Universities and Secret Societies
Occultism is defined as the set of esoteric knowledge that is not recognized by science or religion, and which requires an initiation into secret practices, touching magic and the divinatory arts. Immaterial paradigms, negation of the rationality, such as intuition or the paranormal, have however, for centuries, been at ease in institutions where rationalism is the cornerstone that governs knowledge. If it seems paradoxical that occultism, beyond its teaching in special faculties, where the main goal is often to tame the world of the invisible to make it visible and perfectly rational to those who are initiated, it has become the ultimate scale of social gradation in Western societies, yet considered rational and materialistic. However, it must be noted that knowing what is secret, is a factor of power, that remains the opium of the elite. The best-known occultism in academic institutions remains the one which is overshadowed, because it is the prerogative of student’s secret societies, which since, control networks that some people rightly or wrongly accuse of being the den of cooptation, favoritism and elitism, which goes beyond the campuses of the most prestigious universities in the world; greatly influencing human society, because in many ways, the most influential men and women of the planet have often belonged to these sectarian networks. The so-called conspiracy literature abounds in these sects. However, very few authors have often been interested in the dynamics of secrecy, because there is a fundamental difference between knowing that the secret exists, and knowing what the secret is. As Nicolas Adell described it so well, "knowing the secret," is reserved to the laymen, who often know only what the secret society wants them to know, and "owning the secret", means to possess the secret, which is reserved to the initiates, who know the contents of the secret.
In the West in general, it is believed that the spread of secret societies is closely linked to the fall of the Roman Empire, which led to a great period of political and economic instability in Europe. This chaos that some called the Dark Age, lasted more than 7 centuries. It was only the colonization of the Moors in Andalusia, between the 8th and 12th century that brought back a kind of knowledge and light in Europe. The Moors will bring with them to Europe African and Middle Eastern paranormal sciences which will greatly influence sectarian currents, Like the Rose -Cross, or the Freemasonry. Order will return to Europe in the form of Religion with the hegemony of the Catholic Church and the Papacy. The repression of the Catholic inquisition on movements evolving outside the canonical doctrine, will facilitate the creation of societies which, to survive, now had to hide, and live in secrecy. After, the banishment of the Templars, in France at the beginning of the 14th century, in England, the suppression of guilds (professional associations), by Henry VIII in the 16th century facilitated the creation of sects and movements of thought, which from the Renaissance will find a favorable climate to express themselves better through secret societies like the Freemasonry in England, and the Rosicrucian order in Germany.
These secret societies will be intimately linked to the re-foundation of Western societies whose apogee will be manifested in the French and American revolutions of 1789 and 1776. The fraternities that brought down the royalties In the eighteenth century, will be the same who on both sides of the ocean will create a new world order which unfortunately despite all his great words, such as, brotherhood, equality and freedom will not address all evils; like the all times plague, which is the anti-black racism, and the slavery it engendered. Napoleon Bonaparte, a fervent follower of these initiatory orders, will even have the patter to restore slavery to Haiti and the French West Indies. The neglect of the black condition in sectarian movements, so-called enlightenment, is not insignificant, because it carries within it, the genes of racism in its elitist aspect, which later became the cornerstone of student’s secret societies, factories creating elites. In the desire to white wash the filial knowledge, the Western student secret societies will abandon the African and Middle Eastern character of occultism which had initially allowed influential secret societies such as Freemasonry and the Rose-cross to develop, to endorse Hellenism. When the Freemasons claim their filiation to Hiram the builder of Solomon's temple, Rosicrucians claim to be related to hermetic societies of ancient Egypt like that of Memphis. In the United States, for example, the first fraternities are found in the oldest and most prestigious universities. However, it should be noted that the Flat Hat Club, founded in 1750 at William & Mary College in Virginia, is the antechamber of Freemasonry, and would have known as followers, eminent characters like Thomas Jefferson. The post-revolution marks the emergence of Hellenic secret societies such as Phi Beta Kappa founded in 1776, the Sigma Phi Society (1827) and Delta Phi Fraternity (1827). What is Hellenic is Greek and not absolutely African, or Oriental. At a time when being white is a privilege, student secret societies sharply reestablish schema of a society hierarchized by race and belonging to a group of privileged peoples. Black American scholars will have to crane for more than a century to find a black lineage to ancient Greece at the same time hoping to be admitted into these hermetic groups, as full members and not as agents serving the world domination of one race over the others. Until today, there is a gray zone in which African Americans and Africans are moving, which consists in adhering to these sects for personal advancement against servicing the racial order. The sexual orientation of secret societies with a Hellenic connotation in general is homosexual, as they are greatly influenced by the sexual practices of ancient Greece where lesbianism and pederasty were a norm. It is not uncommon that during hazing, young recruits engage in sexual encounters with same-sex partners. Practices that can be morally criticized by lay people, seal better the laws of omerta (silence) that govern secret societies. In the same philosophy of domination and conquest of one race over the others, secret societies like the Skull and Bones, very famous for the number of American rulers who would be affiliated, would have relics of the kings of the conquered peoples as the skull of Geronimo Goyaałé (1829 -1909) a great figure of the resistance of the Apache tribe against American settlers. Drinking in the skull of a conquered adversary would confer a certain domineering aura, on the future heirs of the empire. In parallel with the academic system based on a meritocratic ideal, despite scandals like the recently uncovered in the United States, which would have favored access to prestigious institutions for the offspring of the most affluent by corruption, secret societies of student circles perpetuate a system of elitist socialization. And the secret in itself is a tool of social engineering whose hidden objective is the manipulation of the masses. One of the first manipulative effects of the secret is to isolate those who hold it from those who do not know it. In parallel with the academic system based on a meritocratic ideal, despite scandals like the one recently uncovered in the United States, which would have favored access to prestigious institutions for the offspring of the most affluent by corruption; the secret societies of student circles perpetuate a system of elitist socialization. And the secret in itself is a tool of social engineering whose hidden objective is the manipulation of the masses. One of the first manipulative effects of the secret is to isolate those who hold it from those who do not know it. Knowledge being the sieve, between the elect and the plebs. Moreover, the secret must be handled by the adept as an instrument of power. As Jamin so aptly puts it in his work published in 1977. The possession of a secret implies certainly a know-how to shut up, but especially a know-how to tell. You have to know that you have information without revealing it. It is therefore important to subjugate the masses by stimulating curiosity, knowing how to give bits of stories, rumors, legends, because the secret and the occult always fascinate.Wearing dress symbols and signs, or doing gestures, often makes it possible, beyond showing one's belonging, to others who know, to pass on a message according to the situation in which an adept is. For example, a member of a sect facing difficulties during a trial may pass subliminal messages to his frater so that they can help him in the outcome of the trial. And often when a dispute opposes two members of the same sect, the lodges, are first seized of the case for a secret trial, and the final public judgment in general is directly inspired by the verdict in the secret lodges, since even judges are sometimes members of these secret circles Cultists in both student and political circles or in the arts and entertainment know how to hide the secret in plain sight. Also, certain secrets are conscientiously preserved, or are the object of a game on the frontier of what is veiled or unveiled, quieted, or revealed. Learning to manipulate this margin of porosity is an instrument of power, and therefore a key element of elitist socialization perpetuated within these secret societies, as André Petitat, professor of sociology at the University of Lausanne, so aptly puts it in his book "Secret et lien social". (secret and social link)In general, in secret societies, there is a certain gradation that involves different levels of secrecy. The widest circle concerns the least secret of the secret.
