Note: The following letters are reprinted with permission.

On the Forbidden Letters by Otto Reich 

Introduction

'The Letters are unsinkable. Bash 'em, and they bash you back.'[taken from a Forum-post]

'The Hendaye chapter is perhaps the single most astounding esoteric work in western history. It offers proof that alchemy is somehow connected to eschatology, that is, the timing of the end of the world. And it offers the conclusion that a double catastrophe is imminent. [From 'A Monument to the
End of Time: Alchemy, Fulcanelli and the Great Cross' by Jay Weidner and Vincent Bridges]

'If a metaphysical theory feels good, especially if that theory tells us that we are all, potentially or not, children or priests of God, and equal before Him, you can rest assure that theory is bogus.' [Spitzer]

'Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.' [Matthew 7]

Part 1

Dear Visitors of World-Mysteries,

In July 2006 I discovered the Forbidden Letters and the alchemical theory of the Paris 4 through the Forum of Book of Thoth. I had been reading on alchemy for about two years by then, but never really understood what the alchemical process was in fact about, although I always suspected physical
immortality to be at the core of things here.

The public response on the two Forums of which I am a member, Book of Thoth being one of them, and on which the alchemical theory of the Paris 4 was discussed, was not only immense, but highly emotional in many cases too. 

The Letters impressed me personally in particular, because

a) they deal with physical immortality, and
b) they seem to solve the famous Fulcanelli riddle:

'How does a Tree become a Stone, which becomes a Star?'

Because the Letters tell us the Tree is the spine and brain, the stone the Grail-stone that ignites the Kundalini fire, and the Star, in my opinion, the Lightbody, capable of emitting light when 'outed'.

Alchemy in general is decoded swiftly now as it seems in the public domain on Internet.

On Fiber Alchemy for instance we find the connection between Alchemy and Vegetation confirmed.

"There are other, powerful associations as well: the Green Knight, part of the medieval Parsifal story, asks for a worthy knight of King Arthur to behead him-and to be beheaded in exchange the following year. Only Gawain takes up the challenge. There is an association between St. George (in folkloric celebrations, represented by a leaf-covered young man called Green George) and the dying and reborn Green Man-and with the Egyptian legend of Osiris [often depicted with a green face in Ancient Egypt/Reich] and other vegetation myths, including the Mesopotamian god Tammuz.
The mysterious prophet Khidr, the "Green Man of the Desert" who left green footsteps and supposedly was immortal, is sometimes associated with St.George in Islamic traditions."
[Fiber Alchemy]

And Gary Osborn asks himself "whether the Paris 4 are aware that this awakening 
[The Kundalini-awakening/Reich] is indeed associated with the ancient egyptian God Osiris, 
and the osirian mysteries, because Osiris, the archetypal Shaman and Shining One (resurrection God) personifies the Kundalini-experience." [Osborn]

Cook says "the marriage of the Earth Mother, Tellus Mater, and her Son Lover [the alchemist/Reich], was called the Holy Marriage by many in the Ancient World."[Cook]

The alchemist has to descend into that Mother, the microscosmical Earth.

Cook also points out that "another important Egyptian symbol is associated with the immortal Osiris. This is the Djed Pillar, which becomes the hieroglyph for duration and stability. That Pillar derived originally from the image of the Tree with lapped-off branches. But what is especially interesting is, that his original tree-image was fused with an image of Osiris' sacrum, the lowest joint of the backbone. This part of the dismembered Osiris was believed to be the immortal seat of the God's
virtility. Its position at the base of the spine corresponds significantly to the 'root-chakra' of Indian yoga, where Kundalini, the vital energy, resides."[Cook]

Although we must admit that the Sacrum might have been considered 'holy' because it is the hardest bone in the human body and found back in graves long after the other bones have turned to dust.

Reuter informs us that in Carthago "the Caduceus is almost without exception shown in combination with a capstone", which certainly ads to the color of the Hanno Temming-article on the Forbidden Letters at World Mysteries and the assumptions of Gardiner, Osborn and Lemesurier quoted in that article. 

And Laura Knight remembers us of the fact that Fulcanelli called the labyrinth of the cathedral of Chartres Solomon's Labyrinth.

"Following this, Fulcanelli discusses the enigmatic labyrinths that are found in some churches such as those in Sens, Reims, Auxerre, Saint-Quentin, Poitiers, Bayeux, Chartres, and, above all, Amiens, to which he devotes an entire chapter(...) Reminding us of the labyrinth's presence in ancient
times, mentioning, among others, the one in Cnossos, (Crete) . He calls the labyrinth of the cathedrals "Solomon's Labyrinth"(...)" [Knight]

And much indeed can be said in support of the theory that the Temple of Solomon was a jewish adaptation of the Work of the Sun of ancient Egypt. The temple of Solomon being the microcmosmic temple of the Lightbody. (A real Solomon probably never lived.)

Because jewish tradition tells us that temple is built by a stone, the Shamir, that doesn't make noise. And that can be said of the Grail too of course, composing that Ligtbody. A stone that is green according to Jewish tradition, like von Eschenbach's Grail-stone too (smaragdi).

But there is more. The Shamir is also called a worm. This is what the Jewish Encyclopedia has on that worm.

"The most important of Solomon's acts was his building of the Temple, in which he was assisted by angels and demons. Indeed, the edifice was throughout miraculously constructed, the large, heavy stones rising to and settling in their respective places of themselves (Ex. R. lii. 3; Cant. R. l.c.).
The general opinion of the Rabbis is that Solomon hewed the stones by means of the Shamir, a worm whose mere touch cleft rocks. According to Midrash Tehillim (in Yalḳ., I Kings, 182), the shamir was brought from paradise by the eagle; but most of the rabbis state that Solomon was informed of the worm's haunts through the chief of the demons, who was captured by Benaiah, Solomon's chief minister. The chief of the demons, Ashmedai or Asmodeus, told Solomon that the shamir had been entrusted by the prince of the sea to the mountain cock alone (the Hebrew equivalent in Lev. xi. 19 and Deut. xiv. 18 is rendered by A. V. "lapwing" and by R.V. "hoopoe"), and that the cock had sworn to guard it well.  Solomon's men searched for the nest of the bird and, having found it, covered it with glass. The bird returned, and, seeing the entrance to its nest closed by what it supposed to be a glass door, brought the shamir for the purpose of breaking the glass. Just then a shout was raised; and the bird, being frightened, dropped the shamir, which the men carried off to the
king (Giṭ. 68b)."[Jewish Encyclopedia]

One cannot help thinking here of the Phoenix. Because the Phoenix is reduced to a worm in his ashes and grows back from that worm in some versions of the Phoenix-myth.(see addendum I) A detail so tragically overlooked by Philip Gardiner in his article The Serpent and the real Origins of Freemasonry.

Gardiner writes

"According to Rabbinical teaching the prefabrication was performed by the Shamir, a giant worm or serpent that could cut stones. Not dissimilar to Norse and Celtic beliefs where Valhalla and Camelot were built with the fire of the dragon.
According to the Islamic accounts of Rashi and Maimonides, the Shamir was a living creature. This is hardly likely, unless we understand this creature to be ourselves. Indeed what is more likely is that the idea of the wisdom of the "worm" (which evolved from the word orm for serpent anyway) or snake,
Shamir, was used in the construction of the symbolic Temple of man - a Gnostic belief.
According to the book of Kings the Temple was built of stone (or wisdom) before it was brought to the site. Something like a prefabricated building. It was said by tradition that neither hammer nor axe, nor any tool of iron was used in the building. So how was it built? This in itself is a paradox, which can only be answered by the true secret of the Temple being revealed. According to Rabbinica, teaching the prefabrication of the Temple was performed by the Shamir, a giant worm or serpent that could cut stones. Not dissimilar to Norse and Celtic beliefs where Valhalla and Camelot were built with the fire of the dragon and in China where building is aided by the serpent energy.
This is a universal concept as can be seen in India, where it was the serpentine linked Naga's of fable who escaped their country and took the architectural wisdom abroad. The architect gods, such as Thoth of Egypt, are linked strongly with the serpent wisdom because they are linked with the building of "Temples of Wisdom" inside our SELVES."[capitals by Gardiner]

The author apparently thinks this Temple is a Temple of Wisdom only, and not one of physical immortality aswell.

Gardiner continues

"The Shamir, according to one legend had even been placed in the hands of the Prince of the Sea (Shamir by Wilhelm Bacher & Ludwig Blau), which of course is symbolic of the Prince of Wisdom.
In essence what we really have here is the Temple of Wisdom being built by the serpent and that serpent is none other than that of, or similar to, the internal Kundalini, later to be developed into the Kabbalah. This is a psychological training manual; a method of self-improvement; a way for society to become One; a multi-layered method of getting closer to the deity which resides in each and everyone of us; a deity, that the ancients saw as being the same in each of us. The whole process repeats again and again throughout the Bible. The Temple is reduced (like the alchemical method) and is remade. Then again and again, until finally the Christ is the Temple which is reduced (killed) and then rises again for the last time. And now, according to the texts, we can all meet with this Christ and we can all have the knowledge. We just need to understand that the true Christ is all and in all."[Philip Gardiner](see addendum II)

The Paris 4 say otherwise of course with their thrilling (and very old alchemical) claim of physical immortality, and some, like Robert Coon, seem quite ready for that claim. "Fulcanelli, he says, is an expert on the magickal symbolisms of the great Gothic cathedrals of Europe. (...) To find the Philosopher's Stone, or to change lead into gold, is to attain Physical Immortality."[Robert Coon]

And physical immortality will naturally only exist in a New World, being a world without mortals, and implies therefor the End of the World (as we know it). And Alchemy indeed seems to be just about that. 

Vincent Bridges writes

"The quintessential image of Alchemy occupies the base of the central pillar (in the Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris) which leads to Christ in Judgment. This says so much more clearly than any words can, that the End of the World has for its foundation Alchemy." [Vincent Bridges](see addendum III)

Part 2

Here is a selection of quotes taken from books, articles and forums on Alchemy in general, and the Forbidden Letters in particular.

1.

"Nobody knows what alchemy is about for sure and in detail, untill somebody actually produces that famous Stone of Transmutation in the true oven of the alchemist: the body. That man, and that man alone, will know the secret." [A. Duret]

2.

"It could very well be, that the alchemical secret is not revealed till the End of Time."[A. Duret]

3.

"The Stone as a powder is another example of the ignorance of the alchemists. They weren't able to produce a stone in their ovens, but they were able to produce a powder. And so the stone all of a sudden became a powder. Or a 'Stone which isn't a Stone'."[A. Duret]

4.

"The term Sethians, as used by Hippolytus, is not only puzzling on this account, but also because his summary differs entirely from the scraps of information on the system of the Sethites supposed to have been mentioned in his lost Syntagma, and allied to the doctrine of the Nicolaïtans by the epitomizers. In the latter fragments the hero Seth was chosen as the type of the good man, the perfect, the prototype of Christ. Can it possibly be that there is a connection between the name "Seth" and the mysterious "Setheus" of the Codex Brucianus? And further, are we to look for the origin of the Sethians along the Egyptian line of tradition of the Hyksos-cult, the Semitic background of which made Seth the Mystery-God?"[ http://www.sacred-texts.com/gno/fff/fff29.htm ]

5.

"Reading the Forbidden Letters, all of a sudden the mystery seems solved why Kundalini-awakenings in the past didn't lead to physical lightbodies and physical immortality. And why, in teachings on alchemy, that lightbody was gradually turned into an after-death-body and physical immortality into
soul-immortality or a prolonged life. (Only certain Tamil schools still stick to their teachings on physical immortality.) - Because a Kundalini-awakening is not yet the Work of the Sun. You apparently need the whole thing. To produce that stone, to be decapitated, to have that wheel
raised in the head and to descend into the earth. All the things described in the Great Work of Alchemy apparently have to happen to you.(...) The Kundalini-awakening will be a vital part of the Great Work, but on itself without a doubt only a sub-atomic phenomenon, although a potentially
extremely dangerous one." [Forum]

6.


"I wouldn't be surprised if the real Kundalini-awakening, meaning one orchestrated by the Grail, is without any danger. After all, you have an invitation as keeper of the Grail.(That gay man is even fixed to the floor!)" [Forum/see the Forbidden Letters part 2, paragraph 6]

7.

"He would soon thereafter be interested in physical immortality and the art of turning the body into light following the Tamil Siddha tradition." [Amrta]


8.

"No Tamil though ever produced that Lightbody. If he did, he'd be around with that body for everybody to see. (...) The Tamils are simply keepers of the teachings on the true endproduct of alchemy: physical immortality through light." [H. Johnson]


9.

"The Hendaye Cross shows by the decoration of its pedestal that it is the strangest monument of primitive millenarism and the rarest symbolic translation of chilaism, which I have ever met." [Fulcanelli on the Hendaye Cross, a huge alchemical metaphor in stone]

10.

"Chilaism was part of the esoteric tradition of the ancient hermetic philosophy." [Fulcanelli] 

11.

"Chilaism was a second century CE Gnostic belief in a literal renewal of the earth after its destruction on the Day of Judgment. This transformed world would be free of sin, a virtual paradise of sensual delights, feasts and weddings, the gnostic chilaists preached. Naturally the more orthodox
branches of the church found this threatening, although, as Fulcanelli points out, it was never officially condemned. It was refuted, by Origen - a 2nd century CE Church patriarch who is now our main source of information on the chilaists - and slowly faded into the heretical underground." 
[ Vincent Bridges on http://vincentbridges.com/?page_id=36  ]

12.

"Primitive millenarism is an even more curious phrase. The use of the word "primitive" in this context suggests "prime" or "primeval," definitely pre-Christian, or even pre-historic. The monument then is not only an example of heretical Christian belief, but also somehow describes a primitive, or ancient, view of the end of the world. Fulcanelli makes the point even more pointed when he comments "that the unknown workman, who made these images, possessed real and profound knowledge of the universe." So, we are presented with a strange monument, which describes both a heretical Christian view of the apocalypse, and a very ancient primitive view of the same apparently cosmological event. And most amazing of all, Fulcanelli is implying that this concept is a part of the "esoteric tradition of the ancient hermetic philosophy" known as alchemy." 
[ Vincent Bridges on http://vincentbridges.com/?page_id=36  ]

13.


"The mythology of both Celt and Norseman held stories of the sacred fires of rebirth, and wonderful stories of the fire serpents who protected the inner treasures of the earth." [C.Burland]

14.

"One cannot read the alchemical literature of the Middle Ages without constantly being reminded of the pre-Christian mythology of the people north of Rome." [C.Burland]

15.

"There is a total absence of information which would lead to the conclusion that the earliest alchemists were experimental scientists." [C.Burland]

16.

"Von Eschebach says his source, Flegetanis, descended from Solomon. And Solomon of course had his stuff from On (Heliopolis)." [A. Duret]

17.

"Even if it is technically possible to change chemical lead into chemical gold by now, the alchemical process is about the lead and gold of our body and soul." [A. Duret]

18.

"How can the end of the world, the apocalypse and so on, be connected in any way with turning lead into gold?" [Vincent Bridges on http://vincentbridges.com/?page_id=36 ]

19.

"The festival of Wagy was celebrated in honour of Osiris on the 17th day of the first month of the year. (...) In ancient Egypt the New Year was the day on which Sirius (...) rose together with the sun - known as a heliacal rising. At least that was the theory. In practice, the Egyptian calendar was not fixed (it not taking the quarter day into account), which meant that every four years the New Year moved one day. It meant, that the calenders realigned only every 1460 years (365 times 4). In Ptolemaic times (3rd century BC) the Canopus decree stated that the New year and thus the
calender should become fixed. The New Year was fixed then on July 20; Wagy was thus celebrated on August 8. If, however, as is now the custom, we anchor the New year on January 1, then the feast is celebrated on January 17."  
[Filip Coppens with thanks to Isaac ben Jacob on www.perillos.com/wagy.html ]


20.

"Buddha didn't get his chakra's till the second century CE. From Buddhists
who had heard of Tantra by then." [S.Martin]


21.

"Grailbooks should be in tabloid really. Monday's rumour is Tuesday's fact.  And if that fact sells, Wednesday's hype. How, for example, are we ever going to get rid again of Mary Magdalene as Grail, that revenge on 20 centuries of male theology? We are not. Because Magdalene sells. Women buy books too you know. Ask Dan Brown." [Forum]

22.

Some said, "Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit." They are in error. They do not know what they are saying. When did a woman ever conceive by a woman? [ Gospel according to Philip]

23.

The Holy Spirit was considered feminine and a fire originally. [N. Bundy]

24.

"The divine feminine (Kundalini) is possibly very bad news for women, because it is said she cannot or will not do her thing in women. Let us all hope and pray that is not true."[Forum-PM to me]

25.

The Sons of God are not conceived in a womb, they are conceived in the brain, in the top of the Tree of Life. [ N. Bundy]

26.

"The nuptial union in the thalamus (bridal-chamber) signifies the hieros gamos (the alchemical wedding of the microcosmic male and female) and this in turn is the first step towards incarnation, towards the birth of the saviour who, since antiquity, was thought of as the filius solis et lunae (the son of the Sun and Moon),the filius sapientiae (the son of Wisdom), and the equivalent of Christ." 
[ http://web.ukonline.co.uk/phil.williams/Notes-I.htm  ]

27.

"Thomas South of Gosport saw quite clearly that there was a direct thread of traditions from the Secret Knowledge of the ancient mysteries to the secret traditions of the alchemists.(...) There was a thread of understanding of an ancient truth about the relationship of the soul to divine powers." [C.Burland]

28.

"Nothing will be impossible for you." [Jesus in Matthew]

29.

"It is possible that Apollonius brought back a new gospel of Krishna from the Kashmir interlude with the serpent sages and it was this, which gave birth to the Christ that was in reality based upon serpent worship." [Philip Gardiner]

30.

"And the enemies of the Holy Spirit hate the cross - how are they called? There are many levels of this type of hatred, but the most well known person is Dracula.

Who is Dracula? A vampire - a type of psychological defect, a lustful defect, which is related with homosexuality. A male vampire is a homosexual, and a female vampire is a lesbian, in the physical world. They hate the cross, because the cross is the crossing of the masculine force with the feminine force in the sexual act. The phallus united with the uterus makes the cross. This is why male and female vampires hate the cross.

Those vampires are the egos of lust of homosexuals and lesbians. So there are as many male and female vampires as homosexuals and lesbians in the world - those egos that like to suck the energy of those that are normal.(...)

That's why it is stupid (...) to say that Jesus also accepts homosexuals and gives them eternal life, to say that they will be saved. Homosexuals and lesbians are rotten seeds, spiritually speaking. Why? Because they do not germinate, not even physically." [The Website Administrator of Gnostic Teachings at http://www.gnosticteachings.org/courses/kabbalah-1-the-world-of-klipoth/klipoth-7-saturn.html ]


31.

"Likewise, Samael Aun Weor calls homosexuals "rotten seeds" in his work Yes there is Hell, a Devil, and Karma because unlike heterosexuals they do not have the ability to fecundate the Solar Bodies." [Wikipedia]

32.

"There is so much heterosexual chauvinism around, you could build a parallel universe with it. Even a straight fuck is considered divine now by the New Agers." [Forum]


33.

"However, I have a doubt. The manner in which homosexuality has been eulogised and made a precondition for Alchemy, it appears that these Forbidden Letters are a handiwork of a frustrated homosexual who wants everybody to be one like him." [Forum]


34.

"And homosexuality doesn't automatically provide the perfect balance of the microcosmic male and female (so gay's aren't better people, because our man is gay)(...)." [The Paris 4 in FL3]


35.

"The erotic minorities aren't simply expressing paranoia when they complain that their myths have been ignored at best, and misappropriated at worst by straight, patriarchal society. The dispossession of gay and bisexual archetypes has been going on for a long, long time and shows no signs of cessation. Since Frazer, mythologists have focused their attention upon strictly Osirian deities, markedly heterosexual and procreative, while the New Aeon's pansexual Gods have received scant attention. Open any book on classical mythology and you will see how the homosexual or bisexual component of male deities has been swept aside or glossed over, necessitating a habit of reading between the lines." [J.Martin]


36.

"James M. Saslow discusses the psychological relationship between alchemy and homosexuality (...)." [L. Schneider]

37.

"Nowhere else, besides in Mathers' conception, does Horus represent a "defending force", except inasmuch as he fulfills the greater role of King of the Living World. Even in his "Horus the Younger" warrior form, as the adversary of his uncle/brother Set, he is a contending force, not a defending one. There's also a considerable amount of homosexual imagery contained in the mythological cycle of "The Contendings of Horus and Set", when modern scholarship is applied to the translations. There is a homosexual relationship of dominance/submission between these "adversaries" that is rarely examined or even mentioned outside of the world of academic Egyptology. Suffice to say that in this relationship lie deeper mysteries. (Since Egypt is primarily Muslim today, and Islam condemns all
homosexuality, it's not surprising that a tourism website avoids any mention of it. But it is there, if one does competent research.)"  [Frater C. at http://www.osogd.org/library/biscuits/blogResponse1.html]
[See also the Forbidden Letters part 2, paragraph 7]

38.

"The Paris 4 are all heterosexual too. And quite enjoying their mission at the same time. That might just mean not all is lost when you're heterosexual. That only certain homosexuals, like that gay man, are perhaps capable of fetching the Gold of Immortality, but that it is fetched at the same time for the benefit of all, as the CE2 say. And isn't the Alchemist in the end a Christ? And isn't a Christ a saviour? In other words: I feel quite relaxed about all this." [Forum-PM to me]

39.

"It is abundantly clear that two persons of the same gender cannot create life - they cannot have children. Therefore, they also cannot be born again, because they do not bring the necessary polarities together upon which the forces of creation depend." [Gnostic Forum]

40.

"Homosexuals cannot develop spirituality. It is very difficult. Their whole pattern of energy movement is disturbed. The whole mechanism is shocked, perverted." 
[ Osho at http://www.otantra.net/oTantra/VBTv2/chapter28.html ]

41.

"The homosexual elitism of many early Gnostic cults has been ignored by modern scholars." http://pages.zoom.co.uk/thuban/html/homognosis.htm

42.

"The role of sacred homosexuality was lost."
[ http://pages.zoom.co.uk/thuban/html/homognosis.htm ]

43.

"I have no intention of joining the gay debate [on the Forbidden Letters]." [Philip Gardiner]

Otto Reich [MMVI]

Addendum
 

I

The Bennu was known as the legendary phoenix to the Greeks. Herodotus, the Greek historian, says the following about the Bennu:
"Another sacred bird is the phoenix; I have not seen a phoenix myself, except in paintings, for it is very rare and only visits the country (so they say at Heliopolis) only at intervals of five hundred years, on the occasion of the death of the parent bird."

Herodotus goes on to record that the Bennu bird came from Arabia every 500 years carrying his father's body embalmed in an egg of myrrh. This Arabian bird however was said to resemble an eagle with brilliant gold and red plumage. Before the phoenix died it built a nest of incense twigs and laid
down in it and died. From its body a small worm emerged that the sun's heat transformed into the new phoenix. [ www.egyptianmyths.net ]

This possibly reminds us of 'the worm that never dies' in Mark, chapter 9.

"It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having your two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire, 'where their worm doesn't die, and the fire is not quenched.'"

A worm that doesn't die in a fire. Could that fire perhaps be identified as an uncontrolled outburst of Kundalini? 
But then, an immortal part in our body/soul-entity (that worm) would contradict the alchemical theory of the Paris 4 (that body and soul are both mortal and can become immortal only through the Work of the Sun). A theory that seems strongly backed up by Jesus' words in Thomas 'woe the soul that
depends on the body, and woe the body that depends on the soul'.

Worm comes form the old Norse 'orm', which means worm or dragon (winged serpent). That worm then might just be the Kundalini-serpent. ( Some sources in India claim that consciousness arises from the sacrum, not from the brain. And it is in the sacrum that the Kundalini-serpent dwells.)

II

Gardiner also writes

"I say, we should all take a look at our own "temples" and knock them to the ground. We should then go about re-building them in a bigger and better way than before, just like the Bible states. And more than that, we must keep on doing this until this world of ours has peace and all truly are equal before
God."

Does this mean that Philip Gardiner believes in a God independent of man?

III


In The Gnostic Science of Alchemy, chapter 12, Vincent Bridges writes

"And so, at long last, we arrive at the point where Fulcanelli began, the Gothic Cathedrals of Europe. In his 1926 masterpiece, The Mystery of the Cathedrals, Fulcanelli claimed that the Gothic Cathedrals were Hermetic libraries in stone with the secret of alchemy displayed for all who could read it. When our investigation began, this seemed, in its own way, the most incredible of all Fulcannelli's claims. It was easier to believe that someone had stumbled privately onto the real secret behind the alchemical
transformation, than it was to believe that some secret society, or societies, had encoded this information deliberately into the design and the decorations of the greatest of all Christian monuments.
For this to be true, several important preconditions would also have to be true, such as the existence of a secret, or not so secret, group with access to the highest levels of the church, bottomless wealth, connections with the Holy Land and the Moslem world, and knowledge of the inner core of alchemy."

One is tempted to think for a moment that the Paris 4 are exactly such a 'secret, or not so secret group'. And if they are, this group would then be at least as old as the French Cathedrals.