Nastassja Kinski: A Daughter to the Devil

Though I have already covered Nastassja Kinski over at the 'Cat People' post. I thought I would flesh out that post with some extra information on one of her earliest films ‘To the Devil a Daughter’, a Hammer Horror production. In the film, she plays the role of a young nun called Catherine who was raised from birth in a Heretic order’s convent located in Bavaria to be a vehicle for the demon Astaroth, a Crowned Prince of Hell when she turns 18.

The name Astaroth was ultimately derived from that of 2nd millennium BC Phoenician goddess Astarte,^[1] an equivalent of the Babylonian Ishtar, and the earlier Sumerian Inanna. He is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible in the forms Ashtoreth (singular) and Ashtaroth (plural, in reference to multiple statues of him).
He is referred to in The Lesser Key of Solomon as a very powerful demon. In art, in the Dictionnaire Infernal, Astaroth is depicted as a nude man with feathered wings, wearing a crown, holding a serpent in one hand, and riding a beast with dragon-like wings and a serpent-like tail. According to Sebastien Michaelis, he is a demon of the First Hierarchy, who seduces by means of laziness, vanity, and rationalized philosophies. His adversary is St. Bartholomew, who can protect against him for he has resisted Astaroth's temptations. To others, he teaches mathematical sciences and handicrafts, can make men invisible and lead them to hidden treasures, and answers every question formulated to him. He was also said to give to mortal beings the power over serpents.                  Wiki

In the occult/witchraft Disney film ‘Bedknobs and Broomsticks’ Astaroth is portrayed as an ancient sorcerer called Astoroth whose power was lost when he tried to anthropomorphise animals and they rebelled against him (I have a post on this film going up in about five days).

In the film, Christopher Lee plays the leader of the “Satanic” cult, the excommunicated heretic Father Michael Rayner. Note in the image above over Lee’s eye (classic one eye symbolism) there is a symbol taken from the Astaroth’s seal which is also similar to the astrological symbol for Venus. Ishtar (Astarte) in the Babylonian pantheon was the “divine personification of Venus”, hence the use of this symbol (I go further into Astarte/Ishtar in the Bedknobs and Broomsticks post). The circle over his eye is also similar to an all seeing eye on its side (which the point in the circle also represents, among other things).

The film is based on the book written by Dennis Wheatley (pictured below), famous for his occult novels like 'To the Devil a Daughter', 'They Used Dark Forces' and ‘The Devil Rides Out’. Wheatley served in both World Wars, in the First World War he was stationed on the Western Front and in the Second World War he worked for the London Controlling Section, in the Joint Planning Staff (presided over by noted Freemason Winston Churchill) which disseminated disinformation to the Nazis. He was associated with British Intelligence also in that his wife worked for MI5 (as a driver), this would have lead to numerous encounters with Intelligence notables including his friend Maxwell Knight.

As part of his research into the occult, he met with various interesting characters (pictured left to right) such as the infamous occultist Aleister Crowley, Montague Summers (a gay Catholic priest with an interest in the occult, a pederast who was sexually aroused “only by devout young Catholics”, his first novel was about pederasty) and Egyptian occultist Rollo Ahmed.

Wheatley and Crowley met for a lunch, at which Crowley gave Wheatley a copy of his ‘Magick in Theory and Practice’ inscribed with personal messages to him from ‘The Beast’ such as information on summoning Pan. Images sourced from here.

In Hammer Horror's other Wheatley film adaptation (full spoilers ahead), the superior 'The Devil Rides Out' ('The Devil's Bride' in the US) the leader of the occult coven/cult known as the 'Circle', Mocata (played by Charles Gray) is believed to have been based on Crowley. Mocata is pictured below, after having summoned Pan (called the 'Devil' in the film and the Goat of Mendes/Baphomet) by sacrificing a goat in a blood ritual in Salisbury Plain (near Stonehenge). He is wearing a purple robe as purple is the colour of sex magick in chaos magick, his followers participate in a bacchanal during the ritual.

The title cards from the film feature a host of occult symbolism including Baphomet, Molech, the Shefa Tal (Vulcan salute), the hexagram (Solomon's Seal; the As Above So Below heremetic adage seen visually on Mocata) and many more. Charles Gray is quite a synchronistic choice of actor as Gray/grey is obviously black and white mixed (union of opposites, duality, as above so below).

The plot centres around Duke de Richleau (Christopher Lee) whose friend, Simon Aron (Patrick Mower) has become involved in a "Satanic" cult. He tries to remove him from the cult, keeping him away from them so they cannot initiate him into the 'Circle' in a "Satanic" baptism, before the important occult date on the eve of May Day. They also try to save a woman called Tanith (the actress Nike Arrighi named after the Greek goddess Nike), named after the Carthagian moon goddess associated with child sacrifice and the equivalent of Astarte/Ishtar (see Astaroth).

Hypnosis also plays a major role in the film as Mocata, referred to as an 'Ipsissimus', hypnotises his followers (through psychic means) and people who are in his way. The Duke also hypnotises his friend to stop him returning to the cult (above left image, Tanith pictured above right).

At one stage, Mocata visits the home where they are keeping Tanith and Simon Aron safe (the house with the twin sphinxes and black/white duality themed decor shown below) and spouts some Crowley, “In magic there is neither good nor evil. It is merely a science. The science of causing change to occur by means of ones will... The power of the will is something people do not understand, attributing it mysterious qualities that it does not possess.” Mocata hypnotises Mrs Eaton (lady of the house, pictureed above), “My will is yours at this point. You cannot function in the least unless I say so.”

Towards the end, Mocata unleashes a series of occult attacks on the Duke, Simon and the Eatons (whose house they are hiding in) who are protected from them in a magick circle. The Eatons inexplicably leave their young daughter in the protection of only their butler while these supernatural attacks occur in their home. She is inevitably kidnapped by Mocata, put into a deep trance and is offered as a sacrifice to Set, “Almighty and all powerful Set. Father of darkness. King of death. I pledge this knife to thee. To do thy work and be thy servant."

 

The good guys show up in the nick of time and Mrs. Heaton is possessed by possibly Hecate who breaks the child's trance and they recite a spell that destroys Mocata's cult and the occult temple, transforming it into a Church. It obviously comes across as very pro-Christian and anti-occult. While ostensibly this is the case, Wheatley's books and films would have certainly increased interest and popularity in the occult regardless of its anti-occult message.

Returning to 'To the Devil A Daughter', Wheatley disliked the Hammer Horror adaptation because it did not follow his novel and considered it to be obscene, he did not allow them to adapt any more of his novels to film. Here is the plot description from IMDb, “An excommunicated priest sets up a satanic cult that only looks Catholic on the outside. He convinces a man to sign over his daughter's soul so that she will become the devil's representative on earth on her eighteenth birthday, but as that day nears, the man seeks the help of an American occult novelist to save his daughter, both physically and spiritually.“

It begins in a church with Father Michael (Lee) attending a ceremony for his excommunication (as far as I can tell) from the Catholic Church and there is a one eye shot with half his face in darkness.

He wears this ring probably because it is described in the Ars Goetia (in the Lesser Key of Solomon) that the magician requires a magical ring to defend him against the demon when summoning Astaroth.

Nastassja Kinski is first shown in her nun’s habit by a rose motif, the rose being a symbol of the goddess (Venus/Ishtar/Astarte, Astaroth).

Lee puts a herb-like substance (probably something specific) on a gold plate of Baphomet as part of the ritual where Margaret (another member of the cult who Catherine is twinned with, they are both abused in occult ritual orgies) will give birth to a demonic child.

The symbol used to represent Astaroth in the film is an inverted crucifix with a goat-legged figure who is also inverting Christ’s crucifix pose (legs spread instead of arms). Inverting Christian symbols has become a mainstay of relatively modern occultism. The pose is also designed to be sexual as Ishtar and Astarte (from which Astaroth derives from) were heavily associated with sexuality and fertility.

This brings in the “Satanic” Ritual Abuse scene in which Astaroth is invoked into the inverted crucifix figure, then while Father Michael (Lee) has sex with Margaret, Catherine (Kinski) is raped by the Astaroth figure.

Catherine (Kinski) appears in a dissociative trance in this scene. In a flashback of the event she describes dissociation, “I was sleeping, but a strange deep sleep as though I’d been drugged. It’s as though even though I was unconscious I could see everything. As if I was inside everyone's ear.”

Father Michael impregnates Margaret (both in gold masks) while Catherine is molested by the statue of Astaroth. This has hallmarks of “Satanic” ritual abuse used in mind control. After the flashback Catherine shouts inexplicably, “I am Catherine, Catherine is mine. It was Margaret but it was me.” This might suggest twinning programming where two programmed individuals are put through bonding ritual traumas so, “they are taught to become one in body, mind, and soul. They are bonded in many ways, including torturing each other, and sexual bonding.” When Margaret feels pain giving birth to the demonic foetus, so too does Catherine and when Margaret sacrifices her life immediately after the birth, Catherine feels intense pain.

An orgy ensues, fitting with the sex cults of Ishtar/Astarte (Astaroth).

Catherine (Kinski) was born into the “Satanic” cult by a Pact made by her father with the cult. The ritual baptism bears similarities with the ‘Moonchild’ ritual used by Aleister Crowley (described in his fictional book ‘Moonchild’; similarities between 'To the Devil' and 'Moonchild' have been noted by others including this reviewer). “Grey is attempting to raise the level of his force by impregnating the girl with the soul of an ethereal being — the moonchild. To achieve this, she will have to be kept in a secluded environment, and many preparatory magical rituals will be carried out.” This is essentially what happened to Catherine as she was firstly born in an occult ritual then kept in a secluded environment (the nunnery), then many years later she was essentially “impregnated with the soul of an ethereal being” (the demon Astaroth, by way of a surrogate) although it obviously differs from the Moonchild ritual in various ways. 

“The Moonchild rituals are the rituals to demonize a fetus. However, the demons that are invoked are not the small ones, but very powerful ones. In working with victims of this programming, it is clear that high level demons were placed within these people at very early ages. It is believed many of them were demonized before they were born by rituals like the Moonchild rituals. Blood sacrifices and human sacrifices are always required for this level of magic.”

Illuminati Formula – Foundation Step 1

Catherine’s mother was sacrificed in a blood ritual by the cult. Catherine as a baby was then baptised in her dead mother’s blood in order to “demonize the foetus” of Catherine. Springmeier states that Astaroth (Astar, Ashtareth, Ashtaroth, Astarte, Ishtar) is one of the, “Principle demons that are popular to place into Monarch systems.” Her blood ritual baptism that goes into this demonic programming is described in the film as such, “They baptise a baby girl in the blood of her dead mother. Then they bring her up in seclusion, like a nun. Then they baptise her again, as the Devil.” The film attempted to sensationalise a lot of the rituals to a certain brand of “Satanism” but the similarities are still there.

Catherine’s mother wears what is supposed to represent a crescent moon pendant (which becomes known as the ‘pact’ in the film) with occult symbolism on it (symbol for Ishtar/Astarte/Venus, crescent moon, hexagram and pentagram on the reverse), again suggesting a ‘Moonchild’ type ritual.

Another interesting part is when the demonic foetus is trying to gain control of Catherine through a mirror (invoked by Father Michael, shown in two occult images above, the doll three up is used here too to contact Catherine). The foetus is supposed to represent the demon Astaroth as it was born from Margaret (who sacrificed herself afterwards). Due to their twinning ritual, the demon Astaroth is connected to Catherine and tries to use Catherine as an avatar (hence why the demon is trying to possess her) while the protagonist, occult author John Verney (Richard Wildmark) tries to stop him (this scene immediately follows her flashback of the SRA described further up).

The mirror is shattered by Verney and he hits her in the face to stop her screaming, knocking her unconscious. In terms of Monarch demonic programming this is not advisable. Quoting Springmeier again, “Within the Monarch programming, the demons are layered in between the worlds. In the older Illuminati programming, mirrors were placed into the System and the demons were layered behind the mirrors. The mirrors would separate levels within the mind. The demons would protect the mirrors. If a Monarch alter would shatter a mirror, the demons behind it are released and all hell breaks loose in their mind.” All hell certainly does break loose after the mirror has been shattered and she has awakened from her unconscious state, as it appears the demon has successfully taken control of her mind. She stabs and kills a lady watching over her and then flees in a dissociative state to her occult master (who is telepathically calling to her), her effective “Satanic” programmer Father Michael (Lee).

As she flees she stops by some child’s dolls in a store window, which the camera curiously focuses on, and is then immediately intercepted by a handler type figure (see below) from the cult and is brought to them.

Another interesting point of note from this film is that the actor who played the handler type figure, Michael Goodliffe (above) committed suicide by jumping from a hospital fire escape shortly after making this Satanic film in which he played a follower of Astaroth and a handler of Catherine (he and the lady below act as her adoptive parents transporting her to London when needed), he is believed to have suffered from depression.

Note the pinned butterflies in the apartment where Catherine is kept hidden away from the cult.

Catherine’s father, Henry Beddows (Denholm Elliot) is portrayed as a cowardly drunk who effectively gave his daughter to the “Satanists” and hides away in fear of the cult. Father Michael (Lee) turns his phone into a serpent to intimidate him (because he tries to stop the Satanists getting his daughter).

Prior to the finale, a graphic "dream" sequence occurs in which the demon Astaroth "enters" Catherine as she appears in a sexualised state, pushing the demon down.

The finale of the film is a symbolic battle between good and evil, the choice of setting for this is most interesting. The mausoleum used here is Dashwood Mausoleum in West Wycombe. Above, Father Michael is encircling Catherine on a ritual alter with the blood of a sacrificial acolyte (her adoptive mother/handler seen further up).

Note the mausoleum’s symbolic geometric shape, the hexagon important in occult circles as symbolically it forms the hexagram (Seal of Solomon). The mausoleum was built by Francis Dashwood, the notorious leader of the Hellfire Club (whose attendees included the likes of Benjamin Franklin). He also built the Hellfire Caves underneath the mausoleum (or at least very near by) where its members and attendees would go to perform occult rituals (sex magick and the like), again this was architecturally designed with occult rituals in mind (image below source).

The Astaroth demonic foetus has its throat slit (it screams like a normal baby) as the blood is to be used in another blood baptism for Catherine. Then what follows really should have been a more controversial scene at the time but I haven’t seen much mention of it. Father Michael tries to seduce Verney by saying, “Why subject us both to all this strain and waste of energy. Why not enjoy life’s perks? Why not enjoy, Catherine?” Then a 15 year old Nastassja Kinski is shown fully nude, although there is some debate about her actual age (she could have been anywhere from 14-17 in this, depending on the source, going off her “official” age though she was 15) it seems like clear exploitation of a very young girl. The scene is here but its not appropriate to show unedited here. The film ends, predictably with Verney saving Catherine. “She has stated that, as a child, she felt exploited by the industry, telling a journalist from W Magazine, "If I had had somebody to protect me or if I had felt more secure about myself, I would not have accepted certain things. Nudity things. And inside it was just tearing me apart."” Wiki

Nastassja Kinski was the Daughter of a Devil, in the shape of Klaus Kinski who molested and raped her sister Pola from the age of 5-19. Although Nastassja (pictured above with Klaus) has denied that he raped her, she did say that he tried and felt uncomfortable with some of his advances. Due to the coping mechanism of dissociation it could well be she has forgotten the true extent of the abuse. In a quote from the film, “She obviously doesn't know what's going on so I can hardly tell her that her dad's in trouble with a bunch off Satanists.”, which is an interesting synchronicity. Klaus Kinski stated in his autobiography that he had sex with his mother and his sister (though many have questioned the veracity of the claims in his book) so the Kinskis may well come from the kinds of multigenerational abuse families that are ripe for Monarch programming. There was also a remark he made to a director (though he may have just been trying to get a rise out of him), in which he whispered in his ear, “You should know I fucked my Nastassja when she was twelve.” The man clearly had a multitude of psychological problems.

She is believed to have had a “relationship” with a then 43 year old Roman Polanski when she was 15, pictured above filming ‘Tess’. Nastassja and Sharon Tate share the same birthday, Sharon turned 18 when Nastassja was born. 

In an early scene in 'Tess', Nastassja is symbolically captured whistling like a bird as she stares intently at the birds. In the book this is clearly meant to symbolise her 'caged' life as she is forced by her father to live and work for the apparently aristocratic d'Urbervilles who he believes they are related to. This has connotations to Nastassja's own life who was clearly raised to be an actress and the mental and possibly physical abuse she suffered from Klaus.

In the film 'Harem' she plays a young girl who is kidnapped in New York by an Arab Sheikh (Ben Kingsley) and transformed into a sex slave in his harem, she originally fights him and tries to escape before eventually getting to know him and realizing he isn't so bad. What a touching story... Anyway, this features the same psychological motif of the caged birds (with obvious meaning in this film) perhaps suggestive of MK.

Naturally, the film has to show Nastassja, in her first scene handling a cat prior to her kidnapping from New York to be used as a sex-kitten by an Arabh Sheikh (Statue of Liberty is symbolically in disrepair).

Back to Tess. In the film (and novel), she is synchronistically linked with occult ritual sacrifice as she and her "true love" end up in Stonehenge for some reason (not the best hiding place really) where she asks, "Did they sacrifice to God here?" and lays on an altar-like stone. He responds, "No, to the Sun I believe, it was a Pagan temple." She is then captured by authorities and the rising sun is shown shining through the standing stones, highlight the solar/stellar symbolism. It is then described that she was hanged.

 Two abusers (Polanski and Klaus Kinski, seen below playing with a butterfly) with Nastassja above.

Below is the serpent photograph of Nastassja Kinski I have posted previously. The film ‘Cat People’ from the post also has themes of incest, as well as obviously having suggestions of kitten programming, note the symbolic cover above.

Nastassja was one of the media's main 'Lolitas' at the time, in large part due to the Avedon snake image. These 'Lolitas' are not chosen at random.

 Above (middle) invoking Marilyn Monroe.

Seen here in a Helmut Newton shoot with a large doll/mannequin.

 

In an intriguing interview with David Letterman she appears dissociative and questions her own identity ("Now she looks like me" to the snake Avedon image, dissociating herself from the image) and other hallmarks of programming.