It now became obvious to them that Weishaupt had only sought to use them for the achievement of his political ambitions. A few months later, a number of initiates who had reached the highest level within the Illuminati became disillusioned when the special supernatural communication from a higher source that Weishaupt had promised had not manifested. In April 1784 Knigge withdrew from the Illuminati, leaving Weishaupt the supreme commander of the increasingly powerful society. Just when their goals seemed within their grasp, Weishaupt and Knigge fell into a serious disagreement about the correct manner of proceeding with their master plan. By 1784 Illuminati membership had risen to three thousand, and the secret society appeared on the verge of assuming control of the entire Masonic establishment. Knigge’s powers of persuasion effectively blocked the attempt of the Strict Observance contingent to expel Illuminism from the society of Masons, and he managed to enroll almost all the members of the council in the Illuminati. In 1782 a group within the Masons called the Strict Observance demanded that a council be held at Wilhelmsbad to examine the true beliefs of the Illuminati. The Masons were not long in discovering that interlopers had joined their fraternal brotherhood with less than honorable motives. To hide the society even more completely from official scrutiny, the leaders implemented Weishaupt’s original plan of grafting the Illuminati onto the larger brotherhood of the Freemasons. Soon the organization became a force to be reckoned with behind the scenes in Germany’s political life, and its members worked secretly to overthrow both church and state.Īs the group’s influence, Weishaupt and Knigge became concerned that certain of the more powerful German princes would take immediate steps to suppress it. Initiates into the Illuminati underwent secret rites, wore bizarre costumes, and participated in grotesque ceremonies designed to instill complete obedience to Weishaupt. He also managed to create an aura of mystery around himself, permitting himself to be seen by none but those in the highest ranks of the society, thereby encouraging the myth that he was an adept of such great power that he existed largely as an invisible presence. Weishaupt gave special emphasis to enlisting as many young men of wealth and position as possible. A few months after Knigge had joined Weishaupt’s cause, membership in the Illuminati swelled to three hundred. Knigge had no problem melding his interest in the supernatural with Weishaupt’s goal of political revolution, and the two men quickly established branches of the Illuminati throughout all of Germany. Weishaupt’s society had little effect on the German political structure until 1780, when he attracted the interest of Adolf Francis, Baron von Knigge, a master occultist and a man who had risen to the highest levels in many of the secret societies that preceded the Illuminati, including the Masons. He adopted many of the classes and orders of the Masons, and he promised his initiates that they would receive a special communication of occult knowledge as they advanced higher in the ranks of the Illuminati. Beginning with only five members, Weishaupt’s order grew slowly, numbering about sixty in five cities by 1780. The secret society known as the Order of the Illuminati was founded in the city of Ingolstadt in the southern German monarchy of Bavaria on May 1, 1776, by Adam Weishaupt, a twenty-eight-year-old professor of religious law, who deliberately blended mysticism into the workings of the brotherhood in order to make his agenda of republicanism appear to be more mysterious than those of a political reform group. Later, a mystical sixteenth-century Spanish sect, the Alumbrados, adopted the name Illuminati. The term was first used by Spanish occultists toward the end of the fifteenth century to signify those alchemists and magicians who appeared to possess the “light” of spiritual illumination from a higher source. Historically, this is what we know about the Illuminati: Some say that their ultimate goal is to install a satanic New World Order, a one-world government, that will prepare Earth’s citizens for the coming of the antichrist. They have infiltrated every government and every aspect of society around the planet. The members of the Illuminati are the real rulers of the world, and they have been pulling the strings from behind the scenes for centuries. The Illuminati is the ultimate secret society, a cabal that stretches its tentacles of control to encompass the entire world. Adam Weishaupt was a professor of religious law who founded the Order of the Illuminati.
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