How many illuminati groups are there

But some remain shrouded in mystery to her: Illuminati pilgrims, who she believes may still carry out secret meetings in the Bavarian city.

The idea that clandestine Illuminati gatherings could be taking place in the small Bavarian city may seem far-fetched, but Ingolstadt does have a history of them. The city is the birthplace of the infamous secret society that has become part myth, part historical truth, and the foundation of countless conspiracy theories.

It was on 1 May that Adam Weishaupt, a professor of law at the University of Ingolstadt, founded the Order of the Illuminati, a secret organisation formed to oppose religious influence on society and the abuse of power by the state by fostering a safe space for critique, debate and free speech. Inspired by the Freemasons and French Enlightenment philosophers, Weishaupt believed that society should no longer be dictated by religious virtues; instead he wanted to create a state of liberty and moral equality where knowledge was not restricted by religious prejudices.

However religious and political conservatism ruled in Ingolstadt at that time, and subject matter taught at the Jesuit-controlled university where Weishaupt lectured was strictly monitored. With the help of prominent German diplomat Baron Adolf Franz Friedrich, Freiherr von Knigge — who helped recruit Freemason lodges to the Illuminati cause — the clandestine group grew to more than 2, members throughout Bavaria, France, Hungary, Italy and Poland, among other places.

Another commonly cited Illuminati symbol, which appears on US currency, is the so-called Eye of Providence, which is said to represent the omniscience of God watching over humanity. As well as being king and queen of the charts, Beyonce and Jay-Z are frequently depicted as lords of the New World Order.

Beyonce's immense fame and popularity have long made her a favourite target for conspiracy theorists. However, some musicians seem to enjoy deliberately playing with symbols connected to secret societies.

Jay Z has also been accused of hiding secret symbols such as goat imagery and devil horns in his music videos. Most damningly, the logo for his own music label, Roc-A-Fella Records, is a pyramid — one of the most well-known Illuminati logos. Rob Brotherton, a professor at Barnard College and author of Suspicious Minds: Why We Believe in Conspiracy Theories , explains that real-life government conspiracies targeting black people in America, such as FBI infiltration of the Civil Rights movement in the s and 60s, planted the seeds for Illuminati theory's popularity among hip-hop artists and fans.

Madonna, on the other hand, might just be a believer — all the more interesting given that she has frequently been accused of being a member herself.

Speaking to Rolling Stone , she hinted that she had secret knowledge of the group. The claim is not so shocking given that she released a single titled 'Illuminati'. When Prince died suddenly of an accidental overdose in April of the same year, a small but vocal corner of the internet accused the Illuminati of killing the singer-songwriter, who was famous for fiercely protecting his copyrights and artistic freedom from industry interference.

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. Conspiracy theories have always been popular in the United States, but for centuries, the Illuminati were less feared than the Freemasons. The Anti-Masonic Party was based on an opposition to the Freemasons, and though the party died out, Freemasons remained a focal point for paranoia in America.

Because the Illuminati recruited many members in Europe through Freemason lodges, the two groups are often confused for each other. To some degree, Freemason paranoia grew out of the Freemasons' influence in the United States. Many Founding Fathers were members, after all. And some key American symbols may have been derived from the Freemasons: There's a strong argument that the floating eye on the dollar, the Eye of Providence above a pyramid, comes from Freemasonry.

There's also an argument that it was meant as a Christian symbol; the only thing we know for certain is that it has nothing to do with the Bavarian Illuminati. That early Freemason paranoia can help us understand the conspiracy theories about the Illluminati today.

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

You can be both a serious conspiracy theorist and joke about it. 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 , he says zero people claimed that groups like Freemasons or Illuminati were controlling politics. Even so, the Illuminati seem to persist in our collective consciousness, serving as the butt of jokes and the source of lizard people rumors explained here.

We contacted Kanye West and Jay Z's spokesmen, but they did not return our request for comment. Jay Z has previously said that he thinks rumors of his membership in the Illuminati are "stupid. In a broader sense, rumors about the Illuminati and celebrities speak to their place in our culture.

Fenster sees the half-ironic, half-serious accusations of Illuminati membership as the latest expression of an old American phenomenon. We notice how bizarre their lives seem to be and how powerful they seem to be.

Uscinski also notes the ties between power and conspiracy. Both Fenster and Uscinski noted that conspiracy theories can, in many ways, represent genuine anxieties about social problems. Anti-clerical and anti-royal, the Illuminati aimed to infiltrate and upset powerful institutions. They created a plan for the global subversion of church, state, royalty, and society.

Weishaupt aimed to abolish all religions and obliterate every government so mankind could live happily in a world of equality. The Order was represented by the Owl of Minerva, which in Greek mythology traditionally accompanies Athena the virgin goddess of wisdom. Another Illuminati emblem was a dot within a circle that symbolized the all-seeing eye which belonged not to God, but to a superior Illuminati watching over the lower ranks.

The Illuminati adopted antique codenames to avoid identification. Weishaupt aimed to find young zealots - using Freemason lodges as a recruiting ground - and knit them together with secrecy. The lower ranks were divided into hierarchies of Novices, Minervals, and Illuminated Minervals, and divided into cells.