Ida Craddock was born there, Madame Blavatsky lived there, it’s famed Art Museum (wid de Rocky steps, THAT one) was founded on the collections of Charles Leland who also published the Gospel of The Witches as the Wiccan Revival was getting underway… Philadelphia has a lot of lovely occultural touchstones to brag about. One of the lesser known features lies out in teh ‘burbs — Bryn Athyn with its cathedral dedicated to the religion instituted by mystic visionary Emmanuel Swedenborg (Crowley was a fan). The cathedral is an an aesthetic marval with many puzzling features: if you look closely you’ll note that there is no exact symmetry in its design and decoration; it’s huge peaked roof is made of mennel, a heavy lead/nickel alloy which is what tools used in submarines are made out of — because they don’t spark when dropped, or conduct electricity – a strange choice for a roof. And a short walk away is the Glencairn Museum, the former home of the Pitcairn family who built the cathedral. Done in the style of a mediaeval castle its rooms include displays including a scale model of the Jewish temple when it was still a mobile set up used by a nomadic people, before a permanent stone edifice was built in Jerusalem as well as ancient religious artifacts from around the world as the home was outfitted at the peak of the plunder-archaeology craze. Cool, weird stuff. Read about it here:
Thanks to Soror Amy for the tip!
