SHAMBHALA
A hidden city in Tibetan tradition, Shambhala is said to be located somewhere north of Tibet in the desert wastelands of central Asia. Tibetan sources…
Month: December 2022
SHAKESPEARE CONTROVERSIES
The identity of the writer of the plays and poems attributed to William Shakespeare (1564–1616) has been a matter of debate for nearly two centuries,…
SERVANTS OF THE LIGHT [SOL]
One of the major occult secret societies in the western world today, the Servants of the Light began in 1965 as a correspondence course published…
SECRECY
The defining characteristic of secret societies is the fact that they keep secrets. This is obvious enough. Less obvious, to those who have not participated…
SECOND INTERNATIONAL
A major focus of conservative fears about secret societies in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Second or Socialist International was founded in…
SCOTTISH DEGREES
A series of Masonic degrees created in France in the middle of the eighteenth century. Despite the name, they have no actual connection to Scotland,…
SCHWALLER DE LUBICZ, RENÉ AOR
French esoteric and secret society member, 1887–1961. One of the most influential figures in twentieth-century occultism, René Schwaller was born in Alsace and served an…
SCHOOL OF NIGHT
Among the most important occult societies in Elizabethan England, the School of Night almost certainly did not go by that name, if the group had…
SCHAW, WILLIAM
Scottish builder, engineer, and Freemason, 1550–1602. The younger son of John Schaw, an influential Clackmannanshire laird, Schaw grew up close to the Scottish court. He…
SANDE SOCIETY
One of the two most widespread secret societies in West Africa, the Sande Society is a women’s society found along the Upper Guinea coast from…