Membership

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As their influence as a secret society grew, Weishaupt and Knigge became concerned that a
good many authorities were beginning to take seriously the rumors of the existence of the
Illuminati. If it should be proven that the society existed in fact, certain of the more powerful
German princes would take immediate steps to suppress it. To hide the society even more
completely from the scrutiny of public view, the leaders implemented Weishaupt's original
plan of grafting the Illuminati onto the larger brotherhood of the Freemasons. The Illuminati
were already utilizing the classes and grades of Freemasonry, so the initiates of the Illuminati
would easily amalgamate with the more established society. To appear to become one with
the Freemasons would allow Illuminism to spread more widely and rapidly, and Weishaupt
and Knigge had great confidence that they would soon attain complete control over the
blended organizations.
The hierarchy within the Freemasons were not long in discovering that the two interlopers
had joined the fraternal brotherhood with less than honorable motives, and in 1782, a group
within the Masons called the Strict Observance demanded that a council be held at
Wilhelmsbad to examine the true beliefs of Weishaupt and the Illuminati. Knigge's powers of
persuasion effectively blocked the attempt of the Strict Observance contingent to expel
Illuminism from their society, and he managed to enroll almost all the members of the
council in the Illuminati. By 1784, Illuminati membership had risen to 3,000, and the secret
society appeared on the verge of assuming control of the entire Masonic establishment.
At the same time that their goals seemed within their grasp, Weishaupt and Knigge fell into a
sharp disagreement about the correct manner of proceeding with their master plan; and in
April 1784, Knigge withdrew from the Illuminati, leaving Weishaupt the supreme
commander of the increasingly powerful society. Later in that same year, a number of
initiates who had reached the highest level within the Illuminati became disillusioned when
the special supernatural communication from a higher source that Weishaupt had promised
had still not manifested after eight years of membership in the society. It now became
obvious to them that Weishaupt had only sought to use them as blind instruments for the
achievement of his political ambitions. The Illuminati was denounced as a subversive
organization by many of its former members, some of whom informed the duchess dowager
Maria Anna of Bavaria and the Bavarian monarch, Carl Theodore, that the society sought the
overthrow of church and state.
In June 1784, Carl Theodore issued an edict outlawing all secret societies in his provinces. In
March 1785, another edict specifically condemned the Illuminati. Weishaupt had already fled
to a neighboring province in February, 1785, where he hoped to inspire the loyal members of
the Illuminati to continue as a society. In 1787, the duke of Bavaria issued a final edit against
the Order of the Illuminati, and Weishaupt apparently faded into obscurity. Although he
never realized his goal of a German Republic and the overthrowing of the European
monarchies, the sparks that he had ignited with the Illuminati would soon burst into the
flames of the French Revolution in 1789.

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