Pooler was in Ireland to party & wench and dig things up. Skippy was there to study at Trinity College in Dublin in their Special Collections and at the Berkely Library. He had gotten it into his head that there was more than just an Iconographic connection between the Judeo-Christian concept of the Shekina and the ancient symbolism of the Siren nexus: Mermaid, Melusine, and Siren. Very few others saw these connections but Skippy and the Captain had been discussing Jung's book: The Answer to Job & Skippy was betting that the connections were deep, as deep as the profundities of the dark sea in which the Sea Girls dwelt. And that he thought was the key - dwelling. Pooler brought along his timeless linguistic skills and he was goading Skippy with little half-nuggets which he threw along the trail of Skippy's research. "Skene," he kept saying, as if that Greek word for "dwelling," would automatically occasion an epiphany "It's primary meaning is `tent', " said Pooler, and suddenly Skippy grinned.
Trinity College is beautiful in the spring; there are green lawns and red-headed girls. So Pooler had ways of amusing himself while Skippy combed the Manuscripts and Books of an old European Library in search of the minutia and the "opusculum paedagogum" - as Wallace Stevens described such an obsession. The figure of the Mermaid, Siren, Melusine, is Paleolithic in its conception, if not its execution. Half-woman - half-fish. Or any combination of Man/Woman, Fish/Undersea Creature. The dilemma of such a creature is right on the surface of the image: how do you slake your passions when your Sex Organs have regressed to a primal avatar? The Mermaid is an emblem of Temptation down to the Material level. But how can your "near occasion of sin" be consummated with a being that has no pussy? Pooler Jones goes after red-headed girls because they have the right tools, just like the Pope.
Even the girls on the sides of busses beckon to you on the banks of the Liffey. When you get to the Sirens - Temptation is the cornerstone of the image. Cirlot's research suggests that the symbol of the Siren wreaks of the "inferior forces in women" and "corrupt imagination enticed towards base ends or towards the primitive strata of life." A Mermaid will always have a beautiful face and sharp titties; they are the things which lure men to the depths. The Siren is any temptation which can drag us under - from the conscious to the dark and deep unconscious. On the larger world stage, she is an emblem of that which "impedes the evolution of the spirit." Part of her job is to make damn sure that god doesn't grow up, and that the Animus side of personality remains dormant on its "Magical Island." Ergo the images of Mermaids luring sailors to enchanted islands whereon they can sleep. Myth is full of those adventures where travelers are lured off their paths.
Kenny loves Watersports. To get to the Rip Wrap site we had to traverse some long lakes and some narrow rivers and waterways which connect them. Then we had to cruise the shoreline and wait until we could approach the shore without drawing attention to ourselves. This was only a test. We were not placing the Multi-Mirrored-Stone [MulMiSt] permanently. That might be against the law. We were going to place the MulMiSt at a height along the Rip Wrap where we thought its reflections might be visible across from it on the winding road. We were going to leave it for a few days - only enough for Kenny to drive the road and scout the area to see whether or not the array of mirrors could individuate their reflections - or did they just combine into a large gob of bright light without edges or features? If we were going to use them for a code then they had to work as individuals.
Skippy found a polished stone lying in shallow water which was perfectly ithyphallic and included the Testiculos which even the celibate Popes need to rule. He thought that was a good omen, such a gift from de profundis. It fit his mood, which was foul & desperate. Something he loved had vanished and nothing in his life had prepared him to go and find it and coax it back to his heart. And here was something from the bottom, something from the sea handed up to him. A stone which had been polished by time and the waves until it looked like Jesse's Rod.
After we placed the Mulmist we cast off and loitered off shore for a while - trying to catch the sun's reflection in a mirror or more. But the site was East and we would have to wait until the late afternoon before the sun and the mirrors might communicate. Kenny would have to return over the next few days at different times in the afternoon and see if the Mulmist could tap code in light. We were optimistic, but as we left the site you could see that the mirrors would have to be larger and further apart from each other to tell one glint from another.
Cooper says that the symbol of the Siren resonates with: temptation, feminine seduction, deception, distraction of man from his true goal, luring him to temporal attractions and spiritual depth, it's an emblem of the Soul caught in the lures of the sensual.
So Merpeople - Mermaids and Mermen - were messengers from below. When they were messengers from above they took the forms of birds and birdwomen. Sirens could use both shapes: fish and bird, depending on the fons et origo of the message sender.
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