I am most indebted to the article by Peter O’Reilly, ‘More on Paul Le Cour, The Hiéron And The Priory’ ('The Rennes Observer' Nr 31, June 2001, pp 18-20). This work is a major development in the study of Priory of Sion origins.

1937

Pierre Plantard involved in Right-Wing political activity aged seventeen – attempting to form an anti-Semitic and anti-Masonic organisation with the aim of "purifying and renewing" France, which was denied by the French authorities. Plantard used the pseudonym "Varans Vincent" or "Varrans de Verrestra".

This was done within the historical context of France having its first Socialist and Jewish Prime Minister, Léon Blum. And the renewal of France by the Right-Wing societies involved the ethnic cleansing of Judaism.

1937

Paul Le Cour, 'L'Ere du Verseau' (The Age of Aquarius).

Quoting Peter O’Reilly: "In it Le Cour looks forward to the future Age of Aquarius as bringing with it the return of Christ in the role of Christ the King. It is a work of esoteric and apocalyptic Christianity in which the author also voices his belief in an esoteric spiritual tradition that originated in Atlantis…(and quoting from the book) "The work of 'Atlantis', founded the 24th of June 1926, is inspired by the same directives as those of the director of the Hiéron (i.e. de Sarachaga) whose signet ring representing Cybele was bequeathed to me by Mlle Lepine."…[the book contained a drawing of an octopus subtitled] "une symbole de la tradition primitive: le poulpe" (a symbol of the primitive tradition: the octopus)."

1942

‘Vaincre’ Nr 1, page 1 (21 September), featuring a quotation from Paul Lecourt, Editor of ‘Atlantis’:

"…When a stream is polluted it is necessary, if you are to find the pure water, to go back to the source. It's the same with tradition - it only remains pure at its origin."

‘Vaincre’ was the bulletin of the Alpha Galates, an anti-Masonic, anti-Semitic Right-Wing organisation that stemmed from Plantard’s earlier Right-Wing activities of the 1930s: the Statutes of the Alpha Galates being dated 27 December 1937 (Feast Date of St John The Divine).

1949

Third edition of ‘The Age of Aquarius', with Le Cour quoting a passage from a novel by J-K. Huysmans: "I think that society has started to putrefy, that its bones are rotting, that its flesh is falling off. It has to collapse; it cannot be bandaged up or healed. It must be buried, and another one born. God alone can accomplish such a miracle..."

Passages from the chapter entitled ‘The Formation of a New Order of Knighthood’ (translated by Peter O’Reilly):

"For more than twenty years we have been calling in 'Atlantis' for the formation of a new order of Knighthood and indicating the means by which it might be achieved...Jules Romain, in 'Le Probleme Numero Un', published in 1947, wishes, in the face of the current enormous danger, for a spiritual power consisting of a grand order of chivalry and it seems to him that for it to be realised the support of the Catholic church would be of great help. Another French author, Raymond Abellio, has published, likewise in 1947, a curious work entitled 'Vers un prophetisme nouveau', in which he, too, calls for the formation of a grand order consisting of a community of initiates under the direction of a man with a sense of mission. The order would comprise novices, disciples and masters. He does not indicate the means of realising it, but thinks that it could be through the Catholic Church, on condition that it lifts the veil off the New Testament and 'questions St John....'

"Let me also point out that P.Riquet in a conference in 1947 at Notre Dame de Paris, has also spoken for the need for the creation of an order of knighthood. And Jean-Louis Lagor has published a work with the title 'Une Chevalerie Renaitra' (An Order of Knighthood Will Be Reborn).

"Young people have been abandoned for far too long without moral or spiritual direction. Teaching has been developed at the expense of 'education'. Everything therefore needs to be created from the beginning to bring about the formation of leaders and educators, subject to a discipline simultaneously heroic and sanctifying, in special establishments: Priories (Prieures). We possess in France buildings that are permeated with a spiritual dynamism that favours its realisation, such as Mont St Michel with its wonderful cloisters for meditation, its majestic chapel for prayer and its magnificent hall of knights. All are unused.

"Our country has a mission to fulfil. It has been shaken hard to wake it from its torpor, its lethargy; and now ideas are shooting up on all sides, for France is a seedbed of ideas. Let us try to understand what our mission consists of, let us try to fulfil it by preparing knights of the Apocalypse whose head will be Christ when he returns!

"The cycle of the romances of the Round Table tells us the story of the holy vessel, the Grail, which there is good reason to connect with that Ganymede (i.e. Aquarius). Considered as containing all light and all knowledge, it is the object of a quest, a search to which the knights dedicate themselves. Their head is King Arthur, head of the legendary order of knighthood of the Grail, who is to return one day at the head of his knights to put the world back in order, and at that time all symbols will be explained. But such an order of knighthood will have to be placed under the patronage of St John, who is the head of knights and of initiates."

1951

Paul Le Cour, ‘L'Evangile Esotherique De Saint Jean’.

1954

Paul Le Cour died.

1956

Pierre Plantard being one of four individuals who formed the Priory of Sion, named after the Mountain of Sion outside Annemasse (Haute-Savoie), subtitled C.I.R.C.U.I.T., an acronym for ‘Chevalerie d’Institutions et Règles Catholiques, d’Union Independante et Traditionaliste’ (Knighthood of Catholic Rules and Institutions of the Independent and Traditionalist Union); with its Catholic nature being highly emphasised. The Statutes of the 1956 Priory of Sion contained elements very similar to those found in the 1937 Statutes of the Alpha Galates. The Grand Master of the 1956 Priory of Sion – called ‘Nautonier’ – was designated under ‘l’Arche "Kyria"’: the Greek word meaning "the elect lady" (cf. 2 John 1), being one of the early Christian titles for the Blessed Virgin Mary. This designation of the Grand Master was most likely inspired by the knowledge of the ring Paul Le Cour inherited from the Hiéron du Val d’Or that featured the Goddess Cybele.

1966

"Eugène Stublein" & "Abbé Joseph Courtauly", ‘Pierres gravées de Languedoc’ – featuring a ‘second’ gravestone of Marie de Negri d’Ables, containing a diagram of a spider remarkably similar to that of the Octopus found in Le Cour’s book.

French researcher Pierre Jarnac discovered the real signature of Eugène Stublein in his booklet ‘Description d’un voyage aux etablissements Thermaux de l’arrondissement de Limoux, avec une carte Routière’ (1877), and found it to be different to the Stublein signature found in the above book, concluding that both the ‘Pierres gravées’ book and the ‘second’ gravestone of Marie de Negri d’Ables to be forgeries of the mid-1960s.

The authentic signature of Eugene Stublein:

Compared to the signature found in ‘Pierres gravées de Languedoc’:

1967

‘Les Dossiers Secrets d’Henri Lobineau’, compiled by Philippe Toscan du Plantier, featuring a ‘Hiéron du Val d’Or article’ written by "Le Poulpe" – the article itself being a patchwork of paragraphs from Paul Le Cour’s ‘The Age of Aquarius’, also featuring the diagram of the Octopus from Le Cour’s book (as well as the double-headed vertical line that appears down the middle of the faked gravestone of Marie de Negri d’Ables). The top of the article bears the date 24 June 1926 – the same date as the founding of ‘Atlantis’.

‘Les Dossiers’ gives a fictitious List of Grand Masters of the Priory of Sion, all of which bear the title of ‘Jean’ or ‘Jeanne’.

CONCLUSIONS

That the elements embodied within both the Alpha Galates and the Priory of Sion were already old and well-trodden ideas featured by many esoteric authors.

That Pierre Plantard was a great admirer of Paul Lecour and was inspired by his esoteric works, merging them together into his Right-Wing political views.

That Plantard kept his esoteric and political Right-Wing views alive throughout his life – spinning his mystic monarchist games throughout the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.