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All of the great practical sciences find their roots in the in the endeavors of the Medieval Alchemists. It was
their discoveries that would provide the fundamental understanding and application of mechanics, chemistry and physics.
Their methods would prove empirically sound and evolve into the bedrock of inquiry that we call modern science. Properly
examined, every science and every art will find its function in the wellspring of medieval Alchemical research.
The
Alchemists experimentation with the basic elements and the categorization of all phenomena of nature thereby, functioned as
a means by which the mind of the alchemist could apprehend the complexity of the metaphysical universe. So in their
workings with the elements, the alchemists themselves are transformed. As is above, so is below, is one of the principles
that the Hermeticist applies in all of his endeavors. By acting upon and causing dynamic chemical changes to occur in
certain types of matter, the alchemists experience similar transmutations of consciousness.
This is also the basis of ceremonial
magick, where magician causes change to occur in reality in conformity with their own will by the highly charged performance
of elaborate rituals. The ability to induce and maintain these states of consciousness is not easily obtained or contained.
For this reason there have long existed mystery schools, esoteric fraternities providing the means of study, self-discipline,
initiation and brotherhood required for the creation of a successful magician.
These fraternities function in initiatory,
degree-based structures wherein the initiate is refined and enlightened by exposure to the mysteries of whichever organization
he is participating in. The most common Western traditions place their degree-systems upon the Qabbalistic Tree of Life
and the seven steps of the perfected pyramid. These seven steps correspond to the seven planets of the Greek and Egyptian
Zodiac and the seven basic metals of the Alchemists.
In each of the planets and the metals there can be traced a series
of affinities in traditional esoteric systems. Some of them are obvious, archetypal and some are more subtle, but they
all serve as an interrelated system in multi-disciplinary forms such as the Tarot, Astrology, Qabbala, etc. Once committed
to knowledge these charts and graphs have been likened to that of a card-filing system under which all phenomena may be classified.
All forms of expression, communication and so on can be classified according to these standards and thereby understood
by their interrelations with in the standard of the system of symbols and correspondences. With this concept in mind,
I would like to examine the Cinema from the standpoint of the modern ceremonial magician. Cinema has before been correlated
with Alchemy by such adepts as Aleister Crowley, Anton Artaud and Jim Morrison, the last whom called Cinema the heir of alchemy,
and [the] last of an erotic science.
Here I would like to express the same theory, but giving the specific keys to the
medium in terms of its alchemical implications for magickal applications. Hoping to affirm the subconscious inner workings
of the filmmaker and a clue to the elaborate covens of the Hollywood system itself. The occultists, mystics and psychologists
of the past have given us a universal language of self-referential symbols, which we may use as a map, placing the different
aspects of the cinema in their respective positions on that map according to their functions.
The first and most significant
aspect of filmmaking in terms of modern Alchemy is the substance of the film itself. A strip of film is composed of
several layers. A photo-sensitive, silver halide emulsion is suspended on an acetate-gelatin base which holds everything
together. In color film there are three primary additive die-coupled color release layers of emulsion, one layer is
sensitive to red, one to green and another to blue.
On the side of the base opposite the emulsion there is an anti-halation
backing, to prevent any light from refracting within the filmstrip itself during the instance of exposure time. After
the film has been processed this strip is removed. In motion picture cameras, the film is sent through the camera gate
at an intermittent high-speed motion where it is exposed to light and fed back up onto a take up reel enclosed in a magazine
or on a spool.
The actual base and foundation that the media of the light sensitive emulsion
is suspended within is composed of gelatin-acetate. The worlds largest film manufacturer, Eastman Kodak, reportedly
purchases 80 million pounds of bovine skeleton annually from slaughterhouses, making it the largest consumer of secondary
animal products in the world. This bone is the byproduct of a massive beef industry which itself is largely responsible
for shortages of fresh water and grain supplies, not to mention Ecoli, Mad Cow disease and a list of other nasties.
Shipments
of bone are sent down conveyer belts and vats of chemicals, where they are purified and the marrow is extracted and compressed
to be used in the manufacture of films, the leftovers are the shipped out to be used in making of feed, fertilizers and foods
such as Jell-O, vitamin gel-caps, yogurt and Marsmallow Peeps.
Essentially then, the basis and foundation of the actual
material of a film is the skeletal system of a large mammal. The bone material is used to provide support and shape
of both the animal and the film. Astrologically, bone corresponds to Saturn, the sixth planet in the Solar System, known
in the Greek pantheon as Chronos, god of time. Bone has long been associated with Saturn because Saturn is a symbol
of fortitude, structure and solidification.
Saturn is the giver of form, the creator of the lesser gods, but is
also the giver of death. Saturn is a terrible god who devours his own children. Though Saturn is masculine in
identity, it is feminine in function as the provider of form, shape and consequentially death. The principle of death
is inherent in the manifestation of material form, as with birth begins decay. All things confined in matter are condemned
to eventual decay, although the energy they contain is indestructible.
Saturn is placed upon the tree of life
at the top of the left hand pillar of severity, within the Supernal triangle. This Sephiroth is called Binah and it
means understanding. The Qabbalists refer to it as Amma, the Great Mother. In the Sephiroth of Binah the impetuous male
energy of its opposing male force on the tree, the Sephiroth of Chokmah, is solidified and consolidated in form and the spiritual
principle of matter.
The metal of Saturn is Lead, plumbum with an atomic wt. of 207.2. In alchemy, lead is
the prima materia, the base matter, also symbolized by feces. In the Hindu system of Kundalini Yoga, the chakra corresponding
to Saturn is found at the rectal plexus, where the feces are extracted from the body. It is one of the goals
of the Alchemist to transform base matter or lead into gold through seven steps, like the seven steps of initiation.
Hence,
the process of filmmaking is that same transformation of Lead into Gold, or of the Prima Materia into a loftier ideal, the
expressed True Will of the filmmaker or alchemist. But in this same formula we have the also the idea of a purposeful
animal sacrifice. The cattle then, are the sacrificial beasts, offered up in the ceremony of Cinema where the beast
is slain so that its material may be transmuted into the vessel of a higher medium.
It is through this act of sacrifice
that the actual production of the finished film is possible economically as well as by the standards of image quality.
Today, regardless of the advent of advanced digital media, the films ability to render images more accurately is still immeasurably
superior. The artists offering of this beast is what sustains the industry, just as it gives it the structure of the
medium itself.
The cow has long been the archetypal image of an animal sacrifice in Western religions. It is found
in the traditions of the Hebrews, the Greeks and Mithraism, to name a few. Why the cattle? Well, Wayne C. Jones,
the general manager of Eastman Gelatine confirms the value of bovine-bone in an interview with Alec Klein, a staff reporter
for the Wall Street Journal. Jones stated that cattle marrow is the best for film because pig bones are too greasy,
chicken bones are too small and rats, well "theres not enough of them.
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