On the 40th Anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back and roughly 6 months after the release of The Rise of Skywalker, the time has come to offer an esoteric unveiling of the epic 9-film Skywalker Saga and offer Star Wars fans, pundits, critics and YouTubers alike NEW New Hope for their beloved mythology…a chance to see this “entertainment franchise” in a whole new Light, and re-examine any misgivings about the Disney Sequel Trilogy in Light of the facts about “The Force” behind the whole of the Skywalker Saga.
Over the years leading up to the release of The Rise of Skywalker, we made no secret of our disdain for Disney Star Wars, expressed in our in-depth reviews on https://attlas.info/ meaning, dear viewer, that we walked into Episode IX every bit as jaded, cynical and expecting disaster from the film as the pundits and YouTubers’ whose content we had been following leading up to it’s release. We were determined to shred it to pieces as had become our custom with Disney Star Wars. But then something miraculous happened: timeless and universal symbols of the highest order and most secret esoteric teachings began revealing themselves through the manic monstrosity of a movie playing out on screen, and the Voice of the Logos, the Cosmic Force, whispered to us: “Let go…trust Me.” This video is the result of our listening to that guidance, with the hope that others might see and hear The Force at work in their beloved mythos and more: within themselves.
Much more than just an amalgamation of all our previous articles on Star Wars to-date, this mammoth documentary reveals the true nature of Star Wars as modern mythology, with all the implications thereto, including proof that Lucas and others were NOT “the creators” of Star Wars; they were messengers & servants of Light.
Watch the Video on YouTube
Transcript
Introduction
Greetings dear viewer. As we watch one of the most iconic opening scenes in all of cinema, take a moment and reflect on your first experience of Star Wars: be it original trilogy, prequels, animated series, or perhaps some third-party property inspired by the galaxy far, far away. Where were you? How old were you? What did you feel, deep down at the very core of your being? Now flash-forward to today and take stock of where you are now: as a person, as a Star Wars fan, as a seeker of new experiences and new knowledge. How has your relationship with Star Wars changed? Are you part of The Fandom Menace? Are your beliefs about the state of Star Wars—past and present—fixed, or are you willing to “unlearn what you have learned?” If you haven’t done so, watch the recent video by Midnight’s Edge entitled: STAR WARS THE LAST JEDI, and the Cognitive Dissonance of those that once praised It, link in the video description. Pay special attention to Andre’s discussion of echo chambers and beliefs held with religious fervor. It’s an excellent primer for a journey through the dark side and back into the Light of the Skywalker Saga…
Prologue: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Skywalker Saga
The Force Awakens A New Hope explores the mythic origin, appeal and decline of Star Wars
We’ll begin our exploration with that mysterious and irresistible Force which called George Lucas to rise up and embark on an adventure in mythmaking about a galaxy far, far away; how that same magic called to us to rise and adventure in the Star Wars universe; and finally, examine what happened to the Star Wars magic, universe and our relationship to it over time.
The Fandom Menace Strikes Back delves into the dark side of the Force and its initiates
Next, we will step into the cave…and explore the many times when things took an alarming turn to the dark side…and like Luke did, we will see ourselves reflected in the reactions of many Star Wars fans to unexpected, unwelcomed and down-right baffling changes, choices and circumstances.
Return of the Myth reveals the secret plans, forces & meaning behind the Skywalker Saga
Once we’ve comprehended what was keeping us in the dark, the hidden Force behind the whole of the Star Wars universe can reveal to us its grand design for our beloved multi-generational saga about the rise, fall and redemption of Skywalkers. Told on multiple levels of myth, mythmaker and meta-mythmaking; finding its climax amidst the cinematic chaos and the cacophony of symbolism in Episode IX; finally fulfilling the prophecy of the one who will bring balance to the Force set out in Episode I, and coming full-circle to reveals its True Nature to us at last.
Epilogue: revel in A NEW New Hope for Star Wars
By the end of this hero’s journey exploring the Skywalker Saga from a different point of view—that of the Force itself—we hope, dear viewer, you will revel in what it reveals; and in that revelation you, too, will find new hope for the future of Star Wars. Not just in movies, shows, games, books and comics…but in life. Star Wars has always been about you, dear viewer. If at the end of this journey you can finally feel the Force moving and shaping four-plus decades of the Skywalker mythos, will that give you hope to finally able to feel the Force within yourself, moving and shaping your own hero’s journey?
We use the word revelation as a double-entendre meaning both to reveal and revel in. That is precisely what we hope you will do dear viewer: not just reveal what you may have missed in your beloved mythology, but revel in the discovery of it and what that revelation might mean for you, your appreciation for Star Wars and your experience of life.
Why “Skywalker Apocalypse?”
With all this talk of revelation, why did we put apocalypse in the title? Why not call this video the Revelation of Star Wars or something? Far from click-bait, dear viewer, apocalypse is also a double-entendre which happens to bring greater depth of meaning to our exploration here today, not least because of its association to Francis Ford Coppola, his friendship with George Lucas, and the insight he gave Lucas regarding the true nature of Star Wars.
So, like revelation, the Greek word apocalypse means “an unveiling or unfolding of things not previously known and which could not be known apart from the unveiling.” (Wikipedia). But as is often the case, revelation is only possible through a process of annihilation, like when Chancellor Palpatine symbolically dies in his fight with Master Windu revealing he had been the Sith Lord Darth Sidious the whole time. Or Luke’s revelation in the cave on Dagoba after decapitating Darth Vader, only to discover his own face beneath the helmet—signifying a loss of innocence, foreshadowing the big reveal at the end of the film, and revealing just how vulnerable we all are to the temptations of the dark side.
Which brings us to the second, more commonly understood meaning of the word apocalypse: the complete final destruction of the world. Be assured, dear reader, to achieve a revelation here today, the only death we face is psychological: annihilation of those egoic beliefs and attachments about Star Wars which have been trolling us and others—both online and in our own heart-minds. Simply put, no revelation of the light side comes without a corresponding apocalypse of the dark side. If, that is, we can “unlearn what we have learned, let go, etc.” Remember what Obiwan told Luke about Vader betraying and murdering his father; and then recall the redemption of Anakin Skywalker was possible only through Vader’s sacrifice and death. Genuine knowledge, Gnosis to the Greeks, is like that: it comes at the expense of hypnosis and ignorance (and in traditional esotericism, hypnosis and ignorance are the causes of suffering; they are the ultimate dark side of the Force). So, the only world at risk of destruction at the end of this heroic journey is a world of suffering shrouding our beloved mythology, preventing us from knowing its secrets; from truly feeling the Force.
Part One: The Force Awakens New Hope
Make no mistake dear viewer, Star Wars is mythology. Sure, it is also entertainment; a franchise of movies, TV shows, books, comics, video games, toys and other merchandise; intellectual property; and very much a brand, one which Disney paid over four billion dollars for. But at its heart, Star Wars has always been an exercise in mythmaking, first evidenced by Francis Ford Coppola’s now famous response to George Lucas’s original screenplay for A New Hope: “forget a movie;” Coppola told Lucas, “what you’ve got here is a religion!” If you’ve read any of our Star Wars articles on attlas.info, you already know Coppola was proven right, with bona fide registered religions in existence based on the tenets of both the Jedi and the Sith. But one need not be a registered member of these contrived religions to be considered a true believer and count oneself among the Star Wars faithful—far from it. Coppola also told Lucas he’d make far more money selling Star Wars as a religion than as a film; and again, time has proven him right. Star Wars practically invented movie licensing, with an unprecedented run of merchandising and toy sales spanning decades, including a thriving collector’s market and passionate fanbase of truly galactic proportions.
When we compare Star Wars to other religions and spiritual traditions, we discover they all instill in a community of devout followers a profound sense of connection to a phenomenon far greater and other-worldly than themselves, along with overwhelming feelings of joy and wonder which move the community of believers to celebrate their communion with that higher power. Artists, musicians, writers, craftspeople, even architects and scholars devote their lives and talents to celebrating, immortalizing, illuminating and embellishing the epic tales of legendary characters and their heroic deeds: myths which embody timeless wisdom and convey universal principles cloaked in symbol and allegory. And, of course, merchants are only too happy to supply the faithful with as many idols, tokens, talismans, tapestries, and consumables which the traditions demand and the markets can bear. Very often, this includes items specifically intended for children, who will one day grow up to pass the eternal flame of true faith to the next generation, as their parents will one day mature into grandparents, and pass down heroic tales of epic struggles and miraculous triumphs. It would be hard arguing that Star Wars hadn’t shared these traits with other religions and spiritual traditions, or that the Skywalker Saga didn’t offer first-timers some semblance of a transcendental experience which was more metaphysical than visceral.
Despite being described as everything from sci-fi fantasy thrill ride and blockbuster special effects spectacle to spaghetti western in space and two-hour commercial for toys, the fact remains: few film franchises have had the same life-altering impact on individuals than Star Wars. No matter how visually and viscerally dynamic an experience, fans’ deeply felt love for the Skywalker Saga and its creator, George Lucas, is unmatched in filmed entertainment. Only Star Trek and Lord of the Rings come close, with Harry Potter a distant third thanks to it having heavily borrowed from J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and others. It will take years and many films before we learn if Denis Villeneuve’s Dune will manage to raise that beloved literary series to the ranks of most beloved sci-fi/fantasy film franchises in history. It will largely depend on whether it creates the kind of magical experience for audiences Star Wars did—just as all religions and spiritual traditions did for their early followers at the time of their inception.
The word ENTROPY is an absolute law which applies to our level of reality. Physics describes it as the tendency of things to move from order to chaos. But practically speaking, everything is born, has its prime, then decays, crumbles and dies. It just so happens that the same is true for religions. The magic always eventually subsides over time, without exception; and no structure survives long without its foundation. As the intensity of the metaphysical experience begins to fade from the memory of the faithful, they invariably turn to the physical and cultural products of the religion as a substitute for those genuine experiences. The outward signs, symbols, stories, rites, rituals, and traditions meant to help the community keep the faith, now become proxies for long-time followers unable to sustain the joyful exuberance they once had, or for newcomers seeking such experiences. Fearing a loss of faith, they double-down on attachments to more intellectual, aesthetic, emotional and social levels of appreciation of the outward trappings themselves. As the law of entropy degenerates what was once direct, conscious communion with a higher power into dogmatic beliefs, empty idolatry, mechanical practices, cultural obligations, community expectations and even political considerations which feel increasingly disconnected from their Source (which we’ll discuss in more detail shortly) many believers become disillusioned, frustrated, and increasingly vocal about airing out their grievances. It’s then that splinter groups begin to form, lines are drawn, conflicts ensue and schisms result. In time, all religions end up dividing into many sects and most of those eventually die off.
In the case of Star Wars, it was years between films, and the merchandising around it exploded in an unprecedented fashion. No doubt the toys, comics, books and games helped countless fans prolong the magical moments they experienced in the theatre. But with films so few and far between, and the true meaning behind the symbols and allegories overshadowed by the spectacle and excitement of it all, fans invariably ended up shifting their appreciation to a more emotional, intellectual, aesthetic and ultimately superficial level. Love for Star Wars as mythology shifted more toward the love of Star Wars as entertainment. Their passion, which once drove them to create new Star Wars experiences for themselves in their own imagination, shifted to attachments, nostalgia, attempts to preserve memories of past experiences, and desire for others to create new experiences for them to consume. Once upon a time, we played and shared our Star Wars toys in sandboxes; experienced Skywalker magic as innocent children; had fun through heroism, adventure and discovery. Now, we collect and display Star Wars toys behind glass; experience Skywalker nostalgia as jaded adults; take seriously quality, value and cool factor. Or, if we do play Star Wars, it’s cosplay, with focus on costumes, partying and socializing. But did it ever occur to you, dear viewer, that like all mythology Star Wars was challenging us to do so much more than just play, consume or collect it?
Ours is not the first generation to degenerate mythology into mere cosplay partying. In Waldemar Januszczak’s thrilling take on the much-misunderstood delights of the Rococo period, he reveals with seemingly great relish how centuries before the masquerade ball came into vogue, the well-to-do of the Rococo period would dress up as famous characters from Greek, Roman and pagan mythology, get extremely drunk in the garden, and allow the fates to lead them where they would. And that, too, was no novel pastime. Millennia before them, the Greeks engaged in roughly the same business during their Dionysian Festival, whose cosplaying eventually became Greek Theatre. In other words, mimicry and revelry have always gone hand-in-hand with mythology; not least because it is so much easier and more pleasurable to dress up as a hero or villain and play out the stories from mythology than it is to actually comprehend the deeper meaning of said mythologies, embody the virtues of heroes, exorcise the flaws of villains, and realize in life the eternal essence of myth. It requires super efforts and a great deal of self-work to fully realize within oneself the challenge set before us by our beloved myths. Cosplay is easy by comparison, and while rewarding in its own way, cosplay cannot hold a candle to embodying the example of mythic heroes and living one’s own heroic journey.
Please don’t misunderstand, dear viewer: there’s nothing wrong with playing. As a child, how could one be expected to do much more than play Star Wars? And in Truth, it is right and appropriate for children to develop their imaginations, capacity for visualization, and learn the essence of being through direct experience of countless heroic journeys. That’s what playing is for. And yet, even as kids, we always had an inkling, didn’t we? An iota of faith that maybe, just maybe there was some truth to The Force; some actual omnipresent force in our universe which we could tap into and harness as the Jedi do in the Star Wars universe. At one point in their life, every true Star Wars fan could feel the Force for themselves—however fleetingly. And just as likely, at some point in your youth, dear viewer, after returning from whichever Star Wars movie you just saw, you probably sat in your bedroom alone trying to not only feel the force around you but use the force to move something in your bedroom with only your mind and will. In other words, while playing Star Wars may have been the appropriate thing to do as a child, even then we knew there was something more to it all than just that…there was something real, meaningful and powerful behind it all, if only we could get closer to it! We felt it intuitively as children. Can we still feel it today?
To conclude then, like all religions which are born of spirit and inspire an awakening in their early disciples, Star Wars, too, represented an awakening: the Skywalker Saga awakened in moviegoers a Force which inspired them to all sorts of activities and a lifelong love of Star Wars. Over time, however, the Force shifted from the Light side of our more innocent carefree youth to the dark side of more cynical and critical adulthood. Where once we had the time and energy to let our imaginations take us on our own hero’s journeys in a galaxy far, far away, now most of us spend our time and energy collecting and consuming the creations of others, and a good deal more time and energy complaining about how their creations do not meet our expectations. Once upon a time, when we heard Yoda say, “you must feel the Force,” we felt it alright…in the depths of our being, from our goosebumps to our bones. What do fans feel today?
Part TWO: The Fandom Menace Strikes Back
It’s unlikely you even bother trying to feel the Force anymore. And, if the online behaviour of many of us who count ourselves part of the so-called Fandom Menace is any indication, it is equally unlikely we bother living our lives in accordance with the Jedi training given to Luke by Master Yoda.
“A Jedi’s strength flows from the Force. But beware of the dark side. Anger, fear, aggression; the dark side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan’s apprentice.” – Yoda
We watched and re-watched Luke’s training scenes on Dagoba so many times, we wore out two VHS copies of The Empire Strikes Back. And we know we’re not alone. Isn’t it ironic, dear viewer, that the Fandom Menace can trash the character of Rey for being an overpowered Mary Sue who received no training, and in doing so, completely ignore all of Yoda’s timeless universal teachings? Given the fans’ love of Luke Skywalker, one would think we might have done more to embody Luke’s hopeful optimism when less-than-ideal circumstances befell our precious Star Wars. Instead, we erupted in fear, anger, and yes, even hatred directed at Rian Johnson and Kathleen Kennedy for disrespecting the saviour of the galaxy in The Last Jedi. And many fans condemn J.J. Abrahams for turning The Force into what they see as little more than an overpowered deus ex machina plot device in The Rise of Skywalker. But Star Wars’ critics have always claimed the Force was just that—a contrivance of convenience and a crutch for poor writing. So make no mistake, dear viewer, the vitriolic criticism of Star Wars is nothing new. True to its namesake, the Fandom Menace has been lurking in the shadows since 1977.
For instance, dear viewer, we’re old enough to vividly remember the outright scandal which made the six o’clock news after The Empire Strikes Back hit theatres in 1980. This was, of course, long before the days of the Internet and online plot leaks; and like today creators and audiences alike valued the element of surprise in their stories. Surprise is an understatement. The world was in shock: aghast, down-right horrified…fans around the world declared “Darth Vader can’t possibly be Luke Skywalker’s father!” Years later in an interview, James Earl Jones would recollect how, upon receiving the final scenes of Episode V, he had serious doubts as to Luke’s true parentage, saying to himself: “Vader’s lying…how are they gonna to write themselves outta this lie.” Han Solo captured by Boba Fett, frozen in carbonite, on his way to face Jabba the Hutt. Luke’s hand cut off. The rebellion scattered throughout the galaxy. And the terrifying revelation that not only does Darth Vader claim to be Luke’s father, but that he is hell-bent on turning Luke to the dark side so that they may “rule the galaxy together as father and son.” Many fans were OUTRAGED. They felt Lucas had betrayed them, their beloved characters, and Star Wars itself. “You can’t end a Star Wars movie like THAT!” It was a different time, forty years ago. And the serialized shows George Lucas grew up on—the ones which often ended in a cliff-hanger—had long-since become and oddity. Fans had since become accustomed to closure, and the first Star Wars film had ended on such an uproarious high-note that we cannot underestimate just how jarring it was to fans of the film that the second movie would end on such a dark note, even if, as the second act of a trilogy, it absolutely needed to explore the dark side.
And lest we forget, dear viewer, that a similar backlash by the fandom erupted with the release of the prequel trilogy as well. Episode One: The Phantom Menace may have been met with general approval as it brought an end to the long drought in Star Wars films, but almost immediately a large and vocal backlash toward the character of Jar Jar Binks emerged online. Many couldn’t wrap their heads around some of the other choices made by Lucas, either. After all, we had been promised the epic tale of Anakin Skywalker’s fall to the dark side. Instead, Lucas seemed to tailor turn Anakin’s epic backstory into a kids movie—many called it a cynical move by Lucas so he could rake in a whole new generation of toy sales. Instead of a powerful young Jedi tempted by the dark side, we got a little wunderkind of virgin birth no-less, with impossibly good piloting and technical skills, who supposedly built C-3P0 in between pod races. Instead of a deep dive into the ancient mystical origins of the Force, we got midichlorians. While the cool new character Darth Maul was given practically no screen time and was killed off almost as quickly as he appeared, the CGI clown Jar Jar Binks seemed to dominate the screen time. To this day, one can find lengthy scathing reviews and critical retrospectives tearing apart the prequels, particularly Episodes One and Two. Red Letter Media’s review of the prequel trilogy, presented by that bastion of decorum Mr. Plinkett, comes to mind—link in the video description.
In other words, dear viewer, true to its namesake, the Fandom Menace was always lurking in the shadows, hovering around each and every Star Wars release, just waiting to pounce on some outrage, transgression, betrayal, baffling choice by Lucas, perceived failure to fulfill expectations, et al. Search your feelings, dear viewer, you know this to be true.
It is also true that Star Wars managed to survive these perceived slights by the fandom, whereas today, many question the future of the franchise under Disney. Several pundits have stated publicly they just don’t care about Star Wars anymore; that the sequel trilogy so sullied the Skywalker Saga in their eyes, their love for the original Lucas trilogies has been forever tainted.
From the get-go, Star Wars has always been far from perfect—in terms of filmmaking, mythmaking and crowd-pleasing. So we must ask ourselves: why were we fans willing to give Lucas a pass, always returning to our beloved mythology, but by-and-large aren’t willing to do the same for Disney? Is what they did to Star Wars so retroactive, catastrophic and irreparable? Or, is it possible that we’re missing something…that there’s something far greater at work which we’ve yet to recognize, contemplate, truly appreciate and embrace as the guiding Force—not only behind Star Wars—but our own lives?
Part Three: Return of the Myth
Recall from Part One, dear viewer, how all religions based on the work of authentic messengers and vessels of truth eventually degenerate as the keepers of the faith and its followers become evermore attached to the outer trappings of the religion and less connected with the eternal flame of Truth from which it sprang. And in Part Two, recall how much of the Star Wars fandom has grown jaded and cynical, frustrated by those entrusted as the new keepers of the faith—namely Kathleen Kennedy and Disney—for having disrespected their beloved mythology, if not outright dismantled it. As a point of comparison, the Jewish faithful were none too pleased when Jesus proclaimed, “I will destroy this man-made temple, and in three days I will build another that is made without hands.” – Mark 14:58. Nor were the Jewish Authority pleased when he threw the moneylenders from the temple in a rare act of violence. Remember that all genuine revelations are an apocalypse: something must die for something new to be born. That is the very heart teaching of the hero’s journey itself, and why all hero’s journeys must cross the threshold from what is known into the unknown to slay the demon of darkness abiding therein, which had been keeping the kingdom shrouded in fear and in darkness—an allegory for hypnosis and ignorance. It also happens to be the core message of the Skywalker saga, a message which is repeated over and over again on multiple levels of engagement: myth, mythmaker and meta-mythmaking itself.
The order in which Star Wars was made, beginning with Episodes Four, Five and Six, was no accident. Lucas famously chose to begin with Episode Four because it was a self-contained story and he had no idea whether he’d be able to tell the rest of the saga or not. Star Wars established the universe and introduced the cast of characters who would play such a pivotal role in a galaxy far, far away: Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, R2-D2, C-3PO, Obiwan Kenobi, and of course, the most iconic antagonist in cinematic history, Darth Vader. But Truth be told, he had to begin with Episode Four so it could be followed up by the greatest sequel of all time, and one of the greatest sci-fi-fantasy films of all time, certainly the greatest of all Star Wars films, The Empire Strikes Back.
Empire is without a doubt the very heart and soul of the Skywalker Saga, it is the heart and soul of Star Wars itself. Imagine, dear viewer, what catastrophe would have befallen Lucas had he tried to start with the prequels! Do you really think moviegoers would have waited FOUR movies before arriving at the spiritual center of the saga? That they would endure a trilogy in which the protagonist ends up as the villain, the heroes killed off or in hiding, the Republic in tatters and the “the bad guys” winning the day!? Episode IV was just the perfect blend action, adventure, heart, thrills, imagination, intrigue and mystery which would have audiences begging for more. It is also the worst-kept secret at Lucasfilm that Star Wars was, and we quote, “saved in the editing room.” It’s also well-known that Empire owes a great deal of its lasting impact to Lawrence Kasdan, who penned the screenplay, Irvin Kirschner who took on directing duties, and the legendary Frank Oz who brought the all-important character of Yoda to life—as a Muppet, the way it should be. Could all that be chocked up as coincidence, or the keen decision-making of one man? One could certainly make the case that Lucas’s genius was that profound. The point is it happened. And it had to happen that way for the grand design of the Skywalker Saga to be realized in its entirety: all nine films, a trilogy of trilogies. Which we will see in a moment.
So the original trilogy not only came first because it began with the most crowd pleasing film of the Saga followed by the most esoteric, mystical and meaningful film in its middle, it also had the most comprehensive and satisfying completion of any hero’s journey in cinematic history. In Return of the Jedi, we not only get the triumph of the Rebellion and of Luke Skywalker, but the destruction of Palpatine, the end of the Empire and of Darth Vader, and the redemption of Anakin Skywalker. Even Han and Leia get together. And for fans of the Millennium Falcon, they get to see it be the hero ship which flies into the heart of the second Death Star. Talk about your happy endings. The original trilogy is unmatched in terms of the perfectly crafted hero’s journey told across three films, each having their own self-contained story arcs, and all reaching beyond their limits into the grander epic. And of course, the story remaining faithful to an inspired expression of universal archetypes evoking timeless wisdom at the heart of all mythologies, religions and spiritual traditions. What’s not to love? Who wouldn’t want to see a near-perfect unfolding of grand myth? And that was the primary purpose of the original trilogy: to unfold the hero’s journey of the Skywalker Mythos itself.
As an aside, each trilogy had a secondary and tertiary purpose. In the case of the original trilogy, the secondary purpose was of course to give its chosen messenger, George Lucas and his fellow mythmakers, their own heroic journey to somehow bring the myth to life on screen; and, that process became a whole other level of appreciation for us fans. Remember all those “making of Star Wars” behind-the-scenes documentaries and featurettes? We were given a window on the creative process of bringing divine inspiration to life: we could see for ourselves what it takes to serve the Force as a messenger and mythmaker in the modern age, including the many struggles and sacrifices. And many who watched those “making of” featurettes became instantly initiated into the order of modern mythmakers. Which brings us to the third purpose of Star Wars. Industrial Light and Magic became a household name. And from Star Trek to Blade Runner to Lord of the Rings, four decades of science fiction and fantasy films—not to mention countless special effects artists, designers, craftspeople, technicians and programmers—owe their vocation to Star Wars and those “behind the scenes” documentaries. See, George Lucas knew intuitively he had to lift the veil on Star Wars, and throughout the filming of the original trilogy, he did just that on the level he knew best—the technical level. Then, with the prequel trilogy, he’d try showing us the bigger picture of Star Wars.
After a sixteen-years hiatus, Star Wars fans would be getting a NEW “new hope” on the big screen in 1999. When asked why it took so long for him to return to the Skywalker Saga, Lucas said:
“Well, my decision to make Episode I was more or less driven by technology. … With Episode I, I didn’t want to tell a limited story. I had to go into the politics and the bigger issues of the Republic and that sort of thing. I had to go into bigger issues. And in order to do that, I had to come up with a way of doing it, and that’s what digital technology brought me. I had Yoda but he couldn’t fight. I had cities, but I couldn’t build models that big. I had lots and lots of costumes, but I couldn’t afford to make them. So there were a lot of issues that were just practical — Episode I wasn’t doable for a long time, so I waited until we had the technology to do it.” – George Lucas https://dorksideoftheforce.com/2019/05/29/star-wars-gap-rotj-tpm/
What all that meant, dear viewer, was that George Lucas literally went back to the beginning of his saga and his origins as an experimental filmmaker. The prequel trilogy was for him another call to adventure in a galaxy far, far away. This time, he would suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune brought about by digital technology, and a Fandom Menace not altogether happy about this shiny, often silly, sometimes cringeworthy new version of what was a twenty-two year old legacy of established mythology and universe-building.
We’ve already discussed much of the backlash against The Phantom Menace in part two of our journey, and we deliberately avoided mentioning Attack of the Clones until now, because most Star Wars fans agree Episode II was the dark night of the soul for Lucas, and the low-point of the prequel trilogy for sure. From cringeworthy acting and dialogue, to CGI apples, to copy-pasted clones and battle droids, Star Wars fans had come to expect more from Star Wars, especially from the second chapter in a trilogy. You know all the complaints and criticisms, dear viewer; you likely have many of your own. If not, go watch Mr. Plinkett’s review of the prequels. He has complaints to spare.
That said, most fans also agree that of all the prequels, Revenge of the Sith is by far the best, relatively speaking—finally fulfilling the promise of Darth Vader’s backstory and the fall of Anakin Skywalker. In a very real sense, Episode III represents the redemption of George Lucas in the eyes of fans. Sure, some still hold a grudge for the prequels as a whole, and Episode III is far from a perfect film, but there’s no doubt that Lucas’s personal hero’s journey as a digital filmmaker and mythmaker was the primary story being told in the prequel trilogy. The buzz around those films wasn’t about the characters, the story or its meaning; to this day it’s all about the writing, directing and acting…all the choices George made, the direction he took Star Wars in, and the final redemption of the filmmaker and mythmaker in Episode III.
You see, dear viewer, the Force already had an entirely different agenda for the prequel trilogy: with the myth taking a backseat to the mythmaker. Why? Perhaps Lucas needed reminding that he is, in fact, only a messenger and not the creator of Star Wars; and, that the only story which really mattered—to anyone—was the fall of Anakin Skywalker. Taking two and a half movies to get to the point of the myth was just pointless self-indulgence, and the fans knew it…they could feel it…a notable disconnect between the myth and the story. Lucas got distracted by technology, the grandiosity of the clone wars, and the mechanics of politics in the fate of the Republic, when he should have woven it all together with the fate of the protagonist, as in all great myths. The decline of Anakin Skywalker needed to be the microcosm reflecting the decline of the Republic in macrocosm—and the first two prequels failed to make that connection, with Anakin only really stepping into the role of mover and shaker in Episode III. Similarly, the Rise of Darth Vader represents in microcosm the Rise of the Empire in Macrocosm—just as the fall of Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi marked the fall of the Empire. But here again, Lucas’s journey through the prequels was a necessary process, the process by which Lucas arrived at the conclusion that Star Wars wasn’t truly “his.” The Force was working through the story of Lucas’s life as a mythmaker, testing him, and it is only when he surrendered to it that he could be redeemed. Likewise, the prequels were testing us fans, too: “what have you learned now about the true nature of the Force?” We discussed in Part Two how the fans reacted. You’ll have to decide whether or not fans passed the test or not. And while we can see it was a test in hindsight now, wouldn’t it have been great to recognize the test back then?
This brings us to the sequel trilogy, when the grand design for the Skywalker Saga takes a turn for the outrageous, indeed. Lucas, feeling he could entrust his legacy and the completion of the Skywalker Saga sells Lucasfilm to Disney for over four billion dollars, and names his long-time producer Kathleen Kennedy as his successor as the head of the company.
When The Force Awakens hit theatres in December of 2015, it was another NEW “new hope” for Star Wars fans. Sure, it was derivative, not very compelling as a story, furloughed Luke for nearly the whole film, and had many other problems to boot. But even its critics had to admit, for a first attempt by the new caretakers of the Skywalker Saga, it showed promise. After all, at times it looked and sounded very Star-Warsy, more like the original trilogy than the prequels, anyway. And J.J. Abrahams had made some effort to setup questions which surely would get answered in the next film. The big problem with The Force Awakens, however, was the absence of the Force itself, which we noted in our review, “The Substance Sleeps” (link in the description). The jury would be out on Disney Star Wars until the all-important second episode in the trilogy…and Episode VIII would alter fans’ perceptions of Star Wars forever.
We all know what happened with The Last Jedi. It’s been discussed and debated to death. Our take is somewhat different, since as we’ve already revealed, we always knew Star Wars was more religion than entertainment. And with Episode VIII, we saw parallels between Disney’s acquisition of Star Wars and another famous acquisition of a religion by a powerful Empire. Between 313 and 324 AD, Emperor Constantine, appropriated Christianity and installed it as the official religion of the Roman Empire. An appropriation which inexorably altered Christianity and is a textbook lesson in the Law of Entropy as it applies to religions…and Star Wars. Let’s walk through it briefly.
[PPT Slide The Last Jedi]
All religions and spiritual traditions begin with genuine inspiration which produce stories and wisdom which are relayed by a messenger. What follows is the canonization of those stories and wisdom. In the case of Star Wars the core canon consisted of the original films, but was expanded upon with animated series, comics, novels, and video games. In the case of Christianity, the canon consisted of The Pistis Sophia and eye-witness accounts preserved in the Nag Hammadi texts known as the Gnostic Gospels. Then, an appropriation of the tradition occurs by a powerful empire which sees value in the influence the tradition has over its followers. Rome in the case of Christianity, and Disney in the case of Star Wars. One of the first acts of such appropriation by an empire is to begin removing properties from the official canon, which Disney did in 2014. Similarly, Emperor Constantine would eventually redact over 30 gospels, including all the first-hand accounts and teachings of Christ, and only the four gospels based on second-hand knowledge remained. Constantine would do so as part of the process of politicization of the religion, during the Council of Nicaea. The equivalent vehicle of politicization of Star Wars for Disney was The Last Jedi. At the council of Nicaea, Constantine saw fit to retool Gnostic Christianity for an Empire obsessed with self-preservation, redefine its foundations with new proclamations such as the Nicaean Creed, and establish dogmatic justifications for committing atrocities like burning heretics, including Gnostics, whose religion Constantine appropriated. Similarly, The Last Jedi saw fit to rewrite the savior of the galaxy as a murderer obsessed with self-preservation, redefine its foundations with new inventions such as the Holdo Maneuver, and establish dogmatic justifications for Yoda committing atrocities like burning sacred Jedi artifacts, including the Jedi texts and the Tree of Life, whose significance we will explore a bit later. All this caused a significant split in the fanbase, between those who liked the new direction and those who did not. In the case of the New Catholicism, the rifts would eventually lead to the Great Schism. For more detail on all of this, check out our article on The Last Jedi or the Last Logi, link in the description.
The bottom-line is this: politicization and corruption, be it of the Jedi Council in the prequels, Norse mythology by the Nazis, Gnostic Christianity by Constantine, Islam by the Sunnis and Shiites, or Star Wars by Kathleen Kennedy and Rian Johnson, each is a case study of how all religions and spiritual traditions degenerate when their myths fall into the hands of the ambitious, the power-hungry, and the politically motivated. Whether you liked The Last Jedi or not, it reveals just how quickly religions, spiritual traditions and their mythologies can become so far removed from their origins that we shouldn’t be surprised how little in the way of timeless universal Truths are left in the superficial dogmas and official teachings of the world’s organized religions. Genuine wisdom is still present, but like Disney Star Wars, it’s buried beneath a very distracting surface level. Like all mythology, we must dive deeper, beneath the surface, step back and see the big picture, and recognize those claiming authority over the Truth, be they clergy, theologians or intellectuals, are fumbling around in the dark. However, as with all those who’ve fallen to the dark side, they very much believe themselves to be in the right. In the case of pundits, fans and YouTubers, they agree unanimously: the descent into the Dark Side for their beloved mythology can be laid squarely at the feet of writer/director Rian Johnson and Kathleen Kennedy.
They also agree that J.J. Abrams took on a herculean task of trying to turn Star Wars back to the Light Side with The Rise of Skywalker. Like the Rebel assault on the New Death Star and Luke’s surrender to Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi (so that they could stand together before the Emperor), J.J.’s actions seem nothing short of reckless; a last ditch effort; a Hail Mary pass into the endzone with seconds left on the clock. And we don’t think any of this is at all in dispute: from the over-the-top production (rumored to have produced an edit no less than FOUR HOURS in length), to numerous re-shoots, as many as SIX ‘final edits’ being tested with audiences, and a ballooning budget rumored to be well in excess of $500 million, The Rise of Skywalker production was every bit as bloated, over-the-top, and overwhelming as its story, action, special effects and the circumstances its characters are confronted with. Rise of Skywalker represents not only J.J. Abrams’s Battle of Endor it represents fans’ Redemption, the undoing of Rian Johnson’s crimes and in essence, the Defeat of the Disney Empire. Or more aptly put, The Rise of Skywalker is fans’ Return of the Jedi…the Return of the Force. The question is, did it succeed? Would fans even see it as the redemption of Disney Star Wars? As with all things, it takes two to tango, and for Episode IX to truly live up to the promise of its title and become The Rise of Skywalker would depend entirely on The Fandom Menace.
BEGINNING WITH ATTACHMENTS & EXPECTATIONS
For a good while prior to the release of Episode IX, the Internet had been a-buzz with leaks, rumors, speculation and a good deal of outrage about the final installment of the heralded Skywalker saga which began over 40 years ago in a galaxy far, far away…and do you know what, dear viewer?
“It’s a Trap!” | Admiral Ackbar Meme
We confess, we fell for it: all of it…the pundits, the reviewers, the nay-sayers, and YouTubers. We fell into the trap of negativity, low expectations, and pre-judgments based on rumors, leaks, and our experience of the previous installments of Disney’s Star Wars. As mentioned, we had written reviews on both The Force Awakens (Star Wars: The Substance Sleeps) and The Last Jedi or the Last Logi? And, by even the titles of said articles alone, you can probably gather that we were fans of neither. And neither were many of the countless Star Wars fans who grew up with this “franchise” and had been fans of it for the better part of four decades.
Please don’t get us wrong, dear viewer: the critics, fans, pundits, YouTubers, etc. WERE RIGHT, in so many ways about so many things. So on this point let there be no doubt: The Rise of Skywalker is a messy, manic, melodramatic, monster of a movie.
But we of all people knew that Star Wars was NEVER just a movie. We said as much in BOTH our articles on Star Wars linked in the video description. Why would we assume this, the final installment in the Skywalker saga, as messy, awkward and over-the-top as it is as a film, would be utterly devoid of any intrinsic esoteric value and/or universal Truth? Simple, because it is TEMPTING to do so. And here we invoke “Anton Ego” of all people from Disney Pixar’s “Ratatouille,” a film which is decidedly and universally adored as a great film, complete with the following timeless universal Truths…
YouTube | Disney | Ratatouille | Anton Ego’s Review
And why has Anton Ego been “rocked to his core?” Because his love for food had become a purely aesthetic thing: a phenomenon of prestige, elegance, texture, presentation and above all taste. And all the criticism you hear deriding Episode IX are the words of those who, like Anton Ego, have forgotten the REAL reason why they love Star Wars. They, like Anton Ego, are critics, in many cases experts, and like Ego, they have attachments to Star Wars looking, sounding, feeling, and tasting a certain way, even as what they long for more than anything is the feeling of Star Wars they had as a child, in their youth, and in countless other books, comics, video games, animated TV series, etc. They have expectations. Suffice it to say, they are having a very, very difficult time swallowing The Rise of Skywalker. Just as Anton Ego should, for all intents and purposes, choke on a peasant dish prepared for him by a rat of all things. But he doesn’t choke on it. Not only does Ego swallow it, he does so gleefully with childlike exuberance. He is reminded what the True Essence and nature of food is (that is, what he really loves about it). He is transported back to his childhood and rediscovers the pure joy and bliss of unconditional love shared through some comfort food prepared for him in mercy by his mother in a time of great suffering. Ego allows himself to experience that childlike happiness anew, because “the new,” somehow captures the magic that had been lost and forgotten, and presents it in a way completely unexpected but filled with a Light and Love which Anton Ego cannot deny. And that is what rocks him to his core.
Now, *I* went into Rise of Skywalker every bit as dour, cynical, and nauseatingly self-righteous about Star Wars as Anton Ego was about food. I shared the same disdain for Disney Star Wars as Ego had for Gusteau’s motto, “anyone can cook.” So with that confession out of the way, allow us to bring into focus how I was transformed through the experience of Episode IX by remembering Luke’s hero’s journey…
“USE THE FORCE, LUKE” – LETTING GO [OF ATTACHMENTS & EXPECTATIONS] AND LETTING GOD [REVEL & REVEAL]
To have the kind of transformative experience we see in Anton Ego during the climax of Ratatouille, we must allow The Rise of Skywalker to be, as it is, warts and all. It is what it is. Desiring it to be something else is futile at this point. And as we shall soon see, ‘anything else,’ no matter how aesthetically pleasing, logically consistent, scientifically viable/plausible, artistically integral or in-line with George Lucas’s vision, may not have had the miraculous potential this messy monstrosity of a film has. But again, it is only a potential…like any seed being planted needs receptive, fertile, nurturing soil, Episode IX needs a receptive audience. That’s a big ask, we know, especially after The Last Jedi, but remember we went into The Rise of Skywalker every bit as disappointed and jaded as anyone. And yet, here we are, arguing as no one else has in the defense of Episode IX’s hidden brilliance.
As with all high art, miracles, and feats of true strength, courage, genius, virtue and selflessness, miracles require us to “let go” (as Obiwan’s Force-ghost whispers to Luke during the climax of A New Hope) and use the Force, feel the Force, let it flow, etc. Luke is precisely the galaxy’s new hope because he learns to trust in the Force when facing insurmountable odds and in the shadow of the biggest monstrosities in the galaxy…the Death Star in Episode IV, the hidden truth about his parentage in Episode V (and Luke literally “lets go” upon that revelation), and Emperor Palpatine in Episode VI. Luke’s greatest virtue is precisely his ability to let go, to feel the Light Side of the Force, and trust in the power of the Light Side to overcome the Dark. Which it does, of course, but only because Luke “let go” of his fear, his anger, his desire for vengeance, his desire to control, his desire for the power to change circumstances to what he might want them to be. The result? The Force is able to work miracles through Skywalkers.
In the 1977 original, we know of course that the miracle is the “million to one shot” Luke makes on the Death Star. In Empire Strikes Back, it’s Luke’s surrender to the guidance of Obiwan and Yoda in the beginning, through its middle, and then surrender to his own premonitions, intuitions, and inner knowing that he must risk everything to save his friends in “the city in the clouds.” Then, at the end of the film is another miracle: his survival thanks to the Force-bond he has with Leia, who “hears” and rescues him with the cooperation of Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian. Finally, in Return of the Jedi, it is the redemption of Anakin Skywalker, the apparent destruction of the Emperor, the new Death Star, and the end of the Empire. But all this comes at a cost…the sacrifice of Anakin’s life. In other words, Luke gets the miracle the galaxy needs, at the expense of the miracle he wants (for Vader to die and his father to live). That’s how The Force works: it always delivers what we need so long as we let go of what we want.
And so it was with us as we watched Episode IX. For try as we might, we simply could not hate the Rise of Skywalker. As we sat in the theatre doing our best to tear it apart as we had become accustomed to, and as Anton Ego expected to tear apart Gousteau’s latest creation in Ratatouille, we couldn’t help ourselves. Moment after moment, sign after sign, symbol after symbol, the Force just kept whispering to us through what was on screen: “let go…this is so much more than what you were expecting.” As much as we tried to despise it for what was on the surface, we couldn’t help but see the fingerprints of the Force all over the film, and feel ourselves being moved by a Star Wars film in a way which we hadn’t felt since The Empire Strikes back. In a phrase, Episode IX had “rocked me to my core.”
So let us dive deep beneath the surface scepticism, ridicule and disappointment, locate the wayfinder which will take us to Exegol, to reveal the hidden secrets of Episode IX, and finally see The Rise of Skywalker out of the darkness and into the Light of Redemption.
To really do a deep dive, we would have to look at the nature of The Force as it relates to the Tree of Life and as an allegory for what’s known as the Ray of Creation. Now, we know full well that the Tree of Life of Kabbalah has countless explanations, aspects, elaborations and implications which one can easily spend a lifetime studying and still never fully comprehend. We should also point out here that in the Lucas-led Saga of Anakin Skywalker, each character related directly to one or more spheres on the Tree of Life, as is true for any mythology, be it The Lion King, Gladiator, X-Men and many others. But all that is well beyond the scope of this video. That’s why we’re going to limit ourselves to a simplified analysis of the True nature of The Force, how it relates specifically to Skywalkers, and the inspiration behind it and our beloved mythology. In doing so we will reveal how and why Rey had to “Rise a Skywalker” by the end of the film, and what Episode IX reveals to us about the nature of the Force which none of the previous six Lucas-led Star Wars films had. We will also shed light on the whole “The Force is Female” thing, how all of these revelations might legitimately get your back up, dear viewer, but how they confirm the status of The Rise of Skywalker as a worthy—if imperfect—vehicle to redeem Disney Star Wars as a legitimate addition to the Skywalker mythology.
The Ray of Creation has its analogy in all religions and spiritual traditions. Its esoteric designation is “The Omnipresent Ray of Okidanokh,” and is just one of many names it is known as: Christ, Krishna, Quetzalcoatl, Fu-Xi, Mithras, Zeus, Amida, Odin, Wotan, Belen and of course, Buddhadhatu or Buddha-Nature. Whether you believe these personages are based on real people or pure mythology, the point is that they all represent the physical embodiment of the Cosmic Chrestos principle… the Ray of Okidanokh; the Ray of Creation. Their bodies were living temples of the Divine Light which descended into them and worked its magic in the world through them. Speaking of temples, this is the Buddha Dhatu Jadi in Indonesia. When translated from Bangla, it means “Buddha metal jadi.” In Malaysian it means “Buddha is so.” But in Indonesian it means “Buddha becomes one.” So in that light, let’s look at how Jedi become one with The Force.
Descending from The Absolute, the Ray of Creation descends into the first, second and third Logos, which is the Upper Trinity of the Highest Self, the perfect multiple unity of the Cosmic Christ, Cosmic Consciousness or Christ Consciousness. Clearly, this is what is being allegorized as the Cosmic Force in Star Wars; and, we argue, is embodied in Skywalkers. Take note that our positioning of Leia Skywalker and Luke Skywalker here is significant, since in esotericism the two pillars of the Tree of Life, Jachin and Boaz, are known as “the twins.” And Star Wars fans know that Luke and Leia are the twins from the original Anakin Skywalker saga.
Next, the Ray of Creation illuminates Gnosis, Da’ath in Hebrew, which is experience and wisdom. This is what is meant by “Knowledge of the Force” in Star Wars. It is personified by the character of Yoda, who served the Star Wars saga as was the living embodiment of Force Knowledge since Episode II.
Next, the Ray continues its descent into the Lower Trinity known as the Monad, or Soul. This is our Higher Self, which we become cognizant of through awakened consciousness. Here is where the will of our Innermost Being emanates from, which it receives from The Logos, which requires a great deal of willpower to follow. It is the requirement of willpower to be one with the will of our True Self which is directly allegorized as The Whils in The Clone Wars animated series. They are five Force Priestesses, each embodying a different emotion, and collectively serving as guides, teachers, and intercessors between the Jedi, higher knowledge, and the Cosmic Force. There are five of them because of the Tetragrammaton, or upright Pentagram, which is upright human being, also the five cardinal points: North, South, East, West and zero-point, and the five elements: ether, wind, fire, water and earth. But they are also the five fingers of the hand of fate, the right hand of The Cosmic Force, as George Lucas originally envisioned them. He originally wanted for the Jedi to be only the outward vessels or vehicles which The Force could flow through. The Whils were meant to be the “true masters” within. However, he had to put that concept on hold to be introduced at a later time. But it proved difficult since early on he established Force Ghosts, and this would have made the introduction of individual Whils confusing. That’s why they are allegorized as the Five Force Priestesses who occupy the universe quite separate from the Jedi. In the prequels, Lucas preserved the dynamic of a vessel or vassal serving the Higher Self or Inner Master in the form of the Padawan learner who studies under and is generally supposed to obey his Master. The original trilogy embodied the nature of the Monad through the relationship between Luke, the human soul, Obiwan Kenobi the voice of his consciousness, and Anakin, Luke’s father.
So, it follows the Ray of Creation descends into that level next…the level of the vessel…our level. Namely, into the Mental Body, Emotional Body, Vital Body and Physical Body. These are known as the four bodies of desire, and we hope it’s fairly obvious why they are called that. They are the lower self of mind, heart, body and energy. That energy is qi, prana, Devi Kundalini Shakti, otherwise known as the sexual force. It is what is known as the Living Force in the Star Wars universe, and resides in the ninth sphere of the Tree of Life. And as we know, in most The Force is dormant or asleep, but that it can awaken. Similarly, in most people the consciousness is sleeping, but through great efforts, some individuals are in the process of waking from their psychological sleep. This is Princess Leia Organa—her adopted name relates this aspect of her character to the Living Force, whereas her true name, Skywalker, relates her to the Cosmic Force. Princess Leia is analogous to the imprisoned maiden who must be rescued in countless myths, stories, fairy tales and legends, because Psyche, the daughter of Eros, and Kundalini, the Sexual Force, are both feminine. They are the vital energy of Mother Nature. The other characters are the mind, the emotions, and the physical body and personality. And who is to argue that as a duo, Chewbacca doesn’t represent the animal self and that Solo isn’t who gave personality to Star Wars? Whenever viewing any myth, it is important to recognize that characters always represent personifications of different aspect of a single psyche. This is always universally the case in all mythology, without exception. The Tree of Life is not outside of us, and is a powerful tool to understanding the deeper meaning of any and all myths.
Now, from its place in the ninth sphere, The Force is active in each of the three brains and five centers of the human machine: the mind or mental center, the heart or emotional center, and the body or motor instinctive sexual center. When we utilize The Force in an upright and positive way in each of our three brains, we are an upright human being, an upright nine, one shy from “a perfect 10” as it were. However, if we are tempted in any one of our three brains by our egos, also known as sins, nafs, psychological aggregates, demons, and vices, the upright nines fall and become sixes. When this happens our consciousness and sexual Force become inverted and we descend into psychological hell, known as Klipoth in Kabbalah; what Carl Jung called the subconscious and the shadow. This is what is behind all great falls in mythology, from the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden, to the Fall of Anakin Skywalker. It is symbolized by the inverted pentagram, and denoted by the numerical value 6-6-6, representing a fall in each of our three brains. It is the original meaning of the phrase to be “Down and Out,” which describes the outward and downward flow of the sexual Force creating the mythical Tail of Satan, and suggesting that abusing the sexual force invariably results in its consumption and waste.
Egos enslave consciousness and feed on the Force. It is this metaphysical fact which drives all villains to constantly seek new sources of power. They must constantly feed on the force of others, because their egos are insatiable, consuming the creative energy to get stronger. But what gets stronger is their desire, their hunger for more. It’s never enough. Each and every time we indulge an ego, it is momentarily satiated but then its hunger returns stronger than before. And this is vividly revealed in The Rise of Skywalker, when Palpatine drains Ben and Rey of their Living Force to regenerate himself, returning rejuvenated and stronger than ever.
Episode IX also unveils for the first time in the Star Wars universe the true nature of ego, which eludes even contemporary psychologists. Darth Sidious is but the acting head of a legion of Sith, in the same way that our singular “I,” the self we identify with, is just an illusion created by a legion of individual egos acting through us: fear, anger, greed, lust, et al. Each one expresses its desire according to its own nature, and this creates the never-ending stream of consciousness in our mind (which we have very little control over). Imagine a pyramid in your subconscious mind with all the competing egos vying for a position at the pinnacle, where they actually gain attention and control over you. You can test and prove this configuration of the subconscious for yourself just through self-observation. Observe one moment how you desire a second slice of cheesecake, or chocolate (or some other dessert). That is gluttony at the pinnacle, influencing you. Now, observe that as soon as you finish eating and gluttony is momentarily satiated, another ego immediately takes its place: guilt, perhaps, for having given into gluttony! Or shame, or perhaps vanity, as your mind turns to thoughts of summer and beach season and looking good in a swimsuit. So whereas every Star Wars film until now has depicted the dark side in a very simplistic fashion, The Rise of Skywalker very accurately allegorizes the true nature of our subconscious mind and the psychological hell it creates as the planet Exegol.
This, then, encapsulates the metaphysical foundation of The Dark Side of the Force. It explains the origins of the name of the Sith, and why the command Palpatine gave to kill all the Jedi in the galaxy was “Order 66.” So this is all well and good but the obvious question is “now what?” Where can we go from here except sink deeper into the Dark Side?
As we have discussed, redemption is a theme common to all Star Wars films, and The Rise of Skywalker is no exception to that rule. And, as it turns out, the first step is to become an upright, upstanding individual again, an upright nine in each of our three brains: mind, heart and body. Then we transform the destructive force back to a creative force and we do so with willpower. In essence, we grow a spine, and live with integrity, with backbone, in a way people once used to pride themselves on and as all wise men from myth did. They all had backbone, it was the source of their power in fact, symbolized by the staff of Moses, of Gandalf, and yes, even Rey. It’s with our staff that we fulfill the will of our Innermost Master. But remember, at this point we’re still just padawan. We’re no Gandalf, Moses, or Rey… not yet.
Without a doubt, one of the most common criticisms levied against Disney Star Wars is how “OP” Rey is, and it is no different in Rise of Skywalker. If anything, she is far more powerful now than she was in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. However, few are still calling her a “Mary Sue,” since she does seem to go through quite a bit of struggle, conflict, self-doubt, makes mistakes, and even begins the film training with Leia (who is inexplicably a Jedi; something this film attempts to retroactively account for, by explaining that Luke trained her shortly after the events of Episode VI). All these details aside, there is and has always been a reason why Rey has been so OP, and that reason is the Cosmic Force. And, as we know, in life it is the Ray of Creation and what defines a Skywalker. The Force is the heart and soul of Star Wars and defines it as MYTHOLOGY. Rey gets her name from it, after all.
“But the Force is completely overdone, to the point of being ridiculous and ruining the story,” many of the critics have argued. It is true The Rise of Skywalker takes the Force to places we’ve never seen before. Like everything else in this movie, the Force has been “dialed up to 11,” and if you’re familiar with that iconic reference from This is Spinal Tap, you know that it was presented stone-cold and serious by the band, in-line with the satire of the film, to be a point of ridicule and humor in the minds of the audience. Something very similar is going in Episode IX, at least online, where fans, pundits and critics are lambasting J.J. Abrahams for taking the Force to ludicrous levels of power, giving characters even more never-before-seen Force-powers, and “destroying Star Wars” by giving Force ghosts the ability to intervene in the physical universe in unprecedented “lore-breaking” ways. All we can say to that is, Star Wars has finally begun to catch-up to other mythologies in terms of depicting the power and potential of the Cosmic Force. Whether it’s the Power of God working through Moses to part the Red Sea, or the power working through Hercules to overcome his 12 Labours, or Gandalf driving back the Nazgul with a blinding Ray of Light from his staff, it is the privilege of myth to use the fantastic and the hyperbolic to burn into our consciousness the significance of the symbols and allegories it is trying to reveal to us. For it is beneath those symbols and allegories that the real treasure of all heroic journeys awaits…
“X” MARKS THE SPOT
Without question the most powerful of all symbols in The Rise of Skywalker is the X, and it has been secretly building a following of the faithful since The Force Awakens. We are referring, of course, to the countless “Reylo” memes, and the fact that there emerged a whole contingency of fans who wanted to see Rey and Kylo Ren get together romantically. It has always been intimated that there was some deep connection between them (for instance, their ability to “Force Skype” with each other), and The Rise of Skywalker takes this to entirely new levels. Why? Is this just “Reylo” fan service? Or just another of the dozens of plot-points crammed into the film?
This film is Episode IX. The significance of that number cannot be ignored. As we have already discussed, nine is Yesod on the Tree of Life of Kabbalah. The fourth dimension and the vital body…the aetheric body, the body of prana, of chi. Nine is the sexual force, the keystone, the philosophical stone, and the foundation, on which rest “the twins,” the two pillars of the Tree of Life, the masculine and feminine pillars Jachin and Boaz. The creative and destructive Force in the universe. In the original trilogy, the Twins are represented by Luke and Leia (who are literally fraternal twins). And the bond between them is stronger than anyone else (evidenced by Leia’s ability to “hear” Luke at the end of Empire when he calls out to here in his time of need). So how much stronger might such a Force-bond be between Soulmates, or the Force equivalent of Twin Souls…a Diad in the Force? For it is unquestionable that no matter how strong the Love / Force connection is between fraternal twins, it cannot hold a candle to the potential for power between Twin Souls, because only lovers work together in the Ninth Sphere with the creative Force of the universe: the sexual Force.
Forget midichlorians, a concept Lucas should never have sullied his mythology with, it is through the union of masculine feminine that the Force comes into being. The Force is the Christic Force. It separates into masculine and feminine for the sake of experience but longs to be born anew as individuated and unique expressions of itself. This is why individuals who perish “become one with the Force” as Yoda says. The Christic Force is the perfect multiple unity, and it is the Divine Androgen, born of the union of masculine and feminine forces. That union and birth is represented by the Christian cross, in the Tao, the Caduceus of Mercury, and countless other ancient religious symbols and spiritual traditions, all of which are expressions of The Law of Three.
The universal sign for the duality of the sexual Force (its ability to rise as a 9 or fall as a 6) is the serpent. It can be seen in every religion and spiritual tradition, from the tempting serpent of Adam and Eve, to the giant cobra which rises to shelter Buddha from the storm as he sits in meditation, to the serpent of bronze which Moses raises on his staff. Bronze is an alchemical union of copper, which is feminine, and tin, which is masculine. So naturally there is a serpent in The Rise of Skywalker. And it is wounded. It is in pain. It is a suffering serpent in the darkness of the cave together with the Sith dagger, three gashes in its side…the Law of Three but spilling blood, wasted sexual energy. It’s when Rey, the symbol of the Cosmic Force, heals the serpent that it responds by breaking open an exit from darkness into the Light. The incredible power and significance of this symbol in the heart of Episode IX cannot be overstated.
IX is also one standing in front of an X. An individual on the brink, on the edge of stepping into the Christic Light; as we said, one away from a perfect 10. It’s also one standing before a cross. X is the same symbol, consisting of the vertical, masculine phallus—action—the horizontal, feminine uterus—passion—and the intersection of vertical and horizontal, union of masculine and feminine, sex, creation. In Roman numerals, X is 10…the Perfect Ten. It can also be expressed this way, which is the Alpha and Omega. The trouble is, the origin is separate from the circumference, so to correct the symbol we make a mobius strip out of the circle and we’re left with infinity, which are two rings united eternally, the origin of the symbol of wedding rings.
And, it is symbolized by the crossed lightsabers of Rey and Kylo. Their fight is the eternal conflict between the Light Side and the Dark Side of the Force, in us the struggle between our Innermost Being and the ego…good and evil, God and the Devil, etc. It is upon the cross of sexual alchemy, in the ninth sphere, that the animal self (ruled by the dark side) dies so that the Christ can RISE. Creation and destruction; death and (re)brith; suffering and sacrifice; and the UNION of these apparently disparate and opposite concepts in a reconciled continuum…a Tri-Unity; a perfect multiple unity…the proto-archetype by which all who answer the call may sacrifice themselves and become one with the Force…they can rise, a Skywalker.
Rey and Kylo: The AUM of Life and the Cross | The Rise of Skywalker
Skywalkers are strong with the Force, full of hope, and their descent and ascent (i.e. Anakin Skywalker’s fall to the dark side and redemption) have been the focus of Star Wars for six films. This is because Skywalker is a symbol for The Christ, the Ray of Okidanokh, the Ray of Creation, which descends and ascends on the Tree of Life. That is why the protagonist of the sequel trilogy is “Rey.” She is the one to rise a Skywalker only after she unites with her counterpart and Twin Soul, Ben Solo (who is also a Skywalker). But not until Rey runs him through with her lightsabre and Kylo Ren dies, that Ben Solo can be “born again.” A scene which takes place awash in the waters of sexuality. This, dear viewer, is the secret teachings of all mystery religions and spiritual traditions: the hidden meaning of what it means to be “born again of the waters and the spirit.” Ben Solo is reborn only after dying on the cross of sex by the intervention of his Divine Mother, symbolized by Leia, and his twin soul, Rey, who, being the embodiment of the Ray of Creation, heals him with the Cosmic Force.
The Dark Side burns in the Fires of Kundalini (The Feminine aspect of The Christic Force)
What else must die before Ray can rise a Skywalker? The Dark Side, embodied in the disfigured animated corpse of Emperor Palatine, Darth Sidious, who claims all the Sith live in him. This makes him, allegorically speaking, the living embodiment of The Black Lodge, and we see that visualized by a stadium full of Sith cult followers all worshipping Palpatine, the singular “I” at the head of many countless egos.
But in order for that miracle to take place (the end of the Sith), Rey must unite with Ben Solo, die, and be reborn as the living embodiment of all the Jedi (after Ben Solo sacrifices himself to revive her). Here we are given a rare moment of reprieve from the nonstop action when Rey is allowed an opportunity to stare up into the stars and commune with the ascended masters of the Jedi Order. Although brief, we shouldn’t allow the beauty, power and significance of this moment to pass us by without some reflection. It is completely analogous to the actual White Lodge and the ascended masters of all spiritual traditions, as explained by Mufasa in another great work of modern mythology, The Lion King. We might take our place in the stars, a Cosmo Creator, a Being which can be found at the heart of every planet and every Sun in the universe…all Christified Masters, all once descended as a seed, an Essence, an, all died on the cross of supra-sexuality, born again in waters and the spirit, and Ascended, Christified Masters, One with the Cosmic Force. And it is all those Ascended Jedi Masters, one with the Force, which now flow through Rey, as the perfect multiple unity of the Cosmic Force, the Ray of Creation.
Thus, Christified, with the power of all Jedi within her, including her Twin Soul, she is able to square off against Palpatine, armed with TWO light-sabres, belonging to Luke and Leia, The Twins (Jachin and Boaz; Ida and Pingala), CROSSED, able to not just absorb or deflect Emperor Palpatine’s Force lightning, but REFLECT IT back at Him, transformed and TRANSMUTED by the Light Side of the Force, so that it destroys him, the Sith, and all egos from the Galaxy.
Surely, dear reader, we cannot begrudge the over-the-top representation of the Force. Not when our humble experience of the Christ (which was but a taste) was far more powerful and impactful than anything J.J. Abrams put on screen! To get some vague sense of what we mean, read our post describing the experience of being Touched by the Christ, link in the description, below.
And how does it feel? To experience the Cosmic Christ? If you open yourself to it, every fibre of your being will drink it up like Cal El soaking up the rays from the young sun. The Cosmic Force will make you feel like Superman, which is the reason we cried tears of joy for the entire duration of the credits of Man of Steel, what many people believe to be far too dark and violent a depiction of their “symbol of hope,” and yet is a near-perfect allegory for the struggle between our Inner Zod, Faora and Gor (the Three Brains fallen to the Dark Side, Zod Ursa and Non in the 80’s Superman II) and our Inner Superman (Our Inner Master Jedi). But we cannot hope to start out as supermen and women. We have to start somewhere. And Star Wars shows us the path: the path of the Padawan.
Like all Padawans, we must learn how to use the force. The Force Awakens when we begin working with the nine-sided cubic stone, also known as the legendary philosopher’s stone of alchemy which has the power to turn lead into gold. This is symbolic, of course, for transmuting the lead of ego into the gold of the human soul…the solar bodies necessary to exist permanently in the supernal worlds, as symbolized by Jedi who dematerialize and take their body with them to be one with the Force…a power which they apparently learn from the Five Force Priestesses. Beginning to see the patterns, emerging, yet? The secret to do this is closely guarded and held only by the highest Jedi. But if we combine a Sith holocron with a jedi holocron, we can make a 9-sided cubic holocron. And combined, such holocrons would certainly reveal the necessary secret we seek.
But how do we find the 9-sided holocron, containing the most closely guarded secrets of the Jedi Order? In Rise of Skywalker, the analogous device is the “Sith Wayfinder.” Like a holocron, it reveals the secret path to our goal, which is Exegol. X – a – Goal. Here we reveal strikingly similar symbols found in the Arthurian legend of Excalibur, X – Calibre, the sword in the stone. Whether Arthur pulled Excalibur from the stone or is given it by the Lady of the Lake, we’ll soon see it’s the same symbol, signifying he would be King, and would lead a quest to recover The Holy Grail. We already know the significance of the “X.” The sword is the phallus. The cup, the uterus, their union is an X. It is the sword in the stone which leads to the grail, and it is the Sith dagger which leads to the wayfinder…which are Episode IX’s stand-ins for Excalibur and the stone, the 9-sided holocron we imagine as the Star Wars equivalent of the 9-sided Philosophical Stone.
Once we find such a device and learn the secret to working with the fires and waters of the sexual force, we can raise the creative force up the spinal column, illuminating all of our chakras in the process, and illuminating our consciousness. This is symbolized by the tongues of fire atop the apostles heads, and the halo, about the heads of angels, saints, buddhas, et al. In Rise of Skywalker, it is Rey who rises, creating all her solar bodies, and becoming a jedi. She is the embodiment of the Ray of Creation, symbolized by her golden light saber.
YELLOW LIGHT SABRE?
At the end of the film, Rey introduces herself as a Skywalker, burying Luke and Leia’s sabres in the sand, and pulling out her own light sabre. This act reveals she has attained the level of Jedi, whose final rite of initiation is to complete the construction of their own light sabre (illuminated Tree of Life; spinal column, risen Kundalini, all chakras illuminated, solar bodies complete, etc). This “Christified Jedi” has an orange-yellow glow, signifying SOLAR BODIES. It turns out that Rey is a Palpatine, her parents chose to abandon her on Jakku because they feared Palpatine would find, abduct, and turn her into a dark side monstrosity. So Rey represents balance in the force by that virtue alone: she was born the offspring of evil, but she conquered her birthright and was reborn a Skywalker, a Christified one. Her lightsabre ray is golden for this reason. Serendipitously, as we have mentioned numerous times now, the Christic Force, The Logos, is also known as The Omnipresent Ray of Okidanok…the Ray of Creation.
Rey’s Yellow Light Sabre However, in expanded universe of Star Wars lore the ‘Grey Jedi’ wielded orange-yellow light sabres because they were neither Jedi nor Sith…they were “neutral.” They believed in the balance of all things, including the Force. This reveals such a high-level esoteric teaching that few can comprehend it: the Black Lodge ultimately works for the White Lodge. To be a master we must be tested. Who or what will test us? To be a hero something must be conquered. Who or what shall we conquer if not our “dark side?” But a Christifed Master attains a level of being one with the Force, one with all the Jedi who ever lived, the perfect multiple unity. And as such, the Christ must help others ascend… Rey is not “The Last Skywalker,” you see…just as Luke was not the first. So no matter what Disney decides to do with Star Wars in the future, YOU NOW KNOW, dear reader, that the Skywalker saga goes on…in you, in me, in all of us. Episode IX is not just the end; it is the beginning…INRI, igne natura renovateur integra: the Fire renews all nature.
THE DIVINE FEMININE FORCE
Much has been said deriding Kathleen Kennedy and what appears at times to be incompetent mismanagement, at other times to be outright deliberate sabotage of Star Wars. Her bold and blatant assertion that “The Force is Female” has been felt as a radical feminist thorn in the side of many Star Wars fans for some time.
Kathleen Kennedy: “The Force Is Female”… Is It? | Star Wars The … The Force is Female? Kathleen Kennedy sparked a gender-debate no-one wanted to have
The Force is NOT female. The Cosmic Christ is ANDROGYNOUS. That means it is made up of both Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine and UNION of Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine. We feel we’ve already made this clear earlier in this video during our discussion of “Reylo” and The Law of Three.
That said, the Divine Feminine aspect of the Living Force is itself its own Force…the sexual Force…chi, prana, ether, etc. The Divine Feminine Force has the power to both create and destroy (two sides of the same coin). And of course, the Divine Feminine Force is the nurturing life Force of the Universe. From that standpoint, yes, The Force *IS* female…we even call it “Mother Nature.” And, as we have stated in many of our articles, most recently in “O Divine Mother, Here art Thou” our own individual Divine Mother Devi Kundalini Shakti is deserving of all our love, gratitude and remembrance. As we shared in our article, O Divine Mother, Here art Thou:
“Devi or Sakti is the Mother of Nature. She is Nature Itself. The whole world is Her body. Mountains are Her bones. Rivers are Her veins. Ocean is Her bladder. Sun, moon are Her eyes. Wind is Her breath. Agni is Her mouth. She runs this world show. Sakti is symbolically female; but It is, in reality, neither male nor female. It is only a Force which manifests Itself in various forms. The five elements and their combinations are the external manifestations of the Mother. Intelligence, discrimination, psychic power, and will are Her internal manifestations.” —Swami Sivananda
And as we go on to explain in greater detail in said article, link in the description, the Divine Mother is that aspect of The Force responsible for everything we experience in life as serendipity (regardless of whether we recognize it as such or not in the moment).
Far from “lucky chance” or “unexpected discovery,” which are mere superficial intellectual ways of understanding the origins of the word serendipity, we have dove deeper into Her primordial waters and produced from the depths a fullness of meaning hitherto unexplored in such detail. When we say the Living, Breathing Word of God is all around us, that is just what we mean. And when we consider the effort; the energy; the coordination and the conscious destiny of fates which had to take place to orchestrate any occurrence…complete with its players, outcomes, legends and later dramatizations, we awaken to the profound realization: The Cosmic Force can only become the Living, Breathing Word of God through and in the Boundless Resplendence of The Living Force of our Divine Mother. Without Her intercession on Its behalf, The Logos is nothing. And if The Cosmic Force within us cannot enter the world through us, then we too are nothing…as empty and superficial as the intellectual explanations of the word serendipity itself: hollow shells devoid of any depth of meaning.
In other words, dear reader, the Disney Star Wars Trilogy, with all its apparent flaws and missteps, seemingly made by colorful and often combative creators/executives, serendipitously serves an essential role for the fandom, and fleshes out in voluptuous fullness, which only the Divine Mother can, the meta-saga of Star Wars, bringing to light the deepest and most important (and until now hidden) nature of The Force. And it does so precisely according to the Force which drove Kathleen Kennedy to make the assertion she did about The Force being female, her choices for Rian Johnson to politicizeThe Last Jedi, and pursue the politics she has… so that by the end of the Disney Star Wars Trilogy, the end of the Skywalker Saga itself, the whole world might appreciate a more fuller, comprehensive vision of The Force; and what’s more, be given a more profound foundation and renewed love for the Star Wars mythos. In other words, give the fandom a meta-mythological roller-coaster ride of a hero’s journey which ends at a place ripe for the next…you guessed it…NEW HOPE.
SUMMARY OF THE HERO’S JOURNEY OF THE STAR WARS TRILOGIES THEMSELVES
Let us look once again at the big picture of Star Wars in relation to the archetype of the Hero’s Journey, which is what George Lucas had in mind when he wrote Star Wars, and which most fans embrace as fundamental to the heart and soul of Star Wars. We have already discussed the differences between the original trilogy’s heroes’ journey of new hope, descent into darkness, and redemption versus the prequel trilogy’s journey of new hope, descent into darkness, and redemption for George Lucas, the man and mythmaker himself. Just to reiterate, There is no question that when Episode One hit theaters in 1999, it was generally received positively, and represented a new hope for Star Wars, despite its many problems (Jar Jar, midichlorians, overuse of CGI, George Lucas’s difficulties getting good performances out of his actors, etc). But those problems only became exacerbated in Attack of the Clones, when a young Haden Christensen, under George Lucas’s direction gave us a truly lack-luster performance, and delivered some of the most cringe-worthy dialogue in all of Star Wars. Attack of the Clones is the low-point in the prequel trilogy…it represents George Lucas’s descent into the dark side (the underworld in the Hero’s Journey). However, with Revenge of the Sith Haden Christensen’s acting, Lucas’s directing and everything all around are so much improved over Episode II, that we see in Episode III George Lucas’s redemption, and the redemption of the whole prequel trilogy. A new hope, a descent into darkness, and a return/redemption/rise. And as we have just taken a great deal of time to lay out in detail, this same pattern is also true for the Sequel Trilogy.
For as sure as the original trilogy was a hero’s journey of about the stories and characters, namely Luke, and the prequel trilogy was the hero’s journey of the messenger and myth-maker, namely Lucas, so too the sequel trilogy represents the hero’s journey—this time of the myth itself: the meaning or meta-myth of Star Wars as a message of Light…in other words, Lucifer.
Now before you freak out in the comment section, dear viewer, it is important to clarify that Lucifer actually means Light Bearer. Lucifer is not Satan, the devil, evil, etc. Lucifer is related to Venus, the goddess of beauty, which means Lucifer relates to the Divine Feminine, shown here as the Torch held on high by Lady Columbia. Lucifer also means Dawn bringer, morning star and shining one, all of which reference the Light of the Cosmic Force and the Ray of Creation as we’ve been discussing for nearly an hour. Lucifer is only associated with Satan because Lucifer sheds light on our defects and vices, our ‘sins,’ our demons, our individual Shaytan (in Hebrew). In other words, Lucifer makes the subconscious conscious. But how many people like being shown their shortcomings? So again, Lucifer is the light bearer. Lucifer is not Satan. The problem is, when there’s a Phantom Menace, in our lives, we’re really at the mercy of its whims. By shedding Light on our subconscious mind, Lucifer illuminates our dark side, we could say Lucifer helps awaken us. The trouble is, moment to moment, we forget our Divine Mother, She who furnishes us with everything we need in this lifetime to learn and grow, including casting light on our inner demons. By forgetting her, all that’s left is the association between Lucifer and our demons…and thus in the minds of people Lucifer is a Menace to the Force instead of an ally. And there are no shortage of people who worship Lucifer as Satan. There’s nothing the Black Lodge enjoy more than twisting and corrupting all that is good and pure and of the Light.
And in no uncertain terms, many in The Fandom Menace likewise equate The Rise of Skywalker to be more or less a Menace to The Force, if not the devil incarnate. They’ll point out what a sacrilege it was to make Rey a Palpatine, but is that really a fair assessment dear viewer? Remember, this is the film in which Luke explicitly says, “Some things are stronger than blood.” But it doesn’t matter… the ego will ALWAYS react to the Truth and the Light the same way: by proclaiming it as evil. And like the old adage of shooting the messenger, the ego will always react to Lucifer by equating him with the devil. No vampire is a fan of the Light; neither is Darkness, and so our ego-minds will find every excuse in the book to organize a RESISTANCE and prevent us from surrendering to the Light. This is the True nature of Cognitive Dissonance.
However, given the facts we have presented in this video, only the most cynical of critics suffering from the most acute case of cognitive dissonance will look at the evidence before their eyes and deny that Star Wars has always been aligned with The Force, secretly inspiring and working its magic and mystery in order to reveal the Myth, the Man and the Meaning behind Star Wars. Even the most informed or ignorant of Joseph Campbell’s exhaustive life’s work agree that it was dedicated to man’s search for meaning through myth. Star Wars is that, in a way that we’ve never truly had the opportunity to observe and analyze before… not just how the characters in the myth struggle, but how the messenger of the myth struggles, and more, how the meaning behind the myth, the integrity and legacy of the myth itself struggles! This multi-layered meta-journey of three trilogies is unprecedented for this humanity and is something which ONLY “The Cosmic Force” itself could have orchestrated and achieved.
“THE COSMIC FORCE BEHIND STAR WARS”
Now, in case your mind might protest: “there is NO WAY Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams, Rian Johnson and company PLANNED ALL THIS!” Relax. You’re right. They didn’t. In fact, if you were to try to explain any of this to them they would likely protest that we are “reading way too much into it,” and that none of what we describe herein has anything to do with their intentions. And that could very well be true. having seen the films yourself, dear viewer, you may likewise experience such a mental reaction to the purported symbolism discussed in this video essay. That somehow this apocalypse is a product of overthinking or overactive imagination. Moreover, should any of the artists behind Star Wars stand up and openly refute our allegations in public, it is more than likely you would side with them. After all, it is their artwork, is it not? After all, who better than Lucasfilm or Lucas himself to say what Star Wars is really all about?
Rest assured we are NOT about to launch into some diatribe about post-structuralism, relativism, “art-for-art’s-sake,” how meaning cannot exist outside of language, “the medium is the message,” how there is no universal meaning, that all meaning is conditioned by culture and beliefs, etc. You will NOT be subjected to such monotonous intellectualism here; and if you happened to come here for that and are expecting/desiring that, may we politely suggest you’ve come to the wrong place.
That said, to suggest every artist knows precisely what they are doing and why would be making a grave error in judgment and a profound assumption about the nature of inspiration, the manifestation of high art, and the creation of art in general—especially the performing arts. How art happens is an immense topic impossible to discuss here, now. So let’s simply touch on how meaning happens.
Meaning simply is. It exists within all of us, whether we know it or not. As Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung explored to varying degrees of success, meaning exists as archetypes. Objective Truth (yes, with a capital “T”), is unconditioned and universal—beyond the reach of the influence, manipulation, alteration and degeneration of subjective experience and ego-mind. These archetypes are the foundation of our capacity to construct, express, receive, digest, experience and know meaning, including language. The archetypal fabric of our being influences, impregnates, advises, inspires, gives insights into, and embeds itself into all that is, all we are, and all we do. The universe as we know it is a 3D expression, projection, or crystallization of very subtle, higher dimensional, unexpressed essences. Forget about blueprints, archetypes are the unquantified and undrafted shapes, patterns and numbers with which the blueprints for the universal stage of reality are drafted as well as the settings, characters and stories played out on said stage are written. If reality is form and function, archetypes are the formless essences of form, and the functions at rest in a tranquil state of potentiality. Suddenly the attention paid by many to sacred geometry, numerology, symbols, colour, music, language, etc. begins to make sense; as does Joseph Campbell’s study of story and myth. They are, in their purest form, how the mind understands and works with archetypes. They are how we connect to and experience meaning existing in higher, subtler dimensions of being here, now, at our level of consciousness.
The objective Truth of archetypes finds its expressions on many levels in nature, philosophy, scripture, and of course the arts. The two primary levels of distinction are the exoteric—the visible, superficial, literal, materialist level—and the esoteric—the invisible, supernal, allegorical, essential level. There are of course many levels to esoteric meaning. This is why we call some artworks “shallow,” and others “deep.” As for exoteric meaning, because it is superficial, a veneer of sorts, it is incapable of having depth. So, to compensate and make things more interesting, it turns to complexity and/or chaos. In other words, our heart-response to high art is “whoa! This is deep, beautiful (in the sense of timeless beauty not attractiveness), miraculous; I am in awe, speechless, etc” while our mental, emotional, physical reactions to everything else is “whoa! That was cool, awesome, scary, wicked, amazing, fascinating, intriguing, complicated, sophisticated, high-brow, pretentious…” the list goes on and on. If the complexity or chaos is not stimulating enough, it is judged “BO-RING! Snooze-Fest! Stupid, dumb, waste of time, et al.”
Since all art—including high art—has an exoteric meaning, sometimes we express our love and admiration in the language of stimulus-response; but as we have discussed, we always also experience the esoteric meaning, even if we don’t know it consciously.
Do you see, dear viewer, the implication of this? We can experience art on an esoteric level and not know it. We can be touched and moved on a deeper level by the universal archetypes in Star Wars and still get caught-up in the action, charmed by the characters, mesmerized by the settings, fascinated with the story, and blown away by the special effects. It must follow, then, that the same thing can happen during the experience of creating art. We can create art on an esoteric level and not know it! We can be inspired to do this or that and make it this or that way following our gut/heart most of the time, and still be getting caught up in our heads and the nuts and bolts of what we’re doing on the surface—completely unaware of what’s going on inside us and what’s coming through us and into our work—in front of our eyes yet just beneath the surface of our conscious awareness. An awareness which, again, is fascinated, absorbed and/or distracted by all the ‘bells and whistles’ on the surface.
There is no question that Star Wars has an exoteric meaning. The prequels have themes relating to democracy and how republics fall to tyranny. And certainly, in the process of dreaming up the story, George Lucas was no doubt inspired by such films as The Hidden Fortress and countless other stories, films, histories, and legends.
Obviously meaning emerges in layers as a mix of inspiration and intention from both inside and outside the artist(s) and/or collaborators: writers, producers, directors, actors, et al. The artists may or may not be fully conscious and aware of the deeper meaning they are connecting with; but at the same time, if you watch this with an open mind, you will see the coincidences add up to mathematical impossibilities. So much so you may end up wanting to give the filmmakers the benefit of doubt; you may choose to believe they must have known what they were doing, for how could anyone express such timeless beauty and universal Truth by accident? Well, there are no accidents. Beauty, Truth, meaning longs to express itself, just as the consciousness longs to receive it…experience it…know it.
Is this not the case in nature? In life? Is the essence of beauty and Truth not at the core of every experience, if only we connect to it in the moment, moment by moment? It is why we use the word inspiration (meaning both in-breath and in-spirit), not expiration (meaning out-breath and death). And that is not by accident. It is true for many writers that works coming from their head into the world seem to have a very near expiration date (a short lifespan). They do not inspire others, and so they expire quite quickly. Even blockbuster films which fascinate, titillate, horrify, etc. are quickly consumed and almost just as quickly forgotten. For others, however, what comes to them is not coming from their head. And when we see their works realized on the page, on the stage or on the screen, we intrinsically and intuitively know their work is something special; if, that is, we haven’t entirely closed ourselves off to the possibility, and our prejudices blind us to the beauty and Truth.
Consider that Mozart’s The Magic Flute never played in any major opera house in Europe while he lived. Dismissed as nonsensical fantasy made for children. Yet today, not only is it one of his most beloved operas, with one of the most astounding arias in all of music, sung by Mozart’s musical manifestation of The Divine Mother, giving voice to the Living Force, we are here to tell you, dear viewer, The Magic Flute secretly encodes an ancient Egyptian Initiation. In no uncertain terms, it reveals the same secret knowledge The Rise of Skywalker does, relating to the Living Force, the Cosmic Force, and the work a couple must do together in the ninth sphere in order to “Rise a Skywalker,” as many scriptures, myths, fairy tales and legends do throughout history and across cultures. For the Cosmic Force has always been at work leaving its fingerprints hidden in plain sight only to be found by those “with the eyes to see and the ears to hear them.”
MYTH AND MYTHMAKING
This brings us full circle. As we discussed at the outset many entertainment franchises have come and gone, but few can match the passionate emotional bond the Fandom Menace has to their beloved mythology and its maker, George Lucas. Whatever you may believe, dear viewer, that love is not rooted in the films. Not the special effects, not the art direction, the cinematography, the entertainment value, the clever banter between loveable characters, nor the chemistry of the cast members; no, not even the story…none of it can explain Star Wars’s near-mythic following because there have been plenty of films which have had all those cinematic elements and have not come close to touching the impact Star Wars has had on across multiple generations.
The success of Star Wars is rooted in its nature as mythology. But what is myth, really? We know what intellectuals and psychologists think myth is, how they claim it serves humanity, and how it’s all ultimately subjective, or like a recent Lucasfilm insider put it: “it’s all made-up anyway.” And we know how well that flippant comment went over with the fans! Clearly, there is something NOT subjective, something NOT “just made up” at the heart and soul of Star Wars. That something also happens to be at the heart of all ancient myths, legends, scriptures, fairy tales, nursery rhymes, the classics, Shakespeare, opera, high-art, and every property which has been passed down from one generation to the next, regardless of story, character, artfulness, aesthetics, complexity or culture. On the surface, one would hardly put the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty alongside Revenge of the Sith and conduct a meaningful intellectual comparison of the two. And yet, that is precisely what one can do beneath the surface: on an esoteric level…the realm in which all mythology has its roots, through which we discover its genuine meaning and purpose, and with which we connect through the deepest levels of our own being. Far from the subjective interpretations of intellect, it is a domain of objective experience, universal archetypes, timeless wisdom, and self-evident Truths—that’s Truth spelled with a capital “T.”
For the record…
Anakin Skywalker sat on a wall. Anakin Skywalker had a great fall. The Republic’s Jedi and Anakin’s friend, Couldn’t put Anakin together again. Darth Vader was made from the pieces reviled, A New Empire arose; the last Jedi exiled. Anakin lost, without fanfare or mention, Until another Skywalker would win his redemption.
You see, dear viewer, no contemporary critic would take this little poem of ours seriously, for there is no aesthetic, artistic, technical, intersectional, socio-economic, dominance-hierarchical, historical or cultural angle to deconstruct it from. There is simply the honest, self-evident experiential knowledge of the universal archetypes evoked by the two myths in union; the revelation they come from the same Source, born in the esoteric realm, forged in the eternal flame of Truth, as all great mythology is.
When it comes to mythology, it’s hard not to think of Joseph Campbell’s exhaustive life’s work surveying, studying, cataloguing and distilling down for us the breadth of human mythology—over six thousand, five-hundred myths and legends in total. George Lucas was a wide-eyed follower and student of Campbell’s, and when it came time to set about formulating his epic space opera, he was determined to use The Hero’s Journey as its template. As an intellectual, Campbell could never really draw any definitive conclusions about the uncanny uniformity of all the world’s myths. And it’s safe to say that Lucas, as reserved an individual as he is, took a page from Campbell’s example in this regard: show them what they need to see, but say very little about what they should make of it. Better to let your audience arrive at their own conclusions. It is the mantra of all hopeful messengers and mythmakers that their work will, in effect, speak for itself. Sadly, we all know that many people today are completely ignorant of Joseph Campbell, the hero’s journey, and the profound significance it plays not just in storytelling but in psychology, personal development, and the process of life itself—our lives. Far from being some intellectual touchpoint to critique narratives, the hero’s journey is a practical tool: a composite drawing by a genius sketch artist based on 6,500 eye-witness testimonies revealing the very face of divinity.
And as sure as divinity has a face, it also has hands; those hands have fingers, and as we all know, fingers leave prints. With a little detective work, it’s not hard to see the fingerprints of the gods all around us in our own lives, especially in the myths we hold most dear…myths like Star Wars, which is chock full of symbols and allegories pointing us in the direction of the esoteric realm, evoking universal archetypes and beckoning us to be baptized in the fires and waters of eternal Truth.
So who really writes myth, then? We all know George Lucas wrote Star Wars. But if we can agree archetypes are born in an esoteric realm of timeless wisdom, can we also agree that mythmakers are more messengers than creators? If the fingerprints of divinity are found in all myths throughout time and place, including Star Wars, then surely the gods had a hand in shaping those myths through their chosen messengers. In the case of the Skywalker Saga, that messenger was first and foremost, George Lucas, followed by countless others who were inspired, informed, guided, and motivated by what can most fittingly be called The Force. The Right Hand of God, if you will, which leaves its indelible mark on all it touches, and all who are touched by it. Be it Kabbalah, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and all known mythologies, that Cosmic Force is one and the same: it is the Son/Sun, the Cosmic Christ, Krishna, Quetzalcoatl, et al who is not a man but a Force in the universe. Some call it “Christ Consciousness.” But it makes little difference what you call it. In Star Wars, it is The Cosmic Force. And guess what? If you’ve ever experienced intuition, inspiration, internal guidance, divine motivation, unconditional love, unwavering compassion for others, or a deep sense of oneness with others and all beings, you have felt The Force. And so did George Lucas. Like Mozart, like all messengers, Lucas “took dictation,” and did his best to produce in the world that which was already presented to him, completed, in his head.
Lucas not only felt the Force, he let it flow through him and into his life’s work. A life’s work which has had its fair share of ups and downs, as all hero’s journeys do, for our sake. So that, seeing the Force shaping the destiny of Skywalkers, we might come to feel the Force shaping our own destiny. By letting it flow through us in the Star Wars universe, we might learn how to let if flow through us and into our universe, as Lucas did. So that like him, we too may become its messenger, perhaps even a vessel, like Moses, Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, Zoroaster, Muhammed, and countless masters, saints, prophets, etc.
But so too did the people who came after him. Ask any of them: JJ Abrahams, Kathleen Kennedy, Rian Johnson, all will tell you how passionate they were and with how much focused drive and energy they put into their version of Star Wars which, HAD TO BE THE WAY IT WAS. It wasn’t the Star Wars fans WANTED, but it was the Star Wars fans NEEDED. Did they know what they were doing? They did and they didn’t. All they knew was they had to do what they had to do. Can they tell you who or what was motivating them, driving them from deep within their unconscious mind? Not unless they spend a great deal of time in meditation and esoteric study; unless, that is, they are highly intuitive and deeply humble: able to accept that they are mere messengers, and that The Cosmic Force was working through them to complete its story and give humanity a mythology here and now as a testimony of its existence, power, and influence in our lives.
Surely the point of this Apocalypse was to reveal how Star Wars is bigger than any one man, any one mythmaker, including George Lucas. Surely after the revelations shared in this video, you can see that George’s rumoured ideas for Episode IX would have only confused and muddied the essential Truth relating to the union of masculine and feminine, and that the one and only Skywalker which could rise in Episode IX was the symbol of the Divine Feminine Force, raised on the spinal column, uniting “The Twins” on an illuminated Tree of Life, and destroying the ego with the crossed lightsabres of those twins…the illuminated twins…the power of the Skywalker. Surely you can see, dear reader, that while Lucas had the masculine and feminine elements in Star Wars from the beginning, “the twins,” who served the all-important personification of the two pillars of the Tree of Life, Jachin and Boaz, he had painted himself into a corner in that actual paternal twins cannot unite in Sexual Alchemy to reveal the ultimate nature of the Force and the only way to ultimately bring an end to the dark side. And Lucas new, intuitively, that whoever was going to write the next chapter of Star Wars and reveal this ultimate Truth, it wasn’t going to be him. Because myth is always bigger than the mythmaker. The message always more important than the messenger. And when the messenger reaches the end of his time, he must pass the Torch to the next messenger, whether either of them is aware of it or not.
Epilogue: A NEW New Hope
“Star Wars has been dead for years; what Disney is doing now is just necrophilia.” – Charles White
We hope after all we’ve journey through together, dear reader, you can see the folly in such opinions about Star Wars. The Force has been very much alive and active creating a living, breathing expression of Itself, The Logos, in the most powerful and enduring mythology in modern history. Star Wars is, was, and will always be in the hands of The Cosmic Christ, the Cosmic Force, the Logos, as evidenced by the meticulous way in which it delivered through messengers and mythmakers, a trilogy of trilogies marked with the fingerprints of the gods. You may deny your own eyes and ears at this point if you choose, but remember Midnight’s Edge’s video on COGNITIVE DISSONANCE and Star Wars. Remember also Yoda’s training: “You must unlearn what you have learned.” We are also just a messenger. But if you peruse our channel or our blog, you will know that our mission is simple: to give you the keys to unveil the hidden meaning in all mythology, and indeed all life…the AUM of life…the Analogous Ultimate Methodology behind all phenomena; and behind Star Wars as well.
Personally, we would love to see the four-hour Director’s Cut of Episode IX. If the two-hour, twenty-minute hack job has all these powerful symbols and themes in it already, what untold wisdom may have been left on the cutting room floor? Maybe nothing. Maybe the extra hour and forty minutes would simply pad out the action and give this epic finale of Star Wars some of the breathing room and other story and character elements The Fandom Menace would have wanted. In any case, we hope you will agree that as the book-end to a mythology, aligned with the original mystical teachings of all great religions and spiritual traditions, Episode IX did indeed deliver the goods, in accordance with the Divine Will of the Ray of Creation…The Logos…The Cosmic Force.
And our hope? Well, that’s easy. Our hope would be that we might finally begin to see a revival in the esoteric appreciation for the Skywalker mythos. With so much time and energy spent on discussion and debate around Star Wars—from the politics and punditry about the franchise, everything from who should be heading up what property to who is trying to destroy Star Wars and why—to the trappings and trivialities of the universe, everything from who is the most powerful jedi and who has the coolest light sabre, surely there’s room to expand our comprehension of the universe to its meaning and purpose in our lives. That is what Star Wars has always challenged us to do: not to obsess over the status of the characters or the health of the franchise, but to hold our own lives up against the archetypes of the mythology. Where are we on OUR hero’s journey? How are we defeating our own dark side of the Force? Are we a 999 like Luke and Rey, or a 666 like Vader and Kylo? Just how do we go about working in the Ninth Sphere as Ben and Rey do? In other words, how what can we do to embody the Force, redeem ourselves, Rise as Skywalkers and become living embodiments of New Hope here, in our galaxy, right here and right now? That has always been the challenge of Star Wars. It is our own individual war for the Stars.
And we’re here to tell you that it’s not only plausible, it’s doable, and that the science of the Force is real and within your grasp, if only you hear the call to adventure, as George Lucas did, as Luke did, as Rey did, and as the creators of Disney Star Wars did. No matter how you slice it, that, is a pretty hopeful takeaway; and, we hope, worth spending this time with us diving deep into our beloved Star Wars mythology.
Links
Star Wars: The Force Awakens – The Substance Sleeps https://attlas.info/2015/12/19/star-wars-the-substance-sleeps/
Star Wars: The Last Jedi or Last Logi? https://attlas.info/2018/04/06/star-wars-the-last-jedi-or-last-logi/
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – Monstrosity or MIRACLE? https://attlas.info/2019/12/24/the-rise-of-skywalker-a-messy-monstrosity-or-christmas-miracle/
The Lion King: The Circle of The Tree of Life https://attlas.info/2018/04/29/the-lion-king-the-circle-of-the-tree-of-life/
O Divine Mother, Here Art Thou https://attlas.info/2020/03/29/o-divine-mother-here-art-thou/
Gnostic Teachings Glossary: D – Divine Mother https://gnosticteachings.org/glossary/d/3801-divine-mother.html
Credits
The Last Jedi by Yann Dalon https://www.behance.net/YannDalon
The Last Jedi poster by Michael Pasquale https://kyb3r.com/2017/12/last-jedi-poster-by-michael-pasquale/
Rey Diving the Death Star (2018) by Phil Saunders https://philsaunders.artstation.com/projects/3o55yY
Sex, the Secret Gate to Eden, HD https://youtu.be/ImQfMX1IyCQ
The Magic Flute – Queen of the Night aria (Mozart; Diana Damrau, The Royal Opera) https://youtu.be/YuBeBjqKSGQ
The secrets of Mozart’s “Magic Flute” – Joshua Borths https://youtu.be/8iKd-P4Bcac
Mr. Plinkett’s Star Wars Prequel Reviews (Red Letter Media) https://youtu.be/FxKtZmQgxrI
George Lucas Interview https://dorksideoftheforce.com/2019/05/29/star-wars-gap-rotj-tpm/
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