Hitler and the Occult

Ken Anderson

OK. So what has this book to do with Freemasonry? Essentially nothing. However, there's a thread here and it's that thread that you might find interesting.

I've listed a bunch of my books on Library Thing. Why? It keeps me from spending a lot of money on buying duplicates when I've forgotten what I own! (Check it out: if you're an avid reader, it's really quite helpful.) LT has an 'Early Reviewers' program which allows members to indicate their interest in a book and, perhaps, snag a review copy. I got one titled "Richard and Adolf" ostensibly proving a connection between composer Richard Wagner and anti-Mason Adolf Hitler. Well, I started into that book one evening and its first chapter was all about the Spear of Longinus. BING! I had a page on this site about that based on something which had appeared in my search engine results several years ago. There was a mention of Tim Wallace-Murphy (referred to as a Professor) who had ostensibly co-authored a book by Trevor Ravenscroft, "The Spear of Destiny". That book too was mentioned on my page - but I had no idea Wallace-Murphy was somehow involved. This was the same Tim Wallace-Murphy whose work about the Rosslyn Chapel had been demolished by the factual writing of Robert L. D. Cooper in his book, "The Rosslyn Hoax", also reviewed on this site.

As you might imagine, I don't go very far without some extensive online researching and soon I was in the midst of an Amazon review of this book which noted how it tears Ravenscroft's work apart. Yes, there were also the reviewers who were hell-bent on proving that a connection between Hitler and the Occult was tight so this book was an anathema but I decided to see for myself. I ordered a used copy for a pittance and within a week, I found myself immersed in a debunking of not only Ravenscroft but many others who'd tried to make connections between the German dictator and the forces of magic. What was even more astonishing, however, was that not long along, I came across a footnoted reference to Ellic Howe. Really? The Mason whose works I had been reading for years in the transactions of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge, the Premier Masonic Research Lodge, located in London, England? By golly, it was! In fact, Howe was quoted often to debunk a great many of the claims made by other writers trying desperately to make a connection. Howe, I learned, had been actively involved in some disinformation work for the British Government during World War II, a piece of which dealt with falsifying occult predictions and horoscopes.

It was full circle - and there was a Masonic connection after all. Wallace-Murphy was found to not be the co-author of the 'Spear' book but it was the thin thread that began this trip along a by-way that I never expected to travel. I've reviewed "Richard and Adolf" here and have made several, more knowledgeable changes to the page about the trumped-up 'Spear'.

It sure can be an interesting, interconnected world sometimes!

Oh, and by the way: if you enjoy works which debunk things, this is certainly well worth reading! I recommend it highly.