8 posts tagged “templars”

First, on this the occasion of the 50th episode, I want to express my thanks to all who have listened to Occult of Personality podcasts as well as all the writers and researchers who have graciously spent some of their time with us. It is my humble wish that you may have learned as much by listening to these podcasts as I have by helping to create them.

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In this 50th episode, we’re joined by Masonic scholar, researcher, and writer Angel Millar. He has an extensive historical knowledge of The Craft and associated fraternal orders and societies. We begin our conversation with the subject of the origins of Freemasonry and the seemingly diverse streams that may have fed it, specifically ancient Mysteries, stone masons, neo-Templarism, Enlightenment philosophies, and Christianity.

"Freemasonry: A History" by Angel Millar

The discussion delves into Rosicrucianism, particularly the Golden Rosicrucians that formed the basis for later Masonic Rosicrucian societies, such as Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia. This material is fascinating for those that enjoys the mysteries of the origins of Freemasonry and Rosicrucianism. Millar does a fantastic job of explaining his perspective based on extensive research displayed in both his first book, “Freemasonry: A History” and upcoming book, “The Forest of Symbols: Freemasonry and the Western Esoteric Tradition” soon to be released by Ouroboros Press.

"The Forest of Symbols: Freemasonry and the Western Esoteric Tradition" by Angel Millar

We also cover topics like Sacred Geometry, the concept of clandestine or irregular Masonry, The Rite of Strict Observance, The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and Aleister Crowley’s Masonic adventures.

Rose Croix

Our friend Bishop T Allen Greenfield returns to the show to talk about Gnostic history and philosophy.

"Ancient of Days" by William Blake (1794)

Dr. Greenfield is particularly well-qualified to discuss this subject considering his extensive experience in Gnostic churches serving as bishop. Our conversation covers the definition of Gnosis and Gnostic, the history of ancient sects, the philosophy through the ages, modern permutations of the Gnostic doctrine, and Dr. Greenfield’s own personal lineage.

an interpretation of the Gnostic Cosmos

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Notable points include differing perspectives on the concept of the Demiurgus and the resultant differences in the views on body and spirit, the secret societies and esoteric orders that have carried the Wisdom, and Apostolic succession.

"Montsalvat, the Castle of the Grail" by Franz Stassen (1903)

“These are mysteries, O Israel,
Difficult to understand.
With much searching shalt thou still fail
To grasp them,
Unless thy search be rightly prosecuted.
Yet the Way to Understanding is ever open
To him who will follow it steadfastly.
It is the Way of the Heart,
And thou shalt be guided therein
By thine own inner Hearing.”

- Paul Foster Case from “The Meditation on Vav” in “The Book of Tokens”

Key 5 - The Hierophant

relevant links:

Smashing Illusions - Dr. T Allen Greenfield’s Livejournal web site

The Assembly of the Knowledge and Wisdom of Solomon

“T Allen Greenfield’s Spiritual and Fraternal Heritage”

Ecclesia Gnostica Universalis

The North American College of Gnostic Bishops

previous appearances - “Podcast 35 - An Inquiry Into Suppressed Information“, “Podcast 31 - Scrying the Universe“, and “Podcast 17 - The Secret Cipher”

“Victorian Fire: The Origins of Sexual Magick” by T Allen Greenfield

“Fragments of a Faith Forgotten: The Gnostics, a Contibution to the Study of the Origins of Christianity” by G.R.S. Mead

“Gnosis: The Nature and History of Gnosticism” by Kurt Rudolph

“Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times” by Roelof van den Broek

intro music by HipGnosis

outro music by The Quiet Earth Orchestra, excerpt of “God” (thanks to John Ludi)

Although the 18th century is often referred to as the “Age of Reason and Enlightenment” in the history books of western civilization, this is merely an interpretation to avoid the prevalence of mysticism and occult studies by the very same men credited with scientistic philosophies. The resurgence in the ideals of alchemy and Hermeticism were in full bloom in western Europe and their colonies as evidenced by the study of historically important personages from George Washington and Benjamin Franklin to Voltaire and Rosseau and so many more. It is actually a very interesting dichotomy in that some occult philosophies predominant in this time period did actually seek to improve and progress humanity, although their motivations and methods may seem so antiquated as to be incomprehensible to some and questionable, at best, to others. No doubt one of the most interesting, being the most mysterious, was the Comte de St.-Germain.

Read more...

Comte de St.-Germain

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... the great materialistic progress which we have venerated for so long is on the verge of bankruptcy. We can no longer believe that we are born into this world to accumulate wealth and abandon ourselves to mortal pleasures. We see the dangers and realize that we have been exploited for centuries. We were told the twentieth century was the most progressive that the world has ever known, but unfortunately the progression was in the direction of self-destruction.

To avoid a future of war, crime, and bankruptcy, the individual must begin to plan his own destiny, and the best source for the necessary information comes down to us through the writings of the ancients. The greatest knowledge of all time should be available ... in a book that would be a monument, not merely a coffin.

- Manly P. Hall in the preface to the diamond jubilee edition of The Secret Teachings of All Ages

The Secret Teachings of All Ages

Manly P. Hall

★★★★★

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Perhaps one of the greatest works of occult reference ever composed, Manly P. Hall's The Secret Teachings of All Ages is a true masterpiece. Were it to be published for the first time nowadays, the subtitle would of course be included on the cover -- "An Encyclopedic Outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic, and Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy." This tome covers all these topics and many more. This is the book that sits on my desk as a reference to be opened first, whenever a question arises or a quote is required. Hall has truly recorded exactly what his title indicates. How this epic tome came to be is a story in itself.

Hall was born March 18, 1901 in Peterborough, Ontario. His parents divorced and he was raised in Sioux Falls, South Dakota by his maternal grandmother, Florence Palmer. A sickly child, Hall spent much of his time reading. At some point, they moved to Chicago and then Hall attended a military school. When Hall was sixteen, his grandmother died. Somehow, a young Manly Hall ended up in the care of a "self-styled Rosicrucian community" in California. Hall lived with this group until, at age nineteen, he became "suspicious of their claims of ancient wisdom" and moved out on his own. From this point, Hall's star began to rise. He lectured on various esoteric topics and garnered notoriety and sponsorship from many apparently very influential people to continue his esoteric studies. He traveled the world in search of ancient wisdom, including Egypt, India, China, and Japan. He was provided access to libraries containing ancient manuscripts that most men have never laid eyes upon, and most likely never will. Beginning in 1921 this research culminated in a two-year period from 1926 - 1928, during which time the majority of the research and writing was done. The most shocking thing of all is that this amazing book was completed before Hall's twenty-eighth birthday! Hall did not only research and write this massive book, he raised funds and published it himself. The first printing was primarily for the many who invested in his project. It was such a hit that it has never once been out-of-print.

Manly Palmer Hall

From his quote at the beginning of this piece, Hall's motivation for writing, securing financing, and self-publishing The Secret Teachings of All Ages was in reaction to the blatant and reckless materialism he saw in society at the expense of the spiritual and mystical. Hall seemed to realize quite early in life that, for him, and he believed humanity, materialism was a false light that would leave only empty shells. His intent was to stoke the inner flame of wisdom and convince people to turn inward, just as he had done. Throughout his life, Hall was not a social man, somewhat reclusive, he lived the life of an ascetic. He knew the things he wrote and spoke of because he lived the ideals -- "He who lives the Life shall know the Doctrine."

The Secret Teachings of All Ages reads like a book written by a master, someone who has studied these topics for a lifetime, not less than a decade. Hall was clearly a prodigy, or savant, of a sort with the ability to absorb, internalize and decipher esoteric knowledge from many thousands of sources, if not more. However, one must at least ask, is there not some other method that Hall employed to compose this authoritative work? The following exchange illustrates the point:

The first question Mr. Claude Bragdon, American mystic, asked Mr. Hall after their first meeting in New York in 1937 was: “Mr. Hall, how do you know so much more about the mathematics of Pythagoras than even the authorities on the subject?” Standing beside both these dear American friends of mine, I was wondering with trepidation in my heart what reply Mr. Hall would make. “Mr. Bragdon,” answered Mr. Hall quickly, unhesitatingly, and with a simultaneous flash of smile in his eyes and on his lips, “you are an occult philosopher. You know that it is easier to know things than to know how one knows those things.”

Is it likely that Hall was assisted in more than just access to materials? No one can answer that for certain, but keep a few things in mind: Hall was raised from age 16 to 19 by a Rosicrucian group, he was associated with a myriad of other societies, including Freemasonry, he was also familiar with most every mystical and esoteric practice that was ever known in the past several thousand years, and probably some that weren't so well known.

There are also a number of accusations regarding the book and Hall's association with Masonry that concern Lucifer. In scouring the book to determine the nature of these charges, there doesn't seem to be much basis. To be clear, let me quote from the text, the main section dealing with Lucifer, in a section entitled, "The Sun, A Universal Deity," and you can be the judge:

Certain Rosicrucian scholars have given special appellations to these three phases of the sun: the spiritual sun they called Vulcan; the soular and intellectual sun, Christ and Lucifer respectively; and the material sun, the Jewish Demiurgus Jehovah; Lucifer here represents the intellectual mind without the illumination of the spiritual mind; therefore it is "the false light." The false light is finally overcome and redeemed by the true light of the soul, called the Second Logos or Christ. The secret processes by which the Luciferian intellect is transmuted into the Christly intellect constitute one of the great secrets of alchemy, and are symbolized by the process of transmuting base metals into gold. (p. 142)

As Hall wished during his lifetime for people to turn away from their base instincts toward the spiritual and philosophical pursuits, his great work accomplishes that. The Secret Teachings of All Ages has been recognized as one of the foremost books on spirituality, the occult, and ancient myth and symbolism ever written. Although never out of print, when the Reader's Edition was published in 2003, the book became even more popular. In an effort to understand Manly Hall and his great work a bit more, we're pleased to bring you an interview with Mitch Horowitz, the publisher of The Secret Teachings of All Ages, Reader's Edition. Thanks very much to Mitch for taking time out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions.

Can you describe your initial reactions to reading The Secret Teachings of All Ages and why you and others (myself included) find it such a compelling work?

I was astounded at the depth of learning in the book and at the author's willingness to take seriously subjects that were often dismissed as fantasy. When Hall wrote the book, for example, mainstream academia was closed off to questions of re-dating the great pyramids or of whether the Delphic oracle provided a mediumistic experience similar to that of Victorian spiritualism. Due to current archeological research, academics have now come around to seeing the Oracle at Delphi in the manner presented by Hall -- i.e., as a kind of ancient channeled reading -- and, while there remains overwhelming resistance to the pyramid question within academia, that subject has come to public attention through the interest of legitimate independent scholars. So, the Secret Teachings was not only ahead of its time, but took measure of all range of unusual subject matter that had not been given its proper due.

Would you please trace the path from your introduction to the book to publication of the reader's edition in 2003?

Like most readers I was dismayed that the book was so physically difficult to read, being oversized and featuring small typefaces and so forth. I thought: What if this book could be re-set in standard text and read a more straightforward manner? I found that such an approach brought out a readerly dimension to Hall's writing that was not otherwise apparent. So, I had the entire work scanned, re-typed, and fully redesigned. In so doing, I attempted to retain as many of the original illustrations as possible -- and certainly those that were key to the text. It was a really interesting experience turning the Secret Teachings back into a veritable manuscript and seeing it as a might have looked when it rolled off Hall's typewriter.

Several times in your article, you alluded to the fact that Hall completed this massive tome that is still the standard before his thirtieth birthday. I find it amazing that one so young, and not even a professional researcher or academic, was capable of producing a book so crucial that any library is deficient without it. Would you care to speculate: is it more likely Hall was what we call today a prodigy, that he was being directed and assisted by one or more teachers, or some type of spiritual inspiration and communication? Perhaps some combination?

It really is astonishing that he wrote the book by age twenty-seven. That is one of the true mysteries of his achievement. Especially since some of his earliest writings -- such as his letters from abroad -- reveal no particular virtuosity. Some people have speculated that he had a photographic memory or was a kind of savant, which I think may be valid. Regarding other possibilities, such as some kind of supernormal communication or some such, it it simply too speculative to say. But this is an area that I am in real question about.

Do you think Hall's private life (secluded, not social) is a result of his fascination with occult secret teachings? Do you believe there to be any connection to the spirituality and mysticism that Hall studied and the ascetic lifestyle which he seemingly lived?

That's an interesting question. In once sense, it is a matter of sobering caution that Hall's vast knowledge of different spiritual systems failed to feed his own personal life in certain obvious ways -- for example, he was taken advantage of by various figures toward the end of his life. He did, of course, maintain some friendships (Bela Lugosi, Burl Ives). But as far as his general existence, he was a fairly ascetic man -- probably as a result of his single-minded work style than anything else.

Did you have any contact with the Philosophical Research Society for your research?

Yes, I am friendly with the current director of PRS Obadiah Harris and have had the privilege of entering Hall's vault there, among other things.

What are some other authors and books on the occult that you enjoy?

Hidden Wisdom, New Edition: A Guide to the Western Inner Traditions

I very much admire the writing of Richard Smoley and Jay Kinney, the founders of Gnosis magazine. Their book "Hidden Wisdom" is as good a primer to esoteric subjects as one is likely to find. I also like a classic work called (unfortunately!) "The Black Arts" by Richard Cavendish -- a much finer book than its title might reflect.

The Black Arts: An Absorbing Account of Witchcraft, Demonology, Astrology, and Other Mystical Practi

Can you 'talk' a little about Hall's hope to bring his contemporaries' consciousness to spirituality? Do you believe that with the publication of the new edition that Hall's work is reaching a wider audience beyond the usual?

It is remarkable that the new edition is building a contemporary readership for Hall. He is probably one of the only occult writers of his era who is actually growing in popularity. One could argue that our times reflect his own: A wide gap between haves and have-nots; an entertainment-obsessed society; a great deal of emphasis on money-making at the expense of ethics. But I think the popularity of his book has to do mostly with the fact that the new edition permits the book to be discovered for the very first time among many readers -- and the quality of his work is of a kind all its own.

Please describe the reaction and feedback you've received about the reader's edition.

Overwhelmingly positive. I've not gotten a single negative remark that I can recall. People are delighted that book is not only readable, but also affordable. It creates a first-time experience for many people who owned but could never read the previously edition because of its physical unwieldiness.

Would you mind sharing a bit about your upcoming book?

Sure -- I actually just made an agreement this past Friday with the publisher Bantam. Here is blurb that is just now being sent to the publishing media:

"Tarcher/Penguin Editor-in-Chief Mitch Horowitz' first book, OCCULT AMERICA: The Secret History of How Mysticism Conquered America, was preempted by Bantam. A book populated by a wonderful cast of spiritual gadflies, adventurers, and impresarios, OCCULT AMERICA tells the story of how a young America hosted, transformed and was ultimately transformed by the mystical philosophies and practices of the Old World."

The book deals with personalities such as Manly P. Hall, Paul Foster Case, Edgar Cayce, and many, many others who remade the occult in America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and, in so doing, helped lay the groundwork for the revolutions in alternative spirituality that marked our own generation.

Thanks again to Mitch Horowitz for all his efforts with the Reader's Edition of The Secret Teachings of All Ages and appearing here. Mitch's article entitled, "The Mysterious Career of Manly P. Hall," in episode 6 of Sub Rosa Magazine was the main reference and inspiration for this article and interview.


Although available online here -- http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/sta/, the Reader's Edition is so well done that your home library deserves a copy.

Also, don't forget the Manly P. Hall Memorial and Archive.


Copyright 2007 by Occult of Personality. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Eliphas Levi's Goat of Mendes aka Baphomet

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Called many things by many people, we still have no definitive concept of the Templars' Baphomet. According to their  accusers and some occultists, the horned goat's head of the winged, sacred hermaphrodite (the Goat of Mendes), worshiped by the Knights Templar in their secret lodges along with myriad other Luciferian rites was known as Baphomet. According to Manly P. Hall, 33rd degree, in The Secret Teachings of All Ages:

The practice of magic -- either white or black -- depends upon the ability of the adept to control the universal life force -- that which Eliphas Levi calls the great magical agent or the astral light. By the manipulation of this fluidic essence the phenomena of transcendentalism are produced. The famous hermaphroditic Goat of Mendes was a composite creature formulated to symbolize this astral light. It is identical with Baphomet, the mystic pantheos of those disciples of ceremonial magic, the Templars, who probably obtained it from the Arabians. [1]

Jennifer Emick describes it as, "one of the most misunderstood religious symbols of all time." She provides the historical background:

The name Baphomet is derived from an enigmatic figure first described at the trials of the Templars, a medieval order of Crusader Monks accused of Heresy, witchcraft, and other crimes against the Catholic Church.

... King Phillip of France, possibly with an eye toward gaining control of Templar finances, issued secret orders to have all of the Templars in France arrested on grounds of heresy and sorcery. Torture elicited confessions of various crimes and heresies from many of the Knights. The laundry list of unlikely confessions included spitting on the cross, denying Christ, and worshipping an idol called Baphomet.

The Baphomet is still an enigma, and there is of course some debate whether or not it was a real item or the product of torture. Several knights recalled that Baphomet was variously a severed head, or an idol possessing two or four heads, or sometimes, as a goat or goat's head. The name is highly unusual, and many suggestions about the origin of the word have been put forward. Idries Shah has proposed that the name is a corruption of a name of Mohammed. Abufihamat, pronounced "Bufihimat," a word very similar to Baphomet, is Moorish-Spanish for "father of wisdom," an epithet used to describe the Prophet. This seems unlikely, although there seems to be a concerted effort to link the Templars with Islam. The Templars certainly had contact with Muslim ideas, and even incorporated symbols of Islam into their emblems, but Islam forbade Idol worship just as strenuously then as now- creating an image of the prophet in order to worship it would have been a tremendous blasphemy. [2]

sigil of Baphomet

spherical astrolabe

The astrolabe is a model of the heavens. Based upon the assumption that the Earth is at the centre of a spherical universe, the ... astrolabe reproduces ... the positions of the Sun and of some of the major stars, as seen by an imaginary observer, outside the sphere looking upwards, at a particular time in a particular latitude.

spherical astrolabe

Because the astrolabe can be set to show the poitions of these heavenly bodies at different times of day or night, on different dates and for different latitudes, the instrument is also a computer, serving to solve problems concerning the position of Sun and stars at any given time. It will therefore resolve problems which depend upon these movements, such as the length of day or night at any specifed time. [3]

spherical astrolabe @ Chateau Anet

[Some astronomical uses for this device would have included:] measuring the altitude of the Sun, measuring the altitude of a star, setting the astrolabe from the Sun, setting the astrolabe from the altitude of a star, finding the time in equal hours, and finding the unequal hour by day, finding the unequal hour by night, finding the times of sunrise and sunset, finding the time of rising or setting of a given star, converting equal hours to unequal hours, setting the astrolabe for a given time and date, and using the shadow square [for purposes of surveying or construction]. [4]

The Mysteries of the Great Cross of Hendaye: Alchemy and the End of Time

Jay Weidner & Vincent Bridges

The most persistent story, first told in the thirteenth century, has Gerbert, while still archbishop of Rheims, constructing a magical bronze "head" that foretells the future. The "head," of course, announces that Gerbert will indeed be pope, which, considering his shaky position as archbishop, was a bold prediction. A similar story of a bronze head would be told about other medieval magicians, including Roger Bacon and Albertus Magnus. It also suggests, in an indirect way, the "head" the Templars were supposed to have worshiped, the mysterious Baphomet.

These similarities  are not accidents, but glimpses of the design behind the symbols. Richer, in his Histories, gives us the clue. In the sentence after he mentions Gerbert's hermetic accomplishments, we are told that Gerbert had also designed an armillary sphere [spherical astrolabe] with which he could determine the location of the sun and the planets in relation to the celestial sphere. Interestingly enough, the earth in this model was round, five hundred years before Columbus.

... In symbolic terms, this sphere of knowledge became the "head" possessed  by all famed students of the art in the Middle Ages.

spherical astrolabe

The mysterious name of the Templar's "head," ... Baphomet, phonetically in Arabic, Aramaic, and Hebrew, is simply bet'amet, or "place of the truth." The root ba or bet is the same as the ba in Baal, and can signify a house, a place, or the action of filling space. The "place of truth" used as a title could well be meant to signify the space-filling "house" of the Cube of Space in the celestial sphere and the value of its prophetic insight. Over time, the simple phrase became a code word for the secret itself. The Templars did not worship their bronze head; they meditated on it and studied it closely for clues about the secret of time and timing of their alchemical operations. [5]

Update: We've received a photo of particular significance to this theory. Noted researcher and author of Living in the Matrix Another Way: Numerology for a New Day and his latest, In These Signs Conquer, Ellis C. Taylor (http://www.ellisctaylor.com/menu.html) sent in a photograph from Rosslyn Chapel, the Scottish home of the Templars, showing a spherical astrolabe! I didn't have any idea about this when writing the above article. It was only once Ellis contacted me that I learned of this astonishing circumstance that goes hand in hand with the evidence offered above to help substantiate the theory. Thank you Ellis!

spherical astrolabe @ Rosslyn Chapel

1. Hall, Manly P. The Secret Teachings of All Ages, Readers' ed. (New York: Tarcher/Penguin, 2003). p. 316.

2. Emick, Jennifer. "Baphomet: Templars and the Origin of Baphomet." http://altreligion.about.com/library/weekly/aa030103a.htm

3. The Planispheric Astrolabe. (National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England). p. 8.

4. ibid. pp. 25 -31.

5. Weidner, Jay & Bridges, Vincent. The Mysteries of the Great Cross of Hendaye: Alchemy and the End of Time. (Rochester, VT: Destiny Books). pp. 130 - 132.

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

Albert Pike 1

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.”

... 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.

Rule by Secrecy

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.

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.