Illuminati
A tour of the room they say does not exist.
Ingolstadt, Bavaria. 1 May 1776. A law professor founds a secret order of the enlightened.
By 1785 the order was banned. A year later its papers were seized. Officially, it ended there.
The theory says it only went underground.
There is one way in. From above.
The Eye
An eye in a triangle, floating over an unfinished pyramid. It has been on the back of the one-dollar bill since 1935.
Annuit Coeptis. Novus Ordo Seclorum.
Believers read a signature. Historians read Providence.
The Archive
1797. Two books, one French, one Scottish, blame the French Revolution on the order.
Every war since has found its way onto this wall.
Redacted met in redacted to decide redacted.
Nobody met. The string did the rest.
A theory never needs new evidence. Only more string.
The Brotherhood
Berlin, 1928. A lodge names itself for Saturn: Fraternitas Saturni.
In the stories, the table is always laid for one more.
Saturn
At its north pole a six-sided jet stream turns.
Saturnalia, Rome: each December, slaves feasted like their masters and spoke freely.
It was never following you.
It was showing you the way round.
The way out is sealed.
Every theory is a room like this one. It only turns.
A work of atmosphere. Theories are presented as theories, history with sources. Imagery generated.
Sources
- Illuminati: founding 1776, edicts 1784 to 1787, papers seized 1786 to 1787
- Great Seal: the eye and US Currency Education Program: the 1935 dollar
- Barruel and Robison: the 1797 books
- Fraternitas Saturni: Berlin, 1928
- NASA: Saturn's hexagon and Saturnalia
