Secret societies have existed among all peoples, savage and civilized, since the beginning of recorded history.
Manly P. Hall, The Secret Destiny of America, 1944
INTRODUCTION
Masonry, or Freemasonry, is the largest and oldest of the secret societies, and still today is one of the most powerful groups on earth. Certainly in the past it was difficult to hold a position of power in most nations without having undergone the initiatory rites of Masonry, or one of the related secret societies.
One modem source lists seventeen American presidents as having been Masons: Washington, Madison, Monroe, Jackson, Polk, Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Garfield, McKinley, Teddy Roosevelt, Taft, Harding, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Truman, Lyndon Johnson, Ford, and Reagan.1 According to a 1951-edition of the Holy Bible, Masonic Edition, there is abundant evidence that Thomas Jefferson was a Mason, and Pierce and Taylor are also strongly suspected of having been members.2
Although Masonry claims members in every corner of the globe, the vast majority of the six million members worldwide reside in the United States and Great Britain. Masons themselves are proud of their influence. One high-ranking Mason, Manly Hall, wrote, “It is beyond question that the secret societies of all ages have exercised a considerable degree of political influence….3 Hall then urges his readers to, “…join those who are really the living powers behind the thrones of modem national and international affairs.” 4
The same implication comes from other Masonic sources. The Masonic Bible states that “for well over one hundred and fifty years, the destiny of this country has been determined largely by men who were members of the Masonic Fraternity.” 5
Researcher and former Army counterintelligence officer Paul A. Fisher, in his meticulously documented work, Behind The Lodge Door: Church State and Freemasonry in America, says one Masonic journal claimed in 1948 that between ten. and twenty percent of the U’S. “adult thinking population come directly within the circle of Masonic influence…” 6
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN MASONRY
Masonry can be traced back more than 5,000 years to the secret societies of the ancient Egyptian priests. Masons who visit the tombs of ancient Egypt are astounded by the religious symbols painted upon the walls. There displayed before them are the same grips, signs, postures, symbols, and even the apron, used for their own initiation.7
But some Masonic authors claim even greater antiquity. One Masonic writer claims it is older than any religion today and states that it originated in “remote antiquity…. The Order existed…as a compact, well organized body long before the building of the oldest pyramid.” 8 According to General Albert Pike, head of American Masonry in the late 1800s, and still today regarded as the guiding light of modern Masonry:
With her traditions reaching back to the earliest times, and her symbols dating farther back than even the monumental history of Egypt extends…it is [still the same as] it was in the cradle of the human race, when no human foot had trodden the soil of Assyria and Egypt.9
Manly Hall, a thirty-third degree Mason, even claims that Masonry originated in the mythical kingdom of Atlantis:
The age of the Masonic school is not to be calculated by hundreds or even thousands of years, for it never had any origin in the worlds of form. It is a shadow of the great Atlantean Mystery School, which stood with all its splendor in the ancient City of the Golden Gates, where now the turbulent Atlantic roils in unbroken sweep.10
THE MYSTERIES
The vast majority of Masons believe that the Craft is only a fraternal organization with ceremonial traditions. But according to Hall, the guiding lights of Masonry believe Masons are the guardians of the ancient secrets of life, collected and practiced by history’s greatest philosophers and adepts, known as the “Mysteries.” What are these “Mysteries?” They are the occult secrets based on ritual magic that aid its practitioners in learning how to gain power and wealth, how to control the fate of men and nations, and interestingly, how to achieve some measure of immortality. According to General Albert Pike:
Masonry, successor of the Mysteries, still follows the ancient manner of teaching… Though Masonry is identical with the ancient Mysteries, it is so only in this qualified sense: that it presents but an imperfect image of their brilliancy, the ruins only of their grandeur, and a system that has experienced progressive alterations, the fruits of social events, political circumstances, and the ambitious imbecility of its improvers.11
OSIRIS AND ISIS
Essential to the history of ancient Masonry are the Egyptian gods Osiris and Isis. Masonic literature still abounds with references to both these figures.
Isis has always been seen as the guiding light of the profession-of prostitution; Osiris the chief evil god. Author Robert K.G. Temple quotes an Egyptian “magical” papyrus as saying that “Osiris is a dark God,” and that Isis is married to “He who ts Lord in perfect.black.” Osiris was the god of the Egyptian underworld, the prince of the dead.12
THE EYE
One of the oldest, and most important symbols of Masonry is the Egyptian hieroglyph of the eye — or the “evil eye.” it represents their god Osiris.13 This “Eye of Osiris” is also the symbol of modern day Masonry. It dominates the top of most Masonic documents, and now dominates the back of the Great Seal of the United States, which is reproduced on every American one-dollar bill. 1 will demonstrate that its presence on the Great Seal suggests that secret societies were instrumental in creating the new nation of America, and still have an important influence in the present day.
THE MAGICAL STAR
The controversial five-pointed star emblem of Masonry has a fascinating yet little-known background which is also rooted in ancient Egypt. Masonry’s leader of a century ago, Albert Pike, admits that the Masonic five-pointed star represents “Intelligence,” as well as having a darker meaning connected with Sirius, the brightest Star in our night sky. In 1871 Pike wrote, in what is still regarded as the manual of the Masonic order, Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, this explanation of the Masonic five-pointed star:
…the BLAZING STAR of five points….Originally it represented SIRIUS, or the Dog-star, the forerunner of the inundation of the Nile… the Blazing Star has been regarded as an emblem of Omniscience, or the All-seeing Eye, which to the Egyptian Initiates was the emblem of Osiris, the Creator.14
In ancient Egypt, gigantic temples were constructed to mark the first morning of the Egyptian new year, which depended on Sirius. At this time, Sirius, also known as So this to the Greeks, would appear rising as a bright red star just ahead of the sun. When seen high in the sky, Sirius is blue-white in color, but when low on the horizon, it is the only star in the heavens bright enough to be seen as red in color. This phenomenon still occurs today, and is due to the deflection of the light of Sirius through the earth’s atmosphere.
Sirius was referred to as Rubeola, which means “red or rusty” in sixth century Latin texts.15 This recently discovered Latin reference, that Sirius was known as a red star, has caused considerable confusion among modem day astronomers as they ponder how Sirius could possibly have changed from a red giant to a white dwarf in a mere 1,400 years (short by astronomical standards). Masons well-versed in Egyptology must derive considerable amusement from this astronomical confusion.
This predawn appearance of Sirius is known as the heliacal rising. This event was the basis for the Egyptian Sothic calendar, and, therefore one of the most basic symbols of the Egyptian religion, which in general terms we shall call “Illuminism” (not to be confused with the eighteenth-century group, the Illuminati). The days that followed the helical rising of Sirius became known as the “dog days,” or the hottest days of summer in the Northern Hemisphere.16
THE SUN
The symbol which represents the Mason, personally, is the sun symbol, a circle with a dot in the center. According to Manly Hall, the sun symbol represents the “wisdom” which “radiates” from every Mason. It is symbolic of the belief of Masons that God lives within, and speaks through the mouths of “illuminated” Masons:
The Master Mason is in truth a sun, a great reflector of light, who radiates through his organism, purified by ages of preparation, the glorious power which is the light-of the Lodge. He, in truth, has become the spokesman of the Most High-He stands between the glowing fire light and the world. Through him passes Hydra, the great snake, and from its mouth there pours to man the light of God. His symbol is the rising sun….17 Masonry is eternal truth… patience is its warden, illumination its master.18
When a Mason has built all these powers into himself, there radiates from him a wonderful body of living fire, like that which surrounded the Master Jesus, at the moment of his transfiguration.19
NUMERICAL SYMBOLISM
Masonry places great emphasis on numerical symbolism. The numbers three, five, and seven are deemed of special importance. In fact, odd numbers in genera! are thought to have primarily male qualities. “Why do Odds make a Lodge? Because all Odds are Men’s advantage.20
Therefore odd numbers are used whenever possible in Masonry to symbolize its male exclusivity, while even numbers are thought to possess feminine characteristics.” Here’s an interesting example from a Masonic text:
Seven is a particularly sacred number….It is engraved in your very being, for at the age of seven you first showed understanding, at the age of fourteen puberty is generally reached, at the age of twenty-one manhood is recognized, at the age of twenty-eight full growth attained and at the age of thirty-five, physical vigor is highest, at forty-two, this begins to decline; at forty-nine man should have reached the height of intellectual strength; and at seventy he has reached the ordinary limit of human life.22
Many Masons will find this sort of numerical hocus-pocus a bit silly, but those who have studied their literature cannot fail to run across this sort of symbolic material in abundance. It not only pervades Masonic literature, but Masonic art as well.
ILLUMINISM
Masonry, like other secret societies, advocates a “religion,” which is sometimes termed Illuminism. This is merely a polite name for Luciferianism. Again, this is not to be confused with the Illuminati of the eighteenth century. Those who follow Illuminism are known as Illuminists or Luciferians. Illuminism differs substantially from Satanism. General Albert Pike said in his “instructions” to the twenty-three Supreme Councils of World Masonry in 1889, “The Masonic religion should be, by all of us initiates of the high degrees, maintained in the purity of the Luciferian doctrine.” 23
In 1889 Pike simultaneously occupied the positions of Grand Master of the Central Directory of Washington, D:C.{the head of D:C. Masonry), Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of Charleston {head of American Masonry), and Sovereign Pontiff of Universal Freemasonry (head of world Masonry).24
MAN BECOMES GOD
Illuminism—the Luciferian religion—teaches that man can become God, that he can evolve, through initiatory steps, into a god state himself. Even though written in 1871, Pike’s words are still regarded as the highest Masonic authority by virtue of the fact that Morals and Dogma is still required reading for Scottish Rite Masons. Pike said, “Whosoever aids the march of a Truth…writes in the same line with Moses, and Him who died upon the cross; and has an intellectual sympathy with the Deity Himself.” 25
Of course, once you have evolved into a god, you can make up your own rules, make up your own morality. This tired philosophy has been used through the centuries to justify countless crimes and debaucheries.
Illuminists feel that man can attain more wisdom and spiritual advancement by studying their secret knowledge than he can from any conventional religion. Masonic authority Manly Hall wrote:
Freed of limitations of creed and sect, he the Mason] stands master of all faiths. Freemasonry…is not a creed or doctrine but a universal expression of Divine Wisdom… a very secret and sacred philosophy that has existed for all time, and has been the inspiration of the great saints and sages of all ages, i.e., the perfect wisdom of God, revealing itself through a secret hierarchy of illumined minds.26
Determining the philosophy of Masonry is very difficult. Every aspect of Masonry seems to have both a good and a bad side to it—an evil interpretation and a benign interpretation. Those who wish to find a Christian interpretation in its symbols can find ample published Masonic justifications. Those who wish to show that Masonry is really a form of Deism—built for all religions and faiths—can easily do so. Even Muslims are well-aware of this Masonic, quasi-religious trickery:
Therefore, if you find any truth in the Bible, the Mason says “that’s Masonry.” If a Muslim expounds upon the science of Al-Islam that science is called “Masonry.” Some Masonic writers have [gone] as far as to say Adam was a Mason because the Bible says he covered his private area with leaves which represents the “Masonic Apron.” Such claims are made by those who want to make the uninitiated think that the “wisdom of the ages” can only be found in Masonry.27
However, those who wish to show Masonry to be of Luciferian, or even of Satanic basis encounter difficulty finding references hidden in the more secretive source material, but they can be found. Masonry itself admits to the confusion. British Mason Colin F.W. Dyer wrote in his 1976 book, Speculative Craft Masonry:
It is possible to give a Christian interpretation to the whole of Craft Masonry…but a non-Christian interpretation should also exist and-be just as correct. There is one fact which must always be borne in mind…as time passes, Men…weave new legends round old customs, or import them from another school of belief. This tendency can be traced in Masonry in many ways. More than one meaning lies hidden in our silent emblems, and the ostensible explanation given in the ceremony is usually neither the original nor the most profound meaning attached to it.28
So, to the “Christian Mason,” Masonry is an integral part of the Christian faith. According to Dyer: “The First Degree of Masonry teaches [the candidate] that his actions must be squared by the precepts contained in the Holy Bible, the constant study of which ts strongly recommended.” 29
As we will see, however, the “Christian” candidate is slowly weaned off the Christian path, and without ever realizing it, gently set on the path of Deism — the forerunner of modem day Unitarianism.30 Deists believe in a God who existed merely to create the universe, but then withdrew to meddle no more in the affairs of man. Therefore, Jesus ts considered to have been at best a prophet or a wise man, and certainly not the Son of God. For in Deism, man needs no God and, in fact, through reason and secret initiated knowledge, or illumination, Deists believe that man can become as God.
INNER & OUTER DOCTRINE
How can some Masons believe Masonry is a Christian organization, while others understand its darker goals? The key to this confusion lies in the concept of the “inner” and the “outer” doctrine. Masonry, like other secret societies, is set up with an “outer” doctrine for consumption by the general public, and an “inner” secretive doctrine known only to an elect few.
To Masons, an analogy is found in the concept of the onion. As you progress in Masonry, you peel away layer after layer until you finally . reach the truth at the core. In the words of Adam Weishaupt, founder of an eighteenth-century German secret society, the Illuminati: “One must speak sometimes In one way, sometimes in another, so that our real purpose should remain impenetrable to our inferiors.” 31
In.a book so scarce outside of Masonic circles that it could not be found in the prestigious collection of the Library of Congress, General Pike is very clear in revealing part of Masonry’s inner doctrine claiming that it is an improvement on-Christianity:
Christianity taught the doctrine of FRATERNITY; but repudiated that of political EQUALITY, by continually inculcating obedience to Caesar, and to those lawfully in authority. Masonry was the first apostle of EQUALITY.32
Pike also explained that Masonry must deceive its members in the first three degrees, called the “Blue Degrees.”
The Blue Degrees are but the outer court or portico of the Temple. Part of the symbols are displayed there to the Initiate, but he is intentionally misted by false interpretations. It is not intended that he shall understand them; but it is intended that he shall imagine he understands them. Their true explanation is reserved for the Adepts, the Princes of Masonry.33
This basic deception of Masonry is perfectly depicted by the Sphinx.
It is well enough for the mass of those called Masons, to imagine that all is contained in the Blue Degrees; and whose attempts to undeceive them will labor in vain….Masonry is the veritable Sphinx, buried to the head in the sands heaped round it by the ages.34
Masons must swear oaths, known as “blood oaths,” that they will never reveal the secrets of their order on pain of a barbaric death. After extensive memorization of Masonic lore and philosophy, the candidate is initiated into what is known as the lodge. At first, members are told little about the goals of their order. It is only gradually, as the member advances through the various degrees, or steps of initiation, that the true scope of Masonry is revealed. One Masonic source has said: “Masonry should be felt everywhere, but nowhere should it be unveiled. The whole strength of Masonry lies in its discretion. Our enemies fear us all the more because we never reveal our methods of action.” 35
As the new Mason becomes more trusted and more involved, he gradually becomes able to accept the “truths” of his new-found religion. The moment a Mason does not accept one of the new tenets of his “new morality,” his advancement mysteriously freezes.
WHY SECRECY?
if Masonry were really purveying pure truth, as it claims, then why would it need to keep its ancient secrets hidden? For, as Jesus said in John 18:20, “I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together; I have said nothing secretly.” 36
In reality, there are two reasons for Masonic secrecy. First of all, if every Mason’s wife knew the exact content of the “blood oaths” to which her husband had sworn, then Masonry would collapse in a single night. In the wider scope, anti-Masonic investigations, inquisitions, and purges have been launched whenever the order’s secrets have been revealed.
Secondly, secrecy makes members feel that they are part of an elite group. This tends to better weld them into a unit. Adam Weishaupt, father of the eighteenth-century group which eventually consumed European Masonry, the Illuminati, wrote:
For our Order wishes to be secret, and to work in silence; for thus it is better secured from the oppression of the ruling powers, and because this secrecy gives a greater zest to the whole…. The slightest observation shows that nothing will so much contribute to increase the zeal of the members as secret union.37
Ironically, most Masons never know the darkest secrets of their order because Masonry is constructed as a secret society within a secret society. The outer doctrine is constructed to have a mass appeal and to seem relatively harmless to the vast majority of members. After all, the goal of any successful organization must be to attract good men if it is to survive. The inner doctrine is only for the highest initiates.
One of the greatest secrets of Masonry, and of all the secret societies, is something called the “Great Plan,” the details of which are known only to those with access to the inner doctrine. As one Masonic scholar explained: :
Though the whole extent and origin of the plan was known only to an initiate few, members of the outer order were subjected to a selective system by which they could attain to numerous degrees and proportionately receive deeper insight into the work. This in turn spurred them to greater effort and endeavor in their various occupations and stations in life, and made them useful instruments.38
This outer doctrine allows the average member to see his organization as little more than a social fraternity involved in a few charitable works. However, for those who are judged ready, or “worthy” to accept it, the inner doctrine drops all pretence of this idealism. As we will see, this inner doctrine is nothing less than a cancer growing on civilization, unknowingly supported by the huge body of mostly innocent, duespaying members.
The Masonry-Lucifer connection is further strengthened by occultist Mason Manly Hall, who says that when the Mason learns how to use this occult power “he has learned the mystery of his Craft. The seething energies of Lucifer are in his hands and before he may step onward and upward, he must prove his ability to properly apply energy.” 39
So, as we see, acquiring “the seething energies of Lucifer” is but the. first step. To show that he is worthy to move up, the Mason must prove he can apply this knowledge. Hall recounts a typical example of Masonry’s attitude toward religion:
Freemasonry is a philosophy which is essentially creed-less. Its brothers bow to truth regardless of the bearer; they serve light, instead of wrangling over the one who brings it….No truer religion exists than that of world-comradeship and brotherhood.40 Freemasonry is not a material thing; it is a science of the soul…a divine symbolic language perpetuating certain concrete symbols the sacred mysteries of the ancients.41
LUCIFER OR SATAN?
So are Masons Satanists? Not at all. Though few Masons know it, the god of Masonry is Lucifer. What’s the difference between Lucifer and Satan? Luciferians think they are doing good. Satanists know they are evil. In the Bible, Lucifer was God’s most important angel, “perfect in thy ways…full of wisdom and perfect beauty.” 42
Although he was the highest angel, Lucifer wanted more. He wanted to replace God, and so he led the first revolution and rebelled against God. God quickly cast Lucifer out of heaven, banishing one-third of all the angels with him.43 Lucifer, the good angel of light, forevermore became Satan, the evil angel of darkness:
How you are fallen from heaven, O-Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, “I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God.”
Isaiah 14:12-15
However, the essence of Masonry and of all Luciferian religions denies this biblical account. The real secret of all the secret societies is that they believe Lucifer never fell to earth; that Lucifer is really God, and has been since the dawn of creation. They derisively call the Christian God by the name Adonay, and believe that he is really the god of evil because he forces men to be subservient to his repressive dictates.
So to Luciferians, God has a dual nature; he is the good god, Lucifer, and the bad god, Adonay, both supposedly equal in power, yet opposite in intent. This idea is symbolized by the circular yin-yang symbol of the Buddhists, or the black-and-white checkerboard pattern seen on the floor of Masonic lodges, or buildings.
Lucifer is further subdivided into Isis, the female principal, and Osiris, the male principal. The myth that a benevolent Lucifer still exists, is at the core of all the secret societies. It paints Lucifer as being different from Satan — as some form of benevolent god who favors his followers on the basis of their level of “illumination.” By comparison, Christianity teaches that faith in Jesus Christ is the determining factor in the attainment of everlasting spiritual life.
Masons have their own Luciferian-based calendar. Our Western calendar counts its years based.on the number of years before and after Christ; B.C. for before Christ, and A.D., Anno Domini, meaning “in the year of the Lord,” for the years after the birth of Christ. The Masonic calendar counts its years with the suffix A.L., meaning Anno Lucis or “Year of Light,” the Masonic year of the Creation.44 This can also be interpreted to mean “Year of Lucifer.”
Masons don’t count their years from the year of Christ’s death because-for a rather curious reason, they consider it a tragedy. In their initiation ceremony for the eighteenth degree, the Knight of the Rose Crucis, also known as the Rose Croix, the Red-Cross, or “the Rosicrucians,“ 45 Masons symbolically drape the lodge room in black and sit on the floor in silence resting their heads in their arms in mock grief around an altar above which are three crosses. They grieve not for the death of the Son of God, but, according to the French Masonic historian Abbé Augusten de Barruel, they symbolically mourn because the day Jesus was crucified was the day Christianity was born, ever to be the antagonist of Masonry:
It is the time when the veil of the temple was rent asunder, when darkness and consternation was spread over the earth, when the light was darkened, when the implements of Masonry were broke, when the flaming star disappeared, when the cubic stone was broken, when the word was lost.46
It is a strange paradox that both Christians and Satanists believe the Bible is the word of God, Neither believe in Lucifer. Both Christians and Satanists believe that Lucifer existed only before his fall. Both believe that a benevolent Lucifer no longer exists; that he is now the demonic being known as Satan.
Satanists, however, worship evil and so they do the opposite of what the Bible teaches. Satanists know Satan is evil, and is merely trying to drag as many souls to hell with him as he can. They have no delusions that Satan is benéfic in any way. They know that Lucifer is merely one of Satan’s myths, trying to trick mankind away from following the real God and his tenets, using whatever deceptions prove to be effective,
So Luciferianism and Satanism have a basic difference: Luciferianism pretends to be good; Satanism admits it is bad, and says there is no “good.” The results are the same. Lucifer and Satan are frequently confused, even by experts. For example, in 1908 French occultism expert Copin Albancelli confused Lucifer and Satan in describing the beliefs of the upper echelons of Masonry:
Certain Masonic societies exist which are Satanic, not in the sense that the devil comes to preside at their meetings…bit in that their initiates profess the cult of Lucifer. They-adore him as the true God, and they are animated by an implacable hatred against the Christian God, whom they declare to-be an imposter.47
According to Webster, Albancelli goes on to show that the Masonic motto changes from “To the glory of the Great Architect of the Universe,” at the lower levels of Masonry, to “Glory and Love for Lucifer! Hatred! hatred! hatred! to‘God, accursed, accursed, accursed!” 48
Albancelli also explained the view of the Ten Commandments held by one French version of Masonry:
It is professed in these societies that all that the Christian God commands is disagreeable to Lucifer; that all that He forbids is, on the contrary, agreeable to Lucifer; that in consequence one must do all that the Christian-God forbids and that one must shun like fire all that He commands.49
It should be noted here that some Masons, especially British and American Masons, vehemently deny that they embrace any Satanic or Luciferian doctrines. In fact, many claim that French Masonry is “bad” while British Masonry and its American derivative is benign. The truth is that all Masons, no matter which country they are in, have to swear to increasingly horrific “blood oaths” as they ascend through the degrees of initiation.
Masons complain bitterly that these oaths are merely ceremonial, and meaningless, at least in today’s world. If this is so, then why perpetuate them? The similarities between Continental and Anglo/ American Masonry are so substantial and so well-documented, while the demonstrable differences are so few, that at this point it is incumbent on the Masonic fraternity to prove there is a significant difference.
Both Lucifer and Satan incite revolution—revolution against all forms of authority, husband against wife, child against parent, citizen against government. Rebellion against supposedly unjust authority is the hallmark of all Masonry. The Bible, however, teaches obedience:
Wives must submit to your husbands’ leadership…:Children, obey your parents and…obey every law of your government: those of the king as head of state and those of the king’s officers, for he has sent them to punish all who do wrong, and to honor those who do right.50
Illuminism teaches the opposite of obedience—revolution. Illuminists are living the sad and ultimate deception of all] mankind, believing that man does not need God, does not need obedience:
For even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising that his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their deeds.51
This ancient struggle between Satan and God for the sous of men has affected every individual, in every nation, through every period of human history since the-Garden of Eden, where Eve was successfully tempted and deceived by the serpent to “eat-of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—” because then she would attain deity. “Ye shall surely not die… for then your.eyes shall be-opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” 52
All the ‘secret societies play on this yearning-of all men to seek immortality for themselves or their souls. The Luciferian doctrine promises enlightenment, via Lucifer. It promises that man can become a god through secret knowledge passed down through these societies.
THE ANCIENT GREEKS
The basic philosophy of Illuminism turn up in every culture, ancient or modern; only the names of their gods change. Isis and Osiris, and some of the other Egyptian gods, mutated into new identities as they passed into different nations and different eras. In ancient Greece and Rome, Isis mutated into a variety of slightly different forms, such as Diana, Athena, Aphrodite, and Venus. Osiris became Zeus, Poseidon, and Mercury. Why is this mythology important? Because the worship of these pagan gods and goddesses still exists.
How are the societies’ secrets kept secure? One of the methods of preserving secrecy in secret societies is the concept of common criminality. A prime example of this can be seen in one of the best documented scandals of the pre-Christian era. The cult of Isis flourished in ancient Greece. and her mysteries were, as always, kept by the secret societies. But the proverbial cat got out of the bag when the famous “Mystery Scandal” broke in ancient Athens.
It seems that a large group of aristocrats conspired to overthrow the Athenian democracy. In order to insure the secrecy of the operation among the extraordinarily large number of conspirators, a common crime was committed in which each member had to participate. Communal criminality has always been a necessary security measure for the highest “mysteries” of the secret societies.
One night the conspiring Athenians went out into the city streets armed with hammers and chisels and cut off the genitals of the many statues of the god Hermes gracing their city. In that day, nothing could have been a more public display of desecration, and would surely have been dealt with quite harshly. In this way, it was assured that ‘if any member of the group was to betray the conspiracy, he would find himself charged with a crime with numerous influential witnesses testifying against him.
The case came to light only because of the public outrage. A thorough investigation was launched, and eventually the conspiratorial web was cracked. The perpetrators were discovered, publicly humiliated during a series of trials, and later exiled from Greece.
ATLANTIS
Secret societies have existed in most, if not all nations throughout history. Manly Hail claimed that.a super-secret society superior to the Masonic order was the backbone of not only the ancient civilizations of Greece and later Rome, but also the civilizations of Islam and the Mongol empires. Hall calls this super-secret group the “Order of the Illumed Ones,” the “Order of the Quest” or the “Order of the Ancient Philosophers.”
Even in ancient times, scholars bound themselves with “mystic ties” into a worldwide fraternity, drawing:candidates from all the Mystery Schools, the Masons, the Rosicrucians, the Kabbalists Jewish Mystery School tradition), and others. These “priest-philosophers” from Egypt, Greece, India, China, and the rest of the ancient world were formed into a sovereign body to instruct and advise their leaders.
Where did this ancient order originate? Hall claimed that it originated in the legendary Atlantis. He claimed that the Atlanteans devised a plan—a “Great Plan”-~ which would guide world events for millennia to come, and that it included a mysterious blueprint of what would tater become America. Hall said that ancient Egyptian secret societies inherited this Great Plan and were well aware of the existence of the land mass in the Western Hemisphere which we now call America, long before it was “discovered” by Columbus.54 Hall stated:
The explorers who opened the New World operated from a master plan and were agents of re-discovery rather than discoverers.
Time will reveal that the continent now known as America was actually discovered and, to a considerable degree, explored more than a thousand years before the beginning of the Christian era. The true story was in the keeping of the Mystery Schools, and passed from them to the Secret Societies of the medieval world. The Esoteric Orders of Europe, Asia, and the Near East were in at least irregular communication with the priesthoods of the more advanced Amerindian nations. Plans for the development of the Western Hemisphere were formulated in Alexandria, Mecca, Delhi, and Lhasa (in Tibet) long before most European statesmen were aware of the great Utopian program.55
Hall maintained that the unifying goal of these secret societies was to create a “New Atlantis” in America:
The bold resolution was made that this western continent should become the site of the philosophic empire. Just when this was done it is impossible now to say, but certainly the decision was reached prior to the me of Plato, for a thinly veiled statement of this resolution is the substance of his treatise on the Atlantic Islands.56
America, according to this Great Plan, was to become the first nation to begin to establish a “universal democracy,” or “world commonwealth of nations.” This quest was said to be the most noble pursuit to which a man could devote himself. It is said to have been so perfectly inspired that it continues today:
The mechanism for the accomplishment of this idea was set in motion in the ancient temples of Greece, Egypt, and India. So brilliant was the plan and so well was it administrated that it has survived to our time, and it will continue to function until the great work is accomptished.57
ILLUMINATION
‘So just what is Illumination? I have mentioned it in vague terms such as “light” and “secret knowledge.” However, illumination is not just the knowledge gained from reading books, or receiving oral instruction, or even the secretive knowledge gained from initiation. Illumination also involves a vivid flash.of insight or understanding, regardless of what means are used to attain it:
Wise men, the ancients believed, were a separate race, and to be born into this race it was necessary to develop the mind to a state of enlightened intelligence. The old philosophers taught that physical birth is an accident, for men are born into various races and nationalities according to the law’s of generation; but there is a second birth, which is not an accident; it is the consequence of a proper intent. By this second birth, man is born by enlightened intelligence out of nation and out of race into an international nation and an international race. It is this larger and coming race that will some day inherit the earth. But unless a man be born again by enlightenment, he shall net be a part of the philosophic empire.58
Obviously, this is a hermetic version of the Christian “born-again” experience. This is a theme which runs throughout Masonry and ail the other secret societies: that the acquisition of secret knowledge, or illumination, is man’s salvation.
There are many ways to achieve illumination. The method most important to Illuminists is the mystical inspiration invoked by the performance of occult rituals. Illumination can be achieved by dancing to exhaustion to the rhythm of native drums. It can be brought on by sexual rituals, such as those practiced in Tantric Yoga. To the Satanist, it can be brought on by ritualistic sacrifice. Throughout history, mind altering substances such as marijuana, hashish, peyote cactus, and LSD have been used to achieve this paranormal mystical experience. In fact, the Greek word for sorcery is pharmakia from whence came the word pharmaceuticals.
GNOSTICISM
Another branch of Illuminism which still survives is Gnosticism. It rose in the first and second centuries A.D., and taught that magical knowledge, known as gnosis, was the only path to salvation. One of the ways believers received access to these “dive mysteries” was through sexual orgies disguised as religious rites.
The general Gnostic emphasis -on knowledge, received through magical inspiration, naturally led to a contempt for conventional morality, because according to Gnosticism, a man did not reach heaven by leading a good life, or through faith, but through possession of gnosis. Aman who received gnosis had in effect evolved into a god, and could not be corrupted by anything he might do. Secure in godhead, Gnostics seduced their female disciples and indulged all the lusts of the flesh. Some Gnostics said that good and evil were meaningless labels and that the way to perfection was to-experience everything.
Scholars of today call this “Experimentalism”. It was widely seen in the “hippies” and “flower-children” of the 1960s, though it is rarely understood in its historical perspective. [t is not a large leap from Gnosticism to Satanism. Researcher Richard Cavandish, author of The Black Arts, has written: “All these Gnostic ideas fit into the general pattern of Satanism, indeed, they largely established it.”
Nesta Webster, noted British historian of the 1920s, reported that Gnostic rituals formed “the basis of black magic in the Middle Ages” including the “glorification of evil which plays so important a part in the modern revolutionary movement.” 59 According to Webster, “the role of the Gnostics was to reduce perversion to a system by binding men together into sects working under the guise of enlightenment in order to obscure all recognized ideas of morality and religion.” 60
Gnostics were some of the first known advocates of the “ends justify-the-means” philosophy. They believed that there was no such thing as an absolute morality; that evil deeds were justifiable if they served a higher purpose. Since the second century, the Christian concept of man reaching up to God has been under constant, yet subtle attack. Webster says:
… the secret society conception of man as God, needing no revelation from on high and no guidance but the law of his own nature. And since that nature is in itself divine, all that springs from it is praiseworthy, and those acts usually regarded as sins are not to be condemned.61
But Gnosticism has at its core the same belief in Lucifer that all the Illuminist philosophies do. Occult expert Edith Star Miller pointed-out that Gnostics believe themselves to be gods. Writing in her 1933 book, Occult Theocracy, she said:
“Such was the excellency of their knowledge and Illumination who arrogantly styled themselves Gnostics, that they {feel they] are superior to Peter and Paul or any of Christ’s other disciples. They only, have drunk up the supreme Knowledge, are above Principalities and Powers, secure of Salvation: and for that very Reason are free to debauch Women.62
The Gnostics set themselves up as gods, or demigods, enticing men to follow their system by sexual perversion, and/or the promise of secret knowledge. Are there links between Gnosticism and the Mystery School systems of the twentieth century? Indeed so. According to Miller:
“Gnosticism, as the Mother of Freemasonry, has imposed its mark in the very centre of the chief symbol of this association. The most conspicuous emblem which one notices on entering a Masonic temple, the one which figures-on the seals, on the rituals, everywhere in fact, appears in the middle of the interlaced square and compass, it is the five pointed star framing the letter G.”
Different explanations of this letter G are given to the initiates as they rise up from the lower levels. In the lower grades, one is taught that it signifies Geometry, then God, then Great Architect of the Universe:
To the brothers frequenting the lodges admitting women as members, it is revealed that the mystic letter means Generation….Finally, to those found worthy to penetrate into the sanctuary of Knights Kadosch, the enigmatic letter becomes the initial of the doctrine of the perfect initiates which is Gnosticism
It is Gnosticism which is the real meaning of the G in the flamboyant star, for, after the grade of Kadosch the Freemasons dedicate themselves to the glorification of Gnosticism (or anti-Christianity) which is defined by Albert Pike as “the soul and marrow of Freemasonry.63
THE ILLUMINATI
Popular history texts and encyclopedias generally paint the Illuminati as having its origins in 1776 in Bavaria. However, the origins go back much further. The Illuminati are tied directly through Masonry to the sun and Isis cults of ancient Egypt.
The term “Illuminati” was used by one early writer, Menendez Pelayo, as early as 1492 and is attributable to a group known as the “Alumbrados” of Spain. The Alumbrados were said to receive secret knowledge from an unknown higher source, resulting in superior human intelligence. This group was condemned by an edict of the Grand Inquisition in 1623, in what was another battle in the long running war between the Catholic Church and the secret societies.64
Some writers claim that a group known as the “Illuminated Ones” was founded by Joachim of Floris in the eleventh century and taught a primitive, supposedly Christian doctrine of “poverty and equality.” This tactic to disguise Illuminism behind a thin veil of Christianity is now a well-established theme. Later, this group is said to have become violent, plundering the rich and thereby discrediting Christianity as a whole.
Still other writers trace the Illuminati to the dreaded Ishmaelian sect of Islam, also known as the “Order of Assassins.” Founded in 1090 by Hassan Sabah, this group combined the use of the drug hashish with murder as their main path to illumination.
Killing was a mystical-experience to this-branch of the Mystery Schools. They not only maintained their control by murder and threats of murder, they believed that the assassin could acquire the gnosis, or soul energy from the victim. This is the theory behind the human and animal sacrifices of Satanists throughout history.
Primitive religions get the same effect by dancing and drum-beating. Seeking this form of illumination was the main attraction of drugs like marijuana, hashish, and LSD to teenagers of the 1960s and 1970s. Buddhists can gain the same illumination through sexual rituals known as Tantric Yoga, or through the different forms of meditation. Witchcraft covens still meet in the nude and participate in group sexual rituals for the same effect. Mass participation in animal sacrifice is another way to scavenge gnosis.
The sad fact is that although sex, drugs, dancing, and drumbeating are believed to release a lot of gnosis, Satanists believe that sacrifices release more of it than anything else. Such are the dark and sordid machinations of the deluded souls who think their gnosis accumulations and illumination will give them some form of deity or immortality.
This is only a thumbnail sketch of the myriad forms Illumination has taken up to the eighteenth century A.D. It is important to realize however, that Illuminism is really the religion of a benevolent mythical Lucifer — not Satan. It is disguised as political idealism, bent on eradicating religion and monarchies in general, and Christianity in particular, and gaining global control for a “commonwealth of nations” featuring “universal democracy.”
“And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.” 65
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