OEITH #212 Confronting Cronos

Containing references to sexual abuse, far-right ideology, and the (literal) eating of babies, we face-off to evil, examining: two depictions of Cronos (Saturn) eating a child by Peter Paul Rubens and Francisco Goya; the contrast between their perspectives with regard to the question of evil; the myth of Cronos and the birth of Zeus (Jupiter); the archetype of Cronos and its contemporary influence; Cronos as autocrat and canceller of the future; Cronos as the shadow side of conservatism; the tyranny of the old over the young; sexual abuse of children as an aspect of the Cronos archetype; the case of Jeffrey Epstein; Cronos as the avoider of the law and of karma; how we are haunted by Cronos; gods and archetypes as hardcoded aspects of reality that cannot be changed but perhaps can be responded to; Rubens and Goya as offering two possible trajectories: embracing the real or transcending it; the ethical neutrality of either of these gestures; the Tree of Life as a map of reality; Chesed, The Hierophant, and Zeus, versus Binah and Saturn; the relationship between Cronos and Zeus as presented on the Tree of Life; Lon Milo DuQuette on The Wheel of Fortune and Zeus (Jupiter) as the restorer of karma; confronting evil versus taking responsibility for evil; the right-hand pillar (Mercy) and the left-hand pillar (Strength); the anatomy of each; Chokmah, Binah, and Geburah; The Chariot and The Hanged Man; both pillars as legitimate aspects of reality; my personal preference for the right-hand pillar and the sadness that is its consequence; Nick Land and accelerationism on capitalism as an aspect of reality; accelerationism, the left-hand pillar, and H.P. Lovecraft; both trauma and transcendence as routes to awakening and the divine.

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Anonymous (2022). Rubens & Goya – Saturn devouring his son, https://tinyurl.com/33xrec24 (classicalartsuniverse.com). Accessed March 2022.

Zac Braciszewicz (2006). Dreaming Saturn, https://tinyurl.com/mrxb45zd (wordpress.com). Accessed March 2022.

Lisa Bryant, director (2020). Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich. Netflix.

Lon Milo DuQuette (2017). Understanding Aleister Crowley’s Thoth Tarot, new edition. Newburyport, MA: Weiser.

Phil Ford & J.F. Martel (2022). Weird Studies episode 114: on the wheel of fortune, https://tinyurl.com/2s43frc5 (weirdstudies.com). Accessed March 2022.

Nick Land (2021). Critique of transcendental miserabilism. In: Fanged Noumena: Collected Writings 1987-2007. Cambridge, MA: Urbanomic / Sequence.