Seeing the Occult in Public Art

This journey down the Rabbit Hole started when I stumbled on the mosaic of a GREAT EYE called The Oculus that lays directly under the World Trade Center complex in the subterranean subway station.

According to the artists, the work is the centerpiece of an installation that represents the continents of the earth interwoven with the City of New York amidst an ultramarine pool, surround a large eye in the middle of the mosaic.

It also professes to place New York City in its “proper geographical orientation” — whatever that means.

Here’s the blurb from Wikipedia about the Oculus and the single eye mosaics that line the walls of the station leading up to it.

According to artists Kristin Jones and Andrew Ginzel, Oculus is a constellation of stone and glass mosaics in the underground labyrinth of interconnected subway stations of lower Manhattan.

Over three hundred mosaic eyes, drawn from a photographic study of more than twelve hundred young New Yorkers, are set into the white tile walls of the World Trade Center/Park Place/Chamber Street Stations.

Although these tunnels were flooded during the World Trade Center destruction, they survived pretty much intact and were declared and “unexpected memorial” to the 9/11 event.

The former World_Trade_Center Station is situated at the northeast corner of the site. The station was flooded and closed to the public following the September 11, 2001 attack. The site was damaged but not destroyed, and it reopened eight months later with the work mostly intact.

Oculus was recognized as “an unexpected monument” by the “Wall Street Journal” on September 11, 2003.

Architecturally, the Oculus is the open circular hole in the top of domes or walls, like in the nation’s capitols (although we no longer have open spaces in their design).

The oculus was used by the Ancient Romans, one of the finest examples being that in the dome of the Pantheon. Open to the weather, it allows rain to enter and fall to the floor, where it is carried away through drains. Though the opening looks small, it actually has a diameter of 27 ft (8.2 m) allowing it to light the building just as the sun lights the earth.

Now we get to the creepy part.

Were you aware that there was a German secret society in the 18th century that was called the Oculist Order?

Not occult, as in secret knowledge —

but oculus, as in the instrument of seeing.

Although they were not physicians, the noblemen were fascinated with studying the human eye and engaged in Masonic rituals and mock surgeries to “clear their vision” so they would see that which is hidden.

The Master wears an amulet with a blue eye in the center. Before him, a candidate kneels in the candlelit room, surrounded by microscopes and surgical implements. The Master places a piece of paper in front of the candidate and orders him to put on a pair of eyeglasses. “Read.” says the Master. It is an impossible task. The page is blank.

Told not to panic; there is hope for his vision to improve.

The Master wipes the candidate’s eyes with a cloth and orders the surgery to commence. The members on the sidelines raise their candles high, and the master begins to pluck at the eyebrows of the candidate. “Try reading again.”

The first page is replaced with another during the procedure, filled with text. Congratulations, my brother. Now you can see.

Turns out they were good at keeping their secrets, because it wasn’t until 2011 that a computer was finally able to crack their Copiel Cypher .

I found out about the Oculus Order from the excellent researchers at Truthstream Media:

I also came across this interesting remark in the comments section:

The oculist told me that he wouldnt watch tv or read the newspapers… and neither should I. Because you gotta be very careful with what you SEE.. some things you might not read them but your subconscious gets them.

He said you gotta guard your eyes like they are the most important thing in the world and you gotta know what to feed them because THEY will shape your reality.

There is a system among us. A system that controls people and you can see the patterns everywhere.

Join that system and you will become one of them, one of the bunch. Stay away from the system and you will SEE things for what they really are.

I was also flabbergasted to discover that a building I know quite well, the Texas Capitol  in Austin, has a hidden Occuli Room that is closed to the public!

It contains 20 identical blue windows around the perimeter which can be seen reflecting blue ovals of light on the top levels of the Capitol Dome certain times during the day.

This is the ONLY photo I could find of the recently restored Oculi room — and the website would NOT allow me to copy it.

I did, however, find the Capitol Gift Shop offers this Oculi pattern for things like money clips, Christmas ornaments, cuff links and ink pens.

Pretty clever way to say “I’m a member of the club,” eh?

Back to NYC, we come to what was NOW over this bizarre art exhibit.

And once again, the most thoughtful answer came from the Truthstream Media couple!

They explored the new NYC tourist attraction, the Oculus ( or One World Tower – not the Freedom Tower, apparently that name is SO passe!) and found that instead of the “dove of peace” indicated by the propaganda, the whole building is designed to be a friggin’ great EYE!

It opens for 102 minutes each September 11th to commemorate the time between when the first plane hit and the second tower fell.

In fact, it is called the weepy Oculus because it leaks!

I kid you not!

Hmmm…

All that great eye symbolism makes me wonder what else this pair of artists has created.

Thus began a unexpected journey into the blatant use of public art to portray Oculus Wizardry.

Antithesis, Switzerland

This incredibly hyper-dimensional piece actually had a video showing the construction of this display using time lapse methods. They were able to access the interior of the cone structures from little built-in trap doors under the false floor.

Makes you wonder what else is hidden just under the surface of these exhibits.

Hmmmm…

How about this one?  It’s called Charybdis after the goddess/sea monster/whirlpool in the Messina strait mentioned in Homer’s Illiad.

Here’s the description of this ghastly thing:

The central physical component of is the turbulent elliptical whirlpool. This liquid volume is charged – as if evil- it seethes. The opaque surface of the black water reflects red – the passage of the light across the panorama. The bottomless pool is perilous, as its center a flame burns. As the light travels, it is diminished; dissolving – ebbing, it eventually disappears. The scene is again dark and the cycle repeats itself ad infinitum.

And last but certainly not least, this highly cryptic piece in front of the Merek and Company Laboratory Building has STARGATE written all over it!

Love the little missing piece of the circle in gold at the base…how cryptic!

Just for fun, check out the Jones/Gizel website, it is chock full of this kinda stuff!

This clip from Interstate 60 beautifully explains how easy it is to manipulate our perceptions but how once you know the trick, the gig’s up and you can’t be fooled again.

Well, now that we can see how public art reeks of Occulist symbolism, perhaps we can become impervious to its influence and render these false illusions laughably ineffective!

Wanna see how deep the rabbit hole goes?

White Rabbits and Star Gates

Grand Central Portal

Stargates in Caves

~ by weewarrior on August 24, 2008.