I’ve been hearing a lot about this “secret society” (if it’s secret then why do we know about it?) so I decided to do an article about it. It’s such a strange conspiracy, combining everything from secret dictators, evil witches, and I think I’ve heard one or two things on the Illuminati possibly being aliens as well.
But for all you people out there who aren’t quite that… out there, here’s a more factual look at it.
The whole thing got started when Adam Weishaupt decided he was going to create a club for intellects like himself in his home country of Bavaria around the time of the Revolutionary War. It was suppose to be an offshoot of the Enlighment, which was basically another group of people who sat around talking about how they could make everyone’s lives better (which some of them acting on, many of the Enlighten thinkers like Thomas Jefferson helped create the basis for democratic republic, which was America pretty much). Weishaupt modeled it a bit off of the Free Masons (gasp, another secret society!) which in my opinion is probably why so many conspiracy theorists like to pick on this wee little club. While it was operating, many “influential intellectuals and progressive politicians” (Wikipedia) had joined in.
Then Karl Theodor, the recent king of Bavaria, had to go mess it up. The guy apparently didn’t like the idea of people getting together and talking about things like “power to the people” and all that kind of stuff. So he made it illegal. Of course that didn’t really stop them, they just moved but what really brought them down was some problems with the internal structure. Unable to get organized and do anything, the whole society fell apart.
Supposedly…
There were a few times in history after that when people became frightened that the “big menace of the Illuminati was back to take over the world!” (Yeesh, why don’t you just say they eat babies too?) Augustin Barruel wrote a book claiming that the Illuminati were behind the French Revolution! It traveled to New England and sparked something akin to a religious revival until it died down. It popped back up in the 1800s during the Anti-Masonic Movement (Dude these guys are getting a lot of crap).
So now in modern times the view of this shadowy group still hasn’t quite changed with claims that is manipulating the government and world events. There are also some groups that claim that they are the inheritors of the Illuminati. Really weird and mixed up… So now we’re back into the whole different theories part. When I went to research it, it pretty much gave me a headache, so I decided to summarize. Basically other than being a group trying to take over the world there are also theories that the Illuminati branch out into the world of the Occult. I read somewhere that supposedly The Star of David is just a different version of the pentagram, a staple of all Wicca and Satanic rituals ( I mention this because there is a really interesting back story to this which I will get into later OR you might have to wait until I get that far in my book[s] ). Another person said that Lady Gaga is an Illuminati puppet, pointing out all the symbolism she uses that connects to them. I have two things to say to that, 1- You might be reading waaaay to much into that and 2- She probably is very aware of the symbolism she’s uses and it is simply for shock value, to increase her popularity (being infamous is almost the same as being famous).
So now what do I say about this? Well, on the fact of the Illuminati, I’m not so sure it’s as evil as everyone claims. It was created for smart people to gather and talk about their ideas, to feel special. A secret clubhouse for adults if you will. My father and I once discussed this whole idea of secret societies. He told me that these secret societies were made as a way of trusting people. There wasn’t any social security numbers during the day, no credit, nothing. You could be anyone. And during a time where you were spouting something that could be called heresy and treason, it was best to keep it within a select few, the few you could trust. No evil plan to take over the world, just a way of staying true to your beliefs without getting killed.
Now I would also like to say that I’m playing with the whole idea of Illuminati in my book but not as evil people (Conspiracy theorists are shouting “Blasphemy! She’s an Illuminati puppet!” Which I assure I’m not). Instead they are a group of humans and non-humans attempting to keep justice and freedom and all that wonderful stuff. There’s also an interesting back story to this new point of view which will be also discussed later or you’ll have to wait until I write it in my book! (See, this is me, trying to get you people to read my book!)
