Adam Weishaupt and the Order of the Illuminati (1776)

When you talk about tracing the origin of an organization which is controlling the destiny of the world, it's obvious that you have to start at a period which would allow a movement of this magnitude, time to ferment. Changes like the ones which have, and are occurring do not take place overnight. We are dealing with a group which must have been growing for a long period of time, in order to obtain the power and influence necessary to achieve the global control now being exercised. When you think of it in that context, there is such a group: The Illuminati.

The leader of the Illuminati was a man named Dr. Adam Weishaupt who was born on February 6, 1748... . When his father died in 1753, he was converted to Catholicism by Baron Johann Adam Ickstatt, who turned the early training of the boy over to the Jesuits. Ickstatt, in 1742, had been appointed by the Jesuits to be the curator of the University [of Ingolstadt] in order to reorganize it. He had retired in 1765, but still controlled its policies.

Although Weishaupt later became a priest, he developed a distinct hatred for the Jesuits, and became an atheist. Given access to the private library of Ickstatt, his godfather, the young man became interested in the works of the French philosophers, and studied law, economics, politics, and history. One such philosopher, Voltaire (1694-1778), a revolutionary who held liberal religious views, had written in a letter to King Frederick II ('the Great'), a Mason:

"Lastly, when the whole body of the Church should be sufficiently weakened and infidelity strong enough, the final blow (is) to be dealt by the sword of open, relentless persecution. A reign of terror (is) to be spread over the whole earth, and ... continue while a Christian should be found obstinate enough to adhere to Christianity."

It is believed that Weishaupt got his ideas concerning the destruction of the Church from Voltaire's writings. He studied in France where he met Robespierre (who later led the French Revolution), and became friends with a few people in the French Royal Court. It is alleged that through these contacts he was introduced to Satanism.

He graduated from the University of Ingolstadt, [Bavaria] in 1768. He served four years as a tutor until he was promoted to Assistant Instructor. In 1772, Weishaupt was made Professor of Civil Law. In 1773, he was made Professor of Canon Law, a post which had been held by the Jesuits for 90 years. They had founded most of the Universities, and kept strict control of them in order to eliminate Protestant influence.

In 1770, he was chosen by Meyer Amschel Rothschild to develop an organization that he could use. [Source? --ed]

In 1773, Weishaupt got married, against the wishes of Ickstatt, who denounced him. Two years later, at the age of 27, he was made Dean of the Faculty of Law. The Jesuits, worried about his quick progression, tried to thwart his influence by secretly plotting against him, and his liberal thinking. Not wanting to become a martyr for his free-thinking ideas, he began focusing on establishing his organization. To confuse his detractors, he based the organizational structure on the one used by the Jesuits, however, his intention was to have a secret coalition of liberalism.

He studied the anti-Christian doctrines of the Manicheans, whose teachings revolved around astrology, medicine, and magic. He had been indoctrinated into Egyptian occult practices by an unknown merchant named Kolmer, from Jutland (the area around the border of Denmark and West Germany), who had been traveling around Europe since 1771. He studied the power of the Eleusinian mysteries and the influence exerted by the secret cult of the Pythagoreans. Pythagoras was a 6th century B.C. philosopher who taught that men and women should combine their belongings, which became the basic philosophy behind Communism. Weishaupt also studied the teachings of the Essenes, and acquired copies of the Kabala, The Major Key of Solomon, and The Lesser Key of Solomon, which revealed how to conjure up demons and perform occult rituals.

He studied the various Masonic writings after meeting a Protestant Freemason from Hanover. At first he thought about creating a superior Masonic-like organization that would be made up of men possessing superior abilities in all fields but concluded that Masonry was too open.

[...snip...]

Weishaupt spent five years working out a plan through which all of his ideas could be reduced to a single system which would be used to fight the oppression of religion, thereby loosening social ties. He wanted to replace Christianity with a religion of reason. An initial idea was to form an organization comprised of 'Schools of Wisdom,' whose goal was to "make of the human race, one good and happy family." They were to strive for the perfection of morals, so he thought about naming the group the 'Perfectibilists,' but it lacked the air of mystery and intrigue that he sought.

In 1774, he published a fictitious article called Sidonii Apollinarus Fragment, which he said was to prepare the people for the doctrine of reason. Weishaupt wrote:

"Princes and nations will disappear without violence from the earth. The human race will then become one family, and the world will be the dwelling of rational men."

He wrote of their aims: "To make the perfecting of reasoning powers interesting to mankind, to spread the knowledge of sentiments, both humane and social, to check wicked inclinations, to stand up for suffering and oppressed virtue ... to facilitate the acquirement of knowledge and science."

On May 1, 1776, under the direction of the newly formed House of Rothschild ([along with] Wessely, Moses, Mendelssohn, and the bankers Itzig, Friedlander, and Meyer) who instigated the American Revolution to weaken Great Britain, Weishaupt founded the "Ancient Illuminated Seers of Bavaria" which became known as the "Order of the Illuminati". Weishaupt said that the name was derived from Luciferian teachings, and means, 'Holders of the Light.' In Latin, it means, the 'enlightened ones.' In layman's terms, it means 'to illuminate,' or 'to give light.' It refers to someone who is enlightened, spiritually and intellectually. Satan, when he was an angel, was known as Lucifer, the 'Bearer of Light,' and being that the group's name evolved from this, we can see the underlying nature of its goals. In addition, May 1st [became] a great day for all communist nations, where it was known as May Day, and it is also known as a special day to witches.

Other "Illuminist" Groups

There were some earlier groups, with similar names, such as a group known as the 'Illuminated Ones' which was founded by Joachim of Floris in the 11th century, who taught a primitive, supposedly Christian doctrine of "poverty and equality."

The Rosheniah, or 'Illuminated Ones,' ... was a group in Afghanistan during the 16th century, who sought the 'illumination' from the Supreme Being, who wanted a class of perfect men and women. After reaching the fourth degree, 'Enlightened One,' the initiate would receive mystical powers, and when the eighth and final degree was reached, they were told they had achieved perfection. An Afghan scholar said that their purpose was to influence people of importance to establish harmony in the world, and were devoted to fight the tyranny of the Moguls, who were the rulers of India. The group survived until the 1700's.

The Alumbrados ('enlightened' or 'illuminated') was a mysterious movement in Spain during the 16th and 17th centuries that believed that when a person achieved a certain degree of perfection, they experienced a vision of God, and then entered into direct communication with the Holy Spirit. At this point the soul would enter a state of limbo -- not advancing or going back. Once this level was achieved, a person didn't have to perform any good works or get involved in any religious activity, because they had received the 'light.' Once they had received the 'light,' they would possess superior human intelligence.

Their members mainly came from reformed Franciscans, and the Jesuits. Their unusual claims caused them to be criticized and harassed, and the Inquisition issued Edicts against them in 1568, 1574, and 1623. Ignatius de Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, was put in jail for being a member. This condemnation forced the movement into France, where in 1654 they surfaced as the Illuminated Guerinets.

The 'Illuminati' was the name of an occultic German sect that existed in the 15th century that professed to possess the 'light' received from Satan. It was also the name of an organization that was influenced by the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, which was established in 1760 at Avignon. This Swedenborgian philosophy also produced the Illuminated Theosophists in 1766 at Paris, then later in London, but was short lived.

Although it would certainly make for a more interesting story, there is no documentation to suggest that Weishaupt's Order of the Illuminati is a continuation of any of these groups. However, whether their teachings and philosophy had an influence on him is another question. Most assuredly, there is a spiritual lineage that ties them all together.

Organization of the Order

Starting with only five members (Weishaupt and his inner circle...), the Illuminati wasn't fully operational until 1778. Weishaupt wrote:

"The great strength of our Order lies in its concealment, let it never appear, in any place in its own name, but always covered by another name, and another occupation. None is fitter than the three lower degrees of Freemasonry; the public is accustomed to it, expects little from it, and therefore takes little notice of it... For the Order wishes to be secret, and to work in silence, for thus it is better secured from the oppression of the ruling powers, and because this secrecy gives a greater zest to the whole."

"How can the weak obtain protection? Only by union, but this is rare. Nothing can bring this about but hidden societies. Hidden schools of wisdom are the means which we will one day free men from their bonds..."

The Order was made up of three degrees: Novice, Minerval, and Illuminated Minerval. It was organized in a manner similar to Freemasonry and the Jesuits. Even though he admired the structure of the Jesuit hierarchy, he wrote that no ex-Jesuits were to be admitted, except by special permission. He wrote that they "must be avoided as the plague." Their rites and ceremonies were similar to that of the Masons. Their aim, he said, was to have a one-world government, to allow the elite to govern the world, thus preventing future wars. One of their early programs was to distribute anti-religious material to criticize clerical leaders, who they saw as obstacles to social progress, and to oppose the "enemies of the human race and of society."

All members were required to adopt classical names. Weishaupt was called 'Spartacus' (who had been the leader of the slave insurrection in ancient Rome). His right-hand man, Xavier von Zwack, a lawyer to Prince von Salm, was known as 'Cato'; Nicolai, the bookseller, was 'Lucian'; Professor Westenreider was 'Pythagoras'; Canon Hertel was 'Marius'; Marquis di Constanza was 'Diomedes'; Massenhausen was 'Ajar'; Baron von Schroeckenstein was 'Mohomed'; and Baron von Mengenhofen was 'Sylla.'

Their headquarters was in Munich, Germany, and known as the Grand Lodge of the Illuminati (or Lodge of the Grand Orient) code-named 'Athens'. Among their other four lodges: Ingolstadt was known as 'Ephesus', Heidelberg as 'Utica', Bavaria as 'Achaia', and Frankfurt was known as 'Thebes'.

The calendar was reconstructed, and the months known by names reminiscent of the Hebrew language: January was known as 'Dimeh,' and February as 'Benmeh,' etc. They dated their letters according to the Persian Era, named after the king who began to rule in Persia in 632 B.C., Jezdegerd. Their new year began on March 21st, which some sources say is New Years Day for witches.

In 1777, Weishaupt joined the Eclectic Masonic lodge 'Theodore of Good Counsel' in Munich, and towards the end of 1778, he came up with the idea of merging the Illuminati and the Masons. Xavier von Zwack became a Mason on November 27, 1778, and working with a brother Mason, Abbe Marotti, he divulged the secret of the Order. By the middle of 1779, the Munich Masonic lodge was under the complete influence of the Illuminati.

During the first four years, about 60 active members had been recruited by a committee known as the 'Insinuators', and close to 1,000 had become indirectly affiliated with the Order. Soon, three more lodges were established.

Few knew the supreme direction of the Order. Only those within the inner circle, known as the 'Areopagite' (meaning 'Tribunal'), were aware of their true purpose. To all others, Weishaupt said that he wanted a one-world government to prevent all future wars. The book World Revolution (by Nesta Webster) stated:

The art of Illuminism lay in enlisting dupes as well as adepts, and by encouraging the dreams of honest visionaries or the schemes of fanatics, by flattering the vanity of ambitious egotists, by working on unbalanced brains, or by playing on such passions as greed and power, to make men of totally divergent aims serve the secret purpose of the sect."

Foolish, naive people, with money to burn, were especially welcomed. Weishaupt wrote:

"These good people swell our numbers and fill our money box; set yourselves to work; these gentlemen must be made to nibble at the bait ... But let us beware of telling them our secrets, this sort of people must always be made to believe that the grade they have reached is the last." Weishaupt explained: "One must speak sometimes in one way, sometimes in another, so that our real purpose should remain impenetrable to our inferiors."

And what was that purpose? It was "nothing less than to win power and riches, to undermine secular or religious government, and to obtain the mastery of the world."

Initiates were told that the Order represented the highest ideals of the Church, that Christ was the first advocator of Illuminism, and his secret mission was to restore to men the original liberty and equality they had lost in the Garden of Eden. Weishaupt said that Christ exhorted his disciples to despise riches in order to prepare the world for the community of goods that would do away with property ownership. Weishaupt wrote to Zwack:

"The most admirable thing of all is that great Protestant and reformed theologians (Lutherans and Calvinists) who belong to our Order really believe they see in it the true and genuine mind of the Christian religion."

However, when one of Weishaupt's followers would reach the higher degrees, their secret was revealed:

"Behold our secret ... in order to destroy all Christianity, all religion, we have pretended to have the sole true religion... to deliver one day the human race from all religion."

Women were also enlisted. He wrote:

"There is no way of influencing men so powerful, as by means of women. These should therefore be our chief study; we should insinuate ourselves into their good opinion, give them hints of emancipation from the tyranny of public opinion, and of standing up for themselves..."

He also wrote: "This sex has a large part of the world in their hands." Female members were divided into two groups: one group of society women, to give the organization an air of respectability; and the other group "who would help to satisfy those brothers who have a penchant for pleasure." The Illuminati also used monetary and sex bribery to gain control of men in high places, then blackmailed them with the threat of financial ruin, public exposure, and fear of death.

Internal fighting soon developed because of Weishaupt's thirst for power. Besides that, because only nominal dues were collected, the Order suffered financially.

Baron Knigge (1780)

In 1780, a new member, Baron Franz Friedrich Knigge (1752-1796), was recruited, and given the pseudonym of 'Philo'. Knigge was born on October 16, 1752. He studied law at Gottingen, served in the courts of Hesse-Cassel and Weimar, and was a well-known writer of romance, poetry and philosophy. He joined the Masonic lodge of Strict Observance which was dedicated to the elimination of the occult sciences, which were widely practiced. Unable to do that, they were forced to accept it. Knigge achieved the rank of Brother Commander, and had the title of Knight of the Swan. He assisted in the establishment of a new Masonic lodge at Hanau. Because of his developing exposure and interest in the occult, magic and alchemy, he joined the Rosicrucians, a secret organization that dated back to the fourteenth century.

He later renounced alchemy, and devoted his studies to the development of a form of Masonry that would allow man to regain the perfection they once had before the fall of Adam and Eve. His idea was to reform Masonry, and he was going to make these proposals at the Congress of Wilhelmsbad. However, the Marquis of Constanza (known as "one of the most notorious of the Illuminati") informed him that the Illuminati had already done that. In order to lure him, Weishaupt portrayed the Order as representing the greatest advancement in science, and dedicated to philosophical advancement. Since this fell in line with Knigge's thinking, he was drawn into the Order.

Knigge was definitely a catch, because he had a talent for organization, and soon became the head of the Westphalia Circle. He was instrumental in pushing for a merger between the Masons and the Illuminati. Weishaupt wrote of him:

"Philo is the master from whom to take lessons; give me six men of his stamp and with them I will change the face of the Universe ... Philo does more than we all expected, and he is the man who alone will carry it all through."

Knigge was firmly supported by members of the Areopagite, who felt that Weishaupt's supreme authority should be delegated to others, and they agreed with Knigge's proposed modifications for the organization. They were adopted on July 9, 1781. Knigge was able to recruit the most effective propagandists, and from 1780 on, the growth of the Order was very rapid because its expansion was facilitated through its affiliation with the Masonic lodges. Their goal was now to achieve their aims by splitting mankind into opposing ideologies, and for them to fight among themselves, thus weakening national governments and organized religion.

The Congress of Wilhelmsbad (1781)

An understanding was finally reached between the Masons and the Illuminati, and on December 20, 1781, a combined Order was proposed which would add to the Illuminati organization the first three degrees of Masonry. It wasn't until the Congress of Wilhelmsbad from July 16th to August 29th, 1781 (which was attended by Masons, Martinistes, and representatives from other secret organizations from Europe, America and Asia) that the alliance was official. Those at the meeting were put under oath not to reveal anything. Comte de Virieu, a Mason from the Martiniste lodge at Lyons, upon his return home when questioned about the Congress said:

"I will not confide [the details] to you. I can only tell you that all this is very much more serious than you think. The conspiracy which is being woven is so well thought out, that it will be, so to speak, impossible for the Monarchy and the Church to escape it."

He later denounced the Illuminati, and became a devout Catholic.

Because of a movement begun by Dohm's book Upon the Civil Amelioration of the Condition of the Jews in 1781, and a book by Mirabeau in London, a resolution was passed at the Congress to allow Jews into the Lodges. It was obvious that it was done for financial reasons, because the Illuminati moved their headquarters to Frankfurt, Germany, a stronghold of Jewish finance. As the Order spread throughout Germany, money was contributed from such leading Jewish families as the Oppenheimers, Wertheimers, Schusters, Speyers, Sterns, and of course, the Rothschilds. Gerald B. Winrod wrote in his book Adam Weishaupt: A Human Devil that "of the thirty-nine chief sub-leaders of Weishaupt, seventeen were Jews." [However,] arguments that the Illuminati was solely of Jewish origin are completely unfounded.

After the Congress of Wilhelmsbad, the Illuminati functioned under the following organizational structure:

NURSERY

1) Preparation

2) Novice

3) Minerval

4) Illuminatus

SYMBOLIC (Masonry)

1) Apprentice

2) Fellow-Craft

3) Master

SCOTCH (Masonry)

4) Illuminatus Major (Scotch Novice)

5) Illuminatus Dirigens (Scotch Knight)

THE LESSER MYSTERIES

1) Presbyter (or Priest)

2) Prince (or Regent)

THE GREATER MYSTERIES

3) Magus

4) Rex

The Growth of the Order (1781-1784)

From Bavaria, the Order of the Illuminati spread into the Upper and Lower Rhenish provinces, Suabia, Franconia, Westphalia, Upper and Lower Saxony; and outside Germany into Austria and Switzerland. Soon they had over 300 members from all walks of life, including students, merchants, doctors, lawyers, judges, professors, civil officers, bankers, and ministers. Some of their more notable members were:

• Adam Weishaupt ('Spartacus')
• Xavier Zwack ('Cato')
• Baron Knigge ('Philo')
• Baron Bassus ('Hannibal')
• Count Massenhausen ('Ajar')
• Marquis of Constanza ('Diomedes')
• Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick ('Aaron')
• Gabriel Victor Riqueti de Mirabeau ('Leonidas')
• Johann Joachim Christoph Bode ('Amelius')
• Baron de Busche ('Bayard')
• Francios Emile Babeuf ('Gracchus')
• Duke of Orleans
• Duke Ernst Augustus of Saxe-Weimar-Coburg-Gotha
• Prince Charles of Hesse-Cassel
• Johann Gottfried von Herder (a philosopher)
• Count Klemens von Metternich
• Catherine II of Russia
• Count Gabriel de Mirabeau
• Duke Karl August of Saxe-Weimar
• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (a poet)
• Joseph II of Russia
• Christian VII of Denmark
• Gustave III of Sweden
• King Poniatowski of Poland

By 1783, there were over 600 members; and by 1784, their membership reached nearly 3,000. By 1786 they had numerous lodges across the various German provinces, Austria, Hungary, England, Scotland, Poland, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Holland, Spain, Sweden, Russia, Ireland, Africa, and America.

By the time of the 3rd Masonic Congress in Frankfurt in 1786, the Illuminati virtually controlled all the Masonic lodges, and at this meeting their goals were stated as:

1.) Pantheism for the higher degrees; atheism for the lower degrees and the populace

2.) Communism of goods, women, and general concerns

3.) The destruction of the Church and all forms of Christianity, and the removal of all existing human governments to make way for a universal republic in which the utopian ideas of complete liberty from existing social, moral, and religious restraint, absolute equality, and social fraternity, should reign.

Students who were members of wealthy families with international leanings were recommended for special training in internationalism. Those selected by the Illuminati were given scholarships to attend special schools. Weishaupt wrote:

"I propose academies under the direction of the Order. This will secure us the adherence of the Literati. Science shall here be the lure." He also wrote: "We must acquire the direction of education, of church, management of the professorial chair, and of the pulpit."

Today, there are many such schools. Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth, was educated at an Illuminati school in Gordonstown, Scotland at the insistence of Lord Louis Mountbatten (who became an admiral after the end of World War II, and had an uncle who was a Rothschild relative). Those trained at such schools were placed behind the scenes as experts and advisors to perpetuate Illuminati goals.

To insure that the activities of the Order would remain a secret, a warning as to the consequences of betraying the Order was including in the ceremony of initiation. They would point a sword at the initiate and say:

"If you are a traitor and a perjurer, learn that all our Brothers are called upon to arm themselves against you. Do not hope to escape or find a place of safety. Wherever you are, shame, remorse, and the rage of our Brothers will pursue you, and torment you to the innermost recesses of your entrails."

Weishaupt, worried that his control of the Order was diminishing, argued repeatedly with Knigge. While he preferred to work in secrecy, Knigge wanted to move on to more substantial things. In January, 1783, Knigge wrote in a letter to Zwack:

"It is the Jesuitry of Weishaupt that causes all our divisions, it is the despotism that he exercises over men perhaps less rich than himself in imagination, in ruses, in cunning ... I declare that nothing can put me on the same footing with Spartacus as that on which I was a first." He also wrote: "I abhor treachery and profligacy, and I leave him to blow himself and his Order into the air."

On April 20, 1784 Knigge quit, followed by Baron Bassus ('Hannibal'), Count Torring, Prince Kreitmaier, and others. In July, Knigge signed an agreement promising to return all documents in his possession, and to keep quiet on what he knew about their plans and activities. Some researchers believe that Knigge had also discovered that Weishaupt was a Satanist. He resumed his work as a writer, later becoming an inspector of schools at Bremen, where he died on May 6, 1796.

The Order Exposed and Suppressed (1784-1790)

In October 1783, Joseph Utzschneider, a lawyer who had dropped out of the Order in August, presented to the Duchess Maria Anna a document which detailed the activities of the Illuminati. He was upset because he had been promoted too slowly, and was constantly prodded to prove his loyalty. The Duchess gave the information to the Duke.

On June 22, 1784, Duke Karl Theodore Dalberg, the Elector Palatinate of Bavaria, after discovering from the information that the goals of the Illuminati were to "in time rule the world" by overthrowing all civil government, criticized all secret societies and groups established without government sanction. On March 2, 1785, he issued a proclamation identifying the Illuminati as a branch of the Masons, and ordered that their Lodges be shut down. The government began a war against the Order by initiating judicial inquiries at Ingolstadt. In an attempt to preserve the secrecy of their motives, the Areopagite burned many of their documents; however, the government was able to seize many of their papers when they raided the Lodges.

After being replaced at the University in February, Weishaupt fled across the border into Regensburg, finally settling in Gotha, where he found refuge with another Illuminati member, the Duke of Saxe-Gotha.

In April, 1785, Utzschneider was able to convince three other members to come forward. They were fellow professors at the Marienburg (Marianen) Academy who had doubts about the validity of the organization's principles when they discovered that they would receive no mystical powers. They were also disgruntled over Weishaupt's tyranny. Cossandey, Grunberger, and Renner went before the Court of Inquiry on September 9, 1785, where they supplied valuable information, such as membership lists, and revealed their aims and goals, which they consolidated into the following six points:

1. Abolition of the Monarchy and all ordered government.
2. Abolition of private property.
3. Abolition of inheritance.
4. Abolition of patriotism.
5. Abolition of the family, through the abolition of marriage, all morality, and the institution of communal education for children.
6. Abolition of all religion.

The purposes of these six points were to divide the people politically, socially, and economically; to weaken countries and create a one-world government. They testified that "all religion, all love of country and loyalty to sovereigns, were to be annihilated..."

The government pardoned all public officials and military leaders who publicly admitted membership. Those who didn't, and were discovered to be members, lost their rank and standing, were removed from office, and openly disgraced and humiliated.

Weishaupt was preparing to set his plans into motion for the French Revolution, which was slated to begin in 1789. In July, 1785, he instructed Zwack to put their plans in book form. This book contained a history of the Illuminati, and many of their ideas for expansion and future endeavors. A copy was sent by courier (identified as Jacob Lanze) to Illuminati members in Paris and Silesia. However, after leaving Frankfurt, as the courier rode through Regensburg (another source says it was Ratisbon) on horseback, he was struck by lightning and killed. The authorities found the document and turned it over to the government. Another source indicates the possibility that he may have been murdered, and the documents planted on him.

Xavier Zwack ('Cato'), a government lawyer and one of the Order's most prominent leaders whose name was on Renner's list, had his house in Landshut illegally searched by the police in October 1785 and his papers seized. He was dismissed from his position. Many books, documents, papers and correspondence were discovered including over 200 letters written between Weishaupt and the members of the Areopagite which dealt with matters of the highest secrecy. The following year more information was taken from the houses of Baron Bassus and Count Massenhausen ('Ajar'). Among the confiscated documents were tables which contained their secret codes and symbols, secret calendar, geographical locations, insignias, ceremonies of initiation, recruiting instructions, statutes, a partial roster of members, and nearly 130 official seals from the government which were used to counterfeit state documents.

Needless to say, all of this information shed more light on the Order and the danger first realized by the government had now become a national emergency. In 1786 the government gathered all of the confiscated documents and published them in a book called Original Writings of the Order and Sect of the Illuminati which was circulated to every government and crowned head in Europe, including France, to warn them of the impending danger.

The leaders of the Order who appeared before the government's Court of Inquiry testified that the organization was dedicated to the overthrow of church and state. However, these revelations and the publication of their documents did little to alert the public because of their unbelievable claims. New measures were taken by government officials. The leaders of the Order were arrested and formally interrogated then forced to renounce the Illuminati. The final blow came on August 16, 1787, when Dalberg issued his final proclamation against the Illuminati. Anyone found guilty of recruiting members were to be executed, while those who were recruited, would have their property confiscated and then be deported.

Zwack, who was banished, sought sanctuary in the Court of Zweibrucken, where he was later appointed to an official position in the principality of Salm-Kyburg. He contributed to the Illuminati movement in Holland. He was later summoned by Dalberg, as the government tried to deal with the problem of fugitives who might attempt to reorganize the Order. Zwack fled to England.

On November 15, 1790, another Edict was announced against the members of the organization. Anyone found to be an active member was to be put to death. The following year a list of 91 names of alleged members was compiled. They were hunted down and banished. This harassment didn't end until 1799 when Dalberg died.

The apparent demise of the Order was taken into stride by its highest members, who continued to operate underground. Weishaupt wrote:

"The great care of the Illuminati after the publication of their secret writings was to persuade the whole of Germany that their Order no longer existed, that their adepts had all renounced, not only their mysteries, but as members of a secret society."

Weishaupt had a contingency plan ready, and wrote:

"By this plan we shall direct all mankind. In this manner, and by the simplest means, we shall set in motion and in flames. The occupations must be allotted and contrived, that we may in secret, influence all political transactions ... I have considered everything and so prepared it, that if the Order should this day go to ruin, I shall in a year re-establish it more brilliant than ever."

To hide their subversive activities, the highest members of the Order began to masquerade as humanitarians and philanthropists. Weishaupt fled to Switzerland, later returning to Germany, where the Duke of Saxe-Gotha gave him sanctuary. The Order moved their headquarters to London, where it began to grow again. Weishaupt told his followers to infiltrate the lodges of Blue Masonry and to form secret circles within them. Only Masons who proved themselves as Internationalists and were atheists were initiated into the Illuminati.

The German Union (1785-1793)

Dr. Charles Frederick Bahrdt (1741-1793), an Illuminati member, Mason, and German theologian who was the professor of Sacred Philogy at the University of Leipzig, took advantage of the Illuminati's apparent demise by recruiting several of its members for his so-called 'German Union' in 1787. Bahrdt, the son of a minister, called his group the "German Union for Rooting Out Superstition and Prejudices and Advancing True Christianity".

In 1785, Bahrdt had received an anonymous letter containing the plans for the German Union which was signed "From some Masons, your great admirers." That same year, he was visited by an Englishman who urged him to establish the Union promising to link it with the British Masonic structure. In 1787, he received another letter containing more details and organizational details.

Bahrdt had done some religious propaganda work for Weishaupt, "to destroy the authority of the Scriptures," and it was commonly believed that it was Weishaupt who was directing the activities of the organization behind the scenes in order to carry on the goals of the Illuminati.

The German Union appeared to be a Reading Society, and one was set up in Zwack's house in Landshut. Weishaupt wrote:

"Next to this, the form of a learned of literary society is best suited to our purpose, and had Freemasonry not existed, this cover would have been employed; and it may be much more than a cover, it may be a power engine in our hands. By establishing reading societies, and subscription libraries, and taking these under our direction, and supplying them through our labors, we may turn the public mind which way we will ... A literary society is the most proper form for the introduction of our Order into any State where we are yet strangers."

The membership initially consisted of 17 young men, and about five of Bahrdt's friends. Knigge helped him to develop the organizational structure, which was divided into six grades:

1. Adolescent
2. Man
3. Elder
4. Mesopolite
5. Diocesan
6. Superior

The 'Society of the 22' or the 'Brotherhood' was its inner circle.

In a pamphlet entitled To All Friends of Reason, Truth and Virtue, Bahrdt wrote that the organization's purpose was to accomplish the enlightenment of people in order to disseminate religion, remove popular prejudices, root out superstition, and restore liberty to mankind. They planned to have magazines and pamphlets, but by 1788, Bahrdt had sunk over $1,000 into the group, and was spending all of his time working on it. Despite his efforts, they still only had 200 members.

Near the end of 1788, Fredrich Wilhelm, the King of Prussia, worried about the growth of the organization, had Johann Christian von Wollner, one of his ministers, write an opposing view to Bahrdt's pamphlet, called the Edict of Religion. Bahrdt responded by anonymously writing another pamphlet of the same name to satirize it. In 1789, a bookseller by the name of Goschen wrote a pamphlet called More Notes Than Text, on the German Union of XXII, a New Secret Society for the Good of Mankind in which he revealed that the group was a continuation of the Illuminati.

The German Union, which represented Weishaupt's "corrected system of Illuminism," never really got off the ground because of its openness which provoked hostile attacks from the government and members of the clergy. Bahrdt left the group and opened up a tavern known as "Bahrdt's Repose". The German Union ceased to exist after he died in 1793.

The Illuminati, the Jacobins and the French Revolution (1787-1791)

The Illuminati had secretly spread to France by 1787 (five years after they had planned), through French orator and revolutionary leader Count Honore Gabriel Riqueti de Mirabeau (1749-1791, Order name 'Leonidas') who had been indoctrinated by Col. Jacob Mauvillon while he was in Berlin on a secret mission for King Louis XVI of France in 1786. Mirabeau introduced Illuminati principles at the Paris Masonic Lodge of the Amis Reunis (later renamed 'Philalethes'), and initiated Abbe Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord (1754-1838, a court cleric in the House of Bourbon).

The most trusted members were brought into the 'Secret Committee of United Friends' (it is interesting to note that a group of the same name originated in 1771 as an occult group). The initiations took place at the Illuminati's Grand Lodge, about 30 miles from Paris, in the Ermenonville mansion owned by the Marquis de Gerardin. The famous impostor Saint Germain (1710-1780, or 1785) presided over the initiation ceremonies.

Germain was believed to be a Portuguese Jew, who was a member of the Philalethes Lodge. He was a Mason, a Rosicrucian, and belonged to several other occult brotherhoods. He spoke Italian, German, English, Spanish, French, Greek, Sanskrit, Arabic, and Chinese. He was said to be the son of Prince Rakoczy of Transylvania; raised by the last Medici, Gian Gastone; and was educated at the University of Siena. He told people that he had lived for centuries and knew King Solomon. He was arrested in London in 1743 for being a Jacobite spy and he took credit for establishing Freemasonry in Germany. As an impostor he posed as Comte Bellamarre, Marquis de Montferrat, and Chevalier Schoening.

During the initiation, new members were sworn to:

"...reveal to thy new chief all thou shalt have heard, learned and discovered, and also to seek after and spy into things that might have otherwise escaped thy notice ... (and to) avoid all temptation to betray what thou has now heard. Lightning does not strike so quickly as the dagger which will reach thee wherever thou mayest be."

Count Alessandro di Cagliostro (also known as Giuseppe Balsamo), a Jew from Sicily, who was said to be one of the greatest occult practitioners of all time, was initiated into the Illuminati at Mitau (near Frankfurt) in 1780, in an underground room. He later said that an iron box filled with papers was opened, and a book taken out. From it, a member read the oath of secrecy, which began: "We, Grand Masters of Templars..." It was written in blood. The book was an outline of their plans which included an attack on Rome. He discovered that they had money at their disposal in banks at Amsterdam, Rotterdam, London, Genoa, and Venice. He found out that the Illuminati had 20,000 lodges throughout Europe and America, and that their members served in every European court. Cagliostro was instructed to go to Strasbourg, France, to make the initial contacts necessary for the instigation of the French Revolution. Identified as a Grand Master of the Prieure de Sion, it is believed that he was the liaison between them and the Illuminati. He was arrested in 1790 in Rome for revolutionary activities.

The French Masons had committed themselves to a plan for overthrowing the government, under the guise of liberty and equality, ending the autocratic regimes in order to have government by and for the people. Jeremy Bentham and William Petty (Earl of Shelburne) planned and directed the French Revolution, then later directed the [Illuminati] plot towards America.

In 1788, at the request of Mirabeau and Talleyrand, Johann Joachim Christoph Bode (1730-1793, 'Amelius'), a lawyer at Weimar and a Mason, was summoned to France. He had been initiated into the Illuminati at the Congress of Wilhelmsbad and later took over the Order in the absence of Weishaupt. Bode and Baron de Busche ('Bayard'), a Dutch military officer in the service of the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, in order to conceal the purpose of their presence in France said they were there to investigate the influence of the Jesuits on the secret societies. However, the real reason for them being there was to further the goals of the Illuminati in France. They operated out of the Lodge of the Amis Reunis, changing its name to 'Philalethes' which means 'searchers after the truth.'

The Marquis de Luchet, a friend of Mirabeau, wrote in his Essay on the Sect of the Illuminati in January, 1789:

"Deluded people. You must understand that there exists a conspiracy in favor of despotism, and against liberty, of incapacity against talent, of vice against virtue, of ignorance against light! ... Every species of error which afflicts the earth, every half-baked idea, every invention serves to fit the doctrines of the Illuminati ... The aim is universal domination."

Intellectuals known as 'encyclopedists' were instrumental in spreading Illuminati doctrine. Soon other lodges become aligned with the Philalethes, such as the 'Nine Sisters'; the Lodge of Candor, which included members like Laclos, Sillery, d'Aiguillon, the Lameth Brothers, Dr. Guillotine, and Lafayette; and the 'Propaganda', which was established by Condorcet, Abbe Sieyes, and Rochenfoucault.

[Many] revolutionary leaders in France joined the Illuminati who had eventually infiltrated all 266 Masonic lodges by 1789, even though the Masons weren't aware of it.

• Maximilien Francois Marie Isidore de Robespierre (1758-1794), who was made head of the Revolution by Weishaupt
• Marquis Antoine Nicholas Condorcet (1743-1794), philosopher and politician
• Duke de la Rochenfoucault
• George Jacques Danton (1759-1794)
• Marquis Marie Joseph de Lafayette (1757-1834), General and statesman
• Jerome Petion de Villeneuve (1756-1794), politician
• Philippe, Duke of Orleans, Grand Master of French Freemasonry
• de Leutre
• Fauchet
• Cammille Benoit Desmoulins (1760-1794)
• D'Alembert
• Denis Diderot (1713-1784), encyclopedist
• Jean-Francois de la Harpe (1739-1803), critic and playwright

The Illuminati created situations in order to create dissention among the people. For instance, the Duke of Orleans instructed his agents to buy up as much grain as they could, then the people were led to believe that the King intentionally caused the shortage and that the French people were starving. Fellow conspirators in the government helped create runaway inflation. Thus the people were manipulated into turning against a king whose reign had strengthened the middle class. The monarchy was to be destroyed and the middle class oppressed. God was to be replaced by the Illuminati's religion of reason that "man's mind would solve man's problems."

During the first two years of the French Revolution, which started in April, 1789, the Illuminati had infiltrated the Masonic Lodges to such an extent that they had ceased operation and instead rallied under the name "The French Revolutionary Club." When they needed a larger meeting place they used the hall of the Jacobin's Convent. This revolutionary group of 1300 people emerged on July 14, 1789 as the Jacobin Club. The Illuminati controlled the Club, and were directly responsible for fermenting the activities which developed into the French Revolution. Lord Acton wrote:

"The appalling thing in the French Revolution is not the tumult but the design. Through all the fire and smoke, we perceived the evidence of calculating organization. The managers remain studiously concealed and masked; but there is no doubt about their presence from the first."

In the playing out of a plan which called for the population to be cut down by one-third to one-half, over 300,000 people died, including the execution of King Louis and his family. This was done to insure the stability of the new French Republic. In August, 1792, after the overthrow of the government, the tri-colored banner was replaced by the red flag of social revolution, while the cry of "Vive notre roi d'Orleans" gave way to the Masonic watchword "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity!" Those who responded with the proper Masonic handsigns had their lives spared. By November 1793 as the massacres had spread all over France the churches had been reorganized along the lines of Weishaupt's contention that "reason should be the only code of man."

Talleyrand, who became the bishop of Autin in 1788, because of his radical reorganization of the Church was excommunicated by the Pope. He became a deputy to the National Assembly. The Jacobins controlled the National Assembly and for all intents and purposes Mirabeau became France's leader. In true Democratic spirit he said:

"We must flatter the people by gratuitous justice, promise them a great diminution in taxes and a more equal division, more extension in fortunes, and less humiliation. These fantasies will fanaticize the people, who will flatten all resistance."

The Revolution was considered at an end on July 28, 1794, when Robespierre was guillotined.

Thomas Jefferson, who served as minister to France for three years (1785-89), described the events as "so beautiful a revolution" and said that he hoped it would sweep the world. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton said that Jefferson helped start the French Revolution, and wrote in a letter to a friend dated May 26, 1792 that

"[Jefferson] drank freely of the French philosophy, in religion, in science, in politics. He came from France in the moment of fermentation, which he had a share in inciting."

Jefferson wrote to Brissot de Warville in Philadelphia in a letter dated May 8, 1793 that he was "eternally attached to the principles of the French Revolution."

In 1987, during a trip to the United States by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and his wife where they visited the Jefferson Memorial, she referred to Jefferson as "one of the world's greatest thinkers." It is interesting to note that during the Communist revolution (1917) Nikolai Lenin said: "We, the Bolsheviks, are the Jacobins of the twentieth century..."

The Rise and Fall of Napoleon Bonaparte (1795-1814)

An Illuminist and member of the revolutionary French National Assembly, Vicomte de Barras, witnessed a 24 year old Napoleon repelling a siege at Toulon in 1793 by English and Spanish military forces. Barras, appointed by the Assembly as the Commander-in-Chief of the French military, in 1795 became a member of the five-man Directorate which began to govern France and soon became the most powerful political figure in the country. He chose Napoleon to lead the military forces.

However, in 1799, Napoleon (a Knights Templar) broke his ties with Vicomte de Barras because he feared Barras was attempting to restore the Monarchy. Napoleon eliminated the Directorate, and in 1804 with the support of Talleyrand (who served as his foreign minister) became Emperor. Unwittingly, as a puppet of the Illuminati his reign brought about the total disruption of Europe which was needed for the Illuminati to get control and unify it. He ended the Holy Roman Empire, and made his brother Joseph the King of Naples in 1806. Joseph was replaced by Napoleon's brother-in-law Joachim Murat when Joseph became the King of Spain in 1808. His brother Louis was made the King of Holland and another brother, Jerome, the King of Westphalia.

In 1810, Napoleon confiscated the contents of the Vatican archives which amounted to 3,000 cases of documents and took [them] to Paris. Although most were later returned to Rome, some were kept. By this time, Napoleon had changed the face of Europe, but he settled his warring ways and ultimately the French Revolution had failed because Europe had not been fully conquered.

The Illuminati immediately took steps to dethrone him, which took five years. In order to get money to Wellington's English forces, Nathan Rothschild funneled money to his brother James (who handled financial transactions for the French government) in Paris, who got it to Wellington's troops in Spain. In addition, the Illuminati secretly worked to make agreements that shifted national alliances against France.

Upon his defeat at Waterloo, Napoleon was again exiled, this time to the island of Saint Helena in the south Atlantic which is where he died in 1821. He had written in his will: "I die before my time, killed by the English oligarchy and its hired assassins."

The Congress of Vienna (1814-15)

In 1802, Europe was made up of several hundred states which were dominated by England, Austria, Russia, Prussia and France, which was the most powerful country. In 1804, when Napoleon Bonaparte took over France, his military exploits had led to the complete control of virtually all of Europe. Even today, France has more land than any other country in western Europe. In 1812, when Napoleon moved against Russia, England, Spain and Portugal were already at war with France. They were later joined by Sweden, Austria, and in 1813, Prussia joined the coalition to end the siege of Europe and to "assure its future peace by the re-establishment of a just equilibrium of the powers." In 1814, the coalition defeated France and in March of that year marched into Paris. France's borders were returned to their original 1792 location, which had been established by the First Peace of Paris, and Napoleon was exiled to Elba, a small island off the Tuscan coast of Italy.

After the Napoleonic Wars, the Illuminati thought the world would be tired of fighting and would accept any solution to have peace. Through the Congress of Vienna (1814-15), the Rothschilds hoped to create a sort of 'League of Nations'.

From September 1814 to June 1815, the four powers of the allied coalition, winners of the Napoleonic Wars, met at the Congress of Vienna along with a large number of rulers and officials representing smaller states. It was the biggest political meeting in European history. Representatives included:

• Lord Robert Stewart, the 2nd Viscount Castlereagh of England
• Foreign Minister Charles-Maurice Talleyrand de Perigord of France
• King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia
• Emperor Franz II of Austria
• Frederick VI, King of Denmark
• King Maximilian Joseph of Bavaria
• King Friedrich I of Wurttemburg
• Napoleon II, King of Rome
• Eugene de Beaurharnais, Viceroy of Italy
• King Friedrich August I of Saxony
• Count Leowenhielm of Sweden
• Cardinal Consalvi of the Papal States
• Grand Duke Charles of Baden
• Elector William of Hesse
• Grand Duke George of Hesse-Darmstadt
• Karl August, Duke of Weimar
• the King of Bohemia
• the King of Hungary
• plus emissaries from Spain, Portugal, Holland, and other European States.

The main concern of the Congress was to redistribute conquered territories, create a balance of power, restore the pre-Napoleonic order through King Louis XVIII, return the power to families who were ruling in 1789, and to return the Roman Catholic Church to its former power. Discussion revolved around the creation of a Federation of Europe that would establish a group of independent kingdoms which would be tied together through an administrative governing body that would, among other things, provide military defense. In their plan, Switzerland was made a neutral state that served as a repository for their finances.

In March 1815, Napoleon left Elba, because the pension promised him by King Louis XVIII was discontinued and [because] he believed that Austria was preventing his companion Marie Louise and his son Napoleon II, the former King of Rome (who became the Duke of Reichstadt in Vienna), from being able to join him. Plus, he was made aware of the growing discontent with the King. Thus Napoleon returned, began the Hundred Days War, and was immediately labeled a "public enemy." The coalition at the Congress put aside their diplomatic business and joined in the battle.

Shortly before Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, negotiations at the Congress of Vienna were completed and the treaty was signed on June 9, 1815. The Second Peace of Paris in November 1815 exiled Napoleon to St. Helena, an island 1,000 miles off the African coast, where he died in 1821.

The Russian czar saw through the planned European Federation, recognizing it as an Illuminati ploy, and would not go along with it. On September 26, 1815, the "Treaty of Holy Alliance" was signed by Czar Alexander I of Russia, Francis II of Austria, and Fredrich Wilhelm III of Prussia, while the allies were negotiating the Second Peace of Paris.

The Treaty guaranteed the sovereignty of any monarch who would adhere to Christian principles in the affairs of State. The Treaty made them a "true and indissoluble brotherhood." Alexander claimed he got the idea from a conversation with Castlereagh. Castlereagh later said that the Alliance was a "piece of sublime mysticism and nonsense." Prussia and Austria claimed they went along with it, out of fear of Russian retaliation. Although the Alliance had no influence on matters, it did indicate to other countries that they had banded together against them, and it succeeded in temporarily crushing Europe's growing liberal movement.

Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prince Klemens Furst von Metternich, the most influential statesman in Europe and a Rothschild agent, said that the purpose of his idea for a European Federation was only to preserve the social order, and he was convinced that Alexander was insane.

In actuality, the reason for the Congress of Vienna was for the Illuminati to create a Federation so they would have complete political control over most of the civilized world. Many of the European governments were in debt to the Rothschilds, so they figured they could use that as a bargaining tool. The Illuminati, in their first attempt, had come terrifyingly close to gaining control of the world. The head of the family, Nathan Rothschild, awaited the day that his family would get revenge by destroying the Czar and his family, which they did in 1917.

In 1916, the Senate Congressional Record (pg. 6781) reproduced a document known as the "Secret Treaty of Verona" which had been signed in November 22, 1822 by Austria (Metternich), France (Chateaubriand), Prussia (Bernstet), and Russia (Nesselrode); and was partially the reason for the establishment of the Monroe Doctrine. Its purpose was to make some changes to the "Treaty of Holy Alliance", and Article One stated:

"The high contracting powers, being convinced that the system of representative government is equally as incompatible with the monarchical principles as the maxim of the sovereignty of the people with the divine right; engage mutually, in the most solemn manner, to use all their efforts to put an end to the system of representative governments, in whatever country it may exist in Europe, and to prevent its being introduced where it is not yet known."

Without a doubt, this document represented the intentions of the International bankers as they planned increasing domination over a growing world.

Giuseppe Mazzini (1805-72)

After Weishaupt died on November 18, 1830 at the age of 82, Giuseppe Mazzini (1805-72), an Italian patriot and revolutionary leader, was appointed head of the Illuminati in 1834. It was believed that Weishaupt rejoined the Catholic Church with a deathbed repentance.

While attending Genoa University, Giuseppe Mazzini became a 33rd degree Mason, and joined a secret organization known as the Carbonari (their stated goal in 1818: "Our final aim is that of Voltaire and of the French Revolution -- the complete annihilation of Catholicism, and ultimately all Christianity."), where he became committed to the cause of Italian unity. In 1831 he was exiled to France where he founded the 'Young Societies' movement which included Giovane Italia (Young Italy), Young England, etc. This group united those who wanted to achieve unification through force. Mazzini moved to England in 1837 then returned to Italy in 1848 to lead the revolution against the Austrians. Again he was exiled. In the 1850's he led more revolutionary activities, and through his actions Italy became united in 1861 as a single kingdom rather than the republic envisioned by Mazzini.

Mazzini, who became known as the 'Evil Genius of Italy,' tried to carry on the activities of the Illuminati through the Alta Vendita Lodge, the highest lodge of the Carbonari.

From 1814-48, the group known as the Haute Vente Romaine led the activities of most of Europe's secret societies. In April, 1836 the head of the Haute Vente, whose pseudonym was 'Nubius,' wrote to 'Beppo':

"Mazzini behaves too much like a conspirator of melodrama to suit the obscure role we resign ourselves to play until our triumph. Mazzini likes to talk about a great many things, about himself above all. He never ceases writing that he is overthrowing thrones and altars, that he fertilizes the peoples, that he is the prophet of humanitarianism..."

In 1860, Giuseppe Mazzini had formed an organization called the 'Oblonica,' a name derived from the Latin 'obelus', which means: "I beckon with a spit (dagger)." Within this group, he established an inner circle called the Mafia.

About 1000 A.D., after the Normans had driven the Arabs out of Sicily, they established a feudal system. Overseers to guard each feudi were chosen from known criminals. Skirmishes between the Barons were fought by these criminals. Although feudal privileges were abolished in 1812, these overseers retained control of the land through leasing arrangements. It was this band of criminals that Mazzini gave the name 'Mafia', which was an acronym for Mazzini, Autorizza, Furti, Incendi, and Avvelengmenti. Known as the Mafiosi, they were authorized by Mazzini to commit thefts, arson and murder. It was this organization that came to America during the 1890's with the beginning of Italian immigration.