A Roman Werewolf Story

I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957) Trailer

The versipellis was the werewolf. One night, during a Full Moon (luna plena), a friend encountered a centurion. (A Full Moon arrives October 20, 2021.) The friend hailed the centurion, but the centurion said nothing. Then the centurion removed his tunic. Ecce! Centurio evanuit (vanished). Ingens lupus (a giant wolf) suddenly appeared. The werewolf ran into the forest and left his tunic behind. The friend cautiously inspected the tunic. Ecce! Tunica erat lapidea (the tunic had turned to stone). [1]

The Metamorphoses of Apuleius reportedly does not deal with werewolfery per se but with shape-shifting. [2] The Roman centurion had shape-shifted into a giant wolf.

Intrabunt lupi rapaces in uos, non parcentes gregi (Rapacious wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock – Acts of the Apostles, 20: 29).

Some say rationalism is the answer, yet truly only irrationalism can reveal deeper meanings. The mere somatist, the rationalist, in his “eagerness to expiscate and explain the manner of all mysteries in earth and heaven, will not be slow to broach and argue his newest superstitions, the fruit of trivially profound research, vagaries which can neither interest, instruct, nor yet entertain the true scholar of simpler vision and clearer thought, since in the end these veaking inquirers commonly arrive at nothing, and like the earth-born sons of Cadmean tilth it has been proved in the past that again and again do they painfully destroy themselves by internecine war.” [2]

It was a weird somnambulism which sent forth the creatures during the Full Moon. [2] “Night fear, night cramps, and somnambulism always followed the appearance of specific lunar phases, reaching maximum expressions at full moon.” [3]

Roman author Pliny the Elder reportedly comments upon the werewolf legends of Greece in book VIII, chapter 22 of his Natural History: Homines in lupos verti, rursumque restitui sibi, falsum esse confidenter existimare debemus, aut credere omnia, quae fabulosa tot saeculis comperimus. [2] (Google Translate renders this, We must confidently think that men are turned into wolves, and again be restored to themselves, to be false, or to believe all things, which we have learned so many fables for centuries.)

The founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus, had been nursed by a she-wolf. “In new Rome there walked three men, a Judas, a Brutus and a spy,” wrote Union counter-intelligence chief Colonel Lafayette Baker in secret coded messages. [4]

——- Sources ——-
[1] Cambridge Latin Course (Unit 1), by Ed Phinney, Patricia E. Bell, et al. Cambridge University Press, 1988.
[2] The Werewolf in Lore and Legend, by Montague Summers. Originally published 1933. Reprint by Dover Publications, Mineola, NY, 2003.
[3] Lost Science, by Gerry Vassilatos. Kempton, IL: Adventures Unlimited Press, 1999.
[4] “Who Will Guard the Guards?”, Ersjdamoo’s Blog, August 13, 2018. https://ersjdamoo.wordpress.com/2018/08/13/who-will-guard-the-guards/

 

Evil Is Upon Us!

Nun Gives Dire Prediction: Evil is Upon Us! We Will Soon Experience What We’ve Never Imagined!

Evil Is Upon Us! So says the nun in the hopefully viewable short video above. She says (and I agree) that the Bill Gates types want to drastically reduce population to stop the perceived “global warming”. I even agree that the planet is over-populated, though do not agree with their “great dying” plan.

It doesn’t matter if you are atheist, Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Monophysite, Nestorian, or whatever. The fact it is a nun saying this matters less than her speaking the truth.

What can you do though? THEY seem to be all-powerful. My despair these past few months has led me to the “Mother Mary” investigations in these blog entries. “Mother Mary” is in quotes because I consider the uncanny apparitions to be of an unknown entity: maybe it’s Mother Mary; maybe it’s the Egyptian goddess Isis; maybe it’s Cybele.

In Italy, a mountain known as Monte Vergine once hosted a Temple of Cybele where “the mother of the gods” was worshiped and the sibyls delivered oracles foretelling the miraculous birth of a savior. Roman poet Virgil climbed the mountain, planted flowers from the east, “and so far propitiated Cybele that she deigned to reveal to him the knowledge he sought.” [1] The motto Annuit Coeptis now found on the Great Seal of the U.S. is adapted from Virgil’s The Georgics, the renowned Roman writer’s evocative instruction manual for farmers.

Whatever form, O Caesar, you assume,
Smooth my path, condone this enterprise…
Be thou propitious, Caesar! guide my course,
And to my bold endeavors add thy force… [2]

Whatever form you assume, mysterious lady, guide our course!

——- Sources ——-
[1] The Apparitions and Shrines of Heaven’s Bright Queen, by William J. Walsh (Vol. 1). 1904. Reprint by Pranava Books, India.
[2] “Original Source of ANNUIT COEPTIS: Motto Above the Eye of Providence on the Great Seal”, https://www.greatseal.com/mottoes/coeptisvirgil.html

 

Chariot Races of the Gods

Ben-Hur (3/10) Movie CLIP – The Chariot Race (1959) HD

Roman Times was startling the Antiochians with staccato bursts of news. But then came the weekend and everyone went to the chariot races and forgot about it. [1] Are we different? Staccato bursts of “news” discombobulate us, but then on the weekend we erase with cleansing spectator sports mind washing.

A favorite part of Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire describes Constantinople (now Istanbul):

… the eager pursuit of religious controversy afforded a new occupation to the busy idleness of the metropolis: and we may credit the assertion of an intelligent observer, who describes, with some pleasantry, the effects of their loquacious zeal. ‘This city,’ says he, ‘is full of mechanics and slaves, who are all of them profound theologians, and preach in the shops and in the streets. If you desire a man to change a piece of silver, he informs you wherein the Son differs from the Father; if you ask the price of a loaf, you are told, by way of reply, that the Son is inferior to the Father; and if you inquire whether the bath is ready, the answer is, that the Son was made out of nothing.'” [2]

The question of whether the Son (Jesus) differs from the Father (God) preoccupied the minds of many back then. How did the human and the divine mix in the person Jesus? The Nestorians doubted the “transcendent excellence” of the divine could be attached to mortal, fleshly fallibilities. “Or did the human and the divine come together in Jesus in a unique way, mixed or rather fused and transmogrified into a unique new being, a single being of single nature?” This was the belief of the Monophysites. A third position emerged: “both-and”, in which the Nestorians and Monophysites were each partially correct. [3]

People back then felt strongly about their side. When the monophysitism of Anastasius’s puppet patriarch Timothy outraged people in 512 AD, the statues of Anastasius were toppled! [3]

With strongly felt controversial convictions about the true nature of Jesus so prevalent, this translated itself to the chariot races. There, fans formed into factions: Red Team, White Team, Blue Team, and Green Team. [3]

Are things so different now? In the U.S. Congress, Caesar Pelosi heads the Blue faction; Alexandria Ocasio Cortez is aligned with the Green faction. The Red Team (Republicans) are now divided into country club RINOS and a “populist” branch, the White Team (mistaken by some as White Nationalists). And the architecture of their city is remarkably Roman. On September 18, 1793, President George Washington laid the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol. Jenkins Hill was renamed Capitoline Hill, later shortened to Capitol Hill. In Rome, the Capitoline Hill lay between the Forum and the Campus Martius. A book by David Ovason, The Secret Architecture of Our Nation’s Capital, argues that behind the city structure lies a Masonically-inspired tribute to Virgo. As the new moon commenced, the gardeners placed the seeds in the ground. Some were heard to say, “Annuit coeptis.” It was part of the astral magic. By choosing an auspicious time for the planting, the seeds, it was believed, would grow especially well. The words “Annuit Coeptis” can be found on the one-dollar “Federal” Reserve note. They are part of the Great Seal of the United States. These Latin words mean, “He favors our undertakings.” [4]

——- Sources ——-
[1] “Sic Transit Gloria Mundi”, Ersjdamoo’s Blog, October 13, 2021. https://ersjdamoo.wordpress.com/2021/10/13/sic-transit-gloria-mundi/
[2] “The ‘Best of’ Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” (chapter 27). https://www.his.com/~z/gibbon.html
[3] The Ruin of the Roman Empire, by James J. O’Donnell. New York: HarperCollins, 2008.
[4] “Annuit Coeptis (He Favors Our Undertakings)”, Ersjdamoo’s Blog, May 19, 2015. https://ersjdamoo.wordpress.com/2015/05/19/annuit-coeptis-he-favors-our-undertakings/

 

Sic Transit Gloria Mundi

Nancy Pelosi Ice Cream Commercial

Sic transit gloria mundi means, “Thus passes the glory of the world.” I came across the Latinism in a book about the ruin of the Roman empire, by James J. O’Donnell. He places the ruin to the time of Theodoric, ruler of the independent Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy between 493 and 526. Theodoric’s reign was the last gasp. [1][2]

Thus passes the glory of the world. Statues erected to contradict this truth about our transitory selves were torn down in the Riot of the Statues in 387 AD, in Antioch. About twenty years earlier, Caesar Gallus had been on a collision course with emperor Constantius II. In the previous blog entry we saw how Domitianus, formerly Superintendent of the Treasury, was promoted to Prefect by the emperor. Domitianus hastened to Antioch, snubbed Caesar Gallus, and proceeded to the military encampment. From there, Domitianus plotted destruction for Gallus. [3] Said Domitianus to Caesar Gallus: “Depart as you have been commanded, O Caesar, and know this, that if you make any delay I shall at once order all the provisions allotted for the support of yourself and your court to be carried away.” [4]

“Arrest Domitianus,” decided Caesar Gallus. But Montius, the quaestor (public official), was troubled by the proposal, and considered it as akin to “throwing down the statues of Constantius…” (Constantius had sent Domitianus to investigate Caesar Gallus. Domitianus represented the emperor and any affront to Domitianus was an affront to the emperor.) [4]

Can’t you just see a newspaper (Roman Times) breathlessly reporting developments?

Domitianus Sent to Antioch. Trouble Afoot?

Domitianus Snubs Caesar Gallus!

Caesar Gallus Urges Arrest of Domitianus!

Anxiously following the exciting news reports from Roman Times, the Antiochians take to Twister (forerunner of Twitter) and engrave their reactions for all to see.

Then comes the weekend and everyone goes to the chariot races and forgets about it. Sic transit gloria mundi.

——- Sources ——-
[1] The Ruin of the Roman Empire, by James J. O’Donnell. New York: HarperCollins, 2008.
[2] “Theodoric the Great”, Wikipedia. Accessed October 12, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodoric_the_Great
[3] “Riot of the Statues (Part 4)”, Ersjdamoo’s Blog, October 11, 2021. https://ersjdamoo.wordpress.com/2021/10/11/riot-of-the-statues-part-4/
[4] Ammianus Marcellinus (Delphi Complete Works).

 

Riot of the Statues (Part 4)

Who Was Christopher Columbus?

Biden Augustus commands henceforth Columbus Day shall be called Indigenous Peoples Day. “The empire never ended,” discerned Philip K. Dick. In his perception a theory of “orthogonal time” was a means to possibly explain how it was that the Roman empire had never ended. Orthogonal time was defined as “real” time, at right angles to our spurious linear time. The orthogonal time was like a revolving drum in which the same basic things periodically came back around. “The empire never ended” might mean, in other words, that the Roman empire archetype sits on the revolving drum of orthogonal time as an eternal Archetype. (But quietly at work within the Urbs-Roma was a secret seed-within-seed, the Fish Christians.) [1]

The same basic things periodically come back around, in Dick’s theory of orthogonal time. In Antioch (now Antakya, Turkey) in 387 AD occurred a Riot of the Statues; in USA in 2020 AD occurred another Riot of the Statues when Christopher Columbus statues were desecrated by masked hooligans. Some may choose on October 12th (the real anniversary of Columbus’s first landing, not Biden Augustus’s October 11th) to recall the explorer; others may choose to remember the indigenous peoples; Ersjdamoo chooses to remember the Riot of the Statues.

Flavius Claudius Constantius Gallus (326–354) was a statesman and ruler in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire from 351 to 354, as Caesar under emperor Constantius II (r. 337–61), his cousin. [2] In the revolving drum of orthogonal time, Caesar Pelosi is subordinate to Biden Augustus. She is not related to Biden Augustus, but they are cousins in their Roman Catholicism. In the time of Caesar Gallus, he became exasperated when the principal persons of Antioch objected to price controls imposed during a time of famine. There was price gouging and Caesar Gallus wanted food to remain affordable. Furious at the disobedience in Antioch, Caesar Gallus ordered the principal persons there to be put to death. Fortunately for the Antiochians, Honoratus, Count of the East, resisted Caesar Gallus “with pertinacious constancy.” [3]

Who are these people, in the revolving drum of orthogonal time? A language of emojis might serve for helpful hieroglyphics:

• 🙄 – Caesar Gallus;
• 🧐 – Biden Augustus;
• 😳 – Honoratus, Count of the East (Donald Trump).

Constantius II increasingly distrusted Caesar Gallus. Domitianus, formerly Superintendent of the Treasury, was promoted to Prefect by the emperor. (Janet Yellen moved from Fed chair to Treasury Secretary by Biden Augustus.) Domitianus hastened to Antioch, snubbed Caesar Gallus (Pelosi), and proceeded to the military encampment. From there, Domitianus plotted destruction for Gallus. [3]

“Retailers want nothing to do with Columbus Day,” reports Axios. Retailers “are especially eager to distance themselves from this particularly disputatious federal holiday…” [4]

——- Sources ——-
[1] “Zagreus and the Fish Sign”, Ersjdamoo’s Blog, December 16, 2014. https://ersjdamoo.wordpress.com/2014/12/16/zagreus-and-the-fish-sign/
[2] “Constantius Gallus”, Wikipedia. Accessed October 10, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantius_Gallus
[3] Ammianus Marcellinus (Delphi Complete Works).
[4] “Retailers want nothing to do with Columbus Day”, by Jennifer A. Kingson. Axios, October 10, 2021. https://www.axios.com/retailers-columbus-day-sale-indigenous-peoples-727fa3a7-d5fa-414c-99f6-3a4e95cbf3a8.html

 

Riot of the Statues (Part 3)

Pelosi Shrugs Off Mob Destruction in Baltimore: ‘People Will Do What They Do’

Caesar Gallus was local ruler in the East. Above him was the emperor in Constantinople. It was about twenty years before the time of the 387 AD Riot of the Statues in Antioch. 🙄 The “storms of angry fortune surrounded the commonwealth with fresh dangers through the manifold and terrible atrocities of Caesar Gallus,” recorded Ammianus Marcellinus. Caesar Gallus’s wife Constantina “was an incarnate fury” who egged him on. In their service were “crafty talebearers” (newsfakers) who delighted in loading the innocent with calumnies. Cruelty had obtained a license; many were condemned on mere vague suspicion. [1]

One might expect the Romans to have begun angrily toppling statues, in reaction to the atrocities of Caesar Gallus. However doing so was punishable by death. John Chrysostom and Libanius offered conflicting accounts in the aftermath of the later 387 Riot of the Statues. Within two weeks of that event, two imperial officials – Caesarius, the magister officiorum, and Ellebichus, the magister militum – arrived from the capital to investigate on behalf of the emperor. They arrested the town councilors, deprived the city of its metropolitan status, closed the public baths, hippodrome and theaters. 😡 [2]

Not so in Baltimore following the desecration there of a Christopher Columbus statue in 2020 AD. When questioned, Caesar Pelosi at first depicted the outrage as a home rule matter, then after a follow-up question which pointed out a few hooligans hardly amounted to home rule, Caesar Pelosi shrugged her shoulders and famously said, “People will do what they do.” 🤔 Later though, when people doing what they do trespassed into the Capitol Building, Caesar Pelosi sang a different tune.

On October 11, 1492, the seas were heavy and the sailors were despondent. After sunset, in desperation, the crew united in singing the Salve Regina, meaning “Save us, Queen of Heaven”. In their time of despair, the sailors turned to Mother Mary. 🤩 She did not disappoint them. At about 10 pm, Christopher Columbus, peering into the night, thought he might have seen a moving light. Was it Mother Mary? “The Admiral says that the light seemed to be moving up and down, and he claimed to have got other glimpses of its glimmer at a later moment. He ordered the Salve [Regina] to be chanted…” [3]

——- Sources ——-
[1] Ammianus Marcellinus (Delphi Complete Works).
[2] Stephens, J. (2013) “A Pagan and Christian interpretation of the 387 Riot of the Statues” Athens: ATINER’S Conference Paper Series, No: MDT2013-0391. http://www.atiner.gr/papers/MDT2013-0391.pdf
[3] Christopher Columbus, by Justin Winsor. Stanford, CT: Longmeadow Press, 1991.

 

Riot of the Statues (Part 2)

Chicago police release video showing violent clash with protesters near Christopher Columbus statue

In the previous blog entry, the Riot of the Statues in 387 AD, Antioch (now Antakya, Turkey) was mentioned. [1] Author Stephen Mitchell, writing for a scholarly audience, assumes that of course his readers will be familiar with the Riot of the Statues. And so he does not give details. [2] Thus, the Ersjdamoo Headquarters research team had to spring into action. They have found there are conflicting accounts of John Chrysostom and Libanius regarding events related to the 387 Riot of the Statues in Antioch. During the riot, an event sparked by the announcement of a new imperial tax, statues of the emperor had been toppled and imperial portraits destroyed. Defacing the imperial visage was a capital offense, meaning the offenders could be put to death. [3]

In the summer of 2020, disguised persons throughout the U.S. suddenly arose from seemingly nowhere and vented their fury on statues of Christopher Columbus. It was another riot of the statues. Responding to the destruction of a Columbus statue in Baltimore, Nancy Pelosi, Italian-American and Catholic, shrugged her shoulders and said, “People will do what they do.” Later, on January 6, 2021, when people “doing what they do” trespassed into the august Pelosi Capitol building office, she was not so indifferent.

We now approach the annual Columbus Day semi-holiday (a holiday for the privileged), October 12th but celebrated this year on Monday October 11th. It remains to be seen if department stores will be as usual advertising a “Columbus Day sale” or if the controversial Columbus name will be dropped from the ads. Be aware a New Moon has arrived, October 6th, typically indicating a new phase in developments. Here in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, the mood is tense. A gunman dared to enter the local Ruler Foods and threaten personnel. Ersjdamoo sent a reporter to the scene and saw the grocery store now closes early at 7 pm. A security guard scrutinizes all those who enter. The cashier was bummed out, frightened by the recent incident which was barely reported in the local newspaper, too busy detailing every trifling sports event. The “Homecoming” for the local university happens this weekend. Anticipated is a big headache for crowd control personnel, and adding to general troubles. A local tavern, the Clark Bar, has become the latest “in” spot for post-game revelers who whoop it up until quite late.

——- Sources ——-
[1] “Riot of the Statues”, Ersjdamoo’s Blog, October 4, 2021. https://ersjdamoo.wordpress.com/2021/10/04/riot-of-the-statues/
[2] A History of the Later Roman Empire: AD 284 – 641, by Stephen Mitchell. Second edition. Wiley & Sons, 2015.
[3] “A Pagan and Christian interpretation of the 387 Riot of the Statues”, by Justin Stephens. ATINER Conference Paper Series: No. MDT2013-0391,April 24 (2013)

 

Riot of the Statues

Eye Witness Account of the Nika Riots (532 AD) // Procopius Annals // Byzantine Primary Source

After the Riot of the Statues in 387 AD, Antioch faced “potentially devastating punishment by Theodosius…” Already, Diocletian had cemented Paganism, with Jupiter and Hercules the reigning gods. Then Constantine saw a “solar apparition” on the eve of battle and endorsed Christianity in 312 AD. Solar worship converged into Constantine’s Christianity: he already believed in a supreme solar deity. [1]

However it was in the reign of Justinian that warring tribes erupted in a most quizzical episode. The Monophysites differed with the Chalcedonians over the nature of Jesus. Justinian favored the Chalcedonians but his wife Theodora had Monophysite sympathies. Besides these tribes, there were the “accursed Manichaeans”, the Samaritans “whose worship centered on sacrifice on Mount Gerizim in Palestine”, the Montanists in the Phrygian town of Pepuza, and the Nestorians. Then, when the Persian King Kavad tried to impose fire worship, this added to the flames of disagreement. The atmosphere of religious passions culminated in the Nika Riot, which historian Procopius attributed to “a disease of the soul.” Circus partisans aligned themselves with either the Green Team or the Blue Team. “The circus factions in Byzantine cities were the organized partisans of the chariot races and other forms of popular entertainment.” Already there had been huge riots in Constantinople in 496, 501, and 507. Then in 512 AD pro-Chalcedonian riots were organized by one of the circus factions. You can see where the passions of the factions culminated in 532 with the Nika Riots. The partisans chanted, “Nika!” (Conquer!). Havoc ensued and at least 30,000 people were slaughtered. [1]

In the summer of 2020, furious religionists, followers of “the science”, channeled their inner discontents onto Christopher Columbus statues. Now comes news that a statue of genial George Floyd has been vandalized in New York City, likely by someone not following “the science”. Presiding over the empire at this time is Joe Biden, seen by some as a befuddled nincompoop. The entrails being read on the hills of New Rome are giving contradictory divinations. All is not well in the land.

——- Sources ——-
[1] A History of the Later Roman Empire: AD 284 – 641, by Stephen Mitchell. Second edition. Wiley & Sons, 2015.

 

Merry Men Were Mary Men

Robin Hood 2010 Original Soundtrack: Merry Men

Who was this Leo? In the previous blog entry we saw how a Roman soldier who helped an old blind man became emperor and had a “glorious reign”. It turns out that Leo was Leo, who succeeded Marcian in February 457 AD. Author Stephen Mitchell does not say Leo had a glorious reign; on the other hand he doesn’t say anything bad about him either. Leo was the first emperor to be raised aloft on the shields of his soldiers. (Earlier, Julian had been raised aloft on the shields of his soldiers, but Julian’s soldiers had been Germanic troops.) Leo’s coronation was the first where the crowning was done by a Christian prelate, the bishop of Constantinople. Leo’s reign “heralded an era of great uncertainty and confusion in the empire as a whole.” [1][2]

The presumed Mother Mary had told the old blind man in a dream that he would see the crowning of the new emperor. Thus he was journeying to Constantinople. When Leo heard about the old man’s dream he asked, “What! Is the Emperor Marcian dead?” “Mother Mary” is a reaction to despair, and we find that after his guide dog abandoned the old blind man “he abandoned himself to despair.” Then Leo, searching fruitlessly for water for the old man, was “tempted to give way to discouragement” when he bethought himself to ask Mother Mary for help. Immediately thereafter he heard a voice which guided him not only to water but to beneficial mud with which to anoint the eyes of the blind man. [3]

You can see how, behind-the-scenes, the presumed Mother Mary can have a significant effect on history. Besides Constantinople, the mysterious lady is found to have been involved in “Merry England”, so called, says one author, because the Britons venerated “St. Mary the Gypsy”. Mary the Gypsy reportedly had come to Europe with Mary Magdalene in 44 AD. There was a widespread cult of Mary the Gypsy in medieval England. “As Maid Marian, her cult is incorporated in the Robin Hood legends” and in the Merry Men (Robin Hood and his Merry Men). [4]

When was King Arthur, Robin Hood, and the Mary Men? Laurence Gardner places the time as roughly coeval with Mary Magdalene, who died in 63 AD, in southern France. The name of “Britain” is derived from “B’rith-ain” which means “Covenant Land.” The lineages of Jesus and Joseph of Arimathea were combined in B’rith-ain’s (Britain’s) King Arthur. [4] William J. Walsh, in his compendium of Mariology, says it was 542 AD when King Arthur, mortally wounded, was carried to Glastonbury in order that his soul might be better protected by Mother Mary. “It is recorded of this hero of chivalry that he was most devout to the Mother of God, and bore her image with him into battle.” [3]

——- Sources ——-
[1] “Despair of the Hellenes”, Ersjdamoo’s Blog, September 30, 2021. https://ersjdamoo.wordpress.com/2021/09/30/despair-of-the-hellenes/
[2] A History of the Later Roman Empire: AD 284 – 641, by Stephen Mitchell. Second edition. Wiley & Sons, 2015.
[3] The Apparitions and Shrines of Heaven’s Bright Queen, by William J. Walsh (Vol. 1). 1904. Reprint by Pranava Books, India.
[4] Bloodline Of The Holy Grail (ISBN: 0-7607-0735-9), by Laurence Gardner.

 

Despair of the Hellenes

The Hellenes were the Greeks. In the time of the Roman emperor Constantine, the world of the Hellenes seemed to have been turned upside-down:

We Hellenes are men reduced to ashes, holding to our buried hopes in the dead; for everything has been turned on its head. [1]

For the Hellenes, their old gods had been overthrown by the new Christian god. For us, the toppling of the Christopher Columbus statues marks the change. It was coincident to the topplings that what I call the coroner-virus arrived. There began to be shortages at the stores, blamed then on hoarding. A year and several months later, there are still empty shelves, blamed now on a supply chain deficiency. Meanwhile something called “long Covid” has emerged. Is it psycho-somatic, or is it real? Heretofore there had been two tribes in the panic, pro-vax and anti-vax. “Now long COVID has created a third group: people who take every precaution and yet stand in broad opposition to the scientific establishment, distrustful of its motives, approach, and abilities.” [2]

“Mother Mary” in these blog entries signifies a reaction to despair. “Mother Mary” can mean the Egyptian goddess Isis, a planetary deity, the mother of Jesus, or whatever you prefer. The point is that Mother Mary typically appears in times of despair. Around 460 AD, on a dusty road outside Constantinople, an old blind man walked alone in the heat of the day, guided only by his dog. Then the dog ran off. The man tried to continue but wandered off onto dangerous ground. Without water, he soon collapsed. A Roman soldier carrying messages to Constantinople happened along and tried to help. “Water! I must have water,” wheezed the old blind man. The soldier climbed a hill in search of a pond but had no success. Leo (for that was the soldier’s name) next mysteriously heard someone calling his name. The voice guided Leo to a pond and commanded, “Fill thy helmet with water from this pond, and take a handful of mud. Thou shalt give the water to the old man to drink, and he shall regain his strength; and with the mud thou shalt anoint his eyes, and he shall see.” [3]

You can guess what happened: yes, the blind old man regained his sight. And not only that, but the Roman soldier Leo went on to be elevated to the imperial throne, according to the tale (which unfortunately does not tell us which emperor he was, just that his 17-year reign in the “Lower Empire” was glorious). [3]

——- Sources ——-
[1] A History of the Later Roman Empire: AD 284 – 641, by Stephen Mitchell. Second edition. Wiley & Sons, 2015.
[2] “The Damage Done”, by Dhruv Khullar. The New Yorker magazine, September 27, 2021.
[3] The Apparitions and Shrines of Heaven’s Bright Queen, by William J. Walsh (Vol. 1). 1904. Reprint by Pranava Books, India.