LABRADORITE FOR THE NARCISSUS MOON By Our Crystal Meditation Advisor Martin Campbell

AT tonight's Narcissus Moon we should remember that vanity and loving oneself are very different things...

Vanity focuses on the physical appearance you present to the world. It is important to be comfortable with that and ensure you love the image you create and project. Perhaps falling in love with yourself to the exclusion of all others is less positive - as the story of Narcissus illustrates.

Loving oneself is often seen as negative in European cultures. In the UK especially it is seen as quite vulgar to say that you love yourself. It is viewed as selfish and vane. This is so wrong. As Louise Hay says in her seminal book 'You Can Heal Your Life':

"I am talking about having a great respect for ourselves and a gratitude for the miracle of our bodies and our minds."

She goes on to recommend looking at yourself in a mirror, meet your eyes and tell yourself how much you love and respect yourself. Repeat this a few times a day - preferably every day.

LGBTU people have often had to grow up in societies which tell us that we are evil, dirty or repulsive. It can be hard to shake off that negative  view of yourself. So try what Louise calls 'Mirror Work' - it is very effective at boosting your self-esteem and self-worth. You are amazing!

Antinous provides a positive reflection of ourselves. He is the eternal image of a man who loved a man. He is the spiritual guide for all people who love people of their own gender or realise that they love themselves as a different gender.  He will be reflected in that mirror too.

Excellent crystals for inner reflection on yourself are:

Labradorite - This one of my favourite crystals (photo above) - partly for its iridescent beauty but also because of its many healing attributes. These include the ability to help you to have faith in yourself. It also brings positive contemplation and introspection.

Fire Agate - This is a powerful crystal (above left) particularly helps with introspection and finding inner peace with yourself.

Apophyllite - This crystal also encourages introspection but helps the process to reveal the truth of who you really are.

Whilst I would, obviously, recommend that you hold these crystals during meditation during this moon phase I would also recommend doing the 'mirror work' Louise Hay recommends. I would add that doing the 'mirror work' while holding one (or all three) of the crystals above would make it even more effective.

Love and Light,

MARTIN

To get more advice from Martin Campbell and to find out how to contact him CLICK HERE.

JEAN GENET ALWAYS WANTED TO BE A SAINT HE IS A SAINT OF ANTINOUS

ON April 15th the Religion of Antinous remembers Jean Genet as a Saint of Antinous.

Saint Jean Genet was one of the first and most modern gay poets, whose elegance and sordid love for the street life was unprecedented, and has never been matched.

Among his most fervent desires, expressed from the very beginning was that he should one day be elevated to Sainthood.

We of the Religion of Antinous, fully and faithfully, take faith in the spirit of Saint Jean Genet, through whom the eternal voice of Antinous spoke with the most voluptuousness and vain-glory.

Saint Jean Genet died on this day in Paris in1986.

WE CELEBRATE THE SACRED BEAR HUNT AND THE BIRTHDAY OF ROME

WORSHIPERS on both sides of the Atlantic have convened in an international Zoom conference to celebrate the ancient festival of THE EROTICON, the Sacred Bear Hunt of Hadrian and Antinous, and the birthday of Rome.

April 21 marks the anniversary of the founding of the city of Rome in 743 BC by Romulus and Remus.

Adherents from North America, Africa and Europe joined via Zoom as Flamen Antonius Subia celebrated the rites at the Hollywood Temple of Antinous.

On this day we honor the great God of Love, Eros-Cupid, in his guise as Antinous-Phanes, the "radiant being of light who emerges from the egg of night". We also honor the Great God Priapus the divine phallus, the column of male virility, the bestower of the fertility of fields, vineyards, orchards and gardens. Priapus is the axis of the cosmos.

On this date we also commemorate the founding of the city of Rome, Natalis Urbis, personified by the Romans as Our Lady Roma. We celebrate the consecration of her sacred border, and of her birth, and eternal life, and remember that we are her children.

And also on this date we remember the Sacred Bear Hunt. While in Mysia in Asia Minor, in the year 129, the court engaged in a Bear Hunt near the city which Hadrian had founded (on an earlier trip) called Hadrianotherae, "Hadrian's hunting ground". It is the modern-day city of Balikesir in a lovely area of wooded forests and lakes in northwestern Turkey.

Hadrian loved animals and is known to have built tombs for his dogs and horses (according to Royston Lambert) and he loved to hunt. The Bear is the sacred animal of Diana-Artemis, and symbolizes the solitary, forest-roaming character of the Virgin Huntress. In the ferocity of the bear lies the secret of Diana's power, against which Hadrian and Antinous pitted themselves, as shown on the tondo from the Arch of Constantine. 

The grand themes of the Eroticon are Love and Sex and Ferocious Anger. The Beast is always lurking inside of us. The mystery teaching surrounding the Bear Hunt involves getting to know your animal instincts -- sex and lust and rage -- and to become one with them and to turn them into powerful allies for your spiritual development.

Flamen Antinoalis Antonius Subia has expressed this mystical mystery meaning as follows:

"Antinous, under Hadrian's guidance, was an accomplished hunter, indeed it is perhaps his natural skill and bravery in the chase that elevated him to the absolute love and adoration of Hadrian. The Emperor was madly in love with hunters, and Antinous was one of the best. Antinous had perhaps been silently stalking and hunting the Emperor's favor for quite some time, and now, in Asia, in the sacred Hunting Grounds of Hadrian, Antinous closed in on the heart of his prey and captured the Emperor completely. In our commemoration of the Sacred Bear Hunt we recognize that Artemis and Antinous are twin deities, and we seek the Dianic-Artemis-Bear within ourselves."

SIR JOHN GIELGUD SAINT OF ANTINOUS

ON April 14th the Religion of Antinous honors one of our most blessed thespian saints and martyrs, St. John Gielgud, who was born on this day in 1904.

The most terrible moment in John Gielgud's life -- on which he maintained a public silence for 50 years -- was the subject of a critically acclaimed play in the London West End.

The play, entitled "Plague Over England", was about the scandal which swept across Britain in 1953 when John Gielgud was arrested by an undercover policeman in a public toilet in London.

But the 2008 play was concerned with much more than Gielgud's arrest in on the charge of "importuning for immoral purposes". The play showed the plight of gay men in the 1950s Cold War atmosphere when gays were associated with Communist espionage. 

Its characters include the producer who nearly ended his career, the virulently anti-homosexual Lord Chief Justice Rayner Goddard, an American fleeing his own country's anti-Communist paranoia, and a doctor who claims to "cure" same-sex attraction with "Clockwork Orange"-style electric shock therapy.

Homosexuals had long been feared and hated in England as men who, it was believed, preyed on the innocent young, and were thus unfit to lead normal, happy lives. Until 1967, they risked prosecution for what the law called "acts of gross indecency between male persons", even in private, and could be arrested for merely showing -- in a police spy's opinion -- an intent to commit them.

Police throughout England were alert for any hints of homosexual behaviour. Just before Gielgud was arrested, two prominent high-class gay men had been uncovered as KGB spies, resulting in a further crackdown on all gay activities. The officer who arrested Gielgud was part of a Metropolitan Police squad established in 1930 that regularly lurked in central London toilets.

The year in which Gielgud came to grief in a Chelsea public convenience was a particularly dangerous one for homosexuals, as the increased frankness of the period allowed politicians, the police, and the press to profit by inflaming public hysteria, warning that a "plague" or "epidemic" of sodomy and Communism was sweeping the land.

The climate of fear was chilling to gay men who paid even the slightest attention to the news.

Gielgud, however, was, in his own words a "silly gubbins" who took no notice of anything outside of acting. On October 21, following the rehearsal for the play "A Day By the Sea", this supremely unworldly man, then 49, had a few drinks at a party and then visited a public lavatory popular with "cottagers" -- English gay slang for men who cruise toilets.

Arrested, and aware that he should give a false identity, he said he was a clerk called Arthur (his real name) Gielgud. The next day he  appeared before a magistrate who did not know who he was, fined him 10 pounds, and ordered him, with the disdain and sexual ignorance of the period, to "see your doctor the moment you leave this court".

Unfortunately, a better-informed Evening Standard reporter was there, too. When that afternoon's paper hit the streets, he was on the front page.

You can imagine the shame and the terror with which Gielgud turned up at rehearsal (he had considered suicide) for the role of a bachelor diplomat whose mother worries that he is lonely and unloved.

But the company, led by his co-star, Dame Sybil Thorndike, in fact welcomed him with open arms. "Oh, John," she said, in one of the most magnificent double entendres of all time, "you HAVE been a silly bugger!"

The producer of "A Day By the Sea", however, the immensely powerful Binkie Beaumont, saw the newspaper articles and the hate mail, and worried that the public would stay away. 

Yet his thoughts of firing the star were thwarted by Gielgud's brother, Val, who applied a little judicious blackmail about Binkie's very own private life.

Everyone was nervous that the audience might react with silence or even boos.

But as the curtain came down he was cheered to the rafters.

Gielgud was known for having a penchant for anonymous bathroom sex -- It's one of the reasons his knighthood (just a few months before the arrest) was postponed for years. He even had a "cruising cap" for such forays, an attempt to disguise himself so as to avert detection by fans who might recognize him.

The arrest had important consequences, and not only for Gielgud, who was told by the British embassy in Washington to forget about a planned American production of "The Tempest". because he might prove "an embarrassment".

Afterwards, the floodgates opened as the public was confronted by the disturbing fact that an extremely distinguished and beloved artist was one of the people they, in theory, despised. The fuss contributed to the Wolfenden Commission, set up the following year to study prostitution, taking on homosexuality as well. Its recommendations eventually led to decriminalisation in Britain.

While the affair broke Gielgud emotionally, he put himself back together in a way that made him better suited to a theatre in a world of greater change and upheaval.

For his talent and for his courage, the Religion of Antinous honors Saint John Gielgud as a Prophet of Homoeros.

DID ANTINOUS HAVE A DICEY TIME WITH GAMES OF CHANCE LIKE THIS?

WE wonder what games Antinous loved to play ... and surely dice games such as this were a favourite among many boys and men in the Roman Empire ... as demonstrated by this amazing dice tower which had all the bells and whistles.

Okay, maybe it didn't have whistles. But it certainly had bells.

The Vettweiss-Froitzheim Dice Tower dates to the time when Hadrian and Antinous were touring the provinces.

It was found in Germania near the Roman military fortress at Colonia (modern Cologne) on the Rhine. It's name comes from the modern-day village where it was discovered.

Roman soldiers must have loved it because it was found neatly packed away for protection.

The modern reproduction at left by Steve Wagstaff shows how it would have looked with all its playing pieces.

It was intended to produce a trustworthy throw of one or more dice.

It is an upright, hollow cuboid of copper-alloy plate designed to sit level on a flat surface. 

The top of the dice tower is open so that you can toss dice into it.

And it contains three levels of projecting baffles which would produce random motion in the dice as they fell through the tower.

The dice would then emerge at the base of the tower via a miniature flight of steps. 

The dice, while emerging, would ring three bells which formerly hung above the exit. One of these bells survives intact.

The tower is decorated on all faces with pierced patterns and two short Latin texts are displayed prominently.

The front face of the tower bears the words:

PICTOS VICTOS

HOSTIS DELETA

LVDITE SECVRI

Which may be translated as:

THE PICTS ARE DEFEATED.

THE ENEMY IS DESTROYED.

IT'S SAFE TO PLAY!

Around the top of the three remaining faces is the phrase:

VTERE FELIX VIVAS

Which may be translated loosely as:

LIVE HAPPILY AND HAVE FUN PLAYING 

GREEK AND ROMAN STATUES WORE TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOATS

GLEAMING white marble and limestone sculptures dominate our image of the Mediterranean world in classical antiquity.

However, it is not generally known that ancient architecture and sculptures were once painted in vivid colours.

But now, thanks to technology, experts are delving into the "archaeo-polychromy" of ancient reliefs and sculptures. They use digital scanners to detect faint smidgens of pigment. And then they do computer projections of what the original must have looked like.

For 20 years now, the traveling exhibit GODS IN COLOR (original title in German: Bunte Götter – Die Farbigkeit antiker Skulptur) shows statues such as "Paris the Trojan Archer" (above), from the west pediment of the Aphaia Temple in Aegina, the way that scientists believe the Ancient Greeks intended them to look.

The traveling exhibition has been seen in major cities on every continent and is still heading to new cities. Watch for it at a museum near you ....

The experts stress that these mock-ups are only "best guess scenarios" of what the originals must have looked like. And there are many, many possible variations. The result is very flat and uniform.

After all, the experts are going by only minute flakes of pigment on a chin or cheek to project the color of the entire face.

No doubt the Ancient artists used varying hues, so that this bust of Caligula (left) would look much, much more lifelike than it does here in this modern mock-up.

The experts claim that even bronze statuary was often gilded and painted. We think of bronze being beautiful when it has acquired a patina of greenish age. But the Ancients thought that was dreadful. 

They went to great pains to keep their bronze statues polished so that they gleamed in the sun. They put gemstones in the eyes and they gilded the lips and the brows and eyelashes.

Be sure to watch for this traveling exhibition at a museum near you!

ASTRO FORECAST: APRIL 11th—21st, 2024

Antinous is a Moon God. He is, of course, many other things and he wears many hats. But one of the ways he was worshiped in Antiquity was as ANTINOUS THE MOON GOD.

His worshipers looked skyward and saw His beautiful face perpetually turned towards the Earth. The Man in the Moon was actually the Blessed Boy in the Moon for the ancient priests and worshipers of Antinous. Swiftest and most youthful of all the Zodiacal deities, Antinous speeds through an entire year's worth of Astrological signs in just 28 days.

ANTINOUS THE MOON GOD represents our deepest personal needs, our basic habits and reactions, and our unconscious gay selves. Where Hadrian the Sun acts, Antinous the Moon REACTS. How do we instinctively react or respond to problems? What do we feel we need for a sense of security? Look to ANTINOUS THE MOON GOD for answers.

ANTINOUS THE MOON GOD is both our inner boy child and our inner lover. His ever changing phases, as he sweeps past all the other Planets in all the Signs, make us at turns responsive, receptive, and reflective. Eternally youthful, ANTINOUS THE MOON GOD represents our childlike spontaneous and instinctual reactions.

ANTINOUS THE MOON GOD beams down on us to make us imaginative, creative, intuitive, sentimental, adaptable, introspective, and protective. On the negative side, and depending on where he is in the Zodiac, he can make us moody, restless, and irrational.

Antinous Astrology Forecast

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APRIL 11th to 21st, 2024

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THURS-FRIDAY, APRIL 11th-12th, 2024

This week, things get intense when Mars aligns in perfect conjunction with Saturn in intensely emotional Pisces for the first time since 1996. It is like driving down a highway with one foot on the brake and the other on the accelerator because Mars wants to press the pedal to the metal, while Saturn wants a cautious, go-slow approach. The result is pent-up frustration which boils over into rage. Open warfare breaks out not only in crisis regions of the world, but also in street traffic, in your work place and in your domestic relationship. Cold-blooded, vengeful wrath strangles out compassionate sympathy.

SAT-SUNDAY, APRIL 13th-14th, 2024

This weekend, your brain is ablaze with often confusing and conflicting ideas when Retrograde Mercury aligns with the Sun. Old astrology texts dating back to Ancient Rome call this a potentially hazardous time, and speak of a "Scorched Mercury" which impairs communications and judgement. But in ANTINOUS MOON MAGIC, we see that very differently. This Sun/Mercury conjunction is indeed intense, but in a positive way. Antinous/Mercury focuses the gay spiritual light of his heavenly father Ra-Herakhte right at you. Open your spiritual heart to the light and joy and permit it to burn away all doubt and all fear and trepidation. Most people live in spiritual darkness. They are like people who live in caves and are afraid of sunlight because it hurts their eyes. But should we shun the light and stay in the cave with them? Antinous/Mercury says it's safe to open your spiritual eyes — and spiritual heart — and become accustomed to the light.

MON-TUESDAY, APRIL 15th-16th, 2024

Overnight Monday-Tuesday, we come to the Cancer First Quarter Moon. It is the Lunar Phase of reflection and insight which we call the NARCISSUS MOON in Antinous Moon Magic ... Narcissus is the Spirit which tunes out all distractions and all other people in order to focus on the Divinity within. This Lunar Phase is the Spirit of Self-Love and Same-Sex Love. It is forever gazing into its own reflection and whispering to itself: You are Divine! The reflection and the viewer are one and the same. The Spirit of Narcissus is the Divinity which holds a mirror up to ourselves.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17th, 2024

This week, romance is in the air when Mercury conjunction Venus causes sparks to fly. Because Mercury is Retrograde right now, you may get a message from an old flame who rekindles desires you thought were long extinguished.

THURS-FRIDAY, APRIL 18th-19th, 2024

This week, Jupiter and Uranus align in perfect conjunction in the sign of Taurus for the first time since 1941. As one of the most major astrological events of 2024, this celestial meet-up involves Jupiter, the planet of abundance, fortune, and expansion, joining forces with Uranus, the planet of sudden, electrifying change, rebellion, and revolution. This conjunction will inspire a whole new cycle of spiritual breakthroughs and innovation, as well as surprising financial wins and relationship changes. That's because Taurus is ruled by Venus, the planet of romance and money. Science and technology (the domain of Uranus) could majorly refashion our day-to-day lives. Global relations and foreign policy (Jupiter’s specialty) could be shaped in concrete ways that redefine society. And since Taurus is an earth sign that rules the material world, the Jupiter Uranus conjunction could impact the economy (from cost of living to crypto), sustainable practices (reducing consumption and prioritizing climate solutions) and the body (from the food we eat to the ways we dress). Here are two things you should do: 1. Step into the role of visionary or simply step OUT of the role of anything that feels confining, overly safe and too small for what you’re capable of bringing to the world. 2. Seize opportunity. A sudden opportunity to travel, teach or share your message could arise. Act on it!

SAT-SUNDAY, APRIL 20th-21st, 2024

This weekend, batten down the hatches because storms and earthquakes are in store when the Sun forms a 90-degree right angle with Pluto — a configuration which happens twice a year and which invariably spawns strife, conflict, warfare and even bad weather. The good news is that this configuration lasts only about 48 hours.

SNEAK PREVIEW OF NEXT WEEK:

Another exciting week lies ahead between April 22nd and 28th, 2024, when we come to the Scorpio Full Moon ... a moon for penetrating the veil of lies and illusion and seeing clearly who are your friends (and who are not) and also seeing yourself for what you are. For that reason, we call it the ENEMY MOON in Antinous Moon Magic ... More details next time ....