REAL ILLUMINATI VS MARVEL'S ILLUMINATI

           A powerful Secret Organization that has managed to control the Entire World, orchestrating every events that happens in this world dating from the French Revolution to the Assassinations of U.S presidents to Two World Wars to the current Russia war on Ukraine.  Or is it just a mythical organization that has managed to stay in the minds of the people for centuries and used as a tool to evade from the truth?  In this Blog, let us find out the truth about Illuminati.

THE ORIGINS OF THE TERM ILLUMINATI

     The word Illuminati first came into use in the 15th Century which is generally assumed by or applied to various groups of people who claimed to be unusually "Enlightened".  It is actually the plural of the Latin Illuminatus which means the same, "Enlightenment".  Alright, before diving in, first let us actually get a clear idea of the word, "Enlightenment".

     The common man meaning is "it is the state of understanding something".  But, in the religious contexts it means the "highest spiritual state that can be achieved".

     It is also regarded as a period in the 18th Century in Europe when many people began to emphasize the importance of Science and Reason, rather than religion and tradition.

     Generally, enlightenment is usually associated with light behind one's head indicating Wisdom.  This is common in all the religions in the World.  This is because, light is usually associated with connection from the higher beings usually God.  But, during the early 1400's many people claim to be Enlightened, falsely.  One such notorious case is Maria de Santo Domingo from Spain from a place named Aldeanueva around 1485 who claimed to directly communicate with Jesus Christ himself and the Virgin.  Due to the ignorance and strong beliefs in religions many people believed in these people including Rulers and Emperors around that period.

     There were many Secret Societies in the earlier World, maybe even now.  Some of them includes Illumines from France in 1623 and also another Illumines who claimed to be French Prophets, who were actually an offshoot of the Protestant militant Camisards around 1722 - 1794.  There were also another class of people called as Rosicrucians, who claimed to have originated around 1422 and achieved public notice in 1537.  Their teachings combined something of Egyptian Hermetism, Christian gnoticism, Jewish Kabbala, alchemy and a variety of other occult beliefs and practices.

     The earliest writing which mentions the Rosicrucian order was the Fama Fraternitatis, first published in 1614 but probably circulated in manuscript from somewhat earlier than this.  It recounts the journey of the reputed founder of the movement, Christian Rosenkreuz, to Damascus, Damcar (a legendary hidden city in Arabia), Egypt, and Fes, where he was well received and came into possession of much secret wisdom.  He returned finally to Germany, where he chose three others to whom he imparted this wisdom and thus founded the order.  Later the number was increased to eight, who separated, each going to a separate country.  One of the six articles of agreement they adopted was that the fraternity should remain secret for 100 years.  At the end of 120 years the secret burial place and the perfectly preserved body of the founder were discovered by one of the then members of the order, along with certain documents and symbols held in very high esteem by Rosicrucians.  The sacred vault was re - covered, the members of the order dispersed, and the location of the vault was lost to history.

ORIGINAL ILLUMINATI

THE BAVARIAN ILLUMINATI

     Finally, let us get to see the real Illuminati's.  They are commonly known as the Bavarian Illuminati, of course for the identification purpose, since many Illuminati's lurks around us now.  Founded on May 1 in 1776 in a place called Bavaria in today's Germany.  It was founded by a professor of Canon Law and Practical Philosophy at the University of Ingolstadt named Adam Weishaupt along with his four Students, taking the Owl of Minerva as their Symbol.  The original name of the Illuminati was "Bund der Perfektibilisten" which literally means "Union of Perfectionists".  It sounds strange right.  Adam too felt that and that's why he changed the name to Illuminati in April 1778.  Man two years was such a long time for that old name.

     The main reason for the formation of Illuminati is to end the rule of Religions around the World, to build a society free of religions which stands only on Science, i.e. to replace Religions with Religion of Reason.  The motivation for Adam to find a Secret Society to promote a society based on Science is that during those times, there were many atrocities under the name of Religion, and Adam was even one of the victim of that.  He was the only non - clerical professor in his University and was discriminated at every chance by others.

     But, to make justice to the name "Secret Society", Illuminati did have some odd rituals.  They used symbols such as Owls, adopted Code names among themselves to avoid Identification and had complicated hierarchies such as Novice, Minerval and Illuminated Minerval and they also didn't trust anyone so easily who were over the age of 30 since they would be so set in their ways.  Sources confirms that the members were very paranoid and used spy - like protocol to keep one another identity's a secret.  But, apart from this, they do promoted a worldview that reflected Enlightenment ideals like rational thoughts and self - rule.  Anti - Clerical and Anti - Royals, the Illuminati was very close to Revolutionaries than to Rulers.

     At the end of two years, Illuminati had 27 members in total, but brace, the count was about to shoot up exponentially.  Adam recruited Adolph Knigge and the story completely changed forever.  Adolph proved to be the most effective recruiter of the entire Illuminati and sky rocketed the counts of the members to 1000's.  At it's peak Illuminati had about 2000 members, but it is not that simple, it's slightly complicated.  There were some other secret societies along with Illuminati on those times.  One such powerful Secret Society was Free Masons.  And, they have groups of people in hierarchy in various places known as Lodge.  Adoph would generally be - friend the Lodge's warden and make the members of the Lodge to join Illuminati secretly.  He also recruited rich and powerful people.  At it's glory, Illuminati was spread across Italy to Denmark and from Warsaw to Paris.

Fun Facts:  There was a member named Xavier von Zwack and this could have inspired Stan Lee to develop a character called Professor X, who is actually Professor Xavier.

     Adam had bluffed to the members of the existence of higher authorities in Illuminati and Adolph found out there was nothing like it.  Adam lied to just give a sense of mystic to the group and together they tried to write the Higher Orders which was probably not completed.

     The leadership of Illuminati became so bad as the time went, and internal disputes became so often in the group.  This led to walking out of many valuable and powerful members including Adolph.  With Adolph Knigge out of the picture, the Illuminati had surely lost the best chance of its survival.  Finally, in 1785, Illuminati came to an end, due to the law passed by Charles Theodore, to ban all the Secret Societies indiscriminately in Bavaria in 1785.

     And, that is the end of Illuminati. Or is it not?

THE ORIGINS OF THE MYTH

     Almost immediately the Illuminati was disbanded the Conspiracy Theories around them started to pop up.  The most famous conspiracy theories was authored by physicist John Robison in 1797, who accused the Illuminati of infiltrating the Free Masons and Abbe Augustine Barruel, whose 1797 history of the Jacobians promoted the theory that Secret Societies, including the Illuminati, were behind the French Revolution.  Historians tends to see this as the first in a long line of Conspiracy Theories spiraling around the Illuminati.

     Later on, some of the Founding Fathers managed to stoke interest in the Illuminati in the United States.  In 1798, George Washington wrote a letter addressing the Illuminati threat (he believed it had been avoided, but his mentioning it helped bolster the myth).  In the panic caused by the anti - Illuminati books and sermons, Thomas Jefferson was (baselessly) accused of being a member of the group.

     Though these early Illuminati panics fizzled out, they gave the group a patina of legitimacy that, later on, would help make a centuries - long conspiracy seem more plausible.

CURRENT SCENARIO

     The Illuminati never completely disappeared from popular culture - it was always burbling in the background.  But in the mid - 1970s, the Illuminati made a marked comeback thanks to a literary trilogy that gave the group the simultaneously spooky and laughable image it holds today.

     The Illuminatus Trilogy, by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, depicted the Illuminati with ironic detachment.  This trilogy became a countercultural touchstone, and its intermingling of real research - Weishaupt, the founder of the real Illuminati, is a character - with fantasy helped put the Illuminati back on the radar.

     From there, the Illuminati became a periodic staple of both popular culture - as in Dan Brown's massively popular novel Angels and Demons - and various subcultures, where the group is often intermingled with Satanism, alien myths, and other ideas that would have been totally foreign to the real Bavarian Illuminati.

     Uscinski clarifies that most Americans today don't actually believe in the Illuminati.  In a survey of conspiracy theories he conducted in 2012, he says zero people claimed that groups like Freemasons or Illuminati were controlling politics.

     But, still the idea of a Secret Organization controlling the Entire World is fascinating and appealing that some people still believe it.  There might be some circumstantial evidence supporting this belief, but one can't be a Secret Society if it is so famous that even a kid knows about it, literally destroying the meaning of Secret Society.  The probability for a weak Bavarian Illuminati to get survived by the ban, and orchestrated the French Revolution to so many wars ranging from World Wars to Cold Wars and possibly the current Ukraine vs Russia War is so low.  God, world was full of wars.  But, still the probability is never zero.  There might be one...

INTRODUCTION TO MARVEL'S ILLUMINATI

     But, wait a minute, there was one another Illuminati.  Let me take a moment to introduce them.  Marvel's Illuminati was first introduced in the Comics, Stan Lee doesn't seemed to miss a chance to touch upon the real Secret Society.  Now, finally, after years, we are going to see Marvel's Illuminati in the upcoming new Marvel film, Dr. Strange In The Multiverse of Madness

 which is releasing on May 6.

INTRODUCING THEIR MEMBERS

     The Illuminati was a secret organization comprised of several of the world's most powerful heroes,

1. Sorceror Supreme Doctor Strange

2. Black Bolt, King of the Inhumans

3. Charles Xavier, founder of the X-Men and mutant rights activists

4. Reed Richards, founding member of the Fantastic Four

5. Namor the Sub - Mariner, King of Atlantis and 

6. Tony Stark Iron Man, founding member of the Avengers

     These six men worked together for an unspecified amount of time to mold and shape the status of the superhuman world and the world around it.

     Originally, Tony Stark united these men along with the Black Panther shortly after the Kree-Skull War had first involved Earth.  He suggested they form a mega group that would be prepared to face such similar threats by uniting all of the existing super teams and groups.  Eventually, the idea was minimized in scale to a secret cabel that would share information and decide secretly how all of the individual groups would correspond, with T'challa choosing not to join the group.

     The group met to discuss a variety of issues, including the return of the Sentry.  The group lasted until Iron Man decided to trick the Hulk into going into space, then sending him off from Earth to a distant planet.  With Namor leaving because of his disagreement with the choice and Professor Xavier having disappeared after the House of M (Scarlet Witch warped Reality) the group disassembled.  They came together once after, when Iron Man announced the impending Superhuman Registration Act, and asked that they all strongly agree in public in order to prevent a Civil War.  Again, the group was divided when most declared their opposition to the Act, leaving Iron Man and Reed Richards to dissolve the group.

     However, Iron Man called the group together one last time when the latest assemblage of Avengers discovered a Skrull posing as the assassin Elektra.  While trying to figure out exactly what to do about the situation, Black Bolt revealed himself to be a Skrull as well and attacked the rest of the Illuminati.  This new type of undetectable Skrull super soldier almost succeeded in eliminating Iron Man and his group, but Namor managed to kill the alien warrior before that could happen.  Iron Man then destroyed the next two Skrull Soldiers that attacked, but it was already too late.  The alien invaders completed their task of planting the seed of mistrust within the members of the Illuminati.  Namor was the first to take his leave, and the rest soon followed.  Only time will tell if Earth's heroes can find a way to trust each other again and repel this secret invasion before the planet is lost.