Marilyn Manson Shares Valentine's Day Photos (February 14, 2024) - Some Possible Meanings Behind Recent Manson Imagery

The day prior to Valentine's Day, Lindsay posted some of her photos in anticipation, but on February 14th itself Manson posted photos of himself taken by Lindsay. The first thing he did was change his profile photo on all his social media to the image at the top of this page, then he posted the following photo:

 

 

The last time Manson changed his profile photo was on May 15, 2023 with the caption: "I’ve got something for you to hear," and I pointed out some of the relevant imagery of that photo. May 15th is the wedding anniversary of Manson and Lindsay. Now we have another profile change on February 14th, Valentine's Day, which besides all the historical Manson symbolism behind the day, can also be seen as another occasion for Manson and Lindsay to celebrate their love. And of course, both photos were taken by Lindsay. The latest profile picture has no accompanying caption, so let's take a closer look at it and see what significance there may be to it.

To break down the image, we have Manson wearing what looks like a white dress shirt buttoned to the top with his head downward as he stares up into the camera, with red hands on top of each other laying crosswise over his chest or heart, and he is standing behind a black transparent curtain. The red hands do not seem to be red gloves, since we can see he is wearing his wedding ring.

The imagery of this photo brings us back to the imagery Manson used during The High End of Low era in 2009. Three occasions specifically come to mind:

1. In the "Running to the Edge of the World" video, Manson sings behind a white transparent curtain, wearing a white dress shirt and black tie, and one black glove.

 

2. In some photos taken by Delaney Bishop at this time, Manson can sometimes be seen wearing red gloves with a white wedding veil or white plastic over his face.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. During a live performance on The High End of Low Tour in Barcelona, after it was announced Manson and Evan had resumed their relationship after some time apart, a bed was brought out onto the stage with a realistic bloody corpse of Evan on it. Wearing the same outfit as he did in the "Running to the Edge of the World" video, Manson dips his right hand in her blood which stains his right hand red.

But we can also make another interesting reference to the red hands from the album Mechanical Animals, which may tie into later symbolism in The High End of Low as well. The album features an alternate, less "obscene" cover which is contained on the reverse side of the album liner notes. It is incidentally the cover for an album of the same name by Omēga and the Mechanical Animals, a fictitious band composed of characters played by the members of Marilyn Manson. The symbolism here according to the Nachtkabarett website is that whereas Adam Kadmon (the first symbolic and idyllic man, autobiographically as Marilyn Manson) initiated a revolution against the hypocrisy and superficiality of the establishment which oppressed him, he eventually becomes a fake product himself known as Omega. "The hollow rock star which Adam has become now has red prosthetic fingers where hands he carved and crafted his revolution used to be."

 

 

The whole concept of Celebratarianism is perfectly aligned with Valentine's Day. It is a day on which we celebrate the death of a marty as the holiday of love. It is similar, according to Manson, with Jesus Christ, the first rock star who died on a cross, which in turn became a symbol worn around necks as a sign of devotion despite it being a torture device meant to kill.

As for the black curtain, the imagery that immediately comes to my mind is Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story The Minister's Black Veil. I don't recall any Hawthorne references in Manson, so it may not be his direct inspiration for the imagery of this photo, but Edgar Allan Poe did review it and contemplated the meaning of the black veil, since Hawthorne never gives the meaning as to why the minister of a New England village wore a black veil over his eyes. Most agree that this is done because the minister is either hiding a secret sin of his own or he is making a reference to the Puritan obsession with sin, but in the story he goes about his daily business as a minister while everyone tries to figure out what the black veil means. What Hawthorne is really doing is criticizing the overly judgmental nature of the Puritans. Such themes are very much a part of Hawthorne's stories, especially when we consider the fact that he was from Salem Village and that his grandfather was the judge at the Salem Witch Trials, much to his chagrin. Even if this is not Manson's direct reference, and it likely is not, the meaning of it in this story may have a similar meaning for which Manson intended in his new profile photo.

In the second photo posted by Manson, also taken by Lindsay, we have Manson seated on a couch and dressed all in black with both legs slightly spread and a bunch of roses on each side. Behind him is a wall that is half white and half black. The caption of the photo reads: "First flower after the flood," which is a direct reference to lyrics from his song "Valentine's Day" off of the Holy Wood album.

As I mentioned above, Valentine's Day has the dichotomy and hypocrisy of celebrating the death of a martyr as a holiday of love, and the song "Valentine's Day" reflect this. Valentine's Day is the day in which the hypocrite realizes his hypocrisy (that Omega is "as fake as a wedding cake"), and the revolution begins. We see this in the music video for "Disposable Teens", where the first Beast of Revelation (commonly interpreted to be the Antichrist) emerges from the waters like a Hydra and a lotus flower grows from one of his decapitated heads, which is Kabbalistic symbology known as the Crown Lotus used by Manson to show the attainment of enlightenment and realization of the self as a god, which is the highest state of being man can attain. The lotus in Hinduism is a metaphor for the flowering of consciousness. If you recall, this is imagery that we saw on Manson's profile photo from May 15, 2023.

The Hydra symbology comes from two songs on Antichrist Superstar - the "Cryptorchid" music video and the song "Antichrist Superstar". On the album, these two songs mark the transformation point of the Worm into the Little Horn and then into the Antichrist Superstar. This is done with the well-known incantation-like lyrics:

Prick your finger...
It is done...
The moon has now eclipsed the sun...
The angel has spread its wings...
The time has come for bitter things...

If you recall from Lindsay's photos on February 13th, she gives us all the symbols - the Valentine heart, the lotus in the water, the moon in the sky, and even the photo of Manson immersed in darkness with the tree behind him gives him a bit of a Hydra look, though there may be a reference to the Kabbalist tree of life as well. As for the flowers, those could represent the various chakras. For example, the lily could have a connection with artistic creation and ascension. It is believed in these traditions that if you surround yourself with flowers, which is a common theme in Lindsay's photography, then it will help you make higher spiritual connections.

 

And whereas she normally posts a number of photos in her Instastories to correspond to her other posted photos, on February 13th she only posted one, which was shared also by Manson yet disappeared from both after 24 hours:

 

 

I believe this may be a depiction of the lyrics: "The moon has now eclipsed the sun... The angel has spread its wings..."  "Cryptorchid" is the point of transformation when the Little Horn is born, receives his power and gains his wings. And now "The time has come for bitter things....", which may be interpreted as a hastening towards revolution.

 

 

Similarly, we can see this imagery in other recent photos by Lindsay, especially with Manson. On October 7, 2023, she posted the following photo with the caption "Reflecting", which could be a reference to the song "The Reflecting God" in Antichrist Superstar. This song is the climactic point of the Tryptich, where the Antichrist Superstar has the highest realization of himself as god.

 

 

And if we go further back to August 1, 2023, we see Manson standing in front of a painting, and the caption reads: "Through the Unknown, we’ll find the New - C.B." This quote makes sense in light of the tattoo Manson is featuring, which says "Coagula". Solve Et Coagula was the ancient maxim of the Alchemists, known, of course, for turning base metal into gold. It means, essentially, to break something down into its most basic elements (solve) and to then have them come together (coagula) in a different form. This was accomplished—according to Alchemists—when the energy holding the elements together was released and used to reassemble them into something of higher quality and more value. This could be why Manson is standing in front of painting that looks like a body of water similar to what we see in "The Disposable Teens" video. This photo could be showing Manson rising out of the sea as the first beast of Revelation, as the Hydra, which may be the symbolism behind the finger gesture of Manson:

 

 

And this is the photo I analyzed previously from May 15, 2023. Notice the head in the background:

 

 

If my interpretation of everything is correct, then what we are seeing appears to be Manson reassembling himself into something greater than he was before. He is doing this through the images that primarily come through the Tryptich, because the Tryptich is meant to be cyclical, sort of like reincarnation, where you are slowly over successive states of being rising higher and higher in your consciousness despite life's miseries until you become one with the divine. 

 

Because Manson has yet to speak of the new album or the new era and we only have images, we are still in the shadows of what it could all mean. It is difficult to look into the future based on images alone. The further in time we move forward, I believe the more these things will make sense and give us clarity to what they mean. For now we can only interpret the new by what was in the past, and add a little speculation.