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APPENDIX THREE
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The
Minoan Civilization of Crete
The
Mediterranean island of Crete, south of
Greece. Some speculate that the Minoan Civilization
was a remnant of Atlantis. Click here for
info on
Crete |
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Our thesis
concerning the global influence of the Irish,
and the Arya,
is substantiated by archaeological
and technical discoveries in recent years.
It is confirmed by recent studies into the
Minoan civilization of Crete. Two modern
authors who have examined the Minoan culture
are Alan Butler and Stephen Dafoe. Their
books The Warriors
and the Bankers and The Knights
Templar Revealed, furnish us with an new
understanding concerning this Aegean
civilization that so closely resembles the
Irish. Unfortunately, like so many researchers
throughout the ages, these authors do not
consider anything but the East to West
transit of the elements of civilization.
That the reverse situation could have
occurred is, alas, a question that does not enter their minds
even though their own discoveries, when seen
from the correct perspective, strongly
support the theory. Some of their key
discoveries regarding the Cretans and the
world's powerful secret societies strongly
vindicate our personal controversial beliefs regarding the
importance of the Irish Druids (the Arya) in
world history. |
While
looking into the geometry employed
by the Cretans in the creation of their cities, towns,
and ritual centers, the authors inadvertently stumbled
across proofs concerning the West to East movement of
the elements of civilization. It became clear to Butler
and Dafoe that some ancient Western race had not only
measured the Earth in detail, but had created a vast
network of geomantic lines across Britain, France, and
Western Europe. Knowledge of these lines, and of their
creators and purpose, has been preserved by the world's most powerful
dynasties, particularly the Knights Templar Order of
France and England. The men at the head of these dynasties
changed the history of the world.
The Templars
arose from many prominent European dynasties, several of
which had close ties to Eastern dynasties. The European
dynasties include the following:
Merovingian
Carolingian
Angevin
Brandenburg
Carpetian
Guise
Welf (Guelph)
Haspsburg
Hanover
Battenberg (Mountbatten)
Bowes-Lyon
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
Oldenberg
Plantagenet
Savoy
Stuart
Tudor
Windsor
The Templars,
rose to power in the French regions of Burgundy and
Champagne had intimate
connections with the Roman Church. Indeed, during the
eleventh century, these families were officially
commissioned by the pope to attack Jerusalem and take it
from the Islamic Saracens. Allegedly, during the thirteenth
century, the Templars fell from grace and were
excommunicated, and finally sought out and destroyed
under orders from the Pope.
Who Were the Cretans?
We will not rehash official ideas concerning the
Minoan civilization. We refer readers to the
Wikipedia entry for the
relevant information.
The
Egyptian Connection
From an academic point of view, the Minoan civilization is considered the finest in
Europe. It was sophisticated and an inspiration to many
other races. The work of Butler and Dafoe reveals
the Cretans to have been a technically
advanced Western people. As we mention above, recent discoveries suggest the Cretans were related
biologically or, at least
economically, with the Hyksos kings of Egypt. Artwork
found in the Hyksos city of Avaris appears to be of
Cretan artifice, and a few investigators believe
trade took place between these peoples.
Writers, such as Ralph Ellis, point to the fact that when the Minoan civilization was brought to an
end by the devastating volcanic eruption on the nearby
island of Thera, the Hyksos empire subsequently went
into rapid decline. The search for a stronger
relationship between the Hyksos of Egypt and the Cretans
continues.
Examples of Minoan merchandise have regularly turned
up in various tombs in Egypt. They have been found
in the Levant and, through the matter is somewhat
contentious, Minoan-type jewelry and goldwork has
even been found in the graves of Wessex Culture, a
race living in what is now southern England at a
time contemporary with Minoan Crete at its heyday.
The Cretans established a chain of outposts
throughout the Aegean and the Mediterranean...trade
was probably on a fairly large scale. Soon after the
takeover of Crete by the Mycenaeans of mainland
Greece sometime around 1400 BC, there are records to
indicate that the palace of Knossos alone was
running over 50,000 sheep
- Alan Butler &
Stephen Dafoe (The Knights Templar Revealed)
...there is much
on Crete from Minoan times to show the existence of
a flourishing middle class which may have been
partly made up of private merchants. Plush villas
have been located, some very close to the many ports
of the island, whilst in those places where everyday
Minoan life is viewable, such as in the lava-buried
settlement on Santorini, it appears that even the
common folk of the Cretans lived a very comfortable
life - ibid
Cretans and Philistines
After the Minoan civilization was decimated by the
eruption of Thera, the Cretans took refuge
in the Levant where they were known as the Philistines.
It is important to remember the antipathy which existed
between the Philistines and the Israelites. Given that
the latter were of the Hyksos clan we can say
that there may be flaws in the theories of certain
investigators (such as Ralph Ellis) who have assumed a
connection between the Cretans
and the Hyksos. If this connection was as intimate as
asserted then we are bound to ask why those "Israelites,"
whom we now understand to be identical with the Hyksos,
would not be close
friends or allies of the Philistines? Either the Bible's
accounts are inaccurate, or we have to consider it
likely that the Philistines (originally from Crete) were not,
in fact, affiliated with the biblical Israelites in an
intimate
way. The Hyksos (Israelites) were patristic. They were
Atonists. And this also suggests they were
unrelated to the Cretans whose entire civilization
revolved around goddess worship. The fact that the
Cretans, and possibly the Philistines, were matriarchal
may be one of the main reasons for the antipathy
reported to have existed between them and the Hyksos
people. The chief god of the Philistines was Baal. This
is most suggestive, since Baal was probably a version of
the Irish and Phoenician Bel. Baal (pronounced bayal) was associated with the bull and this
animal was venerated by the arch-enemies of the
Hyksos, the Amenists of Egypt.
And so, an alternative
theory could be that the early Cretans were closer to
the Amenists of Thebes, rather than to the Atonists
(Israelites) of Avaris and Heliopolis. And since the
Cretans were influenced by Megalithic races from the
West, could their Amenist confederates in the land of
the Nile not also have been? We
see no reason to doubt this conjecture.
The Minoan civilization
was based on sheep and salt. The Dead Sea area is
exceedingly rich in salt, which is why the
Cretans, or Philistines, would have been satisfied to set up a new base
in the region after their own homeland was rendered
unlivable.
...the very name "Palestine" is directly responsive
to Minoan Crete for it derives from the word
"Philistine" which is the name given to a particular
group of people present in the area by the emerging
Hebrews, who themselves were operative in Palestine
from about 1400 BC onwards...significant amounts of
Minoan-type artefacts have been found in Gaza
Technology of the Elder Race
The Druids are men of
penetrating and subtle spirit, and acquired the highest renown by their
speculations, which were at once subtle and profound. Both Caesar and
Mela plainly intimate that they were conversant with most sublime
speculations in geometry and in measuring the magnitude of the earth
- Ammianus Marscellus (Historian 350 AD)
Despite the cover-ups and lies told about the
ancients we find that the further we go back in time the
more sophisticated and elaborate the technology becomes.
The skill of the ancients can hardly be fathomed. We
also find that the technological expertise and
scientific abilities were transported across Europe in a
direction contrary to the official consensus of
establishment historians. We find that the technically
endowed race moved from the West to the East and not the
other way around.
The late
Professor Alexander Thom, an engineer from Oxford
University, worked tirelessly for many decades,
carefully surveying and measuring the many
megalithic standing stones, stone circles and other
alignments left on the landscape of Britain and
parts of France since truly ancient times. One
important fact emerged as a result of such tireless
efforts. Almost every monument, dating from at least
3500 BC until around 1500 BC, had been built using
the same basic linear measurement. This, Professor
Thom discovered, was on average 82.96656 cm in
length and he named it the "megalithic yard"
When applied to
the geometry and mathematics that Alan had
discovered in Crete, it became obvious that the
megalithic yard was part of a mathematical "world
view" that had perpetuated across a vast period of
time and throughout large areas of Europe. With the
megalithic yard and the geometry of which it was an
intrinsic part, the ancient peoples of Britain, and
locations much further afield, must have had an
astonishing knowledge of the true dimensions of the
Earth upon which they lived
The
Cretans and Unknown Western Influences
The Cretans had formed an important part of the
"megalithic cultures" originally emanating from the
far west of Europe, though thanks to a twist of
geological fate, they ultimately found themselves
living amidst the Semitic races in the Middle East
The megalithic
yard is much older...and was certainly in use in
Britain as early as 3500 BC, at which time the
Minoan civilization was still a full thousand years
short of its ultimate emergence. Since there is
little or no evidence of the existence of the
megalithic system within central or southern Europe,
the inference must surely be that the Minoan
civilization ultimately responded to ideas that had
originated further West
Religion of the Cretans
In
terms of religion, the chief deity seems to have
been a goddess whose personality differed depending
on what sphere of life was the focus of attention at
any particular point in time. Nature worship was
certainly present, with a preference for the
depiction on ritual vessels and seals of various
types of trees
- Alan Butler &
Stephen Dafoe (The Knights Templar Revealed)
Xavier
Guichard and Earth Geomancy
Guichard believed that parts of western Europe had
once been covered by a series of long straight
lines, sometimes running for many kilometres across
the landscape. Many of these, he maintained,
commenced at central "hubs" and radiated outward,
like the spokes of a bicycle wheel...along along the
lines were settlements which contained place names
of a very specific type. All the places in question
contained an "al" component, for example "Alaise," "Calaise,"
Falaise," and the like
The
Salt Line Dynasties
The "al"
component, Guichard believed, was the remnant of
the Greek word "hal," which means salt. Guichard
through therefore that these lines across the
landscape had been a form of navigation most
probably used from the early transportation of salt
from one place to another
Ancient Occult
Geomancy Revealed
In addition to
the radiating "bicycle spoke" lines, Guichard also
claimed to have found another, completely different,
set of lines. These were very much like the modern
lines of longitude and latitude to be found on any
map. Once again these were sprinkled with the "al"
place names, but unlike modern lines of longitude
and latitude, they were not exactly I modern degree
of arc apart. Guichard's lines...were almost exactly
59 modern minutes of arc apart...the period during
which Guichard claimed the lines had been laid down
was contemporary with the use of the megalithic yard
and in the same geographical areas
...our Bronze
Age ancestors had considered the Earth to be split
into 366 divisions, and not 360...it stood to reason
that longitudinal lines would be very slightly
closer together. The expectation was that they would
occur at just over 59 modern minutes of arc
The
"Celtic" Connection
The Celts, probably moving into Britain after about
500 BC, had shown a great reverence for the Salt
Lines and had placed many shrines and sacred sites
upon them. This had also been true of the Romans
and, later, the Anglo-Saxons
The most surprising aspect to Salt Line research lay
in the fact that it soon became obvious that the run
of the lines, though actually invisible on the
ground, had retained a mystical significance for
countless centuries after those creating the lines
had ceased to exist
The
Templar Connection
After discovering the work of Xavier Guichard, and after
researching the so-called "Salt Lines" which had existed
all over France, Britain, and Western Europe from
ancient times, Alan Butler discovered something
interesting about the elite Norman families of France
that had accompanied William I to England in order to
invade and conquer that country. The Normans who had
estates and houses on prominent locations of the Salt
Line matrix deliberately set up their new English
estates and houses on Salt Line locations. This act
confirmed their awareness of the Salt Line matrix.
What's more, Alan Butler discovered that some of the
most prominent Normans who were positioning themselves
so deliberately, according to occult megalithic
geometry, played a prominent part in the Crusades and in
the creation of the Cistercian monastic order. These
Normans seized Britain for the Vatican and they also
lead the war to take Jerusalem from the Saracen. They
were the same men who went on to form the Knights
Templar. The work of Guichard, Butler, and Dafoe,
therefore, reveals that the Templars were fully aware of
Druidic geometry, and had taken great pains to empower
themselves by way of it. The Knights Templar were
closely associated with the Order of Zion and Knights of
St. John Hospitalers.
It
was whilst studying these very powerful French and
Norman families that Alan started to come across the
names of individuals who had played an important
part in the prosecution of the First Crusade, which
captured Jerusalem for Christianity in 1099. These
same families, and other Salt Line families who were
blood-related to them, had been instrumental in the
formation of the Cistercian monastic order and that
of the Knights Templar
The
Templars and the Cistercians
Butler and Dafoe's assert that the Templars were an
offshoot of the Cistercian monastic order whose vast
estates sat all too precisely on Salt Line locales. Like
the Templars, the Cistercians were keepers of Druidic
knowledge concerning the Earth.
Our initial research had already shown connections
between the families involved in the evolution of
the Cistercians and the Templars and the megalithic
peoples of Britain and France. Perhaps, we
postulated, there were also tangible associations
between the same people and the remnant of the
Minoan civilization, itself a megalithic culture
The
Essenes, Templars, and Cistercians
Butler and Dafoe have thrown new light on that
mysterious sect known as the Essenes. The Essenes are
believed to be the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls which
the Vatican wished to sequester after their discovery in
the mid 1940s. Officially, the Essenes have been considered
an extremist Jewish sect who broke away from the synagogues
and temples of the Pharisees and Sadducees in order to
live a monastic life. However, there is little actual
proof for this conjecture, and scholars cannot agree on
the actual origins or beliefs of the Essenes. Butler and
Dafoe maintain that there are close parallels between
the Essenes and the Cistercian order. If this be true,
it would establish a direct link between the Essenes of
the ancient world and the Knights Templar. One of the
accusations levied to the Templars by the Church of Rome
(after their fallout) was that they venerated a severed
bearded male head. If the Templars did indulge in a
practice of this kind it might be because of their
relationship to the Essenes since John the Baptist, the
beheaded initiator of Jesus Christ, was an Essene
leader.
...we can find no monastic institution anywhere near
as similar to the Essene communities as that of the
much later Cistercians
The
authors go on to delineate the parallels of belief and
activity between the Essenes and Cistercians in their
book. (See page 43).
The
Merovingian Connection
Central to the rise of the Templars and Cistercian order
was the powerful Merovingian kings and princes. This
French dynasty was very ancient. It may have been
connected to the Amorites.
Interestingly, the syllable mero (from
"Merovingian") is not far removed from Amero or Amarru,
the name for the ancient Amorites of Syria and Babylon.
They
may have also been related to and descended from the infamous Hyksos
dynasties of Egypt. It appears that this is likely since
the Freemasonic orders which arose due to Merovingian
patronage embody Atonist-Israelite theology. Moreover,
the authors Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry
Lincoln have asserted, in their much disputed book
Holy Blood, Holy Grail, that Jesus Christ was a Merovingian. Alan Butler and Stephen Dafoe have
uncovered crucial facts about the earliest days of the
Knights Templar and have exposed the Merovingian
influence behind the French cabals. Their findings
substantiate a good deal of the information to be found
in Holy Blood, Holy Grail, which was published in
1982. The authors emphasize that Europe was radically
changed by the Cistercian and Templar nobles whose
craving for power knew no bounds.
All was well in Frankish Gaul until the reign of
Dagobert II...held the throne between AD 673 and
676. The kingship of Dagobert did not last long and
yet it represents one of the most important
departures in the story of the Cistercian and the
Knights Templar. As a result of Dagobert's death, a
cauldron of conflicting ideas and interests came
about. Amidst the ensuing turmoil, the old Salt Line
families of France and Britain embarked n an
initiative that nearly turned Europe completely on
its head. The ultimate result of their efforts was
the creation of the Cistercians and their armed
brothers, the Templars
The
authors insist that Dagobert had spent time in Ireland
were he had been exposed to the teachings of the Culdean
monks. Through them he learned a heretical type of
Christianity that was frowned upon by the Vatican
hierarchy. The complex dynastic agreements which existed
between the Vatican and the kings of France would be
jeopardized if a hostile king came to the throne,
replacing the forefathers who had been so easy to
control. The Vatican set about supporting a Carolingian
king to supplant Dagobert whom they distrusted. They
wanted a puppet king completely loyal to the tenets of
Roman Catholicism, and not someone that had been
contaminated by Irish Culdaism infused with Druidic
elements. This alignment with the Carolingian dynasty
was unusual given the fact that the latter had no love
for Roman Catholicism, and had even persecuted Latin
Christians. Frankish Catholicism under the Merovingians
and Carolingians was the greatest threat to Roman
Catholicism. Causing divisions between the Frankish
dynasties was a good way to strengthen and ensure the
Vatican's own domination. The French kings had invaded
and conquered Britain and were a powerful force to be
reckoned with.
The Franks conquered territory far beyond the
original borders of their homeland, extending down
into northern Italy and threatening the autonomy of
the Vatican. Ultimately, feudal values were passed
to the emerging Normans who in turn carried the
principles, together with the now fully developed
Roman Catholicism, to England after the Conquest of
1066
The
Burgundian Connection
In the history of secret societies certain locations
figure prominently. Burgundy in mid-eastern France is
one such location. We recommend the reader refer to the
Wikipedia entry on this
region which, along with neighboring Lorraine and
Champagne, played such a major role in the history not
only in the creation of the Cistercians and Templars but
in world history.
Reason for the Crusades
The authors believe that one of the main reasons why
the Crusades were planned had to do with the need to
deal with the population explosion occurring in France
and other western European countries. The Vatican
promoted the martial and chivalric way of life and tales
of adventure and conquest which enflamed the heroic
spirit. The west could be depopulated once men fervently
rode east to war. Rival families and hostile nobles
could be weakened and property left unclaimed by those
knights who never made it back home.
Toward the end of the eleventh century, the
population of western Europe was growing rapidly.
The rise in feudalism had led to the creation of
numerous major and minor aristocratic families, many
of which had large numbers of sons, only a few of
whom could hope to inherit family estates
Godfroi de Bouillon
One of the most
interesting aspects of Godfroi's arrival in
Jerusalem is that it was known he was attended by a
virtually anonymous group of obviously very powerful
individuals. Forming a sort of shadowy conclave,
they appear to have wielded more power than Godfroi
himself - Alan Butler &
Stephen Dafoe (The Knights Templar Revealed)
The men at the head of the Templar and Cistercian
orders, those "contaminated" by Irish Culdeanism were
Dagobert II, Hugh de Payens, Hugh de Champagne, Andre de
Montbard, and Godfroi de Bouillon, a Merovingian
descended from the Emperor Charlemagne and closely
related to the ruling dynasty of Burgundy.
Godfroi de Bouillon
- His Templar colleagues, and many
other nobles of France and Europe, were
taught and guided by Irish Culdean monks,
steeped in the Druidic tradition which they
publicly abolished. The
Cistercian Order, of which Bernard de Clairvaux was a most senior member, was
founded by
St Robert of Molesme. |
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When the
Crusaders seized Jerusalem Godfroi was offered the
crown. He mysteriously turned the offer down and his
brother Baldwin became the first king of Jerusalem. The
French Templars had extended their dominion even further
afield. This made them happy but even though they were
employed by the Roman Church, they now posed and even
greater threat to that Church which watched Frankish
expansion with caution. The authors stress that there
were very important reasons why Godfroi rejected the
privilege of becoming the first king of
Jerusalem. (See Volume Two). They focus
attention on what was happening secretly in
the city of Troyes, the capital of the
Templar elites. It was from
the palace of the Hugh, Count of Champagne, that plans
were being laid for the overthrow of the Roman version
of Christianity. The Burgundian families had been raised
in the Culdean tradition and although they outwardly
took orders from Rome they secretly despised Rome's
control. Hugh and his close associates, including
Godfroi de Bouillon, wished to end the power of the
Vatican and replace its version of Christianity with
something older and more "elevated." |
Bernard de Clairvaux
Soon after this time a major figure in Christian
history appears on the stage. His name was Bernard de
Clairvaux, and he was a major spokesman and advocate for
the Templars.
...in
1115, so the story goes, Hugh, Count of Champagne
offered a tract of land not far from Troyes for the
foundation of a new Cistercian abbey. Bernard was
only twenty-five years of age and had been a monk
for just over two years and yet, against all the
odds, he was chosen to be abbot of the new
establishment, which he called Clairvaux - Alan Butler &
Stephen Dafoe (The Knights Templar Revealed)
At
heart, Bernard of Clairvaux was a believer in the
old Roman and Celtic Church which had ruled its own
affairs, quite immune from interference from the
king or his vassal lords. This was the Burgundian
and Merovingian way, and the Salt Line families
appear never to have swayed from a belief in
extremely old forms of Christianity - ibid
Bernard de Clairvaux had
close ties with Ireland. He was one of the
founders of the Cistercian movement that had
its first monasteries in Ireland |
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De
Clairvaux was instrumental not only in the progress of
the Cistercian order of France but also in the
education and nomination of Pope Innocent II (real
name Gregorio Papareschi) who would replace Pope
Honorius II in Rome. Interestingly, his choice was
based on the fact that Innocent was a committed
believer in the sanctity and importance of the
Virgin Mary. Bernard himself was particularly
enamored by king Solomon, and we cannot stress the
significance of this enough. Did the Knights of the
Temple of Solomon adopt their name because they
admired this old world, Old Testament, figure more
than Jesus Christ?
Further evidence
for Bernard's personal respect for a feminine
aspect to godhead comes from his virtual
obsession with a book of the Bible known as
Solomon's Song of Songs. This is one of the
strangest parts of the Jewish and Christian Old
Testament, and at base owes little to Judaism in
its present, orthodox sense
- Alan Butler &
Stephen Dafoe (The Knights Templar Revealed)
|
Another reason why
Bernard de Clairvaux's role was so vital to the
advancement of the Knights Templar is clarified when we
understand the content of his document De Laude Novae
Militae ("In Praise of the New Knighthood"),
written in praise of the Templars and to bring them
public recognition. The document was conceived by Hugh
de Payens who desired a way to make the world understand
what made the Templars different from other chivalric
orders, and a Templar different from other knights.
Apparently, this piece of propaganda worked wonders for
the order. In particular, the document stressed that the
fact that the Templars were a fraternity of monks as
well as soldiers.
Thus in a
wondrous and unique manner they appear gentler
than lambs, yet fiercer than lions. I do not
know if it would be more appropriate to refer to
them as monks or as soldiers, unless perhaps it
would be better to recognize them as being both.
Indeed they lack neither romantic meekness nor
military might - Bernard de Clairvaux (De
Laude Novae Militae)
The original
Templar knights remained in Jerusalem until 1127
when most of them returned to Champagne.
There, in Troyes...they were officially declared
to be a monastic order sanctioned by the pope of
the day, Honorius II. No pope would have been
wise to refuse the request, especially since it
was made by Bernard of Clairvaux, undoubtedly
the most powerful man in Western Christendom by
this period
- Alan Butler &
Stephen Dafoe (The Knights Templar Revealed)
Templars, Cistercians
and Nasoreans
Helinand,
the most frequently quoted medieval author on the
subject of the Grail, was greatly influenced by
Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), the same Bernard
who had been personally responsible for obtaining
the papal rule for the Knights Templar. There were
profound links between Bernard’s monastic order, the
Cistercians, and the Nasoreans, who fought and died
for Jerusalem in AD 70. The Cistercians wore white
robes, as did the Nasoreans, and so to did the
Knights Templar before adding their red cross -
Philip Gardiner and Gary Osborn (The
Serpent Grail)
◊ ◊ ◊
From
The Warriors and the Bankers
by Alan Butler and Stephen Dafoe
In this fine book on
Templar history, the authors deal with three crucial
areas that have given rise to much controversy. They
deal with the all-important connection between the
Knights Templar and the Freemasons, with the differences
between Scottish Rite and York Rite branches of Masonry,
and with the role of Switzerland as a new bastion of
Templar power after the purges of the fourteenth
century.
We present a few
important passages from the book:
Philip IV of France
He was known as Philip le Bel, meaning "the Fair."
However, despite his nice sounding name he was a tyrant
and sought to destroy the Templars and steal their
wealth. He was in league with the weak Pope Clement V,
who resided not in Rome but in Avignon, France.
Owing to the weakness and irresolution of Pope
Clement, the royal plan succeeded. After an
unsuccessful attempt of the Pope (in August, 1307)
to unite the Templars and the Hospitallers, he
yielded to the demands of King Philip and ordered an
investigation of the order, against which the king
brought charges of heresy - (page 15)
Clement V (1264-1314) |
|
Philip IV (1268-1314) |
The
Templar and Rosicrucian Connection
Templar graves have been found in several sites in
Palestine which contain a carved effigy of a
warrior's sword, which itself is a cruciform shape,
around which are entwined roses - (page 54)
...the route taken
by the rose into Templar beliefs probably owes a
great deal to a pre-Christian deity called 'Rosemerth,'
who was worshipped in Lorraine (now a part of
France) since time out of mind. It was at her
shrine, Sion Vaudemont, that the Virgin Mary was
first named 'Queen of Heaven,' a theme that St.
Bernard of Clairvaux took up some 60 years later.
St. Bernard influenced the Vatican to offer Mary
this position officially - (page 54-55)
...the common dog
rose (Rosa Canina) is rare among plants in that it
does not have to be cross-fertilized to produce its
fruit, the rosehip. In this sense the rose is
capable of virgin birth, and it seems unlikely that
this potential was lost on our distant ancestors -
(page 55)
...the first time
that the Rose Cross was mentioned in conjunction
with a contemporary and espoused religious belief
was in the early part of the 17th century, when a
series of documents known as the 'Rosicrucian
Manifestos' began to circulate in Western Europe.
Authorship of these documents has never been
irrefutably established, but they were probably
written by a man called Johann Valentin Andrea, a
Protestant preacher from Wurttemberg in Germany
- (page 55)
Protestants and Rosicrucians
...Europe was deeply damaged by the Thirty Years
War, which represented a setback for Catholicism as
the driving religious and political force in Western
Europe. For a while the Catholic forces made great
gains and Protestant sympathizers flocked out of
Europe, but especially to Holland, to find refuge in
England. Many of them were aided in their flight by
a quasi-Masonic-type institution known as 'The
Christian Unions.' The main organizer of these
clandestine brotherhoods was Andrea, also supposedly
author of the Rosicrucian Manifestos -
(page 55)
Luther
and the Rosicrucians
It
is extremely doubtful whether the first stirrings of
rebellion against the Catholic Church, again
propagated by a German, Martin Luther, of the 16th
century, could ever have become the raging force for
reform that it proved to be in the following
century, without the bravery and persistence of men
and women who held Rosicrucian ideals -
(page 58)
The
Invisible College
Rosicrucian ideals grew apace and nowhere more so
than in Britain, though it is impossible to assert
that ideas such as these were anything out of the
ordinary to a particular section of society in
Britain at the time. A specific group of early
Freemasons, most of whom also enjoyed Rosicrucian
leanings, had already formed themselves into a
fraternity called 'The Invisible College,' which
began meeting in the middle years of the
1640s...Most of the first members of the Royal
Society were either known Rosicrucians, or else were
staunch supporters of similar beliefs - (page
58)
Templarism and Freemasonry
...According to the United Grand Lodge of England,
Freemasonry began in 1717 with the formation of
Grand Lodge, whereas the Knights Templar were
disbanded and dissolved not so long after the 1307
persecutions of King Philip IV of France. It follows
therefore that there was a gap of four full
centuries between the last Templar and the first
Freemason...any person who has looked at the issues
carefully must first come to the conclusions that
not only did the Knights Templar, in one form or
another, very definitely survive beyond 1307, but
that Freemasonry, on one form or another,
significantly pre-dates the 18th century - (page
71)
Freemasons do not
consist of one cohesive body, centrally run and
all-encompassing. The Masonic fraternity consists of
the individual members who gather in individual
Lodges. These Lodges are, in turn, governed by a
Grand Lodge. Although each Grand Lodge worldwide
recognizes the others, with few exceptions, there is
no one universal governing jurisdiction.
-
This is
the reason why there can be so many ideological
differences between lodges and individual
freemasons. The Irish lodges can be separated
into Orange and Green. We have the Republicans
on one side and the Loyalists on another. In
Germany, there are English lodges with English
fascists as members. In Italy, Propaganda Due,
is a Catholic order of ardent fascists competing
with left wing Freemasonic lodges. There are
elite lodges with Protestant nobles and royals,
and lodges were the members are primarily
Catholic, like P2. And although Masons are meant
to believe in the brotherhood of all men, white
lodges, particularly those of upper class
members, rarely if ever allow Blacks or Asians
to become members.
Not only does the fraternity owe its existence to
Templarism, the fraternity seems to loudly proclaim
it in a number of ways...the Masonic body known as
York Rite contains three sub-groups called Capitular,
Cryptic and Chivalric Masonry. These three bodies of
the York Rite are perhaps better known...as The
Royal Arch, Cryptic Rite and Knights Templar. It is
this latter branch that smacks of Templarism,
containing the Chivalric distinctions of Illustrious
Order of the Red Cross, Knight of Malta, and Order
of the Temple (Knights Templar). These Chivalric
Masons meet in Preceptories or Commanderies
generally named after heroes of the Crusades, for
example 'King Baldwin Preceptory' - (page 72)
The homage to
Templarism does not end here for modern Freemasonry,
as even its group for young men is called de Molay
after the martyr of the Knights Templar - ibid
Scottish Masonry
If
we assert, as we must do, that Freemasonry is
originally a Scottish peculiarity, we must, of
course, support our belief with proof and this proof
starts with the Masonic guilds. Guilds of operative
masons had existed since early medieval times not
only in Scotland but all over Europe. These
fraternities were something of a mixture between a
trade organization and a trade union, bent of
protecting the interests of those participating in a
particular trade - (page 73)
The
Sinclairs
...as early as 1441 James II, who was King of
Scotland at the time, appointed the St. Clair
(Sinclair) family as patrons and protectors of
Scottish masons. The King made this a hereditary
office and declared that annual meetings would be
held in Kilwinning, Scotland. This early date
roughly coincides with the building of Rosslyn
Chapel, near Edinburgh, and it is upon the bastion
of this sturdy little Gothic masterpiece that so
many claims for the origins of speculative
Freemasonry rest - (page 73-74)
...it has been
suggested that Hugh de Payens, the first Grand
Master of the Templar Order, was married to a St.
Clair heiress. There is no doubt that the St. Clairs
are of French origin, or that St. Clair eventually
became Sinclair - (page 76)
The earliest
Scottish reference to a 'speculative' Lodge of
Freemasons comes from...a charter of 1598...well
over a century before Grand Lodge in London was
formed. The first speculative lodge was already
known in the 1598 charter as 'The Old St. Mary's
Lodge,' ...It was located in Edinburgh, which is
only a few miles from Roslin, and for some time
after this, successive charters, signed by Scottish
monarchs, attest to the fact that the Sinclair
family had historical rights to Scottish Freemasonry
that predominated over those other families
- (page 77)
York Rite Freemasonry
This is the predominately Protestant branch, as opposed
to the mainly Catholic Scottish Rite branch whose
members supported King James of the House of Stuart. The
York Rite branch was initiated by Protestant Charles
Howard of the prestigious Howard family who owned vast
territories of land in North West England and in
Yorkshire.
The Howards had been tremendously powerful in
England or centuries, having been, since the days of
Richard III, the Dukes of Norfolk...one branch of
the family, headed by a noted turncoat and political
opportunist by the name of Charles, ultimately
became Dukes of Carlisle...There they intermarried
with the D'acre and Greystoke families, gaining vast
estates in Yorkshire, to add to those in Cumberland
- (page 81)
The Third Earl of
Carlisle, another Charles, fell out with his
political contemporaries in the North West, and
decided to build a fantastic new seat, close to
York. This house, Castle Howard, was built on the
ruined foundations of an Anglo-Saxon castle called
Henderskelfe - (page 82)
Castle Howard
positively shouts Freemasonry, from the pyramids and
the obelisk in the grounds, to the Bacchanite,
Cerenite and astronomical treatment of the Grand
Hall, staircase and dome. And there is little doubt
that this branch of the Howard family have been
staunch Freemasons up to the present day. In fact,
even before this section of the Howard family split
from its Norfolk counterparts, it is known that the
Dukes of Norfolk were early Freemasons
- (page 82)
The Dukes of
Carlisle were Protestant by inclination. it is
therefore highly likely that Charles, though a keen
Mason, would have wished to distance himself from
Freemasonry, many of the members of which were
plotting the return of the Stuart monarchs. As a
result it seems highly likely that Charles Howard
was instrumental in either taking Freemasonry to
York and replaced the Stuart affiliation with one
based on early Anglo-Saxon history, which showed
England as superior to Scotland and he avowed
Christianity to lie at the center of the York Rite
- (page
82)
Replete as it is
with Christian symbolism, York Rite Freemasonry
still espouses Templar beliefs - probably to a
greater extent than any other branch of Freemasonry
- and in this regard it is representative of the
Sinclair's earlier, Scottish, Freemasonry -
(page 83)
We have shown that
Templarism has been endemic to Freemasonry from its
inception, long before the formation of Grand Lodge
in London. It is apparent that the transformation
from Templarism to Freemasonry took place in
Scotland at the time of the building, by the Templar
family Sinclair, of Rosslyn Chapel...During the
reign of James I, a Scottish-born Stuart King, it
travelled from Scotland with the King and his
ministers, and took root in England. Ultimately it
fell into disfavor during the difficulties
experienced by the Stuart monarchs, and lived
underground until the Hanoverian accession. At this
time it was 'massaged' to accommodate the needs of
the moment and its Stuart sympathies were exorcised
- (page
83)
From first to
last, and despite the patently absurd assurances to
the contrary by representatives of Grand Lodge in
London, Freemasonry...is Templarism reborn, at a
time when to be a Templar in a Christian country
would have meant death...the Knights Templar could
never have have been totally destroyed by the
actions of one European monarch, even though that
king had the backing of a tame Pope - (page 85)
Templarism and the Switzerland Connection
...the Templars remained absolutely central to
everything that was happening in Europe, and what is
more they were partly instrumental in the formation
of the Western World as we know it today. The
Templar state was, and is, Switzerland
- (page 86)
Many authors have
shown the very strong association between Templar
history and ideals and a particular French dynasty -
the Merovingians. Clovis I, the first Christian
French monarch, had been born of this bloodline...it
is almost certain that Merovingians, and what they
had represented, lay at the heart of Templarism and
the Merovingians had been especially strong in the
area we today call Switzerland. Chief amongst their
strongholds in the Alps had been the town that today
is known as Sion, the very name of which shouts
Templarism, and lives as a testimony to the virtual
obsession regarding Sion - Jerusalem - that lay at
the heart of the First Crusade -
(page 87)
At
the self-same moment in history when the Templar
order found itself facing public approbation, and
when the crowned heads of Europe at last seemed
powerful enough to stem its influence, a new and
remote mountain state, thought one on the very
frontiers of France, began to forge its
independence, with the use of a soldiery that became
synonymous with efficiency, bravery and ferocity
- (page 88)
It
was in Geneva that the League of Nations was formed
after the First World War, and it was also from
Geneva that the International Red Cross sprang up in
the 19th century. Earlier still, Switzerland had
fostered the embryonic notion of Protestantism,
which without the important bastion it found in
Geneva, may never have survived to challenge the
retarding and corrupt influences of the all-powerful
Catholic Church in the 16th and 17th centuries -
(page 93)
◊ ◊ ◊
Important References
Professor Thom and his Megalithic
Yard
The Pyramids of Scotland (Templar
Symbolism & Geomancy)
Crusaders and Saracens
The Dragon Court
Philip IV
Clement V
Relevant Websites
http://www.stephendafoe.com/
http://www.templarhistory.com
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