Inside the Priory of Sion
Rob Howells
Article for Watkins Mind, Body and Spirit Magazine, published 2011
Author and researcher Robert Howells explores the enigmaitic Priory of SIon.
It was as a manager at Watkins Bookshop in the 1990s that I first encountered the Priory of Sion. I had already spent many years investigating this elusive secret society that had first appeared in the mid-20th century. Thought by many to be a hoax I discovered their tracks were well hidden by a variety of incarnations such as the Rosicrucians, a mystical order whose rituals greatly influenced the higher degrees of Freemasonry. The members of the Priory of Sion were made up of alchemists, artists and aristocracy and as a collective they created an underground stream of knowledge that weaves its way through history.
A part of the underground stream concerns the heretical idea that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. In 2003 a fictional account of this heresy was released as the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown and provoked strong denials from the church. The Priory of Sion, they claimed, did not exist. In the wake of the Da Vinci Code furore, I contacted the Priory of Sion again and offered them the opportunity to put the record straight in a documentary called Bloodline. Bloodline was an investigation into their claims that not only was Jesus married to Mary Magdalene but He also fathered at least one child and survived the crucifixion. By inviting Sion to take part in the documentary I’d hoped they would support their claims and provide some evidence for their role in history. To my surprise they were more than willing to reveal information on a multitude of esoteric and heretical topics and I was unprepared for the wealth of information they imparted in over 300 emails, original documents and works of art. The material I received was far beyond the scope of the documentary so I compiled it, along with my own research into the book Inside the Priory of Sion.
Sion revealed evidence of a cabal of heretical Catholic priests located in France during the19th and 20th centuries. These priests had worked together to leave a trail of symbols and statues in their churches that spoke of a different view of Christianity and unorthodox teachings. The most famous of the priests was Beranger Sauniere whose church of St Mary Magdalene became the centre of a mystery that reaches back to the time of Jesus. He refurbished his church with a stature of a demon and a sign above the door stating ‘this place is terrible’, Rosicrucian symbols adorn the walls and alchemical symbolism and the statues are arranged to spell out the French word for the Holy Grail, which is seen as a symbol of Mary Magdalene.
The work of other priests in the region provides further evidence of the cabal within the Catholic Church. A nearby church has stained glass windows depicting the marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, and another depicting Jesus and Mary with a son. As the Bible reveals Jesus to be heir to the throne of Israel, the existence of a surviving dynasty had to be protected from persecution by Rome as both the occupier of Israel and latterly as the Catholic Church. The idea of Jesus being married is nothing new to this region. Nearly a thousand years ago the Cathars of the Languedoc, a pious Christian sect upheld this belief and in part it was responsible for their destruction at the hands of the Albigensian Crusade by order of Rome.
Sion’s aim in releasing this information was not to attack the faith of Christians but to redress the balance. By accepting the marriage and redeeming Mary Magdalene as the bride of Jesus it reinstates the feminine aspect of Christianity. After two millennia of distorted masculinity there is an opportunity to heal the psychological wound caused by the lack of an emancipated feminine archetype in the Christian psyche. The idea of a Holy Family of Jesus and Mary would also elevate the importance of the family by placing it at the centre of Christianity.
Aside from protecting the heir of the Jesus dynasty, Mary Magdalene is also symbolic of another important thread being released by Sion. They believe she was the recipient of the true teachings of Jesus. The surviving fragments of this pure form of Christianity offered an intuitive path to God based upon self-knowledge (gnosis). This path to God is an internal process akin to Jung’s individuation and has no need of priests, popes or dogma of any kind. Over time these teachings were feared and suppressed by the Vatican because ultimately, they offer a direct path to god without the need for priests, popes, dogma or even religion.
A part of this knowledge includes the ability to foretell future events, as the great prophets of the Bible once did. Sion claims to have knowledge of a global apocalyptic event as predicted in the Book of Revelation will happen within our lifetime. In the wake of such a cataclysm Sion believes a messianic figure will be welcomed to fill the spiritual vacuum caused by such traumatic events. The bloodline, if followed to its inevitable conclusion, has the potential to produce a Second Coming.
In working with this secret society to produce the book, Inside the Priory of Sion, I hope in some way to have continued the tradition of slowly making public their knowledge and beliefs. And for those who wish to share their wisdom and understating the underground stream has surfaced again.
Robert Howells
August 2011
MEET THE AUTHOR
ROBERT HOWELLS has spent the last twenty years investigating the mysteries of Rennes-le-Chateau, the Priory of Sion and the history of conspiracy theories. During this time he has built up an extensive knowledge and experience of secret societies, symbolism and esoteric thought.
On the web
www.robhowells.co.uk
Bookshelf
THE ILLUMINATI: THE COUNTER CULTURE REVOLUTION FROM SECRET SOCIETIES TO WIKILEAKS AND ANONYMOUS BY ROBERT HOWELLS, published by Watkins, paperback (256 pages).
Robert Howells is the author of The Illuminati: The Counterculture Revolution from Secret Societies to Anonymous and WikiLeaks.
ISBN: 9781780288727
Watkins Publishing Ltd - October 2016