May 2008
Human consciousness is programmed to quest for truth about its origins and purpose ... currently guided by an intuitive feeling that something greater is about to be revealed. Recently, I was contacted about a movie called Bloodline. Faster than the spiraling movement of our DNA seeking to awaken the bloodline, I was contacted by "Bloodline" co-producer RenŽ Barnett, with whom I felt a connection. After an initial discussion, RenŽ and I decided to do an interview.
Bruce Burgess and Rene Barnett
EC: Welcome Rene.
RB: Hi Ellie, and a special hello to your readers. You have an amazing website.
EC: Thank you. My readers are very much questers of the esoteric who would love to hear about your new movie.
RB: I am hoping they will have the opportunity to see and enjoy it one day.
EC: Before we talk about your movie "Bloodline", can you tell my readers something about your background.
RB: In my personal life, I'm a mom and a grandmom. I have a wonderful son, Devin, who recently celebrated his first wedding anniversary to a great young woman. Sadly, my beautiful daughter, Jolie, died three years ago following an illness. I miss her terribly, but she left behind three amazing kids, who keep me hopping as I attempt to stand in for her as much as possible, as she was such a great mommy. We dedicated "Bloodline" to her.
EC: It must have been difficult to carry on with the "Bloodline" project while going through the grief process. Losing a child is the biggest challenge a parent can have.
RB: Working on "Bloodline" in the face of all that was a double-edged sword for sure. It was certainly difficult sometimes just putting one foot in front of the other. On the other hand, I was fortunate to have the project to help keep me somewhat sane. The first year was the toughest. I remember when we traveled to Europe just a few short months after Jolie's death, my business partner and close friend, Bruce, just kind of led me around. I was lucky to have his support. I'm quite sure I would've gotten lost or dropped my passport or my money if I had been on my own. And that's the condition I was in when we first met the man who represented the inner circle of the Priory of Sion. But more about that later!
EC: Tell us about Bruce's media background.
RB: Bruce Burgess is an award-winning director, known for his reports and investigations into a wide range of mysteries, conspiracies and cover-ups. Since his exposŽ of the secret Pentagon facility known as 'Area 51' back in 1996, Bruce has both written, directed and hosted a series of well known documentary specials on subjects as diverse as ancient history, alien abductions, the British Royal family, CIA assassins, and Global terrorism. His films have been shown in over 50 countries and projects include 'In Search of the Holy Grail' ,'The Uninvited', 'Broken Dagger' and 'The Lost Ark' for Discovery Networks Worldwide and Channel 5(UK) ; Sabina's Story for BBC2 (UK) ; William:The Making of a King for E! (US) ; 'Bigfootville' and 'Desert Blast' for the Travel Channel (US) ; Bombs & Basques for Channel 4(UK) and 'Rosbeef', a black comedy which was shown 'hors competition' at the Cannes Film Festival in 2004. Bloodline is his first documentary feature film.
EC: ... And your media background ..
RB: I am a former print journalist and radio broadcaster. I had produced documentaries with Bruce, before we started our own company, working on many specials, documentaries and series like "Ripley's Believe it or Not" on TBS, "Unmasked" for NBC, "Places of Mystery" on Pax, and Rysher Entertainment's internationally syndicated "Strange Universe". I've been involved with shows for all U.S. broadcast networks and many domestic and foreign cable outlets. I also act as a consultant for other production companies. In 2001 Bruce and I formed Bluebook Films Inc. In 2005, we formed '1244 Films' to produce "Bloodline".
EC: How did you and Bruce meet and join forces?
RB: We were each working on a project for PAX television called "Places of Mystery." Bruce was working out of London, and I was in Los Angeles. The executive producer recognized we had some of the same interests and introduced us. Shortly after that, we did our first film together, Bigfootville, for Discovery Travel. It worked out so well, we decided to partner up and formed Bluebook Films, Inc.
EC: ... And the Bloodline project?
RB: I first became interested in the subject matter we covered in "Bloodline" after reading Holy Blood, Holy Grail in 1982. This was the first time I had heard anyone set out the thesis about a possible marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. I found that idea, at least, possible. That put me on a course of study which continues today. A couple of years before The Da Vinci Code came out, I began talking to Bruce about doing a film on the Rennes-le-Chateau mystery, because I felt the time might be right. But we were busy doing other films - I think we were working on "In Search of the Holy Grail" at that time - so the RLC project had to wait. When Dan Brown came out with his novel, we knew this was a sign that we needed to get moving! It was the right time for the subject matter, and I definitely had the right partner to get the job done. Bruce was already up to speed after years of his own research and a brilliant and super talented director to boot!
EC: Can you give the readers a brief description of the film?
RB: "Bloodline" the movie, investigates the idea of a bloodline of Jesus and Mary Magdalene and the secret society Priory of Sion who are said to protect this bloodline.
EC: Do you feel there is a sacred bloodline from Jesus and Mary Magdalene?
RB: I cannot say for sure, of course, but the idea that Jesus was married, as was the custom of rabbis of the day (and today), is much more plausible than some other ideas we've all heard about Jesus.
EC: Do you believe Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and had a daughter?
RB: I believe that it's more likely than not that, as a rabbi, Jesus would have been married. The most likely candidate for his spouse would have to be Mary Magdalene. There are so many longstanding local legends in Southwest France about Jesus, Mary Magdalene and their children. I think that maybe where there's smoke, there's fire.
EC: Do you think the bloodline exists today?
RB: You know, I think if it ever did, it does still exist today. However, in "Bloodline", we did not delve very deeply into whether the bloodline exists today. Our point was that if it was true that Jesus was married and had kids, then we've all been hoodwinked for a very long time.
EC: If there is a sacred bloodline, do the members carry codes in their DNA that is activating today?
RB: Again, we didn't get into that so much in "Bloodline". I am aware, however, of DNA projects that are going on today with members of certain families. They are apparently looking for a particular marker, but that's really all I can say about that.
EC: Is this movie fiction or non fiction?
RB: It's all real. It's a feature length documentary following Bruce's investigation into the Priory of Sion and the bloodline.
EC: Did anything paranormal happen during filming?
RB: There were certainly lots of coincidences or synchronicities all along the way. One interesting thing is lots of people have emailed said they see orbs in several of the video clips on our website.
EC: Did you meet and interview members of the Priory of Sion?
RB: We did. One, Gino Sandri, who claims to be General Secretary, and inner circle representative, Nicolas Haywood.
EC: The concept of secrets hidden away in European catacombs is also part of my bloodline story. Were they a factor in "Bloodline"?
RB: As you know, we reveal a tomb in the film that was originally discovered by Ben Hammott, a Brit who we tracked down. The film of the inside of that tomb shows a blocked up doorway on one side of the 'room.' Where that door goes, we don't yet know, but we do know there are many tunnels and passageways in that area.
EC: What is the Templar connection?
RB: Aside from the mummified body in the tomb being covered in a shroud displaying a red cross, a symbol of the Knights Templar, the area has been rumored for centuries to be a repository for the missing Templar treasure.
EC: Who is the most interesting person you met?
RB: Everyone who has seen the trailer or the film is fascinated by Nicolas Haywood. He was even more interesting in person, certainly very erudite and charismatic. We still don't quite know what to make of him, but he is probably one of the most interesting characters I have ever met in life, not just in this project.
EC: Was there an unexpected turning point?
RB: There might have been more than one, but the one that immediately comes to mind is when we met Ben Hammott, the English adventurer who originally discovered the tomb. We knew if this was real, it could be very important.
EC: What obstacles did you encounter?
RB: We encountered many obstacles - secrecy, phone taps, threats, etc. But, really, the biggest one, to be perfectly honest, was always money. We lost our funding early on and then just scraped it together as we went along. It was a huge struggle, but Bruce and I have often speculated that maybe this was how it was supposed to be.
EC: What will viewers of "Bloodline" learn that's new?
RB: Our goal with "Bloodline" was always to present the truth as we found it and to bring some new evidence to the table. We obtained the first on camera interviews with an inner circle member of the Priory of Sion in over 25 years and found real archeological evidence. We don't claim to have proven anything, but we hope we have, and continue to, spark the conversation.
EC: What have you learned from your "Bloodline" experience?
RB: I have learned so much, but most recently, really just since we started going more public with information about our investigation and about "Bloodline", I've learned there are so many people out there who feel, like we do, that we haven't been told the whole truth about history, maybe about a lot of things, and there are many, just like Bruce and me, who are out there digging for the truth. I feel very fortunate to be a part of that group.
EC: Are you planning another movie continuing where this one leaves off?
RB: We reveal a tomb in "Bloodline", which contains a mummified body bearing what looks like a Templar shroud, chests full of treasure, old parchments and books, as well as other items. We are coordinating a full examination of that tomb with the French government, so we will definitely film the excavation and all the analysis.
EC: That sounds very exciting. I wish I could join you.
RB: Please do... and look forward to meeting in New York next week.
EC: Thank you and best of luck with "Bloodline", the movie.
RB: Thank you for the interview Ellie, and tell your readers we hope the movie makes it to their cities as well.
Hotel Chelsea - 222 West 23 Street
For those who like Numerology, check out the address.
May 7 -- It was my pleasure to spend the afternoon with Bruce and Rene two really enlightened and charming people. Bruce is from the UK and I love the accent. For those who like a 19th century hotel, with lots of history and great energy, this was the place to be. It felt like a movie set, used recently to that end. I met several hotel guests as well as famous long-term residents, past and present - including spirits who roam the halls and pass right through them. Check the link above to read more about the Hotel Chelsea.
Interesting Art Work lines the hallways and staircases.
Rene, Ellie, Bruce in the Hotel Lobby
We went to Bruce's room to examine a chest filled with objects that date around the time of Jesus and Mary.
Perhaps because so many people have held the chest, I did not connect it with them.
Bloodline, the Movie website displays some of the artifacts.
Knights Templar Cross
Along the top we see an ancient perfume vial made of alabastron. The unrolled scroll was inside the vial.
The cup on the right seemed most important to me.
There are those who think Mary and Jesus drank from it, but I didn't connect.
Cup is a symbol for vessel (boat, starship, blood, container).
A box is a container.
Alchemical Vessels as Soul Containers Book of Thoth
"Vessel is more a mystical idea, a true symbol like all the central ideas of alchemy." - Carl Jung
Vessel of Knowledge
For the alchemist, the vessel was a kind of matrix, or uterus,
from which the miraculous stone or "divine child" is born.
Alchemical Symbols -- Notes in Latin
Leo/omega/closure -- Pisces/Vesica Pisces/Sacred Geometry
Above Crypta is the word Regalia - King, Crown, Leo the Lion
'X' - above and below - Thoth - Hermes Trismegistus - Hourglass, etc.
Crypta Latin for Crypt - Buried for all Time
There is not much about the items that linked me to Jesus and Mary, nor does that seem important, but then again I see it all as just a story that has been rewritten and recycled so many times no one will ever know what happened. I believe the quest to find the truth is the quest to find humanity's origins which guides the final phases of the journey now.
As with the information presented in The Da Vinci Code and Stuart Mitchell's Rosslyn Chapel research, it's all speculative and is really more about the quest for truth brought forth by those guided to that end. Always we find the skeptics and the believers. Me ... I'm just along for the ride, keeping an open mind, putting the pieces of my puzzle together, and recognizing there is a purpose for all things.
Reality is about the evolution of consciousness in the alchemy of time. I blogged that on many occasions and it is part of the bloodline story in my book. So now we find clues buried in a wooden box in Jerusalem that are guideposts to that end.
With the artifacts ... I only connected with the cup. I saw it as part of a set of 12, the others destroyed. Someone asked if they were used at the alleged last supper, I doubt it.
Now here's the cool part ... While holding the cup, I was intuitively guided to move the empty cup in a counter-clockwise fashion. As I did, I sensed liquid inside it, so real I thought I had traveled back to the time it was used.
I 'saw' something that looked like a black spider chopped up and placed within the cup ... other ingredients were added as if creating a potion for a ritual (hallucinogen) or for medicinal purposes. Reverse spirals take us to the fetus symbol, a return or home coming.
The term Elixir of Life came to mind, and you know where that takes us...
I saw the cup placed over a flame ... then sudden it all came clear ... it was all about alchemy. The symbols on the scroll also speak to me of alchemy, and I was told that it was written in Latin.
I also 'saw' the Voynich Manuscript and symbols from The Lost Book of Nostradamus.
I saw a bloodline that had passed information down through time, perhaps a metaphor referring to their DNA codes - the sacred bloodline of which we are all a part. It goes to the biogenetic experiments that created humanity to experience emotions.
I saw a majestic jeweled crown which took me to Leo - the lion's tale/tail - the sphinx - omega/closure symbol on the scroll - a need to post my blue photos this week that speak of time travel and creation. Yes ... yes ... I know ... we are at closure, no need to remind me. I was thrust back to Egypt and there was Thoth in vivid blue in this form but as a hologram.
I returned my consciousness to the moment as Bruce mentioned something about a Scorpion carved into the top of the chest, though faint now. Scorpio and Taurus are Egypt. Scorpio rising is Atlantis rising - the return to conscious awareness. The sun is currently in Taurus. Egypt, the bloodline, my bloodline is sending messages through the time grids. The Guardians of the Seed stored the seed for the next creation in a wooden music box as told in my book ...
2012 Sarah and Alexander
The chest I now held had passed through many hands, originally kept in one family then buried to be found when the time was right and clues were to be given. It is all part of a Master Plan, a Blueprint of Reality.
Bruce and I had a conversation about alchemy, (read this file) - not just the transmutation of metal into gold, but of consciousness becoming enlightened - and the roles he and I play to that end. His journey is part of awakening consciousness to probabilities about a bloodline that dates from Jesus and Mary, who presumably had a least one child, who would be called Sarah, the Star Child. Always look for metaphoric content in all things as reality is myth, math, and metaphor.
My journey is to bring reality into consciousness as the program closes. Some will get it, and others will not, as we play our games in a wooden box in the alchemy of time.