Lady Liberty: The Sovereignty Goddess of the USA Part 2

If anything went wrong - famine, drought, bad weather, constant attempts by erstwhile conquerors - then it was understood that Sovereignty wasn't happy. For thousands of years, that resulted in the husband of the land, Sovereignty's human consort and the chieftain of his people, being sacrificed to appease Her.

There's much debate about this, but it's thought that human sacrifices were being made to Sovereignty as late as the 6th century CE. Remains of an individual, bearing all the tell-tale hallmarks, were preserved in the Lancashire bogs in Britain. The best theory thus far going is that he was killed to try and stem the tide of the Anglo-Saxon invasion.

The British were ethnically the same people as the Gauls. Sovereignty turns up in the Gallic legends too, not to mention their history.

It's not that Sovereignty demanded blood sacrifice per se, though to the uneducated eye, it may have appeared that way. (I'm looking at you, Rome.) It's that She would only accept the strongest candidate as Her consort.

It was no good passing off an idiotic weakling as a Celtic tribe's new chieftain, just because he happened to be the son of the last one. (Or indeed nephew, as the succession went through the sister's line for some Celts, on the basis that this one DEFINITELY had royal blood. Not all queens were entirely honest about who'd fathered her off-spring.)

The Goddess of Sovereignty would have considered it an insult to Herself and nature itself, if She wasn't paired with the best that the tribe had to offer as husband of the land. Even if that was someone with otherwise low social status.

An inordinate amount of Celtic legends concern themselves with the sons of pig-farmers, poor widows in woods or other such unlikely candidates suddenly rising to chieftain. In every one of those stories, the Goddess Sovereignty appeared in some guise to make it happen.

Plus it effectively made Sovereignty a widow. Hence She was free for another candidate to try his hand at divine husbandry.

This was a worst case scenario. Previously the tribe - and absolutely without question its threatened king! - would have tried other sacrifices. Food, tools, weapons or jewels were the first to be offered to Her, thrown into sacred wells, pools, rivers or streams - which is the origin of us chucking pennies into lucky fountains now.

Perhaps animals too, but only because they were otherwise food and/or useful to have around for working purposes. Unless they were pigs or horses, which were sacred to Sovereignty, hence often sent so their spirits could delight Her with their company.

Sacrifice to the Goddess of the Land is still bubbling under the surface of the Celtic mindset. As late as the 20th century kegs of butter were left in a pool, in the midst of an Irish bog, which had been sacred to the local Sovereignty since the Bronze Age. It was found by 21st century archaeologists, as they dug down to uncover the more ancient artifacts.

But if all else failed, then the chieftain got it.

Number two - the ritual killing of a messenger. If the tribe actually REALLY wanted to keep their chieftain, then a proxy could be sent. This one was supposed to volunteer for the job, as the point was for him, or her, to find the Goddess of Sovereignty in spirit form, then argue the case for the defense face to face.

It's theorized that the man found in Lancashire was this, though there's no way to be sure.

Of course, the human sacrifice element was the aspect of Sovereignty which the Romans encountered most often. They were invading Gallic lands at the time, and its people were desperate to appease their Lady before She fully turned Her back upon them.

The important concept here is that Sovereignty stood judgment over those who sought to live upon Her land. If She approved, then they were in. If She didn't, then they might as well give up now.

Otherwise the terrain itself might destroy them (as in the case of a Scottish king, who rode through a storm and had the cliff-top road crumble away, sending him plummeting to his death), or crops would fail (even during the Irish Famine, offerings of food were left in that same Irish bog mentioned above), or the climate would be against them, or Sovereignty as Goddess of War would ride with a rival contender to rule.

She patently didn't support the Welsh chieftain Cynan Gwynedd.

In 812, his fortress of Degannwy was struck by lightning and mostly destroyed. He didn't take the hint. In 813, he lost a territorial battle against his rival Hywel. But still didn't give up his title and get out, instead he retreated to Mona - part of Gwynedd - and held out there. In 814, there were a series of violent thunder storms, which caused fires throughout Cynan's retained realm. In 816, Hywel invaded Mona, destroyed most of those loyal to their king, and Cynan was killed too.

You may read that all as being nothing to do with Sovereignty. Cynan Gwynedd was merely unlucky enough to live during a period of climate unrest, alongside a hostile, stronger neighboring state. But I can assure you that the contemporary Welsh wouldn't have seen it like that.

Sovereignty chose Her side, and that decision was final, unless She changed Her mind. All humanity could do was abide by it.

Hence the memory of Sovereignty that survived to become the Libertas of the French Revolution incorporated that. She personified a people, throwing off rulers not because they displeased Her personally or weren't the best candidates for the job, but because She supported the masses.

This was the Gallic heritage of the French, filtered through layers of Roman, Germanic and Frankish thinking, which was eventually transported to the USA all wrapped up in the Statue of Liberty.

Though the concept of Liberty as a Goddess, performing a role not unlike Sovereignty, wasn't unknown there either, as this 1850 newspaper cartoon aptly demonstrates.

Their nation had been founded by Britons and, when Liberty arrived, it was within a generation from receiving a huge influx of Irish. The north and a swathe through the center of the USA was populated by descendants of French immigrants.

All three cultures carried with them the old Celtic memory of a Goddess of Sovereignty.

Since 1738, that had been Columbia for America. She still exists in occasional patriotic references, though Her presence became utterly dwarfed by Liberty until She entered near oblivion in modern US culture. Except those who attend the theaters, where Columbia is forever enshrined as the mascot of Columbia Pictures.

She shared many attributes with the Celtic Sovereignty (mostly because She WAS the Celtic Sovereignty), including Her battling nature in defending Her land and people from invaders. As this 1776 Revolutionary War era verse describes:

One century scarce perform'd its destined round,
When Gallic powers Columbia's fury found;
And so may you, whoever dares disgrace
The land of freedom's heaven-defended race!
Fix'd are the eyes of nations on the scales,
For in their hopes Columbia's arm prevails.
- Phillis Wheatley

While also standing alongside the country's rulers, as shown by the fact that the Goddess of Freedom statue atop the United States Capitol Building is, in fact, Columbia. To put it another way, Congress meets, judges, legislates and decides the Fate of the nation beneath Her skirts.

The USA may be 'one nation under God', but what its center of power is really under is Sovereignty.

Lady Liberty, washed in green and pounded daily by the ocean waves, holds aloft Her fiery torch. 

Ellis Island nestles in Her view, once the gateway into the USA for its hopeful immigrants. For those 'huddled masses' approaching, Liberty's appearance on the horizon marked the place they were to land, and confirmation that they had reached their destination.

To all intents and purposes, the Green Lady WAS America, representing hope for their future. The spark of a new life lay ready to ignite now they were in Her presence; a promise nurtured in dreams, now made tangible by Liberty lighting the way.

They could taste it! This tantalizing union of potential citizen and land, subject only to finding favor with the latter. People whose desire to be deemed worthy now inflamed them in a burning passion, pouring all they were and all they wished be into desperate prayers and determination to impress. Sovereign officials, inside the halls of Ellis Island, presided over extensive examinations of each and every candidate wishing to remain.

Some suitors would gain approval to enter the mainland and lay down roots. Wedded to this nation now, futures entwined, a mutual commitment signed and sealed in tests, paperwork and passport. Those enjoined would press beyond the borders, continuing deep inside the Green Lady's gateway, cherishing plans to cultivate every opportunity on offer in their own country. In return, they would contribute to the prosperity of their land.

As they passed beneath, the Statue of Liberty must have appeared to be smiling, Her promise of a new life, flourishing in Her light, all fulfilled and prime with new potential.

Some would fail the challenges of Ellis Island. Sovereign judges ensured their separation from the land. Close enough to see, but not to touch and never to share in Liberty's delights. No longer their mother, bride or erstwhile protectoress, Her aspect seen through a broken heart is nothing but a towering heap of copper, wind grimy and frozen lifeless by the sea. No hope in static metal flames; all pretense long since drenched by waves.

From the ship taking them back to the old, rejected country, a fixed glare upwards exposes a final truth. The only power retained by Libertas is the freedom to look away.

The day I enlightened the forum about Liberty was totally in the spirit of all that. I'd discovered that the statue was indeed a representation of the Goddess Libertas. I wanted to know more.

My scholarly trip through books and search engines uncovered a disturbing array of mythology and history. She was the Goddess of Sovereignty, that much I understood already, but She was that Lady in Her most dread aspect.

Liberty rarely comes softly. Tyrannies don't dismantle themselves for the asking; tyrants are loathe to give up power. Chains do not disintegrate because the enslaved wake up one morning and decide to be free. Dictatorships are dissolved as ashes, falling in the inferno of protest, riot and all out revolution. Battle-lines and blood mark the way.

Liberty is Sovereignty won in the heat of war. She is not the Goddess to be hailed in a peaceful succession. Her province never yelled, 'The King is dead, God save the King!' She is there for the huddled masses breaking free, not the crowned heads keeping their thrones.

As I posted to the forum, it's the equivalent of raising Morrighan over Dublin, invoking Her always instead of Éireann. The Celts understood. The rest needed a little more spelling out of the details.

Even the most ardent Pagan would never claim that a 151 feet copper figurine of Lady Liberty caused 9/11. It would not only be monumentally stupid and potentially dangerous, but spiritually short-sighted too.

Pagan statues do not kill people. Hijackers in airplanes do that.

What a Pagan will tell you - and I did with excruciating timing - is that Libertas governs Liberty and Freedom, and that usually arrives hard won in rivers of blood.

The Statue of Liberty was erected to mark 100 years since the United States of America was forged from the sacrifice and carnage of the American War of Independence. The British did not hand over their colony on a plate. Over 61,000 people were killed, and thousands more wounded, before the Revolutionary War ended in liberty and the USA.

Libertas was the perfect choice of deity to signify all of that.

Whatever we may think of the tactics employed by those flying planes into the World Trade Center, they personally considered themselves freedom fighters. It was again utterly - and horrifically - in-keeping with Her general theme.

However, Libertas - as Sovereignty - only gives Her favor to those who succeed. Or, to put it another way, we can discern the recipient of Her support by seeing who was the victor. Who won on 9/11? Whom does Libertas serve, and in turn who serves Libertas?

What she wrote pertained to Liberty as Sovereignty of the USA, not to mention Her statue's location overlooking Manhattan. It was a direct challenge towards the US leadership too.

Though not in the sense of marching in at the head of an army with a view to usurp the position, nevertheless it represented a kind of throwing down the gauntlet. She'd etched into the framework the code AE911.

If she'd been successful, then the resultant publicity could well have toppled the US administration. Sovereignty's support would have ensured that enough Americans became curious enough about the code to investigate it further, then been convinced by what they discovered when they got there.

The electorate furor may have forced a change of government by impeaching its president.

That's how it should have played out, in a classic Sovereignty situation. So how well did it work?  Did Lady Liberty extend Her favor? It's too soon to tell.

The woman was instantly arrested and the inscription removed by an art restorer within two hours. Her petition to Liberty, as Sovereign Goddess of the USA, was delivered and gone. But her actions did create global headlines because she'd used the medium of Liberty. No-one would have written a thing about it, if she'd scribbled AE911 on a lamp-post.

Moreover, the fact that it happened means that people keep on writing about it, like I am right here and like countless others have across the internet.

Because it's Liberty. Because it's the Sovereignty of the USA. And because AE911 represents an internationally known topic, where feelings run high and theorists across the board are ten a penny.

The unknown vandal may not have toppled a government (which anyway has changed since 2001), but it did serve to highlight once again a major flaw in the US leadership. Regardless of what anyone believes happened on 9/11, very few would argue that it's inconceivable for an official word to be untrustworthy.

Governments lie. Whether the US administration did (and continue to have) on this occasion is another matter entirely. However Liberty as Sovereignty played a hand in underscoring once more that it's not only possible, but plenty of people accept as standard fact their rulers' economy with the truth.

And it's precisely those kinds of flaws which the Goddess of Sovereignty has always sought to expose, criticize and pressure Her consort to eliminate. Liberty is just doing Her job.

In this context, it's a fun fact to note that the Watergate burglars were arrested on June 17th 1972, the 87th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty arriving in the USA. That's surely a coincidence, but what wasn't is how the US Sovereignty was used in the aftermath.

Protesters searching for a resolution to the scandal wore pin badges depicting Liberty alongside the legend, 'Clean It Up! Watergate'. Like the vandal at the Louvre, they were challenging the ruler by invoking an image of its Sovereign Goddess.

It was successful, as the Nixon administration was toppled by the Watergate scandal.

In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson traveled to Liberty Island with an important document in his hand.

It was the Immigration and Nationality Act, which would open the gates of America to those previously subject to restrictive quotas. Those included Africans, Asians, Latinos and other individuals whom bigots considered 'undesirable'.

Passing into law at the height of the Civil Rights struggles, the Act was widely viewed as highly controversial. To some it was an utter travesty, if only because it allowed more 'people of color' into the United States as prospective citizens.

President Johnson signed it, amid the flashes and glare of hundreds of press cameras, at the foot of the Statue of Liberty.

There were plenty of historic and symbolic reasons for doing this, not least that Ellis Island was just over the water. Perhaps the biggest of all was that it facilitated dozens of pictures taken of the Act being signed in front of the famous plaque bearing Emma Lazarus's poem The New Colossus. With its reference to the USA as a safe haven for the 'huddled masses', it invoked a much more kindly view of US immigration policy than that currently being raged within those same newspapers' editorials and letters columns.

But he could have just quoted that in his speech. It would have been reported, even if he'd said it in a press conference at the White House.

From a Sovereignty point of view, President Johnson was acting much more symbolically than that. He was telling his detractors loud and clear that he had Liberty on side. She was right behind him (literally) and he was their right and proper leader, making correct decisions.

Nor was he unaware of the risks.

Johnson's predecessor, President John F. Kennedy, had presided over many equally controversial bills, and he'd been assassinated for it. (Presumably. No motive has ever been established for that beyond a vague 'Lee Harvey Oswald hated America' conclusion by the Warren Commission.) Now Johnson was signing his own unpopular Act into law.

Whether the American people trusted Johnson or not, they could have faith in Liberty. Her presence projected a kind of trustworthiness onto the document too. It made supporting it seem All American, even as it facilitated a major change in the demographic of its people.

But Sovereignty had judged that those people should be allowed to settle upon Her land, so they were. Sovereignty's decision is final.

Regardless of this very specific divine role, Liberty is a Pagan Goddess.  That was understood before She was brought to the United States. Church leaders petitioned against Her statue being allowed on US soil.

In all that I've argued above, I would like to make one thing quite clear to finish. Liberty, to my mind, is performing the role of a Celtic-style Sovereignty Goddess, but only because that is the position into which She was thrust. I don't think She started out like that.

In fact, I know it, because I've already traced back to who Liberty really is. The third and final part of this trilogy will follow and reveal all.