Issued: 08/16/22

   PLEASE NOTE:  All bracketed material may be authorial comments, attempts at proper syntax, or minimal rewordings of Scripture for the sake of clarity and continuity.  These emendations will not be italicized.  The “/” will be used to signify “and/or.”

   In differentiating between Yahweh of hosts [later Jesus] and Yahweh the Most High God, lower case letters have been used when discussing the former; upper case letters are reserved for the One and Only Highest God.  Since Jesus was at pains to differentiate himself from God the Father, we have followed his lead here.

   The term neo-Christians will be used to differentiate between false Christians and Jesus’ true followers.

   Graphics convey messages as effectively as descriptive text; thus it is not unusual for satanic shenanigans to involve astronomical/astrological special effects.

Solar-related Symbols

   In our series All About Satan, we discussed Satan’s habit of wrapping himself in Scriptural symbols emblematic of Jesus.  Jesus was “Light” (Colossians 1:15; Revelation 3:14) to Satan’s “Darkness” (Genesis 1:3-5).  In Scripture’s way of using natural realities to signify spiritual truths, [what we often refer to as shadow vs. substance], the sun in the sky “lords” it over darkness, thus delimiting the realms of day and night (Genesis 1:14-18).  The moon, devoid of intrinsic luminosity, is only able to reflect the sun’s innate splendor; similarly, Satan “shines” by reflecting or—as in the case at Guadalupe—deflecting Jesus’ glory.

   This interaction leads to a slew of Scriptural teachings.  In Malachi 4:2 Yahweh the Most High refers to His Messiah as the Sun of Righteousness; and for good measure, He remarks on the healing quality of this Messiah’s “wings,” not surprising given that Yahweh of hosts, who is the Father’s spokesperson (John 1:1, 5:37) and Malachi’s confidant (Malachi 4:1), is also the Father’s proxy Angel God (Exodus 3:2,6,14, 23:21; Isaiah 44:6; John 18:6, 20:28; Acts 27:23).

   The resurrected Jesus calls himself “the bright morning star” (Revelation 22:16); while during his ministry he characterized himself as the light of the world banishing darkness (John 8:12).  Hip to this symbolism, Paul told the Thessalonians he and they were “children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness” (1Thessalonians 5:5).  Perhaps borrowing from Psalms 119:105 and Proverbs 4:18, Peter likened Scripture to “a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns, and the morning star [obviously Jesus] arises in your hearts” (2Peter 1:19).  The moon under the feet of the symbolic Church of Revelation 12:1 is emblematic of Satan, the “serpent” biting her heel/at war with her seed (Genesis 3:15; Revelation 12:17, 20:2).  And Jesus described the end of God’s period of grace—when He will turn the world over to Satan—as the night when no one could work (John 9:4); perhaps expanding on Joel 2:31:  “The sun will be turned into darkness [Jesus giving way to Satan], and the moon into blood [Satan steeped in the blood of victims during the Great Tribulation and final plagues], before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes [second coming/Judgment Day/Armageddon?].”

Consequently, Satan set out to establish sun gods in humanity’s pantheons to direct human worship to himself.  One such god was the Roman Sol, the personification of the Sun, whose cult was officially established on 25 December 274 AD by Emperor Aurelian under an upgraded name:  Sol Invictus, or Unconquered Sun.  With this ploy, Satan set out to usurp Jesus’ solar-symbolism in two ways:  By transmogrifying Jesus into the new Helios/Apollo, a notion advanced by “church father” Ambrose (c. 339-397), who described Jesus as the true sun outshining pagan, fallen versions; and by targeting Sol’s birthday as Jesus’ own, thereby celebrating himself as the savior of mankind.

Christmas

   Nobody knows when Jesus was born; Scripture offers suggestive but not definitive clues; more to the point Jesus did not ask followers to celebrate his birth, something he was in the habit of doing with important doctrinal points like baptism (Matthew 3:13-15) and the Lord’s Supper (Luke 22:19-20).

   Since Catholicism took off under pagan Rome, theory has it that pagan festivals/dates were deliberately chosen by early neo-Christians to facilitate the spread of Christianity throughout the Roman world.  Neo-Christian holidays fashioned after pagan ones ostensibly paid homage to Christian stalwarts/behaviors.  In the case of 25 December it was Jesus who was exalted, not Sol, the personification of the Sun, even when tradition and practice inextricably rolled both into one.

   To this day neo-Christians celebrate Jesus’ birthday on 25 December, which came in the heels of the Roman Saturnalia at winter solstice, extending from the 17^th to the 23^rd.  According to Justinus, an ancient Roman historian, the eponymous Saturn had been a pre-Roman king of extraordinary justice, in whose realm men were not slaves (John 15:15); owned no private property but communally shared all things (Acts 4:32-35); and lived in unity (Acts 2:1).  The Saturnalia encouraged the blurring of social distinctions:  Ranks being made equal (Luke 6:40), masters sat and dined with their slaves (Isaiah 25:6; Luke 12:37, 22:29-30).  It would seem this Saturn was a social trailblazer espousing aspects of the full-blown socialism Jesus preached, but which modern conservative evangelicals and politicians ceaselessly vilify.  By their words you will know them (Luke 6:45).

   Perhaps these Jesus-like behaviors were deemed precedents justifying Christmas.  Were they not in the spirit of the Jesus who preached to love others as oneself and to treat others as one expected to be treated (Matthew 7:12, 22:39)?  What could be wrong with adopting innocuous and enjoyable customs such as exchanging gifts with accompanying verses [greeting cards]; or giving toys to children; or giving gratuities to hired/slave personnel [bonuses]?  What did it matter if Saturn or Sol or whatever poster-deity was commemorated as long as Jesus’ objectives were being accomplished?

   Well, the “virus” in the program had many fiery-darted permutations.  Since Jesus’ date of birth was a moot point, whoever was being honored on 25 December as savior of mankind was not necessarily him.  Worse still, Jesus was not the Roman Catholic version of Father = Son:  He had never claimed to be on a par with the Father or His Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:31-32, 24:36; John 14:28).  Then there was the attached double-whammy:  25 December celebrations normalized Trinitarian dogma, in which Son and Father were deemed to be One Person.  In point of fact as Yahweh of hosts, the coming Jesus had railed against that mindset in Hosea 7:13, because the God Who he served (John 7:16 12:19) and invested him with power (Matthew 6:13; John 10:37-38; 1Corinthians 15:24-28) would be deprived of His rightful worship—as the Most High Himself attested in Hosea 11:7.

   Bottom line:   25 December celebrates Satan as humanity’s savior and neo-Christianity’s god.  Jesus may be the reason for the season, but the case is more of Jesus being the excuse for Satan’s ruse. 

Solar Special Effects

   Another solar trick was instrumental in launching Roman Catholicism as the official empire religion.  Eusebius wrote that marching upon Rome, Constantine looked up and saw a cross of light above the sun with words to the effect that by that sign, he would conquer.  In an alleged, subsequent dream  Jesus told Constantine to inscribe his soldiers’ shields with the Chi Rho sign, a cipher using two Greek letters that later became emblematic of Christ. ¹  Having conquered, Constantine ditched Sol Invictus to embrace the Catholic god who delivered the goods and had his back—though just in case,  he built a triumphal arch to the goddess Victoria in 315 and made sacrifices to Apollo, Diana, and Hercules.  By 317 AD Constantine was putting the Chi Rho on his coinage.

   In 321 he declared venerable Sun-day as the day of rest for all citizens; some “church fathers” rubber-stamped the motion by arguing that the day of Jesus’ resurrection—which was the first day of the week (John 20:1,19) and not the Seventh Day of the Commandment over which Jesus was Lord (Genesis 2:3; Exodus 20:8-11; Matthew 12:8)—was of greater transcendence than the Jewish Sabbath.  In 325 Constantine convoked the First Council of Nicaea, where the Nicene Creed was formulated regarding Jesus’ nature as both divine [he was] and co-eternal [he was not↔Genesis 1:1-3; Psalms 2:7, 89:27; Colossians 1:15; Revelation 3:14]  with the Father.  Arianism, which had the correct Scriptural scoop on Jesus’ nature, was anathematized.  Constantine was not a fan of religious disputes; he wanted everybody on the same Catholic page—an objective enforced by his papal clones ever since.  Constantine saw himself as the enforcer of doctrine, the up-rooter of heresies, and the glue of ecclesiastical unity.

      How do we know that Constantine’s visions, awake and dreaming, were Satan’s work?  Because Constantine was a warrior who had shed human blood, the two demerits that rendered David ineligible to build Yahweh’s Temple (1Chronicles 28:3).  That honor would fall to Solomon, a man of peace (2Samuel 7:12-14; 1Chronicles 28:6), who was shadow to the substance of Samuel’s prophecy:  Jesus.  How do we know this?  Because the Father had promised to establish His Son’s throne and kingdom forever—incontestably not the apostate Solomon’s case (1Kings 11:9-13).  God’s Universal Church, the true Temple no man could build and expected to be inhabited by Him (Isaiah 66:1; Acts 7:48, 17:24), was a spiritual construct composed of human bricks (Ephesians 2:19-22, 5:23; Hebrews 3:6; 1Peter 2:5), Jesus himself being the foundation stone (Isaiah 28:6; Acts 4:11; 1Corinthians 3:11) and Peter on record as the second one (Matthew 16:18).

   Moreover Constantine fitted the profile of every wielder of the sword fated to die by the sword (Matthew 26:52)—a death sentence echoing throughout the Bible (Genesis 9:6; Exodus 21:12; Revelation 13:10).  There will be those pointing to bloodshed by Old Testament Israelites as evidence that Yahweh endorsed war to accomplish His agenda.  But these were the so-called “times of ignorance” (Acts 17:30), when transgressions were permitted despite Mosaic injunctions because of Israel’s pigheadedness (Deuteronomy 9:4-6; Jeremiah 4:4; Matthew 19:7-8); to be superseded, via greater spiritual enlightenment, by the new covenant mediated through Jesus.  And prescribing ordnance for that endeavor, we have Zechariah 4:6:  “This is the word of Yahweh to Zerubbabel [the builder of Yahweh’s Temple after the Babylonian Captivity (Ezra 3:8, 5:2; Haggai 2:21-23)], saying, ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says Yahweh of hosts.”  In other words, the sword Jesus supplied in his battles for God’s Kingdom:  The Holy Spirit conveying the word of God (Matthew 10:34; John 16:13; Ephesians 6:17).

   So Constantine was no Christian warrior; neither were “saints” like Joan of Arc, Crusaders, emperors, armies of the unholy Roman Empire, soldiers who decimated non-Christian populations, or any human being who killed another human being ostensibly to serve God.  What all of these collectively enabled and abetted, consciously or not, was the expansion of Satan’s realm of death (Hebrews 2:14), strewn with the bodies of the one fourth of humanity he was allowed to grind underfoot (Isaiah 14:17,20; Revelation 6:8).

Satan’s Historical Solar Apps

   Sun-worship in particular is a sore point with Yahweh:  “Then [Yahweh of hosts/Jesus↔Ezekiel 1:24, 8:1-3; Daniel 10:6; Revelation 1:15] brought me into the inner court of the Yahweh’s house.  And behold, at the entrance to Yahweh’s house, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs to Yahweh’s house and their faces toward the east; and they were prostrating themselves eastward toward the sun. He said to me, ‘Do you see this, son of man?  Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah [symbolic of Christendom] to commit the abominations which they have committed here, that they have filled the land with violence and provoked me repeatedly?  For behold, they are putting the twig to their nose.  Therefore, I indeed will deal in wrath:  My eye will have no pity nor will I spare; and though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, yet I will not listen to them’” (Ezekiel 8:16-18)—as reiterated in Proverbs 28:9 and John 9:31.

   Solar symbolism is a winner-app for Satan, used in religions like Hinduism, where a clockwise-facing swastika [卐] symbolizes the sun; in Jainism where it is associated with the seventh reincarnation of a savior/spiritual teacher; and in Buddhism where it emblematizes the auspicious footprints of the Buddha who preached rejection of worldly goods and freedom from suffering—notions evocative of Jesus.  Swastikas were also used to symbolize lightning bolt-wielding deities like Indra, Zeus, Jupiter and Thor.

   On the nationalistic front, suggestive patterns can be found in 701 AD Japan, when it is alleged that Emperor Monmu used a flag bearing a sun-motif—emperors being, according to Japanese mythology, direct descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu.  Nazi Germany downloaded the swastika as it national symbol with one variation:  Swastikas were tilted upwards, not clockwise or counterclockwise like its Hindu counterparts.  If the Hindu-clockwise orientation linked the sun with prosperity and good luck, the counterclockwise version [卍] symbolized night and assorted traditions associated with the goddess Kali, the mother of all living beings, divine protector providing release from suffering.  The tilted swastika suggested it could swing either way to accomplish Nazi objectives. Over time Kali was worshipped as the Divine Mother, Mother of the Universe, an expression of the unchanging, unifying and eternal truth that does not change but causes change in all things—attributes applicable only to the Most High God.  You connect the dots.

Astrology

   But why stop with the sun when stars are equally handy?  We do know how Yahweh feels about astrology:  “When you look up to the heavens and see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, do not be led astray and bow down to them and serve them…[man or woman who have served other gods and worshipped them]—whether the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven—[after knowing I have forbidden it…they will die]” (Deuteronomy 4:19, 17:2-5).  That phrase, “the host of heaven,” refers to angels both good and bad; plus the non-existent departed believed to be up there interceding for the living:  It is they whose identities satanic beings appropriate to communicate with the living.  Of course we know that good angels discourage their worship (Revelation 22:9); bad angels are no longer in Heaven but would love TLC in their dark imprisonment (Jude 1:6; Revelation 12:7-9); and the dead are powerless to intervene in human affairs (Ecclesiastes 9:5-6).

   According to astrology, natal charts decode information that planets transmit as they move through the houses of the zodiac, a case of inanimate creations looked upon by intelligent creatures as gurus for guidance and wisdom—the aligned leading the mind.   The insulting thing about astrology as far as God is concerned—as indeed is the case with idols—is that people seek guidance and protection from created things rather than their Creator (Isaiah 8:19); consequently, in their hour of need, God promises to wash His hands off their fans and tells them to seek help from stars (Isaiah 47:13-15) and idols (Judges 10:14).  All of which are non-issues to spiritualists, mediums, and astrologers raking in big bucks from their respective clients.   Verily some peoples’ meat is lots of others’ poison.

   For Judeo-Christians He has a different message:  “Do not learn the way of the nations:  Although the nations tremble at them, do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens” (Jeremiah 10:1-2).  Still astrology serves a useful purpose:  It establishes a connection between Asherah, Baal, and the host of heaven (2Kings 17:16)—in today’s equivalents, “Mary,” Satan and his minions, whether they be imprisoned angels or heaven-relocated, Roman Catholic “saints.”  All of which leads us to the one Marian apparition where astrology was exalted:  Guadalupe.

Guadalupe’s Symposium on Astrology

   Though described as “clothed with the sun,” the symbolic Heavenly Jerusalem/Church depicted in Revelation 12:1 is not emitting sunlight:  Her dazzling brilliance is in itself symbolic of the “bright, clean, linen garment” characterizing the righteous acts of God’s holy people (Revelation 19:8).  Such is the garment of the Most High God (Daniel 7:9), that of angels (Mark 16:9; John 19:12), and those of the redeemed (Revelation 7:13-14); we can also assume these were the “fine garments” given Moses to meet heavenly-wardrobe guidelines (Zechariah 3:4-5; Revelation 3:4-5).  Though Isaiah 30:26 tells us the new sun in God’s Kingdom will be seven times brighter than the one overhead, the Heavenly Jerusalem itself has no need of it, being illuminated by God’s glory and Jesus’ “lamp” (Revelation 21:22-23).  Thus we are being told that Jesus’ luminosity has no factual connection with the sun he created on the Fourth Day (Genesis 1:14-19; John 1:3; Colossians 1:16-17); which by extension argues that Jesus, Creator of humankind, had no factual connection with created Mary—or created Joseph, for that matter (Matthew 1:18-20; Luke 1:34-35).²  The solar connection is strictly symbolic.

   Nevertheless relying on a literal interpretation of Revelation 12:1, Satan devised a “Mary” who always appeared blindingly resplendent and prone to solar legerdemain, like those at Fátima and Medjugorje.  At Guadalupe Juan Diego’s tilma portrayed “Mary” hiding the sun, which if a symbol for Jesus, the Sun of Righteousness, suggested she was lead performer and Jesus backstage lighting.  The moon under her feet was the moon god ruling over night:  in Revelation the serpent warring against God’s saints, but on the tilma—as ally rather than enemy—a pedestal balancing her act?³  Someone has measured the tilt of “Mary’s” head as an indication of her humility:  23.5 degrees, Earth’s tilt in relation to the Sun.  The bow on “Mary’s” waist resembles a four-petal flower, to Mexican Indians evocative of their flower of the sun, symbolizing plenitude.

   When it comes to full-blown astrology, the cosmos is the proverbial limit.  It has been posited that the stars on “Mary’s” mantle correspond to their celestial positions on the winter solstice at dawn on the morning of 12 December 1531,⁴ the day when the tilma was unfurled and Guadalupe’s image first seen.  And wonder of wonders, the stars on the mantle are a mirror image—meaning backwards—of the universe reflected off her at that particular moment!

   One begins to see an avalanche effect, the tilma being the snowball that begins rolling down the slopes of men’s imaginings to bury Judeo-Christian doctrine.  What follows are extracts from articles purporting links between astrology and Guadalupe.  These are not to be interpreted as endorsing the astrology Yahweh reviles and whose practice He promises to obliterate and punish, but as proof patent of the lengths to which men will enable and abet Satan’s ensnaring of human souls.

   One author maintains that God uses astrology as His own social media platform to broadcast momentous events to humanity.  For him this means legitimizing past cosmic observations—i.e., the Magi, believed to have been keen astrologers, but who in Scripture were informed by an angel [symbolized by a star in Matthew’s Gospel] of Jesus’ impending birth.  Matthew’s narrative makes that point very clear:  The “star” appears and disappears on the road ahead of the Magi, and finally hovers over the manger where the Magi locate Jesus (Matthew 2:-12).  In this context the Magi are emblematic of Gentiles who would embrace the Jesus rejected by his own nation, as would anyone hand-picked by God as worthy of His help, but not straight-jacketed by religious mindsets impervious to Judeo-Christian faith (Matthew 12:38-42; Mark 6:4; Luke 4:24-30).

   In the 1990s a Mexican astronomer by the name of Juan Hernandez Illescas studied the configurations of the stars on Guadalupe’s mantle.  Mr. Illescas reputedly used computer technology to regress the constellation map to the dawn of Guadalupe’s “miracle.”  He found out that the forty-six stars on the mantle corresponded with the fifteen constellations visible in the night sky over Mexico on 12 December 1531[Julian = 22 December 1531 Gregorian].⁵ Five other constellations with mind-blowing theological significance would have been superimposed on “Mary’s” head, tunic, and feet had they not been invisible.  It is four of these, Corona Borealis, Virgo, Leo, and Gemini that link us to the next, unabashedly astrological point of view.

   On the tilma’s astrological chart, the Corona Borealis is at “Mary’s” head, for is she not the queen of heaven?  The constellation Virgo is over her heart—for is she not a virgin?   And Leo is over Jesus’ portal into the world, “Mary’s” womb, for is Jesus not the Lion of Judah (Genesis 49:9-12; Revelation 5:5)?

  Rolling on, Gemini with its stars Castor [“ruler and judge”?] and Pollux [“suffering laborer”?] represent the marriage between Christ and his Church stand:  Like any one body, mortal or mystical, it needs two legs to stand on.⁶  And sliding down a bit, the star Alhena is at  “Mary’s” heel, a name purportedly meaning “the one whose heel was to be bruised,”⁷ but which on-line Arabic translations render as “the brand” on a camel’s back, or ring—take your pick but no bruising seems to be intended.   Lastly, the star Wasat, found within Pollux’s “body,” whose name is translated as “seated within this place,” is dubbed an enthroned star—evocative of “Mary’s” heavenly queen-ship.  The Arabic, by the way, is “center” or “middle ground,” since Wasat is halfway from Alhena [heel] to Pollux [head].”  Such pragmatists, those Arabs of yore.

   For the “creature features” aspect of “Mary’s” tilma, the work of one Mr. S. is referenced.  If we have the right party, Mr. S. is a conspiracy theorist, Christian apologetic who advocates that the Earth is at the center of the universe; that it does not rotate nor does it orbit the Sun; and who would have Galileo condemned for undermining the authority of his church—guess which?   Mr. S. seized on the notion that visible constellations Hydra, Scorpio, and Drago were a “mock trinity” of predators surrounding “Mary’s” heart; but no fear, her head was unthreatened.  We are told Mr. S. could not help but make a connection to Revelation’s unholy trinity:  Dragon, Beast, and False Prophet (Revelation 20:10).

   To those of us who accept Yahweh’s stated position on astrology, the following condescending words:  God uses the zodiac as His tool to communicate His intentions via astronomical expressions; and to think otherwise is shortsighted.  After all Job mentions certain constellations (Job 9:9, 38:31-32).

   True, but not as an endorsement of astrology:  To make the point that being created objects, Yahweh can dispose of them as no man can, for His power knows no bounds; consequently mere mortals like Job himself are in no position to expect, demand or negotiate terms with Him (Job 38, 39, 40:2,8, 41:11).  Ditto the stars encircling the head of the woman in Revelation 12:  Their significance is symbolic, not astrological, for they are emblematic of the Israel (Genesis 37:9) channeling the salvation (John 4:22) that in turn opened the doors to the true Mother of all Judeo-Christians, the Heavenly Jerusalem (Galatians 4:26); whose spiritual Son, Jesus, would be firstborn among her countless progeny.  And this is why her twelve doors are inscribed with the names of the sons of Israel; and why she rests on twelve foundational stones named after the twelve Apostles who helped Jesus “build” her up (Revelation 21:12-14).  The real Mary played no role, was not chosen, thus neither wanted nor needed, in that mystical endeavor.

   It does not matter whether the above fancies are true [perhaps given Satan’s craftiness] or not:  They contribute to the normalization and endorsement of a practice reviled by God.  After all, Marian apparitions are geared towards the same objective:  To supplant Scriptural teachings with a counter-narrative lethal to men’s souls.  If God says there will be no peace for any mortal flesh (Jeremiah 6:13-14, 12:12; 1Thessalonians 5:3), “Mary” promises peace if the word converts to her immaculate heart.  If God decries the worship of false gods in high places, “Mary” will ask to be worshipped in shrines atop mountainous regions.  If God forbids astrology and amulets, “Mary” will wrap herself in stars and dangle rosaries.

   Guadalupe’s astrological innuendos were a bit overdone—to the point that Haley’s Comet was then shooting over Mexico’s horizon.  Perhaps Satan timed “Mary’s” appearance to coincide with the comet’s return, which would have brought to mind—as it still does—the Star of Bethlehem as a sign of divine intervention?  Comets, after all, have long been thought harbingers of disaster or momentous events; so to Guadalupe’s fans it was part of the course that a shooting star [which comets are not] should herald the birth of a new civilization—meaning burgeoning neo-Christianity wiping out an old and intellectually advanced way of life.

    The star-studded mantle with its mythical color-connotations struck a chord with Mexican Indians; but as “Mary” had upcoming gigs in her old, stomping grounds,⁸ she retired it from the wardrobe of subsequent apparitions.  These required ethereal garments in muted colors, more in keeping with humility and Christian decorum (1Peter 3:3-5), aiming for transcendence rather than mythological iconography.

¹ An example of Satan’s “insinuate-first-let-men-implement-later-domino-effect” approach.

  The letters in question were Chi and Rho= ΧΡ, shorthand for ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ [Christos] ↔ ☧.

   Some scholars engaged in the “Athenian thing” (Acts 17:21) argue that Lactantius, the Latin historian relating Constantine’s dream, described a Tau-Rho or Staurogram, a superimposition of the Greek letters Tau (T) and Rho (P).

² It follows that if “in Christ the fullness of God’s nature dwells embodied” (Colossians 2:9), Jesus’ body had to be of divine origin:  Jesus’ body was God’s Temple (John 2:19-21, 14:10), so it could never have had a genetic foundation (Acts 7:48)—the reason why Mary’s conception had to be sexless as well as DNA-less.

³ In neo-Christian iconography, the crescent moon references “Mary’s” perpetual virginity and sometimes her immaculate conception/assumption.  Talk about bundling up subliminal messages!

⁴ According to the Julian calendar then in use which was ten days off the Gregorian calendar later adopted.  That makes the equivalent date 22 December 1531, the winter solstice.

⁵ The apex of the solstice was at 10:40 am, which Mr. Illescas deduced was likely the precise moment seer Juan Diego unfurled his tilma before Mexico’s bishop.  For special effects Northern sky constellations appear on the right side of the mantle; Southern sky constellations on the right.

⁶ Actually in the Greek myth, Castor, who was mortal, died; and Pollux, who was immortal, begged Zeus, their mutual father, to bring Castor back to life.  There is a plethora of different scenarios regarding this event.

  Despite the job descriptions attributed above, Castor was a skilled horseman and Pollux was great at boxing. They were among the original Argonauts; prayed to Zeus for the ship’s safe emergence from a terrible storm; and thus became saviors of sailors.

   Once promoted to star-dom, a sighting of Castor and Pollux in the heavens was indicative of a prosperous voyage.

⁷ Naturally the author wanted to make a spurious connection to Genesis 3:15.

⁸ Our Lady of Guadalupe is one of Spain’s three black Madonnas.  For her Mexican gig, “Mary’s” complexion matched that of Mexican Indians, so that she is known there as “morena,” meaning “lighter-skinned.”

   The Spanish version comes with its own pedigree.  Allegedly, the idol worshipped at her present location in Cáceres, Spain, was carved out of cedar by Luke the Evangelist [the author of the Book of Acts who recorded Paul’s disgust with Athenian idolatry (Acts 17:16,29)]; somehow it got to Gregory I [540-604 AD], who then gave it to Leander [534-601 AD], Archbishop of Seville.

    In 712 Seville was attacked by the Moors; some fleeing priests took the idol and buried it in the hills near the Guadalupe River in the region of Extremadura.

    Early in the 14^th Century, “Mary” appeared to a humble herder, Gil Cordero, looking for a missing animal in the mountains.  “Mary” sent Gil to the local priests with instructions to dig at the spot she had appeared; once the idol was rediscovered, it was put in a small shrine which were the beginnings of the present-day monastery—Guadalupe, Lourdes and Fátima redux.  Cáceres lies at an elevation of 1,506 feet.

   Though only the wooden idol’s hand and face are visible, “Mary” is dressed in brocaded vestments “suitable for the queen of heaven,” stitched in gold thread and festooned with precious gems, indicative of her queenly status—vis-à-vis the unfashionable Jesus—and the bank accounts of donors subsidizing her wardrobe and replacements.

   There is a black Christ Child on Guadalupe’s lap, conforming to a style known as the “Seat of Wisdom.”  Gemini, one of the invisible constellations on the Mexican tilma, would have been superimposed over “Mary’s” Seat of Wisdom—i.e., her knees or lap.