"Wagon's East!"... or was that supposed to be West?

Wagon's East! is a movie from the 90's that is better known than it ought to be for two main reasons:  i) it is universally panned as a pretty bad movie (receiving a very rare 0% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes), and ii) the actor John Candy died during the final stages of its filming (they had to get creative, I guess, based on him not being available for some critical scenes).

I don't know if I ever watched this as a teen.  I almost think I did, but I pulled up a clip, and didn't remember it.  Who knows.   Anyway, nothing about the movie itself other than the title and premise is relevant to why I am bringing it up, so it doesn't matter whether you or I have seen it.  I thought of that title and premise, though, as I was thinking about all of those images of people walking in the air (e.g., Ben Stiller as Walter Mitty walking in the air over New York City).

As a refresher, here is the Walter Mitty picture, and you can go back to the post "Earthquakes in the night, Magic, and Michael Jordan" for the other examples if you want to reference them.

As I mentioned in that post also, in all of these pictures the individuals are all facing and going toward the right.  This is a detail that stuck out to me.  And it may be nothing - I mean, we read left to right, and when things are plotted on a timeline progress, whether it be in terms of time or something else, is usually perceived left to right, so it seems intuitive that in a picture meant to capture what these images do, left to right action would be the way to go.

However, even in granting that, I am going to use the imagery to set up a potential issue found in my words with respect to what direction and to where this journey for both Faramir and those those will go with him will take place.

On a two dimensional map, someone going to the right would be said to go to the East.  The standard compass rose on a map has east to the right, and west to the left, like this:

And, yes, these people are portrayed as operating in three dimensional space, but the fact is they have been transferred to a two dimensional image, and thus are somewhat bound by the perceptions associated with that space.  At least, if forced to choose without any additional context clues, you would say these individuals are more likely headed East than West just based on the typical associations of those directions in a two dimensional environments.

In Wagons East!, the movie is a western spoof, essentially, playing on the fact that the pioneers of the 1800's in the US all headed to the West.  The Mormons, for example, took the Mormon Trail into Salt Lake City.  I grew up in Oregon, and so had plenty of opportunity to learn about the Oregon Trail and the pioneers who travelled that path to the Willamette Valley.  All headed West.

However, in this movie the characters decide that they have had enough of the West or just aren't cut out for a settlers life, so they hitch up some wagons and go back to the East.  And that is really the only reason I am bringing up the movie.

So, what does this have to do with anything?

Well, several of my words from the spring of 2020 state, very specifically (some phrases are hard to understand in my words, but these are not, as you will shortly see), that someone is to travel East.  In the story that has developed since, and much of that on this blog given that I have been somewhat fixated with Stones and their involvement in the whole thing, that Being would be Faramir (at least initially) as he goes back to Tirion (Jerusalem).  

However, Tirion is in Valinor and, at least according to the setup and symbolism of Tolkien's writings, that lies to the West, not East.  So, there seems to be a potential issue here, and not a small one, as those they are in the opposite directions of each other - you wouldn't get to where you want to go if you took the wrong direction, in this case.  Far from it.

I have some thoughts or at least a guess on what is going on here, and how to reconcile, but first let me share two main word sections that have this instruction of going East, so you can get a feel for where I am coming from.

March 22, 2020

Jewel zimel link

Back and east to come it profit your house

Them dual iskwendi to know

Suggest usher toward home a story to tell

A visceral glow

A stone binding two ways center-heart

tell me where the good men go

"Iskwendi" above can likely be interpreted as 'assemblies or groups'(and potentially specifically Elf groups).  So 'dual' in front of that, we are likely hearing about two groups of people.

The 'zimel' is likely Jewel-Star, and there is this notion of a 'link' happening.

So, with that, the above seems to support (at least in broad strokes) this story of a 'link' being established between Stones.  In this case, though, someone or some group is heading East, and this place is associated with 'home'.  

Interestingly, whoever is speaking, seems to also make an offer as part of this that they would act as an 'usher' in bringing this person home.  Whenever these types of English words pop up in these mixed Elvish phrases, I always take note and look up in Etymonline just to see if there is anything interesting about the word.    That source gives us, in terms of the verb, "conduct, escort, admit ceremoniously".  Makes sense.  However, the noun of usher has everything to do with doors and entrances, which given recent posts, I found interesting:  "servant who has charge of doors... door keeper".

As a quick aside, and perhaps to just put that definition in the back of your memory, I have Faramir as potentially being synonymous with the ancient gods/ myths relating to Hermes-Mercury (I very briefly mentioned it in my post "Needing new shoes to roller skate in Xanadu" and said I would cover it more in-depth in another, yet-to-be-written post).  One of the responsibilities of that Being is said in mythology to be doorways, passages, transitions between realms, etc..  

That last sentence "tell me where the good men go" was something different, in that it wasn't delivered like the other words, but rather in song form.  The song in question is "Heaven Knows" by Five for Fighting, and may (I am not sure) be from a different source than the other words (which I will get to at the end when I wrap up what I think might be going on).

So, I will skip a couple days here (quite a lot of words going on daily) since not super central to my point, I don't think, and I realize it is a lot to wade through, complicated by the fact I am guessing as to what things mean.

On March 25, there is mention of "a royal son heaven to appear" among several other words, and again based on everything else, I would still put this down as Faramir for now.

Skipping forward to March 28 is when we have probably two other references to this East direction.  Those words are:

March 28

Raymon to see woman much nus narthrun amun sun dawn toward

OK, so the most obvious "East" reference in that phrase is the reference of the 'sun dawn'.  The sun rises in the East at dawn, so that seems fairly straightforward.

Raymon is likely a name or title for someone, and a play-on-words name at that.  It means "wise protector", apparently.

So, this Raymon (who I am again assuming is associated with this same person as Faramir... it is important to remember that back at this time in 2020, Faramir hadn't yet even entered my story, so I wouldn't have been thinking of that character at that time) will 'see woman much'.  This woman, you can guess, I am also identifying as Eowyn, and this fits with the overall story we have gone through on this blog.

"nus narthrun amun" is likely a fairly straightforward as something like "smell fragrance east hill/ upward" at its simplest (likely could embellish it, maybe?).

This last part of the phrase seems to indicate that either Faramir will or does sense Eowyn to the East, or that the speaker does (or both).

OK, at this point, I am going to leave these words where they are, and just put into my own words what I think might be going on at this point in 2020.

What is all potentially means

My sense is that by sometime in February 2020 at least portions of dialogue involving Saruman came into my words.  This would not become apparent to me (or at least become my hypothesis) until last year, and the extent of which not really until starting on this blog.   This post is likely already dragging on, so I will share in a follow up post just exactly where Saruman enters in, and a bit of a 'heads up' I may have been given as this started to happen.

So, I think the speaker in both sets of words I shared above (March 22 and March 28) were Saruman, and he would be speaking to Faramir.   In the first set of words, Saruman is telling Faramir a bit of what is in store (again, Saruman knows quite a lot - more than any of us do currently, I think), and then, interestingly, offering his own services as an 'usher' to bring Faramir to that place.

His March 28 comments seem to perhaps be designed to create a growing sense of urgency or even temptation to Faramir by adding the detail of Eowyn, and that part of this "east" journey entails their reunion.

I am not sure of everything Saruman hoped to accomplish in what he is doing here.  Does he think that if he accompanies Faramir, he will be admitted back to where he was banned from?  Or does he hope to get Faramir confused and turned around, and ultimately delay or even prevent his journey from happening?

My vote is on the latter.  I think of Lehi's vision, where that man in the white robe told Lehi to follow him, and ultimately dumped him out in a 'dark and dreary waste'.   My guess is that if Faramir had or does (I don't have, I believe, any response from Faramir, so it isn't clear if it was an immediate invitation circa 2020, or something meant to be later) take Saruman up on his offer, than he will also find himself abandoned and in a dark and dreary waste.

In fact, his situation may be even worse than Lehi's, as I think he would have been led out to a deliberate trap, perhaps much as Gollum led Frodo to Shelob.  Keep in mind that I have identified Ungoliant as potentially that Being who sits across the Many Waters, and I think that were Faramir to go East, he would find himself in a tough spot perhaps in relation to her and her followers, and ultimately abandoned by his proposed 'usher'.

I could be reading this whole set of words completely wrong, but that is my sense so far.  In fact, for all I know these words are coming from a good, trusted source, but, again, given these East references, which I think sound off or not quite right, I don't think so.  But, who knows, at a future time, I might write a completely different post about these words - but for now, we will go with Saruman.

And it isn't like Saruman is lying about what he is saying.  Per my post "Kings and (Missing) Queens:  Finding Ilmare-Eowyn", I believe Eowyn was back in Eru-Place, though will need to be back in Tirion at some point, and perhaps already is/ has been.  As a quick reminder on 'directions' of various locations, "West" (whatever that really means) lies the Straight Road, in Tolkien's terminology, which if you were to find and follow, would take you to Eressea (#1 at this point), and then on to Valinor.  Consequently, Tirion lies West.

However, Eru-Place, per Doug's writings, lies "East".  So, Saruman isn't necessarily making things up when he refers to Eru-Place as 'home' (it was at one point), that it is East, or that eventually that is a place Faramir might find himself.  Further, he seems aware that Eowyn is there at that time, or at least was recently.  He is using true facts to perhaps convince Faramir to follow him East.

East, of course, is the only place Saruman can go.  As we read at the very end of the LOTR, once he is killed by Wormtongue-Brigham, his spirit looks to the West, as if he would go there, but a wind comes up, and blows his spirit East. 

As a result, Saruman is offering to take Faramir the only direction he himself is allowed to go, and using true statements to see if he can get a bite (perhaps).

I don't think Faramir bit, though., and I think that song I referenced at the end of March 22 is evidence that either he or someone who was in communication with him (Eowyn?) was able correctly state that West is the direction to go.

In my post "The Order of Melchizedek in Valinor", I stated that at least some Men of Numenor journeyed to Valinor, and that this was consistent with Alma's discourse on the Holy Order in Alma 13.  Meaning, that Good Men who repented entered into the 'rest of the Lord', and this rest was found on Valinor.

That phrase pulled from "Heaven Knows", where the singer asks "Tell me where the good men go" seems like it could be a response to Saruman's words.  Where do the 'good men' go?   Tirion/ Valinor, at least that is where they went a long time ago.  So, Saruman wants to persuade Faramir to go East, and he or somebody responds by reminding Saruman that the Good Men go West - that is the Road.

Here is the song itself if you want to listen:

So, putting a wrap on this, I think it is West, and not East, that is the way for us.  Just a thought exercise, I suppose at this point, and I would guess that if ever such a time occurs for us to take this kind of road, it will be fairly clearly laid out which way we should head.  Everything related to the Stones, stories, etc. seem all designed to ensure that is the case, so this is less a post about trying to get it right, and more just exploring why some of my words said East, and why all of those pictures seemed to be heading that direction as well.  Saruman would be my current answer.