Devil-Worship in France; or, The Question of LuciferWaite, Arthur Edward
Religion
Devil-Worship in France; or, The Question of Lucifer
Waite, Arthur Edward
Satanism
Her memoirs are, unfortunately, not a literary performance; and their
method, if such it can be called, is not chronological. Beginning with
an account of her first introduction to Lucifer, _vis-a-vis_ in the
_Sanctum Regnum_ of Charleston, on April 8th 1889, they leap, in the
second chapter, over all the years intervening to a minute analysis of
the sentiments which led to her conversion, and of the raptures which
followed it, above all on the occasion of her first communion. It is not
till the third chapter that we get an account of her Luciferian
education, or, more correctly, an introduction thereto, for the better
part of five monthly numbers has not brought us nearer to her
personality than the history of an ancestor in the seventeenth century.
As the publisher is still soliciting annual subscriptions to the
enterprise, and offering a variety of advantages after methods not
unknown in England among the by-ways of periodical literature, the
completion of the work is probably a distant satisfaction for those who
take interest therein.
Now, having regard to the narrative of Dr Bataille, and having regard to
the statements set forth in my second chapter, it is obvious that Miss
Vaughan is a witness of the first importance as to whether there is a
Masonry behind Masonry, which, more or less, manages, or attempts to
manage, the entire society, unknown to the rank and file of its
initiates, however high in grade; as to whether its seat is at
Charleston, with Albert Pike for its founder, and as to whether its
doctrine is anti-Christian, and its cultus that of Lucifer, supported by
magical wonders, concerned with sacrilegious observances, and either a
disguised Satanism, or drifting in that direction. As already hinted,
the mythical and miraculous element,--in a word, that portion of Doctor
Bataille's narrative which does violence to sense and reason,--Miss
Vaughan has not at present imperilled her position by substantiating,
but as to the points I have enumerated, she has most distinctly come
forth out of Palladism to tell us that these things are so, and to
reinforce what was previously stated by unveiling her private life.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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