Out From Beneath Swinging Chandeliers

"The Romans read places like faces, as outward revelations of inner living spirit.  Each place (like each person) had its individual Genius - which might manifest itself, on occasion, as a snake."

The Poetics of Gardens by Charles W. Moore, William J. Mitchell and William Turnbull

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I have taken to reading places during the last few years and find myself usually reading alone.  It does not seem to be a Western value to "read places" to find its "inner living spirit."  So I am heartened to know that my "reading" of places is not indicative of a loose screw, rather participation in a tradition that dates back to the Roman Empire.  Most friends dismissively flip that rational Western hand and pronounce that they do not "be-lieve" in that kind of stuff.

Still, how does one explain perfectly still chandeliers in a nave except for one lurching, swinging (first clockwise, then counter-clockwise)?

How can we understand how a place grips and exerts energy on the soul?  What are the energies there, and how do we find words, much less appropriate responses, to the energies of individual Genius that claw or stroke our emotions, influence our thinking and alternately leave us be and take us over?  How do we define these energies and determine whether they are friend or foe, out to nourish or destroy us?  How many of us know the disguises of evil?  Is the only way to be delivered from evil to walk through hell?

I don't care what Western hand flips in my face.  I know the power of place, both good and evil, so I approach places with caution these days. I watch where I go because I do not only think - I know - that demons dwell in places of beauty, and knowing this keeps me from sitting beneath swinging chandeliers.

Are there any swinging chandeliers over your head?  Have you been seduced lately?