Revelations of the Ruby Crystal Read online

  For Gerry Clow and Liz Clow

  In May 2011 all the characters in this book except for one—the Jungian analyst Lorenzo Gianinni—appeared in my office, gave me their names, ages, and professions, and described what fascinates them. I was very intrigued by these appearances and described them to my partner Gerry, who was excited and enthusiastic and wanted to hear about their lives. I wrote this novel to tell their stories. Because of his enthusiasm and support, you have this book in your hands.

  When I told my daughter, Liz, about this novel vigorously springing to life, she wanted to illustrate it. Because she poured her heart, soul, and artistic talent into this book, you have this beautiful artwork in your hands.

  REVELATIONS

  OF THE

  RUBY CRYSTAL

  “Played out in the story of uncovering the abusive power of male sexuality at the heart of the Vatican, this romance offers an introduction to what is a significant religious movement by providing insight into the character and attraction of the Gnosticism of New Age belief and practices. A page-turning novel of love and desire, abuse and corruption, and the cosmic quest for redemption, this is the best of introductions to the appeal of astrology and New Age spirituality over and against common perceptions of Christian faith and the Church.”

  TIMOTHY F. SEDGWICK, PH.D.,

  CLINTON S. QUIN PROFESSOR OF CHRISTIAN ETHICS AT

  VIRGINIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, ALEXANDRIA, VA

  “Barbara Hand Clow’s Revelations of the Ruby Crystal is a unique revelation about deep cosmic processes and actors in the dimensional ecology of our planet as well as a page-turner story about loss, redemption, and transformation of beings who are deeply in love. As a legal advisor, I can vouch for the authenticity of the darker aspects at work in the action set in Rome and in the Vatican itself. It is truly a novel for our times.”

  ALFRED LAMBREMONT WEBRE, AUTHOR OF

  THE OMNIVERSE: TRANSDIMENSIONAL INTELLIGENCE,

  TIME TRAVEL, THE AFTERLIFE, AND THE SECRET COLONY ON MARS

  “Barbara Hand Clow’s book Revelations of the Ruby Crystal opened my eyes even further to the world-creating artistry—the ‘fictive power’—of the imagination to shape our world and influence our souls. The story that she weaves is a perfect example of how storytelling is the shamanic art par excellence that helps us to de-literalize our own reading of the world and remember who we are.”

  PAUL LEVY, AUTHOR OF

  DISPELLING WETIKO: BREAKING THE CURSE OF EVIL

  “A well-researched narrative with intriguing insights seamlessly blended into beautiful evocations of the Italy of our dreams.”

  CAROL M. CRAM, AUTHOR OF THE TOWERS OF TUSCANY

  “Esoteric Christianity, buried secrets, psychic powers, karma, and kundalini entwine in this lush, vivid erotic romance set fittingly in eternally romantic Rome.”

  PEGGY PAYNE, AUTHOR OF COBALT BLUE AND

  OTHER NOVELS OF SEX AND SPIRITUALITY

  “As a software trainer and developer and a published author of two books on word processing, I often encounter many technology users who are longing for a vision of what might be possible as a ‘next step’ in our evolution. Revelations of the Ruby Crystal is a divinely inspired web of transcendent energy that has a magnetic appeal. This book is a visually rich, sensual, non-social-media-driven trans-Atlantic adventure using revelatory information about the historical past that moves us through a complex romance quite unlike any that has ever been written. A must read!”

  MARIANNE CARROLL,

  BUSINESS PRODUCTIVITY CONSULTANT

  “Revelations of the Ruby Crystal is a gift for anyone interested in unmasking a time line of deep secrets and hushed discoveries about the life of Jesus; the ossuary of Peter found in Jerusalem; the earliest years of Christianity; Marcion, a so-called heretic; and Christianity’s critical ‘wrong turn’ and its eventual takeover, distortion, and corruption by the Roman patriarchy. The intense dramas are played out against the backdrop of a powerful paradigm shift jolting world events into chaos, the Vatican into a meltdown, and a time of transformation into the ethers, finally welcomed in Rome by the surprising and sudden election of Pope Francis, the ‘revolutionary.’ It is an intense, exciting read.”

  JEAN RICHARD,

  POLARITY THERAPIST FOR RITUAL ABUSE

  PRAISE FOR OTHER WORKS

  BY BARBARA HAND CLOW

  The Mind Chronicles

  “The past comes alive here and teaches us life in the present. Time is no longer a single strand stretched out and forbidding but is rather a vast spaciousness all are invited to explore.”

  BRIAN SWIMME, PH.D., PROFESSOR AT

  THE CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF INTEGRAL STUDIES AND

  AUTHOR OF THE UNIVERSE IS A GREEN DRAGON

  “Barbara Hand Clow offers a brilliant and ingenious record of her inner journey into the multiple landscapes of her creative unconscious.”

  JEAN HOUSTON, PH.D., AUTHOR OF THE POSSIBLE HUMAN

  “. . . a spellbinding journey through cellular memory and the multidimensional self, brilliantly recalled with an infusion of Pleiadian perspective.”

  BARBARA MARCINIAK, AUTHOR OF BRINGERS OF THE DAWN

  “Barbara Hand Clow’s account of her extensive past-life regressions is mesmerizing and insightful. From past lives lived as great initiates and seers to humble everyday people, she reveals that no matter how spectacular or quietly ordinary a life may seem, it is always filled with great lessons.”

  MICHAEL TALBOT, AUTHOR OF

  MYSTICISM AND THE NEW PHYSICS

  Awakening the Planetary Mind

  “It takes a mind versed in interdisciplinary studies to fully understand, integrate, reassemble, and then accurately teach this complex subject. Barbara has that kind of mind. And her detective work is conveyed admirably.”

  FREDDY SILVA, RESEARCHER, PHOTOGRAPHER, AND

  AUTHOR OF COMMON WEALTH

  “I find this [Awakening the Planetary Mind] book mind expanding, provocative, and offering an important contribution to our self-understanding as a species, especially as we face important decisions in these critical times.”

  MATTHEW FOX, AUTHOR OF ORIGINAL BLESSING

  The Pleiadian Agenda

  “An uplifting message from a multidimensional mind . . . a document that will be talked about for hundreds of years.”

  JOHN MAJOR JENKINS, AUTHOR OF

  TZOLKIN: VISIONARY PERSPECTIVES AND CALENDAR STUDIES

  “An intriguing kaleidoscope of galactic interdimensional cosmology that offers an intimate overview of the star histories as they play themselves out in our current planetary judgment day.”

  JOSÉ AND LLOYDINE ARGÜELLES, INITIATORS OF HARMONIC CONVERGENCE AND CO-CREATORS OF DREAMSPELL: THE JOURNEY OF TIMESHIP EARTH 2013

  Astrology and the Rising of Kundalini

  “Barbara Hand Clow has identified the hidden key to evolution: the rise of suprasexual energy experienced as the passion to express our full potential self through joining in love with others to create. She gives us practical guidelines to go through our personal midlife crisis to become co-creative humans, a global species at the next stage of our evolution.”

  BARBARA MARX HUBBARD, AUTHOR OF

  THE EVOLUTIONARY JOURNEY

  The Mayan Code

  “A very wise human being has poured her heart, her soul, and her mind into these words. The Mayan Code is a great gift to us all.”

  WHITLEY STRIEBER, HOST OF

  DREAMLAND RADIO AND AUTHOR OF COMMUNION

  Hearing is the sense of Faith and seeing is the sense of Glory, because Glory is the vision of God. Seeing is the sense of light, of space, of plasticity; vision is the immensity of space; it see
s what there is and what there is not.

  ANTONI GAUDÍ

  Contents

  Cover Image

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Epigraph

  Part One: The Sybil of Cumae Chapter 1: Rome

  Chapter 2: Reviving the Sibyl

  Chapter 3: Borghese Gardens

  Chapter 4: The Vatican Museum

  Chapter 5: A Visitor in Rome

  Chapter 6: Dinner at Alfredo’s

  Chapter 7: A Dinner in Tuscany

  Chapter 8: The Golden World

  Chapter 9: Ossuaries and Etruscan Tombs

  Chapter 10: The Limestone Grotto

  Chapter 11: What about Marriage?

  Chapter 12: Shelter Island

  Chapter 13: Simon Magus

  Chapter 14: Summer Giulia

  Chapter 15: Sister Hildegard

  Chapter 16: A Home in Rome

  Chapter 17: The Lady of Villa Giulia

  Chapter 18: The Ruby Crystal

  Part Two: Armando’s Redemption Chapter 19: The Parents’ Dinner

  Chapter 20: A Stormy Night

  Chapter 21: St. Peter’s Bones

  Chapter 22: Caves under the Vatican

  Chapter 23: Old Friends

  Chapter 24: Thanksgiving 2012

  Chapter 25: The Wedding

  Chapter 26: Sarah Meets Claudia

  Chapter 27: December 2012

  Chapter 28: Lake Avernus and Baia

  Chapter 29: Between the Sheets in Roma

  Chapter 30: The Shadow of Moloch

  Chapter 31: The Pierleoni Garden

  Chapter 32: Armando’s Analysis

  Chapter 33: Orvieto Cathedral

  Chapter 34: Two Fathers

  Part Three: The End of the Mayan Calendar Chapter 35: The Pope Resigns!

  Chapter 36: Claudia and Armando

  Chapter 37: Via Lombardia

  Chapter 38: The First Quartet

  Chapter 39: The Conclave

  Chapter 40: The Painter and the Photographer

  Chapter 41: The Fonte Gaia

  Chapter 42: La Sagrada Familia

  About the Author

  About Inner Traditions • Bear & Company

  Books of Related Interest

  Copyright & Permissions

  PART ONE

  The Sybil of Cumae

  1

  Rome

  On a soft and aromatic April morning in the city of layered secrets, Sarah strolled down a small street south of the Piazza del Popolo. Strange movements to her left caught her eye; in a deep square pit below the street level something odd was going on. She stopped and looked down into the pit, where white marble columns rose mysteriously amid scattered stone blocks.

  Surely it wasn’t a new building site in the midst of ancient ruins? She noticed a bronze historical plaque to her right and scanned it eagerly. It read: “Ancient foundations of an important early Roman villa with significant mosaic floors circa 150 to 50 BCE. Protected by the Roman Antiquarian Society. See the Antiquities Director, Dr. Allesandro Cinelli, for tours available on Tuesdays.” She was relieved to see it was a protected site. But what was that movement she had noticed when first walking by? Peering more closely into the layers of fallen stones, she discerned moving colors—gold, black, gray, and stripes. Cats, a dozen sleek flashing cats! How odd.

  An ancient bell rang to call people to Mass in the church down the street, but Sarah barely registered the sound. She was mesmerized by the strange acrobatic cats and their flow of moving color. They jumped up on the rocks to fly from ledge to ledge, and then froze, ready to pounce. In the center of all this movement, a sleek, muscular black cat gripped a brown rat in his jaws, biting deeper and deeper into its neck. Without ever looking directly at this central cat, the other cats were fixated on the prey clenched in his jaws. Switching their long snakelike tails, they shared the murder.

  I suppose they want him to play with the rat, to kill it slowly, Sarah thought. She was right. The black cat bit into the back of the rat’s neck just long enough to stun it, and then he slowly passed it back and forth between his long-clawed front paws. He was grinning. The other cats—a golden tabby, a gray-striped Abyssinian, a steely gray Persian, a dirty and mean-looking white cat, and a scrubby orange cat—circled in closer to watch the show. Sarah recoiled. They’re like leering Romans watching the lions torture Christians in the Colosseum.

  Completely engrossed in the sacrificial ritual on the ancient hearth, Sarah suddenly felt a man’s presence on her right. She tightened her grip on her leather shoulder bag, preparing to move quickly down the street.

  Simon Appel had been about to cross the narrow street to revisit the historical villa site for some last-minute details for his latest article when his gaze had been caught by the young woman. Her lithe body was outlined invitingly in a black wool miniskirt. Knee-high light brown suede boots over black tights showcased her athletic legs. Her upper body was shrouded in an ivory tunic, but still he could see she had broad shoulders. Long, wavy dark brown hair with red highlights—his favorite—streamed down her back. She must be Celtic. He crossed the street silently and came to stand next to her, scanning the plaque he had come to read. He sensed her tension at his sudden appearance, and before she could move away, addressed her, “Excuse me, madam, do you speak English? May I tell you some things about this site?”

  His words, spoken in smooth and well-educated English, stopped Sarah. It had been a long time since anyone had addressed her in English. He sounded American, like her. And since it was daytime and there were a few people walking quickly by on the way to Mass, she let her body relax. She didn’t look at him, although his presence felt commanding.

  “You’re guarded, as you always should be in Rome,” he said. “But I couldn’t help but notice you seem to share my interest in this site. It goes right back to one of the most fascinating periods in early Roman history when there was a lively Greek pagan culture in this region. Archaeologists believe this may be the House of Cumae.” Sensing by the tilt of her head that he’d captured her attention, he continued. “The mosaics are especially interesting. They have many unusual esoteric symbols that have not been officially identified.”

  She turned to look at him and saw a vibrant young face. He looked intelligent with sunken cheeks, a strong jaw, and a slightly hooked well-formed nose. Large, clear deep brown eyes flashing with sapphire lights dominated his face as he smiled.

  As she took all this in, her intense green eyes captivated him. They were watery as if she were in another world, maybe in the bizarre cat drama going on down below? Caught slightly off guard, she flushed a delicate light rose tint. All this passed in seconds, but it was recorded in the consciousness of both. They knew this fated meeting on an ancient street on a crisp April morning in Rome was full of meaning.

  “I’m Sarah,” she said. “Sarah Adamson.”

  “Sarah,” he repeated. “Sarah, what brings you to Rome?”

  “I’m a student, from the University of Birmingham. The one in England, not the one in Alabama. Are you a student, too?”

  “I’m a freelance journalist,” he said. “My name is Simon Appel. I’m working on a story about this villa for a local paper and also some stories about the Vatican for the New York Times.”

  He paused, holding her gaze. “You know, I’ve been up since 5 a.m., and I’m starving. Will you join me at my favorite trattoria? I’d love to chat with someone in English.”

  That was something Sarah normally would never do. But she’d been in Rome for more than three months doing research in the libraries and touring ancient sites, and she was lonely. She was also very tired of struggling to communicate in her limited Italian. “I’d love to join you. It would be nice to talk in English for once.” They walked away after she took one last glance at the battle going on down below. The cats were taking turns pummeling the hapless rat, a scene that reminded her of the Christian mobs stoning Stephen while Saul stood by and watched.

&n
bsp; At the trattoria Simon hung up his green corduroy jacket on a hook as Sarah pulled her sweater over her head and shook out her hair. She felt him look her over, his gaze seeming to linger on her breasts, which she knew were large for her tall, slender frame, and she reflexively hunched her shoulders. She was relieved she was wearing a high-necked, long-sleeved white cotton blouse, her typical attire for the Vatican Library. They sat down at a small wooden table covered with a red-checked vinyl tablecloth. How did I get myself into this? she wondered as she slid onto a wooden bench. I usually know better. Red table wine arrived immediately, and she realized he must be a regular at the trattoria.

  “Are you a grad student or undergrad?” he asked. “And why are you studying here in Rome?”

  Relieved to think about something other than his eyes on her body, she replied, “I’m getting my Ph.D. in patristics, which is the study of the early Church Fathers of 150–400 CE. Many of my sources are here in Roman libraries, especially in the Vatican Library. I finished one year in England, and I have to go back periodically while I write my thesis. I hope to write about Marcion of Pontus, the first heretic refuted by the Church Fathers.” She smiled ruefully. “Sounds dull, doesn’t it?”

  “Not at all,” he replied. “I’ve long been fascinated by Marcion.”

  Sarah’s eyes widened in surprise. “You’ve heard of Marcion? Forgive me, but even here in Rome, most people have never heard of him. Have you researched him for your work?”

  “In a way. As you may have guessed from the name Appel, I’m Jewish. When I was an undergrad at Williams College, I discovered Marcion because I was trying to understand the source of anti-Semitism. The blue-blood New England judgment at Williams was excruciating; so different from where I grew up, in Brooklyn Heights in New York. I just wasn’t prepared for it. My parents thought I might be unhappy at Williams, but I had a full scholarship and was thrilled to have my college education paid for.” He shook his head. “Soon I realized I’d gotten the scholarship as a token Jew on campus. Anyway, while seeking the source of anti-Semitism, I ran right into Marcion, since theologians say he was the first anti-Semite. What really grabbed my attention was that as one of the first bishops he didn’t want the early Church to attach the Old Testament to the newly forming Christian literature. But as you know they did it anyway, and then he was mostly lost to history.”