Forbidden History - Decoding the Illuminati

Episode Date: December 24, 2024

Who are the mysterious group known as "The Illuminati"? If it exists at all, where do they operate from and who are its members? In this episode of the Forbidden History podcast, we follow Jamie Theakston as he investigates this so-called powerful secret society.    Cast List: Jamie Theakston: Investigative Journalist Alan Butler: Author ‘Before the Pyramids’ Simon Cox: Author ‘Decoding the Lost Symbol’ Rev. Lionel Fanthorpe: Author ‘Mysteries & Secrets of Time’ Andrew Gough: Writer, presenter and editor of The Heretic Magazine  Lynn Picknett: Historian and researcher specialising in exposing historical conspiracies. She is also the co-author of several notable works Clive Prince: Co-Author, ‘The Templar Revelation’ David Hambling: Author  Robert Howells: Author, ‘The Illuminati: The Counter Culture Revolution-From Secret Societies to Wilkileaks and Anonymous’ Eric Meyers: Narrator  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the Forbidden History Podcast. This program is presented solely for educational and entertainment purposes. It contains mature adult themes. Listener discretion is advised. Who are the mysterious group known as the Illuminati? Where do they operate from? And who are its members? Are they really some secret world government operating in the shadows?

Or is the whole thing simply one huge conspiracy theory? It's terrifying. that there are millions, perhaps tens of millions of people in the world who believe in the Illuminati as a fact. It's incredibly widespread, and considering the historical data, it's surprising so many people believe what is effectively an urban myth. So you believe that they were trying to match this to the way they've laid out Paris? They've created an Egyptian temple in the middle of Paris.

It's now become a series of all-encompassing conspiracy theories, but the Illuminati did exist. They are a secret society that makes things happen in ways that we know what not of. The pentagram is an ancient symbol of occult power, which was used to designate a ritual space inside which magic was performed. Which is, as we now know it, the city of London. The existence of a secret society called the Illuminati has been rumoured for well over a century. they're said to meet in secret and that their influence is felt across the globe. In effect, a secret world government.

It sounds like a plot from a James Bond movie. But could it be true? Journalist Jamie Thiexton is on a mission to find out and to sort the facts from the fiction. There's certainly evidence of several groups who call themselves the Illuminati all the way back to the 14th to 15th century. the enlightened ones. But they're not the Illuminati that people talk about today.

They're not that type of secret society that we all think about when we hear the word Illuminati. This sort of cult in the belief of the Illuminati is widespread today and particularly amongst the younger generation who would tell you that everything from wars to economy, to weather, to market crashes, to missing planes, all these things. are governed by the puppet masters.

The whole Illuminati, serious, baddie, ruling the world thing, in league with the devil, actually began with the Catholic Church. They really just went for it. They built up this whole myth about the Illuminati being in league with the devil, being, you know, satanic, and, you know, gave them aims that they didn't have. Well, I mean, it was bad enough as far as the Catholic Church was concerned for them to have aims to overthrow the Catholic Church, Catholic Church, but they added to it and they gave it color.

And that is what started today's Illuminati myth. The Catholic Church started it. The history of the Illuminati is a little foggy when it comes to hard facts and solid research. Historically, the name refers to a secret society founded in 1776 by a law professor in Germany called Adam Weisshaus. According to his own writings, he set it up to oppose the church and states power, influence, and prejudice over public life. It was made up of academics, Renaissance thinkers, and freemasons.

On the whole, it had a positive agenda, fighting for freedom and equality for all men and women, quite radical in the 18th century. Today, the Illuminati is seen by many as a cabal of influential politicians, financiers, and old European families, who secretly control the world outside and above, of elected governments. According to the rumors, they meet in secret

to carry out their evil plans, which include creating financial crashes, price fixing, and starting wars and conflicts. They are said to be sworn enemies of the church, and many are top-ranking Freemasons. In recent years, the main symbols of the Illuminati, the all-seeing eye and the pyramid, have been spotted in music videos,

leading a whole new general generation to believe that artists like J-Z, Beyonce, and Katie Perry are part of a conspiracy to brainwash the youth of today with an Illuminati agenda. In a Rihanna video, there's, you know, secret, subliminal messages about obey the Illuminati. And Katie Perry video, you know, with ancient Egyptian stuff and little dogs and men turning into dogs and, you know, oh, and her strange teeth. It will, you know, this is according to vast numbers of people,

a fact that subliminal illuminati messages, satanic messages are leaching out from all of these sources, these, you know, crazy modern sources, and infecting our brains. Are you telling me that Lady Gaga is not involved in some new world order? No, she's involved in a new world order that consists of Lady Gaga. What they stood for, the, should we say, the relatively modern Illuminati was to allow people to think freely.

They wanted to get away from the domination of various political despots, and they stood ideally for freedom. Over the years, there have been constant rumors and allegations about an unholy alliance between the Vatican, various secret societies, and Masonic lodges. Very little of this has ever been conclusively proved, but it all came to light back in 1982 when a man called Roberto Calvi, who was also known as God's banker,

was found hanged under Blackfriars Bridge in London. Author Robert Howells has spent years investigating the shadowy world of the Illuminati. He believes that it does still exist, but not as a central group, more a murky web of secret societies and Masonic lodges, many of whom have high-level links to the Vatican, politics and banking. Do the Illuminati exist today?

The ideals of them, certainly. This ideal of cultural revolution and cultural uprising has kind of stayed with us. And certainly people look back at the French Revolution as a marked moment where the populace could turn around and say, we're not happy with this government, we're getting rid of it. We're not happy with this oppression. with this oppression or this rule, and we can rise up against it. So as a symbol of that, they still exist.

One of the popular myths circulating for the last decade or so is that a private foundation called the Bilderberg Group is really a front for the Illuminati. Who exactly are the Bilderberg group? The Bilderbergs formed in the 1950s that they were to be a kind of joint group between Europe and America to exchange information. And they were made up with heads and states

and senior members of the military members of the military and different areas of business and commerce. But over the years, because they meet in secret, they never publish the minutes of their meetings, and they contain such powerful people. Outsiders that look upon them as a potential kind of a luminarity operation, this kind of group of people that are perhaps trying to run the world or dictate how business is done.

For a long time until about 15 or so years ago, it was even hard to find that the meetings happened at all. And of course, it's so. And of course it's a conspiracy theorist dream. You know, what are all these rich and powerful people doing? What are they talking about? They would say they meet in private. The conspiracy theorists would say they meet in secret.

It is the conspiracy theorist dream. Those who are suspicious of them and who oppose them believe that they are conspirators and that what they really want to do, irrespective of what effect they're having on the bulk of human beings, is to run the show. Since the French Revolution dissolved its monarchy, Paris has long been one of the centers for secret societies, Freemasonry, and the Illuminati.

According to the rumors, core members of these groups possess written heretical material, perhaps alternative gospels and contemporary records from the first century that would challenge our accepted view of Christianity. Robert Howell's research has revealed that one of the hotbeds of this heresy was at the Church of Saint-Sulpice, which is said to have housed a whole library of so-called heretical texts and books. It was founded by a Catholic priest, Jean-Jacques Olie in the 17th century,

who was also a member of several influential societies. Oliere, on his deathbed, said that Christianity was based on a vast panoply of untruths. Right. He was the founder of this church in its own. It's modern form. It was him that rebuilt this church. And he said that Christianity was based on a lie? Yes.

And in this picture he has his hand to his mouth, which is a Masonic symbol for trouble, for panic. And what's he got in his other hand? Under his arm, he has documents. He has scrolls and books. And I think that's the fact that this was hidden in one of the frescoes within the church I think is important because they're saying that secretly these documents that this is the kind of evidence, this is the heretical content that existed at the time in the

in this church. And we find that later in history when Cannon Lilly was here in the 19th century and stated that it found proof that Jesus was alive in 45 AD, that he had survived the crucifixion. Pretty powerful stuff. For a church, it's incredible stuff. It would destroy the church if it was proven. In fact, the church and the Illuminati have been connected for centuries.

It's been rumored but rarely ever proved that the church. there are leading members of secret societies at the very highest level in the church. And when Jamie and Robert were near Notre Dame Cathedral, they saw a parade of a secret order moving through the streets. They were priests, a bishop, and dozens of non-clerical men wearing their ceremonial capes. But who were they? Probably a Masonic or chivalric order connected to the Church of Notre Dame. What was striking was the tight security around the group.

The parade was surrounded by police and security guards with earpieces, walking alongside the Cape Gentleman. So you ask, who are these people? And it gets a little difficult to articulate. We have the Bilderberg group. We have G8. We have these notions of who prints the money in the world. You look into that, you find it privately held, and you wonder, who?

Who owns that? So these people, if they do exist, and all evidence sort of suggest that their existence is real, they've maintained their anonymity in the shadows now for hundreds if not thousands of years. According to Howells, you don't have to go far in Paris to see Illuminati and Masonic influence. In fact, one of the most iconic landmarks of the city, the pyramid at the Louvre, is part of a much bigger structure, a recreation of a recreation of the city, of an ancient Egyptian temple. Now this is one of the most iconic symbols of Egypt.

It's a testament to kind of the Freemasons rediscovering ancient Egypt as a perfect time, as a time when everything was built to perfection, to the ideals of a grand architect, to a god. The pyramid was commissioned by a high-ranking Freemason, Francois Mitteron, and it's claimed to have been constructed from 666 panes of glass, the symbolic number of Satan from the Book of Revelation,

though the museum says the number is really 672. Interestingly though, its sides were built to match the same angles as those of the Great Pyramid at Giza. So is Mitterrand's structure just an eye-catching folly, looking rather out of place in this 18th-century stone courtyard, or is it something more? Mitterrand had some pretty esoteric ideas, right? ideas, right?

It was revealed after his death by his drivers and staff that he would actually go and visit that monument in the middle of the night just by himself, just kind of meditate and contemplate there. So he was kind of into some very, from an Anglo-Saxon point of view, some very weird stuff. But he was also interested in things to do with the power of the land. He saw himself as somebody that had a kind of, in a way, divine role. right to rule France. He'd seen this from when he was a young man,

that somehow he'd been chosen to be the rule of France. It was his destiny. So we've seen the pyramid in the Louvre, and we're now at the western end of the gardens of the Louvre. And this is an Egyptian obelisk dedicated to Ramsas II? So is it actually from Egypt? I can see the high road. It was.

It was brought from the Temple of Luxor, and this completes the temple that they recreated using the Louvre. So you believe that they were trying to match this to the way they've laid out Paris. They've created an Egyptian temple in the middle of Paris. If Rob Howells was right, and the positioning of the Louvre Pyramid and the Obelisk was part of a secret Masonic plan

to create a sacred space in the heart of Paris, then you get a sense of the power and influence that its creators must have had. And, when you compare the layouts of the Temple of Luxor and the area around the Louvre, then you can see distinct similarities. So in a way the Freemasons have recreated Egypt, ancient Egypt, in Paris, in full view, allowing people to wander in and out looking at the Mona Lisa and sit in the gardens,

eating their lunch, not aware that that's sitting in the middle of an Egyptian temple, a place of power, a place of great spiritual importance. And this has been created in the middle of Paris. So you're telling me that there's some kind of magic portal, in the centre of Paris? I'm not saying I believe that. I'm saying that any as a terrorist, and I'm including Mitteron, President Mitteron in this, to them alignments of buildings or natural features,

or patterns or symbols inscribed on walls, they're not just, as we would see them, they're not just interesting. They actually mean something to them at a deeper level. They represent, the direction of a magical energy flow. And I know that sounds a bit Harry Potter, but to them it really is a kind of portal

for energies from the gods, from spirits or whatever, to come in through a portal into our dimension and be used. For what? Well, whatever they want to use it for, presumably, power. You know, that's what most people want to use energy for. Who are the Illuminati? Who are its members?

And what do they do? Are they really an all-powerful secret society that runs the world from the shadows? These are questions that journalist Jamie Thexton is seeking answers to. So far, he has already traced their history from 18th century Bavaria to 20th century Paris, where he was shown evidence of a covert plan to build an Egyptian temple right in the heart of the city. And now, he looks at the cult of the Illuminati among celebrities. Stars and superstars are all thought by one person or another to be associated with this all-encompassing conspiracy to take over the world as if they're involved in some kind of very definite scheme to disenfranchise and disempowerers. Unusually for a society created at the time Mozart was still alive, the Illuminati is big news today in youth culture and social media.

The internet is in a tizzy over what some people see as its satanic messages and images being used by today's celebrities. If you want to know who the real Illuminati are today, you don't need to break into the Vatican's secret archives. Just go to a cyber cafe. What do people think the Illuminati are today? It's astonishing phenomenon. It's worldwide. I was going to say mainly young people, but I don't know why I say that. I say that. I mean, it's just vast numbers of people on the planet today think the Illuminati exist behind the scenes in league with the devil. I mean, absolutely not a turn

of phrase, absolutely literally in league with the devil, possibly with devilish aliens. And they basically run the world, they're trying to establish some sinister new world order, and according to all the believers in this theory, because that's what it is, which they accept as total fact. I mean, to them it's not a a theory. According to them, these people are in governments, they're in the medical profession, they're in financial world. Some of us might agree with that to some extent. But they're there and they're real. And this is a real conspiracy based on a satanic pact, basically. It's extraordinary how many people now believe it. I mean, it's all over the internet,

but you kind of expect that to be. But just talking to people, People aren't particularly interested in any of these subjects, are interested in politics, you know, particularly young people, students we've talked to, absolutely accept the Illuminati as an established fact. Really, it's because everyone around them says the Illuminati exist. It's incredibly widespread, and considering the facts, data, the historical data, it's surprising so many people believe

what is effectively an urban myth. The obsession with the Illuminati Illuminati and their symbols has really gone off the scale in the last 10 years. All-C-N-I, which of course appears on the dollar bill and it represents the all-C-N-I, the grand geometrician of the universe according to Freemasonry. But now you see this in Lady Gaga videos and JZ videos and Rian and E, all these celebrities now, they're all using the same sort of images. Fine.

I mean, they are cool images, but the bloggers and the sort of fringe press are looking at this and saying, ha! You are a member of the Illuminati, and you have been chosen to propagate these messages. But it's bollocks. I mean, it's just cool imagery they're using to sell music. In fact, the further Jamie delved into the Illuminati, the less real it all felt. Without question, there was a small group of free-thinking liberals in Germany back in the 18th century. But it's likely the group ended there.

Since then, the myth of the Illuminati has been slowly and surely built up on the back of Freemasonry, secret societies, private foundations, and occultists to create the monster we see today. When we look at the people's conceptions of what the Illuminati might be in today's world, people have almost certainly got the situation totally wrong. Almost any situation which can't be explained, almost any power base in the world, even now down to stars and superstars, are all thought by one person or another

to be associated with this all-encompassing conspiracy to take over the world in usually a very negative sense. We particularly find it because people are so suspicious of bankers and industrialists. We don't trust politicians anymore. So all these people tend to get lumped together as if they're involved in some kind of very definite scheme to disenfranchise and disempower us. Harris wasn't the only city to be influenced by secret societies and freemasons. After the Great Fire of London destroyed much of the city in 1666,

the great thinkers, writers, architects and alchemists of the day, men like Sir Christopher Wren, seized the opportunity to rebuild London, reflecting their esoteric agenda. Journalist David Hambling has spent years studying their influence on London, which revealed the secret world of symbols, ancient geometry, and the occult, hidden in plain sight. One of these influential men was Nicholas Hawksmoor, who built a number of churches in London, including Christchurch in Spittlefields. What's interesting about them was that they were all built, along a particular pattern with separation and alignments,

which link them all together. So this is map for the city of London area, and we are there, Christ Church Spittlefields, and then you've got St Luke's, St George's, St John's. Right, and that makes a sort of star... Makes a sort of pentacle. So are we suggesting that Hawksmoor deliberately built his churches to make a shape of a pentagram?

The pattern and the separation between them, certainly makes it look as though he was trying to produce some kind of design, and the most obvious way to join them up is into a pentagram like that. And what's the significance of the pentagram? The pentagram is an ancient symbol of occult power, which was used to designate a ritual space inside which magic was performed. And so what's he telling us then? Why this space? Do we know? What was...

Basically, he's staking some kind of claim to the area within that space. which is, as we now know it, the city of London. The city of London. This group, known as the Illuminati, may not have taken over the world in the 17th century, but it's possible that some of their members did rebuild London, and their crowning achievement was undoubtedly St. Paul's Cathedral. According to Hamling, it was to be at the very center of the sacred space

they had created in the city, a new Jerusalem. This is very much the handy work of Sir Christopher Wren, In fact, this is his greatest achievement, possibly the greatest achievement of 17th century English architecture, St Paul's Cathedral, part of the New Jerusalem that the builders wanted to create after the Great Fire of London. So this was absolutely central to the Illuminati's plan. This was literally central to their plan of London. And St Paul's lies at the very heart of the rebuilding plan. The New Jerusalem is the shining city on a hill.

the example to the world of a perfect idealized city. And at the heart of that is a modern version of Solomon's Temple, which embodies all the wisdom in the universe, and that is St Paul's Cathedral. That was the vision of Christopher N and the others who were trying to rebuild their new Jerusalem here. And this place also has a very interesting connection with Freemasonry in that the first United Grand Lodge

was actually formed at the old Goose and Gridiron Public House in 1717. And that proximity to the Masons is significant. It's very significant. In Masonic mythology, the very first Freemasons Lodge was set up in the porch of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. And the first United Grand Lodge ever, which was set up here in England,

was set up just over there. So in the symbolic temple of Solomon in London. It has long been suggested that there is a very close connection between the Illuminati and Freemasonry. Now, I would tend to the view that both of them are visible tips there, they're the surfaces of something much older and deeper.

For want of a better term, I might use the name, the Guardians or the Guides, and that they go back millennia, not just a few centuries. According to the conspiracy theorists, It's the Illuminati that are behind Freemasonry, or according to some, it's free masons that are behind Illuminati, but you can take your pick. That becomes about, because back with the original Illuminati,

there was a connection because the Illuminati worked by trying to infiltrate and take over Freemasonry. But that became kind of a gift to its opponents once the Illuminati had been broken up. Say, oh, the Illuminati were within Freemasonry, therefore they were controlling Freemasonry. Wherever you see a mason, you can now see the Illuminati. There are some quite mad, but very firmly held beliefs

in freemasonry, automatically being evil. And therefore, it must be part of the Illuminati thing. And that they all are basically in it because of satanic naughtiness on a grand scale and wishing to take over the world. There are influences other than the... simple cause and effect that we're aware of. But that is more of a gut feeling.

I can't say, oh yes, I'm sure they exist because of A, B, Z and D. I've got no proof that they are a dangerous secret society. But when I look at all the things that happen both politically and economically and internationally, then I can't help wondering why those things happen. When you're presented with the hard evidence of what could have been the Illuminati's influence on London, it's certainly a fascinating case. But has there really been a coordinated effort from one group to run people's lives, politics and economies, even rebuilding cities from the shadows, or are some people just trying too hard to connect

all the dots and construct a powerful mythology? My neighbor, for example, totally believes as a fact that the Illuminati secretly run the world and are trying desperately to establish a new world order, in which they are succeeding bit by bit, and this terrifies her. She gets together with all her friends, and even their religious advisors are pushing this idea that the Illuminati are in charge. So for some people it's a very real, they're very tangible, right? Yeah, it's very real, it's very tangible, and the fact that most people don't acknowledge,

It just shows how they're sleepwalking around, not acknowledging this terrible threat that is hanging over as all. These societies today, like these Neo-Templar and of course freemasonry, what do they have in common? They're private and secretive, and that allows them to have some fun and pay homage to an ancient tradition,

but they're harmless. But because they're secretive, they get thrown into this, bucket of being evil and part of the Illuminati. And they're really not. They're really harmless. The Illuminati is seen as almost like a nefarious, you know, dark, manipulating group who are trying to bring about their own world agenda.

What if they're the opposite? What if they are a group that are actually trying to uphold ancient traditions, ancient symbolic ideas that were pre-church, pre-the-religion of the book. And what if they are trying to actually make us aware that some of these ideas, the measure, for instance, sacred geometry, are actually where we find God, where the real spiritual elements of life can be found? In my conception and through a host of different books, it seems to me that something

like the original Illuminati does indeed still exist, but it's much more subterranean than most people would think these days. And it's very similar in its intentions and objectives to what it was back in 1776. It seeks to make the world a better place. But we have to remember that the people involved in it are extremely patient.

In a world where everything seems to happen in two minutes, The Illuminati are generational and multi-generational. They take the time, but they are slowly but surely making the world a better place. So are the Illuminati real? It's certainly hard to dismiss them simply as a wild conspiracy theory. There does seem to be some evidence that there had been groups of powerful men throughout the last few centuries who have sought to influence events and change the course of history from the shadows.

And are they still doing it? That is the $6 million question.