She Is Benediction.

[ethsnafu]

Retrospectively...

If anyone is interested here is the link to the interview with Morgan, Wong and Cloke that I mentioned earlier. It contains their thoughts about SAAB, Millennium and X-Files and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I thought some of you might enjoy it too...

11th Hour Interview

Best wishes,

Eth

[Guest Laurent.]

I just finished reading it! Thanks a lot!

I thought 11th Hour were "anti-carter".. but their wasn't even a single mention of his name. It was just plain interesting and informative, with some of the usual bitterness toward FOX.

[Orodromeus]

Retrospectively...

If anyone is interested here is the link to the interview with Morgan, Wong and Cloke that I mentioned earlier. It contains their thoughts about SAAB, Millennium and X-Files and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I thought some of you might enjoy it too...

11th Hour Interview

Best wishes,

Eth

Wow thanks a lot for this! I knew of the 11th Hour as an "anti-Carter" site, as laran puts it, thanks to some very lengthy articles detailing how Morgan & Wong were the real geniuses behind the X-Files and Carter was a copycat nobody who was extremely difficult to work with. Extrapolation from some scarce interviews with (huge) gaps filled by fan fiction if you ask me. M&W's roles were exacerbated to say the least, and even if Carter is not the Universe's Best Writer his treatment in these articles is very harsh.

As to the initial question, I never looked further than Ben Fisher's "fear of a higher power" line. The lack of Lara's angel further destabilizes Lara and make her lose confidence in this demanding case. Even if I know the basics of Gnosticism, I didn't know anything of the Ennoia legend. A feature being passed down from body to body is exactly what happened with Clare McKenna's bloodline -- even if in many aspects Clare's importance was because of her ascent, living proof of Christ's humanity, and not because of her being 'possessed'. This episode really is among the most hermetic hours of television I've ever seen!

[ethsnafu]

Salutations Orodromeus,

There is a password protected topic that is endeavoring to examine the complexities of Lara Means in greater detail with a view to engendering a work of fan art. Numerous psychological, spiritual and occult paradigms are being proffered with regards to the nature of her facility and there's a fuller more philosophical treatment of her narratives to be had should you wish to peruse. If you have the time to mosey through the posts please PM Ravenwolf or myself for the password.

The Ennoia legend is based a Gnostic theorem that asserts that in the beginning God had his first thought, his Ennoia, and that thought was to create the angels. The First Thought then descended into the lower regions and created the angels. But the angels rebelled against her out of jealousy and created the world as her prison, imprisoning her in a female body. Thereafter, she was reincarnated many times, each time being shamed. Her many reincarnations she finally was incarnated as Helene, a slave and prostitute in the Phoenician city of Tyre.

Anamnesis is Lara's jewel and what it presents us with is a story of insurrection, a moment when a tortured soul moves against the Millennium group and refuses to commit the murder they demand of her. This insurrection is played against a backdrop of Merovingian myths but the allegory, far from supporting this, allows Lara to discount this notion. It should be noted that Lara states that "...some people..." believe Clare is the descendant of Christ and her brave decision to give Catherine the evidence she lacks faith in shows she is not one of them. Lara believes that Clare is an incarnation of the Magdelene or more correctly the 'Divine Thought': Sophia. Lara felt Claire move retrospectively to the time of Christ's resurrection and knows that she possesses inherited knowledge of this event and rather than being a descendant she is a psychic participant. Of course there is the enigmatic statement that Catherine is a Chronicler and much misty board time was taken with what this means and so on but the truth of the matter is that faced with her own inevitability Lara Means defied the group because she truly believed, and knew, that they were wrong this time. Mckenna possessed an ability to access the spiritual resonance that is the Magdelene. She was able to feel that which had passed and recognizes Claire as an incarnation of the Ennoia and not a descendant of Christ.

The Ennoia myth supports the creativity which we absorbed as Clares' speech which states that "..."And thus, from age to age, she passed from body to body, into one female body after the other. Thus, she became the lost sheep..."

I know this is long winded and the rantings of a fan obsessive so forgive me.

My sincere thanks on adding your thoughts to this issue.

My very best wishes

[Raven Wolf]

Mark...this is fascinating!!! Could you explain some of this to me in PMs sometime? I've always wondered about that "lost sheep" phrase.

And how do you pronounce Ennoia?

[ethsnafu]

Mark...this is fascinating!!! Could you explain some of this to me in PMs sometime? I've always wondered about that "lost sheep" phrase.

And how do you pronounce Ennoia?

I will certainly try to put it to more manageable terms Erin :)

Ennoia is pronounced en-no'-i-a and is greek for "a thought in the mind or intention."

The lost sheep reference is almost a direct paraphrase from the Ennoia legend or more specifically a text written about the Ennoia from the Ordo Templi Orientis. In it is states that...

They captured Ennoia and shut her up in a human body, forcing her to wander through the ages from one body to another on the wheel of generation. She was the Lost Sheep, forced by her progeny the angels to wander through the centuries from vessel to vessel (including that of Helen of Troy), until she ended up at the brothel in Tyre.

When I get some free time I shall PM you with something a little easier to digest.

Best wishes to all,

Eth

[Orodromeus]

There is a password protected topic that is endeavoring to examine the complexities of Lara Means in greater detail with a view to engendering a work of fan art. Numerous psychological, spiritual and occult paradigms are being proffered with regards to the nature of her facility and there's a fuller more philosophical treatment of her narratives to be had should you wish to peruse. If you have the time to mosey through the posts please PM Ravenwolf or myself for the password.

I'm still finding my way around the many sub-forums. I suppose you're referring to Dragonfly?

The Ennoia legend is based a Gnostic theorem that asserts that in the beginning God had his first thought, his Ennoia, and that thought was to create the angels. The First Thought then descended into the lower regions and created the angels. But the angels rebelled against her out of jealousy and created the world as her prison, imprisoning her in a female body. Thereafter, she was reincarnated many times, each time being shamed. Her many reincarnations she finally was incarnated as Helene, a slave and prostitute in the Phoenician city of Tyre.

I love Wikipedia as well ;)

Even though I'm sure you've investigated this much more than I have, I'll compile a reply with my incomplete analysis.

Anamnesis is Lara's jewel and what it presents us with is a story of insurrection, a moment when a tortured soul moves against the Millennium group and refuses to commit the murder they demand of her. This insurrection is played against a backdrop of Merovingian myths but the allegory, far from supporting this, allows Lara to discount this notion. It should be noted that Lara states that "...some people..." believe Clare is the descendant of Christ and her brave decision to give Catherine the evidence she lacks faith in shows she is not one of them.

To this point we pretty much agree: Clare is protected by the Family as the heir of a merovingian tradition. Lara disagrees with the Group's methods in this particular case. But what I concluded out of this is something with many more let's say humanitarian overtones rather than Gnostic -- and that may be due to me not seeing the whole picture.

Clare, as the biological descendant of Christ, an avatar of Sophia, is living proof that Jesus the man led a different life from the one dictated by the conventional scriptures. Giving a more human side and story to this figure that was to become the icon for a religion is something that strengthens the notion that Man has a spiritual side that is underdeveloped, but that everyone has the ability to develop. Her retrospections/visions of the life of Jesus is perhaps this spiritual capacity being explored, her capacity being higher given her special and nurtured nature. Clare is like a symbol from which, if she was known to the rest of the world, a spiritual renaissance could come. The Group thinks the time hasn't come for this revelation yet. Lara doesn't necessarily disagree, but to keep in line with the message of self-determination she believes that the decision should be for each one to make, not for an occult group like Millennium or the Family. She hands in the information to Catherine, encompassing her in the circle of those who can make the decision of what to do with this important knowledge. Where this knowledge was exclusive, passed down from body to body in the bloodline through generations, the time is near when this knowledge should be emancipated to all.

However, I admit that the Ennoia interpretation does fit better with the dialogue: the psychic possession fits better with the "female body to another" line. And it keeps with the Gnostic elements of the rest of the episode (black Virgin for example). A great find indeed! But this all-Gnostic interpretation does take out this humanistic aspect that I found enjoyable!

I know this is long winded and the rantings of a fan obsessive so forgive me.

I think I can qualify as long winded as well...

Ennoia is pronounced en-no'-i-a and is greek for "a thought in the mind or intention."

Actually it would depend. In modern Greek it would sound like Enya (the artist). In ancient I'd say E-noya (stress on the first E). I may be wrong. It comes from "en" (within, as in errr...encyclopedia) + "noein" (to signify, or to create something of the mind, as in errr...for lack of a better one, noosphere).

[ethsnafu]

Salutations Orodromeus

Fascinating reply and many thanks for it and here's my thing....

I am fairly sure that the pronunciation of Ennoia is correct though I have a feeling that you are a Greek scholar and I am going to end up with egg on my face lol. If I'm wrong please assert so, I truly never take offence from being educated by those with more knowledge than my own.

You are also correct that I copied the quote from Wikipedia. I was intent on adding the quotation code to this and have only now realised that is an oversight. I do apologise for not making this clear.

I don't 'think' I have studied this 'more' than anyone else to be honest. I have studied Gnosticism, objectively I might add, for over a decade which I think has probably 'conditioned' my perception of this episode given the use of Gnostic themes and passages.

I think the most confusing aspect of this is that there are concurrent themes. There is a curious hybrid here of Merovingian bloodline mythology and Gnostic Christian concepts and whilst the former has undoubtedly assimilated supportive themes from the latter this, to my mind, does not explain some of the theatrics on display. Whilst there is certainly the reveal at the conclusion of the episode that this is 'all' about a conspiracy to conceal the true nature of Clare's ancestry it does not satisfy nor even sit comfortably with some of the things we have seen. The recital of Gnostic texts, Marian visions, paraphrased lines from the Simon Magus mythology and Lara's assertion that Clare participated in the resurrection of Christ as a psychic observer do not seem satisfactorily explained by the somewhat organic, biological denouement the story's conclusion serves us. Whilst I would agree the metaphysical aspects of the episode can be rationalized as simple facilities afforded McKenna as a descendant of Christ I still have the feeling that there is too much of the Divine Femine encompassed in the narrative to be wholly certain that the Merovingian explanation is solitarily sophisticated enough.

Whilst Merovingian mythology does indeed afford the Magdalene an exalted position it does so as a very human lover and mother, it is only from Gnosticism can satisfaction be gleaned for much of what is on display.

In supporting its assertions Merovingian theorists have picked through Gnostic Christianity there is not doubt but it concerns itself predominantly with those passages that support the 'Magdalene the spouse' contention and I have rarely encountered Merovingian literature that has given much emphasis to Mary Magdalene as an incarnation of the Divine Feminine.

Whilst I concur that there is nothing in the narrative to support an assertion that Lara disbelieves The Family's and The Group's interpretation of Clare's experiences she talks in quite contradictory terms throughout the episode. The only time she is given to presenting the bloodline explanation for what is occurring she is careful to remind that 'some people' believe it which led me to at least wonder if she herself had drawn a separate inference of her own. Much is made of the fact that Lara partakes of whatever psychic regression Clare undergoes and again this could have been tacked on to the bloodline-canvas for dramatic effect yet it is not satisfied by it nor explained by it and left to conjecture where one can propose most anything. My thinking is that in sharing the regression with Clare and having direct knowledge of it she is of the opinion that the 'nth-grandaughter of Jesus' theory does not resolve the things she is seeing and experiencing during the course of the investigation.

One of the most affecting aspects of the episode for me is the closing narration. Fisher's voice is used to represent the Merovingian mythology whilst his post-humus summary is interspersed with McKenna herself recounting aspects of the Ennoia legend to provide a stark and irreconcilable contrast. They both recite quite unharmoniousm, incongruent lines that it had the quality, for me, of presenting two distinct concepts rather than two shared aspects of one unified episodic narrative. A 'blatant' versus and 'occult' explanation if you will.

There are numerous conceits to the Ennoia legend that can not be comfortably explained by the mythological, fanciful exegesis of the bloodline theory which at best is viewed with mocking, sardonic tones by most Theologians, scholars and conceptualists.

Lara notes that the division that exists in the belief centered reception to Clare's assertions is gender related. The Ennoia legend notes that the Ennoia would encounter and be subjected to subjugation by men, ever to be mocked and ridiculed by them.

The strange procrastination regarding Lara's angel deserting her has little resolution if we assume that there is a lack of profundity on display here, whilst the Ennoia myth affords us some resolution. It recounts the tale that the angels were responsible for the Ennoia's descent through the spheres and, by product of their actions, they remained ever mindful of her vengence. Quite in keeping with explaining one of the most discombobulate aspects of Lara's continuum.

I won't carry on adding to the Ennoia references as I am all to aware that I bore the pants of most posters here and I wouldn't want to be seen as lecturing :)

Ultimately, as with anything, there is room to maneuver around every line and scene in order to support any number of assertions and I agree with much of what you written. Anamnesis had quite a profound affect on me when I first viewed it and ten years later and much musing to boot I believe I have probably deluded myself with a rather more phantasmagorical explanation than it deserves. Much of the beauty of Millennium is that it allows us such delusions.

My kind thanks for your thoughts and hope you will continue to share them,

Best wishes,

Eth

[ethsnafu]

Double posting from an Elder eh?

If anyone would like to proffer the odd thought to this please do so. Orodromeus has set the ball rolling again with some wonderful musings and I would very much like for this topic to be 'fully' explored by the great minds we have here.

Best wishes,

Eth

[Raven Wolf]

Double posting from an Elder eh?

If anyone would like to proffer the odd thought to this please do so. Orodromeus has set the ball rolling again with some wonderful musings and I would very much like for this topic to be 'fully' explored by the great minds we have here.

Best wishes,

Eth

Forgive me, dear 'snafu'. Though I read these discussions with much interest, I am not qualified to ad my own "2 cents", as I haven't even a penny!

Walking through the exchange between you two has been both enlightening and inspiring! How many television shows that only lasted 3 years can say that they inspire such deep, analytical thought???! I feel almost like a devoted pupil, trying ever so hard to impress the professor!

It's such a pity that most of tv and movies these days has gone down the crapper!