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THEOSOPHY

Taking Theosophical ideas

into the 21^st century

See the mountains darken yonder

Black sun rising, time is running out

From Sinner by Judas Priest

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In line with the cyclic nature of History,

we are knocked out of our complacency as a

period of calm and stability is swept away by

higher forces which we cannot control.

Posted 18/5/07

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The Song “Sinner” is from the Judas Priest Album “Sin after Sin” released in 1977.

First a chance to read it through;

Sinner rider, rides in with the storm

The devil rides beside him

The devil is his god, God help you mourn

Do you, do you hear it, do you hear the thunder

Deafen every living thing about

Can you, can you see it, can you

See the mountains darken yonder

Black sun rising, time is running out

Sacrifice to vice or die by the hand of the

Sinner!

His steed of fury,

Eyes of fire and mane ablaze

Demonic vultures stalking

Drawn by the smell of war and pain

He roams the starways

Searching for the carcasses of war

But if it’s hungry then its very presence

Disrupts the calm into the storm

Curse and damn you all you’ll fall by the hand of the Sinner!

Sinner!

God of the devils, God of the devils

Won’t you help them pray

God of the devils, God of the devils

Is there no other way

Can’t you hear their souls calling out in their plight

Can’t you see their blood is boiling setting them alight

Thirty years now sleeping, so sound

War raises its head, and looks slowly around

The sinner is near, sensing the fear

And the beast will start movin around

Can’t you see their souls calling out in their brain

Can’t you hear their blood is boiling setting them alight

Sinner!

Sacrifice to vice or die by the hand of the

Curse and damn you all you fall by the hand of the

Sinner!

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My interpretation

The song begins with the apocalyptic arrival of an agent of the Devil who arrives with a storm which can be interpreted as a metaphor for a period of upheaval. There is a call to see this coming as the mountains darken with the rising of the Black Sun. The term Black Sun is an occult symbol and has profound overtones of evil and darkness (some websites on this).

We are now urged to “Sacrifice to vice” this represents the breaking down of the old order and the realization that the old ways and values will no longer work. The word Sinner itself indicates someone who breaks the conventions of the existing social norms and whose behaviour is regarded as unacceptable. In this instance, if the order is breaking down then the Sinner may have to be accommodated.

There is further apocalyptic imagery of the Sinner riding through the Kosmos in a predatory manner

The lines

“But if it’s hungry then its very presence

Disrupts the calm into the storm”

Show us that we have no control over the Sinner as he moves through the Kosmos just as we have no control over the Law of Periodicity (Constant Renewal) and Law of Adjustment in the Universe.

There is now an appeal to the “God of the Devils” and a description of the misery being caused. This is pointless just as standing against the inherent laws of the universe is pointless.

Now comes a reference to the cyclic nature of history with the lines;

“Thirty years now sleeping, so sound

War raises its head, and looks slowly around”

The period of thirty years represents the period that the current generation will have taken to grow up. They will have only known the current social order and will be ill equipped to cope with the change especially if uncertainty follows a period of calm and equilibrium.

The song finishes with another call to adapt or die as the old order is clearly gone forever. The song uses the imagery of war and satanic forces but the paradigm can be applied to the trauma generated by any social upheaval following a period of peaces of stability.

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