the NachtKabarett
All Writing & Content © Nick Kushner Unless Noted Otherwise
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SIGILLUM DEI ÆMETH - HOLY WOOD ARTWORK | The symbol which can be seen behind Manson on the back cover of 'Holy Wood' is known as the Sigillum Dei Æmeth and is used in Enochian Magick, or Magick employing the powers and influences of Angels. It was delivered to Edward Kelly and Dr. John Dee in the Sixteenth Century, both of whom together laid the foundation, through alleged divine guidance, the system of Enochian Magick which is considered to be one of the most powerful forms of magick by many Occultists. A form of occultism which Manson had also previously employed within the album artwork of 'Antichrist Svperstar' and find its recurrence four years later within Holy Wood.
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THE AGE OF HORUS & THE DYING GOD | "It is time for their world to be destroyed. It is time for a new age, the Age of Horus. It is time for a new standard, a new canvas, and a new artist. We must forget this wasted generation and amputate it before the mind rots away with it. Paint it, record it, write it down before they kill you with their slow poisonous stupidity. Make yourself heard."
The New Aeon, The Age of Horus, was a phrase quoted by Manson on more than one occasion leading up to the release of Holy Wood, making yet another reference to Aleister Crowley. The Age of Horus was lain forth in 'The Book of the Law', the cornerstone Crowley's philosophy which proclaimed the dawning of The New Aeon of mankind and outlined the Law of Thelema, "Do What Thou Wilt Is The Whole Of The Law. Love Is The Law, Love Under Will". It is a reference which was continual within the lyrics, influences and imagery of Holy Wood.
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FIFTEEN - MAR1LYN MAN5ON & NUMEROLOGY | Manson's first predominant evocation of numerology first reared its head throughout 1996's 'Antichrist Svperstar' album and era but it wasn't until 1998's 'Mechanical Animals' in which Manson became overtly open and forthright with numerological correspondences within his works. Namely, the number 15, which can be found consistently throughout Manson's works ever since.
The significance of the number 15 can be found throughout the Bible, numerology and the occult. Even further personalized for Manson, his birthday is January 5, 1969 ; 1/5 = 15 and (19)69 combined as 6 + 9 = 15. Additionally, Manson's birth sign, Capricorn, is associated with the 15th card of the Tarot, uncoincidentally The Devil card.
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FIBONACCI & HOLY WOOD | "As you look for your own answers, you'll find Mercury, the number 15, Adam and even something as obscure as Fibonacci, all have relevance as 'Holy Wood' unfolds before you. This is something I've been picking at for ten years and I hope it inspires you onto your own transformation," as Manson posted to the internet prior to the release of Holy Wood.
Fibonacci is a mathematical sequence which, aside from practical applications, has long been held to have mystical connotations and is highly referential in numerology and Kabbalah. It is from the Fibonacci Sequence that the famed 'Golden Ratio' is formed, which masters such as Leonardo Da Vinci and many others have based timeless works of art upon. It is yet another very esoteric (and hidden) reference Manson hinted at during the creation of Holy Wood.
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DOUBLE-CROSS - THE CELEBRITARIAN SYMBOL | Celebritarian.com was (temporarily) resurrected from the dead in October of 2005. The sole symbol which the website consisted of is a double barred cross, often known as The Cross of Lorraine. It's a symbol that has connotations in the occult, alchemy as well as freemasonry, all of which have been underlying, reoccurring and key elements throughout Manson's art.
First hinted at by its implied formation on the cover of the unreleased Holy Wood novel, it is a symbol which has been consistently been referenced by Manson since this date and is additionally found within the cover artwork of 'Eat Me, Drink Me'.
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MARILYN MANSON & FREEMASONRY | Closely related to the Cross of Lorraine, particularly via the Knights Templar, Freemasonry is a topic which has been no stranger to Manson throughout his work, and this interest in a sense climaxing during the 'Holy Wood' era, particularly with the song 'King Kill 33°'. During the 'Holy Wood' era Manson was shown in a least one photo shoot to be wearing a Masonic ring with the square & compass and Manson was also involved with the Johnny Depp film 'From Hell' in late 2001 which explored the Masonic conspiracy behind the murders of Jack the Ripper. However the first of such Masonic references can be found as far back as Manson's first album 'Portrait Of An American Family.'
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ALEISTER CROWLEY | Manson has evoked Aleister Crowley in varying capacities ever since 'Portrait Of An American Family'. The "Abbey Of Thelema" sung in the song 'Misery Machine', for example, is a reference to Crowley's headquarters where he taught practical magick and philosophy to his adepts. Various lyrics within 'Holy Wood' and 'Antichrist Svperstar' are either direct quotes or paraphrasings of Crowley's writings. Even as recent as the Celebritarian and 'Eat Me, Drink Me' eras of MarilynManson.com (2006 - 2007 respectively) contained audio of Crowley reciting a magickal incantation.
Often known as 'The Great Beast 666' and referred to by many (including in his own obituary) as 'the most wicked man who had ever lived', Crowley was one of the most prolific poets / writers / philosophers of the Twentieth Century and developed his own system of magick. Even the popular term 'magick' was coined by Aleister Crowley. He still remains one of the most misunderstand and enigmatic figures in history, in many ways much like Marilyn Manson himself.
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ANTICHRIST SVPERSTAR & THE BAPHOMET | The image of the Baphomet is one that Manson has often evoked within his art. The traditional and most well known depiction, as displayed left, was drawn in the mid-Nineteenth Century by the magician Eliphas Levi, who also illustrated the pentagram depiction of The Tetragrammaton which appeared within the 'Holy Wood' album artwork.
Similarly to his Tetragrammaton, thematically the Baphomet, is representational of the same concept in magick and the Occult. Christianity completely misunderstood what the Baphomet represented, believed it to be the god worshiped by the pagans (those Christendom sought to subjugate and convert), thus construing the image as the antithesis of Christianity and therefore the personification of its Satan, much similarly as was done with the Pentagram, and why in today's popular conscience it is inherently viewed as a depiction of "evil".
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OMĒGA AND THE MECHANICAL ANIMALS | "All that glitters is cold", sung through a voice modulator within 'Posthuman'. During the 'Mechanical Animals' era, Manson personified Omēga, an exaggerated and hollow rockstar who sung empty anthems about sex, drugs and fame. The outwardly hollow Omēga was to act as a counterpart to the reverse and introspective side of the album. Manson in keeping with numerological significances, split both aspects of the album in half with 7 songs by the fictitious 'Omēga & the Mechanical Animals' and the inverse 7 songs being the sincere, melancholic and introspective side of the album.
A famous allusion to Shakespeare, and dually to the Rock 'n' Roll gods of the past, were made with these lyrics Manson inverted to illustrate the concepts of the album...
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'IMITATION OF CHRIST' | "She tells me I'm a pretty bullet, an imitation Christ / I've got love songs in my head, killing us away" ; lyrics to 'The Love Song', one of the most signature tracks on 'Holy Wood' which illustrated the ethos of what the album represents; an indictment of growing up in America's violently predisposed, death obsessed culture. As Manson mentioned throughout recording 'Holy Wood', the album was intended to be a reinterpretation of Christianity and its original esoteric traditions, rather than the attempt to destroy the religion altogether as was set forth in Antichrist Svperstar. This specific verse, although dually illustrates the persona of Christ which Manson portrayed on the album's cover along with the themes within, also makes reference to a 15th Century book on Christian Mysticism known as 'The Imitation of Christ'.
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TRISMEGISTUS | Trismegistus is the title of Marilyn Manson's art exhibition which opened in Paris on September 14th, 2004, followed by showing in Germany and around the world. The title piece painting of Trismegistus is a three-fold watercolour of the face of Christ and is named after the great magician Hermes Trismegistus, who is credited by some as to to be the originator (at least metaphorically) of Alchemy.
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PERSONAL JESUS | Though a Depeche Mode cover, Marilyn Manson's video for 'Personal Jesus' contained many references which began with a new logo on the single cover, its accompanying artwork and even down to the apocalyptic imagery within the video for the song itself.
Depeche Mode; the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse; the legendary slayer of the dragon (ie - Satan), St. George; false prophets; and evangelical profiteers are all present within the one and only single from 'Lest We Forget'.
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THE BONE CHURCH | One of the most darkest moments of 'The Death Parade' on the 'Guns, God & Government' DVD was the footage Manson filmed of himself inside what is commonly referred to as "the Bone Church", which is known as The Church of All Saints is located in Sedlec, a suburb of Kutna Hora in the Czech Republic, near Prague. The interior is very ominous and haunting with chandeliers, doorways, coats of arms and decorum made designed with human bones, decorated with the remains of some 40,000 bodies of those who died predominantly during plague outbreak of The Black Death between the 13th and 14th century.
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THE SHROUD OF TURIN | The original image used throughout the Holy Wood era as the background image which Manson used on his official online store was a red superimposed image of what is known as the Shroud of Turin. The should is literally just that, a cloth covering but what is exceptional about it is that it's a mystical item which many believe was the actual burial covering which shrouded Christ in his tomb. What makes the shroud particularly significant is that "burned" into the cloth of the shroud is the face and form of a man which very closely resembled the common depiction of Christ. Though dismissed by many skeptics as a hoax, mystics and believers alike hold this image to have been formed out of the metaphysical light of Christ's resurrection and ascension to Heaven after death.
The shroud (also befitting in the sense that it's a cloth covering which Christ allegedly was wrapped in, used in the shop where Manson sold apparel of his own image) is another mystical and esoteric image which Manson Manson subtly used.
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THE APPLE OF SODOM | Apple of Sodom is a fruit of a medieval mythical tree. In the Marilyn Manson song of the same name it's a symbol of despair.
Mythologically it is held to grow from "a strange tree that many voyagers claim to have seen at Sodom and Gomorrah, the Biblical cities which the Lord chose to destroy by a rain of fire and brimstone from heaven. It was believed that God created a tree with deceitful fruit known as the 'Apple of Sodom' to lure the weary traveler passing through the area. If a man were so given to his senses that he would try to pluck one of these apples, it would turn to smoke and ashes in his hand, a sure sign of God's eternal displeasure with those who would succumb to their physical senses at this site of retribution."
Twin Peaks illustrated this verbatim as the series opened with the line, "She's dead. Wrapped in plastic," spoken over the line of a 911 call reporting the discovery of a dead body wrapped in a thick transparent plastic.
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"SHE'S DEAD. WRAPPED IN PLASTIC." MARILYN MANSON & TWIN PEAKS | The song 'Wrapped In Plastic' is an overt reference to the early 1990's occult-laiden, hit TV series 'Twin Peaks' by David Lynch (a longtime influence on Manson). Manson has said that one aspect of the song's title was the superficial ideal nature of suburban households who wrap their couches in protective plastic covers to keep their expensive sofa cushions pristine. Literally to keep out the dirt, which can be seen as a metaphor for their isolationist attitudes toward the repugnancy of those who are not part of their so-called "status quo". The irony though, as Manson has pointed out, is that the practice dually acts as the metaphorical aspect of keeping the dirt inside; the lie of the false veneer atop the sordid secrets kept desperately from prying eyes.
Twin Peaks illustrated this verbatim as the series opened with the line, "She's dead. Wrapped in plastic," spoken over the line of a 911 call reporting the discovery of a dead body wrapped in a thick transparent plastic.
Sources & references of interest within The OCCULT section of The NACHTKABARETT:
- Alchemy & Mysticism: The Hermetic Museum by Alexander Roob
- The Alchemists by F. Sherwood Taylor (OUT OF PRINT)
- The Arts Of The Alchemists by C. A. Burland (OUT OF PRINT)
- The Tree Of Life: An Illustrated Study in Magic by Israel Regardie, Third Edition
- The Tetragrammaton by Donald Tyson
- New Millenium Magic by Donald Tyson
- Enochian Magic for Beginnners by Donald Tyson
- PRS.org The Philosophical Research Society
- The Key Of Solomon the King (Clavicula Salomonis) by S. Liddell MacGregor Mathers