The International Committee of the Red Cross is Occult and Esoteric

Before I take up the debate, I just want to clarify that I started the 'Secret Dictionary' with high hopes, but found time constraints prevented me from developing it further, and I left it to stagnate, so I was quite surprised to receive this challenge some seven years after writing the brief entry on the topic above. With that in mind, and with apologies in advance to anyone I may offend, I maintain the position for the following reasons... Firstly, secret societies, by their very nature, don't tend to publish their motives until long after they have been infiltrated/made public. As a general rule, secret societies/cults, etc. attract members by promising access to some inner knowledge held only by the senior members. That knowledge could be anything from a plan to overthrow governments, to the true nature of the holy grail. Freemasons have tended to claim their origins in the Knights Templar, whose symbol was the red cross on the white background - familiar to the English as the flag of St George. It is for this reason that in Arabic countries, the above mentioned group operates with the name and symbol of the Red Crescent - because Muslims tend to perceive the Red Cross as the symbol of the Christian invaders during the various Crusades. After the official dissolution of the Knights Templar, their priories and wealth were redistributed to other knightly orders, especially the Knights Hospitaller, whose symbol is the green cross now used as the modern pharmacist symbol. I don't wish to suggest that all hospitals are secret societies either, but what I am saying is that these organisations trace their origins back to such groups. Whether there members are aware of any occult origin or not is also open for debate. I think it's Mitsubishi that traces its origins back to one specific samurai in the 1800s, who acted as a sword for hire to rich businessmen, and eventually founded a company which is now one of the worlds leading electronics manufacturers. Does this mean that your TV was built by samurai? Of course not! But the group are proud of their origins, and presumably have artifacts and memorabilia from their founder somewhere in their HQ. The Red Cross has its HQ in Geneva, in Switzerland - the country whose flag is an inverse of their own. Switzerland, like the Red Cross, takes a neutral stance in all wars, but often receives criticism for profiting from both sides. As for the founder Dunant is long-since dead, it would be quite difficult to prove either his membership of the Freemasons, or his homosexuality (and I fail to see how one might influence the other, other than the fact that in the 19th century it might have been safer to keep either fact personal and secret). But esoteric knowledge can be acquired in all number of different ways, and membership of a group does not prove knowledge of its inner secrets any more than proving non-membership would prove he couldn't have figured it all out for himself! For those who want to know more about the symbolism involved - the red cross has appeared in various knightly orders, countries flags, and even the name of the esoteric order of Rosicrucians (the order of the Rosy Cross), and can be seen in the symbol of the Gnostic movement, the logo of the Zodiac Killer of the movies of the same name and so on. It actually represents the four points of the compass and the four turning points of the year (solstices and equinoxes) - all stuff which back in the days of inquisitions and witch-hunts was punishable by death (usually by burning at the stake). In my opinion, most secret societies begin with noble intentions, but by the simple fact of having to remain secret to avoid persecution, eventually become corrupted and/or lose their collective memory of their founding purpose. Do I believe the modern Red Cross to be anything other than a force for good in the world? Absolutely not. And as long as wars exist, I hope that organisations like this continue to step in where governments lack the willpower or desire to do so. But to say that all their esoteric connections are merely coincidence is naive to say the least. (I wish to thank the person who started this debate for inviting me, and in so doing not only rekindling my interest in this subject, but also bringing me to a website I did not previously know about, but look forward to participating in further)