At the present time, when millions of people have read the Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown, it seems that the awareness that man's true history has been hidden is growing apace with the thirst for the truth. In my book, The Secret History of the World, I deal with many branches of the "hidden stream" of knowledge that have periodically emerged into the world during recorded history as the Eleusinian Mysteries, the Orphic Tradition, Gnosticism, Gurdjieff's Fourth Way or "Esoteric Christianity," Catharism, which went underground as the stories of the Holy Grail and Alchemy, etc, linking them to the most ancient traditions from pre-history, including Siberian Shamanism, the "Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy," as Mircea Eliade refers to the matter.

Thus, it is only fair that I warn the reader that this series of remarks will be comprehensible only to individuals well versed in studies of esoteric history and comparative religions, including Gnosticism, Sufism, the Holy Grail, Alchemy, (particularly the mysteries surrounding Fulcanelli), and hermeticism in general. This article plunges directly and immediately into the great mystery. Those who are immersed in Fourth Way Work and who have actually begun to "see" will also recognize the deeper implications of Gurdjieff's work.

For the novice, wishing to gain a foundational understanding, to avoid the glaring misrepresentations of such populist works as The Da Vinci Code, please refer to my other articles: The Grail Quest, particularly the sections that discuss Alchemy and Saint Germain, The Fulcanelli Phenomenon, Rennes-le-Chateau and the Accursed Treasure, The Priory of Sion, and The Ark of the Covenant and the Temple of Solomon. Further reading would include Truth Or Lies, Jupiter, Nostradamus, Edgar Cayce, and the Return of the Mongols, and Commentary on Boris Mouravieff's Gnosis.