CHAPTER 7

SECRETIVE SOCIETIES

AN AURA OF ILLICIT MYSTERY TRAILS GROUPS LIKE OPUS DEI AND THE ORDO TEMPLI ORIENTIS. WHAT IS IT THAT GOES ON BEHIND CLOSED DOORS?

Some say that the seal of the United States, which appears on the back of the $1 bill, is the symbol of a clandestine alliance that controls America.

INTERNATIONAL MEN OF MYSTERY

DARK KNIGHTS OR MORAL LEADERS? SEARCHING FOR THE TRUTH BEHIND THE WORLD’S MOST ENIGMATIC BROTHERHOODS.

Procession of Crusaders around Jerusalem, 1099.

I n medieval times, powerful secret societies, with their roots in religion and connections to the dark arts, confounded the political establishment. The groups were often perceived as threats to the government and were persecuted and sabotaged. Some were accused of witchcraft, others of treason.

Today, an aura of illicit mystery continues to trail secret societies, though many now function as community-based charitable organizations. Where does the truth lie?

Heroes to Heretics

One of the most intriguing of the ancient societies was the Knights Templar, a group dating to the 12th century that inspired Arthurian tales of the Knights of the Round Table and films like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

The Knights Templar was founded in France in 1118 to protect Christian pilgrims seeking to visit the Holy Land, at the time controlled by Muslim rulers. With the support of the Catholic Church, the Knights established their headquarters on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount and eventually conquered the local Muslims and claimed the area for the Church.

In the wake of their triumph in Jerusalem, Knights became powerful bankers who financed the ventures of kings and popes. Their white tunics emblazoned with red crosses came to symbolize courage, honor, and chivalry, and they were admired and beloved throughout Europe.

But once the Holy Land returned to Muslim rule in 1244, the Catholic church’s religious military campaigns trailed off and the Knights Templar foundered. Strange claims about them gained traction: It was said they had found the Holy Grail and the Ark of the Covenant. They were reputed to have hidden the Shroud of Turin and to own a piece of the True Cross. They were believed to be wealthy beyond imagining. Whether accurate or not, the rumors gained currency. King Philip IV of France, who was in debt to the Knights, set out to crush them, accusing them of idolatry, Satanism, sodomy, fraud, and other crimes. In 1307, he had hundreds of Knights arrested, tortured, and forced to confess. Some were burned at the stake. Finally, in 1312, Pope Clement V abolished the order.

A colored engraving of a Templar Knight on his horse, 1847.

THE TREASURE OF THE COPPER SCROLL

An ancient document written on copper holds clues to the location of an immense, missing fortune.

Between the mid-1940s and 1950s, Bedouin herdsmen and archaeologists discovered more than 800 Hebrew documents in 11 caves near the Dead Sea in Israel. The manuscripts, dubbed the Dead Sea Scrolls, were written on parchment or papyrus and described ancient Jewish beliefs and practices. It is unknown for certain who wrote the texts, though some are thought to have belonged to Judaic sect called the Essenes. Among the manuscripts and fragments was a catalog, etched in copper, that described vast quantities of gold and silver stashed in 64 cryptic locations across the desert. Did the Essenes control this invaluable treasure?

Translations of the so-called Copper Scroll detail tons of precious metal that would be worth many millions in today’s dollars. Some scholars speculate that the riches were from the Jewish temple in Jerusalem, hidden either from the Babylonians, who destroyed the structure in 586 BC, or from the Romans, who destroyed it in 70 AD. Skeptics dismiss the scroll as a forgery and the treasure as a hoax. Another theory is that the Knights Templar discovered the cache in the Middle Ages and took it back to their strongholds.

A fragment of the copper scroll.

GROUP THEORY

IS THERE AN ELITE, SECRET SOCIETY THAT RUNS THE WORLD?

WHO KNEW?

The headquarters of the Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis are in San Jose, California. It operates a planetarium and a museum of ancient Egyptian artifacts.

Through the ages, mystical groups such as the Rosicrucians and Opus Dei have claimed unique knowledge of secret truths. Since their ceremonies and initiation rites are known only to members, the general public has long wondered: What do the organizations do behind closed doors? Who are their leaders? What do they really do?

Rosicrucianism

The Brotherhood of Rosicrucianism, symbolized by the mysterious Rose Cross, claims to transmit exceptional knowledge to its members. This wisdom, they say, is unavailable to most people, explains the spiritual and physical worlds, and unravels great mysteries such as life after death. Rosicrucians find understanding through a combination of occult disciplines, including astrology, alchemy, magic, and spiritualism, as well as various Christian, Jewish, and pagan beliefs.

The society traces its origins to medieval Germany, when three anonymous manifestos about a fictional doctor and alchemist, Christian Rosenkreuz, began circulating. According to the documents, Rosenkreuz in the 15th century had founded a secret scientific and mystical order dedicated to the transformation of the arts, scholarship, religion, and politics. European intellectuals of the 17th century were fascinated by the legend, and a society of followers, dubbed the Rosicrucians, emerged.

The order flagged in the 18th century but reappeared during the spiritualist craze of the 19th century, with an emphasis on the mystical. As a new wave of Rosicrucians flourished, the groups competed with each other, fighting over which were the most authentic with actual ties to Rosenkreuz or his associates. Today, Rosicrucian brotherhoods such as The Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis and the Rosicrucian Fellowship, both based in California, remain active. They initiate new members, promote them up the ladder of Rosicrucian knowledge, and are said to practice the same occult rituals as their earliest founders.

Pilgrims pray in front of the coffin of Josemariá Escrivá de Balaguer, the founder of Opus Dei, at the Roman Basilica of St. Eugene in Rome, Italy, 2002.

Ordo Templi Orientis

Thought to be one of Hollywood’s favorite secret societies, the Ordo Templi Orientis splintered off of either the German or Austrian Freemasons around the turn of the 20th century. Early in its life, the order also adopted some Rosicrucian principles, but the emphasis changed once English occultist Aleister Crowley assumed control in the 1920s. Under Crowley’s direction, Ordo Templi Orientis adopted a 16th-century philosophy known as Thelema (Greek for will or intention). Thelema’s main tenet, “do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law,” directed adherents to find their real calling in life—their so-called True Will.

Members of Ordo Templi Orientis claimed to use science and symbols to pass secret knowledge onto members. As associates advanced in insight, they learned how to use the “supreme secret” to live successfully and to realize the divine in themselves. They found the truth through fellowship with other members, occult pursuits such as magic, and elaborate rituals. One of these was Liber XV, a mass celebrated by the order’s church, the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica (Gnostic Catholic Church). Written by Crowley, the dramatic ceremony incorporated Egyptian gods, virgin priestesses, children, and the devil.

Though Crowley was dismissed by some of his contemporaries as a libertine, today’s Ordo Templi Orientis lodges adhere to many of his philosophies and claim that they’re his direct descendants. Often called a “sex cult,” the order allegedly has replaced Scientology as the cult-du-jour of the entertainment industry.

Audrey Tautou and Tom Hanks in the film The Da Vinci Code.

Opus Dei

Does the Catholic Church include a cult? Critics of the order Opus Dei, Latin for “Work of God,” think so. The order was founded in Spain in 1928 by Josemaría Escrivá, a Catholic priest whose philosophy was inspired by a vision. His teachings revolved around the belief that everyone was capable of holiness, and that anyone could become a saint. Godliness was attained through honest work, whether cleaning houses or running a company, as long as it was performed as a service to others and as an offering to God. To fulfill this ideal, the faithful were to live in the world, with ordinary jobs and traditional families. They were to follow a set of religious practices such as attending daily Mass, saying the rosary, reading religious texts, and prayer.

Despite its virtuous ideals, Opus Dei has been controversial both within and outside the Church. Detractors claim that it has many attributes of a cult and even a sinister hidden agenda. They describe it as extremely secretive, asserting that followers are forbidden to reveal their affiliation to outsiders without permission from higher-ups. Recruiting techniques are described as aggressive, designed to draw in the unhappy and vulnerable, and members are allegedly pressured to cut off contact with their nonbelieving friends and family.

A number of journalists who have reported on Opus Dei say that many of these allegations are unsubstantiated. But their voices have been largely drowned out by Dan Brown’s extraordinarily successful novel The Da Vinci Code. Published in 2003 and released as a movie in 2006, it portrays Opus Dei as an immeasurably rich and powerful secret society that’s part of an evil international conspiracy.

The Jewel of the Rose Croix, by J. Augustus Knapp.

ARE THEY, OR AREN’T THEY?

The secretive nature of the Rosicrucians, the Ordo Templis Orientis, and Opus Dei has long fueled speculation about membership. Who belongs—or might belong—to these groups?

ALLEGED MEMBERS

Rosicrucians

Dante Alighieri (1265–1321)

Italian author of The Inferno

George Washington (1732–1799)

American president

Walt Disney (1901–1966)

American animator and filmmaker

Édith Piaf (1915–1963)

French singer

Gene Roddenberry (1921–1991)

American creator of Star Trek

Ordo Templis Orientis

Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832)

German author of Faust

Richard Wagner (1813–1883)

German opera composer

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)

German philosopher

Jimmy Page (1944– )

English lead guitarist of Led Zeppelin

Jay-Z (1969– )

American rapper and entrepreneur

Peaches Geldof (1989–2014)

British model and TV personality

Opus Dei

Robert Hanssen (1944– )

American spy

Clarence Thomas (1948– )

American Supreme Court justice

Sam Brownback (1956– )

American politician

Rick Santorum (1958– )

American senator

Madonna (1958– )

American singer and entrepreneur