According to several recent conspiracy theorists, the phrase “Moriah Conquering Wind” is the true name of the Illuminati. The origins of this odd phrase shine a revealing light into the workings of contemporary conspiracy theory. Mount Moriah, one of the hills on which the city of Jerusalem is built, was the site of the Temple of Solomon and plays an important role in biblical symbolism. The importance of the Temple of Solomon in Freemasonry ensured that Moriah became a significant word in the high degrees of the Craft, and in this way it came to the attention of conspiracy theorists convinced that high-ranking Masons actually run the world. See Bavarian Illuminati; Freemasonry; high degrees; Temple of Solomon.
The remainder of the title has a more prosaic origin. The 1960s Western musical Paint Your Wagon put the song “They Call the Wind Maria,” performed by Harve Presnell, on radio stations across America. In the song “Maria” is pronounced like “Moriah,” with a long “i.” The first references in conspiracy literature to Moriah as the name of a wind surfaced a few years after the musical’s movie version’s release in 1969. By the early 1990s, conspiracy-oriented Christian fundamentalist websites were claiming that Moriah was the name of a demon representing “the destructive night wind,” and from there, “Moriah Conquering Wind” required only a bit of free association. Such fusions of misunderstood secret society lore and popular media imagery are extremely common throughout today’s rejected-knowledge industry. See rejected knowledge.
SOURCE:
The Element Encyclopedia of Secret Societies : the ultimate a-z of ancient mysteries, lost civilizations and forgotten wisdom written by John Michael Greer – © John Michael Greer 2006