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A Secret Society is an organization of initiated persons whose members, purposes, and rituals are kept secret. Human groups throughout history have maintained secret societies. The ceremonies of initiation into such a society typically begin with an oath pledging secrecy as to all proceedings of the society, ascribing special obligations to its members, and assenting to penalties for violation of the oath. This is followed by tests of the candidate's worthiness, including physical courage and even painful mutilations. A dominant theme in the initiation trials of most of these societies is the symbolism of death and rebirth. After the candidate has passed the prescribed tests, the secret knowledge is transmitted to him.
Secret societies have served as schools in which the elders instruct the young men in the ways of their society. These initiations are reminiscent of coming-of-age ceremonies. Women have comparable societies, but theirs have never matched those of men in number. (A notable exception was the Hung Society of China, a secret society of women that lasted over 1,500 years.) The mysteries, or secret rites and doctrines, of the Egyptians, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, and other ancient peoples were transmitted solely through secret societies.
In modern civilizations secret societies such as Freemasonry are numerous. They usually offer various types of mutual aid for their members; there are, for example, special obligations to members who are ill and to the families of deceased members. Some historic secret societies, such as the Bavarian Illuminati, have been the object of massive paranoid speculation, accused of conspiring for world political domination; but the model of the secret society, with its emphasis on absolute commitment and secret truths that set the initiate apart, has been used to explain various political groups from terrorists to Cold Warriors.
Some secret societies, e.g., the Mafia and the Ku Klux Klan, under the guise of fraternal benevolence, have defended the interests of their members by violence. Examples of historical and existing secret societies include the Freemasonry, the Assassins, Skull and Bones, the Trilateral Commission and the Illuminati. Below are the list and descriptions of the most 'popular' Secret Societies :
Freemasonry
Freemason is a secret fraternal order of Free and Accepted Masons, spread by the British Empire, with actually about 5 million members; 3 million in the USA. Its main motto is "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity". Some Masons define it as "a beautiful system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols" as "the realization of God by the practice of Brotherhood" which is "To reach God by doing good works to your neighbor."
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It has been described as "the biggest, richest, most secret and most powerful private force in the world" and certainly, "the most deceptive", both for the general public.
Officially, Freemasonry was born in 1717, when 4 Craft Lodges gathered at the Apple Tree Tavern in London, and set up a constitution for Free and Accepted Masons. They claim their roots can be traced to Egypt, Syria, Babylon and the stonecutters of the Solomon Temple, specially "Hiram Abiff", a celebrated figure because of his death-defying refusal to reveal trade secrets to intruders.
The Assassins or Hashshashin
The Hashshashin (also Hashishin, Hashashiyyin, or Hashasheen) from which the word assassin is thought to originate, was the Arabic designation of the Nizari branch of the Ismā'īlī Shia Muslims during the Middle Ages. The Nizari, or Hashshashin, as they were designated by their enemies, split from the Isma'ili Fatimid Empire following a dispute regarding the succession of their spiritual and political leader the Fatimid Caliph Ma'ad al-Mustansir Billah.
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The designation assassin, it has been suggested by some, simply means followers of Hassan (which refers to the group's Persian master Hassan-i Sabbah). The term Hashshashin is also widely suggested to have been derived from the plural of the Arabic word Hashshash (which means "hashish user"), although this remains a matter of dispute. A contemporary variation on the theory, described by Edward Burman (British philosopher and author of various books on secret societies and middle eastern culture), is that Hashshashin was a derogatory epithet applied by the sect's critics, who regarded neighboring Nizaris with suspicion due to their secretive society, and their employment of philosophical concepts and heterodox theology. The term may have originated as a metaphor to describe the Nizari's odd behavior as "crazed people," as in "those people who are addled, as if by cannabis," and that the epithet may have gradually been presented as fact by later enemies of the sect.
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The Nizari's use of psychoactives (mainly Cannabis) has been dismissed as myth by many contemporary scholars, but it has to be remembered that it was a popular myth during the period. It may also refer to "those who produce hashish," however this etymology is also disputed. The word Hashish (of probable Persian origin) refers to resin collected from cannabis flowers. The popular viewpoint may have influenced the crusaders, and certainly Marco Polo's fabled account of his visit to Alamut in 1273 makes reference to it. By either or both of those two sources the distorted term "assassin" may have entered Western vocabulary.
Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones is a secret society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The society's alumni organization, which owns the society's real property and oversees the organization, is the Russell Trust Association, named for General William Huntington Russell, who co-founded Skull and Bones with classmate Alphonso Taft. The Russell Trust was founded by Russell and Daniel Coit Gilman, member of Skull and Bones and later a university president. The society is known informally as "Bones", and members are known as "Bonesmen".
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During the senior year each Skull and Bones class meets every Thursday and Sunday night. The goal of the activities is to develop deep friendship and connections with your fellow members and to explore ideas that allow for personal and collective growth. The emblem of Skull and Bones is a skull with crossed bones, over the number "322".
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President George H. W. Bush, his son President George W. Bush, and the latter's 2004 Presidential opponent Senator John Kerry are members of Skull and Bones.
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Skull and Bones' place in popular culture is significant, since, although it is a "secret society," it is probably the best known college secret society in America, as can be seen from the recurring references to it in all kinds of media. Skull and Bones has featured from time to time in the Doonesbury comic strips by Garry Trudeau; especially in 1980 and December 1988, with reference to George H. W. Bush, and again at the time that the society went co-ed. In The Simpsons, Montgomery Burns is both a Yalie and a Bonesman. The 2000 film The Skulls concerns a highly elaborate secret society with clear parallels to Skull and Bones at a university beginning with a "Y"; A portrayal of Bones also played a substantial role in Matt Damon's 2006 film The Good Shepherd, about the Central Intelligence Agency. A Gilmore Girls subplot involves the main character, Rory (a student at Yale), associating with a Skull and Bones-like group called Life and Death Brigade.
The Trilateral Commission
The Trilateral Commission is a private organization, established to foster closer cooperation among the United States, Europe and Japan. It was founded in July 1973 at the initiative of David Rockefeller, who was Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations at that time. The Trilateral Commission is widely seen as a counterpart to the Council on Foreign Relations.
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Speaking at the Chase Manhattan International Financial Forums in London, Brussels, Montreal, and Paris, Rockefeller proposed the creation of an International Commission of Peace and Prosperity in early 1972 (which would later become the Trilateral Commission). At the 1972 Bilderberg meeting, the idea was widely accepted, but elsewhere, it got a cool reception. According to Rockefeller, the organization could "be of help to government by providing measured judgment."
The John Birch Society, a far right Americentric political advocacy group that supports anti-communism and limited government believes that the Trilateral Commission is dedicated to the formation of one world government. Conservative Democratic congressman from Georgia and second head of the John Birch Society, Larry McDonald, introduced American Legion National Convention Resolution 773 to the House of Representatives calling for a congressional investigation into the Trilateral Commission.
Certain critics, such as Senator Barry Goldwater wrote in his book With No Apologies: "In my view, the Trilateral Commission represents a skilful, coordinated effort to seize control and consolidate the four centres of power: political, monetary, intellectual, and ecclesiastical. All this is to be done in the interest of creating a more peaceful, more productive world community. What the Trilateralists truly intend is the creation of a worldwide economic power superior to the political governments of the nation-states involved. They believe the abundant materialism they propose to create will overwhelm existing differences. As managers and creators of the system they will rule the future."
The Illuminati
The Illuminati was a secret society in Bavaria in the late 18th century. They had a political agenda that included republicanism and abolition of monarchies, which they tried to institute by means of subterfuge, secrecy, and conspiracy, including the infiltration of other organizations and Governments.
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Years of extensive research and investigation have gone into the massively documented work [Bloodlines of the Illuminati]. In almost 600 pages, the writer Fritz Springmeier discloses mind-boggling facts and never before revealed truths about the top Illuminati dynasties. Discover the amazing role these bloodlines have played - and are now wielding - in human history, with family names such as Astor, DuPont, Kennedy, Onassis, Rockefeller, Rothschild, Russell, Van Duyn, and Krupp. You'll also learn of the secretive, Chinese Li family, which operates with impunity in the USA. and around the world. Along the way you'll find out why President John F. Kennedy and actress Grace Kelly were killed; who created the United Nations; who controls the two major US political parties; how the Rothschilds invented and control modern-day Israel.
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Groups who called themselves Paranoid conspiracy theorists (PCTs) believe the Illuminati still exists, either in its original form or as a paradigm. Many PCTs believe "that large Jewish banking families have been orchestrating various political revolutions and machinations throughout Europe and America since the late eighteenth century, with the ultimate aim of bringing about a New World Order." George Bush mentioned this in his state of the union address in 1991. He was describing the conspiracy towards the establishment of a single world government.
The Strruggle Between Good and Evil
Since some secret societies have political aims, they are illegal in several countries. Poland, for example, has included a ban of secret political parties and political organizations in its constitution. Secret Societies have always been associated with the infinite struggle between good against evil, light against darkness. And yet, the conflict between light and dark nowadays is more subtle, the struggle less overt. They are operating in a different way which is what we now refer to as the convergence of politics and secret societies. Scarcely a new phenomenon, as any historian or loyal Dan Brown reader knows well. Their modus operandi getting more and more sophisticated as it develops over the years. Related News
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