The Secret Societies are as old as the world. Since man was aware that there are eternal truths enduring over time, and wanted to discover them.
Every search for the Truth begins with the knowledge of oneself, but that knowledge is only achieved by the tenacity of a few.
The common man goes through life without ever seeking answers to the elementary questions: Who am I? Where am I going? How can I change my destiny?
But the seeker of Truth knows that there is more than the materialistic and often hostile world in which we live immersed in a state of conformity . He refuses to be a leaf swayed from side to side by the whim of the wind. When the seeker of Truth finds the secret discernment and begins to study it, it is called Initiate .
“ Every human being knew, unconsciously,
that there was a bridge to the invisible at your fingertips ”
- The Valkyrias- Paulo Coelho
1. What is a Secret Society?
If the Universe has a Secret, the seeker of Truth wants to reveal it. The Initiate tries to go beyond the " Physical Laws ", beyond appearances and the spiritual carefreeness so common in our times, until reaching the true understanding of Nature and of Himself .
In addition, the Great Initiates wish to convey that knowledge. And yet they know that the most transcendental knowledge should not be shown to those people who are not prepared for it, or who can use it in a negative or harmful way for others. Therefore, it has to be hidden from ordinary men and only revealed to those who can assume it.
This is how the Great Initiates began to meet in Secret Societies, which are simply private organizations where a more or less numerous group of people with a certain level of spiritual evolution, learn the hidden teachings or perform a certain type of activity, hiding their precepts, ideas and methods to the profane .
The neophyte must overcome a period of initiation before the teaching is revealed. This initiation is usually accompanied by a series of more or less sophisticated rites and ceremonies, and in theory it aims to awaken the inner consciousness of the neophyte, open its " third eye " to enter the higher plane.
Ultimately the Secret Societies sought to benefit all humanity by safeguarding or disseminating knowledge as appropriate.
Of course, good intentions did not always have correspondence in the real world ...
While many Secret Societies pursued honorable activities, how to guard and perpetuate esoteric knowledge, purify the human being or develop their higher faculties, others only intended to gain power and wealth for their members, manipulate from the shadows, or simply commit all kinds of criminal activities.
There is some confusion about whether or not the Sects are Secret Societies . In both cases there are rites of initiation, and the followers unite around a certain ideology . But the Sects usually have a public character, while Societies hide the identity of their members, although they may have visible heads . In addition, the Sects are almost always linked to a religious purpose, which does not have to happen in a Secret Society .
In any case, the border that separates both types of organization is diffuse .
2. What were the most influential Secret Societies in History?
Let's take a tour of the most important. Surely you've heard of them.
The Freemasons
The Masonic Grand Lodge was created in London in 1717 when four small groups of lodges joined together to form a single one merging under the idea of Fraternity . This Grand Lodge was a precursor to world Masonry . The categories of its members were initially first and second grade, but in the 1750s this hierarchy was expanded to create the third grade . When that third grade is reached, the person is called the Main Mason .
The Masons hold their periodic meetings in a ritual style . This includes many references to architectural symbols, such as the ruler and the compass of its symbol. They refer to God as " The Great Architect of the Universe ." To become a Mason, one must be recommended by one of its members. Sometimes up to three times. It is also required to be at least 18 years old. The Catholic Church prohibits Catholics from joining Masons under penalty of excommunication.
The Illuminati
They call themselves Perfectibilists . It is an enlightened free-thinker movement that was founded on May 1, 1776 in Ingolstadt (German Upper Bavaria), breaking off from a branch of the Masons . Although they are not legally authorized, it is assumed that many relevant intellectuals and politicians have been counted among their members and that they continue to act in secret until today. The fact that they have no belief in a supreme being made them especially popular among atheists. Furthermore, since their philosophical precepts are mostly humanistic, there is a widespread belief that the Illuminati want to overthrow all organized religion.
The Rosicrucian Order
Founded in the early fifteenth century by Christian Rosenkreutz (mysterious alchemist who later reappeared as Comte Saint Germain according to occult writing), he intended to use occult practices to achieve global transformation . He gained international fame two centuries later, with the publication in 1660 of a series of three documents: " Fame Fraernitatis Rosae Crucis", " Confessio Fraternitatis" and " The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz" . The first tells the story of Christian Rosenkreutz, who traveled to various parts of the world to gather secret knowledge. The second speaks of a secret fraternity of alchemists who were preparing to change the political and intellectual face of Europe. The third describes the invitation to Rosenkreutz to attend a royal wedding at the " Castle of Miracles ." The authors of the documents seemed to strongly favor Lutheranism and include condemnations of the Catholic Church . They are considered the driving force behind every major revolution in Modern History.
Priory of Zion
The Priory of Zion is the name of a supposed secret society that, according to those who support its existence since ancient times, would be considered the most influential in Western history. It was actually founded in 1956 by Pierre Plantard and has modern Rosicrucian dyes . Subsequently Plantard created a historical background for the Priory attributing an earlier origin, in 1099, on Mount Zion of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
In 1920 a newspaper owned by Henry Ford published a series of articles that reprinted an anti-Semitic document called " The Protocols of the Sages of Zion ." The document was quickly discredited as a hoax, but those articles were collected in the form of a book entitled " The International Jew " that greatly influenced the worldwide expansion of anti - Semitism, particularly in the formation of Nazi ideology.
The Knights Templar
At the beginning of the 12th century, nine knights made a vow to protect the pilgrims who traveled to the Holy Land . More and more gentlemen joined, and the organization grew by accumulating wealth, fame and power. In popular culture, knights assumed the role of providers of funds from many other secret societies, as well as guardians of the most sacred Christian treasures such as The Holy Grail or the Blood of Jesus Christ . However, the members of the society were finally tortured and executed by the French king Felipe IV, the feudal lords and the Catholic Church, so that in the early fourteenth century the organization was dissolved. Now, the current Knights Templar (also called: " The united religious, military and Masonic orders of the temple and St. John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes and Malta" ) are a modern offshoot of Masonry, and have no a direct connection with the medieval group of knights of the 12th century . The members of the Masonic Knights Templar simply demand a loan of ideas and symbols of the Medieval Templars . To be a member of this group, one must already be a Christian Main Mason.
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
It was a fraternity of ceremonial magic and occultism founded in London in 1888 by Dr. William Robert Woodman, William Wynn Westcott and Samuel McGregor Mathers . The three were Masons and members of the Rosicrucian Society in Anglia . This order is considered by many to be a precursor of the " Ordo Templi Orientis " and of most of the modern hidden groups.
His belief system is influenced by Christian Mysticism, Qabalah, Hermeticism, Alchemy, Theosophy, Ancient Egypt and various Renaissance writings. The fundamental documents of the order are known as the " Encryption Documents ", a series of 60 pages containing different magic rituals.
Ordo Templi Orientis (The Order of the Temples of the East)
It was founded in the early 20th century. Its creator was an Austrian chemist who remains anonymous, and its most recognized member was the British occultist Aleister Crowley, who reformulated it under the orbit of a religion created by himself: Thelema .
They believe that human existence is a product of space-time continuum, and its governing law is: " Do your will, it will be the whole of the Law "
Their rituals are very complex and dark, with diabolical invocations and ceremonial nudes.
Skull & Bones (Skull and Bones)
The least secret of the Secret Societies . It is a fraternity of students from Yale University (Connecticut, USA) originally known as ' Brotherhood of Death '. It was founded by William Huntington Russell in 1832 . The organization has many prominent heads of state (including former presidents George Bush and George HWBush ), industrial leaders and heads of secret agencies. Society meets twice a week ( Thursdays and Sundays ) to celebrate rituals that resemble the Masonic . Its meeting place is called ' The Tomb '. This society has inspired many of the " Conspiracy Theories ", especially as regards the majority of its members ending up in the CIA .
Bilderberg Group
In 1954, the most influential figures in the world gathered at the Bilderberg Hotel in the Netherlands, to discuss and plan the next year's global agenda. The initial idea was to hold an International Conference in which European and North American leaders met with the objective of promoting an understanding between their cultures, as the growing anti-Americanism of Western Europe of the little. Since then they have continued to meet annually, but the content of their conversations remains an absolute secret . The excuse is that they can speak freely without worrying about what the media disseminates. Technically Bilderberg is not a Secret Society, but many conspiracy theorists worry about the influence their meetings may have, given the secrecy of their content.
3. Conspiracy Theory. The Secret Societies in the XXI s
Many of these societies are still active today, although they jealously guard their secrets.
Some of them do not hide their existence from public opinion, but nobody really knows their intentions. This is the case of the Skull & Bones university fraternity or the Bilderberg Group, with its veiled references to an Invisible Government . Others, like the Illuminati, acted entirely from the shadows, but they are presupposed to such a chilling power that rumors have given rise to a multitude of Conspiracy Theories . These theories blame certain secret groups for the most relevant events experienced by mankind, such as the two World Wars, the murder of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the fall of the Twin Towers, global control by multinationals or the current economic crisis .
The Hopi Indians of Northern Arizona have a curious prophecy : No one can buy or sell if they don't have the bear brand. When that mark is visible, it will be the signal announced by the Third Great War.
It seems that the famous Bear Mark could refer to bar codes whose marks have a certain similarity with those that would leave a bear's claw on a soft surface, (or that would imagine an Indian of the last century when he saw for the first time a bar code in a prophetic vision).
The current trend towards a virtual and virtually guarded world, the gradual disappearance of cash, being replaced by electronic reading cards and online transfers, massive data control over the Internet, the option, less and less remote, that future citizens can be identified by a laser tattoo engraved on their skin, the increasingly political international situation, terrorism, unemployment, general dissatisfaction, the working class full of debts, corruption of politicians, instability of currencies, the resurgence of racism and xenophobia ... makes us think of George Orwell and his dark novel " 1984 "
Is it true that there are Secret Societies with a preconceived plan to gain global control of the planet? Men and women who use ancestral knowledge to occupy the key positions of senior financial, political, economic, religious and scientific management?
Rüggeberg said: “ All those atheists and agnostics who gather in the progressive means of the Church, declaring that occultism and magic are only superstitions for the poor in spirit, are far from imagining that they have been fooled, and that they do not more than following the guidelines consciously programmed by certain lodges or churches. More than one famous atheist in his time would be revolted today in his grave if he knew that it was the members of the secret orders and lodges that gave him the awards of honor and decorations. It was necessary, in truth, that it remained a good instrument capable of spreading very specific false ideas. ”
I am not very much in favor of conspiracy theories, and I wish to think that most of these Societies were born for high spiritual purposes ; But it is unquestionable that something strange is happening in our days. We will have to keep our eyes wide open ...
AUTHOR: Eva Villa, editor in the big family hermandadblanca.org
MORE INFORMATION in the manuals: " History of the Secret Societies " by Ramiro Calle and " The Secret Societies and their power in the twentieth century " by Jan Van Helsing.
