New and Undisclosed Secrets of The Turin Shroud
A foreword to an exhibition at the Hove Ikon Gallery
During the last decade, simmering beneath the surface of everyday
happenings, a growing revelation has taken place in our understanding
of Christianity and, in particular, the vastly influential and
critically important issue of the authentication, or denigration
of the Turin Shroud, the most widely debated Image in the World. First revealed in 1898 by Secondo Pia from faint markings on a burial cloth, when developed from a photographic negative, it mysteriously manifested as the recognisable countenance of a crucified man.
Controversy has since raged continuously over this Image from correct or incorrect carbon dating, to the validation or the total absurdity of the Resurrection itself.
From medieval fake to that of a painting by Leonardo Da Vinci, every conceivable theory has been put forward, invariably slanted towards individual preferences and a particular hobbyhorse.
Yet beyond all these pet theories, a solid body of evidence does exist to prove that things are by no means what they seem. Only in the 21st. Century, with its Star Wars technology, are we in a position to comprehend this Image and ask, maybe for the first time, consciously and without prejudice, is the Resurrection fact or fiction? Or has the past two thousand years of Christianity been a mass delusion?
There are no simple answers, because to understand the complexities of this issue we need to draw upon a wide body of knowledge ranging from new models of the Universe, the nature of Time, Quantum Physics and alternative aspects of medicine in the field of Radionics.
If this were not daunting enough, we cannot ignore the importance of highly significant discoveries, from the historical and archaeological perspective, concerning the teaching of Christianity made from a series of scrolls found at Nag Hammadi in Egypt in 1945, including the deeply thought provoking Gospel of Thomas.
These writings call into question our entire interpretation of Church dogma and also revolutionise religious thinking, forming as they do a composite body of insight known as "Gnosis" or "Knowledge". The writers of these additional apocryphal gospels were illuminati, often branded as heretical, yet were responsible for some of the profoundest spiritual concepts of their era.
To drink from that well is the beginning of understanding, for in the interpretations of what Christ taught to his intimate disciples we might discern how and why the peculiarly mystical nature of Christ's revelation bore a direct relevance to the Man of the Shroud.
One of the most important influences on early Gnosticism was a sect little mentioned by the early Church but clearly identifiable in relation to Jesus and known as the Nazorai or Nazarenes, and if there is one thing we are absolutely certain of; it is that Jesus was known as the Nazarene.
This simple identification in name and sect is the one key we have to unlock the door as to his true identity, but to do this we must throw off the shackles of orthodoxy and trace the origins of this sect and its existence in what is known as Jordan today to the core teachings behind the John Gospel and the Gospel of Thomas.
In Arabic, the word for Christian is "Nasara", and a recent visit I made to Petra in Jordan more than supports this fact, as I was assured by the Director of the Petra Museum that this was its original derivation and that there are indeed caves named after them on this site known as the Mughar Al Nasara.
In the time of Jesus, there was a direct route across the desert from Petra to Jerusalem in the North of Palestine, and certainly St. Paul spent three years there, no doubt living amongst the Nasara, which the nature of his teaching would corroborate.
At this point, I ought to say, in order to avoid confusion, that there are severa1 versions of the word Nasurai, all derived from the same root but with slightly different connotations. It may be defined as "one skilled in religious matters and white magic", "Nasirutha" means one adept in priestly craft. Nazarene is a derivation of this.
All are actually Mandean words and the Mandeans, an ancient tribe originally living in the Jordan area, were of Arabic Semitic extraction. The laymen in this sect were known as "Mandai" but the "Nasurai" constituted a higher grade of priests.
Now the important core of the Mandeans' belief was that theirs was a religion of Light whose representatives were known as Light messengers. "There was only one God - the Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the World" - as Jesus so aptly put it, and this pure radiance was in everything most pristine and translucent such as the water of the Jordan and the pure whiteness of the myrtle flowers.
They believed that those who were "pure in heart" and able to fill their souls with light would be immortal and free from all suffering after death in the world beyond.
There is a little known Gnostic fragment known as the Codex Nazoreus, which clearly reveals the truth about his Teaching of Light. Was not Jesus himself known as the light of the world?
The extraordinary thing is that the Turin Shroud Image in every detail reveals who and what he was by certain telling signs, but regrettably there is little knowledge of Mandean-Nazarene rites, and still less acceptance by orthodox Church teachings of the early Gnostic origins of Christianity. Consequently, the truly remarkable nature of the Image has not been embraced. Perhaps there is too much at stake.
Therefore now is the time to enumerate and explore the salient features of the Turin Shroud and its relation to early Nazarene burial customs and identify the different Church and Nazarene concepts of resurrection.
Firstly, the Image bears an unmistakable wreath of myrtle around the brow, and not - as previously supposed - a crown of thorns.
Secondly, there is a dearly distinguishable rectangle around the face, being the shape and size of a handkerchief (universally, though, inappropriately, known as the Mandylion). This was placed over the face to prevent pollution by the corpse after death and termed by the Nazarenes as the Padan.
Thirdly, there is evidence of an iron ring known as the Skandola. It was suspended on a cord that hangs from the wreath down the side of the head and was attached to the body of the deceased as an emblem of the sect. It bore an inscription consisting of a lion, a bee and a serpent consuming its own tail: the image of timelessness and eternity.
These images were purely Nazarene in character and such metal seal rings were made in Jordan during that era, as is evident in the museum at Aqaba.
It certainly was not a painting, for no details such as those described could possibly have been known by anyone until this century, so a medieval forgery the Shroud certainly was not.
It now remains for the general public to experience the full impact of these strikingly spiritual images and also to read an international publication giving those details and proof to which this article is only an abbreviated introduction.
New and Undisclosed Secrets of the Turin Shroud, a permanent exhibition at:
The Hove Ikon Gallery,
3 Albany Mews,
Fourth Avenue,
Hove, East Sussex,
BN3 2PQ.
Telephone: (01273) 775630
The exhibition is open on Sundays from April to September inclusive from 2pm to 5pm or by appointment. The book of the same title can be purchased directly at the gallery or by post, price £8.00 post free)
These images were created by the use of innovatory colour scales used by myself in the teaching of colour theory at the University of Brighton. I discovered, that through colour transcription from monochrome photographs using fluorescence and superimposed acetates, a degree of three-dimensionality could be achieved to enhance and define hitherto undiscerned details in the human face.
Ian Wilson had worked with NASA to achieve this effect on the Turin Shroud, but apparently felt that the enclosed intensifications came nearer than any other process to defining the face. He claimed it was a world first at a presentation of them at the Turin Shroud Society in London.
Norma C. Weller
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Prismatics in Art
The Artist: Norma Weller
The Ikon Gallery
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