True Detective - Season 1

 "Days like lost dogs..."(dog days ala sirius, perhaps)

 Interestingly a band called Lightning Tree released a tune called Days Like Lost Dogs...
the 777 lightning tree of life.  Mask of Stars and Lost Dog Days...could it be sirius?

Hart: Ask you something? You're a Christian, yeah?

Cohle: No.
Hart: Well, then what do you got the cross for in your apartment?
Cohle: That's a form of meditation.
Hart: How's that?
Cohle: I contemplate the moment in the garden, the idea of allowing your own crucifixion. (the hanged man, self sacrifice)
Hart: But you're not a Christian.

 Luke 22:39-46
 Christ, before his arrest and subsequent crucifixion, prays in the garden, he could have escaped, but ultimately decides that he needs to allow this to happen, as it is God's will/plan for him.

Nic Pizzolatto (commentary)
"It's set up from the first episode, not that there's a Christ parallel with Cohle (although overall, clearly there is imo, my emphasis), but that he understands 'sacrifice', that he has no problem with sacrifice and the notion of (self) sacrifice...which is something no one understands anymore."

The Hanged (Living Tree/Cross) Man 'tarot', The Garden & The Tree of Life
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The Hanged Man & Eden (Tree of Knowledge/Sephiroth)
In all of these archetypal stories, the destruction of self ("the idea of allowing your own crucifixion", shown above, although perhaps pertaining in the ego sense) brings life to humanity; on the card, these are symbolized respectively by the person of the hanged man and the living tree (the garden, Eden, tree of knowledge) from which he hangs bound.  The head of the tree of life 'hanged christ man' is situated over the 'veiled' 11th hidden sphere aka 'Da'ath' (Sirius/Pluto).

Cohle's Chest Tattoo...the inverted cross of the hanged man.

The ritually slaughtered and 'bound' Dora (opening episode)...was found at the base of an oak tree (Dora = God's Gift). The Father God of The Mysteries was often worshipped in the form of the oak, The Goddess principle in the form of the Cypress...which the show's Carcosa was originally meant to depict in its tree design (the 'brides path' fits the female too). The body seemingly posed in prayer and wearing a crown (antlers)...the tree of life/sephiroth is topped with 'the crown' aka kether.  

Yes it's all visually a bit Shawshank Redemption!

 Oak, Ash (aluminium & ash) & Thorn (the crown of rose thorns, switchgrass etc)
Of course, 'aluminium & ash' (beyond the literal) also subliminally relates to Cohle's cigarettes and beer cans. All aspects are a part of the opening episode.

 Put fresh 'ash leaves' under your pillow to stimulate psychic dreams (the ash)
Dora Lange's corpse was originally intended to have 'wings'...like an angel (images of winged children, as seen in the school ) and like the king in yellow, see Chambers' book.

Yggdrasil aka the World Tree and Odin


I found a '777 cipher' linked to Crowley in True Detective...you'll see it later.
 Christ...the hanged 'lightning struck' tree of life man...777 is also a number of Christ.
The Tree of Life 'lightning flash/flaming sword' that starts from crown/kether (path #1 the fools path) and ends at earth/malkuth sums 777.

 As above, so below
 It is interesting that the cross should be both a symbol of life and a symbol of death. Many nations deeply considered the astronomical aspect of religion, and it is probable that the Persians, Greeks, and Hindus looked upon the cross as a symbol of the equinoxes and the solstices, in the belief that at certain seasons of the year the sun was symbolically crucified upon these imaginary celestial angles.
 The fact that so many nations have regarded their Savior as a personification of the sun globe is convincing evidence that the cross must exist as an astronomical element in pagan allegory.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/sta/sta45.htm

 As it is in the heavens, so it will be on earth (as above, so below)

The ancients were wise enough to appreciate the 'veiled nature of a literal text' (understand its deeper and multi-faceted meaning and cosmic import) yet today we live in a time, where these kind of ideas are still seen as a form of heresy.  The job of 'organised religion' (that preaches solely the literal) seems to be mainly about keeping people ignorant...ignorant of the larger cosmic context and subsequently its true meaning and import. 

 A later victim was found hanging/suspended...evoking crucifixion
Kordish...kord/cord aka rope-like.

There may well be an alchemical aspect to the featured victims and their deaths.
 Dora Lange (earth), Rianne Olivier (water), Stephanie Kordish (air) Marie Fontenot (fire?)
The INRI formula (see Christ Crucifixion) is an "elemental" formula in that its four letters can be validly equated to Earth, Water, Fire, and Air.

 The Tree of Half Life...I've made it 'Full' now, as you can see via the Division Bell graphics (as worn by Marty).

 The 'literal' Hanged Man (Ledoux)...noose, hands behind back etc  This Ledoux hideout is situated in Sulphur (yellow),  The Hanged Man (RW tarot) 'card imagery' forms an inverted symbol of sulphur (see below).

The symbol of sulfur is often used as an identifying symbol by Satanists, due to sulphur’s historical asociation with the devil.


Literal 'Mad chemist Reggie'...The al-chemists used to associate the 'goats head' with sulphur (see Ledoux's back). 666 is also an aspect of the 777 sephiroth/tree of life via chokmah/zodiac 

 "Time is a flat circle" (Friedrich 'Anti-Christ' Nietzsche)

Cohle sending out a message to his interrogators (Gilbough/Papania) and to their compromised bosses.

(Eps 5) LEDOUX: I know what happens next. I saw you in my dream. You're in Carcosa now with me. He sees you.You'll do this again. Time is a flat circle. (foreshadowing Cohle's future battle with Errol).  Considering he already has Cohle's image as a tattoo, who are we to doubt him...it's almost as though Ledoux expected him!?

From the scene above from earlier...opening episode Hart & Cohle
Cohle: "We are things that labor under the illusion of having a self, this accretion of sensory experience and feeling, programmed with total assurance that we are each somebody when, in fact, everybody's nobody."

Materiality (the physical world) as a temporary illusion...is probably being implied here. Everybody's 'no-body' (literally having no body) the immortal soul that resides in the mortal flesh (meat).
"To yank a soul out of non existence, into this, meat" (the spirit, trapped in flesh/meat)

 The Sycamore Tree....the Egyptian tree that 'stood between worlds' 
(one chants out between two worlds...the material & the etheric)

Isis...her sacred star is Sirius, Sothis, Sopdet, Canis, Sept.

 Count de Gébelin considers the great star to be Sothis or Sirius; the other seven are the sacred planets of the ancients. He believes the female figure to be Isis in the act of causing the inundations of the Nile which accompanied the rising of the Dog Star.

 Assyrians take their name from the star Sirius (which they termed 'dog of the sun').  Syria's modern state was formed after World War I, there are historical connections to ancient Assyria, including some similar territory. There is a relationship, but only in a limited geographic sense.  The phonetic similarity between Syria & Sirius is fairly obvious.

 In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the priestess is veiled, a reminder that the full countenance truth is not revealed to uninitiated man.

 Isis, The Veil (x3) & Syria (Sirius)
  The 3 Veils...via Isis in Syria, The High 'Isis' Priestess (with veil behind) and Isis Un-veiled.

 Other variants on the High Priestess card associated the woman with the Virgin Mary, Isis, the metaphoricalBride of Christ or Holy Mother Church.

Veil of the abyss...Da'ath, Sirius, Pluto
"Closing of the veil...has the same movements in reverse." 
(A.A. elemental grade sign) Astrum Argentum aka Sirius

"Our world is a magickal smokescreen"
The 'reverse/backwards' Red Room

 Rending The Veil...curtains and material-(ity)
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Twin Peaks FWWM: "the man with the mask is hiding under the fan"

Materiality (the physical world) as a temporary illusion.

 The Lost Keys (Keys, the senses) of Freemasonry - M P Hall

 The Face/Mask as a Veil...
TD will feature aspects involving 'the face' throughout...from multiple masks, masking and veils, to physically tearing it off.  Cohle (the little priest) will be asked to take off his 'mask' when he enters Carcosa.

Spirit (eternal) trapped in matter (temporary)..."Prisoners of light, in matter"

This extended (deleted) scene with Theriot is ABSOLUTE GOLD!
 
Materiality as a veil (separating us from the divine) and the 5 human/animal sense organs, as the potential limiting factor, in our understanding (or lack of understanding) on this very issue.
Man's failure to master his 'animal' emotions (and the assumption that materiality is the be all and end all of existence) has perhaps closed off his 'very access' to the divine.

Yet another exceptional performance (Shea Whigham) and from a minor character...the dialogue is electric (this is some of the best script writing/casting, I've ever seen via TV).

Nic Pizzolatto
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"Cohle & Theriot are 2 sides of the same coin, a different Cohle could've been a great preacher"


Dewall: "You got a demon, little man, and I don't like your face."
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Cohle: "And they'd cut around your face, grip your scalp, yank down, rip your face off."
 Cohle: "One time, famous case, guy, he cut off his own face on that shit."

 Cohle: "The scars on the giant, were they-- were they on his face?" 
Kelly: "His face, his face, his face"
 This scene plays the exact same musical piece as seen in Sgt Pembury's 'face removing' scene from Silence of the Lambs, Bach's Goldberg Variations.  Both scenes take place in a mental asylum or a makeshift mental asylum (in Lecter's case).


Hannibal...
"Lecter gives Mason Verger (Gary 'Sirius/Draco' Oldman) PCP and tells him to peel off his own face with a piece of broken mirror."

Cohle True Detective & Guy Francis... 
 "That's what I'm saying. PCP. Stuff makes a man crazy. One time, famous case, guy, he cut off his own face on that shit." (he must mean Gary 'Mason' Oldman, lol)

A 'Brick Mason' (evoking the masonic builders) is the 'actual' storyboard artist for True Detective.  He was an uncredited 'storyboard artist' for Silence of the Lambs too!

 The discovery of Rianne Olivier's body evokes the finding of Frederica Bimmel's body in SOTL...both 'case-breaking' bodies pulled from the river.

The Hanged Men...Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal & Red Dragon 

The Slaughtered Lamb aka Jesus Christ and the road to Golgotha...via Memphis

Most Hollywood directors...have evolved from the school of Roger Corman.
 "She's mad as hell, Jack. Paul Krendler's over here from Justice. She's asking him to take over in Memphis." This above scene then segues to the Washington Monument aka phallus of Osiris.

Lecter...The Hanged 'Memphis' Man ala Memphis dwelling Hanged Man Osiris
Top, Osiris slain pose (tau). Bottom, Osiris risen pose (crossed arms).
Sgt Boyle will be slain and hanged from Lecter's makeshift cell at the climax in Memphis.

  Jodie 'Silence of the Lambs' Foster would feature with McConaughey in Zemeckis''wormhole' film Contact...where he plays God's Diplomat (a type of religious guru/priest/author) Palmer Joss.

 In front of the Washington Monument...aka the phallus of Osiris!

The following scene is very prescient...it seemed to predict our obsession with the internet, before it actually happened...this film was from 1997, before mainstream and widespread use of the internet.

God's Diplomat...
 "The question that I'm asking is this: Are we happier as a human race? Is the world fundamentally a better place because of science and technology? We shop at home we surf the web.. but at the same time we feel emptier, lonelier, and more cut off from each other than at any other time in human history. We're becoming a synthesized society.... In a great big hurry to get the next......We're looking for meaning. What is meaning? We have mindless jobs, we take frantic vacations, deficit finance trips to the mall to buy more things we think will fill these holes in our lives. Is it any wonder that we've lost our sense of direction?"

 "Is the world fundamentally a better place because of materiality..."

Rather evocative of Fight Club & American 'Rose Cross' Beauty and their similar underlying narratives.

 The human body/face as a 'material' veil...Donnie Darko
The human body as a cloak...

 "A cloak, with a hood and a mask..."
Where the rainbow ends...the crown (head)

Johnny Joanie...
"They had animal faces. That's why I decided it had to be a dream. They had animal faces, well, it had to be a dream."
(think of that, beyond the literal narrative and how it may 'materially' apply to us all.)

 "You will kindly remove your mask"...Eyes Wide Shut (aka Dream Story/Traumnovelle)

Two Faces via Batman (Commissioner Gordon) and the 'hanged Ledger man' Why So Sirius/Serious 'mantra'. This death, is likely evoking ego death (imo) as opposed to physical death...ego death is an aspect of Da'at/Sirius/Knowledge and crossing the abyss. (dissolution of the ego).

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 The Mask...he played 'The Widow's Son' too aka Ned Kelly.

Marty: "What do you got the cross for in your apartment?"Cohle: "Thats a form of meditation."
Marty: "How's that?"Cohle: "I contemplate the moment in the garden. The idea of allowing your own crucifixion."

Da'at/Knowledge/Sirius...one and the same
The 'crucified' tree of life 'Christ's head' occupies the 11th hidden sphere
(da'at/knowledge/sirius) aka 'Veil of The Abyss'

Matthew 'Osiris' McConaughey as Christ...Christ/Osiris 'archetypal' hanged men
 The 'crucifix' (forehead)...the negative shot (right), shows the cross more clearly

 I'm still deciding if Cohle's 'body wound' is supposed to evoke 'the spear' in Christ's side
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Cohle did get previously shot/wounded...in the side!

 The ceremonial altar at Carcosa (place of the skulls) where Cohle will face near death

Christ was crucified on Golgotha (place of the skull).  It is said that the skull of Adam was buried here (although surely this infers a metaphorical concept). Even the deer/stag (antlers) can be related to Christ, the stag is a symbol of Christ, the stag/deer aka Hart (Hart & Cohle).

"You boys gone done taken a wrong turn" (Deliverance, lol)
"He said that there's this place down south where all these rich men go to, uh, devil-worship. He said that, uh they-- they sacrifice kids and whatnot. Women and children all got-- all got murdered there, and, um, something about someplace called Carcosa and the Yellow King. He said there's all these, like, old stones out in the woods, people go to, like, worship."

 This aspect of the TD series (carcosa) also evokes 'druidic' Bohemiam Grove/cremation of care imo and the political links etc. The owl that features there is often cited (it is not moloch/molech, who was a phoenican/caananite bull deity). Owls feature in Twin Peaks & True Detective (via the 'Crowley charged' burnt out church).  The Owl connects to wisdom Sophia/Minerva (yes they connect to witchery too)...Cohle's daughter was called Sofia.

Have you seen this 'child molesting' man?
 The Green Man (True Detective) & Black Lodge Bob (Twin Peaks)

 Foreshadowing the climax etc...was a common feature of Twin Peaks, the same is seemingly true of True Detective too...Nadine's 'curtains and oil' theme (ala glastonberry grove)...foreshadowed the veil to the lodges.  Coles 'circular' aspects are legion...from his crushed can (4th dimension) to the 'circular wicker sculpture' in the oak tree (see below). 

The closing episode very much reminded me of the climax of Twin Peaks...both charged 'tree/forest' locations (Corcosa/Glastonberry Grove) and both with a 'portal' to another dimension...recall in Twin Peaks that FEAR opened the door/portal to the Black Lodge, in TD (Corcosa) this place of 'epic pain and suffering' also had a portal appear, perhaps as a result of this uber concentration of spiritual blackness etc. (pain and suffering opens the door/portal).  Cooper & Cohle will both be wounded (in the abdomen) via a knife blade at the close of each. McConaughey plays a 'Cooper' in the wormhole related Instertellar.

 "other times I thought I was mainlining the secret truth of the universe."

Oak of the Sun was used in celtic mythology to start fire. In Celtic mythology, it is the tree of doors, believed to be a gateway between worlds, or a place where portals could be erected.  LSD is also a huge factor to this story...based on ergot of rye (cereal crop) and this psychoactive substance is known to open 'mental doors' etc...perhaps aiding the magickian etc, see Huxley. Cereal & Serial...'cere-al' from Ceres goddess of the field, who is associated with the Empress, card III.

Imo...there is no doubt that Cohle saw this 'actual' portal...and it's not one of his drug related visions,
Errol himself, even mentions his own 'ascension' (maybe thru this sacrifice practice) and reaching 'infernal planes' (another magickal etheric/astral dimension).  These same type of ideas are used by Clive 'OTO' Barker and his Hellrasier series that use 'faustian pacts' and 'pain and suffering' to reach other dimensions.

Errol Childress

 Charlie 'Carcosa/Yellow King' Lange aka Brad Carter features in the new Ascension TV series.
Not seen any Ascension yet, but he put in a great performance in True Detective.
 Ascension is inspired by the real-life Project Orion that existed under the administration of President John F. Kennedy. Orion...the celestial tomb of Osiris, 'Killing of the Trinity King' JFK the 'Hiram Abiff/Osiris' dying god/hanged man...'symbolically' murdered by the 3 ruffians.

  Twin Peaks, Hawk:
There is also a legend of a place called the Black Lodge ... the shadow-self of the White Lodge. The
legend says that every spirit must pass through there on the way to perfection.  There, you will
meet your own shadow-self.  My people call it "The Dweller on the Threshold." But it is said, if you confront the Black Lodge with imperfect courage, it will utterly annihilate your soul.

The Dugpas (black sorcerers) in Twin Peaks cultivating evil for evil's sake (& exponentially) and feeding off of pain and suffering (via harvested garmonbozia, yellow creamed corn).
Green Giant (sweetcorn) brings together 'the green man' and 'corn'.

White Lodge v Black Lodge (aka Good v Evil, Light v Dark ala True Detective)

 Extra-dimensional entities that feed off of human pain and suffering!

 In Twin Peaks this mainly centred around the abuse and murder of Laura 'prostitute' Palmer...she was found, not at the base of a tree, but next to a huge log.

 Incest...ala Twin Peaks 
 Errol: Couldn't you tell me about Grampa? Mmm.
Sister: Ah! Mmm. I was in the cane fields, and he caught me when I was alone.
And the dirt was warm. I felt the dirt warm on my back.

Grampa Sam Tuttle...banging her ('missionary position') in the cane field, is the obvious implication!
They are no doubt, reliving the experience...via Errol's finger banging (shown above).  
All adding to the burgeoning 'tree' thematic...this being the family version.

 Vortex Spirals...that connect to the cult 'sign' and probably the 'wormhole' too (true detective) and the lodges (twin peaks via Owl Cave). Parental child abuse is also an aspect of both series. 
The King in Yellow has, as an aspect...a concept of 'the yellow sign' which is likely related, as perhaps are the hurricanes (Andrew, Rita etc) that are mentioned...weather vortices.

The Yellow King, Black Stars Rise, Cassilda & Camilla....blood red grafitti (bearing these words) covers the inside of the cabin.  The King in Yellow is clearly central to Errol Childress and his works.
He talks of 'ascension' and reaching 'infernal planes' ala the ether/aether...is the father (in the cabin) being set up for a 'killing of the king' (ala Frazer) type ritual?

Frazier...The Golden Bough
The mediaeval poem, ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’, and the symbolic beheading of the Oak King links these tales with the well-known ritual sacrifice of the old king in the oak-grove of the Nemi which forms the argument of Frazier's The Golden Bough.

The sacrifice at Nemi took place at Summer Solstice, which brings us to the battle between the Oak King personifying the waxing wear, and the Holly King, who ruled the waning year. At Midsummer, as the year began its turn towards the dark again, the Holly was victorious, but at Midwinter, the Oak King defeated the forces of darkness (Dora killed @ midwinter) once again, revealing himself as a Vegetation God who must die each year so that Life can be renewed. It is not surprising, then, that images of the Green Man carved in wood and stone in mediaeval churches most frequently show oak leaves growing out of his ears (green ears) and mouth.
http://www.druidry.org/library/trees/tree-lore-oak

 The inspiration for the TD 'Yellow King' is clearly via The King In Yellow (book)...this TD altar-like structure seems to imply that this IS The Yellow King and his 'sacrificial altar'...compare both the yellow cloak/drapes & skull(s), black stars etc.  In the literary concept, it is apparent that 'Carcosa' exists in another dimension or plane (ala Twin Peaks' Black Lodge) and that The King in Yellow (an actual story within a story) induces a state of madness in its reader (which imo, evokes choronzon the chaos demon of the abyss, who can drive adepts mad etc).

 Louisana Confederate Flag...
The Confederate flag also features a saltire commonly referred to as a St Andrew's cross, although its designer, William Porcher Miles, said he changed it from an upright cross to a saltire so that it would not be a religious symbol but merely a heraldic device. The Florida and Alabama flags also show that device.

Re: devil nets/bird traps:
 “something for children to do, keep them busy, tell them stories while they’re tying sticks together”.  Dialogue spoken during this tied-stick cross shot...wink, wink.  A 'barely veiled' dig at organised religion etc, perhaps aimed at the 'bible literalists'.

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He may have been an asshole...but he wasn't technically guilty (just weak), which is perhaps why he is adorned with the tau. (acquitted, see text).  Geraci also gets to see the Fontenot video, via the hoo-ha with the missing person report etc.

We've already done Cohle as the crucified Christ at Golgotha (place of the skull)
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St Andrew (Apostle of Christ)...'Crucified man with X' (see Yellow King X, above)
KJV Bible...The skull of St. Andrew, which had been taken to Constantinople was returned to Patras by Emperor Basil I, who ruled from 867 to 886. Above, Texe 'Bohemian Grove' Marrs!

Of course...an aspect of the Yellow King, may be suggestive of  The Sun (a yellow king in itself) and Osiris is a major Sun King. Osiris is also a 'green man' too.

 Skull and bones...the skull/bones of Osiris/Hiram Abiff...Osiris the god of resurrection/rebirth

Know Thyself...the maxim of Hermes/Thoth
The hermetic maxim of 'Know Thyself'...True Detective & The Matrix (oracle)


Angel Heart (Alan Parker)....visits similar themes to True Detective and it is also set around New Orleans (Brooklyn too), dabbles in the occult, sacrifice, voudon and santeria....just like True Detective does! The fate of souls via lucifer...lucifer (an avatar for hell) as the change agent (as we outlined earlier)...for the purposes of gnosis. The Green Man itself (as an entity) is often related to this practice of gnosis, literally as a teacher/guide.

Angel Heart is an underrated film and imo it is one of Rourke best performances as an actor, you'd be hard pushed to find a more natural performance, that his turn in this film.  The film has an effective noir-like nightmarish atmosphere and a decent soundtrack too.

  Similarly Twin Peaks and Hawk's quote, outlining the same idea (gnosis):
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There is also a legend of a place called the Black Lodge ... the shadow-self of the White Lodge. The
legend says that every spirit must pass through there on the way to perfection.  There, you will
meet your own shadow-self.  My people call it "The Dweller on the Threshold." But it is said, if you confront the Black Lodge with imperfect courage, it will utterly annihilate your soul.

 It is also interesting, that the senior Krusemark was involved in the film's original pact (shown near the close)...Johnny stealing Harry's soul etc.  Ethan Krusemark actually used the name Edward Kelly (early part of the film) when transferring Johnny from hospital.

Mystery Religion folk will recognise this name...he was the scryer for John 'Enochian Magick' Dee...he of 'Language of the Angels' fame. (Angel Heart/Harry Angel).  This same Enochian system is one that underpins the magick of Crowley...his Enochian tables/calls etc.  L Ron Hubbard (Scientology) & Jack Parsons (JPL) also used this same type of magick in their workings. (Hubbard's included soul cracking).  Krusemark's as witches/sorcerors...and using the name Edward Kelly...it was certainly no arbitrary choice!  Dee received this magickal system via Rabbi Loew of Prague.

Louis Cyphre (lucifer)...Louis(iana) Cyphre
"Some religions think that the egg is the symbol of the soul. Did you know that?"
 "The flesh is weak...only the soul is immortal"

De Niro seems to act like a form of ammit (egyptian devourer of souls aka the heart, see ma'at) returning Johnny/Harry (Rourke) back to the duat (mortal/earthly sphere) via the escalator to the depths, hence why he owns HIS soul, as De Niro states at the climax.  This is an earlier scene, foreshadowing the climax.

Ammit...eating the heart of the deceased (return to the duat/earthly plane). The heart was synonymous with the soul.

Hannibal 'Multiple Hanged Man' Lecter as Ammit...devourer of hearts/souls

 De Niro played the Hanged Man in both Cape Fear, Frankenstein & The Mission.
Huge thanks to Uncle Bingo...for the Frankenstein find, top work.
 In both Cape Fear & Mary Shelley's Frankenstein...an ankle/leg thematic (ala the hanged man) is present, as is lightning.

These each evoke Heath 'Hanged Man' Ledger and his 'hanging/lightning' appearance (as Masonic Calvi) in Dr Parnassus (Python Gilliam).  Of course, Batman himself hangs upsidedown (ala the bat) and the same 'Hanged Man' imagery is also employed via Ledger. Python Cleese featured in Frankenstein.  Frank 'Shawshank Redemption' Darabont co-wrote the script!


The key here (Angel Heart) is that Rourke (Johnny Favourite) has vague but persistent memories of  'a previous life'...this seems to evoke the idea of a form of cyclical existence, at least, it does beyond the literal narrative/plot (he's Johnny, but with Harry's soul etc). Johnny is ultimately presented with the reality, that it is HE who is guilty for the murders that he is investigating (various occult murders, the ones he has been tracking for Louis Cyphre) and 'ironically' it is 'himself' that he's been searching for all along!  The murders are probably (in one aspect) a 'metaphor' for the way Johnny has led his life, Cyphre is the 'initiator' for Johnny's hellish journey of self discovery...but Johnny is found wanting and is returned to the mortal sphere, as depicted by his 'descent' at the close.

"You are reborn but into the same life that you’ve always born into. I mean, how many times have we had this conversation, detectives? Well, who knows? When you can’t remember your lives, you can’t change your lives, and that is the terrible and secret fate of all life. You’re trapped, by that nightmare you keep waking up into.” (ma'at & the duat, Egypt)

Crowley (who received the book of law via the Great Pyramid) himself referenced 'past lives' as a magickal phenomenon...see 'past life regression'.

 'Trapped' unless you transcend beyond the 'material universe' perhaps...something Cohle doesn't mention, but maybe he comes to realise this, after his hellish near-death epiphany. 

 If the deceased (the deceased aspect could well infer being spiritually dead, not physically...hence the double aspect, The Book of The Dead & The Book of Coming Forth By Day, supposedly penned by Hermes/Thoth, the operative god) successfully passed these unpleasant demons, he or she would reach the Weighing of the Heart. In this ritual, the heart of the deceased was weighed by Anubis, using a feather, representing Ma'at, the goddess of truth and justice. The heart would become out of balance because of failure to follow Ma'at and any hearts heavier or lighter than her feather were rejected and eaten (symbolic of being returned to the mortal sphere, to repeat) by the Ammit,  the Devourer of Souls. Those souls that passed the test would be allowed to travel toward the paradise of Aaru.  Thoth (Hermes) is situated on the far right....the scribe of judgement of the soul.

 Hart & Cohle...more like Heart & Soul
Maybe Cohle should take comfort from the next 'eternal' dimension (the one he encountered near death) where these people have no power...his 'self sacrifice' should put him there...permanently.
The after-life and paradise via Thoth/Hermes (judgement & weighing of the heart/soul) to Osiris and the blest (fail the scale and you're reborn into the mortal sphere again!).

 Cohle: "This kind of thing does not happen in a vacuum."

 Obviously...all this is beyond the scope of True Detective's direct narrative, but then these pieces are not made in a cultural and/or religious vaccum.  I've pulled out a great deal of the TD  'mystery religion' subtext already...and in this light, it is fair game imo.

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Kubrick's EWS...The Hanged Man(dy) and Thoth...bill x2 (Ibis & Tom Cruise)
ostrich feather (head piece) ala Ma'at/Thoth and judgement.

At the start of this aspect, watch as the gathered 'masked revellers' all turn their heads 'in judgement' like Ammit (waiting on Thoth) in the weighing of the soul imagery (ammit, see The Shining, below)

Eyes Wide Shut featured Thoth (Hermes) & The Shining featured Ammit (dog/bear suit) 
"Don't you want to go where the rainbow ends?"
The 'wormhole' is obviously the 2001 rainbow chakra stargate to the crown and ain soph.

The Weighing of the Heart against the (ma'at ostrich) Feather...subliminally shown in The Shining.
 Ra, the god of the sun (a shining thing!), had three important aspects. As the Creator of the universe he was symbolized by the head of a scarab (beetle) and was called Khepera, which signified the resurrection of the soul and a new life at the end of the mortal span.
This reincarnation/cycle idea is encapsulated in Kubrick's The Shining...with Jack's 4th July reincarnation ending photo shot (bottom right, the ending of both The Shining & 2001:ASO synched). The 1921 alpha/omega...the road he travels at the beginning started construction in 1921 & we end with 1921. Jack's 'judgement' the feather/heart (see woman behind, left) and his body rendered like a tipped scale. Jack reborn on the 4th July, he also adopts the sign for 'as above, so below'.

(Re)born on the 4th July...like Jack 'The Shining' Torrance (both starred in A Few Good Men)
Live, die, repeat...reincarnation/rebirth

 The rebirth of man...2001
via the 'renaissance hotel room' aka 'the re-birth hotel room'

It's not the first time that Kubrick posed someone as baphomet (as above, so below)
 The Shining Paths of Glory...the shining 22 paths on the tree of life/sephiroth to glory (geddit?)
0-21 (22 cards) are the tarot equivalent of these same sephiroth paths. 2(00)1.

The Tarot as the Tree of Life (Sephiroth)


Perhaps people might now start to appreciate the relationship that Kubrick's The Shining had with Lynch's Eraserhead (one of Kubrick's favourite films) the film that Kubrick chose to set The Shining's mood etc.  Also recall that Lynch's very next film would be The Elephant Man (a creature that never forgets!).

John Hurt aside, who else featured?  Anthony 'Hanged Hannibal' Hopkins...
Hannibal aka the elephant 'riding' man. 

Lecter as Ammit...devourer of hearts/souls @ the Ma'at Judgment...Lecter's first victim had the surname Hart/Heart, see Silence of the Lambs.
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The Two Jacks (Jakes)...
Hannibal (series) & The Shining...double-take

"Welcome to the desert of the real..."
Jack & Baphomet x2...Jack (Torrance/Nicholson) Fishburne/Morpheus (Jack Crawford)

Trapped in the duat aka earthly sphere...via "It's all forgotten now" (his previous life, geddit?) The Al Bowlly track that plays during this scene...vision & dialogue alone, cannot decipher this message, all aspects of media need to be considered.

"I'm sorry to differ with you sir, but YOU are the caretaker. You've ALWAYS been the caretaker. 
I should know sir - I've ALWAYS been here."
(the 'forgotten' cyclical nature of death followed by rebirth aka reincarnation) 

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An 'erased head'..."it's all forgotten now" (geddit? surely now you do!).

The Secret Fate Of All Life
"You are reborn but into the same life that you’ve always born into. I mean, how many times have we had this conversation, detectives? Well, who knows? When you can’t remember your lives, you can’t change your lives, and that is the terrible and secret fate of all life. You’re trapped, by that nightmare you keep waking up into.”

True Detective v Interstellar
Populated with the spirits of Perfected Men who have lived many previous lives; every time they were reincarnated, they elevated their degree of personal perfection, so that they can come to the aid of the Perfected Men in the Lower World who were currently "working out their own salvation" through participation in the rituals of Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry. (see Man with X text)
Note...I have not even seen Interstellar yet!

The M-Brane monologue foreshadowed with physical/material decay via Marty & the mirror

This following is the very last monolgue that Cohle gives via his interviews...
the one referencing cyclical rebirth.
"Now, to us, it's a sphere, but to them it's a circle."
 Dante, Inferno (Divine Comedy) & The Rose Cross which heavily featured in Se7en (7 planets/chakras etc) along with Red (Alex Cross) Morgan 'Shawshank Tree' Freeman. 

Dante made the Primum Mobile the ninth of the ten heavens into which he divided his Paradiso.
It (primum mobile) seems to act as Kether, which leads to ain soph/mind of god (empyrean)
The tree of life (above right, that shows the primum mobile as kether/crown) with the lightning flash of creation...that sums 777.

777
 "As the soul climbs the seven steps (ladder) of Purgatory it is cleansed of the seven mortal sins, and it then ascends through the seven spheres of the Ptolemaic universe."

Series creator Nic Pizzolatto will mention Se7en in relation to TD via the DVD extras...
 777

Two Se7en stars (Freeman/Pitt)...in other 'Se7en' related releases

 Brad 'Malick's Tree of Life' Pitt...in Se7en (Dante)
Fincher's Propaganda Films produced Lynch's Twin Peaks.

Dante...
Paradise is depicted as a series of concentric spheres surrounding the Earth, consisting of the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the Fixed Stars, the Primum Mobile and finally, the Empyrean. It was written in the early 14th century. Allegorically, the poem represents the soul's ascent to God.

A scene in the final episode of True Detective...Errol's cabin, that has his father tied to the bed...is imo a homage to Se7en (and sloth) we even see scented Xmas trees at Errol's, like we see in Se7en.

I also noticed a couple of hat tips (during the series) to the Coen's No Country For Old Men film, which featured Harrelson (and Tess Harper, the woman who plays Dora's mother).
He's referring to Anton Chigurh, not Errol!

"Then I woke up" (dream) spoken at the close of both TD & NCFOM
Cohle & Sheriff Bell will both mention their father.  NCFOM is an absolute belter of a film too!

The Lone Star (of Bethlehem) Brew...lol

In the 'mysteries' the pelican is the symbol of self sacrifice (ala the hanged man) 'piercing its own breast' and it can also relate to the phoenix (death/rebirth) via the iconography etc.

The Louisiana State Seal...the one that Cohle spends all his time 'in front of' during his Police interviews. The seal contains the iconography of the Rose Cross (Masonic18th Degree) Rose Croix.  

 Oh look...it's Abernathy (Marty Hart/Harrelson) with the firey phoenix/bennu from The Hunger Games, to go with Rust's Pelican! Released on JFK's 50th assassination annivesary. (Later, you'll see how Harrelson ties-in to JFK via his estranged father).

Pelican/Phoenix of death & rebirth...
 Final episode...'the taxman' (Cohle) locates Errol via tax records, ones that related to a customer of his.  Note, the home is called Renaissance Place aka place of rebirth.

 INRI is regularly shown in pictures of Christ's crucifixion, the rosicrucian image is topped with a crown.

 There may well be an alchemical (INRI) aspect to the featured victims and their deaths.
Dora Lange (earth), Rianne Olivier (water), Stephanie Kordish (air) Marie Fontenot (fire?)
We have no details on Fontenot's body (not found) so it's possible that she was cremated. 

 In the previous post I outlined this same type of 'Rose Cross' thematic via Cameron's Titanic.
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The Titans and their fall (against the Olympian gods)...the stern is her fall (she hangs from it) and the bow is her salvation, hence the literal 'Rose (Dewitt-Bukater) Cross'.  
The bow scene segues on the back of dialogue, that references a 'phoenix arising from the ashes.'

Winslett's former husband Mendes directed American 'Rose Cross'Beauty, which featured Kevin 'Rose Cross/Se7en' Spacey (see right pic). See previous post for a more detailed version.

 The Rose & The Cross (of Christ)
 Materialism perfectly explained

Morgan 'Se7en' Freeman, The Shawshank Red-emption (salvation) via Stephen 'Rose Cross' King. God Almighty (Freeman) and The Red Cross...with Tim 'Jacobs Spinal Ladder' Robbins.
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  Red to Gold (buried treasure) ala the chakras...via the Tree of Knowledge/Life 
 Alex 'Roses Are Red' Cross...from James 'The 3rd (masonic) Degree' Patterson 
Deja-vu overload!

  Robbins guided by the Angel Gabriel (Gabe)...into the light.

 LOUIS
You know what he (Eckart) said? The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you
that won't let go of your life; your memories, your attachments. They burn
'em all away. But they're not punishing you, he said. They're freeing your soul.  
Okay, other side. (other side, wink-wink...double meaning, the body and the ether)


Jacob's 'Spinal' Ladder...
He helps JACOB and repositions him. Again he pushes and the spine cracks.
(The human spine as 'the spiritual ladder')

LOUIS  
Wonderful. So the way he sees it, if you're frightened of dying and holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away. But if you've made your peace then the devils are really
angels freeing you from the earth. It's just a matter of how you look at it, that's all. So don't worry, okay?
   

Jefferey 'Blue Velvet' Beaumont: 
"Why is there so much trouble in this world?"
 Not forgetting Twin Peaks' David 'Rose Cross'Lynch...via Blue 'Rose Cross' Velvet set in Lumber-ton.

The'rose cross' opening that leads to...

The rose and the heart...father's heart attack


As we've previosuly pointed out...the unfolding of the rose (heart), is a metaphor for the unfolding of the 'christ spirit' inside.  The Hindu/Egyptian Lotus blossom represents exactly the same thing!  It is now obvious as to why Cohle was depicted as 'Christ' especially at the close of the final episode.

 The Rose Cross...and hanged man via the titles

The INRI (nature is renewed by fire) formula is an "elemental" formula in that its four letters can be validly equated to Earth, Water, Fire, and Air.

 This is the deep meaning behind the Latin INRI - Igne Natura Renovatur Integra (By fire nature is restored in purity), or pure matter is restored by spirit; the Rosicrucian motto signifying that the working of the inner fire of the spirit, when operating free and unchained by its surrounding veils, reduces these veils into oneness with itself, so that pure, complete, or original nature is restored to its primordial essence. Thus, in its application to the human being, when a person lives entirely in the light or fire of the spirit or god within (the internal christ consciousness), all his veils of consciousness coalesce with the inner fire, so that his original spiritual being is restored and he becomes a god-man.

 It's interesting that Martin Luther's seal has all the aspects of the rose cross, albeit a white rose.
The rose itself represents the 'heart' (Martin & Heart/Hart).  The next Lutheran General Assembly (held triennially) will be held in New Orleans (2016).


 One of the most popular Rosicrucian scenes of all time is a Mother Bird with her young pecking at her breast, being showered with her blood from her self-inflicted wound. Three birds depicting the Mother are used interchangeably in these scenes: Phoenix, Pelican, and Swan. Since the entire KJV Title Page depicts the Five-Steps To Immortality according to Rosicrucianism, it is fitting that the Kabbalist creators used the Swan with her brood pecking her breast, since the Swan represents one of the stages toward immortality for the Rosicrucian Perfected Man.

"The pelican feeding its young from a self-inflicted wound (self sacrifice in Cohle's case) in its own breast is accepted as an appropriate symbol of both sacrifice and resurrection. To the Christian Mystic the pelican signifies Christ, who saved humanity (the baby birds) through the sacrifice of His own blood. The pelican may also be considered as representative of the Sun, whose rays (blood) are the life of the seven philosophical planets (see Dante's steps, above) depicted as the pelican's brood. In the Mysteries, the pelican represents the resurrection of the candidate from the dead (being raised). The mother bird signifies those divine institutions which passes the secret doctrine, which is the spiritual life of man." 

(translate baby birds, bird traps/nets and the little victims that have been saved)

McConaughey (Palm-er Joss) featured opposite Foster in Contact...she played Ellie Arroway, which literally translates as 'the light arrow-way.'
 Light of the Way school (where victims were farmed) is situated on Pelican Island.

 Somewhere between 1992 and 2002...It's been turned into a 'mini-carcosa' including the rising black stars.  Errol and his gang have been making hay, over the ensuing years

 Cohle visits the location twice, first time (1995) he sees Errol on his lawnmower, subsequently (2002) Cohle finds a stash of 'bird traps' on this 'bird infused' island (see above). Marie Fontenot, Rianne Olivier & Johnny Joanie all went to this school, it closed in 1992. Marie & Johnny both formerly attended the Shepherd's Flock 'pre-school' (which closed in 88 and re-opend as LOTW in 1990) where they were drugged and abused by masked men (and where Errol, DeWall & Reggie were also seen). It is perhaps implied that 'blackmail' traps were employed (taking of photos etc) in the operation of this pre-school/abuse scenario. In the reality sense, this evokes aspects of the McMartin 'pre-school' case and Franklin from the 1980s.

 Pelican on a nest...evoking an island. (surrounded by water)

"It was the ancient belief that three days (like Christ, risen after 3 days) after the father pelican had killed his own young, the mother resurrected them by wounding herself and permitting her blood to flow over their bodies. In Masonic symbolism the blood of the pelican stands for the Secret Work by which man is 'raised' from the slavery of ignorance to the condition of freedom conferred by wisdom (the owl). As the Rose Croix degree is based upon Rosicrucian and Hermetic symbolism, it follows that the pelican represents one of the vessels in which the experiments of alchemy are performed, and its blood that mysterious tincture by which the base metals (a metaphor for human ignorance) are transmuted into spiritual gold (enlightenment)."

"Long is the way. And hard, that out of Hell (Hades/Hyades/Carcosa) leads up to Light."
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The Resurrection....
 Lafayette...which can translate as Little Beech (tree)

Like John carrying Jesus...Cohle is raised from (near) death to salvation, Hart says 'Jesus' as he picks Cohle up in this scene. The 'nihilistic cynic' Jesus/Osiris archetype has developed hope and been reborn through self sacrifice.

 "Jesus. Oh. You know what? I'd protest, but it occurs to me that you're unkillable." (immortal)