Path: shell.portal.com!svc.portal.com!sdd.hp.com!swrinde!howland.reston.ans.net!nntp.crl.com!pacbell.com!well!heidrick
From: heidrick@well.sf.ca.us (Bill Heidrick)
Newsgroups: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.magick.order,alt.magick,alt.conspiracy
Subject: Re: BHeidrick: Bavarian Illuminati
Date: 19 Sep 1995 14:18:46 GMT
Organization: The Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, Sausalito, CA
Lines: 52
Message-ID: <43mjg6$kn0@nkosi.well.com>
References:  <42viqi$hf4@newsbf02.news.aol.com> <436dms$o0b@uiah.fi>  <43jm9b$7hj@uiah.fi> <43l4ui$300@news.internetmci.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: well.com
X-Newsreader: NN version 6.5.0 #1 (NOV)
Xref: shell.portal.com alt.magick.tyagi:4234 alt.magick.order:572 alt.magick:51794 alt.conspiracy:133496

Joseph McElroy  writes:

>In my reasearch, I have run accross referrances to the illuminati
>usully in referance to a secret order of mages & adapts.

>These member Are sworn never to reveal the existance of the order.

>Amoung the Remore mill of my resaerch in Pre-Public Access to the
>internet the illuminati was based in England.

>This is the first I heard of them being satanic. 

>I had heard that the employees a consisderable polical power
>in the world.

I think we really need to draw a distinction on this.  The historic
Illuminati was an organization modeled on Freemasonry but not recognized
by most (some say any) contemporary Masons.  It was formed by Adam
Weishaupt and lasted from 1776 e.v. to the mid 1780's.  It is dead and
gone, but has left a legacy of names and traditions.  That is the secret
society of the name.  The term "Illuminati" was also used in the 18th
century to refer to political revolutionaries, particularly in France.
This latter usage refered to the practice of lighting homes and businesses
at night to show sympathy for the revolution, but the implication was
that the night would be illuminated either voluntarily or by torches
applied to the afore-said buildings by the revolutionaries.
   Modern popular usage of "Illuminati" amounts to a fictional lumping of all
"secret government" theories under one catch-term.  Religious paranoia
naturally includes "satanic" elements.  Racist paranoia includes racist
elements in the brew.  It's completely and totally a figment of the
imagination.  There are undoubtedly many cabals, commissions, parties,
organized crime groups, clubs, families, conspiracies and what not going
on.  That's normal.  Some of these borrow popular and other names for
themselves.  That's normal too.  What's unhealthy is a devotion to a
belief that "they are all in it together against us good people".  Regardless
of the name given to that concept, it's ineffectual paranoia and playing
right into the hands of those who would abuse such power as may be
unethically concentrated away from public sight.  To some extent, it may
be an artifact of a world-view that is overly parochial, positing too
much self importance and simplifying all opposition to the concerted wiles
of a fictional Satan.  It's likely that there are any number of groups
who have borrowed this term "Illuminatti" either for their name or as a
characterization of their nature.  It's absurd to assume that labeling
without identifying the ills of the world will accomplish anything
beyond the skills of a cartoon ostrich.

(I've removed alt.illuminati from the address on this reply, since they
might come and get me if I don't!)  %-{

93 93/93
Bill Heidrick