A recent article on this website reported on a scandalous ‘artwork’ being exhibited at Sacred Heart Cathedral, Bendigo. Despite the statue’s creator publicly and explicitly explaining that the inspiration for his work was witchcraft, tarot cards and occult philosophy, the Bishop responsible for the Cathedral refused to have the image removed.
Massive pushback from the laity and other clergymen in the form of letters, phone-calls, emails and petitions did not have the desired effect as Bishop Shane Mackinlay and his Diocesan bureaucrats confirmed that the idol would remain in the Cathedral for the duration of the exhibition: an entire three months.
The occult-inspired art work in Bendigo Cathedral
However, at some point during the past week, three unknown individuals decided to take matters into their own hands and quietly removed the disgusting image from Sacred Heart. A picture circulating on social media shows the spot where the idol had formerly been placed; its clay foundation, its sheer covering and the information stand remain.
The former site of the hideous idol inside the Cathedral.
The artist, Ben Wrigley, confirmed the theft on his Instagram page (while also showing his ignorance of the Commandments – the directive not to steal is Commandment number 7.)
Transcendence Wand #4 was reported to me this afternoon as having been stolen from inside the Sacred Heart Cathedral, Bendigo, today by three men.
This work depicts the transcendence of being bound by the dense material world. Of the lightness of being. The veil symbolises the gossamer thing significance of moving from the gross self to illuminated being and becoming closer to god. One of five interconnected works representing five stations of life. L The significance of the transgression of these three men is palpable. The eighth commandment – thou shall not steal and from a place of worship. I look forward to having it returned.
To date, there has been no official statement from either Bishop Mackinlay or the Diocese of Sandhurst regarding the idol’s removal.
It is gratifying to know that there are still men within our ranks of the calibre of Saint Boniface who will refuse to allow holy places to be defiled by pagan images. Our prayers this week should include some for the vigilantes’ protection and well as for the conversion of Bishop Mackinlay to the Catholic faith.
UPDATE: a petition to have this idol removed from Bendigo Cathedral can be found here. Please sign it and share!
An art installation based on tarot cards and witch’s wands is currently on display in a Catholic Cathedral in country Victoria. It comprises a hideous figure reminiscent of a Buddhist idol, covered with a sheer cloth and sprouting five ‘flames’ which seemingly mock the Five Wounds of Christ.
The bizarre idol inside the Cathedral
A Pagan Pilgrimage
Artist, Ben Wrigley, designed the artwork as part of his pagan ‘pilgrimage’ around the town of Bendigo. Participants are encouraged to visit five stations where his art is installed and there to meditate on five points in human life: conception at LaTrobe University (‘amoeba’); birth at St. John of God hospital (‘matter becoming’); adulthood/consumerism at the Old Church on the Hill (‘bowl of plenty’); death at a cemetery (‘river of tears’); and the next life at Sacred Heart Cathedral. This final station is designated ‘transcendence’ and will, as the artist states ” ….resonate within the sacred space, embodying the tension between the earthly materiality and the spiritual.”
Each of the pilgrimage sites hosts an artwork which is meant to embody a milestone of human existence and all of the pieces are made from the same 100-year-old pine tree. Trees are of great significance in the esoteric world, with the pine among those particularly valued since the occult version of Our Lord – the ‘Saviour-God’ or ‘World Martyr’ – is worshipped under the appearance of the pine.
Linked to Tarot Cards
The name of the pilgrimage is ‘The Wands,’ which is a reference to tarot cards: wands correspond to the suit of clubs, cups to the suit of hearts, swords to spades and coins to diamonds.
The pilgrimage is a said to be a metaphor for one particular card, the Five of Wands. According to tarot practitioners, the Five of Wands represents conflict among different groups who disagree; each person represents a different tribe or group. Some tarot traditions interpret the conflict as being good-natured and even merely ‘for show.’
A traditional Five Wands tarot card.
A more modern representation of the Five Wands card.
The Cathedral Installation
Inside the Cathedral, there is an information panel to explain the artist’s rationale for creating the idol. In his words, it represents an ‘enlightened one’ who appeared to him in a dream and who is so resplendent that it needs to be covered.
We are born into matter. dense and needy, hungry. While there is much to be enjoyed, and loved and cherished, there is much pain and suffering; and to practise being ‘held in the hand of God’, to have faith, we can find incremental enlightening along the way. To transcend, to ascent, we can experience being lighter.
This work, Transcendence, is representative of achieving, of becoming fully enlightened beings. Very few achieve this state and to look upon them is too much for one’s mind, our dense selves, hence they are veiled, ethereal. This veil also represents the gossamer thin line between ignorance and understanding. One hand up and one hand down, as above and so below, or ‘as it is in heaven so it is on earth.’ The mound they float above is the matter of which we are born. “We are made of clay”, says John O’Donoghue1, and the lotus has its roots in the mud and our ascension is up, towards enlightened.
We are of the earth, we are made of earth, the earth is us.
This image of ‘Transcendence’ came to me as a vision in a nocturnal dream, replete with flames and colour. Concave feminine and convex masculine. Unlike the other four wands, Transcendence is figurative and detailed. I have been faithful to the image I received, for this is the work, to be present to the gifts and trust, the Great Mystery, to God.
The information panel inside Sacred Heart cathedral.
The idol has similarities with Baphomet, as it exhibits both male and female characteristics (“Concave feminine and convex masculine”), and its hands are positioned in the familiar ‘as above, so below’ gestures.
In his explanation, Wrigley also references “The Great Work” (” … for this is the work…”) which is perhaps the key to his entire exhibition. In the esoteric world, the ‘Great Work’ is to discover one’s destiny and to achieve unity with the infinite. The tools employed in doing this work include meditation, Western ceremonial magic, Hermetic Qabalah, yoga and tarot. Collectively, these tools are known as ‘magick.’ Aleister Crowley described the Great Work as “the uniting of opposites …. the uniting of the soul with God, of the microcosm with the macrocosm, of the female with the male, of the ego with the non-ego.”
The idol in Bendigo’s Cathedral clearly illustrates the principles of the Great Work. Its hand gestures and androgyny exemplify the uniting of opposites – not to mention the attempt to unite Catholicism with diabolical mysticism – while, as an ‘enlightened one’, the statue represents unity with the divine. The ‘Third Eye’ symbol on the idol’s brow is a further indication of achieving union with the infinite, thus providing an initiate access to hidden knowledge.
A close-up of the idol’s face taken from the Wands’ website. The sexual overtones in the ‘Third Eye’ symbol are quite clear.
All of this should have been enough to alert the Diocese of Sandhurst, in which the Cathedral is situated, to the diabolical nature of the art installation. Yet, Shane McKinley, Bishop of Sandhurst, claims to have been unaware of the artwork’s occult themes until parishioners pointed out a reference to witchcraft on the official website of the Five Wands pilgrimage.
When describing Ben Wrigley’s use of the fallen pine-tree, the website originally included this statement: His work began with a fallen 100-year-old pine tree, which he saw as a living, breathing entity much like the divination tools used by witches and warlocks who traditionally craft their wands from live trees with the tree’s permission.
The words in bold have now been removed from the Wands website. Bishop McKinley acknowledges the witchcraft reference in the standard response his Diocese is emailing to concerned Catholics. He writes:
” ….the wording that promoted these concerns was not included in the information provided to the Diocese prior to the artwork’s installation and is not part of the signage accompanying the artwork itself. The wording was only present on the website of the overall project. In order to avoid any further confusion or concern about the artwork’s inspiration, the artist has now removed this wording from the website….”
If the good Bishop thinks that by removing a few words he can change the nature of the sacrilegious display in his Cathedral, then he is severely deluded. The very look of the idol itself is enough to alert the most casual Catholic observer as to its unsuitability for a Catholic church.
The late John O’Donoghue was an ex-Catholic priest and New Age writer. ↩︎
Ecclesiastical Freemasonry 