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(mysterious score)
(haunting piano score)
- In the south of Germany
lies the state of Bavaria,
whose history reaches back to the 6th Century Common Era.
The Bavarian landscape is full of lush, beautiful scenery,
rolling hills and impenetrable fortresses.
Along the banks of the Danube River
is the city of Ingolstadt,
well-known for being the setting to
Mary Shelley's novel, "Frankenstein".
Yet, it is also known as the backdrop for
a much darker narrative about the world's
most controversial secret society,
the Illuminati.
The true story of the Illuminati is not a horror story,
nor is it a conspiratorial account of nefarious intentions,
set on enslaving humanity,
or bringing forth the end of days.
This is a rare and unvarnished insight
into the mysteries of the Order,
and their secret rituals,
for the true story of the Illuminati is a very human one.
It is a story of rebellion,
a story of love,
and a story of great loss.
- The Illuminati was founded in 1776 by Adam Weishaupt
and six of his pupils.
Weishaupt's main objective for creating the Illuminati
was to make mankind happy,
by instilling a strict moral regiment
through a series of initiatic decrees
that were patterned after Freemasonry,
to teach morality, virtue,
and more importantly, self-actualization,
and self-accountability to govern one's self,
and thereby making him free.
- He created this society to bring about,
almost revolutionary change to Bavaria
and possibly to Germany,
or Europe as a whole.
Weishaupt got this idea of forming a secret society
by one of his students,
who was not a Bavarian.
He came from Central Germany.
He showed him a number of books,
which Weishaupt then devoured.
They were Masonic books,
as well as Rosicrucian trots.
And Weishaupt developed this idea
that by forming a secret society
he could actually accelerate the pace of the Enlightenment.
- During this time of the Enlightenment though,
this is also the Age of the Secret Society,
and how can you think of Age of Enlightenment,
New Science, rational thought, and secret societies.
What you have to think about is the idea of initiation,
the process of gathering knowledge that has been lost,
or has been unknown to you,
was equated with Enlightenment.
Now this entire time is,
they're fascinated with the ancient world,
Neoclassicism, et cetera...
Greece, Rome, and then also Egypt,
and so this idea of ancient mysteries
practiced by the ancients as being revived,
revolutionizing our thought.
These secret societies saw themselves
as inheritors of these ancient mysteries.
(pensive piano score)
(church bell slowly ringing)
(haunting piano score)
- In 1748, Johann Adam Weishaupt
was born in the Bavarian city of Ingolstadt.
By the time Weishaupt was only five-years old,
both his Mother and Father would be dead.
After the tragic death of his parents however,
fate stepped in.
Weishaupt's Godfather, the Baron von Ickstatt,
took over the care for Weishaupt.
It would be Baron von Ickstatt who would plant the seeds
of the forbidden fruit of knowledge in Weishaupt,
which would end up blossoming into
the infamous Order of the Illuminati.
The Baron von Ickstatt was the book censor
for Ingolstadt University, a Jesuit institution.
- So all of the books you're not supposed to read,
Adam Weishaupt, you know,
as a young man reads all of these books
and he starts to understand that
all these popular philosophical works,
these aren't inherently bad,
but what it does is it minimizes the role of the state
and also the role of the church in society.
And what ends up happening is that you know,
he reads these pieces,
and he's conversing with some of his students
and he gets the idea as early as 1774,
there's a draft paper that's in Berlin that's called,
"A School For Humanity",
and it kind of is the little proto-thing for the Illuminati.
It was necessary to do this behind closed-doors because
the Jesuits had a monopoly on the University's system.
- The Jesuits were formed essentially as the Pope's army.
The Jesuits had been very influential in
education in general and at the University.
Weishaupt was definitely on the side of the Enlightenment,
and very much opposed to the on-going influence
of the Jesuit Order at the University of Ingolstadt.
- It's because the church during the 18th Century
held a huge copyright on free-thought.
During the Age of Enlightenment,
this started to come apart.
And so there's friction.
This was a period where there was heavy censorship on works.
The Catholic Church owned most land, knowledge,
your soul, even...
And so this concept,
a dual-concept of secret, not secret,
that's where it came into being.
(thunder rumbling)
(ethereal cathedral score)
(birds chirping)
- Over the years, Adam Weishaupt's mind
opened up to the writings of various philosophers
from the 18th Century Enlightenment Era at its zenith.
(fire crackling) In 1768 by the age of 20,
Weishaupt received his Doctorate Degree in Law,
indicating that he had a very, bright mind.
From 1772 to 1773,
several important events occurred in Weishaupt's life.
He obtained a professorship of law at Ingolstadt University,
and married his first wife, Afra Sausenhoffer,
against the wishes of his Godfather.
During this time,
Pope Clement XIV disbanded the Jesuit Order.
This opened up an opportunity for non-Jesuits
to teach Canon Law at Ingolstadt University.
Weishaupt secured this new appointment,
and became the first non-Jesuit in the history
of Ingolstadt University to teach Canon Law.
As Weishaupt's career progressed,
his liberal views became apparent to his Jesuits colleagues,
and he became their number one enemy on campus.
While the Jesuits conspired against Weishaupt
he used his intellect to fight back.
- A concept itself was more about
having a new Order of the Ages,
so that he meant he could complement each other
and work to a greater good.
To improve yourself so that you can be of service,
and you can also teach and instruct,
and be an example for someone else.
- He drafted a paper titled,
"A School For Humanity",
a philosophical doctrine which outlined a
preliminary structure for his own secret society.
Weishaupt eventually discarded his idea
for a "School of Humanity",
and on May 1st, 1776,
wrote the statutes for an entirely new
secret society called, the Perfectibilists.
- That means, believe us in the
continuous perfection of mankind.
Believe us and fight us for the improvement
of mankind and its condition.
- He writes about why one should have such an Order
and also whether such an Order
would be dangerous to society.
These are things he openly addresses.
There's a Machiavellian undertone in all this,
about absolute power he could have over people,
who do not even realize that it is
him having this power over them.
- When you have this goal you become dangerous.
In a similar manner, other secret societies have
had similar goals and have therefore become dangerous.
You have to understand that during this time
that Bavaria was a Catholic country,
that many people not only had no ownership of their mind,
they didn't even own their own land.
So there was no movement for the
human soul to express themselves.
- They don't really realize to what degree
their lifes are monitored in the
ideal society is going to erect.
He speaks of a society in which everyone is observed.
I think these ideas are absolutely common-ground
at that time but they have the clear notion
that humanity might be able to develop mentally,
to develop into something higher.
And that should be attractive for practically everyone
to reach that perfection.
It's more in a way that the old idea
of Medieval philosophers that perfection comes after
the world is destroyed in a divine revolution,
that this idea is just dropped,
you can get this perfection on Earth
and you can strive for it and you can create it.
(choir singing hauntingly)
(birds chirping)
At that time there were still
ancient influences at the universities,
so the first stage of the Order was a student group.
- Within a short amount of time,
Weishaupt changed the name of his secret society,
from the Perfectibilists to the Order of the Illuminati.
- Illumination is kind of like the light bulb going off
that will set into motion a development
in the initiate's psyche, and as a result,
and it'll be reflected in their immediate
environment in actual physical situations
which will reflect in their mind and cause change.
(choir singing hauntingly)
- In the old days,
you know before progressive reforms,
and liberal reforms, and everything else,
it was always a secret.
The men in the town knew something,
or they wanted to keep secrets among them,
or they had oaths,
and they kept those as secrets among the men.
And then eventually those men used
those secrets to their benefit,
and it was to protect the people in the town.
It was to protect the people in the city and the county.
- They were trying to explain in the best way they knew how,
their own agenda,
or their own curriculum for freeing the human mind
and therefore the spirit through initiation.
It seems very strange that a almost anti,
not only anti-Catholic but anti-spiritual organization
would use ritualistic practices and symbols,
but this is what they did at the time.
We have to understand that the Age of Enlightenment,
it wasn't necessarily all rationalists,
and one plus one equals two,
not only was there the Counter-Enlightenment
but there were those who did believe in religion,
there were those that did believe in spiritualism,
or rather an esoteric doctrine.
- The Illuminati degrees were broken up
into three classes: the Minerval Class,
the Freemasonic Class, and the Mysteries Class,
comprising a system of 12 degrees.
Within the Minerval Class of the Illuminati
were three degrees:
Novitiate, Minerval, and Illuminatus Minor,
or Minervalis Illuminatus.
The Minerval Class introduced the founding
principles of the Order to the candidates.
The term Minerval was derived from Minerva,
the Greek Goddess of Wisdom.
Often depicted with a shield
emblazoned with the head of Medusa.
- The first degree of the Illuminati is the Novice degree,
the thing is though it's not much of a degree at all,
because there's no formal initiation ceremony.
And what it consists of is a young man, you know,
somewhere between the ages of 14 and 16,
he's brought in by his initiator,
and he only knows this one person,
so that way if he decides to quit or demit,
he can't give the Order up because
he doesn't know the people's actual names,
or anyone else in the Order but his initiator.
- Novitiates were required to maintain a journal,
called a Quibus Licet,
which was an exact record of all correspondence
between the new member and the Illuminati.
The candidates were taught an initial cipher
to conceal names and locations of the Order.
The Zoroastrian years and Persian months were also
used in correspondence to add further complexity,
and security in their private communications.
(ritualistic chanting)
In 1777, Weishaupt became a member of the Freemasons.
He joined the Zur Wohltatigkeit Lodge,
or the Lodge of Caution.
Weishaupt only reached the degree of Fellow Craft
before he decided not to continue in Freemasonry.
But his cunning mind spotted an opportunity
to grow his own Order by infiltrating Masonic lodges
and recruiting their members.
The Illuminati did this by chartering
their own Masonic lodge,
Saint Theodore of Good Counsel.
- They begin to infiltrate Freemasonry,
they create a lodge, Theodor zum guten Rath,
and that is opening the doors into Freemasonry,
now they are accepted and it's not clear
that they are more than that,
and that they have some hidden ambition in that lodge.
- The plan was a success,
and the Order of the Illuminati expanded.
- This organization that is Freemasonry is a scaffold,
a structure where by you can hang your own thoughts,
your ideals and even some of the higher
degrees of Freemasonry have that in mind.
- As the Illuminati continued to grow and evolve,
Weishaupt was struck with a devastating blow
in his personal life.
His beloved wife, Afra Sausenhoffer died.
- Afra Sausenhoffer was Adam Weishaupt's first wife
and she gets sick and is dying right around 1780
and Adam Weishaupt is totally distraught.
- And that was a very, heavy blow to Weishaupt
and his only surviving daughter.
- Yet fate stepped in, once again for Weishaupt.
In May of 1780, Baron Adolph von Knigge,
a well-known Freemason and Master Ritualist
joined the Illuminati which altered both Weishaupt's life,
and the destiny of the Order forever.
- Knigge was ambitious.
He must've been and is way charismatic,
and he's highly engaged in the lodges in Germany.
And he's a good networker.
And he is interested in all these secret observations.
- Knigge quickly became a part
of the Illuminati's inner circle,
and with Weishaupt's permission,
began revising the second degree of the Order,
the Minerval Degree.
In the Minerval Degree the candidate was placed
in a dark room by an officer known as his Godfather
who told him, here you may reconsider once more,
whether or not you remain resolved to join the Order.
If the candidate wished to proceed,
his hat and sword were collected.
(pensive piano score)
- After 30 minutes has passed,
the candidate is taken from the dark chamber
and brought into the Minerval assembly room
before the Magistrate or the Officers.
- He was asked,
what is your desire?
Why do you come here?
After the initiate answered,
he then pledged eternal silence, secrecy,
and obedience to the Illuminati.
The Minerval modes of recognition were then taught to him.
"Ekas ekas este bebeloi",
was given to him in charge as such
as the secret passphrase of a Minerval,
which was derived from the Ancient Greeks,
meaning, "Away away ye profane".
The secret grip was demonstrated by the joining of two hands
and then tapping the hand of the other member
with the pinky-finger, three times.
The secret sign called, the Blinding Sign,
was illustrated by a salute that shadowed,
or blinded the eyes.
The candidate was then awarded with a Minerval Jewel,
a beautiful emblem of learning and graduation,
into the early stages of Enlightenment,
symbolized by the Owl of Minerva
resting on top of an open book,
ensorceled by a laurel wreath.
The letters PMCV on the open book,
stood for the Latin phrase, "Per me caeci vident",
meaning, "Through me the blind become sighted".
At the conclusion of the Minerval ceremony
the superior returned the candidate's sword and hat to him.
(rousing victorious score)
He then signed the Minutes Book,
at the secretary's station.
- Secrecy is important because there are many teachings
that go in a gradual system,
and if you give all the teachings
and secrets at the beginning,
sometimes we're not ready to understand those concepts.
So the secret, it maintains an order to the gradual
advancement of the person getting that knowledge.
- It's important to make distinction between
a secret society and a society with secrets.
Masons were, are still a society with secrets,
whereas the Illuminati was a secret society,
the difference being,
a Mason can say, "I am a Freemason",
they just can't discuss what it is that
they do in the ritual of Freemasonry.
The Illuminati cannot mention membership at all,
that's a secret society.
So you take, for example the Masons,
what's a different secret society,
would be like the Mafia,
you can, I can wear a Masonic Ring,
and tell you that I'm a Freemason,
you'll never see me wear a Mafia Ring,
and so you'll never know
whether I'm in it or not. (chuckles)
- The Illuminatus Minor,
or Minervalis Illuminatus Degree was a ritual used,
primarily for inculcating into the mind of the candidate.
The various symbols found within
the Minerval Class of degrees.
It was told, "Now take a look at the pyramid,
"this is the symbol of our illustrious Order,
"which takes large steps closer toward its goal,
"only if the members join forces working toward its
"attainment for the honor of the supreme architect
"and the happiness of the world",
which is why you find written here the letters D, P,
"Deo proximo",
meaning, "Close to God".
The candidate was also instructed on the esotericism
of the god-headed bird holding a Gorgon's head.
Overall this symbol was indicative of gaining wisdom
through various trials in life and constant study.
After the symbolic instruction occurred,
the candidate was taught the secret modes of recognition.
The secret passphrase was "Cave Ne Cadas",
Latin for, "Beware of falling from your high place".
The secret grip was demonstrated by two hands conjoined
and the thumb tapping the other hand three times.
The secret sign was the thumb
and index finger spread outward.
- What this degree is are the
leadership of the Minerval assembly.
Now for someone to get to this period,
they already had to have been made a Master Mason,
and that's important because if you're going to advance
at all on the Illuminati, you have to be a Freemason,
and it was so that way they could have that
seamless connection between the Secret School of Wisdom
and the Masonic Degrees.
- Low degrees are mostly about character formation,
knowing thyself, and also knowing the others,
getting to know the characters of
the persons you communicate with,
your friends and acquaintances.
Particularly impressive is the incredibly long list
of questions by which individual candidate's
character was to be assessed and vetted,
so thoroughly that it was completely unrealistic to do this.
It's pages and pages of very intricate
and detailed questions concerning the
character of each individual candidate.
So that's a very important element of the lower degrees.
(mysterious piano score)
- While Knigge strived to bring the Order
to a new level of ritual excellence,
a second enemy of the Illuminati arose.
A Rosicrucian group calling themselves,
the Golden and Rosy Cross.
They were also a secret society,
however the philosophy of these Rosicrucians
couldn't be more disparate than the Illuminati.
They believed in the ultimate goal of the universal
reformation of mankind through the practice of studying
and mastering the metaphysical laws of the universe,
by combining the ritual practices of Alchemy,
Hermeticism, Kabbalah, and Christian Gnosticism.
- The Rosicrucians had a very strange set of ideas.
They believed in a very mystical approach to Christianity,
of very direct communication with God,
they encouraged their members to lead a devout life.
- Several harsh, written exchanges were made
between the Golden and Rosy Cross and the Illuminati.
(men murmuring) At the core of their war
was the battle for recruiting members.
As the war waged on, Weishaupt encountered
yet another major obstacle in his personal life.
He had impregnated his deceased wife's sister,
Anna Sausenhoffer, out of wedlock.
- He starts consulting with some of the members
of the Illuminati, looking for you know,
recipes to cause like an abortion, or a miscarriage,
or something in this nature,
it never ends up happening.
- As a result of this controversy,
Weishaupt beckoned his friend,
and fellow-member of the Illuminati, Baron Thomas de Bassus,
to let Anna go into hiding at Sandersdorf Castle.
- He eventually married her
but that was a long struggle for him
because according to the rule that the Catholic Church,
you had to get a special dispensation from the Pope himself,
to be able to marry a sibling of your first partner.
- During this time Knigge began adapting
the Masonic Degrees of the Rite of the Strict Observance
into the Illuminati and aggressively set into motion
his plan for infiltrating Freemasonry.
- Knigge's infiltration is strategic.
He is getting into lodges,
asking high-profiled members to join
and for them it is in a way attractive
as they are building a kind of internal
super structure in these lodges.
You can be a normal Freemason,
and you can be a Special Freemason in a hidden congregation,
and that's extremely interesting.
- Knigge believed that incorporating a class
of Freemasonic Degrees into the Order of the Illuminati
would allow Freemasons to feel more comfortable
in transitioning into an alternative system.
- The main reason why they wanted to do this is
because they had no money at all.
And so their thought was,
well if we graft ourselves onto the Masonic system,
we can have a fertile ground for recruiting members,
but more importantly we can have their money.
- And Weishaupt albeit reluctantly agreed.
(birds chirping)
- Although Knigge revised
various aspects of the Masonic rituals,
the themes of mortality and reflection remained the same.
- The Masonic system within the Illuminati system
was not very well harmonized with the rest of the degrees.
They didn't really teach what
Weishaupt was most concerned with.
They were mostly inline with existing Masonic Degrees,
which were generally practiced at the time.
(choir singing hauntingly)
- In the fourth degree, Entered Apprentice,
the candidate was led into the lodge room, blindfolded,
and was received upon the point of a sword
which was to teach him that his progression through the
Illuminati Order would now take a much more serious tone,
and dire consequences would await him,
should he betray the Order.
He was then led around the lodge room in a mysterious
journey with his eyes veiled in darkness.
It was only by the help of his guide
that we was able to successfully navigate
the dangers that surrounded his soul.
As the Master of Ceremonies conducted
the candidate toward the east,
he was caused to kneel in front of the Worshipful Master.
A compass was placed upon his naked left breast,
which was to teach him to circumscribe his desires
and keep the passions of his heart within due bounds.
The Worshipful Master then used his gavel
to strike the compass three times,
piercing the skin of the candidate.
This was to teach him to always conceal the secrets
of the Illuminati within his bleeding heart.
He was then prepared to receive
the light of the Entered Apprentice.
(choir singing hauntingly)
(dramatic orchestral score)
As his blindfold was removed,
the Worshipful Master told him behold the host of men
armed and ready to avenge perjury,
should you become a traitor,
none of your steps on the face of this Earth shall be safe.
- There's an overlap between the Illuminati and the Masons.
The Masons had 14 United States
presidents who were Freemasons,
and because there's always been that overlap
between the Illuminati and the Masons,
it's always been said that
he country was run by the Illuminati.
Really the Founding Fathers were Freemasons,
including nine of the signers of
the Declaration of Independence,
including the most famous one, John Hancock.
A lot of founding principles
were based on Masonic principles.
There were 13 colonies, some say that was intentional.
There's been claims that Bermuda had requested colonization
as part of them to be the 14th, that they were denied,
'cause they wanted to keep it at that 13.
So believe what you will with that.
But it's also understood that Masonic lodges
that overlap different borders at the time were
the reason why there was trust built between those colonies,
which in essence, united the states of America.
The Masons had more of an influence,
more so than what people think,
is really the background work of the Illuminati.
- A lot of people have this wrong notion that
the Illuminati influenced the American Revolution,
actually it was quite the opposite.
They wrote John Adams and Benjamin Franklin,
as they were serving as envoys in Paris
and they were looking to establish
a colony in the United States, called Elysium.
It was showing that they philosophically
associated with the liberties the early
American Republic was after, as heaven,
and they had similar ambitions and aspirations.
The trouble was though is that they
picked a place on the Savannah River,
and in the Battle of Charleston,
the entire Southern Colonies were cut off,
and so it made this plan untenable,
not to mention the fact that they didn't have any money,
so it was really more of a pipe-dream than anything.
(classical violin score)
- Next in the Illuminati's Freemasonic Class,
came the Fellow Craft Degree,
where the candidate again,
made a mysterious journey towards seven steps,
which he would symbolically climb toward the middle chamber
of the Temple of Light.
Once inside the middle chamber,
he was taught to continue to educate himself through study,
to contemplate the beauty of nature,
and to master his senses.
When the Fellow Craft Degree concluded,
the Worshipful Master pointed his sword at the candidate
and said, "Draw your sword only in defense of your brethren
"and the honor of the Order".
In the Master Mason Degree,
the theme of mortality reached its climax,
again the candidate would make yet another mysterious
journey around the lodge room with a coffin
containing a skeleton in the middle of the floor.
After completing the journey,
the candidate's symbolic death ritual occurred.
As he stood before the Worshipful Master,
he was struck from behind on each one
of his shoulders by the wardens.
The Worshipful Master then hammered the candidate's forehead
knocking him backwards.
(rousing dramatic score)
He was placed in the coffin with a veil over his head,
with all of the brethren pointing
their swords toward his heart.
This act symbolized the doorway of death he would
symbolically pass through on his way to the pillars
of initiation and to the greater mysteries.
- The candidate is taught that all things that
may be unpleasant actually may not be bad,
just as all things that are pleasant may not be good.
And it teaches him to shift his perspective,
from that of a local member of society to shift one's view,
and perspective to a more global perspective.
- One might think that that's kind of an exciting system
that you have a group of enlightened masters
guiding humanity to its highest reaches,
through thick and thin,
better or for worse.
- Knigge introduced two high degrees
from the Strict Observance into
the Illuminati's Freemasonic Class,
the Illuminatus Major, or Scottish Novice Degree,
and the Illuminatus Dirigens, or Scottish Knight Degree.
- The Strict Observance are basically strictly
observing their Orders from unknown superiors
and they're the guys that have the whole
Templar Mythos into Freemasonry,
that Freemasonry is directly descended
from the Knights Templar,
which is a fine story and everything,
but it's not at all true.
You know, it's just a mythology.
- You bridged into a higher Order,
which was one of Knighthood,
and this wasn't just from Craftsman to Knighthood,
this was a transition to a spiritual Order.
- Knigge takes the two Scottish Degrees
from the Strict Observance
and he tries to augment them
and put them into the system.
So what ends up happening is that the Illuminati,
their Scottish Novice Degree is really a play
on the Scot's Master Degree that's
in the Strict Observance system.
- This is where the themes of the Freemasonic Class
within the Illuminati Order transitioned from mortality
to inner-reflection.
The Worshipful Master handed the candidate a mirror
and told him, "The Order gives you this sharpness of sight,
"this degree of Enlightenment,
"behold the image in this mirror it is your own.
"Self knowledge is the magical looking glass
"through which you may read the souls of others.
"The path to the hearts of other men
"begins with your own heart,
"therefore begin with yourself.
"Do you believe that inwardly,
"you are as you appear on the outside?
"Study your physionomy often, daily, hourly.
"You will constantly discover new features
"and you will learn to judge others by these features.
"What a beautiful and awe,
"what an ugly thing, it can so very often be
"to behold the unconcealed human heart.
"Nosce Te Ipsum."
The secret sign of the Illuminatus Major,
or Scottish Novice was the index finger of the right hand,
pointing toward the heart,
and the index finger of the left hand,
pointing upward toward the moon.
This sign alluded to a passage in the degree about
how the initiates of this degree would only meet
under the light of the moon in its first quarter.
Where the writing stated,
"Only he who sees with the eyes of Minerva's bird
"laboring under the protection of this benevolent orb
"will surely find them."
- This right from the first degree up to its last
was controlled by unknown superiors, secret chiefs,
and this is something that pops up in Illuminati conspiracy.
Again this controlling secret group that
controls all of humankind or this particular Order,
this was a particularly you know,
popular theme at this period,
and it exists later on.
You have the secret chiefs in Theosophy
and also references to it in the O.T.O.
- And there was also the hidden assumption that if anyone
has any secret knowledge about Alchemy and magic,
then it must be people of social standing.
So there is some idea behind it in the beginning,
that you might use the infant gate
for all these secret branches of knowledge,
whether they are, in a way magic,
I don't really get this.
(haunting piano score)
- The eighth and final degree of the Illuminati's
Freemasonic Class was the Illuminatus Dirigens,
or Scottish Knight,
where the real deviousness of Adam Weishaupt
began to surface.
The legend of this degree was based in part,
on the Battle of Bannockburn in Scotland,
during the year 1314,
where the exiled Knights Templar
fought alongside Robert the Bruce.
However, instead of instilling
the ideals of Knightly virtue,
into the new Illuminatus initiates of this degree,
Weishaupt focused on using this degree
to create a secret network of spies
to gather information on Freemasonic Lodges,
and use their influence to recruit
more members into the Order of the Illuminati.
Becoming an Illuminatus Dirigens,
or Scottish Knight of the Order meant that
in addition to being responsible for directing
the Freemasonic Degrees within the Illuminati,
the member was also charged with
spying on Freemasonic Lodges,
and influencing decision-makers within these circles
to join the Illuminati.
It was actually written in the statutes of this degree
that the Illuminati believed themselves
to be the secret superiors of Freemasonry.
The candidate was told,
"Happy are you who may cross this hallowed threshold,
"we welcome you in our midst.
"Ever bless the day we opened unto you the portal
"only the wise and honorable man may enter.
"Here you see a part of the unknown Holy Legion
"bound with inseverable bonds to fight for mankind.
"If you wish to make yourself worthy
"of guarding the inner sanctum,
"your heart must be clean and pure,
"your spirit ablaze with divine fire
"for the dignity of your nature."
The sign of this degree was made
forming the shape of an "X",
which alluded to Saint Andrew's Cross,
the Patron Saint of the Scottish Degrees.
The password was "Jehovah".
- There was this unique opportunity for the Illuminati
to take over lodges which were becoming disaffected
with the Strict Observance which by then was falling apart.
This was a major component in
the Illuminati Order's success.
- I would love to see how many members per lodge they get
because they seem to be sweeping higher members of lodges
were more interesting members of lodges,
at one group into the Order,
they need this lodge input.
Because if you create a Minerval Church anywhere,
you need at least five,
six members to have a starting point.
- As a result of Knigge's recruiting efforts,
a multitude of Freemasons joined the Illuminati.
- They managed with Knigge's help to convert a lot
of individual Freemasons and whole lodges almost,
to the Illuminati Order.
- The Illuminati got a strict focus on
actually getting involved in intellectual work,
on improving your character,
on improving society,
fire improving your character,
offering their own option of a high-grade system
right at the point of time when high-grade
Freemasonry in Germany is in crisis.
- In 1782, the Congress of Wilhelmsbad
was called to Order.
Many leading Masonic figures attended,
representing the Illuminati was Knigge.
Two major turning points at the Congress of Wilhelmsbad,
tipped the scales in favor of the Illuminati.
The first was that the Rite of the Strict Observance
officially denounced their Templar origins,
resulting in a major rift in the Order.
The second, major turning point was that Johann Bode,
a German translator and Deputy Grand Master of the
Grand Lodge of Hamburg Freemasons, joined the Illuminati.
- At the time when Bode comes into the game he is
actually strategically creating a province for himself,
the idea is once you have Bode in there you can have
the higher-levels of aristocracy in this Order
because he would be the person to get these
top-level people from the different lodges
and from other secret organizations into it.
- Shortly after the recruitment of Bode,
Knigge and Weishaupt commenced their work
on what would be the final set of degrees
for the Illuminati, the Mysteries Class.
The ninth degree Presbyter or Priest,
speculated on the purity of religion.
The candidate was tempted with a crown, scepter, sword,
gold and priest's garments.
The candidate was told to choose from these items.
If he reached for anything other than the priest's garments,
he was told, "Begone unholy man".
If he reached for the priest's garments,
however, one called out to him,
"Hail thee, noble man.
"Peace be with you."
The Holy Legion of Assistance shouted,
"Hail and blessings",
to the kings and priests of the New Union.
"Blessed be you.
"Be illuminated and go in peace."
- The Presbyter Degree,
it contained a peculiar Theology really,
consisting of Weishaupt's ideas,
but also of Knigge's ideas.
That was probably the only degree where essential
ideas of both men really were joined together,
which also caused some friction.
- It's really Adam Weishaupt's take
on Jean-Jacques Rousseau's discourse
on the origin of human inequality.
On the one side,
Rousseau takes you up the hill that mankind starts
in a primitive state and is enslaved by his needs
and Weishaupt takes you down the other side of the hill,
and shows you by curbing your needs,
you obtain your original state of freedom.
- The 10th degree, Princeps or Regent,
discussed Weishaupt's view on society.
- Up to this point,
the candidate has submitted himself to very
demanding obligations and monthly reports,
they cumulusly check reports,
so when he is initiated as a Regent,
he's set free from all these obligations,
and all the files the Order has collected on him,
up to this point are returned back to the candidate,
and the thinking is that he's so tightly bound to this
system that obligations are no longer necessary for him
to be a loyal and faithful member of the Order.
- In the ritual of this degree
bones and a crown laid out before the candidate
was to teach him that whether the bones belonged to a king,
a nobleman, or a beggar,
all are the same at death.
The initiate was told that slaves were not allowed,
and that he must profess his wish to be truly free
from the chains that bound him to a state of slavery.
Once the candidate was free from
the bondage of his restraints,
he then entered a room where he observed a shepherd's crook,
which denoted he was charged with leading others to freedom.
He received a Roman Cap of Liberty,
in accordance with the ancient Roman tradition
of when slaves from that era were
literally set free by their masters.
The crown set before him was to remind him
that he should never desire to trade
the Roman Cap of Liberty for the crown.
Around this time, Knigge began to view Weishaupt
as a hypocrite for preaching freedom
and liberty through the Illuminati teachings,
yet gave no real authority to Knigge
to further develop his own ideas within the Order.
As a result, Knigge and Weishaupt had a falling out,
and thus the rituals for the Docetists
and Philosophi Degrees were never finished.
The 11th degree, Docetists,
was the first of the Greater Mysteries,
and was considered highly-heretical
in the eyes of the Roman Catholic Church.
(ethereal ambient score)
A Docetist is one who believes that Christ's body
was not human but either a phantasm,
or a real, but celestial substance,
and that therefore his sufferings were only apparent.
- The Docetist Degree is where things
start getting really interesting.
In the correspondence between Knigge and Weishaupt,
they talk about the need for creating a people's religion,
and what this is,
is that basically they're going
to prove the existence of God
and the immortality of the soul,
and do it through logical and secular reasoning.
- The degree I believe can be related to Weishaupt's
own biography and the fate that had befallen him
in 1780 when his first wife died.
He was arguing that death only meant ascending
to a new level of existence and perception.
And so eventually in some kind of afterlife,
everybody who had deceased and left the world of the mortals
would probably be able to communicate with
the other loved-ones that had gone before him.
(rousing dramatic score)
- The Docetists Degree however,
discussed the idea that God does not perceive man
the same way human beings perceive mankind,
nor does God have a body and senses as we do,
but is more of a divine mind,
and therefore God perceives what happens to life
as the effects of certain forces only observable to him.
The writings in the Docetists Degree conclude
with the daring statement that says,
"We turn God into a man
"and convert the infinite to the finite."
- This is where the Great Mysteries come in,
these ideas of the ancient mysteries,
because this natural religion could not exist side-by-side
with competing state gods who sought to control society.
So the idea of the natural religion became part of a mystery
which was to be practice or worship in secret.
This is the real basis for what we say is,
"Ancient Mystery Schools".
They don't really exist in this form.
The history of these ancient civilizations
don't really have this concept.
- The final degree of the Illuminati
was the Philosophi Degree.
Like the proceeding degree,
it had no completed ritual.
The former themes of restoring man to his natural
state of liberty by curbing one's needs was intertwined
with the concept that one must view
the world from a broader perspective,
that man only considers right from wrong,
good and evil, from their own personal perspectives,
and that to understand these concepts more fully,
one must assume an external point of view
to see the true cause and effect of actions,
and that from this perspective,
what is good might actually be bad,
and what is wrong might actually be right.
- This is where the political system of,
that the Illuminati is trying to enact
its political reforms are fully fleshed-out.
- It's a panorama of philosophy of history,
which centers on two ideas in particular,
the correlation between population,
and the advancement of humanity.
- This theme resonated with Weishaupt and Bavaria,
given the rolling back of the Enlightenment
by Charles Theodore, and the control,
and censorship of academia by the church.
It is within this context that we see
Weishaupt's motivation for creating the Illuminati,
and the religious and political solutions
offered by his Order were really one in the same.
The solutions Weishaupt attempted to offer through
his own philosophy were less-relevant to others,
and this was one of the primary
reasons that the Illuminati failed.
It was in a large sense,
one man working out his own issues,
and attempting to manifest his
own utopian vision as reality.
- Weishaupt was an ambitious man.
He could also be quite ruthless and acerbic.
He was not the greatest leader because he was always
clashing with other people and within the Order,
so he was not very good at coming to a joint decision
with his closest collaborators.
- In 1784, the Illuminati began to fall apart.
Knigge resigned from the Order,
causing a major setback.
(melancholy orchestral score)
(water splashing loudly)
That same year, the most powerful enemy
of the Illuminati fully-surfaced,
Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria.
- Even though the Jesuits had lost their post,
he puts the Jesuits back into place and so it basically,
just as the Enlightenment was coming into Bavaria,
the rug gets snatched out from underneath them.
- Between 1784 and 1787,
Charles Theodore issued several edicts,
which would ban all secret societies in Bavaria,
and eventually issue a death penalty,
which would end the resistance on any
remaining members of any secret society.
He turned his focus, ultimately on the Illuminati,
and especially Weishaupt,
who lost his professorship from Ingolstadt University,
and was eventually exiled from Bavaria.
(thunder rumbling)
- What's happening at the end of the Order is,
in a way, dark.
Dark because we don't have a document that says,
that's now the end.
Any such organization is doomed to fail.
I see how the Illuminati fail in their practical work.
They realize now it's not gonna work any longer.
- The last activities that we know of were in 1788,
and there's no question that
the Illuminati all actually, was dissolved.
(thunder booms) It was not a big bang,
it was a whimper at the end,
it was just dissolving quietly in Central Germany,
and Weishaupt wasn't able to continue
at the helm of this organization.
- With Weishaupt in exile,
it was rumored that he became a heavy smoker and drinker.
He struggled with money,
even though he was receiving a monthly stipend,
which led historians to believe that
he developed a gambling addiction.
(birds chirping)
Weishaupt spend the majority of his remaining years
in the town of Gotha, where he died in 1830.
Even though the majority of the world's leading
Illuminati historians have found evidence that
the Order did in fact dissolve in the late 18th Century,
there are still those today who believe
the Illuminati carries on in the shadows,
controlling governments, world affairs, the banking system,
and many other aspects of daily life.
Perhaps the greatest achievement of the Illuminati
is that the world still talks about them today.
(rousing orchestral score)
- I'm sure there are certain fraternities,
and certain groups that,
you know, I'm sure people would equate with the Illuminati,
like the O.T.O.,
or some other organization I know that there's
the Fraternitas Attorney,
which is another group that maybe
people would associate with the Illuminati.
But I just say,
they tried to blend them all from you know,
the Templars to you know,
the Knights of Malta, to the Jesuits,
to you know, I just go down the list
of everyone that's Illuminati,
and I have a feeling that,
I don't think we should mix the substance,
I think that if there is an Illuminati,
we need to know the true history of the Illuminati,
and then from there I think people will find it to be,
"Oh, is that all it is?"
- Part of the Illuminati during that time
it definitely circulated and the idealism carried on,
and so there's that idea that globalization
and New World Order does exist with certain
things that developed in today's day and age.
I mean, we can call certain things like the United Nations,
or NATO a couple of Adam Weishaupt wins,
if you wanna call it that,
because his idea was to globalize
and get away from a nationalist viewpoint.
There are dangers to globalization,
because you might hate absolute power.
And then you'll have no watchers to oversee the watchers.
- They were advocates for liberalism, republicanism,
free thought, and secularism, and gender equality.
So it had some effect in the popular culture.
Now that was back you know,
when that society you know, worked,
and that declined and it met its own demise,
because of its own indiscretions.
But it did maintain an aura of mystique to where,
at the beginning of last century,
it was taken up by some to describe intentions of groups
in other societies that were taking their name
to have that in their societies as a level of hierarchy,
and because it had its own aura of mystique
to where they used it to attract membership.
And of course it has taken a life of its own,
because a lot of people think that
the Illuminati still exists
and that they're an entity of you know, to themselves,
and it is not my belief through the research
that I have found and a lot of people are intrigued by it,
and a lot of people who really partake on
the conspiracy theory make it as a given,
when it's actually unsubstantiated, you know,
that you know, that exists today.
- The Illuminati is an organization,
a secret organization that any war is the catch-all
for everything bad in the world anymore.
I've done countless talk shows about the Illuminati,
and I've had several people call my radio show,
claiming that they're part of the Illuminati,
or they've had some experience with the Illuminati,
and I always shake my head and say,
well didn't you know the Illuminati
disbanded like several hundred years ago.
They say, but there are secret
organizations that have branched off.
You know, I kind of think that maybe, yeah,
there a few branches that have kind of went
their various ways but I think that right now,
when you talk about the Illuminati,
it becomes nothing more than a
very safe, marketable, boogeyman.
- Some people actually believe in the idea that there is
some kind of secret society called, the Illuminati,
which calls the shots, even today,
which controls international organizations
and the way that the world is being run on a global scale.
That of course is nonsense,
but it's quite interesting in its own right.
We have to be careful to distinguish
between fact and fiction.
And the way we do that is by studying the original documents
and there's actually a lot to be done on that front.
We're very grateful that the Illuminati left behind
a rich heritage of archival documents,
and even though a lot was lost over the centuries,
there's still a lot of material for us,
historians to analyze and to publish
for the larger public to be acquainted with.
- How can you substantiate there is this
nefarious group that's still running the world.
I just think that you know,
especially with people that tend to be
sort of extremists in their belief systems
will sort of grab hold of something to kind of substantiate
a certain claim or what have you.
There are certain individuals that might have some sort of
profit interest involved,
it's just a marketing gimmick,
and especially people in the entertainment industry
kinda grabbed hold of that because
they knew it was something that could sell.
- Some of the craziest stories about the Illuminati,
well there's the one where the Queen of England's
a blood-drinking lizard.
- They want to take over the world.
- All governments are basically under one umbrella.
- The dollar bill.
- The eye, the sinister eye,
or they're doing the whole triangle.
- CIA trauma-based mind control.
- Or reptilian shape-shifter somewhere beyond visible light,
so you can't see them. (chuckles)
It's probably legit, right?
I mean. (laughs)
- So now it becomes, the Illuminati,
like a train, barreling down on you.
Illuminati!
You know, people,
their spit is speckling on their lips when they say it.
Illuminati!
You know, they get crazy.
And then you mention Freemasonry and people go crazy,
Satan in their head.
- Hail Satan!
- Republicans, Hillary Clinton,
everybody all comes together,
and they're all thrashing at each other,
and that's Illuminati!
- Does the Illuminati still exist? (laughs)
No. (giggles)
- I really think that people are reticent to admit
that secret societies have been with us for a long time.
They've influenced a lot of things,
from music to literature...
Heck, take out your wallet,
look at the dollar bill.
What's on the back, the seal, "Annuit coeptis",
you know, "Novus ordo seclorum",
what is that all about,
it's about some Order that they have envisioned,
he has favored our undertakings,
all of this stuff is all Illuminati,
and it's there and it's gonna be with us for a long time.
(chuckles) - It does not exist.
The Illuminati does not exist today.
- Despite whatever headway is made,
what we can prove about what they truly were,
nobody was gonna want to believe it,
because they're already set in their way,
because conspiracies just refuse to die.
However, it's important to put this information out there,
because if it enlightens someone, that...
Does that not complete the work that the Illuminati, itself,
had been set out to do?
To enlighten the mind?
To free your heart of all the vices and fetters?
(rousing orchestral score)
- Whether the world will ever accept that
the Illuminati were simply a group of like-minded
individuals who desired to make the world a better place
through education and moral refinement does not matter,
because there is a profound lesson in the Order's story,
that those who search for the light in the darkness,
and do not stray from the path may indeed find illumination.
(pensive orchestral score)
(mysterious ethereal cacophony)