it's the group at the center of major
conspiracy theories
they've been accused of pulling the
strings of major governments around the
world for inserting symbols into such
prominent places as the us dollar bill
and conspiracy theorists have claimed
that everyone from the beatles to tom
brady to kanye west
are more recent members of the century's
old society there's no doubt
the illuminati have impacted world
affairs even if just by being at the
center of conspiracy theories
but where did this group get its start
well let's take a look at the man behind
this secret society
johann adam weishaupt
[Music]
johann adam weishaupt was born into an
academic household in bavaria he came
into the world on february the 6th 1748
as the son of a law professor
when weishaupt was only 5 years old his
father passed away leaving him to be
raised by his grandfather
also a law professor weishaupt's
grandfather kept the boy engaged in
scholastic activities his grandfather
was a proponent of the enlightenment
movement and the thoughts and
philosophies promoted
by enlightenment thinkers came to
greatly
influence weishaupt during the 17th and
18th century enlightenment movement
intellectuals emphasized the importance
of reason and
individualism over tradition you might
also hear
the enlightenment referred to as the age
of reason among the movement's most
famous thinkers were john locke and
isaac newton
when he was seven years old weishaupt's
education expanded beyond his
grandfather's teaching the family was
catholic and weishaupt began attending a
jesuit school
he was a voracious reader and by the
time he was 20 years old
he had earned his doctorate in law he
began teaching law but within a year he
became the beneficiary of the
dissolution
of the very religious order that had
educated him
political maneuvering coupled with
cultural changes
made the jesuits a threat to the power
of some european leaders
at least in their eyes the order was
suppressed in several countries and even
the pope issued a brief
suppressing the jesuits because of the
order's suppression in 1773 weishaupt
was able to move from being a professor
of
secular law to being a professor of
canon law at the university of
ingolstadt before the suppression only
jesuits taught canon law now weishaupt
could be a professor but he nonetheless
found himself as the only non-clergy
member
serving as such although the order had
been suppressed they still
wielded considerable power at the
university and weishaupt and his
enlightenment-influenced ideas
well they hit some roadblocks as a
result weiss helped grew to dislike
clerics he was frustrated and he wanted
a way to spread the words of the
enlightenment
without being stonewalled by the church
so he decided to start his own society
and what was the goal of this society
this is the great object held out by
this association
and the means of attaining it is
illumination enlightening the
understanding by the son of reason
which will dispel the clouds of
superstition and of prejudice initially
weishaupt didn't want to start his own
secret society he had wanted to join the
freemasons a group that he thought would
line up nicely with his passion for
reason
over religion but ultimately he decided
that the freemasons weren't
exactly what he wanted and so he took
the leap and started his own society
he didn't look to the freemasons for
inspiration in rituals and
organizational structure though
over time especially after weishaupt
ended up joining the freemasons the two
groups became more
linked in the minds of many especially
conspiracy theorists
to start his society weishaupt began
reaching out to like-minded men he had
befriended at university but they had to
be
young men anyone over 30 was just too
unlikely to be influenced by
new ideas and white helped he wanted the
men who joined to be
true believers in the enlightenment
ready to start spreading the ideals of
reason
and spreading them as high up as they
could the group of men
first met in may of 1776 only five of
them
arrived in the forest that first night
carrying torches and ready to embark on
their quest
to spread their ideas to the world to be
initiated into the illuminati weishaupt
wanted his members to
experience being reborn this way they
would be
leaving behind their lives before
joining the illuminati
and be able to fully immerse themselves
in their commitment
to the new secret society the initiation
right
included sacrifices and mystical
elements hooded men
unknown identities and darkened rooms
are hallmarks of such rights
claims have been made that the
illuminati initiation rights have taken
the sacrifice element to its most
extreme stage
the sacrificing of an actual human being
to be initiated and reborn the idea is
that the new member would have to
experience death
and be reborn and actually killing
someone would give them an
insight into the experience of death but
the initiation right is also said to
have given many members the experience
of death
and rebirth through the killing of an
animal the illuminati would put an
animal on top of the new member
kill the animal and just let it bleed to
death on top of the new member
soaking in the animal's blood encouraged
rebirth and the understanding of
life death and knowledge overall
weishaupt did not want the illuminati to
remain just a small academic society
that operated in an echo chamber though
he wanted it to reach
the highest echelons of society with
members
both influencing political leaders and
even becoming political leaders
themselves
but he also didn't want the society to
grow full of men he couldn't trust
and who weren't truly dedicated to the
cause
so the men that met that first night
would have to be agreed to by the five
members present that night
as well as prove themselves to be from
families of high standing and wealth
the latter two requirements would help
with weishaupt's goal to get his ideas
moving
up the societal ladder and into the
minds of intellectual families
and society now the order's famous name
it didn't come twice helped right away
the first name for his secretive group
was the perfectabilists a name that they
actually stuck with
for two years the idea that a man is
perfectable
was part of the group's ideals even
american founding father thomas
jefferson appreciated this trait of
weishaupt and his ideas
stating weishaupt seems to be an
enthusiastic philanthropist
he is among those as you know the
excellent richard price and priestley
also are who believe in the indefinite
perfectability of man
he thinks he may in time be rendered so
perfect
that he will be able to govern himself
in every circumstance so as to injure
none
to do all the good he can to leave
government no occasion to exercise their
powers over him
and of course to render political
government useless
before the name illuminati was
officially adopted weishaupt also
thought about naming the group
the be order but illuminati was
ultimately decided upon
and weishaupt took the owl as the
group's symbol so now you might be
wondering
why did you choose now what exactly is
the significance of this bird
now minerva the goddess of wisdom was
accompanied
by an owl the owl was away for wise
helped to indicate the intellectual
basis
for the secret society while still
keeping its symbolism just a bit coded
the new name was a callback to the
occult beliefs within the spanish
culture
during medieval times alchemists and
magicians were believed to be imbued
with a light that signified the presence
of a higher power within
within the society the members took
nicknames weishaupts as the head of the
order was spartacus while other adopted
names for members included
ajax and tiberius in 1777 weishaupt
found a new avenue for recruiting
he was accepted into a freemasons group
in germany and used their society
as a place to find well-connected
society men who were
already acquainted with and interested
in
secret societies the men who were
welcomed in were told the following
should you seek might power false honor
excess
seek that we would work for you to
provide your temporal advantages
we will bring you as close to the throne
as you wish and then turn you over to
the consequences of your folly but our
inner sanctuary remains closed to such
but should you want to learn wisdom want
to learn to make mankind more clever
better free and happy then be thrice
welcomed by us
the men who joined weishaupt's newfound
order found themselves a part of a group
that was split into distinct levels
as much as weishaupt professed the
principles of rationalism and
individualism related to the
enlightenment movement the men who were
a part of his fault
were restricted in their knowledge about
what was going on within their own
organization
the illuminati had a hierarchy within
the structure and the members at the
bottom
reported to those at the top there were
three ranks of men novice minerval
and illuminated minerval illuminated
minerval were at the top of the
illuminati's pecking order
their name inspired by the roman goddess
of wisdom they spied on each other
and on the political and economic
goings-on in society
bringing news back to the order and
helping the illuminati move forward
in its goals of influencing the top
tiers of society
do you realize sufficiently what it
means to rule to rule in a secret
society
not only over the lesser or more
important of the populous
but over the best of men over men of all
ranks nations
and religions to rule without external
force to unite them
indissolubly to breathe one spirit and
soul into them
men distributed over all parts of the
world in his first years the illuminati
didn't grow by leaps and bounds
initially they found only a few dozen
interested and qualified men to join
they numbered just 60 by 1780. but that
year weishaupt added a member to the
illuminati
who proved himself to be especially
helpful in gaining new members
and he also attracted a new level of
respect for the secret society
and this new member he came from
weishaupt's recruiting grounds in the
freemasons
baron adolf knigge had been a member of
the freemasons but he had risen as far
as he could go within their ranks
so when he heard of weishaupt and his
new smaller group he saw an opportunity
to have real sway
over what was going on in the
organization he also liked the
illuminati's relationship with mysticism
informing the order weishaupt had relied
in part on mystic texts he read the
mysteries of the seven sages of memphis
and the kabbalah
and the two texts made an impact on how
he viewed the world around him
baron kaneger was also a student of such
ideas and liked that whitehelp had
brought their influence into the
illuminati
when he joined connecticut eagerly read
the texts required of new members
most consisted of works that were banned
in the conservative catholic bavaria
in fact canega read the text so quickly
that weishaupt had to stall for time
he didn't want knigge to reach the
illuminated minerval level so quickly
so he put off kanego while he tried to
come up with new ideas for readings and
required actions
but kaneger figured out that weishaupt
was trying to delay his achievement of
the highest level
when he brought this up to wise helped
weishaupt was willing to listen
he was also willing to listen to
knigge's new ideas for the order
for one knight said the order needed a
rearrangement of its hierarchy
he suggested bringing in new levels
under the existing three levels
the end result of this was 13 ranks of
illuminati members
each subdivided within the original
three levels
the three new overarching levels had the
names of the nursery the masonic grades
and the mysteries knight also used his
influence to change wise helped strong
messaging about the church and about
religion
he realized that such a strong stance
might be hampering the group's ability
to grow
and recruit new and powerful members
after all the church wielded
much power in bavaria in the 18th
century and even the promise that a
society was secret
might not be strong enough assurance for
men from powerful families to risk
joining weishaupt listened to knigge and
the illuminati they benefited
from an organization of just 60 they
grew to 200 by 1782
then the group grew to 3 000 members by
1784.
the illuminati had also spread beyond
bavaria membership now included hungary
poland and italy but having that many
members spread throughout a number of
countries made it harder and harder to
keep things quiet
and if their very purpose was to
infiltrate and influence
political thought and actions then of
course the upper echelons of society
would start to notice them
[Applause]
in 1784 their growth became a problem
members of the illuminati were sending
correspondents back and forth and the
government
had their eye out for it writings with
internal illuminati ideas and policies
were intercepted in bavaria
it's also been thought that this
interception was set up by this point
weishaupt had some disgruntled members
within his ranks
when weishaupt first started the
organization he told some members
there would be supernatural
communication if they achieved the
highest level within the society
but plenty of people had achieved this
by 1784
and there was no supernatural
communication to be had
baron knight and weishaupt they also had
a major
disagreement they didn't have the same
idea about some of the society's rituals
and their arguments culminated in kenya
leaving the secret society
the same year he left the illuminati the
bavarian government banned
all secret societies that was in 1784
which was the same year that the
membership had exploded
by the next year the bavarian government
took it a step further
they banned the illuminati specifically
as part of the illuminati's banishment
the government began raiding the
documents of known illuminati
documents started to be published and
this secret society and its membership
it wasn't so secret anymore public
officials became known as members
putting their livelihoods and societal
rankings on the line
the illuminati simply couldn't function
with its membership
being known throughout all of this
society building
and government influencing whitehelp had
still been working as a professor at the
university of ingolstadt but
when the government banned the
illuminati he was forced to flee his
home
and leave behind his job weishaupt
wasn't kind to the government to
government of any sort not just bavaria
so it is not surprising that they were
not pleased with his writings
so just how strongly did he feel about
the government well take this quote
when man lives under government he has
fallen his worth is gone
and his nature tarnished when the
illuminati were banned from bavaria
weishaupt was forced to flee
to gota another part of germany there
weishaupt was protected by a sympathetic
duke
duke ernest not only provided political
protection for weishaupt but he also
gave him a pension that allowed him to
live without
working even though the illuminati had
been disbanded in bavaria weishaupt kept
pushing the ideas that had led him to
start the secret society in the first
place he began writing ultimately
publishing four books about the history
of the illuminati
and defending its existence the books
were intended
both to defend himself and to perhaps
encourage new growth for the illuminati
in the province of gotha
but when white helped passed away in
1830 the illuminati had
all but disappeared from the world stage
it's not easy to operate
even as a secret society when major
world powers they simply want you gone
while the illuminati may have
disappeared at least in membership in
europe the group by no means disappeared
from the world's imagination
and conversations based on today's
conspiracy theories
and the prevalence of the illuminati in
pop culture it can be argued that
weishaupt succeeded in creating a secret
society
that had an influence on the world dan
brown's massively popular novels feature
the illuminati in angels and demons
brown pits the illuminati against the
catholic church in a modern setting
throughout the book they used churches
and artwork to commit atrocities relying
heavily on coded symbolism
then there's the illuminatus trilogy
books that claim george washington was
actually replaced by a member of the
illuminati
they claim that this impostor actually
ran the united states
people even suggest that the eye on the
american one dollar bill is an
indication of illuminati interference in
american government
whitehouse and the illuminati are also
used in video games and comic books and
even rap songs they're a regular feature
on history channel shows
and mysterious shows about conspiracies
from all around the world
when major events happen think that jfk
assassination at 9 11
the illuminati name still gets tossed
around as a possible cause
and there's even a theory that the
modern-day illuminati are now
headquartered not in bavaria
where it was founded but right in the
heart of the united states
not in washington d.c not in new york
not in los angeles
but in denver hidden beneath the airport
in the colorado city
is said to be the headquarters for the
modern day incarnation
of the most powerful secret society in
the world everything from the airport's
runway design
to its underground tunnels have been
pointed to as evidence for why it's a
perfect
site for the society's operation it
seems that 250 years after weishaupt
first launched his idea for a secret
society
his influence is still felt from pop
culture
to events of historic magnitude the
illuminati
is still a factor at least in terms of
people
bringing up their name now it might not
be exactly what he was planning
or maybe it was do we really know how a
secret society operates
and has influence i mean bicep did plan
for the illuminati to
operate in the background after all so i
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