Introduclrloii

The Open Conspiracy is the awaking of mankind from the nightmare, an infantile nightmare, of the struggle for existence and the inevitability of war. The light of day thrusts between our eyelids, and the multitudinous sounds of morning clamour in our ears. A time will come when men will sit with history before them or with some old newspaper before them and ask incredulously, "Was there ever such a world?"

—H.G. Wells, The Open Conspiracy

This book is a collection of thoughts and researches about secret societies. It is going to take you on many journeys, but whether you arrive or where you arrive will be your decision. I need to make a simple point before you proceed to "bite the apple": Clear your mind of anything you have been told. I care not whether you are Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, communist, capitalist, Freemason, or Boy Scout. I care not whether you see yourself as just an ordinary man or woman. It is not for me to care. I care for the truth, because it is, as the Bible paradoxically stated, the one thing that can set you free.

In the years that I have been researching and writing, I have been approached by thousands of people asking for help. One woman, an American multi-millionaire, asked me to write down 10 things she could do to help herself. She offered to give me several thousand dollars just to do this simple thing. The money means

5 J£*

Secret Societies: Gardiner s Forbidden Knowledge

nothing at all. What this lady needed was what we all need—to find herself. You will hear many people say this and then feed you some garbled message of faith or freedom, enticing you into their little club. They will give you 10 good points to set you free. My message to this wealthy woman was to seek herself. I refused to give her what she wanted because she was simply using her wealth to find the easy route, without knowing that such a route leads in circles. The true path to who you are is not easy, and if it were, then it would not be right. The path leads through your own past. Everything you have learned, every emotion that has formed you, every problem, every joy, every piece of so-called knowledge, all these things are what you think you are. But they are not. All these things are external influences, they are what the Buddhists term "phenomena" because they are not real. All these things are now electrical impulses in your mind and nothing more. Just because you were taught that Jesus was the son of God in Sunday school or that Santa Claus brought you Christmas presents, does not make them real. These are tales, stories, and fables of other people's creation to explain emotional attachments and evolutionary desires. What is the real you remains inside, crushed by the weight of the world's fables. Only by erasing the subtle mind manipulating of religion or even modern day marketing, can we begin to see who we are beneath, and reveal the true intuition.

This will never be easy, because by the time we come to realize that we need to find out who we really are, we are already loaded down with the phenomena of the world. In fact, the paradox of the situation is that until we are so heavily burdened by the weight of the world's nonsense, we will not realize that it is all wrong. My wealthy millionaire friend had gone through her entire life accumulating wealth, altering her features with plastic surgery, and buying friends. It was only when she sat down and listened to what I call "noise" that she realized all her "things" meant nothing and brought her no more happiness than a fried egg. She realized, in her own heart, that she had become a perpetuator of "noise." She was screwing people for money, power, and real estate, and her intuition or conscience was pushed further and further down until it never saw the light of day. Her real self ended up in darkness.

Only by uncovering this real self could she ever be "enlightened" again.

Introduction

The articles in this compendium are collated to form an eye-opener. To talk to the parts of you that know there is hidden truth. When this part of ourselves is spoken to, it enlivens something inside of us. That something is the real you, the real me. Listen to it. This real you knows that the world is full of manipulations and yearns to be set free. It is time to give it the knowledge and strength it deserves. It is time to inspire the true self to question!

But what of groups, societies, organizations? What of the collective nature of mankind as he forms beasts of formality? Is it dangerous?

Dupes of their own disordered imagination, dupes of whoever wishes to make use of their mania for their own diverse purposes, these men have constantly been as a nursery of adepts for secret societies...these societies are a malady which eats into the social body in its noblest parts, the evil had already thrust out deep and extended roots; if Governments do not take efficacious measures... Europe runs the risk of succumbing to attacks upon it ceaselessly repeated by these associations... absolute monarchies, constitutional monarchies, republics, all are threatened by the Levellers. (From a memoire on secret societies sent by Prince de Metternich of Austria to the Emperor Alexander of Russia in 1822)

Mankind has always been forming himself into groups. There is strength in numbers and, as feeble humans, the only possible way to succeed and be the strongest and fittest species on the planet was to use ingenuity and the strength of the crowd. In time these groupings take on religious significance—enhancing the "spirit" of the assembled people with a belief system. Weak people are ejected, and strong, intelligent ones sought after. This evolved through time and today we know these groups often as secret societies. We are led to believe that within the orders and lodges of these organizations there are great secrets about ourselves and our gods. It's time to find out.

w®

Mythology

and

Related

Mysteries

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

11 J£*

Secrer Societies: Gardiner's Forbidden Knowledge

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

*&, 12

What Is a Secret Society?

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.

Secret Societies: Gardiner s Forbidden Knowledge

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

What Is a Secret Society?

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

Mary the Mother of God or copy oflsis

Secret Societies: Gardiner's Forbidden Knowledge

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."

*U, 16

What Is a Secret Society?

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. 1 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.

Secret Societies: Gardiner s Forbidden Knowledge

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

^ 18

What Is a Secret Society?

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.

One of the greatest works of symbolism on every level is the Bible. To the scholar who knows the alternative meanings of some of the apocalyptic texts it has been obvious, for a long time, that there is truth hidden away. To many more the underlying principle of the whole book is astrotheological—Jesus as the sun, Mary the moon, and all 12 apostles are therefore members of the Zodiac. But there are so many hidden layers that show that any number of meanings are possible, and we must remember that lies are also hidden in code. Of course, to add to this, there are hundreds of texts and so-called Gospels, written at the same time as the Bible, that simply never passed the test of the early Christian propagandists and were discarded from liturgy. These are equally valid now to the history of man, or we shall again be susceptible to the manipulation of those who chose the contents of the Bible in the first place.

We must also be careful not to read too much into texts, as we could be in danger of perceiving them in the light of our own modern society. There have been many recent examples of books in which ancient structures and texts are being taken as evidence of "extraterrestrial visitations." Regardless of any other more Earthly interpretation and a huge lack of understanding of the religious and cultural traditions of the time, this evidence is abused for a predetermined idea or theory.

Another example of this is how modern-day evangelists use the Biblical book of Revelation as "proof of the Lord's imminent return. They point to hidden meanings regarding nuclear war and Middle Eastern dictators as if they have had some kind of divine revelation themselves. The truth is, as any historian will tell you, that every generation since the writing of Revelation has claimed the end was very close. That is partly the point of the solar cyclical Gospel, misinterpreted completely, as usual. All of these false interpretations make it more difficult to break the code down into facts.

Secret Societies: Gardiner s Forbidden Knowledge

We shall begin by taking a look at our origins. The origin of life has always been a fundamental part of religion. The age of enlightenment, of Darwin and his contemporaries, drastically altered the religious outlook of the world. If we look at the truth behind the origin of mankind, we will see that Darwin was only "discovering" what was already known—that this age of enlightenment was planned, and that it had to happen for the required changes to occur. We will see how ancient man and his religious beliefs were perfectly parallel to our current scientific beliefs—the difference being only in the terms used. Take the following pattern, which has been simplified but is common to the majority of the world's religions:

1. Only the God exists. He is supreme and is alone.

2. The heavens and earth are formless. Everything is darkness and/or covered by primeval waters.

3. Then there is light.

4. Heaven and earth are split apart.

5. The land is separated from the waters. Day and night are created with the new sun.

6. The land brings forth vegetation and eventually creatures.

7. Birds and animals are created.

8. Man appears. 2

As you will note, this pattern is also common to the current theories regarding the origin of species without the acceptance of the existence of God. It is completely in line with the so-called big bang theory and yet seems to have emerged thousands of years ago. These patterns were especially notable in ancient Egypt, one of the mysterious forerunners of the world's faiths.

Previously, religion was responsible for informing us of our origins. Now scientists tell us to look for facts about our origins rather than philosophize about them, while at the same time they create new theories, which are sometimes prejudiced and do not take into account all of our knowledge.

New facts come to light with every passing day. New ideas regarding mathematical equations of the laws of physics are proving

*^20

What Is a Secret Society?

some theories to be fact. We need to understand these facts and theories and must not be afraid to alter our own personal viewpoint once these new facts emerge. Our own personal truths must change or we risk becoming stale, inert religious fanatics. It is unfortunate that religious fervor in all disciplines (including science) can stop us from seeing these marvelous breakthroughs, and prevents us from moving on and even evolving.

So many facts are hidden from us because of generations of prejudice and intolerance that some of them will be startling. No one will remain unaffected by the evidence presented here. Everyone who reads this book will have his or her own belief system or personal prejudice challenged and will not want to accept everything as fact. Much of the evidence here can be taken in a number of ways, and, where this is known, each alternative viewpoint has been given. Where other views are required, these have been sought from original sources. I include in this all religious factions, whether classed as cult, occult, or mainstream.

In our search for the truth, we will examine everything that could possibly fit into one book. We will start from Adam and Eve and move through to modern science. We will then go on to see how our belief systems began and where some of the more paranormal explanations originated. There will be factual evidence of how our belief systems have been used, abused, and manipulated

The glory of religion — gold

Secret Socie+ies: Eardhiers Forbidden Knowledge

by a secret and deadly group of individuals who have a history going back thousands of years. They had a name, they had a power base, and they had a secret, locked away within their initiated few, which had major implications for the future of mankind. We will discover the secret and reveal it.

There are thousands of best-selling books out there, which support mysteries that simply do not exist. This book will dispel those mysteries and put us back on the straight path. Why, in this supposedly enlightened age, do we still believe and feed off the controlling lies of those in positions of authority? The answer is simple. Knowledge is power—therefore if you keep the knowledge for yourself, you keep the power.

When we come to leave old religions behind we are simply given a new one, more relevant to our age and to the political aims of the power brokers. Do we need the opium of religion or can we survive without it? Do we need the repackaged "New Age" religions, or the pseudo-scientific cults that look towards UFOs for the meaning of life? This book will show how even the new belief systems are based upon the same old lies and the secret knowledge that we are supposedly "too simple" to understand.

The Shining Ones, under different names, have manipulated us over the centuries by many means, including psychology. Utilizing the story of our origins, they played on our desire to know who we are and where we came from, and controlled our belief systems from the start. They also understood some of the very basic and fundamental ways in which our brains work and are influenced. They discovered that we were influenced not only by people, but also by the world around us in more ways than we today can even comprehend.

If you are ready for the truth, if you can honestly say you have an open mind and are prepared to let go of misconceptions, then read on. Forget the false interpretations of myth and religion you have heard so many times, and know them for what they really are: the secret language of the Shining Ones.

Heavenly Bodies! The Bods oF Ike Ancients

To further our quest in the understanding of secret societies we need to fully understand their background, both in belief and in history. Because so many of today's secret societies express imagery and symbolism that revolves around the beliefs of our pre-Christian ancestors, we would do well to try and comprehend how and why these beliefs started and what the symbols that we see really mean. To this end, we need to investigate the realm of the "heavenly bodies"—the planets in the night sky.

I am always overjoyed when I visit a remote location, where the light from street lamps doesn't pollute and poison our vision of our heavenly partners. To stand and stare on a crystal clear night at the twinkling stars and to be in awe at the incredible number of lights that reach our eyes is an experience everybody should have. Today we understand what these stars are—they are distant and sometimes long-dead suns. Our ancestors, without the orange glare of a suburban street, were unaware of the science behind the wonder. For them these were the myriad eyes of the gods in heaven—the great Shining Ones in the sky. The father sun and the mother moon were dominant due to their size and the seeming relationship they held to the very hormonal nature of man and woman—they literally controlled our lives. There is little wonder that the tales of these heavenly twinkling gods should remain with us in our religious fables, myths, and folklore.

Secret Societies: Gardiner s Forbidden Knowledge

Similar to the Pagan god Pan, whose name means "All," the Bible says that "Christ is all and in all." Did the early Christians and Gnostics understand man's relationship with the hidden forces of the larger universe? One thing is sure, this understanding has been held like a baby in arms by the secret societies we shall soon discuss.

The questions of whether early man understood and utilized the effects of cyclic patterns, electromagnetic forces, and the closeness of his nature with plants and animals may be answered in the signs of the reverence he paid to these elements; his worship and ritualistic behavior surrounding some of these basic and fundamental parts of the "supernature."

Cyclic patterns and rhythms dominate our lives, from the day to night patterns to the seasonal changes and their effects upon us. If we look at a few of the cycles that have become important to man, we can see how they affect us.

The solar system in balance

Day/night cycles are different in other parts of the world. Some have longer nights and shorter days, for example, and their nature has adapted accordingly. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is purely the result of long nights. On the equator, where the sun is stronger and is out for longer periods, SAD does not exist and is indeed refuted.

»^24

Heavenly Bodies! The Bods of +he Ancieirts

In several parts of the world, we have four seasons. Elsewhere, the seasons are different. Tropical regions have two seasons: wet and dry. Monsoon areas have three: cold, hot, and rainy. In polar regions, the temperature change from summer to winter is abrupt.

Man, animal, and plant life have adapted remarkably well to the different seasons they experience, and so too has their mythology.

The pineal gland actually measures the seasons and length of day. This is how we adapt to the various seasons around the globe. Many species, including some types of bird, can accurately predict the weather to help them plan migratory patterns. The Orange Ladybird insect in the United Kingdom has never been wrong in its long-term winter predictions.

The Moon

The moon plays an important part in all the religions of the world and is hidden deeply in the secret societies. Lunar cycles and human experience are intrinsically linked. The tidal flow of the world's oceans corresponds to the waxing and waning of the moon, as does the menstrual cycle, which has had a profound effect upon our early and later religious beliefs.

Menstruation (moon-struation) occurs only during the fertile years and had symbolic meaning amongst early cultures. The menstrual blood of women is considered with awe and fear and may have much to do with the use of Red Ochre by ancient man. This blood is also derided and called unclean (even today, the women of Judaism go through a purification bath seven days after the end of the menstruation), a poisoning of woman for her sins by the great gods, although this appeared to be a much later addition as a result of the subtle battle of the religious sexes, as the earlier cults seem to have revered the blood, even to the point of drinking it.

Menstruating women were often kept away from the other members of their tribe or village. This may be why the witches' Sabbath took place specifically on the day when the moon took rest, and was associated with evil. Ishtar, one of the Moon Goddess's titles, was said to be menstruating on this day. The menstruating woman is also seen as a symbol of fertility, and in

Secret Socie+ies: Eardiner s Forbidden Knowledge

some African cultures she is led around the home of one who wishes to become pregnant and asked to touch everything. The onset of menstruation marks the move from child to woman and was celebrated with Earth Goddess or Mother Goddess rituals and, much later, within the taking of blood in the Eucharist.

The Sabbath (Heart-rest of the moon), the moon's day of rest, the seventh day, was later taken over by the Jews, who turned it into their day of rest and laid waste to the maternal, lunar religions, and inaugurated their paternal "sun god." Christians took this further, moving the day of rest to the Mithraic Sun-day—the original moon day being Monday. 1

The sidereal lunar month is 27.32 days and the synodic lunar month is 29.53 days. Both have different paths and different meanings dependent upon your culture. In the sidereal lunar year there are 13 months per year. This is a matriarchal structure and is more than 3,000 years old.

The instillation of a 12-month period seems to have been an attempt by the solar patriarchal cultures to gain dominance, and thus we now have 12 months per year. The months are, in effect, symbols of the Zodiac houses. Each "house" or "mansion" of the Zodiac is approximately 30 degrees, so the sun passes through each "mansion" every 30 degrees. Jesus, of course, as the symbol of the sun came of age at 30 and claimed that his Father's mansion had many rooms. All of this was what is known as astrotheology— the theology of the stars—and all of this crept slowly into the hidden chambers of the secret orders.

The elimination of the 13-month period has come down to us today with the persecution of the witches' coven, which has 13 members, the number 13 being considered unlucky in the West, but more importantly the fact that Jesus had 12 disciples, therefore making up 13 in total, the hidden number of Mother Earth. Indeed the very concept of Christianity is built around a celestial and solar worship: Christ is the sun, which dies for three days in midwinter and is resurrected three days later; Mary being linked both in myth and etymology to the moon; and the 12 disciples representing the 12 star-signs.

The moon is tied up in many of our early cultures. The names of its associated deities vary due to locality, language, and ethnic

*^26

Heavenly Bodies! The Bods of the Ancients

differences, but are all essentially of the same: Aphrodite, Astarte, Badb, Brigit, Ch'ang 0, Demeter, Persephone, Hecate, Inanna, Isis, Ishtar, Maja Jotma, Tsuki-Yomi, and all emerging as the Gnostic Sophia or wisdom. Some of these designations have been carried on, kept alive behind the scenes by the secret cults while they were subtly battling or even creating the front lines of the new or growing solar and male-oriented popular gods such as Mithras and Yahweh. They are all literal elements of a very real internal symbolism—the balance of the male and female sides of our own mind.

The terms "lunatic" ("moon-struck") and "mental" are both taken from the moon, under the impression that such effects are brought on by the lunar periods, usually the full moon. It is not surprising that the moon was denounced as the "mad" moon when we consider the patriarchal and matriarchal battles being fought across the continents. The idea was put forward that the electrical energy of the body became drained at this time of the month, and caused the person to lose his or her faculties. Just 200 years ago, Lunacy was even covered by English law. Kleptomania, arson, and dangerous driving have been shown scientifically to increase at times of the full moon, so there may be some scientific reason for this matriarchal lost battle.

The Jewish Passover is celebrated on the lunar calendar; the Christian Easter (Eoster was the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring) is calculated from the full moon after the vernal equinox. The full moon at the autumnal equinox is celebrated as the harvest moon. The Jews had moon festivals, such as New Moon and Full Moon (see Num. 28,11:14). The eclipse of the moon is considered by many cultures to be the union of the Sun God and Moon Goddess.

There were 500,000 births measured in New York in 1948/57. The results revealed that more births occurred during a waning moon and the maximum after a full moon. In the North Sea coast of Germany, most births occurred at high tides as the moon passed overhead. More children are born in the Northern Hemisphere in May and June than in November and December, and vice versa in the Southern Hemisphere. Size of offspring has also been mapped and shows a noticeable pattern dependent upon time of year. In the 1960s, Eugen Jonas understood the lunar aspect of

Secret Societies: Gardiner's Forbidden Knowledge

ovulation and successfully increased the effectiveness of contraception to 98 percent. When he was presented with the birth charts of 250 newborn children he successfully identified the sex of 87 percent of the babies from planetary information alone.

Frank Brown of Northwestern University, Illinois, found that oysters in his laboratory, 1,000 miles from their Connecticut shore, opened at the same time as their home shores' high tide, which, in turn, is related to the moon's orbital pattern. Brown also proved that potatoes, rats, and fiddler crabs are all governed by lunar periods. Within laboratories, the metabolisms of various creatures fluctuated in response to lunar patterns and geomagnetic factors. Now, years later, research is proving that all known sea creatures, when taken from their natural homes, still obey the same lunar cycles. At the time, many scientists thought Brown to be dealing with the paranormal sciences and ignored his research. What it does show (and scientifically) is the effect of cycles and electromagnetic energy on the natural inhabitants of this planet—including humans. It is no wonder the ancients saw in these planetary bodies the gods who controlled their lives.

The Sun

The Shining One, "great light of the world," is venerated all over the globe as the light of life, the giver of heat, and the most important cyclic symbol of all time. Our ancestors knew that it meant life or death. It was essential for the sun to return every day, for its strength to be renewed again each Easter. We say the sun is wise, and therefore in mystery plays around the world, light equates to wisdom. The strength of the sun gave rise to its being considered the most powerful of the deities. In the early developed civilizations the sun is always there. In Egyptian culture, and according to the Heliopolis cult, the sun was Atum, Ra, Re, Atum-Ra, or Ra-Atum. In the Memphis cult, the sun was known as Amun, or Amun-Re. The scarab beetle is often used to portray the sun in some aspects, a symbol of self-regeneration and the early ideas of reincarnation. The sun is generally male and outwits the lunar female goddess as well as mates with her.

**b28

Heavenly Bodies: The Bods of ihe Ancienfs

We sacrifice, dance (almost always, significantly, in circles or cycles), travel hundreds of miles, and sing to the great light. We humanize it and give it names such as Apollo, and include him in dramas. This, of course, hides a deeper and more symbolic understanding that the initiated, the ancient Shining Priesthood of the sun knew how to decipher. The cyclic pattern and life-giving nature of the sun is key to the secrets of the ancient Shining Ones.

The movements of the sun have inspired tales of where the sun god goes and why he comes back, of battles fought and death overcome. This last idea of overcoming death gives us the first hint at how man has used the sun god fables and mysteries to hide the secret ideas of how we could be reincarnated. Thousands of years of begging the sun to return each day and be reborn each spring led ancient man to develop his own rebirth rituals and ideas of how to accomplish it. Now, with thousands of years of additional mystery and symbolism, we find it almost impossible to decipher the magic secret.

Everyday we rise with the sun. Our bodies release hormones, which waken, revive, and regenerate us. In summer, our endocrine glands release more hormones that bring a sense of well-being. By late afternoon we feel more relaxed as the sun's strength wanes. The secret police of many countries often choose this time of day to arrest people, as they are more easily subdued. If today we understand how to utilize the power of the sun with the regenerative effects of holidays and by the dealings of the secret police, what did our ancient and supposedly less complicated ancestors do?

Sunspot activity affects our biorhythms directly in ways we do not understand. Evidence shows that it can be an irritant to our bodily functions and mental attitude. The Foundation for the Study of Cycles has produced some interesting results with their long-term research, including some of the following: There is a 3.86 year cycle in lemming suicides and North American lumber pine growth; an 11.1 year cycle of sun spot activity and serious upsurge in war and unrest. The Black Death and the Great Plague coincided with this solar turbulence. There is also an increase in traffic accidents every 11.1 years, a rise and fall in hemlines, and an increase of volcanic and earthquake activity. This last point will not be lost on those who already know that Yahweh was in fact a volcanic and solar god—an ancient linking of the two cyclic phenomena.

Secret Societies: Eardlrter s Forbidden Knowledge

The Stars

The myriad Shining Ones also have an effect on us. Michel Gauquelin, a French psychologist, placed the hypothesis that we are affected by the position of the planets at our time of birth firmly on the doorstep of science. He showed that the position of the stars had some indication as to what line of work one may enter later in life. This was not related to the practice of astrology or the horoscopes in the daily newspapers, but a serious, scientific data analysis. The psychologist Hans Eysenck said, "How ever much it may go against the grain, I think we must admit that there is something here that requires explanation." His results, however, only showed the astronomically aligned tendencies within the higher professionals, as the same response was not achieved with unskilled workers.

The study of the stars goes back thousands of years. Some say 4,000 B.C. Sumeria was the first to do so. Others put this even earlier and say that ancient man was studying the stars 32,000 years ago. 2 Their evidence is an engraved antler from Abri Blanchard, France, with a strange pattern of notches or calendrical phases of the moon.

With all the evidence on patterns, rhythms, and electromag-netism that affect our bodies, it is no wonder that modern science has taken another look at the ancient art of astrology, which has been neglected because of the widespread misuse of generic horoscopes.

Natal astrology deals with planetary positions at the time of our birth. Astrometeorology concerns the prediction of major earthquakes, climatic changes, and volcanic eruptions. There is much evidence to suggest that certain animals, which can predict such occurrences, are born at a specific time of year that corresponds to certain astrological predictions, and the reason is simple. The movements of the planets cause changes in the subtle electromagnetic energy of the galaxy, and with such organs as the pineal gland, animals can indeed "read" this information. In my other work (The Serpent Grail), I have shown how this energy is indeed real and can, in fact, even be picked up by humans, when they revert back to their own superconscious.

»^b30

Heavenly Bodies! The Bods of the Ancienis

Cosmobiology is the study of the balance between cyclic behavior, biological patterns, radiation, and gravitational effects upon us, and as any good scientist will tell you, gravitation is a wave and can affect our psyche.

Ancient peoples must have understood the precise mappings of these newly named sciences when they too predicted such things by the stars. It may be that ancient man was using both his "hidden powers," and the tools of the Earth around him. It may also be that the ideas and symbolism of alchemy were just a few more steps along this path.

The Indian sage, Parasar (circa. 3000 B.C.) used natal astrology in his work. Megalithic structures have many astrological and Earth alignments. The Pyramids map the stars, obeying the Hermetic lore of "as above so below." Ziggurats, temples, floor paintings, carvings, and 40-mile-long lines etched into the ground all convey the ancient and global belief in astrological predictions.

The very earliest almanacs contained weather forecasts based upon astrological predictions. In the countries of Arabia, the position of the stars was consistent with the weather. The ancient priesthood would have appeared to be in the know all the time, and, therefore, would appear holy and godlike; it was little wonder that they became incorporated into the symbolic format and titles of the stars.

The term zodiac has a meaning pertaining to animals, possibly "animal map" or "circle of animals." This is seen more precisely in the ancient Chinese chart on which every star sign has an animal name. The Zodiac is the belt of the gods, which lies nine degrees to either side of the ecliptic plane, and contains the orbits of the moon and the major planets. Each Zodiac is 30 degrees apart. The sun originally traversed these minor gods on a regular path and the various signs of the zodiac were blessed with his arrival. All the god-man stories, from Jesus to Horus, can be shown quite easily to be this very progression of the sun through the heavens.

That the word zodiac pertains to animals explains why it contains animal symbols, such as the ram and fish. These ancient anthropomorphic beliefs were included into the sky, in the same way that Pagan gods were taken on as saints by the Christian Church. Later on, the saints received their own stars and were

Secret Societies: Gardiner's Forbidden Knowledge

painted with them in ecclesiastical fervor—they even took on the symbols of the animals, as they were nothing more than a Christian creation developed from astrotheological origins. This concept has been concealed from the general population, as Acharya S tells us in The Christ Conspiracy:

The cosmology or celestial mythos has in reality been hidden from the masses for many centuries for the purpose of enriching and empowering the ruling elite. Its conspiring priest-kings have ruled empires in full knowledge of it since time immemorial and have lorded' it over the heads of the serfs.

Here yet again we have other authors discovering the idea that since time "immemorial" the people of the world have been lied to for power.

In some of the world's zodiacs, such as the Chinese version, there is even a tree at the center representing the Earth's polar axis—and this is the real location of Eden, in the sky.

The Babylonians, and especially people in the Middle East, studied the stars mathematically and attempted, even as long as 5,000 years ago, to scientifically log the reactions and effects of the stars. They produced a calendar and perfect measures of time, essential for a people without clocks. Carl Jung suggested that the Zodiac was an archetypal component of the psyche of mankind, and he linked it with the theory of the "collective unconscious."

The patterns and rhythms of the stars, with their gravitational and radiation activity, have enormous effects upon our universe, but could they also affect us individually and collectively?

The cosmic radiation hitting and passing through our planet is millions of years old. It comes in cycles, as does the solar wind. The cycles increase and decrease, but nevertheless there is a pattern. Our species has been on this planet, and life has been part of the vast universe, long enough for there to be some marked and observable effect.

There are a vast number of other cycles in which we are involved, such as urinary cycles, sexual cycles, stock market crashes, epidemics, and a host of other minor cycles. A study of history will show how generations experience the same mistakes, and

»^32

Heavenly Bodies! The Cods of the Ancients

successes, all in a cyclic pattern. Stock market crashes themselves make a profound analogy. Those in the know and with the power or money can predict these things, so they can also increase their power and money exponentially. Those with the knowledge maintain the power—the knowledge of cycles.

The Buddhist Wheel of Life reflects the understanding the ancients had of this cyclic life of ours. The Wheel culminates in the 12 links in the chain of causation on the search for truth, and it depicts, amongst others, creatures of passion, stupidity, and hatred, and shows how we endlessly repeat the same things. These repeating patterns of life events, circumstances, and our thoughts and emotions that come round again and again, are just like the planets that orbit the sun at different rates of orbital frequency.

We could say that the orbiting movement of the planets in our solar system represent—and at the same time reflect—the same patterns that are going on within a person's internal dialogue, as if what is going on in outer-space reflects what is going on within our inner-space, and within the inner depths of our own psyche.

The Hindus also make a connection with reincarnation, as the life-death cycle is just another cycle of repeating patterns they believe are due to karma not yet worked out, and broken. It is said that the ultimate goal is to stop or break the Wheel of Karma.

If this is true, then every person's astrological chart will contain information about the present life and maybe even previous lives—that is, the "program" that each person holds within his or her own consciousness—and that an individual's chart or horoscope will also show the strengths and weaknesses of that person, and also those circumstances and events that are both rewarding and challenging. It will also show the stumbling blocks that we each have to overcome in order to move on.

If we are intelligent enough to study the cycle of the heavens and understand this, then it's possible that our own personal horoscope will, more or less, reveal to us the same patterns locked up in our DNA, being the path of our own life, and also the challenges that are set before us, which we are being encouraged to try and break. It may even be possible to break the program or pattern entirely!

Secret Societies! Gardiner s Forbidden Knowledge

It has now been determined that the information one gets from a personal horoscope is usually about 75 to 80 percent correct, depending of course on the skill of the astrologer—adding that this statistic really stems from the fact that, in general, man has only a limited knowledge about astrology—as much knowledge as he has about everything else, if you take things to the highest level that man can understand at this present stage in his evolution.

Lack of knowledge about astrology is really due to certain prejudices people have in regard to the superficial and over-generalized version of astrology that is deemed acceptable both for and by society.

The astrology that we read in the newspapers and magazines and can learn from the books on the shelves in the Mind, Body, and Spirit section is the astrology familiar to society, and which has become too generalized and commercialized to be of any real use. The planets themselves—and more importantly the position of the planets in the solar system at any one time—will give a different meaning for each individual. The different vibrational influences that radiate from each planet, and especially the changing vibrations that result from the changing positions of each planet in relation to the others in the solar system, are very subtle as to be hardly noticeable or measurable. However, because of the continuous bombardment of these vibrations on the Earth, they are also deeply effective and far-reaching with regard to the consciousness of each individual on this planet, and so the meanings that can be read from them is based on the position of the planets at the exact time of every individual's conception or birth. Seeing that most of us are conceived and born at different times this creates a wide variety of different beliefs, experiences, and outlooks. All this is reflected in the positions of the planets in the cyclonic, cycling motion of our solar system, which acts as a giant cosmic clock, containing within all its biorhythmic-like cycles the "blueprint" for each individual life on this planet. So then, in a nutshell, an individual's astrological chart is a picture of that individual's life, and each planet (and the interactions between the planets) charts the repeating patterns in that life—the frequencies of the planets, creating the vibrational patterns that had been imprinted on the central nervous system while the fetus of the individual was growing in the womb. The patterns of events

*^34

Heavenly Bodies! The Bods of the Ancients

that take years to repeat are linked to the larger, slower, outer planets—such as Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus. One's horoscope is really a representation of one's picture of reality, and the internal dialogue that creates this particular picture.

I am certain the ancients understood this, and this may have been one of the reasons why great emphasis was placed on the positions of the stars and the movements of the sun, moon, and planets.

The web that man has spread across the many thousands of years is complex and cluttered. Historians would have us believe that various human achievements sprang up spontaneously and simultaneously across the continents. Mathematically, this is in error. There are too many coincidences, too many simultaneous eruptions of human culture and achievement, from the buildings that share a common purpose as solar and astral temples to the emergence of the ancient cross as a symbol—all of this is related to the resonant energy of the universe and is deeply entrenched in the emerging scientific idea of quantum entanglement. This new theory, backed by scientists from Beijing University, actually shows how telepathy is possible and likely when the particles/waves of two individuals are entangled. The same effect occurs with any energy wave/particle. Through meditation the individual comes closer and closer to consciously understanding this energy—an amazing thought, and an amazing deception that this information has been kept from us.

Remember that there is no easy way to show everything that is linked, there is simply too much information and much is hidden in secret societies.

In 1957, Tom Lethbridge wrote a book called Gogmagog. He claimed that Druidism and Brahmanism were linked and shared a common origin. Lethbridge believed that their ancient religion was somehow related to and existed for the Earth Goddess, also associated with the Moon Goddess and often cross-linked. This is true in that She was one of the deities worshipped by the ancient priesthood, to whom the Brahmins and Druids were related. The Earth/Moon Goddess, or Mother, had many names, Gaia or Ge, Isis, Astarte, and eventually culminating in the Virgin Mary (Mother of God) or even Mary Magdalene, and leading to the cult

Secret Societies: Gardiner s Forbidden Knowledge

of the Black Virgin, which itself seems to be related more to Mary Magdalene than the Mother of God. In essence they are all built around the same energy, the same very human and even universal pattern that is built into each and every one of us.

Lethbridge was so upset by the reaction to his hypothesis that he "retired" to Devon and took up dowsing, itself uniquely linked to the ancient Shining Ones' culture and to the idea of earth energy. Unfortunately, the effect of this was to fuel his adversaries' opinions of him, even though he discovered some remarkable facts, which to this day are highly regarded by dowsers.

Lethbridge showed that different substances or items produce different swing rates of the pendulum. The pendulum is well known for being the most accurate dowsing implement, and in Lethbridge's case this proved to be true. He found that the age of items gave a different rate, as did the surrounding emotions. A pebble thrown violently reacted differently from one thrown in a less aggressive manner. Work carried out by other dowsers has shown that while the rates differ between dowsers, the principle remains the same. This difference may be due to the rate at which the dowser absorbs the emitted energy, but it is hard to understand why the rates are uniformly different. If there had been a pattern of irregular rates this would be sufficient evidence to ignore the practice; as it is, we have evidence enough to require further investigation.

Although some of the conclusions drawn by Lethbridge are open to debate, we are left wondering whether there is any evidence for humans being able to pick up energy. And I was to find there was. (See author's other work or www.serpentgrail.com.)

As we have seen, electromagnetism is in all things and we are open to its power, as are animals. The theory is that we transfer this energy to the implements used in dowsing. This may explain why some dowsers have different rates, but still keep the same proportions as Lethbridge's work. In the Vietnam War and World War I, dowsers were used to help the Army find unexploded shells and locate mines. Modern oil companies use the skills of the dowsers to locate oil.

There is much evidence to show that ancient man practiced dowsing, or radiesthesia, in one form or another. In the Tassili-n-Ajjer caves in the Sahara of southeastern Algeria, there are

Heavenly Bodies! The Gods of the Ancients

ancient pictoglyphs, approximately 8,000 years old, which show what appears to be dowsing. Thoth, the Egyptian god of wisdom and writing, and the Greek Daedalus, both closely associated, are credited with its invention.

The Chinese, the masters of Feng Shui, have also been credited with the invention of dowsing from the 3rd millennium B.C. In the Bible we find that Moses (the patriarch who, according to Acts, had all the knowledge of Egypt and whose name is linked to the sun and the snake) was adept at finding water with his rod. The writers of the Bible vehemently opposed the tradition of dowsing. This was because just about any layperson could dowse and therefore could take the secret knowledge away from the priesthood and reduce their power.

Later, the Inquisition of the Catholic Church found it necessary to stamp out dowsing once again, while many abbots continued the practice in secret and even wrote extensively on the subject, albeit symbolically. What would be the reaction of the Church if its people were to find out that their own prophets, including the supposed Savior, practiced divination?

Among the other forms of divination to look out for is Bath-Kol: divination by means of the heavenly, divine voice. By interpreting this sound, the ancient Jewish prophets could announce the Will of God to the people. If ever there was a tool to keep the sacredness of God within the elite, then this is it. This practice appears to be worldwide in all cultures but is carried out only by the initiated few. That is not to say that those individuals were not in some way and through some form of formulated ritual actually getting involved in the quantum entanglement of the universal collective.

Necromancy, the art of raising spirits from the dead to discover answers, is another form of divination that has strong links with the Bible. The Witch of Endor, in 1 Samuel 28, summoned the spirit of Samuel for Saul to question. Saul paid the price for this sin, but this demonstrates the existence of this ancient practice, which stretches back to beliefs in the Underworld or place of the ancestors; a belief and a divination accomplished all over the globe. Was this a practice common to the ancient priesthood who may have traveled the world? The period fits well. But it is also

Secret Societies: Gardiner s Forbidden Knowledge

part and parcel of the Shining Ones' attempt to contact those who have passed into the Duat or Underworld. The ancient priests actually believed that they could contact the spirits of the dead through meditation, drug-induced states, or even physical actions such as Dervish.

Astrology is a form of divination relating to the stars. This too was practiced globally at the same time as necromancy. 3

The interpretation of dreams, oneiromancy, is a worldwide custom and one which also appears within the pages of the Bible, as well as many other holy books from just about every other religion and culture from our ancient past. Sometimes the dreamer would choose a specific location and take a hallucinogenic substance to bring on a dream, which only the priest could interpret. In the Bible, the one with the ability to interpret the dream was the chosen one of God—the Shining One, a special person or priest.

Scrying is the method of using a crystal or shining ball, mirror, or, more correctly and more ancient, a shining stone. Only a priest, or latterly clairvoyant, could read the message received. This art goes back to and even further than the Egyptians. Gypsies (the word is derived from "Egyptians") still use the crystal ball today. Hebrew tradition has it that Adam received wisdom from a shining stone, and Nostradamus used a bowl of water, as did Zeus.

Geomancy is the ancient from of reading messages from the earth. The word comes from the Greek word for Mother Earth, Ge or Gaia, and mancy or magos, meaning knowledge. Ancient Greek, Latin, and Arab writers tell us about geomancy. This divination technique is also global and is referred to in the Bible, in some remarkable places, as we will see in later chapters. The timescale of the spread of geomancy across the globe is much debated. There is, however, no doubt that it was universally used and shows the link of mankind to beliefs within the Mother Goddess, right through into Christianity—a survival of ancient traditions.

In geomancy, the earth is drawn upon by hand or with sticks and a response read. Special codes or symbols are used, which are known only by the initiated. The symbols are usually lines, dots, or stars. The final symbol is probably the one we should remember, as this includes the symbol of the fish, although not in modern geomancy techniques. The Arabs used random marks and read

Heavenly Bodies! The Gods of the Ancients

these. In other parts of the world, earth was thrown into the air and the shapes it formed as it fell on the ground it were interpreted.

In China, the most complex form of geomancy was Feng Shui (literally, "wind and water"), the interpretation of the Earth energies (known as "Dragon Paths") and the use of this reading to discover where best to place tombs or temples. The Chinese use a similar technique on humans in acupuncture, a very popular and reportedly effective alternative medicine.

The Chinese called the powers of the Earth "Yin" (female, negative) and "Yang" (male, positive). As we know, everything, including energy, matter, and magnetism, has a positive and a negative, so once again, our ancestors were there before us. Modern-day dowsing has shown that sites such as Stonehenge, Glastonbury, Newgrange, the pyramids of Egypt, and the ziggurats of South America are all situated on these so-called ancient energy lines. This is yet another example of the global aspect of these ancient beliefs, which spread through cultures without altering the ethnicity of the population, but fitting in with it. This ancient priesthood did not change or improve the lifestyles of the general population, which is why it has been so difficult for archaeologists to discover their existence; instead, they simply passed on knowledge, sharing the power amongst themselves and the few who were chosen to become Shining Ones.

There are subtle hints, missed by orthodox history, which are beginning to reveal the patterns of an antiquated hierarchy of special priests. Once we are alerted to their existence, it becomes obvious that they were there all along. If we read any part of the Bible again and replace the words "Lord" or "God" with the "Shining Ones," it will become apparent how deeply rooted into our culture this priesthood really is.

There are many belief systems in the world, but they all come from one basic and undeniable core, invented and evolved separately by the Shining Ones. The same term is used across the globe due to the same enlightened aspect or illumination achieved and sustained by them, and a worship of the same solar globe seen everywhere. These priests were the experts of self-mind-control— manipulating their own minds into the Shining world of the universe through energy cycles and magnetism. With the use of drugs

Secret Societies: Gardiner s Forbidden Knowledge

and physical and mental effort, they achieved the Holy Grail of existence. With the benefits to themselves being good health and knowledge of the world around them, they found the Elixir.

Instead of looking for great migrations of civilizations such as Atlantis, we should be looking toward the faith makers, the illuminated ones who spread throughout the peoples of the world and became gods among men.

*&>40

The Trutk Inside Your Skull

The Ancient Mystery oF Ike Skull Cup

For some reason, many of us just seem to know that the answer to all our searching questions about time, the universe, and life after death could be answered by our own minds, and this almost paradoxical situation has been with mankind for thousands of years. Man searched within himself for the answers and I believe man found them. Here, in this short piece, I hope to relay some of the amazing symbols of that searching and reveal the hidden meanings behind some of the most enigmatic objects and images of history. This chapter will concentrate on one of the most profound of symbols utilized by secret societies—the skull. But before I move forward into the skull I must concentrate on the energy that is supposedly raised towards it and which was and is believed to infuse it with power—the kundalini.

The kundalini, in one form or another, is found in almost all secret societies—whether they know it or not. It is the core basis of the energy and centered self that they speak of. Without this "energy" they would have no wise masters seeing visions or entering trance states. There would be no "mystical" enlightenment. This kundalini is the serpent energy within, the hidden power inside each of us—or so we are told.

She, the subtlest of the subtle, holds within herself the Mystery of creation, and by her radiance, it is said, the universe is illumined, eternal knowledge

Secret Socie+ies: Dardiners Forbidden Knowledge

awakened and liberation attained. She maintains all beings of the world by means of inspiration and expiration. (Serpent Power, Arthur Avalon, 1919)

The kundalini must be roused by one with a powerful, willful, and controlled mind. He or she must be a skilled craftsman—this, like Masonry, is the ability to unify the physical with the mental. A true adept can master this art and raise the feminine coiled serpent into the mind—the cerebral center. And this is how the skull becomes important and why certain skull cups became the Grail of all Grails.

We too must now follow the path of the ancients and search within the skull. We shall begin with one of the most recondite of images—the Tantric Skull Cup.

Skull Cups

In Sanskrit, skull cups are known as kapala (hence "cap" and "cup"), and they are generally formed from the oval section of the upper cranium. They served as libation vessels for large numbers

Baptism in the Grail, Cyprus

The Truth Inside Your Skull

of deities, which were mostly wrathful. However, these skull cups are not always associated with wrathful deities; they are also seen with gods such as Padmasambhava, who holds the "skull cup," which is described as holding an ocean of nectar (Elixir) that floats in the longevity vase. So, almost immediately we have a clue to the contents of this receptacle and its real purpose—the Elixir. This Elixir was at the heart of many secret orders and was one of the carrots used to entice people to join.

But it was more than the contents that were of importance. The selection of the right skull was paramount, and the users were looking for Tantric powers or energy. Therefore a violent death would always be better, such as decapitation. The symbolism of the Tantric Skull Cups is very similar to that of the Holy Grail in that they are symbolic of immortality. Even some western alchemical writings advise the use of skull cups in the process of the "great work," which is of course the search for the Elixir of Life. We find again and again that the "energy" spoken of in relation to these skull cups is exactly the same as the "serpent energy" or "fire" that secret societies across the world search for and claim to be able to manipulate.

The Tantric Skull Cups are said to parallel the clay pots of the Vedic sacrifices and the begging bowl of Buddha, which I found in at least one myth contained the serpent. 1 The skulls are said to serve as a constant reminder of death. The contents of the skulls are often blood, but also the blood of Rudra—the "Lord of wild animals" similar to Cernunnos.

Rudra's etymological origins are uncertain. It could mean "the red one" or "the weeper," or derive from the Syrian "Rhad" meaning serpent. In other areas it also means the "removal of pain" or "healer." Rudra is identified with Siva, and he is the divine healer.

Mahadeva, one of Siva's names, is often represented with a snake entwined around his neck, arms, and hair. His consort, Parvati, is likewise represented. Bhairava, the Avatar of Siva, sits upon the coils of a serpent, whose "head rises above that of the gods."

Also, according to Hyde Clarke and C. Staniland Wake in Serpent and Siva Worship, Siva is the same as Rudra, the healer, and is called the King of Serpents. He is depicted with a garland

Secret Societies: Gardiner s Forbidden Knowledge

of skulls, symbolizing time measured in years, the changing of ages. He is called sometimes Nagabhushana Vyalakalpa or "having serpents round his neck" and Nagaharadhrik or "wearing serpent-necklaces" and also Nagaendra. Nagesha or "king of Nagas" is also known as Nakula, the "mongoose" which means one who is immune from the venom of the snake.

Siva is also seen as a "horned god" and is connected with the serpent worship in many ways. Both Siva and "Siva in the form of Rudra" are seen in their dynamic aspect as being entwined with serpents. These are serpent deities of old and are connected here with the cup of the head, bringing several disparate elements together—the skull, the grail, the mind, the snake, and time or immortality. They are regenerative serpent deities offering longevity via their blood within a cup. In essence, what we have here is the serpent, which resides within the mind and therefore skull, which gives us all those things that Grail is said to give.

But can any of this relate further away in time and space and arrive in Europe, the supposed true home of the Holy Grail?

Livy in Historae mentions a similar Celtic operation from the 3rd century a.d., which simply must be connected to the Indian skull cups. Apparently when the Boii tribe got hold of a victim, they "cut off the head, and carried their spoils in triumph to the most hallowed of their temples. There they cleaned out the head, as is their custom, and gilded the skull, which thereafter served them as a holy vessel to pour libations from and as a drinking cup for the priest and the temple attendants."

The sacred water used in the skull cups was often taken from a holy well, which, as I have established elsewhere, 2 were places linked intrinsically with the worship of the ancient serpent. The idea here is that this ritual practice goes back beyond even the total memory recall of the Celts to a time when the cups employed the real power of the serpent, not just symbolic water. In essence, the water, whether of wells, lakes, pools, or seas, was seen by man across the globe as an entryway or portal into the Otherworld. Taking this otherworldly water in a sacred cup fuses a special power into the water—no different to the Holy Water taken from the font in any Christian church.

The etymology of the skull gives some interesting insights. *^44

The Tnrth Inside Your Skull

In Old German it is Scala, which is also a seashell; the symbol used by pilgrims on their way to the shrine of St. James in Spain— a symbol of life. Old Norse it is Skel, which means "to have scales" or be "scale-like." The word skoal, now a fairly common drinking cry, is also closely related and means to "toast from a skull." This etymology alone shows the deep-seated element of the skull in Western Europe and its use as a drinking vessel. Remarkably, skoal was also used to refer to a chalice! (The Ukranian word Cherep refers both to skull and chalice.)

We must not forget the Christian Messiah was also crucified at the "place of the skull," Golgotha. That is, his sacrificial blood was spilled into the skull!

But there is more to this than meets the eye.

This place, Golgotha, is also connected to the sign Capricorn— the half-goat, half-fish, or serpent. Capri is from Latin, meaning "goat" or "head," and corn is "horn." This then, is the "horn of the head" or "goat"—the Golgotha.

Christ crucified at Golgotha, Kykkoss Monastery, Cyprus

Secret Societies: Eardlner s Forbidden Knowledge

So Jesus spilled his blood into the secret Grail on that fateful day—the secret Grail being the horn or cup of the skull.

Just as the serpent blood is found in the skull cups, so too is the blood of Jesus.

Now we can see why the Templars' infamous Baphomet head 3 was seen as a skull and a goat; it was a hidden mystery—a mystery which has been misunderstood ever since. The Brazen Serpent, the healing snake of Moses now seen as Christ in the New Testament, was lifted up at the place of the skull and his offering of blood 4 was collected—the ultimate sacrifice on the tree of life for the ultimate prize of immortality. But truly, if Christ is all and in all, as we are told by the Bible, then we can all obtain this immortality of the one, the shaman deity or Jesus, who visited the Otherworld. Jesus went down into hell for us, we are told; the shaman would enter a trance, drink from the skull cup, and visit the Otherworld for us; the priests of Egypt, South America, and the Celtic lands would do the same. This then is a universal experience expressed in symbolic form via the skull. The reason is clear, because the mind resides within the skull; the Tantric power and the perceived wisdom of the united serpent energies all act within the skull. No wonder it was cut off, turned upside down, and gilded. But is there any more evidence showing this remarkable symbolism?

There is a Naga 5 myth that relates to the place of the skull. It is about Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche) or simply Padma. He is revered in many places, and in Tibet held alongside Buddha; indeed, many see him as the "second coming" of Buddha. He is inseparable from the primordial Buddha. He was "in the beginning," the way Jesus was "the Word."

He received the wish-fulfilling jewel from the daughter of a Naga king and used it to restore sight and make riches. He is said to have transformed himself into a demon by tying a snake into his hair, and practiced a secret language to enable the Nagas to assist him. He spoke to those who had ears to hear; Arjuna (John) taught him astrology and he learned all about medicine from Jivakakumara.

While Padma was practicing his skills in a cemetery, Garab Dorje was born to a virgin daughter of King Dharmasoka. Now,

The Truth Inside Your Skull

please don't try this at home, but she had no use for the bastard son and so tossed him into a burning pit; but the child survived. Then she remembered a dream in which she gave birth to a celestial being, so she pulled him from the pit after seven days 6 and, finding him alive, called him Rolang Dewa.

During the child's early years he learned many wise things and debated against 500 great pandits who all said he was the Buddha.

Padma then came, as a wise man and (very much as John the Baptist did to Jesus) taught Garab Tantras. Padma then went on to seek the secret of longevity and was directed to Kungamo, who dwelt in the palace of skulls.

Kungamo turned Padma into a syllable, like Jesus as the word, and swallowed him. Inside the stomach he found the secrets he was searching for.

Padma is often seen holding a cup filled with the divine liquor, which he offers to his disciples—saying "drink of this to attain liberation."

Padma then is linked to the Naga serpent cult, to healing, to the Elixir via the palace of skulls. He is the word; the teacher of the Christ, like Garab who was born of a virgin; and he gives the Eucharist cup to his disciples. All of this is a symbolic representation of the almost exact process an initiate into the mysteries of secret societies must go through. It is a parable of the pathway.

In all respects, this wonderful stylized Indian tale has all the elements we could possibly require to show that the Christian and medieval Grail stories are nothing more than a retelling of much more ancient concepts, and that these concepts revolve around a universal and archetypal truth. This truth is that our own immortality and our own salvation lies within our own minds. Secret orders that teach these processes remain in the world today. Some teach the truths through Eastern methods and others have Westernized them, but all speak of the truth that is inside our own skulls. Now you know the truth; will it set you free?

The Secret oF 1-ke Holy Brail and Ike Discovery oF Ike Elixir oF LIFe

In the last chapter, we saw how the Eastern concepts of the skull cups held the secret of the power within our own mind, and how this concept became Westernized. In this chapter we will take a quick look at that Western concept and how it has trickled into our culture through medieval texts that sought to hide the truths from an oppressive Catholic Church.

What Is the Brail?

In truth, the Grail did not emerge strongly into the popular culture until around the 12th and 13th centuries with the familiar poems and stories written by Chretien de Troyes, Wolfram von Eschenbach, and others, but traces of its idea in Celtic cauldrons and various legends can and have been found.

It is believed basically and originally to be the cup that caught the blood of Christ as he hung from the cross, or was even used by him at the last supper. The most recent beliefs are in stark contrast to this and yet still back up the Christ mythos and even various royalist and secret society propaganda, as we shall see.

Ever since the publication of The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail by the authors, Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln in the early 1980s we have had a constant barrage of "bloodline" theories thrown at us, culminating in the Da Vinci Code hysteria we see today.

This recent concept gives us the idea that the original word or words used for the Grail, san graal, in reality means "Holy Blood."

Secret* Societies: Gardiner s Forbidden Knowledge

However, Walter Skeat (a.d. 1835-1912) was one of the greatest investigators of the roots of the English language, and in his English Etymology, he points out that the etymology of the Holy Grail:

...was very early falsified by an intentional change from San Greal (Holy Dish) to Sang Real (Royal Blood).

Skeat claims that the word was a corruption of the Low Latin, cratella, a "small bowl," or "crater," which actually and originally meant a bowl in which things were mixed, from the Greek kpa — "I mix."

Of course, before the evidence in The Serpent Grail is understood, this etymology makes little or no sense. But, as we shall see, all shall become clear.

There was more than the actual etymology of the 1980s theory that I needed to look at, in order to prove it to be incorrect, as I believed it was. In the first place and most strongly, I have shown that Christ, as a literal man, and in all likelihood all those surrounding him, may never have in fact existed and were created

St. John's chalice with dragon *^ 50

The Secret of the Holy DraiL

elements of a much older mystical language of enlightenment. Therefore, both existing theories on the Holy Grail would fall: There can be no chalice used by Christ at the Last Supper, or a vessel that caught his blood. There can also be no "children" of* Christ spawning the Merovingian lineage. There is no bloodline at all and Christ is. in reality, an ancient serpent archetypal deity, as too are St. John, Horus, Aesculapius, and a thousand others.

In order to disprove the bloodline theory, we also have to look at the infamous Priory of Sion nonsense. For those who know nothing of this priory, it is simply a recreation of a supposed secret organization said to protect the bloodline of Christ by the fraudster Pierre Plantard. Indeed, I even got hold of his early "newsletters" and found that they were nothing more than a kind of "neighborhood watch."

Three Levels oF Our Brail Reanalysls

So, with all this in mind I needed to completely reappraise the whole mythos of the Grail, and what I was to find was startling.

There is the obvious tradition that the Grail is a journey, a method of self-improvement, and I looked into all the texts I could find with this Gnostic viewpoint in mind. I found that this was completely correct and that Grail literature was hiding the Gnostic traditions of the "mixing of the opposites." These Gnostics were nothing more than an early Christian secret society—stamped out by the Catholic Church and so going underground to avoid detection. The original Gnostics were known as Ophites, meaning simply "serpent worshippers." They worshipped the wisdom of the serpents and had wonderful symbolism that remains with us today of the uniting twin serpent energies, symbolizing the union of the opposites.

This is where the split personalities of the "mind" are rejoined, repetitively, in order to "make the perfect man"—symbolized by alchemists as the Androgyne or Hermaphrodite ^Hermes and Aphrodite, man and woman united within us). The process is much deeper than this and would take too long to explain in full. Suffice it to say that this mixing procedure occurred in the "brain" and therefore the skull, and was envisaged symbolically in colors as red and white.

Secret Societies: Gardiner s Forbidden Knowledge

This brain or skull location became apparent in other cultures from where the European Gnostic ideas had also risen, one of these being the Tantric Skull Cups of India and even in the story of Christ as he spills his sacrificial blood at Golgotha—the place of the skull.

In essence, the whole mystical process was virtually the same the world over and is commonly known today in India as the kundalini. This is an Eastern tradition of attaining enlightenment and means coiled serpent. It is the method of raising up twin serpents through a specific psychological process until one is completely illuminated—obtaining the Grail. In each case, from around the world, this process related to the serpent, snake, or dragon, each one being for this mythical purpose the same thing. It can be seen clearly today in the infamous image of the Caduceus upon medical insignia, ambulances, hospitals, and elsewhere. It can also be seen in the powerful representation of the Uraeus serpent, which emerges from the forehead of the Egyptian pharaohs. It can also be found in almost all secret societies.

Now what I discovered during the course of my research was the amazing occurrence of the serpent in myth, folklore, and religion across the entire world and in every period.

We can see its origins even as far back as ancient Africa, where even today the serpent is pinned to a tree or cross as a sacrifice for the community. This is a continuance of a system, which stretches back in time for thousands of years. It is a symbolic element, but it also has a practical level, as we shall see. Even as late as the 16th century there were German coins called Thalers with Christ on the cross on one side and a snake on a cross on the reverse. The image was said to depict the "all-healer."

We can also see the serpent influence in the Bible as early as Adam and Eve. Believe it or not, Eve actually means "female serpent," coming from the root hawwah or hevviah, and is derived from, amongst others, the goddess Ninlil, the Sumerian serpent deity also associated with the goddess Asherah, who was seen in the Temple of Jerusalem as a tree entwined with serpents. Even the constellation "serpens" was called "little eve" by certain Arabs.

Adam was fabled to be the father of Seth, who was called the "Son of Serpents."

"&, 52

The Secret of the Holy Brail..

The serpent was not bringing mankind down at all—he was making Adam and Eve like "God," he was bestowing the ultimate knowledge. This is secret Gnostic language for the very knowledge to be found within oneself via the union of the male and female opposites and a whole process of psychological growth.

We even see the ultimate image of Godhead or enlightenment in the aura or halo seen around the heads of saints. This image I revealed derived from the hooded cobra of India as a symbol of immortality and divine serpentine wisdom.

In Malta, I uncovered elongated skulls of certain priests dating back to the Temple-building era. These skulls were created using planks of wood on the heads of babies, in order to make the individual appear serpent-headed, with long drawn eyes and stretched skin. These people were known as serpent priests, and the elongation of the skulls made the glands in the brain secrete certain psychotic hormones, beneficial to the enlightenment experience and altered states of consciousness. The original serpent priests were an elite, kept apart and secret from the main group)— the original shining serpent secret society!

Of course Malta itself is overrun with serpent folklore, the latest being that of St. Paul. This is a story created in the 13th century whereby St. Paul is said to have shipwrecked on Malta and subdued the vicious serpents, and then to have gone on and healed people with his newfound serpentine power. Of course none of this happened, but you can't knock the Christians for their marketing skills.

Having now, I believe, sufficiently proven the fact of worldwide serpent worship, and basically reinforced what certain Victorian scholars had failed to bring full weight to because of Christian fear, I moved on and into each and every one of these traditions, for in these traditions were the origins of the serpent worshipped by the Freemasons, the Assassins, the Rosicrucians, the Templars, and many more.

In each case, the serpent or snake was a symbol of wisdom, energy, and immortality.

The wisdom and energy element of the serpent could now be explained via the "awakening" of the "coiled serpent" or kundalini process, but this did not entirely explain the immortality aspect

Secret Socie+ies: Gardiners Forbidden Knowledge

of the serpent symbolism. For an explanation of this I had to turn to science, and it was really here that the whole process had started in the first place, and it was here that I would find the secret Elixir protected by secret societies for generations and hidden within the arcane language of the alchemists.

The El ixir

Before I had ever thought about writing a book on the Grail, Elixir, or Philosopher's Stone, I had released The Shining Ones and had just finished doing lots of publicity and radio. I was now, at this stage, looking around for something else to have a go at. Well, one night I lay in bed reading some fusty old book about alchemy.

It was about 1 a.m. and I was having a cup of tea, when my wife, who was reading her medical journals, said something about snake venom and T-cells. It didn't make any sense so I asked her to elucidate.

She explained that scientists had found that certain elements of snake venom had been recently found to help T-cell replication. T-cells, she said, were the things that helped our immune system—keeping us alive.

Well, my mind went into overdrive as I already, even at this stage, knew a lot about serpents, dragons, and their symbolic elements in the legends of Arthur and others. I instantly knew or was "enlightened" to the fact that this was a physical side of the symbolic immortality of the snake, and so began two years of research into the snake, its myths, and now its science.

What I found following much scientific research and crosschecking was that the unique proteins, peptides, polypeptides, and enzymes found within snake venom had, in fact, been used by ancient man for thousands of years in all kinds of medical applications and that it was even amazingly mixed with the snake's or a host's blood. This was the red and white mixing to aid the health and boost the life of the individual. We amazingly found that this was mixed within a "mixing bowl" or skull and

»^54

The Secret of -the Holy DraiL

then drunk as an Elixir of Life, and that this had then come down to us as one of the elements of the Holy Grail.

Snake venom was also made into a "stone" or pill. We also found that snake venom has psychoactive properties, which induce altered states of consciousness and mystical experiences, much akin to those needed for the true enlightenment experience. It was therefore seen physically as a method of meeting with the "gods."

In both ways then, as a serious vitamin pill and as a key to the mystical world, the venom of the snake was a unique product.

To add to this I then found that the same "Christ" who it was said provided the blood of "everlasting life" in the chalice, was seen originally in early Christian and Gnostic cults, such as the Ophites or snake worshippers, as nothing more than a serpent himself!

"Just as Moses lifted up the brazen serpent in the wilderness, so too must Christ be lifted up"—says the Bible, and so he was.

Early Christians even had a Eucharist of the Agathodemon or "good serpent," enacted with live snakes and a special chalice, and this became the fabled Holy Grail we all know so well today. In the early years of Christianity, Jesus was even imaged as a snake on a Tau cross.

Going back to ancient Africa though, I noted the similarity even here of the crucified Christ and the serpent pinned to the tree. But what I also found was that these same people were then actually taking the various parts of the snake and using them for healing, with the saliva- or venom-producing glands being the most treasured.

Another side effect of taking the snake venom is genetic malformations created by the huge amounts of protein, and one of these malformations is cranial—thereby elongating the skull, just as those we found on Malta.

Conclusion

Although I do not have the space to explain the Philosopher's Stone in this short chapter, I did find that it truly represented

Secret Societies! Gardiner s Forbidden Knowledge

both the Gnostic and duality aspect of the wisdom side of the serpent, and also was used as a cover for the true mixing of the venom and blood within alchemical texts. As the infamous Grail author Wolfram von Eschenbach himself claimed that the stone and the grail were one and the same, I found this to be the case.

Basically then, the whole modern Grail mythos is wrong. Not just the latest "bloodline" theory, but also the original concept of it being the literal cup that caught the blood of Christ. In fact this element of the myth is symbolic and should remain as such, for Christ as the good serpent did provide his true Elixir of eternal life, in both Gnostic psychological concepts such as the Kundalini, and also in the literal venom and blood of the snake. An indication of Christ as the serpent was also found in the sloughing of skin. Snakes regularly slough their skin, and the ancients saw this as a rebirth. This was copied with Christ entering the cave and sloughing his shroud.

Arthur, as a literary figure, was chosen as the modern "savior" to rediscover this chalice because he was the Pendragon. Pen means "head," and therefore Arthur is the head dragon or serpent, just as Jesus was.

What we also find is that every single royal lineage on the globe has claimed descent from the serpent. Whether it be the Merovingians or the Chinese dragon emperors—they are all claiming to be descended from the "bloodline" of the serpent! And this is how it has become so easy for David Icke and those like him to claim that the royal family are really shape-shifting reptiles, because their own mythological history claims descent from the wise serpent—the same wise serpent that lies at the heart of the world's secret societies.

The history of the world is certainly not as we once thought.

»^u 56

The Walckers

We must now move on to one of the earliest of all origins of secret societies from which is derived much of the terminology and symbolism still used today by the Freemasons, Rosicrucians, and many others—the Watchers—otherwise known as the "sons of God" and in Hebrew as Eyrim (Irim). In doing so we shall be taking a look at the very origins of the first secret societies and the influences of astrotheology and serpent worship upon them.

Zecharia Sitchin in The Stairway to Heaven, states:

The Akkadians called their predecessors Shumerians, and spoke of the Land of Shumer. It was in fact the biblical Land of Shin'ar. It was the land whose name—Shumer—literally meant the Land of the Watchers. It was indeed the Egyptian Ta Neter—Land of the Watchers, the land from which gods had come to Egypt.

So, Sumeria could mean "Land of the Watchers," and it is from this land that the Elohim or Shining Ones, who governed the Watchers, also came. In The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, Julian Jaynes tells us something interesting about these governing gods:

Throughout Mesopotamia, from the earliest times of Sumer and Akkad, all lands were owned by gods and men were their slaves. Of this, the cuneiform texts leave no doubt whatever. Each city-state had

Secre+ Societies: Gardiner s Forbidden Knowledge

its principal god, and the king was described in the very earliest written documents that we have as "the tenant farmer of the god."

Let's just take a look at these Elohim for a moment to find out who these "gods" were that supposedly enslaved men and were in charge of the Watchers.

EloRIm

This is the term used often in the Old Testament (and other texts outside of it, as in the Muslim Allah = Elah) for the Lord; an incorrect usage, as the term is plural and means "Shining Ones."

We can see this plurality in the text from Genesis 1:26: "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." And again in Genesis 6:2: "The sons of god saw the daughters of men that they were fair." This term "sons of god" is literally "sons of gods" and comes from ben ha-elohim, "sons of the shining ones."

The Sumerian EL means simply bright or shining; the Old Irish Aillil means shining; Old Cornish EL means shining; Elf means shining—hence Elves as tall/mysterious angelic beings; Inca Ilia is bright or to shine; Babylonian Ellu is to shine—to name just a few that have sprung up worldwide from the same Sumerian source.

Baal, the deity often spoken of as the "Lord" in the Bible, is also seen as a shining one in the Old Testament and is called the Owner. At that time there were many "Owners" or shining ones; in fact, there was one for each village.

To these Hebrews the Elohim were nature divinities from ancient Sumerian times. According to General Albert Pike, the famous Masonic historian, in Morals and Dogma, the Elohim were the "host of heaven," ascending and descending to pass messages to and from god or leader (Yahweh). The host of heaven were of course the stars in the night sky humanized.

Some of the shining ones were termed Watchers and are akin to the angels of the Lord. Yahweh Elohim means simply "leader of the shining ones."

So now we have these plural Elohim or shining ones as gods, being above even the kings, and supplying Watchers—to watch over man, and as Sitchin pointed out, they were also in Egypt.

The Watchers

This Ta Neter that Sitchin mentions resembles the Egyptian Ntr, a name for Ptah and other gods, which means guardian or watcher. Ta Neter is also the name for the Red Sea straits, which connected Mesopotamia and Egypt and is known as the place of the gods. The Neter or Ntr word means and is derived from the concept of neutrality and is simply the place between, the path between the pillars or the place between awake and asleep that we spoke of earlier in this chapter.

These Watchers were also known as Urshu and were classed as being less divine than the gods, although in this instance, as Graham Hancock points out in Fingerprint of the Gods, the Urshu speak of the Neteru (Ntr) as if it were they who were the gods and the Urshu the Watchers. Whatever the truth in this matter, it is no wonder that confusion has arisen over so many thousands of years. The fact remains though, that the ancients spoke of a time when there were gods or shining ones who ruled up and down Sumeria and Egypt and who employed watchers over the ordinary folk. In the same way a Pharaoh of Egypt was a god-on-Earth, so too priests of the Elohim (stars) were stars-on-Earth.

The Egyptian Book of the Dead calls these Watchers:

Anubis and Horus in the form of Horus the sightless. Others, however, say that they are the Tchatcha, who bring to nought the operations of their knives; and others say that they are the chiefs of the Sheniu chamber.

So, even in ancient Egypt, by the time of the writing of the Book of the Dead, there was confusion. According Sitchin in the Wars of Gods and Men:

They had come to Egypt, the Egyptians wrote, from Ta-Ur, the "Far/Foreign Land," whose name Ur meant "oldest" but could also have been the actual place name—a place well known from Mesopotamian and biblical records: the ancient city of Ur.

We should note at this point that this Ur is the same place that the father of the world's three great religions, Abraham, is also said to have trained.

Secret Sociei-ies: Gardiner's Forbidden Knowledge

According to The Legend of Votan (note similarity with the Nordic Wotan who is said to have come from across the sea) from Mesoamerica, this Votan was the serpent who was a descendent of the race of Can and was called a guardian or watcher, amazingly similar to Canaan, as such people as Zelia Nuttal in Papers of the Peabody Museum has suggested.

These Canaanites are implicated in many places revolving around the Shining Ones and the original serpent priests— another name for the Shining Ones. 1 The serpent was known in the language of Canaan variously as Aub, Ab; Oub, Ob; Oph, Op; Eph, Ev. In the Mayan language "Can" also means serpent, as in Cuculcan the bird serpent, and just as in the ancient Sumerian Acan and the Scottish Can for serpent (which is where we get the word "canny" like the wise snake). Vulcan (sounding like Votan and Wotan), the Roman god of fire, comes from the Babylonian Can for serpent and Vul for fire, showing an etymological link across thousands of miles and oceans and meaning, therefore, that Vulcan is the shining serpent. Indeed even the very center of the Christian world, the Vatican, comes from the words "vatis" for prophet and "can" for serpent, making the Vatican a place of serpent prophecy.

The Hebrews termed these Watchers as nun resh'ayin, meaning "those who watch." In the Greek this is translated as gigantes or giants, a race that even the 907 B.C. writer Hesiod featured as being monstrous (due to their serpentine aspect no doubt). Now we can understand the role of the giants 2 seen across the world of folklore as the presence of the Watchers.

Enoch in 1 Enoch 20:1-8 even gives us the names of these Watchers, and I noted that they were all subtitled Shining Ones with the ending:

And these are the names of the holy angels who watch. Uriel, one of the holy angels, who is over the world and over Tartarus. Raphael, one of the holy angels, who is over the spirits of men. Raguel, one of the holy angels who takes vengeance on the world of the luminaries. Michael, one of the holy angels, to wit, he that is set over the best part of mankind and over chaos. Saraqael, one of the holy angels, who is

»^60

The Watchers

set over the spirits, who sin in spirit. Gabriel, one of the holy angels, who is over Paradise and the serpents and the Cherubim. Remiel, one of the holy angels, whom God set over those who rise.

Note that Gabriel, the messenger who told of the birth of Jesus and who passed on wisdom to Mohammed, is in charge of the serpents. Remiel is over those who rise—those seeking enlightenment.

In the Testament of Amram (manuscript B) we have a remarkable insight into the aspect of these shining Watchers:

I asked them, "Who are you, that you are thus empowered over me?" They answered me, "We have been empowered and rule over all mankind." They said to me, "Which of us do you choose to rule you?"I raised my eyes and looked. One of them was terrifying in his appearance, like a serpent, his cloak many colored yet very dark. And I looked again, and in his appearance, his visage like a viper, and wearing exceedingly, and all his eyes....I replied to him, "This Watcher, so is he?" He answered me, "This Watcher... .and his three names are Belial and Prince of darkness and King of Evil."

The Mosaic Book of Jubilees was originally called the Apocalypse of Moses as it was supposedly written by Moses while on Mount Sinai and dictated by a Watcher or angel. This book was intended as a history of the days of old and reveals the purpose of the Watchers:

For in his days the angels of the Lord [Elohim— Shining Ones] descended upon the earth [came down from their mountain stronghold]—those who are named Watchers—that they should instruct the children of men, that they should do judgment and uprightness upon the earth.

These Watchers, according to the Book of Jubilees, are the sons of god spoken of in Genesis, sent from their heavenly abode to instruct men. What seems to have occurred is that they fell from grace by mating with the daughters of men and were thus outcast—giving us the fallen angels we are familiar with today.

Secret Socie+ies: Dardiners Forbidden Knowledge

However, according to A Dictionary of Angels, not all these Watchers descended from the heavenly abode, and those that did not were termed holy Watchers, residing in the fifth heaven. As Enoch himself had testified against these fallen Watchers he was protected by the ruling Shining Ones and transported to the Garden of Eden (Eden means plateau and is therefore a specific place):

And I Enoch was blessing the Lord of majesty and the King of the ages, and lo! The Watchers called me—Enoch the scribe—and said to me: "Enoch, thou scribe of righteousness, go, declare to the Watchers of the heaven who have left the high heaven, the holy eternal place, and have defiled themselves with women, and have done as the children of the earth do, and have taken unto themselves wives: Ye have wrought great destruction on the earth: And ye shall have no peace nor forgiveness of sin: and inasmuch as they delight themselves in their children, The murder of their beloved ones shall they see, and over the destruction of their children shall they lament, and shall make supplication unto eternity, but mercy and peace shall ye not attain." (1 Enoch 10:3-8)

According to Andrew Collins in From the Ashes of Angels: The Forbidden Legacy of a Fallen Race, the fallen Watchers swear an oath and bind themselves together. The place of this action is called Ardis, the fabled summit of Mount Hermon, which derives from the Hebrew word for curse (harem). Following these actions of the fallen Watchers, the Shining Ones called down a great flood upon the Earth to destroy the offspring, and Noah is warned to build a great ship to escape the impending doom. There was obviously some great battle between the dissenters and the Shining Ones and the loyal Watchers, which allowed Michael, Gabriel, and the others to slay the remaining fallen Watchers. The flood is the symbolic idea of the later cleansing of the land (and mind) and the restarting of the human race (or self) on track with the Shining Ones' ideals—a probable merging of a folk memory of some great catastrophe and the actual event. There were other catastrophes written up as being the judgment of the remaining Watchers, which must simply be folk memories of actual catastrophes that occurred

*&>62

The Watchers

and were blamed upon the transgressions of the fallen Watchers. Indeed, even the spirits of these fallen Watchers are blamed for future evils, as Enoch points out:

And the spirits of the giants afflict, oppress, destroy, attack, do battle, and work destruction on the earth, and cause trouble: they take no food, but nevertheless hunger and thirst, and cause offenses. And these spirits shall rise up against the children of men and against the women, because they have proceeded them. (1 Enoch 12)

St. Michael and St. George — angelic watchers

Notable revelations admitted by the Watchers to the sons of man were knowledge of the signs of the earth: writing, meteorology, geography, and geodesy—all implying that these Shining Ones understood the energy and power of the Earth and its electro-magnetism, not to mention the movements of the planets. There

Secret Societies! Gardiner's Forbidden Knowledge

are many fables of these times from across the world of great builders, architects, and magicians all relating entirely back to these Shining Ones' origins. We can see the similarity in the structures of Europe (and elsewhere) of the burial mounds with the fact that one of the fallen Watchers, Azazel, was cast into the desert where they placed upon him rough and jagged rocks.

Much of this myth of the Watchers is found to be within the tales of wars and merging of peoples across the Middle East— between Canaanites, Egyptians, Sumerians, and even Asian civilizations. But the underlying current is a belief in the Shining Ones as leaders, with Watchers doing their bidding—evolving into God with his Angelic beings.

All of this so far is exactly what we have been saying about the secret societies, that they were in charge and maintained authority from a religious standpoint. We know that mankind deified the "men of renown," the same Anunnaki/Anakim to whom this refers, and therefore we know that these Shining Ones were mere men—the difference being that the hypnagogic state (the place between awake and asleep) had set them apart. The terms Anunnaki, Anakim, and even Nephilim mean "those who came down to Earth from heaven" and is a reference to their position and location on the plateau of Eden (Eden means plateau). They looked down on the people below—watched. They represented the sun, moon, and planets, on Earth. It does not, as some would have us believe, imply that they came from the stars, but were representatives of the celestial deities.

The truth of the story of the Shining Ones and their Watchers has been the subject of a purging by many Jewish authorities, who were understandably concerned that the myths of these angels and their worship would distract people from the worship of the one god. To this end, the book of Enoch and the book of Jubilees, mentioned previously, were stricken from the accepted list and are now known as Apocrypha or pseudepigrapha. What we do know though, is that these Watchers continued in what has been described as the underground stream and were called egregors.

The Kabbalah names 72...national angelic regents, which the Hebrews call Elohim [Shining Ones]; the metaphysical technical term Egregors is also used

The Watchers

for them. Derived from the Greek word egreoros, it means "watcher" or "guardian." The office of a Watcher is to protect from outside pressures a region or ethnic group assigned to its care. The region is always measured off from another posing a threat of some sort to it. A given group of persons (the group of those being protected) is "tied" to a certain area of jurisdiction....Here, too, we meet the "riddle of the founding of cities and states...." What is more, both the ancient Romans, and quite recently the Chinese, have recognized the existence of guardian spirits set over cities. Indeed, one author reports as follows on the occult war waged on enemy cities by ancient Rome: "The Romans, when besieging a city, made a habit of carefully enquiring the name of the city and of its guardian spirit. When they knew these, they would summon the guardian spirit of the city and its inhabitants, and conquer it." (Willy Schrodter, Commentaries on the Occult Philosophy of Agrippa)

Egregor

This term is Greek and means "to rouse from sleep," "be excited by passion," "to be awake," or "to watch"—incredibly etymo-logically linked to the enlightenment experience of the awakening or the place between awake and asleep. The root of the word appears to be the Syrian ir or er, and reverts to Watcher and is also related to Ur, the home of Abraham.

It also became a Gnostic and mystic term thought to mean "collective unconsciousness" but linked with the Watchers by M. Denning and O. Phillips in The Magical Philosophy.

Eliphas Levi (19th century magician and mystic) speaks of these egregors on numerous occasions, and even links them to the giants or Watchers spoken of in the book of Enoch, saying that they "take shape and have appeared in the guise of giants: these are the egregors of the Book of Enoch.... Termed the celestial watchers or egregors, by the ancients."

Secret Societies: Gardiner's Forbidden Knowledge

Levi also calls these egregors the Anakim (Shining Ones, men of renown, giants) of the Bible, and that they are expressed in the myths of various cultures—just as we have been finding.

It therefore appears that Levi (and others) knew of these egregors or Watchers from the recently translated and widely (in mystic circles) available book of Enoch. Levi was well known to have Rosicrucian tendencies, and this movement too was aware of the meaning of the word. In fact, they believed that the egregors were still in existence and were in the background. There are a whole host of 16th and 17th century mystics, including Dr. John Dee, who were also aware of the Book of Enoch and plagiarized it extensively. Dee has been implicated as one of the founders of the Rosicrucians as well as being a spy of the realm under Queen Elizabeth. Dee's official number in court spying circles was 007 and Elizabeth was M. Like the later Illuminati, the Rosicrucians were a supposed response to the activities of the Jesuits. All of this brings to mind the texts taken down by Dee and his cohort, Edward Kelly, that were dictated by angels! These texts surprisingly deal with the "old ones." Some of the texts came into Dee's possession (and were therefore not given by angels) whilst he was in the service of Rudolph II in Prague.

Amazingly, the infamous Necronomicon tells us about a "fabulous city of Irem." Irem of the Pillars is part of Arabian magical lore and was built by the Jinn or angels and were possibly also Watch Towers—"towers of the Watchers." The Hebrew Erim means to awaken.

The Pillars were built on the instructions of the Lord of the tribe of Ad (meaning eternity), who are referred to in Hebrew terms as Nephilim—the giants or Watchers of the Shining Ones, and referred to in the book of Enoch as Irim. According to Arabian legend this Irem is located in Rub al Khali, which means the empty quarter or the void. The void could be a real barren location or a term for the "space between" that we have been discussing. Archaeologists have identified the very spot of this infamous Irem as being the lost city of Ubar.

One further link with Enoch to the mysteries of the modern alchemists, mystics, and seers is seen in the 13th century texts of A. Bar Hebraeus, who spent many years investigating the ancient texts at the Library of Maragha and gives us this unique insight:

The Watchers

The ancient Greeks say that Enoch is Harmis Trismaghistos. (The Chronography of Bar Hebraeus, translated by E.W. Budge 1932)

This is none other than Hermes Trismegistus, 3 the thrice great Hermes, whom all mystics hold in high esteem as having passed down ancient and profound secrets and who is seen as the father of almost all Western secret orders. We also have here evidence that the book of Enoch was understood as far back and as late as the 13th century.

Whether or not the actual Shining Ones, Watchers, or egregor were actually physically around during this vast expanse of time is the subject debate still, but what this does show is that the ancient influence of the Shining Ones was certainly still in existence.

Even the Thesaurus Temporum translated into Latin in the mid 17th century gives us a chronology of events surrounding these egregors.

In 1000 B.C. they descended (primus egregorum descensus), and by 1487 B.C. they had taken Enoch to Paradise (Enoch transferatur in paradisum) due to the dissent of the fallen Watchers.

It seems then that the extremely ancient concept and story of the Shining Ones was still very much alive and being propagated secretly by the mystics of the last few hundred years. These were part and parcel of their hidden secrets. The question arises, why did they feel the need to hide such secrets?

Today the egregor is seen in occult circles as an energy form— akin to the kundalini! According to the Rosicrucian Website:

Quickly, from the mystical point of view, Egregor(e) (a word of Latin origin) is the set of thoughtforms produced by a group of individuals on the Astral plane. The Egregor(e) may change over time, according to the quality of the group's members. Each group has a distinct Egregor(e). Any group which has the ability to get in synchronisation with a specific Egregor(e) may claim authenticity and continuation from earlier groups which used or developed this egregor(e).

Secret Societies: Gardiner s Forbidden Knowledge

And the Martinist Order of the Knights of Christ, who claim to be heirs to the Rosicrucians and others, say:

Its goal is to set the human being free from the hold of the Prince of this World and of achieving the Mystical Union of the self-aware personality (conscience) with the individual profundity (super-conscience). Its members strive to have access to mastery by reuniting with the "Kingdom of the Center," propitious with the descent of the Paraclet, sent by Christ, in addition to the assistance rendered by the attachment, on the side of the Initiator with the Egregore, protector of the Secret Chain.

"An apostalic succession of power," suggests John Michael Greer in Inside a Magical Lodge, is "a basic function of the egregor.

"'Worship me!" cries the Egregora. "I am the son of God; you are nothing but a worthless and sinful creature, damned from birth and destined to hell were it not for my sacrifice; and without me you will never reach heaven!" (Marcelo Ramos Motta, Letter to a Brazilian Mason Unexpurgated)

The egregore is a group spirit that serves to remind the initiate of his or her goals. It informs and guides the individual and it protects the living chain of brotherhood. The living chain of brotherhood is entered into when a Setian performs a rite of their own creation intended to protect and enhance the Temple of Set. The egregore protects the brotherhood by letting them know their enemies are there. A symbolic representation of the egregore is used to maintain a link to the Prince of Darkness. (Sir Ormsond IV, Saturnian Principles)

The Sufi Saint, Mansour Al-Hallaj, is almost identical to the Masonic egregor, Hiram Abif, in respect to the circumstances of his death....In masonry, the Two-Headed Eagle is a cognate of Baphomet, a chimera-like composite animal that represents the

»^68

The Watchers

Universal Force of matter. In some Gnostic Systems this would be the Demiurgios, or "Lord of this World." (Malgwyn, from Yesidism, Zoroastrianism in Western Secret Societies)

Round Towers and Pyramids

One of the peculiar archaeological evidences we have of ancient "watchers" are the round towers. What was being watched is a matter of some debate. It may have been the people or it may have been the stars. Indeed, it is highly likely they were built for both, as well as for the search for aggressors.

In symbolism, the round tower was the internal psychological ascent, the axis mundi (axis of the world), and has the symbolism of the ladder or gateway to heaven—just as does the cord 4 or rope said by Enoch to have been carried and used by the Watchers. Because these places and this internal process were inaccessible to many, the term "Ivory Tower" emerged. The pyramid, as the Mountain of Heaven, was just the same as the round tower and the stupas of India—which themselves originated from the Kurgan mound builders of Nordic origin.

Both myself and others have found that the Great Pyramid of Giza was seen as a gateway for the mind/soul. In his paper "The Great Pyramid Texts," Clesson Harvey points out that in the pyramids of Saqqara there are more than 3,000 columns of texts from the 5th and 6th dynasties, which he believes holds the secret to the pyramids use. These texts include incantations and magical formulae that used to be invoked in certain locations around the pyramid but in the "upper passage, chamber, gallery and shaft...is an incredibly old, unmistakable megalithic glyph." This glyph or phrase translates remarkably into "sar door" and "tunnel opening gate."

Because glyphs are sadly lacking from most pyramids, this information is a startling discovery; indeed, there was probably more information that has now been destroyed, such as when Herodotus was said to have visited Egypt in the 5th century B.C.—the outer casing of the pyramid was awash with writing.

Secret Societies: Gardiner s Forbidden Knowledge

Egyptologists claim that the "star" is mythological and leave it at that. I will not, however, and I say that this "tunnel" and "star door" is the entrance to the trance state—as "star" and "shining" are intimately linked in meaning, having emerged from the enlightenment state, which was seen as the connection point to the gods—the stars.

We already know that the Egyptians called Giza "Rostau" (ros in etymology means either "head" or "hros," which is horse; ros tau is therefore the "tau of the head" and tau means "hidden treasure"). Rostau also means "Gateway to the Other World."

But, I wondered, how did the pyramid work in this respect and in relation to the trance theory we have been discussing? And more than this, were there any further buildings or structures in the world that related to all of this? It was now time to take an alternative look at the possible science behind the earth structures.

Back in the 1970s and '80s, a scientist named Joe Parr decided it was time to take a look at the Great Pyramid, and pyramid shapes in general, and what he discovered is completely amazing.

In his experiments, Joe set up an aligned pyramid north-south and east-west, with flat coils placed on the north and south. A blown, 1 microfarad capacitor was sparked across the gap using a battery, resistor, and chart recorder. This was to simulate the electromagnetic energy of the Earth passing over the pyramid. The scientists registered the changes on a daily basis, recording the state of an energy bubble that surrounded the pyramid.

Strangely, the energy actually stopped all kinds of radiation, and the bubble showed attenuation to beta emitters, ion sources, and magnetic sources when in the bubble. Feeding negative ions into the bubble actually intensified the energy. The energy was also found to alter over the course of the year, and 13 years of experimentation gave good results. Most peculiar was the effect upon gravity, which is linked intrinsically to electromagnetic radiation. It appeared that the bubble actually blocked out the force of gravity as well as electromagnetic energy, showing a 113,000 times increase in kinetic energy, leading the researchers to theorize that the pyramid actually moved in time and space—a place known to theoretical physicists as h-space. Incredibly, when negative ions

*^70

The Watchers

were fed into the bubble, the pyramid was drawn to the moon (positive ions moved it away) an amazing correlation with the feminine and, therefore, spiritually negative aspect of lunar worship.

But what relevance could this have on our work here? Well, if, as it appears, many secret societies point toward the Great Pyramid, then there has to be a reason (or two). I have stated my belief that the Pyramid was an entrance to the trance state, or Duat, and the pyramid texts as well as much more Egyptology evidence actually proves this point. The effect caused within the brain, which releases the hormones required for the trance state, is basically electromagnetic and is affected by all manner of ion activity. I am firmly of the opinion that the ancient serpent cult or Shining Ones were on to this in their own way, perceiving energy as the serpent wave and worshipping this invisible god as a snake. Eventually, gathering sufficient knowledge of this serpent energy, they erected buildings that conducted the energy into a controlling element. With the effect of the "plugs" in the air vents having a resonant effect also upon the electromagnetic energy, we can see how it was honed specifically to create the effect.

But there must be more evidence of ancient buildings with this peculiar in-built design—and there was.

One peculiar and little-written-about structure is the round tower. These are worldwide in the hundreds, and strangely are linked to the serpent in almost every instance.

Tall, elegant, round structures, built by cultures as diverse as the Irish Celts and early Christians, to the Hopi Indians and Egyptians—all of which are linked with serpent worship. Even the Dead Sea Scrolls refer to "towers" protected by angels or Watchers. In the famous Qumran Community of the Dead Sea Scroll, the war between the Sons of Light (the Qumranites) and the Sons of Darkness (all those outside the sect) "is to be conducted with acute awareness of the place of the angelic world in it...."

The Qumran War Scroll (1QM 9.10-16) even gives us details on the battle formations, which involve four "towers" ("Migdalot") that are units of soldiers with specifically long spears and shields. On each of their shields is written the name of one of the four archangels. This links the round towers or watch towers to the Watchers or the giants.

Secret Societies: Gardiner's Forbidden Knowledge

In Ireland there are over 65 round towers, many more than 100 feet tall, and claimed by academics to be no more than 1,000 years old.

However, as with most Christian buildings, they are generally built upon much more ancient religious ground, and, indeed, many of them can be proven to be older than first believed. Some even have churches built onto them, as if to attach the church to the ancient shining-serpent worship physically. In fact, I have already shown in the Serpent Grail, how St. Patrick "kicked" out the serpents from Ireland, and that these serpents were indeed an ancient serpent worshipping cult—the whole story being symbolic of the Christian Church taking over.

Gradwell, writing in the 19th century pointed out that:

St Patrick and his followers almost invariably selected those sacred sites of paganism, and built their wooden churches under the shadow of the Round Towers, then as mysterious and inscrutable as they are to-day.

Some claim these structures were fire temples dedicated to sun worship, and it is easy to see why, when we discover that sun worship is connected to serpent worship and the enlightenment experience. Others claim them to be "watch towers," which would relate nicely to the ancient term for the serpent cult as "Watchers." In fact, Hargrave Jennings, author of Ophiolatraea, relates them to the obelisk, that ancient serpent-derived pillar to the heavens.

The towers are also found close to rivers, streams, and holy wells. Again, this was something we discovered in the Serpent Grail to be closely and intimately connected with the worship of the healing serpent. The water was the subterranean home of the serpent race and was the "entrance" to the Otherworld—which is where the enlightenment experience was intending to take you. But it is this association with water that seems to be important to such structures in terms of earth electromagnetic energy.

There may be an important link between round towers and the Phoenicians, who had similar structures dedicated to their rain and water deity Baal. There are thousands of these towers scattered across Sardinia, just north of the Phoenician city of Carthage, dating to at least 2,000 years before Christ.

The Watchers

But, as Ralph Ellis pointed out in his Jesus, Last of the Pharaohs book, the round towers are remarkably similar to the Benben tower to be found in the Temple at Heliopolis, which links to the Phoenicians, as their very name comes from the Benben bird, or better-known Phoenix. The Phoenicians would then, in our modern age, become infamous for spreading beliefs across the world via their many trade routes. They were one of the most proficient sea peoples ever to have lived.

The round tower has also been related to the djed pillar or backbone of Osiris. This is the pillar or backbone up which the kundalini or serpent energy was to rise in India and is perfectly in line with the enlightenment concepts leading to "shining."

There are also those who believe that these towers served as astronomical tools, similar to Stonehenge, and this may be the case also. The tower in Iran called Radkan (rhad = serpent) is thought to be one of these, and like the European towers of a much later date, it has a conical cap.

In the Naga or serpent homeland of India the round tower became the stupa and in China the pagoda—both other forms of round tower. In Feng Shui, we get a glimpse of the real use of the towers—the pagoda and indeed the stupa are thought to trap negative energy or chi (dragon/serpent energy), what we would call negative ions. Remember that these negative ions in the Parr pyramid experiments were thought to cause antigravity and anti-electromagnetic effects. The very tale of Lady White Snake is popular all over the world, and is ultimately due to this electromagnetic energy. It is the Lady White Snake or lunar snake that is trapped in the pagoda for a thousand years.

The Giant's Tower of Gozo near Malta has also been related strongly by many historians to the tower 20th century historian Captain Oliver said:

It may be conjectured, that these loculi [small holes] may have been intended to hold the small idols, whose trunks [headless], made of stone or clay, are not dissimilar to the conventional female figures of Hindoo representations, on the numerous large and small rudely shaped conical stones (possibly sacred symbols, analogous to the larger stone cones, on which female mammae are found engraved in the

♦

Secret Societies: Eardiners Forbidden Knowledge

ruined nuragghi of Sardinia) which are found in those ruins. Somewhat similar small pyramidal cones, which by some have been supposed to represent the sun's rays, are to be seen in the hands of priests kneeling before the sacred serpent god in Egyptian paintings.

Further round towers can be found as far away as southern America, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Chichen Itza, Africa, and many more. All are related to the serpent energy and serpent cult, and many have the same astronomical alignments.

Indeed the Hopi snake tribe actually refer to them as "snake houses." The Hopi god of death and the Underworld is Masau'u, and he has to explain to the snake mother why her children cannot live in the house:

And Masau said, "No, the snakes have no houses; because they have bitten and killed Hopi they should never again have a house, but should live under rocks and in holes in the ground." But he also said the snake houses [the round towers] which were built for them should never again be destroyed and that all coming generations of people should know the snake's doom, never again to have a house. (Alexander M. Stephen, The Journal of American Folklore)

Could this be an indication of the death of the snake cult? Could this be the Hopi version of St. Patrick's story? And if so, then it relates back to Ireland, where, again, there are hundreds of round towers connected with the serpent!

Remember that Baal was implicated earlier. Baal, being the Canaanite rain god, can also be related here, as the Hopi have a word for water—paal (they have no b and therefore it resolves into p. Paal also means broth and wonder).

If it is the case that these round towers or snake houses are seen across the Atlantic with the same religious and cultural grounding, then it is also true to state that the Anakim are also related in some way. Anak means "long neck" or "necklaces." The Hopi too have a similar word, anaaq, meaning "necklace" or "earring"—it is also an expression used when in pain from snakebite!

*^74

The Watchers

But what about the science of the round towers? Is there anything that can be related to the energy discussed with the pyramids?

In the book Ancient Mysteries, Modern Visions, Professor Callahan relays his research, which amazingly shows that the round towers may have been designed as huge resonant systems for collecting and storing meter-long wavelengths of magnetic and electromagnetic energy. Sound fanciful? It did to me, so I looked deeper.

Basing the hypothesis of his work on insect antennae and the capacity to resonate electromagnetic waves, Callahan hypothesized that the tall round towers were made to be "earth antennas," and that similar buildings or structures around the globe could have been made for the same reason. He believed (before his time, I might add) that this energy would be passed on to those meditating at the site. It is my contention that this is true and that it spurs along the trance state and brings one closer to "god." Full evidence of this is outlined in my book Gateway to the Otherworld.

Of the towers tested in Ireland, Callahan found that the iron-rich rock that they were made from indeed helped this effect along. The towers made from other materials, such as limestone and granite, were still "paramagnetic." Callahan goes on to show how the rubble within these towers, which has baffled people for decades, was truly there as a "tuning" implement, in much the same way I say the "plugs" in the "air vents" of the Great Pyramid are tuning plugs.

It is my opinion that further research should be carried out at all the round tower sites in Ireland and elsewhere before the ravages of time are allowed to destroy what could be a remarkable insight into the practices of the ancient serpent cult.

What we can see here is the extent of the influence of the first origins of secret societies, both in culture and texts, but also in the many fascinating and mysterious archaeological remains of the world. These Shining Ones are the first on paper. They have a structure and a basis of authority. They rule over man and are all-wise, having their "Watchers" to ensure that their instructions are carried out. Either the Shining Ones are still in power now,

Secret Socieries: Gardiner s Forbidden Knowledge

generations later, or the secret societies of the globe have copied the methods, structure, and symbols of these first few. The great religions of the world have all been created by some secret method. The early Christians met in secrecy and spread the word of "Christ" far and wide whilst the orthodox religions and powers of the day struggled to rout them out. The same is true of Islam. Power then is derived from control of the masses, and here in Sumeria control was formed by those who possessed great knowledge, wisdom, and a seeming ability to access God. This has always been the lure of the secret orders and also that of orthodox religion. One is open, one is not.

*&,76

The Serpen! Sword

When I was first invited to join a certain secret society—one that shall not be found on the Internet—I was amazed at the imagery and symbolism that surrounded me. On the night of initiation, one particular device set itself apart from all else—the sword.

I was in a long hall that looked like an old chapel, with wooden beams and high windows. The lower parts of the windows were now boarded with finely painted oak—murals depicting the trials and tribulations of a medieval warrior monk. At the end of the hall were large satin curtains of deep red. On either side of me stood a line of men all dressed in white robes, holding aloft gleaming silver swords, and at the end the Grand Master beckoned me "come." As I walked, the swords fell behind me and were placed zig-zag fashion across the floor so that my path behind was no longer one I could walk. This is a symbolic device, a truth we all must learn—attempting to rewalk the path we have already trodden is pointless.

Eventually, I reached the Grand Master and we followed a ritual that can be dated back many hundreds of years. I bowed low and accepted my pledge as the Master's sword symbolically killed my old self so that I might be born anew.

The sword here is used as a device to bring to life the symbolic aspects of a hidden Gnostic truth and a psychology as relevant today as ever. It has been this way for an awfully long time, and it

77 4^

Secret Societies! Eardlners Forbidden Knowledge

is interesting, therefore, to discover that King Arthur himself, a symbol of so many things, also held the sword of truth, energy, and wisdom.

In The Quest of the Holy Grail, a uniquely alchemical tale created by secret orders, the sword is seen as a fiery serpent, symbolic of energy. It is the sword of King David or made by the wise Solomon with a pommel stone of all the colors of the Earth and two rib hilts, one made from the fish of the Euphrates, and the other, the serpent.

It is said to resemble the sword of Arthur, which itself is said to be serpentine in the Dream of Rhonabwy . When Arthur's sword is drawn it was said that two flames of fire burst out of the jaws of the two serpents, and so wonderful was the sword that it was hard for anyone to gaze at it. It is necessary for Arthur to maintain ownership of the sword, whether it is the sword from the stone or Excalibur, as it ensures his victory and his life. Malory indicates again the brightness of the sword and its fiery aspect, writing: "but it was so bright in his enemies' eyes, that it gave light like thirty torches." But the sword in the stone does not last long, and the Lady of the Lake gives Arthur his Excalibur, and also a serpent scabbard, which ensures eternal life. Malory states quite clearly, "...for whiles ye have the scabbard upon you, ye shall never lose no blood, be ye never so sore wounded; therefore keep well the scabbard always with you." It is only when Arthur's half sister Morgan le Fay steals the scabbard and replaces it that Arthur becomes susceptible to the deadly blows of Mordred. The once-prized sword is then returned to the water, the home of the Lady of the Lake—the serpent spirit.

There is a remarkable resemblance between the tales of Arthur's sword and Chinese legend. A hero from the 6th century B.C. named Wu Tzu-hsu threw his sword into a river.

It shot forth like a spirit-glow, sparkling brightly as it thrice sank and thrice came to the surface with a great gush and then hovered above the water. The god of the river...heard the swords roar...he rolled in the waters in a great and frothing frenzy.... Dragons raced along the waves and leaped out of

The Serpent Sword

the water. The river god held the sword in his hand and, frightened, told Wu Tzu-hsu to take it back. (Mair 1983, 141 and 286)

This story, related in the 8th century a.d., simply cannot differ from Malory's tale of the sword. In China there were tales of great swords such as Dragon Spring and others that leap into waters surrounded by dragons, which churn up the water. Wu Tzu-hsu's sword is also called Dragon Spring.

But is there any archaeological evidence for the existence of a real sword or swords that were seen as serpents? Well, I just so happened to find such evidence in the Catalogue of The Fourteenth Park Lane Arms Fair. Lee A. Jones authored a fascinating article titled, "The Serpent in the Sword: Pattern-Welding in Early Medieval Swords," which immediately made the hairs on the back of my neck tingle, (www.vikingsword.com/serpent.html)

Medieval snake sword

The sword first appeared around 4,000 years ago and immediately became the preeminent weapon, preferred by the warrior class. Recent metallurgical studies have shown how complex piled structures or layers improved the sword from as early as 500 B.C. in Celtic artifacts. Little wonder that the smithy was an important part of legend and folklore, as the skill implied in the making