Chapter 2:
Newbrough’s Masonic Allegiance
Part V: The Masonic Infiltration Discovering the True Spiritual Path of Oahspe
“Dr. Newbrough was a 33rd degree Mason.”*32
This is the highest level for United States members in this elitist cult. Hence, Newbrough was no novice and was as deep (or high) in Masonry as one could go. It is generally composed of the rich and
powerful, so one can assume that once Newbrough became rich off his gold finds in California and Australia, he would have been a welcomed applicant. And one might wonder if Newbrough, after years of dedication to purification and service, and still again after the awesome process of channeling Oahpse itself, that he might be inclined to put Masonry away in order to fully embrace the New Age Path prescribed by Oahpse. Not a chance! For from the very get go, in the 1882 edition, Newbrough places Masonry related footnote quotations directly in Oahspe, in his “Commentary on Oahspe” as follows:
“After I had, from various sources and by various means, added to reasoning, nearly arrived at a conviction, that the ancient order of Freemasons arose in India, and was established there, as a mystery, in the earliest periods, my conviction acquired wonderful strength from a knowledge of the fact which I shall now mention. I shall be censured for stating facts in this way; but I write truly and for the truth, and for this purpose alone. The style or order in such a work as this is not worth naming. … , that the pass word and forms used by the Master Masons in their lodge, would pass a person into the sanctum sanctorum of an Indian temple; that he, Mr. Ellis, had, by means of his knowledge as a Master Mason, actually passed himself into the sacred
part or adytum of one of them. …Now, when this is coupled with the fact of the Masonic emblems found on the Cyclopean ruins of Agra and Mundore, I think, without fear of contradiction, I may venture to assume, that the oriental origin of Free-masonry cannot be disputed and that I may reason upon it accordingly.
There really is no direct need to place this text in the first published edition of Oahspe, as it explains nothing given in the original writings.
Yet in the entire passage there are 668 words in reference to the Masons. So what is the purpose of including all of this?
John Newbrough’s purpose is to lay a bit of the groundwork for disingenuously justifying the Masons as path in harmony with Oahspean principles. For all of the above is flattering to Masonry, that it existed as a positive influencing force in ancient times and religions, secret and mysterious but always there, along with their symbolism within the “outward” face of religion, as if “God” created or ordained the Masons to be the “religious overseers” of the world. And so Newbrough sheds some light, openly so, on his attempt to justify Masonry being “secretly” placed in Oahspe and later on, upon the Faithist Path, as always (so the Masons believe), with all religions, controlling things behind the scenes for the good of all.
John Newbrough exposes this view of Faithism and Masonry being
one of the same where they are conceived as elements of every religion that has ever been when he writes in The Castaway that: The Faithists are not a sect. They encompass all the holy religions that have ever been given to the world, and at the same time, they lay aside all the sectarianism of the whole of them. *17
In fact, as will be shown in Part V, Newbrough’s version of “Faithism” is especially a sect in terms of organization, where authoritarian power is wielded by the leaders of the sect. This is a fundamental viewpoint of Masonry; that their “spiritual path” encompasses all religions because they feel the need to appropriate any symbol and any religious idea from any path as that of their own, rather than simply trusting that each person must seek to develop attunement to the Innermost All Voice of the Creator within themselves, as Oahspe advocates so clearly. So what is Masonry?
The rites of initiation became progressively more complicated. Signs and tokens were invented by which the Children of Light could with facility make themselves known to each other. Different Degrees were invented, as the number of Initiates enlarged, in order that there might be in the inner apartment of the Temple a favored
few, to whom alone the more valuable secrets were entrusted, and who could wield effectually the influence and power of the Order.
In its initiate phase, Masonry is not innately evil by any means but it is a system of control. Thus and in brief, Masons believe that all religions are for the unwashed masses, though ultimately under the inspiration of One Supreme Being. For the initiates, they are told it is the One Creator God.
However, as one advances each level, the orientation turns away from a “Good” Creator towards the demonic realms, to Satan, and something even more monstrous, as will be revealed in later chapters. Furthermore, the rites and masonic activities will increasingly become pedophilic, violent, bloody and murderous. More on all of this later.
The key realization is that if Newbrough did get to the 33rd level, then he may have embraced such evil as well. I say “may” because some Masonic groups could be more mystic-focused than demonic. I also find it hard to believe that if Newbrough had gone dark as most Masonic groups at the top are, then he would never had been chosen to nor could have channeled Oahspe.
Nevertheless, joining the Masons puts you in psychic connection with the dark hells of our world, at least indirectly and one would do well to fear even a remote connection. As above, so below. Our reality arises via our thoughts and since Masonic symbols embody thoughts, that necessitates that each step into those kind of thoughts is like walking down a dark corridor towards some unknown horror. Wisdom in this case would always be to shun Masonic association as well as with every aspect eclectic “knowledge” they project as to be coveted. Why risk linking up with those in hell? Aren’t beautiful flowers, waterfalls and the wondrous universe good enough for you?
And yet Masons are delusional to believe that they are ordained by God to control religions and governments for the good of all. How could this ever be so, especially given the basic tenets of Oahspe which affirm that it is All Voice within the spirit-soul of all to which we should attune to and develop? And so the universal path has always been one where each of us controls our own path, but one where we look toward the Inspiration of the All Highest to guide us in our choices. That is not to say the New World Order, of which the Masons are enthusiastically and centrally involved, are not going to try their hand at destroying civilization, human rights, and human life in the billions. All of this is in progress right now if you take a good hard look at what
is happening around the world in 2022.
Be that as it may, the end result is that the Masonic members feel themselves to be made “the special elect of God,” and so superior to all. This is not a path of humility and in many aspects completely at odds with the teachings of Oahspe. John Newbrough, of course, in this world at least, never set himself free enough of Masonry to realize this.
Concerning the order itself, acts of charity and service are a big part of advancing through those thirty-three levels but so also are certain acts of military prowess, learning secret mystic knowledge degree by degree, keeping that knowledge secret no matter what, and all dealings of the Masons secret, and completing extensive Masonic rites that are secret. And they falsely believe they have been the “anointed” from time immortal, where “masters” guided “initiates” who in turn became “masters” and so on, whereby the hidden guiding power of masonry advanced through the ages as part of God’s divine plan. This is their false belief, not the reality, and it is an arrogant one.
Therefore there is an air of elitism at all times and this is part of the allure of Masonry, becoming part of some secret society that makes you feel superior to all around you, as God Almighty (in their view) has ordained Masons as better than the rest of mankind — to save the world and to do so secretly! And if you take a good hard look at the Oahspe cult leaders from the past and present, that elitism, arrogance and secrecy is just as strong with them.
It is clear that Masonry never left Dr. Newbrough’s as a guiding force. For after John Newbrough founded The Oahspe Lodge of Faithism in New York City, they made plans to fulfill the prophecy of Shalam. And so we later learn that Dr. Newbrough would call upon his Mason brothers for assistance in this work: In Las Cruces, he met a fellow Mason named John Barncastle, who told him of a site he owned at a bend in the Rio Grande a mile west of Doña Ana. He soon arranged for the purchase of the 500 acre tract with funds provided by Howland. *52 And so once again we see direct evidence that Newbrough has by no means shook off his Masonic connections in favor of Oahspe and pure Faithism quite the opposite. Newbrough was buried with full Faithist and Masonic
rituals in a small graveyard at Shalam. *52 At this point, there may not have been that much difference between Masonic and Faithist rituals.
After her mother’s death, Howlind arranged for her father to be removed from the Shalam graveyard and reinterred in the Masonic Cemetery in Las Cruces. *52
This was Howlind’s decision and may simply show her distaste of Faithism. On the other hand, Newbrough did die as a Mason, having always embraced it as part of his spiritual path. And as will be shown later in this book, Dr. Newbrough did not in fact live in Shalam as a true Faithist but as a Masonic leader.
This is why Shalam failed. And negative Masonic attitudes and aspects have continued to haunt past and present “Faithist” groups to this very day, all to our detriment, as will be demonstrated in Part VIII
Here are over a dozen Masonic Symbols which can be found in Saphah of Oahspe.
The spirit realms of the Masons seek to secretly dominate all religions and all organizations of power. Oahspe is not overtly Masonic yet such Oahspe lodges and churches as set up by Newbrough and his inner circle, did so upon Masonic principles: (1.) an inner circle rules, (2.) masters teach the novices as though their teachings were holy and beyond question, (3.) ceremonies and rites are valued while real good works are only given lip service, (4.) studying and expounding upon symbolism is considered a means of salvation, (5.) members considered themselves superior to the outside world and “chosen” by God Almighty for their activities.
