The Great Eclipsing, Part 2: The Broken Bridge

Well, this whole Baltimore situation isn't what I planned to be writing about today, but it most certainly ties into the themes of this series, doesn't it?

To be honest, I didn't plan to be writing about what I did in the previous installment. In fact, this all started as something else entirely. But that's how Synchronicity works, friends. It has its own genius.

So let's mosey on down to the Monument City, shall we?

Here's the basic jist of the story: Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed at 1:30 AM on March 26th after the MV Dali, a 948-foot cargo ship struck one of its columns.  

As one expects these days, the questions and inconsistencies began flying shortly after the crash. I've not made any judgments on account of it doesn't matter anymore. We're on the express train to chaos and nothing will change that.

The Burning Platform blog spells it out:

Believe it or not, the Francis Scott Key bridge is a critical part of the entire nation’s supply chain. Its catastrophic collapse cannot possibly be repaired for years. 

Officials are already talking about significant damage to our country’s supply chain, increased costs for consumer goods and energy, and so forth. It is not just an inconvenience. For a cascade of interrelated reasons, the destruction of this particular bridge was incalculably injurious to our economy. 

In this climate - coming four days after the "ISIS" (sic) attacks in Moscow - the terrorism/sabotage angle is also coming to the fore. An act of war is interesting theory, but again, it doesn't matter. 

But still, this was interesting;

 For example, Lara Logan is reporting that her sources believe that this was an “absolutely brilliant strategic attack”…

Multiple intel sources: Baltimore bridge collapse was an “absolutely brilliant strategic attack” on US critical infrastructure – most likely cyber – & our intel agencies know it. Make no mistake: this was an extraordinary attack in terms of planning, timing & execution....

They have figured out how to bring us down. As long as you stay away from the teeth of the US military, you can pick the US apart. We are arrogant and ignorant – lethal combination... 

The footage shows the cargo ship never got in the approach lane in the channel. You have to be in the channel before you get into that turn. Location was precise/deliberate: chose a bend in the river where you have to slow down and commit yourself – once you are committed in that area there is not enough room to maneuver...

Should have had a harbor pilot to pilot the boat. You are not supposed to traverse any obstacles without the harbor pilot...

They chose a full moon so they would have maximum tidal shift – rise and fall. Brisk flow in that river on a normal day & have had a lot of rain recently so water was already moving along at a good pace...

  

All these factors when you look at it – this is how you teach people how to do this type of attack and there are so few people left in the system who know this... 

Given that NATO has been trying to blow up the Crimean Bridge for the past several years, it was especially curious that the nominal captain of the Dali is Ukrainian.

But there's also the competency crisis: this same vessel was involved in a collision at a port in Belgium eight years ago.  

There's also the "bad sh*t sometimes happens" factor. 

An eerily similar event went down with the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Tampa all the way back in 1980. Huge ships are very hard to control sometimes. 

KEYS TO YOUR HEART

There's also the symbolism of this particular bridge collapsing as we approach the Great American Eclipse II. Seeing how was named after a very famous American:

Francis Scott Key (1779–1843) was an American lawyer, author, and amateur poet from Frederick, Maryland, best known as the author of the text of the American national anthem “The Star-Spangled Banner”. 

Key observed the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in 1814 during the War of 1812. He was inspired upon seeing the American flag still flying over the fort at dawn and wrote the poem “Defence of Fort M’Henry”; it was published within a week with the suggested tune of the popular song “To Anacreon in Heaven”. 

Anacreon was an interesting character, and brings some more potent symbolism into the mix, like Lyra. But was he Dionysus or Orpheus?

Anacreon (c. 575 – c. 495 BC) was a Greek lyric poet, notable for his drinking songs and erotic poems. Later Greeks included him in the canonical list of Nine Lyric Poets. Anacreon wrote all of his poetry in the ancient Ionic dialect. Like all early lyric poetry, it was composed to be sung or recited to the accompaniment of music, usually the lyre.

Anacreon was already famous in his own lifetime, depicted on Athenian red-figure vase paintings while he was still alive. 

Ancient philosophical and moralistic writers were divided on Anacreon, with some, such as Plato, portraying him as a wise man, while others condemned him for being too concerned with drunkenness and lust. 

SYMBOLS CRASHING EVERYWHERE

There's interesting symbolism at work. Take the seven-pointed star of the Dali's operator, Maesrk, for instance.

Not for nothing, but the Star of Babalon is also seven-pointed. Don't ask me what that means.

There's also the fact that the bridge collapsed three days after its 47th birthday.

Which reminds us of the Freemies' strange attachment to Euclid's 47th Proposition.

And their attachment to bridges, for that matter. Or three, come to think of it.

Then there's the fact that Baltimore's nickname, "Monument City," refers to this rather pagan construction here, which incorporates the fasces.

Not to mention that yesterday was the 27th anniversary of the discovery of the Heaven's Gate suicides.

THE DALI LLAMA

Weirdly, one of Francis Scott Key's descendents was Pauline De Rothschild, a onetime fashion model, designer, and Illeana Douglas lookalike.

She was married to Baron De Rothschild, whose brother's famous finger a lot of you might be familiar with. We'll leave out just what the hell is going on with the Royal Family for another post.

Baroness De Rothschild also worked with Italian fashion maven Elsa Schiaparelli, who was tight with -- you guessed it -- Salvador Dali, who the MV Dali was named after, oddly. 

Note the Little Dipper broach. 

And as I tweeted yesterday morning, Salvador Dali also had a painting called "The Broken Bridge and the Dream."

And as you knew was coming, Salvador Dali was also tight with Jean Cocteau, who also worked with Schiaparelli. And very possibly, Baroness De Rothschild.

I AIN'T LION TO YA

We talked a lot about lions in the first installment of this series, particularly the Frasier cult in The Leftovers. The Frasier cult held their orgies on a ship, for whatever that's worth.

That in turn syncs to this scene a lot of folks mentioned from the Netflix film, Leave the World Behind, which has a vaguely similar situation involving a ship called The White Lion.

The MV Dali was headed to Columbo, Sri Lanka. Whose national flag includes a lion. Columbo is also interesting, as it syncs with Columbine et al:

The term columba comes from the Latin columba, "a dove", the feminine form of columbus, itself the latinisation of the Greek kolumbos, "diver", which derives from the verb kolumbaō, "to dive, plunge headlong, swim". 

Doves were important symbols of the goddesses Innana, Asherah, and Aphrodite, and revered by the early Christian, Islamic and Jewish religions.

The MV Dali's previous disaster was in Antwerp, whose city seal includes a lion.

As does the region Antwerp is in.

Note quite lions, but Baltimore takes its name from Lord Baltimore, whose family crest includes Twin jaguars.

The fasces monument in Baltimore includes four griffins, who have the bodies of lions and the heads and wings of eagles.

WHERE'S THAT CONFOUNDED BRIDGE?

Bridges are a highly potent symbol, being gateways and liminal spaces. We've seen several in the course of our studies.

For instance, so many of The X-Files' key episodes feature scenes on bridges, like this one from "End Game," which reintroduced the lost daughter Samantha to us. Ostensibly, at least.

There's also the Silver Bridge in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, made famous in John Keel's legendary book, The Mothman Prophecies.

There's also this famous photo, allegedly showing the winged Mothman perched atop the Silver Bridge shortly before its collapse.

The Siren Saga featured two bridges, including the one Jeff Buckley drowned beneath.

And the DeSoto Bridge (in the background of the above pic) was closed in 2021 for fears of its own catastrophic collapse event.

Bonus factoid: A FB boarder reminds us that the MV Dali is owned by Grace Ocean PTE Ltd, because it has to be. Come feel the deep.

Another well-watched drowning event - the insanely hinky death of college student Riley Strain - features a number of bridges in its narrative.

We'll be going into greater depth on that in the near future.

THE STAR SPANGLED MAKER

The Mayor of Baltimore is also a Scott, as well as one of the families in Leave the World Behind (Mahershala Ali also appears in the original series of The 4400).

And here's where Francis Scott Key meets Fraser, the Scottish Key to the Apocalypse... 

...and where "The Star Spangled Banner" meets "The Spangle Maker"...

... as well as "Great Spangled Fritillary."

Those are probably the first two songs I would play to anyone who wondered why the hell I first got on this kick about Eloah-Sibyl-Beth Fraser being the chosen Oracle of the Apocalypse. I've listened to both songs tens of thousands of times over the past four decades and they still bring me to tears and make the hair on my arms stand on end. 

That's not music anymore, people. That's something else.

I have minus-infinity doubts in my head that there are existentially crucial messages -- prophecies -- embedded in "Great Spangled Fritillary" especially, and this event only cements that conviction.

Which, truth be told, didn't need any more cementing. Especially since that song exactly fits the descriptions you read about the Sibyls in the ancient texts.

And, seriously: how many songs actually have "spangled" in their titles?

But the Sibyl didn't release anything new this past week, so doesn't that break with the pattern we've seen unfold over the past 43 years?

Well, don't you worry none, because the Cinematic Sibyl stepped up to plate to pinch-hit for the Apocalyptic Sibyl. 

Sibyl Jr. (let's call her for brevity's sake) released her distinctly ethereal new single yesterday, which sounds uncannily like an old Massive Attack track.

Note the boat. 

The Cinematic Sibyl's debut album is due in June, and is called Daffodils and Dirt. I guess on account of "Stars and Topsoil" already being taken. 

Bonus factoid: Sibyl Jr. also turns 47 this year, being born 3x17 days after the Fraser Scott Key Bridge first opened.

Her daughter (who starred as Hanna in the Amazon Prime series) is also coming out with a new album and is covering the dreampop end of the spectrum while Samantha handles the trip hop angle. Did I mention they're both big Twins fans?

Well, they are.

I dunno, maybe this is all leading to another Sibylline revelation entirely. 

What do you think?

Sync Log: I was trying to post a link to the first installment of this series and the post kept going to draft. I began trying shortly before 1:30 AM, meaning shortly before the disaster.

Sync Log II: Well, well, well - look what appeared in my inbox today...

 

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