Were the first scientists hermetic philosophers? What do these occult origins of modern science tell us about the universe today? The Forbidden Universe reveals the secret brotherhood that defined the world, and perhaps discovered the mind of God. All the pioneers of science, from Copernicus to Newton via Galileo, were inspired by Hermeticism. Men such as Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, Leibniz, Bacon, Kepler, Tycho Brahe - even Shakespeare - owed much of their achievements to basically occult beliefs - the hermetica. In this fascinating study, Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince go in search of the Hermetic origins of modern science and prove that not everything is as it seems and that over the past 400 years there has been a secret agenda behind our search for truth. From the age of Leonardo da Vinci, the influence of hermetic thinking upon the greatest minds in history has been hidden, a secret held by a forbidden brotherhood in search of the mind of God. Yet this search does not end in history but can be found in the present day - in the contemporary debates of leading evolutionists and thinkers. The significance of this hidden school can hardly be over-emphasised. Not only did it provide a spiritual and philosophical background to the rise of modern science, but its worldview is also relevant to those hungry for all sorts of knowledge even in the twenty-first century. And it may even show the way to reconciling the apparently irreconcilable divide between the scientific and the spiritual. Picknett and Prince go in search of this true foundation of modern rational thought and reveal a story that overturns 400 years of received wisdom.

Who is Lucifer? The orthodox Christian view tells us that he challenged God, fell from Heaven, tempted Eve and created death and suffering. Then he became Satan, horned king of Hell. Yet as Lynn Picknett explains, Devil was only a new incarnation of the old woodland deity Pan, while Lucifer was a personification of the Morning Star, the planet Venus and its goddess. 'He' was therefore originally 'she', and a divine representation of love, beauty and human warmth. Indeed, many ancient goddesses were known as Lucifera, or 'Light-bringer' - an honour extended to Mary Magdalene in her true role as goddess-worshipping priestess and Christ's successor. While thousands follow Lucifer in order to achieve earthly wealth and power, Picknett explains that such misguided behaviour is far from true Luciferan principles - the audacious pushing ever outwards of the limits of human knowledge, startlingly exemplified by the little-known heresies of Leonardo da Vinci. Ironically, controversial modern scientists, who see no proof of a God, much less of a Devil, may possess the key to the existence of the old archetypal adversaries.; Urging a radical shift in both religious and scientific paradigms, Pi

The authors reveal how, for 60 years, there has been an unprecedented cover-up by both the British Establishment and successive generations of historians about the flight of Hitler's Deputy Rudolf Hess to Scotland in May 1941. Long dismissed as the misguided attempt of a madman to make contact with a non-existent British peace party, "Double Standards" shows that Hess's peace mission was one of the pivotal events of the 20th century - and that the Establishment had very good reasons for covering up the truth: the Establishment WAS the peace party that Hess had come to meet Perhaps even more shockingly, the book reveals that members of the Royal Family itself - whose involvement in the Hess affair, the authors say, has been "airbrushed" out of history - were at the heart of this group. Exposing the wartime propaganda that still masquerades as fact, and based on new material from eyewitnesses, hitherto inaccessible archives and intelligence sources, the book reveals that Hess's peace mission was of supreme importance and raises some of the most intriguing questions about the history of the 20th century. The authors' mission is to answer them.

Recent exciting discoveries by independent researchers have dramatically challenged our understanding of ancient Egypt, raising profound questions about our past. STARGATE CONSPIRACY exposes the most insidious & dangerous plan of our times. It involves intelligence agencies, politicians, bestselling writers, scientists & industrialists. The authors believe that this conspiracy, centred upon the eternal mysteries of ancient Egypt, targets & threatens us all. Tracing the identity of the groups involved, Lynn Picknett & Clive Prince argue that at the heart of this strange plan is the belief that the ancient Egyptian gods were-and are-real extraterrestrials, about to return through the 'stargate' between our world & theirs. They suggest that the US-funded excavations on the Giza plateau - officially denied, but for which the authors produce documented evidence - now appear to be the result of directives allegedly received through communication with beings of higher intelligence, who are instructing the conspirators to lay the foundations for great global changes. Provocative & stimulating, STARGATE CONSPIRACY is a book of and for the new millennium.

From the gnostic gospels to the Nativity, religious mythology immortalized Jesus -- his personality, his actions, his words -- but what if they didn't tell the truth?

Although an entire religion is based on his teachings, Jesus himself did not record any written accounts of his life or faith. He taught his followers orally, and our only sources about what Jesus actually said and believed, the Gospels, were written long after his lifetime. But the Gospel authors had their own agendas to promote and most certainly altered -- even distorted -- their leader's message.

In "The Masks of Christ," bestselling authors Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince peel away layers of mythology, canonical revisions, Church propaganda, and censorship in order to reveal who Christ really was -- and discover his true message to the followers of Christianity. Stripping away centuries of misinformation, Picknett and Prince dispel religious myths, unearth historical truths, and uncover the real stories behind some of the Bible's most famous tales -- including how Christ's long-hidden relationships with John the Baptist and Mary Magdalene shaped his beliefs and religious mission.

Drawing on objective research, Picknett and Prince present the living, breathing Jesus and provide a context for Jesus' teachings in the time and society in which he lived -- and, most important, guidance on what the life and lessons of Jesus Christ mean to everyone today.

In this fully revised and updated edition, the bestselling authors of "The Templar Revelation" present new and compelling evidence linking Leonardo da Vinci with the forgery of Christianity's most famous relic. For centuries the Turin Shroud was believed to be Christ's authentic burial cloth, miraculously imprinted with his image -- but in 1988 carbon dating revealed it is a medieval- or Renaissance-era forgery. However, authors Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince realized that the 1988 discovery prompted even more questions:
The image seems to be a photograph -- so could the Turin Shroud actually be the world's first photograph?
If the face of the man on the Shroud is not Jesus', whose is it?
Who had the sheer audacity to create what would become an infamous relic of Christianity, faking even Christ's holy, redemptive blood?
Whoever did this was not only a genius but also a heretic....
After more than a decade of research, Picknett and Prince have accumulated evidence that shows not only was the forger of the Turin Shroud none other than Leonardo da Vinci but also that he used his own face for that of Christ. The Turin Shroud is, among other things, a five-hundred-year-old photograph of Leonardo da Vinci. Could Christianity's greatest relic in fact be an attempt to undermine the religion itself?

An essential notion in the #1 "New York Times" bestseller "The Da Vinci Code" is the existence of an age-old French society, the Priory of Sion, whose task it is to protect Christ's sacred bloodline. In "The Sion Revelation, " Picknett and Prince reveal the story of the Priory, taking readers on a highly significant, disturbing, and even alarming ride through history into an intriguing world where a great many uncomfortable facts will have to be faced, both religious and political.

Drawing on a wealth of astonishing evidence, they answer numerous questions that shroud this society, including:

- Does the Priory actually exist or is the group's entire history an elaborate hoax?

- Was Leonardo da Vinci really one of the Priory's Grand Masters?

- What is the truth behind Pierre Plantard, the enigmatic French aristocrat who claimed to be a Priory Grand Master -- and who some claim was a Nazi sympathizer?

- Could the Priory be a front for other occult societies in Europe with religious or even political agendas?

By carefully untangling centuries of obfuscation, rumor, and documented fact, "The Sion Revelation" unravels the great intricacies of this secret society and takes us on a historical journey that is as groundbreaking in its explanation as it is riveting in its telling.

Reveals the tradition of goddess worship in early Judaism and how Jesus attempted to restore the feminine side of the faith * Provides historical and archaeological evidence for an earlier form of Hebrew worship with both male and female gods, including a 20th-century discovery of a Hebrew temple dedicated to both Yahweh and the warrior goddess Anat * Explores the Hebrew pantheon of goddesses, including Yahweh's wife, Asherah, goddess of fertility and childbirth * Shows how both Jesus and his great rival Simon Magus were attempting to restore the ancient, goddess-worshipping religion of the Israelites Despite what Jews and Christians--and indeed most people--believe, the ancient Israelites venerated several deities besides the Old Testament god Yahweh, including the goddess Asherah, Yahweh's wife, who was worshipped openly in the Jerusalem Temple. After the reforms of King Josiah and Prophet Jeremiah, the religion recognized Yahweh alone, and history was rewritten to make it appear that it had always been that way. The worship of Asherah and other goddesses was now heresy, and so the status of women was downgraded and they were blamed for God's wrath. However, as Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince reveal, the spiritual legacy of the Jewish goddesses and the Sacred Feminine lives on. Drawing on historical research, they examine how goddess worship thrived in early Judaism and included a pantheon of goddesses. They share new evidence for an earlier form of Hebrew worship that prayed to both male and female gods, including a 20th-century archaeological discovery of a Hebrew temple dedicated to both Yahweh and the goddess Anat. Uncovering the Sacred Feminine in early Christianity, the authors show how, in the first century AD, both Jesus and his great rival, Simon Magus, were attempting to restore the goddess-worshipping religion of the Israelites. The authors reveal how both men accorded great honor to the women they adored and who traveled with them as priestesses, Jesus's Mary Magdalene and Simon's Helen. But, as had happened centuries before, the Church rewrote history to erase the feminine side of the faith, deliberately ignoring Jesus's real message and again condemning women to marginalization and worse. Providing all the necessary evidence to restore the goddess to both Judaism and Christianity, Picknett and Prince expose the disastrous consequences of the suppression of the feminine from these two great religions and reveal how we have been collectively and instinctively craving the return of the Sacred Feminine for millennia.

In the course of their investigations into Leonardo da Vinci and the Turin Shroud, Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince found clues in the work of the great Renaissance artist that pointed to the existence of a secret underground religion. More clues were found in a twentieth-century London church. These were the beginnings of a quest through time and space that led the authors into the mysterious world of secret societies and such bodies as the Freemasons, the Knights Templar and the Cathars and finally back to the ideas and beliefs of the first century AD and a devastating new view of the real character and motives of the founder of Christianity and the roles of John the Baptist and Mary Magdalene. They reveal nothing less than a secret history, preserved through the centuries but encoded in works of art and even in the great Gothic cathedrals, whose revelation could shake the foundations of the Chruch.

THE MOST CLOSELY GUARDED SECRET OF THE WESTERN WORLD IS ABOUT TO BE REVEALED -- AND YOU WILL NEVER SEE CHRISTIANITY IN THE SAME LIGHT AGAIN.

In a remarkable achievement of historical detective work that is destined to become a classic, authors Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince delve into the mysterious world of the Freemasons, the Cathars, the Knights Templar, and the occult to discover the truth behind an underground religion with roots in the first century that survives even today. Chronicling their fascinating quest for truth through time and space, the authors reveal an astonishing new view of the real motives and character of the founder of Christianity, as well as the actual historical -- and revelatory -- roles of John the Baptist and Mary Magdalene. Painstakingly researched and thoroughly documented, The Templar Revelation presents a secret history, preserved through the centuries but encoded in works of art and even in the great Gothic cathedrals of Europe, whose final chapter could shatter the foundation of the Christian Church.