Satan?

[Shadow_walker]

Hmmm. What do you guys think about page 11? Maybe Satan? I see an entity that seems to be coming out of the darkness which obviously has a strong aura of power surrounding him. There is also a fiery serpent/snake that is coming out from the entity's chest or soul. Satan has been known to be referred to as the "the serpent" because the myth is that he shifted into a snake and tempted Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden.. Satan has been said to cause the failure of the human race becaues of this.. Is the fiery snake representing Satan's evil and influence being pushed out upon the human race? The entity in the picture also seems to have its arms up in the air like he is conjuring the serpent or evil that is coming out of his chest outward... There also seems to be a halo of fire on top of the entity's head... Just crazy artwork.. or a representation of Satan? The page the artwork is on is also page 11, which holds sagnificance to satanists.

[NetEther]

Everybody knows that TooL <3's SATAN!!1!one!

[jsn]

satan sucks my ass sweat.

[_sularetal01]

I think youre just seeing danny...

[eslupminoyler]

Everybody knows that TooL <3's SATAN!!1!one!

No. Fuck Satan.

Fuck the devil and his own.

All he does is suck our dick for a piece of our heart and soul.
Selfish and brief pleasure.

I don't want a "Stupid Christian" refute.

There is a devil like creature in most religions and spiritual beliefs/ideas.

[Shadow_walker]

Ah I'm sorry, was counting from the back. Im actually talking about page 11. Even better. "To Satanists, 11 is the essence of all that is sinful, harmful, and imperfect."

http://www.cuttingedge.org/NEWS/n1756.cfm

[NawnimNonNomen]

I'm thinking there's probably a less sinister and less Judeo-Christian explanation for the flame/spiral/snake. A lot of the artwork Tool incorporates in their packaging draws from Eastern mysticism. Think of the "Tree of Life/Chakra" chart on Salival, or the ethereal parts of the anatomy charts in Lateralus.

My guess is that this is just a representation of kundalini--the energy yogis envision as a snake coiled at the base of the spine ("kundalini" actually translates roughly as "coiling"). Hatha and Kundalini Yoga texts deal a lot with releasing kundalini, and most depictions/descriptions have this unfolding in coils ("Spiral out"?) and connect this to a warm feeling. So the outwardly spiraling snake is perhaps just a depiction of this: Here, the energies are winding out of the mind and the chest (heart). If memory serves, Tool used to run an image of a snake eating its own tail, and that's in tune with yogic depictions of kundalini at rest--the snake wrapped around the sacrum with tail-in-mouth.

(Just as a side note, doesn't this seem to be relatively similar to the picture of the needle-pierced man that appears opposite the art direction credits? That one has the spiral theme too, and all the needles' heads tie into the spiral, somewhat like the grid lines connecting the loops of the flame/snake/spiral.)

[holotrope]

Hmmm. What do you guys think about page 11? Maybe Satan? I see an entity that seems to be coming out of the darkness which obviously has a strong aura of power surrounding him. There is also a fiery serpent/snake that is coming out from the entity's chest or soul. Satan has been known to be referred to as the "the serpent" because the myth is that he shifted into a snake and tempted Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden.. Satan has been said to cause the failure of the human race becaues of this.. Is the fiery snake representing Satan's evil and influence being pushed out upon the human race? The entity in the picture also seems to have its arms up in the air like he is conjuring the serpent or evil that is coming out of his chest outward... There also seems to be a halo of fire on top of the entity's head... Just crazy artwork.. or a representation of Satan? The page the artwork is on is also page 11, which holds sagnificance to satanists.

The halo of fire is the Spirit reaching the crown chakra, which lies just above the head. The flame spiral from the solar plexus is the cosmic serpent being used to symbolize the perfect alignment of the Will with the Divine. Kind of the opposite of Satan...

[holotrope]

NawnimNonNomen, what you say is true, and there is similarity to the needle-pierced man. Often depictions of shamans who have entered trance states show the shaman as having been pierced by needles, because often that is how they relate their experience. It is how they know they are beyond their bodies and the physical realm.

[bitter_enigma]

I asked Satan, and Satan said nope, didn't have anything to do with it.
The 666 on the front cover, on the other hand...

So there you go.

[eslupminoyler]

I asked Satan, and Satan said nope, didn't have anything to do with it.
The 666 on the front cover, on the other hand...

So there you go.

he told me his back was sore.
I told him to shutup, cuz my feet would get sore if he moved.
jk

[soulslot]

Satan, God - one and the same.

[eslupminoyler]

Satan, God - one and the same.

What is absolution when divided?

Two absolutes or two halves which make a whole.

[Matt8]

okie doke. im just thinking it has something to do with higher thinking. like comming out of the darkness into a realization and seeing the firey spiral and i usual see spirals as an inter-connectedness type of thing. i dont know why but with this picture i get a much less threatening feeling and almost like releasing inner deamons which could be the firey snake.