So who are these Illuminati?

According to Wikipedia the word illuminati comes from the Latin word illuminatus which means enlightened. It is a name that is variously used for different groups, some of which are real while others are fictitious. The intrigues behind the name are many and varied, but they all stem from the allegation that the illuminati, in whatever way, shape or form, is a highly secretive organization, which is involved in certain grand conspiracies to form a single government for the whole world, referred as the new world order.

The real factually known illuminati, however, was a movement founded on 1 May 1776 by Adam Weishaupt, a renegade lay Professor of the Catholic church Cannon Law at the University of Ingolstadt. It was thus founded in Ingolstadt, Upper Bavaria in present day Germany. The goals of the society were very clear then. They intended to oppose all forms of superstition, discrimination, the overbearing religious influence in public life and abuse of state power. They also intended to institute support of women’s education and gender equality. The modern celebration of labor day in most parts of the world on 1^st May, or May Day as it is widely known, can be traced back to the illuminati. They chose to commemorate the day as a remembrance of their founding day.

Some of the goals of the illuminati have been realized, or are in the process of being realized, in the present day. These include women’s education and their incorporation into public governance through various methods of affirmative action. The fight against discrimination is also ongoing with religious, racial and class intolerance being put in check by various governments and human rights movements worldwide. On the contrary, the illuminati’s intent on opposing religious and state influence on human life has not succeeded so far.

In fact, it is this intent that saw the group proscribed and ultimately permanently disbanded in 1785. The disbandment resulted from the discomfort of the then Bavarian ruler Karl Theodor, who was actively supported by the Catholic Church, a very powerful global organization then. The fall of the illuminati was rather messy. Weishaupt had fled the onslaught of Theodor’s government which caused a panic and power vacuum in the organization. Correspondences and papers of the organization were seized in 1786-87 and subsequently published and thus publicized by the government in 1887. However, by then, the March 2, 1875 edict by the government banning all secret societies, including the illuminati, had already served a death blow to the movement. Before its ultimate demise the movement had attracted among its ranks very influential individuals including politician Ferdinand of Brunswick, diplomat Xavier von Zwack as well as literary giants Johann Wolfgang van Goethe and Johann Gottfried Herder. In total it had about 2,000 members from different countries.

That is where the facts end as far as the illuminati are concerned. From then on the conundrum begins. One such intrigue is stirred up by two sensational publications in 1797 and 1798. Augustine Baruell’s book Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism and John Robinson’s Proofs of a Conspiracy set rolling an unending conspiracy theories about the illuminati that persist to this day. The publications sensationally claimed that the Illuminati had survived and were actively involved in an international controversy. When the French revolution happened in 1789-99, the Illuminati were accused of having a hand in it. In fact both books alleged the involvement of the Illuminati in the revolution. The books were very popular and had many reprints and sequels.

This conundrum has continued to relentlessly unfold especially in the field of fiction and film, where countless movies have come claiming a grand conspiracy among the illuminati. Most of the films portray the movement as operating underground with the express intention of overthrowing world governments. Others also show that the battle between the Illuminati and the Catholic church has not ended. Yet others also claim that the Illuminati actually predated their founding in Bavaria but actually date back to biblical times. There are those that stretch it further to a time when an alien from outer space mated with a human to give birth to the first Illuminati. Since then, the story goes, the ancestors of this alien are all illuminati and are thus busy grouping to take over the world.

Lovers of movies have taken some of these stories as the gospel truth and either live in fear of what the Illuminati may be up to, or actively seek to become part of them. Whatever the case, what remains constant is that, the present day Illuminati are alleged to be highly secretive and exponentially rich. They are also variously portrayed as posing a potent threat to present day society due to their conspiracies.

These alleged riches attract some youth into endless pursuits of the organization, seeking to reap from that wealth. There are many websites on the internet seeking to lure people to join the Illuminati in exchange for free monetary gifts alleged to be in the tune of $25, 000 per week for simply doing nothing. Though this is very attractive, it is hard to tell whether anyone has ever gained from such a scheme. What makes more sense, which you will be told by any freshman economist, is that no organization however rich, can afford to dish out such largesses to all comers without going bankrupt. In fact, I would not be surprised if some of these offers turned out to be con schemes.

Armagedon.com claims on their website that a senior present day Illuminati leader has confessed to them that the secrets of the Illuminati are safely hidden form their enemies. The secrets are hidden in several coded signs which allegedly can only be deciphered by Illuminati seekers after years of trying. A seeker is said to be anyone who is actively searching for the truth and who is subsequently enlisted into the Illuminati for his efforts. As a further protection of their secrets, the illuminati keep many decoy signs to mislead those who would wish to infiltrate their movement at the behest of their enemies. Why only the fake seekers are mislead by this decoys is not clearly explained though.

Wikileaks meanwhile reveals on its website a leaked e-mail written by a lame former soldier. The soldier complains that the Illuminati are out to take over the world by killing over 6 billion people, thus remaining with only 500 million rich ones. As part of this conspiracy, the mail claims, diseases such as bird flu have been invented. It is however not explained how the rich will remain rich when all their customers are dead. However, even though the e-mail was revealed quite a while back, life goes on steadily on planet earth. Or doesn’t it?