Secret society

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A secret society is a type of subculture. According to Alan Axelrod, the author of the International Encyclopedia of Secret Societies and Fraternal Orders, a secret society has three characteristics: it is exclusive, it claims to own special secrets, and it shows a strong inclination to favor its own.

According to David V. Barrett, the author of Secret Societies: From the Ancient and Arcane to the Modern and Clandestine, a secret society features these characteristics: it has "carefully graded and progressive teachings" that are "available only to selected individuals." These teachings lead to "hidden (and 'unique') truths" that bring "personal benefits beyond the reach and even the understanding of the uninitiated." Moreover, according to Barrett, "a further characteristic common to most of them is the practice of rituals which non-members are not permitted to observe, or even to know the existence of."

Whatever the definition, members may be required to conceal or deny their membership, and they are often sworn to protect the society's secrets. Violating the oath may result in the application of severe sanctions.

Like the most successful forgeries, the most effective secret societies are unknown beyond their adherents. Members may be required to deny the organization itself exists.

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 so considered so threatening that they were crushed and suppressed by the State. The Sons of Liberty were also a secret society which 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 were 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 killed 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.

International or non-governmental organizations

These groups are often considered and talked about in the context that they are secret societies.

Student societies

  • Anak Society (1908) at Georgia Institute of Technology
  • Berzelius (1848) at Yale University
  • Bishop James Madison Society (1812) at the College of William and Mary
  • Book and Snake (1863) at Yale University
  • Cambridge Apostles (1820) at the University of Cambridge
  • Flat Hat Club (1750) at the College of William and Mary
  • Order of the Acropolis at University of Georgia
  • Phi Beta Kappa (1776) at the College of William and Mary, began as a secret society, but eliminated secrecy in 1831 and is now national
  • Quill and Dagger (1893) at Cornell University
  • Scroll and Key (1842) at Yale University
  • Seven Society at the University of Virginia
  • Society of the Pacifica House (1824) at Brown University
  • Sphinx Head Society (1890) at Cornell University

Fraternal organizations

  • Order of the Eastern Star
  • Confraternity of the Rose Cross
  • SRIA (Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia )
  • National Society of Pershing Rifles
  • Order Militia Crucifera Evangelica
  • Order of the Solar Temple

Historical secret societies

  • Beati paoli
  • Knights of the Golden Circle
  • Know-Nothings
  • Ku Klux Klan (exists at present with very small membership)
  • Gladio Society of the Elect
  • Tiandihui
  • Wide Awakes

Revolutionary or underground organizations

  • Black Hand
  • Carbonari
  • Fenian Brotherhood
  • Germanenorden
  • Katipunan
  • Mau Mau
  • Narodnik
  • Red Turbans
  • Righteous Harmony Society
  • Tongmenghui
  • Vihan Veljet
  • Walhalla-orden
  • White Rose Society

Secret society — alleged secret societies

Either existence, or secret society status, is subject to significant doubt

  • The Green Man
  • Vril Society

Religious

See also

External links

References

  • Alan Axelrod. The International Encyclopedia of Secret Societies and Fraternal Orders. ISBN 0-8160-2307-7
  • David V. Barrett. Secret Societies. From the Ancient and Arcane to the Modern and Clandestine. ISBN 0713727721
  • Charles William Heckethorn. The Secret Societies of all Ages and Countries, Embracing the Mysteries of Ancient India, China, Japan, Egypt, Mexico, Peru, Greece, and Scandinavia, the Cabbalists, early Christians, heretics, Assassins, Thugs, Templars, the Vehm and Inquisition, mystics, Rosicrucians, Illuminati, Freemasons, Skopzi, Camorristi, Carbonari, nihilists, and other sects. ISBN 1-56459-296-0
  • Jean Chesneaux (Editor), Lucien Bianco Popular Movements and Secret Societies in China, 1840-1950. ISBN 0804707901.
  • John Lawrence Reynolds. Secret Societies: Inside the World's Most Notorious Organizations. ISBN 1559708263.
  • Steven Sora. Secret Societies of America's Elite: From the Knights Templar to Skull and Bones. ISBN 0892819596
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