30-03-2014, 02:18 PM
Just finished the following:
**
Following on from the prior 3 posts, I think it would help to illuminate things a little more, by making some additional facts available. I'm simplifying an extraordinary dense subject, so forgive me if the following is a bit more tangled than usual, as I don't have the time to do it full justice at the moment.
Firstly, as noted above the star symbol that kept appearing throughout the film, and which the author identified as the Star of Ishtar, is more often known as the Star of Astaroth, where Astaroth is a Crowned Prince of Hell, and a male figure named after the Canaanite Goddess Ashtoreth, a name that was itself derived from the Phoenician Goddess Astarte.
Astarte is associated with several opposing aspects including being the Goddess of love, motherhood and fertility, but also sexuality and war. She was an important deity of the Phoenician towns of Sidon and Tyre, which probably, is where the Knights Templars first came across her - and yes, the Templars very much feature in Eyes Wide Shut.
As Ashtoreth, she was a deity of gross sensuality and lasciviousness and worship of her was often accompanied by human sacrifice and ecstatic exercises.
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Depiction of Astaroth from the 1818 Dictionnaire Infernal
Qabalistically speaking, Astraroth is regarded as an arch demon of the Quiploth, where the latter is regarded as the evil and impure spirits - or "shells" - of the dark side of the Tree of Life, namely the Tree of Evil.
The 8 rayed star that features in the film is an octagram. This is also the principal symbol of the Knights Templar, the Maltese Cross. And Knight Templar is the thirtieth degree of Scottish Rite Freemasonry, known as the Knight Kadosh - where Kadosh means consecrated.
Just to make sure we know what he is telling us, Kubrick emphasizes the Scottish Rite connection by showing us the symbol of the double headed eagle that adorns Red Cloak's "chair". This is the primary symbol of Scottish Rite Freemasons and is an Order that is very much American in nature (deriving from the original French order).
The double headed eagle appears across the world as a religious symbol - it is the Storm Bird of the middle east, the native American indian Thunder Bird, the Hindu Garuda etc etc. It is a symbol reflecting both the positive and negative poles of life as does the Goddess Astarte. Once again this important point about duality has been emphasized by Kubrick.
The double headed bird looks in opposite directions. This tells us that it is like all significant symbols; it has a positive and also a negative side. It can represent growth and harmony, but also destruction and disharmony etc. Integrating and balancing these opposing forces of nature is the task of the hero. Disintegrating and unbalancing them is the wish and desire of the dark magus of the film.
Moreover, the double-headed eagle is the symbol associated with the Grand Elect Knight of Kadosh (formerly the Illustrious and Grand Commander of the White and Black Eagle, Grand Elect Kadosh). And this too, emphasizes the Knights Templar aspect of this story.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]5836[/ATTACH]
These two symbols, namely the octagram and the double headed eagle together confirm that Red Cloak is a Knight Templar - in other words he holds the 30th degree, the Knight of Kadosh of Scottish rite freemasonry.
Thus we have an interlocking, resonating mesh of symbols which we have had our attention drawn to by Kubrick: Knights Templars/ Knights Kadosh, Scottish Rite freemasonry and the dark sexual, warring side of Astarte, a pagan Goddess of great antiquity.
Why was Kubrick telling us these particular facts?
My conclusion is that he was saying that the American ruling elite are Scottish Rite freemasons and that they, at some point (or at least those selected for the elevation) are initiated into the negative, dark side of occultism that is activated and controlled by 30th degree and higher Masters of this order. I further conclude, based on the death of Amanda in the film, that once you step into this milieu you cannot step out of it again. Breathing that is.
That Freemasonry is immensely powerful in America is not doubted by the way. Several presidents and many others in influential positions in government and business have been high masons.
An equally important a question, I think, is how did Kubrick know of these matters? After all it is very dense, specialized and technical subject - and not one you would expect to stumble into. Was Kubrick himself a freemason of the Scottish rite? Was his film Eyes Wide Shut a way of not only telling the public the hidden reality of American life, but was also his way of trying to disengage himself from that morass? Was his death within a few days of turning over his final cut of the film to Warner Brothers, a message to others of that order that no one, once ensnared at this level of knowledge, will ever be permitted to escape their capture alive.
I suspect so.
**
Following on from the prior 3 posts, I think it would help to illuminate things a little more, by making some additional facts available. I'm simplifying an extraordinary dense subject, so forgive me if the following is a bit more tangled than usual, as I don't have the time to do it full justice at the moment.
Firstly, as noted above the star symbol that kept appearing throughout the film, and which the author identified as the Star of Ishtar, is more often known as the Star of Astaroth, where Astaroth is a Crowned Prince of Hell, and a male figure named after the Canaanite Goddess Ashtoreth, a name that was itself derived from the Phoenician Goddess Astarte.
Astarte is associated with several opposing aspects including being the Goddess of love, motherhood and fertility, but also sexuality and war. She was an important deity of the Phoenician towns of Sidon and Tyre, which probably, is where the Knights Templars first came across her - and yes, the Templars very much feature in Eyes Wide Shut.
As Ashtoreth, she was a deity of gross sensuality and lasciviousness and worship of her was often accompanied by human sacrifice and ecstatic exercises.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]5837[/ATTACH]
Depiction of Astaroth from the 1818 Dictionnaire Infernal
Qabalistically speaking, Astraroth is regarded as an arch demon of the Quiploth, where the latter is regarded as the evil and impure spirits - or "shells" - of the dark side of the Tree of Life, namely the Tree of Evil.
The 8 rayed star that features in the film is an octagram. This is also the principal symbol of the Knights Templar, the Maltese Cross. And Knight Templar is the thirtieth degree of Scottish Rite Freemasonry, known as the Knight Kadosh - where Kadosh means consecrated.
Just to make sure we know what he is telling us, Kubrick emphasizes the Scottish Rite connection by showing us the symbol of the double headed eagle that adorns Red Cloak's "chair". This is the primary symbol of Scottish Rite Freemasons and is an Order that is very much American in nature (deriving from the original French order).
The double headed eagle appears across the world as a religious symbol - it is the Storm Bird of the middle east, the native American indian Thunder Bird, the Hindu Garuda etc etc. It is a symbol reflecting both the positive and negative poles of life as does the Goddess Astarte. Once again this important point about duality has been emphasized by Kubrick.
The double headed bird looks in opposite directions. This tells us that it is like all significant symbols; it has a positive and also a negative side. It can represent growth and harmony, but also destruction and disharmony etc. Integrating and balancing these opposing forces of nature is the task of the hero. Disintegrating and unbalancing them is the wish and desire of the dark magus of the film.
Moreover, the double-headed eagle is the symbol associated with the Grand Elect Knight of Kadosh (formerly the Illustrious and Grand Commander of the White and Black Eagle, Grand Elect Kadosh). And this too, emphasizes the Knights Templar aspect of this story.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]5836[/ATTACH]
These two symbols, namely the octagram and the double headed eagle together confirm that Red Cloak is a Knight Templar - in other words he holds the 30th degree, the Knight of Kadosh of Scottish rite freemasonry.
Thus we have an interlocking, resonating mesh of symbols which we have had our attention drawn to by Kubrick: Knights Templars/ Knights Kadosh, Scottish Rite freemasonry and the dark sexual, warring side of Astarte, a pagan Goddess of great antiquity.
Why was Kubrick telling us these particular facts?
My conclusion is that he was saying that the American ruling elite are Scottish Rite freemasons and that they, at some point (or at least those selected for the elevation) are initiated into the negative, dark side of occultism that is activated and controlled by 30th degree and higher Masters of this order. I further conclude, based on the death of Amanda in the film, that once you step into this milieu you cannot step out of it again. Breathing that is.
That Freemasonry is immensely powerful in America is not doubted by the way. Several presidents and many others in influential positions in government and business have been high masons.
An equally important a question, I think, is how did Kubrick know of these matters? After all it is very dense, specialized and technical subject - and not one you would expect to stumble into. Was Kubrick himself a freemason of the Scottish rite? Was his film Eyes Wide Shut a way of not only telling the public the hidden reality of American life, but was also his way of trying to disengage himself from that morass? Was his death within a few days of turning over his final cut of the film to Warner Brothers, a message to others of that order that no one, once ensnared at this level of knowledge, will ever be permitted to escape their capture alive.
I suspect so.
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
Carl Jung - Aion (1951). CW 9, Part II: P.14
