Sinister Forces―The Manson Secret: A Grimoire of American Political Witchcraft Paperback – June 1, 2011

Rumor has it that Peter Levenda is the author of the 'Simon' Necronomicon and that anyone who reads THAT book is cursed for seven years. I think that book was a bald-faced hoax, but it is fitting that the same author was involved here, because THIS book is genuinely dangerous. If you have any paranoid tendencies, any mental imbalance, you should probably leave the entire Sinister Forces trilogy alone.In brief, the author argues that "mind-control" (in the form of propaganda, subtle persuasion, psychedelic drugs, terrorism, and...well...mind control) is an essential component of modern politics. And mind control is the same phenomenon the world once understood as witchcraft. We in the modern West may believe we are not susceptible to these irrational compulsive forces but, in fact, we are UNIQUELY vulnerable. Our societies have marginalized and devalued the traditional shamanistic encounter with unreason, and as a result we have a very unhealthy relationship with it. Intelligence operators, in the quest for tools of political influence, have rediscovered shamanistic practices and the forces that underlie them. These forces are "sinister" in a value-neutral sense; they are forces of the "left-hand path" - antinomian and awe-inspiring, but not necessarily evil. In proper context they can be beneficial to the individual and the community. But by implementing these practices alone, stripped of any spiritual significance, we have corrupted them. Both the serial killer and the fascist, he argues, are failed shamen.Of course, Levenda does not state this explicitly until page 362 of volume III. And, even then, I hesitate to take him at face value; to bury "the point" so deeply within a work like this is audacious. It may indicate that the subject matter is exceptionally subtle and must be teased out with care. It may indicate an intentional esotericism (as Nietzsche put it: "a book for all and none"). Or, it may indicate the active hypnotic manipulation of the reader - a sort of literary "look into my eyes." Here, I would argue, we have all three - and they take almost a thousand pages to fully manifest. And yet, Levenda never loses our attention. Like a fairytale warlock, he charms and coaxes the reader down this dark forest path.Ok, not "like" a warlock. He IS a warlock, and this is what makes his exposition of political witchcraft so compelling. His approach to the DETAILS of political history is remarkably sober - the text is exhaustively footnoted and bibliographied. But he recognizes patterns in these data that would be apparent only to a serious occultist.Indeed, some of these patterns are clearly faces in the clouds, but that's beside the point. The 'big picture' is not the main attraction. Read this book for the parade of oddball facts the author has marshalled together. Read it for thrills and chills and extreme thought-provocation. Prepare yourself for suspense, intrigue and intiatory terror on the threshold of spiritual enlightenment. Just be careful to come back in one piece...

The books were fascinating and the topic riveting. The books clearly indicate years of solid research and quest, documentation of seemingly unknown and unrelated topics. They were packed with information easily verifiable (MKULTRA, Operation Paperclip, Ratline, Nazi quest into the occult, American hidden agendas..) as well as intriguing premises: are sinister forces hidden and in existence for centuries and millennia responsible for some of the horrific acts of murder, rape, torture, human sacrifice and genocide that depicts the history of the world, or specific individuals seem to be responsible for those acts? The correlations between Hollywood, politcians and occult events are astounding. For example, actor Woody Harrelson's (Born Killers) father was a contract killer who died in a federal penitentiary for killing a federal judge, and he was also present with Lee Oswald and another unknown sniper on the knoll in Dallas, when JFK was shot. Correlations between NASA founders, JPL founders, involvement with the occult and hidden forces are astounding. The author questions the term "coincidence" so easily used to dismiss seemingly related events by the controlling forces (former OSS Dulles brothers, R. Nixon, CIA activities, Men in Black, support for Nazi from people like Henry Ford, the JP Morgan, the Popes etc.) The horror brought about by the discoveries that civilian population has been constantly used as "guinea pigs" without our knowledge. References to how sinister forces have spiked drinks of top scientists, like Frank Olson, who wanted out of the top secret production of biological weapons, and officially committed suicide, the same as many people who appeared to be getting too close to something or someone... The author expressed the concern many times that his readers might be shocked by his writings, but the reality is that only people comfortable and knowledgeable of his themes would read the heavy and lengthy tomes. And the question, just like in "God's Jury" by Cullen Murphy, is not so much that the Inquisition occurred, but how we collectively allowed it to occur. And the same with Peter Levenda"s "Grimoire": when are we going to own up collectively to the horror perpetrated by hidden forces, instead than burying ourselves in constant entertainment and immediate gratification, and being in a constant state of denial because the truth "is too ugly, and therefore it cannot be real?"

This is an excellent book, and should be THE text for American History courses, uncovering as it does the layers of mystery beneath the layers of "history" we are taught to simply accept on faith. Well researched, thoroughly documented, Sinister Forces takes us on a whirlwind tour of current events past and present and shows us how they dovetail, weave and underscore one historical tragedy after another - while at the same time letting us know that there is hope if we are willing to become aware of what is currently being swept under the rug.I issue two concerns: first, the consistent usage of run-on sentences that make finding the point a treasure hunt in material that is already complex; and second, there are way too many typos for a book of this calibre. I don't fault the author for that, I fault the publisher - and I hope the next printing is treated with more respect.