Esoteric themes in pop music

[litewave]

Back in year 2003 something weird happened to me: I realized that a mainstream pop song and music video by a singer who was popular at the time (and was apparently not known for anything esoteric or religious) seemed to be conveying a message about souls' descent into matter and spiritual fall. The song was "Beauty on the Fire" by Natalie Imbruglia. An interesting thing about it was that at first sight this looked like a song and video about desire, fun and dancing and you would probably have to pause a bit to notice some of the unusual metaphors in the lyrics and an indication of a civilizational tragedy in the video. Before 2003 I had read some esoteric literature (for example Edgar Cayce, Ken Carey) but I never expected I would find this stuff in mainstream pop songs and that has fascinated me ever since, as I discovered more instances of esoteric themes in pop music. Apparently these esoteric themes have been bubbling up in human culture for centuries or even millennia but seeing them in pop songs and music videos gives me a particular emotional resonance and a sense of urgency.

Recently I got the idea to ask Claude AI what it thought about this, which developed into quite a long conversation. If you are interested you can check it out here:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

I discussed the following songs in the conversation (in this order):

• Natalie Imbruglia: Beauty on the Fire; That Day
• Pink Floyd: High Hopes (as well as the album The Division Bell and the related Publius Enigma phenomenon)
• Lana Del Rey: short film Tropico; Summertime Sadness
• Avril Lavigne: Nobody's Home
• Taylor Swift: Anti-Hero
• Depeche Mode: My Favorite Stranger
• Dua Lipa: Houdini
• Lady Gaga: Abracadabra
• Tate McRae: Sports Car

There are more artists I could mention but the chat was quite long already and I think it constitutes an interesting enough sample.

What do you think about it? Am I reading too much into mundane music? Have you had a similar experience with pop songs?

 

[Jsinclair]

You aren't reading anything into it. You're reading between the lines OF it. I admittedly am not familiar with any of the songs on your list other than Abracadabra. Take an afternoon and have a look-see on YouTube regarding the symbolism of that song. One can even mine some gems from the Christian paranoiac channels, as long as they are squared with unbiased interpretation. My personal favorite from the same artist is Judas. And that one leads you directly and intentionally into a very specific tradition of "Magdalene Gnosticism" that is, curiously, in keeping with the exact same tradition concealed in Moulin Rouge, the blue & white dress of Walt Disney Princesses (vide The High Priestess trump by way of A.E. Waite) - and MUCH more along THAT particular Royal Road (vis-a-vis Beauty and the Beast, wishing on a particular star, The Little Mermaid - specifically the Magdalene painting in the undersea grotto- etc., etc., et al.), The Greatest Showman, etc. Now, these may not be POP music, per se, but they clearly establish a very specific Gnostic tradition that one may use as a frame of reference when proceeding.

The purposeful encoding of symbolism within music is nothing new, with Mozart being a prime example. But, as with anything else, realize that there is not just one tradition being represented (I simply used my own as the above example), and that opposing goals are often pursued with similar language.

There are an exhaustive number of examples to be found. And whether the message is encoded by The Artist or The Assembly Above them varies from case to case. But the point here is that your eyes are now open and you will never be able to unsee what you do see - especially as you become familiar with more traditions and more symbolism.

Note : The elaborate live music presentations on awards shows are, almost without fail, little more than Mystery Plays. They make for particularly intriguing analysis and speculation regarding intent/motivation.

 

[OberonFromTheHills]

Kate Bush performing a LBRP in Lily

 

[Jsinclair]

Back in year 2003 something weird happened to me: I realized that a mainstream pop song and music video by a singer who was popular at the time (and was apparently not known for anything esoteric or religious) seemed to be conveying a message about souls' descent into matter and spiritual fall. The song was "Beauty on the Fire" by Natalie Imbruglia. An interesting thing about it was that at first sight this looked like a song and video about desire, fun and dancing and you would probably have to pause a bit to notice some of the unusual metaphors in the lyrics and an indication of a civilizational tragedy in the video. Before 2003 I had read some esoteric literature (for example Edgar Cayce, Ken Carey) but I never expected I would find this stuff in mainstream pop songs and that has fascinated me ever since, as I discovered more instances of esoteric themes in pop music. Apparently these esoteric themes have been bubbling up in human culture for centuries or even millennia but seeing them in pop songs and music videos gives me a particular emotional resonance and a sense of urgency.

Recently I got the idea to ask Claude AI what it thought about this, which developed into quite a long conversation. If you are interested you can check it out here:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

I discussed the following songs in the conversation (in this order):

• Natalie Imbruglia: Beauty on the Fire; That Day
• Pink Floyd: High Hopes (as well as the album The Division Bell and the related Publius Enigma phenomenon)
• Lana Del Rey: short film Tropico; Summertime Sadness
• Avril Lavigne: Nobody's Home
• Taylor Swift: Anti-Hero
• Depeche Mode: My Favorite Stranger
• Dua Lipa: Houdini
• Lady Gaga: Abracadabra
• Tate McRae: Sports Car

There are more artists I could mention but the chat was quite long already and I think it constitutes an interesting enough sample.

What do you think about it? Am I reading too much into mundane music? Have you had a similar experience with pop songs?

There is a 2 volume occult music collection now available on the BookShares sub-forum.

Use them as a foundation. Follow the trail. Go down some rabbit holes. Play some shit backwards and have a blast!