The Revelation of St John and the Tarot of Marseilles

Laurent James

“What a fullness inside the heart of the man in front of the perfection of surrender and betrayal. The many disciples who followed Him, maybe felt heartily sorry for Him, but they retained their tears for fear of attracting the executioner’s attention… Only His mother, Mary Magdala and John Boanerge were crying. Because, being not ashamed of the tears requires a mother or a prostitute who transfigured the object of her love, or lastly a very young man who has been enlightened, once and forever, by a strong reversal of the meaning of life.”

Roger Gilbert-Lecomte (1929)

The Virgin Mary, Mary Magdala and John the Evangelist strongly cried at the top of the Golgotha, certainly after having heared the clamour of the Christ emerging near the ninth hour : « Eli, Eli, lema sabachtani ». The irruption of this cosmic distress face to the tragic rising of the Solitude, reflecting the rip between the flesh and the divine pulsation, was felt by the three lovers of the Passion like a frightful foreboding of the partial failure of the christlike mission. In front of this radical clamour, they fully understood that mankind would not entirely follow the exemple given by Jesus of the dissolution of their own individuality inside the ecstatic honey of the knowledge of God : the ontological separation from the Unity would begin to be a gloomy and intensively icy path, intentionally followed by those menwho would deliberately choose the cause of Satan. This tragic clamour of Jesus lead them to conclude that the Lord shall not fully be almighty, which may indirectly lead to the disobedience of these men who, consequently, should inevitably be judged and condemned at the end of Times. This point is the precise frontier between christian esoterism and exoterism : the theological basement of the first is tragic, whereas the second is dramatic.

Thereafter, this holy trinity of witnesses of the Mystery formed a new family, entirely composed by Jesus-Christ before His terrestrial death on the cross (“Here isyour mother” -John XIX.27). They lived then together during ten years in a house of Ephesus -the Panya Kapoulou -which was retrieved from a distance by Anne-Catherine Emmerich in 1820. They took time to refine a common tragic christological vision based on the same words, the same images, the same rhythm, and leading to the necessity of a final Judgment. They were then separated by some hostile tribes, and they expressed, each in its own way, his prophecy aiming at reinforcing the Message of the Christ, and above all, claiming the good news of the Resurrection with beauty and conviction.

The ternary rythm of the Revelation of St John

Saint John dictated the Apocalypse – his Revelation – inside a cave of Patmos in order to intimate the imminence of eschatological struggles, and the threat – for those who walk beside the Beast – to be thrown in the pond of fire. “Him who sat on the great white throne » (XX.11) would not give any merciful forgiveness : his unique reference will be the Book of Life. He will be the Holy Spirit, lawyer of the righteous people and also prosecutor of the disciples of the dragon. The first evidence of the identity between Saint John and the author of the Apocalypse has been given by the christian philosopher Justin, who lived in Ephesus. He wrote in his Dialogue, near the year 135 : “A man of us, whose name is John and was one of the apostles of the Christ, prophesized in the Revelation which he received”. So, from the beginning, this book was fully understood to be a prophecy, as it is said : “Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy” (XIX.10). Fewyears later, an antimarcionist prologue of the Gospel of Saint Luc clearly declared that Saint John composed the Apocalypse in Patmos island.

The Apocalypse is not only a poem containing blazing images and flashing metaphors. It is above all a prophecy, and a prophecy which is deeply rooted in the platonic thought of his author. Of course, more of half verses directly refer to the Old Testament (Genesis, Ezechiel, Daniel,...). John describes the achievement of the Salvation, through the biblical texts which announced it : this procedure illustrates the cyclical property of Time. John uses the whole Bible in order to evidence platonic ideas (Genesis ends up in the Apocalypse, which turns itself into a new Genesis). The Apocalypse of John surveys the global landscape of the Iron Age (which began with Deucalion a 4320 B.C.), recapitulating the eras of Taurus and Aries, and prophetising the era of Pisces which ends up in the Aquarius era – the so-called Heavenly Jerusalem. This is the real meaning of “alpha and omega”.

The entire rhythm of the Apocalypse is clearly consonant with the rhythm of a single precessional era. Jean Phaure proved that the music of each era is similar with the breathing of the universe, or with the music of every single unity of life in the universe. Ibn Arabi also demonstrated that the standard track of life is equally distributed within three periods : 1) budding and growing ; 2) full blooming ; 3) axe chop and uprooting. Of course, if the “unity of life” is in concordance with the pulsation of God, this last period can be relevant to the return to the Unity. But, in the case of the movement of history, we should keep in mind that its global dynamic is descendant, and that the third part of each precessional era is consequently always the negation of the initial spiritual energy. Since the duration of one precessional era is 2160 years, each of its internal period gets then a duration of about 720 years.

The rhythm units of Aries era are the following : 1) Terah leaves Ur with his son Abram and walks towards Egypt via the country of Canaan, giving rise to the judaism spirituality (-2160/-1440) ; 2) Initiated at Thebes in the temples of the Closed God Amon, Moise runs away from Akhenaton madness, which gives rise to the full blooming of the judaism religion (-1440/-720) ; 3) Deportation of the Jews at Babylon by Nabuchodonor II, replacement of judaism by other spiritualities (Confucius, Pythagore, Zoroastre, Lao-Tseu, Buddha, foundation of Rome) (-720/0).

Among the first commentators of the Apocalypse, some only read a prophecy of what would happen at the advent of Antichrist at the end of times ; other read a prophecy of all the events which would happen from the Passion of Jesus up to the Parousia. During the fifth century, these last authors were Cesaire from Arles, Tychonius and of course Saint Augustin. Distributed within twenty-two chapters, the Apocalypse describes the internal history of the era of the Pisces, which extends throughout twenty-two centuries.

The rhythm units of Pisces era are the following (the corresponding illustrations by the Apocalypse are given in italic) : 1) Elaboration of the Four Gospels and establishment of the christian empire (Letter to seven churches, Seven seals) (1/720) ; After a silence of thirty minutes : 2) Emergence of Islam and consolidation of christian esoterism orders (Seven trumpets, Eating of the book, God’s temple measuring) (720/1440) ; After the expansion of oriented cathedrals and the full blooming of christianity (Woman pregnant of the Holy Spirit): 3) Reign of the Men-Numbers, Modernity, Post-Modernity (Seven bowls of God, Babylon the Great, Eschatological Struggles) (1440/2160). The final judgment and the Heavenly Jerusalem constitute the inauguration of the Aquarius era. This parallel between the Apocalypse and some historical facts will be further developed.

The repartition of the chapters of the Apocalypse in seven parts (instead of three unities) has also been proposed by some interpreters. One of the main fascinating readings of the Apocalypse was given by the german priest Venerable Barthelemy Holzhauser (16131658). His lecture was based on the seven ages of the church, which correspond to the seven Spirits of God, successively appearing throughout history. The seventh spirit is the spirit of Science, and opens into the return of the Great Monarch. The total duration of the church is given in XII.14, when the pregnant woman takes refuge in the desert, far away from the

Serpent : “a time, and times, and half a time”. Taking into account a duration (of the Pisces era) of 2100 years, we find that a time lasts 600 years (600+2*600+600/2 = 2100). This single time corresponds to two successive Spirits. One Spirit of the church -the elementary unit of all the construction of the Apocalypse -has then a duration of 300 years.

The ternary rythm of the Tarot of Marseilles

After the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, Ste Mary Magdala has been placed by some Jews in a boat without sails nor oars, together with her sister Marthe, her brother Lazare, her colleague Joseph from Arimathie (keeper of the Graal), and many other christians. Although they were supposed to be drowned in the Mediterranean sea, they were guided by God and went ashore few months later in the south of Gaul, the creek of Marseilleveyre. At this time, Massilia was fully devoted to Artemis of Ephesus. Mary Magdala, the apostle of apostles, preached then the Message of Jesus-Christ to the local Celtic people in order to overthrow the fertilizing cult of Artemis. She definitively impressed the city of Marseilles and the Provence region thanks to her prophetic homilies. Even today, the region is deeply marked by dozens of signs of the antique presence of Mary Magdala. I just notice here that the first european monks belonging to the Carmel order took place in 1238 inside specific mountain caves in the north of the city, which have sheltered Mary Magdala during few months. Let me remember that the Carmel order, in addition of being devoted to the Virgin Mary, is one of the few catholic orders to be officially under the aegis of greek traditionalism, since its patron saints are Elie and Pythagore. Another interesting sign is the presence of a church belonging to the Chartreux order, precisely on the place where Mary Magdala was supposed to stay before leaving the city, taking refuge in the mountain of Sainte-Baume (but it is another story). Their motto was : « Stat crux dum orbis volvitur » (the Cross remains, whereas turns the world). The vow of silence, which is the basis of the order of Chartreux, is a tribute to the meditating

life of Mary Magdala during her last thirty years in the mountains. The frontdoor of this church exhibits the faces of Saint Bruno and Ste Mary Magdala. I am sure that some of you will be interested to learn that Antonin Artaud was born at few dozen of meters from this church, and that he was even baptised here.

The Romanian anchorite Jean Cassien arrived in Marseille at 415, after having lived during few years in the deserts of Egypt, where he met some nestorians, buddhist monks, zoroastrians, and some gypsies. These gypsies may have learned to Cassien the using of deck of cards for prophecy. He was so fascinated by Mary Magdala that he built stairs of stones in the moutain of Sainte-Baume for faciliting the climbing up to the cave. He also founded the abbey of St Victor on the south side of the Old-Harbour, where an antique chapel is still visible, containing the faces of Lazare and Mary Magdala.

At this time, the prophecies of Mary Magdala were surely deeply impregnated inside the memory of the city inhabitants. Jean Cassien decided to draw these prophecies in the frame of card images : the twenty-two major mysteries of the Tarot of Marseilles were born. They were kept in secret in the enclosure of the abbey, until the year 1337 when an official decree forbid the monks of Saint-Victor “to play gamecards”. The 56 minor mysteries drawn by Cassien are distributed within four colours, equally affiliated to peace (cup and denier) and justice (sword and stick). If you add the 22 major to the 56 minor mysteries, you obtain the total number of 78 cards. This value is the sum of the first 12 numbers. It is interesting to learn that the number of the cards in the Tarot of Marseilles is the result of a Pythagorician triangle based on the sum of the apostles of Jesus Christ.

As for the chapters of the St John’s Apocalypse, the major mysteries can be either read as the association of seven ternary units, or of three successive septenaries. A parallel of the former construction can be established with the lecture of the Apocalypse by Venerable Barthelemy Holzhauser, where a duration of one Spirit of the church is 300 years. Each of this Spirit can then be illustrated by the succession of three major mysteries, each of them being therefore the picture associated with one century.

Our work will pay attention to the last structure. Oswald Wirth studied precisely how, concerning each septenary, the three first mysteries were opposed to the three next, the seventh and last mystery restoring all together to the unity. The Chariot, the Temperance and the World (the three final major mysteries of each septenary) are three cards playing the synthesizing roles, exhausting the importance of will, equilibrium and eternity in the worlds of spirit, soul and body (respectively).

Now, we will evidence the strong correlation between the ternary rhythms (three successive septenaries) of the 22 chapters of the Apocalypse, the 22 centuries of the era of Pisces and the 22 major mysteries of the Tarot. Each chapter is a prophecy of the corresponding century, and can be illustrated by the corresponding major mystery.

First septenary: Budding and Growing

The first chapter is dedicated to the send of the Angel for making know the Revelation of Jesus-Christ to his servant (I.1). This send is illustrated by the Fool, « the firstborn of the dead » : the original energy, the aspiration to the light. The Fool is the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the transtion between two manvataras. He can be placed either at the beginning or at the end of the Tarot, since the Tarot is a full cycle of life which can be read in both directions : Tarot in one way, Rota in the other way, the wheel of fortune and misfortune. In popular imagery, the Fool is incarnated by the figure of Saint Roch.

“This is the Revelation of Jesus

Christ, which God gave him to show to his

servants the things which must happen

soon, which he sent and made known by

his angel to his servant, John.”

1. 1

The chapters II to VII describe the birth of the Gospels (“the Living ones”) and the expansion of the Church. The seven churches of Asia are also the symbols of theseven Manvantaras which preceded the Revelation. The first church is Ephesus, where John used to live with Mary Magdala and the Virgin Mary. He blames : “I have this against you, that you left your first love” (II.4), because the second century is the time of the first heresies which distord the message of Jesus-Christ. The insurrection of Bar Kochba in the year 135 forces to get a position with respect to the Jews and “the synagogue of Satan” (II.9). The Magician is “him who overcomes” (II.17), in quest of initiation. The white stone and the rod of iron stand both in his hands, qualifying the colours of the denier and the stick (the terrestrial symbols of peace and justice, respectively). The celestial symbols -the cup and thesword -both lie on the table of the Magician, waiting to be transfigured.

“To him who overcomes, to him I

will give of the hidden manna, and I will

give him a white stone, and on the stone a

new name written.”

II.17

“He will rule them with a rod of iron.”

II.27

Mary Magdala puts in her first appearance, as the High Priestess who reads her name in the book of life (III.5). Sitting beside the symbol of fertility (one of the eggs covering the chest of Artemis), she is the holder of the secrets of the world, midwife of the souls, black Virgin with a white face. The three crosses on her chest design her as the chief of the secret church. Her knowledge comes from the book, and is opposed to the material power. A verse is directly intended to Mary Magdala, in the same chapter : “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me” (III.20).

“He who overcomes will be arrayed

in white garments, and I will in no way

blot his name out of the book of life, and I

will confess his name before my Father,

and before his angels.”

III.5

John having sent his seven letters, now is the beginning of the prophetic visions. The imperial church sets up like a huge monument (IV.2). The Empress units the twenty-four elders of the Old Testament and the four creatures of the Gospels. “The fourth was like a flying eagle” (IV.7) : John evokes himself as an heraldic eagle. The Empress mothers the Verb-Eagle. After the Magician who symbolized the diversity of the world, and the High Priestess who invited us to penetrate into the secrets of this world, the Empress is the sovereign intelligence embodied at the fourth century by the council of Nicee.

“Immediately I was in the Spirit.

Behold, there was a throne set in heaven,

and one sitting on the throne that looked

like a jasper stone.”

IV.2

The action of Constantin lead to the christianism officially designed as the religion of the Empire (380). The Emperor is the first character of the Tarot who stops the path (he is turned towards the left). He ossified the religion by focusing on the material power (V.1). He holds the destiny of the world, Supreme Pontiff of Rome and Alexandria. He is full of the will for power. The slain Lamb is worthy of opening the seven seals, inaugurating a new cycle.

“I saw, in the right hand of him

who sat on the throne, a book written

inside and outside, sealed shut with seven

seals.”

V.1

The six seals are divine tests, six trials aiming at verifying the faith of humanity. The disasters provoked by the horsemen are the metaphors of the barbarians devastating Eurasia in the name of heresies through the fifth century. The Pope is the master of the slaughtered souls, for which the initiation becomes effective (VI.9). His left hand, gloved and marked with a cross, holds the flagstaff of a papal cross with three cross-beams, symbolizing the creative power throughout the three worlds (divine, psychic, physical). The connections between ternary and septenary rhythms are in his hand. He blesses the two disciples who stay underneath the altar: one is active, and the other is passive. He transmits his knowledge, without any book.

“When he opened the fifth seal, I

saw underneath the altar the souls of those

who had been killed for the Word of God,

and for the testimony of the land they had.”

VI.9

“The sky was removed like a scroll when it is rolled up” (VI.14) : suddenly, the knowledge is darkened, announcing the emergence of another book. “I saw another angel ascend from the sunrise, having the seal of the living God” (VII.2). The Lover is the worshipper of God who arises from the big divine test. He may be one of these two former disciples of the Pope, marking on the forehead 144000 (12*12000) children of Israel. The Lover is a renovated John, breathing between his mother, the Virgin crowned with laurels, and Mary Magdala, the blossomed wife. His situation is similar to the christian esoteric Tradition, floating between the Jew and Greek thoughts, or even similar to Muhammad, the God worshipper ascending from the sunrise. This major mystery can also be seen as an illustration of Hegira, at the seventh century.

“I saw another angel ascend from

the sunrise, having the seal of the living

God.”

VII.2

After a silence of half an hour, the chapter VIII depict the arrival of seven trumpets which sacred the seventh seal. In 716, the relics of Mary Magdala are buried in thevillage of Saint-Maximin, for fear of being robbed. The roarings of the trumpets symbolize the power of the ordeals commanded by God, in order to check if the exemple of His Son was adequate to strengthen the humanity. The armies of locusts illustrate the huge invasions of the ninth century, only terrestrial and not relied to any heresy (IX.9). These invasions are a product of chthonian strength. The angel of the abyss is Apollyon. He is the synthesis of the first septenary : the domination of the will-power in the world of spirit. The Lover grew old, and he managed to dominate all his conflicts. The times of Full Blooming are coming, based on knighthood and justice.

“The sound of their wings was like

the sound of chariots, or of many horses

rushing to war.”

IX.9

“They have over them as king the

angel of the abyss. His name in Hebrew is

Abaddon, but in Greek, he has the name

Apollyon.”

IX.11

Second septenary : Full Blooming

The second septenary begins with the irruption of a mighty angel, setting his right foot on the sea and his left on the land. The cosmic equilibrium is maintained and

controlled by the major mystery of the Justice sounded by the seven thunders. According to Aristote, the sword and the balance are the two characteristics of the Justice.

John is asked to open his mouth and to eat up a small book. It is often said that John is here inspired by Ezechiel (III.1-3), where the Prophet eated a book whichrevealed to be sweet as honey, for guiding the house of Israel. I prefer another explanation. In the Book of Jeremiah (LI.59-64), Jeremiah throws into the river of Euphrate the book which contains the retaliations of God against Babylon. Few centuries after this date, John is in the terrestrial Paradise thanks to the divine Justice, and he finds again the book which was throwed by Jeremiah. This book looks beautiful, but it contains all the threats against Babylon. That is the reason why “it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. When I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter” (X.10). Then, John immediately understands that he must prophesies again “over many peoples, nations, languages, and kings” (X.11).

John is asked to measure the dimensions of the temple of God (XI.1). The Hermit is the land surveyor of the temple of God, his role is to exorcise the fears of the year One Thousand.

“A reed like a rod was given to me.

Someone said Rise, and measure God’s

temple, and the altar, and those who

worship in it.”

XI.1

The two witnesses appear then to give prophecies each in its own way. They may be a symbol of esoterism and exoterism, since many esoteric orders emerge during the eleventh century, such as the militia of the Poor Knights of Christ and of the Temple of Salomon, which became the Order of Temple in 1129. But these two witnesses are also a metaphor of the huge schism of 1054 between Leon IX and Michel Cerulaire (XI.7-8). The major mystery “Wheel of Fortune” precisely illustrates the public exposition of the two witnesses’ dead bodies. The naked bottom of one of them, placed just under the face of the sphinx sit at the top of the wheel of Fortune, represents the jusxtaposition of Sodom and Egypt.

“When they have finished their

testimony, the beast that comes up out of

the abyss will make war with them, and

overcome them, and kill them. Their dead

bodies will be on the street of the great city,

which spiritually is called Sodom and

Egypt.”

XI.7-8

The seventh trumpet suddenly resounds. This is the sign of the end of persecution and the advent of the Lord. The apostle Paul wrote in his Epistle to Corinthiens : “the last trumpet will sound, and the dead will resuscitate, incorruptible” (I Co. XV.52).

Founded by Bernard de Clairvaux, the Order of the Temple is a fusion between catholic and celtic spirits. Their patron saints were St John the Evangelist and “Madam Ste Mary”. According to Wolfram von Eschenbach, who refers to a so-called Kyot of Provence, the Templars were the keepers of the Graal, which was transferred later to the Far East in the Realm of the Priest John. This times are them entirely submitted to the influx of Agarttha, anywhere in the world at the same period : crusades starting from Vezelay (where are situated part of the relics of Mary Magdala), building of Notre-Dame de Paris and the temples of Angkor, foundation of Moscow by Youri Dolgoruki, climax of Heian period in Japan,...

The flight of the cathedrals is reflected in the major mystery of the Strength. The pregnant “woman clothed with the sun” took refuge in the desert, where she is nourished “a time, and times, and half a time” (XII.14). The serpent tries to drown the woman in order to cancel the arrival of the Holy Spirit at the era of Aquarius, but the strength of the woman is more important than the brutality of the beast (XII.16). This will-power force is directed towards the realisation of moral values. It comes from the Justice and leads to the Temperance.

“The earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the river”.

XII.16

But two beasts emerge then, one from the sea (Occident) and one from the earth (Orient). This last “had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke like a dragon” (XIII.11). This is the first appearance of the Great Parody in the Apocalypse : the upset world takes place, where the souls are progressively pulled down. The Hanged Man perfectly represents this event.

Six buds, six buttons, six buds : the number 666 is the mark of the downward hanged men, the Men-Numbers whose reign is imposed by the two beasts. Let me remember you that 666 is written like this by St John : DCLXVI. This is the juxtaposition of all the arithmetic unities on the abacus of the trader, which clearly indicates the beginning of the power of the finance.

The two beasts also represent the two distinct ways of the upsetting process : the internal way (theological ruptures, darkening of the esoteric consciousness), andthe external way (appearing of the banks, independence of the warrior with respect to the priest). In many countries and at the same historical period, the Kshatriya indeed reject the Brahman, from Philippe le Bel in France to Kamakura in Japan.

Next, angels announce the hour of the Judgment. They send forth their sickles in order to reap the anger of God (XIV.15). This is the beginning of the “axe chop” era : destruction of the Order of the Temple (1314), One Hundred year war, huge black plague in Europe (1350). “The angel thrust his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vintage of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God” (XIV.19). The wrath of God is so intense, that even the crowned heads (the head of Philippe le Bel) are gathered.

This major mystery hoists no name, since this death is anonymous : it is not the first individual death, but the destruction which threatens our spiritual life if the initiation does not prevent from the annihilation.

“Another angel came out from the

temple, crying with a loud voice to him

who sat on the cloud : Send forth your

sickle, and reap ; for the hour to reap has

come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe !”

XIV.15

The seven golden bowls are filled with the wrath of God. They symbolically replace the Holy Graal, which definitely disappeared to the Far East. The Temperance depicts the angels who received these golden bowls, which have to be emptied in order to enter again in the Temple of God. Time flows in both directions.

The end of the fifteenth century closes the second period of the era of Pisces, as well as the so-called Middle Ages (1453) and the Roman Empire of Orient. Jacob Fuegger from Augsburg is the first modern banker (mecene of Durer), the preliminary signs of protestantism are visible (Jan Hus, John Wyclif), the discovery of America is the beginning of new spiritual transfusions. The Temperance is the synthesis of the second septenary : the domination of equilibrium in the world of the soul, just before the catastrophe. The times of Uprooting are now coming, describing the fall of humanity in the absolute Evil, or the incarnation of Satan in the multiple body of evil humanity.

Third septenary : Axe chop and Uprooting

The third septenary begins with the discharge of calamities coming out from the golden bowls, the anti-Graal bowls. The dragon, the beast and the false prophet clearly design the anti-Trinity which will further control humanity : the Bank, the Democracy and the Media will progressively replace the King, the Priest and the Prophet (respectively).

The major mystery of The Devil represent the emergence of these infernal screens, which aim is to darken the truth.

The tapestry of Angers and this major mystery present similar froggy figures in their respective centers (XVI.13 : “I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, something like frogs.”).

The chapter XVII of the Apocalypse gives a description of Babylon the Great, showing it as an anti-Mary Magdala figure, meaning a prostitute who did never repent : “The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of the sexual immorality of the earth” (XVII.4). Babylon is the Major City. In 1664, England conquer New-Amsterdam, and call it New York. The Beast will finally hate the Prostitute, “eat her flesh and burn her utterly with fire” (XVII.16), because Evil is always internally divided against himself.

But the Tower of Babylon is promised to the destruction, since the buildings of human pride are fated to fall (XVIII.4-5). The people of God is asked to run away from the empire of the Devil. The earthquake is inside us, and the tower is taken the top off just like our own ego. There is a praise for the Spiritual Revolution in the verse 6 of chapter XVIII : “Return to her just as she returned, and repay her double as she did, and according to her works. In the cup which she mixed, mix to her double. However much she glorified herself, and grew wanton, so much give her of torment and mourning”.

“Come out of her, my people, that you have no participation in her sins, and that you don’t receive of her plagues, for her sins have reached to the sky, and God has remembered her iniquities”.

XVIII.4-5

The end of the chapter XVIII is iluustrated by the major mystery of The Star. (XVIII.14 : “The fruits which your soul lusted after have been lost to you, and all things that were dainty and sumptuous have perished from you, and you will find them no more at all”).

Babylon is then absolutely naked, dispossessed from her fortune, and purified – at last ! – into the entirely nude figure of Mary Magdala. This is the first sign of the journey which is directly cosmic : all the energies accumulated from the Temperance will be now set free. This major mystery also announces the era of Aquarius, and is very close to the painting “The Tempest”. Giorgione was the very last painter of the Middle Ages (whereas Durer was the very first painter of the Modern Times), and prophetised with this masterpiece the reign of the new Adam and the new Eve. Same landscape, same body attitude, same glance, same bright rip of the sky, even same bird : Giorgione was clearly initiated to the Tarot and the spirit of St John.

“The Tempest”

Henceforth, the Star of Venus is the last refuge of humanity, the double sign of Hope and Love which is also the pulsating center of Islam. The skull of Mary Magdala, which shines in the bottom of the crypt of the Saint-Maximin basilic, close to Marseilles, is the true luminous Star of the end of the Pisces era.

Marseilles is the scenery of the next major mystery : The Moon. “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb” (XIX.9). Everyone is invited to participate to this banquet, leaving its energy evaporating upwards in the direction of the Moon. But there is something wrong. The crayfish indicates that this supper seems to be upside down. The injunctions of the angel to the birds are extremely violent and brutish : "Come ! Be gathered together to the great supper of God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, and small and great” (XIX.18). This is an exhortation to triumph in the world of the night, tending the tongue largely outside of the mouth in order to guzzle the maximum of primitive forces. This major mystery is the symbol of the Modernity : the eigteenth century really began with the revolutionary song “La Marseillaise” which lead to the beheading of Louis XVI. The Modernity was introduced by a supper where we really ate the flesh of kings, and lasted then during one and half century. The Modernity is made of alcove secrets, cult of motherhood and avalanche of lies : it is based on the consolidation of the individual absolutely uprooted.

The Modern World Old Harbour of Marseilles

This is the time of the first eschatological struggle. In 1884, October 13th, the Pope Leon XIII had a vision : he saw Satan asking God to give him one hundred years,in order to finalise the destruction of the church. And God accepted this proposal.

Why did God accept it ? The reason can be found in the speech of the Holy Virgin Mary, given in the small moutain village of La Salette (France) at two shepherds in 1846. The Virgin Mary kept Her life in heaven doing good on earth. From Her first appearance in the Puy in 47 after J.-C. until Arc-Watripont (Belgium) in 1993, She kept warning humanity about the necessary behaviour to get at the time of the End of Times. This Saturday September 19th 1846, in the middle of the Modernity age, She went so far as to say that the decrucifixion was halfly achieved : « If my people does not want to submit, I am forced to let go the arm of my Son. He is so strong and heavy that I can not hold it anymore. I suffer for you since a so long time ! If I want that my Son does not forsake you, I am in charge of unceasingly prying Him,and you my people, you do not care about it ». Using the same vocabulary of St John in his Revelation, She clearly predicts that the Church will be eclipsed, and that the white horse will be defeated. In a global way, all the apparitions of the Virgin Mary (Lourdes, Fatima,...) are absolutely coherent with the message of the Apocalypse.

This is yet another definition of the Modernity : Jesus is halfly decrucified. At one moment, Jesus manages to get off of the cross, and the post-modern world begins. We can say that the Post-Modernism is then the historical time, when there is a clear separation between Jesus and the Cross. This explanation has been widely illustrated by Leon Bloy, who was the best exegete of la Salette. Bloy pretended that the Salvation of the World was undoubtedly tied to the destiny of the Jews, and relied this destiny with the decrucifixion of Jesus. Indeed, a particular meaning of the Second World War relies on the correlation between the history of the Jews (partial deportation and building of the parody of Israel) with the inauguration of the post-modern world.

The chapter XX of the Apocalypse begins with the inauguration of the post-modern world : “I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. He seized the dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole inhabited earth, and bound him for a thousand years, and cast him into the abyss, and shut it, and sealed it over him” (XX.1-3).

The Post-Modern World

The reign of a thousand years is the first resurrection for the priests of God. The Mother Moon is replaced by the Father Sun : the nature of the parody is really different, but this is still a parody. The two prisoners of the Devil have been yet delivered (they still get a collar, and even kept their queue), but the wall is built with the stones of the House of God.

The post-modernism is a false liberation : the individual does not exist anymore, he is dissolved in the huge jumble of the ultimate regression. The essence of spirituality has been evaporated in the solar heat, whereas its existence perpetually tries to marry the world.

But the second eschatological struggle has already begun. I strongly think that the core of the post-modern world is yet finished :

“And after the thousand years, Satan will be released from his prison, and he will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog andMagog, to gather them together to the war ; the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. They went up over the breadth of the earth, and surrounded the camp of the saints, and the beloved city. Fire came down out of heaven from God, and devoured them” (XX.7-9). This fight between Gog and Magog and the camp of saints is the metaphor of the Orient smeared by the Occident : Palestine, Irak, Iran, Africa, south-east of Asia, Japan. The ultimate fire coming from the sky will be, at least, the true passage to the era of Aquarius. (Note that, in a certain way, this fire coming down out of heaven has already been produced on September 2001).

The Judgment of the Nations and the advent of the Heavenly Jerusalem will be the events which will allow to assess the social reign of the Holy Spirit (XX.12). The forehead of the angel is the door of the Holy Graal, which comes back from the Realm of the Priest John. The initiatory cycle is now fully accomplished : we get out of the grave, regenerated and reconstructed.

“I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.”

XX.12

John meets again the Alpha and the Omega, the principal and the end. “He carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God” (XXI.10-11).

“ The city has no need for the sun, neither of the moon, to shine, for the very glory of God illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb” (XXI.23) : the two former major mysteries (the Moon and the Sun) are out-dated. The Holy City is the absolute World, the synthesis of the third septenary : the domination of eternity in the world of body. The times of Uprooting are now definitely over.

Mary Magdala is the Holy City, placed at the center of the four evangelists. « The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" He who hears, let him say, "Come!" He who is thirsty, let him come”. (XXII.17). The saved men will share a meal with God, as Rabelais predicted at the end of the Third Book.

The era of Aquarius will be the first of the new Golden Age of the next mankind cycle (the eight manvantara), based on a renewed human being presenting an external face united with an internal face.The new Adam will be very similar to the old Adam, unlike the fact that the new Adam did contemplate the Cross.

The coronation of the entire cycle is realised by the inscription of the Holy Virgin Mary inside the heart of the world, surrounded by St John and Mary Magdala, just like in Ephesus, in the old times. Jean Parvulesco talked about the necessity of a new and revolutionary Immaculate Conception for the final realisation of the transcendantal Unity. The Revelation of St John and the Tarot of Marseilles are the most rigorous illustrations of this luminous reflexion.