Secret and Occult Societies Trivia Quiz

Answer: Hiram Abiff

Hiram Abiff was said to be chief architect involved with the building of Solomon's Temple. He was murdered by 3 jealous rivals or apprentices for the secrets he would not divulge to them. His "triple death" and subsequent resurrection are replayed in the early stages of masonic initiation.

Answer: Anton Szandor LaVey

Interesting fact about LaVey: If you have an album copy of The Eagles' "Hotel California" have a look at the inside cover. Look for a balcony. On the balcony you will see a man holding a "devil" by a leash. The man holding the leash is Anton LaVey. No I'm not paranoid, it's really him although unfortunately I cannot find the story behind why and how he got there, though strangely enough the lyrics to "Hotel California" mirror in a very thinly disguised fashion of the early history of the Church of Satan and the woes of an initiate.

Not to suggest that The Eagles were Satan worshippers in any way; I am a great fan BUT a great sceptic of almost all conspiracy theories. I figure if LaVey could have had a verifiable affair with Marilyn Monroe he may have been able to insinuate himself into other celebrity circles via his Magic Circle group meetings which were popular within various San Francisco society circles for a number of years.

Answer: The Law of Thelema

Aleister Crowley was a great and enigmatic figure who had an extensive career in magic. He was Cambridge educated, a poet and author, a mage, a priest and a saint of the Gnostic Catholic Church, not to mention a pioneer in the sport of rock-climbing and mountaineering. Always a controversial figure he was at one stage linked by a newspaper to the Whitechapel murders (Jack the Ripper) even though he was only 8 years old when the murders occurred.

Answer: All of these

I believe it began with Plato (although many differing opinions prevail) who saw in individuals characteristics being associated with their birthdates and other significant numbers associated with a person. In a much more highly developed form it is an approach to deciphering scripture through the assignment of values to numbers and letters: a way of reading betweeen the lines. Cabala is practiced mostly among esoteric Jews and also many esoteric Christians.

Many magical societies have dedicated themselves at least in part, to the study and application of cabala.

Answer: Jaques de Molay

Friday the 13th of October in 1307 saw the beginning of the official end for the Templars. Their property was seized, members were arrested and charges were laid (mostly false). The fact is that Philippe IV le Bel, King of France, with the aid of his Avignon puppet pope Clement V wanted the Templars' money and an end to Templar power. De Molay was nailed to the back of a door in a parody of Christ's crucifixion.

He survived this torture and lived for another 7 years until he was burned at the stake in 1314.

At his execution he proclaimed that he would meet both the king and the puppet pope at a higher court within a year. Both Philippe and Clement were dead less than 12 months after this proclamation.

Answer: Prieure de Sion

The Prieure de Sion (aka Orpheus, Priory of Sion, Sionis Prioratus etc.) was the organisation behind the establishment of Knights Templar, although ties were severed at The Cutting of the Elm at Gisors in 1188. There are legends, some wellfounded and some not, of a treasure buried at Mt. Cardou in southern France which was sought by everyone from local treasure seekers right up to the German SS.

The SS were looking for the Treasure of the Temple of Solomon as Hitler was a fanatic of religious icons and the SS was primarily (at the higher levels) an occult society.

The treasure may also be that of the Cathars that was rescued from Montsegur by 4 perfecti during the Albigensian crusade. The Prieure de Sion lists among its grandmasters Leonardo da Vinci, Sir Isaac Newton, Robert Fludd, Francis Bacon and Jean Cocteau among many other very famous and highly educated men.

Answer: Order of Skull and Bones

This society reputedly has/had as members, the two George Bushs plus many other highly placed intelligence and government officials. It is reputed to foster the future financial and political successes of its select membership. 15 Acolytes per year are accepted by invitation only; upon acceptance each recieves (reportedly) US$15,000 and a grandfather clock.

Answer: The Society of Jesus

The Society of Jesus is better known simply as the Jesuits. The following is part of the text of the Jesuit Extreme Oath of Induction as recorded in the Journals of the 62nd Congress, 3rd Session, of the United States Congressional Record (House Calendar No. 397, Report No. 1523, 15 February, 1913, pp. 3215-3216), from which it was subsequently torn out. "I do further promise and declare that I will, when opportunity presents, make and wage relentless war, secretly and openly, against all heretics, Protestants and Masons, as I am directed to do, to extirpate them from the face of the whole earth; and that I will spare neither age, sex nor condition, and that will hang, burn, waste, boil, flay, strangle, and bury alive these infamous heretics; rip up the stomachs and wombs of their women, and crush their infants' heads against the walls in order to annihilate their execrable race. That when the same cannot be done openly I will secretly use the poisonous cup, the strangulation cord, the steel of the poniard, or the leaden bullet, regardless of the honour, rank, dignity or authority of the persons, whatever may be their condition in life, either public or private, as I at any time may be directed so to do by any agents of the Pope or Superior of the Brotherhood of the Holy Father of the Society of Jesus."

Answer: The Illuminati

The Bavarian Illuminati was established as the Order of Perfectabilists by Adam Weishaupt in Bavaria in 1776. Although modelled on the Jesuits the order was almost diametrically opposed to their teachings. The Illuminati wanted to overthrow all government and clergy and abolish ownership of property. Wilson's theory may be treated lightly in the opinion of many...but ya never know!

Answer: False

The first Grand Lodge was founded in London in 1717 but this was hardly the beginning of masonry. Many English-heritage masons wanted this to be seen as true however, but in reality it was only to distance itself from masonry's Jacobite roots. It is a known fact that masonic lodges existed as far back as the 15th century and almost certainly as far back as the 14th or even 13th century.

The origins however go back even further to a time before the roots had crystalised into a proper corpus. Masonry was originally esoteric rather than philanthropic although under the Grand Lodge, after 1717, it became more of a Men's Club than a repository for fraternity and occulted wisdom.