Mystical practices originated with shamanism in indigenous cultures worldwide. Australian Aboriginal Dreamtime practices (continuous from at least 65,000 years ago) appear to be the oldest living mystical tradition: songlines, visionary journeys in trance, and the understanding that reality is co-created through ancestral illumination in the “Dreaming.” This predates and parallels Paleolithic shamanism elsewhere. Slightly later shamanic practices are evidenced by Upper Paleolithic cave paintings and artifacts in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Shamans served as intermediaries, using rituals, herbs, drumming, chanting, and altered states (e.g., via plants like ayahuasca) for healing, divination, and spiritual journeys to restore harmony between physical, emotional, and spiritual realms.

These practices were highly popular in tribal societies, forming the core of community life and influencing early views of health as cosmic balance. Culturally, they fostered reverence for nature, ancestral wisdom, and holistic worldviews, laying foundations for global spiritual traditions and impacting art through symbolic representations. Shamanism and mystery religions dominate.

The concept of “illumination” (direct divine knowledge or gnosis) appears early in Gnostic sects (1st–3rd centuries CE), which claim secret wisdom from higher realms and are branded heretical by orthodox Christianity. These groups are sometimes retrospectively labeled “Illuminist” because they emphasize inner light over institutional doctrine.

Mysticism deepened in organized civilizations. In Mesopotamia and Egypt (from 3000 BCE), esoteric rituals blended magic, incantations (e.g., Šurpu Series) , and herbal remedies with spiritual elements to address illness as disruptions in cosmic order (ma’at).

Ayurveda (over 5000 years ago) integrated dosha balance via meditation and herbs.

Greek mystery religions, such as Eleusinian Mysteries (c. 1500–1400 BCE), involved ecstatic initiations with strong evidence that the kykeon was an ergot-based entheogen producing profound mystical death/rebirth experiences.

Zoroastrian mysticism (c. 1500–1000 BCE): the visionary poetry of the Gathas, fravahar (divine spark/inner light), and the later Zurvanite emphasis on transcendent time and illumination.

Hinduism's Upanishads (c. 800-200 BCE) emphasized self-inquiry and yoga for moksha (liberation),

Pythagorean communities (6th century BCE) and their akousmata (secret teachings) explicitly used the term “illumination” for mathematical-mystical insight into cosmic harmony.

Buddhism (c. 5th century BCE) promoted meditation for nirvana, with paths like Zen's satori.

Taoism in China (c. 500 BCE) focused on qi harmony.

Hellenistic Orphic tradition and the Gold Tablets (4th century BCE–2nd century CE) that promise post-mortem illumination and deification to initiates.

Neoplatonism (Plotinus, 3rd century CE) described henosis (union with the One). Early Christianity incorporated theoria (contemplation) and apophatic theology. Popularity peaked in mystery cults and Eastern philosophies, influencing philosophy (e.g., nondualism), medicine (holistic approaches via Silk Road exchanges), and ethics by promoting interconnectedness and transcendence of ego.

Shamanism and mystery religions dominate as before. The concept of “illumination” (direct divine knowledge or gnosis) appears early in Gnostic sects (1st–3rd centuries CE), which claim secret wisdom from higher realms and are branded heretical by orthodox Christianity. These groups are sometimes retrospectively labeled “Illuminist” because they emphasize inner light over institutional doctrine.

This period saw a flourishing of institutionalized mysticism.
In Christianity, Pseudo-Dionysius (c. 500 CE) advanced apophatic theology, influencing monasticism.

9th–10th century emergence of the Brethren of Purity(Ikhwan al-Safa) in Basra/Baghdad — an Ismaili-influenced encyclopedic esoteric fraternity that self-described as “illuminated” sages synthesizing Neoplatonism, Pythagoreanism, and Abrahamic revelation.

Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179) and the Rhineland/Flemish visionary women (Hadewijch, Beatrice of Nazareth) — major female illuminist currents that prefigure the Beguines.

Sufism in Islam (from early asceticism) emphasized dhikr (remembrance), sama (ecstatic music), and fana (self-annihilation), with peaks via Rumi (1207-1273) and al-Hallaj (858-922).

Figures like Meister Eckhart (c. 1260-1328) with unio mystica (mystical union) and movements like Beguines and Rhineland mystics spread it beyond cloisters.

Jewish Kabbalah (12th-13th centuries) used meditative diagrams and theurgic practices for divine union, revitalized in 16th-century Safed.

The Grail cycle (late 12th–13th century, especially Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival) as a Western esoteric narrative of initiatory illumination that later feeds heavily into Rosicrucian and modern occult mythology.

Tibetan Buddhism's Dzogchen and Vajrayana deity yoga gained traction. Popularity surged in Europe, Persia, and Spain through monastic orders, courts, and poetry, impacting culture by inspiring literature (e.g., Rumi's verses), art (mandalas, symbols), architecture (e.g., Gothic cathedrals symbolizing ascent), and social reforms via ethical introspection and tolerance. Mystical illumination remains central in Christian, Islamic, and Jewish traditions (as before).

The term “Illuminati” first appears historically in 15th–16th-century Spain with the Alumbrados (“the Enlightened Ones”), a contemplative movement that stresses passive reception of divine light, abandonment of ritual, and direct union with God without ecclesiastical mediation. The Spanish Inquisition suppresses them as heretical (1520s–1570s), accusing them of antinomianism and quietism; some flee to France where similar groups (Guérinets, Illuminés) emerge. This marks the first explicit use of “Illuminati” as a pejorative for mystics who bypass religious hierarchy.

Besides the Spanish Alumbrados, there were earlier groups explicitly called "Illuminati" or "Illuminés": As mysticism adapted amid secularization, The 14th-century Hesychast controversy in Byzantium produced accusations of "Messalian Illuminati." Christian affective mysticism (Jean Gerson) extended to laypeople, with Spanish mystics like Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582) emphasizing ecstatic prayer. In 1530s Italy, a short-lived circle around Cardinal Quiñones was called the "Illuminati."

Giordano Bruno (1548–1600) — explicitly used the language of illuminatio and heroic frenzy; burned at the stake partly for teaching a mystical-hermetic infinite universe doctrine.

Christian theosophy of Jakob Böhme (1575–1624) — his concept of the “divine spark” and inner Sophia directly influences later German Romanticism and feeds into both mystical and conspiratorial “illuminist” streams.

Rosicrucian manifestos (1614–1616) describe an invisible brotherhood of illuminated adepts possessing ancient wisdom; later conspiracy writers will retroactively fold Rosicrucians into a supposed eternal Illuminati lineage. The real Rosicrucian furor should be treated as more than just manifestos: dozens of published responses, alchemical circles claiming membership, and the myth of an invisible college of illuminated adepts that immediately begins the process of retroactive lineage-building.

Quietism controversy (late 17th century): Miguel de Molinos (1680s) and Madame Guyon/Fénelon in France — condemned as Illuminés for teaching pure love and abandonment of self-will without mediation. This wave directly sets the stage for 18th-century anti-mystical backlashes that make Weishaupt’s rationalist choice of the name “Illuminati” even more deliberately provocative.

1776–1800: The strict Templar origin legend of Freemasonry (promoted by Chevalier Ramsay 1737 and the Strict Observance rite) merges with Rosicrucian myths, creating the template that Barruel and Robison will later call “Illuminati.”

The French Martinist Order (Martinez de Pasqually 1754–1774, Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin 1770s onward) and the Elus Coëns explicitly use illumination terminology and theurgic practices — often lumped together with the Bavarian Illuminati by conspiracy writers even though they were mystical, not rationalist.

Hasidism in Judaism (18th century) focused on joyful devotion. Western esotericism revived Hermeticism, alchemy (soul transmutation), and magic for self-discovery. Enlightenment rationalism separated mysticism from science, but it influenced Romanticism. Popularity waned in institutional forms but persisted in esoteric circles, affecting culture through philosophy (e.g., challenging materialism), art (William Blake's visions), and global exchanges via colonialism, which marginalized indigenous practices while spreading Eastern ideas.

The most famous historical Illuminati — the Bavarian Order of the Illuminati — is founded on May 1, 1776, by Adam Weishaupt, a Jesuit-trained law professor in Ingolstadt, Bavaria. Eplicitly anti-clerical and Enlightenment-rationalist, the Order aims to: replace Christianity with a “religion of reason,”abolish monarchy,end superstition and priestly power, promote gender equality and secular education.It infiltrates Masonic lodges for recruitment, adopts elaborate grades with classical/pagan code names (Minerval, Illuminatus Minor, Priest, Regent, Magus), and borrows esoteric symbolism while rejecting mysticism in favor of utilitarian philosophy. Membership peaks at ~2,000–2,500 across Europe before the Bavarian government bans all secret societies in 1784–1785, raids Weishaupt’s home, and forces the Order underground; it effectively dissolves by 1787. So by the time Weishaupt chooses the name "Order of Illuminati" in 1776, the word already had a 250-year history as a pejorative for quietist or anti-hierarchical mystics—ironic, given that his Order was militantly rationalist and anti-mystical.

The academic study of Western esotericism (Antoine Faivre, Wouter Hanegraaff, etc.) rehabilitates the historical “illuminist” current as a legitimate rejected knowledge tradition rather than heresy or conspiracy.
Mysticism integrates with science and secularism. Neuroscience studies (e.g., brain patterns in meditation) validate effects like self-loss. Mindfulness programs (from Buddhism) treat mental health globally. Indigenous revivals combat cultural appropriation, with digital platforms preserving traditions.
The explosion of “conspirituality” (2010s–present): fusion of New Age, wellness, and QAnon-style Illuminati narratives (e.g., David Icke’s reptilian overlords as negative Illuminati bloodlines).
Psychedelic renaissance (MAPS, Imperial College, Johns Hopkins studies since 2006) re-frames mystical states as valid neuro-cognitive phenomena, effectively bringing shamanic “illumination” into mainstream science and medicine.
Popularity surges in holistic health (e.g., acupuncture, ayahuasca tourism), impacting culture through wellness trends, feminist spirituality, ethical debates on psychedelics, and global quests for meaning amid materialism, fostering inclusive, patient-centered care and reduced disparities. Esoteric revival intensifies.

The French Revolution triggers panic. Conservative writers — Abbé Augustin Barruel (1797) and John Robison (1797–1798) — claim the Bavarian Illuminati survived suppression and orchestrated the Revolution to destroy throne and altar. These books merge the real (but defunct) Order with Freemasonry, Templars, and older esoteric groups into a single continuous conspiracy. In the United States, the scare fuels the first major American conspiracy theory and the Anti-Masonic Party (1828–1838), the first third-party political movement in U.S. history.

The myth evolves: 1830s–1890s — Linked to communism and Jewish plots in antisemitic forgeries (e.g., Protocols of the Elders of Zion indirectly references Illuminati-style cabals).
1897: Léo Taxil’s hoax publicly admits that the entire “Luciferian Freemasonry/Palladian Illuminati” narrative he fed to the Catholic press for 12 years was fabricated — yet the hoax material (Diana Vaughan, Albert Pike Lucifer quotes) continues to be cited as fact in fundamentalist and conspiracist circles to this day.
1920s–1950s — British occultist Nesta Webster popularizes the idea of a perennial Illuminati masterminding all revolutions.
Post-WWII — American far-right figures (John Birch Society, etc.) fold it into anti-UN “New World Order” fears. Religiously, the Illuminati becomes a Protestant fundamentalist bogeyman: proof that Catholicism, secularism, or “Luciferian” elites are secretly allied against true Christianity.

The Illuminati explodes into global pop culture and internet mythology:
1967 - William Gosch (Discordian) and Kerry Thornley (Operation Mindfuck) begin mailing fake Illuminati letters to magazines, deliberately seeding absurdity to expose credulity — this directly influences Robert Anton Wilson.
1975 — Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shae's satirical Illuminatus! Trilogy blurs fact and fiction.
1990s — Pat Robertson’s The New World Order (1991) and Texe Marrs rebrand it as Satanic.
2000s — Dan Brown’s novels, YouTube expose videos.
2010s - The “Illuminati” hand-sign (triangle/pyramid) originates as a harmless pop-culture joke (first widely used by Jay-Z as the Roc-A-Fella diamond logo in the late 1990s) before being reverse-engineered into proof of membership.
2020s — QAnon and broader conspiracy culture merge Illuminati with “deep state,” Hollywood pedophilia rings, and one-world religion narratives.

In short, the Illuminati — historically a short-lived rationalist fraternity — has become the single most successful modern myth for explaining why mystical/religious authority no longer dominates public life, and who supposedly pulled the strings to make that happen.

Three distinct historical layers that constantly bleed into each other:
Pre-modern mystical “illuminés” (Alumbrados, Hesychasts, etc.) — genuine contemplatives accused of heresy for direct experience over hierarchy.

1776–1785 Bavarian Illuminati — a short-lived, anti-mystical, hyper-rationalist secret society that ironically adopts a name already tainted by centuries of anti-heretical rhetoric.

Post-1797 conspiracy myth — fuses (1) and (2) into a single immortal anti-Christian cabal, becoming the all-purpose modern scapegoat for disenchantment, secularization, and loss of traditional authority. The genius (and tragedy) of the myth is that it weaponizes real historical contempt for unmediated mystical experience (layer 1) to explain the success of rationalist secular projects (layer 2) that actually despised mysticism.