Monday, October 8, 2012

Hercules (and his Twin)



"The first 'first chef' was a slave named Hercules whom George Washington brought from Mount Vernon to the new President’s House in Philadelphia." (Source)
"Here, [President James] Garfield appears as Hercules extricating [Senator Roscoe] Conkling [of New York], as an unfriendly Theseus, from the rock of "federal patronage in New York State." (Source)
(Source for text: David Ovason, The Secret Architecture Of Our Nation's Capital, p. 207; cf. here. Source for Garfield/Hercules statue pictures: Here.)
"The assassination of President James A. Garfield took place in Washington, D.C. on July 2, 1881. Garfield was shot by Charles J. Guiteau at 9:30 am, less than four months into Garfield's term as the 20th President of the United States. Garfield died eleven weeks later on September 19, 1881, the second of four Presidents to be assassinated, following Abraham Lincoln and preceding William McKinley and John F. Kennedy." (Source)

"Alexander Graham Bell using his 'induction balance' in an unsuccessful attempt to find the bullet that would eventually kill President Garfield, from Harper's Weekly, August 13, 1881. As the doctors struggled to understand the extent of Garfield's wounds, Bell, inventor of the telephone, used this machine to try to locate the bullet. When found, the machine was to send a sound to the attached telephone receiver. Despite attempts on July 26 and August 1, 1881, Bell could not situate the bullet." (Source)

"Joseph Gillespie wrote that 'Physically, Mr. Lincoln was a Hercules. ...'" (Source)
 (Hercules on his funeral pyre.)
"Hercules got married a second time, to the beautiful Deianira.... When Hercules was returning from his last adventure, Deianira gave him a welcome-home present. This was a cloak which she had woven herself. Deianira had a magic balm which a centaur had given to her. The centaur told Deianira that anyone who put on the balm would love her forever. But actually the balm contained a caustic poison. This balm she now smeared into the cloak. When Hercules received the cloak and tried it on, his body immediately began to burn with excruciating pain. He tried to pull the cloak off, but the pain burned even harder and deeper. Death, thought Hercules, would be better than unendurable pain. Bellowing in agony, he asked his friends to build a huge pile of wood on the top of Mount Oeta. This would be Hercules' funeral pyre. He laid himself upon the pyre, and told his friends to light it. As the fire began to burn Hercules alive, the great gods looked down from Olympus. Zeus said to Hera that Hercules had suffered enough. Hera agreed and ended her anger. Zeus sent Athena to take Hercules from the pyre, and she brought Hercules to Olympus on her chariot." (Source)

 (The rod of Asclepius)

"Asclepius was a Greek hero who later become the Greek god of medicine and healing. ...The main attribute of Asclepius is a physician's staff with an Asclepian snake wrapped around it; this is how he was distinguished in the art of healing, and his attribute still survives to this day as the symbol of the modern medical profession. ...The mother of Asclepius, Coronis, was a mortal, the daughter of Phlegyas, a king of Thessaly. Coronis was unfaithful to Apollo, and Artemis, Apollo's twin sister, killed her for her unfaithfulness. Coronis was placed upon a funeral pyre. (One version says that Apollo cast her into the fires of his own anger.) As her body started to burn, Apollo felt sorrow for his unborn son and snatched the child Asclepius from his mother's corpse, saving him from death. Apollo then handed Asclepius to the Centaur Chiron who became his tutor and mentor." (Source)

"Coronis ('crow' or 'raven'), daughter of Phlegyas, King of the Lapiths, was one of Apollo's lovers. While Apollo was away, Coronis, already pregnant with Asclepius, fell in love with Ischys, son of Elatus. A white crow which Apollo had left to guard her informed him of the affair and Apollo, enraged that the bird had not pecked out Ischys' eyes as soon as he approached Coronis, flung a curse upon it so furious that it scorched its feathers, which is why all crows are black. Apollo sent his sister, Artemis, to kill Coronis because he could not bring himself to. Afterward Apollo, feeling dejected, only regained his presence of mind when Coronis' body was already aflame on a funeral pyre. Upon a sign from Apollo, Hermes cut the unborn child out of her womb and gave it to the centaur Chiron to raise. Hermes then brought her soul to Tartarus." (Source) The "blackening" of the white crow of Coronis is emblematic of the nigredo phase in alchemy.
(For more on Lincoln and trains, see here.)

 (Calcinatio)
"The Legend of the Lincoln Ghost Train | By Donna Davies[:] This version is taken from The Pittsburgh Press (1978) 'The train always appeared in Albany on April 27th, the anniversary of its first passing. ...At midnight—always at midnight—the engine would emerge from the darkness, moving silently down the track with black crepe flowing from its sides and emitting faintly audible sounds of funeral music. The phantom train would glide over a black carpet that appeared to cover the tracks, while spectral solders in blue uniforms, of the Union army trotted along side it. As the apparition moved down the tracks, it would fade from view over some phantom horizon'...Wondering what happened to the Lincoln funeral car? Unfortunately this piece of history was lost on March 20, 1911; it burned in a prairie fire in Illinois..." (Source)

The name of one of the cars pulling Lincoln's funeral train was, apparently, the "Old Nashville." Curiously, there is (also apparently) a new television series premiering titled "Nashville." Concerning the name "Nashville" we read "capital of Tennessee, U.S., named for Gen. Francis Nash (1742-1777) of North Carolina, U.S. Revolutionary War hero killed at the Battle of Germantown. The surname is attested from 1296 in Sussex Subsidy Rolls, atten Eysse, atte Nasche (with assimilation of -n- from a preposition; see N), meaning 'near an ash tree,' or 'near a place called Ash.' In reference to a type of country & western music that originated there, 1963." Tennessee is noteworthy in this connection, since on April 4, 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis.
(Phoenix)
(Lincoln's birthplace has connections to the salamander fire-symbol.)


(American Chemical Society logo)
(CIA's Project Phoenix)

The "ash" root is interesting, since Lincoln's train car was turned to ash. Of course, phoenixes are said to rise from their own ashes after they burn themselves Hercules-like on their own funeral pyres. In fact, alchemically, the ash (of incineration or assation, etc.) is a necessary precursor to transformation. "The alchemist must be ready to reduce the original product to nothing but ash. Only then can the reborn phoenix arise." (Source)
 (Hercules, CA)

Another interesting place-connection is Hercules, California. Jim Brandon pointed me towards the following: "The Riconosciuto family had once run Hercules, California, as a company town. ... A particularly potent type of black powder was named 'Hercules Powder', which gave the name to the town of Hercules, formally incorporated in 1900. In World War I, Hercules became the largest producer of TNT in the U.S. ...In 1979 the plant and site was purchased by a group of investors calling themselves Hercules Properties, Ltd. However, Michael [Riconosciuto] and his father Marshall Riconosciuto, a friend of Richard Nixon, continued to run the Hercules Research Corporation. In the early 1980s Michael also served as the Director of Research for a joint venture between the Wackenhut Corporation of Coral Gables, Florida, and the Cabazon Band of Indians in Indio, California. ...Samuel Cohen, the inventor of the neutron bomb, said of Riconosciuto: 'I've spoken to Michael Riconosciuto (the inventor of the a-neutronic bomb) and he's an extraordinarily bright guy. I also have a hunch, which I can't prove, that they both (Riconosciuto and Lavos, his partner) indirectly work for the CIA.'" (Source) Michael Riconosciuto is connected to DARPA electronic and bio-weapons development, the October Surprise, "the Inslaw Affair (a legal case in which the U.S. Government was charged with illegal use of computer software)", Osama bin Laden, and more. (Source)

(Above 2: Masonic Tracing Boards for the First Degree)
"For those who witnessed it, Kennedy's inauguration day was anything but smooth. A snowstorm wreaked havoc in Washington, nearly cancelling the inaugural parade. The U.S. Army was put in charge of clearing the streets and former president Herbert Hoover missed the swearing-in ceremony because he couldn't fly into the city. When the ceremony did start, a lectern caught fire during the invocation, which some complained was too long, and Vice President Lyndon Johnson fumbled his words during his swearing-in." (Source; cf. here.) "[T]the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans...The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it—and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country." (John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, Friday, January 20, 1961.)
(Kennedy Storm)
(A Phoenix-Motto: Order out of Chaos)
(Another Phoenix-Motto, on the Seal of Portland, depicted with a dove: Resurgam ["to rise, by one's own power"] - Thanks to Loren Coleman)

"The [January 1961] nor'easter is sometimes referred to as the Kennedy Inaugural Snowstorm, since it struck on the eve of the inauguration of John F. Kennedy. ... In advance of the storm, the Weather Bureau predicted a mix of rain and snow in Washington, D.C., but instead, the precipitation remained frozen. The unexpected snowfall resulted in 'chaos', and thousands of cars were marooned or abandoned, triggering massive traffic jams. ... According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 'The Engineers teamed up with more than 1,000 District of Columbia employees to clear the inaugural parade route. Luckily much equipment and some men had been pre-positioned and were ready to go. In the end the task force employed hundreds of dump trucks, front-end loaders, sanders, plows, rotaries, and flamethrowers to clear the way.'" (Source)
(Fire and Ice)
The juxtaposition of "Heavy snow" and "fire" was curious given that Robert Frost read a poem (see bottom) during the inaugural ceremony.

M.E. Kennedy pointed out to me that "A Song of Ice and Fire is a series of epic fantasy novels written by American novelist and screenwriter George R. R. Martin." (Source)
(The character "Stark, sitting on the 'iron throne', holding [the sword called] 'Ice'." ~ M.E. Kennedy)

This book series has also spawned an HBO broadcast television series called "Game of Thrones". (Source)

There appear to be numerous allusions to alchemy and sorcery (e.g., "iron" is the metal of war and Mars; Queen Cersei hearkens to the witch Circe; etc.) Possibly summoning the Coronis-connected  nigredo alchemical phase, one of the book titles is A Feast for Crows.

One of the character surnames in the book is "snow". This recalls Robert Frost and the Kennedy Storm. Snow-characters figure in several books, including A Storm of Swords.
(Seated: Bill Blizzard - A calm before a storm?)
Recluse has just published a post on the secretive money-elitist Mello clan wherein he mentions "the legendary Homestead strike which led to the second largest pitched battle in US labor history." The first largest also yields a number of curious syncs. The Battle of *Blair* Mountain phonetically summons the "Blair Witch" which film arguably syncs back to the Tennessee "Bell Witch". But interestingly, "union organizer" who served as "a commander of the miners' army during the Battle of Blair Mountain" was a man named "William H. 'Bill' Blizzard."
(Pictured: Eye-sis, like perhaps the third-eye; or, maybe Ice-iss, the goddess shown with the fiery sun disk.)

"ISIS is the most popular name today for the Egyptian Goddess Auwsat, Aset, Auset,or Ast. Isis is a Greek word and in the Greek period 332-30 BCE and the Roman period 30 BCE-395 AD it was pronounced 'Ees-Ees'. We in the new world have anglicized the word pronouncing it 'Eye-sis'. The definition for her name is throne or seat of power. ...Auwsat, Isis is the Goddess of Magic the Wind and Fire. She is the Great One who heals. She is Goddess of Love and War. She is The Divine Mother. ..." (Source) Here we have fire/sun, throne (perhaps a game), and phonemes somewhere in the vicinity of "eye" and "ice".
(Fire on the crown, ice at the base.)
Another fire and ice combination occurs in the significant Rider-Waite "Tower" Tarot card. Although variously colored, numerous depictions arguably represent the Tower emerging from an icy base and crowned with fire. In his "Revisionist History Newsletter No. 20: Towering Inferno - The Cryptocracy's Great Game" Michael Hoffman has written on the significance of this tarot card in the 9/11-event's emergency call to the subconscious.

There's a sense in which one might speak of a juxtaposition of the "icy" cool of ruthless intellect and the "fiery" passion of the heart - or perhaps the "icy" vacuity of a zombie versus the "fiery" lust of an addict.

In fact, many occult practitioners (whether gnostic, tantric, kabbalistic, hermetic-alchemical, thelemic, etc.) attempt to channel the "secret" (sexual) fire of the kundalini serpent from the base upward, towards the third eye (variously, the cyclops' eye, the eye of Shiva, the eye of Sirius - as depicted as the star in Freemasonry's First-Degree "tracing board" showering light on a lectern [as shown earlier] as well as in the 17th and 18th tarot trumps). The third eye of Sirius/Set has additional, sexual connotations which I have surveyed elsewhere (e.g., in my unpublished monograph "Achilles: Cereal Killer.")
This picture caught my attention: Fire to ice?


 (Source)
"Federal district Judge John J. Kane of Colorado on Friday issued a temporary injunction blocking the mandate from being applied to Hercules Industries, a family-owned manufacturer of air-conditioning products. That the order comes from a non-conservative judge – Kane is a former public defender and Peace Corps deputy director sponsored by liberal former Sen. Gary Hart and appointed by Democratic President Jimmy Carter – is an especially huge development, striking more deeply at the mandate than conventional wisdom anticipated." (Source)
 (Source)
Judge Kane presided in a case involving an Aurora-connected man accused (among other things) of mailing threatening letters to the President.
(Hercules and his half-brother "twin," Iphicles)
"Heracles had a twin brother named Iphicles." (Source)
(From Robert Graves, Greek Myths.)
(Photo source; The presentation, both in print and in the video "2016: Obama's America", of "Obama's brother" has interest in light of Graves' comments.)

"[T]he name Iphicles means- twin of hercules." (Source)
(Through the Looking-Glass)

"A spooky double vision of himself in a mirror startled and scared Abraham Lincoln immediately after his triumphant election in 1860. ... One of his assistants recounted Lincoln's telling of what happened in an article published in Harper's Monthly magazine in July 1865, a few months after Lincoln's death. Lincoln recalled glancing across the room at a looking glass on a bureau. 'Looking in that glass, I saw myself reflected, nearly at full length; but my face, I noticed, had two separate and distinct images, the tip of the nose of one being about three inches from the tip of the other. I was a little bothered, perhaps startled, and got up and looked in the glass, but the illusion vanished. On lying down again, I saw it a second time -- plainer, it possible, than before; and then I noticed that one of the faces was a little paler, say five shades, than the other. I got up and the thing melted away, and I went off and, in the excitement of the hour, forgot all about it -- nearly, but not quite, for the thing would once in a while come up, and give me a little pang, as though something uncomfortable had happened.'...Mary Lincoln '...thought it was ''a sign'' that I was to be elected to a second term of office, and that the paleness of one of the faces was an omen that I should not see life through the last term.'..." (Source)
 ("The Black Stone into which Dr Dee used to call his spirits...")
The Smoke-Mirror or Black Mirror: "Dr Dee's mirror...This mirror was used by the Elizabethan mathematician, astrologer and magician John Dee (1527-1608/9) as a 'shew-stone', one of many polished translucent or reflective objects which he used as tools for his occult research. The mirror, made of highly-polished obsidian (volcanic glass), was one of many Mexica cult objects and treasures brought to Europe after the conquest of Mexico by Cortés between 1527 and 1530." (Source)








Others alleged to have had encounters with (or visions of) twins/doppelgaengers ("double-walkers") include Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Queen Elizabeth I. (See snippets here.) There have also been publicized photos of Obama juxtaposed with his media-contrived "doppelganger".

...The new world Christopher Columbus found.
The French, the Spanish, and the Dutch were downed
And counted out. Heroic deeds were done.
Elizabeth the First and England won.
Now came on a new order of the ages
That in the Latin of our founding sages
(Is it not written on the dollar bill
We carry in our purse and pocket still?)
God nodded his approval of as good.
So much those heroes knew and understood...
A golden age of poetry and power
Of which this noonday's the beginning hour.
("The Gift Outright," Poem recited instead by Robert Frost at the 1961 Inauguration of JFK)

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