Dalley Kirsten - Lost secrets of the gods: the latest evidence and revelations on ancient astronauts, precursor cultures, and secret societies

LOST SECRETS OF THE GODS

THE LATEST EVIDENCE AND REVELATIONS ON
ANCIENT ASTRONAUTS, PRECURSOR CULTURES,
AND SECRET SOCIETIES

EDITED BY
MICHAEL PYE AND KIRSTEN DALLEY

Copyright 2014 by Michael Pye and Kirsten Dalley

All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the publisher, The Career Press.

LOST SECRETS OF THE GODS
EDITED BY MICHAEL PYE AND KIRSTEN DALLEY
TYPESET BY GINA SCHENCK
Cover design by theBookDesigners
Printed in the U.S.A.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lost secrets of the gods: the latest evidence and revelations on ancient astronauts, precursor cultures, and secret societies/edited by Michael Pye and Kirsten Dalley.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-60163-324-8 (paperback)--ISBN 978-1-60163-445-0 (ebook) 1. Civilization, Ancient--Extraterrestrial influences. 2. Extra-errestrial beings--History--To 1500. 3. Astronauts--History--To 1500. 4. Secret societies--History--To 1500. I. Pye, Michael, 1946- II. Dalley, Kirsten.

CB156.L67 2014
930--dc23

2014014336

IN MEMORY OF PHILIP COPPENS,
WHO LEFT US TOO SOON

BY ROBERT M. SCHOCH, PHD

BY NICK REDFERN

BY FRANK JOSEPH

BY LAIRD SCRANTON

BY MICAH HANKS

BY PAUL VON WARD

BY STEVE SORA

BY THOMAS BROPHY

BY ARDY SIXKILLER CLARKE

BY JOHN RICHARD WARD AND SCOTT ALAN ROBERTS

BY JIM MARRS

Mysteries of the past abound. How could they not?

No matter how much information is uncovered regarding the history of humanity and the larger narrative of the Earth itself, we will likely never learn the whole truth about everything that has happened on or to our world, let alone what has happened out in space, perhaps on other worlds not entirely dissimilar from our own. Even with all the evidence currently at our disposalancient architecture, fossil records, extant written records, oral accounts passed down through the ageseven with all this, even the most knowledgeable historians, anthropologists, and linguists know that we have barely begun to scratch the surface of humanitys origins and history. It is a seemingly never-ending quest to unravel a mysteryperhaps the great mystery of all time.

Given this, we decided to put together this second anthology related to ancient mysteries. This time, however, we aimed to venture a little farther afield than we did in the previous volume, Exposed, Uncovered, and Declassified: Lost Civilizations and Secrets of the Past. We gathered more information on the history of the Americas as well as some thought-provoking offerings on humanitys link to the cosmos. As well, we delved into some interesting theories regarding the existing world financial order, and revealed some startling similarities between what were previously thought to be unrelated cultures. Regardless of whether you accept the ancient astronaut theory or not, the ancients sure seemed to get around!

Far too much priceless information has been lost in the sands of time. With this volume we hope to have found some answersor, at the very least, to have fomented discussion (and even rousing arguments!) that will, if the rules of discourse still stand, further the cause of knowledge. Sometimes, though, it isnt about getting the answers, but asking the right questions. Heres to asking those questions, the subversive questions that many people are too afraid to ask. Heres to exploring!

Michael Pye and Kirsten Dalley
April 2014

BY ROBERT M. SCHOCH, PHD

In our modern age many people are highly skeptical of, or simply dismiss, the notion of secret societies as anything more than rather childish fraternities and sororities. Furthermore, many modern so-called secret societies are not secret at all, for we know all about them. A few famous examples: Ordo Templi Orientis, the Illuminati (used loosely, with many divisions and branches), the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Skull and Bones, the Knights of Columbus, various groups of Masons and Freemasons, Rosicrucian groups, and the Bilderberg Group. Indeed, this brings up the issue of what, exactly, constitutes a secret society. To be a true secret society, should the very existence of the society be unknown to outsiders? Or might the existence, and possibly even the membership (perhaps only to a limited degree) be known, but the activities, rituals, and agenda be unknown to non-members? (Traditionally not all members will be privy to the innermost secrets and activities of the society, only those at the highest levels of initiation.) We should also make the distinction between secret societies that are conspiracy-based, where secrecy is important for political, military, and commercial scheming, and secret societies that are knowledge-based, where the knowledge, usually of an esoteric and occult nature, often includes spiritual insights and revelations deemed not fit to be revealed to the general populace. Of course these two raisons dtre behind forming and maintaining secret societies are not mutually exclusive. It is not uncommon for a secret society to be founded initially to guard sacred knowledge, but ultimately take the form of a secret conspiracy that aggrandizes through power, wealth, and status the members (or at least the top hierarchy) of the society. In this piece, my focus will be on knowledge-based secret societies.

Nowadays, it seems, the primary purpose of a so-called secret society is often not to actually pass on secret knowledge that has any profound practical value or non-trivial spiritual potency, but rather to form strong bonds between the members of the society, often stroking their egos and self-esteem. This is accomplished through rather meaningless and vapid rituals, secret signs, and the like, although modern rituals and signs may be traced back to symbols encoding deeper knowledge. Arguably, this is a recent developmentthat is, if it is indeed true (which may not be the case for the genuinely hush-hush secret societies, even today). In past centuries and millennia there were genuine secrets and valuable knowledge passed on to limited numbers of individuals who in some cases had to undergo strenuous mental and physical ordeals (which, if not conquered successfully, could result in death) before being admitted to either the society or to its inner circles. These were the initiates of secret societies (sometimes, but not always, known to the public or rumored to exist) and the recipients of secret knowledge of non-secret groups, such as classes of priests and hierophants, members of guilds, or adherents to religious or military orders, including, for instance, the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaller.

Many discussions of secret societies and secret knowledge (or lost knowledge, as it is sometimes called) take us back only to late ancient times, perhaps starting with the Hermetic traditions and the Gnostics of the first few centuries CE, and often focus on medieval and modern secret and pseudo-secret societies. In this contribution I want to reach back further, much further, and suggest that secret societies date back to before the end of the last Ice Age, before circa 10,000 BCE. Furthermore, there may be some common threads, some continuity, from these early (more than 12,000 years old) secret societies and those of medieval and modern times. Before we move so far back in time, however, let us consider the dynastic Egyptians.