The best real estate in Brooklyn

Today I took a stroll through Green-Wood Cemetery. It contains the highest land in Brooklyn with amazing views. It's the cite of a Revolutionary War battle, and resting place for thousands. Edward Ferrero, founder of The Apollo rests there, as do many other famous folks. 

There are hundreds of mausoleums, tombs, obelisks, pyramids, and all manner of memorials and monuments.The rolling hills, the hillside mausoleums, so many with Roman or Greek architecture, made me wonder if this is what cemeteries looked like in ancient times. The mausoleums reminded me of the Etruscan houses of the dead, but with stained glass instead of frescoes and pictures of the afterlife instead of scenes from daily life. 


My first stop was to the top of a hill where there where three incredibly tall obelisks, which from afar looked like the left, right and middle pillars.




From Hermes Guide of Souls by Karl Kerényi:

He guards not only gardens but graves. Wherever he is
placed is mortis et vitai locus, the place of life and death.
This epigram, which so succinctly and precisely describes his
vital place in the realm of death, derives from the time of the
first Caesars (CIL, VI, 3708); it agrees, however, with the
Phrygian usage of placing phalli on graves as markers.

Green-wood was the model on which Central Park was designed. There was a lack of public green spaces, so the cemetery also served as a park. It was finally named a landmark and hosts tours of the cemetery as well as letting people into the mausoleums. There are also performances and movie screenings and other events. I find this funny because about 10 years ago someone tried to do this very thing, specifically the movie screenings and music performances in the chapel, pictured above, and they were vilified as if they were personally desecrating graves. How times change. He had it right- it was intended to be a place for the living as well as the dead.




I also stopped to pay my respects to Minerva and The Altar of Liberty, set atop the highest point in Brooklyn, and, appropriately, hailing the Statue of Liberty.This was done intentionally. Minerva's raised hand is exactly in line with Liberty's raised torch. There was a big dust-up about a proposed condo building which would have come between the two. The Goddesses prevailed and the building was redesigned with a cut out so the two would remain within hailing sight of each other. 


Take your own tour:

Grand Mercury

 

 

I drove by here while taking a trip to NYC. It's Grand Central Station. And there's Mercury overseeing it all: Commerce! Travel! Communication! All in the heart of New York City! Flanking him are Minerva and Hercules. Behind him is the eagle of Zeus. I love how commanding he is in this portrayal. In many cases you see him standing around, or preparing to take off. Often he is depicted as a youth- so young, in fact, that it's hard to take him seriously as cunning. He looks incredibly innocent, nothing reflecting the experience beneath the surface. Perhaps that's the best deception of all?

In this portrayal, he is commanding. His cape is in motion, He is in motion. Minerva is reading over her scrolls, Hercules is ready to wield his hammer, and the eagle has his back. Don't forget the cornucopias on either side of the clock and the sheaf of wheat! What especially moves me is his face. Apologies for gushing tonight. Total crush lol

There are so many places around the country where we can still find Our Gods, and our ways, that it's a happy surprise, like a gift you didn't expect. I didn't expect that crossroad yesterday and I didn't expect to see Mercury that day, even though I knew He was there. Magic is all around us, we just have to shift our own perspective to appreciate it. 

Fireworks!

There is some debate over who invented fireworks, China or India, but the Italians invented the art form. In another case of "use what works," Italians incorporated fireworks into their feasts and festivals the moment they were first introduced. Here's a fun story from Italy which includes the modern fireworks as a form of harvest divination:

In Tuscany, there's a fireworks display, lit from a fire which is lit from splinters of flint from the cave in which Jesus was alleged to have been buried. If the giant cart burns to the bottom, all is well, but if it fizzles out, the harvest is screwed, I tells ya! Talk about pressure! I bet that's more pressure than the Macy's folks with their harbor display!

Tonight I watched the D.C fireworks lighting up the mall and surrounding the Washington Monument. The display was so phallic in nature that I felt like I was intruding on a "private moment." Seriously, take a look! I had a moment tonight when I thought about George Washington as Osiris and the Washington Monument as his recreated phallus which is used to impregnate Liberty. I know, it sounds bizarre, but it works perfectly with the Isis/Osiris mythology. Osiris was killed and dismembered by Set and the 14 pieces were scattered. Isis collected all of the pieces, with the help of Nephthys, except for his phallus. So Isis created a new one. Looks like we created one right here in America.
All of this got me to thinking about "The Apotheosis of Washington."




In this painting, which makes up the ceiling of the capitol rotunda, George Washington is depicted as a god, along with Ceres, Columbia, Flora, Liberty, Mercury, Minerva, Neptune, and Vulcan.




I hate to say it, but Wiki does a pretty darn good job of not only describing the general scene, but also including each of the harder to see scenes with the Roman Gods! So I'm going to direct you there!

"The day will be most memorable in the history of America. I am apt to believe
that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary
festival…It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade…bonfires and
illuminations (fireworks) from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forevermore." 

 

-John Adams on July 3, 1776, in a letter to his wife

The Goddess of a thousand works

I was too busy rebutting bad sources and enjoying my revels in the past week to pay homage to the feast of Minerva. It was held on the fifth day after the ides and honestly who knows when the F that is anymore. Technically, we're not at 5 days post-ides yet. But onto the Goddess known as Minerva.

There is little known about the Italic Goddess, Meneswā 'She who measures' as per wiki. There is nothing on the intertubes about her nor have I found any references to her in a book, so I'm not sure where this information came from. Here's the full wiki passage:

"Her name is indigenous to Italy and might even be of Etruscan origin, stemming from an Italic moon goddess *Meneswā 'She who measures', the Etruscans adopted the inherited Old Latin name, *Menerwā, thereby calling her Menrva. This has been disputed, however.Carl Becker noted that her name appears to contain the PIE root *men-, which he notes was linked in Greek primarily to memory words (cf. Greek "mnestis"/μνῆστις 'memory, remembrance, recollection'), but which more generally referred to 'mind' in most Indo-European languages... Menrva was part of a holy triad with Tinia and Uni, later reflected in the Roman Capitoline Triad of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva."

She is said to have been worshiped throughout Italy, with her war aspect/association used in Rome proper. War-like Romans? Shocked, I am. Ha. "She who measures" certainly sounds like a Moon Goddess to me. I prefer this notion to the one that she was born from the head of her father. Riiight. Wisdom is a Maiden born from the head of a man. Patriarchalization much? (I just love using that word)

She measures, remembers, heals (time heals all wounds?), wields lightning and is wisdom personified. Waining moon aspect? Quadruple Goddess? Dark, waxing, full and waining? Hekate, Diana, Juno, Meneswa?



Add another to the list to interview using the tarot! Who wants to join me in this exercise? We'll agree on questions, read separately and compare notes.