16 - Secret Societies 
	Today
	
	We have seen much of the symbolism and historical background of the various 
	secret societies. We have seen where their enlightenment concepts originated 
	and what they mean. We have seen what their symbols refer to and we have 
	reinterpreted much that is known.
	
	There are many modern-day conspiracy theories about aliens, the Kennedy 
	family, Princess Diana, and even Elvis. There is even a growing madness that 
	many of the world’s leaders are shapeshifting reptiles as espoused by the 
	author David Icke. 
	
	 
	
	However, as you may have gathered, much of the so-called 
	proof for this is the mythology and history of the serpent-worshipping cults 
	of the globe, and now that we know the real reason for this, we have a more 
	down-to-earth approach.
	
	I do not intend, however, to look at these, preferring instead to 
	concentrate on the “why” and “when” of real secret societies. I have not yet 
	touched upon the Far East and China.
	
	Unfortunately, finding the origins of most Chinese secret societies is 
	nearly impossible, as they are so couched in myth and mystery. One thing is 
	sure: Secret societies have changed the course of China - the Boxer 
	Rebellion of 1900 was led by a secret society. These Boxers, or Fist for 
	Protection Society, were initiated in much the same way as any protection 
	society across the world. Placed in darkness, they were made to fast and 
	meditate, opening up their minds to cleansing. 
	
	 
	
	This Boxer Society came from 
	an older group known as the Big Swords, and this was another name used by 
	the Triads.
	
	In the 12th century at the time of the Crusades there were gatherings of men 
	who took oaths to “regard the stars as our brothers and Heaven and Earth as 
	our father and mother.” These same men then drank each others’ blood mixed 
	with wine.
	
	By the 14th century, the White Lotus Society was formed, and eventually 
	China was scattered with secret societies. However, most of these 
	organizations can be linked together and form the Triad we know of today. 
	This group of societies was believed to have been formed for a popularized 
	royalist myth - to bring back the Ming dynasty.
	
	However, hundreds of years and even the attainment of power have not 
	resolved this supposed goal. But, the reason for this non-attainment is 
	simple - Ming actually means “Light” and is the real element these secret 
	societies wish to see restored.
	
	 
	
	It is the light of the Shining Ones, 
	spreading back hundreds if not thousands of years, even in the heart of red 
	China, that the secret societies still strive for. We know that this is the 
	case, because once the Lotus Society had installed the Ming dynasty to the 
	throne in the 14th century, it was only by the 17th century that they were 
	deposed again, by the same society.
	
	One thing is clear: 
	
		
		whether East or West, the center rule of the secret 
	society is “light” or “illumination.”
	
	
	
	
	Bildebergers
	
		
		The Bilderberg Group is an informal secretive transatlantic council of key 
	decision makers, developed between 1952 and 1954...
		 
		
		It brought leading 
	European and American personalities together once a year for informal 
	discussions of their differences....The formation of the American wing of Bilderberg was entrusted to (Gen.) Eisenhower’s psychological warfare co-ordinator, 
	C.D. Jackson, and the funding for the first meeting, held at the Hotel de 
	Bilderberg in Holland in 1954, was provided by the Central Intelligence 
	Agency. 
		 
		
		Thereafter much of its funding came from the Ford Foundation... The 
	subjects over which the annual meetings ranged were wide...but it is clear 
	that the [1957] Treaty of Rome was nurtured by discussions at Bilderberg the 
	previous year. 
		
		(Reproduced from an article by Richard J. Aldrich, lecturer 
	in politics at Nottingham University, in Diplomacy and Statecraft for March 
	1997. Dr. Aldrich is the author of The Hidden Hand: Britain, America and 
	Cold War Secret Intelligence)
	
	
	This modern-day group of the powerful elite has been accused, on an 
	international basis, of forming the brains behind a new world order. 
	
	 
	
	On the 
	other hand, they claim that the Bilderberg Group is simply a meeting of 
	those in power in order to discuss, in a free and easy way, the concerns of 
	the world leaders.
	
	What does appear to have come out of the meetings are two other groups also 
	called to account by the conspiracy theorists - namely the Trilateral 
	Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations.
	
		
		One of the key institutions that has fostered unity and cooperation with the 
	Atlantic Community beyond the old concepts has been the Bilderberg Group. 
		
		
		(Bilderberg: 
	The Cold War Internationale, 1971, Eugene Pasymowski and Carl Gilbert)
	
	
	The origins of this group rest with one man, Joseph Retinger, a Catholic who 
	had links to the Jesuit Order. He even recommended the turning of Hungary, 
	Austria, and Poland into a tripartite state under the guidance of the Jesuit 
	Order. 
	
	 
	
	The plan was dropped.
	
		
		I remember Retinger in the United States picking up the telephone and 
	immediately making an appointment with the President, and in Europe he had 
	complete entrée in every political circle as a kind of right acquired 
	through trust, devotion, and loyalty he inspired. 
		
		(Sir Edward Bedington-Behrens. 
	“The Bildeberg Group,” Nexus Magazine, Volume 3 [1])
	
	
	With a good war record, Retinger was certainly involved in secret and 
	underground works, even parachuting into occupied Germany at the age of 58.
	
	He founded the European Movement, which gave rise to the Council of Europe 
	in 1949, which then set up in Strasbourg where Retinger worked.
	
	Retinger believed in unity, and to that end it did not really matter how the 
	unity was brought about. He certainly liked to involve big business and the 
	influence that they created within the general public. We are, after all, 
	tied to our television screens and led by marketing men. 
	
	 
	
	The political and 
	religious differences in the world, which created the disunity between 
	certain states, he believed, could be brought together through a corporate 
	ideal - if everybody wanted the same thing they would all be the same. A 
	market-led revolution was and strangely still is taking place. Russia (as 
	the USSR) collapsed and now is in the process of commercialization; the same 
	will be and is true of China. 
	
	 
	
	This commercialization is creeping across the 
	world like an invading force. In many respects this could be seen as a kind 
	of communism by the back-door, which has been claimed was instigated by the 
	Masons on the orders of the Catholic Church or Illuminati. Retinger did have 
	left-wing policies, and with his connection to the Jesuits there are obvious 
	links to take into consideration - not least of which with the Catholic 
	Church.
	
	Involving Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, who was implicated in the 
	Lockheed bribery scandal in 1976, Retinger began his crusade by starting on 
	America, which he believed to be essential to world “peace.” 
	
	 
	
	The prince held 
	an important position in Royal Dutch Petroleum, or Shell, and was involved 
	in several international corporations, and so had influence that the 
	Americans and others would respect.
	
	In 1952, Retinger proposed that there should be an open and frank discussion 
	between the disparate organizations and individuals that controlled the 
	world. This should be in secret to allow those taking part to air their 
	views without the worry of it appearing in the newspapers the next day.
	
	This was the birth of the Bilderberg Group, which was named after the hotel 
	in Oosterbeek where the meetings were originally held in May 1954.
	
		
		In short, Bilderberg is a recognized, flexible, and informal international 
	leadership forum in which
	different viewpoints can be expressed and mutual understanding enhanced. (Bilderberg 
	Meetings, 1989)
	
	
	
	
	The Trilateral Commission
	The Trilateral Commission was formed in 1973 by private citizens of Japan, 
	Europe (European Union countries), and North America (United States and 
	Canada) to foster closer cooperation among these core democratic 
	industrialized areas of the world with shared leadership responsibilities in 
	the wider international system. 
	
	 
	
	Originally established for three years, our 
	work has been renewed for successive triennia (three-year periods), most 
	recently for a triennium to be completed in 2006. (From the Trilateral 
	Commission Website)
	
	The Trilateral Commission is a private organization, at the initiative of 
	David Rockefeller. It consists of over 300 private citizens from the three 
	areas of Europe, Japan, and North America, and is there “to promote closer 
	cooperation between these three areas.”
	
	There has been a lot of scrutiny of the Trilateral Commission, and it has 
	been implicated strongly in many conspiracy theories - however, with as many 
	members as it has, there is no surprise that some of them will be connected 
	to other organizations, such as the Knights of Malta (Catholic), Jesuits 
	(Catholic), and Freemasons. Not least of these is Mr. Rockefeller, former 
	president of the Chase Manhattan Bank and corporate king.
	
	The Rockefellers actually have their origins in a traveling salesman John 
	D. Rockefeller, who sold what was to become Nujol, a petroleum-based 
	laxative. John, evading accusations of horse stealing, reemerged as William 
	Rockefeller, only to disappear again and come back as Dr. William Levingston. 
	
	
	 
	
	Eventually he became director of the United States Steel Corporation and the 
	Rockefeller legacy began. By starting the Rockefeller Foundation, the family 
	later had a firm basis in helping the people of America - and later still 
	the world - with charitable contributions.
	
	The Rockefellers are often linked with the Rothschild’s in the conspiracy 
	world. I will leave it up to the readers to do their own research on these 
	two families.
	 
	
	
	
	Rosicrucians
	There are many Rosicrucian movements in Britain, Europe, and the United 
	States, and around the world, with a great many teachings. 
	
	 
	
	Some are 
	extremely open, and others are more secretive. The secretive Rosicrucians 
	tend to save their hidden teachings for the higher degrees of Freemasonry. 
	Probably the most famous organization is AMORC (the Ancient and Mystical 
	Order of the Rosy Cross), who advertise widely, and to date have more than 
	300,000 members. They offer correspondence courses and hold meetings around 
	the world.
	
	The earliest real documentation for the Rosicrucian ideal is from 1597, and 
	most of these early documents can now be traced to a Lutheran priest, Johann 
	Valentin Andreae (1586–1654), who actually created the symbolic myth of 
	Christan Rosenkreuz in an attempt to stimulate interest in the concepts, 
	which, therefore, must have been already in existence. 
	
	 
	
	During the late 
	Middle Ages, a wide network of operative guilds, companies, and orders 
	operated and spread their beliefs far and wide. These were the Masons, and 
	the Rosicrucian movement is implicitly linked with them due to this early 
	spread. These early Rosicrucians were said to be bound by strict oaths of 
	secrecy and worked toward knowledge and enlightenment.
	
	 
	
	It could be that the 
	dispersal of the Knights Templar and their Gnostic secrets found its way 
	across Europe. The rose was often used as a symbol of hidden or secret 
	knowledge.
	
	Much like other groups of the time, the Rosicrucians were linked to the Sufi 
	mystics, whose influence was prolific throughout the world. The Sufi methods 
	required the deepest concentration on “the master” and absolute compliance 
	with the “way” - a method of control that easily filled the void left by the 
	strict and rigid ways of Catholicism.
	
	Contemporary Rosicrucians are still a worldwide order, but their influence 
	in today’s society is minimal. However, Rosicrucians have a book that 
	details the influence of the person or soul they call the Ego, who will keep 
	returning to make alternations to mankind’s path forward. The Rosicrucians 
	call the influence of this Ego the Central Conclave of the Elder Brothers, 
	but I call it the Shining Ones. 
	
	 
	
	The same process of illumination is held 
	within the secrets of Rosicrucianism as that of the ancient Shining Ones, 
	and each group’s beliefs in the secrets of the rose and the cross signify 
	this connection.
	 
	
	
	
	The Order of the Golden Dawn
	Although the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (OGD) is no longer properly 
	in existence, its influence was and is felt in other Orders.
	
	 
	
	The amazing 
	element here is that the whole basis of the OGD was false. The Order 
	collected thoughts and teachings from many other organizations, collated 
	them together, and presented them as their own.
	
	In the late 19th century Dr. William Wynn Westcott, Samuel Liddell 
	“Macgregor” Mathers, and Dr. William Robert Woodman got together, and using 
	Westcott’s original concept, created the OGD. Anybody who has any 
	understandings of the OGD and the Freemasons will spot almost instantly that 
	the OGD was itself mostly based around the core doctrines of the Freemasons.
	
	 
	
	There are also many elements of the Kabballah, astronomy, alchemy, and 
	astrology. Westcott and the others actually invented the Order from scratch, 
	and even created a fictional character in the same fashion as the 
	Rosicrucians. This fictional character was Fraulein Sprengel, the chief 
	adept who granted the charter for the OGD, thus creating a provenance that 
	was simply false.
	
	Within a year the OGD was up and running with degrees and an emphasis on 
	magical theory and ritual - taking it a little beyond the Rosicrucians and 
	Freemasons in that respect.
	
	The OGD became incredibly influential and included, within its ranks, the 
	poet W.B. Yeats, the esoteric and magical writer and historian A.E. Waite, 
	and the anti-Christ character himself Aleister Crowley, who would later on 
	take the OGD in Britain and turn it into the OTO (Ordo Templi Orientis). The 
	links that Crowley would develop were phenomenal, and included the spy 
	writer Ian Fleming.
	
	 
	
	Interesting then, the links between Crowley, the German OGD, Rosicrucians, and that Fleming should, later on, use the occult 
	services of Crowley in the Second World War. These same links between 
	Crowley, the Germans, and even the Irish Nationalists, brought him the 
	attention of the United States secret services.
	
	We can even see that Crowley was inspired by the ancient
	worship of the serpent as he speaks of rising the kundalini and: 
	
		
		Take a 
	substance symbolic of the whole course of nature, make it God, and consume 
	it. The magician becomes filled with God, fed upon God, intoxicated with 
		God. Little by little his body will become purified by the internal 
	lustration of God; day by day his mortal frame, shedding its earthly 
	elements [like the snake], will become in very truth the Temple of the Holy 
	Ghost. 
		
		(Magick, Aleister Crowley, 1929)
	
	
	Of course this language is Gnostic and derived from the earliest Ophite 
	Gnostics and their belief in the self as the temple of God and the rising of 
	the serpent energy within - the kundalini. 
	
	 
	
	We can see this in the following:
	
		
		The blood is the life. This simple statement is explained by the Hindus by 
	saying that the blood is the principle vehicle of the vital Prana. It was 
	the theory of the ancient Magicians, that any living being is a storehouse 
	of energy varying in quantity according to the size and health of the 
	animal, and in quality according to its mental and moral character.
	
	
	Gnostic concepts of balance in relation to the Grail are also related, in exactly the same way that I revealed in the Serpent Grail: 
	
		
		The 
	priestess enters with a positive child on the right and a negative child on 
	the left and having placed the paten before the Graal on the altar - that is 
	the material basis for the operation and the astral light or vital force 
	with which it is to be united - she, followed by the children moves in a 
	serpentine manner involving three and a half circles of the Temple….It 
	represents the rousing of the kundalini serpent with its three and a half 
	coils at the base of the spinal column. 
		
		(The Trail of the Serpent)
	
	
	
	Opus Dei
	Although not necessarily a secret society, the Opus Dei certainly act as if 
	they are, so I decided I ought to include them.
	
	In the last chapter we saw how the Opus Dei were implicated in the Franco 
	regime in Spain and how the Opus Dei Awareness Network were working 
	tirelessly to uncover the truth. I did find in my own researchers that Opus 
	Dei were in fact more than incidental in the Franco regime and in fact 
	helped with the financial organizing of the regime’s political desires.
	
	 
	
	It 
	was Opus Dei members who were in charge of the ministries of finance to such 
	an extent that some Spanish writers called them the Spanish Mafia.
	
	The question I have that I brought up earlier in the book, is why does it 
	appear that secret societies, such as the Freemasons, seem to be against the 
	Catholic Church, and vice versa, when they are so closely connected?
	
	In my mind, the answer is that by appearing to be against the Masons, the 
	Catholic Church ensures that its adherents remain loyal. 
	
	 
	
	The truth to this 
	conundrum can also be found in the fact that there are two distinct streams 
	of Freemasonry - the rational and the illumination.
	
		
		One could easily conclude the existence in Freemasonry of two currents which 
	appear contradictory, and which are merely complimentary - the rationalists 
	and the Illumines. 
		 
		
		What unites and binds them together is the ritual. The 
	rationalist politicians have inspirers: these are the occultists of the 
	lodges. Freemasonry is the place from whence the diverse sects draw their 
	elements; it is for them a preparatory school, a filter, a discipline.
		
		
		(La Trahison Spirituelle de la Freemason, J. Marques-Rivere)
	
	
	What better society is there to hold influence? A society with links 
	directly backwards into Ophite worship and forwards into a great many secret 
	societies - all emerging from ancient serpent worship.
	
	So, I thought, what about the Opus Dei? What further evidence could I find 
	on my own?
	
	I had already found that the Opus Dei were a relatively new Catholic Order 
	with close links directly to the pope. They are not huge, but have a lot of 
	influence. They have centers strategically positioned in or outside colleges 
	and universities across America, where they gather information, money, and 
	recruits - for their “good works.” 
	
	 
	
	They have built themselves 
	multi-million-dollar buildings, and do not deny accusations that they target 
	the rich. The Opus Dei lost more than $50 million when the bank of Roberto Calvi collapsed, even though the money seemed to have been siphoned back 
	into the Catholic Church. Calvi turned out to have been a member of P2 
	(Freemasons), and was banker for many Catholic orders. The Opus Dei are 
	incredibly secretive - even admitting the fact.
	
	 
	
	In their own magazine, 
	entitled Cronica, they tell their members to keep their slates clean:
	
		
		Dirty clothes are washed at home. The first manifestation of your dedication 
	is not being so cowardly as to go outside the Work to wash dirty clothes. 
	That is if you want to be saints. If not, you are not needed here.
	
	
	A Jesuit priest told ABC News: 
	
		
		I think they really fly under everybody’s 
	radar screen and that they’re a lot more powerful than a lot of people 
	think. 
		
		(Rev. James Martin speaking to ABC News 2001)
	
	
	During the late 1950s and the 1960s, Opus Dei members came to control the 
	economic ministries of Spain as well as other important cabinet posts. 
	
	 
	
	This 
	was in keeping with the organization’s aim of influencing the development of 
	society indirectly. Opus Dei recruited its members from among the brightest 
	students, which encouraged a sense of elitism and belonging. Because of this 
	tightness of community and the secrecy that surrounded the organization, 
	some critics have termed it the “Holy Mafia.”
	
		
		But Father Gonzalo Munoz, a Melbourne Catholic priest, believes Melbournians 
	should be wary of the group.
		
			
			"The more we expose them the better... My 
	concern is really that they are trying to influence the church with values 
	that are contrary to the Gospels. It’s about elitism, it’s about wealth and 
	prestige,” Father Munoz said. 
			 
			
			“My concern is that they are going to 
	infiltrate universities.” 
		
		
		(Church Storm, Sunday, April 2001)
	
	
	Ok, I thought, all is not completely well in the Catholic world. What about 
	that other Order, the Knights of Malta?
	
		
		"There’s nothing secret about the order, but a lot of people think there is.” 
	The fact that five of the six US ambassadors to the Vatican have been 
	members of the Knights of Malta is “sheer coincidence,” he said. 
		
		(“Knights 
	of Malta Fight New War,” John Travis, Catholic News Service, in an interview 
	with Fra. Andrew W.N. Bertie)
	
	
	This Order can truly be traced right back to the Crusades in one long and 
	perfect historical line, without wondering whether it reformed or not. 
	
	 
	
	There 
	are some modern Orders that have similar names, but they are mimicking the 
	true Order, which is now in Rome, after having been kicked out of Rhodes and 
	Malta by several invading armies. As the Knights of St. John they were 
	highly influential, much like the Templars, and were linked as the 
	Hospitallers on Malta. 
	
	 
	
	When the Templars were disbanded, a lot of them 
	simply merged with the Knights of St. John, and took with them their 
	mystical ways and knowledge. Now, they have connections across the world and 
	are a sovereign order, which means they have ambassadors and hold political 
	sway as well as the all-important diplomatic immunity. It maintains 
	diplomatic relations with Europe, North America, South America, and Asia 
	with the authority of the Holy See.
	
	 
	
	The Knights of St. John has specialized 
	agencies in the United Nations and other international organizations. In the 
	United Kingdom the Order of St. John of Jerusalem is the branch of the 
	Knights of Malta, and out of it came the Order of the Garter - to which the 
	main players in old politics in the United Kingdom must be affiliated.
	
	They are directly responsible to the pope and have been linked by hundreds 
	of conspiracy theorists to many scandals.
	
	For instance, in the 1980s, Colonel Oliver North authorized an exchange of 
	guns for drugs to finance the Contras in Nicaragua. In order to sort this 
	out, Colonel North needed connections in the underworld and got involved 
	with the Mafia, the CIA, and many other shady organizations and characters. 
	One of these was Al Carone, who was a colonel in the United States Army - he 
	was also a member of the Sovereign Military Order of the Knights of Malta.
	
	So far I had found nothing new about the world. All of this information was 
	widely available at the click of a mouse. But what is new is that all of 
	these are branches of just one tree. 
	
	 
	
	They have all been spawned from the 
	same mother and father, and they can all be traced down the evolutionary 
	timeline and back to ancient Sumeria and the “Shining Ones.”
	
	Take the Freemasons, for example. They are supposedly a God-fearing 
	Protestant organization doing good for the community. They can be proven to 
	have come from the Catholic Templars. The Templars showed allegiance to the 
	Catholic Church and the pope. The Catholic Church sprang from a Roman 
	Imperialistic intrusion into the world of religion. 
	
	 
	
	These religions (we 
	shall give them all a cover title of Christianity even if it is not strictly 
	correct), were all basically following the same beliefs (as I have set out 
	in this book), and all emerged from the creation of the Sons of Light - the Essene. The Christian play, that of Jesus, was a set-up by the Essene, the 
	Shining Ones, who stretch back into Egypt, and from Egypt the ideas were 
	mixed from Sumeria.
	
	I know this is a vast over-simplification of the whole thing, but I wanted 
	to keep this chapter small in answer to some of my critics, who have said 
	that I should reveal the Shining Ones today.
	
	There can be no revealing of them today, as their beliefs have dissipated 
	into the mother Church of Catholicism.
	
	 
	
	If any organization on the globe is 
	still the Shining Ones, then I do not need to look at secret societies, 
	bankers, or business men; I do not need to turn to Illuminati and Men in 
	Black; I do not need to have a go at a few innocent Freemasons who have no 
	idea what it is they are really worshipping. The true Shining Ones are out 
	in the open and are still proselytizing like never before; they are still 
	forming new branches; still grafting onto the vine. 
	
	 
	
	They paradoxically hide 
	behind others and yet fear no man. They are the most powerful 
	nongovernmental organization on the globe and have been for centuries. They 
	have wealth that even the United States would envy and, yet, declare 
	poverty. 
	
	 
	
	They have a presence in every single country in 
	the world, like no other. 
	 
	
	
	
	17th century pharmacy sign Paris, the real grail
	 
	
	They 
	have their hands in just about every cloak-and-dagger society we could 
	mention and instigated most of them. 
	
	 
	
	They feverishly cling to secrecy and 
	declare openness. They control the minds of billions of people and influence 
	the rest. They make policy that governments have to adhere to. 
	
	 
	
	They are the 
	Catholic Church.
	
		
		Pope John Paul II rang in the New Year on Thursday with a renewed call for 
	peace in the Middle East and Africa and the creation of a New World Order 
	based on respect for the dignity of man and equality among nations. 
		
		
		(CCN 
	News, January 2004)
	
	
	
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