Agent on the Threshold: Liminal Lynch
By Zora Burden, ©August, 2015
Agent on the Threshold: the Taoist Alchemy of David Lynch
The esoteric meanings and symbolism of Twin Peaks
Zora Burden
Twin Peaks is a multidimensional, metaphysical, neo-noir drama, considered a surrealist masterpiece interwoven with darkly comedic moments of absurdity juxtaposed against the deceptively serene sentimentally of midcentury Americana with deeply esoteric symbolism. David Lynch crafted the series with the parallel concepts of Taoist Alchemy, the Native American mythology of Snoqualmie Falls, esoteric Buddhism, Jungian Archetypes and Surrealist methodology, such as the practice of Hypnagogia - a bridge to other realities. The complex dichotomies of worlds within worlds of the Black and White Lodges overlap and collide, representing the essence of Taoist Alchemy. An internal transformation takes place in this process when the duality of the shadow self; the unconscious, nonlinear self merges with the conscious logical mind to become a complete synthesis of one’s highest self, one’s Daimon or inner fire. The most important phase is called the dark night of the soul or the Nigredo, as represented by the Black Lodge. At the threshold one faces the repressed unconscious that can arouse fear, terror, and destructive or creative forces, depending on a person’s will or dharma. The Red Waiting Room or purgatory in between twilight state of the Lodges is the precipice of transformation which can be accessed via lucid or actual dreaming or psychic intuition. The underlying messages of the series are the Taoist teachings on the liberation of the mind, the unification of the psyche or oneness -- “two but not two” -- and the interdependence between humanity and nature. Conflict in the duality of the psyche is represented within the characters by twinning, mirroring, doppelgangers, psychological splintering and the theme of twos: the conscious and unconscious mind, good vs evil, human vs nature, and the Great Conjunction. This conflict is exemplified when Agent Cooper (as adept) must fight BOB (a universal evil) and plays chess with Windom Earle. The Jungian Taoist philosophy that reality exists within layered dimensions of different energetic frequencies or electromagnetic manifestations can be seen in the flickering lights of Twin Peaks when the spirits of the Lodges are traveling or possess characters. Agent Cooper’s investigative process uses Buddhist techniques of intuition and synchronicity via divination and dreams to decode the many anagrams, riddles, and metaphors to find Laura Palmer’s killer. Yet, on a deeper level this is a journey of self-discovery. Through the use of Taoism and Buddhist thought he is able to understand what the Lodges are, why the spirits within speak the twilight language or language of the birds, the symbolism of the trees and Qi, caves, and fire. While some of the basic concepts of Twin Peaks were inspired by the books The Devil’s Guard by Talbot Mundy and William Burroughs’ Cities of the Red Night, David Lynch and Mark Frost infused an exhaustive amount of arcana and pop culture references into the script.
"Hear us, you who are no more than leaves always falling, you mortals benighted by nature, You enfeebled and powerless creatures of earth always haunting a world of mere shadows, Entities without wings, insubstantial as dreams, you ephemeral things, you human beings: Turn your minds to our words, our ethereal words, for the words of the birds last forever.”
"I learned that just beneath the surface there’s another world, and still different worlds as you dig deeper.’ – David Lynch
"The mind is its own place, and in itself. Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven."
“The language I speak must be ambiguous, must have two meanings, in order to do justice to the dual aspect of our psychic nature.” ~Carl Jung
David Lynch’s Twin Peaks is a multidimensional, metaphysical, neo-noir drama. This surrealist masterpiece is interwoven with darkly comedic moments of absurdity juxtaposed against the deceptively serene sentimentality of mid-century Americana with hidden esoteric symbolism. Twin Peaks was a serial drama created by Mark Frost and David Lynch that aired for two seasons between 1990 to 1991. Despite the short run it had major impact on television and film. A loyal cult following helped generate a film prequel called Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me in 1992.
The show’s protagonist is FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper who travels to Twin Peaks in the rural Pacific Northwest on special assignment when Laura Palmer is found murdered with similarities to an earlier murder in Washington. Two books provided inspiration: 1) The Devils Guard by theosophist Talbot Mundy, and 2) William Burroughs’s Cities of the Red Night. Both mention the concept of the Black and White Lodges. However, these concepts are referenced in many esoteric books, such as Dion Fortune’s Psychic Self Defense and Blavatsky’s Isis Unveiled and The Secret Doctrine.
The show presents highly complex worlds-within-worlds that overlap and collide containing a juxtaposition of obvious and subtle dichotomies. Constant flux between opposing forces of dualism is represented in the Black and White Lodges.
The Twin Peaks esoteric symbolism is derived from many sources but maintains a predominant message -- unification of dualities to create oneness between the self and nature. Taoism fosters the emergence of this non-duality by following the Path, creating harmony and balance between humanity and nature. Taoist alchemy fosters introspection, purification and transformation to acquire self-knowledge and immortality.
Alchemy of Transformation
Taoism realizes that our bodies are a microcosm of the cosmos. The divine, this perfection of truth, exists in its purest form in nature. To return to this state we have to understand and utilize its natural elements. Alchemists believed that animals also have the purest knowledge of this divine essence of creation, suggesting why animal symbolism was used to convey the alchemical process in engravings and illuminated manuscripts.
The practice of spiritual and chemical alchemy was pursued to achieve enlightenment and immortality. Union with the divine and optimal self-integration was called The Great Work or Chemical Wedding. The end result was known as the Philosopher’s Stone or Secret of the Golden Flower. [Jung, Secret of the Golden Flower]
The balancing of dualities within us, revering the perfection of nature and seeking harmonious interrelations between ourselves and with the environment is the underlying theme in Twin Peaks. This is exemplified by both the corruption and subterfuge to acquire land for the development of Ghostwood Estates which would result in large-scale destruction of the forests and habitat. Agent Cooper’s shaman-like journey to discover Laura Palmer’s killer and the Black Lodge initiates his own black night of the soul, a ritual test on the threshold of discovery. His psychic and spiritual battle culminates with the end of the series.
In the series introduction, the opening scene is a Varied Thrush on a tree branch surrounded by a scenic, tranquil landscape of still water and tall mountains. Suddenly, it is juxtaposed against unnatural images of industrial violence -- grinding metal blades and showering fiery sparks within Packard Mill. All of the characters in Twin Peaks involved in the destruction or exploitation of nature come to a violent death or slowly unravel. Chaos becomes an evolutionary process leading toward integration and awareness.
Practicing Taoism and Tantric work creates within the body a bridge between heaven and earth, and encourages the flow of Qi. Reference to the sexual disconnect in the West along with that of nature highlights the importance of sex as sacred source of Qi energy. Yet both Taoist Alchemy and Tantric practices in the West are exploited and corrupted as symbolized in the debauch of One Eyed Jacks.
We must understand the complexities, dichotomies and our interconnectedness with nature to achieve these states of enlightenment, and recognize the dual concept of conventional and ultimate truth. ‘Finding The Ultimate Truth’ is the goal of The Great Work of Alchemy, with the Philosopher’s Stone or Rebus as the result. This means total integration of the psyche: the shadow self, the anima and animus (female and male counterparts of self), the conscious mind, subconscious and unconscious, body mind spirit, and lastly unification between earth, humanity and heaven.
The entire transformation is symbolically tested in the Black Lodge, in this metaphysical retort. Twin Peaks message of humanity’s disconnect with nature and dualist thinking has resulted in polarizing, destructive behavior toward all life and the earth. This is directly referenced in Carl Jung’s works. In “The Undiscovered Self” he argued that many of the problems of modern life are caused by “man’s progressive alienation from his instinctual foundation.”
Tension of Opposites
This dualistic theme throughout “Twin Peaks” is demonstrated by twinning, mirroring, doppelgangers, the shadow self, double lives, psychological splintering and the constant theme of twos. There is dynamic tension between the conscious and unconscious mind, good vs. evil, human vs. nature, heaven and earth, fire and water, sun and moon, female vs. male, logic vs. intuition, yin and yang, eastern philosophy vs. western religion.
Native American mythology and spiritualism, Taoist Alchemy, Tibetan Buddhism, Astrology, Elementals, Jungian philosophy, Transcendental Meditation, Hermeticism, Theosophy, Numerology, and Surrealist methodology parallel each other in addressing these themes. There are core practices in all esoteric teachings. The complex dichotomies of the worlds-within-worlds of Twin Peaks, the Black and White Lodges and the archetypal dynamics of the characters in the series is even mirrored in its own television series “Invitation to Love.” Every aspect of the series is symbolic, an anagram, riddle, metaphor or euphemism for these esoteric themes From Taoism, alchemy, tantrism, and environmentalism.
The alchemist, physician and botanist Paracelsus had a very Taoist view on alchemy. He believed that directly observing nature was the key to unravelling the secrets of the universe, rather than researching in magical tomes and established medical practices of the western world. He described alchemy as the voluntary action of humanity in harmony with the involuntary action of nature. He suggested the intention or will of mankind can greatly influence the destinies of the cosmos depending on timing and intention.
Decoding the Arcana
David Lynch and Mark Frost infused an exhaustive amount of arcane knowledge into the script. Pop culture and classic film references from their youth fascinated them. At times they laced the series with awkward moments of black humor and sexual euphemisms in a deliberately paced, highly stylized mid-century aesthetic, creating a sharp contrast between its grim subject matter and some of the most intensely terrifying moments ever seen on television. The series is so informed esoterically it has been considered an initiatory process for mystery schools and practices of the occult itself. The Lodges form an Invisible School where Agent Cooper becomes an unknowing participant – a variant of The Fool in tarot. Many of these esoteric references can be found in Lynch’s own lexicon and spiritual practice of transcendental Buddhism.
The Log Lady claims, "Balance is the key. Balance is the key to many things. Do we understand balance? The word 'balance' has seven letters. Seven is difficult to balance, but not impossible if we are able to divide. There are, of course, the pros and cons of division."
The practice and goal of Transcendental Meditation aligns itself with Taoism, spiritual Monism and Funi -- the Japanese Buddhist philosophy of oneness of the self and our environment (esho funi) and the notion that the two are inseparable -- “two but not two”. This means that although we perceive things around us as separate from us, humanity, nature and the universe are all one. There is no separation between ourselves and our environment.
Taoism has its roots in forms of nature worship and animism, a belief system that spirits inhabit everything around us in nature. Both organic and inorganic matter contain a life essence or Qi, the eternal fire, the quintessence known as Jing. Both inner (spiritual) and outer (chemical/mineral) alchemy is an attempt to reunite with one’s true eternal flame or quintessence, the unification of two into one, the dual nature of male and female aspects of ourselves. This is why the symbol for the Lodges is two mountains. In alchemical symbolism the two triangles mean strong fire.
Squaring the Circle
This is our body, mind (soul) and spirit perfected, from which all revelation of knowledge evolves. In western alchemy these are symbolized by Salt, Sulfur and Mercury. In Taoist alchemy these are called The Three Treasures. This alchemical reconciliation is described symbolically as follows: “Make a round circle of man and woman, extract therefrom a quadrangle and from it a triangle. Make the circle round, and you will have the Philosophers’ Stone.” This is called Squaring the Circle in alchemy.
The Taoist text Tao Te Ching says, “Tao generates One- Wuji, One generates Two- Taiji (chaos) and Two generates-Three Yin and Yang and Three generates all things in the world. The three are the basis of creation, together they make the Sancai, the three essentials of heaven, earth, and humanity."
In a later syndication of Twin Peaks, Lynch added introductions to each episode by the Log Lady. In the final episode "Beyond Life and Death" she says, “And now, an ending. Where there was once one, there are now two. Or were there always two? What is a reflection? A chance to see two? When there are chances for reflections, there can always be two - or more. Only when we are everywhere will there be just one.”
The narrations by the Log Lady not only refer to the completed spiritual alchemical process, they read like Chinese Proverbs. In the aforementioned quote she speaks of the zygote of Yin and Yang, and the ideal state of emptiness or the mirror of heaven and earth, it is Tao. Many religions of the West are polarized in their belief systems causing internal conflict with faith-challenging promises of eternal life and spiritual perfection in the afterlife.
The esoteric holds the Mysteries -- the secrets to eternal life and spiritual enlightenment here on earth. They are secret because they are experiential. It requires only individuation, the death of ego, and the purification, transformation and integration of the psyche, turning internal imperfections and our dual nature into perfect unity. This is what the alchemists meant by turning lead into gold known as the Philosopher’s Stone.
To Buddhists and Hindus the quintessence is Cintamani and the golden elixir of Taoism. In Taoism the principles of yin and yang represent the complementary nature of opposite forces, which are interdependent in the natural world. To follow the path of the Tao is a return to original order, and within nature original order is found. This melding of opposites is the basic underlying goal of most esoteric practices, starting with Taoist spiritual alchemy which is said to have been created by Lao Tzu, the Chinese founder of Taoism.
“It’s like I’m having the most beautiful dream and the most horrible nightmare all at once.”
Carl Jung teaches psychological principles of spiritual alchemy in his dream analysis, theories on synchronicity, archetypes of the collective unconsciousness, the union of animus and anima, and the integration of shadow self to achieve individuation. He based some phases of his work and writings on Tibetan Buddhism, Taoism, and Alchemy. A recurring and profound dream about a hidden room with many doors became the catalyst for his research into alchemy. He amassed the largest alchemical collection of books in the world and was considered the bridge that brought Eastern philosophy and alchemy to the West through his work. Similarly, Agent Cooper’s dream became the touchstone of his obsession with Tibet.
Carl Jung’s theories stated that the subconscious and dreams were the true source of self, the wellspring of creativity, intuition and psychic energies much the way the Tao is understood as the nature of the cosmos. The Huai Nau Tzu said, “The Tao of Heaven operates mysteriously and secretly, it has no fixed shape, it follows no definite rules, it is so great that you can never come to the end of it, it is so deep that you can never fathom it.”
Jung used the term unus mundus (one world) to describe synchronicities -- the unitary reality that is the principle factor underlying all manifest phenomena. He conceived of archetypes as psychic and psychological manifestations of our identities that relate us as associated intermediaries to the fundamental principles of matter and energy in the physical world. Jung explained that synchronicity, the acasual connecting principle, is an occurrence that happens when meaningful coincidences transpire with no apparent casual relationship.
The Book Of Changes or I-Ching is a source of Taoist philosophy and cosmology based on divination and its meaningful coincidences. It is referenced numerous times in “Twin Peaks”. The I Ching is the ideal illustration of synchronicity because it “presupposes that there is a synchronistic correspondence between the psychic state of the questioner and the answering hexagram.” It is known to occur when a person is intuitively, psychically or energetically aligned with nature which creates significance in experiences or phenomena that would otherwise seem random. These experiences align with living in accordance to The Path or The Way of the Tao.
Taoist thought creates an openness, (what Jung calls the intuition of collective unconscious), to such synchronistic experiences because it is not limited to ordinary boundaries of time-space realities. The Tao and the unconscious transcend time or sequential constructs. Past, present and future converge into the now.
In the core philosophies of Taoism, as in dreams, the subconscious or the alternate realities of the Lodges in Twin Peaks, time does not exist as a linear concept but is abstract and boundless, yet cyclical. In Season One of "Twin Peaks" Agent Cooper takes note of this hyperdimensional concept with the statement, “Gentlemen. When two separate evens occur simultaneously pertaining to the same object in inquiry we must always pay strict attention.”
Jung, Alchemy, and Surrealists
“All that we see in this world is based on someone's ideas. Some ideas are destructive, some are constructive. Some ideas can arrive in the form of a dream.” --The Log Lady
Jung theorized that basic universal truths in humanity could be understood in the collective unconscious through the language of symbolism, a form of intuition. This use of esoteric, cultural and mythological symbolism molds David Lynch’s perspective in Twin Peaks. His potent and surrealistic films are modern, animated versions of the magnificently woven imagery richly illustrated in engravings, panels and illuminated manuscripts of the alchemists and surrealist paintings full of secret hidden knowledge.
Both alchemy and surrealism contain metaphorical imagery of particular aspects of nature: planets, elements, animals, plants, stones, and colors. They represent the processes of transformation in alchemy seen throughout Twin Peaks. Correspondences are found between Taoist magic and alchemy: all of the animals, elements (fire, water, earth, air), the seven classical planets, minerals and plants. All have an inherent quality and energy assigned to them which is used accordingly to convey their purpose in the Great Work. Alchemy and magick rituals can be applied to enhance a desired outcome of one’s will.
Fire is the key element that transmutes Mercury. It is the key to the process with a dual nature of both destructive and creative forces -- the power to change elements from one state to another. Fire is the blood of life. In the beginnings of alchemy the knowledge was passed along orally or communicated through stories only comprehended by serious students or initiates. Some of these trials in the laboratory could be deadly as the alchemists experimented on themselves.
The documented secrets of alchemy were closely guarded and rare or destroyed by the church in the west, and reserved for the emperors in the East. The symbolism used in these tomes was interpreted based on the level of knowledge the practitioner held. The profane saw them as lavish art, such as the 12 Keys of Basil Valentine.
In this tradition Lynch’s ritual psychodrama Twin Peaks displays each frame of film like panels of the secret works. The Surrealists studied both dreams and alchemy as a kind of artistic liberated transcendence and rebellion of the conscious mind. They believed the conscious mind was constrictive, staid, and limiting with its rigid constructs. They focused on the autonomy of mind through the subconscious as the true source of imagination, fears and desires. They studied the psychological techniques of psychoanalysis and Spiritual Alchemy. reach this dream state and the symbiosis of the alchemists, they enacted exercises to trigger the twilight state, the liminal states of wakefulness and sleep called hypnagogic or threshold consciousness -- the state ‘between two worlds’. This is also the goal of Taoist Alchemy, to discover secret wisdom of the absolute of self, hidden within the subconscious and unconscious mind. One of the main exercises the Surrealists used was a technique called lucid dreaming to access the subconscious but still recall dream images and thoughts.
The Red Tower
Achieving this state requires meditation. Before beginning the sacred work, a key would be placed in the palm during a process called Hypnagogia or A Bridge to Other Realities, the place ‘between two worlds’ of the subconscious and conscious mind. As they dozed off for a set amount of time before entering the dream state, the body would relax, become limp, and the key would fall on the floor, waking them up so the images were immediately accessible to recall for their art. Salvador Dali, Albert Einstein, Edgar Allen Poe and even Carl Jung used this process.
In the first half of the 20th century, Surrealist Giorgio de Chirico, a pioneering painter, founded the Metaphysical School of Art (Scuola Metafisica) which depicted dreamlike qualities. He emphasized the stark dichotomy of both shadow and light that Lynch recreates in Twin Peaks with the Black and White Lodges. Prime examples of his work, The Philosopher’s Conquest, Nostalgia of the Infinite and Soothsayers Recompose all contain themes in Twin Peaks. But his most important piece “The Red Tower,” corresponds closely with The Red Room of the Lodges, the Red King of the divine marriage, and Red Stage as the final process in alchemy. The Tower echoes the tarot trump of the same name, the stage of great transformation.
The Tower can also symbolize the Potola Palace, the residence of the 14th Dalai Lama before fleeing Tibet. It is comprised of the White and Red Palace on the Red Mountain high in Lhasa Valley. The correlation between the Palace to the Red King and White Queen of alchemy is extraordinary. The Red Room of the Lodge is the alchemist’s laboratory or retort itself for the intensification and unification of the psyche and the workings of the unconscious mind. Here our purest desires and self exists, transforms and is continuously reborn, as if from a cosmic womb -- the womb of Mother Nature.
Awakening from illusory perceptions within the mind to alternate dimensions or multiverses is the subtext of the Twin Peaks narrative. Through dreams Agent Cooper was able to communicate with entities of the Lodges in the Red Room. The Giant first appears to Agent Cooper when he is near unconsciousness after being shot in a twilight state. In Chinese mythology the giant Pan Gu is the creator god who slept in the egg of chaos.
When he awoke and stood up heaven and earth were split into two. When he died his body created everything on earth, including the first being Hua Hsu, who birthed Fu Xi (male) and Nu Wa (female). The myth then states the twins created two separate fires, which eventually became so strong the fires became one. Soon after the twins wed and used the earth to create offspring, giving them life with divine power.
This myth reflects the alchemical process and divine wedding of opposites that give birth through fire and a divine spark of spirit. This Pan Gu myth is embodied in The Giant who aids Agent Cooper along in the investigation. Fu Xi is considered the creator of the I Ching or Book of Changes. To the Taoists, the I Ching is The Celestial Mechanism, an internal psychological process defined by the planets.
In Taoist Alchemy fire is the illumination of the mind of the Tao that burns away all false truths and impurities in a person much like the fire in Western alchemy is the element of transformation for the whole process. The Can Tong Qi (The Seal of the Unity of Three) was the first Chinese alchemical book which also addressed the cosmology of the I Ching as well as Taosim. Unlike Western alchemists who hid their secret knowledge in symbolism, the Chinese kept it secret through mostly oral teaching where silence was of utmost importance. “Those who know, do not speak; those who speak, do not know” says the Dao De Jing. This mirrors the Rosicrucian maxim:“To know, to will, to dare, to keep silent.”
Alchemical Stages
"We live in a world where nothing is simple. Each day, just when we think we have a handle on things, suddenly some new element is introduced and everything is complicated once again. "What is the secret? What is the secret to simplicity, to the pure and simple life? Are our appetites, our desires undermining us?
Alchemy is a complex practice of chemical, psychological and spiritual transformational processes, meant to return matter or essence to its true, incorruptible, divine state through the application of various refinements, whether in a laboratory or within oneself. Within the context of Twin Peaks, the focus is on spiritual or psychological alchemy. This requires the destruction of ego, facing the shadow self, integration of dualities and unification or individuation to be achieved by meditation, breathing exercises, energy work and introspection.
Many alchemists who worked with nature (plants and minerals) in the laboratory understood the important connection between the body, mind and spirit -- between the microcosm of our terrestrial world and the macrocosm of the celestial. They would practice all three forms.
This search for immortality and enlightenment was referred to as the art of nature and the science of the stars, meant to turn the lead of the soul to the gold of spirit, the Philosopher’s Stone. It reflects the inherent wisdom of the Perennial Philosophy, Universal Truths, the One Thing (Chi) or One Mind of the Cosmos. The goal is to perfect the life force or 5th element of Quintessence, the divine energy. With that incorruptible spirit, we understand our perceptions of reality which reveals reality as it really is – the groundstate of primordial awareness.
This ‘One Thing’ is the First Matter or Prima Materia which alchemist Lao Tzu considered the Tao. That from which all things came into being that exists outside of space-time, it was called black matter that is alive. This is the main substance which transmutes in the three main stages of Alchemy. It is the Anima Mundi or Soul of the World, the constant balance or flux of opposites between creation and destruction. The First Matter is what all minerals, metals, animals, plants and human life is derived from as the Yin and Yang principles. [cite Marie-Louise von Franz, Alchemy: An Introduction to the Symbolism and the Psychology (Studies in Jungian Psychology) 1981]
The First Matter of alchemy and Taoism is represented as the Ouroboros, the serpent or dragon eating its own tail creating a circle, the balance and unison of opposites, all cycles of life as one. It is where the divine spark of life or the Secret Fire arises. Science, medicine, psychology, biology, astrology and spirituality are all rooted in alchemy as it deals with all forms of nature and the elements: metal, chemicals, herbs, animals, humans, elements, planets. The lowly first matter, the primordial chaos, is the essence from which all alchemists work. It is the twilight between the manifest and chaotic unmanifested reality of the unconscious. As cyclic death and rebirth, it is the beginning and end of the process (Ultima Materia).
Myth says alchemy was created by the Egyptian god Thoth, the first scribe and god of science, alchemy, astrology, mathematics, religions, medicine and magic. He is the Revealer of the Hidden and Lord of Rebirth, with the head of the water bird Ibis. He is credited with writing The Book of the Dead and the alchemical text of “The Emerald Tablet”. The Greek name for Thoth is Hermes so his teachings are known as Hermeticism. The remaining books of Thoth from the Alexandrian Library after it burned were guarded by The Sons of Horus which the Bookhouse Boys of Twin Peaks could be echoing. This could also reference the Mahatmas or Masters, Guardians of the Grail, or Chintamani Stone of the White Lodge in Theosophy.
The stages of alchemy are based on the colors seen during the stages of treated metals, usually base metals. The first stage in the alchemical process is call the Nigredo or the Black Phase known as mortification that reduces matter to its basic essences. It is introduced early as Laura's putrefying body wrapped in a plastic chrysalis. Internally, this entails facing your shadow self (traumas, fears, negative memories buried in the subconscious) called the Dweller on the Threshold. This Dweller of the Abyss personifies the Black Lodge from which BOB emanates.
BOB is the Dweller of the Abyss. Alice Bailey refers to this as “the fiery aspiration.” In Latin the word ‘aspire’ translates “to breathe towards” which also means soul. Aspiration she says precedes inspiration. In Eastern mysticism aspiration is a burning desire for purification of the lower self into the higher, which takes place on the burning ground. This charnal ground is the Nigredo. The initiate on the threshold is Agent Cooper.
The first matter is treated by fire during the Calcination phase. This is the constant through “Twin Peaks”, seen in burning logs of residential hearths and the burning of the Packard Saw Mill. It reduces the elements to ashes to remove impurities, then this matter is cleansed with liquid during the Dissolution phase. The ominous symbolism for this Black Phase is death. Twin Peaks opens with Laura’s death, her mortified body placed near the ebb and flow of water.
There is allegory in the mound of dirt where Laura died, her funeral, Donna Hayward’s wearing of Laura’s sunglasses, Agent Cooper’s constant enthusiasm for his black coffee: “Dale Cooper: Black as midnight on a moonless night.” Black Jack Gum, infamous for turning chewers teeth black, is Leland Palmer’s favorite. It is referenced by The Man From Another Place in the Red Room when he says “That gum you like is going to come back in style,” as it returned to the market in latter part of the 20th Century. It is echoed in the black oil substance pooled in the circular portal of The Black Lodge in Glastonbury Grove or any time there is fire.
A key example is the death of The Log Lady’s husband during a fire on their wedding night. She was said to have discovered a mysterious black oil that ‘opens a gateway’ after visiting Glastonbury Grove. Her husband’s spirit exists within the log which is why she keeps her fireplace boarded up. The entrance to Glastonbury Grove is a form of the Porta Alchemica legend, interpreted in Native American lore as the Sipapu. In alchemical works this massa confusa phase in nature is symbolized as any black bird or toad. Agent Cooper is confronted with many black birds in “Twin Peaks”, like the Mina bird and Crow.
The second phase is the Albedo or Whitening -- the Separation (isolating remaining elements) and Conjunction (reconstituting purified elements to new) recognizing impurities and dual nature. This process is symbolized when Leland’s hair turns white as he starts to face his molestation and murder of Laura as he is possessed by BOB. Other symbols are the churning foam of Snoqualmie Falls, the joining of lovers, anything in pairs, or any white bird, or weddings. The manipulated and failed wedding of Lana Budding Milford represents the failed process of the divine wedding or integration. She represents a corrupted version of the White Queen in her dishonest attempts to be the Queen of the Miss Twin Peaks Pageant. A crown is one of the symbols for the sacred marriage.
In spiritual alchemy the Sacred Marriage manifests when the The Solar Red King (soul, masculine energies) and Lunar White Queen (mind, feminine energies) are united within the alchemist so it became associated with incest, as referenced with Leland’s molestation of Laura. It is an example of an external corruption of The Great Work (the alchemical wedding, marriage of opposites) by the discarnate spirit BOB who possessed him. Leland’s serial rape and molestation of Laura is implied in gallows humor when he falls onto Laura’s casket which is being lowered into the ground.
This stage is also known as Greening, The Green Lion is seen in Twin Peaks as the trees, this rapid cycling through iridescent colors known as the Peacock's Tail. Its symbolism is the unicorn or deer. The array of peacock colors present at this stage in the process is referenced in the last season when Pete Martell complains his truck was stolen and states, ‘there were twelve rainbow trout in the bed!” The retort of the alchemist was sometimes referred to as a bed, where the King and Queen unify. It becomes a clue for Agent Cooper that he is in the final stages of the investigation and of the alchemical transformation within the Black Lodge.
“Matter will be called the forest, So shall we know and understand things rightly. The Unicorn stands for Spirit; The Stag answers to no other name Than Soul and none can deny it. Now it is true that he, who by Art, Knows how to tame them, Leading them out of the forest, Yet driving them close together, Would be called a Master,” says the Book of Lambspring about the Alchemical Wedding.
Towards the end of the first season Aubrey applies for a job at the perfume counter of her father’s department store. She gains access to the brothel One Eyed Jacks, where she along with the other women are given crystal unicorns. Aside from being noble and having magical powers of healing, unicorns can be a reference to six tapestries from the middle ages. “The Lady and the Unicorn” series depicts an indulgence in the senses, the first five senses catered to at the brothel and the last a depiction of her sixth sense, intuition. This panel is called À mon seul désir, in which the Lady though exalted in duality as both desire and purity, chooses to remain chaste. She is the White Stone.
Aubrey is forced to reveal her intentions after nearly being discovered by her father and rebelling against Madam. In the Book of Lambspring, the alchemical union in the forest (first matter) is depicted with a unicorn (masculine the principle of spirit) and the stag (feminine of the soul). The panel in which the Virgin holds the mirror up the unicorn is symbolic of psychological/spiritual transformation, creating a double image, one but not one, a reminder of other realities to reflect upon. The unfolding scenes from the start of her working at the brothel are all reflected in the 6 panels, the red background embodying the colors of the brothel. This stage is depicted by any white animal as when Agent Cooper discovers white fox hair on Maddy’s dead body.
Archetypes in Twin Peaks
"Sometimes nature plays tricks on us and we imagine we are something other than what we truly are. Is this a key to life in general? . . . In a dream, are all the characters really you? Different aspects of you?,” asks The Log Lady (Margaret Lanterman).
For Jung, the dual archetypes of Anima (female-soul) / Animus (male-spirit) personify feminine and masculine characteristics or personality attributes within an un-individuated person. They consist of personal and collective life experiences and unconscious mind that manifests in ego. In spiritual alchemy, the integration of the two create the syzygy or divine child. Unity of the two archetypes is the completion of individuation, bringing enlightenment and power.
The powers of all archetypes manifest in both positive and negative aspects, which are represented in the mythology of Greek Gods with characteristics or personalities correlating with planets. For Empedocles, the dynamics of Love and Strife define life itself, embodied in a romantic affair between Love goddess Aphrodite/Venus and War god Aries.Mars. In the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili we see Love and Strife as Poliphilio’s 'dream within a dream', in which he loses his love and regains her at the Fountain of Venus. In this sense Agent Cooper and the archetypes could be his 'dream within a dream' of Twin Peaks.
Internal alchemy exemplifies the Yin and Yang of the Tao and the White Queen and Red Queen in the Alchemical Marriage. Venus symbolism is the key to the last episode in the Red Room. This is also the basis of all great dramas and why characters are archetypal. Hippocrates defined the four elements within the body called The Four Humors (4 Noble Truths in Buddhism). Jung used collective archetypes in defining personality types. The balancing of elements or archetypes was the ideal seen in the Square of Opposites.
In Twin Peaks the characters represent each personality archetype and embody situational archetypes. We find battles between good and evil, death and rebirth, innate wisdom vs. educated stupidity (Agent Cooper’s intuitive investigative techniques and his agent status being revoked by his superiors). We find The Initiation and Journey, The Magic Weapon (Taoism and Agent Cooper’s intuition), and Nature vs. Mechanical World (Packard Saw Mill and Ghostwood Estate plans).
Setting archetypes include the following: The Garden (alchemists call their laboratory a rose garden site of the sacred chemical wedding of the Great Work), The Forest (Twin Peaks Ghostwood Forest), The River (Snoqualmie Falls), The Sea (the Tao), The Tower (the Black Lodge) and The Town (Twin Peaks itself).
Character archetypes are abundant: the Outcast, The Wanderer, The Loner (James Hurley); the Devil (Leland Palmer); Evil Genius, Trickster, Threshold Guardian (Windom Earle); Friendly Beast (the Giant); The Hero, Paladin and Magician (Agent Cooper); Star Crossed Lovers (Ed Hurley & Norma Jennings); Survivor (Ronette Pulaski); Temptress (Lana Milford), Tyrant (Benjamin Horne); Mentor, The Herald, Medicine Woman (Log Lady); Martyr (Maddy Fergusen); The Soldier (Major Briggs).
Also, The Fool (Deputy Brennan); Wise Old Man, (Deputy Hawk); Outlaw (Bobby Briggs); The Initiates (Bookhouse Boys); The Dreamer (Donna Hayward); Fallen Mentor (MIKE); Divine Couple, Sacrificial Dance (Cooper and Annie Blackburn); Femme Fatale (Jocelyn Packard); Wounded Healer (Dr Jacoby); Damsel in Distress Ingenue (Annie Blackburn & Shelley Johnson); The Villain (Hank Jennings, Jean Renault); The Rake (Dick Tremayne); Androgyne, Guardian (Agent Denise); Reformed Villain (Benjamin Horne); The Bully (Leo Johnson); and Authority Figure (Gordon Cole).
The Creature of Nightmares is BOB. “These night creatures that hover on the edge of our nightmares are drawn to us when we radiate fear,” says Windom Earle about the inhabitants of the Black Lodge, referring to BOB.
Carl Jung found psychological symbols in nature as well:
Sacred Design & Harmonies [or maybe some better subtitle of your choice, like Unconscious Harmonics, etc.]
“Diane, I’m holding in my hand a small box of Chocolate Bunnies.” --Agent Cooper
Along with dreams, Agent Cooper uses divination, meditation and analysis to comprehend metaphors, riddles, anagrams, and psychic phenomena. Through reciting his various streams of consciousness, Agent Cooper records his narrative, observations and deductions. He addresses his micro-recordings to his mysterious secretary Diane, who is a symbolic form of his subconscious and anima-figure.
“Twin Peaks” never makes clear whether Diane really exists, so we might believe this is an extension of himself. However, Diane is French for Diana, the mythological Greek goddess of wild animals and the hunt, the moon, and most importantly forests. This White Goddess is a clue as to the recorder’s significance. The moon symbolizes the subconscious, intuition and the feminine side of one’s mind. This is a harbinger of Cooper’s White Queen, preceding the arrival of Annie Blackburn for his initiation in the Black Lodge where he confronts the Dweller of the Abyss.
"Watch - and see what life teaches. There are things in life that exist, and yet our eyes cannot see them. Have you ever seen something startling that others cannot see?”, the Log Lady asks.
Cooper uses other forms of intuitive deduction: the rock throwing “Tibetan Technique” of Season One and his coin toss inspired by the I Ching. Coins symbolize good luck and resemble a full moon symbolizing the unconscious, intuition and psychic awareness. The Winged Mercury dime is commonly used in coin tosses as Mercury is the Greek god of the crossroads, communication, and keeper of boundaries. He is a bridge been the upper and lower worlds. Mercury is also fundamental to all alchemical processes. Agent Cooper embodies the archetypal planetary and alchemical properties of Mercury himself, as the Thinker, the Adept.
Agent Cooper, Shaman
“I am filled with questions. Sometimes my questions are answered. In my heart, I can tell if the answer is correct. I am my own judge. There’s a whole world out there, hear the other side, see the other side” --The Log Lady
Cooper describes Tibetan divination as perfecting mind body coordination by deduction based on intuition, like the Taoist practice of Qigong. Immersing himself in the Tao of nature, Cooper explains to the sheriff’s department, (after moving their offices outside among the Douglas Fir Trees), that he received this divinatory knowledge from a dream about Tibet, its struggle from political oppression, and the release of the Dalai Lama.
After setting a bottle on a tree stump, he throws a rock after reading each suspect’s name related to J. If a rock missed they were no longer considered; if the rock hit the bottle that confirmed their possible guilt. 'J' is the initial for the name of the person Laura said she would meet in her diary before she disappeared and was murdered. The J might stand for Jupiter, planet of intuition, but the diary entry date is more significant.
The night Laura was murdered the last entry date was February 23rd. Agent Cooper reads this as the same day the 14th Dalai Lama was enthroned in 1940. He was last to rule Tibet as he was forced to leave, which Cooper addresses in his speech about his dream of a free Tibet.
The rock toss is reminiscent of the ancient Chinese Fortune Stick divination in Buddhist Temples called Kau Cim, a sacred oracle. When answers require more specifics the Jiaobei Blocks, also called Moon Blocks, are used. The size of an average river rock, these wooden crescent shaped pieces are flat (Yin) on one side and round on the other (Yang). Through these divination practices, geomancy, and his ability to communicate with the spirits of the Lodges, Agent Cooper acts as a kind of mystery school initiate, a Chinese Fangshi shaman, magician, and alchemist.
The investigation becomes a catalyst for his own spiritual journey on the path to enlightenment, to cross the threshold into perfect being or the Taoist Xian. At the threshold inside the Black Lodge Agent Cooper is put to the final test, the most important stage in the esoteric initiatory process. Facing the abyss, one confronts their shadow self, including repressed memories, subconscious fears and inner demons before lifting the veil and crossing over, to ultimately find spiritual rebirth and perfection in immortality.
Allegedly, only the gifted or the damned can see the spirits or energies of the Lodges and comprehend their meaning. Agent Cooper is both as Mercury archetype: “Through the Darkness of future past the Magician longs to see. One chance out between two worlds, Fire Walk with Me.”
Cooper as the Magician longs to see. Esoterics claims that what you seek is seeking you, thus, his duty is to investigate the murders. A role nearly as important as the Dali Lama is the Nechung Oracle of Tibet. He is chosen to interpret divine messages from the gods acting as a bridge between two worlds, the living and the dead, heaven and earth, much as Agent Cooper communicates with the spirits of the Lodges and relates this information in his reports during the investigation. Through his divination methods, his understanding of his feminine mind, (the subconscious, dreams, intuition), Cooper calls out between two worlds, as an oracle between the physical world of Twin Peaks and the spirit world of the Lodges.
Revelations
"I play my part on my stage. I tell what I can to form the perfect answer. But that answer cannot come before all are ready to hear. So I tell what I can to form the perfect answer.”
In Episode Two Leland is released by BOB, the violent spirit incarnate of collective negative energies. The evil archetype, and fire element that had possessed Leland since his childhood, is overcome by the water element during flooding of the holding cell when the fire alarm sets off the indoor sprinklers. BOB drives Leland to suicidal hysteria, to smash his head against the door so BOB can exit his body. As Leland is dying, Agent Cooper becomes the shamanic psychopomp, who comforts and assists the dying with instructions to cross over into the spirit realm. In Jungian philosophy the psychopomp mediates between the conscious and collective unconscious.
During this ritualistic departure, Cooper moves Leland into the Sleeping Lion Position and imparts a prayer from the Tibetan Book of the Dead that describes the essence of the Tao:
“The time has come for you to seek the Path. Your soul has set you face to face before the clear light and now you are about to experience it in its reality, wherein all things are like the void and cloudless sky, and the naked, spotless intellect is like a transparent vacuum, without circumference or center. At this moment, know yourself and abide in that state.”
In episodes three and four, Deputy Hawk talks to Agent Cooper about the ‘dream soul’ which can travel to sacred realms of the dead or spirits not bound by the waking mind. Travel to dimensions outside boundaries of time and space is the shamanic skill of astral projection. After discovering that Maddy Ferguson (Laura’s cousin and mirror image) has been murdered, Sheriff Harry Truman makes a Taoist reference, telling Cooper, “You’re on the path; you don’t need to know where it leads, just follow.”
Shortly after FBI agent Albert Rosenfield says, “Go on whatever vision quest you require, stand on the rim of a volcano, stand alone and do your dance, just find this beast before it takes another bite.” Both acknowledge Cooper’s shamanic wisdom and capabilities. The beast of the abyss is the universal evil that manifests as BOB, guardian of the threshold.
Lynch does make biblical references in Twin Peaks so BOB could also be the ‘beast’ of Revelations called Abaddon (in Hebrew), the angel of the Abyss. The appearance of the white horse before Leland kills Maddy could also reference death of the Four Horsemen of the apocalypse if related to the Black Lodge, A guardian spirit of the White Lodge could imply a Tibetan Wind Horse of prayers of protection.
Mike incarnated as Philip Gerard explains to Cooper while he is dying, that “Bob is a fire spirit. So are we both, both creatures of fire. Bob and I, when we were killing together there was a perfect relationship; appetite and satisfaction. A golden circle.” Chinese shamans allow themselves to become possessed by spirits to attain their power and act as oracle, sometimes with wrathful spirits. If BOB is a spiritual entity Agent Cooper may have invited BOB to possess him at the end of the series.
Fire as elemental archetype or mythological creature, needs to be constantly fed with its own element to exist. Hence, they need the incantation, “fire walk with me.” Fire is the element of alchemy that ascends or rises. But to keep from ascension and stay transfixed in the primal (appetite and satisfaction), they distort and deny the completion in the process of the alchemical wedding through rape and destruction. BOB may have sought possession of Laura to become wedded to her, as Rosicrucians believed elementals ‘wedded’ to a mortal would be immortal.
BOB seeks a corrupted and expedient form of immortality. The cyclic death and rebirth of samsara is a continual state of suffering, so BOB requires suffering to exist since he is reborn in the living during possession states. He is a type of ‘hungry ghost’ of the lower Bardo realms in Buddhism. He wants to cling to mortal states of carnal desire. This is the link between One Eyed Jacks and the Black Lodge, where the Red Room is mirrored in the decorative aesthetic of the brothel.
Such passion explains even the absurd, as we learned in Episode One. We have come full circle. The serpent bites its own tail. The mirror cracks. The Mystery of death and the woods is preserved – the eternal cycle continues.
Taoist Spiritual Alchemy
The beautiful thing about treasure is that it exists. It exists to be found. How beautiful it is to find treasure. Where is the treasure, that when found, leaves one eternally happy? I think we all know it exists. Some say it is inside us - inside us one and all. That would be strange. It would be so near. Then why is it so hard to find, and so difficult to attain?"—The Log Lady
Taoist Spiritual alchemy is called Neidan and involves both internal (spiritual) and external (medicinal) practices in unison to promote balance and harmony within the body for health and prolonged or immortal life. The Chinese equivalent to the Philosopher’s Stone is called the Golden Elixir. Philosopher Lao Tzu who penned the foundational text of Taoism the Dao De Jing was also a founder of spiritual alchemy. Wei Po-Yang, considered the father of Chinese Alchemy, wrote the most ancient alchemical book, Ts'an T'ung Ch'i. He invented gunpowder during his alchemical laboratory experiments.
The last episode of Twin Peaks: “Beyond Life and Death” was a symbolic amalgamation of both Western and Eastern philosophy by referencing the explosives Andrew Packard sets off in the vault of the Twin Peaks Savings and Loan. This represents a failed understanding of the Western alchemist’s quest after literal gold for monetary gain. The Log Lady hints at this when she says “You shut your eyes, you burst into flames.” Andrew Packard was blind to the real meaning of riches according to alchemy.
In their search for immortal life, Taoists practiced meditation, the accumulation, storage and expanding of Qi (life essence, the spiritual fire) with coordinated breathing and movement exercises to create a balanced flow to the Qi. They practiced Traditional Chinese Medicine (Zhong Vi) through dietary therapy and herbal medicines to create longevity. The Chinese ingested many elixirs made from plants and minerals like gold (Yang) and cinnabar (Yin), called Mercury in the West.
In spiritual alchemy, the body is the alchemical crucible or retort in which the elixir or Jing is created. Mercury and Cinnabar were keys to Chinese Alchemy. The red of the Cinnabar represents the heart, the location of accumulated Qi, the seat of the soul, love, luck and auspiciousness. The body and its meridians represent the cosmology of the universe seen in the Zang Fu and Wu Xing, which focuses on the process of change. The Tao is a constant state of flux but with a flow and order, this structure mirrors the five phases of the elements.
The two main interactions are: generating (creating/male) and overcoming (destructive/feminine). Taoist internal alchemy is called Waidan, shown in the chart Nei Jing Tu, a transformation that causes matter to revert to its state refined form of Qi. In Chinese alchemy the prima materia is timeless-oneness called Hun Dun (Tao). The final outcome of Chinese alchemy is Er Sheng San, which means two creates three. The book The Secret of the Golden Flower details the meditation techniques necessary for spiritual transformation.
In Taoism this cycle is called reverse creation, the eternal return or Ouroboros represented by Agent Cooper’s ring, which the Giant takes from him until he solves the mystery. The ring is returned when Maddy is murdered completing the cycle as Leland is arrested. This is a Turn in the cycle of the Tao, of life and death, the balance in Yin and Yang, mind and spirit.
In Chinese alchemy creating the elixir of immortality is symbolized by the White Hare alchemist or Moon Rabbit assistant to the Goddess Chang’e, who after drinking the elixir of eternal life, rose up to the moon rather than give up its secrets. She is the Returning Maiden in the I Ching. The mention of the Snowshoe Rabbit by Sheriff Truman after Agent Cooper says he saw a Cottontail rabbit refers to this symbolism since the Showshoe rabbit changes colors from brown in summer to white in winter, it undergoes a transformation each year and signifies a harmonious duality.
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In Chinese alchemy the Ladder of the Planets translates to the Ladder of Lights and the seven stars in the Big Dipper constellation. It is meditated upon for its secrets of eternal life and represents the number of phases in alchemy. The Big Dipper points to the North Star which was seen during the last great planetary conjunction. This is why The Great Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter opens the portal to the Black Lodge.
In Chinese internal and external alchemy specific planetary alignment and where the planet is located at various times during an hour or day is crucial to the success of the work. In external Chinese alchemy Waidan, is the ingestion of specific minerals, such as jade, cinnabar, or gold, to prolong life and life extension.
The book Danjing Yaojue by Sun Simiao known as King of Medicine is the most famous of medicinal books on this subject. The external alchemy ideally would result in Yin and Yang refined to create qualities of Pure Yang (chunyang) or a state of Oneness before its division. This is the White Queen and Red King of Western alchemy is seen as Azure Dragon and White Tiger to the Chinese. Chinese medicine teaches there is a connection between your organs and emotions and planets.
In spiritual alchemy are The Three Treasures: Jing (Essence or physical and sexual manifestations of energy, the feminine), Qi (Vitality, the life force as circulated through the twelve meridians of the body, the balancing of Yin and Yang) and Shen (Spirit psyche or mind, interaction between Qi and Jing energy), these correlate to Taoist deities called The Three Pure Ones. In Qigong the alchemist transforms Jing into Qi into Shen and Shen into Qi into Jing for health and manifestation. At the center of this energetic and spiritual transmutation is The Cinnabar Fields or dantian, with the focus on the heart area of the body in meditation as it is with Yoga and the three Channels.
Shangqing, is an alchemy of that deals with internal guardian deities (the San-yuan, the gods who live in the body). The most important of them is the Immortal Fetus or The One, this is also the Tao and the divine child. Three Pure Ones or the Three Primal Ones-replaces 'the three deathbringers in the major energy centers of the body and make the person immortal. Gurdjieff’s law of three corresponds to the Taoist triad Tai Qi of mediating between yin and yang. The three chambers of Taoist alchemy (stomach, heart, and head) corresponds to Gurdjieff’s three bodies of the carnal, emotional, and spiritual.
The Taoist principles of Taiji, Yin-Yang, and the Three Pure Ones (divinities of Heaven, Humanity, and Earth) are symbolic in the domino Hank held with the 3 pips during his parole hearing, he had in his hands freedom and a chance for rebirth. It can also symbolize alchemical book The Kybalion of Hermes teachings, also called The Three Initiates (Hermes thrice great).
One of the greatest spiritual transformations on the show is found in Ben Horne, who was the most powerful wealthiest men in Twin Peaks and planned the Ghostwood Forrest Estates that would destroy the Ghostwood Forest. After being accused of murdering Laura Palmer, he faces his dark night of the soul and becomes extremely depressed after losing everything. He had a breakdown and a brief lapse with reality becomes intuitively involved with Feng Shui with is office furniture, has a break with reality and acts out the surrender of the Union at Appomattox.
This represents his surrender to his ego and he begins to start anew by confronting his past, making amends and repairing his transgression by stopping the development on Twin Peaks Forests. He becomes an environmentalist to save the Pine Weasel and repairs his relationship with Aubrey. He starts to seek the ultimate truths with sacred religious texts, the last being Taoism.
The Lodges of Twin Peaks
"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." –Deputy Hawk
The White and Black Lodges are symbolic of the stages of alchemy, the Black Stage and White, with the final Red Stage. They are also alternate dimensional planes interconnected through the Red Room within a section of woods in Ghostwood Forest called Glastonbury Grove. They also represent spiritual integration and individuation, the unity of opposites, a conjunction. It is explained that the process within the Lodges occur during the Great Conjunction, when Saturn and Jupiter meet.
Major Briggs tells Earle that “There is a time, when Jupiter and Saturn meet; they will receive you.” In Episode 28, Cooper also found out when the next conjunction took place, January to June. This window of opportunity suggests the time of permitted access to the Lodge.
Planets have great significance in alchemy as they represent the archetypes of minerals and in Chinese alchemy rule over parts of the body and mind. Relative positions of the planets in the heavens affects every aspect of life functions on earth. “As above so below.” One of the key functions of the alchemical process was to ascend or meditate on the Ladder of the Planets, this is why the number twelve symbolism is seen as in the candles around the mound of dirt in the basement where BOB appears, and trees around the portal of the Black Lodge.
In the final stages of plant and mineral alchemy, the alchemists saw a star formation symbolizing our purest state, meaning that we are made from the same material as the stars. As with Blavatsky’s The Secret Doctrine, in the Primordial Gnosis: Forbidden Religion, the White and Black Lodges are dimensional planes not visible to humans. The White Lodge was formed from highly evolved beings (the Secret Chiefs) who try to help humans evolve and is part of the plan of creation. This beneficial aspect is the White Lodge.
Within the Black Lodge are those opposed to the plan of creation (Blavatsky’s Dugpas, sorcerers of the left hand path). This lodge is the photonegative of the White (Bon sect), the unconscious shadow self of humanity, the Prima Materia of the Great Work. Blavatsky claimed,
“Its true name is the Black Order, Warriors of the Spirit loathe matter, and they are indeed destroyers, but destroyers of the impure. If a common human came face to face with these beings, all that was impure within him, his body and soul would be disintegrated.
Such beings are formed from the antimatter fire of the other world; therefore not a single created atom can collide with them without disappearing. If these warriors were to approach a common man, they would destroy his body and soul, although not his Spirit, which is made from pure fire, just like them. Only the absurd aspects would be destroyed, the sick part, that which imprisons the Spirit, the coffin which encases It: the body and soul of the animal wrongly called human.” This is the lore of the Black and White Lodges and The Dweller on the Threshold and the somnambulist state of the town’s inhabitants.
BOB feeds off fear and is the Dweller on the Threshold within the Black Lodge where the initiate must face their shadow self, their fears and repressed negative memories to successfully integrate and pass the initiatory test. The words, “Fire Walk With Me”, found in blood at the murder scene by Agent Cooper, are not meant as an evocation or incantation but rather an invitation to join him in the Black Lodge. It’s a challenge to walk with Fire and if Agent Cooper can discover the mysterious functions of the Lodges and access them, he is ready for the test.
Agent Cooper is the archetype of Mercury, the intuitive dualistic nature, the Thinker or Student, BOB is Saturn, the beginning and end of the process, the harsh Teacher and disciplinarian. Isaac Newton was also an alchemist. His studies on the dual nature of light as both wave energy and particle matter showed this theory was most attuned with Nature and can also provide an explanation of the Tao. He theorized that light was the Rebis, the result of perfected matter from the Alchemical Wedding. So, keeping in mind Mercury was considered light in all forms, the cosmos or heavens and earth inform our inner fires.
This is why the entrance opens during an opposing conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter. The conjunction was the final stage of the alchemical process. This invitation was a Call to experience your darkest fears and hate. The opposite – love -- is expressed in the microcosmic parallel subplot of the TV soap opera that Twin Peaks residents watched called Invitation to Love. The invitation to fear, is hinted at by Windom Earle when he says, “For you see, the cave painting is not only an invitation, it is also a map, a map to the Black Lodge!”
The Lodges are considered metaphysical extra-dimensional locations of spirit energies that can be accessed by the living through dream states, the subconscious or a physical portal. However it could be postulated that the Lodges themselves are another level of reality completely within the mind of Agent Cooper in a spiritual/psychological alchemy, with the Lodges as the retort itself. The three phases of black, white and red is …A dream within dreams or world within worlds.
If the Lodges exist on an external level in alternate realms, the spirit energies that reside in the Lodges physically manifest into our reality via possession of animals, mainly the owls and humans, traversing between these two worlds. BOB is both a dominant force of the Black Lodge and an archetype within the psyche as the Dweller of the Threshold. He desires physicality and resides in the black void of primordial creation in the abyss, the void of chaos, the unconscious mind from which the creative spark emanates.
In his lecture, “Paracelsus as a Spiritual Phenomenon,” Jung says that through alchemy we are able to induce the process of transformation which alone is capable of liberating the divine light imprisoned in physical creation. This spiritual transformation from corrupted matter to a state of spiritual perfection is the basis of alchemy and exemplifies Taoist Taiji-tu -- diagram of the supreme ultimate.
Though the Lodges are spoken of as separate locations and opposing one another, they are an interrelated whole as Yin and Yang principles as upper and lower truths, or ‘as above so below’. The Lodges are a symbol of balancing dualistic nature in many cultures and esoteric beliefs. Those symbols include the Native American Twin Hero Myths, the Golden Elixer of Taoist alchemy, Masonic twin pillars of Boaz and Jachin of Solomon’s Temple, Atman and Brahman of Adaita in Hinduism, the marriage of the Hieros Gamos, Yab -Yum of Tibetan Buddhism, the Pillar of Mercy and Severity of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, the left and right Channels of Nadis Yoga, the unio mystica of the Rosarium Philosophorum and the Pillars of Hermes that contained the Emerald Tablet. This is direct knowledge of creation, the arts of nature, science of the stars and immortality.
If integration of these fail, symptomatic conflicts arise from these oppositions which results in violence, anger, and destructive ego caught up in ego inflation. BOB is an example of failed integration and repression which results in the manifestation of the destructive nature of humanity, the negative primal instincts of the subconscious. BOB himself is possessed by a twisted god-like delusion that is his megalomania.
Dion Fortune’s description in Psychic Self Defense, describes the Black Lodge in which BOB resides, as the accumulation of energetic forces and psychic gifts that have been used for ill and selfish gain. Any practitioner of black magic is said to be of the Black Lodge. Whether BOB stands for universal evil, is the result of a demiurge, an ancient malevolent spirit, an accumulation of negative energies or the unintegrated broken psyche, he seems to have a will of his own desiring manifest and primordial base desires.
In Season Two, Windam Earle speaks of the corrupted sect of Buddhist monks who practiced evil magic called the Dugpas or “red hats” who accumulated an extraordinary amount of power and psychic control over others. Nearly identical to this are the Navajo’s ancient Holy Ones, who are supernatural beings capable of feeling emotion and committing acts of destruction and dominion.
It is up to the viewer to decide if the series os an example of external or inner alchemy to define the Lodges and the presence of the entities within them. As in the aforementioned esoteric systems, there is always a center to create balance, the left side is generally dark, feminine, receptive and passive (Luna Moon), the right masculine, active output and light (Sol Sun).
The left hand path is associated with dark magic, self-serving and energetic predators, so Mike cut off his left arm. The man from another place is an extension of mike’s arm manifesting in the Black Lodge. This conflicting left vs. right hand path is seen when the Black Lodge is about to be opened and various characters in Twin Peaks, including Agent Cooper at the end of the second season, have sudden uncontrollable trembling in their right arms.
The electrical disturbances throughout Twin Peaks ominously signify danger and death. This also reflects the inside of the Black Lodge, where the duality of light and darkness and the conflict of the split psyche are visibly apparent.
In theosophical Kabbalism, ascending the Tree of Life up the spheres via mediation can be achieved in two ways, one being directly up the Middle Pillar. This path of the arrow is that of compassion intuition, beauty and integration, Yin Yang synthesis, the merging of masculine and feminine. In Taoism it is called the Middle Way.
The other way traverses all the spheres in the flaming sword path, creating the zig zag pattern of a lightning bolt, which can be seen in the black and white chevron pattern on the floor of the Red Room of the Black Lodge. Also related is the Vajra, Sanskrit for thunderbolt, called the flash of the serpent, is the illumination of the psyche as it is about to merge.
Tantric Alchemy
“The heart - it is a physical organ, we all know. But how much more an emotional organ - this we also know. Love, like blood, flows from the heart. Are blood and love related? Does a heart pump blood as it pumps love? Is love the blood of the universe?" The Log Lady
It is said that alchemy was a gift of communion with the gods, a gift made of fire and sexual union, this theory of ecstasy in divine manifestation is expressed most eloquently in tantric yoga. In the start of Twin Peaks, when Dr. Jacoby is being questioned about Laura’s murder. At the Sheriff’s Office Dr. Jacoby says, “The problems of this world are caused by sexual repression.”
Tantra is a form of meditation meant to raise the kundalini energies of the body during sexual union. Tantra can be used as a form of what Jung called Alchemical Eros, or in Chinese alchemy, Jing accumulation. This transforms and restores Chi to the body which results in health, vitality, and life extension called The Joining by the Essenes. Yin is female principle and Yang is male. The sacred sexual union is considered a joining of heaven and earth, as above so below, to channel divine energy through the mind-body to spirit.
Throughout Twin Peaks Dr. Jacoby wears the Anaglyph glasses to see the world in 3D, symbolic of the Rebis. His character is based on psychonaut, Taoist and shaman Terrence McKenna who has written extensively on Tantra, psychoactive drugs, alchemy and meditation to gain spiritual understanding. In the hotel room where he is found dead the Mayor discovers many tantric books including a fictionalized version of My Secret Life and proclaims, “This is the murder weapon!” while holding up one of the books.
This sacred text says, “The person who perceives Brahman in everything feels everlasting joy.” Blavatsky calls it 'an electro-spiritual force, a creative power which, when aroused into action, can as easily destroy as it can create.' This is the perversion sexuality that Leland possessed by BOB felt for Laura. It is the primal water which contains all four elements.
In Season One, Deputy Hawk says to Agent Cooper “One woman can make you fly like an eagle, another can give you the strength of a lion, but only one in the Cycle Of Life can fill your heart with wonder and the wisdom that you have known a singular joy.” The only one in this reference may be the anima within Agent Cooper once he is fully integrated at the end of his journey. Meaning is born as 'Knowing' from the symbol that was pregnant with it.
This union with his White Queen and reveals Annie Blackburn as his female counterpart, his mirror, his soror mystica. Anthropogenesis precedes Cosmogenesis, as the Divine merges into the human, and creates. The kundalini awakening during sexual union is a form of spiritual transformation.
In the alchemical treatise, Aurora Consurgens. the panel in which two seemingly genderless figures sit together. One gives their heart, blood, body and mind (missing from image) to the other, in an example of the divine union through flesh. The heart appears as a red apple. Heart or soul ascends by means of earth into heaven and again it descends into the earth, and retakes the power of the superiors and of the inferiors.
Yogic Tantrikas or Siddhis of the East who found enlightenment were said to possess ecstasies of near godlike powers. They were true alchemists of the flesh as philosopher’s stone, impenetrable to disease or age, some living off Chi alone -- the adamantine diamond body. The forbidden fruit has always represented secret knowledge and sexuality as we see in many alchemical artworks references to fruit.
Audrey proves her sexual yet virginal dichotomy when applying to work at One Eyed Jack’s, by tying a cherry in a knot with her tongue. This is symbolic of the sacred feminine and the Gordian knot which in sacred geometry is the Torus or Tao. This tantric reference of the erotic fruit as sexuality in culture is seen in the greatest alchemical tripartite artwork, Garden of Earthly Delights, by Hieronymus Bosch.
The Log Lady references this when she says, “There are clues everywhere - all around us. But the puzzle maker is clever. The clues, although surrounding us, are somehow mistaken for something else. And the something else - the wrong interpretation of the clues - we call our world. Our world is a magical smoke screen. How should we interpret the happy song of the meadowlark, or the robust flavor of a wild strawberry?"
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Conclusions
Mircea Eliade said, "...both Tantrist and alchemist strive to dominate 'matter'. They do not withdraw from the world as do the ascetic and metaphysician, but dream of conquering it and changing its ontological regime. In short, there is good ground for seeing in the tantric 'sâdhana', and in the work of the alchemist, parallel efforts to free themselves from the laws of Time, to 'decondition' their existence and gain absolute freedom.” [cite, Mircea Eliade, The Forge and the Crucible, Univ. of Chicago Press, 1956 by Flammarion, 1978 by Eliade, 2nd Edition, pg.129.]
To produce transformations the magician uses the conception of "dynamic interconnectedness” to describe the physical world as the sort of thing that imagination and desire can affect. This holistic world is an independent whole, a web in which no strand is autonomous. Mind and body, galaxy and atom, sensation and stimulus, are intimately bound. Oneness is the backdrop of all that exists.
The primordial unbound state is nothing. All things are independent yet interrelated. The worldview is that all things come from the One Thing, or First Cause. Beyond delusory illusions of projection and archetypal possession, those who value human imagination and perceive cosmic oneness in worldly differences, can transcend the worldly vision, with meanings and revelations.
In Taoist and Vedic thought, the cosmic holistic entity – the universe – manifests its desire for self-expression as many – unity in diversity. This cyclic expression is oscillation – energetic flux -- of eternal growth and decay. Dualism is reconciled in complementary functions radiating cosmic forces. Integral gender vitality is the meaning of the sacred wedding. The unmanifest accounts for the overall stability of the universe. Holistic consciousness that guides nature is the invincible Silent Witness.
Universe is a spiritual arena, the domain of ‘desire-based consciousness. This power is integrating if it is turned into earth, grounded and balanced in manifest life. Self-healing flourishes optimally when dualism is transcended. Freed of the personal limitations of the individual mind, ‘compatible’ entities remain in ‘complementary’ pairs. The mystery of immortality is tied to that of death/rebirth. The nature of life is immortality.
“‘Desire for self-existence’ of the source permeates through all the minds of its aberrations, eternally establishing immortality in the universe,” says Rengarajan. [cite DNA Decipher Journal | August2015 | Volume 5 | Issue 1| pp. 35-54Rengarajan, S.,
Cosmic Intelligence & DNA (Part III) ]
Such passion explains even the absurd, as we learned in Episode One. We have come full circle. The serpent bites its own tail. The mirror cracks. The Mystery of death, immortality, and the deep unconscious woods is preserved – the eternal cycle continues, interweaving spirituality, culture, and nature.
The Game
"Is life like a game of chess? Are our present moves important for future success? I think so. We paint our future with every present brush stroke”. --The Log Lady
Agent Cooper’s fight with Windom Earle in the chess game is a microcosm of Twin Peaks and its residents and another initiatory challenge for Cooper. The game reveals how the town is manipulated through psychic energies from the Lodges and how they respond as collective unconscious.
This match between Windom’s wits and Agent Cooper’s intuition is a clash of dualities. The black and white of the board pits female subconscious against male conscious mind -- The Lunar Queen (Yin, intuition, water energy) and the Solar King (Yang fire and sun energy) of the Splendor Solis.
This prepares him for the final challenge against BOB, the dweller on the abyss, in the Black Lodge and Cooper’s confrontation of his shadow self. Windom Earle says to Cooper over the phone, “The king must die.” He warns Cooper to prepare for ego death during the integration in the Black Lodge. It also implies that if he fails integration at the threshold his soul will be annihilated.
This is part of the alchemical process of the Nigredo or Black Phase in the Great Work. In the 17th episode of Season Two, Windom Earle physically takes on the role of the devil archetype, the trickster, and associated Greek god Pan. He sits on a large rock playing the Japanese wind instrument before reading a list of transgressions of Leo Johnson, justifying his condemnation and torment, enslaving him to his bidding.
Windham Earle is manipulated by BOB, as he thrives off fear and suffering. This is what Windham is searching for when choosing his queen. He sends the Percy Shelley poetry to Audrey, Donna, and Shelley This corrupted vision of his White Queen is evident in his meditation on the Queen in the playing cards. He seeks but does not comprehend the true alchemical wedding.
He seeks his White Queen at the end of the series in the Miss Twin Peaks beauty pageant. The stage is a reconstruction of the entrance to the Black Lodge, with the 12 contestants as the Twelve Trees in Glastonbury Grove.
The trees refer to the alchemical symbolism of the twelve knights of King Arthur. Sheriff Truman alludes to it, saying, “Here’s something, Coop. Twelve trees in a perfect circle. There’s a place like that up in Ghostwood, it’s called Glastonbury Grove.”
Cooper says, “Glastonbury. That’s the legendary burial place of King Arthur.” Pete then asks, “King Arthur's buried near here?” Cooper responds, “No, in England. This feels right, Harry, let's get up there.” Earle’s distorted, misunderstood journey transforms when Earle and Leo Johnson discover how to open the portal to the Black Lodge.“A perfect symbiosis. Oh, nature, perfect in design and aspects. You do not disappoint!”
He proceeds with, “The time has come to gather my beloved queen and embark upon our dark honeymoon,” kidnapping Annie Blackburn during the Miss Twin Peaks pageant. This literalization is his corrupt attempt at the Dry Way of alchemical transformation. Windham Earle sends his invitation to love to Audrey, Shelley and Annie, quoting the first half of Shelley Peary’s poem “Love’s Philosophy.”
Dweller on the Threshold
The fountains mingle with the river. And the rivers with the ocean, The winds of heaven mix forever with a sweet emotion; Nothing in the world is single, All things by a law divine, In one another’s being mingle, Why not I with thine? He is longing for his White Queen in this poem.
So now the sadness comes - the revelation. There is a depression after an answer is given. It was almost fun not knowing. Yes, now we know. At least we know what we sought in the beginning. But there is still the question: why? And this question will go on and on until the final answer comes. Then the knowing is so full, there is no room for questions." --The Log Lady
We’ve identified the Guardian of the Threshold as BOB in the Black Lodge. This malevolent liminal entity acts as a catalyst of transformation or the manifestation of a person’s life’s transgressions, fears, negative memories retained in the subconscious mind. This is the Adversary that must be confronted, in order to cross the initiatory threshold into an enlightened state.
Edward Bulwer Lytton described the Dweller in his book Zanoni : “Be behind what there may - I raise the veil.” This lifting, rending and closing of the veil is part of many initiation rites, signifying advancing a level among degrees, crossing over between two worlds. It opens communication between the physical and spiritual, the higher and lower realities of existence.
Each time Agent Cooper lifts the red curtain to enter another room in the Lodge he finds himself back in the same location. He fails to cross over because he has not been fully prepared and is failing the confrontation with collective Shadow.
The two worlds are the manifest physical and the fine higher self or Observer Self, which can access other realities. Awareness of alternate realities facilitates astral travel. The Lodges represent a ritual chamber or Vault of the Adepts. Crowley described the Dweller on the Threshold of the Abyss as evil in the sense that it is "meaningless but malignant, in so far as it craves to become real”, like BOB.
Crowley describes ego death from the dark night of the soul: “Now that there was no longer any `I' to suffer, all these ideas which had inflicted suffering became innocent. I could praise the perfection of every part; I could wonder and worship the whole."
This is the essence of the Tao. Nothingness that is a Plenum provides clarity to perception. Knowing how things really are we embrace the universe in its pure chaotic state and hidden realities with new eyes of wonder as if a child, to be resurrected.
This Dark Night of the Soul is a spiritual crisis. Cognitive dissonance destroys the ego, shocking a person into mental clarity, a realization of the higher self. In alchemy it is the Nigredo (Latin for blackness) stage, it is Da’ath in Kabbalism. Blavatsky defined the Dweller or Guardian of the Abyss as a residual entity of a lost astral double from an individual’s previous life. When reborn, this double attempts to unite and merge once again in psychic-spiritual union.
In the Black Lodge, Agent Cooper faces his Dark Night. John Dee, the Enochian magician to Queen Elizabeth, called the Guardian of the Abyss a literal demon who tests your soul before ascension. The Demon of Dispersion resides in chaos.
This merging of ego into true self and dispersion of dualities can be seen when Agent Cooper asks “Who is BOB?” Mike replies with a lyrical acronym: “He is BOB, eager for fun. When he wears a smile, everybody run!” The first letter of each line spells out Be We. This could be a mantra for integration and transmutation of the psyche and sexual energies and Taoist thought.
In Thelema, the Oath of the Abyss is the freedom of rational thought and aligns itself with the Tao. One acknowledges synchronicities and symbolism as spiritual communication with the higher self. In theosophy this is I AM Activity. The psychic and spiritual function of the Lodges are explained in Dion Fortune’s Psychic Self Defense in which she says the pure can see members of the Black Lodge as they really are. [cite the DF book here]
Fortune calls the forces in the Lodges “the Unseen”. People come into contact with the unseen through physical places. The psychic, vulnerable and sensitive to the subconscious are attracted to these places of concentrated high energy. These are the gifted and damned of Twin Peaks.
When BOB is near, his presence can induce feelings of dread and fear that results in psychic attack or possession. The attacker, physical or discarnate entity (BOB) can enter a person, 1) through self-preservation (fear base instincts), and 2) sex instinct. Etheric hooks and cords come from projected anger which triggers abyssal unconscious.
The possessing entity can enter a pierced aura from within by intense emotional reactions, fear or sexuality. If a person remains unemotional they are safe from psychic invasion. Laura would not let BOB enter her body the way her father Leland had, despite her torture and repeated rape.
Red Stage
The Red Stage or Rebedo of alchemy starts with a short yellowing phase, called the Citrinitas which signified near completion of the process. The Garmonbozia or creamed corn which is the psychic sustenance of the Black Lodge could be considered symbolic of this phase. The Red Phase, putrefaction occurred and was symbolized by the jar of oil from the entrance of Black Lodge in the ground brought to Agent Cooper by the Log Lady.
This stage is seen in the iridescence of blackest oil. This reddening stage is the rebirth of self into a third divine child. Blood was added to the mixture and turned it red when heated. This is represented by The Red Room itself and is when the feminine and masculine merge, the marriage of the sun and moon and Greek gods Hermes and Aphrodite (Venus). Both the Black Lodge and White exist within it. The birth of the androgyne from this union is also represented by Lucy Moran’s pregnancy and the dance between Agent Cooper and Annie Blackburn in the Roadhouse.
The next stage is called the fermentation process, which occurs the same way alcohol or spirits is created. This is humorously acted out during the wine tasting benefit held at the Great Northern, hosted by Dick Tremayne. The final stages to complete the process require deep mediation, which Agent Cooper engages in prior to his challenge at the Lodge.
The Red phase involves anything red colored. In Taoism this was Cinnabar (Mercury and Sulfur). After the Giant warns him this stage may end in failure at the Roadhouse, we see the light at the intersection turn red, red neon signs, blocked hallways then the opening of the Black Lodge itself. If successful this distillation stage would be complete, symbolized by white birds rising into air, fountains and waterfalls.
The end process is a third state, a superior consciousness and enlightenment called the Noble Empress or Androgyne. In “Twin Peaks” this Androgen or Cosmic Child is referenced by Agent Denise Bryson. This process is a new dawn spiritually as when Agent Cooper and Annie Blackburn emerge from Lodges. The alchemical text The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz is acted out in the bank vault of the last episode, as well.
Fire Symbolism
"I can see the smoke. I can smell the fire. The battle is drawing nigh." "Sometimes my anger at the fire is evident. Sometimes it is not anger, really. It may appear as such, but could it be a clue? The fire I speak of is not a kind fire. Log Lady
Alchemical fire is the key to transformation on an elemental level. Spiritual fire is the essence of life, the divine spark. The complimentary flow of dualities in The Tao is a creative/destructive dynamic. Eastern deities of fire and death cycles include the Hindu deity Kala, god of time and death, the great black one. The sons of fire are solar deities, Minds formed from the Primordial Fire. Homa ritual uses fire for blessings and immortality, with sacrifices dependent on the prayer or mantra.
The Achala, a Wisdom Kings in esoteric Buddhism, is a guardian demon that functions much like the Dweller on the Threshold in Western esoterica. In Buddhism the Mandala of the Two Realms, is the physical, active fiery manifestation of Buddha. In Theosophy, fire is the intelligence that moves the entire universe, it is electricity, magnetism, sensation. It is Chaos or the Dark Fire, the eternal flame.
This is the electrical interference in “Twin Peaks” that BOB triggers. Fire initiation is also called the Great Passing. It focuses on death and rebirth in the greater mysteries. It is then the adept meets with the spirits. The new identity aligns itself with the Great Work. Paracelsus said “Alchemy is only that which makes the impure pure by means of fire. Though not all fires do burn, it is however only Fire and continues to be Fire that interests us.”
Fire ascends in smoke and water descends in rain, symbolizing the duality of nature in harmonious cycles. Throughout history sages have counseled: Man, know thyself. Thou art the Flame, and thy bodies are the living altar." [cite Manly P Hall]. “If we close our eyes to the truth, the fire inside us will consume us and destroy us through our own vices, close your eyes and burst into flames.”
Alchemist St. Germain also mentions the Secret Fire in the initiatory text The Most Holy Trinsophia (Three Fold Wisdom). He describes his initiation through the twelve degrees of Cosmic Consciousness. The fire of the psychic centers directs the restrictive and enlightening energy of Saturn, through the powers of the Mind, or Mercury.
This liberating Secret Fire can activate psychic phenomena during intense experiences. In Kabbalah, ‘The Triangle of Fire’ represents self-realization in Tiphareth and union with god on the Tree of Life. Saturn is at the apex, while Mercury and Venus are at the base corners, with the Sun in the center. “The Sacred fire is like the Brahman, the Unknowable fire, like stars.” It is the Spiritus Mundi (spirit of the world).
In alchemical ciphers, the symbol for strong fire is the Twin Peaks logo seen in markings on the Major and Log Lady after entering the Lodges. In Blavatsky’s Secret Doctrine this is called the three-fold-flame, the culmination of the two sexes as twin flames opening to immortality. Lumen Dei and lumen naturae is the light hidden in matter. Such forces of nature are released through alchemy and our dreams. Jung says, “Fire is aether in its purest form.” “Fire or Knowledge burn up all action on the plane of illusion.”
"As above, so below. The human being finds himself, or herself, in the middle. There is as much space outside the human, proportionately, as inside. Stars, moons, and planets remind us of protons, neutrons, and electrons. Is there a bigger being walking with all the stars within? Does our thinking affect what goes on outside us, and what goes on inside us? I think it does.”
The Key
Shining Venus trembles afar, Earth's Higher Self, and with but one finger touches us. –Buddhist proverb
Newton’s theory in alchemy called ‘The Net’, which led to the “Philosopher’s Stone” was based on a Greek myth. When Vulcan found his wife Venus in bed with the god Mars, he created a net to hang the adulterous couple from the ceiling. The wedding or union of Venus (copper) and Mars (iron) by Vulcan (fire) symbolized transformation. The heated metals created an alloy reminiscent of a net.
Inside the Red Lodge is we see references to 1) the color Red attributed to Mars the fiery planet of sexual conquests, and 2) Venus in the two Venus statutes, as the great goddess of love, Aphrodite. The “Venus de Milo” and “Venus Pudica” represent the duality of sexuality and Agent Cooper’s merging with his feminine animus. The “Venus Pudica” in the hall is one of the modest, pure states of Venus (like Maddy). The sexualized Venus de Milo has no arms to cover her nudity. This is Laura and found in the Red Room.
The Venuses alternate as Agent Cooper struggles with his fears and confrontation of BOB, alternating positions in the Lodge. When Cooper succumbs to his fears seeing Annie injured, the statues disappear. Saturn, the god of time wins. Venus is the Evening and Morning Star. Most initiations end at dawn. Venus rotates backwards like the backwards speech in the Black Lodge. Wagner’s Tannhäuser opera is about the seduction in the grotto of Venus. The three acts are about the struggle between sacred and profane love, the two Venus in the Black Lodge, and redemption through love. Self-realization, the higher self, or self-knowledge is key to the meaning of alchemical transformation.
Agent Cooper’s love for Annie Blackburn leads to his possession by BOB. He has sacrificed in the ultimate display of romantic love, the Aphrodite archetype. This Goddess of Light is also known as Anadiomeni, which in Greek mean "the one who emerges, the rebirth of conscious from the primordial sea of unconscious. She is the perfect metaphor for leading one to the ledge of threshold.
Her Chinese equivalent is goddess is Chuang Mu. In the last episode, taking the key to bank vault simulates the Lady Venus tomb in the King’s Treasury from Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz. The castle represents male dominated energies; the female lays dormant below, suspended at the Vault of Venus made of iron and cooper like the bank vault door.
Audrey, as Lady Venus chains herself suspended to the door in what is described as a mausoleum. In the Rosicrucian ritual, the seven sided Vault of the Adepti has blinking squares with drawers behind them. The bank vault too has drawers of safe deposit boxes. In the story the divine wedding can only occur through a death process. In this tale Lady Venus will awaken and be mother to a King but who survives the explosion remains unclear.
The Language of Birds
"Letters are symbols. They are building blocks of words which form our languages. Languages help us communicate. Even with complicated languages used by intelligent people, misunderstanding is a common occurrence. "We write things down sometimes - letters, words - hoping they will serve us and those with whom we wish to communicate. Letters and words, calling out for understanding." Log Lady
Oracles are considered the interpreters of the gods as the will of heaven. Birds were oracular because they could fly between the two worlds of earth and heaven and among the gods. They carried messages of knowledge of other worlds. Only initiates understood the language of the birds in their coded songs and sounds, which take skill and intuition to understand.
Augury is the role of Agent Cooper when trying to understand the broken dialect and confusing language spoken by the inhabitants of the Lodges. The spirits of the Lodges don’t think in logical patterns with the rational mind but in nonlinear abstract thought, stemming from the unconscious, spoken in riddle, non sequiturs, metaphors, or backwards, in a dreamlike state.
Giving Agent Cooper a clue about Laura’s murder, The Man from Another Place says “Where we're from, the birds sing a pretty song and there's always music in the air.” he room where Laura was held contained a Myrna bird and record player. Esoterics teaches understand of the language of spirits via the subconscious during divination, meditation or possession.
Aleister Crowley’s exercise Law of Reversals taught that speaking backwards for extended periods allowed one to stay in a subconscious state of liberated thought. He taught avoiding conscious speech patterns, words and pronunciations to make the mind more agile. This is similar to the artistic process of the surrealists.
Shamans use the liminal state to communicate with spirits, to lose rational thought, and enter the spirit world beyond space-time understanding. Shamanic language is called the twisted language. Logical language confuses and frightens the spirits. Tantric texts are often composed in an intentional language (Sandhyabhasa), a paradoxical and inverted language, in the form of poetry written by Siddhas.
This secret, dark, ambiguous language expresses a state of consciousness by erotic terms, mythology and cosmology. According to Eliade, it translated to “enigmatic language” and Max Muller called it a “hidden language”. The language of the birds was considered secret and a key to perfect knowledge which required an adept to decipher.
Nature Symbolism
“I’ll see you and you’ll see me, in the branches that blow in the breeze, under the Sycamore Trees.” “Yet they all have about them a sense of mystery - the mystery of life. Sometimes, the mystery of death. The mystery of the woods. The woods surrounding Twin Peaks.”
Trees embody the connection between heaven and earth, the knowledge of creation, endurance, strength and immortality. The tree reflects the essence of the Tao. Wind is the breath of life through which spirits speak or travel, so in “Twin Peaks” scenes of wind blowing through tress is an ominous sign. Trees are the bridge between two worlds, the lower half rooted in earth with the upper in heaven.
The Heavenly Stems and Twelve Earthly Branches of Space Time reference trees because of their longevity. The rustling of trees in the wind speaks an ancient wisdom to those who listen. In Egyptian mythology twin Sycamore Trees facing east formed the gateway to the afterlife, as Sycamore trees surrounded the entrance to the Black Lodge. They are also found on burial sites where Twin Peaks was built. Douglas fir symbolizes strength, past and future, and purification rites. Annie Blackburn Speaks about the conservation of trees at the end of Twin Peaks: ”But they are alive. Every forest has its shadow.” Chief Sequoia said, “To be one with the trees is to know Life within your own spirit.” Native Americans hold ancient and sacred trees as equal to humans. They are called The Standing People and thought to contain the Great Spirit.
In the lore of the Cherokee people, the First People requested the Creator Ouga to make continual daylight. When the crops became overgrown, their paths obscured and they could not sleep, they requested continual night. The Creator explained the importance of balancing dichotomies in life but granted their request. Soon everything stopped growing; people starved to death. Realizing their mistake, they asked for both night and. Creator restored the duality but grieved those who perished.
Spirits were given rebirth inside the wood of the Cedar trees. Legend says when you gaze upon the wood, you are looking at your ancestors. This could explain why The Log Lady’s husband’s spirit was inside the log and why Josie Packard’s spirit was in the wood of the fire place mantle of the Great Northern and the drawer handle.
The cave is also associated with the essence of immortality and the Tao -- repositories of purified Qi. Adepts and Buddhists meditate in caves, as it represents a womb of the earth. The Taoist canon is divided into sections called caves, and the caves within the body are containers of energy.
The Owls Are Not What They Seem
The owl is associated with Athena and Minerva, goddesses of wisdom, strategy and magic. They represent intuition and mysticism because they are nocturnal and have heightened senses. They are also considered omens or harbingers of death. Their flight is silent, so they are the keepers of secrets and mystery, magical birds, companions to witches, sorcerers, and mystics. They are guardians of the underworld and the dead and believed to have the ability to see spirits.
Owls can traverse between the two worlds of the living and the dead. They have the ability to communicate with the spirit world. Their ability to see in darkness associates them with the shadows, dreams and subconscious. Native Americans invoke the owl spirit as oracles because of their ability to speak the language of the trees, birds, and winds.
The Owl Caves held the Owl Pictograph, a map of Ghostwood Forest and location of the Lodges. Inside the Owl Cave. In front of the pictograph, the stone lever is engraved with a symbol that appears to be an owl in flight. When Windham Earle turns this stone protrusion sideways, the symbol becomes the rune Inguz which means isolation or separation. This symbol also represents the Lithuanian witch Ragana, who is healer and seer, a wise woman assisted by the owl.
In Native American lore, night birds were threatening creatures called Ishkitini. The horned owl was believed to prowl at night killing both people and animals. Its cry foretold death or murder.
In the myth of nagualism, a human takes animal form by a Skinwalker or shapeshifter in the Witchy Way (Native American witchcraft). BOB is able to shapeshift as the horned owl. Owls digestive systems is the alchemical process itself in that it swallows its prey whole. The parts are separated in the gizzard into digestible food and toxic or waste parts like in a retort, Finally, it is regurgitated and expelled in a pellet. This compares with purification in alchemy.
By Zora Burden, ©August, 2015
Agent on the Threshold: the Taoist Alchemy of David Lynch
The esoteric meanings and symbolism of Twin Peaks
Zora Burden
Twin Peaks is a multidimensional, metaphysical, neo-noir drama, considered a surrealist masterpiece interwoven with darkly comedic moments of absurdity juxtaposed against the deceptively serene sentimentally of midcentury Americana with deeply esoteric symbolism. David Lynch crafted the series with the parallel concepts of Taoist Alchemy, the Native American mythology of Snoqualmie Falls, esoteric Buddhism, Jungian Archetypes and Surrealist methodology, such as the practice of Hypnagogia - a bridge to other realities. The complex dichotomies of worlds within worlds of the Black and White Lodges overlap and collide, representing the essence of Taoist Alchemy. An internal transformation takes place in this process when the duality of the shadow self; the unconscious, nonlinear self merges with the conscious logical mind to become a complete synthesis of one’s highest self, one’s Daimon or inner fire. The most important phase is called the dark night of the soul or the Nigredo, as represented by the Black Lodge. At the threshold one faces the repressed unconscious that can arouse fear, terror, and destructive or creative forces, depending on a person’s will or dharma. The Red Waiting Room or purgatory in between twilight state of the Lodges is the precipice of transformation which can be accessed via lucid or actual dreaming or psychic intuition. The underlying messages of the series are the Taoist teachings on the liberation of the mind, the unification of the psyche or oneness -- “two but not two” -- and the interdependence between humanity and nature. Conflict in the duality of the psyche is represented within the characters by twinning, mirroring, doppelgangers, psychological splintering and the theme of twos: the conscious and unconscious mind, good vs evil, human vs nature, and the Great Conjunction. This conflict is exemplified when Agent Cooper (as adept) must fight BOB (a universal evil) and plays chess with Windom Earle. The Jungian Taoist philosophy that reality exists within layered dimensions of different energetic frequencies or electromagnetic manifestations can be seen in the flickering lights of Twin Peaks when the spirits of the Lodges are traveling or possess characters. Agent Cooper’s investigative process uses Buddhist techniques of intuition and synchronicity via divination and dreams to decode the many anagrams, riddles, and metaphors to find Laura Palmer’s killer. Yet, on a deeper level this is a journey of self-discovery. Through the use of Taoism and Buddhist thought he is able to understand what the Lodges are, why the spirits within speak the twilight language or language of the birds, the symbolism of the trees and Qi, caves, and fire. While some of the basic concepts of Twin Peaks were inspired by the books The Devil’s Guard by Talbot Mundy and William Burroughs’ Cities of the Red Night, David Lynch and Mark Frost infused an exhaustive amount of arcana and pop culture references into the script.
"Hear us, you who are no more than leaves always falling, you mortals benighted by nature, You enfeebled and powerless creatures of earth always haunting a world of mere shadows, Entities without wings, insubstantial as dreams, you ephemeral things, you human beings: Turn your minds to our words, our ethereal words, for the words of the birds last forever.”
"I learned that just beneath the surface there’s another world, and still different worlds as you dig deeper.’ – David Lynch
"The mind is its own place, and in itself. Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven."
“The language I speak must be ambiguous, must have two meanings, in order to do justice to the dual aspect of our psychic nature.” ~Carl Jung
David Lynch’s Twin Peaks is a multidimensional, metaphysical, neo-noir drama. This surrealist masterpiece is interwoven with darkly comedic moments of absurdity juxtaposed against the deceptively serene sentimentality of mid-century Americana with hidden esoteric symbolism. Twin Peaks was a serial drama created by Mark Frost and David Lynch that aired for two seasons between 1990 to 1991. Despite the short run it had major impact on television and film. A loyal cult following helped generate a film prequel called Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me in 1992.
The show’s protagonist is FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper who travels to Twin Peaks in the rural Pacific Northwest on special assignment when Laura Palmer is found murdered with similarities to an earlier murder in Washington. Two books provided inspiration: 1) The Devils Guard by theosophist Talbot Mundy, and 2) William Burroughs’s Cities of the Red Night. Both mention the concept of the Black and White Lodges. However, these concepts are referenced in many esoteric books, such as Dion Fortune’s Psychic Self Defense and Blavatsky’s Isis Unveiled and The Secret Doctrine.
The show presents highly complex worlds-within-worlds that overlap and collide containing a juxtaposition of obvious and subtle dichotomies. Constant flux between opposing forces of dualism is represented in the Black and White Lodges.
The Twin Peaks esoteric symbolism is derived from many sources but maintains a predominant message -- unification of dualities to create oneness between the self and nature. Taoism fosters the emergence of this non-duality by following the Path, creating harmony and balance between humanity and nature. Taoist alchemy fosters introspection, purification and transformation to acquire self-knowledge and immortality.
Alchemy of Transformation
Taoism realizes that our bodies are a microcosm of the cosmos. The divine, this perfection of truth, exists in its purest form in nature. To return to this state we have to understand and utilize its natural elements. Alchemists believed that animals also have the purest knowledge of this divine essence of creation, suggesting why animal symbolism was used to convey the alchemical process in engravings and illuminated manuscripts.
The practice of spiritual and chemical alchemy was pursued to achieve enlightenment and immortality. Union with the divine and optimal self-integration was called The Great Work or Chemical Wedding. The end result was known as the Philosopher’s Stone or Secret of the Golden Flower. [Jung, Secret of the Golden Flower]
The balancing of dualities within us, revering the perfection of nature and seeking harmonious interrelations between ourselves and with the environment is the underlying theme in Twin Peaks. This is exemplified by both the corruption and subterfuge to acquire land for the development of Ghostwood Estates which would result in large-scale destruction of the forests and habitat. Agent Cooper’s shaman-like journey to discover Laura Palmer’s killer and the Black Lodge initiates his own black night of the soul, a ritual test on the threshold of discovery. His psychic and spiritual battle culminates with the end of the series.
In the series introduction, the opening scene is a Varied Thrush on a tree branch surrounded by a scenic, tranquil landscape of still water and tall mountains. Suddenly, it is juxtaposed against unnatural images of industrial violence -- grinding metal blades and showering fiery sparks within Packard Mill. All of the characters in Twin Peaks involved in the destruction or exploitation of nature come to a violent death or slowly unravel. Chaos becomes an evolutionary process leading toward integration and awareness.
Practicing Taoism and Tantric work creates within the body a bridge between heaven and earth, and encourages the flow of Qi. Reference to the sexual disconnect in the West along with that of nature highlights the importance of sex as sacred source of Qi energy. Yet both Taoist Alchemy and Tantric practices in the West are exploited and corrupted as symbolized in the debauch of One Eyed Jacks.
We must understand the complexities, dichotomies and our interconnectedness with nature to achieve these states of enlightenment, and recognize the dual concept of conventional and ultimate truth. ‘Finding The Ultimate Truth’ is the goal of The Great Work of Alchemy, with the Philosopher’s Stone or Rebus as the result. This means total integration of the psyche: the shadow self, the anima and animus (female and male counterparts of self), the conscious mind, subconscious and unconscious, body mind spirit, and lastly unification between earth, humanity and heaven.
The entire transformation is symbolically tested in the Black Lodge, in this metaphysical retort. Twin Peaks message of humanity’s disconnect with nature and dualist thinking has resulted in polarizing, destructive behavior toward all life and the earth. This is directly referenced in Carl Jung’s works. In “The Undiscovered Self” he argued that many of the problems of modern life are caused by “man’s progressive alienation from his instinctual foundation.”
Tension of Opposites
This dualistic theme throughout “Twin Peaks” is demonstrated by twinning, mirroring, doppelgangers, the shadow self, double lives, psychological splintering and the constant theme of twos. There is dynamic tension between the conscious and unconscious mind, good vs. evil, human vs. nature, heaven and earth, fire and water, sun and moon, female vs. male, logic vs. intuition, yin and yang, eastern philosophy vs. western religion.
Native American mythology and spiritualism, Taoist Alchemy, Tibetan Buddhism, Astrology, Elementals, Jungian philosophy, Transcendental Meditation, Hermeticism, Theosophy, Numerology, and Surrealist methodology parallel each other in addressing these themes. There are core practices in all esoteric teachings. The complex dichotomies of the worlds-within-worlds of Twin Peaks, the Black and White Lodges and the archetypal dynamics of the characters in the series is even mirrored in its own television series “Invitation to Love.” Every aspect of the series is symbolic, an anagram, riddle, metaphor or euphemism for these esoteric themes From Taoism, alchemy, tantrism, and environmentalism.
The alchemist, physician and botanist Paracelsus had a very Taoist view on alchemy. He believed that directly observing nature was the key to unravelling the secrets of the universe, rather than researching in magical tomes and established medical practices of the western world. He described alchemy as the voluntary action of humanity in harmony with the involuntary action of nature. He suggested the intention or will of mankind can greatly influence the destinies of the cosmos depending on timing and intention.
Decoding the Arcana
David Lynch and Mark Frost infused an exhaustive amount of arcane knowledge into the script. Pop culture and classic film references from their youth fascinated them. At times they laced the series with awkward moments of black humor and sexual euphemisms in a deliberately paced, highly stylized mid-century aesthetic, creating a sharp contrast between its grim subject matter and some of the most intensely terrifying moments ever seen on television. The series is so informed esoterically it has been considered an initiatory process for mystery schools and practices of the occult itself. The Lodges form an Invisible School where Agent Cooper becomes an unknowing participant – a variant of The Fool in tarot. Many of these esoteric references can be found in Lynch’s own lexicon and spiritual practice of transcendental Buddhism.
The Log Lady claims, "Balance is the key. Balance is the key to many things. Do we understand balance? The word 'balance' has seven letters. Seven is difficult to balance, but not impossible if we are able to divide. There are, of course, the pros and cons of division."
The practice and goal of Transcendental Meditation aligns itself with Taoism, spiritual Monism and Funi -- the Japanese Buddhist philosophy of oneness of the self and our environment (esho funi) and the notion that the two are inseparable -- “two but not two”. This means that although we perceive things around us as separate from us, humanity, nature and the universe are all one. There is no separation between ourselves and our environment.
Taoism has its roots in forms of nature worship and animism, a belief system that spirits inhabit everything around us in nature. Both organic and inorganic matter contain a life essence or Qi, the eternal fire, the quintessence known as Jing. Both inner (spiritual) and outer (chemical/mineral) alchemy is an attempt to reunite with one’s true eternal flame or quintessence, the unification of two into one, the dual nature of male and female aspects of ourselves. This is why the symbol for the Lodges is two mountains. In alchemical symbolism the two triangles mean strong fire.
Squaring the Circle
This is our body, mind (soul) and spirit perfected, from which all revelation of knowledge evolves. In western alchemy these are symbolized by Salt, Sulfur and Mercury. In Taoist alchemy these are called The Three Treasures. This alchemical reconciliation is described symbolically as follows: “Make a round circle of man and woman, extract therefrom a quadrangle and from it a triangle. Make the circle round, and you will have the Philosophers’ Stone.” This is called Squaring the Circle in alchemy.
The Taoist text Tao Te Ching says, “Tao generates One- Wuji, One generates Two- Taiji (chaos) and Two generates-Three Yin and Yang and Three generates all things in the world. The three are the basis of creation, together they make the Sancai, the three essentials of heaven, earth, and humanity."
In a later syndication of Twin Peaks, Lynch added introductions to each episode by the Log Lady. In the final episode "Beyond Life and Death" she says, “And now, an ending. Where there was once one, there are now two. Or were there always two? What is a reflection? A chance to see two? When there are chances for reflections, there can always be two - or more. Only when we are everywhere will there be just one.”
The narrations by the Log Lady not only refer to the completed spiritual alchemical process, they read like Chinese Proverbs. In the aforementioned quote she speaks of the zygote of Yin and Yang, and the ideal state of emptiness or the mirror of heaven and earth, it is Tao. Many religions of the West are polarized in their belief systems causing internal conflict with faith-challenging promises of eternal life and spiritual perfection in the afterlife.
The esoteric holds the Mysteries -- the secrets to eternal life and spiritual enlightenment here on earth. They are secret because they are experiential. It requires only individuation, the death of ego, and the purification, transformation and integration of the psyche, turning internal imperfections and our dual nature into perfect unity. This is what the alchemists meant by turning lead into gold known as the Philosopher’s Stone.
To Buddhists and Hindus the quintessence is Cintamani and the golden elixir of Taoism. In Taoism the principles of yin and yang represent the complementary nature of opposite forces, which are interdependent in the natural world. To follow the path of the Tao is a return to original order, and within nature original order is found. This melding of opposites is the basic underlying goal of most esoteric practices, starting with Taoist spiritual alchemy which is said to have been created by Lao Tzu, the Chinese founder of Taoism.
“It’s like I’m having the most beautiful dream and the most horrible nightmare all at once.”
Carl Jung teaches psychological principles of spiritual alchemy in his dream analysis, theories on synchronicity, archetypes of the collective unconsciousness, the union of animus and anima, and the integration of shadow self to achieve individuation. He based some phases of his work and writings on Tibetan Buddhism, Taoism, and Alchemy. A recurring and profound dream about a hidden room with many doors became the catalyst for his research into alchemy. He amassed the largest alchemical collection of books in the world and was considered the bridge that brought Eastern philosophy and alchemy to the West through his work. Similarly, Agent Cooper’s dream became the touchstone of his obsession with Tibet.
Carl Jung’s theories stated that the subconscious and dreams were the true source of self, the wellspring of creativity, intuition and psychic energies much the way the Tao is understood as the nature of the cosmos. The Huai Nau Tzu said, “The Tao of Heaven operates mysteriously and secretly, it has no fixed shape, it follows no definite rules, it is so great that you can never come to the end of it, it is so deep that you can never fathom it.”
Jung used the term unus mundus (one world) to describe synchronicities -- the unitary reality that is the principle factor underlying all manifest phenomena. He conceived of archetypes as psychic and psychological manifestations of our identities that relate us as associated intermediaries to the fundamental principles of matter and energy in the physical world. Jung explained that synchronicity, the acasual connecting principle, is an occurrence that happens when meaningful coincidences transpire with no apparent casual relationship.
The Book Of Changes or I-Ching is a source of Taoist philosophy and cosmology based on divination and its meaningful coincidences. It is referenced numerous times in “Twin Peaks”. The I Ching is the ideal illustration of synchronicity because it “presupposes that there is a synchronistic correspondence between the psychic state of the questioner and the answering hexagram.” It is known to occur when a person is intuitively, psychically or energetically aligned with nature which creates significance in experiences or phenomena that would otherwise seem random. These experiences align with living in accordance to The Path or The Way of the Tao.
Taoist thought creates an openness, (what Jung calls the intuition of collective unconscious), to such synchronistic experiences because it is not limited to ordinary boundaries of time-space realities. The Tao and the unconscious transcend time or sequential constructs. Past, present and future converge into the now.
In the core philosophies of Taoism, as in dreams, the subconscious or the alternate realities of the Lodges in Twin Peaks, time does not exist as a linear concept but is abstract and boundless, yet cyclical. In Season One of "Twin Peaks" Agent Cooper takes note of this hyperdimensional concept with the statement, “Gentlemen. When two separate evens occur simultaneously pertaining to the same object in inquiry we must always pay strict attention.”
Jung, Alchemy, and Surrealists
“All that we see in this world is based on someone's ideas. Some ideas are destructive, some are constructive. Some ideas can arrive in the form of a dream.” --The Log Lady
Jung theorized that basic universal truths in humanity could be understood in the collective unconscious through the language of symbolism, a form of intuition. This use of esoteric, cultural and mythological symbolism molds David Lynch’s perspective in Twin Peaks. His potent and surrealistic films are modern, animated versions of the magnificently woven imagery richly illustrated in engravings, panels and illuminated manuscripts of the alchemists and surrealist paintings full of secret hidden knowledge.
Both alchemy and surrealism contain metaphorical imagery of particular aspects of nature: planets, elements, animals, plants, stones, and colors. They represent the processes of transformation in alchemy seen throughout Twin Peaks. Correspondences are found between Taoist magic and alchemy: all of the animals, elements (fire, water, earth, air), the seven classical planets, minerals and plants. All have an inherent quality and energy assigned to them which is used accordingly to convey their purpose in the Great Work. Alchemy and magick rituals can be applied to enhance a desired outcome of one’s will.
Fire is the key element that transmutes Mercury. It is the key to the process with a dual nature of both destructive and creative forces -- the power to change elements from one state to another. Fire is the blood of life. In the beginnings of alchemy the knowledge was passed along orally or communicated through stories only comprehended by serious students or initiates. Some of these trials in the laboratory could be deadly as the alchemists experimented on themselves.
The documented secrets of alchemy were closely guarded and rare or destroyed by the church in the west, and reserved for the emperors in the East. The symbolism used in these tomes was interpreted based on the level of knowledge the practitioner held. The profane saw them as lavish art, such as the 12 Keys of Basil Valentine.
In this tradition Lynch’s ritual psychodrama Twin Peaks displays each frame of film like panels of the secret works. The Surrealists studied both dreams and alchemy as a kind of artistic liberated transcendence and rebellion of the conscious mind. They believed the conscious mind was constrictive, staid, and limiting with its rigid constructs. They focused on the autonomy of mind through the subconscious as the true source of imagination, fears and desires. They studied the psychological techniques of psychoanalysis and Spiritual Alchemy. reach this dream state and the symbiosis of the alchemists, they enacted exercises to trigger the twilight state, the liminal states of wakefulness and sleep called hypnagogic or threshold consciousness -- the state ‘between two worlds’. This is also the goal of Taoist Alchemy, to discover secret wisdom of the absolute of self, hidden within the subconscious and unconscious mind. One of the main exercises the Surrealists used was a technique called lucid dreaming to access the subconscious but still recall dream images and thoughts.
The Red Tower
Achieving this state requires meditation. Before beginning the sacred work, a key would be placed in the palm during a process called Hypnagogia or A Bridge to Other Realities, the place ‘between two worlds’ of the subconscious and conscious mind. As they dozed off for a set amount of time before entering the dream state, the body would relax, become limp, and the key would fall on the floor, waking them up so the images were immediately accessible to recall for their art. Salvador Dali, Albert Einstein, Edgar Allen Poe and even Carl Jung used this process.
In the first half of the 20th century, Surrealist Giorgio de Chirico, a pioneering painter, founded the Metaphysical School of Art (Scuola Metafisica) which depicted dreamlike qualities. He emphasized the stark dichotomy of both shadow and light that Lynch recreates in Twin Peaks with the Black and White Lodges. Prime examples of his work, The Philosopher’s Conquest, Nostalgia of the Infinite and Soothsayers Recompose all contain themes in Twin Peaks. But his most important piece “The Red Tower,” corresponds closely with The Red Room of the Lodges, the Red King of the divine marriage, and Red Stage as the final process in alchemy. The Tower echoes the tarot trump of the same name, the stage of great transformation.
The Tower can also symbolize the Potola Palace, the residence of the 14th Dalai Lama before fleeing Tibet. It is comprised of the White and Red Palace on the Red Mountain high in Lhasa Valley. The correlation between the Palace to the Red King and White Queen of alchemy is extraordinary. The Red Room of the Lodge is the alchemist’s laboratory or retort itself for the intensification and unification of the psyche and the workings of the unconscious mind. Here our purest desires and self exists, transforms and is continuously reborn, as if from a cosmic womb -- the womb of Mother Nature.
Awakening from illusory perceptions within the mind to alternate dimensions or multiverses is the subtext of the Twin Peaks narrative. Through dreams Agent Cooper was able to communicate with entities of the Lodges in the Red Room. The Giant first appears to Agent Cooper when he is near unconsciousness after being shot in a twilight state. In Chinese mythology the giant Pan Gu is the creator god who slept in the egg of chaos.
When he awoke and stood up heaven and earth were split into two. When he died his body created everything on earth, including the first being Hua Hsu, who birthed Fu Xi (male) and Nu Wa (female). The myth then states the twins created two separate fires, which eventually became so strong the fires became one. Soon after the twins wed and used the earth to create offspring, giving them life with divine power.
This myth reflects the alchemical process and divine wedding of opposites that give birth through fire and a divine spark of spirit. This Pan Gu myth is embodied in The Giant who aids Agent Cooper along in the investigation. Fu Xi is considered the creator of the I Ching or Book of Changes. To the Taoists, the I Ching is The Celestial Mechanism, an internal psychological process defined by the planets.
In Taoist Alchemy fire is the illumination of the mind of the Tao that burns away all false truths and impurities in a person much like the fire in Western alchemy is the element of transformation for the whole process. The Can Tong Qi (The Seal of the Unity of Three) was the first Chinese alchemical book which also addressed the cosmology of the I Ching as well as Taosim. Unlike Western alchemists who hid their secret knowledge in symbolism, the Chinese kept it secret through mostly oral teaching where silence was of utmost importance. “Those who know, do not speak; those who speak, do not know” says the Dao De Jing. This mirrors the Rosicrucian maxim:“To know, to will, to dare, to keep silent.”
Alchemical Stages
"We live in a world where nothing is simple. Each day, just when we think we have a handle on things, suddenly some new element is introduced and everything is complicated once again. "What is the secret? What is the secret to simplicity, to the pure and simple life? Are our appetites, our desires undermining us?
Alchemy is a complex practice of chemical, psychological and spiritual transformational processes, meant to return matter or essence to its true, incorruptible, divine state through the application of various refinements, whether in a laboratory or within oneself. Within the context of Twin Peaks, the focus is on spiritual or psychological alchemy. This requires the destruction of ego, facing the shadow self, integration of dualities and unification or individuation to be achieved by meditation, breathing exercises, energy work and introspection.
Many alchemists who worked with nature (plants and minerals) in the laboratory understood the important connection between the body, mind and spirit -- between the microcosm of our terrestrial world and the macrocosm of the celestial. They would practice all three forms.
This search for immortality and enlightenment was referred to as the art of nature and the science of the stars, meant to turn the lead of the soul to the gold of spirit, the Philosopher’s Stone. It reflects the inherent wisdom of the Perennial Philosophy, Universal Truths, the One Thing (Chi) or One Mind of the Cosmos. The goal is to perfect the life force or 5th element of Quintessence, the divine energy. With that incorruptible spirit, we understand our perceptions of reality which reveals reality as it really is – the groundstate of primordial awareness.
This ‘One Thing’ is the First Matter or Prima Materia which alchemist Lao Tzu considered the Tao. That from which all things came into being that exists outside of space-time, it was called black matter that is alive. This is the main substance which transmutes in the three main stages of Alchemy. It is the Anima Mundi or Soul of the World, the constant balance or flux of opposites between creation and destruction. The First Matter is what all minerals, metals, animals, plants and human life is derived from as the Yin and Yang principles. [cite Marie-Louise von Franz, Alchemy: An Introduction to the Symbolism and the Psychology (Studies in Jungian Psychology) 1981]
The First Matter of alchemy and Taoism is represented as the Ouroboros, the serpent or dragon eating its own tail creating a circle, the balance and unison of opposites, all cycles of life as one. It is where the divine spark of life or the Secret Fire arises. Science, medicine, psychology, biology, astrology and spirituality are all rooted in alchemy as it deals with all forms of nature and the elements: metal, chemicals, herbs, animals, humans, elements, planets. The lowly first matter, the primordial chaos, is the essence from which all alchemists work. It is the twilight between the manifest and chaotic unmanifested reality of the unconscious. As cyclic death and rebirth, it is the beginning and end of the process (Ultima Materia).
Myth says alchemy was created by the Egyptian god Thoth, the first scribe and god of science, alchemy, astrology, mathematics, religions, medicine and magic. He is the Revealer of the Hidden and Lord of Rebirth, with the head of the water bird Ibis. He is credited with writing The Book of the Dead and the alchemical text of “The Emerald Tablet”. The Greek name for Thoth is Hermes so his teachings are known as Hermeticism. The remaining books of Thoth from the Alexandrian Library after it burned were guarded by The Sons of Horus which the Bookhouse Boys of Twin Peaks could be echoing. This could also reference the Mahatmas or Masters, Guardians of the Grail, or Chintamani Stone of the White Lodge in Theosophy.
The stages of alchemy are based on the colors seen during the stages of treated metals, usually base metals. The first stage in the alchemical process is call the Nigredo or the Black Phase known as mortification that reduces matter to its basic essences. It is introduced early as Laura's putrefying body wrapped in a plastic chrysalis. Internally, this entails facing your shadow self (traumas, fears, negative memories buried in the subconscious) called the Dweller on the Threshold. This Dweller of the Abyss personifies the Black Lodge from which BOB emanates.
BOB is the Dweller of the Abyss. Alice Bailey refers to this as “the fiery aspiration.” In Latin the word ‘aspire’ translates “to breathe towards” which also means soul. Aspiration she says precedes inspiration. In Eastern mysticism aspiration is a burning desire for purification of the lower self into the higher, which takes place on the burning ground. This charnal ground is the Nigredo. The initiate on the threshold is Agent Cooper.
The first matter is treated by fire during the Calcination phase. This is the constant through “Twin Peaks”, seen in burning logs of residential hearths and the burning of the Packard Saw Mill. It reduces the elements to ashes to remove impurities, then this matter is cleansed with liquid during the Dissolution phase. The ominous symbolism for this Black Phase is death. Twin Peaks opens with Laura’s death, her mortified body placed near the ebb and flow of water.
There is allegory in the mound of dirt where Laura died, her funeral, Donna Hayward’s wearing of Laura’s sunglasses, Agent Cooper’s constant enthusiasm for his black coffee: “Dale Cooper: Black as midnight on a moonless night.” Black Jack Gum, infamous for turning chewers teeth black, is Leland Palmer’s favorite. It is referenced by The Man From Another Place in the Red Room when he says “That gum you like is going to come back in style,” as it returned to the market in latter part of the 20th Century. It is echoed in the black oil substance pooled in the circular portal of The Black Lodge in Glastonbury Grove or any time there is fire.
A key example is the death of The Log Lady’s husband during a fire on their wedding night. She was said to have discovered a mysterious black oil that ‘opens a gateway’ after visiting Glastonbury Grove. Her husband’s spirit exists within the log which is why she keeps her fireplace boarded up. The entrance to Glastonbury Grove is a form of the Porta Alchemica legend, interpreted in Native American lore as the Sipapu. In alchemical works this massa confusa phase in nature is symbolized as any black bird or toad. Agent Cooper is confronted with many black birds in “Twin Peaks”, like the Mina bird and Crow.
The second phase is the Albedo or Whitening -- the Separation (isolating remaining elements) and Conjunction (reconstituting purified elements to new) recognizing impurities and dual nature. This process is symbolized when Leland’s hair turns white as he starts to face his molestation and murder of Laura as he is possessed by BOB. Other symbols are the churning foam of Snoqualmie Falls, the joining of lovers, anything in pairs, or any white bird, or weddings. The manipulated and failed wedding of Lana Budding Milford represents the failed process of the divine wedding or integration. She represents a corrupted version of the White Queen in her dishonest attempts to be the Queen of the Miss Twin Peaks Pageant. A crown is one of the symbols for the sacred marriage.
In spiritual alchemy the Sacred Marriage manifests when the The Solar Red King (soul, masculine energies) and Lunar White Queen (mind, feminine energies) are united within the alchemist so it became associated with incest, as referenced with Leland’s molestation of Laura. It is an example of an external corruption of The Great Work (the alchemical wedding, marriage of opposites) by the discarnate spirit BOB who possessed him. Leland’s serial rape and molestation of Laura is implied in gallows humor when he falls onto Laura’s casket which is being lowered into the ground.
This stage is also known as Greening, The Green Lion is seen in Twin Peaks as the trees, this rapid cycling through iridescent colors known as the Peacock's Tail. Its symbolism is the unicorn or deer. The array of peacock colors present at this stage in the process is referenced in the last season when Pete Martell complains his truck was stolen and states, ‘there were twelve rainbow trout in the bed!” The retort of the alchemist was sometimes referred to as a bed, where the King and Queen unify. It becomes a clue for Agent Cooper that he is in the final stages of the investigation and of the alchemical transformation within the Black Lodge.
“Matter will be called the forest, So shall we know and understand things rightly. The Unicorn stands for Spirit; The Stag answers to no other name Than Soul and none can deny it. Now it is true that he, who by Art, Knows how to tame them, Leading them out of the forest, Yet driving them close together, Would be called a Master,” says the Book of Lambspring about the Alchemical Wedding.
Towards the end of the first season Aubrey applies for a job at the perfume counter of her father’s department store. She gains access to the brothel One Eyed Jacks, where she along with the other women are given crystal unicorns. Aside from being noble and having magical powers of healing, unicorns can be a reference to six tapestries from the middle ages. “The Lady and the Unicorn” series depicts an indulgence in the senses, the first five senses catered to at the brothel and the last a depiction of her sixth sense, intuition. This panel is called À mon seul désir, in which the Lady though exalted in duality as both desire and purity, chooses to remain chaste. She is the White Stone.
Aubrey is forced to reveal her intentions after nearly being discovered by her father and rebelling against Madam. In the Book of Lambspring, the alchemical union in the forest (first matter) is depicted with a unicorn (masculine the principle of spirit) and the stag (feminine of the soul). The panel in which the Virgin holds the mirror up the unicorn is symbolic of psychological/spiritual transformation, creating a double image, one but not one, a reminder of other realities to reflect upon. The unfolding scenes from the start of her working at the brothel are all reflected in the 6 panels, the red background embodying the colors of the brothel. This stage is depicted by any white animal as when Agent Cooper discovers white fox hair on Maddy’s dead body.
Archetypes in Twin Peaks
"Sometimes nature plays tricks on us and we imagine we are something other than what we truly are. Is this a key to life in general? . . . In a dream, are all the characters really you? Different aspects of you?,” asks The Log Lady (Margaret Lanterman).
For Jung, the dual archetypes of Anima (female-soul) / Animus (male-spirit) personify feminine and masculine characteristics or personality attributes within an un-individuated person. They consist of personal and collective life experiences and unconscious mind that manifests in ego. In spiritual alchemy, the integration of the two create the syzygy or divine child. Unity of the two archetypes is the completion of individuation, bringing enlightenment and power.
The powers of all archetypes manifest in both positive and negative aspects, which are represented in the mythology of Greek Gods with characteristics or personalities correlating with planets. For Empedocles, the dynamics of Love and Strife define life itself, embodied in a romantic affair between Love goddess Aphrodite/Venus and War god Aries.Mars. In the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili we see Love and Strife as Poliphilio’s 'dream within a dream', in which he loses his love and regains her at the Fountain of Venus. In this sense Agent Cooper and the archetypes could be his 'dream within a dream' of Twin Peaks.
Internal alchemy exemplifies the Yin and Yang of the Tao and the White Queen and Red Queen in the Alchemical Marriage. Venus symbolism is the key to the last episode in the Red Room. This is also the basis of all great dramas and why characters are archetypal. Hippocrates defined the four elements within the body called The Four Humors (4 Noble Truths in Buddhism). Jung used collective archetypes in defining personality types. The balancing of elements or archetypes was the ideal seen in the Square of Opposites.
In Twin Peaks the characters represent each personality archetype and embody situational archetypes. We find battles between good and evil, death and rebirth, innate wisdom vs. educated stupidity (Agent Cooper’s intuitive investigative techniques and his agent status being revoked by his superiors). We find The Initiation and Journey, The Magic Weapon (Taoism and Agent Cooper’s intuition), and Nature vs. Mechanical World (Packard Saw Mill and Ghostwood Estate plans).
Setting archetypes include the following: The Garden (alchemists call their laboratory a rose garden site of the sacred chemical wedding of the Great Work), The Forest (Twin Peaks Ghostwood Forest), The River (Snoqualmie Falls), The Sea (the Tao), The Tower (the Black Lodge) and The Town (Twin Peaks itself).
Character archetypes are abundant: the Outcast, The Wanderer, The Loner (James Hurley); the Devil (Leland Palmer); Evil Genius, Trickster, Threshold Guardian (Windom Earle); Friendly Beast (the Giant); The Hero, Paladin and Magician (Agent Cooper); Star Crossed Lovers (Ed Hurley & Norma Jennings); Survivor (Ronette Pulaski); Temptress (Lana Milford), Tyrant (Benjamin Horne); Mentor, The Herald, Medicine Woman (Log Lady); Martyr (Maddy Fergusen); The Soldier (Major Briggs).
Also, The Fool (Deputy Brennan); Wise Old Man, (Deputy Hawk); Outlaw (Bobby Briggs); The Initiates (Bookhouse Boys); The Dreamer (Donna Hayward); Fallen Mentor (MIKE); Divine Couple, Sacrificial Dance (Cooper and Annie Blackburn); Femme Fatale (Jocelyn Packard); Wounded Healer (Dr Jacoby); Damsel in Distress Ingenue (Annie Blackburn & Shelley Johnson); The Villain (Hank Jennings, Jean Renault); The Rake (Dick Tremayne); Androgyne, Guardian (Agent Denise); Reformed Villain (Benjamin Horne); The Bully (Leo Johnson); and Authority Figure (Gordon Cole).
The Creature of Nightmares is BOB. “These night creatures that hover on the edge of our nightmares are drawn to us when we radiate fear,” says Windom Earle about the inhabitants of the Black Lodge, referring to BOB.
Carl Jung found psychological symbols in nature as well:
- The ego is represented by home environments, forests, trees and plants.
- The feminine archetype in nature is any form of water or earth symbols, caves, holes in trees tunnels, nests, moon, night, lakes, archways and female plants and animals.
- The masculine archetype which is air and fire elements are seen as tall trees, the sun; stems, mountains, male plants and animals.
- The Heroic archetype is seen in healing plants and herbs, young plants and animals, storms, and new growth.
- The Adversary archetype is displayed by thorny plants, storms, overgrown areas, erosion; struggling plant growth.
- The Death/Rebirth archetype is new life, seasonal cycles, perennial plants, environmental changes, border areas, natural intersections, and crossroads.
- The Journey archetype of maturing, learning and aging is seen in pathways, hills and mountains, rivers and streams, deer trails, wind, plant and animal growth.
Sacred Design & Harmonies [or maybe some better subtitle of your choice, like Unconscious Harmonics, etc.]
“Diane, I’m holding in my hand a small box of Chocolate Bunnies.” --Agent Cooper
Along with dreams, Agent Cooper uses divination, meditation and analysis to comprehend metaphors, riddles, anagrams, and psychic phenomena. Through reciting his various streams of consciousness, Agent Cooper records his narrative, observations and deductions. He addresses his micro-recordings to his mysterious secretary Diane, who is a symbolic form of his subconscious and anima-figure.
“Twin Peaks” never makes clear whether Diane really exists, so we might believe this is an extension of himself. However, Diane is French for Diana, the mythological Greek goddess of wild animals and the hunt, the moon, and most importantly forests. This White Goddess is a clue as to the recorder’s significance. The moon symbolizes the subconscious, intuition and the feminine side of one’s mind. This is a harbinger of Cooper’s White Queen, preceding the arrival of Annie Blackburn for his initiation in the Black Lodge where he confronts the Dweller of the Abyss.
"Watch - and see what life teaches. There are things in life that exist, and yet our eyes cannot see them. Have you ever seen something startling that others cannot see?”, the Log Lady asks.
Cooper uses other forms of intuitive deduction: the rock throwing “Tibetan Technique” of Season One and his coin toss inspired by the I Ching. Coins symbolize good luck and resemble a full moon symbolizing the unconscious, intuition and psychic awareness. The Winged Mercury dime is commonly used in coin tosses as Mercury is the Greek god of the crossroads, communication, and keeper of boundaries. He is a bridge been the upper and lower worlds. Mercury is also fundamental to all alchemical processes. Agent Cooper embodies the archetypal planetary and alchemical properties of Mercury himself, as the Thinker, the Adept.
Agent Cooper, Shaman
“I am filled with questions. Sometimes my questions are answered. In my heart, I can tell if the answer is correct. I am my own judge. There’s a whole world out there, hear the other side, see the other side” --The Log Lady
Cooper describes Tibetan divination as perfecting mind body coordination by deduction based on intuition, like the Taoist practice of Qigong. Immersing himself in the Tao of nature, Cooper explains to the sheriff’s department, (after moving their offices outside among the Douglas Fir Trees), that he received this divinatory knowledge from a dream about Tibet, its struggle from political oppression, and the release of the Dalai Lama.
After setting a bottle on a tree stump, he throws a rock after reading each suspect’s name related to J. If a rock missed they were no longer considered; if the rock hit the bottle that confirmed their possible guilt. 'J' is the initial for the name of the person Laura said she would meet in her diary before she disappeared and was murdered. The J might stand for Jupiter, planet of intuition, but the diary entry date is more significant.
The night Laura was murdered the last entry date was February 23rd. Agent Cooper reads this as the same day the 14th Dalai Lama was enthroned in 1940. He was last to rule Tibet as he was forced to leave, which Cooper addresses in his speech about his dream of a free Tibet.
The rock toss is reminiscent of the ancient Chinese Fortune Stick divination in Buddhist Temples called Kau Cim, a sacred oracle. When answers require more specifics the Jiaobei Blocks, also called Moon Blocks, are used. The size of an average river rock, these wooden crescent shaped pieces are flat (Yin) on one side and round on the other (Yang). Through these divination practices, geomancy, and his ability to communicate with the spirits of the Lodges, Agent Cooper acts as a kind of mystery school initiate, a Chinese Fangshi shaman, magician, and alchemist.
The investigation becomes a catalyst for his own spiritual journey on the path to enlightenment, to cross the threshold into perfect being or the Taoist Xian. At the threshold inside the Black Lodge Agent Cooper is put to the final test, the most important stage in the esoteric initiatory process. Facing the abyss, one confronts their shadow self, including repressed memories, subconscious fears and inner demons before lifting the veil and crossing over, to ultimately find spiritual rebirth and perfection in immortality.
Allegedly, only the gifted or the damned can see the spirits or energies of the Lodges and comprehend their meaning. Agent Cooper is both as Mercury archetype: “Through the Darkness of future past the Magician longs to see. One chance out between two worlds, Fire Walk with Me.”
Cooper as the Magician longs to see. Esoterics claims that what you seek is seeking you, thus, his duty is to investigate the murders. A role nearly as important as the Dali Lama is the Nechung Oracle of Tibet. He is chosen to interpret divine messages from the gods acting as a bridge between two worlds, the living and the dead, heaven and earth, much as Agent Cooper communicates with the spirits of the Lodges and relates this information in his reports during the investigation. Through his divination methods, his understanding of his feminine mind, (the subconscious, dreams, intuition), Cooper calls out between two worlds, as an oracle between the physical world of Twin Peaks and the spirit world of the Lodges.
Revelations
"I play my part on my stage. I tell what I can to form the perfect answer. But that answer cannot come before all are ready to hear. So I tell what I can to form the perfect answer.”
In Episode Two Leland is released by BOB, the violent spirit incarnate of collective negative energies. The evil archetype, and fire element that had possessed Leland since his childhood, is overcome by the water element during flooding of the holding cell when the fire alarm sets off the indoor sprinklers. BOB drives Leland to suicidal hysteria, to smash his head against the door so BOB can exit his body. As Leland is dying, Agent Cooper becomes the shamanic psychopomp, who comforts and assists the dying with instructions to cross over into the spirit realm. In Jungian philosophy the psychopomp mediates between the conscious and collective unconscious.
During this ritualistic departure, Cooper moves Leland into the Sleeping Lion Position and imparts a prayer from the Tibetan Book of the Dead that describes the essence of the Tao:
“The time has come for you to seek the Path. Your soul has set you face to face before the clear light and now you are about to experience it in its reality, wherein all things are like the void and cloudless sky, and the naked, spotless intellect is like a transparent vacuum, without circumference or center. At this moment, know yourself and abide in that state.”
In episodes three and four, Deputy Hawk talks to Agent Cooper about the ‘dream soul’ which can travel to sacred realms of the dead or spirits not bound by the waking mind. Travel to dimensions outside boundaries of time and space is the shamanic skill of astral projection. After discovering that Maddy Ferguson (Laura’s cousin and mirror image) has been murdered, Sheriff Harry Truman makes a Taoist reference, telling Cooper, “You’re on the path; you don’t need to know where it leads, just follow.”
Shortly after FBI agent Albert Rosenfield says, “Go on whatever vision quest you require, stand on the rim of a volcano, stand alone and do your dance, just find this beast before it takes another bite.” Both acknowledge Cooper’s shamanic wisdom and capabilities. The beast of the abyss is the universal evil that manifests as BOB, guardian of the threshold.
Lynch does make biblical references in Twin Peaks so BOB could also be the ‘beast’ of Revelations called Abaddon (in Hebrew), the angel of the Abyss. The appearance of the white horse before Leland kills Maddy could also reference death of the Four Horsemen of the apocalypse if related to the Black Lodge, A guardian spirit of the White Lodge could imply a Tibetan Wind Horse of prayers of protection.
Mike incarnated as Philip Gerard explains to Cooper while he is dying, that “Bob is a fire spirit. So are we both, both creatures of fire. Bob and I, when we were killing together there was a perfect relationship; appetite and satisfaction. A golden circle.” Chinese shamans allow themselves to become possessed by spirits to attain their power and act as oracle, sometimes with wrathful spirits. If BOB is a spiritual entity Agent Cooper may have invited BOB to possess him at the end of the series.
Fire as elemental archetype or mythological creature, needs to be constantly fed with its own element to exist. Hence, they need the incantation, “fire walk with me.” Fire is the element of alchemy that ascends or rises. But to keep from ascension and stay transfixed in the primal (appetite and satisfaction), they distort and deny the completion in the process of the alchemical wedding through rape and destruction. BOB may have sought possession of Laura to become wedded to her, as Rosicrucians believed elementals ‘wedded’ to a mortal would be immortal.
BOB seeks a corrupted and expedient form of immortality. The cyclic death and rebirth of samsara is a continual state of suffering, so BOB requires suffering to exist since he is reborn in the living during possession states. He is a type of ‘hungry ghost’ of the lower Bardo realms in Buddhism. He wants to cling to mortal states of carnal desire. This is the link between One Eyed Jacks and the Black Lodge, where the Red Room is mirrored in the decorative aesthetic of the brothel.
Such passion explains even the absurd, as we learned in Episode One. We have come full circle. The serpent bites its own tail. The mirror cracks. The Mystery of death and the woods is preserved – the eternal cycle continues.
Taoist Spiritual Alchemy
The beautiful thing about treasure is that it exists. It exists to be found. How beautiful it is to find treasure. Where is the treasure, that when found, leaves one eternally happy? I think we all know it exists. Some say it is inside us - inside us one and all. That would be strange. It would be so near. Then why is it so hard to find, and so difficult to attain?"—The Log Lady
Taoist Spiritual alchemy is called Neidan and involves both internal (spiritual) and external (medicinal) practices in unison to promote balance and harmony within the body for health and prolonged or immortal life. The Chinese equivalent to the Philosopher’s Stone is called the Golden Elixir. Philosopher Lao Tzu who penned the foundational text of Taoism the Dao De Jing was also a founder of spiritual alchemy. Wei Po-Yang, considered the father of Chinese Alchemy, wrote the most ancient alchemical book, Ts'an T'ung Ch'i. He invented gunpowder during his alchemical laboratory experiments.
The last episode of Twin Peaks: “Beyond Life and Death” was a symbolic amalgamation of both Western and Eastern philosophy by referencing the explosives Andrew Packard sets off in the vault of the Twin Peaks Savings and Loan. This represents a failed understanding of the Western alchemist’s quest after literal gold for monetary gain. The Log Lady hints at this when she says “You shut your eyes, you burst into flames.” Andrew Packard was blind to the real meaning of riches according to alchemy.
In their search for immortal life, Taoists practiced meditation, the accumulation, storage and expanding of Qi (life essence, the spiritual fire) with coordinated breathing and movement exercises to create a balanced flow to the Qi. They practiced Traditional Chinese Medicine (Zhong Vi) through dietary therapy and herbal medicines to create longevity. The Chinese ingested many elixirs made from plants and minerals like gold (Yang) and cinnabar (Yin), called Mercury in the West.
In spiritual alchemy, the body is the alchemical crucible or retort in which the elixir or Jing is created. Mercury and Cinnabar were keys to Chinese Alchemy. The red of the Cinnabar represents the heart, the location of accumulated Qi, the seat of the soul, love, luck and auspiciousness. The body and its meridians represent the cosmology of the universe seen in the Zang Fu and Wu Xing, which focuses on the process of change. The Tao is a constant state of flux but with a flow and order, this structure mirrors the five phases of the elements.
The two main interactions are: generating (creating/male) and overcoming (destructive/feminine). Taoist internal alchemy is called Waidan, shown in the chart Nei Jing Tu, a transformation that causes matter to revert to its state refined form of Qi. In Chinese alchemy the prima materia is timeless-oneness called Hun Dun (Tao). The final outcome of Chinese alchemy is Er Sheng San, which means two creates three. The book The Secret of the Golden Flower details the meditation techniques necessary for spiritual transformation.
In Taoism this cycle is called reverse creation, the eternal return or Ouroboros represented by Agent Cooper’s ring, which the Giant takes from him until he solves the mystery. The ring is returned when Maddy is murdered completing the cycle as Leland is arrested. This is a Turn in the cycle of the Tao, of life and death, the balance in Yin and Yang, mind and spirit.
In Chinese alchemy creating the elixir of immortality is symbolized by the White Hare alchemist or Moon Rabbit assistant to the Goddess Chang’e, who after drinking the elixir of eternal life, rose up to the moon rather than give up its secrets. She is the Returning Maiden in the I Ching. The mention of the Snowshoe Rabbit by Sheriff Truman after Agent Cooper says he saw a Cottontail rabbit refers to this symbolism since the Showshoe rabbit changes colors from brown in summer to white in winter, it undergoes a transformation each year and signifies a harmonious duality.
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In Chinese alchemy the Ladder of the Planets translates to the Ladder of Lights and the seven stars in the Big Dipper constellation. It is meditated upon for its secrets of eternal life and represents the number of phases in alchemy. The Big Dipper points to the North Star which was seen during the last great planetary conjunction. This is why The Great Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter opens the portal to the Black Lodge.
In Chinese internal and external alchemy specific planetary alignment and where the planet is located at various times during an hour or day is crucial to the success of the work. In external Chinese alchemy Waidan, is the ingestion of specific minerals, such as jade, cinnabar, or gold, to prolong life and life extension.
The book Danjing Yaojue by Sun Simiao known as King of Medicine is the most famous of medicinal books on this subject. The external alchemy ideally would result in Yin and Yang refined to create qualities of Pure Yang (chunyang) or a state of Oneness before its division. This is the White Queen and Red King of Western alchemy is seen as Azure Dragon and White Tiger to the Chinese. Chinese medicine teaches there is a connection between your organs and emotions and planets.
In spiritual alchemy are The Three Treasures: Jing (Essence or physical and sexual manifestations of energy, the feminine), Qi (Vitality, the life force as circulated through the twelve meridians of the body, the balancing of Yin and Yang) and Shen (Spirit psyche or mind, interaction between Qi and Jing energy), these correlate to Taoist deities called The Three Pure Ones. In Qigong the alchemist transforms Jing into Qi into Shen and Shen into Qi into Jing for health and manifestation. At the center of this energetic and spiritual transmutation is The Cinnabar Fields or dantian, with the focus on the heart area of the body in meditation as it is with Yoga and the three Channels.
Shangqing, is an alchemy of that deals with internal guardian deities (the San-yuan, the gods who live in the body). The most important of them is the Immortal Fetus or The One, this is also the Tao and the divine child. Three Pure Ones or the Three Primal Ones-replaces 'the three deathbringers in the major energy centers of the body and make the person immortal. Gurdjieff’s law of three corresponds to the Taoist triad Tai Qi of mediating between yin and yang. The three chambers of Taoist alchemy (stomach, heart, and head) corresponds to Gurdjieff’s three bodies of the carnal, emotional, and spiritual.
The Taoist principles of Taiji, Yin-Yang, and the Three Pure Ones (divinities of Heaven, Humanity, and Earth) are symbolic in the domino Hank held with the 3 pips during his parole hearing, he had in his hands freedom and a chance for rebirth. It can also symbolize alchemical book The Kybalion of Hermes teachings, also called The Three Initiates (Hermes thrice great).
One of the greatest spiritual transformations on the show is found in Ben Horne, who was the most powerful wealthiest men in Twin Peaks and planned the Ghostwood Forrest Estates that would destroy the Ghostwood Forest. After being accused of murdering Laura Palmer, he faces his dark night of the soul and becomes extremely depressed after losing everything. He had a breakdown and a brief lapse with reality becomes intuitively involved with Feng Shui with is office furniture, has a break with reality and acts out the surrender of the Union at Appomattox.
This represents his surrender to his ego and he begins to start anew by confronting his past, making amends and repairing his transgression by stopping the development on Twin Peaks Forests. He becomes an environmentalist to save the Pine Weasel and repairs his relationship with Aubrey. He starts to seek the ultimate truths with sacred religious texts, the last being Taoism.
The Lodges of Twin Peaks
"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." –Deputy Hawk
The White and Black Lodges are symbolic of the stages of alchemy, the Black Stage and White, with the final Red Stage. They are also alternate dimensional planes interconnected through the Red Room within a section of woods in Ghostwood Forest called Glastonbury Grove. They also represent spiritual integration and individuation, the unity of opposites, a conjunction. It is explained that the process within the Lodges occur during the Great Conjunction, when Saturn and Jupiter meet.
Major Briggs tells Earle that “There is a time, when Jupiter and Saturn meet; they will receive you.” In Episode 28, Cooper also found out when the next conjunction took place, January to June. This window of opportunity suggests the time of permitted access to the Lodge.
Planets have great significance in alchemy as they represent the archetypes of minerals and in Chinese alchemy rule over parts of the body and mind. Relative positions of the planets in the heavens affects every aspect of life functions on earth. “As above so below.” One of the key functions of the alchemical process was to ascend or meditate on the Ladder of the Planets, this is why the number twelve symbolism is seen as in the candles around the mound of dirt in the basement where BOB appears, and trees around the portal of the Black Lodge.
In the final stages of plant and mineral alchemy, the alchemists saw a star formation symbolizing our purest state, meaning that we are made from the same material as the stars. As with Blavatsky’s The Secret Doctrine, in the Primordial Gnosis: Forbidden Religion, the White and Black Lodges are dimensional planes not visible to humans. The White Lodge was formed from highly evolved beings (the Secret Chiefs) who try to help humans evolve and is part of the plan of creation. This beneficial aspect is the White Lodge.
Within the Black Lodge are those opposed to the plan of creation (Blavatsky’s Dugpas, sorcerers of the left hand path). This lodge is the photonegative of the White (Bon sect), the unconscious shadow self of humanity, the Prima Materia of the Great Work. Blavatsky claimed,
“Its true name is the Black Order, Warriors of the Spirit loathe matter, and they are indeed destroyers, but destroyers of the impure. If a common human came face to face with these beings, all that was impure within him, his body and soul would be disintegrated.
Such beings are formed from the antimatter fire of the other world; therefore not a single created atom can collide with them without disappearing. If these warriors were to approach a common man, they would destroy his body and soul, although not his Spirit, which is made from pure fire, just like them. Only the absurd aspects would be destroyed, the sick part, that which imprisons the Spirit, the coffin which encases It: the body and soul of the animal wrongly called human.” This is the lore of the Black and White Lodges and The Dweller on the Threshold and the somnambulist state of the town’s inhabitants.
BOB feeds off fear and is the Dweller on the Threshold within the Black Lodge where the initiate must face their shadow self, their fears and repressed negative memories to successfully integrate and pass the initiatory test. The words, “Fire Walk With Me”, found in blood at the murder scene by Agent Cooper, are not meant as an evocation or incantation but rather an invitation to join him in the Black Lodge. It’s a challenge to walk with Fire and if Agent Cooper can discover the mysterious functions of the Lodges and access them, he is ready for the test.
Agent Cooper is the archetype of Mercury, the intuitive dualistic nature, the Thinker or Student, BOB is Saturn, the beginning and end of the process, the harsh Teacher and disciplinarian. Isaac Newton was also an alchemist. His studies on the dual nature of light as both wave energy and particle matter showed this theory was most attuned with Nature and can also provide an explanation of the Tao. He theorized that light was the Rebis, the result of perfected matter from the Alchemical Wedding. So, keeping in mind Mercury was considered light in all forms, the cosmos or heavens and earth inform our inner fires.
This is why the entrance opens during an opposing conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter. The conjunction was the final stage of the alchemical process. This invitation was a Call to experience your darkest fears and hate. The opposite – love -- is expressed in the microcosmic parallel subplot of the TV soap opera that Twin Peaks residents watched called Invitation to Love. The invitation to fear, is hinted at by Windom Earle when he says, “For you see, the cave painting is not only an invitation, it is also a map, a map to the Black Lodge!”
The Lodges are considered metaphysical extra-dimensional locations of spirit energies that can be accessed by the living through dream states, the subconscious or a physical portal. However it could be postulated that the Lodges themselves are another level of reality completely within the mind of Agent Cooper in a spiritual/psychological alchemy, with the Lodges as the retort itself. The three phases of black, white and red is …A dream within dreams or world within worlds.
If the Lodges exist on an external level in alternate realms, the spirit energies that reside in the Lodges physically manifest into our reality via possession of animals, mainly the owls and humans, traversing between these two worlds. BOB is both a dominant force of the Black Lodge and an archetype within the psyche as the Dweller of the Threshold. He desires physicality and resides in the black void of primordial creation in the abyss, the void of chaos, the unconscious mind from which the creative spark emanates.
In his lecture, “Paracelsus as a Spiritual Phenomenon,” Jung says that through alchemy we are able to induce the process of transformation which alone is capable of liberating the divine light imprisoned in physical creation. This spiritual transformation from corrupted matter to a state of spiritual perfection is the basis of alchemy and exemplifies Taoist Taiji-tu -- diagram of the supreme ultimate.
Though the Lodges are spoken of as separate locations and opposing one another, they are an interrelated whole as Yin and Yang principles as upper and lower truths, or ‘as above so below’. The Lodges are a symbol of balancing dualistic nature in many cultures and esoteric beliefs. Those symbols include the Native American Twin Hero Myths, the Golden Elixer of Taoist alchemy, Masonic twin pillars of Boaz and Jachin of Solomon’s Temple, Atman and Brahman of Adaita in Hinduism, the marriage of the Hieros Gamos, Yab -Yum of Tibetan Buddhism, the Pillar of Mercy and Severity of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, the left and right Channels of Nadis Yoga, the unio mystica of the Rosarium Philosophorum and the Pillars of Hermes that contained the Emerald Tablet. This is direct knowledge of creation, the arts of nature, science of the stars and immortality.
If integration of these fail, symptomatic conflicts arise from these oppositions which results in violence, anger, and destructive ego caught up in ego inflation. BOB is an example of failed integration and repression which results in the manifestation of the destructive nature of humanity, the negative primal instincts of the subconscious. BOB himself is possessed by a twisted god-like delusion that is his megalomania.
Dion Fortune’s description in Psychic Self Defense, describes the Black Lodge in which BOB resides, as the accumulation of energetic forces and psychic gifts that have been used for ill and selfish gain. Any practitioner of black magic is said to be of the Black Lodge. Whether BOB stands for universal evil, is the result of a demiurge, an ancient malevolent spirit, an accumulation of negative energies or the unintegrated broken psyche, he seems to have a will of his own desiring manifest and primordial base desires.
In Season Two, Windam Earle speaks of the corrupted sect of Buddhist monks who practiced evil magic called the Dugpas or “red hats” who accumulated an extraordinary amount of power and psychic control over others. Nearly identical to this are the Navajo’s ancient Holy Ones, who are supernatural beings capable of feeling emotion and committing acts of destruction and dominion.
It is up to the viewer to decide if the series os an example of external or inner alchemy to define the Lodges and the presence of the entities within them. As in the aforementioned esoteric systems, there is always a center to create balance, the left side is generally dark, feminine, receptive and passive (Luna Moon), the right masculine, active output and light (Sol Sun).
The left hand path is associated with dark magic, self-serving and energetic predators, so Mike cut off his left arm. The man from another place is an extension of mike’s arm manifesting in the Black Lodge. This conflicting left vs. right hand path is seen when the Black Lodge is about to be opened and various characters in Twin Peaks, including Agent Cooper at the end of the second season, have sudden uncontrollable trembling in their right arms.
The electrical disturbances throughout Twin Peaks ominously signify danger and death. This also reflects the inside of the Black Lodge, where the duality of light and darkness and the conflict of the split psyche are visibly apparent.
In theosophical Kabbalism, ascending the Tree of Life up the spheres via mediation can be achieved in two ways, one being directly up the Middle Pillar. This path of the arrow is that of compassion intuition, beauty and integration, Yin Yang synthesis, the merging of masculine and feminine. In Taoism it is called the Middle Way.
The other way traverses all the spheres in the flaming sword path, creating the zig zag pattern of a lightning bolt, which can be seen in the black and white chevron pattern on the floor of the Red Room of the Black Lodge. Also related is the Vajra, Sanskrit for thunderbolt, called the flash of the serpent, is the illumination of the psyche as it is about to merge.
Tantric Alchemy
“The heart - it is a physical organ, we all know. But how much more an emotional organ - this we also know. Love, like blood, flows from the heart. Are blood and love related? Does a heart pump blood as it pumps love? Is love the blood of the universe?" The Log Lady
It is said that alchemy was a gift of communion with the gods, a gift made of fire and sexual union, this theory of ecstasy in divine manifestation is expressed most eloquently in tantric yoga. In the start of Twin Peaks, when Dr. Jacoby is being questioned about Laura’s murder. At the Sheriff’s Office Dr. Jacoby says, “The problems of this world are caused by sexual repression.”
Tantra is a form of meditation meant to raise the kundalini energies of the body during sexual union. Tantra can be used as a form of what Jung called Alchemical Eros, or in Chinese alchemy, Jing accumulation. This transforms and restores Chi to the body which results in health, vitality, and life extension called The Joining by the Essenes. Yin is female principle and Yang is male. The sacred sexual union is considered a joining of heaven and earth, as above so below, to channel divine energy through the mind-body to spirit.
Throughout Twin Peaks Dr. Jacoby wears the Anaglyph glasses to see the world in 3D, symbolic of the Rebis. His character is based on psychonaut, Taoist and shaman Terrence McKenna who has written extensively on Tantra, psychoactive drugs, alchemy and meditation to gain spiritual understanding. In the hotel room where he is found dead the Mayor discovers many tantric books including a fictionalized version of My Secret Life and proclaims, “This is the murder weapon!” while holding up one of the books.
This sacred text says, “The person who perceives Brahman in everything feels everlasting joy.” Blavatsky calls it 'an electro-spiritual force, a creative power which, when aroused into action, can as easily destroy as it can create.' This is the perversion sexuality that Leland possessed by BOB felt for Laura. It is the primal water which contains all four elements.
In Season One, Deputy Hawk says to Agent Cooper “One woman can make you fly like an eagle, another can give you the strength of a lion, but only one in the Cycle Of Life can fill your heart with wonder and the wisdom that you have known a singular joy.” The only one in this reference may be the anima within Agent Cooper once he is fully integrated at the end of his journey. Meaning is born as 'Knowing' from the symbol that was pregnant with it.
This union with his White Queen and reveals Annie Blackburn as his female counterpart, his mirror, his soror mystica. Anthropogenesis precedes Cosmogenesis, as the Divine merges into the human, and creates. The kundalini awakening during sexual union is a form of spiritual transformation.
In the alchemical treatise, Aurora Consurgens. the panel in which two seemingly genderless figures sit together. One gives their heart, blood, body and mind (missing from image) to the other, in an example of the divine union through flesh. The heart appears as a red apple. Heart or soul ascends by means of earth into heaven and again it descends into the earth, and retakes the power of the superiors and of the inferiors.
Yogic Tantrikas or Siddhis of the East who found enlightenment were said to possess ecstasies of near godlike powers. They were true alchemists of the flesh as philosopher’s stone, impenetrable to disease or age, some living off Chi alone -- the adamantine diamond body. The forbidden fruit has always represented secret knowledge and sexuality as we see in many alchemical artworks references to fruit.
Audrey proves her sexual yet virginal dichotomy when applying to work at One Eyed Jack’s, by tying a cherry in a knot with her tongue. This is symbolic of the sacred feminine and the Gordian knot which in sacred geometry is the Torus or Tao. This tantric reference of the erotic fruit as sexuality in culture is seen in the greatest alchemical tripartite artwork, Garden of Earthly Delights, by Hieronymus Bosch.
The Log Lady references this when she says, “There are clues everywhere - all around us. But the puzzle maker is clever. The clues, although surrounding us, are somehow mistaken for something else. And the something else - the wrong interpretation of the clues - we call our world. Our world is a magical smoke screen. How should we interpret the happy song of the meadowlark, or the robust flavor of a wild strawberry?"
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Conclusions
Mircea Eliade said, "...both Tantrist and alchemist strive to dominate 'matter'. They do not withdraw from the world as do the ascetic and metaphysician, but dream of conquering it and changing its ontological regime. In short, there is good ground for seeing in the tantric 'sâdhana', and in the work of the alchemist, parallel efforts to free themselves from the laws of Time, to 'decondition' their existence and gain absolute freedom.” [cite, Mircea Eliade, The Forge and the Crucible, Univ. of Chicago Press, 1956 by Flammarion, 1978 by Eliade, 2nd Edition, pg.129.]
To produce transformations the magician uses the conception of "dynamic interconnectedness” to describe the physical world as the sort of thing that imagination and desire can affect. This holistic world is an independent whole, a web in which no strand is autonomous. Mind and body, galaxy and atom, sensation and stimulus, are intimately bound. Oneness is the backdrop of all that exists.
The primordial unbound state is nothing. All things are independent yet interrelated. The worldview is that all things come from the One Thing, or First Cause. Beyond delusory illusions of projection and archetypal possession, those who value human imagination and perceive cosmic oneness in worldly differences, can transcend the worldly vision, with meanings and revelations.
In Taoist and Vedic thought, the cosmic holistic entity – the universe – manifests its desire for self-expression as many – unity in diversity. This cyclic expression is oscillation – energetic flux -- of eternal growth and decay. Dualism is reconciled in complementary functions radiating cosmic forces. Integral gender vitality is the meaning of the sacred wedding. The unmanifest accounts for the overall stability of the universe. Holistic consciousness that guides nature is the invincible Silent Witness.
Universe is a spiritual arena, the domain of ‘desire-based consciousness. This power is integrating if it is turned into earth, grounded and balanced in manifest life. Self-healing flourishes optimally when dualism is transcended. Freed of the personal limitations of the individual mind, ‘compatible’ entities remain in ‘complementary’ pairs. The mystery of immortality is tied to that of death/rebirth. The nature of life is immortality.
“‘Desire for self-existence’ of the source permeates through all the minds of its aberrations, eternally establishing immortality in the universe,” says Rengarajan. [cite DNA Decipher Journal | August2015 | Volume 5 | Issue 1| pp. 35-54Rengarajan, S.,
Cosmic Intelligence & DNA (Part III) ]
Such passion explains even the absurd, as we learned in Episode One. We have come full circle. The serpent bites its own tail. The mirror cracks. The Mystery of death, immortality, and the deep unconscious woods is preserved – the eternal cycle continues, interweaving spirituality, culture, and nature.
The Game
"Is life like a game of chess? Are our present moves important for future success? I think so. We paint our future with every present brush stroke”. --The Log Lady
Agent Cooper’s fight with Windom Earle in the chess game is a microcosm of Twin Peaks and its residents and another initiatory challenge for Cooper. The game reveals how the town is manipulated through psychic energies from the Lodges and how they respond as collective unconscious.
This match between Windom’s wits and Agent Cooper’s intuition is a clash of dualities. The black and white of the board pits female subconscious against male conscious mind -- The Lunar Queen (Yin, intuition, water energy) and the Solar King (Yang fire and sun energy) of the Splendor Solis.
This prepares him for the final challenge against BOB, the dweller on the abyss, in the Black Lodge and Cooper’s confrontation of his shadow self. Windom Earle says to Cooper over the phone, “The king must die.” He warns Cooper to prepare for ego death during the integration in the Black Lodge. It also implies that if he fails integration at the threshold his soul will be annihilated.
This is part of the alchemical process of the Nigredo or Black Phase in the Great Work. In the 17th episode of Season Two, Windom Earle physically takes on the role of the devil archetype, the trickster, and associated Greek god Pan. He sits on a large rock playing the Japanese wind instrument before reading a list of transgressions of Leo Johnson, justifying his condemnation and torment, enslaving him to his bidding.
Windham Earle is manipulated by BOB, as he thrives off fear and suffering. This is what Windham is searching for when choosing his queen. He sends the Percy Shelley poetry to Audrey, Donna, and Shelley This corrupted vision of his White Queen is evident in his meditation on the Queen in the playing cards. He seeks but does not comprehend the true alchemical wedding.
He seeks his White Queen at the end of the series in the Miss Twin Peaks beauty pageant. The stage is a reconstruction of the entrance to the Black Lodge, with the 12 contestants as the Twelve Trees in Glastonbury Grove.
The trees refer to the alchemical symbolism of the twelve knights of King Arthur. Sheriff Truman alludes to it, saying, “Here’s something, Coop. Twelve trees in a perfect circle. There’s a place like that up in Ghostwood, it’s called Glastonbury Grove.”
Cooper says, “Glastonbury. That’s the legendary burial place of King Arthur.” Pete then asks, “King Arthur's buried near here?” Cooper responds, “No, in England. This feels right, Harry, let's get up there.” Earle’s distorted, misunderstood journey transforms when Earle and Leo Johnson discover how to open the portal to the Black Lodge.“A perfect symbiosis. Oh, nature, perfect in design and aspects. You do not disappoint!”
He proceeds with, “The time has come to gather my beloved queen and embark upon our dark honeymoon,” kidnapping Annie Blackburn during the Miss Twin Peaks pageant. This literalization is his corrupt attempt at the Dry Way of alchemical transformation. Windham Earle sends his invitation to love to Audrey, Shelley and Annie, quoting the first half of Shelley Peary’s poem “Love’s Philosophy.”
Dweller on the Threshold
The fountains mingle with the river. And the rivers with the ocean, The winds of heaven mix forever with a sweet emotion; Nothing in the world is single, All things by a law divine, In one another’s being mingle, Why not I with thine? He is longing for his White Queen in this poem.
So now the sadness comes - the revelation. There is a depression after an answer is given. It was almost fun not knowing. Yes, now we know. At least we know what we sought in the beginning. But there is still the question: why? And this question will go on and on until the final answer comes. Then the knowing is so full, there is no room for questions." --The Log Lady
We’ve identified the Guardian of the Threshold as BOB in the Black Lodge. This malevolent liminal entity acts as a catalyst of transformation or the manifestation of a person’s life’s transgressions, fears, negative memories retained in the subconscious mind. This is the Adversary that must be confronted, in order to cross the initiatory threshold into an enlightened state.
Edward Bulwer Lytton described the Dweller in his book Zanoni : “Be behind what there may - I raise the veil.” This lifting, rending and closing of the veil is part of many initiation rites, signifying advancing a level among degrees, crossing over between two worlds. It opens communication between the physical and spiritual, the higher and lower realities of existence.
Each time Agent Cooper lifts the red curtain to enter another room in the Lodge he finds himself back in the same location. He fails to cross over because he has not been fully prepared and is failing the confrontation with collective Shadow.
The two worlds are the manifest physical and the fine higher self or Observer Self, which can access other realities. Awareness of alternate realities facilitates astral travel. The Lodges represent a ritual chamber or Vault of the Adepts. Crowley described the Dweller on the Threshold of the Abyss as evil in the sense that it is "meaningless but malignant, in so far as it craves to become real”, like BOB.
Crowley describes ego death from the dark night of the soul: “Now that there was no longer any `I' to suffer, all these ideas which had inflicted suffering became innocent. I could praise the perfection of every part; I could wonder and worship the whole."
This is the essence of the Tao. Nothingness that is a Plenum provides clarity to perception. Knowing how things really are we embrace the universe in its pure chaotic state and hidden realities with new eyes of wonder as if a child, to be resurrected.
This Dark Night of the Soul is a spiritual crisis. Cognitive dissonance destroys the ego, shocking a person into mental clarity, a realization of the higher self. In alchemy it is the Nigredo (Latin for blackness) stage, it is Da’ath in Kabbalism. Blavatsky defined the Dweller or Guardian of the Abyss as a residual entity of a lost astral double from an individual’s previous life. When reborn, this double attempts to unite and merge once again in psychic-spiritual union.
In the Black Lodge, Agent Cooper faces his Dark Night. John Dee, the Enochian magician to Queen Elizabeth, called the Guardian of the Abyss a literal demon who tests your soul before ascension. The Demon of Dispersion resides in chaos.
This merging of ego into true self and dispersion of dualities can be seen when Agent Cooper asks “Who is BOB?” Mike replies with a lyrical acronym: “He is BOB, eager for fun. When he wears a smile, everybody run!” The first letter of each line spells out Be We. This could be a mantra for integration and transmutation of the psyche and sexual energies and Taoist thought.
In Thelema, the Oath of the Abyss is the freedom of rational thought and aligns itself with the Tao. One acknowledges synchronicities and symbolism as spiritual communication with the higher self. In theosophy this is I AM Activity. The psychic and spiritual function of the Lodges are explained in Dion Fortune’s Psychic Self Defense in which she says the pure can see members of the Black Lodge as they really are. [cite the DF book here]
Fortune calls the forces in the Lodges “the Unseen”. People come into contact with the unseen through physical places. The psychic, vulnerable and sensitive to the subconscious are attracted to these places of concentrated high energy. These are the gifted and damned of Twin Peaks.
When BOB is near, his presence can induce feelings of dread and fear that results in psychic attack or possession. The attacker, physical or discarnate entity (BOB) can enter a person, 1) through self-preservation (fear base instincts), and 2) sex instinct. Etheric hooks and cords come from projected anger which triggers abyssal unconscious.
The possessing entity can enter a pierced aura from within by intense emotional reactions, fear or sexuality. If a person remains unemotional they are safe from psychic invasion. Laura would not let BOB enter her body the way her father Leland had, despite her torture and repeated rape.
Red Stage
The Red Stage or Rebedo of alchemy starts with a short yellowing phase, called the Citrinitas which signified near completion of the process. The Garmonbozia or creamed corn which is the psychic sustenance of the Black Lodge could be considered symbolic of this phase. The Red Phase, putrefaction occurred and was symbolized by the jar of oil from the entrance of Black Lodge in the ground brought to Agent Cooper by the Log Lady.
This stage is seen in the iridescence of blackest oil. This reddening stage is the rebirth of self into a third divine child. Blood was added to the mixture and turned it red when heated. This is represented by The Red Room itself and is when the feminine and masculine merge, the marriage of the sun and moon and Greek gods Hermes and Aphrodite (Venus). Both the Black Lodge and White exist within it. The birth of the androgyne from this union is also represented by Lucy Moran’s pregnancy and the dance between Agent Cooper and Annie Blackburn in the Roadhouse.
The next stage is called the fermentation process, which occurs the same way alcohol or spirits is created. This is humorously acted out during the wine tasting benefit held at the Great Northern, hosted by Dick Tremayne. The final stages to complete the process require deep mediation, which Agent Cooper engages in prior to his challenge at the Lodge.
The Red phase involves anything red colored. In Taoism this was Cinnabar (Mercury and Sulfur). After the Giant warns him this stage may end in failure at the Roadhouse, we see the light at the intersection turn red, red neon signs, blocked hallways then the opening of the Black Lodge itself. If successful this distillation stage would be complete, symbolized by white birds rising into air, fountains and waterfalls.
The end process is a third state, a superior consciousness and enlightenment called the Noble Empress or Androgyne. In “Twin Peaks” this Androgen or Cosmic Child is referenced by Agent Denise Bryson. This process is a new dawn spiritually as when Agent Cooper and Annie Blackburn emerge from Lodges. The alchemical text The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz is acted out in the bank vault of the last episode, as well.
Fire Symbolism
"I can see the smoke. I can smell the fire. The battle is drawing nigh." "Sometimes my anger at the fire is evident. Sometimes it is not anger, really. It may appear as such, but could it be a clue? The fire I speak of is not a kind fire. Log Lady
Alchemical fire is the key to transformation on an elemental level. Spiritual fire is the essence of life, the divine spark. The complimentary flow of dualities in The Tao is a creative/destructive dynamic. Eastern deities of fire and death cycles include the Hindu deity Kala, god of time and death, the great black one. The sons of fire are solar deities, Minds formed from the Primordial Fire. Homa ritual uses fire for blessings and immortality, with sacrifices dependent on the prayer or mantra.
The Achala, a Wisdom Kings in esoteric Buddhism, is a guardian demon that functions much like the Dweller on the Threshold in Western esoterica. In Buddhism the Mandala of the Two Realms, is the physical, active fiery manifestation of Buddha. In Theosophy, fire is the intelligence that moves the entire universe, it is electricity, magnetism, sensation. It is Chaos or the Dark Fire, the eternal flame.
This is the electrical interference in “Twin Peaks” that BOB triggers. Fire initiation is also called the Great Passing. It focuses on death and rebirth in the greater mysteries. It is then the adept meets with the spirits. The new identity aligns itself with the Great Work. Paracelsus said “Alchemy is only that which makes the impure pure by means of fire. Though not all fires do burn, it is however only Fire and continues to be Fire that interests us.”
Fire ascends in smoke and water descends in rain, symbolizing the duality of nature in harmonious cycles. Throughout history sages have counseled: Man, know thyself. Thou art the Flame, and thy bodies are the living altar." [cite Manly P Hall]. “If we close our eyes to the truth, the fire inside us will consume us and destroy us through our own vices, close your eyes and burst into flames.”
Alchemist St. Germain also mentions the Secret Fire in the initiatory text The Most Holy Trinsophia (Three Fold Wisdom). He describes his initiation through the twelve degrees of Cosmic Consciousness. The fire of the psychic centers directs the restrictive and enlightening energy of Saturn, through the powers of the Mind, or Mercury.
This liberating Secret Fire can activate psychic phenomena during intense experiences. In Kabbalah, ‘The Triangle of Fire’ represents self-realization in Tiphareth and union with god on the Tree of Life. Saturn is at the apex, while Mercury and Venus are at the base corners, with the Sun in the center. “The Sacred fire is like the Brahman, the Unknowable fire, like stars.” It is the Spiritus Mundi (spirit of the world).
In alchemical ciphers, the symbol for strong fire is the Twin Peaks logo seen in markings on the Major and Log Lady after entering the Lodges. In Blavatsky’s Secret Doctrine this is called the three-fold-flame, the culmination of the two sexes as twin flames opening to immortality. Lumen Dei and lumen naturae is the light hidden in matter. Such forces of nature are released through alchemy and our dreams. Jung says, “Fire is aether in its purest form.” “Fire or Knowledge burn up all action on the plane of illusion.”
"As above, so below. The human being finds himself, or herself, in the middle. There is as much space outside the human, proportionately, as inside. Stars, moons, and planets remind us of protons, neutrons, and electrons. Is there a bigger being walking with all the stars within? Does our thinking affect what goes on outside us, and what goes on inside us? I think it does.”
The Key
Shining Venus trembles afar, Earth's Higher Self, and with but one finger touches us. –Buddhist proverb
Newton’s theory in alchemy called ‘The Net’, which led to the “Philosopher’s Stone” was based on a Greek myth. When Vulcan found his wife Venus in bed with the god Mars, he created a net to hang the adulterous couple from the ceiling. The wedding or union of Venus (copper) and Mars (iron) by Vulcan (fire) symbolized transformation. The heated metals created an alloy reminiscent of a net.
Inside the Red Lodge is we see references to 1) the color Red attributed to Mars the fiery planet of sexual conquests, and 2) Venus in the two Venus statutes, as the great goddess of love, Aphrodite. The “Venus de Milo” and “Venus Pudica” represent the duality of sexuality and Agent Cooper’s merging with his feminine animus. The “Venus Pudica” in the hall is one of the modest, pure states of Venus (like Maddy). The sexualized Venus de Milo has no arms to cover her nudity. This is Laura and found in the Red Room.
The Venuses alternate as Agent Cooper struggles with his fears and confrontation of BOB, alternating positions in the Lodge. When Cooper succumbs to his fears seeing Annie injured, the statues disappear. Saturn, the god of time wins. Venus is the Evening and Morning Star. Most initiations end at dawn. Venus rotates backwards like the backwards speech in the Black Lodge. Wagner’s Tannhäuser opera is about the seduction in the grotto of Venus. The three acts are about the struggle between sacred and profane love, the two Venus in the Black Lodge, and redemption through love. Self-realization, the higher self, or self-knowledge is key to the meaning of alchemical transformation.
Agent Cooper’s love for Annie Blackburn leads to his possession by BOB. He has sacrificed in the ultimate display of romantic love, the Aphrodite archetype. This Goddess of Light is also known as Anadiomeni, which in Greek mean "the one who emerges, the rebirth of conscious from the primordial sea of unconscious. She is the perfect metaphor for leading one to the ledge of threshold.
Her Chinese equivalent is goddess is Chuang Mu. In the last episode, taking the key to bank vault simulates the Lady Venus tomb in the King’s Treasury from Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz. The castle represents male dominated energies; the female lays dormant below, suspended at the Vault of Venus made of iron and cooper like the bank vault door.
Audrey, as Lady Venus chains herself suspended to the door in what is described as a mausoleum. In the Rosicrucian ritual, the seven sided Vault of the Adepti has blinking squares with drawers behind them. The bank vault too has drawers of safe deposit boxes. In the story the divine wedding can only occur through a death process. In this tale Lady Venus will awaken and be mother to a King but who survives the explosion remains unclear.
The Language of Birds
"Letters are symbols. They are building blocks of words which form our languages. Languages help us communicate. Even with complicated languages used by intelligent people, misunderstanding is a common occurrence. "We write things down sometimes - letters, words - hoping they will serve us and those with whom we wish to communicate. Letters and words, calling out for understanding." Log Lady
Oracles are considered the interpreters of the gods as the will of heaven. Birds were oracular because they could fly between the two worlds of earth and heaven and among the gods. They carried messages of knowledge of other worlds. Only initiates understood the language of the birds in their coded songs and sounds, which take skill and intuition to understand.
Augury is the role of Agent Cooper when trying to understand the broken dialect and confusing language spoken by the inhabitants of the Lodges. The spirits of the Lodges don’t think in logical patterns with the rational mind but in nonlinear abstract thought, stemming from the unconscious, spoken in riddle, non sequiturs, metaphors, or backwards, in a dreamlike state.
Giving Agent Cooper a clue about Laura’s murder, The Man from Another Place says “Where we're from, the birds sing a pretty song and there's always music in the air.” he room where Laura was held contained a Myrna bird and record player. Esoterics teaches understand of the language of spirits via the subconscious during divination, meditation or possession.
Aleister Crowley’s exercise Law of Reversals taught that speaking backwards for extended periods allowed one to stay in a subconscious state of liberated thought. He taught avoiding conscious speech patterns, words and pronunciations to make the mind more agile. This is similar to the artistic process of the surrealists.
Shamans use the liminal state to communicate with spirits, to lose rational thought, and enter the spirit world beyond space-time understanding. Shamanic language is called the twisted language. Logical language confuses and frightens the spirits. Tantric texts are often composed in an intentional language (Sandhyabhasa), a paradoxical and inverted language, in the form of poetry written by Siddhas.
This secret, dark, ambiguous language expresses a state of consciousness by erotic terms, mythology and cosmology. According to Eliade, it translated to “enigmatic language” and Max Muller called it a “hidden language”. The language of the birds was considered secret and a key to perfect knowledge which required an adept to decipher.
Nature Symbolism
“I’ll see you and you’ll see me, in the branches that blow in the breeze, under the Sycamore Trees.” “Yet they all have about them a sense of mystery - the mystery of life. Sometimes, the mystery of death. The mystery of the woods. The woods surrounding Twin Peaks.”
Trees embody the connection between heaven and earth, the knowledge of creation, endurance, strength and immortality. The tree reflects the essence of the Tao. Wind is the breath of life through which spirits speak or travel, so in “Twin Peaks” scenes of wind blowing through tress is an ominous sign. Trees are the bridge between two worlds, the lower half rooted in earth with the upper in heaven.
The Heavenly Stems and Twelve Earthly Branches of Space Time reference trees because of their longevity. The rustling of trees in the wind speaks an ancient wisdom to those who listen. In Egyptian mythology twin Sycamore Trees facing east formed the gateway to the afterlife, as Sycamore trees surrounded the entrance to the Black Lodge. They are also found on burial sites where Twin Peaks was built. Douglas fir symbolizes strength, past and future, and purification rites. Annie Blackburn Speaks about the conservation of trees at the end of Twin Peaks: ”But they are alive. Every forest has its shadow.” Chief Sequoia said, “To be one with the trees is to know Life within your own spirit.” Native Americans hold ancient and sacred trees as equal to humans. They are called The Standing People and thought to contain the Great Spirit.
In the lore of the Cherokee people, the First People requested the Creator Ouga to make continual daylight. When the crops became overgrown, their paths obscured and they could not sleep, they requested continual night. The Creator explained the importance of balancing dichotomies in life but granted their request. Soon everything stopped growing; people starved to death. Realizing their mistake, they asked for both night and. Creator restored the duality but grieved those who perished.
Spirits were given rebirth inside the wood of the Cedar trees. Legend says when you gaze upon the wood, you are looking at your ancestors. This could explain why The Log Lady’s husband’s spirit was inside the log and why Josie Packard’s spirit was in the wood of the fire place mantle of the Great Northern and the drawer handle.
The cave is also associated with the essence of immortality and the Tao -- repositories of purified Qi. Adepts and Buddhists meditate in caves, as it represents a womb of the earth. The Taoist canon is divided into sections called caves, and the caves within the body are containers of energy.
The Owls Are Not What They Seem
The owl is associated with Athena and Minerva, goddesses of wisdom, strategy and magic. They represent intuition and mysticism because they are nocturnal and have heightened senses. They are also considered omens or harbingers of death. Their flight is silent, so they are the keepers of secrets and mystery, magical birds, companions to witches, sorcerers, and mystics. They are guardians of the underworld and the dead and believed to have the ability to see spirits.
Owls can traverse between the two worlds of the living and the dead. They have the ability to communicate with the spirit world. Their ability to see in darkness associates them with the shadows, dreams and subconscious. Native Americans invoke the owl spirit as oracles because of their ability to speak the language of the trees, birds, and winds.
The Owl Caves held the Owl Pictograph, a map of Ghostwood Forest and location of the Lodges. Inside the Owl Cave. In front of the pictograph, the stone lever is engraved with a symbol that appears to be an owl in flight. When Windham Earle turns this stone protrusion sideways, the symbol becomes the rune Inguz which means isolation or separation. This symbol also represents the Lithuanian witch Ragana, who is healer and seer, a wise woman assisted by the owl.
In Native American lore, night birds were threatening creatures called Ishkitini. The horned owl was believed to prowl at night killing both people and animals. Its cry foretold death or murder.
In the myth of nagualism, a human takes animal form by a Skinwalker or shapeshifter in the Witchy Way (Native American witchcraft). BOB is able to shapeshift as the horned owl. Owls digestive systems is the alchemical process itself in that it swallows its prey whole. The parts are separated in the gizzard into digestible food and toxic or waste parts like in a retort, Finally, it is regurgitated and expelled in a pellet. This compares with purification in alchemy.