could ever be complete,
without referencing
the Great Virgin Sacrifice
of 1912
and the resulting Cult of Ice-is.
________
In Holy SherWood Forest, where dreams are filmed by the rich & sold to the poor, there lurks & works, a wizard...
... with the power to break ...
... blocks off ice wreck cords.
In 1997, he brought the drowned Virgin back from from her grave, twice. With multiple flicks of his directorial wand, Ice-is was transformed into the most prophet-able 'blocks off ice' movie of all time (well until he re-launched the blocks of Giza ΔVΔTΔR).
At some point I got curious about the virgin movie's heroine, well her name to be precise. Rose DeWitt Bukater. Quite a curious mouthful.
"De Witt - from the Flemish family name meaning “white.”
Oh looky there ... a White Rose
Of 'Bukater' I could find nothing at all, except that sometimes the word bouquet (wreath?) did creep to mind.
Because of the central placing of the virgin Rose aboard the Virgin liner in a movie that mesmerised the world (& because this series is, & will be, intimately astrally connected), I got to wondering, if roses, like mountains, relate to stars.
Wiki on roses: - "The flowers of most species of roses have five petals." I know, I know, you were expecting more.
Now I think if you ask most people to draw a star, you'll get all five points. It's what we were taught.
So back to wiki & star symbology:-
"The five-pointed star, if drawn with points of equal length and angles of 36° at each point, is sometimes termed a golden five pointed star. If the colinear edges are joined together a pentagram is produced... a symbol of mystical and magical significance.
And lest we forget "The golden five-pointed star is a very common ideogram in the western world, and has particularly strong associations with military power and war."
I have just been reminded Intranetedly that Mr da'n Vinci-Brown makes rosy references in his Code book & linkings to bloody pentacles. While another site that won't share it's words, says something to the effect that the pentacle is a symbol of the feminine principle that is embodied by the rose & that small five petalled roses found in Gothic cathedral designs are semi-secret pentagrams.
Ok fellow traveller let's head back to the mother ship.
Titanic was the proclaimed immortal goddess of the White Star Lion, sorry I mean Line.
"The elegant but ill-fated jewel in the White Star crown Titanic was a technical marvel of engineering in its day. At 882 ft long, her perfect proportions and magnificent profile were the envy of other shipping companies."
"The Titanic was the shining jewel of the White Star Line"
Now I reckon, we can refer to ships as 'entities' without being overly harassed by political correctabullies.
There is something about them that implies life.
Perhaps they stir distant memories?
Anyway let's look at Titanic.
Like life she took a great deal of time & care to create;
"Three thousand men labored for 2 years (some say 3) to complete the largest man made moving object in the world"
"It took 20 draft horses to draw one of the Titanic's anchors through the streets of Belfast "
As with all birthing, her delivery was determined (& messy);
"It took 23 tons of soap, tallow, and train oil on the slipway to get Titanic into the water"
& like life, her leaving was utterly devastating;
"The tragic news was greeted with utter disbelief. When the news sunk in eventually, men at the Yard wept. A city joined in the sorrow and the thought of such an unsinkable vessel now at the bottom of the Atlantic after only a few days at sea was impossible to bear. It took many years for the hurt to disappear, if indeed it ever did."
Returning to the theme of entities we find that ships are given names. Many are christened.
Miss Georgiana W. Dean, sponsor, SS Lone Star State, December 23, 1920.
Of homophonic interest is that ships also have berths: "Definition: The dock, quay, or pier where a cruise ship ties up to the shore; the bed or beds in the passenger cabins on the ship."
Meanwhile sex raises it's head;
"Traditionally ships have been referred to using the feminine pronouns (even ships named after men ...) as well as countries and oceans. The origins of this practice are not certain"
&
"A figurehead is a carved wooden decoration, often female or bestial, found at the prow of ships largely made between the 16th and 19th century"
A mere ship? A living vessel?
Did the female gendering come along because ships spend their 'lives' upon the amniotic ocean-fluid of Earth. Perhaps the loading, carrying & unloading of passengers can be viewed as a form of insemination, gestation & subsequent birthing.
Or, could it be, that the very shape of the vessel recalls the opening through which creation inwardly & outwardly, passes?
Strewn around the ancient Isles of Ireland & Britain are some carvings that were created much earlier.
They are wonderfully bold & most unlady-like.
"Sheela na Gigs (or Sheela-na-Gigs) are figurative carvings of naked women displaying an exaggerated vulva. They are found on churches, castles and other buildings."
Feeling naughty, I mean nautical?
"Inanna... the Sumerian goddess of sexual love, fertility, and warfare" was also of an aquatic proclivity;
My vulva, the horn,
The Boat of Heaven,
Is full of eagerness like the young moon."
Across the waves of the internet I sailed to a site which cited a longly list for the oft named (& sadly, oft maligned) female genitalia. Among the big name contributors we find one Willie Shakespeare. Apparently he too, was nautically bent, & in King Lear he christens the vulva, a 'boat'.
Further perusing of the aforeshore-said site leads to a match made in heaven with our floral theme - for a century or so later, the boat was alchemically transmuted into a rose.
While the term Mystic Rose also makes an appearance as an apparent code in 'Western esoteric schools'.
And for added interest we also find nominations for "Eye - 16th ct. England & Alpha and Omega - Greek, "from beginning to end", "most important"."
Returning to the Sheela na Gig carvings for a moment, I recall (as clearly as I can) reading a story of two young girls of yesteryear being harassed by a boy (or boys). Their response to the evildoer(s) was to raise their dresses (apparently sans underwear), & give what can now be described as a 'Sheela na Gig evil eye'. The girls seemed to be very aware of their actions & the resulting re-action, as the boy (or boys) took to their heels. I find this tale immensely interesting & perhaps indicative of a power we know bugger all about.
If ships have a strong connection to the creative or generative principle, then Holy SherWood surely watered this down to ultra skim milk level in the 70's & 80's with Love Boat.
Hands up all the idiots who were (further) inoculated with the virus of romance (don't worry I'll go first).
OK let's go a stepping stone further & more fancifully.
Keeping the feminine energy generator in mind, let's also suggest that ships, or at least some ships may be consecrated, floating chapels (or cathedrals). And while we're at it lets turn the tables & play with the idea that churches are ships.
Do they not steer their passengers in a particular direction?
Why does this man's job title sound so familiar? Bishop (Bi-ship). His boss' title is the Bi(g) Ship of Rome (aka da Pope). His derriere rests in a great aqua-homophonic Vat;
"The Holy See is the universal government of the Catholic Church and operates from the Vatican City State, a sovereign, independent territory of 0.44 square kilometers (0.17 square miles). The Pope is the ruler of both the Vatican City State and the Holy See. The Holy See, as the supreme body of government of the Catholic Church, is a sovereign juridical entity under international law." Aye, aye Captain!
And while we're playing outrageously - Why name the captain of a STAR-SHIP after a church?
"kirk c.1200, northern England and Scot. dial. form of church"
& just how did she end up with such a 'creative' name?
"Although the Egyptians had many different creation myths, they all agreed that the universe came from the primordeal waters of Nun"
"Nun’s name means “primeval waters,” and he represented the waters of chaos out of which Re-Atum began creation"
"He was also shown rising up out of a body of water, carrying the solar barque in his up stretched hands" (Captain, ah'm doin' the best I can, ah need more power!).
Does the holy sister above remind you at all of a pyramid with capstone, the symbol of the primeval mound? "Out of Nun rose the creator of the world Atum or the Primeval Mound"
Other watery religious connectings including baptism, holy watering &
... fresh water fishing.
Oh look, sea, I'm not making it all up;
"The ship (bark or barque, barchetta) was an ancient Christian symbol. Its is the Church tossed on the sea of disbelief, worldliness, and persecution but finally reaching safe harbor with its cargo of human souls. Part of the imagery comes from the ark saving Noah's family during the Flood (1 Peter 3:20-21). Jesus protecting the Peter's boat and the apostles on the stormy Sea of Galilee (Mark 4:35-41). It was also a great symbol during times when Christians needed to disguise the cross, since the ship's mast forms a cross in many of its depictions.."
"The ship has been a symbol of the church since the first century."
Of course on board this blog, little questioners are allowed to view this church-ship from a more 'pagan' standpoint, if they so wish.
Actually now that I've mentioned it, this does supply me with an opening for a detour. If this was a book, which it's starting to feel like, I would begin a new chapter.
Oh well, why the hell not?
............................................................................
Meanwhile back at the ranch...........
Well not exactly. If you have enjoyed or learned anything from this series, thanks may be directed to the land which is my home - New Zealand.
You & I have followed a trail of nautical & air disasters connected to this land. Much of this trail blazing has occured by following regal footprints...
........ & the trail continues...........
The reason I decided to consider ships as chapels, was because of the fantastical footsteps of ER (Elizabeth Regina) on her 1953-54 sell out World Tour.
Four days before initial lift off, her sublimely named Prime Minister, Winston Churchill spoke this charming way in the House of Commons;
"Her Majesty's ship Gothic is more spacious and travels faster than the Golden Hind, but it may well be that the journey the Queen is about to take will be no less auspicious and the treasure she brings back no less bright than when Drake first sailed an English ship round the world."
A non carbon dated copy of the Golden Hind.
In order to travel our own weird way in this chapter, we will presume that we know nowt about royalty & the hold it has over the human psyche. We'll suggest that it's strangely bizarre. We'll also note that royalty is hugely ritualistic & seemingly dependent upon homage. And we'll wonder WHY?
The sadly silent Matthew Delooze calls the ruling heirarchy of this world 'agents of the Serpent Cult'. An endless historical cycle of symbolic rulers & ritual & sacrifice milking emotional & spriritual respect/energy, creating...
... a magical recipe that perpetuates...
... humanity's knee jerk reaction.
By defaulting on our divinity, did we allow them to craftily rewrite humanity's instruction manual?
So much symbolism. Did ya spot the roses? I wonder why the unicorn is shackled? Oh look at this "According to legend a free unicorn was considered a very dangerous beast; therefore the heraldic unicorn is chained". Wondering if they could be associated with human divinity I upturned an internet rock. It suggested that the case for the prosecution is telling porkies;
"The unicorn is the only fabulous beast that does not seem to have been conceived out of human fears. In even the earliest references he is fierce yet good, selfless yet solitary, but always mysteriously beautiful. He could be captured only by unfair means, and his single horn was said to neutralize poison." (Marianna Mayer)
Sorry I digressed. Then got a glass of wine & then I checked on dinner. We return you now to the overall theme of this chapter.
Royalty, homage & terrible disaster ( sorry did I forget to mention the latter).
From her coronation: "Sirs, I here present unto you Queen Elizabeth, your undoubted Queen: wherefore all you who are come this day to do your homage and service, are you willing to do the same?" The crowd would reply "God save Queen Elizabeth," every time".
I have browsed extensively through my $1 bargain '53-54 Royal World Tour recollection book & am gobsmacked by the adoration, adulation & downright worship that was whipped up everywhere the QEII trod. Think of the death of Princess Diana & extend it over a six month period.
The coming of the second Elizabeth was a first. Until then NZ soil been completely free of monarch shoes.
Let me let some other people paint you a portrait.
"Go on get a good mental picture".
"Don Donaldson, New Zealand radio commentator, caught the tense emotion as he saw Her Majesty walking down the gangway toward the Governor-General ... Carefully he counted the number of steps that remained for her to take. "Four, three, two, one" -then out came his exultant shout-"She's in New Zealand!"."
"Perhaps three in every four New Zealanders did see her, as the Queen visited 46 towns or cities and attended 110 separate functions. One woman saw her 30 times. Crowds would turn up hours before and wait patiently for the split second when she drove past. At Tirau, a community of 600 people, there was a crowd of 10,000"
"People went to extraordinary lengths to show their devotion. Sheep were dyed in the patriotic colours of red, white and blue; in New Plymouth both bowling club members and the local pony club formed into an E on the ground. Screens were erected to hide unsightly buildings, and citizens were instructed when and how to plant blue lobelias, red salvias and white begonias. Hardly a car did not sport a Union Jack, hardly a building in the main cities was not covered in bunting and flowers during the day and electric lights at night. This was truly a remarkable event"
"...three-quarters of the population of Australia were estimated to have seen the Queen"
"The crowds were so great by 8pm that all available police in the metropolitan area were called by radio to control traffic. The police had to travel by train as road traffic was so heavy"
"A lasting memory of that visit was of the Queen and Duke leaving Palmerston North on the train. They both stood on the back of the guard wagon waving goodbye. One man ran along the tracks after them in a sort of desperate farewell to a loved one. I think everyone felt the same and we went home with a real feeling of isolation and loss."
Not everyone 'bought' the show. Here is a little face saving Kiwi spirit;
"A Wanganui resident refused to leave a shop and watch the royals pass by, saying, 'I'm not getting up for those Pommie buggers!'."
Putting whipped up frenzy aside, I would like to draw your attention to her transportation.
The Queen set sail from England on 23rd November, 1953 aboard a star-ship (that's another chapter). In Jamaica she transferred to a sea-ship that had been designated & decorated as her Royal Yacht, SS Gothic.
With the nautical inclination of this post, I was duty bound to follow any leads this Royal Ship could offer. Thus it was I began to wonder about ships as floating churches.
Gothic architecture dates back to the medieval period & "is most familiar as the architecture of many of the great cathedrals, abbeys and parish churches of Europe ... It is in the great churches and cathedrals ... that the Gothic style was expressed most powerfully, its characteristics lending themselves to appeal to the emotions"
"The Gothic style ... emphasizes verticality and light ... Most Gothic churches ... are of the Latin cross (or "cruciform") plan, with a long nave making the body of the church"
Westminster Abbey "is a large, mainly Gothic church, in Westminster, London... It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English, later British and later still (and currently) monarchs of the Commonwealth Realms".
Of potential interest (but haven't delved);
"The most important feature of Gothic architecture was the intensive use of Kabbalistic symbols, unique to the Templars, in buildings erected in this particular style ...When the Templars were proscribed by the papal edict of 1312, the masons also lost their right to freedom of movement. For that reason, the masons in France fled to Germany, where the Gothic architectural style suddenly reached its peak"
"The Gothic Architecture, created by the Knights Templar and Cistercians, was a method of building large structures in a unique way, that used the natural currents of the spiritual electro-magnetic energies which flow around our planet to amplify the spiritual energies received by those praying and meditating inside their cathedrals".
I could go on about Rose windows too "one of the most beautiful and characteristic features of medieval architecture, especially of the French Gothic, in which it achieved its most perfect development"...
... but we really must get on.
Two days ago a sync registering 9.9 on the richter scale shook my world. I spent most of the day in a dazed haze. I also felt like the biggest idiot at a really, really stupid persons conference. But there also came a sense of honour, for I felt that this land had communicated a message to me that needed to be told.
Because of this I must now take a firmer stand regarding royalty.
I spoke to my West African friend yesterday, to see what thoughts came to mind. Within him is a certain understanding of knowledge that exisited before the 'colonial masters' came to his land. African traditional religion recognises a very different spirit world to the dry one we inherited. His thoughts were very much my own. I leave it up to you to make what you will of what follows.
I have previously mentioned the Waitangi Treaty, called New Zealand's 'founding document', (though I don't think she ever felt lost). Basically it was a signed agreement between 40 or so Maori chiefs & representatives of the British Crown. Let's say "bugger the jargon" & cut straight to the ritual crux - on 6th February, 1840 Britain proclaimed it's sovereignty over New Zealand. Waitangi means 'Weeping Waters'
On Waitangi Day, 1952, (112 years later) King George VI died & his daughter Elizabeth became Queen. This I have already written of.
Six months after her world-watched Coronation Show (bejewelled by the triumph of a conquered Eve Rest), QEII touches down her monarchial shoes on Auckland's concrete. Whipped up frenzy ensues. The next day is Christmas Eve, so even more frenzy. What joyous little colonial citizens.
"The excitement of the occasion and the festive season was marred by the appalling railway accident at Tangiwai on Christmas Eve"
"New Zealand's worst railway accident, killing 151 people and creating the country's blackest Christmas"
I don't know why I find myself near to tears as I write this, since I wasn't even around at the time.
"One of the most unusual floods to strike New Zealand ... As natural accidents go, it was unprecedented."
Yes indeedy who would expect a bridge to be washed away when there had been no rain?
"At 10.21 p.m. on Christmas Eve 1953 the Wellington–Auckland night express plunged into the flooded Whangaehu River at Tangiwai, 10 kilometres west of Waiouru in the central North Island."
"... approximately two hours earlier, a huge section of the wall of the crater lake on mount Ruapehu had broken away, releasing up to two million cubic metres of water. This water formed a lahar, a silt-laden flood, which swept down the mountain with great force, carrying uprooted trees, boulders, and great chunks of ice along with it... It was like a great tidal wave"
"Sometime between 10.10 and 10.15 p.m. it struck the concrete pylons of the Tangiwai railway bridge."
"Travelling at approximately 65 kilometres per hour, locomotive Ka 949 and its train of nine carriages and two vans reached the severely weakened bridge at 10.21 p.m"
"The engine almost reached the opposite side before it nose-dived into the bank with a crash which could be clearly heard above the roaring of the flood. The following five carriages buckled into the air before plunging into the roaring floodwaters.
The sixth carriage ... teetering on the edge of the shattered bridge...began to rock dangerously and ... plunged into the flood-swollen river."
"Such was the force of the lahar that one of the carriages was carried for a distance of 5 miles and some bodies were found 30 miles away"
"Twenty of the bodies were never found and are presumed to have been carried 120 km downriver to the ocean."
Time: 22:21 NZDT - Northbound Train 626
Because this happening could be scientifically explained, it was publicly accepted, memorialised & filed under 'T' for Tragedy. The usual procedures of Western log thick, sorry logic, followed:
Lessons were declared to have been learned, the bridge was strengthened, warnings put in place.
The End.
I cannot leave it there.
Two days ago I got hit by a psychic lahar.
I've had a book out of the library on this disaster for many weeks. I was going to take it back but it wouldn't let me. Two days ago it insisted I take it off the floor & leave it in plain sight. But I still didn't get it. I admit I had thought it most strange that NZ's founding document AND the ill-fated bridge should both have names that translated to 'Weeping Water'.
Perhaps you spotted it way back.
Waitangi Treaty
Tangiwai Bridge
ITS THE SAME WORD.
Wai = water
Tangi = 'Funeral, to cry with great sadness'
So let's look again - symbolically
With the Treaty of Waitangi the British Crown possessed New Zealand - 6 February (6/2/1840)
Waitangi Day 1952 - George VI dies. Elizabeth becomes Queen - 6 February (6/2/1952)
Elizabeth is crowned on the reverse date - 2 June (6/2/53).
On the same day it is announced to the world that NZ'er Edmund Hillary has 'conquered' Eve Rest. He was ritually knighted a few days later 6 June (6/6/53). A newspaper headline describes him as The New Elizabethan
Elizabeth's Gothic church docks in Auckland harbour on 23rd December 1953. The next day a freak 'flood' causes the death of 151 people. This occurs in a place with the exact same name (Tangiwai-Waitangi) as the place where NZ was first possessed. Surely the very name begs for our attention - Weeping Waters.
This event occured at one of the most symbolic times of the year - the solsticing festival of Xmas.
"Most of those on the train were heading home for Christmas, armed with presents for friends and family...
... Over the following days, searchers found many battered, mud-soaked presents, toys and teddy bears on the banks of the Whangaehu River."
The train was travelling from Wellington (capital of NZ) to Auckland, where the Queen was in residence.
"Photograph of their Royal Highnesses Queen Elizabeth II, the Duke of Edinburgh, and others during Christmas, Government House, Auckland, (25?) December 1953"
My West African friend speaks without hesitation, of the Queen as the "head representative of a very powerful force, one of the spiritual realm". He is well aware of ritual & recognises it's footprints. I had originally asked if in his country's tradition, Tangiwai would have been viewed as a bad omen. His response to that was "No", & he then volunteered the information that Tangiwai would have been seen as a sacrifice.
Lately I have been re-reading The Mystery of the White Lions by Linda Tucker, as part of my research for this series. In many ways, my friend speaks a very similar spiritual language to the Zulu shaman Credo Mutwa - both acknowledge other realms & energies & they do it without apology. My friend maintains that ancient bloodlines have connections to forces we do not understand. Those in the flesh perform the rituals that perhaps they do not understand. Nevertheless powerful, creative & ancient rites are enacted & they are done for a purpose.
When the full force of the Weeping Waters hit me, I was truly shocked.
In sacrificial terms this event occured at a deadly specific time & with the deadly accurate force of a tidal wave, ensuring that many of the 11 carriages, pulled by engine KA 949 would be catapulted into a freshly squeezed, raging River Styx.
May wiki remind you that "The Ka (k3) was the Egyptian concept of spiritual essence, that which distinguishes the difference between a living and a dead person, with death occurring when the ka left the body.
"HRH the Duke of Edinburgh attends the mass funeral at Karori Cemetery, Wellington, on 31 December 1953 for 21 of the victims of the Tangiwai tragedy"
Perhaps this is all fanciful, for it seems almost too ridiculous to me at times.
And yet.
I had not gone looking for the royal trail in this series, it seemed to follow me.
My West African friend made another point regarding the equivalent of coronations in his country. Apparently it is a fairly well known fact that people go missing around these 'important' times & it is understood that the missing become human sacrifices. What he said combined with the theme of watery deaths, reminded me of a coronation day headline that I'd thought strange.
"Stabbed Girl Dead in Thames."
A second look also reveals "Flash kills 3 Cricketers."
And then of course there was the Horse Sacrifice of '82.
And the sinking of the Mikhail Lermontov a week before the Queen arrived in '86.
And this;
"On 6 February 1963, the anniversary of her accession to the Throne and also the one hundred and twenty-third anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, Queen Elizabeth II, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, returned to New Zealand... After a two-day stay at Auckland Britannia sailed with the Royal visitors for Mount Maunganui [Tauranga] and thence to Napier for a brief visit to Hawke's Bay."
And five months later
"The worst air accident within New Zealand occurred on 3 July 1963, when a National Airways Corporation DC3 slammed into the Kaimai Range during its descent towards Tauranga. All 23 people on board perished. A major cause of the crash was atrocious weather, which created strong downdraughts over the range."
I would like to understand more about the forces that my friend & Credo Mutwa talk about naturally. I am tired of facts, because they make no sense to my senses. Can the forces of nature be 'called up'? I think our wiser forbears would have assented & thought my question ridiculous. But then they didn't have science to tell them what can & cannot be.
So do you wanna know what happened to the Royal Yacht?
Like so many who have served their ritual purpose, she was cast aside. But in 1968 she was called on to perform one last, Last Rite (well actually seven of them).
Three months after the sinking of Wahine, SS Gothic left Wellington Harbour. Several days later a fire broke out on board, killing seven people. She returned to Britain but was never properly repaired & eventually sold to Taiwanese breakers in 1969.
....... End of Chapter 2 ......
Please note that this particular article is only half finished - I'm well under way on the rest of it, but it grew so large, that for sanity's sake I needed to split it up, indeed I've felt more like a novelist than a blog writer over the last week. I'll be viewing Titanic again too, am very interested to see what I will see.
Rose'n'Lion cruxing chapters to follow.
Cheers.
