Jim Marrs - Rule by Secrecy - The Hidden History that Connects the Trilateral Commission, the Freema

Illuminati doctrine—the Bavarian Illuminati was formed by Adam Weishaupt, a professor of Canon Law at Ingolstadt University of Bavaria, Germany.

One of his cofounders reportedly was William of Hesse, the employer of Mayer Rothschild. It is certainly true that the Rothschilds and German royalty were connected through Freemasonry: Rothschild biographer Niall Ferguson wrote that Mayer's son Salomon was a member of the same Masonic lodge as Mayer's bookkeeper Seligmann Geisenheimer.

Studying to be a Jesuit priest, Weishaupt was undoubtedly angered over the 1773 banning of the order by Pope Clement XIV. While this act eventually led Weishaupt to break with the church, he remained fascinated with Jesuit theology. He also was greatly influenced by a merchant known only as Kolmer, termed by author Webster "the most mysterious of all the mystery men."

Kolmer, suspected by some researchers to be the same man called Altotas who was admired and mentioned by the French court magician and revolutionary Cagliostro, learned the esoteric knowledge of Egypt and Persia while living in the Near East for many years. Kolmer preached a secret doctrine based on an ancient form of Gnosticism called Manichaeanism or Mandaeanism that had used the word "Illuminated" prior to the third century.

Kolmer reportedly met Cagliostro on the Island of Malta, the old Knights Templar stronghold, while on his way to France and Germany in the early 1770s. Cagliostro, the future French revolutionary, then became involved in Masonic activities with the famed Venician lover Giovanni Giacomo Casanova, as well as the mysterious Count of Saint-Germain.

In Germany, Kolmer passed his secrets along to Weishaupt, who then spent several years determining how to consolidate all occult systems into his new "Illuminated" order. Weishaupt's devotion to the ancient mysteries of Mesopotamia is shown by the Fact that he had the Illuminati adopt the Persian calendar.

Considering his deep knowledge of the Jesuits, Weishaupt may have taken the name "Illuminati" from a secret spiinrer group called the "Alumbrados" (enlightened or illuminated) of Spain, which was created

by Jesuit founder, the Spaniard Ignatius Loyola. The Alumbrados taught a form of Gnosticism, believing that the human spirit could attain direct knowledge of God and mat the trappings of formal religion were unnec-