On the western facade of the building, stonemasons have sculpted numerous scenes that seem oddly out of place for a Cathedral. The most striking one is the chilling depiction of the destruction of New York city and its landmarks.The scene above was done in 1997, four years before the destruction of the Twin Towers. Other recognizable skyscrapers are the Chrysler Building and the Citigroup center.

So, what is the purpose of this weird carving? Well, the first thing that needs to be mentioned is the actual St. John the Divine is credited for writing the Book of Revelation in the Bible, which describes in symbolic imagery the events of the apocalypse. Occultists believe that the Book of Revelation has been hermetically coded to reveal its true meaning to the initiates of esoteric teachings. This scene, carved on the west entrance of the cathedral, depicts New York as being ”Babylon the Great”, the city who gets completely destroyed by the wrath of God. The artists might be on to something because there is indeed numerous similarities between the actual New York city and the description of Babylon the Great in the Bible.

This sculpture, which basically symbolizes the struggle between Good and Evil, features numerous elements we can find in paganism: Sun worship, mythical creatures and sun versus moon duality. Called “Fountain of Peace”, the sculpture borrows the fantastic, bizarre and distorted art style of the Grotesque. All sorts of animal creatures are emerging from a smiling sun, which represents the basic paradigm of Sun Worship (the Sun as giver of life). The idol points to the east, an ancient pagan tradition. There is also weird stuff on the sculpture like a DNA symbol (a DNA symbol also appears at the entrance of the Cathedral). We all know how genetic modification is as Christian as it gets. We can also find a quote of John Lennon saying “…one day the world will live as one”.

Every year, at Halloween, St. John the Divine is the host of a strange event called “The Grand Procession of the Ghouls”. It is basically a parade taking place right inside the sanctuary of the Cathedral where people dressed in costumes of demons, ghouls, monsters and other creepy things, walk around to macabre organ music. This thing resembles the strange rituals held behind closed doors by occult groups. Outside of the great number of costumes representing demons and Satan (already extremely bizarre for a Cathedral), some costumes seem to make a mockery out of Christianity.

Another bizarre ritual is the Blessing of the Animals that takes place in September of every year. You have a bunch of animals INSIDE and outside the sanctuary of the Cathedral “worshiping God” (in their words). Since when do animals read the Bible and such? They never did.