Illuminati Conspiracy Archive

Illuminati Conspiracy Part One: Notes

- by Terry Melanson ©, Aug. 5th, 2005

Main Text: Illuminati Conspiracy Part One: Exegesis on the Available Evidence

End Notes

  1. Not quite. There are three errors in that paragraph: 1) Weishaupt was indeed taught by the Jesuits, though he himself wasn't one of them. Many prominent thinkers - such as Voltaire, Descartes, and Diderot - were trained by Jesuits, but I've yet to see the same inaccuracy applied to them. By the time Weishaupt was born the "Society of Jesus" had control of the educational establishment, and had founded some of the most prestigious Colleges and Universities in all of Europe. 2) I may be nitpicking with this one but it is worth correcting the mistake: the Illuminati were not formed within Masonic lodges. The lodges were infiltrated later; Weishaupt's Order was already in existence, beginning at the University of Ingolstadt. 3) The final blow to the Illuminati occurred, not in 1785, but on August 16, 1787 when the Duke of Bavaria issued his third and final edict outlawing the system on pain of death. ˆ

  2. Cosmic TriggerThe Cosmic Trigger "reality tunnel" is hard to describe to those who haven't read it. The Final Secret of the Illuminati is an accounting of his experiences in the 60s and 70s: the retelling of numerous episodes of psychedelic experimentation; the practicing of Crowleyan occult techniques; weird synchronicities involving the number 23; the prospect of immortality through futurist research; UFOs, contactees, quantum mechanics, multiverses, astral travel; and the apparent communication with "higher intelligences," mainly from Sirius, by himself, and his associates - all culminating in an unique theory of just who or what the Illuminati really are. ˆ

  3. Robert Anton Wilson became an adept student of Aleister Crowley. In 1970, at the behest of Alan Watts, RAW began investigating Aleister Crowley and soon "plowed his way through" all of Crowley's books still in print and initiated a correspondence with Crowley's former student and disciple, Dr. Israel Regardie. Wilson writes, "I … began experimenting with the methods of magick training given in Crowley's books. Many of these exercises were frankly borrowed from Hatha Yoga, in which I already had some experience; some were similar to methods of tribal shamans, such as Don Juan Matus, whose training of the anthropologist, Carlos Castaneda, is full of Crowleyan techniques; others came from Tibetan and Indian Tantra, the art of turning sexual ecstasy into mystic mind-expansion." (p. 66)

    RAW and Timothy Leary became good friends since their first meeting at the Millbrook Ashram, in 1964, while RAW was on a writing assignment for The Realist. Up until Leary's death in 1996, they inspired and influenced each other in innumerable ways. ˆ

  4. William Cooper's Behold A Pale Horse has the distinction of being one of two books I've had stolen over the years; the other being Wilson's Cosmic Trigger. I'm on my 3rd copy of Cosmic Trigger, and Behold a Pale Horse is no longer in my collection after having been swiped twice. Word to the wise: never leave enticing literature in an unlocked car, or have it unattended for a short period while in a public place. ˆ

  5. Concurrent with the rise of Deism, Freemasonry, Illuminism, the Enlightenment and a search for a "natural religion," opposition to ecclesiastical dogmatism also brought about the decline in Jesuit hegemony and an ensuing bitter struggle. In 1712 the last execution for witchcraft occurred in England; Witch trials abolished in Prussia, 1714; in 1717 Freemasonry was formalized with the establishment of the first Grand Lodge in London; 1715, an Italian Jesuit missionary, Castiglione, arrives in China; 1716, the Chinese abolish Christian teachings; Jesuits expelled from Russia, 1719; Freemasons found a Lodge in Madrid, 1728, soon suppressed by the Inquisition; 1730, Freemason Lodge in Philadelphia; 1731, mass expulsions of Salzburg Protestants; 1733, first German Masonic Lodge, Hamburg; Papal Bull "In eminenti" against Freemasonry, 1738; in Portugal the Inquisition has its powers curtailed by the government, 1751; expulsion of Jesuits from Portugal, 1759; in 1767 Spain, Parma and the Two Sicilies expel the Jesuits; 1772, Inquisition abolished in France; 1773, Pope Clement XIV dissolves the Jesuit Order. (The Power and Secret of the Jesuits, Rene Fulop-Miller, pp. 434-435; The Timetables of History, Bernard Grun, pp. 326-358) ˆ

  6. To underscore how profound an influence the theme of an occult "promethean faith" had on Revolutionary thought, it is worth quoting from Billington (p.6) again:

    A recurrent mythic model for revolutionaries—early romantics, the young Marx, the Russians of Lenin's time—was Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods for the use of mankind. The Promethean faith of revolutionaries resembled in many respects the general modern belief that science would lead men out of darkness into light. But there was also the more pointed, millennial assumption that, on the new day that was dawning, the sun would never set. Early during the French upheaval was born a "solar myth of the revolution," suggesting that the sun was rising on a new era in which darkness would vanish forever. This image became implanted "at a level of consciousness that simultaneously interpreted something real and produced a new reality."

    The new reality they sought was radically secular and stridently simple. The ideal was not the balanced complexity of the new American federation, but the occult simplicity of its great seal: an all-seeing eye atop a pyramid over the words Novus Ordo Seclorum. In search of primal, natural truths, revolutionaries looked back to pre-Christian antiquity-adopting pagan names like "Anaxagoras" Chaumette and "Anacharsis" Cloots, idealizing above all the semimythic Pythagoras as the model intellect-turned-revolutionary and the Pythagorean belief in prime numbers, geometric forms, and the higher harmonies of music. ˆ

  7. See James H. Billington's Fire in the Minds of Men: Origins of the Revolutionary Faith, Book I, Chapter 1: Incarnation, pp. 17-20. It was Mirabeau's "evocative language" and his popularization of Illuminist concepts that, during the early years of the revolution, swayed many of the conspirators in Paris. Mirabeau - the "outstanding orator" in the National Assembly and member of the dreaded Jacobin Club - introduced the phrase "great revolution," and invented the words "revolutionary," "counter-revolution" and "counter-revolutionary." (p. 20)

    Many authors who seek to trace the continuance of the Bavarian Illuminati after its supposed total abolishment, in 1787, naturally try and prove a direct Illuminati hand in the French Revolution. Mirabeau is one of the key figures in this connection; if it can be proved that he was indeed an initiate of the Illuminati the theory becomes much more plausible. In Part Two we'll discuss the different facts and theories concerning Illuminati influence and persistence. ˆ

  8. Thomas Robert Malthus, an English country curate, was the child of a liberal father who had the distinction of being friends with the French Philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau. Malthus became deeply concerned with the growing mismatch between people and resources, and in 1798 put "his thoughts to paper" with his Essay on Population. This seminal work made him world-famous and has been studied and argued about ever since. To Malthus the greatest danger facing the human species was the difference between population increase and food production: "that the power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man" (Preparing for the Twenty First Century, Paul Kennedy, p. 5). Malthus postulated that the increase in population levels grew exponentially (in the ratio 1, 2, 4, 8, etc.) while food and resource production increased only mathematically (in the ratio 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.) (Ron Gray, Malthus Was Wrong; So Were William Vogt and Paul Ehrlich).

    His gloomy forecasts called for "periodic wars, famines or plagues to 'reduce the surplus population', or we would soon be standing shoulder to shoulder" (Gray, op. cit.). Malthus had a direct impact on Darwin's theories about evolution and Marx's ideas about Capital (M. McConeghy, Malthus, Hume, Rousseau and Godwin). Before the eugenics movement (the science of bettering the human stock), formulated by Francis Galton and Ernst Haeckel, Malthus promoted "hygienically unsound practices amongst impoverished populations," believing "that the 'undesirable elements' of the human herd could be naturally culled by various maladies. The spread of disease could be further assisted through discriminative vaccination and zoning programs." (Phillip D. Collins, The Ascendancy of the Scientific Dictatorship Part Two: Science Fiction and the Sirius Connection)

    In the Twentieth Century elite "neo-Malthusians" - with particular pessimistic urgency - directly influenced policy makers when the Club of Rome, in 1968 and 1972, published The Population Bomb and The Limits to Growth respectively; predicting world wide famine and general gloom and doom as a direct consequence of inaction on the pressing issue of overpopulation. "Obviously our first step must be immediately to establish and advertise drastic policies designed to bring our own population size under control . . . The first task is population control at home. How do we go about it? Many of my colleagues feel that some sort of compulsory birth regulation would be necessary to achieve such control. One plan often mentioned involves the addition of temporary sterilants to water supplies or staple food. Doses of the antidote would be carefully rationed by the government to produce the desired population size." (Paul Ehrlich, The Population Bomb, pp. 130-131) ˆ

  9. N. Webster. Secret Societies & Subversive Movements, London, 1924, p. 207. ˆ

  10. Ibid. 221 - 222. Written by Weishaupt; part of the discourse of reception upon initiation into the grade of "Illuminatus Dirigens."

    Nesta Webster received criticism after her publication of World Revolution, in 1921, for relying wholly upon the testimony of John Robison (Proofs of a Conspiracy) and the Abbé Augustin Barruel (Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism) in formulating her opinions about the Illuminati. In Secret Societies & Subversive Movements - pp. 191 to 232 - she quotes judiciously from the original documents and correspondences of the Illuminati, subsequently published by order of the Elector after being seized by the Bavarian police; specifically: Einige Originalschriften des Illuminaten Ordens, Munich, 1787; Nachtrag von weiteren Originalschriften, Munich, 1787; Der neuesten Arbeiten des Sparticus und Philo, Munich, 1793. ˆ

  11. While I don't agree with the opinions espoused from such a zealous secular organization, this article is the most lengthy and well-documented original account yet to be published on the Internet. I've learned over the years to skip over certain glaring demonstrations of biases and cut to the underlying truth - that goes for both ends of the spectrum: from atheists to religious fundamentalists. The important thing to remember is that you must identify predispositions while verifying the facts independently. The cliché of not throwing the baby out with the bathwater is a good motto to start with, especially while dealing with the subject of a real historical conspiracy. ˆ

  12. Stauffer's third chapter, The European Illuminati, from New England and the Bavarian Illuminati was the main internet source consulted; it was essential in forming a chronological overview of the Order's brief 11-year span. Actually, it became my primary reference only after reading The Enlightenment, Freemasonry, and The Illuminati.

    Original Writings of the Illuminati at the University of IngolstadtAs far as the literature I've read recently, Abbé Barruel's Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism is indispensable for anyone investigating the Illuminati: in Part III and Part IV of his magnum opus hundreds of pages are devoted to the Order. Barruel consulted the original documents published by the Bavarian Elector, just as Robison had, however Barruel's quotations are complete, meticulously sourced (book, page and number cited throughout), numerous, and faithfully translated. Author René Le Forestier - whose 1914 study, Les illuminés de Bavière et la Franc-Maçonnerie allemande is considered the best by modern historians - praised the scope and reliability of Barruel's treatment of the original documents. (Memoirs …, Introduction by Stanley L. Jaki, p. xxiv) Billington's Fire in the Minds of Men was integral for a thorough understanding concerning the (conspiratorial) history of the "revolutionary faith" from the 18th to the 20th century. The book has become one of my most valued references; it is masterly done, the breadth and scope of Billington's investigation is admirable. Webster's Secret Societies & Subversive Movements is just as vital, no matter what the critics say. As far as I know she is the only English author since Robison, some two-hundred years ago, to consult and reproduce large excerpts from the original documents published by the Bavarian Government - rare copies of which are only held in a few select places throughout the world: Ingolstadt University and The British Library are two that I know of.

    While we're on the subject, Carr's Pawns in the Game is disappointing to say the least. I've heard him downgraded as a anti-semite before, and I concur - as much as I hate how easily the designation is applied these days. The most frustrating part about the book, for me, is the fact that he constantly makes earth-shattering statements without backing it up with any sources. I've read a lot of paranoid conspiracy material over the years - this one, however, is in a class by itself. ˆ

  13. Besides himself Weishaupt names two of those original members: Massenhausen (Ajax) and Merz (Tiberius). [AB: 405, 407] As a matter of fact, they were his pupils at Ingolstadt before the Order had even been created. Citing letter 2, to Philip Strozzi, Original Writings Vol. I. Sect. IV, Barruel writes "these two disciples soon vying with their master in impiety, he judged them worthy of being admitted to his mysteries, and conferred on them the highest degree that he had as yet invented. He called them Areopagites, installed himself their chief, and called this monstrous association The Order of Illuminees. … It was on the first of May, 1776, that the inauguration was celebrated." [Ibid. 405] Areopagites: in the sense of a tribunal, or council of Judges; and in the connotation of "believers" in Illuminism, alluding to the Greek Areopagus and the subsequent conversion to Christianity of "Dionysius the Areopagite," by Paul in Acts 17:34. (See The Areopagus or Mar's Hill and Wikipedia - Dionysius the Areopagite) ˆ

  14. Beehive symbolism: Rosicrucian, French Revolution and MormonIn Freemasonry the Beehive is a very important symbol - claimed to be derived from the traditional heraldic symbol for industry. Thus in 1779, two years after his Masonic initiation, Weishaupt writes a letter to fellow illuminists "Marius" (Hertel, the Canon of Munich) [AB: 697] and "Cato" (Xavier Zwack) suggesting that the Illuminati be renamed "Order of the Bees," and to change all statutes to reflect the allegory. [NW: 229] Nesta Webster also points to the fact that anarchist Proudhon would later adopt the Beehive motif for himself - either the Illuminati or Freemasonry could have supplied the influence. The revolutionary Circle of Philadelphians founded in 1784 by Moreau de Saint-Mery, a member of the famed Masonic Lodge of Nine Sisters in Paris, also used "a hive of swarming bees as a symbol." [JB: 108, 545]

    The Beehive is "symbolic of the lodge itself as only the bees in the hive are aware of the activities inside. … under the guidance of the queen bee, the worker bees cheerfully and industriously perform their duties." ( The Secret Handshake, Secret Word, Secret High Sign, and the Nature of Freemasonry) Bees and the beehive are perfect symbols for the collusion of a secret society. Quoting from the Masonic Journal Sakul Gibi (Like a Plummet), Harun Yahya reiterates: "Bees cannot work unless in darkness…Your left hand must not know what your right hand does. Symbols are effective in the countless purposes of secrecy, and also in greater things." (The Knights Templar, p.172)

    The allegory of the beehive can be traced back to the Eleusinian cult: "In Classical Greece honey was deemed to be divine: the priestesses of Eleusis were called melissa (bees) and their temple was known as the 'beehive'." (Juan Antonio Ramírez, Sample Chapter, The Beehive Metaphor) Further solidifying the Illuminati link to the Eleusinian mysteries, Count Mirabeau referred to the former as the "Priests of Eleusis." [JB: 98]

    Bee symbology resurfaces as an aristocratic and monarchical heraldic device symbolizing the King himself; and later in Rosicrucian art, revolutionary France, and especially Mormonism. (Ramírez; Lance S. Owens' Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection, note 61) The discovery of the grave of Merovingian king Childeric, in 1653, played a crucial role in the iconographic transference. Among the items found was "a ring with the inscription Childeric rex, his horse's harness, and more than three hundred gold and garnet bees that had probably been sewn on to the king's mantel." (Ramírez) Bees were affixed to Napoleon's Coronation robes for his crowning as Emperor, and became an important feature on his Coat of Arms. "The Bee: Symbol of immortality and resurrection, the bee was chosen so as to link the new dynasty to the very origins of France. Golden bees (in fact, cicadas) were discovered in 1653 in Tournai in the tomb of Childeric I, founder in 457 of the Merovingian dynasty and father of Clovis. They were considered as the oldest emblem of the sovereigns of France." (Napoleon's Coronation as Emperor of the French; Napoleon.org "The Symbols") ˆ

  15. "The Parsi are a remnant of the great Persian Empire. Followers of the Persian prophet Zoroaster [aka Zarathustra, of 2001 fame], their ancestors were driven out of Persia by invading Muslims 1400 years ago. Some, known as Irani, took refuge in the desert. Others, later joined by the Irani, fled to Gujarat in north India. It is these Indian Zoroastrians who are termed Parsi. On Indian soil, they erected Zoroastrian fire temples - the temples in which a flame is kept burning as a symbol of the life cycle and of eternal recurrence. This symbol has been richly significant to the nomadic Parsis: in a literal sense, the Zoroastrian faith has been kept burning. In India, Parsis also erected 'Towers of Silence' the buildings in which they leave their dead to be devoured by vultures - a practice which, strange though it may seem to modern western thinking, has the ancient religious purpose of affirming the equality of all men in death." (The Parsi Faith) ˆ

  16. See Yazdegerd III of Persia - Wikipedia; Zoroastrian calendar - Wikipedia. ˆ

  17. The Persian calendar used today, in Iran and Afghanistan, is very similar; from the beginning of its year to the naming scheme of the months - e.g.: Farvardin/Pharavardin. (See Wikipedia - Iranian Calendar) ˆ

  18. This cypher might very well have been thought up solely in the mind of Weishaupt but the similarity to a known Rosicrucian cypher used by Francis Bacon, and his "Rosicrosse Literary Society," is too close to ignore. It seems to be a cross between the "Simple Cypher" and the "Kaye Cypher." (See Numerological Cypher Chart at SirBacon.org) ˆ

  19. Although Cabalistic tendencies found no way into the Order's rituals it cannot be denied that Weishaupt was influenced by Hermeticism and Alchemy, as the Illuminati's Hieroglyphic cypher attests to. Go to this page for a comparative display of occult ciphers (Illuminati included) and a free downloadable font package. ˆ

  20. Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick would later join the Illuminati in 1783. [VS, CE] Knigge and his "insinuating brothers" had apparently made a lasting impression on the participants and subsequently recruited many members to the cause. We'll see more later on the numerous notables that were to become initiates. ˆ

  21. Stauffer calls this the Academy of Santa Maria; Robison, the Marianen Academy; and David Allen Rivera, in Final Warning: A History of the New World Order, calls it the Marienburg Academy. Perhaps they are all interchangeable, or etymologically equal, I don't know. ˆ

  22. The plan for the "Illuminized sisters" was the brainchild of Zwack. He had been pushing the idea for years; apparently making little headway, but Weishaupt liked the idea, nonetheless. "Plan for the Order of Woman - This Order shall be subdivided into two classes, each forming a separate society, and having a different secret. The first shall be composed of virtuous women; the second, of the wild, the giddy, and the voluptuous, auschveifenden." [AB: 417] The former class were to promote "the reading of goods books," structured as a female version of the Minervals; while the latter could "serve to gratify those brethren who had a turn for sensual pleasure." [Ibid. 418] In his zeal to persuade Knigge and Weishaupt, Zwack even offers up his wife and four daughters-in-law to be the first adepts! ˆ

  23. See Jacob Friedrich von Abel - Wikipedia. ˆ

  24. See Johann Simon Mayr (1736 - 1845). ˆ

  25. As far as I can tell they were both brothers serving the same court chamber; Barruel names Karl, and Dülmen names both. ˆ

  26. See Sophie: Resources. ˆ

  27. Cobenzl, Johann Ludwig Graf - Encyclopedia of Austria. ˆ

  28. Cobenzl, Johann Philipp Graf - Encyclopedia of Austria. They were cousins, and both Illuminati. ˆ

  29. "Crescens" was his illuminated alias according to Barruel (p.699). Dülmen says his code name was "Baco v. Verulam." They may both be right since multiple aliases weren't uncommon. If we had to choose, however, Dülmen's identification is the more reliable as he had gathered it from an official list, whereas Barruel specifically says that he found Dalberg's alias in "Memorials, Letters, and German Journals." [AB: 699] ˆ

  30. Jewish Encyclopedia: Dalberg, Karl Theodor, Baron Von. ˆ

  31. Ibid. ˆ

  32. Juedisches Museum Frankfurt am Main: Rothschild, Mayer Amschel. ˆ

  33. Jews and Freemasons in Europe 1723-1939, Chapter 4: The Frankfurt Judenloge. ˆ

  34. The House of Rothschild: Money's Prophets 1798-1848, p. 69. ˆ

  35. The Lord Acton information was pieced together from the following sources: Lord Acton Cambridge Modern History; Acton, John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, 1st Baron and Dalberg, Emmerich Joseph, The Columbia Encyclopedia. ˆ

  36. See Aufklärung Catholicism 1780-1850. Barruel and Dülmen both say he was a professor of theology at Mainz, however, the above reference says that in Mainz he was professor of philosophy, and taught theology at Strassburg. ˆ

  37. The first Illuminati "code name" and title gleaned from Richard van Dülmen, confirmed through thePeerage.org; second alias comes from Barruel, p.700. ˆ

  38. The Elixir and the Stone: Unlocking the Ancient Mysteries of the Occult, p. 293, Penguin Books, 1998. ˆ

  39. Daniel J. Boorstin, The Creators: A History of Heroes of the Imagination, p. 605. In The Creators, Boorstin, a Pulitzer-prize winning historian, devotes a whole chapter to Goethe. ˆ

  40. Ibid., p. 610. ˆ

  41. The Elixir and the Stone, p. 286, citing Jung's Memories, Dreams, Reflections, p. 232. ˆ

  42. Ibid., p. 286. ˆ

  43. For a thorough study of the Asiatic Brethren, and the role of Karl von Hessen ("Landgrave Carl von Hessen"), see Jacob Katz's Jews and Freemasons in Europe 1723-1939: Chapter III, and IV. ˆ

  44. Fortean Times article: The Immortal Count. ˆ

  45. RENAISSANCE forum Volume 6 Number 2, Winter 2003: George Gömöri. ˆ

  46. Francis Yates, The Rosicrucian Enlightenment, pp. 109-25; Count Michael Maier Biography. ˆ

  47. Ibid., pp. 110, 42. ˆ

  48. Ron Heisler, The Forgotten English Roots of Rosicrucianism. ˆ

  49. WHKMLA: History of Hessen-Kassel, 1736-1815. ˆ

  50. See Freiherr-von-Knigge.de. ˆ

  51. Strict Observance freemasonry is an important subject for an understanding of the mythos held by many secret societies in the 18th century. On of the best online articles written on the phenomenon called "Strict Observance" is written by Dr. Edward M. Batley, in REFORMING THE WHOLE WORLD: Masonic Secrecy and Treason in Eighteenth-Century Germany. ˆ

  52. Indeed, in a letter to Zwack, Weishaupt advises his adept to "guard the origin and novelty of [our order] in the most careful way … The greatest mystery must be that the thing is new." [NW: 202] ˆ

  53. See Kolowrat-Krakowsky, Leopold Graf. Illuminated name gleaned from Dülmen; corroborated by Forestier, cited in Vernon L. Stauffer's third chapter, from New England and the Bavarian Illuminati. Barruel names him too, with the same alias, but he calls him "Count Kollovrath." [AB: 700] ˆ

  54. Well, not really, though, to Barruel anything diverging from traditional Christian teachings was labeled "sophistry," and certainly "atheistic."

    The highest degrees of the "Grand Mysteries," "the Mage or the Philosopher and the Man King" weren't implemented before the Order had been abolished. Weishaupt had been working on them and kept the discourses under lock and key - making no copies and showing the originals to no one. [AB: 502] Seems the gist of it was a pantheistic belief partly derived from Spinoza. It was only read to initiates a few times. In a work by a former Illuminatus, Last Works of Philo and Spartacus, the author reveals: "The first is that of Mage, also called Philosopher. It contains the fundamental principles of Spinosism. Here everything is material; God and the world are but one and the same thing; all religions are inconsistent, chimerical, and the invention of ambitious men." [AB: 510] This is indeed pantheism - Spinoza is often called the first modern Pantheist - and closely associated with the recent Gaia theory promulgated by the recent New Age earth-centered cults. Spinoza, according to Renée Weber, believes that "everything can be looked at either as a system of extension, matter, or as a system of consciousness" (Dialogues with Scientists and Sages, p.116); very reminiscent of the "Gaia Hypothesis," and pantheism in general. Moreover, Weishaupt - throughout the discourses and communications between Areopagites - constantly alluded to Nature as his God. Nature worship would later have a profound and bloody impact on the conspirators during the French Revolution, through the enacting of various pagan revelries.

    Demeter (mother-goddess) was one of the chief gods worshipped during Eleusinian rites. Thus, Weishaupt makes another revealing statement to Zwack on what to expect in the higher degrees: "You know that the Unity of God was one of the secrets revealed in the mysteries of Eleusis." [AB: 504] ˆ

  55. See: Mein neues Familienbuch. ˆ

  56. See this entry at the Lance Family database; very likely the same person. ˆ

  57. For the Rothschild connection see Business Week's review - The Richest Dynasty in History - of Niall Ferguson's THE HOUSE OF ROTHSCHILD: Money's Prophets, 1798-1848. Kissinger's thesis on Metternich is easy enough to confirm. N.B.: I just received a copy of Ferguson's book on the Rothschilds yesterday (Aug. 4th); there is indeed a wealth of information on Metternich and others connected with the Illuminati (such as the Hesse-Kassel family). I will start reading it soon, and probably use some of the info when I post part two of this Illuminati research. ˆ

  58. I'm not sure that his alias is "Spinoza" as Dülmen gives no alias; Barruel does give a Münter that illuminated title, he says he's an Attorney at Hanover, however. ˆ

  59. See The Transformation Of Work Ethics In Austria: The Imitation Of Protestant Institutions By A Catholic Country: "Justi was a very productive writer (about 60 books) and had a strong influence on the self understanding of economic politics in the second half of the 18th century. The same holds true for Joseph von Sonnenfels (1733-1817), law professor at Vienna University for political science, adviser to the empress, drafter of many pieces of legislation and politician. He also wrote a textbook for the law school which was used as the "official" textbook until the 30ies and 40ies of the 19th century." ˆ

  60. "Voltaire found it easy to utilize the writings of Reform Catholics in his more radical, post-1750 work, and men such as Joseph von Sonnenfels (1733-1817), one of Joseph II's educational czars, could move back and forth from the Reform Catholic to the anti-Catholic Enlightenment camp without notable difficulty." (Seattle Catholic - Half the Business of Destruction Done) ˆ

  61. See French books printed before 1800. ˆ

  62. See this page, from the Town of Mikulov site. ˆ

  63. Michelle Rasmussen says that Baron van Swieten had "the greatest impact on the development of Western Classical music." See, Bach, Mozart, and the 'Musical Midwife'. Vernon L. Stauffer, citing Forestier, identifies him as an Illuminatus. ˆ

  64. From the membership list above one can study the life of each "code name" and deduce the mission to be performed by the member who had the moniker applied. ˆ

  65. The scrutiny is quite elaborate. Barruel produces examples from two initiates on page 433 and 597-98. Combined with all the initiates, and all their associates and family, the depth of this surveillance is staggering. Thus, blackmail was always an option - and a successful one, if applied. ˆ

  66. Bohemian Bigwigs Perpetuate Canaanite Cult, citing William Domhoff, 1981, The Progressive. ˆ

  67. See Hegel, Heine and the French Revolution. ˆ