Eluiana - memories of the Knights Templar

Hi,
I was invited some time to come over and share memories. I have then been distracted by this-life issues - theatre group, postgrad thesis, filming my theatre group with BBC, etc etc etc!

Anyway, I am, in soul origin, Elenari, and will post up those memories separately.

I also have memories of human lives, and one of those that a friend who is also on here, asked me to post up about my memories of the 12th Century Knights Templar. I have ... goodness.. about 200 0r so regressions to this, noted up on my livejournal, so for now am posting up the first memory I got of this life, in 2008.

I will then use this thread for dropping over other memories, bit by bit (and then when I get to it will start a separate thread in the appropriate section for my Elenari memories).

So, my first ever memory of this life (as pasted from my Livejournal at the time)

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it was in the early medieval period, I was one of a group of guys in medieval Rome. I dont know if we were any especial group or what, but we went round doing generally "good deeds" and being lovely. There were seven or eight of us, and we had actually gained quite a wide ranging good reputation.
Then, (bearing in mind this was around about the time of the Crusades), we were pursuaded to join up with the Knights Templar, and head off to the Holy Land. Off we went, and again made a name for ourselves, one of our group marrying the Grand Masters daughter in a fairly secret ceremony (who, I can remember noting looked as if there was definitlty an irregualrity in her ancestry and as I commented to one of the others of our bunch who also didnt like the way things were going, "she looked decidely Sarecen!"). And things went seriously downhill over the next months. We ended up getting known for all the WRONG reasons, and doing absolutly VICIOUS stuff. Two of us were really unhappy, me, and the chap who had married the Grand Masters "daughter". The others had pretty much swallowed all the rehtoric and propoganda, and while not entirely happy, didnt bother to question anything.
Of course, my friends new wife turned out to share our dislike of the unfounded violence and nastiness.. and got beaten up by her father.
The dream fast fowarded to a huge battle, most of our original group were wiped out, it was just my friend and I left at the end. And we had enough. We just took off our Templar kit and walked out of there. BUT, one odd thing, we took the swords belonging to our dead friends, as they had some magical significance, and we were going to hide them somewhere before we disappeared forever.

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In which I recall more Latin that I didnt know I knew, remembered about a river I didnt know about, some of how I died, a term or name which I cannot identify, and a very weird phrase. .

Random phrases:
- The phrase "Sanctum Celorum" (Google Translate says it means "Holy Heavan". Makes sense I guess, hehe)
- a bizarre phrase "...etched into the stone; a hand, who turned into a man."
- Another odd phrase "Maedrigan, the fanatics" (strong feeling that whatever/ whoever this was, they were not appreciated by the Templars. In many cases the words pot and black come to mind *chuckle*).

Memories:
- More and more it seems I got about a bit from time to time. I guess thats what came of being on the Grand Masters council. I suspect in later years I got to Wales as well, but this is the first time Temple Church in London has popped up. I was arriving at Temple Church for the first time. I was looking round thinking this looked rather different from the other Templar churches I knew. I had a letter of introduction with me, and a large leatherbound book, which was titled "Donatus Traditionale of European Houses" (Donatus, I know already, is a term used in Templar documents as a term for lay-people who donated to the Temple to "save thier souls". Traditionale - well its obvious. I was to deliver the book to Temple Church.
The memory also reveals a small river (not the Thames) running close by at the time, and a look online shows that Temple Church is near to the modern-day Fleet Street - named for the river Fleet, which used to flow nearby. HAH! The effigies of the knights famously known to be in the nave of the church, were currently under construction and there were only three at the time.
- Ow ow owchie ow. Remembering past life deaths, for me at least who has rarely gone out in a peaceful manner, always involves a fair bit of that. What does annoy me was that the memory only involved the actual death, but not how the hell I had got splatted in the first place. Considering in my time, that time around, I had survived at least one pretty nasty splatting (my cussedness spans aeons), and some pretty hairy situations (think Cresson?) and outlived a lot of my friends, so I reckoned it was fair-do's by now. What I do remember was the ground was fairly stony and barren, a friend of mine (another templar) scooping me up and then realising I was fucked, he tried to give me water but I was too weak to swallow it. I hung on about two or three minutes, before I died and then found myself out-of-body, stood near by. Considering the fact I had become horrendously cynical about the whole Order, and had walked out once, before being strongarmed back, I was suprised that I was now feeling rather "meh" about actually leaving that life. Then I turned and walked away, that time/world misting out.

The battle took place in a valley, with the Sarecens coming over the surrounding hills from the east (ish). Ronald, it is interesting to note, had also joined the Templars. My friends and I, plus Ronald, were up front with the Grand Master, now interesting point number one. As we all know, the Templars wore white with a huge red cross on. He, however wore the colours reversed: red, with a huge white cross. I also had the feeling that another chap riding with him, was the "real" Grand master, . I would also like to mention the chap in red was killed within the first 10 minutes of the battle by the other side's archers.

yep, an interesting series of dreams, and mucho to google-o. Terribly surreal to me as I am anything but a devout Xtain - at least in this life. hehe. So when researching this, I also have to get my head around Xtian stuff - as I have never sort of formally read the Bible, just snippets here and there in other books. Plus of course its been "adapted" 10 million times anyway so it all depends onf the version and translation and what gospels are where and stuff. (all a bit of a head-melt).

_

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plus Ronald, were up front with the Grand Master, now interesting point number one. As we all know, the Templars wore white with a huge red cross on. He, however wore the colours reversed: red, with a huge white cross. I also had the feeling that another chap riding with him, was the "real" Grand master. I would also like to mention the chap in red was killed within the first 10 minutes of the battle by the other side's archers.

So I research the red with white cross on. Not the Templars but the Hospitallers, pottered about like that:
The standard of the Order was a white cross on a scarlet field (http://www.fanaticus.org/DBA/armies/IV56.html). and some wore surcoats like that. Like the chap in my dream. So it could be that the Templars and Hospitallers grand masters were riding together? (and I had always thought the Hospitallers wore black with white crosses, which the also did, but I didnt know about the red angle as well).
And it looks like the battle was the Battle of Cresson (a village near Nazareth. I do remember a small village in the dream...) 1187 - the topography in some old pictures (yay for google) is similar to my dream, and the Hospitaller grand master was killed (and the Templar GM wounded)... and yep, the small descriptions I have found so far, fit. yeah. well well. I rather suspected I would verify some more stuff from these dreams. Amd the suspicion is borne out.
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This guy (last name in my head as De Le Rayne, but I find this morning on google the name De Lorraine, which is pronnounced the same, seems to turn up a lot in records of the crusades, I will be reading more up later) and I were fighting back to back after our horses had been killed. This Sarecen chappie came up with a spear, at full pelt. I sidestepped at the last minute, caught his spear just behind the sharp bit and sent him flying, conveniently onto someone elses sword.
By the time the battle was over, about two thirds of our force were wiped out, bodies strewen everywhere, those of us still standing had been taken prisoner (not an easy job when we kinda wanted to fight to the death!) . Those soldiers and fighters not of one of the Military Orders, were separated from those who were.
First of all, those who werent, were disarmed, and sorta freed. I say sorta, because the deal was this. You had to walk out through the desert, not the easy way (back the way we had come) I remember knowing in the dream it was about two days, by horse. No weapon, no water, no nothing, but if you survived, then you were free. The handful - well I think something like about 12 of us - Templars watched them head off and disappear into the dust. I couldnt help thinking the vast majority, at least would probably not make it especially the chap at the back of the group who was already limping badly from a battle wound.
The Templars werent going to get it so easy (or maybe actually easier , in the long run, if you think about it). With us, was also the woman who had been travelling with us. De Le Rayne, myself, and another of the "True templars" (a secret group even secret within the Templars, to which this woman was also connected somehow), whom I will refer to as Ginge as he had ginger hair, and whom I majorly disliked, and this woman, standing slighly behind us, were at one end of the line. Saladin appeared, walking along the line. Each Templar was given the chance to convert to Islam, or be executed. And in turn every Templar politely refused. He got to our end. No thanks, no thanks, no thanks. from our little trio. He turned back to the men with him, and I decided to speak. I had already sussed that like him or not, enemy or not, he was a straight - talker. As soon as I opened my gob, De Le Rayne, and "Ginge" stared at me daggers, but I did not say what they obviously thought I was going to say. Which was something to the effect of
"My lord, what of the lady? she is no threat to you, and innocent in all of this, a traveller who joined us for protection. May she remain safe, and delivered back to her people unharmed? "
Saladin turned, looked me straight in the eye, which look I returned, glanced past me at the woman, and then walked off without a word. Reaching the other end of the line, he told him men to "Bring them", but when some of his men came to take us four out, he stopped them. After all the others had been taken out, he turned to us.
"I will give you the same chance as I gave those whom I spared. Take your ...traveller.... And whether you reach the other side of the desert, or not, will be in the hands of Allah. You will travel the same, as they, unarmed, and not wear the sign of your order. If you agree to this, the three of you may take your traveller, and leave. I will not stop you."
Ginge started to protest, something about the perils submitting to the will of the infidel god, before he got a sharp elbow from me. De Le Rayne agreed to this.
But as we left, we could see the others being beheaded, in twos. And we all stopped. I know for me, and I think for the other chaps, the dilemma/ thought process was this. Why was it that we should live, while our brothers died? and to go with our hearts, we would have rather joined them. (a solidarity thing!). But we had another duty, and however painful it was to leave the others, we had to get our charge through the desert in one piece.

Other things too that hover between the bounds of what is known, and what isnt.

What I am certain of, from the memories, is that whatever the reason that made I and some friends join up (idealism, of the period, basically, and, yes, good intentions), that the Templars were up to a lot more than was/is publically known.

There was the very odd, and highly secretive memory I had, very early on, of a wedding. Very bizarre since techincally the Templars were supposed to be monastic. Even fishier that it was, apparantly, the marriage of the Grand Masters daughter to another high ranking person in the order. That was definitly NOT as it seems; like I said at the time to a friend, the girl "looks decididly Sarecen". I found in some in-depth research that a married man could be in the Templars, providing his wife agreed. As for who this girl really was, (as in, I dont think for a second that she was physically the Grand Masters daughter. Racially she was totally Middle Eastern), I believe the father-daughter aspect was symbolic rather than real. I also suspect it had to do with some alliances that it is historically believed that were made between the Templars and certain Islamic sects.

Also pointing that way was an encounter I and some others had, fairly early on, after our arrival in "The Holy Land". We had been travelling, and run into trouble, and just about fought our way out, to be set upon by some travelling Sarecen soldiers. However when the lord/ guy in charge of these soldiers caught up, he instantly refused to allow his men to attack us, on account of our being Templars, and severely berated them. Ahain considering how things were supposed to be in the Crusades, it speaks of something a tad more secret going on.

What else? There was something going on within the Templars too. You see even the order was almost split, you had the True Templars as they were known by thier members, who seem to have been privy to the more secret goings ons, and the rest, who were there for the glory (or as percieved) of the crusades. There was some friction too between these factions.

Now, its commonly believed that the Templars were hiding something secret. That much is true, but dont expect me to confirm the discovery or not of the Holy Grail, because I cant do that, heh. What I can write down is as much as I have remembered. Some of the things, well I dont now know what they really were anyway.

I have a memory of exploring ruined places, and finding some trinkets, and possibly some alchemical stuff. I have another memory of a high-up and rather annoyed religious chappie (not Templar) coming along and demanding to see what we had discovered *somewhere*, and my refusal to permit him access "Only the Grand Master has the key".
When I, and some surviving friends from a battle left the scene in question, we took with us the swords of our dead friends, as they had some magical or occult significance, and hid them.
I also have one memory that I believe is of the same life, maybe later, or in a trip back to Italy - . Being in a place i assume was in the Vatican, and allowing some other religious high-up muckymuck to inspect one of these swords, which was inlaid with strange symbols. He wanted it for himself, but while I was letting him see it, I refused to hand it over.

And theres another memory, which I know to have been in a Templar church somewhere, whether its still there or not is anybodys guess, but it "feels" important. It was a stained glass window, of a sword rising out of fire.