The Spirit of the Fishes Rules the age of the Fishes
The images representing Christ as the spirit of the Crown, the head of the Tree of Life, are plentiful in four Gospels devoted to his divinity. The Crown has the spirit of Pisces, the Fishes spirit of the great planet god Neptune. Most significantly Christ has been the Lord of the last two millennia, the age of Pisces, the Fishes, the Christian age in the west. Under the symbol of the Fish, the symbol of the Pisces Messiah.

The Crown of Sorrow Surrounds His Brow
The most resounding image of the Crown is the Crucifixion with Christ cruelly nailed to the Cross. The dogmatic dimensions of the Cross reproduce the Tree of Life with Christ’s head crowned with the thorns of torture and suffering at the Crown. The Crown is ruled by Neptune and Pisces and this water spirit defines the deepest feeling : suffering and sorrow, sacrifice and profound pity.

We’re All Crucified on the Tree of Life
Christ’s Crucifixion on the Tree which bestows immortality guarantees the Resurrection and this promise applies to us all, so long as we believe it. Otherwise we discover its truth too late, only when we find we’re not dead after all. In Judaism resurrection was connected with reincarnation and there are several suggestions of reincarnation in the Gospels. The Resurrection of the Dead at the ‘end of time’ may explain the sudden population explosion !

The Crown Announces the King
The crown of thorns supports the strange story of the Romans adorning the Cross with the initials INRI, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. The Crown is Traditionally associated with royal birth and the Messiah is an anointed King, of the line of David. In the Judaic Tradition of the Kabbalah, David’s place is at the foot of the Tree, the earthly Kingdom, in a direct line down from the Crown.

Crowned with the Halo of Holiness
The deep emotional wells of this Sign are also found in much more positive images and this is the Sign of holiness. The halo of holiness is another image of the Crown which is first and foremost associated with Christ and all those who followed his saintly ways in the Christian age of Pisces where holiness was a way of life set apart from the world. The reclusive life, dedicated to sanctity and charity, is evocative of this spirit which rules the Pisces Twelfth House in astrology, the House of seclusion, compassion and our deeper sensibilities, our inner life.

From Holiness to Wholeness
In the new Aquarian age we may find everything is spiritual, for good or ill, and we do not need to separate from the world to achieve wholeness.

The Spirit of Sacrifice, the Spirit of Compassion
Christ’s titles as Saviour and Redeemer are closely associated with the spirit of Pisces. The Saviour is the one who cares enough to reach out to us in our hour of need and we recognise saviours all through life, if only we can respond. The Redeemer is essentially the sacrifice, the one who pays the price to redeem what has been lost. The price of buying back lost souls will always be high. Caring and sacrifice are central to this passionately compassionate spirit.

Traditional Images of this Spirit : Abel and the Sacrificial Lamb
Eminent biblical commentators such as CG Jung have observed the comparison between Christ and Abel, who is murdered by Cain’s jealousy : they share the same basic story, the same significance, the same archetype, the same spirit. Abel is the holy son of Adam and Eve who sacrifices a lamb, and then suffers a similar fate, strongly evocative of Christ who is himself the sacrificial lamb. Abel is associated with this holy and sacrificial spirit of the Crown in orthodox Kabbalah.

The Symbol of the Fish
In the Gospels the imagery of the Fishes, Pisces, is repeated again and again and Christ is universally recognised as the Fish. This has been the prime Christian symbol for the last two millennia, still seen everywhere and engraved on the Pope’s gold ‘Fisherman’s Ring.’

Fishes and the Sea : The Gospels Present the New Neptune
Many of the disciples are fishermen and the Gospels are awash with images of fish and the sea. Even the Lake of Gennesaret is renamed the Sea of Galilee to reinforce this imagery. As a water Sign, the elemental astrological image for Pisces is the sea. When he walks on the water and has command over the sea storm and even the catch of fish, Christ is being portrayed as a new Neptune, the Greek Lord of the Oceans and the planet god at the head of the Tree of Life, the Crown. The Fisher King. This Pisces imagery is examined in greater detail on Page 14.

Red Wine, the Blood of Christ is the Spirit of Pisces
Christ repeatedly portrays himself as ‘the true vine,’ and the lord of the vineyard. Above all wine is Christ’s blood in the Christian sacrament. The wine is his Spirit, definitively the spirit of the Fishes which has always been associated with drinking. Christ even calls himself a ‘winebibber’ and his first miracle is to turn water into wine at the marriage in Cana. In all these strong images Christ is being portrayed as a new age Dionysus, the Greek god of wine. Dionysus is a different but characteristic aspect of the great spirit of Neptune.

Bread and Resurrection, Familiar Symbol of a Familiar Spirit
Bread is another symbol repeatedly associated with Christ throughout the Gospels and represented as Christ’s body in the sacrament. This is a more complex image; it is a symbol of resurrection, new life springing from the buried grain. The Resurrection Festival of Easter has always been closely associated with fertility and the new life of Spring. As we have seen, the real meaning of resurrection may be essentially the same.

Resurrection and the afterlife seems to be an image repeatedly associated with this spirit of the Crown. Kabbalistically the Crown lies beyond the Veil of Daath, Knowledge, on the Tree. Knowledge is the throne of Pluto, the god of the dead. Bread and wheat are associated with resurrection in the cult of the great Egyptian god, Osiris, who is also a murdered and resurrected god of the afterlife, guaranteeing the resurrection of his followers. Several Mediterranean divinities seem to portray this spirit of the Crown in similar style, all dying untimely and celebrating the mysteries of the afterlife : Adonis, Attis and Tammuz, as well as Orpheus, and Baldur among the Norse gods.

Anointing the Messiah, Sanctifying the Crown
Christ’s very title translates the Messiah, the Anointed One and refers to the ultimate symbol of holiness and the Crown. A messiah in Hebrew refers to a King or a High Priest who was anointed with holy oil poured on the crown of his head, essentially a sacred blessing. The head is the seat of the Crown chakra which embodies this spirit of the Crown on the Tree. The Messiah, the Christ, is an eloquent image of the holiness of this spirit.

The High Priest and the Crown of Highest Holiness
Christ is portrayed with searing pathos as the King of Sorrows with his crown of ultimate suffering at the Crucifixion. In St Paul’s Letter to the Hebrews Christ is also the supreme High Priest, another powerful image for this Crown spirit of highest holiness. In the Hindu tradition this Crown spirit is represented by the God-King Krishna. His name echoes Christ’s and has a similar meaning of ‘a high priest.’ Generally Krishna portrays a much merrier side of the spirit of Pisces, a role Christ only takes on occasionally.