to the riddleFilm poster. Image: Wikipedia.
By: Jay
Roman Polanksi’s 1999
The Ninth Gate is not his best film, but
it does contain a high level of esoteric symbology and twilight
references pertinent to researchers. Based on the novel
The Club Dumas by
Arturo Perez-Reverte, the film follows an antiquarian book dealer named
Dean Corso (Johnny Depp) who is hired by a wealthy collector to track
down the authentic copy of
The Nine Gates which legend holds the
Devil himself penned. An obscure 17th century Spanish mystic, Aristide
Torchia, authored the 1666 copy of Lucifer’s original, which properly
decoded grants adventurers the ability to ritually summon Satan. I’ve
viewed it several times and the devil didn’t appear, but as I wandered
about online I decided my notes contained the great esoteric secret! (I
am joking.) What other analyses often missed is the film’s similarity to
Eyes Wide Shut, both of which give clues and revelations
concerning the nefarious practices of many of our real world “elite.”
Littered with masonic and alchemical imagery,
The Ninth Gate is a film about occult initiation as much
as (I argued) Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut is.
It is worth mentioning that Polanski’s fleeing the United States due
to his decades-old rape accusation was also surrounded by accusations of
the practice of witchcraft in the same Hollywood circles connected to
the Manson killings. I am of the opinion these rituals and killings were
actually the work of a higher network of dark forces, and not primarily
that of the actors and directors commonly named. Author Peter Levenda
provides evidence of this contention in his volume of
Sinister Forces on
The Nine, which invites legitimate speculation surrounding synchromistic associations of “9,” as nine is also
the Ennead, as well as the 9 major gods of Egypt. It is also important to consider the date Polanski released the film, 1999, as “999” is an upside down “666,” and
Eyes Wide Shut
was released the same year. Such triplicities also factor into
witchcraft and Satanism, as witchcraft holds to a “law of threefold
return,” where good or evil intentions are returned threefold in a kind
of karmic way, and in Satanism, where tripling things is seen as a way
of inverting the Trinity. Nine is therefore a tripled triple, and holds
heavy significance for esotericism.
With the principle of the Ennead in mind, as derived from the nine
gods worshipped in the Heliopolis of ancient Egypt, we can extrapolate
the process of Corso’s awakening, as he opens the “gates” as the film
progresses (though the Egyptian pedigree of the Ennead is up for
debate). The gates are not literal gates, of course, but symbolic
synchronistic events that occur, leading Corso down a specific path.
Like an actor in play, Corso is led, step by step, through each of the
pictured engravings in the book, and it is to these images we will now
turn. Croso’s rapacious aptitude for scamming clients out of valuable,
rare works catches the attention of the wealthy collector, Boris
Balkan. Balkan takes an interest in Corso’s reputation, as he scams an
unwitting couple out of a priceless copy of
Don Quixote, which
ironically presages his own coming adventure. In Cervantes’ work, Don
Quixote is driven mad by reading endless works of chivalry, erecting in
his mind a fantastical world where he is a knight sent forth on a
deluded crusade. The film’s usage of the novel serves as a warning to
those who embark on a perilous quest for power through occult means,
leading ultimately to the demise of all involved (but one in this case).
Don Quixotically.
Balkan recruits Corso to hunt down the other two copies of the
Nine Gates after
his presentation on witchcraft, wherein he offers to show him his
private collection of ancient books on the Devil and the occult. As the
reluctant Corso accepts Balkan’s invite, we notice the elevator code to
reach Balkan’s secret floor atop the skyscraper is (of course) “666.”
The next clue that emerges is the painting on Balkan’s wall of the
castle that figures later in the film. A symbolic foreshadowing, the
castle is the locale of the final ritual in the film, as will be
elaborated below, but here it is important to point out that background
and symbolic imagery play throughout the film, leading the viewer down
Corso’s path. Balkan explains the legend of the mythical Devil’s book,
The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows which
he claims to possess. Balkan shows his copy to Corso and the first
engraving we see is that a knight on a quest (recalling Quixote) heading
toward a castle with the inscription, “Silence is Golden.” As Corso
agrees to hunt down the other two copies for a hefty price to compare
them, we can see that twice the castle has appeared with the knight
giving the Sign of Harpocrates. Thus, the first step is that of seeking
gnosis, or hidden knowledge – the esoteric.
“Hush yo mouf!” -Shaft
As Corso embarks on his quest, he encounters
femme fatale
Liana Telfer (Lena Olin), the wife of “suicided” collector, Andrew
Telfer who opened the film’s beginning. Liana seduces Corso with
intention of exchanging sex for the return of her copy Balkan obtained,
and in the midst of sex and scuffle, Corso notices a entwined serpent
tattoo on Liana’s thigh. Liana is unsuccessful in obtaining the copy,
but the following day in the library as Corso researches the gates
deeper, he spots an engraving of a serpent around a tree, biting its own
tail, which matches Liana’s tattoo. The inscription is “
Sic Luceat Lux,”
meaning let the light shine, and we are given another clue regarding
film’s meaning. The ourobouros is symbolic of several things, but
principally it is the Platonic and Egyptian symbol of the universe as a
whole. The light is that of Lucifer, and the tree is the tree of
knowledge of good and evil from Genesis 1-3. St. Paul comes to mind, who
wrote: “…Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light” (2 Cor.
11:4). In other words, the
gnosis of the serpent, known for his wisdom, is the chief meaning the film is going to convey, but this
gnosis comes at a great price, as we shall see.
The Tree of Gnosis with ouroboros.
After catching a glimpse of the mysterious “Girl” who is tailing him,
Corso returns to the book to find the next engraving to be that of a
woman riding the beast/dragon, with the aforementioned castle in flames.
Somewhat shocked by this synchronicity, Corso put the homework on
pause. The harlot riding the beast is well-known imagery from St. John’s
Apocalypse, which reads as follows:
“So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast
which was
full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman
was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious
stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations
and the filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead a name
was written:
MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT,
THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS
AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS
OF THE EARTH.
I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the
blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And have when I saw her, I marveled with
great amazement.” (Apoc. 17:3-6)
Hos ridin tha beast.
Since
The Ninth Gate has a clearly Crowleyan/sex cultish
element to it, it should be noted wizards, sorcerers and gnostics
generally make terrible exegetes. Never allowing for any sensible
historic principles of hermeneutics and exegesis, occultic interpreters
find fertile ground for speculation and deception in prophetic biblical
texts, with St. John’s Apocalypse occupying the choice place. Having
nothing to do with anyone’s personal speculations and finding their
principal fulfillment in the first century destruction of Jerusalem and
in Roman paganism, cults for centuries have borrowed these texts for all
manner of gibberish. In this case, the Crowleyan strands have tended to
see the Apocalpyse as a
gnostic means by which the “beast” and
its attendant powers might be ritually conjured. For the purposes of
analyzing the film, the references are instantiated in the cast of
characters Corso encounters, with the
“Girl” filling the role of the Harlot of Mystery Babalon. It’s also a reveal in that the woman in the engraving is holding the book – it’s
her book, showing the
Nine Gates book in the film
is
the Girl’s book. It also brings to mind the “Babalon working” Kenneth
Grant wrote about, as one of Crowley and rocket scientist Jack Parson’s
attempts to bring about the birth of the “Antichrist.” Grant’s book
The Ninth Arch also may be what is referenced here.
As Corso returns to work after finding his apartment ransacked, a bust of Dante is visible, hearkening to the
Inferno. Like a dark version of Dante, Corso’s Vergil will be the Girl, also functioning as
an inverted Beatrice.
Corso’s journey is actually a ritual and spiritual quest, all
coalescing to a summation. As mentioned earlier, Liana seduces Corso,
and knocks him unconscious. When Corso returns to his book store, he
finds his partner Bernie ritually murdered. Hung upside down, the next
engraving matches the “hanged man” image familiar to masonry and
tarot. Sensing he’s in over his head, Corso tries to give up the quest,
but Balkan insists he continue, coaxing him with more cash.
How’s it hangin?
The hanged man is a warning not to venture into mysteries
presumptuously or with importunity. This is explained in the next scene,
when the next engraving is also a warning about danger descending from
above, the Ceniza bothers explain. The cherub in the picture even has a
mustache like the Ceniza brothers, and the significance of them being
twins also relates to Tarot, as the “Lovers” card is sometimes Gemini,
or the twins. You can see here the resemblance between the two. The
“lovers” symbology picks up the sex magick theme again, as Corso will
attain concourse, intercourse and union, with his angelic partner, the
whore of Babalon. Corso also discovers here the engravings differ, with
LCF (Lucifer) signing some copies, and not others.
17th century version of the lovers or the twins.
The fist copy compared is the Fargas manuscript, where Corso notices
the image of the old man with keys knocking on a door. The old man in
the engraving resembles Fargas himself. Corso sees LCF again, and turns
the page to reveal a fool or jester entering a labyrinth (Corso). The
old man is a reference to the Hermit in the tarot deck, which signifies
withdrawal, philosophical reflection and wisdom, and in some cases gives
the wisdom to overcome some obstacle or puzzle. For the film’s
narrative, Corso stumbles upon the divergence in the manuscripts at this
point, which is the key to decoding the message: Lucifer penned the
original, and the engravings in each differ to reveal a specific clue.
Corso also discovers his Girl guardian seems to possess supernatural
powers, yet reluctantly followers her lead, while she appears and
disappears as the situation dictates. At this juncture, it becomes
evident the events as a whole are being organized by higher forces:
Corso laments he is a pawn in a larger game.
Led Zeppelin ain’t here, old man.
Another clue to the events being arranged is the recurring rings worn
by the major characters, signifying membership in the Satanic cult at
the heart of the film. Corso next visits Baroness Kessler who reveals
the existence of this cult, the Order of the Silver Serpent, whose
membership rosters include old nobility,
nuveaux riche, actors
and musicians. The Order was created to “preserve the secret of the
Devil,” she claims, but had fallen into mere hedonistic pleasure as an
outlet for secret orgies.
Eyes Wide Shut comes to mind, and
strikingly, the mansion used for the orgy scene in both films is
Mentmore Towers. Mentmore has long been home to strange activity, from
the Beatles engaging in Transcendental Meditation, to it also being the
site used for Bruce Wayne’s estate in Christopher Nolan’s
Batman
films. Passing from the hands of the Rothschild family to the Maharishi
Yogi Foundation, it is now owned by the Rueben brothers. Like Bill
Harford in
Eyes Wide Shut, Corso is being led down an alchemical
path that is opening “gates” in his psyche. Baroness Kessler opines that
the members of the Order are deluded their belief power and wealth
comes from the Order, when it is the Devil himself that grants the power
– the very thing that will occur with Corso.
[Correction: the estate is not Mentmore, but Chateau de Ferrieres, a French Rothschild estate built on the pattern of Mentmore. Thanks to a reader. -Jay]
After rescuing Corso from Liana’s goon, the Girl marks Corso’s
forehead with her blood like a reverse version of Ash Wednesday. Corso’s
being harassed and followed, as well as his interactions with the
concierge again bring to mind
Eyes Wide Shut, as Balkan organizes
another muder: this time, of Baroness Kessler through poison and
immolation. Corso reveals to the Baroness the three variations in three
manuscripts make 9, thus solving (he thinks) the Devil’s riddle. Nine
is, in Western hermeticism, the number of initiation and judgment, and
therefore entire thrust of the film is Corso’s initiation process (think
of
9/11 as mass ritual as some researchers have posited).
As Corso studies the next engraving, it details an initiate being
flogged by another knight outside the castle, with others being impaled
on a rack. Corso, like the initiate in the picture, is at that moment
“flogged” and knocked unconscious, awakening to find the Baroness
poisoned as the library catches fire, making her another sacrifice.
Faithful flagellant followers and fools.
The Girl and Corso then tail Liana to her French hometown of St.
Martin, where her family owns a palatial estate (Mentmore) discovered to
be the site of elite Satanic rituals. The ritual features a bed-altar
(for sex magick), with a large image of the serpent entwined around the
tree, recalling again the
gnosis of Eden’s Tree of
Knowledge the serpent illicitly offered “to become like God” (Gen.
3:1-7). “St. Martin” also calls to mind the French mystic Louis Claude
de-St. Martin, who participated in a revival of gnostic ideas during the
time of the French Revolution. Martinism bears striking resemblances to
Freemasonry, and probably borrowed its grades and ranks, as well as
elements of cabalism and Jacob Bohme.
Later adherents of Martinism would be involved in occult “revivals” elsewhere, such as reportedly Gerard Encausse, or “Papus.” Polanski may have had this in mind when including it in the script, drawing another connection to the occult.
As the ritual commences, Balkan arrives to kill Liana and steal the
book, ousting the rest of the cult as cowards and frauds. Corso then
follows Balkan to the mysterious castle in the wilderness we’ve seen
throughout to find him engaged in his own personal ritual magick
ceremony designed to grant him entrance to the ninth gate –
apotheosis
and immortality. Another potential reference to Dante, Corso falls
through the floor as he descends into the bowels of the castle, stuck
immobile with his head protruding. In the
Inferno, Dante has
certain sinners so transfixed. Following this, Balkan immolates himself
in the ritual after pronouncing it to be the path to “equality with
God,” with the
Inferno imagery coming to full fruition. Balkan
becomes the final sacrifice while Corso escapes by falling even further
and hurriedly collecting the manuscript it’s engulfed. Before leaving
however, Corso is seduced by the Girl who has reappeared. Outside the
enflamed castle the “woman rides the beast,” and the final engracing is
fulfilled as they copulate, leading to a union of fallen angel and man.
In some far eastern occultic and ancient practices the goal of sexual
union is precisely that of union with a “god,” and here the suggestion
is definitely Tantric sex magick.
Other have noticed the parallels, with this image from Davidicke.com making my point.
In the bedeviled afterglow the Girl reveals to Corso that the final
engraving is a forgery and that the Ceniza brothers have the real final
secret. When Corso returns to Spain to the brothers’ shop, he discovers
they too have disappeared and a final page on a shelf is all that’s
left, featuring the true engraving, which is an image of
the Girl herself “riding” the beast.
The final scene is Corso walking into an illuminated castle gate, as he
has performed and undergone all the necessary ritual enactments. The
explanation of this strange ending is what I have given above – the
journey itself was the process of Corso opening the “gates” to gnostic
illumination. The final “secret” was his own union with the whore of
Babalon, allowing him entrance to immortality. Contrary to what most
viewers would’ve suspected, the entire journey was about Corso himself
as the initiate on the path to discovery, not the cult or the power-mad
elites seeking
apotheosis through impossible means. Ultimately,
The Ninth Gate is
a gnostic allegory of illumination through the union of opposites,
where Corso “unites” with his celestial babe guardian (fallen) angel,
like Dante with Vergil and Beatrice – a counter-initiatic trek into Dis.
The “gates” were not opened through the working of cult rituals, but in
the
psyche of Corso as synchronistic ritual events were
occurring all around him along the way, functioning as a reverse telling
of Dante. For millennia, occultic con men have held out promises of
immortality and self-salvation, all the way back to the original con of
the serpent in the Garden – and all of these cons are built on appeals
to man’s vanity and pride. All along the way, that long historical path
is littered with the skulls and damaged
psyches of duped individuals who fell for the perennial scam, as Dante’s
Inferno is littered with the skulls of sinners, priests and popes.
Stuck in a rut. Inferno engraving by Dore.
No comments:
Post a Comment