Stars and Hollywood Part III

What's in a Name? Very often there is more in it than the profane is prepared to understand, or the learned mystic to explain. It is an invisible, secret, but very potential influence that every name carries about with it and "leaveth where ever it goeth." ~ Madame H.P. Blavatsky



As I mentioned in Part I of Stars and Hollywood, the name Hollywood is charged with profound creative potential and influence since its name derives from the holly tree whose wood is traditionally used in the fabrication of magic wands. Thus by Theosophical principles the foundations of the U.S. film industry, which peddled enchantment and illusion, was itself conjured and rooted by the magic of its name.




In Part II of Stars and Hollywood, we began to look at how the term "star" became associated with performers, the motion picture industry, and fame. It became clear that, like the Founding Fathers of the United States before them, the Founding Fathers of the U.S. entertainment industry (including film, radio, music and television) used specific Masonic themes and images associated with esoteric stars to align themselves with destiny and ultimately to reveal a hidden agenda or plan in plain view. By examining Hollywood's "a star is born" metaphor, we began to uncover what that hidden agenda may be: the revelation that we are becoming gods.

In particular the theme of the light-bearer, a pun on the intrinsic nature of film itself, is used as an obvious reference to film, and in some cases, like Columbia Pictures, to national archetypes both of which are embedded with veiled significance in the Masonic tradition with roots in ancient Gnosticism.

According to Timothy Hogan:
Gnosticism and Gnostic thought are mentioned several times in the Scottish Rite degrees, and we can see it as a general theme in Freemasonry, though it is rarely mentioned specifically by name outside of the Scottish Rite. . . Gnosticism is a school of thought originally developed in the ancient pagan world and championed by philosophers like Pythagoras, and later instrumental in the development of early Christianity, in which an initiate can attain a Gnosis- or direct knowledge of the divine. As a result, schools of initiation were set up by the Gnostics in order to engage in study and initiation, and to attain connection with the path of Sophia - the Greek word for “wisdom”. Gnosticism therefore showed the connection between God and Nature, and contributed to the esoteric sciences of alchemy and sacred geometry. The “G” emphasized in Freemasonry may therefore have other implications!

In the Gnostic view, there is a true, ultimate and transcendent God who emanated or brought forth from within Itself all there is in all the worlds, visible and invisible. God was represented as the supreme light, and in fact, the Gnostics were often called the Sons of Light.

The basic Gnostic myth has many variations, but all of these refer to Aeons or Archons, intermediate deific beings who exist between the ultimate, True God and ourselves. In late antiquity the term archon was used in Gnosticism to refer to several servants of the Demiurge, a "creator god" that stood between the human race and a transcendent God that could only be reached through gnosis.



Thus any deity or demon may be considered an archon: that which keeps us distracted from true transcendence and gnosis. Gnostics believe that they have secret knowledge about God, humanity and the rest of the universe of which the general population was unaware. Their doctrine of 'salvation by knowledge' has mistakenly associated them with Satan, the guardian of the Tree of Knowledge, and his misnamed alter-ego Lucifer -- a misconception clarified by the 19th century theosophist Madame H.P. Blavatsky in a letter to her sister Vera:

We are about to found a magazine of our own, Lucifer. Don’t allow yourself to be frightened: it is not the devil, into which the Catholics have falsified the name of the Morning Star, sacred to all the ancient world, of the ‘bringer of light,’ Phosphoros, as the Romans often called the Mother of God and Christ. And in St. John’s Revelation does it not say, ‘I, Jesus, the morning star’? I wish people would take this to mind, at least. It is possible that the rebellious angel was called Lucifer before his fall, but after his transformation he must not be called so....

Like the mythical Prometheus who gave fire to man and angered the gods, Lucifer is a viewed by gnostics as the bringer of light and gnosis - knowledge, a gift which angered and frightened the Catholic Church enough to demonize it.

The Theosophical Society of New York City was founded in 1875 and its philosophy had a profound effect on the arts and literature at the end of the 19th Century. Through its expanding membership the metaphor of the light-bringer/lucifer was infiltrating the collective consciousness at the time of the burgeoning film and entertainment industries. The illusionary and luciferan (light-based) nature of film is itself may in fact reflect the gnostic view of material reality -- a false reflection of the true reality through the machinations of a Demiurge.

I am not the first to suggest that Hollywood is controlled by this Demiurge, or illuminated elite. Hollywood's creator-gods, such as movie producers, directors, actors, and stars project infinite distractions to keep us from connecting with the true Transcendent one, while at the same time secretly reveal the truth disguised in allegorical movies that today is called The Revelation of the Method. The Revelation of the Method is a term in conspiracy circles meaning something revealed, especially a dramatic disclosure of something not previously known or realized. The evidence of this machination is clearly projected for all to see in the logos and recurring symbols and themes of the movie industry, especially in the archetypes projected by 20th Century Fox.













Twentieth Century Fox
Le bon Dieu est dans le detail. ~ Gustave Flaubert
Der liebe Gott steckt im Detail. ~ Aby Warburg
The devil is in the details. ~ Proverb

In numerology every letter of the alphabet gets assigned a number according to its position, ie a=1, b=2, c=3 to the end. The letters F, O and X all equal 6. Thus the FOX call letters are numerologically 6-6-6 associated with the mark of the beast, or the devil. Even disgruntled actors and directors occasionally describe Fox as the devil. This amusing correspondence becomes an enlightening coincidence with other luciferan themes embedded throughout the history of 20th Century Fox.



20th Century Fox is one of the six major U.S. film studios located in Century City just southwest of Hollywood. It was founded in 1935 as a result of a merger of Fox Film Corporation (founded in 1915 by William Fox) and 20th Century Pictures (founded in 1933 by various studio executives). Today it is a subsidiary of News Corporation owned by Rupert Murdoch who became a U.S.Citizen in 1985 in order to purchase it. 20th Century Fox includes Fox Broadcasting (News) and Fox Entertainment Group (Music). The latest headline coming from the studios syncs nicely with our solar-stellar theme: Fox signs its latest big star: the Sun -- as it completed its installation of solar panels.



A list of its recent popular films include an intriguing collection of Revelation of the Method themes: Avatar, Star Wars, Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, Aliens, and Planet of the Apes; its popular television series include the X-Files, The Simpsons, American Idol, and Fringe; and its news group includes the likes of Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, and Bill O'Reilly. 20th Century Fox movies have changed our collective consciousness and made us more aware of the possibility of alien invasion, asteroid impact, and global climate change. Their television shows have intrigued us with various conspiracy theories and fringe science. These revelatory productions have created memorable quotes reflecting this shift in consciousness, such as "May the Force be with You" (Star Wars), "I 'see' you" (Avatar), and perhaps the most insidious "The Truth is Out There" (X-Files). And they have seeded images of events that seem prophetic, but may in fact have been planned.





And there is a strange contrast between the fantasy film and television productions and the "fantasy" news that FOX broadcasts. How could a company that produces so many movies and television programs about revelation and promotes liberal ideology when they simultaneously also produce obviously biased conservative "news" that influences the minds the 'other side.' Well FOX has cornered the market. It may bring you the Apollo Moon Hoax and The X-Files as well as the crazy rants of Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly.

During the first decade of 2000s, FOX news expanded with its coverage of the Iraqi war and expanded its base of conservatives. Although still popular in the marketplace, people are beginning to see FOX news as a joke and to understand what it really does: it divides us. Division is the tool of the ultimate deception of a dualistic belief system -- that we are separate from the divine when in fact we are divine. Division creates yin/yang, positive/negative, angels/demons and nobody cashes in on it like Fox News. (It also makes us believe that the other networks are "real" news when in fact those networks are under the same manipulative powers -- but that's another article.) Fox divides and conquers the market. It does this to keep the viewer tuned in, raise ratings, and cash in. As Fox Mulder realized after falling through the rabbit hole, over and over again, that the truth is not out there. It is inside us, as the gnostics might say, and the masters of illusion at 20th Century Fox (and other entertainment companies) do everything to make us forget that. Fantasy is the key word and tool of the sly Fox of 20th Century Fox.

FOX Films
In 1915 William Fox formed The Fox Film Corporation by merging two companies he had established in 1913: Greater New York Film Rental, a distribution firm, which was part of the Independents; and Fox (or Box, depending on the source) Office Attractions Company, a production company. This merging of a distribution company and a production company was an early example of vertical integration. A year before the merger Fox Office Attractions had distributed Windsor McCay's groundbreaking cartoon Gertie the Dinosaur. Although not the first animated film, Gertie the Dinosaur it was the first cartoon to feature a character with a distinctive personality and is considered a predecessor to popular cartoons, such as those by Walt Disney.



Thus one of the first productions of Fox Films was indeed a fantasy film about a brontosaurus strangely named Gertie. Gertie seems more of a name for a goose than a dinosaur. The name comes from Gertrude meaning "strength of spear" or "spear maiden." Like the strange coincidence of naming Nestor studios after King Nestor with his royal "magic" staff as we discussed in Part I of Stars and Hollywood, Gertie the Dinosaur also conjures up magic from deep inside the well of nebulous synchronicity. She is like a modern dragon that has been tamed by the artist.



Gertie was probably inspired by 19th and 20th century archeological finds of dinosaur fossils which were beginning to become popular exhibits in museums. Like her antecedents on Fox, Gertie the Dinosaur combines both science and fantasy. In the late 1890s the American Museum of Natural History in New York City collected an Apatosaurus specimen, which became the first sauropod dinosaur ever mounted. Museum paleontologists labored over the specimen for several years before it went on view in 1905, and it has been a focal point of the collection ever since. Perhaps Windsor McCay was inspired by work like the 1910 illustration below by Mary Mason Mitchell that originally appeared in On the Manner of Locomotion of the Dinosaurs, Especially Diplodocus, with Remarks on the Origin of the Birds in Proceedings of the Washington Academy of Sciences.



Thus from its inception, Fox Films produced a strange mix of science and fantasy that ultimately makes it today's leader in science fiction and fantasy broadcasts. I bet Sarah Palin would like Gertie the Dinosaur as she still believes that humans and dinosaurs walked the earth together.

20th Century Fox LOGOS
A logo, or logotype is a graphic representation or symbol of a company name that is uniquely designed for ready recognition. Stemming from the Greek logos, meaning word or speech it also refers to the rational principle that governs and develops the universe, ie God, and/or the divine word of God. Like a name, a logo carries potential influence and magic, and when established become an archetypal symbol on its own.



This compilation of 20th Century Fox TV logos reveals that the original logos for the studio contained the same solar and star archetypes as Columbia Pictures. The initial logo has the rising sun motif rising behind the letters TCF (Twentieth Century Fox). The first change to the logo expands the letters to the full name floating across a sea of stars with what looks like an Egyptian pyramid floating on top of the URY of Century. Can you guess what constellations these stars represent? And next we see the familiar search light logo with the distinctive Art Deco building. Over the years this famous logo was modified by various artists. From lightening bolts in the Fox TV logo, to Fox STAR productions, it becomes modified to specific TV and movie characters and themes.



This modern CGI version of the logo contains a multitude of symbols. It begins from a perspective above the blinding search lights. The distinctive Art Deco Fox building is placed in an expanded virtual Los Angeles City. In the distant background you can just make out the Hollywood sign which gives the Fox monument an actually location in Century City.


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It seems that sun is setting to the northwest, and that it is twilight -- magic hour. In the still below, I tried to figure out what constellation might be brightening as the sun fades.





At first I was sure that I was going to find Sirius and Orion, but my sky-watching friend Lori pointed out that it seems to be the constellation of Cygnus -- the swan, also known as the northern cross. What is fascinating is that below Cygnus is the constellation of Vulpecula, the FOX, which would be located behind the building itself. Like the constellation Columba, Vulpecula was a creation of another 17th century astronomer, and possible illuminati member, named Johannes Hevelius. ( For more see Hoagland's article on why these constellations may have been created and how they relate to the dawning of the age of Horus.) During the Middle Ages and Renaissance the fox appears as a symbol of the sly, sophisticated devil. The red fox is the most common of this smallest member of the canine family. Ah, yes. I said CANINE. Once again another layer of the veil parts. But the fox has also has its own long history of magic and cunning associated with it. Because it is most visible during the between times of dusk and dawn, it is believed to have access to magical worlds. Thus the logo of 20th Century Fox, with the fall of twilight is steeped in fox iconography.



She's a twentieth century fox,
She's a twentieth century fox,
She's got the world locked up inside a plastic box,
She's a twentieth century fox,
She's a twentieth century fox


Although on the surface this song appears to written about Jim Morrison's girlfriend Pamela Courson, it describes a glamorous but artificial LA woman (a female fox is called a "vixen") and simultaneously conjures up images our iconic movie studio. Jim Morrison may have been alluding the imprisonment of the world mind locked up in a plastic pandora box (T.V) by the entertainment industry. (Ironic in light of the mystery around the original name of Fox Films -- Box/Fox.) It is also a comment on the fame machine of Hollywood.

No doubt Morrison was steeped in myth and symbolism having grown up in the heart of the U.S. film industry, as well as having attended film school at UCLA whose motto Fiat Lux translates: "let there be light." A poet, philosopher, and singer, Jim Morrison was an iconoclast who used his fame to promote his artistic message. He felt it necessary to push the envelope and society as far as as possible to find freedom. He openly used drugs as "doors" to access other worlds where few explorers ventured. Morrison's music, lyrics, and charismatic passion took listeners to some dark places in our collective psyches. Like any good shaman, his real talent was taking us along on on his journeys into these forbidden realms and opening our minds with his vivid perceptions.

According to his own self-made mythology, Morrison saw an Indian get hit by a car in his youth and believed the Indian's spirit was released and living in him. He named this Indian spirit the Lizard King, and took on its energy like a modern shaman on Ayahuasca. The native mythology around lizards are that they are dream-keepers and protect the space between the worlds. Under stress they hide, or even play dead, leading many fans to believe that Morrison ran and hid in France and faked his own death. And guess what constellation lies next to the Fox -- Lacerta, the Lizard. What a strange and lovely coincidence, eh?



During their national debut on The Ed Sullivan Show the Doors performed Light my Fire causing consternation when they sang "higher" instead of the studio's request to sing "better" -- at that time you could not say "high" on national television. This controversy may have blinded critics to the more intriguing Masonic themes of this song. Mr. Mojo Risin (an anagram of Morrison's name) asked Columba to light his fire and release the rising sun. And strangely enough Jim Morrison died on July 3, 1971 -- during the dog days of summer when Sirius disappears into the Sun's glow and and Lacerta, the Lizard is twinkling with the Fox in the midheaven of summer stars. Mythic indeed.


Dinosaurs, Lizards, Dragons, and Fox

There is an intriguing Aesop's Fable linking the Fox and the Dragon. From a translation by Laura Gibbs:

While excavating her den, a fox dug a hole in the earth and as she made deeper and deeper tunnels in the ground, she finally reached the cave of a dragon who was guarding a hidden treasure. When the fox saw the dragon, she said, 'First of all, I beg your pardon for this carelessness on my part; second, you no doubt realize that gold means nothing to me, so I hope that you will be so kind as to explain to me what profit you gain from this work, and what reward could be so great that you would forgo the pleasure of sleep and live out your life here in the dark?' 'I have no reward,' the dragon replied, 'but this task was assigned to me by Jupiter on high.' 'Does that mean you take nothing for yourself and do not give anything to anyone?' 'That is what the Fates have decreed.' 'Please don't be angry then if I speak freely,' concluded the fox, 'but someone who lives like this must have been born under an unlucky star!'

Is our 20th Century Fox actually seeking the Dragon's gold? And what might that gold be? Gold is traditionally the metal assigned to the Sun. Aesop's fox was troubled that the Dragon was to live its life out in the dark, blind to the truth that the Gods are not his friend and that the Dragon holds the treasure himself. This reaction of anger that the gods keep us in the dark is very luciferan, as is the desire to bring light and knowledge. Once again this recurring light-bearer theme suggests that the entertainment industry is embedded in this philosophy which uses artificial light to bear gold. But like gold, it is only a reflection of the true power of the Sun.

Namaste!

So much of the knowledge in our minds is based on lies and superstitions that come from thousands of years ago. Humans create stories long before we are born, and we inherit those stories, we adopt them, and we live in those stories.

All around the world, people believe that there is a great conflict between good and evil. Well, it’s true that there’s a conflict, but it only exists in the human mind.

~ excerpts from The Voice of Knowledge, by Don Miguel Ruiz