Interview with the Daily Grail's Greg Taylor
Reality Sandwich interviewed Greg Taylor, proprietor of the Daily Grail, a wonderfully strange blog covering anomalous phenomena, the occult, and high weirdness of all stripes, and editor of Darklore, a print journal of "exceptional observations, hidden history, the paranormal and esoteric science." From the Reality Sandwich interview:
Another topic of esoteric interest discussed on your site is secret societies. Groups like the Skull and Bones, the Knights Templar, Opus Dei, the Bohemian Club, and the Freemasons have been shrouded in mystery and rumor throughout history. I've heard some bizarre stories involving secret rites and rituals, for example the Skull and Bonesmen who are forced to masturbate publicly in coffins as part of their initiation, and the Freemasons reciting the gruesome manner in which they will be ritualistically murdered and dismembered if they betray their oath to the group. What are we to think of stories like these? Can it be said that there is a definite occult dimension in these rituals?Link (via Further)
I think most "secret societies" that we know today are really just glorified men's clubs, although some have their basis in original occult practices. The resurrection rites of the Masons have parallels in many cultures, and are to some degree a magickal rite (on a slight tangent – if you analyze the Catholic Mass you'll find it too is pretty much a magickal rite aimed at altering consciousness). But overall, it would seem to me that these societies have lost their past, and are basically just "going through the motions."
I think the real question about modern secret societies is their influence on politics. It still bewilders me that more was not made in the last U.S. presidential election about the fact that both Dubya Bush and John Kerry were members of the same secret society, Skull and Bones. A society with only (roughly) 800 living members, who refuse to reveal anything about the society and their relationship with it, manage to have "control" of the two candidates to lead 300 million people and the world's most powerful nation? That doesn't sound like democratic choice to me.
Additionally, the world's economic bodies seem to be becoming the new "secret societies." Important decisions affecting billions of people are made behind closed doors, by a very small cartel.
the latest
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secret, idont think so :D.
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One thing that all such societies have in common is "The Confessional". Skull and Bones, Scientology and even Catholicism have a means of getting deep personal (often sexual) confessions from their members that can then be use to control them.
After all, that is the very definition of political power, the ability to control others. If you have video tapes or photos of someone with "A dead hooker or a live boy" then you can rest assured that when you place him in a position of power he (or she) will do as he/she is told.
Explains a lot of recent news doesn't it?
@noen
While plenty of groups use "confessionals" for blackmail, the Catholic Church doesn't. I can't think of a single instance where a priest has betrayed the confidence of the confessional, or even threatened to. The clergy and the lay both take the confidence of the confessional very seriously.
I love The Daily Grail site.
So, any skull n' bones candidates this time 'round?
I'd vote for an O.T.O guy
(I've heard their initiations are quasi-masonic)