In 2003, the publication of Dan Brown’s Th e Da Vinci Code propelled the enigmatic Priory of Sion to international fame. Brown claimed they were the guardians of a sacred bloodline.

For more than two decades, Guy Patton has been investigating the story of the Priory and their real agenda. In Masters of Deception, he unveils his conclusions. Th e Priory does indeed operate within the milieu of occult politics; a shadowy world in which secret societies throughout the centuries have tried to infl uence the power of governments and the fate of nations; a world of symbols, archetypes, ritual and fantasy, where the separation of idealism, personal gain, egocentricity and criminality are oft en blurred.

But rather than the protection of a sacred bloodline, Patton’s investigation reveals that, in true Machiavellian style, the Priory is only part of a web of secretive groups and individuals many of which have resorted to deception, fraud, blackmail and even murder in pursuit of hidden, and frequently sinister, goals. Th eir manipulation is now laid bare.

Masters of Deceptionmurder and intrigue in the world of occult politics

$ 19.95 / £ 15.40

coverMOD_DEF.indd 1 02-07-2009 13:26:46

Masters of Deception– murder and intrigue in the world of occult politics

© 2009 Guy Patton

Cover design: Corjan de Raaf www.rlcresearch.comLayout: Buro kunst en drukwerk, Sylvia Carrilho

ISBN : 978-1-931882-88-0

P.O. Box 106811001 ER AMSTERDAMNetherlands Tel. +31-(0)20-3309151Fax: +31-(0)20-3309150 E-mail: info@fsf.nl www.frontierpublishing.nl

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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic, magical, or mechanical means includ-ing information storage and retrieval without written permission from the publisher (except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages of no longer than 80 words at a time in a review).

To Luana, Ilena and Mark

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ContentsIntroduction 7

Chapter 1 Land of Gold 13

Chapter 2 Conflicts of Faith and Legend 19

Chapter 3 Legacy of the Warrior Monks 25

Chapter 4 Power, Glory, and Tragedy 36

Chapter 5 Search for Lost Gold 46

Chapter 6 The Secret World of the Abbé Saunière 59

Chapter 7 Hidden Agendas, Occult Dreams 72

Chapter 8 Spiritual Quests, Political Visions 87

Chapter 9 Seeking the Grail 94

Chapter 10 National Regeneration: A Conflict of Interests 105

Chapter 11 Called to Account 118

Chapter 12 Politics and the Priory of Sion 129

Chapter 13 Parchments and Publications 138

Chapter 14 Mitterrand’s Inner Circle 148

Chapter 15 The Gold of Oradour 156

Chapter 16 The Shadow Men 166

Chapter 17 Inside the Occult Web 177

Chapter 18 Intelligence Matters 188

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Chapter 19 Portent and Power 199

Notes 219

Appendix A:Palestine Exploration Fund, Freemasonry & British Israelites 251

Appendix B: The Cult of the Sacred Heart and the Mystery of Rennes-le-Château 256

Appendix C: Saunière and the World of Martinism 262

Appendix D: Saunière’s Wealth 268

Appendix E: The Hiéron du Val d’Or and Esoteric Christianity 271

Bibliography 277

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IntroductionForty years ago, an unremarkable little book, published in France, ignited a spark that would lead eventually to a world-wide phenomenon. L’Or de Rennes, published in 1967 and written by Gérard de Sède revealed, for the first time, the mysterious story of a French country priest who served the parish of Rennes-le-Château. Then, documents chanced upon in the French National Library during further research introduced an enigmatic secret society, the Priory of Sion into the mystery.

De Sède’s book stimulated the imagination of British author, Henry Lin-coln, who produced two television documentaries (1972 and 1974) that dealt with the main themes of the enigma. Lincoln, then in collaboration with Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, produced a third documen-tary (1979), followed by the best-selling Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, in 1982. Around twenty years later, in 2003, a novel by American Dan Brown entitled The Da Vinci Code, brought many of these same themes to world-wide attention. The spectacular success of The Da Vinci Code trig-gered a succession of Rennes mystery and Priory of Sion books to add to the many hundreds published since 1982.

It is my hope that this book will be viewed as not just another spin-off, but as an attempt to explain or understand several of the mysterious threads still remaining, and their wider ramifications. Four years after the pub-lication of “Holy Blood”, the authors published a sequel, The Messianic Legacy (1986), that sought to explore in more detail several intriguing strands of the mystery uncovered in their previous research. The result, while fascinating, left more questions than answers, inviting a third book to tie up the loose ends. Following seven years of research, I wrote Web of Gold (2000) to address these issues, the central theme of which was the legend of the lost treasure. Subjected to various editorial constraints, cer-tain threads and material had to be omitted from the final draft.

Masters of Deception is the result of a re-evaluation of the main threads of the story and an attempt to unravel the web in which they have become entangled; and to view these threads against the contexts of their times. The outcome of this investigation clearly demonstrates that the initial hy-pothesis of Holy Blood, Holy Grail is untenable, as is the basic proposition of Dan Brown’s novel. We will see that Gérard de Sède’s story, and the subsequent Priory documents, upon which is based the hypothesis of the

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Holy Blood, is not to be taken literally but rather symbolically; the inter-pretation of which will reveal their true motives and agenda.

Inevitably, this investigation has had to focus on the real nature, history, and motives of the Priory of Sion. This enigmatic secret society has, since 1982, attracted such extensive publicity that it has become difficult to separate fact from fiction. But perhaps even more significant, is to firmly establish any real link between the Priory and the mystery of Rennes-le-Château and its role within it. To understand the Priory, it has been nec-essary to delve into the twin worlds of secret societies and occult politics. The nature of a secret society makes close examination difficult, but by reading their own publications, and that of their supporters and critics, it is possible to sketch a reasonably accurate picture. In the absence of first-hand information, a best guess is used to fill in the blanks to create the whole picture. Any new information must then fit this picture, or a new scenario needs to be constructed.

The other main problem, when dealing with secret societies, is the liberal use of symbolism and symbolic language. Frequently employed by esoter-ic and occult writers, symbolic language is a strategy to impart knowledge or belief in a manner that can only be understood by the initiated or those on the ‘same wavelength’. As a result, interpretation of such symbols may be less objective in the absence of any supporting documentation. In this respect I have tried to offer an objective, balanced, and logical interpreta-tion.

The world of occult politics, as in the mainstream, becomes polarised into support for opposing ideologies, aims, and tactics. In examining these topics I have tried to remain impartial and no valid conclusions of my own political and religious beliefs should be drawn from this work. De-scriptive words such as sinister, secretive, manipulative, and unethical, tend to carry negative connotations, but are, in fact, subjective depending on the beliefs and viewpoint of the reader. In the context of this book, such descriptions are used to reflect the contrast with the orthodox and mainstream Western political point of view.

In this age of the spirit of openness and freedom of information, politi-cal agendas, conceived and pursued in secret, elicit a response of alarm. It appears to be a fact of pragmatic political life, however, that a degree of secrecy is inevitable and even justifiable. The problem with secrecy lies

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in accountability, or rather the lack of it; it is naturally difficult to ensure accountability of those acting in secret. Throughout this book we will encounter many examples of individuals and groups who have pursued secret agendas with a wide range of motives. The organisational structure employed by such groups makes them vulnerable to infiltration, manipu-lation and subversion, whilst the general membership remains unaware. We will encounter stark examples of this, where, in some cases, the results were criminal and even fatal.

Whilst being an attempt to answer questions arising from research into the mystery of Rennes-le-Château and the Priory of Sion, this book is also a commentary on the continual evolution that has taken place in the world of occult politics. Our present era is defined by a conflict of ideologies battling for global supremacy. Besides the obvious contenders there is a third, largely unseen, power, that is playing a key role in the cur-rent struggle. This is not a clearly defined group, led by a single monarch, president, or dictator, but a network of shared ideas and visions. There are no published manifestos designed to appeal to a popular mandate; instead we find essays, correspondence and literature couched in more philosophical, metaphysical or esoteric language. In the place of public meetings, we find ideas and agendas conceived, pursued, and promoted behind closed doors in lodges or clubs composed of only initiated mem-bers. Within such organisations are members with influential positions in, or links to, the mainstream political world. It is through this interface that these occult agendas enter into and influence visible politics. This can be observed in the evolution of the European Union, the roots of which can be found in secret societies of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and distasteful as it might appear, Nazi Germany and Vichy France.

The failure to understand and acknowledge the influence of this unseen force in domestic, European and global politics, is partially responsible for the lack of progress made in resolving current conflicts. The reluctance of mainstream politicians, and indeed historians and other academics, to take adequate account of the role of occult politics hampers the true un-derstanding of many historical events. This topic is too easily consigned to the same fate as that of conspiracy theories. Recent revelations of CIA and British government files, due to the freedom of information act, has shown that some conspiracies, adamantly denied by the authorities for decades, did take place. No doubt, future revelations will do the same for current conspiracy theories ridiculed by the establishment. This is not

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to say that all such allegations are true, but that, in the world of politics, there is often more happening below the surface than above it.

I hope that the reader will be entertained, informed and stimulated by this investigation of the incestuous relationship between power and wealth and the endless drive for them. Our search will take us from the backwater of an ancient French village to the arena of global politics. We will travel through time from the Roman Empire to the present day. It is perhaps ironic that the focus of international conflict today is the very region in which our story starts two thousand years ago.

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Chapter 1

Land of GoldBy 70 AD, the Romans were tiring of Jewish resistance in Palestine to their Imperial rule, which had come to a head in open rebellion. In retaliation, General Titus ruthlessly sacked Jerusalem, a punitive expedition that is recorded on the Arch of Titus in Rome. Sculptured panels on this Arch clearly depict the removal of the treasure1 from the biblical Temple of Jerusalem2, which included the Temple’s Menorah (the Seven-Branched Candlestick), that great symbol of Judaism, and other treasures of similar priceless religious and real value; and their relocation in Rome. Of specific interest to those Nazis pursuing this sacred treasure nearly two thousand years later, was the fabled Ark of the Covenant, which some legends had suggested might have been included in this booty. However, other evi-dence shows it rather more probable that, if the Ark of the Covenant had been discovered, it may have been by the Knights Templar, the medieval order of warrior monks.

Various sources of historical record, such as the Dead Sea scrolls amongst which can be found the Copper Scroll3, indicate the nature and general locations of this treasure in and around Jerusalem, prior to its sacking in 70 AD.

In 410, Rome was itself sacked by the Visigoths, led by Alaric the Goth. After his death, they migrated west, under the command of Ataulphus, to establish their kingdom in south-west France and northern Spain, with major centres at Toulouse, Toledo, Carcassonne and Rhedae, which many have identified with a small village called Rennes-le-Château Two hun-dred years later, this Visigoth kingdom was squeezed by pressure from the Franks, led by the Merovingian kings, coming from the North, and later from the Moors in the South who had crossed from North Afri-ca through Gibraltar into Spain, in 711. Integration and intermarriage amongst aristocratic families from amongst the Visigoths and the Franks had produced Visigoth/Merovingian dynasties in the Pyrenean region. However, the rapid push north across the Pyrenees by the Moors pres-sured the Visigoth/Merovingian aristocracy to retreat and consolidate in their northern centres at Toulouse, Carcassonne and Rhedae. They were thus forced to transfer their vast treasure4 from Toledo, in the face of advancing Moors, initially to Carcassonne and from there to Rhedae5.

In 2003, the publication of Dan Brown’s Th e Da Vinci Code propelled the enigmatic Priory of Sion to international fame. Brown claimed they were the guardians of a sacred bloodline.

For more than two decades, Guy Patton has been investigating the story of the Priory and their real agenda. In Masters of Deception, he unveils his conclusions. Th e Priory does indeed operate within the milieu of occult politics; a shadowy world in which secret societies throughout the centuries have tried to infl uence the power of governments and the fate of nations; a world of symbols, archetypes, ritual and fantasy, where the separation of idealism, personal gain, egocentricity and criminality are oft en blurred.

But rather than the protection of a sacred bloodline, Patton’s investigation reveals that, in true Machiavellian style, the Priory is only part of a web of secretive groups and individuals many of which have resorted to deception, fraud, blackmail and even murder in pursuit of hidden, and frequently sinister, goals. Th eir manipulation is now laid bare.

Masters of Deceptionmurder and intrigue in the world of occult politics

$ 19.95 / £ 15.40

coverMOD_DEF.indd 1 02-07-2009 13:26:46