First Published at ConspiracyArchive.com on Aug. 5th, 2005 [Part Two Here]

A Metaprogrammer at the Door of Chapel Perilous

In the literature that concerns the Illuminati relentless speculation abounds. No other secret society in recent history – with the exception of Freemasonry – has generated as much legend, hysteria, and disinformation. I first became aware of the the Illuminati about 14 years ago. Shortly thereafter I read a book, written by Robert Anton Wilson, called Cosmic Trigger: Final Secret of the Illuminati. Wilson published it in 1977 but his opening remarks on the subject still ring true today:

Briefly, the background of the Bavarian Illuminati puzzle is this. On May 1, 1776, in Bavaria, Dr. Adam Weishaupt, a professor of Canon Law at Ingolstadt University and a former Jesuit, formed a secret society called the Order of the Illuminati within the existing Masonic lodges of Germany. Since Masonry is itself a secret society, the Illuminati was a secret society within a secret society, a mystery inside a mystery, so to say. In 1785 the Illuminati were suppressed by the Bavarian government for allegedly plotting to overthrow all the kings in Europe and the Pope to boot. This much is generally agreed upon by all historians.1 Everything else is a matter of heated, and sometimes fetid, controversy. It has been claimed that Dr. Weishaupt was an atheist, a Cabalistic magician, a rationalist, a mystic; a democrat, a socialist, an anarchist, a fascist; a Machiavellian amoralist, an alchemist, a totalitarian and an “enthusiastic philanthropist.” (The last was the verdict of Thomas Jefferson, by the way.) The Illuminati have also been credited with managing the French and American revolutions behind the scenes, taking over the world, being the brains behind Communism, continuing underground up to the 1970s, secretly worshipping the Devil, and mopery with intent to gawk. Some claim that Weishaupt didn’t even invent the Illuminati, but only revived it. The Order of Illuminati has been traced back to the Knights Templar, to the Greek and Gnostic initiatory cults, to Egypt, even to Atlantis. The one safe generalization one can make is that Weishaupt’s intent to maintain secrecy has worked; no two students of Illuminology have ever agreed totally about what the “inner secret” or purpose of the Order actually was (or is . . .). There is endless room for spooky speculation, and for pedantic paranoia, once one really gets into the literature of the subject; and there has been a wave of sensational “ex-poses” of the Illuminati every generation since 1776. If you were to believe all this sensational literature, the damned Bavarian conspirators were responsible for everything wrong with the world, including the energy crises and the fact that you can’t even get a plumber on weekends. (pp. 3-4)

That short excerpt is perhaps the most honest and succinct introduction to the Illuminati as you’ll ever come across. So it is more than a bit ironic that Wilson, throughout the rest of the text, proceeds to perpetuate and expand upon similar myths, and in the process manages to take it to a whole new level.2 In the end, the Illuminati had mystified Wilson as much as anyone in the preceding centuries.

Robert Anton Wilson (RAW) is an enigma in his own right: an archetypal Trickster in the tradition of Aleister Crowley or Timothy Leary, both of whom he greatly admires.3 The Cosmic Trigger Trilogy is meant to awaken the reader to multiple mind-blowing streams of thought and completely shatter preconceived notions of perception, time and space – much as the writings of illuminists themselves. Herein lies the seed of speculation to the effect that he must surely be in on the conspiracy – some have gone so far as to believe he’s the Grand Master (or inner head) of the Illuminati himself. Wilson has always toyed with the accusations, and in typical RAW fashion, he’s never denied it outright.

Cosmic Trigger wasn’t the first book Wilson dedicated to the theme, however. Two years earlier, in 1975, RAW and co-author Robert Shea popularized the modern wave of Illuminati conspiracies with the publication of the novel Illuminatus! Trilogy. A veritable cult classic, Illuminatus invigorated the underground market and spawned a whole new generation of conspiracy authors. One cannot read any of RAW’s material without a healthy sense of humor, though, and Illuminatus is definitely no exception. Written between 1969 and 1971 it reads like a subversive anarchist manual, yet satirical and surreal at the same time. The cut-and-paste job of excerpts right into the flow of dialogue – from books and pamphlets on a wide range of conspiracy theories – probably boosted its appeal from the beginning.

Any researcher investigating the Illuminati today would be remiss not to mention RAW – especially in a book or document purporting to cover the subject in detail. With the exception of Myron Fagan, “Wild” Bill Cooper,4 the John Birchers and Biblical endtimes literature, the formation of the current mythos surrounding the subject has a lot to do with the popularity of Wilson’s books: have you ever seen the Illuminati and the star Sirius mentioned in the same paragraph?

Before plunging headlong into the history of the Bavarian Illuminati, it might be useful to have a look at Wilson’s diagram – his interpretation (at the time) of the “occult conspiracy” as it has been transmitted through the ages (Cosmic Trigger: Final Secret of the Illuminati, p.188):

New Promethean Possibilities

“European aristocrats transferred their lighted candles from Christian altars to Masonic lodges. The flame of occult alchemists, which had promised to turn dross into gold, reappeared at the center of new “circles” seeking to recreate a golden age: Bavarian Illuminists conspiring against the Jesuits, French Philadelphians against Napoleon, Italian charcoal burners against the Hapsburgs.” – Billington, Fire in the Minds of Men: Origins of the Revolutionary Faith, p. 6

The Bavarian Illuminati originated during an age replete with the growing belief in the acquisition of truth through observation and experience. The Age of Enlightenment was in full swing and by the end of the Eighteenth Century an explosion of natural philosophy, science, the resurgence of hermeticism and occult experimentation, all competed directly with the traditional teachings of the Church and the Jesuit monopoly in the Universities and Colleges.5 Numerous ideologies owe an intellectual and political heritage to this period: skepticism, rationalism, atheism, liberalism, humanism, reductionism, modernism, communism, nihilism and anarchism – among the most apparent.

As the Eighteenth Century came to a close Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755), Denis Diderot (1713-1784), Voltaire (1694-1778), Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), Marquis de Condorcet (1743-1794), Comte de Mirabeau (1749- 1791), David Hume (1711-1776), Adam Smith (1723-1790), Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) were famous in their own time. The instrument of reason became a new faith, no less susceptible to its own breed of dogmatism. The philosophers of the Enlightenment reasoned that the physics of Newton might become applicable in all fields of endeavor: the fundamental cosmic laws of nature could transform society and man himself into a “noble savage.”6

The idea of a “glorious revolution” attained widespread acceptance, but during Weishaupt’s time it was still a relatively new concept to link political change with social change. The “imminent revolution of the human mind,” promulgated by the “radical Bavarian Illuminists,” coincided with Mirabeau’s doctrine of a coming secular upheaval and universal revolution. Mirabeau proclaimed Prussia to be the most likely place for the start of the revolution, with the “German Illuminists as its probable leaders.” History records, however, that it was Mirabeau himself who became one of the main catalysts to spark the “fire in the minds of men” during the French Revolution.7

At about the same time Weishaupt was embarking on an academic career two important figures entered the world stage: Thomas Robert Malthus,8 born in 1766, a major influence on Darwinism, population control and the eugenics movement; four years later we see the birth of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, in Stuttgart Germany, the inventor of what would become known as the “Hegelian Dialectic.” “For Hegelians,” Antony C. Sutton reports, “the State is almighty and seen as ‘the march of God on earth.’ Indeed, a State religion. Progress in the Hegelian State is through contrived conflict: the clash of opposites makes for progress. If you can control the opposites, you dominate the nature of the outcome” (Introduction to the 2002 edition of America’s Secret Establishment: An Introduction to the Order of Skull & Bones, no pagination PDF copy).

Revolutionary radicals were impressed with the proof-of-concept displayed by the ruthless conspirators in France. Malthusian and Hegelian dogma became equally influential for anarchists, communists, the intelligentsia and the new breed of revolutionaries that surfaced in the 19th Century: Young Hegelians such as Bakunin, Proudhon and Marx took up the cause in the “spirit of the times” to “destroy in order to build.”

The Bavarian Illuminati: The “Insinuating Brothers” of ?

Weishaupt . . . proposed as the end of Illuminism the abolition of property, social authority, nationality, and the return of the human race to the happy state in which it formed only a single family without artificial needs, without useless sciences, every father being priest and magistrate. Priest of we know not what religion, for in spite of their frequent invocations of the God of Nature, many indications lead us to conclude that Weishaupt had, like Diderot and d’Holbach, no other God than Nature herself. From his doctrine would naturally follow German ultra-Hegelianism and the system of anarchy recently developed in France, of which the physiognomy suggests a foreign origin. – Henry Martin, Histoire de France depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu’en 1789, XVI. 533.9

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 populace, 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? . . . And finally, do you know what secret societies are? What a place they occupy in the great kingdom of the world’s events? Do you think they are unimportant, transitory appearances? – Adam Weishaupt, Nachtrag von weitern Originalschriften, II, pp. 44, 51.10

A quick perusal on the World Wide Web will show the disparity of opinions and irreconcilable differences about the history of the Illuminati – Bavarian or otherwise. It’s getting better though, a recent article published by the American Atheists11 – The Enlightenment, Freemasonry, and The Illuminati – has solid documentation and thorough references for those inclined to investigate further into primary and secondary source material; the Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon has uploaded part of Vernon L. Stauffer’s New England and the Bavarian Illuminati; John Robison’s classic, Proofs of a Conspiracy Against all the Religions and Governments of Europe has been posted; the Catholic Encyclopedia has long had a good, but short, article; Nesta Webster’s Secret Societies & Subversive Movements has been posted; three important chapters from Rabbi Marvin S. Antelman’s To Eliminate the Opiate Vol. I; Wikipedia.org has an adequate article ; and, for those poor Dan Brown fans whose first introduction to the Illuminati was the bestseller Angels & Demons, there’s a good debugging write-up from the Center for Studies on New Religions.

If you never buy a single book on the Illuminati, and just read the internet references cited above, you would have an excellent grasp – much greater than your average conspiracy theorist – on the facts (as we can safely say) concerning the rise and fall of the Bavarian Illuminati. I have taken it a bit further, however. For the last six months I’ve engaged in a crash course on the Illuminati and related subjects: absorbing and taking notes from Proofs of a Conspiracy … , and other internet references; buying Barruel’s Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism, Billington’s Fire In the Minds of Men: Origins of the Revolutionary Faith , Webster’s Secret Societies & Subversive Movements , Antelman’s To Eliminate the Opiate Vol. 1 , Yates’ The Rosicrucian Enlightenment, Fulop-Miller’s The Power and Secret of the Jesuits , Carr’s Pawns in the Game; and at the same time consulting other works, in my own personal library, when needed.12

A Chronological Overview

In an effort to keep the notes to a minimum and still provide thorough citation, the following abbreviations will be applied:

1748

February 6. Adam Weishaupt is born (d. 1830) of Westphalian parents [CE] in Ingolstadt Bavaria. Fittingly, the Weishaupt family name first appeared in Baden and was anciently associated with tribal conflicts around the area. [House of Names: Weishaupt Family Crest]

1755

Weishaupt’s father, George, dies. He is turned over to his liberal godfather, Baron Johann Adam Ickstatt (1702-1776), curator of the University of Ingolstadt and a member of the Privy Council. [VS, CG]

While growing up Weishaupt was educated by the Jesuits and was “accorded free range in the private library of his godfather, the boy’s questioning spirit was deeply impressed by the brilliant though pretentious works of the French ‘philosophers’ with which the shelves were plentifully stocked.” [VS] He studies law, economics, politics, history and philosophy; voraciously devouring every book which he came across. [VS]

1768

Weishaupt graduates from the University of Ingolstadt. He serves for four years as a tutor and catechist. [VS]

1772

Weishaupt is appointed as professor of civil law at the University of Ingolstadt. [CE]

1773

Pope Clement XIV dissolves the Jesuit Order.

Weishaupt becomes the first layman to occupy the chair of canon law; the prestigious position had been held by a Jesuit for the previous 90 years. [VS, CE]

Weishaupt marries, against the wishes of Ickstatt. [VS]

1775

Weishaupt is promoted to dean of the faculty of law. [VS]

1776

May 1. Weishaupt founds the Order of the Illuminati with an original membership of five.13 The Order is secret, hierarchical and modeled on the Jesuits. The original name for the Order was uncertain: Perfectibilists and Bees were both considered, but Weishaupt settled on Illuminati – chosen, perhaps, because of the “image of the sun radiating illumination to outer circles” [JB: 94-95] The Order was, therefore, always represented in communications between members as a circle with a dot in the center ☉ This symbolic imagery – the point within a circle, the Perfectibilists and the Bees – is also reflective of Weishaupt’s fascination with Eleusinian14 and Pythagorean Mysteries; no doubt learning of this early on having access to Ickstatt’s considerable library.

Like most secret societies the basic structure of the Order was divided into classes and degrees, in the following manner:

The Nursery Preparatory Literary Essay Novitiate (Novice) Minerval (Brethren of Minerva, Academy of Illuminism) Illuminatus Minor Symbolic Freemasonry Apprentice Fellow Craft Master Scots Major Illuminatus Scots Illuminatus Dirigens (Directory) Mysteries Lesser Presbyter, Priest, or Epopt Prince or Regent Greater Magus Rex or King

“The Zoroastrian-Manichaean cult of fire was central to the otherwise eclectic symbolism of the Illuminists; their calendar was based on Persian rather than classical or Christian models.” [JB: 95] Weishaupt explains: “The allegory in which the Mysteries and Higher Grades must be clothed is Fire Worship and the whole philosophy of Zoroaster or of the old Parsees15 who nowadays only remain in India; therefore in the further degrees the Order is called ‘Fire Worship’ (Feuerdienst), the ‘Fire Order,’ or the ‘Persian Order’ – that is, something magnificent beyond all expectation.” [NW: 201] Weishaupt constructed the Illuminati calendar to commemorate the date of the Persian King Yazdegerd III (632 AD) [MI] – the Parsees (Parsis) still use the same dating system to this day.16 Barruel relates how the Illuminati Novice in-training “must … learn how to date his letters, and be conversant with the Illuminized Hegira or Calendar; for all letters which he will receive in future will be dated according to the Persian era, caled [sic] Jezdegert and beginning A.D. 630. The year begins with the Illuminees on the first of Pharavardin, which answer to the 21st of March. Their first month has no less than forty-one days; the following months, instead of being called May, June, July, August, September, and October, are Adarpahascht, Chardad, Thirmeh, Merdedmeh, Shaharimeh, Meharmeh: November and December are Abenmeh, Adameh: January and February, Dimeh, and Benmeh: The month of March only has twenty days, and is called Asphandar.” [AB: 429; emphasis in original] 17

For the Novice, the letters to his Superior are to be written in cipher: “he must make himself master of that cypher, which is to serve him until initiated into the higher degrees, when he will be entrusted with the hieroglyphics of the Order.” [AB: 429] Barruel (p.438) displays the first cipher18 introduced to the Illuminati Novice:

A B C D E F G H I K L M 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 N O P Q R S T U W X Y Z 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

The Hieroglyphic cipher used in the higher Scotch Knight degrees is also reproduced by Barruel:

The Bavarian Illuminati were set up for “political intriguing rather than in speculation” [NW: 201], the Illuminati became “much more characteristic of a militia in action than an order with initiations.” [JB: 95] Weishaupt’s contempt for certain esoteric pursuits – as a “thing-in-itself” – was widely known: “… in Weishaupt’s system the phraseology of Judaism, the Cabalistic legends of Freemasonry, the mystical imaginings of the Martinistes, play at first no part at all. For all forms of ‘theosophy,’ occultism, spiritualism, and magic Weishaupt expresses nothing but contempt, and the Rose-Croix masons are bracketed with the Jesuits by the Illuminati as enemies it is necessary to outwit at every turn. Consequently no degree of Rose-Croix finds a place in Weishaupt’s system, as in all the other Masonic orders of the day which drew their influence from Eastern or Cabalistic19 sources.” [NW: 200]

Weishaupt seems to have shown the most disdain towards the occult pursuits of his own time; of the ancient mysteries he has nothing but high regard. The Insinuators, while in pursuit of potential recruits, “must remark, that there exists doctrines solely transmitted by secret traditions, because they are above the comprehension of common minds. In proof of his assertions he will cite the Gymnosophists in the Indies, the Priests of Isis in Egypt, and those of Eleusis and the Pythagorean School in Greece.” [AB: 422]

Ascending the Illuminati hierarchy wasn’t so much for the purpose of attaining wisdom as to be “remade into a totally loyal servant of a universal mission.” [JB: 94] In a letter to fellow Illuminist, Xavier Zwack, dated Mar 10 1778, Weishaupt had said, “We cannot use people as they are, but begin by making them over.” [JB: 94]

1777

Weishaupt is initiated into Freemasonry, in Munich, at the Lodge Theodore of Good Counsel. By the middle of 1779, Weishaupt’s “Insinuators” had completely wrestled control of the Lodge and it was regarded as part of the Order of the Illuminati. [VS]

1780

February 8. Weishaupt’s wife dies. [VS]

July. Baron von Knigge is initiated into the Order. [VS] Knigge was connected to the court of Hesse-Cassel [VS] and a prominent Strict Observance freemason. He subsequently restructured the Order and recruited many prominent members: “the notion of restricting the field of recruiting solely to the young was abandoned, and this phase of the propaganda was widened so as to include men of experience whose wisdom and influence might be counted upon to assist in attaining the objects of the order.” [VS] By 1784, largely due to Knigge’s circle of influence, the Illuminati had “between two and three thousand members.” [VS]

1782

July 16. Congress of Wilhelmsbad convened. Probably the most significant event of the era as far as any official coalition between secret society factions:

“At Wilhelmsbad, near the city of Hanau in Hesse-Cassel, was held the most important Masonic Congress of the eighteenth century. It was convoked by Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick,20 Grand Master of the Order of Strict Observance … there were delegates from Upper and Lower Germany, from Holland, Russia, Italy, France, and Austria; and the order of the Illuminati was represented by the Baron Von Knigge. It is not therefore surprising that the most heterogeneous opinions were expressed.” – Albert G. Mackey. Mackey’s Revised Encyclopedia Of Freemasonry , under “Wilhelmsbad, Congress of”

“…it was not until the Congress de Wilhelmsbad that the alliance between Illuminism and Freemasonry was finally sealed….What passed at this terrible Congress will never be known to the outside world, for even those men who had been drawn unwittingly into the movement, and now heard for the first time the real designs of the leaders, were under oath to reveal nothing. One such honest Freemason, the Comte de Virieu, a member of Martiniste Lodge at Lyons, returning from the Congre’s de Wilhelmsbad could not conceal his alarm, and when questioned on the ‘tragic secrets’ he had brought back with him, replied: ‘I will not confide them 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 from it.” From this time onwards, says his biographer, M. Costa de Beauregard, ‘the Comte de Virieu could only speak of Freemasonry with horror.'” (Nesta H. Webster. World Revolution – The Plot Against Civilization , p. 18.)

1784

April 20. Baron von Knigge resigns from the Illuminati. His quarrels with Weishaupt over the direction and management of the Order had reached a boiling point. A certain amount of jealousy was apparent from both parties – though Weishaupt certainly was a Machiavellian, by all accounts. On July 1st Knigge signs a formal agreement to return all property, rituals and initiations belonging to the Order, and to maintain silence about Illuminati secrets. Knigge was convinced of Weishaupt’s Jesuitism; he accused him of being “a Jesuit in disguise.” [VS, CE]

June 22. The Elector of Bavaria, Duke Carl Theodore, issues the first edict against secret societies not authorized by the law or the sovereign.

This first edict seems to have been brought upon by ex-member, Professor Joseph Utzschneider, who had quit the Order in August 1783. Just a few months later, in October, Utzschneider along with Grünberger and Cosandey, fellow professors with him in the Marianen (Marienburg) Academy21 and members of the Order, presented the Duchess Maria Anna with an internal Illuminati document, and a membership list. The Duchess was thoroughly alarmed and passed it on to the Duke. [VS, JR]

1785

February. Some members of the Illuminati appeal to Carl Theodore for an appearance before him to prove their innocence. The offer is rejected. [VS]

March 2. The Bavarian Monarch issues the second edict against secret societies, specifically naming the Illuminati and Freemasonry; shortly after a considerable amount of important documents were concealed or put to the flames. [VS] This second ban was more forceful, it “left no room for evasion.” The government enforcers were giving weapons to “wage an effective command.” [VS]

Weishaupt had already left his post at the University two weeks earlier, obviously knowing about the approaching storm. “He fled across the border to Regensburg, and finally settled at Gotha” under the protection of Illuminati member Duke of Saxe-Gotha. [VS] Thirteen years later Barruel writes, “[Weishaupt] now banished from his country as a traitor to his Prince and to the whole Universe, peacefully at the court of Ernest Lewis, Duke of Saxe Gotha, enjoys an asylum, receives a pension from the public treasury, and is dignified with the title of Honorary Councellor to that Prince.” [AB: 400]

Judicial inquiries were held at Ingolstadt. Subsequent government measures were taken and some members made formal confessions. A considerable membership was found to be held within the military; officers and soldiers were ordered to come forward and confess any involvement. State officials, professors, teachers, and students who were found out to be members were summarily dismissed. Some were even banished from the country. [VS]

September 9. Utzschneider, Grünberger, and Cosandey make a joint Juridical Deposition before the Elector:

“The object of the first degrees of Illuminism is at once to train their young men, and to be informed of every thing that is going forward by a system of espionage. The Superiors aim at procuring from their inferiors diplomatic acts, documents, and original writings. With pleasure they see them commit any treasons or treacherous acts, because they not only turn the secrets betrayed to their own advantage, but thereby have it in their power to keep the traitors in a perpetual dread, lest, if they every showed any signs of stubbornness, their malefactions should be made known.-Oderint dum metuant, let them hate, provided they fear, is the principle of their government. “The Illuminees from these first degrees are educated in the following principles: “The Illuminee who wishes to rise to the highest degree must be free from all religion; for a religionist (as they call every man who has any religion) will never be admitted to the highest degrees.” The Patet Exitus, or the doctrine on Suicide, is expressed in the same terms as in the preceding deposition. “The end sanctifies the means. The welfare of the Order will be a justification for calumnies, poisonings, assassinations, perjuries, treasons, rebellions; in short, for all that the prejudices of men lead them to call crimes. “One must be more submissive to the Superiors of Illuminism, than to the sovereigns or magistrates who govern the people; and he that gives the preference to sovereigns or governors of the people is useless to us. Honor, life, and fortune, all are to be sacrificed to the Superiors. The governors of nations are despots when they are not directed by us.-They can have no authority over us, who are free men. “The love of one’s prince and of one’s country are incompatible with views of an immense extent, with the ultimate ends of the Order, and one must glow with ardour for the attainment of that end. “The Superiors of Illuminism are to be looked upon as the most perfect and the most enlightened of men; no doubts are to be entertained even of their infallibility.” “It is in these moral and political principles that the Illuminees are educated in the lower degrees; and it is according to the manner in which they imbibe them and show their devotion to the Order, or are able to second its views, that they are earlier or later admitted to the higher degrees. “They use every possible artifice to get the different post-offices in all countries entrusted to the care of their adepts only. They also boast that they are in possession of the secret of opening and reclosing letters without the circumstance being perceived. “They made us give answers in writing to the following questions: How would it be possible to devise one single system of morals and one common Government for all Europe, and what means should be employed to effectuate it? Would the Christian Religion be a necessary requisite? Should revolt be employed to accomplish it? &c. &c. “We were also asked, in which Brethren we should place the most confidence if there were any important plan to be undertaken; and whether we were willing to recognize the right of life and death as vested in the Order; and also the right of the sword, Jus Gladii. “In consequence of our acquaintance with this doctrine of the Illuminees, with their conduct, their manners, and their incitements to treason, and being fully convinced of the dangers of the Sect, we the Aulic Counsellor Utzschneider and the Priest Dillis left the Order. The Professor Grünberger, the Priest Cosandey, Renner, and Zaupfer, did the same a week after, though the Illuminees sought to impose upon us shamefully, by assuring us that his Electoral Highness was a member of their Order. We clearly saw that a Prince knowing his own interests, and wholly attending to the paternal care of his subjects, would never countenance a Sect, spreading through almost every province under the cloak of Free-masonry; because it sows division and discord between parents and their children, between Princes and their subjects, and among the most sincere friends; because on all important occasions it would install partiality on the seats of justice and in the councils, as it always prefers the welfare of the Order to that of the state, and the interests of its adepts to those of the prophane. Experience had convinced us, that they would soon succeed in perverting all the Bavarian youth. The leading feature in the generality of their adepts were irreligion, depravity of morals, disobedience to their Prince and to their parents, and the neglect of all useful studies. We saw that the fatal consequence of Illuminism would be, to create a general distrust between the prince and his subjects, the father and his children, the minister and his secretaries, and between the different tribunals and councils. We were not to be deterred by that threat so often repeated, That no Prince can save him that betrays us. We abandoned, one after the other, this Sect, which under different names, as we have been informed by several of our former Brethren, has already spread itself in Italy, and particularly at Venice, in Austria, in Holland, in Saxony, on the Rhine, particularly at Frankfort, and even as far as America.-The Illuminees meddle as much as possible in state affairs, and excite troubles wherever their Order can be benefited by them.” “We are not acquainted with the other Invisibles, who in all probability are chiefs of a higher degree. “After we had retired from the Order, the Illuminees calumniated us on all sides in the most infamous manner. Their cabal made us fail in every request we presented; succeeding in rendering us hateful and odious to our superiors, they even carried their calumnies so far as to pretend that one of us had committed murder. After a year’s persecution, an Illuminee came to represent to the Aulic Counsellor Utzschneider, that from experience he must have learned that he was every where persecuted by the Order, that unless he could contrive to regain its protection, he would never succeed in any of his demands, and that he could still regain admission.” [AB: 684-88; emphasis in original]

1786

On October 11 police search Xavier Zwack’s residence in Landshut. A number of books and over two hundred letters, between Weishaupt and the Areopagites, were confiscated. The documents were published by the Bavarian government under the title Einige Originalschriften des Illuminaten Ordens . [VS, TM]

The evidence discovered at Zwack’s residence was considerable: besides the secret communications between the Illuminati Adepts, the authorities found tables containing the Order’s symbols and the Persian calendar; membership rosters, statutes, instructions for recruiters, ceremonies of initiation and imprints of the Order’s insignia; a eulogy of atheism and a copy of a manuscript entitled Better Than Horus; a proposal for a branch of Illuminism for woman;22 several hundred impressions of Government seals (with a list of their owners, princes, nobles, clergymen, merchants, etc.), for the purposes of counterfeiting; instructions for the making of the poison Aqua Toffana, poisonous gas and secret ink; “an infernal machine” for the safeguarding of secret papers – apparently a strong box that would blow up, destroying its contents; and receipts for procuring abortion and a formula for making a tea to induce the procedure. [VS, JR, MA: 51, NW: 228, AB: 692-93]

In the space of a few months, in 1786 – in order to save face – Weishaupt pens 9 different apologetic pamphlets, most notably: Apologie der Illuminaten , Frankfort and Leipzig, 1786, and Vollständige Geschichte der Verfolgung der Illuminaten in Bayern, Frankfort and Leipzig, 1786. [VS]

1787

As a result of further police searches of Baron Bassus’ castle at Sandersdorf, the Bavarian government published more secret documents of the Order: Nachtrag von weitern Originalschriften … [VS]

August 16. The third and final edict against the Order is put into effect by the Duke of Bavaria. The former edicts were reemphasized “and in addition, to give maximum force to the sovereign’s will, criminal process, without distinction of person, dignity, state, or quality, was ordered against any Illuminatus who should be discovered continuing the work of recruiting. Any so charged and found guilty were to be deprived of their lives by the sword; while those thus recruited were to have their goods confiscated and themselves to be condemned to perpetual banishment from the territories of the duke. Under the same penalties of confiscation and banishment, the members of the order, no matter under what name or circumstances, regular or irregular, they should gather, were forbidden to assemble as lodges.” [VS]

Illuminati Membership List: Alias, Occupation, Residence and Associates

An Intimate Look inside the Illuminati

By 1787 the Illuminati had enormous tentacles inside every branch of authority in Bavaria and greater Germany. The sheer size and scope of the conspiracy alarmed the Duke to no end. They had also spread into France, Italy, Austria, Poland and England – even to America, by their own account. In the third year of operation Weishaupt boasts to Zwack that they have more than a thousand initiates. [AB: 596] Knigge recruits an additional 500 [AB: 649] – mostly masons – very shortly after his initiation in 1780; and by the third edict against the Order the Illuminati were estimated to have between 2000 and 3000 members. [VS] John Robison compiles an interesting statistic concerning the different lodges and locations: Munich, Hesse (many), Ingolstadt, Buchenwerter, Frankfort, Monpeliard, Eichstatt, Stuttgart (3), Hanover, Carlsruhe, Brunswick, Anspach, Calbe, Neuwied (2), Magdeburg, Mentz (2), Cassel, Poland (many), Osnabrueck, Turin, Weimar, England (8), Upper Saxony (several), Scotland (2), Austria (14), Warsaw (2), Westphalia (several), Deuxponts, Heidelberg, Cousel, Mannheim, Treves (2), Strasburg (5), Aix-la-Chappelle (2), Spire, Bartschied, Worms, Bahrenberg, Düsseldorf, Switzerland (many), Rome, Cologne, Naples, Hannibal, Bonn (4), Livonia (many), Ancona, Courland (many), Florence, Franken Dahl, France, Alsace (many), Holland (many), Vienna (4), Dresden (4), America (several). [JR]

The whole plan for governing the Order is reprinted in Barruel’s Memoirs … , pp. 541-78. It entails Weishaupt’s instructions to his Regents, Local Superiors, Provincials and National Directors. The international character is stressed in a letter to the National Superiors: “In every nation there shall be a National Director associated and in direct communication with our Fathers, the first of whom holds the helm of the Order.” [AB: 565] I have created a graphic based on the system described by Weishaupt:

At the helm of course was Weishaupt, the absolute dictator. In order to maintain complete secrecy he conceived a plan which would have been successful had the initiates carried it through without deviation. In two letters, first to Zwack and then to Baader, he explains:

“For the present, direct nobody to me but Cortez, that I may have some leisure to digest my speculations, and determine each one’s place; for every thing depends on that. My operations with you shall be directed by the following table:

“Immediately under me I have two adepts, into whom I infuse my whole spirit; each of these corresponds with two others, and so on. By this method, and in the simplest way possible, I can inflame and put in motion thousands of men at once. It is by such means that orders are to be transmitted and political operations carried on.”

Then to Baader, a few days later, he writes: “I have sent to Cato a table (schema) showing how one may methodically and without much trouble arrange a great multitude of men in the finest order possible. He will probably have shown it to you; if he has not, ask for it. Here is the figure (then follows the figure).

“The spirit of the first, of the most ardent, of the most profound adept daily and incessantly communicates itself to the two A, A; by the one to B, B; by the other to C, C: B B and C C communicate it to the eight following; these to the next sixteen, from thence to the thirty-two and so downwards. I have written a long explanation of it all to Cato. In a word, every man has his Aide-Major, by whose means he immediately acts on all the others. The whole force first issues from the center and then flows back again to it. Each one subjects, as it were, to his own person, two men whom he searches to the bottom, whom he observes, disposes, inflames, and drills, as it were, like recruits, that they may hereafter exercise and fire with the whole regiment. The same plan may be followed throughout all the degrees.” [AB: 575; emphasis in original]

With that explanation we see the seeds of many revolutionary groups and the way to operate within cells – never apprehending the “unknown superiors” directing them from above.

Despite the confessions of a few Illuminati, secrecy was rigidly imposed and obeyed. From the very beginning, the initiate is thrust into a culture of total surveillance – on himself, his family and associates. We’ll begin from the Novice degree to see how this was accomplished.

Insinuators and Scrutators

The initiate is expected to recruit as many members as possible. A “Brother Insinuator” has as an ultimate goal the job of making new proselytes for the Order. Some are specifically giving this task, but as a general rule everyone is obliged and all the brethren are Insinuators with varying success. Moreover, the laws of the Order decree that each Insinuator is the superior over every new recruit he has brought to the cause. In this manner every Illuminatus “may form to himself a petty empire; and from his littleness, emerge to greatness and power.” [AB: 415]

From the beginning he is instructed how to judge the character of those he might enlist. This process begins with himself, his immediate family and friends. Each Novice is giving a notebook with tables, which is to be kept and maintained as a journal; he is ordered to write down all his observations. His undertaking is to assiduously pry “into every thing that surrounds him, he must vigilantly observe all persons with whom he becomes acquainted, or whom he meets in company, without exception of relations, friends, enemies, or entire strangers; he must endeavour to discover their strong and their weak side; their passions and prejudices; their intimacies, and above all, their actions, interests, and fortune; in a word, every thing relating to them: and the remarks of every day he must enter in his Diary.” [AB: 416]

A twofold advantage is gained from this information: first, by the Illuminati and its superiors; second, by the adept himself. Barruel eloquently describes the mutual benefit this scheme has for both parties: “Twice every month he will make a general statement of his observations, and he will transmit it to his superiors. By these means the Order will be informed what men, in every town or village, are friendly or inimical to it. The means of gaining over the one or destroying the other will naturally occur. With respect to the Insinuator, he will learn how to judge of those who are proper persons to be received or rejected, and he will carefully insert his reasons for the admission or rejection of those persons in his monthly statements.” [Ibid. 416]

The Insinuator cannot pursue either Pagans or Jews, and above all he is to “shun the Ex-Jesuits like he would the plague.” [AB, NW, VS] The Illuminati had a particular rabid hatred towards the Jesuits, beginning with Weishaupt’s own disdain. A whole covert unit was constructed within the Minerval Academies to publish and disseminate anti-Jesuit material. They even had their own printer in Munich to produce new editions, at their own expense, of propaganda opposing the Jesuits. [AB: 586] Members who are schoolmasters and professors are commissioned to guard against the Jesuits, and to obtain the expulsion of all those discovered. [Ibid. 608] They had great success in this endeavour, and particularly in Ingolstadt:

“Through the intrigues of the Brethren the Jesuits have been dismissed from all the Professorships; we have entirely cleared the University of Ingolstadt of them.” “The Dowager Duchess has modeled her Institute for the Cadets entirely on the plan prepared by the Order. That house is under our inspection; all its Professors belong to our Order; five of its members have been well provided for, and all the pupils will be ours.” [Zwack, on the progress of Illuminism; AB: 611, emphasis in original]

The trial period for a Novice could last from one to three years, depending on the age of the initiate. Secrecy is instilled from the start as the Novice receives his new alias; his characteristic or adoptive name. He is then tasked to write a history of his new patron, to help him understand the qualities and actions that he is to emulate. For Weishaupt, Spartacus is an apt alias; for Goethe, Abaris is particularly appropriate as well.64 The Novice is also let in on the secret names applied to towns and regions. He learns that “Bavaria, the country of their founder, is denominated Achaia; Swabia, Pannonia; Franconia, Austria, and Tyrol are denoted by Illyria, Egypt, and Peloponnesus; Munich is called Athens; Bamberg, Antioch; Inspruck, Samos; Vienna in Austria, Rome; Wurtzburg, Carthage; Frankfort on the Mein

becomes Thebes; and Heidelberg, Utica. Ingolstadt, the natal soil of the Order, was not sufficiently denoted by Ephesus; this privileged town was to be decorated with a more mysterious name, and the profound adepts bestowed on it that of Eleusis.” [AB: 429; emphasis in original]

To the Illuminati the greatest of all study was the “knowledge of men.” Weishaupt himself became very good at psychology and sociological manipulation. The Insinuator – by this time, his Brother Teacher – will examine everything the Novice has written in his journal; and exercises on ancient authors and the heroes of antiquity will help the Novice in constructing a proper outline of those around him. [AB: 431] All the while he is constantly pressed by his Superiors “to propose those whom he may think fit for the Order.”

While studying the art of knowing himself and others, the Novice fills his journal with every detail; his age, occupation, country and place of residence; what he likes to study, the books in his library, secret writings he may possess; his revenue, his enemies, and reason thereof; outlines of his acquaintances, protectors and friends. [AB: 433] In all, there are seventeen columns to fill, [Ibid. 597] and a second table is subjoined which is reserved for complete descriptions of his family, particularly his father, mother and siblings.65 The discourse to the next degree says it all: “for men may be turned to any thing by him who knows how to take advantage of their ruling passions.” [Ibid. 449] And one might add, by taking advantage of his family’s “ruling passions” as well.

Later on, in the Minor Illuminatus degree, Weishaupt admonishes: “Assiduously observe every Brother entrusted to your care; watch him particularly on all occasions where he may be tempted not to be what he ought to be.” [AB: 448] Weishaupt is seeking to create the perfect spy in each of them. Upon admission to the Major Illuminatus degree the candidate is told of the code “Nosce te ipsum” (know thyself), and when another Brother pronounces it he is supposed to reply “Nosce alios” (know others). [Ibid. 455] In this degree, the spying is taken to a whole other level. The candidate is told to scrutinize his inferiors in the form of questions about his physiognomy; his countenance; his gait; his language; his education – and each topic has multiple questions to elicit precise descriptions. The “Scrutators,” in order to answer the questions posed, gather the facts when the target least expects it. Amazingly, they actually go so far as to follow their prey into his bedroom, “where they will learn whether he is a hard sleeper, whether he dreams, and whether he talks when dreaming; whether he is easily or with difficulty awakened; and should he be suddenly, forcibly, or unexpectedly awakened from his sleep, what impression would it make on him?” [Ibid. 455-56]

It is also in the Major Illuminatus degree that the candidate delivers up a sealed history of his life. This is then compared with the tables already in the possession of his superiors – the complete picture drawn up of his person. And if it coincides with the surveillance conducted he is then admitted into the deeper mysteries. [AB: 456] By this time the adept is well accustomed to the investigations, and no objection would be forthcoming. The all-seeing eye of the Order had become habitual.

The “Brethren of Minerva”

I will end part one with a description of the class above that of Novice. The degree of the “Academy of Illuminism,” or the “Minerval Schools,” was a natural extension of Weishaupt’s proclivity to initiate young pliable minds to his cause. It was his wish to establish a sort of “academy of literati” to study the ancients, the art of the scrutator, and to better determine those who had a penchant for the “Mysteries.” By these means, in Weishaupt’s words, he can “discern those who show a disposition for certain special Doctrines relative to Government or to Religion.” [AB: 440] The statutes of the degree state that it “wishes to be considered only as a learned society or academy,” and a Pythagorean ideal is most definitely the aim.

They are called the Brethren of Minerva. The academy is composed of ten, twelve and sometimes fifteen Minervals, and directed by a Major Illuminatus. The Illuminati’s calendar is marked holy on the days in which the academy is to meet and they call their meeting place a Church. The gathering is held twice a month, always on the full moon. The Church is preceded by an anti-chamber, “with a strong door armed with bolts, which is to be shut during the time of the meeting; and the whole apartment is to be so disposed, that it shall be impossible for intruders either to see or hear anything that is going forward.” [AB: 441]

At the commencement of each meeting, the President reads chosen passages from the Bible, Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, or Confucius. Barruel notes the care taken to give all the works the same weight and authority. After the lecture, each pupil is questioned on the “books which he has read since the last meeting; on the observations or discoveries he may have made; and on the labours or services toward the progress of the Order.” [AB: 441]

There are multiple academies for the Minervals, and in each one there is an appropriate library. The Illuminati supply the books with money from the brethren; from the list of books the candidate has said belong to him, which are extracted from his possession if found useful; and third, by any means necessary – theft and robbery being encouraged. The precious volumes are usually stolen from the courts of Princes, Nobles and Religious Orders. Periodically lists are drawn up and the brethren are encouraged to procure them anyway they can: “all these would be of much greater use if they were in our hands. What do those rascals do with all those books?” [AB: 441]

Each year the Superiors pose questions to the pupils which they are to answer in the form of dissertations. These are meant for public consumption and the Illuminati have booksellers (like Nicolai) who put the works into circulation. [AB: 442-43]

An important symbol for the “Brethren of Minerva” is of course the owl. David Livingstone first proposed a theory to me in the following manner:

In Greece, the dying-god was known as Dionysus, a practice adopted by the Greeks from the worship of Mithras by the Babylonian Magi. Similarly, child sacrifice was also involved in his cult. Dionysus is interchangeable with Apollo, and Apollo’s counterpart is Athene or Minerva, whose symbol is the owl. Thus the owl became an important Illuminati symbol, and was adapted to the name of one of their grades, the “Minervals”. Likewise, Hegel, who undoubtedly would have been a member, stated: “When philosophy paints its gray on gray, then has a form of life grown old, and with gray on gray it cannot be rejuvenated, but only known; the Owl of Minerva first takes flight with twilight closing in.” – “Preface,” Philosophy of Right And so, the name of the Journal of the Hegel Society of North America is the “Owl of Minerva”.

Take note of the mention of Dionysus as being directly linked, through Apollo, to Minerva. The Eleusinian mysteries were revered by the Illuminati above all the ancient practices – and Dionysus is associated with the rites performed at Eleusis.

The “Bird of Minerva” has been a symbol for the goddess of wisdom (Athena/Minerva) for thousands of years. Hegel used it, the Journal of the Hegel Society of America employs the symbol, and the Bohemian Club uses it as well. In the Cremation of Care ceremony, ritualized at the Bohemian Grove, we hear the “Priest” intone: “O thou, great symbol of all mortal wisdom, Owl of Bohemia, we do beseech thee, grant us thy counsel.”66

Turning to Hegel, according to Jacques d’Hondt in Hegel Secret , Hegel and Schelling “were avid readers of a Journal dedicated to the events in France from a more or less Girondist point of view, Minerva, the title of which found its way into Hegel’s Philosophy of Right … The engraving on the first issue of Minerva shows the owl of Minerva, which according to d’Hondt is Masonic but which is also the ancient symbol of Athena, the Greek Goddess of wisdom among other things, taking flight from a basket at the top of a monumental column.”67

The correlation with the Illuminati seems obvious in hindsight, but at the time David suggested the connection, I did not know for sure whether the Minerval Degree was meant to allude to Minerva. It does indeed. Each member of the Academy is called a Minerval, but the whole of the school is called the “Brethren of Minerva.” Moreover, the discourse for initiation into the Major Illuminatus degree – the superiors of the Brethren of Minerva – makes the case concrete:

“Seek faithful co-operators, but seek them not in tumults and storms; they are hidden in darkness. Protected by the shades of night, solitary and silent, or reunited in small numbers, they, docile children, pursue the grand work under the direction of their Superiors. They call aloud to the children of the world, who pass by in the intoxication of pleasure-how few hearken to them! He alone who has the eye of the bird of Minerva, who has placed his labours under the protection of the star of night, is sure of finding them.” [AB: 458; bold emphasis mine]

As if this wasn’t enough, later in the book, Barruel makes this matter-of-fact statement: “Weishaupt had adopted the bird of night for his emblem.” (p. 582)