Later on, some of the Founding Fathers managed to stoke interest in the Illuminati in the United States. In , George Washington wrote a letter addressing the Illuminati threat he believed it had been avoided, but his mentioning it helped bolster the myth. In the panic caused by the anti-Illuminati books and sermons, Thomas Jefferson was baselessly accused of being a member of the group.
Though these early Illuminati panics fizzled out, they gave the group a patina of legitimacy that, later on, would help make a centuries-long conspiracy seem more plausible.
Conspiracy theories have always been popular in the United States, but for centuries, the Illuminati were less feared than the Freemasons.
The Anti-Masonic Party was based on an opposition to the Freemasons, and though the party died out, Freemasons remained a focal point for paranoia in America. Because the Illuminati recruited many members in Europe through Freemason lodges, the two groups are often confused for each other. To some degree, Freemason paranoia grew out of the Freemasons' influence in the United States. Many Founding Fathers were members, after all. And some key American symbols may have been derived from the Freemasons: There's a strong argument that the floating eye on the dollar, the Eye of Providence above a pyramid, comes from Freemasonry.
There's also an argument that it was meant as a Christian symbol; the only thing we know for certain is that it has nothing to do with the Bavarian Illuminati. That early Freemason paranoia can help us understand the conspiracy theories about the Illluminati today. The Illuminati never completely disappeared from popular culture — it was always burbling in the background.
But in the mids, the Illuminati made a marked comeback thanks to a literary trilogy that gave the group the simultaneously spooky and laughable image it holds today. This trilogy became a countercultural touchstone, and its intermingling of real research — Weishaupt, the founder of the real Illuminati, is a character — with fantasy helped put the Illuminati back on the radar. You can be both a serious conspiracy theorist and joke about it.
From there, the Illuminati became a periodic staple of both popular culture — as in Dan Brown's massively popular novel Angels and Demons — and various subcultures, where the group is often intermingled with Satanism, alien myths, and other ideas that would have been totally foreign to the real Bavarian Illuminati. Uscinski clarifies that most Americans today don't actually believe in the Illuminati. In a survey of conspiracy theories he conducted in , he says zero people claimed that groups like Freemasons or Illuminati were controlling politics.
Even so, the Illuminati seem to persist in our collective consciousness, serving as the butt of jokes and the source of lizard people rumors explained here. We contacted Kanye West and Jay Z's spokesmen, but they did not return our request for comment. Jay Z has previously said that he thinks rumors of his membership in the Illuminati are "stupid.
In a broader sense, rumors about the Illuminati and celebrities speak to their place in our culture. Fenster sees the half-ironic, half-serious accusations of Illuminati membership as the latest expression of an old American phenomenon. Some people believe that the Illuminati controls the world today, suggesting that they are so secretive that few are aware of it. There were between 2, and 3, Illuminati members by Some sources say that renowned writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe also joined, but this is disputed.
In , Karl Theodor, Duke of Bavaria, banned the creation of any kind of society not previously authorised by law and the following year he passed a second edict, which expressly banned the Illuminati.
During the arrest of suspected Illuminati members, compromising documents defending ideas such as atheism and suicide were found in their possession, as well as instructions for carrying out abortions. This cemented the belief that the group was a threat to both the state and the Church. The Illuminati then seems to have disappeared, with some people believing that it continued underground.
Adam Weishaupt was eventually stripped of his post at the University of Ingolstadt. After being exiled from Bavaria, he spent the remainder of his life in Gotha, Thuringia, dying in But did the Illuminati really dissolve?
They point out that Weishaupt was banished but not imprisoned, so he carried on writing and working. Barruel even promoted a theory that secret societies, including the Illuminati, were behind the French Revolution. By , fears about the dangerous sect had reached the US. George Washington wrote an open letter indicating the US had avoided the Illuminati threat, but just the mention of the secret society helped revive the topic and the fear.
The eye also appears as a symbol on some earlier editions of the Douay-Rheims bible, the same bible President Biden carried on Inauguration Day. Sometimes a coincidence is just a coincidence. We also have an exceptional range of rare spy books, including many signed first editions.
Anna, too, lists the charitable side of membership as something she enjoys. Admirable though charity may be, people donate all the time without joining secretive societies. What else, then, compels people to not only join but remain committed members? You will come across people you've met in the past, certainly if you've lived in the area for a number of years. But what is a network for if it does not operate for the benefit of those involved?
It is not to be used for your own personal benefit. It really is for others. Anna adds: "I don't know a single other woman who's worked in [my industry].
I know people think there is but that's true of any society, isn't it? Each lodge meets four times a year officially to welcome new members in ceremonies, the contents of which have always been a closely-guarded secret. While members are discouraged from discussing politics or religion, belief in a higher power has been, historically, a requisite to join.
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