Well, this is a new one. Picture: Getty Images

Christine Lagarde has been many things.

She held several ministerial portfolios in France, including Finance, Agriculture, Commerce and Industry. She was international law firm Baker & McKenzie’s first female chair. At one time, a member of the French national synchronised swimming team.

And in 2011, she signalled her intention to succeed Dominic Strauss-Kahn as managing director of the International Monetary Fund following sexual assault allegations against Strauss-Kahn and his resignation.

In that role, she’s had to guide the IMF through the European sovereign debt crisis, courted controversy for a perceived vendetta against Greek tax-evaders, been generally admired as a fashion icon and was this year named the 5th Most Powerful Woman in the World by Forbes Magazine.

But here’s one title she might have missed (or preferred to ignore): The Illuminati’s UN Queen and Occult Mouthpiece.

Obviously, this is the Internet, and when it comes to the Internet, anyone who wields outrageous wealth and/or power is immediately under suspicion as a possible agent of forces darker than ordinary mortals can comprehend.

That said, Lagarde has generally flown under the conspiracy theorist’s radar – until now.

Back in January this year, she gave this speech at the US National Press Club following the IMF’s annual review of the US economy.

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You can read the full transcript of what she said here, but it was the introductory remarks which contained most of what got the tinfoil hat brigade excited:

Now, I’m going to test your numerology skills by asking you to think about the magic seven, okay? Most of you will know that seven is quite a number in all sorts of themes, religions. And I’m sure that you can compress numbers as well. So if we think about 2014, all right, I’m just giving you 2014, you drop the zero, 14, two times 7. Okay, that’s just by way of example, and we’re going to carry on. (Laughter)

That’s a lot of sevens, Ms Lagarde. And seven (and multiples thereof), if you ever want to disappear down the rabbit hole and check it out, is arguably the most sacred number to occultists.

They even like to claim that Adam Weishaupt chose 1776 as the year in which to found the Illuminati in the Electorate of Bavaria because the four numbers of 1776 add up to 21.

So somewhere amongst all this talk of sevens and multiples of sevens, there’s a hidden message from Lagarde – the “Illuminati UN Queen” – to her dark network of the world’s most powerful people.

Why say it so publicly? Because apparently, it’s a traditional occult way of avoiding bad karma. You’re actually warning everyone of bad things to come, but in a way that only the true powerbrokers can decipher.

First let’s list a few of the other notable references to the number seven made by Lagarde at their marks in the video:

4:08 – “It will mark the 70th anniversary, 70th anniversary, drop the zero, seven, of the Bretton Woods Conference that actually gave birth to the IMF”

4:22 – “And it will be the 25th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall, 25th..” (2 + 5 = 7)

4:38 – “It will also mark the 7th anniversary of the financial market jitters”

5:08 – “After those seven miserable years, weak and fragile, we have seven strong years”

Okay, Lagarde says seven a lot, and a couple of bloggers picked up on it at the time. The (completely harmless) context she’s making the references in is that she hopes 2014 will be a magical year for the global economy.

The latest round of doomsaying kicked off late last week, and it has since gathered momentum over the weekend after being fuelled by larger sites such as Reddit and Godlike Productions whose readers are now working towards the endpoint of it all.

And they’ve come up with… July 20. Flick straight to the 5:39 mark, because that’s where it actually gets a little bit intriguing.

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Lagarde places particular verbal and physical emphasis on the words “G7” and “G20” – 07/20/14.

It’s particularly strange, according to online commentors, that Lagarde refers to the G7, when it fact the entity was – technically – the G8 at the time. Russia would not be kicked out of the G8 for at least another two months.

On that day, something extraordinary will happen. A huge release of wealth, or the breakout of war, maybe.

Which is strange, because July 21, which is a Monday and therefore at least a trading day, is beset on all sides with sevens – 07/21/14. And it’s just a day before the anniversary (70th anniversary) of the end of the Bretton Woods Conference.

Anyway, no doubt July 20 will arrive and pass without incident, then it’s back to the old numerological drawing board.

But be warned, Ms Lagarde – the Internet’s watching.

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