Posts Tagged ‘weirdness’
Happy Candlemas
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The wheel of the year turns and turns, and the foul weather being suffered by the Lords and Ladies of the Pentacle this day is actually a good thing- for it means that the hag Cailleach Bheur sleeps rather than gathering more firewood to outlast the winter. As is the case with several of these ancient calendrical milestones (November 1st for instance), February 2nd seems to be one of those special dates on which things just seem to happen.
Today, after all, is the anniversary of New Amsterdam gaining “municipal rights” from its degenerate Dutch masters in 1653– the day that a colony became incorporated as “The City” and the seedling megalopolis was established.
from wikipedia
Candlemas occurs 39 days after Christmas.
Traditionally the Western term “Candlemas” (or Candle Mass) referred to the practice whereby a priest on February 2 blessed beeswax candles for use throughout the year, some of which were distributed to the faithful for use in the home. In Poland the feast is called Święto Matki Bożej Gromnicznej (Święto, “Holiday” + Matka Boska, “Mother of God” + Gromnica, “Thunder”). This name refers to the candles that are blessed on this day and called gromnicy, since these candles are lit during (thunder) storms and placed in windows to ward off the storm.
Within the Roman Catholic Church, since the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council, this feast has been referred to as the Feast of Presentation of the Lord, with references to candles and the purification of Mary de-emphasised in favor of the Prophecy of Simeon the Righteous. Pope John Paul II connected the feast day with the renewal of religious vows.
According to over eight centuries of tradition, the swaddling clothes that baby Jesus wore during the presentation at the Temple are kept in Dubrovnik Cathedral, Croatia.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Today is the day that the Germans finally threw in the towel at Stalingrad in 1943, the anniversary of the opening of Grand Central Terminal in 1913, and the day that Sid Vicious died in 1979.
It’s also Groundhog day, of course, which is the modern enactment of certain more… ancient rites.
from wikipedia
Imbolc (also Imbolg or Oimelc), or St Brigid’s Day (Scots Gaelic Là Fhèill Brìghde, Irish Lá Fhéile Bríde, the feast day of St. Brigid), is an Irish festival marking the beginning of spring. Most commonly it is celebrated on February 1 or 2 (or February 12, according to the Old Calendar), which falls halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox in the northern hemisphere.
The festival was observed in Gaelic Ireland during the Middle Ages. Reference to Imbolc is made in Irish mythology, in the Tochmarc Emire of the Ulster Cycle. Imbolc was one of the four cross-quarter days referred to in Irish mythology, the others being Beltane, Lughnasadh and Samhain. It has been suggested that it was originally a pagan festival associated with the goddess Brigid, who was later Christianised as St. Brigid.
In the 20th century, Imbolc was resurrected as a religious festival in Neopaganism, specifically in Wicca, Neo-druidry and Celtic reconstructionism.
marble glories
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A favored aphorism amongst Occultists is “as above, so below”, a saying attributed to having been coined by Hermes Trismegistis and recorded upon the legendary Kitab Sirr al-Asrar (aka Smaragdine Table, Tabula Smaragdina) or Emerald Tablet.
Such thoughts and sayings often trouble a humble narrator when traveling across the emerald devastations of First Calvary Cemetery here in Queens. The arabic origin of the word Ghoul (ghul) notwithstanding, the term seems appropriate to describe one such as myself, “a person who delights in the macabre.”– although I’m proud to say that (as of yet) I’ve never robbed a grave, drank human blood, or eaten a small child- which are other trademarks of the legendarily abhorrent and undead creatures.
Life has taught me to never say “never” however.
ghoul [guːl]n
- a malevolent spirit or ghost
- a person interested in morbid or disgusting things
- a person who robs graves
- (Myth & Legend / Non-European Myth & Legend) (in Muslim legend) an evil demon thought to eat human bodies, either stolen corpses or children
[from Arabic ghūl, from ghāla he seized]
– photo by Mitch Waxman
All ‘effed up, one of the things which tortures me in those moments before sleep comes is “why am I so fascinated by graveyards?”.
Is it some sort of pretentious “Memento mori” artsy fartsy thing, or is there something motivating me that lies deeply buried and hidden in the polyandrion of ideation which defines my thoughts? When these photos were shot, I was indeed “searching for (the name that must never be spoken again)” but as often happens to me in this place, my concentration began to fray and tear in the manner of an overburdened rope. Imaginings and fantastic notions march into your mind here, and on this day, I became convinced that I heard grunting sounds rising from the soil.
As above, so below- and as your humble narrator was walking the gentle landscaping of Calvary, enjoying the bright emanations of that burning thermonuclear eye of god itself- were unknown counterparts mirroring my movements in some subterrane grotto?
from wikipedia
Ideas of reference and delusions of reference involve people having a belief or perception that irrelevant, unrelated or innocuous phenomena in the world refer to them directly or have special personal significance. In psychiatry, delusions of reference form part of the diagnostic criteria for psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia, delusional disorder, or bipolar disorder during the elevated stages of mania.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As a believer in nothing but the hydrogen bomb (the very existence and functionality of which proves the sterile Einsteinian worldview of the universe, as espoused by Physicist and Mathematician alike, as valid and true. How many angels, or neutrinos, can dance on the head of a pin- indeed), I fancy myself a student of debased and superstitious folklore nevertheless. Revenants, Dybbuks, Dhampirs, and Vrykolakas enter my thoughts when I move through these lonely places during my vast solitudes.
Apotropaic devices are absent from my coterie of gadgets and cameras, and whatever dark and cthonic powers may be extant and watching would perceive me as defenseless. Part of the reason I only go to this place during the brightly lit hours of the day, I suppose.
from wikipedia
In Hindu folklore, the vetala is an evil spirit who haunts cemeteries and takes demonic possession of corpses. They make their displeasure known by troubling humans. They can drive people mad, kill children, and cause miscarriages, but also guard villages.
They are hostile spirits of the dead trapped in the ‘twilight zone’ between life and afterlife. These creatures can be repelled by the chanting of holy mantras. One can free them from their ghostly existence by performing their funerary rites. Being unaffected by the laws of space and time, they have an uncanny knowledge about the past, present, and future and a deep insight into human nature. Therefore many sorcerers seek to capture them and turn them into slaves.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Of course, this is a Roman Catholic cemetery, which suggests that the multitudes who lie here were sealed off- magickly- by the sacrament of “Extreme Unction” from suffering such macabre experiences as walking about the earth seeking living victims in some post mortem half life. The heritage of the Catholics extends back through time to the Dagon devotees of Syria and the tomb worshipping Etruscans, and the Romans spent enough time in Egypt and North Africa to have picked up and incorporated many of the Magicks they found into the syncretic system of beliefs and rites known as and inherited by modernity as Catholicism. The mysteries of the church are many, and varied, and more has been forgotten or lost over the centuries than any single lifetime can recover.
Who can guess, all there is, that might be buried down there?
from wikipedia
Magick is an Early Modern English spelling for magic, used in works such as the 1651 translation of De Occulta Philosophia, Three Books of Occult Philosophy, or Of Magick. The British occultist Aleister Crowley, chose the spelling to differentiate the occult from stage magic and defined it as “the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with the will”, including both “mundane” acts of will as well as ritual magic. Crowley claimed that “it is theoretically possible to cause in any object any change of which that object is capable by nature”. John Symonds and Kenneth Grant attach a deeper occult significance to this preference.
Crowley saw magick as the essential method for a person to reach true understanding of the self and to act according to one’s True Will, which he saw as the reconciliation “between free will and destiny.”
Since the time of Crowley’s writing about magick, many different spiritual and occult traditions have adopted the K spelling, but some have redefined what it means to some degree. For some modern occultists, it refers strictly to paranormal magic, which involves influencing events and physical phenomena by supernatural, mystical, or paranormal means.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As above, so below. The full quotation, as translated into english from a latin translation of the original Arabic by Isaac Newton (whose groundbreaking work- particularly “De motu corporum in gyrum”- sets the stage for the later realization of the Einsteinian viewpoint, the Hydrogen Bomb, and our modern world of space going craft, jet travel, and deep sea exploration) goes:
“That which is below is like that which is above that which is above is like that which is below to do the miracles of one only thing.”
from wikipedia
The Liber de Causis was a philosophical work attributed to Aristotle that became popular in the Middle Ages, first in Arabic and Islamic countries and later in the Latin West. The real authorship remains a mystery, but most of the content is taken from Proclus’ Elements of Theology. This was first noticed by Thomas Aquinas, following William of Moerbeke’s translation of the works of Proclus into Latin.
The original title in Arabic was Kitāb ul-īḍāḥ li-Arisţūţālis fi’l-khayri’l-maḥd, “The book of Aristotle’s explanation of the pure good”. The title Liber de Causis came into use following the translation into Latin by Gerard of Cremona.
the stinking shallows
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned in yesterday’s posting, aimless wandering around the Dutch Kills tributary of Newtown Creek was how your humble narrator spent Monday afternoon. The stealthy ones… let’s just call them Cats… pointed me in this direction, and low tide was observed.
Strewn, the 29th street roadside coast of the canal is a favored location for illegal dumping of both construction debris and putrescent garbage- which- when combined with the stagnant conditions which are typical of this water and factoring the recent snow melt…
-let’s just say that the smell here is a tangible and seemingly sentient thing.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It was low tide when I stood there, my attentions drawn to exposed sediments and that curiously decayed steel which composes the hull of a long stranded barge- both of which are remarkable. Casting my lens around, I noticed the sickly trees adorning the filth bearing shore and began thinking about the posting “a creeping run” which was presented here- at your Newtown Pentacle- just days ago.
Hyperbolic, the post pondered the presence of organochemical mutagens in the water, swirling about in that vast cocktail of industrial runoff– whose whispered effects have been studied only as individual constituents rather than “in solution” or “in concert”- not just here, but all along that cautionary tale known as the Newtown Creek.
The trees.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Let me state three things here…
first- “simulacra” is a term I use to describe the appearance to the human eye of patterns in organic and random shapes. Certain contrasts in entirely random shapes might suggest a “man in the moon” or a “dragon in the clouds” or “Jesus on a pancake” or “Allah’s name inside an apple” or any of the usual visual coincidences experienced by people when confronted with a well done puppet or artistically wrought doll. It’s the way our eyes and brains work, ultimately. I don’t know what other people call it, but that’s what is meant when I say it.
second- I’m a professional photo retoucher in the New York City advertising world, and routine tasks call for me to create composite images which blend multiple exposures into a single illusory image (as well as taking the mustaches off the pretty ladies). This is the creation of a lie in photographic form, featuring distortions of anatomy and removal of a subjective series of perceived flaws in the subject matter. One of the tricks of the trade is understanding how to manipulate that sense of “simulacra”. In other words, I am quite capable of faking something, photographically speaking.
third- As a statement of principle and duty to the record- the photos which occur during these postings are unaltered except for color and exposure correction and sharpening. Whenever it’s a “trick image” like an “HDR” or “stitched panorama” or “tilt shift”- I endeavor to label it as such.
The Trees.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This shot is un-messed around with, a simulacra caused by a broken branch or a parasitic infection… it must be…
For even around the malignant Dutch Kills…
Even when deeply sunken roots are drinking in some mutagenic stew of petroleum byproducts, sewage borne pharmaceutical runoff, and unmentionable organocoppers…
Even in these unmentionable and shunned waste meadows of the Creekland…
The Trees…
The Trees… are not meant to have eyes.
curious ears
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Newtown Creek Alliance HQ is hidden away somewhere on, near, or under the Creek- I’m not allowed to say where or which. I can tell you that it bears an astounding resemblance to the “Hall of Justice” that appeared on the 1970’s cartoon “Super Friends”.
We’ve got the whole thing- a hangar for the invisible (and intangible) jet, full garage for the Creekmobile, and several submersible vehicles equipped with advanced Riverkeeper technology (which they reclaimed from a sunken U.S.O.- an unknown submersible object). There’s a big red phone with a single button under a glass bell, and while it’s not the only place in these parts where you can get away with wearing a mask and cape it is certainly the friendliest. We have no wonder twins, however.
One day recently, whilst on duty at the Troublealert console, your humble narrator received word that the powers that be from the world beyond Newtown Creek would be gathering and had requested that a representative of NCA make a statement.
from wikipedia
The Hall appeared in the very first episode of the Super Friends series, which premiered on September 8, 1973. It was originally drawn by Al Gmuer, background supervisor for Hanna-Barbera for more than 30 years. Gmuer modeled the fortress after the famous Union Terminal in Cincinnati, Ohio, train station turned museum. The Hall, located in Metropolis, serves as the central meeting point for the Super Friends. The Hall contains the Trouble Alert, a computerized monitoring station that would warn the heroes of a new threat. The Hall also houses a giant computer that the Super Friends use to analyze clues.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Specific need for a certain grasp of the totality of the situation around the Creek, not the expert legal and environmental knowledge or community outreach and organization which the Newtown Creek Alliance normally shares with the powers that are, was requested. Since the big guns were out of town or otherwise busy, it was decided that I should go.
In this collection of Super Friends- I’m, of course, Gleek the super monkey.
from wikipedia
Gleek is a blue “space monkey” and the pet of Zan and Jayna, the Wonder Twins. Gleek is often used as comic relief for the series, as the character often gets into mischief. A joke involving Gleek often ends episodes of the Super Friends in which he appears. Gleek has a stretchable, prehensile tail which can be quite useful. Gleek is also highly intelligent, as he clearly understands spoken English, even somewhat complicated concepts such as the various stages of simple strategic planning. He communicates through the use of sign language, acting out scenes, and chattering in an unintelligible alien tongue. Gleek also helps the Twins when they need to travel: Jayna becomes an eagle, Zan becomes water, and Gleek produces a bucket to hold Zan while Jayna carries them both
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Luckily, my perennial and nervous need to arrive early paid off, and I was able to bend the ear of a member of the House of Representatives! Carolyn Maloney also arrived a few minutes early and we discussed the situation along Newtown Creek- during which I pointed out certain landmarks, quoted from a few official studies, and we both marveled at the enormous number of blue collar jobs which are provided by businesses along the waterway.
Rep. Maloney opened the event, invited me to the microphone, and I read the following prepared statement on behalf of the Newtown Creek Alliance:
“My name is Mitch Waxman and I am representing the Newtown Creek Alliance. We welcome Representative Maloney’s concern for Dutch Kills. The waterway is a major arm of Newtown Creek. A cleanup of the local waterways would be incomplete if this body of water does not receive full attention during the testing process.”
from wikipedia
Carolyn B. Maloney (born February 19, 1946) is the U.S. Representative for New York’s 14th congressional district, serving since 1993. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district, popularly known as the “silk stocking district”, includes most of Manhattan’s East Side; Astoria and Long Island City in Queens; and Roosevelt Island.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Borough President of Queens, Helen Marshall next came to the microphones. The genesis of this event is a concern amongst the political leaders of Queens that a historical pattern which dictates that Queens gets a lesser share of Government allocations and funding, the “short end of the stick” so to speak, doesn’t repeat itself during the cleanup phase of the ongoing EPA Superfund process. This is no paranoid fantasy, incidentally, for despite being the largest borough with the most sizable population- Queens is often left with a half empty plate when the roast is carved up amongst the Boroughs. Manhattan and Brooklyn always seem to get the biggest portion, and the Bronx and Staten Island are going back for seconds, before Queens is even served.
from wikipedia
Helen Marshall was elected Queens Borough President in 2001 succeeding the term-limited Claire Shulman. Prior to being elected Borough President, Marshall served on the New York City Council from 1992 to 2001, an office she vacated due to term limits. Prior to being a city councilwoman, Marshall served for nine years in the New York State Assembly. In both the City Council and State Assembly, Marshall represented Queens.
As Borough President, Marshall has made marketing Queens as a tourist destination one of her priorities.In 2005 Marshall won a second term, defeating her Republican and Conservative challenger Philip T. Sica with 75% of the vote to his 25%. She was inaugurated to her second term as President of the Borough of Queens on January 3, 2006 in a ceremony held at Terrace on the Park in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. Marshall outlined her plans for the next four years including health care, education, housing and new park projects.
On July 1, 2009 she appointed Dennis M. Walcott to the reconstituted New York City Board of Education. The Board then voted to name Walcott as president of the board.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As the press conference proceeded, various political players filtered in. State Assemblyman Michael Gianaris, as pictured above was the first to arrive.
from wikipedia
Michael N. Gianaris (born 1970) is a New York Assemblyman representing District 36, which comprises Astoria, Long Island City, Queensbridge and Ravenswood, among other neighborhoods located in the New York City borough of Queens. He is the first Greek-American to be elected to office from New York City. Gianaris has been mentioned as a possible candidate for New York’s 14th congressional district.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Also on hand were members of the Dutch Kills Civic Association, and in all the excitement I missed the name of the gentleman with the glasses and blue shirt but I can tell you that the fellow at the microphone is Gerald Walsh- President of DKCA.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan spoke next. This was the first time I met her, but she seemed nice.
from wikipedia
Catherine Nolan (born March 12, 1958) is an New York Assemblywoman, elected in 1984 to represent the 37th district (covering the Sunnyside, Ridgewood, Astoria, Woodside, Long Island City, Maspeth, Queensbridge, Ravenswood, Dutch Kills and Blissville neighborhoods).
A resident of the district for most of her life, she is a graduate of St. Aloysius R.C. School and Grover Cleveland High School. Ms. Nolan graduated from New York University cum laude with a BA degree in Political Science.
She was first elected to the Assembly in 1984. Assemblywoman Nolan is a member of the Democratic leadership in the Assembly and has served as Chair of both the Labor and Banking Committee during her career. Although no longer on the Labor Committee, Nolan has continued to push legislation which protects workers rights in New York State.In January 2006, Assemblywoman Nolan was appointed as Chair of the Assembly Standing Committee on Education. Nolan is also a member of the highly influential Rules and Ways & Means Committee.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The press conference concluded after City Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer spoke.
Note: I should mention that I’ve had a couple of instances, concerning Astoria business, that have brought me into contact with his office. Limited experience with both his staff and the Councilmember himself have left me a BIG Jimmy Van Bramer fan.
from wikipedia
Jimmy Van Bramer is a member of the New York City Council. He was elected to the New York City Council to represent the 26th district on November 3, 2009. He represents Woodside, Sunnyside, Long Island City, Astoria, and Maspeth.
Greenwood Cemetery, October 28th, 2010
– photos by Mitch Waxman
A trip to Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn, seeking AND FINDING the spot where Robert Suydam lays with his bride. You have no idea how much it freaks a humble narrator out when the realization that H.P. Lovecraft’s stories aren’t altogether fictional sets in.
from dagonbytes.com – H.P. Lovecraft’s Horror at Red Hook
Robert Suydam sleeps beside his bride in Greenwood Cemetery. No funeral was held over the strangely released bones, and relatives are grateful for the swift oblivion which overtook the case as a whole. The scholar’s connexion with the Red Hook horrors, indeed, was never emblazoned by legal proof; since his death forestalled the inquiry he would otherwise have faced. His own end is not much mentioned, and the Suydams hope that posterity may recall him only as a gentle recluse who dabbled in harmless magic and folklore.
As for Red Hook – it is always the same. Suydam came and went; a terror gathered and faded; but the evil spirit of darkness and squalor broods on amongst the mongrels in the old brick houses, and prowling bands still parade on unknown errands past windows where lights and twisted faces unaccountably appear and disappear. Age-old horror is a hydra with a thousand heads, and the cults of darkness are rooted in blasphemies deeper than the well of Democritus, The soul of the beast is omnipresent and triumphant, and Red Hook’s legions of blear-eyed, pockmarked youths still chant and curse and howl as they file from abyss to abyss, none knows whence or whither, pushed on by blind laws of biology which they may never understand. As of old, more people enter Red Hook than leave it on the landward side, and there are already rumours of new canals running underground to certain centres of traffic in liquor and less mentionable things.
The Newtown Pentacle 