Sheik of dual phallus', I really enjoy reading your reviews.

Spoiler Alert!

I agree that the book is a good read and a well written thriller. Indeed, many interpretations which Dan Brown presents in his book are based on very flimsy factual foundations. I too read the book recently, and taking into account the controversy it has been kicking up I decided to double check any references the author made with the largest collection of information known to man, the Internet. Most often 'facts' presented in the book were unfounded but in my mind that does not render the overall themes of the fiction novel to be false. True, it is not clear whether the Louvre is constructed of 666 glass pieces or if 5,000,000 women were killed as a result of witch hunts. The latter claim simply lacks evidence and even though these murders were instigated by the church and horrendous, the number is most likely lower.

Contrary to the Sheik, I do think there were more valid thoughts to the novel besides the plausibility of Jesus being married. Regarding this topic specifically, I have begun to question whether Jesus actually existed at all. Even many atheists do not doubt that the man might have actually lived in some point in history but if he had, it would be almost impossible for us to pinpoint exactly when. I am more inclined to think that his story was the result of an accumulation of different mythologies stemming from astrotheology and possibly attributed to a single individual, maybe even several. I highly recommend reading books written by Acharya S on the topic. As for archeological evidence goes I think people forget that probably one of the most lucrative businesses one could go into during that time was the creation/fabrication of sacred items. There are fourteen churches that claim to have Jesus' foreskin! And even if one were to overlook physical objects, the actual location of his birth is also unclear. There were two Bethlehems in Israel during the time of his supposed birth and evidence exists for both the locations to be the 'real' one.

Of course, to me Jesus' or Mary Magdalene's existence is slightly irrelevant to the greater picture. Thanks to faith those who believe in Jesus as presented by the church do not need any evidence at all. However, the practical implication of the church’s propaganda campaign is immense even if they are only smearing a fable.

Many people believe that Roman Emperor Constantine was the first Christian when in fact the first and only Christian was crucified two thousand years ago. Sorry, couldn't resist that. Truthfully, Constantine was not the first Christian at all but a pagan! He saw the ever increasing popularity of Christianity as a threat to the Roman Empire and acted pragmatically by integrating various pagan beliefs and symbolism into the religion. This is partly the result of the Council of Nicaea. The effects of this are felt to this very day! Essentially, I would sum it up as the Church's self declared entitlement to all religious integrity. This equates to the control of all philosophical and therefore all 'scientific' truths as well. Of course, the church is not solely responsible for this since they worked hand in hand with those in power i.e. emperors and kings.

In my eyes, those who seek evidence for Mary Magdalene's existence (the Holy Grail according to the Da Vinci Code) are slightly missing the point. The Da Vinci Code may be focusing on a single individual but the overall theme is the cover up of the sacred feminine.

"As for tracing the end of matriarchal values and the end of the equality of the sexes to the birth of Christ, well, that's even more rubbish."

Careful! Dan Brown isn't equating the end of matriarchal values to the birth of Christ at all! He is blaming the Church and its destructive campaign for the decline of the sacred feminine. And be careful with the term 'matriarchal', the call isn't for a female dominated society but rather a balanced one. This manifests itself in the priory's union ritual in the book as well as various similar magical/fertility rituals throughout history. Similarly, this idea is also one of the meanings behind the title of our blog. Look up Jung's theory of the balance of the anima/animus in the personal unconscious. If his theories are valid in the individual (microcosm) how would they be relevant to the world (macrocosm)? What effect would a religion focused on male dominance, both literal and symbolic, have on the global mind if such a thing existed?

"As to blaming the Christian church for the death of the worship of the female and of nature, well, that's rubbish"

I couldn't disagree with you more on this one my friend. The Church had very good reasons to consciously do this and there is a significant amount of evidence to see how they went about it. If you would like me to go into the topic I could but it would truly warrant an entire post of its own. Please do not assume that I think the Church was solely responsible though. There are other historical factors that also have to be taken into account.

To properly understand a large portion of what is behind the Da Vinci Code one must know the story of a small village in southwestern France called Rennes-le-Château and the story of Bérenger Saunière and Henry Lincoln. I advise reading up on this as well as the fabrications of Pierre Plantard.

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the Knights Templar involvement in the story of Rennes-le-Château. It's a historical fact that the Knights Templar existed and that many of them settled in this region of France. The Templar became incredibly powerful after the crusades due to their sophisticated banking techniques (possible for other reasons as well). The castles that cover the landscape to this very day is evidence for this.

According to Henry Lincoln and Erling Haagensen the Knights Templar constructed their castles and churches in incredibly precise geometric patterns which would surprise many scientists today. Haagensen focuses on the Bornholm. Of course, "Critics point out that there is no record of medieval astronomical observatories in Europe, no record of the Templars ever being involved in scientific research of that nature, and in fact never any record of Templars even having a presence in Scandinavia, even in the long list of Templar accusations generated by the investigators of the Inquisition."

There might not have been any astronomical observatories in Europe but the astronomical knowledge that Lincoln claims the Templars had are equivalent to those of the Egyptians and the creators of Stonehenge which predate the Templars by thousands of years. The value of these sights for purposes of astronomy is accepted by virtually all relevent members of the scientific community. It is also curious to note that besides the holy grail the Templar are also rumoured to have gained secret knowledge of astronomy and sacred geometry from the time they spent in the Middle East during the crusades. In regards to the lack of records of research being done by the Templar, it would seem unlikely that no evidence would be found at all, one must also be aware that if they had such knowledge it would be kept secret. Additionally, it is a known that a large number of documents were burned by the Templar when they were rounded up and killed by the hundreds on Friday the 13th of October 1307. I would assume that the most important ones were thrown into the fire first. During their time the Templar also had one of the largest naval fleets in Europe. It would not be out of the question that they might have landed on the island of Bornholm at some point.

I'm aware that these are excuses but if you were to ignore the Island in the Baltic altogether, it still does not explain the incredible geometric positioning of Mountains/Templar castles around the south-west region of France. Read ‘The Holy Place: Discovering the Eighth Wonder of the Ancient World’ by Henry Lincoln.

"I have spoken very briefly with the Monochromatic Knight about this novel and he said that he believed that this book carried a more deep purpose and as such warranted less attention of the negative kind."

To sum up, besides financial gain I think the deeper purpose of this book (and possibly other books by Dan Brown which have common themes) may be to insert certain ideas into global consciousness. It is obvious that the success of his book has drastically increased interest in religion, the esoteric, symbolism, conspiracies and the questioning of authority in general. I think the positive consequences of the book's popularity may outweigh the negative aspects of its factual foundations. It is up to the seeker to question his/her set values and find that which has been hidden from view. Remember, most often the winners write the history books.