A delicious new book for monarchists (and republicans who have not been completely de-spiritualised)

A Review of Secret Places, Hidden Sanctuaries
Uncovering Mysterious Sights, Symbols and Societies
by Stephen Klimczuk and Gerald Warner of Craigenmaddie
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Those in search of spiritual food and an escape from the grim reality of hypermodernity presently plaguing our little planet - i.e., society's unfortunate tendency to embrace mass secularism and transform itself into a soulless homogeneity - would do well to dash off to the Amazon and purchase Secret Places, Hidden Sanctuaries.

This is Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code (the best selling English language novel of the 21st century) without the bunk, a thrilling adventure to the world's most secretive sites and sacred shrines, but without the rank nonsense of bogus conspiracy theories, historical fabrications and other arse gravies of the worst kind. Superbly navigated by two globetrotting monarchists, Stephen Klimczuk and Gerald Warner, the book opens with a quote from the prophet Isaiah, "And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places..." - evidence alone that both authors, to use the analogy of C.S. Lewis, have their tap root to Eden firmly intact. This is a playscript for Spiritual Man not carnal man, and a welcome retreat from the fashionable trends that have de-sacralised our world to such an extent, that we are starved of the mythological space for divine concepts like Monarchy and Religion to properly live and thrive.

Indeed, lamentably it is the case that both pillars, once instinctively understood and universally valued, are increasingly esoteric notions, provoking little more than blank stares and puzzled faces, if not downright hostility. Secret Places, Hidden Sanctuaries is a valiant determination to repair some of the damage, by taking us on a stimulating and tantalising tour to many of the world's most fascinating places. In one chapter, the reader travels on a mystical journey in search of the temple, ark and holy grail; in another, we are guided through a museum of holy crowns, sacred oil, swords and lances and other totems of antiquity. We begin to recover our lost senses...the question of why we dream of exploring mysterious islands or finding lost treasures; of why we value such hidden relics and attach almost divine significance to mystical regalia; is a curious one. Extrinsically, the Magna Carta of King John, and the Coronation Stone, are almost worthless objects; one is a discoloured old parchment, the other is made of mere sandstone; their value lies in sentiment alone. Destroy sentiment, however, and all that the human race holds dear vanishes with it; one might as well be a cow. One might as well be - dare we repeat it - a completely de-spiritualised republican.

Republicans may be drab, but even they cannot deny this primordial impulse to explore and understand the mysterious or unknowable, or this sacred attachment to worthless artifacts. They too have their heroes and relics - the gruesome spectacle of Cromwell's head, for example - also magnificently covered in the book - being repeatedly buried and unearthed, makes for one of the most irresistible and interesting passages. There are other "grottoes", "grotesques" and "gothic nightmares" (to borrow the authors' exquisite vernacular) that make for easy speed reading: For instance, the pace quickens as the murderous and mutinous forces under the nominal command of the Holy Roman Emperor descend upon 16th century Rome, forcing the Pope to flee for his life through the Passetto di Borgo, barely escaping the appalling slaughter behind him. Similarly, the satanic story of Himmler's "Black Vatican" at Wewelsburg Castle, where an evil Order of SS murderers is established by the Nazis to sanctify mass extermination, is also wickedly told. That such an odious perversion of chivalry could escape fully noticed, is undeniably a product of a thoroughly dispirited people, who were left emotionally drained by the Great War, and the resulting collapse of the monarchical order. For when Monarchy and Religion lose their authority in all aspects of social life and governance, one is invariably left with the negative and dehumanising effects; namely fallen virtues and soulless values, not to mention impoverished spirits and a dreary disposition to gobble easy poisons.

The authors' belief that everything of value lies within us ("the kingdom of heaven lies within") is a timely antidote against the great toxins of today, including materialism and inclusiveness. The human condition may desire community and material well-being, but if a theoretical physicist has zero inclination to share a martini with a group of slack-jawed yokels, it is because his natural compunction is to congregate with like-minded individuals, not to hang out with people he has nothing in common with. The thirst for "inwardness", this compelling need for privacy and sanctuary so deep-seated in the human psyche (especially the male species) - what the authors theorise to be our instinctive gravitation back to the womb - is at least equally enticing, and the reason why we are intrigued by secret societies, travel to secluded enclaves, join socially restricted clubs, or even just dine at exclusive restaurants and retreat to the inner sanctums of our own private homes. Two marvelous chapters are devoted to this inclination for restricted fellowship, beginning with elite university societies (e.g, Yale's Skull and Bones, the Bullingdon Club of Oxford and the Apostles of Cambridge...) and ending with the lore, elegance and humour of London's great private clubs. The authors telegraph the point that we are really a vast multiplicity of tiny and exclusive communities, not the all-inclusive, politically-correct fantasy of one big open society, so routinely perpetrated against the people by their governments. Society, especially English-speaking societies, with its complex network of hideaways, activities and instititions, is a vastly more dynamic social order than modern-day utopians care to appreciate. Vandalous attempts to ban activities and homogenise society into a politically-correct straight-jacket, does a great disservice indeed to the glory, mystery and inherent dynamism of the human spirit.

Secret Places, Hidden Sanctuaries brilliantly luminates that enterprising human spirit, and there is much for the royalist and other high spirits to sink their teeth into. From "citadels of chivalry" to the world's "holies of holies", from "hidden totems" to "talismans of antiquity", from "mysterious heritage" to "modern-day bolt-holes", we are treated to an intriguing and eclectic preview of ancient orders, sacred temples, secret banking, transcendant places and other mythical sites, symbols and societies.

This jolly good book takes a skeptical, yet enthusiastic look at uncovering these "inscrutable workings of Providence", and in so doing, appeals to our eternal solar principle. For life is supposed to be an exercise in nobility and adventure; a tantalising quest for spiritual knowledge and a grand exploration, if you will, for deeper meaning. The authors have done their work...let the sleeping king arise!