The Enlightened Ones
Source: forteantimes.com
Who are the Illuminati? Do they really control the world? And how do you join?
Once, the Illuminati were barely a rumour. An ancient conspiracy manipulating humankind for their own dark purposes, they were the hidden hand behind history. They infiltrated the corridors of power via groups like the Freemasons, starting revolutions and toppling kingdoms. They gained control of the international banking system, allowing them to covertly rule the world.
In recent years, though, this blanket of secrecy has been gradually lifted. Now the secrecy has been eroded. First, in 1975, there were the three books later published as the single-volume The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson; then there was a best-selling game; these days, the Illuminati crop up in every corner of popular culture, from Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons to Tomb Raider. But the truth about the Illuminati remains as elusive as ever.
As a political conspiracy, the group known as the Bavarian Illuminati was actually very short-lived. A secret society dedicated to spreading republicanism, it was founded in 1776 and outlawed in 1790, after which it ceased to function. While they caused much alarm, the Bavarian Illuminati were notably unsuccessful as revolutionaries. They may have inspired other groups, but there is little evidence that the Illumin ati themselves endured as a political force. However, this group was the artificial creat ion of one man – and an imitation of a far older and more influent ial Illuminati. And to find out about them we must travel back to 16th-century Spain.
THE "NEW CHRISTIANS"
For centuries, most of Spain was under Moorish rule, with Muslims, Jews and Christians living peacefully together in what has been described as a golden age of the arts and sciences. However, by the late Middle Ages the Moorish kingdoms were falling one by one to Christian conquerors, a process known as the Reconquista. The new regime had a slogan: “One country, one faith”. Having expelled the Moors, they next decided to resolve the ‘Jewish question’.
There had been public violence against the Jews since 1391, followed by a strong pressure on them to convert. In 1492, the Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella issued a final edict that Jews must be bapt ised into the Catholic Church or be expelled from Spain. Many left, but others stayed, and the many thousands of Conversos, or ‘New Christians’, now made up much of Spain’s educated urban middle class.
Ironically, then, the effect of the edict was perhaps precisely the opposite of what was intended: Converso families who had previously been shunned for their religion were now equal to their neighbours. Conversos could occupy public office, and frequently did, often rising to high position. Converso authors and poets contributed greatly to Spanish culture; even Cervantes, Spain’s greatest author, may have come from such a family. [1] And the Church now found itself faced with a new generation of young priests from Converso stock.
Prejudice dies hard, and many Old Christ ians deeply resented their new brothers in religion. Inevitably, conspiracy theories began to surface, suggesting that the Conversos were infiltrating the state and the Church in order to take them over. (...)
THE KABBALAH
Derived from the word for ‘to receive’, Kabb alah – also spelled Cabala or Qabbalah – is a tradition which deals with the understanding of God and personal mystical experience. The major work of the Kabbalah is the Sefer Zohar or Book of Splendour, compiled in Spain by Moses of Leon around 1280. Although he claimed the contents were derived from much earlier sources, modern scholars believe that the Zohar was Moses de Leon’s own work, a synthesis of the thinking of the time and his own new material. [3] By couching it in traditional form and writing in Aramaic, he gave the Zohar more authority and made its new ideas acceptable to his contemporary audience, thus avoiding charges of heresy from more orthodox scholars.
The Kabbalah is a theology of light in which the Universe is described in terms of 10 ‘sephiroth’ – attributes or aspects of God. These are described as spheres through which the light of God is transmitted to mankind. The sephiroth give shape to the divine light and are separate but also one with it “in the same way as the rays which proceed from the light are simply manifestations of one and the same light”. (...)
A LIGHT FOR THE WORLD
If the Alumbrados represented the resurfacing of an oral tradition, then the scholarly tradition of the Kabbalah also survived and thrived elsewhere. Spain was the great centre of Kabbalistic learning, and the expulsion of Jews spread Kabbalists to North Africa, the Ottoman Empire, Palestine and Italy. The latter was to prove significant, as the humanist philosopher Pico Della Mirandolla picked up the Kabbalah and Christianised it. Mirandolla explained Kabbalah as a theology which predicted Christianity and contained many of the same elements. (The Christian version is often spelled Cabbala to distinguish it from Jewish Kabbalah.)
In 1494, a leading theologian, Johannes Reuchlin wrote De verbo mirifico, in which he showed that the Biblical name of God, the Hebrew letters YHWH, could be miraculously transformed into JESUS by Cabbalistic means. Adam Kadmon was also identified with Jesus.
The Catholic Church eventually ruled against Cabbala, concluding: “Its speculations concerning God’s nature and relation to the Universe differ materially from the teachings of Revelation.” [5] Its study was considered heretical, and practical Cabbala was a black art, driven underground once again. This did nothing to destroy its popularity, and Cabbala became a staple of Renaissance magic; it also gave rise to the word ‘Cabal’ for a group of plotters.
Cabbala has appeared either overtly or in concealed form in much occult teaching since then. It was borrowed, adapted and built upon; in modern terms, unlicensed pirate copies were in free circulation. Its ancient pedigree gives it authority, its dense scholarship lends it weight and depth, making Cabbala the ideal ingredient to add to any philosophy for an instant boost – the monosodium glutam ate of the occult.
Scratch the surface of Freemasonry and you find the Cabbala. Rosicrucianism is rife with it. It lies at the heart of esoteric religious groups like the OTO, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and Aleister Crowley’s ‘magick’. None of this could be described as pure, but then Cabbalistic scholarship has never been pure. Since the earliest days, there have been cross-currents with other philosophies, most notably the first-century Gnostics, Hermetic philsophy, Persian Zoroastrians and the even earlier Pythagoreans. It is quite possible – and hotly debated – that the ‘original’ Kabbalah may have come from one of these sources and was only later adopted into Judaism. Adam Kadmon looks rather similar to the Persian Adam Qadmaia, the hidden Adam. There is no continuous ancient tradition, but an unceasing blending and development of ideas.
However, new developments can always do with an impressive lineage to back them up, and everyone – from the Freemasons to Moses de Leon to the first-century Kabbalists – who invoked Moses has tended to invent an ancient pedigree to support their own ideas.
THE TWO SIDES OF THE ILLUMINATI
As we have seen, there are two very different sides to Illuminism. One is the popular view of the Illuminati as villains behind everything from Freemasonry to Satanism, with the recurrence of various plundered symbols giving the impression of a unified movement. Adam Weishaupt’s Bavarian Illuminati, founded to “attain the highest degree of virtue”, were quickly demonised. Weishaupt came from a Jewish family, had a Jesuit education and was a Freemason – all factors that counted against him. In more recent times, Illuminati paranoia has moved from political radicals to international banks, also depicted as shadowy organisations controlled by Jews. Laughable as this idea may seem, such beliefs in a powerful conspiracy that was undermining society helped propel the Nazis to power in 1933, while similar notions are current among ultra-nationalists in Russia today.
The other Illuminati are the heirs to the Kabbalistic tradition. As always, their teachings are confined to the few, because it is an esoteric path for those willing to put in the effort, rather than an exoteric one for the many. Trying to make complex and subtle doctrine simple destroys its essence. It’s like trying to stuff a cream cake into your pocket: you could do it, but you no longer have a cake, only a sticky mess. Such teachings can be easily misunderstood and the doctrine distorted, losing its truth.
Modern organisations like the Kabbalah Centre want to make the Kabbalah more accessible, suggesting that the Zohar can be ‘read’ by running your hands over the text. The Centre also sells red string wristbands to protect from the evil eye at , Kabbalah water spray for , or a complete Zohar for 5. [6] Whatever the metaphysical objections, the Centre has attracted stars like Madonna and Britney Spears with its promises to “bring more money into your life, ignite sexual energy and… radiate beauty to all who see you”.
But you may be sure that the real Illuminati are still there, and those that look for them will be able to find them. They may want personal transformation rather than global domination, but those who reject authority in favour of finding their own truth will always be unpopular with the powers that be.
(...)For the complete article, go to: ForteanTimes.com
Illustration by Alex Tomlinson
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