Arkon Daraul
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Arkon Daraul is the name of the "author" of A History of Secret Societies (1961), a popular occult/conspiracy work dealing with, among other topics, the Assassins, the Knights Templar, Rosicrucians, Chinese Triads and the Carbonari.
"Daraul" is almost certainly a pseudonym, as no individual with that name has been identified other than as the author of that very work. It is widely believed that "Daraul" — an anagram of "old rank aura" (c.f., Shah's "Rafael Lefort", "a real effort") — is actually Idries Shah. However common and justified this assumption may be, no real evidence exists to support it. If Idries Shah is, in fact, Daraul, the pseudonym might have been used because the fifth chapter deals with Sufism, a movement with which Shah identified and on which he wrote extensively under his own name. This chapter does in fact appear to betray personal, familiar acquaintance with Sufi meetings. However, in other chapters "Daraul" claims to have been present at the meetings of other societies as well, including those of the colorfully-named "Order of the Peacock Angel".
[edit] Book
A History of Secret Societies list very few sources. Many ideas in the book are not found anywhere else. One example is the idea that the top Rank of the thugs didn't actually believe in Kali. It claims they used their religion to make themselves gods.
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