what kind of club he is referring to. Most importantly, he is telling his viewers: These societies still exist and they are more powerful than ever.
The ritual begins with the High Priest, dressed in red, at the center of a “magic circle” formed by young women who are very likely to be Beta Kitten slaves. Later, when Bill is unmasked, another magic circle is formed. Magic circles is concept used in ritual magic during invocations. The placement of the people in this scene recalls magic circles.
At the beginning of the ritual, one of the Beta slaves goes to Bill and urges him to leave the house before he got caught and we ultimately learn that it was Amanda, the girl that was passed out in Ziegler’s bathroom (how did she recognized him?). When Bill gets caught and gets (literally) unmasked by the High Priest, Amanda appears at the balcony in a very dramatic fashion and tells the High Priest she wants to “redeem” him, in a tone that approaches ritual drama. The Priest then replies “Are you sure you understand what you’re taking upon yourself in doing this?” This implies that she will be repeatedly abused and then sacrificed. The next day, Bill discovers the true power of that secret society. Amanda was found dead in a hotel room due to an overdose. The way in which this ritualistic murder is disguised as an overdose is highly similar to the many celebrity ritual deaths disguised as overdoses that occur in real life.
By freeze-framing and actually reading the above news article about Amanda, we learn important details about Amanda’s background (classic hidden sub-plot integration by Kubrick). To those “in the know”, the article perfectly describes the life of an entertainment industry Beta Programming slave (i.e. Marilyn Monroe). We indeed learn that Amanda was “emotionally troubled” as a teen and underwent “treatments” (a code word for MK Programming perhaps?), she had “important friends in the fashion and entertainment worlds”, and she had an “affair” with a powerful fashion designer who got “wowed by her private, seductive solo performances” (typical behavior of a Beta Kitten). What the article however conveniently doesn’t mention is that she was selling her body to elite people and being used in their occult rituals. As it is the case for Beta Kittens who’ve gone “rogue”, she was eliminated by the people who controlled her life. The article states that she was last seen being escorted to her hotel room by two men and that she was “giggling” (drugged and dissociated?). Like “real life” elite sacrifices, “overdose” is cited as the cause of her death.
Like other participants of the ritual, the true identity of the High Priest is never revealed. However, Kubrick left a few clues hinting to his identity and his relationship with Amanda.
In the movie’s end credits (and sources such as IMDB), it is listed that the role of the High Priest was played by “assistant director” of the movie, Leon Vitali. If one carefully reads the news article mentioned above, Leon Vitali is the name of the London fashion designer Amanda had an “affair” with. Furthermore, the High Priest has an unmistakable English accent. We can therefore deduce that the High Priest is the fashion designer. This hidden subplot is interesting as it reveals the true nature of the fashion and entertainment industry. High-ranking individuals in these fields are initiated in occult secret societies and deal with MK slaves.
When Bill is uncovered by the High Priest, he gets told that he and his family would pay for any transgression. The next day, he realizes that he is being followed by strange people and becomes paranoid. Right after Bill leaves the morgue to confirm that Amanda died; Ziegler calls him and invites him over.
Although Bill is a rich doctor, he is not part of the elite. Ziegler’s attitude towards Bill makes it very clear.