Personal Observations, Investigations

It seems to me that historically quite a lot of bother has been made of the mysterious. If I was not familiar with the theory of plate tektonics I would no doubt throw in with the crowd that deduces angry gods from an Earthquake.

Despite my predisposition to the scientific approach, I think the world is more appealing with the possibility of magic, mojo, spirituality, or as the Germans say, Extraspitze des Käses(extra cheese).

Solemnity of the Serious

There are countless dead virgins and other sacrificial victims of human rationalization doctrines. I suppose you would have to include a huge number of folks killed in the name of a religion to that list. When someone in a robe says, "Bring out the wriggling soon to be dead one," that's when Von Riesling heads for the exit sign.

A word of caution to the easily offended: Fanatically religious folks who might take offence at my investigations - wait stop. If you are a super-religious person what are you doing surfing around the internet? Don't you have other priorities?

Groupthink, Secret Orders

What is the deal with secret orders anyway? Here's some insight from the surprisingly cogent Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

True Initiation (Excerpt)
Copyright © 1993 by Chic Cicero & Sandra Tabatha Cicero

"To be an Initiate means that one is accepted into an inner circle whose teachings and rituals are meaningful only to other members of the group who share this common experience. This is just as true today as it was in antiquity. Admittance to such a group confers a sense of status and belonging, of knowing arcane information and of having been uplifted through the disclosure of divinely inspired wisdom. The candidate seeking acceptance must first prove him/her self worthy of inclusion into the group or magical current."

Well ok then. In a sense, the Brotherhood of Thaumatrugic Cartographers meets this criteria. So what of this magic current?

Global Elites

Are these global elites tapping into this magic current or merely having a lark sacrificing virgins and praying to a giant white owl? Here are two blurbs about the two most well-known, The Bohemian Club and Skull and Bones.

The Bohemian Club

MONTE RIO -- An annual two-week summer retreat for the rich and powerful that President Herbert Hoover once called "the greatest men's party on Earth."

The club's famed annual gathering has been held for more than 100 years at the 2,700-acre Bohemian Grove in Monte Rio, about 70 miles north of San Francisco in Sonoma County.

This year's event drew in notables such as former President George Bush, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, Henry Kissinger, retired Gen. Colin Powell, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Dow Chemical Chairman Frank Popoff.

Skull and Bones

Skull & Bones was founded at Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut in 1832. It is the oldest and most prestigious of Yale's seven secret societies. Here is a bit from an interview about Skull and Bones:

AMY GOODMAN: But for people who don't know what Skull and Bones is, what you are referring to.

KEVIN PHILLIPS: It's a Yale secret society. Yale has other secret societies. Another one was called “Book and Snake.” So, they came up with these names. But these people took secrecy incredibly seriously. Books that have been written about Skull and Bones - they’ve got a vault at Yale. Nobody is supposed to be able to get in there. You can’t even tell your wife about Skull and Bones. Avril Harriman, his wife received a letter that was in hieroglyphics, and she didn't know what to make of this and Avril Harriman said, “Well, that's Skull and Bones, and I have to tell you about that, and he said, no, I can't tell you about that.” If you want to know why they deal in secrecy, (a) you have Skull and Bones, and (b) so many of them were in the intelligence services and that whole side of Washington and New York.

For a brief video peek inside Skull and Bones. Another site called Secrets of the Tomb accompanies Alexandra Robbins' book of the same name. Here's an excerpt from her book:

As soon as initiates are allowed into the "tomb," a dark, windowless crypt in New Haven with a roof that serves as a landing pad for the society's private helicopter, they are sworn to silence and told they must forever deny that they are members of this organization.

During initiation, which involves ritualistic psychological conditioning, the juniors wrestle in mud and are physically beaten - this stage of the ceremony represents their "death" to the world as they have known it.

They then lie naked in coffins, masturbate, and reveal to the society their innermost sexual secrets. After this cleansing, the Bonesmen give the initiates robes to represent their new identities as individuals with a higher purpose.

The society anoints the initiate with a new name, symbolizing his rebirth and re-christening as Knight X, a member of The Order. It is during this initiation that the new members are introduced to the artifacts in the tomb, among them Nazi memorabilia - including a set of Hitler's silverware - dozens of skulls, and an assortment of decorative tchochkes: coffins, skeletons, and innards.

They are also introduced to "the Bones whore," the tomb's only full-time resident, who helps to ensure that the Bonesmen leave the tomb more mature than when they entered. ©2004 Little, Brown & Company

Ghosts and Goblins, Angels and Demons

Fieldwork is necessary here. Entirely too much blather has been scuttled about on this subject and there is a specific inquiry underway. The results of which will be published by the cartographers.