PSI FI AND FANTASY

napoleon · Unread post by **napoleon** » Sun Feb 12, 2023 1:45 pm

George Lucas a disciple of Aleister Crowley(source).
Thelemic references in the Star Wars trilogy:
Crowley's secret name in the OTO was supposed to have been 'Phoenix' and the symbol of the Rebel Alliance is a stylised phoenix.

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

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.

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

napoleon · Unread post by **napoleon** » Sun Feb 12, 2023 2:26 pm

http://swivelchairimagineering.blogspot ... -film.html

The Symbolism of Return to Oz

Return to Oz is a 1985 dark fantasy film released by The Walt Disney Company, and is heavily regarded as a cult classic, a loyal adaptation of the books by L. Frank Baum, and one of the scariest family films of all time. In some respects, the film is superior to The Wizard of Oz, serving as a spiritual sequel to the 1939 classic.

For this analysis, we shall be taking a look at the symbolic meanings behind the story and imagery of Dorothy Gale’s journey throughout the film. The major psychological symbolism of the film is Dorothy’s decision to choose between reality and fantasy, and the damage she had done to her own mind

because of her indecisiveness and lack of judgement. As a sequel to The Wizard of Oz, the film carries over the question whether or not Oz is a real place or just a dream, leading to a lot of mental imprinting from the real world into Dorothy’s imagination and subconsciousness.

The film opens with Dorothy lying in bed, obsessed with Oz, and has become an insomniac because of her issues. Whether or not Oz is real is immediately brought up, Aunt Em and Uncle Henry dismissing it as a child’s imagination-turned-obsessive fantasy, brought on by Dorothy’s trauma from the tornado.

Dorothy’s life is not exactly good. Uncle Henry is trying to rebuild the farm whilst in debt and suffering from a limp. Dorothy is aware of this, but remains caught up in her own troubles to help out. Dorothy sees a shooting star pass by her window and assumes it means something good is to come.

Aunt Em decides to take Dorothy to see a therapist, Dr. Worley, who specialises in electroshock therapy. The next day, Dorothy finds a key shaped like the Oz emblem, assuming it was sent by her friends and they are in trouble. She tries to show it to Aunt Em as proof, but her aunt dismisses it as being from the old house and silences Dorothy’s attempts to argue.

oaisis

napoleon · Unread post by **napoleon** » Sun Feb 12, 2023 2:56 pm

At the clinic, Dorothy tells Dr. Worley about her adventures in Oz. Worley is a charismatic man, but his ambition and reputation are more important to him than the needs of his patients, as revealed later on when it turns out patients are locked in the cellar due to being mentally damaged by the ECT.

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Worley asks Dorothy about the Ruby Slippers, which serve as a tie-in to The Wizard of Oz. The slippers represent the link between the conscious and subconscious mind,

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allowing Dorothy to return to reality and symbolise the power she has over her own mindscape. Dorothy reveals the slippers were lost, implying her understanding between fantasy and reality is mixed and distorted. Worley shows her his ECT machine, which will play a hand in Dorothy’s descent into her psyche, and the basis for Tik-Tok.

Dorothy sees a reflection of a girl in the ECT machine, who we later learn is Princess Ozma. Ozma symbolises Dorothy’s true subconscious self and possibly her conscience. Dorothy is the only character who interacts with Ozma in Kansas, so it is possible that she is not real - though that wouldn’t explain how she got a jack o’lantern.

napoleon · Unread post by **napoleon** » Sun Feb 12, 2023 3:30 pm

Ozma appears, giving Dorothy the jack o’lantern and asks why she was brought to the clinic. Representing Dorothy’s conscience, Dorothy is effectively talking to herself and accepts the knowledge that Oz might just be made up. Ozma’s question also hints to Dorothy that the clinic is dangerous, informing us that Dorothy is subconsciously aware that something is wrong.

Dorothy gets escorted to the operation room to get her brain zapped. Let’s say for the sake of this analysis and theory, Dorothy undergoes the ECT, has a complete dissociation from reality,

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escapes the clinic, falls into the river, and later washes up on the bank while experiencing her journey into her subconscious. The blackout symbolises Dorothy’s dissociation from reality due to the trauma of the ECT.

Ozma appears and rescues her, revealing the fate of other patients. Dorothy finally realises the clinic is dangerous and flees out into the equally deadly storm with Ozma, pursued by Nurse Wilson. The two girls fall into a river, Dorothy surviving but Ozma drowns. This symbolises Dorothy’s submergence into her mind, and losing her conscience, who would guide her back to reality.

Dorothy wakes up in the Deadly Desert, a vast wasteland where everything that steps into it dies and turns to sand. This represents Dorothy’s inner despair and fear, losing herself in her subconscious, and the loss of her identity caused by the ECT.

She is accompanied by a talking chicken named Billina. Said chicken appeared on Dorothy's farm, so Billina is Dorothy’s sole connection to home and reality, but also a voice of logic and reason, asking questions about Oz and reminding Dorothy of home, and thus reality. Her egg is also significant to the plot, representing new life and hope, later killing the evil Nome King. The two leave the desert and explore Oz. However, the rocks around her are literally watching her and report back to the Nome King, who is Dr. Worley’s counterpart in Oz.

The Nome King represents Dr. Worley’s influence over Dorothy’s mind. Both characters wish to erase all memory and trace of Oz’s existence. Worley is obsessed with the power of his machines, viewing the human brain as a machine which can be influenced and controlled, but his experiments have led to patients being injured and locked away.

The Nome King transforms all of the Ozians into lifeless statues or ornaments, reflecting the need to stamp out all of Dorothy’s imagination and free will. His true goal is to become human, or rather become the controller of a human mind, namely Dorothy’s, replacing her subconscious with his own, representing Dr. Worley’s desire to control the mind through ECT. This also explains why the King is terrified of Princess Ozma getting out, knowing it she would help Dorothy regain her willpower. The Nome King also symbolises Dorothy’s depression, which threatens to consume her from within.

broken halves of the same girl, representing separation from self and mental illness, Schizophrenia just as an example is derived from Ancient Greek and means "Splitting of the mind." Dorothy Gale of Kansas is certainly undergoing some kind of mental breakdown, and the adventure in Oz is like a Long Dark Night of the Soul type experience. Dorothy is the Jungian Shadow self, and the dominant self during this time of anguish. Ozma is like the Animus, an ideal self that can be seen in the middle but is trapped, cut off. In the end of the movie, rather than the light/dark side defeating the other, they instead synthesize - uniting a fractured personality/mind. (Which I think in Jungian theory, the Shadow and the Animus should unite ideally) When Dorothy helps Ozma step through the glass, she is reuniting with a piece of her self and becomes whole, as her troubled psyche overcomes its ordeal. I think that's why the ending of Return to Oz is so moving for me, I think it beautifully symbolizes a lot of mature themes, such as surviving trauma.