Secret Societies: Knight’s Templar

The Knights Templar Excerpt From Essay “Secret Societies” by Paul Witcover One of the oldest and most influential of Western Secret Societies was the medieval military/religious order, The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, known by their familiar name as the Knights Templar. Founded around 1119 by two veterans of the […]

Secret Societies: Freemasonry

Freemasonry Excerpt From Essay “Secret Societies” by Paul Witcover Freemasonry is a fraternal order that arose in Scotland and England in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and spread throughout the world. There are a number of different branches of Freemasonry; for instance, the United Grand Lodge of England and its affiliated lodges require prospective members […]

Secret Societies: Hashshashin

Hashshashin Excerpt From Essay “Secret Societies” by Paul Witcover The Islamic world also has its secret societies. The Hashshashin – from whom we get the word “assassin” – were just that: a secret society of religious mystics devoted to the targeted killing of their enemies. The notion that these assassins rendered themselves impervious to pain, or […]

Secret Societies: Carbonari

Carbonari Excerpt From Essay “Secret Societies” by Paul Witcover … in The Fire, an allusion to another secret society surfaces, when Alexandra “Xie” Solarin (the daughter of Cat Velis and Russian grandmaster Alexander Solarin from The Eight) first appears as the apprentice of master chef, Rodolfo Boujaron, whose posh Washington, D.C. restaurant is called Sutalde, […]

KATHERINE NEVILLE’S Octal Newsletter October 4, 2012

  KATHERINE NEVILLE’S Octal Newsletter October 4, 2012   “Oc” in Rome: the 8th Month In the ancient Roman calendar, which began in March at the equinox, September was counted as the 7th month (“Sept” means 7), October was the 8th month, November the 9th, and December the 10th. I’m partial to all things octal, […]