| Episode number | MB09 (Part 9 of 42) |
|---|---|
| Original air date | February 25, 1993 |
| Broadcast | Hour of the Time, WWCR shortwave |
| Chapter title | Gnosticism |
| Primary texts read on air | A History of Secret Societies by Arkon Daraul (1961); Behold a Pale Horse by Milton William Cooper (1991) |
| Listen | Stream the series on archive.org |
Episode Summary
Episode 9 of the Mystery Babylon series aired on WWCR shortwave on February 25, 1993. It forms the bridge between the earlier episodes on Egyptian and solar religion and the subsequent run on the Assassins and the Knights Templar. The episode has two distinct movements. The first and longer portion is drawn from Arkon Daraul’s 1961 A History of Secret Societies and traces Gnosticism as both a historical school and a living tradition. The second portion shifts to Cooper reading from his own 1991 book Behold a Pale Horse, introducing the Roshaniya, an Afghan secret society he presents as a branch of the same ancient lineage.
Cooper opens with a brief statement on how the Mystery Schools recruit. Contrary to popular expectation, he tells listeners, they do not seek out members. The requirements are sound mind and body and sincere desire; the aspirant knocks at the door himself. This sets the frame for the Gnostic material that follows: a tradition designed for intellectual self-selectors, not mass membership.
The reading from Daraul begins with the Abraxas figure, a composite emblem found on Gnostic inscribed stones. The body is a man in Roman soldier garb wielding a battle-axe; the head is a cock with an open beak; the legs are twin serpents coiling to either side. Cooper interrupts to gloss each element. The cock stands for the rising morning sun, because the cock crows at sunrise. The serpents represent wisdom, the gift of intellect. The name Abraxas, he notes with evident pleasure, encodes the number 365 through cabalistic computation, bringing the sun back in through numerology. The figure as a whole, Daraul’s text argues, is not a god but a diagram of powers available to the developing mind: the body is man himself, the bird is intelligence, the tunic is the need for struggle, the shield is wisdom, the club is power, and the serpent-legs are nous and logos.
Cooper presents this as the moment when the ancient tradition shifted from worshiping an external deity to worshiping the intellect. The supreme intelligence, the Gnosis, is the human mind pushing toward its own perfection, a state Cooper calls Apotheosis, where man himself becomes god. He identifies that light directly with Lucifer. The Gnostic claim, as he frames it, is that the God of the Bible imprisoned man in ignorance, and that Lucifer, through his agent the serpent, freed humanity by conferring intellect.
The reading continues through the general structure of Gnostic belief as Daraul summarizes it. There is a Supreme Being or power that is invisible and formless; the various world religions are different shells around the same hidden kernel of initiation; the initiate who refines himself sufficiently can contact that power and eventually achieve full identification with it. The Gnostics considered themselves intellectual aristocrats. They did not recruit; the aspirant came to them. They used passwords, distinctive handshakes, and mutual aid in every conceivable form, practices Cooper says survive unchanged in modern Freemasonry.
After the commercial break, the episode turns to a detailed document published in Germany in the eighteenth century that purports to describe the seven highest degrees of ancient Egyptian initiation. Daraul dates the earliest known version to an anonymous pamphlet of 1785. The description is extensive. In the first degree the candidate is brought through an artificial storm of wind, rain, thunder and lightning; if he shows no fear, the laws are explained; he swears fidelity with a sword-point at his throat, calling the sun, moon and stars as witnesses. He receives a pyramidal cap and an apron called Xylon, and is assigned to guard the Gate of Men. Cooper pauses to explain that the sun, moon and stars in this context represent the doctrine, the church, and the body of initiates, the thousand points of light. In the second degree the candidate is taken to an invitation grotto, subjected to the advances of priests’ wives testing his chastity, doused with water, and then confronted with a room full of live serpents. He receives a rod entwined by serpents, which Cooper identifies as the caduceus still carried by the medical profession. The third degree involves a coffin set in the center of a room full of embalmed bodies; the initiate is asked if he had a hand in the death of his master, thrown to the ground, wrapped in bandages, and led to a gate inscribed Sanctuary of the Spirits. After the fourth degree, which involves a mock battle with specters in dark passages and ends with the initiate drinking the ritual potion Cyce, the candidate is entered in a book as one of the judges of the land. Cooper emphasizes that phrase: one of the judges of the land. In the seventh degree the Great Secret is revealed: all creation is one, and all are part of the same androgynous power. By the ninth and final degree the initiate has learned that there is no belief, only action, and that the only legitimate authority for action is the chief of the sect.
Cooper closes this section by connecting the letter G displayed prominently in every Masonic lodge. He says that Freemasons are told it stands for God, but that this is a lie. His own research through all the degrees of initiation, he asserts, has established that it stands for Gnosticism: the Freemasons are the heirs of the ancient Gnostic tradition.
The episode’s final section draws on Behold a Pale Horse. Cooper reads his own account of the Roshaniya, a medieval Afghan society he describes as calling itself the Illuminated Ones. Its doctrines included the abolition of private property, the elimination of religion, the elimination of nation-states, and direct communication with unknown supervisors after the fourth degree. The oath bound members to perpetual silence and declared all non-members lawful prey. The secret sign was a hand drawn palm-inward across the forehead; the counter-sign, holding the ear with fingers while supporting the elbow. Cooper tells listeners they can see these signs exchanged in courtrooms, and that whoever initiates the exchange most often wins the case. He closes by noting that Adam Weishaupt’s Bavarian Illuminati fell, by his account, precisely because it broke the rule against ever using the name Illuminati. The next episode, Cooper promises, will turn to the Old Man of the Mountain.
Key Claims Made in This Episode
- Cooper claims the philosophy of worshiping the intellect, the Luciferian philosophy, eventually became known as Gnosticism, and that Gnosticism and Freemasonry are one and the same tradition under different names.
- Cooper claims the large letter G displayed in every Masonic lodge stands not for God but for Gnosticism.
- Cooper claims the figure Abraxas encodes the number 365 through cabalistic reckoning, connecting Gnostic symbolism directly to sun worship.
- Cooper claims the seven highest degrees of ancient Egyptian initiation were documented in an 1785 anonymous German pamphlet and are recognizable as the authentic original of modern initiatic degrees.
- Cooper claims the rod entwined by serpents received in the second degree of Egyptian initiation is the same symbol used as the caduceus by the medical profession today.
- Cooper claims the sun, moon and stars invoked as witnesses in ancient initiation ceremonies represent the doctrine, the church, and the body of initiates, the thousand points of light.
- Cooper claims initiates who completed the Egyptian fourth degree were entered in a book as judges of the land, meaning the Mysteries have controlled judicial power since antiquity.
- Cooper claims the Afghan Roshaniya declared all non-members lawful prey and that its oath, including the formula of perpetual silence and absolute submission, remains essentially unchanged in secret societies today.
- Cooper claims the secret signs of the Roshaniya are still exchanged in American courtrooms, with the initiating party usually winning the case.
- Cooper claims Adam Weishaupt’s Illuminati was destroyed because it broke the standing rule against publicly using the name Illuminati.
Primary Sources Cited in This Episode
| Source | Status | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| A History of Secret Societies, Arkon Daraul (1961) | Not public domain; quoted on air at length, treated here under quotation only | Library copies; see our sources hub |
| Behold a Pale Horse, Milton William Cooper (1991) | Not public domain; Cooper reads from his own book | Library copies; see our sources hub |
Notable Quotes
Just as Freemasons do today, for they are one and the same, as they have always been one and the same with all the different versions of the Mystery throughout the ages.
Cooper, MB09, February 25, 1993
That does not stand for God, for I have researched it deeply, all the way up the ladder of the stages of initiation. And at the top, those adepts known as the Priesthood know this large letter G to represent Gnosticism.
Cooper, MB09, February 25, 1993
Historians’ View
Academic scholarship treats Gnosticism as a diverse set of religious movements from the first through third centuries, not a continuous underground tradition surviving to the present. The connection between Gnosticism and Freemasonry is a popular claim without support in mainstream historical or fraternal scholarship; modern Freemasonry traces institutionally to the early eighteenth century. The Abraxas figure is well attested in Gnostic gem collections, but the claim that it encodes a sun-worship doctrine is Cooper’s own interpretive frame rather than scholarly consensus. The anonymous 1785 German pamphlet Daraul describes has not been authenticated as a genuine record of ancient Egyptian ritual. We document Cooper’s claims here; we do not endorse them.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Mystery Babylon episode 9 about?
Episode 9 covers Gnosticism as the intellectual strand of what Cooper calls the Mystery Religion of Babylon. It works through the symbolism of the Abraxas figure, the doctrine of illumination through the intellect, a detailed account of seven degrees of ancient Egyptian initiation, and an introduction to the Roshaniya of Afghanistan, setting up the Assassin episodes that follow. See the Mystery Schools topic hub for adjacent episodes.
When did episode 9 first air?
February 25, 1993, on the Hour of the Time over WWCR shortwave radio. It was part of the dense February-March 1993 broadcast run that took the series from Egyptian religion through the Assassins and into the Templars.
What books does Cooper read from in episode 9?
The main text is Arkon Daraul’s A History of Secret Societies (1961), covering the Gnostic tradition and the Egyptian initiation degrees. Toward the end Cooper reads from his own book Behold a Pale Horse (1991), introducing the Roshaniya. Neither text is public domain.
Where can I listen to episode 9?
The series is preserved on archive.org. We never host or distribute the audio ourselves; see our content policy.
Continue the Series
- Previous: MB08: Initiation
- Next: MB10: The Assassins
- Topic hub: Mystery Schools and Ancient Religion
- Related hub: Secret Societies
- Every dated claim from this episode appears on the series timeline
- Full index: Mystery Babylon Complete Episode Guide
- Background: Who was William Cooper?
- Books cited: Sources and bibliography
