Doctor Who and the Breath of Life

Continuing the look at creation myths and stories, here's one from last Saturday's episode of Doctor Who entitled The Doctor's Daughter.

"In the Beginning, the Great One breathed life into the universe. And then She looked at what She'd done and She sighed...That Sigh [was called]... the Beginning of Time and was kept as the Source...Whoever holds the Source controls the destiny of this planet."

The Source was mystically known as the Breath of Life. But the Doctor (in a scientific rant) labelled it a Bubble of Gases.

The episode was set on a planet where the inhabitants had "mythologised their entire history" and where a war, which they said had been waging for generations, had only been waging for seven days.

"Your whole history is just Chinese whispers getting more and more distorted as it is passed on," said the Doctor - before releasing the Breath of Life and creating a Whole New World, in his usual breezy manner.

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Lucifer Lost (in Translation)

Lucifer, a Latin name which originally meant 'light bringer' (Lux - light Ferous - carry) became a synonym for the Devil or Satan, apparently through a translation error.

Lucifer makes a rare appearance in the Old Testament in the Book of Isaiah, Chapter 14, Verse 12 in the Latin version of the Bible.

In the New Jerusalem Bible, this phrase is now translated as: "How did you come to fall from the heavens, Daystar, son of Dawn?"

So how did the Star come to be known as the Devil, a being that is believed to have existed from the Beginning of Time and who is often equated with the Serpent in the Garden of Eden ?

The Isaiah text refers to the death of a king of Babylon and the Daystar was a metaphor for the downfall of this king. The Christian concept of the Devil did not exist at the time that the Isaiah text was composed.

In the 4th century St Jerome translated the phrase 'Daystar, son of the Dawn' as 'Lucifer' for the Vulgate (the Latin version of the Bible).

The translators for the King James version of the Bible based some of their revisions on St Jerome's Vulgate rather than on the original Hebrew texts.

The Isaiah verse is apparently the seed for the legend about the rebellious angel in Paradise Lost who was cast out of heaven and whose name became synonymous with darkness instead of light.

The expression Daystar or Star of the Morning pops up in the Bible a few times more, for example in the Book of Revelation. On these occasions, the translators have decided that Lucifer is a reference to Jesus Christ rather than the Devil.

To confuse matters further, Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 11:14, "...even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light."

Those who choose to believe that the Bible is the literal infallible word of God and not metaphorical or astrological teachings, must surely concede that even if the Biblical Word of God is literal and infallible, his translators are probably not.

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The Lucifer Connection

Some thoughts on Eve, the Marys and Venus:

The name ‘Lucifer’ means ‘light bringer’ or ‘light bearer’ and was the alternative name of Venus, the Morning Star.




The Morning Star was called the Light Bringer because it heralded the arrival of the sun at dawn, the sun being the ultimate source of Light and Life.

For some reason, the Light Bringer and Knowledge became equated with Evil and “Lucifer” was also the name that has been given to the rebellious fallen angel who defied God in some traditions.



In the previous post, I discussed Edgar Cayce’s interpretation of the Garden of Eden story.

If you interpret his story symbolically rather than literally, it can be viewed as a reference to feminine intuition and wisdom where the Light Bringer shows Eve how to gain access to knowledge and her divine identity.

In Cayce’s version of the story, Eve is a soul who incarnated many times. Cayce believed that her last incarnation was that of Mary, the mother of Jesus.




The figure of Mary, whether it is the Immaculate Conception, (virgin) or the Magdalene (whore), is often linked with that of the goddess Isis, also known as the Black Madonna (mother).





And Isis is sometimes equated with the goddess Venus.

The goddess Venus was believed to be a powerful female creational force, a source of light and love. (Although as with all things, she also had a dark side or negative aspect) However, in this context, Lucifer/Venus, the Light Bringer is a source of enlightenment, universal love and illumination.



Throughout history, Lucifer, women, knowledge and the serpent (the symbol of wisdom) have all, at one time or another, become equated with Evil in the collective unconscious and suppressed in order to be replaced with the darkness and violent mysteries of the patriarchal religions.

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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.

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Just the Three of Us: Charles, Camilla and Di

A furtive glance at Prince Charles' bizarre triangle of lurve:

The TV movie, Whatever Love Means, implied that it was Camilla (the “crocodile wife” as Mohamed Al Fayed affectionately calls her) who selected Diana as the ideal wife for Prince Charles believing that the young girl would be dutiful, silent and turn a blind eye to their clandestine relationship. (“We’ve got to find you a wife, Charles!”)

It’s also been said that during their marriage, Camilla would give Diana advice about how to handle Prince Charles.

I’ve no idea whether Camilla did choose Diana for Prince Charles in reality or whether this twist was invented solely for dramatic purposes for the film.

But it does give an extra significance to Diana’s famous: “There were three of us in that marriage."

In his equally famous speech at Princess Diana’s funeral, her brother, (the other Charles) said, "It is a point to remember that of all the ironies about Diana, perhaps the greatest was this - a girl given the name of the ancient goddess of hunting was, in the end, the most hunted person of the modern age."

Here's another irony. In Roman mythology, Camilla, the Virgin Queen of the Volscians in ancient Italy, was a favourite of the Goddess Diana.

The goddess Diana says of Camilla, “There is not a girl in Italy that I love more, and have loved ever since she was a child.” (The Aeneid for Boys and Girls)

During her life, Camilla (the Virgin Warrior, not the “crocodile wife”) rejected the idea of marriage in favour of remaining faithful to the goddess Diana.

Peter Pan of Pop

Since I’ve recently been looking at all things Peter Pan, I thought I’d take a glance at the Peter Pan of Pop. Not Cliff Richard, the other one.

This month, Michael Jackson has celebrated the 25 years since his record-breaking album Thriller was released, by releasing it again.

As his star wanes, Jackson continues to be something of an enigma.

Like his namesake, Michael Llewellyn Davies, Jackson is (was?) extremely creative, something of a poet and had a strong affinity with the character Peter Pan.

Jackson’s mantra in his later interviews had been, “I am Peter Pan.”

His other mantra “I never had a childhood” is somewhat paradoxical. Rather than a boy who wouldn’t grow up, it implies a person that has never been a child in the first place.

We have the photographs and the video footage to prove that Jackson was indeed once a child and wasn’t beamed down onto the Planet Earth as a fully formed adult.

But obviously he is referring to the fact that he spent his formative years working long hours in (some unsuitable) places whilst growing up in the public eye. He may also be alluding to the idea that he never had a childhood because his innocence was tampered with.

Whatever the case may be, Jackson grew up a very long time ago.

Those who know him well have said that in private, he has a deeper more masculine voice. The gentle softly-spoken childlike voice is used when addressing the public, the media, the worshipping fans and their parents.

The Peter Pan persona is like a figurative version of the literal mask he sometimes wears when he is out in public.

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Golden Shadows

Golden Shadows

Just as we tend to repress the dark side of our nature and project it onto scapegoats, we also tend to repress our divine attributes and project them onto...scapegoats. These are usually the individuals we see swishing down a red carpet in a designer frock or suit.

We call them stars, idols, and goddesses. We call ourselves fans, short for fanatics.

We grant them royal titles such as the King of this and the Queen of that and place them up on a pedestal.

Sometimes they are bemused by it all. Sometimes they believe all the hype.

Although we're much less worshipful than previous generations, we're still somewhat baffled and unforgiving, if they topple off their pedestal and turn out to be only human.

We talk of stars imploding and call them fallen idols or fallen angels. We get to participate and comment on their downfall on interactive forums like a chorus in a Greek tragedy.

If we lose them prematurely, we might forget about them and replace them with a new icon. Or we might bestow them with immortality and elevate or restore them to cult or godlike status. And then the whole cycle begins again.

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The Many Faces of Faust

And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?
(Jesus) Mark 8:36

Don’t gain the world and lose your soul, wisdom is better than silver or gold.
(Bob Marley)

The famous Faust story has had many an incarnation down the centuries. Each variation of the story involves a man who enters into a pact with the devil to get material success, wealth, fame, power etc. in exchange for his soul and becoming the devil's eternal servant once he dies.

The Real Dr Faust

The stories are based on Dr Johannes Faustus, a German alchemist and teacher who lived in the sixteenth century. Dr Faustus was believed to have been a conman, practical joker and a child molester.

According to Manly P. Hall, Dr Faustus experimented with conjuring up a number of elemental beings to work as his servant.

One morning he was found stabbed in the back. He is believed to have been killed by one of his own elemental creatures.

Faust in Fiction

One of the first versions of the Faust story is the play by Christopher Marlowe called The Tragical History of Dr Faustus.

Unlike succeeding versions of the tale, Marlowe's Faust is ripped apart by demons and dragged off to hell screeching and wailing.

Ironically like the original Dr Faustus, the playwright Christopher Marlowe met his end by being stabbed to death.

The most famous theatrical work on Faust is the play by Goethe which has a more upbeat ending, for, like Mr Punch, Faust eventually triumphs over the devil.

There is also an opera by Gounod called Faust as featured in the novel the Phantom of the Opera.

And there is a second opera composed by Arrigo Borito based on the story called Mefistofele which features in the 2005 film Batman Begins just before Bruce Wayne’s parents are murdered.

Mister Mephistopheles

In the Faust legend, the Devil is called Mephistopheles.

This name for the Devil seems to have emerged during the Renaissance Period. In some legends, he is the Devil himself. In other legends, he is one of the Fallen Angels that joined Lucifer in his rebellion against God.

The Faustian pact storyline has continued to be a favourite formula in movies and theatre. Variations of the Faust plot can be found in the musical Damn Yankees and the film The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941).

A remake of The Devil and Daniel Webster – with Ghost Whisperer Jennifer Love Hewitt as the Devil (?!) – was made in 2001. The making of the film seemed to have been dogged by the Devil himself.

Directed by Alec Baldwin, its release was delayed until 2007. The director's name was removed from the directorial credit and the film was recut and renamed Shortcut to Happiness.

To end on a musical note, I don’t have any opera clips but I did find this.

[Cue cheesy musical moment]

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Portraits of the Beast

The Beast, The Devil, Lucifer, Satan - whatever people choose to call the phenomenon- has always wielded a paradoxical fascination over the human psyche.

Some view the Beast as an actual entity, a fallen angel or agent of evil.

Others see the Beast as the evil part of humanity that has been projected and externalised into the Ultimate Bogeyman.

Whichever way you choose to look at it, the Devil continues to cast its spectre over the popular imagination and appears wearing diverse guises and masks in literature, theatre and the movies.

Here are a few of the more recent and more (relatively) benign faces of the Beast:

As an angelic(ish) looking child in The Omen (1976):

"Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six."

As a lawyer in New York in The Devil's Advocate:

"Who can deny that the 20th century has been entirely mine?"


And as "just your average horny little devil" in The Witches of Eastwick:

An ambiguous figure, suggestive of the Devil, appears as a charming conman in the controversial Dennis Potter play Brimstone and Treacle which was originally banned by the BBC. The conman is played by Michael Kitchen in the banned television version and by Sting in the movie version.



These are some of the more accessible, less scary portraits of the Beast. But perhaps these more palatable portraits (the approachable New York lawyer, the blue-eyed child etc.) makes him/her/it all the more insidious.

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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.”