Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont gave a rousing speech that excited European Christians to take up the cross go to the Holy Lands and retake Christian lands conquered by Islam. I have written about Mars and Jupiter before. Mars the planet of warriors. Jupiter the planet of god. When Jupiter touches Mars, fighting has belief and faith along with it. It is the astrological writing of crusade. Aries and Sagittarius. Battle and belief. The word crusade actually derives from the Latin word crux. The cross. This was warfare with a ritual of taking the cross. Taking vows to go to take back the Holy Land. Fighting monks. The crusades included men, women and children as well.
Let’s run through some astrological vocabulary we will need. Mars rules the zodiac sign Aries the ram. The natural house of Mars is the first house. The first house are places like the battlefield, the gym, places of the physical body, and the head. Jupiter rules the zodiac sign Sagittarius the archer. The natural house of Jupiter is the ninth house. The ninth house are places that broaden your horizon, like cathedrals, colleges, foreign lands, and hips and thighs.
Christians often shy away from astrology believing it to be divination. The church did not agree. Churchmen including the Pope often consulted astrologers to elect times for constructing their buildings and coronations. The building of St. Peter’s Basilica is the birth chart of the Protestant Reformation. The heavens are a clock telling us the time.
Astrology is just the word we use to describe the way we read the clock face. When Mars is in his home zodiac sign of Aries the ram, he is the warrior fighting for himself. Survival. If he is also in the first house his natural home, he is on the battlefield. Change his zodiac sign from Aries to Libra and he is the warrior on a battlefield who is fighting for love or peace. Change Libra to Sagittarius, he is fighting for his beliefs.
Put Mars back in Aries but change his physical location to the sixth house which is a workshop not a battlefield and you might find he is sitting at his bench sharpening his sword. The sixth house is also altars and ritual places. A Sagittarius Mars in the sixth house may very well be a warrior who is motivated by his faith in God standing at an altar taking the cross. That is how one learns to read the time.
How The Cross And Submission Fit
There is an astrological pattern called the Grand Cross. It is one of, if not the most, forceful astrological pattern. Two oppositions locked against each other by four squares. Two bars locked together with four 90° angles at the cross point. All four elements aligned to oppose each other. It creates perfectly balanced internal tension. Fire against Air. Earth against Water. Achievement can be the word for this energy. You can’t bend and you can’t break. It is immovable until you learn surrender. Surrender to one side and the cross begins to move. Don’t surrender for too long as the energy will get out of control. Learning how to rapidly switch between all four corners is like a virtuoso playing an instrument. Achievement.
As I understand it, Islam means submit. Surrender. The conflict between Christianity and Islam. The younger Islam presents the older Christianity with the challenge to the Christian riddle of the Cross. Without surrender, the astrological Grand Cross is dead. Consumed with internal balanced tension it is immovable. What will the Christians submit to? They have choices. Islam has only one. Should Christians fail to take up the cross they will find Islam has a path on which to lead them.
Jesus And The Cross
Charlie Daniels was a musician who retold a Christian story but gave it a different ending. I’ve inserted part of the lyrics.
The Devil went down to Georgia
He was looking for a soul to steal.
He was in a bind cause he was way behind
and he was willing to make a deal...
Now you play a pretty good fiddle, boy, but give the Devil his due
I'll bet a fiddle o' gold against your soul 'cause I think I'm better than you"
The boy said, "My name's Johnny, and it might be a sin
but I'll take your bet and you're gonna regret cause I'm the best there's ever been...
The Devil bowed his head because he knew that he'd been beat
And he laid that golden fiddle on the ground at Johnny's feet
Johnny said, "Devil, just come on back if you ever wanna try again
I done told you once, you son of a b****, I'm the best there's ever been"
-Charlie Daniels, The Devil Went Down to Georgia
So the question is; did the Devil get Johnny’s soul? Of course, he did. The fiddle of gold is Charlie Daniels the fiddleplayer himself going into the music industry who infamously is known for stealing artists’ souls. Most country musicians don’t even sound like they originally did after being in that industry a few years. They empty the vessel and fill it with a new version. The soul is gone.
So where did Johnny of Georgia go wrong? It is the story of Jesus that answers. Jesus fasted for forty days and forty nights in the desert and he grew hungry. Then the Devil came and challenged him. If you are a son of God, change these stones into bread. Jesus answered and said, Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word of God. The clever Devil noted that Jesus used the scriptures. So next he took him to the top of the temple and told him if you are a son of God, cast yourself down because “it is written” that God has given the angels a command to guard your feet from even stumbling on a stone. Jesus answered; it is written do not tempt God. The Devil, his cheap tricks foiled, decided to offer the best deal he could. He took Jesus to a high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world with everything they possessed and said; all these things I will give you if you do one act of worship of me. Jesus said; Go, Satan. It is written you shall worship God and serve him only. Then the Devil left and angels came to minister to him.
This is a description of the interior working of a Grand Cross. The crossroads. Will you change your path? Proud Johnny of Georgia did. The Devil stood in his way and offered him a choice that was no choice at all. A cheap trick. Go to the left or go to the right and Johnny knowing it was a sin took that path but both sides led to the same result. He came to the crossroads and turned. Humble Jesus of Nazareth came to the crossroads and walked straight through. There is more to the story of Jesus. Satan having shown Jesus his ownership of all the kingdoms of the world had the Roman kingdom nail him to a Cross. With that you can see the fury of Satan. It was immensely short sighted as Christians now bear the cross as a symbol of his conquest. Satan’s defeat told in a symbol. For Satan, the cross represents his challenge to God defeated by Jesus. For Christians, it represents the temptations they must conquer or at least ignore.
The First Crusade
The first crusade was started by a speech given at the Council of Clermont by Pope Urban II. The Pope wanted European Christians to engage in God’s work and leave off fighting among themselves. Aiding other Christians, stopping the destruction of churches and holy places, concern for the profanation of the Holy Sepulchre and pilgrims, and the special sanctity of Jerusalem seem to have formed the basis of the speech. The Pope called for the crusade to depart on August 15, 1096 and all, including men, women and children, were to wear the Cross. The Cross of Christianity had activated in a big way. The estimate of crusaders who answered was 130,000 to 160,000.
The speech is the 0° Capricorn (30° Sagittarius) Mercury. The Sabian symbol is “the Pope”. The next symbol 1° Capricorn is “an Indian chief claims power from the assembled tribe.” This moment has a strong theme about the Church which I have always understood as a Cancerian. Sancta Mater Ecclesia or Holy Mother Church. The Cancer Neptune is nearing the end of Cancer. Ruled by the Scorpio Moon trine the Pisces Ceres. Neptune represents the end of the system. The Scorpio Moon is undergoing Scorpionic death and rebirth. The material wealth of Ceres is dissolving in Pisces. The Church is coming to pieces staring at death, its wealth dissolving away and the end of its system looming. Into this steps the Pope to give his speech.
Mercury is the answer to the question. Jupiter is the question. The 22° Capricorn Jupiter is “a general accepting defeat gracefully.” We have lost. What is to be done about the loss of the Holy Land? The Pope as Mercury answers; we go to do God’s work. To stop the desecration of churches, to retake Jerusalem and the Holy Sepulchre, to aid the Christian brethren, to confront the Turk and to gain spiritual and temporal rewards. The forgiveness of all sins of those who take the Cross, the restoration of Jerusalem and the Holy Land.
Raymond Ibrahim
Hraidmund the ancient German name that means famous protector. A saint’s name. A crusader’s name. Ibrahim the Arabic version of Abraham which is “father of nations”. Augustine of Hippo quoting Paul of Tarsus said that Christians are the seed of Abraham by faith. Another ethymology could be wise protector. So his name means wise or famous protector of Abraham. He is a proponent of muscular Christianity and he is indeed a muscular Christian. He also has the Aquarius Mars conjunct Jupiter conjunction of 1973. When the warrior comes together with the believer. His retrograde Sagittarius Neptune is sextile this conjunction. Aquarius is the zodiac sign of ideas. Crusader ideas fired up by the past faithful spirit. Aquarius Mars-Jupiter sextile retrograde Sagittarius Neptune. His retrograde Sagittarius Neptune would help drive his study of ancient religious texts and chronicles. Retrograde planets are interested in the past.
He contrasts his Christianity with “doormat Christianity”. In one video on youtube he went further and added filthy little doormats where people wipe their feet. It is his use of the word filthy that makes me laugh. This is the pure element of fire coming through. This level of disdain probably comes from the interaction of fire-water placements in his own chart. I have rectified the time by reviewing his biography but won’t show the chart.
The Council of Clermont Deus Vult speech of the Pope was the answer to the European believers question of that time. We’ve lost. How do we reclaim the Holy Land? They answered with the first crusade. A thing that had not been invented that came out of pilgrimage. Raymond Ibrahim has a connection to that very question with his own retrograde Sagittarius Neptune. Regain the old faithful spirit. Johnny of Georgia was a retold story of Jesus with another ending, the Grand Fire Trine of 1977 gave us another story of the Holy Trinity. The Sagittarius Neptune of the 1970s and early 1980s was the Holy Ghost.
The Grand Cross is the master of the four elements. Fire. Air. Water. Earth. When water fails to wash clean, and earth trembles and collapses in weakness, when air stifles, it is left to fire to burn the old away. Christians with the cross have four choices. When they can’t wash it clean, or crush it with their material things, or with their ideas change minds then they are left with the fire of zeal. The three fire zodiac signs are Aries the ram, Leo the lion, and Sagittarius the archer. This year Neptune has just begun his transit of fiery Aries the ram. This is spirit of the lamb. The spirit of the son. The spirit of the warrior. The spirit of survival. The Crusades dawned just as Neptune was transiting into Leo. But Aries is the beginning of something new. The old system has gone and a new is dawning. The days of the welcome doormat church which doesn’t recognize Christian responsibility of the cross is already over.