Tostudents of history, religion, or the occult, a pattern of individual names and esoteric movements appears on the canvas of time like a sudden flash of light, then just as quickly vanishes. A group of disparate people – sometimes famous, sometimes obscure, sometimes solitary, sometimes united, but always engaged in some amorphous activity – spontaneously surfaces. Just as suddenly their traces evaporate, their true purpose and the scope of their actions never comprehended. Understanding their reality seems to be beyond our grasp. Further study may grudgingly yield information – but it is inconclusive, incomplete, perplexing. Their nature and purpose seems to forever remain a mystery. The search for a solution only leads to speculations, not genuine answers.

For us to intellectually apprehend how and why esoteric groups work and influence the world requires a different type of thinking, a thought process that sees these organisations and their activities as an ebb and flow of an ideal. Most of us have approached the inquiry into the nature of how esoteric groups actually work and influence history by studying the limited and grossly distorted documentation available about them, like an investment analyst abstractly examining from afar the sterile financial structure of a multi-national corporation. But for us to understand the nature of historical esoteric groups, we should first attempt to find their underlying purpose. If we approach their study through that avenue, we may be able to understand why and how they work to achieve their purposes.