“Prometheus”: A Movie About Alien Nephilim and Esoteric Enlightenment

The science-fiction movie “Prometheus” explores theories on the origins of humanity and their relation to extra-terrestrial visitors. While most might find this premise very “fictional”, many aspects of the movie actually symbolically reflect some beliefs and philosophies of the occult elite. We’ll look at the esoteric meaning of the movie “Prometheus”.

 Warning: Major spoilers ahead!

There is no shortage of movies involving angry aliens these days and we can definitely add Prometheus to the list. However, while most of these alien flicks are centered around shooting them in their ugly faces before they destroy Earth, Prometheus has a back story dealing with timeless questions puzzling humanity such as “Where do we come from?” and “Why are we here?”… plus a healthy dose of shooting aliens in their ugly faces.

Directed by Ridley Scott, the movie was originally intended to be a prequel to the classic 1979 movie Alien, but the final product has little relation to it. The movie tells the story of scientists that discover ancient artifacts depicting visitors from another planet. To investigate this discovery, the scientists get the backing of a giant corporation and embark on a space mission to find the planet the aliens came from and to ask them important questions. The premise is based on the Ancient Astronauts theory, which stipulates that thousands of years ago, early humans were in contact with a superior alien race.

As the movie’s name suggests, Prometheus is also filled with mythological references and symbolism that give the movie an underlying esoteric meaning. While the movie is, at face value, about humans going into space to find their alien creators, Prometheus can also be viewed as a metaphor for spiritual illumination as it is portrayed by occult secret societies. Let’s look at the concepts explored in the movie.

The Engineers?

At the beginning of the movie, a humanoid alien debarks on Earth and drinks a strange liquid.

An alien is dropped off on Earth by a massive spaceship.

After drinking the liquid, the alien completely disintegrates and falls into the water.

The alien is disintegrated at its very core, at the DNA level and interacts with the Earth’s water to create a new life form.

In the water, the DNA triggers a biogenetic reaction and, on a microscopic level, we see single cells beginning to multiply themselves. This is the movie’s theory of how human life appeared on Earth.

The movie’s title screen shows a single cell multiplying itself, creating life on Earth.

The movie then fast-forwards to 2089, where two archeologists, Elizabeth Shaw and Charlie Holloway, are searching a cave in Scotland. There, they discover a painting drawn by a caveman that depicts humans looking towards a star formation in the sky. The researchers discovered that this particular star formation can be found in the art of several ancient cultures.

The star formation in this cave painting is similar to star formations found in ancient Egyptian, Sumerian, and Mayan art.

The archeologists believe that aliens (whom they call the “Engineers”) came from this particular star formation and spread human life on Earth. This causes them to embark on a space mission to find that planet and seek answers from the Engineers.

The premise of the movie is heavily inspired by the “Ancient Astronauts” theory originally proposed by authors such as Eric Von Daniken and Robert Temple. According to those theories, humanity was either created or “helped” by visitors from another planet, who left lasting traces on human history.

The director of Prometheus, Ridley Scott, appears to believe this theory. In an interview with Hollywood Reporter, he stated:

“NASA and the Vatican agree that it is almost mathematically impossible that we can be where we are today without there being a little help along the way … That’s what we’re looking at (in the film), at some of Eric Von Daniken’s ideas of how did we humans come about”.
– Hollywood Reporter, “Ridley Scott’s New Alien Movie Influenced by Ancient Astronaut Theory

Let’s take a closer look at the Ancient Astronauts theory.

Ancient Astronauts

Proponents of the Ancient Astronauts theory believe that much of human knowledge, culture and religion are remnants of an alien “mother culture”. Ancient monuments considered to be too advanced for the technology of the time such as Stonehedge, Easter Island and the Great Pyramid of Giza are considered to be proof of alien contact. Eric Von Daniken also claims that ancient art and iconography throughout the world contain depictions of space vehicles, non-human intelligent creatures, and advanced technology. He claims that cultures that had no contact with one another had similar themes in their art, proving that there was a common source of their knowledge.

An actual cave painting found in Italy that is said to depict Ancient Astronauts visiting earth. This image was probably the inspiration for the cave painting found in Prometheus.

Egyptian hieroglyph said to depict flying machines.

In Prometheus, similarities between Egyptian, Mayan, Sumerian and other civilization’s artifacts prompt the research team to travel to space and seek humanity’s “Engineers”.

Proponents of the Ancient Astronauts theory claim that many ancient religious texts contain references to visitors from outer space. Two of the main works often cited are the Book of Genesis and the Book of Enoch, which both mention the existence on Earth of enigmatic giant beings named the Nephilim.

The Watchers and the Nephilim

The Book of Genesis mentions the presence on Earth of beings named Nephilim (the King James version uses the term Giants). These beings are described as hybrids that are the result of procreation between human females and “sons of Gods”.

“When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. (…) The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them.”
– Genesis 6:1–4 (New International Version)

In Numbers 13, the Nephilim are mentioned again, described as giant destructive beings that appeared quite different from regular humans.

“And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendents of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them”.
– Numbers 13:32-33

The apocryphal Book of Enoch greatly expands on the Nephilim and their originators, the Watchers. According to the text dating from 300 BC, the Watchers were a group formed of 200 “sons of God” who disobeyed God and descended to Earth to breed with humans. They were said to have taught humans advanced skills such as metallurgy, metal working, cosmetics, sorcery, astrology, astronomy, and meteorology. Because the Watchers disobeyed God, they were also called the Fallen Angels.

The offspring of the Watchers were the Nephilim, described as giants who lived among humans. They ultimately became a destructive presence on Earth and were said to have consumed “all acquisitions of men”. In order to rid these beings from Earth (along with the humans who mixed with them) God created the Great Flood. In order to ensure the survival of humanity, however, Noah was forewarned by God to build his ark.

Another ancient Jewish text, The Book of Jubilees, states that ten percent of the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim were allowed to remain on Earth after the flood, as demons, to try to lead humans astray until the Final Judgement. Is this why the occult elite is so bent on corrupting the masses with materiality and perversion?

So who were the Watchers and the Nephilim? Many different researchers have proposed many different interpretations, including a class of rich humans, demons or an ancient super-race. Proponents of the Ancient Astronaut theory believe that they were actually aliens that were sent to Earth to oversee the evolution of humanity – hence their name “the Watchers”.

The premise of Prometheus is greatly influenced by this theory as the aliens in the movie are giant beings who came to Earth to create and teach humanity.

The crew finally meets one of its “Engineers”, a giant alien. Unfortunately, the alien didn’t feel like having a discussion on the origins of humanity and ripped David the Android’s head off (the guy on the left).

Discovering that aliens were part of human evolution is not important from a scientific standpoint alone, but also from a spiritual one, as it could potentially render many religions completely obsolete. All belief systems would be thoroughly questioned, or at least revised to include the “alien angle”.

Spiritual Dilemma

The spiritual implications of the space mission are subtly reflected in the movie, through various scenes questioning the relevancy of Christianity in this alien-engineered context.

At the beginning of the trip, the Captain of the ship installs a Christmas tree. He is asked by his superior “What the hell is that?”, to which the Captain answers: “It’s Christmas!”.  The fact that this history-altering space mission takes place during Christmas time (the holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ) gives it a religious meaning.

Elizabeth, the hero of the movie, proudly and prominently wears a Christian cross around her neck. This pendant becomes symbolic of the spiritual dilemma that results from the findings of the mission.

When the ship arrives at its destination, the crew discovers a deserted building built by an alien civilization containing … dead aliens. After running tests on one of the bodies, the crew realizes that aliens are indeed the originators of human life on Earth. In other words, the Ancient Astronauts theory is correct and the beings from another planet was indeed the “Engineers” of humanity. Once Elizabeth confirms this discovery to her boyfriend Charlie, he immediately questions her about the validity of her cross pendant:

“- OK, I guess you can take your father’s cross off now.
– Why would I want to do that?
– Because THEY made us.”

Elizabeth then gives a “whoa”-worthy reply:

“- And who made them?”

She, therefore, does not see a contradiction between believing in Christianity and in the Ancient Astronauts theory simultaneously. She still believes that God is the first creator of everything … but now she has to add aliens to the equation.

After this profound discussion, Elizabeth and Charlie get horny and have spaceship sex. What the couple doesn’t know is that Charlie was injected with alien DNA by David, an android.

Before Charlie visited Elizabeth in her quarters, David, a robot with an inquisitive mind, tricks Charlie into drinking a beverage containing alien DNA, knowing that he would copulate with Elizabeth and she would, therefore, give birth to a half-alien child. Notice the Christmas tree in the background.

The couple copulates without protection and Elizabeth soon learns that she is pregnant. She immediately realizes that her pregnancy is very, very wrong, as her child is not human and very hostile. Considering the fact that the mission takes place during Christmas time, Elizabeth becomes a kind of anti-Virgin Mary. Instead of giving birth to Christ, she will give birth to a half-alien creature … not unlike the Nephilim.

Upon discovering her pregnancy, Elizabeth’s cross pendant is removed and stored away, symbolically meaning that her Christian faith is not valid anymore.

Elizabeth manages to “abort” the monstrosity. Then, the mission goes terribly wrong and everyone dies except her. After almost giving up, Elizabeth apparently has an epiphany and becomes determined to discover the truth about the aliens. Apparently, they abandoned humanity a long time ago and they were even planning to destroy the earth. Something must have gone very wrong with human evolution.

At the end of the movie, she puts the cross back around her neck, signifying that she did not lose faith and that her quest for truth is now greatly spiritual. It is not about science anymore, but about the basic human need of having existential questions answered.

Elizabeth puts back her cross and is determined to find the truth about the alien Engineers.

The entire movie can be interpreted as a spiritual metaphor – a quest for enlightenment. The title of the movie itself, Prometheus, is greatly indicative of the underlying esoteric meaning of the movie.

Prometheus and the Quest for Enlightenment

In Greek mythology, Prometheus is a Titan, the primeval race of deities that came before the Olympians. He stole fire from the gods in order to give it to humanity – an act that enabled progress and civilization. For accomplishing the act of bringing fire (a symbol of divine knowledge) to humanity, Prometheus became an important figure in the mythology of Mystery schools, such as Freemasonry and Rosicrucianism, which are based on the usage of occult knowledge in order to achieve godhood.

Prometheus, a favorite figure of the Illuminist elite, is prominently displayed in the Rockefeller Center.

The Judeo-Christian equivalent of Prometheus is Lucifer, a “fallen angel” of great intelligence who, once a favorite of God, then defied him and brought a new form of knowledge to mankind. The name Lucifer is Latin for “light-bringer”, which is exactly what Prometheus accomplished by bringing fire to man. This “light” is said to be the occult knowledge taught in Mystery Schools, as it allows “enlightened humans” to ascend back to godhood.

The story of the Watchers and the Nephilim described above also appear to follow the same archetype as it tells the story of “sons of God” rebelling against his rule and descending to Earth, teaching humanity important knowledge. Also, like Lucifer, the Watchers are dubbed “Fallen Angels”. Where therefore see that there’s a lot of inter-connectivity in these mythos and in the movie’s symbolism.

At the beginning of the space trip, the president of the corporation funding the mission holds a briefing and gives a speech regarding the importance of the mission:

“The Titan Prometheus wanted to give mankind equal footing with the gods and for that, he was cast from Olympus. Well, my friends, the time has finally come for his return”.

In the movie, Prometheus is the name of the spaceship that transports humans to their alien Engineers. It symbolically represents humans using the “fire” (knowledge) that was given to them to ascend back to godhood (their alien creators) by their own means. This metaphor of spiritual initiation is reminiscent of the many mythological stories found throughout History that hide a similar esoteric meaning.

However, Mystery Schools believe that illumination is not given to all, but only to a chosen few and this is aptly reflected in Prometheus. In the movie, all of the people who were on board for selfish, monetary or insincere purposes died. Only the one that was there for the truth and with a strong spiritual faith survived. This type of narrative is on-par with allegorical stories of spiritual illumination stating that only the true of heart will reach that higher state of being.

Other than Elizabeth, another non-human character survived, David the Android.

Towards the end of the movie, David gets his head cut off but, since he’s a robot, he stills functions. Elizabeth takes the head and continues her journey, symbolically meaning that she needs pure intellect and technology to reach enlightenment.

David has a great intellectual capacity, making him believe that he is superior to his human colleagues. Despite this fact, he is nevertheless crucial to Elizabeth’s quest – a subtle message stating that transhumanism is important in human evolution.

At the end of the movie, David does not understand why Elizabeth desires to continue her search for her creators. The difference is that she has a soul and he doesn’t. It is for this reason that she put back the cross around her neck. Her quest is not simply a space mission, it is a spiritual pilgrimage to discover where she comes from.

In the final scene of the movie, Elizabeth decides to not go back to Earth (representing materiality and the lower self) and continues to search for the Engineers (representing illumination and godhood). Her quest is therefore not over … and there might be a sequel.

In Conclusion

While most moviegoers probably stepped out of the Prometheus thinking that it was a “decent alien movie”, digging a little deeper into its meaning and symbolism reveals another layer of interpretation. Drawing inspiration from the Ancient Astronauts theory, Prometheus proposes a radical rewrite of history and theology, one that makes humanity a product of extra-terrestrial “creator gods”. The movie also intermixes this quest for scientific knowledge with spiritual and metaphysical questions, making this story not only about angry aliens but about timeless existential questions.

As the title of the movie suggests, the story of humans going into space to find their creators has an underlying esoteric meaning, as it can be interpreted as a metaphor for spiritual enlightenment. The Titan Prometheus is a central figure in occult mystery schools, an archetypal figure of a “rebel from above” that brought divine knowledge to humanity – with all the benefits and pitfalls it engenders. Occult secret societies believe that this knowledge provides the path back to divinity. The same way the spaceship Prometheus leaves earth to find the Engineers, occult initiates look to leave the material plane to reach illumination and “be one” with the Great Architect of the Universe.

That being said, is there any truth to the many stories and mythologies referring to a divine figure coming from above to impart knowledge to humanity? Do the figures of Prometheus, Lucifer, and the Watchers of the Book of Enoch have a factual basis to them? Is there an “outside” source for humanity’s advanced and esoteric knowledge? Was there once a Nephilim-type “super-race” on Earth helping humanity develop itself, but ultimately corrupted it? Is this the “missing link” in human evolution? Is it the reason why humanity is self-destructive and somehow out-of-synch with the rest of the planet? Does this outside source come from aliens as suggested in Prometheus or from fallen angels and/or demons as written in ancient texts? Is this outside source behind the teachings of secret societies and behind … the Illuminati?

I agree with your face, Keanu. Whoa, indeed.

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