Outside of the above-mentioned bloodlines, there is no accurate count of Illuminati membership. There are no official records of meetings, no official membership rosters and no record precedings. They are indeed, the archetypal secret society.
Yet over the years, numerous names have been brought up in conjunction with the Illuminati; names which, upon close examination reveal common threads that defy mere coincidence and take on a decidedly more sinister hue:
American pediatrician and physician Dr. Benjamin Spock; director Steven Spielberg; music mogul Rick Rubin; actor Tom Cruise; British monarch Queen Elizabeth II; billionaire investor Warren Buffett; Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; musician Paul McCartney; Lee Harvey Oswald assassin Jack Ruby; British Prime Minister Winston Churchill; former Eisenhower Secretary of State John Foster Dulles; actress Angelina Jolie; talk show pioneer Johnny Carson; economist John Maynard Keynes; media mogul Oprah Winfrey; former presidents George H.W. Bush, Sr. and George W. Bush, Jr.; children’s programming pioneer Jim Henson; British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli; technology innovators Steve Jobs and Bill Gates; musician David Bowie; Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu; entertainer Bob Hope; Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev; billionaire Richard Branson; artist Salvador Dali; former vice presidents Dick Cheney and Gerald Ford; former presidents Richard Nixon and Franklin D. Roosevelt; musician Prince; diplomat Henry Kissinger; actor Nicolas Cage; former Prime Minister Tony Blair; political pundit William F. Buckley, Jr.; hip-hop producer Dr. Dre; Federal Reserve chairmen Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke; basketball player Dennis Rodman; actress and diplomat Shirley Temple Black; Former presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, Herbert Hoover and Ronald Reagan; director George Lucas; U.N. founder Alger Hiss; and television evangelist Pat Robertson.
Chapter Four: FREEMASONRY
Next to the Illuminati (of whom they are closely associated with) no other society has spawned more rumors and allegations than the Freemasons. Ostensibly a fraternal organization devoted to charitable deeds, civic obligation, brotherhood and the betterment of the individual, Freemasonry has wielded a considerable amount of power over political, economic and social spheres over the past three hundred years. How then did this strange amalgamation of disparate men, rooted in obscure ritual, pageantry and secrecy, come to be known and reviled as the architects behind numerous revolutions, wars and social changes?
The institution of Freemasonry describes itself as “a beautiful system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols.” Such a description is both highly suggestive and while open to interpretation, seems to pose no immediate threat to the general population other than a collection of bizarre symbolism masked by a frequently transparent veil of secrecy (both the rituals and doctrines of Freemasonry have been openly published, and accessible to even non-affiliated parties.) In fact, in comparison to the vogue in which Freemasonry swept throughout Europe and America from its early foundings up until the first half of the 20th Century, Freemasonry—which today only numbers approximately 1.2 million members in the U.S. (a far cry from their heyday of the 1960s where membership reached close to 5 million) with numbers predicted to drop considerably in the next twenty years—seems an almost archaic and outdated throwback to a period of elaborately costumed galas and mens’ only meetings. Hardly worth serious time or consideration.
Yet, as the last chapter has shown, there has been considerable parallels and a mutually beneficial historical relationship between Freemasonry and the Illuminati. Virtually all of the founding fathers of the United States were indeed Freemasons, as has been ably documented elsewhere; In fact virtually all presidencies have either been manned by Masons or included key cabinet members who were affiliated until the presidency of Abraham Lincoln (whose assassination is still subject for much speculation.) And the influence of the Illuminati bears a striking resemblance to the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. Coincidence? Or is the institution of Freemasonry a training ground of sorts for Illuminati candidacy?
As I mentioned in the introduction, unlike the clandestine nature of the Illuminati, Freemasonry may be the classic overt secret society. Membership is open to all males, 18 years of age, joining of their own free will and professing a belief not only in a Supreme Being (and that definition is very loosely defined) but a belief in the betterment of the individual and society. All that is needed is the sponsorship and recommendation of at least two members of a Masonic lodge.
With a highly visible advertising and PR campaign in recent years (some of which knowingly nods at their “mysterious” and conspiratorial reputation) in a last-ditch effort to find new candidates from younger generations—most of whom probably find the structure and rite of the institution hopelessly dull and corny—Freemasonry is hardly the elusive and elite society whispered about in conjunction with the magnates and leaders of bygone days. If anything, it may be compared to a shell of its former influence and glory. Yet sometimes shells can hide some very strange ghosts, indeed.
Like barnacles attached to the hull of a boat, Freemasonry and the Illuminati may be inextricably linked. How this influence came to be, is another story altogether…
The Origins of Freemasonry
The origins of Freemasonry, as Masonic apologists and authors are so fond of repeating, are forever lost to the sands of time; thereby grafting a highly dubious insinuation of ancient legacy upon the history of Masonic Craft. How and why these mysterious legacies of ancient pedigree are so integral to Freemasonry may be largely a result of an unconscious need to equate longevity with relevance (a notion discarded with the sudden rise of success of institutions such as McDonald’s or science fiction movies in the immediate years following WWII.)
Whatever the case may be, the first organized Masonic activity is generally held to be founded on June 24, 1717 with the assembly of the first United Grand Lodge of England. Prior to this, there were loosely organized guilds of what has come to be known as “Speculative Masonry”; that is, loose affiliates of like-minded individuals forming a mutual aid society modeled after the stonemason guilds of the 13th and 14th centuries, in whom they found an ideal allegory for non-denominational religious beliefs and the interpretation of biblical parables as metaphors for both the “universal brotherhood of man” (an idea none too popular in still pre-Enlightenment times) and historic allusions. Some of these guilds have been proven to be in existence as early as the 16th century (during which time the stonemason guilds had been officially abolished by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, leader of the English Reformation, in 1548), but it wasn’t until at least 150 years later that these guilds met to form a unified front.
Over the next 70 years, Freemasonry began to grow considerably among all walks of life throughout Europe, petitioning as it did a relatively egalitarian ethos of brotherhood, justice and labor. As the popularity of Freemasonry grew, so did the need to formalize established constitutions, dictates and most famously, their degree structure and rituals. Space permits us from delving at all into the structure of these ritual or degrees, other than to state that they are rooted in biblical, classical and cabalistic symbolism and historical allegory (including the introduction of the myth of the Knights Templar as introduced in Chapter Two), the meaning of which is revealed through successive degrees.
As the popularity of Freemasonry migrated throughout both Europe and the New World, many of the leading ideologues of the time became enamored of its tenets, which held that the equality of all men was indeed a demonstrable fact (a parallel with the Hermetic axiom of “As above, so below” alluded to in this book’s introduction.) Frenchmen such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire and Montesquieu—all leading figures of the Enlightenment whose philosophies would have an inestimable influence on the formation of the American Constitution—were confirmed Freemasons, as were American founding fathers such as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington.
In order to place the popularity of such secretive organizations in context, we should take into acco
unt that such movements served a two-fold purpose: the first is to provide a relative harbor where such ideals could be championed and discussed openly without fear of reprisal from reigning political ideologies who saw egalitarianism as inimical to their very structure. The second is that of a social mechanism. Much like today, even intellectuals needed a place free of judgment where they could relax and enjoy the fellowship and camaraderie of like-minded individuals. One drastic, if relevant, example would be the infamous Hellfire Club of Sir Francis Dashwood (of which Benjamin Franklin was known to be a member of)—a libertine society in the 18th century, consisting of both British aristocrats and commoners alike that was said to harbor secret services of devil worship; although in all likelihood, this was just a colorful and poetic metaphor for perpetual drunkenness, as opposed to legitimate Satanic practices.
As both the ideals and the popularity of Freemasonry continued to filter throughout both continents, so did its interaction with both increasingly progressive thought as well as existing Hermetic and Rosicrucian organizations—both of which shared common philosophical backgrounds. The need for a more inclusive attitude as well as allowance for diversity of opinion and ritual faced the various Grand Lodges throughout Europe and the Americas. Their decision was to establish a strict guideline of observance, practices and ritual lore in which those outside of its pale—such as lodges which chose to allow female participation—bore the stigma of being known as Irregular, or Illicit Masonry. Some customs, such as those of Prince Hall Masonry (which developed among freed slaves in the late 18th and early 19th centuries) were permitted as separate but recognized Masonic entities by Grand Lodge edicts. However, those who continued to operate—at times clandestinely—as Illicit Masonic observances were the subject of outright hostility and vilification. And it is to these illicit chapters that we must observe if we wish to see the shadow side of Masonry in action.
Freemasonry in Practice
In Freemasonry, freedom represented liberty and equality in all sectors of life, inasmuch as it demanded the worship of a Supreme Being (whom Masons to this day refer to as the Great Architect of the Universe) whose dictates the Free and Accepted Mason swore to uphold and present himself according to (it is interesting to note that the Freemasons might be considered early pioneers of interfaith practices currently in fashion.) The Masonic candidate was considered to be a seeker after light (see the last chapter to note the parallels between Freemasonry and the Illuminati); and having found it metaphorically in the institution of Freemasonry, was expected to act as a similar beacon both those in his community as well as his fellow Masonic brethren.
But for the Illicit or Irregular Mason, this freedom represented liberty from an altogether different sort; freedom from conventional religious structures, as well as freedom from the burdens of moral dictates they enabled (again, eerily similar to the teachings established some seven hundred years earlier by Hassan i Sabbah and the Order of Hashishins.) A pertinent example was how the movement spread into Russia in the mid 19th century. Both imperial Russia, its nobility and even its gentry at the time were plagued by violent attacks from radical anarchist and nihilist entities (of which, no better loosely fictionalized example could be given than in Dostoyevsky’s classic novel “The Possessed”)—many of whom forged alliances and cells in the Masonic lodges, both regular and irregular, sweeping across Russia at the time. It is well known that the leading anarchist theorist Mikhail Bakunin (who once wrote that the revolutionary must seek “the unchaining of what is today called the evil passions and the destruction of what is called public order. Let us put our trust in the eternal spirit which destroys and annihilates only because it is the unsearchable and eternally creative source of all life the passion for destruction is wholly a creative passion”) was a member of one such lodge, and also called for the abolition of marriage, property and the complete reversal of all social and religious institution; a charge most commonly associated with the Illuminati.
It is also well known that Bakunin enjoyed frequent meetings with Communist Manifesto author Karl Marx and was a direct influence on February revolution of 1848 and the Paris Commune uprising of 1871, both of which sought to replace the French republic with a more avowedly socialist design. Could it be that the spectres of communism and socialism that haunted much of the 20th century has its root in Masonic ideals?
In America, however, the noble ideals of equality and freedom supposedly germane to Freemasonry found its diametrical opposite in the Civil War and its twisted offspring, the Ku Klux Klan. Albert Pike, a Boston born turned officer in the Confederate army, was a top-ranking 33rd degree Freemason (the highest of degrees Regular and Accepted Freemasonry recognizes) and author of the esteemed work Morals and Dogma of Freemasonry (a work which is replete with extensive references lauding the figure of Lucifer; again, redolent of an uncanny parallel to the Illuminati.)
Pike, who would early on in his career pen hymns to unnamed pagan gods, also had a role in establishing the Ku Klux Klan, along with Nathaniel Bedford Forrest (himself a fellow Freemason)—a secret society itself which swore to uphold the rights of white citizenry and landowners from what they viewed as the threat from newly freed slaves. This society, replete with elaborate code words, costumes, and dreadful oaths of secrecy went on to initiate some of the most appalling and cowardly acts of widespread violence and murder, acts which they happily admit to continuing to this very day. Numerous other top ranking confederate soldiers also took part in the establishment of the Klan, including, including Gen. William Henry Wallace, Col. Henry Alexander Wise and even (so it is rumored) General Robert E. Lee. Which gives pause to wonder how sincere was Freemasonry’s supposed avowal of freedom, equality and liberty if some of its chief proponents were unabashed supporters of the most senselessly barbaric and dehumanizing institutions in American history?
Perhaps more interestingly and tellingly were a series of letters Pike wrote in 1871 to a leading Masonic diplomat and politician named Giuseppe Mazzini, the organizer of an Italian political party named La giovine Italia, which was devoted to the unification of the separate states and kingdoms across the Italian peninsula (and whose slogan was “One, Independent, Free Republic.”) In them, Pike predicts the coming of three separate world wars which was necessary to sow and ferment interior conflicts, leading up to one great and inevitable social cataclysm; a trial by fire after which the doctrine of pure light and reason would reign (again, signifying roots in Illuminati doctrine.)
Masonry had already been well established in Italy by the year 1877 and the formation of the Lodge Propaganda Massonica in Turin. After WW II, Freemasonry was all but dormant in Italy due to both the banning of Masonry by Mussolini’s regime as well as the scrutiny of the Christian Democrat party then in power (it is interesting to see how strong a hold Freemasonry took in Italy, given the notorious animosity between Masons and the Catholic Church.)
However, a renegade but recognized Freemason by the name of Licio Gelli (known himself to show pro-Fascist and Nazi sympathies) reconstituted the moribund Lodge as Propaganda Due, or P-2 in the late 1960s, outside the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Italy. Within a matter of a few short years, Gelli was known to have influence over the highest echelons of Italian society, including the sovereign state of the Vatican—with whom, it has been shown, Gelli allied himself with in the business of helping to harbor Nazi war criminals in hiding.
In fact, Gelli’s influence was so widespread that P-2’s influence began to be seen as a shadowy, secret government, virulently opposed against the Italian Communist Party (of whose members the Lodge committed several notable kidnappings and subsequent murders) and regularly supported by the governments of Brazil, Nicaragua, Uruguay and Argentina (of whose dictator, Juan Peron, Gelli repeatedly referred to as being his close, personal friend.) When Gelli’s personal list of P-2 members was discovered in 1981 following the Vatican banking scandal (in which the Vatican was accused of being the main shareholder of Banco Ambrisiano, a p
rivate bank that also operated as a money laundering source for various members of the Mafia—a scandal which left bank president and P-2 member Roberto Calvi dead in a likely P-2 assassination), its roster numbered forty-three members of the Italian parliament, three cabinet ministers, the head and sub-heads of every major branch of the Italian military, Italy’s top financiers and bankers, major media figures and even future Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (of whom Gelli stated in 2003 in reference to, “All is becoming a reality little by little, piece by piece. To be truthful, I should have had the copyright to it. Justice, TV, public order. I wrote [Berlusconi’s administration] thirty years ago.”)
Also figuring prominently on Gelli’s list were noted members of the Gambino and Lucchese mafia syndicates. Yet despite several—possibly hundreds of—unexplained deaths and disappearances, bribery and corruption charges, and known involvement with military takeovers in South America, the 95 year old Gelli not only remains a free man to this day, but was nominated for a Noble Prize in literature in 1996 by none other than Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Perhaps not all that surprising at all; rumors of Gelli’s involvement with NATO and CIA-sponsored campaigns of sowing anti-communist sentiment abroad have been heard for decades.
The World's Most Dangerous Secret Societies: The Illuminati, Freemasons, Bilderberg Group, Knights Templar, The Jesuits, Skull And Bones And Others Page 5
