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