THE ASTROLOGY PORTAL: The Cathar Eclipse



The Harmonic Concordance
"The chart heard 'round the World"

Annotated T.O.C.
Brief summaries of
each of our articles.

Astrology Portal
•"The Chart Heard
'round the World"
•"A Choice for Life"
•"The Fixed Star Parans"
•"The Sabian Symbols"
•"A Birthing Chart"
•"The Point of Willful Attunement"
•"Another Moment of Ascension?"
•"Empowering the Self"
•"The Other Side of the Coin"
•"The Grand Sextile"
•"The Gaia Mind Meditation
of Jan. 23,1997"

•"Chiron at the Concordance"
An Interview with Joyce Mason

•"The Mercury-Uranus Connection"
•"From Six to Seven"
   The Concordance in the
     Seventh Harmonic
•"The Luna-Tick Fringe"
• "Heliocentric Signatures of
   the Harmonic Concordance"
•"The Cathar Eclipse"
•"The November Star of David"
•"Squares and Oppositions"
•"A Book about Women" Part I
•"An Auspicious Moment Arises"

THE CATHAR ECLIPSE
Paul Newman & Lorraine Exley

The Total Lunar Eclipse of November 9, 2003, which is also being called "The Harmonic Concordance", is an important point in the Lunar Saros 126 series which began with a lunar eclipse on July 8, 1210. As this is the birth eclipse of the entire series, it should have a relevance to the flavour of the whole 1280-year chain.

"Cathartic" and "Catharsis" are suggested keywords for this chain of lunar eclipses. Both words come from the same root as "Cathar" the religion of cleansing and purity whose followers were brutally wiped out in a papal crusade against them that began in 1209.

The Cathars, who resided mainly in the Languedoc region of southern France in the 12th and 13th centuries, were heretics in the eyes of the established Christian Church because they believed in reincarnation and placed a value on the feminine. Their teachers the parfaits (perfected ones) were both men and women. But their greatest heresy was a secret too potentially damaging for the Church of Rome to allow to survive, and the Holy Inquisition was created (in 1233) to hound out any lingering remnants of it. To some extent the Inquisition failed because these secrets were already in the hands of the Knights Templar, but on an outer level the Roman Church did succeed in establishing its version of the story of Christ to the eclipse of any other.

The 1210 Astrological Chart

This is the initial lunar eclipse in the Saros series 126, dated 8 July 1210, of which the "Harmonic Concordance" eclipse of 9 November 2003 is the last 'total' manifestation in the chain. (The chain finishes in 2490). The initial Moon should hold clues as to the energy spread throughout the 1280-year chain of eclipses and especially to the special eclipse in November 2003.

For charts of historical events we have found it advantageous to use one of the older sets of astrological degree symbols, and the "La Volasfera" set has been employed in this case. (For twentieth century and current events the Sabian Symbols are more favoured).

The La Volasfera symbol for the eclipsed Full Moon in 1210 (Capricorn 23) according to Sepharial's translation is: "A wineglass overturned".

There is something of a disaster implied here. An object that is life-giving and fortifying - a glass of wine - has been spilt. By analogy blood has been spilt. In Christian communion wine is symbolic of the blood of Christ.

The Knights Templar, who were at the height of their power at this time, wore the blood cross on their shirts, but this spilt blood image seems particularly relevant to the event that began in 1209 and continued for several years - The Albigensian Crusade in the Languedoc. This is when the entire Cathar religion was wiped out on an order from the Pope. Tens of thousands of men, women and children were slaughtered for their heretical beliefs. 100 years later the Templars themselves would be subject to a similar papal purge but they were better prepared and they were trained fighters, unlike the Cathars.

A fuller version of the Volasfera symbol for the initial eclipse Moon at Capricorn 23, (the French Janduz translation), reads as follows:
"A blindfolded woman pulls a man along by the hand. As he follows her, in his haste, he overthrows the table on which they seem to have had a romantic meal"

This is the "wineglass overturned" in greater detail. The symbol suggests that a woman is hurrying a man away from a meal that they were both sharing. Maybe she has advance news of hostile forces closing in and is trying to get them both to safety before it's too late. But she is also described as being "blindfolded" so it is not likely that she can see clearly what is going on either.

On another level this image may be a representation of Mary Magdalene trying to save Jesus Christ. The reason for the annihilation of the Cathars by the established Christian Church was to suppress the belief that Mary Magdalene was the wife of Jesus and that they engendered a bloodline. Moreover the suggestion of romance in the symbol, the sharing of earthly pleasures between Jesus and Mary, was another heretical point that would cause the papal armies to kill in the name of God.

A cleansing purge and suppression of beliefs are both phrases we could connect to this chain of lunar eclipses.

Other events relevant to 1210

England was under an Interdict for 5 years at this time (1208-1213) from the same pope (Innocent III) who ordered the annihilation of the Cathars. Celebration of the Mass was prohibited in all churches and the dead had to be buried in unconsecrated ground. This was because King John had refused the Pope's choice for the next Archbishop of Canterbury.

It may sound petty today, but if you were a god-fearing soul alive in England in 1210 and a loved one died you would be devastated to think that they were forbidden to be buried in the consecrated grounds of a church they had attended all their life. Many people must have been afraid to die at this time, fearing that their souls would be eternally shut out from heaven. Could it be that this November's eclipse, with its harmonious patterns, promises to bring these and other wandering souls to rest?

The 1210 eclipse is also close to another more famous historical event: the signing of Magna Carta in 1215. Obviously the Magna Carta didn't suddenly spring into being one morning in 1215, it was the end result of work and discussion of the previous years. It is claimed that a Templar Grand Master was standing next to King John when he signed Magna Carta.

On one level this may suggest that this November's eclipse, the Harmonic Concordance, has a bearing on human rights, or basic human freedoms - things which are generally associated with Magna Carta.

One of the most popular and influential pieces of writing in Europe at the time of the initial lunar eclipse was Wolfram von Eschenbach's 'Parzival'. In this mystical work Templar knights are described as guardians of the Holy Grail.

Eclipses in the Saros Series

The early eclipses in this Saros series ran as follows: July 8, 1210; July 18, 1228; July 30, 1246; Aug 9, 1264; Aug 20, 1282; Aug 30, 1300....
Each lunar eclipse will be roughly 18 years plus 10 days after the last.

The Total eclipses began on June 19, 1769 with the Peak eclipse (the middle one of the series) on August 13,1859.

This Peak Eclipse coincided with the year that Charles Darwin finally published his 'Origin of Species'. He had kept his heretical concepts quiet for some time because he feared a backlash. It was the most revolutionary and (for the church) dangerous idea for centuries.

In the 20th century the eclipses in this same series were: Sept. 15, 1913; Sep. 26, 1931; Oct 7, 1949; Oct 18, 1967; Oct 28, 1985.
Two things that happened in 1985 (the year of the last eclipse) and may be relevant are:

1. The Greenpeace boat 'Rainbow Warrior' was blown up in New Zealand, and
2. The LiveAid Concert took place.

The theme of going against the Establishment can be seen in both of these events. LiveAid was a positive expression of this - raising money to save lives where banks and established agencies were failing. The destruction of 'The Rainbow Warrior' was the other side of the coin, very similar to the Pope's crusade to crush anything that went against the establishment line in the 13th/14th century. It is interesting that it was the French secret service who destroyed the Greenpeace ship because it was the French king who mobilised against the Templars. However many of the original Templars (and Cathars) were French themselves of course.

The eclipse before 1985 was in October 1967. This was around the time of student unrest. Although this happened in many countries across the world it was particularly bloody in France.

There does appear to be a theme of going against the establishment or persecution by the establishment that runs through this entire eclipse chain. In 2003, the current eclipse year, many people have been against the establishment particularly in terms of the Gulf War. And again the name of one nation stands out: France.

The Sabian symbol of the eclipsed Full Moon in 2003 is "A symbolic battle between Swords and Torches" (Taurus 17). This may hold a reference to Mithras, the sun-god who was often pictured with a Sword in one hand and a Torch in the other. Dane Rudhyar's keynote interpretation of the symbol is: "Refusing to depend on the past, the seeker turns warrior, fighting anew the eternal 'Great War'".

Reprinted with permission of: The Wessex Astrology Circle Website

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