The Great Wall of America

"The wall is going to be....a GREAT wall." - Donald Trump Feb 16th, 2017 Press conference, 15:45

In a previous blog, "The Mad Architect of Civil War," we looked at old American war propaganda posters as well as more recent billboards advertising various films and tv series. We explored how the media is not necessarily reflecting reality, but suggesting and DICTATING it, from various angles in order to maintain division among the populace. I couldn't help but notice a fresh new batch of them, so here is a few more for your consideration...

I have not seen the film "The Great Wall," but presumably it is about "the Great Wall of China." Above is the main promotional billboard plastered all around major cities. What we see is a white man (Matt Damon) in military attire, about to shoot someone who is clearly below him on the other side of a wall (represented by the movie title). Behind him are 4 people of different races, also dressed for battle. The 4 individuals look unsure and fearful, but prepared for blood. They are staring directly at the viewer (you). This can be confirmed by looking closely at a large, blown up version of this billboard. Since the viewer is physically on the other side of the wall, the 4 individuals behind Matt Damon seem to be hinting that YOU are on the wrong side. This sends the message that anyone can be a foreigner, even YOU. In the background we see explosions and evidence of a destructive battle occurring. This stirs up very specific racial/political controversies without directly referring to any of them.

A brief consideration of possible occult imagery reveals a few interesting details. The use of red and blue, colors used by Freemasonic Illuminists representing chaos and order, very much fits the theme of civil war and division. Red is worn by a man, blue is worn by a woman. Left/right, democrat/republican. There are 5 individuals pictured. 5 is typically associated with man, war, fire, and the color red. Matt Damon's character points an arrow at something or someone on the other side of the imaginary wall. The arrow represents the human will, strength, force, or the phallus. In this picture, the white man holds the phallus and directs the intent, whereas the other faces reflect a shade of doubt, hesitance to act, and fearful wonder - and yet postured to follow the will of the white man in the front. Finally, the words "the Great Wall" fit rather well inside of a hexagram. I didn't bother creating an image with the words inside a hexagram, but the inspired observer is encouraged to. The significance of that refers again to the theme of Freemasonic symbolism, as the square and compass are a different expression of the hexagram, the star of David, and the 3 dimensional cube (this is explained in more detail in a previous blog "Occult themes/symbolism within Star Wars: The Force Awakens.")

A quick glance at the funding behind the film reveals that "The Great Wall's" biggest financial contributor, according to Wikepedia, is China based "The Wanda Group." They are the world's biggest private property developer and owner and the world's largest cinema chain operator. They purchased AMC theatres in 2012 and own 13% of movie screens in the USA. In 2016 Wanda Group also purchased Propaganda GEM, "The Entertainment Marketing and product placement agency becomes part of Wanda Group's focus on entertainment but also Hollywood content" (Notice the word "propaganda" and references to "Hollywood content" and "product placement.") There is also the interesting fact that The Wanda Group has "good relationships" with the Communist Party of China.

The new King Kong film features "Kong" emerging from the sun, which is either rising or setting, depending on how you look at it. This indicates that the beast rises from the beginning and the end of time. The Sun is the most ancient symbol worshiped by mankind. Christ was the SON of god. Angels are typically depicted with rays of light behind them. The crown of a king symbolizes the rays of the sun. These rays signify divine rulership. The word "King" is omitted from the title of the film. But it is enforced instead by the symbolism of the monster emerging from the sun and also by the words above the title "All Hail the King." Clearly, the monster is the "king." Who is the king of America? That would be the president, Donald Trump.

The orange, red, and yellow emerging from the top/behind "Kong" recall the colors often so sarcastically associated with Trump's infamous hair and facial color. The monster is the president, and the Monster is the KING. The monster emerges from the opposite side of the rocks. Or you could say, the opposite side of the wall. He is a foreigner from the view of the troops. The troops are foreigners from the view of the monster. There are 5 troops. 5 represents war, the color red, and fire. The troops are clearly ready to battle the monster. "All Hail the King" is written in the water between the troops. This is not a statement, it's a suggestion. The troops are depicted within the colors of deep blue/green. Blue is the color of democrats as well as order. Red is the color of republicans/chaos.

The 2 helicopters are eyes and the troops form a frown. This represents the face of the observer, YOU. "Skull Island" references the head. A skull lies inside of a head. You are the foreigner fighting on the opposite side of the leader/king/monster. Or you can choose to be on the side of the monster emerging from the orange/red sun. The point is, TAKE A SIDE and FIGHT.

This is only one interpretation of the occult symbolism within this poster. But the fact that the symbols are there for your consumption is pretty hard to dispute. These symbols are not recognized consciously, but the icons have an effect on the sub conscious nonetheless. This is done to catch your attention of course, as any good advertisement should do. But this is also a very loaded piece of propaganda. I imagine the film is also a loaded piece of eye catching propaganda.

I didn't know this film was called "Get Out" because the billboard ad barely even looks like a movie advertisement. Again we have (very subtle) blue and red. You can't see very well in the picture due to the glare, but the sky and the house rooftops contain blue hues, while the front of the houses contain a dull sunset (or sunrise) red. These are not natural colors, they are obviously filtered to be stylized this way. Upon first glance, the ad blends in almost like graffiti. The message? Well, it couldn't get any less metaphorical so I don't see the need to type it out, as it can be read plainly enough above. Someone even did the work for me by snapping this photo of the billboard next to a political advertisement (also featuring the colors blue and red). Again, enforcing ideas of division, judgement, racism, and fear of foreigners. I've actually seen both of these billboards myself at more than one intersection, prominently placed next to each other.

I briefly read the plot line for this and found that it is a "black comedy" horror film. It flirts aggressively with racial tension, even more bizarrely than I would have expected. It's about a black man who is dating a white woman. He somehow discovers a sort of shocking secret inside her house involving the disappearance of black people from the WHITE residence. A movie about black people disappearing from a white house? Hmmm....The movie is currently enjoying stellar ratings, and this writing is not intended to downgrade the movie - neither could I since I haven't even seen it yet. This is merely a meditation on the symbolic meanings translated through the poster and the plot themes. No surprise that they reflect the growing racial/civil war agenda so prevalent on the media's plate lately. It is interesting to see how more of these types of messages are being presented with a touch of comedy. But not the sort that diffuses tension, the type which ENHANCES it.

Here's a new film starring Ice Cube and Charlie Day. I have not seen this film either, but by the looks of the reviews, it is pointless exercise in stupidity and gratuitous vulgarity. But perhaps these critics are missing the point...

The poster shows a black man and a white man standing off. If it wasn't already obvious that they don't like each other, the not so subtle words FIST FIGHT are there in nice big letters so mentally handicapped people can understand what is being articulated. Apparently in the film, these two characters are teachers. Similar to some of the recent super hero films, we have iconic representations of social leaders (super heroes, teachers, parents) abandoning their posts in order to fight each other for no apparent reason (or for an extremely petty one). Teachers are the educators of society, so the idea of teachers fighting in a racially suggestive context hints that we are being taught to hate and to be racial for very petty reasons. It basically encourages every possible negative racial tension between blacks and whites for the most shallow reasons possible. But since it is labeled "entertainment" and "comedy" we don't take it at face value consciously. But subconsciously the message is the same as if it was delivered by a fascist government propaganda poster.

Within the billboard we have the colors blue (turquoise?) and red again, signifying chaos and order. The black man is taller than the white man, encouraging thoughts of inferiority and empowerment on both sides of the ethnic coin. I don't know much about the white guy (Charlie Day,) but the black guy (Ice Cube) was in NWA in the 90s, a rap group who wrote the song "Fuck the Police." Although the name "NWA" is known to stand for "Niggas With Attitude," it was a pretty well established urban myth in the 90s that it stood for "No Whites Allowed." Whether it really stood for that or not, plenty of kids believed it. NWA was an extremely controversial group and popularized the entire "Gangsta Rap" genre probably more than any other group. This was around the time that I first started hearing arguments about gun laws, and it was largely encouraged by alleged youths obtaining them illegally and using them in gang violence in schools and in the streets. And yet somehow the recent film about NWA managed to soften their image and make their story more identifiable to people. The point here is not to debate whether the film was accurate or not, but to point out that the same media who banned "Fuck the Police" in the 90s and warned of the dangers of Gangsta Rap and youths bringing guns to school, is now using NWA's story, and their former members to deliver negative racial entertainment to mainstream America, hidden within the guise of "harmless comedy."

From FX Network we have this nice depiction of a man and a woman both pointing guns at someone while being turned on and staring into each other's eyes. Almost to say that shooting people is sexy, chic, and the new trendy way to love someone. The couple look somewhat dead, as if they are turning into zombies or vampires. This is all done in a very stylish, attractive, hip kind of way. The word "Americans" has a reversed R to enhance a warped meaning of it. "These are the NEW Americans. This is the new YOU." The background again uses red and blue, with some yellow thrown in. The message here is a very clear statement to the American public: "This is what you are America! Shoot someone already! See, it's sexy! It's love! It's chic! Most of all, it's AMERICAN! Be a corpse! Be a zombie!" Are we getting the message yet? I know I am.

"One of the most deliciously long-simmering rivalries in the history of Hollywood is dissected in Ryan Murphy's Feud: Bette and Joan, starring Jessica Lange and Susan Sarandon (above), premiering March 5." - Town and Country Magazine

"in a Hollywood today where sexism, ageism and divide-and-conquer are still the status quo, the battles faced more than 50 years ago by the then 54-year-old and virtually discarded Davis and the broke but still striving 58-year-old Crawford feel unfortunately poignant in 2017." - Deadline.com

These billboards are based upon the story written by Henry Farrell entitled "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" It's about 2 sisters, "movie actors, but Blanche has achieved stardom, while Jane’s films have flopped, leading Jane to drink heavily. One night, returning from a party, one of the sisters gets out of the car to open the gate leading up to the house, while the other attempts to run her over. The resulting accident leaves Blanche paralyzed transforming Jane into "an aging actress who holds her paraplegic sister captive in an old Hollywood mansion." The psychological thriller film adaptation of the same name was released in 1962. The bitter Hollywood rivalry between the film's two stars, Davis and Crawford, was obviously important to the film's initial success. "Feud" is a new show from FX Network featuring Susan Sarandon (70) and Jessica Lang (67) playing the roles of Betty Davis and Joan Crawford, acting out their "Feud" during the filming of the movie, presumably both in front and away from the camera.

Given the multi layered concept behind the series, the above posters manage to conjure an incredibly complex amount of negative feminine concepts. I'm going color blind looking at all of these blue/red shades, but I think we have possibly HOT PINK set against a deep blue here. The first poster features Jessica Lang looking particularly reminiscent of K.D. Lang next to an overly made up, and decidedly feminine Susan Sarandon. They appear to represent the classic female nightmare of becoming old, unattractive, and unimportant. Their despairing facial expressions hint at a deep sense of guilt. The bars they clutch seem to represent punishment for whatever crime they are guilty of. All presented in a sensual, sexy dream like color scheme.

Second poster has Sarandon suggestively postured above Lang, who stares up as if waiting to be punished/dominated. Obviously there is a sexual undertone here, but also ideas of inferiority, incest, helplessness, sadism, masochism, sibling rivalry, jealousy, gender role confusion, gender role reversal, and ritual torture among other things.

Crawford and Davis were loudly applauded for their performances, as the film "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane" was nominated for 5 academy awards. They were both seen as past their prime by the public, and "washed up" before this. It's interesting to note that a film where women are depicted behaving badly, and where 2 actresses inject their own real life bad, self loathing behavior into the film is what gained it more notoriety in the end. The further dramatization of these actresses feuding and staring down their old age is presumably reflected by Sarandon and Lang - who are both OLDER than the characters they are depicting. Clearly the media is applauding THEM for further articulating the "delicious long-simmering rivalry" and would probably be very happy to see Sarandon and Lang vent their own insecurities upon each other and within the film.

It's interesting to note that both "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" and "Feud" were both written by men. Men writing about women acting out their fears and insecurities, and being applauded for doing so. I guess it's like a wise woman once said, "well behaved women rarely make history."

Finally, we have CBS's "The Good Fight." This billboard exploits the lesbian fantasy, presumably from the perspective of a heterosexual male. As far as I can tell, the series is a "political/legal drama." But judging from this poster I can only assume that some sort of "lesbian drama" is part of the plot at some point? We see a somewhat conservative looking blonde, blue eyed woman on the left with her fingers just barely forming a "V." If you've been to any rock concerts, you've probably seen the way this hand gesture is usually used by men to indicate "I wanna lick your pussy." In the center, we have a conservative looking black woman looking like she just had sex with a white man, who lays in the background with no shirt on. But she is staring somewhere else, indicating she is bored with what she just experienced and feels guilty for what she is considering. The man in the background is only pictured from the neck down. Above his crotch are the words "all access," subtly indicating that heterosexual men will have "all access" to this unrealistic lesbian fantasy. Finally on the right we have a woman looking turned on as she faces a woman who's mouth and nose are the only parts we can see of her. Obviously the idea that they are "making out" is being heavily suggested. Yet, all 3 women appear to be heterosexual.

The title "The Good Fight" seems to indicate that all this Lesbian lust is causing a fight somewhere, but that it's good. The storyline seems to include lots of SCAMS and SCANDAL. I suppose the message here to women is to question their own sexuality and to regard any friction caused by their bad behavior to be good? The word GOOD is RED to highlight it. The billboard appears to also include the colors red and blue/black - again, indicating chaos and order.

A bit about CBS Network - CBS stands for Columbia Broadcasting System. Colombia refers to the Columbian faction of Freemasons. This is why the logo contains the "all seeing eye." And yes, it's the same eye on the $1 bill and represents the "Illuminated Ones." Therefore, this show is sponsored by a very powerful Freemasonic order - as are all of the shows on CBS and probably everything mentioned on this page.

Someone recently commented to me that this sort of thing is just "the media being the media." And I agree. But what is the difference between someone who closes the book right there on the subject and one who is inspired to look deeper? The media is like a giant megaphone being broadcast throughout society. We can listen, we can ignore, but we can't escape its influence. And to study the influence our environment is having upon our minds and bodies is the act of an intelligent, aware human being.

This blog was researched, written, and continues to be maintained by 1 person. If you enjoyed it and would like to encourage more of them, donations can be made by clicking the button below.

The Dimebag Darrell Murder: Greater Symbolic Meaning

The 2004 murder of Darrell "Dimebag" Abbott is a story most people in the metal scene have heard about. But it wasn't until very recently that I took the time to research this event in depth. As with most big news stories (and this was mainstream news for a few days), reports were full of exaggerations, lies, contradictions, and slants to serve certain interests. But overall, it's pretty hard to dispute the basic story - as there were many witnesses. Without going over the details too heavily, the generic version goes something like this:

Abbott brothers and Phil Anselmo begin to have a highly publicized rift. Pantera breaks up. Drummer Vinny Abbott and brother/guitarist Darrell Abbott form Damageplan, while Phil continues with other various projects. On December 8th 2004 at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, OH, a couple minutes into Damageplan's set a "crazy fan" came onto the stage. He shoots Darrell Abbott dead at point blank range 3-5 times in front of a shocked crowd. A few individuals tried to take the shooter out and paid with their lives. Within about 5 minutes, a cop sneaks up on the shooter and blows his head off with a shotgun.

STRANGE/INTERESTING FACTS

Darrell Abbott was the first Heavy Metal Rock star to ever be shot and killed onstage during a performance. It's been called "the worst day in metal history."

This event occurred on the 24th anniversary of John Lennon's death.

John Lennon was also murdered by a "crazy fan" with a gun, within the same hour of the evening, also attacked from behind.

On December 8th, 1984 - the 4th anniversary of John Lennon's death, Nicholas "Razzle" Dingley (Hanoi Rocks) died in a 1972 De Tomaso Pantera, driven by a drunk Vince Neil (Motley Crue), which had struck another car on their way to buy more beer.

According to Tommy Bradford (original Pantera Bass player), the band was named after the car before they actually knew what the word meant. He says this in an interview contained in the documentary film "Planets of Destruction."

Nathan Gale (Darrell Abbott's murderer) was the same age as John Lennon's murderer when he shot him (25).

Nathan Gale was born on 9/11/1979. According to Chris Armold's book written about the shooting, Gale weighed 11 lbs 11 oz when he was born.

The night of the Damageplan shooting began with a band called 12 Gauge. The night ended when Nathan Gale's head was blown off by a 12 Gauge.

"CAN YOU FEEL IT BUILDING/DEVASTATION IS ON THE WAY/FEEL THE HAIR ON THE BACK OF YOUR NECK AS THE RUSH BEGINS" - First verse of Damageplan's opening song that night "Breathing new Life." Nathan Gale allegedly grabbed Darrell by the hair from the back before fatally shooting him.

Mary Clark, Nathan's alleged Mother, has been quoted by many media sources and even appeared in WE's "Secret Lives of Women" in 2009. However none of these interviews or the TV episode seem to be available anywhere anymore. [edit - I have since found this episode on itunes, you can watch it for $1.99]

Mary Clark initially bought the gun for her son as a gift, but Nathan (killer) had to pick it up in person and do a background check, which he apparently passed despite having a criminal record.

The only info we have on Gale's biological father and brothers are contained in the book written on the subject by Chris Armold. None were interviewed, the brother's names were changed (to "protect their privacy"), and all went virtually unmentioned in media reports.

Nathan Gale was allegedly diagnosed "paranoid schizophrenic" while serving in the Marine Corps shortly before being honorably discharged. However, the Marine Corpse has never confirmed this publicly citing privacy reasons.

Nathan Gale was dragged off the stage at a DAMAGEPLAN concert in Cincinnati eight months prior to the Alrosa Villa shootings. Although he caused $3,000 worth of damage to equipment, the band did not press charges and he did not appear to have a weapon that night.

Gale was spotted pacing outside the Alrosa Villa during the opening band's sets looking suspicious, according to a security guard. He was told twice by the same security guard he could not park in the first couple spots that he attempted to park. According to the Rolling Stone article, owner of the club Rick Cautela stated "One of my guys who helps to set up the bands eventually told him to leave."

Although there is much speculation on what drove Gale to kill that night, police investigators constantly maintained that "we may never know the motive."

Many people in the audience apparently thought the shooting was part of the act initially, including the owner of the club who kept pouring drinks as the first few shots went off.

Since Dimebag's shooting, mass shootings have been on the rise in America despite increased "security measures" all over the country.

STATISTICS

According to www.schizophrenia.com about 1% of the US population has schizophrenia. Of that 1%, between 10% and 50% are suicidal.

"People with schizophrenia are far more likely to harm themselves than be violent toward the public. Violence is not a symptom of schizophrenia. News and entertainment media tend to link mental illnesses including schizophrenia to criminal violence. Most people with schizophrenia, however, are not violent toward others but are withdrawn and prefer to be left alone."

Suicide numbers are known to be much higher among schizophrenics than those associated with homicide. If suicide among schizophrenics is between 10%-50%, it would be generous the say 5%-10% are homicidal. To slice things even thinner, according to one study about 20% of schizophrenics live independently. Nathan Gale allegedly lived alone at the time of the shootings, although his mother did not live far away. So when we are talking about a full blown homicidal paranoid schizophrenic who lives alone, we are talking about a very rare type of person within an already extremely rare segment of society (closer to 0% than .025% of the population).

The probability of a rock star being shot and killed onstage before Dimebag was about 0%. This is based on the fact that there is no example of this before Dimebag's unfortunate shooting occurred. And as far as I know there is no instance of it happening since then either. Therefore, the possibility of a rock star being killed this way is about as close to 0% as you can get without being 0%.

When we factor in the rarity of Nathan Gale's condition combined with the rarity of this type of homicide, it is nearly impossible that the Dimebag shooting occurred the way we were told, according to the numbers.

"It was like a real bad movie. None of it seemed real whatsoever. None of it." - Vinnie Paul Abbott

WHY?

One of the questions that comes up constantly regarding the Darrell Abbott murder is "why?" Some of the more popular answers are:

1 - The shooter was crazy and we can never truly know what his motive was.
2 - The shooter was angry about the breakup of Pantera.
3 - The shooter thought that Pantera stole his lyrics and didn't give him credit.
4 - Phil Anselmo's negative comments in the press about Darrell Abbott somehow drove Nathan Gale to shoot him.

1 - The first explanation is the main one which was repeatedly enforced by the media and the police investigators who made statements to the press. It is based on the assumption that Nathan Gale was paranoid schizophrenic, which may have been true. However, this was never officially confirmed by the military (who allegedly diagnosed him before honorably discharging him) or police investigators. It was "confirmed" by author Chris Armold through his own personal research and by his alleged communication with Gale's mother, a communication nobody can confirm but the author himself. Not saying it didn't happen, but we are basing an awful lot on his word alone. None of the other interviews with Mary Clark seem to be available anywhere at this time, other than a brief clip of her taken from a WE television broadcast which does not appear to be downloadable any longer. Part of the explanation as to why Mary Clark has been invisible to the public is that angered fans would likely want to hurt her or worse given what her son did and that she allegedly bought him the gun. But the fact she agreed to appear on a television documentary about "The Secret Lives of Women" seems to contradict this explanation.

2 - The second "why?" makes very little sense, because shooting the Abbott brothers eliminates any possibility of a Pantera reunion! Therefore, it's not an action consistent with being upset about the band's breakup because it makes the matter worse, not better. And if we are to believe Gale survived bootcamp in the Marines and had the foresight to plan 2 separate attacks on Dimebag, he probably was together in the head enough to realize killing the band members would not help bring the band back together. Of course, there is always the convenient explanation that the shooter was simply nuts and "we may never know the motive." That pretty much works for any scenario. But it doesn't mean we should close the book and stop looking for consistency and logic. Everyone does things for a reason, even if it is too obscure to see from the outside.

3 - The third "why?" doesn't make sense either because Phil wrote all the lyrics. Gale allegedly listened to "Vulgar Display of Power" over and over and anyone who does that knows that the lyrics are 100% Phil Anselmo. So if stolen lyrics was his beef, he'd be hunting down Phil, not the Abbott brothers - who only wrote the music.

4 - Last theory also doesn't work because Gale attempted to attack Damageplan once before the infamous Phil Anselmo interview ran where he said Dimebag "deserves to be beaten severely." Of course, there may have been others out back then that Gale may have read or heard, but this begins to stretch things beyond reasonable limits.

WHO BENEFITS, WHO LOSES?

Maybe it's time to ask different questions. There's 2 basic questions that I have not seen asked anywhere.

Who benefited from the shooting of Dimebag?

and

Who was most damaged by the shootings?

Obviously Nathan Gale did not benefit from the shooting as it ended with his own head blown off. He went in with over 30 rounds which shows at least the possibility of intention to kill many people besides just ex members of Pantera, further complicating the alleged motive. It also shows that he intended to have a shootout and he can't have been so "crazy" as to think he would get out alive. So to figure out who benefited from the shootings, we need to expand our view outside of Gale, because he clearly had little to gain other than a moment of possible satisfaction before a violent death.

There were a few news stories which highlighted the fact that the Alrosa Villa had no metal detectors that night and that there were no security cameras. So theoretically, this event benefited the cause of those companies who manufacture security/surveillance equipment. It also stirred up the conversation about gun laws - further contributing to the argument that "people shouldn't have access to guns so easily." So in this way, the agenda to disarm Americans and erode the constitution has benefited. Also, the fact that Nathan Gale was not on his meds came up as a main motivating factor in his decision to carry out the shootings. Therefore, the pharmaceutical industry gets a good plug there. In short, the control structure in society that aims to keep civilians in check benefited from this event. Whether that was by design or by accident is not the point here, simply that these are the beneficiaries of the horrific event, if any can be named.

As far as who was most damaged by this event, on the top of the list would be the victims and their loved ones. Secondly, the bands and their fans were most affected by the shootings. And since Damageplan was still very new, Pantera and their fans would be the more obvious target, if one had to be named. This shooting successfully destroyed Pantera for good, further cemented the rift between Vinny Abbott and Phil Anselmo, and traumatized metal fans everywhere. So symbolically speaking, we can be sure this was an attack on the band Pantera and their fans - as well as heavy metal fans in general. This at least plays into the idea that Nathan Gale was angry at the band. But was there a larger hatred of Pantera than we even know?

"I have a devoted following that would do anything for me. Anything I say." - Phil Anselmo

In the 90s Pantera was a dangerous band. And Phil Anselmo was a very dangerous man. But not to you and I, the average fan. In fact, the band tended to empower their fans. They were not dangerous to their listening audience. But when they reached the top of the billboards, they became a danger to those in control of American society.

They were "Cowboys from Hell." And what young boy, and even many young girls, haven't put on a cowboy hat, imagined themselves on a horse, and held out fake guns and uttered the words "stick em up?" The image of the outlaw cowboy or the heroic lone Ranger who takes out criminals, or robs a bank...a freedom fighter who is above the law. Most of us have a deep childhood connection to such an image. Pantera tapped into that very American archetype and their southern pride and made their fans feel like they were part of it regardless of where they lived. "Don't mess with Texas." "Gimme back my bullets." "We're takin over this town."

The use of cannabis imagery became prevalent in their merchandise, well before it was legal. Again, tapping into the rebellious, free spirit of Americans and metal fans worldwide. The criminalization of cannabis has been well documented, as have its health benefits been. The promotion of cannabis was another reason Pantera was a threat. Only after years of constant struggle has cannabis become legal, and who knows for how long?

The use of the confederate flag brought Pantera, at least symbolically, into the political arena for real. Although many younger Northern metalheads may not have understood its history, the association with racism probably started right about there, not with a Phil Anselmo rant. I don't personally feel the band was seeking to promote racism in any way, the confederate flag is simply a symbol of southern heritage. However, given the history behind the flag it's always a slippery slope when brandishing it, and Phil Ansemlo himself has distanced himself away from it for this reason. But again, another reason Pantera was viewed as dangerous.

Phil Anselmo collaborated with Norwegian Black Metal musicians and even recorded some black metal of his own with Viking Crown and Eibon. The Norwegian Black Metal scene had a highly publicized controversy in the early 90s involving church burnings, murder, and a downplayed effort to promote nationalism. Although the key players involved were quickly detained and the movement smothered, the combination of Phil Anselmo and Black Metal was surely one that did not go unnoticed by "the powers that be."

The music video for "Mouth for War" is mostly composed of Phil Anselmo screaming at you in a manner extremely reminiscent of a boot camp drill sergeant. Of course Phil's message is not the same as the one delivered in the Marines, but the result can be comparable. The goal of the drill sergeant is to break down the new recruit and build him back up into the machine needed for the tasks passed down from above. When "regular people" start playing "drill sergeant" and delivering orders from an independent source, this is a threat to the power structure. Because if people begin to unite under an independent cause they can challenge the system and make a change. No change can occur without the consent and/or control of "the powers that be." This is the reason Americans are so divided today, because any movement that grows to a certain size gets taken out or co-opted.

When "Far Beyond Driven" hit to top of the billboard charts, this showed that the band had a very large audience. Bands, actors, politicians, or anyone who has a large following has an influence on society. Therefore, if that influence is not consistent with the "status quo" it is ALWAYS checked in some manner.

John Lennon was also perceived as a threat to the power structure when he compared the Beatle's popularity with the popularity of Christ. In fact, President Nixon tried to get him deported from the US more than once. Jim Morrison was also a threat to the power structure. "Break on through" meant "defy the status quo." People were listening and that made him a threat. Hendrix wrote "Machine Gun" against the Vietnam war. All these men died under strange circumstances. Even if we buy the stories told to us by the media, the after effects of these deaths tell us something loud and clear: if you challenge the control structure and people start listening, you WILL get taken out or somehow reduced in stature. It might come in the form of a crazy man with a gun, a tragic suicide, an unexpected overdose, or a public crucifixion of character by way of some form of controversy and/or scandal.

With all of this in mind, we come back again to Dimebag's murder on December 8th, 2004 and recognize the date of the anniversary of John Lennon's death as a very deliberate message. It's the message from the same killer, leaving his mark and showing us that he is still paying attention and reminding us of who's in charge. This is no crazy man with a gun, this is the devil himself. And some day we're gonna have to pull aside the movie screen and stare him down.

After completing this blog, I managed to obtain the official investigative report. You can read the follow up I did HERE

You might also be interested in the blog I did regarding the mass shooting at an Eagles of Death Metal concert.

Other popular blogs I have done:

The Darrell "Dimebag" Abbott Murder
The Chris Cornell Death
Star Wars and the Occult
America: Land of the Plumed Serpent

This blog was researched, written, and continues to be maintained by 1 person. If you enjoyed it and would like to encourage more of them, donations can be made by clicking the button below.

Star Wars Symbols and their Meanings The Force Awakens

These titles are here to help people find this page:

Star Wars Freemasonry

Star Wars Egyptian Mythology

BLOG TITLE: OCCULT SYMBOLS AND THEMES

"I believe that something is out there I just don't know what it is...but I do know that religions aren't based on it. They're human psychological needs that have been put together mostly to create a society....when you bring new things into society, just like the balance of the force, you can either use it for good or you can use it for evil....The whole thing in Star Wars was to take psychological ideas from social issues, political issues, spiritual issues, and condense them down to an easy to tell story...the crudest part of that in terms of the religious/spiritual thing is some people have taken those ideas and distorted them and you end up in a cult where they're using the psychological tools to make you adhere to their society. And part of it is they have to keep it closed...." - George Lucas

The question of whether or not the creation of the Star Wars films involves an occult agenda has been the subject of intense discussion since the first film debuted in the 70s. But "The Force Awakens" seems to go the extra mile to enforce the idea, even appearing to give an ironic wink to the more observant. Although there is plenty of discussion regarding this topic already online, I have found that many of them repeat the same information and simply don't go into certain areas, for whatever reason. My goal with this blog is to provide something a bit more complete, or at the very least, less derivative than what is already out there.

Let's start with the main promotional poster, which quite obviously contains a square and compass - the main symbol representing Freemasonry. These represent the circle and the square, which are very important in Freemasonry, both in their mathematical applications and in their philosophical/spiritual values. Symbols with multiple meanings are utilized widely in Freemasonry as there is a mystical, occult side to it. In case you can't see it within the poster, Rey's head is right at the top section where the tip of the compass handle would be. The bottom elbow of the square ruler is about where the caped Stormtrooper's head is. The cross hilt of Kylo Ren's lightsaber rather blasphemously forms the lines on the left where the compass and square cross each other. Han Solo's gun is angled to form an invisible line which crosses Finn's lightsaber, forming the right side of the compass/square intersection. Finally, Han Solo's head seems to be the location of the letter "G" which some say stands for Gnosis, God, Geometry, or even a pictorial representation of a serpent. An uppercase G resembles a serpent swallowing its tail, while a lowercase one conjures up more of the squirming wave-like movements. What all of this has to do with the storyline within "The Force Awakens" is what we will explore here

Looking closer at the square and compass, we find it is actually an outline of 2 triangles. One pointing up and one pointing down. This is a pictorial representation of "as above, so below." Combine the 2 triangles and you get the star of David. The inclusion of this hidden symbol into the promotional poster opens a door to many questions, but apparently this line of topic is "off limits" to the biggest Star Wars buffs?

Observe the blue and red within the above poster. In a Masonic context, blue can represent the first 3 degrees, or the "Blue Lodges." Red can represent the remaining degrees up to the 33rd, which is generally considered to be the highest - although this may vary from Temple to Temple. In a more basic occult context, red is the color of fire, or chaos. Blue is water, or order. This suits the theme of good vs evil, Empire vs Republic, First order vs Resistance. When viewed from the angle of political propaganda, red can be viewed as the American Republican Party, Blue the Democratic Party. The exact meaning of these symbols and colors can depend upon the context in which they are being presented. It's probably safe to assume many messages are being delivered symbolically by these films, on multiple levels.

The general themes of "chaos and order" and "duality" have always been central to the various plots and dramas within Star Wars. Every key scene seems to revolve around "bringing balance to the force." The themes of duality are heavily at play within the mythologies of Darth Vader, Kylo Ren, and even Luke Skywalker (the former 2 even go by 2 different names!) This concept of a good person challenging their own sense of morality and shifting to "the other side" and then back again is a classic duality struggle. When we observe these aspects of the stories and match them with some of the symbols and their meanings, we can start to see that there is a correspondence, and that they are not just random things thrown in to get people talking. In some instances, the meanings seem to extend beyond the screen.

These are the most talked about promotional posters online as far as people linking the film to Illuminati symbolism. I don't see any reason to deny it, there's a square and compass embedded in the promotional poster, and this "one eye" thing has been all over mainstream media. The "eye of providence" at the top of the Freemasonic pyramid on the back of the US $1 bill is a perfect correspondence. Also known as the "Eye of Horus," linking it to Egyptian occultism, which is very much incorporated into Freemasonry. Egyptian mythology has also been heavily associated with Star Wars.

Kylo Ren's lightsaber is obviously a blatant, somewhat tacky anti-Christian symbol for viewers to ponder. George Lucas was always pretty serious about leaving specific religious references out of the Star Wars films - so this would seem to be a nice slap in the face from Disney (Lucas did not initially speak favorably about Disney since he sold the rights to them). Why would Star Wars want to blasphemy Christianity? Well if we view this again from the "Illuminati" angle, this corresponds with their alleged agenda to destroy all religions, in order to introduce the new one world religion. Christianity seems to be the most prolific in the world, so "let's start with that one."

The First Order are the bad guys in this installment. It was formed by Supreme Leader Snoke from the ashes of the Empire and the Sith (Snoke is a mysterious giant entity who seems to exist in another dimension - more on that later). The term "First Order" reminds one of Hiter's "New Order" which he spoke about in a famous speech thusly: "The year 1941 will be, I am convinced, the historical year of a great European New Order". This gets close to another term more people are aware of: The New World Order, or NWO. This phrase is written on the back of the US $1 bill underneath a pyramid in Latin ("Novus Ordo Seclorum"). The First Order's appearance is heavily influenced by Nazi imagery. This is nothing new to Star Wars, as it has already been confirmed by those who designed the costumes that Nazi military attire was an influence. The Stormtrooper was a name given to a type of Nazi soldier during WWII. JJ Abrams has also acknowledged the connection in interviews. The scenes of General Hux delivering his hateful speech before a group of Stormtroopers, followed by a form of "seig heil" helps confirm any doubts as to the source material. The First Order are a very thinly disguised metaphor for Nazis, mixed with New World Order/Illuminati themes.

"That all came out of conversations about what would have happened if the Nazis all went to Argentina but then started working together again?’ What could be born of that? Could The First Order exist as a group that actually admired The Empire? Could the work of The Empire be seen as unfulfilled? And could Vader be a martyr? Could there be a need to see through what didn’t get done?" - JJ Abrams

The First Order's symbol is a hexagram with what looks like a star or sun motif contained within a circle. If you count the "rays" (or lines coming out from the center) you'll find there are 16 of them. If you remove the outer hexagram, you are left with a Nazi occult symbol for the Black Sun with the inner runes removed. If Mr Abrams wants the answer to his "what if?" he need only take a look at Wikepedia's definition of what modern followers of the Black Sun believe:

The younger Tempelhofgesellschaft was founded in Vienna in the early 1990s by Norbert Jurgen-Ratthofer and Ralft Ettl to teach a dualist form of Christian religion called Marcionism. This one was a part of the main THG/Homburg. The group identifies an "evil creator of this world," the Demiurge with Jehovah, the God of Judaism. Jesus Christ was an Aryan, not Jewish. They distribute pamphlets claiming that the Aryan race originally came to Atlantis from the star Aldebaran (this information is supposedly based on "ancient Sumerian manuscripts"). They maintain that the Aryans from Aldebaran derive their power from the vril energy of the Black Sun. They teach that since the Aryan race is of extraterrestrial origin it has a divine mission to dominate all the other races. It is believed by adherents of this religion that an enormous space fleet is on its way to Earth from Aldebaran which, when it arrives, will join forces with the Nazi Flying Saucers from Antarctica to establish the Western Imperium. Its major publication is called Das Vril-Projekt (1992).

Whether you take the above text seriously or not, the fact is that this "mythology" is very close to the heart and soul of what the deepest Nazi occult beliefs/philosophy stemmed from. This was/is their sacred bible. Their re-writing of history. Their "New World Order." Their "First Order." In fact high ranking SS officer Heinrich Himmler was one of the main cultivators of the Black Sun cult, drawing from the earlier Thule and Vril societies. Black Sun symbols, as well as the Swastika, are illegal to print in Germany. Given the known Nazi influences already used within Star Wars, you can be sure this Black Sun insignia was inserted with full knowledge of how serious and offensive it is in REAL LIFE - even when presented in a negative light and as fiction. This would seem to be a very risky move given the reactionary, overly sensitive culture we live in today. But because American society has been conditioned to fear conversation along these lines, and ridicule those who initiate it, these concepts remain unacknowledged by the mainstream, even though it is in plain sight. In addition to the inclusion of a nearly literal Black Sun symbol within the film, it's interesting to note the parallels between the Black Sun mythology in the Wiki quote and the ones presented within the film: moral duality, a "magical" force/energy (vril), space travel, and of course intergalactic war.

This might sound like a lot to assume from a mere symbol. However, there is a "Black Sun" cult already within the extended Star Wars universe, which apparently appeared in the mid 90s with the "Clone Wars." (insignia on the upper left) Their symbol is a less obvious reference to the Neo Nazi Black Sun symbol, but does also contain 16 points. It appears to be an eye as well, another symbol we're seeing more of within the latest Star Wars film and its promotional posters. This, and other insignias are briefly explained at www.starwars.com, however the First Order insignia is the ONLY ONE that is partially cropped on the page dedicated exclusively to explaining the meanings behind the symbols [actual image from the site above, I did not crop the image, that is how it appeared on the site the day I posted it]. There also exists a strange website called orderoftheblacksun dot com which has multiple "handbooks" for sale through its' links purporting to reveal the secrets of the power of the dark side via it's "Sith Academy." The aim of this website appears to me, to fit right in with the agenda of the Illuminati, which is the establishing of a new one world religion. This of course would require the destruction of all the old religions. Whether it is connected to the Star Wars franchise, the Illuminati, Neo Nazism, or none of the above, at the very least it shows that there are those much more serious about this Black Sun/Star Wars connection than most people would ever guess. The books are available on Amazon as of the day I type this. Some of the reviews for the books I saw ranged from very positive, to suggestions that their authors must be terrorists.

The four images above contain quite a bit of information, so let's take one at a time.

First image is obviously a hexagram with a circle in the middle, similar to the First Order logo. If you connect the points within the hexagram a certain way you get both the Star of David and a 3 dimensional cube. Therefore, the star, the cube, and the square/compass are all variations of the same symbol. I am not suggesting they always mean the same thing, as this depends upon context. But it is interesting to note the geometrical correspondences between them.

The second picture is of the Resistance planning their attack on Starkiller base. They are pointing out the black "thermal oscillator," which was its weak spot.

Next picture shows the Resistance on Starkiller base attempting to blow up the thermal oscillator, which is the shape of a black hexagram. As we just saw, the hexagram is a 2D version of a cube, in this case black. A Black Cube is worshipped at Mecca [called the Kaaba, which means cube], a black cube is used in practical Kabballa/Judaism, and the black cube is also incorporated into some Freemasonic rituals. [this can all be verified easily with a few minutes of research on google] After they blow up the thermal oscillator [black hexagram/cube] in the film, the planet implodes and becomes a star. Saturn is referred to as the Black Star in ancient Judaic beliefs. A sun is a star. So doesn't take much of a leap to arrive at "Black Sun" here, again echoing the Black Sun theme discussed earlier. Saturday is named after Saturn, that is why the Jewish Sabbath is on that day, while Sun-day [named after the "Son of Man"] is Christian. Saturn is the 6th planet from the sun, and Saturn-Day is the 6th day of the week, counting from Monday [named after the moon]. A hexagram has 6 sides, hense the Saturn representation. Saturn represents death and time, among other things, in the old esoteric traditions.

The last picture is of the planet Saturn itself. There is a permanent hexagram seen on the north pole of it. What does all this mean? Hell if I know, but pretty damned weird considering the black/cube hexagram correspondence dates to way further back in time before man could technically view Saturn this closely!

As a side note - both "2001: A space Odyssey" and the following book "2010" featured Saturn in the original storyline. These were changed to Jupiter for the films. The alleged explanation was that the rings would be too difficult to articulate on screen. Not everyone buys this explanation.

For most of us, our first glimpse of "the Force Awakens" was this image of John Boyega, a black man wearing a white Stormtrooper outfit, which is known to be inspired by Nazi themes. Boyega's character Finn is perspiring and has a terrified look on his face. His name is actually a number initially, and we find that he is literally a mind controlled slave for the First Order. The racial themes here are almost so literal and obvious that we look right past them and fall into the conclusion that the film franchise is simply trying to diversify their lead characters. But even if that is true, does that lessen the impact of the racial imagery in this shot? The fact is, people would rather not discuss what is right in front of them if it is too shocking and disturbing to confront. So we fall for the 2nd option, which was mentioned. We look right past it and we give the film a "get out of jail free" card. Because frankly, we just wanna enjoy the film we don't want to be bothered by possible social/political messages - even when they are clearly there.

The name FN-2187 is derived from a short independent Canadian film George Lucas saw as a young student called 21-87. It was made by a man named Arthur Lippset, who committed suicide in 1986. It is widely believed that Lucas came up with the idea for The Force from watching this film. This is not the first time homage was paid to 21-87 within Star Wars. In the first film "A New Hope," Leia's cell number is 2187 when she is held captive. One common theme there could be that the number represents a prison of some sort. For Leia it was a holding cell. For Finn it was his entire identity. So if we look past the "nudge nudge wink wink" nod to Lucas' roots, we get a name that sounds more like a product bar code. This suits perfectly the fact that FN2187 is a mind controlled slave who then "awakens" from his mental/physical prison to reclaim his humanity and rebel against the system that created him.

The opening scene of "the Force Awakens" shows a brigade of soldiers slaughtering a village of people they believe to be hiding a map leading to Luke Skywalker (Luke means "light" by the way, and Skywalker is what the stars do - they "walk" across the sky.) The slaughter of these villagers is reminiscent of a scene from WWII or any number of disturbing events from history where entire villages are slaughtered by troops in cold blood. In the midst of this, we have FN2187 who suddenly "awakens" and has an instant moral transformation. Since FN2187 contains the name of the film where the concept of "The Force" allegedly derives from, we can assume that FN2187's "awakening" is where the film's title comes from. The force awakens within Finn. Again, we have the duality theme of a character jumping from one side of morality to the other while the force hangs in the ether, fluctuating polarity. This is why Kylo Ren observes Finn hesitating during the slaughter and does nothing. There was a silent message transferred in that moment which goes unexplained directly, but we can infer a deeper meaning from it. This awakening is why Finn is able to wield a lightsaber and confront Kylo Ren in light saber combat with no previous training. The film is careful to throw in a crash course sword fight between Finn and a Stormtrooper earlier in the film. But that would hardly prepare him to go head to head with Kylo Ren, who was trained by both Luke Skywalker and Supreme Leader Snoke. The repeated implication that he who is on the "correct side" of the force wields more power hints that morality (or ones' perception of it) play a large role here.

The themes of slavery, mind control, and moral/spiritual/genetic superiority recall a vast array of contemporary themes ranging from Civil War era issues to post WWII controversies. During WWII there were a number of well documented experiments being performed within Nazi death camps ranging from physical to mental torture. After the war, the "Operation Paperclip" program allowed Nazis to continue their work in the United States and other countries. Notable former Nazi Wernher Von Braun was the leading Rocket scientist for Nasa and launched the Saturn V, which lead to the successful Apollo 11 voyage. Another large part of continuing Nazi research involved the further exploring of the concept of mind control, which was the basis for MK Ultra - a CIA sponsored program which conducted experiments on American civilians for purposes of advancing psychological warfare and to create mind controlled slaves who would willingly carry out acts of violence, sex, or anything else they are programmed to do by "Dr Frankenstein." So with Finn, we have a profoundly deep collection of negative historical references rolled up into one character.

Once Finn escapes and is given his new name, he puts on Poe Dameron's jacket. The jacket is brown with red patches. The intentional shift from the white militant stormtrooper garb to a brown jacket with red patches seems to symbolize, quite intentionally, a black man's bloody escape from his white prison. The stormtrooper costume and his former identity representing the oppressive prison/captor. This is very sophisticated symbolism because it successfully conjures up very specific racial feelings but escapes them at the same time by making the First Order "raceless." So here we have the film again, flirting with social/political controversy from another angle and yet somehow escaping the claim under the banner of "well, it's just fiction don't look too deeply into it." Why is it these symbols are there in the film, yet we aren't supposed to acknowledge them?

Kylo Ren clearly has emotional damage. His temper tantrums and obvious insecurities are clear signs of this. We're not really told in this episode where that damage came from specifically, but Supreme Leader Snoke obviously exploited Kylo's insecurities for the purposes of recruiting him into his dark order. So you could say he was ritually abused at some point, probably under the guise of "training in the dark arts." The difference between ritualized abuse and other forms lies in the intent of the abuser. For example, if the abuser is a man who sporadically beats the neighbor's dog when they are not home - the dog will show signs of abuse at random times. But if the neighbor brings roses, rings a bell, beats the dog, then offers him a treat at the same time every day in the same order - the dog will begin to respond to the smell of roses, time of day, bells, and offers of treats in a particular manner. This could be called "ritualized abuse." With ritualized abuse, the response can be calculated to a certain degree. It can then be delivered with the specific intent to cause a dog to respond a certain way. It's really no different than training an animal, we're just throwing abuse into the equation to see the response, and decide whether it is favorable.

To train an animal is to control its mind to a degree. It would be naive to assume the Nazis did not exploit this concept and advance it to a very high level on HUMAN SUBJECTS during WWII, continuing on into MK Ultra, via the Paperclip program. This is why more people need to know this ugly side of history, and why it is so heavily suppressed. Other known experiments in ritualized abuse involve electricity specially applied to the brain, which has shown that brain waves can actually be manipulated to induce an emotional response in the victim. Sound waves can also be used in this manner. This then leads to the likely assumption that the results of these experiments, and their continuing evolution, are being applied from very high places, such as those occupied by the upper elite. Now, substitute Snoke for an Illuminati leader and substitute Kylo Ren for a gifted civilian who happens to be from a powerful bloodline - and suddenly "The Force Awakens" doesn't sound so much like science fiction fantasy anymore.

With the above in mind, consider the scene where Kylo Ren kills his father, Han Solo. The film is careful to show us every detail of every emotional expression. There is a pregnant pause where Kylo asks his father to help him do what he must. It's almost like an instructional scene demonstrating the process of someone abandoning their own sense of empathy and morality. It's basically the birth of a cold blooded killer in slow motion. Very similar to Anakin's transformation into Darth Vader ["Daath," being a Kabbalistic concept and Veda, drawn from Hindu spirituality]. The film goes a step further in illustrating the transformation. This repetition of constantly questioning morality and constantly asking "what is good and what is evil?" starts to feel like a long winded interrogation after a while. Because it is. You, the viewer, are being grilled on your sense of morality in a way that is compelling and entertaining. But because you walked into the theatre convinced that this is simply "entertainment" it doesn't occur to you that your sense of morality is being eroded and conditioned. But by who? Recall again the square and compass embedded within the poster. Seems like they are telling us who is behind the film to me!

"The best place to hide anything is in plain view" - Edgar Allen Poe

The last issue we will explore is the character called Snoke. Like many of the topics discussed here, there are lots of people presenting theories about who Snoke is. Being that I have not studied the extended Star Wars universe much, I can't really speculate who he might be within that mythology, but if we step somewhere halfway between the Star Wars film and ancient writings, we find a possible explanation. The best one I've heard is hidden within his name. "Snoke" is very close to "Snake." Snoke is also presented as a giant from what seems like another dimension, or a remote location in the galaxy. This opens a huge can of worms (pun intended) and I am trying to bring this blog to a close, so I will attempt to condense it the best I can....

In ancient Egyptian mythology, the Djedi is a deep spiritual concept involving the harnessing of a FORCE by balancing one's energy. It was associated with agriculture, but also branched out into many other areas, including what would seem to be one of the highest states of spiritual enlightenment. The Djedi is symbolized by the Phallus or the Serpent. This would explain the importance of Serpent imagery in ancient Egypt and why it is often depicted in the location of the "3rd eye" on the forehead on some of their more ornate headdresses. The word "Djedi" obviously contains the word "Jedi," so this is another topic you can explore that is pretty fascinating. We mentioned earlier the "G" in the Freemasonic square and compass. If it represents the serpent, we have our potential connection to spiritual wisdom and ancient Egypt. If Snoke is a "Snake," perhaps HE is part of some ancient order of serpent - men or Archons/Watchers. He appears to be white skinned, and being a GIANT - this connects him to Archon mythology, Gnostic texts, the bible, and the Black Sun cult and their beliefs as well. Recall the giants mentioned in the Bible, who were "illuminated" beings, mediating between the gods and the material plane where man dwells. The "EL" in "Elohim" is associated with Saturn. So everything kind of circles around here back to the same concepts again and again.

I also did a blog on THE LAST JEDI

You may be interested in the blog I did about the film WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES

Here are some other popular blogs I have done, click to read.

The Darrell "Dimebag" Abbott Murder
The Chris Cornell Death
Star Wars and the Occult
America: Land of the Plumed Serpent

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Black Sabbath tunings

The topic of Black Sabbath tunings over the years is a vast one. So for both simplicity's sake and to stick with what I know best from experience, this blog will focus on the 70s era. Although this topic has been covered quite a bit already in guitar magazines and other places on the internet, I rarely come across anything complete - so I've done my best to gather the whole picture here in one place.

So before Black Sabbath existed, most rock bands played in E Standard tuning. This is the tuning that guitars were generally designed to be played with. Here's what it looks like:

As most people reading this probably know already, Tony Iommi had an accident early on and the tips of his fingers were sliced off. So his fingers used to bleed. This is generally regarded as the reason Black Sabbath started loosening the strings and tuning way down. Although lowering 1 or 2 strings was pretty common when playing blues/slide guitar, it was not common to lower ALL the strings down equally in the early 70s, not even in the hardest rock music. Initially Sabbath went down a half step to Eb/D# standard (Eb and D# are the same note btw) and here's what that tuning looks like:

Later, they went even lower to D standard and finally the C# standard:

That pretty much covers all the tunings they used in the 70s. So which tunings were used on which albums? Below is some more detail on that. Some of you reading this may be beginners and some of you may be shredders. Since I have no idea who will be reading this, I'll assume you are a beginner so feel free to skip the real basic stuff if it starts sounding obvious...

Black Sabbath(1970)

This album was recorded in standard E. Best way the verify this is to play along to N.I.B. The whole song is in E, and the main riff uses the low E string a lot. So if you play along to the studio version and just strike the low string over and over, you will find it rings perfectly with the tune almost all the way through. It's real easy to solo along to if you start on the 12th fret and play E minor pentatonic. This also happens to be one of the most common scales Tony Iommi uses, so you might as well just learn the bloody 5 note pentatonic scales if you haven't already! Anyhow, the best way to figure out what tuning they are in is to pick a song with a real simple riff (like N.I.B.) that obviously utilizes the lowest open string. Determine what that lowest open string is and you have the tuning. If you hear a note LOWER, than you know you have not found the lowest open note and therefore you need to use a lower note for your tuning to play it accurately. With Sabbath, it's usually the very first note in the song. Some albums deviate, but this first one is very straight forward. Keep in mind, live recordings, even as early as 1970 MAY NOT MATCH THIS TUNING. The band was already tuning lower to Eb within a year of recording this. So when playing along to ANY live Sabbath, you have to remember it may not be in the same tuning it was recorded in!

Black Sabbath tuning: standard E (E B G D A E)

Paranoid (1970)

I'm going to reveal a secret here that I haven't seen anywhere else. I'm not sayin I am the first asshole to figure it out, but I'm just saying it doesn't seem to be real common knowledge that this album is NOT in Standard E. However, it is SUPPOSED to be! Let me explain...if you grab a guitar tuned to E Standard, you aughta be right in tune with N.I.B. or anything else on the first album. But if you play along to the song War Pigs or PARANOID(both of which are SUPPOSED to be in E) you will find that it sounds a bit funny. This is because Sabbath actually tuned UP on this album! This had to have been an accident - maybe the recording was sped up or maybe someone in the band was sharp - but the tuning here is a slightly SHARP E standard tuning! But it is NOT so sharp as to be a full half step, so you won't be in tune if you tune UP a full half step. Therefore, you cannot play along to the first and second album without slightly sharpening all your strings for the Paranoid songs! Now you would think that the tuning would correct itself at some point on the album, but the fact is, it's the same on the whole album. So whatever reference point they were using, at least it is consistent! Again, live versions will be lower. In fact, I believe it was the Paranoid tour that they started tuning down to Eb standard. Live recordings from 1970 reflect this as well. Check out "Paris 1970" on youtube for confirmation of this.

Paranoid tuning: (slightly sharp) E B G D A E.

Master of Reality (1971)

I recently heard a rough demo of this album which had some of the songs recorded in standard D. However, they ultimately decided to go down to standard C# for most of it. Best way to verify this is to play along to "Children of the Grave." The first note is C#, and they never play a note lower than this one on the entire album. For further verification, check out the Randy Rhoads tribute album where Randy actually plays the song in the recorded key (C#) while his guitar is actually tuned to E standard (very hard to do - try it!) This is why he plays it higher on the neck and gets away with it! But let's not get side tracked...The exceptions here are "After Forever" and probably "Solitude" which were kept at D standard for some reason. This is probably why they never played "After Forever" live until much more recently. I have not checked whether they went ahead and played it in C# standard or not live, but that would be consistent with Sabbath's history live. They tend to stick with 1 or 2 tunings at the most on a given live performance. It's only a half step, so why bother changing for one song? If you listen to live recordings of Sabbath pretty much from 1971 until 1978 - they play all of their songs in C# standard. Which is why songs like "War Pigs" and "NIB" sound so monstrous from this era. They also did this in 2006 when I saw them at Ozzfest, and I think they went back to this tuning on the last "Farewell tour" as well - presumably so Ozzy could have a bit more of an easy time hitting the notes.

Master of Reality tunings: standard C# (C# F# B E G# C#), standard D (D G C F A D) - on "After Forever" and "Solitude"

Volume 4 (1972)

This album is all in C# standard except the song "Changes" which starts out in the key of B major. However its played on piano, so guitar tuning is not really applicable. To verify tuning, it's best to play along to "Snowblind." First note is C# and the open low string is used throughout the song. Try tuning it even a half step up or down and it's impossible to play along to the CD without sounding all weird. For some reason I thought I encountered a version of "Tomorrow's Dream" in standard D but now I can't find it - which brings me to a quick note - occasionally, someone will upload a song at the WRONG SPEED onto youtube! But for the most part you can count on it. Still, if you need absolute confirmation, ALWAYS use the official CD (not a CDR) or a properly working record player set at the correct RPM! On the Volume 4 tour, they played their entire set in standard c# tuning.

Volume 4 tuning: standard C#

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973)

This entire album seems to continue in C# standard without any deviations. First song on the album is in C#. The main riff is played higher on the neck, but towards the end when Ozzy screams "where can you run to/what more can you do" you'll hear the bottom C# note being palm muted in that signature Tony Iommi style. Another way to check is to play "Spiral Architect." It has lots of open notes and it does not sound right unless you are tuned to C# standard. As I mentioned earlier, the open strings are pretty much the give away to the tuning, as those open strings MUST be tuned to those notes - therefore revealing the tuning at least partially. Also, it helps to pretend you only have 2 fingers (your 1st and 4th) as Tony tended to write parts that were easily played with those 2 fingers. Intro the Spiral Architect is a perfect example. If you are in the right tuning, try using just 2 fingers and you will crack the code to what he's playing. They continue to play their entire set in C# standard on the Sabbath Bloody Sabbath tour - there is great footage of them playing around that time if you look up "cal jam 1974" on youtube.

Sabotage (1975)

This album is also recorded in standard C# tuning. However, I'd like to point out that the band was obviously becoming aware of their overuse of the low C# note, as they get much more creative songwriting wise here. As such, we actually need to use the 5th (F#) string to verify tuning. First note on "Hole in the Sky" is F#. It rings out quite a bit and is the key to playing this song right. Without that open F#, you can still play it but it sounds more stiff and doesn't quite nail the feel. Again - open strings are the key to nailing the tuning. "Thrill of it all " also begins with, and utilizes the open F# as a key to the sound. As a side note - the 5th string ("A" if you are in standard tuning) is very popular in rock and you'll will find all over classic rock radio. So in this sense, the open F#/5th string in C# standard tuning nails a similar guitar rock feel. For some reason electric guitar just wants to rock with the 5th string open! Another good example is "2 Minutes to Midnight" by Iron Maiden and "Mob Rules" also by Sabbath. All rely on that open 5th string but are not all in the same tuning. Anyway, if you really need your low C# confirmation, check out Supernaut where Tony chunks it out a little in between that bluesy 7th chord thingy he does during the verses. Of course, the band continues to play their set entirely in this C# tuning on the Sabotage tour. This would be the last album Sabbath records in the 70s using this tuning. And I believe they never went back to it, except live.

Sabotage tuning: standard C#

Technical Ecstasy (1976)

Clearly getting burned out on the low sludgy doom riffs, Sabbath decides to tune back up to standard E on this album. "Back Street Kids" opens right up with the low E that Metallica would milk the hell out of all through the 80s. "All Moving Parts" utilizes the previously mentioned open 5th string. It was F# in the previous tuning, but now has become the familiar classic rock "A" that bands like Queen, Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and countless others use on many of their popular hits. I'm not sure what Sabbath did for this tour, as the only song I can find from this live is "Dirty Women," which they play on their famous Hammersmith 1978 recording (easy to find on youtube). On that recording, they tune Snowblind UP to E standard - which is why you will find it sounds kinda strange (I personally hate that version!) So if they did tour for Technical Ecstasy, they probable played all the songs in standard E and eliminated most of the C# songs from the set.

Technical Ecstasy tuning: standard E

Never Say Die! (1978)

Never Say Diebegins, again, on the familiar "A" rock chord Tony utilized on the previous album. I don't have to mention it, but I will anyway that this is the same riff Thin Lizzy uses in "the boys are back in town" so there's really no need to further illustrate how the "A" chord (or 5th string) is one of the most ROCKING ones you can play on guitar. The tuning becomes harder to nail on some of the other songs, but if you listen to "Air Dance" Tony plays a chord with the open high E (1st string) at about 44 seconds in. You can't play the chord this way unless you are in standard E. There's some really cool songs played in the key of "F" also, which do not utilize many open notes, and can all be played fairly easily in standard E. I haven't scrutinized this album or Technical as much as the others so I welcome any comments on these, or anything else on this post that you think might be of interest.

Never Say Die! tuning: standard E

Hopefully this was helpful or at least an enjoyable read. Cheers to all Sabbath fans out there!

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