We hope that we have not overloaded the reader with a string of carefully-selected quotes with which we begin our investigation into the legends and mysteries of our collective past. This collective past, which we have all inherited, is more relevant to us today than many would realize, for it demonstrates to us all the record of where we are headed, unless we awake from the slumber we are in, and achieve ILLUMINATION.
ILLUMINATION. We like that word. We who have been illuminated. We who have received LIGHT. Light? The Light of Wisdom, achieved after years of a long and painstaking quest for it. In short, to become ILLUMINATI.
We don't want to drive people away at this stage. All people have the potential to achieve this same illumination. That is what the historical Buddha demonstrated. That is what the man they call Jesus Christ also attempted to demonstrate. Also, that is what Aleister Crowley demonstrated. This, too, is the aim of the great schools and secret societies of all times.
In this Aquarian Age, the priesthood of the mysteries is no longer a closed affair. One attains access by self-work. There are no head mucky-mucks in charge, selling attainments for shekels, unless they are bogus frauds, which they most certainly are.
We initiated ourselves into this invisible school. And you, too, shall be initiated, or at least you shall be enlightened, should that be your True Will.
One must always remember to keep an open mind, because the territory we are about to cover is the most controversial you shall find. No doubt there will be some who will say that this is only "his own insignificant opinion..." And, still others will be so outraged by what they read, that they will denounce this work. In so doing, they will only cause it to come into high demand, as is the case with the works of our predecessors.
These ideas are our own, yes. But... not entirely, for they have been expressed time and time again, over the millennia, and not always to the liking of the authorities, secular or ecclesiastical. How did we come to hold these ideas? -- this is the question most often asked by those who are either merely curious, or those who disagree with us.
As is the case with a good number of us, Mystery led us to the door of the sacred edifice of the Lodge of Wisdom. It took us on a long and arduous trek across the space-time continuum. We came to the winding staircase, we were admitted among the brethren, between the pillars. We are pledged to endure unto the end, yet we have just begun.
It all started with a book. That is the typical answer. It matters not, really, how we got there, for what we found as we journeyed is more worth the telling, than the journey itself.
Rather than the typical aspirant in search of Wisdom and Eternal Truth, our orientation -- our aspiration was more like that of Chandler's Marlowe, or Burroughs' William Lee.
We had been brought up in a system of belief that explained nothing in terms of the Greater Truths, but gave plenty of rules and false hopes. So, we sought to prove that our conditioning was based on false premises.
To help us in our quest was the ground-breaking works of Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln. The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, call it what you will, is a gem of great price. Even if one could find flaws in their arguments, or in their research, of, for instance, a blood descent from Jesus to the Merovingians, there is enough in these investigators' works to warrant a life time of research.
A lot of the bizarre legends of High Grade Freemasonry become intelligible, and the ultimate secret of the Order, of all Lodges, Crafts, Fraternities, Mystery Schools, Orders, Temples, Orients, Conspiracies, Priesthoods in every place and in every time period becomes discernible.
But --- we are saying too much at this point in the story.
Story. This is a story, not entirely our own story, or any one person's in particular. This is our collective story. The parts in the teacher's edition which aren't printed in the student's copy.
Zecharia Sitchin calls it the Earth Chronicles. He is worth reading, even if some people don't like him, or consider his work to be pedestrian, or some people consider him to be a part of the whitewashing that the Conspiracy enacts on us all. We shall refer to his Great Work of a lifetime, as we wade through the marshes of southern Iraq, and Ancient Sumer...
Our Story shall pick up, more or less, where his leaves off, perhaps later than that. We shall examine the old legends of Sumer, Egypt, and other Ancient societies because they have a bearing on our "more recent past," of the last 2,500 years.
We recognize that the areas with which we are dealing include matters that are purely speculative. This is the stuff of dreams and nightmares, myths and legends. Or is it? Somebody has, over the years, deemed it important enough to write of certain things which cannot be casually shrugged off and dismissed with the usual explanation concerning personification of the powers of nature, the parts of the subconscious mind, the unconscious mind, or the parts of the soul, or vegetation cycles, or the nature of humankind.
It is true, all myths and legends do that. But -- what of the tales of Giants, and beings from Beyond the Gate? What of stories concerning Jesus Christ that bring the legitimacy of the whole edifice of Christendom into question? What if, history as we know it, is as Henry Ford put it -- All Bunk???
We all know that history is written by the victors. But --- what happens to the history that actually took place? People are thrilled by conspiracy stories that concern J F K, the Insiders, and the Aliens. What will people say when they are faced with the discoveries presented in the body of our work? Of course, it has all been written a thousand times over and that in just the past few years...
We were once quite content in adopting a somewhat agnostic, existentialist view of things. Being and Nothingness and all that jazz. But -- then we were snatched away by the Goddess of Wisdom and led by the hand, step by step, through history's hidden back alleys.
If the conclusions which Messrs. Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln, as well as researchers like Hancock, Gardner, Picknett, Prince, Knight, and Lomas -- arrived at, were earth-shaking initially, then those which we offer will liberate the Palmdale bulge.
For many thousands of years the charge has been the same: MAN, KNOW THYSELF. This is what our conclusion involves, and this is what this mystery story leads to. Even so, we have given away nothing. This story involves cover-ups, conspiracies, secret priesthoods, devil worship, sexual orgies, drugs, decent folks getting robbed by scoundrels, love, romance, intrigue, politics, religion, blasphemy -- in short, the makings of a good adventure.
This story involves the Holy Grail, as the essential mystery is that of the Grail. This story involves the period when the fountain of lies itself -- the Orthodox Christian Cburch -- was spawned.
We are not in any way opposed to the original movements which existed in the Near East, that Christianity came from, nor are we opposed to lashing out against him whom the Orthodox Fanatics decided to name Jesus. We shall get to this as we proceed. In fact, we have discovered a long and continuous chain of Initiates, Teachers, Schools, and Disciples that extends from (at least) the 6th Century B. C. E., to the present day.
This is the stuff of conspiracy hack writers -- no doubt. Nesta Webster did a good job of it in her fascist and jesuitical publications. Her Secret Societies and Subversive Movements, though fascist trash, is highly informative from a historical perspective, and tells an interesting story. Instead of condemning it, we who embrace these traditions with all our being should give thanks.
After all, it's not so bad as she makes it to be. The story is quite entertaining, once the opinionated trash is removed!
We must acknowledge our Legacy with courage rather than deny it. It is only cowardice and shame that makes grown men deny that which can be demonstrated to be true. We will not say absolute truth, for we believe not in absolutes like the fundamentalists, but in relatives, like the Gnostics and Buddhists.
And, as those who inspire us have said, it matters not that these things really happened. What matters is that SOMEBODY believed they did.
What indeed would be the result if the world's population were given incontrovertible proof that the stories they've been told to accept as historical truth were little more than a pack of bald-faced lies?
And, if we are supposed to view our ancestors' beliefs and practices to be debased superstitions, isn't it only fair play to include the superstitions of those who condemn our ways? For is it not the superstition of superstitions to believe in a saviour outside of ourselves, who will destroy our enemies on judgement day as long as we get down on our knees and let psychic leeches give our mind and spirit an astral spinal tap, whilst emptying our wallets? Or is it superstitious, sinful, evil and wicked to learn to Know Ourselves, that we were made in the image of the Eternal, and not be afraid of death, and have control over our own destinies, individually?
We shall return to this conflict, again and again in our enquiry, for it is the stumbling block that has kept Western Society ignorant, and still does to a great extent, even when matters of religion and spirituality enter not into the discussion.