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| Size | Seeds | Peers | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 31.52 GiB | 3 | 0 | 466 |
I've been interested in secret societies for a very long time. But I could never find anything that has everything in one place, or at least tries to achieve that. I mean I've seen things here and there, but they tend to focus on one or two things and leave the rest out for whatever reason—which is alright—but I want more. Therefore while researching and learning, I thought why not just do it myself?
So here it is. Here you will find hundreds of books, old and new, that is about or related to secret societies. You will also find a couple of documentaries and some audio material. I have used Library Genesis, ConCen and other sources, which means you will most likely find things you've seen before, and you might even have uploaded some things yourself.
Although please note that I consider this a work in progress, I also have not gone through everything in here, and I have plans to release updated versions of this in the future as the digging never ends. One more thing: If you're interested in this topic, feel free to suggest anything worthwhile that isn't a part of this collection yet. You too can contribute to this!
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Comments
Wow
Excellent collection, thanks for sharing it here.
I have had an interest in Satanic secret societies. I believe they exist, but not a whole lot is really known about them. Aleister Crowley's OTO and things like that. How widespread are they, what kinds of activities do they get up to etc?
Just Look For: John Todd [on here]
John Todd talks about more Satanic information that the 'Self Proclaimed Satanics'... If you already have his tape collection - then, you've not listened to any of it.
And - of course their are debunkers out there, but - if you notice... they're all very wealthy.
Thanks!
No, I had not heard of John Todd before. But testimony from an alleged insider who broke away is the type of material I would definitely be into. I managed to find a collection of his talks seeded by 1 person here: https://concen.org/content/john-todd-illuminati-and-witchcraft-his-talk-...
TheCorsair00 wrote:
thanks, theCorsair. I couldn't understand the previous comment, but this helps.
may I ask what is your interest in Satanism? is it something specific to them that piques your curiosity?
it is interesting to think about how such things all get started, whether anton la vey's little book or ron hubbard's little book...like i said before: people need leaders more than leaders need followers.
"tell me what to believe!"
priceless...meaning worthless
cheerio
Satanism
In doing research over the years, I have definitely come across information about the infamous "Illuminati" and have taken all of that with a grain of salt. But stumbling across research on nefarious characters like Lt. Col. Michael Aquino, who was a Satanist and a psychological warfare expert for the military, I fell down that rabbit hole and came to believe that Satanism was a real phenomenon. I don't go there as much nowadays, because Aquino and company were (he is dead now, as of last year) dark enough, they almost scared me away from looking into it.
But there are all kinds of information that paint a rather ugly picture of there being a legit Satanic faction of the military and a so-called Illuminati as well. I remember reading a kind of "deathbed confession" of an infamous Australian Satanist, and if any of that is true, then this Satanism thing is a little bit bigger than just a few black sheep doing weird rituals with pentagrams and crow's blood or whatever, but who really knows for sure!: https://battleofearth.wordpress.com/2010/09/22/australian-satanism-austr...
TheCorsair00 wrote:
fascinating. I will leave it to others here who are more expert than I am on the topic to comment...but there is certainly a common belief set among members here that there is widespread darkness afoot~!
and also that such knowledge and awareness *changes* you as a person.
I am less interested in this specific group, but i am very interested in such group dynamics as a broader phenomenon...broad enough to include most cults...
I am interested in the question of why people feel drawn to these mysteries...why they surrender to someone else's authority...and how they convince themselves they know the truth, while others know only lies....
this is partly why irrationality is one of my pet research hobbies.
ever read "Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error" by Kathryn Schultz?
https://en.th1lib.org/book/895199/d8bfba
There are many good authors like these, some of whom we referenced before.
One day I'll share my collection on them...
Beliefs and Secret Societies
I think real, actual secret societies, which are very archaic and go back thousands of years, or at least hundreds, are like the cults you speak of. And the beliefs of the members needing a leader, like L. Ron Hubbard or Anton LaVey or Aleister Crowley or Michael Aquino etc etc, are the ones who think they are in possession of occult knowledge, and all outsiders are mere underlings and are out of the loop.
As for the belief that there are secret societies and that conspiracy theorists are in possession of mystical knowledge that changes our life, and people that do not believe in conspiracies are out of the loop, I am not sure that is the case. I don't think I am in any privileged position because I have researched Satanism or secret societies and don't feel that my life has changed. In fact, I would rather NOT know about any of this, to be honest. I think information and knowledge is just that, and it is worth knowing about things that would be considered "newsworthy" if it were journalism, or an academic pursuit of knowledge.
As for evil being afoot in humanity and the planet, I think that has probably been true since the very birth of humanity - since reality seems to be a continuous interplay between light and dark, yin and yang, good and evil. Evil would be considered "the shadow" aspect of the psyche in Jungian terms, and Satanism would be a collective unconscious outcropping of this shadow in humanity, and why it is so perverse and evil. But then you have the New Age movement and millions of people being turned on to meditation, psychedelics and positive spirituality, as opposed to religious dogma. Most of the members here seem to ascribe to the latter, myself included.
TheCorsair00 wrote:
Yeah, a secret society is like a cult of some sort with a different emphasis on what is considered esoteric vs exoteric. The secret society makes its membership esoteric while most cults do not. But both cults and secret societies will make their mysteries and hidden meanings esoteric.
There is probably even a cost factor involved: a lot of cult leaders desire funding so they benefit from not hiding their membership. Secret societies may be funded by rich benefactors or perhaps do not need much funding at all (in the case of virtual orders, for example).
No, I don't think you quite got my meaning: some members have mentioned how learning about these things has changed how they look at things, and therefore is paradigm changing (such as perhaps the Franklin cover-up?).
Franklin
A conspiracy theory (cultish) and a real, legitimate conspiracy (paradigm shifting), that is verifiable and provable in a court of law, are two very different things.
The Franklin Cover-Up was written by a former Senator of Nebraska and lawyer, who cannot make up things or reveal certain information that has a gag order etc, in a book, because he would get sued. He was told to write that book by a former head of the CIA, William Colby, who later turned up dead in the Potomac River some years later after trying to work with Dr. Steven Greer's group. That isn't a cult or theory, that is just information - like I said, newsworthy and worthy of serious consideration and research. It also is a big enough story that it would change the way people perceive how government and military works in the world. You can think of that as an error in my thinking, but I perceive it to be legitimate reality, and perhaps that plays out in your pet theory - because that, to you, is also a legitimate reality, which could also play out as a possible error as well, depending on which side you look at it! I think one could get too carried away with that view of things as well...
TheCorsair00 wrote:
I think we are speaking at cross-purposes. And I am not sure how this happened, haha.
Why do you equate a conspiracy theory with "cultish"? I am not following.
We were talking about Satanism, and you gave some interesting information about it. If true, that example would rise to be paradigm changing. Would it not?
I don't know much about Satanism, so I broadened the topic to group dynamics at large, and the need for many people to identify with a group. I do not relate to those people (at least not physically; I have affinities for virtual orders).
I like the idea of connecting cults with secret societies because it makes more sense to me.
My only point about changing one's view is just this: the more you learn about these things, the more it has the potential to cause you to see the world differently. That is all. I gave the example of the Franklin cover-up because you know a lot about it.
I don't think of it as an error in your thinking. I didn't say that. Did I? Though perhaps the book I suggested did intimate it. Perhaps that is the kernel essence of this digression.
I encourage you to read the book. It is very good.
Late PM here and going to bed. Over and out for now.
Quick follow up
Yes, I replied based largely on the premise of the book you mentioned (Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error) and what you originally said in this comments section in relation to what may be perceived as being conspiracy theories (errors) versus the example of Franklin (truth).
It was a worthwhile discussion, thanks for bringing it up. I will check out the book. It's morning here, so it is also time for bed! haha
TheCorsair00 wrote:
cheers...that helps me understand which part of my comments you were focussing on. so please allow me to elaborate slightly.
first, I didn't have any member here in mind when I wrote that; I was thinking more about cult members who appear -- to outsiders -- to pledge blind devotion to a lunatic. I'm thinking of Heaven's Gate, which is a group I feel particularly drawn toward trying to understand. But the same view applies to followers of David Koresh (who I feel less drawn toward).
When I was in high school I converted to the Bahai Faith (from a Catholic childhood). At the time, I liked their ideals and the fact they promoted world peace. When I broke with them later I began to wonder whether I had been brainwashed by them. There is no clear answer to that question, but since then I have had a decided interest in cults and the effect that charismatic leaders have on impressionable minds. One of my biggest take-aways from that period is how convinced I was that I was *right*. So how come later did I see myself as being so *wrong*? This subjectivity still fascinates me today.
Does that help provide more context for what I was writing about? Schultz's book helped me understand this subjective sense of "being right" by putting it into a broader context.
Quick example? Flashbulb memories.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashbulb_memory
Flashbulb memories refers to those events in one's life that are permanently etched in our memory. Typical examples include the days of 9/11, Princess Diana's death, the Challenger explosion or, going back even further, JFK's assassination. How perfectly do you remember where you were or what you were doing at the time of any of these?
Schulz cites research by Ulri Neisser demonstrating that memory is elastic and fallible -- even flashbulb memories.
Schulz writes,
"In 1986, when the space shuttle Challenger exploded, Neisser saw an opportunity to remedy this gap in the memory literature… He surveyed his students about their memories of the disaster the day after it happened, and then again three years later. The results spelled the end of conventional flashbulb memory theory. Less than 7 percent of the second reports matched the initial ones, 50 percent were wrong in two-thirds of their assertions, and 25 percent were wrong in every major detail. Subsequent work by other researchers only confirmed the conclusion. Our flashbulb memories might remain stunningly vivid, but research suggests that their accuracy erodes over time at the same rate as our everyday recollections... (For the record, a group of cognitive scientists and psychologists working together as the 9/11 Memory Consortium repeated and expanded on Neisser’s study after September 11, with roughly the same results.)
This fluidity of memory fascinates. And it speaks to the fact that we may be convinced we know something -- that we are *right* -- when, in fact, this may not be so.
Info/misinfo
Oh, I see now - thanks very much for the clarification. I think I understand better now where you are coming from, especially with your personal experiences. That is very interesting what you shared about "flashbulb memories" and makes sense.
It is definitely worth considering that what many of us here think we know about how the world works based on conspiracy research, but may in fact be a type of delusion or misunderstanding because a lack of a larger picture of reality. But as the book suggests, most people would be more or less blind to that fact and fight for what they believe as the absolute truth - which I did here earlier. It can be a slippery slope when it comes to what one regards as facts versus misinformation...
TheCorsair00 wrote:
Reading my notes, I came across this snippet I'd filed:
false memory
human memories are imperfect. As much as we all like to think we can trust our own minds, memories can be altered over time.
the creation and nature of false memories, and how people can be influenced by information after an event has happened, even consulting or providing expert witness testimony for hundreds of court cases.
"It's pretty easy to distort memories for the details of what they actually saw by supplying them with suggestive information," Loftus told Business Insider. "But then later we began to ask just how far could you go with people. Could you implant entire false memories into the minds of people for things that never happened?"
The answer was yes. Loftus and other researchers such as Julia Shaw have successfully planted memories into the minds of otherwise healthy people. For example, in one study, 70% of subjects were made to believe they had committed a crime such as theft, assault, or assault with a weapon, simply by using memory-retrieval techniques in interviews.
"fuzzy trace theory" & the Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) paradigm.
The DRM paradigm is less complicated than it sounds. It involves giving people a list of related words, like bed, sleep, tired, dream, and yawn, and then asking them to recall as many words as possible. Typically, subjects recall words that are related to the words listed, like snooze, or nap, which weren't actually on the list in the first place.
"People will produce words reliably that weren't on the list, and they'll be really confident about that, so that's definitely false memory," Reyna told Business Insider. "It's a really powerful, psychological phenomenon. A reality mismatch. It's not 'I can't remember,' which is forgetting, but 'I remember vividly something that didn't happen.' So fuzzy trace theory was the first theory applied to explain that."
fuzzy trace theory puts forward the idea that there are two types of memory: verbatim and gist.
Verbatim memory is when we can vividly remember something in detail, whereas gist memories are fuzzy representations of a past event — hence why the theory is called "fuzzy trace."
"As we age, we rely more on gist and less on verbatim," Reyna said. "Almost everything important happens in life after a delay. For example, if you're a student you have to apply your knowledge not just on the quiz, but you have to remember it for the next semester, or in a job situation... It's not what you've just memorised that day or that week, it's remembering over a longer period.
Gist memory, on the other hand, has a much more powerful influence after a delay, as opposed to verbatim.
"What that means is the net accuracy of children is higher than the net accuracy of adults, if you consider all of what they got right and what they got wrong," explained Reyna. "So your tendency to connect the dots of meaning and then to report that rather than just the verbatim reality, that tendency to rely on the gist, that goes up with age."
In other words, as a person gets older, they become much more of a "meaning maker. Because it's not that our memory necessarily gets worse as you age, but our brains get more biased towards finding meaning at a faster rate. Since the theory was presented, it has been replicated over 50 times by other researchers
source:
https://www.businessinsider.com/science-of-false-memories-2017-12
fascinating collection, that
fascinating collection, that shows a lot of commitment and dedication...many thanks for making it available to us!
I recently came across a fun fictional series on Netflix called "Archive 81" -- for archivists like many of us here, I found it filled a great bingeworthy niche!
Thank you!
Secret societies have been in existence at least since the date of the earliest known writings. Ultimately, what has at all times and in all places distinguished secret societies from other associations is that the former are organized in a manner parallel to, but often above, official forms of government, whatever those forms may be.
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/secret-societies