Sexy Shapeshifting Socialites in Space

 

Well, we've seen a lot of Martin Landau (John the Baptist, X-Files, Ed Wood) recently, and we've also seen an avalanche of space-based stories in the press. So, naturally, that got me thinking about Space: 1999, a British Star Trek knockoff which Landau starred in with fellow Mission: Impossible alum Barbara Bain.*

Par for the course, Space: 1999 premiered in the US on October 17, 1975. Here is a brief synopsis from the wiki:

The underlying storyline of Space: 1999 centered on the plight of the inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha following a calamity on 13 September 1999. A huge nuclear waste dump on the far side of the Moon detonates in a massive thermonuclear explosion...(which) causes the Moon to be sent hurtling out of Earth's orbit and into deep space at colossal speed, stranding the 311 crew members, in effect becoming the "spaceship" on which the protagonists travel...

Of course if you take away two days and add two years to that date, the premise of Space:1999 takes on a much higher resonance. Space:1999 was created Gerry Anderson and his wife Sylvia. We've looked Anderson in relation to The Thunderbirds, the disturbingly-surreal 60s puppetoon that not only foreshadowed 9/11, it also did the old Egypt/aliens routine as well. 

But Reader PJ also reminded us that Anderson also created The Terrahawks, which resonates one of the titles of the President Obam opus. The credit sequence for the second season of Space:1999 also features the shape-shifting alien Maya, who appeared on the second season of the show. 

Of course, Maya is the Buddhist term for "illusion," but was also the name of King Tut's treasurer. The three forms we see Maya take in the credits are of a dog (corresponding to Sirius), a hawk (corresponding to Horus), and a Tiger (corresponding to Sekhmet). † 

Maya was played by Catherine Schell (aka Ka-Hathor-Ein Shell), who was born into the aristocracy of what was once Austria-Hungary, which was ruled by the Hapsburg-Lorraine Dynasty. 

Read this fascinating passage from her biography:

Born in Budapest, Hungary, her true name is Katherina Freiin Schell von Bauschlott, the scion of a once wealthy German patrician family. Her father, the Baron Paul Schell von Bauschlott, was a well-respected diplomat until the Nazis confiscated their estates during WWII, while her mother was Countess Katharina Maria Etelka Georgina Elisabeth Teleki de Szék. Her family was living in poverty until 1948 when they sought asylum in Vienna and Salzburg as the communist regime began to take hold in Hungary.

Like Heidi Klum, Schell is of German extraction. Like the Hearsts, she is of an aristocratic background. Tying into the 007 syncs with Klum and the Hearsts, Schell was herself a Bond girl in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. 

Space:1999 was filmed at Pinewood Studios in England, where the Bond movies were filmed (as well as a whole host of other Synchromystic delights). 

 Bela Lugosi, whom Martin Landau portrayed in Ed Wood, was himself born in Austria-Hungary. Schell was born on the 17th of July (7/17/44) 17 and 44 add to 8, and 17 is the 7th prime number. 

She's also 1.70 meters tall. Schell starred in a British mini-series called The Search for the Nile, which was narrarated by James Mason.

The flag of the Austo-Hungarian Empire featured both the double-cross of Lorraine, but also the double-headed eagle now used by the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (among others). 

 33rd Degree Scottish Rite Mason Manly P. Hall believed that the "double-headed eagle, or Phoenix, foreshadows the ultimate androgynous state of the human creature." So yet again we see the rebirth and androgyny memes that run all throughout all of this.

Maya even shape-shifted into a Reptilian!

In that light, note that Maya takes on both male and female forms. Although I've not seen this acknowledged, it seems possible that Goth goddess Siouxsie (who has taken on both male and female lovers) was influenced by Maya's distinctive look.

Bringing it all back to first principles, Siouxsie explored alien and cosmic themes with her former duo with Budgie, The Creatures (particularly on the Boomerang** album). The Creatures also released an album released an album called Anima Animus, based on the Jungian concept of unconscious androgyny (Tool did the same three years prior with AEnima, relased 9/17/96). 

So what does all of this mean? Well, it gets to the core of what this blog is about. The Secret Sun is ultimately about the power of symbols and archetypes to break out of the world of Forms and form a latticework of connections in the world in which we live. 

These particular connections simply point to a microcosm of a greater state, which Jung and others call Numinosity, which essentially describes the psychic connection of the individual to the Transcendent. 

 I'll let Uncle Carl have the last word:

Archetypes, so far as we can observe and experience them at all, manifest themselves only through their ability to organize images and ideas, and this will always be an unconscious process which cannot be detected until afterward.

UPDATE

Well, no sooner did this lunar-themed post go up than did the DC police announce a suspect in the 2001 slaying of Congressional intern Chandra Levy, who had a relationship with US Rep Gary Condit of Ceres, CA. (kudos to Loren Coleman for the tip) Ceres is the Roman name of Demeter, the goddess of agriculture whose daughter was taken to the Underworld. 

Michelle Obama spoke recently before the Dept. of Agriculture, urging the spread of community gardens and offering a magnolia tree sprout to employees. And wouldn't you just know it, there's a Magnolia FA&AM Lodge in Washington DC. 

Chandra is the name of the Hindu moon goddess and also the name of the X-Ray telescope at Harvard University, Masonic stronghold and Barack Obama's alma mater. 

Levy' last-known whereabouts on May 1, 2001 were Grove 17 in Rock Creek Park. Exactly two years later, Bonesman Bush landed on the USS Abraham Lincoln for the Mission Accomplished fiasco. 

UPDATE 2005 EST: This is odd, Strangey points out that CNN is reporting that previous suspect Ingmar Guandique will be charged. Interesting name for an El Salvadoran, derived from Yngvi, a title for Freyr, the Norse equivalent of Osiris. 

Furthermore, some believe that the Norse name for the gods (Aesir) is derived from Ausur, or Osiris. The most famous Ingmar was Ingmar Bergman, who directed the 1960 film Jungfrukällan (Virgin Spring) about a father who brutally avenges the murder of his daughter in a forest. 

The murdered daughter was played by Birgitta Pettersson born 1/7/39. Jungfrukällan was remade by Wes Craven as Last House on the Left (in which a girl is murdered on her 17th birthday), which itself is being remade and released on 3/13/09, the same day as Race to Witch Mountain.

NOTES 

†The dog, the cat and the hawk are also represented in a popular votive statue that features Horus, Anubis and Sekhmet. 

*Downard saw some significance in the name "Baine" in KingKill 33. See if you can figure it out. 

** Boomerang was released 11/6/89 - 11+6 and 8+9 both equal 17. Anima Animus was released 2/15/99 2+15=17. The Creatures first album feast made it to number 17 in the UK album charts. The Creatures last single, "Godzilla," was released 10/13/03. 10+1+3+0+3=17.