Secret Societies

The Top 100 Science Fiction/Fantasy Shows Of All Time

By Charlie Jane Anders

Science fiction and fantasy have ruled television for over 50 years, but some shows have brightened our screens and supercharged our brains more than others. Here's our list of the 100 greatest science fiction/fantasy shows of all time.

How did we determine these rankings? Using science. That means that if you disagree with the shows we included, or the order we ranked them in, you are anti-science, and must go back to living in caves and eating animals you killed yourself, with your bare hands.

Just kidding — actually, we know that these rankings are highly subjective, and we argued over them for hours. And we don't expect you to agree with every single choice we made.

We did try to look at a show's popularity at the time it was on the air, how much of a cult following it's garnered since it ended (if it's already ended), and how much influence it had on other TV shows and pop culture as a whole.

Feel free to argue with us, and each other, in the comments — just please, be friendly and civil about it. Thanks!

Click here for #91 through #100

Music Break: Dawn Of The Dead: Have A Nice Day

Movie Night: Dawn Of The Dead

The Birth Of Voodoo

A Short History of The Illuminati

By William B Stoecker

The very word "illuminati" can produce strong reactions among true believers and debunkers alike, and the situation is not helped by the many inaccuracies in the film "Angels and Demons." One little known fact: the word has a very specific meaning. It refers to people who are either spiritually enlightened or who claim to be, and it is perhaps significant that many of today's elites refer to themselves as "wise men," and tend to be intellectually pretentious. Mystics have always believed that, by such means as meditation, people can achieve a higher state of consciousness and a oneness with God and with the entire universe. But they have also warned of the "left hand path" to a dangerous partial enlightenment sought (or settled for) by people seeking the supposed paranormal abilities attained in this state, abilities that can be used to obtain temporal wealth and power. Those who believe in the kundalini energy claim that it rises up the spine from the base chakra all the way to the crown chakra, which is when total enlightenment is achieved. It is perhaps significant that the highest level in freemasonry is supposedly the thirty third degree...and most people have 33 vertebrae. This hints that these Masons may be only partially enlightened.

There really was a historical Illuminati, an actual organization, founded by a Bavarian professor of law at the University of Ingolstadt, a man named Adam Weishaupt. Although of Jewish ancestry, his family had become Catholic, and he had been educated by the Jesuits, a somewhat mysterious order in their own right. He joined the Freemasons, and then created the Illuminati as an organization within an organization, infiltrating numerous Masonic lodges and taking control of them, as well as the universities. He created the order on May first 1776, and Mayday is a holiday sacred to ancient pagans, and, interestingly enough, to modern communists, and 1776 was the year of the American Declaration of Independence...and many of its instigators were Masons. He chose "Spartacus" as his code name for himself, after the gladiator who rebelled against Rome, and German communists after WWI referred to themselves as "spartacists." Weishaupt preached revolution against all existing social and political order and the destruction of religion, Judeo-Christian morality, and the nuclear family and the institution of marriage. He advocated a global socialist state. He advised his followers to recruit women by telling them that they were oppressed by men. Note that all of these ideas are preached by modern leftists.

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Sector-4

S-4 (Sector Four) is said to be located at Papoose Lake, in the Restricted Air Force base, Area 51. The site came to public attention when Bob Lazar spoke about working at the site and working on circular disc shapes from other worlds. Nine hangars featuring 9 different shaped crafts are said to be featured there.

According to Lazar, S-4 consists of 9 hangers built into a mountain range just off the Papoose Lake bed. The hangars are sloped at 60 degrees and are camoflauged to blend in with the mountainside. S-4 also contains a number of interior shopping areas in addition to the hangars, such as a briefing room, a laboratory, a nurse's office, a restroom and the entrance area.

Although the hangars at S-4 contained 9 extraterrestrial craft, Lazar only had close contact with one such craft, which he nicknamed the "Sports Model". The sizes and shapes of the ET crafts at S-4 varied considerably. The Sports Model had the appearance of a classic flying saucer, while some of the other ET crafts looked like a top hat or a Jello mold.

Personnel working at S-4 would reach the base by first arriving at Groom Lake and then taking a bus to the installation via a very long and winding dirt road. Once the bus reached S-4, the bus would drive the length of the hangars and then park at the entrance area, located at the back of the installation. Lazar claims that at one time Russian scientists worked at the base, but were kicked out.

In November of 1989 Robert Scott Lazar gave a series of interviews to George Knapp on KLAS-TV in Las Vegas. Lazar claimed that while employed as a physicist by the U.S. government, he had worked on a super-secret project located in the restricted Nellis Range near Rachel, Nevada just south of the famous "Area 51."

Explore The Vatican Necropolis: The Tomb Of St Peter

The Vatican Necropolis, also known as the Scavi, lies under the Vatican City, at depths varying between 5 and 12 meters below the basilica. The Vatican sponsored archeological excavations under Saint Peter's in the years 1940 - 1949 which revealed parts of a necropolis dating to Imperial times. The work was undertaken at the request of Pope Pius XI who wished to be buried as close as possible to Peter the Apostle. Peter is said to be buried there due to its proximity to the Circus of Nero where he was martyred. It is also home to the Tomb of the Julii, which has been dated to the third or fourth century.

More of the necropolis was unearthed in 2003 during construction of a parking lot.

Some tombs have undergone restorations, such as the ten-month project involving the Valerii Mausoleum.

Tours of the Scavi can be arranged in advance by specifying the desired date and indicating the language in which the tour is to be conducted. Lasting about an hour and a half, the tours end at Saint Peter's tomb before returning to the basilica. Due to limits placed by conservation efforts, only small groups of ten to fifteen people are permitted at a time.

[Virtual Tour]

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Occult Artifacts: The Mirror Of John Dee

This mirror was used by the Elizabethan mathematician, astrologer and magician John Dee (1527-1608/9) as a 'shew-stone', one of many polished translucent or reflective objects which he used as tools for his occult research.
The mirror, made of highly-polished obsidian (volcanic glass), was one of many Mexica cult objects and treasures brought to Europe after the conquest of Mexico by Cortés between 1527 and 1530. Mirrors were associated with Tezcatlipoca, the Mexica god of rulers, warriors and sorcerers, whose name can be translated as 'Smoking Mirror'. Mexica priests used mirrrors for divination and conjuring up visions. Dee had an interest in optics and optical mirrors or 'glasses' as described in his private diary and works. he was also interested in psychic phenomena and, from 1583, worked with Edward Kelly as his medium. Kelly would see visions in the 'shew-stones' of 'angels' that communicated by pointing to one square after another in tables of letters and unknown symbols, which Dee and Kelly transcribed.
The case, made to fit the obsidian mirror with its projecting handle, has a paper label with the handwriting of the English antiquary Sir Horace Walpole, who acquired the mirror in 1771. The text begins 'The Black Stone into which Dr Dee used to call his spirits ...'. He has added later 'Kelly was Dr Dee's Associate and is mentioned with this very stone in Hudibras [a satirical poem by Samuel Butler, first published in 1664] Part 2. Canto 3 v. 631. Kelly did all his feats upon The Devil's Looking-glass, a Stone.'
The British Museum has other objects associated with John Dee (see Related Objects and Information).
*The people and culture we know as 'Aztec' referred to themselves as the Mexica (pronounced Me-shee-ka).
J. Cherry, 'Medieval and Later Antiquities' in Sir Hans Sloane: collector, sc (London, The British Museum Press, 1994), pp. 119-221
H. Tait, 'The Devil's Looking Glass: the magical speculum of Dr John Dee' in Horace Walpole: writer, politi (Yale University Press, 1967), pp. 195-212
, Prag um 1600: Kunst und Kultur, exh. cat. (Wien, Kunsthistorisches Museum; Freren, Luca Verlag, 1988)
N.H. Clulee, John Dees natural philosophy: (London and New York, Routledge, 1988)

Occult Profiles: John Dee

The greatest magician of all time was undoubtedly the Englishman John Dee. His life and his works are wrapped in shrouds of mystery, surrounded by all sorts of rumours. John Dee would have been Shakespeare’s model for the sorcerer Prospero in “The Tempest”. But this can’t be the reason why he once was called “the friend of the hounds of hell”… can it?

John Dee published a diary and several autobiographical writings; he was a recognized authority in the field of mathematics and the Greek and Latin authors, and the first to translate the Theorem of Euclid in English. He was very interested in the art of navigation, designed the basic idea for the meridian of Greenwich, proposed a strategy for the colonization of America and did research on optical techniques. His knowledge of astronomy led to a reform of the calendar. He was the astrologer of Queen Elizabeth I, and as a philosopher and a physicist he also studied of course alchemy, this noble art of turning base metals into precious metals. Some said he even was on an endless quest to find the potion that would give him and his clients eternal youth.

John Dee was born in 1527. He was barely fifteen when he was admitted to the University of Cambridge. As a brilliant student, he usually worked 18 hours a day. He was nineteen when he designed for a theatre performance of a work by the Greek author Aristophanes an ingenious flying machine in the form of a beetle, that created some panic among the spectators. It was said that such an unidentified flying object could only have been created by means of black art, by a friend of the hell hounds. This accusation would weigh heavily on the further career of the young magician, who was excluded from the university.

In 1547, John Dee taught geography at the University of Louvain in Flanders. It seems that Mercator provided him with a globe and a bunch of navigational instruments. The young “Doctor Dee” already had the reputation of being a political and industrial spy, who worked in the service of the English crown. His occult practices would only have been a cover for his espionage work, as was also said of that other famous astrologer, Nostradamus.

John Dee was, indeed, often forced into politics. A Protestant by conviction, he was constantly threatened to be crushed between the Catholic and Protestant powers that ravished England. The Catholic Queen Mary imprisoned her half-sister Elizabeth in the castle of Woodstock, because of her Protestant sympathies. Elizabeth was afraid she would be poisoned. Coincidentally, her maid was a cousin of Dee. With the maid as an intermediary, Dee made a carefully optimistic astrological prediction for Elizabeth, saying that the situation was critical, but her life was not in danger. There even was a chance that one day she would become the Queen of England.

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Instructional- Wicca 1st Degree Exercises

Occult Profiles: Peter Howard Gilmore, The Black Pope II

Peter Howard Gilmore is an American author and administrator of the Church of Satan. He was appointed High Priest of the Church in 2001 by Magistra Blanche Barton. Within the church, he is known as Magus Peter H. Gilmore, High Priest of the Church of Satan. he is considered to be the successor to LaVey.

Gilmore feels Satanists are often misunderstood or misrepresented. LaVey's teachings are based on individualism, self-indulgence, and "eye for an eye" morality, with influence from Friedrich Nietzsche and Ayn Rand; while its rituals and magic draw heavily from occultists such as Aleister Crowley. They do not worship—nor believe in—the Devil or a Christian notion of Satan. The word "Satan" comes from the Hebrew word for "adversary" and originated from the Abrahamic faiths, being traditionally applied to an angel. Church of Satan adherents see themselves as truth-seekers, adversaries and skeptics of the religious world around them.

As a representative of the Church of Satan, Gilmore has been interviewed on numerous television and radio programs dealing with the topic of Satanism, including appearances on The History Channel, BBC, The Sci-Fi Channel, Point of Inquiry, and Bob Larson's Christian radio show.

The Super Rich: The Greed Game