Soon after the infiltration of Illuminism into Freemasonry at the end of the 18th century, another extraordinary figure emerged. His name was Albert Pike (1809-1891) and his impact was akin to that of Weishaupt’s. Pike became a Mason in 1850 and then, in a meteoric rise to power, was elected Grand Commander of the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States in 1859. He essentially made Scottish Rite Masonry the institution it is today, and expressed contempt for Christianity at every opportunity. One of his Masonic titles was “Sovereign Pontiff of Lucifer.” Pike regarded Lucifer as the true god, as do many witches and pagans today. Pike followed the religion called Luciferianism.

Pike chose to follow the mystery religions of Baal. If we look at his writings and statements attributed to him, we find that he acknowledged Lucifer as the true god and Adonay (the Biblical God) as the “god of evil.” Pike’s “fruits” are definitely satanic (Matthew 7: 15-20). Pike was influenced by the Italian Freemason and revolutionary, Giuseppi Mazzini (1805-1872). Mazzini had formed a society in Sicily called the Oblonica that means “I reckon with a dagger.” As is typical with the Masons, Mazzini formed an order within an order. This elite inner group was called by a term most people will recognise ~ the Mafia. The name is an acronym for Mazzini autorizza furti, incendi, avvelenamenti ~ Mazzini authorises thefts, arson and poisoning. The Mafia was also known by another term, Il Mano Nigro ~ the Black Hand. Mafia crimes were often sealed by a black handprint at the scene. This, of course, was an Illuminati touch: the hand with palm forward and five digits extended. Pike helped create the Ku Klux Klan, a secret terrorist society in the southern states of America. No black men were ever admitted to Masonic Lodges in the Southern Jurisdiction. Thus Negroes were obliged to adapt their own form of Masonry that is called Prince Hall Masonry.

In 1870 Pike and Mazzini completed an agreement to create a supreme, universal rite of Masonry that would over-arch all the other rites, even the different national rites. It centralised all high Masonic bodies in the world under one head. This head was, ultimately, Lucifer. Pike an Mazzini were his human regents. To this end the Palladium Rite was created as the pinnacle of the pyramid of power. Palladism is necessarily a Luciferian rite. Its religion is Manichæan neo-gnosticism, teaching that the divinity is dual and that Lucifer is the equal of Adonay, with Lucifer the “god of light and goodness” struggling for humanity against Adonay the “god of darkness and evil.” Albert Pike had only specified and unveiled the dogmas of the high grades of all other masonries, for in no matter what rite, the Masonic “Great Architect of the Universe” is not the God worshipped by the Christians. The Luciferian doctrine is implicit in the lower degrees, and only becomes an explicit teaching on the highest degrees. The highest of the high was the Palladium: an international alliance to bring in the Grand Lodges, the Grand Orient, the ninety-seven degrees of Memphis and Mizraim (the Ancient and Primitive Rite), and the Scottish Rite (the Ancient and Accepted Rite).