John Cusack, Superstar: Lord of the Skies

Sometimes the Symbols turn up in obvious places, sometimes they pop up where you least expect them. In the case of a film like Pushing Tin, a 1999 film starring John Cusack, Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton, it may seem like this romantic comedy would not harbor much potential for high initiate symbolism. 

But the theme of air traffic controllers and their chaotic lives takes on significance not only because of the godlike motif of flight but because of the added impact of 9/11. And the stunning foreshadowings to that fateful day hit you in the center of the forehead like a hammer blow in the very first minute of film. 

Computer generated planes are seen buzzing around the Manhattan skyline like hornets, with a particular emphasis on Lower Manhattan...

"A Li"

Here we see a plane bisect the Twin Towers, just two and a half years before 9/11. Note the A, L and I superimposed over the Towers.

 A+L+I= 22 in English Gemetria, and the 22nd Trump in Tarot is the Fool, associated with Horus.

In this shot, a plane flies over the WTC from the north and crosses paths with another plane coming from the opposite direction.

The film's title card flashes as a plane zooms over the Empire State Building. Just in case we overlook that particular obelisk's presence, the skyscraper is circled and the title is superimposed over it.

Here is the mural in the lobby of the Empire State Building, clearly announcing that this edifice on 33rd St. was clearly intended to be an obelisk, in the truest Solar fashion.

After the title card flashes, the plane makes its way to fly over the WTC, perhaps on the way to Newark Liberty Airport.

We meet Nick Falzone, air traffic controller extraordinaire, who hails pilots with the greeting, "welcome to my skies." This parallels exactly Horus' identity as Lord of the Sky, as does the extreme close up of his right eye with a radar map reflected upon it.


Nick is wearing this unsubtle tribute to Isis when we meet him, just in case you miss the Horus symbolism.

Speaking of Isis, his wife Connie is played by Hollywood's favorite Virgin Queen, the always breathtaking Catherine Elise (read:"Ka-Athyr-Ein/Eloah-Isis") Blanchett. Aside from Galadriel in the Lord of the Rings films, she played Queen Eloah-Isis-Beth, not once but twice.

We've also got the requisite 17 symbolism- Nick's street address is 5480. 

5+4+8+0=17.

Later Nick makes 17 free-throws in a row at a barbecue.

We also have a symbolic castration, as Nick's finger is burned in a game of chicken with lit matches.

Of course, then we also have an androgynous character played by Vicky Lewis, whose very name is both female (Vicky) and male (Lewis).

Oh, hey look- wonder of wonders, we've got the requisite Baptist symbolism. Here Nick meets Billy Bob's character Russell in a river to have his sins washed away. Russell is wearing a John Prine cap, just in case you missed the symbolic message.

The film ends as it started with a jet liner flying past the Twin Towers. Note the lens flare (Stargate?) at the base of the South Tower. We'll look deeper into the incredibly deep and elaborate symbolism in this film in the near future, but suffice it to say that the 9/11 foreshadowing in this film give its super-abundance of high initiate signifiers an added charge...