Neptune in Aries: Myth, Passion & the Power of Story w/ Christopher Renstrom

 

 

Listen here:

🎬 IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL HEAR:

• 0:00 – Neptune Enters Aries: The Myth Begins  
• 1:12 – Neptune’s Glamour & Aries Themes  
• 3:45 – Passion, Suffering, & Endurance  
• 7:50 – Jesus Christ Superstar as a Neptune in Aries Myth  
• 5:31 – Judas, Illusion, and the Danger of Myth  
• 24:21 – Gnostic Fire & Awakening the Spirit  
• 33:22 – Misunderstood Power & the Fear of Death  
• 38:07 – Mary Magdalene & the Mystery of Neptune Love  
• 52:59 – The Hands of Betrayal, Healing, and Denial  
• 1:11:53 – Aries Urgency & the Final Supper

___________________

LINKS FROM THE EPISODE

• Books Mentioned:
  • Jesus Christ Superstar (Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice)
  • Men Are From Mars, Women Are from Venus (John Gray)
  • Thaïs (Opera / Alexandrian courtesan legend)

___________________

LEARN ASTROLOGY WITH CHRISTOPHER:

Deepen your astrological understanding through Christopher’s courses 🌟 Explore the secrets of synastry, aspect theory, planetary rulership, and more with Christopher’s insightful and in-depth teachings. Go to www.astrologyhub.com/studywithchristopher to learn more.

Love Christopher’s insights? You can get your FREE weekly horoscope from Christopher delivered right to your inbox every Sunday. Sign up at http://www.astrologyhub.com/horoscope  and start receiving yours this week!

___________________

LEARN ASTROLOGY WITH US:

📚 Courses: www.astrologyhub.com/academy

🫶🏼 Membership: www.astrologyhub.com/ic

⭐️ Free Resources: www.astrologyhub.com/free 

🔮 Weekly Horoscopes: www.astrologyhub.com/horoscope 

✨ Personalized Reports: www.astrologyhub.com/reports 

🛍️ Our Favorite Products: https://portal.astrologyhub.com/support-our-partners/ 

___________________

CONNECT WITH US:

📷 Instagram: astrology.hub

💻 Facebook: Facebook.com/astrologyhub

💬 X: @TheAstrologyHub

🎤 TikTok: @TheAstrologyHub 

___________________

🎙️ LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE TO OUR AUDIO PODCAST:

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0Em49K3CirP8W00vcYFI2l?si=c74c45cd7fa248d2

• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/astrology-hub-podcast/id1445762076

___________________

💫 ABOUT ASTROLOGY HUB:

We’re so happy you’re here! We created Astrology Hub with the intention to make quality astrological guidance and teachings accessible to you, whether you need help navigating your life, or you’d like to learn how to practice astrology yourself. We see Astrology as the antidote to our time, bringing you more connection, purpose, and magic when the world needs it the most… it is our honor to share this gift with you. Enjoy!

___________________

🌌 NAVIGATE THE STARS WITH US! BECOME A COSMIC INSIDER…

 

Get your weekly astrology snapshot and practical cosmic tips for living in sync with the cosmic rhythm. As an Insider, you’ll also score exclusive discounts, early access to new episodes, and VIP content to elevate your life and practice. Ready to stay ahead of the cosmic curve? Go to www.astrologyhub.com/insider to sign up!

___________________

☝🏼 Disclaimer: The views and opinions in this podcast are of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Astrology Hub, its subsidiaries, or any entities they represent.

___________________

🌙 “The stars speak to those who dare to listen.” — Unknown

Transcript:

 

00:00:00:08 – 00:00:21:10

Christopher

Hello, my name is Christopher Renstrom and I'm your weekly horoscope columnist here on Astrology Hub. And this time I wanted to talk to you about Neptune. Having entered the zodiac sign of Aries on March 30th.

 

00:00:21:12 – 00:00:44:17

Christopher

Neptune, in my opinion, is one of the most difficult planets to try to describe. Whenever you begin to try to describe it, it's hard to capture the evocative ness of Neptune. It's hard to capture its mystery, its wonder. Sometimes when you try to describe it, it can sound almost nebulous or like it doesn't make any sort of sense at all.

 

00:00:44:19 – 00:01:11:21

Christopher

Indeed, there's something about Neptune, which is the planet of mysticism and astrology that defies our best attempts to try to describe it, to articulate it, to define it, and almost feels as if the moment that we've got a handle on it, it slips from out of our grasp. Neptune entered the zodiac sign of Aries on March 30th, and it will be there off and on for about the next 14 years.

 

00:01:12:02 – 00:01:41:04

Christopher

So that's going to give us a lot of time to get to know what Neptune in Aries is going to be like. But the first idea that I want to share with you about Neptune entering the zodiac sign of Aries is that Neptune Glamorizes Neptune, essentially mythologized as whatever zodiac sign it happens to be passing through. So whatever sign Neptune is in, all of a sudden it feels like it's it's it's pervaded our culture.

 

00:01:41:04 – 00:02:14:15

Christopher

It's on everyone's tongue. It's something that everyone is talking about. The the principles or the traits or the characteristics of the zodiac sign are celebrated that they're seen. They sort of like, infiltrate our souls and our culture. On one hand, that can be quite inspiring. But then on the other hand, it can be a little bit delusional, which is why we always want to keep a sort of solid understanding, even if we can't define Neptune articulate very well.

 

00:02:14:15 – 00:02:45:10

Christopher

That doesn't mean that we can't understand Neptune, but with faculties that don't lend themselves to the cerebral. These are faculties that are going to lend themselves to our souls and our psyche. So what aspects of Aries are going to become glamorized or mythologized now that Neptune is passing through with the zodiac sign of Aries? Well, the first thing that comes to mind is Aries is ruled by Mars, and Mars is named after the Roman god of war.

 

00:02:45:12 – 00:03:12:19

Christopher

So the notion or the idea of war or crusades might be something that might be glamorized or mythologized with Neptune moving through the zodiac sign of a varies. Aries is ruled by Mars, and Mars is frequently referred to as the Planet of Men. I don't know if you remember this from a decade or so ago. Maybe it was a little longer, but if you remember the book, I think it was, men are from Mars and women are from Venus.

 

00:03:12:19 – 00:03:45:07

Christopher

They're from two totally different planets. And so they don't really understand one another right off the bat. But this notion that men or whatever the idea of masculinity is associated with Mars and therefore also connected to Aries, you know, we we may sort of see the mythologized male, you know, the idea of, well, I don't know, one thing that comes to mind is bro culture or a sort of hyper masculinized virility where you don't have to apologize for anything and you do whatever you're going to do and might makes right.

 

00:03:45:07 – 00:04:17:01

Christopher

And you just go on out there and you grab what's yours, because you want to, you know, so so there can be those sorts of aspects that might be glamorized or mythologized by Neptune traveling through the zodiac sign of Aries, but something that really comes to mind when I think of the zodiac sign of Aries. And if I were to choose a key word that is often brought up with the zodiac sign of Aries, that word is going to be passion.

 

00:04:17:03 – 00:04:44:01

Christopher

Now, the word passion first appeared in the 12th century, and it referred to the sufferings of Christ on the cross and the death of Christ. So it was basically the idea of the Passion of Christ. And so, passion originates from the Latin word paseo, which means suffering or enduring. And those are two very important ideas to keep in mind.

 

00:04:44:03 – 00:05:09:16

Christopher

First of all, the idea of suffering, all right, that that one is suffering, which is not something which is always linked to Mars. Okay. Mars is the tough planet, okay? Mars is the planet that powers through things. So the idea of suffering, well, you never show that you're suffering. And areas can have a problem with admitting or talking about their weaknesses or their suffering.

 

00:05:09:18 – 00:05:39:11

Christopher

The idea is really to be more stoic, to be more militant, to not show that you're suffering. But but passion means suffering or enduring. All right. So you endure the suffering that's going on. And so these are two very important ideas, to keep in mind as we proceed forward today. Ultimately, the word passion stems from the verb patria, which means to suffer, endure or resign.

 

00:05:39:13 – 00:06:07:13

Christopher

Okay, so these are really the three words that I want to hit upon with the idea of passion to suffer, to endure suffering, and then also to resign, to resign oneself, to suffering, to accept suffering. And this flies in the face of our modern day culture. You know, okay. Suffering. Okay, that that happens. But you want to power through, endure.

 

00:06:07:14 – 00:06:47:07

Christopher

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Maybe if you're tough, you power through the suffering. But to resign oneself to suffering. No, no, you you want to empower yourself. You want to overwhelm, you know, that sort of suffering. Because that's kind of like admitting defeat. But these three ideas suffering to endure, to resign, are connected to the notion of passion. Now, passion, as I mentioned before, becomes linked to the passion plays which appear in medieval Europe, to dramatize and to teach the story of Christ in his last days leading up to the crucifixion.

 

00:06:47:09 – 00:07:11:07

Christopher

But it's not until the 1580s that the word passion becomes linked with sexual love. Okay, you know, when one has has passion for someone else, you suffer because you're in the throes of love to to someone else. There's that kind of suffering, and you and you endure. You endure that that passion that you feel. And you may resign yourself to it.

 

00:07:11:07 – 00:07:50:11

Christopher

This is overwhelming, this passion. I can't control that. I'm I'm out of control. I'm going to feel this passion. But it doesn't really become, you know, passionate love. That association doesn't appear until the 1580s, although the word passion was always associated with strong, overwhelming emotions like zeal, sorrow, rage, hope and joy long before now. What I want to use today or talk about today to demonstrate Neptune in Aries is one of my favorite musicals and films of all time.

 

00:07:50:13 – 00:08:16:22

Christopher

And that, musical, that film, I really saw it as a film. First is Jesus Christ Superstar, written by Tim Rice, and composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, who, also did Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, and they also worked on Evita together. Those are the three big shows that they did. Now, I saw the film Jesus Christ Superstar when I was a teenager.

 

00:08:16:22 – 00:08:37:13

Christopher

I didn't see it right when it came out in the early 70s. I saw it at a revival movie house in Palo Alto and I remember watching that film and, you know, sort of being moved by the rock opera of it, you know, which we had from Tommy. Okay. Tommy was around at the time as a rock opera wasn't really anything new.

 

00:08:37:13 – 00:09:00:23

Christopher

It was fabulous. It was great. But as I watched the film and I had been raised a very devout Catholic. I mean, not conservative, Catholic, but devout. So I'll use the word devout. I've been raised a devout Catholic, and I was struggling with those issues because I was gay and a teenager. And, you know, you can just imagine the struggle.

 

00:09:00:23 – 00:09:23:01

Christopher

I don't have to go into it. But but I saw this movie, and I remember being moved and excited by the music of it. But I also remember sitting and watching this film in a state of shock. All right. The entire time. I mean, part of the experience was exhilarating. Okay? It was like, wow, this, you know, this music is like fabulous.

 

00:09:23:07 – 00:09:53:02

Christopher

You know, the story is so engrossing. And then part of it was almost revulsion as I watched it. Having been raised a devout Catholic, some of the things that were coming up in this film bordered on blasphemy. If weren't, you know, outright blasphemy. So I wasn't ready for the story of Christ in the film Jesus Christ Superstar being different from the story of Christ that I had been taught.

 

00:09:53:04 – 00:10:12:11

Christopher

And even though part of me was like, you know, backing away like, this is like, not what I had been taught, should I be watching this movie? It was kind of like looking around for the nuns to be, like in the back of the theater, like, there's Christopher, grab him, take him out of the movie theater. Blasphemer. No, but but you know, you know, it sort of carried around your psychic nuns.

 

00:10:12:11 – 00:10:38:22

Christopher

But but I watched this film completely engrossed. And also how the story unfolded. I mean, the story really revolves around Judas, Jesus and Mary Magdalene. These are the three, major characters of the film, the ones that are involved in in this conversation, this, this telling of, of the gospels. So we begin with Judas in the desert. Okay.

 

00:10:38:22 – 00:11:10:10

Christopher

He's by himself. He he has the opening song and the show and, and and we begin with him in the desert, his alone and his growing disillusionment, with the message of Jesus. Judas worries that Jesus's followers are getting out of control. That that they're getting too wild. They're getting to crazy. And this is something, I could relate to because at the time, we had, you know, in the early 70s, late 60s, early 70s, we had Jesus freaks.

 

00:11:10:10 – 00:11:32:00

Christopher

Okay, so, so, so we had hippies, you know, as you can tell, I'm from the Bay area, California. You know, you had hippies in San Francisco, and they were countercultural, but you also had hippies who are like Jesus freaks. They were like, you know, Jesus is, you know, counterculture or all. It's it's the ultimate countercultural message. Jesus. And and he wouldn't be fighting this Vietnam War, you know?

 

00:11:32:00 – 00:12:05:24

Christopher

So so everything was all sort of, thrown together into a mishmash, into a, a very exciting, mishmash of sort of psychedelic world of all these different sensibilities. So, so Judas is in the desert. He's worrying that Jesus, his followers are getting out of control. They're they're getting to wild and they're indeed dressed as hippies, you know, almost, in, in, in, in the film and that, the Roman Empire is going to react to this, this, this movement and they're going to put it down brutally.

 

00:12:06:01 – 00:12:27:12

Christopher

And the people who are going to be hurt the most are going to be Jesus's followers. I mean, you've got Jesus as leader, but Judas is asking himself, Does Jesus really care about his followers and that he's putting their lives at stake? So this is what he's sort of wrestling with, with himself alone outside, outside where Jesus is Jesus.

 

00:12:27:12 – 00:12:54:02

Christopher

And his followers have have taken up lodging. And so he sings this song, which is called Heaven on their minds. And, he says in this song, my mind is clearer now at last. All too well. I can see where we all soon will be. If you strip away the myth from the man, you will see where we all soon will be.

 

00:12:54:04 – 00:13:18:24

Christopher

And that's. That's so Neptunian right there. If you strip away the myth from the man. Okay, so what he's saying is that the man Jesus himself is kind of has this charisma, this glamor, this this myth about him that he's going to lead people to some kind of salvation, that, that his preaching has moved people in ways that they've never been moved before.

 

00:13:19:03 – 00:13:42:06

Christopher

And they're rising up. They're, they're they're rising up, inspired by this vision, which is Neptune Vision. It's an otherworldly vision, an ephemeral vision, a hard to pinpoint vision. It's like a dream. A dream of the future. A dream of the way the world could be. And it's move the hearts of Jesus, his followers. And they want to follow.

 

00:13:42:06 – 00:14:02:23

Christopher

But. But you know, Judas, who's the right hand of Jesus, knows the man. Okay? It's kind of like celebrity culture, if you think about it. There's there's, Taylor Swift on her off there, you know, hanging out and and watching TV and doing whatever Taylor does on her off day. And then there's Taylor Swift on stage and she's performing okay.

 

00:14:02:23 – 00:14:32:14

Christopher

And that's not the same thing. Or probably not going to be the same thing as Taylor Swift personally or in private. So there's this same kind of idea here. There's Jesus the Man and then Jesus what Judas is calling the myth, okay. And and he feels like Jesus has gotten caught up in the myth and is leading people to what could be a disastrous confrontation with Rome, who occupies Jerusalem, who, Rome, which occupies Israel at this time.

 

00:14:32:16 – 00:14:55:12

Christopher

And he and and he you know, says to himself in great frustration, Jesus, you know, kind of like the why were you upset? Jesus, Jesus. You know, he's like Jesus, you've started to believe the things they say of you. You really do believe this talk of God is true, and all the good you've done will soon get swept away.

 

00:14:55:14 – 00:15:31:24

Christopher

You've begun to matter more than the things you say. And I just remember as a kid being struck by that, I was like, well, well, you know, but but basically what Judas is saying is that you it's more than you've begun to believe your own hype. Okay. It is that I mean, Judas is basically saying, Jesus, you know, you're beginning to you're you're believing your own hype, but don't you realize the danger you're putting yourself in if you present yourself as this Messiah?

 

00:15:32:01 – 00:16:02:17

Christopher

You know, and you get caught up in this belief that you are the Messiah, you're going to promise things you can't deliver. You know? And when you promise things, you can't deliver, people when they see that you can't deliver them are going to get very angry, okay? And they're going to get very, angry at you. Okay. And and he's saying you, Jesus, you've begun to matter more than the things you say.

 

00:16:02:19 – 00:16:25:09

Christopher

And Judas misses the old Jesus, his old buddy. He misses. You know, the man who's a man who said profound things and in a sort of very poetic way and stirred people's hearts and and souls. But now it's become a messianic movement. And Judas regards that as dangerous, not only in terms of the followers facing Rome, but Jesus himself.

 

00:16:25:11 – 00:16:58:07

Christopher

You know, it's like celebrity culture. If you're on the rise, everyone's into you and they think it's great. But, you know, sometimes when celebrities hit bumpy times or scandal or things along those lines, people turn on them and almost take a sort of delight in the destruction of the celebrity. And this is what Judas is talking about. He's very afraid of this happening, and this is part of the danger of Neptune if you can fall under its spell, you know, Neptune is a planet of enchantment.

 

00:16:58:09 – 00:17:21:12

Christopher

It's a planet, you know, that that can hit the tides and you can fall. Or the word clamor comes from two glamor. It's a verb. Maybe you're familiar with Harry Potter when when they learn these glamor rings, spells that that people take on this illusion or appearance of something that's not there. So Neptune can sort of create a glamor around someone.

 

00:17:21:14 – 00:17:50:04

Christopher

But when that is debunked, that can also bring out the anger and the ire of the people who had been under the spell, and now they're angry at you. So. So Judas is very much, noting, a note of of he's signaling a note of warning at this point. So at the end of this monologue, Judas returns to, Jesus and and the apostles, his followers, and also the women, who are led by not led by.

 

00:17:50:04 – 00:18:11:13

Christopher

But there's Mary Magdalene, and she's there with, with them women as well. And they're kind of hiding out. They're not easily found. And, they're, they're about to enter the city of Jerusalem. And Jesus is a bit nervous about this. And the the apostles are very nervous about this. They're all kind of like, restless. They're kind of like, you know, what's our next step?

 

00:18:11:18 – 00:18:33:08

Christopher

You know, Jesus, you know, we're we're following you. And where are we going? And and and what's our next step? So what's kind of fascinating about this point is, what's fascinating about this point of the story is that the apostles have gotten sort of tired of the parables. They've gotten tired of the message. You know, what began with parables and teaching?

 

00:18:33:08 – 00:18:50:22

Christopher

And Jesus himself refers that to the fact that he's been doing this for three years at this point. What what began is sort of caught people's interest and stirred their souls. It's kind of become a bit old. It's kind of like, you know, not another poetic reference. And, and so they're kind of like, well, what are we doing here?

 

00:18:50:22 – 00:19:16:07

Christopher

What when are we going to act? When are we going to make something happen? We're movement. And so we want to be in movement. And when are we going to make something happen? And Jesus is a bit, in, in the film. And I was like also like, well, Jesus is irritable. Guy is really like annoyed. And Jesus tells them the, the apostles, you know, who want to know what his plans are for the future, focus on today.

 

00:19:16:07 – 00:19:38:16

Christopher

You know, all you want to do is really sort of focus on today. And Mary Magdalene at this point intervenes and she's trying to separate or create some space around Jesus from the apostles where he can rest, where he can recharge, where he can, you know, restore, where he can sleep and peace. And so she sings this wonderful song that I'm not going to sing.

 

00:19:38:17 – 00:20:06:22

Christopher

Okay. But but she sings this wonderful song, which is basically everything's all right. It's a reassuring song. And so she says to Jesus, try not to get worried. Try not to turn on to problems that upset you. Oh, don't you know everything's all right? Yes. Everything's fine. And we want you to sleep well tonight. Let the world turn without you tonight.

 

00:20:06:24 – 00:20:40:09

Christopher

If we try, we'll get by. So forget all about us tonight. And so she sues him. He's. He's obviously irritated and kind of upset. Nervous. And she anoints his head and his feet with myrrh. Now, myrrh, you might recognize, was one of the three gifts of the wise men to the infant Jesus. But myrrh is a yellow, fragrant, sap like resin that contains chemicals that reduce pain and bacteria.

 

00:20:40:11 – 00:21:11:05

Christopher

Myrrh is also used to calm, to reduce stress, and to promote a sense of well-being. Myrrh is used worldwide, but it's particularly popular in China and in Egypt for its healing and restorative, qualities. And so she's anointing him she's rubbing on his head in his feet so he can sleep. He can have some peace. Judas comes in and he is watching this, and he doesn't like it.

 

00:21:11:07 – 00:21:34:22

Christopher

Okay. And, Judas confronts Jesus, who's trying to get a moment's rest with, you know, you know what? The optics on you hanging out with this prostitute, they're not good. It's pretty bad. It's inconsistent with your holy teachings. You know, you should get rid of her. She she doesn't make you look good. And. And then Judas says to Mary Magdalene, who's who's, attending to Jesus.

 

00:21:35:02 – 00:22:05:18

Christopher

He says, woman, your fine ointment, brand new and expensive, could have been saved. The poor. Why has it been wasted? We could have raised, I don't know, maybe 300 silver pieces or more. People who are hungry, people who are starving matter more than your feet and hair. And so it's this dig at Mary Magdalene. You know, being a prostitute, she wants to make herself presentable.

 

00:22:05:20 – 00:22:30:05

Christopher

Judas is like, you know, she's seducing Jesus. There's a there's clearly an element of jealousy that's going on that that she is perhaps made inroads into Jesus, that she's making Jesus soft, you know, and Judas doesn't like it. And Jesus in that moment scolds Judas. He says to Judas, surely you're not saying we have the resources to save the poor from their lot?

 

00:22:30:07 – 00:23:00:20

Christopher

There will be poor, always pathetically struggling. Look at the good. You've got to think while you still have me move. While you still see me. You'll be lost. You'll be so sorry when I'm gone. And it's this amazing exchange. And it keeps coming back. You know these lines. You know, woman you know doesn't even colored by length.

 

00:23:00:22 – 00:23:25:21

Christopher

Woman. You're you're wasting your money on this myrrh. We could have had, you know, all of these, pieces of silver to bring to the poor. And Jesus scolds him and says, listen, we can't save the poor. I mean, that's a devout Christian. I was like, whoa, Jesus is saying this. And Jesus says, we can't save the poor.

 

00:23:25:23 – 00:23:50:20

Christopher

But look at the good things you've got. And essentially, you know, what Jesus is saying in the film and the musical is we can't change the laws of this world as they exist now. They're right now there are poor who are struggling. We can help them, but we can't save them. You know, think of the things that you have right now.

 

00:23:50:20 – 00:24:21:00

Christopher

Focus on the joy on the good that you have in your life right now. But he's not saying that, sort of self-satisfied way, like, you know, you've got good things and be grateful and don't even think about the misery of other people. Now he's saying it because things aren't going to always be good. All right. We're not always going to be in a place where we can rest in seclusion and be at peace, where we feel sheltered.

 

00:24:21:05 – 00:24:49:07

Christopher

That's not always going to be the case to. So think of the good that you have. And then he says, think while you still have me move, while you still see me. So what he's communicating to Judas in this moment is I'm not long for this world. Literally. We still say that I'm not long for this. You know, when, when, when people are deteriorating or their health is giving out.

 

00:24:49:13 – 00:25:15:07

Christopher

He's saying to Judas, I'm not long for this world and and think and move, be understand the things that I've been trying to communicate to you because you're you'll be lost. You'll be sorry when I'm gone. And so he's really pushed out, showing his own future. You know that he's not always going to be the leader. He's not always going to be here.

 

00:25:15:09 – 00:25:36:06

Christopher

He's not always going to be showing the way. And that you also get a sense of regret that that Jesus is regretting, like they're not getting the message, they're not understanding what I'm saying. Have has my last three years been been and useless? So there's a great deal of frustration at this point. And it's a very telling moment.

 

00:25:36:08 – 00:26:12:10

Christopher

In the scene that follows, we meet the high priests, okay? They're the, high priests of Jerusalem. And, they are, in charge of the institutionalized religion. So what we see, here is an institutionalized religion. This is the way the religion has always been practiced and should always be practiced. All right. And then we see a renegade mystic, we, you know, so so we see his juxtaposition between the high priests, the people who are in charge of the, religion as it is practiced.

 

00:26:12:12 – 00:26:34:18

Christopher

And then we see Jesus, the mystic, who's the renegade, the rebel. And this is part of Neptune. And it becomes even more powerful when Neptune is in Aries. There's this feeling of, I'm not buying into the institution. The institution is failing people on it, on a, on a, on a day to day basis. And it only cares about itself.

 

00:26:34:20 – 00:26:59:11

Christopher

How familiar to these themes strike you these days? The great institutions always care about themselves and their own profit. And you know, I as a as, as, as Jesus going to come into this world and, and reengage people with the true Word of God before it became encrusted, by institution, before it lost its meaning. Meaning through endless repetition.

 

00:26:59:13 – 00:27:23:05

Christopher

Okay. So, so, so this is, you know, Jesus's mission and the film. But, Caiaphas, who is the high priest, has a very real problem on his hand, which actually echoes what Judas was talking about when he was in the desert, which is that Jesus and Jesus's movement has gotten out of hand, and it needs to be stopped.

 

00:27:23:07 – 00:28:06:10

Christopher

Hello, my name is Christopher Enstrom, and I'm your weekly horoscope columnist here on Astrology Hub. And that's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about. Did you know that you could get my free weekly horoscopes sent directly to your inbox every week? Just go to Dot Astrology hub.com/horoscope to sign up and start receiving yours today. What we are reminded of at this point is that Jerusalem is occupied, Israel is occupied by a foreign army, okay, by the Roman Empire, which deals with, resistance and rebellion brutally.

 

00:28:06:10 – 00:28:41:23

Christopher

You know, it doesn't think twice about, you know, pressing its foot onto the throat of of people who are rebelling against and dealing with it, brutally and definitively. And so, Caiaphas is worried that Rome is going to crack down on, Jesus's movement, that Rome is going to treat all the Jewish people, the, the, residents of occupied Jerusalem, as followers of Jesus and Rome is going to crack down and everyone's going to get basically annihilated.

 

00:28:42:00 – 00:29:07:19

Christopher

Okay. So so there's actually a very practical side to Caiaphas that's going out at this point, which is we have to, we have to stop this movement where a lot of people are going to get hurt. It's the same sentiment that, Judas is talking about. This is followed by probably one of the most famous numbers in the musical and film, and it's beautiful, which is Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna, okay.

 

00:29:07:19 – 00:29:37:03

Christopher

And it's this celebration of Jesus entering the city of Jerusalem. Before now, Jesus had been on the outskirts, kind of like, I mean, you think of, I don't know, something that comes to mind of Martin Luther King Junior, leading peace marches through, towns that were hostile to to the movement. Okay. I mean, you can see some parallels there and how, the civil rights movement was being squashed and very real.

 

00:29:37:05 – 00:29:57:06

Christopher

And people joining the civil rights movement were really putting their, their, their bodies and their lives, on the line. And so it's this idea of a movement which isn't controlled by a government which has taken on a life of its own. We've seen that in recent resistance movements. And so and so this is what's going on here.

 

00:29:57:06 – 00:30:22:03

Christopher

So, so this is Palm Sunday and the palms are out and, Jesus is entering into Jerusalem and everyone is singing, everyone is praising. And it's like one of the most beautiful songs and most celebratory songs in this, in this musical. I think it's actually one of the most celebratory songs. Period. And, Caiaphas is really spooked by this.

 

00:30:22:05 – 00:30:50:19

Christopher

He sees Jesus's entrance into Jerusalem and he descends and he tries to disperse the followers, but he's rebuffed. In fact, they're singing more defiantly and loudly. Hosanna! He's on his on his, on a Hazara. And then this is followed by another song, which is called The Power and the glory. And this is a very telling song. It's sung by Simon the Zealot, who's one of the apostles of Christ.

 

00:30:50:21 – 00:31:14:07

Christopher

And, he, you know, he he gathers the followers and there's a, there's a lot of followers around Jesus. And he's like, you know, we're behind you, we're celebrating you. And and Jesus is standing there and and being celebrated. I mean, what else is he supposed to do? You can't sort of, like, leave that moment or say like, oh, you know, he sort of stands there as a symbol of the people he is.

 

00:31:14:09 – 00:31:50:06

Christopher

He's he's embodying the will of the people here. And, Simon the Zealot, who wants to overthrow Rome, urges Jesus in the song, you know, you're very charismatic and you share these wonderful sermons and parables and things like that. And so if you could just add and the line is, if you could just add a touch of hate at Rome so that the people, 50,000 people will rise up and drive the Romans out of Israel.

 

00:31:50:08 – 00:32:18:23

Christopher

And then Jesus, Simon the Zealot sings to him, you will get all the power and the glory, and live forever. Okay, so Simon the Zealot is saying, add a little hate. You know, drive the Romans out of Jerusalem. You have 50,000 people behind you. This is the power, this is the glory, and this will make your name legendary.

 

00:32:18:23 – 00:32:55:19

Christopher

You'll live forever. And Jesus, you know, standing there surrounded by all these people. Here is what's being said and is repulsed. He he he rejects this, and and he states that none of his followers are understanding his message. So Jesus himself is going through a disillusionment with his own ability, a disappointment, really, that mirrors Judas's and, Jesus himself is beginning to really sort of understand the trap.

 

00:32:55:21 – 00:33:21:01

Christopher

All right, which, which, which lies ahead and that his message is getting misunderstood, that it's getting militarized, it's being turned into a crusade, something to overthrow. And, he just he's he's so angry, you know, and you can't really tell us the angry at his followers is the angry at himself. He's probably angry with everyone. And he's really, disappointed in, in this moment.

 

00:33:21:03 – 00:34:00:03

Christopher

And he says to Simon, neither you, Simon nor the 50,000, nor the Romans, nor the Jews, nor Judas, nor the 12, nor the priests, nor the scribes, nor doomed Jerusalem itself. Understand what power is. Understand what glory is understood. Stand at all. If you knew all that I knew my poor Jerusalem, you'd see the truth. But you close your eyes, but you close your eyes.

 

00:34:00:03 – 00:34:33:22

Christopher

While you live. Your troubles are many poor Jerusalem. To conquer death. You only have to die. You only have to die. Now these are very to me, disturbing and at the same time profound lines again. To me it carries, the spirit of Neptune in Aries. You know, power and glory is seen as as as, you know, our glory.

 

00:34:33:22 – 00:35:02:22

Christopher

Vanquish your enemy in battle still. And what for? You know, and live forever as as someone who's praised as a true hero. And Jesus says, no, you don't understand that at all. And then he says, if you knew all that I knew my poor Jerusalem, you'd see the truth. But you close your eyes. This mirrors the Mary Magdalene song of everything's all right.

 

00:35:02:22 – 00:35:33:20

Christopher

Close your eyes, close your eyes. You'll be all right tonight. Mirrors that. And what it gets to is really, Gnosticism. Gnosticism was a competing faith with early Christianity. Actually, I think it predates Christianity. And Gnosticism was this idea that we carried within each of us a spirit which was symbolized as a flame. The fire signs Aries, Leo, Sagittarius.

 

00:35:33:22 – 00:35:58:07

Christopher

This is this is what the element of fire is about. There is a flame which is the spirit. And when the spirit inhabits or calls, it makes one enthusiastic. It makes one brave and bold and you can see things. And Gnosticism was this idea that we were each born with a spirit that was asleep in our bodies. All right.

 

00:35:58:07 – 00:36:32:08

Christopher

Spirit is different from soul. But right now we're talking about spirit. Spirit is something that's energized. It's associated to the element of fire, souls associated to water. And, it's associated to death. And it's also associated to sleep that people when they slept had social dreams or experiences. The spirit of Gnosticism, which means to know, was almost like when you had a religious experience, that pilot light that you that each of us was born with that was turned down white low.

 

00:36:32:08 – 00:36:54:21

Christopher

It's the fire of the spirit. It's what animates our bodies and our lives that allows us to see. All right, that pilot light when you had a religious experience was like, turned up on a gas on a gas stove so that it was a flame. And so that inflamed the mind. You could see, you could experience you understood the world.

 

00:36:54:24 – 00:37:19:02

Christopher

Maybe it was in a quick flash, but you got it. You got what it was all about. And so when he says you'd see the truth, but you close your eyes. You close your eyes to the truth that Jesus is trying to show that. That we need to ignite this spirit, that it feels like fighting oppression. It feels like overthrowing.

 

00:37:19:02 – 00:37:42:03

Christopher

It feels like getting righteous and zealous. But it's not that. It's a place where you can see, all right, this is what he's saying. But you close your eyes while you live. Your troubles are many. My poor Jerusalem. To conquered death, you only have to die. You only have to die. Now that sounds a bit morose and melancholic.

 

00:37:42:07 – 00:38:07:17

Christopher

You know, the conquered death. You only have to die. But he's talking about two things here. He's talking about being asleep or dead to knowing better, to the conscience, to the fire of the spirit, and that once that comes into your life, it changes your life, illuminates your life. Sometimes it's a shocking experience, but more importantly, it illuminates your life.

 

00:38:07:17 – 00:38:29:14

Christopher

You see the world in a very different way that's not asleep, but you also see the world not as eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, man against man, man against nature, man against themselves. You know, I don't know. There's three conflicts that exist in all literature, but what fuels hatred in the world is what Jesus is saying.

 

00:38:29:14 – 00:38:59:03

Christopher

What fuels it is fear of death. Okay? Fear squeezes the life out of life and it drives people to do horrible things. Judgment of people, hatred of people, oppression of people, the abuse. This drives people to do hateful, horrible things because of fear, of death, of fear, of being defeated. But what he's saying is think about death. You know, when you die, you've conquered death because that fear doesn't.

 

00:38:59:03 – 00:39:25:11

Christopher

I'm all immobilize you. It doesn't seize you, and it doesn't drive you to do horrible things. It's a different kind of courage than we're used to thinking of, but it's a courage that comes from that passion of Christ, which is to suffer, to endure, and to resign and so it's heard often as a sort of very pessimistic to resign oneself to death.

 

00:39:25:11 – 00:39:51:12

Christopher

But what he's saying is, what you're afraid of here is death, that when you go into death, you've you've conquered your fear of it and trust in the spirit that lies on the other side of it. And the Gnostics believed that when we did die, that the flame that ignited our our lives, you know, that spirit that entered into our bodies, returned to its source.

 

00:39:51:12 – 00:40:25:11

Christopher

Now, where was the source of that Gnostic flame, of that spiritual flame? It was in the stars at night. Okay, so the Gnostics were saying basically centuries ago, we are made of stardust, and that, the spirit that inhabits us comes from the stars in the night. They refer to the stars in the night as being the campfires of the gods that would send out sparks that would descend down through the seven planetary levels until each came to inhabit someone right at birth.

 

00:40:25:11 – 00:40:49:15

Christopher

And then the person cried out and saw, okay, this began living their life in this world. But the Gnostics also said that when we died, the spirit left. The spirit left our body, and it went back up into the stars where it resided again. Okay, so so this was a pretty familiar belief at the time of, of, of Jesus's early teachings.

 

00:40:49:15 – 00:41:18:01

Christopher

And, and I think pretty much it predates him. But this is what's being communicated here, that it's the fear of death that propels us to extremes judgment, hatred, oppression, the abuse. And Jesus's message is that the kingdom of God is now. And this is a very Neptune in Aries message. The Kingdom of God is now. It's not in another world.

 

00:41:18:03 – 00:41:46:02

Christopher

It's not in the future. It's not on the other side of the apocalypse. The world changes when you awaken to that, when you awaken to the Kingdom of God being now, and that you stay true to the vision. This is what Christ, is trying to communicate to the apostles, but they're categorizing it under like, you know, beat back Rome, start a new movement.

 

00:41:46:04 – 00:42:14:16

Christopher

You know, they're they're contextualizing it in their day to day lives. And Jesus is trying to talk about a shift of awareness. So, this is followed by two more scenes. One is Jesus arising, arriving at a temple which is being used as a marketplace. And they're selling all sorts of things, food and, and, and women and guns and all these sorts of things.

 

00:42:14:18 – 00:42:42:18

Christopher

You know, at this temple and Jesus sees this as defiling his father's house. Okay. And this is what Judas is talking about. He's saying your father's house. You're a man. You're a carpenter's son. You probably would have been happier building tables and things like that. Why have you gone and put yourself in the crosshairs, the institutionalized religion and Rome by calling yourself a god.

 

00:42:42:18 – 00:43:20:01

Christopher

And do you really believe this? So. So, Jesus, like you're defiling my father's house, and he sends all the people out, and he knocks over the tables and chairs and things like that. And that's quite a comment about how religion over the years has become a marketplace, how it, sells things like salvation. That started with the pope in medieval times to current times where it's like, you know, where it where many churches, basically filled their coffers with, with money and are profit driven.

 

00:43:20:03 – 00:43:45:06

Christopher

And so we get a very early example here of, you know, Jesus's attitude about that. But at the same time, what we're seeing is Jesus saying, my father, okay. And, and and Judas is a little taken aback by that. It's followed by another moment, which I remember watching as a teenager and being really disturbed by after this moment of.

 

00:43:45:06 – 00:44:09:06

Christopher

Right. Jesus. Pretty kind of pissed off throughout this movie, which is very Aries. Okay. But, Jesus, after this, flees into the hills outside Jerusalem where there's a group of lepers, people have been marginalized. People have been sent out of the city because that's what you did with people who were suffering from leprosy or who were marginalized.

 

00:44:09:06 – 00:44:34:18

Christopher

They were kept outside the city. And, he flees into the hills outside the city, and there's a group of lepers who ask him to heal them. And it begins with, like, you know, heal me. And, and and touch me and all these sorts of things. And, and and so there's one or 2 or 3 and Jesus is reaching out to each of them, and, you know, I'm kind of like, oh, that's okay, you know?

 

00:44:34:20 – 00:45:05:13

Christopher

But then there's a moment in which the music begins to escalate and there are more lepers, and there are more people who need healing, who need help with their poverty, need help with their health, their their doubt, who are pleading with him for salvation. And they come out of the rocks and they over whelm him. I mean, it's like this army of people, almost this army of need, and they collapse like a wave over him and you see his hands, reaching out.

 

00:45:05:15 – 00:45:38:18

Christopher

And he's overwhelmed and he cries out, no, I can't. And I was like. I don't think so. Jesus. You know, like Jesus had always been portrayed as their uncle. Available 24 seven, you know, could like, heal people are raised from dead and all these sorts of things. And here you have someone saying, I can't, you know, he's been overwhelmed by the sheer need and when I was a teenager, I had no answer to that other than like, well, that's not the way.

 

00:45:38:18 – 00:46:08:01

Christopher

Jesus, what it was, you know, sort of thing. But it has stayed with me since. And again, it's that that need that once the need is opened up, how do we respond to that need? How do we respond to suffering? How do we respond to misery and other people? A lot of times we explain it away, we ostracize it, we shut it out of our lives.

 

00:46:08:01 – 00:46:33:16

Christopher

We say, well, there's a reason this person's like this, or they brought it on themselves, or we blame them, you know, and so to see Jesus overwhelmed by these people and, collapsing on him and him crying out that he can't he can't heal them all. What you see is him registering that he is a man. He's a human being and he's limited.

 

00:46:33:18 – 00:47:08:23

Christopher

You know, he can't do all of this. And so this is a very powerful moment of overwhelm. You know, Neptune is is a planet that's regarded as feeling the pain of other people, feeling their pain, feeling their sorrow and commiserating, you know, being a companion in those, those dark moments. And here Jesus says, I can't, you know, and it just as it you know, as a devout Catholic at the time, it just was like, oh my God, no way, you know?

 

00:47:08:23 – 00:47:34:13

Christopher

And it was very, very powerful. But it's a Neptunian thing. Did I take on more than I can handle? Am I getting drained by the people I'm trying to help and and people with strong Neptune can have a hard time acknowledging I'm a human being, you know, and they're told a lot of times, set up your boundaries, you know, but it's it's it's not that easy.

 

00:47:34:15 – 00:48:00:12

Christopher

Neptune is named after the Roman god of the sea. His Greek counterpart is Poseidon, the god of ocean, of oceans, of the sea. What is boundaries to Neptune? I mean, the ocean covers three quarters of this planet. So what's a boundary? It's not really much of anything. You know, continents are things you swim around, you know, if you have to deal with them at all.

 

00:48:00:12 – 00:48:30:20

Christopher

If you're a denizen of, of of of Neptune. So the idea of, of a boundary or limit is not a natural understanding for people who have Neptune strong in their charts. But yet you are still housed in a body, which, of course, is the great conundrum that this movie is, is talking about. So after this, Jesus appears in the tent of Mary Magdalene, where he rests, where he sleeps.

 

00:48:30:20 – 00:49:03:17

Christopher

So Mary Magdalene is very much the person that he goes to for solace and for comfort and probably companionship. And Mary Magdalene, as we know, is a prostitute, a prostitute is a woman who sells her body for money. It's referred to as the world's oldest profession or one of the oldest professions. And it comes from the fact that if you have nothing else to sell, you've got that you can sell.

 

00:49:03:19 – 00:49:24:23

Christopher

And, and you can increase your fortune or your status or whatever in life. And Mary Magdalene and our understanding the story has turned her back on, on, on all of that to, to follow Jesus. But that's not what we really know in the film. All we know is that she is a person who comforts him and that she has a shady past.

 

00:49:25:00 – 00:49:53:22

Christopher

Until she sings, this really wonderful song and it's called I Don't Know How to Love Him. And, basically what she says in this song, you know, as he sleeps, you know, and again, she's closed his eyes, you know, and sleeps. And she's reminding him, you can't be spirit all the time. You know, you can't be this flame of consciousness all the time.

 

00:49:53:22 – 00:50:28:04

Christopher

You're a human being. You need to sleep. You need to restore. You need to find peace. And so as he sleeps, she looks at him and she's like. I don't know how to love him, what to do, how to move him. I've been changed. Yes. Really changed. In these past few days when I've seen myself, I seem like someone else.

 

00:50:28:06 – 00:50:59:09

Christopher

And this is a theme that you hear repeated Judas has, has, has, has talked about this. It's like, what's so fascinating about Jesus in the film and in the musical is that he spends more time responding than he does leading musically. Okay, his songs are more of a response to what someone else has come at him with vocally, you know?

 

00:50:59:11 – 00:51:26:10

Christopher

And so Jesus isn't leading. He's actually responding. So there's a passivity to Jesus and the musical, and there's a passivity to the story of Jesus that a lot of people find really annoying and infuriating. You know, they want Jesus to be more marshal, you know? And certainly when Jesus appears in the apocalypse, you know, leading armies, he's seen as more marshal.

 

00:51:26:16 – 00:51:55:07

Christopher

And those are the aspects of Christ that people, that some institutionalized religions really like to celebrate this, this marshaling, this, this anger of this warrior and Jesus is not okay. Not in the Gospels and not in this film. But what happens is that people see in Jesus and this is very Neptunian. Okay? We're tying it into the planet, they see.

 

00:51:55:07 – 00:52:26:01

Christopher

And Jesus themselves and an aspect of themselves which is strange and different. Okay. Just like that beautiful Shakespearean verse from, The Tempest, six fathoms deep, you know, describing a world under sea that's strange and different. And so Judas has seen this, you know, and, Mary Magdalene sees this, and she's like, I mean, think about it for a moment.

 

00:52:26:03 – 00:52:59:05

Christopher

She's a prostitute and she doesn't know how to love him. All right. Because love for her is a profession. You know, it's a trade. It's something that perhaps. Well, it's something that she simulates or she's the object of desire for the client. So she hasn't had to think about love much. You know, she's more focused on the client and what the client wants and and delivering that.

 

00:52:59:07 – 00:53:26:22

Christopher

So she's like, I don't know how to love him. I don't know what to do, you know? And I don't know how to move him. She's not saying I don't know how to love. She's saying, I don't know how to love him. Okay. You know, I've been changed in the past few days. I've seen. I've seen myself, but it looks like someone else.

 

00:53:26:24 – 00:53:54:06

Christopher

And then she continues, I don't know how to take this. I don't see why he moves me. He's a man. He's just a man. And I've had so many men before and in very many ways, he's just one more. Okay, so what makes him different from all her previous clients? He's just a guy, you know. But then this is where she really.

 

00:53:54:08 – 00:54:15:03

Christopher

I love this last part. She says, you know, what she's saying, she follows that up with, you know, should I bring him down, scream and shout, should I, you know, should I best him? Okay, that's that's that's the part that I want to bring in here. Should I best him. And that really tells us the history of Mary Magdalene.

 

00:54:15:05 – 00:54:44:16

Christopher

Okay. I know how to best man. I know how to live in a man's world, you know? And so should I do that? That's what I would do. You know, this is what I know professionally. This is what I know. Eventually. But that's not what's going on here. And then she looks at him and he's still asleep, and she says, yet if he said he loved me, I'd be lost.

 

00:54:44:18 – 00:55:25:20

Christopher

I'd be frightened. I couldn't cope, I just couldn't cope. I, I turn my head, I back away. He scares me so. I want himself, I love him so. And it's, It's this extraordinary moment of love that comes through like, like like opening the shades to a bright, sunny day. You know that. That it comes through. And that she is frightened because she doesn't know how to categorize this love.

 

00:55:25:20 – 00:55:59:09

Christopher

She doesn't know how to describe it. And this is the great love of Neptune. Neptune is the planet of unconditional love and astrology. It's a planet that we are always exploring and trying to understand its depths. That's why it doesn't is well, the ocean doesn't fit into a fishbowl right? So, so and so. It's vast. And so she's like, you know, if he said he'd love me, I wouldn't know what he was talking about.

 

00:55:59:09 – 00:56:32:08

Christopher

I don't think I could cope. There's there's a way that Jesus makes her feel naked but not nude. Okay. Not nude in an erotic presentation. You know, it's naked, as in seen without clothes, without defenses. And she wouldn't know what to do. But the fear doesn't override her. He scares her. But she loves him. She loves him so.

 

00:56:32:10 – 00:57:07:06

Christopher

So again, Mary Magdalene as a prostitute has always dominated men. Sexual, and dominated men commercially. She's still in business, okay? She knows what she's doing. And now she faces a love that isn't familiar. It doesn't fall into those contexts. And again, I want to. In fact, I want to invoke Neptune again, because Neptune, especially when it shows up in Synastry, is often connected to a nonphysical or an unconscious a mated love.

 

00:57:07:08 – 00:57:31:01

Christopher

It has frustrated the hell out of so many clients. I can't begin to tell you. But when there's this Neptunian connection in Synastry, it's often described as a sort of projection or something along those lines. And Neptune does receive projections. Remember the ocean reflects what it sees. You can see it yourself in water, or the ocean is blue.

 

00:57:31:01 – 00:58:00:15

Christopher

You look at the sky and the ocean is blue because the sky is blue. If the sky is gray and stormy, the ocean is gray and stormy. Okay? It reflects and so. But when Neptune shows up in synastry that is reading two charts together, it's often connected to non physical or unconsummated love. And no matter what each person tries to do to make it physical, it doesn't work.

 

00:58:00:17 – 00:58:26:11

Christopher

It's almost like it resists it or it throws that off. That's not what this Neptunian love is all about. Now, this is a different type of Neptune love from bacchanalian love. Okay? I mean, Neptune also rules over bacchanalia and that's where do do do do do do do. You know people are like oh sex fest. You know, okay where you're like drunken out of it and you don't know what you know there's that.

 

00:58:26:13 – 00:59:06:12

Christopher

Okay. But there's also this nonphysical, physically unconsummated love. And here's the character of Mary Magdalene puts me in mind of the character of Titus, which is from the opera. I think it's, matinee. And Titus was a very famous Alexandrian courtesan. Okay. A devotee of Venus, which basically means prostitute, but high class. Okay. Titus was a high class call girl in, Hellenized Egypt, and, she in the story in her story.

 

00:59:06:12 – 00:59:29:19

Christopher

But also what's done in this opera. Titus is a woman who can have anyone, and she commands high prices. And she's full of wealth, of luxury and looks and mirrors and all the things that are associated with Venus. And she's kind of hounded by this high priest. There's a high priest who is fiercely devoted to her conversion, who's going to convert her, know.

 

00:59:29:19 – 00:59:54:03

Christopher

First of all, know, first of all, he's he's into destroying her. You know, she's a prostitute. We have to wipe out prostitutes in Alexandria, in Egypt. Okay? In the city of Alexandria. But then the greater victory would be to convert her, to convert her to Christianity. And so he becomes committed to this. And they have conversations and confrontations and scenes and all these sorts of things.

 

00:59:54:05 – 01:00:26:20

Christopher

But at at the climactic moment of the opera, where there is a beautiful piece of music which is called the meditation, and it's a violin solo and it's just gorgeous. She Titus reflects. And in her reflection, in her silence and her aloneness, she is converted, you know, or she sees, you know, that love that Mary Magdalene is talking about and that it moves her deeply.

 

01:00:26:20 – 01:01:02:07

Christopher

So. So it can be said she's converted to Christ. But I think a truer way of saying it is like that song that Mary Magdalene sings is the moment that Thais has in the opera, and and so as a result, she's a different woman. She's not, you know, going to be a prostitute or a high class woman anymore, but she's going to be a priestess devoted to agape, of the greater love and people and what's interesting is that the high priest is lost now that she's been converted.

 

01:01:02:09 – 01:01:27:10

Christopher

Okay. Now that she's been converted or Christianized, he doesn't know what to do. He's got no purpose in his life anymore. His purpose was to assault her, to try to convert her. This was the great mountain to climb. The great achievement for him to accomplish. And, he doesn't have this anymore. What he has is a realization of lust that he has been lustful for her.

 

01:01:27:12 – 01:01:54:05

Christopher

Along, and that her purity shines a light into his dark lust, which can be sexual lust, but it can also be envy and wanting to conquer a woman, you know, and he can't deal with it. He's, like, destroyed spiritually or or something along those lines. You know that that the Neptune god of the sea mirrors what is darkest in this priest, and he has no choice.

 

01:01:54:05 – 01:02:29:21

Christopher

He cannot resist seeing it, accepting it, and ultimately being destroyed by it. I think it's interesting that this scene of of Mary Magdalene and I don't know how to love him, this realization of a love that's not like anything she's ever experienced before is juxtaposed with Judas's betrayal of Jesus. And what's interesting is that the model is set up that Judas feels competitive or jealous of Mary Magdalene because he's stealing attention from Jesus.

 

01:02:29:22 – 01:03:04:21

Christopher

His body. But what Judas is really seeing is himself mirrored the love of Jesus, which emanates from Jesus. It's almost like a, charisma or magnetism that emanates from Jesus. It has different effects on different people. Some people it transforms for the better and some people it doesn't transform for the better. So Judas goes to the high priests to betray him.

 

01:03:04:23 – 01:03:31:08

Christopher

He believes that that Jesus is out of control and even, things to the high priests. Every word. And Jesus Christ Superstar is song. That's a rock opera, right? So he even says to the, high priests, you know, Jesus himself would approve of Judas, his actions because Judas is is taking the higher ground. You know, what we kind of realize at this point is Judas is a little bit of a control freak.

 

01:03:31:08 – 01:03:50:03

Christopher

Like he had this fixed idea of what Jesus was supposed to be and what his message was supposed to be. And and again, there's nobility in Judas. He's he's he's generally fearful for the lives of the followers and the people. But at the same time, he's kind of like a control freak. It's like my Jesus has to act this way.

 

01:03:50:03 – 01:04:07:21

Christopher

And, you know, in this, in, in these confines and in this context and, and it's not doing that. So I'm going to punish him or, or something like that. Anyway. He's telling the high priests there's some they're kind of like looking at him like, we're offering you the 30 pieces of silver. Do you want it or not?

 

01:04:07:21 – 01:04:39:22

Christopher

You know, are you going to give us information as to where he is, where we can find him? And so they're kind of almost patronizing. Judas are listening to Judas run through this rationale of why he's betraying him. And again, this is Neptunian, because Neptune we often describe as the planet of illusion and disillusionment. But there's also a delusional aspect to Neptune, the thing that you tell yourself, the lie that you tell yourself, which is often irrational.

 

01:04:39:24 – 01:05:02:02

Christopher

You know, I'm rationalizing how this is going to work. And when you listen to people's rationales, they can sound wildly fantastic. Like, like, where the hell are they going with this? You know? And that can be very Neptunian as well. It's like, you know, it's not like I'm above the law, you know, which can be Jupiter at its worst or, you know, this doesn't apply to me or, or anything like that.

 

01:05:02:02 – 01:05:22:09

Christopher

Neptune is kind of like I've worked out my thinking in the sentence, colored by my anxieties and fears and all this sort of stuff, and and I've worked out how I'm going to make this make sense, which makes sense to that person in their bubble. Remember, Neptune is named after the god of the sea. So obviously rules bubbles.

 

01:05:22:11 – 01:05:50:03

Christopher

Okay, it makes sense to the person in the bubble to. But to anyone outside the bubble, they're like, are you talking about it's real WTF moment? So Neptune rules over kind of the lies we tell ourselves. You know, the rationales, the things we tell ourselves to make us feel better about something we know is no good. So it works against conscience, you know, in that regard, which is kind of an interesting note about Neptune's relationship to Jupiter.

 

01:05:50:05 – 01:06:13:23

Christopher

And, so, so, the, the high priest say, you know, can you tell us? And he's like, I'm going to tell you because it's for Jesus is I'm good. All right. But what's really fascinating here is that the high priests offered Judas 30 pieces of silver. We all know this from the gospel and, from the Gospels and Jews.

 

01:06:13:23 – 01:06:41:17

Christopher

Judas refuses, but accepts the high priests suggestion, because what the high priest says to Judas as he passes him the 30 pieces of silver, is that he could use this money to help the poor. Think about this, you know, here are the 30 pieces of silver. You're not going to use it on yourself. So why don't you use this to help the poor?

 

01:06:41:19 – 01:07:06:00

Christopher

This is an extraordinarily bitter line. Remember earlier, in the film, when Judas gets angry at Mary Magdalene over murder? She's. She's applying the murder to Jesus forehead and feet to calm and soothe him. And he's like, well, how much money did you spend on this murder? You know, you could have spent what is it? You know, 30,000 more silver pieces or something like that to help the poor, you know?

 

01:07:06:00 – 01:07:36:02

Christopher

And Jesus chastises him, saying, you know, the poor will always be poor. They will always face these struggles and these battles in this world. And so here Judas accepts the silver pieces because it's going to help the poor. That's what he's telling himself. That's what he's justifying to himself. And it's here. I want to take another moment to really focus on the symbolism of hands.

 

01:07:36:04 – 01:08:05:05

Christopher

Okay. We have, greasing the palm with silver. You know, that's a phrase that comes to us from the 1500s. And we also probably know it from, lining the palm of a fortune tellers, hand with with pieces of silver to get information. So you grease the palm, which means to bribe someone to do something for you, which is not good, you know, and is bad criminal and nefarious.

 

01:08:05:05 – 01:08:32:15

Christopher

All right. And this is sort of meant to show judas's materialism, you know, he's of this material world. He's not spiritual. And but what's interesting, the idea of the palm is to then go and look at who's being set up as Judas, his counterpart in this film, and it's Jesus. And when we think of Jesus's palms, we can't help but think of stigmata.

 

01:08:32:17 – 01:08:56:23

Christopher

All right? The wounds, the bleeding wounds of of of of Jesus when he's nailed to the cross. And so we're reminded of the of, of the suffering on the cross. So here we see Judas in tumult over accepting this money. He's an he's suffering. He's he's suffering a very dark night of the soul here. And, and and he, he accepts it.

 

01:08:56:23 – 01:09:21:13

Christopher

But what makes it okay is I'll spend it on poor people, you know, and then we have Jesus with the stigmata, with the bleeding hands which will come from being nailed to the cross. And then the third pair of hands that we haven't encountered yet, but we will encounter will be Pontius Pilate washing his hands, excusing himself of all blame in Christ's crucifixion.

 

01:09:21:13 – 01:09:46:04

Christopher

So here we have, you know, the grasping hand for the for the silver. We have the hand of bleeding, and we have the hands washing themselves. We even have the hands of the leper, lepers reaching, reaching out. And I just find that so fascinating, you know, the next scene is the Last Supper, and, they sing the song of of being an apostle.

 

01:09:46:09 – 01:10:22:16

Christopher

Apostles in this film are depicted as really rather hopeless people. I mean, they follow Jesus, but they drink. They're not too bright. They, you know, they're not especially profound. They're kind of like buddies, you know, frat frat boys or guys who hang out with Jesus, you know? And, they're always in the film, especially. And, you know, when you reflect actually in the Gospels at this point, they're always a disappointment to Jesus after this point, you know, and now they're going to reach a bigger moment of disappointment.

 

01:10:22:17 – 01:10:55:11

Christopher

So, you know, they're celebrating the Last Supper and, you know, in the middle of the supper where they're, you know, doing communion. And in the film they do poses from, Da Vinci's Last Supper. It's it's really beautiful, very subtle, the way that they're that the poses appear. Jesus gets angry at them. He's been kind of snarky with the apostles on moving, but he gets angry with them and they're like, whoa, you know, hey, dude, you know, why are you getting angry with us?

 

01:10:55:13 – 01:11:16:05

Christopher

You know? Cool. Chill. You know, where are your buds? You know, type of thing. That's pretty much how they're depicted. And Jesus gets angry at them and he says, to Peter, he says, you, for instance, you're going to deny me three times, you know, tonight. And and Peter's like, no, I won't type of thing. And and he's like, yes, yes you will.

 

01:11:16:05 – 01:11:53:08

Christopher

So Jesus is really battling with what he knows is going to happen. And these people who aren't getting it and that his time is short. This is very areas, by the way. That time is growing short and you might, you know, the connection of Jesus to, Aries is more than just the keyword passion. You know, in some ways you can consider the horoscope of Jesus as being areas because Easter, which is the rebirth, the resurrection, takes place in the zodiac sign of Aries, usually not this year, but usually it does.

 

01:11:53:09 – 01:12:12:15

Christopher

And so. So there's this sort of Aries temperament, you know, to, to, to, to Jesus. And so there's an urgency. My time is running out. Wake up. Listen to me. You know, you know, hey, we're listening to you. We're in your side. And it's like, you're going to deny me three times. I mean, what do you mean you're on my side?

 

01:12:12:15 – 01:12:50:22

Christopher

No, we won't, you know? Chill, dude. You know? And then he turns to Judas, who really is who really is the closest to him, you know, and this movie really brings that out. And he says to Judas, you will betray me tonight. And Judas doesn't even deny it. He's like, yeah, yeah, I will. And so Jesus drives Judas out of out of the supper, out of the room where they're eating, you know, and Judas is left and Judas is disturbed and it's really beautifully shot because Jesus is upset that he's gotten upset with Judas.

 

01:12:50:22 – 01:13:16:06

Christopher

You know, he's not upset that Judas is going to betray him. Or at least that's not the way it's acted in the scene. He's upset that he had lost his temper with Judas, and so he wants to go back and make amends, you know? And there's this beautiful moment where the two men are looking at one another and they're like, are we going to make amends?

 

01:13:16:07 – 01:13:56:02

Christopher

But how can we make amends when we're traveling down two very different paths? And, and, and so, you know, Jesus, in a moment of anger says to Judas, do what you have to do, you know, and, and and Judas shoots back at Jesus. I've been set up. And oh, boy, when I was a teenager watching this film, when he shoots back that I've been set, set up, you know, and that he's been set up to be the fall guy.

 

01:13:56:04 – 01:14:23:16

Christopher

I was like, I don't remember that from the Gospels, you know? But but it's so powerful, having lived with this film as long as I have is realizing how the two of them have been predestined, you know, and that one of them knew he was predestined. That's Jesus. One of them didn't know that he was predestined. And that's Judas.

 

01:14:23:18 – 01:14:53:12

Christopher

And part of it with Judas is you can't really tell in the performance of the actor. I forget his name in the film. He's amazing. In this film, you can't really tell whether he's been set up to be the fall guy, and he resents being the fall guy as. Or is it the horror of having been set up and selected by a larger force to play this role?

 

01:14:53:14 – 01:15:31:15

Christopher

And what does that say about Destiny and God? You know, and so you see that realization sinking in with Judas in this, in this final moment that he has with Jesus. And so at this moment, Judas turns his back on. Jesus only races off to the high priests. But there's this beautiful little moment in the film he's racing off to tell the high priests, you know, where Jesus can be found, and there's a herd of sheep that are following him like they're chasing him.

 

01:15:31:17 – 01:15:57:07

Christopher

Now, we all know the image of Jesus as the shepherd and and the flock. You know, the followers are the flock. But here Jesus. Here. Judas. Excuse me. Judas is being chased by a flock of sheep. So on one hand, it refers to Judas being dispelled. Being being exiled from the group. You know, the sheep are running after him like, you know, almost angrily, you.

 

01:15:57:10 – 01:16:34:01

Christopher

Well, they're from behind. You can't really tell the mood and psychology of the sheep, but it looks like they're running after him, like chasing him. But then it also reminded me, I remember from Catholic school, of of Judas, the Judas goat. Okay, that was the phrase the Judas goat, and that was a goat which was trained by shepherds to lead other goats or sheep or other livestock to the slaughter, like the Judas goat would take the lead and the other livestock would follow it, and it would lead it to the slaughter.

 

01:16:34:03 – 01:17:12:11

Christopher

But it had its own life spared. It had its own life spared, obviously, because it was trained to do that function. And so, you know, it would return again to, to do this. So you have Judas being chased out, chased away by the flock, but you also have the Judas goat, which is the goat trained to lead other livestock to slaughter while having its life, spared, which you can see, you know, the history to to that here we encountered Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.

 

01:17:12:13 – 01:17:41:12

Christopher

And this is the first time when Jesus initiates a song because he's alone and and and he has a song. And, and in this song, which is a conversation with God, he's full of doubt, you know, a doubt as to whether he can really succeed this last part of the mission. And he angrily wants to know from God why he has to die.

 

01:17:41:14 – 01:18:08:14

Christopher

So evidently that was the pact, or that was the agreement that Jesus would die at the end of this. We know from the Gospels that it's God made incarnate and man. But what's really brought out in this film is the struggle between man and the divine. And the big question is, was this a man's idea of the divine all along, which, of course, has been one of the great questions that has been asked for centuries.

 

01:18:08:16 – 01:18:38:17

Christopher

And so Jesus, in a moment of torment, and it's in the garden, wants to know why he has to die. And he doesn't want to die, but he wants to know. So he's appealing to God. And God famously doesn't answer, okay, this is something that Ingmar Bergman takes up in all of his Bergman films, which is The Silence of God, and it was something that was taken up by a lot of early medieval Christian mystics.

 

01:18:38:19 – 01:19:07:15

Christopher

Even, Saint John of the cross in Dark night of the soul. What does the silence of God mean? You know? And so Jesus is confronted with the silence of God. God says nothing. And in this conversation, Jesus accepts his fate. Now, is he accepting his fate? I mean, this is extraordinary questions. Is he accepting his fate because God did an answer and maybe there is no God.

 

01:19:07:17 – 01:19:29:15

Christopher

And so that's what he's left with. Is he accepting his fate? Because this is a moment of weakness, and he now has to re brace himself to be strong, to be, to show fortitude in this moment. Is he accepting his fate? Which which Jesus in the musical refers to all the time? There's fate. It's been preordained.

 

01:19:29:15 – 01:19:52:23

Christopher

This is what's been set. This is the horror of Judas when he realizes that he's been preset, that he has a role to play in a divine plan. And it had nothing to do with Judas's choice. You know, now some of us can say, oh, that's Judas rationalizing it to himself, but others of us are like, sympathetic, like, like, did he ever have a choice in this?

 

01:19:52:23 – 01:20:13:08

Christopher

I mean, you know, he was cast in this role and and it's the great one of the great questions. And what part of what makes this story so compelling? So, but, you know, or just Jesus finally accept his fate because that was the vision all along was to was to die a horrible death. Was that the vision all along?

 

01:20:13:08 – 01:20:38:03

Christopher

And so he's going to, you know, he is the Man of Sorrows. That's what has been prophesied. And so is he going to be led to the slaughter. Right. And and it's such a powerful scene. And then this is followed in my memory, just we see Jesus's face, and then these lips kiss. You know, it's a it's a bit close up.

 

01:20:38:03 – 01:21:18:11

Christopher

These lips kiss him on the cheek. And Jesus looks to one side and it's like, so with a kiss, you're going to betray me. Judas. And it's this beautiful, tender moment of just Judas is lips lean into the frame and they kiss and they retreat. And Jesus sort of just looks. It's this gorgeous close up. And so, and so, Jesus is now going to be led off to his fate, which is to be the man of sorrows, to suffer, to suffer the passion, passion, suffer for to endure suffering and to be resigned.

 

01:21:18:13 – 01:21:52:09

Christopher

The third part, to be resigned to the suffering, something that flies in the face of so many of us nowadays. We don't. We don't want to accept that. That's like unacceptable. Okay. And so, so Jesus is identified by Judas to the Roman soldiers with the kiss. And we now see both Judas, Jesus and Judas being set up in their roles by fate, by God with no way out.

 

01:21:52:11 – 01:22:36:06

Christopher

Jesus. Jesus must be crucified to become the superstar, to become the great holy figure that dies for our sins, just like Judas must betray him so that Jesus can attain superstar status. One must be the Savior and one must embody sin. And it's this realization, this betrayal, that this, this incredible pain and hurt that leads Judas to, in despair, kill himself and in his last lines, blaming God for casting him in the role.

 

01:22:36:12 – 01:22:56:10

Christopher

And again, it's so it's so perfect because it's like, oh, you're going to blame God for what you did out of your own free will, you know? And and that can that can sometimes be our responses. It was certainly my response in my teenage years watching this film. I was like, oh, you can blame God for doing this, you know?

 

01:22:56:10 – 01:23:20:01

Christopher

But but we have that reaction, oh, you're going to blame God for this, for being a dreadful, monstrous person. But then there's also the realization he's blaming God because the horror that he is being cast in this role, and that his only way to take himself out of it is to kill himself, you know, or the only way to take himself out of the pain.

 

01:23:20:01 – 01:23:44:21

Christopher

Let's get real, okay? The only way to take him out of the pain and the despair is to kill himself. It's like I want asked this planet. I want off this life. Okay? And so this theme of Savior and sin and the relationship of Savior to sin is played out to a certain extent in the scene with Pontius Pilate.

 

01:23:44:23 – 01:24:16:07

Christopher

Now Pontius Pilate, we've met earlier in the film, he's had a dream that he will be blamed for Jesus's death, and he's horrified at how many people will blame him for Jesus's death in this dream. And a rose, it's a completely. And speaking part is pilot's wife, who appears in about three scenes with him, but her look of pain and her wanting to believe in him but seeing a greater design at work.

 

01:24:16:09 – 01:24:37:19

Christopher

Whoever this actress was who played her, she doesn't have a single line in the whole film, but she plays it so beautifully. She plays it so well and so Pilate is then confronted with a dream come true. You know, he's brought Jesus, the king of the Jews. And he's to be crucified. And at first he palms them off.

 

01:24:37:21 – 01:24:56:23

Christopher

But okay, palm homes him off on Herod. You know, Herod's in charge of the Jewish state. I've got nothing to do with this. I'm the Roman governor, you know. Go to Herod, he'll make the judgment. And Herod passes and back to Pilate. So it's like I'm stuck with this guy, you know, the buck lands with me, you know, can't pass the buck anymore.

 

01:24:57:00 – 01:25:15:22

Christopher

And so every time Pilate, in his cross-examination of Jesus, is trying to get at the truth, trying to get at what Jesus's process is like, does he really believe he's the King of the Jews? That would make him a threat and be blasphemous? And all these sorts of things. And one wouldn't think twice about, you know, crucifying him for that.

 

01:25:15:22 – 01:25:36:16

Christopher

He's looking for it's what's fabulous about Pilates character in the film is that he's looking for a way to do what he has to do that would be justified. And he's also looking for a way out. Okay. He really is this threshold character. He's looking for a way like, okay, it's blasphemy. That's a crucify, a vile offense. I can go ahead and do that.

 

01:25:36:18 – 01:25:56:17

Christopher

But then he's not he's not saying he's king of the Jews. He's not defending himself. He's not trying to fight for himself. And so maybe I can find a way out. The man looks innocent to me. Doesn't he look innocent to all of you who were crying for his crucifixion? So it's really this ambivalent character, you know, Pontius Pilate.

 

01:25:56:19 – 01:26:32:14

Christopher

But every time Pilate tries to say, you know, you know, do you call yourself the king of the Jews? Jesus response that's what you say. So again, it's the Neptune mirror. You know, the water, the ocean mirroring the sky. You know, it's that's what you say. And so pilot continues to press for answers, and Jesus begins to respond more and more weekly that, everything was planned by God, you know, and you can't tell if that's a recitation or a realization, you know?

 

01:26:32:16 – 01:27:07:05

Christopher

And so Pilate, finally frustrated at Jesus, says, you know, and it's such a great line, don't let me stop your great self-destruction. Die if you want to, you misguided martyr. Okay, so don't let me stop your grapes of destruction. Die if you want to, you misguided martyr. There's such anger and despair mixed up in the two because Pilate knows he's doing something wrong, and he's trying to use the law to get out of it.

 

01:27:07:07 – 01:27:31:13

Christopher

You know, he is a conscientious carrier, but finally, his his anger, you know, you're you're you're this misguided martyr. And so the crowd is calling for crucified Jesus, crucified Jesus, as Judas had predicted. You know, Jesus having been taken away was a great circus. And, you know, but if he was really the Son of God, he wouldn't be able to be taken away.

 

01:27:31:13 – 01:27:50:21

Christopher

He's been taken away. Maybe he's not the Son of God, you know, and maybe we just we placed our faith and belief in someone who's just a weakling, someone who's a ridiculous dreamer. And how could we have been so stupid? Crucify him, crucify him! So it comes out of that. That rage of and that rage of disillusionment comes out.

 

01:27:50:23 – 01:28:20:24

Christopher

And this is also a part of Neptune. You know that Neptune does have an association with being debunked or with scandal coming out. And people who once praised and loved now anger and and really going in the extreme opposite to demand, and in this case the crucifixion of Jesus. And so Pilate in that wonderful moment and it's Close-Up in the film, washes his hands, you know, of of Jesus.

 

01:28:21:01 – 01:28:54:19

Christopher

And so now we come to the finale, the finale, from what I could take, is actually Jesus has been whipped and you just can't watch it in the film. It's it's awful. And I think Pilate counts out something like 40 lashes or something like that, or and it's just awful. And you see the pain and the blood and the crown of thorns, and you see all of this, and it's just so awful, any human being that this would be happening to it would be awful.

 

01:28:54:21 – 01:29:17:12

Christopher

You know, it's not just awful because it's Jesus or whatever. I mean, that's awful, but but any human being treated like this, it's just awful. And it's just unbearable watching it and the way that the music plays and it's just it's really almost unbearable to, to watch. And so it's the final moments. We know it's going to be the journey to, to the, the, the cross.

 

01:29:17:14 – 01:29:57:15

Christopher

Jesus carrying his cross, his own means of death. Awful, awful. But in the film, in the musical, the finale, this takes place in what's kind of assumed is Jesus awaiting crucifixion. And as he does, the spirit of Judas Returns. It's actually this fabulous number. Judas comes down on some sort of lift that's lowering him in, and and he's got a backup chorus and things like this, and, and, you know, Jesus is standing there bathed in light and and gone are the crown of thorns and the blood or whatever he looks absolutely pure and majestic.

 

01:29:57:17 – 01:30:27:08

Christopher

And Judas is going to now have this confrontation. He's going to have this conversation. And Judas sings to Jesus, this he says, every time I look at you, I don't understand why you let the things you did get so out of hand. You'd have managed better if you had it planned. Why do you choose such a backward time and such a strange land?

 

01:30:27:10 – 01:30:58:18

Christopher

If you'd come today, you could have reached a whole nation. Israel in four BC had no mass communication. And so the angels, you know, there's the backup chorus. You know, they sing Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, who are you? What have you sacked? Revised Jesus Christ Superstar? Do you think you're what they say you are? I love God, who are you?

 

01:30:58:18 – 01:31:27:03

Christopher

What have you sacrificed? Do you think you're what they say you are? All right, so this isn't celebratory. These are voices of doubt. These are voices of confrontation. And so Judas continues, and he says, tell me what you think about your friends at the top. Who do you think besides yourself is the pick of the crop? Buddha? Was he where it's at?

 

01:31:27:05 – 01:31:54:08

Christopher

Is he where you are? Could Muhammad move a mountain or was that just, I don't know, PR did you mean to die like that? Was that a mistake, or did you know your messy death would be a record breaker? Don't you get me wrong. I only want to know. So the angels come back in and they say, Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, who are you?

 

01:31:54:08 – 01:32:08:15

Christopher

What have you sacrificed? Jesus Christ Superstar, do you think you're what they say you are?

 

01:32:08:17 – 01:32:38:03

Christopher

This is another aspect of Neptune the martyr. We hear Pontius Pilate refer to it. If you want to be a crazy ass martyr, go ahead and kill yourself. Okay, but then here's the Judas in the chorus of angels. Come in. Do you think you're what they say you are? Martyr. Martyr syndrome. That was a big phrase that was, that showed up in the 1970s and into the 1980s.

 

01:32:38:05 – 01:32:58:11

Christopher

Martyr syndrome. It was someone who sacrificed themselves, you know, they were self-sacrificing in all kinds of ways. But they did it, you know, according to people who said that they were acting like a martyr, they did it for the attention, you know, they did it for the glory. They did it so they could show up as someone.

 

01:32:58:13 – 01:33:27:19

Christopher

And in my opinion, it was actually a derogatory remark. Okay, first of all, martyrs don't do it for the attention. Martyrs do it to self. Annihilate. Okay, that's what martyrdom is all about. I'm going to annihilate myself. And whatever way I choose to annihilate myself. And usually it's done through protest or resistance, okay? And it takes great will and it takes great fervor to martyr yourself.

 

01:33:27:21 – 01:33:49:00

Christopher

You know, people were often described as being caught up in a cause, you know, where they go and they martyr themselves. But in the 70s and 80s, and this was especially targeted at women, it was seen as like, oh, you're being manipulative. You know, you're whining, you're self-sacrificing, you're murdering yourself, and you're doing it to make me feel guilty.

 

01:33:49:03 – 01:34:13:20

Christopher

Okay, this was pretty much how it was referred to at that period of time and what it came from is someone else feeling guilty for the sorrow or the pain of someone that they've declared a martyr? So when you know, oh, that's martyr syndrome, or you're self-sacrificing to make me feel guilty and I resent you and I resent the manipulation.

 

01:34:13:20 – 01:34:46:19

Christopher

Okay, it was done to again paint the person who was suffering or who was sacrificing, who was enduring, who had resigned themselves to sacrifice, to paint them as manipulate death, as as trying to make you feel bad for the pain that they're feeling, you know? And that's gone on to describe, people in society, you know, of lesser means or people in society who suffer or people in society who really have a hard time of it.

 

01:34:46:21 – 01:35:04:17

Christopher

And it's usually the way that people who don't share those hard times paint them. So I don't have to think about you, you know, I don't have to feel guilty. I don't have to have. I resent my conscience being being raised. You know, we're perfect and I'm going to take it out at you because I'm going to call you a martyr.

 

01:35:04:22 – 01:35:29:04

Christopher

You know, you're this whiny, weak, enfeebled martyr, and I'm going to make you feel bad about doing that. I'm going to make you feel bad for making me feel bad. And so I always regarded, the martyr syndrome as being very disparaging, very insulting, and usually used by people who were feeling guilty for good reason. Okay. For the most part, some people weren't.

 

01:35:29:04 – 01:35:52:20

Christopher

But, you know, for the most part, people who were feeling guilty for good reason and who were blaming other people. And so hopefully you can sort of see with Neptune the complexity, you know, of how Neptune gets blamed for being too passive or the martyr or, you know, suffering, you know, in pain as pain is only for the weak and not for the strong.

 

01:35:52:20 – 01:36:24:10

Christopher

So so this is something that we can also expect to return as a theme. As as Neptune begins and continues its 14 year journey through Aries. But before we end for today, I wanted to share with you this one last moment of the film, and I'm taking it completely out of order. Again, it's a song that sung by Mary Magdalene and it's called Could We Start Again, please?

 

01:36:24:12 – 01:36:56:12

Christopher

And this is, you know, during the time that Jesus had been marched off to Pontius Pilate, to Herod, back to pilot, you know, and at some point, Mary Magdalene and her and Jesus's followers sing from a distance. They're watching Jesus, you know, get paraded back and forth. And the apostles are kind of no shows, you know, at this point, you know, they don't really show up at all, but they're kind of like in the background and in the film, it's Mary Magdalene who sings this, and she sings to Jesus as he's being marched back and forth.

 

01:36:56:12 – 01:37:27:21

Christopher

He's accompanied by these soldiers in the desert. She says to him, I've been living to see you, dying to see you. But it shouldn't be like this. This was unexpected. What do I do now? Could we start again, please? I've been very hopeful so far. Now, for the first time, I think we're going wrong. Hurry up and tell me that this is just a dream.

 

01:37:27:23 – 01:37:38:20

Christopher

Or could we start again, please? And it's such a profound and beautiful moment. And.

 

01:37:38:22 – 01:38:12:07

Christopher

Because it expresses remorse. And what's wonderful about this, coming from Mary Magdalene, is that she's already been deeply affected and moved by this love of Jesus, that she can't categorize, that she can't explain. She doesn't know the words to use to describe it. That wouldn't sound profane or simplistic or naive, just stupid. And but she's still moved by this very, very powerfully.

 

01:38:12:09 – 01:38:40:12

Christopher

And she's she's seeing him. Okay. She's she's really in this song, seeing him. You know, I've been living to see you, dying to see you. But it shouldn't be like this. She sees him now as man and message and that he's being marched off to a horrible death of pain and suffering that no one should have to go through.

 

01:38:40:14 – 01:39:09:15

Christopher

And she's like, can we do a rewind? Can we start again now that we know the things that we know? Can we go back in time and start again? Maybe this is a dream. This could be a dream. Can't we just start again? And this really gets at the agony of Jesus in the film. And they're very you know, Jesus has shared these parables.

 

01:39:09:15 – 01:39:35:14

Christopher

He's told these stories. He's reached people in these Neptunian ways. And these parables are famous. They're they're poetic and resonant to these to this day. But imagine living at a time that you're living in an occupied country and an occupied state, and you're being treated as nothing, and you're oppressed, and you could be persecuted at any point. Parables are nice.

 

01:39:35:16 – 01:40:07:21

Christopher

The poetry is sweet. But what's it really going to do for you? Right. And so this has been the mindset of the followers. And now that they're seeing Jesus like a lamb led to the slaughter, which is often depicted in art that follows this. They see in it the remorse that they feel. Some can say guilt, but I think on a deeper level it's remorse.

 

01:40:07:21 – 01:40:37:10

Christopher

You remorse means to cut yourself again. You revisit in your mind what you said, what you did, and it feels like you're being cut again and again and again. And it's combined with we didn't get it. You know, when Jesus says earlier, think while I am here, move while I am here. I'm not here for long. And everyone realizing we didn't get it, we we need to rewind.

 

01:40:37:10 – 01:41:15:16

Christopher

We need to walk this unpack. We need you as our leader, you know. And he's led to the crucifixion where he's killed. But it's more than just sacrifice. That takes place with crucifixion on the cross. What takes place? Think of the hands again. Hands that have been paid off, hands that bleed. Hands that have been washed clean, absolved of blame because I passed it on to a howling mob and I wasn't going to stand against it.

 

01:41:15:18 – 01:41:53:08

Christopher

Think of the hands again. And in the crucifixion, Jesus hands over his vision to his followers. And now that vision is in there, and that vision is in Mary Magdalene's hands. That vision is in Peter's hands. That vision is in Simon the Zealots hands. That vision. That vision is in our hands. Again, what is the message of Jesus in this film?

 

01:41:53:10 – 01:42:22:10

Christopher

The message of Jesus in the Gospels. The kingdom of God is at hand. It's often misinterpreted as coming. You know, it's on its way, you know, almost like a pizza. The delivery kingdom of God is on its way. 20 minutes, you know, the kingdom of God is at hand. It's here now in this world. And this is what makes the message so revolutionary.

 

01:42:22:12 – 01:42:59:01

Christopher

We are God's kingdom here and now, not the future, not some distant date where the rights are going to be wronged and people sent to hell and those to heaven. And you know, all these now it's here and it's now. And this is Neptune in Aries. Neptune takes the urgency of Aries, okay? And it turns it into a guiding star future, something that can be delayed, procrastinated.

 

01:42:59:01 – 01:43:29:23

Christopher

We can be asleep to the future. We can tell ourselves we'll get around to it one day. Aries is here and now. Okay. Aries is now or never. Aries is a zodiac sign that lives in the now, the here and the now. Okay, so this is the immediacy of Aries. This is the urgency of areas. This is the being here and now ness of Aries.

 

01:43:30:00 – 01:43:56:17

Christopher

We are God's kingdom. You know, according to this film, according to the Gospels, this film is based on this isn't a Jesus that's militant. This isn't a muscular, athletic Jesus. This isn't Jesus that's going to smite the enemies. That's exactly what he's arguing against throughout the film, you know? Hey, Jesus, you're the power and the glory. You can have 50,000 followers, you know, give it back to Rome.

 

01:43:56:17 – 01:44:27:07

Christopher

And Jesus is like, you do not get it. That is not power. That is not glory. Wake up! You know, ignite that fire. Wake up! It's not the fire to destroy. It's the fire of alertness, of not being asleep. It's a Gnostic fire. Gnosticism means knowledge, means getting it. Okay. And so what? Jesus passes off to his followers.

 

01:44:27:09 – 01:45:12:17

Christopher

Okay, is this world made by God, inhabited by people, made in God's image? What a marvelous and revolutionary thought. Each person is made in God's image. There wasn't, pallet. There wasn't a default human being. Okay? Each person is made in God's image. Each person is an aspect of God. All right? And so to understand God, we have to understand one another.

 

01:45:12:19 – 01:45:39:16

Christopher

We have to reach out to one another, which is such a hard thing to do when we're feeling threatened or like the other side is committed to destroying the planet of the culture of the people or whatever, and we have to fight back. It's such a hard thing to understand that each person is made in the image of God, and that we need to reach out to one another.

 

01:45:39:18 – 01:46:10:15

Christopher

Neptune is the mystery, the inexplicable mystery. Jupiter, the Cobra ruler of Pisces, may be wonder, and it is wonder, wandering and wonder. I wondered why I wonder. That's Jupiter but Neptune. Neptune's the mystery that you don't have the answer to that can't be explained. That that you rocket cognize viscerally, and all of the faculties of yourself as a human being.

 

01:46:10:17 – 01:46:50:16

Christopher

Neptune is in the zodiac sign of Aries. That is, a person as an individual, okay? That the divine person as an individual, because each person is a reflection made in the image of the divine. And so the mission, the mission of Neptune in Aries is that we, each of us, must reach out to one another, and when we reach out to one another, we are in charge of creating the world that we live in.