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Navigating Between Worlds: Understanding Twin Peaks Season 3

Before I explain how I see a physical reality (Timeline) and an ethereal reality (Lodgespace) and the hybrid state of In-Between reality in the middle, I’d like to define my terms. I will be using many diagrams throughout this theory that include particular color coding:

Timeline side is blue

  • it’s the Original Twin Peaks Timeline that’s of the world
  • The World is coded blue in the song “Questions In A World of Blue”
  • Also, Jacoby’s glasses, one side is blue

Lodgespace side is red

  • The red curtains
  • Fire imagery
  • Jacoby’s other lens

The middle state is purple

  • Jacoby’s lenses together provide a purple hue to the wearer
  • The Fireman (provider of balance per my previous theories)’s realm is purpleA Star Pics Twin Peaks trading card and page from Secret History of Twin Peaks discuss Dr. Jacoby’s colored glasses.

Energy is green

  • The green traffic light means traffic can flow rather than stand still
  • The green sparkles on Dougie’s case files seems to coax CooperDougie into motion

Material and Non-Material States of Reality

Esoteric Buddhism model

Author Laird Scranton, in a recent interview on The Higherside Chats Podcast, explained how when researching near-forgotten spiritual teachings he uncovered an Esoteric Buddhist tradition of universes forming in pairs: one material (which matches with what I’m calling the Timeline) and one non-material (which matches with my definition of Lodgespace).

A form of energy cycles between these two universes like sand in an hourglass timer, from one to the other as if each universe was a die pole. When the energy makes it all the way to one pole, the polarity reverses and the energy begins to flow back to the other pole and the cycle begins anew.

A diagram depicting energy flow between a material and non-material state in Twin Peaks.Scranton says the flowing energy is essential to life, and it cycles the same way as natural water cycle does on Earth. In Twin Peaks terms, this energy is signified by:

  • Natural Electricity (everything from the impulses inside us, to what flows in ley lines)
  • Fire (on Hawk’s living map)
  • Alternating Current electricity (which Lynch has been fascinated by since at least Ronnie Rocket).

This energy hums, can be heard in the mountains and rivers, can be seen dancing among the seas and stars and glowing around the moon. It’s as natural as bodies of water and clouds in the sky, as humidity and rain. And it’s within every character in Season 3.

In addition to energy traveling between the universes, Scranton suggests that movement from the non-material to material is what ghosts may do, and in Twin Peaks theory terms is what the Fireman does. Though if you believe the Giant’s rephrased question of “Where have you gone?” the material also appears to find a way to travel to the non-material under certain circumstances as well. And there are portals (and mirrors, and windows) which allow access from one to the other. There is a framework within Twin Peaks that allows for travel between the two universes.

Many different aspects of the non-material universe have been described within the three seasons of Twin Peaks and the books (Secret History of Twin Peaks and Final Dossier in particular) in varying levels of esoteric and material. All of these aspects, whether gotten through direct communication with the non-material, or if its presence is merely felt, describe an aspect of Lodgespace much in the way the old adage works with blind men describing different disparate parts of an elephant. Any one of us can describe an aspect of the non-material and none of us can describe the entire thing. Our point of view from inside the material universe limits our ability to understand the other, yet we can describe aspects of a non-material universe.

A list of elements in Twin Peaks media describing a higher state of reality.But why would the universes need communication?

Scranton says when all the energy is almost completely in one universe, the other universe is at its weakest and needs the stronger universe to take care of it. Even though it can’t be seen or felt, the universe needs to be remembered or it could cease to exist. And both universes need to survive to maintain balance, otherwise the cycle goes u-shaped and dissipates.

Neither universe is higher or lower in importance. They are side by side. One cannot exist without the other. To this end, the universes need to train caretakers on the other side to prevent the twin universes’ demise.

Scranton says communication from the non-material to the material comes in these typical forms:

  • Vivid images in dreams
  • Synchronicities
  • Unusual behavior of animals
  • Divination
  • Clairvoyancy and paranormal ways of knowing things

Tell me this doesn’t sound like regularly occurring events in Twin Peaks.

Esoteric Buddhism doesn’t have to explain everything exactly, but it sure matches well with everything about memory and the Fireman’s constant quest for balance that allows for evolution, as I described in How The Fireman “Brings Back Some Memories”. Two universes of different states needing to stay in balance with one another seems apt for what we see in Season 3 and the Frost books.

Why, if both universes are neither strictly positive nor negative by nature, does it sound like I was making a case for the Timeline being strictly positive and Lodgespace being strictly negative? Because Twin Peaks is from the perspective of human beings. In terms of human beings within the cycle of life, positive energy flow is through the timeline. The only time the flow reverses to Lodgespace is when a character dies. Because that’s a person’s natural cycle.

Why I most think Season 3 happens in an in-between state is because no scene is ever cut and dry as to whether it is in the Timeline or Lodgespace. Fans are constantly debating if the Roadhouse is material or non-material, if Audrey is in a mental institution or the Black Lodge. Fans debate if the Las Vegas scenes are any bit real, or if everything in Season 3 is a dream. And there is debate if Season 3 is connected to Seasons 1 and 2 or if it erases them outright, and whether or not the Fire Walk With Me ending is invalidated by the Season 3 ending.

There are good arguments for either side of any of these debates: because Season 3 is exactly in the middle of all the issues. There is equal evidence of material and non-material states because it is an in-between state of reality, a third state entirely. Which fits really well considering the Season 3 script is an exact middle point between David Lynch and Mark Frost.

The Script is the One

I believe the Season 3 script is a middle point between Mark Frost and David Lynch, best explained by this quote from Frost:

I would sit at the keyboard, and David would sit in a comfy chair, and we would go back and forth. You throw your minds up toward the ceiling, and they meet somewhere near the light fixtures. The script becomes written by a third party. The author is someone called Lynch-Frost.

Therefore:

The Twin Peaks Season 3 Script is exactly between its writers, Mark Frost and David Lynch.Neither Frost nor Lynch are positive or negative on this diagram, I merely put Frost on the Timeline side because of his expressed need to include the greater world (and its concerns and politics) into Season 3 while I put David Lynch on the side of Lodgespace because of his interest in Transcendental Meditation and hidden interior realms.

Also, there’s this:

Star Pics Twin Peaks trading card with quotes from David Lynch and Mark Frost about their partnershipAt the heart of this modern incarnation of Twin Peaks is both Lynch and Frost’s instinct to help people. Mark Frost delivers his interpretation of this message in The Secret History of Twin Peaks and The Final Dossier working within a framework of a Jungian collective unconscious neural network, with a social conscious focus on Light and Darkness, summarized well by this tweet:

A twitter quote from Mark Frost urging Twin Peaks fans to vote.David Lynch delivers his interpretation within Season 3 by showing aspects of a meditation state dissolving the proverbial “suffocating clown suit of negativity” made from anger, depression and sorrow which he explains well in Catching the Big Fish.

Both men show an instinct to help their fellow human beings. And their work here shows how they think humanity is best served during the time we’re given by striving for enlightenment/living in the present/embracing the light/using your energy in a positive way. Both men have different interpretations of how their message should be delivered, but at the base foundation behind the Season 3 Script is the message of this alchemic enlightenment and evolution.

A diagram showing the interrelated nature of Twin Peaks the Return, its script, Secret History of Twin Peaks and Final Dossier.The path to get to this evolution is their own interpretation. Like themselves, neither interpretation is more positive or negative than the other. Like the material and non-material universes, Frost and Lynch’s interpretations are interconnected at a foundational level and unlock better understanding of the other.

T. Kyle King of Wrapped In Podcast has an interesting angle on this:

With respect to the past, Lynch has a strong sense of nostalgia, whereas Frost has a strong sense of history. Lynch relates to the past emotionally, while Frost reacts to the past intellectually. For Lynch, the greater sin with respect to the past is to get so lost in the romanticized past that it blinds us to the opportunities available in the present. To Frost, by contrast, the greater sin with respect to the past is to lose awareness of it to a degree that causes us to make impractical decisions that lead us down ill-considered roads as a result of our ignorance. The interplay of these countervailing forces of emotion/intellect, nostalgia/knowledge, and past/present is reflected in your theory, and is shot through The Return, and nowhere more so than in Part 8, particularly in the juxtaposition of Sarah Palmer in an iconic moment of Americana (a boy and a girl in a black and white scene from the ‘50s) with the BOB-frog-bug unleashed by the atomic bomb crawling into her mouth.

As a viewer, you may be more tuned to Lynch’s point of view, or you may be more tuned to Frost’s, but it is up to you to decide where on the spectrum you fall. Personally, I try to fall right in the middle, which is probably why this Twin Peaks theory is being told from a point in the middle of the material and non-material universes.

A diagram showing how David Lynch and Mark Frost’s interpretations interrelate within Twin Peaks media.Next up: How the In-Between is shown in Season 3

Written by John Bernardy

John Bernardy has been writing for 25YL since before the site went public and he’s loved every minute. The show most important to him is Twin Peaks. He is husband to a damn fine woman, father to two fascinating individuals, and their pet thinks he’s a good dog walker.

4 Comments

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  1. Thanks John!
    After reading Dion Fortune’s ‘Psychic Self Defence’ I noticed she writes about the Qaballistic Tree of Life having a double Of itself. It is called the Qlippoth. This Qlippoth is a ‘Mirror’ set of Demonic emanations which are produced from the instability of the sephiroth of the Tree of Life coming into being. This demonic mirror world is the one that Black Lodge magicians work with in their magick. So we have the two worlds here. This is in tune with what you say about the Buddhist viewpoint of two worlds. Thoughtforms are also mentioned in the book – they require part of the original magician or victim’s prana/chi or life force.
    Mark Frost has been reported to have used this book along with Talbot Mundy’s ‘The Devils Guard’ in the development of the OG twin peaks.

  2. This is great work! There’s so much depth here that I never picked up on before. I’m intrigued and impressed with your theory and research. I’ve been kind of obsessing over the “Fire Walk with Me” poem for a while, since before I ever saw Season 3, and I have an alternate explanation that I think is in line with your primary thesis but not the exact interpretation that you arrived at: It seems to me that “through the darkness of future past, the magician longs to see” is about the Lodgespace/dream taking over, changing memories and events. “Future past” would normally mean “present”, but in this context it’s an altered present by a “magician” (Lodgespace / negative energy) using “fire” / electricity / magic, as multiple timeline loops overlap with reality. I think that this is the negative energy “longing to” oppose the reality of trauma and the timeline. I agree that “fire, walk with me” can refer to a positive energy breaking stagnation as you suggest, but I think it was most likely intended negatively, as it was originally BOB / Mike’s saying (before Mike cut off The Arm and was still BOB’s partner). Also, I believe that The Fireman (one who puts out fires) is a clear opponent to the forces of evil, solidifying the “fire is evil” motif.

    Thanks for your great work here. I’m excited to keep digging deeper! Cheers!

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