C'mon Baby, Light My Midsummer Fires

  

Well, it's that time of year again. In light of recent events, Midsummer AKA Saint John's Day seems a bit more resonant than it has before. Of course, we have a newly-minted Federal holiday that falls a mere two days short of the Solstice, in much the same way our national Bacchanalia falls three days short of the Equinox. But that's all coincidental, surely.

But, oh boy; have you read the news today?

Apocalypse 2Night: Third Temple Pilots

Is that supposed to look like an apron?

I don't know, do we owe folks like Hal Lindsey and Harold Camping an apology?

Don't Write the Church Off Quite Yet...

This was a grim week here at Secret Sun Central- a friend of my sons died in an accident and we attended his wake Thursday and my sons attended his funeral yesterday. He was one of the first friends my younger son made in this neighborhood. 

AstroGnostic: The Mandaeans' Elusive Companions

There is a lot more going on in Iraq and Syria than almost unimaginable carnage and human suffering, from the looting of the Sumerian artifacts from the Baghdad museum in 2003 to a more current situation in which the Islamic Caliphate is blowing up ancient archaeological sites and shrines, a practice begun by the Taliban in Afghanistan. 

The Matrix: Agents/Angels/Archons/Aliens

These days it’s easy to forget what an astonishing feat of craftsmanship the first Matrix film is, given how it over-exposed and over-discussed it was. 

The technical, thematic and visual force The Matrix packed has yet to be equaled, especially by its own utterly forgettable sequels. The film is so complete, that any sequel seems redundant (just like the first Star Wars).

The Star Wars Symbol Cycle: A Long Time Ago

Isis became a slave during her search for Osiris

Return of the Jedi is generally seen as the least of the three original films. A lot of this has to do with the Ewoks, the feral teddy bears that are featured heavily throughout the film.

 

The Star Wars Symbol Cycle: Son of the Suns

The Star Wars story-cycle is one of the most popular of our modern myths, but also one of the most garbled. For the original trilogy, George Lucas consciously drew upon mythic and religious elements (ransacking every myth, fairy tale, scifi story and comic book he could get his hands on, especially Jack Kirby's New Gods), but not always coherently. 

John the Baptist in Space-Time

Cover dated May 24, 1963, which means it hit the stands on the 17th. Note the cruciform star next to Gordon Cooper's name and the cross formed by the numerals - John the Baptist, the Templar Messiah, crucified on the Celestial Cross. Cooper was also 33rd Degree.

Indiana Jones and The Lost Tracing Boards of Gnosis

At this point, I think I could do an entire blog on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I've written about the film before (here and here) but there are so many layers of symbol and double-meaning, I don't feel like I've even scratched the surface.

A Friday the 13th Scenario

 

Is it just me or does it seem as if there is a massive and well-coordinated propaganda war being waged on the entire global banking system? Even The New York Times is calling the biggest banks "Dead Men Walking," and Arianna Huffington is screaming that the banks are "zombies" that should be "killed off." 

And we just saw the nation's top bankers getting called in for a spanking in Congress. 

Barack Obama and the Masonic Martyr, Part 2

In the first part of this series, we looked at the chain of bizarre coincidences connecting President Obama to the martyred Masonic astronaut Gus Grissom, who was killed in 1967 in an explosion many people do not believe was an accident.† 

Dark Knight Templar

Of course the big story in pop culture this week is the record-breaking opening of The Dark Knight, the second installment in Christopher Nolan's radical re-imagining of the Batman franchise. Being the obsessive-compulsive that I am, 

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. 

Midsummer Fires Factoids

Lest we forget...

• The modern UFO era began this day in 1947. 

• The first Masonic Grand Lodge was established this day in 1717. 

• The Sovereign Order of the Solar Temple was established this day in 1966. Not to be confused with the similarly named Order of the Solar Temple, this group claimed Princess Grace of Monaco as a member. 

• It's also The Feast Day of St. John the Baptist, venerated by both the Knights Templar and the Freemasons.

Speaking of blue and gold and warriors, it's also the 22nd birthday of Solange Knowles (no relation).

Ritual Drama: The 40 Year-Old Virgin

 

I'll be doing some more work on The 40 Year-Old Virgin when I delve into the Solar love stories, but I wanted to point out some timely symbols that I noticed tonight. This movie may seem like a trifle to many people, but I found it to be absolutely jam-packed with esoteric references.

1013: Millennium and the Song of Salome

Still from "Skull and Bones"

Now that Ten Thirteen Productions is back up and running, making its grand re-entrance on the day before one of the more overtly Masonic Academy Awards ceremonies in recent history, I wanted to finish some long-brewing posts on the ostensible use of Masonic and Templar themes in Ten Thirteen programs. 

At the Edge of 17

In Egyptian mythology, Osiris was killed on the 17th day of Athyr, the third month of the ancient calendar. Though not acknowledged, 17 seems to be a very meaningful number in the Mystery traditions, sort of equivalent to the Cross in Christianity. It symbolizes an unjust death and the promise of rebirth.