Andrew Gough's Arcadia

By John Harper

Part 2

The “Josephus Omissions”

Some years after first discovering Josephus’ odd transliterations of the Bible I finally found time to sit down and examine them anew. As I began to read his works once more it quickly became apparent from this statement in the preface to his book what he was doing;

“those that have a mind to know the reason of everything, may find here a very curious philosophical theory, which I now indeed shall waive the explication of; but if god afford me time for it, I will set about writing it, after I have finished the present work”.

There is no record of him ever writing this exposé of Jewish religion, which is a great pity. Whether he was retaining these passages for inclusion in this forthcoming work, or simply hiding them from his Roman masters is uncertain.

As I carefully examined and compared his recounting of these sacrificial incidents I discovered that he had omitted to mention one incident entirely? This was where King David made sacrificial offerings on mount Ornan after purchasing the site for the temple. 1 Chronicles 21:26,

“There David built an altar to Yahweh and brought burnt offerings and peace offerings. He called on Yahweh, and Yahweh answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offerings. Then Yahweh ordered the angel to sheath his sword”.

This is followed a few lines later by this telling statement... 21::29, “The Dwelling which Moses had made in the desert and the altar of burnt offering were at that time on the high place at Gibeon, but David could not go there to consult god because he was terrified of the angel’s sword”. It is abundantly clear that the angel’s sword was a metaphor for this horrific sacrificial-fire and that David feared it. I think it is important to note here that only those with knowledge of this spontaneous sacrificial fires existence would recognise the importance of this metaphor.

I immediately checked to see whether this angel’s sword had been mentioned anywhere else in the Old Testaments prior to David and discovered just three passages that mentioned both an angel and a sword. You can imagine my excitement when I discovered that Josephus had omitted the sword from one of these accounts, and completely excluded the other two from his “Antiquities of the Jew’s”!

The first of these accounts concerns the prophet Balaam and his donkey. In the King James Bible, Numbers, 22:23 “… the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand”. Balaam eyes are eventually opened by Yahweh, “and he saw the angel of the lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face”. Josephus rendering of this story, Book IV Chap’ VI, P162, is less cluttered and whilst he does mention the angel, he omits any mention of the sword?

Josephus excludes this second incident of a Theophany completely. Joshua 5:13, As Joshua neared Jericho “he looked up and saw a man in front of him, “grasping a naked sword”… “Joshua fell on his face on the ground, worshipping him”. Joshua is told to take the sandals off his feet, “for the place you are standing is holy”. It was common practice to sacrifice to the gods in order to seek an omen before proceeding into battle, and the O/T’s do mention that Joshua set up the twelve stones from the Jordan and that he celebrated the Passover just to the east of Jericho.

Josephus, Book V, Chap 1, additionally informs us that Joshua constructing an altar from the twelve stones, and “upon it offered sacrifice to god”; “and in that place celebrated the Passover”. The Passover lasts for seven days, and it was after this period that Joshua attacked Jericho. Now that we can recognise the angel’s sword as a metaphor for this spontaneous fire, we can see that both Balaam and Joshua’s theophany are reminiscent of Moses encounter with the burning bush, but instead of seeing Yahweh in a sacrificial fire, they see an angel with a sword!

I believe this third story holds the key to the philosophy that Josephus intended to explain in a future philosophical work. King James Bible, Genesis 3:24, Yahweh, “drove out the man [Adam]; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life”.

This placement of the angels and the flaming sword “at the east of the garden” is repeated in both the Jewish “Tanakh” and the Greek Septuagint. I emphasize this point because as I read this story again and again I found myself presented with the image of a temple! Guided by this metaphoric angel’s sword I was now able to discern the placement of this sacrificial-fire at the east of the Garden, just where you would expect to find the altar in a temple. If there was one universal constant that applied to sacrificial worship it was that the altar faced the rising sun in the east.

The many ritual and theological aspects to emerge from this story have convinced me that Eden was a metaphor for a temple. For example, it suddenly becomes glaringly obvious that in antiquity, the altar was perceived as a gateway between this world and the next, its spontaneous fire not only judgmental, but a guardian. This guardian concept was not only applicable to the netherworld, it was clearly an ever-present threat for the priest in the temple who would see this sacrificial-fire as guarding the way to god’s presence… in the sanctuary!

With this view of a temple firmly fixed in my mind I turned to address the question of Adam and Eve in this new setting. Placing Adam in a temple would mean that he was a priest, and so it made sense to see him tending the altar as the first man to communicate with his creator god. Adams transgression has however been a controversial issue ever since the Church claimed that he had stolen the fruit from the tree of knowledge and thus tainted humanity with an “original sin” which would forever prevent us from entering heaven. It is telling that this sin can only be cleansed by the Church here on earth; a final check being made by the angel Gabriel at the gates of heaven! What we are looking at here is a metaphor that has been distorted in order to convey a restrictive social message to the masses; its original meaning retained and accessible only by the initiated.

The key to this allegorical message is Adams transgression; whatever it was it had put him and the rest of humanity at risk when entering god’s presence, initially in the temple, and then by theological extension at the gates of heaven. If we quickly turn to Eve and examine her role in this parable, we find her in the center of the garden along with the serpent by the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and the tree of life. Eve is tempted by the serpent and so is the first to taste the fruit and found it “enticing for the wisdom that it could give”. She then offers the fruit (wisdom) to Adam, and their eyes are opened. Their new found wisdom lets them see their nakedness, and so “they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons”.

The relevance of the aprons (elsewhere loin-cloths) is ritually significant as priests were required to wear aprons or breeches “to cover their bare flesh” (Exodus 28:42) when in the presence of god in the temple. The wider evidence suggests that one risked being attacked by these spontaneous flames if one exposes oneself “befouled” before a fire, i.e. contaminated with sexual fluids or blood, especially menstrual blood. Temple hygiene was certainly rigorous, with depilation, circumcision, and regular bathing in cold water, being regimes that priests eagerly adhered to.

Such hygiene restrictions were I would suggest, related to the widespread blood taboo’s of antiquity; a series of extremely odd social practices aimed at achieving precisely what these ancient priests were doing, avoiding sexual contamination, with special emphasis upon avoiding menstrual blood. In a temple scenario therefore, it is not out of place to see Adams sin as a sexual transgression. This suggestion has been made by other scholars but it involves Satan and the promiscuity of woman and so goes nowhere. The result of Adam’s transgression is telling in that he and Eve have to leave Yahweh’s presence and cover their genitals. Henceforth, humanity would forever risk the angel’s fiery sword (this sacrificial-fire) in order to enter the presence of god, either in the temple or in heaven!

Scholars have long equated Eve with the goddess Asherah who was associated with serpents and who was represented by wooden Asherah poles placed alongside the altars in high places. An Asherah pole was also placed in the temple sanctuary by the Jewish King Manasseh. We shall explore her relationship with Yahweh and his sanctuary below, but what is now clear from this interpretation of the Garden of Eden story is that she provides Adam with wisdom. The sexual element is obvious, but how does one square this with the acquisition of wisdom? This is a question I shall explore in my forthcoming work.

Solomon’s Key

Research into the writings attributed to David and his son Solomon left me pondering the meaning of this curious assertion from first David in Psalms 111, “the root of wisdom is the fear of Yahweh, those that attain it are wise”, and from Solomon in Proverbs 1:7, “The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; fools spurn wisdom and discipline”.

I had already equated David’s “fear” with this terrifying altar-fire; a relationship that is confirmed in Exodus 23.20, where Yahweh sends an angel (the Ark) to precede the Hebrew’s and declares “I will send fear before thee”. We know that that this spontaneous fire sprang forth from the Ark. We also know that David would not go to worship before the Ark because he was “terrified of the angel’s sword”; so the “fear” that David and Solomon allude to must refer to this spontaneous altar-fire.

In the Vedic “hymns to the Mystic Fire” we learn that “When a man firmly establishes this fire, he echoes the words of knowledge and comes to know that; for he embraces all seer-wisdom as the rim surrounds a wheel”.

This certainly confirms the existence of an ancient belief system that saw the production of this sacrificial-fire as being the key to some form of wisdom; but what was it? In Proverbs we find Solomon referring to “wisdom” in feminine terms. Scholars believe that “she” was Yahweh’s mysterious consort Asherah, and that she was related to the goddess of wisdom Sophia. Sophia as the goddess of light was seen as the divine radiance of Yahweh, his glory that rested upon the Ark between the angel’s wings. The “sanctuary radiance” that I believe provides the basis for the Holy Grail mystery.

The Holy Grail

Holy Grail in Mary Magdalene Church Rennes-le-Château

I believe that Sophia’s wisdom concerned her manifested spiritual light, the soul said to reside within all life; this radiance was also manifested atop the Ark of the Covenant! Following the advice of David and Solomon, I focussed my attention upon the altar and the procedures that surrounded it. I know it will surprise many people to learn that the sacrificial process did not end with the liberation of the victim’s blood and the burning of the victims. This was merely a prelude to the real mystery which involved the blood of the sacrificed victim’s being collected from the altar in a variety of vessels such as skulls, bowls, and chalices, etc, wherein it was conveyed into the darkness of a sanctuary or sepulchre.

It didn’t matter whether these dark places were a cave, temple, pyramid, or mound. It also didn’t matter who was being venerated, divinity, royalty, or deceased ancestor; they all received the same sacrificial offerings and rites. It was in the darkness of these sanctuaries that this strange radiance was manifested to be perceived of as either a divine spirit or a deceased soul. It is this strange ritual phenomenon that provides the basis for the legend of the Holy Grail!

The Keeper of the Grail

I wasn’t until I began to examine evidence of the Human Glow Worm phenomenon that I received one of those fabled Eureka moments and realised that this was yet another ritual phenomena, the third miracle in this sacrificial trinity. The majority of researchers who have examined this phenomenon have all indicated its longevity. The earliest mention of this phenomenon that I have found comes from the oldest story written on earth, the Sumerian “Epic of Gilgamesh” where we find the Hero Bilgames manifesting an “Aura of Terror”. Later, the Jewish Talmud recounted that in Sumaria, “Enoch Became so holy, people feared him” because “the glory of heaven rested upon his face”.

The ancient kings of Persia exhibited their divine authority in the form of an “awful kingly glory” which they called a Farr, the “Glory of God”. In the Zoroastrian Pahlavi scriptures we discover that the mother of Zoroastra was afflicted with this bodily radiance; and of course, one cannot fail to mention Moses’ facial radiance, which also had the effect of terrifying the Jew’s when he came down from Mount Sinai after his meeting with god.

By far the most significant person to have ever been afflicted with this strange bodily radiance was Jesus. His transfiguration provides us with a few clues as to its ritual inducement, Matthew 17:1, Jesus took “Peter and James, and his brother John and led them up a high mountain”, and 17:2, “there in their presence he was transfigured: his face did shine as the sun”.

Going up a “high mountain” was synonymous with attending a sacred high place, so we can deduce that his transfiguration took place at a primitive stone altar and that it involved an act of sacrifice. The next statement in this story is especially intriguing; Matthew 17:4, Peter asks Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias”. In recording this commentary, I believe it is possible that Matthew was indicating a relationship between the radiance of Jesus and the radiance of the tabernacle?

I wasn’t until I read about an Italian woman who became known as the “luminous women of Pirano”, that things finally fell into place. One evening in 1934 she experienced one of her asthma attacks and started to emit a blue glow from her chest. Her symptoms persisted and she was eventually recorded on film. Then are some intriguing aspects to this incident, such as her religious zeal and the fact that she practiced fasting and flagellation, but I shall explore these events in my book where I deal with the cause of these phenomena.

As I continued reading, I discovered that one of the many doctors to examine her had proclaimed that the glow she was emitting was coming from her blood! I didn’t exactly shout eureka, I just received a metaphoric slap in the face as I realised that if blood was somehow capable of emitting a radiance when inside the body, then why not outside the body, in a Grail chalice, in a darkened sanctuary!

This research suggests that the “Keeper of the Grail” was a “keeper of holy blood”, i.e. his body was seen to contain holy blood. As such he can be seen as a composite figure based upon those prophets and saints etc, who manifested this bodily radiance. The premise being that they were linked to the contents of the Holy Grail by the contents of their bodies, i.e. their Holy blood, indeed, he may well have supplied the contents of the Grail vessel, his blood! This would certainly explain his injury and sickness, a theme that has much deeper ritual significance than the annual passage of summer to winter.

The association between this bodily-radiance and this sanctuary-radiance is supported by the appearance in these medieval romances of the most prominent keeper of them all, the “fisher king”, whom many researchers believe is a depiction of Jesus. This body-sanctuary relationship is not only supported by Jesus’ Biblical transfiguration and Peters comments, but by the spelling of GRAAL in the Church of Rennes-le-Chateau! Take a look at the attached photograph and ask yourselves whether it is merely a coincidence that Jesus is depicted standing next to the Ark of the Covenant?

Altarpiece from St Polycarpe Church

Conspiracy

Remember the sword lying across the bible symbols at the base of the crucifixion which I asked you to interpret during the course of this paper? No prizes for noting that the sword was a metaphor for this spontaneous altar-fire, but how many of you discovered the meaning of the bible? If you examine the photograph closely it is possible to see that the bible is open at page L 01, = the book of Leviticus; page one “The Ritual of Sacrifice”; first paragraph, “The Burnt Offering”!

There can be little doubt that whoever commissioned and painted this picture was fully aware of this sword/altar-fire metaphor. However, this does not explain the insertion of this symbolism at the base of cross; they must be conveying some additional information linking this spontaneous fire to Jesus’ crucifixion? I suspect that they indicate the extraordinary intention of Jesus to ascend to heaven… directly from the cross! This may explain his agonising cry from the cross; Matthew 27:46, “My god, my god, why have thou forsaken me”! It also explains the comment from below the cross - “the man is calling for Elijah”, because Elijah rose to heaven in a whirlwind of fire!

Open Bible and Sword – St Polycarpe

Further evidence of this ritual knowledge surviving comes from the Grail legends themselves, where we discover that these medieval tales actually incorporate many of the Biblical discoveries that I have just outlined. The Grail chalice for instance is carried by a woman in a castle that was originally called Eden! Remember how David and Solomon stressed that “fear” was the route to wisdom; “fear” being code for this sacrificial-fire, which as we have seen, was symbolised by a sword. Is it merely a coincidence that in a Grail legend it is David’s sword that enabled the knights to comprehend the mysteries of the Grail?

In the Vulgate tale “Queste Del Saint Graal” the sword is broken and the hero has to mend it in order to understand the secrets of the Grail. Once the knight mends or acquires this sword, he can then locate the castle (temple) and learn the secret of the Grail! I haven’t the space to highlight all of the Biblical symbols relating to these ancient ritual phenomena that permeate these Grail poems, I am sure you will have picked them out as you read this article. Certainly I have more research to do in this area, so any discoveries you make will be more than welcome.

We now know why the Church especially venerates those prophets and saints who have exhibited this bodily radiance, they are spotlighted throughout Jewish and Christian history. My tentative research suggests that this veneration is especially prominent in the Languedoc region where the Cathars and knights Templars held power. The Templars themselves especially venerated St Roche; a rather obscure saint whose statue Sauniere used to spell out the word GRAAL in his church at RENNES-LE-CHÂTEAU. Thus far I have determined that three of these saints manifested this bodily radiance, St Germaine, St Roche, and St Anthony of Padua; I have yet to analyse the lives of the last two saints.

I believe that Sauniere was highlighting a relationship between this “bodily radiance” and the Grail; just as the person who commissioned the works in this side chapel of St Andrew’s Church where he included the statues of St Anthony of Padua and St Roche together with the symbol of this ritual trinity.

Church of St Andrews in Alet les Bains

Just to tease you further, have you ever wondered why the selection of a new pope is signalled by fire from a chimney turning from black to white? It is an antithetic symbol of sacrificial smoke which turns from white to black when offerings are placed on the altar-fire! Note: there are indications from the Vatican that they are preparing to drop this smoking portent from the next papal election.

The endowing of divine authority by this portent is claimed by the prophet Muhammad who asserts in the Koran, Sura 3:183, “… verily, god hath enjoined us that we are not to credit an apostle until he present us a sacrifice which fire out of heaven shall devour”! Note that in some modern versions of the Koran this passage has been changed!

Conclusion

I guess the key question here is have I proved the existence of these ritual phenomena? There can be little doubt that the two principal phenomena continue to occur today, albeit extremely rarely. The first of these is spontaneous human combustion. But as we have seen, this ritual ancient fire also consumed animals, and there does not appear to be any modern event that mirrors this, or is there? Given that my research identifies a haematological cause for these phenomena, it is intriguing to discover the same ingredient being repeatedly highlighted in the so-called Animal Mutilations phenomenon.

The other ritual event, this bodily-radiance, is another enigma that continues to occur today in the form of the Human Glow Worm phenomenon. As we have seen, this phenomenon has also been associated with the blood of the people afflicted. It surely cannot be a coincidence that the other ancient phenomenon, this disembodied radiance, is also associated with the ritual manipulation of blood! In reality then, we already possess a great deal of evidence for these strange ritual events; my research simply makes sense of them!

This prompts the next and equally important question of whether our view of these ancient ritual phenomena and their modern counterparts is being obscured by a hierarchical conspiracy. This question has shaped the course of my future enquiries with a visit to Rennes-le-Château and a brief analysis of the Grail legends. Whilst my initial findings are tentative, they do suggest that this ancient knowledge persists within the Church. Not a surprise really as the Church has the most to gain by obscuring this knowledge from view, but in doing so it has obscured a crucial aspect of human history.

Of course I am going to need help progressing the different strands of this research, hence this synopsis. I would therefore like to appeal for a partner or partners to assist me, as well as any information that people might have on these phenomena and their symbols. I can be contacted here on the “Arcadia” forum or you can email me direct at johnharper@fastmail.co.uk

Footnotes

1. Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jew’s, Book 3 Chap’ 3: 6-7, Translated by William Whiston, 1825

2. David Lewis-Williams & David Pearce, Inside the Neolithic mind, 2005, P140

3. Emergence of Civilisation, Charles Keith Maisels, Routledge 1993

4. Encyclopaedia Britannica online, 8th April 2007, “Theories of the origins of sacrifice”