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France mourned when Jean Cocteau died on 11 October 1963. In one blow,
the country lost a great and internationally acclaimed poet, novelist,
dramatist, designer and film maker. His fame began in his twenties and
lasted until today.
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963)
Cocteau was a truely universal artist,
who seemlessly combined forms of art during an enormously productive
life. The great volume of works we can see today are of a consistent
quality and coherence. It is no secret that Cocteau was more than
moderately interested in things of an esoteric nature. It has often been
suggested that there is more to see than you can see in some of his
work. Others have gone even further. Pierre Plantard, in his 'Dossiers
Secrets' claimed Cocteau was a Grandmaster of the Priory of Sion,
and thus protector of the ancient Merovingian Bloodline. The bubble of
the 'Dossiers Secrets' was burst in recent years but not the
attention for the more enigmatice angle of Jean Cocteau's work.
There was a bizar
incident surrounding his death that linked the master straight to the
mystery of Rennes-le-Château. It was described in 'Les Carnets
Secrets' in April 2006 by French researcher Jean-Luc Pergault. It
involved Rennes-le-Château researcher Jean Brunelin. Brunelin, who was a
photo journalist at the time. Soon after the artist's death a long line
of friends, celebrities and reporters came to his house in
Milly-la-Fôret, where they were allowed in the room where Cocteau was
laid in state. Brunelin made his photos and left. Several years later,
when he had become interested in the mystery of Rennes-le-Château, he
noticed the similarity between the strangely crossed hands of Cocteau
lying in his coffin and the similarly crossed hands of Mary Magdalene on
the bas relief of Saunière's altar. He was then stupified to find out
that on earlier photos of the deceased, made by his colleague
photographers, Cocteau's hands had been folded in the normal usual
fashion. It meant that some time after his death, someone had
re-arranged the hands on the dead body into this position. This cannot
have been achieved without substantial force or even dislodging or
breaking the fingers. Why did someone go through the pain of violating a
dead man's body. It was obviously of great importance for someone to
make sure Jean Cocteau would enter his grave with his hands in this
position: the crossed hands of an initiate.
At the top: Mary Magdalene with the
fingers of her folded hands crossed 90 degrees
on the bas relief of Saunière's altar
in Rennes-le-Château
At the bottom: Jean Cocteau lying in
state as photographed by Jean Brunelin,
with his hands forced into a very
similar position (copyright Jean Brunelin)
Like many artists,
Cocteau struggled with conflicting desires and duties during his life.
He combined a fight against a severe opium addiction with his
homosexuality and strongly catholic belief. All these themes found their
way back into his work.
Cocteau decorated
several churches and chapels during his life, the best known probably
being the chapel of Saint-Blaise des Simples near his home in
Milly-la-Fôret. He was buried in it amidst the murals he had prepared
for this purpose himself. His self chosen epitaph was 'Je reste avec
vous' or 'I remain with you'. The master appears to have been
looking forward to life after death and wasn't afraid he would entirely
disappear. He longed to be free in time and space. On multiple ocassions
he stated he had been alive before and would be again. He believed in
portals like mirrors through which humans could transcend time and
space. He used that theme in several works, the most prominently in the 'Testament of Orpheus', an early version of 'Back to the
Future'. Several séances have been documented in which he talked to
the dead. He often used a term he borrowed from his friend Salvador
Dali: Phoenixology; to die and rise in a perpetual motion.
Inversions where another
thing frequently used in his work. By using the already mentioned
mirrors, mirror images but also by sometimes talking and writing
backwards in his plays films. Here too lies a parallel with the works of
Abbé Saunière how masterfully worked a number of inversions in his
church, garden and allegedly the inverse model of the Sacred Landscape
of Perillos.
If there's any kind of
proof that Jean Cocteau played a role of distinction in esoteric or even
masonic circles, it is perhaps that he portraid himself as such
frequently at all ages.
Left: Jean Cocteau in his twenties in
a Masonic pose
Right: bust of Cocteau in his birth
place Villefranche-sur-Mer in the same pose,
signed by himself with his name and a
pentagram
As said earlier, the first Chapel Cocteau
decorated in full both inside and out, was the Chapelle St. Pierre in
Villefranche-sur-mer. This chapel dating from the mid 16th century was
used as a storage space for fish fillets when Cocteau started to
transform it back into a place of worship. The artist was very active in
this area. He had fallen in love with the idyllic bay when he arrived
there in 1925 to stay in the 'Welcome Hotel' for his first
attempt at opium detoxification. The lighthouse of Cap Ferrat on the other side of the bay
figured in his film 'the Testament of Orpheus' . It was on this
cape that his patrones Francine Weisweiller, whom he met in 1950, had
her estate which he also partially decorated. It was also here that he
got in touch with the Rothschildts, whose ancestral estate lay a stone's
throw down the road.
The Village of Villefranch-sur-Mer at
the French Côte d'Azur, with the Chapelle St. Pierre
Left: Cocteau poster from 1957 and
admission ticket
Right: dedication on the front wall
from 1964
Cocteau worked on the chapel for two years from 1956 to
1957. He dedicated the chapel to St. Peter (Pierre), the fishermen and
life at the Mediterrenean. In total he painted 5 scenes in chalk, later
sealed with paraffin wax. He was helped by an army of local artisans. A
lot has already been said and written about the Chapel of St. Pierre. I
will therefore restrict myself to some pictures and corresponding
observations.
Left: Cocteau posing with a local
builder who is working on the entrance of the Chapel
Right: the artist at work on a mural
on the inside
In the Chapel, there are five tableaus. Two of them
depict life in the Mediterranean, three show scenes from the life of St.
Peter, patron of fishermen.
Interior of the Chapel facing from the
back to the entrance
One of the scenes depicts how Peter is taken captive
after he has denied Christ for the third time. The cock who has crowed
to indicate that block the ladder to heaven. In the bottom right corner,
a woman, perhaps the wife of Pilate or someone close to Christ and his
disciples is secretly watching through her fingers, or are we looking at
an inversed 'M' here. With a bit of fantasy references could be made to
the Perpignan and Gerona-based religious sect of La Sanch or La Sang, since a number of their symbols are on display here. The
ladder, the cock and the roman legionairs.
Detail of the left side panel
depicting Peter being taken captive
after denying Christ three times
The most prominent mural is spread out over the back of
the Chapel and depicts St. Peter walking on water. With
Villefranche-sur-Mer in the background, he is unaware of the angel who
is actually carrying him. Christ smiles at him benevolently. The
trapezoid shaped altar was crafted by M. Giovanetti out of one block of
stone. The candle holders and cross where made by Cocteau himself. He
called the candle holders 'the candlesticks of the Apocalypse', a design
which comes back several times in the Chapel. In the middle of the iron
cross is the masonic triangle in a direct line with Peter's mouth when
he is still lying in the water.
Saint Peter walking on water behind
the trapezoid altar
It is whispered Cocteau had a meaning when he chose to
paint five tableaus. Five as in the five points of a pentagram. Looking
at the trapezoid altar and the way the woman on the left is looking
diagonally up at Christ, it
is not so hard to distinguish the lines of indeed a pentagram in the
back of the church. The iron altar cross that Cocteau crafted himself is
right in the middle.
Looking at the trapezoid altar and the way the woman on the left is looking diagonally up at Christ, it is not so hard to distinguish the lines of a pentagram in the back of the church for the habitual Rennes-le-Château researcher. The iron altar cross that Cocteau crafted himself is right in the middle. The fact that the Master signed his name on the bust, only a couple of metres from the Chapel with an identical pentagram appears to indicate that it is there deliberately and on purpose.
The
inversed Pentagram hidden in the back of the church by Jean Cocteau
Henry Lincoln, in his book 'The Holy Place' claims Cocteau hid a pentagram in his mural in the church of Notre Dame de France (London, UK). He put his own head in the middle of it.
The pentagram hidden in the mural of Notre Dame de France with Cocteau's self-portrait in the middle
(picture copyright Henry Lincoln)
I have no doubt left in my mind. Cocteau was trying to
tell us something from the initiate to the layman. It wasn't the last
time. When he died, he was in the middle of decorating another chapel
that is little known to the public. This chapel was not only decorated
top to bottom by the master but the whole thing was built from scratch
to his design in another familiar shape. His last big work might well hold the clue to the great knowledge Cocteau took to his grave with him. However, not before sharing it with a group of people who, hours after his death, made sure his hands were fixed in secrecy for eternity.
Mairie de Villefranche-sur-Mer
'Guide sentimental et Technique à l'usage des
visiteurs de la Chapelle Saint-Pierre', Jean Cocteau 1957
'Jean Cocteau: Man of the 20th Century', Tracy
Twyman
'Les Carnets Secrets', No 5, Avril-Juin 2006
Discussions on www.terugnaardebron.com internet forum
Original photos copyright J. Gasiglia à
Villefranche-sur-Mer et Paris-Match
Corjan de Raaf
www.rlcresearch.com
www.rennessence.com
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