Ridley Scott’s new movie "Robin Hood" contains an esoteric commentary on the nature of revolution as it applies to obsolete governments marked by oligarchic privilege and exploitation of their peoples. The movie gives a clear demonstration of the necessity of anarchy for the purpose of reclaiming the sovereignty of the individual. Civilization is a lie leading inevitably toward corruption and abuse. Our refuge will soon be once again in the tribal primitivism that connects us intimately with our ecology and provides us with a sane social contract.
The story follows the pendulum between dialectic and philosophical thought, and the role of these currents upon the receptive analytical and mystical aspects of the human subconscious mind.
Robin begins as an archer in the army of King Richard the Lion-Hearted. Richard represents the far-right Republican military-industrial machine. He is a warmonger and is actively engaged in a war against Muslims. When he asks Robin’s opinion of his “crusade”, Robin reluctantly tells him that God will not bless his war because of their shedding of innocent Muslim blood. Apparently Richard has been committing genocide, in the name of God. (Sound familiar?)
As an archer, Robin represents the constellation Sagittarius and its characteristic idealism and universal values. He is an outspoken proponent of human rights, and is placed in the stocks for his “naivety”. In the stocks with his mates, he assures them that they will desert the army once they are free. Robin’s personal philosophy places him in a position of consistent autonomy no matter his situation.
While Robin is in the stocks, King Richard is stuck through the neck with an arrow. The arrow is always a metaphor for Truth. In this case, the source of Richard’s authority, his throat, is pierced by a more noble vision than his pathetic “god-granted right to rule”. The crown is given to Robert of Loxley to return to London; however, Loxley is slain on the road in an ambush, by a French double agent named Godfrey. (He is "god free" or "godless".)
The ambush is interrupted by Robin and his company of counter-culturalists. Most of Godfrey’s men are killed, and Robin personally scars Godfrey’s mouth making his mirthless grin a little wider. Godfrey, the assassin, represents an insidious Scorpio quality of force notorious for secret operations within government. His is the killing hand that plays divisive and manipulative games within the bloated structure of bureaucracy. Robin’s delivered scar shows the limited impact that any ideology, no matter how noble, can have on the truly evil. Their souls are so corrupt that no call to values will stir them. To eradicate this man in black, Robin must infiltrate the culture and manipulate the masses to overturn the status quo.
Robin kneels by the dying body of Robert of Loxley, who gives him the crown and his sword, commissioning him to return to Nottingham and tell his father and wife of his passing. Robin agrees to do this. He has selfish and selfless motives for accepting this mission. This aside, he is to be a bridge between both the old guard (the right wing) and the new regime (the left wing) symbolized by Richard’s lascivious brother John.
In taking up the sword, Robin swings to the polar opposite of Sagittarius that is Gemini. This shift from bow to sword represents a descent into a dualistic consciousness necessary for the implementation of a very mysterious program that will empower England against both left and right wings of the crow that is their Royalty. This move into dualism may be viewed as an infiltration. Robin must hone a craft that will allow him to express his vision. A philosopher that doesn’t know grammar cannot very well compel the masses to “rise and rise again, until lambs become lions”.
Moreover this delineation will allow Robin to affect a necessary transformation in Miriam, who represents the Virgo/Pisces spectrum of receptive thought. When he first enters Nottingham village, he is welcomed by Miriam and her father as a messenger of doom. Robert is dead, and this has implications beyond mere sentiment. To keep land ownership within the Loxley family, Robin is asked to pretend to be Robert. His compensation will be Robert’s sword, i.e. his intellect. Robin needs this “lower-mind” as a tool to lead Miriam out of her self-admitted virginal analysis and into the Sherwood Forest of mystical perception.
Robin does this by “playing the game”, a stereotypical Gemini behavior. Robin gauges what is valuable to Miriam’s Virgo instincts and act accordingly. She is deeply concerned because the church is taking Nottingham’s grain to York. In truth, her answer lies in the perceived enemy that stalks on the outskirts of the village. A band of pict-like savages, who haunt the forest and steal from the village store-house, are her destiny, though she is highly resistant to this resurgence of the old magic. Robin retrieves the grain at arrow-point, revealing that though he carries the sword of discrimination, he has not abandoned his ideals. The grain is returned and planted by starlight. A hard rain begins to fall as do the last of the seeds. By the fireside, he tells Miriam that the crops have been planted, and we glimpse a warmth begin to spread in the maiden.
However, Robin continues to be wed to Miriam in name only. He still sleeps with the dogs on a pile of straw. She slowly opens to him, and as she does, she begins to drift toward the Piscean pole. This drifting into the mystery is demonstrated in a conversation that Robin has with Walter Loxley (Miriam’s father), who represents the intuitive Taurus principle. (Walter is later slain by Godfrey symbolizing the dire relationship between passion and intuition, namely that when the passion principle is too strong, intuition cannot be heard.) Walter guides Robin into a trance state, in which he recalls the death of his father – a man who penned an early prototype of the Magna Carta. Armed with this new confidence in his ancestry, Robin intervenes in a mounting conflict between King John and the land-holders in the north.
Having established himself as Robert Loxley, he is given a voice, and an opportunity to sell the early freedom document to the people and the king. Given the impending French invasion by the hand of Godfrey, King John promises to sign the document if they will unify against the French. The people rally and defeat the French invaders. During the battle on the beach, Robin relinquishes the sword for the bow, which he uses to kill Godfrey as he flees the fray. His arrow pierces the spy’s throat, whereas before, he only scarred his face.
The message is simple. A philosophy of personal freedom and individual sovereignty can only be effective when the masses have been moved emotionally. This stimulation of the collective desire is done through integration. One must relate to the people through an immediately recognizable medium. This creates empathy and rapport as well as a common tongue. Once this arousal occurs, the arrow of philosophy is given effective flight to destroy the insidious forces of evil rotting at the heart of government. The people, unified, may turn back their invading sense of “other”, and the situation at home may become increasingly obvious.
Following the defeat of the French, King John (the left wing) declares that he is also “god-ordained” and not subject to common law. He refuses to sign the freedom document and declares Robin an outlaw. However, this is all a moot point. Robin and Miriam have entered into the Sherwood Forest, where they have embraced the old magic. Robin’s men wear animal skins and masks, and Miriam’s skill is now with herbs and mushrooms. Her preoccupation with agrarianism has passed with her virginity. She has become the Piscean witch, and Robin’s sure arrow will soon strike the crow of government from the sky.
The story follows the pendulum between dialectic and philosophical thought, and the role of these currents upon the receptive analytical and mystical aspects of the human subconscious mind.
Robin begins as an archer in the army of King Richard the Lion-Hearted. Richard represents the far-right Republican military-industrial machine. He is a warmonger and is actively engaged in a war against Muslims. When he asks Robin’s opinion of his “crusade”, Robin reluctantly tells him that God will not bless his war because of their shedding of innocent Muslim blood. Apparently Richard has been committing genocide, in the name of God. (Sound familiar?)
As an archer, Robin represents the constellation Sagittarius and its characteristic idealism and universal values. He is an outspoken proponent of human rights, and is placed in the stocks for his “naivety”. In the stocks with his mates, he assures them that they will desert the army once they are free. Robin’s personal philosophy places him in a position of consistent autonomy no matter his situation.
While Robin is in the stocks, King Richard is stuck through the neck with an arrow. The arrow is always a metaphor for Truth. In this case, the source of Richard’s authority, his throat, is pierced by a more noble vision than his pathetic “god-granted right to rule”. The crown is given to Robert of Loxley to return to London; however, Loxley is slain on the road in an ambush, by a French double agent named Godfrey. (He is "god free" or "godless".)
The ambush is interrupted by Robin and his company of counter-culturalists. Most of Godfrey’s men are killed, and Robin personally scars Godfrey’s mouth making his mirthless grin a little wider. Godfrey, the assassin, represents an insidious Scorpio quality of force notorious for secret operations within government. His is the killing hand that plays divisive and manipulative games within the bloated structure of bureaucracy. Robin’s delivered scar shows the limited impact that any ideology, no matter how noble, can have on the truly evil. Their souls are so corrupt that no call to values will stir them. To eradicate this man in black, Robin must infiltrate the culture and manipulate the masses to overturn the status quo.
Robin kneels by the dying body of Robert of Loxley, who gives him the crown and his sword, commissioning him to return to Nottingham and tell his father and wife of his passing. Robin agrees to do this. He has selfish and selfless motives for accepting this mission. This aside, he is to be a bridge between both the old guard (the right wing) and the new regime (the left wing) symbolized by Richard’s lascivious brother John.
In taking up the sword, Robin swings to the polar opposite of Sagittarius that is Gemini. This shift from bow to sword represents a descent into a dualistic consciousness necessary for the implementation of a very mysterious program that will empower England against both left and right wings of the crow that is their Royalty. This move into dualism may be viewed as an infiltration. Robin must hone a craft that will allow him to express his vision. A philosopher that doesn’t know grammar cannot very well compel the masses to “rise and rise again, until lambs become lions”.
Moreover this delineation will allow Robin to affect a necessary transformation in Miriam, who represents the Virgo/Pisces spectrum of receptive thought. When he first enters Nottingham village, he is welcomed by Miriam and her father as a messenger of doom. Robert is dead, and this has implications beyond mere sentiment. To keep land ownership within the Loxley family, Robin is asked to pretend to be Robert. His compensation will be Robert’s sword, i.e. his intellect. Robin needs this “lower-mind” as a tool to lead Miriam out of her self-admitted virginal analysis and into the Sherwood Forest of mystical perception.
Robin does this by “playing the game”, a stereotypical Gemini behavior. Robin gauges what is valuable to Miriam’s Virgo instincts and act accordingly. She is deeply concerned because the church is taking Nottingham’s grain to York. In truth, her answer lies in the perceived enemy that stalks on the outskirts of the village. A band of pict-like savages, who haunt the forest and steal from the village store-house, are her destiny, though she is highly resistant to this resurgence of the old magic. Robin retrieves the grain at arrow-point, revealing that though he carries the sword of discrimination, he has not abandoned his ideals. The grain is returned and planted by starlight. A hard rain begins to fall as do the last of the seeds. By the fireside, he tells Miriam that the crops have been planted, and we glimpse a warmth begin to spread in the maiden.
However, Robin continues to be wed to Miriam in name only. He still sleeps with the dogs on a pile of straw. She slowly opens to him, and as she does, she begins to drift toward the Piscean pole. This drifting into the mystery is demonstrated in a conversation that Robin has with Walter Loxley (Miriam’s father), who represents the intuitive Taurus principle. (Walter is later slain by Godfrey symbolizing the dire relationship between passion and intuition, namely that when the passion principle is too strong, intuition cannot be heard.) Walter guides Robin into a trance state, in which he recalls the death of his father – a man who penned an early prototype of the Magna Carta. Armed with this new confidence in his ancestry, Robin intervenes in a mounting conflict between King John and the land-holders in the north.
Having established himself as Robert Loxley, he is given a voice, and an opportunity to sell the early freedom document to the people and the king. Given the impending French invasion by the hand of Godfrey, King John promises to sign the document if they will unify against the French. The people rally and defeat the French invaders. During the battle on the beach, Robin relinquishes the sword for the bow, which he uses to kill Godfrey as he flees the fray. His arrow pierces the spy’s throat, whereas before, he only scarred his face.
The message is simple. A philosophy of personal freedom and individual sovereignty can only be effective when the masses have been moved emotionally. This stimulation of the collective desire is done through integration. One must relate to the people through an immediately recognizable medium. This creates empathy and rapport as well as a common tongue. Once this arousal occurs, the arrow of philosophy is given effective flight to destroy the insidious forces of evil rotting at the heart of government. The people, unified, may turn back their invading sense of “other”, and the situation at home may become increasingly obvious.
Following the defeat of the French, King John (the left wing) declares that he is also “god-ordained” and not subject to common law. He refuses to sign the freedom document and declares Robin an outlaw. However, this is all a moot point. Robin and Miriam have entered into the Sherwood Forest, where they have embraced the old magic. Robin’s men wear animal skins and masks, and Miriam’s skill is now with herbs and mushrooms. Her preoccupation with agrarianism has passed with her virginity. She has become the Piscean witch, and Robin’s sure arrow will soon strike the crow of government from the sky.
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