booknetsaWebster-secretSocietiesAndSubversiveMovements

mancers, would authorize us in declaring him immortal."[8] It is curious to notice that modern occultists,
whilst attributing so much importance to Saint-Germain and the legend of his immortality, make no mention
of Altotas, who appears to have been a great deal more remarkable. But, again, we must remember: " It is
the unvarying rule of secret societies that the real authors never show themselves." If, then, Kölmer was the
same person as Altotas, he would appear not to have been a Jew or a Cabalist, but an initiate of some Near
Eastern secret society-possibly an Ismaili. Lecouteulx de Canteleu describes Altotas as an Armenian, and
says that his system was derived from those of Egypt, Syria, and Persia. This would accord with Barruel's
statement that Kölmer came from Egypt, and that his ideas were founded on Manichæism.
It would be necessary to set these statements aside as only the theories of Barruel or Lecouteulx, were it
not that the writings of the Illuminati betray the influence of some sect akin to Manichæism. Thus " Spartacus
" writes to " Cato " that he is thinking of " warming up the old system of the Ghebers and Parsees,"[9]
and it will be remembered that the Ghebers were one of the sects in which Dozy relates that Abdullah ibn
Maymun found his true supporters. Later Weishaupt goes on to explain that- The allegory in which the
Mysteries and Higher Grades must be clothed is Fire Worship and the whole philosophy of Zoroaster or of
the old Parsees who nowadays only remain in India; therefore in the further degrees the Order is called "
Fire Worship " (Feuerdienst), the " Fire Order," or the " Persian Order "-that is, something magnificent beyond
all expectation.[10]
At the same time the Persian calendar, was adopted by the Illuminati.[11]
It is evident that this pretence of Zoroastrianism was as pure humbug as Weishaupt's later pretence of
Christianity; of the true doctrines of Zoroaster he shows no conception-nor does he insist further on the
point; but the above passage would certainly lend colour to the theory that his system was partly founded on
Manichæism, that is to say, on perverted Zoroastrianism, imparted to him by a man from the East, and that
the methods of the Batinis and Fatimites may have been communicated to him through the same channel.
Hence the extraordinary resemblance between his plan of organization and that of Abdullah ibn Maymun,
which consisted in political intriguing rather than in esoteric speculation. Thus in Weishaupt's system the
phraseology of Judaism, the Cabalistic legends of Freemasonry, the mystical imaginings of the Martinistes,
play at first no part at all. For all forms of " theosophy," occultism, spiritualism, and magic Weishaupt expresses
nothing but contempt, and the Rose-Croix masons are bracketed with the Jesuits by the Illuminati as
enemies it is necessary to outwit at every turn.[12] Consequently no degree of Rose-Croix finds a place in
Weishaupt's system, as in all the other masonic orders of the day which drew their influence from Eastern or
Cabalistic sources.
It is true that " Mysteries " play a great part in the phraseology of the Order-" Greater and Lesser Mysteries,"
borrowed from ancient Egypt-whilst the higher initiates are decorated with such titles as " Epopte " and
" Hierophant," taken from the Eleusinian Mysteries. Yet Weishaupt's own theories appear to bear no relation
whatever to these ancient cults. On the contrary, the more we penetrate into his system, the more apparent
it becomes that all the formulas he employs which derive from any religious source-whether Persian,
Egyptian, or Christian-merely serve to disguise a purely material purpose, a plan for destroying the existing
order of society. Thus all that was really ancient in Illuminism was the destructive spirit that animated it
and also the method of organization it had imported from the East. Illuminism therefore marks an entirely
new departure in the history of European secret societies. Weishaupt himself indicates this as one of the
great secrets of the Order. " Above all," he writes to " Cato " (alias Zwack), " guard the origin and the novelty
of in the most careful way."[13] " The greatest mystery," he says again, " must be that the thing is
new; the fewer who know this the better.... Not one of the Eichstadters knows this but would live or die for
it that the thing is as old as Methuselah."[14]
This pretence of having discovered some fund of ancient wisdom is the invariable ruse of secret society
adepts; the one thing never admitted is the identity of the individuals from whom one is receiving direction.
Weishaupt himself declares that he has got it all out of books by means of arduous and unremitting labour. "
What it costs me to read, study, think, write, cross out, and re-write ! " he complains to Marius and Cato[15]
Thus, according to Weishaupt the whole system is the work of his own unaided genius, and the supreme direction
remains in his hands alone. Again and again he insists on this point in his correspondence.
If this were indeed the case, Weishaupt-in view of the efficiency achieved by the Order-must have been
a genius of the first water, and it is difficult to understand why so remarkable a man should not have distinguished
himself on other lines, but have remained almost unknown to posterity. It would therefore appear
possible that Weishaupt, although undoubtedly a man of immense organizing capacity and endowed with extraordinary
subtlety, was not in reality the sole author of Illuminism, but one of a group, which, recognizing
his talents and the value of his untiring activity, placed the direction in his hands. Let us examine this hypo-
Nesta H. Webster — Secret Societies and Subversive Movements — Part I
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