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A note on the content of the decrypted book (105 pages), which according to the Register, "[...] has been revealed as the rituals and political thoughts of a G

by Luyt 15y ago

A note on the content of the decrypted book (105 pages), which according to the Register, "[...] has been revealed as the rituals and political thoughts of a German secret society, with a strange fascination for eye surgery and ophthalmology." However, the WikiPedia entry [1] makes this ritual sound more like a fraternity/student joke: "[...] an initiation ritual in which the candidate is asked to read a blank piece of paper, and on confessing inability to do so, is given eyeglasses and asked to try again, and then again after washing the eyes with a cloth, followed by an "operation" in which a single eyebrow hair is plucked." [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copiale_Cipher http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copiale_Cipher

yesbabyyes 15y ago
Yeah that's what it says in the book: He carries him thereafter to a secondary table where, next to a lot of candles, several instruments and eye glasses, microscopic perspective, a cloth and a glass of water must be present. He has to lower himself on to a tabouret and to look upon an unwritten piece of paper for a while. If, after a while, he answers that he cannot see anything written on there, than the master of ceremonies puts him a pair of eye glasses and asks him again if he is not able to read the writing. Answer no. During this time the master of ceremonies comforts him as good as he can, raises his hopes for improvement washes his eyes with a cloth and if nothing helps, he will announce that they have to proceed with the operation then all those present members reach for the candles place themselves around the candidate and the master of ceremonies [...] plucks a hair from the eyebrow with a pair of small tweezers under constant urging, comfort and encouragement and concludes herewith the operation http://stp.lingfil.uu.se/~bea/copiale/copiale-translation.txt http://stp.lingfil.uu.se/~bea/copiale/copiale-translation.tx...
wladimir 15y ago
Many religious rituals can look like a fraternity/student joke to the untrained observer. Still they do take their rituals and conventions very serious. These kind of secret societies were more common back then, I wouldn't be surprised if this was no joke.

by Luyt 15y ago

yesbabyyes 15y ago

Yeah that's what it says in the book: He carries him thereafter to a secondary table where, next to a lot of candles, several instruments and eye glasses, microscopic perspective, a cloth and a glass of water must be present. He has to lower himself on to a tabouret and to look upon an unwritten piece of paper for a while. If, after a while, he answers that he cannot see anything written on there, than the master of ceremonies puts him a pair of eye glasses and asks him again if he is not able to read the writing. Answer no. During this time the master of ceremonies comforts him as good as he can, raises his hopes for improvement washes his eyes with a cloth and if nothing helps, he will announce that they have to proceed with the operation then all those present members reach for the candles place themselves around the candidate and the master of ceremonies [...] plucks a hair from the eyebrow with a pair of small tweezers under constant urging, comfort and encouragement and concludes herewith the operation http://stp.lingfil.uu.se/~bea/copiale/copiale-translation.txt http://stp.lingfil.uu.se/~bea/copiale/copiale-translation.tx...

wladimir 15y ago

Many religious rituals can look like a fraternity/student joke to the untrained observer. Still they do take their rituals and conventions very serious. These kind of secret societies were more common back then, I wouldn't be surprised if this was no joke.