Esoteric McGuffins like Moldavite

The true history lurking behind the Seductive Psychological Suspense novel Encore includes people and countries intensely focused on obtaining an esoteric McGuffin (something that is greatly desired in a narrative and drives the action forward against all odds- like the Grail in the Arthurian legends.) Note that the underlines words in this post are links.

McGuffin: Moldavite was the Grail, the Emerald Tablet material, and Shambhala's King of the World's prize possession.

In real life, the rarest gem, Moldavite, was seen the literal Holy Grail. And it was believed to be the true emerald of the Hermetic Emerald Tablets on which was written the famous phrase: As Above, So Below. Many believed the gem was the legendary Stone from Heaven. Many believed aliens or otherwordly masters had sent it to Earth for our own good.

Parzival is a medieval German tale by Wolfram von Eschenbach about the Arthurian hero Parzival and the knightly quest for that Grail, the Philosopher's stone, which turns lead into gold physically and symbolically. German legend claims that the realm of the utopian Thule was Atlantis, once populated by giants that goofed up by mating with inferior non-Aryans. Hitler and Himmler, driven by the Thule Society, aggressively quested for Arthur's Grail. Wewelsburg Castle even maintained a room ready to house the Grail once the quest was successful.

In the narrative of our lives, esoteric McGuffins like Moldavite were most obvious to us in decades past. The New Age focused keen interest in some of those arcane McGuffins such as the Philosopher's stone of alchemy. People were rabidly buying stones in book stores and wearing them around their neck in mojo bags. Each rock was described as being able to help us improve our lives in specific ways. People bought elixirs made from each stone and took a few drops under the tongue each day. People still produce and buy such elixirs today as well as doing rituals with the stones with stories about their relationship to Ascension, aliens, and limitless transformation.

McGuffin: Public opinion playing into an agenda.

I find that true history fascinating, particularly as the public's desires for the McGuffins was manipulated by famous occult figures like John Dee, Edward Kelley, Madame Blavatsky, Nicholas Roerich, and Aleister Crowley who were involved with intelligence agencies. That manipulation of people's beliefs en masse continues today, which creates the conflict in some of my psychological suspense novels.

The Agents of the Nevermind, the antagonists of my novel series about social engineering, have kept the keen popularity of those New Age kinds of esoteric topics in the forefront of the public eye by feeding stories to mainstream media and riling up the populace with related controversies. Manipulating mystical beliefs of the citizens in Britain and elsewhere is handy for obtaining acceptance of a military agenda. This technique has been used throughout history to make people hate "the enemy" and go to war with them over religious and mythical prophecies. In fact, the real reasons for the wars was not religious, but related to resources and power.

(Reincarnation and karma are other examples of how beliefs were useful for manipulating Indians to become obedient to Brahmans so they could be born into higher status in later incarnations.)

McGuffin: Russian Theosophists played up the legend of Shambhala and the White Tsar to try to win allies like Tibet against the expansion of the British empire.

Theosophy is an amalgamation of mystical ideas formulated into a religion by the Russian Madame Blavatsky, who created the Theosophical Society in 1875 in conjunction with secret agents who instructed Blavatsky to create a useful new religion that formed ties with the East.

Theosophists loyal to Madame Blavatsky declared the Russian Nicholas Roerich to be the White Tsar of ancient prophecy. The ancient Buddhist figure of the White Tsar was reinvented to become the savior who would provide lethal obstacles to the expansion of British empiricism. This concept required also believing that highly advanced spiritual adepts inhabited a realm called Shambhala which near Tibet. People had to be kept in a state of mystical belief to swallow that the White Tsar wielded Moldavite as his weapon.

The colorful legends of Shambhala were mangled beyond belief to make the internationally coveted country of Tibet an ally for Communist countries against Europe. Roerich literally carried a Shambhala flag. By highlighting the mythos of Shambhala and its leader the White Tsar, Roerich could create the narrative he wanted to influence Tibetans to bond with Russia and to make Russians fall in love with Tibet as utopia and want to free them from their oppressors and fund expeditions to that country to "find Shambhalla".

Theosophist Alice Bailey saw Shambhala as the core of the planet, Christ's favorite hangout spot. She also believed Russians like Blavatsky and Roerich would create a new esoteric religion of Shambhala. Shambhala was portrayed as a place of gentle but firm shining people who sparred with the Brothers of the Shadow (descendants of Atlantis, the kingdom that went underwater as punishment for evil magicians who developed too cerebral technology without simultaneously developing their loving compassion.)

Nicholas Roerich and wife tried to forge a Buddhist theocracy in which they co-ruled with the Panchen Lama, who was second only to the Dalai Lama. Their original goal was for the United States to prop up Tibet. Their machinations temporarily gained interest from Bolshevik Russia. England was also competing to score an alliance with the Buddhist countries.

McGuffin: The British favored Atlantis to win over Shambhala and everyone was riled up about how Atlantis would rise again.

Meanwhile, the British cast aspersions on the Russian Shambhala descendants. And each country claimed that the prophecy of the White Tsar obviously referred to their own leaders.

People like the British writer William Beaumont believed that in ancient times, Britain was Atlantis and inhabited by Aryan multi-dimensional giants. The Eastern Shambhala team did not play nice with the opposing Western team that promoted the superiority of Atlantis risen. To the Atlantis team, Moldavite was fancied as the stone that graced King Arthur's magical sword.

When the Panchen Lama departed Tibet and went to British-ruled India, all the superpowers quickly dispatched intelligence agents to bring him back to Tibet. While that phase of history is over, the patterns of manipulating the public and making them take sides of bizarre conflicts certainly continue today.

If you're interested in delving into the history, read more about the role of Shambhala, Atlantis and Moldavite for the goals of imperialism in the links below. And for fun, read a grand, cinematic love story at the heart of the fictional battle between Shambhalla-heads and Atlantis-heads over Moldavite in my Contemporary Gothic novel, Encore: A Hypnotic Abduction. Sign up for the newsletter to be alerted about its publication in August.