Among the most persistent claims by conspiracy buffs, the Illuminati are the
people who pull the strings on puppeteers who believe they themselves are
pulling strings attached to other puppets. Shadows within shadows, Illuminati
members supposedly hover in the background among Masons and other groups,
including the Priory of Sion, followers of Kabbalah, Rosicrucians and, in a test
of theological extremes, the Elders of Zion.

Launched in 1776 by Adam Weishaupt, a Bavarian Jesuit scholar described as "an
unpractical bookworm without necessary experience in the world," the Illuminati
("Enlightenment") was created as a secret society the true objectives of which
would be revealed to its members only after they achieved a "priestly" degree of
awareness and understanding. Those who managed to survive Weishaupt's process of
selection and preparation eventually learned they were cogs in a
political/philosophical machine regulated by reason, an extreme extension of the
founder's "reason over passion" Jesuit education. Thanks to the Illuminati,
people would be liberated from their prejudices and become both mature and
moral, outgrowing the religious and political restrictions of church and state.

Achieving this utopia would be a gain not without pain, however. Illuminati
members were to observe everyone with whom they came into social contact,
gathering information on each individual and submitting sealed reports to their
superiors. By this means, the Illuminati would control public opinion, restrict
the power of princes, presidents and prime ministers, silence or eliminate
subversives and reactionaries, and strike fear in the hearts of its enemies. "In
the bosom of the deepest darkness," wrote one of the movement's early critics,
"a society has been formed, a society of new beings, who know one another though
they have never seen one another, who understand one another without
explanations, who serve one another without friendship.

From the Jesuit rule, this society adopts blind obedience; from the Masons it
takes the trials and the ceremonies; and from the Templars it obtains
subterranean mysteries and great audacity." Without a doubt, this was a force to
be reckoned with.

One of Weishaupt's early strategies was to ally himself with the Freemasons, a
move that initially proved successful. Within a few years "Illuminated
Freemasons" were active in several European countries. But as details of their
true aims escaped, public attitude turned against them until, in August 1787,
Bavaria declared that recruiting Illuminati members was a capital crime. This
managed to drive the society more deeply underground, but it also persuaded
Weishaupt that his vision was seriously flawed. After renouncing his own order
and writing several apologies to mankind, Weishaupt reconciled with his Catholic
religion and spent his last few years helping to build a new cathedral in Gotha.

During the Illuminati's limited tenure, tales circulated that it was responsible
for the outbreak and progress of the French Revolution, a claim that is almost
laughable in view of the group's emphasis on reason instead of passion. Few
events in history were propelled by raw passion more than the overthrow of the
French throne.

The short-lived dance between the Illuminati and Freemasons launched a fable
that persists among some conspiracy addicts to this day. Various anti-Mason
commentators continue to insist that Masters of the Illuminati remain in control
of the Freemasons and other secret societies, dedicated to bringing Weishaupt's
original plan for world domination to reality. Yet, while the Illuminati appears
as a shadowy presence within or among other secret societies, no one seems able
to identify specific acts attributable to them. And, unlike every other secret
society to be examined here, no one within the Illuminati has ever broken the
oath of silence to reveal its inner workings. If you resort exclusively to
logic, you suspect that the Illuminati is a phantom organization with neither
goals nor members. If you fear secret societies, you believe they are powerful
enough to deny their own existence.