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The Templar Research and Journey 1999
Having been involved in studying martial arts and comparative religion for over twenty years I eventually ran into the figures of
the Knights Templars. They not only blended religious devotion to martial training and horsemanship, they also developed the first
international banking system with a credit card and are credited with the discovery, or at least exploitation of the Americas
(a mixed blessing indeed!). They also were among the first men to travel in recent history (1100's) back and forth between the
East and the West on a continual basis- something nearly every practitioner of martial arts does psychologically if not
physically! I decided to study them through reading and traveling. Naturally this led to other people, historical re-enacters,
Society for Creative Anachronism practitioners and Professors of History and Priests. I eventually came to the conclusion the
Templars were far more complex than many historians realized. In 1999 I went on a sort of "Western European" pilgrimage beginning
in S. Africa...
then flying to London to visit the Templar chapel underneath Parliament- , -driving up into Scotlandto Bannockburn Battlefield
where it is said the Templars were seen in the Battle assisting Robert the Bruce...
To Rosslyn Chapel
to visit the St. Clair/Sinclair crypt...
and making my way across to Paris and then to Chartre Cathedral where the labyrinth is...
...from there on through Switzerland to the Geotheanum where the work of Rudolph Steiner is preserved- he wrote a fascinating text
on the "Templars and the Mexican Mysteries".
and onward to Rome to visit with the Vatican Museum and library and the Jesuits and do some research in the Vatican library.
From there I went to Palermo, Sicily and from Sicily to the island of Ustica - where Cathiginian Mercenaries were imprisoned...
and then on to Barcelonawhere it snowed!
with a train to A Coruna where the oldest lighthouse in the world is...and whose symbol is a skull and bones (Templars!) underneath a lighthouse....
and ending in Santiago De Compestello.
where it is debated is the tomb of Jesus' disciple James? His brother? His son? Or Santiago, the defender of the Spaniards
against the Moors? At any rate the Cathedral is packed with influences from all over Europe and it is the capstone of one of the
three sacred pilgrimages of Christianity which are:
1. Rome
2. Jerusalem
3. Santiago de Compestello
the plaza at Santiago d-C.
inside the room behind the figure of Christ...which overlooks the congregatation-which allows you to look over the shoulder of
Christ at the people during mass...a real consciousness exercise!
The trip was a five month journey of six countries. I read and researched as I traveled and I came to feel some of the
atmospheres and energies of these sacred places. Along with this and over the years since then, I have given four lectures at
the Atlanta Theosophical Society-all related to the Templars. The first lecture was on the original founders, the second lecture
was on The Green Man or "khidr" also known as Cernunnos as depicted here at Rostherne Chapel in England...
the cemetery at the Chapel-a Celtic Cross
The third lecture at the Theos. Society was on "Middle Eastern Influences" in history and at present and was a look at both
cultural and economic issues that have involved the U.S. in the Middle East. The fourth lecture- unexpectedly -was assigned to
me by the society; to speak on "Ley Lines" and strangely, this lecture tied all the others together and pointed to the whole
science behind the construction of the Cathedrals in Europe during the middle ages. These lectures are available on DVD and
listed under products. The Templars were and are (as there are several groups at present who have taken on some of the intent
of the old Order) a fascinating group and due to their martial-spiritual nature, well worth study by any serious martial
arts/religious scholar...
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