Shroud studies
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This audiovisual document presents an in-depth reflection on the Shroud of Turin, the linen cloth housed in the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Turin, Italy, which bears the enigmatic imprint of a man who suffered the torment of crucifixion. The speaker, sharing a personal fascination cultivated over several months, immediately highlights the unique character of this artifact, situated at the crossroads of science, pathology, medicine, history, and theology.
The image on the shroud, approximately fourteen feet long, reveals itself to be a photographic negative, an astonishing peculiarity discovered long before the invention of photography by Secondo Pia in 1898. By photographing the Shroud, Pia obtained a positive image that revealed with unprecedented clarity the features and wounds of the man on the linen. The mystery deepens because linen is not a photosensitive material, and no satisfactory explanation has been found for the formation of this negative image, which moreover possesses three-dimensional information. Indeed, analysis using devices like the VP-8 Image Analyzer, initially designed for planetary topography, allowed for the reconstruction of bodily relief from variations in the image's intensity, a characteristic absent in conventional photographs or paintings.
The presentation then details the troubling concordance between the marks visible on the Shroud and biblical accounts, as well as historical knowledge of Roman crucifixion. One observes the stigmata of intense flagellation (likely with the Roman flagrum), wounds consistent with a crown of thorns, traces of blood (confirmed as human, potentially type AB, and rich in bilirubin, explaining their persistent reddish colour), a wound on the wrist (not the palm) typical of Roman crucifixion nails causing thumb retraction via median nerve damage, bruises on the shoulders (associated with carrying the cross, the patibulum), knee injuries suggesting repeated falls, a fractured nose, part of the beard torn out, and an oval wound on the right side, between the fifth and sixth ribs, corresponding to the post-mortem lance thrust described in the Gospels to ensure death. The man of the Shroud is depicted nude, in a state of rigor mortis, the position of the body and head being consistent with that of a crucified individual who died on the cross before being laid in the shroud.
Scientific analysis, notably conducted by the STURP (Shroud of Turin Research Project) in 1978, ruled out the hypothesis of a painting due to the absence of pigments or binders, and confirmed the presence of human blood (haemoglobin, albumin). The very nature of the image remains an enigma: it results from an extremely superficial alteration of the linen fibrils (over a thickness of 0.2 to 0.5 micrometres), only on the outermost threads, as if produced by very brief and intense contact or radiation, the nature of which still eludes science and is impossible to replicate, even with current technologies.
The issue of radiocarbon dating, carried out in 1988, which concluded a medieval origin (between 1260 and 1390), is addressed with nuance. The speaker reports subsequent criticisms pointing out that the sample taken likely came from an area repaired in the Middle Ages, mixing the original linen with more recent cotton and plant-based resins, thus skewing the dating through an averaging effect. More recent dating methods, such as wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS), suggest compatibility with an origin dating back approximately 2000 years.
Other clues corroborate an ancient origin and a geographical location consistent with the narratives: the presence of pollen from plants specific to the Jerusalem area flowering in spring (the period of Jewish Passover), as well as pollens tracing a presumed historical path of the Shroud (Turkey, France, Italy); the discovery of limestone soil particles (aragonite) identical to those found in Jerusalem tombs, notably beneath the bloodstains on the feet, knee, and nose.
Finally, the presentation mentions the Sudarium of Oviedo, another relic – a cloth used to cover the face – whose provenance is more certainly documented back to the 7th or 8th century. Analyses show a remarkable correspondence between the blood and pleural fluid stains on the Sudarium and those on the facial area of the Shroud of Turin, suggesting that both cloths enveloped the same body and that the Shroud is therefore at least as old as the Sudarium.
In conclusion, the speaker perceives in the Shroud of Turin a fascinating and unexplained convergence of scientific, historical, and textual elements, a unique artifact whose complexity and information are progressively revealed through scientific advancements, leaving him personally inclined to believe in its authenticity as the burial cloth of Christ, while inviting everyone to form their own opinion.
Templar says it’s da Vinci
https://youtu.be/0kqojY4Uask?si=qBY5gu35lDiCkPEB
Leonardo da Vinci, the Templars, and Esoteric Currents
The analysis presented here endeavours to unveil the supposed intricacies connecting the emblematic figure of Leonardo da Vinci, the mysterious order of the Knights Templar, and the diverse esoteric currents that irrigated the Renaissance and subsequent eras. It is suggested that Vinci, transcending the universally acknowledged artist and scholar, might have been an initiate at the heart of a Templar fraternity operating in the shadows, a custodian of forbidden knowledge such as alchemy and concepts deemed heretical by the ecclesiastical authorities of his time. An early confrontation with the Inquisition, it is said, spurred him towards extreme prudence, compelling him to encrypt his thoughts, notably through the use of mirror writing in his precious notebooks.
A particularly striking element of this thesis concerns the Shroud of Turin. Far from being the venerated Christian relic, it is presented as a work conceived by Leonardo himself around 1513. Discreetly commissioned by Pope Leo X, a descendant of his patron Lorenzo the Magnificent, he allegedly laboured in the depths of the Vatican, employing alchemical processes and optical devices, precursors to photography, to fix his own likeness onto this ancient linen, which the Templars purportedly obtained from the Druze. This operation, described as a "miracle," is said to have served as a bargaining chip to ensure the tranquillity of the surviving Templar organizations, the Shroud subsequently being entrusted to the Charny family, itself linked to Templar history, to orchestrate its presentation to the world.
Vinci's pictorial and graphic oeuvre, from this perspective, would be strewn with symbols revealing his affiliation with this hidden tradition: the raised index finger of Saint John the Baptist, interpreted as a sign of Sufi origin adopted by the Templars; the Vitruvian Man, wherein the union of the circle and the square might represent the philosopher's stone; or indeed The Last Supper, where the supposed presence of Mary Magdalene beside Jesus, forming an evocative "M" for Magdalena or Matrimonio, would suggest their marital bond, among other clues intended solely for initiates.
This Templar heritage, whose roots are thought to plunge into Egypt – the land of Kemet, the etymon of alchemy – would also have facilitated the transmission of crucial texts, such as the Corpus Hermeticum. This compendium of hermetic and gnostic philosophy, circulated by the Templars after receiving it from the Druze, is believed to have profoundly marked Vinci and catalysed the intellectual ferment of the Renaissance, opening new avenues in the fields of geometry and architecture. His retreat in Amboise, where the King of France visited him via a secret passage, is seen as confirming the role of this locality as a nerve centre for Templar and alchemical activities.
The Templar flame is then thought to have been passed to the Rosicrucians, whose emergence in the early 17th century was marked by the publication of resonant manifestos (Fama Fraternitatis, Confessio Fraternitatis, The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz). These writings revealed the existence of a secret order, master of the arcana of alchemy, Kabbalah – including its numerical application (gematria) to New Testament texts – and an esoteric Christianity, tasked with alleviating the sufferings of humankind. The tutelary figure of Christian Rosenkreutz and the emblematic Rose Cross (a rose blooming upon a cross) are interpreted as direct reminiscences of Templar symbols, purportedly also found in the sacred architecture of cathedrals (cruciform plan, rose windows with alchemical colours). Thinkers like Sir Francis Bacon, describing in his New Atlantis a "Salomon's House" adorned with Templar insignia, are placed within this intellectual and spiritual lineage.
Finally, Freemasonry is envisaged as one of the continuators of this secular tradition. The medieval builders' guilds (the Children of Solomon, the Children of Master Jacques), which erected the great cathedrals under the technical and financial direction of the Templars, are said to have offered sanctuary to the hunted knights after the Order's dissolution in 1307. The cathedrals themselves are read as repositories of coded knowledge, integrating into their stone and glass teachings related to alchemy, Kabbalah, and sacred geometry. Elements such as the black and white checkered pavements, or the mason's marks that would later become alchemical symbols, are cited as evidence of this Templar imprint. The subsequent transition from operative Masonry, linked to the craft of building, to speculative Masonry, is believed to have allowed for the transposition of these material tools and symbols onto a philosophical and moral plane, thereby ensuring the enduring legacy of Templar influence in a renewed form.
I love this stuff. Thanks for the summary, too.
Da Vinci was a genius!