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aois-amaterasu-painting · 3 months ago

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The GazettE symbolism analysis -part 4- Babylon, the Red Goddess

BLEMISH lyrics:

In darker dreams A goddess speaks to me And it seems I cannot see the light Out of sight And reborn somewhere else Don’t just abandon me

Kai about BLEMISH:

Start of BABYLON'S TABOO:

and BLEMISH starts with: "Killing my past"

Ruki about FALLING:

BLEMISH: "I had to stifle my cries when I caught sight of my own twisted shadow"

FALLING: "In those swirling depths, my thoughts are the cherished shadow of my former self"

BLEMISH: "I want to be reborn"

FALLING: "To be reborn again, I’m gonna fall"

So, BLEMISH is about the NINTH goddess, and the NINTH goddess seems to be based on Babylon the Great from the Book of Revelation (the Apocalypse of John in the New Testament). So BABYLON'S TABOO is the cover art track.

She is our rebirth goddess and her coming was foretold with the UGLY photoshoot (where they are lit with a red light) as well as the 15th anniversary photoshoot.

Now, the Revelation to John is also referred to as Judgement Day or Doom's Day. Judgement Day was the GazettE's 2004 live, where they wore white with gold accents military style outfits. The 15th anniversary outfits were like a new version of that look.

Judgement day DVD cover (2004) - Doom's day (Ninth tour Uruha merch):

The 15th anniversary live itself was all about confronting their past selves, the ones from the earliest days, the period they never previously included in their looking back at the past tours.

Throughout 2016 and 2017 they played BLEMISH in almost every festival (Kishidan Banpaku16, Knotfest, BIAB3, Spooky Box 2: Lucy, Countdown Japan).

Even if the setlist was just 5 songs BLEMISH was always included.

I knew UGLY is foreshadowing Ninth goddess because of the red light and the blood that is featured in the PV but Ruki also said this about UGLY in the Black B Pass:

There were also many details during the NINTH era that were symbols of the goddess - like Ruki wearing the "In Utero" shirt and the cd's of the album itself being smeared with blood.

Dogmatic Final DEUX ends with Ruki screaming "we will die" but there is a picture of a baby in the womb on the screen.

Kai about Deux in Dogma Book:

(Dogmatic Final Deux)

Interestingly this beautiful grotesqueness is in the UGLY PV exactly what Kai described when talking about DEUX. Also notice that the man is wearing a military style hat, just like the Ninth goddess and it's definitely not a coincidence.

Another thing that appears in the Book of Revelation is The Beast 666, where it symbolizes rebellion, and opposition to conventional morality (Black moral?)

In Thelema Babalon and The Beast are counterparts, with the beast representing passion. I said in my 1st analysis that the beast represents controlled instincts, and it might be true, since some esoteric traditions do see the Beast as the lower nature of Man, and dealing with that is a big part of the Jungian individuation process.

But at the time of writing this analysis, I have an Uruha Ninth interview on my mind, where he says that "the GazettE always wants to appeal by going in an aggressive direction." And because of that, I can't help but think that maybe the passion they are referring to is their passion, and their aggression, that they put into their music. Although, that panther does look very tame, so I'm not sure. Maybe it's both meanings. Like, they are dealing with their aggression by exorcising it during performances.

In most religious contexts the Beast is depicted as a more mythological beast, like a manticore or dragon or something with multiple heads. In the Thoth Tarot deck, it's a lion.

In our case, it is the black panther and phase 03 of the Ninth tour, when it appeared, was called "Passion is Ferocious." They were also 2 sides of the Babylon's taboo T-shirt.

As you can see, on the Ninth world tour DVD cover art, the 2 of them are reunited.

I've made the proposition that Uruha's green Hellion is representative of the Goddess herself.

And now it seems to me that the 666 Hellion is the Beast. The 666 scale seems very intentional.

All of his guitars are connected to the goddess in some way:

The very 1st one, from 2006 (NLSG), features a Sacred Heart, a new version of the Sacred heart on the back cover of Ninth. 2 - the white one is for Chokmah, where the path of Daleth (the Empress tarot card) leads. Or to put it more simply white is for Yang. 3 - The rebirth goddess herself. 4 - as I just mentioned, is her beast.

Her 1st appearance was in 2006 (NLSG) with Black Moral. Then, she was on the Toxic CD jacket (2011) with speakers decorating her. Then, with Division (2012) she is split into two - Fragment [Vein] & Fragment [Artery]. In Ninth Odd Smell lyrics Division is referred to as "The Division of the heart."

Note that both of these albums heavily feature EDM elements and ALOT of worldview was shown in the video visuals on stage during the finales of these albums.

The Toxic and Division jackets become conjoined (pic4) in the artwork that came with the Redefinition tour (2014) DVD limited edition. The separate twins become 2 heads of a Gemini, the speakers still featured as head decoration.

On the Redefinition DVD cover art the 2 of her heads are now death and rebirth, with Death taking hold for now. It was released on the 13 anniversary, 13 being associated with death and after the "looking back at the past" tour which is a "death" before another "rebirth" (with the new album.)

In the 13th anniversary teaser she appears as a scarlet woman, background black & white, colorless, like the death goddess' realm (or wasteland), making the redness stand out even more.

She then morphs into the Ninth goddess (Ninth released on the 13th of June, making her, very appropriately, a Gemini.)

Before the release of Dogma we see her as a Death goddess but the 2 of them are conjoined, in unison. Remember my twin guitars - twin goddesses post? Aoi and Uruha play most of the songs on Dogma in unison.

Ninth, musically, stands out as the album that was fully recorded digitally, Toxic and Division had heavy electronic music elements, Blemish in it's initial stages, had heavy digital elements - as Kai said in the quote at the top of this post. In the Dogma book Blemish and Bizarre are described as 'inorganic'.

On Ninth the 3 tracks composed by Uruha are 99.999, The Mortal, Babylon's Taboo.

When talking about The Mortal Uruha said: "When I created this song, I was inspired by the theme of AI and a mechanical worldview, giving it a bit of a sci-fi feel. We included inorganic voice-like sounds throughout, adding a subliminal sense of lifelessness to complete the track."

You can hear her voice at the beginning of The Mortal. Also during The Mortal, Ruki has this choreography where he is trying to reach her. She is, of course, the red light in this case.

My The Mortal scenography post

This was The Mortal merch:

Ninth jacket artwork itself is glitchy, 99.999 is a track that contains within itself all of the SE from their previous albums. AI is something that is digital and consumes information. Like the Matrix or the Mother Goddess.

From Google: "Matrix" is related to "mother." Its figurative meanings relating to a source, came from the Latin "mater" (mother) and "matrix" (pregnant animal; womb)

In Kabbalah, the realm of Briah (waters of the collective unconscious) is where pure divine ideas, take on the beginnings of form and distinction. It is the realm of archetypes, the primal blueprint for all creation, the womb of creation.

By ascending through the Tree of Life, mystics seek to pierce the veil of Binah. Binah embodies Daat (the Abyss / hidden knowledge) as well as the limitations of Understanding. To transcend you must embrace the paradox: seeing forms as illusions yet necessary for divine manifestation. Understanding is realizing the illusion of separateness and the eternal interconnectedness of all.

She is the emotional fabric of existence and the collective emotional body of humanity. And music is a bit like that as well.

That's why on the Toxic CD jacket she is decorated with speakers, and in the Ninth tour teaser she appears as sound waves.

She is music. The source of inspiration, the music itself, as well as the shared feeling of unity between the band members and the attendees of live performances.

And 20th anniversary Babylon's Taboo starts with an intro of mesmerizing red lights:

The chant ADE DUE DAMBALLA is from Chucky and translates to "Give me the power, I beg of you!" — it brings about broiling storm clouds of lightning and thunder in the skies above as the practitioner effectively swaps one body for another. (this is from Google, I did not watch Chucky)

But it is essentially a voodooo chant for soul transfer. The motif of lightning is featured in the Ninth tour promo posters and teasers. There is also green lightning during Nox, as it's performed in MASS final. Nox, the Roman goddess whose name means "Night."

From A. Crowley's The Vision and the Voice: "Therefore art thou called Understanding, O Babylon, Lady of the Night!"

And what is on the MASS album jacket? Night, containing all before seen archetypes of the collective unconscious, making NOX the MASS cover art song.

So, MASS jacket is all containing visually, NINTH SE 99.999 is all containing musically, they are the 2 red albums, but it didn't start then. If you look at the Redefinition DVD jacket (the death goddess) at the bottom of the art you can see the Dim cube and the Stacked Rubbish chair, so she consumed the 6 albums that were performed with the Redefinition tour. What's left? Their early works, the pre-Disorder mini albums, and that's precisely what they performed during the 15th anniversary "Itan."

Ruki did confirm in an interview that 15th anniversary is a continuation of Redefinition. And having the Goddess consume all their previous works was necessary for her to appear the way she does with Ninth.

But let's get back to 20th anniversary Babylon's Taboo, it ends like this, with the Red beam finally entering Ruki's heart:

Babylon's Taboo transition into Dogma: - these songs are always performed in that order and they are also next to each other on the Heterodoxy Abyss disc.

The Sacred heart is about compassion that is born out of suffering.

I talked more about where else Ruki featured The Sacred Heart and the meaning of it in my 3rd analysis, so I will not elaborate on it here. (But I do have a hearts tag)

The Japanese word for "heart" is 心 (kokoro). It refers to the spiritual heart (mind, soul, emotions) and there is a separate word for the physical heart itself.

Whether it's merch design or emojis, hearts and roses are Ruki's favorite motifs, so let's talk about the rose next.

(1 - Nil limited edition, 2 - Division ヘドロ HEDORO (composed by Uruha), 3 - Regret, 4 - Nil again, 5 - RCE final pamphlet Uruha, 6 - Ruki IG post from 2023, captioned "After spending a long time immersed in the sound, it feels like my head is on fire 🔥 Ah, I hope some inspiration hits me soon." , 7 - In Blossom, 8 - Nilduenilun, captioned: "This is a reworked version of the flower motif used during ACT 1, tying in the significance of 5 years to create the final design 👏 I’m really fond of the motif, it feels so true to myself and the symbolic box.")

Hedoro lyrics:

"Before I realized it, the once-noble cause had become twisted, A paradise much like the *abyss. If we strip away regulations and consume the taboo, Would even the earth transform into heaven?

This reality feels just a little pitiful, So I close my eyelids and see with my other eye, I could laugh at it—if only I tried. As you can see, this is the state we’re in.

Spotted, oozing, endlessly spilling arguments. Under the *Buddha’s feet, Tonight ends once again in despair.

Riding the rhythm of semi-madness, Spotted, oozing, endlessly spilling arguments. If there’s no going back, Then like an ignorant child, Let me fall endlessly."

*奈落 (Naraku) abyss or Buddhist spiritual realm of hell. (Naraku, like the song title. Naraku's lyrics end with "Naraku wo mita", meaning "I saw the abyss") **仏 (hotoke): Refers to Buddha or a Buddhist figure, symbolizing spiritual enlightenment or divine presence.

Mentions of stripping away regulations, consuming taboos, falling into darkness are all also in the lyrics of Wasteland, (which features a headless Buddha statue in the background of the live performance.)

Words used in both Hedoro and Wasteland lyrics:

規制 Kisei (regulations) 禁断 Kindan (the forbidden, taboo) 堕ちる Ochiru (collapse or fall) 闇 Yami (darkness)

In Blossom lyrics:

"The hands that gave birth and abandoned me Living days without grasping anything Counting the pain on my fingers So I won’t forget

I need a meaning to live for Ideologies take root in my mind Nothing changes even if I die [...] (Until this wound becomes the trace) Playing with the abyss reflected in the revolving lantern

The dripping color from disheveled hair Differs from the ideal paradise I painted It’s so tainted, dull, and lifeless Which part should I peel off to make the paradise scatter?

(I change despair into hope) (I break you and get hope) [...]"

So what these songs have in common is mentions of the Abyss and it makes me think of this a Nietzsche quote:

“You have overcome yourself: but why do you show yourself to me only as the one overcome? I want to see the victor: throw roses into the abyss and say: 'here is my thanks to the monster who didn't succeed in swallowing me alive.'”

Although, Ruki loves Guns N' Roses, chances are, he has started using this motif because of that. It was NIL that featured roses most heavily (the DVD jacket also features guns), and it was that 2006 NLSG finale that Babylon 1st appeared in (look at the t-shirts they wore during encore.) Ruki said that the end of NIL feels like going to heaven, so having "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" soundtrack played during the break before the encore felt natural. And after that, it became a tradition, it was played during Shikkoku and Ninth final as well.

So, it definitely has multiple meanings, as most things do, in the Ruki world.

But the word "nil" is a contraction of "nihil" (like the SE for DOGMA). Nihil meaning "nothing" "non-existence" "negation" and nil also means "nothing" or "zero."

Which makes me think of Sunyata - "emptiness," "voidness," "nothingness" or "zeroness." In Buddhism, realizing Sunyata is essential for attaining enlightenment. It's there to dissolve ego attachments by realization of the impermanent nature of reality.

"Nil" is the GazettE's 2nd album and it is the name of Ruki's solo project. Interestingly, Hide's solo project was called "Zilch", and zilch also translates to "nothing," "zero."

In Ninth Odd Smell "Nil" is called 無 (mu) which has connotations of Nothingness in Zen Buddhism, Void in an abstract or cosmic sense, Nonexistence & Negation/Negative.

The line itself is: "The second "無"—a future that tears through the darkness."

But let's talk about Abyss & Lucy next.

If we look at these names just through the esoteric lens it should be that the Abyss disc is the dark tracks and Lucy disc is all about finally seeing the light in the darkness. And some songs on the Abyss & Lucy setlists fit this description, but others absolutely do not.

I'm looking at Heterodoxy ABYSS track list and Wasteland, Goddess, Ruthless Deed, Babylon's Taboo, Ominous, Dim scene all make perfect sense.

For LUCY, Ninth Odd Smell, Dawn, Two of Kind, Blemish fit in great with the idea of Lucy as bringer of light. But then there's Maggots and Vermin which absolutely don't fit.

In an interview for Black B Pass Ruki was describing GODDESS (the song) in terms of bipolarity of manic depression, saying it's definitely on the depressive side. Now, ABYSS & LUCY being depression and mania is very fitting. Looking at them this way, every single track on the list makes perfect sense.

Abyss & Lucy are also somewhat reminiscent of our goddesses of Death and Rebirth. Well, they are both twins. Although, I believe Ruki means it a little differently, since it's always the little girls that represent Abyss & Lucy. Regret cover art also features the two girl twins (and a rose).

By the way, I believe the girl on the Undying cover is the same as the Abyss girl, I think there is a connection here - between her and the Death goddess. And if you look at the Spooky Box 2 image, the Lucy girl is surrounded by red, nooses and blood, in what seems to be suicide circus (Babylon symbols)? She sure is looking cheerful and murderous. The Abyss girl - on the contrary is scared and withdrawn, in an asylum.

But if you look at lyrics of LUCY (the song), it's about greed:

"Enchanted by the darkness, I reach into the nest of desire, A pleasure-soaked, adaptive vice;" "Hey, Lucy, Pretending to be omnipotent is such a bad habit, Exposing it all. Greed (lust), folly (lie), bluff (crime) Over again." "Swallowed up by your greed, you forgot you were being strangled."

Greed is a recurring theme in Ruki's lyrics, and a lot of the occult themed song feature it, even Dogma. In the video he marks the bottom of the upside down triangle with greed.

This sort of meaning attached to the 3 angles is completely Ruki's creation. Usually, in esoteric graphs, the whole inverted triangle would be Shadow, and the whole upright triangle would be Light.

Dogma lyrics: "The countless corpses of my kind are the corpses of greed;" "I witnessed the death of greed"

Barbarian lyrics: "The greed that's been played with to the end Seeps out sluggishly. Scattered amusements, defenses of greed, An emotional decay that's a spectacular view." "Numbers games, beyond madness Can you hide your servility Behind that embellished smile?" "The shapeless end of greed, Hung upside-down. That fading, faint smile"

Note that Barbarian live (Mass Final) features that beautiful intro/outro of Uruha in green and red light. And in Lucy he has a guitar solo, even though Dogma as an album was lacking in guitar solos.

Also, The Hanged Man XII tarot card is represented by an inverted triangle. I mention this because there seems to be a pattern of "hanging" happening here.

Karasu (crow) lyrics: "Temptation can’t steal away the core of myself Exposing the transformation clearly, I’m bombarded by limitless greed" "So I’ll become black just like a crow that can’t be tamed" "Dragged into jet black"

Malum (evil) lyrics: "Morally bankrupt and completely drenched in red like a demon In the indiscriminate inhuman depths of extreme greed" "Pray as your eyes gaze down into the abyss of death"

Bizarre lyrics: "This gate is to hell, Scared body, With greedy eyes"

In Christianity, the Whore of Babylon is associated with false religion, often tied to materialism, greed, idolatry, moral and spiritual decay.

But in Thelema Babalon represents liberation, spiritual ecstasy, and cosmic power. She is not viewed negatively but as a destroyer of false purity and societal hypocrisy. She invites you to transcend ego and embrace spiritual transformation through surrender to her divine current. (I believe that's what happens on the red MASS DVD jacket)

So, they are both named Babylon and associated with red. It gets confusing, yes, especially since Crowley also sometimes spelled her name as Babylon...

I believe the Ninth goddess is meant as the positive one, as music.

And the other, decadent, greedy one is music industry.

I believe that's who we see in the Ugly MV, the red woman of the greed of the music industry. That would make perfect sense with what Ruki said (quoted at the start of this post) about the UGLY PV being about judgement and 7 deadly sins, focusing on greed.

(Note that this MV features a murky crimson shade of red, different than the scarlet red lights of our goddess.)

Ruki said that the 3 tracks on UGLY are connected like a concept album, so the first 2 songs are about his anger at the lying betrayers, those ugly surroundings that he has to spend time in. But despite all that, there is salvation - Goddess.

Part 5 - Alchemy & Mass

#the gazette #symbolism #13 #blemish #pbm #mi #lyrics #analysis #babylon

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