Hmmm , this is the kind of question that is sure to poke the esoteric hornets nest.
Conservative Christians and pagans get equally upset to have Christ associated with magic. Hardline mythic literalist atheists and pagans will usually jump in to voice their displeasure, which triggers the hardline TradCath magicians to go on the offensive, and everyone gets pissed off.
Okay, that said...
I'm using video game development language here to translate Neoplatonic and Catholic ideas into something I hope is more relatable. I don't want to erase others' views here. Pagans are free to use their own names for these immortal principles, and the traditional view of Jesus is also not erased to make him useful for ritual.
So this is metaphor, but also not too far off - I think - from what is going on, at least according to my personal views.
While I'm using the computer as metaphor, I'm in no way suggesting we actually are in a literal The Matrix. We should not rhink of reality as a machine world. Gross.
OK, I have not had "apparitions" of Jesus Christ appear like "apparitions" of Mary do. She will appear as the odor of citrus and roses, which I and my girlfriend can smell and enjoy, along with a feeling of pure sweetness, kindness, and compassion fairly regularly.
I have not met Christ as an apparition. My houngan says he met him in a church in Port-au-Prince lingering after mass. He was in the corner, simply beaming, laughed mischieviously, waved, and disappeared.
At one level I see him as himself - so I'm not argguing with the Church here - but ritually I also see him as a manifestation of the Logos (Catholic + Stoic) acting as the resident Solar Demiurge for our part of reality, the resident Compiler and Game Engine of the simulation reality run one. He "is" a lower manifestation of the Nous (the Uncreated Father) who "is" Unmanifest, and who is alone at the "code" level of reality. (Because we all are "He" in my view.)
FYI, there are no gods, angels, or spirits "Above the Sun." Just ideas and pure potential out there in the Void. There is just undifferentiated "code" that can become Sublunar "apps," and there is nothing there to "go" to as some mystics think. We divide these things into the illusion of separate things to have something to strive towards and to have fun in this high-fidelity MMORPG called "Earth and the Universe." We are always in the Imaginal, but some parts of it are better than others. The highest thing we can conceptualize is either Nuit or the Demiurge, and he is "above" her because the stars are in the World Soul, not in the Idea / Code / Void level of reality. Well they, but as aspect of Mind of God.
On a practical "app" level, the Solar Demiurge manifests as Christ on the lower simulation, the 3D game screen in the high-fidelity sim we are in. True God & True Man, fully "compiled" into the simulation. To extend the metaphor a bit, in my view, the daimons, gods, and spirits are the hardware API we interact with. Christ "is" the principle of Creative Choice in space-time that brings delight and self-awareness (Logos).
In Vodou, Jesus was the "Greatest Houngan," not so much for what he did, but what he represented. He can be worked with as a crossroads spirit who opens the gates to all levels of reality to call in spirits, hence his usefulness in traditional magic. He opens the Gates of both Life and Death and lets you enter "Hell" safely. As we say in Vodou, "All spirits bow before God," and it's really not out of fear, but for the joy and Aliveness he brings to Creation (the "Sim" we are in).
Again, these are all specific cultrual ritual affordances for us to try to approach the Mystery. I am not a fan of making heavy theological nor ontological statements, and I feel there is a lot of flex in all this.
