Kilwinning Abbey: Home to the Knights Templar and birthplace of the Freemasons

Kilwinning Abbey in Scotland, Masonic HQ also Templars’ HQ.  Image: Wikimedia Commons

Freemasonry’s mysterious symbols and rituals were developed in secret in Kilwinning, nearly 200 years before the movement was officially founded.

Sun | Apr 25, 2012

by Michael Schofield -

Glasgow – HUNKY historian Ashley Cowie has been taking Scottish Sun readers on an Indiana Jones-style adventure all this week.

The TV star — whose worldwide hit telly show Legend Quest hit Britain this week on the satellite channel SyFy — has been unravelling the biggest Scottish mysteries of all time.

Today, in part four of our exclusive series, Ashley goes on a search of Biblical proportions . . .

LOOKING through my binoculars I scanned the countryside for clues to the location of one of the most sacred mountains mentioned in the Bible.

No, I wasn’t in Jerusalem — but the quaint Ayrshire town of Kilwinning.

Now before you think I should be searching for my lost marbles instead of lost treasures, I can explain…

The story begins at the end of the 12th century when the infamous Knights Templar, a highly-trained military order who fought in the Holy Land during the Crusades, returned to Europe.

With their military presence no longer required they remained powerful as bankers and money lenders and many of Europe’s dynasties were indebted to them.

To wipe out his debts to the Templars, King Phillip of France hatched a plot to destroy them.

Backed by the Pope, on the evening of Friday 13th of October, 1307, Templars were arrested all over France and charged with heresy. That earned Friday the 13th its place in superstition for being unlucky — it certainly was if you were being burned at the stake!

But when the Templars’ vaults in Paris were raided, they were found to be completely empty.

The order had been tipped off and moved their gold, silver, gems and sacred relics to a safe place.

Many Templars fled to Portugal and Spain but legend claims they shipped the bulk of their treasures to Scotland where they found safety with their kilted brother Knights led by Robert the Bruce.

But in his brilliant book Born in Blood, American historian John J. Robinson found evidence that the Knights Templar sought refuge with the monks of Kilwinning who lived in the Abbey.

By the late 13th century there were around 600 Templar properties throughout Scotland.

But by far the greatest concentration of them was in Ayrshire around Stevenson, Irvine and Kilwinning.

Kilwinning, with its domineering 12th century Abbey and tower, has a rich history with several valuable relics taken there for safe keeping.

Recently, historian Jamie Morton, from Ayrshire, presented new evidence that made Kilwinning a focus of Grail Seekers by claiming the legendary artefact used by Christ at The Last Supper is hidden in a chamber beneath Kilwinning.

While the old Mercat Cross in the Main Street is said to contain part of the cross on which Jesus was crucified. But there are also clues that Kilwinning is the location of Heredom — the sacred Biblical mountain.

The meaning of the word Heredom is greatly argued upon in Masonic circles, while it also appears in the Bible as the name of a mystical holy mountain.

But it can also mean ‘New Temple’.

That’s why I believe Heredom may not actually be a mountain but a secret Knights Templar HQ.

In 1747 French naval officer Chevalier de Berage wrote about the origins of Freemasonry: “Their Metropolitan Lodge is situated on the Mountain of Heredom where the first Lodge was held in Europe.

“The General Council is still held there and it is the seal of the Sovereign Grand Master in office.

“This mountain is situated between the West and North of Scotland at 60 miles from Edinburgh.” Well, guess what? When I measured the distance between Edinburgh and Kilwinning on my ordnance survey map, the distance was EXACTLY 60 miles.

What’s more, not only was Kilwinning, home to Scottish Templars, but it was the womb of another shadowy secret society which has become the focus of many conspiracy theories around the world — the Freemasons.

Masonic records confirm that Kilwinning Lodge is known as Mother Lodge No 0.

This means Freemasonry’s mysterious symbols and rituals were developed in secret in Kilwinning, nearly 200 years before the movement was officially founded in London by Grand Lodge England in 1717. But this is only scratching the surface of Kilwinning’s mysteries. Another secretive movement within Freemasonry is called the Royal Order of Scotland.

Masonic traditions tell that King Robert the Bruce established the Chief Seat of the Royal Order of Scotland at Kilwinning, reserving the office of Grand Master to himself and his successors.

Entry is restricted to Freemasons and candidates must undergo two highly secretive rites of initiation named ‘Heredom of Kilwinning’ and ‘Knight Of The Rosy Cross’.

It has always intrigued me that for centuries the unsuspecting little town of Kilwinning was and is STILL the heart and brain of such a powerful secret society.

But having relentlessly searched the landscapes around the Ayrshire town there is no mountain which the legends could refer to. So it must relate to this secret Templars HQ. But if so, where is it? Well all over Europe and the Holy Land the Knights Templar built tunnel networks connecting their holy buildings with their castles and farms, and they are believed to have dug extensive tunnels beneath Kilwinning Abbey.

Locals talk of a tunnel leading from Kilwinning Abbey for about two miles which terminates at Eglington Castle near Irvine.

And there’s even a living eye witness. In 2009, Kilwinning pensioner, Tommy Lauchlan told how he was once shown a secret tunnel near the Abbey.

He said: “I was just a wee boy but there were tenement houses on the site of the Abbey and Mrs Longmuir’s kitchen kept a secret.

“Behind her dresser was a door and this led to a tunnel, I just had a look down, but her boys were convinced it led to Eglinton Castle.”

Having inspected the Abbey grounds, I recently walked the landscape following the tunnel’s alleged route.

I found several straight depressions running through fields which could indicate the presence of a subterranean tunnel created by the Templars.

I would call on the authorities to give me permission to perform a proper archaeological dig.

Maybe, lying inside these ancient passageways for the last 700 years are the lost Templar treasures, taken from vaults in Paris in 1307.

See Also:

Kilwinning Abbey

Oldest Masonic Lodge

1934: Aleister Crowley filed libel suit against author who implied that he practised “black magic”

Aleister Crowley, c 1938. Photograph: Hulton Getty

From the Guardian archive, 13 April 1934: “Black Magic” Libel Action

Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 13 April 1934: Mr. Aleister Crowley, the author, declines to make himself invisible in court

guardian.co.uk | Apr 13, 2012

The “black magic” libel action again came before Mr. Justice Swift and a special jury in the King’s Bench Division yesterday.

Mr. Aleister Crowley, the author, claimed damages against Miss Nina Hamnett, authoress of a book entitled “Laughing Torso,” and Messrs. Constable and Co., Limited, the publishers, and Messrs. Charles Whittingham and Briggs, the printers.

Mr. Crowley complained that the book imputed that he practised “black magic” and he said this was a libel upon him. The defence was a plea of justification.

At the material time Mr. Crowley had a villa on the mountain-side at Cefalu, Sicily, which was known as the “Abbey of Thelema.” He denied that he practised “black magic” there. He also denied that a baby mysteriously disappeared, as the defence alleged, from the “Abbey.”

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Mr. Martin O’Connor (for Miss Hamnett) resuming his cross-examination yesterday, invited Mr. Crowley to try his magic in court. “You said yesterday,” said Mr O’Connor, “that, as the result of early experiments, you invoked certain forces with the result that some people were attacked by unseen assailants. Try your magic now on my learned friend (pointing to Mr. Malcolm Hilbery, K.C.). I am sure he will not object.” “I would not attack anyone,” replied Mr. Crowley. “I have never done wilful harm to any human being.”

When invited again Mr. Crowley replied: “I absolutely refuse.”

“On a later occasion,” continued Mr. O’Connor, “you said you succeeded in rendering yourself invisible. Would you like to try that on now for, if you don’t, I shall pronounce you an imposter? – You can ask me to do anything you like. It won’t alter the truth.”

Counsel then dealt with the ritual observed in the ceremonies at the villa at Cefalu. Mr. Crowley denied that a cat was killed in the ceremony and that part of the cat’s blood was drunk by a person taking part. “There was no cat, no animal, no blood, and no drinking,” he declared.

In re-examination Mr. Crowley agreed that he had studied black magic, though only as a student. He had never practised black magic, and had always written about it in terms of strongest condemnation.

When Mr. Crowley’s evidence was concluded Mr. Justice Swift asked him to tell the Court “the shortest, and at the same time comprehensive, definition of magic which he knew.”

Mr. Crowley: Magic is the science of the art of causing change to occur in conformity with the will. White magic is if the will is righteous and black magic is if the will is perverse.

Mr. Justice Swift: Does that involve the invocation of spirits? – It may do so. It does involve the invocation of the holy guardian angel who is appointed by Almighty God to watch over each of us.

Is it in your view, the art of controlling spirits so as to affect the course of events? – That is part of magic. One small branch.

If the object of the control is good then it is white magic? – Yes.

When the object of the control is bad what spirits do you invoke? – You cannot invoke evil spirits. You must evoke them and call them out.

When the object is bad you evoke evil spirits? – Yes. You put yourself in their power. In that case it is possible to control evil spirits or blind spirits for a good purpose as we might if we use the dangerous elements of fire and electricity for heating and lighting, &c.

 

The Satanic Core of Libertarianism

Libertarianism is part of the Illuminati Dialectic with Communism

Essentially, two seemingly opposed forces advance the same goal: a world police state governed by an oligarchy of billionaire Satanists.

henrymakow.com | Feb 25, 2012

Satanism defines man by carnal rather than spiritual desires,  “liberating” the former and crushing the latter.  De Mandeville’s Fable of the Bees demonstrates that Libertarianism is rooted in Satanist dogma.

by Memehunter

The obscure hero of Libertarianism: Bernard de Mandeville

 

PIC Bernard de Mandeville, the Satanist who inspired Libertarianism and Austrian economics)

Born in Rotterdam in 1670, Bernard de Mandeville came to England in the wake of William of Orange’s accession to the throne. A doctor by profession, Mandeville became better-known as a satirist. More importantly, Mandeville was also a Satanist, linked with the Blasters and Hell-Fire Clubs of 18th-century England.

Although Mandeville’s name has been all but erased from contemporary mainstream economical discourse, many free-market thinkers lavish glowing praise on his insights.

In a lecture delivered at the British Academy in 1966, Friedrich von Hayek extolled Mandeville as a “mastermind” and “great psychologist” whose theories anticipated those of David Hume, Adam Smith, and Charles Darwin, and praised his poem The Fable of the Bees as a “remarkable” work.

According to Hayek, Mandeville’s ideas “returned to economic theory” through the work of Carl Menger, the founder of the Austrian School by way of 19th-century German historian Friedrich von Savigny.

Read More

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Washington Masonic Memorial: Party like it’s 1799 in George Washington’s Alexandria

An impressive bronze statue of George Washington greets visitors to the Masonic Memorial. Photo by Paul Jean

fairfaxtimes.com | Feb. 17, 2012

By Elaine JeanSpecial to the Times

Alexandria’s cobblestone streets were once George Washington’s stomping ground. Visit Old Town this month, walk in Washington’s footsteps and learn more about the life of our first president when he went off the plantation.

First get to know George Washington from a different perspective by touring the memorial built in his honor by a grateful brotherhood of Freemasons. This is a rare opportunity to look inside an organization that’s traditionally cloaked in secrecy, and to understand the reverence it holds for Brother Washington.

Whether you believe the Freemasons are a benign organization akin to the Kiwanis or an ancient order hell-bent on world domination, you will enjoy a rare peek behind the scenes at the George Washington Masonic Memorial (101 Callahan Drive).

Inspired by the Lighthouse of Alexandria in Egypt, the memorial honors Washington as a guiding light for his country and fraternal organization. Architecture combines Greek and Roman styles in a structure made of, not surprisingly, stone. Exhibits introduce Washington as a Freemason and Charter Master of Alexandria-Washington Masonic Lodge No. 22.

Visitors enter on the main level and are welcome to wander there and on the lower level. Five dollars gains access to the tower and observatory, with a tour lead by a Freemason who will answer questions — at least most of them — and bring you to the museum and several other rooms sponsored by Masonic chapters.

The ride up in the lush, wood-paneled elevator is quick and cozy, and every trip seems to include at least one visitor who knows his Dan Brown inside-out.

The museum on the fourth floor enlightens visitors about the many hats that Washington wore: soldier, farmer, president and Freemason. Artifacts include his field trunk from the Revolutionary War, tools from the cornerstone ceremony at the U.S. Capitol Building, a few strands of his hair and a transcript of his will as it appeared in the local newspaper.

Next you’ll visit rooms that feel more like chambers, the first of which is sponsored by the Royal Arch Chapter. Borrowing heavily from Egyptian and Hebrew cultures, décor of biblical inspiration enhances the walls and a beautiful simulation of the Ark of the Covenant takes center stage. Think Indiana Jones.

Knights Templar Room dedicated in 1957 by Richard Nixon

The Knights Templar Room is Medieval French Gothic and was dedicated in 1957 by then Vice President Richard Nixon. It features four enormous stained glass windows — the most significant of which depicts the three degrees of Freemasonry — as well as two suits of armor and the sword of a Crusader.

Tucked away on the ninth floor is a reconstruction of the interior of the temple of King Solomon — including throne, large copper bowl, oil lamp holders and a tree of life — sponsored by the Tall Cedars of Lebanon, a chapter best known for its fundraising efforts in the fight against Muscular Dystrophy.

An observation deck circles the top of the tower and boasts a 360-degree view — 400 feet above sea level. The Capitol Building, Washington Monument, National Harbor and other points of interest are easily spotted, and Alexandria is laid out below like a model railroad village.

Back on the main level a colossal bronze statue of Washington in full Masonic regalia — all 17 feet and seven tons of him — graces the entry hall, and murals on each side depict important events in his life as a Mason.

Parking for the George Washington Masonic Memorial is free in the lot on Callahan Drive. The memorial is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday.

George Washington’s Alexandria

After you’ve met George Washington the Freemason, consider getting to know the father of our country as a man about town. The past is woven with the present here, making for one stylishly entertaining history lesson.

Drive down King Street to the Ramsay House Visitors Center (221 King St.) for maps, brochures and a certificate for free on-street parking, as well as a free restaurant book containing special discounts. Buy Alexandria’s Key to the City containing coupons for admission to most of the following attractions — for just $12.

The Carlyle House Historic Park (121 N. Fairfax St.) is the next stop. As a prosperous and influential founder of this city, John Carlyle hosted his good friends, George and Martha Washington, on numerous occasions in his elegant home. It has been restored to show how Carlyle lived and entertained, giving us a slice of aristocratic life.

Standing in the middle of rooms — and not behind a Plexiglas barrier — helps visitors feel especially connected to the past. Don’t expect to see any ghosts, though. A dead cat has been entombed behind one of the walls to ward off paranormal activity.

The Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary Shop (105-107 S. Fairfax St.) is now a museum, but from 1792 to 1933 it was a family-owned pharmacy that cured whatever ailed local residents. Prominent customers included Nelly Custis, Robert E. Lee and Martha Washington, whose request for castor oil is proudly displayed in one of the exhibits.

Visible among the rows of medicines and elixirs are opium and cannabis, as well as lavender for depression and powdered pumpkin seeds for tapeworm. Bottles of dragon’s blood and snake root might make you think you’ve wandered into Diagon Alley, but these are the names of products in the company’s line of paints and varnishes.

This apothecary shop was one of the oldest continuously functioning pharmacies in the country when it closed in the 1930s. The building was sold with all of the items intact, so it’s a fascinating time capsule, whether you’re into pharmaceutical history or not.

Gadsby’s Tavern (138 N. Royal St.) consists of two buildings — a tavern and an inn — and George Washington really did sleep here. Visitors can tour the historic rooms and dine in the fine restaurant, which serves his favorite meal — glazed breast of duck with scalloped potatoes — and other Colonial favorites.

This was the center of social, political and business life in 18th-century Alexandria. It also was George Washington’s favorite dine-in and take-out joint, so much so that he didn’t include a kitchen in the design of his Alexandria townhome.

In 1798 and 1799 George and Martha celebrated his birthday at Gadsby’s Tavern, and the Birthnight Ball is still held every year in his honor. Alexandria loves to commemorate its most famous resident, hosting a Washington’s Birthday Parade that follows a mile-long route and is the largest in the country.

Warren Buffett Flashes Jay-Z’s “Diamond” Symbol At Club Opening

The Oracle of Omaha flashes the diamond sign at the re-opening of Jay-Z’s New York City club 40/40.

huffingtonpost.com | Jan 19, 2012

Most may not associate the words “Warren Buffett” and “rage” too closely, but last night the Oracle of Omaha did exactly that.

The famed investor joined other huge names like Ashanti, Russell Simmons and Spike Lee last night at the re-opening of his pal Jay Z’s Manhattan club 40/40. At the party, the 81-year-old, best known for his financial savvy, rocked Jay Z’s diamond sign.

This isn’t the first time that the two super rich men have been spotted together. Jay-Z made an appearance in an episode of Buffett’s “Secret Millionaires Club,” an animated series about a group of youngsters led by Buffett as they tackle financial emergencies. In the video, the husband of Beyonce and father of Blue Ivy Carter schools the kids on giving back.

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The two also appeared together in an interview with Forbes in 2010 where they discussed the secrets of their success. Both touched on the value in having a wealth of experience and trusting their gut.

Hopefully Buffett won’t face the same scrutiny for using the Roc-A-Fella sign that Jay-Z did years ago. In 2005, former pro-wrestler Diamond Dallas Page sued the rapper, alleging that he came up with the hand symbol first, according to a 2005 report from MTV News.

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Black magic rituals force closure of caves carved out of sandstone by followers of the Knights Templar

Labyrinth: The caves were painstakingly carved out by the Knights Templar in the 17th century

Trespassing cult etched sinister symbols into sandstone labyrinth…then had cheek to knock on owner’s door for return of garments

Daily Mail | Jan 21, 2012

By Simon Tomlinson

A labyrinth of mysterious caves has been closed down after its owners finally got sick of them being invaded by a satanic cult.

The Caynton Caves, hidden in dense woodland near Wolverhampton, have a rich history stemming back to the 17th century when they were apparently carved out of sandstone by followers of the Knights Templar.

In the past, the landowners have tried to be accommodating when sects, good or evil, have asked permission to use the site.

Their patience began running thin when, over Christmas, they found the caves had been filled with candles, sinister symbols scrawled on the walls and rubbish.

But the final straw came when they answered the door to two red-faced warlocks who had the cheek to ask for the return of their robes which had been used in the black magic ceremony.

The entrance has now been sealed up in the latest attempt to keep the trespassers at bay.

Dominic Wass, an urban artist who has a workshop on the site, said: ‘There’s definitely some strange stuff gone on down there. It’s surreal to have two warlocks knock on your door, but at least they asked.’

Inside the caves, mystic sigils (seals) competed for crowded wall space with more modern scrawled messages, written by youths who have turned the temple into a drinking den.

Spirits were present, too – empty bottles of booze littered the floor.

Mr Wass, 25, who works under the name Sketch, scanned the cobweb-encrusted inner sanctum and shook his head in disbelief.

‘They’ve moved the sacrificial stone again,’ he said.

‘Obviously, it’s not something we want to be associated with. But in the past, if people have asked permission, explained what they wanted to do and we were happy with it. Only if they tidied up afterwards. This is going too far.’

Time and again, wrought iron gates have been placed over the entrance to the caves, which is only just big enough to crawl through.

But they have been ripped down within days.

Mr Wass, who has lived on the site for two years, said: ‘It’s almost impossible to control. You can put up razor-wire, but if someone gets injured, we’re the ones who land in trouble.

‘People don’t seem to realise that this is private property and they are trespassing.

‘It’s a difficult one. Publicity just leads to more people trying to get into the caves.’

In other efforts to keep unwelcome worshippers away, CCTV has been increased at Caynton and more robust fencing erected. A walkway has also been blocked off.

Plans to fill in the caves have been considered, but rejected.

News of the closure is likely to be a blow to the many polite Pagans who ask permission to use the place.

Yet it appears the appeal of worshipping in one of the most mystical areas in the Midlands is too attractive.

The site ranks alongside Castle Ring, a public Stone Age monument near Cannock Wood, Staffordshire, which has become a hotspot for Druids.

Solstice and Halloween pose particular problems at Caynton.

One Halloween bonfire party for local children was interrupted when trespassing worshippers, alerted by smoke, spilled out from the cave.

Mr Wass said: ‘Very little is known about why they are there. There are all kinds of stories.

‘We were told they were dug by followers of the Knights Templar (a sect dating back to the days of the Crusades).

‘They wanted a place where they could worship without being persecuted. It must have taken them a long time to create.

‘We’ve also been told that a landowner hid slaves down there. Slavery was illegal by then and he’d hide as many as 60 down there.’

Some believe the grotto is more recent, dug out in the 1850s by a wealthy family as a folly.

One website, devoted to Britain’s hidden treasures, states: ‘It consists of a series of passages and chambers, with niches for candles, and the carving of the rooms is quite professional.

‘It’s a creepy place and is rumoured to have been used in the 1980s for Black Magic rituals – probably not involving boxes of chocolates.’

Two Milwaukee women arrested for satanic sex torture

Mug shots of Rebecca Chandler (l.), 22, and Raven Larrabee, 20, of Milwaukee. via thesmokinggun.com

Milwaukee roommates Rebecca Chandler and Raven Larabee arrested for satanic sex torture

Victim tied with duct tape and cut more than 300 times

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS | Nov 10, 2011

BY Tracy Connor

Two Milwaukee women were under arrest Wednesday after a young man told cops they tortured him at knifepoint for two days during a satanic sex marathon.

The 18-year-old victim said he took a bus from Phoenix, Ariz., to hook up with a woman he met online — and was then tied up with duct tape and rope and cut more than 300 times.

“I think you are looking for me,” Rebecca Chandler, 22, told police who showed up at her apartment, according to a search warrant obtained by The Smoking Gun website.

Chandler said the cutting started out as consensual but “got out of hand” — and she tried to pin most of the blame on her roommate, Raven Larabee, 20, the warrant said.

Police found some interesting reading material in the women’s pad — “The Necromantic Ritual Rule Book,” “The Werewolf’s Guide to Life” and “Intro to Sigilborne Spirits.’

Police also saw “a large amount of blood on the floor and on bedding,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

After the man was released Sunday night, he called police from the street. When they arrived, they followed a trail of blood back to the apartment.

The victim had slash and puncture wounds on his neck, legs, arm and back. He changed his Facebook status on Tuesday to a single word: “Stitches.”

The women are being held in county lockup on suspicion of reckless injury but had not been charged by prosecutors.

Publishing house owned by the Catholic Church quietly sells pornography, books on Satanism and the occult

Mr Müller said that in 2008, a group of concerned Catholics had sent bishops a 70-page document containing irrefutable evidence that Weltbild published books that promoted pornography, Satanism and magic.

Germany’s bishops promise to stop the company’s distribution of erotic novels

independent.co.uk | Nov 5, 2011

by Tony Paterson

Berlin – Germany’s biggest Catholic-owned publishing house has been rocked by disclosures that it has been selling thousands of pornographic novels with titles such as Sluts Boarding School and Lawyer’s Whore with the full assent of the country’s leading bishops.

The revelations made in the publishing-industry newsletter Buchreport concern Weltbild, a company with an annual €1.7bn (£1.5bn) turnover and 6,400 employees. It is Germany’s largest bookseller after Amazon and wholly owned by the Catholic Church.

Buchreport revealed that Weltbild’s massive assortment of titles available to customers online includes some 2,500 “erotic” books with unmistakably lewd titles including Call Me Slut!, Take Me Here, Take Me Now! and Lawyer’s Whore, to name a few. The publisher’s website also pictures the titles’ lascivious dust jackets that feature colour photographs of scantily clad women in high heels and erotic underwear.

Yesterday, Carel Haff, Weltbild’s managing director, was quoted as saying that the revelations had provoked “a very intense and critical dialogue” within the company. He said discussions were under way about possibly limiting the assortment of titles that would be available in future.

Catholic bishops responded with a statement claiming that “a filtering system failure” at the publishing house had allowed the books to stray on to the market. “We will put a stop to the distribution of possibly pornographic content in future,” they said.

But Bernhard Müller, editor of the Catholic magazine PUR, dismissed the clerics’ reaction as grossly hypocritical. He alleged that the pornography scandal at Weltbild had been going on for at least a decade with the Church’s full knowledge. Mr Müller said that in 2008, a group of concerned Catholics had sent bishops a 70-page document containing irrefutable evidence that Weltbild published books that promoted pornography, Satanism and magic. They demanded that the publisher withdraw the titles.

But their protests appear to have been completely ignored. Writing in the Die Welt newspaper, Mr Müller said most of the bishops refused to respond to the charges. “The sudden proclaimed astonishment of many church leaders that pornographic material is being distributed by their publishing house, is play acting – bad play acting,” Mr Müller said. “Believers have been complaining to their bishops about this for years.”

The Catholic Church bought Weltbild more than 30 years ago. The publisher has gradually transformed itself into one of Germany’s largest media companies with the help of some €182mof Catholic Church tax levied on believers. To increase its profits, in 1998 the company merged with five other publishing houses that market pornographic titles. One of them is Droemer Knaur, which is 50 per cent church-owned. Another is Blue Panther Books, which was excluded from the list of participating publishers at this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair allegedly because of the pornographic content of is titles.

It emerged yesterday that in an attempt to clear itself of potential embarrassment over the sale of porn, the Catholic Church tried to sell Weltbild in 2009. But the bishops apparently abandoned the idea after they failed to get the price they were asking.

Code of Mysterious German Secret Society the ‘Oculist Order’ Cracked Centuries Later

These are pages from the “Copiale Cipher,” a mysterious cryptogram, bound in gold and green brocade paper, that was finally cracked by an international team of cryptographers. CREDIT: Courtesy University of Southern California and Uppsala University

LiveSci | Oct 27, 2011

Charles Choi, LiveScience Contributor

A mysterious encrypted manuscript of a secret society, meticulously written in abstract symbols and Roman letters, has finally been deciphered more than three centuries after it was first handwritten, scientists now reveal.

The enciphered message, or cryptogram, revealed the rituals and political aims of an enigmatic 18th-century German fellowship, the “Oculist Order,” revealing the society had a fascination with eye surgery, though it seems members of the society were not eye doctors.

“This opens up a window for people who study the history of ideas and the history of secret societies,” said researcher Kevin Knight, a computer scientist at the University of Southern California. “Historians believe that secret societies have had a role in revolutions, but all that is yet to be worked out, and a big part of the reason, is because so many documents are enciphered.”

Cracking a cryptogram

The mysterious cryptogram, bound in gold-and-green brocade paper, dates back to a time between 1760 and 1780. Once hidden in the depths of the East Berlin Academy and uncovered after the Cold War, its 75,000 characters are written in 90 different cipher letters, including the 26 Roman letters as well as many abstract symbols.

Scientists crack mysterious secret society code

On its 105 yellowing pages, the only plain text is “Philipp 1866″ on the flyleaf and “Copiales 3″ at the end of the last page. “Philipp” is thought to have been an owner of the manuscript, while “Copiales” was used to give the secret writing its name: the Copiale Cipher.

To break the cipher, an international team of researchers tracked down the manuscript, now in a private collection, and transcribed a machine-readable version of the text.

The investigators began not even knowing the language of the encrypted document. At first they focused on the Roman and Greek characters sprinkled throughout the Copiale Cipher, isolating them from the abstract symbols and attacked it as the real text.

“It took quite a long time and resulted in complete failure,” Knight said.

Secret symbols

After trying 80 languages, the cryptography team realized the Roman characters were “nulls” intended to mislead readers, somewhat like how pig Latin adds the suffix “ay” to words in an attempt to confuse listeners. It was the abstract symbols that held the message.

“It was exciting to decode,” Knight recalled.

One idea that eventually bore fruit was that abstract symbols with similar shapes in the Copiale Cipher represented the same letter or groups of letters — for instance, the symbols with the circumflex “^” over them were actually the letter “E.” The researchers also detected an extraordinarily common three-symbol cluster, which they deduced represented the letters “cht,” a common trio in German. Eventually from these lines of attack, the first meaningful words of German emerged: “Ceremonies of Initiation,” followed by “Secret Section,” as translated.

“When you get a new code and look at it, the possibilities are nearly infinite,” Knight said. “Once you come up with a hypothesis based on your intuition as a human, you can turn over a lot of grunt work to the computer.”

These findings “may help trace the development of political ideas and the advancement of ranks within secret societies,” Knight told LiveScience. As to why this secret society might have focused on the eye, “the eye is part of the symbology of secret societies,” he explained.

More unsolved encryptions

Knight is now targeting other encrypted messages, including ciphers sent by the Zodiac Killer, a serial murderer who sent taunting messages to the press and has never been caught. He is also applying his computer-assisted decryption software to other famous unsolved codes such as the last section of “Kryptos,” an encrypted message carved into a granite sculpture on the grounds of the CIA headquarters, and the Voynich Manuscript, a medieval document that has baffled professional cryptographers for decades.

However, the trickiest puzzle of all for Knight may be everyday speech. He is one of the world’s leading experts on machine translation, teaching computers to turn Chinese into English, or Arabic into Korean.

“Translation remains a tough challenge for artificial intelligence,” said Knight, whose translation software has been adopted by Apple and Intel, among other companies.

Knight is approaching translation as a cryptographic problem. As such, research into cracking the ciphers of obscure secret societies could improve human language translation, and possibly lead to the ability to translate languages not currently spoken by humans, including ancient languages and animal communication. [Read: Dead Languages Reveal a Lost World]

“We are exploring how to make use of cryptographic techniques to make better language translation software,” Knight said.

The scientists detailed their work in June at a meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics in Portland Ore.

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Related

oc·u·list  (ky-lst) n.

1. A physician who treats diseases of the eyes; an ophthalmologist.
2. An optometrist.

[From Latin oculus, eye; see okw- in Indo-European roots.]

Cunning linguists in Sweden crack 300-year-old occult code

Two pages from The Copiale Cipher

Two Swedish linguists at Uppsala University have deciphered a handwritten manuscript dating from the mid-18th century, written by a secret society known as “the Occultists”, obsessed with eye surgery and spying on the Freemasons.

“Historians believe that secret societies have had a role in revolutions, but all that is yet to be worked out, and a big part of the reason is because so many documents are enciphered,” Knight said in a statement.

The Local | Oct 27, 2011

“The deciphered manuscript has forced us to question many old authorities on Freemasonry,” historian and Freemason-expert Andreas Önnerfors from Lund University told The Local.

The manuscript is known as “The Copiale Cipher” and is a 105-page long text which scientists have been trying to crack since its discovery at the East Berlin Academy at the end of the Cold War.

Apart from the the mark of the previous owner (Philipp 1866) and a scribbled note on the last page (Copiales3) the manuscript was completely in code.

The text included 90 different letters, with everything from Latin and Greek letters to diacritic signs and mystic symbols, called logograms.

“It felt a little like a Dan Brown novel,” one of the two linguists, Beata Megyesi, told the Swedish daily Aftonbladet.

The technique used in solving the cipher involved comparing the most common character combinations in the encrypted document with the most common letter combinations of the underlying language.

The computer programme used for the decryption was created by Kevin Knight at the Information Sciences Institute, University of Southern California.

“We did not even know what language was behind the cipher. After many experiments which didn’t bring us any closer, we guessed the German mark as the owner’s name Philipp in the book had German spelling and that the book, as far as we know, originated in Germany”, said Beata Megyesi, linguist at Uppsala University, in a statement.

But this spring, Megyesi, together with Uppsala colleague Christiane Schafer and Knight managed to combine their knowledge of computer science, lingusistics and language history to crack the code.

What they found has made quite a splash in the world of academic research.

“It was very exciting when the first pages started emerging. We realised the book had been written by a secret society and that it was describing their initiation rituals,” Megyesi said to the paper.

Further, the text turned out to contain previously unknown information about another secret society, namely the freemasons, which the Occultists had spent a lot of time and effort spying on.

“Historians believe that secret societies have had a role in revolutions, but all that is yet to be worked out, and a big part of the reason is because so many documents are enciphered,” Knight said in a statement.

The book is divided into three parts. The first describes the Occultists own rituals, the second gives an overview of Freemason activities and rituals during the 18th century and the third shows that previously unknown forms of Freemasonry existed at the time.

“The third part of the book actually proves that esoteric and political forms of Freemasonry flourished as early as the mid-18th century,” said Önnerfors to The Local.