secret Society
Secret societies or secret societies are organizations or associations which must be distinguished from each other by their origin, organization and orientation. Common to all secret societies is the possession of their characterizing "secrets", which can not be made public, and the pursuit of various interests that can be motivated by enlightenment, political, economic, spiritual, religious, mystic, occult or esoteric goals. Secrecy may cover all or some of the aspects that concern them, such as the names and number of members, the hierarchical structure, intentions and objectives, activities, meeting points, admission and transition criteria, faith, documents and a mostly symbolic secret language. Since the 19th century, political, mostly militant, secret forces and terrorist underground and partisan movements of various aims have emerged with methods ranging from terrorism and murder.