SECRET SOCIETIES
Secret Societies have in common with cults the idea that they both involves groups of people, not individuals. While cults tend toward having a kind of residence in which members of the cult live together. This may be a building or an area like Johnstown or the Rajneeshee in Oregon. Secret Societies do not have a similar kind of residence. While the cults tend to have an overall belief system, whereas secret societies tend to be more focused.
Both groups have some organization to them, but this may not be codified into a constitution or other documents.
Secret Societies share in common the idea of having some hidden information - not all of which is occult information. Secret Societies come in two groups - in one, the membership is secret, in the other, societies witth secrets - that is what activities they do is secret (although it may not be ALL of their activities. For example the Masons are a society with secrets, masons are perfectly open about being members, and much of their charitable work is open, but information about the rituals and modes of recognizing other masons is secret)
Organizations like the Ku Klux Klan, the Mafia, the Costra Nostra, Antifa have concealed their members, but their activities are clearly known.
One of the more common attributes of secret societies are rituals, which are often considered secret. Initiations are a "rite of passage" or "transition" in which a new member moves from one status into a new status - the person goes from being what they were to what they will be. During the initiation they are in a "liminal" state being neither here nor their. The initiations are almost always highly charged symbolically. Weddings are marked by special clothing, exchanges of rings, oaths or vows are taken and so on.
In secret societies these rituals also involve the passing on of the "secret information" which the initiation is sworn never to reveal to an uninitiated person. This raises a problem as to how information is passed on to an initiate when no one presumably can tell them what the information is, because they haven't been initiated. This is sometimes handled by having the oath never to reveal the information allow it during initiations.
Bellman argues that the entire purpose of the initiation is to show that the person is trustworthy enough to keep secrets. Almost all adult males in the area of Africa where he did his research are members of Poro. There are many other societies in the area but all require that the person looking to join is a member of the Poro society first. A similar requirement hold for many of the European secret societies in that they required membership in the Masons before the person could apply to a second secret society,
There are many reasons given for people joining some of the societies. A common one is that they join to make contacts with other people that can further their own economic or political business.
This may be true in some cases, but it is something which is percieved often by non members which gives secret societies a "bad name".
Many if not most secret societies are male and the initiations mark the transition from child to adult. Some feel they are more numerous for men because the transition is biologically more evident in women with the onset of menarche. Since being an initiated male may be a requirement for marriage this explains some of the "sexual" aspects of some male initiations (circumcision, subincision). In some case such sexual body modification occurs for women with clitorectomies.
The initiations are heavily symbolic. Symbols have been held by some to he "hyper-loaded" They carry a wealth of meaning. Secret societies often hold the symbols as part of their secret knowledge. The appearance of some symbols on everyday items like currency are often taken as being indicators of secret society involvement although in most instances these symbols have been around for centuries and predate the secret societies which may or may not have used them.
There is considerable literature on the history of many of the symbols available.
Some of the more famous secret societies in the west and some notable members.
1. date unknown: (Speculative) Freemasons
The earliest references (1390's) to Freemasons are to the actual guild with lodges of operative or practicing masons. These were masons who dealt with fine grained stone like limestone and sandstone. By the 1600, there are records of "speculative masons", men who were not working with physical stones, but with the working of stones and the building of edifices as a metaphor. The operative maasons allowed the speculative masons to actually join the lodges (apparently at a higher rate of dues. In 1717 the first "Grand Lodge" of speulative masons forms when 4 lodges in London join together. This is the oldest "secret society" we know of in the west, and most of the ones that followed have borrowed heavily from them. The idea of progression from an apprentice to a journeyman (or "fellow of the craft") to master mason was borrowed as well from the initiations of the operative masons. The transformation of a rough stone to a worked stone became a "metaphor" for that the Freemasons were looking at as a metaphor. (See "alchemy" on the "Occult" page on this website).
There are an enormous number of famous people who are/were members of the Masons. Among them George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (see his Magic Flute opera).
2. 1776: Illumenati
The Bavarian Illuminati, formed on May 1*, 1776, was a short-lived, real-world secret society, originally calling itself "Order of the Perfectibilists". later the name was changed to the Illuminatenorden. It was founded by Adam Weishaupt, a professor of canon law at Ingolstadt University.
Some famous members were Goethe, Mozart, Beethoven, and Percy Shelly. Baron Frankenstein is professor at Ingolstadt.
Aims: to promote Enlightenment ideals like reason, secularism, and gender equality. Operating mainly in Germany until its dissolution around 1785, it was aimed at opposing religious influence in public life. Attacked by Jesuits and several political leaders who suspected its subversive teachings, Officially banned by the Bavarian government in 1784, 1785, 1787, and 1790, causing the group to disperse.
It remains today only in conspiracy theories and myths associated with the 'New World Order" which holds suggests the Illuminati survived and evolved into a secretive, elite group aiming for global domination and having been responsible for major historical events like the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, and modern political shifts.
The Illuminati appear regularly in Pop Culture
3. 1888: Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was a prominent 19th-century British secret society dedicated to the study and practice of occultism, Hermeticism, and ceremonial magic. Founded by Masons William Wynn Westcott, Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, and William Robert Woodman, it blended Kabbalah, Tarot, alchemy, and Egyptian mythology into a structured hierarchical system. It focused on spiritual development and magical training, emphasizing practical ritual over mere theoretical study. It was structured like a Masonic organization with a strict hierarchical grade system, starting from Neophyte and advancing through grades based on the Tree of Life. Although it ceased to function in the early 20th century due to internal power struggles, its teachings heavily influenced modern Western esotericism, Wicca, and ceremonial magic.
Some famous members included poet W.B. Yeats, Aleister Crowley, Arthur Edward Waite, and Florence Farr.
one unusual aspect was that the Order allowed women to join on equal footing with men.
4. 1895: OTO Ordo Templi Orientis
Overview
Ordo Templi Orientis is an occult secret society and hermetic magical organization founded at the beginning of the 20th century. The origins of O.T.O. can be traced back to the German-speaking occultists Carl Kellner, Theodor Reuss, Heinrich Klein, and Franz Hartmann.
like others the organization was modeled on Freemasonry and initially only Masons could become members.One 0f its more famous members: Aleistair Crowley
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SOME ADDITIONAL SECRET SOCIETIES THAT ARE WELL KNOWN
Antifa (a "non existent" secret society*)
Cosa Nostra (a "non existent" secret society*)
Greek organizations on Campus (Sororities/fraternities)
International Organization of Odd Fellows (IOOF)
Knights of the Rosy Cross
Knights Templar
Ku Klux Klan (a "non existant" secret society*)
Mafia (a "non existent" secret society*)
Skull and Crossbones - Yale University
Bildebergs (seen by some as conspiratorial*)
Trilateralists (seen by some as conspiratorial*)
* "conspiratorial" refers to the idea that the organization is involved in some cospiracy to dominate te world.
Another is that members wid one another and so if their is a problem, other members will help them avoid punishment for example.
Yet another is that being a member of a secret society which does not admit everyone gives the person a felling of superiority.
*May day (May 1st) is an ancient European holiday falling halfway between the vernal equinox and the summmer Solstice.
"non existant" indicates a society that some people believe or claim is not real because it lacks a general constition, or overall structure. By this definition, the Freemasons also don't exist.