Today we look at a very popular secret society that gained momentum in the 18th century, known as the Bavarian Illuminati. You’ve heard of them referenced before, many times in fact but back in the Enlightenment era, they were known for a time as the Perfectibilists. Perfectibilists The 18th Century Bavarian Order of the Illuminati is the title of the book by our guest Terry Melanson. We talk about the rise and fall of the Illuminati during that time and what evidence exists that their influences survived up in to our current world. While, Terry Melanson’s research reveals their methods of infiltrating governments, churches and education systems, there is very little information pointing to the possibility that the Illuminati actually exist today. How can that be when Illuminati has become essentially a household word. Type it in to a popular search engine and 40 million results come up, video after video, article upon article, referencing that word. Yet according to our guest the trail runs cold and there is little to no evidence based on his investigation that they exist today. Maybe this another layer of manipulation, of being everywhere and nowhere at same time? Or is it a comment on the power of memes and how we all haphazardly repeat something and trust its validity without substantial research?
Another preconception of the Illuminati according to Melanson’s research is that founder Adam Weishaupt had “contempt for esoteric pursuits, for all forms of theosophy, occultism, spiritualism, and magic.” The Rose-Croix masons are bracketed with the Jesuits by the Illuminati as enemies and to be outwit at every turn. It was a different time in the late 18th century for secret societies, but today nearly everyone who mentions the Illuminati connects them with the all seeing eye, occult practices and dark magic. What do we really know about the Illuminati? Is our understanding completely wrong? Granted they’re priority to conceal and code communications play a role in what we know about the Illuminati but some member diaries were recovered that helped put pieces together for Melanson.
Guest – Terry Melanson is the owner and director of the online Illuminati Conspiracy Archive and has been writing about the Illuminati for nearly a decade.