What’s the Difference Between Freemasons and Illuminati?

For centuries, both Freemasons and the Illuminati have been tied to conspiracy theories about elite cabals that pull the strings of world events. In truth, both groups were founded in the 18th century on Enlightenment principles of fraternity, equality and the search for knowledge.  

The Illuminati began as a secret “reading group” of university students opposed to religious dogma and dedicated to scientific discovery. As it grew, they recruited many members from Freemasonry, a popular fraternal order that had already been around for a century. In time, the Illuminati incorporated some Freemason rituals and symbols to increase the mysterious allure of their secret order.  

As a result, there is some overlap between Freemasonry and the Illuminati. Both groups catered to free-thinking aristocrats, but they maintained different levels of secrecy and ultimately met very different fates.

The historical roots of Freemasonry are murky, but Freemasons were originally skilled craftsmen who helped build the magnificent Gothic cathedrals of Britain and Europe in the Middle Ages. Guilds of Freemasons might have even developed secret signs and passwords to prove their membership as they traveled from country to country. At some point, Freemason guilds began accepting “honorary members” who weren’t craftsmen to bolster their numbers.  

That led to the development of “speculative” or symbolic Freemasonry as it’s practiced today. In the 17th century, Freemasons transitioned from a group of skilled tradesmen into a general fraternal society for moral improvement and socialization. The first known Grand Lodge governing body was formed in London in 1717, widely considered the birthday of modern Freemasonry.  

The Order of the Illuminati wasn’t created until 1776. It was the brainchild of German university professor Adam Weishaupt, who recruited students to join his secret “School of Humanity.” Weishaupt’s first name for the group was the “Perfectibilists.”

“The name reflected Weishaupt’s Enlightenment-era belief in the permanent possibility of perfecting human society—a belief in progress,” says Reinhard Markner, a historian who specializes in early modern secret societies. Weishaupt changed the group’s name to “Illuminati” in 1778 to highlight its mission to fight against the forces of “darkness,” specifically the Christian church and anyone else who stood in the way of Enlightenment ideals like liberty and freedom of thought.  

In the 18th century, being a Freemason was not something to keep secret, says Olaf Simons, part of the Illuminati Research Group at the University of Erfurt in Germany. In fact, membership in a Masonic “lodge”—the name for a local chapter of Freemasons—was very fashionable in the 1700s. 

“The fact that you’re a Freemason is something you will be proud of,” says Simons. “The secret part—what you’re not supposed to talk about with outsiders—is what you do during the Freemason rites and ceremonies, these almost religious services that are happening [at the lodges].” 

Freemasons pass through three different levels or “degrees” as they are initiated into the club: entered apprentice, fellowcraft and master mason. Each of these ranks has its own initiation ritual complete with secret handshakes (or “grips”), ceremonial clothing and symbolic objects. The details of those ceremonies are what Freemasons swear to keep secret.  

The Illuminati, on the other hand, kept everything secret. They often communicated in cipher codes and referred to each other by code names. The Illuminati called their local groups “Minerval Churches” and quietly recruited members from universities and Freemason lodges.  

The Enlightenment era not only challenged the authority of the church, but also shook up the rigid social structure of “court” society. Markner says that one of the big attractions of Freemasonry was that it provided a new social space where aristocrats could mingle with “bourgeois” folks.

“There were some ‘free thinking’ elements as well,” Markner says. “The idea was that within the confines of a Masonic lodge, you could speak freely among equals.”   

That’s not to discount the appeal of the more symbolic and esoteric elements of Freemasonry, which provided a kind of quasi-religious experience that even “Enlightened” people craved. “The rituals, the candles, the daggers—all those elements, which may seem a little childish, they had a certain allure to them,” Markner says.  

The symbolic aspect was so attractive that “para-Masonic” societies sprung up around Freemasonry, offering even higher ranks and deeper knowledge. Some entrepreneurs even charged people money for secret initiations that promised further revelations. One of the draws of the Illuminati was that Weishaupt positioned it as a type of “higher degree” Freemasonry. Initiates into the Illuminati passed through the three Masonic ranks before moving on to grades that were exclusive to the Illuminati.  

Weishaupt wasn’t personally interested in all the “rituals and mystique,” says Markner, co-editor of The Secret School of Wisdom: The Authentic Rituals and Doctrines of the Illuminati. Instead, he and other Illuminati leaders “felt the need to come up with ‘secrets’ to share with the members to fulfill their desire to be introduced to some secret knowledge. Weishaupt knew he had to offer something as part of the allure of a secret society.” 

By 1783, Weishaupt’s humble “reading group” had grown into a thriving secret society with hundreds of members across Germany.  

Over time, Freemasons and the Illuminati have been associated with all sorts of symbols and images, most prominently the “Eye of Providence” that appears on the back of the $1 bill. According to both Markner and Simons, the infamous eye inside of a triangle has almost nothing to do with either Freemasonry or the Illuminati. It was a popular Catholic symbol of the Holy Trinity displayed in Jesuit churches across Europe. However, the George Washington Masonic National Memorial claims that the “all-seeing eye” was mentioned in unpublished Masonic writings from the 18th century.

The pyramid—another mysterious symbol on the back of the dollar bill—is also commonly associated with Freemasons and the Illuminati. While it’s true that Egyptian imagery was incorporated into both Freemason and Illuminati ceremonies—including an unfinished pyramid representing the unfinished work of the members—the pyramid was not a central symbol for either group. For Freemasons, Markner says that the Temple of Solomon held far greater ritual importance than the pyramids.  

The most prominent symbols in Freemasonry are the compass and the square, tools of the stone-working trade that appear on the outside of Masonic lodges and on ceremonial clothing, often with the capital letter “G” for “geometry.”  “That represents the connection between symbolic Freemasonry and actual stone masonry and architecture,” Markner says.  

"The only unique Illuminati symbol is the owl and the book,” says Simons. When Weishaupt started the Illuminati, he chose the image of an owl sitting on an open book to represent Minerva or Pallas Athena. “Athena, the daughter of Zeus, is the goddess of wisdom and light,” explains Simons, “and the Illuminati are supposed to bring light into the world.”

The Bavarian government seized Illuminati materials and published them in 1787. With their rituals and private correspondence exposed to the world, they became a source of fascination, fear and ridicule.

“The moment the Bavarians publish the Illuminati materials, the order collapses almost immediately,” says Simons. “It’s a quick end to the organization, because it doesn’t have any secrets to offer new members. The secret is out.”  The elector of Bavaria outlawed the Illuminati, and Weishaupt went into exile. 

After the Illuminati were unmasked, it didn’t take long for the first conspiracy theories to start circulating. After the French Revolution, people tried to delegitimize the revolutionaries by claiming the whole thing was orchestrated by the Illuminati, which had been defunct for years and never active in France, says Simons.  

Freemasonry, on the other hand, never went away. It lost some of its fashionable allure, but there are still dozens of active branches of Freemasonry, including Shriners International, a charitable fraternal organization that originated as “the Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.”