Actual press pool photo of The Three Wise Men as they strolled in the direction of Bethlehem. Is one of them holding a bong?
Today was (and for half an hour here still is) the Epiphany, or Eastern Christmas. In the Catholic version of the story, Jan. 6 is the day that the Three Wise Men, the Magi or the Three Kings From the East, arrived in Bethlehem with frankincense, gold and myrrh. We are told that their names were Casper, Balthazar and Melchior.
They arrived by following “a star” — whatever that star that may have been, they took it as a sign and acted on it, the kind of thing that astrologers do. On the way to see the kid, they stopped by and talked to Herod, the Roman client king of Judea. Herod was thus tipped off to the birth of Jesus, and he asked them to report back about his whereabouts on the return trip. But they followed a message they received in a dream not to do that. They went back by another route — thus playing a pivotal role in the events to come — saving the life of Jesus.
Have they been sainted? I have no idea. (Well, apparently at least Melchior has.) On this basis I call for a little shrine to be placed in every Catholic church devoted to astrologers, with the three of them as patrons; as well as astrological education for all members of its clergy who are interested.
