| THE MASONIC INTERPRETERS. | | | | spawned, like the Order of the Temple and Christianity, |
| | | | thousands of spurious and mediocre organizations |
| | | | purporting to be keepers of one secret or another. |
| A clouded vision of Templar heritage. | | | | The masonic order apparition stands out in a singular |
| Few organizations in history, apart from the Knights | | | | way, since despite the timely creation of a central |
| Templar have been so praised and vilified with respect | | | | lodge that brought in the Scottish unrelated origins, it |
| to their hidden hand in world destiny. If we had to | | | | became an instrument of one country or another |
| choose the one which comes easily to mind, we would | | | | under different authorities with or without political |
| no doubt all call out "The Masons". Trying to tie down | | | | aspirations and never with religious ones. The rituals |
| either the Templars or the Masons at any point of their | | | | adopted by each and every one varies within a core |
| individual histories is a matter of complicated analysis. In | | | | collection created by Scottish and British speculative |
| some cases, highly dangerous, in view of the fringe | | | | masonry. Some, like the Scottish rite, unite lodges |
| fanatical element lying just beneath the surface of | | | | throughout the world in this respect but have no |
| organizations that even today for better or for worse, | | | | bearing on the foundations of those lodges and their |
| are crowded with people of a very low threshold of | | | | local commitments. The hard fact is that there is no |
| critical acceptance. The reality of both these totally | | | | such thing as an international Freemasonic movement. |
| unrelated organizations is not difficult to expose, | | | | Despite certain misgivings about the nature and abuse |
| provided that the subject is not dealt with from a | | | | by some members of this somewhat curious and |
| prejudicial standpoint. | | | | dangerously secretive organization, it has to be |
| The matter before us is the world of so called | | | | acknowledged that the style and presentation of its |
| freemasonry and it should be stressed from the first | | | | initiation levels is inspiring. They are, morever, also close |
| instance that it has absolutely nothing to do with the | | | | to those originally organized by Orders like that of the |
| Order of Knights Templar despite the inclination by | | | | Templars (who based their teachings on the visual and |
| many of its members to think that they inherited the | | | | dramatic interpretations of the ancient mystery |
| Templar tradition, secrets (and for some), the Order | | | | schools) and the Hashishim who also geared similar but |
| itself. Neither has this social organization anything to do | | | | more lethal displays to produce a psychological effect |
| with builders or ancient history since despite the | | | | on which further, mind altering, training would be based. |
| question of a so called seventeenth century | | | | Discussions with former high executives of the |
| "Freemason" called Ashmole, utilized as proof, to the | | | | Freemasons, who joined the modern Order of the |
| point of desperation, what is now British Freemasonry | | | | Temple in an attempt to learn more about the nature |
| is no older than the turn of the eighteenth century. Nor | | | | of the secrets, confessed that they had gone in |
| has the Scottish version anything to do with the | | | | enthusiastically and left rather disappointed about what |
| Templaea either, however much smoke Scottish die | | | | they called a non event. Taking everything into |
| hards throw at the cameras and against which they | | | | account, it seems more likely that the genuine secrets |
| have not been able to produce one single document | | | | were not given to the breakaway apprentices at that |
| that testifies to the effect. This of course does not | | | | early stage and substituted formats put into place. The |
| deny the possibility that Templar knowledge and a | | | | masonic movement inherited the vacuum created by |
| form of identity did not come down via this channel | | | | the fall of the French aristocracy but whereas it |
| through the centuries and original Priory archives. The | | | | honoured the memory that the Templar lodges had |
| country however, suffered a severe Templar | | | | worked hard to forge for themselves, the institutions |
| backlash when its knights under the authority of an | | | | did not survive and their work was taken up by the |
| indignant Prior, Aumont, who managed to protect his | | | | formal educational authorities that emerged in different |
| own and offered asylum to many others, found | | | | countries and their prolific teachers, The Jesuits. |
| himself cut off from the underground movement that | | | | The different masonic movements do not represent a |
| the Order had become under Larmenius, the Latin | | | | world power and even lodges are aligned at angles to |
| Patriarch recorded in the Cistercian archives. Marc | | | | each other with the further disorder that even its |
| Larmenius is fully documented as a historical figure and | | | | members belong to so called different degrees that |
| also according the Cistercian records, the grandmaster | | | | make its holders behave with elements of social |
| reputedly chosen by Jacques de Molay before his | | | | superiority between themselves. This is not a criticism |
| execution and who gave his name to the Larmenius | | | | of the movement as a whole, but a necessity to |
| Charter and Marc masonic lodge in London. What has | | | | rectify the false attributions many masons make to |
| happened is simply called disinformation and all in a | | | | those who are unwilling to belong to something so |
| desperate attempt to deny the continuation of | | | | secretive and behind which the ideological masters |
| probably the most powerful organization in world | | | | cannot be seen clearly. But let us go a step further.... |
| history, whose influence in view of some of the | | | | Effectively, what Ashmole joined was a Templar |
| modern Templars I met throughout the world, has been | | | | lodge supported by the Jesuits in their hidden efforts to |
| far from extinguished. | | | | spread knowledge in accordance with the teachings of |
| These odd Masonic/Templar assertions which serve | | | | Jesus, whom the Templars classified as one of their |
| only to attract members and fill coffers as a result, are | | | | ancient Grand Masters (if we are to have any faith in |
| easily challenged but it is not the purpose of this | | | | the documents inherited by the 18th.century followers). |
| exercise to attack anything or anybody - merely put | | | | The basis of knowledge as the essence of freedom |
| things in their correct perspective. I am an admirer of | | | | was directly related to one of the many concepts that |
| significant organizations and whilst one could not call | | | | Jesus himself had made clear, was the way forward. |
| the Masonic movement well run or socially important | | | | The Jesuits therefore were doing just that and they |
| any more, it is a strangely respectful one which should | | | | not only had the full support of the hidden and influential |
| perhaps modernize to carry out its so called chivalric | | | | Templars at high levels of society, but it is probable |
| aims and perhaps instill genuine ethical standards on its | | | | that Ignatius of Loyola was well prepared for the |
| somewhat confusing membership. It is a very well | | | | purpose beforehand. The Jesuits undoubtedly carried |
| known secret that the copy of the much maligned | | | | out Templar aspirations for knowledge for all and |
| Larmenius Charter which some bad writers have | | | | which was something which the Church dreaded. The |
| denied themselves the privilege of investigating all it's | | | | Masonic degree relating to the apprentice pillar and the |
| incredible facets, (before ascribing it ridiculously to | | | | attempt to prevent the skills from being passed on, |
| masonic mischievousness), is much revered by the | | | | contains the moral that any attempt to do these things |
| masons themselve. s It is also the selfsame copy | | | | will result in the truth coming out eventually and the |
| which was once handed into the French National | | | | vindication of the foul deed. There is a great deal of |
| Archives by a terrified grandmaster of the Templars - | | | | material of the time that shows that the Knight |
| now considered a traitor by the Order of the Temple. | | | | Templars had brought a great deal of documentation |
| The introduction of non aristocratic grandmasters into | | | | to Portugal and it is no coincidence as noted in the |
| the Order after the French Revolution was a mistake | | | | modern Templar records, that a vast number of cases |
| and one which caused more than one future leader of | | | | were taken from the crypts of the Templar church of |
| the Templars to lose his nerve. The use of a modern | | | | Tomar by German Officers just before the end of the |
| word in the Larmenius Charter document, now | | | | war - a matter recorded in municipal archives. Much of |
| attributed to a translation, has formed the basis of the | | | | what the Templars brought over had been made |
| arguments against its authenticity despite the many | | | | available to them by their original allies,the Ishmaeli |
| other aspects which flood the mind with genuine | | | | Hashishim who also taught them about training skills |
| characteristics. What the whole thing means, is that if it | | | | that were later applied against the orthodox Sunnies |
| is a more modern version of this document or a | | | | that this sect detested. The Hashishim had an |
| politically correct one approved by the Order for | | | | enormous library at Alamut, their headquarters, and |
| viewing below certain levels of authority, common | | | | they knew that they battle against the orthodox |
| sense dictates that it must have formed part of an | | | | enemy was only just beginning. They recruited the help |
| original in view of the nature of its contents. The | | | | of the newly founded Templar movement whose |
| contents can only make sense in the time that it was | | | | members fought with them initially before it became |
| written and by virtue of their revelations, demonstrate | | | | obvious to the Catholic Church that such an alliance |
| its veracity. However, like most Templar documents, | | | | could only further undermine Christian authority. The |
| the originals if only one, are secure if only lamentably in | | | | Ishmaeli, for that is what they were, provided the |
| the wrong hands and it is not the subject of this | | | | Knights with a wealth of material hitherto unknown and |
| exercise to point fingers at those who know where | | | | much of which was to be kept in hiding for reasons |
| they are. The present Grandmaster, Fernando de | | | | better explained in a specific article. It is noted |
| Sousa Fontes, once commented that other copies had | | | | historically that the Mongols devastated Alamut and its |
| been burned without referring to the fate of the original. | | | | massive library, but it is more than likely that much of |
| Who by, or when, he refused to comment on in front | | | | that had already gone as appears to be the case |
| of a very large audience in the refectory of Altenburg | | | | when the changes in Europe become evident. Such |
| cathedral, after an investiture ceremony attended by | | | | knowledge was to become the base for Templar |
| at least two Monsignors of the Catholic Church. The | | | | creations like the universities of Bologna and |
| same in the cathedral of Santiago of Compostela, the | | | | Salamanca. The Jesuits who curiously share the same |
| valued shrine with the most significant Templar story | | | | religious slogan as the Templars were undoubtedly the |
| to tell, where the Grand Master was invited to the altar | | | | main instrument of response to Templar aspirations |
| by the most senior church figure in the region - hardly | | | | and like their mentors subjected themselves to |
| a recipe for denial and at which much mention was | | | | Ishamaeli training in Alexandria as a basic initiation for |
| made about important Templar material hidden in | | | | their task in hand. This strange fact was publicly |
| cathedral crypts. | | | | written on by the greatest etymologist of all times, the |
| That the Knights Templar left a hidden tradition which | | | | renowned Professor Higgins of the 19th. Century. The |
| exists even today, there is no doubt, since most of the | | | | modern intelligence services are a product of the |
| aristocratic families of Europe including the Royal | | | | knowledge and even today retain aspects of training |
| would never publicly deny the transmission and one of | | | | similar to that utilized by the hidden Hashishim Among |
| the most important edifices of Templar relationship - | | | | other things, the Templar Lodges are also a product of |
| the Cistercian Order, has unimpeachable records that | | | | that early training with the Ishmaeli love of the creation |
| illustrate the tradition and its continuation with its | | | | of illegal meeting places in the middle and face of |
| Grandmasters throughout the centuries. In fact it does | | | | enemy territory. The question of the Jesuit presence in |
| so with great pride and the reason for the masking of | | | | the Templar Lodges, did not go unnoticed at the time |
| its presence by jealous or frightened entities, had a | | | | by the erudite and conspirators as Benjamin Johnson |
| great deal to do with the Church and State which | | | | noted in his diaries. In them he teases the Society of |
| chose individually to deny anything that could harm their | | | | Jesus, with respect to the assiduous presence of its |
| stake in power politics. Going to war against another | | | | members in these places. Indeed, the very word lodge |
| nation would have been a little difficult without that total | | | | (logos) is derived from learning and knowledge and the |
| allegiance of its subjects to its identity and ambitions. | | | | name lodging houses passed on to posterity as such |
| Going to war as we know, became a favourite | | | | because of the tendency and need of scholars to live |
| pastime of national entities with the help of its hapless | | | | in the minute campus hidden in the back and upstairs |
| unwilling subjects. The knights Templar would have | | | | rooms into which visitors with the passwords, were |
| found it difficult to do so in view of their oath to kill only | | | | able to go. The Tiler or guardian of the secret door to |
| the enemies of the faith and again only under very | | | | whom these words had to be whispered is still there |
| strict circumstances outlined by St. Bernard. In fact, if | | | | today in masonic lodges by the same name and in the |
| subjects bound under obedience to outside forces | | | | same place. The Tiler relates to the black and white |
| were allowed to assume the double identity, | | | | squares of the lodges and the chess tables on which |
| nationalism would have had to be subject to superior | | | | much could be explained. For the would be entrants |
| forces in the same way that a Catholic cannot | | | | sent by the Order, the knowledge of these free |
| subscribe to total obedience to all national demands. | | | | houses and the correct passwords were a |
| Civil wars have resulted from just that sort of fusion | | | | prerequisite, having first mingled with the unworthy |
| of identity. England created its own national church as | | | | throng or so called Pagans who were unaware of the |
| matter of political expedience and its own Order of the | | | | hotbed in which they found themselves in. The |
| Temple considering a great many factors that need | | | | unobtrusive movement would go as unnoticed as if |
| their own space to illustrate with conviction. In return, | | | | modern elements went off the washroom and |
| like Charlemagne, with his reluctant Roman Crown, the | | | | disappeared from view through a back door. It is this |
| response by the hidden order was a question of | | | | practice that gave the name to free houses in the UK |
| diplomatic agreement to differ in return for mutual | | | | and which have invariably been not only associated |
| support. This was to lead to the real decline of the | | | | with freemasonry but actual meeting places for that |
| status and credibility of the Temple as its anonymity | | | | organization and useful points of interchange and |
| and pacifistic acceptance of the policies of the Church | | | | teaching locally. The back room into which they |
| and State represented a sign of weakness by those | | | | disappeared without causing gossip was sealed off to |
| strongly dependent on both, for their family survival. In | | | | others and in most instances the room upstairs was |
| fact, the security that obedience to their Grandmaster | | | | the favourite stronghold. A curious and undeniable fact |
| and Pope granted these families was superior to any | | | | which scholars have laboriously omitted with respect |
| that a regional prince, king or even the local body of | | | | to the various testaments by Jesus's followers, is the |
| the Church could replace, but the fear of local reprisal | | | | meeting in the upper room by the Sicarii or nazarenes |
| as nationalism brought in by Joan of Arc consolidated, | | | | of which sect, Jesus, we are told formed an important |
| was too real for comfort. It was the tacit agreement | | | | part. It was only with this basic camouflage of |
| by the major families of Europe therefore to keep a | | | | underground movements that illegal gatherings could |
| low profile in exchange for the support of the | | | | be carried out regularly and parallel to daily activity of |
| Monarchy and Church that enabled the hidden | | | | the unwary. As a result the free house was born - a |
| Templars to have a say in national affairs from the | | | | name incidentally utilized by the secret services for |
| shadows. They utilized this space with great diplomatic | | | | un-bugged, safe quarters. The name "Franc Maison" |
| skill but it ultimately lost the hidden Order its ability to | | | | which is what it is all about, came to be utilized by the |
| defend what little was left of its sovereign status. A | | | | sectarian masons as a suitable name for themselves |
| walk through the pathways of history shows a | | | | and possibly draw members by comparison and |
| fascinating glimpse of their presence here and there | | | | assumed relationship with the ancíent Templar |
| and it is not difficult to understand that whatever | | | | Houses or Lodges. The destruction of the social and |
| influence may be left, it is now in the hands of a few in | | | | political influence of these Templar institutions under the |
| one generation or another with the enthusiasm and | | | | ultimate authority of the Grandmaster of the Order of |
| capability to recruit intelligently and within a discipline | | | | the Temple was the calculated aim of the emerging |
| calculated to re-create the indomitable Templar spirit. | | | | ultra nationalist British establishment, who saw, after the |
| The decline of the French aristocracy and the | | | | Napoleonic struggles a threat from across the divide. |
| revolution that preceded the disaster that brought | | | | Entrenched in their beliefs and fears, and inheritors of |
| kingship into disrepute, ranks of Cromwellian regicide | | | | the Emperor's vast international holdings, anything that |
| and where the Order and its representatives were in | | | | could bridge that gap, like membership of international |
| those days, is a matter of conjecture albeit of | | | | orders would no longer be tolerated and a British |
| extreme interest. More so because Napoleon was | | | | version inserted in its place at point of death. The |
| seen to send his palatial guard to flank the | | | | Masonic establishment therefore became a British |
| Grandmaster of the Order of the Temple at a mass | | | | aristocracy affair and ultimately an important |
| celebrating the anniversary of the death of Jacque de | | | | instrument of state, albeit via a nudge and wink if not |
| Molay. This inconsistent public gesture from a historical | | | | officially expressed. Britain from then on would be |
| figure produced by the earlier massacre of aristocrats, | | | | always on the Square and the British Monarchy, |
| including Le Comte de Brissac, head of the Scottish | | | | caught between its traditional Templar stance and the |
| Royal Guard and well documented Grand Master of | | | | needs of the island state, was once more |
| the Temple, needs to be carefully analyzed with due | | | | compromised with an affiliation through one of its |
| respect to contemporary affiliations of both the | | | | senior members leaving the Leadership of the copy |
| Templates and the French Masons to what Napoleon | | | | Order of Malta or Order of St. John as it came to be |
| stood for. The study is unfortunately beyond the | | | | known, to the Crown Head itself. Ever since, despite |
| scope of this article and therefore bypassed. | | | | strong support for the Order of the Temple by |
| That the Order was reinstated in France under the | | | | members of leading families and church establishment, |
| Grand mastership of Philip, Duke of Orleans has been | | | | many hedged their bets by becoming members of |
| denied by many, particularly the masons, but not one | | | | both the Order and the Freemasons including King |
| single member of the very important families listed and | | | | Edward the V11 himself much to Queen Victoria's´s |
| published by the foremost press of France one | | | | apparent dismay. |
| hundred years later, drew one single comment against | | | | The continental threat to the British establishment was |
| the authenticity of what to them must have been | | | | real and any loose cannons in the form of subversive |
| common aristocratic knowledge. Again, hardly a recipe | | | | movements could not be tolerated with the |
| for denial and only by those so called academics who | | | | subsequent closing of ranks against anything with its |
| have little to be measured by in the context of either | | | | own basic sovereignty. The present head of the |
| the Masons or the Templars. As can be seen, it was | | | | Catholic and original Order of Malta, a British subject, |
| of urgent political interest to those with other intentions | | | | was unable to continue living in Britain although he is |
| (and definitely not the Scots), to safeguard British | | | | afforded the respect of a Head of State when he |
| interests, knowing possibly what lay in store in the | | | | visits the country. It was for this reason that the Order |
| 18th.century before them. It is curious that the Order of | | | | of Malta which owned the island by that name and |
| the Temple was officially recognized by the power | | | | which Napoleon took for himself, before losing it to |
| structure of the day (1705) under the name of the | | | | Britain, became an entity of similar threat and as a |
| knights of the Orient and not so curious that the body | | | | result banished from Britain, its influence and singularity |
| of initiates who broke away to create its own | | | | replaced with a locally brewed one to fill the gap. In |
| sub-order, was to call itself the Order of the Orient - | | | | retrospect, it is exactly what British freemasonry is all |
| the body that was to be classified erroneously as | | | | about - an attempt to prevent the Order of the temple |
| Continental freemasonry and linked briefly with the | | | | from exerting a political or religious influence on British |
| British version. Neither had anything in common, nor had | | | | subjects. The same cannot be for the Scottish version |
| the Scottish descent of the Royal Order Institution itself | | | | which apart from the historical affiliation with the |
| anything to do with either. What they all had in | | | | French Crown and whose citizens had until recently, a |
| common was their origins in apprentice breakaway | | | | right to French citizenship, has an independent |
| movements from the Order of the Temple or more | | | | traditional link with the ancient Templar influence in the |
| specifically, the Templar lodges or secret teaching | | | | country although not directly with the international |
| houses- movements that could no longer be classified | | | | Order which they abandoned. |
| as Templar since the very basis of their existence | | | | The introduction of the so called speculative aspect of |
| was educational and not yet political. The formal | | | | freemasonry by the Chevalier Ramsay, a tutor of the |
| central and international authority had again gone | | | | House of Stewart, is exactly what it says - pure |
| underground and continued on its way for better or for | | | | speculation and provided it does not in any way imply |
| worse as the transmission information reveals. There | | | | or propagate that the organization is a genuine |
| is a record however that illustrates the alarm created | | | | continuation of the Order of Knights Templar, there is |
| within the Order proper and the attempts to assign a | | | | no harm to whatever fantasies may be brought to the |
| Royal member to the care and safeguard of the | | | | attention of its members, Whilst writing I have to admit |
| breakaway apprentices. Subsequently, the social | | | | that the interchange of members between both |
| forces took the trail and led it to assume its own | | | | organizations during the 18th. And 19th centuries and a |
| identity and carve a niche out for itself under the guise | | | | period in the early 20th.century when Masonic masters |
| of a new breakaway umbrella, taking with it all | | | | of the third degree were accepted into the Templar |
| knowledge available to apprentices up to the Knightly | | | | Order, the possibility exists that genuine secrets may |
| investiture or Master´s degree in Masonery Even | | | | have filtered through into the upper levels of the |
| today, many of the masonic, mystery school initiations | | | | aristocracy, the monarchy and selected Masonic |
| or degrees are obvious Templar assumptions derived | | | | Grandmasters. If so these would have served the |
| from whatever information may have been gleaned | | | | interests of the masons in the same way as it did the |
| from its original Templar apprentices. The rest have | | | | Templars and explain why the Church, whilst |
| been added for various reasons. The same can be | | | | condemning it publicly, has flirted with it in the same |
| said of the major mystical organizations like the | | | | way that it had done with the Templars after the so |
| Rosicrucian, Bavarian Illuminati, Carbonari etc. which | | | | called suppression. |