THE MYSTERIES OF JOHN THE BAPTIST AND THE HIGH PRIESTESS

“For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who has to come. Whoever has ears, let them hear” (Matthew 11:13-15)

Decapitation has been used as a form of sacrifice in ritual magic in many cultures throughout the world. The skull is the highest occult object. In India there are sects like the Aghor that live in graveyards and drink and eat only from the skull. Mary Magdalene carries the skull with the mirror. The mirror is actually all about self knowledge and the alchemical understanding of ‘as within so without’ and not about vanity as some art historians would have you believe. The skull and crossbones was the symbol of the Knight's Templars who carried the Magdalene treasures and 'occult' secrets (meaning 'hidden'). The symbolism of her skull is multifold. The skull represents death to all masks, all that is not true, on the path of the 7 gates of Ishtar, which is the journey into the underworld to face the 7 ego-ic sorrows as the kundalini rises up through each chakra and transcends them. The skull thus represents the initiate who has mastered Kundalini and opened the pineal via the ‘amygdala’ which is the gland (anagram of ‘magdalena') which governs ‘flight or fight’ is affected by meditation. Crystal skulls have now become popular in the new age as symbols of divine awakening, since the discovery of some of the famed skulls, such as the Mayan skull, which hold important keys to sacred cosmic knowledge.

As a result dark magicians are said to use beheading as ritual sacrifice to obtain/hijack/harness the power of the soul of the murdered one, hence they use ritualistic murder such as decapitation of deer, alongside ritualistic decapitations of prominent figures through out history, including many innocent queens (which by the way I believe has no power over the victim soul unless they believe it to be so). Interestingly it is also the seeming aim of the masters of this scientific materialist matrix to ensure that most people remain with their heads metaphorically fully severed from their bodies: never feeling their true hearts and selves, and completely locked ‘in the head’ or the mind, locked in ego and false desire on the never ending chain of reincarnation. Decapitation is also a result of ‘being cut off’ from the pineal through birth control, fluoride water, plastics and so on. This form of ‘decapitation’ within scientific materialism and materialistic modern living prevents the kundalini rising up, in the same ways that some believe that the experimental vaccines prevent light ascension rays, although some people have the power to transmute this. The new times show us that the masters of scientific materialism pursue something called ‘transhumanism’, the creation of a metaverse with AI, whereby humans become technological robotic avatars, which is the exact opposite of spiritual ascension and which is the ultimate form of decapitation.

And so in these and other ways decapitation represents rising up fully into the head through disconnect, resulting in soul sacrifice of transhumanism.

However. Returning back to the Templars. The last Templar was said to disclose the worship of something called the ‘Baphomet’ (this may have been misappropriation, or false accusation) which has fueled much speculation and was accused by the church of being some sort of evil being that they worshipped, and to this day, some still say the Baphomet is a figure of a dark occult form of satanism and black magic.

Let us remember at this point that the very same church also accused the innocent and pure ones like the Cathars, and many millions of women besides, of satanic witchcraft and evil worship, and the accusations were all false. Do they accuse those of what some Catholic Roman Priests are themselves are guilty of, as recently exposed by the awful discovery of millions of children's bodies in Catholic institutions in Canada, Ireland and elsewhere, as well as exposure of paedophile rings in the same religious institutions. The quickest way to destroy a movement and gain support to do so is to seed psychological propaganda and misinformation, to demonise and label the movement as ‘evil’. Likewise all the Goddess cultures have at best been misappropriated and exploited and overtime been desecrated, annihilated, demonised, exploited, hijacked. Unfortunately we are seeing this again repeat itself during this latest pandemic towards those who choose natural immunity.

The Baphomet referred to a severed head (skull) that Templars were meant to have worshipped. What was this severed head? Was this the head of John the Baptist or Mary Magdalene even? Which ‘side’ were the Templars on? Were they the founders of the banking systems and the Rothschilds or were they peace loving Goddess worshippers carrying the sacred mysteries, wisdoms and arts, or were they perhaps both, depending on differing branches of the many orders and families, using the same sacred knowledge with different intent.

In the book Oracle of the Illuminator, author William Henry writes “Among the long list of distortions collected by the Holy Inquisition against the Templar Order a reference to the veneration of a head, interpreted as that of the devil or of Mohamet, was chief amongst the accusations….venerating the idol as if it were God himself. This head was called ‘Baphomet’, a word of unknown meaning. Dead Sea Scroll scholar Hugh Schonfield (in his book The Essene Odyssey) used a Hebrew code called the Atbash cipher which substitutes the first letter of the alphabet for the last and the second letter for the second last and so to Baphomet. He found that it generates the Greek word ‘Sophia’ or ‘wisdom’ in English, and that the head was feminine. Had the Templars acquired the wisdom of Sophia, as in Athena, Isis, Mary Magdalene?”

As we know Mary Magdalene is frequently painted holding the head of a skull.

He also outlines the theory of the Baphomet being linked to the Sufi word ‘Abufihamat’ or ‘Father of Wisdom’ and indeed the Templars were in contact with the Sufis in the Holy Lands. The word ‘wisdom’ of course brings us back to ‘Sophia’ and yet to who might the father of Sophia refer?

The Basilica of St Maximin in Provence houses the supposed skull head of Mary Magdalene and the first time I ever sat before her, I was alone in the darkened crypt due to its closure during a wedding. So I had crept down into the crypt that housed her skull with my iPhone torch (I hadn’t come all that way to be told it was inaccessible). I was struck by the power of that skull and I experienced pineal awakening, what I call light awakening, from standing before it. So I can say from personal direct experience that the power of this skull is so immense, and whether she is the skull of MM or the skull of John Baptist (Jesus?), this seems to be the same skull that has caused so much fuss in the Merovingian - Templar sagas over all these years, hidden in plain sight. There is something much more emanating through that skull that is an otherworldly power of magic and light - and it feels very light and very beautiful indeed.

So in this way skulls connect us to the Bright Light of God/dess.

Thus the resultant skull from a ‘beheading’ represents the seemingly opposite of what I suggested above... That is, that decapitation actually represents the process of fully rising up the energy into the head via a reconnection through the spinal column, and this is also known as the raising up of kundalini, bringing divine awakening, God consciousness and spiritual ascension. Thus the skull fills with the Light of the soul.

Perhaps this mystical knowledge is the process hijacked in the darker rituals, where by the dark magician attempts to harness the soul's Christed oil from the skull of the beheaded one. And yet the Pure Light can only belong to the purest in heart.

The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist by Puvis de Chavannes, Pierre, 1824–1898. John the Baptist kneels ready to be beheaded and this is directly related to the crucifixion as we can tell by the cross that he holds in the 2nd painting. Behind him is the fig which is a symbol of the spinal column, the fig leaf on the floor beside him gives a clue about kundalini. The halo around his head in the first painting also clearly symbolises the status of one who has reached God consciousness ascension (kundalini). Interestingly this painting remained in the property of the artist until his death.

The worship of John the Baptist is an important key to the hidden mysteries of the Magdalene and many signs and symbols have been painted throughout art history giving rise to questions of his role in the mystical story that really represents the Egyptian trinity of Isis, Osiris and Horus. So let us look further at John the Baptist (JB) who is the ultimate symbol for this matter of “off with their head”

For some JB is the true messiah, such as in the Mandaean religion, the Templars, the Priory of Sion (John) where as for others he is an evil being. For example the Cathar, who honoured Mary Magdalene as wife of Jesus and followed her ways, supposedly believed that JB was incarnation of Elijah, and historians say they believed that he was an ‘evil’ being, in opposition to Jesus. Light and dark. Now this might well be misappropriation and misunderstanding of the teachings of higher and lower natures of duality. The Cathar taught that there were 2 Jesus - one in the material world and one in the heavens. They also taught about duality between the material world and heaven, and how to transcend the material and marry the lower and higher natures for the 2 to become 1 and for duality to unify. Yet let us remember that, like the Templars ‘Baphomet’, much that has been written about the Cathars is long destroyed (purposefully with strong intent) and what remains is much speculation and untruth, written by the victors in the war with Rome. The Cathars said about the Catholic Church “the Jesus that they worship is not the same Jesus that we love and know”.

John the Baptist was an Essene. Now let us remember that the Essene ways are linked to the Magdalene and to the Cathars and other gnostic who have their roots in the Essene teaching. Those who worship JB like those who venerate Mary Magdalene have always been under attack and driven into hiding and occult (hidden) or secret groups. When we look at the Templars, it is uncertain actually whose ‘side’ they were on because they made deal with Rome, they made deals with the Monarch, they made deals with sufis and gnostics and Cathars, and double bluffed everyone and of course there were different groups and people within the templars, so it is very difficult to generalise. The templars with their skull and crossbones, as followers of the Magdalene, later actually formed the Masons and other societies like ‘skull and bones’. Within the masons alone there are many differing lodges with differing intent and within one lodge many different degrees to attain and different levels of knowledge and for some it is just a boys club, for others a way to delve into mysticism, but some purport connections to the illuminati cabal and housing more shadow sides.

Looking at other groups that worshipped JB as the ‘true’ Christ, beside The Priory of Sion (Sion also meaning ‘John’, and another secret order in France that is connected to the Rennes les Chateaux mysteries), we find many Johannite orders and movements. In the Knights Templars and Freemasonry, the word ‘John’ (or derivatives such as ‘Joan’) is used as a title for the grandmasters in the lineage of ‘Johns’. These Johannite grandmasters are known as the ‘cupbearer’ - the one who passes the cup from John to John.

Now the Mandaeans are an interesting religious (and heavily persecuted) sect who still survive to this day. Those historians who wish to study the ways of the Essenes turn to the practices of the Mandai, because they are said to have their roots in the Essenes (some say vice versa). Their religion is far more ancient than JB and goes back to ancient times, some say they are the original Sumerians and founders of Mesopotamia, that came from Sri Lanka, and come from the planet Alma Benhura. They have many prophets and do not use the word messiah. Everyone is a prophet to themselves, they seek knowledge, and the world ‘Manda’ actually means ‘knowledge’ just like the word ‘gnosis’. Like the Essenes, to which they say they are the same, they wear white, do not use the meat of an animal, women occupy a high position and carry out water baptism, whilst the children (both sons and daughters) take the mothers name. Water baptism is integral to the religion, hence they went into Southern Iraq for the many rivers. They say the body of John is in a tomb in Lebanon, which was then taken by the Christians and now it is a Mosque. Other sacred Mandai sites which they say have been hijacked from them and which they are now forbidden to visit include Mecca and the Kaaba stone, and the Great Pyramid. JB is their messiah. They believe that Jesus and John were Mandai but that Jesus broke away from Mandai religion and broke the Mandai law to create his own religion, whereas JB was very strict about Mandai law. Despite heavy persecution and living in exile all over the world without a homeland, they survive to this day because they are very strict, no one is not allowed to marry outside of the religion,

JB lost his head. He was decapitated.

JB was the historical figure who baptised Jesus so that he could cross the river.

JB was said by some to be the teacher of Jesus, Lazarus, Mary Magdalene and many others.

JB was said by some to be the first husband of Mary Magdalene.

JB is ‘secretly’ worshipped by many gnostic sects.

Little known JB churches often exist in remote areas of mysticism like the one near St Maximin St Baume where the cave of Mary Magdalene is situated, or otherwise churches with other saint's names yet housing paintings and homage to JB.

Let us look closer at the importance of JB.

Upon this intuitive quest, I stumbled across a little known book by a lady called Anne-Marie Wegh called “John the Baptist who became Jesus the Christ". Wegh seeks to prove that Jesus IS John the Baptist, similar to Margaret Starbird’s wonderful book ‘Woman with the Alabaster Jar’ where she shows the true status of Mary Magdalene as depicted through codes painted time again in art.

Wegh explains, in what she calls the ‘John-Jesus code’, how in the gospels although writers gave him another name they yet went to considerable lengths to leave clues, which the book then goes onto examine - from sharing over 50 paintings to outlining clues from how Elijah is attributed to being both Jesus and JB, how Luke ascribes the Lord’s Prayer to JB. to how the word ‘Nazarene’ means ‘Baptist’ (Jesus the Baptist) etc etc. She calls the ‘John-Jesus code’ the ‘2=1 code’ and explains that the 2 are the 1, making the 3. The book focuses on the process of kundalini raising and how many stories in the bible are metaphors for this process. Of course a big part of this process is the 2=1 making 3, ie the alchemical marriage of the left and right sides as they rise up the spine. Wegh shows how John had to come less, for Jesus to become more, so that his ego had to disappear to make way for the Christ, his ego had to be ‘cut off’. JB who was decapitated thus symbolises the loss of ego and raising of kundalini, when he became christed and crossed the River Jordan. Perhaps this is what the Cathars truly indicate, when they refer to the 2 Jesus’ and to JB being of the lower nature and Jesus of the Higher, in their discourses on duality.

“I will send my messenger who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the lord you are seeking will come to his temple…” (Malachi 3:1)

The alchemist's secret is that as we go from lower to higher natures, we must cross the Jordan and transform duality into unity, the 2 (the lower nature of John and higher nature of Jesus) to become 1 and make the 3rd, the Christed God consciousness…

The gospels give different accounts. In Matthew, Jesus explicitly teaches that JB is "Elijah who was to come". Yet in the Gospel of John, JB denies being Elijah. In the annunciation narrative in Luke, an angel appears to Zechariah (JB's father), and tells him that JB "will turn many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God," and that he will go forth "in the spirit and power of Elijah."

In the Gospel of John, John the Beloved the first disciple of JB (and another JB who some purport is actually Mary Magdalene and also features heavily in the France mysteries) mentions JB as the cousin of Jesus. The fourth gospel describes JB as "a man sent from God" who "was not the light", but "came as a witness, to bear witness to the light, so that through him everyone might believe” and Jesus is subordinate to JB. The Gospel also differs from other gospels in that JB proclaims that he did not recognise Jesus nor did he know Jesus’ identity as Messiah until after he saw the Spirit descending and remaining on Jesus following baptism. In the gospel, JB proclaims that Jesus "must become greater," while he (JB) "must become less.”

So the ultimate question is, did JB raise his kundalini, lose his head, and become the Christ, the same Christ we call Jesus?

And there we have the divide that is represented by the 2 differing types of decapitation that I have outlined here, and as symbolism of 2 paths ahead of humanity as we dive through the times of revelations into transhumanism - one form of transhumanism that prevents the raising of kundalini and the other than enables it.

So let us take a closer look now at the idea of uniting the duality or ‘squaring the circle’ as masons apparently call the undertaking of ​​bringing together two things which are normally thought to be so different that they cannot exist together.

JB is an important part of this puzzle and interestingly his name reversed is BJ aka ‘Boaz Jachin’.

Boaz and Jachin are supposedly key esoteric symbols adopted in freemasonry and they are also represented in the tarot.

Perhaps it is not a mere coincidence that BJ are also the initials of the uk prime minister at the time of the revelations and attempted tyrannical controls.

Boaz and Jachin are the 2 pillars at the entrance to the Temple of Solomon which are a bit like the twin towers, or the 22 gateway that is either side of the High Priestess in the tarot, which card traditionally has the letters B and J either side on the 2 pillars. The pillars are meant to symbolise unity and love, and the divine union of opposites, the alchemical marriage.

The Temple of Solomon is a symbol for the life quest to raise kundalini. The temple is a metaphor for our body, as we make ourselves a temple for God to live in. And at the entrance are the 2 pillars - male and female, sun and moon, left and right…the twin towers are the gateway.

Boaz on left side in the North is said to represent unity from love and means ‘strength is within him’ (Bo = him, Az = strength) representing water and earth. Boaz is ruled by the moon.

Jachin on right side in the South means ‘one only’ or ‘he establishes” and symbolises unity from be-ing, representing fire and air. Jachin is ruled by the sun.

Transcending the opposites we birth a whole new polarity. When you bring 2 things together you birth a 3rd greater than the sum of its parts. 2 makes 3. 2 is the duality but 3 is the unity / balancing power / reconciliation. Hence the importance of the triangle. The high priestess is the key to make the 3 and transcend the lower nature, she holds the torah (divine law) and the veil is with her because she has the power to lift the veil.

This also represents the flow on the left and right around the central spine - known in yogic traditions as the 2 aspects / energies / snakes of Ida and Pingala which flow around the central column of Sushmuna, and also depicted in the symbol of the caduceus. This is all about the raising of the kundalini to attain enlightenment and become God realised. The 3 keys or columns of the kundalini are represented in almost every culture on the Earth from the Trident of Poseidon or the Trishula of Shiva to the Triple Goddess and Holy Trinity. The sacred 3 is also the Hebrew symbol (3 lines) for the central letter ‘shin’ from the name Yahu-sh-ua. Jesus (Yeshua) descended into hell for 3 nights and this 3 represents the dark night of the soul on the path of the initiate, that often lasts 3 years.

The High Priestess in the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot designed by Pamela Colman-Smith

The High Priestess is card no. 2 and she sits bang in the middle of these 2 pillars and she is the Magdalene who holds the Light of Isis Ishtar.

At this stage of the JB puzzle we also need to ‘piece more of the puzzle’ together and return to Egypt and Osiris who was beheaded and had to be ‘pieced back’ together again by Isis - and this brings in the Magdalene who is the one to anoint the man who becomes the Christ… is it SHE that is the High Priestess who Christs him?

Is Mary Magdalene the High Priestess who carries JB across the river so that he may become Yeshua the risen Christed one?

Shall we go one step further.

Is she the river herself. The Goddess IS the very water that anoints the man to become the Christ. This is THE biggest alchemical secret and the reason the waters flows are so controlled and why they prefer to keep her martyred through the patriarchy. She is the power that Christs.

This is of course symbolic for the lost broken masculine yang within each of us regardless of our gender, who can only be resurrected by the return of the Divine Feminine within who will piece him together, as well as symbolic of the rape of the earth and how the return and resurrection of the Feminine will bring the sacred back to the profane and bring all back to harmony again. This is the quest to transcend our lower ego-ic natures as we cross the 7 gates. This is an inner dance that, once completed, will manifest without.

In this classic universal version of the Raider Waite tarot card (designed by Pamela Colman-Smith) we see yet more symbolism of the High Priestess which brings us the date palm (Tamar) and the pomegranate. The Tamar is the sweet symbol for heavenly elixir that the Templars well knew and also the name of Sara Tamar (Sara means Princess) the supposed daughter of the Christ and the Magdalene. The High Priestess makes the sign of the sacred marriage with her 2 fingers, and like the cross of the 2 roads on her heart chakra, yet more symbolism of the union of the opposites. In the background we see a calm sea…

Basically every symbol of the High Priestess card brings us back to the same metaphors used in the bible and so many gnostic texts and scriptures in so many religions and philosophies, again and again, we come back to the principle of unification of dual opposites bringing forth resurrection, ascension, kundalini awakening, God consciousness, enlightenment…

This is the exact opposite of the transhumanism being pushed upon us via scientific materialism and their quests for a metaverse of digital avatars. The spiritual quest to become an avatar, or an ascended incarnate divine teacher is about accessing the higher natures and rising up of the soul, and is the opposite of the digital avatar, an icon representing a particular person in a video game or on an internet forum, that has no soul.

Can we transcend the duality?

With the High Priestess, we are again shown, just like Jesus came to shows us, that yes, we are all capable of transcending our lower natures into the higher, to lift the veil, to cross the river, to unite the inner duality, to ascend into God consciousness... in this lifetime.

The choice is yours.

“It is said that before entering the sea

a river trembles with fear

She looks back at the path she has traveled,

from the peaks of the mountains,

the long winding road crossing forests and villages.

And in front of her,

she sees an ocean so vast,

that to enter

there seems nothing more than to disappear forever.

But there is no other way.

The river can not go back.

Nobody can go back.

To go back is impossible in existence.

The river needs to take the risk

of entering the ocean

because only then will fear disappear,

because that’s where the river will know

it’s not about disappearing into the ocean,

but of becoming the ocean.”

Khalil Gibran

La Prudence card of Etteilla III with the High Priestess holding a mirror with a serpent, and the High Priestess in the chapel of Château des Avenières

Angelo Puccinelli 1380-1407 Lucca (now in Avignon), John the Baptist and Magdalene

Madonna and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist, Michele Tosini 1503-1577. Madonna holds the Christ Child on her lap as Jesus reaches over to grasp the head of JB and point it towards the Mother. Across the river behind them are 2 distant cities.

The Baptism of Christ (Piero della Francesca) 1440 - 1450.

“The man undressing next to JG is subtly at elbow level: where the upper arm of the anonymous man ends, the lower arm of JB begins. The man pulling off the robe expresses the deeper meaning of the baptism: the change of JB in Jesus. His face is covered by his clothes, reinforcing the symbolism of an identity change. A tree is positioned on top of his head, hinting at a kundalini awakening” (Anne-Marie Wegh)

In an account on wikipedia it shares how “The figure of Christ, John's hand and the bowl, and the bird, form an axis which divides the painting in two symmetrical parts. A second division is created by the walnut tree on the left, with white bark that echoes the white skin of Christ, which divides the painting according to the golden ratio…. the three angels (on the left) could also represent the three aspects of the Holy Trinity” The central angel in between the other 2 is female and has a tree protruding from behind her head. I also notice the man undressing is in white, bringing in a further trinity and the 2=1 code. The man undressing is about to be transformed...

Holy Family under an Oak Tree (c. 1518) by Giulio Romano using a composition or underdrawing by Raphael. The river Tiber is lit up in blue behind the Holy family. JB displays the Ecce Agnus Dei banner, the infant Jesus has his hand on the shoulder of JB, and points at the banner. Both children stand with a foot in the manger....

Madonna and Christ Child with Infant Saint John Baptist and Three Angels, Domenico Ghirlandaio, 1448 - 1494. Except for one angel, all look at JB instead of Jesus. JB has no banner on his cross. Mary holds his head in an unusual grip.

*The last 3 paintings are taken from examples from over 50 selected paintings in the book “John the Baptist who became Jesus the Christ" by Anne-Marie Wegh

Saint Mary Magdalene in Glory with Angels, Gdańsk c.1430 - Tempera and Gold on Panel - National Museum, Warsaw. The focal point here is on the head being lifted up and and way from the body whilst she is crowned at the point of ascension in her death transition.

Please note that in this article I simply ask questions, without giving any definite answers. I am not a freemason and have not studied freemasonry and so cannot speak on their behalf. I write this simply as someone fascinated in the mysteries, and as a High Priestess of the Magdalene. This article may be edited and updated over time.

If you wish to explore further you may like to directly experience the following 50 minute audio Light Transmission - https://www.wayoftherose.co.uk/product-page/7-chakras-of-the-magdalene - working with Mary Magdalene and her 12 priestesses to clear out negative wounds and energy from your chakras and then ignite them with bright Light