Hand of Glory

 

 

 

from Found Objects, John M. Bennett, 1973

 

Ektoplazzem

Dear Laws of Silence:

First a bit of background on ectoplasm:

Definition	A substance said to be excreted by mediums during trances; a slime-like substance said to be associated with hauntings.
Signature	Said to be white/gray/transparent or any other colour, viscous; resembling mucus. Said to ooze from solid objects or from mediums' bodies involving mucous membranes (nose, eyes, mouth), and to take form as a misty substance.

Source:  Wikipedia

The text above (minus "Source:  Wikipedia") was electronically cut-up four times, re-formatted, the punctuation eliminated, and given an aleatory title (on the ectoplasm page, the words "with the" were typed into "find" and, when found, the next two words were selected).  I wish I could say that this geste had no particular purpose and wish even more I didn't have to say that the result has no particular value.  The cut-up tool has merely repeated only a few of the words several times and eliminated several others.  The secrets liberated from inside this prison of words thus do not shed any light on my question (forthcoming).  Cybernetic bibliomancy has led nowhere, so fate has forced you upon me.

"Le Miro"

with be
nose, from said
any said be
take said viscous
nose, said to nose
trances, be to trances
by said said
other said take to said
take any be said associated
nose, other said take
to nose
to said trances
viscous
said to to be white/gray/transparent
by trances
take nose, associated to be
colour,
        colour,
                bodies

So the point, the question, is this.  You fellows obviously think of yourselves as what Tzara's vulgar herd would consider clever men; whereas this opinion is debatable, it is undeniable fact that you both have noses.  Tell us, then, pray:  Is Caspar indeed the ghost of Richie Rich?

Kind regards,

Théophile Prades
Beaupuy, France

The Apotheosis of Michael Jackson

Note: The following was written a few weeks ago but due to vacations hasn't been posted until now.

The King is Dead !

So read the banner headline of the Drudge Report on June 26. How fitting this comes so soon after the summer solstice.

Long Live the King!

The phrase was first employed when Charles VII inherited the crown from Charles VI in 1422 and embodies the principle of le mort saisit le vif-death takes the living-which signifies the instant transfer of sovereignty upon the death of a reigning monarch.

Ebony and Ivory, living together in perfect harmony. This would be more than the piano keyboard as metaphor for racial harmony, but the code for the tessellated chessboard of the magickal universe. Jachin and Boaz, Tonto (fool) and the Lone Ranger (dipshit).

Michael was Whacko Jacko in life, but in death becomes the celebrated icon who burst through racial barriers and made it possible for black entertainers to become bona fide superstars. But then again he is white, no? Ebony and Ivory indeed. Strange to see him celebrated as a black icon when he strove in life to remove all traces of his African heritage.

And the Mormons used to tell the Indians that if they sold their land to the church and became Mormons, they would become white....er, pure.

In July 1831 after the arrival of Joseph Smith, Jr., and others in Jackson County, Missouri, plans were made to preach to the Native Americans. Smith received a directive on intermarriage with the Indians....

He was an androgynous creature, not quite male or female, not quite adult or child. Not quite black or white. Like some mythical beast representing the reconciliation of opposites: Long Live the King! The King is Dead. The circle of life goes on. The sun dies and is reborn.

He was the King of Pop, which spelled backwards still makes him the King of Pop. And he took himself for a king. Even named his sons Prince Michael I and Prince Michael II. And his daughter is Paris. Which isn’t Versailles but close enough. Did someone say Sun King? Here’s looking at the man in the hall of mirrors.

The sun has just begun its dying process: The King is Dead! Long Live the King!

Oh and lest you forget, there’s a great alchemical secret to get in on: Nature can be perfected....

"There is also, of course, the old adage that celebrities die in threes, with the deaths of Gianni Versace, Princess Diana and Mother Teresa in 1997 frequently held up as an example of this."

We cite (Carradine, Farrah Fawcett aka Darby Crash) and Michael Jackson. All icons of the Dead Seventies.

And in South Carolina, another king, Governor Sanford, as in Sanford and Sun, disappeared, leaving the state in a tizzy, but his return didn’t really smooth things over. Seems he was visiting his Argentine mistress: Maria (mother of Jesus) Belen (Bethlehem) Chapur. Chapur is a Persian surname. And in Persia the media has perfect leverage to wag the dog. Which backwards spells God. As if waving in front of your face. Heroic youth on the front-lines. With the death of an old regime a new one can be born. Martyred beautiful young woman, liberty leading the people, dead on the barricades, her last breath captured on a cell phone.

The King is Dead! Long Live the King!

It’s Easter and Christmas all rolled up into one. It’s the solstice.

"In the end, sometimes our reactions were divorced from reason and rationale, and had nothing to do with how we felt about him. They were reactions born of the raw emotion that comes when a seam in the fabric of our culture unravels, when someone as undeniably monumental as Michael Jackson dies."

How now, brown cow?

[added July 15]

So get ready for the resurrection and the visions. Just like Jesus we've had a (now located) missing body, miraculous sightings and both Kings have appeared in a lowly Cheeto....

Crucifix in a Death Hand, pt. 4

LoS a while back translated some articles from the French press regarding a disturbed young woman who beat her mother to death with--among other objects--a crucifix. She was then placed under observation in a psychiatric hospital, where she was found dead during the night at the foot of her bed. Last we read an autopsy was ordered and then....nothing.

We'd all but given up on hearing more about this case, but as it turns out there was some follow-up. It just wasn't very loud. Apparently the autopsy revealed that:

"Les causes de la mort de cette femme sont naturelles. Elle ne s'est pas suicidée et n'a subi aucune violence."

"The causes of this woman's death were natural. She didn't commit suicide or suffer any violence."

When asked how then, she died, the procurer responded:

"Je n'en dirai pas plus."

"I won't speak of it further."

So, that clears things up.

We suspect that by being grossly incompetent in leaving the young woman alone, hospital officials would rather let this story fade away and sadly, the French legal system and media seem all too willing to comply. Which, if you know France, isn't actually all that surprising. One hand washes the other.

Mektoub.

Crucifix in a death hand, pt. 3

She beat her mother to death with a crucifix
25/03/2009

Awash in mysticism and dementia this drama unfolded Monday in a little apartment on the
rue de l'église.

"I had visions in a dream. I saw that I was the devil, that I was evil and that I had to do it." So declared Élisabeth F., 34, to the police soon after killing her mother Thérèse, 81, during the night on Monday.

The drama unfolded at around 1:15 am in a little apartment the two women occupied on the first floor at 7, place de l’église, in Lourdes. The old woman was asleep in her bedroom and her daughter, like every evening, unfolded the sofa bed in the dining room where she slept. Suddenly, certainly “taken with an attack of dementia” in the words of state prosecutor Gérard Aldigé, she went into her mother’s room and lept upon her in order to do the harm her recent vision incited. She grabbed a lamp from the night table and with it landed several blows upon the face and body of her mother. In a state of extreme agitation, she next took a slat from the bed and continued to hit her mother; she began once again, this time with the crucifix which had evidently been fixed above the bed of her elderly mother. The poor woman could not survive such a flurry of violence.

Prostrate and covered in blood

Soon after, Élisabeth went back into the dining room to call the SAMU [paramedics -LoS]. She simply said: “Come, I’ve just killed my mother.” When the firemen and police arrived her mother was prostrate and covered in blood. As the body of the old woman was transported to the morgue, investigators collected their first statements and placed the young woman in custody. The incoherence of her statements quickly convinced them that she was insensate.

The examining doctor diagnosed that she was suffering from serious mental illness and would not be responsible for her actions. Monday at the end of the day she was placed in the psychiatric unit of the Lannemezan hospital.

An apartment shrine

She will again be examined by one or more psychiatrists in the coming days or weeks. “These examinations will allow us to determine if she is or isn’t capable of standing trial” explained the state prosecutor.

The two women lived here “for about 2 years” reported Émile Magendie, the owner of their apartment. Apparently they had been living in a little lodging on the rue Bartayres. They had left Champagne and the rest of their family for Paris before installing themselves in the Marial city a little more than four years ago. It seems that Thérèse was no longer in contact with her ex-husband and her seven other children. Élisabeth no longer saw them either. The family had come apart after several personal quarrels. Élisabeth, a secret to nobody, suffered from serious psychological problems (see article below).

Very pious, they chose this city because of the devotion they vowed to the Virgin and God. Their two-room flat was stuffed with religious objects, statuettes of Mary and the crucifix. “They were really very faithful, not to say mystics” confirms a neighbor, who always saw them together. Lately Thérèse went out much less. She looked tired. As for Élisabeth, her condition had worsened.

At Lourdes, everyone who crossed their path assures “that they demonstrated a great mutual attachment, they had a great and real love for each other.”

Yesterday in the corridor of their little building, a cat was meowing before their door. It was theirs. It searched in vain for its mistresses. In the afternoon the owner of the apartment took it to the SPA.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"She dreamed of giving her mother a tomb."

Jacques Barzu, departmental president of the Red Cross, knew Thérèse and Élisabeth well: “The came to pick up their care packages every week, I felt they were very close and attentive to one another. I’m devastated by this news; I didn’t think she was so disturbed or violent. Depressive, yes.” He said that for Élisabeth "The future of her mother was an obsessive preoccupation, above all, her death. She often evoked the last remains of her mother and complained of not having enough money to offer her a tomb.” In effect, with both of their small pensions, retirement for one and disability for the other, they lived with about 700 euros. “For three weeks I felt bad about them both,” continued Jacques Barzu. “I remember when they arrived at Lourdes, it was Christmas evening, they had a hard-boiled egg for the both of them. The Red Cross gave them packages of food and some things for everyday life. Thérèse suffered as well. She called me Friday night to unload and speak about the decline of her daughter. She told me that she was in a great mental suffering.”

Father Bernard Saint-Voirin also evoking their mutual love, dwelt a little on their life in Lourdes as, “two lost in life. The daughter was very depressed. She pursued long and brilliant studies but something happened which remains in a shadowy place. I didn’t feel alarmed, however, and I received them every month.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lourdes, the "fraternal city"

This affair is yet another reminder that Lourdes, called the “fraternal city", attracts the distressed from the world over.

“There are many people lost or suffering from mental problems, who sometimes come to live here” said a member of the SAMU.

The volunteers of the Red Cross and Secours Catholique know very well those who come daily for help.

Unfortunately some of these wanderers end up in dramas such as the one which occurred during Monday night.

Crucifix in a death hand, pt. 2

It may be pointless to go back and translate earlier articles, when the latest in the series pretty much covers all the major points. But so be it. They're interesting for the sense of atmosphere they give. Also the absurdity. The title of the article evokes a "tueuse au crucifix," a crucifix killer, but the article itself mentions only that the crucifix was probably used. Earlier articles give a better indication of why this is likely, and we'll get to them soon. But yeah, the headlines are definitely sensationalist.

Another interesting aspect of this case, media-wise, is that as of today, no more articles have appeared, and the autopsy reports were due out two days ago. Four articles up to this point and no follow-up on the sudden and less-than-clear death of the killer.

The rationalist will see this as an obvious case of a mentally ill and delusional young woman who killed her mother and succumbed to some logical death as a result: shock, heart attack, suicide....

And the rationalist is probably right.

Yet, until all the questions are answered, this has all the makings of a tale of true devilry.

One can only imagine the scene as the incubus stalks into the young killers' room: "B-but you promised...." "Yes" replies the Devil's minion as he licks a clawed index finger. "I did...."

Shadows leap about on the wall as with unseen psionic power the incubus simply removes the soul from the hapless girl, who signed it away years ago and spoke in jumbled remorse of witchcraft and Satan up until the day her contract came to be honored....

----

Lannemezan. The crucifix killer found dead
27/03/2009 Hélène Dubarry

After killing her mother at Lourdes, Élizabeth F. is discovered lifeless at the foot of her bed in a psychiatric hospital.

All legal action is now moot: the lifeless body of Élizabeth F. was discovered yesterday at 10:30 am next to her hospital bed.

"We can't say anything for the moment, for the good reason that we don't know anything" explained state prosecutor Gérard Aldigé yesterday afternoon as he confirmed the death of the young woman. During the night last Monday, Élizabeth, 34, killed her mother at Lourdes, in a fit of rage an uncommon violence. The 81-year-old woman succumbed to the blows of a table lamp, a plank from a bed and probably a crucifix (see previous editions). Soon after the drama, the prosecutor evoked the possibility of mental illness. At the very least very altered behavior. Élizabeth, given her psychiatric state, was admitted to the psychiatric hospital of Lannemezan in order to receive appropriate care.

According to our sources the young woman had already been put in a psychiatric hospital at least once.

Since entering Lannemezan, Élizabeth had been receiving treatment, her ususal treatment, doubtless a little modified. Yesterday morning this treatment was administered as usual and the young woman was no more agitated than usual. She was put in a single room. Two hours later, at 10:30, the hospital staff discovered Élizabeth, stretched out dead next to her bed. There were no marks on the body and nothing to give an explanation: "We don't know anything about the cause of death," continued Gérard Aldigé. "We assume nothing. This is the reason why I asked for an autopsy to be performed by Dr. Michel Disteldorf. A toxocological analyses will also be performed."

For the moment, nothing leads one to think of suicide, but nothing prevents on from thinking it, either. The death could possible have a simple organic cause, such as a heart attack. The results of the autopsy will not be known before Monday afternoon.

Crucifix in a death hand

What follows is a translation of an article in originally published on March 30 in Tolouse's Dêpeche du Midi by Francine Depeyre and Guillaume Atchouel. It is the latest in a series that LoS will translate posthaste.

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Crime in Lourdes : "Elisabeth often spoke of satanism."

She killed her mother with blows from a crucifix and then she died in the hospital. The funeral of the two women will be performed this morning. Her brother speaks.

The funeral of Thérèse D., 81, and her daughter Elisabeth F., 34, , are to be performed today at 10:30 in the church of the Sacré-Coeur in Lourdes. The first died tragically during the night last Monday, killed by blows from a crucifix from her daughter with whom she shared a small apartment in the Marial City on the rue de l’église. The second died mysteriously in her room at a psychiatric hospital in Lannemezan where she had just been interned after commiting this terrible act. An autopsy was performed at the end of last week to determine the exact circumstances of her death. For the moment the results of this exam have not been made public.

The family of the two women, natives of the department of Aube, will not all attend the funerals. For more than twenty years harmony has not reigned in this family, it would seem, and “relations were tense” say relatives. After separating from her husband, Thérèse and Élisabeth decided to install themselves in Lourdes after brief stints in Paris and the Aveyron. Even if he had not seen them for several years and despite everything, the eldest son Claude stayed in telephone contact with his mother and sister.

She was fascinated by withcraft

Regarding Élisabeth, it was common knowledge among her entire family that “she was psychologically fragile and that her life was punctuated by several psychiatric episodes.” According to Claude "She was interested for a long time in Satanism and witchcraft. It fascinated her and she often spoke about it.” Soon after killing her mother she explained to a policeman that she had seen in a dream she herself was evil and thus what she had to do. Was the murder of her mother a consequence of the her fascination for the devil on her unwell mind? The use of a crucifix to accomplish her crime leads to this conclusion even if there may no way of ever knowing for certain. There remains the fact that her worried mother recently confided to a member of the Red Cross of Lourdes that “her mental state was aggravated.” She was no less a believer than her mother and very pious. She regularly confided to a priest in Lourdes. The various religious objects cluttering their apartment attests as much to her great devotion.

The two women chose to set themselves up in Lourdes to fully live their faith and to regularly visit the Massabielle grotto to pray.

Élisabeth often repeated that she feared being unable to pay for a burial plot for her mother if she died. It is true that her mother lived with nothing but 7OO euros pension a month. However, her mother had purchased funeral insurance in order to be rid of this financial and administrative rigamarole. Did she know? Or had she hidden this fact?

United in their world they consequently pursued their emotional deadlock into death.

----
Here are links to earlier articles soon to be translated:

Lannemezan. La tueuse au crucifix retrouvée morte (Lannemezan. The crucifix killer found dead) 28 March

Lourdes. « Les délires mystiques, ça arrive vite » (Lourdes. "The mystical ravings come quickly") 26 March

Lourdes. Elle tue sa mère à coups de crucifix (Lourdes. She beat her mother to death with a crucifix)

Thousands of shoes tie up Miami freeway traffic

MIAMI (AP) — State troopers are looking for a charity to take thousands of shoes that were dumped on a Miami expressway, tying up rush hour traffic. Lt. Pat Santangelo says the Florida Highway Patrol received a call about the shoes Friday morning.

Santangelo says he's not sure where the shoes came from. There were no signs of a crash and no one stopped to claim them. He says he hopes someone will take them because he doesn't want to send them to the dump.

Workers using a front-end loader and a dump truck were able to quickly clear at least one lane by sweeping all the shoes to shoulder, but delays were expected until they could all be removed.

Piss Christ

From our friend in Argentina comes this comical story about an image of Christ found in a dog's pee-stain on a corner shop wall. The original article is presented here below with a translation following.

For those who understand Spanish, there's a brief video clip about the "miracle" if you follow the link. Apparently everyone buying lottery tickets at the store is now playing the number "33" after the Jesus' age.

No word yet on whether the dog is up for sainthood.

------

El Litoral Edición Online 14-08-2008 15:38
Última actualización 17:45

Insólito: Santa Rosa de Lima

Perro orina y deja la imagen de Cristo

Grande fue el alboroto de los vecinos de Santa Rosa de Lima, al oeste de esta capital provincial, cuando descubrieron que un canino al terminar de hacer un “pis” había dejado grabada una supuesta imagen de Cristo.

El hecho ocurrió en la calle Aguado al 2500, entre La Rioja y Tucumán. Al parecer un vecino divisó una imagen rara luego que el perro hiciera su necesidad en la vereda de un comercio, la misma era muy similar a la silueta de la cara de Cristo, según confesó.

Muchos vecinos se juntaron para ver la imagen, la que califican de “milagro”, prometieron asistir al “santuario” para rezarle y prenderle velas, “es una bendición para todo el barrio” declaró a EL LITORAL una vecina.

------

Dog urinates and already the image of Christ

There was quite a hubbub among the residents of Santa Rosa de Lima, to the west of the provincial capital, when they discovered that after taking a piss a canine had marked a supposed image of Christ.

The event occured on the 2500 block of Calle Aguado between La Rioja and Tucumán. Apparently a resident discerned a strange image after the dog finished doing his business on the sidewalk in front of a store; the image was very similar to the silhouette of Christ’s face, according to his testimony.

Many residents gathered to see the image they qualified a "miracle", promising to frequent the "sanctuary" to pray and light candles; "it’s a blessing for the entire neighborhood" a resident told El Litoral.

Gauchito Gil Redux

Our Argentine correspondent sends us this article from Santa Fe daily El Litoral dated 8 Janary 2008. Gauchito Gil was previously discussed here. Translation forthcoming. Until then try your luck with an online translator.

....

Update 13 January. The following translation was made with the assistance of http://www.freetranslation.com/; Cassell's Spanish-English Dictionary (1978); and Ximena Faya.

....

Miraculous powers are attributed to him

Thousands of pilgrims in Corrientes to honor Gauchito Gil

Today is the anniversary of his murder, according to legend, by a police patrol.

----

Thousands of pilgrims arrived at a site located in the neighborhood of the city of Mercedes in Corrientes where they paid homage to Gauchito Gil. Today is the anniversary of the day on which, according to legend, he was murdered by a police patrol and since which time miraculous powers have been attributed to him.

Municipal and police sources reported that the faithful have come from all corners and since yesterday have occupied the installations adjacent to the place where Jesus Antonio de la Cruz Gil, best-known as Gauchito Gil, is buried.

In this place a kind of oratory was built and has since given rise all manner of pilgrimage-based commerce, converting the popular rite into a lucrative business.

The sanctuary of Gauchito Gil, located at some 8 kilometers from the center of Mercedes and some 275 kilometers from the city of Corrientes, each year at this time harbors devotees from different points of the country and even neighboring countries.

In 2007 more than 120 thousand people came on January 8 "to salute" Gauchito.

An increased presence of provincial and National Police has been mounted in the zone since last Sunday. It is a matter of preventing not only accidents or fights, somewhat common due to the conglomeration of people and to the excessive consumption of alcohol, but also other types of crime such as contraband merchandise and drug trafficking that in previous years have proliferated in a significantly.

In the early hours today the bulk of the pilgrims arrived, above all from the delegations of other provinces, that arrived together in order to pass "a few hours" in the sanctuary.

A legend that grows

According to popular tradition, Gaucho Gil lived in the period between end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century. For his followers he was responsible for bringing a little justice to the disparities of the epoch, stealing from the wealthy to help those in need.

Nevertheless, for the authorities of that time, Antonio de la Cruz Gil was a dishonorable gaucho, a deserter from the Army and a murderous thief. They searched for him intensely until he was trapped in an ambush and killed. The "legend" indicates that in the moments prior to his death he managed to speak with the policeman who wounded him; Gil indicated that his son, seriously ill, would be cured when he returned to his home.

Apparently, when the policeman returned to his dwelling, he found his son cured of his pain and from this the belief in Gaucho Gil’s miraculous powers was born.The legend grew over time, winning increasingly more followers and becoming one of the most popular rites in all the Argentine territory.

A little history

For Félix Coluccio, investigator of the American folk tradition, the gaucho Antonio Mamerto Gil Núñez, or Antonio Gil, or Curuzú Gil had in the middle of the last century a band that "divested money from the rich to give to the poor". The denomination "curuzú" signifies cross.

His greater significance dates from between 1840 and 1860, an epoch of small guerilla bands and their leaders. His life is wrapped in thousand tangles; it is said that he was an exploited laborer that became cunning, that he participated in the war with Paraguay under the orders of one General Madariaga, and that he was executed as a deserter.

According to Mrs. Anabel Miraflores, her mother Estrella Díaz of Miraflores, a rich land owner, had an affair with Gil at the same time she was the intended of the local police chief. This, and the hatred of her brothers, caused Curuzú to flee Pay Ubre and he enlisted in the Paraguay War.

After the fall of Rosas the federal litoraleños [residents of the Littoral, a region of Argentina] were divided into two factions: Reds (traditionalists of the divisa punzó or autonomistas) and Celestials (liberals) According to the legends, Gil was recruited by the Celestial colonel Juan de la Cruz Salazar, and as the gauchito was sympathetic to the Reds, took advantage of an opportunity afforded him by the negligence of his unit and deserted with mestizo Ramiro Brown and the criollo Francisco Gonzalez; companions whose path led them to become famous brigands.

His companions were killed by shots from a blunderbuss and the gaucho was put under arrest and taken to Goya. In spite of the intercession of one Colonel Velázquez, he was hung upside-down from a carob tree (on the way to Goya, at some 8 kilometers from Mercedes) and beheaded. Apparently he was hung that way to elude his reputed hypnotic powers and to avoid the influence of the payé (talisman) of San la Muerte that he had hanging around his neck.

Welcome to Visions of Jesus Christ.com

This site is a collection of weeping statues, weeping icons, miraculous images and a list of Catholic visionaries who are associated with Marian apparitions.

'Nuff said, really.

It was fortuitous that Laws of Silence stumbled onto Visions of Jesus via the page about the rather gruesome Bolivian weeping icon we've pictured with this here blog entry, for he's macabre enough to excite the morbid imagination and invite further exploration of the site.

Although the site is evidently reverential and comes from a standpoint of faith, there are lots of good photos and lore to be found for those seeking to learn more about "miraculous" icons. And hey, why not put it into some context with a dubious Wikipedia link to Weeping statues. While you're at it, take a peep at Marian apparitions.

Jesus Bleeds

Thousands of people are descending upon the town of Port Blair in India's Andaman Islands to pray before a policeman's house, where two votive portraits appear to have bled during a period of ten days. Although crowds caused one of the portraits to be temporarily housed in the Anglican Bishop's house, the portraits are now back at the original location.

It's being hailed as a miracle, of course, in a place where at least 7,000 people lost their lives during the terrible tsunami of 2004. But there are those who have suggested that the "blood" is merely the red paint of Jesus' tunic, melting in the humidity.

This article makes sure to note that the crowds are Protestant Christians, which belies other reports that even Hindus and Muslims are gathering to pay homage. A Catholic or two is probably somewhere in the mix.

But dig this sulk from the Catholic Bishop: “I heard about the story, but I have not seen the painting and I do not plan on doing so. In the past there have been similar incidents and so I urge caution in order to avoid fueling false religious sentiments. Now if you will excuse me, I must attend the Confirmation of some young children, something which to me is much more important than this painting.”

The miracle will remain, as always, in the eye of the beholder.