The Caretaker

The Secret Societies - 8/23/2023

Added 2023-08-23 16:58:57 +0000 UTC

The year is 1610. You are an aspirant occultist. John Dee is dead. Shakespeare is soon for the grave. Europe has spent the last century and a half embroiled in bloody religious wars at the behest of kings and priests. Faith in the old institutions is strong, but there are whispers. Dangerous ideas like science, democracy, rationalism, and the rights of man, are taking root in the coffee shops and reading groups of Europe. The broth of the enlightenment simmers on the backburner of history.

This is a strange era for magic. Where the renaissance was dominated by a chain of individual thinkers, all in conversation with one another, the 1600s saw a new element in the mix: The Secret Society.

Despite what you might imagine, Secret Societies like the Freemasons were actually quite common. Though, they were less mystical order, more trade guild meets labor union meets excuse to get out and drink with your buddies. The Freemasons specifically were essentially a trade guild made of middle class professionals. Masons, carpenters, plumbers, etc, would all regularly meet to share professional knowledge and generally get out of the house. Membership offered access to knowledgeable professionals, discounts at mason-affiliated stores, and burial services. The structure of organizations like the Freemasons would provide a blueprint for would-be occult societies going forward.

But before we can talk about what the Secret Societies are, we have to talk about what they are not.

TEMPLARS

FREEMASONRY

ROSICRUCIANISM

S.I.R.A.

HERMETIC ORDER OF THE GOLDEN DAWN