Illuminism, mysticism, occultism, esotericism, group masturbation .. whatever you want to call it. It is real, and has been for milennia. Secret societies have existed at least as long as civilization, and have existed in various numbers and magnitudes governed mostly by the fashion of the day.
For example, a mere hundred years ago it was intensely fashionable to belong to one or more secret societies. As a result many existed - the Rosicrucians and all their imitators, the Freemasons (Scottish rite, French rite and others), Satanists, various orders of Magi, the Ancient Illuminated Seers and so on.
The brand of mysticism carried by most, if not all, of these Orders affects their perception today. It is tempting to see the ritualistic, esoteric nature of their initiations and ceremonies as pre-scientific nonsense that has been shown to have no place in todays enlightened world. But this assumption falls on its knees when you consider the popularity of exactly this sort of mysticism as recently as the fifty years or so surrounding 1900, and the list of scientists, artists and men (mostly) of distinction and notoriety who have at various times been members. To name just a few:
Whoa - that's enough. This page was never supposed to be a disorganised, unsourced list of random influential people. In fact I'll probably take that list out, possibly replacing it with something more useful, later.
The point is, these orders have been around a long time, and even if they haven't they (attempt to) draw on a long esoteric history. Their practices are not immune to scientific analysis, as many members have found them worthy through exactly this approach. This is my attempt to analyse their history, and the Genealogy Of Modern Secret Societies.
To be fair, the phrase Secret Societies is probably not appropriate to many of these organisations. Mystic maybe, Occult perhaps but it still derives from the Latin for "hidden". Something definitely.
People who have shaped mysticism today.
| Pythagoras | Greece, circa 300BC? | The Cult of Pythagoras was a popular Order whose members practiced Numerology, Astrology, Sophistry and Mathematics. |
|---|---|---|
| Apollonius of Tyana | Greece ca. 1AD | Neo-pythagorean magician |
| Simon Magus | ca. 1ad | Prototypical New Testament Magician |
| John Dee | England, 1527-1608 | Royal Astrologer to Elizabeth I. Mystic, Mathematician and Seer. |
| Christian Rosenkreutz | France, 13th cent. | Mystic teacher after whom and in whose name the Rosicrucian Order was founded |
| Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa | 1486-1535 | Renaissance Occultist, published the Mysteriorum Libri |
| Alessandro, Count di Cagliostro | Italy, 1743-1795 | Great Alchemist |
| Helena Petrovna Blavatsky | 1831-1891 | Founder of Theosophy |
| Adam Weishaupt | Germany, 1748-1811 | Educator, radical and founder of the Ancient Order of Illuminated Seers of Bavaria |
| Eliphas Levi | France, 1810-1875 | One-time priest and later mystic and occultist |
| Aleister Crowley | England, 1875-1947 | Social vampire, Mystick, Magician. Founder of the Ordo Templi Orientis. |
Those are just some of the key figures - the people who have been instrumental in shaping the direction of mysticism through their writings and/or the orders they they founded or had founded in their name. Many of the biographical links come from these sites:
When I get around to it I'll flesh this out with brief summaries of the foundation & progression of major occultist orders, with links to their current websites and historical perspectives.
And of course, we can't forget the deeply rooted Christian organisations such as Opus Dei and Propaganda Due. Intrigue in the Vatican? What?
What is the latest incarnation of illuminists? Followers of the Eternal Sun? of Osiris? Maybe it's the JAVists themselves??