Blog Soup

It's occurred to me that this blog, although very young, is becoming a bit too eclectic. I feel as though I've been concocting a very confused soup made up of bizarre ingredients.

So I think I may split it into two or three blogs.

This blog will focus on more metaphysical, mythological, astrological topics while still drawing upon themes from literature and cinema.

Then I might create another blog which will focus on modern mysteries, conspiracy theories, alternative media and history etc.

I'll think it over.

I might decide it's a crazy idea and just stick to bunging everything into this blog. It's hard enough trying to keep up with one blog, never mind trying to write two or three. I'll see how it goes.

The Last Enemy

I only just saw the conclusion of the TV drama The Last Enemy yesterday evening.

In a case of art imitating life, The Last Enemy presented a disturbing vision of Britain which is looming close around the corner.

In the drama, ID cards were issued to the general public following a terrorist incident at Victoria station which killed over 200 people.

The ID cards were said to be issued as a means of increasing security and fighting terror but they were really being used to control and suppress the general public.

The ID cards were linked to a database called TIA which had detailed information about an individual's health, finances, biometric data, genes, education, job, underwear, what they had for breakfast etc.

Along with the Big-Brother-gone-mad scenario, there was also assassinated microbiologists, suicide and genetic tagging. It was more like a fly-on-the-wall documentary than a television drama, and so all the more chilling.

Perhaps because the UK media appears to be somewhat gagged by the Government of late, the BBC are resorting to sneaking the real news into their television dramas.

Or maybe the Powers That Be (whoever they might be) are preparing us for our bleak future through the medium of television drama.

In any case, The Last Enemy appears to be us.

As stated in the documentary, Ludicrous Diversion (2006), “they are using our fear for our safety to restrict our liberty. And they are using their false promises of security to erode our privacy...The terrorists cannot take away our freedom or change our way of life. Only our own elected leaders can do that. And they are.”

Related Link

http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/lastenemy/

Diana Inquest: Faux's Claims

The belated and pointless inquest into the death of Diana, Princess of Wales continued with bodyguard Michael Faux (interesting name) claiming that Paul Burrell had said he had removed a friendship ring from Diana's body and that he could prove it was hers because it had her blood on it.

Faux also claimed that he had seen Burrell burning Buckingham Palace documents.

According to the Burrell's statement in the BBC article, he doesn't actually deny that he had removed the ring. He just denied talking to Mr Faux or anybody else about it and said that he didn't have it in his possession. Somebody's telling porkies anyway.

Related Link

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7301023.stm

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Legends of the Fall

The Garden of Eden is one of those stories that can be interpreted on several different levels.

It’s often said that parents never forgive their children for growing up.

The Garden of Eden is often viewed as a metaphor for childhood. Adam and Eve exist in an idyllic paradise. Their parent is an all-powerful, infallible loving being that gives them everything they want.

However there are conditions to the parent’s love. They must keep the one ground rule and not eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

In other words, they must never grow up. And they must remain in a state of unquestioning obedience.

Eve is tempted by the Serpent (peer pressure, curiosity, self awareness, hormones) to eat of the fruit of the Forbidden Tree. “…you will be like gods, knowing good from evil.”

The adolescent is eager to become an adult, thinking that they will be all-powerful, all-knowing and that they can do whatever they want.

Once Adam and Eve eat of the fruit, “the eyes of both of them were opened and they discovered they were naked”. In other words, they discover sexuality, free will and rebellion. They discover that their choices can have far-reaching consequences. They also see their parent as the Man Behind the Curtain.

Once they discover the facts of life, they can never return to an innocent idyllic state and are banished from the Garden. The banishment represents the exchange of childhood for the harsh reality and grim responsibilities of everyday life – hard work, childbirth and domestic unbliss.

The “great winged creatures” and the “fiery flashing sword” barring the way back to the Garden of Eden can represent the idea that once you leave childhood, you can never really return.

As you grow older, you look back on the garden of childhood with the forgiving eyes of nostalgia, perhaps believing that it was better than it really was.

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Panspermia

“Panspermia is the hypothesis that "seeds" of life exist already all over the Universe, that life on Earth may have originated through these "seeds"…”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia

These seeds refer to organisms such as bacteria and other life forms.

Panspermia comes from the Greek meaning 'mixture of all seeds' (pan meaning all – and Spermia seeds).

Extraterrestrial Interpretation

Panspermia is often confused with exogenesis.

In these theories, human life originated on another planet, such as Mars, and was then transferred to planet Earth either by Nature or by alien intervention.

Metaphysical Interpretation

Panspermia can be interpreted as the seeds of the Divine (the great all), the spark of life from the Universal Creator that is within every living creature on Earth, within our cells which are often called the Building Blocks of Life.

Mythical Interpretation

Then we have the god Pan, who is sometimes depicted with an erect phallus and sometimes associated with the incubus, sowing his wild oats everywhere.

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Readers and Writers

Do books belong to readers or their writers? It's difficult to say.

A good story, film, myth or piece of art can be interpreted in many ways, on many different levels which may or may not be in tune with the author's original intention.

Sometimes authors can get irritated if readers are seeing things in their work which was not part of their own vision. In many cases, a reader's interpretation can be completely at odds with what the author had been trying to say.

Something can resonate deeply and in a different way for the reader because of their own personal experiences and background.

Of course, the author's intention colours the work and is the dominant force in determining and influencing how readers accept their work.

But at some point, I think when any artist gives birth to a work and sends it out into the world, in a sense, the work now exists independently of the author. And how people choose to interpret the work is not a reflection of the author, but more a reflection of the reader.

Saturn's Children

The mythical figure Saturn is also known as the Lord of Karma, Dweller on the Threshold, the “Grim Reaper” and Old Father Time.

In astrology, Saturn corresponds to father or authority figures.

According to the Gnostics, the biblical concept of the patriarchal God or Jehovah came from the image of the tyrannical Saturn.

Saturn and Jupiter

In mythology, the god Saturn became the ruler of the Universe after he castrated his father with a sickle (?!).

Saturn received a prophecy that he would be overthrown by one of his sons. So each time his wife Rhea gave birth to a child, he would eat them to avert the threat.

Saturn managed to eat five of his offspring. But Rhea swapped the sixth child, Zeus, for a stone and wrapped the stone in “swaddling clothes”. Saturn ate the stone and Jupiter was spirited to safety.

Saturn was eventually overthrown by his son Jupiter who is known as Zeus in Greek mythology. Zeus started off as a kind of saviour/Jesus type when he overthrew his tyrannical father and ushered in a new order.

Saturn has Lunch

Francisco Goya aptly painted his famous picture of ‘Saturn devouring one of his sons’ directly onto his dining room wall.

In Goya's painting, Saturn has a look of terror in his eyes as he eats his child. He seems to be horrified by what he is doing but compelled to do it anyway.

Saturn Figures in the Bible

The child-eating Saturn myth can be likened to the paranoid babykilling kings that feature in the Bible.

In the Old Testament and the story of baby Moses, the Pharoah was afraid that the Hebrews would one day take over Egypt so ordered that all newborn Hebrew males be drowned in the River Nile.

Similarly in the New Testament, there is the Slaughter of the Innocents when King Herod received the prophecy about the newborn Messiah and ordered that all boys under the age of two be killed.

There is also the idea of fathers sacrificing their sons. Abraham is prepared to sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac, because God has commanded him to.

In the New Testament, God sacrifices his own son Jesus who cries out during his crucifixion, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46)

To return to astrology, as Saturn’s children, the physical bodies of the people of the Earth are consumed by Time and then eventually by Death. And on that cheerful note…

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Shakespeare's Will

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet," said Juliet.

"I don't believe a rose would be as nice if it were called a thistle or a skunk cabbage!" said Anne (of Green Gables).

Shakspere the Actor

It was Will the actor who was of humble origin and who came from Stratford upon Avon. It is said that this man signed his name as 'William Shakspere'.

Shakspere's parents were illiterate. Shakspere's daughter, Judith, was unable to write.

The most famous role that Will Shakspere played on the stage was the Ghost in Hamlet. He also worked as a moneylender.

It is odd that Will Shakspere, who once sued a man for an unpaid loan of two shillings, was never compensated for his plays during his lifetime and never seemed to have complained about it.

It's also said that, unlike most artists, Will Shakspere enjoyed prosperity during his lifetime. The only surviving letter to Shakspere is a letter from a neighbour asking for a loan of thirty pounds.

In his last will and testament, Will mentions a "second best bed" and a "silver gilt bowl" but makes no mention of his valuable literary works or who is to benefit from them.

It is therefore surmised that the actor 'Will Shakspere' and the author 'William Shakespeare' were two different people.

What's in a Name?

Shakespeare or "Spear Shaker" is believed to be a reference to the spear shakers of mythology: Apollo, Athena and Hercules, the mortal who became a god.

Will Shakspere had never travelled and knew little Latin or Greek so many theorists believe that he would have been unable to produce literary works that required an indepth knowledge of law, Platonic philosophy, Rosicrucian symbolism, the culture of royal courts and several languages.

The authorship of Shakespeare's plays is usually attributed to men such as Sir Francis Bacon, Christopher Marlowe or Edward De Vere.

Manly P. Hall writes: "A sentimental world, however, dislikes to give up a traditional hero, either to solve a controversy or to right a wrong."

However the real author of the plays must have had his or her reasons for keeping their identity a secret. Besides 'The Complete Works of Bacon' doesn't have quite the same ring to it.

All the World's a Stage

Most people today still believe that the moneylending actor from Stratford upon Avon is the authentic author of the Elizabethan literary masterpieces.

So either Will Shakspere was truly one of the greatest writers of all time. Or he was one of the greatest actors, convincing the world at large during his lifetime and beyond his death, that he was a literary genius and the author of some of the most celebrated masterpieces in English literature.

Related Post

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Pandora's Box of Tricks

Humans have created many myths to explain the somewhat unexplainable origins of evil on Earth.

One of the themes of the origin of evil has been the Creation of Woman.

This belief is deeply entrenched both consciously and unconsciously in most cultures not only in religion or social mores but also in myths, jokes (e.g. God said, "Woe unto you, man." And created Woe-man.") and proverbs (e.g. "A woman has the form of an angel, the heart of a serpent, and the mind of an ass.")

Eve and Pandora

In the culture of Christianity, Eve, and thus all women, have been blamed for plunging mankind into a vale of tears, because she listened to the serpent in the Garden of Eden and ate of the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

In the Genesis version of the creation of humanity, Eve is fashioned from one of Adam's ribs. Whether viewed symbolically or literally, this has been interpreted as woman being subordinate and inferior to man.

In the similar Greek myth, Pandora was the first woman on Earth. Unlike Eve, she was not fashioned from one of man's ribs. She was created from water and earth by the god of craftmanship. She was given the gift of beauty from Aphrodite, the gift of music from Apollo, the gift of cunning from Hermes plus gifts from all the other gods.

Because of this, she was called All-Gifted. (pan - 'the great all' dora- 'gifted')

Some of the gifts bestowed on Pandora were rather dubious (such as the 'gift' of foolishness from Zeus and the 'gift' of curiosity from Hera).

The Pandora Legend

Unlike Eve, Pandora was not created to be a companion to man. Rather she was created by the gods expressly to be a punishment to mankind.

Pandora's unconscious purpose was to bring misery to the human race.

Before she was sent to Earth, the god Hermes gave her a beautiful jar (or box as it is now more famously known) and was instructed never to open it (but Hermes gave her the key anyway).

She was sent as a kind of 'honey trap' to the brother of Prometheus.

Curiosity Killed the Cat

Against his brother's advice, Epimetheus was seduced by the beauty of Pandora and accepted this gift of a wife from the gods.

Pandora hid the jar so that she wouldn't be tempted to open it. First she put it in a storeroom, then she put it in a chest in the storeroom, then she buried the chest in the garden. So she did try.

Finally Pandora could no longer restrain herself and decided to peep into the box/jar.

The gods had each put a nasty gift into the box. So once opened, all kinds of sorrows were unleashed unto humanity: Sickness, Insanity, Pestilence, Vice, Greed, Crime, Death, Theft, Lies, Jealousy, and so on.

But all was not lost. Pandora managed to close the box before Elpis, the gift of hope could escape.

Alternative Versions

Just as the gods had all bestowed Pandora with divine gifts, each god had put a blessing in the box such as peace, abundance, health and so forth.

So when Pandora opened the box, all these blessings flew away and there was misery upon the earth.

There is also a version similar to Eve enticing Adam to eat of the forbidden fruit. In this version, Pandora persuades Epimetheus to open the box.

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The Creation of Man

Ancient Adam and Eve joke that I remember reading on a TV message board years ago:

Wandering dejectedly in The Garden of Eden, Eve told God, "I'm lonely and I'm tired of eating apples all by myself."

"Okay," God said, "I'll create a man for you."

Eve said, "A man! What's that?"

"He's a creature with aggressive tendencies and an enormous ego. He won't listen very well,he'll get lost easily, but never stop to ask for directions. However, he is big and strong, he can open jars and hunt animals. And he'll be fun in bed."

"Sounds great!" said Eve.

"Oh, and one more thing," God said. "He will want to believe that I made HIM first."

Another version of this tale together with more alternative creation stories here.

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The Curse of the Divided Self - Part III