The Goddess, The Grail and The Lodge

Alan Butler weaves a divine tapestry of the sacred feminine throughout history -- and with golden thread!! This "golden thread" is his concept that the Great Goddess was venerated for at least 5,000 years - and has never stopped. Her golden thread has been woven into the very fabric of our culture, albeit underground. Her golden thread still glistened and shimmered even with the advent of the patriarch trying to destroy the "pagan" goddess worhshippers! The conclusion as to the significance of this divine feminine is crucial to the development of the modern world - and is evident in its unfolding. Bravo, Alan Butler!! Thanks for this outstanding contribution to the Great Goddess!

This book opened my eyes to a whole new way to view the history of Christianity generally and the Knights Templar more specifically. The author's theory is that a group of families have worked, from before the time of Jesus through today, to ensure that worship of the Goddess or Sacred Feminine(which some today call paganism) would not be snuffed out by the patriarchal religions. These families, he believes, were the force behind the Knights Templar and later Freemasonry. I read this book while I was researching my own novel on the Knights Templar, Cabal of The Westford Knight: Templars at the Newport Tower, and Butler's theory allowed me to understand many things which otherwise made no sense to me. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a new way to connect the dots of history.

The author has written a very entertaining read but I believe putting it in the category of "non-fiction" is questionable. He doesn't get his "facts" from any legitimate source which would allow for further research by anyone else. He does paint a convincing picture of a possible scenario, and most people with any sense these days know that history is subjective and based on many factors, one of which is the agenda of the author. While I don't believe it is a requirement to obtain a string of degrees to write a non-fiction book on history, as a historian I can't help but be curious as to just where he obtained some of his information. This book is more a good detective mystery novel rather than a work of non-fiction. The bibliography in the book in no way resembles anything that could be considered of scholary quality. No self-respecting historian or researcher would use the types of sources Butler does to back up his statements of "fact." The sources he used would not even be acceptable for an undergraduate research paper! Butler makes some pretty outrageous claims that he states as facts but gives nothing for the reader to latch on to if they wanted to do further research. And one thing throughout the book that was very annoying was his repeated use of a few phrases that make him appear as not having much of a command of English. This may be the way he writes, but a good editor would have caught this immediately. As far as I can tell, his theory, while interesting and something to think about, is more of a conspiracy theory derived out of a controversial theory from decades ago. I'm all about Goddess worship, and I am certain that "history" as we know it is only a small part of what actually occurred, but Butler needs to show us something to back up his outrageous claims so we can do our own detective work. Otherwise, his work remains purely a work of fiction.

Wow!! That's my short opinion regarding "The Goddess, The Grail, and The Lodge". If the reader enjoys a good detective novel containing a solid plot and a block buster conclusion, this is the book. The author, like any good detective, assembles his evidence, both physical and circumstantial (physical about 90 %), in a careful and methodical manner before he closes in on the prize, and that is exactly what Mr. Butler does here. He uses very solid archelogical and other evidence from the megalithic period in Britain and Ireland and into Egypt, Crete, Malta, et al to prove there is a thread in the fabric of history regarding goddess worship and its ultimate connections thereof to modern religious practice. But, this is NO novel. It is REALITY that spans across thousands of years with a clear thread running through the fabric of history which Mr. Butler refers to as "The Golden Thread". The reader will learn of a select group of indivduals who have perpetuated this practice throughout the ages. What I found fascinating was the LOCATIONS of many pagan religious sites, what is located there now and where they are located latitudinally and logitudinally. In the process you will learn all about what Mr. Butler refers to as "salt lines" and from whence they are derived. I will not give away any more of the plot. Concerning the religious element mentioned above, it should be emphasized that this book is not anti-religious! Concerning the style: I found the book to be a quick read as one is not tied in knots every other sentence with footnotes and references. The material the author discusses is available in any library and is common knowledge in many instances. He does provide "notes" at the end regarding books and references. Also, the prose is such, along with the plot, that one feels he is reading a novel because the pages turn quite fast. I will read it again, however, for fear that I missed something the first time around. If you like Knight, Lomas, Pinknett, Prince, Baigent, Leigh, Lincoln and those early pioneers in new theories regarding history, you'll love Alan Butler's book. His book presents premises and conclusions that I have never before come in contact with regard to other writers. As Mr. Butler would say, it is "time out of mind". I suspect he is working on a new book that will add even more to our reservoir of new theories and I can't wait for that moment. Somehow I think it will involve a thread that just happens to be very, very gold!Don BarnabyMarion, IL--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For many years now I have been fascinated by the contemplation of a religious and political conspiracy across a great span of European history, as first suggested by authors Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln in their seminal book `The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail'. It was for this reason that I jumped upon Alan Butler's book, `The Goddess, the Grail and the Lodge' and how pleased I was to have done so. Alan Butler demonstrates, in the most fascinating manner possible, how an original veneration for a Great Goddess, perhaps as much as 5,000 years ago, never stopped in Western Europe and beyond and he explains how the rise of Christianity tried hard to destroy the Goddess worshipers. But what is most convincing about Alan Butler's investigation is that it shows, clearly and in an entertaining style, just how important Goddess worship has been and remains to the progress of the world in which we live. I won't spoil the story for those who have not read it yet. I will merely say that I enjoyed this book from the first to the last page. If you are even remotely interested in the `real' story behind the apparent signposts of history, this is a book you must read.