Marvel Alchemy

Art by John Byrne and Terry Austin

I grew up in a household where at least a few comic books were usually around. This is the first comic book I remember really noticing. I must have been around six or seven years old since the book was originally published in December of 1978. I'm not surprised this issue was in my household because my parents were Doctor Strange fans. It was the cover that most captured my young attention. The story it contained, the first chapter of a two-parter, was beyond me. But I was as familiar with the symbolic figures of the Rider-Waite Tarot deck as a seven year old could be maybe. Even then I knew I was looking at something interesting. The presence of this comic book as a young child might explain a lot. It doesn't get much more blatant then this.

Looking at this cover now I'm struck by several factors. It is an illustration by the eighties powerhouse team of John Byrne and Terry Austin. I have great respect for Byrne's artwork (though not so much as a writer, where I find his approach to be callow and destructive) and his pencils always looked their best inked by Austin. The issue was written by Chris Claremont. Claremont, Byrne and Austin were the team responsible for classic X-Men epics like "The Dark Phoenix Saga" and "Days of Future Past".

The image itself is very powerful and the symbolism it invokes entirely apt. Marvel's major initiatory character Spider-Man (see Tingly Intuition) is depicted bursting forth from Doctor Strange's Orb of Agamotto, an artifact related to the Doctor's All-Seeing Eye of Agamotto, and a literal and figurative stargate. A magician's crystal ball is for certain a Looking Glass. Spider-Man as the Fool too is absolutely appropriate. The Fool is the initiate's card. They say wisdom begins with accepting one's own foolish nature. With great power comes great responsibility. Doctor Strange (see Doctoring Art Gotic Part II) is a natural as the Magician, adept in all the elements of the Minor Arcana. Ms. Marvel is The Star (see The Great Marvel Mysteries Part Three), connected to Virgo and the Goddess.

That's Clea on the High Priestess card and this is completely appropriate as well, especially within the context of this storyline. Clea is Doctor Strange's student and lover, and the niece of the god-like Dormammu. The figure on the Death card is a fairly obscure Doctor Strange villain, Silver Dagger. Here is perhaps the only real miscast, though it is understandable why Byrne made this choice. The symbolism of the Tarot plays a key role in the storyline, including Doctor Strange as the Magician and Clea as the High Priestess but reversed. Spider-Man as the Fool and Ms. Marvel as the Star are not specified, but in the story the card representing Silver Dagger is the Hierophant reversed. This is much more appropriate as Silver Dagger, a character created by Steve Englehart, is a fanatical Catholic driven mad by reading a book of magic called "The Shiatra Book of the Damned", an item clearly inspired by Lovecraft's Necronomicon (Doctor Strange refers to the Shiatra Book inspiring the Necronomicon in part two of this storyline, reversing the relationship). Reading the Shiatra Book conveyed great sorcerous power to Silver Dagger, which he utilized to hunt down and murder other spell-casters who he considered to be sinners and heretics. He is literally a Hierophant reversed.

In a previous encounter in Doctor Strange's own title, Silver Dagger became trapped within the Orb of Agomotto, in an Otherworld termed an "Unreality". The "Marvel Team-Up" issues relate his escape, achieved by drawing the astral bodies of Clea and Doctor Strange in so that he could exit. Within the Orb Doctor Strange faced Clea at her full and darkest potential, very similar in fact (but far less involved) to the Dark Phoenix Saga Claremont and Byrne presented a couple of years later. Naturally, as this is a team-up title, all would have been lost if fate had not delivered both Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel to the scene to lend Doctor Strange assistance. Of great interest here is the depiction of the Unreality within the Orb.


Art by Howard Chaykin

The Land Inside the Looking Glass. According to a flashback this continued the model established by Englehart in Silver Dagger's original appearance in the Doctor Strange series, which I have never read, but would love to get my hands on. It seems that the Orb's Unreality is one and the same as Wonderland. It also appears to be highly plastic, confirming at one point to the home dimension of Clea (the Dark Dimension) and then to the inner-world of Spider-Man. The hookah-smoking, mushroom-perched Caterpillar of Wonderland is remarkably similar to the initiatory, Mugwump Spider-Man.

In Doctoring Art Gotic Part IV I mentioned the symbol combining potential of the big two comic book publishers' various team-up titles. For a long span of issues DC's "The Brave and the Bold" involved primarily Batman teaming up with random characters of the DC pantheon. The same was done in "DC Comics Presents" with Superman pre-Crisis, and again by Byrne for a little over a year in "Action Comics" post-Crisis. There is certainly pure Gold created in some of these serial, chemical weddings. "DC Comics Presents" notably includes a visit by Superman to Eternia where he met He-Man and the Masters of the Universe during a time when DC held a license for that property. The long-running "World's Finest Comics" featured the singular pairing of Batman and Superman, who shared many weird adventures.

Besides "Marvel Team-Up", Marvel also had "Marvel Two-In-One" which featured pairings with the Thing from the Fantastic Four. There was even a couple of Giant Size issues and a regular series titled "Marvel Super-Villain Team-Up" in the late seventies, featuring Doctor Doom mostly with the Submariner except in the last few issues where Doom worked with Magneto and the Red Skull. Most of these titles, including "World's Finest" which started in 1941, lasted no later then 1988, and that was Byrne's take on "Action", a title which continued but in the form of a weekly (very weakly) anthology series. The rest had all been canceled by late 1986. This coincides with what I consider to be the Iron Age of American comic books. Interestingly all of these titles have been revived recently in one way or another.

"Marvel Team-Up" is of particular interest given recent topics on Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, and the X-Men. Spider-Man was the primary figure of the title. The few issues that did not have Spider-Man featured either the Hulk or the Promethean Human Torch (see The Life Pyrotic), and in one case the two together. The initial three issues were in fact all team-ups between Spider-Man and the Human Torch. A panel from the first issue, March 1972, speaks volumes.


Art by Ross Andru

The villain they faced in issue #1 was Marvel's Sandman, an enemy shared by Spider-Man and the elemental Fantastic Four. The name "Sandman" alone refers to initiation patterns, the altered-state of consciousness achieved while sleeping, and also a Man of the Earth, an Adam. In "Marvel Team-Up" #2 Spidey and the Torch again fought Sandman as well as two other members of The Frightful Four. The wonderful Frightful Four are every bit as elemental as the Fantastic Four. The anti-gravity expert the Wizard is Air, Paste-Pot Pete is Water, and the Inhuman Medusa is Fire. Interesting here that the element missing from the Frightful Four in this issue is the single one present from the Fantastic Four. The issue also features the extra-dimensional, Cosmic Rod wielding Annihilus. In this case Annihilus is the fifth element, the ether or astral substance associating with Kiby's universal Cosmic Energy.

In issue #3 the Torch and Spider-Man faced the vampire Morbius. Vampires inherently embody life-after-death initiation rites. The story continued into issue four which featured Spider-Man and one of the last appearances of the original X-Men before the second generation was introduced in 1975. The adventure ended with Spider-Man planting a kiss on Jean Grey/Marvel Girl/Phoenix, the true High Priestess of the Marvel Mysteries.


Art by Gil Kane

Interesting that without knowing the context one might naturally assume Spider-Man was kissing Mary Jane Watson in the panel above. Depending on who is rendering them, they are more or less identical in appearance. Claremont, Byrne and Austin did an interesting story with Mary Jane in "Marvel Team-Up" #79. Unearthed artifacts from the Hyborian Age (described as the Age following the fall of Atlantis, c. 10,000 years ago) were on display in a New York City museum, including an amulet that possessed a hapless night watchmen. His physical form was taken over by the wizard Kulan Gath. Spider-Man naturally got involved but he was overpowered by Gath's demonic minions. Mary Jane tagged along to the scene with Peter Parker and was herself possessed by the sword of Red Sonja who reincarnated in Mary Jane's form. Unfortunately Spidey and Red still got captured and hung on X-crosses above a dimensional portal.


Art by John Byrne and Terry Austin

Kulan Gath returned several years later in a two-issue multi-character team-up in "Uncanny X-Men" #190-191. This time Gath managed to transform the island of Manhattan into a city out of the Hyborian Age, including everyone on the island. Due to the spell they had no memory of their normal reality. The spell affected the X-Men, the New Mutants, and the Avengers. Unaffected were Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. Issue 191 opened with Spider-Man crucified again, this time in the traditional form, and it was apparent that he had been heavily tortured. Many of the characters die in the course of the story, but all was resolved when Doctor Strange combined his abilities with those of Illyana Rasputin to reverse time and erase Kulan Gath's spell from existence. This represents one of the more significant examples of Marvel's licensed properties being directly folded into the Marvel Universe, in this case the pulp, fantasy sword and sorcery realms of Robert E. Howard. Spider-Man also met King Kull in "Marvel Team-Up" #112.


Art by Sal Buscema and Mike Esposito

I've been thinking about "Marvel Team-Up" since I mentioned it in Doctoring Part IV. Then Christopher Knowles of the Secret Sun posted Silver Star, part 5- Iran, the CIA and the Lord of Light where I learned for the first time about Jack Kirby's role in a proposed film based on the 1967 novel "Lord of Light" by Roger Zelazny. Be sure to read Chris' article if you haven't yet for an amazing "truth is stranger then fiction" CIA involvement in the project. The "a-ha" moment for me in this came because amongst the many gems amidst the run of "Marvel Team-Up" is "Marvel Team-Up Annual" #1 from 1976, featuring Spider-Man's first meeting with the full New X-Men team, "The Lords of Light and Darkness", undoubtedly inspired by Zelazny's works, primarily "Lord of Light" due to its Hindu mythological structure, but also the 1969 Egyptian pantheon based "Creatures of Light and Darkness". In the splash above the heroes are before what Zelazny might term "the tall man of smoke who wears a wide hat". Note in this image how the various figures are mostly balanced in pairs, Storm and Banshee, Wolverine and Nightcrawler, and Cyclops and Colossus. This by default leaves key initiator Spider-Man in association with Phoenix, the Goddess herself. I have not read "Lord of Light", or any of Zelazny's novels besides a few of the "Amber" series many years ago, but even the cursory, Cliiff-notes treatment on Wikipedia makes the source material for the Team-Up annual readily apparent.

The plot involves a top-secret government installation called "The Nest" working to solve the energy crisis through use of secret method of irradiating common minerals. A team of eight international scientists were at the Nest working on the project. The developer of the method, Araman Nila, was a devout Hindu. An earthquake struck the underground complex while Nila was performing a delicate procedure, causing the unstable, radioactive compounds to explode.

As chance would have it Peter Parker was part of a press junket following American and Soviet scientists and politicians going to visit the Nest. Even more amazing was the presence on this flight of Professor Xavier and his students, as stand-ins for Reed Richards, Mister Fantastic, who was unable to attend. The plane carrying the visitors flew into the path of the smoke from the destroyed Nest and the controls went haywire due to the radiation. It was then attacked by a squadron of flying robots called Rakks, security droids for the Nest, named for the Hindu demonic entities Rakshasas, here described by Peter Parker as "Guardians of the Gates of Hell". The Rakks cut the nose off the plane with lasers and it dropped into a nosedive. Spider-Man averted disaster by quickly weaving a giant web-parachute to slow the plane's descent.

On the ground the heroes soon discovered the former site of the Nest shielded by a rainbow hued radiation field. The crack in the earth leading to the underground complex was termed a "Hellpit", highly similar to the "Hellwell" of "Lord of Light". The heroes were then attacked by entities calling themselves Yama Dharma and Kali. Kali wields an item called "the Chaos Wheel" that emits maddening, hyper-sonic frequencies, seemingly identical to the skull-wheel used by the Kali in "Lord of Light". The self-styled gods revealed that they brought the plane down in order to capture an individual on board that they term "the One". The One, as you may expect, is Jean Grey/Phoenix.


Art by Sal Buscema and Mike Esposito

In this scene Wolverine's claws revealed Yama Dharma's transcendental nature. My god, he's full of stars! Following the proper super hero comic book formula, all the heroes were instantly knocked out by Kali's powerful Chaos Wheel. They awakened suspended and immobile in a force field. This was the perfect moment for some comic book exposition. Spider-Man and the X-Men learned that the powerful explosion filtered through the mind of the Hindu Araman Nila, transforming himself and his fellow scientists into god-like entities based on the templates of Nila's faith.


Art by Sal Buscema and Mike Esposito

Note the caduceus styling of Shiva's trident. They further explained that they sensed Jean's great power as the plane approached, and they required her to become their ninth member, completing their ennead. They furthered that their corporeal forms were unstable, in danger of disruption. They needed to transcend or die. To this end they were drawing in "stellar energy" and when they had absorbed enough they would leave the planet. However, this process would leave the Earth a "dying husk", a fact the Lords of Light and Darkness were completely indifferent to. Phoenix was needed to "bind their energies" and stabilize their "path to godhood".

Before this could happen Nightcrawler deduced that the stasis fields were particularly attuned to each captive, so while they couldn't free themselves they could use their powers to free one another. Once Spider-Man and the X-Men were free they quickly subdued the Lords, who were apparently not all that tough as far as godlike beings go. The Lords began to dissolve. Unfortunately, for some reason, their dissolution would also cause the Earth to die. Spider-Man deduced that the only solution was to get the Lords off the planet before it was too late. Cyclops devised a plan to accomplish this, that naturally involved coordinating several of the X-Men's powers.


Art by Sal Buscema and Mike Esposito

This involved the many characters forming a circle, a Magic ring. The end result was the Lords transforming into energy and traveling deep into space on one of Cyclops' optic beams, where they finished their evolution, combining to become a new star. "Marvel Team-Up Annual" #1 is not a classic by most standards. Neither writer Bill Mantlo nor artist Sal Buscema are largely considered to be top talents in the field (unfairly in the case of Buscema). However, I find the issue delightful as modern super heroes are brought into conflict with (somewhat) mythological entities, more or less on equal terms, blurring the distinctions between them. In fact, these gods were created in exactly the manner of many if not most of the "science" based super heroes (like Spider-Man, the Hulk, the Flash, etc.). And it is the symbolism of the art of alchemy that underlies this story of transmutation from mortal, to divine, and ultimately to stellar, the ultimate source of all mythologies.

The "Marvel Team-Up" Volume 1 series was a monthly alchemical formula, the chemical wedding of symbolic entities, and primarily initiatory in format. This is apparent by the major use in the title of Spider-Man as well as the Promethean Human Torch. We find synchronistic confirmation of this concept through a very unusual issue, "Marvel Team-Up" #74, published in October of 1978, which featured a meeting of Spider-Man and "Saturday Night Live's" Not Ready For Prime-Time Players, including Bill Murray (see Bill Luminati), again written by Chris Claremont.


Art by Bob Hall and Marie Severin

That's Jane Curtin and Gilda Radner in this scene with Murray and Spidey. The issue also includes Dan Aykroyd, Laraine Newman (dressed as Ms. Marvel), Garrett Morris (dressed as Thor!), and John Belushi in a samurai duel with the mutant Silver Samurai. The plot involves Belushi accidentally receiving a ring in the mail that he tried on and couldn't remove. The Silver Samurai wanted the ring and hired a group of goons to take over the "Saturday Night Live" studio. As chance would have it Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson had tickets for that night's show. The host of the show was Stan Lee (the most unlikely element of the issue). Interestingly the Samurai kind of wins this encounter.

This is far from the only instance when Marvel characters encounter real world celebrities. The Human Torch and the Thing once met the Beatles, Kirby once had Captain America and the Falcon taking orders from a dead-ringer for Kissinger, Daredevil had a team-up with Uri Geller and I've mentioned Doctor Strange's friendship with Tom Wolfe, and there are many more. In this instance the Promethean/initiatory character of the roles of Bill Murray intersect with Spider-Man, Mary Jane, and the alchemical qualities symbolized with Silver based characters. Plus the all important Magic Ring. Clearing away all doubt is the magical ability the ring is revealed to confer:


Art by Bob Hall and Marie Severin

Hiyo Silver away!

Bill Luminati

Early in his career, actor/comedian Bill Murray was the voice actor who portrayed the Promethean Human Torch on the "The Fantastic Four Radio Show". At first I thought this was just a funny item of trivia. But further consideration, and a review of Murray's career, has shown me that this connection between Murray-Prometheus-The Human Torch is a matter of great synchronistic significance. Let's take a look at the works of Mr. Murray.

To begin, here's an audio clip of Murray on "Saturday Night Live" as lounge singer Nick Winters, singing an ode to our most prominent modern depiction of the War of the Heavens:

Nick Winters "Star Wars"

Murray's first screen role was as camp counselor Tripper Harrison in "Meatballs". In the film Tripper nicknames Chris Makepeace's character Rudy Geller, "Wudy da Wabbit", a play on Elmer Fudd's "Wascally Wabbit" in reference to Bugs Bunny. Some of you may be aware of author Robert Anton Wilson's account of Bavarian Illuminati founder Adam Weishaupt's vision of a Lovecraftian Shoggoth as a rabbit, which Weishaupt called "Der Hexen Hase", "the Witches Rabbit". This term is said to be punningly preserved in the Bugs Bunny cartoons by the phrase "Wascally Wabbit".

As we shall see this is not the only connection between Murray and the Shoggoth/Phooka lunar cross-dressing trickster Bugs Bunny. In the 1980 comedy classic "Caddyshack" Murray plays golf course grounds keeper Carl Spackler, who spends the bulk of the movie matching wits with a gopher in a manner that clearly is a tribute to the antagonism of Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny. Murray also interacts with a rodent highly similar to a gopher in what may be his most significant role, as we see later in this post.

In between "Meatballs" and "Caddyshack" Murray starred in "Where The Buffalo Roam" as Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson. The film costarred Peter Boyle as Thompson's friend and attorney Carl Lazlo. Peter Boyle is himself resonant of Prometheus due to his portrayal of Frankenstein's Monster in Mel Brooks' 1974 comedy "Young Frankenstein".



In 1981 Bill Murray played John Winger, a New York City cab driver who discovers his true nature as a leader and guide after he joins the Army in the comedy "Stripes".  Murray was propelled to super-star celebrity status after starring in the paranormal comedy "Ghostbusters" in 1984, the top-grossing movie of that year. In this Columbia Pictures production, Murray starred as Dr. Peter Venkman, one of three parapsychologists who form the Ghostbusters business after being fired from New York City's Columbia University.

The logo for the Ghostbusters can be read as a diagonal bar blocking a ghost from emerging through a circular portal.



In the movie Dr. Venkman and his companions attempt to stop the fictional Mesopotamian demigod Gozer from invading New York City from a supernatural dimension. Gozer's means of opening its portal are two dog/bear-like servants, the male Vinz Clotho, the Key Master, and the female Zuul, the Gatekeeper. Vinz Clotho and Zuul possess two residents of 55 Central Park West, which in the film is described as being designed as a supernatural antenna by an insane surgeon who belonged to a secret society dedicated to the worship of Gozer.

Murry's "Ghostbusters" costars Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis also wrote the script for the film. Originally Aykroyd intended the Peter Venkman role for his fellow "Blues Brother" John Belushi. Belushi, however, died of a drug overdose while the script was being developed. The first supernatural entity the Ghostbusters successfully capture, the entity that would come to be called "Slimer", was an homage to Belushi. Slimer was described in the original script as "The Onion Head Ghost". The version of "Ghostbusters" that reached the screen was far scaled down from Aykroyd's original concept, which involved the Ghostbuster team traveling through time, space and dimensions battling giant ghosts. Instead of the rifle-like "Proton Projectors" the Ghostbusters were originally intended to each wield a pair of wands.

Things get even more interesting five years later when Murray reprised his role as Venkman in the sequel "Ghostbusters II". Notice that the modified Ghostbusters logo utilized for the sequel features the spirit form happy and more fully emerged through the circular portal. It also holds up two fingers in the yonic "V for Victory" sign.



In the film the Ghostbusters reunite to battle the menace of the spirit of fictional 16th century Moldavian ruler and necromancer Vigo the Carpathian. Vigo's supernatural plot involves an emotionally reactive slime that produces psychokinetic movement in inanimate objects. The Ghostbusters discover a river of this slime in the abandoned Beach Pneumatic Transit tunnels. This detail combines the esoteric symbolism of the subway with the major occult emblem of the Underground Stream.

At one point in the film the Ghostbusters battle the spirits of the Scoleri Brothers, who are visually based on Aykroyd and Belushi's Blues Brothers characters. The film also contains a reference to artist Thomas Gainsborough's famous 1770 painting "The Blue Boy".

Clearly the most overt esoteric moment for our Human Torch resonator comes towards the climax of the movie when the Ghostbusters use the psychokinetic slime to animate the Statue of Liberty, Columbia herself. This animation is achieved by playing the slime's "favorite song", the 1967 Jackie Wilson Rhythm and Blues classic "Higher and Higher".



In recent years Bill Murray has gained attention for his ability as a dramatic actor. His first non-comedic role came in 1984, just after the first Ghostbusters movie. In fact, Murray agreed to the role in the big-budget blockbuster as part of a deal with Columbia Pictures to get the remake of "The Razor's Edge" produced. Based upon the 1944 W. Somerset Maugham novel, Murray played Larry Darrell, who was portrayed by Tyrone Power in the 1946 film version of the story. Put simply, "The Razor's Edge" is about a man traumatized during his service in the first World War who travels to India seeking enlightenment then returns to the United States to live a simple life revoking the goal of material attainment. In the novel Maugham includes himself as a minor character, a metafictional detail. In the 1984 version the locale of India is replaced with Tibet.

Another literary adaption starring Murray came in 1988's "Scrooged", a modernized version of Charles Dickens' classic "A Christmas Carol". Murray played a TV executive with the evocative name Francis Xavier Cross. This combination is also found in the X-Men comic books character Charles Francis Xavier (the X of the X-Men being a equi-armed cross tilted 45 degrees). Both character names are suggestive of occult philosopher Francis Bacon, and also to St. Francis Xavier, co-founder of the controversial Jesuit Order.

Bill Murray made a cameo appearance as a masochistic dental patient in the 1986 "Little Shop of Horrors", a film adaptation of the Broadway musical comedy which was itself an adaptation of a 1960 Roger Corman comedy film. "Little Shop of Horrors" is the story of a vampiric Venus fly trap from outer space that arrives on Earth during a solar eclipse (an indication of planetary alignment). It was directed by puppeteer/actor/director Frank Oz and filmed on the 007 Stage in England. An alternate ending cut from the film features the killer Venus fly trap perched upon the head of the Statue of Liberty.



In 1991 Murray played Bob Wiley in "What About Bob?". Bob is a heavily phobic, child-like patient whose antics and simple nature ultimately heal and unite the dysfunctional family of his therapist. The story is a clear example of the symbol of the wise-fool who stumbles upon enlightenment.

Bill Murray's next role was in the classic 1993 film "Groundhog Day". Murray played weather man Phil Connors who goes to Puxsutawney, Pennsylvania to cover the February 2nd Groundhog Day event. Phil, who shares his name with the oracular groundhog "Puxsutawney Phil", comes to find that he is stuck in a time loop. Rather then moving on to February 3rd he instead repeats the events of February 2nd over and over again. Phil alone seems aware of this cycle and is able to freely control his behavior. After several iterations he kidnaps the groundhog and the two Phils die in a fiery car crash. But death does not break the cycle and Phil Connors awakens once again on the morning of February 2nd. Several suicide attempts also fail to break the pattern. Eventually Phil starts engaging in a process of self-improvement, training himself to be a proficient piano player and learning every detail of the life stories of everyone in the town. But the time loop persists until Phil is able to honestly and sincerely allow himself to love the character played by Andie MacDowell. Once this happens Phil finally awakens on the morning of February 3rd.

This may be the most significant role of Bill Murrays' career. The movie's title has entered the language as a reference to a ceaselessly repeating cycle, even outside the United States (the only nation with a Groundhog Day). It's message of self-betterment as a means of escaping monotonous routine has caused it to be hailed by religious leaders of many faiths. Some have even called it "the most spiritual film of our time". While it is not made clear in the movie, the original script described the repetition as occurring over tens of thousands of years. Quite clearly this story relates to the process of enlightenment, or spiritual transcendence and is emblematic of Eastern concepts of the cycles of reincarnation.

And esoteric details continue to proliferate in Murray's film roles. In "Mad Dog and Glory" (costarring Robert Di Nero and Uma Thurman) he played mob boss Frank Milo, a self-described "expediter of dreams".  In "Ed Wood" he portrayed real life B-movie actor Bunny Breckenridge, a name that could be read as a synchronistic reference again to Bugs Bunny.

Bugs Bunny and Bill Murray come into direct contact with one another in the 1996 movie "Space Jam" (a title that, like Star Wars, essentially translates to War in Heaven). Murray plays himself in the film and is present on the golf course when Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck travel through a magical portal that leads to "Loony Tune Land". They come to recruit Michael Jordan for a basketball game against the alien "Monstars". The Monstars enhance themselves by stealing the basket ball prowess of several professional players, taking from them the qualities that give the players their enhanced or special natures. The stakes for the Loony Tunes is enslavement in the outer space theme park "Moron Mountain". Later Bill Murray arrives in Loony Tune Land through undisclosed means (apparently he can travel through magical portals to cartoon realities) and participates in the B-Ball game with Bugs Bunny, Jordan and other Loony Tunes characters.
In the Wes Anderson movie "Rushmore" Murray is seen as Harold Blume, a business man who comes in competition with the extracurricular activity loving high school student Max Fischer for the affections of a teacher with the intriguing name Rosemary Cross. In the modernized Shakespeare classic "Hamlet 2000" Murray played Polonius, the character who utters the message "To thine own self be true".
Also in 2000, Murray was featured in the film adaptation of "Charlie's Angels". He played John Bosley, the only employee of the Townsend Detective Agency who ever lays eyes on boss Charlie. Seeing as Angels are the agents and messengers of God this is an important detail. Bosley is essentially Charlie's Gabriel or Metatron. Note the fiery, great pyramidal "A" of the movie's poster.



The next year Murray went from being the voice of God to being God himself, in the mixed live action/animated feature "Osmosis Jones". In the film Murray played Frank, a Zoo Keeper who is unaware of the complex civilization of anthropomorphic cells, viruses and chemicals living inside him. This movie also featured Laurence "Morpheus" Fishburne as the voice of the virus Thrax, the Red Death, which is a nod to the famous tale by Edgar Allen Poe. Chris Rock voiced the heroic white blood cell title character Osmosis Jones.



In 2001 Murray was also seen in Wes Anderson's "The Royal Tenenbaums" in the role of Dr. Raleigh St.Clair. Dr. St.Clair is a neurologist clearly based on Dr. Oliver Sacks, the author of the non-fictional "Awakenings" and inspiration for the fictional movie of the same name. I discuss Dr. Sacks' work in my article The Chemicals Between Us. The name "Tenenbaum", Ten In Baum (tree) can easily be read as a reference to the ten sephiroths of the Kabalistic Tree of Life. Note the name is close to but not quite the word for Christmas Tree in the German carol "O Tannanbaum".

Perhaps the greatest critical acclaim for Bill Murray as a dramatic actor came in response to his role in the Sofia Coppola film "Lost In Translation". Murray played a washed up, world weary actor in a loveless, long-distance marriage experiencing culture shock in Tokyo where he is filming commercials. He meets Charlotte, played by Scarlet Johansson, and the two engage in an unconsummated romance. The relationship brings out the better aspects of both characters. At the end of the movie Murray's character leaves Tokyo. He and Charlotte exchange a kiss and he whispers something in her ear that the audience is not made privy to. This moment was unscripted, meaning it was improvised like many of Murray's lines of dialog throughout his career. Whatever was whispered was something Murray himself composed. According to the British program "The Culture Show", which used audio enhancing equipment to analyze the scene, the "lost whisper" was "I love you. Don't forget to always tell the truth". In "Lost In Translation" Murray's character finds his better self through his friendship with Charlotte while he's living in Japan. This is the same model seen in "The Razor's Edge", with the spiritual enlightenment personified by Johansson's character.

Bill Murray appears in a pair of films by director Jim Jarmusch. As a waiter in the 2003 movie "Coffee and Cigarettes", and in 2005's "Broken Flowers" as a womanizer who receives an unsigned note from a former girlfriend which informs him he has a 19 year old son. Both films make heavy use of the checkerboard pattern of Masonic initiation and Pythagorean Sacred Geometry.





In the late 80s the success of the Ghostbusters franchise led to an animated television program called "The Real Ghostbusters". In the first three seasons of the cartoon the voice of Peter Venkman was provided by Lorenzo Music. Some may best recall Music's voice work as the unseen character Carlton the Door Man in the sitcom "Rhoda". He also provided the voice for Tummi Gummi in the NBC Saturday morning cartoon "Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears".



Music was also the voice for many years of animated versions of Jim Davis' Garfield character. Reportedly, Music was removed from the cast of "The Real Ghostbusters" due to a complaint by Bill Murray that Venkman sounded too much like Garfield. This is ironic as Murray provided the voice for the cartoon feline in 2004's "Garfield: The Movie" and its 2006 sequel "Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties" (a takeoff of Mark Twain's "The Prince and the Pauper" with a title that's a play on Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities").

Bill Murray's third film with director Wes Anderson was 2004's "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" in which Murray played the title role. A parody/tribute to oceanographer Jacques Cousteau, the part interestingly makes Murray a Submariner. Steve Zissou is on a Captain Ahab type quest to find a rare "Jaguar" shark that ate his friend. Finding his better nature through the process of his quest, Zissou opts to not slay the creature when he finally locates it (plus he's out of dynamite). When Zissou and crew locate the shark they do so in a Yellow Submarine.



Which of course references the song and film by the Beatles. The Yellow Submarine is also found in Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson's "The Illuminatus! Trilogy" as the vehicle of Hagbard Celine and his crew of Virgo Discordians.

There was talk of plans for "Ghostbusters III: Hellbent", which would be a CGI cartoon rather then live action (in part due to Murray's unusual refusal to act in the third installment of anything). In the story the Ghostbusters find themselves in a Manhattan-like Hell (or Hell-like Manhattan), ruled by Luke Sifler (Lucifer) and populated by red and green demons and Blue minotaurs.

I never would have guessed it before taking a closer look, but Bill Murray's connection to the Prometheus figure via the Human Torch is wholly appropriate. Nearly every one of the films of his 30 plus year career involves enhanced or special natures, the process of enlightenment or allusions to divinity.

To thine own self be true.  Always tell the truth.  We came, we saw, we kicked its ass!