Return of the Tubular Bells and the Whitney umbrella

During the first part of the Opening Ceremonies, I saw very, very little that would define as occult or ritual.

What I did see, was centered around the giant bell and as I pointed out after the Super Bowl ritual, it again centered on Mike Oldfield and Tubular Bells.

Recall:

And then the ritual involving Nicki Minaj and her exorcism during the Grammy Awards the very next day:

The gramaphone itself being a "bell"...

During the Opening Ceremonies there was a reference to the film The Exorcist, which of course Oldfield's 17+ million-selling theme was a huge part.

Oldfield hung out under the 27 ton bell (behind him were the actual tubular bells he is so famous for) and wailed on his guitars (bass and 6 string) as the homage to the National Health Service of Britain turned into a J.K. Rowling vs. Mary Poppins duel - but in between, little children were hoisted to the sky on their beds, ala Regan MacNeil in The Exorcist, complete with about 75-100 nurses pretending they had broken necks, doing the Regan bit (so the children wouldn't have to) so it wouldn't be so obvious to those who had no clue as to what was going on.

The Rowling's monsters were fought off by Mary Poppins and a horde of look alikes, all carrying umbrellas - all descending from the sky like demons or monkeys from the wicked witch from the Wizard of Oz.

This should not be taken with a laugh or lightly, as the umbrellas resonate strongly with Whitney umbrellas - which have almost the same shape as the cover of the bell on the Tubular Bells albums.

If the Whitney umbrella and Tubular Bells thing is just a coincidence appearing in the Opening Ceremonies, it a very, very strong one worthy of Ripley's Believe It or Not.

Whitney umbrella

Having said that, director Danny Boyle did a very intelligent job of hiding (occulting) whatever it was that was hidden. The bell theme though remained strong, especially during the first half of the non-Olympic part of the show, with it being the focal point of the almost 10 minute part of the show that centered around the Tubular Bells/Oldfield theme.