One of the greatest achievements in human history is Christianity. Unfortunately, by virtue of the fact that our greatest strength is always our greatest weakness, Christianity is also the worse thing that ever happened to us.

This paradox is explained by seeing that there exists both Christianity and Churchianity, and that virtually everything that we think of as Christianity is in fact Churchianity.

Christianity, at least as far as I am concerned, is simply “do unto others as you would have them do to you.” If enough people were to really think about this, or better still practice it, then our world would transform overnight. Unfortunately, this is not what Churchianity preaches. Churchianity is full of contradictory, outdated dogma, which has sanctioned and condoned slaughter, discrimination, intolerance and hatefulness wherever it has gone. Churchianity has closed its eyes to human ingenuity and discovery, covered up its own abominable behaviour and has, for centuries now, produced and empowered the worst kind of hypocritical, judgemental busy bodies. The crimes of Churchianity, within the Roman Catholic Church in particular, are legion, and the unkindness of the pious legendary.

But – and it is a big but – Christ is real. I do not mean that he is walking among us, or even that he is a man on a cross who looks a bit like Russell Brand. This is not the Christ-energy that I am talking about. The Christ-energy is simply a representation of the perfected human being, one who is wise, kind and practices what they preach. We should not be afraid of this Christ-energy for it is an example to us all.

I will lay out the precise details of all this in another place, but somewhere in the early centuries after Christ’s death (and yes, we know that he died because it was recorded in the Roman history of the time), Christianity morphed from being a persecuted outsider sect into becoming the official faith of the (by then failing) Roman Empire. It was this institutionalisation of the teachings of a kind and wise man, Christ, where it all went wrong and it was downhill, steadily, all the way from there.

So, when I am talking about Christianity I am talking about the small number of core practices as they were originally held, before the power institutions of Churchianity got hold of them.

Early Christians were fine with reincarnation, Moses had his own divination system, Christ himself is alleged to have been initiated into the Egyptian mysteries (from which stem the Tarot) as well as Vedic teachings, and was himself a healer. This Christ was a magical, inspirational figure, who would be just fine with all that we are studying and learning. Think – and feel – into this for yourself and I am sure you will be able to hear the ring of truth. If you are having trouble with this, then it’s not your fault, or the fault of Christ, but of Churchianity. Let go of the Church in all its forms and you will be able to discern things more clearly.

But there was something missing from that early Christianity, or perhaps it just was not relevant back then, though it certainly is now. The missing link is the uniqueness of every individual. Everyone has their own path to take and own guidance to hear, and as such there is a need for each person to know themselves. It is no longer enough (if it ever was) to simply have faith and trust in God. We must know ourselves and discover the meaning of our life in order to be free and happy. But if all we do is focus on our self then we will miss the bigger picture and become intolerant of others. Original Christianity did not take account of uniqueness. Churchianity did not allow the tools of our trade – the numbers, cards and Inner Guide – and nor did it give space for freedom and individual choice. So-called New Age modern spirituality purported to solve these problems, but has showed itself to be too selfish and unrooted to be of any lasting use. We need another way.

The Second Cross symbol represents an upgrade of the original Christianity, a discarding of Churchianity and a movement beyond vacuous and narcissistic New Age spirituality. The Way of the Second Cross allows for the use of divinatory tools (numbers, tarot) to discern the state of our soul. It allows for communion with the Inner Guide, someone who can act as co-pilot on our journey through life, as well as the presence of Christ, the most powerful positive force that most of us could ever hope to encounter, to accompany and protect us along the way.

The Way of the Second Cross is not Christian, but it is Christ-connected. But to grasp this fully we must delete entirely all things Churchianity. The dogma of the Church and the emotional grip that it has exerted over people for centuries is not easily broken, and doubtless some people will have difficulty countenancing any connection of the word Christ with their own personal development journey. But I urge you to think and feel beyond bishop’s fancy dress, the damp wood and worn stones of decaying church buildings and the intolerance of its agents, and instead reach toward the ideal of Christ, one of the Brothers of Light (Soul Strong Vol 1, page 524), and embrace his advice that you should do unto others as you would have them do to you.

The slow collapse of Churchianity is a welcome development, but it is also a painful one, for its collapse is at the root of many of the problems faced by our modern world. Mental illness, depression and a thousand other diagnosable conditions are a direct result of the removal of God and Christ from our lives. No amount of human rights, equity or social justice will be able to replace them, because the meaning of those things is always twisted by those in power. Science, also a poor substitute for God, will fare no better, itself being a relatively modern phenomenon, barely five centuries old. Ancients did not do science, as we know it today, they did reason, which is not the same thing at all. Plenty of functional societies have existed without science. But no functional society has ever existed without some type of God. The Way of the Second Cross is therefore simply an attempt to place God, Christ and the Soul back at the centre of life, and to use a variety of tools to help us navigate our unique journey through the modern world. That is all it is. It is not much, but if it were to be followed by enough people it would change everything.