The secrets of Twin Peaks: the "Evil that comes from the woods"

di Marco Maculotti

«We will meet again in 25 years"—So Laura Palmer promised, trapped in the parallel dimension called" Black Lodge ", to agent Dale Cooper in the last episode of the second season of The secrets of Twin Peaks, which aired in the USA on 10 June 1991. What until recently seemed destined to remain a promise without a sequel is now on the verge of being kept: on 21 May the first episode of the third will be broadcast in America, highly anticipated season of the serial, which will pick up the subject exactly where we left off, with a gap of a quarter of a century. Waiting for the pilot episode of the new season to arrive on our television screens (May 26, on the channel Sky Atlantic) we want to propose to our readers an analysis of the more specifically "esoteric" themes they have made Twin Peaks a real media event of the nineties.

"Evil that comes from the woods"

The main theme of The secrets of Twin Peaks is, to say it in the words of Mrs. Ceppo (incipit pilot episode): "The mystery of life. Sometimes, the mystery of death. The mystery of the forest, the forest that surrounds Twin Peaks". The wooded area (Ghostwood) that surrounds the charming mountain village where the events take place releases "energies" that are not easily definable, of which some of the inhabitants of Twin Peaks are aware, starting with Deputy Sheriff Hawk who tries to explain them with myths of his native ancestors, up to Sheriff Harry who thus speaks to agent Cooper (3rd episode):

«Twin Peaks is different. Away from the rest of the world, you will have noticed […] But there is also the other side of the coin, as in all things. Maybe it's the price we pay for living here [...] There is some kind of disease in the air. Something very, very strange in these old woods. You can call it whatever you want. A curse. A presence. She takes different forms, but she has been kept away from here since time immemorial and we are always ready to fight her [...] Like our fathers. And he won't end up with us. Then it will be up to our children.»

It soon becomes clear, however, that not everyone is allowed to understand or access these mysterious "energies". Only a few characters succeed, those who — like it or not — develop a psychic connection with the darker side of the forest (and of themselves): the family of Leland Palmer, for example, who already in childhood had - unfortunately for him - made the acquaintance of BOB, a demonic power that through fear takes possession of the psychic functions of his victims, leading them to perform acts of brutal madness (in the 16th episode BOB, speaking through Leland's "vehicle", states: "Leland is a tree in the woods with a large hole where his conscience takes refuge and when he was just a kid I used to have fun getting her out of there").

Or the bizarre Mrs. Stump, who lost her husband years ago in those woods, "kidnapped" by a fire that was not a "bonfire" or a simple forest fire, but one that is not better defined "light in the woods»Like the one that suddenly picks up Major Garland Briggs while he is in the woods at night fishing with Cooper, in a key scene of the serial that anticipates theabduction by Billy Miles in the pilot episode of The X-Files by Chris Carter.

Demons, aliens, "other" beings

Although the real identity of such mysterious "energies" that live deep within Ghostwood is never precisely defined, the impression is that they - although clearly "demonic" and somehow linked to the natural and wooded environment - are also connected to the unfathomable mysteries of deep space. It would not be explained otherwise because among the duties of Major Briggs, "there is also the control of some radio telescopes aimed at the most distant galaxies"(9 ^ episode), with the aim of capturing intelligible signals from" other "intelligences, nor why"his disappearance has major implications for US security", to the point that "the cold war was a mere cold by comparison»(20th episode). It therefore seems legitimate to assume that, although the inhabitants of Twin Peaks sometimes seem abandoned to themselves in solving such "unfathomable mysteries", the "upper echelons" of the US military-government apparatus are somehow aware of such enigmas.

Another clue to the (at least partially) "alien" nature of these beings can be found in their connection with owls («Owls are not what they seem»Is one of the cryptic phrases that the Giant reveals to Cooper during their first" meeting ", 8th episode). It is curious to note how often those who claim to have been "kidnapped" by aliens if they visualize at first as owls and barn owls, and only later realize their "other" nature [1].

An additional feature that allows a connection with the cd. "abduction alien ”is the Missing Time [2] which occurs when someone enters (or is "led") inside the Black Lodge: when, at the end of the second season, Cooper disappears inside it, we can see how Harry awaits his return for the duration of a full day; but from Cooper's point of view, staying in this "other" dimension does not last more than a few minutes.

Of the "demonic", intradimensional and parasitic nature of such dark "energies", however, it is not legitimate to doubt. In the 13th episode, Philip Gerard (the one-armed man) reveals to Cooper:

«He is BOB, he likes to have fun and has a smile that no one can resist. Do you know what a parasite is? It is a being who takes advantage of another life form and feeds on it. BOB needs a human host. He feeds on fears and sometimes pleasures. These are his children.»

Gerard himself, like Leland and others, acts as a "vehicle" for such parasitic "energies", which not being in possession of a physical body can manifest themselves only by "infesting" the psyche of humans [3]. So Leland to Cooper, on the verge of dying (episode 16): «I didn't know when he was inside me and when he was leaving. I didn't remember anything anymore! He made me do things, terrible things! He said he wanted souls, they wanted other people ... other people they could use as they used me!". In the same episode, Garland Briggs reveals to Cooper: "Near us live the dark forces of evil and the destiny of some men is to face their violence. It is up to us to choose how to react. If fear prevails, then we will be overwhelmed and defeated».

Suggestions of this kind seem extremely indebted to Gnostic doctrine, according to which the "Intermediate World" in which humanity leads its existence is a sort of "battlefield" between the subtle powers of Good and those of Evil (or, more correctly, between the "supernal" and "Uranic" and those "infere" or "underground"). In this perspective then our world would be a kind of stage that serves as a crossing point for those demons, vibratory entities, half-spirits and half-bodies that draw men down, towards perdition. BOB would be precisely one of these parasitic and intradimensional entities, where the enigmatic figure of the Giant that appears in Cooper's visions would appear as a "subtle" power of the opposite sign.

From Tibet to Twin Peaks

We have already mentioned Native American traditions, which we will cover shortly. For the moment we would like to underline the insistence of agent Cooper in analyzing the mysterious events of Twin Peaks with the beliefs of the Tibetan tradition (in the 9th episode he reproaches his colleague Albert with these words: "You have no idea of ​​the relationship between the two stories»—That is, between Tibet and the mysteries of Twin Peaks).

It may therefore be instructive to report here how the Tibetan tradition speaks of "gdon of the disease", Which the Italian orientalist Giuseppe Tucci [4] wants connected to"opposing forces" is that "on a larger scale are the forces of the planets(Remember here the astrological conjunction Jupiter-Saturn that allows the temporary opening to the access of the Black Lodge) [5]. These forces, continues Tucci [6]:

"[...] they produce mental illnesses and madness, they deprive man of the conscience of his own actions by taking possession of them completely"; "essentially gdon means the sum of the psychic and physical imbalances caused by the influence of both the planets [...] of the upper world, between Heaven and Earth, and of the gnan [demons, ed] of the underworld"; "the external gdons are incarnated as demons, planets, etc .; the internal ones appear in the form of evil forces unleashed by evil deeds, sin and defilement.»

In the 27th episode Wimdom Earle also talks about a dark sect of "infernal priests», I Dugpas, which:

"[...] they try to achieve perfection through evil. Their search takes place in darkness and it is with darkness that they nourish the spirit. This purity of purpose allows them to reach a secret place where, in the name of hatred, the rites of absolute perdition are celebrated and where evil can finally express its terrible power. This secret place really exists [...] using his power, any enterprise can be accomplished. The dugpas call it by different names but the most used and the oldest is "the Black Lodge".»

The term is taken from the Secret Doctrine by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (enigmatic character of which we will tell more at the end of the article) and would refer [7] to those lamas who are lovers of certain "sinister" currents of the pre-Buddhist Bohn who, following the lamaist reform of Tsong-ka-pa in the fourteenth century , were referred to as "sorcerers", "adepts of black magic", et similia. Although traditional Tibetan teachings do not seem to mention these Dugpas, it is undeniable that the creators of the series drew inspiration from the (real or alleged) proto-historical Himalayan cults narrated by Blavatsky in her controversial writings to embroider the dark plot of the series. The secrets of Twin Peaks.

Totem and taboo

With regard, however, to the American tradition, it will be good first of all to listen to the words of Deputy Sheriff Hawk, who in the 3rd episode states that, according to the beliefs of his ancestors, "waking souls give life to body and mind and dream souls wander [...] in faraway places, in the Land of the DeadWhich the deputy sheriff locates in one underground dimension [8]. In the 18th episode it is still Hawk who reveals:

«My people are convinced that the White Lodge is a place where the spirits that govern men and nature live [...] There is also a legend about a place called the Black Lodge, i.e. the shadow-self of the White Lodge. This legend says that every spirit must go there if he is to achieve perfection. Only there will you be able to meet the shadow-self that belongs to you. We also call it "The abode of the extreme limit" [...] But be careful, if you enter the Black Lodge and your heart is not steady, then your soul will be incinerated.»

To enter this mysterious Black Lodge it is necessary to decipher and follow the ancient petroglyphs of the so-called "Cave of the Owls“, Which presumably was in the past a sacred place for the Auctoctone populations. With regard to this "Black Lodge" which could be accessed in certain space-time conditions, it should be noted how in the traditions of the Ojibwa Indians (who were located in the Northeast of the United States, on the border with Canada - just like the town of Twin Peaks) we speak of a "place of punishments, where a fire is released and burns all that is evil"In the souls who arrive there: this place, say the members of the secret society of the Mîde ', would be found"about halfway to the Spirit Land" [five].

In the 19th episode we talk about the "Villa of the Dead Dog", So named because, according to a Native American belief,"all souls of the Earth are brought before the Dead Dog [a kind of "American" Anubis, psychopomp god of the Underworld ed], but many are rejected. The pure-hearted souls can feel his suffering, those who are not will wander forever aimlessly". Taking the strings of these statements, it would seem clear that the souls of characters such as Leland, Laura Palmer and Maddy are not exactly "pure of heart", as they seem destined to wander in the Black Lodge - if not for eternity - anyway for a considerable number of years.

It would seem that the "Shadow" of these characters was not pure at the moment of access to the "other dimension", which is why they are expected to enter the Black Lodge rather than the White one. The beliefs reported by Hawk's mouth in fact suggest that the two lodges are not really two separate places, but rather the same place that presents itself in two different forms depending on the "perfection" of the spirit that enters them. In this sense, not even the spirit of the irreproachable agent Cooper seems to be "pure" or "perfect", since in the last scene of the final episode of the second season we see him, once back in our "Intermediate World", reflect the terrifying image of BOB in the mirror of his hotel room.

Indeed the same Great Northern Lodge (whose halls are extensively decorated with totems and other sacred Native American symbols), "large house made of wood, surrounded by trees [...] composed of many rooms all the same, but occupied by different souls night after night», (Gerard-MIKE, 13th episode), essere essere a "portal" for access to the Lodge. More: the Wood which constitutes its foundations appears almost endowed with a life of its own, or at least seems to contain the soul of those who have remained imprisoned over the years (so happens, for example, to Josi, whose screaming face we can see, following the lightning death , reappear in the drawer of the bedside table in his room). Following this reasoning, even the strain with which Margaret Lanterman maintains a sort of "psychic relationship" could contain the soul of her dear husband "kidnapped" by the fire in the woods years ago.

The "underground kingdom" in Theosophy

It remains to be mentioned, in conclusion of this short essay, how the creators of The secrets of Twin Peaks David Lynch and Mark Frost probably also took inspiration from some themes concerning Tibet and nevertheless not strictly connected with the oriental tradition (since in the Indo-Buddhist sacred texts these beliefs are only hinted at, most of the time in a somewhat veiled way) rather attributable to that occult current, mostly Western, of the late nineteenth-early twentieth century that commonly goes under the name of Theosophy.

Its best known exponents, among which the name of the aforementioned Madame Blavatsky [10] stands out, claimed to have come into possession, through the development of "higher psychic faculties", of esoteric revelations concerning inaccessible subterranean realms located in the Himalayas or in the Gobi Desert, like Agharti, which Blavatsky herself calls "the White Lodge”, Built on the island of the Gobi Sea where, in ancient times, the CDs landed. "Lords of the Flame", demigods who would have come from Venus in a very remote age and who would now oversee the evolution of the planet - not only of humanity but also of the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdom - by means of an occult and "spiritual" organization (in the sense that its "Members", far from being forced into merely physical bodies, are rather thinkable as "subtle energies") called "Synarchy".

Agharti, primordial center of these "higher beings", would be in Kali Yuga (the "dark age" of the Hindu tradition in which we currently live) "sunk" into an "other" dimension, not purely physical, and its access would now be granted only to a small number of Arhats ("Illuminati") possessing the psychic and "subtle" faculties necessary to access it (note how in the serial only Earle and Cooper manage to access it of their own will, where Sheriff Harry finds the locked portal).

But there is more: according to some theosophical and occult doctrines this primordial center, following its "sinking" and "concealment", would have "divided" into two centers, usually named Agharti and Shamballa [11], one predisposed to the government of "beneficial and constructive energies" (the "White Loggia") And the other to the domination of the" evil and destructive "ones (the"Black Loggia"). It is to this esoteric belief that Mrs. Log seems to be referring in the final episode of the second season, when she sibillinately prophesies:

«Where there was one now there are two.»

«Fire, walk with me ...»

The "fire" and the "flame" (which, it is worth emphasizing, are not equivalent to the "physical fire" of our "Intermediate World", but rather to a sort of "occult fire" much more "subtle" and mysterious) are central symbols in these occult doctrines, to the point that even the explorer Ferdynand Ossendowski in his travel diary Beasts, Men, Gods [12] speaks of "tongues of flames"Which, according to the beliefs of the lamas and initiates with whom he came into contact, would rise from the lid of the sarcophagus of the" King of the World "[13] when he awakens from his torpor, and of"streaks of fireWhich would lick the walls of the underground cavern in which he awaits his awakening.

Specifically to this "occult fire“, In the light of what we believe we have sufficiently demonstrated, the creators of the television series had to make up their minds The secrets of Twin Peaks, for example and in particular when Gerard, possessed by MIKE, peremptorily declaims the now famous verses:

«In the darkness of a past future
the magician wishes to see.
A man is acting
halfway between two worlds:
FIRE, WALK WITH ME.»

---

Note:

[1] See in this regard the studies of Budd Hopkins and John Edward Mack, as well as the book-revelation Communion signed by Whitley Strieber, published in Italy by Rizzoli (1988).

[2] Cf. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_time.

[3] Such beliefs are found in the Toltec shamanic tradition, known in the West thanks to the books of Carlos Castaneda. See The active side of infinity or, on the internet: http://www.carloscastaneda.it/Los-Voladores-1.htm.

[4] G. Tucci, The religions of Tibet, p. 217 (Mediterranee, Rome, 1995).

[5] Another very interesting astrological reference can be found in the conclusion of the serial, when Wimdom Earle kidnaps Annie to lead her to the "portal" of access to the "Black Lodge" in Pete's van, in whose seat they are «twelve rainbow trout". The number 12 refers to the zodiac signs through which the Sun passes during the year, while the "rainbow", formed as it is known by seven colors, is a reference to the 7 planets of traditional astrology.

[6] G. Tucci, Op.cit., P. 219.

[7] http://www.spiritual.it/it/glossario-de-la-dottrina-segreta/dugpa,10,2280.

[8] E. Comba, Myths and mysteries of the American Indians, p. 164 (Utet, Turin, 2003).

[9] The tradition of the natives of North America is rich in beliefs about "subterranean realms", starting from the vast corpus formed by the so-called "emergence myths". See M. Maculotti, The "myths of emergence" in the traditions of Native Americans, AXIS mundi, April 23, 2016.

[10] See HP Blavatsky, The secret doctrine.

[11] Other authors, including the multifaceted Nicholas Roerich (famous above all for his numerous paintings of the Himalayan highlands), are instead inclined to consider Agharti and Shamballa (or Shambalah) as a unique, mythical, underground kingdom (and inaccessible to most , because it is placed on a different "vibrational plane") common to all the most ancient Asian traditions, inhabited by an extremely advanced ancestral humanity. In this regard, cf. F. Lamendola, In the footsteps of Nicholas Roerich, in search of the mythical Shambala, Centro Studi La Runa, 19 June 2015. To find out more about the different versions of the myth of the “Underground Kingdom” in Asia (and beyond) see. also W. Kafton-Minkel, Underground worlds. The myth of the Hollow Earth (Mediterranee, Rome, 2012) and A. Znamenski, Red Shambala. Magic, prophecy and geopolitics in the heart of Asia (Settimo Sigillo, Rome, 2011).

[12] See FA Ossendowski, Beasts Men, Gods. The mystery of the King of the World (Mediterranee, Rome, 2000). See for an excerpt The Underground Kingdom (F. Ossendowski, "Beasts, Men, Gods"), AXIS mundi, April 18, 2016.

[13] See R. Guénon, The King of the World (Adelphi, Milan, 1977).