Vyst's Commentary

Where's the Wine?

An Interpretation of Puscifer's Sour Grapes (Where's the Line? Mix)

What Got Me Started On This

Having been an avid fan of the band Tool for some time and a frequent listener of Puscifer since its public inception, I was not really surprised when Maynard James Keenan, lead singer of Tool and mastermind of Puscifer, took on the role of a Reverend to recite a witty sermon in Puscifers song Sour Grapes (Where's the Line? Mix), which outwardly appears to mock the very position he is impersonating. He has done it before in Tool's Disgustipated and the original version of Puscifer's Sour Grapes, so to hear him do it was almost old news.

Maynard is also known as a creative and sneaky little fuck in terms of hidden symbolism (a good example is the Fibonacci nature of the lyrics in Tool's song Lateralus), making subtle and not-so-subtle jokes, and being sly with double meanings on words due to their unclear pronunciations within his lyrics. Thus again I was not at all surprised to hear the barely-hidden sexual and drug innuendos within the Sour Grapes (Where's the Line? Mix) and the stumbling over words making it not quite obvious whether he is saying “where's the line?” or “where's the wine?”

I was a little surprised, however, when I heard the following line near the end of the spoken section of the song:

“My friends, we need to hand out some spiritual pink slips and down-size Before we have to file Chapter 11 Verse 23 Skidoo, can I get an AMEN?”

I am also familiar with Maynard's occult and esoteric references within his lyrics and that the entire band of Tool is interested and, as far as I can gather, active in such things (the drummer Danny Carey being the most well-known of the four for this). It is not the first time these numbers 11 and 23 have appeared in Maynard's musical career, the most obvious example being the 11th track of Tool's most recent album 10,000 Days, entitled Viginti Tres. “Viginti tres” being Latin for 23. It is also worth pointing out that if you take the digits individually, 1, 1, 2, and 3 are the first four numbers of the Fibonacci sequence, which, as I have already mentioned, has already played a role in Maynard's lyrics in the past.

Having read Robert Anton Wilson's The Illuminatus! Trilogy and having parsed my way through Aleister Crowley's The Book of Lies, I was also aware of the connection between the number 23 and the word “skidoo”. Indeed, even the 23rd chapter of The Book of Lies is entitled “SKIDOO”. Being curious to any possible connections between the contents of the chapter and the contents of the lyrics, I went over to Crowley's book and took a gander at chapter 23. I did not find anything particularly pertinent to the lyrics (or to be more precise, I did not see any connections at the time) and I was not very impressed by this lack of revelation; however, seeing as I was already looking at the book, I decided to take a look at chapter 11 just for good measure.

The “revelations” this time were eye-opening. References from Maynard's lyrics to the contents of the chapter were as clear as day. I immediately went back and replayed the song and began to recognize more references to The Book of Lies and, later, to the Qabalistic Tree of Life. Over several months of periodic scrutiny I found myself looking at a nearly full interpretation of the hidden meanings within the song. While I may still be confused on a few points, I feel confident that I have a firm grasp at what Maynard intended to encode into the lyrics. The song is incredibly clever and I can only commend Maynard for his style of layering-on meanings. The following is my interpretation of and my attempt to decode Sour Grapes (Where's the Line? Mix).

Resources

Understanding Puscifer's Sour Grapes (Where's the Line? Mix) requires a copy of Aleister Crowley's The Book of Lies and a rudimentary understanding of the Qabalistic Tree of Life. Without these two things, there is no point in reading the rest of this essay, as it will not make any sense beyond sex jokes, religious buffoonery, and gibberish. To decipher the song, I recommend the following resources:

The Book of Lies by Aleister Crowley. A downloadable PDF can be found here. I recommend reading the entire chapters I mention as well as their commentary, as I am not going to copy and paste the whole things onto this page.

by Aleister Crowley. A downloadable PDF can be found here. I recommend reading the entire chapters I mention as well as their commentary, as I am not going to copy and paste the whole things onto this page. A diagram of the Qabalistic Tree of Life. Any number of them can be found via search engine, but I think this one is really nice.

A Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism by Gareth Knight. This is book is awesome for someone illiterate on Qabalistic matters and I highly recommend it. Find it on Amazon here.

by Gareth Knight. This is book is awesome for someone illiterate on Qabalistic matters and I recommend it. Find it on Amazon here. Gnostic Media Podcast #51: “The Qabalah and the Mystery Schools”. This podcast in and of itself is not enough to get the required understanding to decipher the lyrics, but is nevertheless helpful.

The song itself! Here it is.

Also, as far as I have been able to search through the internet, I have not been able to find an official copy of these lyrics anywhere. This meant I had to transcribe them myself. I was not very happy to have to do this, as with Maynard playing a stuttering and nervous Reverend, there are many parts which are difficult to hear and others which are nearly impossible. I cannot be very surprised for this, however, as Maynard is known for these sly lyrical slip-ups. Thus I am relying on my own transcription, which I am including here:

1¶ 1 Where did I... where did I put my notes?

2 Why, I tell ya, if brain farts had an odor this booth would be uninhabitable,

3 We're on? Okay,

4

2¶ 5 Good evening and welcome one and all to Where's The (W)Line?

6 I'm Reverend Soquet, sometimes mispronounced "Suck-it", but it's okay.

7 We are here to, to share a snack and chitchat

8 about how much fun a religion can be

9 without crossing over the line into sin.

10 You just don't need to cross the line, as we will demonstrate.

11 We already have a bunch of people messaging in

12 via Tweeter and iFace and whatnot,

13 with questions for “Where's the Line?” with Reverend Soquet.

14

3¶ 15 Our first message in question is coming in

16 from Father Mother from Xenia, Ohio,

17 and he wants to know:

18

19 "How far can we go, Reverend? Can we touch the line?"

20

21 And the answer is no Father, no Father. To touch it would be to cross it.

22 Look people, it's very simple, it's very simple.

23 Y'all can have as much fun as your tummy can take, ya just can't cross the line of sin.

24 As tempting as that tasty plate of fresh-baked sin may appear,

25 Damnation and hellfire are saturating the very plate on which it is delivered unto to you.

26

4¶ 27 Um, do we have a second caller?

28 Okay, good. Sister Brother calling in from Ravenna, Ohio.

29 She wants to know,

30

31 "Reverend Soquet, can we sniff the line?"

32

33 Uh, and the answer is yes, Sister.

34 You can get right down on both knees and sniff that line.

35 You can back your donkey right up to the line,

36 And you can walk your doggy along the line,

37 Ya just can't cross the line HALLELUJAH.

38

5¶ 39 Our next caller is (in-er-uh?) Brother Ed and a Brother Ant from Cleveland, Ohio

40 They want to know what denomination I am.

41 Uh, Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist...

42 Uh, people, therein lies the problem.

43 The spiritual economy is going right down the shitter.

44 The operating costs of salvation are through the roof.

45 But most concerning, most concerning is this:

46 Are you (are?) confused in an hour of All, people

47 It's mixed messages!

48

6¶ 49 We need to down-size these factions,

50 Stop with the “My God's dick is bigger than your God's bologna sandwiches.”

51 My friends, we need to hand out some spiritual pink slips and down-size

52 Before we have to file Chapter 11 Verse 23 Skidoo, can I get an AMEN?

53

7¶ 54 Folks, I might need to cut this rant short.

55 My Spidey-senses are picking up the pungent scent of sin

56 At first I thought it might have been that divine scent

57 coming from the (fool/food/fooled/fool's?) court kiosk on 5th and Euclid,

58 but that was just a distraction.

59

8¶ 60 A den of sin is in full-swing somewhere near us now

61 And I must do my best to be there for The Fall and when they mutter,

62 “Where's the Line?”

63 Peace out, bitches.



(For a pop-up of these lyrics, click here )

The organization of the lyrics is completely my doing. I have included line numbers for easy reference and have grouped the stanzas into what I feel are the most meaningful chunks. The organization of the lengths of the lines themselves is arbitrary. I have left out Maynard's stuttering where I do not feel it was contributing anything of value and have put what I cannot quite make out in parentheses.

Interpretation

Before I start, I want to mention that my own understanding of the Qabalah and the Tree of Life is rudimentary, mostly stemming from the small amount of resources I just provided, as well as training in other “esoteric” branches (mainly Aikido/Shinto), which I felt gave me a quicker understanding of the principles outlined in these sources. Keep this in mind if I mess up a Qabalistic principle or symbol.

That being said, I will now get on with the interpretation.

The overall point being made by the good Reverend Soquet in this song, referring the symbolism of the Tree of Life, is that one should remain within the Sephiroth of the Supernal Triad (Kether, Chokmah, and Binah) and not cross Daath into the lower Sephiroth of Manifestation (all the Sephiroth below Daath). “The Line” to which he is constantly referring represents Daath and the “Sin” he talks about represents the lower Sephiroth of Manifestation.

And how do I come to that conclusion? I will attempt now to break it down by going stanza by stanza through the lyrics.

1st Stanza

The first stanza has no symbolic significance. It simply sets the scene of a goofy man in a radio booth. It immediately shows the man as a bit unorganized and nervous and, a surprise to anyone who has listened to Maynard's artwork for some time, provides a fart joke.

2nd Stanza

The second stanza is also devoid of symbolism. Lines 5 and 6 describe the scene further as a stuttering Reverend Soquet (sometimes mispronounced as an offensive sexual innuendo) hosting a radio show called “Where's the Line*?”. In lines 7 through 10, Reverend Soquet announces the purpose of the show, which is to explain why it is not necessary to “cross the line”. Lines 11 through 13 add to Reverend Soquet's goofiness and lack of hipness by not knowing the correct names of Twitter and Facebook, instead spitting out Tweeter** and iFace.

*If you listen carefully over the stuttering, it sounds quite a bit more like he's saying “Where's the wine?”. As Maynard is now well-known for owning a vineyard and producing wine, and as the title of the album is Blood Into Wine, this should not come as any surprise.

**It also sounds like Maynard may be saying “Tweaker”. I am tempted to lean to this transcription, as it is way more funny.

3rd Stanza

In the third stanza the first batch of symbolism shows up. The first caller to the radio show, Father Mother, initially sounds like a joke name for a Catholic priest. His question in line 19 appears innocent enough: “How far can we go, Reverend? Can we touch the line?” Reverend Soquet's harsh response is no surprise to anyone who has ever attended church: little sins are just as big as the big ones and dabbling in sin is just as contemptible as being a full-blown sinner.

However, when one turns to chapter 11 of The Book of Lies, something most interesting is found in the opening four paragraphs:

“Concerning the Holy Three-in-Naught.

Nuit, Hadit, Ra-Hoor-Khuit, are only to be understood

by the Master of the Temple.

They are above The Abyss, and contain all con-tradiction

in themselves.

Below them is a seeming duality of Chaos and Babalon;

these are called Father and Mother, but it is not so.

They are called Brother and Sister, but it is not so.

They are called Husband and Wife, but it is not so.”

Our first caller, Father Mother, is taken straight out of the chapter. In and of itself, this connection could easily be a coincidence. However, a quick glance at the second caller in the 4th stanza, Sister Brother, significantly lowers this chance. Tie this in which the specific pointing to chapter 11 in The Book of Lies at the end of the 6th stanza (confirmed by chapter 23, as I mentioned in the introduction) and it begins to look more and more like gold has been struck.

The 4th paragraph of Crowley's commentary on chapter 11 gives a clear picture of the symbolism at work:

“Chaos and Babalon are Chokmah and Binah, but they are

really one; the essential unity of the supernal Triad is here

insisted upon.”

According to the chapter itself, Father Mother, as well as Sister Brother, refer to Chaos and Babalon (even if “they are not really so”, the reference is still made). Crowley then states in his commentary on the chapter that Chaos and Babalon are equivalent to Chokmah and Binah, Sephiroth two and three on the Tree of Life. Chokmah and Binah rest right above Daath, the line which separates the Supernal Triad from the Sephiroth of Manifestation.

When Father Mother calls in to ask Reverend Soquet whether it is okay to touch the line, meaning Daath, the Reverend vehemently says no in line 21, for just as dabbling in sin is as despicable as wallowing in it, coming into contact with Daath is the same as subjecting oneself to the processes of Daath itself, which convert the original emanations of the Supernal Triad into the forms present in Chesed (the 4th Sephirah), which of course leads one down all the way to the bottom of the Tree of Life — creating a full-blown sinner.

To back this up even more, Crowley also mentions in the commentary that “The first part of the chapter describes the universe in its highest sense, down to Tiphareth”. When we look at the first part of the chapter again, it is clear that the “Holy Three-in-Naught” refer to the three Sephiroth in the Supernal Triad, even more specifically so as he mentions that these three are above the Abyss (the Abyss being synonymous with Daath).

The rest of the 3rd stanza (lines 22 to 25), as far as I am able to tell, are simply flavorful preacher language used to describe the lower Sephiroth of Manifestation.

4th Stanza

As was pointed out earlier, the second caller in the 4th stanza, Sister Brother, who at first appears to be another joke Catholic name, this time for a nun, is actually equivalent to Binah and Chokmah according to chapter 11 of The Book of Lies. The question in line 31 asks: “Reverend Soquet, can we sniff the line?” On the surface, this is obviously a cocaine-snorting joke. However, in reference to chapter 11 and in comparison with the 3rd stanza, it is clear this is a question relating to Chokmah and Binah's proximity to Daath. The caller this time asks Reverend Soquet if it is okay to sniff Daath, that is, to perform an action that involves getting really close to it but not coming into contact with it. Reverend Soquet reassures her in line 33 that anything at all is okay as long as contact is not made with the Line, for just the same as touching Daath exposes one to its processes in their entirety, not coming into contact with it does not activate it whatsoever, no matter how close one gets.

Reverend Soquet then makes a list of sex and drug jokes to describe various ways to asymptotically approach the Line in a permissable fashion.

For the record, this list consists of a blowjob joke coupled with the original cocaine-snorting joke in line 34, a reference to donkey-punching in line 35 (also note that "you can back your donkey right up to the line" is synonymous with "you can back your ass right up to the line"), and a reference to the doggy-style sex position in line 36.

5th Stanza

In the 5th stanza, the question comes from two callers, a Brother Ed and a Brother Ant. They inquire after Reverend Soquet's denomination in line 40. The Reverend becomes mildly irritated at this question, makes some economic metaphors of the spiritual condition in lines 43 and 44, then goes into what looks like irrelevant gibberish in lines 45 to 47.

When one flips through The Book of Lies, one will notice that every chapter begins with the word ΚΕΦΑΛΗ followed by one or two capitalized Greek letters. ΚΕΦΑΛΗ would be written somewhere near “kephale” in Latin letters and is the Greek word for “chapter” (literally it means “head”). In the ancient Greek number system*, the Greek letters themselves were used for numbers.

*Here's a handy chart on some vituperative Christian prophesy website.

If we take this into consideration and look at the first of the two callers, Brother Ed, we can see that his monosyllabic name is boldly displaying the letter E, which is written the same way as the capital Greek letter epsilon. Epsilon corresponds to the number 5. While this seems like a bit of a stretch, a quick look at chapter 5 of The Book of Lies shows that the wrong tree is not being barked up:

5

ΚΕΦΑΛΗ Ε

THE BATTLE OF THE ANTS

Brother Ed leads us to the proper chapter and Brother Ant confirms, indeed, we have found the right one.

In line 41, Reverend Soquet elaborates on the original question of his denomination by listing three different examples (“Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist...”) before trailing off. He then gets irritated, implying that even in asking this question that one misses the point. An interesting correlation to this is found in the latter half of the afore-mentioned chapter 5:

“Peace implies war.

Power implies war.

Harmony implies war.

Victory implies war.

Glory implies war.

Foundation implies war.

Alas! for the Kingdom wherein all these are at war.”

Peace, Power, Harmony, Victory, Glory, Foundation, and The Kingdom are the English translations respectfully for Chesed, Geburah, Tiphareth, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, and Malkuth — the 7 lower Sephiroth of Manifestation, i.e. those which exist beyond the Line of Sin (Daath)! Crowley mentions at the beginning of his commentary on the chapter that ants were chosen for the title as “small busy objects” and explains the meaning behind the laundry list succinctly in the last paragraph:

“The rest of the chapter therefore points out the duality, and therefore the imperfection, of all the lower Sephiroth in their essence.”

Crowley states that the lower Sephiroth are inherently imperfect. Ants as “small busy objects” suggest creatures going about businesses of no ultimate importance, specifically businesses which are fundamentally in conflict (“at war”) due their dual, and thus imperfect, nature. Reverend Soquet lists the different Christian denominations in the same way, suggesting that it is a problem to even be concerned about denomination. They all inherently imply conflict, all having crossed the Line into Sin. Any positive aspects they provide lead to the same negative aspect: war. Interestingly enough, the two Brothers call in from Cleveland, Ohio, which can be literally read as “a land which is cloven” — a single unit divided against itself.

In lines 43 and 44, Reverend Soquet then uses some economic-sounding terms to create two very vertical images . Line 43 suggests the entire spiritual situation (the “spiritual economy”) to be going straight down, that is, straight down the Tree of Life, past the Line and into the world of sin, down to Malkuth, the 10th Sephirah. Line 44 suggests an increasing difficulty of returning back to the higher Sephiroth.

Lines 45 to 47 require turning back to chapter 11 for interpretation. When I first heard the Reverend mention the “hour of All” in line 46, I tried cleaning out my ears and replaying the song because I was sure I had heard the words incorrectly. All of what? However, after correctly identifying chapter 11 as a reference to the lyrics, it became clear that, indeed, he is saying All, as evidenced by the 5th paragraph in the chapter:

“The reflection of All is Pan: the Night of Pan is the Annihilation of the All.”

And with the 5th paragraph of Crowley's commentary on the chapter, we can easily figure out what these terms symbolize:

“Pan is a generic name, including this whole system of its manifested side. Those which are above the Abyss are therefore said to live in the Night of Pan; they are only reached by the annihilation of the All.”

Pan, which is equivocated with the All in the chapter, is explained as the “whole system [the Tree of Life] of its manifested side”, that is, of course, the lower seven Sephiroth of Manifestation. If there is still any confusion regarding this, Crowley makes it clear that anything above the Abyss is the Night of Pan, thus attributing Pan to the remaining seven Sephiroth below. The Annihilation of the All, which means to reject or to remove oneself from the world of manifestation, is to reach the Night of Pan.

Thus it should be now clear, that when Reverend Soquet refers to being “confused in an hour of All”, he is referring to being in the world of Sin, the manifested side of the system, which by its very nature is confusing. As pointed out by chapter 5, these are “mixed [dual] messages!”

6th Stanza

The 6th stanza continues with economic-sounding terminology in line 49, which has a double meaning. The first suggests doing away with (“down-sizing”) factions, meaning the various Christian denominations, in order to stop fighting over the different aspects of God*. One could even interpret this as to stop fighting over the semantics of religion. The second and more hidden meaning is to quit being distracted with the various lower Sephiroth of Manifestation (i.e. “these factions”) and get back to the Supernal Triad on the other side of the Line.

*The Reverend's chosen aspects of God are, of course, an obvious male genitalia reference followed by a more subtle female one.

In line 51, Reverend Soquet mentions the necessity for “spiritual pink-slips” in order to accomplish this “down-sizing” back to Supernal Triad. On the surface this appears to be simply a continuation of his spiritual-economic terminology, but further analysis of chapter 11 tells something different. Turning to the 6th paragraph:

“Cast down through The Abyss is the Light, the Rosy Cross, the rapture of Union that destroys, that is The Way. The Rosy Cross is the Ambassador of Pan.”

With the interpretations up until this point kept in mind, this passage becomes clear rather quickly. It is describing that which crosses the Abyss (a.k.a. Daath or The Line). Four different symbols are given: the Light, the Rosy Cross, The Way, and the Ambassador of Pan. Of these four, the Rosy Cross is the one we are looking for: rosy being a form of pink. The “spiritual pink-slips” refer to the Rosy Cross, the vehicle by which one crosses the Abyss, the Line of Sin. Reverend Soquet, in saying that we need to hand out spiritual pink-slips in order to down-size, is saying we need to gain access to the vehicle (the Rosy Cross) which crosses the Line of Sin (Daath) in order to down-size (return to the Supernal Triad).

This reference to the symbolism of the Rosy Cross also gives an interesting insight to the Reverend's emphasis on the word “cross” in lines 10, 21, 23, and 37.

The last line in the stanza is the original hint-giver to consult The Book of Lies. In the context of removing oneself from Sin, the lower seven Sephiroth, the 23rd chapter with its constant commands to GET OUT make a lot more sense:

“What man is at ease in his Inn?

Get out.

Wide is the world and cold.

Get out.

Thou hast become an in-itiate.

Get out.

But thou canst not get out by the way thou camest in.

The Way out is THE WAY.

Get out.

For OUT is Love and Wisdom and Power.

Get OUT.

If thou hast T already, first get UT.

Then get O.

And so at last get OUT.”

These commands to “get out” refer to getting out of the Sephiroth of Manifestation, over the Abyss, and into the Supernal Triad. Line 8 in the chapter even clarifies what the way out is. “The Way” is the way out, and remembering chapter 11, is equivocated with the Rosy Cross — that which goes over the Abyss, the Line of Sin.

Thus when Reverend Soquet says (line 52) that we need to “hand out spiritual pink-slips before we have to file Chapter 11 Verse 23 Skidoo!”, he means the Rosy Cross needs to be accessed before one is able to cross back over the line and get out of the world of sin.

Crowley gives a one sentence clarification on what the number 23 and the word “Skidoo” have to do with the comments of the chapter: “Both '23' and 'Skidoo' are American words meaning 'Get out.'” Clearly this is some rather older slang (Crowley wrote the book in 1913), and if you want to read (and become more confused) of the origins of it, here is a place to start.

The last word in the stanza is AMEN, a word that is sputtered from almost any Reverend as if he had Tourette's Syndrome, and, consequently, is the last word in the 11th chapter of The Book of Lies.

7th Stanza

This ends the callers to the radio show, as in the 7th stanza Reverend Soquet realizes there are more pressing matters at hand. His “spidey-senses” pick up the “scent of sin” from 5th and Euclid on line 54, which give the first clue for which chapter of The Book of Lies to turn to. Euclid points in the same direction as Brother Ed, which is the number 5. So 5th and Euclid are actually 5 and 5, or 55. If it is also taken into account that an S is basically just a smoother form of 5, both “spidey-senses” and “scent of sin” provide an alliteration of SS, or 55.

When keeping line 58 in mind (“but that was just a distraction”) while checking chapter 55, it is immediately obvious that the right track has been found by reading the second paragraph of the chapter:

“Thus wrote I, since my One Love was torn from me. I

cannot work: I cannot think: I seek distraction

here: I seek distraction there: but this is all my

truth, that I who love have lost; and how may I

regain?”

Now to bring the whole stanza together, Reverend Soquet picks up the “pungent scent of sin” in line 55, which he originally thinks is the divine scent coming from the Fool's Court Kiosk* on 5th and Euclid. But that just turns out to be a distraction. This requires a little explanation before further interpretation.

*I cannot actually make out what Maynard is saying here, whether it is Fool's, Fool, Fooled, or even Food. I suspect it is “Fool's Court Kiosk” and Maynard is being unclear on purpose to make it sound like “Food Court Kiosk”, which is what a listener would be psychologically inclined toward, as “food court” is pretty deep within our modern mall-infested linguistic psyches. That being said, I am positive that with “Fool's Court Kiosk”, he is referring to something specific to aid with the interpretation of the stanza. But until now I have been unable to figure out what it is. The Fool is the 11th path of the Tarot, being assigned the number 0 and representing the path between Kether and Chokmah. There are also court cards in the Tarot, which are the “face cards” that would correspond to a normal deck. What this has to do with the rest of the symbolism within the song, specifically this stanza, I have been unable to figure out.

The title of chapter 55 of The Book of Lies is “THE DROOPING SUNFLOWER”, and Crowley's initial comments on it are as follows:

“The number 55 refers to Malkuth, the Bride; it should then be read in connection with Chapters 28, 29, 49.

The “drooping sunflower” is the heart, which needs the divine light.”

Tiphareth, the sixth Sephirah, is associated with the heart when the Tree of Life is placed over the human body. The sunflower here corresponds then to Tiphareth. The sunflower droops downward, toward Malkuth, the 10th Sephirah (and lowest level on the Tree of Life), which Crowley states that the number 55 represents (5 plus 5 equals 10, after all). Malkuth corresponds to the physical world and universe as we perceive them.

While at first Reverend Soquet believes that this is the original pungent scent of sin he detects, he quickly realizes that this is just a distraction, as it is a divine scent he is picking up. Divines scents and perfumes are symbols associated with Yesod, the 9th Sephirah on the Tree of Life. What the Reverend thought was the pungent scent of sin of Malkuth (Sephirah ten) was actually just a distraction of Tiphareth (Sephirah six) drooping down to the divine scent Yesond (Sephirah nine).

8th Stanza

No, Reverend Soquet emphasizes in the 8th and final stanza, his stutter long gone. No, a den of Sin, that is, a TEN of Sin, Malkuth, is in full-swing (notice his pause after saying “den of sin”). He is not talking about a simple distraction of Tiphareth drooping down to Yesod, he is talking about the Fall from Daath (line 61), from the Line of Sin, into Malkuth, the Den/Ten of Sin.

The Fall, in exoteric terms, refers to the Original Sin of Adam and Eve eating from the Tree of Knowledge. As I mention in the note, Gene Odening does an awesome job of explaining this in the Gnostic Media Podcast* I provided, and what I explain now is just me regurgitating what he said in my own words.

*In the Gnostic Media Podcast which I provided in the references at the beginning of the essay, Gene Odening gives an excellent explanation of what “the Fall” means in Qabalistic terms. I highly recommend checking it out, and if you do not want to go through the whole podcast, the explanation of the Fall, in reference to the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge, starts at time 28:25.

The Tree of Knowledge can be represented as the Qabalistic Tree of Life with Malkuth moved from the bottom position up to the position of Daath. This is where the Garden of Eden was located. Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge (remember, Daath translates to Knowledge) which caused them to fall from the Garden of Eden, the position of Daath in the Tree of Life, down to tenth position of Malkuth, the world as we perceive it.

So when Reverend Soquet refers to being there for the Fall, he is talking about the Fall of Man from the Line of Sin (Daath), to Malkuth, the TEN of Sin, which is in full-swing. The divine scent on 5th and Euclid is just a distraction because it is simply Tiphareth drooping into Yesod, and what he is interested in is the real deal, which is the Fall from Daath into Malkuth.

The way Reverend Soquet describes the Fall makes it sound like a bunch of guys waking up hungover from a college party, wondering where their pants are. Having gone totally crazy the night before, they wake up the next morning, realizing what they have done, muttering, “Where's the Line?” in line 62. The Reverend poses this as if it were a question of moral boundaries, but it is a question of Qabalistic boundaries. The Line of Sin is Daath, exactly where they were before the Fall.

In line 63 Soquet takes off his reverend hat to reveal the Maynard we know and love underneath, telling us “peace out, bitches”. I am sure this is a verbal smirk, as he knew the masses of fans that would be confused in an hour of All, arguing back and forth over just exactly how he is making religious satire out of this song. Hopefully this helps to set things straight.

-Vyst

Extra Stuff

More Fibonnaci?

The relevant chapters from The Book of Lies total out to be 5, 11, 23, and 55. If we break the 11 and the 23 down into their single digits, we end up with nothing but terms from the Fibonacci sequence (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55...). 55, strangely enough, being the 10th term in the sequence.

Hometowns

Father Mother calls in from Xenia, Ohio. I was unable to figure out what joke or symbolic significance the city Xenia has, but according to Wikipedia, it was also mentioned in a fake documentary that Puscifer put out. Having not seen the documentary, I cannot comment further than the article.

Sister Brother calls in from Ravenna, Ohio. Ravenna is more of an Easter egg than anything else, as it is Maynard's home town.

Stuttering

In line 46, Maynard appears to be throwing an extra word in between the words “you” and “confused”. I listened to it over and over again, and what the word really sounds like to me is another “are”. That means the sentence comes out to be “Are you are confused in an hour of All?” This is annoying, does not make any sense, and does not really fit in with the rest of Reverend Soquet's stuttering.

I realized at one point that if you ignore the first “are” and just listen to “...you are confused in an hour of All?”, it really sounds like an “if” would fit right in there. I wonder if Maynard meant to say, “If you are confused in an hour of All” and ended up confused himself over how he was organizing his sentence. Whatever the case, it does not seem to change the meaning of the line.

Ohio!

During my searching through The Book of Lies and other Qabalistic sources to decipher the song, I kept being pestered by the fact that all the callers to the radio show are from Ohio. The obvious purpose of this is that it is funny; Reverend Soquet appears to be giving a world-wide, or at least nation-wide, radio broadcast and the only schmucks listening to it are all in Ohio.

At first I thought there was some numerical significance to the name, and I went backwards and forwards through the Greek numbering system and the chapters in The Book of Lies for any scrap of symbolic evidence relating to Ohio. But it was to no avail. The letters OHIO add up to either 150 or 158, depending on whether or not you consider the H to be a letter (O = 70, I = 10, H = 8). As there are only 93 chapters in The Book of Lies, this is a dead end.

Next I thought it might have had to do with the symmetry of the name, as no other state in the US has a symmetrical name like Ohio. Especially when taking into account that the letter H does not exist in ancient Greek (I am talking about the sound “hah”, not the letter eta), one ends up with the perfectly symmetrical OIO. As fancy as this sounds, it also led me nowhere.

Crowley also mentions the letters IAO often within the book, and I thought there may have been some sort of connection with this and OHIO or OIO, but it still led nowhere.

I even checked out chapter 76, which if you look at it as an acrostic (a poem that spells a word vertically and writes something horizontally from each letter in the word), looks like it maybe sorta could possibly be kinda related to Ohio. However, I realized I was trying really hard to fit the evidence into my theory and I gave up on that one, as the chapter had no other connections with the song.

Lastly I simply said “Ohio” to myself, and realized phonetically it is equivalent to saying: “O, High O!”. I picked The Book of Lies back up and turned over to ΚΕΦΑΛΗ Η ΟΥΚ ΕΣΤΙ ΚΕΦΑΛΗ, that is, “The Chapter Which Is Not a Chapter”, or more specifically, chapter 0. The chapter begins with an “O!” up top of the page and the text simply describes the Sephiroth down through the Tree of Life, including the three Veils before Kether.

This O up top of the chapter can definitely be considered a “high O”, and if I were to call to it, I might say, “O, High O!”, or, “OHIO!”

Crowley points out in the commentary that “[t]his chapter, numbered 0, corresponds to the Negative, which is before Kether in the Qabalistic system” and “[t]he notes of interrogation and exclamation on the previous pages are the other two veils.” I can only take this to mean that the O! at the top of the chapter represents the first Veil, with the question mark the second Veil, and the exclamation mark the third Veil.

This would mark Ohio, or the “High O” as the first of the three Veils behind Kether, which is most definitely nowhere near Daath, the Line of Sin. This would be an appropriate place for appropriately holy individuals, as priests, nuns, and monks are purported to be, to call into a radio station from to discuss various aspects of the Line of Sin.