- Secret societies like Prieure du Sion have tried to unravel
Christianity, saying Jesus survived the Crucifixion and raised a family
with Mary Magdalena. Are the documents proving this hypothesis real, as
revealed in the 1982 book, Holy Blood, Holy Grail. Although many condemned
the book, it spawned a whole new cult of readers still looking for answers
and now tying these secret societies to the NWO. Also, why does the symbolism
of skull and crossbones keep popping up throughout history?
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- By Greg Szymanski
- 12-28-5
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- The subject of secret societies and satanic sects is
usually left for parlor talk or after midnight bull sessions and drinking
parties.
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- But as a young free lance reporter working in Rome near
the Vatican, I became familiar with a group called Prieure du Sion, a secret
society still in existence and supposedly dating back to 1090 when a conclave
of Calabrian monks left from the Belgium Abbey of Orval to help secure
the election of Godfroi de Bouillion as de facto king of Jerusalem during
the First Crusade.
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- The secret sect came to my attention while having a double
espresso and after noticing an article in the back pages of the Il Paese
Sera, an Italian newspaper, mentioning the name of Sion's alleged Grand
Master, Pierre Plantard.
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- Plantard, professing to be related to Jesus, said he
was going to prove his point with the release of sensitive documents, proving
Jesus survived the Crucifixion and that he was, in fact, one of his direct
descendants.
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- The story struck me as odd, but I kept a copy of it since
the controversial and highly acclaimed 1982 book, Holy Blood, Holy Grail
had recently hit bookstands as a bestseller, striking my interest with
the same hypothesis that Jesus together with Mary Magdalena founded a new
bloodline.
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- The book's central hypothesis was that this bloodline
later became the Merovingians in France, protected by the Knights Templar
with the Sion and later by the Freemasons, in what amounted to a stunning
religious re-write of Western Biblical history.
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- Banned in many Catholic-stronghold countries including
the Phillipines, the book nevertheless spawned a new cult of readers who
subsequently studied the scholarly work of Robert Eisenman, Barbara Thiering
and the Dead Sea Scrolls researchers, revealing the suppression of early
schisms within Christianity.
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- For example, as written by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh
and Henry Lincoln in the Grail as well as a subsequent book called The
Messianic Legacy, the authors present documentation showing how in 1885
Abbe Berenger Sauniere discovered a collection of parchments beneath a
church in Rennes-le-Chateau, revealing the new bloodline of Christ.
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- And one of the complex ciphers and codes in the document
supposedly read: 'To Dagobert II King And To Sion Belongs This Treasure
And He Is There Dead.'
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- After the find, Sauniere is said to have quickly become
a part of the Parisian esoteric underground, making a fortune from the
Church, which subsequently spent inordinate amounts of money on unusual
interior designs that prominently featured dark interpretations of Christ's
crucifixion, revealing how Satanic influences were deeply rooted within
factions of the Church.
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- Alex Burns, who in 2000 wrote a belated review of the
Holy Grail, has this to say about the religiously explosive Sauniere find:
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- "The solutions to this enigma involve a twilight
world where modern intelligence agencies anda secret society (the Prieure
du Notre Dame du Sion) and the royal family claims of the House of David.
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- "Historical analysis covers Pythagorean and Egyptian
sacred geometry and mathematics (symptomatic of post-industrial society
hyper-specialization); the hidden cultural legacies of the Cathars and
the Knights Templar; mythopoeic themes in Nicolas Poussin's painting 'Et
In Arcadia Ego' and anything from Satanic Bloodlines and Richard Hoagland's
'Face On Mars' to Chaos Theory and DNA phylogenetic memories.
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- "Embarking on the 'Holy Blood, Holy Grail' mystery
means exploring where Pop Culture and the Sacred intersect in an infinite
regressing nest of quantum combinations. The original book spawned several
television documentaries and brought contemporary occult subcultures into
the mainstream (even influencing conspiracy theorists like Robert Anton
Wilson), foreshadowing the impact of the 'X-Files' television series with
a combination of foreboding and wonder that entranced audiences worldwide.
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- "If many early conspiriologists feel that armchair
conspiracy theorizing has become too popular and too mainstream, then the
'Holy Blood, Holy Grail' phenomena may be seen in retrospect as the critical
turning point where a Culture exploded beyond previous thresholds and began
to devour itself."
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- After the Holy Grail created a huge controversy among
theologians over its assertions that Christ had children and didn't die
on the cross, the trio of authors embarked on the sequel, called the Messianic
Legacy, further detailing early Christian heresy about the true life of
Christ.
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- Steven Mizrach, a researcher into the Prieure du Sion
mystery, had this to say about the second book:
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- "This book goes into further detail about early
Christian heresy, and suggests that the true 'heretics' (that is, those
who deviated from the original message or mission) may have actually been
the 'orthodox' and 'catholic' Church Fathers like Iraneus, whereas the
people who held the actual truth of Christ's life were the persecuted Gnostics,
Ebionites, and 'Desposyni'.
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- "In the second section, it examines the Messianic
ideal throughout history, and some of its negative and positive impacts,
especially in European history. The third section examines some of the
PoS' curious entanglements with modern crypto-political forces, such as
the Knights of Malta, P2 Masonic lodge, Kreisau Circle, Swiss Grand Loge
Alpina, and various advocates of Pan-European Union."
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- In fact, much of what has been written and researched
about the Ordre de Sion, or Prieure du Sion, its relationship with the
Knights Templars and Sauniere 1885 discovery has been scattered hearsay,
but according to another esteemed researcher of the sect, only two things
are for sure after 1000 years of its supposed existence:
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- "It has been seven years since I wrote my first
article on the Priory of Sion/Rennes-les-Chateau mystery. At the time,
I was heavily under the influence of the books Holy Blood, Holy Grail and
Lionel Fanthorpe's work. Since then, there have been a number of books
released, some better, some worse, than these original influences. I have
revised some of my theories, challenged some of my own assumptions, learned
some new things, and encountered a great deal of contrary data.
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- "Now, I am no longer sure that the hypothesis presented
at the end of Holy Blood, Holy Grail is the best for explaining the data,
nor am I sure that a Priory of Sion with the characteristics ascribed to
it (an 800-year uninterrupted history, 9000 members internationally today)
really exists. I also am not sure that what is presented as "orthodox"
with regard to the Sauniere saga can really be trusted. Still, although
I have encountered the work of the debunkers, I am sure of two and only
two things:
- "First, the Sauniere saga cannot be explained away
simply by a mass-trafficking pyramid scheme and a bad taste in (Church)
décor and;
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- "Second, something called the Order de Sion existed
in the Middle Ages up until, at the latest, the 17th Century; something
called the Prieure du Sion existed from at least 1956 to 1984; whether
these two things have any actual relationship to each other, I am still
trying to figure out."
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- Although many scholarly articles and books have been
written about the idea of some type of mysterious bloodline of Christ with
genes from G-d/aliens/angels /Nephilim /Merovech, as well as lost artifacts
like the Shroud of Turin, the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy Grail and the
head of John the Baptist, I will limit what I learned about the Prieure
du Sion to the simple facts I uncovered when I visited the sect's Paris
office.
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- Even though this short jaunt into the ancient order's
secret world is rather anti-climatic, it does prove it existed in some
form or another as late as 1984, but for what purpose or eventual end remains
a guarded mystery.
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- Besides the group's Paris existence, while researching
the subject at various Rome libraries, religious bookstores and Italian
newspaper archives, the most interesting topics surrounding the mystery
of the Prieure du Sion included the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin,
the origins of early Christianity, the involvement of Satanic groups, the
question of whether order of Sion had a New World or branch operating in
the U.S., the exact location of the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail.
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- However, throughout my research which continues as time
permits even today, one mysterious piece of symbolism that has somehow
survived for centuries is the notorious skull and crossbones.
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- Mizrack also concurs about the mysterious survival
of the skull and crossbones symbolism, saying this about its origins and
usage today:
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- "The skull and crossbones seems to have been used
as an emblem first and foremost by esoteric and heretical groups as a symbol
of rebirth. It later became the battle flag of the Knights Templar (and
a nasty rumor about the Templars claimed they chose it because of a horrific
necromantic ritual) and, in the 17th century, the "Jolly Roger"
flag of British and French pirates.
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- "Most mysteriously, it is the emblem of the secret
society Scull N' Bones at Yale, which George Bush and so many other members
of the American elite have been initiated into. (Yale's graduating classes,
according to some authors, seem to have provided the rich white young men
of distinction which formed the early OSS and, later, the CIA.)
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- "What are the connections here? Did some of the
post-dissolution Templars eventually turn their naval skills toward the
service of pirate fleets? (We know many in Portugal eventually joined the
Knights of Christ who, with Prince Henry the Navigator, circumnavigated
the world's oceans.)
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- "Why does the secret society S & B use a skull
in its ceremonies which supposedly belongs to, of all people, the Native
American Geronimo? Is it to commemorate, in some sinister ritualistic way,
the "piracy" and plunder of Native lands in the U.S.? Is there
a link between Scull N' Bones and the (less secretive) academic honor society
Phi Beta Kappa?"
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- The Prieure du Sion Paris Office
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- Although my contribution to the sect's purpose and origins
is minimal, it's worth mentioning since I located its purported Paris office
location. After traveling from Rome to Paris by train, with the intent
to interview Plantard, the group's leader at the time, I remember pinpointing
the office and spending at least five days knocking on its door without
any answer.
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- I also remember calling the phone number listed, receiving
no answer. But as fortune would have it, on my last and final day in Paris
, the door mysteriously opened with a rather attractive lady with glasses
standing in the doorway blocking any quick entrance.
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After getting confirmation the group existed as a "religious research
organization," I asked to speak with Plantard. At first, I received
a blank stare and no answer. But when I begin asking again, she interrupted,
saying: "I now no one by that name, sir, thank you."
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- The door closed before I could think of something quick
in French and that was the last I ever saw of the Prieure du Sion. Although
the story ended in a dead end after repeated calls to the office went unanswered,
to this day I always wondered what was behind that door and why the lady
denied knowing Plantard when earlier he publicly connected himself with
the same group.
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- Although many of these mysterious questions may never
be answered, I will continue to search out the truth while Mizrack points
out some helpful directions for future researchers to take regarding the
mysteries surrounding the Prieure du Sion:
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- "For people interested in pursuing further leads
on the Prieure du Sion/ Rennes-le-Chateau mystery, I think there are several
directions that could use more research. There seems to have been a veritable
explosion of neo-Templar organizations within the last decade - one of
the most famous may have been the Order of the Solar Temple, whose members
committed mass suicide shortly before the Heaven's Gate sect did (promptly
attracting far more media attention.) As one list member put it, Templar
organizations are "popping up out of the woodwork." While there
have been chivalric societies claiming (however falsely) Templar pedigrees
in the past 500 years, they seem to be sprouting up like mushrooms now.
One of the notions that is alluded to in Messianic Legacy is that there
may some sort of conflict between the Priory of Sion and the Knights of
Malta - a conflict thought to originate from the original rivalry between
the Hospitallers and the Templars during the Crusades. Conspiracy watchers
will note that the Knights have a number of interesting honorary American
members, such as Alexander Haig.
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- "Another interesting question is whether or not
the Templars and/or Sion and/or the Sinclair family of Rosslyn may have
established some sort of presence in the New World prior to Columbus. Does
Sion's grasp extend to the New World? Bradley thinks they may have sequestered
the Grail - or something else of value - in the famous "Money Pit"
of Oak Island near Nova Scotia whereas Fanthorpe thinks there is some sort
of mysterious link between the Cajuns of Louisiana and "Arcadia"
(as opposed to Accadia). (There is a curious Cajun folk song about Good
King Dagobert sort of an unusual ballad.) 'Fastcat' thinks that some of
Mormon doctrine (although, he suggested, the majority is erroneous) arose
out of 'Templar Masonry'. And of course there are the curious hints of
Masonic influence in both the creation of the American government as well
as even the layout of the streets of its Capitol. Is it possible the more
"left wing" of Sion may have committed itself to republicanism
(as opposed to the monarchist goals of the other wing) and sought to realize
it through the American experiment?
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- "There is the curious question as to whether Chris
Carter's mysterious Millennium Group from his TV show Millennium is based
on the Priory of Sion. In one episode, it was revealed that the group controlled
(or protected) a 'bloodline' which according to 'DNA schematics' was 'proven'
to be the offspring of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. There seems to be some
hints that if Sion has some sort of 'plan' for European unification under
Merovingian rulership, that it is about to pass one of its major milestones
around the turn of the millennium. There are hints that one or more republican
countries in Europe may be restoring their monarchies soon (although only
for ceremonial purposes, as Spain did with King Juan Carlos I) - with 'Merovingians'
at the throne? Of course, the riddle of Sion already had Christian eschatologists
going apeshit, since they see the whole scenario as coming straight out
of the Book of Revelations (although others think it more closely follows
the prophecies of Nostradamus, who may have been a Priory agent.) If the
group exists, and it has connections to the existing power structure in
the French government, some of the things going on in connection with France's
Millennial plans (which include highlighting the Paris Meridian, something
Lincoln and Byrne find highly significant) may need to be examined more
closely.
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- "If the Prieure du Sion is a hoax, it is one of
the best orchestrated ones of all time. If it really exists, it may be
one of the most powerful secret societies of all time. Sion's goals may
include a reunification of the world's major monotheistic faiths and/or
a unification of all of Europe. On the other hand, this all-powerful secret
society - according to its own documents - never once managed, through
the course of several centuries, to topple a single French king and put
one of their 'bloodline' on the throne. So we should be cautious. "Members"
of Sion such as Pierre Plantard and the Marquis de Cherisey have already
admitted that they rely on disinformation to accomplish their objectives.
Any strategy of that kind always tries first and foremost to make a group
appear more all-powerful than it really is. Also, there is the possibility
that the PoS is a fraud exploiting a nonetheless genuine mystery at Rennes-le-Chateau.
Whichever the case may be, the mystery deserves closer scrutiny by people
of a Fortean persuasion, for as far as I can see, it remains "case
not closed."
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- For more informative articles, go to www.arcticbeacon.com.
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