Iglesia de San Barnaba para fans de Indiana Jones

“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”

---- George Orwell

A Templar ship
Brass Plate
Magdalene Vault

During my past life regression along with my spiritual portrait, my research on Mary Magdalene and my conversations with various mediums and historians there is one group of people who keep cropping up time and time again, The Knights Templar.

The Templars were founded around the year 1118 as an order of fighting monks whose job was to protect the pilgrims visiting the Holy land.  It must be noted here however that no evidence has suggested the Templars actually carried out this particular task.  Moreover, there have been suggestions their actual task was for something else like excavation work.  It’s also important to note that the order began with only nine members for the first nine or so years which would have made it very difficult to cover all pilgrim routes to the Holy land.

By 1127 the Templars had established themselves in Western Europe with countries including Portugal, France, England and Scotland.  The church had even officially recognized them as a religious order dedicated to the defence of Christendom.  Further down the line in 1139, a papal bull was issued that the Templars would owe allegiance to the pope only, making them immune to political and religious authorities.  

Old antique Templar pendant
Magdalene Vault

However during the latter part of the 12th century the Templars were facing serious problems.  The Templars enormous wealth and influence which had built up over a number of years brought them into growing opposition to the Church and worldly monarchs.  The Knights Templar were accused of many heinous crimes including denial of an immortal Christ, ritual murders and of worshipping a bearded head called Baphomet to name but a few. 

It all came to a head in 1307 on Friday, October 13th, Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of the Templars and sixty of his Knights were imprisoned in Paris. In 1312 the pope officially dissolved the Knights Templar Order and then in 1314, after Jacques de Molay was burned alive, it seemed that the Knights Templar had ceased to exist, yet the Order continued in other countries under various names.

The Templars venerated Mary Magdalene and to them she represented Sophia, the female side of god.  The word Sophia means “wisdom” and many people believe Sophia came to earth in the body of Mary Magdalene herself.  During the Templars inquisition, one accusation amongst many was the worshipping of a goat head called “Baphomet”.  It was not apparent why the Templars would worship such a thing until you apply something called the Atbash Cipher.  This code was used as early as 500BC and was found to be used in some of the Dead Sea scrolls.  When applied to the name Baphomet we get the name Sophia!

Antique engravings from an old french book showing scenes from the Cathar crusade at Montseguer & the massacre at Beziers.
Magdalene Vault

Whilst on the subjects of heads, the Templars also had in their possession an interesting relic in the form of a female silver head containing a couple of skull bones of a small woman.  It also came with a label on which read the following; Caput LVIII M (Head 58M).  At first glance the message is a just a random few numbers and a letter but when you add five with eight you get thirteen.  The letter M is the thirteen letter of the alphabet and together with the other M we have a double hit. Could this female relic have been the bones of Mary Magdalene?  It is also noteworthy that the bones themselves were wrapped in a red cloth, the colour most associated with Mary Magdalene.

With the worship of Sophia through the disguise of Baphomet along with the 58M female headed relic we can possibly assume that the Templars regarded the importance of Sophia and acknowledge her human existence in the form of Mary Magdalene.  It would not be the first time that both Sophia and Mary Magdalene have had a connection.  In one Gnostic Gospel called The Pisits Sophia, Mary Magdalene plays a central role.  It contains 46 questions in the dialogues of which 31 are asked by Mary Magdalene herself.

The Templars also had a connection with the Cathars, a Christian dualist or Gnostic movement which arrived in France around the 12th century.  Like the Templars, they held Mary Magdalene in very high esteem calling her the femine aspect of the divine and recognised her equal status with Jesus.  It is also known that at least one of the nine founders of the Templars was a Cathar.  The 4th grand master of the Templars, Bertrand de Blanchefort was from a Cathar family.

Old St Mary Magdalene Relic
The Magdalene Museum

Another question which arises is why this particular area in the south of France is the focal point for both the Cathars and Templars.  Could it be argued that the Magdalene arrival in France after the crucifixion set the motion of the events that followed?  It is most likely that the Cathars had in their possession Gnostic Texts amongst their many other documents and may have had knowledge of the Magdalene voyage itself.

I strongly believe that the Templars were set up or influenced by the Cathars themselves with the objective to befriend the Church and gaining their trust, a kind of double agents type.  One of the nine founding members, Hugues de Pagens, had ties with many Cathar people and possibly had been a Cathar himself.  Indeed his genealogy points to Cathar heartland and another member, Godfrey de Saint-Omer appears to have been a relative of his.  Their mission to protect the pilgrims from the holyland had simply been a “smoke screen” for their main intentions and activites.

Being just a normal Cathar would simply have got them nowhere, even before the Templar establishment they were already being hounded out including the burning at the stakes of Cathars in Orleans in 1022.  They already had in their possession gospels and documents of Gnostic nature and more than likely had the Magdalene relics too.  There was far more to be discovered in the Holyland which they could attain and keep.  Also the Cathars knew the church at one point would come down hard on them, it was just a matter of time.  What the Cathars needed was an army of knights to gain entry into the holyland and then to guard their sacred documents, relics and even their own beliefs and history.

Templar Postcard, Temple London
Magdalene Vault

In 1208 began a series of wars known as the Cathar crusade which was organised and directed by the Catholic Church on the orders of Pope Innocent lll.  From the first seize in Beziers on July 22nd 1209 (St Mary Magdalene’s feast day), to the last Cathar foothold at the Chateau of Montsegur, the Cathars were hounded out, burned at the stake and slaughtered in what many people call the first genocide of Europe.

During the crusades against the Cathars, the Templars had no choice but to remain neutral.  If they sided with the Catholic Church then they would be fighting against their own people, against similar beliefs and even possibly their own families.  On the other hand if they sided with the Cathars then it would put the order at risk and everything they protected including their connections with the “heretics” along with sacred documents and treasures would be revealed.  The only logical thing to do was to stay neutral although it has been reported that the Templars did provide a haven for Cathar refugees and the increase of Cathars which joined the Templar ranks at that period of time rose sharply.

At the last stronghold of Cathars at Montsegur in 1244, a few Cathars did manage to escape the oncoming slaughter and with them they carried some form of treasure.  It could well be that these Cathars and their treasure, ended up with the Templars and thus their treasure were safe and protected……...for now.

Postcard
Port of La Rochelle, France

In the aftermath of the Cathar crusade the Templars remained protected and their influence and wealth was still growing.  However by the turn of the 14th century the Templars had also attracted many powerful enemies, one of whom would lay the first stone to the demise of the Templar order, or at least, so he thought.  Philippe lV of France had become envious and angry with the Templars, he owed them a great deal of money, thought they were arrogant and unruly ,no control was over the Templars as they only answered to the pope and all this on Philippe’s own territory.  This all gave reason for Philippe to use heresy as an excuse to get rid of the order.

After the kidnapping and subsequent death of Pope Boniface Vlll along with the poison of another, namely Benedict Xl, Philippe conveniently secured the election of one Clement V, who was at the time archbishop of Bordeaux.  This allowed Philippe to get what he wanted, the suppression of the Templars because after all, Clement V was indebted to him for making him pope.

From that moment on the Templars had become wanted men and many were tortured and interrogated on October 13th, 1307.  Philippe may have quashed the Templars but their treasure had eluded him, nothing was found.  It is more than probable that the Templars knew of this impending danger and took their treasure of wealth, sacred documents and relics and sent them to their naval base at La Rochelle were they transported all this onto around eighteen galleys ready to disembark.  What happened to those ships remains a mystery, maybe some ended up in Portugal or more so to Scotland, the only monarchy in the 14 century Europe that did not recognize the authority of the Catholic Church.

Meanwhile the Templars were officially dissolved in 1312, despite the lack of evidence and information that Philippe had accused them of.  In 1314 the grand master if the Templars, Jacque de Molay was roasted to death over a burning fire.  Philippe had even gone to lengths after to persuade other monarchs to follow his lead to make sure no Templar survived but this mainly fell on deaf ears, particularly in Scotland.  Philippe himself died of mystery causes at the end of 1314, the same year as he ordered the death of Molay.  Indeed one month after the burning of the grand master, Pope clement was dead.  It was reported that Molay had called his persecutors to join him before God’s court within a year while he was about to be burned!