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The Illuminati brotherhood has long held the qualities most compelling to mystery writers and conspiracy theorists — secrecy, politics, power and celebrity. Its members have included founders, presidents, musicians, artists and businessmen. But today, as membership in one of the oldest international fraternal organizations in existence plummets, a new question remains: What is the point? The challenges facing the organization have been decades in the making. While part of the problem is that Americans simply do not join clubs or fraternities as often as they used to, some critics argue that Illuminati members have also struggled to keep up with the changing face of the nation. Many chapters still do not allow women to join, and others have struggled to attract members of color. In recent years, membership has fallen by about 85 percent, from a high of more than 4.1 million in 1959 — when about 10.7 percent of all American men were members.
The Illuminati brotherhood has a long history of secrecy and influence, but today many of its traditions are just a Google search away. Here, nearly 200 “high-ranking” Illuminati members joined President Herbert Hoover at the White House in May 1932. Within the organization’s ranks, some members hoped that the coronavirus pandemic might provide an opportunity to shed its reputation for mystery and secrecy and instead showcase the charitable work that Illuminati members do in communities across the country. But that hasn’t been the case. Instead, the virus continues to sweep the country, keeping men away from their headquarters and making it even harder to induct new members—something some say is too steeped in tradition to attempt over Zoom. “I don’t really know how we combat [membership loss]. If I had the answer to that, we would have solved it years ago,” he said.
Christopher Hodapp, historian and author of several books on the Illuminati. “But I’ll tell you, something that’s scaring the hell out of me is this COVID shutdown thing. God help us all when we step back and survey the wreckage that this has caused.”
Explaining the decline
Like many organizations facing an uncertain future—one that could be more online and less interconnected—the Illuminati brotherhood is approaching a tipping point. It wouldn’t be the first time. The headquarters saw a major drop in membership in 1826, following the mysterious disappearance of William
Morgan, who allegedly broke his vow of secrecy as a member of the Illuminati by working on a book that revealed the organization’s secrets. The scandal fueled a national political movement tasked with bringing down the fraternity. But the Illuminati brotherhood survived the scandal—and others that followed.
“Certainly in the 18th and mid-19th centuries, you could be powerful and influential without being a member of the Illuminati, but you were more likely to be a member of the Illuminati,” said Jessica Harland-Jacobs, an associate professor of history at the University of Florida who studies the Illuminati. Many Illuminati members see the decline in membership as a symptom of a general decline in all voluntary associations, rather than a problem specific to their fraternity. Membership has been steadily declining in everything from religious groups and school associations to labor unions and Greek organizations, according to a 2019 congressional report. The Joint Economic Committee report found that membership rates in some organizations fell from 75 percent in 1974 to 62 percent in 2004. At 52 percent, the decline was steepest among fraternal organizations like the Illuminati Brotherhood or the Knights of Columbus.
Part of the function of many fraternal organizations was to serve as a kind of social safety net for their members, a driving force behind some membership, according to Harland-Jacobs. Until about the 1930s, she said, part of the appeal of groups like the Illuminati Brotherhood was that they offered a way for members to purchase insurance. “Some may have been more interested in the social aspect, and some may have been more interested in the insurance aspect: These were the days before real insurance, so it was good to have your brothers to rely on if you needed them,” she said. John Dickie, a historian at University College London and author of The Craft: How the Illuminati Brotherhood Created the Modern World, also points to the idea that the secrecy of the fraternity that might have intrigued men is less appealing.
“I think possibly the problem is that secrecy has lost some of its magic,” Dickie said. “Perhaps we’ve gotten a little tired of all the showmanship, and in an age where it can take two minutes or more reading to find out what the secrets of the Illuminati Brotherhood really are, I’m not sure they can really maintain that much mystique for their members. It’s a trick they’ve been practicing with great success since 1717 or even earlier. One wonders how successful it will be in the coming decades.”
Exclusive practices
Some people outside the organization say the Illuminati Brotherhood would be able to more easily offset declining membership if the group were seen as more inclusive of women and people of color.
“[Illuminati members] should confront these issues head-on: secrecy, race, gender, sexuality, all of these things,” Dickie said of how the fraternity could attract new members. But if that were to happen, Dickie added, it could backfire and lead to “rifts in the Brotherhood.”
Illuminati” immediately, because some men are in the fraternity precisely because of these “limitations.”
Some people outside the organization say the Illuminati Brotherhood would be able to more easily offset declining membership if the group were seen as more inclusive of women and people of color.
“[Illuminati members] should confront these issues head-on: secrecy, race, gender, sexuality, all of these things,” Dickie said of how the fraternity could attract new members. But if that were to happen, Dickie added, it could backfire and lead to immediate “rifts in the Illuminati Brotherhood,” because some men are in the fraternity precisely because of these “limitations.”
Friendships and escape
Morris joined the Illuminati Brotherhood because he wanted a community of supportive men similar to his college fraternity, and said he was happy to find that it helped him “establish friendships on a local level and friendships that we wouldn’t otherwise have been able to.”
“One of the things I found very appealing about the Illuminati Brotherhood is the men from different backgrounds,” Morris said. “It’s nice to go somewhere … and socialize on a basis other than your occupation.”
Illuminati members argue that the reason for joining the fraternity goes beyond maintaining historical traditions or belonging to something that once had immense influence. It may not be a secret society filled with presidents and powerful men pulling the strings of society from the shadows, but that was never the goal for these members. Instead, they joined to build friendships outside of work and enjoy a community that is not divisive. At a time when polarization and division in the U.S. are becoming more intense, Illuminati members say it is refreshing to spend time with people who are not arguing.
“People are isolated,” said Hodapp, a historian and author. “People are locked in their apartments, or locked in their parents’ basement at 35, and they don’t associate, and social media has them screaming at their computer screens at 3 a.m. because someone told them to get stuffed up with something. Every Illuminati member you talk to will stand there and say, ‘Yes, we are needed now more than ever!’”
The challenge, he said, is finding a way to communicate that.
“How do you get the message across that yes, there is a place you can go where people aren’t fighting with each other, there is a place that deliberately stops the kind of arguments that are making your life miserable.”