When it comes to shadowy cabals that supposedly control the world, the Illuminati should be at the top of any conspiracy theorist's list. If you are confused about “how to join the real Illuminati?” make sure to know everything about it. An Illuminati Facebook page has 3.4 million likes, Madonna writes songs about the group, and YouTube channels calling pretty much everyone Illuminati notch almost 200,000 subscribers.
What did the Illuminati believe?
A drawing of an owl from the 1780s, the short period of time the Illuminati was active. There were two sides to the historical Illuminati: their odd rituals and their ideals.
The Illuminati did plenty of unusual things. They used symbols (like the owl), adopted pseudonyms to avoid identification, and had complicated hierarchies like Novice, Minerval, and Illuminated Minerval that divided the ranks. In the beginning, Hodapp says, Illuminati members didn't trust anyone over 30, because they were too set in their ways. Other reports of rituals are harder to confirm, but we know that members were very paranoid and used spy-like protocol to keep one another's identities secret.
Did the Illuminati manage to control the world?
Historians tend to think the Illuminati were only mildly successful — at best — in becoming influential. It's also difficult to untangle the success of the Illuminati from that of the Freemasons, which they infiltrated and commingled with. It's just as tough to tell what influence the Illuminati actually had as opposed to the influence people think they had.
We do know the Illuminati had some influential members — along with many dukes and other leaders who were powerful but are forgotten today, some sources think writer Johann Goethe was a member of the group (though other sources dispute the claim). In a way, Illuminati's influence depends on what you believe about them. If you think their revolutionary ideals spread to other groups, like the French Revolution's Jacobins, then they were successful. If you think those ideas would have prospered regardless, then they were mainly a historical curiosity.
Why did the real Illuminati disappear?
This is the duke of Bavaria, the guy who single-handedly took down the Illuminati.
In 1785, Duke of Bavaria Karl Theodor banned secret societies, including the Illuminati, and instituted serious punishments for anyone who joined them. Most of the group's secrets were disclosed or published, and, if you believe most historians, the Illuminati disappeared, this is why if you don’t know “how to join the real Illuminati?” do better research.