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The Story

During the reign of Louis XIV of France, there was a state prisoner who was required to wear a mask in public and when around outside visitors. No one should learn of his identity. Contrary to the popular nickname, the mask was made of black velvet, as was attested to by Lieutenant Etienne du Junca in his notebooks. A Lieutenant in the Bastille, Du Junca records the arrival of a new governor of the prison in 1698: Bénigne d’Auvergne de Saint-Mars. Du Junca writes that Saint-Mars “brought with him, in a litter, a longtime prisoner, whom he had in custody in Pignerol, and whom he kept always masked, and whose name has not been given to me, nor recorded.”

Pignerol, another French prison, had been Saint-Mars’ charge between the years of 1665 to 1681. So, the mysterious prisoner had been in custody at least 17 years prior to his arrival at the Bastille, and maybe as much as 33 years. In fact, Saint-Mars always took the Man in the Mask with him whenever he moved to a different prison. From 1681 to 1687 they were at the prison fortress of Exiles, then on to the island of Sainte-Marguerite, before arriving at the Bastille in 1698.

The fortress on the island of Ste-Marguerite

Ste-Marguerite cell window

The Bastille

The earliest records we do have of the Man in the Mask date from 1669. According to a letter from the King’s minister the Marquis de Louvois to Saint-Mars, then at Pignerol, the name of the man was Eustache Dauger.

Louvois instructed Saint-Mars to prepare a cell with multiple doors which were to prevent anyone from the outside listening in. Dauger was also to be told that if he spoke of anything other than his immediate needs he would be killed. Saint-Mars was to see Dauger only once a day in order to provide food and whatever else he needed. But, according to Louvois, the prisoner should not require much since he was “only a valet”.

So what’s the mystery? Louvois gave the prisoner’s name and occupation. Why the mask and why all the doubt about his identity?

Several things don’t add up. First of all, Louvois’ letter was discovered by historians to be in two different handwritings. The text of the letter is in one script, while the name is inserted in another. This suggests that the name was added later, probably by Louvois himself. But why? There was a man, whose full name was Eustache Dauger de Cavoye, who was involved in some pretty shady stuff that may have been enough to get him thrown in prison. But his death is recorded in the late 1680s while the Man in the Mask supposedly died in 1703. Also, the Man in the Mask was buried under the name of Marchioly, not Dauger. So, what gives?

Du Junca notes in his writings how well the Man in the Mask is treated. He was allowed to attend Mass on Sundays and holidays as long as he wore the mask. Later legends said the prisoner was treated lavishly, waited on hand and foot. This is most likely false as the furnishings in his cell were provided by the prison at a time when the rich could furnish their own cells. So, he wasn’t rich. It follows that he wasn’t treated like royalty. However, according to du Junca, he had no complaints.

Even though his identity and crime were state secrets, the fact that he was a prisoner was not. Word spread far and wide about the masked prisoner. Soon there were many fantastic stories circulating, including that the masked was made of iron and had a hinged jaw. As we have seen, this was not true. Most of the stories were not true, and that makes it difficult to distinguish fact from fiction in this case.

So who was the Man in the Mask?

The Main Suspects

1) Antonio Ercole Matthioli

Matthioli was an Italian diplomat and politician. Apparently he was involved in some scandal and double cross involving the sale of Casale, a fortress near the border of France and Italy. Drawing the ire of at least five countries, and nearly starting a war, Louis XIV kidnapped him and sent him to Pignerol with instructions that “no person shall know what has become of this man.” It is known that Matthioli eventually went mad in captivity, and may have voluntarily donned the mask. It was an Italian custom among the rich to cover their faces when going out in the sun.

Matthioli was certainly in some of the prisons at the same time as our Man in the Mask. And, our prisoner was buried under the name of Marchioly, possibly a corruption of Matthioli. However, fairly reliable records show that Matthioli died in 1694, and so couldn’t have been accompanying Saint-Mars to Bastille in 1698. Also, letters to Saint-Mars in 1697 warn him to never tell anyone what his “longtime prisoner” has done. Matthioli’s crimes were well known, no secrecy was needed. Therefore, it is doubtful that Matthioli is our Man in the Mask.

2) Eustache Dauger de Cavoye

Mentioned earlier, this is the name Louvois gives the prisoner. He was allegedly involved with all sorts of sordid affairs including enacting the Black Mass, homosexual activities, even the murder of a pageboy. Because of this disgrace, his mother wrote him out of her will, and he was left with a meager yearly allowance when she died. Later, Dauger was linked to a scandal known as The Affair of the Poisons. This was a cabal of the rich that was accused of being involved with Black Mass and committing assassinations with poison. The source of the poisons was allegedly Dauger, who was hard up for cash to support his playboy-like lifestyle. Some of his customers were close to the King, and so the story is he suppressed the investigations and imprisoned Dauger.

As noted above, the death of Dauger de Cavoye does not coincide with the death of Dauger, the Man in the Mask. Plus, we know that de Cavoye died in Prison Saint-Lazare. Also, there is no evidence that Dauger de Cavoye was ever held at the Bastille. It doesn’t seem likely that Dauger de Cavoye is our Man in the Mask.

Documents have survived indicating that Dauger de Cavoye was held at Saint-Lazare in Paris at about the same time that Dauger, the man in the mask, was taken into custody in Pignerol, hundreds of miles away in the south.

3) A Royal Relative

Most are familiar with Alexander Dumas’ classic novel The Vicomte of Bragelonne in which he writes that the prisoner is the twin brother of the King. Voltaire also espoused a similar theory, but in it the prisoner is the illegitimate half-brother of the King. Both versions are most likely fiction. As noted the prisoner was treated well but not lavishly, so it is highly doubtful that he was that close to the King. However, there is one possible theory.

Hugh Ross Williamson argues that the man in the iron mask was actually the father of Louis XIV. According to this theory, the ‘miraculous’ birth of Louis XIV in 1638, after Louis XIII had been estranged from his wife for over twenty years, implies that Louis XIII was not the father.

The suggestion is that the King’s minister, Cardinal Richelieu, had arranged for a substitute, probably an illegitimate son or grandson of Henry IV, to become intimate with the Queen, and father an heir. At the time, the heir-apparent was Louis XIII’s brother Gaston d’Orléans, who was also Richelieu’s enemy. If Gaston became King, Richelieu would quite likely have lost both his job as minister and his life, so it was in his interests to thwart Gaston’s ambitions. Louis XIII also hated Gaston and might thus have agreed to the scheme.

Supposedly the father then left for the Americas, but in the 1660s returned to France with the aim of extorting money for keeping his secret, and was promptly imprisoned. This theory would explain both the secrecy surrounding the prisoner, whose true identity would have destroyed the legitimacy of Louis XIV had it been revealed, and (because of the King’s respect for his own father) the comfort of the terms of his imprisonment.

Other Theories

1) Moliere

Some suggest that the famous playwright’s death was faked in 1673 and he was imprisoned behind the mask until his real death 40 years later.

2) Napolean’s Forefather

One theory, no doubt encouraged by Napolean, was that the prisoner was indeed of royal lineage, and that he was allowed to wed in prison. Not long afterward, a child was born and taken to Corsica to be raised by his mother’s family. The family’s name, of course, was Bonaparte.

3) A Black Politician

Having an affair with the Queen was evidently enough to get one thrown in prison. If that person happened to be black then he would be recognizable and therefore needed to wear the mask.

4) An Amalgamation of Two Prisoners’ Stories

Another plausible theory is one in which the stories and lives of two prisoners, Dauger de Cavoye and Matthioli, were mixed together to form the legend of the Man in the Iron Mask.

There are many more theories and legends about the prisoner’s identity. Too many to continue listing them. If you are interested I’ve included some source links at the bottom of the post. One thing is for sure, the debate rages on. We will probably never know the true identity of the Man in the Iron Mask.

Link to Forum Topic

Sources

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2047/who-was-the-man-in-the-iron-mask
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_in_the_Iron_Mask
http://www.essortment.com/all/whowasmanwith_rlhm.htm
http://french-history.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_man_in_the_iron_mask

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Whether the Illuminati exists or not is not something that will be argued in this article. Instead let’s take all that is rumored about The Illuminati and extrapolate rules that anyone can learn and apply into their lives to gain more and more control.

What follows are the sutras of power used by the Illuminati.

1. Real Control is from a higher level.

True power has an effect upon where one applies it. The more power one wields the broader and deeper it’s affect. This is done only by understanding that all power is in a hierarchy and to climb the steps of the pyramid of power one will control more and more that rests beneath.
The peak of the control is the eye at the top of the pyramid.

2. One can only go “a level up” by having more information.

Information, specifically the right information is the key to gaining a higher level of control. There is a great deal of information available and most of it will not help

3. The right information will control more down the level when it’s applied. (The metaphor of the pyramid/eye).

One of the symbols that people use to point to the Illuminati is the image of the “All Seeing Eye” on top of the pyramid. This can be thought of as a metaphor for control. Namely that it is the top of pyramid that controls everything beneath it. We can use and apply that by asking what is it that we control and what is outside of our control.

4. Searching for the right information requires suspending disbelief in order to diligently test the knowledge.

Judgment and analysis are very useful but when if comes to power it is much better to find out what works than to base your action on a theory.
A good example of this is in advertising. The advertising industry spends a great deal of money to find out what headline will get the best response. They don’t guess they test. What they discover is that some headlines will increase a products sales by 5% to 30% without really understanding why. For advertisers know “why it works” is never as important as knowing that it works. They don’t know and don’t care. So they test, test and test everything to get climb higher up the pyramid of control.

5. All Illuminati control appears invisible.

The best power should appear invisible. The Illuminati remains invisible either because they don’t exist or because the strings of control they pull can always be explained away. To apply this rule it must always seem that you have less control that you do. Thus no fingers of blame can point to you.

6. Invisible control is the result of right information applied to distract those being controlled.

Control, Real CONTROL, is the result of directing ones attention so perfectly that they become absorbed by the distraction and not see what is truly going on. Like a magician who reaches into his pocket to grab a coin no one suspects his true reason is to hide the dollar bill he had just palmed in his hand.
Conflicts work in this way. By creating a conflict some people (and nations) are able to turn the attention of others away from larger issues.

7. Control and power are amoral.

This is a hard one for most to grasp. Power is a tool nothing more. It’s neither good nor bad.

8. Applying morality to control and power limits the extent and effectiveness of the control.

Morality is a knee jerk response to dealing with things we don’t understand. Things like terrorism and cults fall so outside most peoples experience that we tend to judge them as “crazy” or “monsters” and in so doing we unconsciously are saying “I don’t want to REALLY understand this.”
So if you want to most effectively wield power and control put aside your judgment of how it’s used. You will learn a lot.

9. Silence isn’t golden, it is gold.

Silence, says so much more than words.
Many people when they learn a new card trick are often eager to reveal the secret to their friends. When they give away the secret they get momentary attention but the attention quickly fades. On the other hand if they keep the secret of the trick and continue to perform it their silence becomes a powerful tool that builds up their self image and esteem. It also slowly builds an image to them in the eyes of their friends.
It’s hard to understand the power of a secret unless you are keeping one that is truly important to you.

10. Even the most educated beneath you must remain ignorant.

This goes back to the symbol of the pyramid that represents knowledge and power. As one climbs the pyramid they learn more. Those who have not reached a level of knowledge and power must prove themselves as trustworthy before they can proceed any further. This process protects the secrets of power and instills the importance of silence and secrecy.

11. Control means being able to be on both sides of a conflict or limiting the terrain of the conflict or both.

This is one of the higher level understandings of the Illuminati. Conflicts happen either by design or by a natural course of events. If it by design then both sides can be influenced by a third force. If a conflict occurs on it’s own then a third unseen force and restrict the battling parties to the terrain, which can also include the rules of combat and even define what they are to fight over.

Conclusion

Everyone wants at least enough power to experience peace of mind. Some want more. These insights of how the so-called Illuminati exerts power can benefit anyone who has the will to use them.

JK Ellis’s web site is http://www.MindControl101.com and is the author of “Mind Control 101 - How To Influence The Thoughts and Actions of Others Without them Knowing or Caring” and “Perfected Mind Control - The Unauthorized Black Book Of Hypnotic Mind Control” JK Ellis’ blog is at http://mindcontrol101.blogspot.com

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One of the most profound enigmas of the existence of secret societies is and has always been, why do people join? Why is it, that people find these groups so interesting? What is it that we are looking for?

There are the usual and obvious answers to these questions. That we are all searching for enlightenment in our own way, and that each person finds it in different ways - hence the need for so many kinds of secret organisations. This has been called a void that we need to somehow fill, an emptiness within each one of us that calls out for a higher being or state of consciousness. Some psychologists believe that this is an evolutionary aspect of our lives, that within us there is a constant urge to improve and a deep-rooted hope. This hope makes us strive for more and thus we become the strongest and fittest of the species - hence evolution.

But, there is a truth in this that has missed many. There is a void within us, quite literally. This void is the lack of the true enlightenment experience. There actually is a higher state of consciousness. If it were not so, then the feeling and emotions which drive people towards re-discovering it would not be so strong and so universal. It is not - and I have to state this each time - the kundalini, which itself is a troubled and yet beautiful human electro-bio-chemical reaction. To follow this ancient Hindu concept to the letter is in the first instance next to impossible because texts do not exist, and secondly it is highly dangerous and can easily lead to psychosis and other forms of mental problems. It is one aspect of the true inner wisdom, but not the aspect only.

The secret societies, and indeed, some religions of the globe have attempted over the millennia to bring us back to this state of consciousness, but they have more often than not utilised it for their own gain - power. How do we know this? A quick study of the secret societies of the globe will show that the enlightenment experience has been used in every single occasion to draw people in and keep them.

From at least the 11th century an enigmatic group known erroneously as the Assassins emerged in Persia. They take their name from Hashish (hashish-im, hashish takers), a trance inducing drug thought by many to help the leaders control the minds of the subverts. The name was originally in fact an insult.

In one famous statement, Hasan, son of Sabah, the Sheikh of the Mountains and leader of the Assassins said to an official of the Emperors court, “You see that devotee standing guard on yonder turret-top? Watch!”

The Sheikh made a signal and immediately the devotee threw himself off the mountain top precipice to his death. “I have seventy thousand men and women throughout Asia, each one of them ready to do my bidding.”

In the first instance this is amazing control over the mind of another individual. In the second it implies that the Assassins were much older than this early appearance, with seventy thousand devotees cast throughout Asia. No society can set up seventy thousand devotees over night, it would take many years to cultivate this kind of following and it would also take a lot of convincing - unless there were an easier method of control that is!

As if to mimic or indeed follow an older institution the Assassins went through a cycle of initiation based upon seven levels. This relates entirely to the seven chakra points of initiation in the close by Hindu tradition. A tradition based around the energy of the serpent. It was at the seventh level that the Assassins reached the great secret, that all mankind and all of creation were one and that everything was part of the whole. This great secret included being part of the whole and understanding its creative and destructive elements. The Ismaili (Assassin initiate) could therefore make use of this great power held within him. They firmly believed and in my opinion rightly, that the rest of mankind knew nothing of this power, with the exception of the other societies. The power came through the use of the drug Hashish and clever ritualistic involvement - making the Ismaili feel part of a greater good, as a chosen one - something Adolf Hitler would later use to gain control of the German people. There was however, an eighth level which was slightly separate and this taught that all religions and philosophies were false and that the only thing that mattered was fulfilment of this greater power, which lay within. Contrary to popular belief the Assassins were not just Muslims, they were not under any category that is currently known other than secret society. It was only later on in their existence that they had to turn to Islam as a means of survival and even then they had special privileges that allowed them to alter religion at will.

The Assassins are always linked, and rightly, to the Knights Templar. Both groups had dealings and a mutual respect. There are even monetary dealings between the two groups. Could it be that the Templars understood this greater secret and brought this “Holy Grail” of enlightenment back to Europe with them?

The whole process certainly relates to the serpent energy or fire of the ancients around the world, which as I already knew was related to the serpent cults I revealed in The Serpent Grail. But there is another piece of evidence, which relates to this. In the time of the second grand master, Buzurg-Umid (Great Promise), was situated at Alamut, otherwise known as the Viper’s Nest. And there are further links to the Templars in that Buzurg-Umid actually made a deal with King Baldwin II of Jerusalem, a man closely connected to the Templars. Indeed in 1129 the Templars and crusaders actually allied with the Assassins to take Damascus. This is an indication that the Assassins were not in fact anyway Muslim and in fact were even said to be prepared to take on the cloak of Christianity should it bring them further power.

The secret rituals of the Templars and the accusations made against them would relate entirely to the cult of the Assassins. The question has to be asked, did the Templars utilise the same mind controlling techniques as the Assassins? There is in fact evidence to suggest that the Templars, in connection with the Assassins actually understood the use of drugs, especially for the relief of pain. Robert Anton Wilson in his book Sex and Drugs, indicated his belief that the Templars in fact used Hashish, and learned the use from the Assassins. This is not an unreasonable assumption, given the links. There are links to be found in the Templar rituals and beliefs with much of the Middle Eastern religions. There is Sufi influence with the Golden Head of the Sufi being implicated as the Baphomet of the Templars. This Golden Head, as Idries Shah points out in The Sufis, was implicated as the “worship of a mysterious head [which] could well be a reference to the great work of transhumanisation that takes place in the aspirant’s own head.” This was the idea that ones own humanity was transmuted into gold through the enlightenment experience and thus the secret of alchemy is revealed.

Also, the initiate ritual of the Sufi involved passing through a doorway of two pillars. This entrance symbolised the portal into a world of illumination, knowledge and enlightenment. If it is true that the Freemasons emerged from a font of Templar knowledge, then this could indeed be one of the origins for the twin pillars of the Mason guilds. It is also similar to the twin pillars that pilgrims to Mecca must pass through (Safa and Marwa).

Parsi (Persian Zoroastrianism) influence is also seen in the Kusti ritual where each day they would tie a sacred cord around their waist. The fact that the Templars were accused of holding a ritual with a sacred cord closely resembling the practice of the Zoroastrian Kusti, indicates a tradition of knowledge going back through thousands of years.

These traditions can also be seen in that great Roman religion of Mithraism where the initiate was marked with the sign of the cross of the forehead. This was to signify the sun and the place of illumination, the very same as that of the Hindu’s, ancient Egyptians and tribal American’s to name a few.

Much of this ancient and supposedly secret teaching was passed eventually in what is known as Gnosticism. All Gnostics cannot be drawn into one bag, but there is a general theme - that of illumination and enlightenment. The methods are now familiar to us. Many believed that through a frenzy they could achieve the ultimate state and others that by fasting and mediation they would be drawn closer to god. The results were the same; a deeper understanding of themselves and the belief that they were in touch with god. This ecstasy would invigorate, and like being in a Nexus, the initiate would constantly want to re-achieve this state, thus keeping him in the fold. The experience being so very real to the religious mind that they truly believed they were in communion with god. And this is why I constantly draw a line at the kundalini, because it has dangers that its proponents not only refuse to see, but can’t see because of its very nature!

The various methods used to access this altered state are very ancient. The ritual abstinence from food was as old as man. Practiced in the rituals of Eleusis the initiate would undergo a prolonged period of fasting and then followed by a period of waiting. This increased the sense of anticipation and heightened the mind, which would create the event in their mind before it actually occurred. No leader could ask for more. Eventually, the initiate was lead into the Temple where they enjoyed a ritualistic meal and thus great effects were produced in the body with increased levels of sugar in the blood, the mind almost in a trance state. There was whirling like the dervish, sleep-inducing drinks and play-acting by the great and seemingly powerful priests. Sacred objects and sacred words were then, at this point of heightened state, would be revealed. The age and breadth of this system of indoctrination can be seen in the closing words, “Cansha om pacsha”, a Sanskrit term. Indeed, it is accepted by scholars that these rituals emerged in India from the ancient Brahmins. Strangely, these rituals also involved a sevenfold cord that marked the passing of the initiate.

As Aristotle himself wrote, “Those who are being initiated do not so much learn anything, as experience certain emotions, and are thrown into a special state of mind.”

This “special state of mind” was a plasticity of the initiate that the priests could bend and manipulate to their own ends; just as the Old Man of the Mountain manipulated the Assassins. The initiate truly believed he or she had visited other worlds.

All these methods and means to manipulation were passed on through time into all manner of modern secret societies. In the High Priesthood of Thebes, a society first revealed in Germany in the 18th century, it was written of the initiate, “He was led to two high pillars between which stood a griffin driving a wheel before him. The pillars symbolised east and west, the griffin the sun and the wheel the four spokes of the four seasons. He was taught the use of the level and instructed in geometry and architecture. He received a rod, entwined by serpents and the password Heve (serpent), and was told the story of the fall of man.” The symbols within this initiation are now obvious and ancient.

In the initiations and rituals of Witches similar themes are found. Whirling, dancing and a general build up to frenzy, would bring the participant into a general trance state - known today as catharsis. This was helped along with drugs, such as the “ointment” used by the Witches to help them fly and which contained hyoscine. The leader would then guide them through a set piece ritual of words and incantations leading to complete mind control. Such control indeed, that like many religions, the participant would often give up their own family and friends. This is the origin of what we call in modern times a cult and it can now be realised just how hard it is to cult break.

This awakening of the mind through ecstasy is on the one hand a release from the norm and a breakthrough for the mind into a freedom state, but on the other hand it is a dangerous tool, used by many cults, secret societies and in fact mainstream religion to control and manipulate the masses for their own ends. It may be that some have nothing but good intentions at heart, but history has shown repeatedly that greed is all-powerful and can take the soul of many well meant groups.

The lesson is, be careful in what and whom you believe.

Author Bio
Philip Gardiner is a best selling author. He can be seen on TV, heard on radio and has written for hundreds of magazines around the world. His website is www.philipgardiner.net

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