Warriors and Bankers: Lesson 2
“The Templar Treasure”
Please read the Chapter 2 entitled “The Templar Treasure” of Butler and Dafoe’sbook, The Warriors and The Bankers. Then answer the questions at thebottom. There is also a nice exercise we hope you will enjoy.
Show Me the Money, Honey …
Quoting Alan Butler and Stephen Dafoe, “Nothing fascinates humanity morethan the thought of finding some gleaming hoard of gold that has slept awaythe centuries undisturbed, to be happened upon by chance, assuring its finderof notoriety and wealth.”
It is believed by many historians that the Knights Templar found such a treasure,more gold than gold itself, and of more value to the world than the Cityof Gold itself – we’re talking power AND money; we’re talking the Holy Grail.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Here are the facts: Whether the Templarsfound the Holy Grail or not, we’re certain that they were usurers in a timewhen usury (the lending of money for interest) was illegal according to theRoman Church. They charged transaction fees instead of calling it “interest,”and so avoided actually breaking the anti-usury laws. The Knights had toanswer only to the pope and the pope alone, and it’s quite clear that theyall must have overlooked this “Jewish-style usury” as it was called in thosedays. (Because only Jews charged interest, it was considered “un-Christian.”)
The Templars were thus Europe’s first super bankers, so advanced that itbecomes quite clear that our current banking system stemmed from the onethey invented. They were the first to let people deposit their money in onecountry, go to a different country, and receive their money in the localcurrency for low interest, which they called a transaction fee to avoid thecharge of usury.
Because of this vast quantity of lending and receiving, we can now see whyPhilip IV would assume that the Templar treasure was great. It was also knownthat the Knights Templar owned a great deal of farmland, some 900 propertiesin France alone, which of course Philip IV knew that the Templars could nothide away from him, should he ever choose to usurp their wealth.
In addition to this great amount of liquid assets and real estate, it’s believedthat the Knights Templar may have held another treasure: one that could havegiven Pope Clement V another reason other than King Philip IV’s demands todissolve the Knights Templar. In fact, it’s highly possible that King Philipcould have been as advantageous to Pope Clement as Pope Clement was to KingPhilip.
The Knights Templar may well have held the secret of the Holy Grail, theheresy that condemned the Albigensians. The secret of the Holy Grail – accordingto the book, _Holy Blood, Holy Grail_ by Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln – mayhave been incontrovertible proof that Yeshua was indeed married to Mary theMagdala (AKA Mary Magdalene).
Indeed, this treasure would cause great concern for the Roman Church. Buthow could Pope Clement V suppress this information and still protect thestability of the papacy? Indeed, how could Pope Clement V suppress thisinformation at all?
As you can see, King Philip IV could have become the perfect opportunityfor Pope Clement V. If there’s one thing that can be said about the Vatican,it’s that they are a group of opportunists.
QUESTIONS:
Please copy and paste the following questions into an e-mail, insert youranswers, then send to the TemplarOfficers with the subject line: “W & B Lesson 2 Answers from______________ (your Templar name)”
1. What does the word usury mean?
2. T/F – The Knights Templar answered to the pope and the king of France.
3. What would cause Philip IV to assume the Templar treasure was vast?
4. From your reading, T/F – The Knights Templar were able to hide a greatdeal of their treasure.
5. What was one part of the Templar treasure that would have been impossiblefor them to hide?
6. T/F – Clement V may have had other reasons to dissolve the Knights Templar.
7. What information might the Knights Templar have held that was also ofgreat value?
8. From your reading, T/F – Rosslyn Chapel seems to be the most likely candidatefor containing hidden Templar secrets.
9. We’ve established that both King Philip IV and Pope Clement V may havehad separate reasons for wanting the Knights Templar to be dissolved. Whatwere their reasons?
10. T/F – Our current banking system may have stemmed from the Templars’banking system.
Essay Question 1. It’s quite true that the Templars were the first greatbankers. Why do you think it might have been important for them to have somethingto do while they weren’t being warriors for the Holy Land? How do you thinkthis banking may have caused them to be more successful than rival groups,such as the Knights Hospitaller?
Essay Question 2. Do some more digging. Find other times when it’s clearthat the Roman Catholic Church heard opportunity knocking, answered the door,and then made it look as if someone else entirely had forced the door open?In other words, name another time like this one, where Pope Clement V triedto make himself look entirely innocent, and Philip IV seem the bad guy, whenin reality they both probably had their motives. Remember, Pontius Pilatewashed his hands of Krist’s Blood, but that didn’t make him any less guilty.
Meditative Exercise:
The Templar Treasury Visualization
Focus yourself, try using one of your mantras. Clear your mind of everything,and once again, set aside your “other noble causes” for a while. Try vibratingthe Ineffable Name, Yud Heh Vahv Heh, or one of the Templar battle cries.
Once your mind is cleared, imagine yourself in a dark basement of the Templarpreceptory. Imagine yourself walking slowly to a door at the end of the corridor.You open the door, and see several candles: blue and green candles liningthe left wall, red and yellow candles lining the right. In the center ofthe room is an altar, made of a pile of twelve stones, each one representingthe Twelve Tribes of Israel.
On the altar set a white candle and a black candle.
Now, you fill in the blanks. You are in the Templar Treasury, in before allthe treasure was removed. What else do you see in the room? On the altar?Type in what you see here…. Just let your fingers go, let your mind’s eye”see.” What images pop into your head? Write them down, no matter how seeminglyodd or unlikely. Everything you see has meaning. After you’ve completed thisexercise, read the below.
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There were no wrong answers here. The use of the colored candles and thetwelve stones is designed to plug the meditator into the most powerful archetype- the archetype of the Tetragrammaton, the Ineffable Name, YHVH. No matterwhat your answer, everything you saw is significant.
Send your answers to theMysterySchool including what”treasure” you saw. If you feel the experience is personal, and you’d rathernot share the details, that’s fine, but you still must e-mail us and letus know you completed the exercise, but don’t want to share your results.
Compiled by Sir Mark Raines
