Coming 8/17/22: An Exclusive Dive Into Family Aquino

Colonel Michael Aquino is one of the most notorious military officers in the history of these United States. His acknowledged operations constitute nothing less than an assault on consensus reality itself. And the longstanding allegations against him point to a depravity at the heart of the national security state nearly unspeakable. 

As such, Aquino's career has generated a lot of attention. Less so his background, especially has family. That's a subject that's been carefully guarded and for good reason. But at long last, the truth is starting to come out.

Both The Farm and Subliminal Jihad have been hot on the trail of Aquino's background throughout the year. We've already uncovered some incredible things and just had a major score: a collection of private correspondences from the colonel's mother, Betty Ford Aquino, located in the archives of the Pacifica Foundation. Few know what is in these files. 

But that's going to change on 8/17/22. The Farm's monthly Zoom Party is going to feature a sneak peak from Recluse and Subliminal Jihad, plus a few other Aquino family revelations. 

A Farm Exclusive: Assassination & False Flag Monday

On the first Monday in August (fittingly, 8/1/22), The Farm has a triple-header in store. For the public show, a deep dive into the assassination of Shinzo Abe is on tap. This event is quickly turning into Japan's very own JFK assassination and for good reason. By now, many of you are probably aware the "shooting" involved a longstanding VISUP/Farm trope: the Unification Church (alias the Moonies). 

A lot of people are either re-discovery this monstrosity after decades if not encountering it for the first time. But I've been exploring this subject for nearly a decade now, first in the context of VISUP's famed World Anti-Communist League (WACL) series and, later, through The Farm's equally acclaimed WACL series (both of which can be found here). As far as Abe and his assassination is concerned, there's a lot to the Moonies that has yet to be addressed. The Farm's Abe investigation is going to totally blow the legacy media narratives out of the water and paint a whole new picture of the Moonie origins. The origins are important in understanding why such a group turns up in a JFK-like assassination. 

And that's not all! On The Farm's Patreon, the second installment in the Society of Cincinnati series will be up (part one is presently available to the public here). For this outing, I'm going to explore several of the powerful Massachusetts and New York Dutch families behind this outfit, and a few that are still with us. Shockingly, this has a bizarre connection to the JFK assassination as well. The main event is a deep dive into the United States' first great false flag: Shay's Rebellion. This is the event that gave us the storied American Constitution and it was entirely designed and directed by the Cincinnati to ensure this outcome. Nor are these the only Cincinnati intrigues on tap. To wrap up, I explore their role in the French Revolution and reveal the covert war the Cincinnati was then waging against one of the most notorious secret societies of them all. 

The Farm's All Access Patreons can look forward to both of those shows in addition to a third one: An Exclusive deep five into Captive Nations Summit 2022. The cult-like nature of the Victims of Communism Memorial will be explored along with the rise of the Atlantic Council (AC) in these circles. The AC is the modern day Trilateral Commission (which really hasn't bee a force for decades) in the US while the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC) is the true successor to WACL. The unholy alliance developing between these two entities (effectively a merger of neo-liberal and far right factions) genuinely threatens the future of humanity. I say that in all seriousness after sitting through two of their meetings. Captive Nations 2022 featured a discussion on the assassination of a prominent world leader that would surely put the survival of humanity in the cross hairs. And that was hardly the only thing discussed along those lines. 

This trio of pods is going to totally up end how you think about both the origins of these United States as well our role in the current geopolitical nightmare unfolding across the globe. You don't want to miss these, so head on over to The Farm's Patreon.

Captive Nations Summit 2022: Is the Atlantic Council the New WACL?

 Co-author and principal researcher: Moss Robeson

Otherworldly. Surreall. Strange. Fortean even --all these phrases seem apt for the Captive Nations Summit 2022. I had of course attended the 2021 event and there was no shortage of weird for that outing. But the 2022 version was another level entirely. 

This is hardly surprising. The summit and the broader Captive Nations Week for which this event is centered around is sponsored by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. The VOC came into being in 1993 via amendments slipped into the FRIENDSHIP Act of 1993. Bill Clinton formally signed it into existence on December 17, 1993. 12/17 happens to be my birthday. I turned eleven the day the VOC became a thing, one of many strange synchronicities I've experienced with this thing. 

The VOC was officially brought into being to create and maintain a national memorial in DC for those who had suffered under communist regimes. Not much seems to have happened with the project until 2007, during the final years of the Bush II administration. It was at this point the memorial was finally completed and the VOC itself began to take on a more public role. While officially an independent, nonpartisan body, the group has traditionally been dominated by the right of the Republican Party. 

The key figure behind the VOC was longtime Ukrainian Republican operative Lev Dobriansky, whom much more will be said of in a moment. Another was longtime Democratic geopolitical powerbroker Zbigniew Brzezinski, one of the most influential foriegn policy wobs in the American Empire's history. And last but not least was Lee Edwards, a leading far right figure in the Republican Party for decades. 

He was a co-founder of Young American for Freedom during the early 1960s before latching his cart to the World Anti-Communist League (WACL) network by decades' end. Simply put, WACL was the visible personification of the Fascist International for much of the second half of the Cold War. It brought together an eleaborate international network of current and former military/intelligence officers; unreconstructed Nazis war criminals and budding neo-fascists; international drug and arms traffickers; and the inevitable terrorists into a united front. By the 1980s, it supported wars on three continents with the aim of destroying the Soviet Union. Much more on WACL and its dark legacy can be found here. Keep WACL in mind, as much more will be said of it. 

Lee Edwards at the 2021 Captive Nations Summit

Outside of Brzezinski, many of the other figures connected to the VOC have traditionally been of the Republican Party's right. At the forefront is the organization's current chairman, Edwin Feulner, a co-founder and longtime president of the Heritage Foundation, which, along with the Council for National Policy. (CNP), has guided the Republican far right for decades now. Other members have included the recently deceased General John K. Singlaub, head of the American WACL branch during the height of its death squad activities during the 1980s. As such, its politics has involved attacking Obama's 2010 visit to Cuba and backing accounts of Uyghur and Falun Gong practitioners in China. Keep this in mind when we get into the VOC of 2022.

Captive Nations Week and the UCCA

But before getting to that, I need to explain Captive Nations Week, which is the actual reason for the existence of the VOC. And in order to understand Captive Nations Week, one must understand the "visionary" behind it, the above-mentioned Lev Dobriansky. Easily the most influential Ukrainian foreign policy guru in the US during the Cold War, Lev also maintained decades spanning support for a charming group known as the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists-Banderite (OUN-B). Totally unknown to the general public at large, and only occasionally mentioned in conspiracy circles prior to the 2010s, the OUN-B has since enjoyed a much deserved resurgence in infamy. They were one of the most influential fascist organizations of the Cold War era and laid the genesis for much of the modern far right in Ukraine. However, that entire Nazi cesspool cannot be laid their feet in the 2022 --Ukraine has produced plenty of homegrown Nazis in recent years who probably view the expat descendants of the OUN-B as more American or Anglo than Ukrainian. 

OUN-B logo

But, we'll get to that in a moment. What you need to understand for now is that the OUN-B was crucial in setting up WACL. There were two primary branches, an Asian section and a European section. For much of its existence, the European section was dominated by an outfit called the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations (ABN). The ABN litterally had its origins in Nazi Germany and was largely comprised of Eastern European Quisling regimes that fled their homeland after WWII. The driving force and dominant group behind the ABN was the OUN-B, however. And their relationship with the Nazis has always been a little more complex than as has been often depicted. 

With all that being said, let's get into Dobriansky for a moment since none of what I witnessed would have happened were it not for him. For this and virtually the Ukrainian research, I am in debt to my friend, Moss Robeson, and his groundbreaking investigative work into the survival of the OUN-B in the post Cold War era. Thanks to Moss' Herculean efforts on the Bandera Lobby Blog and other places, the full story has finally begun to emerge. So, I'll turn the floor over to Moss and let him fill you in on Lev:

"As the longtime president of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA) and National Captive Nations Committee (NCNC), not to mention on-and-off again chairman of the “Ethnic Division” of the Republican National Committee (RNC), the far-right Dobriansky was probably the OUN-B’s most influential supporter in the United States. He colluded with various radical anti-communist political interests in the U.S. and around the world, as a result of which Captive Nations Week observances during the Cold War were often led by exponents of the OUN-B. The likewise extremely right-wing and highly secretive John Birch Society was also a big advocate of the Week. The Society’s founder infamously declared President Eisenhower, among other top U.S. officials, to be a 'conscious, dedicated agent of the Communist conspiracy.' ”

As for Captive Nations Week, Moss goes on to note:

"Lev Dobriansky met the World War 2-era Ukrainian fascist leader Stepan Bandera in Munich in 1952, and thereafter became an ardent supporter of the OUN-B and its Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations (ABN), chaired for life by Bandera’s deputy and indirect successor, Yaroslav Stetsko. The ABN was a coordinating center of far-right, no less anti-Russian than anti-Soviet “national liberation movements,” many if not most of them led by former Nazi collaborators and war criminals, that agitated for the violent breakup of the Soviet Union and considered World War 3 to be 'inevitable'—necessary, even. 

"Dobriansky claimed to disagree with the ABN on the question of WW3, but nevertheless denounced 'the Communist conception of peaceful co-existence,' which fellow travelers declared a 'Trojan horse' for Soviet world domination. The ABN’s Idel-Ural and Cossackia committees indeed originated in Nazi Germany’s conquest of the Soviet Union. Vasili Glaskov, a longtime leader of the 'Cossack Liberation Movement' who appeared at a 1950 ABN conference in Scotland, was a Nazi puppet during World War 2. In those days he proclaimed 'Cossackia' to be 'in the hands of the Great World Reformer,' Adolf Hitler, who 'categorically decided to end the Jewish-Bolshevik plague.' 

"When Dobriansky met Bandera, the Ukrainian fascist leader ultimately rejected by Hitler, the Central Intelligence Agency still hoped to unite the post-WW2 Ukrainian emigration behind the Foreign Representation of the Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council (zpUHVR), the leadership-in-exile of a CIA-sponsored breakaway faction of the OUN-B that denounced Bandera after the war and renounced fascism in favor of a pragmatic pluralism. In 1967, the year of the founding of the World Congress of Free Ukrainians and the World Anti-Communist League, Dobriansky accused the zpUHVR, composed of allegedly reformed ex-Nazi collaborators, of being “soft on communism” and 'CIA tools.'

"Almost a decade before feuding with the CIA and zpUHVR, Lev Dobriansky got Yaroslav Stetsko, an unrepentant fascist war criminal and leading ideologist of the OUN-B, his first visa to the United States with the help of friends in Congress. Dobriansky did so in 1958 contrary to the wishes of the CIA and State Department, which for years remained at odds with the OUN-B and a burgeoning “Captive Nations Movement” despite having played a role in fanning its flames. For one thing, a CIA front called the Assembly of Captive European Nations cheered on the adoption of Public Law 86-90 and observed Captive Nations Week." 

However, Captive Nations Week was never signed into law. And be assured, there have been numerous attempts to manage this over the past six decades. But no US president has been willing to make it a formal holiday and some even hesitated to endorse it (most notably Jimmy Carter and Donald Trump, both one-term presidents....). As for recent developments with the VOC goes, Moss described it to me thusly in an email:

"Dobriansky, Edwards, and Brzezinski co-founded the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation in 1994; Edwards joined the NCNC by 1993. Allegedly, they were all members.In 1993, Senator Claiborne Pell (D-RI), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, apparently watered down the Captive Nations resolution, so Edwards wrote a letter to the Ukrainian Weekly about it on behalf of NCNC. By 2001, UCCA president Michael Sawkiw was the NCNC executive secretary, and that year for CNW, the NCNC held a luncheon featuring Lev Dobriansky at the Heritage Foundation to honor Peter Goble, a nutjob at RFE/RL(4), who in later years advocated bringing back the ABN. From what I recall, in the 2000s, a CNW event at the Heritage Foundation co-sponsored by UCCA and VOCMF was the norm."

Easily the most powerful of the varied remaining OUN-B front groups is an outfit known as the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), mentioned above. In fact, until recently, the UCCA was probably the most powerful Ukrainian lobby of them all. While you hear a lot about things like a Jewish lobby or a Saudi lobby, you almost never hear about the Ukrainian one. And that's a pity, because they have a lot of juice, especially in the US. The UCCA was a founding member of the Ukrainian World Congress, which claims to represent over 20 million Ukrainians in the worldwide diaspora. And the overwhelming majority of them are either in the US, UK or other members of the Commonwealth (Australia and Canada have a strong Ukrainian presence, for instance). So, if you're wondering about the preoccupation with Ukraine among various Anglo-American powerbrokers, this is a big factor behind it. While little acknowledged, the Ukrainian lobby has been working their magic in the US even prior to the nation entering the Second World War (seriously). They have numbers and no shortage of expertise in these matters. 

Case in point, the UCCA's official history notes that it was established in the US during 1940 to advocate the interests of the Ukraine in America. Even back then, they received considerable support from US Congressional members. Naturally, any hint of an OUN-B connection has been carefully glossed over. But it has been known since the late 1980s thanks to the efforts of the legendary parapolitical researcher Russ Bellant. In the classic Old Nazis, the New Right, and the Republican Party, Russ writes:

"... positions of influence under discussion were Reagan Administration Appointments. All of the OUN-B's key administration contacts were through an organization called the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), headquartered in New York City.

"The UCCA is described as heavily influenced but not totally controlled by the OUN-B. Supposedly an umbrella organization of Ukrainian-American groups, there are groups within UCCA that are complete OUN-B fronts.

"The White House had looked favorably on the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, appointing its chairman, Lev Dobriansky, ambassador to the Bahamas in 1983. Dobriansky is a longtime ASC official. His daughter Paula was put on the National Security Council. George Nesterczuk, former director of the Ukrainian National Information Service (UNIS), which is the Washington, D.C. affiliate of the UCCA, was appointed deputy director of the Office of Personnel Management. In 1984, he became Deputy Director of the U.S. Information Agency.

"In 1984, Bohdan Futey, head of the Cleveland branch of the UCCA... was appointed head of the U.S. Foreign Claims Commission...."

(p. 69)

The Reagan years marked the first time the OUN-B-led Ukrainian lobby enjoyed a real presence in a US administration. And it came through the more "respectable" looking UCCA. But even then, the UCCA was entrenched in far right organizations. The ASC in the above quote is the American Security Council, for decades the heart, if not the soul, of the military-industrial complex. It brought together an elaborate network of former military and intelligence officers, out and out fascists and criminals, and other such fellow travelers, in a network that was equal parts lobby group and private intelligence. It has been deeply implicated in drug and arm trafficking, terrorism, and other such operations. Much more on the ASC can be found here and here. 

Russ Bellant places the UCCA firmly in this milieu during the 1980s:

"The UCCA is also a member of the ASC's Coalition for Peace Through Strength. Like so many elements of the Coalition and the American Security Council, it is networked into the World Anti-Communist League (WACL). The masthead of the UCCA's Ukrainian Quarterly lists several representatives from Taiwan and Korea, both major funders of WACL.

"Wherever the OUN-B has political involvement, the UCCA seems to be its representative. In the U.S. Council for World Freedom, chaired by General John Singlaub, the OUN-B is represented by Secretary-General Walter Chopiwskyj... The only public indication of the OUN-B presence in the UCCA is in the U.S. Council for World Freedom's political arm, the Coalition for World Freedom, of which the UCCA is a member. The Council is the U.S. branch of the World Anti-Communist League..."

(Old Nazis, the New Right, and the Republican Party, 70)

This is important to emphasize, because the 2022 incarnation of the UCCA has come a long way. While previously a minor affiliate in organizations of dubious nature on the far right of the Republican Party hierarchy, the twenty-first century witnesses the UCCA as a key ally of neo-liberal powerhouse the Atlantic Council and welding considerable influence on the foreign policy of the Biden administration. How did this striking transformation come about? 

Of it, Moss notes:

"... Paula Dobriansky—like Wolfowitz, an original signatory of the Project for a New American Century, Dick Cheney’s infamous, neoconservative think tank—soon to be appointed Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs by George W. Bush. Her father, Lev Dobriansky, longtime president of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), was the OUN-B’s most important Ukrainian American ally in the United States during the Cold War. With his go-ahead, on the eve of the 1980 U.S. presidential election, the OUN-B’s 'Liberation Front' staged a 'coup' in the UCCA, which has consistently been a go-to CUSUR sponsor. 

"Askold Lozynskyj, president of the UCCA and the Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) in 2000, and a participant in the 1980 'coup,' admitted in 1989, 'The Ukrainian Liberation Front (ULF) is the major underpinning of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America… [but] such has been the case for the last 40 years.' He did so in response to a letter to the editor published in Jersey City’s Ukrainian Weekly that was about the OUN-B but didn’t name the Organization explicitly:

In fact, it seems to me that the political and ideological orientation of only a small group of Ukrainian ultra-nationalists, namely the Liberation Front (which, for all intents and purposes, controls the UCCA) lies at the base of many of the divisions that so deeply and vindictively sever the Ukrainian community in the West. It is precisely this naive and outdated ideology which must be squarely confronted and exposed for what it is in order to bring about healthy debate and progress among Ukrainians. The essence of the thinking behind the Liberation Front ideology is monopolistic rule … [and] the possession of totalitarian power. 

"Even the online Encyclopedia of Ukraine acknowledges, 'In 1980 the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America was taken over by the OUN-B and thus ceased to represent the Ukrainian community as a whole.' 

"More than thirty years later, some things haven’t changed much. Today, Lozynskyj, a conniving attorney, is perhaps the most powerful OUN-B member in the United States, and is perceived by some as a “puppet master” in the organized Ukrainian American community. From 2010 to 2013, he chaired the World Council of Ukrainian State Organizations, a coordinating body of OUN-B affiliated NGOs also known as the International Council in Support of Ukraine. In the 1990s and early 2000s it was called the Organizations of the Ukrainian State Front, and during the Cold War, the Organizations of the Ukrainian Liberation Front."

On the whole, the OUN-B has been getting a lot of attention of late. Many alternative researchers lay the entire fiasco in the Ukraine at their feet. But the reality is a little more complex. For one, there have been several competing OUNs for decades. Aside from the OUN-B, the other noteworthy one is OUN-M. The break between these two factions in the OUN occurred back in the 1940s and is still playing out. In between then and now, a host of front groups and further inter-factional rivalries have emerged, further muddying the waters. So, will the real OUN-B please stand up?

Moss makes a highly compelling case that the heart of the modern-day OUN-B movement is centered around an obscure body known as the World Council of Ukrainian State Organizations (Rady Ukrayinsʹkykh Derzhavnytsʹkykh Orhanizatsiy Svitu, RUDOS), otherwise known in English as the “International Council in Support of Ukraine” (ICSU). This is seperate body from the more respectable Ukrainian World Congress. The key link point is the above-mentioned UCCA. People like UCCA's Askold Lozynskyj, Pavlo Bandriwsky, and Oles Striltschuk were all highly active in the RUDOS/ICSU. An old website reveals that the UCCA was a member of the RUDOS/ICSU coalition as recently as 2016. Interestingly, that was the year Donald Trump was elected US president. The UCCA has also maintained ties with Ukraine's Security Service of Ukraine (SSU), the Ukrainian successor to the KGB, since at least 2012. 

SSU emblem --starting to see a pattern in some of these logos?

But what about Svoboda and the Azoz Regiment they are so often linked with? The relationship here is far more vague. A driving force behind Svoboda and possibly Azoz is Andriy Parubiy, who eventually rose to become Ukraine's version of Secretary of Defense circa 2014, shortly after the 2013-2014 "Euromaiden" uprising. He was an apt choice as Parubiy effectively led the "volunteer" security forces during Euromaiden, so why not put him in command of the actual army? Well, the Russian Annexation of Crimea did occur during this time...

From there, Parubiy returned to far right activism, heading the Verkhovna Rada, for a time. More recently, Parubiy and many of the more militant Maiden veterans were backing Petro Poroshenko's European Solidarity in opposition to Zelensky. RUDOS also had a presence in the Euromaiden militias, while various affiliates joined Parubiy in support of the European Solidarity movement. And Parubiy has certainly rubbed elbows with the RUDOS network a time or two in his day. But he has never been closely connected to it, and seems to have an agenda of his own. The same could be said about many of the militant groups based out of Ukraine proper. I suspect the real reason for RUDOS' support of European Solidarity was to pressure Zelensky into taking a harder line against Putin. It's often forgotten now, but Zelensky was widely suspected of appeasing Putin during his early administration. 

Parubiy

Further, the OUN-B seems less concerned with terrorism and street fighting as the years go on. I suspect their links to Parubiy are more to influence domestic developments in Ukraine rather than actual support. While RUDOS may have fringe groups working with the likes of Parubiy in the trenches, it's through respectable organizations like the UCCA that their real power resides. It was through this outfit they were able to cultivate ties to US foreign policy gods like Zbigniew Brzezinski and carefully grooming figures like arch neo-con Paula Dobriansky (the above-mentioned daughter of the UCCA's founder) that the OUN-B has reached a point where it can push the United States into a war that may topple the American Empire. 

At this point, the OUN-B arguably has far greater influence in the governments of the US and UK than the Ukraine itself. The relationship between the OUN-B and the British goes even further back than the American one. It was cultivated by General J.F.C. "Boney" Fuller, one of the architects of modern armored warfare and an occultist devoted to Aleister Crowley at one point. Seriously. Much more on that strange relationship can be found in my book A Special Relationship.

Basically, the OUN-B and elements of the Anglo-American Establishment have been in bed together for decades. And for much of the second half of the twentieth century onward, this strange relationship has unfolded in the US and Commonwealth. And that's the real problem, as we shall explore. Peope like Parubiy, the true Ukrainian Nazis, are just props for what are effectively the neo-liberal/Anglo-American descendants of the OUN-B. Again, I urge the reader to consult Moss' stellar research on these networks to fully grok this. 

To continue with this exclusive report on the Captive Nations Summit 2022; the Atlantic Council and the far right; the politics of assassination; and so much more, sign on to The Farm's Patreon as an All Access subscriber. This article is just one piece of great and ever growing content available there. Trust me, the rest of this article is worth the price of admission alone. And there's so much mroe you get with it. 

A Deep Dive Into the Georgia Guidestones

As I'm sure many of you are well aware by now, the infamous Georgia Guidestones done got blown up on July 6, 2022. This is a significant event no doubt, especially in the context of the wars currently playing out in Heaven and Earth. As such, there's a lot of rejoicing in certain quarters. 

But there's problem: the Georgia Guidestones are not what people think they are. The conventional narrative --that they were erected by a cabal of UN-backed, Rosicrucian Rockefeller shills has no basis in reality. The actual source of the funding for the Guidestones could not be further from those circles. And that's just scratching the surface.

The real secret of the Georgia Guidestones is that they are one of the greatest psyops and instances of fourth generation warfare of the Cold War-era. The intention was never to create a monument to globalism, but an egregore that feed off extremism. And based on recent events, whatever forces surrounding that monument are all grown up now. And ready to stretch their wings. 

On July 17, join myself, Occult Fan (alias Nathan Lee Foster Miller) and the legend, J. Michael "Doc Future" Bennet, for The Farm's latest Zoom party. There we will present what will be the deepest of all dives into the Guidestones and will surely be the most contrarian take of them all. Doc Future has done much to solve this mystery with his groundbreaking documentary Dark Clouds Over Elberton: The True Story of the Georgia Guidestones, which I highly recommend everyone watch as precursor to event. 

So, if you're interested in knowing the true origins of the Guidestones, their likely purpose, and what all of this means, be sure to sign up for The Farm's All Access Patreon prior to the 17th. The presentation kicks off at 9:23 pm est and will run till at least 11:23 pm est. Participants will have a chance to ask questions and so forth. It's going to be a great time kids, don't miss out.

Dispatches from Occult Cincinnati (and Beyond) Part III

 

Note: This is part of a series of articles I've written chronicling my recent travels for The Farm's Patreon. Dispatches from Dandyland (Somerset, KY) and Weird Wisconsin can be found there along with the entire first Cincinnati dispatch. A preview is available on this blog here. Finally, my traveling companions and I recounted our experiences in Cincy for The Farm recently. That interview can be found here and here. Part two is available in its entirety here. 

The third and final day of my occult exploration of Cincinnati and the surrounding area unfolded over the course of May Day or Beltane, depending upon your mileage. It was a kind of holiday weekend for my traveling companions and myself. We started to descend upon Cincinnati that Thursday, but it wasn't until Friday that every member of the party was present, and the adventure really began. With May Day/Beltane falling on Sunday, this meant that Walpurgis Night would unfold after sunset on Saturday. For those of you unaware, Walpurgis Night, along with Halloween, are considered the two principal Witches' Sabbaths. They're also the major cross-quarter days. For more on the pagan significance of these dates, see the second installment in this series.

When the topic of activities for Walpurgis Night came, there was one obvious choice to my mind: the storied Spring Grove Cemetery. Describing this place as an architectural marvel is a gross understatement. It's reportedly the nation's third largest cemetery, weighing in at 733 acres. It was first established in 1844 by the Cincinnati Horticultural Society. From the beginning, the group had ambitious designs for the cemetery. At the time, the so-called "Garden" or "Rural" Cemetery movement had taken off in Europe and the US. As the name implies, the location of Spring Grove was abundant in both its name sakes and seen as ideal for a garden. 

The Occult Architect

The initial architect wasn't quite up to the task, however, and in 1855 a replacement was brought in. He was a Prussian who went by the name of Adolph Strauch. At the age of 16, Strauch ventured to Vienna and apprenticed for six years at the Hapsburg imperial gardens at Laxenburg and Schönbrunn Palace. it was there that he was "discovered" by a mysterious Cincinnati businessman named Robert B. Bowler. Bowler had married into the Pendleton family by way of the daughter of Nathaniel Greene Pendleton. 

The Pendletons are part of America's old guard aristocracy, which I addressed in part one of this series. Patriarch Nathaniel Pendleton Sr. was an aide-de-camp to General Nathaniel Greene during the Revolutionary War and later became an early US Senator. Inevitably, he was an original, hereditary member of the Society of Cincinnati, that mysterious body from which the city was named after. The Pendleton clan would remain prominent well into the 20th century, spawning such notables as Francis Key Pendleton and Nathalie Schenck Laimbeer (a great-granddaughter of Nathaniel G. Pendleton). 

Nathaniel Sr.

It was no doubt a major coup for Bowler to marry into the Pendleton clan during that particular time and place. They were arguably at the height of their prowess during the mid-19th century. His brother-in-law, George Hunt Pendleton, had married into the family of Francis Scott Key and was about to embark upon a successful, Ohio-based, political career. Unsurprisingly, Bowler became a highly successful businessman in the Cincinnati area. This positioned him to embark upon an especially illustrious family estate. 

In 1850, Bowler convinced Adolph Strauch to relocate to Cincinnati and work on his family estate. It became known as Mount Storm and was by all accounts a wonder to behold. Designed as an old English country estate, it featured marble columns, a conservatory, and a Corinthian-style pergola, which was fubbed the "Temple of Love." By 1912, the estate was owned by the city after both Bowler and his son, Robert Jr., died prematurely. Despite having hosted Edward, Prince of Wales, at one point, the city opted to raze the structure in 1917. The reason given is that it had become a "trysting" place for young lovers. Others argued that it stood in the way of "progress," even though the spot has never been anything other than a park ever since. Given the family connections and some of the curious architecture, its easy to wonder if something beyond mere trysts were unfolding at Mount Storm. 

As for Strauch, his work on the Bowler estate made him an immediate sensation in the Cincinnati area. After working on a few other private estates in the area, he landed the gig he will forever be remembered for: Spring Grove. After becoming the cemetery's superintendent in 1855, he transformed it into what has been described as "the prototype of the lawn cemetery." Indeed, Strauch would later lend his talents to other famed cemeteries, such as Chicago's Oak Woods Cemetery, Detroit's Woodmere Cemetery; and Buffalo's Forest Lawn Cemetery. 

Strauch

Spring Grove remained Strauch's masterpiece, and seemingly the work closest to his heart. It's where he opted to be buried, after all. And he's in good company: the founder of Kroger's is there, along with the namesakes behind Procter & Gamble; Salmon P. Chase, the Ohio political giant who eventually became the Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court; and numerous members of the Taft dynasty, including Skull and Bones co-founder Alphonso. 

Alphonso is not the only founder of a fraternity residing in Spring Grove either. Isaac M. Jordan, a successful businessman who served one term in the US House of Representatives, co-founded Sigma Chi, one of the largest fraternities in North America. Well into the 1970s, pledges were required to sneak into Spring Grove and record the inscription on Jordan's tomb.

At least two members of the Pendleton family, Nathaniel G. and H., reside in Spring Grove as well. Keep in mind the family's patronage of Strauch by way of Bowler as well as their hereditary place in the Society of Cincinnati. In the first installment in this series, I noted another original member of interest here: the famed architect Pierre Charles L'Enfant. As I'm sure many reading this are aware, L'Enfant is widely credited with the occult lay out of DC. While his role in Freemsonry has been widely remarked upon, the Frenchman was quite active in the Society of Cincinnati also, being a founding member and designing the group's first emblem. 

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Dispatches from Occult Cincinnati (and Elsewhere) Part II

Note: This is part of a series of articles I've written chronicling my recent travels for The Farm's Patreon. Dispatches from Dandyland (Somerset, KY) and Weird Wisconsin can be found there along with the entire first Cincinnati dispatch. A preview is available on this blog here. Finally, my traveling companions and I recounted our experiences in Cincy for The Farm recently. That interview can be found here and here. Look for part three in this series to appear on The Farm's Patreon in the near future. 

Day two of our exploration of occult Cincinnati and the surrounding area kicked off on the morning of April 30th. It was most apt for our destinations that day, being Walpurgis Night. In the occult calendar, eight major points of interest are the quarter and cross-quarter dates. The quarter days refer to four solar events that have long been observed as holidays on European calendars: Midwinter and Midsummer (the former was typically celebrated between December 21 and 25th while the later normally fell on June 23-24); and the spring and fall equinox (which are normally celebrated around March and September 20th, respectively). 

The cross-quarter dates fall in between these solar markers. In many traditions, they are seen as more significant than the quarter dates. Traditionally, Walpurgis Night and May Day (which followed the next day) were celebrated as Beltane during the Pagan era. The other cross-quarter dates are February 1 (Imbolc or Candlemas), August 1 (Lammas), and of course, November 1 (Samhain or Halloween). The nights preceding these dates (especially Walpurgis and Halloween) were seen as especially magical, a time when the veils between worlds was supposedly at its thinnest. 

As you may have surmised from the first part, Cincinnati is certainly a choice location for such festivities. And to be sure, we had an especially mystical spot tapped to spend the evening at: Spring Grove Cemetary. it's a remarkable location that's attracted its fair share of strange denizens over the years, to be sure.

It was not to be, however. Spring Grove is open deep into the evenings, but only after April 30, when it's summer schedule starts. For Walpurgis Eve, it closes up early. No doubt, vandalism caused by teenage metalheads and the like is a concern. I witnessed these sickening spectacles for years at Cassadaga's own mysterious cemetery (which, in a lot of ways, is like a scaled down version of Spring Grove...). But given the connections Cincinnati's founders have to secret orders and the amount of them buried in Spring Grove, its easy to make sensational speculations as to why else the cemetery is closed for Walpurgis Eve. But I will refrain from doing so. 

Spring Grove would have to wait till May Day. Fortunately, there were no shortage of strange sites to explore in and around Cincinnati for Walpurgis. And we already had one selected for that morning: the Great Serpent Mound. 

 

For myself and other members of our party, this was a major bucket list event. Long time readers of this blog will recall that the Great Serpent Mound was one of the first subjects I ever wrote about here. I've continued to revisit the Mounds of Appalachia ever since (see, for instance, here). Having grown up in this area, it's a subject close to my heart. I've been surrounded by these Mounds my whole life. They seem to follow me everywhere I venture. 

As for the Great Serpent Mound, it did not disappoint. For those of you unfamiliar with this site, here's a rundown: This particular structure is located in the midst of the Ohio Valley, which encompasses all of Kentucky and Tennessee; most of West Virginia and Indiana; slivers of Illinois, New York state, and Pennsylvania; as well most of Ohio. While Native American mounds have been found all over the southeast of the present United States, and deep into the Mid-West and Great Lakes area, this particular region is arguably unsurpassed in terms of both the numbers and scale of the Mounds found here.

The Ohio Valley's crown jewel is unquestionable the Great Serpent Mound. It's located in Ohio's Adams County in the midst of the Serpent Mound crater. Yes, the effigy is within a crater left by meteorite roughly 300 million years ago. It's been speculated that the impact contributed to the alien landscape of the area. I can attest to its odd geographical features. This placing is all the more interesting in light of the Mound's astronomical alignments, which I'll get to in a moment. And the fact that the full scope of the Mound can only be gauged from the air...

the Serpent Mound crater

Stretching out at 1,348 feet in length and up to 25 feet in width (it varies between being 3 and 9 feet high at different parts), the Mound is believed to be the largest serpent effigy in the world. And predictably for a monolith of such grandeur, there is much debate as to who built it. 

Contrast that aerial shot of the Serpent Mound to the ones I took of either side of it with my phone from the park's observation tower. 

Early archaeologists credited to the Adena civilization. More recently, its been chalked up to the Fort Ancient culture. It's linkage to the latter is problematic, however. Radioactive dating placed construction of the Mound around  1070 AD, at a time when the Fort Ancient civilization inhabited this region. But the samples used may have been faulty. Layers of earth were added to the earthwork from the surrounding area towards the end of the 19th century. Thus, the samples used may not have originated from Mound's origins. Finally, the sacred geometry of the site is more in keeping with the Hopewell civilization, according to William F. Romain in The Mysteries of the Hopewell. Romain certainly makes a compelling case. 

The astronomical alignment of the Serpent Mound is justly celebrated. Its frankly nothing short of remarkable to view it in person. The megalith is aligned to True North plus/minus 10 minutes of arc. This alignment stretches from the tip of the serpent's tail to the triangular space of its head. The oval-to-head area of the serpent is aligned with the summer solstice sunset. Further, the serpent's body convolutions are believed to have astronomical significance. Romain believes they are aligned to at least six lunar azimuths. Others speculate that the three main curves point towards the sunrises of all four solstice and equinox.

The Hopewell civilization had a reputation for astronomy. The Adena and Fort Ancient civilizations were also fascinated by it, but not seemingly to the extent as the Hopewell. The Great Serpent Mound is also aligned to the Moon's midpoint in addition to the other links to the lunar body. This is in keeping with other Hopewell earth works, which were commonly aligned to the moon. 

Further, the Hopewell were one of many indigenous cultures that employed "charnel houses." The Native American version was quite different from the European structures, similar to crypts, which they are named after. The indigenous ones crop up all across the Southeast, appearing along the Atlantic coast from Virginia to Florida; around the Gulf and to the lower Mississippi Valley; and as far north as the Ohio Valley and westward till at least Oklahoma. They were used for mortuary services, usually cremation. Typically, they were burned down with body, despite the effort it took to construct them. In virtually all cases, they were aligned with the moon. 

The association of the moon in several Mound building civilizations will be of interest when we get into the next installment in this series. But, in brief: Among those tribes from this region, a belief existed that the Otherworld was a mirror image of our own. An identical twin even, but in reverse. Thus, while the sun is the primary life-giving body in this world, the moon would take on that function in the Other. 

Unsurprisingly, Hopewell magicians employed tools similar to their European counterparts. Their remains are commonly found with a thin sheet or two of mica. In sheet form, this mineral provides a naturally occurring reflective surface. A mirror, in other words. The prevalence of the mica sheets among the Hopewell remains led William Romain to conclude that they were used to access the Otherworld, in much the same way European magicians employed mirrors for the purposes of scrying. This is the basis for the fortune teller's crystal ball trope and it would seem the Hopewell had their own variation. 

a Hopewell mica sheet

There is also ample evidence the Hopewell ventured into altered states of consciousness via entheogens as part of their rituals. Their shamans possessed magical wands that in some cases were in the shape of Amanita mushroom, one of the psychedelic variety. Mound City appears to have an entire effigy modeled upon the caps of the Amanita.

Nor is evidence of altered states limited to the mushroom effigies. Ceremonial pipes are a common feature of Hopewell earthworks as well. A particular type of tobacco, Nicotiana rustic, was smoked in these pipes. This tobacco is much stronger than what is used for modern cigarettes. The nicotine content can be up to five times higher. There are indications that excessive use of Nicotiana rustic can induce altered states. 

So, these sits may have constituted a proverbial witches brew of astronomy, magic mirrors, and psychedelics. But, to what purpose? If you happened to catch my interview with Fortan researcher Joshua Cutchins, we made a very compelling case for these set-ups constituting a kind of astral magick. 

Another interesting aspect of the Great Serpent Mound is its presence atop a hill/plateau. There's a trail that leads down to a creek that runs alongside the plateau. It's a strangely beautiful area. I was unaware that I was in a crater left by a meteorite at the time, which makes the landscape all the more remarkable. 

It was a magical day on any number of levels, but nothing better personified that than the fairy ring we noted on the way up to Serpent Mound. It was located just a mile or so from the Serpent Mound, and was across the street from a farmhouse with a small effigy mound in its front yard. Inevitably, we stopped for a closer look on the way back. For me, this was especially striking, given the remarkable fairy garden in Milwaukee a few days earlier. Much like the Mounds, the fey seemingly turned into an unintended traveling companion of mine for these journeys. 

From there, we made our way back to Cincinnati. Along the way, we stopped in the suburb of Fairfield, OH, so that we could partake of an entirely different effigy, one firmly rooted in American consumerism: Jungle Jim's International Market. While nominally a grocery store, the place has more the feel of Ripley's Believe It or Not. "Theme park" is a common description used, and not unjustly, considering the bizarre statues, music and animatronics on display. This isn't to say groceries are neglected --in fact, it may have the most impressive international selection I've ever seen. It's probably the size of a Cosco's or two --the international section mind you, not the entire store. But regardless of how one choses to classify it, the combination of ambition and kitsch is as quintessentially American as it gets.

As I noted at the beginning, we had planned to wrap the day up at Spring Grove Cemetery for Walpurgis Night. After being denied entry, we made our way to Eden Park. While not quite Spring Grove, it was a nonetheless satisfactory conclusion to the day. As should come as little surprise at this point, the park is littered with a host of strange structures. 

Not entirely sure on this one....

Easily the most notorious is the replica of the Capitoline Wolf Statue. Mussolini commissioned the statue and gifted it to Cincinnati in 1931. It's certainly apt for the most Roman of American cities. It depicts the she-wolf that suckled Romulus and Remus, the mythological twins believed to have founded ancient Rome. It certainly occupies a choice place in Cincinnati, overlooking the Ohio River and the city proper. Of course, my companions and I couldn't resist having a bit of fun with it. 

The most striking thing we encountered was the "Eden Park Standpipe." As you can see, this structure is more in keeping with a Gothic tower than a conventional standpipe. This thing was eerie and even featured a bat or two that had taken of residency. They fit in well with the standpipe's gargoyles. The bats threatened to descend upon us at a few points, but an uneasy truce was maintained. 

I couldn't help but be reminded of the final incarnation of Phillip Jeffries while standing in the presence of the standpipe. The structure apparently now services as a "communications facility" for the city of Cincinnati. Predictably, there's virtually nothing online about what this consists of. 

And so concluded day two in Cincinnati. After being denied the Spring Grove Cemetery for Walpurgis, it was at the top of the list for Beltane. Not only did we get to spend several hours at the graveyard on that Sunday, but we had some unexpected adventures in Covington, KY. It was there that I was once again struck by the hidden side of America, the one hinted at by strange monuments, their locations and the other curiosities. But it's certainly an America the likes of Michael Bertiaux and the Bate Cabal are familiar with. I'll explore these things and more in the final installment of this series. Until then, stay tuned dear readers.