Non-European Ancient Secret Societies

When we think of Secret Societies, obviously the first ones that come to mind are the NWO, Freemasons, Bilderbergs, and the Illuminati. Obviously, there are a few more, but, the gist of it is always the same, ancient European secret societies are the ones in control.

My question is this, who has ever heard of any non-European Secret Societies?

I don't know, "the Red Dragons" or something from China or Japan...
Perhaps some sort of Middle Eastern ancient secret society?

Every conspiracy theory we have seems to be Euro-centric...there has to be more organisations out there..that we just don't talk about.

Originally posted by madhatr137
When we think of Secret Societies, obviously the first ones that come to mind are the NWO, Freemasons, Bilderbergs, and the Illuminati. Obviously, there are a few more, but, the gist of it is always the same, ancient European secret societies are the ones in control.

My question is this, who has ever heard of any non-European Secret Societies?

I don't know, "the Red Dragons" or something from China or Japan...
Perhaps some sort of Middle Eastern ancient secret society?

Every conspiracy theory we have seems to be Euro-centric...there has to be more organisations out there..that we just don't talk about.

Start with Tong Society and see where that takes you . en.wikipedia.org...(organization)

Yes, and you wold be surprised, how easily is to create theories about conspiracy anywhere.

book.geocities.jp...

reply to post by madhatr137


I am from Afghanistan and pretty much one of the earliest secret societies were formed there by a man named Pir Roshan. He started a sect called the Roshaniyya (meaning the enlightened ones) which believed in equality for both men and women alike. You should check it out, Adam Weishaupt knew of his writings and the Bavarian Illuminati sprung as a result of his movement.

Poro and Sande are West African secret societies for men and women. This is a pretty interesting topic and has gotten me pretty curious as well.

OUP

hi,
I would really like to see how this one develops....doing my home work now.....and I´m off

reply to post by madhatr137


Historically, the Assassins lead by Hassan-i Sabbah were interesting, though long gone. I agree that the tongs would be one place to start for Asian groups.

There's a fascinating book on secrecy as part of Japanese society. I haven't finished it yet, but it was really interesting (though expensive...). It talks about some of the master/apprentice relationships (similar to the structure of western Freemasonry) as a method of passing knowledge down with restricted access... from the brush techniques of the calligraphy masters to the weapon skills of the samurai. I'm not sure how much it gets into contemporary eastern secrets though, just how the tradition of secrets has influenced their society and way of life.

Originally posted by newyorkee
hi,
I would really like to see how this one develops....doing my home work now.....and I´m off

It probably won't develop far...I tend to propose questions people either dont have answers for or that aren't divisive enough to get a lot of responses to...we'll see...people would rather argue about how good/bad Ron Paul/Barack Obama is.

reply to post by Unvarnished


The Roshaniya are certainly interesting. There's alot more to them than just equality between men and women though isn't there? They actually rose up and tried to overrun the place and believed anyone outside of their group was inferior to them.

I'd like to talk more with you about them though, they're very interesting.

reply to post by ShadowScholar


The Roshaniya are indeed very interesting. I have read about them though couldn't find much information on this subject. I was particularly fascinated by their spiritual teachings. They believed that after death there is no hell or paradise but just different state of existence. I would love to learn more about them. Do you know some good sources where such information can be found?

reply to post by Avatar777


I've done alot of research on these guys over the years, been a little bit of a hobby of mine.

I guess there isn't much information left about them due to their secrecy and their teachings being widely viewed as heretical and destroyed. Pir Roshan did write a number of books which you may be able to find as a number exist today, though they're hard to find. It has been well established his influence did reach european universities but noone has correlated his teachings moving on from there.

Wikipedia articles on the situation are quite often updated though most sources tend to say the same thing, exactly the same thing. Have a look at the recent ones on Pir Roshan to get an interesting idea.

Once you do enough digging though it wasn't all about enlightenment, they were a dangerous bunch.

I know that after they died they believed that they did not go to heaven or hell no, they lived on as spirits who would fight alongside their surviving brothers in battle etc. They sort of pledged themselves entirely to the society, even in death they would serve so to speak.

The leader of the mughals at the time, Emperor Akbar, declared that no single religion could have a monopoly on truth and all should be tolerated and openly talked about and debated to find merit in each. As a result the Roshaniya threw off their veils and started a rebellion.

Basically I have learnt that they ran a cult which practised extreme devotion to their organisation, so much so that they would continue to serve the organisation in death, which is not in line with Sufi teachings per se, no matter how much anyone wants to dress it up as enlightenment.

They revolted against a leader who was open to religious tolerance and learning, because they thought they were strong enough to implement their own specific values, rather than talking about many different religions and finding the merit in each.

If you have read anything interesting about them, then please do share. I'm always willing to look at other angles, including pir roshan being an alright guy, just when it all boils down it doesn't seem so.

reply to post by ShadowScholar


Thanks for reply.

I'm still wondering whether they were good guys or bad guys. Some sources say that their organization was about freedom, equality and enlightenment. Others say that Pir Roshan created it for his own selfish purpose and sort of brainwashed his followers to such a degree that they were ready to die for his cause. The history is written by winners and since Roshaniya were not such it is very possible that all the bad things written about them were lies. I wish I could share more credible information with you, instead of stating my opinion on this subject, but it is really difficult to find it.

The Druze are an interesting group, but I don't know if you'd call them a secret society:

The Druze are considered to be a social group as well as a religious sect, but not a distinct ethnic group. Also complicating their identity is the custom of Taqiya—concealing or disguising their beliefs when necessary—that they adopted from Shia Islam and the esoteric nature of the faith, in which many teachings are kept secretive. Druze in different states can have radically different lifestyles. Some claim to be Muslim, some do not. The Druze faith is said to abide by Islamic principles, but they tend to be separatist in their treatment of Druze-hood, and their religion differs from mainstream Islam on a number of fundamental points.

reply to post by Avatar777


It's true they weren't the winners in history,but they did survive so could've had their own narrative. Enlightenment can be a good thing or a bad thing depending upon how it is looked at.

A person could believe it is ok to take the homeless from the street and conduct experiments on them as a previously useless person now has a use. There are more probably stronger examples of this.

I've had a long look at it, and I think that many of their outward practises seem great. However they were pledged to their group beyond death, and raised an army and attacked and killed people. For supposedly enlightened people all about equality, they did start a war during a time of relative peace and a time when all religions were being embraced and talked about. There was no need for the secrecy or the army. So why did they have it?

This thread is quite interesting, I only knew of the main ones

Originally posted by ShadowScholar
reply to post by Avatar777

 

It's true they weren't the winners in history,but they did survive so could've had their own narrative. Enlightenment can be a good thing or a bad thing depending upon how it is looked at.

A person could believe it is ok to take the homeless from the street and conduct experiments on them as a previously useless person now has a use. There are more probably stronger examples of this.

I've had a long look at it, and I think that many of their outward practises seem great. However they were pledged to their group beyond death, and raised an army and attacked and killed people. For supposedly enlightened people all about equality, they did start a war during a time of relative peace and a time when all religions were being embraced and talked about. There was no need for the secrecy or the army. So why did they have it?

The Roshaniya were in many ways "Freedom Fighters" who were resisting the the incursion into Pashtun areas by the Moghul Emperor Akbar whose policy Din-i-Ilahi was an attempt to consolidate his Empire. When I consider that the teaching of Pir Roshan was the equality of men and women as well, I completely understand why they would rebel against the Moghul forces.