We are all familiar with the classic fairy tale. Once upon a time... and they lived happily ever after. But what is a fairy tale? Essentially, it often contains a tale of a fairy or nymph. "One belief held that fairies were spirits of the dead. This derived from many factors in common of various folklore and myths: same or similar tales of both ghosts and fairies". A nymph, in fact, is defined as "one of a numerous class of lesser deities of mythology, conceived of as beautiful maidens inhabiting the sea, rivers, woods, trees, mountains, meadows, etc., and frequently mentioned as attending a superior deity; a beautiful or graceful young woman; a maiden; the young of an insect that undergoes incomplete metamorphosis."
Related Words for nymph are "fairy, spirit, goddess, sprite, naiad, nymphet, sylph, dryad, mermaid". "Folklorists and mythologists have variously depicted fairies as: the unworthy dead, the children of Eve, a kind of demon, a species independent of humans, an older race of humans, and fallen angels." **
In fairy tales, in general, a maid or maiden nymph with supernatural help of nature elementals (fairies, godmothers, birds, etc) can resurrect or change into a queen, princess or goddess also symbolized in games of royalty like chess etc. It's the worship of the (wiccan) goddess in the form of nature, typically the Earth and moon. In wicca, the Earth goddess is Persephone/Kore/Circe/Demeter. The moon goddess is Diana and Isis. Awaking from death or sleep, rising from ashes cinder-ella the ash goddess is the phoenix symbol of royalty and Lucifer, Venus, the fallen god/goddess who the Illumnists hope will once again rise and sit on the throne. **
It is important as you watch the Disney adaptations of fairy tales in the form of movies to pay close attention to the names of the earth and moon goddesses the princesses represent. The goddess is worshipped as either an Earth mother goddess or as the moon and is usually represented by Ceres/Circe, Persephone, or Demeter. The moon goddess takes three forms: a maiden representing the new moon; a mother representing a crescent moon or a crone representing the full moon at the time of harvest. The moon goddesses were Greek Selene ( Selene, the Greek personification of the moon, and the Roman Diana were also sometimes called Cynthia), Roman Luna or Diana, and the Celtic Cerridwen (Gwen, Wendy). Isis/Venus is also a moon goddess and is worshipped under a variety of different names by the various cultures: Sumerian Inanna, Babylonian Ishtar, Norse Freya, Egyptian Isis, Greek Aphrodite, Roman Venus, Catholic Mary, and even though it may have been due to a mistranslation, the church also identifed Lucifer as Venus. Both Venus and Lucifer are called the Morning Star. Venus is the goddess of love and beauty and also is known for her power over desire and wishes. This can be seen in the famous song, Venus, by Shocking Blue and later remade by the girl group Bananarama: "A goddess on a mountain top was burning like a silver flame.
The summit of beauty and love, and Venus was her name.
She's got it.
Yeah baby, she's got it.
Well, I'm your Venus.
I'm your fire at your desire."
**
The triple aspect of the moon is often shown in movies, the most notable perhaps being The Wizard of Oz. Dorothy is a young maiden and may represent Venus/Lucifer, the fallen star as the song the munchkins sing reveals, "the young lady
who fell from a star, she fell from the sky, she fell very far, And Kansas, she says,
is the name of the star". Glinda, the Good Witch of the East, is a fairy godmother and represents the positive crescent moon. The Wicked Witch of the West is the old evil crone representing the full moon.
The reason the princess is almost always shown as having no real mother, only an evil stepmother is that most the mother goddesses had no parents or they were unknown. For example, Inanna's parents were Enki and an unknown mother. Enki and Enlil were stepbrothers, sons of the god An/Anu. However, Enki's mother is Namma while Enlil's is Ki. Inanna's Roman equivalent, Venus, had no parents and was born of sea foam. Gaia has no parent, no mother. Gaia is a mother earth figure and is sometimes seen as the mother of all the gods. Snow White, Cinderella, Belle and Ariel have no mother. Also, we typically think of God as having no wife so a princess would have no mother, although Osiris and Isis were married and even some archaeologist suggest Yahweh had a consort, Asherah. (Astarte/Inanna/Ishtar/Isis/Aphrodite/Venus).
Disney's first movie was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but before releasing that they produced a fair number of animated shorts. The Snow White movie was based on a character in their animated short The Goddess of Spring from 1934. The character was based on the goddess Persephone and also on a myth involving Freya and four dwarfs. I cover that animated short in the section on Snow White.
Disney also created an animated short in 1932 called Flowers and Trees about the wiccan ritual of the marriage of the May Queen and Green Man. It was the first film to be produced in three-strip Technicolor and the winner of of the first Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. The two main characters in the animated short are trees. The female tree looks like the tree deity, Dryad. Flowers circle around her like a fairy dance around the may pole. She is the May pole, the may queen, Maia or Mary. An old tree comes and tries to abduct the may queen, but the younger male tree intercedes. The young and old tree battle. The young tree prevails. Many tales involve the sacrifice of the king and rebirth. **
The Green Man or Holly King marries the May Queen. The horned deity in Wicca called the Lord is nature and represents both the earth and the sun. The goddess in Wicca is called the Lady and is both earth and the moon. The sun king and moon goddess unite in a sacred marriage symbolic of the eclipse.
Before we can begin to understand the symbolism and meaning behind all the Disney fairy tales involving fair maids and fair maidens, princes and princesses and Kings and Queens and wicked evil step-mothers we need to look at one of the first animated shorts Disney made -- before any full length Disney movies were made.
The animation for the 1937 movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was an extension of an animated short Disney had produced in 1934 called The Goddess of Spring. The Goddess of Spring follows the tale of Persephone who was abducted by the King of the Underworld, Hades, the Devil. She promised to marry him if he allowed her to return to the world every six months of Spring and Summer. She promised to return to Hades every six months. Persephone might be a goddess, but she’s also the daughter of Zeus and thus a princess.
In Walt Disney's Silly Symphony The Goddess of Spring, the gnomes, pixies or dwarfs dance around the may queen who fraternizes with the flowers and animals of nature and sits upon a bountiful harvest. **
The queen is abducted by the King of the Underworld, basically a retelling of the tale of the Sumerian Ereshkigal and Nergal, or Greek Persephone and Hades. Notice the demon in Hades (Hell) playing the organ pipes. The Queen marries the King, but a deal is struck whereby she goes to Earth every year in the Spring, but returns to the Underworld every six months to be with Hades.
The 1937 Disney movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was gound-breaking in many ways for Disney. It was the very first Disney movie. It was the first movie ever with a soundtrack. The movie was based on an animated short Disney had produced called The Goddess of Spring. It also borrowed from a fairy tale. The story is in the “Saga of Olaf Tryggvason” in the Flateyjarbok. In the tale Freya (Venus) , the goddess of love, is the concubine of King Odin. She wanted a golden necklace that four dwarfs had made. They said they would only sell it to her if she agreed to sleep with each of them for a night. She came home afterward with the necklace. So the character Snow White was based on the goddesses Persphone and Freya. **
Snow White followed the script of the classic fairy tale. She was a "fair" "maiden" or maid with "skin white as snow". These references to white and the maiden are in reference to the white moon. [In The Magic Flute, Sarastro's slave, Monostatos, remarks how the skin of the princess is white like the moon.]
"What wouldst thou know, my Queen?" "Magic Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?" "Famed is thy beauty, Majesty. But hold, a lovely maid I see. Rags cannot hide her gentle grace. Alas, she is more fair than thee." "Alas for her! Reveal her name." "Lips red as the rose. Hair black as ebony. Skin white as snow. Snow White!" The mirror is an important aspect of it as a mirror is associated with reflection and thus illusion and dreams. The goddess Aphrodite/Isis held a mirror.
Witches worship the goddess primarily as an earth goddess and moon goddess. As the moon goddess she takes one of three forms related to the phases of the moon. She appears as a young maiden, a mother or an old crone corresponding to the new moon, crescent moon and full moon, respectively. Snow White was forced to work for her evil stepmother as the maid, cleaning, scrubbing and washing. Like in The Goddess of Spring, Snow White had many animal friends who gathered around her constantly. She would sing songs with them and talk with them.
"With a smile and a song all the world seems to waken anew rejoicing with you as the song is sung. There's no use in grumbling when raindrops come tumbling. Remember you're the one who can fill the world with sunshine. When you smile and you sing everything is in tune and it's spring and life flows along with a smile and a song."
Notice how Snow White fulfills the role of both a maiden and a maid, and then eventually that as a mother to the dwarfs. "Maybe they have no mother.
Then they're orphans.
That's too bad.
I know!
We'll clean the house
and surprise them.
Then maybe they'll let me stay.
Now, you wash the dishes.
You tidy up the room.
You clean the fireplace.
And I will use the broom.
Just whistle while you work
and cheerfully together
we can tidy up the place
so hum a merry tune.
It won't take long when there's a song
to help you set the pace
and as you sweep the room,
imagine that the broom
is someone that you love and soon
you'll find you're dancing to the tune."
They hum a merry tune -- or a Mary tune. The Virgin Mary (whose fleece was white as snow) assimilated her attribute from the moon goddess Isis which is why there are so many portraits of the Virgin Mary standing on the crescent moon surrounded by stars. She is the "star of the sea". Mary derives from "mer" and "mar", of the sea. The words mariner and maritime derive from that root. Maid Marian and Mary Poppins are also part of this Marian archetype.
Later, Snow White offers to be their mother. "And if you let me stay, I'll keep house for you. I'll wash and sew and sweep and cook." She starts mothering them. "Supper's not quite ready. You'll just have time to wash."
At first, the seven dwarfs don't know what Snow White is as she was sleeping in their beds when they came home from work. They are afraid she is a monster, a dragon with horns, and keep referring to her as "it". "What's that? That's it. Sounded close. It's in this room right now. It's up there. Yeah. In the bedroom. One of us has gotta go down and chase it up. Up. Down. Here, take it. Don't be nervous. Don't be afraid. We're right behind you. Yes! Right behind ya. Here it comes! It's after us. Don't let it out. Hold it shut. Here it comes. Now's our chance. Get it now! Quick! Give it to it! Don't let it get away! Hold on there. It's only Dopey. Did you see it? How big is it? Was it a dragon? - Has it got horns? Was it breathing fire? Was it droolin'? What was it doin'? He says it's a, a monster asleep in our beds! Let's attack. While it's sleeping. Yeah, while it's sleeping. Hurry, men. It's now or never! Off with its head. Break its bones. Chop it to pieces. We'll kill it dead. Jiminy Crickets! Gosh! Gee! What a monster! It covers three beds. Let's kill it before it wakes up. Which end do we kill? Well, eh, ah... What is it? Why, it... It's a girl!" And then one says "She's beautiful, just like an angel." Are the writers referring to Lucifer as an inside joke here?
Snow White tells them her stepmother the Queen is her mother. They tell her she's wicked and an "old witch". This is the crone aspect of the moon goddess. "My stepmother, the Queen." "The Queen? She's wicked! She's bad! She's mighty mean! She's an old witch!... She knows everything. She's full of black magic. She can even make herself invisible." As the crone she is "full" and can even make herself invisible during a new moon.
Snow White and the seven dwarfs may be a reference to the white dwarf star Sirius (used to be blue) and its dwarf planets. The dwarf miners work in a cave mine where diamonds shine like stars.
Snow lights a candle so she lights up the darkness. In the dwarf's home there are owls on the design of the stairs.
Grumpy Calls the other dwarfs "nanny goats" and "water lilies".
Snow tells a love story of prince charming.
"Some day my prince will come."
The dwarfs go off to work and tell Snow, "Old Queen's a sly one full of witchcraft so beware of strangers." The
Old witch Queen tempts Snow with the apple, tells her its a magic wishing apple where with one bite all dreams come true. This is reminiscent of the temptation of Eve in the garden by the serpent. She bites the poison apple and falls to the spell of death's sleep. The spell can only be reversed by Love's first kiss. The
Prince searches for her and finds her singing "one song".
The Prince kisses her, she awakes, takes her away to his golden castle in the sky, Spring. And they lived happily ever after.
Cynthia (Cindy) is one of the names of the moon goddess. One of Artemis' names was Cynthia from the island upon which she and her brother were born. "Ella" is the feminine form of "el" which means god thus implying Cinderella is a goddess. In fact, it has been said that "ella" means goddess. **
The Disney story of Cinderella is based on a fairy tale named Cendrillon. Cendrillon means "of the ashes" or "little ashes". Means "digging in the ashes" in German.
The tale by the Brothers Grimm was called Aschenputtel. 'Asch' is ashes. 'Puttel' is sort of polishing. So literally it means someone polishing the ashes, meaning cleaning lady. It's an old German word meaning "girl" ... of relatively low status. In Portuguese, the story was known as "Gata Borralheira" (Cinder Kitty) and she was described as "covered in ash". Cinder means a small piece of partly burnt coal or wood that has stopped giving off flames, but still has combustible matter in it; something close to ash. Recent archaeological digs suggest that Asherah (the equivalent of Isis/Venus) was the consort of the Biblical god, Yahweh.
In Cendrillon, Cinderella is named Lucette, the daughter of Pandolfe. Luc means light and "-ette" is a suffix used for the feminine words such as majorette, etc so Lucette is a derivative of Lucifer and means "female light" or "little light".... light or illumination. She is the female appellation or aspect of Lucifer. It's no wonder she had a black cat named Lucifer in the movie. Pandolfe is derivative of Pan. Lucette is always digging up and polishing things from out of the ashes and making them glorious. This very much seems to draw the Phoenix, a heraldic fire bird symbol of the royals, as a source of inspiration. The phoenix rises up out of the ashes, reborn. This is a reference to Lucifer who was a fallen star. At the end Lucette becomes named Cinderella (goddess of the ashes) for she metamorphizes and is reborn from a fair maiden into a glorious Princess.
The movie begins with a song: "Cinderella, you're as lovely as your name.
Cinderella, you're a sunset in a frame.
Though you're dressed in rags you wear an air of queenly grace.
Anyone can see a throne would be your proper place." I am sure the illuminists who made this movie would love to see Lucifer on a throne. No wonder Cinderella has a black cat named Lucifer whom she calls "your highness" and "your majesty".
Like Snow White, Cinderella is another goddess of spring and is singing to the animals. "A dream is a wish your heart makes when you're fast asleep.
In dreams you will lose your heartaches, whatever you wish for you keep.
Have faith in your dreams, someday your rainbow will come smiling through.
No matter how your heart is grieving if you keep on believing
the dream that you wish will come true."
Cinderella says that Lucifer has his good points. "Dreaming again. Chasing Lucifer? Catch him this time? That's bad! Suppose they heard you upstairs? You know the orders... You'd better get rid of those dreams... Just learn to like cats... Lucifer has his good points too."
Ciinderella is not only a fair maiden, but also a maid. Her stepmother keeps her busy cleaning chores. "Clean it! And the windows, upstairs and down. Wash them! and the tapestries, and the draperies. then scrub the terrace. Sweep the halls... and the stairs... clean the chimneys. And there's the mending, and the sewing, and the laundry. Oh, yes, and one more thing. See that Lucifer gets his bath."
Cinderella is singing about the sweet song of the nightingale while she cleans, but Lucifer interrupts her, tracking mud into the house and making a mess. See how cleverly they subconsciously send the message that Lucifer sings a sweet song: "Oh, sing sweet nightingale. Oh, sing sweet. Oh, sing... Oh! Oh, Lucifer! You mean old thing!"
Another example of how she is a protector of animals and vice versa is when her stepmother gives her too many chores so she doesn't have time to finish her dress for the ball, the animals help her out by preparing her dress for her. "Night and day it's Cinderelly, Make the fire. Fix the breakfast. Wash the dishes, do the mopping and sweeping and the dusting. They always keep her hoppin' She go around in circles 'Til she's very, very dizzy still they holler Keep-a busy. Cinderelly's not go to the ball. Work, work, work. She'll never get her dress done, poor Cinderelly. We can do it!"
The dress is ready for Cinderella to go to the ball, but her stepsisters rip it. When all hope seems lost, Cinderella's fairy godmother magically appears. She represents the mother goddess of the growing crescent moon. "What in the world did I do with that magic wand? Then you must be... Your fairy godmother? Of course. First thing you need is a pumpkin. Now the magic words."
In the Disney movie, Cinderella has a black cat named Lucifer who is "sneaky, mean". She says "Lucifer has his good points too, there must be something good about him". She calls Lucy "your highness" and "your majesty". There is a song, a flute playing and she says, "Sing, sweet nightingale... Lucifer!" The word Lucifer is added as the cat surprises her, but see how Disney wove it so that she implied Lucifer is a nightingale that sings a sweet song.
Ella is friends with mice and the protector of animals. The King is looking for a suitable princess and decides to throw a ball. "If all the eligible maidens are there..." Cinderella's fairy godmother helps her get to the ball with magic spells, but the spell will be broken at midnight. The king says, "There must be one to make a suitable Mother, er, wife". Cinderella sings, "I'll touch every star.... "So this is love". At the ball Cinderella dances with the Prince and they fall in love, but at midnight, everything reverts back except glass slippers. She loses a slipper rushing to get back home. The Prince looks for who fits the slipper. The Stepmother locks Ella up, but the dog gets the key from Lucifer. Cinderella escapes and the slipper fits her. And they lived happily ever after.
Sleeping Beauty's name is Aurora which means 'dawn'. In Roman mythology, Aurora renews herself every morning and flies across the sky, announcing the arrival of the sun. This is similar to Venus and Lucifer who are both called the morning star. Lucifer is latin for "light-bearer" or "light-bringer".
Princess Aurora, is known as Sleeping Beauty or Briar Rose. Disney’s Sleeping Beauty is closest to the Grimms’ Little Briar Rose. That story was based on Perrault’s The Sleeping Beauty, which itself was inspired by an Italian story called Sun, Moon, and Talia by Giambattista Basile. In the Basile version, the heroine’s name is Talia. Rosamond means "rose moon" or rose of the world. Sleeping Beauty (Little Briar Rose). Brier or bri·ar[brahy-er], noun, " the white heath, Erica arborea, of France and Corsica, the woody root of which is used for making tobacco pipes; a pipe made of brierroot." Nymphaea alba, also known as the European white water lily, white water rose or white nenuphar, is an aquatic flowering plant of the family Nymphaeaceae. The white nymph = Nymphaea alba. Related Words for nymph: fairy, spirit, goddess, sprite, naiad, nymphet, sylph, dryad, mermaid. **
"The Sleeping Venus, also known as the Dresden Venus, is a painting traditionally attributed to the Italian Renaissance painter Giorgione."
Princess Aurora is named after the dawn, sunshine. There are three good fairies who are like fairy godmothers who bring her three gifts. The evil crone witch Maleficent interrupts and gives the gift of death and curses her by stating she will die by her sixteenth birthday when she pricks her finger. So Briar Rose is given to the three magical fairy godmothers to raise her in the forest until her sixteenth birthday to keep her safe. The fairies vow to raise her without magic so as to not raise suspicion. Briar Rose also sings with the birds in nature. The Prince hears her singing and follows her singing "once upon a dream". Prince: "Voice too beautiful to be real, maybe mysterious being or wood sprite". The Prince follows singing "once upon a dream". Briar Rose tells the animals about the Prince in her dreams. The three fairies are named Flora, Fauna and Merryweather. The Prince is in love, but betrothed already. Maleficent as a green ball leads Briar Rose to the spinning wheel to touch the spindle and prick her finger thus she falls into a death sleep. Only love's first kiss can break the spell. The three fairies put everyone in town asleep until Rose can be awakened. The Prince calls her "Most wondrous fair". He kisses her with love's first kiss, she awakes and is resurrected, rises and is born again like the phoenix. The town wakes up. They marry and they lived happily ever after.
The name of the princess in Beauty and the Beast is Belle. Mother goddess, includes Bellona (Belle). **
The beast is a prince who was turned into a beast by an old hag for not accepting a rose the enchantress offered him. The princess is named Belle, another sleeping beauty. Her name means "beauty". She is the daughter of an inventor. She sings to sheep by a fountain and talks and sings to chickens. So she once again is associated with spring and the protector of animals. She wants more than a provincial life so she is also associated not only with beauty, but with desire.
The Princess and The Frog is an animated Disney film based on the classic fairy tale of the frog turned into a Prince with a kiss by the Princess, Tatiana. "Titania, a name derived from Ovid as an epithet of the Roman goddess Diana."
**
The movie begins with a shot of the night time sky and a star shining brightly. A song about the star is sung: "The evening star is shinin' bright. So make a wish, and hold on tight. There's magic in the air tonight, And anythin' can happen..." The evening star is also known as Venus who was the Greek Aphrodite and Egyptian Isis in mythology. The church equated Venus with Lucifer.
Princess Tatiana takes her father to the window, shows him the evening star and tells him, "If you make a wish on the Evening Star, it's sure to come true."
Her father encourages her, "Well, you wish on that star, sweetheart. Yes. You wish and you dream with all your little heart." **
An evil voodoo witch doctor sorceror has turned Prince Naveen into a frog and taken his place. Tatiana/ Tia dances with the fake prince Naveen and is excited, thinking a marriage proposal will be soon so she thanks the Evening Star: "Thank you, Evening Star! You know, I was starting to think that wishing on stars was just for babies and crazy people. Look at you. Aren't you just as pretty as a magnolia in May?" This is a reference to the princess, the May queen, being a may flower.
"Voodoo? You mean to tell me this all happened because you were messing with the Shadow Man? He was very charismatic. It serves me right for wishing on stars. The only way to get what you want in this world is through hard work."
"My girl? Ho, ho, ho. That's Evangeline. Evangeline? She the most prettiest firefly ever did glow. You know, I talk to Evangeline most every night. She's kind of shy. Don't say much. And I know in my heart someday we are going to be together. Yeah."
Later a firefly named Ray is in love with the light and calls her an angel named Evangeline. He sings, "Look how she lights up the sky, Ma Belle Evangeline. So far above me yet I Know her heart belongs to only me. Je t'adore, Je t'aime Evangeline, You're my queen of the night, So still, So bright. That someone as beautiful as she, Could love someone like me. Love always finds a way it's true! And I love you, Evangeline. Love is beautiful, Love is wonderful! Love is everything, do you agree? Mais oui! Look how she lights up the sky, I love you, Evangeline." They tell him, "Evangeline is nothing but a star."
Just who is this beautiful evening star called the queen of the night that they love and are making wishes to? It is none other than Venus. According to the Dictionary, Venus is the morning star and the evening star. In the Bible, Lucifer is called the morning star. In fact, if you look up the definition of Lucifer you will see it is Venus.
At the end of the movie Ray dies and ascends in the constellations to be next to Venus/Isis/Lucifer in the sky. It is the same image as the second star on the right in Peter Pan that guides them to Neverland. So Venus is also associated with Peter Pan. There is also a star in Pinocchio that they make wishes upon. "When you wish upon a star..." In the book, the puppet was created by invoking the goddess Aphrodite/Isis. **
Another maid or maiden is the mermaid Ariel in the Disney movie The Little Mermaid. "Ariel (Hebrew:translit. Ari'el, Arael or Ariael) is an angel found primarily in Jewish and Christian mysticism and Apocrypha. The literal meaning is 'lion of God'. Thus it is on surprise that Ariel is another name the Gnostics used for the Demiurge or false deity who was depicted as having the head of a lion and body of a serpent. Mer means "of the water". So a mermaid is the "maid of the sea" who is also known as Mary or a variant. An evil sea witch Ursula tempts Ariel into becoming a human so she can be with Prince Eric. She gets Ariel to sign a contract which specifies that the sea witch gets her beautiful voice for eternity in exchange for being human. The Prince asks Ariel if her name is Diana. **
In The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, Ursula's sea witch daughter Morgana temporarily turns Ariel's daughter, Melody, into a mermaid. If she can retrieve King Triton's trident from Atlantica then she can become one permanently.
"All hail, Queen Morgana!" Morgana bribes Triton into signing a contract, making her queen of the sea in exchange for releasing melody from her spell's curse. "I'm the Queen of the Sea. Bow down before me."
When I first wrote this article, I completely forgot all about the movie Selena which chronicles the tragic death of the tejano-pop crossover singer who died at the age of 23. The DVD reads, "A story of a girl who had the spirit to believe in a dream and the courage to make it come true." Netflix later did a series called Selena.
Selene is the greek goddess of the moon and Selena is a variation of the name.
The movie pretty muc launched the career of Jennifer Lopez who starred as Selena. The movie begins with a scene of Selena performing on stage and then transitions to a shot of the full moon. The movie flashbacks to her childhood. Her father put together a band of Selena and her siblings. The first song she sings with them is Blue Moon. "Blue moon, I saw you standing alone without a dream in your heart."
Later on Selena is up on her rooftop staring wildly at the moon. Her friend climbs up to join her and asks, "Selena, what are you doing here?" "I'm looking up at the moon. And I'm dreaming." "About?" "Let's just say you wouldn't imagine what my dreams are like... When I saw those people applauding... It was so cool. I've never seen so many people smile before. It was exciting...
It was... When I'm up on stage, I feel like I can be anything I want to be."
So Selena is dreaming while gazing up at the moon and she says she can be anything she wants to be. Near the end of the movie that scene is reshown and they immediately show Selena performing her biggest hit song, Dreaming of You. This is immediately before she is fatally shot.
Dreaming of You: "Late at night when all the world is sleeping, I stay up and think of you and I wish on a star that somewhere you are thinking of me too 'cause I'm dreaming of you tonight 'Til tomorrow..."
Merlin was a character from Disney's Sword in the Stone and later was a successful television series that aired in Britain over five seasons beginning in 2008. It was partly inspired by the success of Smallville in America in that it focuses on the characters in the early stages of their development before they came into their own and realized who they were. **
In the first episode Call of the Dragon we see the young wizard Merlin following the call of his name to a dungeon with a chained dragon. The dragon becomes a source of wisdom for him and he frequently returns to the dungeon throughout the series for guidance. The first episode deals with an old witch named Mary who vows to get revenge on the king for putting her son to death for the crime of sorcery. She stabs, kills and possesses Lady Helen's body. Mary as Helen sings to the king's court and her song puts them all into a death sleep with cobwebs until Merlin breaks the spell by telekinetically causing a chandelier to fall on her.
Nimueh is killing people of the town by contaminating the water of Camelot with a magic egg that she hatched in the water supply. She watches the chaos ensue inside a basin of water.
"The Lady of the Lake is an enchantress in the Matter of Britain, the body of medieval literature ... Different writers and copyists give the Arthurian character the name Nimue, Nymue, Nimueh, Viviane, Vivien, Vivienne, Niniane, Ninniane..."
Merlin rescues a caged druid girl named Freya from a bounty hunter, but she is cursed. Merlin hides her in a tunnel, bringing her food every day. (Freya is a Norse goddess and the equivalent of Aphrodite / Isis / Venus.) Merlin sees a druid marking on her and asks if she is a druid. She explains, "My home was next to a lake surrounded by the tallest mountains. In the winter the storms whipped up the water into waves and you thought they were going to crash down and take away all the houses. But in the summer, wild flowers and light. It was like heaven." Merlin is unaware of her curse: every midnight she turns into a monstrous winged black cat and goes on killing sprees.
Merlin's mentor, Gaius, figures out what's happening and tries to warn Merlin: "The ancient chronicles speak of a heinous curse. It dooms its victim to turn at the stroke of midnight into a vicious, bloodthirsty beast. The writers of old called this creature a Bastet: a monster of nightmare that inhabits the twilight world between the living and the dead. Merlin, I want the truth. Did you release the druid girl from the cage?" So a monstrous beast named Freya (a.k.a. Venus, the evening and morning star) is hiding in a tunnel and inhabits the twilight world between the living and dead, and kills people.
One night the townsfolk corner Freya and Merlin uses his magic to allow her to fly away. Later, Merlin sets her on a boat on Lake of Avalon surrounded by mountains, casts a spell on it by incanting the word 'Astyre'. The spells floats the boat out onto the lake and sets the boat on fire. It's interesting that he uses the word 'Astyre' which is very close to 'aster' which means 'star'. In mythology Freya (Venus) was also known as Astarte and Asherhah and Asharoth. Very close, etymologically.
Morgana is using her magic for evil.
Valdis, a dying crone, gives Arthur something covered in cloth. Arthur opens it to reveal a horn. Valdis tells him, "It has the power to summon the spirits of the dead. Gaius researches the horn and informs Arthur, "The Horn of Cathbhadh. When Uther attacked the Isle of the Blessed, the Horn of Cathbhadh was smuggled to safety before the temple fell. It hasn't been heard of since." Arthur: "The old woman said it could be used to open the door to the spirit world?" Gaius: "I have seen it with my own eyes. Long before the time of the Great Purge, I took part in such ceremonies. Each year at Beltain, the High Priestesses would gather at the Great Stones of Nemeton and summon the spirits of their ancestors. It holds powerful magic. You must keep it safe."
Arthur takes the horn to a site with sacred stones and blows it. A portal opens and Arthur walks into a bright white light where he sees his dead father and is able to converse with him. King Arthur's father is not happy with the way he is running Camelot. Arthur returns from the portal, but looked back as he left, which supposedly released his father. His father haunts the kingdom, causing accidents and deaths.
Merlin was a TV mini-series retelling the story of King Arthur.
The darkly beautiful woman, Mab, Queen of the Fairies, tells the beautiful, fair-haired Lady of the Lake, "I'm going to create a leader for the people. A powerful wizard who'll save Britain and bring the people back to us and the old ways." The Lady of the Lake warns her, "It'll be too much for you, Mab. It'll drain you of what power you still have." Mab pleads, "If I don't do it, we'll die. Will you help me?" The Lady of the Lake refuses, "You forget, I'm the Lady of the Lake. I'm made of water. Now, everything's flowing away from us and I accept it. I'm sorry, my maiden."
The wizard Merlin meets Nimue for the first time. Nimue: "What can we offer you as a reward?" Merlin boldly requests a kiss as a reward. "A kiss..." A bystander chimes in, "Do you know who you're talking to? This is the Lady Nimue, Lord Ardente's daughter." Merlin replies, "She asked me what I wanted and I told the truth. And I think it's a fair price. Merlin introduces himself to Nimue. "My name's Merlin." "Mine's Nimue." Interestingly, Nimue was known on Once Upon A Time as "The Dark One".
Merlin is getting briefed on the laws of magic. "Now, Master Merlin, there are three classes of magic, three stages of progression to full wizard status. The first, and lowest stage is wizard by incantation. The second stage wizards are hand wizards whose magic is performed by gestures of the hands and fingers. The third and highest stage of wizardry are wizards of pure thought who need no words nor gestures, but by their will alone test the heavens."
Robin Hood is another green man like Peter Pan. His lover is Maid Marian. This is another representation of the union of the Green Man and the May Queen, the Mary Queen, the Queen Mary. Robin and his "merry" (Mary) men.
"Maid Marian (or Marion) is the love interest of the legendary outlaw Robin Hood in English folklore. Maid Marian was in origin a "shepherdess" figure associated with May Day. Her role as the love interest of Robin Hood dates to at least the 16th century.[1] She is typically portrayed as beautiful, confident, and sincere in her love of Robin Hood. Often, she is a noblewoman in the stories, though sometimes she is a commoner. Most modern Robin Hood stories feature her prominently and present her as an admirable woman. Of particular note are Marian's independence and relative equality to her lover, marking her as one of the earliest strong female characters in English literature."
"Robin Hood and Marian in their Bower (1912). Maid Marion wears a Tyrolean hat and carries a hunting horn. Maid Marian is never mentioned in any of the earliest extant ballads of Robin Hood. She appears to have originally been a character in May Games festivities (held during May and early June, most commonly around Whitsun)[2] and is sometimes associated with the Queen or Lady of May or May Day. Jim Lees in The Quest for Robin Hood (p. 81) suggests that Maid Marian was originally a personification of the Virgin Mary. Francis J. Childe argues that she was originally portrayed as a trull associated with a lascivious Friar Tuck: "She is a trul of trust, to serue a frier at his lust/a prycker a prauncer a terer of shetes/a wagger of ballockes when other men slepes."[3] Both a "Robin" and a "Marian" character were associated with May Day by the 15th century, but these figures were apparently part of separate traditions; the Marian of the May Games is likely derived from the French tradition of a shepherdess named Marion and her shepherd lover Robin, recorded in Adam de la Halle's Le Jeu de Robin et Marion, circa 1283."
**
In this Disney classic Mary Poppins, Mary played by Julie Andrews, is like Pippin, Peter Pan and the Pied Piper. Like Peter Pan she flies with the magic of the wind under her umbrella. Like the Piper she causes the children to go missing so she can get the nanny position. She flies or "pops-in" with the East wind and when she starts her job. In the book Mary Poppins Opens The Door she comes in falling with fireworks. The boy asks if she is a witch and twice says she's very tricky so she no doubt fills the trickster role. Like Aphrodite she brings two mirrors with her. She says one of the reasons she has come is to play games. Mary is Isis, the moon goddess, an extension of the Virgin Mary. Peter Pan's nanna was also named Marion so was Maid Marion. Nanna was the Sumerian moon goddess. Like Peter Pan, they can only fly when they are happy or laughing and not sad. As a nanny who cleans she is the perfect May Queen (the Queen MArY) who is known for spring cleaning and the goddess of nature. She and her one man band played by Dick Van Dyke take the children into a painting and down a path into nature where they frolic with animals. The children at one point even start dancing around her and she mentions her as the maypole. She sings a song imploring the birds to be fed. Dick Van Dyke plays her friend who is a chimney sweeper so he also is a cleaner. "The little old bird woman comes in her own special way to the people she calls.... though her words are simple and few, listen, listen, she's calling to you... feed the birds, tuppence a bag." They are caught up through the chimney by the wind that sweeps by just right. Then they fly to a roof with four pipes in its chimney just like in Peter Pan, but they do not stop there. They walk up a stairway of smoke and see the world from atop. Admiral Boom and his ex-pirate assistant, Binnacle, start shooting at them with his cannon and there are fireworks all around them [reminds me of the Katy Perry video, Firework.... "boom, boom, boom, even brighter than the moon, moon, moon"] Mr. Banks, the banker, says Mary Poppins tricked him into taking the children to the bank. Mary Poppins decided to stay until the winds changed and once the winds blew in from the West she popped out. Interestingly, in the book published in 1934 she takes the children on a Christmas shopping trip with a star named Maia (which is a form of the name Mary and also means "illusion") from the Pleiades cluster of the Taurus constellation.
In Mary Poppins Returns, "Smiling from a star that she makes glow, trust she's always there watching as you grow. Find her in the place where the lost things go". The place where lost things go sounds an awful lot like Neverland and the Lost Boys. Neverland is the netherworld or otherworld. "Do you ever lie awake at night? Just between the dark and the morning light searching for the things you used to know, looking for the place where the lost things go? Do you ever dream or reminisce? Wondering where to find what you truly miss? Well, maybe all those things that you love so are waiting in the place where the lost things go. Memories you've shared, gone for good you feared. They're all around you still though they've disappeared. Nothing's really left or lost without a trace. Nothing's gone forever, only out of place. So maybe now the dish and my best spoon are playing hide and seek just behind the Moon waiting there until it's time to show Spring is like that now far beneath the snow, hiding in the place where the lost things go."
Probably the most emphasized song in Mary Poppins Returns is Trip A Little Light Fantastic. The song encourage the lamplighters to shine their light and trip a little light fantastic. The song says they "mimic the moon" and they are the "keepers of the flame" and that "if you're in a deep dark tunnel" to "follow the light". And it is yet another song that references the dawn and twilight. **
"If ever I lose my way, I just look for a little light to guide me. Let's say you're lost in a park, sure you can give in to the dark, or you can trip a little light fantastic with me. When you're alone in your room your choice is just embrace the gloom or you can trip a little light fantastic with me. For if you hide under the covers you might never see the day, but if a spark can start inside your heart then you can always find the way. So when life is gettin' dreary just pretend that you're a leerie as you trip a little light fantastic with me. What's a leerie? Why, it's what we lamplighters call ourselves, of course. Time to send up the call to arms. Leeries, trip the light to lead the way! Now, when you're stuck in the mist, sure, you can struggle and resist, or you can trip a little light fantastic with me. Now, say you're lost in the crowd, well, you can stamp and scream out loud, or you can trip a little light fantastic with me. And when the fog comes rollin' in just keep your feet upon the path. Mustn't mope and frown or, worse, lie down. Don't let it be your epitaph so, when life is gettin' scary be your own illuminary who can shine their light for all the world to see as you trip a little light fantastic with me. A leerie loves the edge of night though dim, to him, the world looks bright. He's got the gift of second sight to trip a little light fantastic!
**
A leerie's job's to light the way, to take the night and make it day! We mimic the Moon. Yes, that's our aim for we're the keepers of the flame! And if you're deep inside a tunnel and there is no end in sight. Well, just carry on until the dawn. It's darkest right before the light. Now what do we do? Well, just as Jack said we follow the light. Whoa! As you trip a little light fantastic. Won't you trip a little light fantastic? Come on, trip a little light fantastic with me... Children, tell us your sorry tale. Give us your weep and wail! - Well, we had this bowl - Rabbit in the hole - That fell and broke - Bicycle spoke - So we took it to a shop - Like a lollipop And went upside down! That's a circus clown - Then went to the bank - Rattle and clank - Got lost in the fog - Lump on a log till we found our friend to stand and defend - Who took us on a trip - Snap a horse's whip And we tripped a little light fantastic! Now, that sounds a little bit bombastic, but they tripped the light. We tripped the light. Let's trip a little light fantastic!" "Got lost in the fog Lump on a log Trip a little light fantastic! Trip a little light fantastic! Trip a little light fantastic! Trip a little light fantastic! Where on earth have you all been? I told you to bring them straight home. I've been worried sick! We're sorry we're late, Father. It wasn't Mary Poppins' fault. We got lost in the fog. Jack and the leeries led us down the frog and toad. He means road.... I may be circling the drain... but I got a few steps left in me. So, when they tell you that you're finished and your chance to dance is done that's the time to stand to strike up the band and tell 'em that you've just begun. So when life's a real pea-souper you must choose to be a trouper for your light comes with a lifetime guarantee as you with me! Went to the bank, rattle and clank met with the boss Pitch and toss Got lost in the fog Lump on a log - Trip a little - Trip a little Trip a little light fantastic!"
Hercules: The Animated Series is based on the 1997 Disney movie Hercules. It features many of the same main characters in the movie such as Hercules and his relationship to the horned pan flute playing satyr , Phil, who trains Hercules to be a true hero. The series is based mainly on the myths of the Greek gods and goddesses.
The episode Hercules and the Song of Circe, has a few interesting scenes. Circe is a wiccan goddess and was featured in many myths involving the sirens. In this particular episode, the character Icarus is trying to get over a girl named Cassandra, but everything reminds him of her. But his line of reasoning perfectly illustrates the siren motif. "Tots remind me of kids... which remind me of goats... who have horns... and that reminds me of music... which reminds me of dance... which rhymes with 'trance'... which leads me to the love-induced trance of Cassandra."
He immediately forgets about Cassandra when they see a beautiful woman named Circe. They ask "Who is she?" Someone informs them, "Circe, the enchantress known for her beauty, but feared for her ruthless quest to capture the perfect man -- mysterious, dangerous, cunning, evil, gorgeous, lovely, beautiful". Circe seduces the men in the episode to her island where she turns all her love interests into animals for her menagerie or zoo.
In the episode The Dream Date, Hercules needs a date for the Aphrodisian Dance and sees a gorgeous woman with old man Pygmalion and he asks, "How did old man Pygmalion land a vision like that?" He is told, "He made her our of clay. He sculpted himself a perfect woman, invoked Aphrodite and, bammo, love connection." This is referencing the fairy tale of Pygmalion of the creation of Galatea. Pygmalion is known to have been the source for Pinnochio, the wood sculpture that was brought to life by Geppetto. In the fairy tale, the sculptor did indeed invoke the moon goddess Aphrodite to bring it to life.
So Hercules invokes the moon goddess Isis/Aphrodite/Venus: "Aphrodite, goddess of love and passion. Hear my plea..." She arrives in a half-shell. This is in reference to Aphrodite being born from the foam of the sea and arriving on a half-shell. Botticelli's painting The Birth of Venus, often called Venus on a Half-Shell, depicts the myth. Hercules tells her, "I really like tall girls... curvy. Just make her crazy about me". Aphrodite whips her up and introduces her to him. "Hercules, meet Galatea. She's everything you asked for." Of course, this goes horribly awry as she is literally crazy for him and starts becoming extremely possessive and threatening.
Ulysses was a 1967 film based on the book by James Joyce and chronicles the travels of the Greek hero Odysseus (known as Ulysses in Roman myths), king of Ithaca, and his journey home after the fall of Troy.
Ulysses and his crew are at sea. It becomes eerily quite, so quiet they can't even hear the rowing of the oars. "Why is it so quiet?" Look there! The rocks of the sirens!" The rocks are littered with the skeletal remains of sailors. "No man who hears their song can escape. They will draw us to the rocks and destroy us." Ulysses hears the sweet sing-song like calling of his wife, Penelope. "Ulysses.... Ulysses... It is Penelope. Your young bride." He wants to hear the song and asks to be tied to the masts of the a ship and orders not to be released no matter how much he pleads.
They try to escape, but the ship keeps getting pulled back toward the island. "We are rowing towards the open sea, but that island keeps drawing us back. I've never seen anything like this. I can do nothing to control the ship."
They go ashore. Ulysses sees a beautiful woman with a veil. "Who are you?" She replies, "Circe." As a seasoned sailor he is well familiar with Circe and sirens. He is appalled. "Circe the witch." She's offended. "That's such an ugly word. Why not goddess?" He asks, "Was it you who pulled the ship off course?" She explains, "I was lonely." She asks, "What do you want with me?" She lies, "To help you. To load your ship with riches of all kinds. To give you a favorable wind to lead you home... But ever since the winds first brought your name to me and Echo repeated your deeds, I have been waiting for your ship, Ulysses. And for the first time, Echo and the winds have not lied."
She seduces him and later he wakes in bed and asks the servants where Circe is. "Where is Circe?" "Were you looking for me, Ulysses?" He strains to see her in the half-lit darkness. "I can't see you very well. Why this half light?" The half light could be reference to Venus who is both the morning and evening star... when it is dawn and twilight, or evened light.
"Give me back my men, goddess, demon, witch, or whatever you are."
Circe tries to convince Ulysses to go to Olympus with her instead of returning to Ithaca. "Their pride will not serve to warm you in the kingdom of darkness. I offer you centuries of light."
Dead men from his crew appear to Ulysses and try to convince him to go with Circe. Circe says, "Come, Ulysses. Olympus awaits you." One man urges him, "Go with Circe to Olympus...." Another advises, "Stay with Circe, Ulysses." Circe again beckons him, "Come.... come, Ulysses." Ulysses' mother appears and addresses Ulysses. "Ulysses." "Mother!" Ulysses didn't know that his mother had died. Circe had not "summoned" her spirit and is angry because she is real and not a hallucination like the men. "Go away, you! I have not called you." Ulysses' mother urges him to "Return to Ithaca." and his wife Penelope is waiting for him there.
"Venus was first published by Marvel Comics in August 1948. Issue one starred the title character Venus, and was made up of three stories, two written by Stan Lee... Venus is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe, originally based on the goddess Venus (Aphrodite) from Greek and Roman mythology; however, it is later revealed that she is a Siren and not the true goddess." **
"Venus is the name of two fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first, originally based on the goddess Venus (Aphrodite) from Roman and Greek mythology, was retconned to actually be a siren that only resembles the goddess. The second is stated to be the true goddess, who now wishes only to be referred to by her Greek name, Aphrodite."
"Venus' true origins were revealed by Namora: this Venus was actually a soulless Siren that lured sailing ships to her with her voice and fed on the sailors. To prevent his ship and his crew from being feed on, the captain of a merchant ship hired a mystic to kill her. The mystic instead gave her a soul. The Siren then took the form of a beautiful woman (forbidding herself to speak again) and was taken in by a nunnery, where she lived for decades and believed herself a mute servant girl, until she joined a chorus, filling the visiting clergy with lust. She was then expelled from the nunnery. Learning how to use her voice for good, she blocked out all memories of her previous life and assumed that she was Venus reborn, based on the legends she had heard about a beautiful, immortal girl wandering the world as a goddess in a human body and winning her battles with the power of "love"." **
Powers and abilities
"Venus has the power to project images or illusions of herself and to control the emotions of others, as well as the ability to fly at high speeds, shield herself from mortal sight, and shift her physical form into other beings... Venus possesses a magical girdle named Cestus that enables the wearer to enchant anyone to become a love-slave, and to neutralize or transform all weapons of war... After her memories were restored, Venus realized her empathic abilities were really derived from a powerful "siren song" — she is able to heal and restore, curing people's souls by giving them a moment of true bliss in which they can live their most prized fantasy. Her voice is mystically empowered with advanced mind-control abilities, related to her mood: when she speaks in joy, she fills her listeners with bliss and fanatical love for her;" **
"As the goddess of love, Aphrodite has more power to sense, inspire and control the emotions of love and sexual desire than any other god. Her powers have been demonstrated to be powerful enough to influence Zeus himself. "
Check out the captions on the magazine covers above. "The most beautiful girl in the world"... " the world's most unusual love story"... " The love trap?"... " The wrath of a goddess"... "Between two worlds"... "The kiss of death! The most terrifying horror"... "Trapped on the moon"... "Terror in the tunnel"... "A pact with the Devil"... "What's Venus selling? Selling? Who knows?!! Who cares?!! I'll buy a million of 'em!!!"... "The power of her song is overwhelming. With no body still I feel its effect" and sirens beckoning, "Come! Come into our world! You belong here... with us!"
There's actually even a Marvel character named White Light which can generate a white light to hypnotize others.
There's also an episode of The Avengers called From Venus with Love. "The members of a society that watches Venus are dying one by one from something that turns them completely white, so Steed joins them to flush out the culprit while Peel chases a light that seems related to the killings." **
From the photos taken while observing the planet Venus through a telescope just prior to death: "Most peculiar. Looks like a fireball charging through outer space."
The light, ostensibly, appears to be the light of Venus or from Venus. The leader of the British Venus Society explains their mission to Mr. Steed: "Our target is the planet Venus. There's evidence it could support life. We believe it does. For years we've detected radio signals." "From Venus?" "From that direction. Our members keep watch every night for any signs of life." "Oh, good. Have they spotted anything?" "Some flashes of white light. Behind those clouds, Mr. Steed, are beings." "I hope they have a friendly aura." "Who can say?"
"They died of shock, their hair and clothes bleached with an intense light." "Then I was right. The Venusians ARE here."
"I saw a flash of white light." "A flash of white light?" "Mrs. Peel says, she swears she saw some sort of spacecraft. It was silver. Mirrored."
The Secrets of Isis was the first weekly American television series to star a female superhero. Isis is the Egyptian deity equivalent to the Greek Aphrodite and Roman Venus. She is also a moon goddess. Isis was mentioned in Milton's Paradise Lost as an emissary of Satan.
Every episode starts with an eight-pointed starburst of light and the background story is told. "O, my Queen", said the royal sorcerer to Hapcheset. "With this amulet you and your descendants are endowed by the goddess Isis. With the powers of the animals and the elements, you will soar as the falcon soars, run with the speed of gazelles and command the elements of sky and earth. 3000 years later a young science teacher dug up this lost treasure and found she was heir to the secrets of Isis. And so unknown to even her closest friends, Rick Mason and Cindy Lee, she became a dual person as Andrea Thomas, teacher.
She is able to transform herself into Isis by shouting the magical incantation, 'Oh, mighty Isis!' She claims to be the dedicated foe of evil, leader of the weak, and the champion of truth and justice. **
The first episode of the series is about observations of "flying saucers" (UFOs), "burn places" (circles), and "people disappearing" (abductions). Four flying saucers are seen. Andrea is able to transform into Isis by incanting "O, mighty Isis!"
Later in order to stop a man making a getaway in a car she incants,"O, Zephyr winds which blow on high, lift me now so I can fly". She is now able to soar above the earth. Other incantations she uses: "O, sun that changes day from night help me change, help me stop this man from flight" and "Ancient sphinx, all knowing and wise, confront this man with his own lies."
Three white orbs in the shape of a triangle come down to earth and the
man runs up to her, "Isis, you gotta help me. The UFOs are after me." Isis tells him, "There are no such things as UFOs." It turns out the UFOs were staged and kids said they created the UFO hoax as a scheme to scare the owners of the land into selling their property.
There was another series the show was intertwined with running at the same time called Shazam! and along with Isis, Mary Marvel was the protagonist.
Wonder Woman is probably the biggest female superhero. She lived on Paradise Island from Greek mythology and is said to be "with Aphrodite". Her name is Diana Prince. Diana is the Greek goddess of the moon and was known as the "goddess of the hunt". Prince may be an allusion to her deserving of being a princess. One of her big things is her golden lasso and with it she can get people to tell the truth which reminds me of the TV show Lucifer where Lucifer hypnotizes people with his eyes and gets them to tell him their innermost desires, what they want more than anything else in the world. Aphrodite is of course Venus / Lucifer and as Inanna would be a warrior. She is a recognizable symbol or icon of female power who doesn't need a man, strong, brave, trained by amazon warriors, a model for feminism. **
In the recent movie, this is what Wonder Woman (Diana) is told as a little girl: "Long ago when Time was new and all of history was still a dream the Gods ruled the earth. Zeus, king among them. Zeus created beings over which the Gods would rule. Beings born in his image. Fair and good. Strong and passionate. He called his creation Man. And Mankind was good. But Zeus's son grew envious of mankind and sought to corrupt his father's creation. This was Ares, the god of War. Ares poisoned men's hearts with jealousy and suspicion. He turned them against one another and war ravaged the earth. So the Gods created us, the Amazons, to influence men's hearts with love and restore peace to the earth. And for a brief time there was peace, but it did not last. Your mother, the Amazon Queen, led a revolt that freed us all from enslavement. When Zeus led the Gods to our defense Ares killed them one by one until only Zeus himself remained. Zeus used the last of his power to stop Ares, striking such a blow the God of War was forced to retreat. But Zeus knew that one day Ares might return to finish his mission, an endless war where Mankind would finally destroy themselves and us with them. So Zeus left us a weapon, one powerful enough to kill a god. With his dying breath Zeus created this island to hide us from the outside world. Somewhere Ares could not find us. And all has been quiet ever since."
Notice Wonder Woman is a princess, the daughter of an Amazon Queen, and the Amazons were created to influence men's hearts with love. Ares is Mars, the god of war, also Nergal, the Sumerian god of the underworld (similar to Hades) and pestilence, became Ares. "Apollonius Rhodius, at Argonautica, mentions that Amazons were the daughters of Ares and Harmonia (a nymph of the Akmonian Wood). They were brutal and aggressive, and their main concern in life was war."
The Lynda Carter Wonder Woman seems similar to the Secrets of Isis series. Lynda stars as Diana Prince. Diana is the Greek goddess of the moon. Both spin round and round as they transform into a superhero. Lynda has a red star on her forehead.
In the pilot episode she has to solve the mystery of the secret tunnel in connection to a Nazi prison camp. One of the top brass' son wants to be a detective like Sherlock Holmes. His father apologizes saying, "My son lives in a fantasy world: secret passages, men flying spaceships to the moon."
Wonder Woman saves the boy from falling off a ladder atop a building. "Why did you climb up that ladder?" He answers, "I was trying to get us in the tower. I saw somebody up there last night flashing signals with a light."
They later find the boy's detective book. He has notes on the case, "Case of the Old Tunnel. Clues: magic stone near old well, signal lights, rusty door in wall, hooded cloak," The man exclaims, "A secret tunnel! Perhaps there really is such a tunnel." So in the very first episode there are prisoners that use a tunnel to head toward a flashing light as well as a magic stone, a well (tunnel), a door, a hooded cloak and a spaceship to the moon. Is it all a metaphor for us being prisoners here on Earth and there being a secret tunnel that goes to the light near the moon?
Hamlin Rule is a famous rock musician with gold records and sold out shows. He calls himself "The Pied Piper". He is using his mysterious other worldy flute playing to hypnotize young women into stealing proceeds from the show venues. At every show he selects a young woman to be the snake in the basket.
He uses his mystical flute playing and a flashing white strobe light to hypnotize the girls. "Come on, I'll show you. Follow me..." "Music! Sound! The most powerful weapon in the world. And they talk about charm to soothe the savage beast. Scientists have been working on this for years. But it took Hamlin Rule to perfect it." One of his slaves asks him, "Why do you need something that destroys things? Your songs are about love and happiness... What do you want?" "Everything, Elena... You are controlled by my music. Part of my repertoire. You will remember what I want you to and you will forget, and like that..." He snaps his fingers and Elena is in a trance. Notice the horn he also uses.
Notice the flute, white light and speaker he uses to entrance the girls. "Who is Diana Prince?" "She works for my father." "That's cool. What kind of horn does your father blow?" "I've spent a lot of time programming you and the others. A little traveling music might take away that stubborn streak. I don't know how to use this. Part of the program. I've already taught you. You just don't know it yet..." Wonder Woman discovers his victim in a trance.
Wonder Woman binds him with her golden lasso. "You call yourself The Pied Piper." He is bound by the lasso and answers truthfully. "Yes." She scolds him, "But the real Pied Piper led children from danger. Why would you lead children into danger? You were given a gift: the ability to make people happy with your music. Instead, you took that gift and used it to make children steal for you."
Diana is later walking with the victim and shes says she doesn't understand him. Diana says, "I think that he just wasn't content with his gift for music. On-stage, he had an audience in the palm of his hand. But he wanted their minds too." This reminds me of the story of Lucifer who was gifted musically and in charge of music in heaven. But he wasn't satisfied with that and wanted more.
Diana goes undercover as a maid. She is serving tea to Count Diaz and he tells her, "You cannot be a maid. You must be a princess. No one as lovely as you should be serving tea.... I intend to order everything in Cousin Kathryn's royal kitchen. Is there a name to go along with such a pretty face?" Diana replies, "Yes, sir. Diana." The Count knows his mythology. "Diana, the goddess of hunt. Are you a huntress like your namesake? If you are, I'm your willing prey."
"But as I was walking through the woods, I had the feeling of something alien. I heard some odd musical sounds. Patterns." The doctor is surprised and asks, " Are you saying that I'm treating the possible victims of someone or something from another world?" Diana responds, "That's exactly right, Doctor."
"And the Skrill they carry a definite danger of contamination to the Earth creatures. They call themselves humans." "They would."... "These creatures, what are they?" "The Skrill? A plague. A sickness, but deadly.".... "These Skrill, what exactly is their crime?" "They are thieves, Princess." Notice he addresses her as a princess. "Thieves? "Let me explain. There are worlds where gold is a base metal. I have seen a planetoid that is a single, gigantic diamond. Conversely on Sirius 4 natural organic wood is rare beyond price. So, what is easily sold readily bought, simple to transport and worth stealing?" "Knowledge." "Precisely. Human minds. The Skrill use these artificial crystals as storage devices. They are designed to capture, condense and store a living mind." " If a mind can be stored in one of these can it then be placed into anyone's body?" "Easily. Any body, biological, mechanical. That is what the Skrill sell. It's monstrous."
Catwoman is a character from the Batman comics and movie series. When I did search for the most popular "superheroes", Wonder Woman and Catwoman were the top two. Catwoman is technically not really a super "hero" per se and might even be considered a villain as she is a thief or catburglar. She has a long history going back into DC Comics and Batman shows and movies. Gotham was a five year series where Catwoman had the name Selina. The Greek goddess of the moon was named Selene. In 2004, Catwoman was released as a movie with Halle Berry cast in the role of Catwoman.
The film begins with the main character, a woman named Patience, recounting a near death experience. "It all started on the day that I died. If there had been an obituary, it would've described the unremarkable life of an unremarkable woman survived by no one. But there was no obituary because the day that I died was also the day I started to live." Notice she is a normal woman before her transformation before she becomes reborn or possessed.
Patience risks her life rescuing a cat from the ledge of her apartment building. She later finds out the cat's name is Midnight and it was a test to see if she was worthy of having the powers of Bast, the Egyptian moon goddess, bestowed upon her. The movie claims Bast was the twin of the sun and an Egyptian goddess of the sun and moon. Once these powers are bestowed upon her she starts behaving very catlike, sort of like a hybrid between a woman and cat. She overhears her boss talking about their product line. Although his dream is to bring immortal beauty through the product, it has a defective side effect in that if someone stops using the product they have hideous skin disorders, thus turning them into a "monster".
The company execs discover Patience heard them talking about their secret and they kill her by chasing her into a pipe and then flushing the pipe.
She is flushed out of the pipe and drowns in the water below. However, there is a white light shown behind her and she is saved by the supernatural cat, presumably the goddess Bast or an emissary of hers. Notice the parallel of the near death experience with the pipe/tunnel and light.
"The goddess Bast. The Maus are sacred to Bast. They're her messengers... Bast is a rarity. A goddess of the moon, and of the sun. She represents the duality in all women. Docile, yet aggressive. Nurturing, yet ferocious." "But what does all of this have to do with me?" "You died.... But you were reborn. Midnight knew your fate. That's why she tested you. To see if you were worthy of a gift she could give you. A gift that could change your life and give you a new one. You're not alone, child. He's saved others before you. Look. Catwomen are not contained by the rules of society. You follow your own desires. This is both a blessing and a curse. You will often be alone and misunderstood. But you will experience a freedom other women will never know. You are a catwoman. Every sight, every smell, every sound, incredibly heightened. Fierce independence, total confidence, inhuman reflexes." "So I'm not Patience anymore?" "You are Patience. And you are Catwoman. Accept it, child. You've spent a lifetime caged. By accepting who you are -- all of who you are -- you can be free. And freedom is power."
Catwoman is linked to a murder and is confronted by her romantic interest who also is a cop. He tries to apprehend her high up in the rafters of a building, but he is blinded by a bright light behind her. She grabs him and says, "Gotcha". He asks her, "You think this is a game?" She replies, "Now we're playing."
She grabs hold of a dangerous live cable that is sparking. "Careful. That cable hits us, we're both fried."
The cops arrive on the scene and she goes over to a transformer box. There is a hazardous sticker on the box with the picture of a black cat. Also the word "Danger" and a light bulb. She takes the live cable which is sparking. She quips, " Okay, boys. Show of hands. Who can see in the dark? I can." She causes a blackout and escapes.
The movie ends showing the silhouette of Catwoman walking with a backlit moon.
In the 1992-1997 Japanese anime television series Sailor Moon, the Japanese episodes open with a song "guided by the light of the moon we'll meet again and again". Usagi, the main protagonist of the series sees Sailor V (Sailor Venus) in games. Sailor V catches the bad guys, and Usagi wishes she could do that. Her black cat tells her to say the words "Moon prism power makeup!" and with help of a medallion amulet of gold metal she transforms into Sailor Moon, sailor warrior of love and justice. At the beginning of every episode she exclaims, "In the name of the moon, I will punish you." The antagonist, Queen Beryl, has a monster named Morga: "It's gathering the energy of the foolish humans who are taken by the brilliance of the gems. Queen Beryl will be very pleased. Morga, collect even more energy." Most of the episodes revolve around the antagonist coming up with a way to steal or collect energy from humans. The show was later licensed for an English language release in North America. **
Sailor Venus comes on the scene as an impostor of Sailor Moon, impersonating the moon princess. Sailor V possesses powers associated with love and beauty, light, and golden material metal. Some of the weapons she wields are Venus Star Power, the Crescent Beam, the Venus Love and Beauty Shock, and a Crescent Moon Cutter. "... but now its time for the real Sailor Moon to fight well in the name of the moon". They're not sure about the intentions of the Sailor Moon impostor and wonder if it is an enemy trick. She is asked, "Are you the moon princess?"
The ending song Heart Moving in the Japanese version: "The flagrance of flowers in the daytime, twinkling stars at night. That's her world that no one knows. In white pumps, tap, tap, she crosses the bridge of the moon, dreaming of a sweet kiss. That's the world of the princess. Pray to the moon. It will make you happy. Go around and around, the merry-go-round on the Moon. The cool-looking crystal dress flutters in the breeze. 'I will always watch over you' whispers the Moon... Moon Princess."
Sailor Moon R is the second season of Sailor Moon. All the episodes start off with a weird tone that sounds like a carrier wave. It's interesting that sirens are distress signals for cases of emergency. If you think of a siren on the top of an ambulance or a police car it is a two toned wailing with a strobe light effect. It'a also interesting that a star twinkles as if it's blinking on and off as well reminiscent in a way of a siren. "Twinkle, twinkle, little star. How I wonder what you are."
Episode 054
Queen Rei is throwing a TA Culture Festival where she will sing her songs.
This one Buddhist monk character is constantly asking all the females if they will join and become shrine maidens. "Why don't you also be shrine maidens?" The antagonists Ali and An notice: "So on the day of the festival this place will be filled with youthful energy." "The energy is overflowing." "I think this is the perfect place to steal energy."
A siren is called forth with a card and flute playing. The siren comes to the auditorium and drains Rei's fans of their energy with gold flakes. "It's draining my energy."
Sailor Moon uses Moon Crystal Power Makeup. A gold amulet pendant appears at her chest as she transforms into Sailor Moon.
Sailor Moon tries a Fire Soul spell. "I can't believe this.
Fire Soul didn't work on her." All the sailor soldiers arrive and with the help of Sir Moonlight Knight the siren is eventually defeated. A huge fire bird phoenix is invoked and shoots right through the siren. "In the corner of the universe there is a star that plays a beautiful melody. That is this earth." "Let us not forget to always keep the light in our hearts."
Queen Rei finishes the concert. "The last song is titled Eternal Melody. Please enjoy."
"I raise my heart up to the sun and you are there...."
Sailor Moon muses, "Look. I have a brand new power. It envelops everything and shines."
Sailor Moon S is the third season. Episode 119, Awakening of the Messiah of Silence?
The beginning of the anime shows a girl standing in a flashing white light. "The girl that is standing in the light of the grail in my dream. I think I'm starting to slowly see her figure. She's holding a long weapon of some sort in her hands. That means the Scythe of Silence, the Silence Glaive."
"Could the Messiah of Silence be that soldier of ruin the one guarded by the planet of destruction? If so, we may not be able to do anything at all. The world will shortly fall to ruins." The planet Saturn is clearly shown with the shadowy girl wielding the glaive and fades out as the Death tarot card showing a reaper skeleton with a scythe enters from the right side of the screen.
"... to prevent the arrival of the approaching silence" "What is that 'silence'?" "It's the destruction of the world. That's the silence we need to prevent, the image of earth's destruction. If the enemy, the Messiah of Silence awakens, this will be reality. She is the guide to death who appears at the time of death and returns everything to nothing."
The sorceress clad in a gold star keeps saying "A wish upon a star!" and then hurls black stars at her victims.
"She is the one guarded by Saturn, the planet of destruction... The soldier of ruin, Sailor Saturn. When Sailor Saturn awakens the world is about to end." "You don't know the horror of Silence." "Unless we kill that girl, Saturn will awaken. If Saturn awakens, it means the end of this planet!"
Sailor Moon Super S is the fourth season.
"The sun, moon and Earth are all going to be in a straight line very soon. The sun is going to be on the other side of the moon so you won't be able to see it anymore. When the sun gets completely hidden by the moon, they call it a total eclipse of the sun. It's going to be completely dark all around. That is a scary, scary horror (kaiki) eclipse."
While the eclipse is happening a giant circus tent with colorful balloons floats down to earth and positions itself. But the protagonist is the only one to notice. No one else cares. "What's that tent over there? Was that thing there before?"
The antagonists are celebrating the fact humans aren't aware, calling them dogs and monkeys. A juggler with a jester moon as a mask taunts, "They don't realize at all." The leader is concerned about the hero being alive on Earth and says the hero can't stay on Earth long and can only stay alive inside dreams. "That is... to hide and live inside someone's beautiful dreams". This is an important point to note. Even the villains exist only because of our thoughts, wishes, dreams keeping them alive as egregores.
Sailor Moon Sailor Stars was the fifth and final season. The episode, The Awakening of Saturn:
"The shining, white-colored planet is the moon, right? It looks like a pearl! It is a warm light which always embraces that girl."
"We might be the existence within a momentary twinkling of the space made by somebody else." "That sounds scary." "Really? If you think about sorrow and agony are just illusions, you can relax."
"I'm Sailor Saturn. I'm your guardian." "My guardian deity is the planet of silence... the soldier of death and rebirth... Sailor Saturn!"
Sailor Saturn invokes Saturn as a fireball and hurls it, destroying the antagonists. "Sailor Moon! Wake up now as the true princess of the moon!"
Sailor Saturn instructs all the Sailors, "Collect our minds as one everybody!" Beams of light connect them on earth and the moon.
The evil sorceress wants to steal Sailor Moon's love. She warns, "White Moon Princess, I'll take all that you love!" See how she addresses her as the "white moon princess".
Princesses are almost always depicted as white-skinned and fair because they symbolize the white moon and the white goddess.
There was also the Sailor Moon Crystal series. I could only find one episode to watch. But, according to Wikimoon: "The Moon Castle (ムーン・キャッスル) was the palace of the Silver Millennium Kingdom during the distant past on the Moon of Earth. It was the home of Queen Serenity and Princess Serenity, as well as many other subjects. There were also four guardians of the Kingdom and the Princess residing at the palace - Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter, and Sailor Venus - as well as two feline advisors, Luna and Artemis. It was guarded from outside intruders by three other Senshi, Sailor Uranus, Sailor Neptune, and Sailor Pluto, though those Senshi were not known of by the vast majority of those of the Moon Kingdom.
There were also forbidden passages deep within the castle which led to the Space-Time Door. It was revealed in the manga that at the center of the Moon Castle was the Chamber of Prayer which housed the Crystal Tower."
According to the Fandom site: "Moon Kingdom is a location in Sailor Moon Crystal. Kingdom of the Moon was home of Moon people and existed during Silver Millennium. Ruled by Queen Serenity, it was located in Mare Serenitatis (The Sea of Serenity)... In the live-action series, the Moon Castle was protected by a translucent dome of matter or energy surrounding it, that produced an artificial climate, signifying the advanced technology that existed during that period... The "Moon Castle" is the home of the royal family during the Silver Millennium on the Moon... Queen Serenity explained to Luna that if anything were to happen, they could pray to the Crystal Tower and the Moon would protect them."
I received this via email:
"Sailor Moon is depicted as selfish, greedy, and in some instances cruel. She is in reality not a nice girl but a selfish goddess taking over the earth. Her power source is the flower of life aka silver crystal. They call her the messiah which ties with Yahusua which means Artemis/Yah Saves.
In the same show there was another girl named Hotaru who was the God Saturn, it was clear that her place had been usurped by Sailor Moons kingdom of light. In reality some people say Saturn was the original sun before Apollo/Artemis took over. In a way Hotaru was kind of like Snow White and Artemis is the evil queen. In fact there was one scene where Sailor Moon said i wish i were a wicked witch to cast a nasty spell...
The reason i find Sailor Moon so disturbing is because there are two whole series with multiple seasons about a Moon Goddess setting up heaven on earth! Usagi aka Queen Serenity is referred to as the Christ/Messiah more than once, she sets up a 1000 year millennial reign on earth! She rules with an iron rod/scepter, she lived in Crystal Tokyo which is the same crystal city described in the bible. Perhaps the most disturbing truth of all is the little known fact that Queen Serenity gave humanity a choice, ether surrender your freewill or be banished to Nemesis. They called it the purification of humanity, it happened some centuries before Chibiusa traveled back in time. The silver crystal she wields is the flower of life which she uses to rule over all the gods. Note Sailor Scouts were in fact deities! The silver crystal also had the power of reincarnation, and the two cats in Sailor Moon Crystal were depicted as praying to a tower on the moon! I kinda feel this show is predictive programming for the day Christ Artemis shows up and declares her ruler ship of this world! Many ancient cultures speak of a time before the moon and sun which is alluded to in Sailor Moon when Nehellenia said to Serenity you like me are also from another galaxy! Lastly the show was originally supposed to be about Sailor V but was suddenly changed to Moon...
I think the moon is indeed a trap for souls and Sailor Moon is one of the most telling shows because the entire thing is about the moon! Japanese Anime is undoubtedly full of info."
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is a C.S. Lewis novel adapted into a film by Walt Disney Productions. The story centers around four youngsters who are staying at a large estate and are bored. While playing a game of hide-and-seek one of the children, Lucy, stumbles into an unknown world while hiding in a wardrobe. **
Very quickly she meets a satyr/faun who invites her back to his place. He reminisces to her about the summers in Narnia, "We fauns danced with the dryads all night, and, you know, we never got tired. And music. Oh, such music! Would... would you like to hear some now?" He plays the flute and Lucy falls asleep. This is yet another example of a faun playing a flute that alters the consciousness. See my companion article on Pan, Peter Pan and the all the associated examples. When she wakes he informs her, "I'm kidnapping you. It was the White Witch. She's the one who makes it always winter, always cold." He feels guilty about it and decides to let her go. Lucy returns home and tells her siblings. The next time Lucy goes to Narnia her brother follows her. He meets the White Witch, Jardis, the Queen of Narnia. The Queen befriends him, though she has very short patience as that is against her nature. She makes him a Turkish delight and says, "I can make anything you like." She finds out he has three siblings and convinces him to bring the rest and tempts him by saying he could be King one day and his brother his servant.
All the children come to Narnia next time. They learn the King of Narnia is named Aslan and the Queen is Jadis, the White Witch though "She calls herself the Queen of Narnia but she really isn't." The four are part of a prophecy. "It has long been foretold that two Sons of Adam and two Daughters of Eve will defeat the White Witch and restore peace to Narnia." They are taken to meet King Aslan and discover the king is a lion. This has similar overtones to Disney's The Lion King. The lion king is the Demiurge whose symbol is a lion.
The White Witch comes to discuss the situation with the king. As she enters his encampment you can see the lion's symbol is the Sun and the White Witch's symbol is the wiccan triquetra or triskele symbolizing the triple aspect of the moon.
Once they discuss the situation you see that the whole setup was negotiated beforehand. the Queen asks the Lion, "Have you forgotten the laws upon which Narnia was built?" The Lion replies, "Do not cite the Deep Magic to me, Witch. I was there when it was written." She reminds him, "Then you'll remember well that every traitor belongs to me. His blood is my property."
The lion and the queen are like two sides of controlled opposition. Good cop, bad cop. This is exactly the way it is here on Earth. The lion nobly agrees to being sacrificed in order to spare one of the boys from death at the hands of the White Witch. The lion is sacrificed on the stone table during a full moon, but is later resurrected and becomes a savior. He also heals and beings back to life the faun who had been turned to stone by the evil White Witch. Jesus is widely regarded to be the Lion of Judah and it is likely Lewis chose the symbolism to represent that. There appears to be a lot of Christian symbolism as C.S. Lewis was a Christian apologist. It is also worth mentioning that the Lion was the symbol of the Demiurge as well.
The lion passes on his legacy to the four children who are enthroned at the end in the four cardinal directions and are likened to the four elements of water, earth, fire and air. "To the glistening Eastern Sea, I give you Queen Lucy the Valiant. To the great Western Wood, King Edmund the Just. To the radiant Southern Sun, Queen Susan, the Gentle. And to the clear Northern Sky, I give you King Peter, the Magnificent."
The Lord of the Rings trilogy is one of the most successful book and movie franchises of all-time, based upon the story by J.R.R. Tolkein. The antagonist in the Lord of the Rings is named Sauron and is described as a "great eye, lidless, wreathed in flame". Sauron is derived from saurus, greek for lizard. Sauron may be symbolic of Saturn, the destructive planet with rings. Thus, Saturn could be the "lord of the rings". Saturn has a hexagonal eye as a vortex at its north pole. The all-seeing eye symbolism that is so rampant among celebrities may be referring to the eye of Lucifer or the eye of Providence. The Watchers were the nephilim or fallen angels who came to earth, found the daughters of men to be fair, and took them for their wives.
"A Great Eye, lidless, wreathed in flame.
The Eye of Sauron. He is gathering all evil to him." The eye telepathically communicates, "You cannot hide. I see you."
There is no life in the void. Only death." This is overt programming us that the void is bad since "there is no life there" and "only death". Yet near death experiencers who have been to the void seem to have both pleasant and unpleasant experiences depending upon their state of mind and whether they are in fear or at peace. Many say the void is everything.
Aragorn starts singing a song, "Tinuviel the elven-fair Immortal maiden elven-wise, About him cast her night-dark hair, And arms like silver glimmering." Frodo asks him, "Who is she? This woman you sing of? " He replies, "Tis the Lady of Luthien. The Elf Maiden who gave her love to Beren, a mortal." Luthien was the daughter of King Thingol of Doriath and Melian the Maia. She was said to be the fairest maiden to have ever lived. Maia is Mary and said to mean illusion. So he is singing of a fair maiden, a princess.
A woman named Arwen appears in white light. "I am Arwen. I have come to help you. Hear my voice. Come back to the light." Wen is derived from Venus and connotes desire. Their common Proto-Indo-European root is assumed as *wen- "to strive for, wish for, desire, love". Wen is sometimes suffixed to the names of female saints, e.g. Dwynwen. Ar possibly denotes an archon as ar is associated with many archaic and archontic themes... archangels.
Nine ring wraiths come. Arwen casts a spell to cause a flood to come. "Waters of the Misty Mountains listen to the great word; flow waters of Loudwater against the Ringwraiths!" Frodo becomes weakened and is dying. "No! Frodo! No! Frodo don't give in, not now." Arwen prays, "What grace has given me, let it pass to him. Let him be spared. Save him. Hear my voice, come back to the light."
Saruman, an evil servant of the evil eye of Sauron is shown here with a full moon.
Arwen tells Aragorn, "Your time will come. You will face the same evil and you will defeat it. The Shadow does not hold sway yet, Aragorn. Not over you and not over me."
Aragorn tells Arwen, "You said you would bind yourself to me forsaking the immortal life of your people." Arwen replies, "And to that I hold. I would rather share one lifetime with you than face all the ages of this world alone. I choose a mortal life"
Arwen loosens her hold on Aragorn's gripped hand. He looks down and opens his hand to discover the Evenstar lying there. Aragorn: "You cannot give me this."
ARWEN: "It is mine to give to whom I will. Like my heart."
We can see here that the Evenstar is Arwen's. The Evenstar is the evening star, Venus. So Arwen is Venus, the evening star.
"Caras Galadon. The heart of Elvendom on earth. This is the city of Galadhrim where dwell the Lord Celeborn and of Galadriel, Lady of Light." Galad in elfish means light. Galasriel translated means"Lady of Light". She was also referred to as the "White Lady", as her fair skin and white cloaks made her seem to shine.
Galadriel, Lady of Light, telepathically communicates to Frodo, "Welcome, Frodo of the Shire... one who has seen the eye."
"Have you ever seen it, Aragorn? The White Tower of Ecthelion, glimmering like a spike of pearl and silver, its banners caught high in the morning breeze. Have you ever been called home by the clear ringing of silver trumpets? Aragorn replies, "I have seen the White City long ago." Another chimes in, "One day, our paths will lead us there, and the tower guard will take up the call 'the Lords of Gondor have returned.' " The theme of white is very persistent throughout The Lord of The Rings. There is The White Wizard, The White Tower, The White City, The White Hand, Saruman the White, The White Tree, White Shores, The White Lady, etc. all reminiscent of the book by Robert Graves, The White Goddess.
Galadriel tells Aragorn, "I have nothing greater to give than the gift you already bear." She touches the Evenstar pendant Aragorn is wearing. "For her love, I fear the grace of Arwen Evenstar will diminish."
"I give you the light of Earendil, our most beloved star.
May it be a light for you in dark places when all other lights go out." **
[Note: Eärendil the Mariner is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. He is depicted in The Silmarillion as a child of enm and elves and a great seafarer who, on his brow, carried the morning star, a jewel called a Silmaril, across the sky. Interestingly enough, the character’s name comes from the Anglo-Saxon word Éarendel, a name associated with the star Rigel in Orion, which is a wandering star and the brightest of that constellation.
In 1914, Tolkien wrote a poem The Voyage of Earendel the Evening Star (which was inspired by the "Crist" poem of Cynewulf): "With his heart afire with bright desire and his face in silver flame, the Ship of the Moon from the East comes soon. From the Haven of the Sun, whose white gates gleam in the coming beam of the mighty silver one... Then he glimmering passed to the starless vast as an isléd lamp at sea, and beyond the ken of mortal men set his lonely errantry, tracking the Sun in his galleon through the pathless firmament till his light grew old in abysses cold and his eager flame was spent."
The movie begins by revealing Gandalf to be a servant of the Sun. He fights off a demon from Hell. "I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. Go back to the Shadow. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udun!" Anor is the Elvish name for the Sun. Udun is the Depth, a concept usually associated with Hell. Gandalf says he is a servant of the Secret Fire and the wielder of the flame of the Sun.
"The White Wizard is cunning. He walks here and there, they say, as an old man hooded and cloaked. And everywhere his spies slip past our nets." "The White Wizard?" "Saruman." So here we see Saruman, the servant of the evil eye, Sauron, is called the "White Wizard".
Gollem is leading the Hobbits past dead faces in the water of the marshes. "There are dead things! Dead faces in the water. All dead. All rotten. Elves and Men and Orcses. A great battle long ago. Dead Marshes. Yes. Yes, that is their name. This way. Don't follow the lights. Careful now! Or Hobbits go down to join the dead ones and light little candles of their own. Don't follow the lights." Gollem is saying not to follow the lights because the lights are little candles of dead ones. He implies if they follow the lights they'll end up dead too. "They do not see what lies ahead, when sun has failed and moon is dead."
"I stayed out of thought and time. Stars wheeled overhead. I've been sent back until my task is done. That's what they used to call me: Gandalf the Grey. That was my name. (with a smile) I am Gandalf the White". Gandalf the Grey (grey alien?) was sent back by the light as the wielder of the Sun's secret fire and flame until his task is done. Now he calls himself Gandalf the White.
He instructs them, "Look to my coming at first light on the fifth day. At dawn. Look to the east." Not surprising as an emissary of the sun that he instructs them to look for him at dawn in the east.
Aragorn sees Arwen who tells him, "The light of the Evenstar does not wax and wane. It is mine to give to whom I will. Like my heart." He thinks he is dreaming, flashing back to the scene in the first movie. "This is a dream." Arwen bends down to kiss him and says, "Then it is a good dream."
Smeagol says, "Cruel Men hurts us. Master tricksed us." Gollum says, "Of course he did. I told you he was tricksy. I told you he was false."
Aragorn turns to the window and sees the first light of the sun streaming through it. He recalls Gandalf's words, "Look to my coming at first light on the fifth day. At dawn ... look to the east. "
Gollum exclaims, "Master betrayed us. Wicked. Tricksy. False. We ought to wring his filthy little neck. Kill him! Kill him! Kill them both. And then we take the precious and we be the master!"
Arwen: "From the ashes a fire shall be woken. A light from the shadow shall spring. Renewed shall be blade that was broken. The crownless again shall be king." This is so reminiscent of the phoenix fire bird rising from the ashes. The phoenix as i have said represents Quetzalcoatl / Venus / Lucifer. They hope that from the ashes the fire of Lucifer will awake and though he is crownless he shall be king.
Elrond informs Aragorn that Arwen is dying. "Arwen is dying." "She stayed?" "She will not long survive the evil that now spreads from Mordor. Elron looks at the Evenstar around Aragorn's neck. "The light of the Evenstar is failing. As Sauron's power grows, her strength wanes. Arwen's life is now tied to the fate of the Ring. The Shadow is upon us, Aragorn, the end has come."
"Death is just another path, one that we all must take. The grey rain curtain of this world rolls back... and all turns to silver glass. And then you see it. And then you see it. "What, Gandalf? See what?" "White shores and beyond. A far green country under a swift sunrise."
"It's going to the Great Eye along with everything else."
"I Aear can vên na mar. The Sea calls us home." Elrond holds out his arms to Bilbo. "I think I'm quite ready for another adventure."
Cersei Lannister is a fictional character in the A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin. I had already written this article and a few days later I wondered about Game of Thrones. I had never seen it before, but knew it was crazy popular and all about the ruthless power of thrones, of kings and queens. So I wondered who the villain or queen was. When I googled it and discovered Cersei is the main queen and she is considered evil, it was no surprise to me since I had written that Circe (pronounced the same way) was one of the forms of the goddess commonly worshiped. A couple of the memes for Game of Thrones are "You win or you die" and "All men must die". **
Another character is the Moon-Pale Maiden, a deity worshiped in Essos. It is visited by sailors.
The House Targaryen is one of the House in Game of Thrones. Targaryen may be derivative of tarragon whose Latin name is Artemisia Dranculus. Artemisia is Artemis, goddess of the moon and hunt. Dranculus is "little dragon." Their sigil is even a three headed dragon.
Three hand maidens are talking. "A trader from Garth told me that dragons come from the moon."
"The moon?" "He told me the moon was an egg, Khaleesi. that once there were two moons in the sky.
But one wandered too close
to the sun and it cracked from the heat.
Out of it poured a thousand
thousand dragons
and they drank
the sun's fire."
"Moon is no egg. Moon is goddess -- wife of sun. It is known."
Queen Cersei is the Evil Queen archetype. She tells someone, "When you play the Game of Thrones, you win or die. There is no middle ground." In one of the books the series is based on, A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 2), she says, "Love is poison. A sweet poison, yes, but it will kill you all the same." In season 6 she plainly states, "I choose violence." Another quote from her: “Look at me! Look at my face! It’s the last thing you’ll see before you die.”
Edgar Allan Poe was known for his grim and terrifying poems about death. I mentioned his poem The Conqueror Worm in my article on parasites. Even though he only wrote about fifty poems, at least four or five dealt with the moon and Venus. One was even named Evening Star. It portrays Venus, the Evening Star, as a warmer light to be admired. The other more revealing poem, Ulalume, actually portrays Venus as a deceptive light.
Evening Star by Edgar Allan Poe
’Twas noontide of summer,
And mid-time of night;
And stars, in their orbits,
Shone pale, thro’ the light
Of the brighter, cold moon,
’Mid planets her slaves,
Herself in the Heavens,
Her beam on the waves.
I gaz’d awhile
On her cold smile;
Too cold — too cold for me —
There pass’d, as a shroud,
A fleecy cloud,
And I turn’d away to thee,
Proud Evening Star,
In thy glory afar,
And dearer thy beam shall be;
For joy to my heart
Is the proud part
Thou bearest in Heav’n at night,
And more I admire
Thy distant fire,
Than that colder, lowly light.
Analysis: The poem praises and admires Venus, the Evening Star, as being warmer than the colder moon.
In the following poem, Ulalume, Edgar again writes of the moon (Dian/Diana) and Venus which he calls by her Phoenician name, Astarte. He may also be alluding to Sirius, the dog star ("serious", Sere"). He mentioned "dog star" in another poem. Lethean refers to the river of Lethe or forgetfulness. Ula means "gem of the sea" and "lume" may refer to light, luminous, luminosity. Aphrodite (Venus), the goddess of Cyprus. For the Ancient Greeks she was the goddess of Cyprus and originated in Cyprus, born from the foam of the sea. The Cypress Tree is sacred to Hades, Artemis & Aphrodite (Venus).
In the poem he is traveling with his soul through a Titan alley (tunnel?), sees the lustrous light of Venus and is attracted by it. His soul feels that there is something not trustworthy about the light and wants to fly away. Venus is said to be in a region of sighs and revels on the sighs. The light has led him to a tomb and he asks what demon has led him there. Ghouls, which are known to feast on men, are mentioned. And finally a secret, a thing that lies hidden, the "spectre of a planet from the limbo of lunary souls" and the sinful planet "from the hell of planetary souls".
To -- -- --. Ulalume: A Ballad
BY EDGAR ALLAN POE
The skies they were ashen and sober;
The leaves they were crispéd and sere—
The leaves they were withering and sere;
It was night in the lonesome October
Of my most immemorial year;
It was hard by the dim lake of Auber,
In the misty mid region of Weir—
It was down by the dank tarn of Auber,
In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.
Here once, through an alley Titanic,
Of cypress, I roamed with my Soul—
Of cypress, with Psyche, my Soul.
These were days when my heart was volcanic
As the scoriac rivers that roll—
As the lavas that restlessly roll
Their sulphurous currents down Yaanek
In the ultimate climes of the pole—
That groan as they roll down Mount Yaanek
In the realms of the boreal pole.
Our talk had been serious and sober,
But our thoughts they were palsied and sere—
Our memories were treacherous and sere—
For we knew not the month was October,
And we marked not the night of the year—
(Ah, night of all nights in the year!)
We noted not the dim lake of Auber—
(Though once we had journeyed down here)—
We remembered not the dank tarn of Auber,
Nor the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.
And now, as the night was senescent
And star-dials pointed to morn—
As the star-dials hinted of morn—
At the end of our path a liquescent
And nebulous lustre was born,
Out of which a miraculous crescent
Arose with a duplicate horn—
Astarte's bediamonded crescent
Distinct with its duplicate horn.
And I said—"She is warmer than Dian:
She rolls through an ether of sighs—
She revels in a region of sighs:
She has seen that the tears are not dry on
These cheeks, where the worm never dies,
And has come past the stars of the Lion
To point us the path to the skies—
To the Lethean peace of the skies—
Come up, in despite of the Lion,
To shine on us with her bright eyes—
Come up through the lair of the Lion,
With love in her luminous eyes."
But Psyche, uplifting her finger,
Said—"Sadly this star I mistrust—
Her pallor I strangely mistrust:—
Oh, hasten! oh, let us not linger!
Oh, fly!—let us fly!—for we must."
In terror she spoke, letting sink her
Wings till they trailed in the dust—
In agony sobbed, letting sink her
Plumes till they trailed in the dust—
Till they sorrowfully trailed in the dust.
I replied—"This is nothing but dreaming:
Let us on by this tremulous light!
Let us bathe in this crystalline light!
Its Sybilic splendor is beaming
With Hope and in Beauty to-night:—
See!—it flickers up the sky through the night!
Ah, we safely may trust to its gleaming,
And be sure it will lead us aright—
We safely may trust to a gleaming
That cannot but guide us aright,
Since it flickers up to Heaven through the night."
Thus I pacified Psyche and kissed her,
And tempted her out of her gloom—
And conquered her scruples and gloom:
And we passed to the end of the vista,
But were stopped by the door of a tomb—
By the door of a legended tomb;
And I said—"What is written, sweet sister,
On the door of this legended tomb?"
She replied—"Ulalume—Ulalume—
'Tis the vault of thy lost Ulalume!"
Then my heart it grew ashen and sober
As the leaves that were crispèd and sere—
As the leaves that were withering and sere,
And I cried—"It was surely October
On this very night of last year
That I journeyed—I journeyed down here—
That I brought a dread burden down here—
On this night of all nights in the year,
Oh, what demon has tempted me here?
Well I know, now, this dim lake of Auber—
This misty mid region of Weir—
Well I know, now, this dank tarn of Auber—
In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir."
Said we, then—the two, then—"Ah, can it
Have been that the woodlandish ghouls—
The pitiful, the merciful ghouls—
To bar up our way and to ban it
From the secret that lies in these wolds—
From the thing that lies hidden in these wolds—
Had drawn up the spectre of a planet
From the limbo of lunary souls—
This sinfully scintillant planet
From the Hell of the planetary souls?
Eulalie — A Song
I dwelt alone In a world of moan,
And my soul was a stagnant tide,
Till the fair and gentle Eulalie became my blushing bride —
Till the yellow-haired young Eulalie became my smiling bride.
Ah, less — less bright
The stars of the night
Than the eyes of the radiant girl!
And never a flake
That the vapor can make
With the moon-tints of purple and pearl,
Can vie with the modest Eulalie’s most unregarded curl —
Can compare with the bright-eyed Eulalie’s most humble and careless curl.
Now Doubt — now Pain
Come never again,
For her soul gives me sigh for sigh,
While all day long
Shines, bright and strong,
Astarté within the sky,
And ever to her dear Eulalie upturns her matron eye —
And ever to her young Eulalie upturns her violet eye.
Analysis: The girl's name Eula \e(u)-la\ is a variant of Eulalia (Greek) and Ula (Scandinavian, Celtic, Hawaiian), and the meaning of Eula is "well-spoken; wealthy; gem of the sea; sacred red". Venus as Astarte is once again mentioned by name. Venus is yellow so the yellow-haired radiant girl Eulalie is likely Venus.
To Helen
I SAW thee once — once only — years ago: I must not say how many — but not many.
It was a July midnight; and from out A full-orbed moon, that, like thine own soul, soaring,
Sought a precipitant pathway up through heaven, There fell a silvery-silken veil of light,
With quietude, and sultriness, and slumber, Upon the upturn’d faces of a thousand
Roses that grew in an enchanted garden, Where no wind dared to stir, unless on tip-toe —
Fell on the upturn’d faces of these roses That gave out, in return for the love-light,
Their odorous souls in an ecstatic death — Fell on the upturn’d faces of these roses
That smiled and died in this parterre, enchanted By thee and by the poetry of thy presence.
Clad all in white, upon a violet bank I see [[saw]] thee half reclining; while the moon
Fell on the upturn’d faces of the roses, And on thine own, upturn’d — alas! in sorrow!
Was it not Fate that, on this July midnight —Was it not Fate (whose name is also Sorrow)
That bade me pause before that garden-gate To breathe the incense of those slumbering roses?
No footstep stirred: the hated world all slept, Save only thee and me. I paused — I looked —
And in an instant all things disappeared. (Ah, bear in mind this garden was enchanted!)
The pearly lustre of the moon went out: The mossy banks and the meandering paths,
The happy flowers and the repining trees, Were seen no more: the very roses’ odors [column 2:]
Died in the arms of the adoring airs. All — all expired save thee — save less than thou:
Save only the divine light in thine eyes — Save but the soul in thine uplifted eyes.
I saw but them — they were the world to me. I saw but them — saw only them for hours —
Saw only them until the moon went down. What wild heart-histories seemed to lie enwritten
Upon those crystalline, celestial spheres! How dark a wo! yet how sublime a hope!
How silently serene a sea of pride! How daring an ambition! yet how deep —
How fathomless a capacity for love! But now, at length, dear Dian sank from sight,
Into a western couch of thunder-cloud, And thou, a ghost, amid the entombing trees
Didst glide away. Only thine eyes remained. They would not go — they never yet have gone.
Lighting my lonely pathway home that night,They have not left me (as my hopes have) since.
They follow me — they lead me through the years. They are my ministers — yet I their slave.
Their office is to illumine and enkindle — My duty to be saved by their bright light
And purified in their electric fire — And sanctified in their elysian fire.
They fill my soul with Beauty (which is Hope,) And are far up in Heaven, the stars I kneel to
In the sad, silent watches of my night; While even in the meridian glare of day
I see them still — two sweetly scintillant Venuses, unextinguished by the sun!
Analysis: Venus is once again mentioned by name. Seems as though both the moon and Venus are said to be Venuses. Dian is Diana, the moon goddess. He kneels to them and says he is their slave. He says they light his path home. He says they save his soul by purifying them in electric fire.
The White Goddess is a book by Robert Graves. "Graves proposes the existence of a European deity, the 'White Goddess of Birth, Love and Death', much similar to the Mother Goddess, inspired and represented by the phases of the moon, who lies behind the faces of the diverse goddesses of various European and pagan mythologies."
"His thesis is that old religions were fertility cults that revolved around the worship and periodic sacrifice of a sacred king. Frazer proposed that mankind progresses from magic through religious belief to scientific thought.
Frazer's thesis was developed in relation to J. M. W. Turner's painting of The Golden Bough, a sacred grove where a certain tree grew day and night. It was a transfigured landscape in a dream-like vision of the woodland lake of Nemi, 'Diana's Mirror', where religious ceremonies and the "fulfillment of vows" of priests and kings were held.
The king was the incarnation of a dying and reviving god, a solar deity who underwent a mystic marriage to a goddess of the Earth. He died at the harvest and was reincarnated in the spring. Frazer claims that this legend of rebirth is central to almost all of the world's mythologies."
Brian May of Queen explained that he took the idea for the song My Fairy King while reading The White Goddess by Robert Graves. "My fairy king can see things. He rules the air and turns the tides that are not there for you and me. Oh, yeah. He guides the winds. My fairy king can do right and nothing wrong..... Someone has drained the colour from my wings, broken my fairy circle ring and shamed the king in all his pride, changed the winds and wronged the tides.
Mother Mercury, look what they've done to me.
I cannot run, I cannot hide."
May also wrote another Queen song,The White Queen. "My lady soon will stir this way.
In sorrow known,
The White Queen walks and
the night grows pale.
Stars of lovingness in her hair... The mother of the willow green.
I call her name and 'neath her window have I stayed.
I loved the footsteps that she made and when she came.
White Queen, how my heart did ache and dry my lips no word would make.
So still I wait. My goddess, hear my darkest fear.
I speak too late.
It's for evermore that I wait."
In the epic Queen song Bohemian Rhapsody Freddie Mercury sings, "Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide No escape from reality..." Those lines seem to have been influenced by a scene from Mozart's The Magic Flute which was released as a movie in the same year the song was released.
"Anyway the wind blows, doesn't really matter to me, to me. Mama, just killed a man... " I know this is supposed to be a coming out song for Mercury, but if you consider the title and lyrics, it sounds like it is about the bohemian lifestyle and he may have killed his own ego, resulting in ego death. "Carry on, carry on, as if nothing really matters... I don't want to die... I see a little silhouetto of a man. Scaramouch, Scaramouch..." A Shadow being and Scaramouch is a trickster. " Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me for me for me... Nothing really matters Anyone can see nothing really matters . Nothing really matters to me. Anyway the wind blows." This song is like a classic scene from Bohemian Grove where the elite gather for the Cremation of Care ceremony. Freddie has successfully cremated his care. He doesn;t care anymore. Nothing matters to him. Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream also takes place in a grove and references are made to weaving spiders, one of the camps at Bohemian Grove. During the ceremony the announcer yells "Fool, Fool", another line from the play. Also, he says "Midsummer sets us free."
I would bet Brian May is not the only rock star to have been influenced by The White Goddess. Robert Plant, the lead singer for Led Zeppelin, wrote many lyrics associated with J.R.R. Tolkein's The Lord of the Rings. In Ramble On he sings, "But now it's time for me to go. The autumn moon lights my way....Ramble on. Gotta find the queen of all my dreams... How years ago in days of old when magic filled the air. 'T was in the darkest depths of Mordor. I met a girl so fair. But Gollum and the evil one crept up and slipped away with her... I listen to my bluebird sing. I can't find my bluebird. I keep rambling, baby." The Led Zeppelin song The Battle of Evermore was obviously influenced by The Lord of the Rings as well: "The Queen of Light took her bow and then she turned to go, The Prince of Peace embraced the gloom and walked the night alone. Oh, dance in the dark of night, sing to the morning light. The dark Lord rides in force tonight... I'm waiting for the angels of Avalon, waiting for the eastern glow... Tired eyes on the sunrise, waiting for the eastern glow. The pain of war cannot exceed the woe of aftermath. The drums will shake the castle wall, the ring wraiths ride in black, ride on. Sing as you raise your bow,... The magic runes are writ in gold to bring the balance back, bring it back. At last the sun is shining, the clouds of blue roll by, with flames from the dragon of darkness the sunlight blinds his eyes."
In Stairway to Heaven Plant sings, "There's a Lady who's sure all that glitters is gold and she's buying a stairway to heaven... And it's whispered that soon, If we all call the tune then The Piper will lead us to reason and a new day will dawn... If there's a bustle in your hedgerow don't be alarmed now. It's just a Spring clean for the May Queen... The Piper's calling you to join him. Dear Lady, can you hear the wind blow and did you know your stairway lies on the whispering wind... There walks a Lady we all know who shines white light and wants to show how everything still turns to gold and if you listen very hard the tune will come to you at last when all are one and one is all, to be a rock and not to roll. And she's buying the stairway to heaven."
Just who is the Piper that Plant says is calling you with his music to join him? Their song Houses of the Holy just might answer that question: "From the houses of the holy, we can watch the white doves go. From the door comes Satan's daughter, and it only goes to show, you know. There's an angel on my shoulder, in my hand a sword of gold. Let me wander in your garden and the seeds of love I'll sow, you know. So the world is spinning faster. Are you dizzy when you're stoned ? Let the music be your master. Will you heed the master's call? Oh, Satan and man."
The Eagles sing of another lady with light showing the way in Hotel California. "Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light. My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim. I had to stop for the night. There she stood in the doorway; I heard the mission bell and I was thinking to myself 'This could be Heaven or this could be Hell'. Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way. There were voices down the corridor, I thought I heard them say, 'Welcome to the Hotel California'... And she said, 'we are all just prisoners here, of our own device'. And in the master's chambers, they gathered for the feast. They stab it with their steely knives, but they just can't kill the beast... Last thing I remember, I was running for the door. I had to find the passage back to the place I was before. 'Relax' said the night man, 'We are programmed to receive. You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave!' "
Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones wrote the song Goddess in the Doorway from his solo album of the same name. "Demons in the bedroom. Dogs are on the roof. I am in the basement looking for the truth... Her flesh is smooth and supple and velvet as the night. Her eyes are shot with diamonds, a mouth full of delight. There's a goddess in the doorway asking how much can I take and it looks like she's heading my way. There's a goddess in the doorway and her tears flow like a fountain, like a river from the mountain".
He also wrote the lyrics for The Rolling Stones song Sympathy for the Devil which is about Lucifer. Mick Jagger sings, "Please allow me to introduce myself. I'm a man of wealth and taste. I've been around for a long, long year Stole many a man's soul to waste... Pleased to meet you, Hope you guess my name. But what's puzzling you is the nature of my game... Just as every cop is a criminal and all the sinners saints, as heads is tails just call me Lucifer 'cause I'm in need of some restraint. So if you meet me have some courtesy. Have some sympathy, and some taste. Use all your well-learned politesse or I'll lay your soul to waste."
Jay-Z wrote a song named Lucifer. "Lucifer Lucifer, dawn of de morning! I'm gonna chase you out of earth" That line is sampled from another song. It really should be "son of the morning" (or perhaps "sun of the morning"), but it was sped up. The last line of the song, "And if you feel in my heart that I long for revenge, please blame it on the son of the mornin'. " It's interesting that the name for daybreak can be either male or female: Don or Dawn.
Tori Amos wrote Father Lucifer. "Father Lucifer, you never looked so sane.
You always did prefer the drizzle to the rain.
Tell me that you're still in love with that milkmaid.
How's the Lizzies?
How's your Jesus Christ been hanging?" Tori has explained the meaning of the song and it sounds like she encountered him while taking ayahuasca. "I was taking drugs with a South American shaman and I really did visit the Devil and I had a journey." [VH1 Storytellers - 1998] "I've been taking tea with Lucifer. I mean I've truly spent time with Lucifer, the energy of Lucifer. So when I sing, 'Father Lucifer, you never looked so sane,' I truly went to those places. I'm talking about the shadow side, the secrets of the unconscious. It's about claiming in ourselves what we hate in other people." [Dazed & Confused magazine - 1996] "There were high spots, like my chat with Lucifer...You begin to face your fears -- that's what it's really all about. Being alone forces you to do that.... It was the transition of womanhood for me, and I had to go visit Lucifer to make a descent. We had to go have a cup of tea, cut a deal and the deal was: No Censorship. [Making Music - Jan 1996] Father Lucifer is about needing to go to the space of shadow, to go where we hide. Not Satanism. A whole different plane." [The Baltimore Sun - Jan 21, 1996] "I went to go visit Lucifer to get my talisman, which means my little magic key that took me to the places that I hadn't let myself go. That's really about having a little tango, a little dance, with Lucifer. The idea that Dark is not a scary thing if you go in there understanding there is a purity in Darkness. There's also a lot of distortion in Darkness. It's a choice where you want to go, and I wanted to get to the truth, not to the drama and to keeping me from the truth." [Modern Rock Live - Feb 5, 1996] What Tori said there is interesting because Cinderella gets the key from her black cat, Lucifer, to unlock her bedroom door and set her free .
Other comments from Tori about the song: "I wanted to marry Lucifer... Even though I had a crush on Jesus. Lucifer was the brother holding the space for mankind/womankind to act out their fears and hidden secrets, things they won't acknowledge. That's what the shadow is, the side that's been denied, and once you don't deny your shadow anymore then it's not a perversion of that energy source. I don't consider Lucifer an evil force. We can all tap into that free-running current of distorted energy... Some of my girlfriends -- liberal London girls -- had a problem with the idea that I was writing a song called Father Lucifer. One of them heard it and cried and said, 'You made him so beautiful,' and I said, 'What if he is beautiful?' Shadow defines light. The shadow is where I hang out a lot because I like chasing and diving with those forces." [Spin - March 1996] "When I went to Lucifer I learned many things... there's so much religious reference and metaphor coming back full circle from the myths. A part of her loved Lucifer, a part of her tried to find him in so many men that couldn't carry his energy... And I am not talking about Satanism... that's the distortion of those who can't really claim the dark so they become evil because they are not really claiming their shadow. So we claim our shadow, then we go and meet the Widow. Then we pick up pieces as we go." [B-Side - May/June 1996]
Eric Clapton wrote the music for the Cream song Tales of Brave Ulysses. "You thought the leaden winter would bring you down forever, but you rode upon a steamer to the violence of the sun. And the colors of the sea blind your eyes with trembling mermaids. And you touch the distant beaches with tales of brave Ulysses, how his naked ears were tortured by the sirens sweetly singing. For the sparkling waves are calling you to kiss their white laced lips. And you see a girl's brown body dancing through the turquoise and her footprints make you follow where the sky loves the sea. And when your fingers find her, she drowns you in her body, carving deep blue ripples in the tissues of your mind. The tiny purple fishes run laughing through your fingers and you want to take her with you to the hard land of the winter. Her name is Aphrodite and she rides a crimson shell. And you know you cannot leave her for you touched the distant sands with tales of brave Ulysses, how his naked ears were tortured by the sirens sweetly singing. The tiny purple fishes run laughing through your fingers and you want to take her with you to the hard land of the winter."
Venus Isle by the guitar virtuoso, Eric Johnson: "Long ago, from the wonderland was a girl named Eve.
She came to Earth from the mermaid sea...
I'll be seeing you.
Climb into the skyride for a better view.
Let's make connection get on back in style while we are here in the Venus Isle...
And from her isle she said her goodbyes and blasted off to the stars."
Isis by Bob Dylan: "I married Isis on the fifth day of May... I came to a high place of darkness and light.
The dividing line ran through the center of town... As we rode through the canyons, through the devilish cold,
I was thinkin' about Isis, how she thought I was so reckless, how she told me that one day we would meet up again and things would be different the next time we wed... We chopped through the night and we chopped through the dawn... Then I went back to find Isis just to tell her I love her.
She was there in the meadow where the creek used to rise, blinded by sleep and in need of a bed.
I came in from the east with the sun in my eyes... Isis, oh, Isis, you mystical child.
What drives me to you is what drives me insane."
False Light by Isis: "Come down on me, my sweet angel. Poison milk from that withering breast. Come down on me sweet suffocation. Poison milk from that withering breast. Your mask is drifting. See what writhes beneath. Porcelain grin is cracking, incest to uncoil. Your laugh spreads yawning, black hole formation. Drown and the first real breath takes hold. Washed in a chill so peaceful, sink further. Hold his hand and crush it. The depth of the charm is infinite. Discover bliss and serenity in drowning. "
Another song by Isis is Garden of Light. " I fell asleep in a world dressed in green only to awake in a garden divine. There was song and dance and untarnished flesh, a feast for the body and eyes. It was you who brought me here. Yours, whose face greeted me, in the garden of light. You are the face of god. You are my breath, my life, my death."
The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte) is a 1791 singspiel, or operatic sing-play, composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto written by Emanuel Schikaneder.
Schikaneder looked around some more and found a collection of fairy tales by Christoph Wieland. It was based on an older fairy tale called Lulu or The Magic Flute (Lulu, oder der Zauberflöte), a story by Jakob August Liebeskind, included in a collection of fairy tales published in 1786 under the title Dschinnistan. In fact, The Smurfs made a cartoon called The Smurfs and the Magic Flute. It was a Little Lulu production.
Lulu is a prince and is called "one who pipes for food and drink". Lulu plays the magic flute and has a magic ring that lets him take any form -- Lulu (Lucifer?). They were given to him by Periferihme, the Queen of the Fairies, also known as "the radiant fairy" with supernatural beauty. Lulu liked to go to the forest hoping to see the radiant fairy. "The fairy stepped out in her garments of light. Her outfit was whiter than the snow in bright sunshine and flashed, flickering as a dazzling mirror; but more than all the rest, her face beamed. Both her eyes poured out thick streams of a reddish light in all directions, as if the morning sun, three times brighter than it is when rising in a clear sky above the seas, floated dazzlingly before her forehead." She wants Lulu to go retrieve a piece of jewelry which was stolen by an evil magician. "... piece of gilded fire-steel, which the spirits of all elements and all the world obey. Any spark that I struck was a powerful spirit, in an arbitrary shape as my slave who as for my orders."
The characters may be derived from Persephone (Kore). The queen of the fairies is Periferihme and the Prince is the son of the king of Khorasan. She wants him to go to the magician's castle and retrieve the fire-steel for her and she promises as a reward her daughter, Sidi, who the magician has imprisoned. "So take this flute. It has the power to win for each listener love and all passions, which the player is able to excite or calm. Also take this ring; it gives you any shape you want, young or old, after you turn its diamond in-or outwards. If you’re in danger, and throw it from you; it will become a flying messenger who calls for my help. The rest I must leave to your own wisdom."
He approaches the castle and sits outside. "... he sat a few hundred paces from it under a lemon tree, put the flute to his mouth, and began to blow. Almost without noticing, he was enchanted by its sound, for he had never heard such tones as it made with each breath. When he breathed softly, then it sounded like the lisp of high peaks, where the evening wind whispers, or as if every nightingale in the valley sang a sweet lullaby to the sounds of a crying nymph. He breathed again heavily, and like this a thousand harmonious choirs swept down from all the mountains, as if the thunder roared over their heads and a buzzing raged in all the depths. Lulu loved the gentle thing. He soon piped like the gentle cooing of a turtledove, attracting the love of her husband; then like the frightened sound of a nightingale who sings a funereal song to the lost sweetheart. The birds of the valley gathered on the surrounding trees and listened to him. The deer and gazelles came from the nearby forests, gazing at him and straining their ears, so friendly, as if they understood the meaning of his playing."
The king hears the playing and despite thinking he is a thief he can't resist the beautiful playing. “Just come out,” thought Lulu, and he blew a lively little tune, as he would to attract maidens at a merry dance. The magician stood with an open mouth at the window, his brown eyes closed, the ears up and sharpened, like a hare that hears the horn of the hunter. The flute, meanwhile, had its effect. His suspicions vanished, the little tune got to him without his knowing, always sweeter and more alluring to him, until finally it became so merry around his heart, that he could no long withstand his curiosity. “Whoever the local thief may be, must the trill strike so beautifully?"
The king asks him where he got the flute. "From an old dervish, sir, an old juggler. He was called Kardan, had gone through the whole world, was able to transform into all sorts of animals, and had this flute carved himself, as he said. I was a beggar-boy. When he took me off the road, he taught me the fingerings and gave me the flute as he died."
"Again he quickly thought, put the flute to his mouth, and blew the mournful song of a prisoner who sighed for freedom in one’s darkening dungeon. The flute called and enticed, like the voice of the anxious mother who searches for her lost favorite; she clucks so fearfully, she coos so tenderly, as if with each sound from the human heart she groans a loud sigh. "
"With a merry gesture he put the flute to his mouth and breathed as happily as if he wanted to call out to the sad Sidi, “Loved one, rejoice with me! I have found the means of freeing you!” The little song hopped and floated so easily, like the wave of the brook that trickles from the rocks, like the midges and gnats in the sunshine. A sick person who heard it would have sprung from his bed and danced! "
The opera borrowed much of the fairy tale but added all the elements of the freemasonic rituals, including Isis and Osiris. In the original fairy tale the magician is evil, but the opera changed his character from evil to good. Prince Lulu is now named Prince Tamino and he has a companion who plays the pan pipes named Papageno. Both want to be initiates into the brotherhood, but Papageno is fun loving and a slave to his lower, animalistic nature whereas Tamino seeks the truth. The princess of the Queen of the Night is named Pamina, a feminized form of the name Tamino. Papageno is looking for his Papagena. The Queen says Sarastro is an evil sorceror, but Tamino finds out he is really a solar priest-king and not evil. In the original fairy tale, he really was evil so his character has been modified for the opera. Sorastro may be a variation of Zoroaster. Sar may be related to "saurus", lizard, so his name could conceivably mean "lizard star". The opera added all the freemasonic concepts of the temple of wisdom and the sun king.
The opera's libretto contains the words. Notice all the allusions to Isis and Osiris.
PAPAGENO: "I catch various birds for the star-blazing Queen and her ladies; every day in return I receive food and drink from her."
PAPAGENO: " See her? See the star-blazing Queen? What mortal can claim to have ever seen her? But - why are you looking at me so suspiciously?
SECOND LADY: "The Queen of the Night, our sovereign, has heard every word you have said. If this young man", she said, "is as bold and valiant as he is tender, then my daughter Pamina is saved!" TAMINO: " Saved?" THIRD LADY: " A powerful, evil demon named Sarastro has stolen her away."
[Note: The Queen of the Night sits on a throne decorated with stars.]
Sarastro: "You, servants consecrated in the temple of wisdom of the great gods Osiris and Isis, with a clear conscience I declare to you that our gathering today is one of the most important of our time. Tamino, the son of a king, has journeyed to the north gate of our temple. He wishes to tear off his veil of night and look into the sanctuary of great light. To offer him the hand of friendship should be our duty today!"
[Note: The veil of night is the veil of Isis. The goal is to become Isis Unveiled.]
No. 10 - Aria with Chorus... SARASTRO: "O Isis and Osiris, bestow the spirit of wisdom on this young couple! You who guide the wanderers' steps, strengthen them with patience in danger."
The Queen of the Night becomes angry. QUEEN OF THE NIGHT: "My heart is seething with hellish vengeance, death and despair are blazing around me!"
No. 18 - Priests' Chorus... PRIESTS: "O Isis and Osiris, what bliss! Dark night is banished by the sunlight, soon the noble youth will feel new life; soon he will be wholly devoted to our service. His spirit is bold, his heart is.... "
THE ARMOURED MEN: "Whoever walks along this path so full of troubles is purified by fire, water, air, and earth. If he can conquer the fear of death, he will soar from the earth up to heaven. Enlightened, he will then be able to devote himself wholly to the mysteries of Isis. "
PAMINA, TAMINO: "You gods, what a moment! The joy of Isis is granted to us!"
CHORUS OF PRIESTS: "from within Victory! Victory! You noble couple! You have overcome the danger, the consecration of Isis is now yours, come, enter the temple!"
THE THREE LADIES, MONOSTATOS: " To you, great Queen of the Night, we make our offering of vengeance!"
CHORUS: " Hail to you on your consecration! You have penetrated the night, thanks be given to you, Osiris, thanks to you, Isis! Strength has triumphed, rewarding beauty and wisdom with an everlasting crown! "
Die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute) was a production that aired on BBC in 2003. This production received rave reviews on IMDB with an impressive 9.0/10.0 rating. The language is German, but if you can find one with English subtitles it is still an enjoyable watch. It is rather fitting that the goddess of the night playing the role of Isis, I suppose, is named Diana Damrau in real life. Diana was also a Greek goddess of the moon. Diana and Isis are probably the two most recognized goddesses in Wicca, worshiped as The Lady.
The opera begins with our protagonist in darkness. He opens a door of light and emerges into the other side. He soon encounters a serpent monster. This could indicate manifesting reality from within the void and entering the world of chaos. He does not run in fear, but bravely faces the monster. As he falls to the ground, three women dressed in black, symbolizing priestesses of the Queen of the Night, appear and kill the monster. The moon goddess is a triune goddess due to the three types of phases of the moon. The moon goddess takes the form of a maiden, a mother or a crone corresponding to a new moon, crescent moon or a full moon, respectively. The three witches are often present together. Perhaps the monster is a creature from the Id or his subconscious. The serpent monster did not appear in the original fairy tale and its insertion may refer to the overcoming of this shadow monster, also known in freemasonry as an initiation rite known as the Dweller on the Threshold.
He wakes up to find a piper dressed in earthy tones who plays pan pipes. He says he is a bird trapper. He has a bird on his head which could indicate he is still of the earth and animalistic or it could just be camouflage for the birds. He says, "I know how to set a trap." He reveals that he is lonely and desires female companionship. "If I had a net for girls I'd catch them by the dozen. I'd keep them in a cage." He further explains, "I catch all kinds of birds for the blazing star Queen and her maidens." Tamino gets excited at the mentioning of the blazing star Queen. "Blazing star Queen? Could that be the Queen of Night? Have you been lucky enough to see this goddess of the night? What mortal eyes have ever seen through her web of dark veils?" The blazing star Queen, the Queen of Night and the goddess of the night with a veil is Isis, a goddess of the moon, as she was known in Sumer as the goddess Inanna, the Queen of Heaven, who had a net. The night is her veil and Helena Blavatsky wrote Isis Unveiled. In Egyptian mythology, Isis is associated with Sirius, which is rumored to be the Blazing star of freemasonry. Papageno lies and takes credit for slaying the dragon. This is similar to Peter Pan taking credit for sewing his shadow back on by himself. This veil of Isis, goddess of the night, may refer to the shadow archetype which needs to be transmuted into light.
The three Priestesses of the moon are angry at Papageno for lying and punish him by putting his mouth in a padlock so he can't speak. The three Priestesses were sent to show Prince Tamino a picture of the Queen's daughter, Pamina, who they say has been abducted by an evil sorceror, Sarastro. He falls in love with her in a case of love at first sight. The Queen of Darkness herself comes down in the form of a mother goddess and tells Pamino if he rescues her daughter, he can marry the Princess. She says one day her daughter was sitting alone in a cypress grove and was taken. She pleas with him to "console a grief-stricken mother's heart". Sarastro's name likely derives from the god Zoroaster. Aster/astro means "star" and sar may be related to the greek word for lizard, saurus, and if so, his name could conceivably mean "lizard star", but maybe not. After she leaves, the Prince is alone and wonders, "Did I imagine everything?"
The priestesses return and give Tamino a magic flute. "This magic flute will protect you and support you in adversity. You will have the power to change men's hearts... it can bring peace on Earth." The priestesses tell Papageno the Queen commands him to go with the prince but he wants to go on living his frivolous life. They give him "a set of chiming bells", a type of music box with a crank handle that cycles the images of the Sun, Moon and Earth as it plays." Silver bells and a magic flute protect from danger."
Three boys with wings arrive flying in a chariot. The Priestesses tell them, "Three boys fair and wise will journey with you. As they lead you on your way follow only their advice." The three boys are spirit guides / guardian angels / jinn / genies.
Papageno arrives at the castle ahead of Tamino. He wonders what kind of place this is. He tells Pamina, "Pretty lady with the chalk white face... the blazing star queen sent me." "My mother?" Papageno makes a checklist of her features: "Dark eyes, red lips. hair. Everything matches except the hands and feet." Are the hands and feet an inside joke about mermaids or sirens who have fused feet and webbed hands? Monostatos sees Papageno and says he must be the Devil. Pamina wonders, "What if this is a trap and this man is one of Sarastro's evil spirits?" Papageno says he is the nicest spirit.
In the 1975 movie The Magic Flute, Monostatos lusts after the fair maiden princess Pamina and compares her white skin to the white moon: "Oh, to have this maiden love me though of course she is taboo. Gentle moon up there above me, she is white and fair like you."
Tamino arrives at a place where there are three doors. He tries two but is told "Stand back". The third door he knocks three times and the door opens to what is called the Temple of Wisdom. There is a table with a model of the solar system. A Librarian is holding a book and a young boy is seated at the table with a book open recording. This could be an archive known as the akashic records or the Hall of Records. "Stranger, what are you seeking on this holy ground?" "The reward for love and virtue." "You are led by death and anger.""Anger against an evil man." "You will not find him here...you have been decieved" Tamino asks if she has been sacrificed? He asks when will he.... "When you take the hand of friendship and join the eternal brotherhood."
Talomino falls to his knees: "When will this endless night be over? When will my eyes see the light?" This is his dark night of the soul. Unseen voices tell him Pamina is still alive.
Tamino is elated to hear the good news and plays his flute. "If only every note I play could tell the gratitude of my heart." As he plays the flute, stags, lions, wild turkey, wolves, and even demons appear. He laments, "Even wild beasts are charmed yet Pamina alone does not come."
In the distance, Tamino hears Papageno's tune on his pan pipes and answers on his flute. He says, "Perhaps the tune will lead me to her."
Meanwhile, a host of Monostatos' slaves show up to kill Papageno and Pamina. Papageno remembers his magic bells and plays them. The bells are like a music box that plays a tune while it rotates images of the sun, moon and earth. The chimes mesmerize the slaves. They exclaim, "What a lovely tune!" Pamina says, "If everyone had chimes like these his enemies would vanish. Then he would live in true harmony."
Sarastro is coming and they become very fearful. Sarastro arrives with the sunset behind him, being carried on a throne between golden pillars flanked by gold lions. The lion is the symbol of the Demiurge. Notice the two men with brims on their hats that cause them to resemble Saturn and its rings.
His worshipers sing, "Long live Sarastro! May he always live in wisdom. We joyfully give ourselves to him. He is the one we worship and revere."
The princess tells him she tried to escape because Monostatos wanted her love (he was going to rape her). Sarastro acts compassionate with understanding yet proclaims, "I would not compel you to love, but I shall not set you free." Sarastro says her mother is in his power. He doesn't want to release her and says all joy would leave her and that her mother is a woman of pride. Pamina still wants to go to her mother. This sounds like the old good cop, bad cop routine as there would be no happiness for her in either case.
The Prince arrives. He and the Princess reunite and hug. Monostatos wants them punished, but Sarastro doesn't comply. He proclaims, "Lead these two to the Temple of Trials. Cover their heads for first they must be purified. When virtue and justice mark the path of great men then earth is a kingdom of heaven and mortals become divine." The covering of heads is well known within freemasonic rituals. I suppose this signifies that they are both still in darkness and have not yet entered the light. And that they need to be tested and then purified by a trial of fire.
Act II
Sarastros is in the library/archive/temple of Trials(?) looking at earth's globe with scribes writing on blackboards. He is wearing a scarlet robe with a large sun emblazoned on the chest and addressing a council of the gods.
"You who are dedicated to the great gods Osiris and Isis know that our gathering today is of great solemnity. Tamino is waiting at the gate of our temple. He wishes to tear the veil of darkness and look into the light. Let your duty be today to offer him the hand of friendship and guard this man of virtue." Is he virtuous, humble, charitable? He is. Do you consider him worthy? [They raise their hands.] The gods have chosen for Tamino the gentle, virtuous Pamina. This is why I took her away from her proud mother. This woman believes in her own greatness. She hopes to use deception and superstition to ensnare the people and destroy our temple. She must be stopped. Tamino will make us stronger and when he has joined us he will punish this wickedness."
three virtues of steadfastness, patience and silence.
"Isis and Osiris, grant wisdom to the young couple. You guide the wanderers' steps. Fortify them with patience. Allow them to see the fruits of their ordeal. If they should go to their deaths, reward their courage and welcome them into your home."
"Mother!" "Where is the young man I sent you?" "He has renounced the world forever and joined the Initiated." "Your father gave the Sevenfold Circle of the Sun to the Initiated. But Sarastro will guard the Circle of the Sun as resolutely as I have done."
" 'Do not seek what is beyond a woman's grasp.' You are to kill him and bring me the Circle of the Sun. Death and despair blaze around me. Gods of vengeance, hear a mother's vow."
"The man who carries his burden along this path is purified by fire, water, air and earth. If he can conquer the fear of death, he will ascend into heaven. Enlightenment will come upon him and he can dedicate himself to Isis."
"These are the gates of terror that threaten danger and death. I shall lead you while love is my guide. Play your magic flute so it protects us on our way. In an enchanted hour my father hewed it from a 1000-year-old oak while thunder and lightning raged. Come and play the flute so it leads us on our fearful way. By the power of its music we walk in joy through death's dark night."
"We passed through fiery flames and stood firm against danger. May the music protect us in water as it did fire. Gods, Isis has smiled upon us. Triumph, noble couple. You have overcome danger. You now belong to the fellowship of Isis. Come, enter the temple."
"To you, mighty Queen of Night." "Our power is destroyed. We are plunged into everlasting night."
"The sunlight drives away the night. It destroys the evil power of hypocrites. Hail, Initiates. You have broken through the darkness.
"We give you thanks, Osiris. Isis, our thanks to you. Courage has triumphed. Beauty and wisdom are rewarded with an everlasting crown."
It's interesting that they thank both Osiris and Isis. If Sirius is the blazing star and Isis is associated with it, then Isis is the Goddess of the Night. In fact, in Sumer Inanna / Isis was known as Queen of the Heavens. Why would they thank the Goddess of Night? Maybe because they are now friends with her and are part of her fellowship, that is they have integrated their shadow self or shadow archetype and transmuted the darkness into light as it says the "sunlight drives away the night" and they have "broken through the darkness". They could be thanking her for playing the game and providing the test.
A Midsummer's Night's Dream is a classic, a play written by William Shakespeare in 1595/1596. It concerns the marriage of a Duke to the Hippolyta, the former Queen of the Amazons, the lover's circle of four Athenian lovers and six amateur actors who plan to put on a play for the Duke. They go off into the woods to the realm of Fairyland under the moonlight to practice for the play. There they are accosted by fairies and also Robin Puck Goodfellow, a mischievous sprite. He is reminiscent of Peter Pan and Robin Hood. Puck is a well-known trickster.
Titania is the Queen of the fairies married to the King of the Fairies, Oberon. "Titania, a name derived from Ovid as an epithet of the Roman goddess Diana. Diana was regularly portrayed as the ruler of the fairy kingdom in demonological literature, such as King James VI of Scotland's Daemonologie... The concept of a Dianic queen of spirits influenced the neopagan cultures developed from Charles Godfrey Leland's concept of Aradia 'Queen of the Witches'... Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches begins with the tale of Aradia's birth to Diana and Lucifer, who is described as "the god of the Sun and of the Moon, the god of Light (Splendour), who was so proud of his beauty, and who for his pride was driven from Paradise."
"How, now, Spirit! Whither wander you?... I do wander everywhere Swifter than the moon's sphere And I serve the Queen of Fairies. Are not you he that frights the maidens of the village?"
Puck is a playful trickster sprite controlled by Oberon. Pucks plots for Oberon, "There sleeps Titania sometime of the night lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight and with the juice of this
I'll streak her eyes and make her full of hateful fantasies... And before I take this charm off From her sight I'll make her render up this boy to me
Take thou some of it and seek through this grove... Philomel, with melody Sing in our sweet lullaby Good night, with lullaby
Never harm, nor spell, nor charm Come our lovely lady nigh.
Good night, with lullaby Weaving spiders, come not here Hence, you long-legg'd spinners, hence
Beetles black, approach not near Worm do no offense.
Philomel, with melody Sing in our sweet lullaby Good night, with lullaby what thou seest when thou dost wake... Despised of the Athenian maid. And here's the maiden, sleeping sound. On the damp and dirty ground. Pretty soul. She dares not lie near this lack-love. Fool. Fool, upon thy eyes I throw
All the power this charm doth hold When thou wak'st, let love forbid
Sleep his seat on thy eyelid So awake when I am gone For I must go to Oberon".
"If I were fair Thisbe, I were only thine... I were only... Most radiant Pyramus, most lily-white of hue... Most lily-white of hue. Of color like the red rose on triumphant brier." "Helen, goddess, nymph. Perfect, divine."
"She has prevailed with him. And are you grown so high in his esteem because I am so dwarfish? And so low? How low am I, you painted maypole?"
Puck is instructed by Oberon, "You juggler! You thief of love! Thou see'st these lovers seek a place to fight. Hie, therefore, Puck, overcast the night with drooping fog. Go lead these men astray, so one come not within the other's way. Like to Lysander sometime frame thy tongue, then stir Demetrius up with bitter wrong... When they next wake, all this derision shall seem a dream and fruitless vision. Up and down, up and down. I will lead them up and down. I am feared in field and town. Goblin, lead them up and down."
"Dian's bud o'er Cupid's flower Hath such force and blessed power. My Titania, my sweet queen, now awake. My Oberon. What visions have I seen. Methought... I was enamored of... an ass. There lies your love. Oh. How came these things to pass? 0, mine eyes do loathe his visage now. Come, my queen. Take hands with me. Now thou and I are new in amity. Fairy king, attend and mark. Hmm, I do hear the morning lark."
"And I will get Peter Quince to write a ballad of this dream.
It shall be called 'Bottom's Dream' because it has no bottom.
And... I will sing it in the latter end of our play before the duke.
And perhaps to make it the more gracious... I shall sing it after death."
The play is finally put on for the Duke. An actor portays the moon, holding a lantern. He has his dog along his side, probably signifying the moon goddess Diana with her hunting dog (or maybe even Sirius, the dog star?) He recites, "Let us listen to the moon. Ahhh. This lanthorn doth the horned moon present myself the ma..." The Duke quips, "
He should have worn the horns on his head." The actor carries on, "This lanthorn doth the horned moon present
myself the man in the moon do seem to be. This dog..." Again the Duke interjects, "This is the greatest error of all the rest.
The man should be put into the lanthorn. How else is it the man in the moon?" The actor continues, " This lanthorn doth..." Interrupted again, "I am so weary of this moon, would he would change... Proceed, Moon." The actor quickly finishes, "All that I have say is that the lanthorn is the moon.
I, the man in the moon, this thorn-bush..."
A lion roars. "Well roared, Lion. Well run, Thisbe. And then came Pyramus.
Sweet moon I thank thee for thy sunny beams...
Ah, Fates, come, come. Cut thread and thrum." So there is a man in the moon and then a lion roars. The lion is usually the symbol of the sun.
A man dying on the ground proclaims, "Now am I dead. Now am I fled. My soul is in the sky.
Moon, take thy flight. Now die, die, die, die, die."
The Ninth Gate is a 1999 Roman Polanski film starring Johnny Depp. It's interesting that it is put out by Lionsgate Pictures. Depp plays a dealer of antique books. He is summoned by a client. Boris Balkan, to locate a rare book for which he will be well compensated.
The book dealer, Corso, attends a lecture by Balkan on demons and witches. While waiting for Balkan to finish he notices a woman sitting nearby. As she is pictured, Balkan states, "One of the first definitions of the word 'witch' and I quote,
"A witch is a person who, though cognizant of the laws of God,
endeavours to act through the medium of a pact with the devil."
After the lecture, Balkan takes Corso to his private collection to show him a rare book. Notice the framed photo behind him. Corso picks up the rare leather book. The book has an inverted pentacle on the cover. "The Nine Gates
in the Kingdom of Shadows.
You're familiar with it?" Corso answers in the affirmative. "Yes. Venice, 1666.
The author and printer,
Aristide Torchia." Notice is the 666 in the year of the date. Also, the name of the author may roughly translate to "lion torch".
Corso opens the book and leafs through the pages. He stops at an engraving and reads, "Silentium est aureum. Silence is golden." Balkan, "Precisely. Ever heard of the Delomelanicon?" "I've heard of it. It's a myth, isn't it? A book reputed to have been written by Satan." "No myth. That book existed. Torchia actually acquired it. The engravings you are now admiring were adapted by Torchia from the Delomelanicon. They form a kind of Satanic riddle. Correctly interpreted with the aid of the original text, they're reputed to conjure up the Prince of Darkness in person."
He zooms in on the knight in the engraving putting a finger to his lips to connote silence.
There are only three copies of the rare book and Balkan wants Corso to track down the others and compare them. He visits an owner of one of the books and finds the owner hung himself. He asks Mrs. Telfer, the widow, "The book, did he use it to perform some kind of ritual intended to produce a supernatural effect?" The widow replies, "Whatever he was up to, I certainly can't see him chanting mumbo jumbo or trying to raise the dead." "The devil, Mrs. Telfer. This book is designed to raise the devil. Sic luceat lux. 'Thus did the light shine.' "
Later, as Corso peruses through the copy of Balkan's book, he notices an engraving a woman riding the beast with seven heads and ten horns from the Book of Revelations. She looks like the girl he saw at the lecture. She is pointing to a castle in flames.
He takes the book to a book store dealing in antiquities. The owners are familiar with the book. "Have you studied the engravings?
They seem to have some underlying significance.
For example, this one
could be interpreted as a warning.
Venture too far, it says, and danger
will descend on you from above.
These books
often contain little puzzles.
Especially with such a collaborator." "Collaborator?", asks Corso. "You have not proceeded far
in your research.
Look close, and you see? Six engravings were signed by Aristide Torchia." "Yes, and the other three?" asks Corso. "This is one of them." He shows Corso an engraving signed with the initials L-C-F. "L-C-F.
Who was LCF?" asks Corso. The shop owner implores him, "Think." After a short pause, Corso inquires, "Lucifer?" "Very perceptive of you, signor." Corso leaves the shop, walking down an alley. An scaffolding falls from above and almost injures him. Later, as he is studying the book, he notices one of the engravings shows an angel with a bow and arrow pointed downward. The angel looks exactly like the shop owner, mustache and all.
Corso goes to visit another man with the book who is not cooperative. The girl takes him to see him again. The man is floating in a fountain outside his home. The girl says, "He drowned." Corso is suspicious, "With help from who?" The girl unsympathetically replies, "He's dead, who cares?" Corso is. "I do.
I could easily wind up the same way." The girl assures him, "Not with me around to look after you." Corso wonders, "You're my guardian angel." She adds, "If you say so." Corso asserts, "Someone's playing a game with me." The girl agrees, "And you're getting to like it." Notice the fountain has a giant engraving of a half-shell.
Outside the hotel is the Shell gasoline symbol. It is a shell in the form of a sunrise. The shell is the symbol of Aphrodite as she was born in the foam of the sea upon a half shell.
Corso visits another owner of the book. She tells him, "While studying in Prague he acquired
a copy of the dread Delomelanicon.
This is Torchia's adaptation
of that work,
which was written by Lucifer himself.
After they burned him at the stake,
a secret society was founded
to perpetuate its memory
and preserve its secrets.
The Order of the Silver Serpent." "A sect?" "A kind of witches' coven.
For centuries they have met
to read this book
and worship the Prince of Darkness."
Corso runs into trouble. An albino man with blonde cropped hair attacks him to steal the book. The girl literally floats down a stairway to help him. She rescues him a few times. One time she drives up in a red sports car. Corso notices a photo of a castle with a sunrise kept in one of the books. It is the same one that was hanging in Balkan's library.
There is a coven of witches meeting at the old castle. The albino man with short-cropped blonde hair is there along with the widow. A ceremony is taking place. Corso steals a black robe and attends in secret. Balkan busts through the doors interrupting the meeting. "Mumbo jumbo, mumbo jumbo.
Mumbo jumbo!
Mumbo jumbo.
Look around you, what do you see?
A bunch of buffoons in fancy dress.
You think the devil would deign
to manifest himself before you?
He never has and he never will.
Never!
You read from his book but you have
no conception of its true power.
I alone have grasped its secret.
I alone have fathomed
the master's grand design.
I alone am worthy to enjoy
the fruits of that discovery.
Absolute power
to determine my own destiny.
You're insane, give it back!
You, Liana de Saint-Martin,
you're even guiltier than
the rest of this rabble.
You have at least some idea
of what this book can do,
yet you lend yourself
to these farcical proceedings,
these orgies of ageing flesh
conducted in the master's name."
Later, Corso finds Balkan with the nine engravings of L-C-F. Balkan interprets the engravings, " The enigma is solved at last.
To travel in silence
by a long and circuitous route,
to brave the arrows of misfortune
and fear neither noose nor fire,
to play the greatest of all games
and win, foregoing no expense,
is to mock the vicissitudes of fate
and gain at last the key
that will unlock... the Ninth Gate." Notice it says it is indeed a game.
Balkan pours gasoline around him and ignites it, "I give you my allegiance, master. I pledge myself to you, body and soul. Let me fear neither noose nor fire nor poison. Erase me from the Book of Life, inscribe me in the Black Book of Death. Admit me to the Ninth Gate. Let it be so. Let it be so, now! I feel the power surge through me like an electric current, rendering me capable of any feat of mind or body. I'm invulnerable... I'm invincible... I can float on air, I can walk on water. Behold, I plunge my hands in fire, I feel no heat... It's miraculous! I feel nothing, nothing at all!" The fire engulfs him and he dies.
In the screenplay Balkan delivers a different interpretation: "eight doors come before the Serpent that guards the
word, Teth, Enea, Novem, Oded, the number nine, which holds the
final secret, the mystery of mysteries. The Serpent is the beast
that always sleeps with one eye open and is reflected in the
Mirror of Knowledge. (giggles triumphantly) Eight engravings plus
one, or one plus eight, which coincides with the number that St.
John of Patmos attributed to the Beast: 666... Three copies, but only nine of their twenty-seven
engravings hold the key, and I have them all! (tears out two more
engravings in quick succession) I have only to complete the
sequence. Then the Serpent will enter the seal of Saturn, and I -
I shall enter the Ninth Gate! Admay, Eloy, Agla, Zatel, Gebal,
Elimi, Ashtoreth, Moloch, Shamash, Dagon..." Ashtoreth is another name for Venus (Lucifer) and Shamash is the Sun. Interesting that it sounds like he is saying Saturn is the ninth gate, but he also mentions other gods/goddesses, including Ashtoreth (Venus) and Shamash (the Sun).
Corso returns to his car where the girl is. The girl seduces him and they make love outside the castle while it is aflame. The girl's green eyes start glowing and she has a demonic laugh.
They return to the car. Corso asks her, "Is that it? Is the game over?" Notice they mention in being a game again. She says, "For Balkan, yes. Not for you." Corso curiously asks, "Why didn't it work for Balkan?" She says, "The ninth engraving was a forgery." He wants the genuine engraving. "Where's the real one?" "I want it." She evades the question and enigmatically replies, "You're running low on gas." Immediately, he is shown pumping gas. The Shell gasoline symbol appears again. This is not a coincidence. It has to do with Venus/Lucifer's symbol being the shell. It is also a sunrise. It is also a symbol for fuel.
He goes to the castle at sunrise and walks through its gate as it crescendos into a blinding white light. One can only speculate as to the meaning of the ending. Did she lead him to enlightenment? Did she trick him into entering Hell? Regardless, I am convinced the Girl is Lucifer. She was shown while Balkan lectures about witches. She knows everything and helps him, even floating down stairs. He says she is his guardian angel. She was shown riding the beast. Her eyes glow and she smiles demonically while they make love. The Shell symbolism makes it even more apparent. Corso basically conjured her up the more and more he became involved in the book and its intention.
According to IMDB, "The car that Corso and The Girl drive in France, is a Dodge Viper. The model name is Viper (a venomous serpent) as Lucifer in Genesis was depicted, and the car itself is painted red, a fitting color for the devil."
In the screenplay there is a scene where the Girl asks Corso, "Do you believe in the Devil, Corso? Corso: "I'm being paid to. Do you?" THE GIRL (smiles): "I'm a bit of a devil myself... Would you know a devil if you saw one?" There is also the scene where her nose is bleeding and she takes the blood and makes the mark of a trident in blood on his forehead.
From the book on which the film is based, The Club Dumas: “Who are you?"
"The devil," she said. "The devil in love.”
And if that isn't enough to convince you, according to Fandom, "In the DVD commentary of the film, director explains that the Girl is the Devil, or rather a representation of the Devil."
This movie shows that Lucifer can have both a male and female aspect. Lucifer is usually the male form and Venus is the female form. In the screenplay Corso doesn't go to the castle at all. It ends with the he and the girl making love. It's interesting to me that Polanski completely altered the ending of the movie from the screenplay. I would love to take a look at a pdf file of the original book in English, The Club Dumas, if anyone has it. There's a copy of it on Scribd, but I am not a member.
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina centers around a girl, Sabrina, whose mother, Diana, was a powerful witch. Sabrina's full name is Sabrina Edwina Diana Spellman. Diana was the Greek goddess of the moon. Sabrina is targeted to join the coven of witches.
Throughout the series the winged statue of Baphomet is shown at the place of worship. The statue represents the balance of duality. one hand up, one down. It has been said to be Satanic as it has a horned goat's head. Once again here is another case where Lucifer may be represented as both male and female.
s01e02
Sabrina agrees to join the coven. "While the blood moon still shines, you must sign the Book of the Beast."
Sabrina takes the vows. "Do you believe in Lucifer, the archangel, who preferred the loss of Heaven to that of his pride?" "Yes, Father."
"In exchange for this belief, you shall be granted powers that will enable you to be of service to the Dark Lord.
Sabrina Edwina Diana Spellman, are you willing to forsake the Path of Light and follow the Path of Night wherever it may lead you?" "I am."
"And are you willing to place our Dark Lord above all others in your life, be it your loved ones, your family, your friends, your neighbors?" "I am."
"Then it is time to sign his book.
In signing his book, the Book of the Beast, you swear to obey without question any order you may receive from the Dark Lord, or from any figure he has placed in authority over you."
"That's not what you said before."
"In signing his book, the Book of the Beast, you swear to give your mind, body, and soul unreservedly to the furtherance of the designs of our Lord Satan."
Sabrina was misled and decides not to join.
s01e06
Sabrina leads an exorcism of a demon from a man. "I found out your real name, Apophis, the Devouring Worm."
[demon growling] "We call forth the witches from the shade.
Those who came before us, and died, so that we might live.
[all] Visit us, Sisters.
Intercede on our behalf.
I call forth the powers of Lilith of Aradia, of Morgan le Fay.
Visit us, Sisters.
Intercede on our behalf." Apophis: "I'm going to eat all your little friends, one by one." "
I call on Black Annis, I call on Anne Boleyn. I call on the Witch of Endor." [fire whooshes] [all] "Visit us, Sisters.
Intercede on our behalf." [gasps] [ropes creaking] [thunder crashes] "I call on Hecate, on Artemis, on Luna to expel this demon.
Expel Apophis.
Return him to the Dark Lord.
Visit us, Sisters.
Intercede on our behalf. I call on Hildegard of Bingen, I call Marie Laveau. I call Tituba, I call Mary Bradbury. Visit us, Sisters.
Intercede on our behalf. I call Nehman, Badb, Macha.
Visit us, Sisters.
Intercede on our behalf."
[thunder crashes] "It's not working.
Keep going.
Energies are gathering, you can feel them.
Keep going! Keep going! Keep going!" "I call Circe, I call Moll Dyer.
[all] Visit us, Sisters.
Intercede on our behalf."
s01e07
Here Freya (Venus) is mentioned as a powerful witch. "Feast of Feasts, Sabrina, is one of our coven's holiest holidays. It's similar to mortal Thanksgiving, but The menu is slightly different. It's meant to honor the single greatest sacrifice a witch ever made to save her coven." "Praise Sister Freya. May we meet again." "Who's Freya?" "A queen amongst witches. Centuries ago, the 14 women belonging to the earliest incarnation of the Church of Night were chased out of the township of Greendale into the hills, the forest. Hilda. The men of Greendale had hunted all the animals. So, you know, really, there was nothing to eat. The witches would've starved and died that winter, had it not been for the sacrifices of Freya, the youngest, a strongest witch. She, Freya, slit her own throat and offered up her body so that the coven would have sustenance through the cold months, into the spring. Praise Freya!" "Praise Freya!"
s01e10 (finale)
The lady most instrumental in bringing Sabrina along toward joining the coven is telling Sabrina's friend, "No one but me could've gotten Sabrina so far along the Path of Night." "Who the hell are you, lady?" "Who am I? Well, I'm not Mary Wardwell though I do enjoy her body. I'm the Mother of Demons, the Dawn of Doom, Satan's concubine.
I'm Lilith, dear boy.
First wife to Adam, saved from despair by a fallen angel.
I call myself Madame Satan in his honor.
But soon very soon I'll have a new title.
You see once I finish grooming Sabrina to take my place as Satan's foot-soldier, I'll earn a crown and a throne by his side.
Who am I? I'm the future Queen of Hell." The woman is revealed to be Lilith.
Supernatural is a TV series that has been running for 14 seasons now. One of the main characters is Lucifer. Lucifer assumes the form of many vessels, including women.
In s05e01, Sympathy For the Devil, Lucifer uses his dead wife as a vessel. "I'm an angel." He incredulously asks, "An angel?" She continues, "My name is Lucifer. This is your choice. You need to invite me in." He thinks he is dreaming and wants to wake up. "Even if this is real, which it's not, but assuming it was why the hell would I do something like that?" She explains, "You people misunderstand me. You call me Satan and Devil. But do you know my crime? I loved God too much and for that, he betrayed me punished me just as he's punished you. After all, how could God stand idly by while that man broke into your home and butchered your family in their beds? There are only two rational answers, Nick. Either he's sadistic or he simply doesn't care."
In s05e08, Changing Channels, "So I played the role the trickster wanted me to play. Maybe we just have to go along with it, with the game. I mean, we're on a game show, right?" Turns out the trickster was the archangel Gabriel. "Okay, Gabriel. how does an archangel become a trickster?" "I skipped out of heaven, had a face transplant, carved out my own little corner of the world".
"You know why God cast me down? Because I loved him. More than anything. And then, God created...you. The little... hairless apes. And then he asked all of us to bow down before you—to love you more than him. And I said 'Father... I can't.' I said, 'These human beings... are flawed, murderous.' And for that... God had Michael cast me into Hell. Now tell me, does the punishment fit the crime? Especially when I was right? Look at what six billion of you have done to this thing. And how many of you blame me for it? ” — Lucifer to Dean, about why he was cast down from Heaven, in The End
"Think about it: Dad made everything, which means He made me who I am. God wanted the Devil!"
s11e21
"I'm telling you guys, it's a mistake to get mixed up with Lucifer. Much as it pained me, I had to walk away.
Too much drama."
Tom Ellis stars as Lucifer Morningstar. The opening frame of the first episode explains the premise of the show: "The angel Lucifer was cast out of Heaven and condemned to rule Hell for all eternity. Until he decided to take a vacation." He comes to Los Angeles and helps solve crimes.
Lucifer has much in common with Venus. Venus is a goddess of beauty and Lucifer was the most beautiful angel. Venus is the goddess of love and desire. Lucifer is able to get people to confess their secret desires, And both are called the Morning Star. In fact, Lucifer's last name in the television show is Morningstar. He is sometimes called Luci. He speech and mannerisms are a bit effeminate although he is known to be a lusty ladies' man. "Sorry, I didn't introduce myself earlier.
Lucifer.
Morningstar." "Seriously?" "Yes, yes.
I'm the Devil, hope you'll hold it against me." "Lucifer Morningstar, the guy who owns Lux?" Lux, Latin for 'light' is the nightclub Lucifer owns. "That's me."
"The Devil doesn't get jealous. I'm the one who inspires passion in others."
"Look, remind Dad that I quit Hell because I was sick and tired of playing a part in his play." "I'm gonna warn you against disrespecting our father, Lucifer." "Yeah, well, our father's been disrespecting me since the beginning of time, so pot-kettle, don't you think?" "You are a mockery of everything divine." "Thank you. Thank you, but lately I've been doing a fair amount of thinking. Now, do you think I'm the Devil because I'm inherently evil, just because dear old Dad decided I was?"
"I have the ability to draw out people's forbidden desires." "I got it! The name, the whole Lucifer thing and desire's your superpower." "It's more like a gift from God really. Okay, look. Tell me, Detective,
what do you desire more than anything else in this life?"
His brother Amenadiel confronts him. "You're showing restraint, mercy." Lucifer retorts, "You scared I'm turning my back on the dark side, bro?" Amenadiel pleads, "Lucifer, there is a balance here that we must maintain.
I strongly suggest you do what I told you to do and go back to Hell." Lucifer ignores his request, "Don't threaten me, Amenadiel.
I mean, you don't want to start a war." Amenadiel chuckles, "I would love a war.
Oh, Luci."
"I'm good at punishing people nay, I'm the best at punishing bad people. I didn't enjoy it when my father forced me to, but now that it's on my own terms, it's downright delightful." "Yeah, well, I think you don't just enjoy punishing the bad guys. I think you're starting to like seeking justice for the good ones."
Lucifer sees a therapist to help him cope with the issues he's going through. Of course, she thinks he is delusional and not really the Devil. "Yes, because you're the Devil. You told me your names. But you left out a few others. Abaddon. Belial. Prince of Darkness." Lucifer is impressed, "Someone's been brushing up on their Sunday school." She continues, "Yes. But before you fell, you were known as Samael. The Lightbringer. "That was a name that connotated your father's love for you." Lucifer laughs, "Right. Was casting his son into Hell also an expression of his love?" The therapist disagrees, "Oh, God didn't cast you out of Heaven because he was angry with you. God cast you out because He needed you to do the most difficult of jobs. It was a gift." Lucifer takes offense to the remark, "Gift? He shunned me. He vilified me. He made me a torturer! Can you even begin to fathom what it was like? Eons spent providing a place for dead mortals to punish themselves? I mean, why do they blame me for all their little failings? As if I'd spent my days sitting on their shoulder, forcing them to commit acts they'd otherwise find repulsive. 'Oh, the Devil made me do it.' I have never made any one of them do anything. Never." The therapist sympathizes, "What happened to you is unfair." Lucifer adds, "Unfair? This is unjust. For all eternity, my name will be invoked to represent all their depravity. That is the gift that my father gave me." The therapist counters, "It was an act of love." "How do you know?" "Because you are his favorite son, Samael." "Do not call me that, please!" "You are his fallen angel. But here's the thing: When angels fall, they also rise. All you have to do is embrace all that you are."
In a subsequent episode he confides and bares his soul to his partner, Detective Decker. "Well, where do I begin? With the grandest fall in the history of time? Or perhaps the far more agonizing punishment that followed? To be blamed for every morsel of evil humanity's endured, every atrocity committed in my name? Trying to impress you as though I wanted people to suffer. All I ever wanted was to be my own man here. To be judged for my own doing."
Lucifer meets his forensics crime lab assistant and introduces himself. She is sympathetic to his name, "I think the Devil gets a bad rap. I mean, what did he really do that was so bad? Rebel against his dad? Ask some naked lady if she wanted an apple? I suppose he does run Hell. That's not so great, you know, with the torture and eternal damnation." Lucifer is delighted she understands. "I'm retired. And besides, I didn't create Hell. I just worked there." She assumes he is a method actor.
"I like giving people their due. Makes me happy. I suppose I can't ask for a better reason."
In the fourth season Lucifer's partner, Detective Chloe Decker, is trying to come to terms with the identity of Lucifer who has shown her his devil face. She asks the forensics expert her opinion on the Devil since she used to be religious. "Heaven and hell, they don't exist." "But what if they do exist?", asks Chloe. "Say, the devil." "He's not real. Chloe, look at the Bible. It's so full of contradictions. Fine. Take the devil, for example. The devil's supposed to be pure evil. But he started out as an angel. You can't start good and then turn all evil. It's what they want us to believe, right." "You're right. He's an angel." "No, my point is that it's all bullsh--."
Mother! is a movie heavily influenced by Christian, Gnostic teachings and the Kaballah. It is deeply symbolic. The main protagonists are a female and a male named "Him" and "Her". Him and Her are to be interpreted as God and the mother goddess, Mother Nature, Sophia.
The movie begins with Her in an apocalyptic fire. The next scene shows Him placing a crystal stone on a mantle inside the home. Her then wakes up in bed looking for Him. The female opens the front door looking out upon a veritable garden. The house and yard are representative of the garden of Eden.
Him is a writer, but his creativity has been blocked lately so he is unloving. Soon Him allows "Man" into the house. Man is a big fan of Him's work. Him tells Man how great Her is and shows Man the crystal. "I didn't know if I could ever create again until I found this in the ashes. Isn't that remarkable? Can I just... It gave me the strength to start again. And then I met her. You. And she breathed life back into every room. She redid all of it. Every last detail." Him tells Her why he likes Man. "His stories. I love the man's mind. It is so inspiring speaking to someone who really appreciates the work."
Later the wife of "Man", "Woman", shows up. Her tells Woman she is renovating the house. "I want to make it a paradise." Man and Woman become vulgar and troublesome to the couple. Man takes the crystal out of its holder and is showing it to Woman. The crystal is accidentally dropped onto the floor and is crushed. This is symbolic of the forbidden fruit. Him banishes Man and Woman from the house. "I think it's best if you leave.
They will never get in here again.
Well, don't worry. I'm kicking them out." Him kicks them out, symbolic of mankind being expelled from the garden by God. But the couple returns with their two sons. One of the sons murders the other akin to Cain murdering Abel. "What have you done to your brother?
My baby. My baby.
What did you do?"
Her becomes pregnant. "I'm pregnant.
We're gonna have a baby." Meanwhile, people are looting their home so Her calls 911. "Get out! All of you!
Stop! This doesn't belong to you!
911. What is your emergency?
Can you help me?
What is your emergency, ma'am?
They're stealing everything!" The people seem like zombies or demons stealing their energy and life force, reminiscent of the archons stealing Sophia's light.
Soon Him and Her have a beautiful son. "Do you hear that?
That's the sound of life.
The sound of humanity!
His cry of love!
His love for you." People come to give them gifts. But the crowd gets out of control and the baby is killed much like Jesus was killed. "Get off! Get off!
You killed him!
They killed my baby!"
Her is very upset and angry. Him says they must forgive. "But we can't...
We can't let him die for nothing. We can't.
Maybe what happened could change everything.
Everyone. What are you talking about? We...
You and I, we have to find
a way to forgive them."
The sink bursts and the house is flooded, expelling the people. There is an apocalyptic ending with fire, the same scene we see at the beginning with the female surrounded by flames. Him carries Her out of the flames as she is dying in his arms. Her tells Him, "You never loved me. You just loved how much I loved you.
I gave you everything!
You gave it all away." He cries, "No. No. No.
No, no, no, no!"
She asks, "What are you?"
He replies, "Me?
I am I.
You?
You were home."
The 'I am I' statement sounds like God saying 'I am that I am'. She asks, "Where are you taking me?" He says, "The beginning." She asks, "Is that it?" He tells her, "It won't hurt much longer." She laments, "What hurts me the most
is that I wasn't enough." He reveals, "It's not your fault.
Nothing is ever enough.
I couldn't create if it was.
And I have to. That's what I do.
That's what I am.
Now I must try it all again." She just wants to be freed, "No.
Just let me go." He requests, "I need one last thing." She is spent. "I have nothing left to give." He pleads, "Your love.
It's still there, isn't it?" She relents, "Go ahead.
Take it." Him reaches into her chest and Him takes her heart. He cleans it off revealing a crystal inside. He takes the crystal and places it on the mantle and magically restores the house again into pristine condition. The next scene we see is Her waking up in bed again looking for Him as if the world was created anew again from the beginning.
This is a keen insight into the nature of God as creator. The God in this film may be more the Demiurge than a true God, but raises interesting questions. Things are never enough. When is enough, enough? If things were perfect, it wold be boring. God needs imperfection. It's an endless cycle. God keeps feeding off the stories and our love to give him strength to exist at our expense.
Perhaps there is no better example of the maiden, mother and crone triune than The Wizard Of Oz. Of course, we are all familiar with Glinda, the Good Witch of the East and The Wicked Witch of the West, the old crone hag. But Dorothy can be considered a maiden. She lives on a farm and is a milkmaiden. In fact, "L. Frank Baum originally wrote The Milkmaid's Song for Dorothy to sing in the final act of his proposed 1901 musical comedy The Wizard of Oz. This version of the show was never produced. But it was later revised under Julian Mitchell's supervision and became a Broadway smash in 1903." Some of the lyrics are "Oh, the maid who minds the dairy is a barnyard dignitary and her rule is arbitrary where the brown-eyed bossies browse. Every day she has to putter, skimming milk and churning butter. And at twilight out she'll flutter with her pail to milk the cows!" It's interesting that twilight is mentioned as there is also a song Dorothy sings not used in the movie called Evening Star. It is in the 1942 musical The Wizard of Oz and is sung right after The Merry Old Land of Oz as Dorothy and her friends are given a tour of Emerald City before they meet the Wizard. "Day has come to rest, the sun is in the west, and now the purple shadows fall, this little star on high, softly to youni cry: Evening Star, you know what my feelings are, are they near or far? Tell me, Evening star, In the blue (in the blue) I breathe a sigh, a prayer to the one I love somewhere. Send your beams to the land where angels dream. Are they near or far, Evening star?"
"You're out of the woods, You're out of the dark, You're out of the night.
Step into the sun, Step into the light.
Keep straight ahead for the most glorious place
On the Face of the Earth or the sky.
Hold onto your breath, Hold onto your heart, Hold onto your hope.
March up to the gate and bid it open." That's what they sing right as they get to the emerald city.
The Wizard of Oz essentally contains the formula for how to escape this matrix and return home: Dorothy, clicking her heels, and repeating over and over again like a mantra "There's no place like home." In order to return home we definitely do need to maintain an Intention, will power and continual focus on raising our frequency, almost like repeating a mantra in our mind. Dorothy wakes up in bed in her room mat home realizing it was all just a dream.
I compared the movie to the book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. [Notice the usage of the word "wonderful" which means "full of wonder". This is similar to the usage in Alice's adventures in Wonderland.] There were some differences between the book and the movie.
In the book: The slippers are silver, not ruby red. There is no rainbow. Oz can take any form he wishes and he appears to Dorothy and her friends individually as an enormous head, a lovely lady, a terrible monster, and a ball of fire. Finally, when they all approach together he is invisible, just a voice. Instead of Toto pulling a curtain away, there is a screen which falls down. The Good Witch, Glinda, tells Dorothy to command the shoes to take her home instead of thinking 'There's no place like home'. Also, Dorothy was not dreaming it all like in the movie.
Check out these passages from the book, however, and compare them to the reports of the being of light in near death experiences who sits on the throne and is rarely seen to face to face, and seemingly always has a mission for the soul to do first before allowing access. Also, to the DMT reports which speak of a white room with a large dome and a light at the apex :
"Why, it is said that he never lets anyone come into his presence. I have been to the Emerald City many times, and it is a beautiful and wonderful place; but I have never been permitted to see the Great Oz, nor do I know of any living person who has seen him." "Does he never go out?" asked the Scarecrow. "Never. He sits day after day in the great Throne Room of his Palace, and even those who wait upon him do not see him face to face."
"What is he like?" asked the girl. "That is hard to tell," said the man thoughtfully. "You see, Oz is a Great Wizard, and can take on any form he wishes. So that some say he looks like a bird; and some say he looks like an elephant; and some say he looks like a cat. To others he appears as a beautiful fairy, or a brownie, or in any other form that pleases him. But who the real Oz is, when he is in his own form, no living person can tell." "That is very strange," said Dorothy, "but we must try, in some way, to see him, or we shall have made our journey for nothing."
"Why do you wish to see the terrible Oz?" asked the man. "I want him to give me some brains," said the Scarecrow eagerly. "Oh, Oz could do that easily enough," declared the man. "He has more brains than he needs." "And I want him to give me a heart," said the Tin Woodman. "That will not trouble him," continued the man, "for Oz has a large collection of hearts, of all sizes and shapes." "And I want him to give me courage," said the Cowardly Lion. "Oz keeps a great pot of courage in his Throne Room," said the man, "which he has covered with a golden plate, to keep it from running over. He will be glad to give you some." "And I want him to send me back to Kansas," said Dorothy. "Where is Kansas?" asked the man, with surprise. "I don't know," replied Dorothy sorrowfully, "but it is my home, and I'm sure it's somewhere."
"Very likely. Well, Oz can do anything; so I suppose he will find Kansas for you. But first you must get to see him, and that will be a hard task; for the Great Wizard does not like to see anyone, and he usually has his own way...
"Just to amuse myself, and keep the good people busy, I ordered them to build this City, and my Palace; and they did it all willingly and well. Then I thought, as the country was so green and beautiful, I would call it the Emerald City; and to make the name fit better I put green spectacles on all the people, so that everything they saw was green."
Dorothy now took Toto up solemnly in her arms, and having said one last good-bye she clapped the heels of her shoes together three times,
saying: "Take me home to Aunt Em!"
Instantly she was whirling through the air, so swiftly that all she could see or feel was the wind whistling past her ears.
The Silver Shoes took but three steps, and then she stopped so suddenly that she rolled over upon the grass several times before she knew where she was.
Everybody loves a story, especially a good one. After all, every individual's life is telling a unique story. And, collectively, it is all our stories that make up what we call His-story. Most people spend the bulk of their free time watching television, whether it be TV shows, movies or other forms of entertainment. Even sporting events tell a story of underdogs, heroes, scapegoats, come from behind victories in the form of Cinderella stories, the challenge of overcoming adversity, with lots of drama, conflict and a resolution. Recently, one of the most common and popular forms of stories are reality shows. Perhaps the first reality show ever was aptly called The Real World. Shakespeare said all the world's a stage and we are merely players. And reality shows like Survival, Lost, America's Got Talent and American Idol need a good backstory. Most of the acts that advance anymore need to have a sympathetic backstory to pull on the heartstrings to make it more interesting because, after all, it is all about ratings and viewership of people living vicariously through the acts. It is estimated that the average person watches 5+ hours of television daily.
What if life here on earth were a "reality" show itself? A real life Truman Show, the true man show? Maybe we are like Sims characters or avatars in a virtual reality simulated computer game? Well, there is some evidence to suggest this just may be the case. In fact, I interviewed a friend of mine who had one of the most in-depth near death experiences I have ever heard. In that interview he said, "What I saw is that -- especially when I saw the pillars in heaven -- I saw that you just adjust your perception of it a little bit and you can just see the different stories popping out at you. And so I think we're creating stories. I think that's what we do and I think they're interesting stories and I think that we're better for it. I really do." He also stated, "We can participate in THIS world and others. And I'll tell you how that works out. I saw the VERY end. I'm talking about this Demiurge, or whatever you want to call it, the guy who does all the contracts. He records everything. He's like the Producer, okay, and he's producing this show. It's his show. And if you don't sign up for his contract, you don't enter." He also said our angels control like us like video game characters. Many near death experiencers come back saying life is about experiences and stories. I recall one NDEr who asked the beings in the light what the meaning of life is and they told him it is "for the entertainment of the spirit world". In that vein I believe a story about the story itself and all the subplots in the substories would contain the most important symbolism. It is for that reason I highly suggest The Neverending Story by Michael Enne is perhaps the most important book of our time. Although the movie was good, the book is light years better. It more than holds its own against classics like Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz.
The Neverending Story contains the hero or savior archetype, the archetype of the Empress a.k.a. Moonchild, The Nothing or Emptiness, The Demiurge, a character called The Chronicler who writes down everything that happens, the ouroboros of eternity and duality, shadow figures, a witch, giants, gnomes, fairies, the astral plane and other symbols such as dreams, mirrors, a labyrinth, an ivory tower, and wishes. Sorry, there are no unicorns or rainbows that I recall.
There can be little doubt that Enne was heavily influenced by the writings of occultist and practitioner of magick, Aleister Crowley. When it is time for the main character to give a name to the Childlike Empress he names her Moonchild. Moonchild is the name of a novel by Crowley. Furthermore, the inscription on the back of the amulet that the main character's mirror half wears to do the Empress's Will says "Do What You Wish" which is really just a paraphrase of Crowley's axiom "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law". Wishing the world into existence and the need for the continual dreaming of the story to keep it in existence are the main points in the book. The protagonist of the story initially is carrying out the Will of the Childlike Empress, an archetype of the Gnostic Sophia. Eventually, the hero is able to create his own domain or world via his wishes. Thus, he becomes a sort of Demiurgic figure. In fact, in the book he rides around on a dragon which has a lion's head, the very symbol of the Demiurge. The film is a childrens' movie so the dragon is softened by giving it the head of a cute dog. There is also a shadow figure that is a shape shifter but takes the form of a werewolf. The enemy of the Story is none other than The Nothing or Emptiness. The Nothing can be avoided and both worlds saved by wishing. But whether these are true villains or not must be questioned because it is the werewolf shadow being who tells him what Fantasica a.k.a. Fantasia is and also what The Nothing is.
There is a parallel between the book and our reality here because it is the Intention of our wishes that keep us forever reincarnating into different forms and different stories. We are literally living the dream. We are living the Neverending Story. The story will continue as long as we continue to have unfulfilled dreams and wishes. If you are tired of the endless conflict and drama, then we can stop the ride by refusing to getting back in line to reincarnate. We can say "game over" and not play anymore. Perhaps The Nothing isn't our enemy at all? Maybe it is a sanctuary or haven to get a reprieve from the endless cycle of drama and suffering. The Void or Clear Light as the Tibetans may have called it may be completely outside of time and space. It may be the womb of creation itself. Pre-creation. Before the Big Bang or explosion of movement that brought all of matter into existence.
My article on the Disney princesses highlighted that they are all basically based on the moon goddess, Venus, and encourage the viewer to make wishes to the planet or Evening star, Venus. The Neverending Story is really no exception as the otherworld of Fantasia is centered around a princess known as the Chlidlike Empress who is given the name Moon Child by the universal dreamer in the story, Bastian. The Empress is a sort of mother goddess in the story analogous to Sophia, the innocent and somewhat naive goddess of wisdom in Gnostic tradition. Inana (Isis/Aphrodite/Venus) was known as the Queen of Heaven in Sumerian texts. Known to the Romans as Venus she was also a moon goddess. If the Empress in the story was a moon child of the Queen of Heaven, then that makes her a princess as well so I will add The Neverending Story to that article. As I outline in that article most of the Disney princesses were associated with Venus and the moon as well. However, I also made an article for The Neverending Story which also includes excerpts from the book as well as the Crowley book, Moonchild.
Check out these two paragraphs from the Crowley book, essentially stating much of the same thing I wrote in that article:
"But beyond such minuteness of detail is the grand character of the Moon, which is threefold. For she is Artemis or Diana, sister of the Sun, a shining Virgin Goddess; then Isis-initiatrix, who brings to man all light and purity, and is the link of his animal soul with his eternal self; and she is Persephone or Proserpine, a soul of double nature, living half upon earth and half in Hades, because, having eaten the pomegranate offered her by its lord, her mother could not bring her wholly back to earth; and thirdly, she is Hecate, a thing altogether of Hell, barren, hideous and malicious, the queen of death and evil witchcraft.
All these natures are combined in woman. Artemis is unassailable, a being fine and radiant; Hecate is the crone, the woman past all hope of motherhood, her soul black with envy and hatred of happier mortals; the woman in the fullness of life is the sublime Persephone, for whose sake Demeter cursed the fields that they brought forth no more corn, until Hades consented to restore her to earth for half the year. So this "moon" of the ancients has a true psychological meaning, as sound to-day as when the priest of Mithras slew the bull; she is the soul, not the eternal and undying sun of the true soul, but the animal soul which is a projection of it, and is subject to change and sorrow, to the play of all the forces of the universe, and whose "redemption" is the solution of the cosmic problem. For it is the seed of the woman that shall bruise the serpent's head; and this is done symbolically by every woman who wins to motherhood. Others may indeed be chaste unto Artemis, priestesses of a holy and ineffable rite; but with this exception, failure to attain the appointed goal brings them into the dark side of the moon, the cold and barren house of Hecate the accursed."
You can read the article here: THE NEVERENDING STORY
Snow white, cinderella and sleeping beauty are all pretty much the same story. The fair maid/maiden princess is the goddess of spring and the maiden goddess of the moon. She is white, fair, loving and beautiful -- symbolic of the moon goddess, Venus. She talks with the animals and sometimes is associated with an owl. She is dreaming, is placed under a spell by an evil stepmother and is resurrected by Prince Charming with true love's first kiss.
It's difficult to come to any steadfast conclusions other than Disney and other Hollywood types venerate or worship the goddess of the earth and moon, and that worship is symbolized in their productions by princesses and queens. Princesses are almost always depicted as white-skinned and fair because they symbolize the white moon and the white goddess. The new moon is symbolized by maids/maidens. The crescent moon is symbolized by mothers or fairy godmothers. The full moon is represented by old witch crones. Most of the princesses are associated with Isis/Venus/Lucifer and are usually named after one of her names from various cultures in mythology. The more recent shows having to do with Lucifer and witchcraft sometimes depict Lucifer as female or somewhat effeminate. These most recent shows are very apologetic towards Lucifer and seem hell bent on portraying his current status as the embodiment of evil as unfair and unjust. They portray him as being assigned to the role by God to do His dirty work of punishing bad souls. They portray him as a misunderstood and betrayed pawn "sick and tired of playing a part in His play", that is, in God's game of duality. That God made Lucifer the way he is. But like the one character says, we need to walk away from the game and not reincarnate anymore because it is "too much drama".
Is the constant allusion to the Venus goddess, the morning and evening star and Lucifer, the morning star, and the many references to the dawn or sunrise a hint that the elite understand the need for balance in this duality? Dawn or twilight is the time of day when it is neither light or dark. It is dawn's first light. Also, the reference to Gandalf the Grey in Lord of the Rings. Is it a symbolic way of referring to not necessarily a Void of complete Darkness (which is sometimes referred to as the abyss), but rather the clear light of nothingness which is ironically full of everything?
The other goddess who doesn't get movies made about her is the Gnostic mother goddess, Sophia. Disney does have a movie and series named Sofia, the First Princess. but it doesn't seem to correlate to the Gnostic teachings. In the Gnostic teachings, the Goddess Sophia falls to Earth due to her desire, the false Demiurge steals her light, but ultimately she repents, is forgiven and regains her position. Are the goddesses Inanna, Isis an the rest equivalent to Sophia? Are they her shadow archetype? Or are they separate entities and evil? There may be a parallel with humanity being the collective Sophia and how mankind is in a fallen state of consciousness and needs to wake up and become self realized and aware. The therapist advised Lucifer to "embrace all that you are". Maybe that is not good advice, but we do need to come to terms with our shadow self and as Carl Jung suggested, integrate the shadow archetype. Perhaps we can transmute the darkness into light. And, as the fairy tales say, live happily ever after.