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Publishers Lewis Masonic Reveal the ‘Real’ Secrets of the Illuminati in Forthcoming Book – The Secret School of Wisdom – The Authentic Rituals and Doctrines of the Iluminati

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• The first book in history to publish the complete rituals of the Illuminati

By Philippa Faulks

July 1, 2014

You’ve heard of the Illuminati, but do you know who they were or what they really did…or still do?

During the Second World War, the Nazis, fearing that the Masons might pose a secret threat to their plans, raided the German Masonic lodges, stealing everything written they could find - files, lists of members and ritual texts.

Having been seized by the Red Army during the final stages of the conflict Moscow, these documents are now stored at The Secret State Archives of Prussian Cultural Heritage (GStA PK), Berlin-Dahlem.

This is where German historian and researcher Reinhard Markner found something many have been searching for - for centuries.

Sitting in the Secret State Archives of Prussian Cultural Heritage (GStA PK), in Berlin-Dahlemin, he holds something unspeakably important his hands. It is a document written in the mid-1700s by a young Ingolstadt professor named Adam Weishaupt, who went on to become the founder of the infamous Bavarian Illuminati. Written by hand and explosive in content; it is a document that reveals the true aims of its mysterious founder before the Order started.

About the Illuminati – New World Order or Moral Society?

Many conspiracy theories revolve around the Illuminati. They are perhaps among the most notorious secret societies ever to have existed, and at the same time they are perhaps the strangest. During the short period of its existence in the 18th century they tried, largely in vain, to gain power and influence. Yet, when they were banned and persecuted after less than ten years as a society, that striving for power and influence suddenly no longer existed.

To this day, conspiracy theorists believe that the incredibly important members who surrounded Weishaupt, made a covenant that since then has directed world politics.

The stated goal of the movement was to fight for the Enlightenment ideals of reason, equality and religious tolerance. At first it consisted only of Weishaupt, who chose the swaggering code name ‘Spartacus’, and four students. It was confined to provincial Ingolstadt, whose university in Bavaria was regarded as comparable to leading universities such as Göttingen.

During the 1770s, however, highly educated citizens and enlightened aristocrats in the city of Munich also became aware of the club, which fit into the 18th century fashion for secret societies.

By 1780, the young Adolph Freiherr von Knigge - code name ‘Philo’ - joined, and the Illuminati were gaining ground rapidly due to his Masonic connections. They spread out over the whole of Germany. At its height, the Brotherhood counted up to 2000 members. Celebrities such as Goethe and Herder entered. Schiller, in his Don Carlos in the eighties wrote about the general enthusiasm for the Illuminati and incorporated it in the figure of the Marquis of Posa.

But the more the members of the new society gained insight into it, the more they got the impression that all the fuss about secret degrees, observances and rituals were only about oneself; that the real goal of the Order was not the higher knowledge of its followers, but the mere existence of the Order. The secret truths that the Order supposedly had, and that came from the earliest times of humanity, did not exist. Increasingly they saw Weishaupt as an impostor, even one with an authoritarian leadership style. When the Government finally banned it in Bavaria in 1785, many had already turned away from him. Only when there was no longer an ‘Illuminati’, did the myth of an evil lodge full of powerful enemies of the State unfold – a myth which lives on until today.

Despite its official prohibition in 1785, the Brotherhood’s existence has thought to have continued until the present day. Best-selling author, Dan Brown, played with this idea in his novel, Angels & Demons.

Historians find it hard to curb the fantasies that are in circulation. Not least, because they struggle to explore the Illuminati with a difficult lack of sources until now!

Markner, 46, is a research associate at the University of Innsbruck and a specialist in the ‘Age of Enlightenment’ and the history of the Freemasons. A man who recognizes the handwriting of Adam Weishaupt or Freiherr von Knigge, when he sees it:

‘Weishaupt taught his followers that true wisdom must be passed on in secret in order to protect them from censorship and persecution by the Catholic Church and the secular authorities," says Markner. This idea can also be felt in the early manuscript which he found in the course of his investigations, and which he referred to as "Proto-Illuminatismus.’

When Weishaupt wrote the text, he was just in his mid-twenties and newly appointed professor of canon law at Ingolstadt. Apparently not too busy with his teaching duties, he called for a hidden ‘School of Humanity’, which would lead its members to the path of virtue.

The ideal that it aimed to achieve was ‘the best possible education for their entire physical and mental abilities and powers.’ As cloudy as that goal was, the structure of the club that Weishaupt envisioned were already concrete.

He imagined the meetings of the School as secret reading circles that would meet in as many cities. Members would share their books and pool their resources for new acquisitions. The conspiracy was to ensure that one could also obtain controversial literature.

In order to gain influence, Weishaupt relied on infiltration. His students, ‘unobserved’ are to mentor and influence other groups in secret. This required strong characters; recruits from the elite.

But Weishaupt maintained his vision after his exposure. He fled to exile in Gotha, where the Elector of Bavaria could not prosecute him and the supposed rebels. Until his death in 1830, he tried to restore his ruined reputation. He admitted mistakes, and distanced himself from some thoughts he had expressed as ‘Spartacus’. But he held to his earliest vision.

In a ‘justification of my intentions’, Weishaupt noted that, ‘My main crime is that I not only knew the good, or wanted it, as so many teachers have, but that I did more, and made effective preparations for its wider dissemination, and founded a school to do so.’

The title ‘Illuminati’ does not appear in the text. Instead, he advocated a ‘School of Humanity’. The draft, which a contemporary called Weishaupt's first Unionsacte, contains not only the noble goals which Weishaupt's secret society wanted to prescribe, it also provides a premonition of their own destruction.

Markner's goal is to reconstruct all the important teachings and ritual degree texts of the Order of the Illuminati from the original documents and to publish a book. It will be published in October, first in English under the title "The Secret School of Wisdom,"

About the Authors

Reinhard Markner is a research associate at the University of Innsbruck and a specialist in the ‘Age of Enlightenment’ and the history of the Freemasons.

Josef Wäges is a Freemason, amateur historian, and author of the forthcoming book The Columbian Illuminati.

Jeva Singh-Anand is a Freemason and the translator of three full-length Illuminati related source documents, including ‘The Secret School of Wisdom’

About the book:

The Secret School of Wisdom - The Authentic Rituals and Doctrines of the Illuminati

by Jeva Singh-Anand, Joseph Wages, Reinhard Markner

For more than two hundred years, the world has held a prejudiced view of the Illuminati. Much has been claimed for and against the Order - its name synonymous with secrecy, intrigue, and mystery in the modern context, despite a poverty of concrete evidence in the English language. Little has been said about the factual structure and development through its life cycle. The Secret School of Wisdom - The Authentic Rituals and Doctrines of the Illuminati, is a ground-breaking text. It marks the first time that a comprehensive ritual book for the society has been re-assembled. Every degree, its instruction and associated texts, has been included and assembled in chronological order of progression. The reader will be guided along the same path as many of Germany's most enlightened men, as they did in the years immediately prior to the French Revolution. They will ascend from one level of knowledge to the next. Much of this material has never been published, let alone translated into English. Supplemental texts are included to gain further historical insight into the Order. The documents have been checked for accuracy with the original archival texts, and carefully translated into English.

The Secret School of Wisdom - The Authentic Rituals and Doctrines of the Illuminati is a pioneering text, a full working manual of the Order, and an astounding insight into the world's most intriguing secret society.

Discover:

• The first book in history to publish the complete rituals of the Illuminati

• The doctrine of the Illuminati in their very own words

• The regalia and jewels of the Order completely revealed for the first time

• The development of the rituals and teachings of the Order

• The secret goals of the Order to reform society - exposed in detail

• The rituals that went on to become part of modern day Freemasonry

• The secret signs, grips and passwords of the Illuminati revealed

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Contact:

To learn more about The Secret School of Wisdom or to interview the authors, please contact:

Martin Faulks,

Lewis Masonic

Riverdene Business Park

Molesey Road

Hersham

KT12 4RG

Direct Line: 01986 895433

martin@lewismasonic.com