From Bavaria, the Order of the Illuminati spread into
the Upper and Lower Rhenish provinces, Swabia, Franconia, Westphalia,
Upper and Lower Saxony; and outside Germany into Austria and Switzerland.
Soon they had over 300 members from all walks of life, including students,
merchants, doctors, lawyers, judges, professors, civil officers, bankers,
and ministers. Some of their more notable members were: the Duke of
Orleans, Duke Ernst Augustus of Saxe-Weimar-Coburg-Gotha, Prince Charles
of Hesse-Cassel, Johann Gottfried von Herder(a philosopher), Count Klemens
von Metternich, Catherine II of Russia, Count Gabriel de Mirabeau, Marquis
of Constanza ("Diomedes"), Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick ("Aaron"), Duke
Karl August of Saxe-Weimar, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (a poet), Joseph II
of Russia, Christian VII of Denmark, Gustave III of Sweden, and King
Poniatowski of Poland.
By 1783, there were over 600 members; and by 1784, their membership
reached nearly 3,000. By 1786 they had numerous lodges across the various
German provinces, Austria, Hungary, England, Scotland, Poland, France,
Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Holland, Spain, Sweden, Russia, Ireland,
Africa, and America.
By the time of the 3rd Masonic Congress in Frankfurt in 1786, the
Illuminati virtually controlled all the Masonic lodges, and at this
meeting their goals were stated as: "1) Pantheism for the higher degrees,
atheism for the lower degrees and the populace; 2) Communism of goods,
women, and general concerns; 3) The destruction of the Church, and all
forms of Christianity, and the removal of all existing human governments
to make way for a universal republic in which the utopian ideas of
complete liberty from existing social, moral, and religious restraint,
absolute equality, and social fraternity, should reign."
Students who were members of wealthy families, with international
leanings, were recommended for special training in internationalism. Those
selected by the Illuminati were given scholarships to attend special
schools. Weishaupt wrote: "I propose academies under the direction of the
Order. This will secure us the adherence of the Literati. Science shall
here be the lure." He also wrote: "We must acquire the direction of
education, of church, management of the professorial chair, and of the
pulpit." Today, there are many such schools. Prince Philip, husband of
Queen Elizabeth, was educated at an Illuminati school in Gordonstown,
Scotland, at the insistence of Lord Louis Mountbatten (whose uncle was a
Rothschild relative and who became an admiral after the end of World War
II). Those trained at such schools were placed behind the scenes as
experts and advisors to perpetuate Illuminati goals.
Weishaupt, worried that his control of the Order was diminishing, argued
repeatedly with Knigge. While he preferred to work in secrecy, Knigge
wanted to move on to more substantial things. In January, 1783, Knigge
wrote in a letter to Zwack: "It is the Jesuitry of Weishaupt that causes
all our divisions, it is the despotism that he exercises over men perhaps
less rich than himself in imagination, in ruses, in cunning...I declare
that nothing can put me on the same footing with Spartacus as that on
which I was a first." He also wrote: "I abhor treachery and profligacy,
and I leave him to blow himself and his Order into the air." On April 20,
1784, Knigge quit, followed by Baron Bassus ("Hannibal"), Count Torring,
Prince Kreitmaier, and others. In July, Knigge signed an agreement
promising to return all documents in his possession, and to keep quiet on
what he knew about their plans and activities. Some researchers believe
that Knigge had also discovered that Weishaupt was a Satanist. He resumed
his work as a writer, later becoming an inspector of schools at Bremen,
where he died on May 6, 1796.
To insure that the activities of the Order would remain a secret, a
warning as to the consequences of betraying the Order was included in the
ceremony of initiation. They would point a sword at the initiate and say:
"If you are a traitor and a perjurer, learn that all our Brothers are
called upon to arm themselves against you. Do not hope to escape or find a
place of safety. Wherever you are, shame, remorse, and the rage of our
Brothers will pursue you, and torment you to the innermost recesses of
your entrails."
In October, 1783, Joseph Utzschneider, a lawyer, who had dropped out of
the Order in August, presented to the Duchess Maria Anna, a document which
detailed the activities of the Illuminati. He was upset because he had
been promoted too slow, and was constantly prodded to prove his loyalty.
The Duchess gave the information to the Duke. On June 22, 1784, Duke Karl
Theodore Dalberg, the Elector Palatinate of Bavaria, after discovering
from the information that the goals of the Illuminati were to "in time
rule the world," by overthrowing all civil government, criticized all
secret societies, and groups established without government sanction. On
March 2, 1785, he issued a proclamation identifying the Illuminati as a
branch of the Masons, and ordered that their Lodges be shut down. The
government began a war against the Order by initiating judicial inquiries
at Ingolstadt. In an attempt to preserve the secrecy of their motives, the
Areopagite burned many of their documents, however, the government was
able to seize many of their papers when they raided the Lodges.
After being replaced at the University in February, Weishaupt fled across
the border into Regensburg, finally settling in Gotha, where he found
refuge with another Illuminati member, the Duke of Saxe-Gotha.
In April, 1785, Utzschneider was able to convince three other members to
come forward. They were fellow professors at the Marienburg (Marianen)
Academy who had doubts about the validity of the organization's principles
when they discovered that they would receive no mystical powers. They were
also disgruntled over Weishaupt's tyranny. Cossandey, Grunberger, and
Renner went before the Court of Inquiry on September 9, 1785, where they
supplied valuable information, such as membership lists, and revealed
their aims and goals, which they consolidated into the following six
points:
1) Abolition of
the Monarchy and all ordered government.
2) Abolition of private property.
3) Abolition of inheritance.
4) Abolition of patriotism.
5) Abolition of the family, through the abolition of marriage, all
morality, and the institution of communal education for children.
6) Abolition of all religion.
The purposes of these six points were to divide the people
politically, socially, and economically; to weaken countries and create a
one-world government. They testified that "all religion, all love of
country and loyalty to sovereigns, were to be annihilated..."
The government pardoned all public officials and military leaders who
publicly admitted membership. Those who didn't, and were discovered to be
members, lost their rank and standing, were removed from office, and
openly disgraced and humiliated.
Weishaupt was preparing to set his plans into motion for the French
Revolution, which was slated to begin in 1789. In July, 1785, he
instructed Zwack to put their plans in book form. This book contained a
history of the Illuminati, and many of their ideas for expansion and
future endeavors. A copy was sent by courier (identified as Jacob Lanze)
to Illuminati members in Paris and Silesia. However, after leaving
Frankfurt, as the courier rode through Regensburg (another source says it
was Ratisbon) on horseback, he was struck by lightning and killed. The
authorities found the document and turned it over to the government.
Another source indicates the possibility that he may have been murdered,
and the documents planted on him.
Xavier Zwack ("Cato"), a government lawyer, and one of the Order's most
prominent leaders, whose name was on Renner's list, had his house in
Landshut illegally searched by the police in October, 1785, and his papers
seized. He was dismissed from his position. Many books, documents, papers
and correspondence were discovered, including over 200 letters written
between Weishaupt and the members of the Areopagite, which dealt with
matters of the highest secrecy. The following year, more information was
taken from the houses of Baron Bassus and Count Massenhausen ("Ajar").
Among the confiscated documents, were tables which contained their secret
codes and symbols, secret calendar, geographical locations, insignias,
ceremonies of initiation, recruiting instructions, statutes, a partial
roster of members, and nearly 130 official seals from the government,
which were used to counterfeit state documents.
Needless to say, all of this information shed more light on the Order, and
the danger first realized by the government, had now become a national
emergency. In 1786, the government gathered all of the confiscated
documents, and published them in a book called Original Writings of the
Order and Sect of the Illuminati, which was circulated to every
government and crowned head in Europe, including France, to warn them of
the impending danger.
The leaders of the Order who appeared before the government's Court of
Inquiry, testified that the organization was dedicated to the overthrow of
church and state. However, these revelations, and the publication of their
documents did little to alert the public, because of their unbelievable
claims. New measures were taken by government officials. The leaders of
the Order were arrested and formally interrogated, then forced to renounce
the Illuminati. The final blow came on August 16, 1787, when Dalberg
issued his final proclamation against the Illuminati. Anyone found guilty
of recruiting members was to be executed, while those who were recruited,
would have their property confiscated and then be deported.
Zwack, who was banished, sought sanctuary in the Court of Zweibrucken,
where he was later appointed to an official position in the principality
of Salm-Kyburg. He contributed to the Illuminati movement in Holland. He
was later summoned by Dalberg, as the government tried to deal with the
problem of fugitives who might attempt to reorganize the Order. Zwack fled
to England.
On November 15, 1790, another Edict was announced against the members of
the organization. Anyone found to be an active member, was to be put to
death. The following year, a list of 91 names of alleged members was
compiled. They were hunted down, and banished. This harassment didn't end
until 1799, when Dalberg died.
The apparent demise of the Order was taken into stride by its highest
members, who continued to operate underground. Weishaupt wrote: "The great
care of the Illuminati after the publication of their secret writings was
to persuade the whole of Germany that their Order no longer existed, that
their adepts had all renounced, not only their mysteries, but as members
of a secret society." Weishaupt had a contingency plan ready, and wrote:
"By this plan we shall direct all mankind. In this manner, and by the
simplest means, we shall set in motion and in flames. The occupations must
be allotted and contrived, that we may in secret, influence all political
transactions...I have considered everything and so prepared it, that if
the Order should this day go to ruin, I shall in a year re-establish it
more brilliant than ever."
To hide their subversive activities, the highest members of the Order
began to masquerade as humanitarians and philanthropists. Weishaupt fled
to Switzerland, later returning to Germany, where the Duke of Saxe-Gotha
gave him sanctuary. The Order moved their headquarters to London, where it
began to grow again. Weishaupt told his followers to infiltrate the lodges
of Blue Masonry, and to form secret circles within them. Only Masons who
proved themselves as Internationalists, and were atheists, were initiated
into the Illuminati.
<Back>
Table of Contents < next >
The world gets crazier and crazier everyday, doesn't it? The world that many
of us thought was there, isn't. The bottom has dropped out of everything. The
illusions have been revealed, we have found out who has been pulling the strings
behind the scenes. Millions have lost their jobs, have mortgage
problems, and
foreclosure. What can be done? Amazingly, we have been mislead. We have been
taught that we can control government by voting. The founder of the Rothschild
dynasty, Mayer Amschel Bauer, told the secret of controlling the government
of a nation over 200 years ago. He said, "Permit
me to issue and control the money of a nation and I care not who makes its
laws." Get
the picture? Your freedom hinges first on the nation's banks and money system.
It's all about 'commerce'. Freedom is connected with Debt Elimination for
each individual. Not only does this end
personal debt, it places the people first in line
as creditors to the National Debt ahead of the banks. They don't wish for
you to know this. It has to do with recognizing WHO you really are in A
New Beginning: A Practical Course in Miracles, an informational study. Is
your credit rating bad for reasons that seem out of your control? There are
ways of credit repair,
so you can men those broken fences too. Do you want to keep your children protected
from outside forces, there are ways of protecting
your children. Do you want
to keep your sons and daughters free from 'the draft'? Check this out.
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