The Infamous Albert Pike, pt. 2

This is the second part of a series that began here.

The conclusion from that first part is that Albert Pike was a very important, high-level Freemason who wrote a book and revised the rituals that the Scottish Rite still uses today, although it is not as widely publicized since 1974. Pike’s early career as a seemingly-shamed Confederate general was certainly not publicized.

Pike worked as a prolific writer, researcher, newspaper editor, and attorney. It appears that he finished his life in relative poverty, depending on a stipend from the Supreme Grand Council.

As noted previously, the allegations against Pike are quite outlandish, but the difficulty is in determining exactly what is and is not true. Let’s look at it from a perspective of likelihood in relation to what is generally accepted as fact about his life, and Pike’s own words. Is it likely that Pike was an occultist and magician? Absolutely, his own words and deep understanding of Masonic ritual points to this.

"Magic is the Science of the ancient magis...

Magic unites in one and the same science, whatsoever Philosophy can

posses that is most certain, and Religion of the Infallible and the Eternal.

It perfectly... reconciles these two terms... faith and reason... those who

accept (magic) as a rule may give their will a sovereign power that will

make them the masters of all interior beings and of all errant spirits; that

is to say, will make them the Arbiters and Kings of the world..."
(Lewis Spence, "Myths and Legends of Ancient Egypt",
London, 1915, p. 263).

Did he actually have a bracelet that he used to communicate with Lucifer? Is it likely that he believed so, based on his own words about religion and the occult? Probably not.

"All real masonic lodges owe their secrets and symbols to the Cabbala.

Only the Cabbala confirms the union between the common and the

heavenly world. It is the key to the present, the past, and the coming."

"Every masonic lodge is a Temple of Religion;

and its teachings are instruction in Religion."

Baphomet (is) "the primary element of the

Great Work".

"Like all secret societies, the Knights Templar had

two different doctrines, one secret and exclusively for the leaders,

the other public."

"The Order lived on, under different names and headed by

unknown masters, and revealed its existence only to those who, by

passing through a series of degrees, had proved themselves worthy of

being entrusted with the dangerous secret.”

In an effort to better understand these complex belief systems, we read in Jim Marrs' Rule by Secrecy:

... quoting Pike's book Magnum Opus as stating, "All have admitted two gods with different occupations, one making the good and the other the evil found in nature. The former has been styled 'God,' and the latter 'Demon.' The Persians or Zoroaster named the former Ormuzd and the latter Ahriman; of whom they said one was of the nature of Light, and the other that of Darkness. The Egyptians called the former Osiris, and the latter Typhon, his eternal enemy."

... Pike wrote that Adonai, one of the biblical names for God, was the rival of Osiris, the Egyptian sun god, a prominent figure in Masonic traditions.

... in his book, Morals and Dogma intended only for the inner core of Masonry, made it clear that worship of the sun was an adulteration of an earlier belief. "Thousands of years ago, men worshipped the sun....Originally they looked beyond the orb [our solar system's sun] to the invisible God....The worship of the Sun [the invisible God] became the basis of all of the religions of antiquity," he wrote.

These quotes indicate that while Pike's spiritual belief system may aptly described as a Gnostic or Manichean worldview. This is not intended to try to downplay the apparently diabolical actions of Pike, or what he believed, only to try to put it into some sort of familiar conceptual perspective. How this differs, or not, from the beliefs of the Bogomils or Cathars is intriguing, especially since the noble Cathar families formed what would later become known as the Knights Templar. This, of course, brings to mind the work of Hancock & Bauval in Talisman.

Next, we turn to the Illuminati allegations. The information regarding Pike’s supposed prediction of three world wars is most completely summarized here. There are several crucial elements to be considered. First, there is no documentary proof of the letter that contains the predictions. Second, the letter’s supposed text contains references to political ideologies and groups that may not have existed, or even been conceived of, when the letter was supposedly drafted. Now the nature of the Illuminati itself would lead us to believe that, if he was in fact a member, Pike would know these political ideologies and their effects in advance, as the Illuminati would have formulated and manipulated these forces. This, of course, leads right to the allegation that Pike was the third leader of the Illuminati. This, of course seems completely over the top and so lacking in credulity that we must go beyond the allegation to what seems to be a conspiracy against Pike and his fraternity by Anti-Masonic forces.

At this point, it is crucial to consult the text that best describes much of the furor and the spurious allegations that continue to be made about Albert Pike to this day, A.E. Waite's, "Devil Worship in France". This book shows how much of the Anti-Masonic doctrine was formulated out of thin air by those directly affiliated, or currying favor, with the Vatican. I would encourage you to read "Devil Worship in France" if you've read this far and are curious about Albert Pike and what is known as the Leo Taxil hoax.

Based on this available information, it is clear that knowledge about Albert Pike is very crucial to understanding not only the modern history of the occult, but history in general. You must be the judge of what is accurate and what is conspiratorial conjecture.

Another point to bear in mind is that the truth usually lies in between the allegations and praise. The ideas expressed in his later writings are a higher consciousness at Work.