Secret Societies: Revelations About the Freemasons, Templars, Illuminati, Nazis, and the Serpent Cults

by Philip Gardiner

Overview

With his recent best-selling books and hundreds of articles, as well as radio and TV appearances, Philip Gardiner has started a crusade for uncovering the truth, and nothing could be more indicative of that search than his latest foray into the dark and often sinister world of secret societies. Yet again, Gardiner finds himself on a journey across the world to uncover the ancient secrets of the world's most powerful men. In one dramatic episode he finds himself driven out of Berlin in a black Mercedes by a secret organization that was believed to have disappeared after the second World War and eventually arrives in a modern Nazi watering hole. Gardiner, however, survives this incredible journey and brings us the secrets of the Order held sacred for so long. Gardiner delves into a world that is often hidden from our eyes and finds himself in situations that seem to mirror the fictional world of the Da Vinci Code.

Throughout Secret Societies, Gardiner: —Uncovers an ancient secret society thought to have died out many years ago. —Gets to the core of the secret societies' belief systems. —Explores the secret origins of Freemasonry and the links to secret Serpent Cults. —Investigates the secret hidden meaning of King Arthur and Robin Hood. —Examines the claimants to the name of Illuminati, and analyzes the history of the group in Europe and America. —Reveals the secret links within the Vatican and the Nazi Party. — Looks in-depth at the white-powdered gold theory supposedly kept secret by orders throughout time and radically re-appraises it. —Shows the link between the so-called enlightenment experience and the control of our minds. Nobody in the genre involves themselves in the tale in the same way that Gardiner does, and here he shows that the search for ultimate truth can often be a terrifying one.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781564149237
Publisher:	Red Wheel/Weiser
Publication date:	06/15/2007
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.54(d)

About the Author

Philip Gardiner is the best-selling author of The Serpent Grail and The Shining Ones. He has been called "the next Graham Hancock." He is seen on TV, in magazines, and has done many hundreds of radio interviews.

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

What Is a Secret Society?

In this book we will concentrate mostly on the origin of secret societies and what lies behind the beliefs and rituals of many of the world's religions. In the beginning, this will lead us through seemingly unrelated material, such as electromagnetism and cyclic phenomena, but all will become apparent as we discover that this natural world relates entirely to our belief systems. These belief systems are similar the world over and are the basis of the esoteric side of secret societies.

However, we need to understand the language of secret societies and exactly what a secret society is. This is a hotly debated subject and is open to various interpretations, as we shall discover.

There are tales of secret societies throughout history. The first question we have to ask is why they had to remain secret. According to popular belief, it is because those meeting in secret were "men of renown" or "standing" and were plotting to change civilization — whether this be through destroying the Church or the royalty or through defending the same.

According to this popular belief, one of the original secret societies was called the Brotherhood of the Snake (or "dragon" or "serpent"). Although no real historical records of an ancient Brotherhood of the Snake, first mentioned by Madame Blavatsky, is in existence, it is a fact that the rituals and beliefs of this supposed secret organization are similar to many that do exist and are strangely related to the serpent. This is no surprise to me, of course, as one of the so-called experts of ophiolatraea (serpent worship). In Secrets of the Serpent I discovered that there had been an ancient and worldwide serpent religion. Merged with solar, lunar, and cosmic belief systems, this ancient faith did, indeed, take on a worldwide aspect, utilizing the serpent on many levels. Eventually, these beliefs crept in to secret cults and societies and became hidden.

Almost in every instance these secret societies are playing a religious role — contacting god or the gods in ways that the state religion cannot or will not.

This, in itself, gives us a good insight. It is a stark fact that religion or beliefs are excellent ways of drawing in members and utilizing a heightened state in the individual for their own ends — whatever they may be. As with most religions, the members of secret societies are chosen ones, members of the few. A clear example of this is the way that Christians say — without knowing the real meaning of these phrases — that the way is narrow, or that it is easier to pass through the eye of a needle than to enter the kingdom of God. This, in turn, makes the initiate feel more important when accepted — even though precious few are turned down at the initiate stage. This chosen way is universal, and not just the remit of secret societies or religion. It is also found in normal everyday clubs and organizations where you still have to pass tests that are blatantly measured to allow everybody to enter, but at different levels. The idea of there being different levels then moves the process on and ensures that the new initiate strives to become an adherent or full member by learning the ways of the club or society — and thus the initiate becomes fully engulfed in the world of the society.

Secret societies take this membership a step further by including certain devices within the "knowledge bank" that the initiate must learn. These devices include secret handshakes and words, special days of the year known only to the few, and insights into standard texts. All this, and more, makes the initiate feel ever more important. In all instances, the ultimate enlightenment experience seems to be kept back for the very highest levels of initiation — lower levels of illumination are permitted and used for the lower degrees.

There is also a build-up of comradeship through regular meetings. This allows the member to feel part of a wider family and thus more important. Speak to any serving military personnel and you will find that one of the major factors in the success of their unit is credited to camaraderie. This leads the member down a path into the secret society of such emotional depth that to leave would feel like losing a member of the family. The comfort zone the initiate finds himself in is such that he does not wish to leave.

The initiation of any institute is the most important part. Generally, it involves a ritual built around a seemingly impossible-to-understand myth. There are levels to the initiation, just as there are in any religion. It actually starts earlier than most people would understand, with just being chosen or selected to join. This selection process appears to have a plan, and the fact that the word "chosen" is used implies that not all can enter. In fact, from studies of societies, the process is almost random, the true selection coming much later. Those not selected for the higher levels are still members and do the bidding of higher members without actually knowing it, and without knowing that they are often on a lower level.

During the initial stages of any initiation, the new member is cleaned, or cleared, of any thinking that would not benefit the society or religion. This can be seen in the world in general with the military, learning especially from this psychological battle of wills. By breaking down the spirit of the recruit, the army is clearing him or her of any preconceived ideas and allowing the full mind-bending techniques to appear unsullied in the mind of the new soldier.

The same is true of secret societies as the new recruits are told to leave the world behind, including family and friends, who are called distractions or are of the world or devil. The initiates are then given as a replacement the new family of the church or society — who, at this stage of the process, are always forthcoming with help and love to such an extent that the recruit is overwhelmed with joy. This remains in the new recruit's mind, deeply entrenched due to the cleaning process previously carried out.

This process inspires loyalty and a desire for more. The church and society alike supply the demand with mystical insights that can only be supplied to those who pass tests. These tests are created to deepen the bonds of the initiate further. With each new learning process the adherent feels more and more special and is, indeed, given special status.

There are tests put in place to determine whether the initiate has the ability to move further. The deeper aspects of these organizations are as ever more and more secret, and at the highest level they have to be, as this is where the true secret or purpose of the society or religion lies.

The Knights Templar tested the initiate with spitting on the cross. The reason is simple and has nothing to do with the irreverence spoken of by the Church. On one level, if the initiate fails to spit upon the cross as requested, he is rewarded for his true faith with membership, and believes he has made it. On the other level, if he does spit upon the cross, then he has shown true discipline and will be led by the masters' authority wherever that may take him — this initiate will move further up the scale that is hidden to the first who failed to follow the command.

As soon as the proselyte arrived at the ninth degree he was ripe to serve as blind instrument to all passions, and above all to a limitless ambition for domination. ... We thus see those who should have been protectors of humanity abandoned to an insatiable ambition, buried under the ruins of thrones and altars in the midst of the horrors of anarchy, after having brought misfortune upon nations, and deserving the curse of mankind. (Von Hammer quoted in The Trail of the Serpent)

The effects of the ways of the society are seen to the outside world as strange and unusual. However, these can eventually become the norm and accepted by the general population. Take for instance Christianity: In the early years of its existence, it was classed as a cult or secret organization due to having to remain underground. The reason being that the state religion believed itself far removed from the Christian cult's creeds, when in reality they were the same solar beliefs. Roman philosophies were then what we now class as Pagan, but were followed by the majority. Even Pagans had been underground at one point in their existence. Eventually this underground stream of Christianity grew and grew, with members in positions of "state authority" joining. This, in turn, made it more and more acceptable. Yes, there was a lot of "state" hatred for this cult on the surface because of its secret ways and its threat to the state religions. Christianity had secret signs, secret handshakes, special myths, and rituals, just as any secret organization. And this is the nub of the "secret society" question — it has to remain secret because of the state that makes it a secret society. Eventually, Christianity ruled the majority of the globe and was then fighting against other underground streams, which retained the mysteries of ancient myth, as we shall discover.

Amazingly, exactly the same can be said of Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, and even communism — all of which began as secret and clandestine organizations seemingly against the state. Just like the secret society of the Nazis in the 1930s, all these now standard organizations or religions began within secrecy and ended up taking power — a goal mocked by anti-conspiracy theorists across the globe. The fact remains that history has shown, in every generation, that secret societies have gained power and become church and state — as was their goal.

Today we have secret societies across the world in each country — all with their own goal and all being watched, as ever, by the state. The Arabs and some Christians believe that the Jews are in charge of worldwide conspiracies to take over the world. The Druze and Yezidis in Syria and elsewhere are seen as threats to the norm. The fabled Illuminati are seen as a hidden league of gentlemen by many and are believed to be at the heart of Christian American power. The Christian community believes that global terrorism is funded and carried out by worldwide networks of Islamic secret organizations.

What history has shown is that eventually these underground streams do alter the power balance of the world. Just look at September 11 and the disgusting attacks on America — they were carried out by clandestine organizations and did indeed alter the world. Another example was the revolt in America against the British Empire, which was backed, led, and inspired by the secret society of the Freemasons. In Russia and France, the revolutions were similarly created by secret organizations.

This does not mean that every attempt by every secret society will work, and history is littered with hundreds of such failed attempts. Others have managed to claim power only fleetingly.

Another interesting point to note, and something that relates to our understanding of secret societies, is that many of the greatest minds the world has ever come to know were members of secret organizations. Plato was an initiate into the mysteries of Eluesis and he even tells us in his writings how he was initiated. He claimed that he was placed in a pyramid for three days where he died symbolically, was reborn, and was then given the secrets of the mysteries. There is no wonder that the Great Pyramid was claimed to be part and parcel of the mysteries — the names given to it — Ikhet and khuti — meant "glorious light" or "shining."

So what is a secret society? It is simply a group of individuals, basing their origin in the mists of time or in the celestial and solar dance of the cyclic universe, who come together to affect change. Sometimes they are successful, sometimes they are not, but in most cases, they affect some kind of change in society at large. They are, on the whole, spiritually based, and there is a major thread running through those who have been successful, and that thread is illumination, which gave rise to the name "The Shining Ones."

In 1863 Le Couteulx de Canteleu writing in Les Sectes et Societes Secretes said:

All secret societies have almost analogous initiations, from the Egyptian to the Illuminati, and most of them form a chain and give rise to others.

A Secret Language

History is a lie. History is, as Justice Holmes said, "what the people who won say it is." It has been warped over vast periods of time to fit with each generation's idea of what is fact and what is truth. Without the existence of the secret societies, our history would have been totally different.

The history of mankind is like a vast jigsaw puzzle. Only when all the pieces are laid down in the correct order can we see the bigger picture. The result is quite startling. We will see a grand and enlightening picture of how mysteries of the ancient and not-so-ancient world can now be solved, from megalithic standing stones, the Holy Grail, and alchemy, to the truth behind religion and our present political systems. The story of secret societies hides the real history of mankind.

In much the same way that modern day genetic research is showing how recently interlinked we are as a human race, the research and subsequent conclusions set out in this book will show how our own political and religious belief systems are from the same source. There is, after all, nothing new under the sun. New religious systems are just renewed elder religions with different names and different settings — the underlying beliefs are the same.

We can learn from this history and understand the cyclical patterns of human behavior, which will help us to predict the future more easily — or so we are told. We will look at the existence of life and consciousness; trace where it came from and where it is going. We will move over millennia of mysteries to reason an actual history based upon fact and evidence. We will see whether there actually is a worldwide conspiracy, and, if so, where it is leading us. We shall establish motives, seek out new data, view existing documents in a new light to gain an overview of vast periods of time and civilizations, and finally come to grips with the mysteries of faith.

One of the most disturbing aspects of secret societies comes from the clear understanding that we have been lied to for centuries by one historian after another. Yet we must not lose sight of the fact that these professionals are responsible for piecing together huge amounts of information and giving supposedly factual accounts based on their own belief systems, which are influenced by the time and location in which they lived or are living. Without the hard work of these historians, a book such as this would have been impossible to write, even though its conclusions are in stark contrast to the accepted view. We must remember: many of the history books we read today were written, or at the very least researched, during a Victorian age of high Christianity — a time when every theory and fact was bent towards a Christian viewpoint. For instance, when it was discovered that there were ancient crucified gods that predated Christ, these were hushed, destroyed, or even purported to be the God-given knowledge of the future crucifixion of Christ. This is, of course, utter rubbish, coming from a religion that itself was a creation of ancient cults — as we shall see.

We must also understand that many historians, artists, builders, politicians, religionists, and laypeople wanted to pass the truth on but could not. So they devised ciphers, codes, and symbolism for their own kind and future generations to decipher. The beauty of many of these symbols was that most were already known and already held orthodox significances and, therefore, the hidden meaning could easily be cloaked in mainstream religiosity.

Symbols are hidden all around us like a trail of clues leading toward treasure. We come into contact with them everywhere we go — from the symbolic architecture and stained-glass windows of medieval churches, to, for example, the logo on a company van. My own company logo was symbolic of Phase Transition, the changing of one substance into another. For a marketing company, this was ideal. Only people who knew about such things would be able to see this, however. Others would just see an arrow with a wavy line. I had hidden a symbolic device within an otherwise ordinary-looking company logo.

Mankind has used this subtle language for thousands of years. Through each generation, this alternative form of communication has developed and grown increasingly complex, making it more difficult to decipher. The only way to discover the secrets of symbolism is to break down each and every painting, building, or text into every possible meaning, and consider both the people who created these artifacts and the time in which they lived. These finds must then be weighed against known historical data, such as archaeological information.

(Continues…)

---

Excerpted from "Secret Societies: Gardiner's Forbidden Knowledge"
by .
Copyright © 2007 Philip Gardiner.
Excerpted by permission of Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---

Table of Contents

Introduction,
Part I: Mythology and Related Mysteries,
Chapter 1: What Is a Secret Society?,
Chapter 2: Heavenly Bodies: The Gods of the Ancients,
Chapter 3: The Truth Inside Your Skull,
Chapter 4: The Secret of the Holy Grail and the Discovery of the Elixir of Life,
Chapter 5: The Watchers,
Chapter 6: The Serpent Sword,
Chapter 7: The Secret History of King Arthur and Robin Hood,
Chapter 8: Here Be Dragons,
Chapter 9: Do You Want to Know a Secret?,
Chapter 10: Secret Societies and the Links to the Enlightenment,
Chapter 11: Serpent Origins and the Real Origins of Freemasonry,
Part II: Secret Societies,
Chapter 12: The Knights Templar,
Chapter 13: The Da Vinci Code Fiasco,
Chapter 14: The Illuminati,
Chapter 15: The Nazi Code,
Chapter 16: Secret Societies Today,
Chapter 17: The Holy Vehm,
Chapter 18: White Powdered Gold,
Conclusion,
Notes,
Bibliography,
Index,
About the Author,