I See Symbols in Everything
As surely as if we are in a Dan Brown novel symbols keep coming to me. I examine them like a painting.
My ritual up until now had been to prepare my espresso - not 1 but 2- and bring them back to bed on a tray. In the bedroom I journal, I read, I slowly start my day. One morning as the cats followed me down the hall I saw the sun streaming from under my office door. I shut that door each night - keeping the energy of work separate from the rest of my home.
I opened the door and an epic light burst out, brilliant with the morning sun. I rearranged the furniture- dragging my desk - annoying downstairs neighbors. Now each morning when the sun starts to rise I open both the double French windows in my newfound solarium and sit soaking in the first days light.
My neighbor Fabio leans out his window to say hello and he laughs rubbing his unshaven face and patting the top of his head. He hasn’t brushed his hair and I’m in my nightgown.
I hear the wheels of the garbage cart before it arrives. “Spazzino” the garbage men yell. Seeing me the young one does a little dance pulling down his mask calling out “Ciao Bella.”
The watermelon colored shutters upstairs clink open. And a church bell rings. The chime is coming from the nearby Chiesa di Santa Maria del Giglio. Those bells have been ringing every day for nearly 400 years. That hits me, how time marches on. It was build in 1630 in gratitude for salvation from the plague. God, that was a beastly one- it killed 1/3 of Venice. 46,000 people died. Today that’s about the total population of the city.
Imagine it.
All of us dead.
These Offerings surround me. Churches build in negotiations with God.
Margaret texted yesterday. She drops a bomb. “It occurred to me we might be spending Christmas alone.”
Fuck.
I hadn’t thought of that.
But she’s right. The Spanish Flu of 1918 came in 3 waves - the 2nd wave in the fall - a mutation deadlier than the first. A 4th wave didn’t come but people were so afraid they continued to self shelter.
Fuck I repeat again.
I’m starting to curse like a sailor.
I’m accepting that 2 years of social distancing is possible. I plead with the Patron Saint of Grief Kübler-Ross that I stay in this acceptance phase and not plunge back into depression or denial. The wheel of Grief is brutal.
My dad’s wife- Lorrie invited me and the cats to come live with them in Oklahoma. “You could ride horses everyday. “ She says. “We worry about you, there all alone.” I’m coming to peace with my singledom. I am starting to think of it as part of my kingdom. I told you I was reclaiming my Crown.
I notice the church bell had stopped ringing - Longhena had build this church as well as the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute. You remember her? Near the tip of the island where the Grand Canal and Guidecca Canal meet? I stood there my arms held wide with Fortune spinning up above? That was her. Salute.
It’s a fascinating story how the Basilica came about. The plague was rampant. And the Doge decided to organize a procession - a procession which still goes on once each a year on November 21 - for the Virgin Mary, asking for her intercession to stop the epidemic and save the city from that pest.
Venice has a special relationship with Mary. Their city is like her 2nd child, another miracle birthed from water. The city was even founded in 421 AD on Annunciation Day - the day the archangel Gabriel informed Mary that she would be the mother of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Shit. That must have been some heavy news.
The Doge pleaded in exchange for the Virgin Mary’s help, a huge church would be built to honor her and God agreed. A few weeks after the procession the plague disappeared. A competition was held for who would design this church.
Eleven contestants entered but Longhena’s proposal proved that a Good Business Plan mattered. He was the only one who had a concrete architectural plan, detailing the structure and it’s costs.
His church would introduce a rotunda, a work of new invention, and he would build the church in the shape of a crown.
I flash back to the discovery of that photo I found of my husbands mistress standing in my living room wearing my antique Virgin Mary processional crown and I snatch that crown right off her head. You bitch. That Crown is mine.
Symbols come to me.
The coronaviris- a virus whose cells are in the shape of a crown. Whose very name Corona In Italian mean crown.
And I think of the Crown of Thorns.
I don’t overlook symbols. And the crown as surely as if we are in a Dan Brown novel keeps coming to me. I examine it like a painting. What does a Crown symbolize? The achievement of the mind over the body – the intangible triumph of the spirit – the crown can be seen as a representation of a halo, which in turn represents genius.
Aha, but here dear Grasshopper is where it gets interesting. Not by Me, But by We.
Genius in Latin means Guiding Spirit which became represented as a Halo in art.
The crown was a derivative of the Halo - the implication being the guiding spirit will help the wearer of the Crown be wise.
Seek and ye shall find following the Corona trail.
JOURNAL EXERCISE:
What’s your morning routine? It's important to establish a healthy morning ritual, as it sets the tone for the day, helps re-energize, builds focus and eliminates stress. Write a list of your 3 non-negotiables for your morning routine. For me? I need Coffee, Journal and Personal Time to Organize my House. Add in 2 optionals to you list. Meditate and Stretch/Exercize. Ask yourself how many times per week you want to do the optionals. Can you adjust your schedule to fit them in?
Now - look at the reoccurring symbols in your life. Do you know how to read a symbol? Google the name of Object + in Symbolism in Art, Object + Spritual Meaning, Object + as a Totem (yes, anything can be a totem), Object + Origin. Note how it personally relates to your life. You’ll be surprised when you discover that sometimes a bird is not just a bird.
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