by Terry Melanson - April 27, 2012

Fire in the Minds of Men: Origins of the Revolutionary Faith, by James H. Billington, is arguably the most valuable reference on revolutionaries ever written. (The softcover that I purchased in 2004 is in tatters from overuse and nearly impossible to handle; the situation is the same, I suspect, for many students and historians of the subject.) The body of the text is remarkable enough, however his extensive notes also feature a narrative full of minutia, and multiple citations ranging from a paragraph to a full page. I continually mine it for new leads, and constantly discover that many of the obscure older sources – once only housed in prestigious University and libraries – are now accessible on the internet.

An example that I’ve found lately is a 1910 article by Otto Karmin. Here’s the passage from Billington followed by citations (pp. 93, 537-8):

In the early days of the revolution, Masonry provided much of the key symbolism and ritual—beginning with the Masonic welcome under a “vault of swords” of the king at the Hotel de Ville three days after the fall of the Bastille.^[36] To be sure, most French Masons prior to the revolution had been “not revolutionaries, not even reformers, nor even discontent”;^[37] and, even during the revolution, Masonry as such remained politically polymorphous: “Each social element and each political tendency could ‘go masonic’ as it wished.”^[38] But Masonry provided a rich and relatively nontraditional foraging ground for new national symbols (coins, songs, banners, seals), new forms of address (tu, frère, vivat!), and new models for civic organizations, particularly outside Paris.^[39]

[…]

36. On the use of the voûte d’acier on Jul 17, see J. Palou, La Franc-maçonnerie, 1972, 187.

37. D. Mornet, Les Origines intellectuelles de la révolution française (1715–1787), 1954, 375; discussion 357–87; bibliography, 523–5; and outside of France, Billington, Icon, 712–4. A. Mellor, Les Mythes maçonniques, (1974) also minimizes Masonic influence, though vaguely acknowledging the influence of the occultist revival on the revolutionary movement.

38. Ligou, “Source,” 46, also 49.

39. This subject has never been comprehensively studied. For the best discussions in general terms, see O. Karmin, “L’Influence du symbolisme maçonnique sur le symbolisme révolutionnaire,” Revue Historique de la Révolution Française, 1910, I, 183–8 (particularly on numismatics); J. Brengues, “La Franc-maçonnerie et la fête révolutionnaire,” Humanisme, 1974, Jul–Aug, 31– 7; Palou, 181–215; R. Cotte, “De la Musique des loges maçonniques à celles des fêtes révolutionnaires,” Les Fêtes de la révolution, 1977, 565–74; and the more qualified assessment of Ligou, “Structures et symbolisme maçonniques sous la révolution,” Annales Historiques, 1969, Jul Sep, 511–23.

For the heavy reliance on Masonic structures in provincial civic rituals, see, for instance, F. Vermale, “La Franc maçonnerie savoisienne au début de la révolution et les dames de Bellegarde,” Annales Révolutionnaires, III, 1910, 375–94; and especially the monumental work for la Sarthe which lifts the level of research far above anything done for Paris: A. Bouton, Les Franc-maçons manceaux et la révolution française, 1741–1815, Le Mans, 1958. See also his successor volume Les Luttes ordentes des francs-maçons manceaux pour l’établissement de la république 1815–1914, Le Mans, 1966.

In the New World, where the links between Masonic and revolutionary organizations were particularly strong, rival revolutionary parties sometimes assumed the names of rival rites. In Mexico, for instance, escoceses (pro-English “centralists” from Scottish rite lodges) battled yorquinos (federalists from the rite of York introduced by the first U.S. ambassador, Joel Poinsett). See A. Bonner, “Mexican Pamphlets in the Bodleian Library,” The Bodleian Library Record, 1970, Apr, 207–8.

Leads a plenty.

It was the Karmin article, after finding it online, which compelled me to compile “Masonic Emblems on Coins and Medallions during the French Revolution.”

Basically, what he did was mine the data in a standard numismatic reference work and highlight the examples of Masonic influence – minus illustrations, hence the need for my own treatment. The evidence is clear and seems deliberate, although one isn’t quite sure whether the artists involved were actually Masons themselves.

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Temple of Man: Freemasonry, Civil Religion, and Education

Terry Melanson | 2010-05-20 - In Europe and North America, “culture war” was the socio-political preoccupation of the mid- to late-19th Century. However, the struggle for control of the educational establishment actually began a hundred years earlier during the Enlightenment.

Tr.: Every May 1st, a procession of Freemasons take place at the Père Lachaise cemetery in front of the Communards’ Wall, to pay tribute to the martyrs of the Paris Commune.

What did I tell ya?!

• Einige Originalschriften des Illuminatenordens at Scribd
• Some Original Writings of the Order of the Illuminati (pp. 26-43)

Theresa Winslow - 02/07/10

Helen Brockmeyer just got out of a 20-year relationship, so it’s understandable that she’s been on a bit of an emotional roller coaster lately. But at least she’s got a lot to show for it.

The Annapolis resident’s relationship, or maybe a better word would be obsession, was with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - and it ended in December when she released her exhaustive book about the Austrian composer. Specifically, about his death in 1791.

Brockmeyer spent two decades and tens of thousands of dollars investigating her theory that Mozart was murdered. She even learned German and worked as an au pair in Germany so she could personally visit the composer’s stomping grounds.

The 55-year-old spurns accepted dogma about an illness claiming Mozart’s life, and instead believes his throat was slashed by Freemasons as retribution for insulting an Austrian prince. Mozart and the prince were both Freemasons, but the prince’s aristocratic standing spelled disaster for the composer when the complaint was aired, she said. Her exact reasoning is spelled out in great detail in the 452-page, textbook-size “Echoes of a Distant Crime: Resolving the Mozart Cold Case File.”

Full story

—

Interesting stuff. I, for one, will surely pick up a copy.

Through a bit of poking around at the Mozart forum and at Brockmeyer’s site, the main culprit in the alleged murder seems to be Illuminatus Prince Christian Karl von Lichnowsky. Here’s a short bio on him from my book Perfectibilists (p. 349):

Theirs and mine…

Many so called secret societies figure in conspiracy theories as bodies, secretly ruling the world. But do you think some of these societies accomplished something really significant in reality? Or are they only ordinary groups of people with common interests who maybe sometimes delight in being seen in mysterious way?

The heyday of secret societies occurred during the 18th Century. We see the birth of Freemasonry-proper along with its enumerable offshoots or extensions, as well as the more socio-political variety represented by the Bavarian Illuminati. But, all of them - without exception - as you say - “delight[ed] in being seen in [a] mysterious way.”

The Age of Enlightenment or the Age of Criticism also gave birth to the modern conspiracy theory. And this is due, in large measure, to the very real machinations of the Bavarian Illuminati. When John Robison wrote Proofs of a Conspiracy in 1797; a more apt title there was not. Through defectors from the secret society itself to the confiscation of internal correspondences by the government, it was learned that the Illuminati’s sole raison d’être was infiltration and subversion – a conspiracy through-and-through. One did not need further “theorizing,” for the Illuminati was a concrete manifestation of everyone’s worst fears.

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Tomorrow is the 233rd anniversary of the birth of the Order of the Illuminati in 1776. Their calendar was based upon the Zoroastrian religious calendar, commencing from the ascension to the throne of Yazdegerd III (1377 years ago), and is still in use today in Iran. (1377 and 233; posted at 7:44 pm? A synchromystic numerologist may have something to say about that.)

Adam Weishaupt had grand illusions about clothing the higher mysteries of his Order in fire worship. “The Order, in the higher grades, will be called again: the Cult of Fire, the Fire Order, or the Order of the Parsees,” he wrote to his disciple Cato-Zwack on 6 Pharavardin 1779. “The ultimate aim of the Order is for the Light [or Enlightenment] to blaze bright; we fight against the darkness; this is the Cult of Fire,” Weishaupt reiterated (Einige Originalschriften des Illuminatenordens, pp. 330-1).

As I wrote before (and a bit more in Perfectibilists): that May 1st was chosen as the date for instituting the Illuminati is a semiotic stroke genius.

In hindsight, it’s obvious that, for the Illuminati May 1st had significance as the day in which the “cult of fire” was/is celebrated throughout Europe and Britain as Walpurgisnacht and Beltane. I don’t think it is accident that they chose the date. I also don’t think it is accident for May Day to have become a sacred revolutionary holiday for socialists, communists and anarchists. The Illuminati were the forebears of these, and acknowledged as such by the likes of Louis Blanc, Buonarroti and his secret societies (the Sublimes Maîtres Parfaits, Adelphi and Philadelphes), Speshnev and the Petrashevsky circle, and no doubt the Spartacist League as well.

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Just in case you missed it (and most did). And because I hadn’t made it clear in the article; the owl of Minerva holding an opened book is the insignia of the Bavarian Illuminati - not the “all-seeing eye,” and especially not the reverse of the Great Seal of America. What’s more, the article (”Owl of Wisdom: Illuminati, Bohemian Club, Schlaraffia, James Gordon Bennett Jr.“) shows two examples of the insignia (2 of 3 known to still exist).

Adam Weishaupt continued to utilized the motif after he had went into exile - this is why Barruel wrote in his Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism, that Weishaupt “adopted the bird of night for his emblem.”

Masonic historian Arturo de Hoyos:

This design, with the addition of the letters P.M.C.V. (per me caeci vident : through me the blind see), was cast or hand-graved as a jewel to be worn by Minervals. There is no record of how many were made, and only three are known to exist: one in a private collection in Ansbach, Germany; one in a private American collection; and one in the Deutsches Freimaurermuseum Bayreuth. A photograph of this last one appears in Freimaurer Solange die Welt besteht (Historisches Museum der Stadt Wien, 1993), p. 314.

Some Original Writings of the Order of the Illuminati (pp. 12-26)

Design sketch of the alchemical laboratory at the Louisenlund estate of Landgrave Karl von Hessen Kassel

In an email Monday, L.G. wrote:

I’ve been searching for materials about the Illuminati (I read yesterday some of your notes on “May Day” and the Illuminati - quite interesting and helpful!) and there is one historical personage that keeps popping up in my searches: Saint Germain, the so-called “Wonderman of Europe”. I don’t know if he was an “illuminatus”, but his persistent connections to May 1st in the New Age Movement are very interesting. According to some sources, he “ascended” on May 1st 1684, and was crowned as the new “Chohan” (Planetary Lord) on May 1st 1954. I know these are just New Age inventions, with no historical value, but anyway the choice of that day is curious, to say the least.

While reading Manly P. Hall’s “The Secret Destiny of America”, I noticed he mentioned a person –not named in the book– who apparently influenced the creation of the american flag and called himself “The Professor”. What I wanted to know is if you know, from your own studies, if this man had anything to do with the well-known european aristocrat who called himself the Count of Saint Germain. If there was a connection, and if there was any possibility for him to have been a member of the Bavarian Illuminati, maybe this could explain the connection between the New Age “Ascended Master” Saint Germain and the day of the foundation of the Bavarian Illuminati.

By the way, as I’m talking about Saint Germain and the New Age Movement, maybe you’ll find curious the fact that certain new age circles working with this “ascended master” use a kind of violet disc with a dot in the middle as a tool for “spiritual exercises”. You can see it here (the fourth from above):
http://www.naveluz.arq.br/download.htm

This, amazingly, reminds me of the point within a circle used by the Illuminati to designate their Order. What do you think about all this?

Thanks for your time and attention.

The short answer, is no; Saint Germain wasn’t a member of the Illuminati. His name doesn’t appear on any authentic membership list, nor would you expect to find it. Quite the opposite.

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Irish Times - January 12, 2009

Disparate groups of the left claim a link to Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht but not to each other, writes Derek Scally in Berlin

THE SUN was high in the cold, blue sky as the crowd came crunching through the cemetery snow.

The procession of old women in fur coats and mohair hats, families in matching all-weather jackets and thin young men in thinner hooded tops had come to lay red carnations on the graves of German socialist leaders Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht.

The two were abducted on January 15th, 1919, by the Freikorps, the remnants of the German imperial army ordered by the new Social Democrat (SPD) government to put an end to months of upheaval since the end of the war.

Luxemburg and Liebknecht, leading figures in the rising, were interrogated and tortured. Luxemburg’s life ended with a blow to the head and a bullet in the back. Her body was dumped in a canal and, when it finally reappeared five months later, it was placed in the empty coffin that had been buried next to Liebknecht. He was shot on the same evening as her and dumped anonymously in a morgue.

Full story

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N.B.: Luxemburg, with her Spartacus League, paid homage to the founder of the Illuminati, Adam Weishaupt (Spartacus). Historian James H. Billington, wrote:

Even her choice of revolutionary pseudonyms betrayed an unconscious harkening back to origins. From Junius (originally used by the Strasbourgeois Jewish revolutionary Frey in Paris during the great French Revolution), she moved to th Gracchus of Babeuf, on to the Spartacus adopted by the original German progenitor of revolutionism, Adam Weishaupt. Her Spartacus League adopted in December 1918 the label Communist, which Restif had invented and Lenin revived.

- Fire In the Minds of Men, pp. 499-500.

The only thing I’d disagree with in the above is the fact that Rosa Luxemburg knew what she was doing. Rather than an “unconscious harkening back to origins,” it is highly unlikely that she would have assumed the aliases of Moses Dobruska (aka Junius Frey), Babeuf and Weishaupt, in any way other than deliberately.

Jan Swafford - Dec. 8, 2008

How the secret order influenced the great composer.

In 1779, a composer, writer, teacher, and dreamer named Christian Neefe arrived in Bonn, Germany, to work for the Electoral Court. Neefe (pronounced nay-fuh) was the definition of what Germans call a Schwärmer, a person swarming with rapturous enthusiasms. In particular, he was inflamed with visions of endless human potentials that the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment promised to unleash. Like many progressives of the time, Neefe believed that humanity was finally coming of age. So he had picked the right place to get a job. Bonn was one of the most cultured and enlightened cities in Germany; the court supported a splendid musical and theatrical establishment. Before long in his new post, Neefe found himself mentoring a genius. Meanwhile, in his spare time, he signed on with a plan to, as it were, rule the world.

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Count Leopold von Kolowrat-Krakowsky: an Illuminatus and the National Superior for Austria; founder of St. John’s Lodge of Secrecy and Harmony in Malta.

Matthew Vella - 26 October 2008

After years of notoriety as a secret society, and a raging debate over the alleged membership of public officials, Malta’s freemasons have gone public with a fully-fledged website describing their activities, history and also their statute.

Malta’s freemasons now welcome the public to go beyond its portrayal “as a secret, self-serving, or sinister society”, to one whose motivation centres on “humility, tolerance, and charity”.

Malta’s lodges from the English, Scottish and Irish Constitutions congregated in one single Grand Lodge in 2004, when the Leinster, Abercorn and Fenici lodges of the Irish Constitution resolved to create a Maltese grand lodge, with ‘Brother’ Joseph P. Cordina as its “most worshipful grand master”.

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Here’s a site from a friend of mine: Illuminati Rex. He’s a talented artist and makes some great comics about the New World Order and/or the “Illuminati“. The material he utilizes for his comics and illustrations is derived from authentic sources. For example, he puts to use the cryptographic symbols from the Bavarian Illuminati, and is one of the few people I know who’s actually read - even translated sections - of René Le Forestier’s unsurpassed tome on the Illuminati: Les Illuminés de Bavière et la Franc-Maçonnerie Allemande [Paris: 1914], Archè reprint, 2001.

The “Rex”  in Illuminati Rex, is, of course, a reference to the final degree of the Illuminati - Rex or Man-King (Docetist; Docetengrad).

I have just launched a new site: Bavarian Illuminati: Home of the Original Writings of the Illuminati.

I will be translating the Original Writings of the Illuminati and posting them there in installments - hopefully 10 or 12 pages per week. The first 12 pages of Einige Originalschriften des Illuminatenordens has been posted as a start. In between the translations of the Original Writings, I’ll also be blogging on the history of the Order, secret societies of the era, short bios of confirmed members, and excerpts from relevant works, etc. The second post on the site, is: A Brief Encounter with Adam Weishaupt in 1804.

Enjoy!