“What do you think he meant?” Pamela asks William after he describes the weird scene with the ominous tweaker.
“I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure I never biked faster. I got downtown in like five minutes flat.”
“Why did you go down there in the first place?”
“It just came to me that my bike was down there, and I felt compelled to get it back. It was weird.”
“It was stupid.” Pamela says. “Now shut up, the show is about to start.”
William does as he’s told. It’s the grand finale of the television series Mad Men, after all.
The culmination of the show about advertising and sexism and the times they are a-changin’ doesn’t disappoint. The Doors can be heard playing at the start of the show, and a reference to Charles Manson occurs near the end, when Don is having his breakdown at the retreat in Northern California.
The end of the show is perfect. Don presumably gets through his breakdown to continue evolving the methods of advertising for one of the biggest American brands, Coca Cola. His training to become a sith-like agent of Capitalism is complete, William thinks. To Pamela he says:
“I have to go.”
“Ok, call me later.” She replies.
*
The winter doldrums of January and February pass quickly, with William consumed by reading and writing. On the periphery of his consciousness he knows a political storm is brewing, and by March it has become impossible to ignore.
Ronald Rump, the bloviating billionaire who seemed like a joke when descending on his escalator to announce his candidacy for president, has defied all the knowing pronouncements of his campaign’s decline by the pundit class, achieving victory after victory in the primary elections. No one is laughing anymore.
“I’m starting to see why you are having me investigate the occult origins of the Aryan race, Jim.” William says, seemingly alone if one were looking into William’s apartment from the outside. Inside, the air is crackling.
“What did you think about Frederick Haberman’s Tracing Our White Ancestors?” Jim asks William.
“What did I think? I think it’s creepy that this dude wants so badly to believe that the Old Testament told of actual events, that God is real, and that his chosen people have a lineage traced through Phoenicians and Celts all the way to the Glory of White Amerika! That’s what I think, Jim.”
“Would you be happier watching the circus? Ronald Rump vs. Mallory Minton? Or would you like to understand what is really going on, in the shadows?”
“I’m reading all this crazy shit, aren’t I? Yes, I want to understand. But it feels like my hold on reality is slipping.”
“It is.” Jim replies. “Did you hear about what that Marine did in Idaho a few days ago?”
“No, enlighten me, O rock star.”
“His name is Kyle Odom. He shot a pastor in the back because he thinks the pastor is an alien, then somehow Kyle boarded a plane, despite warrants for his arrest, and made it all the way to the White House. He was arrested after tossing a few flash drives over the White House fence.”
“Ok, so?”
“Remember that story last July about the guy they found decomposing in his car near his house in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood outside LA?”
“Yeah, I remember that one. His girlfriend said he was an alien hybrid and they found thousands of guns and cash and amphibious cars stashed around LA. I can’t remember his name, though.”
“Jeffrey Alan Lash.”
“Ok, I’ll say it again. So?”
“Your mom is sending you a book, it should be here by tomorrow. Read it.” Jim commands. “I’ll check in later.”
“Whatever” William replies.
*
Spring is an ominous time of year, William thinks. T. S. Eliot was on to something, calling April the cruelest month.
Suddenly William becomes aware of the music playing from the speaker near the front window of his tiny apartment. He’s heard the song a thousand times, but this time the words take on darker implications:
Month of May, it’s a violent thing
In the city their hearts start to sing
Well, some people sing,
It sounds like they’re screaming
Used to doubt it
But now I believe it
Suddenly realizing song lyrics are echoing his thinking is not a totally new phenomenon, but it seems to be happening more often. It used to be comforting, like an assurance William was on the right path. Now it feels ominous.
William looks down at the book he received in the mail from his Mom, titled The Paranormal Conspiracy. No longer assuming any angle is too far fetched to explore, William cracks the cover and starts reading.
It’s an odd book hell-bent on tying the so-called “Paranormal Conspiracy” comprised of UFO abductions, mediums channeling malevolent spirits, and anything Eastern and/or mystic to an occult plan by the devil to lure vulnerable people away from God’s love, because God is love. The author, with a questionable PhD attached to his name, is openly coming from a Judeo-Christian perspective. William opens the book to near the beginning and starts reading:
Theologian Francis Schaeffer once remarked that when it comes to the really important questions, there are very few people in the room. When it comes to questions about ultimate meaning and the objective reality of love, the atheist bows out, for such topics have little relevance in a godless universe. That leaves two options—and a philosophical/theological clash between these titans for human allegiance.
The first is the Judeo-Christian worldview, which affirms a universe bursting with meaning and purpose, ruled by a God of love and mercy. The second is the paranormal worldview—belief in a world controlled by unseen forces, variously called “gods,” “demons,” “spirits” and a multitude of other names across times and cultures.
As Shaeffer noted, paranormal beings are personal but not infinite, unlike the uniquely personal and infinite God of the Judeo-Christian faith. The paranormal worldview is also one of ambiguity and danger, in which the shaman plays a vital role in appeasing angry and vengeful spirits; the biblical worldview promises government by loving purpose.
This book is an excursion into and exposure of the Paranormal Conspiracy—the diabolic plot to overthrow the Judeo-Christian worldview and plunge the world into darkness and chaos not unlike that of the cinematic zombie apocalypse.
With a heavy sigh William plunges ahead.
When William reaches the author’s story about Joe Fisher, the following passage jumps out:
Fisher had long abandoned the Christian fundamentalism of his upbringing; his books were steeped in Eastern mysticism and taught that reincarnation is the prism through which all of reality is viewed. Though the concept of past lives is not found in the Bible, Fisher claimed that reincarnation was a primordial belief of early Christians and was suppressed by the institutionalized church. In his view, the Gnostics were the authentic Christians, while Rome and the fathers of the Church were guilty of censuring and eventually extinguishing the grand truth of the transmigration of souls. This line of argument was by no means original to Fisher; it is common for apologists of Eastern religions.
This proclivity for Eastern dabbling led Joe Fisher to a medium who snared him with the beings she channeled (which the author seems to believe in) and, long story short, destroyed Joe’s life and maybe pushed him off a cliff into the sea.
Why am I reading this stuff, William asks himself. No answer is readily available. William puts down the parnormal book and picks up the book on the roots of the White Race, flipping it to near the end:
It seems that our shepherds have missed much when they tell their flocks that the Old Testament belongs to the Jews and at the same time derive spiritual messages from its pages. A great awakening has begun in our land, and a still greater one is in store for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. It is characteristic of our age that many of our people are looking solely to science to bring about the New Age and leave God out of the equation entirely; they appear to be through with God, but they will find that God is not through with them. These are strange days and stranger things are yet to follow.
A chill spreads through William’s nervous system. William continues reading:
Serious trouble is in our land today, because we have forsaken the God of our fathers and worshipped other gods. It is of this time that Jeremiah is speaking in his 30th chapter, verse 4 – 8 : “And these are the words that the Lord spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah. For thus saith the Lord; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? Wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it : it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble ; but he shall be saved out of it. For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him.”
Jacob, our people, God’s people, “shall be saved out of it,” or as the marginal reading has it, “may be saved out of it.” America and Great Britain have lost their way but are now finding it again in this valley of disappointment and tears ; and through this present collapse of the Babylonian economic system which we have followed all these centuries, our people will find their way to Jehovah their God, and to His Kingdom.
Oh shit, William thinks, it’s happening again. Economic collapse, a looming World War, and millions of scared White people finding the perfect expression of their rage in Ronald Rump.
William puts down the book. I need to get out of here, William announces, then proceeds to grab a few essentials and heads for the door.
*
William walks downtown, aimlessly, unable to shake the sense of foreboding that’s settled in like a noxious fog. It all feels too much and escape doesn’t seem possible.
Wherever William goes he is confronted with more information to assimilate. A recent example is news reports of a possible secret chamber in Giza’s largest pyramid, Khufu. Following that, William stumbled across a tv series about the pyramids and one of the episodes talked about ley lines. The show even referenced Tesla.
William walks by the giant crater that will soon be Buckman’s Bank. It’s part of the development that led the Mayor to recently declare that Zula will be unrecognizable in 10 years. “And that’s a good thing,” the Mayor added, perhaps aware that his constituents would not be happy with all the changes, especially the proposed destruction of “The Merc” to make way for a large hotel.
William crosses the street, passing the Bagel shop, the Thai restaurant, and the ethically-challenged pawnshop that profits on societal ills, like addiction. It’s under the metal awning of the pawnshop William notices a lumpy shape beneath tattered blankets.
“Spare some…” Tee-Pee starts his panhandling pitch, then sees it’s William. “…oh, hey there white boy, how you been?”
“You know me, Tee-Pee, just solving the mysteries of the universe is all.”
“And?”
“Have you ever heard of a book called The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow?”
“Haven’t run across that one at the library yet, is it any good?”
“Good? It’s a weird warning from the Judeo-Christian perspective regarding the threat of the New Age Movement, so if that’s good to you, then sure. I normally wouldn’t give any of this shit the time of day, but—“
“It’s homework from your spirit guide, innit?”
“Yeah, but it doesn’t make sense. I don’t believe yoga and meditation is a demonic plot to overthrow the Judeo-Christian dominion unless…”
“Unless?” Tee-Pee echoes.
“…unless it’s an attempt to poison the well, to stop the progression toward balance.”
“You talking in metaphor or something?” Tee-Pee asks.
“No, not metaphor. I’ve been trying to work out some stuff in my head and I’m getting close, but something’s wrong.”
“Doesn’t quite fit, right?”
“Right, it doesn’t fit.”
“What you got so far?”
“Um, well, it might sound crazy.”
“I hear crazy all the time. What you got?”
*
He entered the crystal chamber to confer with Her. He had been summoned.
“You know what the Great Wheel demands. They have had their golden time.”
“Why allow this?” He pleads. The luminescence of His wings dim as the crystal chamber intensifies with presence.
“It is the way of the cycles. You were warned not to intermingle. Gold to silver to bronze to iron then gradually back to gold…that is the way of the lower realm.”
“Would your love be tested if it were your precious higher ones facing destruction?”
“If flesh is so desireable, why not incarnate below? Join the wheel?”
“Because then she will be taken from me, and I will go back to the source without conscious memory of her. No.”
“No? It is not for you to say.”
“Then take my case to the higher ones.”
“You never learn. Now leave. Judgment has already been passed. The decline has been prolonged long enough. The deluge will fix your meddling.”
“Never learn? I have learned quite well. As it is above, so it will be below. They will echo your order and subjugate the weak, and I will help them do it.
“You cannot stop the wheel.”
“Your messiah will fail. Then, when they come looking for you, they will find me instead.”
*
William wakes suddenly. It’s 3 in the morning. The conversation is already quickly fading, but what lingers is a feeling of loss—lost love. William picks up a pencil close to his mattress and finds some scrap paper to jot down the lines as they come, which oddly have nothing to do with love:
what Dee did was dumb
in 1583
with Kelley as the conduit
Dee transcribed the keys
and lo the Watchtowers shook
when Crowley took
his shot
then Jack sealed the deal
do what thou wilt?
DO NOT!
Could they have been fooled from the beginning? William asks himself. The question does something to the pit of William’s stomach. This is not the direction William wants to be going.
Gnostics, Nazis and New Agers? William picks up The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow and flips to the chapter examining the disturbing overlap between the New Age Movement and the occult interests of top-level Nazis all the way up to Hitler:
Both Nazism and the New Age Movement are political/spiritual entities based on the same esoteric foundations: the “Secret Doctrine” might be best summarized as being the antithesis of Judeo/Christian beliefs. The Secret Doctrine also glorifies the pre-flood world, a world that, according to both the Bible and the Secret Doctrine, was alive with demonic contact and psycho/spiritual power.
…
A portion of this doctrine deals with the origins of the races of mankind. The “Secret Doctrine” held that they originated in Atlantis and that one of the seven Atlantean races was that of the Aryans. Although there were supposedly six other Atlantean races—Toltecs, Rmoalhals, Tlavatli, Turanians, Akkadians and Mongols—the Aryans were the master-race or supermen of the Atlantean races.
An outline is finally starting to take shape, but William’s mind wanders. On the radio, reports of Ronald Rump being burned in effigy in Brazil as part of a sacred spring time ritual waft from the speakers. April, the cruelest month.
A thought suddenly springs into William’s mind: God didn’t save Noah, the Devil did. William suddenly gets dizzy, like he’s on a ship bobbing in the ocean. It makes sense. Noah was supposed to be the best of the best, but after the flood recedes he gets drunk, passes out in the tent, then curses his son’s entire lineage.
William finds his Oxford Annotated Bible from a college class he took a few semesters back and turns to Genesis. There it is, Chapter 7 verse 1: Then the Lord said to Noah, Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you alone are righteous before me in this generation.
Then, Chapter 20: Noah, a man of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard. He drank some of the wine and became drunk, and he lay uncovered in his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. Then Shem and Japeth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, he said,
“Cursed be Canaan;
lowest of slaves shall he be to his brothers.”
He also said,
“Blessed by the Lord my God be Shem;
and let Canaan be his slave.
May God make space for Japeth,
And let him live in the tents of Shem;
And let Canaan be his slave.”
What did Ham actually do to warrant such a response from his Father? William flips a few pages, going back in Genesis, and rereads the story of Cain and Abel:
Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have produced a man with the help of the LORD.” Next she bore his brother, Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel for his part brought of the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.
William closes the book, bewildered. Cain, a tiller of the ground? Agrarian? Stronger connection to the feminine? Eve’s first born…with the “help” of the LORD? Maybe Yahweh just likes meat better than fruit. Or maybe…
“NO!” William shouts. But he can’t shake it. Then William remembers the dream. What if, William thinks, Lucifer had actually fallen in love with Eve and shared the knowledge of good and evil to evolve her species, so they could be together, but doing so went against humanity’s destined fate, predetermined by a higher authority? It wasn’t “God” who favored humans, but Lucifer, and when Lucifer was punished for his transgression, he vowed to use mankind in order to...to have them do something...to prove something...to…to bring down the towers? The watchtowers that keeps the earth protected from…from what?
The room darkens. William’s hair stand on end and a violent chill shoots down his spine.
Maybe, William thinks, Lucifer found a way to diminish her power by throwing her into this realm because she was going to take his love away from him. The Gnostics figured out what Lucifer and his legion were up—trapping and defiling her energy in this materialistic matrix—and because the Gnostics preserved their pre-flood sources of knowledge describing this spiritual/material dynamic, the adversary decided to wipe them out.
Lucifer knew eventually mankind would reorient toward balance with the feminine, so his spiritual minions worked the metaphysical channels through mediums to poison the well. Crowley played his part, as did Jack Parsons. The 60’s were a dark culmination to seal the deal. But to what purpose?
Nazis, the New Age and a New World Order? Why not?
There is still so much missing, William concedes to the lonely 3am hum of the refrigerator. She is missing, but it’s more than just rebellious angels condemned to earth doing the devil’s work.
William grabs a pen, begins writing.