The Psychedelic Eleusinian Mysteries of Ancient Greece

18 Thursday Jul 2013

Posted by Alyson Dunlop Shanes in Uncategorized

Tags

afterlife, Asklepios, Athens, Bacchus, Classical Greece, Demeter, Dionysus, Eleusinian Mysteries, Eleusis, ergot, Gorgon, Hades, Hellenic, Homeric Hymns, Hygieia, Kerameikos, Kore, kykeon, Medusa, mushrooms, Persephone, Perseus, psychedelic, Religion, Sacred Way, Styx, Telesterion

Persephone and Demeter holding mushrooms and food wallet, an implement of the Mysteries used to hide secret edible objects. From the Pharsalos bas-relief (5th c BCE), now in the Louvre.

Eleusis was a religious cult of ancient Greece, situated about twenty kilometres north west of Athens near the Isthmus of Corinth. In the Classical period, from as early as 1700 BCE, right up until the Roman Empire, Eleusis was the site of the Eleusinian Mysteries. These were sacred rituals revolving around Demeter (mother goddess of the grain) and her daughter Kore/Persephone. The ritual seems to have given the hope for life after death for those initiated. The traditional outlook at that time was that after death one would cross The Styx, the river of the Underworld. The Eleusinian Mysteries gave Greeks hope of a better life in Hades. These Mysteries were considered to be one of the most important in ancient times and were a major festival during the Hellenic period. The rites, ceremonies, and beliefs were secret, but appear to have involved sacred visions of the Afterlife. It is generally accepted by scholars that the initiates used a potion to induce a psychedelic experience.
One line of thought by modern scholars has been that these Mysteries were intended “to elevate man above the human sphere into the divine and to assure his redemption by making him a god and so conferring immortality upon him.” (1).
The only requirements for initiation were a lack of “blood guilt”, in other words having never committed murder, and not being a “barbarian” (unable to speak Greek). Men, women and even slaves were allowed initiation (2).
There were four categories of people who participated in the Eleusinian Mysteries:
1. Priests, priestesses and hierophants
2. Initiates, undergoing the ceremony for the first time.
3. Others who had already participated at least once. They were eligible for the fourth category.
4. Those who had attained epopteia, who had learned the secrets of the greatest mysteries of Demeter.
Much of the information about The Eleusinian Mysteries was never written down. For example, only initiates knew what the kiste, a sacred chest, and the kalathos, a lidded basket, contained. The contents, like so much about the Mysteries, are unknown. However, one researcher writes that this Cista (“kiste”) contained a golden mystical serpent, egg, a phallus and possibly also seeds sacred to Demeter (3).
There were two Eleusinian Mysteries, the Greater and the Lesser. According to Thomas Taylor:

…the dramatic shows of the Lesser Mysteries occultly signified the miseries of the soul while in subjection to the body, so those of the Greater obscurely intimated, by mystic and splendid visions, the felicity of the soul both here and hereafter, when purified from the defilements of a material nature and constantly elevated to the realities of intellectual [spiritual] vision.

According to Plato, “the ultimate design of the Mysteries … was to lead us back to the principles from which we descended, … a perfect enjoyment of intellectual [spiritual] good”

   The ancient calendar was different from the Gregorian. On the 14th Boedromion, the Greater Mysteries began by bringing the sacred objects from Eleusis to the Eleusinion at the base of the Acropolis. On the 15th, the priest carried out sacrifices and on the 16th celebrants began cleansing rituals, washing themselves in the sea at Phaleron. On the 17th, participants celebrated the Epidauria. It was a “festival within a festival” in honour of Asklepios, god of healing, and his daughter Hygieia.
The procession to Eleusis began on the 19th, and started at the Kerameikos. This is the ancient cemetery in Athens (well worth a visit – lovely museum – take a picnic and sit amongst the ruins!). The celebrants would walk along the Sacred Way, which is still visible. At one point they would shout obscenities in commemoration of an old woman who had made Demeter laugh as she mourned the loss of her daughter Persephone.
On reaching Eleusis there was a day of fasting, again commemorating Demeter’s fasting as she searched for Persephone. The fast was broken when the celebrants drank a potion called the kykeon, and on 20th and 21st they would enter the Telesterion. This was the most secretive part of the Mysteries and those who had been initiated were forbidden ever to speak of the events that took place in the Telesterion. The penalty was death.
Some believe the priest revealed the visions which were of life after death, but others believe the experiences must have been internal and caused by ingesting a hallucinogen as part of the kykeon mixture.   We can certainly find evidence that Greek wine sometimes was hallucinogenic. At the Anthesteria, a Dionysian festival that was not part of the Mysteries but was similar to it, specific mention was made of a drug in the wine that was responsible for opening the graves and allowing the departed spirits to return to Athens for a banquet. Its hallucinatory nature can be seen on many of the choes vases depicting scenes from the festival. In fact, someone in Aristophanes’ Acharnians wishes his enemy a bad trip at the Anthesteria by hoping that he encounters a mad hallucination. Wasps also begins with two slaves attempting to escape their misery by drinking a potion called Sabazios, a Thracian analogue of Dionysus (god of wine, R. Bacchus): it causes them to experience a so-called “nodding Persian sleep”, during which they see strange things. Furthermore, such well known hallucinogens as mandragora and henbane were often compared to wine with respect to the drunkenness they induced.
Whatever else happened at the Eleusinian Mysteries, the use of psychotropic hallucinogens seems to have been a definite part of it, with visions inducing an ecstatic spiritual experience for the initiate. There are several theories about what the kykeon might have consisted of. Some have suggested that, as the ritual was in honour of Demeter, it might have been partly made of Lolium (or ‘aira’).    Improperly grown in the wrong conditions, it seems this cultivated grain reverted to a more primitive form which was also susceptible to the growth of the ergot fungus. Ergot poisoning can cause very serious effects, including seizures, spasms, mania, psychosis and hallucinations. In severe cases, even death.
The Lesser Mysteries seem to have been linked to the ingestion of mushrooms. Mushrooms, or mykes (from where we get the word mycology),are also linked to the myth about Perseus who founded Mycenae in the spot where he picked a mushroom. A Greek amphora from southern Italy depicts a variant of the same foundation myth in which Perseus’ decapitation of the Gorgon, Medusa, is equated with his harvesting of a mushroom. Traditional folklore has associated the decapitation of Medusa with giving birth to a son, Chrysaor, and a flying horse, Pegasus – symbolic of perhaps inspiration and transportation. Chrysaor’s name means “he who has a golden armament”. He was depicted as a golden sword-wielding giant.
The political and military leader, Alcibiades, caused a huge scandal one year by stealing the kykeon and having a party with his friends! The conclusion being that the experience was both pleasant and very much sought after. Many wrote about the joyful and revealing holy experience the potion induced. Both Gordon Wasson and Robert Graves believe the kykeon contained psychedelic mushrooms, whilst Albert Hofmann believes ergot to be the psychoactive ingredient in the mixture, suggesting that the ancient Greeks could have made a safe psychedelic beverage with an aqueous infusion of ergot thereby separating the water soluble alkaloids from more dangerous peptide ones. After more research, he concluded that paspalum (a wild grass in the Mediterranean) and ergot were the most likely combination, rather than barley (Hofmann 1994). He goes on to say that barley may have been a nutrient ingredient and mint used to settle the stomach, as ergot preparations induce nausea. Both barley and mint are mentioned in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. However, after much self-testing of various different concoctions, all those that included any derivative of ergot, produced unpleasant side effects. This was not at all in keeping with the description of the kykeon! The Homeric Hymn describes the initiation experience at Eleusis thus: “Blissful is he among men on Earth who has beheld that!”. This description is verified by Pindar and Cicero.
Terence McKenna has pointed out that both Demeter and Persephone were associated with the poppy and that perhaps opium was an ingredient in the kykeon, reducing rather than enhancing its effect. Many agree with both McKenna and Graves that psilocybin mushrooms were also most likely an ingredient in the potion. We will probably never know, unless further archeological or textual evidence is found to tell us more.
As an aside, do please be extremely careful with experimentation of psychedelics. The Eleusinian kykeon recipe seems to have been a tried, tested and very safe concoction which was used for centuries without any deaths being recorded. That’s not to say that there wasn’t any. Whatever it was made of, the ingredients were obviously very carefully measured. It was also most likely deemed as safe. Many people took part year after year, enjoying the religious experience it brought them. Nevertheless, it was a respected potion, as all living things on this planet should be. It was not recreational but spiritual in nature.

Until next week. Your friend, A.D.

References and Further Reading

Bigwood, J., Ott, J., Thompson, C. & Neely, P. 1979 Entheogenic effects of ergonovine. Journal of Psychedelic Drugs, Vol. 11 (1-2) Jan-Jun 1979(1 47-1 49)
Casti, J.L. 1990 Paradigms Lost: Tackling the unanswered mysteries of modern science. Avon Books, New York
Cole, J.R. & al. 1977 Paspalum staggers: Isolation and identification of tremorgenic metabolites from sclerotia of Claviceps paspali. J. Agric Food Chem., Vol.25, No. 5, (1197-1201)
Craig, J.R. & Metze, L.P. 1979 Methods of Psychological Research. W.B. Saunders Co., Philadelphia
Foley, H.P. (Ed.) 1994 The Homeric Hymn to Demeter: Translation, commentary, and interpretive essays. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ
Gallagher, R.T., Leutwiler, A. & al. 1980 Paspalinine, a tremorgenic metabolite from Claviceps paspali, Stevens et Hall. Tetrahedron Letters, Vol. 21, Pergamon Press Ltd. (235-238)
Goldhill, S.: Greece; in: Willis, R. (Ed.) 1993 World Mythology. Simon & Schuster, London
Graves, R. 1992 The Greek Myths (Combined edition). Penguin Books, London
Hofmann, A. 1983 LSD-My Problem Child: Reflections on sacred drugs, mysticism, and science. Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc., Los Angeles
Hofmann, A. 1994 personal communication
Kerenyi, K. 1962 De Mysterien von Eleusis. Rhein-Verlag, Zurich
McKenna, T.1992 Food of the Gods: The search for the original tree of knowledge. Rider, London (available online here)
Ott, J. 1993 Pharmacotheon: Entheogenic drugs, their plant sources and history. Natural Products Co Kennewick, WA
Ott, J. 1994 personal communication
Ott, J. & Neely, P. 1980 Entheogenic (hallucinogenic) effects of methylergonovine. Journal of Psychedelic Drugs, Vol. 12(2) Apr-Jun 1980 (165-166)
Rätsch, Ch. 1992 The Dictionary of Sacred and Magical Plants. Prism-Unity, Bridport, Dorset
Ripinsky-Naxon, M. 1993 The Nature of Shamanism: Substance and function of a religious metaphor. State University of New York Press, Albany
Ruck, C.A.P.1981 Mushrooms and philosophers. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 4, (179-205); 1983 The offerings from the Hyperboreans. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 8, (177-207)
Sankar, D.V.S. 1975 LSD-A Total Study. PJD Publications, Westbury, NY
Sheridan, Ch.L. 1976 Fundamentals of Experimental Psychology (2nd ed.). Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York
Shulgin, A. 1994 personal communication
Shulgin, A.T. & Shulgin, A. 1991 Pihkal: A chemical love story. Transform Press, Berkeley 1993 Barriers to Research; in: Rätsch, Ch. & Baker, J.R. (Eds.): Jahrbuch für Ethnomedizin und Bewusstseinsforschung 2. Verlag fur Wissenschaft und Bildung, Berlin
Springer, J.P. & Clardy, J. 1980 Paspaline and paspalicine, two indole-mevalonate metabolites from Claviceps paspali. Tetrahedron Letters, Vol. 21, Pergamon Press Ltd. (231-234)
Valendid, Ivan 1993 Mistery elevzinskih misterijev. Razgledi 18(1001), 30f
Wasson, R.G., Hofmann, A. & Ruck, C.A.P. 1978 The Road to Eleusis: Unveiling the secret of the mysteries. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York

(1) Nilsson, Martin P. Greek Popular Religion “The Religion of Eleusis” New York: Columbia University Press, 1947. pages 42–64
(2) Smith, William. A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London, 1875.
(3) Taylor, Thomas. Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries. Lighting Source Publishers, 1997. p. 117
(4) ibid p.49.

After Roswell: Are Aliens Among Us or Part of Us?

12 Friday Jul 2013

Posted by Alyson Dunlop Shanes in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Alien, Aliens, Betty and Barney Hill, Close Encounters, Demons, E.T., Extra-Terrestrial, faery, fairy, Fire in the Sky, folk tales, George Adamski, gods, Independence Day, John Carpenter, mythology, Orson Welles, PTSD, Quatermass and the Pit, Roswell, sleep paralysis, Terence McKenna, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Fourth Kind, The Invasion, The Thing, Travis Walton, UFO, Vilas-Boas, War of the Worlds

In the mid-1990s, I developed an interest in the UFO and alien abduction phenomenon. I set about becoming a somewhat sceptical UFO investigator. Most of my findings led me to meteorological, astronomical or military activity as conclusions for sightings. One rainy night I got on the train to Stirling. It took about forty five minutes from Glasgow. There was a meeting of the group Strange Phenomena Investigations, in the back room of a local pub. I expected to encounter one or two strange individuals. In fact, they were all just ordinary everyday people, but interested enthusiasts of the subject. They were as keen to know what it was all about, as much as I was. I decided to listen without judgement, lest it cloud my view of what was occurring with these people. Malcolm Robinson, the founder of SPI, was there and introduced me to the group. At one point in the evening, someone began speaking about how aliens were our friends and were not here to harm us. Almost immediately another participant forcefully exploded: “How can you say that?” he cried. “You don’t know that! I have no idea what they are or what they want, but I can tell you one thing…they are not our friends!” I swallowed hard. I could tell by the look on this man’s face that he was completely serious. He said that since his encounter he and his friend, Colin, had problems with friends, family and colleagues who didn’t believe their story and his friend had not been back to work since the incident. I realised I was listening to Garry Wood speaking. He and his friend Colin Wright had reported experiencing an alien abduction on the A70, an incident which was investigated by the Ministry of Defence. They had about ninety minutes of missing time. Now, I have no idea what happened that night, but there is one thing I am completely sure of, Garry Wood certainly believed it had happened. The look on his face was that of a man disturbed, terrified and angered by the experience. You can read the full story of Garry Wood and Colin Wright here.

It’s one of the Big Questions, alongside “Why are we here?” and “Is there a God?” Another thing we are all really curious about is: Are we alone in this universe? Or, is there a remote possibility that somewhere, out there, there is another form of life. If there is, what could it possibly look like? If we were ever to encounter it, how would it behave towards us?

This is the 66^th anniversary of the “Roswell Incident”. In July 1947, in Roswell, New Mexico, debris was recovered. Authorities claimed it was a top secret surveillance balloon, but conspiracy theorists have always believed the US military recovered an alien spaceship that day.

In 1995, Ray Santilli claimed to have footage of an alien autopsy being performed on one of the Roswell aliens recovered from the crash. Two years later the US Air Force released a report which said the alien bodies witnesses reported seeing were, in fact, test dummies. In 2006, Santilli admitted the autopsy film was not genuine. However, he insisted it was based on real life events. Nevertheless, there has never been any substantial proof that aliens crashed to Earth in 1947.

There were certainly alien stories prior to the Roswell incident. Orson Welles’s adaptation of War of the Worlds, a novel by H G Wells, sent many Americans into a state of mass hysteria, thinking that Marsians had invaded. Science-fiction was developing as a popular genre and many scientific discoveries were being made about space. The format of War of the World was news bulletins. With an audience already primed for war, all these things contributed to sending the public into a frenzy.

Tune into the original 1938 broadcast of War of the Worlds.

Nevertheless, after the Roswell incident, the public imagination about aliens and UFOs went wild. It was round about this time that George Adamski was taking photos of flying saucers. The 1950s then saw a huge increase in sci-fi and alien movies. One of my favourites, The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), gives the message that the people of Earth must live peacefully or be destroyed as a danger to other planets. The following year Adamski claimed to have met Venusian alien, Orthon, who warned him of the dangers of nuclear war. There are, of course, many criticisms of Adamski and many holes in his stories, which you can read for yourself here.

In 1957, Antônio Vilas-Boas, a Brazilian farmer claimed to have been abducted by aliens. There are other similar abduction stories, but his is the first to receive proper attention. The incident occurred when Boas was only 23 years old, working at night to avoid the hot temperatures during the day. As he was ploughing a field, near São Francisco de Sales, he was approached by what he described as a red star, which as it got closer, became recognisable as a space craft. The full story can be read here.

In 1961, widespread publicity was generated by Betty and Barney Hill, who also claimed to have been abducted by aliens in New Hampshire. The University of New Hampshire have custody of a permanent collection of Betty Hill’s notes, tapes and other items. In 2011, a state historical marker was placed at the site of the alleged encounter. Betty and Barney Hill’s story can be read in full here.

The Hill’s story is highly intriguing, yet many motifs and themes are similar to that of science-fiction being aired at that time. It is thought that these images, coupled with sleep deprivation and false memories recovered during hypnosis, were all part and parcel of the overall experience.

As a hypnotherapist myself, I can say that nowadays regression would never be used to recover memories. The likelihood of false memory syndrome would be a huge factor in discrediting the entire encounter. Any information Betty and Barney Hill gave under hypnosis should be dismissed entirely.

A few years later, attention turned to what our relationship to aliens might be. Quatermass and the Pit (1967) is an extraordinary concept of the imagination. It is a fantastic story, surrounding the discovery of an ancient Martian spacecraft in the London Underground, and the realisation that aliens have influenced human evolution and intelligence since the beginning. The spacecraft seems to stir up memories of the aliens which remain deep in the human psyche. Professor Quatermass is convinced that all our beliefs and fears of devils and such like are, in fact, tied up with these memories of our encounters with the Martians.

The term “close encounter” was coined in 1972 by Josef Allen Hynek (1910-1986) in his book The UFO Experience: A Scientific Enquiry. Hynek proposed there were three types of close encounter:

Close Encounters of the First Kind are sightings of one or more UFOs at a distance of 500 feet or less.

Close Encounters of the Second Kind are sightings of a UFO which were accompanied by physical effects such as heat, electrical interference etc.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind involve the sighting of an animated being (presumably alien but not specifically defined as such).

Other categories have since developed, including having contact, being abducted, those involving death, those involving hybrid creations and sexual encounters. There are also sub-categories to the Third Kind according to whether the perceived alien is inside or outside their UFO, there are any other witnesses, the alien is injured or captured etc. All categories can be read here.

Following this initial categorisation by Hynek, Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) explored the phenomenon. It turned out the aliens were quite nice really, and usually returned abducted children happy and uninjured. I jest. It’s actually another of my favourite films, quite unnerving in parts, but ultimately a “feel good” ending. Spielberg carried on with his view of the alien as the good guy with E.T. The Extra Terrestrial in 1982, which had everyone in love, and saying a tearful goodbye to their favourite alien, by the end of the movie.

The same year, Bill Lancaster (son of Burt) wrote the screenplay for The Thing (directed by John Carpenter), which assured us that we were in mortal peril from E.T. Here the alien is a parasite which assimilates other lifeforms and imitates them. Who can you trust? That is the Big Question this time. Someone might look like your friend, or your pet husky, but are they in fact an alien in disguise…?

By 1993, we were sticking with the alien as foe. Fire in the Sky is possibly one of the creepiest and most unnerving alien abduction stories, not least of all because it’s based on the events depicted by Travis Walton who claimed to have had a real life encounter. What actually happened that night is largely undetermined and many still believe it was one big hoax. The film is certainly an exaggeration of Walton’s own account from his book The Walton Experience.

On the evening of 5^th November 1975, logger Travis Walton and his co-workers, on their way home, encounter a UFO. Travis gets out the car, is hit by a beam of light, the others take off in their car. One of them, Mike Rogers, returns to the scene later but Travis is nowhere to be found. Initially the incident is investigated as a murder enquiry. The boys take a lie-detector test, which is inconclusive and five days later Travis turns up disorientated and hysterical at a gas station. Travis initially fails his first polygraph, which is claimed to have used out-dated methods. Two subsequent ones revealed him to be telling the truth. The entire story can be read here.

Various invasion films have been made over the last ten years or so: Independence Day (1996), War of the Worlds (2005), The Invasion (2007). Then in 2009, The Fourth Kind came to cinemas. It is a mockumentary science-fiction thriller based on disappearances in Alaska. It’s a fairly good film, though not an exceptionally good advert for hypnosis (once again!), and its supposed realistic background gives the viewer plenty to think about. Similar to Quatermass, the alien life-forms are tied to an ancient civilisation. This time the Sumerians. They are bound up once more in our beliefs of supernatural beings, including God.

We do indeed live in a strange world, full of seemingly inexplicable occurrences. It would do a great injustice to both science and victims if I were to simply cast aside all accounts of alien abduction as mere hallucinations. However, the truth is often stranger than fiction and every bit as intriguing. Similar supernatural experiences have happened since practically the dawn of time and they all bear remarkable similarities to one another. Supernatural kidnappings, abductions and attacks have been reported going right back into ancient times, passed down through folklore. Faery kidnappings and alien abductions contain some terrifying parallels. Even ancient Gods, in mythology, were known to kidnap mortals. Noise of some sort often accompanies such abductions. In faery lore it might be music, in alien accounts it’s usually humming or buzzing sounds.

As someone who has experienced a very realistic encounter of a supernatural entity, during what is termed by psychologists to be sleep paralysis (with hallucination), I know what it feels like. I know, too, that most experiences happen during the sleeping state, and have been linked to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). My experiences most often happen during stressful times. These “visitors” most often terrify us at night, be they incubus/succubus demons, fairies or aliens, and there is often a sexual element to them. There is also an association with missing time, which is reported not just in the Hills or Walton cases, but also in ancient folklore. For example, there is a Welsh folk tale of Rhys and Llewellyn who heard music when they were walking home one night. Rhys follows the music, whilst Llewellyn goes home. Months pass without Rhys being seen, until finally Llewellyn goes to the spot where they heard the music and finds Rhys dancing in a faery ring claiming to only have been there for five minutes (1). It’s also common for those who have experienced the abduction phenomenon to have marks on their bodies: faery bruising, witches marks placed by the Devil and alien needle marks, all seem to be very similar occurrences. What they actually are, is very difficult to say.

In fact, could all of these experiences be entirely natural phenomena, triggered by stress? Does stress release certain chemicals in the brain which interferes with normal functioning, causing people to experience supernatural encounters? (Stress and sleep deprivation both trigger off my own sleep paralysis, but thankfully I’m quite big on relaxation, yoga, meditation and self-hypnosis these days!). Or do we, somewhere in our psyches, have the key to communicate with other realms, as Terence McKenna has suggested, linking the ingestion of certain kinds of hallucinogenic mushrooms to the ability to see other realms which are always there anyway. Perhaps polar magnetism makes a difference – as areas in the north, such as Iceland and Scandinavian countries, seem to find the existence of faery and troll entities a completely normal part of life. Are alien encounters a more scientific equivalent, more prevalent in other parts of the world?

I leave you with this, and the thought that in the scale of the universe Earth really is very tiny indeed. In that vastness we called “space” can we really possibly be the only significant life forms….?

I’d love to hear from you if you have ever experienced any supernatural encounter…of any kind! Please leave comments below!

Your friend, A.D.

(1) Boston, James R. (1881) Wirt, Sikes, British goblins: Welsh folk lore, fairy mythology, legends and traditions, Osgood & Company, p 70-71.

http://culturepotion.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/supernatural-abductions-comparison-of.html

http://www.thesleepparalysisproject.org/

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The Raven: Black Bird of Ill Omen

21 Friday Jun 2013

Posted by Alyson Dunlop Shanes in Uncategorized

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Aesclepius, Aglauros, Athena, Athens, birds, Cecrops, Celtic, cemetery, Chiron, Christopher Lee, Coronis, corpses, crow, darkness, death, Edgar Allan Poe, Erichthonius, fertility, Goddess, Hades, healing, Herse, Horror, Lenore, light, maere, mara, Metamorphoses, Minerva, Morrigan, mythology, nepenthe, nightmare, omen, Pallas, Pandrosos, phantom, Phoebus, Pluto, raven, snake, sun, supernatural, The Raven and The Crow, tombstone, Underworld, Vulcan, wisdom

*Honestly. I’m astounded I even have to add this disclaimer. However, certain parties seem to think that this article entices hatred of ravens. If they had read it properly they’d have realised it was intended to inform readers of the mythology attached to these birds. It is not in any way supposed to be what I personally think about them. I love ravens. They’re great. Very intelligent. Happy?

The raven, a bird from the crow family, has long been considered a bird of ill omen. From ancient texts through to modern times, writers have often associated these creatures with death and the supernatural. It is thought one main reason for this is that ravens are carrion birds. This means they eat the decaying flesh of corpses, usually animals, but they were also connected to battles in mythology – it is likely fallen soldiers were fed upon too. They are associated with The Morrigan, Celtic war goddess, whose name may derive from the old English word maere (the word survives in nightmare). Her name is often translated as “phantom queen”. Take a walk around any cemetery and you are guaranteed to find a crow or raven hopping about or perched upon a tombstone. They sense death is nearby…

In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, there is a tale called The Raven and The Crow. It is about a raven who was once a white bird, but whose “chattering tongue” was his downfall. Coronis, beloved of Phoebus the sun god, has been unfaithful to him. As the raven is on his way to tell Phoebus, he meets a crow who warns him he might be better just to keep his beak shut. The crow tells the raven that she was once in a similar situation, and had been turned first into a crow, when she was saved by Pallas (Athena, goddess of wisdom), but then banished by her after telling tales. The raven ignores the crow’s warnings and carries on to tell Phoebus about his beloved’s infidelity. Phoebus immediately shoots Coronis through the heart with his arrow, but immediately regrets it. As she dies, she tells him that she carries their child, and they will now die together. Before Coronis is burned on the funeral pyre, Phoebus snatches his son from her womb and carries him off to Chiron, the centaur and tutor of many Greek heroes. Even though the raven had been truthful, nevertheless Phoebus turns him black and banishes him from all the breeds of birds that are white.

The crow tells the raven two attempted rape stories, the first is skimmed over when the crow simply states that “once upon a time a baby, Erichthonius, was born without a mother.” In fact, this was the attempted rape of Minerva (Gr. Athena) by Vulcan (Gr. Hephaestus), whereby his seed falls on the ground and Erichthonius (“very earthy”) is born. The names of Cecrops’ three unmarried daughters are Pandrosos, Herse and Aglauros. Their names mean “bedewed”, “dew” and “clearwater”, which reflect the connection to fertility. The snake that is seen is a reference to the earth-cults. Erichthonius was worshipped in this guise at Athens (Kenney 1998). Interestingly, the son that is born from the murdered Coronus, is Aesclepius, god of healing and medicine, whose emblem is also a snake.

Indulge my ravings…. This seems to me to be, not just a tale of caution about keeping schtum, but also a story explaining the landscape, possibly of the areas in and around Athens. “Born without a mother”, so hardly likely to be animal. Erichthonius’ name means literally “very earthy”, so possibly not even plant, simply the earth itself and how it lies on the land. He was conceived when Vulcan (god of volcanoes) erupted (!) on Minerva (whose Greek name is Athena, symbolic of many things including the city of Athens). She wiped his seed on the ground (i.e. the surrounding land). This sounds to me like an erupting volcano has carved the Athenian landscape. Aglauros aka “Clearwater” is the only one to sneak a look at the “earth”, which could indicate a river(s) or stream(s) in the area. Volcanic eruptions cause the land to become more fertile and draw in migrants. In this case, the migrants who moved into the area were earth cults, whose totems were snakes. They also, more than likely, brought knowledge of medicine.

Furthermore, all four elements are mentioned in this tale: earth (Erichthonius), fire (funeral pyre where Aesclepius is snatched before his mother is cremated; Phoebus Apollo also represents the sun, a symbol of fire), water (Cecrops’ daughters) and air (the birds).

If you disagree, or know more, please do comment at the end of this blog! I would love to hear your opinions.

I recorded a reading of The Raven and The Crow for you.

One of my favourite poems is The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe. It’s a delight to both read and listen to, so I’ve included both the poem itself and a reading by Christopher Lee (who else?! I couldn’t resist that voice!):

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore–
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
“‘Tis some visiter,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door–
Only this and nothing more.”

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow;–vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow–sorrow for the lost Lenore–
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore–
Nameless here for evermore.

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me–filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
“‘Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door–
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door;
This it is and nothing more.”

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
“Sir,” said I, “or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you”–here I opened wide the door–
Darkness there and nothing more.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, “Lenore?”
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, “Lenore!”–
Merely this and nothing more.

Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping something louder than before.
“Surely,” said I, “surely that is something at my window lattice;
Let me see, then, what thereat is and this mystery explore–
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;–
‘Tis the wind and nothing more.

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore.
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he,
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door–
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door–
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then the ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
“Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,” I said, “art sure no craven,
Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore–
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Plutonian shore!”
Quoth the Raven, “Nevermore.”

Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning–little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door–
Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as “Nevermore.”

But the Raven, sitting lonely on that placid bust, spoke only
That one word, as if its soul in that one word he did outpour
Nothing farther then he uttered; not a feather then he fluttered–
Till I scarcely more than muttered: “Other friends have flown before–
On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before.”
Then the bird said “Nevermore.”

Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
“Doubtless,” said I, “what it utters is its only stock and store,
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore–
Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore
Of ‘Never–nevermore.'”

But the Raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and door;
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore–
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking “Nevermore.”

This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom’s core;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion’s velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o’er,
But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o’er
She shall press, ah, nevermore!

Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.
“Wretch,” I cried, “thy God hath lent thee–by these angels he hath sent thee
Respite–respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore!
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!”
Quoth the Raven, “Nevermore.”

“Prophet!” said I, “thing of evil!–prophet still, if bird or devil!–
Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate, yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted–
On this home by Horror haunted–tell me truly, I implore–
Is there–is there balm in Gilead?–tell me–tell me, I implore!”
Quoth the Raven, “Nevermore.”

“Prophet!” said I, “thing of evil!–prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that Heaven that bends above us–by that God we both adore–
Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore–
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore.”
Quoth the Raven, “Nevermore.”

“Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!” I shrieked, upstarting–
“Get thee back into the tempest and the Night’s Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul has spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken!–quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!”
Quoth the Raven, “Nevermore.”

And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming
And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadows on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted–nevermore!

Here is a reading by Christopher Lee:

Lenore is the main focus of the poem, the beloved of the narrator and apparently now no longer living since only the angels know her name now. Poe uses alliteration throughout the poem. The first time Lenore is mentioned he describes her as “rare and radiant”. According to all sources I could find, Lenore literally means “light” or “torch”. Lenore, therefore, is not simply a beloved woman, she is symbolic of all that is bright, his guiding light in life. She is more than mortal. She is an ideal.

This is contrasted by the image of the raven. The bird appears to be almost a part of the darkness of the night from which he emerges. Initially, the raven is asked what his name is and replies “Nevermore”, much to the amusement of the enquirer. However, the more the raven says this the horrified man begins to feel like it is a prophecy. As the narrator asks for the birds “lordly” name he may well be regarding the bird as the “king of the night” himself. Certainly, as the poem continues, the narrator feels ever more threatened by this night visitor.

“Night’s Plutonian shore”, is a wonderful three word description, as it sets a scene and tells us all we need to know! The action is taking place at night: darkness and night often symbolising mystery, danger and frightening powers. Plutonian is a reference to the Roman god of the Underworld, Pluto (Gr. Hades), and all the associations that go along with that: death, darkness, decay. Shore could be a metaphor of the night as an ocean washing up at his chamber door. He describes each night as being a “Nightly shore” in the previous line. Perhaps the narrator sees himself as residing on or near a shore.

The narrator assumes the bird will leave him at daybreak, but the bird again answers him “Nevermore”. As the speaker ponders on this, the memory of Lenore comes back. The idea of nepenthe comes to him, as he imagines the room filling with perfume. In the Odyssey, Homer describes this mythological drink as a potion that takes away all grief and sadness. However, as the bird keeps assuring the narrator that “Nevermore” will he be free from grief, he descends into madness and hopelessness.

The reference to Pallas is another name for Athena, goddess of wisdom, the symbol of the ideal woman. Perhaps this raven speaks the dark truth, the only knowledge he possesses, like that of the raven in the previous poem. It is of little comfort to our narrator, whose soul is lost forever in the shadow of the raven….

Until next week. Your friend, A.D.

References

Ovid, The Raven and The Crow in “Metamorphoses” (c.1-8 CE) (trans. Melville, A. D.; notes and intro. Kenney, E. J. 1998 Oxford Uni Press)

Rosalind Clark (1990) The Great Queens: Irish Goddesses from the Morrígan to Cathleen Ní Houlihan (Irish Literary Studies, Book 34)

http://www.shmoop.com/the-raven/symbolism-imagery.html

Star-Crossed Vampire Lovers: Dracula as a Damned Eros

14 Friday Jun 2013

Posted by Alyson Dunlop Shanes in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Anthony Hopkins, Aphrodite, Atropos, Baal, Beelzebub, Blood, Bram Stoker, Carfax Abbey, classics, Clotho, Cupid, Demeter, Dr Seward, Dracula, Eros, Francis Ford Coppola, Gary Oldman, Greece, Horror, Jonathan Harker, Keanu Reeves, Lachesis, Lucy, Mina Harker, Mina Murray, Renfield, Richard E Grant, Sadie Frost, Sex, symbolism, The Fates, The Wyrd Sisters, Tom Waits, Transylvania, Van Helsing, Venus, Vlad Tepes, Vlad the Impaler, Winona Ryder, wolf

This contains spoilers! Watch the movie first!

Click to view.

The 1992 film Bram Stoker’s Dracula, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, is a completely different take on the story of the monstrous Transylvanian count. It is more than just a love story, and as I began to study classics almost ten years later I realised there was a deeper meaning to the tale. The vampire had actually been portrayed as a fallen Eros, damned by God and His “mad men”.

The movie starts as no other film about Dracula starts, with the Count in human form. Here he is the real historical character we know Dracula to be based on, Vlad Tepes, Prince of Wallachia. He goes into battle, leaving his beloved wife Elisabeta. Whilst in battle, Elisabeta receives false word that her husband has been killed. Devastated, she commits suicide. On his return, Dracula is told by the priest (played by Anthony Hopkins who will later be his adversary, Van Helsing) that his wife is damned because she took her own life. Dracula, enraged that the God he is fighting for should turn against him by condemning the woman he loves, renounces Him. He then damns himself by drinking the blood from the cross he has stabbed with his sword. Straight away, we know that the reason Dracula has willingly condemned himself to be damned is for the love of a woman, also damned.

Four centuries later, in 1897, we find ourselves in London at the Carfax Lunatic Asylum and are introduced to Renfield, one of the patients. He is talking to his “Master”, saying he has made preparations for his arrival, before eating a fly and thanking his invisible Master for his generosity. In Nods to the Old Gods, I mention Beelzebub, a Semitic deity. His name in Arabic was thought to mean Lord of the Flies, although this is probably a derogatory corruption of his true name Lord of the High Place (Heaven) or “High Lord”. He is also called Ba’al, meaning “Lord” or “Master”. He is primarily a sun god, and god of fertility. If damned, as He was – like many other pagan gods were – surely Ba’al would be condemned never to walk in sunlight and all acts of fertility, such as sex and sexual love, would also be condemned as impure lust by opposing forces (i.e. early Christians).

In the next scene, Renfield’s boss explains to Jonathon that Renfield has “lost his greedy mind”. Beelzebub was condemned to be a Prince of Hell, his sin being that of gluttony, which ties in with Dracula’s insatiable appetite for feeding on human blood, and also perhaps with Renfield’s gluttony for flies.

Dracula first appears as a supernatural being shortly after we are first introduced to our two protagonists, Mina and Jonathan, a couple very much in love who want to marry. They are prevented from doing so until Jonathan has first visited Dracula. Vampires and couples in love are often a motif of many Dracula stories. The two things seem to be inextricably linked. In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the count finds a picture of Mina and immediately recognises her as the reincarnation of his beloved Elisabeta.

Unlike any other Dracula story, Oldman catches us off-guard and talks of something no other Dracula has ever talked about. He says: “The luckiest man who walks on this earth is the one who finds true love.” He then induces our sympathy by beginning to cry whilst telling Jonathan that he was married once, but his wife died.

As the story continues, other characters are introduced: the flirtatious, sexually knowledgeable and free-speaking Lucy is balanced with the virginal and sexually naïve Mina. Lucy’s suitors, each one more in love with her than the other, are Quincy P Morris, Dr Jack Seward and Arthur Holmwood. It is whilst watching Lucy flirting with all three men that Mina becomes aware of Dracula, an allegory of her sexual stirrings.

Back at the asylum, Renfield accuses Dr Seward of being “love sick” (thought to be a real disease in ancient Greece!), whilst in Dracula’s castle, Jonathan is seduced by three female vampires. They are described in Bram Stoker’s novel as Dracula’s three brides. Collectively they are referred to as “sisters” and at one point “weird sisters”. This is an interesting point. The weird sisters appear also in Shakespeare’s Macbeth as witches, but originally these were the Wyrd Sisters, or Fates. Here, The Fates therefore exist in order to determine Jonathan’s destiny. Clotho, the spinner, who spins the thread of life; Lachesis, who chooses our lot in life, and how long that life will be; and Atropos, who cuts the thread of life with her shears. In the film they are enjoying a sexual orgy with Jonathan, deciding his fate as they seduce him with their beauty and charm.

Meanwhile, the Dracula-as-sexual-urges allegory appears again, as Dracula watches the girls playing and kissing in the maze during a storm. Shortly afterwards Dracula lands in England and immediately entices a somnambulistic Lucy into the garden in order to seduce her. Lucy is wearing a flowing red dress, the same colour as the old count’s coat at the castle. The colour red seems to be a recurring motif of the film, perhaps symbolising its most usually associate emotion, passion and, of course, blood. In this scene, where Mina finds Dracula in the form of a beast, feeding on Lucy whilst enjoying her almost sexually as well, Dracula causes Mina to forget seeing him in such a state.

Soon after, fresh from feasting on the crew of the Demeter (incidentally, the ancient Greek mother goddess of the grain and fertility) and Lucy, Dracula appears as a young man walking through the streets of London. He is now dashing enough to let Mina see him in princely form. They go to the cinematograph, where Dracula seduces Mina. Here, a wild wolf is used as a symbol of his wild passion, which he tames as he tames the wolf, in order that Mina is safe from his carnal desires.

The next scene introduces us to Professor Abraham Van Helsing, as he gives a lecture on the problem of syphilis in Victorian society. He points out that venereal diseases literally means the diseases of Venus, Roman goddess of love, which is a reference to their “divine origins”. Venus is the mother of Cupid, the Roman god of love. Eros is the Greek equivalent of Cupid, whilst Aphrodite is the Greek equivalent of Venus.

As Lucy lies gravely ill and dying, Mina is swept off her feet by her prince, and we see that the vampire does indeed have more than one side to him. He gives Mina absinth to drink, which he describes as the “aphrodisiac of the soul”. An important line, as I’ll point out soon. Dracula, in this guise of Eros, and Mina, in the guise of Psyche (“the soul”), fall in love with each other all over again, whilst reminiscing about their sad parting. However, when Jonathan, having escaped the castle, sends word that he is safe and wishes for Mina to join him to be married, Mina puts a stop to her clandestine trysts with Dracula. She sails for Romania, still feeling he is with her, speaking to her in her thoughts. She broods over the fact that, being single and enjoying the company of her sensual prince, she felt more alive than she ever had before. Now, without him, about to marry Jonathan, she feels confused and lost.

At this point, Van Helsing realises he is dealing with Dracula, one of the undead, and warns Morris to guard Lucy lest she become a “bitch of the Devil” and “a whore of darkness”. He tells Morris that Lucy is not just a random victim, but a wanton follower. She is “the Devil’s concubine”. Lucy is the whore to Mina’s virgin.

As Mina marries Jonathan, the enraged Dracula condemns her best friend Lucy to become a vampire, and an eternity of craving human blood. He is the power or force of nature that no “foolish spells” can stop. The men watch as Lucy, now an undead nocturnal creature who has evolved into a maternal killer of children (see my blog article Margaret Thatcher meets Medea for more on the image of the monstrous mother in film), carries a toddler into her lair presumably for devouring. She is repelled by the cross, and defeated.

The men know they must kill Dracula, and make their way to his resting place in Carfax Abbey, whilst Mina takes refuge in Dr Seward’s quarters in the asylum next door. Whilst the men destroy and sterilise the boxes with his home soil in it, where the vampire must sleep, Dracula takes refuge with Mina. He escapes unseen. As a shape-shifter, Dracula can take on the form of several animals or mist. He is clearly an ethereal being.

Dracula visits Mina as she sleeps. This scene conveys two things. Initially it is the iconic incubus night demon who visits a sleeping woman in order to have sex with her (the succubus being the female equivalent who visits sleeping men). This is thought by some to be a manifestation of the disturbed mind, and is linked to suppressed sexuality. Dracula by Bram Stoker is itself linked to the suppression of women’s sexuality, especially in Victorian society when the story takes place. This bedroom scene is also evocative of the Eros and Psyche story, which concerns the overcoming of obstacles to love that stand between the psyche (“soul” or “breath of life”) and Eros/Cupid (love and desire). Initially Eros marries Psyche but, though a good and gentle lover, he does not allow her to see him. He flees when she goes against this rule and looks upon his true nature. The jealous goddess of love, Aphrodite, sets Psyche some tasks. After she accomplishes the tasks, Psyche is thus purified through suffering and is now prepared to enjoy eternal happiness. With the help of Zeus, she is reunited with her husband, Eros.

When, at last, Mina sees Dracula as he really is – a non-living being – she asks what he is. His reply: “I am nothing. Lifeless, soul-less, hated and feared. I am dead to all the world… I am the monster the breathing men would kill. I am Dracula.” Of these two lovers, Mina is the only one with a soul, and now she has seen her true love as he is. She is devastated, realising he is the murderer of her friend Lucy, and therefore of flirtation and freedom. Nevertheless, in spite of his true nature and in spite of herself, Mina finds she still loves this particular monster. Her only desire is to become his partner in eternal life. Even at this point, Dracula attempts to stop Mina from becoming “cursed for all eternity” because he loves her too much to condemn her. The choice to be cursed is entirely Mina’s as she insists on drinking his blood: what would normally be perceived as an unholy communion, were it not for the fact that we understand these two to be true soul mates completely in love with one another. The question should be, why is this love deemed evil by God (or His followers)?

Christianity has always played a role in this story. The men attempt to ward Dracula off by wielding crosses, one of the things that supposedly repel him. He has been damned because he renounced the Christian God at the start of the story. Nevertheless, he seems more empowered now, with the love of Mina, and manages to set fire to the cross Van Helsing is holding, saying “Look what your God has done to me.” Again, following one of the most important scenes of this movie, this is one of the most important lines. It is God, and His followers, that Dracula blames for turning him from a prince into a monster. As any scholar of Christianity knows, as the new religion took over, everything of an erotic nature was condemned. As Van Helsing himself says towards the end: “We’ve all become God’s mad men.”

Finally, it is then up to Mina to give Dracula peace, piercing his heart and reuniting him once more with his soul in heaven. Through her trials and suffering, Mina is at last blessed by God. She is both the Virgin and the Magdalene, as well as Psyche. Eros, in this 20^th century story, has at last found His way into Paradise. So too, possibly has The Magdalene, if that is who Mina is supposed to represent towards the end of the story. Certainly Dracula takes on an almost Christ-like appearance as he ascends to Heaven and is reunited with God, and Mina must always be his counterpart. This might seem a slightly complicated point, but it seems that Eros (erotic love) has been purified and is now innocent and pure enough to enter into Paradise. Mina, in her vampiric state, is wanton and lustful. At one point, she seduces and kisses Van Helsing. In recent years, it has been widely agreed by religious scholars that Mary Magdalene was misidentified (possibly deliberately) as a prostitute. However, there is no evidence of this. If Dracula as Eros has now become the epitomy of pure love (Christ), his lover Mina/Psyche/Magdalene has the mark of shame removed from her forehead and is also purified once more i.e. after many years of being falsely represented by the Church, we know now that The Magdalene was not a promiscuous “sinner” (not, I hasten to add, that I believe prostitution is a sin). I *think* that might be the point of the ending…..

Until next week. As always, your friend, A.D.

P.S. Remember you can sign up to have “Hex in the City” delivered direct to your email inbox via the link on the left of this page.

Sources:

http://www.greekmythology.com/Other_Gods/The_Fates/the_fates.html

My Guilty Pleasures of Horror: The Monsters I Love to Love

07 Friday Jun 2013

Posted by Alyson Dunlop Shanes in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Anthony Hopkins, Betty White, Bill Pullman, Brad Dourif, Bram Stoker, Brendan Gleeson, Bridget Fonda, cult films, Damien Karass, Dracula, Ellen Burstyn, Exorcist, Gary Oldman, George C Scott, giant worms, Halloween, Horror, Jason Miller, Kevin Bacon, Lake Placid, Linda Blair, Max Von Sydow, Merrin, Oliver Platt, Regan, religious horror, Renfield, science fiction, Tom Waits, Tremors, Van Helsing, William Friedkin, William Peter Blatty

I’ve seen these films so many times I could practically recite their scripts! Yet, often they get slated by critics for one reason or another. We all have our guilty pleasures, so I thought this week I would share mine with you. Comment and tell me what your guilty pleasures are (in film that is! Naughty!).

Lake Placid (1999)

Click to view

What’s not to love about Lake Placid? It’s hilarious and scary all in the same movie. Critics often say that it doesn’t know what it’s trying to be, whether horror or comedy. It has been claimed that the actors haven’t a clue how to say their lines or react because they don’t know if they should be humorous or scared. Rubbish! They know fine well that it’s supposed to be a comedy horror. There are a couple of bits that’ll have you jumping out your seat, but overall it’s a highly entertaining and funny film.

The movie is about a 30-foot man-eating crocodile in New England. The opening credits are very Jaws-like, as is the opening scene. In fact, there are several scenes that are reminiscent of the shark movie. It’s definitely a nod to Spielberg. It’s set in Maine, which is possibly a nod to Stephen King as well.

There are also an abundance of great one-liners from Oliver Platt, Brendan Gleeson (Argh! I didn’t recognise him as Hamish from Braveheart until today!) and a foul-mouthed Betty White.

Lake Placid is definitely one of my top guilty pleasures. I don’t care what anyone says! It’s a cracker.

Tremors (1990)

Click to view.

I haven’t seen this on TV for a few years. Mind you, I don’t have a TV! Nevertheless, every time I saw this was on, I just had to tune in and watch. It’s the kind of film that’s normally on around 1am, and you can just zone out and watch without thinking too much. There’s a lot of humour in it and a chance to see a young Kevin Bacon dressed as a cowboy. My favourite part is the pole-vaulting scene!

This film is a science fiction horror comedy, which has a lot of humour and has emerged as a cult classic. Despite not being successful at the box office, Tremors has continued to appeal to many and became a hit through TV, video and internet viewers.

Tremors is about giant underground worms. If you’ve not seen it, that probably doesn’t sound hugely appealing, but trust me and check it out!

Exorcist (1973)

Click to view.

I remember a few years ago, when I was setting out to do a post graduate in film and television studies. We were asked to write down what we considered to be the best film of all time. This is such a difficult thing to do. I pondered on the problem for hours. It very much depends on your experience of movies, and whether or not you’ve been shown what is considered to be a “quality” movie, by supposed experts. You also have to take into consideration that not everyone likes every genre. There were so many great films I had yet to see: Metropolis, Citizen Kane etc. Besides, there are all sorts of things to consider such as when a film is set and the impact it has on the audience of that time. The Exorcist had a huge impact on its original audience in 1973. I also have a fair bit of respect for both the writer, William Peter Blatty and the director, William Friedkin (the nutter!), having also watched the making of the film. On a small budget, he used many original ideas for special FX and sound.

Still, I was left with one of my classmates responses ringing in my ears: “Brave choice….”. Diplomatic code for “Are you mental by any chance?” There are, of course, better. I agree. By today’s standard The Exorcist is by no means top of the range, but I still think it’s one of the best and original films made. I never tire of watching it. Years later it still provides timeless entertainment of human fears of the unknown, and epitomises the good vs evil/religious horror sub- genre.

Exorcist III (1990)

Click to view.

Conveniently missing out the Exorcist II (don’t!), I also loved Exorcist III – some pretty spooky stuff going on. I’ve already mentioned it in a previous blog, so won’t elaborate too much. Despite, George C Scott getting nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for worst actor – for shame! – Exorcist III still managed to achieve quite a lot of success. William Peter Blatty won a Saturn Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films (USA) for Best Writing. It also received nominations for Best Supporting Actor (Brad Dourif, as always, was incredible – if my current book ever gets made into a movie I have a part just crying out for him to play!) and Best Horror Film. Such a shame the disappointing first sequel deterred people from going to see it. It’s definitely one to watch, if you’re a fan of the original.

Halloween (1978)

Click to view.

Halloween, like all good slashers, is set at a celebratory time of year. In this case, Hallowe’en – originally Samhain, the pagan feast of the (not particularly evil) dead. In Christian times the festival became known as Hallowe’en and children would dress up to scare away evil spirits. In any case, it’s associated with death.

Then we have an almost supernatural-like serial killer, with superhuman strength, who seems to appear and disappear in an instant, killing anyone who has too much sex, smokes or drinks booze.

This is definitely one of my favourite guilty pleasures!

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)

Click to view.

I’m going to be dedicating a blog to this film as it’s actually a HUGE guilty pleasure of mine!

Bram Stoker’s Dracula stands out for me primarily due to the acting of Gary Oldman, Tom Waits and Anthony Hopkins. The three are all great in their own eccentric way: Oldman, as Count Dracula, Tom Waits as Renfield and Hopkins as Van Helsing. I also love the dark, dream-like quality that runs throughout the film. It’s another movie I never tire of watching. Francis Ford Coppola used various subtexts and folkloric symbolism, which won me over instantly. I see something different in it every time I watch.

Until next week, feel free to love what you love.

Remember to leave a comment below and tell me your favourite guilty pleasure!

Your friend, A.D.

Six Feet Under

06 Thursday Jun 2013

Posted by Alyson Dunlop Shanes in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

666, graveyard, hell, Horror, six feet under, Underworld

Horror film, written, filmed, edited and sound all done within TWO days. Total cost, nothing, using one phone camera, free trial software and expenses were either part of normal travel or foot and bike were used. Four in the cast AND crew….Bruce Biddulph, Alyson Dunlop, Paul Dunlop, Andy Gourlay.

Filmed for the Short Cuts to Hell 666 Horror Channel Competition.

I think we did rather well! What do you think?

We’re looking for a sponsor, production company or agent who can help us produce the slasher horror film I’ve written. Please get in touch if you want to help! Email: glasgowlabyrinth@gmail.com

A.D.

Beautiful Blogger Awards

05 Wednesday Jun 2013

Posted by Alyson Dunlop Shanes in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

I received an email from a fellow blogger and friend. She has very kindly nominated me for a beautiful blogger award!! Thank you so much Norma Roy!!!

The award works as follows:
The Rules:

Copy and paste the Beautiful Blogger Award in your post.
Thank the person that nominated you and link back to their blog.
Tell 7 things about yourself.
Nominate 7 fellow Bloggers, tell them by posting a comment on their Blog*.

So, here are seven things about me:

1. I was born in Burns’ country, Ayr, on the west coast of Scotland.

2. I came to Glasgow to go to drama college.

3. In 1995, at the age of 23, I had a kidney transplant. My mum donated. I’m currently waiting for a new one again as they last an average of 15 years, so that’ll be 18 years in November! Well past its sell-buy date!

4. I have a degree in classics from the University of Glasgow.

5. I have a post graduate certificate in film and television studies

6. I am a fully trained cognitive-behavioural hypnotherapist. My favourite subject in hypnotherapy is phobias. Feel the fear, and do it anyway! I have another website dedicated to therapy called Achilles Healing Hypnotherapy. I am starting a degree in psychology this year.

7. I love travel, and have been to Singapore and Canada. I particularly love Greece and Italy, though. In 2004, I spent a month travelling round both as I had a travel requirement for my degree in my junior honours year.

My seven wonderful nominees (in no particular order) are:

1. Norma Roy

Christopher Lee: King of Horror RIP

31 Friday May 2013

Posted by Alyson Dunlop Shanes in Uncategorized

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Charlemagne, Christopher Lee; horror; devils, Revelation; By the Sword and the Cross; The Omens of Death; heavy metal; Neverwhere; Neil Gaiman; Hammer Horror; Dracula; Frankenstein; The Mummy; Rasputin; Lord Summerisle; The Wicker Man; Scaramanga, steven moffat, villains, Vincent Price

It is with great sadness that I have updated this dedication to Christopher Lee, which was originally written to commemorate his 91st birthday in May 2013.

RIP Christopher Lee (1922-2015)

Christopher Lee, war veteran, actor, and singer, has one of the most impressive IMDB profiles – if not the most impressive. His acting career alone spanned eight decades and he never rested for one single year, since his career began. Today we say a sad farewell to our hero. He was, is, and always will be, my favourite horror actor. It is with much respect that I would like to honour this most distinguished of men, one I have always admired and held in the highest esteem. It was my ambition to appear on the big screen with him. Alas.

Christopher Frank Carandini Lee was born in 1922. He graduated with a degree in classics (something we have in common!) from Wellington College, Berkshire. He served during WWII in the RAF and British Intelligence. It wasn’t until 1947 that he began his acting career. Since then, he had some kind of on-screen involvement every single year to date. Furthermore, he was also a classically trained singer who released several albums: Devils, Rogues and Other Villains (1998); Revelation (2006); Charlemagne: By the Sword and the Cross (2010), Charlemagne: The Omens of Death, A Heavy Metal Christmas (2012), A Heavy Metal Christmas Too (2013), and Metal Knight (2014).

Here is Lee’s Christmas message from 2012.

In his Christmas message to fans, Christopher talked about his involvement recording the radio play Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.

Click image to listen

Christopher Lee became famous for his involvement with Hammer Horror films, his most memorable and iconic role being Dracula. He played the part a total of 10 times: Dracula aka Horror of Dracula (1958); Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966); Dracula has Risen from the Grave (1968); Count Dracula (1970); Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970); One More Time (1970); Scars of Dracula (1970); Dracula Today aka Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972) ; The Satanic Rites of Dracula 1973); Dracula Pere et fils (1976).

Christopher Lee as Dracula was my introduction to horror. They say you never forget your first love, and I never have. The Hammer Dracula movies were usually on TV on a Friday night and it was the only night in the week I was allowed to stay up late – I looked forward to it all week. Despite being the villain of the piece, I could not help but feel sorry for him when at last Peter Cushing would find some new way to destroy Count Dracula, be it through sunlight, water or a stake through the heart!

Lee also took on many other villainous roles: The Creature in The Curse of Frankenstein (1957); Kharis the Mummy in The Mummy (1959); Grigori Rasputin in Rasputin: The Mad Monk (1966); Lucifer in Poor Devil (1973); Lord Summerisle in The Wicker Man (1973); Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974); and, of course, Saruman in Lord of the Rings (2001-2003), The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014).

Christopher not only will always be my favourite horror actor, who starred ten times as my favourite horror villain, Dracula, he also starred as my favourite detective, Sherlock Holmes in Valley of Fear (1962) Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady (1991) and Incident at Victoria Falls (1992). He also played two other Sherlock Holmes characters: Sir Henry Baskerville in Hound of the Baskervilles (1959) and the detective’s brother Mycroft Holmes in The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970).

The actor/singer was not limited to horror. However, he played the villain in about eighty five percent of his c200+ movies. He amassed an appearance in approximately sixty three horror films (I may have lost count, but it’s about that…excluding fantasy and science-fiction). He also starred in numerous comedies. Despite his preferred roles, Lee evidently had a good sense of humour. Some of his horror biography includes: Howling 2: Stirba – Werewolf Bitch (1985) and playing Dr Catheter in Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990).

Christopher Lee will always be notorious for his villainous roles, his “deeply melodic basso voice” and his “towering height”. At 6 foot 5 inches, he was one of the tallest actors in Hollywood! He held the Guinness World Record for being “The Tallest Leading Actor”. He was an honorary member of three stuntmen’s unions, and did his own stunts until later years. He received a knighthood in the 2009 for his accomplishments in film, television and charity.

During his Hammer Horror years he met, and became good friends with, Peter Cushing, another actor I cherish. Cushing usually played the contrasting heroic protagonist to Lee’s villain. He died in 1994, aged 81, and would have been 102 this year on 26^th May, the day before Lee’s birthday.

Click image to watch “The Wicker Man”

Lee considered The Wicker Man to be his best film. The part of Lord Summerisle was especially written for him, and he thought of it as a tremendous movie. I agree. Unfortunately, about twenty minutes of the movie is cut, which Christopher always believed would have made it ten times better. He also talked about his favourite role as Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, in a press conference at Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival on 21^st March 2002, giving a poignant reminder of life in the twenty first century.

Click pic to view “Jinnah” Part 1

Whilst Jinnah is not a horror, and Lee does not play the villain, it is an important and historically accurate portrayal of the life and times of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. It is also a film that would interest anyone living in an oppressed society, who wishes to be independent from their oppressors, with the message that independence does not (and should not) mean becoming enemies.

Click image to view

For Speeches, Articles, Quotes, Pictures, Videos, Slideshows and other Research material about Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, please visit the following site – click here.

At 93 years of age, Lee still had that je nais se quoi. He was every bit as sexy, with a voice that would melt stone. He is – present tense – without a doubt, the Master of Horror. Nae, the King! He is the iconic Dracula, Prince of Darkness. He, along with Peter Cushing and Vincent Price, is a classic hero of horror. The King is dead, but like the Prince of Darkness he is best known for playing, he is eternal. His light will always shine, and he will always be loved and remembered.

RIP Christopher Lee

Your friend, A.D. (b. 1972)

Source:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000489/

Petrifying Primates: Monkeys and Apes in Science Fiction and Horror

24 Friday May 2013

Posted by Alyson Dunlop Shanes in Uncategorized

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Altzheimer's, Andy Serkis, apes, baboon, Bela Lugosi, Brian Cox, Bride of the Gorilla, Caesar, chimp, chimpanzee, Chris Atkins, Congo, curse, Daedalus, Doctor Who, gorilla, Greek, Horror, Icarus, In the Shadow of Kilimanjaro, John Lithgow, King Kong, Link, Lon Chaney, Mars, Monkey Shines, monkeys, monster, mythology, orang-utan, Planet of the Apes, primates, primitive, Ray Harryhausen, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Roddy McDownall, Roman, sci-fi, science fiction, Shakma, simians, The Ape Man, witchcraft

They are often depicted as the primal and, therefore, frightening face of human nature. Primates, the class of animals to which humans also belong, are often the source of our primitive fear. We sometimes refer to them as our “cousins” in the animal kingdom, but in horror and science fiction they are our nightmares in the flesh. They kill by attacking us or by spreading disease. Either way, they are dangerous or to be feared, because in horror and science fiction, primates are human-like and just as unpredictable as we are.

Stories often involve the shady and bleak world of animal experimentation or exploitation. The humans get the monkeys to perform for entertainment, or force them to endure pain and suffering because it will aid us in some way. Just like in real life. Whatever we want, the primate does it or is forced to do it. Until, that is, it fights back.

Some of the films take on elements of a slasher movie. One victim after another is stalked by the predator, with a final survivor. Sometimes there is more than one, but usually the outcome is bad for the primate.

Several stories are set in Africa. Sometimes, like King Kong, it begins on a primitive island or deep in the jungle where, of course, humans first invaded and captured the wild and free animals.

I first became absolutely fascinated by these stories when I watched King Kong (1933) as a little girl. Monster movies were always televised on a Friday, early evening, and I loved them! Unlike Ray Harryhausen, my fascination was not due to animation. It was due to narrative. It was only later in life, as an adult, that I saw there were even deeper layers to the story. However, King Kong deserves a blog article of its own so I’ll avoid going into depth on the subject until a later date.

As far as I know, King Kong is the first movie to depict primates as monstrous. In 1943, The Ape Man starring Bela Lugosi came out, followed by Might Joe Young (1949).

Click to view.

Bride of the Gorilla (1951), starring Lon Chaney, is about the jungle (wildness) versus civilised behaviour. When Barney lets a snake kill his boss, an old woman curses him with a “plant of evil”. The old woman is a “wise woman” or “witch” who uses black magic. Barney hears the “call of the wild” from the jungle on his wedding night. He leaves to go into the jungle, which he appears to now be more in love with than he is with his wife. His doctor believes he has been poisoned, and that the natives have many potions that can drive a man out of his mind and cause psychosis. He also thinks Barney killed his boss, and his wife may be a constant reminder of his guilt of killing her first husband. What they don’t know is that the potion has caused Barney to turn into a gorilla!

Click to view.

In 1968, the first Planet of the Apes film came to screens. Surprisingly, the movie got a G rating, for ‘general audience’. When I first saw this film, probably round about the age of six or so, it terrified me on the same level as Doctor Who at that age. Of course, having two big brothers meant that scary science fiction was often viewed in the house, so I spent a lot of time behind the sofa in those early days! I was really surprised to learn it wasn’t more along the lines of an A or even 15 (which, of course, wasn’t a rating that existed back in the sixties).

The film showed us what it would be like if the tables were turned and animals treated us the way we treat them. After crash-landing on an alien planet, Taylor is captured by apes who can talk and act like humans. He is befriended by Cornelius and Zira who help Taylor escape.

However, Doctor Zaius is a religious scientist Taylor calls a “fanatic”. He refuses to listen to reason, especially if it goes against his religious knowledge. On Zaius’ instructions Cornelius reads 29^th Scroll 6^th verse (written by The Lawgiver of the Apes):

Beware the beast Man, for he is the Devil’s pawn. Alone among God’s primates, he kills for sport or lust or greed. Yea, he will murder his brother to possess his brother’s land. Let him not breed in great numbers, for he will make a desert of his home and yours. Shun him; drive him back into his jungle lair, for he is the harbinger of death….

Zaius continues:

From the evidence, I believe his wisdom must walk hand and hand with his idiocy. His emotions must rule his brain. He must be a warlike creature who gives battle to everything around him, even himself… The Forbidden Zone was once a paradise. Your breed made a desert of it ages ago!

The ending proves Zaius to be correct.

It’s a very thought-provoking film, not only about how we treat our planet and how we treat animals, but also how we treat other human beings and the prejudices amongst us.

Planet of the Apes was extremely popular and there were several sequels: Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970); Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971); Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972) and Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973). In 1974, there was a TV series and the following year an animated series Return to the Planet of the Apes. In 2001, a remake was made, and in 2011 Rise of the Planet of the Apes came to our screens. However, I will leave the latter until the end, seeing as I am working in chronological order!

Click to view.

In The Shadow of Kilimanjaro (1986) is based on a true story about a drought in Africa which causes baboons to go ape-shit! The baboons are predators stalking people one by one, first at night from the darkness; next in a gang attacking a lone driver who breaks down. The threat is portrayed like an unruly mob, gang or individual stalker and becomes quite terrifying as the film progresses. You do begin to wonder how on earth everyone will make it to the end of the film, as they appear to be outnumbered by the ferocious creatures who are hungry for their flesh….

Click to view.

Link (also 1986) is about a college professor who employs one of his female students to look after his house. He shares his house with two chimps, Voodoo and Imp and an orang- utan called Link. The professor gives the girl three rules to live by

1. Humans are dominant.

2. Always forgive the primates, regardless of what they do.

3. Don’t get involved in their squabbles. They sort them out.

Pretty soon the girl wishes she had never taken on the job, as she finds herself trapped in the isolated house on the rocky coast, trying to escape from one of the creatures which turns out to be a dangerous killer! It seems the presence of a female in the house has sent him over the edge. This is really more a story of sexism and male dominance.

Click to view.

Dominance also features in the film Monkey Shines (1988). It is about paraplegic Alan, who has his own personal monkey helper, Ella. The monkey has been genetically altered by his friend Jeff, a scientist who gives Alan the monkey as a gift. Ella loves Alan and seems to want to do things just for him, but everything starts to go wrong when Ella begins to carry out acts of revenge on behalf of Alan, unbeknownst to him. Alan and Ella seem to be telepathically linked, as Alan begins to take on the monkeys rage and starts to have unusual mood swings. Once he realises what is going on it is a pure battle of will to defeat the nasty little simian.

Click to view.

In Shakma (1990), we find ourselves in another research lab. Roddy McDowall is the professor and game master (which sounds an awful lot like gay master every time it’s said – I can’t help but think that is deliberate!) who engineers a game for his students. Meanwhile we know that an aggressive baboon called Shakma has not been euthenised and has killed other primates in the lab. The film has elements of the slasher as well as fairytale characters such as a hero, princess and villain. Most of all Shakma is a film about brain vs brawn, but will intelligence win when up against such a vicious enemy? I was honestly a little unnerved by the ferocity of the baboon, but the titles assure the audience that he was well-treated…

Click to view.

Congo (1995) is an adventure story about a rescue expedition, which is also about finding the ultimate diamond. It also features a rather adorable gorilla called Amy, who can use sign language. She has nightmares about the jungle except when she paints images of it. Amy wishes to return home to the jungle and her keepers decide to take her back to the Congo. They team up with the rescue expedition as they are all going to the same place. Like a traditional adventure film, there is only one woman and a bunch of men.

The story is one of greed for material possessions, and there are many things to thwart the group on their way, not least of all the ultimate threat of the killer silver gorillas that have annihilated the original expedition. The terrifying creatures are ready to defend the temple in the jungle and the diamonds that are the cause of so much greed. If this film hasn’t been made into a game, I’d be very surprised!

Click to view.

Finally, the most recent ape film, Rise of the Planet of the Apes was made in 2011, and began in a laboratory. A doctor thinks he has found a potential cure for Altzheimer’s (ALZ1-12, a virus), but his test subject goes wild and is shot. The programme is closed down. However, the doctor discovers the wild chimp had a baby. The baby chimp, which he rescues and calls Caesar, shows signs of exceptional intelligence.

Caesar is well-named. In captivity, he becomes the general of an army of apes that he trains himself. He steals some ALZ virus to enhance the intelligence of the other apes in order to escape.

Apart from the name “Caesar”, there are a few other little nods to ancient Roman and Greek mythology, including Icarus and Mars, the mention of whom should warn us that there is trouble ahead. Mars is the Roman god of war, and Icarus is the son of Daedalus. Icarus flew too close to the sun and died as a result of his ambitions – for anyone paying attention there’s a helicopter scene near the end where this reference ties in. There’s also a scene very reminiscent of a gladiatorial fight between Caesar and his rather nasty keeper in the “sanctuary”, at which point we also find out something extremely surprising about Caesar! (But I won’t spoil it).

Caesar shows compassion for his good keeper, though, and is reluctant to kill. He is able to make tactical decisions to lead the other apes. You can’t help but admire and respect him, and you hope that he survives the battle.

I’d definitely recommend seeing this film. You’ll love it! In fact, the only thing I didn’t like about this film was that it had to end! Andy Serkis does a fantastic job playing Caesar. There’s apparently another one, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, due out next year, and I can’t wait! I’ll definitely be going to the movies to watch it on the big screen.

On one hand I love these films, on the other hand, they are sad reminders of the greed and stupidity of homo sapiens. I despair at the treatment of some people towards our animal friends and I despair that we push Nature to a point where She turns round and slaps us very hard in the face…

Until next week, be kind to all creatures, the planet and each other. Your friend, A.D.

Scapegoating “Satanic” Sex Cults in the Sixties and Seventies

17 Friday May 2013

Posted by Alyson Dunlop Shanes in Uncategorized

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Aleister Crowley, astrology, atheist, Baphomet, Beelzebub, Beltaine, Beltane, Black Death, Brighid, Britt Ekland, Christopher Lee, City of the Dead, cults, Dennis Wheatley, Dogmas and Rituals of High Magic, dragons, Druids, Edward Woodward, Eliphas Levi, Emily Johnson, esoteric, fertility, Gallic Wars, Gerald Gardner, God, Goddess, Great Plague, Greek, Green Man, healing, Helen Duncan, heterosexual, homosexual, Horror, hypnosis, Imbolc, Jane York, Julius Caesar, Kafka, Knight's Templar, Lucifer, Magi, magic, Malleus Maleficarum, masturbation, May Day, Mendes, Mia Farrow, monotheist, Nods to the Old Gods, occult, pagan, Peaches Geldof, persecution, Persian priests, phallic, polytheist, power, reincarnation, Religion, Rome, Rosemary's Baby, Satan, satanic, scapegoat, Sex, sexually repressed, skyclad, snakes, spiritualist church, Spring Equinox, standing stones, Summer Isle, Summer Solstice, superstition, symbolism, The Devil Rides Out, The Goat of Mendes, The Great Beast 666, The May Pole, The Wicker Man, The Woman Who Came Back, Thelema, Venus, Victorian, Willow, witchcraft, Witchcraft Act, wizard, zodiac

Horror stories have always represented the fears of society, in exactly the same way as religious belief often mirrors the secular world. For example, superstitions changed during the outbreak of the Great Plague, when people began to blame the unexplained deaths on human sin and witchcraft (Malleus Maleficarum Part 1, Q XV)

Human beings have always had a bit of a negative obsession about the Other in society. Time and again we have scapegoated anyone who is different. Since ancient times, we’ve ridiculed and persecuted anyone who does not have the same beliefs as ourselves. The truth is, we are all very similar in all the ways that matter. We are all made up of the same stuff.

Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs,
dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with
the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject
to the same diseases, heal’d by the same means,
warm’d and cool’d by the same winter and summer
as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed?
If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us,
do we not die? (The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare)

We often give different names for the same things that we each call truth, but decry another for using unusual terminology to describe. It doesn’t take much scratching of the surface to reveal that we are often talking about the same thing. The ancient Greeks coined the phrase ‘magic’ from the Magi, the Persian priests, whose customs were too strange for the Greeks to understand were holy in nature.

I hear Peaches Geldof has joined a sex cult. Shock, horror! She is now a believer in Thelema, the religion founded by occultist Aleister Crowley, who practised sex magic, with apparent “secret sexual techniques for masturbation, heterosexual and homosexual sex” (Guardian, author anonymous). Well…there’s only so much you can do, but I’m guessing we have to take into account the time that Aleister Crowley was practising his esoteric knowledge. This would have been right, slap bang, in the middle of sexually repressed Victorian times. Thank goodness we’ve evolved our notions of sexuality and what constitutes “perverse”.

Aleister Crowley died in 1947, with a reputation as The Great Beast 666, a name he positively lapped up. In 1944, a few years before his death, Helen Duncan, a psychic, was prosecuted and imprisoned under the 1735 Witchcraft Act for revealing wartime secrets. Six months later, in September 1944, Jane York (72) was also prosecuted under the same Act and in December of that year Emily Johnson of Redhill Spiritualist Church was given a severe warning by police. They told her she would be prosecuted if she did not stop her “activities”. The Act actually strove to stamp out the belief in witchcraft amongst the educated in society, but it was possible to prosecute people for pretending to “exercise or use any kind of witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment, or conjuration, or undertake to tell fortunes”.

Click picture to view

The prosecutions sparked off the creative minds in America, and the following year John H Kafka came up with the story for The Woman Who Came Back (1945). The unfortunate heroine, Lorna, finds herself the scapegoat of the townspeople and is accused of witchcraft for everything that goes wrong. It doesn’t help matters that a coincidental meeting and accident has caused Lorna to suspect they could well be right. Thankfully by the end no one believes in witchcraft. Phew!

By 1951, the Witchcraft Act was repealed and replaced by the Fraudulent Mediums Act, and the previously “underground” Craft of Wicca began to flourish, led by Gerald Gardner. Of course, ignorance breeds fear and, as I have mentioned, fear breeds the practice of scapegoating. By the 1960s movies on the subject of the occult began to get filmed, particularly anything to do with covens and Satanic devil-worshippers. A second wave of witchhunts began, this time within horror movies. City of the Dead (1960) with Christopher Lee paved the way for the paranoia about anything to do with witchcraft. In 1968, two very popular films in the genre were screened: Dennis Wheatley’s The Devil Rides Out and Rosemary’s Baby. Five years later, in 1973 The Wicker Man was filmed. Many more followed, but these are the main ones that set witchcraft and paganism against Christian morality and ethics, at least in the minds of the Christian audience.

Click picture to view

The City of the Dead, starring Christopher Lee, is about a student who goes to a small town to find out information about witchcraft for her studies. Little does she realise that the townspeople are all evil devil-worshipping witches, who make lots of sacrifices, especially around about the time of Candlemas. Candlemas is a Christian festival for a start. It is the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin. However, in the pagan religion it is the festival of Imbolc, and marks the beginning of spring. It is associated with the virgin goddess, Brighid. We can clearly see here a distinct similarity between the purified virgin and the virgin goddess.

Click picture to read preview

Lucifer is also mentioned in this film, and has long been synonymous with the Devil and his many other names: Satan, Beelzebub etc. In Nods to the Old Gods I have explained briefly that Lucifer’s name means “light bearer”, and that it was the name given to the dawn appearance of the planet Venus, which heralds daylight. Early Luciferians – devotees of the god Lucifer – worshipped dragons and snakes, as well as the sun. In more advanced ancient civilisations, dragons and snakes were not perceived as evil. In fact, they were often associated with power and healing.

Click on picture to view “The Devil Rides Out”

The opening sequence to The Devil Rides Out is full of imagery usually associated with magic, Satanism and astrology. Set to the background music, which is horrific and scary, it seems we are to imagine all these images are too. The zodiac signs are used in this sequence, and then again at the end, on the sacrificial altar of the devil worshippers. Also, in the opening sequence we are introduced to Baphomet, who will later appear on the floor of the observatory and again at the orgiastic party. He is a goat-headed being, referred to as “The Goat of Mendes” by Christopher Lee. The reality is that most modern scholars now agree “Baphomet” is a corruption of “Muhammad”. Baphomet was the name of the idol the Knight’s Templars were accused of worshipping in the 14^th century. It is thought that during their occupation of the Outremer, they had begun to incorporate Islamic ideas into their belief system. This, the Inquisition of course declared to be heretical.

In the 19^th century, Baphomet became more associated with the occult (the name occult means “hidden”, as in “hidden knowledge”). In 1854, Eliphas Lévi published Dogmas and Rituals of High Magic in which he drew his image of Baphomet. This image is the best-known picture of Baphomet (see below).

Baphomet by Eliphas Lévi

Lévi considered his Baphomet to be a depiction of the absolute in symbolic form:

The goat on the frontispiece carries the sign of the pentagram on the forehead, with one point at the top, a symbol of light, his two hands forming the sign of occultism, the one pointing up to the white moon of Chesed, the other pointing down to the black one of Geburah. This sign expresses the perfect harmony of mercy with justice. His one arm is female, the other male like the ones of the androgyne of Khunrath, the attributes of which we had to unite with those of our goat because he is one and the same symbol. The flame of intelligence shining between his horns is the magic light of the universal balance, the image of the soul elevated above matter, as the flame, whilst being tied to matter, shines above it. The beast’s head expresses the horror of the sinner, whose materially acting, solely responsible part has to bear the punishment exclusively; because the soul is insensitive according to its nature and can only suffer when it materializes. The rod standing instead of genitals symbolizes eternal life, the body covered with scales the water, the semi-circle above it the atmosphere, the feathers following above the volatile. Humanity is represented by the two breasts and the androgyne arms of this sphinx of the occult sciences.

The appearance of Basphomet in The Devil Rides Out is referred to as The Goat of Mendes, a name which Lévi also used to describe Baphomet. Herodotus described the god of Mendes (in Egypt) as having a goat’s face and legs, and that male goats were held in high regard by the Mendesians. E A Wallis Budge writes:

At several places in the Delta, e.g. Hermopolis, Lycopolis, and Mendes, the god Pan and a goat were worshipped; Strabo, quoting (xvii. 1, 19) …The Mendisians, according to this last writer, paid reverence to all goats, and more to the males than to the females, and particularly to one he-goat, on the death of which public mourning is observed throughout the whole Mendesian district; they call both Pan and the goat Mendes, and both were worshipped as gods of generation and fecundity. Diodorus (i. 88) compares the cult of the goat of Mendes with that of Priapus, and groups the god with the Pans and the Satyrs. The goat referred to by all these writers is the famous Mendean Ram, or Ram of Mendes, the cult of which was, according to Manetho, established by Kakau, the king of the IInd dynasty.

Lévi’s Baphomet became an important figure within Aleister Crowley’s mystical system of Thelema. For Crowley, The Devil is the God of any people that one personally dislikes. Baphomet represents life, love, light and liberty.

There are a couple of interesting points about The Devil Rides Out, particularly the character of Duc de Richleau (Lee), who has knowledge of esoteric scriptures which he has taken the time to memorise. Like the bad guy, Mocata, Richleau also has the ability to use both hypnosis and magic, which he utilises to defeat the powers of darkness. Furthermore, as Mocata raises the angel of death, Richleau manages to raise the dead, bringing Tanith into the body of his niece and commanding her to do his will. He even manages to re-write history and turn back time with his magic. Although not explicit in the film, Richleau, to all intents and purposes, is a most powerful wizard who has the knowledge and ability to use the highest of magic.

Cleverly, and most importantly, however, is the fact that the makers of the film have also brainwashed the audience into believing exactly what they want them to believe with the imagery they use….

Click photo to watch “Rosemary’s Baby”

The same year, Rosemary’s Baby also hit cinemas. The heroine, Rosemary (Mia Farrow), becomes pregnant after having a weird lucid dream in which she imagines herself to copulate with the Devil. Controlled by her doctor and eccentric neighbour, Minnie, Rosemary becomes more and more isolated from all her friends. The climax, as Roman tells her, is that Satan is her son’s father.

In Nods to the Old Gods, I explain that Ha-Satan is usually translated as “adversary” (i.e. of God). In Arabic the term Shaitan means “astray” or “distant”. In the Quran, after Iblis refuses to bow to Adam with the rest of the angels, he becomes known as Shaitan, meaning “enemy”, “evil”, “rebel”, “devil”. In the Baha’i faith, however, Satan is not regarded as an independent evil power, but signifies the lower nature of human beings i.e. the evil ego within us. In conjunction with what we know of his relationship to Pan (the goat-headed fertility god of the ancient Greeks), it would seem that Satan also represents inner sexual instincts. In Rosemary’s Baby he is the sexual force used to impregnate her with the child of the Devil. The ultimate challenge for Rosemary is whether or not her maternal instinct will be powerful enough to overcome the revulsion she feels towards a child whose father is Satan.

Click photo to view “The Wicker Man”

In 1973, The Wicker Man gave an impression of pagan religions which has been hard to get rid of. Edward Woodward plays a cop who goes off to Summer Isle to investigate the disappearance of a little girl, Rowan Morrison. What he encounters are the uncooperative inhabitants of the island who seem intent on thwarting the policeman’s investigation.

He stays at the Green Man’s Inn, where he meets more of the weird townsfolk who proceed to sing a rather raunchy song to the landlord’s daughter, Willow (Britt Ekland), which perturbs the prudish Christian Sergeant Howie. He is further angered and unsettled by seeing couples having sex in a field outside, and a naked woman crying over the grave of her (presumably) dead husband.

The naked Willow sings a Siren’s song to try to entice the sexually suppressed and sweating virgin, Howie. However, he is engaged to another and believes sex before marriage to be wrong. He manages to withstand her charms, but more sex and frivolity are to follow. The following day is May Day Eve, and begins with boys dancing round a Maypole. He overhears the local school teacher explaining that the Maypole symbolises the penis, “venerated in religions such as ours as the generative force in nature” to which Howie makes it clear he is absolutely disgusted. Howie interprets the beliefs and teachings as “degeneracy, indecency, corruption and filth”. On discovering Rowan’s name in the school register, the teacher is forced to explain to Howie that when a person dies the belief of the Summer Isle inhabitants is that they return to nature: to air, to fire, to trees, to water, to animals. She explains that the children find it easier to understand reincarnations rather than resurrection.

Further investigations lead Howie to the residence of Lord Summerisle. On the way, he witnesses a strange ritual with naked women dancing round the fire within a circle of standing stones. Howie argues that the people of the island are practising false religion and false biology by believing in reproduction without intercourse. Lord Summerisle responds that Jesus himself was born of a virgin and a ghost. One belief is no less ridiculous than the other.

As Howie gets more and more angry, Lord Summerisle and the other residents seem to become more and more pleasant and happy. Throughout the film we hear about the sun god, the goddess of the field, the idea of sacrifice in order to gain a good harvest, John Barleycorn (the life of the fields) and the salmon of knowledge. The climax is a virgin sacrifice burned within the confines of a giant wicker man.

Is this what we pagans get up to? Well, no, not quite. Neo-paganism is based on the Old Religions and the practices depicted in the film are either twisted versions of the truth or complete nonsense in the modern age. It is true that the May Pole is a phallic symbol. In many ancient cultures, such as Rome, the penis was venerated as a potent fertility symbol and it wouldn’t have been unusual to see phallic symbols above doors, for example. It is only in modern times that our Christianised culture has forbidden us to worship such things.

The May Pole

Beltaine is an important date in the pagan calendar. It is on 30^th April, the eve before May Day until May Day Night, and it is associated with sex and fertility. It is between the Spring Equinox (21^st March) and the Summer Solstice (21^st June), and it marks the beginning of summer. It was originally a Gaelic festival when symbolic fire rituals were performed to protect the cattle and people, and to encourage crops to grow. Flowers were displayed, and young girls washed their face in the May Day dew. A custom which sometimes still carries on to this day! I remember doing this when I was a young girl.

Nowadays, we generally don’t have much opportunity or requirement for driving cattle between two bonfires for cleansing and protection. We might wish for crops or plants to grow, though, and some pagan rituals might request that the Goddess of the Grain makes our land fertile. Pagans are very individual. Some might take a walk in nature, enjoying the changing seasons and lighting a candle, perhaps saying a prayer, performing a small ritual to mark the occasion or take a trip to Edinburgh to watch the Beltane Fire Festival. Some pagans choose Beltaine to marry, or consummate a relationship, because of its association with love and fertility. A few do carry out rituals naked or ‘skyclad’, but not all. In fact, not many. Most rituals are done robed. However, skyclad rituals are not frowned upon. The pagan ethic tends to be “each to their own”.

Beltane Fire Festival, Edinburgh

We don’t all believe in reincarnation, although some do. Paganism is so varied and there is no dogma to insist that you believe one thing over another. In fact, you can be pagan and a monotheist (one god), polytheist (many gods) or atheist (no god(s)). Paganism allows you to revere nature, and be of a scientific disposition at the same time, but for those who wish to believe in a god they can. This might seem strange, but we once did all live in harmony, with communities deciding which gods they would worship. Just because someone worshipped one god, did not necessarily mean they did not believe in the existence of the other gods. It seems to me that this system makes for a more harmonious existence amongst the cultures of the world. If we could all accept that we each have our own very different perspective of the world, we might at last live in harmony. Live and let live, as the saying goes!

As for the Wicker Man, there is only one account which alleges it was used by the Druids for human sacrifice. This was written by Julius Caesar in his Commentary on the Gallic War. The Druids may have used ritual sacrifice as a means of executing criminals, but whether they used a giant wicker man to do so is highly debateable. Nowadays, no humans are ever sacrificed, and animal sacrifice is frowned upon by the majority of pagan and magical communities and practitioners. Furthermore, most pagans do not believe in the Christian devil, as he is a later invention and stems from many of the early pagan gods who were misunderstood and, therefore, demonised as time went on. However, there are some people who practise both Christian and pagan religion, celebrating both Christian and pagan feast days. This is probably very similar to how it would have been in the early Celtic Christian world, when we learned to live side by side and more in harmony with each other. What went wrong?

If you think scapegoating doesn’t happen nowadays, you are very wrong. Children are named as witches, ostracised and attacked in parts of Africa, blamed for bringing bad luck to their villages. Just as alarming, is the fact that we don’t have to look much further than our own backyard to find that in British society the sick, disabled and immigrants are having the finger of blame pointed in their direction for all the ills of our desperate economic situation. Like in horror films depicting ancient gods as demonic, the public are often not aware of the level of brainwashing they are receiving, whilst innocent people suffer and die. Suicides have risen in the UK, as the poor find themselves more and more in debt, whilst the tax-avoiding rich are become richer. If you don’t see something very wrong with that, then you have indeed been brainwashed; and you are taking part in the age old practise of scapegoating.

Until next week, I hope we all see the light.

Your friend, A.D.

REFERENCES

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/shortcuts/2013/apr/15/peaches-geldof-aleister-crowley-sex-cult-oto

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/jan/24/comment.comment3 by Vanessa Chambers 24/1/2007

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

http://altreligion.about.com/od/symbols/a/baphomet.htm

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

http://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/mm/mm01_15a.htm

VIDEOS

http://viooz.co/movies/1721-rosemarys-baby-1968.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJXl_gckMiU&wide=1