The Knights Templar and the Head of God

Temple Church

(Excerpt from Stone of the Saviour: The Return of the She Christ)

I felt compelled to explore what the Knights Templar had left behind,

to study firsthand their works and legacy, and to delve deeper into their

legends. My journey led me to Temple Church in London, a site of great

importance to the Templars, and a location that highlights their role

within medieval Europe. From there, I travelled to Rennes-la-Château,

a village shrouded in mystery, where sacred geometry, hidden symbols,

and the legends of the Templars intertwined in ways I had not expected.

We looked briefly at the work of David Wood earlier, and his book,

Genisis. But as well as being an author, Wood was also a trigonometrical

and topographical surveyor known for mapping out the area of Rennesle-

Château, France, and providing evidence of a pentagram set into the

landscape encompassing and surrounding this village.

Rennes-le-Château was the main destination for my European visit in

the Spring of 2008. Henry Lincoln, who had a deep respect for Wood’s

work, and who wrote the foreword to his book, Genisis, continued his

own explorations in this field, which he recorded in his book, Key to

the Sacred Pattern: The Untold Story of Rennes-le-Château. This small

village of just under 100 people is wrapped in legend, drawing seekers

like me with its stories of the Knights Templar, sacred geometry, and

hidden symbols, both within and outside the Catholic Church which

sits at the heart of both the village and the myths.

Inspired by the works of Wood, Lincoln, and others, I travelled

to this intriguing place, unaware of how deeply it would shape my

understanding of the sacred feminine and the power of the pentagram

set into the landscape.

I arrived in the village of Rennes-le-Château around midday in the

Spring of 2008. After a quick coffee at the local café, I made my way

to the village church, which had once been the private chapel of its

former noblewoman Marie d’Hautpoul. I was immediately greeted at

the door by a Devil carved from plaster, a Devil called Asmodeus by

author Gérard de Sède in his book, The Accursed Treasure of Rennesle-

Château, published in 1967. Asmodeus is considered “the worst of

demons” according to the Testament of Solomon, a text attributed to

King Solomon himself, a man who is said to have been the son of a

human mother, and a father who was an angel. I decided to approach

the statue of Asmodeus, known as the King of the World to the Cathars,

and touch his hand, both to pay my respects and acknowledge his

early morning warning not to tell the story of the woman crucified

in my dream. I did not know back then, in 2008, that this village sat

within a sacred pentagram as discovered by Wood and Lincoln, but I

did know I was no match for this powerful entity thousands of miles

away from my home.

The cold plaster hand I touched sat perched on his knee, the exact

same knee of the same leg that had been broken off from the plaster statue

of the woman crucified in my dream. Looking at his bulging eyes

that stared at the black and white tiled floor beneath our feet, I told the

Devil that I could not keep his secret. I then lifted my hand from his

and walked into the ancient Catholic Church of Rennes-le-Château. I

might not have been so bold if I had known that I was standing in a pentagram

that Asmodeus, the worst of demons, quite possibly controlled.

Two days before I arrived in this village, I had visited Temple Church

in London, a circular church built by the Knights Templar to serve as

their English headquarters, and the place where initiations into their

order were carried out. The church was consecrated by the Roman Catholic

Church in 1185 and almost destroyed by the Germans in the Blitz,

an extensive bombing campaign that targeted London during WWII.

The church consists of two sections: the round nave, known as the

Round Church, which was designed and built to replicate the Church of

the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and a large rectangular section called

a chancel, meaning “the space around the altar”. The church served as

a royal treasury under King John, with the Knights Templar acting as

proto-international bankers. After King Philip IV of France had the

Templars arrested and charged with heresy, which led ultimately to

their demise, ownership of Temple Church passed to another Catholic

military order known as the Knights Hospitaller. The Knights Hospitaller

would eventually lease the church to the Inner and Middle Temple,

two of the four British legal professional associations.

It was lightly raining on the morning I arrived at Temple Church, and

in the rush to add it to my agenda before leaving London for France the

next day, I had forgotten to check the opening hours. As it transpired,

I was forty minutes early, and the doors were locked. Walking around

the church courtyard in the fine wet mist of London, I observed that

the walkways, now glossy with rain and marked by gravestones, set a

sombre scene. I pondered the history of the Knights Templar, particularly

the Inquisition waged against them by King Philip IV and the

eventual burning at the stake of their leader, Jacques de Molay, which

ended the order not just in France but across Europe.

There were several ways to enter Temple Church, and I chose to sit

outside the massive black door of the original Round Church. I settled

in for the remainder of my wait, pulling out a journal from my purse to

capture my thoughts. Suddenly, I felt a need to pray, to lay down some

tobacco and ask permission to be at this church before I entered this

sacred space. I felt that this door, with its old steel handle, and its massive

keyhole that was large enough to pass a cell phone through, was

the door by which I should enter. I wrote in my journal, “I may not be

able to enter by this door, but things aren’t always as they should be.”

It turned out that I was the only one queuing up at this entrance as my

travelling companion had joined a group who were lined up in front

of another door across the courtyard. The size of that queue suggested

that the second door they were lined up outside, was the one that was

used most often. I watched that queue grow longer, my friend periodically

glancing at me, and I started to think that I was being silly and

decided it might be best if I joined her and the others. As I began to

turn away from the big black door to join them, I was instantly stopped

from doing so by an invisible force that attached itself to my crotch and

would not allow me to leave. Frozen in place, and with no idea what

would happen next, the black door began to open slowly, and a man

of small stature appeared from behind it. He looked at me briefly, then

calmly said, “Please come in.” At once, the invisible force let go of me,

the spell lifted, and I was allowed to walk through the door and into

Round Church.

I was finally inside. In front of me, nine marble effigies of the Knights

Templar were laid out on the floor, their heads resting atop stones—

round stones known as pillow stones, in a round church in the heart

of London.

As I left the nave to tour the rest of the church, I discovered a stainedglass

panel above the altar in the chancel, overflowing with religious

iconography. Jesus was pictured at the top, having ascended to heaven,

and at the bottom of this lovely window, standing on the Earth, were a

trinity of people—a knight, a veiled woman, and a monk. We are told

that the monk is St. Francis of Assisi, who founded the Franciscan Order

and was known for his devotion to Jesus’ mother, Mary. I concluded

that the veiled woman standing in the centre was clearly Mary, and the

knight to her left was a Knight Templar. As relayed earlier, the veiling

of Mary was often used to signify a veiling of the truth. I instantly felt

a deep connection between Mary and the Templars, and I was struck

by a powerful thought. What if Head 58m, the head discovered in the

possession of the Knights Templar at the time of their arrest, was actually

the head of Mary?

We know, because of the records we have from the Inquisition, that

the Knights Templar were likely to have had numerous sacred heads in

their possession, with several historical researchers implying that those

heads were female. As we saw, some have even claimed that the Templars

owned the skull of Isis, so, what if they also possessed the skull of Mary?

St. Francis, the monk in the window I stood in front of, taught that

Mary was an important intermediary between humanity and God, and

he saw her as a protector of the Franciscan Order, referring to her in

his writings as a “beloved mother” who cared for the souls entrusted

to her. One of his prayers, Salutation to the Blessed Virgin Mary captures

his devotion:

Hail, O Lady, holy Queen, Mary, holy Mother of God: you are the

Virgin made Church, and the one chosen by the most holy Father

in heaven whom He consecrated with His most holy beloved Son

and with the Holy Spirit the Paraclete, in whom there was and

is all fullness of grace and every good.

Mary is a “chosen one”, and as I have shared previously, early Christians

put great emphasis on her role in the Holy Trinity, particularly

her possible connection to the role of the Holy Spirit.

Another term for the Holy Spirit is Paraclete, which is used in Christian

theology, where the Holy Spirit takes on the role of comforter,

advocate, counsellor, or helper. The term originates from the Ancient

Greek word Paraklētos, which means “one who is called alongside” or

“one who advocates or intercedes”. This concept is primarily found in

the New Testament, particularly in the Gospel of John. This description

of the Comforter, or Paraclete, is very similar to how the Church

describes Mary, as we find, for example, in John 14:16-17, where Jesus

speaks to his disciples about the coming of the Paraclete as an advocate:

And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another advocate

(Paraclete) to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of

truth.

Here the Paraclete, or advocate, is said to stay with the people “forever.”

This is the keyword for our story, and it coincides with the quote we

examined earlier, by the nun and mystic Elisabeth of Schönau, who,

in The Resurrection of the Blessed Virgin, described Mother Mary as an

eternal figure, present at the beginning and the end of all things.

The Holy Spirit plays a significant role in the Christian understanding

of God’s presence after Jesus’ ascension into heaven. In this context,

the Holy Spirit is viewed as the divine helper who provides comfort,

reveals truth, strengthens faith, and enables believers to live according

to God’s will. The Holy Spirit is seen as the ongoing presence of God

in the world, guiding and sanctifying the Church—and believers. This

is the very definition of who Mary was, and is, within the Church. In

Christian doctrine, the Holy Spirit, as Paraclete, is also the third entity

in the Trinity, whom we have identified as Mary in Chapter Seven, the

equal of God the Father and God the Son.

St. Francis also refers to Mary in his salutation as the “Virgin made

Church”, making her the spiritual mother and protector of the faithful.

Another spiritual leader or parental figure referred to as the protector

of the faithful is the Pope. While protector of the faithful may not be

his official title, it does encapsulate the Pope’s pastoral mission within

the Church.

The Templars’ Divine Mission

Back in Temple Church, I also discovered that the stone effigies of the

nine Knights Templar lying on the floor of the round nave had their

eyes wide open, as if looking for someone or something. Tim Wallace-

Murphy suggests in his book, The Knights of the Holy Grail: The Secret

History of the Knights Templar that the Templars were not merely warriors,

but spiritual guardians linked to the prophecy of Christ’s return

who were safeguarding secret knowledge that would be instrumental

when that much anticipated day arrived. Wallace-Murphy ties this idea

to their role in protecting the Holy Grail and “other sacred relics”, all

of which were part of a divine mission that transcended their military

activities . Although Wallace-Murphy is more inclined to believe that

the Holy Grail is actually a royal bloodline, an idea popularized in Holy

Blood, Holy Grail and later in the book and movie The Da Vinci Code,

his revelations regarding the Templars’ true divine mission highlight

the significance of the heads they once possessed. These insights also

explain why the Templars worshipped the heads so fervently.

The concept of a line of Grail Bearers, women from a sacred bloodline,

is intriguing, but ultimately incorrect. The women whose heads

the Templars seem to have worshipped did not need to be related to

this bloodline, or even to each other. Instead, they each carried the

essence of the Holy Spirit, incarnating in specific times and places

where they and their mission were most needed. Their primary purpose

was to restore women to their sacred role within the Church, as

well as granting protection and abundance—ensuring that the flowers

bloomed every Spring.

Alongside this practical role, there was also the relationship to

Christ within the Holy Trinity, especially within the context of Christ’s

promise to leave with his people someone who would be with them

forever. This could only be accomplished through reincarnation—when

a person’s soul is reborn into a new body or form, continuing its journey

through multiple lifetimes. It is my belief that the Holy Spirit repeatedly

incarnates in human form until the mission is accomplished. I

also believe that the Templars understood this, seeking out these holy

women, protecting them as best they could while they lived, and then

using their heads as talismans, or teraphim, for ceremonial purposes

after they died.

I do, however, agree with Wallace-Murphy when he says that Eschenbach’s

Grail poem Parzival reveals a heretical belief system that contradicts

the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church:

The two principal Grail romances carry coded clues to a heretical

belief system embedded within them that contradict the

dogma of the Church. The King of the Grail castle, the wounded

Fisher King, imperfectly serves his impoverished realm just as

the usurpers of the true teachings of Jesus, those who lead the

Christian Church, despoil the spiritual lives of the flock they

claim to serve. When someone pure enough to see the Grail

restores the Fisher King to full health, his wasted kingdom will

be restored. Likewise, when the true teachings of Jesus triumph

over greed, lies, and distortion, the dream of heaven on earth

will become a reality.

I wholeheartedly agree with Wallace-Murphy. Returning to the Round

Church of the Templars, in London, here was a veiled Mary in the window

of their church that revealed a piece of the truth, a holy soul’s identity

hidden under a veil of secrecy that the Knights Templar had died for.

There are, of course, other veiled goddesses throughout history, one

of whom is Isis. Helena Blavatsky, in The Secret Doctrine, describes Isis,

the Egyptian goddess of wisdom, as veiled, reflecting the hidden truth

to be discovered by those initiated into the esoteric understandings of

groups like the Knights Templar:

Isis is a symbol of nature. Nature unveils herself only to him who

has learned to see beyond the veil.

The secret behind her veil is the knowledge that she was a part of

this divine line of women and, as David Wood suggests, the Knights

Templar may have been in possession of the skull of the Goddess Isis.