Enlightenment
In the last three parts of this series, we examined Katabasis as an Underworld Journey, a God Incarnating, and a Grail Quest. In today’s post, we will examine a film which depicts the full path, from incarnation, through multiple lives, and beyond death. I recommend reading the previous entries in this series before this one.
This journey starts in the timelessness of Eternity, where everything is uncreated and unmoving. From there a God falls like a Star into a deep slumber, forgetting who and what they are, and Incarnating as a Human life. The True Nature of this Soul returns again and again to live as a person, being further seduced by the motion of the world, until Devotion causes them to notice Truth. This fills them with light, dispelling the confusing Shadows of the Night, and bringing further realizations until they Awaken and return Home as the fusion of the Divine and Humanity.
We’ve looked at how the Underworld can be thought of in multiple ways: The place where Gods reside, the place where Humans go when they die, and as the Created World of Time in which we live. Today’s inspection will further blur these lines, to a point where perhaps we can consider all of these to be the same place.
Inland Empire
Today we will be discussing David Lynch‘s film Inland Empire.
As before, it would be nearly impossible to examine every single symbol in this film. We are going to follow a God’s descent into the world, experiences over multiple lifetimes, and enlightenment wherein they return to Eternity.
The film itself is disjointed and plays with time, and so not everything appears in chronological fashion as to when it happened. Instead, it is like floating through memories. We will not go over it linearly, nor even point out the spirals downward since they are all overlaid across each other. Reading this will again spoil the film if you have not seen it, so I suggest watching it before continuing.
Lynchian Philosophy
The philosophy of David Lynch considers our everyday world as interchangeably likened to a dream or a movie. A show in some fashion, in which everything is self-contained and all serves the purpose of moving the story forward. Inland Empire brings this to the forefront in dramatic fashion. It was written as it was being filmed, allowing synchronicity to be the guide.
Every single detail of his works is meticulously planned out. He even includes occult practices in their creation. Some people on set with him say he writes by calculating gematria for names of characters, locations, and any numbers seen. He also is a huge proponent of Transcendental Meditation.
Title Screen
We begin in darkness.
With a bang, a stage light illuminates, casting its beam into the nothingness around it.
Let there be light.
We hear a low rumbling and the sound of a record beginning to play as the light moves across the screen, barely illuminating the title.
Consider the title of this film.
Inland Empire is an area in Southern California, outside of Los Angeles. In this way, it is a physical location wherein some of this movie plays out. Los Angeles, translated to English as “the Angels”, shows us it is a place outside of where the Angels exist, outside of Eternity. Los Angeles, also being where Hollywood is located, the place where films are made and Stars are born.
The title can also refer to the inward journey, the Katabasis of a God looking inside itself and finding Humanity there, and then a Human looking inward to find God. Or, as the fact that everything within a Dream is contained within the Dreamer.
In Jewish Gematria, “Inland Empire” adds up to 303, matching “Geburah“, translated from Hebrew as “Strength“, the essence of Judgement. This is the fifth of the ten Sephirot of the Tree of Life counting from the top down, placing it midway between Heaven and Earth. It is associated with the color red, the element of fire, and moving upward beyond it leads to the Abyss.
In English Gematria, it adds up to 720, notably matching up to “The Truth“, “Illuminated“, “Gift from God” and “Kingdom of God“.
Here, lets also look at Gematria for “Katabasis“.
In Hebrew, 304. One more than Inland Empire. If we add all the numbers together, 3+0+4 =7. A favorite number of David Lynch. 304 also matches “An Absence of God“, “Final Battle“, “Calling All Angels“, “Pantheon“, “God Is Light“.
In English, 498. “Wisdom”, “Gnosis“, “Child of God“, “God Bless“.
Axxon N
The flickering light illuminates the needle of a record player as it casts a shadow across a record. We can think of a God Incarnating as looking into its own reflection and taking the shadow it casts to be itself.
The record plays recorded applause, and we hear a voice narrate for us.
“Axxon N., the longest running radio play in history, tonight, continuing in the Baltic region. A gray winter day in an old hotel.”
Axxon N is the name of the radio play, here playing as a recording. It is a piece of media. For this film, media represents the World, or Creation, or Time. It is the setting in which things happen. From outside, within Eternity, it is as flat as a record. And just like a record the position of our attention, in this case the needle, can easily be moved non-linearly across it. Lifted and set down in a new position. Sound, motion and time, only happens as the needle makes contact continuously.
From the perspective of the rest of the film we are currently in the past, and so a record is the appropriate piece of media to represent it.
We begin here, because it is the origin of what the film describes as a “curse”. It is a set of actions created from a false understanding of Truth that will be repeated over and over again. In Magia, we would call this a Shadow. The results of it can be thought of as Karma.
“Axxon N” in Hebrew Gematria adds up to 731. “The True Messiah“, “City of Angels” (Los Angeles), “Reincarnated Prophet“, and “The First Commandment“.
In English Gematria it is 552. “I Am Who I Am“, “Rabbit Hole” (Which will have meaning later), “Heavenly“, “Tick Tock” (Time), and “Kronos” (The God of Time).
The Lost Girl
As the record spins, our view crossfades to a black and white hallway where a man and woman walk away from the camera. Their heads are blurred so that we cannot see their identities. This is a representation of the fact that they do not know who and what they are (Divinity) or understand their actions. They speak in Polish and the film does not translate their words for us.
After fumbling for the keys, they enter a hotel room and have sex. The song Polish Poem begins to play.
The woman is known as the Lost Girl. They are both married and are each having an affair. Later, we will find out that the Lost Girl’s husband, known as The Phantom, murders the affair partner. The affair partner’s wife also is killed by being stabbed with a screwdriver. This is the source of the curse that will be mentioned in the rest of the film, and will be played out over and over in various permutations, with each of the characters playing different roles in the story. It always includes infidelity followed by murder.
We next see the Lost Girl sitting naked on a bed, crying, covered with a red sheet. As a light flickers the world becomes colored, and a camera lens is superimposed over her image. Her face is no longer blurred.
The camera lens, since the world is being depicted as a film, can be thought of as the perspective of God. The unknowable, unfindable portion, that looks out from within every person. Here, it is a seen in a reflection, the only way a camera can see itself. A lens flare disappears into infinity, representing the Lost Girl’s awareness of the True Nature of things and the consequences of her actions. She is seeing herself the Human from a Divine perspective.
In this room she will stay for the rest of the film. She is both a past life of the main character we will soon meet, and the Goddess at the bottom of the Underworld.
She looks into a television, playing static. Looking at static television, or a sweeping radio, is sometimes used as a method of scrying or channeling. She is watching the events of the rest of the film from her new perspective.
In Hebrew Gematria “Lost Girl” adds up to 376. “Harlot Cheat“, “High Priest“, “Omniscient“, “Eroticism“, and “Occult“.
“The Phantom” adds up to 402. “So It Begins“, “Predestined“, “Prime Timeline“, “Goddess Codes“, and “Philanderers“.
“Lost Girl” in English Gematria is 672. “Victory“, “Eternal Flame“, “You Are A God“, “Beloved of God“, “I Am The Light“.
“The Phantom“, 720. The same as “Inland Empire“. Also “This is Real“.
The Phantom can be considered the Demiurge in this story, being the source of the curse, evil cause of it all happening.
Rabbits
On the Lost Girl’s television plays a surreal sitcom where anthropomorphic rabbits play out a story. Their lines of dialogue, seemly non-sequiturs, are punctuated by an exaggerated laugh track and applause. They comment on secrets, phone calls, and time.
There are three of them, named Suzie, Jane, and Jack. Rabbits are a symbol of resurrection. When arranged such that their ears are touching and overlapping, as below, they are a symbol of the Trinity, Unity of all things, and Eternity. They are the connection between Heaven and Earth, and can travel between them.
The rabbits in this scene are spiritual beings. They can be thought of as manifestations of our main character’s Holy Guardian Angel, though here they are still in spirit form. The words they are saying seem disjointed and unrelated to things because they are commenting on actions within the film from a perspective outside of time.
Jack: I hear someone.
Suzie: I do not think it will be much longer now.
Jack exits the sitcom stage and we see him enter a dark room within a mansion. A spotlight illuminates him, and he fades away as the room brightens. We next see a man, Janek, who is the human manifestation of Jack the Rabbit. He sits on the couch as The Phantom stands, speaking to him in Polish. Again, we are not given the translation of this.
What they are discussing is The Phantom looking for “an opening” (a Rabbit Hole, from the Axxon N gematria), a way into the world from this spiritual place they currently exist in. The Rabbits are working with The Phantom, but they are tricking him into playing out a series of actions that will lead to his, and the curse’s, ending.
The Phantom and Janek disappear, and we see Jack the Rabbit rematerialize.
Eternity
We see an older woman, Visitor #1, approaching a Hollywood mansion. As we discussed earlier, Hollywood is where the Angels are, where Stars (Gods) live, and where Films (Reality, Creation, Time), are made. This is both Eternity, and a form of Reality where events play out.
She is let inside by the butler, and we are introduced to Nikki Grace, our main character. Nikki offers the woman coffee as they sit together. Coffee is something we use to wake up, symbolic for enlightenment or awakening.
Nikki is a star who has just gotten a new role in a film. The film is called On High in Blue Tomorrows. We will later learn that it previously had been tried to be made, but both leads were murdered before filming had finished. The title of this film was Vier Sieben, based on an “old Polish Gypsy folk tale”. The same story that was on the Axxon N radio play, said to be cursed. This is the curse that has been playing out over and over again from the Lost Girl and The Phantom’s actions.
Vier Sieben is a German translation for “four seven” (though the number would be said differently in German, siebenundvierzig). 47, we will later see, is the number of the Rabbit’s apartment door. “Vier Sieben” as words in Hebrew Gematria comes out to 945: “Cycle of Reincarnation“, “Life Energy Generator“, and “Lovers“. In English Gematria, 648: “God Is Love“, “Full Moon” (The Goddess), “Journey” (Katabasis), “The Spiral” (also related to Katabasis, from our previous discussions on it), “Healing Now“, “Fallen Angels“, “Prime Time” (Like a television show), “Zeus and Gaia” (Heaven and Earth), and “Apartment” (the Rabbits).
“Nikki Grace” in Hebrew Gematria is 174. “The God“, “Beholder“, “Hell is Fake“, “I Do Good“, “Fall of Man“.
In English Gematria, 528. “California” (Where this takes place), “Songbird“, “Good Luck“, “God’s Plan“.
Visitor #1 speaks of Nikki’s past. She also speaks of things that have not happened yet as if they already occurred. As a denizen of Eternity, time is not linear for her. However Nikki, having been cast in a film, has begun her descent into Incarnation and this manner of speech confuses her. This point of the film, being outside of time, is both the beginning and end of Nikki’s journey.
Visitor #1 tells Nikki two stories:
The Old Tale: “A little boy went out to play. When he opened his door, he saw the world. As he passed through the doorway, he caused a reflection. Evil was born. Evil was born and followed the boy.”
This is the story of The Phantom and the curse. It is a tale of incarnation. A God seeing its own reflection is confused and thus creates evil within the world.
The Variation: “A little girl went out to play. Lost in the marketplace, as if half-born. Then, not through the marketplace, you see that, don’t you, but through the alley behind the marketplace. This is the way to the Palace. But it isn’t something you remember.”
This is Nikki’s story. It speaks of events that will happen later in this film (Inland Empire), as part of the movie On High in Blue Tomorrows. It is simultaneously giving her direction as to where to go and what to do, and also pointing out that she wont remember this while playing it out. It is also pointing out that while the themes and consequences of the curse stay the same, the actions and roles within it differ. “The Marketplace” is the world of Reality, and “the Palace” is where the Rabbits exist. “Jack Rabbit’s Palace” is a theme which David Lynch repeats in his show Twin Peaks.
Visitor #1 continues speaking about the film, saying that it contains a murder. This upsets Nikki, as she doesn’t believe that is true. Visitor #1 continues, “I suppose if it was 9:45, I’d think it was after midnight. For instance, if today was tomorrow, you wouldn’t even remember that you owed on an unpaid bill.”
Time is an important theme throughout the film. The Rabbits often comment on the time, and time itself. The time 9:45 will come up again as a point when the Lost Girl’s misses her rendezvous with her affair partner because The Phantom was beating her. After midnight is symbolic of death, time having run out.
The unpaid bill referred to is the karma resulting from the curse. Another visitor will bring this up again, mirroring this scene.
Incarnation
Nikki is confused by this conversation, and Visitor #1 points her finger to a couch across the room. The hour and day changes, as Nikki sees herself sitting with two of her friends. Her butler brings her a phone, and she is excited to be told by her agent that she got the role in the film.
Her husband, Piotrek Krol, watches from the staircase with an angry expression. He is one incarnation of the man the Lost Girl had her affair with.
In this situation, he can be thought of as the Soul behind that man’s incarnation. He will later be described as “The most powerful guy around” and “there’s not a thing he doesn’t know”. Visitor #1 had said that he was involved with On High in Blue Tomorrows, though Nikki thought that she was mistaken. He works with the Rabbits to help Nikki against The Phantom.
With the Lost Girl now taking the role of The Goddess, her affair partner (Piotrek) has the partnered role of God.
In Hebrew Gematria, “Piotrek Krol” adds to 474. “Let There Be Light“, “Remember Remember”, “The Hierophant“, “The Stars“, and “Lord of the Gods“.
In English Gematria, 900. “End of Prophecy“, “I Love Truth“, “Truth Seeker“, and “Heavenly Father“.
We next meet Kingsley Stewart, the director of On High in Blue Tomorrows.
He tries to inspire Nikki, her co-star, and the crew by giving a speech. In a direct understanding of her being a Star (a God), he claims that this part will give her everything she needs to “soar back to the top and stay perched there”. That is, to incarnate, clean up the mess of the curse/karma, and reach enlightenment, escaping the cycle of reincarnation. He calls the film a “star-maker”. He is optimistic they have a chance to “pull it off”. His is the same Divine Role as Mission Control from our examination of Incarnation, the one laying out the path of Nikki’s True Will.
In Hebrew Gematria, “Kinglsey Stewart” comes out to 1857, allowing for longer phrases to match it. “K Has a Plan to Kill the Lying Devils” (K being Kingsley), “The Creator of the Total Transformation Program“, “Monumental Discovery“, “Invert the Hexagram Curse“, “Trust Your Intuition“, and “God and the Devil, Rivals“.
In English Gematria, 1248. “Divine Prophet of God“, “Don’t Stop Believing“, “The Holy Trinity“, “A Gift from the Creator“, and “May God Bless You All“.
Here we also meet Devon Berk, Nikki’s co-star.
Devon will be playing Nikki’s love interest in On High in Blue Tomorrows. He takes the substitute role of her affair partner, as Piotrek was the original one for the Lost Girl. Piotrek now has to play the role of the abusive husband who gets cheated on, as part of the curse. The Phantom is not a direct part of the relationship in the film they are making. Being the Demiurge, he is now removed from the cycle despite being the cause of it. Devon is symbolically playing his part as a seducer, and as an agent of the Demiurge he can be considered The Devil, as per our Grail Quest discussion.
Devon is chastised not to get involved with Nikki, due to his reputation as a womanizer. It is also said that he does not speak a single true thing. We can see here that though Devin’s role in this is known, he is accepted to play it, as the story cannot be completed without his part.
In Hebrew Gematria, “Devon Berk” adds up to 896. “Demonic Philosophy“, “False Righteousness“, “A Narcissistic Sociopath“, and “Substitute“.
In English Gematria, 576. “Transparency”, “Patronizing”, “Man is Lying to Bride”, and “Proof, The Lying God“.
Nikki and Devon are guests on The Marilyn Levens Starlight Celebrity Show.
The host speaks of a shocking revelation by Devon which should send a shiver down Nikki’s spine, implying that he will try to seduce her. She claims that it will stay professional. She calls Devon naughty, devilish, and scheming. He responds that if the host wants shock value that she should “look in the mirror”. This calls back to Visitor #1’s story of evil being caused by reflections.
The show is signed off as “where stars make dreams, and dreams make stars”. Considering what we know of Lynch’s ideas on reality, this is a direct reference to incarnation and enlightenment.
Devon is again told to stay away from Nikki, and he lies saying he has no interest in her. Nikki’s friends return her home and the camera lingers on the light outside her front door.
Into The Abyss
The next day, Nikki arrives on the set of On High in Blue Tomorrows, with the Sun shining brightly over the soundstage. She drinks a cup of coffee next to Devon. She is amazed by the set, being told that it is Smithy’s house. Kingsley enters with his assistant, Freddie Howard. They comment on the terrible tea they had just been drinking.
Freddie will later be seen asking others for money. He also comments that he used to raise Rabbits. He is the first one to learn of, and tell the others about, the curse which is laid upon the film. He can be thought of as an Angelic figure, set to gather information.
In Hebrew Gematria, “Freddie Howard” equals 1156. “Reverse Engineer“, “Angel Wisdom“, “Be a Positive Effect“, and “His Divine Leadership“.
In English Gematria, 720. The same as “Inland Empire“, “The Phantom“, “Security“, and “Archangel Michael“.
In On High in Blue Tomorrows, Nikki will be playing Susan Blue, and Devon playing Billy Side. They are both married, having an affair with each other. No one seems to know who will play Smithy, Sue’s husband. Later, we will find out he is being played by Piotrek. “Alan Smithee” is a pseudonym used by directors who whish to disown their work on a film.
In Hebrew Gematria, “Susan Blue” adds to 648. This is the same as “Vier Sieben” adding to 648 in English Gematria. Other Hebrew Gematria terms matching this are “Destiny“, “I, The Heir of God Be Found“, “Femininity“, “Absolute Freedom“, and “I Am A Sad Broken Person“.
In English Gematria, 684, an inverse of the Hebrew. “Keep the Faith“, “Guardian Angel“, “The Source“, “The Beginning“, and “Starlight“. Nikki can be thought of as Sue’s Holy Guardian Angel.
Hebrew Gematria for “Billy Side” is 559. “A Fiend in Human Form“, “He Has Faked the Bride’s Death“, “Don’t Eat the Apple“, “Its a Hoax“, and “Morphing Snake Demon“.
In English Gematria, 582. “Asmodeus“, “Blue Rose” (a symbol in Twin Peaks that something is paranormally not what it seems), “Serpent“, and “Predator“.
Here, the film (Inland Empire) begins to split between two realities. The world of Nikki, pseudo-Eternity, and the world of Sue, Reality within On High in Blue Tomorrows. The lines between them begin to blur, as Nikki is seduced into the world of the film she is making. Scenes will be occurring out of order and overlaid with each other.
Nikki and Devon begin to run lines, first starting to get into character. As they do so, Freddie hears a noise and Devon gets up to investigate. He hears footsteps, and runs to chase whoever it is, but finds no one. The intruder seems to disappear, as there is no other way out of the soundstage.
During his chase, Devon approaches the locked door to the set of Sue and Smithy’s home. The number of the door is 1358.
In Hebrew Gematria, some phrases matching 1358 are “Divine Eternal Connection“, “Heavenly Places“, and “We’re Reincarnated“. It also matches “The Day the Earth Stood Still“, a film about alien involvement in the cold war nuclear arms race, and Humanity’s self destructive nature. David Lynch uses themes of nuclear weapons and self destruction in much of his work as a form of Underworld descent. (“Klaatu barada nikto!”)
When Devon returns, Kingsley explains to him and Nikki that Freddie found out about the curse within the movie. He explains to them that information is invaluable, claiming that people that don’t share it fail to because of politics, ego, and fear. That sometimes “one just isn’t told the whole story”. He explains that the last time this film tried to be made, the leads were murdered.
Mixing Realities
A Polish-speaking couple arrive at Nikki’s home one night. She and Piotrek greet them, and she claims she doesn’t speak polish, but Piotrek says that she “understands more than she lets on”. This is due to her relationship with the Lost Girl, and her involvement with the cursed film.
We next see a scene from the world of Sue’s reality. Doris Side, Billy Side’s wife is in a police interrogation room.
Doris is the reincarnation of the Lost Girl’s affair partner’s wife, who was murdered by The Phantom at the beginning of the curse. She only exists within the “Reality” universe of Sue in the film. She explains to the police officer that she has been hypnotized to kill someone with a screwdriver. She also reveals a screwdriver beneath a bloody bandage sticking out of her own side. This is the work of The Phantom, who is manipulating things within On High in Blue Tomorrows. The woman she has been hypnotized to kill is Sue.
In Hebrew Gematria, “Doris Side” is 341. “Death Bringer“, “Special Agent“, “Here to Help“, and “This is a Lie“.
In English Gematria, 612. “Slavery“, “Final Battle“, “Murderer“.
The following scene is within Nikki’s reality, filming part of On High in Blue Tomorrows. She and Devon flirt as Sue and Billy as part of the script.
A recurring theme is that Sue’s reality becomes mirrored by Nikki’s before Nikki is fully absorbed into Sue’s, as her Incarnation manifests to a greater degree.
Devon has dinner with Nikki and Piotrek, and Piotrek threatens Devon not to become involved with Nikki. Nikki overhears, but does not involve herself as Devon remains silent.
Kingsley struggles with the lighting, and they film a scene in which Billy convinces Sue to have drinks at his home, and then have dinner together. Later, during downtime on set as Kingsley continues to struggle with the lightning, Nikki and Devon flirt with each other, using the accents of Sue and Billy. Devon asks her to dinner, and she agrees.
The next filmed scene, Sue and Billy begin to get physically involved with each other. Nikki has started to become absorbed in the role, and is lost in the moment when Kingsley yells “cut!”, asking if they are happy. In the following scene, it is unclear at first which reality we are in. Nikki/Sue tells Devon/Billy that her husband knows about them, and that he’ll kill Devon/Billy. She then, disoriented, looks around and says “Damn, this sounds like dialogue from our script!”. Kingsley again yells “cut!” and we see that Nikki has confused her reality with Sue’s.
Katabasis
In a completely blue scene, Sue and Billy have sex for the first time.
Remember that Billy is the “Blue Rose“. Smithy, played by Piotrek, watches them from the hallway. Billy comments that Sue is talking too much, and she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.
Throughout the course of the film, Sue learns to meditate, bringing herself insights into the greater reality she is part of. (Nikki’s, and the history of the curse).
As they continue, Sue tells Billy “a story that happened yesterday, but I know that it’s tomorrow”. She describes a scene they filmed yesterday where she parked in an alley to get groceries, and that she sees writing on metal which causes her to begin remembering things. She then calls Billy “Devon”, saying that she is Nikki. A momentary insight brought on by the meditation she just performed. Billy is confused, saying that it doesn’t make any sense.
The story she tells is the next scene that we see. It is the same story that Visitor #1 told as a Variation of the old tale. Thus, it is the completion of Nikki’s Incarnation as Sue, and the beginning of Sue’s Katabasis. The memory she mentioned is, in part, this story. This will take her both through the Underworld and the Past, as in our previous discussions. Lynch’s depiction of the Underworld also includes the hidden parts of society: Dark clubs, drugs, and prostitution.
She walks through an alley carrying a bag of groceries to her car. She sees writing on a metal door: “Axxon N ->”.
She walks into a dark room. There is a flash of blue light and an electric hum. Lynch uses electricity as the means of transportation between worlds, a theme which shows up in his other works as well.
Sue is in the soundstage on the day of their first script readthrough. She is the noise that Freddy heard and that Devon chased. She sees Nikki, Devon, Kingsley, and Freddy before running away. She sees Piotrek/Smithy as she is running, and enters the set for their home. Devon follows, but cannot see her through the windows. She calls out for Billy, not understand that it is Devon who is there.
Within the set is a home that was not extant as part of Nikki’s reality at this time.
She leaves the way she came in to find that she is no longer on a set, but standing in the front yard of her house. Finding Smithy getting into his bed, she walks down a hallway to a room with a red lamp.
Remember that Inland Empire is gematriatically associated Geburah and the color red. We hear heavy bass music with a steady beat, as though a night club is on the other side of her wall. She sees images of Devon/Billy before the light brightens and flashes blue.
Sue is now surrounded by unfamiliar women who are shining lights around the room. One tells her “look at us and tell us if you’ve know us before”. They discuss a man they have all be sexually involved with, as Sue begins to cry.
Known as the Valley Girls, these are women are Spirit Guides for Sue, a manifestation of her Holy Guardian Angel. They are women Sue has known over her and their past lives, and who will appear as their own reincarnations in Sue’s current life. There are Seven of them, and we know that is a number in which Lynch finds perfection.
They tell her that “in the future, you’ll be dreaming in a kind of sleep. When you open your eyes someone familiar will be there.” Sue closes her eyes, covering her face with her hands, and takes a deep meditative breath.
When she opens her eyes, she is on a snowy street in Poland.
The light flickers and the world is desaturated, as if watching an old film.
Two of the Valley Girls are with her, directing her where to go. She is in the Underworld-As-Past, and is reliving where she, in a past life, once encountered The Phantom. She closes her eyes and begins to meditate again, seeing the Axxon N record spinning, and then the crying face of the Lost Girl.
Acting as both Sue’s Holy Guardian Angel and as The Goddess, she give Sue instructions to “see”. She has to be wearing a watch, push a lit cigarette through silk, fold the silk over, and look through the hole.
Sue looks upward and sees herself looking down at her. The ceiling behind her head reflects light as if Stars in the Night Sky.
This is Sue having a vision of Herself as Nikki as the Goddess. She has reached an early Stage of Enlightenment at this point, but still has a long way to go.
Looking through the window, Sue sees the street in Poland again. She focuses on an alley.
She lies in bed with Smithy, and then is making breakfast. Suddenly, she crouches in pain. This is a premonition of Doris later stabbing her with a screwdriver after being hypnotized by The Phantom. Smithy continues to lurk around the house, not interacting with her.
Later, she sits in the room with the red lamp, smoking a cigarette. A watch is on a table next to her, stopped at 10:10.
In Hebrew Gematria, the number 10 is the letter “K“, in this case perhaps referring to Kingsley, as something he placed there. (As the director, he can specify items to be placed on the set). Also though, likely referring to Mr. K, a manifestation of Jack the Rabbit who we will soon meet. As the Rabbits are present as part of Sue’s story, here we can question if there is any difference between Jack the Rabbit / Mr. K and Kingsley.
1010 matches up with “Revelation“, “Level Up“, “Master The Future“, “Almighty God In Person“, “Spirit in the Sky“, and “The Moon is a Soul Catching Machine“.
Sue burns a hole in a silk slip with the cigarette, then looks through it as the hands of the clock spin. Here, we can also note that “cigarette burns” are a word used for cue marks in a few films, such as Fight Club and John Carpenter’s Cigarette Burns. They tell the projectionist when to change the film reel on older projectors, as to not interrupt the movie. In this way, with film representing realities, they signify a change in worlds.
The Underworld
The Phantom and The Lost Girl are in their home, arguing in Polish.
Sue is seeing what happened in the past, remembering a different life she once lived. The audio is scratchy and limited, as if listening to an old record. We are seeing the origin of the curse.
The affair partner (whom Piotrek/Smithy is the reincarnation of) and his wife (Doris’s previous incarnation) argue in their home, also in Polish.
She tells him that she can’t give him children, and he responds that he is going out.
The Phantom beats the Lost Girl.
The affair partner stands on the street, checking his watch. It is 9:45, the time Visitor #1 spoke of.
We again see The Lost Girl, post-curse, sitting in her room and watching this scene unfold on her T.V.
The view changes back to The Rabbits.
The room has turned red, and a hole is burned through it. This is Sue having burnt an opening, a Rabbit Hole, through their reality in order to see.
The Rabbit Suzie performs a ritual with candles, causing Jack to briefly manifest.
An arm clad in red directs Sue from the camera’s perspective, through a maze of red curtains.
This is yet another symbol which makes an appearance in Twin Peaks. There, it represents the “waiting room”, a timeless space between realities linking the real world to the Black and White Lodges. The curtains are a representation of the wings of a stage, the backstage area unseen by the audience.
Sue ascends a dirty staircase and enters a small room where a man waits.
This is Mr. K, a manifestation of Jack the Rabbit. Sue has come to him for help. This scene is still a vision that Sue is having through the cigarette burn, except now she is seeing the future instead of the past. This is a vision of when she is trying to escape from Doris who is trying to murder her with a screwdriver.
She tells Mr. K a horrific story of a man she injured when he tried to rape her as a teenager. Mr. K does not respond.
The vision ends, and Sue is back in her home. She enters the room with the red lamp, finding the still smoking cigarette. We hear audio playing in reverse, and Sue is again with the Valley Girls. A train whistle blows in the distance as the girls lament a lost relationship. One of them says a line from The Loco-motion, “You’ve got to swing your hips now”, and the girls snap in unison.
Sue seems confused. This is her mind wandering as she loses focus. The girls begin a choreographed dance to The Loco-motion.
In Hebrew Gematria, “the Loco-motion” is 402, the same as “The Phantom“. Also, “The American Dream“, “Gabriel the Archangel“, and “Build Me an Ark“,
In English Gematria, 786. “The Garden of Eden“, “The Angel of Death“, “Crucifixion“, and “Ascended Master“.
The song was written in 1962. In Hebrew Gematria, this matches “Witness the Mighty God” and “Found Out He Lied Because She Never Died“. In English Gematria, “Let Me Unlock the Truth Vault“, “Someone Secretly Loves You“, “Warriors Chosen of Almighty God“, “The Eternal Sacred Forever Moment“, “Black Magic Sorcery Turned For Good“, and “Do Not Lose Sight of the Objective“.
The Valley Girls dance, swinging their hips near the train tracks, because in previous incarnations and in their current ones they are prostitutes. They stand on the streets trying to attract customers. The noise from a train cuts them off and they disappear, the sound spinning down like the end of a record.
Sue has dinner with Smithy, confessing to him that she is pregnant. He is unhappy about this because, as we later learn, he is unable to have children and this confirms to him that Sue has cheated on him with Billy. This mirrors and remixes the affair partner’s argument with his wife in Poland Sue saw as part of her visions.
The Valley Girls return and dance in a circle to Etta James’s At Last. The audio fades out on the line “I found a dream that I could speak to”, and we see Sue getting out of bed. She picks up her phone, attempting to call Billy to tell him she is pregnant. Instead, the call is redirected to the Rabbits. They answer but say nothing, as the studio laugh track plays.
The next day, Sue again looks through the hole in the silk. She sees herself again in the future within Mr. K’s office, telling a story about a man attacking her with a crowbar for cheating, and another about a man who talked about the town where he group wherein a chemical factory caused a little girl to have hallucinations about the end of the world.
She then sees a backyard party at her home, where two of the Valley Girls are present. She repeats their line “look at me, and tell me if you’ve known me before”, but they do not recognize her as they are currently in their own incarnations and not acting as her spirit guides directly. The dialogue here is stiff, as if the believability of this reality is starting to break down for her. Smithy spills ketchup on his shirt, mimicking Doris’s screwdriver stab wound, and within it Sue sees the Lost Girl praying in Polish.
“Cast out this wicked dream that has seized my heart.”
The vision fades, and Sue now again sees Poland in the past. The affair partner’s wife creeps up a dark staircase holding a screwdriver. We hear a scream, and again see her crouching on the stairs, bleeding to death. Two of the Valley Girls ask “who is she?” as we see her dead body.
The Lost Girl runs into The Phantom on the street. In Polish he tells her there has been a murder, and he thinks she knew the person. We then see the affair partner lying dead, shot through the head. We then see the Lost Girl crying in her room as she watches this on her T.V.
Continuing the vision of the backyard party, Smithy tells Sue that some of the Polish-speaking men who have shown up are performers in a traveling circus, and that he is going with them to take care of the animals.
Back in Mr. K’s office, Sue tells him that Smithy went with these people to Eastern Europe. She tells him about meeting The Phantom. As she does so, we see Smithy taking care of the horses superimposed over her face.
She explains how The Phantom could hypnotize people with his fingers.
The Valley Girls again dance, this time to David Lynch’s Walkin’ on the Sky.
Sue confronts Billy at his mansion. Doris is there, and recognizes her, though Sue thought she was gone. In front of Doris, Billy, and their child she tells him she loves him, and Doris slaps her. We see Doris in the police station, the affair partner’s wife dead on the stairs, and then The Phantom in a bar wiggling his fingers to hypnotize Doris.
In Poland, after Sue’s backyard party, we see Smithy live up to his reputation of “knowing everything”. We find out the reason he is here is that he is trying to track down the Phantom. He, along with Janek (the other manifestation of Jack the Rabbit), is told that The Phantom isn’t there and he mumbled something about “Inland Empire” before leaving.
We see the face of a clown, and then Sue, illuminated by a spotlight on a trail in the woods, slowly approaching the camera with a strange expression.
Sue at home pulls away from the silk, afraid of the visions. Seeing one’s doppelganger is an open of a coming death, and is also used in Lynch’s other works.
A knock on the door of her home, as Visitor #2 arrives, saying she has “come about an unpaid bill that needs paying”. This is mirroring Nikki’s visitor talking about the same. She asks Sue if she knows the man who lives next door, Krimp. Just as Visitor #1’s conversation led to Nikki Incarnating, this conversation leads to Sue’s death.
Back in Mr. K’s office, Sue tells the story of going to see Krimp. He steps out from behind a tree, a red lightbulb in his mouth, scaring her. We see that he is The Phantom, and has lived next to her the whole time. She picks up a screwdriver to keep him away from her, and flees. When Sue is gone, he disappears.
In Poland, three old men are holding a séance, the Lost Girl sitting between them.
Janek and Smithy enter. The conversation is in Polish. Smithy cannot see the Lost Girl, but one of the men tells Smithy she sent for him. At this point, Smithy can hear her, but not see her. The men question who Smithy works for, and it is said that he works for “the one she spoke of”. Smithy is given a pistol, the weapon needed to kill The Phantom. As he leaves, the Lost Girl fades away, and the men’s manifestation fades, revealing them as The Rabbits.
Sue is sitting on her back porch during a storm. Lightning flashes, and she sees herself inside her house in a bathrobe, also during a storm. The Valley Girls dance behind her. Through the flashes of lightning becoming constant, electricity transporting between worlds, Sue screams and now finds herself working as a prostitute on the streets of Los Angeles. The Valley Girls are the other prostitutes with her.
She walks down Hollywood Boulevard, finding Axxon N written on a door. This again sparks her memory, as we are deep within the repeating spirals at this point. This is her final descent downward. Looking across the street, she again sees herself, holding the same expression as the doppelganger in her vision.
Looking from the direction she came, Sue sees Doris walking towards her, dressed as she was in the police interrogation room. Sue runs, trying to escape. The other Sue, across the street, also sees Doris and begins to flee. She turns to the Valley Girls for help, but they laugh at her. Doris is under The Phantom’s hypnosis, on her way to kill Sue.
As they laugh, she then sees herself as the Lost Girl in Poland. She says to two of the Valley Girls on the street, now in period-appropriate clothing. In Polish, she says “Hey, look at me and tell me if you’ve known me before”. In response, one knowingly wiggles her finger in the same hypnotizing manner as the Phantom, and the girls laugh. We see that the Lost Girl was in the same situation in which Sue now finds herself.
In Los Angeles, Sue runs to a queue in front of a building. Telling the bouncer she knows a girl there, she is let inside and finds herself in one of the deepest parts of Lynch’s underworld: a night club. A woman dances on the bar as another leads her into a back room. Here, we see the red curtains again, and find we are at the beginning of Sue entering Mr. K’s office.
Sue explains that “I don’t know what was before or after. I don’t know what happened first, and it’s kinda laying a mindfuck on me.” and that she thinks Smithy is hiding something.
We see Smithy hitting Sue, angry because he cannot have children. Though the living room is dark, he is lit from below. Despite being helpful in opposing the Phantom, as an incarnated person he still has to play out his role within the story.
In Mr. K’s office, Sue reveals that her son died, and that made her feel like she was standing “in a dark theater before they bring the lights up”. A phone rings, and Mr. K takes a long time before answering it. He is speaking to the Rabbits in their home. He tells them “I don’t think it will be too much longer now”, their plan to defeat The Phantom and remove the curse almost complete.
Sue takes out the screwdriver she got at Krimp’s house and exits the club. She again finds the Valley Girls, Doris hiding behind a tree across the street. Mirroring their Loco-motion dance from the room with the red lamp, she snaps her fingers. They join her, snapping in unison.
Doris approaches, grabs the screwdriver from her, and stabs her in the side before running away. The Valley Girls also flee.
Sue pulls the screwdriver out of her side and drops it, collapsing on the ground near three homeless people. Seemingly uncaring about her injury, they discuss bus schedules and relatives. As Sue lay dying, one holds a lighter in front of her face.
Sue stares into the flame, seemingly calmed. This is a form of meditation known as Fire Kasina.
The homeless woman says “I’ll show you the light now. It burns bright forever. No more blue tomorrows. You on high now, love.”
Sue passes away on the street as the flame goes out.
Bottom as the Top
The camera pulls back from Nikki-as-Sue lying on the street.
Kingsley yells “cut!” and the actors playing the homeless people leave the scene.
As Nikki stands there is a round of applause. She seems disoriented as she walks off the set. A blue light with an electric buzz flashes in the background. We are now in the post-death Underworld, and her journey is not yet complete.
A young girl in a white dress attempts to place a rope onto her, but she motions that she declines. Kingsley and Freddy are confused at what is happening. Attendants clean the makeup off her face as Kingsley approaches her. He looks into her face and says “Nikki, you were wonderful”. They embrace, and she turns and walks away.
Exiting the soundstage, she sees the other stages around, and then looks directly into the camera. She makes eye contact with the Lost Girl, looking directly through her television.
Walking away from the soundstage, she walks past the room full of red curtains.
She enters a theater, and sees herself on screen at this immediate moment, followed by scenes from On High in Blue Tomorrows.
This is Nikki reviewing the life that she just lived as Sue.
Seeing Mr. K standing in the cinema, she follows him up a staircase. A clock reads 12:09, after midnight.
In Hebrew Gematria, 1209 matches “Mother of the Divine“, “Protect Divine Child“, “Have Spirit of God Lead“, “Forgive His Mistake“, “Decoded Messages Revealed“, “Body, Soul, and Spirit“, and “The God Intervening“.
She finds a door labeled Axxon N, and enters. It is Sue’s home. She enters the room with the red lamp, finding the gun the Rabbits gave to Smithy in the drawer beneath it. It is now 12:13.
In Hebrew Gematria, 1213 matches “I Reside In The Heavens”, “Though Findest The Truth”, “Veto The Mistake“, “I Am Now Sacred“, and “All Family Curses Can Be Broken“.
Nikki steps into the hallway, finding it longer than Sue’s house. A record’s static can be heard. She finds Room 47.
Seeing The Phantom coming towards her, she fires the gun multiple times. With each shot, The Phantom is illuminated by a bright light.
The way to dispel shadows is to bring them into the light.
With the final shot, we see The Phantom as a distorted, clown-like reflection of herself.
Like looking into a funhouse mirror, we are again reminded of evil entering the world by a reflection in Visitor #1’s story.
The Phantom melts away into nothing.
Nikki opens the door to Room 47, where the Rabbits live. No one enters from The Rabbit’s perspective, but a bright flashing light is shown from the hallway.
Nikki finds the room empty, and looking more realistic than we have seen it previously.
She looks directly into a light, similar to the Title Screen of this film, while Polish Poem again begins to play. This is a projector, the Source of the light creating Nikki the Star.
We see two of the Lost Girls running through the hallway to freedom, as the Lost Girl watches them on her T.V. She then sees herself in her room, with Nikki entering through the door.
Completing her Katabasis, Nikki has now found the Goddess at the very bottom of the Underworld, and simultaneously at the top of Eternity.
Nikki embraces her, and they kiss. Nikki then dissolves away.
The Lost Girl leaves her room, dressed in blue. Smiling, she rushes down the stairs.
In Sue’s house, Smithy and their Son enter. The Lost Girl runs to them, holding them both.
Again, we see the light from the projector. Nikki stares directly into it, Stars in her eyes, as we hear T.V. static under the song.
A ballerina dancing slowly is superimposed over her face.
We see the light one final time, projected from the rear of a theater.
Nikki is back in her home, with Visitor #1. She looks away from where the visitor had pointed, seeing Herself now as the Goddess sitting on her couch.
Finally, for the curtain call, her Journey complete, Nikki sits on her couch as the Goddess. The credits play as we are shown characters from this film, characters only mentioned in this film (such as the homeless people’s relatives), and characters from other David Lynch films.
Nina Simone’s Sinnerman plays as the Valley Girls and other cast members dance.
Having gone through the full journey from Incarnation, to Enlightenment, to Death and Beyond, this ends the main part of this series on Katabasis. We will still look into other media, films, and video games in this manner in the future, including requests made on the Discord and on Twitter.
If you enjoyed this analysis and would like to discuss it, or see more of the same sort of thing with other films, please let me know on my Discord or on Twitter. If you would like to support me and the continuation of this blog, please consider joining my Patreon.