torn open his garments, and with one hand tearing open the wound...

A picture or representation of human figures, ought to be done in such a way as that the spectator may easily recognize, by means of their attitudes, the purpose in their minds. Thus, if you have to represent a man of noble character in the act of speaking, let his gestures be such as naturally accompany good words; and, in the same way, if you wish to depict a man of a brutal nature, give him fierce movements; as with his arms flung out towards the listener, and his head and breast thrust forward beyond his feet, as if following the speaker’s hands.

Thus it is with a deaf and dumb person who, when he sees two men in conversation - although he is deprived of hearing - can nevertheless understand from the attitudes and gestures of the speakers, the nature of their discussion.

When you wish to represent a man speaking to a number of people, consider the matter of which he has to treat and adapt his action to the subject. Thus, if he speaks persuasively, let his action be appropriate to it. If the matter in hand be to set forth an argument, let the speaker, with the fingers of the right hand hold one finger of the left hand, having the two smaller ones closed; and his face alert, and turned towards the people with mouth a little open, to look as though he spoke. And if he is sitting, let him appear as though about to rise, with his head forward. If you represent him standing make him leaning slightly forward with head towards the people. These you must represent as silent and attentive, all looking at the orator’s face with gestures of admiration; and make some old men in astonishment at the things they hear, with the corners of their mouths pulled down and drawn in, their cheeks full of furrows, and their eyebrows raised...

The motions of men must be such as suggest their dignity or their baseness.

Make your work carry out your purpose and meaning. That is when you draw a figure consider well who it is and what you wish it to be doing.

The limbs which are used for labour must be muscular and those which are not much used you must make without muscles and softly rounded. Represent your figures in such action as may be fitted to express what purpose is in the mind of each; otherwise your art will not be admirable.

Fame should be depicted as covered all over with tongues instead of feathers, and in the figure of a bird.

Pleasure and Pain represent as twins, since there never is one without the other; and as if they were united back to back, since they are contrary to each other.

This represents Pleasure together with Pain, and show them as twins because one is never apart from the other. They are back to back because they are opposed to each other; and they exist as contrairies in the same body, because they have the same basis, inasmuch as the origin of pleasure is labour and pain, and the various forms of evil pleasure are the origin of pain. Therefore it is here represented with a reed in his right hand which is useless and without strength, and the wounds it inflicts are poisoned. In Tuscany they are put to support beds, to signify that it is here that vain dreams come, and here a great part of life is consumed. It is here that much precious time is wasted, that is, in the morning, when the mind is composed and rested, and the body is made fit to begin new labours; there again many vain pleasures are enjoyed; both by the mind in imagining impossible things, and by the body in taking those pleasures that are often the cause of the failing of life. And for these reasons the reed is held as their support. Evil-thinking is Envy or Ingratitude.

Envy must be represented with a contemptuous motion of the hand towards heaven, because if she could she would use her strength against God; make her with her face covered by a mask of fair seeming; show her as wounded in the eye by a palm branch and by an olive-branch, and wounded in the ear by laurel and myrtle, to signify that victory and truth are odious to her.

[Leonardo’s quotes from: "The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci" compiled and edited from the original manuscripts by Jean Paul Richter, Dover Edition, 1970, first published in 1883 by Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington under the title "The Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci." Dover Publications, New York]

It is thus strongly suggested that, in every painting he ever executed, Leonardo da Vinci was conveying messages. Not only that, the messages were somewhat codified. We can extract general principles from his writings and utilize them in examining his works.

As time passed after the death of Leonardo, critics began to come forward declaiming loudly that, "after all, Leonardo was only a man and his paintings, like those of other artists, consisted simply of colors applied to a surface. This was John Ruskin’s general opinion paraphrased, and he made it clear that he thought the Master was greatly overrated.

Renoir said:

"Leonardo da Vinci bores me."

The most dramatic attacks on Leonardo’s image came via Sigmund Freud. Working with what he mistakenly thought were historical facts, he produced an essay "Leonardo da Vinci, and a Memory of His Childhood." He suggested that Leonardo, lacking a father in the first years of his life, had abnormally erotic relations with his mother and later, when his father brought him into his household, that his stepmother was "too affectionate," perhaps even erotically so.

Freud’s biggest blunder, however, was the emphasis he placed on a childhood dream of fantasy recorded by the artist himself of a large bird alighting on his shoulder. Freud coupled this with a remark made by Leonardo, to wit: "The act of procreation and everything that has any relation to it is so disgusting that human beings would soon die out if there were no pretty faces and sensuous dispositions," and concluded that Leonardo was a latent homosexual. That smear has stuck pretty well though there is absolutely NO evidence that it is true.

Freud placed his reliance on a largely fictional work by Dimitri Merejkowski, "The Romance of Leonardo da Vinci," which included the passage by Leonardo about the bird encounter. Unfortunately, the word had been rendered "vulture" which sent Freud off into raptures of humorless psychoanalysis based on ancient Egyptian mythology and sexual-religious beliefs concerning the vulture-headed goddess named Mut. Freud solemnly declaimed:

"We may question whether the sound similarity to our word "mother" is only coincidental?"

The actual word that Leonardo used in describing his dream/fantasy was "kite," a bird of the hawk family common in Europe. In short, Freud’s dissertation on Leonardo was irrelevant. But then, in my opinion, Freud himself is irrelevant.

Nevertheless, the word "kite" caught my attention. Here’s why:

June 20, 1998

Q: ... Okay, let me ask this, these guys who have researched this Holy Bloodline business have sort of focused all the attention on a particular line, purportedly the line of Jesus going into the Merovingian kings... This guy, Pierre Plantard, seems to have more or less created a geneology with their own validations... sort of like describing x in terms of y and y in terms of x. Now, is this Pierre Plantard a genuine carrier of the bloodline that we are concerned with?
A: Partially.

Q: Then, that makes me think that the significant thing that we are looking for is a convergence of the blood lines... These lines are symbolized by the god figures, the children of Odin, and what we are looking for is a place where these lines converge?
A: Yes.

Q: Well, what characteristics might an individual have who is a product of this convergence?
A: Fair skinned and cleft chin.

Q: Well, Ark and F*** both have cleft chins, but C** and I don’t! Does this mean...
A: We aren’t saying that all with these features are of that blood line!

Q: So, you can have the bloodline and look quite different?
A: Yes.

Q: How many persons on the planet contain these ’convergant’ bloodlines?
A: 7367. Kites were used for cross communication between bloodline members.

Q: Kites?! What do kites have to do with it? What the heck... you guys are driving me NUTS! Do you mean kites as in paper and string or kites as in the bird?
A: Yes, paper wood and string.

Q: ... (C) This is implying that such people know they have the bloodline and keep in touch with each other? (L) Or, is this something for the future when those of the bloodline wake up?
A: Yes. [to the] Latter.

Q: So, we need to go fly a kite...

(C) With a particular shape and symbol...
A: Research kites.

Q: (C) The Japanese fly kites... and there are a lot of people who hang banners outside their houses all the time...
A: Want revelations? Prepare for "Treasure" Hunt.

Q: Thanks a lot!
A: These quests energize you, Laura!

Q: Yes, they do. When I start finding things that connect, it is like having little explosions of energy in the brain...

(A) Well, I don’t understand these kites. They don’t fly by themselves, they are on a string. You cannot see them at great distances... only a few miles... what is the point of communicating this way with someone who is only a few miles away?
A: Kites can be released, or left behind too!

Q: (A) When you release a kite, it falls down! Well, maybe we ought to wait and see where this clue goes before we get stuck on the technical aspects. Maybe it is just sort of a marker... We don’t know if it will relate to a literal kite, or a reference to a kite, a drawing of a kite... a carving... something will appear that will connect, I am sure. It always does.

Indeed, it did. See: Leonardo da Vinci’s Inventions of Flight which includes portions of his The Kite and the Treatise upon the Flight of Birds where he wrote:

"This writing distinctly about the kite seems to be my destiny, because among the first recollections of my infancy, it seemed to me that, as I was in my cradle, a kite came to me and opened my mouth with its tail, and struck me several times with its tail inside my lips."

 

(Codex Atlanticus)

The kite is a bird with a large wingspan, which uses air currents to stay aloft while gliding. He studied the kite and other birds, trying to learn how they flew so that he could successfully imitate nature. Little is known about da Vinci’s private life, because he usually never wrote about it in his journal. However, this is an interesting exception because we see that Leonardo wrote that it was his destiny to write about and study the kite, and also means that he thought it was his destiny to build flying machines, and enable men to fly.

When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.

 

[Leonardo]

Now, having assembled so many interesting clues, let’s go in a slightly different direction. In 1483, Leonardo da Vinci painted "The Madonna of the Rocks." (Full title: ’The Virgin of the Rocks (The Virgin with the Infant Saint John adoring the Infant Christ accompanied by an Angel)’) (Louvre).

Between 1506 and 1508, he produced the second, or "London version," of the Madonna of the Rocks. It is believed that the first was done to fulfill a contract with the Milanese Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception. Apparently, they didn’t like it and it passed into the hands of the French. The Confraternity commissioned a second version in which Ambrogio da Predis, was to have a share of the work. Arguments and lawsuits between him and Leonardo and the Confraternity followed, and 25 years passed before the Confraternity finally got the version they wanted.

It is in comparing the two paintings that one gets the feeling that the first version must have conveyed a message that the Confraternity wanted to suppress, and in the second version, apparently acceptable to them, Leonardo managed to deliver his message anyway. Either that, or he had little to do with the second version.

Virgin of The Rocks, Version One, Louvre, 1483

Notice the pointing finger of contempt from the Angel to John the Baptist.
 

The Louvre version is generally accepted as Leonardo’s, but there is continuing doubt about the National Gallery version.

In any event, the compositional changes reveal to us, apparently, what the Confraternity objected to. They obviously objected to the angel, seated beside the infant Jesus, pointing at the infant John the Baptist. They probably asked for halos to be included, but I think Leonardo added the "reedy cross" across the shoulder of John on his own initiative.

Virgin of the Rocks, Second Version, 1506

Notice the reed in the right hand of John the Baptist.
 

The paintings are about equal in size, but the figures in the second version are brought closer to the viewer and made "heavier" and "more idealized" as though they are made of stone. The colors of the second version have been subdued to the point of actually looking as though they are dead bodies - a corpselike pallor seems to deliberately emphasize that the "message" of the painting is "death."

The item in the first painting that has received the most comment is the strange, almost threatening hand of the Virgin in version One of the painting. Let’s look at the hands from the two versions side by side, keeping in mind all of Leonardo’s comments about "telling a story" with his paintings, the gestures of the hands, and so on. I don’t think the hand is threatening at all, as we will soon discover.

Now, let’s take a look at another of Da Vinci’s works: The Last Supper...

The Last Supper is said to be the "freezing of a moment in time," the moment when Christ has just spoken the words, "One of you shall betray me," and the disciples all react to the words with magnificent displays of poses and gestures, "revealing the intentions of their souls." Leonardo undoubtedly made many studies before he began to paint, but only two of them are left to us today.

One of them is hastily - even roughly - drawn and shows ALL of the figures, even if they are not lined up in a row behind the table. Unable to place all of them at the table because of the small size of the page he was drawing on, he placed four of them at the bottom. BUT, his intention was clear because he placed a repeated shoulder/arm of one of the disciples at the left of the upper row. In the sketch, Leonardo was keeping to the standard iconographic style, leaving Judas sitting alone on the near side of the table.

Looking at the study for the Last Supper, we realize that Leonardo began with the "standard" ideas,

but somewhere along the way he decided to do something remarkably different.
 

What seems to be the case is that, beyond freezing this moment in time, Leonardo also intended other, deeper meanings as we can well surmise from his commentaries on painting quoted above, compared with the study above and the finished painting.

Many individuals have made much of the fact that this painting is supposed to depict Jesus dining with his “wife,” Mary Magdalene next to him. I certainly agree that the figure next to Jesus is obviously a woman - a woman who is missing from the preliminarry study unless she is the one who has all but collapsed face down next to Jesus, but is it Mary Magdalene? Or is it someone else? Or is the clue meant to point to something else altogether?

But, before I go further, let me suggest, from Leonardo’s own words, a possible meaning of the two figures, appearing almost as twins, facing somewhat away from each other, yet joined by the proximity of their draped arms resting side by side on the table, forming the "M", that may take us one step deeper:

Pleasure and Pain represent as twins, since there never is one without the other; and as if they were united back to back, since they are contrary to each other. [...] This represents Pleasure together with Pain, and show them as twins because one is never apart from the other. They are back to back because they are opposed to each other; and they exist as contraries in the same body...

Leonardo also had formulas for the hands that were to "match" the nature of the discourse of the subject of the painting:

When you wish to represent a man speaking to a number of people, consider the matter of which he has to treat and adapt his action to the subject. Thus, if he speaks persuasively, let his action be appropriate to it. If the matter in hand be to set forth an argument, let the speaker, with the fingers of the right hand hold one finger of the left hand, having the two smaller ones closed; and his face alert, and turned towards the people with mouth a little open, to look as though he spoke.

Considering the announcement that Jesus is supposed to have just made in the Last Supper, the aspect of his hands is most interesting. We notice the supplicating gesture of the left hand, but the right hand is truly curious. It was only after I had looked at it for a bit that I realized what it reminded me of: The Virgin of the Rocks. Let’s look at the hands side by side:

      Jesus hand, Last Supper                        Mary’s hand, Louvre               Mary’s hand, London
 

We actually see that the right hand of Jesus in the Last Supper matches almost exactly the left hand of Mary in the Virgin of the Rocks. In other words, whatever was being "said" by the hands in both paintings was the same thing. But, of course, in the Last Supper, according to the "plot" of the story, Jesus was about to take up a piece of bread and dip it in the bowl together with Judas whose hand is also reaching in a strange way. Is the implication that John the Baptist, in the Virgin of the rocks, was a sort of "Judas?"

Another controversy about the Last Supper has to do with the two “anomalous hands” in the painting. In the following image, I have taken a high resolution scan of a professional photograph purchased on site in Milan by a member of the Quantum Future Group. (No photos are allowed to be taken by tourists.)

I enlarged the photo and circled each evident or partly evident hand in the painting. I have placed a number above the head of each individual showing how many hands THAT particular individual has showing. I then cut the image so that I could fit it on the page in two parts.

I have placed question marks over the "questionable" hands, the one holding the knife which seems to belong to the man whispering in the woman’s ear. Also, I would suggest that the his other hand, making the "head cutting" motion at the woman’s neck is not altogether anatomically impossible, but it is certainly awkward. But perhaps "awkwardness," or "twistedness" is what Leonardo intended to convey about St. Peter?

Above, you see the one person with only ONE hand in view, his upraised finger pointing insolently to heaven as in the St. John painting, Leonardo’s last painting.
 

There are thirteen people at the table and, if we count the hands, we have 25, because one hand is hidden: the one belonging to the man with the upward pointing finger.

The figure whispering in the ear of the woman has been identified as St. Peter. One of the hands that must belong to him is found making a “cutting motion” at the throat of the woman seated next to Jesus.

It is obvious that Leonardo intended to convey a message because he spoke clearly enough about completing bodies that are to be behind other bodies so that the anatomy might be accurate. Here we have the only other study from the Last Supper known to be extant, next to the arm of St. Peter from the painting:

It is clear that the hand with the knife and the hand making the cutting motion at the neck of the woman both belong to St. Peter.

Let’s look again at what Leonardo wrote:

The figure is most admirable which by its actions best expresses the passion that animates it.

...when you place one figure behind another take care to draw the whole of it so that the limbs which come in front of the nearer figures may stand out in their natural size and place.

You must show a man in despair with a knife.... A picture or representation of human figures, ought to be done in such a way as that the spectator may easily recognize, by means of their attitudes, the purpose in their minds. ...The motions of men must be such as suggest their dignity or their baseness.

Make your work carry out your purpose and meaning. That is when you draw a figure consider well who it is and what you wish it to be doing.... Represent your figures in such action as may be fitted to express what purpose is in the mind of each... Envy must be represented with a contemptuous motion of the hand towards heaven, because if she could she would use her strength against God...

So, most certainly, not only might we have "Twin Representations" in the figures of Jesus and the woman to his right as the "Pleasure, Pain Principle," but also the hand holding the knife that emerges from behind Judas Iscariot is holding a knife: "You must show a man in despair with a knife..." and, if we suppose that the bread, the Eucharist, is to represent "the body of Christ," then the action of the knife over the bread might very well be Envy making a "contemptuous motion of the hand towards heaven." Put that together with the head cutting motion and the whispering in the ear: conspiring, and a rather unpleasant picture of St. Peter emerges. It seems that Peter is hiding his actions behind Judas.

Curious.

As I continued to study this painting, I noted something else that seems to be quite remarkable:

If you use the hand with the knife, the hand making the cutting motion, the right hand of Jesus, his forehead, and the palm of his left hand as “points,” you have exactly traced the constellation of Cassiopeia MIRRORED.

Now, in order to understand the possible implications of this strange figure that is clearly evident in the painting, let me repeat again the somewhat obscure information about this famous Star group cited earlier in this article.

"The star’s name comes from a star picture envisioned by the Arabic peoples that is very different from the Greek conception of the constellation," Teske explains. "Despite this, its Arabic name was inserted into the Greek conception of Cassiopeia around 400 years ago."

That would put the insertion of the Arabic names right around the time of Da Vinci and the circle connected to Auch Cathedral. So, certainly they were aware of the following:

The Arabic names of the main stars of Cassiopeia give some clues to the esoteric meaning of the constellation, among them being “breast,” (schedir-seder?) “hand,” “hump of the camel,” “knee,” and “elbow,” all of which are esoteric symbols found in many arcane works. The Arabs called the entire constellation the seder tree. Earlier Arabs thought that this constellation was “the large hand stained with henna,” the brightest stars being the fingertips.

Which reminds us again of the strange, large hand of the Virgin of the Rocks, the hand that is the mirror image of the right hand of Jesus in the painting of the Last Supper.

Cassiopeia is a beautiful constellation at the end of the Milky Way Galaxy and is associated with what is known as the Perseus Constellation Family. It is in the zodiacal sign of the Ram wherein one finds the stars Shedir, “The Breast,” (the star on the forehead of Jesus), Ruckbah, (knee) “The Enthroned,” (the star on the hand making the cutting motion at the throat of the woman next to Jesus), and Dat al-Cursa, “The Seated.” The Chinese called Cassiopeia Ko Taou, or a “doorway.” Some saw this constellation in the shape of a key.

Hanging nearly overhead in November’s mid-evening sky is the W-shaped constellation we know as Cassiopeia... Observers who face north will see the star called "Caph," meaning the palm of a hand, on the left end of Cassiopeia’s upside-down "W."

Interesting that there is the "palm of the hand" and the "palm branch," located at the upturned palm of Jesus? Also strange that Cassiopeia is referred to as being an "upside down W rather than the more obvious M - an attempt to "hide" a relationship?

In 1893, E. W. Bullinger wrote about Cassiopeia:

The captive delivered, and preparing for her Husband, the Redeemer. In the last chapter we saw the woman bound (Andromeda); here we see the same woman freed, delivered, and enthroned.

ULUGH BEY says its Arabic name is El Seder, which means the freed.

With the hands of the woman in The Last Supper clasped together as though "bound," and the cutting motion being made by St. Peter, concealing his knife, we certainly can see a relationship here.

In the Denderah Zodiac (Egyptian) her name is Au-Set - Isis - which means set up as Queen. ALBUMAZER says this constellation was anciently called "the daughter of splendour." This appears to be the meaning of the word Cassiopeia, the enthroned, the beautiful. The Arabic name is Ruchba, the enthroned. This is also the meaning of its Chaldee name, Dat al cursa. There are 55 stars in this constellation, of which five are of the 3^rd magnitude, five of the 4^th, etc.

This beautiful constellation passes vertically over Great Britain every day, and is easily distinguished by its five brightest stars, forming an irregular "W." This brilliant constellation contains one binary star, a triple star, a double star, a quadruple star, and a large number of nebulae. In the year 1572 Tycho Brahe discovered in this constellation, and very near the star k (under the arm of the chair), a new star, which shone more brightly than Venus. It was observed for nearly two years, and disappeared entirely in 1574.

The brightest star, a (in the left breast), is named Schedir (Hebrew), which means the freed. The next, b (in the top of the chair), likewise bears a Hebrew name - Caph, which means the branch; it is evidently given on account of the branch of victory which she bears in her hand. She is indeed highly exalted, and making herself ready. Her hands, no longer bound, are engaged in this happy work. With her right hand she is arranging her robes, while with her left she is adorning her hair. She is seated upon the Arctic circle, and close by the side of Cepheus, the King. This is "the Bride, the Lamb’s wife, the heavenly city, the new Jerusalem," the "partakers of the heavenly calling."

Cassiopeia is visible all night and all year and neither rises or sets, but instead circles endlessly around our northern Pole star [Polaris]. The Big Dipper is located on the opposite side of the pole to Cassiopeia.

The Lithuanians refer to the stars in Cassiopeia as ’Rider’, ’Justandis ’ or ’food carrier’ - breast? - or ’Abakukas’ Star’ and ’Mary’s stars’. This brings us to what Sir John Rhys wrote about Cassiopeia:

We have to look for help to enable us to identify the great ‘SHE’ persistently eluding our search in the syntax of the Welsh language. Only two feminine names suggest themselves to me as in any way appropriate: One is Tynghed, ‘fate or fortune,’ and the other is Don, mother of some of the most nebulous personages in Celtic literature.

It is from Don that Gwydion, the bard and arch-magician, and Gofannon the smith his brother, are called sons of Don; and so, in the case of Arianrhod, daughter of Don, mother of Ilew, and owner of the sea-laved castle of Caer Arianrhod, not far distant from the prehistoric mound of Dinas Dinlle...

In Irish legend, we detect Don under the Irish form of her name, Danu or Donu, genitive Danaan or Donaan, and she is almost singular there in always being styled Divinity. From her the great mythical personages of Irish legend are called Tuatha De Danaan, or ‘the Goddess Danu’s Tribes,’ and sometimes Fir Dea, or ‘the Men of the Divinity.’

The last stage in the Welsh history of Don consists of her translation to the skies, where the constellation of Cassiopeia is supposed to constitute Ilys Don, or Don’s Court.[5]

Was Leonardo da Vinci indicating Cassiopeia in his painting of the Last Supper? Were Marguerite of Navarre, Rabelais, Nostradamus, Francis I, Anne Boleyn, and others, part of a group in contact with "Us in the Future?"

So, let me return now to the remarks about stars made by Canseliet made 20 years apart, that, juxtaposed, reveal something quite marvelous:

From the FIRST edition: I know, not from having discovered it myself, but because I was assured of it by the author more than ten years ago, that the key to the major arcanum is given quite openly in one of the figures, illustrating the present work. And this key consists quite simply in a colour revealed to the artisan right from the first work.

I suspect that the reader has, by now, figured out that Canseliet and Fulcanelli were very tricky. And so, we look at this clue and try to think of what Canseliet is saying. He says that the clue is in a “figure illustrating the present work,” that it is revealed “right from the first work” and in the preface to the second edition, adds the clue that the subject of the star “leads us straight into Fulcanelli’s text” saying that “right from the beginning my Master has dwelt on the primary role of the star…”

We turn again to the very beginning of Fulcanelli’s text:

The strongest impression of my early childhood - I was seven years old - an impression of which I still retain a vivid memory, was the emotion aroused in my young heart by the sight of a gothic cathedral. I was immediately enraptured by it. I was in an ecstasy, struck with wonder, unable to tear myself away from the attraction of the marvellous, from the magic of such splendour, such immensity, such intoxication expressed by this more divine than human work.

Varro, in his Antiquitates rerum humanorum, recalls the legend of Aeneas saving his father and his household gods from the flames of Troy and, after long wanderings, arriving at the fields of Laurentum, the goal of his journey. “Laurente (Laurentium) is cabalistically l’or enté (grafted gold)”. And so indeed, we have been led to a color!

Abbe Boudet:

The Auscii easily became skillful in working in gold; this metal was almost like a weed in their region, and diverse historians say that the avid Greek and Phoenician merchants, coming back to their countries, used the gold gathered in the Pyrénées for ballast in their vessels.

Is the Da Vinci Code also the Mystery of the Cathedrals we have been led to by Fulcanelli?
 

Patrick Rivière, alchemist, student of Eugene Canseliet, disciple of Fulcanelli:

Throughout her exposé, Laura Knight-Jadczyk refers to two powerful works of the scientist-alchemist Fulcanelli: The Mystery of the Cathedrals and Dwellings of the Philosophers. She applies her vast knowledge to the continuation of his work. [...]

As to her inspiration, what can we say, and, from whence could it come, if not the Light of the stars? [Patrick Rivière’s Preface to The Secret History of the World]

[1] In my partial autobiography, Amazing Grace, I have discussed, at some length, many of the surpassingly strange events that began shortly after I was born, and which have continued to the present day, that give evidence of the fact that there is, indeed, within mysterious groups, some sort of extraordinary interest in my existence and work. It is clear from the objective evidence that some of these groups do not wish to kill me, but most definitely wish to control me, while others wish to protect me and ensure that I succeed in some “mission” of which I have very little conscious awareness, but apparently, am discovering in a satisfactory way “one step at a time.”

[3] Inserted into text.

[4] Inserted into text.

[5] John Rhys, Celtic Folklore