Customer Reviews

Secret Societies: Gardiner's Forbidden Knowledge: Revelations about the Freemasons, Templars, Illuminati, Nazis, and the Serpent Cults

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Gardiner could be a journalist. He has the singular ability to twist facts and build on them to create something which is barely credible. he is a master story teller and plays on people's willingness to believe the inconceivable. As a work of fiction this work is entertaining but to title it as a work of non-fiction is to remove the distinctions between reality and fantasy: and Gardiner's work is a work of fantasy where he gives full vent to his vivid imagination.

To borrow a phrase from Gardiner himself, it is "absolute rubbish." I only kept reading due to pure incredulity. Enough said.

Although not a society by society look on the subject, Gardiner instead goes for the jugular and decides to ask why people join and what the motives are. This is a balanced book, well written and very thought provoking. It will not be liked by Christians (or Catholics sir) because it shows them up in many ways. I recommend this book to you whether you are on the first run of the ladder with ancient mysteries or indeed know your stuff - there's something for everyone. Not least of which is Gardiner's own foray into the dark and sinister world of the Holy Vehm.

Philip Gardiner has done an impressive amount of research and personal investigation into the history of occult organizations and the knowledge they have hidden within their rituals and symbolism. A major focus of his research has been the serpent symbolism, which is uncovered worldwide. Gardiner offers a refutation of the literal interpretation of "bloodline" theories, including the Jesus-Magdalene bloodline theory and the "shapeshifting reptilians" bloodline theory promoted by David Icke. While I consider his interpretation of the metaphysical and psychological levels of symbolism to be valid, I see his dismissive response to the 3D aspects of these symbolic themes to be rash, which is the only flaw I see in an otherwise excellent book. I agree with Gardiner that there was no historically significant Jesus persona, though it appears that there were some actual historical personages connected to the development of the astro-theological and metaphysical storyline of the Christ.



Gardiner is astute in observing the Central role of the Roman Church/Political Empire in secret society power networks, as freemasonry, Templars, and other orders have connections to the Jesuits and Vatican. Gardiner's experience with a remnant of an old Germanic occult order and their Nazi anti-Jewish philosophy is not surprising.



Perhaps the most valuable aspect of the book is its effort to encourage the reader to "know thyself" and balance the polarities within, the timeless gnostic quest. The fact that the occult orders have been so heavily dominated by power-mongers seems to support the idea that the knowledge is power motto has been employed by psychologically cold-blooded beings intent on control. That fits well with the reptilian agenda thesis of Icke, which includes thousands of people who have actually seen these personages appear as reptilian. We all have a reptilian brain stem, and SOMEONE must have guided civilizations around the world to consistently employ identical symbolism (the theory that the symbolism all comes from a mother civilization such as Atlantis or Mu may be partly accurate, but not sufficient to fully explain why energy, healing, and wisdom have been represented by serpent forms everywhere you go).

I was led to believe that this would be an intellectual, academic and honest work on the topic. Instead, I suffered through wild and unfounded religious assumptions, the poorest linguistic analysis I have ever seen (save perhaps in the Da Vinci Code), endless historical inaccuracies and downright dishonesty. The sources for this are shaky at best and the whole thing lacks any kind of credible academic seriousness.

There are a few facts in the book and the psychological analysis of why people join secret societies is interesting, however these things are tied together with inaccurate historical information, mistranslations and sources of such dubious quality that it begins to rival the Da Vinci Code in its outlandishness.

As a serious scholar, I am very disappointed. This book should be sold as fiction.

Gardiner may have made a few somewhat factual claims in this book, but most of it is simple subjective opinion. How can you claim that history is simply made up by whoever "won" at the time and then use that same history to create reasons why only HIS opinions of history are true. Funny how he tries to back up the intellectual respect that he thinks he commands because some rich lady tried to give him a few thousand of dollars to tell her how to live her life.

If the title of this DVD conjures up images of clandestine meetings where members engage in rituals like secret handshakes and coded language, then you are not imagining things. In this documentary, Philip Gardiner offers eye-opening research about the strange operations of secret societies throughout history. He defines a secret society as "a group coming together to effect change in society at large," and I was amazed to learn that these societies can influence major world events. By nature, secret societies are hidden from the public and Gardiner's research illuminates the enigma. Gardiner's revelations are chilling, intriguing, and entertaining.

Gardiner may have posed some interesting questions and introduced some fascinating tidbits, but he said it himself in the beginning "We must also be careful not to read too much into texts" (19). It was clear he was not speaking of his own texts and yet it would be wise of the reader to take Gardiner's explications, conjectures, assumptions and personal opinion with a grain of salt...or two...or three. For instance, though the bibliography is impressively long, Gardiner has a surprising lack of citations or footnotes and conveniently pushes aside evidence to the contrary of his view. This is not as much of a scholarly work as one might originally think it will be. Gardiner writes like a motivational speaker, persuasively and with his own conviction that he is right. However, his reasoning is often circular, he constantly contradicts himself and he makes broad sweeping statements without supportive evidence. For instance, the very first chapter, on page 11, states "Although no real historical records of an ancient Brotherhood of the Snake...is in existence, it is a fact that the rituals and beliefs of this supposed secret organisation are similar to many that do exist and are strangely related to the serpent". What? Sorry, Mr. Gardiner, but you just stated there was NO record while in the same breath positively ascertaining that it is FACT that yadda yadda yadda. These sort of backwards thought processes continue throughout the book. Some of what he states is known facts and he presents some interesting interpretations and insights. However, as a reader who was expecting a more thorough and fact-based study into the little known world of hidden organizations, I was disappointed in this book. I will be the first to admit that history, though not as condemning as Gardiner's statement that "history is a lie" (17), is often speculation and educated guesses. But Gardiner took some large creative licenses with his theories on secret societies. He's allowed to do this, of course. However, in a book of a mere 200-pages of actual text, statements such as "In our search for the truth, we will examine everything that could possibly fit into one book" (21) one must wonder if Gardiner has sufficient evidence to support any of his supposed "truths".

I enjoyed this book. Gardiner stays down to earth and alas there is no mention of reptillian aliens invading the earth centuries ago.
Religions are as old as mankind and therefore have evolved and sometimes are forced underground, particulary when the state considers your belief system heresy, punishable by death. Serpent Cults are the basis for all religions according to Gardiner and he gives examples of serpent icons found in many religions such as Judaism, Christianity and others. All religions are cults and some more powerful than others, therefore more dangerous.
The secret societies section recounts the formation of the Freemasons, Templars, Assasins, Illuminati and others and how they are similar and connected in ideals and tradition. Modern day secret societies are covered such as the infamous Skull and Bones, only briefly mentioned along with the Bilderberg Group, Tri-lateral Commission and Council on Foreign Relations.
The powerful members of these organizations are the well connected movers and shakers of the world that dominate politics and business. They are the masters of "The New World Order" and generally snakes in the grass.

Gardiner's research is to be applauded for his desire to know the truth. He has an interesting perspective and if one is truly a seeker of knowledge, then I recommend this book. I have found history to be a fluid movement depending upon the beliefs of those who wrote it. I am a seeker of knowledge and I have also researched extensively. I have realized that symbols usually have a deeper meaning and I agree with Gardiner that most people see them or use them without fully understanding the hidden meaning. For instance, I differ from Gardiner regarding the Baphomet and the skull and crossbones. When one delves deeper, it becomes apparent the Knights Templar and others worshipped knowledge and knowledge comes from the mind with the brain the conduit. The story of Jesus and his crucifixion has a deeper meaning also. Jesus reportedly being nailed on a cross and the skull and crossbones indicates mastery of mind over matter, or mastery of the spiritual self over the personality. The outer meaning is death with the deeper meaning being death of the limited personality.

The serpent also has a deeper meaning. Most snakes shed their skins for renewal. This indicates a shedding of limited ideas for the evolution of the mind. The snake also represents the kundalini and it is through changing the frequencies of the kundalini moving upward through the seven seals in the body that one reaches enlightenment. Bettye Johnson, award-winning author, Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls.