2015 - Tifereth - Mad Max

Oh what a lovely day!

Nux, Mad Max

We'll continue exploring the Unifying Colour Theory by way of another movie from 2015 - Mad Max.  If you look at the 2015 releases from the major studios you can see how this unifying ''project'' is really beginning to take hold in that year.   As you look through the correspondences and how they appear in the film it will be worth comparing and contrasting to the article on Pixels.  Mad Max uses very similar imagery to Pixels from the Sefiroth but also includes the imagery of the ''paths'' around Tifereth.

• TITLE: Tifereth, Beauty - Rachamim, Compassion
• COLOUR: Yellow
• NUMBER: 6 [2015, 5 +1]
• MAGICAL IMAGES: A majestic king, a child
• OTHER TITLES: Zeir Anpin [the lesser countenance], The short impatient one, the Son, the Man, Adam, Melekh - the King
• ARCHANGEL: Raphael [healed by God]
• ORDER OF ANGELS: Malachim, the Kings
• MUNDANE CHAKRA: Shemesh, the Sun
• SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE: Vision of the Harmony of Things, Mysteries of the Crucifixion
• VIRTUE: Devotion to the Great Work
• VICE: Pride
• SYMBOLS: The Cube, Lamen, the Truncated Pyramid, and the Rosy Cross

YELLOW, THE SUN

The film contains a great deal of yellow in the desert sets with the sun beating down, in the color grading and in the costume design.  Charlize even wore a nice yellow dress to the premiere.

JESUS, THE SON, THE MAN

Mad Max plays our Jesus figure in this movie and therefore it is his willingness to [blood] sacrifice that becomes key in the final resolution.  We see various other associations with Jesus throughout the film: crucified on the front of a car; people healed by drinking his blood; wandering the desert; etc.

FURIOSA AND THE FIVE WIVES

FIVE WIVES

SIX WIVES (?)

Furiosa originally came from the Green Place and was rumoured to have been a wife of Immortan Joe (the Antagonist) before she lost her arm making her the 1st or 6th wife.  After destroying the metaphorical partiarchy in the film she is set to establish a metaphorical matriarchy in its stead - this is how the actions of Tifereth (Max) have restored the Fallen Daughter to her seat as the Superior Mother - a recurring theme of the Qabalah we have explored several times in this series.  Furiosa's shaved head is black with oil, linking directly to our black Sefira, Binah and the Superior Mother.  For reference and similar correspondences you can look at the articles on Skyfall [where the view of Tifereth is from Binah] and compare/contrast with Pixels.

THE SHORT IMPATIENT ONE

CORPUS COLLOSUS

The appearance of a short impatient character - Corpus Collosus - played by Quentin Kenihan is painted by the numbers in exactly the same way as Peter Dinklage's ''Eddie'' is in Pixels.

THE CUBE AND THE [TRUNCATED] PYRAMID

I would argue that the ziggurat made of speakers that the flame guitar plays on covers the cubes and pyramids requirement from the Tifereth correspondences of the Painting by Numbers approach.

MYSTERIES OF THE CRUCIFIXION

In the final stage of the film, Mad Max, using the IV from his ''crucifix'' must transfer blood to Furiosa in order to save her.

THE TREE OF LIFE

As their truck runs into thick mud, a lone Tree appearing out of the mist is destined to become their saviour.

THE GREEN PLACE

In order to fully comprehend the extent of the Painting by Numbers going on in Fury Road we need to look more closely at the roads [or paths] around Tifereth.  One of the criticisms of the ''plot'' of Mad Max is that its really about driving down a road and driving back.  We are provided a Qabalistic clue for this when the characters discuss how they have to get to the ''Green Place''.

TURNING THE TREE INTO A ROADMAP (?)

GOLDEN DAWN QABALAH

In the Golden Dawn Tree of Life, the paths between the Sefiroth are associated with various Tarot cards from the Major Arcana.  If you look at the diagram above [which also lists the other correspondences I am using for this work] you will see that the Tarot Cards associated with the paths around Tifereth are:

• The Hermit
• The Wheel of Fortune
• The Hanged Man
• The Devil
• Death
• Strength
• Justice
• The Tower

As the film proceeds we will be driving along these ''roads'' encountering the imagery of those cards.

THE HERMIT [LONER, SOLITARY PERSON]

MAD MAX, LONE WARRIOR

THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE

THE HANGED MAN

HANGED MAN AS JESUS

In the descriptions of the meanings of Tarot cards The Hanged Man is often associated with Jesus.  Here is an example.  We also see various war boys hanging over the truck during battle sequences and Max himself hanging during one of the fight scenes at the very beginning.

HANGING MEN

HANGING MAX

THE DEVIL

IMMORTAN JOE

CONCEPT ART FOR IMMORTAN JOE

DEATH

NUX NAMES HIS TUMOURS

STRENGTH

The classic Tarot imagery of the Strength card shows a woman in white pacifying a lion.  In the movie the lion is Max [whom we have already associated with solar imagery] and the woman in white is representative of the Five Wives who end up controlling him.   

FEAT OF STRENGTH

STRENGTH

THE TOWER

CITADEL

JUSTICE

After being blinded by Furiosa, the Bullet Farmer dons a blindfold and refers to himself as: ''The scales of justice and the conductor of the choir of death.''

SUMMARY

In summary Mad Max takes the Unifying Colour Theory to the next level, Qabalistically speaking.  Not only are the ''film-makers'' fusing the standard correspondences of Tifereth with the plot [if this film can be said to have one] but are also drawing from the symbolism of the paths [roads] around Tifereth as well, increasing the conceptual load on the film.  You can see how this guiding theory began to get more sophisticated, or rather more comprehensive, as the decade rolled on.  Using the exploration of the paths as the roads that Max must journey down is an artful choice, esoterically speaking, and is a good example of how to weave spectacular imagery while not compromising the essence or blatancy of the By the Numbers approach.

As the world fell, each of us in our own way was broken.  It was hard to know who was more crazy.  Me, or everyone else.

Max, Mad Max: Fury Road

2015 - Tifereth - Pixels

Brenner: Pacman's a bad guy?
Iwatani: Pacman is not bad, you'll see.
Brenner: Professor Iwatani, what're you doing?
Iwatani: I will talk to him, he is my son. [to Pacman] Hello my sweet boy, look how big you have grown.
Pixels, 2015

I wanted to do one of these qabalistic analyses for Pixels shortly after picking out the edges of this Unifying Colour Theory.  Pixels is a By the Numbers production par excellence and actually goes some way to describing the main themes of the personal journey to our Yellow Sefira, Tifereth (Beauty).  As before we will go through the standard western mystery correspondences for Tifereth, taken from Dion Fortune's Mystical Qabalah and then point how they appear in the film one by one.

TITLE: Tifereth, Beauty - Rachamim, Compassion
MAGICAL IMAGES: A majestic king, a child
OTHER TITLES: Zeir Anpin [the lesser countenance], The short impatient one, the Son, the Man, Adam, Melekh - the King
ARCHANGEL: Raphael
ORDER OF ANGELS: Malachim, the Kings
MUNDANE CHAKRA: Shemesh, the Sun
SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE: Vision of the Harmony of Things, Mysteries of the Crucifixion
VIRTUE: Devotion to the Great Work
VICE: Pride
SYMBOLS: The Cube, Lamen, the Truncated Pyramid, and the Rosy Cross

YELLOW

OPENING SHOT, CHILDHOOD, YELLOW

ADAM, THE MAN

The essence of this story is about a man (Adam Sandler or ''Brenner'') who won't ''man up'' i.e. that he has avoided adult responsibilities and remained a child.  In order to ''man up'' it is necessary to go from the lower triad to the middle triad (or ''ethical triad'' i.e. responsibilities) and this ultimately, within Tifereth, our Yellow Sefira, is about conquering your animal impulses.  I use Adam instead of Brenner as we know Sandler is playing himself.

Adam is dressed in an orange nerd suit, throughout much of the early parts of the film, associating him with Hod and a pre ''manning up'' phase.  He spends his time ''nerding out'' much like Mercury the planet Hod is associated with.  However it is through his Mercurial knowledge of the ''code'' or ''pattern'' that he eventually completes his journey into adult responsibility.  This knowledge is his Vision of the Harmony of Things, i.e. he knows during the battle when to time the shots.  This Vision is also referenced, very clearly, in Eddie (Peter Dinklage's character).

As we see here in the final phase of the film his costume is blue and red with a yellow rhombus in  what is effectively a truncated pyramid because of the way the cubes are laid out.  This shows that he has mastered the middle triad of the Tree, the blue, the red and the yellow. The battle in which he honours himself is against Donkey Kong symbolising both his animal nature and his youthful obsession or addiction to video games.  It is in sacrifice [the mysteries of the crucifixion] that his redemption is found.

TIFERETH, YESOD AND THE TREE OF LIFE

NOTE DIAGRAMS ON BACKDROP

SIX DIAGRAMS ON BACKDROP

For those of you who haven't studied the Qabalah this image of the hexagons and circles connects to Tifereth with Tifereth being the central Sefira and the other six, those around it - the uppermost one being ''Daat'' the so-called invisible Sefira.  Have a look at the diagram above and you'll see it.  Note that during this scene Adam is wearing Purple/Pink instead of Orange, associating him with Yesod and the ''Vision of the Machinery of the Universe'', as he explains the mechanics of the operation to the military.  In order to progress to Yellow, it is necessary that Adam completes Orange, Purple and Green.  We'll get to Green.  Note how the antagonist of the final part of this ''level'' of the centipede is also in purple and we even see a scene of him dancing to an exercise video with an old lady dressed in pink.

SUN/SON

TIFERETH WITH OTHER SEFIROTH

YELLOW SEFIRA EATING HIS FATHER

During this sequence Pacman (representing the Sun/Son and our Yellow Sefira) eats his own father Masaya Nakamura (played by an actor).

Note the colours of the minis here and relate them to the Sefiroth that surround Tifereth - Blue/Chesed, Red/Gevurah, Orange/Hod and Pink/Yesod.  Note also the missing colour Green/Netzach.

One of the other son/father themes is in Adam's relationship with Violet's son where the message is, he needs to be able to ''man up'' and take care of him.  This theme is repeated again when Adam has to rescue him from Donkey Kong (i.e. his lower animal nature) at the end.

GREEN, NETZACH, TIFERETH AND THE TREE OF LIFE

Green is associated with Venus and in that sense, in this movie, represents the ''love interest''.  Violet (Michelle Monoghan) also represents the ''Mother'' of the Tree of Life to which our son aspires to, frequently mummying him throughout the film.  Binah, Netzach and Malkuth are often portrayed as the more overtly ''feminine'' aspects of the Tree.  After the defeat of one of the mini coopers it is then, that Green joins the team, and that Adam has completed all aspects of the lower/lesser triad in order to progress to the Yellow, and the boss fight with Kong (his animal impulses).

CUBES

CUBES ARE SACRED TO TIFERETH BECAUSE OF THE SIX SIDES

THE SHORT IMPATIENT ONE AND PRIDE

Alongside being the By The Numbers Short Impatient One, to some extent Eddie could be said to represent Pride or False Pride in the way he cheats his way to his victories.  Note his ''Vision of the Harmony of Things'' his cheat-codes are written on the back of sunglasses which block out the ''Sun'' or Truth.

MELEKH, THE KING, MALACHIM, THE KINGS

ADAM WITH THE PRESIDENT

KINGSMEN

HOD

In the early days of the Unifying Colour Theory I speculated that each film also contained an ''alchemical'' level where the metal is extracted from the ore.  The ore associated with Hod, the Orange Sefira, is Mercury Oxide and the ''Quicksilver'' extracted is represented by the battle maiden.  This subplot where Adam's friend is united with his anima parallels the main point that the video game skills are not useless but represent the ore out of which something more creative and responsible can blossom.

QUICKSILVER

I believe that some alien lifeform has sent real life video games to attack us.

Ludlow, Pixels, 2015

Quite.