of obsidian, and some of them are in museums, like the legendary black mirror of the evil deity Tezcatlipoca, on display in the Mexico City's Instituto Nacional de Antropología.

There exist other objects allegedly employed for the purpose of communication with other levels of existence. One of them leads us into a discussion of the ever-controversial Knights Templar, the monastic order of warriors whose activities had a major impact on Europe and the Mediterranean Basin during almost two centuries. The Templars are perhaps better known for their activities during the Crusades and the tragic end of their order at the hands of the kings of France, but a number of scholars have focussed on the occult aspects of their work. George Andrews cites French paranormalist Guy Tarade's research intopresumably only members of the priesthood had access to it, and was kept safe from capture during the various invasions of Palestine by foreign powers (Egyptians, Assyrians and Hellenic Syrians). Although the Emperor Titus successfully conquered Jerusalem in 70 A.D., his triumphal arch in Rome, which shows Roman legionaries on parade with their captured booty from the temple (the Menorah, sacred trumpets and tables), does not include the Ark--a sculptor's oversight, perhaps? These objects remained in Rome until the city was sacked by the marauding Vandals in the 5th century and taken to their capital, Carthage. The Byzantine armies of Belisarius shipped the objects to Constantinople after the conquest of the Vandal kingdom, but the superstitious emperor Justinian, fearing that the captured "treasure of the Jews" would spell