The Jason Mysteries Part I

Jason is one of those things, like decapitation and the number 17, that vexes me. I am quite convinced that it has great occult significance, as the name crops up throughout both mainstream as well as conspiratorial culture, yet is never explained. I was first introduced to the occult notion of Jason by the Honourable DJ Hives in his now legendary explanation of The Simpsons Movie. At the end of this clip Hives makes reference to an odd hand gesture that an EPA official makes, namely that of an upside down pyramid, after he informs the citizens of Springfield that they're scheduled for liquidation. The Honourable Hives and/or Nemesis refers to this gesture as 'the signal of a Jason.' The pyramid or triangle is of course a heavily loaded symbol. In this context Hives/Nemesis states that it symbolizes declaration or intent, namely to liquidation of the American populace. I find this very plausible -Inverted triangles were one of the main symbols in Nazi concentration camps, after all. But why call such a symbol 'a Jason'?

Jay Z making Jason signal

Once I asked the question I began noting every occurrence of the name Jason I stumbled upon. One of the most notable is Jason Voorhees, the hockey-masked killer in the Friday the 13th series. These slasher films are among the most prototypical of the gerne with at times shoddy production values, and ample cheese all around, yet they have one of the most loyal cult followings in horror -Even Recluse himself enjoys a trip to Camp Crystal Lake from time to time. Jason has seemingly gone through every scenario imaginable, including being launched into space, yet the character is endlessly resurrected along with a steady box office draw. Is watching a slow-moving zombie in a hockey mask hack up teenagers with every gardening tool in the shed really that appealing, or is there something deeper to the series that brings us back?

Jason in space

I recently went back and watched the original Friday the 13th again and I was overwhelmed by how much occult symbolism was worked into a slasher film. I shall briefly highlight some of the most noteworthy examples.

The title itself puts you on notice: Friday the 13th. This date has traditionally been viewed as unlucky, and one theory to the origins of this superstition relates to the Knights Templar. It was on Friday, October 13th, 1307 that King Philip IV of France issues an arrest warrant for Jacques de Molay (the final Grand Master of the Templars) and other French Templars. De Molay and many of the others arrested were eventually burned at the stake. The Knights Templar are of course loaded with occult significance.

Jacques de Molay

Early in the film we are informed that Camp Crystal Lake is off of a road by the crossroads. The first victim (excluding the two councillors killed in the opening sequence) is dropped off at the crossroads, where three roads meet, and is shortly afterwards bloodily dispatched. Historically crossroads have long been associated with evil deeds the world over. In ancient Greece the crossroads were sacred to the goddess Hecate, the three-headed deity also associated with magic, witchcraft, and necromancy.

"She is 'the goddess with three forms,' Selene in the sky, Artemis on earth, Hectate in the lower world and in the world above when it is wrapped in darkness. Hecate was the Goddess of the Dark of the Moon, the black nights when the moon is hidden. She was associated with deeds of darkness, the Goddess of the Crossways, which were held to be ghostly places of evil magic. An awful divinity,

Hecate of hell,

Mighty to shatter every stubborn thing.

Hark! Hark! her hounds are baying through the town.

Where three roads meet, there she is standing."

(Mythology, Edith Hamilton, pg. 32)

Hecate

Artemis (who is essentially the same goddess as Hectate), along with her brother Apollo, were the two Greek gods most commonly associated with human sacrifice. Its rather apt then that Friday the 13th's first victim is murdered shortly after being picked up at a three-way crossroads by Jason's mother (who is the killer in the first film). For more on the numerous cultural taboos associated with crossroads, check here.

the crossroads

Decapitation also plays a large role in the first Friday the 13th. A snake is beheaded about midway through by a camp councilor wielding a machete. The snake is of course a major occult symbol, as is decapitation, which I've written more on here and here. At the end of the film Jason's mother is herself beheaded by a machete in one of the most iconical moments of the film. In Part Two of the series, Jason himself is shown to be in possession of his mother's skull, which he's built an altar around. According to Joseph Campbell in the first volume of his Masks of God books, the first religions were based around the worship of skulls, sometimes human and sometimes animal. This ritual even predates human beings as evidence of Neanderthal skull cults have been found.

This is very deep symbolism for a 'mere' slasher flick. If these are the memes surrounding Jason in pop culture, then what may be found in the conspiratorial branch?

The Honorourable Hives himself alludes to Jason again in his videos on the Lucifer Project, which can be seen here, here, and here. In conspiracy culture the Lucifer Project will probably forever be linked with William Cooper, however. Cooper described the Project thus:

"The spacecraft called Galileo is on its way to Jupiter, a baby star with a gaseous makeup exactly the same as our sun, with a load of 49.7 pounds of plutonium, supposedly being used as batteries to power the craft. When its final orbit decays in December 1999, Galileo will deliver its payload into the center of Jupiter. The unbelievable pressure that will be encountered will cause a reaction exactly as occurs when an atomic bomb is exploded by an implosion detonator. The plutonium will explode in an atomic reaction, lighting the hydrogen and helium atmosphere of Jupiter and resulting in the birth of the star that has already been named LUCIFER. The world will interpret it as a sign of tremendous religious significance. It will fulfill prophecy. In reality it is only a demonstration of the insane application of technology by the JASON Society which may or may not even work. They have practiced overkill to ensure success, however, as the documents that I read while in Naval Intelligence stated that Project GALILEO required only five pounds of plutonium to ignite Jupiter and possibly stave of the coming ice age."
(Behold A Pale Horse, pg. 72)

Obviously Cooper's prediction of a false star being created out of the planet Jupiter did not come to pass in 1999. It is for this reason among others that for many, myself included, Cooper has some serious credibility issues. I've written more on this in the fourth part of my PSYOPS/UFO series here.

William Cooper

Still, even if we're going with the view that Cooper was nothing but a disinformation agent, he still offers many intriguing insights into the Cryptocracy as all the great disinformation agents do. Both Cooper and the Honourable Hives alike attest to the foreshadowing of the Lucifer Project in Arthur C. Clarke's 2001 series of novels that includes The Sentinel, 2001: A Space Odyssey, 2010: Odyssey Two, 2061: Odyssey Three, and 3001: The Final Odyssey. It is for this reason I suspect that many of the theories surrounding the Lucifer Project bouncing around the web have more merit than many researchers would give them in this day and age. Clarke's fiction, both literary and especially the cinematic adaptions, have clearly had a major influence on the zeitgeist of the American culture for over half a century now. Further, Clarke's work has been adopted wholesale into some of the more compelling 'ancient astronant' theories out there, especially those centering around Robert Temple's (who is a friend of Clarke's in real life) The Sirius Mystery. I've written on this topic before while addressing Sirius here. I would strongly recommend the reader tackle both of my pieces on Sirius (the other can be viewed here) as its connections to the 'Jason Mystery' will be addressed at great length a little later on.

Arthur Clarke

But I digress. Back to Jason. Cooper makes several references to Jason in the legendary (if badly dated) Behold A Pale Horse. We just saw one of the first in reference to the Lucifer Project. In this case, the technology for the project was being overseen by an organization known as the JASON group, which is quite real. Wikipedia describes the group thus:

"JASON is an independent group of scientists which advises the United States government on matters of science and technology. The group was first created as a way to get a younger generation of scientists—that is, not the older Los Alamos and MIT Radiation Laboratory alumni—involved in advising the government. It was established in 1960 and has somewhere between 30 and 60 members...

"For administrative purposes, JASON's activities are run through the MITRE Corporation, a non-profit corporation in McLean, Virginia, which contracts with the Defense Department.

"JASON typically performs most of its work during an annual summer study. Its sponsors include the Department of Defense (frequently DARPA and the United States Navy), the Department of Energy, and the U.S. Intelligence Community. Most of the resulting JASON reports are classified.

"The name 'JASON' is sometimes explained as an acronym, standing either for "July–August–September–October–November", the months in which the group would typically meet; or, tongue in cheek, for "Junior Achiever, Somewhat Older Now". However, neither explanation is correct; in fact, the name is not an acronym at all. It is a reference to Jason, a character from Greek mythology. The wife of one of the founders (Mildred Goldberger) thought the name given by the defense department, Project Sunrise, was unimaginative and suggested the group be named for a hero and his search."

JASON group members

Obviously when one does consulting for such clients as DARPA and the U.S. Intelligence Community, one has to have some real mojo. This organization is one of the finest, if not finest, collections of scientists in the world, engaged in highly classified research. The secrecy surrounding the group is staggering, as this New York Times article alludes to:

"Of the 100 or so scientists who have served on Jason, Finkbeiner has interviewed 36. A few spoke anonymously, and others refused to talk at all. That reticence is not surprising, given that as much as three-quarters of Jason's work has consisted of classified military projects, some of them morally questionable. Like Errol Morris's film "The Fog of War," in which Robert McNamara painfully revisits Vietnam, Finkbeiner's book shows how even the smartest people with the noblest intentions can end up committing shameful acts."

The references in the Wikipedia article to both the mythological Jason as well as the months running from July to November is most interesting, as I will soon delve into. But first, some more from Cooper, who has some other interesting things to say about the JASON Group and Society:

"I hope to show that modern secret societies and especially those that practice degrees of initiation -and that is the key -are really one society with one purpose. You may call them whatever you wish -the Order of the Quest, the JASON society, the Roshaniya, the Qabbalah, the Knights Templar, the Knights of Malta, the Knights of Columbus, the Jesuits, the Masons, the Ancient and Mystical Order of Rosae Crucis, the Illuminati, the Nazi Party, the Communist Party, the Executive Members of the Council on Foreign Relations, The Group, the Brotherhood of the Dragon, the Rosicrucians, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, the Trilateral Commission, the Bilderberg Group, the Open Friendly Society (the Vatican), the Russell Trust, the Skull & Bones, the Scroll & Key, the Order -they are all the same and all work toward the same ultimate goal, a New World Order...

"The JASON Society, or JASON Scholars, takes its name from the story of Jason and the Golden Fleece, and it is a branch of the Order of the Quest, one of the highest degrees in the Illuminati. The golden fleece takes on the role of truth to JASON members. Jason represents the search for the truth. Therefore the name JASON Society denotes a group of men who are engaged in a search for the truth. The name Jason is spelled with capital letters when used as the name of the JASON Society. Lower-case letters are never used when referring to this secret group.

"Author's note: The name may even have a deeper meaning, as the name 'Jason' and the Golden Fleece appear throughout history in relation to various other secret societies. In these instances the story represents man (Jason) looking for himself (Golden Fleece).

"Top Secret documents that I read while with Naval Intelligence stated that President Eisenhower had commissioned the JASON Society to examine all of the evidence, facts, lies, and deception and find the truth of the alien question.

"Founders of the JASON Group (not the same as the JASON Society) include members of the famous Manhattan Project, which brought together almost every leading physicist in the nation to build the atomic bomb during World War II. The group is made mostly of theoretical physicists and is the most elite gather of scientific minds in the United States. As of 1987 the membership included four Nobel Prize winners. Today JASON continues to offer scientific help the government cannot find anywhere else. They are probably the only group of scientists in the United States that know the true state of highest technology.

"JASON is shrouded in what appears to be unnecessary secrecy. The group refuses to release its membership list. None of the members list JASON membership on their official resumes. Working completely behind the scenes, JASON has guided the nation's most important security decisions. These include, but are not limited to, Star Wars, submarine warfare, and predictions about the greenhouse effect. The JASON members are each paid a $500-per-day consultant's fee...

"According to the Pentagon, the JASONS hold the highest and most restrictive security clearances in the nation. They are given the protocol rank of rear admiral (two stars) when they visit or travel aboard ships or visit military bases...

"The veil of secrecy drawn around the JASON Group has been so tight and so leak-proof since its conception that those who think the government cannot keep a secret need to reexamine that position. The government was able to contain the JASON secret except for one leak; but the JASON Group itself, a civilian group, did even better. No leaks have ever occurred from within JASON. JASON is administered by the Mire Corporation. Government contracts allotted to the Mitre Corporation are in reality allotted to the JASON scientists. This is done so that the name JASON does not ever appear in documents which may come under public scrutiny.

"What is the difference between the JASON Scholars or JASON Society and the JASON Group? The document that I read referred to the JASON Society in exactly those words. In public documents the only JASON reference is to the JASON Group, administered by the Mitre Corporation. I believe the JASON Society is one of the highest degrees above the Skull & Bones and the Scroll & Key in the Illuminati. In other words, it is a higher level of initiation. The JASON Group is a scientific organization formed and hired by the JASON Society and the US. Government for obvious reasons."
(Behold A Pale Horse, pgs. 80-84)

Jason and the Golden Fleece

Cooper, as I alluded to earlier, is a highly controversial figure that should be taken with a grain of salt at all times. But he is hardly the only researcher that has latched on to Jason. Whether or not such a group as the JASON Society (as opposed to the Group) actually exists is hard to determine. References to this organization are few and far outside of Cooper. Assuming for a moment that Cooper is essentially correct, then a 'signal of a Jason' could also be a sign for an elite member of the Cryptocracy, a seal of authority, if you will. Yet I suspect there is more to Jason than this.

The occult significance attached to the name Jason cannot be denied. The ancient myth of Jason and the Argonauts is clearly at the forefront of this mystery, so a thorough examination seems in order. The myth is one of he earliest legends from ancient Greece. The oldest full length version we have of it comes from Apollonius Rhodius in his Argonautica, written in the 3rd century BC. But we know the legend is much older than that as Jason and the Argonauts were mentioned by Homer in the Odyssey. The tale may even have far more ancient origins than that, which will be discussed a bit later. For now I shall highlight a few of what I consider to be the more noteworthy sections of the epic. And epic (in addition to sprawling) the legends of Jason and the Argonauts truly are -For a total run down, check this Wikipedia article, which I will be using as a synopsis here. So, onto the the mythical Jason:

"Pelias (Aeson's half-brother) was very power-hungry, and he wished to gain dominion over all of Thessaly. Pelias was the product of a union between their shared mother, Tyro ('high born Tyro') the daughter of Salmoneus, and allegedly the sea god Poseidon. In a bitter feud, he overthrew Aeson (the rightful king), killing all the descendants of Aeson that he could. He spared his half-brother for unknown reasons. Alcimede I (wife of Aeson) already had an infant son named Jason whom she saved from being killed by Pelias, by having women cluster around the newborn and cry as if he were still-born. Alcimede sent her son to the centaur Chiron for education, for fear that Pelias would kill him — she claimed that she had been having an affair with him all along. Pelias, still fearful that he would one day be overthrown, consulted an oracle which warned him to beware of a man with one sandal.

"Many years later, Pelias was holding games in honor of the sea god and his alleged father, Poseidon, when Jason arrived in Iolcus and lost one of his sandals in the river Anauros ('wintry Anauros'), while helping an old woman to cross (the Goddess Hera in disguise). She blessed him for she knew, as goddesses do, what Pelias had up his sleeve. When Jason entered Iolcus (modern-day city of Volos), he was announced as a man wearing one sandal. Jason, knowing that he was the rightful king, told Pelias that and Pelias said, 'To take my throne, which you shall, you must go on a quest to find the Golden Fleece.' Jason happily accepted the quest."

This challenge led Jason to assembling the Argonauts:

"Jason assembled a great group of heroes, known as the Argonauts after their ship, the Argo. The group of heroes included the Boreads (sons of Boreas, the North Wind) who could fly, Heracles, Philoctetes, Peleus, Telamon, Orpheus, Castor and Pollux, Atalanta, and Euphemus."

Hercules

Orpheus

There is in fact much debate over the actual crew of the Argo. Some researchers such as Robert Temple have argued that many of the legendary heroes were later additions. Others believe there is great symbolism to the heroes included in the crew, as we shall see later. The earliest surviving mention of the Argo epic mentions only Jason by name. Temple states:

"...the Argo epic referred to by Homer, who proves the antiquity of the Argo saga by his mention in the Odyssey (XII, 69-72) of 'the celebrated Argo' and of Jason and the Clashing Rocks. Significantly, no other Argonaut is mentioned by name by Homer. It is obvious, in fact, from what I said above, that the Argonauts were primarily noted for being fifty in number and related (a comfortable kind of anonymity -cousins!). Outstanding Hellenic heroes were thrown into their ranks by the caprices of successive epic poets to provide recognizable colour. With the exception of Jason there is a total disagreement among everyone concerned about just who were the Argonauts. And according to Robert Graves in The Greek Myths, Jason was originally Hercules. And Hercules was originally Briareus... Of course, the answer is that they were not individuals and were not meant to be."
(The Sirius Mystery, pgs. 142-3)

But enough of the names for now -we shall examine the naming of the Argonauts at greater length a little later. For now, back to the tale. The Argonauts encounter numerous adventures on their journey at sea, and even lose a few members along the way -Hercules abandons the Quest after the unfortunate loss of his 'arms bearer' Hylas, who was himself seduced by water nymphs and vanished (you have have to love the symbolism of Hylas seemingly abandoning a homosexual relationship with Hercules for a fling with a macrobe). The heart of the tale, however, lies in the Argonauts' arrival at the legendary city of Colchis. Continuing with Wikipedia's synopsis of the tale:

"Jason arrived in Colchis (modern Black Sea coast of Georgia) to claim the fleece as his own. It was owned by King Aeetes of Colchis. The fleece was given to him by Phrixus. Aeetes promised to give it to Jason only if he could perform three certain tasks. Presented with the tasks, Jason became discouraged and fell into depression. However, Hera had persuaded Aphrodite to convince her son Eros to make Aeetes's daughter, Medea, fall in love with Jason. As a result, Medea aided Jason in his tasks. First, Jason had to plow a field with fire-breathing oxen, the Khalkotauroi, that he had to yoke himself. Medea provided an ointment that protected him from the oxen's flames. Then, Jason sowed the teeth of a dragon into a field. The teeth sprouted into an army of warriors. Medea had previously warned Jason of this and told him how to defeat this foe. Before they attacked him, he threw a rock into the crowd. Unable to discover where the rock had come from, the soldiers attacked and defeated one another. His last task was to overcome the sleepless dragon which guarded the Golden Fleece. Jason sprayed the dragon with a potion, given by Medea, distilled from herbs. The dragon fell asleep, and Jason was able to seize the Golden Fleece. He then sailed away with Medea. Medea distracted her father, who chased them as they fled, by killing her brother Apsyrtus and throwing pieces of his body into the sea; Aeetes stopped to gather them. In another version, Medea lured Apsyrtus into a trap. Jason killed him, chopped off his fingers and toes, and buried the corpse. In any case, Jason and Medea escaped.

After several more adventures, including an encounter with the same Sirens that Odysseus encounters in the Odyssey, Jason returns to Thessaly to claim his kingship from Pelias with the Golden Fleece in hand. Pelias starts to waver, however, so Jason again turns to Medea (who saves Jason on multiple occasions and is rewarded with utter treachery on his part):

"Medea, using her sorcery, claimed to Pelias' daughters that she could make their father younger by chopping him up into pieces and boiling the pieces in a cauldron of water and magical herbs. She demonstrated this remarkable feat with a sheep, which leapt out of the cauldron as a lamb. The girls, rather naively, sliced and diced their father and put him in the cauldron. Medea did not add the magical herbs, and Pelias was dead."

Medea resurrects a sheep

Now that a basic description of some of the key elements of the Argo are out of the way we can really begin delving into the rich symbolism of this tale. But that shall have to wait till the next installment. Until then, Jason be with you.