Rob returns to Jimmy Church’s Fade to Black Thursday night, June 15th, at 10:00 pm EST. Rob will be talking JFK, 9/11, cinematic sorcery, Aleister Crowley, and other occult goodies. The show debuts live; to listen, click banner:
Archive for the Classic Horror Category
Fade to Black
Posted in Alchemy, Ancient Aliens, Blog, Blog post, Carl Jung, Cinema History, Classic Horror, Disney, Freemasonry, Gnosticism, Halloween, History, Hollywood, Illuminati, Joker, Joseph Campbell, Kabbalah, Lucifer, Magick, Midsommar, Movies, Mysticism, Occult Hollywood, Religion, Sorcery, Stanley Kubrick, Supernatural, Symbolism, Tarot Cards, The Occult, Witchcraft, Wizard of Oz with tags 9/11, Aleister Crowley, Astrology, Baphomet, Cinema Symbolism, Freemasonry, Gematria, Gnosticism, Goat of Mendes, History, Illuminati, JFK, JFK's Missing Brain, Midsommar, Neoplatonism, Occult Hollywood, Robert W. Sullivan IV, Royal Arch of Enoch, Wicker Man on June 8, 2023 by robertwsullivanivHalloween Ends – blink and you’ll miss it
Posted in Astrology, Blog, Blog post, Carl Jung, Cinema Symbolism, Classic Horror, Esoterica, Film, Freemasonry, Gnosticism, Halloween, Illuminati, Kabbalah, Midsommar, Mysticism, Occult Hollywood, Symbolism, Tarot Cards, The Occult, Witchcraft with tags Astrology, Cinema Symbolism, Freemasonry, Gnosticism, Halloween, Halloween Ends, Halloween Kills, Illuminati, Michael Myers, Occult Hollywood, Robert W. Sullivan IV, Royal Arch of Enoch, Samhain, The Art of Memory on January 26, 2023 by robertwsullivanivHappy New Year – Cinema Symbolism 4 sneak peek
Posted in Alchemy, Astrology, Blog, Blog post, Carl Jung, Cinema, Cinema History, Cinema Symbolism, Classic Horror, Film, Freemasonry, Gnosticism, Halloween, Hollywood, Horror Movies, Illuminati, Joseph Campbell, Kabbalah, Madam Blavatsky, Midsommar, Monsters, Movie History, Movies, Mysticism, Mythology, Occult Hollywood, Philosophy, Secret Societies, Stanley Kubrick, Symbolism, Tarot Cards, The Occult, Wizard of Oz with tags Amityville Horror, Astrology, Cinema Symbolism, Cinema Symbolism 4, Elvis, Elvis Presley, Freemasonry, Gnosticism, Illuminati, Madame Blavatsky, Midsommar, Mother!, Occult Hollywood, Robert W. Sullivan IV, Royal Arch of Enoch, The Batman, The Witch, Twin Peaks, Wizard of Oz on December 29, 2022 by robertwsullivanivHappy New Year! Enjoy this sneak peek at Cinema Symbolism 4 (the Preface, rough copy). Enjoy!
To this author, the thought of composing another occult movie book in the vein of Cinema Symbolism 2 (2017) and Cinema Symbolism 3 (2021) is, quite frankly, nauseating. I have no interest in writing another volume focusing on a particular movie, then analyzing it through an esoteric-Hermetic-Gnostic lens while identifying Easter eggs. I’ll take a rain check on that.
Instead, this time around, I am taking Cinema Symbolism 4 in another direction. While select films will get individual chapters (those with well-hidden undercurrents like The Batman, 2022), this book will focus on arcane topics and how specific movies project and visualize the occult, magic, and mythology into pop culture, casting powerful spells. For instance, rather than apply Joseph Campbell’s (1904-1987) monomyth to a certain film, I will present the elements of the hero’s journey and identify them as they appear in cinema proper. Indeed, I will continue to point out Easter eggs as I discover them; if I didn’t do that, what sort of analyst would I be?
And speaking of Easter eggs, how did I miss that elusive one in Mother! (2017) and that diabolical homage in The Witch: A New-England Folktale (2015). Mother!, a Gnostic flick that looks like it was directed by Valentinus (ca. 100-ca. 180 CE) and produced by Philo of Alexandria (ca. 25 BCE-ca. 50 CE), was dissected thoroughly in Cinema Symbolism 3 (2021) by yours truly. However, upon rewatching it in the autumn of 2021, I noticed the yellow elixir Mother (Jennifer Lawrence) drinks to ease her anxiety alludes to the Rolling Stones’ appropriately titled song “Mother’s Little Helper” (1966). The tune is about a mama who consumes yellow tranquilizers to alleviate her depression. Does not Lawrence’s Sophia-like Mother “♫… go running for the shelter of her mother’s little helper ♫” to get her through her “♫ busy dying days ♫” spent with the demiurgic, capricious Him (Javier Bardem)?
The Witch, a Luciferian masterpiece also scrutinized in Cinema Symbolism 3, was rewatched by this author during the summer of ’22. Once more, something jumped off my flat-screen television I hadn’t observed before. William’s (Ralph Ineson), the pride-infected father of the doomed family, ceaseless wood splitting hearkens back to The Amityville Horror (1979), wherein the hapless patriarch, George Lutz (James Brolin), also incessantly chops firewood. Whether the impetus is conscious or subconscious, Robert Eggers, The Witch’s director, uses woodcutting as an occult mnemonic, transferring the evil lurking inside 112 Ocean Avenue to the Puritan family’s seventeenth-century homestead where the satanic Black Phillip is king (because “♫ a crown grows out his head [and] to a nanny queen is wed ♫”).
Also left out of my last book was the origin of Twin Peaks’ (1990-2017) Dweller on the Threshold, a term lifted from the neo-Gnostic world of Madame Helena Blavatsky’s (1831-1891) Theosophy Society. The Russian mystic defined them as “certain maleficent astral doubles of defunct persons,” hence the entities inhabiting the Black Lodge representing the person’s shadow self and unresolved issues at the time of their death.[1] Make no mistake, David Lynch and his ilk are occult experts.
If the reader is familiar with Cinema Symbolism 3, then they should know Midsommar (2019) is a morbid retelling of The Wizard of Oz (1939) eighty years later. Ergo, the conspicuous airplane turbulence in the former is a throwback to the tornado in the latter. Just as a violent twister whisks Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland, 1922-1969) to a magical yet foreboding land, a bumpy flight speeds Dani Ardor (Florence Pugh) to a beautiful yet saturnine landscape accordingly. I can’t believe I did not pick up on this one earlier.
Then there is the solar tapestry woven around Elvis Presley’s (1935-1977) life that I analyzed in my last movie book. I thought I had nailed everything, only to recently learn the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll purchased Graceland in mid-March ’57, a few days before the vernal equinox when daylight and warmth overcome darkness; thus, Elvis’ heliacal career was on its way symbolized by his opulent estate. He married Priscilla (née Wagner) on May 1st, 1967. Beltane is midway between the vernal equinox and the summer solstice when daylight triumphs; ergo, it’s only appropriate for the Apollonian musical messiah to take a wife that day. Elvis’ daughter, Lisa Marie, was born on Imbolc, February 1st, 1968, halfway between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox when light continues to gain strength.
On top of that, the sun king’s manager, Col. Tom Parker (1909-1997), was born on June 26th, a mere two days after midsummer when the life-giving orb is at its apex in the northern hemisphere. Thanks to him, Elvis famously began performing at the International Hotel in Las Vegas on Lammas Eve, 1969, midway between the summer solstice and the vernal equinox signifying the forthcoming harvest while honoring the weakening sun. As such, Elvis would entertain audiences at the renowned venue up to the year he perished. However, the King met with the leader of the free world, the thirty-seventh President of the United States, Richard Milhous Nixon (1913-1994), on December 21st, 1970, the day before midwinter when the sun is annually renewed or born again, signifying his pop culture transcendence.
How the fuck did I miss these? The answer: ultimately, no one is perfect.
Unlike my other cinema tomes, this preface will be brief as my purpose in writing it is to explain the book’s template, then move on to the good stuff. As with my other volumes, keep an eye out for Easter eggs concealed in the text and image layout. With that, I unveil Cinema Symbolism 4.
Robert W. Sullivan IV, Esq.
Lughnasadh 2022
Baltimore, MD, USA
Copyright 2022 Robert W. Sullivan IV. All Rights Reserved.
[1] G. de Purucker, Occult Glossary: A Compendium of Oriental and Theosophical Terms (London: Rider & Co. Paternoster House, E.C., 1933), 50-51.
Cyber Monday
Posted in Alchemy, Astrology, Back to the Future, Batman, Bible, Black Swan, Blog, Blog post, Carl Jung, Cartoons, Christianity, Cinema History, Cinema Symbolism, Classic Horror, Disney, Egypt, Elizabeth Burnblack, Enochian Magick, Entertainment, Film, Frankenstein, Freemasonry, Gnosticism, Halloween, History, Hollywood, Horror Movies, Illuminati, James Bond, Jesuits, Joker, Joseph Campbell, Kabbalah, Knights Templar, Lucifer, Madam Blavatsky, Magick, Matrix, Midsommar, Movie History, Movies, Mysticism, Mythology, Occult Hollywood, Philosophy, Religion, Rosicrucianism, Royal Arch of Enoch, Secret Societies, Stanley Kubrick, Star Wars, Supernatural, Symbolism, Tarot Cards, The Occult, Theosophy, Twin Peaks, Walt Disney, Warner Brothers, Witchcraft, Wizard of Oz with tags A Pact with the Devil, Astrology, Christmas, Cinema Symbolism, Cyber Monday, Freemasonry, Gnosticism, Hanukkah, Harry Potter, History, Illuminati, Kabbalah, Krampusnacht, Kwanza, Occult Hollywood, Robert W. Sullivan IV, Royal Arch of Enoch, Star Wars, Walt Disney on November 27, 2022 by robertwsullivanivRob’s Masonic-Halloween Special ’22 on YouTube
Posted in Alchemy, Astrology, Blog, Blog post, Carl Jung, Cinema Symbolism, Classic Horror, Film, Freemasonry, Gnosticism, Halloween, Hollywood, Horror Movies, Illuminati, Joseph Campbell, Kabbalah, Monsters, Movies, Occult Hollywood, Radio, Stanley Kubrick, Supernatural, Symbolism, Tarot Cards, The Occult, Universal Horror, Vampires, Walt Disney, Wizard of Oz with tags Astrology, Cinema Symbolism, David Lynch, Freemasonry, Gnosticism, Halloween, Halloween Ends, Illuminati, Lost Highway, Masonic-Halloween Special, Robert W. Sullivan IV, Samhain, Season of the Witch, The Exorcist, The Shining on October 30, 2022 by robertwsullivanivAnd, of course, it wouldn’t be Samhain if Rob’s Masonic-Halloween Special wasn’t on YouTube. So, here it is – check it out!
Rob’s Masonic-Halloween Special ’22
Posted in Alchemy, Blog, Blog post, Carl Jung, Cinema, Cinema Symbolism, Classic Horror, Film, Frankenstein, Freemasonry, Gnosticism, Halloween, Horror Movies, Joseph Campbell, Kabbalah, Magick, Movies, Mysticism, Mythology, Occult Hollywood, Radio, Stanley Kubrick, Supernatural, Symbolism, Tarot Cards, The Occult, Witchcraft with tags Bonfire Night, Cinema Symbolism, Freemasonry, Gnosticism, Halloween, Halloween Ends, Halloween III, Halloween Kills, Illuminati, Magic, Masonic-Halloween Special, Occult Hollywood, Robert W. Sullivan IV, Samhain, Season of the Witch, Sorcery, The Exorcist, The Shining, Witchcraft on October 30, 2022 by robertwsullivanivSamhain comes early to the Infinite Fringe
Posted in Alchemy, Back to the Future, Black Swan, Blog, Blog post, Carl Jung, Cinema Symbolism, Classic Horror, Film, Freemasonry, Gnosticism, Halloween, Hollywood, Horror Movies, Illuminati, Joker, Joseph Campbell, Kabbalah, Movies, Mysticism, Mythology, Occult Hollywood, Philosophy, Stanley Kubrick, Tarot Cards, Universal Horror, Wizard of Oz with tags Cinema Symbolism, Freemasonry, Gnosticism, Halloween Ends, Hereditary, Horror FIlms, Illuminati, Joker, Jung, Midsommar, Occult Hollywood, Robert W. Sullivan IV, Royal Arch of Enoch, Samhain, Stanley Kubrick, Tarot Cards, The Exorcist, The Occult, The Shining on October 29, 2022 by robertwsullivanivComing Soon: Rob’s Masonic-Halloween Special ’22
Posted in Alchemy, Astrology, Black Swan, Blog, Blog post, Carl Jung, Cinema, Cinema Symbolism, Classic Horror, Film, Freemasonry, Gnosticism, Halloween, Hollywood, Horror Movies, Joseph Campbell, Kabbalah, Occult Hollywood, Reading, Religion, Royal Arch of Enoch, Supernatural, Symbolism, Tarot Cards, The Occult, Witchcraft with tags Amityville Horror, Cinema Symbolism, Freemasonry, Gnosticism, Halloween, Halloween Ends, Halloween Kills, Illuminati, Jung, Rob's Halloween Special, Robert W. Sullivan IV, Royal Arch of Enoch, Samhain, Season of the Witch, Stanley Kubrick, Tarot Cards, The Exorcist, The Shining, Witchcraft on October 21, 2022 by robertwsullivanivThat’s right: Rob returns to the Strange Uncles podcast with his annual Masonic-Halloween Special, followed by the Big Giveaway, debuting at the end of the month. In the meantime, enjoy these immortal classics from years past.
Halloween Ends and the Tarot
Posted in Astrology, Blog, Blog post, Carl Jung, Cinema Symbolism, Classic Horror, Education, Film, Halloween, Hollywood, Joseph Campbell, Kabbalah, Lucifer, Movies, Mysticism, Mythology, Occult Hollywood, Philosophy, Religion, Sorcery, Symbolism, Tarot Cards, The Occult, Witchcraft with tags Autumn Equinox, Cinema Symbolism, Freemasonry, Halloween, Halloween Ends, Halloween III, Illuminati, Jack Torrance, Kubrick, Occult Hollywood, Robert W. Sullivan IV, Royal Arch of Enoch, Samhain, The Shining, Walpurgisnacht on October 20, 2022 by robertwsullivanivHalloween Ends (2022) prominently features the Grand Gallery and the Hall of Shadows, clearly seen when Michael Myers (James Jude Courtney) is pinned to the table emulating the Devil’s posture (the above and below of Hermes Trismegistus) on card XV, signifying that he is evil incarnate. Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) in The Shining (1980) strikes the same pose at the Overlook’s July 4th ball, manifesting in Ends with Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) as a disturbed writer.
