A note about the Illuminati: Although I have put the Illuminati in the History section of the Gargoyles page, you should understand that some of what is "known" about this secret society is rumor and theory, not historical fact.

Throughout the centuries --particularly the Dark Ages, when the tyranny of the Church was absolute and possessing knowledge was almost a capital crime in certain parts of Europe, there have always been groups of scholars, philosophers, and alchemists variously known as "Illuminati". In the courts where they were welcomed and given sanctuary, they served as advisers to kings and regents in areas where organized civilization, even at a feudal level, still existed. They were among the few who had access to the surviving bodies of knowledge in Europe and of the new learning flourishing in the East under the intellectual traditions being nurtured in Islamic lands.

During the Crusades, when the Christian armies headed Eastward in search of heavenly glory, and plunder, several Christian orders came into contact with Sufi Moslems, who themselves had pursued studies ranging from mathematics and astronomy to esoteric meditational and sexual disciplines which had as their object the transcendence of consciousness --all reaching to far older Hindu, Taoist, and Tantric traditions practiced in the Silk Lands of the East. One order, the Knights Templar, adopted Sufi teachings and attempted to preserve and clandestinely spread them. They were found out by the Church's agents of the Inquisition and ruthlessly purged in the 14th century.

The surviving thread of the Knights Templar's practices and philosophy was to be found in the teachings of the Order of the Rosy Cross, the people we know today as the Rosicrucians. They passed their traditions on to those who founded the first lodges of Freemasonry, which also endeavored to keep alive the tradition of Gnosticism and had to do so in the face of ever-pervasive repression by the Church. In order to meet safely and conceal themselves, they were forced to adopt an ever-growing body of secret signs, codes, and rituals designed to mask their true purpose from the outside world. Freemasons, who sought to promote intellectual and personal freedom, based their lodges on the concept of a brotherhood in which all, regardless of station in the outside world, could congregate as equals and had both the nobleman and the laborer, the scholar and the artisan in their ranks. Freemasons were dedicated to the eventual overthrow of Church tyranny and its replacement with a rule of reason and knowledge. The Inquisition, for its part, added Freemasonry to the list of heresies to be rooted out and destroyed and ruthlessly hunted down Freemasons as Satanists and witches.

Freemasonry had existed as an underground movement for centuries as Europe passed from the barbarism of the Inquisition and the holy wars through the Renaissance. In that time, dozens of Freemason lodges of varying and sometimes mutually antagonistic traditions had come into being. Some of these lodges, existing underground for so long and so embittered by their struggle for survival against Church and monarchical tyranny, dedicating themselves to overthrowing the tyrants, eventually lost sight of their original purpose and became dedicated simply to seizing power by any means necessary.

In the late 18th century, when the power of the Church had begun to lose its stranglehold on European learning and politics, and as revolution and democratic ideals following on the heels of the Enlightenment were sweeping the continent, a Freemason named Adam Weishaupt founded what he styled the Ancient Illuminated Seers of Bavaria on May 1st, 1776, the ancient day of the Spring Rite of the Goddess. Weishaupt claimed a heritage for his lodge's tradition reaching back to the Merovignian dynasty in France and perhaps further as imprimaturs of his lodge's legitimacy. In truth, since nobody had accurate enough records or oral traditions to confirm this, the claims could have been nothing more than salesmanship on Weishaupt's part. And according to some research, the AISB could have actually been nothing more than a front for Weishaupt's wife, Eve, who had founded one of the first feminist societies in Europe.

In any case, Weishaupt attracted several of the Freemasons from his lodge as members in his new order. Among them were a shadowy figure known as Count Cagliostro and the French Duc d'Orleans, who initiated Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin as Freemasons when they were in France seeking support for the fledgling American Revolution. When they returned to the United States, they in turn initiated several Revolutionary leaders in the tradition of the lodge they had taken their oaths in; hence the heavy freemasonic influence in the formation of the American Republic.

Other Freemasons in Europe who had some connection, however tenuous, to Weishaupt and Cagliostro were Emanuel Schickanader, who became partners with Count Giacomo Cassanova, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who encoded freemasonic symbolism in "The Magic Flute". However, the brief period of respectability enjoyed by freemasonry and Weishaupt ended with the French Revolution, in which freemasons participated. This so frightened other monarchs such as Austrian emperor Joseph II that freemasons were purged and driven underground once more.

Weishaupt and his lodge were hounded out of existence by the Authorities. It has been rumored, ever since then, that the AISB was never destroyed but merely went underground, infiltrated and subverted freemasonic lodges across Europe and converted them into underground revolutionary cells, all conspiring and awaiting their chance to eventually arise and seize power and the government of the planet Earth. In dark whispers spoken by the members of every power-group and paranoid society (some, ironically, freemasonic themselves), it is said that these "Illuminati" have attracted the powerful and wealthy in every nation, have amassed vast private resources of wealth and information, and use it to infiltrate every major institution and subvert governments, turning them into puppets to their secret purposes.

The Illuminati were formed only in the 18th century. Well...yes and no. The formal organization, the Ancient Illuminated Seers of Bavaria, which is always taken as THE Illuminati, were indeed founded May 1,1776 by Adam Weishaupt. However, the Illuminati have always claimed a much older heritage and a link to Freemasonry going back to the Merovignian Dynasty in France. And if the Illuminati are lying, theres no real way of telling when the actual foundation occurred. Any palace group of seers, academics, alchemists, or whomever in the Dark Ages have always been referred to as "illuminated ones" or "Illuminati" or whatever term you like. In the days when knowledge was restricted to a very few --and those who did possess it either served the emperor, or were conspiring with the emperor's enemies, or being executed as witches, it can be said that Illuminati have existed for millennia. It could be that the Gargoyles writers modeled the Illuminati Society more on the RPG model crafted by Steve Jackson Games --which itself draws from history and legend. So takes your pick.

Sources say The Illuminati existed for I believe it was eight years, but I'll verify this later. THE Illuminati, in Bavaria, would naturally claim older origins to make themselves seem more mysterious. A possible explanation, Gargoyles-wise, would be that the society has existed underground for thousands of years, this is not historical fact however. It was historically rumored that after the Bavarian Illuminati were dissolved (when the government of Bavaria discovered them, they were stamped out), they moved to France, founded the Jacobin club, and had a conspiracy to instigate the French Revolution. Later in the mid 1800's there was a scare in New England that a powerful secret group calling itself the Illuminati was working to overthrow the government and religious institutions--this was dismissed as mere rumor in the book "New England and the Bavarian Illuminati."

Ranks of the Illuminati (Lowest to Highest) 1. Novice 2. Minerval 3. Illuminatus Minor 4. Illuminatus Major 5. Illuminatus Dirigens (Scottish Knight) 6. Priest 7. Prince 8. Magus 9. King as written in "The Secret Societies of All Ages and Countries." This book also states that the Bavarian Illuminati intended to develop a branch for female members, although I don't know if the branch was in existence before the government banned them.

The Illuminati did a lot of their recruiting in the Freemason's clubs. This is the Mason Link. Many masons joined; a lot bowed out when they realized the Illuminati weren't just playing games... A lot of fanfic authors have called the Illuminati head "Grandmaster." This was used in Mason's Clubs but NOT the Bavarian Illuminati.

There are many conflicting opinions concerning the Illuminati. Some books describe the Illuminati as dangerous and subversive; others as one of the most misunderstood groups in history. It must be remembered that at the time of the Enlightenment, the aristocrats, monarchs and clergy were beginning to lose their control over the masses of peasants and bourgeois. Liberals (typically bourgeois) describe the Illuminati as a group founded on Enlightenment ideals: equality, knowledge, brotherhood, etc. As these goals were inspiring the liberals who threatened the absolute power of the upper classes in their quests for constitutional monarchy, republics and/or democracy, of course the upper classes would describe the Illuminati as subversive! Looking at it from a modern perspective, undermining monarchical despots is a good thing! Of course there is also a description of a bloody initiation ritual involving human sacrifice and other delights... I suspect this was anti-Illuminati propaganda invented by the ruling classes. Another book says that in time corruption crept into the ranks of the Illuminati and diverted it from its nobler goals.

There have been fiction books written about them, notably the _Illuminatus!_ trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, and a card game about them by Steven Jackson Games first published in 1982. Their symbol, the Eye in the Pyramid, is on the back of the one dollar bill, no doubt having sinister meaning. For more material on the Illuminati, one good source is the works of Robert Anton Wilson, who has spent years compiling this material for the purpose of weaving it into his humorously subversive science fiction/philosophy/quantum psychology works.

Hey, all you Illuminati chasers! Check out http://www.illuminati.org for a really weird look into our favorite secret society.