Occult Is Other: What, Where, Who, Why
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Occult is Other: What, Where, Who, Why, How Occultus (the occult), according to Occultus: the hidden and macabre in literature and film, is "that which is hidden, secret, mysterious, inexplicable, magic, alchemy, not readily illuminated and not easily ascertained or understood" (Tobienne, “Occultus” 2). The occult, by nature, is not evil, but its practitioners are imbibed with a certain level of power that the mundane are not afforded, which makes their actions more subject to scrutiny. As Tobienne describes, “there is more to the occult than things that go ‘bump’ in the night” (Occultus, 2). Temptation, manipulation, and rejection of accepted mores are themes that prevail among the practitioners of the occult, simply because the occult itself falls outside the boundaries of society and all of its conventions. The presence of the occult weaves an intellectual underworld beneath the curtain of the common quotidian dimension. The occult is a mechanism of deceit--therefore, it can only be undone by knowledge. However, this presents a dichotomous conundrum: one may only become a part of the occult by gaining sight of it, but with this knowledge, the occult--that which is secret--becomes a candid facet of one’s reality. The occult, then, must be transitive: unique to every individual and ultimately forever changing as the fabric of their reality metamorphoses. This comprehensive essay seeks to understand the occult as the creator, guardian, and mentor of another realm which exists outside of the physical and spiritual peripheries of the familiar one as well as why it exists and how it is destroyed. What: The Occult as the Other Definition of What is Known The occult refers to that which is seen but the truth of which is not first known. Images, characters, dialogue, and other facets of film and literature are subject to interpretation. This scrutiny allows viewers and readers to take what is and--under the magnifying glass of an “Initiate” as Robert Steiner describes--unveil the occult within these thought-to-be ordinary or coincidental happenings (The Way of Initiation, II). The Ninth Gate, directed by Roman Polanski, follows Dean Corso (played by Johnny Depp) in his pursuit to authenticate volumes of The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows under the employ of Devil-book collector Boris Balkan (played by Frank Langella). The plotline of the film deals entirely with Corso being initiated into the world of the occult and in the process, viewers are hit with images and foreshadowing that go unexplained even as Corso himself identifies and interprets the occult as he encounters it, creating a sort of layered effect which resembles the occult itself. These images meant only for the viewer, then, are a part of the “auteur analysis” of the occult which Polanski presents (Tobienne, “Film Theory 2.1”). When owner of the third copy of the Nine Gates Baroness Kessler (played by Barbara Jefford) is killed, Corso flees from the scene after witnessing her dead body. He stumbles into Kessler’s assistant, who holds a bag of fruit within her hand, and three fruits fall to the floor. The significance, however, is not woe over bruised fruit, but that there are three fruit. Three, which is an excessively repeated number throughout the film: three copies of the book; three lettered anagrams within the books; nine engravings, a multiple of three. Even as viewers see this pattern, however, the true occult knowledge about the number three is that it is a clear reference to the Unholy Trinity, or the "unholy parody of the Trinity of God" and even moreso, that it forebodes something evil or malicious (Jameson xxviii). Dominique Monfery’s animated film Destino and Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí’s collaboration, the silent film Un Chien Andalou are both surrealist in nature. Destino depicts the tragic romance of a gypsy-like woman with time or a god-like figure representing time. Un Chien Andalou is the opposite of a rational film; viewers are presented with short sequences of images that are disturbing in nature, but also disturbing in the fact that we have no way of knowing what they mean. The “auteur analysis” of the film is imperative in figuring out its occult undertones, but in true Dali fashion, viewers are left scrabbling for meaning--even if there may not even be one (Tobienne, “Film Theory 2.1”). The styles of the films--style defined as “the way a filmmaker selects and arranges images, together with any accompanying sounds"--aids in creating that imperative layer of normal over the occult (Nichols, 36-27). The silence and lack of dialogue in Un Chien Andalou and Destino respectively only aids in creating the occult. The different scenes from Un Chien Andalou (the severed hand, the dead donkeys attached to the piano, the strangeness of the armpit hair, etc.) are not inherently connected, but something ties them all together--it is in fact, this incognizance that ties them together (that they are not normally connected). The moments which link these scenes are left completely out: they are examples of "eruptions of unpredictable urges, displays of uncharacteristic attitudes, a lack of moral compass” (Nichols, 193-194).The occult, then, can even be that which is unidentifiable, that which is without interpretation--or that which has meaning that can never truly be conceived for sure, only speculated. In fact, I would argue that the occult is not constant, therefore, no true definition or interpretation can be made from it. Unlike science, which is ruled by law and absolution. The occult is that which is “not readily illuminated,” but it is also “[paradoxical,] where items hidden are shown or displayed for what they are sans abstract configuration” (Tobienne, “Occultus,” 2). The occult is often presented in a light where people are almost forced to view it through the lens of the normal and interpret it the same way. The occult is often linked to things like magic and ideas that scientific processes cannot comprehend or deny (Tobienne, “A Magical Identity”). In William Arntz, et al.'s What the Bleep?!: Down the Rabbit Hole, the scientific principle of the subatomic world is presented as the occult, simply because it is not readily understood or accepted. However, this is not the first instance of science as the occult. Principles of alchemy, magic, and miracles have always been linked to science, because science is merely the practice through which those in the normal world attempt to understand the occult without acknowledging the occult or becoming an “Initiate” of it (The Way of Initiation, II). William R. Newman presents that alchemy “[blurs] the boundaries between the artificial and the natural,” which is “so reminiscent of the situation that contemporary bioengineering and synthetic organic chemistry encounter today” (The Artificial and the Natural, 109). In The Position of Magic in Selected Medieval Spanish Texts, miracles are explained as something “achieved by simple faith and devout confidence, not by spells and charms compose[d] according to the rules of criminal superstition" (Tobienne 16-17). Theodore M. Drange, however, interprets miracles as “event which violates at least one law of nature” (“Science and Nature,” 1998). Laws of nature by definition are something that cannot be broken, yet miracles as occult go against this notion, which bridges into our next topic: the occult exists not just as a facet of reality unseen, but as an altogether different reality only known to its practitioners. Where: The Occult as the Gateway to an Other Reality As is denoted by "The Position of Magic in Selected Medieval Spanish Texts," Samuel M. Waxman accords that the "advantages of receiving knowledge were...that one 'would become omniscient' an attribute that belonged to the Divine Nature" (Tobienne, "Position of Magic," 46). Knowledge is power: this is the most basic principle of the occult. Diagesis refers to the term in film "used to describe the story world occupied by the characters"; it comes from a "Greek word [meaning] narrative or story" (Nichols, 49). Diagesis is a parallel in film to the concept of the occult which I am attempting to explain. Practitioners of the occult belong to an altogether different sect of reality. Reality here does not refer to the physical world in which we live in--that does not change. The occult exists on a different plane of psychological awareness, that is neither higher or lower than a normal awareness: merely other. Steiner believes that practitioners have “higher faculties,” which I disagree with, however, he does insist on the existence of “occult schools” where “Masters” give “instruction” of “esoteric science” (The Way of Initiation, II). This is also supposed in The Position of Magic in Selected Medieval Spanish Texts. The University described in the text had both physical and metaphorical connotations. It was a physical gathering space for "learning and translating from Arabic and Hebrew into the Latin" but it was also a mindset "held by the Clergy and those with a like-minded, literate disposition" (Tobienne, “Position of Magic,” 36). These facilities of occult teaching are part of the physical world, but the knowledge which is imparted to their pupils is the occult. In Roman Polanski’s late 1960s psychological horror film Rosemary’s Baby, Rosemary is drugged and raped by the Devil. However, as Rosemary has yet to be initiated into the occult, to her knowledge, the episode is merely a strange hallucination or dream brought on by the ‘illness’ she felt. Viewers are made aware that the illness is actually due to drugs secretly placed inside of the pudding offered to her by a neighbor. Viewers are also aware of the contents of Rosemary’s hallucination.