Looking for Signs at the End of the Age

"Tell the king; the fair wrought house has fallen.
No shelter has Apollo, nor sacred laurel leaves;
The fountains are now silent; the voice is stilled.
It is finished."- The Delphic Oracle, 393 AD

When you reach the end of an age, the myths and the symbols that once defined that age begin to turn against it. Often in horrifying and merciless ways.

The First Christmas and Three/17

Man, the hits just keep on coming. The Telegraph reports:

Astronomers have calculated that Christmas should be in June, by charting the appearance of the 'Christmas star' which the Bible says led the three Wise Men to Jesus.

Fringe (sic)

Fringe is TV's latest attempt to redo The X-Files. This time Hollywood enlisted the ultimate inside ballplayer, JJ Abrams, to get the job done. Which was probably what will ensure this show's doom.

  Fringe is competent TV- and too competent at that. It is almost suffocatingly overproduced. Like nearly every network TV show I've seen for the past several years, it's over-lit, over-shot, over-casted, over-edited and underwritten. I don't believe a single one of the characters. Oh, they're all fairly competent actors, but everyone looks exactly like everyone else on every other network drama. 

The X-Files was so revolutionary precisely because the producers went out of their way to cast ordinary looking people. The point was to believe what you were seeing was really happening. The X-Files also had the wisdom to shoot in Vancouver, which was a decidely-unpretty town in the early 90s and had a rich, velvety blanket of mist all year round. 

 The point here is that The X-Files sought to be real, while the kind of TV Abrams and his cohorts specialize in seeks to be sexy. There's a big difference. Network TV dramas are shot to seamlessy blend in with the commercials, and I was often confused while watching the show online when the commercials kicked in, since they were lit and shot exactly like the show itself was. 

 The show is fairly interesting, though, and important in that it goes after the biotech industry in the same way that The X-Files did. The only problem is that I don't feel any passion or conviction in it. It all feels like commitee. 

Someone said, "You know, there were all these really great X-Files standalones- 'F Emasculata', 'Wetwired', 'Pine Bluff Variant'- about field experiments being done on civilians. I think we could build a show around that." 

And everyone smiled and nodded and thanked God they'd made it this far in Hollywood where they were sitting around with JJ Abrams doing his X-Files, and hoped they'd never go back to doing cereal commercials. 

 Chris Carter fought tooth and nail to do his shows his way, for better or worse. Most producers today would geld themselves before they pissed off an exec. So all the guys who play ball get a shot to do their Chris Carter shows -- Invasion, Threshold (the most egregious of the bunch), Dark Skies, The Eleventh Hour, Fringe -- and most of them will die. 

None of them will ever make any dent in the Collective Unconscious because Carter and Co. broke all the old rules and wrote new ones and then the power players come in and play by them.

PAPERBACK

KINDLE

THE SECRET HISTORY CAN NOW BE TOLD!

The Obligatory Southland Tales Post

 

 This is very, very untimely, but it's a movie I've resisted seeing. Donnie Darko is one of my favorite films of the new millennium (particularly the director's cut) and I didn't want anything to tarnish that. 

Worse, everything about this film set off my personal alarm bells. It's very common for young directors to go over the top with the followups to their sleeper/cult hits (Mallrats, anyone?) and the cast was not over-populated with my favorite thespians. 

Jonas Brothers or Oannes Brothers?

Why do they do this to me? Saturday we looked at the weird montage of the starlet and the distant star on Yahoo, which led us to the Oannes Brothers, those squeaky-clean Jersey boys who themselves are superstars with the 'Tween set. The Brothers are a Disney project, which usually means deeper weirdness can be found lurking somewhere in the background. 

 Time and time travel seem to be pressing concerns with the Oannes Brothers. Their first CD, It's About Time, includes titles like "Time for Me to Fly," "One Day at a Time," "6 Minutes," and "7:05." Their first big hit was a cover of "Year 3000" by the UK band, Busted (who themselves also cut a track called "Thunderbirds are Go!")

 

For our purposes, the "Year 3000" could be 3000 BC, the dawning of the Imperial Age in the Middle East and the dynastic eras in both Sumer and Egypt.

 

This stela is of Narmer, the pharaoh believed to have succeeded the Scorpion King somewhere around 3000 BC. Note the classic pose taken from the Constellation of Hercules on the obverse and a strange image of two animals with intertwining necks oddly reminiscent of a DNA helix.

 

Strangely, that same motif is seen at the same time in the seal of the Sumerian king Uruk. Seeing how these animals are not known to have existed, what meaning could they have to two kings hundreds of miles apart? Since these creatures are used to identify kings, what significance is there with these strange animals to the royal bloodlines? 

THE HITS JUST KEEP COMING In "Year 3000" the Jonas Brothers chirpily sing, "I've been to the year 3000/Not much has changed but they lived under water." 

Three guesses who lived under water in 3000 BC...

"(Oannes) was accustomed to pass the day among men; but took no food at that season; and he gave them an insight into letters and sciences, and arts of every kind. He taught them to construct cities, to found temples, to compile laws, and explained to them the principles of geometrical knowledge. 

He made them distinguish the seeds of the earth, and shewed them how to collect the fruits; in short, he instructed them in everything which could tend to soften manners and humanize their lives. 

From that time, nothing material has been added by way of improvement to his instructions. And when the sun had set, this being Oannes, retired again into the sea, and passed the night in the deep; for he was amphibious. After this there appeared other animals like Oannes." - Berossus, from Ancient Fragments

The latest Jonas Brothers record shows them "living under water" as it were, in a stylized version of Times Square. Note that they could share their strangely royal JB logo with John the Baptist. We see the crown again over the sign for "The Wykcoff," a reference to their hometown in New Jersey, which is tucked in the crowded area between routes 287 and 17. 

 We see a reference here to the "Love Bug," whose video features another time travel motif, only this time towards the past. As the boys warble, "Called her for the first time yesterday/Finally found the missing part of me/ Felt so close, but you were far away," we travel back in time to the 1940s where we are first confronted with this strange image...

 

The lighthouse is a stand-in for an obelisk, and has the added advantage of the beacon of light ("beacon" is a favorite motif in Barack Obama's speeches), and of course the water sacred to Oannes and his successors. But this lighthouse looks quite odd, nothing like the familiar kind we see a lot in modern Christian iconography. 

Check out Todd Campbells's post on maritime iconography for deep background, no pun intended.

 

It looks a bit more like the famous Pharos Lighthouse at Alexandria, Egypt. Which - as with Barack Obama and the beacon- brings us right back to the Stairway to Sirius imagery we've been looking at lately. Hmm, can we find any imagery of the Oannes Brothers tying back more explicitly to the Stairway to Sirius?

 

This is from the June 21, 2008 issue of Billboard magazine, featuring the boys brooding with their scarves on a stairway. OK then, where's the Sirius? Well, June 21 is the Summer Solstice, and was also the date of the heliacal rising of Sirius in Ancient Egypt. 

BONUS ROUND Speaking of the lighthouse, Alexandria was sacred to Isis, and coins were minted there showing the goddess riding a dog, a reference to Sirius. The Solstice is also the time of year sacred to Ioannes the Baptist. 

 In The Sirius Mystery Robert Temple pointed out the etymological similiarity between "Sirius" and "Siren." 

Like Oannes, the Sirens were half-fish, half human. Just to bring it all full circle, I posted quite a few Siren-related posts here that no one seemed to have read, but incorporate this weird semiotic juncture of pop music, esoteric symbology and UFO theory. All sorts of themes and memes I once thought unconnected become intimately connected when you take the time to trace them back to their roots. 

However, the problem is that it all ties back to some strange event in prehistory that is somehow related to a distant star system. And that's beyond the pale of polite conversation in both mainstream circles and the so-called alternative media, despite all of the tantalizing evidence- semiotic and otherwise- pointing directly to it. 

UPDATE: Michael and Droidy pointed out that in the comments that It's About Time was a show about time-traveling astronauts (read: time-traveling Freemasons) that premiered- wait for it- on September 11, 1966. 

The show was produced by Gilligan's Island creator Sherwood Schwartz, which of course then syncs us back to The X-Files. Which in turn syncs us to Hancock, which then thematically syncs us to The Eternals. Oh, such a small world. 

 UPDATE II: The Oannes Brothers at the White House? (thanks to Astronut for the tip)

The White House, which boasts 55,000 square feet and 132 rooms, is set on 18 acres filled with magnolias, dogwoods and maples. When the Obamas move into the White House, they will primarily use the mansion's second and third floors and have access to a solarium and a movie theater.

For the Obama daughters, birthday parties could include surprise appearances by the Jonas Brothers. And their grandmother, 71-year-old Marian Robinson, a lifelong Chicago resident, is preparing to pick up and move to Washington to help shuttle the girls to soccer games and recitals, according to The Associated Press. -Seattle Times

Yahooccultism: Tut Tots

Awww, look at little Demetria (Demeter) and Angelica. Buying their tickets for the Tut exhibit on St. John the Baptist's Feast day. The show opens on October 3rd. 

Golden Boy: Just Saying, is All

Here's a picture of Golden Boy when he stood vigil outside of AT&T's former world headquarters in Basking Ridge, NJ. The building is now owned by (former Baby Bell) Verizon, whose name is one of those corporate neologisms. In this case it seems to be a contraction of "true (veritas) horizon." Could horizon's true occult meaning be "Horus-Zone?"

It's an interesting question, given that Verizon's logo could be interpreted as containing a hidden 17. If you really wanted to get carried away, you might interpret it as Veritas, 17 (Horus) and On, the biblical name for Heliopolis (cult center of the Followers of Horus).

I may have mentioned this before, I strongly believe that the Mithras known to the Romans was no relation to Zoroastrian Mitra, but in actuality a culturally-appropriate adaptation of Horus himself. This is something I've researched in depth for my upcoming book on esoteric symbolism in science fiction film.

Suffice it to say that conservative Romans held a very dim view of Egypt, seeing it as corrupt and decadent. And they also thought the notion of animal heads on gods was offensive. But the Shemsu Hor obviously had a very strong interest in Rome, and it's my belief that the Mithras cult was created especially for those Romans whom they wanted to bring into the fold, namely those alpha males in business and the military. The Shemsu Hor's fingerprints are all over Mithraism, as we will look at in the future.

All of these figures - Horus, Mithras, Helios, Sol, Shamash, Ba'al, Hercules, etc etc etc - all represent the Sun as a symbol of phallic aggression, technology, hierarchy, and militarism, so any difference between them or their cults is academic, anyway.

Mithras is Alive and Well and Living in New Jersey

Daria Invictus recently blogged on a subject near and dear to my heart- the enigmatic Golden Boy, who has been passed like a torch from corporation to corporation. Daria explored the various connections to a host of pagan deities, but I had a nagging suspicion there was still another figure being celebrated in this composite icon; the Corporate Elite's favorite god, Mithras. We shouldn't be surprised at Mithras' showing up in corporate iconography - his followers were deadly serious, highly disciplined soliders and merchants. And what is the modern corporation if not the ultimate apotheosis of the "Business as War" paradigm? Mithraists worshipped in secret during the First Century, why not in the Twenty-First? Golden Boy was originally known as "The Genius of Electricity" when commissioned for Western Electric, then renamed "The Spirit of Communication" when sold to AT&T. His latest owner is the new AT&T, formerly known as Southern Bell. 

He currently resides on the AT&T campus in Bedminster, Nova Caesarea. You can see him while driving on Interstate 287 South (2+8+7=17). As Daria notes, he originally sat upon a pyramidical turret on the old AT&T building in Masonic Manhattan, giving us yet another depiction of the Heavenly Insemination. 

As you see in this ancient frieze of Mithras, Golden Boy is simply a modern take on the old sun god. The Snake of Time becomes an electrical cable and his staff becomes electrical bolts. The pose is almost exactly the same, only minor details differentiate the two icons. For instance, the globe Golden Boy stands on comes to us from another Mithraic icon...

...that of Aion, the enigmatic figure whom Jung identified as the Imageo Dei- image of the god within. As with so much Mithraic imagery, the meaning of the globe is unclear, but my own interpretation is that the Mithraists had intended to rule the world. It's open to debate whether they are succeeding in that ambition.

Whatever the intended message behind it, it's interesting to note that Golden Boy has been reintroduced in advertising for the new AT&T. Maybe it's simply because it's an amazing work of art with heavy-duty Syncromystic resonance. One thing's for sure- you can add this to the rapidly escalating use of Solar symbolism in corporate and church iconography.

New York 17- New England 14

After beating the New York Giants in Week 17, the New England Patriots are undone by a touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress (# 17) for a final score of 17-14. New England finish with an 18-1 record.

18-1=17.

Jack Kirby's Eternals: Pyramid Power

Radiohead's 2001 classic "The Pyramid Song"- 

the future Atlantis in a year of Revelation. 

 

My two biggest influences from the pop art world are Jack Kirby and Chris Carter. 

Not so much stylistic influences that I want to emulate, but artists who completely changed the filters on my life-lens. And both of whom deeply explored Astronaut Theology (aka "Ancient Astronaut Theory") to the point that it's a fair bet that they believed in it. So what does that say about me? 

Don't Take My Word for It...

Sometimes there is a point when the Collective Unconscious answers your incessant knocking at its door.

Jack Kirby: Mindbomb, Part 3: Only Come Out at Night

A pack of gluttonous, raccoon-eyed paranoids drunk on consumerism, Calvinism and overstimulation. An expert diagnosis of Bush-era America? Well, that's a bit outside of the Secret Sun's province. 

Here, it's a description of Jack Kirby's "Night People," whom Captain America tangled with following the Madbomb Saga. 

Song & Album of the Year: 2007

My favorite song of the year is probably pretty obscure to some people, which just shows how pathetic the music industry has become. 

"The Night Starts Here" by Stars is an instant classic, something I heard on 3WK and went and bought on ITunes before it even ended.