‘There is a way of going to the movies as others go to church and I think that, from a certain angle, quite independently of what is playing, it is there that the only absolutely modern mystery is celebrated.’ (The Age of Gold by Robert Short, Intro: Ocular Alchemy page 9)
‘It is certain that any image, however prosaic or banal, arrives transformed on the screen. The smallest details, the most significant objects take on a meaning that belongs to them alone. By the fact that it isolates objects, it gives them a life apart which acquires a growing independence and detaches itself from the customary meaning of objects. A twig, a bottle, a hand start to live a quasi-animal existence.’ (Antonin Artaud quoted in The Age of Gold: Surrealist Cinema, page 14 by Robert Short)
‘Anger’s content can be understood as Decadent mainly in the content of his images, which are icons taken from a sick and dying society (Invocation of My Demon Brother…Scorpio Rising). The images in Scorpio or Invocation are carefully portrayed as symbolic representations of death. In Scorpio objects (tools, machines) are portrayed as fetishes which act as milestones on the protagonist’s [I question whether or not it is Scorpio’s Death that we witness. It seems to be one of the racer’s whose Death we witness as Scorpio orchestrates the procession (race) form the church altar] one-way trip down death’s highway. But these images of heroes and objects are presented to us for our judgement, not solely for our titillation…Anger records history as well as demythifies it…Scorpio Rising is an extension of self-gratification into self-immolation. The machine (now a motorcycle) is totemized into a tool for power: the “charioteer” is Death (the ultimate “dream lover” by Romantic standards). Violence replaces the poetic extension of personality and violent eroticism is combined with the tragic death of the highway hero (“the last cowboys”)… (Moonchild the Films of Kenneth Anger / Myth and Symbolism: Blue Velvet, pages 13 and 21 essay by Carel Rowe)
In Scorpio Rising Anger uses chains to decorate the floor of the garage and to decorate the bikers themselves; He also uses chains in Fireworks as ‘weapons’ used by the sailors on Kenneth Anger. Aleister Crowley used the chain to represent salt one of the three Alchemical principles. Within Alchemy Salt (Lion) represents fixity; the chain as salt, ‘serves to bind the wandering thoughts and for this reason is placed around the neck of the magician…these instruments also remind us of pain, death, and bondage…the chain restricts any wandering.’ (Magick: Book Four-Liber Aba, page 58-59)
Kenneth Anger made the following statement regarding Scorpio Rising as, ‘A "death mirror held up to American culture" - Brando, bikes and black leather; Christ, chains and cocaine. A "high" view of the myth of the American motorcyclist. The machine as totem from toy to terror. Thanatos in chrome and black leather and bursting jeans.’
In Greek mythology, Thanatos (Thanatus) is the God or daimon of non-violent death. Like his twin brother Hypnos (sleep) Thanatos has a light, gentle touch; in his duality he can be seen as the deliverer of man from the pains and sorrows of life or he can be seen as the destroyer.
Eros was the mischievous god of love, a minion and constant companion of the goddess Aphrodite; armed with either a bow and arrow or a flaming torch, it was Eros who lit the flame of love in the hearts of the gods and men; he was also the object of cult. Eros was often portrayed as a child, the disobedient, but fiercely loyal, son of Aphrodite.
The Thanateros Ritual:
‘…Before any magical work is undertaken a “banishing ritual is performed”. This is a preparation and centring exercise, which allows the magician to focus on the task ahead rather than on more mundane thoughts…banishing rituals typically have three parts. The first section focuses awareness on the magician and is aimed at clearing the mind of unwanted thoughts by the visualization of white light being drawn through the body. The second creates a symbolic Universe with the magician at the centre…
‘These are my weapons
Expressions of my will
I grasp them lightly
I stand poised at the centre
The Universe dances for my pleasure’-Phil Hine
The third section involves an identification of the chosen source of inspiration…By meditating on the death of self in the act of sex, and the birth of self in an encounter with death, the ritual simulates encounters with both sex and death, and then with both of these experiences simultaneously, which is said to force conception beyond its normal limits. After a statement of intent and litanies, Eros and Thanatos are invoked…
Invocation to Eros:
So come Eros we invoke thee
You who created us
In the chaotic conjunction
Of genetic roulette
Come create us anew
And kill us again!
Our lover approach
Our breathing quickens
As they come closer
Our breathing quickens
As we are clasped together
Our breathing quickens
At the thrill of touch
Our breathing quickens
We begin to gasp
We are ready to surrender
Three, Two, One
(Cry of Climax)!
Invocation to Thanatos:
So come Thanatos, we invoke thee
We accept your bargain
Come kill us again
And create us anew
Our nemesis approaches
Grinning skull and upraised scythe
Our breathing quickens
Closer it comes and closer
Our breathing quickens
Death stares us in the face
Our breathing quickens
Upraised terrible scythe
We begin to gasp
When it falls we shall die
Three, Two, One
(Cry of Death Terror)!
…the energy being raised is either to be used for itself or to cast a spell.’ (The Encyclopedia of Magic Witchcraft, by Susan Greenwood, page 244)
‘Scorpio’s iconoclasm is effected by the critique which the film conducts on itself, demythifying the very myths it propounds by interchanging them with one another and integrating them into a metamyth. Christ/Satan (religion), Brando/Dean (popular culture), and Hitler (political history) are reduced to sets of systems which destroy one another through an internarrative “montage-of-attraction”. Thus, the film itself is a metamyth of the films which constitute it. Different dogmas are equalized (and subsumed by) their structural and idealogical parallels.’ (Myth and Symbolism: Blue Velvet, page 24-26 by Carel Rowe)
‘In Alchemy, as in psychology, the goal is to develop a balance of the elements within the individual. Personal transformation and individual integration are dependent upon balancing the elements within the psyche, and the deeper relationships of the elements (whether they oppose or complement one another)…According to Jung, when two opposing elements encounter each other in the personality or are brought to the surface in a situation, there are three possibilities: 1) they may generate psychic energy; 2) they may neutralize each other; or 3) they may combine or unite. In Alchemy and psychology, the third case is the most profound, for the union of opposites is the Conjunction of Opposites (Coniunctio Oppositorum), the creation of a higher unity and transcendence of conflicting polarities.’ (Sorcerer’s Stone, page 51 by Dennis William Hauck)
In her essay on Anger’s use of color in his films Deborah Allison points out the dominant colors of Scorpio Rising as being red and black with the strategically placed colors blue and green. She points out that the color black, for example, has many, ‘clear and consistent associations. It is most commonly connected with death and night…These associations are often linked to emotional impressions such as misery and defeat.’
Allison also points out the use of the Skull as it is used in Scorpio Rising and Invocation of my Demon Brother, ‘The combination of this colour scheme with specific iconography provides an example of the way in which colour can reinforce visual symbols. Scorpio Rising had associated black and red in a clear and consistent manner with the death/rebirth polarity. In Invocation, this association is less schematic, although the use of the skull as an image of death is certainly one that echoes their frequent appearance in Scorpio. In this sequence, the colour red has perhaps a stronger association with the joint that the skull supports, rather than the skull itself.’ (Deborah Allison)
In Alchemy, the color black is linked with the black phase (nigredo) during which the subject of transformation is purified by breaking it down. In this first operation known as calcination the substance is burned (Fire was very important to Alchemists, who were often referred to as “Philosophers of Fire”) until it is reduced to ashes and turns chalky white. After calcination the substance at hand is no longer affected by common fire. The black crow is one symbol of this Black Phase while the Skull is one of many classic symbols of the process of calcination. Other images include funeral pyres, hell, bonfires etc.
The color green as represented by the symbol of a green serpent is the unrefined or unclean Mercury that must be redeemed during the first (Black) phase of calcination. ‘In the Alchemist, this is the false identity or poisoning ego that fights desperately for its survival but must be devoured in the flames of higher consciousness.’ (Sorcerer’s Stone, page 187 by Dennis William Hauck)
The color Red (Rubedo) in Alchemy represents the third and final stage of transformation in which the substance at hand is perfected through the union with the cosmic (or divine) forces.
In Astrology the colors red and black are attributed to the sign Scorpio which is ruled by the ‘Red Planet’ Mars. Mars is the third stop on the Ladder of the Planets. Like Earth, Mars has active volcanoes one of which is the largest yet discovered in the solar system. In older astrological systems Mars was considered a “malefic” indicator, bringing ill health and problems…Only recently have astrologers begun to see in Mars a redeeming value. It is through Mars the Warrior that we can mobilize the forces within us to reverse course, move toward the goal of divine liberation, and find the true peace that passes understanding. (Sorcerer’s Stone, page 91-92 by Dennis William Hauck)
And so it is understood, as presented to us in Scorpio Rising, that in order to make way for the new the old must be destroyed. Furthermore, the strength of the individual will (as demonstrated throughout history) to resist mass cultural influence must be exerted if one is to find true liberation.
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