Reality Sandwich interviewed Greg Taylor, proprietor of the Daily Grail, a wonderfully strange blog covering anomalous phenomena, the occult, and high weirdness of all stripes, and editor of Darklore, a print journal of "exceptional observations, hidden history, the paranormal and esoteric science." From the Reality Sandwich interview:
Another topic of esoteric interest discussed on your site is secret societies. Groups like the Skull and Bones, the Knights Templar, Opus Dei, the Bohemian Club, and the Freemasons have been shrouded in mystery and rumor throughout history. I've heard some bizarre stories involving secret rites and rituals, for example the Skull and Bonesmen who are forced to masturbate publicly in coffins as part of their initiation, and the Freemasons reciting the gruesome manner in which they will be ritualistically murdered and dismembered if they betray their oath to the group. What are we to think of stories like these? Can it be said that there is a definite occult dimension in these rituals?
I think most "secret societies" that we know today are really just glorified men's clubs, although some have their basis in original occult practices. The resurrection rites of the Masons have parallels in many cultures, and are to some degree a magickal rite (on a slight tangent – if you analyze the Catholic Mass you'll find it too is pretty much a magickal rite aimed at altering consciousness). But overall, it would seem to me that these societies have lost their past, and are basically just "going through the motions."
I think the real question about modern secret societies is their influence on politics. It still bewilders me that more was not made in the last U.S. presidential election about the fact that both Dubya Bush and John Kerry were members of the same secret society, Skull and Bones. A society with only (roughly) 800 living members, who refuse to reveal anything about the society and their relationship with it, manage to have "control" of the two candidates to lead 300 million people and the world's most powerful nation? That doesn't sound like democratic choice to me.
Additionally, the world's economic bodies seem to be becoming the new "secret societies." Important decisions affecting billions of people are made behind closed doors, by a very small cartel.
