{"id":34347,"date":"2018-01-01T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-01-01T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/25yearslatersite.com\/?p=34347"},"modified":"2022-01-17T21:51:48","modified_gmt":"2022-01-18T02:51:48","slug":"a-journey-to-the-underworld-of-twin-peaks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/25yearslatersite.com\/2018\/01\/01\/a-journey-to-the-underworld-of-twin-peaks\/","title":{"rendered":"A Journey To The Underworld Of Twin Peaks"},"content":{"rendered":"
Symbols. Waterfalls. Basements. Mythology. The maps of Twin Peaks. The red curtains. Laura, Teresa and Maddy. The secretive work of Major Briggs. Alchemy. Rivers. Portals. Demons and entities. The sound at the Great Northern. Mountains. Caves. Visual analysis. The Black Lodge. Rivers. The palace of the Fireman and Se\u00f1orita Dido. Mike. Time. And, maybe most importantly, Johnny Horne’s head injury.<\/strong><\/p>\n These are my keywords for this article. Yes, I will be writing about many different things \u2013 yet they’re all somehow connected, and I intend to find out how. The big challenge is that, since everything is connected, there’s an infinite number of things that one could choose to include. It’s harder to exclude something than to keep the brain from making a million new and different side paths all the time. And that’s what my brain does. Twin Peaks<\/em> makes it spin so fast I’m holding on tight to spin along. This article is a long one but I’m hoping that you will come along because I have some really interesting stuff to show you.<\/p>\n So, what’s this about Johnny Horne’s head injury? It is actually what made me write this article, to begin with. I know that might sound strange, but bear with me \u2013 I will explain.<\/p>\n Maybe it’s a good idea if I start off by making some assertive statements<\/strong> that show you my way of thinking going into this:<\/p>\n Will I find any of these statements to have any bearing? I’ll try to find out and show you what I find along the way. Let’s go.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1. WHAT WE LEARNED FROM MAJOR BRIGGS<\/strong><\/p>\n First, let’s summarize what was revealed to us by or in relation to Major Briggs during the original run. In Season 2 Episode 2, Briggs delivers the message<\/em> to Cooper with encouragement from The Log Lady and her log. “The owls are not what they seem”<\/em> and “Cooper\/Cooper\/Cooper”.<\/em> Briggs doesn’t go into detail about where these messages came from, but if anything, he’s indicating deep outer space activity. Only later, when Major Briggs’ is missing, do we learn more, this time from Colonel Reilly, who is investigating Briggs’ disappearance:<\/p>\n \u201dOur monitors are pointed at deep space. But the messages we intercepted, that Briggs showed you, were sent from right here, in these woods. Now, where they were sent to is another question.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201dMight this have anything to do with a place called the White Lodge?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201dThat\u2019s classified.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n (Colonel Reilly and Agent Cooper in conversation. Twin Peaks, season 2, <\/em>episode 12.)<\/em><\/p>\n This is when we start to understand that this isn’t so much about UFOs or extra-terrestrials as it is about something more “locally” that is going on, a thought that is confirmed by the Major after his return. Briggs then tells Cooper and Truman about the aftermath of Project Blue Book (which ended in 1969):<\/p>\n \u201dThere are some of us who continue in an unofficial capacity, examining the heavens as before and, in the case of Twin Peaks \u2013 the earth below.<\/strong> We are searching for a place called The White Lodge.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n (Major Briggs. Twin Peaks, season 2, <\/em>episode 13. Emphasis mine)<\/em><\/p>\n That’s all he has time to say before he’s ordered by US Air Force personnel to go with them. As the Major leaves, drops of water fall onto the Polaroid of the triangular markings behind his right ear.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 2. THE MAPS AND THEIR CLUES ABOUT THE UNDERWORLD<\/strong><\/p>\n This part is all about the “twin maps” of Twin Peaks:<\/em> The Owl Cave petroglyphs (season 2) and Hawk’s map (The Return).<\/em> But first of all: in case you missed it, I have previously made in-depth analyses of both maps. Please read them if you’re further interested in what they’re telling us:<\/p>\n There are many similarities between the two maps. The ones I will bring up here and now are those that have to do with the spiritual realms, portals to other worlds and, possibly, the ones that hint of entrances to an Underworld. It’s interesting to spot the likenesses in the two maps and to think about their meanings. Here is an illustration that intends to give you an overview of the maps and the similar elements that can be found in both of them:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Moon or bridge-shape. <\/strong>This shape looks a bit different in the two maps, but notice that they are related by the way they both form a “bridge” between the two peaks. The shape looks more like a moon in Hawk’s map, and it is also indirectly referred to as such \u2013 most directly when the Log Lady talks to Hawk in The Return,<\/em>\u00a0Part 15:<\/p>\n “Watch for that one. The one I told you about. The one under the moon on Blue Pine mountain.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n (Side note: Is Margaret referring to the Evil Symbol \u2013 literally placed under the Moon on Hawk’s map \u2013 or is she continuing her talk about Laura being “the one”?)<\/em><\/p>\n The Moon has strong symbolic meaning in alchemy. It is associated with silver, one of the base metals, a so-called feminine principle and strongly connected with spirituality, dreams, vision, divinity and wisdom. The Moon is also a bearer of psychic importance. The alchemical symbol is the same for the Moon and for silver. Interestingly enough, the first man-made mirrors were made with silver. Silver (and the Moon) therefore also stands for self-reflection and for mirroring in a more symbolic sense of the word. Twins are mirrors of each other, and the twin mountains mirror each other as well. I will return to this topic later.<\/p>\n This “moon shape” is, of course, symbolic if it is to be viewed as a bridge between the mountains. I’ve personally always had a feeling that there’s a path of communication and an almost electrical charge between White Tail and Blue Pine, causing things to happen in between the two \u2013 Twin Peaks, the town “between two worlds”.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Fire symbols \u2013<\/strong> I have already written a lot about the meaning of fire, so I’ll not repeat myself too much. Apart from having a huge mythological meaning in the Twin Peaks<\/em> universe, fire is also connected to everything from strength and survival to lust, fear death and aggression. Alchemically, fire is one of the four elements and fundamental to the alchemist’s work trying to refine lesser metals into gold. This is not purely a chemical process, however. The alchemist also (and perhaps foremost) strides to metaphorically turn their “‘inner lesser metal’ into ‘gold’. It is, in other words, the path to enlightenment and spiritual perfection of the highest kind”<\/em> (see Twin Peaks and Alchemy<\/a> for a lot more on this process). Fire, therefore, is a tool for and a sign of spiritual excellence. Fire is neutral \u2013 as Hawk put it<\/a>: whether it becomes a tool for good or evil \u201ddepends on the intention behind the fire\u201d. <\/em>The “evil” twin Mr C has intentions that leads to the Black Fire<\/a> of death and destruction \u2013 the “good” twin Dale Cooper has other intentions, but what he causes instead is another story.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 3. MOUNTAINS AND THE SPIRIT WORLD<\/strong><\/p>\n The two mountains. <\/strong>The two mountains on each side of the town are called White Tail and Blue Pine. Standing almost exactly the same height (13,669 and\u00a013,996 ft. according to Welcome to Twin Peaks: Access Guide to the Town<\/em> from 1991) they are truly twins, but just as in the case of\u00a0 Mr C and Agent Cooper, they’re also very different. Let us examine why:<\/p>\n White Tail Mountain \u2013<\/strong> This is where Dr Jacoby (or Dr Amp) hangs out in The Return.<\/em> He mentions the mountain in is home-made broadcasting show. Thus we have a sender of information sitting on this west peak. Remember that for now.<\/p>\n “Coming to you live and electrified from Studio A, high atop the escarpments of White Tail Peak, the ruh-ruh<\/em>-roof of the American Hindu Kush, this is Doctor Amp doing the vamp for American liberty!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n (Dr Amp)<\/em><\/p>\n The peak of the mountain range Hindu Kush<\/a> (in South-Central Asia) is called Tirich Mir which, peculiarly enough, means “king of darkness”<\/em> in Wakhi. This is a fact that might seem to contradict my upcoming elaboration on the different traits of two peaks just a little bit, but I wanted to include this since it seemed fitting none the less. Maybe it isn’t contradictory at all. Without darkness, light wouldn’t be noticed \u2013 and the same goes other way around. Darkness is really as neutral as fire \u2013 it’s the intention behind<\/em> the darkness that matters.<\/p>\n Also on the White Tail Mountain is the lookout spot where James, Donna and Laura went to have a picnic two weeks before Laura’s murder. By the base of the mountain, one of the most famous sceneries of Twin Peaks<\/em> is found: the White Tail Falls, the big waterfall, and right above it the Great Northern Hotel. We have good reasons to revisit both the hotel and the waterfall later.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n (Map of Twin Peaks from <\/em>Welcome to Twin Peaks: Access Guide to the Town\u00a0[1991])<\/em><\/p>\n Nearby flows the Colombia River that finds its way between the rugged terrain on the long journey to the ocean. Just before falling from White Tail Falls, the river has passed the Black Lake which lies right between the two mountains to the north of the town centre.<\/p>\n In short: White Tail Mountain doesn’t seem to be associated with the more “evil” aspects of the town (or the series). Whether this is the case or not I’ll get back to soon, but first, let’s visit the other side.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Blue Pine Mountain \u2013<\/strong> This is the more mysterious and supernatural peaks of the two. First of all, there are many known places of mystique and spiritual activity around this mountain in a purely geographical sense alone. Beyond the Blue Pine lies the Ghostwood Forest. This is where most of Twin Peaks’<\/em> mysteries seem to reside and originate. In the Ghostwood Forest, in the shadow of Blue Pine Mountain, we find the most iconic and mythologically charged places of Twin Peaks:<\/em><\/p>\n The Owl Cave. Glastonbury Grove. The Log Lady’s cabin. The train car where Laura was murdered. Pearl Lakes, childhood summer home of Leland Palmer and the place where Bob first possessed him. Jacques Renault’s cabin. Windom Earle’s hide-out. And on the other side, by the waters of Black Lake, is the place where Pete Martell found Laura dead that February morning in 1989. (The house next to it where Josie, Catherine and Pete lives, is called the Blue Pine Lodge). That is, if the murder ever happened.<\/p>\n Right on the high slopes of the Blue Pine Mountain is where Major Briggs had his Listening Post Alpha station. This is where he received information from “the earth below”. <\/em>It’s interesting to me that there’s yet one hub for communication on this mountain, just as there is on the twin mountain on the other side. One is sending, the other one receiving, but they’re both driven by individuals who are searching for “the truth”. Like true twins, mirroring each other, each mountain has (or had) its own “magician” that “longs to see”, both chanting out “between two worlds”.<\/p>\n Deep inside the Owl Cave, the secrets on how to access the Lodge and when is found. Glastonbury Grove is an entrance to the Black Lodge. Here are the twelve Sycamore trees<\/a> and the pool of scorched engine oil designed to evoke fear for Bob and his familiars to feed on. There is talk about an “evil in these woods”<\/em> that has been known for a long time. Maybe this is the source; after all, the place is referred to as “the heart of the forest”<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n
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