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Post by beacon on Apr 3, 2012 8:52:54 GMT -5
beaconfilms2011.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/beatles-and-search-for-light.htmlI have come across an article from the British publication, now long defunct, the Record Mirror that provides a clue, perhaps, to the Beatles wishing to use masonic or illuminati symbolism a long time prior to Sgt. Pepper. According to the article of October 10th 1964, the cover of Beatles For Sale was originally going to show the boys with lit matches under their chins standing under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The Arc de Triomphe is a building with established masonic links. The monument is home to the tomb of the unknown soldier and this is marked by the ‘eternal flame’ monument. An eternal flame also burns next to the grave of President John F. Kennedy. This is also reminiscent of the torch that is held by the Statue of Liberty in New York, a monument that was donated by French freemasons to their American brethren. It is believed the Statue of Liberty is holding the Masonic “Torch of Enlightenment,” which represents the Sun, and of course the word Illuminati means “to bare light,” precisely what the Beatles are doing in the photo above. The Arc de Triomphe is placed at the centre of a circle from which 12 roads go out across Paris. On the road circle around the Arc de Triomphe are 12 points on the road making a 12-pointed star. The following information from Wikipedia further demonstrates the links between the Arc de Triomphe and Freemasonry. Freemasons and the Paris Commune During the 19th century, French Freemasonry became increasingly involved in politics. According to Ernest Belfort Bax, Freemasons were responsible for the last serious attempt at conciliation between Versailles and the Commune on 21 April 1870. They were received coldly by Adolphe Thiers, who assured them that, though Paris was given over to destruction and slaughter, the law should be enforced, and he kept his word. A few days after they decided, in a public meeting, to plant their banner on the ramparts and throw in their lot with the Commune. On the 29th, accordingly, 10,000 of the brethren met (55 lodges being represented), and marched to the Hôtel de Ville, headed by the Grand Masters in full insignia and the banners of the lodges. Amongst them the new banner of Vincennes was conspicuous, bearing the inscription in red letters on a white ground, “Love one another.” A balloon was then sent up, which let fall at intervals, outside Paris, a manifesto of the Freemasons. The procession then wended its way through the boulevards and the Champs Elysées to the Arc de Triomphe, where the banners were planted at various points along the ramparts. On seeing the white flag on the Porte Maillot the Versaillese ceased firing, and the commander, himself a Freemason, received a deputation of brethren, and suggested a final appeal to Versailles, which was agreed to. This reminded me of John and Yoko’s first art exhibition at the Robert Fraser Gallery at 69 Duke Street, London. The exhibition's full title was You Are Here (To Yoko from John Lennon, With Love). Also in attendance were various guests, reporters, and Apple's publicist Derek Taylor. Lennon and Ono wore white, to match the white gallery walls and many of the exhibits. At the launch ceremony Lennon and Ono released 365 white helium-filled balloons over London. Lennon proclaimed "I declare these balloons high". Attached to each was a printed card with the words "You are here" on one side, and "Write to John Lennon, c/o The Robert Fraser Gallery, 69 Duke Street, London W1" on the other. Many of who returned the cards received a letter signed by Lennon, which read: "Dear Friend, Thank you very much for writing and sending me my balloon back. I'm sending you a badge just to remind you that you are here. Love, John Lennon."
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Post by beacon on Apr 2, 2012 3:45:07 GMT -5
I was very interested to discover that Blake still has the props from the original shoot at his studio and his attitudes towards Sgt. Pepper. The article appears below or can read on my blog at beaconfilms2011.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/peter-blake-at-80.htmlBritish artist Sir Peter Blake has recreated the iconic album sleeve for The Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on his 80th birthday. "It's a cross I bear, it's an albatross I have to deal with," he says. It is a fairly stark, somewhat surprising admission from Sir Peter Blake, sleeve designer of The Beatles' 1967 album Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. "What vaguely depresses me still is that I'm known pretty much as 'Peter Blake - who did the cover of Sgt Pepper' when I've done so much else," he says. "Every so often I manage to forget it but it comes back all the time." What makes the revelation even more surprising is that Sir Peter has set aside any misgivings he has about his most famous work on the sleeve of arguably the Fab Four's greatest album, to create a new poster reimagining the image to mark both his 80th birthday and designer Wayne Hemingway's Vintage Festival. Gone are cutouts of actress Marilyn Monroe, comedians Lenny Bruce and WC Fields to be replaced by Amy Winehouse, Kate Moss, artists Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst and musicians Eric Clapton and Noel Gallagher. Sadly, gone too are The Beatles themselves. "I don't own the copyright," he explains. "Part of everything that went wrong at the time was that my agent signed away any kind of royalties and the copyright so we had to ask Apple Corps - The Beatles' management - for permission and they didn't want it to be associated with advertising." Apple Corps have yet to comment on Sir Peter's claims. Instead, Sir Peter has used what he called "family, friends and icons" on the latest poster. Though he has craftily managed to get round the Beatle-ban by including not one but three McCartneys. Longtime friend Sir Paul is in there, alongside designer daughter Stella and her sister, photographer Mary. Alongside the McCartneys are an array of faces - from food, represented by restaurateurs Chris Corbin and Jeremy King and chefs Delia Smith and Rick Stein, to Kate Moss and Paul Smith from fashion and Noel Gallagher, John Peel and Paul Weller for music. Late singer Amy Winehouse also gets a nod, Sir Peter fondly recalls his first memorable meeting with her. "It was after a South Bank Show lunch at the Savoy and we went into the American Bar after the lunch," he says. "We were thrown out because Jamie Cullum was playing the piano, Amy was singing and we were singing along around the piano and we got chucked out. I really liked her very much and admired her and was very sad at what happened. "It was memorable to be staggering out with Jamie and Amy," he adds From the art world, sculptor Grayson Perry makes an appearance in full drag and contemporaries Emin and Hirst are present. Sir Peter is quick to defend Hirst from recent criticism who questioned the artist's credentials. "I admire Damien enormously, I think he added a great deal to the excitement of the art world and I think that he is a very interesting artist," he says. "I think the mistake people make is that they think it's about him making money and it's not that. Money and wealth are often his subject and I think people mistake that for greed which again it isn't. "I honestly feel that if he suddenly didn't have any money, he'd be perfectly happy to stay in Devon and paint." Musician Noel Gallagher, who worked with Sir Peter on the Oasis greatest hits album, said he was "very chuffed" to be included in the new work. "I was lucky enough to go down to his studio," he told the BBC. "We were fans and all the props were still there from the Sgt Pepper photo shoot". Gallagher added that he had his photo taken with a waxwork of boxer Sonny Liston and "was as starstruck meeting the doll in the jumper that said, 'Welcome the Rolling Stones', as I was when I met Ringo." "If, for me, The Beatles and the Who and The Kinks and the Stones were the sound of the 60s then Sir Peter's work is the visual representation of that. "When I look at his pop art stuff, I hear the Beatles. He's as important as the music." Here is a link to an article and video about the making of this latest version. www.metro.co.uk/news/894889-sir-peter-blake-reinvents-sgt-pepper-album-cover-with-his-own-inspirations
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Post by beacon on Apr 2, 2012 3:11:44 GMT -5
To mark his 80th birthday, Sgt Pepper artist, Peter Blake has designed a revamped version of the iconic image. Guess who makes a return appearance?
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Post by beacon on Mar 22, 2012 9:29:57 GMT -5
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Post by beacon on Mar 22, 2012 6:37:40 GMT -5
Conspiratorially, it appears Whiteman was yet another freemason. Maybe he was bumped so the number of masons appearing on the cover remained at eleven. After all, as Aleister Crowley said “My number is 11, as all their numbers who are of usâ€.
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Post by beacon on Mar 22, 2012 5:28:24 GMT -5
Interesting indeed. An internet death rumour begins because someone misreads a message from the cute bass player in a boy band! They will be putting clues on record covers and using backmasking next!
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Post by beacon on Mar 22, 2012 5:24:01 GMT -5
It appears that McCartney's father would play Paul Whiteman songs on his piano at the old family home when Paul was a child.
Whiteman died on December 29th 1967 which may explain why he didn't appear on the Pepper cover.
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Post by beacon on Mar 22, 2012 4:59:01 GMT -5
Thanks Eddy and Linus for your help. It may well be Paul Whiteman. I had never heard of him until your suggestion Eddy, but having done some research it appears that McCartney has just recorded a cover of an old Paul Whiteman tune on his new album. Here is a photo of him. I wonder why he missed the cut? Linus, I have read some of those books and I will check out those I haven't.
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Post by beacon on Mar 22, 2012 4:47:12 GMT -5
Here are some examples of photos with more than one Paul in them. What, if anything they prove, I shall leave for others to debate!
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Post by beacon on Mar 20, 2012 15:27:41 GMT -5
I am reminded of the fact that Iamaphoney and Ringo Starr share the same contact address on the whois internet database.
Ringo Starr 1541 Ocean Avenue Suite 200 Santa Monica, CA 90401 USA
Iamaphoney 1541 Ocean Avenue Suite 666 Santa Monica, CA 90401 USA
Cant be a coincidence, surely? Maybe we will discover that Ringo is behind Iamaphoney?
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Post by beacon on Mar 20, 2012 15:18:34 GMT -5
Thanks Linus, I have added an arrow to the photograph. I am sure this person does not make the final image. Let me know if you remember the name of the book. I would love to read it.
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Post by beacon on Mar 20, 2012 11:24:31 GMT -5
Is the Sgt Pepper record cover a treasure map - the writers My latest blog entry. beaconfilms2011.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/is-sgt-pepper-cover-treasure-map.htmlThe inclusion of certain writers on the album sleeve, particularly Edgar Allan Poe, is relevant because they establish the premise that Sgt Pepper is a code, or has a code buried within. In the story, The Gold Bug, written by Edgar Allan Poe, the character William Legrand becomes obsessed with searching for treasure after being bitten by a beetle-like bug thought to be made of pure gold. He notifies his closest friend, the narrator, telling him to immediately come visit him at his home on Sullivan's Island in South Carolina. Upon the narrator's arrival, Legrand informs him that they are embarking upon a search for lost treasure along with his African-American servant Jupiter. The narrator has intense doubt and questions if Legrand, who has recently lost his fortune, has gone insane. Legrand captured the bug but let someone else borrow it; he draws a picture of the bug instead. The narrator says that the image looks like a skull. Legrand is insulted and inspects his own drawing before stuffing it into a drawer which he locks, to the narrator's confusion. Uncomfortable, the narrator leaves Legrand and returns home to Charleston. A month later, Jupiter visits the narrator and asks him to return to Sullivan's Island on behalf of his master. Legrand, he says, has been acting strangely. When he arrives, Legrand tells the narrator they must go on an expedition along with the gold-bug tied to a string. Deep in the wilderness of the island, they find a tree, which Legrand orders Jupiter to climb with the gold-bug in tow. There, he finds a skull and Legrand tells him to drop the bug through one of the eye sockets. From where it falls, he determines the spot where they dig. They find treasure buried by the infamous pirate "Captain Kidd", estimated by the narrator to be worth a million and a half dollars. Once the treasure is safely secured, the man goes into an elaborate explanation of how he knew about the treasure's location, based on a set of occurrences that happened after the discovery of the gold bug. The story involves cryptography with a detailed description of a method for solving a simple substitution cipher using letter frequencies. This idea of hidden messages and codes to be cracked is intriguing because many proponents of the Francis Bacon as Shakespeare conspiracy contend that Bacon hid codes and ciphers in the works of Shakespeare. Poe is one of a number of the people featured on the cover that died under mysterious circumstances. On October 3, 1849, Poe was found on the streets of Baltimore delirious, "in great distress, and... in need of immediate assistance", according to the man who found him, Joseph W. Walker. He was taken to the Washington College Hospital, where he died on Sunday, October 7, 1849, at 5:00 in the morning. Poe was never coherent long enough to explain how he came to be in his dire condition, and, oddly, was wearing clothes that were not his own. Poe is said to have repeatedly called out the name "Reynolds" on the night before his death, though it is unclear to whom he was referring. Some sources say Poe's final words were "Lord help my poor soul." All medical records, including his death certificate, have been lost. Newspapers at the time reported Poe's death as "congestion of the brain" or "cerebral inflammation", common euphemisms for deaths from disreputable causes such as alcoholism. The actual cause of death remains a mystery; from as early as 1872, cooping was commonly believed to have been the cause. Cooping was a practice by which unwilling participants were forced to vote, often several times over, for a particular candidate in an election. Generally these innocent bystanders would be grabbed off the street by so-called 'cooping gangs' or 'election gangs' working on the payroll of a political candidate, and they would be kept in a room, called the "coop", and given alcohol or drugs in order for them to comply. If they refused to cooperate, they might be beaten or even killed. Often their clothing would be changed to allow them to vote multiple times. Sometimes the victims would be forced to wear disguises such as wigs, fake beards or moustaches to prevent them from being recognized by voting officials at polling stations. Edgar Allan Poe appears on the cover of Sgt Pepper as well as featuring in the lyrics to I am the Walrus, John Lennon’s famous nonsense song. This does provide a link with another writer featured on the Pepper cover, Lewis Carroll. Carroll’s books Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass were massive influences on John Lennon and his writing. The idea for the Walrus came from the poem The Walrus and The Carpenter, which is from the sequel to Alice in Wonderland called Through the Looking-Glass. In his 1980 Playboy interview, Lennon said: "It never dawned on me that Lewis Carroll was commenting on the capitalist and social system. I never went into that bit about what he really meant, like people are doing with the Beatles' work. Later, I went back and looked at it and realized that the walrus was the bad guy in the story and the carpenter was the good guy. I thought, Oh, s--t, I picked the wrong guy. I should have said, 'I am the carpenter.' But that wouldn't have been the same, would it?" The song's opening line, "I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together" is yet another tantalising link to Aleister Crowley. Crowley in his book Magick in theory and practise talks about the art of speaking backwards and uses the illustration, “Let him practise speaking backwards; thus for "I am He" let him say, "Eh ma I"â€. Given the Beatles fondness for using backwards masking and subliminal messages in their songs, I think this is highly significant. Also, from the end of I am the Walrus, we find a mysterious piece of dialogue, recorded from a BBC radio broadcast of the Shakespeare play King Lear. The section of King Lear used came from Act Four, Scene 6, with Oswald saying: "Slave, thou hast slain me. Villain, take my purse. After Oswald dies, we hear this dialogue: Edgar: "I know thee well: a serviceable villain, As duteous to the vices of thy mistress As badness would desire." Gloucester: "What, is he dead?" Edgar: "Sit you down, father. Rest you." Finally on the walrus trail, it has often been quoted that Lennon got the line "Goo Goo Ga Joob" from the book Finnegan's Wake by James Joyce. No such line appears, however, James Joyce does appear on the cover. Interestingly, he is not listed amongst the cast list of luminaries. An oversight or an intentional omission? Joyce is one of three Irish writers that appear on the cover, the other two are George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde. Wilde was famously jailed for his homosexuality although, presumably in an attempt to conform to Victorian standards, he was married with children. His wife, Constance, along with another Pepper grandee, the artist Aubrey Beardsley, and the ubiquitous Aleister Crowley were members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which was an magical society formed in 1888. George Bernard Shaw’s one time mistress, Florence Farr, was another member of the order. The links to Crowley, secret societies and occult organisations just keep on coming. Another interesting author featured on the cover is Stephen Crane. Crane is another who died young when he was just 28 years old, and is perhaps most famous for his short story called “The Open Boatâ€. It concerns four men who struggle to survive in a lifeboat. The one most determined to keep the group together dies in the ordeal; the other three then act as interpreters of the event. This has been proposed as being a metaphor for Paul McCartney and the Paul is Dead theories. Continuing the theme of those who appear on the cover and who died young is the poet Dylan Thomas. Thomas died not long after his 39th birthday in New York, his death exacerbated by his chronic alcoholism. The final writers that appear on the cover reveal yet more links with Crowley and the intertwining nature of some of the relationships of the characters involved. Take for example Aldous Huxley, H.G. Wells and our friend Aleister Crowley. I will use a quote from Huxley that may get to the very heart of what Sgt Pepper pertains too. "There will be, in the next generation or so, a pharmacological method of making people love their servitude, and producing dictatorship without tears, so to speak, producing a kind of painless concentration camp for entire societies, so that people will in fact have their liberties taken away from them, but will rather enjoy it, because they will be distracted from any desire to rebel by propaganda or brainwashing, or brainwashing enhanced by pharmacological methods. And this seems to be the final revolution." Aldous Huxley, Tavistock Group, California Medical School, 1961. The Beatles at this time were in the full midst of their psychedelic, LSD period and Paul McCartney, who conversely had consumed the least amount of the drug, had appeared in a televised interview in which he espoused the virtues of LSD. The O.T.O., references to whom seem to crop up throughout the Pepper sleeve, are a sex magick cult and it may be that the Beatles are espousing the benefits of these forms of religious beliefs over the more conventional Christian virtues which are still most prevalent in society. The Sgt Pepper album sleeve is full of masonic symbolism. There are eleven freemasons depicted and of these eleven, three are 33° master masons, Karl Marx, H. G. Wells and Aleister Crowley. Aldous Huxley’s grandfather Thomas taught H. G. Wells. Thomas Huxley was a member of the Royal Society of London which was founded in 1660 by freemasons and was hugely influenced by Sir Francis Bacon and his book A New Atlantis. I have spoken previously about a possible hidden reference to Bacon on the Sgt Pepper sleeve. H. G. Wells would later tutor Aldous Huxley at Oxford as well as being the head of British intelligence (MI6) during World War 2. Wells would introduce Aldous Huxley to Aleister Crowley in Berlin in 1930 where Crowley may have introduced him to peyote. Huxley wrote Brave New World as a parody to H.G. Wells Men Like Gods, and both have parallels with Bacon’s A New Atlantis and its version of a Rosicrucian paradise. Huxley was a freemason and also joined a Dionysian occult group called ‘the children of the sun’. The search for the light continues.
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Post by beacon on Mar 19, 2012 9:37:38 GMT -5
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Post by beacon on Feb 17, 2012 9:08:28 GMT -5
Can anyone assist? Who is the guy next to the Crowley image that wasn't used - looked too much like Paul - and Marilyn Monroe? I am wondering if it is the other image of Crowley, the one that was used, or somebody else? If it is Crowley then it would be proof that they planned to use him twice, however I am not sure it is him.
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Post by beacon on Feb 17, 2012 5:58:53 GMT -5
Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel? I am going ever so slightly off piste with this latest post, however, as the story heavily involves one of my favourite characters from the period, Robert Fraser, I thought it was about time to take an in-depth look at the infamous Rolling Stones story of the Redlands Bust: Here for the first time is the complete story of the Redlands Bust and its cultural consequences. In 1967 the establishment in England were determined to punish the Rolling Stones, Britain’s most insolent pop group. It was a time when sex, drugs and rock’n’roll were becoming the normal lifestyle of the youth of the nation and the establishment saw the Rolling Stones as leading the charge. It began just after eight o’clock, on the evening of February 12 1967 when Redlands, the Sussex country home of Stone’s guitarist Keith Richards was raided by a force of twenty police officers. Inside, Keith and his guests - including Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, the gallery owner Robert Fraser, and “Acid King” David Schneiderman - shared in the quiet warmth of a day taking LSD. Relaxed, they listened to music, oblivious to the police gathering outside. The first intimation something was about to happen came when a face appeared, pressed against the window. It must be a fan. Who else could it be? But Keith noticed it was a “little old lady.” Strange kind of fan. If we ignore her. She’ll go away. Then it came, a loud, urgent banging on the front door. Robert Fraser quipped, “Don’t answer. It must be tradesmen. Gentlemen ring up first.” Marianne Faithfull whispered, “If we don’t make any noise, if we’re all really quiet, they’ll go away.” But they didn’t. When Richards opened the door, he was confronted by 18 police officers led by Police Chief Inspector Gordon Dinely, who presented Richards with a warrant to “search the premises and the persons in them, under the Dangerous Drugs Act 1965.” The raid came after a tip off by the tabloid newspaper, the News of the World, who were conducting a personal vendetta against Jagger because of a libel case he had brought against the newspaper. The News of the World had set up a team of journalists to infiltrate The Stones’ circle and get the lowdown on their drug use. One night, a journalist spoke with a drug-addled Brian Jones about his chemicals of choice. Thinking they had a major scoop, the paper ran the story. It was to prove a major mistake, as the News of the World couldn’t tell their pop stars apart, and believed they had caught Mick Jagger unawares, rather than Jones. When the paper published its story on Jagger and his alleged drug confession, the singer sued the paper. It led the tabloid to plan its revenge to discredit Jagger. That plan revealed a very cosy relationship between the newspaper and the police. Detective Sergeant Norman Clement Pilcher, or “Nobby” as he was known to his colleagues was quite a character, as was his insatiable desire to rise swiftly through the ranks of London’s police. Pilcher seems to have had an agenda to curb the activities of London’s musicians, but he certainly knew the value of a celebrity bust. While seemingly the majority of the capital’s youth were engaged in some form of narcotic use, Picher knew that busting a celebrity would raise his profile enormously. Pilcher waged a war on pop’s elite. During his time at the Drugs Squad, Pilcher was responsible for arresting Donovan, Brian Jones, John Lennon and George Harrison. Pilcher always got his man by bringing along to any bust his own supply of evidence. He was lampooned as a rock groupie by underground magazine Oz, and John Lennon described him as ‘semolina pilchard, climbing up the Eiffel Tower’ in “I Am The Walrus.” In our present world of anodyne music pumped out by record labels and TV talent shows as soundtracks for malls, lifts and supermarkets, it is hard to believe that once-upon-a-time, music, in particular pop music, was considered revolutionary and a very real threat to the established order. Think of this when imagining the world the Rolling Stones burst into back in 1963, as it was the Stones, their music and their alleged drug use that became the focus of British establishment’s ire. Unlike the Beatles, who played the game, and were considered cheeky and harmless, wore suits and smiled, The Stones were deemed dirty, surly, long-haired, and played Black music - R ‘n’ B, that inflamed their fans to riot. All of this wasn’t helped by manager Andrew Loog-Oldham’s statement that if the Beatles were Christ, then the Stones were the Anti-Christ. Besides, the Beatles were unassailable, especially after Prime Minister Harold Wilson controversially honoured them with MBEs in 1965. So it was that the News of the World worked hand in glove with the police, tipping off the relevant authorities about drugs parties then turning up to photograph the arrested being taken away. Indeed, when John and Yoko were raided in 1968, the press were there just before Pilcher and his team arrived! It appears that the police in Chichester at that time knew about Keith Richards’ presence at Redlands and were also aware that drugs were probably being used there. In fact, a former member of the drug squad has told how they weren’t in the slightest bit interested in raiding Keith’s house as it proved very little, and moreover, would throw an enormous spotlight on their operations. The News Of The World were eager to call the bluff on Mick Jagger’s libel suit against them, and rang Scotland Yard to see if they’d enact a raid on Richards’ house on the weekend of February 12th 1967. However, the drug squad chief at the time (not Pilcher), resisted the temptation to act on the tip-off, saying that it would confer a martyrdom status on Mick and Keith if they went ahead with it. Undeterred, the News Of The World then contacted Chichester Police and seemingly forced their hand to make the raid that weekend. The police discovered amphetamines/travel sickness pills in the pocket of Jagger’s jacket. Jagger had obtained the pills in Italy, where they were legally available for travel sickness. Heroin and eight capsules of methylamphetamine hydrochloride were found on Robert Fraser, while the remnants of marijuana found in an ashtray implicated Richards. Bizarrely, David Schneiderman’s portable drug cabinet, containing LSD and dope, was not examined by the police, which has given rise to questions over the “Acid King’s” involvement: The elusive David Schneidermann remains probably the most enigmatic figure in rock and roll folklore. One of the many mysteries of the Redlands Bust has always been the identity and role of David Schneidermann. The description of Schneidermann varies: some report he was a 27 year old Canadian, others say he originated from California, and that he was also known as Dave Britton. He has been described as an "up-market American west coast flower child." Marianne Faithfull has confirmed that Schneiderman had delivered to each of the house party a tab of "white lightning" LSD with their tea on the morning of the police raid. When the bust occurred Schneidermann was able to prevent the police searching his attaché case by saying that it contained exposed film for a New York newspaper. According to sources the case was a trove of illegal drugs. Others suggest Schneidermann was an agent provocateur who tipped off the London tabloid newspaper the News of the World about the party. Christopher Gibbs, a friend of Jagger present at the bust had this to say about Schneidermann: “The infamous David Schniederman, on the other hand, was a pied-piperish character, who the hell he was, and where he came from, nobody knew he had just popped up. He was able to tune into everybody’s wavelength and was seductive, satanic, the devil in his most beguiling of disguises. After the bust he vanished as devils do, in a puff of smoke, and was never seen again.” Michael Cooper is quoted in Tony Sanchez's book - Up and Down with the Rolling Stones. “The guy’s much more than an ordinary pusher,” he said. “He had a whole collection of different passports in different names and with different nationalities on them. I saw them once when I was looking through his bag for some dope at Redlands.” “And he talked to me about guns and weapons in the same sort of way that most guys talk about chicks. I know it sounds fantastic but I reckon he was something much more than a creep hired by the News of the World. He was like some kind of James Bond character, and someone, someone right at the top, put him in because the Stones are becoming too powerful. They really are worried that you could spark off fighting in the streets if you tried, and now they are going to try to break you. I’m sure the newspaper was in on it somewhere, but it was this guy using them-not the other way around.” Schneiderman's disappearance immediately after the bust has been the subject of speculation ever since. At the trial Michael Havers QC, defending Jagger and Richards, claimed that Schneiderman had been planted by the News of the World as an agent provocateur. It was an allegation the newspaper described as a "monstrous charge" but it later admitted that he was the "reliable source" whose tip-off led to the raid. It is even not clear if his name is spelt Schneiderman or with two ‘n’s: Schneidermann. At the trial the name was spelt: Sneidermann. After the Redlands bust, he slipped out of Britain and moved to the States where he changed his name to David Jove, and lived in Hollywood, later working as a small-time producer and film-maker. Maggie Abbott, a Sixties talent agent, met him in Los Angeles in 1983 and became his lover. He told her how he infiltrated the group but said he was now ‘on the run’. She said: ‘David was a heavy drug user but had a quick wit. He was the perfect choice to infiltrate the Stones. He never showed any remorse for what he did. It was all about how he had been “the victim”. He was a totally selfish person. Mick had been my friend as well as a client and I thought about trying to persuade David to come clean publicly. But he was always armed with a handgun and I feared that if I gave him away, he’d shoot me.’ His identity was confirmed by a scion of a family of American philanthropists, James Weinstock. Two years after the Redlands raid, ‘Dave Jove’ married Mr Weinstock’s sister, Lotus, in Britain. ‘They’d come up with some new way to make acid and decided to go to the UK and sell it,’ Miss Abbott said. But David was caught carrying pot by Customs. ‘Some other guys turned up – he implied they were MI5 or MI6 – and they gave him an ultimatum: he’d get out of prison time if he set up the Stones.’ The British agents were in cahoots, he told Miss Abbott, with the FBI’s notorious Counterintelligence division, known as Cointelpro, which specialised in discrediting American groups deemed to be ‘subversive’. On Christmas Day in 1969, ‘Jove’s’ new wife, Lotus, gave birth to a daughter, Lili. Their marriage lasted 18 years, though they never lived together. ‘I first met David when I returned to California from Bali, where I had gone searching for God,’ said James Weinstock, Lotus’s brother. ‘One New Year’s Eve, he showed me a gun and said he’d just killed a man who was messing with his car.’ Later he was rumoured to have murdered a TV personality, Peter Ivers, the presenter of a TV show that ‘Jove’ produced. Miss Abbott said: ‘There was talk that Peter had decided to leave the show and David was angry. ‘I discovered “Jove” wasn’t David’s real name when he shot himself through his heel with his gun. ‘When we checked him into hospital, he used a made-up name and later I found out his real name was Sniderman.’ His first half-hearted admission was to Mr Weinstock: ‘He told me he was tight with the Rolling Stones in England, but had a falling-out with them,’ he said. ‘He was arrested for some serious offence, but managed to extricate himself, and he said it all looked very suspicious when the police busted the Rolling Stones. They froze him out after that.’ In 1985, Miss Abbott and an old friend, Marianne Faithfull, went out for dinner in Los Angeles. Miss Abbott introduced her to ‘Jove’ – but Ms Faithfull soon told her she wanted to leave. Miss Abbott says: ‘When we got into my car, she said, “It’s him, the Acid King. He set up the Redlands bust. Don’t ever see him again”. ’ Miss Abbott added: ‘Two months after the evening with Marianne, I finally had it out with him. ‘To my amazement, he told me everything. He said, “It’s a relief to be able to talk about it”. ’ ‘Jove’s’ final confession was made to his daughter, Lili Haydn, now a rock violinist. She said: ‘Shortly before his death he said he was the Acid King. ‘He told me he wasn’t a drug dealer. He felt he was expanding the consciousness of some of the greatest minds of his day.’ Later in his life he was ostracised by his glamorous LA set after his drug use became ‘voluminous’. He died alone in 2004. The mysterious ‘Acid King’ was not the only surprising guest present at Redlands that day; it has long been rumoured that Beatle George Harrison and his then wife Patti Boyd had been there. Former Beatles press officer Tony Bramwell said. "Yes they were and so was I! Well, I left as well. I never took any drugs, just the occasional drink. I was in terror of losing my visas & passports and freedom and things. And if you were busted for drugs in England, or anywhere at the time, you lost your visas. Sort of semi incarcerated. I didn’t like the idea of that so I stayed away from that abuse." Whether the police waited for the illustrious Beatle to leave before moving in has never been adequately explained. At their trial, held at West Sussex Quarter Sessions, Jagger and Richards plead not guilty and were defended by Michael Havers QC. When it came to their trial, Judge Leslie Block advised the jury to ignore any reasonable doubt used by the defence, this saw Jagger sentenced to three months for possession of amphetamines, and Richards to one year in jail for allowing cannabis to be smoked in his home. Robert Fraser received six months for possessing heroin. The sentencing led to William Rees Mogg, then editor of the London Times to write an editorial in the paper, “Who breaks a butterfly on a wheel?” that helped swing public opinion towards the Stones and against the harsh sentencing, which was later quashed under appeal. beaconfilms2011.blogspot.com/2012/02/who-breaks-butterfly-upon-wheel.html
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Post by beacon on Feb 16, 2012 6:47:04 GMT -5
Talking of ILLUSIONS, here's Tall Paul (5'11") with Long John Baldry (6'7")
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Post by beacon on Feb 15, 2012 4:58:06 GMT -5
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Post by beacon on Feb 14, 2012 11:12:22 GMT -5
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Post by beacon on Feb 2, 2012 8:56:30 GMT -5
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Post by beacon on Feb 1, 2012 4:44:48 GMT -5
Like Father like Son, continuing the quest for the 'light.'
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Post by beacon on Jan 20, 2012 8:55:58 GMT -5
"George was probably referring to our little trip to the Philippines in the summer of 1966. We were almost killed. You have read about it, how we were a bit scared for our lives, but the truth of what happened there is far worse than what was ever been told. We were taken hostage and beaten. I mean, moped accident me arse, that's where Paul really chipped his tooth. He was lucky he didn't get the rest of his teeth knocked in."
McCartneys moped accident happened December 1965, you can see his chipped tooth in the Rain video, recorded May 1966, and the Phillipines tour took place in July 1966.
Death is having a negative effect on Mr Lennons memory!
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Post by beacon on Jan 12, 2012 6:03:11 GMT -5
Hi Letter B,
I am very aware of that thread, it has been and continues to be a valuable source of inspiration.
My hope in starting a new thread was to reignite speculation and debate about the Pepper cover. Apollo C Vermouth maintained that everything points to Pepper and I remain convinced that is true.
We are but pilgrims following a trail and we know not where it may lead.
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Post by beacon on Jan 11, 2012 10:29:29 GMT -5
Is the Sgt Pepper record cover a treasure map? Originally, the sleeve had been commissioned from the Dutch artists, The Fool, however Beatle associate and art gallery owner, Robert Fraser, suggested they get a ‘real’ artist to design it. The initial idea is that of a grave scene, presumably inspired by McCartney’s vision of the album as representing the death of the lovable ‘mop tops’, and this can be seen in the original sketches penned by Blake. The Beatles were also in the middle of recording Sgt Pepper when McCartney’s friend, Tara Browne, was killed in a car crash on December 18th 1966. It has been rumoured that McCartney had been taking LSD with Browne that night. This fact may also help explain why the cover depicts a funeral scene as it may have been a tribute to Tara Browne. The Beatles were asked to provide a list of heroes and people who had inspired them to act as attendees at the funeral. This list is interesting in itself, and indeed two of Lennon’s suggestions, Hitler and Gandhi, were both left off at the last minute so as not to cause offence. Another Lennon suggestion of Jesus Christ was immediately considered unsuitable after the ‘bigger than Jesus’ furore. However, the original Beatles list is quite small, and so the additional characters, who seem to have come from Blake himself and interestingly Robert Fraser, are also worth considering. As, indeed, are the ones who didn’t make the final shot. Apart from the Beatles themselves, who appear with waxwork effigies from 1964, two other characters appear twice. One of these is Aleister Crowley. Once, as himself in the top left hand corner, and also as the ‘legionnaire of the royal order of buffaloes’. This is itself an interesting inclusion. The Royal Antidiluvean Order of Buffaloes is an order, similar in structure to the Freemasons, who evolved as an exclusive club for stage artists. The cover seems to portray a whole host of masonic symbolism and this is just one of the hints to that. Crowley, a well-known British occultist, seems to have been a habitual member of secret societies. He was a 33° freemason, one of three on the cover, as well as a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the Argenteum Astrum (A.A.) and the O.T.O, Ordo Templi Orientis (Order of the Temple of the East). It seems likely that the Beatles were introduced to Crowley and his teachings through his disciple, Kenneth Anger, who was a friend of Robert Fraser. It has been claimed that Crowley’s title within the O.T.O was that of Phoenix. Tara Browne, whose untimely death acted as the catalyst for the whole Sgt Pepper myth, had a family symbol that appears on his headstone. That symbol is a double headed eagle. This is a Templar symbol. Could the double headed eagle be a symbolic phoenix? “’The Phoenix is believed to be a divine bird going back to Egypt. This Phoenix destroys itself in flames and then rises from the ashes. Some occultists believe that the Phoenix is a symbol of Lucifer who was cast down in flames and who (they think ) will one day rise triumphant. This, of course, also relates to the rising of Hiram Abiff, the Masonic ‘christ.’” The other character that appears more than once is Shirley Temple, the former child star. She appears next to Diana Dors, and on the opposite side of the cover where she is largely obscured by the waxwork Beatles. She also appears as the child’s doll wearing the ‘Welcome the Rolling Stones’ jumper. The Temple, and possibly Bobby Breen, characters may point to Kenneth Anger as he claimed to have been a child star and indeed that he had met and danced with Shirley Temple as a child. I wonder if maybe Shirley Temple’s inclusion isn’t highly symbolic. She appears twice on the right hand side of the cover. If you overlaid a compass onto the record sleeve then this would be the eastern side. She is stood right in front of the figure of the legionnaire of the royal order of buffaloes, a character that surely has some masonic relevance, and next to Diana Dors. If the legionnaire of the royal order of buffaloes is, indeed, Crowley, then it could be argued that he is placed at the (Diana) Dors of the (Shirley) Temple of the East. Could this be an obscure O.T.O reference? Given the eastern placement and the fact you have two Temples near to each other, I wonder if these are meant to represent the two Temples of Solomon? As mentioned previously, the O.T.O stands for Ordo Templi Orientis or Order of the Temple of the East in English and the legends of Solomons Temple are highly significant to the O.T.O and Freemasonry. It is here, at the Temple ruins that the Knights Templar resided during the crusades. Indeed, it is here that they allegedly discovered, and indeed, worshipped a dismembered head, the Baphomet, was this the head of Christ or John the Baptist? For certain it is where the Knights Templar were transformed from being the poor and humble servants of Christ to becoming the wealthy and extremely powerful money lenders of myth and legend. In Freemasonry the construction of the Temple of Solomon and the legend of Hiram Abiff form the basis of the whole masonic induction ceremony. Alternatively, could one of the temples of the east be a Temple of Diana? Diana, also referred to as Artemis, was the twin sister of Apollo. Interestingly, there is a Temple of Artemis in Cefalu, Siciliy, where Crowley had his Temple. The site of St Paul’s Cathedral in London is also believed to be where a temple dedicated to Diana once existed. Apollo is linked to Lucifer, the light bearer. As previously mentioned Diana Dors, an English actress, appears on the record cover. I believe the images on the sleeve are highly symbolic and this may be a case in point. Diana was a Roman lunar goddess, (Artemis to the Greeks) and was the twin of Apollo the sun god. If the theme of Sgt Pepper is about death and rebirth then this could be hugely significant as, in pagan belief, both the sun and the moon regularly die before being re-born. It should also be pointed out that one of McCartney’s pseudonyms is Apollo C Vermouth and that Apollo is the god of music. It has also been proposed that the Diana Dors and Sonny Liston waxworks represent the twin pillars of ‘Boaz’ and ‘Jachin’. These bronze pillars stood at the entrance to the Temple of Solomon and are depicted in the tarot card of the high-priestess. In this depiction ‘Boaz’ is to the left and is black whilst ‘Jachin’ is to the right and is white. As can be seen on the Pepper cover, both have bronzed elements to their clothing. There is indeed, much to suggest that this supposition may be correct. This, naturally, would lead to speculation as to the purpose of the third image of Shirley Temple. This one is on the left hand, or western side, of the cover and she is almost totally obscured. Could this relate to a hidden temple of the west, or, possibly the lodge to which the Beatles were now members? There are eleven Masons depicted on the sleeve and as Crowley himself said, “my number is 11, as all their numbers who are of us”. The eleven freemasons shown on the cover are; Aleister Crowley, H. G. Wells, Karl Marx, W. C. Fields, Sir Robert Peel, Aldous Huxley, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Tom Mix, Oscar Wilde and T. E. Lawrence. Of these, Crowley, Wells and Marx were all 33° masons and interestingly, if you place a compass over the record cover, Wells and Marx appear at 33°. It is also worth considering some of the authors featured on the cover. Edgar Allan Poe wrote, amongst other things, The Gold Bug. The Gold Bug is a story about a man who is bitten by a gold coloured beetle and who searches for hidden treasure having cracked a secret code. Sound familiar? This story is surely the basis for the idea for the Pepper cover. John Lennon even mentions Poe in the lyrics to ‘I am the Walrus’. Lewis Carroll is another highly significant character to be included. Often quoted by Lennon as an inspiration, he is another who would use hidden meanings and backwards writing in his works. The ‘covered up’ characters Due to the placement of the Beatles at the front of the cover shot some of the characters were obscured from view. Some of the people that didn’t make the final version included Bette Davis as Queen Elizabeth I from the film the private lives of Elizabeth and Essex. This maybe a coded reference to Francis Bacon. Bacon was a key ally of Queen Elizabeth and King James. He is also rumoured to have written the works of Shakespeare and encoded the texts with secret messages via Baconian ciphers (Diana Dors also left her will encrypted in a cipher). Bacon is also rumoured to have been a member, if not founder of the Rosicrucian secret society that has huge links to Freemasonry and the new world order. This allusion to Bacon may be strengthened by the use of the Bette Davis image. By using her and not the real Queen Elizabeth this could be a reference to her not being the real focus of the image. There was also a rumour that Bacon faked his own death so that he could travel abroad in disguise to promote the Rosicrucians and the ‘Spear Shakers’. He wrote the book ‘A new Atlantis’ which talks of a secret nation who send emissaries out into the world collecting information. This information is then collated and tested. Depending on the nature of the information they then decide if the knowledge of the world should be shared or kept secret, even from their own state. This seems to act as a template of masonry and the purposes of secret societies. Freemasonry, for example, purports to be a largely Christian society, however, once past the 30th degree you discover its Lucifer connotations. Indeed, Bacon is thought to have been handed the original manuscript of the King James Bible and had it in his possession for over a year. It could be argued then, that Bacon oversaw the ‘authorised’ version of Christianity to which we now hold to be true. It is also rumoured that Bacon was the illegitimate son of Queen Elizabeth and the Earl of Leicester and that a second son, the Earl of Essex was also born. This could explain the significance of the character from the Private lives of Elizabeth and Essex. Essex eventually led an attempted revolution against Elizabeth and was executed. Possibly there is a further O.T.O significance to the Queen Elizabeth character. An alternative name for the O.T.O is the Hermetic Brotherhood of Light and the organisation claims that ‘there is but ONE ancient organisation of genuine Mystics which shows to the seeker after truth a Royal Road to discover the Lost Mysteries of Antiquity and to the Unveiling of the One Hermetic Truth’. The Royal Road could refer to the Merovingian blood line of the ancient kings of France. The Knights Templar was set up by these rulers, and they believed they were descended from Jesus and Mary Magdalene. All European rulers claim descent from the Merovingian line and so this would include Queen Elizabeth I and Francis Bacon. Could the frequent references McCartney makes to Lily be about Queen Elizabeth I? Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni from the film Marriage Italian Style are also hidden characters. Possibly this relates to the story of the film. The male character often thinks wistfully on his past relationship with Loren. He moves her in with him but refuses to marry her. She then is in a near death situation which finally causes the man to consent to a marriage. Maybe it is a coded message to Rome revealing that the Beatles know the truth? Timothy Carey from the film ‘The Killing’ is another obscured character. Not sure why? His character in the film is a hired assassin paid to shoot a racehorse as part of a scam. It may relate to the death threats that the Beatles had received in Japan, the US and the Philippines? Sgt Peppers has also been a rich source of clues for the PID mystery. The drum-skin, the flowers that apparently spell Paul and the characters that have died or had near death experiences all add to this mystique. Then there is the open hand behind McCartney’s head. Could this depict the Master Masons hand? The "Hand of the Philosopher" or the "Hand of the Mysteries" is a talisman that depicts the symbols of apotheosis, or the transformation of man into god. The Hand of the Mysteries, which features alchemy symbolism, is also referred to as the hand of the Master Mason. It is said that the symbolic hand holds the keys to divinity and a practitioner can unlock the secrets through the symbolism. The story goes that the Beatles were asked to supply a list of their choices for the cover photographs; the original list, complete with misspellings, was given to Fraser and Blake:- Yoga's; Marquis de Sade; Hitler; Neitch; Lenny Bruce; Lord Buckley; Alistair Crowley; Dylan Thomas; James Joyce; Oscar Wilde; William Burroughs; Robert Peel; Stockhausen; Auldus Huxley; H.G. Wells; Izis Bon; Einstein; Carl Jung; Beardsley; Alfred Jarry; Tom Mix; Johnny Weissmuller; Magritte; Tyrone Power; Carl Marx; Richard Crompton; Tommy Hanley; Albert Stubbins; Fred Astaire. There are more clues to be gleaned from this list. The Marquis de Sade is rumoured to have been a freemason and illuminati member. Friedrich Nietzsche, who was originally touted as someone who should appear on Sgt Peppers, was an influence on Crowley and also advocated the theory that Francis Bacon was the author of the Shakespeare plays. Lennon and McCartney had been introduced to the writings of Nietzsche through the Indica bookstore. Finally, Alfred Jarry who created ‘pataphysics’ as mentioned in Maxwells Silver Hammer, was a playwright of the absurd and was considered ‘avant-garde’. My feeling is that the Beatles, through the Sgt Pepper cover are revealing to the chosen few, to those already in the know, that they too have been initiated into the brotherhood. The clues are all there if only you know how to interpret them. Possibly, having seen the final shots, it was decided that it was too obvious what they were revealing, so they chose a photo that obscured the Bette Davis / Queen Elizabeth I character. The key to understanding Pepper is to unlock the meanings behind the characters. The eleven masons, the old, good, Beatles and the new, dark Beatles, the authors and their works of fiction, the hidden characters and most importantly old Crowley himself. Certainly there are enough clues buried within the record cover to suggest that there is more than a passing interest with secret societies and the occult. The extent of this interest, the degree of initiation attained and the exact organisations that may have been joined are all subjects for debate. beaconfilms2011.blogspot.com/2012/01/normal-0-false-false-false-en-gb-x-none.html
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Post by beacon on Jan 11, 2012 10:28:07 GMT -5
The Beatles and Secret Societies Does the Sgt Pepper LP cover reveal secrets of an O.T.O initiation? Could it be a Gnostic Mass? Is it a funeral for a friend? Could it be a homage to long lost pagan deities? Quite possibly it could be all of the above and more. The ‘cast’ of ‘heroes and people we admire’ includes at least eleven freemasons, three temples, hidden messages, and a burial scene. There are a host of hidden characters as well as a number who were dropped, removed or edited out. Let us then consider the circumstances. The search for the light:- By 1966 The Beatles were searching for answers. Spiritually they were confused. Worshiped by millions, yet deeply flawed, were they Gods or mere mortals? They had abandoned touring, sick of the screaming hordes and the death threats. The ‘bigger than Jesus’ furore had revealed more than just the gaping wound of American religious insecurity. They were, by now, being influenced by more than the paternalistic overtures of Brian Epstein and George Martin. They had entered a new sphere of influence, one with a very definite agenda. During the 1960s, McCartney was often seen at major cultural events, such as the launch party for The International Times and at The Roundhouse (28 January and 4 February 1967 respectively). He also delved into the visual arts, becoming a close friend of leading art dealers and gallery owners, explored experimental film, and regularly attended movie, theatrical and classical music performances. His first contact with the London avant-garde scene was through John Dunbar, who introduced him to the art dealer Robert Fraser, who in turn introduced McCartney to an array of writers and artists. McCartney later became involved in the renovation and publicising of the Indica Gallery in Mason's Yard, London. John Lennon first met Yoko Ono at the Indica at the infamous Unfinished Objects and Paintings show. This show was sponsored by Robert Fraser. The Indica Gallery brought McCartney into contact with Barry Miles, whose underground newspaper, The International Times, McCartney helped to start. Miles would become de facto manager of the Apple's short-lived Zapple Records label, and wrote McCartney's official biography, Many Years From Now (1997). Miles opened his bookshop, in September 1965 at the Indica gallery and it was here that John Lennon obtained his copy of ‘The Passover Plot’ and was introduced to the works of Nietzsche. The following John Lennon quote is taken from The Boston Globe of Dec. 12, 1980. “My views on Christianity are directly influenced by a book, The Passover Plot by Hugh J. Schonfield. The premise in it is that Jesus’ message had been garbled by his disciples and twisted for a variety of self-serving reasons by those who followed, to the point where it has lost validity for many in the modern age.” The theme that Lennon took from ‘The Passover Plot’ was that Jesus, far from being born of a virgin as the son of God, was in fact a master manipulator who carefully engineered his position. Indeed, he had attempted to fake his own death on the cross, so that he could be ‘resurrected’ and duly considered the true messiah. His plan unravelled when an overzealous Roman soldier plunged a spear into the side of Jesus whilst still on the cross. Jesus’ plan to be resurrected had died with him. From here on, the word of Jesus was left in the hands of his disciples, mere foot soldiers who knew only as much as Jesus had entrusted to them. One can see from this some clear similarities here with freemasonry, and indeed all other secret societies, in that only the initiated know the truth whilst everyone else peddles the old conventional story. Lennon had begun to believe that he, and McCartney, rather than creating the Beatles hits were channelling them via some divine force. It was into this world of messianic self-belief that Robert Fraser was introduced. He had met McCartney when he had visited Fraser’s gallery and he immediately sensed the opportunity to ensnare the Beatles into his web. Eton educated, this son of a wealthy banker was a former officer in The Kings Rifles, and a conduit to all the major players in Swinging London as well as the more subversive, darker elements of the criminal underworld. He was a friend of gangland killers The Krays. Spanish Tony Sanchez claims in his book that Fraser owed £20,000 to the Krays through gambling debts and that they had been leaning on him for repayment. Sanchez claims he visited the twins and sorted out the problem. Fraser, along with his sidekick, Christopher Gibbs, the nephew of a former Governor of Rhodesia, would over the next few years be at the heart of all the major incidents involving not just the Beatles but also the Rolling Stones. He was also the guiding light behind the creation of the Sgt Pepper cover. It was he that persuaded Paul that the original album sleeve, designed by The Fool, was not good enough and that he should employ the services of Peter Blake. The whole ‘concept’ behind Sgt Peppers was that it was about killing off The Beatles. The death of the lovable mop tops. McCartney had come up with the idea on a flight back to England from Kenya with Mal Evans, late in 1966. “We were fed up with being the Beatles. We really hated that fucking four little mop-top boys approach. Then suddenly on the plane I got this idea. I thought, let's not be ourselves. Let's develop alter egos so we're not having to project an image which we know. It would be much more free. What would really be interesting would be to actually take on the personas of this different band.” Paul McCartney, Many Years From Now, Barry Miles. In essence they were forming a band comprising their alter egos who could be sent off on tour instead of them. What it evolved into once Fraser had become involved was something quite different. The album was a revelation, both musically and socially, and the album sleeve as truly an iconic image of the twentieth century as any. At its heart a wealth of symbolism, a cast of stars and clues for the initiated only. The centre-piece was a drum with the legend “Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band”. When a mirror is placed over the centre of the drum, over the words ‘Lonely Hearts’ a mirrored message appears stating ‘I one IX ^ He Die’. For the believers this meant that McCartney had died on either 11 September or 9 November, dependent upon which side of the Atlantic you lived. Could it be that the numbers refer not to a date, but to a biblical reference? Revelation 1: 19 reads ‘Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter’. Possibly even more intriguing is Revelation 1: 18; ‘ he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.’
If you reverse the numbers you get 911. Revelation 9:11 reads; ‘And they had a king over them, [which is] the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue [is] Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath [his] name Apollyon’.
For Apollyon read Apollo. Apollo is hugely significant in Beatle lore. Apollo is a sun god, he is Mars, and he is Lucifer. He is also a god of music and it is interesting that McCartney, a self-appointed god of music should use the pseudonym Apollo C Vermouth for some of his production work.
Diana Dors is one of the celebrities featured on the album cover where she is stood next to Shirley Temple and a Legionnaire of the order of buffaloes. Diana (Artemis) is the twin sister of Apollo and is highly significant as a figure of pagan worship and a lunar goddess.
The album cover famously features an image of Aleister Crowley, a leading Satanist and founder of the O.T.O or Ordo Templi Orientis (Order of the Temple of the East). O.T.O enthusiasts claim this organization is an offshoot of Templar freemasonry and it is claimed that Crowley’s title in the O.T.O was Phoenix. Could it be that the Beatles were trying to raise the phoenix from the flames?
Shirley Temple features three times on the record cover and is a symbolic representation of three temples. The two temples to the East of the cover signify the first and second incarnations of the Temple of Solomon. Her image on the West of the cover is obscured and represents a hidden temple, Boleskine? Rosslyn? Abbey Road? St Pauls? Maybe it is not a reference to an actual, historical location but represents the lodge to which the Beatles have been initiated?
There are eleven freemasons on the cover and three of these are 33° masons. Crowley is one and the other two are Karl Marx and H.G.Wells? If you place a compass over the cover of the album Marx and Wells actually appear at 33°. Coincidence? I doubt it.
Add all these factors together and it does appear that either the Beatles had been indoctrinated with a wealth of knowledge concerning secret societies or they had been inducted into one. Robert Fraser would be my prime candidate as the leading protagonist in all this. His background, education and standing in society would have made him a prime target for recruitment into a masonic type organisation. His friendship with Kenneth Anger and his interest in what Anger preached could mean that the O.T.O may have been an attractive organisation for him and the Beatles to join.
Clearly, lots of people would have liked a finger in the Beatles pie and Epstein does appear to have been edged out and was a more peripheral figure. There are lots of conspiracy theories that maintain the Beatles were being used by Tavistock style operatives to push the pro-drug agenda or to corrupt American youth. Who knows if there was a government angle or a covert operation in play here? For me though, this is about a burgeoning interest in the occult and the opportunity, for some, to manipulate and profit from the Beatles.
beaconfilms2011.blogspot.com/2012/01/normal-0-false-false-false-en-gb-x-none_11.html
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Post by beacon on Jan 11, 2012 10:25:56 GMT -5
Thanks for the pointers about the books, I will read them.
Obviously I can't prove my OTO theory, they just seem most likely given the Anger and Crowley connection and Robert Frasers influence. I hadn't read the Kenneth Anger quote, "im a pagan, not a satanist", but it makes perfect sense. Satan is a christian creation and anything that explores pre-christian beliefs must be pagan. I am not about to accuse anyone of devil worship.
The letter from Brother Anger to Robert Fraser is a telegram and appears in the book 'Groovy Bob' by Harriet Vyner and from memory it doesn't give anymore background, though I will check. My guess is your timeframe would be about right.
I am sure there is a connection between Fraser and Epstein's gambling debts. Both frequented a casino operated by the Kray Twins, notorious London gangsters in the 60's, and both owed money. Spanish Tony Sanchez talks in his book about Fraser owing the Krays £20,000 and how he managed to 'sort it out'. Epstein had major gambling debts too and I have read that the Krays, at one time, wanted to manage the Beatles.
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