“I’ve never seen her this happy, not in her entire life,” Rose remarked thoughtfully as she closed the book in her lap and put it aside. “She was a complex little girl, yet now she is relaxed and joyful. Some women might not like being alone so much, but she seems to thrive on having her time. It is wonderful for me to see how she actually lives.”
“I’m so happy you came to visit. As one mother to another, I’ve always wondered whether anyone could ever live with Armando, a classic tortured artist. Yet she balances him and he relaxes with her because she is so nonchalant. Armando will love having a little one, and I think he will be a natural father like Pietro was.”
“Oh, Pietro is so charming. He’s so wise and thoughtful, so cultured and curious, and David just adores him. I wish I could steal him again tonight, but he’s asked David to come to the genealogy room. What do you think they talk about up there?”
Matilda giggled and replied, “Everything.”
“Great to have time with you, David. I’ve missed you and have thought of you often. I am so pleased Simon is back in Rome, a blessing for us all. You’ve seen how people are responding to Armando’s painting and the viewing ends this week. Hopefully it will have a significant impact. Presenting this painting was unprecedented for the Medici; they did it by fiat as if it is still the Renaissance. Soon things will get back to normal for the Medici and our family.”
“That’s what I want to discuss with you, Pietro. While I was in the chapel, I detected strange energy in the reliquary rooms, some sort of a ghostly feeling that reminded me of my experience with Gaudí. His faith was profound and unlike anything I’ve ever felt, and surely he would have venerated reliquaries. My contact with him has expanded my understanding of myself, and now Armando’s painting is dissolving my boundaries. If enough people realize Jesus was a sensual man and married, the differences between Jews, Muslims, and Christians could diminish.”
“I think you are right,” Pietro broke in. “Considering it from your perspective if I may, as you resonate with the idea of Jesus as a man, then have you ever wondered whether he was the long-awaited Messiah? This may be a sensitive topic, so please allow me to explore it as a Templar. I’m sure you’ve read about the Crusades and the Templar knights finding treasure in the Holy Land and then guarding it ever since?”
“Of course. I even think the Templars and the treasure came to America way before Columbus. But, please excuse my interruption.”
“I was about to say that the divisions between the religions of Abraham really could break down if the people of faith realized the Templars were safeguarding the Jewish heritage of Jesus. Going back two thousand years, Christians didn’t exist yet when the Jews were waiting for the Messiah. David, what I’m getting at is the Templars protected the true story of Jesus so that he could be the revered teacher for the major religions of the West, not merely an ascetic Christian hero. We need to reclaim this archetype, the divine human, for all religions.”
“Interesting, but hard to imagine it ever happening. I want to talk about the other side of the Atlantic. The Mayan group I belong to is deeply connected to Native American wisdom, since they are from the same source. Are the Templars aware of this?”
Pietro felt like deflecting him by shifting in his chair. “I may or may not be able to answer that, but I will try. Tell me more about your sources.”
“Yes, of course, happily. I’m alluding to the astonishing revelations offered by a modern Canadian Templar who is also Algonquin by blood and initiation, a remarkable combination. His name is William F. Mann. Have you read him?”
“I read a very informative book by him about the Templar meridians and the travels of Henry Sinclair to America.” Pietro stood up and went over to the window where a full moon was turning the night into day. “Just imagine Henry Sinclair sailing from the Orkneys to Nova Scotia in 1398. I don’t understand why more Americans haven’t heard this story since it is exciting, so fascinating.”
“Just think how different U.S. relations with Europe might be if everybody knew about these early contacts between Europe and North America,” David muttered. “Do European Templars read Mann?”
“Yes we do. We think Mann had a lot of courage initially, nobody threw a pie in his face, and now he can say anything he wants! I hear he has a new book coming out that goes much further; I can’t wait!”
“So, most Europeans realize people have been sailing all over the world for at least a thousand years, and now the Americans and Canadians are catching up fast. This new paradigm could change the nature of global politics by dissolving many divisions.”
“I expect so. As we all know, the elite sequestered ancient maritime secrets to make money, but they also blocked access to the past, the magnificent story of the ancient days. With the truth coming out, who will control the sea passages above Canada and Alaska when the North Pole melts, the cycle the elite knows all about, labeled “Global Warming.” It is time to stop the cover-ups, for example, here in Florence people need the real story of Jesus regardless of what happens to the foppish Catholic hierarchy. Circling back, how did your experience with Armando’s painting remind you of exploring your lifetime as Gaudí?”
David twisted his signet ring. “Gaudí came into my body and used my senses to evaluate the accuracy of the completion of his cathedral. He was pleased with what was going on, so he shot up to a very high dimension, which spun all the cells in my body as if I was transfiguring. I feel so much lighter with his shadow gone. His energy was dense as if he was struggling with demons when he was alive; I think I freed him. This may be how people feel when they view Armando’s painting.”
“Very intriguing, and I’ve never heard of anything quite like it. I thought you were looking better because Simon is back, but maybe it’s because of these breakthroughs?”
“Yes, I am happier now, especially to be with a dear friend like you. We’ve reached across the Atlantic to touch, and now it is time for millions to reach across the seas. We’ve been deluded into thinking we are divided, but we never were!”
“A very evocative idea isn’t it, that we once enjoyed a global civilization, Atlantis? Perhaps breaking down the modern sense of division will move us toward being peaceful and global again?”
Christmas Eve dinner in Rome was memorable, a table with three families of three generations. Teresa, in a cranberry red velvet Christmas dress that had once been Sarah’s, was very excited. After dinner, the ladies took her into the hall of tapestries to enjoy the Christmas tree and cookies. As soon as William went to bed, Pietro winked at David and Armando and said, “Let’s take Simon to the library to pick his brain.”
The four men were relieved to escape all the food and Christmas joy, yet a cheery fire was burning brightly and a plate of Christmas cookies was on the table. Simon eyed the cookies and said, “I don’t know about all of you, but the intensity of this past year makes the holidays seem strange. Anybody interesting in shifting the mood with a discussion about tombs and old bones?”
Pietro replied, “Well, yes, I am.”
Simon looked around the group and realized the two elders probably knew much more than he did, and he was just beginning to realize Armando was privy to a lot of secret information. He was surprised when he heard that David and Pietro occasionally had private talks. Armando observed Simon with amusement. I bet Simon has no idea what my father knows.
They chatted about what each had been thinking about to get up to speed. Then the topic they’d been eagerly waiting for came up when Simon spoke up again. “So, here we are in your house, Pietro, the count in an unusually long and enduring lineage. Have you heard about the three skulls that were found on the floor of the Talpiot tomb in triangular formation?”
Their faces showed they didn’t know much about it, so Simon went on. “When archaeologists first excavated the tomb, they were very surprised to find three human skulls in an isosceles triangular formation sunk in a thick layer of ancient silt that had settled into the ossu-ar
y around the skulls for at least a thousand years. It was eerie, and one archaeologist thought it looked like some kind of ceremony had occurred. Any Templar would know that these three skulls indicated some kind of veneration. The bone boxes from the messianic period were very small, which necessitated crossing the femur bones over the other bones and then putting in the skull. The main Templar symbol for this practice is a skull above crossed femur bones, which mysteriously shows up on tombstones in Europe at the time of the Crusades. I think the Templars adopted this symbol to make sure the day would come when people would realize the importance of the ossuaries; that is now!
“Judging by the number of Jesus family inscriptions on the ossuaries from the Talpiot tomb, it would have been intensely venerated. The carriers of the secret tradition in southern France, the British Isles, and the Templars would have carefully guarded the location of this tomb. Well, I propose the Templars captured Jerusalem to find that tomb as well as to search under the Temple Mount, a topic for later. As the centuries went by and the remnants protecting the bloodline miraculously survived, what would have been more valuable than the bones and skulls of the Jesus family?” Simon stopped to look into all their faces to make sure he had the full attention of the room. He continued.
“I think the Templars revisited the tomb during a later Crusade to collect some of the bones, and at that time they conducted a ceremony with three skulls they’d brought with them, possibly the skulls of Templars who died after the First Crusade. They sold the relics at high prices to elite families for reliquaries, families such as yours, Pietro. I think that is what’s in the reliquaries behind Armando’s painting—relics of the Jesus family hidden in plain sight labeled as common saints.” He stopped and looked at Pietro . . . Everybody looked at Pietro.
Pietro cleared his throat and sat back. “As you all know, modern researchers are figuring out things the Templars protected for many years. Simon, you are making suppositions that may never be proven, but your summary does match the Maltese Templar.” Pietro got up and walked over to a nearby bookcase as they all watched him wondering what he was going to do. He pulled out a few books, reached in, a lever clicked, and the bookcase turned to expose a cavernous space behind. He reached in with both hands and brought out an object covered with a royal blue velvet cloth embroidered with gold thread borders. He put it on a table and removed the cloth to display a twelve-inch-tall Templar sword embedded in a small crystal skull resting on an ornate solid gold base. At the crossing point of the sword’s hilt was a glass-covered receptacle with a small bone inside that Pietro pointed at. “This bone is Mary Magdalene’s. This reliquary has been in our family since the Renaissance, the next thing I was going to share with you, Armando.”
The three men were utterly shocked, yet the feeling emanating from the reliquary strangely calmed them. Dante crouched behind Armando, preparing to jump up on the table, but Pietro shooed him away.
“Father, I’m stunned. All these years it was hidden here?”
They examined the exquisite sculpture. Simon said in an incredulous voice, “All the clues fit together: At Rosslyn Castle in Scotland a small tombstone marker for William Sinclair is exactly the same size as a typical ossuary lid. Experts on Rosslyn puzzle over why his ‘headstone’ is so small, since William Sinclair was a prominent laird. Rosslyn Chapel itself looks like a giant reliquary. The Talpiot tomb has a very strange symbol above its entrance—an inverted triangle without a base that has a circle in the center—like the all-seeing eye of the Masons on the U.S. dollar bill. Maybe they used this symbol on the money to encode Templar veneration of the Talpiot tomb! In other words, these symbols permeate everything and have guided the evolution of society for two thousand years!”
“Yes,” David said. “The truth is coming out now that the Mayan Calendar has ended. And, by the way, this reliquary’s crystal skull must be ancient because a thousand years ago there were no modern tools to carve something like this. This must be one of the original skulls.”
Simon continued, “Have you considered DNA analysis of this bone, Pietro? The authors of The Jesus Family Tomb ordered DNA analysis of the mineral concretions in the ossuaries and rare bone fragments that were found in the bottoms. One of the researchers verified that all the people in the Talpiot tomb were related maternally except Mary Magdalene. To be buried in a family tomb, people had to be related by blood or marriage; therefore Mary had to have been the wife of Jesus. And, now we have the DNA sequences of the Jesus family! Pietro, what if this bone could be tested?”
The reliquary
Pietro was staring at the reliquary with an inscrutable expression. “Let me put it this way to you, Simon, the inveterate reporter who just won’t quit. In time, much more will be possible with these relics, things way beyond DNA analysis. When the human race is ready, it will be discovered that the relics have cosmic DNA—changes and mutations from deep in the universe, in the stars. That’s why we value them and protect them. The authentication of the Talpiot tomb and the James ossuary could inspire a wondrous accord between Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Next the world will attain new thought about its scripture, the lost writings. By knowing their story, we will feel them palpably, since truth is the first step to healing.”
Pietro put the cloth back over the reliquary, picked it up, and carried it back to its hiding place behind the bookcase. When they said good night, they knew it would be hard to sleep.
30
Avatar of the Piscean Age
The Shi’ite and Sunni schism in the Middle East intensified in early January when Saudi Arabia executed forty-seven Shi’ite dissidents including the highly esteemed cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr. The Saudis beheaded all but four of the Shi’ite dissidents, a hideous reenactment of ISIS beheadings. Enraged Iranian protesters attacked and sacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran, and the Saudis severed diplomatic and commercial ties with Iran. U.S. officials had warned their Saudi ally not to kill Muqtada al-Sadr, but this warning was pointedly ignored. This weakened the Obama administration’s influence in the Middle East, and next the Russians intensified their bombing of Syrian rebel positions, which further eroded U.S. policy.
Since the November attack in Paris, Belgium authorities had been combing Brussels to search out well-known extremists, a stepped-up campaign to root out jihadists. But during the spring equinox of 2016, ISIS bombed the Brussels airport and subway, killing at least thirty-five people. Deep helplessness crept into the Euro capitol because the citizens felt horribly vulnerable. Some people thought security should intensify, but feared it would reduce their civil liberties. Were terrorist attacks the future in an open European society?
After the winter of escalating tensions, Simon was on his computer in Claudia’s library in the middle of the night seeking news about Brussels after the attacks. “The big question is,” Simon muttered to himself, “why doesn’t the West just get out of the Middle East?”
He heard shuffling in the hall, looked through the doorway, and there stood Teresa in pajamas with Sarah. She came to him still dripping with sleep and crawled up on his lap. “Hey, little one. What are you doing getting up in the middle of the night?”
“It’s not the middle of the night anymore. It’s after six. Have you been down here all night?”
“I came down around four because I couldn’t sleep thinking about yesterday’s bombings. Brussels is a huge and incompetent bureaucracy set up to run the European Union, but have they created a monster? For God’s sake, they can’t even protect their transportation systems! The elite use Brussels as a source for prestigious and highly paid jobs for their privileged sons and daughters, a modern leech bankrupting the economies of Euro members. I know that sounds simplistic, but their expensive chess game costs a lot while normal European life and security is deteriorating.”
“I agree. Sometimes I wonder whether my attempts to uncover the real story of the three main religions mean anything at all; I’m discouraged. The Arab Spring gave people hope for freedom in 2011, but n
ow the countries that participated are more oppressed than ever. The latest bombings break my heart. Teresa and I could be on the street in Rome when there is a terrorist attack; I can’t bear it.”
Teresa sucked her thumb and nestled deeper into Simon. “Will Europe end its dream of no borders? It’s been great fun for Germans and Scandinavians to drive down to Spain, Italy, or Greece on new freeways with no stops. We’re told people are making more money with easier trade, but I see little improvement in the lives of the average young European. The elite are the winners as usual, not the people. The police in Brussels don’t know who is in the country with all the migrants flowing in bankrupting the government. Border controls to deal with undocumented migrants will have to be reinstituted. Almost every country is throwing up the barriers again, which they say is temporary, but I don’t think so. Safety must be first in our troubled world, so I think we are going back to where we were before 1999, but how?”
When Simon needed guidance he thought of his father. As if the universe was on his side, his father called the next day. “You’re where? You’re kidding!”
“I’m not kidding, Simon. I have a session with Lorenzo today, so I came to Rome last night and landed on Pietro and Matilda. Pietro and I had a great talk last night, and we’d like to see you tonight. We’d like you to join us. Can you come? I hope Sarah won’t mind if we steal you away?”
“Of course not, and I’m thrilled you’re here. I’m so upset about Brussels that I couldn’t sleep last night. Reality is shredding; the psychological pressure is unbelievable. Sometimes I feel like my head is exploding.”
Revelations of the Aquarian Age Page 29
