Where is the Illuminati?

A big thanks for this subject to my good buddy awesomesauce82, the author of ‘Rants ‘n stuff’ and other fine works.

The Illuminati was made popular by Dan Brown’s top selling book ‘Angels and Demons,’ which portrays a conspiracy theory in which a modern version of the secret society of the Illuminati plots to destroy Vatican City using an antimatter bomb. Robert Langdon, an expert on the society, is called to help find the bomb before it explodes. He must trace clues left on the ‘Path of Illumination,” a means of inducting new members into the society. The movie plot takes us through all of the alleged Illuminati clues left in various landmarks throughout Rome.

But, what is the Illuminati, and is it still around?

The Order of the Illuminati (which means Enlightenment) is a secret society founded in 1776 by Adam Weishaupt, a university professor in Bavaria, Germany. He was a non-clerical professor at the University of Ingoistadt, a Jesuit institution. The Jesuits, or Society of Jesus, is the order of the current Pope Francis. The Jesuits, primarily a missionary order, have had a very strained history, and were often at odds with the Church. Founded in 1534 by Ignatius of Loyola, they were suppressed in 1773 by then Pope Clement XIII, but were revived in 1814 and are still very active as missionaries throughout the world.

Weishaupt was not happy about the expenses associated with joining the freemasons and founded his own society. Apparently, secret societies were all the rage back in the eighteenth century. Keep in mind that the founding fathers of the United States were freemasons. That’s why there is a lot of freemason symbolism on our currency and on the buildings in Washington D.C.

The Illuminati was supposedly ahead of the curve in modernisms, such as secularism, gender equality, and liberalism, which were not things that the monarchial establishment or the Church hierarchy would accept, and the fact that it was a secret society like the freemasons, made it the enemy, and it wasn’t long until it was allegedly stamped out, at least in Bavaria. What makes this so hard to trace is that many other organizations adopted the name and obviously had links to the original Bavarian Illuminati. Several present-day fraternal organizations claim to have origins in the original Illuminati, and that’s probably why the Illuminati is linked to conspiracy theories.

We see this conspiracy tainted Illuminati influence in modern media such as gothic art, music, comic books, movies, TV and even video games. The Illuminati tainted music is mostly with rock groups, like Gamma Ray, but Madonna released an album ‘Rebel Heart’ with Illuminati mentioned in the lyrics. Tomb Raider, the movie, had villains who referred to themselves as Illuminati.

I have no idea why the Illuminati has been associated with Gothic, but it seems to be a common theme, probably because it sounds medieval. The main reason for the popularity of the Illuminati is because of the associated conspiracy theories. The Illuminati has been connected to anti-monarchism, and anti-clericalism, both of which were not cool in the eighteenth century. The organization has also been linked to groups wanting to establish a new world order and promote secular humanism, which disdains religious dogma, pseudoscience, and morality.

So, is the Illuminati still around? I would speculate that there are several secret organizations that adhere to Illuminati beliefs and are willing to keep the old revered society going. For what reason, I have no idea. This is the twenty first century, not the eighteenth!

Thanks for reading.