Allow yourself to awaken from the slumber of monotony you exist in and there is where you may find the answers which your heart most desires. Under the cloak of control and power you wait anxiously for signs of salvation which you are not capable of seeing. Pull away the layers of theory, religion and politics and face what is real. And although I am only 11 years old, I tell you with full confidence, your beginning is near and soon you too will realize that there is more to what you might have believed about life, death, failure and success. Look around you and open your mind to the possibility that all is not black and white or even right or wrong. We live among you and although you may never sense us, we are here and we are real. Consider me your guide in a world very few are fortunate enough to see. I am like you and I struggle to understand what I am to do with this life I have been given. Yet what is truly important is that you understand that your existence is complex and I shall venture to say that your definition of The Circle of Life will change forever. Believe it or not? I dare youdouble dare you to turn to the next page.

Mysterious and insular associations are a phenomenon as old as the pyramids. People have formed clandestine organizations, with idiosyncratic rules, rites and practices that have attracted the wealthy, respected, and powerful. From Freemasons and Knights Templar, to Sons of Liberty, Black Hand, and Skull and Bones, these groups have been religious, political, nefarious or just plain silly, and now this special edition from LIFE unlocks the door to these secretive worlds. From those organizations that were hidden behind the Founding Fathers that helped shape the course of history to those that have dabbled in the occult, this beautifully illustrated edition takes you deep inside these fascinating organizations.

Following in the footsteps of her bestselling "Secrets & Mysteries of the World," Browne now writes about the clandestine realm of secret societies and their impact on daily life.

An expose of the dark and critical role secret societies play within the ruling families in America and their influence on American democracy, current events, and world history. • Reveals the enormous influence secret societies still have on contemporary American life. • Shows how the secret Masonic cells that smuggled in the democratic ideals inspiring the American Revolution also enabled the future elite of the new society to build huge fortunes. Elite and secret societies have always been a major force in the history of Western civilization. The alliances formed in secret societies such as the Knights Templar, the Knights of Christ, and the Freemasons transcended patriotism and religious beliefs and had a powerful influence on the establishment of the United States of America. While these secret associations of merchants, smugglers, occultists, gamblers, spies, and slavers succeeded in freeing the United States from foreign domination, the dark side is that the elite used their secret connections to further their own wealth and power. These secret cells did not hesitate to sponsor the assassination of a president and even attempted to break up the union on several occasions when it was deemed expedient. From the Sons of Liberty and the Essex Junto to the Ku Klux Klan, secret societies have played critical roles in building the fortunes of America's elite. Now Steven Sora reveals in alarming detail how secretive societies continue to wield power even today as organizations such as Yale's Skull & Bones unite America's modern ruling families as strongly as Masonic Lodges once connected the Astors, Livingstons, and Roosevelts. Their immense power and wealth allow this elite to control America to an even greater degree than the Templars once dominated Europe.

The concept of secret societies has not only infatuated the wild imagination of children, but of adults as well. The mystique, the thrill that it provides, of being a part of something that no one else knows about, the sense of circumventing the establishment and the 'normal' world around you - who could pass up that kind of rush?!? Every secret society started somewhere - with a group of unknowns who eventually managed famous deeds, or were made famous by the deeds of their successors, which escalated the total brand value of their society. The point is, you don't need to be another George Washington to head your own secret society. Ever heard of John Heath? No? Well, he's the fellow who started the American Greek student system in 1776, because he failed admission into the two existing Latin fraternities at his college. Today, the result is not only a thriving and flourishing system, but it counts as the pinnacle of US collegiate social life for most students, and provides a valuable network of alumni, including ex-Presidents, Senators, Fortune-500 CEOs, and many other notables among its ranks. But beyond their potential future impacts, secret societies are fun! And they're so incredibly easy to start, it's a surprise there aren't hundreds of them. Oh wait, maybe there are? I guess we'll never know, since we can't count them if they're secret. Are you eager to create your own secret society or club? This book has all the information you'll need to get started. The first rule you need to know is: Respect the 'secret' part of secret society, and don't discuss any details with your boyfriend's best friend's uncle's girlfriend's cousin just to show off how clever you are. Now that we've got that out of the way, continue reading and you'll have your secret society up and running in no time!

"Secret societies have existed throughout history. In many ways they are microcosms of ordinary public society. Nevertheless, an air of menace clings to many famous but shadowy societies. Yet secret societies have often held spiritual goals. Christianity itself was in its earliest days a secret society in Rome, and was considered by the authorities from the start to be a dangerous innovation. The same was true of Islam. Some Arab groups today consider the Jews a dangerous secret society dedicated to the overwhelming of the world. Some Europeans, as well as some Druses and Yezidis in Iraq in Syria, think the same of the Arabs. Some Freemasons and Catholic groups hold identically suspicious views of each other. And many secret societies, dangerous or not, have been persecuted over the ages. Believing that social right and wrong should be the evaluator of secret societies brings us into difficulties. In Borneo, initiates of the hunting societies considered it meritorious to hunt heads. In many parts of the world, initiation into clan life (and consequent status) involves undergoing trials which can result in the death or madness of the candidate. Secret societies can never be totally repressed. The human desire to be one of the elect is something which no power has yet been able to reduce, let alone overcome. Whether this is a good or a bad thing depends entirely upon one's point of view and one's commitments at the time of judging the question. This book does not pretend to be an exhaustive account of secret societies: none such has ever been nor ever will be written. But in these pages will be found some of the characteristic Forms which secret societies and cults have taken--successfully and otherwise. The secret organizations dealt with in this book have been chosen in such a way as to illustrate the widest variety of their forms, rituals and beliefs. Much of the material has been obtained at first-hand and is published for the first time."--Jacket

DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "Secret Societies: A Discussion of Their Character and Claims" by David Macdill, Jonathan Blanchard, Edward Beecher. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.