Synchromysticism

" Synchromysticism:
The art of realizing meaningful coincidence in the seemingly mundane with mystical or esoteric significance."

- Jake Kotze

September 15, 2020

The Lighthouse as a Synchromystic Metaphor/Archetype in 2020?

I read a newspaper article written by Angela Mollard about her memories of visiting a lighthouse/lighthouses in Newfoundland with her family five years ago.
It was a lighthouse featured in one of her favourite novels
'The Shipping News'.
I haven't read that novel, or recall seeing the 2001 movie starring an actor we don't see much of any more, who stars alongside one of my favourite actresses Cate Blanchett.
The only shipping news you tend to hear about in 2020 ironically is about how Covid 19 shut down the cruising industry, or the standoffs in the Pacific between the US and Chinese navies.
My favourite lighthouse book and movie combo would have to be 'The Light Between Oceans' -
The Light Between Oceans
I also have a soft spot for the movie 'South Solitary' starring Brisbane actress Miranda Otto and her father Barry.
I see that Miranda's birthday is December 16th, too -
Remember, Remember the 16th of December?
But I also liked the darker shadow side of the lighthouse story in a movie called 'The Lighthouse' which I saw at the cinema just before Corona-virus shut down the cinemas in Brisbane for a few months -
The Lighthouse and Squaring the Circle?
'The Lighthouse' seems even
more
claustrophobic on iPad
I've watched 'The Lighthouse' again this week on Amazon Prime on my iPad, and the small square screen on the rectangular iPad screen gives it even more of a feeling of claustrophobia in these times of Covid 19 lock-downs and self isolation.
Especially if you watch it in bed at night with the lights out, like I did.
Sophie Hardcastle Spilling the Beanz Along with Osher on Their Mental Health in These Times of Covid 19 and Self-isolation?
Plus, with the star of 'The Lighthouse' now having tested positive to the virus while filming the latest version of Batman and having to go into self-isolation himself, 'The Lighthouse' seems just that little bit more synchromystical at the moment -
The Dark [K]night of the Great Shi[f]t?
Angela Mollard plans to visit 20 lighthouses and collect the stories behind those lighthouses when she can.
Angela answers her own question of why lighthouses by writing in that article that in these troubled times lighthouses are emblematic of something safe and immutable, a guiding force in an uncertain disrupted world.
The Art of Patti Dragonfly
Lighthouses make for great metaphors of a helping force to dispel the natural fear of the dark unfriendly forces that seem to be all around us trying to pull us down into the unknown depths of life and death.
Cape Byron Lighthouse, NSW, Australia
The lighthouse also makes for an interesting archetypal symbol of the eternal light/fire/flame I think.
Visiting the Devonport lighthouse before heading to the mainland by ship
Going With the Flow in Devonport on My Last Day in Tasmania
lighthouse is like walking 
a vertical labyrinth
 I think  
Blowholes, Shipwrecks and Hearts in the Sea
I'm looking forward to Angela's lighthouse project and reading about the 20 lighthouses she is planning to visit.
I've visited a lot of lighthouses on my travels, not all were open to me when I got to them though, but the journey was worth it all the same -
New Castle? See Change?
A sign (?) for me on a walk to a lighthouse in Newcastle, NSW
I even saw a rat on my walk to the lighthouse back in 2016 in Newcastle
Life usually guides us to where we need to go, even if we didn't think we needed to go there, like some metaphorical invisible lighthouse in the darkness/blindness of our Earthly lives -
The Road to Success
Lifeboats, Flying Fish and the Sea of the Subconscious

UPDATE: September 17th, 2020
WA may open Rottnest to cope with influx
Rottnest Island ironically is home to the quokka, an animal featured in the failed 2019/2020 Aussie tourist ad:-)

1 comment:

  1. https://jstevekane-thechroniclesovjstevekane.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-lighthouse-family.html?m=1

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