Cult symbology in children's books - and a question

Participant

Thank you, David, for doing so much research. I wanted to ask about a something I’ve been seeing as a librarian. Several years ago, I purchased a children’s book that I never put on the shelves because it was stuffed full of dark symbolism. I mean, I’ve never seen anything so egregious! Instead, it’s lived in a drawer at my house for years. The book is Owen Davey’s Night Knight. I’ve seen a lot of cult symbolism in children’s books (The Blue House by Phoebe Wahl comes to mind), but this one is over the top. It’s easy to find used copies online if you’d like to have a hard copy, but you can also see what I’m talking about in this storytime video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQBQQGXrdIM (if links don’t work in the forum, the title of the video is “Knight Bedtime Book: Children’s Book Review of Night Knight”)

The video won’t show you the teeny little symbol at the bottom right corner of one of the pages. At first glance, it looks as though the book is smudged, but when you peer close, it’s obviously been printed. It’s a small pyramid with the eye. I’ve NEVER seen anything like it before. Note that the publishing company is Templar Books.

If you’re also interested in looking at The Blue House, you can see a video of it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdIP5xCkYjk (title of the video is “The Blue House” by the YouTube user Ruthie Speirs). The thing is, Phoebe Wahl’s other books are lovely, and I haven’t found any other symbology in any of them. I haven’t found any obvious symbology in other Owen Davies books, either.

It’s a bit maddening seeing these messages in books meant for children and then reading all of the glowing reviews by parents (most seem to adore the illustrations). I just don’t know what to do with this information. But, I do have a question. Do you think these authors know what they’re doing? Or do you think they’re guided, somehow? I’ve been leaning toward the second option. There’s SO MUCH strange symbology and obvious darkness in everyday life (think song lyrics, for instance) that it seems impossible for it all to have been created consciously. Of course some artists are doing it purposefully, but do you think it’s possible that others have no idea what they’ve created? If so, who’s guiding them and how? Are all of us susceptible to this “guiding”?

Sorry to ramble on so long. I just don’t have many people I can talk with about what I’ve been seeing. All I can do is keep books like these off the shelves. Thanks for reading.

peacecoast

Participant

Shana, Thank you for this information. Could you elaborate about the cult symbology in the children’s books? I could not discern very much when I watched the videos.

I am an avid reader and retired special education teacher on the Pacific coast of the USA. I have noticed the increase in sexual content in adult books and videos (ex: unnecessary sexual illustrations, a Nancy Drew video series that portrays her as hooking up with boyfriend Ned who is black, of course, and token homosexuals and mixed race couples in so many new streaming productions). Contemporary novelists such as Jodi Picoult and Danielle Steele promote the falsity that there was a virus and a pandemic, and they reinforce the inaccurate idea that allopathic medicine, including “vaccines”, is miraculous. Your thoughts?