September 17, 2006: Secret Societies and Ancient Thought - Philip Gardiner

Art Bell welcomes Philip Gardiner, British author who has infiltrated secret societies and studied ancient serpent worship across cultures. Gardiner recounts being driven to a Berlin cafe decorated with portraits of Hitler and Himmler, where members of the Holy Vehm, a medieval German secret court, confirmed their continued existence. He describes his initiation into the Knights of the Temple, involving spitting on a cross and a surprising final test behind a curtain.

The conversation shifts to snake venom as an immune-boosting substance. Gardiner reports that scientists are synthesizing beneficial proteins found in venom, and that ancient alchemical texts from India describe this practice. He connects this to the Holy Grail, arguing the original term meant mixing bowl rather than royal blood, and that the Grail legend originates from ritual mixing of venom and blood in gilded skulls.

Gardiner challenges conventional religious history, suggesting Jesus was equated with the serpent by early Gnostic Christians and that a worldwide serpent cult predates modern religions. He discusses Gnostic enlightenment as possible quantum entanglement and expresses skepticism about Solomon's Temple as a literal structure. Art opens with cell phone emergency tips and a discussion of polar bears drowning due to receding Arctic ice.