LT333: Limited Time Offer

VERIZON USERS

I received this email today:

I work for Moxie Interactive and am reaching out on behalf of Verizon Wireless because we think you may be interested in the below:

Want to be the first to see new footage from LOST: THE FINAL SEASON? Verizon’s got it. You and your readers are invited to watch an exclusive sneak peek of the season premiere from V CAST Video on Demand. It’s yours to explore and it’s only on V CAST phones starting at 3pm EST on 1/30.

And that’s just the beginning. We want your readers to know they can check out www.VerizonWireless.com/LOST for even more exclusive videos once the season starts.


Namaste!

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Thanks Danielle for sharing the information. If you do watch this preview, be sure to email me some juicy details!


Enjoy,
KC

LT332: We Are the Closest Yet

PREVIOUSLY ON TIDBITS

A little clue led to the word “ibis” being discovered within the Numbers of lost. That then led to an Egyptian god who is associated with the ibis bird. You can check out the last two posts on LOST TIDBITS for the details. Today’s post wraps up my discovery…


HORACE

The Egyptian god, Thoth, is associated with the Underword, judging, and keeping both sides of the moral war in balance. Thoth will even heal when necessary to keep one side from becoming the victor.

This Thoth character seems to resemble Smokey in many ways. It seems the Egyptian deity oversaw three major battles between good and evil. In the third one the enemies were Set and Horus. We know Horus as Horace Goodspeed on LOST.

Horus’ symbol is the falcon. His areas of expertise include the Sky, War and Protection. His origins begin with an interesting family story (imagine that). His father was killed by his mother’s brother. Mommy was sure her brother would then try to kill Horus, so they hid in a hidden place. Of course, this is after another interesting story about mom getting pregnant. Let’s just summarize that pregnancy, family issues and secret hiding places are the theme of Horus and LOST.


THE EYE

Horus being a god of the sky is thought that his eyes are the moon and sun. The right eye is the sun.

We have definitely noticed the use of eyes in LOST and now I’m tempted to go figure out if it was the left or right eyes in the close-ups…

Oh, and if the eye looks familiar…it should. It is woven into Jacob’s tapestry!

Anyway, the brother of Horus’ mother, his name is Set, finally catches up to him and they have a battle. The left eye of Horus is wounded during this fight and that explains why the moon isn’t as bright as the sun. For future reference, the left eye is the moon and weaker than the right. Set also took damage to his left, um, testicle and this is why the desert is so barren. Who knew? But since the desert of Africa has been seen on LOST, it seemed worth mentioning.

It was during these battles that Thoth served as referee.

After 80 years of fighting the two decided to settle matters by holding a sailboat race. Now where have we heard that before?

Horus won, was given the rule of the land and this eventually led to the merger of North and South kingdoms of Egypt. Could this be the storyline of LOST?

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One final note…Horus is also associated with Shed. This second name means “savior”. I’m just saying… In addition, several scholars have found striking similarities between Horus and Jesus in writings and artwork. Hmmm…


CARDS ANYONE?

Digging deeper into this Thoth character it was discovered that Mr. Aleister Crowley developed a set of Tarot cards around this Egyptian god. Crowley is the founder of the Satanic Church for those who might not know.


READ ANY GOOD BOOKS LATELY?

Check out what Wiki has to say about “The Book of Thoth”: The Book of Thoth is a legendary book containing powerful spells and knowledge, said to have been buried with a prince in the City of the Dead. The reader of the rolls would know the language of the animals, be able to cast great spells, and be able to enchant the sky and earth themselves. Anyone who read the book was punished by the gods (who would cause the reader's loved ones to die until the book was returned).

The Book of Thoth is said to be hidden inside a golden box, which is contained in a silver box inside a box of ivory and ebony encased in a sycamore box which is found in a bronze box contained in an iron box. The keys of each box were hidden and the keys were either put under the charge of trusted friends, hidden in hard-to-reach places or placed under guard of beasts or enchantments and curses, as prevention to the curses that the Book placed upon the reader.

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This title is also the title of a book written by Mr. Crowley (he seemed to like this guy). It has 42 chapters in it.

CONCLUSION

What I take away from this research is that Smokey appears to be neither good or evil but serving balance - yeah, strange way of showing it from time to time. I'm not convinced, but this Thoth research presents a strong arguement.

Instead of mediating between Horus and Set it appears the two could be that the participants are Jacob and the Man in Black. Smokey heals in order to keep balance - so one prediction we could make is that Jacob will live again.

If accurate, Smokey judges and we have seen this with Ben. Could there be more judgin' comin'? Me thinks so!

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It also appears that no matter what we turn, religion is the center of the story. If the Bible version is used, we have a big war coming (ok, that was too easy). If the Egyptian version is used, we have a form of reincarnation going on. And to be inclusive, remember that it has been suggested that aliens assisted the Egyptians with technology. I'm hoping the last scenario isn't true, but it deserves mention.

ALMOST HERE

Time is an illusion. It seemed like Season 6 was so far away and not it seems so close. Funny how that works.

Next Tuesday is showtime!


If you enjoyed the post, please consider a thank you by clicking one of the ads on the right side of this page.

Keep reading!


Enjoy,
KC

LT331: The Answer is Closer

Go back one post to get a recap of where we are on my latest discovery. It ends with my co-worker, MJ, and I discovering a word among the letters made from the LOST numbers. Just go check it out and then come back.


THE WORD

Ibis. It is really by fate alone that I even recognized this word. Had it not been for vacations in Florida it might have whisked past recognition? Hey, I’m a sports fan and still was unaware that the ibis is the mascot for “U”.

So we find this word and wiki it. I’ve still got Hurley bird on the brain. Here is what we find:

-- Most forage for food in the mud and nest in trees
If you’ve read TWO posts back, then you know trees have been getting extra play here at TIDBITS lately

-- The word comes from Ancient Egypt
Need I remind you that Egypt is front and center on LOST?

-- There is a species called the Sacred Ibis
Sacred…religious…I’m getting a feeling here! This bird has been found mummified in Egypt. One discovery was of over 1.5 million ibis mummy.

-- Known for its bravery in sea storms. Often the last animal to leave and the first to return with a storm.
LOST has had a couple of important storms at sea.

-- Believed to be one of the first birds released by Noah on the ark.
Now we have a Bible connection with this bird, too!

-- The ibis is associated with fertility.
Imagine my excitement at this point since LOST even has its own fertility doctor, Juliet. Well, the show HAD a Juliet.


THE HARD EVIDENCE

Any experienced fan of LOST or reader of LOST TIDBITS knows that you can draw a connection to about anything you want to the show. How MANY connections you can make is the critical test.

To be honest the ibis has about a half a dozen connections listed above and that didn’t make me write this post. What made me write this was the hard evidence.

The ibis is closely associated with the Egyptian god named Thoth. Woah!

Not impressed? Drop the first “T”. Hoth, as in the ice planet from the Star Wars movie. The same movie (Empire Strikes Back) that Hurley was rewriting in his journal since it was 1977 and hadn’t come out yet (with some improvements). This all happened in the episode entitled, “Some Like it Hoth”.

It is at this point that I start to see the connections take shape. Maybe the producers were telling us a clue and not just paying homage to Star Wars.


THE BIRD AND ITS GOD

Now we are off to review Thoth.


“What is that he is holding,” you ask? That is the ANKH symbol we found on Paul and Amy’s necklace. It is being held by our four-toed statue on the island as well. I discovered many Egyptian gods like this symbol. Hmm…

Some might be thinking at this point that the head is all wrong. But keep this in mind: Egyptians did not believe their god had human bodies and animal heads – it is just symbolism to the animal they are closely associated with. In addition, I’m not ready to suggest that our statue is Thoth…he’s below the statue.

There is some wiggle room that the statue is Taweret and the god living in the statue is Thoth. Or something like that. Keep reading…


SOME THOTH INFORMATION

Thoth is the heart and tongue of the god, Ra. He and his counterpart, Ma’at, stood on either side of Ra’s boat.

Notice the boats along the bottom of the tapestry.

Thoth’s roles included being an arbitrator between good and evil including some epic wars. If one god was injured, Thoth would heal that one in order to prevent one from overtaking the other. He kept the balance between good and evil.

Now this sounds like a job position that needs filled on our island. We have the good guys and the bad guys and a referee is needed. And how about that ability to heal?

Want more? Check this points out:

-- He is considered the god of hieroglyphs
We’ve seen a fair share of his work on the island. In fact this next picture looks like it could come from the show:

There are a lot of familiar looking items in this picture. It is actually from the Book of the Dead – another popular theme from LOST fans. It shows someone having their heart weighed against the feather of Ma’at. Ma’at, as mentioned above, was the counterpart to Thoth. And tuck away for a minute that god holding the judgment.

-- Thoth is considered the god of science and religion
I’m giddy at this point.

-- He is credited for the calculations of the moon, stars and heavenly bodies
We have seen our fair share of constellation references on LOST.

-- His power was unlimited in the Underworld
Side track: I think the underworld is the underground portion of the temple

-- The Greeks credit Thoth with the science of numbers, medicine, and botany
This god sounds like a match for the Numbers and some hatches!

Above I asked you to hold on to the image of that god weighing the heart. That god is Anubis. He has the head of a jackal. A jackal is a wild dog as well as the name of the character in Nikki’s television series, Expose. The characters warn of the coming of Mr. Jackal. Anubis and Thoth are closely associated as the first is the messenger and the later does the writing.

Thoth wrote some of the Book of the Dead.

If you are into the numbers it might be interesting to note that the 16th dynasty has a king named after Thoth. 16 is one of our Numbers. That dynasty lasted three years and that number showed up a lot in Season 5 of LOST. The Egyptian calendar has a month named after Thoth and that month correlates to September – the month our LOST journey began!

Reaching just a bit further and I discovered a book where Thoth takes human form. Keeping with his character his job is undertaker – wonder if he prepared John Locke for his casket? In that same book, Mr. Ibis has a friend named Mr. Jackal (Anubis).


CONCLUSION

The judging nature of Thoth and the balance he keeps between good and evil seems to describe Smokey. The Underworld, the glyphs, and the other pieces of evidence point to our black smoke monster as Thoth.

Smokey is the referee between Jacob and the Man in Black. And not just those two, but he keeps the sides even with their followers. Smokey can heal when necessary to keep the balance of power in check. And Smokey most definitely judges people.

The hieroglyphs seen in the tunnels under the temple show a god that resembles Thoth’s buddy, Anubis.

It gets more interesting in that of the three great wars Thoth presided over, the last one was between Set and Horus. This is where we will pick things up tomorrow!



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If you enjoyed this post, please let me know by clicking on one of the ads along the right side.

Thanks for reading!

Enjoy,
KC

LT330: The Answer is Close

IT FEELS RIGHT

Faithful readers of LOST TIDBITS realize we put a lot of theories out for thought. And you know I lean towards the religion and science theories.

Well, this post is another theory but IT FEELS RIGHT. Read on and see if you agree.

I know, I know. You’ve heard it before but it really does seem like this one is getting very close to something exciting. So check it out…


WHERE I STARTED

A couple of posts back it was mentioned that there was a clue using an old calculator. One was to enter the numbers in that old school digital format and then turn it upside down. Enter a “4” would become and “h” of sorts.

Funny how the mind works because I sort of discarded TIDBIT. Partly because it didn’t ring true and partly because if there was something to it surely someone else would come up with it and I’d stumble across it.


THE CATALYST

Today at work my long-time LOST sounding board and fellow theorist, MJ, turned around out of the blue and said, “There is no phrase in the LOST numbers.” Faced with continuing my work or getting into a discussion about LOST, I choose the latter, “What do you mean?”

He replied, “I converted the numbers to letters and there is no phrase to be found. When entered into this website it doesn’t form a word.”

I realized he was trying to come up with a 10-letter word. Instead we tried an anagram engine which tries to create phrases like, “He Milks Oranges” and other strange things.

Then I thought of those word engines that are used for Scrabble. We didn’t want phrases we wanted words. Not 10-letters, but any word that had some meaning to LOST.

While a couple words were interesting like “hell” and “bell” and “leg” (body parts are mentioned a lot on LOST), they just didn’t strike a chord. I rang my finger down the list of other words – mostly two and three letters – until a particular word jumped out at me.


NEXT ON TIDBITS

Tomorrow, Tuesday, is the one week countdown for Season 6. That seems like a great day to explain the word I found and where it leads.


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If you enjoyed this post, please let me know by clicking on one of the ads along the right side.

Thanks for reading!

Enjoy,
KC

LT329: The Forest through the Trees

TREES SEEN

This post is about trees and we begin with the Banyan tree.

(picture courtsey of Lostpedia.com)

Banyan trees are also known as “strangler trees” for they begin their life in the crevice of another tree, building, etc. In LOST these trees have been used as safety from Smokey, bears and boars. They have also been used for death as Charlie was hung on a Banyan tree.

Other trees on the island have provided food for the Survivors. They were used as a tool such as when Kate shimmied over the sonar fence. Trees have been used a guides such as when a mark on a tree showed where the stash was hidden. From the pilot episode we find the pilot in a tree. Charlie found his guitar in a tree. And the real Henry Gale’s balloon was found in a tree. Trees have been used as building material including Mr. Ecko’s church and the two rafts (yeah, remember two rafts?). And my favorite, Ana Lucia used a tree to kill Goodwin.

Oh, and we should recall that Bernard’s seat landed in a tree!

Finally, the thing Sawyer squished was a tree frog.

Yikes, I almost forget that Horace was chopping down trees with a bloody nose.


TREES THAT BIND

The Family Trees have been prominent on LOST. The first character ever seen on the show was Jack. It is not a coincidence that his Family Tree is the largest of all the characters. For the record, we have met ten members of Jack’s family tree. And his character spans the most generations from Grandpa Ray to nephew Aaron.


THE BIBLE TREES

Good U2 CD, but I’m talking about the living tree. The Joshua tree has been seen in a painting in the Swan hatch. The name comes from its growth pattern as shown below:

When the Hebrew name, Joshua, is translated into the Greek it becomes “Jesus”. The picture above shows the appearance of two out-stretched arms symbolizing Jesus dying on the cross (which is made of trees).

The relationship to Joshua is stronger because of a verse that describes Joshua hanging an enemy king on a tree.

And it should be noted that after Judas’ betrayal that he hung himself on a tree.

I find the parallelisms between the Bible and LOST fascinating. For we know that Jesus is often translated into John. Do we expect then that someone will die on a tree or be crucified?

Or can we fairly draw a connection from the mention of Adam and Eve and their trouble with the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil?

Does that fact that Jesus calls himself a tree in just one gospel: John’s?

Is it odd that three books of the Bible mention trees in relation to leadership and kings? Those three books are Isaiah, Zeke (Ezekiel), and Daniel. Haven’t we heard those names before?


CONNECTING THE DOTS

The trick to LOST TIDBITS is connecting the dots. It is not difficult to find symbolism in every frame of LOST. To find a correlation and then predict the future is quite a different story and it is our challenge.

If you watch John Locke’s attempted suicide scene in the hotel room it really is quite clear that he poses as Jesus on the cross. The scene is so iffy that one could debate me. But it seems the producers wanted the shot without offending any viewing group. I swear it was intended. And it was predicted!

If we turn to the Bible for Season 6 then we could find some useful information in terms of trees which was listed in the opening section.

Are there more predictions we can draw from the close tie-in to religious themes? The answer seems an obvious yes. The key might be to look at the big picture; the forest if you will. We must avoid be bogged down by the details, the trees or we will miss the forest. The details point to a forest called The Island and that island sure appears to be the story of history we find in the Bible.

In the next few posts of LOST TIDBITS we are going to explore the future presented in the Bible. Those future events include a holding cell for the Devil, the big war, and a time loop. That sounds interesting!


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Enjoy,
KC