Secret society

Function of secret societies

Secret societies have many functions. Some, such as the Thelemic societies, exist to maintain, spread, and practice their esoteric or occult knowledge. Others, while they have esoteric philosophies, are social organizations, such as Greek Fraternities or Elk Lodges. Others were created to provide benefits and charity to members, such as the Knights of Columbus or the Woodsmen.

Some secret societies have been considered dangerous by their enemies. The Carbonari of Italy were an outright revolutionary, anti-monarchist movement. The Ancient Illuminated Seers of Bavaria (Illuminati) were considered so threatening that they were suppressed by the State. The Sons of Liberty were a secret society that helped launch the American Revolution.

One especially provocative secret society was the Black Hand of Serbia. Organized in 1911 as a secret society of Serb assassins, its purpose was to use targeted killings to liberate Serbian lands held by other nations. Dmitrievich recruited assassins who were young and suffering from terminal diseases. A member of the Black hand, Gavrilo Princip, was 19 years of age when he sparked World War I by firing 2 shots with a pistol and killing Archduke Ferdinand, an heir to the Austrian throne and his wife. When recruited Princip was dying of tuberculosis.

Rituals

Most secret societies conduct elaborate rites of passage for the purposes of initiation into the society as well as status elevation within the society. In many cases, the form and content of these rituals figure among the group's most closely kept secrets - outsiders are strictly barred from participation or observation and initiates are instructed to remain silent about their experiences.

While the content of these rites varies widely from one secret society to another, their structure tends to closely follow the pattern outlined by Arnold van Gennep and elaborated by Victor Turner. They begin with the physical and symbolic separation of initiates from their their established social identities. A period of liminality follows, during which initiates are considered statusless and often face physical, emotional or psychological tests. And they conclude with the revelation of secret knowledge (which is inaccessible to the uninitiated) and the "reaggregation" or reintegration of the individuals into society in a new role, often with higher prestige or more power.

Admittance into a secret society generally begins with a rite of initiation. The location of the ritual is often heavily adorned with symbolic icons such as skulls, daggers, and sacred texts. The rite makes use of darkness, blindfolds, or other symbolically laden objects and circumstances that extract or "separate" initiates from their normal situations. Tests of the initiates' resolve are common. The candidate may undergo symbolic death (statuslessness) and resurrection, which achieves a type rebirth into the society with a wholly new persona. Blood oaths may be used to seal the initiates' membership in the society as well as to seal their lips with secrecy.

Many secret societies will have layers of membership, with a person entering first as a neophyte of some sort, and then advancing through the ranks as he participates more in the organization. These ranks are very often called "Degrees". Some organizations have as few as one or three degrees, others as many as thirty-three. In many cases, rituals echoing those of initiation accompany the transition from one degree to the next. As the applicant advances through the ranks, he will often learn new passwords, hand grips, or other modes of recognition during the rituals.

Note about the following lists

The following purport to be lists of secret societies. But many members of such societies would deny that they are, in fact, secret societies. Such denials might turn out to be well-founded; in that case, the Citizendium is simply mistaken to assert that an organization might count as a secret society. But in many other cases, such denials are required as part of the very nature of secret societies: not only is certain information about the organization secret, the fact that there is such secret information is itself a secret, and so should be denied by members.