The Baptist Revelation

Part 2: The Real Meaning behind the 'John gesture'

Copyright © G Osborn. 2006. All Rights Reserved

In The Sion Revelation (2006) the authors Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince write: 

Now in many of da Vinci's paintings, we find reference to the 'John gesture' in that we find the index finger pointing upwards. Not all these paintings feature John making this gesture, but many would agree that this is John's signature.

  We find it in the painting of The Last Supper, where Thomas is thrusting an upright index finger at Christ. We find it in da Vinci's first portrayal of John the Baptist, who looks rather androgynous (male-female) and expressing the Mona Lisa smile. We also find it in the painting The Adoration of the Magi.

"We were excited to discover that Cocteau's [Jean Cocteau] symbolism in the French Church mural [Notre Dame de France, Picadilly London] parallel's Leonardo's The Last Supper, a similarity that was both unexpected and astonishing, especially as the two artists both appear on the list of the Priory's Grand Masters, five hundred years apart. As we explained in Chapter 1, it was Leonardo's obsession with John the Baptist - as expressed in the symbolism of his paintings, particularly the 'John gesture' - that led us to uncover the whole Johannite heresy. It was therefore extraordinary to read the closing passage of a short essay that Cocteau contributed to a 1959 book on Leonardo. Cocteau refers to an earlier poem, Homage to Leonardo, repeating its last two stanzas and explaining: 'They say better than this short piece what Leonardo inspires in me and the fraternal love I bear for him'. The final verse clearly refers to Leonardo's St John the Baptist and the 'John gesture', describing how his finger dexterously points the way to a mysterious realm in which da Vinci is triumphant"." [1]

Detail fromThe Adoration of the Magi  by Leonardo Da Vinci

St John the Baptist by Leonardo Da Vinci

However, as we have seen on the previous page, there are also all these other paintings of John the Baptist - Leonardo da Vinci's amongst them - where John is clearly pointing at the angle of 23.5 degrees. Even in The Adoration of the Magi (see detail above) - we find the finger at 23.5 degrees, although many accept that it was meant to be pointing upwards. So then, the 'John gesture' is really related to both these directions - i.e., straight upwards (vertical) . . . and also at the angle of 23.5 degrees, an important detail which the researchers, and scholars of both art and symbolism have all missed.

  Its ironic that those of us who are interested in these mysteries have overlooked this because it actually leads us to the answers that many of us are now desperate to find in regard to the deeper mysteries surrounding what was first presented in The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail by Leigh, Lincoln and Baigent (1982) . . . what was then presented in The Templar Revelation by Picknett and Prince (1997) . . . which then led to The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown 2002 . . . and now to The Sion Revelation by Picknett and Prince (2006). And still we have all overlooked the true meaning behind what is indeed a "code" or "cipher" even in this important clue which has been given to us in the 'John gesture' which Picknett and Prince first brought attention to.

  So what is the 'John gesture' really telling us?

  Well now faced with these obvious references to the obliquity angle of the earth, the simple answer is this:

  The 'John gesture' is expressing two positions relating to the earth's axis.

  A) being vertical and B) also at the angle it is today . . . around 23.5 degrees.

  In my view, Jean Cocteau's words which express his views on how John's finger "dexterously points the way to a mysterious realm" is most likely associated with the earth as it 'would be' or 'was', when and if the earth was upright as many people believe(d).

  This timeless age, would be the realm associated with Arcadia, the ancient Egyptian Tep Zepi ("First Time") - the Biblical Paradise known as the 'Garden of Eden' and also belief in the mysterious realm of Agartha or Shambhala associated with what Prof. Joscelyn Godwin calls the 'Polar Tradition'. See Godwin's book Arktos.

  Furthermore, the artist Raphael portrayed Leonardo as Plato in his painting The School of Athens walking alongside Aristotle, his pupil. They are both carrying leather bound copies of Plato's work Timaeus and Critias - which contain Plato's discourses on Atlantis.

  From their hand gestures they are obviously discussing something - most likely something related to Plato's work.

  Leonardo as Plato is depicted pointing upwards - the upright “John gesture”, but because I knew what I was looking for, I also found that his left hand and the bent index finger was at an angle of 23.5 degrees.

  We are told that the traditional interpretation is that Aristotle's hand being stretched outward horizontally and "roughly parallel to the ground, symbolizes his connection to Earth, whereas Plato's finger, pointing towards Heaven, symbolizes the teacher's more metaphysical view of the universe". [2]

Its a simple conclusion but one with wide-ranging implications and one which is difficult to prove.

  As Picknett and Prince tell us: "He [Cocteau] was also keenly interested in the controversial 'catastrophist' theories of Immanuel Velikovsky, calling Worlds in Collision 'indispensable."  [3] 

. . . Amongst other things, Velikovsky's theory was that the earth suffered a dramatic poleshift.

  Here's another relevant quote from The Sion Revelation by Picknett and Prince in regard to the phrase ET IN ARCADIA EGO:

A very significant line, and if so, then is not this "land of Angels" [Shining Ones, Annunaki, Nephilim etc] really a place 'in time' or "out of time" . . . being the "land" world or Age of the upright axis as indicated by the upraised finger? As we have seen, the other index fingers in over twenty St John paintings are pointing at 23.5 degrees as if referencing the world as it is now, and if so, then this would mean that the upraised finger can only be a reference to the world as it was 'then' before the 'Fall of Man' - i.e., the tilting of the earth which also caused the Flood and possibly the sinking of Atlantis - the homeland of these "Angels". These are but the traditional beliefs of a an influential group of people, who like the 'Angel Society', written of by Maurice Barres, have encoded references in various sources throughout history leading us to what appears to be an 'ancestral memory' of a cataclysmic poleshift that brought an end to the 'Golden Age' paradise secretly referred to as 'Arcadia'; destroyed the homeland of an advanced race or culture and very nearly wiped-out the human race. Its possible that the beliefs of these people also gave rise to the 'Synarchist movement' whose founder Saint Yves d'Alveydre (1842-1909) and his earliest supporters - e.g, Papus (1865-1916) - also wrote about the catastrophic changes on earth due to the changing obliquity of the earth's polar axis.

  Author Michael Lamy also writes about the 'Angelic Society' in his book Jules Verne, initiate and initiator (1984), and says that another name for this society was Le Brouillard, meaning "mist" or "fog" or "clouds" - to which Joscelyn Godwin adds - "probably alluding to its occluded status as a persecuted "Chuch of Light". This remark has far-reaching implications. Godwin goes on:

Picknett and Prince conclude that the Priory of Sion was and is a front for the Synarchists whose initiates were believers in the Polar Tradition, amongst other things. Were these people also members of the Angelic Society? Or shared their beliefs? And if so, then are all these references to the angle of 23.5 degrees (the obliquity of the earth's axis) a signature of the Brouillard (Angelic) Society - the real 'Underground Stream'? The purpose of these artists was to conceal knowledge says Dr. Steven E. Mizrach.

  I wonder, if like me, the reader can see how important all this is? More questions will be answered in my book Axis of God, and I guarantee that what will be revealed will literally "blow" the interpretations of this 'code' as presented in the book by Dan Brown "out of the water". In my view, it was never about the Bloodline of Jesus, or Mary Magdalene being the Holy Grail and who carried this bloodline. Instead, this code, which extends much further afield in time and space than these misinterpreted codes of Da Vinci, is about the 'belief' in the loss of an advanced culture whose homeland was destroyed - possibly the result of a global catastrophe which resulted in the earth becoming inclined 23.5 degrees from the ecliptic. It is also about the ONE individual (believed to be the "King of the World") who represented this advanced culture and personified the Golden Age when the earth was upright . . . perhaps a remarkable individual who was seen as a god. Indeed people believed his spine represented the axis of the earth and vice-versa, and it was believed that he continually reincarnated on earth to correct the imbalance caused by this catastrophe and therefore bring the earth back to its former position in line with the Godhead and the source-center of creation. It was and is believed that the inclined earth reflects the same imbalance in the collective human consciousness and vice-versa, hence the teachings of the Messiah who reincarnates to deliver his message and is based on this original ressurection god. The original god was Osiris - also 'the Green Man' - and the Gospel allegory concerning the beheading of John the Baptist (who is also depicted with green skin in some paintings) is really a reference to the spiritual source; the 'god-head' of Osiris which was later supposedly lost, and so its most probably his tomb or rather his head that is marked by the Roseline - the original ' Zero Prime Meridian' and/or his head that marks the Roseline . . . this is the Holy Grail as we will see.

References:

1. The Sion Revelation: Inside the Shadowy World of Europe's Secret Masters.

Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince. Time Warner Books 2006. p. 108.

2. Ibid, p. 105

3. Source: Leonardo da Vinci: Sexuality, Subliminal Themes, and the Priory of Sion by Joyce A. Rogers. 2004.

4. The Sion Revelation: Inside the Shadowy World of Europe's Secret Masters. Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince. Time Warner Books 2006. p. 254.

5. Arktos: The Polar Myth in Science, Symblism and Nazi Survival by Joscelyn Godwin, Thames and Hudson 1993 p. 177

See also: Fire The John Gesture by Philip Coppens.

As we have seen on the previous page, Raphael was "in the know" about the significance of the 23.5-degree angle, having painted a picture of the young John the Baptist pointing his arm and index finger at 23.5 degrees. Again, aside from the obvious connection with heaven and the 'source of creation', this pointing upwards appears to be making a reference to the earth's axis being upright, which would be aligned with the ecliptic center in the heavens - the abode of the Creator God.

  On the other hand, (pardon the pun) the angle of 23.5 degrees makes a reference to the condition of the planet as it is now and therefore the duality that man now finds himself in, as expressed in the hot and cold extremes of the seasons.

  If the earth were upright, there would be no seasons. It would be continual Springtime - a virtual paradise where food is in abundance and fertility is at an all time high . . . Eden . . . then came "the Fall" . . .

  In researching further we find that the two Saint Johns (the Baptist and the Evangelist) symbolise this duality, and we find this symbolism particularly in Freemasonry and also in the Janus head worshipped by the Templars (see The Serpent Grail) - which incidently was also based on the twin-lion god Aker and which like the two faces of Janus gazes in opposite directions.

  This is yet another related line of research which is too detailed to go into here. See this article:  As we know, Plato wrote about Atlantis and here the connections are obvious, as the reality of the lost land of Atlantis is one of the beliefs of the 'Synarchists' whom, say Picknett and Prince, are the real people behind the Priory of Sion. These people also believe in the lost land of Agartha.

  Are we being told that Atlantis existed and that this land and lost culture were destroyed by whatever caused the axis to tilt? 

Detail from The School of Athens by Raphael

"In a collection of essays entitled The Mystery in the Open (Le mystere en pleine lumiere), published posthumously in 1926, he [Maurice Barres] wrote of a kind of mystical 'brotherhood' that has existed across the centuries to which artists of a particular spiritual mindset - characterised by the prominence of angels in their work, implying that they were inspired or even influenced by spiritual entities themselves - belong. Although Barres writes of these artists as simply sharing a common inner vision and artistic intent - a kind of mystical, rather than literal, solidarity across the centuries - many have seen this as a veiled reference to a rather mysterious confraternity of artists, the Angelic Society (Societe Angelique) of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, to which Poussin has also been linked. Barres seems to be hinting that the Angelic Society still existed in his day. In an essay entitled 'The Testament of Eugene Delacroix', he devotes most attention to that painter of the tableaux in Saint Sulpice's Chapel of Angels. But he also writes, after a melancholy meditation on the impermanence of earthly beauty compared with the angelic realm: 'Is it not a land of angels in which all these fragments of beauty draw together, in a perfect harmony of voices, colours and feeling; the land that da Vinci's St John points us to with his raised finger?'" [4]

"The postulate of an underground group of writers and artists surviving for centuries and deliberately planting certain symbols in the popular mind raises another question: cui bono? Whom does it profit to acquaint millions of otherwise innocent readers with the archetypes of the Subterranean World, the Polar Center, the Black Sun, the Green Flash, the survival of ancient races, the mystery of Blood and the Holy Grail? What patient program of universal education could it be that has received the support of churchmen and skeptics, royalists and anarchists alike? Did a common purpose link the pius Rosicrucians of the early seventeenth century with the secular Illuminati of Bavaria at the end of the eighteenth? Should one pay any attention to the mystery of Rennes-le-Chateau and the Priory of Sion, which Lamy regards as central to the Brouillard Society?" [5]

Notes on L'Apparition (1876):

Like the Grail, the head of John the Baptist is floating in mid-air and radiating light. For the first time it can be revealed that Salome in this painting is pointing at an angle of 23.5 Degrees as if marking the demarcation point between the duality of the spirit world (head-mind) and physical reality (body).

It appears that we are being told that the tilt of the axis is responsible for this Duality and that because of the tilt we are now cut-off from the Godhead - our spiritual source - represented by the Ecliptic Center in the heavens . . . that would be my interpretation.