Mirror Mirror

The previous post mentions the ghostly image of Marilyn Monroe which gazes out at people from the mirror in the lobby of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

Marilyn was said to have filled every room of her (first and last) home with “floor-to-ceiling” mirrors.

The inscription on the tiles of the doorstep of this home reads: Cursum Perficio. This can be translated as: “My Journey Ends here”, “I finish my course”, “I stay my course” or “My journey is over.”

But rumour has it that she continues to roam that home.

Mind control experts are said to employ the use of mirrors as part of their programming techniques. The mirror images act as a trigger, encouraging the guinea pig to dissociate from their own identity.

In symbolism and folklore, mirrors represent gateways or portals to other worlds. They are a common feature in paranormal or science fiction enabling characters to look out into other dimensions and- equally, but more spookily - to allow beings from other dimensions to look back in turn at them.

For example, the 90s New Zealand mini series, Mirror Mirror features a mirror which enables its young protagonists to travel between two time periods: 1919 and 1995.

A memorable early scene sees one girl from 1995 staring into the mirror at a girl from 1919 who is gazing back at her. Both are in the same bedroom sharing the same moment at different times.

The girl from 1919 can be interpreted (although it is not really specified in the story) as being a previous incarnation of the girl from 1995.

The story also features Alexei, the youngest son of Russia’s last Tsar, who is secretly rescued from the brutal fate of the rest of his family and hidden in New Zealand only to be held prisoner by his “saviour”. (His saviour/captor is played by the actor who was the first to portray Spiderman as a live action hero.)

We cannot see our own faces. We know the faces of others better than we know ourselves. So mirrors are both a curse and a blessing, reminding us of who we are and not who we imagine ourselves to be.

The universe is our mirror. It is the macrocosm which reflects back the microcosm of our thoughts, fears, desires and ambitions.

Our archetypes are celebrities or “stars” who live out our fantasies and fears on a larger than life plane and Our Gods Wear Spandex.

A quotation attributed to Anais Nin says: “We do not see things as they are, we see them as we are.”