As far as secret organizations go, the most well known is probably The Illuminati.
Their rumored membership includes nearly every public figure in the world, including Beyoncé,
Paris Hilton, Barack Obama, Bob Barker, Adolf Hitler, and many many more.
This supposedly powerful cabal has been implicated in the Kennedy assassination, 9/11, the death
of Whitney Houston, and the Ice Bucket Challenge, and has been said to be pulling the strings
that make the world go round.
So, what do we know about the Illuminati?
Back in 1776, a secular college professor in Bavaria, Germany was feeling ostracized
by his Jesuit colleagues, and decided to start a society to spread Enlightenment era ideas.
This was an attempt to shift the pro-monarchy, Catholic supremacy movement into a rational,
scientific, and somewhat more secular movement.
Since knowledge of this group would have had serious consequences for the professor, he
gave himself and other members nicknames and shrouded the group in secret rituals and symbols.
The Order of the Illuminati specifically excluded Jews, Pagans, women, and members of other
religions or cults.
After some time, the Illuminati, looking to expand their membership base, joined forces
with the longstanding Freemasons group.
The Freemasons were an intricate fraternal organization of laborers; seemingly mysterious
for their religious-like use of symbols and ceremonies.
After securing their own Freemason Lodge, the higher order Illuminati members attempted
to recruit from the higher order Freemasons.
However, as a newer sect with different allegiances, they commanded less respect than existing
groups.
Still, despite significant infighting over the origins of various rituals, political
and social focus, and other petty differences, the Illuminati managed to recruit between
650 and 2,500 members in Bavaria, at their height around 1784.
Around this time, an obscure Christian cult, known as RōzekrooSHənism [Rosicrucianism],
infiltrated the Illuminati.
They were very religious and opposed the idea of an enlightened, philosophical, scientific,
rational movement.
After infighting and further attacks by outside groups, as well as too high a membership to
keep the Order secret, knowledge of the group got out.
Many members were exposed, and a number actually held fairly high positions of power.
After being accused of publishing anti-religious literature, the Bavarian government banned
all secret societies, and seized and published a large number of important documents from
the Illuminati’s founders.
This effectively ended the existence of the group, and their original founder fled Germany.
In the few years after the end of the Bavarian Illuminati, a number of books were written,
purporting that not only did the Illuminati still exist in secret, but that they were
conspiratorily responsible for many international events, including the French Revolution.
These books gained significant popularity, and the ideas therein have survived into modern
times.
In recent years, the idea of a resurgent, or surviving Illuminati order that is in control
of world events through underlying iconography and ritualism has been a popular conspiracy
theory.
However, there is literally no evidence of the existence of this group, nor any connection
between current groups and the Bavarian Illuminati.
Still… isn’t that exactly what they’d want you to think?
Another secretive society that has a considerable amount of power is the so-called “Church”
of Scientology.
Are they a religion, or a cult?
Watch our video here.
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