Twilight Effects

Death or Beauty?

 

As far as I can determine, synchromysticism is a term invented by blogger Jake Kotze in 2006:  "....synchromystic (my new word for meaningful coincidence with mystical connotation....)"  

The movement is rooted in the work of Jim Brandon, Michael Hoffman II, James Shelby Downard, and, to a certain degree, Robert Anton Wilson.  

One of the most widely-read examples of synchromysticism is King-Kill 33 (first published in 1988), a collaboration between Hoffman and Downard about the mother of all conspiracy theories....the assassination of JFK.  Marilyn Manson even wrote a song with the same title.  Dan Brown's Robert Langdon books (i.e. the Da Vinci Code) are arguably based in synchromysticism.

One of the principal concepts in synchromysticism is twilight language.  Twilight language:  "clues" left by conspirators in a larger process called the Revelation of the Method, which I'll discuss later.  

A few years ago there were only a few synchromystic blogs, but now they've proliferated.  Even writers who were writing along similar lines before 2006 have adopted the mantle, and there is a thriving online community which exchanges its findings.  One of these writers is L.C.  (I've thinly disguised the name to avoid having it pop up in web searches, because L.C. is not really the focus of this post, but a point of departure and a thread around which to organize my observations).

 

L.C. is a social worker, writer, and museum curator.  Among other topics, he's written about Cryptozoology and Fortean phenomena, and more recently, "twilight language," e.g. mystical toponymy, numerical symbolism, and the hidden meanings of names.  Forteana is a precursor of twilight language.  Indeed, many of the movement's first practitioners wrote for Fortean Times at some point.

At some point L.C. added synchromysticism to his Fortean explorations.  Wikipedia defines the term as "the practice o nof attributing mystical or esoteric significance to mundane coincidences."  Kotze's "meaningful coincidence."

I think it's a good definition; confirmation bias, frequency illusion, and apophenia presented as something with deeper meaning beyond the mind's need to order and organize sensory input and data.  "The Truth is out There."  More like in There.

Synchronicity + Mysticism.  What could go wrong?

To be frank, synchromysticism has always confused me, at times irked me.  After years of following the milieu, and dabbling in it, I've become disillusioned with it.  I think it's a dead end.

 

One of L.C's areas of study are mass-shootings, a topic he sadly has occasion to address frequently.  He wrote a book on the subject titled The Copycat Effect.  L.C. has

"....a master's degree in psychiatric social work and was a consultant for the Maine Youth Suicide Program for nearly a decade. He authored several manuals and trained over 40,000 professionals and paraprofessionals statewide....He has been called on for statements in the aftermath of school shootings and how best to respond to the problem, mostly by the Canadian media."

L.C. has legitimate expertise in the subject and an impressive C.V. can be found on his blog.  The blog, which used to be called The Copycat Effect but is now Twilight Language, however, is not the kind of stuff anyone in the court system or mainstream media would solicit.

 

When he writes about mass-shootings on Twilight Language, he looks at the names of the people involved, toponymy, numerical symbolism, whatever coincidences he finds; he sometimes simply lists facts and recurring images.  By grouping all this stuff together, patterns are created by accumulation, patterns implied to mean something beyond the brain imposing order on the phenomenal world (e.g. "perception as an organizing process").

 

Back in 2012, I queried him about a post on the Aurora, Colorado mass-shooting.  He included my comment and response in a follow-up post.  Here's my comment and excerpts from his thoughtful and courteous response:

Recently, in comments at Twilight Language, a person using the name Daurade, sent this along: 

Mr. C., I have read enough of your posts to believe the Copycat Effect is totally plausible, very difficult to refute. But I'm not sure why you go into coincidences so much. Name symbolism, ladies in red showing up at the Olympics etc.

I do this kind of thing as a poetic exercise. [A few writers] believe these are indications that a "cryptocracy" is staging events for their own nefarious agenda. I suppose I could agree that these synchronicities are in the air and thus play into the copycat effect. 

To be honest, I'm not sure what your getting at when you talk about the meaning of names and show things such as "Aurora" on a building in a trailer. Are you suggesting a conspiracy or what exactly? Not being facetious or snarky, just a bit befuddled.

His (edited) answer (full response here):

....I'm a Fortean....Charles Fort once wrote of a world sense I share, "My liveliest interest is not so much in things, as in relations of things. I have spent much time thinking about the alleged pseudo-relations that are called coincidences. What if some of them should not be coincidence?

****    ****    ****    **** 

I have enough room in my cosmos to allow research, thoughts, and written material on synchromysticism, coincidences, no coincidences, name games, Fortean interventions, and the human factor of the copycat effect....When I wrote The Copycat Effect (2004), I felt an obvious fact - human behavior contagion is a factor in mass violence events - was being ignored. The symbols and signs within these situations, the patterns and plots of these incidents, are mysteries that continue to be worth my time....

****    ****    ****    **** 

If I'm investigating a shooting, the movie playing at the time, the location, copycats, and various names' meanings, why should I exclude "coincidences" that make no sense, at the time....There is no way I sense this [the Aurora shooting] was planned on a human level to foreshadow the significance of Aurora in a future event. Such tidbits seem to go beyond coincidence, over and over again, in terms of some of these discoveries.

He doesn't claim that his approach reveals planned events, but does say that the "tidbits seem to go beyond coincidence."  That perturbs me.  One reason is not his intent, but that his approach is not always clear to his readers.  His posts imply intentionality, even if unintentionally.  Ha-ha.  I'd argue that the blog implies what lies "beyond coincidence" is conspiracy.

Hoffman

 

My inkling could be due to the name of the blog.  "Twilight language" is not L.C.'s coinage.  I'm not sure if it was James Shelby Downard or Michael Hoffman II who coined it, but Hoffman has used it for years. In fact, it's the name of his most recent book (2021).  Hoffman also coined  "the Revelation of the Method."  I reproduced an excellent post from Skilluminati (with his blessing) about this subject in 2014. 

 

Twilight language is the key to decrypting the Revelation of the Method (ROTM).  ROTM is allegedly used by the "cryptocracy" (deep state) to plant clues in staged events that the public consciously or unconsciously picks up on.  The goal is to make the public know that the cryptocracy knows the public knows about their shenanigans.  The public will thus be made to feel impotent and demoralized; despite knowing mass-shootings, etc. are being staged, and that so much of what occurs are "false flag operations," they can't do anything about, the masses will feel powerless and resigned to being controlled.  

As Skilluminati puts it, they "rub our noses in it."  It's a bit convoluted.

As L.C. states in his response to my queries, he is not promoting conspiracy theory.  But why use a name of a methodology that is a inseparable from a conspiracy theory many of his readers are aware of?  Especially as it's the exact methodology L.C. uses

L.C. credits Hoffman for inventing the term, also noting the latter's Holocaust denial.  (Hoffman doesn't actually deny the Holocaust; he's explicitly said otherwise, but more on that later).  Hoffman, in addition to his own twilight language work, is known for his antisemitic writings.  Which may be why L.C. seems reluctant to amplify the origin of his blog's name.  But again, many of his readers know it.

 

One of the foundational texts of synchromysticism

 

In 2021, L.C. was taken to task by Hayley Stevens and Blake Smith for citing the work of Fortean writer Jim Brandon, aka William Grimstad, without mentioning that Grimstad is also a Neo-Nazi and Holocaust denier.  As Brandon, he's written two influential books about Fortean phenomena.  As Grimstad, he writes books against Zionism, Jews and the veracity of the Holocaust.  

 

Grimstad and Hoffman.  Po-tay-toe / Po-tah-toe?  Probably.  Like many things, there are degrees.  In the end, a bigot is still a bigot, but it would simply be inaccurate to paint the two men in exactly the same light.

There's another weird tale to tell about Grimstad.  In the early 70's, Grimstad was the managing editor of White Power, a publication of the American Nazi Party (now called the National Socialist White People's Party).  In 1978, about the time he was writing his Fortean books as Jim Brandon, he received $20,000 after he published his book Antizion.  He says a check just came in the mail, unsolicited.  At first he thought it was from the Saudi government, but later came to think it was actually sent by the ADL as a way to discredit the Saudis.  Grimstad had registered as an agent of the Saudi government, but the Saudis denied this was true, and apparently his "registration statement was vague and lacked copies of a contract or letter from the Saudis requesting Grimstad's services." (NYT)  He later retracted his declaration.  Very odd stuff.

Hoffman isn't a Nazi.  He is a Traditionalist Catholic, that is to say, a Catholic who rejects the liberalizing doctrines which came out of The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965).  One of the more controversial results of "Vatican II" was the document Nostra aetate, in which the Church officially stopped blaming the Jews for Jesus's Crucifixion, placing blame squarely on the shoulders of Rome.  The pre-Vatican II doctrine has been blamed for centuries of antisemitism, and, judging from the angry reactions to the new doctrine, that seems to be very much true.

Hoffman, like Grimstad, has his own "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" relationship with Muslims.  He was a speaker at the Nation of Islam's "Saviours' Day" [sic] celebration in February, 2019.  Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan has long been criticized for antisemitic statements, and it is on the topic of the Talmud that Hoffman was invited to speak.  A strange sight.  A middle-aged, white, Traditionalist Catholic who lives in Idaho, addressing the Nation of Islam about how he and the Nation are the "best friends" of the Jewish people.  Strange times.  If you're interested, here's Hoffman's speech, along with a subsequent panel discussion: 

 

     

 

But I digress.  As a result of the criticism regarding Grimstad, L.C. wrote a riposte and denied being sympathetic to Grimstad's views.  I believe him.  I also don't see a problem with citing Grimstad and not mentioning his antisemitism every time.  L.C. is clearly not an antisemite.  I have no idea about his political beliefs, but my sense is that they don't skew towards either the radical or the right wing.  

I really want to emphasize that I don't think L.C. is "wrong" for being interested in the Fortean work of Grimstad and Hoffman.  One can admire the poetry of, say, Ezra Pound, and Marinetti, and not be a fascist sympathizer.  Just as one can admire the work of the Surrealists and not be a Marxist.

I myself really want to read Brandon's Fortean books.  I have wanted to do so since long before I learned the man was also a Nazi named Grimstad.  Learning this didn't change my mind.  I don't see a problem with that, especially because the books are out of print, and buying them wouldn't put money in his wallet.  They are also some of the founding texts of synchromysticism.  As a person with an interest in history, I may one day read Mein Kampf.  Or not.  As a person with an interest in the far right, I skimmed through The Turner Diaries.

  

When you study fringe politics, conspiracy theory, and fascism, "neo" or otherwise, you have to read the primary sources.  Was L.C. wrong to refer to Jim Brandon without adding a caveat each time that Brandon, as Grimstad, wrote some pretty vile stuff?  I would say no.  I searched L.C.'s blog for "Grimstad," "Brandon" and "Hoffman."  He has regularly called them out for their antisemitism.  I don't think his critics are being fair to L.C.

In his rebuttal to Hayley, L.C. credits Grimstad for his Fortean contributions while categorically repudiating the latter's antisemitism.  What he doesn't mention in his rebuttal is that there's a similar issue going on with Michael Hoffman, even though he has identified Hoffman in other posts as a Holocaust denier and uses his terminology for the name of his blog.

What really puzzled me about his response to his critics is its denouement.  In the end, L.C. lays claim to an idea that Grimstad articulated in 1978, yet says because he built upon it, and Grimstad never returned to it, he (L.C.) was claiming "ownership" of the idea for himself. Grimstad's email reply is mocking, smug, and well, in essence correct.

To quote L.C.:

Forteans first became aware of William Grimstad after his appearance in the Spring 1978 issue of Fortean Times magazine. Grimstad wrote an essay on his findings, entitled “Fateful Fayette,” in that issue.  

As one commentary said years later, "Since then, the subject has been expanded upon and expounded upon by many other researchers, most notably by author L.C. C. suggested that Lafayette visited certain places in America for symbolic and spooky reasons."

L.C. concludes:

So let me try this. Henceforth, since I have built, researched, banked, and booked almost 40 years of effort and thought into the "Fayette Factor" and the "Name Game" via my "Twilight Language" writings, I will take on the full ownership of this "Fayette" concept. It is not a secret, it is not an idea hidden, but it is mine. "Jim Brandon" and "Bill Grimstad" gave it up by being Holocaust denier(s) and not coming forth with apologies, new editions, or reprints of The Rebirth of Pan.

This is L.C. in 2021 taking ownership of Brandon's ideas, first expressed in 1978.  Because Brandon never re-printed The Rebirth of Pan, a book in which the "Fayette" ideas weren't even originally expressed?  Because Brandon is a Holocaust denier?  Holocaust denial is vile shit, but what does it have to do with not re-printing a book totally unrelated to it?  L.C.:  "It is mine."  Hey, what?  I don't get it.  If the idea is not Grimstad/Brandon's, it doesn't "belong" to anybody, or perhaps it's more accurate to say it belongs to everybody.

Hoffman may be a bigot, but his posts evidence extensive research, developed thoughts, and ideas; some of these ideas are objectionable, but they're eloquently expressed. L.C.'s blog posts present factoids, sometimes without elaboration, and stop at the moment one is expecting some kind of conclusion or analysis.

 

Absent any analysis or conclusion, conspiracy theories bloom.  One only needs to read the comments to see the flowering.  Without an "ergo," we get all manner of loopy conclusions.

And I'm just another yahoo with an opinion. 

I've pondered posting this for a while and haven't done it, because I don't want to belittle L.C.; that is not my intent here.  I respect him.  This post is really more about synchromystic thinking as a whole rather than one man and his blog.

Because conspiratorial thinking has become mainstreamed during recent years, and watching the spectacle of elected officials promoting QAnon as if it were something real, of seeing the fruit of that mindset in the form of a mob storming the US Capitol, and listening to people deciding to use bleach, horse pills, and light bulbs to treat a disease for which we have vaccines....To see a guy in Buffalo kill ten people because of a conspiracy theory pushed by a mainstream media figure, Tucker Carlson, I feel a greater urge to try to say my piece against conspiracy theories with shaky foundations. 

 

It boils down to this.  I've come to believe the synchromystic approach has become a facile dead-end that may be unhealthy.  Unhealthy when it becomes consensus reality among large segments of the agora; it's not twilight language itself, but the conspiracy theory of which it's part and parcel.  

I know it's not L.C.'s intent, but when you read the comments on his posts, there's lots of talk of psy-ops, false flags, and crisis actors.  I may just be over-reacting emotionally to recent mass-shootings.  Maybe I'm just a PMRC schoolmarm wagging a finger at Dungeons & Dragons and Mötley Crüe.  But crying "false flag" when a terrorist shoots up a school is not helpful.

"Crisis actors" are a staple trope for people who believe that mass-shootings are elaborate deep-state (cryptocracy) psy-ops (Revelation of the Method), and not carried out by lone, troubled people.  How can we resolve the problem when people think complicated conspiracies explain the actions of mentally-ill people who have bought into the very same conspiracy theories?  And the false-flag concept is not limited to the fringes.  It has become dangerously close the the center of the mainstream.  

 

We're all living in a fiction without an author, a fiction for which some people are ready to kill.

 

A man shot up a pizzeria in D.C. because he believed there were sex slaves in its basement.  But there were no sex slaves.  There wasn't even a basement.  How many have since been murdered by right-wing "warriors" trying to save the white race from being replaced by deep-state "elites?"

I need to reemphasize that my "critique" here is not really about L.C., but synchromysticism.  

And again, the unease I have with his blog arises from the comments by the readers.  That said, these comments are there because of the empty spaces L.C. leaves around the skeletal presentation of coincidences in the posts, coincidences which are not remarkable at all.  L.C. makes little attempt after these comments to disabuse his readers of their wildest conclusions.

 

Mass-shooting minutiae are not twilight language; they aren't the Revelation of Method, but the revelation of chaos.  Of an inadequate public mental-healthcare system.  Of a gun culture so out of proportion that disturbed individuals can walk into a shop and buy firearms more easily than they can buy a six-pack. The revelation of an unhealthy, materialistic culture obsessed with celebrity.  The revelation of a culture whose films and video games celebrate violence and shooting as many people as a way to resolve problems.  The revelation of a nation built on slavery and genocide.  The revelation of a nation at war for almost my entire life.  

Mass-shootings are not psychodramas staged by a cryptocracy.

Twilight language is the foundation of the Revelation of the Method, and legitimizing one legitimizes the other.  If you call your blog Twilight Language, you endorse the Revelation of the Method.  

Robert Anton Wilson used methods similar to twilight language.  But it took him at least three dense books (the Cosmic Trigger trilogy) of analytical, ironic, and multidisciplinary essays to wrestle with it.  Objective, subjective, mystic, scientific.  He doesn't dismiss mysticism or synchronicity, but he doesn't just write stuff down without questioning the degree to which his mind may be creating the coincidences he perceives.

Ordo Ab Chao.  Order from Chaos.  Synchromysticism puts a hand on the tiller, and having a pilot, even a nefarious one, is better than a rudderless ship.  Because if there is a rudder, a new hand, a "good" hand, can take hold of it.  Meaning is a reassuring lifeboat to jump into when the terrifying irrationality of the oceanic depths comes to the surface.  

The accumulation of coincidence into "meaningful" patterns is often the compulsive process of the paranoid mind.  Or the artist.  Dalí:  "The only difference between me and a madman is that I'm not mad."  

 

Twilight language can be a brilliant starting point.  Without the work, or the art, it doesn't go anywhere.  Twilight language and The Revelation of the Method are not the exegesis of political and sociological issues, not "conclusions," but brainstorming techniques, spitballing, word play.  And once the games are over, the real work can begin.

 

It occurs to me I may be totally wrong.  A cloud of information could lead to a lightning strike:  "Eureka!"

I'm open to the possibility that twilight language is a useful way of putting it all out there and seeing what comes of it.  I'm also aware that shootings inspired by conspiracy theories, QAnon, anti-vaxxers, and rampant political know-nothingness may have soured me on what is ultimately a harmless endeavor.  But I can't shake the feeling that this it's somehow, well, not exactly harmful, but not exactly harmless, either.    

 

In the absence of some hard-hitting conclusion, I'll just end it here and let the chips fall where they may....It occurs to me I should just lighten up.  But turning to the news and seeing yet another mass-shooting, it's hard to simply ignore what people are saying it about it. 

 

One thing I'm sure of is that a solution doesn't lie with ruminating on the name of Heath Ledger's dog....

****    ****    ****    ****

Please see my tentative bibliography of titles directly-related to Synchromysticism or titles I find useful for understanding Twilight Language.

I linked to it in my post, but Skilluminati's take on the Revelation of the Method is an excellent analysis:

It's catching.  The most remarkable thing about Conspiracy apophenia, to an amoral free agent like myself, is that it's distinctly contagious. Once infected, we always tend toward greater certainty. This is not lost on Michael Hoffman himself, who proclaims: "Give me two hours with any group of average intelligence and I'll have them reading twilight language and decoding occult rituals for the rest of their lives." I see no reason to doubt him.

I'd forgotten about it, but in a coda to that second post I discussed L.C., Hoffman, and Grimstad quite a bit.  I don't have it in for L.C., I just have occasion to read his posts frequently as they pop up in my search results, and it's a logical point of entry to discuss the lineage of synchromysticism and it's Fortean roots.

Somewhere in this prolix mess there's a decent post....