[Long] [Wheezing] [Anal History Dump] RE: [HOE] The Templars and Baphomet

["Darrin Bright" <darrin@neobright.net>]

The strange, illuminated history of the Templars is pretty much standard
reading if you're into conspiracy theory and "fringe" research. They are
often linked as antecedents to the Free Masons and have frequent run-ins
with most of the major historical relics of the Christian era. Here's some
other ideas you may find interesting.

The Templars were started during the Crusades to help protect travelers on
their way to the Holy Lands (I think they were also called the Hospitaliers,
but that may have been a separate organization). Somewhere during that
period they took control of and were in charge of protecting the Temple of
Solomon, from which their name is derived.

A few centuries later, they are a quasi-religious Christian offshoot cult,
with secret rites and practices and a few metric buttloads of cash, money,
property, you name it they are LOADED... most of it probably from looting
the holy lands during the crusade. The King of France, however (Philip IV,
or Philip the Fair) was deep in debt and needed money in a really bad way.
So in 1307 he imprisons Jacques De Molay, the Grand Master of the Templars,
and spends the next 7 years confiscating everything they own, and in 1314
finally executes De Molay.

This is where the Baphomet stuff starts to turn up, because the French King
was accusing them of worshiping demons, false idols, occult sacrifices, that
sort of thing. D&D players are no doubt already aware of a variation of the
name, Bahumat, the platinum dragon. The name also appears in several Final
Fantasy games. I'm not entirely sure where the name comes from, but I think
it comes out of the middle east somewhere. There are reports of Templars
worshipping a demon or goat-headed idol of that name...

Anyway, back to the King of France and Jacques De Molay... the King of
France seized as much of their assets as he could and put Jacques De Molay
to death. Now comes in the Shroud of Turin... there has been some
speculation that the Shroud of Turin was actually the death shroud of De
Molay. Depending on how you interpret the whole carbon dating issue, its at
least old enough to be used for De Molay, but I think those scholars may be
conveniently forgetting that he was burned at the stake, and thus there
might not have been a lot left to wrap up.

So the persecuted Templars supposedly go underground. Some theorists have
linked them to the Rosicrucians, another offshoot of Christianity. Then they
supposedly pop up as being behind the Scottish civil war against the
English. When the war goes badly for the Scots, theory has it that the
Templars crossed the Atlantic in the 1700s because some wacky colonists were
setting up this new thing called the United States of America.

This is where the whole Freemasonry thing comes in. Free Masons were pretty
strong in England, and many of the founders of the United States were
Masons. The secret rituals practiced by the masons are supposedly the same
or based on the same secret rituals practiced by the Templars (although none
of them are documented and its hard to verify this).

Some researchers have even suggested that the Templars may have gotten ahold
of the Holy Grail (Remember that old knight in Indiana Jones and the Last
Crusade? Templar), and moved it to England or America. I think the HG may
have been mentioned in Fire & Brimstone... anyway, if the Templars really
did still have it, who knows, it may be in Boise, where Simon ressurrected
the order.

Oh, and this has nothing to do with conspiracy theory, but I think Shane
named Simon after Simon Templar, the hero of Leslie Charteris' "Saint"
novels (and a somewhat questionable movie starring Val Kilmer). The Saint
was sort of the predecessor of James Bond... a professional thief a bit
jauntier, more corrupt than Ian Fleming's superspy.

Linking the Templars to insidious plots is pretty much required for anyone
doing historical research. And Shane's got a history degree, so I'm sure
it's old hat to him. Some other fun things you can do with the Templars and
ancient relics:

* Ark of the Covenant. Let's say Indiana really DID find it in the 1930s. So
the US government shoved it in a warehouse... (#23, obviously). Is it still
there? Wouldn't you like to see Throckmorton's face when you show up on the
battlefield with that little knicknack...

* Okay, maybe the Shroud really was De Molay's... and sure, he was burned at
the stake, but he survived and doesnotwanttotalkaboutitthankyewverymuch. But
he won't be at full power until he gets the Shroud back and completes the
ceremony...

* In 1888 the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was founded by Rosicrucian
Masons William Wynn Westcott and Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers. Among
their members was William Butler Yeats (_Second Coming_, "What rough
beast... slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?"), who really liked to
dabble in the occult. Basically it was a drink-tea-and-play cards club, but
Aleister Crowley got kicked out of it and started writing his own occult
books, starting with the Book of Thoth, which was actually his little
version of masonic rituals embodied in a series of images derived apparently
back to the temple rituals practiced by the ancient Egyptions. Members of
the Golden Dawn might still be around, trying to patch things up with the
Templars/Masons. Or maybe Crowley is still around and has vowed eternal
revenge. Either way, perfect background for a group of quasi-Egyptian
cultists ressurrecting mummies and sacrificing virgins (rent _Young Sherlock
Holmes_ for inspiration). Hmm... ressurrecting dead mummies of poets... Dead
Poets Society, indeed!

These two are for you Weird Wars players:

* Spear of Destiny/Spear of Longinus. Supposedly the spear Longinus poked
into Jesus to prove that he was "All Dead" instead of "Mostly Dead". Well, a
romanesque-type spear of that general description was in the Hapsburg Museum
in Vienna, Austria, in 1938 when Hitler annexed the country and seized the
spear. It was held in St. Catherines church until October 1944, when it was
moved to an underground vault. On April 30th, 1945, the Americans took
possession of the vault and the spear. Within an hour, Hitler was dead.
Sounds like the perfect set up for a secret mission... sneak into the
Church, replace the real spear with a fake, and bring the real one back home
to Eisenhower.

* The Amber Room. Okay, in the 1700s the Czar of Russia is given this room
made entirely of carved amber. Very posh. It's in Catherine's Palace near
St. Petersburg until 1941, when the invading Nazis grab it, dismantle it,
and ship it off to Konigsburg. The Russians retake Konigsburg, rename it
Kaliningrad, but the Amber Room has disappeared, been shipped off to parts
unknown. The evil nazi sorcererers undoubtedly had it rebuilt in a secret
location, the better to focus their occult energies and aid their
spellcasting. Or maybe it's still dismantled and being shipped to a secret
vault for safekeeping while the nazis prepare a new site... can the Allies
sneak in and steal it back?