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00:00Discretion absolute, esoteric science, work of the shadow, mysterious rituals from the background of time.
00:15Are secret societies the entrails of evil?
00:22One thing is certain, they feed on innumerable conspiracy theories.
00:30They are accused of aiming at the devil.
00:34They would like to rule the world.
00:37Unless that is already the case.
00:41Everywhere there is suspicion of conspiracy.
00:48Are these accusations really founded?
00:51Or is it pure fiction, inspired by successful authors such as Dan Brown?
00:59The occult fraternities have existed for millennia.
01:03Their members are among us.
01:06They are everywhere.
01:08Welcome to the dark world of secret societies.
01:19Secret Societies
01:38Marian Fussell is a historian in Göttingen.
01:41He investigates the most influential and secret fraternities.
01:49Hermann Schüttler, from Gotha in Thuringia.
01:54He is a specialist in the Illuminati.
01:57This mysterious secret society was born in Germany.
02:05Andreas Hensen is a historian in Heidelberg.
02:09He studies the current influence of the cults from Antiquity.
02:18The Illuminati
02:44One night in April on the east coast of the United States.
02:48Today, the life of a young man will change completely.
02:52The members of a very elitist society have chosen him.
02:56The initiation of a novice is one of the strangest.
03:19The same ritual has been repeated every month of April for almost two centuries.
03:37This fraternity is based at Yale University.
03:41A prestigious institution located in New Haven, Connecticut.
03:49The Illuminati
04:07The young people accepted at Yale are promised a bright future.
04:11But the experts themselves do not know what is happening between these walls.
04:19In this media society, when so little information is shared,
04:25how does this association still manage to keep its secrets?
04:30We know very little about its practices, its rituals, its mode of recruitment.
04:35It is unusual and naturally raises questions.
04:40This fraternity would have a diabolical project.
04:44Its goal, absolute power.
04:48All students want to be part of it.
04:52When you want to make a career, it is a huge asset.
04:56But the elected officials must first obey strange instructions.
05:02Tomorrow evening, you must leave the Harkness Tower and go south.
05:09You are not allowed to carry any metal, dice or glass on your body.
05:14Take the right book in your left hand and knock three times on the holy gate.
05:20Keep what you heard here.
05:24But keep quiet.
05:27For the novice, nothing will be the same as before.
05:32He will become a member of a secret society,
05:35which feeds the theories of the craziest conspiracy.
05:40The Harkness Tower
05:53Marianne Fussell knows most of these myths and legends.
06:04But Alexandra Robbins will teach her more.
06:08She did her studies in Yale.
06:10After obtaining her diploma,
06:12she investigated the fraternity and dedicated a book to it.
06:16It took her years to gather information on the skull and bones.
06:24Her research was closely monitored.
06:32I talked to more than 150 members of the skull and bones.
06:36But I also tried more than 300 refusals.
06:39They yelled at me or harassed me or hung up on me
06:42because they are not supposed to talk about what was going on inside the fraternity.
06:46I did get threats from some members of the society.
06:49That made me uncomfortable and also more intrigued.
06:53I wondered why they were so protective of this organization.
06:58The fraternity of death remains completely silent on these actions.
07:03But we can still get some information about it.
07:07The archives of the university library contain documents on the origin of the skull and bones.
07:13First certainty, it was founded in 1832.
07:19Some of these members occupy a key position in the country's power structures.
07:24They are found in the two major political parties,
07:27in the government, in the industry and in the secret services.
07:31Until 1970, the list of these members was consultable.
07:35Now it is kept secret.
07:47This world, made up of strange practices and absconding rituals,
07:51came out of the imagination of its founder, William Russell,
07:54a student, son of a good family.
08:02In 1831, he went to Germany for a year of study.
08:08There, he is probably enrolled in one of the many student fraternities of the time.
08:14The skull and bones are an emanation of it.
08:18Under the emblem of the society, we find the numbers 3, 2, 2.
08:24They may refer to one of the models of the skull and bones,
08:28Demosthenes, one of the greatest orators of classical Athens,
08:33who died in 322 BC.
08:41Alexandra Robbins has more information.
08:44She takes Marianne Fussell to the campus of Yale,
08:47to a building with an austere look.
08:50It is called the Caveau.
08:53It is the headquarters of the skull and bones.
08:56It houses macabrely decorated meeting rooms.
09:09The inside of the Caveau is lined with skeletons and skulls.
09:13It is almost like an obsession with death.
09:16And the reason they do that is because they have this phrase in the tomb,
09:20a mental worry, remember that you must die.
09:23They like to pretend that they are apart and above the rest of the world.
09:29A claim that the Order has cultivated since its foundation.
09:33Many of its members have reached the highest spheres of power,
09:37like George Walker Bush.
09:44When he meets Democrat John Kerry for the presidential elections,
09:49they are two bonesmen, two former skull and bones, who confront each other.
10:10Sometimes a rumor emerges and spreads in broad daylight.
10:13In the Caveau,
10:15the skull and bones would use a different time measurement,
10:18five minutes ahead of their normal.
10:21Adolf Hitler's blankets would also be kept behind these walls.
10:31This conspiracy of silence feeds the imagination of Hollywood screenwriters.
10:36One of the scenes in the film Reason d'Etat
10:38takes place precisely at the headquarters of the skull and bones.
10:45It is a confession session.
10:47Biographical details, sexual orientation,
10:50the novices must confess everything to themselves.
11:10These confessions are consigned in detail in black books,
11:13to the guarantors of the success of the fraternity.
11:16The fear of their publication soothes its members.
11:22For the CIA, the skull and bones constitute a formidable reservoir of collaborators.
11:28At least, that's what they claim.
11:32It is not easy to free oneself from such a shackle.
11:35The enslavement of members seems to be an essential principle of secret societies.
11:44The borders between the sects,
11:47religious and political secret societies,
11:51tend to converge.
11:53This confraternity exerts a power over its members
11:57because it can reveal some of their secrets or personal weaknesses.
12:01The group holds information that it could use
12:05to harm those who would like to resign or would be angry.
12:13Secret societies create another world,
12:16parallel to a reality that they consider imperfect.
12:23They seek to come into contact with power
12:26and aspire to exercise it themselves.
12:29Marianne Fussell goes to Washington, to the heart of American power.
12:34For conspiracy theorists,
12:36the city is infiltrated by secret societies
12:39and the ruling class does not count only the bones men within it.
12:54The skull and bones rival here with other secret orders.
13:04These are Freemasons who laid the first stone of the Capitol.
13:09But it is yet another confraternity
13:11that would infiltrate the administration of the United States
13:14to govern the world in secret.
13:16Conspiracy theorists even claim
13:18that this aspiration for a new world order
13:21appears on the Great Jump of the United States of America.
13:29Can we read here?
13:31Novus Ordo Seclorum.
13:33New secular order.
13:39The currency also appears on all one-dollar bills.
13:44Would this secret society be so powerful
13:47that it would have printed its currency on the most famous bill on the planet?
14:00The Bureau of Engraving and Printing was founded in 1862.
14:04It is it that designs and produces American banknotes.
14:14The one-dollar bill has hardly changed since that time.
14:18Only the security elements have been updated.
14:23Every day, 35 million banknotes are printed here,
14:26including 5 million one-dollar bills.
14:35The United States of America
14:43Marianne was alone at an appointment with Robert Hieronymus,
14:46a specialist in symbols in the United States.
14:55He studied in detail the one-dollar bill.
14:58A very particular bill, full of signs and strange symbols.
15:04We'll never discover because it's too hard.
15:07You might need a magnifying glass to see this blue area above the stripes.
15:11It's definitely here.
15:16The Eye of Providence, symbol of absolute power.
15:2313 stars above the eagle,
15:25like the 13 degrees of the hierarchy of the secret order.
15:28And then a tiny animal, a owl,
15:31symbol of intelligence and wisdom.
15:34But why all these signs?
15:40Benjamin Franklin was a great supporter of the education of the people.
15:44He was convinced that we could pass on the values of America
15:48through its currency,
15:50because everyone handled it, looked at it and understood the symbols.
15:55A confrérie with a sulfurous reputation used these same symbols.
15:59Was Benjamin Franklin a member of it?
16:09Marianne was alone and did not give up.
16:12He wanted to know if the suspicions of conspiracy were founded.
16:17During his research,
16:19he found an old book in which he discovered a familiar symbol.
16:23The signal of the dollar.
16:25In the course of his research, the historian finds an old book in which he discovers a familiar symbol, the owl of the one-dollar bill.
16:45A very secret society once worshipped it, the Illuminati. Here is its name written in medieval calligraphy in the form of an ambigram. When you turn the figure over, the same word appears, Illuminati.
17:06In their successful novel, Umberto Eco and Dan Brown were able to draw on the mysteries of this order. But who really are these Illuminati, these Illuminés?
17:19They must also remain silent. It is forbidden for them to speak openly about the rituals and goals of the organization.
17:26The order has different grades, not 3 as in Freemasons, but 13. They must all pass before being initiated to the greatest secrets.
17:41The brothers must spy on each other and denounce each other. Thus, it is possible to quickly unmask the traitors, or even eliminate them.
18:02Political intrigue and coup d'état, these would be their objectives. In other words, they would aim to create a party of cadres.
18:14The Illuminati, or Illuminés, have been exciting people's imagination for decades. They haunt popular literature, cinema, and the media.
18:25Some even think that they still exist today and that to a certain extent they would secretly govern politics, the economy, and other aspects of society.
18:35It is in the peaceful city of Ingolstadt that the myth of this sulfurous order was born.
18:44In the 18th century, shortly before the French Revolution, Bavaria was in trouble. It was a period of upheaval.
18:55New answers to social concerns were sought.
18:58THE CANONIC RIGHTS AND PHILOSOPHY OF INGOLSTADT
19:07Adam Weishaupt teaches canonical rights and philosophy at Ingolstadt.
19:13He is the only secular professor at the university. He opposes the dogmas of the church and environmental conservatism.
19:20He wants to change things. But how?
19:23THE REVOLUTION
19:27The ideas of the Illuminati spread throughout Europe. But how to make them come true?
19:33A few years later, in France, the angry population is burning. The revolution is bursting. Blood is spilled. Louis XVI is executed.
19:44THE REVOLUTION
19:48Adam Weishaupt salutes this first sign of change in France. But he is opposed to the use of force.
19:57The philosopher has another project. He wants to sap the state of the interior. For this, he needs a secret society.
20:06THE REVOLUTION
20:11He first wins his students because of him. It is a question of founding a perfect state.
20:20A state like Athens, reasonable and rational. Absolutely in the spirit of the Enlightenment.
20:27How is this supposed to work, Professor? With force?
20:32No revolution. Force does not make anything better. The evil is tied up, ruled without control. That is what it is all about.
20:41But this is impossible. Not at all. You have to gather a legion of men around the powerful of the earth who are unable to lead humanity for the big plan.
20:54Adam Weishaupt wants to set up a government of shadow. A project as terrible as ambitious.
21:00THE SECRET SOCIETY
21:06Secret societies were also a refuge for burnt heads, revolutionaries, all kinds of people with atypical ideas.
21:15Within the framework of a confrérie, they could express themselves, discuss, perhaps even experiment their ideas on a small scale, without fear of being pursued.
21:25This is what explains the attractiveness of these organizations.
21:31In the pre-revolutionary period, secret societies flourished everywhere in Germany.
21:37The Enlightened of Bavaria benefited from this enthusiasm.
21:41They created innumerable lodges and hundreds of members rallied the secret society, including university students.
21:46Among them, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the most famous writer of his time.
21:59The philosopher Gottfried Herder and Heinrich Pestalozzi, a very influential pedagogue.
22:08The Enlightened know the risks they face in opposing the despots.
22:14But they share Weishaupt's passionate version of religious and monarchical power.
22:22Weishaupt is convinced of the well-founded idea, but also and above all of his own merits.
22:29He is said to be narcissistic and authoritarian.
22:32His ambition is to change the world, nothing less.
22:37The goal is to bring the state to a higher degree of purity and completeness.
22:44The supreme leader of the Enlightened demands the total loyalty of the members of his order.
22:52The archives of the society are kept at the castle of Friedenstein in Gotha.
22:57They give us an overview of its operation.
23:07Marianne Fussell wants to know why the Enlightened gave themselves Greek names and for what reason they advanced their five-minute watch.
23:29Historian Hermann Schütler studied and decrypted the written codes of the Enlightened.
23:35Adam Weishaupt had a strong taste for the ideas of Greek antiquity.
23:40He appreciated the democratic values ​​of the ancients.
23:43That is why he chose the sweat of Athens, a symbol of wisdom, as an emblem of his order.
23:59The Enlightened thought they were living in a decisive time.
24:02They wanted to actively contribute to the attainment of good.
24:06The plan forged by Adam Weishaupt was bold and risky.
24:10But it was successful because it was in the age of time.
24:23When you aspire to change society, the church or the state, you can only envision it with a long-term project.
24:29And for that you have to educate people.
24:32The Order is from the outset an educational project, which according to its own terms can last for 200 years before bearing fruit, before the Enlightened win.
24:45The secret society is developing.
24:48At its peak, the Enlightened have about 2,000 members, all high representatives of society.
24:55Adam Weishaupt recruits men from the Freemasons.
24:59Many brothers are bored in the lodges of the venerable confrérie.
25:02The new secret society is more exciting and more radical.
25:13The principles of the Enlightened are of an inflexible rigor.
25:17Members must reveal all the details of their private lives, as in the Skull and Bones.
25:21But these practices do not please everyone.
25:24The Enlightened were very strict and very concerned about hierarchy, which dissuaded many potential candidates.
25:33Friedrich Schiller, for example, refused to join their ranks.
25:38However, some of his friends were members.
25:41These practices sometimes had a very dissuasive effect.
25:45A major poet would not submit to a mediocre Enlightened.
25:50This is the limit of these secret societies.
25:53The organization is developing and gaining influence.
25:56But it will soon be hit by opposite winds.
25:59The Monarchs repost.
26:01And they will benefit from a competition of circumstances.
26:08In 1785, a messenger of the Order transports secret documents to France.
26:14The rider is struck by lightning.
26:17On his corpse, the police discover a list of members.
26:21The Enlightened are banned for only 10 years after their creation.
26:26These members face the death penalty.
26:29Disguised as a craftsman, Adam Weishaupt flees Ingolstadt to go to Gotha.
26:34He fears for his life.
26:45Have the Enlightened disappeared?
26:47Why do they continue to haunt the spirits?
26:56Perhaps because before fleeing, Adam Weishaupt succeeded in one last trick.
27:02He made contact with the American political leaders.
27:18We'll talk later.
27:21Hermann Schüttler has knowledge of three letters addressed, among others, to Benjamin Franklin.
27:27The Enlightened ask for the possibility of setting up a colony in Elysium.
27:32That's the name they give the United States.
27:35The archives of the Order have no trace of an American response.
27:38But these letters continue to feed many speculations.
27:47What if some Enlightened had won the New World to put their ideals into practice?
27:53It is possible that they could have influenced the politics of the United States.
28:07In this case, they could have also printed their symbols on the American dollar bill.
28:11The idea is attractive, but does it resist a thorough examination?
28:18Marianne Fussell examines the dollar bill again.
28:27The owl is a symbol of wisdom, but also the emblem of the Enlightened.
28:32The owl is a symbol of wisdom, but also the emblem of the Enlightened.
28:44The year 1776 appears in Roman numerals.
28:48It is the year of the creation of the Enlightened of Bavaria.
28:51The eye of Providence, which dominates the pyramid, would also be one of the symbols of the secret society.
28:56The eye of Providence, which dominates the pyramid, would also be one of the symbols of the secret society.
29:02Novus Ordo Seclorum.
29:05The new secular order is precisely the goal of the Enlightened.
29:13And everywhere the number 13, like the number of ranks in the secret society.
29:22I don't believe that secret societies have power or any interest to be able to rule any country.
29:28Instead, there are powerful multinationals that burn thousands of billions of dollars.
29:38The position of the official services is clear.
29:41The conspiracy theories are a mystery.
29:44These symbols have a historical explanation and have nothing to do with the Enlightened.
29:521776, for example, is the year of the Declaration of Independence of the United States.
29:58But one thing is certain, the Enlightened did exist.
30:05Their founder, Adam Weishaupt, wanted to infiltrate the ruling circles and gain power.
30:11But his secret society was not the only one in this case.
30:15The Rosicrucians had the same ambition.
30:22They also acted in secret.
30:25But their meeting was very different from that of the Enlightened.
30:31The Rosicrucians claim to have universal knowledge and the power to offer men redemption.
30:40Enigmatic sentences accompany their meeting.
30:51Brother, Jesus means everything to me.
31:03Freedom of the Gospel.
31:07The glory of God.
31:13My brothers.
31:15The birth of this mysterious order is linked to a legend related in a book written in 1614.
31:20The Fama Fraternitatis.
31:26It is said that members of a secret society had discovered the body of their founder intact after his death.
31:32His name, Christian Rosenkreutz.
31:42According to the legend, he had been initiated before his death to very old mysteries.
31:50Christian Rosenkreutz, or Rosicrucian, never existed.
31:57But his character was skillfully chosen because he personifies the ideals and goals of the Rosicrucian Order.
32:03For all followers, he is a kind of guide on the path of knowledge.
32:07He fulfills his function perfectly, which is to make people want to join the Rosicrucians.
32:12At the beginning of the 17th century, the Rosicrucians wanted to free man through the study of the Bible and alchemy.
32:20In this era of transition between medieval religiosity and the emerging science, this mystical discipline is in vogue.
32:28The threat of a conflict is raging in Europe.
32:31The Thirty Years' War is very close.
32:34The Christian representation of the world is in question.
32:38Modern science advances other explanations.
32:42The conditions are met for the birth and development of such a secret society.
32:47It is the birth of the Rosicrucians.
32:50It is the birth of the Rosicrucians.
32:53The conditions are met for the birth and development of such a secret society.
32:58The alchemists tried to save this magical world by integrating it into the new world, in particular into secret societies.
33:08They clung to their faith in the existence of a secret knowledge and a fifth element, the quintessence, or philosophical stone.
33:17All these concepts come from this era.
33:20In the 17th century, the Rosicrucians attracted more and more followers.
33:25Not only in Germany, but throughout Europe.
33:28Even in Cambridge, the great centre of rational science.
33:36Isaac Newton, one of the fathers of modern science, is a professor there.
33:41But he does not give up alchemy.
33:50His office at Trinity College shows this double life.
34:00During the day, Newton devotes himself to scientific research.
34:04At night, he practices alchemy.
34:07He wants to discover the secret of the transmutation of metals.
34:11The scientific genius is very close to the Rosicrucian ideas.
34:19Later, Newton will be appointed to the Royal Society, of which the board has many members of the Rosicrucians.
34:34London.
34:36The seat of the Royal Society is now located in the centre of the British capital.
34:41No one would believe that this high place of experimental science was founded by Rosicrucians and alchemists.
34:50Marianne Fussell is looking for information on the history of the Rosicrucians.
34:55The Royal Society has promised to help her.
35:00A secure compartment of the archives contains a historical treasure.
35:04The original manuscripts of Isaac Newton.
35:20The physicist considered our world as an enigma, of which God would have left men the care to find the key.
35:27For Newton, this world was not only that of natural phenomena and stars.
35:33He also studied ancient cultures and their mysterious writings.
35:49Everyone knows Newton, the great British scientist for his work on gravity and the laws of motion.
35:55And we are always very excited when we find new manuscripts in his hands.
36:00These do not tell us much on a scientific level, but they tell us a lot about Newton.
36:05Like the Rosicrucians, Newton was convinced that nature contained divine secrets.
36:11The mystical order even speculated on how to reach immortality.
36:20The Rosicrucians
36:28Marianne Fussell reviews Newton's notes on his nocturnal experiences.
36:33It is a real alchemical work.
36:35It is full of symbols, signs and strange formulas.
36:40Newton's affiliation to the Rosicrucians is controversial.
36:44But this document shows that he was fascinated by the ideas of the secret society.
36:55The secret society
37:06It is interesting to see that Isaac Newton,
37:11who embodies the scientific revolution and prefigures the century of light,
37:16was very interested in alchemy and occult sciences.
37:20In the end, he seems to have left more manuscripts on this subject than on mathematics or physics.
37:29In Austria, the Rosicrucians have their headquarters in Vienna.
37:32It is the AOR, the Old Rosicrucian Order.
37:36But it has changed a lot since Newton's time.
37:52Elias Rubenstein is the Grand Master of the Rosicrucian Order.
37:56He cultivates the old traditions of the Order.
38:03The Rosicrucians
38:11They perform their rituals here, in the temple.
38:15However, the struggle between the Church, science and esotericism has ceased for a long time.
38:20So, for whom, or why, do the modern Rosicrucians fight?
38:24May the light be.
38:35You must follow justice.
38:38The goal of the Rosicrucians
38:51The objectives of the Rosicrucians are very simple.
38:55We work for the freedom of humanity.
38:58And in this sense, our teaching is meant for each person.
39:02It is not intended for an elite,
39:04but the fundamental principles on which we work are aimed at humanity as a whole.
39:10At the end of a long journey,
39:13we can see the secret knowledge of humanity that would protect the Rosicrucians.
39:17This hope has also attracted the powerful.
39:29Emperor Joseph II would have met representatives of the Order
39:32in the castle of Schönbrunn to give himself a meditation.
39:40But the legend of Christian Rosenkreuz also has dangerous aspects.
39:48Some esoteric sects misuse the ideas of the Rosicrucians.
39:53In the 90s, collective suicides took place in France, Canada and Switzerland
39:59among the followers of the Order of the Sun Temple.
40:0270 people died.
40:05In their farewell message, they write,
40:08We will return because the Rosicrucians are immortal.
40:21The disciples were convinced that their death was only a passage to a better world.
40:26Public opinion was far from doubting what was happening in this sect.
40:32The military, which surrounds many secret societies, facilitates the manipulation of their members.
40:37For the gurus, it is the means to acquire even more power
40:41and to train the disciples to act, sometimes against their will.
40:46The secret has a double effect.
40:49It protects society from the outside, but at the same time it allows abuses inside.
40:53According to the legend, Christian Rosenkreuz would have drawn his secret knowledge from the wisdom of ancient Egypt,
40:59a civilization that has many secret societies.
41:04Would the ancient cults of mystery hold the key to knowledge?
41:13The cult of Isis was born in Egypt more than 2000 years ago.
41:17It left its mark on the world.
41:20The Nile is at the heart of a legend that dates back to the time of the creation of Egypt.
41:31At the end of a long quest,
41:34the goddess Isis finds her husband Osiris,
41:37who her brother drowned in the Nile before discovering him.
41:41The Nile is the birthplace of Isis.
41:43At the end of a long quest,
41:46the goddess Isis finds her husband Osiris,
41:49who her brother drowned in the Nile before discovering him.
41:52With the help of magical powers,
41:55she reassembles the pieces of Osiris and gives him back his life.
42:02Isis was not only a woman and an extraordinary wife,
42:06but also an admirable mother.
42:09It is these attributes that have made the success of her cult.
42:11The cult spread throughout the Roman Empire,
42:14all the way to distant Germany.
42:24The cult of Isis appeals to the senses.
42:27This mystical sensuality was then unknown to the Romans.
42:35At its inception, the novice is sprinkled with water.
42:39Following this ritual of purification,
42:42he lives a mystical journey in the world of the dead,
42:45then to heaven.
42:48Upon his return to earth, he becomes a deity.
42:51The Renaissance is an important aspect of the cult,
42:54as it will be later in many secret societies.
42:59The cult of Isis seduces and makes more and more followers.
43:08The cult of Isis
43:19The worshippers of Isis build innumerable temples throughout the Roman Empire.
43:24In Pompeii, relics give a glimpse of the unfolding of the mysteries of the cult of Isis.
43:33This strange cult from Egypt is a considerable success among the Romans,
43:36of ordinary rational people.
43:42In Rome, Marianne Fussell meets historian Andreas Henson.
43:53Andreas Henson is a specialist in ancient cults.
43:57There is little left of the temple of Isis,
44:00once so imposing.
44:02This marble foot belonged to a gigantic statue.
44:04The Egyptian goddess was also venerated in the capital of the Roman world.
44:13The cult of Isis met a real need.
44:16They wanted to know what the soul became after death,
44:20or to know the best way to prepare it for the afterlife.
44:24It was also its imagery that fascinated the Romans,
44:28with its symbols that were beyond comprehension,
44:31and the exotic, strange character of this distant culture.
44:36The Romans were no different from the men of today.
44:44The cult of Isis is introduced into all layers of society.
44:48The secret of its success lies in the fact that women feel at home in these temples.
44:53The faithful make no difference between the two sexes,
44:56a singularity for a very phallocratic Roman civilization.
45:02An exotic origin, complex mystical rituals,
45:06Isis, the universal mother, has everything to become the great goddess of the empire.
45:16Adepts find comfort in their worship.
45:19They hope to be delivered from the miseries of existence.
45:27The secret of Isis
45:46When you enter a secret society,
45:50you live a kind of rebirth, you become someone else.
45:53You adopt new traits of character,
45:57and you leave behind your previous life.
46:00The ritual of rebirth, which we find, for example, in the cult of Isis,
46:05is a constant of religions, secret societies, and other mystical orders.
46:13Faced with the rise in power of Christianity,
46:16the mystery of Isis is gradually fading away.
46:19In 354, pagan cults are forbidden in the Roman Empire.
46:23Christianity then becomes the only religion.
46:30But the cult of Isis has left an artistic legacy.
46:34Andrea Sensen leads Marianne Fussell to the Basilica of Minerva in Rome.
46:39She is adorned with symbols of Freemasonry.
46:43The image of Isis, accompanied by her son Horus,
46:46is perpetuated in the representations of the Virgin to the Child.
46:50The mystical representations of the priests of Isis
46:54have not disappeared with their temples.
47:01The cults of ancient mysteries have always served as a reference to secret societies and confrères.
47:07The Freemasons or the Illuminati, for example,
47:10have always sought to bring their history back to the ancient tradition.
47:14It was obviously a way to legitimize their existence.
47:17The fact of being able to refer to models and ancient traditions
47:21reinforces the value and prestige of their project.
47:30Skull and Bones, Illuminati, Rosecroix,
47:36Freemasons, disciples of Isis.
47:40Whatever their name,
47:41secret societies and confrères have been part of our culture for millennia.
47:51They are at work among us,
47:54between darkness and light.
47:58And the thick cloak of silence that envelops them
48:01hides impenetrable mysteries.