Red is the New Orange

New York Fashion Week created an interesting tableau this week:

"The annual event kicked off Friday in the red, with a bevy of actresses and other celebrities wearing the color as part of the "Red Dress" Campaign, to alert women to the dangers of heart disease." --China View

The Cardinal Scarlet Women of stage and screen surround the "first lady" (Eve, Mary, Isis?) in virginal white. There's something oddly Catholic about it, especially since the Pope is always in a white dress - always ready for the weddin'. Fish on Friday? Unlike Charlie the tuna, this Dagon doesn't have the best taste.

Heading towards Valentine's Day, red hearts and flowers naturally abound. El Corazon is as Catholic as it gets. According to doctrine, the symbol of the heart (Sacred Heart) began when Saint Margaret Marie Alacoque had a vision in the late 17th century. She saw a heart shape surrounded by a crown of thorns.

There is evidence the symbol is far older. The Egyptian ab, or "heart soul", bears a remarkable resemblance to the stained glass Christian iconography. The ab (one of seven Egyptian souls) came directly from the mother's heart, in the form of holy lunar blood and would descend to the womb and take the shape of her child.

Older still, the association of romantic love with the heart shape may rest in the now extinct Silphium of Africa - the ancient birth control pill. Irony, anyone?

According to the media Oracle, The Heart of the Ocean is a jewel of great price, cast into the sea as the Titanic was cast into the abyss. The sea and the abyss (the pit), are synonyms, so perhaps the heart-shaped gem and whatever Titanic force the ocean liner represents are as well.

"Raise the Titanic" (1976) launched the career of Clive Cussler - the Spielberg of pulp fiction and beltway apologist.

In 1912, the RMS Titanic went to the bottom of the North Atlantic in one of history's most infamous maritime disasters. Seventy-five years later, it is discovered that Titanic's hold contains a shipment of a rare mineral, the only available supply in the world large enough to power a top-secret and vital United States defense program. When no method can be found of extracting the mineral under more than 12,000 feet of water, Pitt and his crew set out to do the impossible: raise the Titanic.

It would appear that this "vital" mineral/gem has "risen indeed". It reminds me of another rising - that of Atlantis. Is the great ocean liner a symbol for the lost continent? No doubt.

Isis of Mars

According to Britney of the Spears (another mighty media "heroine" prominently featured this week, who has fallen, but may yet 'rise again') The Heart of the Ocean was discovered by an American earthling, but delivered safely back to Britannia, AKA the Red Planet. Ladies in red, indeed.

The Martian Mermaid