Articles

"2012 Olympics Opening & Closing Ceremonies" by Tricia Tillin

Part Two: The Opening Ceremony

Temple worship of Zeus, is the NEW hope for mankind's unity and prosperity!

Index to the Three Parts

For Christians familiar with the book of Genesis, it did not bode well for the Games to be launched to the tune of NIMROD (king-god of Babylon). The music chosen for both opening and closing ceremonies was telling, as we shall see.

Danny Boyle’s opening ceremony cost £27 million ($42.4 million) and was at times blatantly socialist and at times obscurely occult. Overall it aimed to present the world with the concept of man as the supreme ruler of his own domain.

The song chosen to represent the Games as a whole was "Survival" by Muse, and it says that "Life's a race and I'm gonna win...I choose to survive, I'll reveal my strength to the whole human race, I'll stay alive and I won't forgive - vengeance is mine, because I choose to thrive!"  No hint of humility before God here.

The Myth of England's Green Past

maypole

The ceremony opened with a pastoral idyll inspired by Blake's preface to “Milton: a Poem” — “And did those feet in ancient time" better known as “Jerusalem.” With its lyric describing the establishment of a new Jerusalem in England, it has become England’s most recognized patriotic song, sung as a religious hymn and a de facto national anthem at many sporting events.

Yet it is decidedly NOT a biblical or Christian hymn.

Rather, it's a revolutionary call to overthrow the establishment and organised religion in favour of the Rule of Man (much championed by Freemasons and other organisations.) That is why "Jerusalem" was used as a campaign slogan by the Labour Party in the 1945 general election; Clement Attlee said they would build "a new Jerusalem". The Labour Party sing it annually, since it is an old socialist hymn.

"Dark Satanic Mills"

The term "dark Satanic Mills", which entered the English language from this poem, is often interpreted as referring to the early Industrial Revolution and its destruction of nature and family life. However some believe Blake's phrase refers to the established Church of England and organised religion.

As a part of the establishment, the Church preached a doctrine of morality and conforming to the social order, in contrast to Blake. In this view the dark satanic mills (churches) are churning out evangelical doctrines that "repress mankind".

An alternative theory is that Blake is referring to a more generalised mystical concept within his own mythology related to the ancient history of England. That indeed is how Danny Boyle presents the message. Satan's "mills" in Blake's poem are first described in words which do not suggest industrialism but "the oppressive power of priestcraft in general".

William Blake did not want God telling him how to behave!

Revolution

Several of Blake's poems and paintings express a notion of universal humanity: "As all men are alike (tho' infinitely various)". He retained an active interest in social and political events for all his life, but hid his social idealism and political statements in Protestant mystical allegory. Even though the poem was written during the Napoleonic Wars, Blake was an outspoken supporter of the French Revolution. The poem expressed his desire for radical change without overt sedition. (In 1803 Blake was charged at Chichester with high treason for having 'uttered seditious and treasonable expressions', but was acquitted.)

Pandemonium (all the demons)

The green dream was shattered, in Danny Boyle's presentation, by industry and autocrats. They arrived in top hats and arrogant sneers, to rip the heart out of the country simply in order to dominate the working classes and line their own pockets.

[This section was called Pandæmonium, the name of the Capital of Hell in Paradise Lost, by John Milton.]

At this point everything that was formerly green and harmonious is swallowed up in darkness. The oak tree of Zeus is ripped out, and the hill becomes a volcano spewing fire and servants, doomed to labour in the factories. (I was more interested in the suggestion that the old religion was overtaken by Victorian values at this point, however - which I believe was the underlying message.)

industry arrives pandemonium

For one thing, apart from the oak tree being ripped up, there was a more subtle statement that the "old gods have been replaced by conventional morality, the Church and the Establishment." The arrival of the top-hatted industrialists was timed perfectly to coincide with SUNSET, and at the same moment the music used was "Sundowner" by Blank Mass and the London Symphony Orchestra.

In other words, the values of Zeus the sun-god (who stood for sexual license and the overthrow of authority) had been quenched for a season. We have to wait until the Sixties generation before that returns.... meanwhile, we witnessed the sun-disc trampled by the feet of Industry, and fenced around so as to be unavailable to the common man.

sunset as industry arrives

Was the Industrial Revolution Really so Evil?

Today it's fashionable among liberals and idealistic environmentalists to demonise industry and commerce, because they associate it with what they call "imperialism" and "capitalism" as well as "strict morality". But I'm willing to bet that none of them would refuse to educate their children, or prefer to use gas lamps, or ask the local quack round to perform an amputation without anaesthetic.

Danny Boyle himself would be hard pressed to find a job as a movie director without the technological advances that began in the Industrial Revolution.

Although some parts of the Industrial Revolution can be seen as ghastly and negative, the majority, including the final outcome, was outstanding good for Britain! Fundamental changes took place in agriculture, textile and metal manufacture, transportation, economic policies and the social structure in England. It is almost impossible to imagine what the world would be like if the effects of the Industrial Revolution were swept away. Electric lights would go out. Automobiles and airplanes would vanish. Telephones, radios, and television would disappear. Most of the stocks on the shelves of department stores would be gone.

Danny Boyle presented pre-industrial England as happy, carefree, delightful and united in its allegiance to the old ways of folklore, superstition and the worship of the ancient spirits.

We saw men and women at play, laughing and friendly, clean and healthy! Nothing could be further than the truth. Large parts of pre industrial Britain were filthy, lawless, drunken, impoverished, disease-ridden and ignorant.

Social Medicine Triumphs over Darkness!

After the long dark period of industry, in which the toiling peasants drummed their complaints unheard, the next, dreamlike sequence celebrated one of Britain’s most beloved institutions, the National Health Service. This was a product of a new style of Government after the war years - Socialism, or the Labour Party of Britain.

When the war in Europe ended in May 1945, Churchill called a general election for July.  Labour's manifesto, Let Us Face the Future, captured the public mood for change.   It argued that Britain must not return to the poverty and lack of work of the 1930s.  Labour pledged to destroy the five 'evil giants' of want, squalor, disease, ignorance and unemployment.   The result was a landslide to Labour, who won 393 seats in Westminster.   For the first time, Labour had a majority and had full opportunity to implement its programme of reform.

So it was the NHS - in the allegory of the Opening Ceremony - that was shown at the path back to Britain's ancient roots. It is here too that we see James Bond (John Dee) arriving with the Queen, and a new era begins.

Children Reach Out to the "Light"

From the 1960's (as we know) a new spirit prevailed. To the sound of tubular bells, we see that it's the children who are bearing the light, even though in hospital beds and attacked by evil beings on every side.

This portion of the show was in deepest blue, the only light being the crescent moon created by the children's beds. At the centre, horrific beings like Voldemort, the Child Catcher and Captain Hook terrify the children but they are rescued by Mary Poppins.

crescent moon children in bed

This enlightened generation fights against the dark powers of oppression and religious dogma. And what is the outcome of this struggle by the baby-boom generation? We see the results of it all around us today, but in the show the result was the BIRTH OF THE BABY. It was actually HUGE and dwarfed all the dancers and hospital beds. For such great prominence to be given to this "baby" we have to realise that it had symbolic significance. 

The struggle against evil in the post-war generation (portrayed by the children in hospital beds) had led to a new line of thought in the 1960's when conventions were overthrown by "flower-power", lax morals, hippies, psychedelic drugs, eastern religions, and social rebellion of all kinds.

baby born

This resurrection, and hope for a "new thing" could also be the rebirth of the old belief system, epitomised in the coming "child" - the Corporate Saviour, the Many-Membered Manchild!

At this point, "Chariots of Fire" was played as the blue light returned to white, and then red. This is yet another reference to the song "Jerusalem".

We were then launched into a long celebration of British pop music with dancers forming up into the CND symbol, a five-pointed star and the smiley-face of the drug culture. It was a raucous house party crashed by a horde of social networking teens, loudly proclaiming the virtues of the Digital Age.

Technology and the WWW

It's a crying shame that the true splendour and glory of Britain was glossed over, while the overwhelming amount of time was given to rock music and disco dancing, along with mobile phones, TV, movies and the Internet.

The tracks chosen seemed to proclaim the same message: social revolution, the freedom to do as we please, and the overthrow of morality. The Frankie Goes to Hollywood track "Relax" was played, an open reference to homosexuality. The dancing built up the central story of a romantic encounter arranged by phone and social networking culminating in a very public kiss.

Honour given to the Internetinventor of the Web

All the loud music, partying and dancing seemed to be heading for a climax, but in the end what was revealed in the virtual house centre stage was none other than the inventor of the World Wide Web!

He sat surrounded by computer screens, hailed almost as Emperor of the Feast.

It was as if HE were the secret magician pulling all the strings of the Ceremony, hidden behind the screen-filled 'house'. He was a kind of Wizard of Oz revealed behind the theatre curtains, but with about as much authority and magnificence.

From his desk he sent the message to the LED lights of the stadium "This Is For Everyone".

However, at this moment there was a delightful technological glitch and his message flashed up initially as "This is for EVE"

Or was it deliberate? I refuse to speculate. The entire message flashed up shortly afterwards anyway.

this is for everyone

Reaching for the Sun?

Now came a sequence that, on the surface of things, was supposed to reflect the grief and horror at the 7/7 (7th July 2005) terrorist bombings, that took 52 lives in London the day after the announcement that Britain was to host the Olympic Games.

The woman singer who performed many of the ceremony's songs, Emeli Sande, stood quietly by herself to sing the hymn "Abide With Me", a popular funeral song and also used as a chant at many UK football matches.

You might think that, at last, we have some kind of acknowledgement of God, yet the dancers during this song told a different story. This leads me to believe the words of the hymn were being used as an allegory, as again we saw a child reaching out to the SUN, indeed, almost sacrificed to the sun as it hung in a huge lit disc over the Stadium. (How is this about 7/7?)

The dance shows the initial gloom and cloudiness covering the sun, as the adult dancers writhe and reach upwards to no avail. They are eventually bowed and exhausted, as a child escapes from their midst. After running away, the child is conjured with snake-like movements back to the group which is bowing low under the sun. He is embraced by the only remaining dancer left standing (dressed in yellow and white, not red). The child then reaches high, with his renewed "resurrected" ability to cause the gloom to come to an end.

Lighting the Cauldron

After the lengthy parade of all the participants, we came to the most closely-guarded secret of all: what would the Olympic Cauldron look like and who would light it?

This is normally the highlight of the Opening Ceremony, and it is a great honour accorded to some well-known hero or celebrity to receive the flame which has been run round the country, and to use it to light the cauldron.

So all eyes were peeled to see what would happen next. In the event, Danny Boyle again broke with tradition to present his message of seven young menmulticulturalism and world unity - and again, gave the special honour to the youth of this up and coming generation who were to carry the true light forward in a new spirit.

So not one person, but several young sportsmen and women were asked to light the flame. The young people, each with their own lit torches, ran towards the cauldron and lit it together. The cauldron was made up of the 204 copper petals brought out by each nation during the athletes’ parade. The petals were then all lifted to form one giant flame.

The Lily

The idea of having a corporate flame, contributed by each nation, was both inspired and troubling, especially when one sees that the "petals" were composed of LILIES - the flower dedicated to Hera the sister-wife of Zeus, and queen of the gods. The lily is a very powerful esoteric symbol used around the world, and present in more than one heretical religious cult. It is also identical to the primal symbol of the Egyptian LOTUS, the "Flower that was in the Beginning".

It is the "fleur-de-lys" of the Merovingian kings and beloved of the Rosicrucians. It is the IRIS - which by no coincidence is also the centre of the EYE so we are immediately back to the sun-god. (For a page describing the importance of the lily in Rosicrucian literature, click here.)

calla lily

All the themes of the olympic ceremonies culminated in this 'sun' comprised of individual of lilies. It not only symbolised national unity but the hidden agenda towards a new dawn of enlightenment and spiritual 'wisdom' passed down by Lucifer in countless cults throughout the ages.male female lily

We are told that the lily is the "channel of illumination and immortality". It is also a Kabbalistic symbol of RESURRECTION! Again we see the SUN-light of the new age dawning over the world. Because in this particular calla lily with its large fleshy outer petal and upright central pistil we are meant to see the perfect union of solar/lunar, male/female and the union that bring forth LIFE to the world. (Even more so in the Voodoo Lily seen to the right.)

The lily represents no more or less than divine incarnation!

The lily petals having been lit by the seven torches, they burned in a fire circle for some time, before being raised together to form one immense flame burning like the sun on an altar.

Below you see the sequence of events:

Lily Petals Unlit Lily Petals Lit Sun Circle of Petals Lit
Raising the Flame United into the Sun The Sun Disc - Flame seen from below

After this finale there was very little left to do, but listen to the atrocious rendition of "Hey Jude" performed by Paul McCartney. It seemed to go on forever, with the crowd joining in the chorus. It felt like the drunken after-party at a wedding, and I was left with the impression that indeed there had been some kind of marriage, between the sun-god and his human bride. Who knows what that might bring forth?

So let's continue to the Closing Ceremony.

Proceed to Part Three: The Closing Ceremony
Back to Part One: The Introduction

© 2013 Tricia Tillin-Booth. All rights reserved. Birthpangs Website: http://www.birthpangs.org/  This document is the property of its author and is not to be displayed on other websites, redistributed, sold, reprinted, or reproduced in printed in any other format without permission. Websites may link to this article, if they provide proper title and author information.   One copy may be downloaded, stored and/or printed for personal research. All spelling and phraseology is UK English.