"Les Bergers d'Arcadia" (The Shepherds of Arcadia II") by Nicolas Poussin, c. 1638-1640

It portrays shepherds looking at a tomb and a shepherdess that looks pregnant. The three shepherds are looking and pointing to the inscription et in Arcadia ego. (1)

"The Greeks referred to Arcadia as a Utopia. It had shepherds that watched over the fields and tended the flocks in harmony with nature. Arcadia of Peloponnesus was the domain of Pan, the virgin wilderness home of the god of the forest and his court of dryads, nymphs and other spirits of nature. It was a version of paradise, though only in the sense of being the abode of supernatural entities, not an afterlife for deceased mortals." (2)

I decided to go to Arcadia, Missouri to see if I could find some shepherds and shepherdesses. I found them too. Arcadia, Missouri is a small town about 78 miles from St Louis. John Smith said that Missouri was the Garden of Eden and Arcadia is the place of fertile farmlands and rushing springs. Many French settlers came there and farmed the land. There is a Ursuline Academy for Girls which has closed but the owners still have weddings and events in Saint Joseph’s chapel. The school was originally a Methodist school but the sisters bought the land and established a girl school. The Ursulines were a French order and I ran across their school in New Orleans. I wrote a article on the similarities of Saint Louis Cathedral in New Orleans.

I’m following the French settlers church’s and am finding some interesting coincidences. I also believe that the French Arcadians forced from their homes in Nova Scotia and Canada from the French and British Indian wars brought the legend that a holy bloodline existed.

The location represented by the longitude and latitude 37° 35° 13° N, 90° 37° 40° W is Arcadia Missouri and its symbolism in the coordinates representing 3 and 7 are the two pillars of the Temple of Solomon Joachim and Boaz. The Pillars indicate a secret and sacred place. About 969 BC Solomon built a great temple to house the Ark of the Covenant. Notice 37 is on the North and 37 is in the West - they are two pillars. Thirty seven is a prime number which makes it a very special. There are 37 genes in most animals mitochondrial DNA. The Freemasons in their temples usually have Boaz represent the female energy of the moon, darkness, and passive while Joachim is the light, male, and aggressive. It is amazing that a Ursuline Academy for girls was placed in this little town but perhaps it was placed here because the ground had positive energy of which the French Freemasons were aware of.

I found some interesting and beautiful stained glass windows and sculptures. The chapel’s focus is different than many others. It emphasizes the Holy Family. There are pictures of Jesus as a child with Mary and Joseph. There is also the latest theory that there might have been children that were descended from the marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene.

The problem is that according to Gospels, Matthew 1:2–16 and Luke 3:23–3 if you trace the genealogy of Jesus back to the line of David through Joseph you are stopped because the Catholic Church claims that Joseph’s blood does not run through Jesus’ veins because Mary was a Virgin - who God made fertile with child - Joseph was a foster father. This was brought up by the book Holy Blood Holy Grail. According to Sir Lawrence Gardner Jesus may have had three children spaced apart by at least three years.

Stain glass window at the Arcadian Academy
of Jesus with little children

Then were there brought to him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them. Matthew 19:13. But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. And he laid his hands on them, and departed thence. This is what the official interpretation is. But lets look closer there are three children a infant with his nanny. The wealthy woman holds a toddler on her lap. A older child holds a flower up to Jesus. A tree stands behind Jesus. Could it symbolize the Holy Family tree? I’ll try another interpretation could this be Jesus with his three children. There are no disciples here in the picture. The French settlers tradition had a belief that a Holy Grail may have existed. Is this window a indication of that French tradition? Here in Arcadia is where the secret unfolds. Are there descendants of the Holy family?

Here is a station of the cross that is interesting. Like Rennes Le Chateau altar painting of Mary Magdalene there is a similarity. There is the skull both pictures have them. Both Marys are kneeling and looking up with free flowing hair. Both Marys don’t have their hair covered unlike Mother Mary and her sister. Mary Magdalene is in green here. In the picture below there is Jesus being nailed on the cross you can see the woman in blue his mother and a woman in red crying with their arms upraised. There is a woman with free flowing hair uncovered kneeling and crying out her hands covering her face. She is dressed in green. I suggest these are the same women. The artist continues with the same colors identifying the women with their heads covered and their robes.

The station of the cross notice Mary Magdalene crying and her hands covering her face. She is dressed in green for fertility and earth. Mother Mary is in blue and her sister in red.

Notice this station of the cross the woman in green holding the infant with the free flowing hair that is uncovered. Jesus hand extends to bless the child and his mother. The official interpretation is Jesus encounters the Women of Jerusalem. (Luke 23:27-31).

(Luke 23:27-31) "Daughters of Jerusalem do not weep for Me; weep for yourselves and for your children." For the time will come when you will say, 'Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!' Then "'they will say to the mountains, "Fall on us!" and to the hills, "Cover us!"' {31} For if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?"

The tone is very cryptic and prophetic of Christ telling the women that hard times are upon them and their children. Jesus’ hand is out toward the woman in blue who looks like his mother Mary and we do not see the woman in green with the baby in her arms: her back is to us but Jesus’ hand is over her and the child. Some will see the Daughters of Jerusalem and some will see Daughters of Jerusalem, his mother and Mary Magdalene in green, holding an infant. She is dressed in green for fertility up above also looking up at Christ on the Cross.

Notice her hair also it flows down her back as she holds her infant child.

Was he warning her that both she and her children would be hunted and that the hills of Rennes Chateau cover them? it’s a stretch I know but it makes one think of all the possibilities.

Here Mary Magdalene face is hidden but she cries watching him nailed on the cross.

His Mother and her sister cry and scream for mercy. Why is the woman in green and flowing hair has her face hidden. WHY what’s the message here the artist wants to tell us. All the other woman we see their faces but Mary Magdalene has hers hidden maybe its telling the viewer she is hidden for a reason or don‘t look here cause the church doesn‘t want you too. Maybe Jesus was right that he knew she would be branded a prostitute and that it would be better for her to be barren with no children and that is what the church has made her barren and who knows that maybe she is buried in the mountains. "Cover us" Did he know the future? All the Daughters of Jerusalem are pushed aside but they had children and were not barren. The cousins of Jesus existed and that is the other woman who stands with his mother. Her sister who had sons. Jesus had cousins and aunt and uncles and some say brothers and sisters. The church doesn’t talk much about it but the French kept the myth alive.

Sources:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_bloodline
www.ufodigest.com/news/0708/bloodline-rennes.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcadia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Et