Top 10 secret societies, think tanks, exclusive clubs, policy-planning groups and fraternities that every conspiracy theorist should be familiar with and some facts behind them.


№ 1 Bilderberg Group
№ 2 Illuminati
№ 3 Skull and Bones
№ 4 Council on Foreign Relations
№ 5 Trilateral Commission
№ 6 Priory of Sion
№ 7 Bohemian Grove
№ 8 Freemasonry
№ 9 Committee of 300
№ 10 Knights Templar

No.1 Bilderberg Group

Annual meeting of around 130 North-Atlantic elites from the fields of energy, finance, government, intelligence, academia and the media.

bilderberg-secret-societies

Official site: www.bilderbergmeetings.org

Famous Attendees: David Rockefeller, Henry Kissinger, Bill Clinton, Gordon Brown, Angela Merkel, Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, Larry Summers, George Soros, Donald Rumsfeld, Robert Murdoch, Jean-Claude Trichet (EU Bank President), Mervyn King (Bank of England), Edmond de Rothschild, Robert Oppenheimer, Robert McNamara, Henry Ford II

List of Bilderberg participants (wiki)
2012 list of US participants on They Rule
Infographic showing how members of the Bilderberg are connected to absolutely everything.

With 65 to 70 regular members, the Bilderberg Group is the most exclusive group on this list. The group came to be identified with the Bilderberg Hotel in Holland where the group first met in 1954. The ultra secret group was founded by Denis Healey, Joseph Retinger, David Rockefeller and Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands (of the infamous Lockheed scandal in which he took kickbacks selling exploding planes).

From the get-go the Bilderbergers sought to develop a strategy and create European consensus for a European Common Market. They were behind the Amsterdam Treaty, the Treaty of Maastricht, the Treaty of Rome, and finally the European Constitution. Leaked 1955 transcripts revealed that Bilderbergers had discussed the creation of a United European with its own currency. They are also working on merging Canada, United states and Mexico into a North American Union. The Bilderberg discussed improving business relations and extending IMF loans to China before Nixon’s famous 1972 visit. At the Bilderberg meeting of 1991, David Rockefeller told then Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton to support NAFTA.

The group’s major source of funds is the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations. The members are cherry picked most prominent members of other influential organization and national think tanks such as the Brookings, Carnegie Endowment, and Council of Foreign Relations. Much of the leadership of the Bilderberg is also groomed within these foundations. All these organization have similar ideologies. Henri de Castries of the French House of Castries currently heads the Bilderberg.

Bilderberg Group Meeting, Oosterbeek, Netherlands
The “High Priests of Globalization” at the first Bilderberg Group Meeting in Oosterbeek, Netherlands

The annual meetings are held in a different country each year and is attended by around 130 elites with about 65 regulars. Forty percent of Bilderbergers are Americans. Each international region is roughly represented by one member from the finance sector, one from the government sector, and one from academia. The Group is separated into 6 panels with around 20 people in each panel. There are 3 main speakers per panel and everyone is obligated to comment.

As a whole the membership manages the planet’s resources and their membership is especially concentrated in the energy and banking sectors. Their goals are a one world constitution, a one world government, a one army and they work tirelessly towards that goal. The typical globalist agenda.

Potential candidate are observed a for a few meetings before being asked to join. Bilderberg researchers often point out that according to the Logan Act, it is illegal for any American government official to be present at the Bilderberg meetings.

Researcher and author of True Story Of Bilderberg Daniel Estulin has investigated the Bilderberg Group for 15 years. He stresses that the Bilderberg is not a Judeo-Masonic conspiracy. His book is the book on the Bilderberg. Strangely, Estulin claims that Bilderberg Steering Committee member and founder of Canada’s largest book chain Heather Reisman has banned True Story Of Bilderberg from her stores. However, that doesn’t appear to be the case.

Jim Tucker has dedicated his entire life to chasing the Bilderbergers around the world after learning of the Group’s existing in the 70s. Tucker has an informer inside the group who has consistently leaked him list of participants and talking points for years.

Sources and further information:
The True Story of the Bilderberg Group (Amazon)
Daniel Estulin, 2009

The True Story of the Bilderberg Group” and What They May Be Planning Now – Excellent review of Estulin’s book

Video of Hillary Clinton lying about ever attending Bilderberg while a FOIA request confirmed that she attended the conference in 1997.

WikiLeaks has a number of documents on Bilderberg. In has meeting reports for 1955, 1957, 1958, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1980, as well as a 1956 history of the group.

2003 BBC radio 4 report on Bilderberg (mp3)

THE ROVING EYE The Masters of the Universe By Pepe Escobar


No.2 Illuminati

Secret Bavarian secret society active at the end of the 18th century and modern blanket term for the crème de la elite crème.

Illuminati-secret-societies

The Bavarian Illuminati was founded by Adam Weishaupt on May 1, 1776. The Illuminati is a secret society within secret societies. In 1784, the order was banned by the Bavarian government. Today, the term Illuminati is usually used as a blanket term for the inner circle of the elite.

The Illuminati was separated into three classes; 1. The Nursery Class; 2. The Masonic Class; 3. The Mystery Class. Each class was separated into degrees. Lower classes were unaware of the existence of higher classes. Non Illuminati were called the Profane.

I. Nursery Class:
1. Illuminati Novice (1-2 year trial period)
2. Illuminati Minerval
3. Illuminati Minor

II. Masonic Class:
Symbolic Masonry
1. Entered Apprentice
2. Fellow Craft
3. Master Mason

Scottish Masonry
1. Illuminati Major (Scot Novice)
2. Illuminati Dirigens (Scot Knight)

III. Mystery Class:
Lesser Mysteries
1. Illuminati Priest
2. Illuminati Prince (Regent)

Greater Mysteries
1. Illuminati Magus
2. Illuminati Rex

I am currently exposing the secrets of the Bavarian Illuminati in comic format and Terry Melanson has written a detailed non-fiction book about Adam Weishaupt’s Order of the Illuminati.

Exactly what the illuminati is varies a great deal from one conspiracy theorist to the next. Different versions of it continues to appear in computer games, music, television and movies. Illuminati Researcher Mark Dice’s book Illuminati: Facts & Fiction does a great job at weeding through the various modern Illuminati incarnations and separating the wheat from the chaff. It has saved me hours of work in establishing the root of various Illuminati theories and rumors. (although he considers the Bavarian Illuminati to be Luciferian, which is something I should ask him about) Nevertheless, Dice book is essential.

Some researchers believe the Illuminati originated before and that Adam Weishaupt simply reincarnated a much older society. The 13 Bloodlines of the Illuminati is a popular theory about ancient families secretly ruling the United States.

Others believe that the modern elite and the current proponents of the New World Order grew out of Weishaupt’s movement. However, we have access to most of the original writings of the Illuminati and we know that the abolishment of private property was one of the goals of the Order. This is hardly in line with the modern capitalist plutocrats who make up today’s Illuminati. Today’s Illuminati is anything but enlightened.

Sources and further information:
Perfectibilists: The 18th Century Bavarian Order of the Illuminati (Amazon)
Terry Melanson, 2009

The Illuminati: Facts & Fiction (Amazon)
Mark Dice, 2009



No.3 Skull and Bones

Elite senior fraternity at Yale University

skull-and-bones-secret-societies

Famous Bonesmen: William H. Taft (Us President), George H.W. Bush (Us President, CIA), George W. Bush (US President) Averell Harriman, H.J. Heinz II, Henry Luce (Time-Life,CIA), Bill Bundy (CIA) and William F. Buckley. (CIA)

AKA Chapter 322, is a secret society at Yale University established by William Russell and Alphonso Taft in 1832. Each year 15 juniors are selected to join the Skulls in their senior year.

The Tomb, Yale
The Tomb, Yale

Investment banking firm Brown Brothers Harriman pays the tax bill. No one lives inside the Tomb. At the mention of the words Skull and Bones, they must leave the room. Meetings are on Thursdays and they always have dinner on Sundays. In the 2004 US Election, two Bonesmen, John Kerry and George W. Bush went head-to-head for the Presidency of the United States.

Initiation:

“Skull and Bones, do you accept?”

If the neophyte accepts, he is given a rolled up message tied with a black ribbon and sealed with the skulls emblem imprinted into black wax. The message instructs the neophyte of the time of place of his initiation. He is also instructed not to bring any metal. (Note that Masons are also “divested of all metals” during their initiation ceremonies.) Once they accept, they are members for life.

Deer Island
Skull and Bones owns Deer Island in St-Lawrence river

The initiation happens every April. It is supervised by Uncle Toby, with Don Quixote, the Pope and Elihu Yale in attendance. On Saturday evening, neophytes give a detailed biography of themselves and on Sunday they give a sexual biography while lying in a coffin. Members are assigned nick names. The tallest is called Long Devil, the most sexually experienced is called Magog. George HW Bush was Magog, Averell Harriman was Thor, Henry Luce was Baal. They call themselves the Knights of Eulogia and refer to non-Bonesmen as Barbarians.

The clock is 5 minutes faster, which represents Skull and Bones which is to differentiate time spend inside the tomb from the outside, which is referred to as Barbarian time.

In 1876 a group of students calling themselves File and Claw broke into the Tomb and discovered that the Order was founded in 1832 (32) as the second chapter (+2) of a German secret society. They discovered a painting of a skull surrounded by Masonic symbols in Room 322 and released floor plans of the Tomb. The Skull themselves claim that 322 represents 322 bce, the year Demosthenes died. In keeping with this legend, their calendar begins 322 years before the Roman calendar. The year 2013 would be 2335 Anno Demostheni in Bonespeak.

They reportedly have the bones of Geronimo and Pancho Villa hidden in 322. Room 322 is the inner temple of the Skull and Bones. It features an encased skeleton which the Bonesmen called Madame Pompadour. There are other compartments in the case including manuscripts, secrecy oaths and initiation rituals.

HW Bush, Bonesman, 1948
HW Bush, Bonesman, 1948

Author of Fleshing out the Skull and Bones Kris Milliken, claims that the core group of Skull and Bones is still very much involved in the dope trade. They are Sorcerers of Death performing black magic. Taft Russell’s family fortune came from opium and according to Eustace Mullins, the fraternity continued to be involved in the dope trade all the way up to the Vietnam war.

Sources and further information:
The Last Secrets of the Skull & Bones (Prison Planet)
Ron Rosenbaum – Esquire Magazine – September, 1977

George W., Knight of Eulogia
Alexandra Robbins, 2000

Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power (Amazon)
Alexandra Robbins, 2002

Fleshing Out Skull & Bones: Investigations into America’s Most Powerful Secret Society (Amazon) – includes a reprint of File and Claw pamphlet
Kris Millegan, 2004

America’s Secret Establishment: An Introduction to the Order of Skull & Bones (Amazon)
Antony C. Sutton, 2004 ed


No.4 Council on Foreign Relations

3000 elites from academia, government, media, intelligence, military, banking and top corporations.

CFR-secret-societies

Official site: www.cfr.org

Famous Members: David Rockefeller, Henry Kissinger, Bill Clinton, Conrad Black, William F. Buckley, Bill Bundy, Allen Dulles, Gerald Ford, Herbert Hoover, Angelina, Jolie George Kennan, Carl Sagan, Paul Warburg, Oprah Winfrey, George Soros, Colin Powell, Bill Moyers, Rupert Murdoch, Zbigniew Brzezinski and Edgar Bronfman, Sr.

List of Council on Foreign Relations Members (wiki)
Membership map on They Rule

The Council on Foreign Relations grew out of the round table groups and began as a gathering of scholars known as the Inquiry which included the power behind FDR’s throne and author of Philip Dru: Administrator, Colonel House and Walter Lippmann.

This group attended the Paris Peace Conference where powerful members of the elite attended a private gathering at the Majestic Hotel. Round Table member Lionel Curtis suggested the creation a Royal Institute for International Affair in London and the Council of Foreign Relations, its US counterpart in New York. The CFR was officially founded in 1921.

Council on Foreign Relations HQ at 58 East 68th Street and Park Avenue
Council on Foreign Relations HQ at 58 East 68th Street and Park Avenue

It is one of the most powerful private organizations and has a major influence on U.S. foreign policy. Its equally powerful British sister organization, the Royal Institute of International Affairs has been renamed Chatham House. Today the CFR has over 3000 members.

The group suggested the formation of a League of Nation. Five of the 6 men of the “Agenda Group” which drafted the United States proposal for a United Nations were members of the CFR. Carol Quigley called its members the “international financial coterie” The CFR was instrumental in planning the post World War 2 economic and political world order.

About the round table groups:
De Beer’s Cecil Rhodes and journalist William T. Stead organized a secret society with an executive committee known as the “Circle of Initiate”. The secret society had an outer circle known as the “Association of Helpers” which eventually evolved into the Round Table Groups.


Headquarters Coordinates: 40°46′6.7″ N, 73°57′57.72″ W

Sources and further information:
Memoirs (Amazon)
David Rockefeller, 2003


No.5 Trilateral Commission

David Rockefeller’s elite think tank of over 300 private citizens from Europe, Asia, and North America.

Trilateral-Commission-secret-societies

Official site: www.trilateral.org

Famous Members: David Rockefeller, George HW Bush, Bill Clinton, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Jean-Claude Trichet, Henry Kissinger and Jimmy Carter.

List of List of Trilateral Commission Members (tilateral.org – .PDF)
Membership map on They Rule.

David Rockefeller had been looking for a way to include Japan into international cooperation discussion. At the Belgium Bilderberg conference of 1972, Rockefeller discussed the idea with Columbia University Russian Studies professor Zbigniew Brzezinski (Zbig) who had himself previously approached the Bilderberg Steering Committee. The Steering Committee had been unreceptive to the idea.

The think tank had its first executive committee meeting in Tokyo in October 1973. The Trilateral Commission receive funds mostly from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and is deeply rooted in the CFR. The commission helps governments around the world reach “constructive accords” with other governments. They promote closer cooperation between Europe, Asia, and North America. In 1974 they published The Crisis of Democracy calling for democracy in “moderation”.


Headquarters Coordinates: 38°54’19.7″ N, 77°02’05.33″ W

Sources and further information:
Trilateralism – an overview
Holly Sklar , 1980

Memoirs (Amazon)
David Rockefeller, 2003


No.6 Priory of Sion (Prieuré de Sion)

Ancient secret society sworn to protect the holy bloodline of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene

Priory-of-Sion-secret-societies

Famous Grandmasters: Jean de Gisors (1188–1220), Nicolas Flamel (1398–1418), René d’Anjou (1418–1480), Léonard de Vinci (1510–1519), Isaac Newton (1691–1727), Charles de Lorraine (1746–1780), Maximilian de Lorraine (1780–1801), Victor Hugo (1844–1885), Claude Debussy (1885–1918),Jean Cocteau (1918–1963)

Certainly one of the most intriguing of all secret societies, unfortunately, it isn’t real. The Priory of Sion legend is completely made up! (almost)

I too, am in Arcadia
I too, am in Arcadia

The Priory fantasy is due in great part to the work of hoaxer Pierre Plantard. He claimed to be a descendant of French King Dagobert II of the Merovingian dynasty. According to his own theory, he was also the prophesied Last Roman Emperor. He threw in the very real, Order of Sion for authenticity and proceeded to plant documents in the French National Archive later known as the Dossier Secret.

He also included Rennes-le-Château restaurant owner Noël Corbu’s (another admitted hoaxer) legend of Father François Bérenger Saunière about discovering parts of the Knights Templars’s lost treasure. It all made for a great story.

The strange events of the Priory of Sion and Rennes-le-Château were finally epitomized on the big screen in 2006 Da Vinci Code starring Tom Hanks.

Next time you encounter an impossible-to-open-without-the-combination-type Cryptex, consider sticking the thing in the freezer for a few hours.
Note to Mr. Langdon: Vinegar freezes at just under 0°C (32°F ). Next time you encounter an impossible-to-open-without-the-combination-type Cryptex, consider sticking the thing in the freezer for a few hours.

Researchers Lynn Pickett and Clive Prince have found evidence for the existence of a Priory of Sion within the Masonic Strict Observance Rites of Germany. Their goal was to form a United states of Europe.


No.7 Bohemian Grove

Male elites meet every July for a 2 week encampment at private campground.

bohemian-grove-secret-societies

Famous Attendees: Henry Kissinger, David Rockefeller, Ronald Reagan, GW Bush, Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon, Malcolm Forbes, William F. Buckley, Clint Eastwood, and William Randolph Hearst. – Camp Membership

Founded in 1872, the Bohemian Grove is a 2700-acre campground in the midst of ancient Redwood trees located in Sonoma County, California. Every July, elites participate in a 2 week encampment to make ritual sacrifices to the sinister owl-god Moloch. Power brokers assemble at ”The Owl Shrine” for informal “Lakeside Talks.” Nixon canceled his scheduled Lakeside Talk in 1971 because the media was insisting on covering it.

Thanks to the work of Alex Jones, Chris Jones and Phillip Weiss who have each individually infiltrated the Grove, the outside world has been able to assemble a lot of information on what happens there. Alex Jones’ footage can be seen in Dark Secrets: Inside Bohemian Grove (Youtube, 2:02:56) and Chris Jones’s (who worked undercover at the Grove) can be seen in Alex Jones’ The order of Death, which was released 5 years later to commemorate Alex Jones infiltration of the Grove. (Youtube, 44:46)

President Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon, 1967
President Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon, 1967

Weiss stayed as a “guess” at Bohemian Grove for 7 days in 1989. Weiss heard Walter Cronkite himself as the voice of the infamous owl. He even shook Ronald Reagan’s hand who confirmed that it was indeed at the Grove in ’67 that he had assured Nixon that he would not challenge him in the upcoming Republican nomination. (so much for non-weaving. spiders) He also witnessed a Grover engaging in “unBohemian” behavior when Henry Kissinger rudely cut in line at the phone banks.


Bohemian Grove Coordinates: 38°28′5.13″ N, 123°0′9.62″ W

Sources and further information:
Grove Action Network
Sonoma County Free Press

Masters of the Universe Go to Camp: Inside the Bohemian Grove
Philip Weiss, Spy Magazine, November 1989, pages 59-76


No.8 Freemasonry

The Founding Founders, Freemasonry and the capital of the United States

Freemasonry-secret-societies

Mostly harmless today, the freemasons held immense power in the 18th and 19th century. The earliest historical document mentioning the “Old Charges” of Freemasonry is the Regius Poem and dates to around 1425. The Grand Lodge of England formed in 1717. Masonic expressions that have become common idioms include: “On the square”, “On the level”, “giving/getting the third degree” and “blackballing”.

Blue Lodge and 2 major appendant bodies
Blue Lodge and 2 major appendant bodies

They have been accused of plotting the American and French revolution and the Jack the Ripper killings. Author Stephen Knight writes in The Brotherhood that the KGB controls masonry and though it exercises control over MI5 and MI6 and is a requirement for any advancement at Scotland Yard. Born if Blood traces the order back to the Knights Templars, and the Hiram Key traces the order back to Jesus and Ancient Egypt.

Due to multiple bans on Freemasonry by Popes, a good catholic is still expected join the Knights of Columbus, as President Kennedy did, the Vatican’s answer to Freemasonry. The Vatican is yet to reverse its stance on Freemasonry.

Freemasonry is composed of three levels, referred to as the Blue Lodge degrees:

1. Entered Apprentice
2. Fellow craft
3. Master Mason

Non-masons are called Cowans. There are multiple other degrees that a mason can obtain once he has become a Master Mason (Third degree) which masons call Appendant degrees. The most popular ones are the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, with 33 degrees and the York Rite .

In addition there are Masonic Lodges not “recognized” by the Grand Loge of England, and as a result, by the majority of “regular” Masonic lodges. For example, the Rite of Memphis-Misraim has 99 degrees and the Grand Orient de France accepts women.

See Top 10 Masonic Conspiracy Theories for more information of the Freemasons.

No.9 Committee of 300

A group of Three Hundred ruling individual descendant from the Black Nobility

committee-300-secret-societies

Famous Members: British royals, Dutch royals, House of Hapsburg (?),Lord Halifax, Winston Churchill, Cecil Rhodes, George Bush, Aldous Huxley, Henry Kissinger, David Rockefeller, Giuseppe Mazzini and H.G. Wells

The existence of the Committee of 300 is wholly dependent on the word of Dr John Coleman, author of Conspirators’ Hierarchy – The Story of The Committee of 300.

Joseph PavlonksyJohn ClarkeDoctor – Coleman tells us that he gazed upon a mention of the supranational Committee of 300 or the Olympians while stationed with MI6 in Angola. He then decided to dedicate the rest of his life to exposing the group. His status as a MI6 whistleblower and the origin of his doctorate are never discussed in interviews. (leading Eustace Mullins to question his motives.)

Coleman uses the core of conspiracy theory literature and adds his own secret group which allegedly controls all the other ones. (Popular author David Icke added shape-shifting Reptilians to conspiracy lore and became an international bestseller) All the usual players are there. The Bilderberg Group, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, the Club of Rome, the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations all make an appearance and serve as the executive arms of the Committee of 300. In Coleman’s scenario, the RIIA is above all the others and chooses the American Secretary of State and through him/her give the US President his marching orders. Prime Minister Disraeli had MI6 snuff out Abraham Lincoln and later, William Stevenson of Mi6 ordered the hit on JFK.

He also throws in popular nuggets such as the Black Nobility, (the group varies a great deal in conspiracy lore from the historical Black Nobility) who according to Coleman, made the Borgias look like Sunday school teachers. (The mysterious nobles are always a crowd pleaser.) According to Dr. Coleman’s decade long studies at the Cairo Museum (?), no member of the families of the Black Nobility or their servants has ever died from the Black Plague. He discovered that they drank a secret herbal compound and exposed themselves to low-frequency radiation making them immune to the disease.

The Queen of England is the head of the Committee of 300. The 300 families all rule with equal shares! (highly doubtful) The Queen is actually from the Black Nobility family of the House of Guelph. (Rex note: It is true that they change their name from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor)

The Committee of 300 were behind Beatlemania and used the Beatles to induce young Americans towards drugs and Rock n Roll. They even came up with the word teenager (or not)

New words and new phrases– prepared by Tavistock– were introduced to America along with the Beatles. Words such as “rock” in relation to music sounds, “teenager,” “cool,” “discovered” and “pop music” were a lexicon of disguised code words signifying the acceptance of drugs and arrived with and accompanied the Beatles wherever they went, to be “discovered” by “teenagers.” Incidentally, the word “teenagers” was never used until just before the Beatles arrived on the scene, courtesy of the Tavistock Institute for Human Relations.

Coleman’s own deep hatred seeps into his work:

” I hate to use these beautiful words in the context of “Beatlemania”; it reminds me of how wrongly the word “lover” is used when referring to the filthy interaction between two homosexuals writhing in pigswill. To call “rock” music, is an insult, likewise the language used in “rock lyrics.”

Is there any collaboration for Coleman’s Committee of 300 claims?

No.

Coleman claims to have heard Gorbachev referred to the Committee of 300 on CNN but no one has been able to confirm it and the clip has disappeared from the CNN archives. Proponents of the group often point to German industrialist Walter Rathenau’s quote, but there is no indication that Rathenau was referring to an actual group rather than a number.

“Three hundred men, all of whom know one another, direct the economic destiny of Europe and choose their successors from among themselves.
– “Geschäftlicher Nachwuchs”, Neue freie Presse, Walter Rathenau, 1909

Note that there is no doubt that the other groups which Coleman exposes are real. Some are outlined in this very article.

Sources and further information:
Wake up America! (Youtube – Running Time : 1:43:30)
John Coleman lecture – The Committee of 300 information is towards the beginning of the video. He does make good observations on the GATT later on in the video demonstrating that he has a grasp of the globalists agenda and method.

Dr. John Coleman Breaks Down The Committee of 300 (Youtube – Running Time : 10:55
Alex Jones Show

21 Goals of the Illuminati and The Committee of 300 (educate-yourself.org)
Typical list of Illuminati goals


No.10 Knights Templar

Military order of warrior monks founded in the aftermath of the First Crusade

knights-templar-secret-societies

The military order was founded in 1118 by French nobleman Hugues De Payens with the mission of guarding pilgrims on the atrociously dangerous roads from the coast of the Mediterranean to Jerusalem. The Templars are officially endorsed by the Church in 1129 at the Council of Troye. Knights Templars were given tax-free status by the Pope. The Templars beacame a popular charity and many people gave them land and property.

The Templars were given accommodations on the Temple Mount and began digging towards the Temple of Solomon. No one know exactly what they found and rumors go from The Jews lost reassure lost in the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 ce. which according to the Copper Scroll found with the Dead Sea Scroll would contain around 200 tons of gold, Ark of Covenant, the severed head of John the Baptist or the Holy Grail, the most iconic item in all of Christendom. And at a time when everyone is cuckoo for relics, the Holy Grail was hot!

The Knights Templars went though secret rituals that began by entering the temple from the west door at dawn, signifying that the knight was being born into a new life. The Warrior-monks took vows of chastity, poverty and obeisance.

Templars weren’t allowed to charge interest, so they charged “rent” on properties left with them. More than 90% of Templars were non-combatant and actually involved in the day-to-day running of the vast Templar empire. The Templars as an organization now owned agricultural estates, mines, vineyard, castles and vast tracks of land and money.

The Templars soon became the west’s first international bankers. They pioneered banking concepts such as safety deposit boxes, letters of credit, and what appears to be the first form of traveler’s check in the West – Upon depositing property at any Templar depository in Europe, you were given note with a coded cipher. If you needed to withdraw funds in another location, even Jerusalem, a Templar clerk would give you your funds and give you back a re-coded cipher.

The King of France, Phillip the Fair was broke because of his father’s war with the English. The King was highly indebted to the Templars. By ridding himself of the Templars, he would rid himself of his debts to them.

In order to do so, he used the same generic charges of heresy that he had used against his enemy Pope Beniface VIII shortly before kidnapping him and beating him to death. He then poisoned his successor, Pope Benedict XI and bought up enough cardinals to install his childhood friend as Pope Clement V who later moved The Holy Sea to Avignon. (Owned by the King of Sicily but surrounded by Philip’s land.) At dawn on Friday October 13, 1307 orders were given to arrest Jacques de Molay and other top Templars.

The next month, Clement ordered all Christian monarchs to do the same.

The Templars were arrested in France and England but virtually no where else.
They were charged with heresy, devil worship, spitting on cross, sodomy, and one that stood out to Templars researchers as it was a charge unique to the Templars, worshipping a severed human head.

For recanting his confession previously obtained under torture, Grandmaster Jacques de Molay was slow cooked over a fire and his ashes scattered in the Seine River. Before dying , he cursed the pope and the king telling them they would follow him within the year, they did.

Last Templar Grandmaster Jacques De Molay
Last Templar Grandmaster Jacques De Molay