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Thelemic references in the Star Wars trilogy

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dot23

Justified & Ancient
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Found this whilst doing a search for the phrase "osiris was a black god" and it's hilarious! Enjoy ...

From [email protected] Mon Apr 08 00:46:30 2002
Newsgroups: alt.humor.best-of-usenet
Subject: [alt.gothic] George Lucas a disciple of Aleister Crowley?
From: David Gerard <[email protected]>
Date: Mon, 8 Apr 2002 04:46:30 +0000 (UTC)

Subject: George Lucas a disciple of Aleister Crowley?
From: Cavalorn <[email protected]>
Newsgroups: alt.gothic

Thelemic references in the Star Wars trilogy:

- Crowley was OHO of the Order of Oriental Templars (OTO) and Lucas' original name for the Jedi Knights was the Jedi Templars.

- Crowley's secret name in the OTO was supposed to have been 'Phoenix' and the symbol of the Rebel Alliance is a stylised phoenix.

- The windows in the Emperor's chambers at the climax of Return of the Jedi spell 'OTO'.

- from the Book of the Law, dictated to Crowley: 'the obeah and the wanga, the work of the wand and the work of the sword, these he shall learn and teach.' Obeah = Obi. Wanga = Wan. Thus, Obi-Wan. And what device is a wand one moment and a sword the next? A lightsaber, of course; and the relevance of 'learn and teach' is obvious, since Obi-Wan is the teacher.

- Vader's sabre is red, the colour of the sphere of Geburah, or
Severity: Obi-Wan's is blue, the colour of its opposing sphere, Chesed or Mercy.

- Crowley makes references to 'the dwarf insane yet crafty' who is the source of true Wisdom, obviously a reference to Yoda.

- The greatest ordeal in Crowley's A.'.A.'. system is the 'crossing of
the abyss'. One reaches the brink of a great gulf and must either
surrender everything one is and jump, or remain behind to become a 'black brother' or 'brother of the left hand path'. The 'crossing of the abyss' is foreshadowed in A New Hope, at the point at which Luke and Leia swing over the chasm, but is actually achieved in full in Empire Strikes Back, at the climax of the film.

In the climax of Empire, Luke's right hand is severed at the wrist,
implying that he must take the left hand path and turn to the Dark Side, i.e. become a 'black brother'. Faced with the choice of crossing the Abyss or turning to the 'Left Hand Path', Luke chooses to jump, which is the act that redeems him from a future of corruption.

- Luke is also the Horus figure, the avenger (as in Revenge of the Jedi, the original title). In the climax of Empire, Vader (previously
identified with Set, the murderer of the father) is revealed to _be_ the father, the dark Osiris - this being the same secret that was revealed in the Egyptian Mysteries, namely that 'Osiris is a Black God!'

- The 'Black Brethren' are those who have 'shut themselves up', become encased and closed off from the Universe, exactly as Vader is encased in black armour. Their sphere on the Tree of Life is the false sphere 'da'ath', obviously the source for 'Darth'.

- Vader out of his armour proves to be a bald guy with an English
accent, uncannily reminiscent of Crowley.

Not convinced yet? Try this quote from one of Crowley's Holy Books, in which a part of the Star Wars universe is mentioned BY NAME: '... Thy messenger was more terrible than the Death-star.'
The messenger of the Emperor is of course Vader, who possesses (and represents) a power far more terrible than the Death Star - the dark side of the Force itself. As Vader himself reminds his fellow Imperials, 'The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.'

You might recognise this scene, too...

'the chamber was corrupt; the air stank... He enveloped me with his demon tentacles; yea, the eight fears took hold upon me.'

Garbage compactors, anyone? However, we all know what happened next: 'I slipped from the embrace as a stone from the sling of a boy of the woodlands. I was smooth and hard as ivory; the horror gat no hold.'

Smooth and hard as ivory indeed, for Luke is wearing stormtrooper armour in that scene.

Well, George? Been having a bit of the old do-what-thou-wilt, have we?

Cav

p.s. this is every bit as serious as Crowley's own qabalistic analysis of nursery rhymes. ;)
Click to expand...
 
:D :D

On a more serious note (for anyone interested) this isn't a bad little essay on Thelematic influences in Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land. In fact, it argues the novel is, in essence, an 'allegorical recapitulation' of the practice.

Here: http://www.wegrokit.com/thelema.htm
 
Thelemic Star Wars

:) :) :)

What a brilliant piece of writing.

Full marks to them for a well-reasoned, believable and tantalising theory.:chuffed:
 
And I was under the impression that Obi-Wan got his name from Oberheim's OB1 synthesiser.


I was smooth and hard as ivory
Click to expand...

Considering the known vagaries of ol' Aleister, I hardly think this leaves much to the imagination...
 
I was looking up something for this thread on obeah and Jamaican magic:

http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16681

and found this (which seems to be an extension of the first posting):

STAR WARS AND THE SATANIC

By

Kevin Dowling

The Sunday Express was the first to brand high-society Satanist Alestair
Crowley as the Wickedest Man in the World as long ago as 1923. (for
facsimiles, see web links below)

Yet mad, bad and dangerous to know though he was, Crowley's debauched
lifestyle and bizarre adventures fascinated the best-known writers of his
generation.

Crowley appeared under various names in Somerset Maugham's The Magician, M R
James's Casting the Runes, Dion Fortune's The Winged Bull, Dennis Wheatley's
The Devil Rides Out, Christopher Isherwood's A Visit to Anselm Oakes, Ian
Fleming's Casino Royale, Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time,
Colin Wilson's Adrift in Soho and Satan Wants Me by Piers Paul Read.

Does the sex-magician's magic still live on? A controversial new study
suggests that Annekin Skywalker, aka Darth Vader in the Stars Wars movies,
is a Crowley clone.

Worse than that.

The same research highlights a sequence of apparent coincidences which taken
together suggest that writer-producer-director George Lucas borrowed heavily
from Crowley's writings to create the box-office magic of the Star Wars
films.

Crowley (1875-1947), author of Diary of a Drug Fiend and A Hymn to Lucifer,
gained worldwide notoriety whilst leader of the freemasonic sect Ordo Templi
Orientis - the Order of Oriental Templars (OTO).

Crowley's own mother compared her wayward son - a sort of Edwardian Darth
Vader, - to the Great Beast 666 of the Book of Revelations.

The poet W. B. Yeats - a keen student of the occult, - called him 'an
unspeakable degenerate,' while the novelist Somerset Maugham said that
Crowley was one of the most evil men he had ever met.

Maugham worked for the British Secret Intelligence Service - and Crowley
supplied both SIS and the KGB with scandalous tidbits for use in their
'honeypot' operations.

The windows in the Emperor's chambers at the climax of Return of the Jedi
spell out the initials of the Crowley organisation - OTO, which is now
headquartered in California.

"In the first Star Wars scripts the Jedi Knights are called Jedi Templars,"
said Cavalorn, an historian of the occult seen recently in Channel 4's
acclaimed Rasputin documentary.

"Crowley's 'secret' name among the Oriental Templars was 'Phoenix,' - the
symbol of the Rebel Alliance in the Lucas films.

"The name of the swamp planet Dagobah is uncomfortably close to the title of
the French King Dagobert, whose myth is central to the templars' story,"
said Cavalorn, who runs the New Aeon bookshop in Manchester.

"Crowley makes references in his writings to 'the dwarf insane yet crafty'
who is the
source of true Wisdom, and that sounds very like Yoda, who lives on the
planet Dagobah,"

"In his Book of the Law, Crowley: wrote; 'the obeah and the wanga, the work
of the wand and the work of the sword, these he shall learn and teach.'

"Substitute Obi for Obeah and Wan for Wanga and you get Obi-Wan.

"And what device is a wand one moment and a sword the next? A lightsaber, of
course; and the relevance of 'learn and teach' is obvious, since Obi-Wan is
the teacher.

"Darth Vader's sabre is red, the colour of the sphere of Geburah, or
Severity, in Crowley's work:

"Obi-Wan's is blue, the colour of its opposing sphere, Chesed or Mercy.

"The doctrine of the Aeon of Horus maintains that a new era has arisen,
presided over by the Egyptian God of freedom, light, vengeance and
liberation.

"It forms a critical part of Crowley's teaching,

"When one considers that an Aeon is a span of time, akin to the term
'millennium', and that Horus is often depicted as a falcon, it does compel
one to look at the Millenium Falcon in a slightly
different light.

"The greatest ordeal in Crowley's system is the 'crossing of the abyss'. One
reaches the brink of a great gulf and must either surrender everything one
is and jump, or remain behind to become a 'black brother' or 'brother of the
left hand path'.

"The 'crossing of the abyss' is foreshadowed in Star Wars: A New Hope, when
Luke and Leia swing over the chasm, and it is actually repeated and achieved
in full in Empire Strikes Back, at the climax of the film.

"At the climax of Empire, Luke's right hand is severed at the wrist,
implying that he must take the left hand path and turn to the Dark Side,
becoming a 'black brother.'

"Faced with the choice of crossing the Abyss or turning to the 'Left Hand
Path', Luke chooses to jump, which is the act that redeems him from a future
of corruption.

"Revenge of the Jedi was the original title of Return of the Jedi, and Luke
appears in it as the Horus figure, an avenger.

"At the climax of Empire, Vader, previously identified as the murderer of
Luke's father, is revealed to be himself the father.

"A similar secret is revealed in the Eleusinian Mysteries concerning the
Egyptian gods, namely that 'Osiris is a Black God!'

"Vader stands for the Egyptian god Osiris and his 'Black Brethren' are those
who have 'shut themselves up', become encased and closed off from the
Universe, exactly as Vader is encased in black armour.

"Their sphere on the Tree of Life is Crowley's false sphere 'da'ath', -
obviously the source for the name 'Darth'.

"And Vader out of his armour proves to be a bald guy with an English accent,
uncannily reminiscent of Crowley.

"A part of the Star Wars universe is actually mentioned by name in one of
Crowley's Holy Books.

"'Thy messenger was more terrible than the Death-star,' Crowley says.

"Vader is the messenger of the Emperor ,who possesses and represents a power
far more terrible than the Death Star - the dark side of the Force itself.

"As he reminds his fellow Imperials, 'The ability to destroy a planet is
insignificant next to the power of the Force.'

"If George Lucas really is consciously promoting the philosophies of
Crowley, then he understands Crowley much better than most - and I can say
this because I've spent twenty years researching Crowley's books and I know
his work inside out.

"Of course, we need not believe that this evidence justifies jumping to any
bizarre conclusions about the films if we don't choose to.

"One might instead see Lucas as having sounded the same depths as Crowley
and come out with cinematic instead of ceremonial magic.

"We may be looking at some sort of subconscious mythic resonance. -
although, you never know...

" Crowley might have written the screenplay for the famous scene when Luke
is trapped in the garbage compactor.

"'The chamber was corrupt; the air stank," Crowley wrote. 'He enveloped me
with his demon tentacles; yea, the eight fears took hold upon me.

"''I slipped from the embrace as a stone from the sling of a boy of the
woodlands. I was smooth and hard as ivory; the horror gat no hold.'

"Smooth and hard indeed, for Luke is wearing stormtrooper armour in that
scene!"

"My original intention was to ridicule people who insist that there's
evidence that contemporary witchcraft reflects an authentic 'ancient
tradition,'" said Cavalorn, 34, a self-styled Kabbalist who is one of
Britain's leading Goths.

"Historically speaking that's nonsense.

"However, I can honestly say that once I started looking for correspondences
between the work of Aleister Crowley and the Star Wars trilogy, I found far
more unexpected parallels than I could possibly have predicted.

"There is a saying in occult circles that the habitual cry of the young
magician is, 'Oh no, it's worked!' and that's just how I felt."

The Beatles put Crowley on the cover of Sgt. Pepper; Led Zeppelin engraved
his most notorious saying at the centre vinyl of their third album; and in
1969, 22 years after his death, The Times of London endorsed him as one of
the Thousand Makers of the Twentieth Century.

"I want blasphemy, murder, rape, revolution. Anything bad or good, but
strong.," he declared

"I have exposed myself to every form of disease, accident and violence. I
have driven myself to delight in dirty and disgusting debauches."

"Carl Jung, Claude Levi-Strauss, Joseph Campbell and Aleister Crowley all
held one idea in common, vastly different though their personal philosophies
were," Cavalorn said.

"They each presented the theory that our manifest existence is shaped by
stories; that myth is ultimately more real than the self-appointed
storyteller.

"Jung looked to the collective unconscious, Levi-Strauss to abstract notions
of structure, Campbell to anthropology and Crowley to the ancient system of
analysis called the Kabbalah, yet each in his own way said the same thing.

"Did Lucas look to Crowley? Whatever it is that the universe is made of,
stories are as fundamental to it as any quantifiable material particle."

"When I started out making the movies, " Lucas said in a May, 199 interview,
"I was working toward making it modern mythology.

"I had studied anthropology in college, and social sciences was my major
before I got into film."
Click to expand...

http://www.gordonthomas.ie/starwars.html
 
I've heard of the Jedi Bendu, but never the Jedi Templar.

Pick any religion, any creed, any belief. You could randomly pick aspects of Star Wars and make a halfway convincing case for it. And with something as vague as magick, you could find elements of it in a Peanuts strip for christsakes.
 
I feel a spinoff thread coming on....

The gauntlet is down. Random satanic links anyone?

Speaking of links, who can make golf seem even more satanic?? (Easy starter for ten).
 
I thought the plot of Star Wars was culled from a Japanese film. Some sort of medieaval romp involving Samuri (Jedi), princesses, wise old men and comic servants (C3PO & R2D2). Lucas just strung every adventure story cliche together to make a mint at the box office.

If we are looking for random satanic links, I posted one about C S Lewis a while back. I was shocked initally (that any one could devote so much time to writting such rubbish), but I have since discovered that if you put almost anything + "satan" or "evil" into Google you can find some one who says it is! Teletubbies, Harry Potter, Classical Music - that devil gets about a bit!:rolleyes:
 
The japanese film was Akira Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress", he also rips off a scene in Yojimbo for the fight in the cantina even to the point of replicating the severed hand on the floor.
 
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