What is Freemasonary and how does it differ from Illuminati?

I have been pondering this subject for quite some time, I know someone online who is a Freemason but I've never asked him about. I know that the Illuminati from what I've learned are highly anti human anti government, I'm reading Jim Marr's Rise of The Fourth Reich and he mentions both party's. I don't understand if they both share the same traits or values, what I'm really asking is what is the difference between them? My high school woodshop teacher (who was a Navy Seal in Vietnam) explained a great deal to me about Masons but me being a teenager I've forgotten all he told me. His father was a Mason apparently, I'm just looking for solid facts about both groups.

You can look it up online, its basically like a secret fraternity. To become one you must have someone who is already a Mason pledge you, so to speak. It's really not an evil secret society, more of a brotherhood of people who believe in some higher entity who help eachother out.

It has a sister counterpart called the Daughters of Ishtar or something.

I really don't know where the evil connotation comes from either. If anyone does, please feel free to enlighten me. I always seem to find the argument to be something along the lines of, "This guys rich, AND he's a freemason, HE MUST BE EVIL!"

how does freemasonry differs from the illuminati?

Well... first one exists, the other doesn't, second...

wait... the first was enough.

What FraternitasSaturni said.

Freemasonry was formalized in 1717 and is still around, with about 1.3 million Masons in the US alone today. (Down from 4+ million American members in the late 50's/early 60's)

Whereas the Illuminati was founded in 1776 and disbanded in 1785 and hasn't been around since.

Masons are the workers as perhaps like a union for construction.
That I'm sure of.
In a story related on the net, while working on a job a fellow worker
came over and started talking about the 13 families of the Illuminati.
He had never heard of the Illuminati and didn't like being told something
he had never head of before and set out to find out more on the internet.

To me this apparently means Masons know about the Illuminati.
Apparently the money men for buildings and from "Money Mangers"
banks have the biggest building because of fractional banking they loan
out 10x more money than they have making 80% and not 8% on loans.

So the Illuminati might be families and might be bankers or both and
not a union of some type.