Alexander Shulgin, MDMA and the Illuminati Tom Lyttle

For those of you who are used to praying, this is a good time to practice whatever you understand is meant by the word “prayer”... - TIHKAL, Shulgin, pp. 163 CAUTION: Conspiracy is Addictive There are main issues and problems within conspiracy research and writing that should be addressed. What makes conspiracy writing compelling - whether it works in a literary sense and brings forth truth - has to do with the author’s intent and the “feel” the reader is left with. The way that conspiracy information is framed or presented is just as important as the information itself. If you read something and feel frightened, less powerful or more the victim - fine. If you get worked up looking at your own shadow - or some author’s shadow - fine. This is conspiracy and it can create intrigue and passion, and bend your mind. When conspiracy art is done well, the mind is set ablaze. When conspiracy art is done very well, you never feel a thing. You notice nothing. You simply enter; get entertained by “just a story” and the plot becomes THE PLOT. It’s the “X-Files”, “Videodrome”, “The Game” and “The Matrix” bled into Anytown, USA, right where you are sitting now. In real time. Conspiracy writing can have a viral quality and draw the reader into a convoluted logic system which seems to make sense - at least while the reader is in the midst of the author’s imagination. Leaping on facts before they can be fit into a broader context is usually not helpful. This often spreads half-truths, misinformation and hurtful ideas. The making of mountains out of molehills, the lack of qualifiable information and the taking of information and historical data out of context is just bad form. This leads to nonsense and fairy stories, however amazing. Within conspiracy reportage, the lack of first-person interviews, independent research and checkable, accessible references may result in obtuse leaps-of-association. Such leaps can lead the best-intentioned author (and reader) down dark alleys filled with never-ending shadows waiting to be uncovered. Here’s what the infamous Lyndon LaRouche said about conspiracies :



” It is clinically significant, that today's more popular varieties of wild-eyed "conspiracy theories," reflect the peculiarly pathological style in infantile fantasy associated with the "Lord of the Rings," "Harry Potter," and "Pokémon" cults, or the "witchcraft" and related demonic cults spun out of the orbit of the trio of the utopians H.G. Wells, Bertrand Russell, and Aleister Crowley. The characteristic form of mental action these cults express is a magical power of the will, acting outside real physical space-time. The gratification associated with the deluded patron of such forms of fantasy-life, or so-called"science fiction" composed on the basis of the same types of fiction, becomes then a feeling-state to which the victim of such cults responds in hysterically adopting a

kindred variety of "conspiracy theory" as an emotionally gratifying form of belief.

Gnostic religious cults are premised on the same kind of pathology… Such "conspiracy theories" presume to impose at-the-blackboard types of ivory-tower preconceptions about the universe, on the interpretation of some sets of facts, such as the common Aristotelian,

ivory-tower presumption that perfect regular action must be circular. In real science…

we are obliged to discover the physical geometry of the facts we are investigating …” - Note 8 by Lyndon LaRouche, writings, 2001. The word “substantially similar” adds to this, as does the word “circumstantial”. “Guilt by association” is another popular saying. “... You don’t need a weather man to know which way the wind blows” by Bob Dylan, is another. My intention is not to dance in the shadows, but in the light. It is not to frighten, but to enlighten and enliven. It is not to veil, but reveal. Goals thrice and goals fair - let the tale be told and let the weather be forecast - conspiracy style. Hardwired for Ecstasy We shall begin via the affairs of one Dr. Alexander “Shasha” Shulgin. Alexander Shulgin is a world famous chemist who owns 17 US patents (R. Forte’s Entheogens and the Future of Religion claims 20 patents). Dr. Shulgin is also the “Godfather” of the MDMA , “Adam” or “Ecstasy” movement. This movement includes millions of people who take the psychedelic MDMA regularly and who follow its cultural developments. Dr. Shulgin is also the inventor of at least two hundred other hallucinogenic drugs including 2-CB ( called “Nexus”), MDE (called “Eve”), MDMA (called “Ecstasy” or “X” ) and STP (short for “Serenity, Tranquilty, Peace”). Millions of Americans have heard about the super “love-drug” called Ecstacy,sMDMA which is short for : methylenedioxymethamphetamine. This drug is very popular at psychedelic dance-clubs and large private parties called “raves”. MDMA also has been used extensively in radical psychotherapy. A quarter century ago (circa 1975-80) when the drug MDMA first appeared in the US, it was completely legal to buy and sell. At first. MDMA first appeared around 1972, according to Dr. Alexander Shulgin who probably is the world’s expert on “E”. Shulgin heard about it from other chemists interested in psychedelics. He went on a few years later to give then-legal samples to his pal Dr. Leo Zeff, a respected psychiatrist who for 30 years had used hallucinogenic drugs in radical and experimental psychotherapy. The 1998 book The Secret Chief by Myron Stolaroff is about Leo Zeff’s work. Word spread discreetly among freethinking psychiatrists, who then dubbed a code name. “Adam” was this wonder-drugs new name, and those who knew it had “an Adam experience”. Everybody agreed that this new psychedelic was just grand. Books like the 1985 Through the Gateway of the Heart by Sophie Adamson (pseudonym of Dr. Ralph Metzner) described dramatic healings among the incureable and this fueled Adam’s popularity. Reports describe that the drug creates an “Adamic” (spiritually pure) state of mind and relaxed the bodies subtle energy fields in strange ways. Miraculous cures were reported on a regular basis within circles of psychiatrists and MD’s. By 1985 Adam got a new name which was “Ecstasy”. By now thousands of people had been treated in therapy with it, with favorable results. Psychotherapist Dr. Philip Wolfson writing in The Journal of Psychoactive Drugs states that “MDMA is Penicillin for the soul, and you don’t give up prescribing Penicillin once you’ve seen what it can do.” Around this time another MDMA storyline developed. Thousands of doses were being legally sold in college-town bars and dance clubs, especally around Dallas, Texas. Also in 1985, the newspaper strip “Doonesbury” by Gary Trudeau ran a several week parody centered on the latest Ecstasy fiascos. A subculture had developed around this drug, filled with its own characters, politics and sub-plots. The so-called California “human-potential movement” (centered in Esalen, Harbin Hot-Springs, etc.) was set on its’ ear by this new drug. People could not get enough. MDMA was becoming a major story despite its psychedelic underground nature. The counterculture was abuzz. But few knew who the real dreamer was - the mastermind chemist and magician who started it all. Millions of doses of Ecstasy (or MDMA) had been sold legally at Dallas/Ft. Worth nightclubs by 1984. You could even buy Ecstasy tabs with your credit card! In mid 1985 Newsweek and The Phil Donahue Show profiled Ecstasy and delivered plenty of sensation. Major media perked up and suddenly MDMA was front-page news in 50 national magazines. This caught Washington’s embarrassed attention and in 1986 MDMA was made illegal. MDMA now shared the same legal category as heroin and LSD, both being “Schedule One” drugs. Schedule One means there’s no hope, no use beyond getting high, no research should happen on this drug - it’s a pox . MDMA suddenly had no redeeming value whatsoever, according to lawmakers. Now it is 2007 and the Ecstacy story continues. Today, MDMA is arguably the most popular psychedelic drug on the planet - and still illegal as ever. It is at least as popular as LSD while generating many times the illegal income. Today, a solid dose of black market LSD sells for $8.00, a dose of “E” for $25.00. Hundreds of millions of doses of “E” have been consumed all over the world. In 1992 Ian Wardle of Lifeline estimated that over a million “E’s” were consumed every week-end in Britain. Julie Holland’s 2001 book Ecstacy: The Complete Guide says that for the year 2000, 750,000 doses of Ecstacy were used each weekend in NYC alone (!) and 9.3 million Ecstasy “hits” were seized by US Customs. MDMA is a very popular drug and its’ use is expected to increase long into the future. Several dozen books and several hundred scientific papers exist surrounding MDMA. Ecstasy is more than just the latest chic street drug. Academic publishers devoted serious books to MDMA, including the sociological treatise “Pursuit of Ecstacy: The MDMA Experience” by Jerome Beck, Dr. P.H. and Marsha Rosenbaum, Ph.D. (SUNY Press, 1994) or “Ecstacy: The Clinical, Pharmacological and Neurotoxicological Effects of the Drug MDMA” by Dr. Stephen J. Peroutka (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1990). Many popular books exist as well : Bruce Eisner’s Ecstasy: The MDMA Story (Ronin, 1988, 1999), E For Ecstasy by Nicholas Saunders (Nicholas Saunders Press, 1993, 1999) and Altered States: The Story of Ecstasy Culture and Acid House by Matthew Collin (Serpent’s Tail, 1997) begin a long list. Several Internet sites focus on MDMA research and news. Popular author Irvine Welsh made fame with his book E . Rick Doblin’s “MAPS” (Multi Disciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) and Bruce Eisner’s “The Island Group” are two well-known sources for info on “E” or Ecstasy. The story of Ecstasy is an interesting one indeed. Besides myself, others have extensively tracked MDMA’s psychedelic pedigree.Collectively we know a lot about this drug and its cultural implications. We have a lot of science and a lot of testimonials. We have extreme popular support based on sales. For the last 17 years (1985-2002) MDMA has remained very popular while also remaining illegal. The drug is relatively safe, non-addictive and short-acting (2-3 hours). It promotes healing and the ecstacy that comes from being “spontaniously” healed. It enhances positive communication within the community or the family, or within oneself. MDMA binds the Techno or Rave communities via it’s affects on group-think and problem-solving. The MDMA experience is vital, tribal, ecstatic and meets the modern workingman’s time constraints - MDMA’s effects last 3 hours only, with little hang-over. At this point we need to pinch ourselves - after all, this chapter is about conspiracy, isn’t it ? We need to ask ourselves “does MDMA really fit so far as covert plots or secret agenda’s”? As a drug experience, “E” equates to open communication, trust and empathy. People connected with secrecy, subterfuge, paranoia and political squalls would find MDMA useless for crowd or mind control. Between the Internet, the media and word-of-mouth, a clear history of MDMA and Dr. Alexander Shulgin should be easy. So what’s the problem? There is no problem, so long as one doesn’t dig too deep. But alas... one must dig, musn’t one ? So dig one shall. Much has been written re: MDMA’s pedestrian origins : what MDMA is, isn’t and and its’ impact. Nothing has been written however, regarding MDMA’s occult associations and its’ magical pedigree. Most intriquing is the life story of uber-chemist Dr. Alexander Shulgin - who has his own interests in occult symbolism and initiation. PIHKAL & TIHKAL Dr. Shulgin’s most famous books are PIHKAL (Phenethylamines I Have Known and Loved) and TIHKAL (Tryptamines I Have Known and Loved). His articles and books have been translated into many languages. Dr. Shulgin holds at least 17 US patents and has been published in prestigious magazines like Nature . Regarding Shulgin’s books PIHKAL and TIHKAL : phenethylamines and tryptamines are chemical compounds. A common tryptamine would be serotonin, which is secreted in our brains and is a neurotransmitter in our body. This chemical is connected to memory and thinking and modulates sensation, regulating the other glands of the body . It is believed that some psychedelics work by mimicking serotonin’s effects. A common phenethylamine drug would be amphetamine or mescaline. MDMA is also a phenethylamine.There are thousands of tryptamines and phenethylamines listed in chemical or pharmaceutical catalogs, but only a few are psychedelic. Further, tryptamines and phenethylamines express the primary molecular “spines” posessed by many psychedelic drugs. Such reveal a chemical starting point - a backbone - for formulating new psychoactive drugs and compounds. Dr. Shulgin is a master of this sort of chemistry. Alexander Shulgin was born on June 17, 1925 in Berkeley, California. His father was Russian, his mother American. He attended the University of California, earning a Ph.D. in biochemistry in 1954 after attending Harvard. His post-graduate work included studies in psychiatry and chemistry. Alexander Shulgin’s first post-graduate job was at Dow Chemical where he made important discoveries in the area of pesticides. He worked at Dow Chemical until 1965. Shortly after starting at Dow, Dr. Shulgin’s novel pesticide research made the company a lot of money. Dow Chemical then granted Dr.Shulgin more open-ended opportunities to investigate hallucinogenic drugs - Shulgin's first love. Dow Chemical is famous for many good things and infamous for the manufacture of Napalm and other horrific biological and chemical-warfare agents used during the Vietnam War. One compound Shulgin came up with at Dow was a synthetic version of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) which is the active ingredient in marijuana. This was synthesized as a nitrogen-containing phenethylamine, something not found in nature. Shulgin's work was based on earlier research done by Dr. Roger Adams from the University of Illinois. Roger Adams synthetic THC was termed “Adam’s nine-carbon compound” by Shulgin. Adam’s synthetic THC was 510 times more powerful than natural THC. 512 times more powerful. Dr. Adams synthetic THC showed novel chemistry, to be sure. But this novelty pales in comparison to Adams’ radical breakthroughs in potency science. If THC will multiply by 512 times, would rare and expensive toxins or proteins connected to biological warfare? Dow Chemical - in the business of pesticides and chemical-warfare agents - was most interested. The Tao of Dow Could Dr. Alexander Shulgin add to the discussion? A room darkens. A screen silently slides down and strange hieroglyphics appear: The sum total of their query was neatly organized on the slide, which showed a reaction scheme down the left side of the screen leading to the penultimate compound “A”, and another screen down the right side leading to the penultimate compound ‘B”. The product (from reacting A with B)... was considered secret. Their questions centered on two displaced sequences. Could any of us come up with some jazzy ideas for easier or better syntheses of either A or B? ... I said... that the simple coupling of A and B would produce “Adams nine-carbon compound”. - PIHKAL, pp. 28 Roger Adams breakthroughs went further than expected, thanks to the CIA, the military and Dr. Shulgin - no mean feat. Take a bow, Mr. Shulgin. You’re new proposed security clearance is “top-secret”. Dr. Shulgin then went on to brilliantly analyze Dr. Adam’s work, recommending that all 8 isomers in Adam’s “nine-carbon compound” be synthesized. Then ... “they should consider... the target compound... with a nitrogen atom in it. That, I added, might be a really super potent phenethylamine”. Jaws dropped. Time stood still. Visions of sugar-death danced in Dow’s head. Dr. Shulgin was soon granted a team patent for his synthetic THC discovery. Shulgin's name is listed on many other other patents based in his important pesticide research at Dow. In fact, Dr. Shulgin owns 17 patents. The majority of the patents were granted for Shulgin’s breakthroughs re: pesticides and toxins. The remaining patents were issued for chemical processes and drug design. The minorities are for psychedelic drugs discoveries. These pesticide patents cannot be overemphasized as they changed the course of Dr. Shulgin’s career. Showing unusual humbleness in his famous book PIHKAL, Dr. Shulgin limits his pesticide days at Dow Chemical to a mere mention - one sentence. And he completely overlooks the many pesticide patents issued to him - and this is in a book of 978 pages! Curious. The hydra-heads of a dragon now begin to stir. This dragon is called BW (Biological Warfare). It has been stated by experts in biological warfare, that the field owes much of its current status to breakthroughs in pesticide and toxin chemistry made a generation ago. Especially important were breakthroughs in algae and lichen research. It was sometime around 1960 that I met a brilliant neurologist, Harry Bush [a pseudonym - TL] who had become totally fascinated with lichens, and had invested much effort in their identification and characterization. I learned much about him about the symbiosis between algae and fungi, and learned that some of the chemicals in lichens can be brought to react with certain essential oils from natural sources... This little studied collection of chemicals proved to be an unending source of ideas... - PIHKAL, pp. 26, 27 Toxins and poisons are derive from plants and animals and can be developed into (BW) biological warfare agents - proteins capable of acting on specific receptors in the human body... Developers rely on a variety of sources for toxins, including microbes, snakes, spiders, sea creatures and plants. Toxins can also be derived from algal [algae - TL] toxin, for example, and are highly poisonous and difficult to halt with vaccines or other medical treatment. Another toxin - Saxitoxin - is produced from marine algae and it affects nerve cells, eventually causing the victim to stop breathing. Weapons experts are also looking at the possibility of bioregulators - organic chemicals that regulate cell processes - and physiologically active catalysts will be weaponized for biological warfare in the future... An intelligence community report points out that such chemicals could short-circuit and disrupt the bodily functions and kill the affected victim. - Gertz, Air Force Magazine (Jan. 1988) Such biological warfare weapons have been called “bug-spray for humans” by some. Chemical and biological warfare has terrified the world and is banned today by most civilized nations. Dr. Shulgin was just a humble chemist - among many other humble chemists - during those early pesticide days at Dow. One man’s dream can be another man’s ammunition. What man truly knows the splendors or disasters he has wrought, when looking back on his life? Can purity and innocence tether events which fall from a mans work? Profound questions perhaps. As profound as life and death. This early pesticide and THC work led to Dr. Shulgin being exposed to members of the Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland. In the 1960’s, the Edgewood Arsenal was a main chemical-biological weapons developer for the US military. NASA Eventually Alexander Shulgin was offered a job working for what he “fictionally” described as the “San Carlos Aerospace Laboratory” under the auspices of NASA. The person who interviewed Sasha for the job told him what to expect: There will be situations in the future in which astronauts might well be exposed to long periods of sensory isolation and all the potential mental developments that might come along with that particular territory. There is being set up a research program geared to develop chemicals that could be used to train those astronauts who might be subjected to long bouts of sensory deprivation. Teach them to roll with the altered states of consciousness that could very well be a consequence of that isolation... - PIHKAL, pp. 43 No doubt NASA might also have interests in anti-emetic (anti-vomiting) drugs for those new to zero-gravity. And anti-boredom and hunger-stimulating agents might be useful on long space flights. Natural THC from marijuana is well known for easing such symptoms. We cannot speculate on the synthetic versions of THC made by Dr. Adams and Dr. Shulgin. We should mention an academic paper published in May, 1967 by the Edgewood Arsenal (two years after Shulgin left Edgewood and Dow) in The Journal of Organic Chemistry. Its title is “Synthesis of the Eight Stereo Isomers of Tetrahydrocannabinol Congener” by Herbert Aaron and Parker Ferguson. Think on this. Designing top-secret chemistry for NASA.? Or, designing top-secret chemistry probably slated for biological warfare. Dr.Shulgin was asked to take his pick. His career lay before him. Dr. Shulgin supposes in his book PIHKAL, that the man he now worked for - a person he pseudonymously calls “Captain B. Lauder Pinkerton” - was a NSA (National Security Agency) agent: But there was the other world to be seen and explored. This was composed of many biological research projects in other areas, which had already been established by Pinkerton. Here were arcane projects such as black-membrane dynamics, studies of the influence of gravity on plant growth, the relationship between magnetic fields and the blood-brain barrier, and the effects of radiation on fertility. - PIHKAL, pp. 45 Captain Pinkerton spoke to Dr. Shulgin about many things. For example, “Pinkerton might bring up the subject of mental telepathy and the possibility of influencing another persons thoughts at a distance”. Alexander Shulgin concluded that his work would end-up at the CIA or Department of Defense, probably as weapons. Troubled, Sasha quit this new job right before his official top-secret clearance was approved, according to his “fictional” biography PIHKAL. Top Secret Dr. Shulgin states in PIHKAL that his proposed top-secret clearance “would effectively gag him for the rest of his life”. Hence, future science could be compromised. Open science, not arcane science. Science might save lives or lead to important discoveries for the common man. In actuality, top-secret clearances (of which there are several types) last a minimum of 20 years. We’ll assume Sasha was feeling dramatic when he claimed a lifetime of secrecy respective to his top-secret clearance. The magician waves a magic wand and an owl is pulled from his top-hat. 1965 turns into 1985 right before our eyes. But Dr. Shulgin says in his “fictional” biography that he received no top-secret clearance, so time is on his side. ... and I am a quiet person; I don’t make a lot of noise in public; I’m not leading any new social movements. I don’t sell drugs. I have done work, under contract to the government, which involved making reference samples for them, and I bill them for my time. But it’s a matter of principle for me not to exchange drugs for money in any way. It keeps life a lot simpler. In the meantime, there are probably a lot of people in the government who are very interested in what I publish. I have no doubt whatsoever that the CIA and probably the Defense Department take a close look at some or all of the compounds that I write up; they probably feel that I am doing a lot of their work for them, as a matter of fact. You mean testing them for use in war - biological warfare and that sort of stuff? Shura [Sasha’s fictional name for himself - TL] shrugs. Or possibly crowd control, or prisoner-of-war interrogation, or maybe helping to drive an unfriendly Head of State into some kind of befuddlement - who knows? Their objectives are not my objectives... - PIHKAL, pp. 157 At this juncture, it should be noted that many literary masquerades occur in PIHKAL and TIHKAL. This literary license turns Dow Chemical into “The Dole Chemical Company” Edgewood Arsenal becomes “Blackwood Arsenal”, and so on. We can only suppose who “Captain Pinkerton” really is, or was. And we can only suppose what this man’s conscience holds. If he has a conscience. Alexander Shulgin went on to operate his own licensed lab as a consultant, and teach as a college professor. He taught Public health classes at San Francisco General Hospital. Dr. Shulgin lectured at the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology and San Francisco State University, among others. STP and Beyond Over the years, Shulgin contracted with the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration), NIDA (National Institute of Drug Abuse) and many other government agencies. He retired as Professor Emeritus from the University of California. Besides Dow Chemical, Shulgin also contracted with Bristol Labs and the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory. In the 1960’s Dr. Shulgin invented the famous psychedelic called STP. He then produced a dizzying array of compounds, the most famous being MDMA, first discovered and patented in Germany in 1912. Dr. Shulgin considered the father of the MDMA or “Ecstasy” movement. MDMA was called “ADAM” right after it’s introduction to the masses. Alexander Shulgin also produced “Eve” or MDE. Another famous compound he created is 2-CB, also called “Nexus”. Another famous one is 2CT-7, a drug which got a lot of media in 2002 after several accidental, mind-bending overdoses. Shulgin’s classic books TIHKAL and PIHKAL list several hundred new and important hallucinogens created in Shulgin’s private lab. Many of these were tested on a private research team built by Shulgin himself. Dr. Alexander Shulgin’s importance cannot be overstated in regard to psychedelic history. His work created an essential cornerstone used to build the house of modern psychedelic drug research.. Dr. Albert Hofmann (the discoverer of LSD and synthetic Psilocybin) calls psychedelic substances works of modern alchemy. In alchemical terms, Shulgin’s work has been described as “crossing the pearl with the diamond”. Etymologically, the word diamond comes from the Sanskrit dyu meaning “luminous being”. The diamond is the alchemical symbol of light and brilliance. It shows symmetry and equilibrium. The diamond-word adamantine is connected to the Greek adamas, meaning “unconquerable”. The pearl is also an alchemical symbol. It is one of the eight common emblems of Chinese tradition. It symbolizes “genius in obscurity” according to French symbolist C.E. Cirlot. In alchemy, sublimation is a meditative process with symbolic and physical aspects. Sublimation is meant to transform by way of rumination, obscuration and burial. After this symbolic or emotional burial, parts of the mind or spirit may re-emerge (or resurrect) as “the pearl”. Dr. Alexander Shulgin is certainly one of the great chemists of our time. He has received accolades from professional peers, government agencies and the psychedelic underground. Nobel Prize winner Kary Mullis has said of Shulgin: “what he single-handedly tried to do was chart out whole areas of compounds...”. A formidable goal, as chemists often spend years looking into one class of compounds or one compound alone. Ah, the friendships made in youth. Dow Chemical, Edgewood Arsenal, the FBI, the CIA and even the NSA, if Shulgin ponders correctly. And these past associations are closer than we realize. In PIHKAL Dr. Shulgin frames the past this way: “... a few years after I left Dole”... [really Dow Chemical - TL]. “I had been given the midnight tour of the Swedish equivalent of the FBI laboratories. My host was Peter Mille, [a pseudonym - TL] the head of the narcotics lab in Stockholm”. The real “Peter Mille” shares a lifelong friendship with Dr. Shulgin. Sasha also mentions that he consulted with “an inside source” at Edgewood Arsenal as late as the mid 1980’s. “Friends helping friends, that’s what life’s all about” as they say. They also say “that’s what death’s all about” - especially around Edgewood Arsenal and Dow Chemical. Another of Dr. Shulgin’s old friends is the now-retired bureau chief of the DEA’s Western Regional Laboratory. An interesting collection among butchers and bakers and candlestick makers. In Dr. Shulgin we see sympathies for the underground, for the spiritual quest, for illegal psychedelics. But we also see sympathies for those who would crush these dreams and opportunities. So many books on the bookshelf. How does one organize? Ovation, as applause echo from a source less known. At Home with the Alchemist This source sits perched like an owl in a tree. The sound of thunder echo’s from these hands. “Thunder, perfect mind” as the Gnostics say. The owl takes flight skyward towards the Napa Valley in California. It circles a small house built on the side of a mountain. This is where the Shulgin’s live. The address is on Shulgin Road in Lafayette, California. Sasha lives here with his wife Ann, a noted lay therapist. Now we are up to date, more or less. Were we to read Sasha and Ann’s two books - the “fictional” biographies PIHKAL and TIHKAL - we would truly understand the importance of this couple’s life and work. The owl-like source we mentioned? It has read both these books, many times. So many times that the pages are worn and faded. But Sasha sees his readers as his friends. Or friends in potential. Especially Mr. Owl. It is said that a man counts his wealth by the number of his friends. Let us begin the countdown, then. And let this article act as friend to Alexander Shulgin, now and forever. As I stated, Alexander Shulgin has many friends. His friends and admirers call him Sasha. As our approach in this chapter is admiring and friendly, Sasha it will be. Sasha Shulgin is a complicated man with many interests. His gaze is broad and profound. It often settles on ideas of alchemy, occult orders and hidden temples. In a 1994 High Times interview, Dr. Shulgin recounts his alchemical perspectives: “I’ve studied alchemy a bit and its very much about feedback. Who care if you melt and fuse lead 10,000 times? At the end of it you don’t come out of it with anything but melted and fused lead! But in doing that... that’s meditation!” Meditation. “ Ahhh ... make me one with everything” as the Buddhist said to the hot-dog vendor. The quest for higher knowledge might seem attractive to a master chemist who is already delving into the usually invisible. In TIHKAL, Dr. Shulgin mentions his passing interest in the occult and secret societiies: We need a way to communicate experience of the deeper parts of ourselves, a way to share hidden knowledge that has traditionally been called occult or hidden. Until our time, this level of knowledge was considered the private preserve of those shamans, teachers or spiritual guides who had earned their way to it. In their hands was the responsibility of choosing those gifted, intuitive people who would become students or disciples. Those special people were taken into temples of learning, into the pyramids or sacred kivas, to be gradually led into explorations of the spiritual worlds and the increased understanding of their own unconscious landscapes. This kind of learning was expected, in time, to produce healers and community leaders of uncommon wisdom. If we had the time that our ancestors had, we could expect to see a gradual increase in the number of people aware of their own inner workings; the energies, drives, fears, instincts and learned patterns which make up the interior universe of the human being... -TIHKAL, pp. xxv As Sasha Shulgin observes, the “interior universe” has hidden - or interior - students. Perhaps even masters are hidden away, doing their work in this “interior”. And we must assume that not every student or master is a light-bringer. Such adepts might push normal ideas of the spirit into the pale... far into the pale. Perhaps even into the shadows. These are initiates who might make the workings of society and the spirit of society their meditation. Mass-psychology and semiotics are part and parcel in this house. Adepts might have the ability to experiment and test such ideas on a grand scale. The working of social structure, politics, language, economies and religion - this might be the game of the adept. What might happen if you start a new religious cult here? Cause a coup d’etat there? Destabilize an economy here? Remove or change international borders? Alter the ways we record history? Change or obliterate a language? Or create a new one? Take a sleepy little town like San Francisco and in the mid 1960’s introduce several grams (hundreds of thousands of doses) of pure LSD to an unsuspecting public? Create a little mind-control project called MK-ULTRA . Blow that mind, young man. Blow that mind. These would be special spiritual temples made up of very special initiates. Cultural evolution (or revolution) - this would be their goal. Bavarian Illuminati There is one particular temple - one that is most foul. It has existed for many centuries and used many names. The Bavarian Illuminati, or just the Illuminati suits. As this chapter will purport, parts of Dr. Shulgin’s life has been lived under the protection of two umbrellas. One umbrella is firmly held aloft by the Illuminati. This umbrella’s fabric is cold and synthetic and it feels strange to the touch. The umbrella fabric is impressed with computer-generated pictures of owls - a symbol with special meaning to Alexander Shulgin. The umbrella’s handle is made of polymers and plastics. The handle is machine-stamped with the word THANATOS. This umbrella was built out of order, sequence and calibrations. And time... plenty of time. The past, present and future surround this umbrella’s design. No chaos waves allowed here. No “be here now” rhetoric. The perfect accessory for perfect Illuminati. The Illuminati or Bavarian Illuminati is the legendary and occult secret society. Their origins are obscure but they achieved status, then infamy in Bavaria and Europe until they were outlawed in 1785. The group was founded in 1776 at the University of Ingolstadt by a professor of Canon Law named Adam Weishaupt. Adam translates into “the first man” and Weishaupt means “one who knows”. The Bavarian Illuminati attracted such men as Goethe, Mozart, Wagner and Beethoven to their ranks. In Rousseau and Revolution by Will Durant, Mozart’s Illuminati connections are outlined. Paul Nettles’ Mozart and Masonry also delves into this. Assassination of Mozart by David Weiss paints Mozart’s death as conspiracy, based on Mozart’s secret-society interests. The Magic Flute Unveiled: Esoteric Symbolism In Mozart’s Masonic Opera by Jacquees Chailley looks at Mozart’s interests in Illuminati symbolism. In the book Beethoven by Maynard Solomon it is mentioned that Christian Neefe, Beethoven’s first music teacher, was the leader of the Illuminati lodge in Bonn. And Beethoven’s “The Emperor Joseph Cantata” (Beethoven’s first major work) was commissioned by the “Lesse Geshellschaft”. The Lesse Geshelschaft existed as an Illuminati “front” after the original secret society was banned. There are a number of excellent books about the Bavarian Illuminati. Some are scholarly and academic like Vernon Stauffer’s sociological treatise New England and the Bavarian Illuminati. Abbe Barruel’s The Illuminati, Or Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism is another well researched, scholarly history, in several volumes. Other mainstream Illuminati books include Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea’s Illuminatus ! trilogy. Jim Keith’s Saucers of the Illuminati and Steve Jackson’s Illuminati-New World Order card game (and book) . Some say the Illuminati still exist and secretly run the world. They make the trains run on time. Many authors have purported that The Illuminati is not one group, but many. A first common thread holding these groups together is secrecy. The worship of science, technology, social control and order - this is what predominates. A perverse sense of hierarchy and elitism pervades. When I use the word “Illuminati” it also refers to a generic occult mind-set. This includes several secret societies, mystical groups and “men’s clubs” with similar dispositions and aims. Cryptocrats These secret societies posit Neo-Platonism, “sacred” geometry, Pythagorean thought and Hermetic (from the God Hermes) spirituality as superior. There are unusual corporate, fascist or revolutionary elements in these groups. The original Illuminati of Bavaria is the quintessential - and most recognized - example of many such groups. Michael Anthony Hoffman 11 is a popular author who regularly publishes diatribes against the Illuminati. His work specializes in revisionist history, symbology and occult deciphering. Hoffman calls the Illuminati the “Hermetic Academy”, the “Neo-Platonists” and the “Cryptocrats”. He speaks out in a recent interview: Some believe that I think these developments [the Illuminati’s occult practices and parapolitics - TL] are part of a microscopically orchestrated “master plan” devised by invincible Freemasons [the Illuminati have long been associated with Freemasonry. However, the original members took oaths denouncing Freemasonry according to Stauffer and others. But the cryptocrats are just highly informed weathermen possessed or extraordinary daring. They had a sense of what direction the winds of time, the “spirit of the age” would take, but that doesn’t mean that they control the wind, or that they are the wind. They forecasted it and anticipated it but it didn’t always go their way. They hoped it would, but when that didn’t happen they had to put out their sails like everybody else. But in the modern era, generally it has gone their way and they did have a script and it was calibrated and their story prevailed. But no human organization prevails solely by dint of their own devices and personnel. A substantial portion of the power of secret societies comes from hitching a ride on coincidence... - Michael A. Hoffman II, (from an interview in Crash Collusion ) Many share a belief that the Illuminati secretly run the world. Others say that nature and her handmaidens breathed life into this world and then suckled their child with the milk of the anima. This milk is called chaos. Through nature’s handmaiden the anima, all that we know is created, nourished and realized. Anima The Jungian therapist James Hillman says that we do not create the anima, she creates us. We do not dream her, but live inside her dream (or her womb). On the mantle of nature’s house sits a silver crown studded with images of the moon and stars. The air around her carries the scent of fairy-flowers and sweetness. When the anima moves one way, rainbows fill the sky. Another way, dewdrops sparkle in chorus. She moves out of time - unpredictable and exalted. She is “stoned... immaculate” as the shaman-poet Jim Morrison used to say. But the anima has her chaotic moods. Some liken these to the weather itself, which often runs a sunny summer dance for days. Then suddenly bursts forth a storm. Or brings a blizzard hours after Indian summer. It has been said that nothing is certain except death and taxes. Let’s add unpredictable weather. The weather is never the same from day to day. From season to season we are always surprised. Can one ever really predict with certainty? Perhaps... perhaps. Sasha knows the weather and how winds do blow. He has spent a lifetime and written several books about the many seasons of his amazing life. Experience. Knowledge. Wisdom. Sasha has seen some weather. Why not have two umbrellas? If one is good, two must be better. Sasha’s first umbrella has a synthetic fabric dotted with owls. And a strange polymer handle with the word THANATOS stamped into it. The workmanship is excellent. After all , it’s a Bavarian. A favorite to be sure. Sasha’s second umbrella has little moons and stars studding its’ fabric The color is the bluest of blues. This umbrella’s handle is mad e from petrified wood. The handle is inlaid with mother-of-pearl taken from the deep blue sea. On this mother-of-pearl handle a word spells out – Eros. This Eros-umbrella is firmly held aloft by nature herself. Sasha Shulgin has enjoyed continued protection and comfort in a world of unsure weather, fortune smiles. Wonder and abundance to the deserving man. Eros & Thanatos Two umbrella’s - Eros and Thanatos. Life and death. Positive and negative. Yin and yang. Polarity, sweet polarity, how we cry for thy touch. For the chance of union, we follow after thy footsteps. Integration is both thy father and thy child. A mystery most noble, indeed! The scene shifts. We stand before a mansion door and stretch up to see inside - we peek before a small open window. We find that the Illuminati has built a club in the middle of a lovely grove in California - in Sonoma County near Monte Rio. We pause and reflect. We notice little pictures of owls everywhere at this club. The signs here read clearly: “The Bohemian Club and Bohemian Grove”. Dr. Alexander Shulgin is a member of the Bohemian Club and Bohemian Grove and has proudly fictionalized them as “The Owl Club” in his books TIHKAL and PIHKAL. Dr. Shulgin pseudonymously appears as the character Dr. Shura Borodin. In chapter 11 of PIHKAL , Sasha Shulgin recounts his introduction into The Owl Club. “One evening in the late 1950’s. I was invited to a musical soiree at an old comfortable home in the Berkeley hills. I brought my viola with me... The only person I can remember from that evening was a handsome, proper gentleman with a small grey moustache and the residues of an English accent. During coffee, after the music was over, he struck up a conversation. He asked me if i had ever heard of The Owl Club in San Francisco? I had not, so he began painting a picture of a rather fascinating group, with many interests in all sorts of art, drama and music. He mentioned that there was need for a viola player, and would I be interested in sitting in for a couple of evenings? ... The Club proved to be a group of gentlemen from a broad array of political and professional backgrounds, leaning somewhat toward the political right and the well-to-do. ... At my first evening at the Club... Andrew was appointed my Pater Familias ...” - PIHKAL, pp. 60-65 But this was just the introduction. Dr. Shulgin was not quite in bed with the Bohemian Club. Not yet. What cemented the Bohemian deal was an unexpected subpoena sent to Sasha on behalf of Claud Pepper’s “The House Committee On Crime In America”. This was very famous witch-hunt of the times concerned with criminal cartels. Also with illegal drug masterminds and those suspected of being their teachers. According to his autobiography, Sasha entered the Court House and the Witch-finder General scowled. “How can you call yourself a scientist” he demanded, “and do the type of work you do?” Under oath Dr. Shulgin was “raked over the coals” as they say. Several implied criminal associations were brought into testimony. Such included Sasha’s alleged clandestine association with Owsley Stanley, the infamous LSD chemist who made “orange sunshine” LSD. And Sasha had once been approached to set up and run an illegal lab in Jamaica, being offered “six million dollars” according to his fictional PIHKAL. Most disturbing. Sasha Shulgin was having a bad hair day. Nothing to do but play music. Especially since coincidence - or fate - provided a timely invitation, pulling Sasha back towards the mysterious “Owl Club” (really the Bohemian Club - TL) to play more viola, right around this time. Life, like music, owes quite a lot to timing. Then again, The Owl Masters might simply be watching over a fledgling. Providing shelter from a storm. “Stay in our good company”, they might have said. “We live in a world beyond Claud Pepper”. Throughout PIHKAL and TIHKAL Dr. Shulgin fondly remembers many interesting social meetings, new friendships and his musical contributions to “the Owl Club” orchestra. Scrapbook memories shown by a man who will be remembered as one of psychedelia’s Grand Masters. For a moment the clouds part. The weather seems unsure and the wind picks up. Book pages flap, then blow open to Lewis Caroll’s most famous work. In Through the Looking Glass we read the following: “When I use a word”, Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more or less”. “The question is”, said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things”. “The question is”, said Humpty Dumpty, “who is to be master, that’s all.” The Owl Club In Through the Looking Glass, characters explain that anything can be called by any name, and doing impossible things just takes mastery. Day after day and year after year, a young master has been practicing. It is almost like wars, genocide and the military-industrial complex never happened. Nor did the CIA. Power elite? The insiders? The Bavarian Illuminati? The Owl Club? Nothing seems amiss. Nothing unusual to report, sir. OK to sound “all clear”. From Alexander Shulgin’s glance at things, we might see the Bohemian Club and Bohemian Grove as a charming, harmless country-go-to-meeting picnic. An innocent peer-society for “who’s-who” alumni. Rest...relaxation...the country...the symphony... philosophy... cigars and brandy...life is good...Ahhhh! “Seeming...seeming” as Shakespeare says in Hamlet . Most people have never heard of the Bohemian Club or Bohemian Grove. This is astounding considering the scope of their influence. Members live in the high-towers of America. The Grove itself goes back over 125 years. Bohemian Grove members include every US Republican President since the 1930’s, many CIA directors and many military Generals. Top scientists and financiers, the rulers of media and corporate heads belong. The male members of the oldest elite families in America come to the Grove to commune. The legend is that the Bohemian Club and Bohemian Grove are an Illuminati stronghold. And through the Grove, the Illuminati makes its’ presence felt in America. The idea of a super-group running the world is amusing, you say? People have been claiming nonsense like this since Babylon. But nobody has ever really proved anything. Secret-societies? The Illuminati? The Masons are just a bunch of harmless, pot-bellied old farts. Bohemian Grove? We have country clubs too, you know? So what ever the Bohemian Club and Bohemian Grove is, it must be something like that... but with more prestige, money and power, right? Somewhere, another owl takes flight... searching the moonlit landscape for prey. Why am I feeling no fear? Because this is too important for me to waste time on being afraid. Besides, what is there left to be afraid of? The worst possible thing which any cosmic mind can do to a little human-one has already been done: it has revealed its own nature; and in doing so it has managed to effectively strip my life of all meaning, all purpose. I’d rather confront an eight-armed demon with fangs. You can battle with a demon. You can embrace a demon... - PIHKAL, pp. 375

Bohemian Grove

The Bohemian Grove is a 2700-acre redwood forest, located in Monte Rio, California. It contains accommodations for 2000 people to “camp” in luxury. It is owned by The Bohemian Club, a group with long associations to secret societies, the secret government, the Illuminati and dire-deeds of historical importance. As history goes, the direst of deeds often rides in on a philosophy. And even the Illuminati needs a philosophy. One part of their philosophy I call “tesselary” which means “word as chessboard”. And the chess pieces? Here is one that looks like an owl.

The Bohemian Club is a private, all-male club that has its headquarters in the Bohemian Building in San Francisco. According to Mary Moore of “The Bohemian Grove Action Network”, the Club was formed in 1872 by men who sought shelter from the frontier culture (or lack of culture). Maclean’s magazine (March 23, 1981) says that the Bohemian Club “was formed one night in 1872 by five bored news-hawks of the old ‘San Francisco Examiner’ ”. This is interesting, as reporters were soon banned - a policy that remains to this very day.

The Bohemian Club quickly developed into an association of very rich, powerful men, mostly of this country (there are similar organizations of other countries). Some artists are allowed to join at reduced rates (with an example being Jack London) because of their social status and entertainment value. The list includes every Republican President (as well as some Democrats) since 1923, many Cabinet officials and the CEO’s of large corporations including many financial institutions.

The groups represented include military contractors - especially the nuclear weapons industry, oil companies, banks (including the Federal Reserve), utilities and major national media (broadcast and print). Many of these groups have high-ranking officials as Club members. It should be noted that many of these groups and corporations depend heavily on their relationship to the government for their profitability. Conversely, the government depends on its associations with these groups for long-range strategic planning in areas of economics, intelligence gathering and warfare. Elements of the government (or secret-government) or intelligence-circles connected to the occult, rekindle old friendships (and old pacts) in what I will show to be an overtly occult atmosphere.

Author Kerry Richardson points out that “the Bohemian Grove is a gathering place for many men with a business and professional interest in the construction of nuclear weapons; men whose companies make nuclear bombs and their delivery systems and men in government whose jobs involve them with nuclear armaments”. Such include Caspar Weinberger, Secretary of Defense under Ronald Reagan and Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense under George W. Bush Mr. Weinberger gave a speech at the 1991 Grove meeting titled “Rearming America”. Many of the officials of General Dynamics, which builds the Trident Nuclear Submarines and the FB-111(nuclear) bombers, are involved with the Bohemian Grove . David L. Lewis, GD’s Chairman, is a Bohemian Grove member.

Other CEO’s include those from Rockwell International, General Electric, The Boeing Company, United Technologies Corporation, Westinghouse, Tenneco Inc, Northrop Corporation, UNC Resources, AT & T, Monsanto Corp., The Bechtel Company and Hewlett Packard, among others. Many of these coprporations are involved with “Star Wars” technologies. Dr. Edward Teller, associate Directer Emeritus of Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, spoke at the 1980 Bohemian Grove meeting. The 1980 topics included “Nuclear X-Ray Lasers”.

The Grove’s motto: is “Weaving Spiders Come Not Here”, based on the Shakespeare quote. However, the Manhattan Project - which first envisioned the Atomic Bomb - was conceived at the Grove in 1942. Projects nourished at the Grove have included determining who our Presidential candidates will - or won’t - be. Richard Nixon’s political rehabilitation was planned at the Grove. Maclean’s magazine (March 3, 1981) reported Bohemian Grove meetings such as the “1967 agreement between Ronald Reagan , over a drink with Richard Nixon, to stay out the coming Presidential race...”.

Other similar accounts exist in The Greatest Men’s Party On Earth: Inside the Bohemian Grove by John van der Zee (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1974). The book InFact Brings GE to Light says that “William Dornhoff, a sociologist who has extensively studied the role of social clubs [secret-societies- TL] in American society, has correctly predicted that several of Ronald Reagan’s friends from the Grove - George Schultz and William French Smith - would be appointed to his Presidential Cabinet. This is recounted in detail in Dornhoff’s book The Bohemian Grove and Other Retreats: A Study in Ruling-Class Cohesiveness (Harper and Row, 1974). “Facts are stupid things...”, Ronald Reagan was quoted saying, not long after this book was published. A spot of tesselary, anyone?

Elite Revelry

The members stay in different “camps” in the Grove with varying status levels. Members and guests of the most prestigious camp (Mandalay) have included: Henry Kissinger. George Schultz, Gerald Ford, S.D. Bechtel Jr., Thomas Watson Jr. (of IBM), Philip Hawley (of the Bank of America) William Casey (of the CIA) and Ralph Bailey (of Dupont). Mandalay’s membership is so powerful and exclusive that one member commented “you don’t just walk in there... you are summoned”.

George Bush, Sr. resides in a less prestigious camp called “The Hillbillies” with A.W. Clausen (of the World Bank). This camp also includes Walter Cronkite and William F. Buckley. Donald Rumsfeld, George W. Bush’s choice for Secretary of Defense, also resides here. David C. Jones (ex-Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) resides in the “Dog House” camp. Other camps include “Toyland” and “Moonshiners”.

Each camp is distinguished by an unusual trait or ritual. Recent Bohemian guests have included William Sessions (formerly of the FBI), Ed Rollins (from the Ross Perot campaign) and Jack Kemp. General Vernon Walters (a CIA operative during the Chili coup in 1973 as well as Ambassador the Germany and the US Ambassador to the UN) as well as Admiral Charles Larson are also members. There at least 120 camps at the Bohemian Grove. Major magazines which have commented on these camps include MacLean’s (March 23, 1981), Mother Jones (Aug. 1981), Newsweek (Aug. 2, 1982), Fortune (Aug. 5, 1985),The Economist (Dec. 18, 1987) and Spy (Nov. 8, 1989).

Absolute certainty, a feeling of knowing without any doubt what is true and not true about some particular thing, is a common experience to all adults. It is a part of living, and ideally results from processes of questioning, testing, evaluating, and eventually confirming. The same feeling of absolute certainty, of complete conviction that your view of something (or everything, for that matter) is the ultimate truth, can and often does happen when you are under the influence of a psychedelic... - TIHKAL, pp. 169

The word “psychedelic” doesn’t just refer to drugs and can include other mind-expanding activities. Power, wealth, knowledge. The occult. The control of human destiny - yes, I think these things might be psychedelic. Definately mind-expanding to some. In a free country with a free press, one would think stories about the Bohemian Club and Bohemian Grove would be top news. Al Neuharth spoke at the Bohemian Grove in 1991. Neuharth is chairman of the Freedom Forum - a $700 million foundation dedicated to the free press. Neuharth also is the founder of USA Today.

An Orlando Weekly article titled “Keeping Secrets, Not Reporting Them” by Jeff Cohen and Norman Soloman tells all about the reporter who secretly tried to cover Al Neuharth’s speech at Bohemian Grove: [Bohemian Grove] notables have included the presidents of CNN and Associated Press... all this gets very little news coverage - a fact that has long frustrated Sonoma County [California] business woman Mary Moore, an activist who lives 5 miles from the deluxe camp. Many diligent journalists have tried to report about what goes on. The problem is that Moore says that when the story gets to the top boardrooms, then it gets killed.

Journalist Dick Matheson found out the hard way. In July, 1991, when Matheson was the bureau chief of People magazine (owned by Time-Warner), he sneaked into the Grove’s 2700 acre spread three times. On his third foray Matheson ran into a Time-Warner exec that recognized him, and promptly threw him out. Matheson had already learned a lot. For example, John Lehman -- former secretary of the Navy - presented a lecture stating that the Pentagon estimated that 20,000 Iraqi’s were killed in the gulf war a few months earlier. The Pentagon believed that the public was not ready to hear the death count.

At Bohemian Grove, Lehman was more candid. But Matheson’s eyewitness report never made it to the pages of People. Even though Matheson’s article was so well received that extra space was allotted for it, the story was mysteriously killed. The Matheson episode illustrated how difficult it can be for journalists to report fully on America’s political and economic strife, when their bosses are loyal members of that elite.

Another version of this story, “Inside Bohemian Grove: The Story People Magazine Won’t Let you Read”, appeared in Extra! magazine (Nov./Dec. 1991) . Extra! is published by “FAIR” (Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting), a media watchdog group. By way of coincidance, FAIR was partly founded by Marty Lee, who wrote a famous book on the CIA’s MK-ULTRA project with psychedelics, titled Acid Dreams .

The Bohemian Grove holds a two-week “retreat” every July (as well as smaller get-togethers throughout the year) in Sonoma County, California near the town of Monte Rio. During these retreats the members not only attend conferences and lectures, but also participate in unusual rituals designed to bond everyone. These rituals are notably occult in nature and significant. Newsweek magazine (Aug. 2,1992) actually calls these Bohemian Grove rituals “cabbalistic”, invoking the supernatural.

Occult expert and Professor, Anthony C. Sutton calls the Grove rituals “Druidic-like... red-hooded robes marching in procession”. The members of Bohemian Grove also show great admiration for “Saint John of Nepomuck” (also called “Saint John of Bohemia” by Grove members). St. John of Nepomuck gave (and kept) his oath to die before betraying the King’s wife. The notion of Royal status and secrecy among Grove members is of prime import. A reference to Saint John of Bohemia appears in a Bohemian Club publication titled HYPERLINK http://dogbert.abebooks.com/abe/BookDetails?bi=7620517

ST. JOHN OF BOHEMIA by Wilson, Neill C. The Sixty-fourth Grove Play of the Bohemian Club as performed by its members in The Bohemian Grove, July 26, 1969. Music by Leigh Harline, Directed by Thomas J Tyrrell. Illustrations by Lawrence J. Rehag, Photography by Raymond M. Moulin. Many traditional occult rituals and initiations such as the Druidic, the Mithraic, the ancient Greek, the Knights Templar or the Masonic involve occult drama replete with embedded symbols. A sort of alchemical psychodrama unfolds, designed to affect different parts of the mind and spirit.

It is well known that some initiations - especially the Masonic – come with royal-sounding titles, uniforms and honors. This in itself seems innocuous enough, as ritual of all types is the cornerstone of religion, therapy, art and social custom. And impressing the deep parts of the mind is the cornerstone of psychotherapy and especially the psychedelic psychotherapy championed by Alexander Shulgin and his wife Ann Shulgin. His rediscovery of MDMA set trends in psychotherapy and alternative healing. What gets absorbed into the mind - the set and setting, as well as the intent and where you (or your initiator or healer) wishes to go - this is what is being questioned here.

If your initiator wishes to focus on secrets, what better place than where the opening ceremonies involve hooded robes? Talk about first impressions! After all, secrets and oaths-of-silence are the cornerstone of occult comraderie. The word occult means hidden, after all. In a sense, secret agents and spy agencies (like the CIA) also share this “occult” aspect.

John Dee

Looking through the literature surrounding spies and spying, we find points in history when many secret agents were also occult initiates. A famous example was the Elizabethan provocateur John Dee (1527-1608). John Dee was recognized as the greatest living mathematician of his time.

John Dee’s now famous occultism involved symbolism, astrology and “scrying” (crystal ball and gemstone gazing) with his associate Edward Kelley. The two claimed to have made contact with Angelic (or demonic) forces These forces dictated through the medium Kelley a series of glyphs and letters - alleged to be an Angelic tongue they called “Enochian” (“The Book of Enoch” was a banned Biblical text which described sex between women and Angels called the Nephilim).

Dee then used his deciphering skills to unravel the Enochian messages. All this was expounded in a manuscript called Mysterium Libri Quinque (later called A True and Faithful Relation... Between John Dee and Some Spirits). John Dee was retained by the British Crown. He lived life under one Queens’s scorn and another Queen’s patronage. Queen Mary 1 charged Dee with sorcery - no small crime during that period. Dee was later acquitted and redeemed himself through brilliant scholarship, including work with ciphers and cryptography.

Among his duties, Dee acted as scholar, courier and spy for Queen Elizabeth 1. This was the beginning of British Intelligence and codes, code-breaking and modern spying. John Dee played the covert hero, conjuring seeds that would blossom into modern “cloak-and-dagger” adventures as recounted by Ian Fleming and his “fictional” character James Bond. There are a number of excellent books on John Dee, including Peter French’s John Dee: The World of An Elizabethan Magus.

John Dee is also considered the father of modern Freemasonry, according to Michael Hofmann II. Dee’s prominence created pacts with major occultists like Rabbi Judah Loew, a noted Kabbalist and the father of the legend of “the Golem”. There was much public outcry regarding this political-meets-occult positioning. This outrage was led by the famous English author and playwrite Christopher Marlowe who symbolized these pacts in his plays Doctor Faustus andTamburlaine. Marlowe was shortly thereafter murdered - some say by the Illuminati - in 1593.

From these examples we see that some secret societies are religious in nature, with covert political aspirations. Others are clearly political, and use the trappings of religion to further their purposes. Secrecy and stealth are essential in either case. Such groups enjoy a secret prominence, especially before and during revolutions and wars. We often learn of such matters after-the-fact. Sometimes long after the fact.

Knights Templar

The original Knights Templar was created to defend Christian pilgrims on their way to the Holy Land during the Middle Ages. They were a group of devout Christian monks inspired by St. Bernard and the Virgin Mary, whom they took oaths to. The Templar established and controlled their own banks, hospitals and ports. The Templar were founded in 1118 by a pious monk named Hugh de Payens. The Templar headquarters was in the Temple of King Solomon in Jerusalem.

As a side note, the patron saint of the Freemasons is Hiram, the grand-architect who built this same Temple for King Solomon. Well researched books on the Knights Templar include Piers Paul Read’s The Templars and The Templars and Their Myth by Peter Partner. The Knights Templar operated and defended important trade routes with those who were supposed to be their enemy - the Islamic and Moorish infidels. The Knights learned new sciences, medicines and learned spiritual ideas from the Moors. Such things were heretical by Vatican standards. Their powers soon rivaled the Vatican’s itself - who saw them as a threat both economic and spiritual.

The Templar final leader was Jacques DeMolay. He was eventually burned at the stake (with 123 Templar Knights) by the Vatican - all were charged with blasphemy and Satanism. During the final stages of his torture, Jacques DeMolay cursed his executioner, charging that the man would not live out the year. The torturer died his own violent death a few days before the year’s end.

The Vatican then went about destroying all traces and records of the Knights Templar. But worthy things have a way of surviving. For example the Freemasons have an initiation called “The Order of the Knights Templar Commandery” which corresponds to the 320, which is the highest working degree (or level) of Freemasonry. There is a 33o that exists in both honorary and active forms. This 32o ritual supposedly reveals parts of the true history of Jacques Demolay and a plan to avenge his death. Templar symbolism included a large red cross worn on their tunic.

Two of the Masonic initiations which precede the “Knights Templar Commandery” initiation are called “The Order of the Red Cross” and “The Order of the Red Cross of Constantine”. So “red cross” symbology has existed for a long time. “The American Red Cross” is a modern group that helps with war casualties and blood donations. It also uses this original Knights Templar symbol (which itself may have been borrowed from Constantine). And associated to the ARC is the St. Bernard dog, symbol of the lost traveler and the field hospital. St. Bernard was the Templars’ patron saint, as I have said. So traces remain in spite of the Vatican.

Revolutionary Thought

The American Revolution set in motion one of the great social experiments of our time. The United States colonies overthrew despotic British rule. The American Revolution then inspired the French Revolution. Historians usually give the American Revolution prominence as it showed more long lasting and permanent effects on culture. The French overthrew the despotic regimes of Marie Antoinette and King Louis, but were left with new despots like Napoleon.

The American and French revolutions were helped in part through the works of Illuminists, Neo-Platonists, Hermetic initiates and of course the Freemasons. The Freemasons or Masons are probably the best known US secret society. The legendary Hiram was the first Freemason, being the master craftsman who contracted to build Solomon’s Temple. Hiram was murdered and martyred by unknown assailants because he would not reveal the secrets of the Freemasonic craft. King Solomon sent chosen Freemasonic Masters to kill or capture Hiram’s assassins. These Freemasonic assassins were called the Coronati. The Coronati assassins were also killed by unknown forces.

Masonic initiations repeat these basic themes and legends and add the secret teachings of several schools of mysticism, including Egyptian architect cults. Each Masonic Lodge is supposed to be a replica of King Solomon’s Temple. Masonic Lodges appeared in America as early as 1730. Both the French and American revolutions included several Freemasonic Lodges as co-conspirators. For example, Paul Revere was the leader of a Masonic Lodge in Boston. Members of his Lodge dressed up as Indians and threw tea into the Boston harbor, setting off the “Boston Tea Party” which started the American Revolution.

Many players in both the French and American Revolution were high ranking Freemasons. These included George Washington and Benjamin Franklin from America, and Lafayette from France. In his fascinating article “Masonics 101”, Peter Babb has this to say: Before the American Revolution even began, Franklin had set the table for Masonic involvement. He had gone to France and maintained an active social schedule - one that almost exclusively involved his fellow Masons. Washington, on the other hand, had established and organized an American army that was, for all intents and purposes, an armed Masonic convention.

American soldiers were often encouraged to become Masons, and Masonic emblems were worn on American uniforms as proudly as any military insignia. Field Lodges were set up so the Constitutional Army forces wouldn’t loose their Masonic fraternity, and the British set up similar Lodges. ...When Washington retook Philadelphia in 1778, he led the celebration by marching in Masonic uniform, complete with his jewels and insignia’s... - Babb, pp. 22-23 (Eye Magazine #15) Masonic symbols can be spotted on US currency and in some architecture and monuments in Washington, DC. The Washington Monument has a 300 lb. capstone emblazoned with a Freemasonic seal, for example.

The topology of downtown Washington DC is modeled on that of downtown Paris. Both cities are laid out mathematically as a labyrinth. The labyrinth is an alchemical-magical symbol. The sacred geometry of old Egyptian architect cults appears in some downtown areas. Paris is the original home of Neo-Platonists, Illuminists and many of our modern secret societies.

The Knights Templar, The Freemasons and The Illuminati of Bavaria really existed (or do exist) behind the scenes during key periods in history. They had the power to affect Kings and Popes and influence many great thinkers. This happened long ago, you say. Those were the days before mass media, computers and modern police work. Hardly any good telescopes existed, let alone spy satellites. Groups like this could never exist in today’s world.

Today we seem to know everything about everything and the government knows everything about everybody. If only this were true... A modern version of the above would be The Bohemian Club [Shulgin’s “Owl Club” - TL].

Skull & Bones

A contemporary group similar to the Bohemian Club, albeit smaller in scope and membership, is Yale’s “Order of the Skull and Bones”. America’s Secret Establishment by Anthony C. Sutton says “Those on the inside know it as ‘The Order’. Others have known it for more than 150 years as ‘Chapter 322’ of a German secret society. It also known as ‘The Brotherhood of Death’ or just ‘Bones’. Author Ron Rosenbaum points out that the original skull and crossbones emblem used by Skull and Bones was also the official crest of the Bavarian Illuminati.

In an investigative piece for Esquire, Rosenbaum wrote “I do seem to have come across definite, if skeletal, links between the original Bones rituals and those of the notorious Bavarian Illuminati...”. “The Order of the Skull and Bones” was originally started in Germany in the early 1800’s .

David Guyette’s 1998 article for Nexus magazine titled “Deep Black: The CIA’s Secret Drug Wars” provides excellent background. According to Guyette, William Huntington (cousin to Samuel Russell, who started out smuggling opium from Turkey to China, then took over the illegal Perkins opium syndicate in Boston) formed the first US chapter of Skull and Bones in 1832 at Yale University with Alphonso Taft, who was US ambassador to Russia and father of US President William Howard Taft.

Huntington attracted members from the most powerful American families - Lord, Whitney, Taft, Bundy, Harriman, Pinchot, Rockefeller, Goodyear, Pillsbury, Kellogg, Vanderbilt and Bush - to name a few. The Russell family incorporated “The Order” as “The Russell Trust” in 1856, according to Dr. Sutton and others.

Traditionally, the Skull and Bones has been close to US intelligence circles. Skull and Bones member George Bush was director of the CIA, for example. Another well known members are William Buckley and Henry Luce. Parts of US intelligence, surprisingly, dates back to Yale University. There four Yale graduates formed part of “The Culper Ring”, one of the first American spy agencies. The Culper Ring was established by George Washington during the American revolution to spy on the British.

Robert Anton Wilson’s book Everything is Under Control mentions that The Skull and Bones temple at Yale is called “The Tomb”. Wilson also says that in World War II, “The Whippenpoof Song” became the official song of the OSS, which recruited many initiates of Skull and Bones and graduates of Yale. It has long been rumored that initiation into the very secret Skull and Bones Order involves the candidate stealing the skull of a famous historical figure - hence the Order’s strange name. These rumors also mention that the Order holds the skull of Pancho Villa and Geronimo.

Another legend has each Skull and Bones candidate laying in a coffin, reciting his own sexual history before his brethren. The Order of the Skull and Bones was even satirized in the popular cartoon newspaper strip “Doonesbury”, by Gary Trudeau. Gary Trudeau’s work has also focused on psychedelic issues from time to time. In his cartoon “Doonesbury” - read by hundreds of millions of people - we saw a several week installment surrounding the then ongoing MDMA debacle. This was during the period when MDMA was legal, then illegal.

In his own way, Trudeau brought MDMA’s plight to the masses, albeit in satirical form. The cartoonist donated the art originals from his cartoon strip to Rick Doblin of MAPS (Multi Disciplinary Association For Psychedelic Studies) who auctioned the artwork off. These funds went to pay for scientific MDMA research at hospitals and universities. Again - let us reiterate - Alexander Shulgin is considered the father of the whole MDMA movement. He bred it and he led it - albeit behind the scenes.

When Lyndon LaRouche ran for President in 1980, he started an investigation into the Skull and Bones membership of rival candidate George Bush, Sr. LaRouche stated, “Skull and Bones is no mere fraternity, no alumni association with added mumbo-jumbo. It is a very serious, very dedicated cult-conspiracy against the US Constitution.” Dr. Anthony Sutton emphasizes, “The Order has either set up or penetrated about every significant research or policy, and opinion-making organization in the United States” (both quotes by way of Jim Marrs’ Rule By Secrecy).

The New York Observer recently printed the following story: Skull and Bones Rites Filmed Ron Rosenbaum, NY Observer: It’s the primal scene of American power, of Bush family values. For two centuries, the initiation rites of the Skull and Bones Society has shaped the character of men who have shaped the American character, including two Presidents named Bush. And last Saturday, April 14th [2001] for the first time ever that long secret rite was witnessed by a team of outsiders, including this writer. Using high-tech night vision video equipment able to peer through the gloom into the inner courtyard of the Skull and Bones “Tomb” in New Haven, The Observer team witnessed: The George W. effect: intoxicated by renewed proximity to to Presidential power, a robed Bonesman posing as Goerge W. harangued initiates in an eerily accurate Texas drawl: “I’m gonna kill you like I killed Al Gore...”.

Privileged Skull and Bones members mocked the assault of Abner Louima by crying out repeatedly “Take that plunger out of my ass”. Skull and Bones members hurled obscene sexual insults (“lick my bum hole”) at initiates as they were forced to kneel and kiss a skull at the feet of the initiators. Other members acted out the tableau of a throat-cutting ritual murder. It is important to remember this is not some fraternity initiation. It is an initiation far more secret and far more significant in terms of real power in the United States than that of the Cosa Nostra. If the Bushes are the “WASP Corleones” the ever more stingingly waspish Maureen Dowd has suggested this is how their “made men” (and women) are made.

It is an initiation ceremony that has bonded diplomats, media moguls, bankers and spies into a lifelong, multi-generational fellowship far more influential than any fraternity. It was and still remains the heart of the heart, of the American establishment.

Solar Temple

Another example of a modern mystical group with CIA and intelligence ties would be “The Sovereign Order of the Solar Temple”. The Temple’s leader was Luc Jouret, according to The London Times, by way of author Alex Constantine in his book Psychic Dictatorship In America.. Constantine mentions that the Temple’s initiates also call themselves “The Knights of Christ”. The “Knights” appear to be an idealistic cross between the medieval Knights Templar and the Rosicrucians, but with shadowy CIA connections.

For weeks our media reported on this groups mass suicides in Granges, Switzerland and Morin Heights, Canada. Canadian journalist Pierre Tourangeau did a lengthy investigation that turned up startling news about BCCI business. The Solar Temple made hundreds of millions of dollars selling arms to terrorists in Europe and South America. This money was then laundered through the infamous BCCI - The Bank of Credit and Commerce International. The BCCI was a favorite of the CIA, terrorist’s and drug smugglers worldwide, used for laundering unusually large amounts of cash. The District Attorney who closed the NYC branch of the BCCI found that 16 witnesses died in the course of the investigation. Montreal’s La Presse observed “each new piece of evidence only thickens the mystery”. And this was only a cursory look.

Jim Marrs in Rule By Secrecy mentions that the original 1980 investigations into BCCI were held up by then President George Bush, Sr., who finally appointed Massachusetts Senator John Kerry to head up the investigation. It was later discovered that Kerry had received several substantial BCCI contributions and was himself a Skull and Bones initiate.

Marrs goes on to say that “many telltale connections between Skull and Bones and the CIA (and the earlier OSS) are discernible”. Marrs’ book lists other CIA executives who are Skull and Bones initiates. We catch only partial glimpses of these secret groups when consulting orthodox historians, who avoid serious speculation. The media, trying to place matters into a “work-a-day world” viewpoint, seem truly mystified. But these hidden groups are very real and do display varying degrees of power and chicanery.