Title: Freemason Forms in Forbidden Planet 
Author: Don Kuenz 
Date: 20240523 
Keywords: forbidden, freemason, mason, planet, shakespeare, tempest

Deep Focus on Freemason Forms Found in Forbidden Planet

Introduction

We have set it down as a law to ourselves to examine things to the bottom, and not to receive upon credit, or reject upon probability, until these have passed a due examination. - Bacon's Natural History.

The Tempest is popularly interpreted as an allegory for Freemason initiation [1][2]. And some Shakespearean scholars simultaneously see Forbidden Planet as an adaptation of The Tempest [3][4].

Given all of the above, it's fun to forage for Freemason forms in Forbidden Planet. Views expressed are for informational purposes only; they do not constitute an endorsement or an approval of Freemasonry, Shakespeare, or Bacon.

Freemason Forms

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Figure 1. An acacia tree silhouette shown in the background above tiger's head.

Acacia trees abound in tiger habitats. [5]

In all of these ancient Mysteries, while the sacred plant was a symbol of initiation, the initiation itself was symbolic of the resurrection to a future life, and of the immortality of the soul. In this view, Freemasonry is to us now in the place of the ancient initiations, and the acacia is substituted for the lotus, the erica, the ivy, the mistletoe, and the myrtle. The lesson of wisdom is the same; the medium of imparting it is all that has been changed. The Symbolism of Freemasonry

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Figure 2. A gilded celestial globe on the left.

"The sphere, with the parts of the earth delineated on its surface, is called the Terrestrial Globe; and that with the constellations, and other heavenly bodies, the Celestial Globe.

"The principal use of the Globes, besides serving as maps to distinguish the outward parts of the earth, and the situation of the fixed stars, is to illustrate and explain the phenomena arising from the annual revolution and the diurnal rotation of the earth around its own axis. They are the noblest instruments for improving the mind [this was Preston's motive—H.L.H.], and giving it the most distinct idea of any problem or proposition, as well as enabling it to solve the same.". Symbolical Masonry

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Figure 3. A small 3-4-5 right triangle appears near the base of the semicircle drawn in the chalkboard's upper middle.

FORTY-SEVENTH PROBLEM. The forty-seventh problem of the first book of Euclid is, that in any right-angled triangle the square which is described upon the side subtending the right angle is equal to the squares described upon the sides which contain the right angle. It is said to have been discovered by Pythagoras while in Egypt, but was most probably taught to him by the priests of that country, in whose rites he had been initiated; it is a symbol of the production of the world by the generative and prolific powers of the Creator; hence the Egyptians made the perpendicular and base the representatives of Osiris and Isis, while the hypothenuse represented their child Horus. Dr. Lardner says (Com. on Euclid, p. 60) of this problem, "Whether we consider the forty-seventh proposition with reference to the peculiar and beautiful relation established by it, or to its innumerable uses in every department of mathematical science, or to its fertility in the consequences derivable from it, it must certainly be esteemed the most celebrated and important in the whole of the elements, if not in the whole range of mathematical science." The Symbolism of Freemasonry

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Figure 4. Diagonally divide a Freemason oblong square then attach its long ends into an apex above to create distinctive Krell portals.

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Figure 5. Three stylized oblong square Krell portals.

... one might notice the uncanny recurrence of the number three in Masonic ritual. In addition, not only are there three original Grand Masters, three assassins, and a total of thirty-three degrees of the Masonic hierarchy, but there are also three Principal officers, three symbolic steps "from this life to the source of all knowledge" (Downward, Sorcery, 81), three obligations, three lights upon the Altar, three "pillars" that support the Lodge, and three knocks that gain the candidate admission into the Lodge, followed by three more knocks to summon the Brethren (Pike 548). Was Shakespeare a Freemason? Masonic Symbolism in Macbeth
"What, then, is the oblong square of Freemasonry? I believe it to be a survival in our ceremonies of a term once common but now obsolete. My reading has convinced me that at one time the word 'square' meant right-angled, and the term 'a square' referred to a four-sided figure, having four right angles, without regard to the proportionate lengths of adjacent sides. There were thus two classes of squares, those having all four sides equal, and those having two parallel sides longer than the other two. The first class were called 'perfect squares' and the second class 'oblong squares'. Symbolical Masonry

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Figure 6. A winding staircase with a flight of three steps followed by five.

The Legend of the Winding Stairs

...The steps of this Winding Staircase commenced, we are informed, at the porch of the temple; that is to say, at its very entrance. But nothing is more undoubted in the science of masonic symbolism than that the temple was the representative of the world purified by the Shekinah, or the Divine Presence. The world of the profane is without the temple; the world of the initiated is within its sacred walls. Hence to enter the temple, to pass within the porch, to be made a Mason, and to be born into the world of masonic light, are all synonymous and convertible terms. Here, then, the symbolism of the Winding Stairs begins. ...

The number of these steps in all the systems has been odd. Vitruvius remarks--and the coincidence is at least curious--that the ancient temples were always ascended by an odd number of steps; and he assigns as the reason, that, commencing with the right foot at the bottom, the worshipper would find the same foot foremost when he entered the temple, which was considered as a fortunate omen. But the fact is, that the symbolism of numbers was borrowed by the Masons from Pythagoras, in whose system of philosophy it plays an important part, and in which odd numbers were considered as more perfect than even ones. The Symbolism of Freemasonry

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Figure 7. A point within a circle at the top of the stairs.

All the deities of pagan antiquity, however numerous they may be, can always be reduced to the two different forms of the generative principle--the active, or male, and the passive, or female. Hence the gods were always arranged in pairs, as Jupiter and Juno, Bacchus and Venus, Osiris and Isis. But the ancients went farther. Believing that the procreative and productive powers of nature might be conceived to exist in the same individual, they made the older of their deities hermaphrodite, and used the term ἀῤῥενοθέλυς, or man-virgin, to denote the union of the two sexes in the same divine person.

Thus, in one of the Orphic Hymns, we find this line:--

"Ζεὺς ἄρσην γένετο, Ζεὺς ἄμβροτος ἔπλετο νύμφη."

Jove was created a male and an unspotted virgin.

And Plutarch, in his tract "On Isis and Osiris," says, "God, who is a male and female intelligence, being both life and light, brought forth another intelligence, the Creator of the World."

Now, this hermaphrodism of the Supreme Divinity was again supposed to be represented by the sun, which was the male generative energy, and by nature, or the universe, which was the female prolific principle. 81 And this union was symbolized in different ways, but principally by the point within the circle, the point indicating the sun, and the circle the universe, invigorated and fertilized by his generative rays. And in some of the Indian cave-temples, this allusion was made more manifest by the inscription of the signs of the zodiac on the circle. The Symbolism of Freemasonry

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Figure 8. Cookie's apron.

APRON. The lambskin, or white leather apron, is the peculiar and distinctive badge of a mason.

Its color must be white, and its material a lambskin.

It is a symbol of purity, and it derives this symbolism from its color, white being symbolic of purity; from its material, the lamb having the same symbolic character; and from its use, which is to preserve the garments clean.

The apron, or abnet, worn by the Egyptian and the Hebrew priests, and which has been considered as the analogue of the masonic apron, is supposed to have been a symbol of authority; but the use of the apron in Freemasonry originally as an implement of labor, is an evidence of the derivation of the speculative science from an operative art. The Symbolism of Freemasonry

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Figure 9. Richard Burton's bottle grab as Caliban in The Tempest movie.

Sometimes it's hard for me to tell where an actor's act begins. Is it an act, or does the audience actually see an actor's personality?

A shared predisposition towards drunkenness theme may indicate how commoners (Cookie) constantly need supervision from superiors. Ergo Shakespearean aristocrats and officers to keep Plebes on the level.

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Figure 10. Another all too familiar science fiction climatic explosion in space occurs as Altair IV becomes a blazing star.

"The Masonic Blazing Star is the pinnacle of a Freemason's journey."

In the Twenty-eighth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, the explanation given of the Blazing Star, is, that it is symbolic of a the Freemason, who, by perfecting himself in the way of truth, that is to say, by advancing in knowledge, becomes like a blazing star, shining with brilliancy in the midst of darkness. The star is, therefore, in this degree, a symbol of truth. Encyclopedia of Freemasonry

Notes