The eyes have it

A few days ago in Viareggio, Italy, a 46-year-old man stood up during Mass and gouged his own eyes out with his hands.  Exclamation point.

According to the surgeon who treated the man, the parishioner heard voices telling him to do it.

I popped a link to this article on my Facebook page and a friend was quick to link to the Wikipedia entry on Saint Lucy, a.k.a. Santa Lucia (c. 283-304 CE) .  Given that The Gid mentioned this saint a while ago, I'm chagrined I didn't think of her myself.  Back then we were investigating the symbolic conflation of eyes and breasts.  Lucy, often depicted holding a platter of eyes, is often associated with Agatha (c. 231-251 CE), often depicted holding a platter of breasts.

Agatha was a virgin martyr who suffered the gruesome fate of having her breasts sheared off before being cooked alive.  She is a typical saint of her genre:  having dedicated herself to Christ, she rejects the advances of a pagan suitor and for her refusal suffers torture and death.  Interestingly, in the legends of  virgin martyrs Saints Liberata and Quiteria, which I've previously examined, the story involves nine sisters persecuted for the same reasons as Agatha.  I've just learned that Agatha at one point was given over to a brother as part of her punishment, owned by a woman with nine daughters.

Lucy is basically the same tale.  Wooed by a pagan, she refuses to break her vow of chastity to Christ and refuses to sacrifice to the emperor.  Part of her sentence, like Agatha, was to be defiled in a brothel.  She too suffered torture and death.  The tradition of her eyes being gouged out appears to be absent from her story until the 15th century, which may indicate a conscious modeling on the Agatha legend.  Both after all, are Sicilian in origin, Agatha hailing from Catania and Lucy, from Syracuse, only 63 kilometers to the south.

In Sweden, a procession on St. Lucy's feast day is led by a young girl elected to be Lucy for the year.  In addition to the procession, a "St. Lucia Bun" is eaten.  Some pictures show this bun resemble a pair of eyes.  I had a conversation with woman in Catalonia who recalled that on St. Agatha's day, her village elected an Agatha and had a procession.  A bun, formed into a pair of breasts, was cooked, taken to the church to be blessed and then taken home again.

The metaphor of light is an important feature of the processions in the Scandinavian countries; the elected Lucy wears a crown of candles.  Her day, December 13th, was once (incorrectly) believed to be the shortest day of the year.  There is thus something of a pagan antecedent going one here in the commemoration of the winter solstice.  In this it is not so far from other Christmas and indeed Hannukah ("Festival of Lights") traditions: menorah, Yule log, Christmas lights, etc.

Lucy is a patron of the blind and is prayed to by those at risk of going blind.  Her name is derived from "lux" ("light") and her function is thus also a metaphor for God's grace, in the sense of "seeing the light" or having one's vision restored, as in the song Amazing Grace. ("Was blind but now I see.")  She  has in effect given her eyes so that others may see, brought into the light by her example of faith and sacrifice.

I am also reminded of the legend of St. Fris (previously discussed here).  His legend is also intimately connected to the winter solstice.  When his incorrupt body was discovered, a team of oxen were employed to move his sarcophagus to a new resting place, yet it could not be budged.  Lucy's legend has it that when she was to be taken off to the brothel, a team of oxen could not move her.  Whether or not this common element of solstice and oxen represents a common wellspring, however, I cannot say.

****

So Lucy had her eyes gouged out, which is indeed gruesome.  But gouging out one's own eyes is a different tale.  Another friend posted this tale in response to my Facebook blurb:  In 2005 R&B singer Houston gouged one of his eyes out with a plastic fork.

"....He said he had to get the devil off of his back and that’s the only way he could kill the devil."

Houston, whose full name is Houston Summers IV, is a Los Angeles native. He was raised strictly Christian and was "constantly at odds with the temptations that come with success in the music business" [a post-gouging statement read].

Not to be facetious, but we wonder if this might have something to do with a saying by Jesus found in both Matthew 5:29 and Mark 9:47 (KJV): 

And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire....

It's not out of the question to imagine that a mentally unbalanced person in an extreme state of agitation would take these words literally.

And then there's this guy.  In 2009, death row inmate Andre Thomas gouged out his remaining eye and ate it.  He was awaiting execution for killing his estranged wife and two kids, and then cutting their hearts out.

I'm pretty sure that one didn't come from Jesus.

Then again, there is that business with the Sacred Heart....

Finally, the only other mythological precedent I know of offhand is the story of Oedipus.  He unknwoingly killed his father and wed his mother.  When he later discovered what he'd done, he gouged his eyes out with a brooch from his mother/wife's robe.  Could Freud help explain what's going on in such cases?

[The Sandman].... lent support to his [Freud's] view that the feeling of uncanniness is directly related to the sight of the female genitals, particularly those of the mother. He stressed the frequent unconscious equivalence between the eyes and the genital organs, and between blindness and castration. Blinding oneself, like Oedipus, is an attenuated form of self-castration, but it also makes one the bearer of a blind eye, which represents the other sex while disfiguring the face. In his theory, Freud, with a single word, übersehen, which means both to look and to overlook, successfully condensed the story of Oedipus.

The link between the eyes and the breasts, which seems clear from the Agatha/Lucy parallels, supports Freud's analysis.  The man cuts out his own eyes, which are linked to the breasts, that intimate first connection between mother and child (milk and semen also being life-bringing fluids).  He not only castrates himself for these sexual feelings for his mother, but he mutilates her as well as punishment for arousing him.  The eyes are a sexual organ, the breast filling the infant vision as he suckles, deriving both oral pleasure, nutrition and an undeveloped sexual arousal.

Is it merely coincidence, that in our Italian case, the man was attending mass with is mother?

Georges Bataille, in The Story of the Eye, further elaborates upon the eye as a sexual organ.  In his book, the eye is interchangeable with testicles and eggs, and is frequently sexualized along with bodily fluids:  milk, urine, semen, blood, etc.

In one scene a young priest is seduced.  An kind of orgy ensues which involves a  parody of the Eucharist in which the bread and wine is desecrated with urine and semen.  The priest is murdered during orgasm.  One of his eyes is extracted and a character inserts it into her vagina while she has sex with the narrator.

I'm not going to embark on a full-blown psychoanalytic trip here or try to say what these things symbolize.  I think it's clear enough that the sex/death/eyeball trip is something to be considered and that when someone tears out their own eyeballs, it's more than mere "weird news".  Though it is that too.

We'll be keeping our eyes peeled for more of this sort of thing; in the meantime we'd appreciate any thoughts you might have on these matters....

Just pulling our legs

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We've been assiduously following the mystery of the Canadian feet.  The story is weird enough, but along the way there have been at least two hoaxes to muddle the facts.  Now it seems four hoax feet were found last Monday.  From the Times Colonist:

The shoes were stuffed with pork or beef in what police believe was a student prank, part of an annual student ritual called Endurance Night. Police are now looking for the culprits.

With a disturbing bevy of floating feet found in the area, I'm sure the Mounties don't need these hoaxes.  Waste of time, money, energy.  But if the culprits are found, could they be charged with anything other than littering or illegal dumping?  Are hoaxes illegal?  Could they be charged with the Canadian equivalent of obstructing justice?  Or, if police resources are squandered as a result of a hoax, is there a separate charge?  Some sort of financial liability?

Anyway, according to local rag the Oak Bay News, the night otherwise passed quietly:  "Unlike previous years, officers didn’t respond to any rowdy incidents involving youth...."

Oak Bay itself seems to be a rather tony suburb of Victoria, and its coat of arms features a sea-lion (a lion with a fish-tail as opposed to hindquarters), the shield surmounted by one of those crowns in the form of a tower we mentioned in the last post.  The motto:   Sub Quercu Felicitas:  "Under the Oak, Good Fortune"

Which is all rather irrelevant, but interesting nonetheless.

Somewhere over the Rainbow

Armand Cambon, La République, 1848-1849

Like everywhere else in Europe, the first half of the 19th century was an especially turbulent time for France:  the First Republic (1792-1804) gave way to Napoleon's Empire (1804-1814/15), in turn followed by the Bourbon Restoration (1814-1815--"The 100  Days"--1815-1830).  The July Revolution of 1830 led to the so-called July Monarchy of the House of Orléans, which ruled until 1848.  In 1848 the Second Republic was established and the year is considered as the end of France's "revolutionary era" (The current state, btw, is no less than the Fifth Republic, proof that the turbulent times were far from over!)

In any event, to celebrate the newborn Second Republic, a competition was held to find a painting that could be displayed in town halls across the country.  Between 1848 and 1849, Armand Cambon created the painting above as his entry (he didn't win).  La République is a symbol-heavy allegory and many of these Republican symbols are quite obviously also Masonic.  But as I've said before, half-jokingly, what symbol isn't?

According to the website for the museums of the Midi-Pyrenées, the woman is an allegory of the Republic, or perhaps the Law, crowned with a victory laurel, thus recalling the recent overthrow of the last French monarch Louis-Philippe.  The flag crowned with the eagle and the lion immobilizing the serpent symbolize the Republic's capacity for defense.  The clasped hands, the square and the hand in benediction represent Equality and Justice; the beehive, Fraternity and Work.  The tricolor rainbow is said to symbolize the glory of Republican government.  (We've seen the hand before on Urbain Vitry's tomb, 1863.)

I feel that this is a simplification of the symbolism.  I can't vouch for Cambon's intentions, but let's take the clasped hands as an example anyway.  I've always read that they symbolized Fraternity and/or unity.  It wouldn't be too far a stretch to assume it also hints at a new social contract between citizens.  Not quite the same as the interpretation above.

Of the symbols in this painting, the square, the clasped hands, the beehive and the rainbow are still regularly used in Freemasonry.  The eagle might also be a not entirely implausible link as well.  A double-headed eagle is used in the Scottish Rite, but more importantly, it is also the symbol of St. John the Evangelist, one of the two patron saints of Freemasonry.  St. Mark, for that matter, is symbolized by a lion, and while I'm not saying the eagle represents St. John, I'm sure the lion is more a symbol of strength, dignity and leadership and is even less likely to have a connection to the evangelist. 

What I find interesting about this lion is that he is subduing a serpent, most likely the sneaky enemies of the Republic, which in and of itself is not so remarkable; what is striking here is that the image of a subdued serpent has a long history in Marial iconography, or what George P. Landow calls "prophetic typology"....the Virgin vanquishing Satan and Original Sin.  I propose that Cambon is making a sly anti-clerical statement here, tweaking the nose of would-be counterrevolutionaries in the Church, the lion has replaced the Virgin, but this is not an air-tight case by any stretch of the imagination.

Let's also look a bit more at the rainbow.  Another website about Cambon's painting bluntly states: "L’arc-en-ciel est un symbole de fraternité."  The rainbow is a symbol of Fraternity.  So we already have two differing interpretations and I'm not sure either quite gets it right.

The most famous rainbow in Western Civilization involves the story of Noah and the Ark.  It is a rainbow which indicates that God entering a new compact with Man.  Genesis 6:17:  "And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh."  Compare this to the Epic of Gilgamesh: 

Then Ishtar arrived. She lifted up the necklace of great jewels that her father, Anu, had created to please her and said, "Heavenly gods, as surely as this jeweled necklace hangs upon my neck, I will never forget these days of the great flood. Let all of the gods except Enlil come to the offering. Enlil may not come, for without reason he brought forth the flood that destroyed my people." 

The value of such a symbol for the French Revolution is self-explanatory.  The Revolution wiped away the old to make way for a new, more lawful order.  Interesting that the first interpretation of the allegory has the women as either the Republic, or the Law.  The rainbow appears just after God has set before Noah a reiteration of the laws he gave Adam and Eve, having added a seventh.  Sealing the deal with clasped hands?  This last law is a kind of meta-law, as it calls for establishing courts of law.

The Jewish Noachide Movement also uses the rainbow as a symbol, the seven colors representing these Seven Laws of Noah which are binding not just for Jews, but for all humankind.

Gilbert Stuart, "Lansdowne portrait", 1796

The rainbow is also featured in the famous "Lansdowne portrait" of George Washington.  In this symbol-heavy piece, storm clouds are to his right while to his left a rainbow appears.  Certainly the story of Noah is being evoked here to represent that the American Revolution, if not Enlightenment ideas, were leading to a "new world order" to coin a phrase, of peace and progress.

A Washington website (where you can explore an interactive version of the portrait) has this to say:

The Masonic rainbow is sometimes interpreted as the Arch of Heaven, supported by the pillars of Wisdom and Strength. A rainbow appears in the ritual apron given to Washington by Marquis de Lafayette, his comrade-in-arms in the Revolutionary War. 

Indeed, the pillars of Wisdom and Strength (two of the seven Biblical Pillars of Wisdom) will return to our story as towers.  The website in question features a detail of  the rainbow ending not in a pot of Lucky Charms, but on a pillar topped by a globe in the fashion of Jachin and Boaz.

A striking Masonic link with Cambon's symbolism is to be found in the logo of the International Order of Rainbow Girls:

Rainbow Girls logo

A tricolored rainbow in the French and American colors arcs over a pair of clasped hads.  The Masonic delta is prominent and the hemispheres in different colors, like the colors in the Noahide flag, represent 7 virtues.

This order was created by Freemason Rev. W. Mark Sexson (ha ha) in 1922, based on the Order of DeMolay for boys.  DeMolay also promotes 7 cardinal virtues.  Could the number of these virtues be a reference to Noah's laws?  Given the rainbow, it is quite possible.

Another Masonic rainbow is found in the Royal Arch, an additional set of degrees in the York Rite, considered at one point to be a continuation and completion of the 3rd Degree in regular Craft Masonry (1°-3°).  As a visual metaphor, the rainbow reappears in various Royal Arch contexts.

Indeed, it has been shown "...showed that the Rainbow symbol formed part of an early Royal Arch ceremony..."  But the tradition of associating the Rainbow and the Arch continues.

For example:

It has been said that “The Royal Arch stands as the rainbow of promise in the ritual; it stands as promise of the resurrection; of that which was lost and shall be recovered.” The Royal Arch accepted the rainbow, that God put in the Heavens as a covenant between God and man, that he would not destroy the world by water again-but by fire.

I don't know where exactly this has been said, but I found the same quote here.  Dig also the following:

While Zerubbable was a "Prince of Judah" as proclaimed by Cyrus, another "Prince" was coming, a Prince of Peace.  One that would establish God's kingdom in the hearts of man, causing each to be a "Temple of God."  The covenant as exemplified by the rainbow, the Royal Arch of the Noahchide promise, must give way to the Royal Decree of, "This is my beloved Son.  Hear ye Him!"

I'm not exactly sure what that means, to be honest.  I should also point out that Mackey's Encyclopedia does not contain an entry on "Rainbow".  Which is actually quite surprising and leads me to wonder if perhaps I'm not making too much of the symbol's Freemasonic usage.  On the other hand, it's appearance in the contexts descibed above are a legitimate connection, so I'm not exactly sure what to make of it.  The proposed meanings seem contradictory and confusing.

Perhaps there is another explanation: 

"[James] Anderson’s reference to Masons as ‘Noachidae’ was not simply harking back to an early tradition. As a ‘basis of that natural religion’ on which all Masons can agree he is here suggesting that we are those who accept the Noachite Laws as our standard."

Noah again....

For the moment, however, I would like like to return to the following quote and look at the Honduran coat of arms. 

The Masonic rainbow is sometimes interpreted as the Arch of Heaven, supported by the pillars of Wisdom and Strength.

The Masonic imagery in this coat of arms should be obvious: the delta, or pyramid, forms the backdrop to a radiant rising sun, which was originally a Phrygian cap--one of the most ubiquitous of symbols from the French Revolution.

Spanish Wikpedia says the rainbow symbolizes peace, the unity of the Honduran family and high ideals. The triangle signifies equality before the law.  The castles represent the conflict between the Aboriginal Hondurans and the Conquistadores. The rising sun symbolizes freedom, patriotism and hope.

The two castles, or towers, also bring to mind those the pillars of Strength and Wisdom, aka Jachin and Boaz, which support the Arch of Heaven, or rainbow, and which would appear to be depicted in the Lansdowne portrait of Washington.

The Wisdom and Strength of the Republic are essential meanings contained within Cambon's symbolic painting.

We have long spoken on LoS about the symbolic meaning of pillars at the entrance of sacred space, perhaps too much, but I did come across an interesting discussion about the symbolic meaning of two towers in church architecture--or lack thereof--which I'd like to quote:

The earliest of walled permanent human settlements had access gates flanked by towers for defensive and observation purposes. Since the city/city state was the most important thing in most people's eyes, these gate towers were not only defensive, they marked the entrance into an "important space." As these cities grew and other "important spaces" were incorporated within them, such as temples, etc, these spaces were also entered through doubly towered gates. The concept of 'towered entry' to important space had carried over from the symbolism of the city gate towers themselves. Pairs of large single stones frequently mark the entry to sacred space from the earliest of times. The great temples of Egypt were fronted by twin pylon towers. The gate towers of many ancient cities became works of art and symbols of civic pride. 

..."Two" may have started out as a practical form of defense for a gate type or restricted space, but "two" was also recognized as something of visual balance - or to give balance to something else... 

... 

Any symbolism you may find regarding the subject would be rather recent in origin and an example of "symbol emerging from utility"rather than symbolism actually driving the original design. 

I think there is a lot of merit in this argument, but on an "archetypal" level, the evocation of Egyptian and (to my mind) Phoenician sacred architecture belies the "symbol emerging from utility" argument.  Medieval architects were certainly aware of the appearance of Solomon's Temple, designed by a Phoenician, so it's quite possible that this symbolic heritage entered into the equation, not instead of but in addition to the process described by this author.  Which brings up an important point when discussing symbolism in general; once one thing has become widely accepted to represent another, its use will multiply exponentially.  Thus when we see symbols in Freemasonry repeated (or borrowed) from other contexts, we should remember this point.

I'm not sure I want to make too much of these towers as a substitute for Jachin and Boaz, but I can't help but think of this idea of strength, or earthly power and wisdom, or divine insight as being both sides of the same coin.  Or the same side of different coins, no matter!  I also cannot help but think of the Toulouse coat of arms, surmounted by a crown composed of three towers, while the shield itself has an image of a castle and a church: earthly and spiritual authority side by side.  Some have proposed that this is, in fact is the significance of two pylons or obelisks in front of Egyptian "important spaces", thus leading via Solomon's temple into Freemasonic usage.  But this leads us deeper into a realm of unsubstantiated speculation.  I have in fact already posted about Masonic imagery in Latin American heraldry, and towers don't figure into those images at all.

We could add that the coat of arms of the United Grand Lodge of England, the closest thing to a world authority for Grand Lodge (as opposed to Grand Orient) Masonry, features a coat of arms with three towers, among other things.  I wonder too, out of the blue, if this is why Mary Magdalen, whose name itself means "tower," is often pictured wearing a crown in the form of a tower, as if eartlhy might rests upon the seat of wisdom.

It may also be worth examining at some point the Empire Sentinels.  This was a Scouting group founded by Major David Cossgrove in New Zealand circa 1910;  Sentinels were organized into “Towers” and the scheme had three degrees based on religious duty, patriotism, sacrifice and work, each with a corresponding “Watch,” or ritual.  The watchtower is an important symbol in the ritual and organization.  It was also influenced by Masonry, which is reflected quite clearly in it's rituals.  Watchtowers are also an important feature of Enochian magic.  Enoch is the seventh of ten antediluvian patriarchs and is also usually referred to as an "ancestor" (great-grandfather) of....Noah. 

I think at this point I need to make like Ham and delve deeper into Noah.  This is the second time he's popped up withing the context of symbol-heavy French allegorical paintings (first time was here), and this Noachide Movement is intriguing....

RIP Michael S. Hart

One of my heroes died today - Michael S. Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, RIP.

11th Foot

Another foot has washed ashore in British Columbia, the 11th since 2007. It is, I believe, the 6th male, right foot, clad in a running shoe. Here's a pic, minus the foot and protruding bone:



I'm astonished that 9 of the 11 are right feet, and that both of the left feet have a matching right foot.

We've stopped speculating & punning, leaving that to the local mounties, but if you're into rumors, ruminations, bad puns, grisly details, & previous findings, you can get your kicks from our previous posts.