A Skateboard Serenade (.com) 7. The Philosopher’s Stone The Philosopher’s Stone “Pour que l’orage s’annonce. Here’s my station…” Saint Claude – Christina and the Queens “The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside. Couldn’t keep it in, heaven knows I’ve tried. Don’t let them in, don’t let them see. Be the good girl you always have to be. Conceal, don’t feel, don’t let them know. Well, now they know!” Let it go – Frozen “Riders on the storm. Into this house we’re born [Jesus: ‘In My Father’s house are many rooms. If that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?” John 14:2], into this world we’re thrown. Like a dog [movie ‘Jupiter ascending’] without a bone, an actor [Heath Ledger] out on loan. Riders on the storm. There’s a killer on the road [Michael (fictive name for my ex of 12,5 years) who was once involved in lethal car accident]; his brain is squirming like a toad [toad = ‘frog’; link with Heath’s movies ‘10 things I hate about you’ and ‘The Brothers Grimm’]. Take a long holiday, let your children play. If you give this man a ride, sweet melody will die. Killer on the road, yeah. Girl you gotta love your man. Take him by the hand, make him understand. The world on you depends, our life will never end. Gotta love your man, yeah.” Riders on the storm – The Doors “An actor will seek revenge. I don’t know why and I don’t know when. There’ll be talk, there’ll be action. Boys demanding satisfaction from girls. Oh, you’d hate to play a girl!” An Actor Will Seek Revenge - Destroyer ALCHEMY On the left, you see the alchemical Philosopher’s Stone, as depicted by one alchemist. It says: 1. Make of a man and woman a circle 2. Then a quadrangle 3. Out of this a triangle 4. And make a circle again The pictured alchemist uses a well-known, Freemasonic tool: the compass, from which the left ‘leg’ is touching the brim of the outer/final circle, a bit off to the left side of the middle, and the right ‘leg’ is touching the intersection between the inner circle and the square; exactly in the middle of the final circle and directly below the tip of the triangle. There are some tools and symbols on the floor, such as the Star of David within a circle, a regular polygon, a square, a cross, and something that resembles a fan (great pun, hon) or a section of a bisected circle with concentric circles. There’s also, what looks like, a black, little creature hanging on the top-left side of the brick wall, from which the stone are, vertically seen, placed in the familiar ‘one-out-of-two-out-of-one’ (1-2-1- 2-1 etc.) fashion. Wikipedia: “It [Philosopher’s Stone] is also called the elixir of life, useful for rejuvenation and for achieving immortality; for many centuries, it was the most sought goal in alchemy.” “You let me in, so I could guide your hand. A quest for gold that yielded lead. So many things I still do not understand, would rear their ugly heads instead.” […] “How you choose to wear your heart, is how they’ll cast your part. You wear a world upon your sleeve. The way you choose to wear your heart, is how they will tear you apart. Do you choose to save the world or to deceive? What you needed the most, were no more of these ghosts… of my broken promises. What you needed the most never even came close to my broken promises.” Broken promises - Phoenix Effect Alchemy is “an ancient branch of natural philosophy, the modern chemistry and pharmacology; the philosophical and protoscientific tradition practiced throughout Europe, Africa and Asia. It aimed to purify, mature and perfect certain objects. Common aims were chrysopoeia, the transmutation of ‘base metals’ (e.g. lead) into ‘noble’ metals (particularly gold) [My emphasis because of the very important link with Heath’s ‘phoenix’ (which is an alchemical bird that rises from its own ashes) movie ‘A Knight’s Tale’. In the movie, a triple phoenix is William’s (Heath’s) ‘logo’ and can be seen on his shield. This text, combined with reality, also explains why in the fairy tale series ‘Once upon a time’ (link with Heath through his movie ‘The Brothers Grimm’) magician Mr. Gold/Rumpelstiltskin/’The Beast’ loves book-addict Belle and why Harley Quinn (The Joker’s girlfriend from ‘Suicide Squad’) and Hermione Granger (Harry Potter’s ‘Mrs. Know-it-all’) love reading books as well. Don’t worry, at some point it will make sense; it’s all about metaphors (figures of speech that can identify hidden similarities between two ideas). Maybe I have to add that some people do think I’m crazy though – define ‘normal’ please – which, obviously, doesn’t necessarily has to mean they’re right]; the creation of an elixir of immortality; the creation of panaceas able to cure any disease [mind over matter], and the development of an alkahest, a universal solvent [The Story]. The perfection of the human body and soul was thought to permit or result from the alchemical Magnus Opus [Great Work] and, in the Hellenistic and Western tradition, the achievement of gnosis [knowledge/wisdom – extensively discussed in the chapter ‘A fantastic guessipe’] in Europe [like The Netherlands, which happens to be my beloved home country with its Dutch Lion, formerly known as the Republic of the 7 United Netherlands], the creation of a philosopher’s stone was variously connected with all of these projects.” “Gilliam: “You’ve got the Rumpelstiltskin thing, where the daughter’s going to be taken, you’ve got Faust in there, you’ve got Prospero [also a character from V for Vendetta] from The Tempest, you’ve got King Lear – it just goes on and on and on. There’s a great collection of knowledge floating around in there [Gilliam points to his head], and it just started pouring out in its own way.” www.wired.com - Hugh Hart - ‘How Terry Gilliam weathered loss of Heath Ledger to finish fanciful Imaginarium’ - July 1st 2010 When looking up the word ‘chrysopoeia’ in Wikipedia, I saw that it’s accompanied by an old illustration of an Oubouros, which is a snake eating its own tail, with the words “The all is one”. Why am I not surprised? ‘All is one’ is one of the, if not: THE basic foundation of this book (since we’re all part of Life itself) and on top of it, Heath’s name is like an Oubouros in itself: ‘H eat H’. In Heath’s last movie ‘The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus’, immortality is linked with fame through dead celebrities, like Rudolph Valentino, Lady Diana and James Dean, whose pictures are floating on little boats on a dark river. This happens in the ‘spiritual enlightenment’ scene where Johnny Depp, as a behind-the-mirror-version of Heath’s character, Tony Liar, is about to beat the Devil. 1 A Skateboard Serenade (.com) 7. The Philosopher’s Stone According to Tom Watts, who plays this devious character Mr. Nick, he’s not just playing A devil, but THE Devil – remember what I said before: it’s all about metaphors. Tony is about to win and save Valentina by reaching the number 5, when… “It goes like this: the 4th, the 5th; the minor fall, the major lift. The baffled King composing...” Hallelujah – Jeff Buckley his past as a fake goodwill ambassador for children catches up with him, in the form of the mafia. Tony lied; you see. ‘Coincidentally’, this was Heath’s last scene before his death. “Now your dancing child with his Chinese suit, he spoke to me, I took his [Pan] flute. No, I wasn’t very cute to him, now was I? But I did it though, because he lied. Because he took you for a ride. And because time was on his side. And because I…” I want you – Bob Dylan “He was very handsome. And a very good criminal.” Candy If you saw the movie ‘Coco’, about the Mexican ‘Day of the Dead’, you understand that only when somebody is forgotten, (s)he really dies. Obviously, the more famous you are, the less likely you’ll be forgotten, hence the ‘immortality’ or ‘eternal life’ that the Philosopher’s Stone talks about. After seeing Heath’s work ROAR, The Dark Knight and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, it’s clear that ‘immortality’ isn’t always so great as one might initially assume it to be. “Rule number 1: Fuck what they think” Leadership quotes This book is for wise people, which isn’t necessarily the same as what our society defines as ‘intelligent’ or ‘educated’ (as in: university degrees, for example). That un(der)developed people won’t be able to see its beauty and magic and understand the eternal wisdom that lies behind it, doesn’t take away its truth and it’s not my responsibility neither; some things are as they are. And, by the way, ‘Wat niet is kan altijd nog komen’; a Dutch saying that literally translates as: ‘That what not is, can still always come’. I mean, I became who I am because I made spiritual development one of my main priorities in life; my quest. And if I can do it, anybody can, especially because Life/WhatEver will help you out in the most perfect way possible; it’s Its goal, you see.