johnthebaptist5

Likewise, Nimue is a Nymph that imprisons Merlin � again, authentic masculinity � in a hawthorn tree, where he is bound for eternity. The hawthorn, as C.G. Jung and other archaeologists of the inner realms take pains to communicate, is the primary sacred tree of the goddess. Forerunner of the Cross, the hawthorn, along with the oak, are the prime sacrificial sites for the dismemberment and bloodletting of the male. Here, masculine energy is drained for the utilization of others. Edward Burne-Jones� �The Beguiling of Merlin� illustrates the scene. In another variant, Nimue lured Merlin to a cave, where she incarcerated him in the subterranean depths � hell, Sheol, Tartarus, libido, the unconscious, and so forth.

Hey! yells old John�s head, remember me?!! What about me??!

Goddam pushy preachers. Everyone wants to be a star these days.

O.K. John was able to make conscious his relationship with the Nymph, and to turn it from one of betrayal by the Powers to one of service to what Jesus would have called the �heavenly Father.� Like a busy alchemist in his little lab, John succeeded in transforming his relationship with the Nymph from one of uncontrolled carnality to one of grace. He made of his lover his sister -- his anima, his soror mystica -- and thereby regained, and redeemed, his own energies, which had been at service of the Powers.

John saw Salome coming a thousand years away, and refused her advances. Like Christ, he knew that the Powers which controlled her would destroy him. He understood that larger purposes would be served by his sacrifice. Foreknowledge of sacrifice � sacrifice made conscious, and made to righteous purpose -- is the ultimate in masculinity. As an independent male John constituted a grave threat to the Roman �patriarchy,� which is to say, to the occult matriarchy. He could not be sexually trapped, bled, and set to slavery on Maggie�s Farm like most. Therefore, the authorities sought alternate means for his disposal.

Enter Big Mama Herodias. Big Mama wins every round except the last one.

Frustrated with the failure of a frontal attack, Matron Herodias sent her daughter Salome to the court of Herod, where the Nymph entranced him with the infamous striptease, the �Dance of the Seven Veils.� (Seven is the number of the planetary rulers over matter, the archons of Gnosticism. In many ancient descent cosmologies, these correspond to the seven daemonic levels of the underworld. )

In the madness of lust, Herod promised his step-daughter Salome a gift of anything in �his� kingdom. We can guess what Salome promised in return.

Salome conveyed his vow to Herodias, who cunningly instructed her daughter to demand the head of John the Baptist � that is, of true masculinity -- on a platter.



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