{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_70033/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_70033","id":"gutenberg_70033","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/70033","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Other","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Magic -- History"],"text":"Transcriber\u2019s Notes\n\nObvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations\nin hyphenation and accents have been standardised but all other\nspelling and punctuation remains unchanged.\n\nItalics are represented thus _italic_, and superscripts thus y^{en}.\n\nDuplicate headings of the seven BOOKS have been removed.\n\n\n\n\n THE HISTORY OF MAGIC\n\n\n[Illustration: \u00c9LIPHAS L\u00c9VI _Frontispiece_]\n\n\n THE\n\n HISTORY OF MAGIC\n\n INCLUDING A CLEAR AND PRECISE EXPOSITION\n OF ITS PROCEDURE, ITS RITES AND\n ITS MYSTERIES\n\n BY\n\n \u00c9LIPHAS L\u00c9VI\n\n (ALPHONSE LOUIS CONSTANT)\n\n _Opus hierarchicum et catholicum_\n\n (Definition of the Great Work, according to Heinrich Khunrath)\n\n TRANSLATED, WITH A PREFACE AND NOTES, BY\n\n ARTHUR EDWARD WAITE\n\n THE ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATIONS ARE INCLUDED\n AND PORTRAITS OF THE AUTHOR\n\n _Second Edition_\n\n LONDON\n\n WILLIAM RIDER & SON, LIMITED\n\n CATHEDRAL HOUSE, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.\n\n 1922\n\n\n _Copyright_\n\n\n\n\n PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION\n\n\nIn several casual references scattered through periodical literature,\nin the biographical sketch which preceded my rendering of _Dogme et\nRituel de la Haute Magie_ and elsewhere, as occasion prompted, I have\nput on record an opinion that the _History of Magic_, by Alphonse Louis\nConstant, written\u2014like the majority of his works\u2014under the pseudonym\nof \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi, is the most arresting, entertaining and brilliant of\nall studies on the subject with which I am acquainted. So far back\nas 1896 I said that it was admirable as a philosophical survey, its\nhistorical inaccuracies notwithstanding, and that there is nothing in\noccult literature which can suffer comparison therewith. Moreover,\nthere is nothing so comprehensive in the French language, while as\nregards ourselves it must be said that\u2014outside records of research\non the part of folk-lore scholarship\u2014we have depended so far on a\nhistory by Joseph Ennemoser, translated from the German and explaining\neverything, within the domain included under the denomination of\nMagic, by the phenomena of Animal Magnetism. Other texts than this\nare available in that language, but they have not been put into\nEnglish; while none of them has so great an appeal as that which is\nhere rendered into our tongue. Having certified so far regarding its\ntitles, it is perhaps desirable to add, from my own standpoint, that\nI have not translated the book merely because it is entertaining and\nbrilliant, or because it will afford those who are concerned with\nMagic in history a serviceable general account. The task has been\nundertaken still less in the interests of any who may have other\u2014that\nis to say, direct occult\u2014reasons for acquaintance with \u201cits procedure,\nits rites and its mysteries.\u201d I have no object in providing unwary and\nfoolish seekers with material of this kind, and it so happens that the\npresent History does not fulfil the promise of its sub-title in these\nrespects, or at least to any extent that they would term practical in\ntheir folly. Through all my later literary life I have sought to make\nit plain, as the result of antecedent years spent in occult research,\nthat the occult sciences\u2014in all their general understanding\u2014are paths\nof danger when they are not paths of simple make-believe and imposture.\nThe importance of \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi\u2019s account at large of the claims, and of\ntheir story throughout the centuries, arises from the fact (_a_) that\nhe is the authoritative exponent-in-chief of all the alleged sciences;\n(_b_) that it is he who, in a sense, restored and placed them, under\na new and more attractive vesture, before public notice at the middle\nperiod of the nineteenth century; (_c_) that he claimed, as we shall\nsee, the very fullest knowledge concerning them, being that of an\nadept and master; but (_d_) that\u2014subject to one qualification, the\nworth of which will be mentioned\u2014it follows from his long examination\nthat Magic, as understood not in the streets only but in the houses\nof research concerning it, has no ground in the truth of things, and\nis of the region of delusion only. It is for this reason that I have\ntranslated his History of Magic, as one who reckons a not too gracious\ntask for something which leans toward righteousness, at least in the\nsense of charity. The world is full at this day of the false claims\nwhich arise out of that region, and I have better reasons than most\neven of my readers can imagine to undeceive those who, having been\ndrawn in such directions, may be still saved from deception. It is well\ntherefore that out of the mouth of a master we can draw the fullest\nevidence required for this purpose.\n\nIn the present prefatory words I propose to shew, firstly, the\nnature of \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi\u2019s personal claims, so that there may be no\nmisconception as to what they were actually, and as to the kind of\nvoice which is speaking; secondly, his original statement of the\nclaims, nature and value of Transcendental Magic; and, thirdly, his\nlater evidences on its phenomenal or so-called practical side, as\nestablished by its own history. In this manner we shall obtain his\ncanon of criticism, and I regard it as valuable, because\u2014with all his\nimperfections\u2014he had better titles of knowledge at his own day than\nany one, while it cannot be said that his place has been filled since,\nthough many workers have risen up in the same field of inquiry and have\nspecialised in the numerous departments which he covered generally and\nsuperficially.\n\nBefore entering upon these matters it may be thought that I should\nspeak at some length of the author\u2019s life; but the outlines have been\ngiven already in an extended introduction prefixed to a digest of his\nwritings which I published many years ago under the title of _Mysteries\nof Magic_, and again, but from another point of view, in the preface to\nthe _Doctrine and Ritual of Transcendental Magic_ already mentioned.\nThe latter will be made available shortly in a new annotated edition.\nFor the rest, an authoritative life of \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi has been promised\nfor years in France, but is still delayed, and in its absence the\nsalient biographical facts are not numerous,\n\nIn the present place it will be therefore sufficient to say that\nAlphonse Louis Constant was born at Paris in 1810, and was the son of\na shoemaker, apparently in very poor circumstances. His precocity in\nchildhood seemed to give some promise of future ability; he was brought\nto the notice of a priest belonging to his parish, and this in its turn\nled to his gratuitous education at Saint-Sulpice, obviously with a view\nto the priesthood. There his superiors must have recognised sufficient\ntraces of vocation, according to the measures of the particular place\nand period, for he proceeded to minor orders and subsequently became\na deacon. He seems, however, to have conceived strange views on\ndoctrinal subjects, though no particulars are forthcoming, and, being\ndeficient in gifts of silence, the displeasure of authority was marked\nby various checks, ending finally in his expulsion from the Seminary.\nSuch is one story at least, but an alternative says more simply that\nhe relinquished the sacerdotal career in consequence of doubts and\nscruples. Thereafter he must, I suppose, have supported himself by\nsome kind of teaching, and by obscure efforts in literature. Of these\nlatter the remains are numerous, though their value has been much\nexaggerated for bookselling purposes in France. His adventures with\nAlphonse Esquiros over the gospel of the prophet Ganneau are told in\nthe pages that follow, and are an interesting biographical fragment\nwhich may be left to speak for itself. He was then approaching the age\nof thirty years. I have failed to ascertain at what period he married\nMlle. No\u00e9my, a girl of sixteen, who became afterwards of some repute\nas a sculptor, but it was a runaway match and in the end she left him.\nIt is even said that she succeeded in a nullity suit\u2014not on the usual\ngrounds, for she had borne him two children, who died in their early\nyears if not during infancy, but on the plea that she was a minor,\nwhile he had taken irrevocable vows. Saint-Sulpice is, however, a\nseminary for secular priests who are not pledged to celibacy, though\nthe rule of the Latin Church forbids them to enter the married state.\n\nIn or about the year 1851 Alphonse Louis Constant contributed a large\nvolume to the encyclop\u00e6dic series of Abb\u00e9 Migne, under the title of\n_Dictionnaire de Litt\u00e9rature Chr\u00e9tienne_. He is described therein\nas _ancien professeur au petit S\u00e9minaire de Paris_, and it is to be\nsupposed that his past was unknown at the publishing bureau. The volume\nis more memorable on account of his later writings than important by\nits own merits. As a critical work, and indeed as a work of learning,\nit is naturally quite negligible, like most productions of the series,\nwhile as a dictionary it is disproportioned and piecemeal; yet it is\nexceedingly readable and not unsuggestive in its views. There is no\nneed to add that, as the circumstances of the case required, it is\nwritten along rigid lines of orthodoxy and is consequently no less\nnarrow, no less illiberal, than the endless volumes of its predecessors\nand successors in the same field of industry. The doubting heart of\nSaint-Sulpice had become again a convinced Catholic, or had assumed\nthat mask for the purpose of a particular literary production. Four\nyears later, however, the voice of the churchman, speaking the\ncharacteristic language of the Migne Encyclop\u00e6dias, was succeeded by\nthe voice of the magus. _The Doctrine of Transcendental Magic_ appeared\nin 1855, the _Ritual_ in 1856, and henceforth Alphonse Louis Constant,\nunder the pseudonym of \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi, which has become almost of\nEuropean celebrity, was known only as an exponent of occult science.\nIt is these works which more especially embody his claims in respect\nof the alleged science and in respect of his own absolute authority\nthereon and therein. Various later volumes, which followed from his\npen in somewhat rapid succession, are very curious when compared with\nthe _Doctrine and Ritual_ for their apparent submission to church\nauthority and their parade of sincere orthodoxy. I have dealt with this\nquestion at length in my introduction to the _Mysteries of Magic_,\nand I shall be dispensed therefore from covering the same ground in\nthe present place. Such discrepancy notwithstanding, \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi\nbecame, in a private as well as in a public sense, a teacher of occult\nscience and of Kabalism as its primary source: it was apparently his\nmeans of livelihood. He was in Paris during the siege which brought\nthe Franco-German war to its disastrous close, and he died in 1875,\nfortified by the last rites of the Catholic Church. He left behind him\na large sheaf of manuscripts, many of which have been published since,\nand some await an editor.\n\nPassing now to the subject-in-chief of this preface, it is affirmed as\nfollows in the _Doctrine and Ritual of Transcendental Magic_:\u2014(1) There\nis a potent and real Magic, popular exaggerations of which are actually\nbelow the truth. (2) There is a formidable secret which constitutes the\nfatal science of good and evil. (3) It confers on man powers apparently\nsuperhuman. (4) It is the traditional science of the secrets of\nNature which has been transmitted to us from the Magi. (5) Initiation\ntherein gives empire over souls to the sage and full capacity for\nruling human wills. (6) Arising apparently from this science, there is\none infallible, indefectible and truly catholic religion which has\nalways existed in the world, but it is unadapted for the multitude.\n(7) For this reason there has come into being the exoteric religion\nof apologue, fable and wonder-stories, which is all that is possible\nfor the profane: it has undergone various transformations, and it is\nrepresented at this day by Latin Christianity under the obedience of\nRome. (8) Its veils are valid in their symbolism, and it may be called\nvalid for the crowd, but the doctrine of initiates is tantamount to\na negation of any literal truth therein. (9) It is Magic alone which\nimparts true science.\n\nHereof is what may be termed the theoretical, philosophical or\ndoctrinal part, the dogma of \u201cabsolute science.\u201d That which is\npractical follows, and it deals with the exercise of a natural power\nbut one superior to the ordinary forces of Nature. It is to all intents\nand purposes comprised in a Grimoire of Magic, and is a work of\nceremonial evocations\u2014whether of elementary spirits, with the aid of\npantacles, talismans and the other magical instruments and properties;\nwhether of spirits belonging _ex hypothesi_ to the planetary sphere;\nwhether of the shades or souls of the dead in necromancy. These works\nare lawful, and their results apparently veridic, but beyond them is\nthe domain of Black Magic, which is a realm of delusion and nightmare,\nthough phenomenal enough in its results. By his dedications \u00c9liphas\nL\u00e9vi happened to be a magus of light.\n\nIt will be observed that all this offers a clear issue, and\u2014for the\nrest\u2014the Grimoire of Transcendental Magic, according to \u00c9liphas\nL\u00e9vi, does not differ generically from the _Key of Solomon_ and its\ncounterparts, except in so far as the author has excised here and\nenlarged there, in obedience to his own lights. He had full authority\nfor doing so on the basis of his personal claims, which may be\nsummarised at this point. (1) He has discovered \u201cthe secret of human\nomnipotence and indefinite progress, the key of all symbolism, the\nfirst and final doctrine.\u201d (2) He is alchemist as well as magician,\nand he makes public the same secret as Raymund Lully, Nicholas Flamel\nand probably Heinrich Khunrath. They produced true gold, \u201cnor did they\ntake away their secret with them.\u201d (3) And finally: \u201cat an epoch when\nthe sanctuary has been devastated and has fallen into ruins, because\nits key has been thrown over the hedge, to the profit of no one, I have\ndeemed it my duty to pick up that key, and I offer it to him who can\ntake it: in his turn he will be doctor of the nations and liberator of\nthe world.\u201d\n\nIt must be said that these claims do not rest on a mere theory or\npractice of ceremonial evocations. There is no question that for\n\u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi his secret doctrine of occult science is contained in\na hypothesis concerning an universal medium denominated the Astral\nLight, which is neither more nor less than the odylic force of Baron\nReichenbach, as the French writer himself admits substantially, but it\nis dilated in his speculation and issues therein greatly transformed as\nfollows. (1) It is an universal plastic mediator, a common receptacle\nfor vibrations of movement and images of form: it may be called the\nImagination of Nature. (2) It is that which God created when He uttered\nthe _Fiat Lux_. (3) It is the great medium of occult force, but as\nsuch it is a blind force, which can be used for good or evil, being\nespecially obedient to the light of grace. (4) It is the element\nof electricity and lightning. (5) The \u201cfour imponderable fluids\u201d\nare diverse manifestations of this one force, which is \u201cinseparable\nfrom the First Matter\u201d and sets the latter in motion. (6) It is now\nresplendent, now igneous, now electric, now magnetic. (7) It has\napparently two modes, which tend to equilibrium, and to know the middle\npoint of this equilibrium seems to be the attainment of the Great Work.\n(8) It is \u201cethereal in the infinite, astral in stars and planets,\nmetallic, specific or mercurial in metals, vegetable in plants, vital\nin animals, magnetic or personal in men.\u201d (9) It is extracted from\nanimals by absorption and from men by generation. (10) In Magic it is\nthe glass of visions, the receptacle of all reflections. The seer has\nhis visions therein, the diviner divines by its means and the magus\nevokes spirits. (11) When the Astral Light is fixed about a centre by\ncondensation it becomes the Philosophical Stone of Alchemy, in which\nform it is an artificial phosphorus, containing the concentrated\nvirtues of all generative heat. (12) When condensed by a triple fire it\nresolves into oil, and this oil is the Universal Medicine. It can then\nonly be contained in glass, this being a non-conductor.\n\nAgain, here is a clear issue at its value, and I make this\nqualification because the Astral Light is, as I have said, a\nspeculation, and personally I neither know nor care whether such a\nfluid exists, or, in such case, whether it is applicable to the uses\nindicated. It is enough that \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi has made his affirmations\nconcerning it in unmistakable language.\n\nLet us pass therefore to the _Histoire de la Magie_, though I have\nbeen borrowing from it already in respect of the putative universal\nfluid. Magic therein is still the science of the ancient Magi; it is\nstill the exact and absolute science of Nature and her laws, because\nit is the science of equilibrium. Its secret, the secret of occult\nscience, is that of God\u2019s omnipotence. It comprises all that is most\ncertain in philosophy, all that is eternal and infallible in religion.\nIt is the Sacerdotal Art and the Royal Art. Its chief memorial is\nfound in Kabalism, but it derives apparently from primeval Zoroastrian\ndoctrine, of which Abraham seems to have been a depositary. This\ndoctrine attained its perfection in Egypt. Thereafter, on its religious\nside, the succession appears to have been: (_a_) from Egypt to Moses;\n(_b_) from Moses to Solomon, through certain custodians of the secret\nlaw in Jewry; (_c_) from the Temple at Jerusalem to St. Peter\u2019s at\nRome, though the method of transition is obscure\u2014as that which was\naffirmed previously is still maintained, namely, that Rome has lost the\nKabalistic Keys. It is naturally left to our conjecture as to when the\nChurch possessed them\u2014from \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi\u2019s point of view, perhaps in\nthe days of Dionysius, perhaps in those of Synesius, but not from my\nstandpoint, and so the question remains.\n\nNow, if these things do not differ specifically from the heads of\nthe previous testimony, on the surface and in the letter thereof,\nit is no less certain that there is a marked distinction alike in\ngeneral atmosphere and inward spirit. About this all can satisfy\nthemselves who will compare the two texts, and I need not insist on\nit here. What, however, in the _Histoire de la Magie_, has befallen\nthat practical side which, after all the dreamings, the high and\ndecorative philosophy, the adornments\u2014now golden, now meretricious\u2014was\nthe evidence, term and crown of the previous work? Those who are\nreading can again check me; but my answer is this: whether the subject\nof the moment is the art of evoking spirits, whether it is old cases\nof possession, whether it is witchcraft or necromancy, whether it is\nmodern phenomena like direct-writing, table-rapping and the other\noccurrences of spiritism, as they were known to the writer and his\nperiod, they have one and all fallen under the ban of unreserved\ncondemnation. It is not that they are imposture, for \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi\ndoes not dispute the facts and derides those who do, but they belong\nto the abyss of delusion and all who practise them are workers of\nmadness and apostles of evil only. The advent of Christianity has put\na decisive period to every activity of Magic and anathema has been\npronounced thereon. It is from this point of view that L\u00e9vi takes\nthe disciple through each century of the subject, sometimes indeed\nexplaining things from the standpoint of a complete sceptic, sometimes\nas Joseph Ennemoser might himself have explained them, but never\u2014no,\nnot once\u2014like the authorised exponent of practical Magic who has tried\nthe admirable and terrifying experiments, who returns to say that\nthey are true and real, which is the testimony of the _Doctrine and\nRitual_, if these volumes can be held to signify anything. Necromancy\nas a science of the abyss; spiritism as the abyss giving up every form\nof delusion; sorcery, witchcraft, as rich indeed in testimony but to\nhuman perversity alone, apart from intervention of diabolism belonging\nto the other world\u2014I testify with my whole heart to the truth of\nthese accusations, though I do not believe that the unseen world is\nso utterly cut off from the world of things manifest as \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi\nconsidered in his own paradoxical moods. But once more\u2014what has become\nof Magic? What has happened to the one science which is coeval with\ncreation itself, to the key of all miracles and to almost omnipotent\nadeptship? They are reduced as follows: (_a_) to that which in its\npalmary respects is the \u201csympathetic and miraculous physics\u201d of Mesmer,\nwho is \u201cgrand as Prometheus\u201d because of them; (_b_) to a general theory\nof hallucination, when hallucination has been carried, by self-induced\ndelusion or otherwise, to its _ne plus ultra degree_; and (_c_) but\nI mention this under very grave reserves, because\u2014for the life of\nme\u2014I do not understand how or why it should remain\u2014to the physical\noperations of alchemy, which are still possible and actual under the\nconditions set forth in the speculation concerning the Astral Light. It\nis not as such, one would say, a thaumaturgic process, unless indeed\nthe dream should rule\u2014as it tends to do\u2014that fulfilment depends on an\nelectrifying power in the projected will of the adept. In any case, the\nethical transliteration of alchemical symbolism is seemingly a more\nimportant aspect of this subject.\n\nI need not register here that I disbelieve utterly in L\u00e9vi\u2019s\nconstruction of the art of metallic transmutation, or that I regard\nhis allegorising thereon as a negligible product when it is compared\nwith the real doctrine of Hermetic Mysticism; but this is not the\npoint at issue. The possessor of the Key of Magic, of the Kabalistic\nKeys, thrown aside or lost by the Church, comes forward to tell us\nthat after the advent of Christ \u201cmagical orthodoxy was transfigured\ninto the orthodoxy of religion\u201d; that \u201cthose who dissented could be\nonly _illuminati_ and sorcerers\u201d; that \u201cthe very name of Magic must be\ninterpreted only according to its evil sense\u201d; that we are forbidden by\nthe Church to consult oracles, and that this is \u201cin its great wisdom\u201d;\nthat the \u201cfundamental dogma of transcendental science ... attained its\nplenary realisation in the constitution of the Christian world,\u201d being\nthe equilibrium between Church and State. All that is done outside the\nlawful hierarchy stands under an act of condemnation; as to visions,\nall fools are visionaries; to communicate with the hierarchy of unseen\nintelligence, we must seek the natural and mathematical revelations set\nforth in Tarot cards, but it cannot be done without danger and crime;\nwhile mediums, enchanters, fortune-tellers, and casters of spells\n\u201care generally diseased creatures in whom the void opens.\u201d Finally,\nas regards the philosophical side of Magic, its great doctrine is\nequilibrium; its great hypothesis is analogy; and in the moral sense\nequilibrium is the concurrence of science and faith.\n\nWhat has happened to a writer who has thus gone back on his own most\nstrenuous claims? One explanation is\u2014and long ago I was inclined\nto it on my own part\u2014that \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi had passed through certain\ngrades of knowledge in a secret school of the Instituted Mysteries;\nthat he was brought to a pause because of disclosures contained in\nhis earlier books; and that he had been set to unsay what he had\naffirmed therein. I know now by what quality of school\u2014working under\nwhat titles\u2014this report was fabricated, and that it is the last with\nwhich I am acquainted to be accepted on its own statements, either\nrespecting itself or any points of fact. An alternative is that \u00c9liphas\nL\u00e9vi had spoken originally as a Magus might be supposed to speak when\ntrafficking in his particular wares, which is something like a quack\ndoctor describing his nostrums to a populace in the market-place,\nand that his later writings represent a process of retrenchment as\nto the most florid side of his claims. This notion is apart from all\nlikelihood, because it offers no reason for the specific change in\npolicy, while\u2014if it be worth while to say so\u2014I do not regard L\u00e9vi\nas comparable to a quack doctor. I think that he had been a student\nof occult literature and history for a considerable period, in a\nvery particular sense; that he believed himself to have discovered\na key to all the alleged phenomena; that he wrote the _Doctrine and\nRitual_ in a mood of enthusiasm consequent thereupon; that between the\nappearance of these volumes and that of the _Histoire de la Magie_ he\nhad reconsidered the question of the phenomena, and had come to the\nconclusion that so far from being veridic in their nature they were\nprojected hallucinations variously differentiated and in successively\naggravated grades; but that he still regarded his supposed universal\nfluid as a great provisional hypothesis respecting thaumaturgic facts,\nand that he still held to his general philosophy of the subject, being\nthe persistence of a secret tradition from remote times and surviving\nat the present day (1) in the tenets of Kabalism and (2) in the\npictorial symbols of the Tarot.\n\nIt is no part of my province in the present connection to debate his\nviews either on the fact of a secret tradition or on the alleged\nmodes of its perpetuation: my standpoint is known otherwise and has\nbeen expressed fully elsewhere. But in the explanation just given I\nfeel that I have saved the sincerity of one who has many titles to\nconsideration, who is still respected by many, and for whom my own\ndiscriminating sympathy has been expressed frequently in no uncertain\nway: I have saved it so far at least as can be expected. One does not\nanticipate that a Frenchman, an occultist and a magus is going to\nretract distinctly under the eye of his disciples, more especially\nwhen he has testified so much. I feel further that I have justified\nthe fact of the present translation of a work which is memorable in\nseveral respects, but chiefly as the history of a magic which is not\nMagic, as a testimony which destroys indeed the whole imputed basis of\nits subject. It does not follow that L\u00e9vi\u2019s explanation of physical\nphenomena, especially of the modern kind, is always or generally\ncorrect; but some of it is workable in its way, and my purpose is\nmore than served if those who are drawn toward the science of the\nmystics may be led hereby to take warning as to some of the dangers and\nfalse-seemings which fringe that science.\n\nA few things remain to be said. Readers of his History must be prepared\nfor manifold inaccuracies, which are to be expected in a writer like\n\u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi. Those who know anything of Egypt\u2014the antiquities of its\nreligion and literature\u2014will have a bad experience with the chapter\non Hermetic Magic; those who know eastern religion on its deeper\nside will regard the discourse on Magic in India as title-deeds of\nall incompetence; while in respect of later Jewish theosophy I have\nhad occasion in certain annotations to indicate that L\u00e9vi had no\nextensive knowledge of those Kabalistic texts on the importance of\nwhich he dwells so much and about which he claims to speak with full\nunderstanding. He presents, however, some of their lesser aspects.\n\nAs regards the religion of his childhood, I feel certainly that it\nappealed to him strongly through all his life, and in the revulsion\nwhich seems to have followed the _Doctrine and Ritual_ he was drawn\nback towards it, but rather as to a great hierarchic system and a\ngreat sequence of holy pageants, of living symbolism. Respecting the\nroot-matter of its teachings, probably he deceived himself better\nthan he fooled his readers. In a multitude of statements and in the\nspirit of the text throughout, it is certain that the _Histoire de la\nMagie_ offers \u201cnegation of dogma\u201d on its absolute side. We obtain a\ncontinual insight into free sub-surface opinions, ill-concealed under\nexternal conformity to the Church, and we get also useful side-lights\non the vanity of the author\u2019s sham submissions. In this manner, we\nknow exactly what quality of sentiment led him to lay all his writings\nat the foot of the seat of Peter, for Peter to decide thereon. It is\nneedless to add that his constructions of doctrine throughout are of\nthe last kind that would be commended to the custodians of doctrine.\nAt the same time there is very little doubt that he believed genuinely\nin the necessity of a hierarchic teaching; that, in his view, it\nreposed from a very early period in certain sanctuaries of initiation;\nthat the existence of these is intimated in the records of the Mosaic\ndispensation; that they were depositaries of science rather than\nrevelation; that Kabalistic literature is one of their witnesses; but\nthat the sanctuaries were everywhere in the world, Egypt and Greece\nincluded. Of all these the Church of Christ is the heir, and though it\nmay have lost the keys of knowledge, though it mistakes everywhere the\nsign for the thing signified, it is\u2014from his standpoint\u2014entitled to our\nrespect as a witness and at least to qualified obedience.\n\nI think that \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi has said true things and even great things\non the distinctions and analogies between science and faith, but the\nlatter he understood as aspiration, not as experience. A long essay on\nthe mystics, which is perhaps his most important contribution to the\n_Dictionnaire de Litt\u00e9rature Chr\u00e9tienne_, indicates that he was thinly\nacquainted with the mind of Suso, St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa\nand St. Francis of Sales. Accordingly he has a word here and there on\nthe interior life and its secrets, but of that which remains for the\nelect in the heights of sanctity he had no consciousness whatever. For\nhim the records of such experience are literature and mystic poetry;\nand as he is far from the term herein, so is he remote also when he\ndiscourses of false mystics, meaning Gnostic sects, Albigensian sects,\n_illuminati_ so-called and members of secret heretical societies\nrepresenting reformed doctrine. As the religion of the mystics is my\nwhole concern in literature, let me add that the true idea of religion\nis not constituted by \u201cuniversal suffrage\u201d (see text, p. 517), but by\nthe agreement of those who have attained in the Divine experience that\nwhich is understood by attainment.\n\nIn conclusion, after we have set aside, on the warrants of this\nHistory, the phenomenal side of Magic, that which may be held to remain\nin the mind of the author is Transcendental Magic\u2014referred to when I\nspoke of a qualification earlier in these remarks; but by this is to\nbe understood so much of the old philosophical systems as had passed\nwithin his consciousness and had been interpreted therein. It will be\nunacceptable to most readers at this day, but it has curious aspects of\ninterest and may be left to stand at its value.\n\n A. E. WAITE.\n\n\n[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF \u00c9LIPHAS L\u00c9VI, TAKEN AFTER DEATH]\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n\n PAGE\n PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION v\n\n INTRODUCTION\n\n False definition of Magic\u2014It is not to be defined at\n hazard\u2014Explanation of the Blazing Star\u2014Existence of the\n absolute\u2014Absolute nature of magical science\u2014Errors of\n Dupuis\u2014Profanation of the science\u2014Prediction of Count Joseph de\n Maistre\u2014Extent and import of the science\u2014The Divine Justice\u2014Power of\n the adept\u2014The devil and science\u2014Existence of demons\u2014False idea of the\n devil\u2014Conception of the Manicheans\u2014Crimes of sorcerers\u2014The Astral\n Light\u2014The so-called Imagination of Nature\u2014Of what is to be understood\n hereby\u2014The effects hereof\u2014Definition of magnetism\u2014Agreement between\n reason and faith\u2014Jachin and Boaz\u2014Principle of the hierarchy\u2014Religion\n of Kabalists\u2014Images of God\u2014Theory of the light\u2014Mysteries of\n sexual love\u2014Antagonism of forces\u2014The mythical Pope Joan\u2014The\n Kabalah as an explanation and reconciliation of all\u2014Why the Church\n condemns Magic\u2014Dogmatic Magic an explanation of the philosophy of\n history\u2014Culpable curiosity regarding Magic\u2014Plan of the present work\u2014The\n author\u2019s submission to the established order 1\n\n\n BOOK I\n\n _THE DERIVATIONS OF MAGIC_\n\n\n CHAPTER I\n\n FABULOUS SOURCES\n\n The Book of Enoch concerning the Fall of the Angels\u2014Meaning of the\n Legend\u2014The Book of the Penitence of Adam\u2014The Personality of Enoch\u2014The\n Apocalypse of St. Methodius\u2014Children of Seth and of Cain\u2014Rationale\n of occultism\u2014Error of Rousseau\u2014Traditions of Jewry\u2014The glory of\n Christianity\u2014The _Sepher Yetzirah_, _Zohar_ and _Apocalypse_\u2014Opening\n of the Zohar 39\n\n\n CHAPTER II\n\n MAGIC OF THE MAGI\n\n The true and false Zoroaster\u2014Doctrines of the true\n Zoroaster\u2014Transcendental fire-philosophy\u2014Electrical secrets of\n Numa\u2014A transcript from Zoroaster on demons and sacrifices\u2014Important\n revelations on magnetism\u2014Initiation in Assyria\u2014Wonders performed by\n the Assyrians\u2014Du Potet in accord with Zoroaster\u2014Danger incurred by\n the unwary\u2014Power of man over animals\u2014Downfall of the priesthood in\n Assyria\u2014Magical death of Sardanapalus 53\n\n\n CHAPTER III\n\n MAGIC IN INDIA\n\n The Indians as descendants of Cain\u2014India the mother of\n idolatry\u2014Doctrine of the Gymnosophists\u2014Indian origin of\n Gnosticism\u2014Some wise fables of India\u2014Black Magic of the\n _Oupnek\u2019hat_\u2014Citation from J. M. Ragon\u2014Indian Grand Secrets\u2014The\n English and Indian insurrections 64\n\n\n CHAPTER IV\n\n HERMETIC MAGIC\n\n The Emerald Table\u2014Other writings of Hermes\u2014Magical interpretation of\n the geography of Ancient Egypt\u2014Ministry of Joseph\u2014Sacred alphabet\u2014The\n Isiac Tablet of Cardinal Bembo\u2014The Tarot explained by the _Sepher\n Yetzirah_\u2014The Tarot of Charles VII\u2014Magical science of Moses 73\n\n\n CHAPTER V\n\n MAGIC IN GREECE\n\n Fable of the Golden Fleece\u2014Medea and Jason\u2014The five magical\n epics\u2014Aeschylus a profaner of the Mysteries\u2014The Orpheus of\n legend\u2014Orphic Mysteries\u2014G\u00f6etia\u2014The sorcerers of Thessaly\u2014Medea\n and Circe 82\n\n\n CHAPTER VI\n\n MATHEMATICAL MAGIC OF PYTHAGORAS\n\n Pythagoras an heir of the traditions of Numa\u2014Identity of\n Pythagoras\u2014His doctrine concerning God\u2014A fine utterance against\n anarchy\u2014Golden Verses\u2014Symbols of Pythagoras\u2014His chastity\u2014His\n divination\u2014His explanation of miracles\u2014Secret of the interpretation of\n dreams\u2014The belief of Pythagoras 92\n\n\n CHAPTER VII\n\n THE HOLY KABALAH\n\n Origin of the Kabalah\u2014The horror of idolatry in Kabalism\u2014Kabalistic\n definition of God\u2014Principles of the Kabalah\u2014The Divine Names\u2014Four\n forms of Tetragrammaton\u2014The word which accomplishes all\n transmutations\u2014The Keys of Solomon\u2014The chain of spirits\u2014Whether human\n spirits return\u2014The world of spirits according to the Zohar\u2014Of spirits\n which manifest\u2014Fluidic larv\u00e6\u2014The Great Magical Agent\u2014Obscure\n origin of larv\u00e6 101\n\n\n BOOK II\n\n _FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF DOGMAS_\n\n\n CHAPTER I\n\n PRIMITIVE SYMBOLISM OF HISTORY\n\n Allegory of the Earthly Paradise\u2014The Edenic Pantacle\u2014The Cherub\u2014Folly\n of a great mind\u2014Mysteries of Genesis\u2014Children of Cain\u2014Magical secrets\n of the Tower of Babel\u2014Belphegor\u2014The medi\u00e6val Sabbath\u2014Decadence of\n the hierarchy\u2014Philosophy of chance\u2014Doctrine of Plato\u2014An oracle of\n Apollo\u2014Rationalism of Aristotle\u2014The Cubic\n Stone\u2014Summary of Neoplatonism 115\n\n\n CHAPTER II\n\n MYSTICISM\n\n Inviolability of magical science\u2014Profane and mystic schools\u2014The\n Bacchantes\u2014Materialistic reformers and anarchic mystics\u2014Imbecile\n visionaries\u2014Their horror of sages\u2014Tolerance of the true Church\u2014False\n miracles\u2014Rites of Black Magic\u2014Barbarous words and unknown\n signs\u2014Cause of visions\u2014A theory of hallucinations 125\n\n\n CHAPTER III\n\n INITIATIONS AND ORDEALS\n\n The Great Work\u2014The four aspects of the Sphinx and the Shield of\n Achilles\u2014Allegories of Hercules and \u0152dipus\u2014The Secret Doctrine\n of Plato\u2014Of Plato as Kabalist\u2014Difference between Plato and St.\n John\u2014Platonic theosophy\u2014Fatal experiences\u2014Hom\u0153pathy practised by the\n Greeks\u2014The cavern of Trophonius\u2014Science of Egyptian priests\u2014Lactantius\n and the antipodes\u2014The Greek hell\u2014Ministry of suffering\u2014The Table of\n Cebes and the poem of Dante\u2014Doctrines of the Ph\u00e6dron\u2014The\n burial of the dead\u2014Necromancy 133\n\n\n CHAPTER IV\n\n THE MAGIC OF PUBLIC WORSHIP\n\n Magnificence of the true Cultus\u2014Orthodox traditions\u2014Dissent of the\n profane\u2014Their calumnies against initiates\u2014An allegory concerning\n Bacchus\u2014Tyresias and Calchas\u2014The priesthood according to Homer\u2014Oracles\n of sibyls\u2014Origin of geomancy and cartomancy 145\n\n\n CHAPTER V\n\n MYSTERIES OF VIRGINITY\n\n Of Hellenism at Rome\u2014Institution of Vestals\u2014Traditional virtue of\n virgin blood\u2014Symbolism of Sacred Fire\u2014Religious aspect of the history\n of Lucretia\u2014Honour among Roman women\u2014Mysteries of the _Bona Dea_\u2014Numa\n as a hierophant\u2014Ingenious notions of Voltaire on divination\u2014Prophetic\n instinct of the masses\u2014Erroneous opinions of Fontenelle\n and Kircher on oracles\u2014Religious Calendar of Numa 152\n\n\n CHAPTER VI\n\n SUPERSTITIONS\n\n Their origin and persistence\u2014Beautiful thought of the Roman pontiff,\n St. Gregory\u2014Observation of numbers and of days\u2014Abstinence of the\n magi\u2014Opinions of Porphyry\u2014Greek and Roman superstitions\u2014Mythological\n data on the secret properties of animals\u2014A passage from\n Euripides\u2014Reasons of Pythagorean abstinence\u2014Singular excerpt from\n Homer\u2014Presages, dreams, enchantments and fascinations\u2014Magical\n whirlpools\u2014Modern phenomena\u2014Olympius and Plotinus 158\n\n\n CHAPTER VII\n\n MAGICAL MONUMENTS\n\n The Seven Wonders of the world and the seven magical planets\u2014The\n Pyramids\u2014Thebes and its seven gates\u2014The pantacle of the sun\u2014The\n pantacle of the moon\u2014The pantacle of the conjugal Venus\u2014The pantacles\n of Mercury, Jupiter and Mars\u2014The Temple of Solomon\u2014Philosophical\n summary of ancient wisdom 166\n\n\n BOOK III\n\n _DIVINE SYNTHESIS AND REALISATION OF MAGIA\n BY THE CHRISTIAN REVELATION_\n\n\n CHAPTER I\n\n CHRIST ACCUSED OF MAGIC BY THE JEWS\n\n The beginning of the Gospel according to St. John and its\n profound meaning\u2014Ezekiel a Kabalist\u2014Special character of\n Christianity\u2014Accusations of the Jews against the Saviour\u2014The _Sepher\n Toldos Jeshu_\u2014A beautiful legend from the apocryphal gospels\u2014The\n Johannites\u2014Burning of magical books at Ephesus\u2014Cessation of\n oracles\u2014The great Pan is dead\u2014Transfiguration of natural prodigy into\n miracle and of divination into prophecy 171\n\n\n CHAPTER II\n\n THE WITNESS OF MAGIC TO CHRISTIANITY\n\n Absolute existence of religion\u2014Essential distinction between\n science and faith\u2014Puerile objections\u2014Christianity proved by\n charity\u2014Condemnation of Magic by the Christian priesthood\u2014Simon the\n Magician\u2014His history\u2014His doctrine\u2014His conference with SS. Peter and\n Paul\u2014His downfall\u2014His sect continued by Menander 176\n\n\n CHAPTER III\n\n THE DEVIL\n\n The question considered in the light of faith and science\u2014Satan\n and Lucifer\u2014Wisdom of the Church\u2014The devil according to the\n initiates of occult science\u2014Of possessions in the gospel\u2014Opinions of\n Torreblanca-Astral perversities\u2014The Sabbatic\n goat\u2014The false Lucifer 187\n\n\n CHAPTER IV\n\n THE LAST PAGANS\n\n The eternal miracle of God\u2014Civilising influence of\n Christianity\u2014Apollonius of Tyana\u2014His allegorical legend\u2014Julian the\n apostate\u2014His evocations\u2014Jamblichus and Maximus of Tyre\u2014Birth of Secret\n Societies for the forbidden practices of Magic 193\n\n\n CHAPTER V\n\n LEGENDS\n\n The legend of St. Cyprian and St. Justin\u2014Magical prayer of St.\n Cyprian\u2014The Golden Legend\u2014Apuleius and the Golden Ass\u2014The fable of\n Psyche\u2014Curious subtlety of St. Augustine\u2014Philosophy of the Fathers\n of the Church 200\n\n\n CHAPTER VI\n\n SOME KABALISTIC PAINTINGS AND SACRED EMBLEMS\n\n Gnosticism and the primitive Church\u2014Emblems of the catacombs\u2014True\n and false Gnostics\u2014Profanation of the Gnosis\u2014Impure and sacrilegious\n Rites\u2014Eucharistic sacrilege\u2014The Arch-heretic Marcos\u2014Women and the\n priesthood\u2014Montanus and his female prophets\u2014Tertullian\u2014The dualism of\n Manes\u2014Danger of evocations\u2014Divagations of Kabalism\u2014Loss\n of the Kabalistic Keys 208\n\n\n CHAPTER VII\n\n PHILOSOPHERS OF THE ALEXANDRIAN SCHOOL\n\n Ammonius Saccas\u2014Plotinus\u2014Porphyry\u2014Hypatia\u2014Incautious admissions\n of Synesius\u2014Writings of this initiate\u2014More especially his tract on\n Dreams\u2014The commentary of Jerome Cardan thereon\u2014Attribution of\n the works of St Dionysius to Synesius\u2014Their orthodoxy and their\n value 215\n\n\n BOOK IV\n\n _MAGIC AND CIVILISATION_\n\n\n CHAPTER I\n\n MAGIC AMONG BARBARIANS\n\n Rome conquered by the Cross\u2014History of Philinnium and Machates\u2014The\n Bride of Corinth\u2014Philosophical considerations thereon\u2014Germanic and\n Druidic theology\u2014College of the Druids at Autun\u2014Druidic transmigration\n of souls\u2014Some Druidic practices 223\n\n\n CHAPTER II\n\n INFLUENCE of WOMEN\n\n Female influence in early France\u2014Velleda slandered by\n Chateaubriand\u2014_Berthe au grand pied_\u2014The fairy Melusine\u2014Saint\n Clothilde\u2014The sorceress Fredegonde\u2014The story of Klodswinthe\u2014Fredegonde\n and Clovis\u2014Further concerning her history 232\n\n\n CHAPTER III\n\n THE SALIC LAWS AGAINST SORCERERS\n\n Laws attributed to Pharamond\u2014Explanation of a Talmudic passage by\n Rabbi Jechiel\u2014Belief in the immortality of the soul among the Jews\u2014An\n ecclesiastical council on sorcery\u2014The rise of Mohammed\u2014The religious\n history of Charles Martel\u2014The Reign of Pepin the Short\u2014The Kabalist\n Zedekias\u2014His fables concerning elementary spirits\u2014An\n epidemic of visions 238\n\n\n CHAPTER IV\n\n LEGENDS OF THE REIGN OF CHARLEMAGNE\n\n Charlemagne a prince of faerie\u2014Charlemagne and Roland\u2014The enchanted\n sword and magic horn\u2014The _Enchiridion_ of Leo III\u2014The tradition\n therein\u2014The pantacles\u2014The Sabbath\u2014The Free Judges\u2014Their foundation\n and purpose\u2014Power of this Tribunal\u2014The fate of Frederick\n of Brunswick\u2014Code of the Free Judges\u2014Laws of Charlemagne\u2014Knight\n errantry\u2014The cultus of the Blessed Virgin 246\n\n\n CHAPTER V\n\n MAGICIANS\n\n The pope and empire\u2014The penalty of excommunication\u2014Further concerning\n Rabbi Jechiel\u2014The automaton of Albertus Magnus\u2014Albertus and St. Thomas\n Aquinas\u2014The legend of the automaton interpreted\u2014Scholasticism and\n Aristotelian philosophy\u2014The philosophical stone\n and the quintessence 256\n\n\n CHAPTER VI\n\n SOME FAMOUS PROSECUTIONS\n\n The great religious orders and their power\u2014The Knights Templar\u2014Their\n origin\u2014Their secret design\u2014The Christian sect of Johannites\u2014Their\n profanation of the history of Christ\u2014Pontiffs of the Johannite\n sect\u2014The Johannites and the Templars\u2014Further concerning Templar secret\n doctrine\u2014Development of the chivalry\u2014Their projects discovered\u2014Their\n suppression\u2014The case of Joan of Arc\u2014The history of Gilles de\n Laval 264\n\n\n CHAPTER VII\n\n SUPERSTITIONS RELATING TO THE DEVIL\n\n Apparitions of Satan\u2014Possessions\u2014A philosophy of superstitions\u2014The\n crime of Black Magic\u2014Pathological states\u2014The soul of the world\u2014Modern\n phenomena\u2014Fourier and M. de Mirville\u2014Baron de Guldenstubb\u00e9 281\n\n\n BOOK V\n\n _THE ADEPTS AND THE PRIESTHOOD_\n\n\n CHAPTER I\n\n PRIESTS AND POPES ACCUSED OF MAGIC\n\n Inviolable sanctity of the priesthood\u2014Accusations of false\n adepts\u2014Groundless charges against Pope Sylvester II\u2014Scandalous\n story of Polonus reproduced by Platina\u2014The legend of Pope Joan\u2014Its\n derivation from ancient Tarot cards representing Isis crowned with a\n tiara\u2014Further concerning Sylvester II\u2014Opinion of Gabriel Naud\u00e9\u2014The\n Grimoire attributed to Pope Honorius III\u2014The anti-pope Honorius II as\n its possible author\u2014An excursus on the content and character of the\n work 291\n\n\n CHAPTER II\n\n APPEARANCE OF THE BOHEMIAN NOMADS\n\n Their entrance into Europe early in the fifteenth century\u2014Their\n name of Bohemians or Egyptians\u2014An account of their encampment near\n Paris, drawn from an ancient chronicle\u2014A citation from George\n Borrow\u2014Researches of M. Vaillant\u2014The Gipsies and the Tarot\u2014A\n conclusion on this subject\u2014Communistic Experiment in 1840 306\n\n\n CHAPTER III\n\n LEGEND AND HISTORY OF RAYMUND LULLY\n\n Story of the _Doctor Illuminatus_ on its mythical side\u2014Raymond Lully\n and the Lady Ambrosia\u2014His immortality and liberation therefrom\u2014The\n historical personage\u2014Lully as an alchemist\u2014The Rose Nobles\u2014His\n philosophical testament\u2014Colleges for the study of languages founded by\n his efforts\u2014The Great Art\u2014He appears at the Council of Vienna\u2014Lully a\n disciple of the Kabalists\u2014But the tradition in his hands had\n become Christian 319\n\n\n CHAPTER IV\n\n ON CERTAIN ALCHEMISTS\n\n Nicholas Flamel and the book of Abraham the Jew\u2014Mysterious figures\n of the work\u2014A tradition concerning Flamel\u2014Bernard Trevisan\u2014Basil\n Valentine\u2014John Trithemius\u2014Cornelius Agrippa\u2014The pantacle of\n Trithemius\u2014William Postel\u2014Illustrations of his teaching\u2014The story\n of Mother Jeanne\u2014The renewal of Postel\u2014An opinion of Father\n Desbillons\u2014Paracelsus\u2014His doctrines of occult medicine\u2014Mysteries of\n blood\u2014Narrative of Tavernier\u2014The _Philosophia sagax_ of Paracelsus 331\n\n\n CHAPTER V\n\n SOME FAMOUS SORCERERS AND MAGICIANS\n\n _The Divine Comedy_ of Dante and its Kabalistic analysis\u2014_The\n Romance of the Rose_\u2014Luther and anarchical theology\u2014His disputes\n with the devil\u2014His sacrilegious marriage\u2014Sorcerers during the\n reign Of Henry III\u2014-Visions of Jacques Cl\u00e9ment\u2014Mystic symbolism of\n the rose\u2014Union of the rose and the cross\u2014The Rosicrucians\u2014Henry\n Khunrath\u2014His _Amphitheatrum Sapienti\u00e6 \u00c6tern\u00e6_\u2014It\u2019s pantacles\u2014Oswaldus\n Crollius\u2014Alchemists of the early seventeenth century\u2014A Rosicrucian\n manifesto 345\n\n\n CHAPTER VI\n\n SOME MAGICAL PROSECUTIONS\n\n Introductory remarks\u2014Real crime of sorcerers\u2014Some deplorable\n condemnations\u2014The case of Louis Gaufridi\u2014The case of Urbain\n Grandier\u2014The nuns of Louviers and some other processes\u2014Interpretation\n of certain phenomena\u2014Story of an apparition 360\n\n\n CHAPTER VII\n\n THE MAGICAL ORIGIN OF FREEMASONRY\n\n Its appearance in Europe\u2014Its allegorical and real end\u2014The Legend of\n Hiram\u2014Its meaning\u2014Mission of the Rites of Masonry\u2014Its profanations 382\n\n\n BOOK VI\n\n _MAGIC AND THE REVOLUTION_\n\n\n CHAPTER I\n\n REMARKABLE AUTHORS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY\n\n Important discoveries in China\u2014The _Y-Kim_ of Fo-hi\u2014Legend of\n its origin\u2014Connection with the Zohar\u2014An example of absolute\n philosophy\u2014Opinion of Leibnitz\u2014Emmanuel Swedenborg\u2014His system and its\n Kabalistic derivation\u2014The discovery of Mesmer\u2014Its theory and its\n great importance\u2014A comparison between Voltaire and Mesmer 391\n\n\n CHAPTER II\n\n THAUMATURGIC PERSONALITIES OF THE EIGHTEENTH\n CENTURY\n\n The Comte de Saint-Germain\u2014Unpublished particulars of his life\u2014The\n report of Madame de Genlis\u2014The Order of Saint Jakin\u2014A pretended\n initiation\u2014Further concerning the Rosicrucians\u2014An appreciation of\n Saint-Germain\u2014His alleged identity with the mysterious Althotas\u2014The\n alchemist Lascaris\u2014Count Cagliostro\u2014An agent of the Templars\u2014A\n successor of Mesmer\u2014Explanation of his seal and Kabalistic name\u2014His\n secret of physical regeneration\u2014His trial by the Inquisition\u2014He\n is said to be still alive 400\n\n\n CHAPTER III\n\n PROPHECIES OF CAZOTTE\n\n The school of Martinists\u2014The supper of Cazotte\u2014The romance of _Le\n Diable Amoureux_\u2014Its interpretation according to the Kabalah\u2014Lilith\n and Nehamah\u2014Initiation of Cazotte\u2014The Mystic Mountain\u2014Cazotte and\n the Revolutionary Tribunal 416\n\n\n CHAPTER IV\n\n THE FRENCH REVOLUTION\n\n The reveries of Rousseau and their fatal consequences\u2014The tomb of\n Jacques de Molay\u2014The Lodge in Rue Platri\u00e8re\u2014The doom of Louis XVI\u2014A\n genius of massacre\u2014Mademoiselle de Sombreuil\u2014Madame Elizabeth\u2014The\n Church of the Jacobins\u2014Vengeance of the Templars\u2014Further concerning\n the Apocalypse of St. Methodius\u2014The prophecies of Abb\u00e9\n Joachim 422\n\n\n CHAPTER V\n\n PHENOMENA OF MEDIOMANIA\n\n An obscure sect of Johannite mystics\u2014Visions of Loiseaut\u2014Dom Gerle and\n Catherine Th\u00e9ot\u2014A visit from Robespierre\u2014The prophecy of Catherine\u2014Her\n fate and that of Dom Gerle\u2014The Saviours of Louis XVII\u2014Martin\n de Gallardon\u2014Eug\u00e8ne Vintras\u2014Na\u00fcndorff 427\n\n\n CHAPTER VI\n\n THE GERMAN ILLUMINATI\n\n The adept Steinert\u2014An account of Eckartshausen\u2014Schroepfer and\n Lavater\u2014The spirit Gablidone\u2014His prophecies\u2014Stabs and Napoleon\u2014Carl\n Sand and Kotzebue\u2014The Mopses and their mysteries\u2014The magical\n drama of Faust 435\n\n\n CHAPTER VII\n\n EMPIRE AND RESTORATION\n\n Predictions relative to Napoleon\u2014Mademoiselle Lenormand\u2014Etteilla\n and cartomancy\u2014Madame Bouche and the Czar Alexander\u2014Madame de\n Krudener\u2014Further concerning the Saviours of Louis XVII\u2014Visions\n of Martin de Gallardon 443\n\n\n BOOK VII\n\n _MAGIC IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY_\n\n\n CHAPTER I\n\n MAGNETIC MYSTICS AND MATERIALISTS\n\n Infectious follies of Fourier\u2014The dogma of hell\u2014An evocation in the\n Church of Notre Dame\u2014Lesser prophets and divinities\u2014Ganneau,\n Auguste Comte and Wronski\u2014Sale of the Absolute 453\n\n\n CHAPTER II\n\n HALLUCINATIONS\n\n Yet again concerning the Saviours of Louis XVII\u2014Singular hallucination\n of Eug\u00e8ne Vintras\u2014His prophecies and pretended miracles\u2014The sect of\n Vintras\u2014Its condemnation by Gregory XVI\u2014Pontificate of Vintras\u2014His\n dreams and visions 461\n\n\n CHAPTER III\n\n MESMERISTS AND SOMNAMBULISTS\n\n The Church and the abuse of somnambulism\u2014Baron Du Potet\u2014His secret\n work on Magic\u2014Table-turning\u2014A table burnt for heresy\u2014Experiences\n of Victor Hennequin\u2014A magical melodrama 471\n\n\n CHAPTER IV\n\n THE FANTASTIC SIDE OF MAGICAL LITERATURE\n\n Alphonse Esquiros invents a romanesque Magic\u2014Henri Delaage\n continues the work\u2014His gifts of enchantment\u2014His orthodoxy\u2014Le Comte\n D\u2019Ourches\u2014Baron de Guldenstubb\u00e9\u2014His miraculous writings\u2014Their\n explanation\u2014Exhumation of a fakir\u2014History of a vampire\u2014The\n cartomancist Edmond 477\n\n\n CHAPTER V\n\n SOME PRIVATE RECOLLECTIONS OF THE WRITER\n\n The author is presented by the magician Alphonse Esquiros to the\n divinity Ganneau\u2014Eccentric doctrines of the _Mapah_\u2014Another Louis\n XVII\u2014A fatal result of this visit\u2014Secret cause of the Revolution of\n 1848\u2014The wife of Ganneau 495\n\n\n CHAPTER VI\n\n THE OCCULT SCIENCES\n\n A synthesis in summary\u2014Recapitulation of principles\u2014The search after\n the absolute 500\n\n\n CHAPTER VII\n\n SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION\n\n The enigma of the sphinx and its solution\u2014Paradoxical questions and\n their answers\u2014Knowledge and faith\u2014The communion of faith\u2014The temporal\n power of the pope\u2014The science of moral equilibrium\u2014Consequences of its\n recognition\u2014A citation from the Blessed Vincent de Lerins\u2014Another from\n Comte Joseph de Maistre\u2014An axiom of St. Thomas Aquinas\u2014The liberation\n of Magic\u2014Purpose of this work 503\n\n\nAPPENDIX 526\n\n\nINDEX 529\n\n\n\n\n ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n PLATE\n\n I. Portrait of \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi in the Robe of a Magus _Frontispiece_\n\n FACING\n PAGE\n\n II. Portrait of \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi taken after death xxii\n\n III. The Pentagram of the Absolute 2\n\n IV. The Great Symbol of Solomon, reconstructed according to\n the Zohar 20\n\n V. The Magical Head of the Zohar 40\n\n VI. The Great Kabalistic Symbol of the Zohar 50\n\n VII. The Mystery of Universal Equilibrium, according to Indian\n and Japanese Mythology, together with the Pantomorphic\n lynx, or Twenty-First Primitive Egyptian Tarot Key 64\n\n VIII. The Bembine Tablet 78\n\n IX. Pantacle of Kabalistic Letters, being the Key of the Tarot,\n Sepher Yetzirah and the Zohar 102\n\n X. The Seal of Cagliostro, Seal of the Samian Juno, Apocalyptic\n Seal, Twelve Seals of the Cubic Stone in Masonry, with\n the Twenty-First Tarot Key in the centre of all 120\n\n XI. Egyptian Symbols of Typhon, illustrating G\u00f6etia and\n Necromancy. Typhon is depicted performing the renewal\n of the empire of darkness. From the Temple of Hermoutis.\n The smaller figures are from the Zodiac of Esne and the\n top is a _bas relief_ in the same temple 128\n\n XII. The Seven Wonders of the World 166\n\n XIII. A Public Disputation between St. Peter and St. Paul on the\n one side and Simon the Magician on the other. Ascent\n and fall of Simon. From an engraving of the fifteenth\n century 184\n\n XIV. Hermetic Magic. Reproduced from an ancient Manuscript 224\n\n XV. The Philosophical Cross, or plan of the Third Temple, as\n prophesied by Ezekiel and planned in the building\n scheme of the Knights Templar 264\n\n XVI. Two occult Seals are shewn in the left compartment; the\n first represents the Great Work; the second is that of\n Black Magic. Both are from the _Grimoire of Honorius_.\n The right hand compartment contains primitive Egyptian\n Tarots\u2014the 2 of Cups at the top and beneath this,\n specimens of the Ace of Cups 298\n\n XVII. The Seven Planets and their Genii, according to the Magic\n of Paracelsus 340\n\n XVIII. The Great Hermetic Arcanum, according to Basil Valentine 394\n\n XIX. A general plan of Kabalistic Doctrine 454\n\n XX. Apocalyptic Key: the Seven Seals of St. John 502\n\n\n\n\n THE HISTORY OF MAGIC\n\n\n INTRODUCTION\n\n\nMagic has been confounded too long with the jugglery of mountebanks,\nthe hallucinations of disordered minds and the crimes of certain\nunusual malefactors. There are otherwise many who would promptly\nexplain Magic as the art of producing effects in the absence of causes;\nand on the strength of such a definition it will be said by ordinary\npeople\u2014with the good sense which characterises the ordinary, in the\nmidst of much injustice\u2014that Magic is an absurdity. But it can have\nno analogy in fact with the descriptions of those who know nothing of\nthe subject; furthermore, it is not to be represented as this or that\nby any person whomsoever: it is that which it is, drawing from itself\nonly, even as mathematics do, for it is the exact and absolute science\nof Nature and her laws.\n\nMagic is the science of the ancient magi; and the Christian religion,\nwhich silenced the counterfeit oracles and put a stop to the illusions\nof false gods, does, this notwithstanding, revere those mystic kings\nwho came from the East, led by a star, to adore the Saviour of the\nworld in His cradle. They are elevated by tradition to the rank of\nkings, because magical initiation constitutes a true royalty; because\nalso the great art of the magi is characterised by all adepts as\nthe Royal Art, as the Holy Kingdom\u2014_Sanctum Regnum_. The star which\nconducted the pilgrims is the same Burning Star which is met with in\nall initiations. For alchemists it is the sign of the quintessence,\nfor magicians it is the Great Arcanum, for Kabalists the sacred\npentagram. Our design is to prove that the study of this pentagram\ndid itself lead the magi to a knowledge of that New Name which was to\nbe exalted above all names and to bend the knees of all beings who\nwere capable of adoration. Magic, therefore, combines in a single\nscience that which is most certain in philosophy, which is eternal\nand infallible in religion. It reconciles perfectly and incontestably\nthose two terms, so opposed on the first view\u2014faith and reason, science\nand belief, authority and liberty. It furnishes the human mind with\nan instrument of philosophical and religious certitude as exact as\nmathematics, and even accounting for the infallibility of mathematics\nthemselves.\n\nAn Absolute exists therefore in the realms of understanding and faith.\nThe lights of human intelligence have not been left by the Supreme\nReason to waver at hazard. There is an incontestable truth; there is an\ninfallible method of knowing that truth; while those who attain this\nknowledge, and adopt it as a rule of life, can endow their will with a\nsovereign power which can make them masters of all inferior things, all\nwandering spirits, or, in other words, arbiters and kings of the world.\n\nIf such be the case, how comes it that so exalted a science is still\nunrecognised? How is it possible to assume that so bright a sun is\nhidden in a sky so dark? The transcendental science has been known\nalways, but only to the flowers of intelligence, who have understood\nthe necessity of silence and patience. Should a skilful surgeon open at\nmidnight the eyes of a man born blind, it would still be impossible to\nmake him realise the nature or existence of daylight till morning came.\nScience has its nights and its mornings, because the life which it\ncommunicates to the world of mind is characterised by regular modes of\nmotion and progressive phases. It is the same with truths as it is\nwith radiations of light. Nothing which is hidden is lost, but at the\nsame time nothing that is found is absolutely new. The seal of eternity\nis affixed by God to that science which is the reflection of His glory.\n\n[Illustration: THE PENTAGRAM OF THE ABSOLUTE]\n\nThe transcendental science, the absolute science is assuredly Magic,\nthough the affirmation may seem utterly paradoxical to those who\nhave never questioned the infallibility of Voltaire\u2014that marvellous\nsmatterer who thought that he knew so much because he never missed an\nopportunity for laughter instead of learning. Magic was the science of\nAbraham and Orpheus, of Confucius and Zoroaster, and it was magical\ndoctrines which were graven on tables of stone by Enoch and by\nTrismegistus. Moses purified and re-veiled them\u2014this being the sense of\nthe word reveal. The new disguise which he gave them was that of the\nHoly Kabalah\u2014that exclusive heritage of Israel and inviolable secret of\nits priests.[1] The mysteries of Eleusis and of Thebes preserved among\nthe Gentiles some of its symbols, but in a debased form, and the mystic\nkey was lost amidst the apparatus of an ever-increasing superstition.\nJerusalem, murderer of its prophets and prostituted over and over again\nto false Assyrian and Babylonian gods, ended by losing in its turn the\nSacred Word, when a Saviour, declared to the magi by the holy star\nof initiation, came to rend the threadbare veil of the old temple,\nto endow the Church with a new network of legends and symbols\u2014ever\nconcealing from the profane and always preserving for the elect that\ntruth which is the same for ever.\n\nIt is this that the erudite and ill-starred Dupuis should have found on\nIndian planispheres and in tables of Denderah; he would not have ended\nby rejecting the truly catholic or universal and eternal religion in\nthe presence of the unanimous affirmation of all Nature, as well as\nall monuments of science throughout the ages.[2] It was the memory of\nthis scientific and religious absolute, of this doctrine summarised\nin a word, of this word alternately lost and recovered, which was\ntransmitted to the elect of all antique initiations. Whether preserved\nor profaned in the celebrated Order of the Temple, it was this same\nmemory handed on to secret associations of Rosicrucians, Illuminati\nand Freemasons which gave a meaning to their strange rites, to their\nless or more conventional signs, and a justification above all to their\ndevotion in common, as well as a clue to their power.\n\nThat profanation has befallen the doctrines and mysteries of Magic we\nhave no intention to deny; repeated from age to age, the misuse itself\nhas been a great and terrible lesson for those who made secret things\nunwisely known. The Gnostics caused the Gnosis to be prohibited by\nChristians, and the official sanctuary was closed to high initiation.\nThe hierarchy of knowledge was thus compromised by the intervention\nof usurping ignorance, while the disorders within the sanctuary were\nreproduced in the state, for, willingly or otherwise, the king always\ndepends from the priest, and it is towards the eternal _adytum_ of\ndivine instruction that earthly powers will ever look for consecration\nand for energy to insure their permanence.\n\nThe key of science has been thrown to children; as might have been\nexpected, it is now, therefore, mislaid and practically lost.\nThis notwithstanding, a man of high intuitions and great moral\ncourage, Count Joseph de Maistre, who was also a resolute catholic,\nacknowledging that the world was void of religion and could not so\nremain, turned his eyes instinctively towards the last sanctuaries\nof occultism and called, with heartfelt prayers, for that day when\nthe natural affinity which subsists between science and faith should\ncombine them in the mind of a single man of genius. \u201cThis will be\ngrand,\u201d said he; \u201cit will finish that eighteenth century which is still\nwith us.... We shall talk then of our present stupidity as we now\ndilate on the barbarism of the Middle Ages.\u201d\n\nThe prediction of Count Joseph de Maistre is in course of realisation;\nthe alliance of science and faith, accomplished long since, is here in\nfine made manifest, though not by a man of genius. Genius is not needed\nto see the sun, and, moreover, it has never demonstrated anything\nbut its rare greatness and its lights inaccessible to the crowd. The\ngrand truth demands only to be found, when the simplest will be able\nto comprehend it and to prove it also at need. At the same time that\ntruth will never become vulgar, because it is hierarchic and because\nanarchy alone humours the bias of the crowd. The masses are not in\nneed of absolute truths; were it otherwise, progress would be arrested\nand life would cease in humanity; the ebb and flow of contrary ideas,\nthe clash of opinions, the passions of the time, ever impelled by\nits dreams, are necessary to the intellectual growth of peoples. The\nmasses know it full well, and hence they desert so readily the chair of\ndoctors to collect about the rostrum of mountebanks. Some even who are\nassumed to be concerned in philosophy, and that perhaps especially, too\noften resemble the children playing at charades, who hasten to turn out\nthose who know the answer already, lest the game should be spoiled by\ndepriving the puzzle of the questions of all its interest.\n\n\u201cBlessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God\u201d has been said\nby Eternal Wisdom. Purity of heart therefore purifies intelligence,\nand rectitude of will makes for precision in understanding. Whosoever\nprefers truth and justice before all things shall have justice and\ntruth for his reward, because supreme Providence has endowed us with\nfreedom in order that we may attain life; and very truth, all its\nexactitude notwithstanding, intervenes only with mildness, never does\noutrage to tardiness or violence to the errors of our will when it is\nbeguiled by the allurements of falsehood.\n\nIt remains, however, according to Bossuet, that antecedent to anything\nwhich may please or repel our senses, there is a truth, and it is by\nthis that our conduct should be governed, not by our appetites. The\nKingdom of Heaven is not the empire of caprice, either in respect of\nman or God. \u201cA thing is not just because it is willed by God,\u201d said St.\nThomas, \u201cbut God wills it because it is just.\u201d The Divine Balance rules\nand necessitates eternal mathematics. \u201cGod has made all things with\nnumber, weight and measure\u201d\u2014here it is the Bible speaking.[3] Measure\nan angle of creation, make a proportionally progressive multiplication,\nand all infinity shall multiply its circles, peopled by universes,\npassing in proportional segments between the extending symbolical arms\nof your compass. Suppose now that, from whatever point of the infinite\nabove you, a hand holds another compass or square, then the lines of\nthe celestial triangle will meet of necessity those of the compass of\nscience and will form therewith the mysterious star of Solomon.[4]\n\n\u201cWith what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again,\u201d says\nthe Gospel. God does not strive with man that He may crush man by His\ngrandeur, and He never places unequal weights in His balance. When\nHe would test the strength of Jacob, He assumes the form of man; the\npatriarch withstands the onset through an entire night; at the end\nthere is a blessing for the conquered and, in addition to the glory of\nhaving sustained such a struggle, he is given the national title of\nIsrael, being a name which signifies\u2014Strong against God.[5]\n\nWe have heard Christians more zealous than instructed hazarding a\nstrange explanation of the dogma concerning eternal punishment by\nsuggesting that God may avenge infinitely an offence which itself\nis finite, because if the offender is limited the grandeur of the\noffended being is not. An emperor of the world might, on the strength\nof a similar pretext, sentence to death some unreasoning child who\nhad soiled accidentally the hem of his purple. Far otherwise are the\nprerogatives of greatness, and St. Augustine understood them better\nwhen he said that \u201cGod is patient because He is eternal.\u201d In God all\nis justice, seeing that all is goodness; He never forgives after the\nmanner of men, for He is never angered like them; but evil being, by\nits nature, incompatible with good, as night is with day, as discord\nis with harmony, and the liberty of man being furthermore inviolable,\nall error is expiated and all evil punished by suffering proportioned\nthereto. It is vain to invoke the help of Jupiter when our cart is\nstuck in the mud; unless we take pick and shovel, like the waggoner in\nthe fable, Heaven will not draw us out of the rut. Help yourself and\nGod will help you. In such a reasonable and wholly philosophical way\nis explained the possible and necessary eternity of punishment, with\nstill a narrow way open for man to escape therefrom\u2014being that of toil\nand repentance.[6]\n\nIt is by conformity with the rules of eternal power that man may unite\nhimself to the creative energy and become creator and preserver in his\nturn. God has not limited narrowly the number of rounds on Jacob\u2019s\nladder of light. Whatsoever Nature has constituted inferior to man\nis thereby to him made subject: it is for man to extend his domain\nin virtue of continual ascent. Length and even perpetuity of life,\nthe field of air and its storms, the earth and its metallic veins,\nlight and its wondrous illusions, darkness and the dreams thereof,\ndeath and its ghosts\u2014all these do therefore obey the royal sceptre\nof the magi, the shepherd\u2019s staff of Jacob and the terrible wand of\nMoses. The adept becomes king of the elements, transmuter of metals,\ninterpreter of visions, controller of oracles, master of life in fine,\naccording to the mathematical order of Nature and conformably to the\nwill of the Supreme Intelligence. This is Magic in all its glory. But\nis there anyone who in these days will dare to give credence to such\nwords? The answer is\u2014those who will study loyally and attain knowledge\nfrankly. We make no attempt to conceal truth under the veil of parables\nor hieroglyphical signs; the time has come when everything should\nbe told, and we propose to tell everything. It is our intention, in\nshort, to unveil that ever secret science which, as we have indicated,\nis hidden behind the shadows of ancient mysteries, which the Gnostics\nbetrayed clumsily, or rather disfigured unworthily, which is recognised\ndimly under the darkness shrouding the pretended crimes of Templars,\nwhich is met with once again beneath the now impenetrable enigmas of\nHigh-Grade Masonic Rites. We purpose further to bring into open day the\nfantastic King of the Sabbath, to expose the very roots of Black Magic\nand its frightful realities, long since surrendered to the derision of\nthe grand-children of Voltaire.\n\nFor a great number of readers Magic is the science of the devil\u2014even as\nthe science of light is identified with that of darkness. We confess\nboldly at the outset that we are not in terror of the devil. \u201cMy fear\nis for those who fear him,\u201d said St. Teresa. But we testify also that\nhe does not prompt our laughter and that the ridicule of which he is\noften the object seems to us exceedingly misplaced. However this may\nbe, it is our intention to bring him before the light of science.\nBut the devil and science\u2014the apposition of two names so strangely\nincongruous\u2014must seem to have disclosed the whole intent in view. If\nthe mystic personification of darkness be thus dragged into light,\nis it not to annihilate the phantom of falsehood in the presence of\ntruth? Is it not to dispel in the day all formless monsters of the\nnight? Superficial persons will think so and will condemn without\nhearing. Ill-instructed Christians will conclude that we are sapping\nthe fundamental dogma of their ethics by decrying hell; and others will\nquestion the utility of combating error in which, as they imagine,\nno one believes longer. It is, therefore, important to enunciate our\nobject clearly and establish our principles solidly.\n\nWe say, therefore, to Christians that the author of this book is a\nChristian like yourselves. His faith is that of a catholic strongly\nand deeply convinced; for this reason he does not come forward to deny\ndogmas, but to combat impiety under its most pernicious forms, which\nare those of false belief and superstition. He comes to drag from the\ndarkness the black successor of Ahriman, in order to expose in broad\nday his colossal impotence and redoubtable misery. He comes to make\nsubject the age-long problem of evil to the solutions of science, to\nuncrown the king of hell and to bow down his head at the foot of the\ncross. Is not virginal and maternal science\u2014that science of which Mary\nis the sweet and luminous image\u2014destined like her to crush the head of\nthe old serpent?\n\nThe author, on the other hand, would say to pretended philosophy: Why\nseek to deny that which you cannot understand? Is not the unbelief\nwhich affirms in the face of the unknown more precipitate and less\nconsoling than faith? Does the dreadful form of personified evil only\nprompt you to smile? Hear you not the ceaseless sobbing of humanity\nwhich writhes and weeps in the crushing folds of the monster? Have you\nnever heard the atrocious laugh of the evil-doer who is persecuting\nthe just man? Have you never experienced in yourselves the opening of\nthose infernal deeps which the genius of perversity furrows in every\nsoul? Moral evil exists\u2014such is the unhappy truth; it reigns in certain\nspirits; it incarnates in certain men; it is therefore personified, and\nthus demons exist; but the most wicked of these demons is Satan. More\nthan this I do not ask you to admit, and it will be difficult for you\nto grant me less.\n\nLet it be otherwise and clearly understood that science and faith\nrender mutual support to one another only in so far as their respective\nrealms remain inviolably distinct. What is it that we believe? That\nwhich we do not know absolutely, though we may yearn for it with all\nour strength. The object of faith is not more than an indispensable\nhypothesis for science; the things which are in the domain of knowledge\nmust never be judged by the processes of faith, nor, conversely, the\nthings of faith according to the measures of science. The end of faith\nis not scientifically debatable. \u201cI believe because it is absurd,\u201d\nsaid Tertullian; and this utterance\u2014paradoxical on the surface as it\nis\u2014belongs to the highest reason. As a fact, beyond all that we can\nsuppose rationally there is an infinite towards which we aspire with\nunquenchable thirst, and it eludes even our dreams. But is not the\ninfinite itself an absurdity for our finite appreciation? We feel all\nthe same that it is; the infinite invades us, overflows us, renders us\ndizzy at its abysses and crushes us by its awful height.\n\nScientifically probable hypotheses are one and all the last half-lights\nor shadows of science; faith begins where reason falls exhausted.\nBeyond human reason there is that Reason which is Divine\u2014for my\nweakness a supreme absurdity, but an infinite absurdity which confounds\nme, and in which I believe.\n\nThe good alone is infinite; evil is not; and hence if God be the\neternal object of faith, then the devil belongs to science. In which\nof the catholic creeds is there any question concerning him? Would it\nnot be blasphemy to say that we believe in him? In Holy Scripture he is\nnamed but not defined. Genesis makes no allusion to a reputed revolt\nof angels; it ascribes the fall of Adam to the serpent, as to the most\nsubtle and dangerous of living beings. We are acquainted with Christian\ntradition on this subject; but if that tradition is explicable by one\nof the greatest and most diffused allegories of science, what can such\nsolution signify to the faith which aspires only to God, which despises\nthe pomps and works of Lucifer?\n\nLucifer\u2014Light-Bearer\u2014how strange a name, attributed to the spirit of\ndarkness! Is it he who carries the light and yet blinds feeble souls?\nThe answer is yes, unquestionably; for traditions are full of divine\ndisclosures and inspirations. \u201cSatan himself is transformed into an\nangel of light,\u201d says St. Paul. And Christ Himself said: \u201cI beheld\nSatan as lightning fall from heaven.\u201d So also the prophet Isaiah:\n\u201cHow art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning.\u201d\nLucifer is then a fallen star\u2014a meteor which is on fire always, which\nburns when it enlightens no longer. But is this Lucifer a person or a\nforce, an angel or a strayed thunderbolt? Tradition supposes that it\nis an angel, but the Psalmist says: \u201cWho maketh his angels spirits;\nhis ministers a flaming fire.\u201d The word angel is applied in the Bible\nto all messengers of God\u2014emissaries or new creations, revealers or\nscourges, radiant spirits or brilliant objects. The shafts of fire\nwhich the Most High darts through the clouds are angels of His wrath,\nand such figurative language is familiar to all readers of eastern\npoetry.\n\nHaving been the world\u2019s terror through the period of the middle ages,\nthe devil has become its mockery.[7] Heir to the monstrous forms of all\nfalse gods cast down successively from their thrones, the grotesque\nscarecrow has turned into a mere bugbear through very deformity and\nhideousness. Yet observe as to this that those only dare to laugh\nat the devil who know not the fear of God. Can it be that for many\ndiseased imaginations he is God\u2019s own shadow, or is he not often the\nidol of degenerate souls who only understand supernatural power as the\nexercise of cruelty with impunity?\n\nBut it is important to ascertain whether the notion of this evil\npower can be reconciled with that of God\u2014in a word, whether the devil\nexists, and in such case what he is. There is no longer any question of\nsuperstition or of ridiculous invention; it is a question of religion\nalone and hence of the whole future, with all the interests, of\nhumanity.\n\nStrange reasoners indeed are we: we call ourselves strong-minded when\nwe are indifferent to everything except material advantages, as, for\nexample, money; and we leave to their own devices the ideas which are\nmothers of opinions and may, or at least can, by their sudden veering,\nupset all fortunes. A conquest of science is much more important than\nthe discovery of a gold mine. Given science, gold is utilised in the\nservice of life; given ignorance, wealth furnishes only destroying\nweapons.\n\nFor the rest, it is to be understood absolutely that our scientific\nrevelations pause in the presence of faith, that\u2014as Christian and\nCatholic\u2014our work is submitted entirely to the supreme judgment of the\nChurch. This said, to those who question the existence of a devil,\nwe would point out that whatsoever has a name exists; speech may be\nuttered in vain, but in itself it cannot be vain, and it has a meaning\ninvariably. The Word is never void, and if it be written that it is in\nGod, as also that it is God, this is because it is the expression and\nthe proof of being and of truth. The devil is named and personified in\nthe Gospel, which is the Word of truth; he exists therefore and can be\nconsidered as a person. But here it is the Christian who defers: let\nscience or reason speak; these two are one.[8]\n\nEvil exists; it is impossible to doubt it; we can work good or evil.\nThere are beings who work evil knowingly and willingly. The spirit\nwhich animates these beings and prompts them to do ill is bewrayed,\nturned aside from the right road, and thrown across the path of good as\nan obstacle; this is the precise meaning of the Greek word _diabolos_,\nwhich we render as devil. The spirits who love and perform evil are\naccidentally bad. There is therefore a devil who is the spirit of\nerror, wilful ignorance, vertigo; there are beings under his obedience\nwho are his envoys, emissaries, angels; and it is for this reason\nthat the Gospel speaks of an eternal fire which is prepared, and in\na sense predestined, for the devil and his angels. These words are\nthemselves a revelation, so let us search their meaning, giving, in\nthe first place, a concise definition of evil. Evil is the absence of\nrectitude in being. Moral evil is falsehood in action, as the lie is\na crime in speech. Injustice is of the essence of lying, and every\nlie is an injustice. When that which we utter is just, there is no\nfalsity. When that which we do is equitable and true in mode, there is\nno sin. Injustice is the death of moral being, as lying is the poison\nof intelligence. The false spirit is therefore a spirit of death.\nThose who hearken to him become his dupes and are by him poisoned. But\nif we had to take his absolute personification seriously, he would\nbe himself absolutely dead and absolutely deceived, which means that\nthe affirmation of his existence must imply a patent contradiction.\nJesus said that the devil is a liar like his father. Who then is the\nfather of the devil? Whosoever gives him a personal existence by living\nin accordance with his inspirations; the man who diabolises himself\nis the father of the incarnate spirit of evil. But there is a rash,\nimpious and monstrous conception, traditional like the pride of the\nPharisees, and in fine there is a hybrid creation which armed the\npaltry philosophy of the eighteenth century with an apparent defence.\nIt is the false Lucifer of the heterodox legend\u2014that angel proud enough\nto think that he was God, brave enough to buy independence at the\nprice of eternal torment, beautiful enough to worship himself in the\nplenary Divine Light; strong enough to reign still in darkness and in\ndole and to make a throne of his inextinguishable fire. It is the Satan\nof the heretical and republican Milton, the pretended hero of black\neternities, calumniated by deformity, bedecked with horns and talons\nwhich would better become his implacable tormentor. It is the devil who\nis king of evil, as if evil were a kingdom, who is more intelligent\nthan the men of genius that fear his wiles. It is (_a_) that black\nlight, that darkness with eyes, that power which God has not willed but\nwhich no fallen creature could create; (_b_) that prince of anarchy\nserved by a hierarchy of pure spirits;[9] (_c_) that exile of God who\non earth seems, like Him, everywhere, but is more tangible, is more\nfor the majority in evidence, and is served better than God himself;\n(_d_) that conquered one, to whom the victor gives his children that\nhe may devour them; (_e_) that artificer of sins of the flesh, to whom\nflesh is nothing, and who therefore can be nothing to flesh, unless\nindeed he be its creator and master, like God; (_f_) that immense,\nrealised, personified and eternal lie; (_g_) that death which cannot\ndie; (_h_) that blasphemy which the Word of God will never silence;\n(_i_) that poisoner of souls whom God tolerates by a contradiction of\nHis omnipotence or preserves as the Roman emperors guarded Locusta\namong the trophies of their reign; (_k_) that executed criminal, living\nstill to curse his Judge and still have a cause against him, since he\nwill never repent; (_l_) that monster accepted as executioner by the\nSovereign Power, and who, according to the forcible expression of an\nold catholic writer, may term God the God of the devil by describing\nhimself as a devil of God.\n\nSuch is the irreligious phantom which blasphemes religion. Away with\nthis idol which hides our Saviour. Down with the tyrant of falsehood,\nthe black god of Manicheans, the Ahriman of old idolaters. Live God and\nHis Word incarnate, who saw Satan fall from heaven. And live Mary, the\nDivine Mother, who crushed the head of the infernal serpent.\n\nSo cry with one voice the traditions of saints, and so cry faithful\nhearts. The attribution of any greatness whatsoever to a fallen spirit\nis a slander on Divinity; the ascription of any royalty whatsoever\nto the rebel spirit is to encourage revolt and be guilty, at least\nin thought, of that crime which the horror of the middle ages termed\nsorcery. For all the offences visited with death on the old sorcerers\nwere real crimes and were indeed the greatest of all. They stole fire\nfrom heaven, like Prometheus; they rode winged dragons and the flying\nserpent, like Medea; they poisoned the breathable air, like the shadow\nof the manchineel tree; they profaned sacred things and even used the\nbody of the Lord in works of destruction and malevolence.\n\nHow is all this possible? Because there is a composite agent, a natural\nand divine agent, at once corporeal and spiritual, an universal\nplastic mediator, a common receptacle for vibrations of movement and\nimages of form, a fluid and a force which may be called, in a sense\nat least, the imagination of Nature. By the mediation of this force\nevery nervous apparatus is in secret communication together; hence come\nsympathy and antipathy, hence dreams, hence the phenomena of second\nsight and extra-natural vision. This universal agent of Nature\u2019s works\nis the _Od_ of the Jews and of Reichenbach, the Astral Light of the\nMartinists,[10] which denomination we prefer as the more explicit.\n\nThe existence and possible employment of this force constitute the\ngreat secret of Practical Magic; it is the Wand of Thaumaturgy and the\nKey of Black Magic. It is the Edenic serpent who transmitted to Eve\nthe seductions of a fallen angel. The Astral Light warms, illuminates,\nmagnetises, attracts, repels, vivifies, destroys, coagulates,\nseparates, breaks and conjoins everything, under the impetus of\npowerful wills. God created it on the first day, when He said: \u201cLet\nthere be light.\u201d This force of itself is blind but is directed by\n_Egregores_, that is, by chiefs of souls, or, in other words, by\nenergetic and active spirits.[11]\n\nHerein is the complete explanatory theory of prodigies and miracles.\nHow, as a fact, could good and bad alike compel Nature to reveal her\nhidden forces, how could there be divine and diabolical miracles, how\ncould the reprobate and bewrayed spirit have more power in certain\nways and cases than the just spirit, which is in truth so powerful in\nsimplicity and wisdom, unless we postulate an instrument which all can\nuse, upon certain conditions, but some for the great good and others\nfor the great evil?\n\nPharaoh\u2019s magicians accomplished at first the same miracles as Moses.\nThe instrument which they used was therefore the same; the inspiration\nalone differed; when they confessed themselves conquered, they\nproclaimed that, for them, human powers had reached their limit, and\nthat there must be something superhuman in Moses.[12] This took place\nin Egypt, that mother of magical initiations, that land where it was\nall occult science, hierarchic and sacred instruction. Was it, however,\nmore difficult to make flies appear than frogs? No, assuredly; but\nthe magicians knew that the fluidic projection by which the eyes are\nbiologised cannot proceed beyond certain bounds, and these had been\npassed already by Moses.[13]\n\nA particular phenomenon occurs when the brain is congested or\novercharged by Astral Light; sight is turned inward, instead of\noutward; night falls on the external and real world, while fantastic\nbrilliance shines on the world of dreams; even the physical eyes\nexperience a slight quivering and turn up inside the lids. The soul\nthen perceives by means of images the reflection of its impressions and\nthoughts. This is to say that the analogy subsisting between idea and\nform attracts in the Astral Light a reflection representing that form,\nconfiguration being the essence of the vital light; it is the universal\nimagination, of which each of us appropriates a lesser or greater part\naccording to our grade of sensibility and memory. Therein is the source\nof all apparitions, all extraordinary visions and all the intuitive\nphenomena peculiar to madness or ecstasy.\n\nThe appropriation or assimilation of the light by clairvoyant\nsensibility is one of the greatest phenomena which can be studied by\nscience. It may be understood in a day to come that seeing is actually\nspeaking and that the consciousness of light is a twilight of eternal\nlife in being. The word of God Himself, Who creates light, and is\nuttered by all intelligence that conceives of forms and seeks to\nvisualise them. \u201cLet there be light.\u201d Light in the mode of brightness\nexists only for eyes which look thereon, and the soul enamoured with\nthe pageant of universal beauty, and fixing its attention on that\nluminous script of the endless book which is called things manifest,\nseems to cry on its own part, as God at the dawn of the first day, the\nsublime and creative words: _Fiat lux_.\n\nWe do not all see with the same eyes, and creation is not for all\nthe same in colour and form. Our brain is a book printed within and\nwithout, and with the smallest degree of excitement, the writing\nbecomes blurred, as occurs continually in cases of intoxication\nand madness. Dream then triumphs over real life and plunges reason\nin a sleep which knows no waking. This condition of hallucination\nhas its degrees; all passions are intoxications; all enthusiasms\nare comparative and graduated manias. The lover sees only infinite\nperfections encompassing that object by which he is fascinated. But,\nunhappy infatuation of voluptuaries, to-morrow this odour of wine which\nallures him will become a repugnant reminiscence, causing a thousand\nloathings and a thousand disgusts.\n\nTo understand the use of this force, but never to be obsessed and never\novercome thereby, is to trample on the serpent\u2019s head, and it is this\nwhich we learn from the Magic of Light; in such secrets are contained\nall mysteries of magnetism, which name can indeed be applied to the\nwhole practical part of antique Transcendental Magic. Magnetism is\nthe wand of miracles, but it is this for initiates only; for rash and\nuninstructed people, who would sport with it or make it subserve their\npassions, it is as dangerous as that consuming glory which, according\nto the allegorical fable, destroyed the too ambitious Semele in the\nembraces of Jupiter.\n\nOne of the great benefits of magnetism is that it demonstrates by\nincontestable facts the spirituality, unity and immortality of the\nsoul; and these things once made certain, God is manifested to all\nintelligences and all hearts. Thereafter, from the belief in God and\nfrom the harmonies of creation, we are led to that great religious\nharmony which does not exist outside the miraculous and lawful\nhierarchy of the Catholic Church, for this alone has preserved all\ntraditions of science and faith.\n\n[Illustration: THE GREAT SYMBOL OF SOLOMON]\n\nThe primal tradition of the one and only revelation has been preserved\nunder the name of Kabalah by the priesthood of Israel. Kabalistic\ndoctrine, which is that of Transcendental Magic, is contained in the\n_Sepher Yetzirah_, the _Zohar_ and the _Talmud_.[14] According to\nthis doctrine, the absolute is Being, and therein is the Word, which\nexpresses the reason of Being and of life. The principle therefore is\nthat Being is being, \u05d0\u05d4\u05d9\u05d4 \u05d0\u05e9\u05d3 \u05d0\u05d4\u05d9\u05d4. In the beginning the Word was,\nwhich means that it is, has been and shall be; and this is reason\nwhich speaks. In the beginning was the Word. The Word is the reason of\nbelief, and therein also is the expression of that faith which gives\nlife to science. The Word, or Logos, is the wellspring of logic. Jesus\nis the Incarnate Word. The concord of reason with faith, of science\nwith belief, of authority with liberty, has become in these modern days\nthe real enigma of the sphinx. Coincidentally with this great problem\nthere has come forward that which concerns the respective rights of\nman and woman. This was inevitable, for between the several terms of\na great and supreme question, there is a constant analogy, and the\ndifficulties, like the correspondences, are invariably the same.\nThe loosening of this Gordian knot of philosophy and modern politics\nis rendered apparently paradoxical, because in order to effect an\nagreement between the terms of the required equation, there is always\na tendency to confuse the one with the other. If there is anything\nthat deserves to be called supreme absurdity, it is to inquire how\nfaith becomes a reason, reason a belief and liberty an authority; or\nreciprocally, how the woman becomes a man and the man a woman. The\ndefinitions themselves intervene against such confusion, and it is by\nmaintaining a perfect distinction between the terms, and so only, that\nwe can bring them into agreement. The perfect and eternal distinction\nbetween the two primal terms of the creative syllogism, for the\ndemonstration of their harmony in virtue of the analogy of opposites,\nis the second great principle of that occult philosophy veiled under\nthe name of Kabalah and indicated by all sacred hieroglyphics of the\nold sanctuaries, as by the rites, even now understood so little, of\nancient and modern Masonry.\n\nWe read in Scripture that Solomon erected two brazen columns before\nthe door of his Temple, one of them being called _Jachin_ and the\nother _Boaz_, meaning the strong and the weak.[15] These two pillars\nrepresented man and woman, reason and faith, power and liberty, Cain\nand Abel, right and duty. They were pillars of the intellectual and\nmoral world, the monumental hieroglyphic of the antinomy inevitable to\nthe grand law of creation. The meaning is that every force postulates\na resistance on which it can work, every light a shadow as its foil,\nevery convex a concave, every influx a receptacle, every reign a\nkingdom, every sovereign a people, every workman a first matter, every\nconqueror something to overcome. Affirmation rests on negation, the\nstrong can only triumph because of weakness, the aristocracy cannot\nbe manifested except by rising above the people. For the weak to\nbecome strong, for the people to acquire an aristocratic position,\nis a question of transformation and of progress, but it is without\nprejudice to the first principles; the weak will be ever the weak and\nit matters nothing if they are not always the same persons. The people\nin like manner will ever remain the people, the mass which is ruled\nand is not capable of ruling. In the vast army of inferiors, every\npersonal emancipation is an automatic desertion, which, happily, is\nimperceptible because it is replaced, also automatically; a king-nation\nor a people of kings would presuppose the slavery of the world and\nanarchy in a single city, outside all discipline, as at Rome in the\ndays of its greatest glory. A nation of sovereigns would be inevitably\nas anarchic as a class of experts or of scholars who deemed that they\nwere masters; there would be none to listen; all would dogmatise and\nall give orders at once.\n\nThe radical emancipation of womanhood falls within the same category.\nIf, integrally and radically, the woman leaves the passive and enters\nthe active condition, she abdicates her sex and becomes man, or\nrather, as such a transformation is impossible physically, she attains\naffirmation by a double negation, placing herself outside both sexes,\nlike a sterile and monstrous androgyne. These are strict consequences\nof the great Kabalistic dogma respecting that distinction of contraries\nwhich reaches harmony by the analogy of their proportions. This\ndogma once recognised, and the application of its results being made\nuniversally by the law of analogies, will mean a discovery of the\ngreatest secrets concerning maternal sympathy and antipathy; it will\nmean also a discovery of the science of government in things political,\nin marriage, in all branches of occult medicine, whether magnetism,\nhom\u0153opathy, or moral influence. Moreover, and as it is intended to\nexplain, the law of equilibrium in analogy leads to the discovery of an\nuniversal agent which was the Grand Secret of alchemists and magicians\nin the middle ages. It has been said that this agent is a light of life\nby which animated beings are rendered magnetic, electricity being only\nits accident and transient perturbation, so to speak. The practice\nof that marvellous Kabalah to which we shall turn shortly, for the\nsatisfaction of those who look, in the secret sciences, after emotions\nrather than wise teachings, reposes entirely in the knowledge and use\nof this agent.\n\nThe religion of the Kabalists is at once hypothesis and certitude,\nfor it proceeds from known to unknown by the help of analogy. They\nrecognise religion as a need of humanity, as an evident and necessary\nfact, and it is this alone which for them is divine, permanent and\nuniversal revelation. They dispute about nothing which is, but\nthey provide the reason for everything. So also their doctrine, by\ndistinguishing clearly the line of demarcation which must exist for\never between science and faith, provides a basis for faith in the\nhighest reason, guaranteeing its incontestable and permanent duration.\nAfter this come the popular forms of doctrine, which alone can vary\nand alone destroy one another; the Kabalist is not only undisturbed by\ntrivialities of this kind, but can provide on the spot a reason for the\nmost astonishing formul\u00e6. It follows that his prayer can be joined to\nthat of humanity at large, to direct it by illustrations from science\nand reason and draw it into orthodox channels. If Mary be mentioned,\nhe will revere the realisation in her of all that is divine in the\ndreams of innocence, all that is adorable in the sacred enthusiasm of\nevery maternal heart. It is not he who will refuse flowers to adorn\nthe altars of the Mother of God, or white banners for her chapels, or\neven tears for her ingenuous legends. It is not he who will mock at the\nnew-born God weeping in the manger or the wounded victim of Calvary.\nHe repeats nevertheless, from the bottom of his heart, like the sages\nof Israel and the faithful believers of Islam: There is no God but\nGod. For the initiates of true science, this signifies: There is but\none Being, and this is Being. But all that is expedient and touching\nin beliefs, but the splendour of rituals, the pageant of divine\ncreations, the grace of prayers, the magic of heavenly hopes\u2014are not\nthese the radiance of moral life in all its youth and beauty? Could\nanything alienate the true initiate from public prayers and temples,\ncould anything raise his disgust or indignation against religious\nforms of all kinds, it would be the manifest unbelief of priests or\npeople, want of dignity in the ceremonies of the cultus\u2014in a word, the\nprofanation of holy things. God is truly present when He is worshipped\nby recollected souls and feeling hearts; He is absent, sensibly and\nterribly, when discussed without light or zeal\u2014that is to say, without\nunderstanding or love.\n\nThe adequate conception of God according to instructed Kabalism is that\nwhich was revealed by St. Paul when he said that to attain God we must\nbelieve that He is and that He recompenses those who seek Him out. So\nis there nothing outside the idea of being, in combination with the\nidea of goodness and justice: these alone are absolute. To say that\nthere is no God or to define what He is, constitutes equal blasphemy.\nEvery definition of God hazarded by human intelligence is a recipe\nof religious empiricism, out of which superstition will subsequently\nextract a devil.\n\nIn Kabalistic symbolism the representation of God is always by a\nduplicated image\u2014one erect, the other reversed; one white, and the\nother black.[16] In such manner did the sages seek to express the\nintelligent and vulgar conceptions of the same idea\u2014that of the God of\nlight and the God of shadow. To the miscomprehension of this symbol\nmust be referred the Persian Ahriman\u2014that black but divine ancestor of\nall demons. The dream of the infernal king is but a false notion of God.\n\nLight in the absence of shadow would be invisible for our eyes, since\nit would produce an overpowering brilliance equal to the greatest\ndarkness. In the analogies of this physical truth, understood and\nconsidered adequately, a solution will be found for one of the most\nterrible of problems, the origin of evil. But to grasp it fully,\ntogether with all its consequences, is not meant for the multitude, who\nmust not penetrate so readily into the secrets of universal harmony.\nIt was only after the initiate of the Eleusinian mysteries had passed\nvictoriously through all the tests, had seen and touched the holy\nthings, that, if he were judged strong enough to withstand the last and\nmost dreadful secret, a veiled priest passed him at flying pace and\nuttered in his ear the enigmatic words: Osiris is a black god. So was\nOsiris\u2014of whom Typhon is the oracle\u2014and so was the divine religious\nsun of Egypt, eclipsed suddenly, becoming the shadow of that grand,\nindefinable Isis who is all that has been and shall be, and whose\neternal veil has no one lifted.\n\nLight is the active principle for Kabalists, while darkness is\nanalogous to the passive principle, for which reason they regarded the\nsun and moon as emblems of the two divine sexes and the two creative\nforces. So also they attributed to woman the first temptation and sin,\nand subsequently the first labour\u2014the maternal labour of redemption:\nit is from the bosom of the dark itself that light is reborn. The void\nattracts the _plenum_, and thus the abyss of poverty and wretchedness,\npretended evil, seeming nothingness and the ephemeral rebellion of\ncreatures, attracts eternally an ocean of being, wealth, mercy and\nlove. This interprets the symbol of the Christ descending into hell\nafter pouring out upon the cross all immensities of the most marvellous\nforgiveness.\n\nBy the same law of harmony in the analogy of opposites the Kabalists\nexplain also all mysteries of sexual love. Why is this passion more\npermanent between two unequal natures and two contrary characters? Why\nis there in love one always who immolates and one who is victim? Why\nare the most obstinate passions those the satisfaction of which would\nseem impossible? By this law also they would have decided once and for\never the question of precedence between the sexes, as brought forward\nin all seriousness by the Saint-Simonism of our own day. The natural\nstrength of woman being that of inertia or resistance, they would have\nruled that modesty is the most imprescriptible of her rights, and hence\nthat she must neither perform nor desire anything demanding a species\nof masculine boldness. Nature has otherwise provided to this end by\ngiving her a soft voice, not to be heard in large assemblies, unless\nraised to a ridiculously discordant pitch. She who would aspire to the\nfunctions of the opposite sex must forfeit thereby the prerogatives of\nher own. We know not to what point she may arrive in the ruling of men,\nbut it is certain at least that in reaching it she will lose the love\nof men and, that which will be more cruel for her, the love of children.\n\nThe conjugal law of the Kabalists[17] furnishes further, by analogy,\na solution of the most interesting and difficult problem of modern\nphilosophy, being the agreement between reason and faith, authority\nand liberty of conscience, science and belief. If science be the sun,\nbelief is the moon\u2014a reflection of day amidst night. Faith is the\nsupplement of reason in the darkness left by science before and behind\nit. It emanates from reason but can neither be confounded therewith nor\nbring it to confusion. The trespasses of reason upon faith or of faith\nupon reason are eclipses of sun or moon. When they come about, both\nsource and reflector of light are rendered useless.\n\nScience perishes on account of systems which are no other than beliefs\nand faith succumbs to reason. In order to sustain the edifice, the\ntwo pillars of the temple must be parallel and separate. When they\nare brought by force together, as Samson brought them, they are\nthrown down, and the whole building collapses on the blind zealot or\nrevolutionary, whose personal or national resentment has destined him\nbeforehand to death. The struggles between the spiritual and temporal\npowers at all periods of humanity have been quarrels over domestic\nmanagement. The papacy has been a jealous mother, seeking to supplant a\nhusband in the temporal power, and she has lost the confidence of her\nchildren, while the temporal power in its usurpation of the priesthood\nis not less ridiculous than a man who should pretend to know better\nthan a mother how to manage the home and nursery. The English, for\nexample, from the moral and religious point of view, are like children\nswaddled by men, as we may appreciate by their spleen and dulness.\n\nIf religious doctrine is comparable to a nurse\u2019s story, on the\nunderstanding that it is ingenious and beneficial morally, it is\nperfectly true for the child, and the father would be very foolish\nto contradict it. Give therefore to mothers a monopoly in tales of\nfaerie, in songs and household solicitudes. Maternity is a type of the\npriesthoods, and it is because the Church must be a mother only that\nthe catholic priest renounces the right of man and transfers in advance\nto herself his claim on fatherhood. It must never be forgotten that\nthe papacy is either nothing or that it is the universal mother. It\nmay be even that Pope Joan, out of which protestants have constructed\na tale of scandal, is only an ingenious allegory, and when sovereign\npontiffs have ill-used Emperors and Kings, it has been Pope Joan trying\nto beat her husband, to the great scandal of the Christian world. So\nalso schisms and heresies have been other conjugal quarrels; the Church\nand Protestantism speak evil one of another, lament one another, make\na show of avoiding and being weary one of another, like spouses living\napart.\n\nIt is by the Kabalah, and this alone, that all is explained and\nreconciled. All other doctrines are vivified and made fruitful thereby;\nit destroys nothing but, on on the contrary, gives reason to all that\nis. So all the forces of the world are at the service of this one and\nsupreme science, while the true Kabalist can make use at his pleasure,\nwithout hypocrisy and without falsehood, of the science possessed\nby the wise and the zeal of believers. He is more catholic than M.\nde Maistre, more protestant than Luther, more Jewish than the chief\nrabbi, and a prophet more than Mahomet. Is he not above systems and the\npassions which darken truth? Can he not at will bring together their\nscattered rays, so variously reflected in all the fragments of that\nbroken mirror which is universal faith\u2014fragments which are taken by\nmen for so many opposite beliefs? There is one being, one law and one\nfaith, as there is only one race of man\u2014 \u05d0\u05d4\u05d9\u05d4 \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d0\u05d4\u05d9\u05d4.\n\nOn such intellectual and moral heights it will be understood that the\nhuman mind and heart enter into the deep peace. \u201cPeace profound, my\nbrethren\u201d\u2014such was the master-word of High-Grade Masonry, being the\nassociation of Kabalistic initiates.[18]\n\nThe war which the Church has been forced to make against Magic was\nnecessitated by the profanations of false Gnostics, but the true\nscience of the Magi is catholic essentially, basing all its realisation\non the hierarchic principle. Now, the only serious and absolute\nhierarchy is found in the Catholic Church, and hence true adepts have\nalways shewn for it the deepest respect and obedience. Henry Khunrath\nalone was a resolute protestant, but in this he was a German of his\nperiod rather than a mystic citizen of the eternal Kingdom.[19]\n\nThe essence of anti-christianity is exclusion and heresy; it is the\npartition of the body of Christ, according to the beautiful expression\nof St. John: _Omnis spiritus qui solvit Christum hic Antichristus est_.\nThe reason is that religion is charity and that there is no charity in\nanarchy. Magic had also its anarchists, its makers and adherents of\nsects, its thaumaturgists and sorcerers. Our design is to vindicate\nthe legality of the science from the usurpations of ignorance, fraud\nand folly; it is in this respect more especially that our work will\nstand to be useful, as it will be also entirely new. So far the History\nof Magic has been presented as annals of a thing prejudged, or as\nchronicles\u2014less or more exact\u2014of a sequence in phenomena, seeing that\nno one believed that Magic belonged to science. A serious account\nof this science in its rediscovery, so to speak, must set forth its\ndevelopments or progress. We are walking in open sanctuary instead of\namong ruins, and we find that the Holy Places, so long buried under the\nd\u00e9bris of four civilisations, have been preserved more wonderfully than\nthe mummified cities which excavation has unearthed, in all their dead\nbeauty and desolate majesty, beneath the lava of Vesuvius.\n\nBossuet in his magnificent work has shewn us religion bound up\neverywhere with history; but what would he have said had he known\nthat a science which, in a sense, was born with the world, provides\nan explanation of primeval dogmas, belonging to the one and universal\nreligion, in virtue of their combination with the most incontestable\ntheorems of mathematics and reason? Dogmatic Magic is the key of all\nsecrets as yet unfathomed by the philosophy of history, while Practical\nMagic alone opens the Secret Temple of Nature to that power of human\nwill which is ever limited, yet ever progressive.\n\nWe are far from any impious pretence of explaining the mysteries of\nreligion by means of Magic, but our intention is to indicate after what\nmanner science is compelled to accept and revere those mysteries.[20]\nIt shall be said no longer that reason must humble itself in the\npresence of faith; on the contrary, it must do honour to itself by\nbelieving, since it is faith which saves reason from the horrors of\nthe void on the brink of the abyss, and it is its bond of union with\nthe infinite. Orthodoxy in religion is respect for the hierarchy as\nthe sole guardian of unity. Let us therefore not fear to repeat that\nMagic is essentially the Science of the Hierarchy, remembering clearly\nthat, before all things else, it condemns anarchic doctrines, while it\ndemonstrates, by the very laws of Nature, that harmony is inseparable\nboth from power and authority.\n\nThe chief attraction of Magic for the great number of curious persons\nis that they see therein an exceptional means for the satisfaction of\ntheir passions. The unbeliever\u2019s horizon is of the same order. The\navaricious would deny that there is any secret of Hermes corresponding\nto the transmutation of metals, for otherwise they would buy it and\nso enjoy wealth. But they are fools who believe that such a secret is\nsold. Of what use would be money to those who could make gold? That is\ntrue, says the sceptic, but if you, \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi, possessed it, would\nyou not be richer than we are? Who has told you that I am poor? Have I\nasked for anything at your hands? Where is the sovereign in the world\nwho can boast that he has acquired from me any secret of science? Where\nis the millionaire whom I have given reason to believe that I would set\nmy fortune against his? When we look at earthly wealth from beneath it,\nwe may yearn for it as the sovereign felicity, but it is despised when\nwe consider it from above and when one realises how little temptation\nthere can be to recover that which has been dropped as if it were hot\niron.\n\nBut apart from this, a young man will exclaim that if magical secrets\nwere true, he would attain them that he might be loved by all women.\nNothing of the sort; a day will come, poor child, when it will be too\nmuch to be loved by one of them, for sensual desire is a dual orgie,\nthe intoxication of which causes disgust to supervene quickly, after\nwhich anger and separation follow. There was once an old idiot who\nwould have liked to have become a magician in order to upset the world.\nBut if you were a magician, my hero, you would not be an imbecile, and\nbefore the tribunal of your conscience you would find no extenuating\ncircumstances, did you become a criminal.\n\nThe Epicurean, on his part, demands the recipes of Magic, that he may\nenjoy for ever and suffer nothing at all. In this case the science\nitself intervenes and says, as religion also says: Blessed are those\nwho suffer. But that is the reason why the Epicurean has lost faith in\nreligion. \u201cBlessed are those who mourn\u201d\u2014but the Epicurean scoffs at the\npromise. Hear now what is said by experience and by reason. Sufferings\ntest and awaken generous sentiments; pleasures promote and fortify base\ninstincts. Sufferings arm against pleasure; enjoyment begets weakness\nin suffering. Pleasure squanders; pain ingarners. Pleasure is man\u2019s\nrock of peril; the pain of motherhood is woman\u2019s triumph. Pleasure\nfertilises and conceives but pain brings forth.[21] Woe to him who\ncannot and will not suffer; he shall be overwhelmed by pain. Nature\ndrives unmercifully those who will not walk; we are cast into life as\ninto an open sea: we must swim or drown. Such are the laws of Nature,\nas taught by Transcendent Magic. And now reconsider whether one can\nbecome a magician in order to enjoy everything and suffer nothing. Yet\nthe world will ask: In such case, what profits Magic? What would the\nprophet Balaam have replied to his she-ass had the patient brute asked\nhim what profits intelligence? What would Hercules have answered to\na pigmy if he had inquired what profits strength? We do not compare\nworldly people to pigmies and still less to Balaam\u2019s ass: it would\nbe wanting in politeness and good taste. We say therefore, with all\npossible graciousness, to such brilliant and amiable people, that for\nthem Magic is absolutely useless, it being understood further that they\nwill never take it seriously. Our work is addressed to souls that toil\nand think. They will find an explanation therein of whatsoever has\nremained obscure in our _Doctrine and Ritual_. On the pattern of the\nGreat Masters, we have followed the rational order of sacred numbers in\nthe plan and division of our works, for which reason this History of\nMagic is arranged in seven books, having seven chapters in each. The\nfirst book is dedicated to the Sources of Magic; it is the genesis of\nthat science, and we have provided it with a key in the letter _Aleph_\nexpressing Kabalistically the original and primal unity. The second\nbook contains historical and social formul\u00e6 of the magical word in\nantiquity; its seal is the letter _Beth_, symbolising the duad as an\nexpression of the word which realises, the special character of the\nGnosis and occultism. The third book is concerned with the realisations\nof antique science in Christian society. It shews after what manner,\neven for science itself, the word takes flesh. The number three is that\nof generation, of realisation, and the key of this book is the letter\n_Gimel_, a hieroglyph of birth. We are introduced in the fourth book\nto the civilising power of Magic among barbarous races, to the natural\nproductions of this science amidst peoples still in their childhood,\nto the mysteries of Druids and their miracles, to the legends of\nbards, and it is shewn after what manner these things concurred in the\nformation of modern societies, thus preparing a brilliant and permanent\nvictory for Christianity. The number four expresses Nature and force,\nwhile the letter _Daleth_, which stands for it in the Hebrew alphabet,\nis represented in that of the Kabalists by an emperor on his throne.\nThe fifth book is consecrated to the sacerdotal era of the middle\nages, and we are present at the dissensions and struggles of science,\nthe formation of secret societies, their unknown achievements, the\nsecret rites of grimoires, the mysteries of the _Divine Comedy_,\nthe divisions within the sanctuary which must lead later on to a\nglorious unity. The number five is that of the quintessence, religion\nand the priesthood; its character is the letter _He_, represented in\nthe magical alphabet by the symbol of a high priest. The sixth book\nexhibits the intervention of Magic in the work of the Revolution.\nThe number six is that of antagonism and strife in preparation for\nuniversal synthesis, and the corresponding letter is _Vau_, symbol of\nthe creative _lingam_ and the reaper\u2019s sickle. The seventh book is\nsynthetic, containing an exposition of modern workings and discoveries,\nnew theories on light and magnetism, the revelation of the great\nRosicrucian secret, the explanation of mysterious alphabets, the\nscience of the word and its magical works, in fine, the summary of the\nscience itself, including an appreciation of what has been accomplished\nby contemporaneous mystics. This book is the complement and the crown\nof the work, as the septenary is the crown of numbers, uniting the\ntriangle of idea to the square of form. Its corresponding letter is\n_Zain_, and the Kabalistic hieroglyphic is a victor mounted on a\nchariot, drawn by two sphinxes.[22]\n\nFar from us be the ridiculous vanity of posing as a Kabalistic victor;\nit is the science alone which should triumph; and that which we expose\nbefore the intelligent world, mounted on the cubic chariot and drawn\nby sphinxes, is the Word of Light, the Divine Fulfiller of the Mosaic\nKabalah, the human Sun of the Gospel, that man-God who has come once\nas Saviour and will manifest soon as Messiah, that is, as definitive\nand absolute king of temporal institutions. It is this thought which\nanimates our courage and sustains our hope. But now it remains to\nsubmit all our conceptions, all our discoveries and all our labours\nto the infallible judgment of the hierarchy. To the authorised men\nof science be that which belongs to science, but the things which\nconnect with religion are set apart to the Church alone and to that one\nhierarchic Church, the preserver of unity, which has been catholic,\napostolic and Roman from the days of Christ Jesus to our own. To\nscholars our discoveries, to bishops our aspirations and beliefs. Woe\nto the child who believes himself wiser than his parents, to the man\nwho acknowledges no masters, to that dreamer who thinks and prays\nby himself. Life is an universal communion and in such communion do\nwe find immortality. He who isolates himself is given over to death\nthereby and an eternity of isolation would be eternal death.\n\n \u00c9LIPHAS L\u00c9VI.\n\n\n\n\n BOOK I\n\n _THE DERIVATIONS OF MAGIC_\n\n \u05d0\u2014ALEPH\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER I\n\n FABULOUS SOURCES\n\n\nThe apocryphal _Book of Enoch_ says that there were angels who\nconsented to fall from heaven that they might have intercourse with\nthe daughters of earth.[23] \u201cFor in those days the sons of men having\nmultiplied, there were born to them daughters of great beauty. And\nwhen the angels, or sons of heaven, beheld them, they were filled with\ndesire; wherefore they said to one another: \u2018Come, let us choose wives\nfrom among the race of man, and let us beget children.\u2019 Their leader,\nSamyasa, answered thereupon and said: \u2018Perchance you will be wanting in\nthe courage needed to fulfil this resolution, and then I alone shall be\nanswerable for your fall.\u2019 But they swore that they would in no wise\nrepent and that they would achieve their whole design. Now there were\n200 who descended on Mount Armon, and it was from this time that the\nmountain received its designation, which signifies Mount of the Oath.\nHereinafter follow the names of those angelic leaders who descended\nwith this object: Samyasa, chief among all, Urakabarameel, Azibeel,\nTamiel, Ramuel, Danel, Azkeel, Sarakuyal, Asael, Armers, Batraal,\nAnane, Zavebe, Samsaveel, Ertrael, Turel, Jomiael, Arazial. They took\nwives, with whom they had intercourse, to whom also they taught Magic,\nthe art of enchantment and the diverse properties of roots and trees.\nAmazarac gave instruction in all secrets of sorcerers; Barkaial was\nthe master of those who study the stars; Akibeel manifested signs; and\nAzaradel taught the motions of the moon.\u201d\n\nThis legend of the Kabalistic Book of Enoch is a variant account of\nthe same profanation of Mysteries which we meet with under another\nform of symbolism in the history of the sin of Adam. Those angels, the\nsons of God, of whom Enoch speaks, were initiates of Magic, and it was\nthis that they communicated to profane men, using incautious women\nas their instruments. They split upon the rock of sense-attraction,\nbecoming enamoured of the female sex, and the secrets of royalty and\npriesthood were extracted from them unawares. Primitive civilisation\ncollapsed as a consequence, and the giants, who typified brute force\nand unbridled appetite, fought together for the world, which escaped\nonly by immersion in the waters of the deluge, wherein all traces of\nthe past were effaced. This deluge symbolised that universal confusion\ninto which humanity is brought of necessity when it ignores and does\noutrage to the harmonies of Nature.[24] There is kinship between the\nfall of Samyasa and that of Adam; the lure of sense seduced both;\nboth profaned the Tree of Knowledge; and both were driven far away from\nthe Tree of Life. It is needless here to discuss the views, or rather\nthe simplicity, of those who take everything literally and believe that\nknowledge and life were once manifested under the form of trees; let\nus confess rather and only to the deep meaning of sacred symbols. The\nTree of Knowledge does actually inflict death when its fruit is eaten;\nthat fruit is the adornment of this world; those golden apples are the\nglitter of earth.\n\n[Illustration: THE MAGICAL HEAD OF THE ZOHAR]\n\nIn the Arsenal Library there is a very curious manuscript entitled\n_The Book of the Penitence of Adam_, and herein Kabalistic tradition\nis presented under the guise of legend to the following effect: \u201cAdam\nhad two sons\u2014Cain, who signifies brute force, and Abel, the type of\nintelligence and mildness. Agreement was impossible between them; they\nperished at each other\u2019s hands; and their inheritance passed to a third\nson, named Seth.\u201d Here is the conflict of two opposing forces diverted\nto the advantage of a synthetic and united force. \u201cNow Seth, who was\njust, was permitted to approach as far as the entrance of the Earthly\nParadise, without being threatened by the Kerub and his flaming sword.\u201d\nIn other words, Seth represented primeval initiation. \u201cIt came to pass\nin this manner that Seth beheld the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of\nLife, incorporated together after such a manner that they formed but\na single tree\u201d\u2014signifying the harmony of science and religion in the\ntranscendental Kabalah. \u201cAnd the angel gave him three seeds containing\nthe vital power of the said tree.\u201d The reference is here to the\nKabalistic triad. \u201cWhen Adam died, Seth, in obedience to the directions\nof the angel, placed the three seeds in the mouth of his father, as a\ntoken of eternal life. The saplings which sprang up from these, became\nthe Burning Bush, in the midst of which God communicated to Moses his\nEternal Name\u2014\n\n \u05d0\u05d4\u05d9\u05d4 \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d0\u05d4\u05d9\u05d4\n\nsignifying He Who is and is to come. Moses plucked a triple branch of\nthe sacred bush and used it as his miraculous wand. Although separated\nfrom its root, the branch continued to live and blossom, and it was\nsubsequently preserved in the Ark.[25] King David planted the branch\non Mount Zion, and Solomon took wood from each section of the triple\ntrunk to make the two pillars, _Jachin_ and _Boaz_, which were placed\nat the entrance of the Temple. They were covered with bronze, and the\nthird section was inserted at the threshold of the chief gate. It was\na talisman which hindered things unclean from entering within. But\ncertain nefarious Levites removed during the night this obstacle to\ntheir unholy freedom and cast it, loaded with stones, at the bottom of\nthe Temple reservoir. From this time forward an angel of God troubled\nthe waters of the pool, imparting to them a miraculous value, so that\nmen might be distracted from seeking the tree of Solomon in its depths.\nIn the days of Jesus Christ the pool was cleansed and the Jews, finding\nthe beam of wood, which in their eyes seemed useless, carried the\nlatter outside the town and threw it across the brook Cedron. It was\nover this bridge that our Saviour passed after his arrest at night in\nthe Garden of Olives. His executioners cast him from it into the water;\nand then in their haste to prepare the instrument-in-chief of His\npassion, they took the beam with them, which was made of three kinds\nof wood, and formed the cross therewith.\u201d[26]\n\nThis allegory embodies all the great traditions of the Kabalah and the\nsecret Christian doctrine of St. John, which is now utterly unknown.\nIt follows that Seth, Moses, David, Solomon and Christ obtained from\nthe same Kabalistic Tree their royal sceptres and pontifical crooks.\nWe can understand in this manner why the Christ was adored in His\nmanger by the Magi. Let us recur, however, to the _Book of Enoch_, as\ngreater authority attaches to it than can be attributed to an unknown\nmanuscript; the former is cited in the New Testament by the Apostle\nSt. Jude. Tradition refers the invention of letters to Enoch, and it\nis to him that we must therefore trace back the teachings embodied in\nthe _Sepher Yetzirah_, which is the elementary work of the Kabalah,\nits compiler\u2014according to the Rabbins\u2014being the patriarch Abraham,\nas the heir of the secrets of Enoch and as the father of initiation\nin Israel. Enoch would seem in this manner to be identical with the\nEgyptian Hermes Trismegistus, while the famous _Book of Thoth_, written\nthroughout in hieroglyphics and in numbers, would be that occult Bible,\nanterior to the book of Moses and full of mysteries, to which the\ninitiated William Postel alludes so frequently throughout his works,\nunder the title of the _Genesis of Enoch_.[27]\n\nThe Bible says that Enoch did not die, but that God translated him from\none life to another. He is to return and confound Anti-Christ at the\nend of time, when he will be one of the last martyrs, or witnesses of\ntruth, mentioned in the Apocalypse of St. John. That which is said of\nEnoch in this respect has been said also of all the great initiators\nrecorded in Kabalism. St. John himself, according to the primitive\nChristians, was saved from death, and it was long thought that he\ncould be seen breathing in his tomb.[28] The explanation is that the\nabsolute science of life preserves against death, as the instinct of\nthe people has always led them to divine. However this may be, the\nextant memorials of Enoch are contained in two books, one of which\nis hieroglyphic and the other of the nature of allegory. The first\ncomprises the hieratic keys of initiation, while the second is the\nhistory of a great profanation which caused the destruction of the\nworld and the reign of chaos after that of the giants.\n\nSt. Methodius, a bishop in the early days of Christianity, whose\nwritings are found in the collection of the Fathers of the Church, has\nleft a prophetic Apocalypse which unfolds the world\u2019s history in a\nseries of visions. It is not included among the saint\u2019s acknowledged\nwritings, but it was preserved by the Gnostics and has been printed\nin the _Liber Mirabilis_ under the assumed name of Bermechobus, which\nilliterate compositors have substituted in place of Bea-Methodius,\nan abbreviation of _Beatus Methodius_.[29] This book corresponds in\nseveral respects with the allegorical treatise entitled _The Penitence\nof Adam_. It tells how Seth migrated eastward with his family and so\nreached a mountain in the vicinity of the Earthly Paradise. This was\nthe country of initiates, whilst the posterity of Cain invented a\nspurious or debased Magic in India, the land of fratricide, and put\nwitchcraft into the hands of the reckless.\n\nSt. Methodius predicts in a later place the struggles and successive\npredominance of the Ishmaelites, being the name given in his apocalypse\nto those who conquered the Romans; of the Franks, who overcame the\nIshmaelites; and then of a great race from the North whose invasion\nwill precede the personal reign of Anti-Christ. An universal kingdom\nwill be founded thereafter and will fall into the hands of a French\nprince, after which there will be the reign of justice for a long\nperiod of years. We are not concerned with prophecy in the present\nplace, but it is desirable to note the distinction between good\nand evil Magic, between the Sanctuary of the Sons of Seth and the\nprofanation of science by the descendants of Cain.[30] Transcendental\nknowledge, as a fact, is reserved for those who are masters of their\npassions, and virgin Nature does not deliver the keys of her nuptial\nchamber to adulterers.\n\nThere are two classes\u2014freemen and slaves; man is born in the bondage\nof his passions, but he can reach emancipation through intelligence.\nBetween those who are free already and those who as yet are not there\nis no equality possible. The part of reason is to rule and of instinct\nto obey. On the other hand, if you impose on the blind the office of\nleading the blind, both will end in the abyss. We should never forget\nthat liberty does not consist in the licence of passion emancipated\nfrom law, which licence would prove the most hideous of tyrannies;\nliberation consists in willing obedience to law; it is the right to do\nones duty, and only just men can be called free. Now, those who are\nin liberation should govern those who are in bondage, and slaves are\ncalled to be released, not from the government of the free but from the\nyoke of brutal passions, as a consequence of which they cannot exist\nwithout masters.\n\nConfess with us now for a moment to the truth of the transcendental\nsciences. Suppose that there does actually exist a force which can\nbe mastered and by which the miracles of Nature are made subservient\nto the will of man. Tell us, in such case, whether the secrets of\nwealth and the bonds of sympathy can be entrusted to brutal greed;\nthe art of fascination to libertines; the supremacy over other wills\nto those who cannot attain the government of their proper selves. It\nis terrifying to reflect upon the disorders which would follow from\nsuch a profanation; some cataclysm is needed to efface the crimes of\nearth when all are steeped in slime and blood. Now, it is this state of\nthings that is indicated by the allegorical history of the fall of the\nangels, according to _The Book of Enoch_; it is this which was the sin\nof Adam, and hereof are its fatal consequences. Of such also was the\nDeluge and its wreckage; of such at a later period the malediction of\nCanaan. The revelation of occult secrets is typified by the insolence\nof that son who exposes his fathers nakedness. The intoxication of Noah\nis a lesson for the priesthood of all ages. Woe to those who lay bare\nthe secret of divine generation to the impure gaze of the crowd. Keep\nthe sanctuary shut, all ye who would spare your sleeping father the\nmockery of the imitators of Ham.[31]\n\nSuch is the tradition of the children of Seth respecting the laws of\nthe human hierarchy; but the latter were not acknowledged by the family\nof Cain. The Cainites of India invented a genesis to consecrate the\noppression of the strong and to perpetuate the ignorance of the weak.\nInitiation became an exclusive privilege of the high castes, and entire\nraces of humanity were doomed to unending servitude on the pretence of\ninferior birth: they issued, as it was said, from the feet or knees of\nBrahma. Now, Nature engenders neither slaves nor kings, but all men\nindifferently are born to labour. He who pretends that man is perfect\nat birth but is degraded and perverted by society is the wildest of\nanarchists, though he may be the most poetic of maniacs. But in vain\nwas Jean Jacques a sentimentalist and dreamer; his deep implicit of\nmisanthropy, when explicated by the logic of fanatical partisans, bore\nfruits in hate and destruction. The consistent architects of the Utopia\nimagined by the susceptible philosopher of Geneva were Robespierre and\nMarat.\n\nSociety is no abstract personality that can be rendered responsible\nseparately for the stubbornness of man; society is the association\nof men; it is defective by reason of their vices and sublime in\nrespect of their virtues; but in itself it is holy, like the religion\nwhich is bound up inseparably therewith. Is not religion, as a fact,\nan association of the highest aspirations and the most generous\nendeavours? After this manner does the blasphemy of anti-social\nequality and of right in the teeth of duty give answer to the lie about\ncastes privileged by Nature; Christianity alone has solved the problem\nby assigning supremacy to self-sacrifice and by proclaiming him as the\ngreatest who offers up his pride for society and his appetites for the\nsake of the law.\n\nThough they were the depositaries of the tradition of Seth, the Jews\ndid not preserve it in all its purity, and were infected by the unjust\nambitions of the posterity of Cain. Believing that they were a chosen\npeople, they deemed that God had allotted them truth as a patrimony\nrather than as a security held in trust for humanity at large.[32]\nSide by side with the sublime traditions of the _Sepher Yetzirah_, we\nmeet with very curious revelations among the Talmudists. For example,\nthey do not shrink from ascribing the idolatry of the Gentiles to\nthe patriarch Abraham himself; they say that to the Israelites he\nbequeathed his inheritance, namely, the knowledge of the true Divine\nNames; in a word, the Kabalah was the lawful and hereditary property of\nIsaac; but the patriarch gave, as they tell us, certain presents to the\nchildren of his concubines; and by such presents they understand veiled\ndogmas and cryptic names, which became materialised speedily, and were\ntransformed into idols.[33] False religions and their absurd mysteries,\noriental superstitions, with all their horrible sacrifices\u2014what a gift\nfrom a father to his disowned family. Was it not sufficient to drive\nHagar with her son into the desert? To their one loaf and their pitcher\nof water must he add the burden of falsehood, as a torment and poison\nin their exile?\n\nThe glory of Christianity is that it called all men to truth, without\ndistinction of races and castes, though not without distinction in\nrespect of intelligence and of virtue. \u201cCast not your pearls before\nswine,\u201d said the Divine Founder of Christianity, \u201clest treading them\nunder foot, they turn and rend you.\u201d The Apocalypse or Revelation of\nSt. John, which comprises all the Kabalistic secrets concerning the\ndoctrine of Christ Jesus, is a book no less obscure than the _Zohar_.\nIt is written hieroglyphically in the language of numbers and images,\nand the Apostle appeals frequently to the knowledge of initiates. \u201cLet\nhim understand who has knowledge\u2014let him who understands compute\u201d\u2014he\nsays frequently, after reciting an allegory or giving a mystic number.\nSt. John, the beloved disciple and depositary of all the secrets of the\nSaviour, did not therefore write to be understood by the multitude.\n\nThe _Sepher Yetzirah_, the _Zohar_ and the _Apocalypse_ are the\nmasterpieces of occultism; they contain more meanings than words;\ntheir method of expression is figurative, like poetry, and exact, like\nnumerical formul\u00e6. The _Apocalypse_ summarises, completes and surpasses\nall the science of Abraham and Solomon, as we will prove by explaining\nthe Keys of the transcendent Kabalah.\n\nIt is not less astonishing to observe at the beginning of the\n_Zohar_[34] the profundity of its notions and the sublime simplicity\nof its images. It is said as follows: \u201cThe science of equilibrium is\nthe key of occult science. Unbalanced forces perish in the void. So\npassed the kings of the elder world, the princes of the giants. They\nhave fallen like trees without roots, and their place is found no more.\nThrough the conflict of unbalanced forces, the devastated earth was\nvoid and formless, until the Spirit of God made for itself a place in\nheaven and reduced the mass of waters. All the aspirations of Nature\nwere directed then towards unity of form, towards the living synthesis\nof equilibrated forces; the face of God, crowned with light, rose over\nthe vast sea and was reflected in the waters thereof. His two eyes\nwere manifested, radiating with splendour, darting two beams of light\nwhich crossed with those of the reflection. The brow of God and His\neyes formed a triangle in heaven, and its reflection formed a second\ntriangle in the waters. So was revealed the number six, being that of\nuniversal creation.\u201d\n\nThe text, which would be unintelligible in a literal version, is\ntranslated here by way of interpretation. The author makes it plain\nthat the human form which he ascribes to Deity is only an image of\nhis meaning and that God is beyond expression by human thought or\nrepresentation by any figure. Pascal said that God is a circle, of\nwhich the centre is everywhere and the circumference nowhere. But how\nis one to imagine a circle apart from its circumference? The _Zohar_\nadopts the antithesis of this paradoxical image and in respect of the\ncircle of Pascal would say rather that the circumference is everywhere,\nwhile that which is nowhere is the centre. It is however to a balance\nand not to a circle that it compares the universal equilibrium of\nthings.[35] It affirms that equilibrium is everywhere and so also is\nthat central point where the balance hangs in suspension. We find that\nthe Zohar is thus more forcible and more profound than Pascal.\n\n[Illustration: THE GREAT KABALISTIC SYMBOL OF THE ZOHAR]\n\nIts author continues as follows his sublime dream. That synthesis of\nthe word, formulated by the human figure, ascended slowly and emerged\nfrom the water, like the sun in its rising. When the eyes appeared,\nlight was made; when the mouth was manifested, there was the creation\nof spirits and the word passed into expression. The entire head was\nrevealed, and this completed the first day of creation. The shoulders,\nthe arms, the breast arose, and thereupon work began. With one hand\nthe Divine Image put back the sea, while with the other it raised up\ncontinents and mountains. The Image grew and grew; the generative\norgans appeared, and all beings began to increase and multiply. The\nform stood at length erect, having one foot upon the earth and one upon\nthe waters. Beholding itself at full length in the ocean of creation,\nit breathed on its own reflection and called its likeness into life.\nIt said: Let us make man\u2014and thus man was made. There is nothing so\nbeautiful in the masterpiece of any poet as this vision of creation\naccomplished by the prototype of humanity. Hereby is man but the shadow\nof a shadow, and yet he is the image of divine power. He also can\nstretch forth his hands from East to West; to him is the earth given as\na dominion. Such is Adam Kadmon, the primordial Adam of the Kabalists.\nSuch is the sense in which he is depicted as a giant; and this is why\nSwedenborg, haunted in his dreams by reminiscences of the Kabalah, says\nthat entire creation is only a titanic man and that we are made in the\nimage of the universe.\n\nThe _Zohar_ is a genesis of light; the _Sepher Yetzirah_ is a ladder\nof truth. Therein are expounded the two-and-thirty absolute symbols of\nspeech\u2014being numbers and letters. Each letter produces a number, an\nidea and a form, so that mathematics are applicable to forms and ideas,\neven as to numbers, in virtue of an exact proportion and a perfect\ncorrespondence. By the science of the _Sepher Yetzirah_ the human mind\nis rooted in truth and in reason; it accounts for all progress possible\nto intelligence by means of the evolution of numbers. Thus does the\n_Zohar_ represent absolute truth, while the _Sepher Yetzirah_ furnishes\nthe method of its acquisition, its discernment and application.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER II\n\n MAGIC OF THE MAGI\n\n\nIt is within probability that Zoroaster is a symbolical name, like that\nof Thoth or Hermes. According to Eudoxus and Aristotle, he flourished\n6000 years before the birth of Plato, but others say that he antedated\nthe siege of Troy by about 500 years. He is sometimes represented as\na king of the Bactrians, but the existence of two or three distinct\nZoroasters is also one of the speculations.[36] Eudoxus and Aristotle\nalone would seem to have realised that his personality was magical, and\nthis is why they have placed the Kabalistic epoch of an entire world\nbetween the birth of his doctrine and the theurgic reign of Platonic\nphilosophy. As a fact, there are two Zoroasters, that is to say, two\nexpounders of mysteries, one being the son of Ormuzd and the founder of\nan enlightened instruction, the other being the son of Ahriman and the\nauthor of a profanatory unveiling of truth. Zoroaster is the incarnate\nword of the Chaldeans, the Medes and the Persians; his legend reads\nlike a prophecy concerning that of Christ, and hence it must be assumed\nthat he had also his Anti-Christ, in accordance with the magical law of\nuniversal equilibrium.\n\nTo the false Zoroaster must be referred the cultus of material fire\nand that impious doctrine of divine dualism which produced at a\nlater period the monstrous Gnosis of Manes and the false principles\nof spurious Masonry. The Zoroaster in question was the father of that\nmaterialised Magic which led to the massacre of the Magi and brought\ntheir true doctrine at first into proscription and then oblivion.\nEver inspired by the spirit of truth, the Church was compelled to\ncondemn\u2014under the names of Magic, Manicheanism, Illuminism and\nMasonry\u2014all that was in kinship, remote or approximate, with the\nprimitive profanation of the mysteries. One signal example is the\nhistory of the Knights Templar, which has been misunderstood to this\nday.\n\nThe doctrines of the true Zoroaster are identical with those of pure\nKabalism, and his conceptions of divinity differ in no wise from those\nof the fathers of the Church. It is the names only that vary; for\nexample, the triad of Zoroaster is the Trinity of Christian teaching,\nand when he postulates that Triad as subsisting without diminution or\ndivision in each of its units, he is expressing in another manner that\nwhich is understood by our theologians as the circumincession of the\nDivine Persons. In his multiplication of the Triad by itself, Zoroaster\narrives at the absolute reason of the number 9 and the universal key of\nall numbers and forms. But those whom we term the three Divine Persons,\nare called the three depths by Zoroaster. The first, or that of the\nFather, is the source of faith; the second, being that of the Word, is\nthe well of truth; while the third, or creative action, is the font\nof love. To check what is here advanced, the reader may consult the\ncommentary of Psellus on the doctrine of the ancient Assyrians: it may\nbe found in the work of Franciscus Patricius on _Philosophical Magic_\np. 24 of the Hamburg edition, which appeared in 1593.\n\nZoroaster established the celestial hierarchy and all the harmonies of\nNature on his scale of nine degrees. He explains by means of the triad\nwhatsoever emanates from the idea and by the tetrad all that belongs\nto form, thus arriving at the number 7 as the type of creation. Here\nends the first initiation and the scholastic hypotheses begin; numbers\nare personified and ideas pass into emblems, which at a later period\nbecome idols. The Synoches, the Teletarch\u00e6 and the Fathers, ministers\nof the triple Hecate; the three Amilictes and the threefold visage of\nHypezocos\u2014all these intervene; the angels follow in their order, the\ndemons and lastly human souls. The stars are images and reflections of\nintellectual splendours; the material sun is an emblem of the sun of\ntruth, which itself is a shadow of that first source whence all glory\nsprings. This is why the disciples of Zoroaster saluted the rising day\nand so passed as sun-worshippers among barbarians.\n\nSuch were the doctrines of the Magi, but they were the possessors in\naddition of secrets which gave them mastery over the occult powers\nof Nature. The sum of these secrets might be termed transcendental\npyrotechny, for it was intimately related to the deep knowledge of fire\nand its ruling. It is certain that the Magi were not only familiar with\nelectricity but were able to generate and direct it in ways that are\nnow unknown. Numa, who studied their rites and was initiated into their\nmysteries, possessed, according to Lucius Pison, the art of producing\nand controlling the lightning. This sacerdotal secret, which the Roman\ninitiator would have reserved to the kings of Rome, was lost by Tullus\nHostilius, who mismanaged the electrical discharge and was destroyed.\nPliny relates these facts on the authority of an ancient Etruscan\ntradition and mentions that Numa directed his battery with success\nagainst a monster named Volta, which was ravaging the district about\nRome. In reading this story, one is almost tempted to think that Volta,\nthe discoverer, is himself a myth and that the name of Voltaic piles\ngoes back to the days of Numa.\n\nAll Assyrian symbols connect with this science of fire, which was the\ngreat secret of the Magi; on every side we meet with the enchanter who\nslays the lion and controls the serpents. That lion is the celestial\nfire, while the serpents are the electric and magnetic currents of the\nearth. To this same great secret of the Magi are referable all marvels\nof Hermetic Magic, the extant traditions of which still bear witness\nthat the mystery of the Great Work consists in the ruling of fire.\n\nThe learned Patricius published in his _Philosophical Magic_ the\nOracles of Zoroaster, collected from the works of Platonic writers\u2014from\nProclus on Theurgy, from the commentaries on the _Parmenides_,\ncommentaries of Hermias on the _Ph\u00e6drus_ and from the notes of\nOlympiodorus on the _Philebos_ and _Phaidon_.[37] These Oracles are\nfirstly a clear and precise formulation of the doctrine here stated and\nsecondly the prescriptions of magical ritual expressed in such terms as\nfollow.\n\n\n DEMONS AND SACRIFICES\n\nWe are taught by induction from Nature that there are incorporeal\nd\u00e6mons and that the germs of evil which exist in matter turn to the\ncommon good and utility. But these are mysteries which must be buried\nin the recesses of thought. For ever agitated and ever leaping in the\natmosphere, the fire can assume a configuration like that of bodies.\nLet us go further and affirm the existence of a fire which abounds in\nimages and reflections. Term it, if you will, a superabundant light\nwhich radiates, which speaks, which goes back into itself. It is the\nflaming courser of light, or rather it is the stalwart child who\novercomes and breaks in that heavenly steed. Picture him as vested\nin flame and emblazoned with gold, or think of him naked as love and\nbearing the arrows of Eros. But if thy meditation prolongeth itself,\nthou wilt combine all these emblems under the form of the lion.\nThereafter, when things are no longer visible, when the Vault of Heaven\nand the expanse of the universe have dissolved, when the stars have\nceased to shine and the lamp of the moon is veiled, when the earth\ntrembles and the lightning plays around it, invoke not the visible\nphantom of Nature\u2019s soul, for thou must in no wise behold it until thy\nbody has been purified by the holy ordeals. Enervators of souls, which\nthey distract from sacred occupations, the dog-faced demons issue from\nthe confines of matter and expose to mortal eyes the semblances of\nillusory bodies. Labour round the circles described by the rhombus of\nHecate. Change thou nothing in the barbarous names of evocation, for\nthey are pantheistic titles of God; they are magnetised by the devotion\nof multitudes and their power is ineffable. When after all the phantoms\nthou shalt behold the shining of that incorporeal fire, that sacred\nfire the darts of which penetrate in every direction through the depths\nof the world\u2014hearken to the words of the fire.[38]\n\nThese astonishing sentences, which are taken from the Latin of\nPatricius, embody the secrets of magnetism and of things far deeper,\nwhich it has not entered into the heart or people like Du Potet and\nMesmer to conceive. We find (_a_) the Astral Light described perfectly,\ntogether with its power of producing fluidic forms, of reflecting\nlanguage and echoing the voice; (_b_) the will of the adept signified\nby the stalwart child mounted on a white horse\u2014a symbol met with in\nan ancient Tarot card preserved in the _Biblioth\u00e8que Nationale_;[39]\n(_c_) the dangers of hallucination arising from misdirected magical\nworks; (_d_) the _raison d\u2019\u00eatre_ of enchantments accomplished by the\nuse of barbarous names and words; (_e_) the magnetic instrument termed\n_rhombos_,[40] which is comparable to a child\u2019s humming top; (_f_)\nthe term of magical practice, which is the stilling of imagination\nand of the senses into a state of complete somnambulism and perfect\nlucidity.[41]\n\nIt follows from this revelation of the ancient world that clairvoyant\nextasis is a voluntary and immediate application of the soul to the\nuniversal fire, or rather to that light\u2014abounding in images\u2014which\nradiates, which speaks and circulates about all objects and every\nsphere of the universe. This application is operated by the persistence\nof will liberated from the senses and fortified by a succession of\ntests. Herein consisted the beginning of magical initiation. Having\nattained the power of direct reading in the light, the adept became a\nseer or prophet; then, having established communication between this\nlight and his own will, he learned to direct the former, even as the\nhead of an arrow is set in a certain direction. He communicated at his\npleasure either strife or peace to the souls of others; he established\nintercourse at a distance with those fellow-adepts who were his peers;\nand, in fine, he availed himself of that force which is represented by\nthe celestial lion. Herein lies the meaning of those great Assyrian\nfigures which hold vanquished lions in their arms. The Astral Light is\notherwise represented by gigantic sphinxes, having the bodies of lions\nand the heads of Magi. Considered as an instrument made subject to\nmagical power, the Astral Light is that golden sword of Mithra used in\nhis immolation of the sacred bull. And it is the arrow of Ph\u0153bus which\npierced the serpent Python.\n\nLet us now reconstruct in thought the great metropolitan cities of\nAssyria, Babylon and Nineveh; let us restore to their proper place\nthe granite colossi; let us formulate the massive temples, held up by\nelephants and sphinxes; let us raise once more those obelisks from\nwhich dragons look down with shining eyes and wings outspread. Temples\nand palaces tower above these wondrous piles. For ever concealed, but\nmanifested also for ever by the fact of their miracles, the priesthood\nand the royalty, like visible divinities of earth, abide therein. The\ntemple is surrounded with clouds or glows with supernatural brilliance\nat the will of the priests; now it is dark in the daylight and again\nthe night is enlightened; the lamps of the temple spring of themselves\ninto flame; the gods are radiant; the thunders roll; and woe to that\nimpious person who may have invoked on his own head the malediction of\ninitiates. The temples protect the palaces and the king\u2019s retainers do\nbattle for the religion of the Magi. The monarch himself is sacred; he\nis a god on earth; the people lie prone as he passes; and the maniac\nwho would attempt to cross the threshold of his palace falls dead\nimmediately, by the intervention of an invisible hand, and without\nstroke of mace or sword. He is slain as if by the bolt, blasted by fire\nfrom heaven. What religion and what power. How mighty are the shadows\nof Nimrod, of Belus, of Semiramis. What can surpass these almost\nfabulous cities, where such mighty royalties were enthroned\u2014these\ncapitals of giants, capitals of magicians, of personalities identified\nby tradition with angels and still termed sons of God or princes of\nheaven. What mysteries have been put to sleep in these sepulchres\nof past nations; and are we better than children when we exalt our\nenlightenment and our progress, without recalling these startling\nmemorials?\n\nIn his work on Magic,[42] M. Du Potet affirms, with a certain timidity,\nthat it is possible to overwhelm a living being by a current of\nmagnetic fluid. Magical power extends beyond this limit, but it is not\nconfined within the measures of the putative magnetic fluid. The Astral\nLight as a whole, that element of electricity and of lightning, can be\nplaced at the disposition of human will. What must be done, however, to\nacquire this formidable power? Zoroaster has just told us; we must know\nthose mysterious laws of equilibrium which subjugate the very powers of\nevil to the empire of good. We must have purified our bodies by sacred\ntrials, must have conquered the phantoms of hallucination and taken\nhold bodily of the light, imitating Jacob in his struggle with the\nangel. We must have vanquished those fantastic dogs which howl in the\nworld of dreams. In a word, and to use the forcible expression of the\nOracle, we must have heard the light speak. We are then its masters and\ncan direct it, as Numa did, against the enemies of the Holy Mysteries.\nBut if in the absence of perfect purity and if under the government of\nsome animal passion, by which we are still subjected to the fatalities\nof tempestuous life, we proceed to this kind of work, the fire which\nwe kindle will consume ourselves; we shall fall victims to the serpent\nwhich we unloose and shall perish like Tullus Hostilius.\n\nIt is not in conformity with the laws of Nature for man to be devoured\nby wild beasts. God has armed him with the power of resistance; his\neyes can fascinate them, his voice restrain, his sign bring them to a\npause. We know indeed, as a literal fact, that the most savage animals\nquail before a steady human glance and seem to tremble at the human\nvoice. The explanation is that they are paralysed and awe-stricken by\nprojections of the Astral Light. When Daniel was accused of imposture\nand false Magic, both he and his accusers were subjected by the king\nof Babylon to an ordeal of lions. Such beasts attack those only who\nfear them or of whom they are themselves afraid. It is utterly certain\nthat the tiger will recede before the magnetic glance of a brave man,\nalthough the latter may be disarmed.\n\nThe Magi utilised this power and the kings of Assyria kept tigers,\nleopards and lions in their gardens, in a state of docility. Others\nwere reserved in vaults beneath the temples for use in the ordeals\nof initiation. The symbolic bas-reliefs are the proof; they depict\ntrials of strength between men and animals, and the adept, clothed\nin his priestly garb, controls the brutes by a glance of his eye and\nstays them with his hand. When such animals are depicted in one of the\nforms ascribed to the sphinx, they are doubtless symbolical, but in\nother representations the brute is of the natural order, and then the\nstruggle seems to illustrate a theory of actual enchantment.\n\nMagic is a science; to abuse is to lose it, and it is also to destroy\noneself. The kings and priests of the Assyrian world were too great\nto be free from this danger, if ever they fell; as a fact, pride did\ncome upon them and they did therefore fall. The great magical epoch of\nChaldea is anterior to the reigns of Semiramis and Ninus. At this time\nreligion had begun already to materialise and idolatry to prevail. The\ncultus of Astarte succeeded that of the heavenly Venus and royalty\narrogated to itself divine attributes under the names of Baal and of\nBel, or Belus. Semiramis made religion subservient to politics and\nconquests, replacing the old mysterious temples by ostentatious and\nill-advised monuments. This notwithstanding, the magical idea continued\nto prevail in art and science, sealing the constructions of that epoch\nwith the characteristics of inimitable power and grandeur. The palace\nof Semiramis was a building synthesis of entire Zoroastrian dogma,\nand we shall recur to it in explaining the symbolism of those seven\nmasterpieces of antiquity which are called the wonders of the world.\n\nThe priesthood became secondary to the empire as the result of an\nattempt to materialise its own power. The fall of the one was bound\nto involve the other, and it came to pass under the effeminate\nSardanapalus. This prince, abandoned to luxury and indolence, reduced\nthe science of the Magi to the level of one of his courtesans. What\npurpose did marvels serve if they failed in ministration to pleasure?\nCompel, O enchanters, compel the winter to produce roses; double the\nsavour of wine; apply your power over the light to make the beauty\nof women shine like that of divinities. The Magi obeyed and the king\npassed from intoxication to intoxication. But it came about that war\nwas declared and that the enemy was already on the march. That enemy\nmight signify little to the sybarite steeped in his pleasures. But\nit was ruin, it was infamy, it was death. Now Sardanapalus did not\nfear death, since for him it was an endless sleep, and he knew how to\navoid the toils and humiliations of servitude. The last night came;\nthe victor was already upon the threshold; the city could stand out no\nlonger; the kingdom of Assyria must end on the morrow. The palace of\nSardanapalus was illuminated and blazed with such splendour that it\nlightened all the consternated city. Amidst piles of precious stuffs,\namidst jewels and golden vessels, the king held his final orgie.\nHis women, his favourites, his accomplices, his degenerate priests\nsurrounded him; the riot of drunkenness mingled with the music of a\nthousand instruments; the tame lions roared; and a smoke of perfumes,\ngoing up from the vaults of the palace, enveloped the whole edifice\nin a heavy cloud. But tongues of fire began to penetrate the cedar\npanelling; the frenzied songs were replaced by cries of terror and\ngroans of agony. The magic which, in the hands of its degraded adepts,\ncould not safeguard the empire of Ninus, did at least mingle its\nmarvels to emblazon the terrible memories of this titanic suicide. A\nvast and sinister splendour, such as the night of Babylon had never\nseen, seemed suddenly to set back and enlarge the vault of heaven; a\nnoise, like all the thunders of the world pealing together, shook the\nearth, and the walls of the city collapsed. Thereafter a deeper night\ndescended; the palace of Sardanapalus melted, and when the morrow came\nhis conqueror found no trace of its riches, no trace even of the king\u2019s\nbody and all his luxuries.\n\nSo ended the first empire of Assyria, and the civilisation founded of\nold by the true Zoroaster. Thus also ended Magic, properly so called,\nand the reign of the Kabalah began. Abraham on coming out from Chaldea\ncarried its mysteries with him. The people of God increased in silence,\nand we shall meet before long with Daniel confounding the miserable\nenchanters of Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar.[43]\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER III\n\n MAGIC IN INDIA\n\n\nWe are told by Kabalistic tradition that India was peopled by the\ndescendants of Cain, and thither at a later period migrated the\ndescendants of Abraham and Keturah; in any case it is, above all\nothers, the country of G\u00f6etia and illusionary wonders. Black Magic\nhas been perpetuated therein, as well as the original traditions of\nfratricide imposed by the powerful on the weak, continued by the\ndominant castes and expiated by the pariahs. It may be said of India\nthat she is the wise mother of all idolatries. The dogmas of her\ngymnosophists would be keys of highest wisdom if they did not open\nmore easily the gates leading to degradation and death. The astounding\nwealth of Indian symbolism seems to suggest that it is anterior to all\nothers, and this is supported by the primeval freshness of its poetic\nconceptions. But the root of its tree seems to have been devoured by\nthe infernal serpent. That deification of the devil against which we\nhave already entered an energetic protest is displayed in all its\ngrossness. The terrible Trimurti of the Brahmans comprises a Creator, a\nDestroyer and a Preserver. Their Adhi-nari, who represents the Divine\nMother, or Celestial Nature, is called also Bohani, to whom the thugs\nor stranglers make votive offerings of their murders. Vishnu, the\npreserver, incarnates only to destroy an inferior devil, who is always\nbrought back to life by the intervention of Siva or Rudra, the god of\ndeath. One is conscious that Siva is the apotheosis of Cain, but there\nis nothing in all this mythology which recalls the mildness of Abel.\nThe mysteries of India are notwithstanding grandiose in their poetry\nand singularly profound in their allegories; but they are the Kabalah\nin profanation, and hence so far from sustaining the soul and leading\nit to supreme wisdom, Brahminism, with its learned theories, plunges it\ninto gulfs of madness.\n\n[Illustration: THE INDIAN AND JAPANESE MYSTERY OF UNIVERSAL EQUILIBRIUM\nAND THE EGYPTIAN PANTOMORPHIC IYINX]\n\nIt was from the false Kabalism of India that the Gnostics borrowed\ntheir reveries\u2014by turns horrible and obscene; it is also Indian\nMagic, manifesting on the threshold of the occult sciences with a\nthousand deformities, which terrifies reasonable minds and provokes\nthe anathemas of all the understanding churches. It is this false\nand dangerous knowledge, so often confounded by the ignorant and by\nsmatterers with true science, which has involved all that bears the\nname of occultism in a general condemnation, to which the author of\nthese pages himself subscribed sincerely before he had attained the key\nof the magical sanctuary. For theologians of the Vedas, God manifests\nas force only; all progress and all revelations are determined by\nconquest; Vishnu incarnates in monstrous leviathans of the sea and in\nenormous wild boars, which mould the primeval earth with their snouts.\n\nStill it is a marvellous pantheistic genesis and the authors of its\nfables are lucid at least in their somnambulism. The ten Avatars of\nVishnu correspond numerically to the _Sephiroth_ of the Kabalah. The\ngod in question assumed successively three animal or elementary forms\nof life, after which he became a sphinx and then a human being. He\nappeared next as Brahma and in a guise of assumed humility possessed\nthe whole earth. He was a child on another occasion, and as such the\nconsoling angel of the patriarchs. After this he assumed the mask of a\nwarrior and gave battle to the oppressors of the world. Again he was\nembodied as diplomacy, opposing it to violence, and seems at this point\nto have abandoned the human form to assume the agility of the monkey.\nDiplomacy and violence consumed one another, and the world awaited\nsome intellectual and moral redeemer. Vishnu thereupon incarnated as\nKrishna. He was proscribed even in his cradle, beside which there\nwatched the symbolical ass. He was carried far away to save him from\nthe power of his enemies; he attained manhood and preached the doctrine\nof mercy and good works. He descended into hell, bound the infernal\nserpent and returned gloriously to heaven. His annual festival is in\nAugust, under the sign of the Virgin. Here is astonishing intuition\nconcerning Christian mysteries and so much the more impressive when\nwe remember that the sacred books of India passed into writing many\ncenturies before the Christian era. To the revelation of Krishna\nsucceeded that of Buddha, who married the purest religion to philosophy\nof the highest kind. The happiness of the world was thus held to be\nsecured and there was nothing further to expect, pending the tenth and\nfinal incarnation, when Vishnu will return in his proper form, leading\nthe horse of the last judgment\u2014that dread steed whose fore foot is\nraised always and when it is set down the world will be strewn in atoms.\n\nWe may note herein the presence of the sacred numbers and prophetic\ncalculations of the Magi. Gymnosophists and Zoroastrian initiates\ndrew from the same sources, but it was the false and black Zoroaster\nwho remained master of theology in India. The final secrets of this\ndegenerate doctrine are pantheism and its legitimate consequence,\nbeing absolute materialism masquerading as the absolute negation of\nmatter. But what, it may be asked, does it signify whether spirit\nis materialised or matter spiritualised so long as the equality and\nidentity of the two terms are postulated? But the consequence of such\npantheism is, however, mortal to ethics: there are neither crimes\nnor virtues in a world where all is God. We may expect after such\nteachings a progressive degradation of the Brahmans into a fanatical\nquietism; but as yet the end was not reached. It remained for their\ngreat magical ritual, the Indian book of occultism, otherwise the\n_Oupnek\u2019hat_, to furnish the physical and moral means of consummating\nthe work of their stupefaction and arriving by a graduated method\nat that raving madness termed by their sorcerers the Divine State.\nThe work in question is the progenitor of all grimoires and the most\ncurious among the antiquities of G\u00f6etia. It is divided into fifty\nsections and is a darkness spangled with stars. Sublime maxims are\nblended with false oracles.[44] At times it reads like the Gospel of\nSt. John, as, for example, in the following extracts from the eleventh\nand forty-eighth sections.\n\n\u201cThe angel of creative fire is the word of God, which word produced\nthe earth and the vegetation that issues therefrom, together with the\nheat which ripens it. The word of the Creator is itself the Creator\nand is also His only Son.\u201d Now, on the other hand, the reveries are\nworthy only of the most extravagant arch-heretics: \u201cMatter being only\na deceptive appearance, the sun, the stars and the very elements are\ngenii, while animals are demons and man is a pure spirit deceived by\nthe illusions of forms.\u201d We are perhaps sufficiently edified by these\nextracts in respect of doctrinal matters and may proceed to the Magical\nRitual of the Indian enchanters.\n\n\u201cIn order to become God, the breath must be retained\u2014that is to\nsay, it must be inhaled as long as possible, till the chest is well\ndistended\u2014and in the second place, the divine OM must be repeated\ninwardly forty times while in this state. Expiration, in the third\nplace, follows very slowly, the breath being mentally directed through\nthe heavens to make contact with the universal ether. Those who would\nsucceed in this exercise must be blind, deaf and motionless as a log\nof wood. The posture is on knees and elbows, with the face turned to\nthe North. One nostril is stopped with a finger, the air is inhaled\nby the other, which is then also closed, the action being accompanied\nby dwelling in thought on the idea that God is the Creator, that He\nis in all animals, in the ant even as in the elephant. The mind must\nbe absorbed in these thoughts. OM is at first recited twelve times\nand afterwards twenty-four times during each inspiration, and then\nas rapidly as possible. This regimen must be continued for three\nmonths\u2014without fear, without remission, eating and sleeping little. In\nthe fourth month the Devas will manifest; in the fifth you will have\nacquired all qualities of the Devatas; in the sixth you will be saved\nand will have become God.\u201d\n\nWhat seems certain is that in the sixth month the fanatic who is\nsufficiently imbecile to persevere in such a practice will be dead or\ninsane. If, however, he should really survive this exercise in mystic\nbreathing, the _Oupnek\u2019hat_ does not leave him in the happy position\nmentioned but makes him pass to other experiences.\n\n\u201cWith the end of one finger close the anus, and then draw the breath\nfrom below upwards on the right side; make it circulate three times\nround the second centre of the body; thence bring it to the navel,\nwhich is the third centre; then to the fourth, which is the middle of\nthe heart; subsequently to the throat, which is the fifth; and finally\nto the sixth, which is the root of the nose. There retain the breath:\nit has become that of the universal soul.\u201d\n\nThis seems simply an auto-hypnotic method of inducing a certain\ncerebral congestion. But the author of the treatise continues:\n\n\u201cThink therefore of the great OM, which is the name of the Creator\nand is that universal, pure and indivisible voice which fills all\nthings. This voice is the Creator Himself, Who becomes audible to the\ncontemplative after ten manners. The first sound is like that of a\nlittle sparrow; the second is twice the first in volume; the third is\nlike the sound of a cymbal; the fourth is as the murmur of a great\nshell; the fifth is comparable to the song of the Indian lyre; the\nsixth is like the sound of the instrument called _tal_; the seventh\nresembles the sound of a _bacabou_ flute, held close to the ear; the\neighth is like that of the instrument called _Pakaoudj_, which is\nstruck with the hand; the ninth is like the sound of a little trumpet\nand the tenth like that of a thunder cloud. At each of these sounds\nthe contemplative passes through different states, and at the tenth he\nbecomes God. At the first sound the hairs of his whole body rise erect;\nat the second, his limbs become torpid; at the third, he feels through\nall his frame the kind of exhaustion which follows the intercourse of\nlove; at the fourth, his head swims and he is as one intoxicated; at\nthe fifth, the life-force flows back into his brain; at the sixth, this\nforce descends into him and he is nourished thereon; at the seventh,\nhe becomes the master of vision, can see into the hearts of others,\nand hears the most distant voices; at the ninth he becomes so ethereal\nthat he can pass wheresoever he will and can see without being seen,\nlike the angels; at the tenth, he becomes the universal and indivisible\nvoice. He is the great creator, the eternal being, exempt from all and,\nhaving become the perfect peace, he dispenses peace to the world.\u201d\n\nWhat is noticeable in these most curious extracts is their exhaustive\ndescription of phenomena which characterise lucid somnambulism combined\nwith a complete practice of auto-hypnosis; it is the art of inducing\necstasy by tension of the will and fatigue of the nervous system. We\nrecommend therefore to mesmerists a careful study of the mysteries of\nthe _Oupnek\u2019hat_. The graduated use of narcotics and of a scale of\ncoloured discs will produce effects analogous to those described by\nthe Indian sorcerer. M. Ragon has provided the recipe in his work on\n_La Ma\u00e7onnerie Occulte_.[45] The _Oupnek\u2019hat_ gives a simpler method\nof losing consciousness and arriving at ecstasy; it is to look with\nboth eyes at the end of the nose and to maintain this act, or rather\nthis grimace, until paralysis of the optic nerve supervenes. All such\npractices are equally painful, dangerous and ridiculous; we are far\nfrom recommending them to anyone; but we do not question that in a\nshorter or longer time, according to the sensibility of the subjects,\nthey will induce ecstasy, catalepsy and even a dead swoon. In order\nto obtain vision and the phenomena of second sight, a state must be\nreached which is akin to that of sleep, death and madness. It is in\nthis that the Indians excel and it is perhaps to their secrets that we\nmust refer the strange power of certain American mediums.\n\nBlack Magic may be defined as the art of inducing artificial mania in\nourselves and in others; but it is also and above all the science of\npoisoning. What is however generally unknown, and the discovery in our\ndays is due to M. Du Potet, is that it is possible to destroy life by\nthe sudden congestion or withdrawal of the Astral Light. This may take\nplace when, through a series of almost impossible exercises, similar to\nthose described by the Indian sorcerer, our nervous system, having been\nhabituated to all tensions and fatigues, has become a kind of living\ngalvanic pile, capable of condensing and projecting powerfully that\nlight which intoxicates or destroys.\n\nWe are not, however, at the end of the _Oupnek\u2019hat_ and its magical\nwonders; there is a final arcanum which the darksome hierophant\nentrusts to his initiates as the supreme secret of all; it is actually\nthe shadow and reverse side of the great mystery of Transcendent Magic.\nNow, the latter is the absolute in morality and consequently in the\ndirection of activity and in freedom. On the other hand, that of the\n_Oupnek\u2019hat_ is the absolute in immorality, in fatality and in deadly\nquietism: it is expressed as follows by the author of the Indian work:\n\u201cIt is lawful to lie in order to facilitate marriages, to exalt the\nvirtues of a Brahman or the good qualities of a cow. God is truth,\nand in Him shadow and light are one. Whosoever is acquainted with\nthis truth never lies, for his very falsehood turns true. Whatever\nsin he commits, whatever evil he performs, he is never guilty; if he\ncommitted a double parricide; if he killed a Brahman initiated into the\nmysteries of the Vedas; in a word, whatever he did, his light would not\nbe impaired, for God says: I am the Universal Soul; in Me are good and\nevil, which are moderated one by the other; he who knows this cannot\nsin, for he is universal even as Myself.\u201d\n\nSuch doctrines are incompatible with civilisation, and furthermore, by\nstereotyping its social hierarchy, India has imbedded anarchy in the\ncastes, whereas social life is a question of exchange. Now, exchange\nis impossible when everything belongs to a few and nothing to others.\nWhat do social gradations signify in a putative civil state wherein\nno one can fall or rise? Herein is the long-delayed punishment of the\nfratricide; it is one which involves his entire race and condemns it to\ndeath. Should some alien, proud and egotistic nation intervene, it will\nsacrifice India\u2014even as oriental legends tell us that Cain was killed\nby Lamech. Woe, notwithstanding to the murderer of Cain\u2014so say the\nsacred oracles of the Bible.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER IV\n\n HERMETIC MAGIC\n\n\nIt is in Egypt that Magic attains the grade of completion as an\nuniversal science and is formulated as a perfect doctrine. As a\nsummary of all the dogmas which obtained in the ancient world, nothing\nsurpasses and indeed nothing equals those few paragraphs graven on\nprecious stone by Hermes and denominated the Emerald Tablet. Unity of\nbeing and unity in the harmony of things, according to the ascending\nand descending scales; progressive and proportional evolution of\nthe Word; immutable law of equilibrium and graduated progress of\nuniversal analogies; correspondence between the idea and its expression\nproviding a measure of likeness between Creator and created; essential\nmathematics of the infinite, proved by the dimensions of a single angle\nin the finite: all this is expressed by the one proposition: \u201cthat\nwhich is above is like that which is below, and that which is below is\nlike that which is above, for the fulfilment of the wonders of the one\nthing.\u201d Hereunto are added the revelation and illuminating description\nof the creative agent, the pantomorphic fire, the great medium of\noccult force\u2014in a word, the Astral Light.\n\n\u201cThe sun is its father and the moon its mother; the wind has borne\nit in the belly thereof.\u201d It follows that this light has emanated\nfrom the sun and has received form and rhythmical movement from the\ninfluences of the moon, while the atmosphere is its receptacle and\nprison. \u201cThe earth is its nurse\u201d\u2014that is to say, it is equilibrated and\nset in motion by the central heat of the earth. \u201cIt is the universal\nprinciple, the TELESMA of the world.\u201d\n\nHermes goes on to set forth in what manner this light, which is also a\nforce, can be applied as a lever, as an universal dissolvent and as a\nformative and coagulative agent; how also this light must be extracted\nfrom the bodies in which it lies latent in order to imitate all the\nartifices of Nature by the aid of its diverse manifestations as fire,\nmotion, splendour, radiant gas, scalding water or finally igneous\nearth. The Emerald Tablet contains all Magic in a single page.[46] The\nother works attributed to Hermes,[47] such as the _Divine Pymander_,\n_Asclepius_, _Minerva of the World_, &c. are generally regarded by\ncritics as productions of the School of Alexandria; but they contain\nnotwithstanding the Hermetic traditions which were preserved in\ntheurgic sanctuaries. For those who possess the keys of symbolism\nthe doctrines of Hermes can never be lost; amidst all their ruin,\nthe monuments of Egypt are as so many scattered leaves which can be\ncollected and the book of those doctrines thus reconstructed entirely.\nIn that vast book the capital letters are temples and the sentences are\ncities punctuated with obelisks and by the sphinx.\n\nThe physical division of Egypt was itself a magical synthesis, and the\nnames of its provinces corresponded to the ciphers of sacred numbers.\nThe realm of Sesostris was divided into three parts; of these Upper\nEgypt, or the Thebaid, was a type of the celestial world and the\nland of ecstasy; Lower Egypt was the symbol of earth; while Middle\nor Central Egypt was the land of science and of high initiation.\nEach of these parts was subdivided into ten provinces, called Nomes,\nand was placed under the particular protection of a god. There were\ntherefore 30 gods and they were grouped by threes, giving symbolical\nexpression in this manner to all possible conceptions of the triad\nwithin the decad, or otherwise to the threefold material, philosophical\nand religious significance of absolute ideas attached primitively to\nnumbers. We have thus the triple unity or the first triad, the triple\nbinary[48] formed by the first triad and its reflection, being the Star\nof Solomon; the triple triad or the complete idea under each of its\nthree forms; the triple quaternary, being the cyclic number of astral\nrevolutions, and so onward. The geography of Egypt under Sesostris\nis therefore a pantacle or symbolical summary of the entire magical\ndogma originating with Zoroaster and rediscovered or formulated more\nprecisely by Hermes.\n\nIn this manner did the land of Egypt become as a great volume and the\ninstructions contained therein were multiplied by translation into\npictures, sculptures, architecture through the length and breadth\nof the towns and in all temples. The very desert had its eternal\nteachings, and its word of stone was set squarely on the foundations\nof the pyramids. The pyramids themselves stood like boundaries of\nthe human intelligence, in the presence of which the colossal sphinx\nmeditated age after age, sinking by insensible degrees into the desert\nsand. Even at this day its head, defaced by the work of time, still\nemerges from its sepulchre, as if waiting expectantly the signal for\nits complete entombment at the coming of a human voice revealing to a\nnew world the problem of the pyramids.\n\nEgypt from our standpoint is the cradle of science and of wisdom, for\nit clothed with images the antique dogma of the first Zoroaster more\nexactly and more purely, if not more richly, than those of India.\nThe Sacerdotal Art and the Royal Art made adepts by initiation in\nEgypt, and such initiation was not restricted within the egotistic\nlimits of caste. We know that a Jewish bondsman himself attained not\nonly initiation but the rank of minister in chief, perhaps even of\nGrand Hierophant, for he espoused the daughter of an Egyptian priest,\nand there is evidence that the priesthood in that country tolerated\nno misalliance. Joseph realised in Egypt the dream of communism; he\nestablished the priesthood and the state as sole proprietors and thus\nsole arbiters of labour and wealth. In this way he abolished distress\nand turned the whole of Egypt into a patriarchal family. It is a\nmatter of common knowledge that his elevation was due to skill in\nthe interpretation of dreams, a science which even devout Christians\nnow refuse to credit, though they recognise that the Bible, which\nnarrates the wonderful divinations of Joseph, is the word of the Holy\nSpirit. The science of Joseph was none other than a comprehension\nof the natural analogies which subsist between ideas and images, or\nbetween the Word and its symbols. He knew that the soul when immersed\nby sleep in the Astral Light, perceives the reflections of its most\nsecret thoughts and even of its presentiments; he knew further that the\nart of translating the hieroglyphics of sleep is the key of universal\nlucidity, seeing that all intelligent beings have revelations in dreams.\n\nThe basis of absolute hieroglyphical science was an alphabet in which\ndeities were represented by letters, letters represented ideas, ideas\nwere convertible into numbers, and numbers were perfect signs. This\nhieroglyphical alphabet was the great secret which Moses enshrined\nin his Kabalah; its Egyptian origin is commemorated in the _Sepher\nYetzirah_, in which it is referred to Abraham. Now this alphabet is the\nfamous Book of Thoth, and it was divined by Court de Gebelin that it\nhas been preserved to our own day in the form of Tarot cards. It passed\nlater on into the hands of Etteilla, who interpreted it in the wrong\nsense, for even a study extending over thirty years could not atone for\nhis want of common sense or supply deficiencies in his education. The\nrecord exists still among the drift and waste of Egyptian monuments;\nand its most curious, most complete key is found in the great work on\nEgypt by Athanasius Kircher. It is the copy of an Isiac tablet which\nbelonged to the celebrated Cardinal Bembo. The tablet in question is\nof copper with figures in enamel, and it has been unfortunately lost.\nThe copy supplied by Kircher is, however, exact.[49] The learned Jesuit\ndivined that it contained the hieroglyphic key of sacred alphabets,\nthough he was unable to develop the explanation. It is divided into\nthree equal compartments; above are the twelve houses of heaven and\nbelow are the corresponding distributions of labour throughout the\nyear, while in the middle place are twenty-one sacred signs answering\nto the letters of the alphabet. In the midst of all is a seated\nfigure of the pantomorphic IYNX, emblem of universal being[50] and\ncorresponding as such to the Hebrew _Yod_, or to that unique letter\nfrom which all other letters were formed. The IYNX is encircled by the\nOphite triad, answering to the Three Mother Letters of the Egyptian\nand Hebrew alphabets.[51] On the right are the ibimorphic and serapian\ntriads; on the left are those of Nepthys and Hecate, representing\nactive and passive, fixed and volatile, fructifying fire and generating\nwater. Each pair of triads in conjunction with the centre produces\na septenary, and a septenary is contained in the centre. The three\nseptenaries furnish the absolute number of the three worlds, as well\nas the complete number of primitive letters, to which a complementary\nsign is added, like zero to the nine numerals. The ten numbers and\nthe twenty-two letters are termed in Kabalism the Thirty-two Paths of\nWisdom, and their philosophical description is the subject of that\nvenerated prim\u00e6val book known as the _Sepher Yetzirah_, the text of\nwhich will be found in the collection of Pistorius and elsewhere.[52]\nThe alphabet of Thoth is the original of our Tarot only in an indirect\nmanner, seeing that the latter is of Jewish origin in the extant copies\nand that its pictures are not older than the reign of Charles VII. The\ncards of Jacquemin Gringonneur are the first Tarots of which we have\nany knowledge, but they reproduce symbols belonging to the highest\nantiquity. The game in its modern form was an experiment on the part of\nastrologers to restore the king, who has been mentioned, to reason.[53]\nThe oracles of the Tarot give answers as exact as mathematics and\nmeasured as the harmonies of Nature. Such answers result from\nthe varied combination of the different signs. But it requires a\nconsiderable exercise of reason to make use of an instrument belonging\nto reason and to science; the poor king, in his childish condition, saw\nonly the playthings of an infant in the artist\u2019s pictures and he turned\nthe mysterious Kabalistic alphabet[54] into a game of cards.\n\n[Illustration: EXPLANATORY DIAGRAM OF THE ASTRONOMICAL AND ALPHABETICAL\nTABLET OF BEMBO]\n\nWe are told by Moses that the Israelites carried away the sacred\nvessels of the Egyptians when they came out of the land of bondage.\nThe account is allegorical, for the great prophet would scarcely\nhave encouraged his people in an act of theft; the sacred vessels in\nquestion were the mysteries of Egyptian knowledge, acquired by Moses\nhimself at the court of Pharaoh. We are by no means suggesting that\nthe miracles of this man of God are referable to Magic; but we know\non the authority of the Bible that Jannes and Mambres, who were the\nmagicians of Pharaoh and consequently grand hierophants of Egypt, began\nby performing in virtue of their art wonders which were similar to\nthose of Moses. They transformed wands into serpents and serpents again\ninto wands, which might be explicable by prestige or fascination; they\nchanged water into blood; they produced a swarm of frogs in a moment;\nbut they could not cause flies to appear or other parasitic insects,\nfor reasons which we have explained already, as also the manner in\nwhich they were forced to confess themselves vanquished.\n\nMoses triumphed and led the Israelites out of the land of bondage. It\nwas at this period that true science became lost to Egypt, for the\npriests, abusing the implicit confidence of the people, allowed that\nknowledge to degenerate into brutalising idolatry. Such is the rock of\nperil for esoteric science; the truth must be veiled, yet not hidden\nfrom the people; symbolism must not be disgraced by a lapse into\nabsurdity; the sacred veil of Isis must be preserved in its beauty and\ndignity. It was over this that the Egyptian priesthood failed; the\nvulgar and the foolish understood the hieroglyphic forms of Isis and\nHermanubis as real things, so that Osiris was understood to be an ox,\nwhile the wise Hermes was a dog. The transformed Osiris masqueraded in\nthe fantastic guise of the bull of Apis, nor did the priests hinder the\npeople from adoring flesh intended for their kitchens. It was time to\nsave the holy traditions; Moses established a new nation and forbade\nall worship of images; but the people unfortunately had dwelt long\namong idolaters and memories of the bull of Apis remained with them\nin the desert. We know the history of that Golden Calf to which the\nchildren of Israel have been always a little addicted. Moses, however,\ndid not wish the sacred hieroglyphics to pass out of memory, and he\nsanctified them by their consecration to the purified worship of the\ntrue God. We shall see how all objects which entered into the cultus\nof Jehovah were symbolic in character and recalled the venerable signs\nof prim\u00e6val revelation. But we must first finish with the Gentiles\nand follow through pagan civilisation the story of materialised\nhieroglyphics and of ancient rites degenerated.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER V\n\n MAGIC IN GREECE\n\n\nWe pass now to the period when the exact sciences of Magic assumed\ntheir natural external form, being that of beauty. We have seen in the\n_Zohar_ how the human prototype rose in heaven and was reflected below\nin the waters of being. This ideal man, this shadow of the pantomorphic\ngod, this virile phantom of perfect form was not destined to dwell\nalone in the world of symbolism. There was given to him a companion\nunder the beneficent sky of Hellas. The celestial Venus, the chaste\nand fruitful Venus, the triple mother of the three Graces, rose in her\nturn, no longer from the sleeping deeps of chaos, but from the living\nand flowing waves of that echoing archipelago of poetry, where islands\nembroidered with green trees and flowers seem as the vessels of gods.\n\nThe magical septenary of Chaldea passes into music on the seven\nstrings of the Orphic lyre. It is harmony which transforms the woods\nand wildernesses of Greece. To the melody of the songs of Orpheus,\nthe rocks are smoothed, the oaks sway in measures and the wild beasts\nbecome subject to man. By such magic did Amphion raise up the walls\nof Thebes\u2014that wisdom-city of Cadmus, the city of initiation, itself\na pantacle like the seven wonders of the world. As Orpheus gave life\nto numbers, so Cadmus bound thought to the sigils of letters. The one\nestablished a nation dedicated to all things beautiful, and for that\nnation the other provided a native land, corresponding to its genius\nand its love.\n\nIn the ancient Greek traditions, Orpheus is numbered among the\nheroes of the Golden Fleece, who were the primeval conquerors of the\nGreat Work. The Golden Fleece is the vesture of the sun itself; it is\nlight in application to the needs of man; it is the grand secret of\nmagical works; it is in fine, initiation as this should be understood\nessentially; and it was the quest of these or this which carried the\nallegorical heroes into a mystic Asia. On the other hand, Cadmus\nwas a voluntary exile from the glorious Thebes of Egypt; he brought\ninto Greece the knowledge of letters and that harmony of which they\nare images. The new Thebes, the typical city of wisdom, was built to\nthe measures of that harmony, for science consists in the rhythmic\ncorrespondence between hieroglyphical, phonetic and numeral characters,\nthe inherent motion of which follows the eternal laws of mathematics.\nThebes is circular and its citadel is square; like the sky of Magic,\nit has seven gates, and its legend was destined to become the epic of\noccultism and the foreshadowed history of human genius.\n\nAll these mysterious allegories, all these inspired traditions,\nare the soul of Greek civilisation; but we must be dissuaded from\nseeking the real history of their poetic heroes otherwise than in the\ntransformations of oriental history carried into Greece by unknown\nhierophants. It was only the history of ideas which was written by the\ngreat of those days, and they were at little pains to acquaint us with\nthe human struggles belonging to the birth of empires. Homer followed\nin their path, marshalling the gods, who are the immortal types of\nthought; it was in this sense that a world\u2019s upheaval followed on the\nfrown of Jupiter. If Greece carried fire and sword into Asia, it was\nto avenge the profanations of science and virtue in their sacrifice to\nlust; it was to restore the empire of the world to Minerva and Juno,\nin despite of that sensuous Venus who ruined her devoted lovers. Such\nis the sublime mission of poetry, which substitutes gods for men,\nor causes in place of effects and eternal concepts for the sorry\nincarnations of greatness on earth. Ideas raise up and they also cast\ndown empires; a faith of some kind is at the root of all grandeur, and\nin order that faith may be poetry, or in other words creative, it must\nbe founded on truth. The only history which is worthy to occupy the\nwise is that of the light which is victorious over darkness for ever.\nThat which is called a civilisation is one great day of this sun.\n\nThe fable of the Golden Fleece connects Hermetic Magic with Greek\ninitiations. The Golden Fleece of the solar ram, which must be\nobtained by those or by him who would possess universal sovereignty,\nis figurative of the Great Work. The Argonautic vessel, built of\ntimber from the prophetic oaks of Dodona, the speaking vessel, is the\nship of the mysteries of Isis, the ark of life-force and renewal, the\ncoffer of Osiris, the egg of divine regeneration. The adventurer Jason\nis he who is prepared for initiation, but he is a hero in his valour\nonly; he has all the inconstancy and all the weakness of humanity, but\nhe takes with him the personifications of all power. Hercules, who\nsignifies brute force, has no real part in the work, for he goes astray\nfrom the path in pursuit of his unworthy loves. The others arrive in\nthe land of initiation, of Colchis, where the remnant of Zoroastrian\nsecrets is still preserved. The question is how to obtain the key of\nthese mysteries, and science is once again betrayed by a woman. Medea\ndelivers to Jason the arcana of the Great Work, with the kingdom and\nthe life of her father; for it is a fatal law of the occult sanctuary\nthat the revelation of its secrets entails death upon him who has\nproved unable to preserve them. Medea informs Jason of the monsters\nwith which he must do battle and of that which will ensure his victory.\nThere is firstly the winged serpent of earth, the astral fluid which\nmust be seized and fixed; its teeth must be drawn and sown in a waste\nplace, which has been previously ploughed by the bulls of Mars. The\ndragon\u2019s teeth are those acids[55] which dissolve the metallic earth\nafter its preparation by a double fire and by the earth\u2019s magnetic\nforces. A fermentation follows, comparable to a great battle; the\nimpure is devoured by the impure, and the splendid Fleece is the reward\nof the adept.\n\nSo ends the magical romance of Jason and that of Medea follows, for\nGreek antiquity sought to include in this history the complete epic\nof occult science. Hermetic Magic is succeeded by g\u00f6etia, parricide,\nfratricide, infanticide, sacrificing all to its passions but never\nenjoying the harvest of its crimes. Medea betrays her father like Ham\nand assassinates her brother like Cain. She stabs her children, poisons\nher rival and reaps the hatred of him whose love she has coveted. It\nmay be surprising on the surface that Jason does not gain in wisdom by\nthe mastery of the Golden Fleece, but it must be remembered that he\nowes the discovery of its secrets to treason only. He is a ravisher\nafter the manner of Prometheus and not an adept like Orpheus; he is in\nsearch of wealth and power rather than of knowledge. Hence he perishes\nmiserably, for the inspiring and sovereign virtues of the Golden Fleece\nwill be never understood except by the disciples of Orpheus.\n\nPrometheus, the Golden Fleece, the Thebaid, the Iliad and the\nOdyssey\u2014these five great epics, full of the mysteries of Nature and\nhuman destinies, constitute the bible of ancient Greece, a cyclopean\nmonument, a Pelion piled upon an Ossa, masterpiece over masterpiece,\nform on form, beautiful as light itself and throned upon eternal\nthoughts, sublime in truth. It was however at their proper risk and\nperil that the hierophants of poetry committed to the Greek people\nthese marvellous fictions in which truth was shrined. Aeschylus who\ndared to depict the Titanic struggles, superhuman woes and divine\nhopes of Prometheus\u2014Aeschylus, the awe-inspiring poet of the family of\n\u0152dipus\u2014was accused of betraying and profaning the mysteries and escaped\nwith difficulty a severe condemnation. We are unable at this day to\nrealise his whole intent, which was a dramatic trilogy embracing the\nentire symbolic history of Prometheus. It follows that he exhibited\nto the assembled people how Prometheus was delivered by Alcides and\nhow Jupiter was cast from his throne. The omnipotence of genius in its\nsuffering and the decisive victory of patience over power are fine no\ndoubt, but the crowd might see therein the future triumph of impiety\nand anarchy. Prometheus overcoming Jupiter might be understood as the\npeople destined to be liberated one day from their priests and kings;\nand guilty hopes might count for much in the prodigal applause accorded\nto him who unveiled this prospect imprudently. To the leanings of dogma\ntowards poetry we owe the masterpieces in question, and we are not\ntherefore to be counted among the austere initiates who would wish,\nlike Plato, to crown and then exile the poets; for the true poets are\nambassadors of God on earth and those who cast them forth deserve no\nblessing from heaven.\n\nThe great Greek initiator and he who civilised it first was also\nits first poet, for even in allowing that Orpheus was a mystical or\nfabulous personality, we must believe in the existence of Mus\u00e6us\nand attribute to him the verses which pass under the name of his\nmaster.[56] It matters little to us otherwise whether one of the\nArgonauts was called Orpheus or not, for the poetic creator has done\nmore than live; he lives in immortality for ever. The Orphic fable is\na complete dogma, a revelation of priestly destinies, a new ideal form\nof the worship of beauty. The regeneration and redemption of love are\nindicated already therein. Orpheus descends into hell, seeking Eurydice\nand must bring her back without seeing her; so must the pure man create\nhis companion, raise her to himself by devotion and not by desire of\nher. It is in renouncing the object of passion that we deserve to\npossess the object of true love. We are already in the atmosphere of\nthe pure dreams of Christian chivalry. But the hierophant is still a\nman; he falters, questions and looks. _Ab miseror Eurydicem._ She is\nlost, the error is committed, the expiation must now begin. Orpheus\nis widowed and remains as such in purity; the marriage with Eurydice\nhad not attained consummation, and as the widower of one who was a\nvirgin he rested himself in virginity. The poet is not two-hearted\nand children of the race of gods love once and once alone. Paternal\ninspirations, yearnings for an ideal which shall be found beyond the\ntomb, widowhood made holy in its consecration to the sacred muse.\nWhat a revelation in advance of inspirations yet to come. Orpheus,\nbearing in his heart a wound that nothing but death shall heal, becomes\na doctor of souls and bodies; he dies at length, the victim of his\nchastity\u2014the death which he suffers is that of initiators and prophets.\nHe perishes proclaiming the unity of god and the unity also of love:\nthis at a later period was the root of the Orphic Mysteries.\n\nHaving shewn himself raised so far above his own epoch, Orpheus earned\nin due course the reputation of a sorcerer and enchanter. To him, as\nto Solomon, were attributed the knowledge of simples and minerals,\nof celestial medicine and the philosophical stone. With these he was\ndoubtless acquainted, since he personifies primitive initiation, fall\nand reparation in his legend\u2014the three divisions of the great work of\nhumanity.\n\nOrphic initiation may, according to Ballanche, be summarised in the\nfollowing manner: \u201cMade subject in the first place to the influence\nof the elements, man\u2019s own influence must afterwards govern these.\nCreation is the act of a divine magism which is continuous and eternal.\nTrue being resides for man in self-knowledge. Responsibility is for\nhim a conquest and the very penalty of sin is another occasion for\nvictory. All life is founded on death, and palingenesis is the law\nof reparation. Marriage is the reproduction in humanity of the great\ncosmogonical mystery. It should be one, as God and Nature are one. It\nis the unity of the Tree of Life, while debauch is division and death.\nAstrology is a synthesis, because the Tree of Life is a single tree\nand because its branches\u2014spread through heaven and bearing flowers of\nstars\u2014are in correspondence with its roots, which are hidden in earth.\nThe knowledge of the medical and magical virtues resident in plants,\nmetals and bodies endowed with varying degrees of life, is also a\nsynthetic knowledge. The capacities for organisation in their various\ngrades are revealed by a synthesis. The aggregations and affinities\nof metals, like the vegetative soul of plants and like all powers of\nassimilation, are also made known by a synthesis.\u201d\n\nIt has been said that the beautiful is the splendour of the true, and\nit is therefore to this great light of Orpheus that we must ascribe\nthe perfection of form which was manifested for the first time in\nGreece. To him also\u2014as to a source\u2014is referable the school of divine\nPlato, that pagan father of all high Christian philosophy. From him\ndid Pythagoras and the _illuminati_ of Alexandria alike derive their\nmysteries. Initiation does not suffer vicissitude; it is one and the\nsame, wheresoever we meet with it through the ages. The last disciples\nof Martines de Pasqually are still the children of Orpheus; but they\nadore the Realiser of antique philosophy, Who is the incarnate Word of\nChristians.\n\nWe have said that the first part of the fable concerning the Golden\nFleece embodies the secrets of Orphic Magic and that the second part\nis dedicated to judicious warnings against the abuses of G\u00f6etia or\nthe Magic of darkness. False or G\u00f6etic Magic, known at the present\nday under the name of sorcery, can never rank as a science: it is the\nempiricism of fatality. All excessive passion produces a factitious\nforce of which will cannot be the master, but that force is obedient\nto the tyranny of passion. This is why Albertus Magnus counsels us\nto curse no one in our wrath. It is the story of the malediction of\nHippolytus by Theseus. Excessive passion is real madness, and the\nlatter in its turn is an intoxication or congestion of Astral Light.\nThis is why madness is contagious and why passions in general operate\nas a veritable witchcraft. Women are superior to men in sorcery because\nthey are more easily transported by excess of passion. The word\nsorcerer clearly designates victims of chance and, so to speak, the\npoisonous mushrooms of fatality.\n\nGreek sorcerers, but especially those of Thessaly, put horrible\nprecepts to the proof and were given over to abominable rites. They\nwere mostly women wasted by desires which they could no longer satisfy,\nantiquated courtesans, monsters of immorality and ugliness. Jealous of\nlove and life, those wretched creatures found lovers only in the tombs,\nor rather they violated sepulchres to devour with foul caresses the icy\nbodies of young men. They stole children and stifled their cries by\npressing them to their dangling breasts. They were known as _lami\u00e6_,\n_stryges_, _empus\u00e6_; children were the objects of their envy and thus\nof their hatred, and they sacrificed them for this reason. Some, like\nthat Canidia who is mentioned by Horace, buried them as far as the head\nand left them to die of hunger, surrounded with food which they could\nnot reach; others cut off the heads, hands and feet, boiled their fat\nand grease, in copper basins, to the consistence of an ointment, which\nthey afterwards mixed with the juice of henbane, belladonna and black\npoppies. With this unguent they anointed the organ which was irritated\nunceasingly by their detestable desires; they rubbed also their temples\nand arm-pits, and then fell into a lethargy full of unbridled and\nluxurious dreams. There is need to speak plainly\u2014these are the origins\nand this is the traditional practice of Black Magic; these are the\nsecrets which were handed down to the middle ages; and such in fine are\nthe pretended innocent victims whom public execration, far more than\nthe sentence of inquisitors, condemned to the flames. It was in Spain\nand in Italy above all that the race of _stryges_, _lami\u00e6_ and _empus\u00e6_\nabounded, even at a late period; those who doubt should consult the\nmost experienced criminologists of these countries, digested by\nFranciscus Torreblanca,[57] Royal Advocate of the Chancelry of Granada,\nin his _Epitome Delictorum_.\n\nMedea and Circe are the types of Malefic Magic among the Greeks. Circe\nis the vicious female who bewitches and debases her lovers; Medea is\nthe brazen poisoner who dares everything and makes Nature itself the\nabettor of her crimes. There are actually creatures who enchant like\nCirce and whose proximity defiles. They can inspire nothing but brutal\npassions; they exhaust and then disdain you. They must be treated\naccording to the policy of Ulysses, by compelling them to obedience\nthrough fear and by being able to leave them in the end without regret.\nThey are beautiful, heartless monsters and their vanity is their whole\nlife. They were depicted by antiquity in the form of syrens.\n\nAs to Medea, she is perversity incarnate, willing and working evil.\nShe is capable of love and does not yield to fear, but her love is\nmore terrible than her hate. She is a bad mother and the destroyer\nof children; she loves the night and under the rays of the moon she\ngathers noxious herbs for the brewing of poisons. She magnetises the\nair, brings dole to earth, infects water and makes even the fire\nvenomous. Reptiles provide her with their skins; she mutters frightful\nwords; the track of blood follows her; and mutilated limbs fall from\nher hands. Her counsels madden, her caresses beget horror.\n\nSuch is the woman who has sought to rise beyond the duties of her sex\nby familiarity with forbidden sciences. Men avoid her, children hide\nwhen she passes. She is devoid of reason, devoid of true love, and\nthe stratagems of Nature in revolt against her are the ever-renewing\ntorment of her pride.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VI\n\n MATHEMATICAL MAGIC OF PYTHAGORAS\n\n\nHe who initiated Numa, and of whose proficiency in Magic something\nhas been said already, was a personage known as Tarchon, himself the\ndisciple of a Chaldean named Tages. Science had then its apostles who\nwent to and fro in the world, making priests and kings therein. Not\ninfrequently persecution itself was overruled to fulfil the designs of\nProvidence, and so it came about toward the seventy-second Olympiad, or\nfour generations after the reign of Numa. Pythagoras of Samos sought a\nrefuge in Italy from the tyranny of Polycrates. The great promoter of\nthe philosophy of numbers had visited all the sanctuaries of the world\nand had even been in Jud\u00e6a, where he suffered circumcision[58] as the\nprice of his admission into the mysteries of the Kabalah, communicated\nto him, though not without a certain reserve, by the prophets Ezekiel\nand Daniel. Subsequently, but again not without difficulty, he obtained\nEgyptian initiation, being recommended by the King Amasis. The\ncapacities of his own genius supplemented the imperfect revelations\nof the hierophants, so that he became himself a master and one who\nexpounded the mysteries.\n\nPythagoras defined God as a living and absolute truth clothed in\nlight; he defined the Word as number manifested by form; and he\nderived all things from the _Tetractys_\u2014that is to say, the tetrad. He\nsaid also that God is supreme music, the nature of which is harmony.\nReligion was, according to him, the highest expression of justice;\nmedicine was the most perfect practice of science; the beautiful\nwas harmony; force, reason; felicity, perfection; while truth in\napplication consisted in distrusting the weakness and perversity of men.\n\nWhen he made his dwelling at Crotona, the magistrates of that city,\nseeing that he exercised so great an influence over minds and hearts,\nwere at first in some anxiety concerning him; but ultimately they\nsought his advice. Pythagoras counselled them to cultivate the muses\nand maintain the most perfect accord among themselves, because feuds\nbetween masters fomented rebellion among servants. Thereafter he\nimparted to them his grand religious, political and social precept:\nThere is no evil which is not to be preferred before anarchy\u2014an axiom\nof universal application and almost infinite depth, though one which\neven our own age is not as yet sufficiently enlightened to understand.\n\nOutside the traditions of his life, the remains of Pythagoras are his\nGolden Verses and his Symbols, of which the former have passed into\ncommonplaces of popular morality, so great has been their success\nthrough the ages. They have been rendered as follows:[59]\u2014\n\n\u201cFirst worship the immortal gods, as they are established and ordained\nby the Law. Reverence the oath and next the heroes, full of goodness\nand light.... Honour likewise thy parents, and those most nearly\nrelated to thee. Of all the rest of mankind, make him thy friend who\ndistinguishes himself by his virtue. Always give ear to his mild\nexhortations, and take example from his virtuous and useful actions.\nAvoid as much as possible hating thy friend for a slight fault.\nUnderstand that power is a near neighbour to necessity.... Overcome\nand vanquish these passions\u2014gluttony, sloth, sensuality, and anger.\nDo nothing evil, neither in the presence of others nor privately, and\nabove all things respect thyself. In the next place, observe justice in\nthy actions and in thy words.... The goods of fortune are uncertain; as\nthey may be acquired, so may they likewise be lost. Always make this\nreflection, that it is ordained by destiny that all men shall die....\nSupport with patience thy lot, be it what it may, and never repine at\nit; but endeavour what thou canst to remedy it. Consider that fate does\nnot send the greatest portion of these misfortunes to good men.... Let\nno man by his words, or by his deeds seduce thee; nor entice thee to\nsay or to do what is not profitable for thyself. Consult and deliberate\nbefore thou act, that thou mayst not commit foolish actions. For it is\nthe part of a miserable man to speak and to act without reflection.\nBut do that which will not afflict thee afterwards, nor oblige thee\nto repentance. Never do anything which thou dost not understand; but\nlearn all that thou oughtest to know, and by that means thou wilt lead\na very pleasant life. In no wise neglect the health of thy body; but\ngive it drink and meat in due measure, and also the exercise of which\nit has need.... Accustom thyself to a way of living that is neat and\ndecent without luxury.... Do only the things which cannot hurt thee,\nand deliberate before thou dost them. Never suffer sleep to close thy\neyelids, after thy going to bed, till thou hast examined by thy reason\nall thy actions of the day. Wherein have I done amiss? What have I\ndone? What have I omitted that I ought to have done?\u201d\n\nUp to this point the Golden Verses seem to be only the instructions\nof a schoolmaster. They bear however a very different construction.\nThey are the preliminary laws of magical initiation, which constitute\nthe first part of the Great Work, that is to say, the creation of the\nperfect adept. This is proved by the following verses:\n\n\u201cI swear by him who has transmitted into our souls the Sacred\nQuaternion, the source of nature, whose cause is eternal. Never\nbegin to set thy hand to any work, till thou hast prayed the gods to\naccomplish what thou art going to begin. When thou hast made this habit\nfamiliar to thee, thou wilt know the constitution of the Immortal Gods\nand of men. Even how far the different beings extend, and what contains\nand binds them together ..., and nothing in this world shall be hid\nfrom thee.... O Jupiter, our Father! if thou wouldst deliver men from\nall the evils that oppress them, shew them of what daimon they make\nuse. But take courage; the race of men is divine.... When, having\ndivested thyself of thy mortal body, thou arrivest at the most pure\n\u00c6ther, thou shalt be a god, immortal, incorruptible, and death shall\nhave no more dominion over thee.\u201d\n\nPythagoras said otherwise: \u201cAs there are three divine concepts\nand three intelligible realms, so is there a triple word, because\nhierarchic order is ever manifested by the triad. There are (_a_)\nsimple speech, (_b_) hieroglyphical speech and (_c_) symbolical\nspeech. In other terms, there is the word which expresses, there is\nthe concealing word and, finally, there is the word that signifies:\nall hieratic intelligence is in the perfect science of these three\ndegrees.\u201d After this manner he enshrined doctrine in symbols, but\neschewing personifications and images which, in his opinion, begot\nidolatry sooner or later. He has been even charged with detestation\nof poets, but it was the makers of bad verses to whom he forbade the\nart: \u201cThou who hast no harp, seek not to sing in measures,\u201d he says\nin his symbols. A man so great as he could never disregard the exact\ncorrespondence between sublime thoughts and beautiful figurative\nexpressions; indeed his own symbols are full of poetry: \u201cDo not scatter\nthe flowers of which crowns are made.\u201d In such terms he exhorts his\ndisciples never to diminish glory and never to flout that which it\nseems good for the world to honour.\n\nPythagoras was chaste, but far from commanding celibacy to his\ndisciples he married on his own part and had children. A beautiful\nsaying of his wife has remained in memory: she had been asked whether\npurification was not requisite in a woman after intercourse with\na man, and in such case after what lapse of time she might regard\nherself as sufficiently purified to approach holy things. She replied:\n\u201cImmediately, if it be with her husband; but if it be with another,\nnever.\u201d\n\nThe same severity of principles, the same purity of manners, qualified\nin the school of Pythagoras for initiation into the mysteries of Nature\nand so was attained that empire over self by which the elementary\npowers could be governed. Pythagoras possessed the faculty which by us\nis termed second sight and was known then as divination. Being with his\ndisciples one day on the seashore, a vessel appeared on the horizon.\n\u201cMaster,\u201d said one of the companions, \u201cwould it mean wealth if they\ngave me the cargo carried by that ship?\u201d \u201cTo you it would be more than\nuseless,\u201d Pythagoras answered. \u201cIn such case I would keep it for my\nheirs.\u201d \u201cWould you wish to bequeathe them two corpses?\u201d The vessel came\ninto port and proved to be bearing the body of a man who desired to be\nburied in his own country.\n\nIt is related furthermore that beasts were obedient to Pythagoras. Once\nin the middle of the Olympic Games, he signalled to an eagle winging\nits way through heaven; the bird descended, wheeling circle-wise, and\nagain took rapid flight at the master\u2019s token of dismissal. There\nwas also a great bear, ravaging in Apulia; Pythagoras brought it to\nhis feet and told it to leave the country. It disappeared accordingly\nand when asked to what knowledge he owed such a marvellous power, he\nanswered: \u201cTo the science of light.\u201d Animated beings are, in fact,\nincarnations of light. Out of the darkness of ugliness forms emerge and\nmove progressively towards the splendours of beauty; instincts are in\ncorrespondence with forms; and man who is the synthesis of that light\nwhereof animals may be termed the analysis, is created to command them.\nIt has come about, however, that in place of ruling as their master, he\nhas become their persecutor and destroyer, so that they fear and have\nrebelled against him. In the presence of an exceptional will which is\nat once benevolent and directing they are completely magnetised, and a\nhost of modern phenomena both can and should enable us to understand\nthe possibility of miracles like those of Pythagoras.\n\nPhysiognomists have observed that the majority of men have a certain\nfacial resemblance to one or another animal. It may be a matter\nof imagination only, produced by the impression to which various\nphysiognomies give rise, and revealing some prominent personal\ncharacteristics. A morose man is thus reminiscent of a bear, a\nhypocrite has the look of a cat, and so of the rest. These kinds of\njudgments are magnified in the imagination and exaggerated still\nfurther in dreams, when people who have affected us disagreeably during\nthe waking state transform into animals and cause us to experience all\nthe agonies of nightmare. Now, animals\u2014as much as ourselves and more\neven than we\u2014are under the rule of imagination, while they are devoid\nof that judgment by which we can check its errors. Hence they are\naffected towards us according to the sympathies or antipathies which\nare excited by our own magnetism. They are, moreover, unconscious of\nthat which underlies the human form and they regard us only as other\nanimals by whom they are dominated, the dog taking his master for a dog\nmore perfect than himself. The secret of dominion over animals lies\nin the management of this instinct. We have seen a famous tamer of\nwild beasts fascinate his lions by exhibiting a terrible countenance\nand acting himself as if he were a lion enraged. Here is a literal\napplication of the popular proverb which tells us to howl with the\nwolves and bleat with the sheep. It must also be realised that every\nanimal form manifests a particular instinct, aptitude or vice. If we\nsuffer the character of the beast to predominate within us, we shall\ntend to assume its external guise in an ever-increasing degree and\nshall even come to impress its perfect image on the Astral Light;\nmore even than this, when we fall into dreams or ecstasy, we shall\nsee ourselves as ecstatics and somnambulists would see us and as we\nmust appear undoubtedly in the eyes of animals. Let it happen in such\ncases that reason be extinguished, that persistent dreams change into\nmadness, and we shall be turned into beasts like Nebuchadnezzar. This\nexplains those stories of were-wolves, some of which have been legally\nestablished. The facts were beyond dispute, but the witnesses were not\nless hallucinated than the were-wolves themselves.[60]\n\nCases of coincidence and correspondence in the dream-state are neither\nrare nor extraordinary. Persons in the state of magnetic ecstasy\ncan see and talk to one another from opposite ends of the earth. We\nourselves may meet someone for the first time and he or she will seem\nto be an old acquaintance because we have encountered frequently in\ndream. Life is full of these curious occurrences and as regards the\ntransformation of human beings into animals, the evidences are on every\nside. How many aged courtesans and gluttonous females, reduced almost\nto idiocy after threading all sewers of existence, are nothing but old\nshe-cats egregiously enamoured of their tom.\n\nPythagoras believed above all things in the soul\u2019s immortality and in\nthe perpetuity of life. The endless succession of summer and winter,\nday and night, sleeping and waking, illustrated amply for him the\nphenomenon of death. For him also the particular immortality of human\nsouls consisted in persistence of memory. He is said to have been\nconscious of his previous incarnations and if the report is true, it\nwas something suggested by his reminiscences, for such a man as he\ncould have been neither impostor nor fool.[61] It is probable that he\ncame upon former memories in his dreams, while simple speculation and\nhypothesis have been constructed as positive affirmation on his part.\nHowever this may be, his thought was great, for the real life of our\nindividuality consists in memory alone. Those waters of Lethe pictured\nby the ancients were the true philosophical type of death. The Bible\nappears to impart a divine sanction to this idea when it is said in the\nBook of Psalms that \u201cthe just shall be in everlasting remembrance.\u201d[62]\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VII\n\n THE HOLY KABALAH\n\n\nLet us now have recourse to the origin of true science by recurring\nto the Holy Kabalah, or tradition of the children of Seth, taken from\nChaldea by Abraham, communicated by Joseph to the Egyptian priesthood,\ningarnered by Moses, concealed by symbols in the Bible, revealed by the\nSaviour to St. John, and embodied in its fulness in hieratic images,\nanalogous to those of all antiquity, in the Apocalypse of this Apostle.\n\nWhatsoever was in kinship with idolatry was held in detestation by\nthe Kabalists, which notwithstanding, God is represented by them\nunder a human figure, but it is purely hieroglyphical. For them He\nis the intelligent, the loving, the living infinite. He is neither\nthe totality of all beings, nor being in abstraction, nor a being\nwho is philosophically definable. He is in all things, being more\nand greater than all. His very name is ineffable, and yet this name\ngives expression only to the human ideal of His divinity.[63] It is\nnot possible for man to understand God in Himself. He is the absolute\nof faith, but the absolute of reason is Being. Being is self-existent\nand is because it is. The cause of Being is Being itself. It is matter\nof legitimate speculation why this or that exists, but it would be\nabsurd to inquire why Being is, for it would be to postulate Being as\nantecedent to Being.\n\nIt is demonstrated by reason and science that the modes of existence in\nBeing are equilibrated in accordance with harmonious and hierarchic\nlaws. Now the hierarchy is graduated on an ascending scale, becoming\nmore and more monarchic. At the same time reason cannot pause in the\npresence of one absolute chief without being overwhelmed by the heights\nwhich it discerns above this supreme king; it takes refuge therefore in\nsilence and gives place to adoring faith. That which is certain, for\nscience and for reason alike, is that the idea of God is the grandest,\nmost holy and most serviceable of all aspirations in man; that morality\nand its eternal sanction repose on this belief. In humanity it is\ntherefore the most real phenomenon of being, and if it were false\ntherefore, Nature would formulate the absurd, the void would affirm\nlife, and it might be said at one and the same time that there was God\nand there was no God. It is to this philosophical and incontestable\nreality, or otherwise the notion of Deity, that the Kabalists give\na name, and all other names are contained therein.[64] The ciphers\nof this name produce all numbers and the hieroglyphical forms of\nits letters give expression to all laws of Nature, with all that is\ntherein. We shall not recur in this place to that which has been dealt\nwith already as regards the divine Tetragram in the _Doctrine of\nTranscendental Magic_; but it may be added that the Kabalists inscribe\nit in four chief ways: (1) as \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4, JHVH, which is spelt but not\npronounced. The consonants are YOD, HE, VAU, HE, and they are rendered\nas JEHOVAH by us in opposition to all analogy, for the Tetragrammaton\nso disfigured is composed of six letters.[65] (2) \u05d0\u05d3\u05e0\u05d9, ADNI, meaning\nLord and pronounced by us ADONAI.[66] (3) \u05d0\u05d4\u05d9\u05d4 AHIH, which signifies\nBeing and is pronounced by us EIEIE.[67] (4) \u05d0\u05d2\u05dc\u05d0, AGLA, pronounced\nas it is written and comprising hieroglyphically all mysteries of the\nKabalah.[68]\n\n[Illustration: PANTACLE OF KABALISTIC LETTERS]\n\nThe letter _Aleph_, \u05d0, is the first of the Hebrew alphabet, and\nexpressing as it does unity, it represents hieroglyphically the\ndogma of Hermes: that which is above is analogous to that which is\nbelow. In consonance with this the letter has two arms, one of which\npoints to earth and the other to heaven with an identical gesture.\nThe letter _Gimel_, \u05d2, is third in the alphabet; it expresses the\ntriad numerically, and hieroglyphically it signifies childbirth,\nfruitfulness. Lamed, \u05dc, is the twelfth letter and is an expression of\nthe perfect cycle. Considered as a hieroglyphical sign it represents\nthe circulation of the perpetual movement and the relation of the\nradius to the circumference. The duplicated _Aleph_ represents the\nsynthesis. Therefore the name AGLA signifies: (1) unity, which\naccomplishes by the triad the cycle of numbers, leading back to unity.\n(2) The fruitful principle of Nature, which is one therewith. (3)\nThe primal truth which fertilises science and restores it to unity.\n(4) Syllepsis, analysis, science and synthesis. (5) The Three Divine\nPersons Who are one God; the secret of the Great Work, which is\nthe fixation of the Astral Light by a sovereign act of will and is\nrepresented by the adepts as a serpent pierced with an arrow, thus\nforming the letter _Aleph_. (6) The three operations of dissolution,\nsublimation and fixation, corresponding to the three essential\nsubstances, Salt, Sulphur and Mercury\u2014the whole being expressed by the\nletter _Gimel_. (7) The twelve keys of Basil Valentine, represented\nby _Lamed_. (8) Finally, the Work accomplished in conformity with its\nprinciple and reproducing the said principle.\n\nHerein is the origin of that Kabalistic tradition which comprises\nall Magic in a single word. To know how this word is read and how\nalso it is pronounced, or literally to understand its mysteries and\ntranslate the knowledge into action, is to have the key of miracles. In\npronouncing the word AGLA it is said that one must turn to the East,\nwhich means union of intention and knowledge with oriental tradition.\nIt should be remembered further that, according to Kabalah, the perfect\nword is the word realised by acts, whence comes that expression which\nrecurs frequently in the Bible: _facere verbum_, to make a word\u2014that\nis, in the sense of performing an act. To pronounce the word AGLA\nKabalistically is therefore to pass all tests of initiation and\naccomplish all its works.[69]\n\nIt has been said in the _Doctrine of Transcendental Magic_ that the\nname Jehovah resolves into seventy-two explicatory names, called\n_Shemahamphorash_.[70] The art of employing these seventy-two names and\ndiscovering therein the keys of universal science is the art which is\ncalled by Kabalists the Keys of Solomon. As a fact, at the end of the\ncollections of prayers and evocations which bear this title, there are\nfound usually seventy-two magical circles, making thirty-six talismans,\nor four times nine, being the absolute number multiplied by the tetrad.\nEach of these talismans bears two of the two-and-seventy names, the\nsign emblematical of their number and that of the four letters of\nTetragrammaton to which they correspond. From this have originated the\nfour emblematical Tarot suits: the Wand, representing the _Yod_; the\nCup, answering to the _He_; the Sword, referable to the _Vau_; and the\nPentacle, in correspondence with the final _He_. The complement of the\ndenary has been added in the Tarot, thus repeating synthetically the\ncharacter of unity.[71]\n\nThe popular traditions of Magic affirm that he who possesses the Keys\nof Solomon can communicate with spirits of all grades and can exact\nobedience on the part of all natural forces. These Keys, so often lost\nand as often again recovered, are no other than the talismans of the\nseventy-two names and the mysteries of the thirty-two hieroglyphical\npaths, reproduced by the Tarot. By the aid of these signs and by their\ninfinite combinations, which are like those of numbers and letters, it\nis possible to arrive at the natural and mathematical revelation of\nall secrets of Nature, and it is in this sense that communication is\nestablished with the whole hierarchy of intelligence.\n\nThe Kabalists in their wisdom were on their guard against the dreams\nof imagination and hallucinations of the waking state. Therefore they\navoided in particular all unhealthy evocations which disturb the\nnervous system and intoxicate reason. Makers of curious experiments in\nphenomena of extra-atural vision are no better than the eaters of opium\nand hasheesh. They are children who injure themselves recklessly. It\nmay happen that one is overtaken by intoxication; we may even so far\nforget ourselves voluntarily as to seek the experience of drunkenness,\nbut for the man who respects himself, a single instance suffices. Count\nJoseph de Maistre says that one of these days we shall deride our\npresent stupidity, much as we deride the barbarity of the middle ages.\nWhat would he think, did he see our table-turners or listen to makers\nof hypotheses concerning the world of spirits? Poor creatures that we\nare, we escape from one absurdity by rushing over to its opposite.\nThe eighteenth century thought that it protested against superstition\nby denying religion and we in return testify to the impiety of that\nperiod by believing in old wives\u2019 fables. Is it impossible to be a\nbetter Christian than Voltaire and still not believe in ghosts? The\ndead can no more revisit this earth which they have quitted than a\nchild can return into the womb of its mother.[72] That which we call\ndeath is birth into a new life. Nature does not repeat what it has\nonce done in the order of necessary progression through the scale of\nexistence, and she cannot bely her own fundamental laws. Limited by its\norgans and served by these, the human soul can enter into communication\nwith things of the visible world only by the intermediation of these\norgans. The body is an envelope adjusted to the physical environments\nin which the soul abides here. By confining the action of the soul it\nmakes her activity possible. In the absence of body the soul would be\neverywhere, and yet in so attenuated a sense that it could act nowhere,\nbut, lost in the infinite, would be swallowed up and annihilated in\nGod.[73] Imagine a drop of fresh water shut up in a globule and cast in\nthe sea; as long as that sheath is preserved intact, the drop of water\nwill subsist in its separate form, but let the globule be broken and\nwhere shall we look for the drop in the vast sea?\n\nIn creating spirits, God could endow them with self-conscious\npersonality only by their restriction in an envelope, so to centralise\ntheir action and by restriction save it from being lost. When the soul\nseparates from the body it changes environment of necessity, since it\nchanges the envelope.[74] It goes forth clothed only in the astral\nform, or vehicle of light, ascending in virtue of its nature above\nthe atmosphere, as air rises from the water in escaping from a broken\nvessel. We say that the soul ascends because the vehicle ascends and\nbecause action and consciousness are both attached thereto.[75] The\natmospheric air becomes solid for luciform bodies which are infinitely\nrarer than itself, and they could only come down by assuming a\ngrosser vehicle. Where would they obtain this in the region above\nour atmosphere? They could only return to earth by means of another\nincarnation, and such return would be a lapse, for they would be\nrenouncing the state of free spirit and renewing their novitiate. The\npossibility of such a return is not admitted, moreover, by the catholic\nreligion.\n\nThe doctrine here set forth is formulated by the Kabalists in a single\naxiom: The spirit clothes itself to come down and unclothes itself to\ngo up. The life of intelligence is ascensional. In the body of its\nmother, the child has a vegetative life and draws nourishment through\na cord to which it is attached, as the tree is attached to the earth\nby its root and is also nourished thereby. When the child passes\nfrom vegetative to instinctive and animal life, the cord breaks and\nhenceforth he has free motion. When the child becomes man, he escapes\nfrom the trammels of instinct and can act as a reasonable being. When\nthe man dies, he is liberated from the law of gravitation, by which\nhe has been previously bound to earth. When the soul has expiated its\noffences, it grows strong enough to emerge from the exterior darkness\nof the terrestrial atmosphere and mount towards the sun.[76] The\nunending ascent of the sacred ladder begins therein, for the eternity\nof the elect cannot be a state of idleness; they pass from virtue\nto virtue, from bliss to bliss, from victory to victory, from glory\nto glory. There is no break in the chain, and those of the superior\ndegrees can still exercise an influence on those who are below, but it\nis in harmony with the hierarchic order and after the same way that\na king who rules wisely does good to the humblest of his subjects.\nFrom stage to stage, the prayers arise and the graces pour down, never\nmistaking the path. But spirits who have once gone up cannot again come\ndown, for in proportion to their ascent the zones solidify below them.\nThe great gulf is fixed, says Abraham, in the parable of the rich man,\nso that they which would pass from hence to you cannot.[77]\n\nEcstasy may so exalt the powers of the star-body that it can draw the\nmaterial body after it, thus proving that the destiny of the soul is to\nascend. The stories of aerial levitation are possible, but there is no\ninstance of a man being able to live under the earth or in water. It\nwould be not less impossible for a soul in separation from the body to\nsubsist for a single moment in the density of our atmosphere. Therefore\ndeparted beings are not about us, as spiritists suppose. Those whom we\nlove may see us and to us may still manifest, but only by mirage and\nreflection in the common mirror of the Astral Light. Furthermore they\ncan take interest no longer in mortal things; they hold to us only by\nthat which is highest in our feelings and is in correspondence with\ntheir eternal mode.[78]\n\nSuch are the revelations of Kabalism as imbedded in the mysterious book\nof the Zohar; for science they are of course hypothetical, but they\nrest on a series of exact inductions and these inductions are drawn\nfrom facts uncontested by science.\n\nWe are brought at this point into touch with one of the most dangerous\nsecrets in the domain of Magic, being the more than probable hypothesis\nconcerning the existence of those fluidic _larv\u00e6_ known in ancient\ntheurgy under the name of elementary spirits. Something has been said\nupon the subject in _The Doctrine and Ritual of Transcendental Magic_,\nand the ill-starred Abb\u00e9 de Villars, who jested with these terrible\nrevelations, paid for his imprudence with his life.[79] The reason\nthat the secret is dangerous is because it verges on the great magical\narcanum. The truth is that the evocation of elementary spirits implies\npower to coagulate fluids by a projection of the Astral Light, and this\npower, so directed, can produce only disorders and misfortunes, as will\nbe shewn at a later stage. Meanwhile, the grounds of the hypothesis\nand the evidence of its probability follow: Spirit is everywhere, and\nis that which animates matter; it overcomes the force of gravity by\nperfecting the vehicle which is its form. We see everywhere around us\nhow form develops with instincts, till intelligence and beauty are\nattained: these are efforts of the light attracted by the charm of\nthe spirit; they are part of the mystery of progressive and universal\ngeneration.\n\nThe light is the efficient agent of forms and life, because it is\nboth motion and heat. When fixed and polarised about a centre, it\nproduces a living being and draws thereafter the plastic substance\nneeded to perfect and preserve it. This plastic substance is, in the\nlast analysis, formed of earth and water and, with good reason, is\ndenominated slime of the earth in the Bible. But this light is in\nnowise spirit, as believed by the Indian hierophants and all schools\nof G\u00f6etia: it is only the spirit\u2019s instrument. Nor is it the body of\nthe _protoplastes_, though so regarded by theurgists of the school\nof Alexandria. It is the first physical manifestation of the Divine\nBreath. God creates it eternally and man, who is in the image of God,\nmodifies and seems to multiply it.[80]\n\nPrometheus, says the classical fable, having stolen fire from heaven,\ngave life thereby to images formed of earth and water, for which crime\nhe was blasted and chained by Jupiter. Elementary spirits, say the\nKabalists in their most secret books, are children of the solitude of\nAdam, born of his dreams when he yearned for the woman who as yet had\nnot been given to him by God.[81] According to Paracelsus, the blood\nlost at certain regular periods by the female sex and the nocturnal\nemissions to which male celibates are subject in dream people the air\nwith phantoms.[82] The hypothetical origin of _larv\u00e6_, according to\nthe masters, is here indicated with sufficient clearness and further\nexplanation may be spared.\n\nSuch _larv\u00e6_ have an aerial body formed from vapour of blood, for which\nreason they are attracted towards spilt blood and in older days drew\nnourishment from the smoke of sacrifices. They are those monstrous\noffspring of nightmare which used to be called _incubi_ and _succubi_.\nWhen sufficiently condensed to be visible, they are as a vapour tinged\nby the reflection of an image; they have no personal life, but they\nmimic that of the magus who evokes them, as the shadow images the body.\nThey collect above all about idiots and those immoral creatures whose\nisolation abandons them to irregular habits. The cohesion of parts\nbeing very slight in their fantastic bodies, they fear the open air,\na great fire and above all the point of a sword. They become, in a\nmanner, as vapourous appendages to the real bodies of their parents,\nsince they live only by drawing on the life either of those who have\ncreated them or those who appropriate them by their evocation. It may\ncome about in this manner that if these shadows of bodies be wounded,\ntheir parent may be maimed in real earnest, even as the unborn child\nmay be hurt and disfigured by the imaginations of its mother. The world\nis full of such phenomena; they justify these strange revelations and\ncan only be explained thereby.\n\nSuch _larv\u00e6_ draw the vital heat of persons in good health and they\ndrain those who are weak rapidly. Hence come the histories of vampires,\nthings of terrific reality which have been substantiated from time to\ntime, as it is well known. This explains also why in the neighbourhood\nof mediums, who are persons obsessed by _larv\u00e6_, one is conscious of a\ncooling in the atmosphere. Seeing that their existence is due to the\nillusions of imagination and divagation of the senses, such creatures\nnever manifest in the presence of a person who can unveil the mystery\nof their monstrous birth.\n\n\n\n\n BOOK II\n\n _FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF DOGMAS_\n\n \u05d1\u2014BETH\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER I\n\n PRIMITIVE SYMBOLISM OF HISTORY\n\n\nTo explain Holy Scripture from the religious and dogmatic standpoint\nforms no part of our warrant. Subject above all things to the\nhierarchic order, we surrender theology to the doctors of the Church\nand we render to human science whatsoever is included in the domain of\nexperience and reason. Therefore on those occasions when we may appear\nto be risking a new application of some biblical passage, it is always\nwith proper respect for ecclesiastical decisions. We do not dogmatise\non our own part, and we submit our observations and researches to the\nlawful authorities.\n\nOn reading the earliest history of the human race in the sacred work\nof Moses, that which strikes one at once is the description of the\nEarthly Paradise, which is summarised in the figure of a perfect\npantacle. It is circular or square, since it is watered equally by four\nrivers arranged in the form of a cross, while in the centre are found\ntwo trees representing knowledge and life, stable intelligence and\nprogressive motion, wisdom and creation.[83] The serpent of Asclepios\nand Hermes is coiled about the Tree; beneath its shadow are the man\nand woman, active and passive, intelligence and love. The serpent,\nsymbolising the primal attraction and the central fire of the earth,\ntempts her who is the weaker, and she causes the man to succumb;\nyet to the serpent she yields only in order that she may overcome\nit subsequently: one day she will crush the head of it by giving a\nSaviour to the world. All science is represented in this admirable\nscene.[84] The man abdicates the realm of intelligence by yielding\nto the solicitations of the sensitive part; he profanes the fruit of\nknowledge, which should be the sustenance of the soul, by applying\nit to the uses of unjust and material satisfaction; he loses in\nconsequence the sense of harmony and of truth. He is clothed thereafter\nwith the skin of a beast, because the physical form takes shape sooner\nor later, and invariably, in correspondence to moral dispositions. He\nis cast out of the circle which is watered by the four rivers of life,\nand a cherub, armed with an ever-moving, burning sword, prevents his\nreturn into the domain of unity.\n\nAs we have observed in the _Doctrine of Magic_, Voltaire discovered\nthat the Hebrew word for cherub signifies a bull and was highly amused\nat the story. He might have been less entertained, had he recognised in\nthe angel with the head of a bull, the image of an obscure symbolism\nand in the revolving sword of fire those flashes of ill-understood\nand illusory truth which provided, after the Fall, a pretext to the\nidolatry of nations. The burning sword typified also that light which\nman knew no longer how to direct, so that, instead of governing its\nforce, he was made subject to its fatal influence. The great magical\nwork, understood in an absolute sense, is the conquest and direction of\nthe burning sword, and the cherub is the angel or soul of the earth,\nrepresented invariably under the figure of a bull in the Ancient\nMysteries. Hence in Mithraic symbolism, the master of light is seen\nvanquishing the bull of earth and plunging into his flank that sword\nwhich sets free the life, represented by drops of blood.\n\nThe first consequence of Eve\u2019s sin is the death of Abel. By separating\nlove from understanding she separated it also from power, and this,\nreduced to blindness and in the bondage of earthly desires, became\njealous of love and slew it. The children of Cain perpetuated the crime\nof their father; the daughters whom they brought into the world were\ndisastrously beautiful but, being void of love, they were born for the\ndamnation of angels[85] and for the scandal of the descendants of Seth.\n\nAfter the deluge and as a sequel to the prevarication of Ham, some part\nof the mystery of which has been already indicated, the children of men\nattempted to realise an insensate project, by constructing an universal\npantacle and palace. It was a vast experiment in socialistic equality,\nand the phalansterium of Fourier is a sorry conception in comparison\nwith the tower of Babel.[86] The latter was an active protestation\nagainst the hierarchy of knowledge, a citadel built against floods\nand tempests, a promontory from the elevation of which the deified\npeople would soar above the atmosphere and its commotions. But one does\nnot ascend to knowledge on ladders of stone; the hierarchic degrees\nof the spirit are not built with mortar like the stories of a tower.\nAgainst such a materialised hierarchy anarchy itself protested, and men\nceased to understand one another\u2014a fatal lesson and one misinterpreted\nutterly by those who in our own days have dreamed of another Babel. The\nnegations of equality give answer to doctrines which are hierarchic\nonly in the sense of brutality and materialism. Whenever the human race\nbuilds such a tower, the summit will be contested and the multitude\nwill desert the base. To satisfy all ambitions, the summit must be\nbroader than the base and the result an unstable edifice which will\ncollapse at the smallest shock.\n\nThe scattering of men was the first result of the curse pronounced\nagainst the profane descendants of Ham, but the race of Canaan bore in\na particular manner the burden of the malediction in question, which\nat a later period made all their posterity anathema.[87] That chastity\nwhich is the guardian of the family is also the distinctive character\nof hierarchic initiations; profanation and revolt are always unclean;\nthey tend to promiscuity and infanticide. Desecration of the mysteries\nof birth and destruction of children were the basis of the religions\nof ancient Palestine, given over to the horrible rites of Black Magic;\nthe black god of India, the monstrous priapic Rutrem, reigned therein\nunder the name of Belphegor. The Talmudists and the Platonic Jew Philo\nrecite things so shameful respecting the worship of this idol, that\nthey appeared incredible to the learned lawyer Seldenus. It is said\nto have been a bearded image, with gaping mouth and a tongue like a\ngigantic phallus; the worshippers exposed themselves without shame in\nthe presence of such a visage and presented offerings of excrement.\nThe idols of Moloch and Chamos were murderous machines which sometimes\ncrushed unfortunate little children against their brazen breasts and\nsometimes consumed them in their red-hot arms. There was dancing to the\nsound of trumpets and tambourines, so that the cries of the victims\nwere stifled, and these dances were led by the wretched mothers.\nIncest, sodomy and bestiality were the authorised practices among these\ninfamous people, and even formed part of the sacred rites.\n\nSuch is the fatal consequence of doing violence to universal harmony;\none does not sin against truth with impunity. In revolt against God,\nman is driven to the outrage of Nature, despite himself. Identical\ncauses ever produce the same effects, and the Sabbath of the Sorcerers\nin the middle ages was but a repetition of the festivals of Chamos and\nBelphegor. It is against such crimes that a decree of eternal death is\npronounced by Nature itself. Worshippers of black gods, apostles of\npromiscuity, preachers of public wantonness, enemies of the family and\nhierarchy, anarchists in religion and politics are enemies of God and\nhumanity; not to isolate them from the world is to consent that the\nworld shall be poisoned, or such at least was the view of inquisitors;\nbut we are far on our own part from desiring to re-establish the cruel\nexecutions of the middle ages. In proportion as society shall become\nmore truly Christian it will realise more fully that we must heal those\nwho are diseased and not destroy them; now, criminal instincts are\nsurely the most appalling of mental maladies.\n\nIt must not be forgotten that transcendental Magic is called the\nSacerdotal Art and the Royal Art; in Egypt, Greece and Rome it shared\nthe grandeur and decadence of the kingdom and the priesthood. Every\nphilosophy which is at issue with the cultus and its mysteries is\nbaneful to the great political powers, for these, in the eyes of the\nmultitude, lose in grandeur if they cease to be symbols of Divine\npower. Every crown is broken which comes into collision with the tiara.\nThe eternal dream of Prometheus is to steal fire from heaven and cast\ndown the gods therefrom. The popular Prometheus, unbound on Caucasus by\nHercules, who typifies labour, will ever bear about with him his rivets\nand chains; he will carry his undying vulture, fastened on his gaping\nwound, till he shall learn obedience at the feet of Him, who, being\nborn the King of kings and God of gods, has elected in His turn to be\nnailed in hands and feet and pierced in the side for the conversion of\nall rebellious spirits.\n\nBy opening the career of power to intrigue, republican institutions\nendangered the principles of the hierarchy. The task of forming Kings\nwas confided no longer to the hierarchy and was either replaced by\nright of inheritance\u2014which abandons the throne to the unequal chances\nof birth\u2014or by popular election\u2014which sets aside religious influence\nto establish the monarchy on a basis of republican principles.\nThose governments which presided successively over the triumphs and\nhumiliations of Greek and Roman states were formed in this manner.\nThe science reserved to the sanctuaries fell into neglect, and men of\nboldness or genius, who had not been accepted by those who dispense\ninitiation, devised another science in opposition to that of the\npriests, substituting doubt or denial for the secrets of the temple.\nIn the excess of their adventurous imagination, such philosophers\nwere landed quickly in absurdity and laid upon Nature the blame which\nbelonged to their own systems. Heraclitus fell a-weeping, Democritus\ntook refuge in laughter, and the one was a fool like the other.\nPyrrhon ended by believing in nothing, which can scarcely exonerate\nhim for the fact that he knew nothing. Into this philosophical chaos\nSocrates brought a certain light and good sense, by affirming the\nexistence of pure and simple morality. But what does morality profit in\nthe absence of religion? The abstract Deism of Socrates was interpreted\nby the people as atheism. It came about, however, that Plato, the\ndisciple of Socrates, attempted to supply that system of doctrine which\nwas wanting in the latter and of which indeed he had never dreamed.\n\n[Illustration: THE TWENTY-FIRST KEY OF THE TAROT, SURROUNDED BY MYSTIC\nAND MASONIC SEALS]\n\nThe doctrine of Plato was epoch-making in the history of human genius,\nbut it was not his own invention, for, realising that there is no truth\napart from religion, he went to consult the priests of Memphis and\nto obtain initiation into their Mysteries. He is even credited with\na knowledge of the Jewish sacred books.[88] In Egypt, however, his\ninitiation could have been imperfect only, for the priests by that time\nhad forgotten themselves the import of their primeval hieroglyphics,\nas is indicated by the history of that priest who spent three days in\ndeciphering a hieratic inscription found in the tomb of Alcmene and\nsent by Agesilaus, King of Sparta. Cornuphis, who was doubtless the\nmost learned among the hierophants, consulted the old collections of\nsigns and characters; in the end he found that the inscription was\nin the script of _proteus_, being the Grecian name of the _Book of\nThoth_, consisting of movable hieroglyphics, capable of variations as\nnumerous as there are possible combinations of characters, numbers and\nelementary figures. But the _Book of Thoth_, being the key of oracles\nand the elementary work on science, should not have involved such\nlong research before its signs were identified, if Cornuphis had been\nreally proficient in the Sacerdotal Art. Another proof that primeval\ntruths were obscured at this period is the fact that the oracles which\nregistered their protest on the subject were in a style that was\nunderstood no longer.\n\nAfter his return from Egypt, Plato was journeying with Simmias on\nthe confines of Caria when he was met by some men of Delos, who\nbegged him to interpret an oracle of Apollo. It declared that to\nmake an end of the woes in Greece the cubic stone must be doubled.\nThe attempt had been made with a stone kept in the temple of Apollo;\nbut the work of doubling it on every side resulted in a polyhedron\nhaving twenty-five surfaces; to restore the cubic form they had to\nincrease it twenty-six times the original volume of the stone, by a\nprocess of successive doubling. Plato sent back the emissaries to the\nmathematician Eudoxus,[89] saying that the oracle had counselled the\nstudy of geometry. Whether he did not himself understand the deep sense\nof the symbol or disdained to unveil it to the ignorant are points\nwhich must be left to conjecture; but that which is certain is that\nthe cubic stone and its multiplication explains all secrets of sacred\nnumbers, including the mystery of perpetual motion, hidden by adepts\nand pursued by fools under the name of squaring the circle.[90] By this\ncubic agglomeration of twenty-six cubes about a single central cube,\nthe oracle indicated to the Delians not only the elements of geometry\nbut the key of creative harmonies, explained by the inter-relation\nof forms and numbers. The plan of all great allegorical temples\nthroughout antiquity is found in the multiplication (_a_) of the cube\nby the cross, (_b_) about which a circle is described, and then (_c_)\nthe cubic cross moving in a globe. These notions, which are rendered\nmore intelligible by a diagram, have been handed on to our own days in\nMasonic initiations, and they are a perfect justification of the name\nattributed to the modern societies in question, for they are also the\nroot-principles of architecture and the science of building.\n\nThe Delians thought to answer the geometrical question by reducing\ntheir multiplication by half, but they had already obtained eight times\nthe volume of their cubic stone. For the rest, the number of their\nexperiments may be extended at will, for the story itself is probably a\nproblem set to his disciples by Plato. If the utterance of the oracle\nhas to be taken as a fact, we can find a still deeper meaning in it;\nto double the cubic stone is to extract the duad from unity, form from\nidea, action from thought. It is to realise in the world the exactitude\nof eternal mathematics, to establish politics on the basis of exact\nsciences, to harmonise religious dogma with the philosophy of numbers.\n\nPlato has more eloquence but less depth than Pythagoras; he aspires\nto reconcile the philosophy of logicians with the immutable dogmas of\nseers; he does not seek to vulgarise but would reconstruct science.\nSo was his philosophy destined at a later date to provide dawning\nChristianity with theories prepared beforehand and with vivifying\ndoctrines. Notwithstanding, however, that he based his theorems on\nmathematics, Plato was poet rather than geometrician; he was rich in\nharmonious forms and was prodigal of marvellous hypotheses. Aristotle,\nwho was a calculating genius exclusively, referred everything to debate\nin the schools; he made everything subject to the demonstrations of\nnumeral evolutions and the logic of calculations. Excluding the faith\nof Platonism, he sought to prove all and likewise to comprehend all\nin his categories; he turned the triad into syllogism and the binary\ninto enthymeme. For him the chain of being became a _sorites_. He\nreduced everything to an abstraction and reasoned on everything; being\nitself passed into an abstraction in his process and was lost amidst\nthe hypotheses of ontology. Plato was destined to inspire the Fathers\nof the Church; Aristotle to be the master of medi\u00e6val scholastics;\nGod knows what clouds gathered about this logic which had no faith in\nanything and yet set out to explain all. A second Babel was in plan and\nanother confusion of tongues was at no far distance. Being is being and\nin being is the reason of being. In the beginning is the Word and the\nWord, or Logos, is logic formulated in speech, or spoken reason. The\nWord is in God and the Word is God Himself manifested to intelligence.\nBut this is precisely a truth which exceeds all philosophies and is\nthat, also precisely, which must be believed, under the penalty of\nknowing nothing and falling back into the irrational doubt of Pyrrho.\nAs guardian of faith, the priesthood rests entirely on this ground of\nscience, and we are compelled to salute in its teaching the Divine\nprinciple of the Eternal Word.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER II\n\n MYSTICISM\n\n\nThe legitimacy of Divine Right is so rooted in the priesthood that true\npriesthood does not exist apart from it. Initiation and consecration\nare a veritable heritage. So is the sanctuary inviolable on the part\nof the profane and so also it cannot be seized by sectarians. For the\nsame reason the glorious lights of divine revelation are diffused in\naccordance with supreme reason, because they come down in order and\nharmony. God does not enlighten the world by means of meteors and\nflashes, but He causes every planetary system to gravitate about its\nparticular sun. It is this very harmony which vexes certain souls, who\nhave grown impatient with duty, and it is thus that people come forward\nto pose as reformers of morals, having failed in coercing revelation\nto concur with their vices. Like Rousseau, they exclaim: \u201cIf God has\nspoken, why have I heard nothing?\u201d And then presently they add: \u201cHe\nhas spoken, but it is to me.\u201d Such is their dream, and they end by\nbelieving it themselves. So do the makers of sects begin, and these are\nfomenters of religious anarchy: we would by no means condemn them to\nthe flames, but it is certainly desirable to intern them as sufferers\nfrom contagious folly. It is precisely in this manner that those mystic\nschools were founded which brought about the profanation of science.\nWe have seen how the Indian fakirs attained their so-called uncreated\nlight, that is to say, by the help of erethism and cerebral congestion.\nEgypt had also its sorcerers and enchanters, while Thessaly, in the\ndays of Greece, swarmed with conjurations and witchcraft. To enter\ninto direct communication with deities is to suppress the priesthood\nand subvert the basis of the throne\u2014a fact which is realised keenly by\nthe anarchic instinct of pretended illuminism. It was by the allurement\nof licence that such conspirators looked to recruit disciples, giving\nabsolution beforehand to every scandal in manners, on the condition\nof strictness in revolt and energy in protestation against sacerdotal\nlegitimacy.[91]\n\nThe Bacchantes, who dismembered Orpheus, believed themselves inspired\nby a god, and they sacrificed the great hierophant to their deified\ndrunkenness. The orgies of Bacchus were mystical tumults; the\napostles of mania have always had recourse to disordered movements,\nfrenetic agitations and horrible convulsions. From the effeminate\npriesthood of Bacchus to the Gnostics; from whirling dervishes to\nepileptics at the tomb of Paris the deacon; the characteristics of\nsuperstition and fanatic exaltation have been always the same. It\nhas been invariably under the pretext of purifying doctrine and in\nthe name of an exaggerated spiritualism that the mystics of all\ntimes have materialised the symbols of the cultus. It has been the\nsame precisely with those who have profaned the science of the\nMagi, for transcendental Magic, as it is needful to remember, is\nthe primeval priestly art. It condemns all that is done outside the\nlawful hierarchy, and it justifies the condemnation\u2014though not the\ntorture\u2014of sectarians and sorcerers. The two classes are here connected\nintentionally, because all heretics have been evokers of spirits and\nphantoms, whom they have foisted upon the world as gods; all have\narrogated to themselves the power of working miracles in support of\ntheir falsehoods. On these evidences they were all practisers of\nG\u00f6etic, that is to say, of Black Magic.\n\nAnarchy being the point of departure and the palmary characteristic\nof dissident mysticism, religious concord is impossible between\nsectarians, and yet they are in astonishing unanimity upon a single\npoint, being the hatred of hierarchic and lawful authority. This\nin reality is the whole root of their religion, as it is the sole\nbond which links them one to another. It is ever the crime of Ham,\ncontempt of the family principle and outrage offered to the father,\nwhose nakedness and shame they expose with sacrilegious mirth. All the\nanarchic mystics confuse the Intellectual with the Astral Light; they\nworship the serpent instead of doing honour to that dutiful and pure\nwisdom which crushes its head. So are they intoxicated by vertigo and\nso fall inevitably into the abyss of folly.\n\nAll fools are visionaries and may no doubt believe sincerely that\nthey work wonders; indeed hallucination is contagious and things\ninexplicable occur, or seem to occur, frequently enough in their\nvicinity. Moreover, the phenomena of the Astral Light in the excess\nof its attraction or projection are themselves of a kind to confuse\nthose who are half-educated. It is centralised in bodies and, as the\nresult of violent molecular distention, it imparts to them so high a\ndegree of elasticity that bones may be twisted and muscles stretched\nout of all measure. It forms whirlpools and waterspouts, so to speak,\nwhich levitate the heaviest bodies and can sustain them in the air\nfor a length of time proportionate to the force of the projection.\nThe sufferers feel on the point of bursting and cry for compression\nor percussion to relieve them. The most violent blows and the utmost\nconstriction, being counterpoised by the fluidic tension, cause neither\nbruises nor wounds and relieve instead of crushing the patient.\n\nAs fools hold physicians in horror, so the hallucinated mystics detest\nwise men; they flee them in the first place and afterwards persecute\nthem blindly, as if against their own will. In so far as they are mild\nand indulgent, it is in respect of vices; towards reason in submission\nto authority they are implacable; the most tolerant of heretics in\nappearance will be seized with fury and hatred, if conformity and\nthe hierarchy are mentioned. Hence heresies have led to disturbances\ninvariably. The false prophet must slay if he cannot pervert. He\nclamours for tolerance towards himself but takes good care in what\nsense it shall be extended to others. Protestants were loud in their\noutcries against the faggots and pyres of Rome at the very time that\nJohn Calvin, on the warrant of his private judgment, condemned Servetus\nto be burnt. The crimes of the Donatists, Circumcisionists, and others\ntoo many for enumeration, drove Catholic rulers into excess and caused\nthe Church to abandon those who were guilty to the secular arm. Would\nit not be thought that Vaudois, Albigensians and Hussites were lambs\nif one gave heed to the groans of irreligion? Where was the innocence\nof those darksome Puritans of Scotland and England who brandished\nthe dagger in one hand and their Bible in the other, while preaching\nthe extermination of Catholics? One only Church in the midst of so\nmany reprisals and horrors has always postulated and in principle at\nleast has maintained its hatred of blood: this is the hierarchic and\nlegitimate Church.[92]\n\n[Illustration: EGYPTIAN SYMBOLS OF TYPHON]\n\nNow, in admitting the possibility and actuality of diabolical miracles,\nthat Church recognises the existence of a natural force which can be\napplied for good or evil; and hence it has decided in its great wisdom\nthat although sanctity of doctrine can legalise miracle, the latter\nof itself can never authorise novelties in religious teaching. To say\nthat God, Whose laws are perfect and never falsify themselves,\nmakes use of a natural instrument to produce effects which to us seem\nsupernatural\u2014this is to affirm the supreme reason and immutable power\nof God; it is to exalt our notion of His providence; and sincere\nCatholics should realise that such view by no means challenges His\nintervention in those marvels which operate in favour of truth. The\nfalse miracles caused by astral congestions have invariably an anarchic\nand immoral tendency, because disorder invokes disorder. So also the\ngods and familiars of heretics are athirst for blood and commonly\nextend their protection at the price of murder. The idolaters of Syria\nand Judea drew oracles from the heads of children torn from the bodies\nof the poor little victims. They dried these heads and, having placed\nbeneath the tongues a golden lamen bearing unknown characters, they\nfixed them in the hollows of walls, built up a kind of body beneath\nthem composed of magical plants secured by bands, lighted a lamp at the\nfoot of the frightful idols, burnt incense before them and proceeded\nto their religious consultation. They believed that the heads spoke,\nand the anguish of the last cries had doubtless distracted their\nimaginations; moreover, as said already, blood attracts _larv\u00e6_. The\nancients, in their infernal sacrifices, were accustomed to dig a pit,\nwhich they filled with warm and smoking blood; then from all the deep\nplaces of the night they beheld feeble and pallid shadows ascending,\ndescending, creeping and swarming about the cavity. With a sword\u2019s\npoint steeped in the same blood, they traced the circle of evocation\nand kindled fire of laurel, alder and cypress wood, on altars crowned\nwith asphodel and vervain. The night seemed to grow colder and still\nmore dark; the moon was hidden behind clouds; and they heard the feeble\nrustling of phantoms crowding about the circle, while dogs howled\npiteously over the countryside.\n\nAll must be dared in order to achieve all\u2014such was the axiom of\nenchantments and their associated horrors. The false magicians were\nbanded together by crime and believed that they could intimidate others\nwhen they had contrived to terrify themselves. The rites of Black Magic\nhave remained revolting like the impious worships it produced; this was\nthe case indifferently in the association of criminals who conspired\nagainst the old civilisations and among the barbaric races. There was\nalways the same passion for darkness; there were the same profanations,\nthe same sanguinary processes. Anarchic Magic is the cultus of death.\nThe sorcerer devotes himself to fatality, abjures reason, renounces\nthe hope of immortality, and then sacrifices children. He forswears\nmarriage and is given over to barren debauch. On such conditions he\nenjoys the plenitude of his mania, is made drunk with iniquity till he\nbelieves that evil is omnipotent and, converting his hallucinations\ninto reality, he thinks that his mastery has power to evoke at pleasure\nall death and Hades.\n\nBarbarian words and signs unknown, or even utterly unmeaning, are\nthe best in Black Magic.[93] Hallucination is insured more readily\nby ridiculous practices and imbecile evocations than by rites or\n_formul\u00e6_ which keep intelligence in a waking state. Du Potet says\nthat he has tested the power of certain signs on ecstatics, and those\nwhich are published in his occult book, with precaution and mystery,\nare in analogy, if not absolutely identical, with pretended diabolical\nsignatures found in old editions of the Grand Grimoire.[94] The same\ncauses always produce the same effects, and there is nothing that is\nnew beneath the moon of sorcerers, any more than under the sun of\nsages.\n\nThe state of permanent hallucination is death or abdication of\nconsciousness, and one is then surrendered to all the chances comprised\nby the fatality of dreams. Every remembrance begets its own reflection,\nevery evil desire creates an image, every remorse breeds a nightmare.\nLife becomes that of an animal, but of a peevish and tormented animal;\nthe sense of morality and of time is alike absent; realities exist no\nlonger; it is a general dance in the whirlpool of insensate forms.\nSometimes an hour seems protracted over centuries, and again years may\nfly with an hour\u2019s swiftness.\n\nRendered phosphorescent by the Astral Light, our brains swarm with\ninnumerable reflections and images. We close our eyes, and it may\nhappen that some brilliant, sombre or terrific panorama will unroll\nbeneath our eyelids. He who is sick of a fever will scarcely close them\nthrough the night without being dazzled by an intolerable brightness.\nOur nervous system\u2014which is a perfect electrical apparatus\u2014concentrates\nthe light in the brain, being the negative pole of that apparatus,\nor projects it by the extremities which are points designed for the\ncirculation of our vital fluid. When the brain attracts powerfully\nsome series of images analogous to any passion which has disturbed the\nequilibrium or the machine, the interchange of light stops, astral\nrespiration ceases and the misdirected light coagulates, so to speak,\nin the brain. It comes about for this reason that the sensations of\nhallucinated persons are of the most false and perverse order. Some\nfind enjoyment in lacerating the skin with thongs and in roasting their\nflesh slowly; others eat and relish things unfit for sustenance. Doctor\nBrierre de Boismont has collected a great series of instances, and\nmany of them are extremely curious.[95] All excesses in life\u2014whether\nthrough the misconstruction of good or through the non-resistance of\nevil\u2014may overstimulate the brain and occasion the stagnation of light\ntherein. Overweening ambition, proud pretence of sanctity, a continence\nfull of scruples and desires, the indulgence of shameful passions\nnotwithstanding repeated warnings of remorse\u2014all these lead to syncope\nof reason, to morbid ecstasy, hysteria, vision, madness. The learned\ndoctor goes on to observe that a man is not mad because he is subject\nto visions but because he believes in his visions rather than in\nordinary sense. Hence it is obedience and authority that alone can save\nthe mystics; if they have obstinate self-confidence there is no cure;\nthey are excommunicated already by reason and by faith: they are the\naliens of universal charity. They think themselves wiser than society;\nthey dream of founding a religion, but they stand alone; they believe\nthat they have secured for their private use the secret keys of life,\nbut their intelligence is plunged already in death.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER III\n\n INITIATIONS AND ORDEALS\n\n\nThat which adepts have distinguished as the Great Work is not only\nthe transmutation of metals but also and above all the Universal\nMedicine\u2014that is to say, the remedy for all ills, including death\nitself. Now, the process which produces the Universal Medicine is the\nmoral regeneration of man. It is that second birth alluded to by our\nSaviour in His discourse to Nicodemus, a doctor of the law. Nicodemus\ndid not understand, and Jesus said: \u201cAre you a master in Israel and\nknow not these things?\u201d\u2014as if intending to intimate that they belonged\nto the fundamental principles of religious science, of which no\nprofessor could dare to be ignorant.[96]\n\nThe great mystery of life and its ordeals is represented in the\ncelestial sphere and in the annual succession of the seasons. The four\naspects of the sphinx correspond to these seasons and to the four\nelements. The symbolical figures on the shield of Achilles\u2014according to\nthe description of Homer\u2014are analogous in their meaning to the Twelve\nLabours of Hercules. Like Hercules, Achilles must die, after having\nconquered the elements and even done battle with the gods. Hercules, on\nhis part, triumphant over all the vices, represented by the monsters\nwhom he fought, succumbs for a moment to love, the most dangerous of\nall. But he tears from his body the burning tunic of Dejanira, though\nthe flesh comes with it from the bones; he leaves her guilty and\nvanquished, to die on his own part\u2014but as one liberated and immortal.\n\nEvery thinking man is an \u0152dipus called to solve the enigma of the\nsphinx or, this failing, to die. Every initiate must become a Hercules,\nwho, achieving the cycle of a great year of toil, shall, by sacrifices\nof heart and life, deserve the glory of apotheosis. Orpheus is not\nking of the lyre and of sacrifices till he has successively won and\nhas learned how to lose Eurydice. Omphale and Dejanira are jealous of\nHercules: one would debase him, the other yields to the counsels of an\nabandoned rival, and so is induced to poison him who has emancipated\nthe world; but in the act she cures him of a far more fatal poison,\nwhich is her own unworthy love. The flame of the pyre purifies his\ntoo susceptible heart; he perishes in all his vigour and is seated\nvictorious close to the throne of Jupiter. So also Jacob was not\nappointed the great patriarch of Israel till he had wrestled with an\nangel through the length of an entire night.\n\nOrdeal is the great word of life, and life itself is a serpent which\nbrings forth and devours unceasingly. We must escape from its folds; we\nmust set our foot upon its head. Hermes duplicated the serpent, setting\nit against itself, and in an eternal equilibrium, he converted it into\nthe talisman of his power, into the glory of his caduceus.\n\nThe great ordeals of Memphis and Eleusis were designed to form kings\nand priests by entrusting science to strong and valiant men. The price\nof admission to such tests was the surrender of body, soul and life\ninto the hands of the priesthood. The candidate descended thereafter\nthrough dark subterranean regions, wherein he traversed successively\namong flaming pyres, passed through deep and rapid floods, over bridges\nthrown across abysses, holding in his hand a lamp which must not be\nextinguished. He who trembled, he whom fear overcame never returned to\nthe light; but he who surmounted every obstacle intrepidly was received\namong the _myst\u00e6_, which meant initiation into the Lesser Mysteries. He\nhad yet to vindicate his fidelity and silence; it was only at the end\nof several years that he became an epopt, being a title equivalent to\nthat of adept.[97]\n\nPhilosophy, in competition with the priesthood, imitated these\npractices, and put its disciples to the proof. Pythagoras exacted\nsilence and abstinence for five years. Plato opened his schools to\nnone but geometricians and those skilled in music; furthermore, he\nreserved part of his instruction to initiates, so that his philosophy\nhad its mysteries.[98] He attributed the creation of the world to\ndemons and represented man as the progenitor of all animals. But the\ndemons of Plato signify the Elohim of Moses, being those powers by the\ncombination and harmony of which the Supreme Principle created. When he\nrepresents beasts as begotten by humanity he means that they are the\nanalysis of that living form, the synthesis of which is man. It was\nPlato who first proclaimed the divinity of the Word, and he appeared\nto foresee the approaching incarnation of this creative Word on earth;\nhe proclaimed the sufferings and execution of the perfect just man,\ncondemned by the iniquity of the world.\n\nThis sublime philosophy of the Word is part of the pure Kabalah,\nwhence Plato was in no wise its inventor.[99] He makes no secret of\nthis and he proclaims that in any science only that must be received\nwhich is in harmony with eternal truths and with the oracles of\nGod. Dacier, from whom this quotation comes, adds that \u201cby these\neternal truths Plato signified an ancient tradition which he supposes\nprimeval humanity to have received from God and transmitted to later\ngenerations.\u201d It would be impossible to speak more clearly without\nactually naming the Kabalah: it is definition instead of name; in a\nsense, it is something more precise than the name itself.\n\nPlato says otherwise that \u201cthe root-matter of this great knowledge is\nnot to be found in books; we must seek in ourselves by means of deep\nmeditation, discovering the sacred fire in its proper source.... This\nis why I have written nothing concerning these revelations and shall\nnever even speak about them. Whosoever shall undertake to popularise\nthem will find the attempt futile, for, except in the case of a very\nsmall number of men who have been endowed with understanding from God\nto discern these heavenly truths within themselves, it will render\nthem contemptible to some, while filling others with vain and rash\nself-confidence, as if they were depositaries of marvels which they do\nnot understand all the same.\u201d[100]\n\nTo the younger Dionysius he wrote: \u201cI must bear witness to Archedemus\nconcerning that which is far more precious, more divine by far,\nand that which you desire earnestly to know, having sent him to me\nexpressly. He gives me to understand that in your view I have not\nexplained to you sufficiently what I hold as to the nature of the\nFirst Principle. I can only write in enigmas, so that if my letter\nbe intercepted on land or water, he who may read it shall understand\nnothing: all things encompass their king, from whom they draw their\nbeing, he being the source of all good things\u2014second for those which\nare second and third for those which are third.\u201d\n\nThese few words are a complete summary of sephirotic theology.[101]\nThe King is Ensoph\u2014Supreme and Absolute Being. All radiates from this\ncentre, which centre is everywhere, but we regard it after three\nespecial manners and in three distinct spheres. In the Divine world,\nwhich is that of the First Cause, the King is one and first. In the\nworld of science, which is that of secondary causes, the influence of\nthe First Principle is felt, but is conceived only as first of the\nsaid causes. Therein the King manifests by the duad, which is the\npassive creating principle. Finally, in the third world, which is that\nof forms, he is revealed as perfect form, the incarnate Word, supreme\ngoodness and beauty, created perfection. The King is therefore, at one\nand the same time, the first, second and third, seeing that He is all\nin all, centre and cause of all. Let us be silent on the genius of\nPlato, recognising only the exact knowledge of the initiate.\n\nLet it therefore be said no longer that our great apostle St. John\nborrowed from the philosophy of Plato the pro\u0153mium of his gospel. It\nis Plato, on the contrary, who drew from the same sources as St. John;\nbut he had not received that spirit which makes alive. The philosophy\nof him who expounded the greatest of human revelations might aspire\ntowards the Word made man, but the gospel alone could give that Word to\nthe world.\n\nThe Kabalah taught by Plato to the Greeks assumed at a later period\nthe name of Theosophy and ended by embracing the whole of magical\ndoctrine.[102] It is to this sum total of secret doctrine that all\ndiscoveries of research gravitated successively. The ambition was to\npass from theory to practice and to find the realisation of words in\nworks. The dangerous experiences of divination taught science how it\nmight dispense with the priesthood; the sanctuary was betrayed, and\nmen who had no mission dared to make the gods speak. It is for this\nreason that theurgy shared in the anathemas pronounced against Black\nMagic and was suspected of imitating its crimes because it could not\nexculpate itself from a share in its impiety. The veil of Isis is not\nlifted with impunity, and curiosity blasphemes faith when Divine things\nare concerned. \u201cBlessed are those who have not seen and have believed,\u201d\nsays the Great Master.\n\nThe experiments of theurgy and necromancy are always fatal for those\nwho are abandoned to their practice. To set foot upon the threshold of\nthe other world spells death, and it follows often in a strange and\nterrible manner. Vertigo supervenes, catalepsy and madness finish the\nwork. It is unquestionable that in the presence of certain persons a\ndisturbance takes place in the air, wainscots split, doors shake and\ncreak. Fantastic signs and even stains, as of blood, seem to impress\nthemselves on virgin-parchment or on linen. The nature of these\nsignatures is always the same and they are classified by experts under\nthe name of diabolical writings. The mere sight of such characters\nsends sufferers from magnetic hysteria into convulsions or ecstasy;\nthey believe that they behold spirits, and Satan, or the genius of\nerror, is transfigured for them into an angel of light. The pretended\nspirits require, as the condition of their manifestation, some kind\nof contact between the sexes, the putting of hand in hand, foot to\nfoot, breathing face to face and even immodest embraces. Devotees are\nbesotted by this kind of intoxication; they think that they are elected\nby God, that they are interpreters of heaven, and they regard obedience\nto the hierarchy in the light of fanaticism. They are the successors of\nthe Indian race of Cain, victims of hasheesh and fakirs. They profit by\nno warnings, and they perish by their own act and will.\n\nTo restore sufferers of this kind the Greek priests resorted to a\nspecies of hom\u0153opathy; they terrified the patients by exaggerating the\ndisease itself, and for this purpose they put them to sleep in the\ncave of Trophonius.[103] The preparation for this experience was by\nfastings, lustrations and vigils; the patients were then taken down\ninto the vault and shut up in total darkness. Intoxicating gases, like\nthose in the Grotto of the Dog near Naples, filled the cavern, and the\nvisionary was overcome speedily. Incipient asphyxia induced frightful\ndreams, from which the victim was rescued in time and carried forth\npalpitating all over, pale and with hair on end. In this condition\nhe or she was seated on a tripod and prophetic utterances preceded\ncomplete awakening. Experiences of this sort so distracted the nervous\nsystem that their subjects never recalled them without trembling and\nin future did not dare to mention evocations or phantoms. Some of\nthem never smiled again or felt the impulse of gaiety; the general\nimpression was so melancholy that it passed into a proverb, and it\nwas said of anyone who did not unbend: \u201cHe has slept in the cave of\nTrophonius.\u201d[104]\n\nFor the remanents of science and the recovery of its mysteries we\nmust have recourse to the religious symbolism of antiquity rather\nthan to the works of its philosophers. The priests of Egypt were\nbetter acquainted than ourselves with the laws of motion and of life.\nThey could temper or promote action by reaction, and they foresaw\nwithout difficulty the realisation of effects the cause of which\nthey had postulated. The pillars of Seth, Hermes, Solomon, Hercules\nsymbolised in magical traditions this universal law of equilibrium,\nwhile the science of equilibrium led the initiates to that of universal\ngravitation about centres of life, heat and light. So in the Egyptian\nsacred calendars, where it is known that each month was placed under\nthe protection of three decani or genii of ten days, the first decanate\nin the sign of Leo is represented by a human head with seven rays;\nthe body has a scorpio-tail and the sign of Sagittarius is under\nthe chin. Beneath the head is the name of IAO, and the figure was\ncalled Khnoubis, an Egyptian word which signifies gold and light.\nThales and Pythagoras learned in the Egyptian sanctuaries that the\nearth gravitated round the sun, but they did not seek to publish the\nfact generally because it would have involved the revelation of a\ngreat templesecret, being the dual law of attraction and radiation,\nof fixity and movement, which is the principle of creation and the\nunfailing cause of life.[105] So also the Christian writer Lactantius,\nwho had heard of this magical tradition, but as an effect in the\nabsence of a cause, scoffed loudly at theurgical dreamers who believed\nin the motion of the earth and in antipodes, the result of which\nwould be the fact that we walked on our heads with the feet upward,\nthough our heads appeared to be erect. Furthermore, as he added, with\nthe logic of children, in such case we should infallibly fall head\ndownwards through the heaven below us. So philosophers reasoned, while\npriests, without answering or even smiling at their blunders, continued\nto write in creative hieroglyphics concerning all dogmas, all forms of\npoetry and all secrets of truth.\n\nIn their allegorical description of Hades, the Greek hierophants\nconcealed the palmary secrets of Magic. We find four rivers therein,\neven as in the Earthly Paradise, _plus_ a fifth, which wound seven\ntimes round the others. There was a river of sorrows and silence,\ncalled Cocytus; there was a river of forgetfulness, or Lethe; and then\nthere was a swift and irresistible river which carried all before it,\nflowing in an opposite course to yet another river of fire. The two\nlast were named Acheron and Phlegethon, one being the negative and\none the positive fluid, flowing eternally each in each. The black and\nicy waters of Acheron smoked with the warmth of Phlegethon, while the\nliquid flames of the latter were covered with thick vapours by the\nformer. _Larv\u00e6_ and _lemures_, shadowy images of bodies which have\nlived and of those which have yet to come, issued from these vapours\nby myriads; but whether they drank or not from the flood of sorrows,\nall desired the waters of oblivion, to bring them youth and peace. The\nwise alone do not seek to forget, for memory is their reward already;\nso also they only are truly deathless, since they only are conscious of\ntheir immortality. The tortures of Tenarus are truly divine pictures\nof the vices and their eternal chastisement. The greed of Tantalus,\nthe ambition of Sisyphus, will never be expiated, since they can never\nbe satisfied. Tantalus is athirst in the water, Sisyphus rolls a stone\ntowards the top of a mountain, hoping to take his seat thereon, but\nit falls back continually and drags him down into the abyss. Ixion,\nunbridled in licence, would have violated the queen of heaven and\nwas scourged by infernal furies. He did not consummate his crime,\nfor he embraced only a phantom. The phantom may have condescended in\nappearance to his love and may have ministered to his passion, but when\nhe disowned duty, when his satisfaction was at the price of sacrilege,\nthat which he thought was love proved hatred in a mask of flowers.\n\nIt is not from beyond the tomb, it is rather in life itself that we\nmust seek the mysteries of death. Salvation or condemnation begin here\nbelow, and this earth has also its heaven and hell. Virtue is ever\nrewarded, vice is ever punished; if the wealth of the wicked incline us\nat times to think that they enjoy impunity, that instrument of good and\nevil seeming to be given them by chance, there is woe notwithstanding\nto the unjust; they may possess the key of gold, but for them it opens\nonly the gate of the tomb and hell.\n\nAll true initiates have recognised the immense value of toil and\nsuffering. A German poet tells us that sorrow is the dog of that\nunknown shepherd which leads the flock of humanity. Learn how to suffer\nand learn also to die\u2014such are the gymnastics of eternity and such is\nthe immortal novitiate. This is the moral lesson of Dante\u2019s _Divine\nComedy_, and it was outlined in the allegorical Table of Cebes, which\nbelongs to the time of Plato. An account of it has been preserved and\nmany painters of the middle ages reconstructed the picture therefrom.\nIt is at once a philosophical and magical monument, a perfect moral\nsynthesis, and moreover the most audacious demonstration ever attempted\nof that Great Arcanum or Secret, the revelation of which must subvert\nheaven and earth. Our readers will unquestionably expect us to furnish\nits explanation, but he who has solved this enigma knows that it is\ninexplicable by its nature and is a sentence of death to those who take\nit by surprise, even as to those who reveal it.[106]\n\nThis secret is the royalty of the sage and the crown of that initiate\nwho is represented coming down as a victor from the mount of ordeal in\nthe beautiful allegory of Cebes. The Great Arcanum has made him master\nof gold and light, which fundamentally are one thing; he has solved the\nquadrature of the circle; he directs perpetual motion; and he possesses\nthe Philosophical Stone. Those who are adepts will understand me. There\nis neither interruption in the process of Nature nor a blank space in\nits work. The harmonies of heaven are in correspondence with those of\nearth, and eternal life fulfils its evolutions in accordance with the\nsame laws which rule in the life of a day. The Bible says that God\ndisposes all things according to weight, number and measure, and this\nluminous doctrine was also that of Plato. In the _Ph\u00e6don_ he represents\nSocrates as discoursing on the destinies of the soul in a manner which\nis quite in conformity with Kabalistical traditions. Spirits purified\nby trial are emancipated from the laws of weight, and they soar above\nthe atmosphere of tears; others grovel in darkness and are those who\nmanifest to the weak or criminal. All who are liberated from the\nmiseries of material life come back no more to contemplate its crimes\nor share its errors: once is truly enough.\n\nThe care taken by the ancients over the burial of the dead protested\nstrongly against necromancy, and those who disturbed the sleep of the\ngrave were always regarded as impious. To call back the dead would\ncondemn them to a second death, and the dread of earnest people,\nbelonging to old religions, lest they should remain without burial\nafter death, was in view of the possibility that the corpse might\nbe profaned by stryges and used in witchcraft. After death the soul\nbelongs to God and the body to the common mother, which is earth.\nWoe to those who dare to invade these asylums. When the sanctuary of\nthe tomb was disturbed, the ancients offered sacrifices to the angry\n_manes_ and a holy thought lay at the root of this practice. As a\nfact, were it permitted anyone to attract, by means of conjurations,\nthe souls floating in darkness but aspiring towards the light, such a\nperson would be begetting retrograde and posthumous children, whom he\nmust nourish with his own blood and with his own soul. Necromancers are\nmakers of vampires, and they deserve no pity if they die devoured by\nthe dead.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER IV\n\n THE MAGIC OF PUBLIC WORSHIP\n\n\nForms are the product of ideas, and they in their turn reflect and\nreproduce ideas. So far as sentiments are concerned, these are\nmultiplied by association in the union of those who share them, so that\nall are charged with the enthusiasm common to all. It comes about in\nthis manner that if one or another individual be deceived easily on\nquestions of the just and the beautiful, the people at large will, this\nnotwithstanding, continue to exalt in their minds whatsoever things are\nsublime, and they will do it with a longing which is itself sublime.\nThese two great laws of Nature were known to the ancient Magi and led\nthem to see the necessity of a public worship which should be one in\nits nature, imposed on all, hierarchic and symbolic in character, like\nall religion, splendid as truth, rich and varied as Nature, starry as\nheaven, odoriferous as earth\u2014a worship in fact of the kind established\nafterwards by Moses, realised in all its glory by Solomon, and, once\nagain transfigured, centralised to-day in the great metropolis of St.\nPeter at Rome.\n\nHumanity as a fact has never known more than one religion and one\nworship. This universal light has had its uncertain reflections and its\nshadows, but ever after the dark night of error we behold it emerge,\none and pure like the sun.\n\nThe magnificence of the cultus is the life of religion, and if Christ\nchose poor ministers, his sovereign divinity did not demand poor\naltars. Protestants have failed to understand that ritual constitutes\nan instruction and that a sordid or negligible god must not be created\nin the imagination of the multitude. The English, who lavish so much\nwealth on their own homes, who also affect to prize the Bible highly,\nwould find their particular churches exceedingly cold and bare if they\nremembered the unparalleled pomp of Solomon\u2019s Temple. But that which\nwithers their forms of worship is the dryness of their own hearts; and\nwith a cultus devoid of magic, splendour and pathos, how shall their\nhearts be ever informed with life? Look at their meeting-houses, which\nresemble town-halls, and look at those honest ministers\u2014dressed like\nushers or clerks\u2014and who can do otherwise in their presence than regard\nreligion as formalism and God as a justice of the peace?\n\nOrthodoxy is the absolute character of Transcendental Magic. When\ntruth is born into the world the star of science announces the fact\nto the Magi, and they come to adore the infant creator of futurity.\nInitiation is obtained by understanding in respect of the hierarchy,\nas also by the practice of obedience, and he who is initiated truly\nwill never turn sectarian. The orthodox traditions were carried from\nChaldea by Abraham; in combination with the knowledge of the true God,\nthey reigned in Egypt at the period of Joseph. Koung-Tseu sought to\nestablish them in China, but the imbecile mysticism of India, under\nthe idolatrous form of the Fo cultus, was destined to prevail in that\ngreat empire. As by Abraham out of Chaldea so was orthodoxy taken out\nof Egypt by Moses, and in the secret traditions of the Kabalah we find\na theology at once complete, perfect, unique and comparable to our\nown at its grandest, when seen under the light of its interpretation\nby the fathers and doctors of the Church\u2014a perfect whole, including\nlights which it is not given to the world yet to understand. The\n_Zohar_, which is the head and crown of the Kabalistic sacred books,\nunveils furthermore all depths and enlightens all obscurities of\nancient mythologies and of sciences concealed in the sanctuaries of\neld. It is true that we must know the secret of its meaning in order\nto make use of it, and it is further true that the keenest intellects\nwhich are not acquainted with the secret will find the _Zohar_ beyond\nall understanding and even unreadable. It is to be hoped that careful\nstudents of our works on Magic will attain the secret for themselves,\nthat they will come in their turn to decode and thus be able to read\nthe book which explains so many mysteries.[107]\n\nInitiation being the necessary consequence of that hierarchic principle\nwhich is the basis of realisation in Magic, it follows that the\nprofane, after striving vainly to force the doors of the sanctuary,\nhave been driven to raise altar against altar and to oppose ignorant\ndisclosures of schism to the reticence of orthodoxy. Horrible histories\nwere circulated concerning the Magi; sorcerers and vampires cast upon\nthem the responsibility of their own crimes; they were represented\nas feasting on infants and drinking human blood. Such attacks of\npresumptuous ignorance against the prudence of science have invariably\nmet with success sufficient to perpetuate their use. Has not some\nmiserable creature set forth, in I know not what pamphlet, how he\nhas heard with his own ears, and within the precincts of a club, the\nauthor of this book demanding the blood of the wealthy to make it into\npuddings for the nourishment of starving people? The more monstrous the\ncalumny, the greater the impression that it produces in the minds of\nfools.\n\nThose who slandered the Magi committed themselves the enormities of\nwhich they accused them and were abandoned to all the excesses of\nshameless sorcery. There was everywhere the rumour of apparitions\nand prodigies, and the gods themselves came down in visible forms to\nauthorise orgies. The maniacal circles of pretended _illuminati_ go\nback to the bacchantes who murdered Orpheus. Since the days of those\nfanatical and clandestine circles where promiscuity and assassination\nwere combined with ecstasies and prayers, a luxurious and mystical\npantheism increased continually. But the fatal destinies of this\nconsuming and destroying dogma are recorded in one of the finest\nfables of Greek mythology. Certain pirates of Tyre surprised Bacchus\nin his sleep and carried him on board their vessel, thinking that the\ngod of inspiration had so become their slave; but on a sudden, in the\nopen sea, their ship was transfigured, the masts became vine-stocks,\nthe rigging branches; satyrs were seen everywhere, dancing with\nlynxes and panthers; the crew were seized with frenzy, they felt\nthemselves changed into goats and cast themselves into the sea. Bacchus\nsubsequently landed in B\u0153otia and repaired to Thebes, the city of\ninitiation, where he found that Pentheus had usurped the supreme power.\nThe latter in his turn attempted to imprison the god, but the dungeon\nopened of itself and the captive came forth triumphant. Pentheus was\nenraged and the daughters of Cadmus, transformed into Bacchantes, tore\nhim in pieces, thinking that they were immolating a young bull.[108]\n\nPantheism can never form a synthesis, but must be disintegrated by\nthe sciences, which the daughters of Cadmus typify. After Orpheus,\nCadmus, \u0152dipus and Amphiara\u00fcs, the great fabulous symbols of magical\npriesthood in Greece are Tiresias and Calchas; but the first of these\nwas an undiscerning or faithless hierophant. Meeting on a day with two\ninterlaced serpents, he thought that they were fighting and separated\nthem by a stroke of his wand. He did not understand the emblem of the\ncaduceus, and hence sought to divide the forces of Nature, to separate\nscience from faith, intelligence from love, man from woman. He mistook\ntheir union for warfare, wounded them in the act of separation, and\nso lost his own equilibrium. He became alternately male and female,\nbut neither in a perfect way, for the consummation of marriage was\nforbidden him.[109] The mysteries of universal equilibrium and creative\nlaw are revealed fully herein. Generation is in fact a work of the\nhuman androgyne; in their division man and woman remain sterile, as\nreligion without science and conversely, as mildness without force and\nforce apart from mildness, justice in the absence of mercy and mercy\ndivorced from justice. Harmony results from the analogy of things in\nopposition; they must be distinguished with a view to unite them and\nnot separated, so that we may choose between them. It is said that\nman shifts incessantly from black to white in his opinions and ever\ndeceives himself. It is so of necessity, for visible and real form is\nblack and white; it manifests itself by an alliance of light and shadow\nwhich does not confuse them together. So are all contraries in Nature\nmarried, and he who would part them risks the punishment of Tiresias.\nOthers say that he was smitten with blindness because he had surprised\nMinerva naked\u2014that is to say, he had profaned the Mysteries. This is\nanother allegory, but it is always the same thing symbolised.\n\nBearing no doubt this profanation in mind, Homer depicts the shade\nof Tiresias wandering in Cymmerian darkness and seeking amidst other\nhapless shades and larv\u00e6 to quench his thirst with blood when Ulysses\nconsulted spirits, using a ceremonial which was magical and terrific\nafter another manner than the contortions of our own mediums, or the\nharmless precipitated missives of our modern necromancers.\n\nThe priesthood is almost silent in Homer, for Calchas the diviner is\nneither a sovereign pontiff nor a great hierophant. He seems to be\nin the service of kings, with an eye to their possible wrath, and he\ndares not speak unwelcome truths to Agamemnon till he has besought the\nprotection of Achilles. Thus he sows division between these chiefs\nand brings disasters on the army. All the narratives of Homer contain\nimportant and profound lessons, and he sought in the present case to\nimpress upon Greece the need for divine ministry to be independent of\ntemporal influences. The priestly caste should be responsible only\nto the supreme pontificate, and the high priest is incapacitated if\none crown be wanting in his tiara. That he may be on equality with\nearthly sovereigns he must be himself a temporal king; he must be king\nin understanding and science, king also by his divine mission. Homer\nseems to tell us in his wisdom that failing such a priesthood there is\nsomething wanting to the equilibrium of empires.\n\nTheoclymenes, another diviner, who appears in the Odyssey, fills almost\nthe part of a parasite, purchasing a not too friendly hospitality from\nthe suitors of Penelope by a useless warning and prudently withdrawing\nbefore the disturbance which he foresees.\n\nThere is a gulf between these good and bad fortune-tellers and the\nsibyls dwelling unseen in their sanctuaries, which are approached in\nfear and trembling. This notwithstanding, the successors of Circe yield\nonly to daring; force or subtlety must be used to enter their retreat;\nthey must be seized by the hair, threatened with the sword and dragged\nto the fatal tripod. Then, crimsoning and whitening by turn, shuddering\nand with hair on end, they utter disconnected words, escape in a fury,\nscribble on the leaves of trees detached sentences forming prophetic\nverses when collected, and casting these leaves to the wind, they\nshut themselves up in their refuge and ignore any further calls. The\noracle thus produced had as many meanings as the modes of its possible\ncombination varied. Had the leaves borne hieroglyphical signs instead\nof words the interpretations would have been multiplied further, while\ndestiny could have been also consulted by their chance combination, a\nmethod followed subsequently in the divinations of geomancers by means\nof numbers and geometrical figures.[110] It is followed also at this\nday by adepts of cartomancy who make use of the great magical Tarot\nalphabets, for the most part, without being acquainted with their\nvalues. In such operations accident only chooses the signs on which the\ninterpreter depends for inspiration, and in the absence of exceptional\nintuition and second sight, the phrases indicated by the combinations\nof sacred letters or the revelations of the combined figures prophesy\naccording to chance. It is insufficient to combine letters; one must\nknow how to read. Cartomancy in its proper understanding is a literal\nconsultation of spirits, without necromancy or sacrifices: but it\npostulates a good medium; it is otherwise dangerous and we do not\nrecommend it to any one. Is the memory of our bygone misfortunes not\nenough to embitter the sufferings of to-day, and must we then overload\nthem with all the anxiety of the future, by partaking in advance of the\ncatastrophes which it is impossible to avoid?\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER V\n\n MYSTERIES OF VIRGINITY\n\n\nThe Roman Empire was but the Greek in transfiguration. Italy was\na Greater Greece, and when Hellenism had perfected its dogmas and\nmysteries, the education of the children of the wolf was the next task\nbefore it: Rome was already on the scene.\n\nThe particular feature of the initiation conferred on the Romans by\nNuma was the typical importance ascribed to woman, following the lead\nof Egypt, which worshipped the Supreme Divinity under the name of\nIsis. The Greek god of initiation is Iacchos, the conqueror of India,\nthe splendid androgynous being wearing the horns of Ammon,[111] the\nPantheus holding the sacrificial cup and pouring therefrom the wine of\nuniversal life\u2014Iacchos, the son of thunder, the conqueror of tigers\nand lions. When the bacchantes dismembered Orpheus, the Mysteries of\nIacchos were profaned; and under the Roman name of Bacchus he was\nonly the god of intoxication. It was from Egeria, goddess of mystery\nand solitude, a sage and discreet divinity, that Numa sought his\ninspiration.\n\nHis devotion was rewarded; he was instructed by Egeria as to the honour\nwhich should be paid to the mother of the gods. Under this dedication\nhe erected a circular temple beneath a cupola, and a fire was burnt\ntherein which was never suffered to go out. It was maintained by four\nvirgins, who were termed vestals and so long as they were faithful to\ntheir trust, they were surrounded with strange honours, while, on the\nother hand, their failure was punished with exceptional rigour. The\nmaid\u2019s honour is that also of the mother, and the sanctity of every\nfamily depends on the recognition of virginal purity as a possible\nand glorious thing. Herein already woman is emancipated from the old\nbondage; she is no more an oriental slave, but a domestic divinity,\nguardian of the hearth, the honour of father and spouse. Rome in this\nmanner became a sanctuary of morality, and on such condition was also\nqueen of the nations and metropolis of the world.\n\nThe magical tradition of all ages attributes a certain supernatural and\ndivine quality to the virgin state. Prophetic inspirations adorn it,\nwhile it is the hatred of innocence and virginity which prompted G\u00f6etic\nMagic to sacrifice children, whose blood was regarded notwithstanding\nas having a sacred and expiatory virtue. To withstand the allurement\nof generation is to graduate in the conquest of death, and supreme\nchastity was the most glorious crown set before hierophants.[112] To\nexpend life in human embraces is to strike roots in the grave. Chastity\nis a flower which is so loosely bound to earth that, when the sun\u2019s\ncaresses draw it upwards, it is detached without effort and takes\nflight like a bird.\n\nThe sacred fire of the vestals was a symbol of faith and of pure\nlove. It was an emblem also of that universal agent, the terrible and\nelectric nature of which Numa could produce and direct. If by culpable\nnegligence the vestals allowed their fire to die out, it could only\nbe rekindled by the sun\u2019s rays or by lightning. It was renewed and\nconsecrated at the beginning of each year, a custom perpetuated and\nobserved among us on Easter Eve.\n\nChristianity has been wrongly accused of taking over all that was\nbeautiful in anterior forms of worship; it is the last transfiguration\nof universal orthodoxy, and as such it has preserved whatsoever\nbelonged to it, while rejecting dangerous practices and idle\nsuperstitions.\n\nFurthermore, the sacred fire represented love of country and the\nreligion of the hearth. To this religion, and to the inviolability of\nthe conjugal sanctuary, Lucretia offered herself in sacrifice. Lucretia\npersonifies all the majesty of ancient Rome; she could doubtless\nhave escaped outrage by abandoning her memory to slander, but good\nrepute is a _noblesse qui oblige_. In the matter of honour a scandal\nis more deplorable than an indiscretion. Lucretia raised her dignity\nas a virtuous woman to the height of the priesthood by suffering an\nassault so that she might expiate and avenge it afterwards. It was\nin memory of this illustrious Roman lady that high initiation in the\ncultus of the fatherland and the hearth was entrusted to women, men\nbeing excluded. It was for them to learn in this manner that true love\nis that which inspires the most heroic sacrifices. They were taught\nthat the real beauty of man is heroism and grandeur; that the woman\ncapable of betraying or forsaking her husband blasts both her past and\nfuture and is branded on the forehead with the ineffaceable stain of\na retrospective prostitution, aggravated further by perjury. To cease\nloving him to whom the flower of her youth has been given, is the\ngreatest woe which can afflict the heart of a virtuous woman; but to\npublish it abroad is to falsify past innocence, to renounce probity\nof heart and integrity of honour; it is the last and most irreparable\nshame.\n\nSuch was the religion of Rome; to the magic of such a moral code she\nowed all her greatness, and when marriage ceased to be sacred in her\neyes, her decadence was at hand. In the days of Juvenal the mysteries\nof the _Bona Dea_ are said to have been mysteries of impurity, which\nit may perhaps be possible to question, seeing that as women alone were\nadmitted to these pretended orgies they must have betrayed themselves;\nbut on the assumption that the charge is true, because anything seems\npossible after the reigns of Nero and Domitian, we can only conclude\nthat the clean reign of the mother of the gods was over and was giving\nplace to the popular, universal and purer worship of Mary, the Mother\nof God.\n\nInitiate of magical laws, and knowing the magnetic influences of\ncommunal life, Numa instituted colleges of priests and augurs,\nliving under prescribed rules. This was the first idea of conventual\ninstitutions, which are one of the great powers of religion. Long\nanterior to this, the Jewish prophets were joined in sympathetic\nbonds, having prayer and inspiration in common. It would seem that\nNuma was acquainted with the traditions of Judea; his _flamines_ and\n_salii_ worked themselves into a state of exaltation by evolutions and\ndances recalling the performance of David before the ark. Numa did\nnot establish new oracles intended to rival those of Delphos, but he\ninstructed his priests especially in the art of auguries, which means\nthat he acquainted them with a certain theory of presentiments and\nsecond sight, determined by secret laws of Nature. We despise nowadays\nthe art of soothsaying and portents, because we have lost the profound\nscience of light and the universal analogies of its reflections. In his\ncharming tale of Zadig, Voltaire delineates, with light and unserious\ntouch, a purely natural science of divination, but it is not for that\nless wonderful, presupposing as it does an exceptional fineness of\nobservation and that power of deduction which escapes habitually the\nlimited logic of the vulgar. It is said that Parmenides, the master\nof Pythagoras, having tasted the water of a certain spring, predicted\nan approaching earthquake. The circumstance is not extraordinary, for\nthe presence of a bituminous and sulphureous flavour in water may\nwell have advised the philosopher of subterranean activities in the\ndistrict. Even the water itself may have been unusually disturbed.\nHowever this may be, the flight of birds is still considered\npremonitory of severe winters, and it may be possible to foresee some\natmospheric influences by inspecting the digestive and respiratory\napparatus of animals. Now, physical disturbances of the air have not\ninfrequently a moral cause. Revolutions are translated therein by the\nphenomena of great storms; the deep breathing of nations moves heaven\nitself. Success proceeds coincidently with electric currents, and the\nhues of the living light reflect the motions of thunder. \u201cThere is\nsomething in the air,\u201d says the crowd, with its particular prophetic\ninstinct. Soothsayers and augurs knew how to read the characters which\nthe light inscribes everywhere and how to interpret the sigils of\nastral currents and revolutions. They knew why birds wing their flight\nin isolation or in flocks, under what influences they turn to North or\nSouth, to East or West, which is just what we cannot explain, though\nwe scoff now at the augurs. It is so very easy to scoff and it is so\ndifficult to learn thoroughly.\n\nIt was owing to such predetermined disparagement and to denial of\nwhat is not understood that men of parts, like Fontenelle, and\nmen of learning, as Kircher, have written such intemperate things\nconcerning the ancient oracles. Everything is craft and jugglery for\nstrong minds of this order. They suppose automatic statues, concealed\nspeaking-trumpets and artificial echoes in the vaults of every temple.\nWhy this eternal slander of the sanctuary? Has there been nothing but\nroguery in the priesthoods? Would it have been impossible to find\nmen of uprightness and conviction among the hierophants of Ceres or\nApollo? Or were these deceived like the rest? And in such case how did\nit happen that the impostors continued their traffic for centuries\nwithout ever betraying themselves, individual rogues not being gifted\nwith immortality? Recent experiments have shewn us that thoughts can\nbe transferred, translated into writing and printed by the unaided\nforce of the Astral Light. Mysterious hands still write on our walls,\nas at the feast of Belshazzar. Let us not forget the wise observation\nof a scholar who assuredly cannot be accused either of fanaticism or\ncredulity: \u201cOutside pure mathematics,\u201d said Arago, \u201che who pronounces\nthe word impossible is wanting in caution.\u201d\n\nThe religious calendar of Numa is based upon that of the Magi; it is\na sequence of feasts and mysteries, recalling throughout the secret\ndoctrine of initiates and perfectly adapting the public enactments\nof the _cultus_ to the universal laws of Nature. Its arrangement of\nmonths and days has been preserved by the conservative influence of\nChristian regeneration. Even as the Romans under Numa, we still hallow\nby abstinence the days consecrated to the commemoration of birth and\ndeath; but for us the day of Venus is sanctified by the expiations of\nCalvary. The gloomy day of Saturn is that during which our incarnate\nGod sleeps in His tomb, but He will rise up, and the life which He\npromises will blunt the scythe of Kronos. That month which Romans\ndedicated to Maia, the nymph of youth and flowers, the young mother who\nsmiles upon the year\u2019s first-fruits, is consecrated by us to Mary, the\nmystical rose, the lily of purity, the heavenly mother of the Saviour.\nSo are our religious observances ancient as the world, our feasts are\nlike those of our forefathers, for the Redeemer of Christendom came to\nsuppress none of the symbolic and sacred beauties of old initiation. He\ncame, as He said Himself, in reference to the figurative Law of Israel,\nto realise and fulfil all things.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VI\n\n SUPERSTITIONS\n\n\nSuperstitions are religious forms surviving the loss of ideas. Some\ntruth no longer known or a truth which has changed its aspect is the\norigin and explanation of all. Their name, from the Latin _superstes_,\nsignifies that which survives; they are the dead remanents of old\nknowledge or opinion.\n\nEver governed by instinct rather than by thought, the common people\ncleave to ideas through the mediation of forms, and it is with\ndifficulty that they modify their habits. The attempt to destroy\nsuperstitions impresses them always as an attack on religion itself,\nand hence St. Gregory, one of the greatest popes in Christendom, did\nnot seek to suppress the old practices. He recommended his missionaries\nto purify and not destroy the temples, saying that \u201cso long as a people\nhave their old places of worship they will frequent them by force of\nhabit and will thus be led more easily to the worship of the true God.\u201d\nHe said also: \u201cThe Bretons have fixed days for feasts and sacrifices;\nleave them their feasts and do not restrain their sacrifices; leave\nthem the joy of their festivals, but from the state of paganism draw\nthem gently and progressively into the estate of Christ.\u201d\n\nIt came about in this manner that older pious observances were replaced\nby holy mysteries with scarcely a change of name. There was, for\nexample, the yearly banquet called _Charistia_, to which ancestral\nspirits were invited, so making an act of faith in universal and\nimmortal life. The Eucharist, or supernal _Charistia_, has replaced\nthat of antiquity, and we communicate Easter by Easter with all our\nfriends in heaven and on earth.[113] Far from maintaining the old\nsuperstitions by such adaptations, Christianity has breathed soul and\nlife into the surviving signs of universal beliefs.\n\nThat science of Nature which is in such close consanguinity\nwith religion, seeing that it initiates men into the secrets of\nDivinity, that forgotten science of Magic, still lives undivided in\nhieroglyphical signs and, to some extent, in the living traditions or\nsuperstitions which it has left outwardly untouched. For example, the\nobservation of numbers and days is a blind reminiscence of primitive\nmagical dogma. As a day consecrated to Venus, Friday was always\nconsidered unlucky, because it signified the mysteries of birth and\ndeath. No enterprise was undertaken on Friday by the Jews, but they\ncompleted thereon the work which belonged to the week, seeing that it\npreceded the Sabbath, or day of compulsory rest. The number 13, being\nthat which follows the perfect cycle of 12, also represents death,\nsucceeding the activities of life; and in the Jewish _Symbolum_ the\narticle relating to death is numbered thirteen. The partition of the\nfamily of Joseph into two tribes brought thirteen guests to the first\nPassover of Israel in the Promised Land, meaning thirteen tribes to\nshare the harvests of Canaan. One of them was exterminated, being\nthat of Benjamin, youngest of the children of Jacob. Hence comes\nthe tradition that when there are thirteen at table the youngest is\ndestined to die quickly.[114]\n\nThe Magi abstained from the flesh of certain animals and touched no\nblood. Moses raised this practice into a precept, on the ground that\nit is unlawful to partake of the soul of animals, which soul is in the\nblood. It remains therein after their slaughter, like a phosphorus of\ncoagulated and corrupted Astral Light, which may be the germ of many\ndiseases. The blood of strangled animals digests with difficulty and\npredisposes to apoplexy and nightmare. The flesh of _carnivora_ is also\nunwholesome on account of the savage instincts with which it has been\nassociated and because it has already absorbed corruption and death.\n\n\u201cWhen the soul of an animal is separated violently from its body,\u201d says\nPorphyry, \u201cit does not depart, but, like that of human beings which\nhave died in the same way, it remains in the neighbourhood of the body.\nIt is so retained by sympathy and cannot be driven away. Such souls\nhave been seen moaning by their bodies. It is the same with the souls\nof men whose bodies have not been interred. It is to these that the\noperations of magicians do outrage, by enforcing their obedience, so\nlong as the operators are masters of the dead body in whole or in part.\nTheosophers who are familiar with these mysteries, with the sympathy\nof animal souls for the bodies from which they are separated, and with\ntheir pleasure in approaching these, have rightly forbidden the use of\ncertain meats, so that we may not be infected by alien souls.\u201d\n\nPorphyry adds that prophecy may be acquired by feeding on the hearts\nof ravens, moles and hawks; here the Alexandrian theurgist betakes\nhimself to the processes of the _Little Albert_, but though he lapses\nso quickly into superstition it is by entering a wrong path, for his\npoint of departure was science.[115]\n\nTo indicate the secret properties of animals, the ancients said that\nat the epoch of the war of the giants, various forms were assumed\nby the gods with a view to concealment, and that they resumed these\nsubsequently at pleasure. Thus, Diana changed into a she-wolf; the sun\ninto a bull, lion, dragon and hawk; Hecate into a horse, lioness and\nbitch.\n\nThe name of _Pherebates_ was, according to several theosophers,\nassigned to Proserpine because she lived upon turtle-doves, and these\nbirds were the usual offering which the priestesses of Maia made to\nthat goddess, who is the Proserpine of earth, daughter of the fair\nCeres, and foster-mother of the human race. The initiates of Eleusis\nabstained from domestic birds, fish, beans, peaches and apples; they\nabstained also from intercourse with a woman in child-bed, as well as\nduring her normal periods. Porphyry, from whom this information is\nderived, adds as follows: \u201cWhosoever has studied the science of visions\nknows that one must abstain from all kinds of birds in order to be\nliberated from the bondage of terrestrial things and find a place among\nthe celestial gods.\u201d But the reason he does not give.\n\nAccording to Euripides, the initiates of the secret cultus of Jupiter\nin Crete touched no flesh-meat; in the chorus addressed to King Minos,\nthe priests in question are made to speak as follows: \u201cSon of a\nPh\u0153nician Tyrian woman, descendant of Europa and great Jupiter, King\nof the Isle of Crete, famous through an hundred cities, we come unto\nthee, forsaking temples built of oak and cypress fashioned with knives;\nleaders of a pure life, behold, we come. Since I was made a priest of\nJupiter-Id\u00e6us, I take no part in the nocturnal feasts of Bacchanals, I\neat no half-cooked meats; but I offer tapers to the mother of the gods.\nI am a priest among the Curetes clothed in white; I keep far from the\ncradles of men; I shun also their tombs; and I eat nothing which has\nbeen animated by the breath of life.\u201d\n\nThe flesh of fish is phosphorescent and hence is aphrodisiacal. Beans\nare heating and cause absence of mind. For every form of abstinence,\nincluding the most irregular forms, a deep reason, apart from all\nsuperstition, can probably be found. There are certain combinations of\nfoods which are opposed to the harmonies of Nature. \u201cThou shalt not\nseethe the kid in his mother\u2019s milk,\u201d said Moses\u2014a prescription which\nis touching as an allegory and wise on the ground of hygiene.\n\nThe Greeks like the Romans, but not to the same extent, were believers\nin presages; it was good augury when serpents tasted the sacred\nofferings; it was favourable or the reverse when it thundered on the\nright or the left hand. There were presages in the ways of sneezing and\nin other natural weaknesses which may be left here to conjecture. In\nthe Hymn of Mercury, Homer narrates that when the god of thieves was\nstill in his cradle he stole the oxen of Apollo, who took the youngster\nand shook him, to make him confess the larceny:\n\n _Mercure s\u2019avisant d\u2019un \u00e9trange miracle,\n De ses flancs courrouc\u00e9s fit entendre l\u2019oracle;\n Jusqu\u2019au grand Apollon la vapeur en monta._[116]\n\nIt was all presage with the Romans\u2014a stone against which the foot\nstruck, the cry of a screech-owl, the barking of a dog, a broken vase,\nan old woman who was first to look at you. All such idle terrors had\nfor their basis that grand magical science of divination which neglects\nno token but from an effect overlooked by the vulgar ascends through a\nsequence of interlinked causes. This science knows, for example, that\nthose atmospheric influences which cause the dog to howl are fatal for\ncertain sufferers, that the appearance and the wheeling of ravens mean\nthe presence of unburied bodies\u2014which is always of sinister augury;\nlocalities of murder and execution are frequented by these fowl. The\nflight of other birds prognosticates hard winters, while yet others, by\ntheir plaintive cries over the sea, give the signal of coming storms.\nOn that which science discerns ignorance remarks and generalises;\nthe first sees useful warnings everywhere; the other distresses and\nfrightens itself at everything.\n\nThe Romans furthermore were great observers of dreams; the art of\ntheir interpretation belongs to the science of the vital light, to\nthe understanding of its direction and reflections. Men versed in\ntranscendental mathematics are well aware that there can be no image\nin the absence of light, be it direct, reflected or refracted; and by\nthe direction of the ray, the return under the fold of which they know\nhow to find, they arrive by an exact calculation, and invariably, at\nthe source of light and can estimate its universal or relative force.\nThey take into account also the healthy or diseased state of the visual\nmechanism, external or internal, and attribute thereto the apparent\ndeformity or rectitude of images. For such persons, dreams are a\ncomplete revelation, since dream is a semblance of immortality during\nthat nightly death which we call sleep. In the dream-state we share\nin the universal life, unconscious of good or evil, time or space. We\nleap over trees, dance on water, breathe upon prisons and they fall;\nor alternatively, we are heavy, sad, hunted, chained up\u2014according to\nthe state of our health and often that of our conscience. All this\nis useful to observe, and unquestionably, but what can be inferred\ntherefrom by those who know nothing and are without the wish to learn?\n\nThe all-powerful action of harmony, in exalting the soul and giving it\nrule over the senses, was well known to the ancient sages; but that\nwhich they employed to soothe was wrested by enchanters to excite and\nintoxicate. The sorceresses of Thessaly and of Rome believed that\nthe moon could be dragged from the sky by the barbarous verses which\nthey recited and that it fell pale and bleeding to the earth. The\nmonotony of their recitations, the sweep of their magical wands; their\ncircumambulations about circles, magnetised, excited, and led them by\nstages to fury, to ecstasy, even to catalepsy itself. In this kind of\nwaking state, they fell into dream, saw tombs open, the air overcast by\nclouds of demons, the moon falling from heaven.\n\nThe Astral Light is the living soul of the earth, a material and fatal\nsoul, controlled in its productions and movements by the eternal laws\nof equilibrium. This light, which environs and permeates all bodies,\ncan also suspend their weight and make them revolve about a powerfully\nabsorbent centre. Phenomena which have been so far insufficiently\nexamined, though they are being reproduced in our own days, prove\nthe truth of this theory. To the same natural law must be ascribed\nthose magical whirlpools in the centre of which enchanters located\nthemselves. It explains the fascination exercised on birds by certain\nreptiles and on sensitive natures by others which are negative and\nabsorbent. Mediums are generally diseased creatures in whom the void\nopens and who thus attract the light, as abysses draw the water\nof whirlpools. The heaviest bodies can then be lifted like straws\nand are carried away by the current. Such negative and unbalanced\nnatures, whose fluidic bodies are formless, can project their force\nof attraction, delineating by this means supplementary and fantastic\nmembers in the air. When the celebrated medium Home makes hands without\nbodies appear in his vicinity, his own hands are dead and frozen.\nIt may be said that mediums are phenomenal beings in whom death\nstruggles visibly against life. As much may be concluded in the case\nof enchanters, fortune-tellers, those with the evil eye and casters of\nspells. Consciously or unconsciously, they are vampires, who draw the\nlife which they lack and thus disturb the balance of the light. When\nthis is done consciously, they are criminals who should be punished,\nand when otherwise they are still exceedingly dangerous subjects, from\nwhom delicate and nervous people should be carefully isolated.\n\nPorphyry tells the following story in his life of Plotinus. \u201cAmong\nthose who professed philosophy, there was a certain Olympius, who was\nof Alexandria and for a time disciple of Ammonius. He treated Plotinus\nwith disdain, being ambitious to surpass him in repute. He sought\nalso to injure him by magical ceremonies, but having found that the\nattempt re-acted on himself he admitted to his friends that the soul of\nPlotinus must be one of great power, since it could turn back on his\nenemies their own evil designs. Plotinus was conscious of the hostile\nattempts of Olympius, and there were times when he said suddenly: \u2018Now\nhe is having convulsions.\u2019 This kind of thing being repeated, and\nfinding that he was afflicted himself with the evils which he would\nhave wrought on Plotinus, Olympius ceased to persecute.\u201d\n\nEquilibrium is the great law of the vital light; projected with force\nand repelled by a nature more balanced than our own, it comes back upon\nourselves with equal violence. Woe therefore to those who would employ\nnatural powers in the service of injustice, since Nature is just and\nher reactions are terrible.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VII\n\n MAGICAL MONUMENTS\n\n\nWe have said that Egypt of old was itself a pantacle, and as much might\nbe affirmed concerning the elder world at large. In proportion as the\ngreat hierophants were at pains to conceal their absolute science, they\nsought more and more to extend and multiply its symbols. The triangular\npyramids, with their square bases, represented metaphysics grounded on\nthe science of Nature; and the symbolical key of this science assumed\nthe gigantic form of that wonderful sphinx which, in its age-long vigil\nat the foot of the pyramids, has hollowed for itself so deep a bed in\nthe sand. Those seven great monuments called the wonders of the world\nwere sublime commentaries on the pyramids and on the seven mysterious\ngates of Thebes. At Rhodes there was the Pantacle of the Sun, in which\nthe god of light and truth was symbolised under a human form clothed\nwith gold; he raised in his right hand the torch of intelligence and\nin his left held the shaft of activity. His feet were fixed on moles\nrepresenting the eternal equilibrating forces of Nature, necessity and\nliberty, active and passive, fixed and volatile\u2014in a word, the Pillars\nof Hercules. At Ephesus was the Pantacle of the Moon, which was the\nTemple of Diana Panthea, made in the likeness of the universe. It\nwas a dome surmounting a cross, with a square gallery and a circular\nprecinct recalling the shield of Achilles. The tomb of Mausoleus was\nthe Pantacle of the Chaste and Conjugal Venus; in form it was after\nthe manner of a _lingam_, having a square elevation and a circular\nprecinct. In the middle place of the square rose a truncated\npyramid, on which was a chariot with four horses, harnessed so as to\nform a cross. The Pyramids were the Pantacle of Hermes or of Mercury.\nThe Olympian Jupiter was the Pantacle of that god. The walls of Babylon\nand the citadel of Semiramis were Pantacles of Mars. In fine, the\nTemple of Solomon\u2014that universal and absolute pantacle destined to\nreplace the others\u2014was for the Gentile world the terrible Pantacle of\nSaturn.\n\n[Illustration: THE SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD]\n\nThe philosophical septenary of initiation, according to the mind of the\nancients, may be summarised as three absolute principles, reducible\nto a single principle, and four elementary forms, which are one form\nonly, the whole constituting an unity composed of form and idea. The\nthree principles are as follows: (1) Being is being; in philosophy this\nsignifies the identity of the idea and that which is, or truth; in\nreligion it is the first principle, the Father. (2) Being is real; this\nmeans in philosophy the identity of knowledge and of that which is,\nor reality; in religion it is the Logos of Plato, the Demiourgos, the\nWord. (3) Being is logical; in philosophy this signifies the identity\nof reason and reality; in religion it is Providence, or the Divine\nAction by which the good is realised, the mutual love of the true and\nthe good, called the Holy Spirit in Christianity.\n\nThe four elementary forms were the expression of two fundamental laws:\nresistance and motion; the fixed state, or that inertia which resists,\nand active life, or the volatile; in other and more general terms,\nmatter and spirit-matter being that nothingness which is formulated by\npassive affirmation, spirit being the principle of absolute necessity\nin that which is true. The negative action of material nothing on\nspirit was termed the evil principle; the positive action of spirit on\nthis same nothingness, so that it might be filled with creation and\nwith light, was called the good principle. To these conceptions there\ncorresponded, on the one hand, humanity and, on the other, the rational\nand saving life, redeeming those who are conceived in sin\u2014that is to\nsay, in nothingness\u2014because of their material generation.\n\nSuch was the doctrine of secret initiation, such the admirable\nsynthesis that the spirit of Christianity came to vivify, enlightening\nby its splendour, establishing divinely by its dogma and realising by\nits sacraments. Under the veil which was intended to preserve it, this\nsynthesis has vanished. It is destined to be recovered by man in all\nits primitive beauty and all its maternal fecundity.\n\n\n\n\n BOOK III\n\n_DIVINE SYNTHESIS AND REALISATION OF MAGIA BY THE CHRISTIAN REVELATION_\n\n \u05d2\u2014GIMEL\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER I\n\n CHRIST ACCUSED OF MAGIC BY THE JEWS\n\n\nAt the beginning of the Gospel according to St. John there is one\nsentence which is never uttered by the Catholic Church except in the\nbending of the knees; that sentence is: \u201cThe Word was made flesh.\u201d\nThe plenary revelation of Christianity is comprised therein. So also\nelsewhere the Evangelist furnishes the criterion of orthodoxy, which is\nthe confession of Jesus Christ manifested in flesh\u2014that is to say, in\nvisible and human reality.\n\nAfter emblazoning in his visions the pantacles and hieroglyphs of\nesoteric science; after exhibiting wheels revolving within wheels;\nafter picturing living eyes turning to all the spheres; after deploying\nthe beating wings of the four mysterious living creatures\u2014Ezekiel,\nthe most profound Kabalist of the ancient prophets, beholds nothing\nbut a plain strewn with dry bones. At his word they are covered with\nflesh and so is form restored to them. A pitiful beauty invests these\nremnants of death, but that beauty is cold and lifeless. Of such were\nthe doctrines and mythologies of the elder world, when a breath of\nlove descended upon them from heaven. Then the dead shapes rose up;\nthe wraiths of philosophy gave place to men of true wisdom; the Word\nwas incarnate and alive; it was no longer the day of abstractions\nbut one of reality. That faith which is proved by works replaced the\nhypotheses which ended in nothing but fables. Magic was transformed\ninto sanctity, wonders became miracles, the common people\u2014excluded\nby ancient initiation\u2014were called to the royalty and priesthood of\nvirtue. Realisation is thus of the essence of Christian religion, and\nits doctrine gives a body even to the most obvious allegories. The\nhouse of the young man who had great possessions is still shewn in\nJerusalem, and it might be in no sense impossible for careful research\nto discover a lamp which, by a similar tradition, once belonged to one\nof the foolish virgins. Such ingenuous credulities are fundamentally\nnot very dangerous; indeed they prove only the living and realising\npower of the Christian faith. The Jews accused that faith of having\nmaterialised belief and idealised earthly things. In our _Doctrine\nand Ritual of Transcendental Magic_ we have recited the scandalous\nparable of the _Sepher Toldos Jeshu_ which was invented to support the\naccusation. It is related in the _Talmud_ that Jesus ben Sabta, or the\nson of the divorced woman, having studied profane mysteries in Egypt,\nset up a false stone in Israel and led the people into idolatry. It was\nacknowledged notwithstanding that the Jewish priesthood did wrong when\nit cursed him with both hands, and it is in this connection that we\nfind in the _Talmud_ one beautiful precept which is destined hereafter\nto unite Christendom and Israel: \u201cNever curse with both hands, so that\none of them may always be free to forgive and to bless.\u201d As a fact, the\npriesthood was guilty of injustice towards that peace-bringing Master\nwho counselled his disciples to obey the constituted hierarchy. \u201cThey\nare in the seat of Moses,\u201d the Saviour said; \u201cDo therefore that which\nthey tell you but not as they do themselves.\u201d On another occasion he\ncommanded ten lepers to shew their persons to the priests, and they\nwere cured on the road: what touching abnegation in the Divine Worker\nof miracles, Who thus ascribed to His most deadly enemies the very\nhonour of His miracles. For the rest, were those who accused Christ\nof setting up a spurious corner-stone acquainted themselves with the\ntrue one? Had not the Jews in the days of the Pharisees lost the\nscience of that which is at once the corner-stone, the cubic stone, the\nphilosophical stone\u2014in a word, the fundamental stone of the Kabalistic\nTemple, square at the base and triangular above like the pyramids? By\nimpeaching Jesus as an innovator did they not proclaim that they had\nthemselves forgotten antiquity? Was not that light which Abraham saw\nand rejoiced extinguished for the unfaithful children of Moses, and\nwas it not recovered by Jesus, Who made it shine with a new splendour?\nTo be quite certain on the subject, the Gospel and _Apocalypse_ of St.\nJohn must be compared with the mysterious doctrines of the _Sepher\nYetzirah_ and _Zohar_. It will then be realised that Christianity, so\nfar from being a heresy in Israel, was the true orthodox tradition of\nJewry, while it was the Scribes and Pharisees who were sectarians.\nFurthermore, Christian orthodoxy is proved by the consent of the world\nat large and by the suspension of the sovereign priesthood, together\nwith the perpetual sacrifice, in Israel\u2014the two indisputable marks of\na true religion. Judaism without a temple, without a High Priest and\nwithout a sacrifice survives only as a dissident persuasion; certain\npersons are still Jews, but the Temple and Altar are Christian.\n\nThere is a beautiful allegorical exposition in the apocryphal\ngospels of this criterion of certitude in respect of Christianity:\nits evidence is that of realisation. Some children were amusing\nthemselves by fashioning birds of clay, and among them was the child\nJesus. Each little artist praised his own work, and only Jesus said\nnothing; but when He had moulded His birds, He clapped His hands,\ntelling them to fly, and they flew. So did Christian institutions\nshew their superiority over those of the ancient world; the latter\nare dead, but Christianity is alive. Considered as the fully realised\nand vital expression of the Kabalah\u2014that is to say, of primitive\ntradition\u2014Christianity is still unknown, and hence that Kabalistic and\nprophetic book called the _Apocalypse_ yet remains to be explained,\nbeing incomprehensible without the Kabalistic Keys. The traditional\ninterpretation was long preserved by the Johannites, or disciples of\nSt. John; but the Gnostics intervened\u2014to the total confusion and loss\nof everything, as will be made clear at a later stage.[117]\n\nWe read in the Acts of the Apostles that St. Paul at Ephesus collected\nall the books which treated of things curious and burnt them in\npublic. The reference is no doubt to the old G\u00f6etic texts, or works\nof necromancy. The loss is regrettable assuredly, since even from\nthe memorials of error there may shine some rays of truth, while\ninformation may consequently be derived which will prove precious to\nscience.[118] It is a matter of general knowledge that at the advent\nof Christ Jesus the oracles were silenced everywhere, and a voice went\nwailing over the sea, crying: \u201cGreat Pan is dead.\u201d A pagan writer,\nwho takes exception to the report, declares on his own part that the\noracles did not cease, but in a little while no one was found to\nconsult them. The rectification is valuable, for such an attempted\njustification is more conclusive than the pretended calumny. Much the\nsame thing should be said concerning the works of wonder, which fell\ninto contempt in the presence of real miracles. As a fact, if the\nhigher laws of Nature are obedient to true moral superiority, miracles\nbecome supernatural like the virtues which produce them. This theory\ndetracts nothing from the power of God, while the fact that the Astral\nLight is obedient to the superior Light of Grace signifies in reality\nfor us that the old serpent of allegory places its vanquished head\nbeneath the foot of the Queen of Heaven.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER II\n\n THE WITNESS OF MAGIC TO CHRISTIANITY\n\n\nMagic, being the science of universal equilibrium and having the\ntruth, reality and reason of being for its absolute principle,\naccounts for all the antinomies and reconciles all actualities which\nare in conflict one with another by the one generating principle of\nevery synthesis\u2014that harmony results from the analogy of opposites.\nFor the initiate of this science religion is not in doubt because it\nexists, and we do not deny what is. Being is being\u2014 \u05d0\u05d4\u05d9\u05d4 \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d0\u05d4\u05d9\u05d4.\nThe apparent opposition of religion and reason is the strength of\nboth, establishing each in its distinct domain and fructifying the\nnegative side of each by the positive side of the other: as we have\njust said, it is the attainment of agreement by the correspondence\nbetween things that are contrary. The cause of all religious errors and\nconfusions is that, in ignorance of this great law, it has been sought\nto make religion a philosophy and philosophy in its turn a religion,\nsubjecting matters of faith to the processes of science, which is no\nless ridiculous than the subjection of science to the blind obedience\nof faith. It is no more the province of a theologian to affirm a\nmathematical absurdity or reject the demonstration of a theorem than it\nis the province of a man of learning, in the name of science, to oppose\nor maintain the mysteries of dogma.\n\nIf we inquire of the Academy of Sciences whether it is mathematically\ntrue that there are Three Persons in one God and whether, on the basis\nof physiology, it can be certified that Mary, the Mother of God, was\nconceived immaculate, the Academy of Sciences will decline to judge\nthereon, and it will be right. Scholarship has no title to pronounce,\nas the questions belong to the realm of faith. An article of faith is\nbelieved or is not believed, but in either case it is not a matter of\ndiscussion: it is of faith precisely because it eludes examination by\nscience.\n\nWhen Joseph de Maistre assures us that one of these days we shall speak\nin terms of wonder about our actual stupidity, he is referring, no\ndoubt, to those people of pretended strong mind who daily inform us\nthat they will believe in the truth of a dogma when it has been proved\nscientifically. This is equivalent to saying that they will believe\nwhen nothing is left for believing, when dogma as such is destroyed,\nhaving become a scientific theorem. It is another way of suggesting\nthat we shall confess to the infinite when it has been explained,\ndetermined, circumscribed, defined, or, in a word, changed into the\nfinite. We will believe in the infinite when we are quite certain that\nit does not exist; we will admit the immensity of the ocean when we\nsee it put into bottles. But then, my friends, that which has been\nproved to you and brought within your comprehension is henceforth a\nmatter of knowledge and not of faith. On the other hand, if you are\ninformed that the Pope has decided that two and two are not four and\nthat the square of the hypotenuse is not equal to the squares drawn on\nthe two other sides of a right-angled triangle, you would be justified\nin replying that the Pope has not so decided because he has no title;\nthese things do not concern him and he may not meddle therein. Here\na disciple of Rousseau will exclaim that this is all very well, but\nthe Church does require us to believe in things which are in formal\nopposition to mathematics. All mathematical science tells us that the\nwhole is greater than the part; this notwithstanding, when Jesus Christ\ncommunicates with his disciples, He must hold His entire body in His\nhand and put His head in His own mouth. The miserable pleasantry in\nquestion occurs textually in Rousseau. It is easy to answer that the\nsophist is confounding science with faith and the natural order with\nthat which is supernatural or divine. Were it claimed by religion that\nin the communication of the Eucharist our Saviour had two natural\nbodies of the same form and size, and that one was eaten by the other,\nscience would be entitled to protest. But religion lays down that the\nbody of the Master is divinely and sacramentally contained under the\nnatural sign or appearance of a fragment of bread. Once more, it is\na question of believing or not believing: whosoever reasons thereon,\nand discusses the thing scientifically, deserves to be classed as a\nfool.[119]\n\nTruth in science is proved by exact demonstrations; truth in religion\nis proved by unanimity of faith and holiness of works. We have\nauthority in the Gospel to recognise that he who could say to the\nparalytic: \u201cTake up thy bed and walk,\u201d had the right to forgive sins.\nReligion is true if it is the realisation of perfect morality. Works\nare the proof of faith. It is permissible to ask science whether\nChristianity has constituted a vast association of men for whom the\nhierarchy is a principle, obedience the rule and charity a law. If\nscience answers, on the basis of historical documents, that this is the\ncase but that the association of Christians has failed in the matter\nof charity, then I take it at its own word, which admits the existence\nof charity, since it recognises that there can be deficiency therein.\nCharity is at once a great word and a great thing; it is a word which\ndid not exist prior to Christianity and that which it stands for is\nthe sum total of religion. Is not the spirit of charity the Divine\nSpirit made visible on earth? Has not this Spirit manifested its\nsensible existence by acts, institutions, monuments and by immortal\nworks? To be brief, we do not understand how a sceptic, who is a man\nof good faith, can see a daughter of St. Vincent de Paul without\nwishing to kneel and pray. The spirit of charity\u2014this indeed is God;\nit is immortality in the soul; it is the hierarchy, obedience, the\nforgiveness of injuries, the simplicity and integrity of faith.\n\nThe separated sects are death-struck at the root because in separating\nthey were wanting in charity, while in trying to reason on faith they\nwere wanting in simple good sense. It is in the sects that dogma is\nabsurd because it is pseudo-reasonable. As such it must be a scientific\ntheorem or nothing. Now, in religion we know that the letter kills and\nthat the spirit alone gives life; but what is the spirit in question\nunless it be that of charity? The faith which moves mountains and\nwithstands martyrdom, the generosity which gives all, the eloquence\nwhich speaks with the tongue of men and angels\u2014all this, says St.\nPaul, is nothing without charity. He adds that knowledge may vanish\naway and prophecy may cease, but charity is eternal. Charity and its\nworks\u2014hereof is the reality in religion: now true reason never denies\nreality, for it is the demonstration of that being which is truth.\nIt is in this manner that philosophy extends a hand to religion, but\nwithout ever wishing to usurp its domain, and, on this condition,\nreligion blesses, encourages and enlightens philosophy by its loving\nsplendours. Charity is the mysterious bond which, according to the\ndream of Greek initiates, must reconcile Eros and Anteros. It is that\ncoping of the door of Solomon\u2019s Temple which unites the two pillars\n_Jachin_ and _Boaz_; it is the common guarantee between rights and\nduties, between authority and liberty, between the strong and weak,\nbetween the people and the government, man also and woman. It is the\ndivine sentiment which is requisite for life in human science; it is\nthe absolute of good, as the triple principle Being-Reality-Reason is\nthe absolute of the true. These elucidations have been necessary for\nthe proper interpretation of that beautiful symbol of the Magi adoring\nthe Saviour in the manger. The kings are three\u2014one white, one tawny and\none black; they offer gold, frankincense and myrrh. The reconciliation\nof opposites is expressed by this double triad, and it is precisely\nthat which we have just been seeking to explain. Christianity, as\nexpected by the Magi, was in effect the consequence of their secret\ndoctrine; but this Benjamin of ancient Israel caused, by the fact of\nits birth, the death of its mother. The Magic of Light, that of the\ntrue Zoroaster, of Melchisedek and Abraham came to an end with the\nadvent of the Great Fulfiller. Henceforth, in a world of miracles, mere\nprodigies could be nothing more than a scandal and magical orthodoxy\nwas transfigured into the orthodoxy of religion. Those who dissented\ncould be only _illuminati_ and sorcerers; the very name of Magic could\nbe interpreted only according to its evil sense, and it is under this\ninhibition that we shall follow hereafter its manifestations through\nthe centuries.\n\nThe first arch-heretic mentioned in the traditions of the Church was\nSimon the Magician; his legend embodies a multitude of marvels; it is\nan integral part of our subject and we shall endeavour to separate\nits basis from the cloud of fables by which it is surrounded. Simon\nwas by nationality a Jew and is believed to have been born in the\nSamaritan town of Gitton.[120] His master in Magic was a sectarian\nnamed Dositheus, who gave out that he was sent by God and was the\nMessiah foretold by the prophets.[121] Under his tuition, Simon not\nonly acquired the illusory arts but also certain natural secrets which\nbelong really to the tradition of the Magi. He possessed the science\nof the Astral Fire and could attract great currents thereof, making\nhimself seem impassible and incombustible. He had also the power to\nrise and remain in the air. Feats of this kind have been performed\nfrequently, in the absence of science and, so to speak, accidentally,\nby enthusiasts intoxicated with Astral Light, as for example the\nconvulsionaries of St. M\u00e9dard; and the phenomena recur at the present\nday in the mediumistic state. Simon magnetised at a distance those\nwho believed in him and appeared to them under various figures. He\nproduced images and visible reflections\u2014_e.g._, everyone, on a certain\noccasion, thinking that they could see fantastic trees in a bare\ncountry. Moreover, objects which are normally inanimate were moved in\nhis vicinity, as furniture is now moved within the atmosphere of Home,\nthe American; and, finally, when he intended to enter or leave a house\nthe doors creaked, shook and ended by opening of their own accord.\n\nSimon performed these wonders before the chief people of Samaria,\nand as his actual achievements were in due course exaggerated, the\nthaumaturgist passed for a divine being. It came about also that as he\nowed his power to states of excitement by which reason is disturbed,\nso he came to regard himself as such an exceptional being that he did\nnot hesitate to claim divine honours and dreamed modestly of usurping\nthe worship of the whole world. His crises or ecstasies produced\nextraordinary physical results. Sometimes he appeared pale, withered,\nbroken, like an old man at the point of death; sometimes the luminous\nfluid revitalised his blood, so that his eyes shone, his skin became\nsmooth and soft, and he appeared regenerated and renewed suddenly.\nThe easterns have great capacity for the amplification of wonders;\nthey claimed to have seen Simon passing from childhood to decrepitude\nand again at his will returning from decrepitude into childhood. His\nmiracles were noised abroad everywhere, till he became not only the\nidol of Jewish Samaria but also of the neighbouring countries.\n\nHowever, the worshippers of marvels are generally hungry for new\nemotions and they did not fail to get weary of that which at first\nhad astonished them. The Apostle St. Philip having reached Samaria,\nto preach the gospel therein, a new current of enthusiasm was thus\nstarted, with the result that Simon lost all his prestige. He was\nconscious, moreover, that his abnormal states had ceased, as he thought\nthrough loss of power; he believed that he was surpassed by magicians\nmore learned than himself, and the course which he took was to attach\nhimself to the apostles in the hope of studying, discovering or buying\ntheir secret.\n\nSimon was certainly not an initiate of Transcendental Magic, which\nwould have told him that wisdom and sanctity are needful for those who\nwould direct the secret forces of Nature without being broken thereby;\nthat to play with such terrible weapons without understanding them was\nthe act of a fool; and that swift and terrible death awaits those who\nprofane the Sanctuary of Nature. Simon was consumed by an unquenchable\nthirst, like that of a drunkard; the suspension of his ecstasy was the\nloss of all his happiness, and made ill by past excesses, he thought\nto regain health in renewed intoxication. One does not willingly come\nback to the state of a simple mortal after posing as a god. To recover\nthat which he had lost Simon submitted therefore to all the rigours\nof apostolic austerity; he watched, he prayed, he fasted, but the\nwonders did not return. Then he reflected that between Jews it might\nbe possible to reach an understanding, and he offered money to St.\nPeter. The chief of the apostles drove him indignantly away; and he who\nreceived so willingly the contributions of his disciples was now at the\nend of his resources; he abandoned forthwith the society of men who\nhad shewn such disinterestedness, and with the money which St. Peter\ndisdained he purchased a female slave named Helena.[122]\n\nMystical vagaries are always akin to debauch. Simon became passionately\nenamoured of his servant; that passion, at once weakening and exalting,\nrestored his cataleptic states and the morbid phenomena which he\ntermed his gift of wonders. A mythology full of magical reminiscences,\ncombined with erotic dreams, issued fully armed from his brain; he\nundertook pilgrimages like the apostles, carrying Helena with him,\ndogmatising and shewing himself to those who were willing to worship\nand doubtless also to pay him.\n\nAccording to Simon, the first manifestation of God was by means of\na perfect splendour which produced its reflection immediately. He\nwas himself this sun of souls and the reflection was Helena, whom he\naffected to call Selene, being the name of the moon in Greek. Now\nthe moon of Simon came down at the beginning of the ages on that\nearth which the magus had mapped out in his perpetual dreams. There\nshe became a mother, impregnated by the thought of his sun, and she\nbrought into the world angels, whom she reared by herself without\nspeaking of them to their father. The angels rebelled against her and\nimprisoned her in a mortal body. It was then that the splendour of God\nwas compelled to descend in its turn that it might redeem Helena, and\nso the Jew Simon was manifested on earth. There he had to overcome\ndeath and carry his Helena through the air, followed by the triumphant\nchoir of the elect, while the rest of mankind was abandoned on earth\nto the eternal tyranny of the angels. Thus the arch-heretic, imitating\nChristianity but in the reverse sense, affirmed the eternal reign\nof revolt and evil, represented the world as created or at least\ncompleted by demons, destroyed the order and the hierarchy, to pose\nalone with his concubine as the way, the truth and the life. Here was\nthe doctrine of Antichrist, and it was not to perish with Simon, for\nit has been perpetuated to our own days. Indeed prophetic traditions\nof Christianity speak of his transitory reign and triumph to come as\nheralding the most terrible calamities. Simon claimed the title of\nsaint and, by a curious coincidence, the chief of a modern Gnostic sect\nwhich recalls all the sensuous mysticism of the first arch-heretic\u2014the\ninventor of the \u201cfree woman\u201d\u2014is also named Saint-Simon. Cainism is the\nname which might be given to all the false revelations issued from this\nimpure source. They are dogmas of malediction and of hatred against\nuniversal harmony and social order; they are disordered passions\naffirming license in the place of duty, sensual love instead of chaste\nand devoted love, the prostitute in place of the mother, and Helena,\nconcubine of Simon, in place of Mary, the mother of the Saviour.\n\nSimon became a notoriety and repaired to Rome, where the emperor,\nattracted by all extraordinary spectacles, was disposed to welcome\nhim: this emperor was Nero. The illuminated Jew astonished the crowned\nfool by a trick which is common in jugglery. He was decapitated,\nbut afterwards saluted the emperor, his head being restored to his\nshoulders. He caused furniture to move and doors to open; in a word,\nhe acted as a veritable medium and became sorcerer in ordinary at the\norgies of Nero and the banquets of Trimalcyon. According to the legend\nmakers, it was to rescue the Jews of Rome from the doctrine of Simon\nthat St. Peter himself visited that capital of the world. Nero, by\nmeans of his inferior spies, was informed speedily that a new worker of\nIsraelitish wonders had arrived to make war on his own enchanter, and\nhe resolved to bring them together for his amusement. Petronius and\nTigellinus were perhaps at this feast.[123]\n\n\u201cMay peace be with you,\u201d said the prince of apostles on entering. \u201cWe\nhave nothing to do with your peace,\u201d answered Simon. \u201cIt is by war that\ntruth is discovered. Peace between adversaries is the victory of one\nand the defeat of the other.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: DISPUTATION BETWEEN SIMON THE MAGICIAN AND SS. PETER AND\nPAUL]\n\nSt. Peter answered: \u201cWhy do you reject peace? The vices of men have\ncreated war, but peace ever abides with virtue.\u201d\n\n\u201cVirtue is power and skill,\u201d said Simon. \u201cFor myself I face the fire, I\nrise in the air, I restore plants, I change stones into bread; and you,\nwhat do you do?\u201d\n\n\u201cI pray for you,\u201d said St. Peter, \u201cthat you may not perish the victim\nof your enchantments.\u201d\n\n\u201cKeep your prayers; they will not ascend to heaven as quickly as\nmyself.\u201d\n\nAnd behold the magician passing out by a window and rising in the air\noutside. Whether this was accomplished by means of some aerostatic\napparatus concealed under his long robes or whether he was lifted up,\nlike the convulsionaries of Paris the Deacon, owing to an exaltation of\nthe Astral Light, we are unable to say; but during this phenomenon St.\nPeter was praying on his knees, and Simon fell suddenly with a great\ncry, to be raised with his thighs broken. Nero imprisoned St. Peter,\nwho seemed a far less diverting magician than Simon; the latter died\nof his fall. The whole of this history, which belongs to the popular\nrumours of the period, is now relegated, though perhaps wrongly, to\nthe region of apocryphal legends.[124] On such account it is not less\nremarkable or less worthy to be preserved.\n\nThe sect of Simon did not end with himself, and his successor was one\nof his disciples, named Menander.[125] He did not pose as a god, being\ncontented with the role of a prophet; but when he baptized proselytes,\na visible fire came down upon the water. He also promised immortality\nof soul and body as the result of this magical immersion, and in the\ndays of St. Justin, there were still followers of Menander who firmly\nbelieved themselves immortal. The deaths which occurred among them by\nno means disabused the others, for those who died were excommunicated\nforthwith, on the ground that they had been false brethren. For these\nbelievers death was an actual apostasy and their immortal ranks were\nfilled up by enrolling new proselytes. Those who understand the extent\nof human folly will not be surprised to hear that in this present year,\nbeing 1858, there exists in America and France a fanatical sect in\ncontinuation of that of Menander.[126]\n\nThe qualification of magician added to the name of Simon rendered Magic\na thing of horror to Christians; but they did not on this account cease\nto honour the memory of the Magi-Kings who adored the Saviour in His\ncradle.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER III\n\n THE DEVIL\n\n\nBy its clear formulation of concepts respecting the Divine,\nChristianity leads us to the understanding of God as the most absolute\nand the most purest love, while it defines, not less clearly, the\nspirit which is opposed to God, the spirit of revolt and hatred:\nhereof is Satan. But this spirit is not a personality and is not to be\nregarded as a kind of black god: it is a perversity which is common\nto all extralineal intelligences. \u201cMy name is legion,\u201d says Satan\nin the Gospel, \u201cfor we are many.\u201d The birth of intelligence may be\ncompared to the Star of the Morning and, after it has shone for an\ninstant, if it fall of its own accord into the void of darkness, we may\napply to it that apostrophe which was uttered by Isaiah to the king\nof Babylon: \u201cHow art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, Son of the\nMorning?\u201d But does this mean that the celestial Lucifer, the Morning\nStar of intelligence, has been changed into a brand of hell? Can the\nname of Light-bearer be applied justly to the angel of trespass and\nof darkness? We think not, more especially if it be understood, as\nwe understand, who have the magical tradition behind us, that the\nhell personified by Satan, and symbolised by the old serpent, is\nthat central fire which encompasses the earth, consuming all that it\nproduces and devouring its own tail, like the serpent of Kronos\u2014in a\nword, that Astral Light of which the Almighty spoke to Cain when He\nsaid: \u201cIf thou doest evil, sin shall be straightway at thy gates\u201d\u2014that\nis to say, disorder will take possession of all thy senses; \u201cyet unto\nthee I have made subject the lust of death, and it is for thee to rule\nit.\u201d[127]\n\nThe royal and almost divine personification of Satan is a blunder which\ngoes back to the false Zoroaster, or otherwise, to the sophisticated\ndoctrine of the later and materialistic Magi of Persia; it was they\nwho represented the two poles of the intellectual world as deities,\nmaking a divinity out of passive force in contradistinction to that\nforce which is active. We have indicated that the same grave error\nwas made by Indian mythology. Ahriman or Siva is the father of the\ndemon, as the latter is understood by superstitious makers of legend,\nand hence it was said by our Saviour: \u201cThe devil is a liar like his\nfather.\u201d On this question the Church rests satisfied with the Gospel\ntexts and has published no dogmatic decisions, having the definition\nof the devil as their object. Good Christians avoid even naming him,\nwhile religious moralists recommend the faithful to take no concern\nregarding him, seeking to resist his arts by thinking only of God. We\ncannot but admire this wise reserve on the part of priestly teaching.\nWhy indeed should the light of doctrine be reflected on him who is\nintellectual obscurity and darkest night of the heart? Let the spirit\nwhich would distract us from the knowledge of God remain unknown by us.\nIt is assuredly not of our intention to perform what the Church has\nomitted; we certify on such a subject only as to the secret instruction\nof initiates in the occult sciences. They have said that the Great\nMagical Agent\u2014accurately termed Lucifer because it is the vehicle of\nlight and the receptacle of all forms\u2014is a mediating force diffused\nthroughout creation; that it serves for creation and destruction; that\nthe fall of Adam was an erotic intoxication which made his race subject\nto that fatal light; that all amorous passion which invades the senses\nis a whirlpool of this light, seeking to draw us down into the gulf of\ndeath; that madness, hallucinations, visions, ecstasies constitute an\nexceedingly dangerous exaltation of this interior phosphorus; finally,\nthat the light in question is of the nature of fire, that it is warming\nand vivifying in its prudent use, but that it burns, dissolves and\ndestroys in its excess. Over this light man is called, on the one hand,\nto assume a sovereign empire, so earning his immortality, but, on\nthe other, he is menaced by the intoxication, absorption and eternal\ndestruction thereof. In its devouring, avenging and fatal aspect, the\nAstral Light may be called the fire of hell, the serpent of legend,\nwhile the tormented sin which abounds therein, the tears and the\ngnashing of teeth on the part of the abortions that it consumes, the\nphantom of life which escapes them and seems to insult their misery\u2014all\nthis may be termed the devil or Satan. Among the pomps and works of\nhell may be included, in fine, those actions, those illusionary images\nof pleasure, wealth and glory which are misdirected by the vertigo of\nthis light.\n\nFather Hilarion Tissot regards certain nervous diseases which are\naccompanied by hallucinations and delirium as diabolical possessions\nand, understood in the sense of the Kabalists, he is right assuredly.\nWhatsoever delivers our soul to the fatality of vertigo is truly\ninfernal, since heaven is the eternal reign of order, intelligence\nand liberty. The possessed people of the Gospel fled away from Jesus\nChrist; the oracles were silenced in the presence of the Apostles;\nwhile those who are prey to the disease of hallucination have ever\nmanifested an invincible repugnance for initiates and sages. The\nsuspension of oracles and obsessions proved the triumph of human\nliberty over fatality. When astral diseases reappear, it is an\nominous sign of spiritual enervation, and manifestations of this kind\nare followed invariably by fatal disorders. The disturbances here\nreferred to continued till the French Revolution, and the fanatics of\nSaint-M\u00e9dard were the prophets of its sanguinary calamities. The famous\ncriminologist Torreblanca, who had gone to the root of Diabolical\nMagic, describes accurately all the phenomena of astral disturbance,\nwhen classifying the works of the demon. Here are some extracts from\nthe 15th chapter of his work on _Operative Magic_:[128] (1) The demon\nis endeavouring continually to lead us into error. (2) He deludes the\nsenses by disturbing the imagination, though he cannot change its\nnature. (3) When things abnormal are manifested to the eye of man, an\nimaginary body assumes shape in the mind and so long as that phantom\nremains therein, the phenomena continue. (4) The demon destroys\nequilibrium in the imagination by a disturbance of the vital functions,\nwhether by irregularity in health or actual disease. (5) When some\nmorbid cause has destroyed this equilibrium, and that also of reason,\nwaking dream becomes possible and that which has no existence assumes\nthe semblance of reality. (6) The mental perception of images in this\nmanner makes sight unworthy of trust. (7) Visions are bodied forth,\nbut they are merely thought-forms. (8) The ancients distinguished two\norders of disease, one of them being the perception of imaginary forms,\nwhich was termed frenzy, and the other corybantism, or the hearing of\nvoices and other sounds which have no existence.\n\nIt follows from these statements, which are curious in several\nrespects, that disease is attributed by Torreblanca to the demon,\nwho indeed is disease itself, with which we should agree entirely\u2014if\npermitted by dogmatic authority. The recurring efforts of the Astral\nLight to disintegrate and absorb entities are part of its nature; its\nceaseless currents have a wearing effect like water and it consumes\neven as fire, for it is the very essence and dissolving force of fire.\nThe spirit of perversity and the love of destruction which characterise\nthose whom it governs are instincts of this force. They are further\nconsequent on the suffering of the soul, which is conscious of\nincomplete life and feels torn in opposite directions. The soul yearns\nto make an end of itself, yet fears to die alone, and therefore would\ninclude all creation in its destruction. Such astral perversity assumes\nfrequently the form of the hatred of children; an unknown power impels\ncertain subjects to kill them, and imperious voices seem to demand\ntheir death. Dr. Brierre de Boismont cites terrible examples of this\nmania, recalling the crimes of Papavoine and Henriette Cornier.\n\nSufferers from astral perversion are malevolent, and they are jealous\nat the joy of others; they are especially inimical to hope, and\neven when offering consolation they choose the most desperate and\nheartrending figures of speech. The explanation is that their life is\nsynonymous with suffering and that they have been whirled into the\ndance of death. It is, moreover, astral perversion and the lust of\ndeath which abuses the act of generation, leading to its perversion\nor dishonour by sacrilegious mockeries and shameful pleasantries.\nObscenity is a blasphemy against life. Each of these vices is\npersonified by a black idol or by a demon, which is the negative and\ndistorted reflection of the divinity who communicates life: these are\nidols of death. Moloch is the fatality which devours infants. Satan\nand Nisroch are gods of hatred, fatality and despair. Astarte, Lilith,\nNehamah, Ashtaroth are idols of debauchery and abortion. Adramelech\nis the god of murder, while Belial is that of eternal revolt and\nanarchy. Such are the monstrous conceptions of reason, when it pauses\non the verge of extinction and slavishly worships its destroyer, so\nthat it may reach the end of its torment by the destroyer absorbing\nit. According to the Kabalists, the true name of Satan is that of\nJehovah reversed, for Satan is not a black god but the negation of\nDeity. He is the personification of atheism and idolatry. The devil\nis not a personality for initiates but a force created with a good\nobject, though it can be applied to evil: it is really the instrument\nof liberty. They represented this force, which presides over physical\ngeneration, under the mythological figure of the horned god Pan, and\nhence comes the goat of the Sabbath, brother of the old serpent, the\nlight-bearer or phosphorus, converted by poets into the false Lucifer\nof legend.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER IV\n\n THE LAST PAGANS\n\n\nThe eternal miracle of God is the unchangeable order of His providence\nin the harmonies of Nature; prodigies are derangements and are\nattributable only to degeneration in the creature. Divine miracle\nis thus a providential reaction for the restoration of the broken\norder. When Jesus cured the possessed He calmed them and suspended the\nmarvels which they produced; when the apostles subdued the exaltation\nof the pythonesses they put an end to divination. The spirit of error\nis a spirit of agitation and subversion; the spirit of truth brings\ntranquillity and peace in its path. Such was the civilising influence\nof Christianity at its dawn; but those passions which are friends of\ndisturbance did not, without a struggle, leave it in possession of the\npalm of easy victory. Expiring polytheism drew powers from the Magic of\nthe old sanctuaries; to the mysteries of the Gospel it still opposed\nthose of Eleusis. Apollonius of Tyana was set up as a parallel to the\nSaviour of the world, and Philostratus undertook to construct a legend\non the subject of this new deity. Thereafter came the Emperor Julian,\nwho would have been himself deified if the javelin which slew him\nhad not also struck the last blow at C\u00e6sarian idolatry. The enforced\nand decrepit rebirth of a religion which was dead in its forms was a\nliteral abortion, and Julian, who attempted it, was doomed to perish\nwith the senile offspring which he strove to bring into the world.\n\nThis notwithstanding, Apollonius and Julian were two curious, even\ngreat personalities, and their history is epoch-making in the Annals\nof Magic. Allegorical legends were in fashion at that period. Those who\nwere masters embodied their doctrine in their personality, and those\nwho were initiated disciples wrote fables which combined the secrets of\ninitiation. The history of Apollonius by Philostratus, too absurd if it\nbe taken literally, becomes memorable when its symbolism is examined\naccording to the data of science. It is a kind of pagan gospel, opposed\nto that of Christianity; it is a secret doctrine at large, and we are\nin a position to reconstruct and explain it.\n\nIn the third book of Philostratus, the initial chapter contains an\naccount of Hyphasis, a wonderful river which rises in a certain plain\nand is lost in unapproachable regions. That river represents magical\nknowledge, which is simple in its first principles but difficult to\ndeduce accurately in respect of final consequences.[129] Philostratus\ntells us in this connection that marriages are not fruitful unless\nconsecrated by the balsam of trees which grow on the banks of Hyphasis.\nThe fish of this river are sacred to Venus; their crest is blue, the\nscales are of many colours and their tail is golden: they can raise the\ntail at will. In the river there is also an animal resembling a white\nworm, the stewing of which produces an inflammable oil that can be kept\nin glass only. The animal is reserved only for the king\u2019s service, as\nit has power to overthrow walls. When the grease of it is exposed to\nthe air it ignites, and there is then nothing in the whole world with\nwhich the flame can be extinguished.\n\nBy the fish of the river Hyphasis, Apollonius signifies universal\nconfiguration which magnetic experiments have recently proved to\nbe blue on one side, golden on that which is opposite and of many\ncolours at the centre. The white worm is the Astral Light, which\nresolves into oil when condensed by a triple fire, and such oil is the\nuniversal medicine. It can only be contained by glass, this being a\nnon-conductor for the Astral Light, its porousness being inappreciable.\nThis secret is reserved to the king, which means an initiate of the\nfirst order, for it is truly concerned with a force by which cities\ncan be destroyed. Some important secrets are here indicated with great\nclearness.\n\nIn the next chapter Philostratus speaks of unicorns and says that the\nhorn of these animals can be fashioned into drinking-cups which are\na safeguard against all poisons. The single horn of the symbolical\ncreature represents hierarchic unity, and hence Philostratus adds, on\nthe authority of Damis, that the cups in question are also exclusive to\nkings. \u201cHappy,\u201d says Apollonius, \u201cis he who is never intoxicated but in\ndrinking out of such a goblet.\u201d\n\nDamis narrates further that Apollonius met with a woman who was white\nfrom feet to breasts but black in the upper region. His disciples were\nalarmed at the prodigy, but the master gave her his hand, for he knew\nher. He told them that she was the Indian Venus, whose colours are\nthose of the bull Apis, adored by the Egyptians. This harlequin female\nis magical science, the white limbs\u2014or created forms\u2014of which reveal\nthe black head, or that supreme cause which is unknown to man at large.\nBut Philostratus and Damis knew, and it was under emblems like these\nthat they gave expression in concealment to the doctrine of Apollonius.\nThe secret of the Great Work is contained in the fifth to the tenth\nchapters of this third book, and the form of symbolism adopted is that\nof dragons defending the entrance to a palace of the wise.[130] There\nare three species of dragons \u2014dwellers respectively of marshes, plains\nand mountain. The mountain is Sulphur, the marsh Mercury and the plain\nis the Salt of the Philosophers. The dragons of the plain are pointed\non the back, like a saw-fish, referring to the acid potency of salt.\nThose of the mountains have golden scales and a golden beard, while the\nsound of their creeping movement is like the tinkling of copper. In\ntheir head is a stone by which all miracles can be worked. They bask\non the shores of the Red Sea and they are caught by the help of a red\ncloth embroidered with golden letters; on these enchanted letters they\nlay their head and fall asleep, and they are then decapitated with an\naxe. Who does not recognise here the Stone of the Philosophers, the\nMagistery at the Red and the famous regimen of fire, represented by\ngolden letters? Under the name of Citadel of the Wise, Philostratus\ngoes on to describe the Athanor as a hill surrounded by a mist but open\non the southern side. It has a well four paces in breadth, from which\nan azure vapour rises, drawn up by the warmth of the sun and displaying\nall colours of the rainbow. The bottom of the well is sanded with red\narsenic. In its vicinity is a basin filled with fire and thence rises\na livid flame, odourless and smokeless, and never higher or lower than\nthe basin-edge. There are also two reservoirs of black stone, in one of\nwhich rain is stored and in the other wind. The rain-cistern is opened\nwhen there is excessive drought and then clouds come forth which water\nthe whole country. It would be difficult to describe more exactly the\nSecret Fire of the Philosophers and that which they term their _Balneum\nMari\u00e6_. It follows from this account that the ancient alchemists\nemployed electricity, magnetism and steam in their Great Work.\n\nPhilostratus speaks subsequently of the Philosophical Stone itself,\nwhich he calls indifferently a Stone and Light. \u201cThe profane are not\npermitted to discover it, because it vanishes if not laid hold of\naccording to the processes of the Art. It is the wise only who, by\nmeans of certain verbal formul\u00e6 and rites, can attain the _Pantarba_.\nThis is the name of the Stone which at night has the appearance of\nfire, being flaming and sparkling, while in the day it dazzles by its\nbrightness. This light is a subtle matter of admirable virtue, for it\nattracts all that is near it.[131]\n\nThe above revelation concerning the secret doctrines of Apollonius\nproves that the Philosophical Stone is no other than an universal\nmagnet, formed of the Astral Light condensed and fixed about a centre.\nIt is an artificial phosphorus containing the concentrated virtues of\nall generative heat, and the multitude of allegories and traditions\nextant concerning it are as testimonies to its certain existence.[132]\n\nThe entire life of Apollonius, as recorded by Philostratus, following\nDamis the Assyrian, is a tissue of apologues and parables, the\nconcealed doctrine of great masters of initiation being written in\nthis manner at the period, as already intimated. We know therefore why\nthe recital embodies fables and underneath the text of these fables\nwe should expect to find, and may even look to understand, the secret\nknowledge of the hierophants.\n\nHis great science and conspicuous virtues notwithstanding, Apollonius\nwas not a successor in the hierarchic school of the Magi. His\ninitiation had India as its source and he was addicted to the\nenervating practices of the Brahmins; further he preached rebellion and\nregicide openly: he was a great character in a wrong path. The figure\nof the Emperor Julian seems more poetic and beautiful than that of\nApollonius; he maintained on the throne of the world all the austerity\nof a sage; and he sought to transpose the young sap of Christianity\ninto the enfeebled body of Hellenism. He was a noble maniac, guilty\nonly of too much devotion to the associations of the fatherland and\nthe images of its ancestral gods. As a counterpoise to the realising\nefficacity of Christian doctrine, he called Black Magic to his aid and\nplunged into darksome evocations, following the lead of Jamblichus and\nMaximus of Ephesus. But the gods whom he desired to resuscitate in\ntheir youth and beauty appeared before him cold and decrepit, shrinking\nfrom life and light, and ready to fly before the sign of the cross.\n\nThe closing had been taken in full according to the grade of Hellenism,\nand the Galilean had conquered. Julian died like a hero, without\nblaspheming Him who overcame, as it has been falsely pretended.[133]\nAmmianus Marcellinus portrays his last moments at length: they were\nthose of a warrior and philosopher. The maledictions of Christian\nsacerdotalism echoed long over his tomb; has not the Saviour, that\nlover of noble souls, pardoned adversaries less interesting and less\ngenerous than the unfortunate Julian?\n\nOn the death of this emperor, Magic and idolatry were \u00b7 involved in\none and the same universal reprobation. At this time there came into\nexistence those secret associations of adepts, to which Gnostics and\nManicheans gravitated at a later period. The societies in question\nwere the depositaries of a tradition of errors and truths admixed; but\nthey transmitted, under the seal of terrific pledges, the Great Arcanum\nof ancient omnipotence, together with the ever-frustrated hopes of\nextinct worships and fallen priesthoods.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER V\n\n LEGENDS\n\n\nThe strange narratives embodied in the _Golden Legend_, how fabulous\nsoever they may be, are referable notwithstanding to the highest\nChristian antiquity. They are parables rather than histories; the\nstyle is simple and eastern, like that of the Gospels; and their\ntraditional existence proves that a species of mythology had been\ndevised to conceal the Kabalistic mysteries of Johannite initiation.\nThe _Golden Legend_ is a Christian Talmud expressed in allegories and\napologues. Studied from this point of view, the newer in proportion\nas it is more ancient, the work will become of real importance and\nhighest interest.[134] One of the narratives in this Legend so full of\nmysteries characterises the conflict of Magic and dawning Christianity\nin a manner which is equally dramatic and startling. It is like an\noutline in advance of Chateaubriand\u2019s _Martyrs_ and the _Faust_ of\nGoethe combined.\n\nJustina was a young and lovely pagan maiden, daughter of a priest of\nthe idols, after the manner of Cymodoce. Her window opened on a court\nwhich gave upon the Christian church, so that she heard daily the pure\nand recollected voice of a deacon reading the holy gospels aloud. The\nunknown words touched and stirred her heart, so deeply indeed that when\nher mother remarked one evening how grave she seemed and sought to be\nthe confidant of her preoccupations, Justina fell at her feet and said:\n\u201cBless me, my mother, or forgive me: I am a Christian.\u201d The mother wept\nand embraced her, after which she returned to her husband and related\nwhat she had heard. That night in their sleep the parents were both\nvisited by the same dream. A divine light descended upon them, a sweet\nvoice called them and said: \u201cCome unto me, all ye that are afflicted\nand I will comfort you. Come, ye beloved of my father, and I will give\nunto you the kingdom which has been prepared for you from the beginning\nof the world.\u201d\n\nThe morning dawned; father and mother blessed their daughter. All\nthree were enrolled among the catechumens and, after the usual\nprobation, they were admitted to Holy Baptism. Justina returned white\nand radiant from the church, between her mother and aged father, when\ntwo forbidding men, wrapped in their mantles, passed as Faust and\nMephistopheles going by Margaret: they were Cyprian the magician and\nhis disciple Acladius. They stopped dazzled by the apparition, but\nJustina went on without seeing them and reached home with her family.\n\nThe scene now changes and we are in the laboratory of Cyprian.\nCircles have been traced, a slaughtered victim still palpitates by a\nsmoking chafing-dish; the genius of darkness stands in the presence\nof the magician, saying: \u201cThou hast called me; I come. Speak: what\ndost thou require?\u201d\u2014\u201cI love a virgin.\u201d\u2014\u201cSeduce her.\u201d\u2014\u201cShe is a\nChristian.\u201d\u2014\u201cDenounce her.\u201d\u2014\u201cI would possess and not lose her: canst\nthou aid me?\u201d\u2014\u201cI tempted Eve, who was innocent and conversed daily with\nGod Himself. If thy virgin be Christian, know that it is I who caused\nJesus Christ to be crucified.\u201d\u2014\u201cThou wilt deliver her into my hands,\ntherefore.\u201d\u2014\u201cTake this magical unguent, and anoint the threshold of her\ndwelling: the rest concerns me.\u201d\n\nAnd now Justina is asleep in her small and simple room, but Cyprian\nis at the door murmuring sacrilegious words and performing horrible\nrites. The demon creeps to the pillow of the young girl and instils\nvoluptuous dreams full of the image of Cyprian, whom she seems to meet\nagain on issuing from the church. This time, however, she looks at him;\nshe listens, while the things which he whispers fill her heart with\ntrouble. But she moves suddenly, she awakes and signs herself with the\ncross. The demon vanishes and the seducer, doing sentinel at the door,\nwaits vainly through the whole night.\n\nOn the morrow he renews his evocations and loads his infernal\naccomplice with bitter reproaches. The latter confesses his inability,\nis driven forth in disgrace, and Cyprian invokes a demon of superior\nclass, who transforms himself by turns into a young girl and a\nbeautiful youth, tempting Justina by advice as well as caresses. She\nis on the point of yielding, but her good angel helps her; she joins\ninspiration to the sign of the cross and expels the evil spirit.\nCyprian thereupon invokes the king of hell and Satan arrives in person.\nHe visits Justina with all the woes of Job and spreads a frightful\nplague through Antioch; the oracles, at his instigation, declare that\nit will cease only when Justina shall satisfy Venus and love, who are\nalike outraged. Justina, however, prays in public for the people, and\nthe pest ceases. Satan is baffled in his turn; Cyprian compels him to\nacknowledge the omnipotence of the sign of the cross and defies him by\nmaking it on his own person. He abjures Magic, becomes a Christian, is\nconsecrated bishop and meets with Justina in a convent. They love now\nwith the pure and lasting love of heavenly charity; persecution befalls\nboth; they are arrested together, put to death on the same day and\nratify in the breast of God their mystical and eternal marriage.[135]\n\nAccording to the legend, St. Cyprian was Bishop of Antioch, but\necclesiastical history says that his seat was that of Carthage. It\nmatters little, for the rest, whether the personalities are the same;\nthe one belongs to poetry, while the other is a father and martyr of\nthe Church.\n\nThere is extant among the old Grimoires a prayer attributed to the St.\nCyprian of legend, who is possibly the holy Bishop of Carthage: its\nobscure and figurative expressions may have given credit to the idea\nthat prior to his conversion he was addicted to the deadly practices of\nBlack Magic. It may be rendered thus.\n\n\u201cI, Cyprian, servant of our Lord Jesus Christ, have prayed unto God the\nFather Almighty, saying: Thou art the strong God, my God omnipotent,\ndwelling in the great light. Thou art holy and worthy of praise, and\nThou hast beheld in the old days the malice of Thy servant and the\niniquities into which I was plunged by the wiles of the demon. I was\nignorant of Thy true name; I passed in the midst of the sheep and they\nwere without a shepherd. The clouds shed no dew on earth; trees bare\nno fruit and women in labour could not be delivered. I bound and did\nnot loose; I bound the fishes of the sea, and they were captive; I\nbound the pathways of the sea, and many evils did I encompass. But now,\nLord Jesus Christ, I have known Thy Holy Name, I have loved Thee, I am\nconverted with my whole heart, my whole soul and all my inward being.\nI have turned from the multitude of my sins, that I may walk in Thy\nlove and follow Thy commandments, which are henceforth my faith and my\nprayer. Thou art the Word of truth, the sole Word of the Father, and\nI conjure Thee now to break the chain of clouds and send down on Thy\nchildren Thy goodly rain like milk, to set free the rivers and liberate\nthose who swim, as also those which fly. I conjure Thee to break all\nthe chains and remove all the obstacles by the virtue of Thy Holy\nName.\u201d\n\nThe antiquity of this prayer is evident and it embodies most remarkable\nreminiscences of primitive types belonging to Christian esotericism\nduring the first centuries of this era.\n\nThe qualification of Golden given to the fabulous legend of allegorical\nsaints is a sufficient indication of its character. Gold, in the eyes\nof initiates, is condensed light; the sacred numbers of the Kabalah\nwere called golden; the moral instructions of Pythagoras were contained\nin _Golden Verses_; and for the same reason that mysterious work of\nApuleius in which an ass has an important _r\u00f4le_, is called the _Golden\nAss_.\n\nThe Christians were accused by Pagans of worshipping an ass, and the\nslander in question is not of their own devising; it is referable to\nthe Jews of Samaria, who expressed Kabalistic ideas on the Divinity by\nmeans of Egyptian symbols. Intelligence was represented in the symbol\nof a magical star, venerated under the name of _Rempham_; science was\ndepicted by the emblem of _Anubis_, the latter name being altered into\n_Nibbas_; whilst vulgar faith or credulity appeared in the likeness\nof _Thartac_, a god represented holding a book, wearing a mantle and\nhaving the head of an ass.[136] According to the Samaritan doctors,\nChristianity was the reign of _Thartac_, or blind faith and vulgar\ncredulity set up as an universal oracle, superior to understanding\nand knowledge. This is why, in their intercourse with Gentiles and\nwhen they heard themselves identified by these with Christians, they\nprotested and begged not to be confounded with the worshippers of\nan ass\u2019s head. The pretended revelation diverted the philosophers,\nand Tertullian mentions a Roman caricature, extant in his days,\nwhich exhibited _Thartac_ in all his glory, identified as the god of\nChristianity, much to the amusement of Tertullian, though he was the\nauthor of that famous aphorism: _Credo quia absurdum_.[137]\n\nThe Golden Ass of Apuleius is the occult legend of _Thartac_. It is a\nmagical epic and a satire against Christianity, which the author had\ndoubtless professed for a period, or so at least he appears to intimate\nunder the allegory of his metamorphosis into an ass. The story of the\nwork is as follows. Apuleius was travelling in Thessaly, the country of\nenchantments. He received hospitality at the house of a man whose wife\nwas a sorceress, and he seduced the servant of his hostess, thinking to\nobtain in this manner the secrets of her mistress. The maid promised\nto deliver to her lover a concoction by means of which the sorceress\nchanged herself into a bird, but she made a mistake in the box and\nApuleius was transformed into an ass. She could only console him by\nsaying that to regain his proper form it would be sufficient to eat\nroses, the rose being the flower of initiation. The difficulty at the\nmoment being to find roses in the night, it was decided to wait till\nthe morrow and the servant therefore stabled the ass, but only for it\nto be taken by robbers and carried off. There was little chance now of\ncoming across roses, which are not intended for asses, and gardeners\nchased away the animal with sticks.\n\nDuring his long and sad captivity, he heard the history of Psyche\nrelated, that marvellous and symbolical legend which was like the soul\nand poetry of his own experience. Psyche desired to take by surprise\nthe secrets of love, as Apuleius sought those of Magic; she lost\nlove and he the human form. She was an exiled wanderer, living under\nthe wrath of Venus, and he was the slave of thieves. But after having\njourneyed through hell, Psyche was to return into heaven, and the gods\ntook pity on Lucius. Isis appeared to him in a dream and promised\nthat her priest, warned by a revelation, would give him roses during\nthe solemnities of her coming festival. That festival arrived, and\nApuleius describes at great length the procession of Isis; the account\nis valuable to science, for it gives the key of Egyptian mysteries.\nMen in disguise come first, carrying grotesque animals; these are the\nvulgar fables. Women follow strewing flowers and bearing on their\nshoulders mirrors which reflect the image of the great divinity. So do\nmen go in front and formulate dogmas which women embellish, reflecting\nunconsciously the higher truths, owing to their maternal instincts. Men\nand women came afterwards in company as light-bearers; they represented\nthe alliance of the two terms, the active and passive generators of\nscience and life.[138] After the light came harmony, represented by\nyoung musicians, and, in fine, the images of gods, to the number of\nthree, followed by the grand hierophant, carrying, instead of an\nimage, the symbol of great Isis, being a globe of gold surmounted by a\nCaduceus. Lucius Apuleius beheld a crown of roses in the hands of the\nhigh priest; he approached and was not repulsed; he ate the roses and\nwas restored to human shape.\n\nAll this is learnedly written and intermingled with episodes which are\nnow heroic and again grotesque in character, as befitted the double\nnature of Lucius and the ass. Apuleius was at once the Rabelais and\nSwedenborg of the old world at the close of the epoch.\n\nThe great masters of Christianity either failed or refused to\nunderstand the mysticism of the _Golden Ass_. St. Augustine in the\n_City of God_ asks in the most serious manner whether one is to\nbelieve that Apuleius was metamorphosed literally into an ass and\nseems disposed to admit the possibility, but only as an exceptional\nphenomenon\u2014from which nothing follows as a consequence. If this be an\nirony on his part, it must be allowed that it is cruel, but if it be\ningenuousness\u2014however, St. Augustine, the acute rhetorician of Madaura,\nwas scarcely given to being ingenuous.\n\nBlind and unfortunate indeed were those initiates of the Antique\nMysteries who ridiculed the ass of Bethlehem without perceiving the\ninfant God Who shone upon the peaceful animals in the stable\u2014the Child\non whose forehead reposed the conciliating star of all the past and\nfuture. Whilst philosophy, convicted of impotence, offered insult to\nvictorious Christianity, the fathers of the Church assumed all the\nmagnificence of Plato and created a new philosophy based upon the\nliving reality of the Divine Word, ever present in His Church, reborn\nin each of its members and immortal in humanity. It would be a greater\ndream of pride than that of Prometheus, were it not at the same time a\ndoctrine which is all abnegation and all devotion, human because it is\ndivine and divine because it is human.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VI\n\n SOME KABALISTIC PAINTINGS AND SACRED EMBLEMS\n\n\nIn obedience to the Saviour\u2019s formal precept, the primitive Church\ndid not expose its Most Holy Mysteries to the chance of profanation\nby the crowd. Admission to Baptism and the Eucharist was in virtue\nof progressive initiations; the sacred books were also held in\nconcealment, their free study and, above all, interpretation being\nreserved to the priesthood. Moreover, images were fewer and less\nexplicit in character. The feeling of the time refrained from\nreproducing the figure of Christ Himself, and the paintings on the\ncatacombs were, for the most part, Kabalistic emblems. There was the\nEdenic Cross with the four rivers, where harts came to drink; the\nmysterious fish of Jonah was replaced frequently by a two-headed\nserpent; a man rising from a chest recalls pictures of Osiris.[139] All\nthese allegories at a later period fell under proscription, owing to\nthe Gnosticism which misapplied them, materialising and debasing the\nholy traditions of the Kabalah.\n\nThe name of Gnostic was not always rejected by the Church. Those\nfathers whose doctrine was allied to the traditions of St. John\nfrequently made use of this title to designate the perfect Christian.\nApart from the great Synesius, who was a finished Kabalist but of\nquestionable orthodoxy, St. Iren\u00e6us and St. Clement of Alexandria\napplied it in this sense. The false Gnostics were all in revolt against\nthe hierarchic order, seeking to level the sacred science by its\ngeneral diffusion, to substitute visions for understanding, personal\nfanaticism for hierarchic religion, and especially the mystical licence\nof sensual passions for that wise Christian sobriety and obedience to\nlaw which are the mother of chaste marriages and saving temperance.\n\nThe induction of ecstasy by physical means and the substitution of\nsomnambulism for sanctity\u2014these were the invariable tendency of those\nCainite sects which perpetuated the Black Magic of India. The Church\ncould do no less than condemn them energetically, and it did not swerve\nfrom its mission; it is only regrettable that the good grain of science\noften suffered when the spade was driven and the flame kindled in\nfields overgrown by tares.\n\nEnemies of generation and the family, the false Gnostics sought\nto insure sterility by increasing debauch; their pretence was to\nspiritualise matter, but actually they materialised spirit, and this\nin the most repulsive manner. Their theology abounds in the copulation\nof Eons and in voluptuous embraces.[140] Like the Brahmans, they\nworshipped death under the symbol of the _lingam_; their creation was\nan infinite onanism and their redemption an eternal abortion.\n\nLooking to escape from the hierarchy by the help of miracle\u2014as if\nmiracle apart from the hierarchy proved anything but disorder or\nrascality, the Gnostics, from the days of Simon Magus, were great\nworkers of prodigies. Substituting the impure rites of Black Magic for\nthe established worship, they caused blood to appear instead of the\nEucharistic wine and substituted cannibal communions for the peaceful\nand pure supper of the Heavenly Lamb.[141] The arch-heretic Marcos,\na disciple of Valentinus, said Mass with two chalices; he poured wine\ninto the smaller and on pronouncing a magical formula the larger\nvessel was filled with a liquor like blood, which swelled up seething.\nHe was not a priest, and he sought to prove in this manner that God\nhad invested him by a miraculous ordination.[142] He incited all his\ndisciples to perform the same marvel in his presence. It was women more\nespecially whose success was parallel to his own, but when they passed\nsubsequently into convulsions and ravishment, Marcos breathed upon\nthem, communicating his own mania, so that they covenanted to forget\nfor his sake, and for that of religion, not only all prudence but all\ndecency.\n\nSuch intervention of woman in the priesthood was always the dream of\nfalse Gnostics, for in so equalising the sexes they introduced anarchy\ninto the family and raised a stumbling-block in the path of society.\nMaternity is the true priesthood of women; modesty is the ritual of the\nfireside and the religion thereto belonging. This the Gnostics failed\nto understand, or they understood it too well rather, and in misguiding\nthe sacred instincts of the mother they cast down the barrier which\nstood between them and complete liberty for their desires.[143]\n\nThe sorry candour of lewdness was not, however, a gift possessed by\nall. On the contrary, the Montanists, among other Gnostics, exaggerated\nmorality in order to make it impracticable. Montanus himself, whose\nacrid doctrines inveigled the paradoxical and extremist genius\nof Tertullian, was given over, with Priscilla and Maximilla, his\nprophetesses, or\u2014as we should now say\u2014his somnambulists, to all the\nboundless licentiousness of frenzy and ecstasy. The natural penalty of\nsuch excesses was not wanting to their authors; they ended in raving\nmadness and suicide.\n\nThe doctrine of the Marcosians was a profound and materialised Kabalah;\nthey dreamed that God had created everything by means of the letters\nof the alphabet; that these letters were as so many divine emanations,\nhaving the power of generating beings; that words were all-powerful and\nworked wonders virtually, as also in literal reality.[144] All this\nis true in a certain sense, but not in that of the Marcosian heresy.\nThe heretics in question supplemented actualities by hallucinations\nand believed that they went invisible because they were transported\nmentally where they wished in the somnambulistic state. In the case\nof false mystics, life and dream are frequently so confused together\nthat the predominant dream-state invades and submerges reality: it is\nthen uttermost rule of folly. The natural function of imagination is to\nevoke images and forms, but in a condition of abnormal exaltation it\ncan also exteriorise forms, as proved by the phenomena of monstrous\npregnancies and a host of analogous facts which official science would\ndo more wisely to study rather than deny stubbornly. Of such are the\ndisorderly creations which religion brands justly under the name of\ndiabolical miracles and of such were those of Simon, the Menandrians\nand Marcos.\n\nIn our own days a false Gnostic named Vintras, at present a refugee in\nLondon, causes blood to appear in empty chalices and on sacrilegious\nhosts. The unhappy being then passes into ecstasies, after the manner\nof Marcos, prophesies the downfall of the hierarchy and the coming\ntriumph of a pretended priesthood, given up to unrestricted intercourse\nand unbridled love.[145]\n\nAfter the protean pantheism of the Gnostics came the dualism of Marcos,\nformulating as religious dogma the false initiation prevalent among the\npseudo-Magi of Persia. The personification of evil produced a God in\ncompetition with God Himself, a King of darkness as well as a King of\nLight, and there is referable to this period that pernicious doctrine\nof the ubiquity and sovereignty of Satan against which we register our\nmost energetic protest. We make no pretence in this place of denying\nor affirming the tradition concerning the fall of angels, deferring\nherein, as in all that concerns faith, to the supreme and infallible\ndecisions of the Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church. But\nassuming that the fallen angels had a leader prior to that apostasy,\nthe event in question could not do otherwise than precipitate them\ninto total anarchy, tempered only by the inflexible justice of God.\nSeparated from that Divinity which is the source of all power, and more\nguilty by far than the others, the prince of angels in rebellion could\nbe nothing but the last and most impotent of all outcasts.\n\nBut if there be a force in Nature which attracts those who forget God\ntowards sin and death, such force is no other than the Astral Light,\nand we do not decline to recognise it as an instrument in subservience\nto fallen spirits. We shall recur to this subject, prepared with\na complete explanation, so that it may be intelligible in all its\nbearings and all its orthodoxy.[146] The revelation of a great secret\nof occultism thus effected will make evident the danger of evocations,\nall curious experiences, abuses of magnetism, table-turning and\nwhatever connects with wonders and hallucinations.\n\nArius had prepared the way for Manicheanism by his hybrid creation\nof a Son of God distinct from God Himself. It was equivalent to the\nhypothesis of dualism in Deity, inequality in the Absolute, inferiority\nin Supreme Power, the possibility of conflict between the Father\nand the Son, and even its necessity. These considerations, and the\ndisparity between the terms of the divine syllogism, make inevitable\nthe rejection of the notion. Is there any question whether the Divine\nWord can be good or evil\u2014can be either God or the devil? But this was\nthe great dilemma involved by the addition of a diphthong to the Greek\nword [Greek: omousios], by which it was changed to [Greek: omoiousios].\nIn declaring the Son consubstantial with the Father, the Council of\nNic\u00e6a saved the world, though the truth can be realised only by those\nwho know that principles in reality constitute the equilibrium of the\nuniverse.\n\nGnosticism, Arianism, Manicheanism came out of the Kabalah\nmisconstrued. The Church was therefore right in forbidding to its\nfaithful the study of a science so dangerous; the keys thereof should\nbe reserved solely to the supreme priesthood. The secret tradition\nwould appear as a fact to have been preserved by sovereign pontiffs,\nat least till the papacy of Leo III, to whom is attributed an occult\nritual said to have been presented by him to the Emperor Charlemagne.\nIt contains the most secret characters of the Keys of Solomon. This\nlittle work, which should have been kept in concealment, came into\ncirculation later on, necessitating its condemnation by the Church, and\nit has passed consequently into the domain of Black Magic. It is known\nunder the name of the _Enchiridion_ of Leo III and we are in possession\nof an old copy which is exceedingly rare and curious.[147]\n\nThe loss of the Kabalistic keys could not entail that of the\ninfallibility of the Church, which is ever assisted by the Holy\nSpirit, but it led to great obscurity in exegesis, the sublime imagery\nof Ezekiel\u2019s prophecy and the Apocalypse of St. John being rendered\ncompletely unintelligible. May the lawful successors of St. Peter\naccept the homage of this book and bless the labours of their humblest\nchild, who, believing that he has found one of the keys of knowledge,\ncomes to lay it at the feet of those who alone have the right to open\nand to shut the treasures of understanding and of faith.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VII\n\n PHILOSOPHERS OF THE ALEXANDRIAN SCHOOL\n\n\nOn the eve of its extinction the school of Plato diffused a great\nlight at Alexandria; but, victorious after three centuries of warfare,\nChristianity had assimilated all that was permanent and true in the\ndoctrines of antiquity. The last adversaries of the new religion\nattempted to check the progress of men who were alive by galvanising\nmummies. The time had come when the competition could be taken\nseriously no longer, and the pagans of the school of Alexandria,\nunwillingly and unconsciously, were at work on the sacred monument\nraised by the disciples of Jesus of Nazareth to confront all the\nages. Ammonius Saccas, Plotinus, Porphyry, Proclus are great names in\nthe annals of science and virtue; their theology was elevated, their\ndoctrine moral, their own manners were austere. But the chief and\nmost touching figure of this epoch, the brightest star in the whole\nconstellation, was Hypatia, the daughter of Theon\u2014that virginal and\nlearned girl whose understanding and virtues would have taken her to\nthe baptismal font, but she died a martyr for liberty of conscience\nwhen they attempted to drag her thereto. Synesius of Cyrene was trained\nat the school of Hypatia; he became Bishop of Ptolemais, and was one\nof the most instructed philosophers as well as the best Christian\npoet of the early centuries. It was he who remarked that the common\npeople always despised things which are of easy understanding and that\nwhat they require is imposture. When it was proposed to confer on him\nepiscopal dignity, he wrote thus in a letter to a friend: \u201cThe mind\nwhich is drawn to wisdom and to the contemplation of truth at first\nhand is forced to disguise it, so that it may be rendered acceptable\nto the multitude. There is a real analogy between light and truth, as\nbetween our eyes and ordinary understandings. The sudden communication\nof a light too brilliant dazzles the material eye, and rays that are\nmoderated by shadow are more serviceable to those whose sight as yet\nis feeble. So, in my opinion, fictions are necessary for the people,\ntruth being harmful to those who are not strong enough to contemplate\nit in all its splendour. If therefore the ecclesiastical laws permit\nreserve in judgment, and allegory in mode of expression, I can accept\nthe dignity which is offered me; the condition is, in other words, that\nI shall remain a philosopher at home, though I shall tell apologues and\nparables in public. What can there be in common, as a fact, between\nthe vulgar crowd and sublime wisdom? Truth must be kept in secret; the\nmultitude need instruction proportioned to their imperfect reason.\u201d\n\nIt is regrettable that Synesius should write in this strain, as nothing\ncan be more impolitic than to let a reservation appear when one is\nentrusted with public teaching. As the result of similar indiscretions,\nthere is the common remark of to-day that religion is necessary for\nthe people; the question is for what people, seeing that no one will\ntolerate inclusion in this category when understanding and morality are\ninvolved.\n\nThe most remarkable work of Synesius is a treatise on dreams, in which\nhe unfolds the purest Kabalistic doctrines and appears as a theosophist\nwhose exaltation and obscure style have rendered suspect of heresy;\nbut he had neither the obstinacy nor the fanaticism of sectarians. He\ndied as he had lived in the peace of the Church, confessing his doubts\nfrankly but submitting to hierarchic authority: his clergy and his\nflock asked nothing better at his hands. According to Synesius, the\nstate of dream proves the individuality and immaterial nature of the\nsoul, which in this condition creates for itself a heaven, a country,\npalaces shining with light, or otherwise darksome caverns\u2014according to\nits inclinations and desires. Moral progress may be estimated by the\ntendency of dreams, for in these free will is suspended, while fancy\nis abandoned entirely to the dominant instincts. Images are produced\nin consequence as a reflection or shadow of thought; presentiments\ntake bodily shape; memories are intermingled with hopes. The book of\ndreams is inscribed sometimes with radiant and sometimes with dark\ncharacters, but accurate rules can be established by which they may be\ndecoded and read. Jerome Cardan wrote a long commentary on the treatise\nof Synesius and may even be said to have completed it by a dictionary\nof all dreams, having their explanation attached. The whole is to be\ndistinguished entirely from the little books of colportage, and it\nreally claims a serious place in the library of occult science.[148]\n\nA certain section of criticism has ascribed to Synesius those\nremarkable works which appear under the name of Dionysius the\nAreopagite; in any case, these are regarded as apocryphal and\nbelonging to the brilliant period of the school of Alexandria. They\nare monuments of the conquest of higher Kabalism by Christianity,\nand they are intelligible only for those who have been initiated\ntherein. The chief treatises of Dionysius are on Divine Names and\nthe Celestial and Ecclesiastical Hierarchies. The first explains and\nsimplifies all mysteries of rabbinical theology. According to the\nauthor, God is the infinite and indefinable principle; in Himself He\nis one and inexpressible, but we ascribe to Him names which formulate\nour own aspirations towards His divine perfection.[149] The sum of\nthese names and their relation with numbers constitute that which is\nhighest in human thought; theology is less the science of God than\nthat of our most sublime yearnings. The degrees of the spiritual\nhierarchy are afterwards established on the primitive scale of numbers,\ngoverned by the triad. The angelical orders are three, and each order\ncontains three choirs. It is on this model that the hierarchy should\nbe established on earth, and the Church is its most perfect type:\ntherein are princes, bishops and lastly simple ministers. Among the\nprinces are cardinal-bishops, cardinal-priests and cardinal-deacons.\nAmong prelates there are archbishops, simple bishops and suffragans.\nAmong ministers there are rectors or vicars, simple priests and those\nwho hold the diaconate. The progression to this holy hierarchy is\nby three preparatory degrees, being the subdiaconate, minor orders\nand clerkship. The functions of all correspond to the angels and the\nsaints; they are to glorify the threefold Divine Names, in each of the\nThree Persons, because the Undivided Trinity is adored in its fulness\nin each of the Divine Hypostases. This transcendental theology was\nthat of the primitive church, and possibly it is attributed to St.\nDionysius only in virtue of a tradition which goes back to his and\nthe apostolic times, much as the rabbinical editors of the _Sepher\nYetzirah_ attributed that text to the patriarch Abraham, because it\nembodies the tradition perpetuated from father to son in the family\nof this patriarch. However it may be, the books of St. Dionysius\nare precious for science; they consecrate the mystical marriage of\nantique initiation with the gospel of Christianity, uniting a perfect\nunderstanding of supreme philosophy with a theology which is absolutely\ncomplete and in all things above reproach.\n\n\n\n\n BOOK IV\n\n _MAGIC AND CIVILISATION_\n\n \u05d3\u2014DALETH\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER I\n\n MAGIC AMONG BARBARIANS\n\n\nBlack Magic retreated before the light of Christianity, Rome was\nconquered by the cross, and prodigies took refuge in that dark circle\nwith which the barbarous provinces enringed the new Roman splendour.\nAmong a large number of extraordinary phenomena there is one which\nwas verified in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. At Tralles in Asia,\na young and noble girl named Philinnium, originally of Corinth and\ndaughter of Demostrates and Charito, was captivated by Machates, a\nyouth of mean condition. Marriage was impossible, for, as it has been\nsaid, Philinnium was noble, being, moreover, an only daughter and a\nrich heiress. Machates was a man of the people and kept a tavern. The\npassion of Philinnium was increased by difficulties; she escaped from\nher father\u2019s home and took refuge with Machates. An illicit intercourse\nbegan and continued for six months, when the girl was discovered by\nher parents, rescued by them and sequestered carefully. Measures were\nnow projected for leaving the country and removing her to Corinth; but\nPhilinnium, who had visibly wasted since separation from her lover,\nwas seized thereupon with a languishing disorder, neither smiling nor\nsleeping, and refusing all nourishment. It came to pass, in fine, that\nshe died. The parents then relinquished their determination to depart\nand purchased a vault, where the young girl was deposited, clothed\nin her richest garments. The sepulchre was situated in an enclosure\nbelonging to the family and no one entered therein after the burial,\nfor pagans did not pray at the tombs of the departed. The noble family\nwere so anxious to avoid all scandal that all the arrangements took\nplace in secret, and Machates had no idea as to what had become of\nhis mistress. But on the night following the entombment, when he was\nabout to retire, the door opened slowly and, coming forward with lamp\nin hand, he beheld Philinnium magnificently apparelled, but pallid,\ncold and fixing him with a dreadful stare in the eyes. Machates ran\nto meet her, took her in his arms, asked a thousand questions amidst\nas many caresses, and they passed the night together. Before daybreak\nPhilinnium rose up and disappeared, while her lover was still plunged\nin profound sleep.\n\n[Illustration: HERMETIC MAGIC]\n\nNow the girl had an old nurse who loved her tenderly and wept bitterly\nat her loss. She may have been an accomplice in her misconduct, and\nsince the burial of her beloved, being unable to sleep, she rose\nfrequently at night in a kind of delirium and wandered round the\ndwelling of Machates. It came about in this manner that a few days\nafter the episode just narrated, she observed a light in the young\nman\u2019s chamber; drawing nearer and looking through the chinks of the\ndoor, she recognised Philinnium seated beside her lover, looking at\nhim in silence and yielding to his embraces. In a state of distraction\nthe poor woman ran back to awaken the mother and gave account of what\nshe had seen. It was regarded at first as the raving of a visionary,\nbut in the end, persuaded by her entreaties, the mother rose and\nrepaired to the house of Machates. All were asleep therein and there\nwas no answer to knocking. The lady looked through the chinks of the\ndoor, the lamp was extinguished, but a moonbeam lighted the chamber\nand the mother saw on a chair the draperies of her daughter and could\ndistinguish two persons asleep in the bed. She was seized with fright,\nreturned home trembling, not daring to visit the sepulchre of her\nchild, and passed the rest of the night in agitation and tears. On the\nmorrow she sought the lodging of Machates and questioned him gently.\nThe young man confessed that Philinnium visited him every night. \u201cWhy\nrefuse her to me?\u201d he said to the mother. \u201cWe are affianced before the\ngods.\u201d Then opening a coffer he shewed Charito the ring and girdle of\nher daughter, adding: \u201cShe gave me these last night, pledging me never\nto belong to anyone but her; seek therefore to separate us no longer,\nsince we are united by a mutual promise.\u201d\n\n\u201cWill you therefore in your turn go to the grave in search of her?\u201d\nsaid the mother. \u201cPhilinnium has been dead for these four days, and\nit is doubtless a sorceress or a stryge who has assumed her likeness\nto deceive you. You are the spouse of death, your hair will whiten\nto-morrow, and the day after you also will be buried. In this manner do\nthe gods avenge the honour of an outraged family.\u201d\n\nMachates turned white and trembled at this language; he began to fear\non his own part that he was the sport of infernal powers; he begged\nCharito to bring her husband that evening, when he would hide them near\nhis room, and at the time of the phantom\u2019s arrival, would give a signal\nto warn them of the fact. They came, and at the allotted hour came also\nPhilinnium to Machates, who was in bed, but fully clothed and only\npretending to sleep. The girl undressed and placed herself beside him;\nMachates gave the signal; the parents entered with torches and uttered\na great cry on recognising their daughter. Philinnium, with pallid\nface, rose from the bed to her full height, and said in a hollow and\nterrible voice: \u201cO my father and my mother, why have you been jealous\nof my happiness and why have you pursued me even beyond the grave? My\nlove had compelled the infernal gods; the power of death was suspended;\nthree days only and I should have been restored to life. But your cruel\ncuriosity makes void the miracle of Nature; you are killing me a second\ntime.\u201d\n\nAfter these words she fell back, an inert mass, upon the bed; her\ncountenance faded; a cadaverous odour filled the chamber; and there was\nnothing now but the disfigured remains of a girl who had been five days\ndead. On the morrow the whole town was in commotion over this prodigy.\nPeople crowded to the amphitheatre, where the history was recounted in\npublic, and the crowd then visited the mortuary vault of Philinnium.\nThere was no sign of her presence, but they came upon an iron ring and\na gilded cup, which she had received as presents from Machates. The\ncorpse was in the room of the tavern, but the young man had vanished.\nThe diviners were consulted and they directed that the remains should\nbe interred without the precincts of the town. Sacrifices were offered\nto the Furies and to the terrestrial Mercury; the celestial _manes_\nwere conjured and there were offerings to Jupiter Hospitalis.\n\nPhlegon, a freedman of Adrian, who was the ocular witness of these\nfacts, and relates them in a private letter, adds that he had to\nexercise his authority to calm a place disturbed by so extraordinary\nan event, and he finishes his story with the following words: \u201cIf you\nthink fit to inform the emperor, let me know, that I may send some\nof those who have been witnesses of these things.\u201d The history of\nPhilinnium is therefore well authenticated. A great German poet[150]\nhas made it the subject of a ballad which everyone knows under the\ntitle of the _Bride of Corinth_. He supposes that the girl\u2019s parents\nwere Christians, and this gives him the opportunity to make a powerful\npoetic contrast between human passions and the duties of religion. The\nmedi\u00e6val demonographers have not failed to explain the resurrection, or\npossibly the apparent death of the young Greek lady, as a diabolical\nobsession. On our own part, we recognise an hysterical coma accompanied\nby lucid somnambulism; the father and mother of Philinnium killed her\nby their rough awakening and public imagination exaggerated all the\ncircumstances of this history.[151]\n\nThe terrestrial Mercury, to whom sacrifices were ordained by diviners,\nis no other than the Astral Light personified. It is the fluidic genius\nof the earth, fatal for those who arouse it without knowing how to\ndirect; it is the focus of physical life and the magnetised receptacle\nof death. This blind force, which the power of Christianity enchained\nand cast into the abyss, meaning into the centre of the earth, made its\nlast efforts and manifested its final convulsions by monstrous births\namong barbarians. There is scarcely a district in which the preachers\nof the gospel did not have to contend with animals in hideous forms,\nbeing incarnations of idolatry in its death-throes. The _vouivres_,\n_graouillis_, _gargoyles_, _tarasques_ are not allegorical only; it is\ncertain that moral disorders produce physical deformities and do, to\nsome extent, realise the frightful forms attributed by tradition to\ndemons. The question arises whether these fossil remains from which\nCuvier built up his mammoth monsters belong really in all cases to\nepochs preceding our creation. Is also that great dragon merely an\nallegory which Regulus is represented as attacking with machines of war\nand which according to Livy and Pliny lived on the borders of the river\nBagrada? His skin, which measured 120 feet, was sent to Rome and was\nthere preserved until the period of the war with Numantia. There was\nan ancient tradition that when the gods were angered by extraordinary\ncrimes, they sent monsters upon earth, and this tradition is too\nuniversal not to be founded upon actual facts; it follows that the\nstories concerning it belong more frequently to history than mythology.\n\nIn all memorials of barbarian races, at that epoch when Christianity\nconquered them with a view to their civilisation, we find (a) the last\ntraces of high magical initiation spread formerly throughout the world,\nand (b) proofs of the degeneration which had befallen such primitive\nrevelation, together with the idolatrous vileness into which the\nsymbolism of the old world had lapsed. In place of the disciples of the\nMagi, diviners, sorcerers and enchanters reigned everywhere; God was\nforgotten in the deification of men. The example was given by Rome to\nits various provinces, and the apotheosis of the C\u00e6sars familiarised\nthe whole world with the religion of sanguinary deities. Under the name\nof Irminsul, the Germans worshipped and sacrificed human victims to\nthat Arminius or Hermann who caused Augustus to mourn the lost legions\nof Varus. The Gauls referred to Brennus the attributes of Taranis and\nof Teutas, burning in his honour colossi built of rushes and filled\nwith Romans. Materialism reigned everywhere, idolatry being synonymous\ntherewith, as is also the superstition which is ever cruel because it\nis always base.\n\nProvidence, which predestined Gaul to become the most Christian land\nof France, caused, however, the light of eternal truths to shine forth\ntherein. The original Druids were true children of the Magi, their\ninitiation deriving from Egypt and Chaldea, or in other words, from\nthe purest sources of primitive Kabalah.[152] They adored the Trinity\nunder the names of Isis or Ilesus, being supreme harmony; Belen or Bel,\nmeaning the Lord in Assyrian and having correspondence with the name\nAdonai; Camul or Camael, a name which personifies divine justice in the\nKabalah.[153] Beneath this triangle of light they postulated a divine\nreflection, also consisting of three personified emanations, being:\nTeutas or Teuth, identical with the Thoth of the Egyptians, and the\nWord or formulated Intelligence; then Strength and Beauty, the names\nof which varied like the emblems. Finally they completed the sacred\nseptenary by a mysterious image representing the progress of dogma and\nits developments to come. The form was that of a young girl, veiled and\nbearing an infant in her arms; they dedicated this symbol to the virgin\nwho shall bear a child.[154]\n\nThe ancient Druids lived in strict abstinence, preserved the deepest\nsecrecy concerning their mysteries, studied the natural sciences, and\nonly admitted new adepts after prolonged initiations. There was a\ncelebrated Druidic college at Autun, and, according to Saint-Foix,\nits armorial bearings still exist in that town. They are azure, with\nserpents argent couchant, surmounted by mistletoe, garnished with\nacorns vert, to distinguish it from other mistletoe, it being the oak\nand not the mistletoe which naturally bears the acorns. Mistletoe is a\nparasitic plant which has fruit particular to itself.[155]\n\nThe Druids built no temples but worked the rites of their religion\non dolmens and in forests. The mechanical means by which they raised\nsuch colossal stones to form their altars is even now a matter of\nspeculation. These erections are still to be seen, dark and mysterious,\nunder the clouded sky of Armorica. The old sanctuaries had secrets\nwhich have not come down to us. The Druids taught that the souls of\nancestors watched over children; that they were made happy by their\nglory and suffered in their shame; that protecting genii overshadowed\ntrees and stones of the fatherland; that the warrior who died for his\ncountry expiated all his offences, fulfilled his task with dignity,\nwas elevated to the rank of a genius and exercised henceforth the\npower of the gods. It followed that for the Gauls patriotism itself\nwas a religion; women and even children carried arms, if necessary, to\nwithstand invasion. Joan of Arc and Jeanne Hachette of Beauvais only\ncarried on the traditions of these noble daughters of the Gauls. It is\nthe magic of remembrances which cleaves to the soil of the fatherland.\n\nThe Druids were priests and physicians, curing by magnetism and\ncharging amulets with their fluidic influence. Their universal remedies\nwere mistletoe and serpents\u2019 eggs, because these substances attract\nthe Astral Light in an especial manner.[156] The solemnity with which\nmistletoe was cut drew down upon this plant the popular confidence and\nrendered it powerfully magnetic. It came about in this manner that it\nworked marvellous cures, above all when it was fortified by the Druids\nwith conjurations and charms. Let us not accuse our forefathers of\nover great credulity herein; it may be that they knew that which is\nlost to us. The progress of magnetism will some day reveal to us the\nabsorbing properties of mistletoe; we shall then understand the secret\nof those spongy growths which draw the unused virtue of plants and\nbecome surcharged with tinctures and savours. Mushrooms, truffles, gall\non trees and the different kinds of mistletoe will be employed with\nunderstanding by a medical science which will be new because it is old.\nWe shall cease to ridicule Paracelsus, who collected moss (_usnea_)\nfrom the skulls of hanged men; but one must not move quicker than\nscience, which recedes that it may advance the further.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER II\n\n INFLUENCE OF WOMEN\n\n\nIn imposing upon woman the severe and tender duties of motherhood\nProvidence has entitled her to the protection and respect of man. Made\nsubject by Nature itself to the consequence of affections which are her\nlife, she leads her masters by the chains which love provides, and the\nmore fully that she is in conformity with the laws which constitute and\nalso defend her honour the greater is her sway, and the deeper that\nrespect which belongs to her in the sanctuary of the family. To revolt\nis for her to abdicate, and to tempt her by a pretended emancipation\nis to recommend her divorce by condemning her beforehand to sterility\nand disdain. Christianity alone has the power to emancipate woman by\ncalling her to virginity and the glory of sacrifice. Numa foresaw this\nmystery when he instituted the vestals; but the Druids forestalled\nChristianity by giving ear to the inspirations of virgins and paying\nalmost divine honours to the priestesses of the island of Sayne.\n\nIn Gaul women did not prevail by their coquetry and their vices, but\nthey ruled by their counsels; apart from their concurrence, neither\npeace nor war were made; the interests of the hearth and family were\nthus pleaded by mothers and the national pride shone in the light of\njustice when it was tempered by the maternal love of country.\n\nChateaubriand calumniated Velleda by representing her as yielding to\nthe love of Eudorus; she lived and died a virgin. When the Romans\ninvaded Gaul, she was already advanced in years and was a species of\n_Pythia_ who prophesied amidst great solemnities and whose oracles\nwere preserved with veneration. She was clothed in a long black\nvestment, having no sleeves; her head was covered by a white veil,\nwhich came down to her feet; she wore a vervain crown, and a sickle\nwas placed in her girdle; her sceptre was in the form of a distaff;\nher right foot was shod with a sandal and her left foot wore a kind\nof _chaussure \u00e0 poulaine_. At a later period the statues of Velleda\nwere taken for those of Berthe _au grand pied_. The High Priestess\nbore, as a fact, the insignia of the protecting divinity of the female\nDruids; she was Hertha, or Wertha, the youthful Gaulish Isis, the Queen\nof Heaven, the virgin who must bring forth a child. She was depicted\nwith one foot on the earth and the other on the water, because she was\nqueen of initiation and presided over universal science. The foot set\nupon the water was usually supported by a ship, analogous to the bark\nor conch of the ancient Isis. She held the distaff of the Fates wound\nabout with a thread, part black, part white, because she presided over\nall forms and symbols, and it was she who wove the vestment of ideas.\nShe was also given the allegorical form of the syrens, half woman and\nhalf fish, or the torso of a beautiful girl whose legs were serpents,\nsignifying the flux of things and the analogical alliance of opposites\nin the manifestation of all occult forces of Nature. Under this last\nform Hertha took the name of Melusine or Melosina, the musician, the\nsinger, that is to say, the syren who reveals harmonies. Such is the\norigin of the legends concerning Queen Bertha and the fairy Melusine.\nThe latter came, it is said, in the eleventh century to a lord of\nLusignan; she was loved by him, and their espousals took place on the\ncondition that he did not seek to penetrate certain mysteries of her\nexistence. That promise was given, but jealousy begot curiosity and\nled to perjury. He spied upon Melusine and surprised her in one of her\nmetamorphoses, for once every week the fairy resumed her serpent legs.\nHe uttered a cry which was answered by one far more despairing and\nterrible. Melusine disappeared but still returns, making lamentation\nwhenever a member of the house of Lusignan is at the point of\ndeath.[157] The legend is imitated from the fable of Psyche and refers,\nlike this, to the dangers of sacrilegious initiations, or profanation\nof the mysteries of religion and of love; it is borrowed from the\ntraditions of the ancient bards and derives evidently from the learned\nschool of the Druids. The eleventh century took possession of it and\nbrought it into prominence, but it existed from the far past.[158]\n\nIn France it would seem that inspiration was attributed more especially\nto women; elves and fairies preceded saints, and the French saints have\nalmost invariably something of the fairy character in their legend.\nSt. Clothilde made us Christians and St. Genevi\u00e8ve kept us French,\nrepelling\u2014by the force of her virtue and her faith\u2014the threatening\ninvasion of Attila. Joan of Arc is, however, rather of the fairy family\nthan the hierarchy of holy women; she died like Hypatia, the victim\nof marvellous natural gifts and the martyr of her generous character.\nWe shall speak of her later on. St. Clothilde still performs miracles\nalong the countryside. At Andelys we have seen a crowd of pilgrims\nthronging about a _piscina_ in which the statue of the saint is\nimmersed annually, and according to popular belief the first diseased\nperson who goes down into the water subsequently is cured at once.\nClothilde was a woman of action and a great queen, but she went through\nmany sorrows. Her elder son died after his baptism, and the fatality\nwas ascribed to witchcraft; the second fell ill and reached the point\nof death. The fortitude of the saint did not yield, and Sicambre when\nstanding one day in need of more than human courage, remembered the\nGod of Clothilde. She became a widow after converting and practically\nfounding a great kingdom, and she saw the two children of Clodomir\nbutchered practically under her eyes. In such sorrows do queens on\nearth resemble the Queen of Heaven.[159]\n\nAfter the great and brilliant figure of Clothilde, history presents us\nwith a hideous offset in the baleful personality of Fredegonde, the\nwoman whose glance was witchcraft, the sorceress who slew princes. She\naccused her rivals of Magic and condemned them to tortures which she\nalone merited. Chilperic had one remaining son by his first wife; this\nyoung prince, who was named Clovis, was attached to a daughter of the\npeople whose mother passed for a sorceress. Mother and daughter were\nboth accused of disturbing the reason of Clovis by means of philtres\nand with murdering the two children of Fredegonde by magical spells.\nThe unhappy women were arrested; the daughter, Klodswinthe, was beaten\nwith rods, her beautiful hair cut off, and this was hung by Fredegonde\non the door of the prince\u2019s chamber. Subsequently Klodswinthe was\nbrought up for sentence. Her firm and simple answers astonished the\njudges, and the chronicle says that it was proposed to submit her to\nthe test of boiling water. A consecrated ring was placed in a tub set\nover a great fire and the accused, clothed in white, after having\nconfessed and communicated, had to plunge her arm in the tub, in\nsearch of the ring. Her unchanged features made everyone cry out that\na miracle had taken place, but there was another cry, which was one\nof reprobation and horror, when the unhappy child drew forth her arm\nfrightfully burnt. She then asked permission to speak and said to her\njudges and the people: \u201cYou demanded a miracle from God to establish my\ninnocence. God is not to be tempted, and He does not suspend the laws\nof Nature in response to the caprice of men; but He gives strength to\nthose who believe in Him, and for me has performed a greater wonder\nthan that which He refused to you. This water has burned me, yet have\nI plunged my whole arm into it and have brought forth the ring. I have\nneither cried, whitened, nor quivered under this horrible torture. Had\nI been a magician, as you say, I should have resorted to witchcraft so\nthat I might not be burnt; but I am a Christian and God has given me\ngrace to prove it by the constancy of martyrs.\u201d Such logic was not of\nthe kind that they understood at that barbarous epoch; Klodswinthe was\nsent back to prison, there to await execution; but God took pity upon\nher, and the chronicle from which the account is drawn says that He\ncalled her to Himself. If it be a legend only, it must be allowed that\nit is beautiful and deserves to be kept in memory.\n\nFredegonde lost one of her victims but not the other two. The mother\nwas put to the torture and, overcome by her sufferings, she confessed\nwhatever was required, including the guilt of her daughter and the\ncomplicity of Clovis. Armed with these admissions, Fredegonde obtained\nthe surrender of his son by the ferocious Chilperic. The young prince\nwas arrested and stabbed in prison, Fredegonde declaring that he had\nescaped from remorse by suicide. The corpse of the unhappy Clovis was\nshewn to his father, with the dagger still in the wound. Chilperic\nlooked on coldly; he was entirely under the rule of Fredegonde, who\ndishonoured him with effrontery among the officers of the palace,\ntaking so little pains at concealment that the evidence was before his\neyes, almost despite himself. Instead of slaying the queen and her\naccomplice, he departed on a hunt in silence. He might have concluded\nto suffer the outrage, through his fear of displeasing Fredegonde,\nbut the latter was ashamed on his account, and did him the honour\nof believing in his wrath, that she might have a pretext for his\nassassination. He had glutted her with crimes and meanness: she killed\nhim out of disgust.\n\nFredegonde, who destroyed on the pretext of sorcery the women whose\nsole guilt was to have displeased her, experimented herself in Black\nMagic and protected some of those whom she thought were skilled\ntherein. Ageric, bishop of Verdun, had a pythoness arrested who made a\ngreat deal of money by recovering stolen objects and identifying the\nthieves; she was probably a somnambulist. The woman was examined, but\nthe demon refused to go out of her as long as she was chained; if the\npythoness were left in a church, unguarded and unwatched, he agreed to\nleave her. They fell into the trap; it was the woman herself who went\nout, to take refuge with Fredegonde, who hid her in the palace and\nended by saving her from being further exorcised, as also probably from\nthe stake. On this occasion therefore she did good without meaning it,\nyet it was rather through her pleasure in evil.[160]\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER III\n\n THE SALIC LAWS AGAINST SORCERERS\n\n\nUnder the rule of the first French kings, the crime of Magic did not\nentail death save for those of exalted position, while there were\nsome who were proud to die for an offence by which they were raised\nabove the vulgar crowd and became formidable even in the sight of\nkings. There was the general Mummol, for example, who, on the rack by\nthe orders of Fredegonde, declared that he experienced nothing, who\nprovoked more frightful tortures and died braving the executioners,\nwhile the latter were moved to forgive him at the sight of such\nextra-natural fortitude.[161]\n\nAmong the Salic laws, supposed to have been enacted in 474, and\nattributed to Pharamond by Sigebert, the following ordinances are found.\n\n\u201cIf anyone shall testify that another has acted as a _h\u00e9r\u00e9burge_ or\n_strioporte_\u2014titles applied to those who carry the copper vessel to\nthe spot where the vampires perform their enchantments\u2014and if he shall\nfail to convict him, he shall be condemned hereby to a forfeit of 7,500\n_deniers_, being 180\u00bd _sous_.... If anyone shall charge a free woman\nas a vampire or as a prostitute, and shall fail to prove his words, he\nshall forfeit 2500 _deniers_, being 62\u00bd _sous_.... If a vampire shall\ndevour a man and be found guilty, she shall forfeit 8000 _deniers_,\nbeing 200 _sous_.\u201d\n\nIt will be seen that in those times cannibalism was possible on terms\nand, moreover, that the market-price of human flesh was not at a\npremium. It cost 180\u00bd _sous_ to slander a man, but for a modicum above\nthat sum he could be killed and eaten, which was at once more honest\nand thorough. This remarkable legislation recalls an equally curious\nTalmudic recital, being one which was interpreted after a memorable\nmanner by the famous Rabbi Jechiel in the presence of a certain queen\nwho is not named in the book.[162] It was most likely Queen Blanche,\nfor Rabbi Jechiel lived in the reign of St. Louis. He had been called\nupon to answer the objections of a converted Jew named Douin, who had\nreceived at baptism the Christian name of Nicholas. After various\ndiscussions on texts of the Talmud, they came to the following passage:\n\u201cIf anyone shall offer any blood of his children to Moloch, let him\ndie the death.\u201d The Talmud annotates thus: \u201cHe therefore who shall\noffer not a modicum of blood alone but the whole blood and the whole\nflesh of his children, does not come under the judgment of the law\nand no penalty is declared against him.\u201d Those who took part in the\ndebate clamoured at a construction which passed all understanding: some\nlaughed in pity, some quivered with indignation. Rabbi Jechiel could\nscarcely obtain a hearing, and when he succeeded at last, there was\nevery mark of disfavour, to indicate that he was condemned beforehand.\n\n\u201cWith us,\u201d said he, \u201cthe penalty of death is an atonement and\nconsequently a reconciliation, not an act of vengeance. All who die by\nthe law of Israel die in the peace of Israel; they partake of peace\nin death, and they sleep with their fathers. No malediction descends\nwith them into the grave; they abide in the immortality of the House\nof Jacob. Death is therefore a crowning grace; it is the cure of a\npoisoned wound by the hot iron. But we do not apply the iron to those\nwho are past cure; we have no jurisdiction over those the extent of\nwhose transgression has cut them off for ever from Israel. Such are\nas now dead, and it is not therefore for us to shorten the term of\ntheir reprobation on earth: they are delivered over to the wrath\nof God. Man is warranted to wound only that he may heal, and we do\nnot apply remedies to those who are beyond recovery. The father of\na family punishes only his children and is content to shut the door\nagainst strangers. Those great criminals upon whom our law pronounces\nno sentence are thereby excommunicated for ever, which is a penalty\ngreater than death.\u201d\n\nThe explanation of Rabbi Jechiel is admirable and breathes all the\npatriarchal genius of ancient Israel. Truly the Jews are our fathers\nin science, and if we\u2014in place of their persecution\u2014had sought to\nunderstand them, they would not have been at this day so far alienated\nfrom our faith.\n\nThe above Talmudic tradition shews the Jewish antiquity of belief\nin the immortality of the soul.[163] What is this reintegration of\nthe guilty in the family of Israel by an expiatory death unless it\nbe a protest against death itself and a sublime act of faith in the\nperpetuity of life? Comte Joseph de Maistre understood this doctrine\nwell when he raised the executioner\u2019s sanguinary mission into a kind of\npeculiar priesthood. The anguish of punishment supplicates, said this\ngreat writer, and blood in its outpouring still remains a sacrifice.\nWere capital punishment other than a plenary absolution it would be\nnothing but retaliation on murder; the man who suffers his sentence\nfulfils all his penance and enters by death into the immortal society\nof the children of God.\n\nThe Salic laws were those of a people still in the state of barbarity,\nwhere everything is redeemed by a ransom, as in time of war. Slavery\nstill obtained and human life had a debatable and relative value.\nThat must be always purchasable which there is a right to sell, and\nonly money is due for the destruction of an object which has a price\nin money. The one efficacious legislation of the period was that of\nthe Church, and its councils took the most stringent measures against\nthe vampires and poisoners who went under the name of sorcerers.\nThe Council of Agde in Lower Languedoc, held in 506, pronounced\nexcommunication against them. The first Council of Orl\u00e9ans, convened\nin 541, condemned divinatory operations; that of Narbonne, in 589, not\nonly visited sorcerers with the greater excommunication but ordained\nthat they should be sold as slaves for the benefit of the poor. The\nsame council decreed public whipping for _amatores diaboli_; meaning no\ndoubt those who were concerned about him, feared him, evoked him and\nattributed to him power which was in any wise like that of God.[164] We\noffer our congratulations sincerely to the disciples of M. le Comte de\nMirville that they did not live in such days.\n\nWhile these events were passing in France an eastern visionary was\nengaged in founding a religion which was also an empire. Was Mahomet an\nimpostor or was he hallucinated? For the Moslems he is still a prophet,\nand for Arabic scholars the Koran will be always a masterpiece. An\nunlettered man, a simple camel-driver, he created notwithstanding the\nmost perfect literary monument of his country. His success might pass\nas miraculous, and the martial fervour of his successors threatened\nfor a moment the liberty of the whole world. But the day came when\nAsia broke under the iron hand of Charles Martel. That rough soldier\ntarried little for prayer when there was fighting to be done; when\nhe wanted money he looted monasteries and churches, and even sold\necclesiastical benefices to his warriors. As the priesthood, for\nthese reasons, could not suppose that his arms were blessed by God,\nhis victories were ascribed to Magic. Indeed, religious feeling was\nso stirred up against him that St. Eucher, the venerable Bishop of\nOrl\u00e9ans, learned in a vision from an angel that the saints whose\nchurches he had spoliated or profaned forbade him to enter into heaven,\nand even disinterred his body, which they plunged with his soul into\nthe abyss. St. Eucher communicated the revelation to Boniface, Bishop\nof Mayence, and to Fulfvad, arch-chaplain of Pepin the Short. The tomb\nof Charles Martel was opened, the body proved to be missing, the inner\nside of the stone was blackened as if by burning, a foul smoke exhaled\nand a great serpent came out. An authentic report of the opening was\nsent by Boniface to Pepin the Short and Carloman, who were the sons of\nCharles Martel, praying them to take warning by the dreadful example\nand to respect holy things. Yet there was little of that virtue on the\npart of those who violated the grave of a hero on the faith of a dream,\nand attributed a destruction which had been completely and rapidly\naccomplished by death itself to the work of hell.[165]\n\nSome extraordinary phenomena, occurring publicly in France,\ncharacterised the reign of Pepin the Short. The air seemed to be\nalive with human shapes; heaven reflected illusory scenes of palaces,\ngardens, tossing waves, ships in full sail and hosts in battle array.\nThe atmosphere was like a great dream, and the details of these\nfantastic pageants were visible to everyone. Was it an epidemic\nattacking the organs of vision or an aerial perturbation projecting\nillusions on condensed air? Was it not more probably a general delusion\noccasioned by some intoxicating and pestilential effluvium diffused\nthroughout the atmosphere? The likelihood of the latter explanation is\nincreased by the fact that these visions provoked the populace, who in\ntheir imagination beheld sorcerers in the clouds scattering unwholesome\npowders and poisons with open hands. The country was smitten with\nsterility, cattle died, and the mortality extended also to human beings.\n\nThe occurrences offered an opportunity to circulate a story, the\nsuccess and credit of which was in proportion to its extravagance. At\nthat time the famous Kabalist Zedekias[166] had a school of occult\nscience, where he taught not indeed the Kabalah but the entertaining\nspeculations arising therefrom and forming the exoteric part of a\nscience which has been ever hidden from the profane. With mythology of\nthis kind Zedekias diverted the minds of his hearers. He told how Adam,\nthe first man, originally created in an almost spiritual estate, abode\nabove our atmosphere, in a light which gave birth at his pleasure to\nthe most wonderful vegetation. He was served by choirs of beautiful\nbeings, fashioned in the likeness of male and female, of whom they were\nanimated reflections, formed from the purest substance of the elements.\nThey were sylphs, salamanders, undines and gnomes; but in his unfallen\ncondition Adam reigned over the gnomes and undines only by the agency\nof the salamanders and sylphs, who alone had the power of ascending to\nhis aerial paradise.\n\nThere was nothing to equal the felicity of our first parents amidst\nthe ministry of the sylphs; they were perishable spirits, but they\nhad incredible skill in building and weaving the light, causing it to\nflower in a thousand forms, more varied than the most brilliant and\nfruitful imagination can now conceive. The earthly paradise\u2014so named\nbecause it reposed upon the earthly atmosphere\u2014was therefore a domain\nof enchantments. Adam and Eve slept in palaces of pearls and sapphires;\nroses sprang up around them and formed a carpet for their feet; they\nglided over waters in sea-shells drawn by swans; birds communed with\nthem in delicious speech of music; flowers stooped to caress them.\nBut all this was lost by the fall, which cast our progenitors down\non earth, and the material bodies which clothed them henceforth are\nthose skins of beasts mentioned in the Bible. They were alone and\nnaked, where no one obeyed their caprice of thought. They forgot their\nlife in Eden, or viewed it only as a dream seen through the glass of\nmemory. But the realms of paradise still and forever extend above the\nearthly atmosphere, inhabited by sylphs and salamanders, who are thus\nconstituted guardians of man\u2019s domain, like mournful retainers still in\nthe house of a master whose return they expect no more.\n\nImaginations were fired by these astonishing fictions when the visions\nof the air began to be seen in the full light of day. They signified\nunquestionably the descent of sylphs and salamanders in search of their\nformer masters. Voyages to the land of sylphs were talked of on all\nsides, as we talk at the present day of animated tables and fluidic\nmanifestations. The folly took possession even of strong minds, and\nit was time for an intervention on the part of the Church, which does\nnot relish the supernatural being hawked in the public streets, seeing\nthat such disclosures, by imperilling the respect due to authority and\nto the hierarchic chain of instruction, cannot be attributed to the\nspirit of order and light. The cloud-phantoms were therefore arraigned\nand accused of being hell-born illusions, while the people\u2014anxious\nto get something into their hands\u2014began a crusade against sorcerers.\nThe public folly turned to a paroxysm of mania; strangers in country\nplaces were accused of descending from heaven and were killed without\nmercy; imbeciles confessed that they had been abducted by sylphs or\ndemons; others who had boasted like this previously either would not\nor could not unsay it; they were burned or drowned, and, according to\nGarinet, the number who perished throughout the kingdom almost exceeds\nbelief.[167] It is the common catastrophe of dramas in which the first\nparts are played by ignorance or fear.\n\nSuch visionary epidemics recurred in the reigns following, and all the\npower of Charlemagne was put in action to calm the public agitation.\nAn edict, afterwards renewed by Louis the Pious, forbade sylphs to\nmanifest under the heaviest penalties. It will be understood that in\nthe absence of the aerial beings the judgment fell upon those who made\na boast of having seen them, and hence they ceased to be seen. The\nships in air sailed back to the port of oblivion, and no one claimed\nany longer to have journeyed through the blue distance. Other popular\nfrenzies replaced the previous mania, while the romantic splendours of\nthe great reign of Charlemagne furnished the makers of legends with new\nprodigies to believe and new marvels to relate.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER IV\n\n LEGENDS OF THE REIGN OF CHARLEMAGNE\n\n\nCharlemagne is the real prince of enchantments and the world of faerie;\nhis reign is like a solemn and brilliant pause between barbarism and\nthe middle ages; while he himself is a grand and majestic apparition,\nrecalling the magical pageant of Solomon\u2019s sway: he is at once a\nresurrection and a prophecy. In him the Roman empire, overleaping\nFrankish and Gaulish origins, reappeared in all its splendour; in\nhim also, as in a symbol, evoked and manifested by divination, there\nis delineated beforehand the perfect empire of the ages of mature\ncivilisation, the empire crowned by priesthood and establishing its\nthrone beside the altar.\n\nThe era of chivalry and the marvellous epos of romances begin with\nCharlemagne; the chronicles of his period are like the _Four Sons of\nAymon_, or _Oberon, King of Faerie_. Birds utter speech and direct the\nFrench army when the path has been lost in the forest; brazen colossi\nappear in mid-ocean and indicate to the emperor a free way eastward.\nRoland, first of the paladins, wields a magic sword, baptized like\nany Christian and bearing the name of Durandal; the hero addresses\nthis sword, which seems to understand him, and nothing can resist\nits supernatural onset. Roland has also an ivory horn, contrived so\nskilfully that the lightest breath wakens a response within it, and\nthat answer is heard for twenty leagues around, causing even mountains\nto quiver. When the paladin falls at Roncesvalles, overwhelmed rather\nthan conquered, even then he uprises like a giant beneath some\navalanche of trees and rolling rocks; he winds his horn, and the\nSaracens take refuge in flight. Charlemagne, at a distance of more than\nten leagues, hears the signal and would speed to his aid, but he is\nprevented by the traitor Ganelon, who has sold the French army to the\nbarbaric horde. Finding himself abandoned, Roland for the last time\nembraces his Durandal, and then, summoning all his strength, strikes\nit with both hands against a mountain block, hoping to shatter the\nweapon, lest it fall into the hands of infidels; but the block itself\nis cloven, the sword is not even indented. Hereat Roland clasps it to\nhis breast and yields up his spirit with so high and proud a mien that\nthe Saracens do not dare to approach, but, still shaking, direct a\ncloud of arrows against their conqueror, who is no more. To be brief,\nCharlemagne, bestowing a throne upon the papacy and receiving from its\nhands the empire of the world in return, is the most imposing of all\npersonalities in French history.\n\nWe have spoken of the _Enchiridion_\u2014that minute work which combines the\nmost secret symbols of the Kabalah with the most beautiful Christian\nprayers. Occult tradition[168] attributes its composition to Leo III\nand affirms that it was presented by this pontiff to Charlemagne, as\nthe most precious of all offerings. Any king who owned it and knew how\nto use it worthily could become master of the world. This tradition is\nnot perhaps to be cast aside lightly.\n\nIt assumes (1) the existence of a primitive and universal revelation,\nexplaining all Secrets of Nature and harmonising them with the\nMysteries of Grace, conciliating reason with faith, since both are\ndaughters of God and concur to illuminate intelligence by their double\nlife. (2) The necessity\u2014which imposes itself\u2014of concealing this\nrevelation from the multitude, lest the same be abused by those who\ndo not understand it, and lest they turn against faith not only the\npower of reason but that of faith itself, to the confusion of reason,\nwhich is never too well within the comprehension of the vulgar. (3)\nThe existence of a secret tradition, reserving the knowledge of these\nmysteries for the sovereign priesthood and the temporal masters of the\nworld. (4) The perpetuity of certain signs or pantacles, expressing the\nsaid mysteries in a hieroglyphical manner which is understood only by\nadepts.[169]\n\nThe _Enchiridion_, from this point of view, should be regarded as a\ncollection of allegorical prayers and its secret Kabalistic pantacles\nare keys thereto. Some of the chief figures may be described as\nfollows. The first, which appears on the cover of the work itself,\nrepresents a reversed equilateral triangle inscribed within a double\ncircle. The two words, which are written within the triangle in\nthe form of a cross, are _Elohim_ and _Tzabaoth_, meaning the God\nof armies, the equilibrium of natural forces and the harmony of\nnumbers.[170] On the three sides of the triangle are the three great\nnames\u2014_Jehovah_, _Adonai_, _Agla_; above the name of Jehovah is the\nLatin word _Formatio_; above that of Adonai is _Reformatio_; and above\nAgla is _Transformatio_. Thus creation is ascribed to the Father,\nredemption or reform to the Son and sanctification or transmutation\nto the Holy Spirit\u2014in consonance with the mathematical laws of action,\nreaction and equilibrium. Furthermore, Jehovah is to be understood as\nthe genesis and formation of dogma in accordance with the elementary\nsignificance of the four letters comprised in the sacred Tetragram;\n_Adonai_ is the realisation of this dogma in human form, that is to\nsay, in the Lord manifest, who is Son of God or perfect man[171]; and\n_Agla_, as we have explained fully elsewhere, expresses the synthesis\nof all dogma and all Kabalistic science, seeing that the hieroglyphics\nof which this name is formed exhibit in a clear manner the triple\nsecret of the Great Work.[172]\n\nThe second pantacle is a head, having three faces, crowned by a tiara\nand issuing from a vessel filled with water. Those who are initiated\ninto the mysteries of the _Zohar_[173] will understand the allegory\nwhich is presented by this head. The third pantacle is the double\ntriangle, known as the Star of Solomon. The fourth is the Magical\nSword, bearing the device\u2014_Deo duce, comite ferro_: it is an emblem\nof the Great Arcanum and the omnipotence of the adept. The fifth is\nthe problem of the human form attributed to the Saviour, as resolved\nby the number forty. It is the theological number of the _Sephiroth_\nmultiplied by that of natural realities.[174] The sixth is the\npantacle of the spirit, represented by bones, duplicating the letter E\nand the mystic Tau, or T. The seventh and most important is the Great\nMagical Monogram, interpreting the keys of Solomon, the Tetragram, the\nsign of the _Labarum_, and the master-word of adeptship.[175] This\npantacle is read by its revolution wheelwise and is pronounced Rota,\nTaro or Tora. The letter A is frequently replaced in this seal by the\nnumber 1, which is its equivalent. The pantacle in question contains\nalso the form and value of the four hieroglyphical emblems of the\nTarot suits\u2014being the Wand, Cup, Sword and Denier. These elementary\nhieroglyphics recur everywhere on the sacred monuments of Egypt; while\nHomer also depicts them on the shield of Achilles, placing them in the\nsame order as the author of the _Enchiridion_. The proofs of these\nexplanations, if offered in the present place, would divert us from our\nimmediate subject and would moreover demand a special study which we\nhope to undertake and make public at some future time.[176]\n\nThe magical sword or dagger depicted in the _Enchiridion_ seems to have\nbeen the particular symbol of the Secret Tribunal, or Company of Free\nJudges. It is in the form of a cross and is concealed or enveloped by\nthe device which surrounds it. God alone wields it, and he who strikes\ntherewith is responsible to none for his actions. As such, it is\nterrible in its menace and so also in its privilege. We know that the\nVehmic dagger smote in the dark those who were guilty, their crime\nitself often remaining unknown. What are the facts respecting this\nappalling justice? The answer involves an excursion into realms of\nshadow which history has failed to enlighten and recourse to traditions\nand legends for light which science cannot give.\n\nThe Free Judges were a secret association opposed, but in the interests\nof order and of government, to anarchic and revolutionary societies\nwhich were secret in like manner. We know that superstitions die hard\nand that degenerated Druidism had struck its roots deeply in the savage\nlands of the North. The recurring insurrections of Saxons testified\nto a fanaticism which was (a) always turbulent, and (b) incapable of\nrepression by moral force alone. All defeated forms of worship\u2014Roman\npaganism, Germanic idolatry, Jewish rancour conspired against\nvictorious Christianity. Nocturnal assemblies took place; thereat the\nconspirators cemented their alliance with the blood of human victims;\nand a pantheistic idol of monstrous form, with the horns of a goat,\npresided over festivals which might be called _agap\u00e6_ of hatred. In a\nword, the Sabbath was still celebrated in every forest and wild of yet\nunreclaimed provinces. The adepts who attended them were masked and\notherwise unrecognisable; the assemblies extinguished their lights and\nbroke up before daybreak; the guilty were to be found everywhere, and\nthey could be brought to book nowhere. It came about therefore that\nCharlemagne determined to fight them with their own weapons.\n\nIn those days, moreover, feudal tyrants were in league with sectarians\nagainst lawful authority; female sorcerers were attached to castles\nas courtesans; bandits who frequented the Sabbaths divided with\nnobles the blood-stained loot of rapine; feudal courts were at the\ncommand of the highest bidder; and the public burdens weighed with all\ntheir force only on the weak and poor. The evil was at its height\nin Westphalia,[177] and faithful agents were despatched thither by\nCharlemagne entrusted with a secret mission.[178] Whatsoever energy\nremained among the oppressed, whosoever still loved justice, whether\namong the people or among the nobility, were drawn by these emissaries\ntogether, bound by pledges and vigilance in common. To the initiates\nthus incorporated they made known the full powers which they carried\nfrom the emperor himself, and they proceeded to institute the Tribunal\nof Free Judges.[179]\n\nThey were a kind of secret police, having the right of life and\ndeath. The mystery which surrounded their judgments, the swiftness\nof their executions, helped to impress the imagination of people\nstill in barbarism. The Holy Vehm assumed gigantic proportions; men\nshuddered in describing apparitions of masked persons, of summonses\nnailed to the doors of nobles in the very midst of their watch-guards\nand their orgies, of brigand-chiefs found dead with the terrible\ncruciform dagger in their breasts and on the scroll attached thereto\nan extract from the sentence of the Holy Vehm. The Tribunal affected\nmost fantastic forms of procedure: the guilty person, cited to appear\nat some discredited cross-road, was taken to the assembly by a man\nclothed in black, who bandaged his eyes and led him forward in\nsilence. This occurred invariably at some unseemly hour of the night,\nfor judgment was never pronounced except at midnight. The criminal was\ncarried into a vast underground vault, where he was questioned by one\nvoice.[180] The hoodwink was removed, the vault was illuminated in\nall its depth and height, and the Free Judges sat masked and wearing\nblack vestures. The sentences were not capital invariably, for those\nwho judged were familiar with the circumstances of the crime, though\nnothing transpired concerning them, as death would have overtaken the\nrevealer instantly.[181] Sometimes these formidable assemblies were so\ncrowded that they were comparable to an army of avengers; one night the\nemperor himself presided over the Secret Tribunal, and more than one\nthousand Free Judges sat in a circle round him.[182] In the year 1400,\nten thousand members existed in Germany. People with a bad conscience\nsuspected their own relations and friends. William of Brunswick is\nreported to have said on a certain occasion: \u201cIf Duke Adolphus of\nSchleswig should pay me a visit, I must infallibly hang him, as I do\nnot wish to be hanged.\u201d Frederick of Brunswick, a prince of the same\nfamily, who was emperor for a moment, refused to obey a citation of\nthe Free Judges, and from that time forward he went armed from head to\nfoot and surrounded by guards. One day, however, he fell a little apart\nfrom his suite and had occasion to loosen some part of his armour.\nHe did not return and his guards entered the copse where he had\nsought retirement for a moment. The unfortunate man was in the act of\nexpiring, with the dagger of the Holy Vehm in his body and his sentence\nattached to the weapon. Looking round in all directions, they could\ndistinguish a masked man retreating at a slow pace, but no one dared to\nfollow him.\n\nThe Code of the Vehmic Court was found in the ancient archives of\nWestphalia and has been printed in the _Reichstheater_ of M\u00fcller, under\nthe following title; \u201cCode and Statutes of the Holy Secret Tribunal of\nFree Counts and Free Judges of Westphalia, established in the year 772\nby the Emperor Charlemagne and revised in 1404 by King Robert, who made\nthose alterations and additions requisite for the administration of\njustice in the tribunals of the illuminated, after investing them with\nhis own authority.\u201d\n\nA note on the first page forbade any profane person to glance at the\nbook under penalty of death. The word illuminated, here given to the\nassociates of the Secret Tribunal, unfolds their entire mission: they\nhad to track down in the shadows those who worshipped the darkness;\nthey counterchecked mysteriously those who conspired against society\nin favour of mystery; but they were themselves the secret soldiers of\nlight, who cast the light of day on criminal plottings, and it is this\nwhich was signified by a sudden splendour illuminating the Tribunal\nwhen it pronounced sentence.\n\nThe public provisions of the law under Charlemagne authorised this holy\nwar against the tyrants of the night. The records may be consulted to\nascertain the penalties inflicted on sorcerers, diviners, enchanters,\n_noueurs d\u2019aiguilette_, and those who administered poison in the\nguise of love-philtres. The same laws made it penal to trouble the\nair, raise tempests, construct characters and talismans, cast lots,\npractise witchcraft and magical charms, whether on men or cattle.\nSorcerers, astrologers, diviners, necromancers, occult mathematicians\nare declared execrable and made subject to punishment in the same way\nas thieves and assassins. Such severity will be understood by recalling\nall that has been said on the horrible rites of Black Magic and its\ninfant sacrifices. The danger must have been grave indeed when its\nrepression assumed forms at once so severe and numerous.\n\nAnother institution which is referable to the same root was that of\nknight-errantry. The knights-errant were a species of Free Judges\nwho appealed to God and their spears against all the oppressions\nof castellans and all the malice of necromancers. They were armed\nmissionaries, who protected themselves with the sign of the cross and\nthen clove miscreants asunder; after such manner did they earn the\nremembrance of some noble dame, sanctifying love by the martyrdom of a\nlife which was one of utter self-devotion. We are far removed already\nfrom those pagan courtesans to whom slaves were offered in sacrifice\nand for whom the conquerors of the ancient world burnt cities. For\nthe ladies of Christendom other sacrifices were requisite; life must\nhave been risked in the cause of the weak and oppressed, captives must\nhave been set free, punishment meted out to the profaners of holy\naffections; and then those lovely and white ladies, whose skirts were\nembroidered with heraldic badges; whose hands were pale and delicate;\nthose living madonnas, proud as lilies, who came back from church, with\nBooks of Hours under their arms and rosaries at their girdles, would\nremove a veil broidered with gold or silver and give it as a scarf to\nthe knight who knelt before them, praying to them and dreaming of God.\nLet us forget Eve and her errors; they are forgiven a thousand times,\nand are more than atoned for by this ineffable grace of the noble\ndaughters of Mary.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER V\n\n MAGICIANS\n\n\nThat fundamental dogma of transcendental science which consecrates\nthe eternal law of equilibrium attained its plenary realisation in\nthe constitution of the Christian world. Two living pillars\u2014the Pope\nand Emperor\u2014supported the structure of civilisation. But the empire\nsuffered partition when it slipped from the feeble hands of Louis\nthe Pious and Charles the Bald. The temporal power, abandoned to the\nchances of conquests or intrigue, lost the providential unity which\nkept it in harmony with Rome. The Pope had often to intervene as\ngrand justiciary and, at his proper risk and peril, he restrained the\nambitions and audacity of many competitive sovereigns.\n\nExcommunication was at that time a terrible penalty, for it was\nsanctioned by universal belief, and it produced phenomena which\nawed the crowd, being mysterious effects of the magnetic current of\ncondemnation. There is the example of Robert the Pious, who, having\nincurred this terrible penalty by an unlawful marriage, became the\nfather of a monstrous child, similar to those effigies of demons which\nmedi\u00e6val art represented in such ridiculous aspects of deformity.\nThe melancholy fruit of a forbidden union bore witness at least to\nthe tortured conscience and frightful dreams by which the mother was\npossessed. Robert accepted the event as a proof of the wrath of God\nand submitted to the papal judgment. Renouncing a marriage which the\nChurch declared incestuous, he repudiated Bertha to espouse Constance\nof Provence, and it remained for him to recognise in the questionable\nmorals and arrogant character of his new bride a second chastisement of\nheaven.\n\nThe makers of chronicles at the period were enamoured of diabolical\nlegends, but their records exhibit more of credulity than of good\ntaste. Every monkish malady, every unhealthy nightmare of nuns, is\nlooked upon as a case of veridic apparition. The result is repellent\nphantasmagoria, stupid allocutions, impossible transfigurations, to\nwhich the artistic spirit of Cyrano de Bergerac is the one thing\nwanting to render them entertaining creations. From the reign of Robert\nto that of St. Louis there is nothing, however, which seems to deserve\nrecounting.[183]\n\nThe famous Rabbi Jechiel, great Kabalist and truly remarkable\nphysician, lived in the reign of St. Louis. All that is told of his\nlamp and magical nail goes to prove that he had discovered electricity,\nor was at least acquainted with its most important uses.[184] Ancient\nas that of Magic, the knowledge of this force was transmitted as one of\nthe keys of the greater initiation. When the night came a radiant star\nappeared in the lodging of Jechiel, the light being so brilliant that\nno eye could gaze thereon without being dazzled, while the beam that it\ndarted was tinted with rainbow colours. It was never known to fail and\nit was never replenished with oil or other combustible substance extant\nat that time. When importunity or ill-intentioned curiosity sought to\nintrude on Jechiel by knocking persistently at his door, the Rabbi\nstruck a nail fixed in his cabinet, producing simultaneously a blue\nspark on the head of the nail and the door-knocker. The ill-advised\nperson was shaken in such a manner that he cried for mercy, believing\nthat the earth was opening under his feet. One day a hostile mob\nswarmed about the entrance, uttering murmurs and menaces, while they\nstood with interlaced arms to resist the commotion and supposed quaking\nof the ground. The boldest among them plied furiously at the knocker,\nbut Jechiel pressed his nail; in a moment the assailants were tumbled\none over another and fled crying out like people who have been burnt.\nThey were quite sure that the earth had opened and swallowed them as\nfar as the knees; they knew not how they got out; but nothing would\npersuade them to return and renew the attack. The sorcerer thus earned\nquietude by the terror which he diffused.\n\nSt. Louis, great Catholic as he was, was also a great king, and wishing\nto know Jechiel, he summoned him to his court,[185] had several\nconversations with him, was satisfied fully by his explanations,\nprotected him from his enemies, and during the rest of his life never\nfailed to testify esteem for him and to act benevolently towards him.\n\nAlbertus Magnus lived at the same period, and he still passes among\nthe people as grand master of all magicians.[186] Historians of the\ntime affirm that he possessed the Philosophic Stone[187] and that after\nstudying for thirty years he had succeeded in solving the problem of\nthe android\u2014in other words, that he had fabricated an artificial man\nwho was endowed with life and speech, who could, in fact, answer\nquestions with such precision and subtlety that St. Thomas Aquinas,\ninfuriated at being unable to silence the image, broke it with a\nblow of his stick. Such is the popular fable; let us now see what it\nsignifies.\n\nThe mystery of the formation of man and of his primitive appearance on\nearth have continually absorbed seekers after the problems of Nature.\nMan, as a fact, appears last in the world of fossils, and the Mosaic\ndays of creation have deposited their successive remains, bearing\nwitness that those days were in reality long periods of time. How then\nwas humanity formed? Genesis testifies that God made Adam from the\nslime of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life\u2014a\nstatement the truth of which we do not question for a moment; but we\nrepudiate notwithstanding the heretical and anthropomorphic idea of a\nDeity moulding clay with His fingers. God, being a pure spirit, has no\nhands, and He causes His creatures to develop one from another by the\npower which He has imparted to Nature. If therefore the Lord made Adam\nfrom the dust of the earth, we must understand that man came out of\nthat earth under the Divine Influence and yet after a natural manner.\nThe name Adam in Hebrew signifies red earth,[188] but what is this\nearth actually? It is that which the alchemists sought, and it follows\nthat the Great Work was not the secret of metallic transmutation\u2014a\ntrivial and accessory result\u2014but the universal secret of life.[189] It\nwas the quest for the middle point of transformation, at which light\nbecomes matter and condenses into an earth containing within itself\nthe principle of motion and of life. It was the generalization of\nthe phenomenon which tinges the blood red by the creation of those\ninnumerable corpuscles which are magnetic even as the worlds and are\nalive like animals. For disciples of Hermes, the metals were the\ncoagulated blood of earth, passing, like that of man, from white to\nblack and from black to crimson, following the work of the light.[190]\nTo set this fluid in motion by means of heat and impart thereto the\ntingeing fructification of light by the aid of electricity\u2014such was\nthe first part of the work of wisdom. The end was more arduous and\nsublime; it was a question of recovering the adamic earth, which is\nthe coagulated blood of the vital earth; and the supreme dream of\nphilosophers was to accomplish the work of Prometheus by imitating the\nwork of God\u2014that is to say, by producing a man who should be the child\nof science, as Adam was child of divine omnipotence. The dream was\ninsensate perhaps, and yet it was sublime.\n\nBlack Magic, which ever apes the Magic of Light, but takes it, as it\nwere, backwards, was also concerned with the android, that it might be\nused as an instrument of passion and an oracle of hell. For this object\nit was requisite to outrage Nature and obtain a species of venomous\nfungus, full of concentrated human malice\u2014the living realisation of all\ncrime. For this reason magicians sought the mandragore beneath a gibbet\nfrom which some corpse was suspended; they caused it to be torn up by\na dog tied to the plant, a mortal blow being inflicted on the animal.\nThe eradication was effected by the convulsions of the agonised beast;\nthe dog\u2019s soul passed into the plant and also attracted thereto that\nof the hanged man. Enough of these horrors and absurdities; those who\nare curious in such knowledge may consult the common grimoire known\nalong the countryside under the name of _Little Albert_. They will find\nfurther the method of making a mandragore in the form of a cock with\na human face. Stupidity and impiety vie one with another in all such\nprocesses, for Nature cannot be outraged wilfully without at the same\ntime reversing the laws of reason.\n\nAlbertus Magnus was neither infanticide nor deicide; he was neither\nguilty of the crime of Tantalus nor that of Prometheus; but he had\nsucceeded in creating and arming at all points that purely scholastic\ntheology, outcome of the categories of Aristotle and the sentences of\nPeter Lombard, that logic of syllogism consisting of argumentation\nin place of reasoning and of finding an answer for everything by\nsubtleties concerning the terms. It was less a philosophy than a\nphilosophical automaton, replying in an arbitrary manner and unrolling\nits theses like the revolution of machinery. It was in no sense the\nhuman _logos_, but the unvaried cry of a mechanism, the inanimate\nspeech of an android. It was the fatal precision of machinery, in\nplace of the free application of rational necessities. St. Thomas\nAquinas,[191] with one blow, shattered this scaffolding of words when\nhe proclaimed the eternal empire of reason in that magnificent sentence\nwhich has been cited already so often: \u201cA thing is not just because\nGod wills it, but God wills it because it is just.\u201d The approximate\nconsequence of this proposition, in arguing from the greater to the\nlesser, was: A thing is not true because Aristotle has said it, but\nAristotle could not say it reasonably unless it were true. Seek first\ntherefore truth and justice, and the science of Aristotle shall be\nadded unto you. Aristotle, galvanised by scholasticism, was the\nveritable android of Albertus Magnus, while the master\u2019s wand of St.\nThomas Aquinas was the doctrine of the _Summa Totius Theologi\u00e6_, a\nmasterpiece of power and reason which will again be studied in our\ntheological schools when it is proposed to return seriously to sane and\nhealthy subjects.[192]\n\nAs for the Philosophical Stone bequeathed by St. Dominic[193] to Albert\nand by the latter to St. Thomas Aquinas, we must understand it as the\nphilosophical and religious basis of ideas prevalent at the period.\nHad St. Dominic been able to accomplish the Great Work he would have\nsecured for Rome that empire of the world about which he was so jealous\nfor the Church, and would have diverted the fire which consumed so many\nheretics to the heating of his own crucibles. St. Thomas changed all\nthat he touched into gold, but this is a figure of speech only, gold\nbeing in this case an emblem of truth.\n\nIt is opportune at this point to say a few further words concerning\nthat Hermetic science cultivated from the first Christian centuries\nby Ostanes, Romarius, Queen Cleopatra, the Arabian Geber, Alfarabius\nand Salmanas, by Morien, Artephius and Aristeus.[194] Understood\nin an absolute manner, this science may be called the Kabalah in\nrealisation, or the Magic of Works. It has therefore three analogous\ndegrees\u2014religious realisation, philosophical realisation and physical\nrealisation. The first is the solid basis of empire and priesthood; the\nsecond is the establishment of an absolute doctrine and an hierarchic\ninstruction; the last is the discovery and application, within the\nmeasures of the Microcosm or lesser world, of that creative law which\npeoples incessantly the greater universe. The law in question is one\nof movement combined with substance, of the fixed with the volatile,\nhumid with solid. Its principle is divine impulsion, its instrument the\nuniversal light\u2014ethereal in the infinite, astral in stars and planets,\nmetallic, specific or mercurial in metals, vegetable in plants, vital\nin animals, magnetic or personal in men.\n\nThis light is the quintessence of Paracelsus and is either latent\nor active in all created substances. Such quintessence is the true\nelixir of life, and it is extracted from earth by cultivation; from\nmetals by incorporation, rectification, exaltation and synthesis; from\nplants by distillation and coction; from animals by absorption; from\nmen by generation; from the air by respiration. In this sense we are\ntold by Aristeus that air must be derived from air; by Khunrath that\nliving mercury must be obtained from the perfect man formed by the\nandrogyne; by practically all the sages, that the medicine of metals\nmust be derived from metals and that this medicine\u2014though fundamentally\none in all kingdoms\u2014is graduated and specified according to forms and\nspecies. Its use is threefold\u2014by sympathy, repulsion or equilibrium.\nThe graduated quintessence was only the auxiliary of forces; the\nmedicine of each kingdom must be derived from the kingdom itself, with\nthe addition of basic mercury\u2014terrestrial or mineral\u2014and of synthetic\nliving mercury, or human magnetism.\n\nSuch is the rapid and summary sketch of this science, which is vast\nand profound as the Kabalah, mysterious as Magic, real as the exact\nsciences, but too long and too often discredited by the frustrated\ngreed of false adepts and by the obscurities with which true sages have\nsurrounded their theories and their processes.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VI\n\n SOME FAMOUS PROSECUTIONS\n\n\nThe societies of the elder world perished through the materialistic\negoism of castes, becoming petrified on their own part, isolating the\ncommon people in a hopeless reprobation and reserving the reins of\npower to a small number of the elect, so that it was deprived of that\ncirculation which is the principle of progress, motion and life. Power\nwithout antagonism, without competition and hence without control,\nproved fatal to the sacerdotal royalties. The republics, on the other\nhand, perished by the conflict of liberties which, in the absence of\nall duty, hierarchically and highly sanctioned, are speedily converted\ninto so many tyrannies in rivalry with one another. To find a stable\npoint between these two abysses, the idea of Christian hierophants was\nto create a society pledged to self-sacrifice by solemn vows, protected\nby severe rules, recruited by initiation, and, as sole depositary of\nthe great religious and social secrets, making kings and pontiffs\nwithout being itself exposed to the corruptions of empire. Such was\nthe secret of that kingdom of Christ Jesus which, without being of\nthis world, ruled over all its grandeurs. The same idea presided over\nthe establishments of the great religious orders which were so often\nat war with secular authorities, whether ecclesiastical or civil. A\nsimilar realisation was also dreamed by dissident sects of Gnostics and\nIlluminati, which claimed to pin their faith on the primitive Christian\ntradition of St. John. A time came when this dream was an actual\nmenace for the Church and the State, when a rich and dissolute Order,\ninitiated into the mysterious doctrines of the Kabalah,[195] seemed\nready to turn on legitimate authority, on the conservative principles\nof the hierarchy, menacing the entire world with a gigantic revolution.\nThe Templars, whose history is understood so little, were the terrible\nconspirators in question, and it is time at length to reveal the secret\nof their fall, so absolving the memory of Clement V and Philippe the\nFair.\n\n[Illustration: THE PHILOSOPHICAL CROSS, OR PLAN OF THE THIRD TEMPLE]\n\nIn 1118 nine crusading knights, then in the East\u2014among whom was\nGeoffrey de Saint-Omer and Hugh de Payens\u2014dedicated themselves\nto religion, placing their vows in the hands of the patriarch of\nConstantinople, which seat had always been hostile, secretly or\nopenly, to that of Rome since the days of Photius. The avowed object\nof the Templars was to protect Christians on pilgrimage to the holy\nplaces; their concealed end was to rebuild the Temple of Solomon on\nthe model foreshewn by Ezekiel. Such a restoration, predicted formally\nby Judaising mystics of the first Christian centuries, had become the\nsecret dream of the Eastern patriarchs. So rebuilt and consecrated to\nthe Catholic worship, the Temple of Solomon would have been in effect\nthe metropolis of the universe. East would prevail over West and the\npatriarchs of Constantinople would seize the papacy.[196]\n\nTo explain the name of Templars adopted by this military Order,\nhistorians assume that Baldwin II, King of Jerusalem, gave them a\nhouse in the vicinity of the Temple of Solomon. But they are guilty of\na serious anachronism, since at that period the edifice in question\nhad not only ceased to exist, and not only was there no stone of\nZerubbabel\u2019s Second Temple left upon another, but it would have been\ndifficult to indicate the site on which they stood. It is to be\nconcluded that the House allotted to the Templars by Baldwin was not\nsituated in the vicinity of Solomon\u2019s Temple but of that place on which\nthese secret and armed missionaries of the Eastern patriarch designed\nto rebuild it.\n\nThe Templars took for their scriptural models the military Masons\nof Zerubbabel, who worked with sword in one hand and trowel in the\nother.[197] Hence sword and trowel became their insignia when at a\nlater period, as we shall see, they concealed themselves under the\nname of Masonic Brothers. The trowel of the Templars is fourfold; the\ntriangular blades are disposed in the form of a cross, constituting a\nKabalistic pantacle known as the Cross of the East.[198]\n\nThe inmost thought of Hugh de Payens, in establishing his Order,\nwas not precisely to serve the ambition of the patriarchs of\nConstantinople. At that period there was a sect of Christian Johannites\nin the East who claimed to be alone initiated into the inner mysteries\nof the Saviour\u2019s religion; they claimed also to know the true\nhistory of Jesus Christ. Adopting some part of the Jewish traditions\nand Talmudic accounts, they regarded the facts in the gospels as\nallegories, of which St. John had the key. The proof was his saying\nthat if all things done by Jesus were recorded, \u201cI suppose that even\nthe world itself could not contain the books that should be written.\u201d\nThey held that such a statement would be ridiculous exaggeration unless\nit referred to allegory and legend, which can be varied and prolonged\nto infinity. As to the actual historical facts, the Johannites\nrecounted what follows.\n\nA young girl of Nazareth, named Miriam, betrothed to a young man of\nher own tribe, named Jochanan, was surprised by a certain Pandira or\nPanther, who entered her chamber in the garb and under the name of her\nlover and by force fulfilled his desires. Jochanan, becoming acquainted\nwith her misfortune, left her without compromising her because as\na fact she was innocent; and the girl was delivered of a son, who\nreceived the name of Joshua or Jesus. The infant was adopted by a\nRabbi named Joseph, who carried him into Egypt, where he was initiated\ninto the secret sciences, and the priests of Osiris, recognising that\nhe was the true incarnation of Horus so long promised to the adepts,\nconsecrated him sovereign pontiff of the universal religion. Joshua and\nJoseph returned to Judea, where the knowledge and virtue of the young\nman excited very soon the envy and hatred of the priests, who one day\nreproached him publicly with the illegitimacy of his birth. Joshua, who\nloved and venerated his mother, questioned his master and learned the\nwhole history respecting the crime of Pandira and the misfortunes of\nMiriam. His first impulse was to deny her in public when he said in the\nmiddle of a marriage-feast: \u201cWoman, what is there in common between you\nand me?\u201d But afterwards, realising that an unfortunate woman must not\nbe punished for having suffered what she could not prevent, he cried:\n\u201cMy mother has in no wise sinned, nor has she lost her innocence; she\nis virgin and yet is mother: let the twofold honour be paid to her. As\nfor me, I have no father on earth; I am the son of God and humanity.\u201d\n\nWe will not proceed further with a fiction so distressing to the hearts\nof Christians; let it suffice to say that the Johannites went so far as\nto make St. John the Evangelist responsible for this spurious tradition\nand that they attributed to the apostle in question the foundation of\ntheir secret church. The grand pontiffs of this sect assumed the title\nof Christ and claimed an uninterrupted transmission of powers from the\ndays of St. John. The person who boasted these imaginary privileges\nat the epoch of the foundation of the Temple was named Theoclet.\nHe was acquainted with Hugh de Payens, whom he initiated into the\nmysteries and the hopes of his supposititious church;[199] he seduced\nhim by ideas of sovereign priesthood and supreme royalty; in fine, he\ndesignated him his successor. Thus was the order of Knights of the\nTemple tainted from the beginning with schism and conspiracy against\nkings. These tendencies were wrapped in profound mystery, for the Order\nmade profession externally of the uttermost orthodoxy. The chiefs alone\nknew whither it was tending, the rest following in good faith.\n\nTo acquire wealth and influence, to intrigue on the basis of these\nand at need fight for the establishment of Johannite dogma\u2014such were\nthe means and end proposed by the initiated brethren. \u201cObserve,\u201d they\nargued to themselves, \u201cthe papacy and rival monarchies engaged in the\nwork of haggling, selling one another, falling into corruption and\nto-morrow perhaps destroying one another. All this indicates heritage\nfor the Temple; a little while, and the nations will demand sovereigns\nand pontiffs from among us; we shall be the equilibrium of the\nuniverse, arbiters and masters of the world.\u201d\n\nThe Templars had two doctrines; one was concealed and reserved to the\nleaders, being that of Johannism;[200] the other was public, being\nRoman Catholic doctrine. They deceived in this manner the enemies that\nthey hoped to supplant. The Johannism of the adepts was the Kabalah\nof the Gnostics, but it degenerated speedily into a mystic pantheism\ncarried even to idolatry of Nature and hatred of all revealed dogma.\nFor their better success, and in order to secure partisans, they\nfostered the regrets of every fallen worship and the hopes of every\nnew cultus, promising to all liberty of conscience and a new orthodoxy\nwhich should be the synthesis of all persecuted beliefs. They went even\nso far as to recognise the pantheistic symbolism of the grand masters\nof Black Magic, and the better to isolate themselves from obedience\nto a religion by which they were condemned beforehand, they rendered\ndivine honours to the monstrous idol Baphomet,[201] even as of old the\ndissenting tribes had adored the Golden Calf of Dan and Bethel. Certain\nmonuments of recent discovery and certain precious documents belonging\nto the thirteenth century offer abundant proof of all that is advanced\nhere. Other evidences are concealed in the annals and beneath the\nsymbols of Occult Masonry.\n\nWith the seeds of death sown in its very principle and anarchic because\nit was heretical, the Order of Knights of the Temple had conceived a\ngreat work which it was incapable of executing, because it understood\nneither humility nor personal abnegation. For the rest, the Templars,\nbeing in most cases without education and capable only of wielding the\nsword successfully, possessed no qualification for over-ruling or for\nbinding at need that queen of the world called public opinion. Hugh\nde Payens did not possess the depth of view which distinguished at a\nlater period the military founder of a militia not less formidable\nto kings. The Templars were Jesuits who failed. Their principle was\nto become rich in order to purchase the world and, as a fact, they\nso became, for in 1312 they possessed in Europe alone more than 9000\nmanors. Wealth was also the rock on which they broke; they became\ninsolent and permitted their disdain for the religious and social\ninstitutions which they hoped to upset to appear in public. Everyone\nknows the answer of Richard C\u0153ur de Lion to the confidential priest who\nhad said to him: \u201cSire, you have three daughters who cost you dearly\nand of whom it would be to your great advantage if you were set free:\nthey are ambition, avarice and luxury.\u201d ... \u201cThat is true,\u201d said the\nking. \u201cWell, well, let us marry them. I give ambition to the Templars,\navarice to the monks and luxury to the bishops. I am certain in advance\nof the consent of all the parties.\u201d\n\nThe ambition of the Templars proved fatal to themselves; their projects\nwere divined and anticipated. Pope Clement V and king Philip the Fair\ngave the signal to Europe, and the Templars, caught so to speak in a\nnet, were arrested, disarmed and cast into prison. Never was a _coup\nd\u2019\u00e9tat_ accomplished with such appalling uniformity. The entire world\nwas dumbfounded and awaited the strange revelations of a prosecution\nwhich was to echo down through the ages. But it was impossible to\nunveil before the people the plan of the Templar conspiracy; to do\nso would have initiated the multitude into secrets reserved for\nmasters. Recourse was had therefore to the charge of Magic, for which\naccusers and witnesses were both forthcoming. The Templars, in the\nceremony of their reception, spat upon the image of Christ, denied\nGod, gave obscene kisses to the Grand Master, adored a brazen head\nwith carbuncles for eyes, held commune with a great black cat and\nhad intercourse with female demons. Such are the items put forward\nseriously in the act of indictment. The end of this drama is familiar;\nJacques de Molay and his companions perished in the flames, but before\ndying the grand master of the Temple organised and instituted Occult\nMasonry. Within the walls of his prison he founded four Metropolitan\nLodges\u2014at Naples for the East, Edinburgh for the West, Stockholm for\nthe North and Paris for the South. The Pope and King perished speedily\nin a strange and sudden manner.[202] Squin de Florian, the accuser in\nchief of the Order, was assassinated. In breaking the sword of the\nTemplars it was converted into a dagger and their proscribed trowels\nhenceforth were utilised only in the erection of tombs. Let them pass\nat this point into darkness, wherein they took refuge while maturing\ntheir vengeance. We shall see them reappear at the great epoch of the\nRevolution and we shall recognise them by their signs and by their\nworks.\n\nThe greatest magical prosecution to be found in history, after that of\nthe Temple, was the trial of a maid who was, moreover, almost a saint.\nThe Church, in this case, has been accused of subservience to the base\nresentment of a vanquished party, and it has been asked earnestly what\nanathemas of the Chair of St. Peter fell upon the assassins of Joan of\nArc.[203] To those who are really unacquainted, it may be said at once\nthat Pierre Cauchon, the unworthy Bishop of Beauvais, struck suddenly\nwith death by the hand of God, was excommunicated after death by\nCallixtus IV, his remains being taken from consecrated ground and cast\ninto the public sewers. It was not therefore the Church which judged\nand condemned the Maid of Orl\u00e9ans, but a bad priest and an apostate.\n\nCharles VII, who gave up this noble girl to her destroyers, fell\nafterwards into the hands of an avenging providence; he died of\nself-starvation, through dread of being poisoned by his own son. Fear\nis the torment of the base. The king in question gave up his life to a\ncourtesan, and for her he burdened with debt a kingdom which had been\nsaved to him by a virgin. Courtesan and virgin have been celebrated by\nour national poets\u2014Joan of Arc by Voltaire and Agnes Sorel by B\u00e9ranger.\n\nJoan perished in her innocence, but the laws against Magic were\nvindicated soon after in the case of one who was chief among the\nguilty. The personage in question was one of the most valiant captains\nunder Charles VII, but the services which he rendered to the state\ncould not counterbalance the extent and enormity of his crimes. All\ntales of ogres and Croquemitaine were realised and surpassed by the\ndeeds of this fantastic scoundrel, whose history has remained in the\nmemory of children under the name of Blue Beard. Gilles de Laval, Lord\nof Raiz, had indeed so black a beard that it seemed to be almost blue,\nas shewn by his portrait in the Salle des Mar\u00e9chaux, at the Museum of\nVersailles. A Marshal of Brittany, he was brave because he was French;\nbeing rich, he was also ostentatious; and he became a sorcerer because\nhe was insane.[204]\n\nThe mental derangement of the Lord of Raiz was manifested in the\nfirst instance by sumptuous devotion and extravagant magnificence.\nWhen he went abroad, he was preceded invariably by cross and banner;\nhis chaplains were covered with gold and vested like prelates; he\nhad a college of little pages or choristers, who were always richly\nclothed. But day by day one of these children was called before the\nmarshal and was seen no more by his comrades; a newcomer succeeded him\nwho disappeared, and the children were sternly forbidden to ask what\nbecame of the missing ones or even refer to them among themselves.\nThe children were obtained by the marshal from poor parents, whom he\ndazzled by his promises, and who were pledged to trouble no further\nconcerning their offspring, these, according to his stories, being\nassured a brilliant future.\n\nThe explanation is that, in his case, seeming devotion was the mask and\nsafeguard of infamous practices. Ruined by imbecile prodigality, the\nmarshal desired at any cost to create wealth. Alchemy had exhausted\nhis last resources and loans on usurious terms were about to fail\nhim; he determined therefore to attempt the last and most execrable\nexperiments of Black Magic, in the hope of obtaining gold by the aid\nof hell. An apostate priest of the diocese of Saint-Malo, a Florentine\nnamed Prelati, and Sill\u00e9,[205] who was the marshal\u2019s steward, became\nhis confidants and accomplices. He had espoused a young woman of\nhigh birth[206] and kept her practically shut up in his castle at\nMachecoul, which had a tower with the entrance walled up. A report was\nspread by the marshal that it was in a ruinous state and no one sought\nto penetrate therein. This notwithstanding, Madame de Raiz, who was\nfrequently alone during the dark hours, saw red lights moving to and\nfro in this tower; but she did not venture to question her husband,\nwhose bizarre and sombre character filled her with extreme terror.\n\nOn Easter Day in the year 1440,[207] the marshal, having communicated\nsolemnly in his chapel, bade farewell to the lady of Machecoul, telling\nher that he was departing to the Holy Land; the poor creature was even\nthen afraid to question, so much did she tremble in his presence; she\nwas also several months in her pregnancy. The marshal permitted her\nsister to come on a visit as a companion during his absence. Madame\nde Raiz took advantage of this indulgence, after which Gilles de\nLaval mounted his horse and departed. To her sister Madame de Raiz\ncommunicated her fears and anxieties. What went on in the castle? Why\nwas her lord so gloomy? What signified his repeated absences? What\nbecame of the children who disappeared day by day? What were those\nnocturnal lights in the walled-up tower? These and the other problems\nexcited the curiosity of both women to the utmost degree.[208] What\nall the same could be done? The marshal had forbidden them expressly\neven to approach the tower, and before leaving he had repeated this\ninjunction. It must assuredly have a secret entrance, for which Madame\nde Raiz and her sister Anne proceeded to search through the lower rooms\nof the castle, corner by corner and stone after stone. At last, in the\nchapel, behind the altar, they came upon a copper button, hidden in\na mass of sculpture. It yielded under pressure; a stone slid back and\nthe two curiosity-seekers, now all in a tremble, distinguished the\nlowermost steps of a staircase, which led them to the condemned tower.\n\nAt the top of the first flight there was a kind of chapel, with a cross\nupside down and black candles; on the altar stood a hideous figure,\nno doubt representing the demon. On the second floor they came upon\nfurnaces, retorts, alembics, charcoal\u2014in a word, all the apparatus of\nalchemy. The third flight led to a dark chamber, where the heavy and\nfetid atmosphere compelled the young women to retreat. Madame de Raiz\ncame into collision with a vase, which fell over, and she was conscious\nthat her robe and feet were soaked by some thick and unknown liquid. On\nreturning to the light at the head of the stairs she found that she was\nbathed in blood.\n\nSister Anne would have fled from the place, but in Madame de Raiz\ncuriosity was even stronger than disgust or fear. She descended the\nstairs, took a lamp from the infernal chapel and returned to the third\nfloor, where a frightful spectacle awaited her. Copper vessels filled\nwith blood were ranged the whole length of the walls, bearing labels\nwith a date on each, and in the middle of the room there was a black\nmarble table, on which lay the body of a child murdered quite recently.\nIt was one of these basins which had fallen, and black blood had spread\nfar and wide over the grimy and worm-eaten wooden floor.\n\nThe two women were now half-dead with terror. Madame de Raiz\nendeavoured at all costs to efface the evidence of her indiscretion.\nShe went in search of a sponge and water, to wash the boards; but she\nonly extended the stain and that which at first seemed black became\nall scarlet in hue. Suddenly a loud commotion echoed through the\ncastle, mixed with the cries of people calling to Madame de Raiz.\nShe distinguished the awe-striking words: \u201cHere is Monseigneur come\nback.\u201d The two women made for the staircase, but at the same moment\nthey were aware of the trampling of steps and the sound of other voices\nin the devil\u2019s chapel. Sister Anne fled upwards to the battlement of\nthe tower; Madame de Raiz went down trembling and found herself face\nto face with her husband, in the act of ascending, accompanied by the\napostate priest and Pr\u00e9lati.\n\nGilles de Laval seized his wife by the arm and without speaking dragged\nher into the infernal chapel. It was then that Pr\u00e9lati[209] observed to\nthe marshal: \u201cIt is needs must, as you see, and the victim has come of\nher own accord.\u201d ... \u201cBe it so,\u201d answered his master. \u201cBegin the Black\nMass.\u201d ... The apostate priest went to the altar, while Gilles de Laval\nopened a little cupboard fixed therein and drew out a large knife,\nafter which he sat down close to his spouse, who was now almost in a\nswoon and lying in a heap on a bench against the wall. The sacrilegious\nceremonies began.\n\nIt must be explained that the marshal, so far from taking the road\nto Jerusalem, had proceeded only to Nantes, where Pr\u00e9lati lived; he\nattacked this miserable wretch with the uttermost fury and threatened\nto slay him if he did not furnish the means of extracting from the\ndevil that which he had been demanding for so long a time. With the\nobject of obtaining delay, Pr\u00e9lati declared that terrible conditions\nwere required by the infernal master, first among which would be the\nsacrifice of the marshal\u2019s unborn child after tearing it forcibly from\nthe mother\u2019s womb. Gilles de Laval made no reply but returned at once\nto Machecoul, the Florentine sorcerer and his accomplice the priest\nbeing in his train. With the rest we are acquainted.\n\nMeanwhile, Sister Anne, left to her own devices on the roof of the\ntower and not daring to come down, had removed her veil, to make\nsignals of distress at chance. They were answered by two cavaliers\naccompanied by a posse of armed men, who were riding towards the\ncastle; they proved to be her two brothers who, on learning the\nspurious departure of the marshal for Palestine, had come to visit\nand console Madame de Raiz. Soon after they arrived with a clatter\nin the court of the castle, whereupon Gilles de Laval suspended the\nhideous ceremony and said to his wife: \u201cMadame, I forgive you, and the\nmatter is at an end between us if you do now as I tell you. Return to\nyour apartment, change your garments and join me in the guest-room,\nwhither I am going to receive your brothers. But if you say one word,\nor cause them the slightest suspicion, I will bring you hither on their\ndeparture; we shall proceed with the Black Mass at the point where it\nis now broken off, and at the consecration you will die. Mark where I\nplace this knife.\u201d\n\nHe rose up, led his wife to the door of her chamber and subsequently\nreceived her relations and their suite, saying that his lady was\npreparing herself to come and salute her brothers. Madame de Raiz\nappeared almost immediately, pale as a spectre. Gilles de Laval never\ntook eyes off her, seeking to control her by his glance. When her\nbrothers suggested that she was ill, she answered that it was the\nfatigue of pregnancy, but added in an undertone: \u201cSave me; he seeks to\nkill me.\u201d At the same moment Sister Anne rushed into the hall, crying:\n\u201cTake us away; save us, my brothers: this man is an assassin\u201d\u2014and she\npointed to Gilles de Laval. While the marshal summoned his people, the\nescort of the two visitors surrounded the women with drawn swords; and\nthe marshal\u2019s people disarmed instead of obeying him. Madame de Raiz,\nwith her sister and brothers, gained the drawbridge and left the castle.\n\nOn the morrow, Duke John V invested Machecoul, and Gilles de Laval,\nwho could count no longer on his men-at-arms, yielded without\nresistance.[210] The parliament of Brittany had decreed his arrest as a\nhomicide, the ecclesiastical tribunal preparing in the first place to\npronounce judgment upon him as a heretic, sodomite and sorcerer. Voices\nof parents, long silenced by terror, rose upon all sides, demanding\ntheir missing children: there was universal dole and clamour throughout\nthe province. The castles of Machecoul and Chantoc\u00e9 were ransacked,\nresulting in the discovery of two hundred skeletons of children; the\nrest had been consumed by fire.\n\nGilles de Laval appeared with supreme arrogance before his judges.[211]\nTo the customary question: \u201cWho are you? \u201che answered: \u201cI am Gilles de\nLaval, Marshal of Brittany, Lord of Raiz, Machecoul, Chantoc\u00e9 and other\nfiefs. And who are you that dare to question me?\u201d He was answered: \u201cWe\nare your judges, magistrates of the Ecclesiastical Court.\u201d\u2014\u201cWhat, you\nmy judges! Go to, I know you well, my masters. You are simoniacs and\nobscene fellows, who sell your God to purchase the joys of the devil.\nSpeak not therefore of judging me, for if I am guilty, it is you, who\nowed me good example, that are my instigators.\u201d\u2014\u201cCease your insults,\nand answer us.\u201d\u2014\u201cI would rather be hanged by the neck than reply\nto you. I am surprised that the president of Brittany suffers your\nacquaintance with matters of this kind. You question that you may gain\ninformation and afterwards do worse than you have done.\u201d\n\nBut this haughty insolence was demolished by the threat of\ntorture.[212] Before the Bishop of Saint-Brieuc and the President\nPierre de l\u2019H\u00f4pital, Gilles de Laval made confession of his murders and\nsacrileges. He pretended that his motive in the massacre of children\nwas an execrable delight which he sought during the agony of these\npoor little beings. The president found it difficult to credit this\nstatement and questioned him anew. \u201cAlas,\u201d said the marshal abruptly,\n\u201cyou torment both yourself and me to no purpose.\u201d \u201cI do not torment\nyou,\u201d replied the president, \u201cbut I am astonished at your words and\ndissatisfied. What I seek and must have is the pure truth.\u201d The marshal\nanswered: \u201cVerily there was no other cause. What more would you have?\nSurely I have admitted enough to condemn ten thousand men.\u201d\n\nThat which Gilles de Laval shrank from confessing was that he sought\nthe Philosophical Stone in the blood of murdered children, and that it\nwas covetousness which drove him to this monstrous debauchery. On the\nfaith of his necromancers, he believed that the universal agent of life\ncould be suddenly coagulated by the combined action and reaction of\noutrage on Nature and murder. He collected afterwards the iridescent\nfilm which forms on blood as it turns cold;[213] he subjected it to\nvarious fermentations, digested the product in the philosophical egg\nof the athanor, combining it with salt, sulphur and mercury. He had\ndoubtless derived his recipe from some of those old Hebrew Grimoires\nwhich, had they been known at the period, would have been sufficient\nto call down on Jewry at large the execration of the whole earth.\nPersuaded, as they were, that the act of human impregnation attracts\nand coagulates the Astral Light in its reaction by sympathy on things\nsubjected to the magnetism of man, the Israelitish sorcerers had\nplunged into those enormities of which Philo accuses them, as quoted\nby the astrologer Gaffarel.[214] They caused trees to be grafted by\nwomen, who inserted the graft while a man performed on their persons\nthose acts which are an outrage to Nature. Wherever Black Magic is\nconcerned the same horrors recur, for the spirit of darkness is not one\nof invention.\n\nGilles de Laval was burned alive in the _pr\u00e9 de la Magdeleine_,\nnear Nantes; he obtained permission to go to execution with all the\npageantry that had accompanied him during life, as if he wished to\ninvolve in the ignominy of his punishment the ostentation and cupidity\nby which he had been so utterly degraded and lost so fatally.[215]\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VII\n\n SUPERSTITIONS RELATING TO THE DEVIL\n\n\nWe have borne witness to the sobriety of decisions pronounced by the\nChurch respecting the genius of evil; she has recommended her children\nnot to be in fear concerning him, not to be preoccupied about him and\nnot even to pronounce his name. This notwithstanding, the propensity\nof diseased imaginations and weak minds towards the monstrous and the\nhorrible lent, during the evil days of the middle ages, a formidable\nimportance and most portentous forms to the darksome being who deserves\nnothing but oblivion, because he has rejected truth and light for\never. This seeming realisation of the phantom expressing perversity\nwas an incarnation of human frenzy; the devil became the nightmare\nof cloisters, the human mind fell a prey to its own fear and, though\nsupposed to be reasonable, trembled at the chimeras which it had\nevoked. A black and deformed monster spread its batwings between heaven\nand earth, to prevent youth and life from trusting in the promises of\nthe sun and the still peace of the stars. This harpy of superstition\npoisoned all things with its breath, infected all by its contact.\nThere was dread over eating and drinking lest the eggs of the reptile\nshould be swallowed; to look upon beauty was to court perhaps an\nillusion begotten of the monster; to laugh suggested the sneer of the\neternal tormentor as a funereal echo; to weep pictured him insulting\nthe mourner\u2019s tears. The devil seemed to keep God imprisoned in heaven\nwhile he imposed blasphemy and despair upon men on earth.\n\nSuperstitions lead quickly into absurdity and mental alienation;\nnothing is more deplorable and more irksome than the multitudinous\naccounts with which popular writers on the history of Magic have\nburdened their compilations. Peter the Venerable beheld the devil\nleering in lavatories; another maker of chronicles recognised him under\nthe form of a cat, which, however, resembled a dog and skipped like a\nmonkey; a certain lord of Corasse was served by an imp named Orthon,\nwhich appeared as a sow, but exceedingly emaciated and indeed almost\nfleshless. The prior of St. Germain des Pr\u00e9s, named William Edeline,\ntestifies that he saw him in the form of a sheep which, as it seemed to\nhim must be kissed below the tail, as a mark of reverence and honour.\n\nWretched old women confessed that he had been their lover; the marshal\nTrivulce died of terror, while protecting himself by cut and thrust\nagainst the devils swarming in his room. Hundreds of wretched idiots\nand fools were burnt on admitting their former commerce with the\nmalignant spirit; rumours of _incubi_ and _succubi_ were heard on all\nsides; judges deliberated gravely on revelations which should have been\nreferred to doctors; moreover, they were actuated by the irresistible\npressure of public opinion, and indulgence towards sorcerers would have\nexposed magistrates themselves to all the popular fury. The persecution\nof fools made folly contagious and the maniacs tore one another to\npieces; people were beaten to death, burnt by slow fire, plunged into\nicy water in the hope of compelling them to break the spells which they\nhad cast, while justice intervened only to complete on the stake what\nhad begun in the blind rage of the multitude.\n\nIn recounting the history of Gilles de Laval we have indicated\nsufficiently that Black Magic may be not only a real crime but the\ngravest of all offences; unfortunately the method of the times confused\nthe diseased with malefactors and punished those who should have been\ncared for with patience and charity.\n\nAt what point does man\u2019s responsibility begin and at what point does it\nend? The problem is one which may well disturb frequently the virtuous\ndepositories of human justice. Caligula, son of Germanicus, appeared\nto have inherited all the virtues of his father, but his reason was\ndistracted by poison and he became the terror of the world. Was he in\nreality guilty, and ought not his crimes to be laid at the doors of\nthose base Romans who obeyed instead of imprisoning him?\n\nFather Hilarion Tissot, who has been mentioned previously, goes\nfurther than ourselves and would include even voluntary crime in the\ncategory of madness, but unfortunately he explains madness itself as\nobsession of the evil spirit. We might ask this good ecclesiastic\nwhat he would think of the father of a family who after shutting his\ndoor on a wastrel known to be capable of every kind of evil, should\ngive him leave to frequent, advise, abduct and obsess his own little\nchildren? Let us therefore admit, so as to be truly Christian, that the\ndevil, whomsoever he may be, obsesses only those who give themselves\nvoluntarily to him, and that such are responsible for everything which\nhe may prompt them to do, even as a drunken man is held liable rightly\nfor the disorders of which he may be guilty under the influence of\ndrink. Drunkenness is a transient madness and madness is a permanent\nintoxication; both are caused by a phosphoric congestion of the\ncerebral nerves, which destroys our etheric equilibrium and deprives\nthe soul of its instrument of precision. The spiritual and personal\nsoul then resembles Moses bound and swaddled in his cradle of rushes,\nand abandoned to the rocking of the Nile waters. It is carried away by\nthe fluidic and material soul of the world, that mysterious water over\nwhich the Elohim brooded, when the Divine Word was formulated by the\nluminous sentence: Let there be light.\n\nThe soul of the world is a force which tends automatically to\nequilibrium; either will must predominate over it or it conquers\nthe will. It is tormented by any incomplete life, as if this were a\nmonstrosity, and it strives therefore to absorb intellectual abortions.\nHence maniacs and hallucinated people experience an irresistible\nyearning for destruction and death; annihilation seems to them a\nblessing, and they would not only attain death on their own part but\nwould delight in witnessing that of others. They realise that life is\nescaping them; consciousness stings and even goads them to despair;\ntheir very existence is a perception of death, and it is hell-torment.\nOne hears an imperious voice commanding him to kill his son in the\ncradle. He struggles, he weeps, he flees, but ends by taking a hatchet\nand slaying the child. Another, and this terrible story is a thing of\nrecent occurrence, is driven by voices crying for hearts; he beats\nhis parents to death, opens their breasts, tears out their hearts and\nbegins to devour them. Whosoever of his free will is guilty of an evil\naction offers by that fact an earnest to eternal destruction and cannot\nforesee whither this fatal bargain will lead him.\n\nBeing is substance and life; life manifests by movement; movement\nis perpetuated by equilibrium; equilibrium is therefore the law of\nimmortality. Conscience is the awareness of equilibrium, which is\nequity and justice. All excess, when it is not mortal, is corrected by\nan opposite excess; it is the eternal law of reaction; but if excess\nsubverts all equilibrium it is lost in the outer darkness and becomes\neternal death.\n\nThe soul of the earth carries with it in the vertigo of astral movement\nall which offers no resistance in virtue of the equilibrated forces\nof reason. Wherever an imperfect and ill-formed life manifests, this\nsoul directs its energies to destroy it, just as vitality pours in\nto heal wounds. Hence the atmospheric disorders which occur in the\nneighbourhood of certain diseased persons, hence fluidic commotions,\nthe automatic movement of tables, levitations, stone-throwing, and the\nvisible and tangible projection of astral hands and feet by obsessed\npersons. It is Nature at work on a cancer which it is trying to\nextirpate, on a wound which it seeks to close, or on some vampire whose\ndeath is desired, that it may revert to the common source of life.\n\nThe spontaneous movement of inert objects can result only from the\noperation of forces which magnetise the earth; a spirit, or in other\nwords, a thought can raise nothing in the absence of a lever. Were it\notherwise, the\u2014so to speak\u2014infinite toil of Nature for the creation\nand perfecting of organs would be without an object. If the spirit\nfreed from the senses could render matter obedient to its will, the\nillustrious dead would be the first to manifest in accordance with\norder and harmony, but in place of this there are only incoherent and\nfeverish activities produced about diseased and capricious beings.\nThese are irregular magnets which derange the soul of the earth; but\nwhen the earth is in delirium through the eruption of such abortive\nbeings, it is because it is passing through a crisis on its own part,\nand through one which will end in violent commotions.\n\nThere is extraordinary puerility in some who pass for serious. There is\nfor example the Marquis de Mirville,[216] who refers all inexplicable\nphenomena to the devil. But, my dear Sir, if the devil could intervene\nin the natural order, would he not demolish everything? By the\nhypothesis concerning his character, scruples could scarcely influence\nhim. You will reply that God\u2019s power restrains, and that it does or\ndoes not is obvious; but on the first supposition the devil is rendered\nimpotent, while on the second it is he who is master. M. de Mirville\nmight say further that God suffers him a little while. Does he mean\njust enough to deceive poor men, just enough to puzzle their heads, so\nwooden already\u2014as is known? In this alternative it is no longer the\ndevil who is master; it is rather God Who is\u2014but no, one dares not\ncontinue: to go further would be to blaspheme.\n\nWe do not understand properly the harmonies of being, which follow an\nordered sequence, as the illustrious maniac Fourier well said. The\nspirit acts upon spirits by means of the Word; matter receives the\nimprints of spirit and communicates therewith by means of a perfect\norganism. Harmony in forms is related to harmony in ideas, and the\nlight is the common mediator. Light is spirit and life; it is the\nsynthesis of colours, the accord of shadows, the harmony of forms; and\nits vibrations are living mathematics. But darkness and its phantastic\nillusions, the phosphorescent errors of slumber and words spoken in\ndelirium\u2014all these create nothing, realise nothing and in a word do not\nexist. Such things belong to the limbus of life, are vapours of astral\nintoxication and delusions of tired eyes. To follow these will o\u2019 the\nwisps is to walk in a blind alley; to believe in their revelations is\nto worship death: such is Nature\u2019s testimony.\n\nIncoherence and abuse are the only messages of table-turning; they\nare echos of the low-life deeps of thought, absurd and anarchic\ndreams, words which the scum of the people make use of to express\ndefiance. There is a book by Baron de Guldenstubb\u00e9,[217] who pretends\nto conduct a correspondence with the other world. He has had answers,\nand such answers\u2014obscene sketches, despairing hieroglyphics and the\nfollowing Greek signature, [Greek: pneuma thanatos], which may be\ntranslated \u201cspirit of death.\u201d Such is the last word of the phenomenal\nrevelations according to American doctrine; such is doctrine itself in\nseparation from sacerdotal authority and in the attempt to establish it\nindependently of hierarchic control. The reality and importance of the\nphenomena, the good faith of those who believe them, are in no sense\ndenied; but we must warn all who are concerned against the dangers\nto which they are liable if they do not prefer the spirit of wisdom,\ncommunicated divinely and hierarchically to the Church, before all\nthese disorderly and obscure messages, in which the fluidic soul of the\nearth reflects automatically the mirage of intelligence and the dreams\nof slumbering reason.\n\n\n\n\n BOOK V\n\n THE ADEPTS AND THE PRIESTHOOD\n\n \u05d4\u2014HE\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER I\n\n PRIESTS AND POPES ACCUSED OF MAGIC\n\n\nWe have explained that owing to the profanations and impieties of\nGnostics the Church proscribed Magic. The condemnation of the Knights\nTemplar completed the rupture, and from this time forward, compelled\nto seek concealment and plan revenge in the shadows, Magic ostracised\nthe Church in turn. More prudent than those arch-heretics who opposed\naltar to altar in public day, and thus entailed denunciation and the\nheadsman\u2019s axe on themselves, the adepts dissimulated their resentment\nas well as their doctrines. They bound themselves together by dreadful\noaths and, realising the importance of first securing a favourable view\nat the tribunal of public opinion, they turned back on their accusers\nand judges the sinister rumours by which they were pursued themselves\nand denounced the priesthood to the people as a school of Black Magic.\n\nSo long as his convictions and beliefs are not rooted in the\nirremovable foundation of reason, man ardently and indifferently\ndesires both truth and falsehood; on either side he finds that there\nare cruel reactions. Who shall put an end to this warfare? Only the\nspirit of Him who has said: \u201cRender not evil for evil, but overcome\nevil by good.\u201d\n\nThe Catholic priesthood has been charged with the spirit of\npersecution, though its mission is that of the good Samaritan, for\nwhich reason it superseded the unpitying Levites who continued\ntheir way without extending compassion to him who had fallen among\nthieves. It is in the exercise of humanity that priests prove their\nDivine consecration. Hence it is a supreme injustice to cast upon\nsacerdotalism at large the crimes or certain men who are unfortunately\nsealed with the priesthood. For a man, as such, it is always possible\nto be wicked; but a true priest is, on the contrary, always charitable.\nNow, the false adepts did not look at the question from this\nstandpoint;[218] for them the Christian priesthood was made void and\nwas hence an usurping power since the proscription of the Gnostics.\nWhat, said they, is a hierarchy whose degrees are no longer regulated\nby conscience? The same ignorance of the Mysteries and the same blind\nfaith drive into the same fanaticism or the same hypocrisy the prime\nleaders and lowest ministers of the sanctuary. The blind are leaders\nof the blind. The supremacy between equals is no longer anything but\nthe result of intrigue and chance. The pastors consecrate the sacred\nelements with a gross and disordered faith; they are jugglers in\nbread and eaters of human flesh; they are no longer thaumaturgists\nbut sorcerers. Such was the sectarian verdict. To support the calumny\nthey invented fables, affirming for example that the popes had been\ngiven over to the spirit of darkness ever since the tenth century. The\nlearned Gerbert, who was crowned as Sylvester II, made confession\u2014as\nit is said\u2014to this effect on his death-bed. Honorius III, being he\nwho confirmed the Order of St. Dominic and preached the Crusades,\nwas himself an abominable necromancer, author of a Grimoire which\nstill bears his name and is reserved exclusively to priests. The same\nfalse adepts paraded and commented on this Grimoire, seeking in such\nmanner to turn against the Holy See the most terrible of all popular\nprejudices at that period\u2014the mortal hatred of those who, wrongly or\nrightly, passed publicly for sorcerers.\n\nSome malevolent or credulous historians have favoured these lying\ninventions. Thus Platina, a scandalous chronicler of the papacy,\nreproduces from Martinus Polonus the calumnies against Sylvester II.\nAccording to this fable, Gerbert, who was proficient in mathematical\nscience and the Kabalah, performed an evocation of the devil and\nrequired his assistance to attain the pontificate. The fulfilment of\nhis ambition was not only promised by the demon but it was affirmed\nfurther that he should not die except at Jerusalem, to which place it\nwill be understood readily that the magician determined inwardly that\nhe would never go. He became pope as promised, but on a certain day,\nwhen he was saying Mass in a church at Rome, he felt seriously ill and\nremembering suddenly that the chapel wherein he was officiating was\ndedicated to the Holy Cross of Jerusalem, he realised what had come to\npass. He caused a bed to be put up in the chapel and, summoning his\ncardinals, confessed publicly that he had engaged in commerce with\ndemons. He ordained further that his dead body should be placed upon\na chariot of green wood and should be drawn by two virgin horses, one\nblack and the other white; that they should be started on their course\nbut neither led nor driven; and that his remains should be interred\nwherever a halt was made. The chariot proceeded in this manner across\nRome and stopped in front of the Lateran. Loud cries and groans were\nheard for a few moments, after which there was silence and the burial\ntook place. So ends a legend the proper place of which is in the\nhawker\u2019s chap-books.\n\nMartinus Polonus, on the faith of whom Platina repeats such reveries,\nhad borrowed them on his own part (a) from a certain Galfridus and (b)\nfrom Gervaise, a maker of chronicles, whom Naud\u00e9 terms \u201cthe greatest\nforger of fables and the most notorious liar that ever took pen in\nhand.\u201d From sources of similar value the protestants have derived a\nscandalous and obviously apocryphal story concerning a pretended Pope\nJoan, who was also a sorceress, as we have all heard: indeed she is one\nto whom books on Black Magic are still attributed. We have glanced at\na memoir of this female pope by a protestant historian and have taken\nnote of two very curious engravings contained therein. They are assumed\nto be portraits of the heroine but are in reality ancient Tarots,\nrepresenting Isis crowned with a tiara. It is well known that the\nhieroglyphic figure on the second Tarot card is still called the female\npope, being a woman wearing a tiara on which are the points of the\ncrescent moon, or the horns of Isis. One example in the protestant book\nis even more remarkable; the hair of the figure is long and scanty;\nthere is a solar cross on the breast; she is seated between the two\npillars of Hercules: and behind her flows the ocean, with lotus-flowers\nblooming on the surface of the water. The second portrait represents\nthe same divinity, with attributes of the sovereign priesthood and\nholding her son Horus in her arms. As Kabalistic documents, the two\npictures are of singular value, but they are little to the purpose of\nthose who are concerned with Pope Joan.\n\nTo dispose of the accusation of sorcery in respect of Gerbert,\nsupposing that it could be taken seriously, it would be enough to\nmention that he was the most learned man of his century and having been\npreceptor of two sovereigns, he owed his election to the gratitude\nof one of his august pupils. He had extraordinary proficiency in\nmathematics, and his knowledge of physics may have exceeded that of\nhis epoch; in a word, he was a man of universal erudition and great\nability, as the letters which he left bear witness, though he was\nnot a denouncer of kings like the terrible Hildebrand. He chose to\ninstruct princes rather than excommunicate them, and enjoying the\nfavour of two French kings and three emperors, he had no need, as Naud\u00e9\nhas judiciously pointed out, to sell himself to the devil for the\narchbishoprics of Rheims and Ravenna, or for the papacy in succession\nto these. It is true that he attained the successive positions, to some\nextent in spite of his merit; it was an age when able politicians were\ntaken for possessed people and those who were learned for enchanters.\nGerbert was not only a great mathematician, as we have said, and\na distinguished astronomer, but he excelled also in mechanics,\nand\u2014according to William of Malmesbury\u2014he erected at Rheims such\nwonderful hydraulic machines that the water itself executed symphonies\nand played most enchanting airs. Moreover, according to Ditmare, he\nadorned the town of Magdebourg with a clock which registered all the\nmotions of heaven and the times when the stars rose and set. Finally,\nby the evidence of Naud\u00e9,[219] whom we cite once again with pleasure,\nhe made \u201cthat test of brass which was devised so ingeniously that the\nbefore-mentioned William of Malmesbury was himself deceived thereby\nand referred it to Magic. Further, Onuphrius states that he saw in\nthe Farnese library a learned book on geometry composed by this same\nGerbert; and for myself I estimate that, without adjudicating on the\nopinion expressed by Erfordiensis and some others, who regard him as\nthe maker of timepieces and of arithmetic as these exist now among us,\nall these evidences are sufficiently valid to warrant the conclusion\nthat those who had never heard of cube, parallelogram, dodecahedron,\nalmicantar, valsagora, almagrippa, cathalzem and other names, familiar\nenough in these days to such as understand mathematics, conceived that\nthey were those of the spirits invoked by Gerbert and that such a\nmultitude of things so rare could not emanate from a single personality\nin the absence of extraordinary advantages, from the possession of\nwhich it followed therefore that he must have been a magician.\u201d\n\nTo indicate the lengths of impertinence and bad faith reached by\nmakers of chronicles, it remains to say that Platina[220]\u2014that\nmaliciously na\u00efve echo of all Roman pasquinades\u2014affirms that the tomb\nof Sylvester II itself turned sorcerer, weeping prophetically at the\napproaching downfall of each pope and that the reprobate bones of\nGerbert shook and rattled together when one of them was about to die.\nAn epitaph engraved on the tomb lends colour to these wonders\u2014so adds\nunblushingly the librarian of Sixtus IV. Such are the proofs which\npass among historians as sufficient to certify the existence of a\ncurious historical document. Platina was librarian of the Vatican; he\nwrote his history of the popes by order of Sixtus IV; he wrote also\nat Rome, where nothing could be easier than to verify the truth or\nfalsehood of such an assertion, which notwithstanding the pretended\nepitaph never existed outside the imagination of the authors from whom\nPlatina borrowed with incredible lack of caution[221]\u2014a circumstance\nwhich moves justly the indignation of honest Naud\u00e9, whose further\nremarks shall follow: \u201cIt is a pure imposture and manifest falsehood,\nboth in respect of the experience\u2014being the pretended prodigies at\nthe tomb of Sylvester II\u2014the same having never been witnessed by\nanyone\u2014and of the alleged inscription on the tomb, that inscription\u2014as\nit exists really\u2014having been composed by Sergius IV and so far from\nsupporting the supposed magical fables, is, on the contrary, one of\nthe most excellent testimonies that could be desired to the good life\nand integrity of Sylvester. It is truly a shameful thing that so many\ncatholics should be abettors of a slander concerning which Marianus\nScotus, Glaber, Ditmare, Helgandus, Lambert and Herman Contract, who\nwere his contemporaries, make no mention.\u201d\n\nProceeding now to the Grimoire of Honorius, it is to the third bearer\nof that name, or to one of the most zealous pontiffs of the 13th\ncentury, that this impious book is attributed. Assuredly Honorius III\nwas eminently likely to be hated by sectarians and necromancers, and\nwell might they seek to dishonour him by representing him as their\naccomplice. Censius Savelli, crowned pope in 1216, confirmed that\nOrder of Saint Dominic which proved so formidable to Albigensians and\nVaudois\u2014those children of Manicheans and sorcerers. He established\nalso the Franciscans and Carmelites, preached a crusade, governed the\nChurch wisely and left many decretals. To charge with Black Magic a\npope so eminently catholic[222] is to cast similar suspicion on the\ngreat religious orders which he instituted, and the devil thereby could\nscarcely fail to profit.\n\nSome old copies of the Grimoire of Honorius bear, however, the name of\nHonorius II, but it is impossible to make a sorcerer of that elegant\nCardinal Lambert who, after his promotion to the sovereign pontificate,\nsurrounded himself either with poets, to whom he gave bishoprics for\nelegies\u2014as in the case of Hildebert, Bishop of Mans\u2014or with learned\ntheologians, like Hugh de Saint-Victor. But it so happens that the\nname of Honorius II is for us as a ray of light pointing to the true\nauthor of the frightful grimoire in question.[223] In 1061, when the\nempire began to take umbrage against the papacy and sought to usurp\nthe sacerdotal influence by fomenting troubles and divisions in the\nsacred college, the bishops of Lombardy, impelled by Gilbert of Parma,\nprotested against the election of Anselm, Bishop of Lucca, who had\nbeen raised to the papal chair as Alexander II. The Emperor Henry IV\ntook the part of the dissentients and authorised them to elect another\npope, promising to support them. They chose Cadulus or Cadalus, an\nintriguing Bishop of Parma, a man capable of all crimes and a public\nscandal in respect of simony and concubinage. He assumed the name\nof Honorius II and marched at the head of an army against Rome. He\nwas defeated and condemned by all the prelates of Germany and Italy.\nReturning to the charge, he gained possession of part of the Holy City\nand entered St. Peter\u2019s; he was expelled and took refuge in the Castle\nof St. Angelo, whence he only obtained leave to retire on the payment\nof a heavy ransom. It was then that Otho, Archbishop of Cologne, the\nEmperor\u2019s envoy, dared to reproach Alexander II in public for having\nusurped the Holy See; but a monk named Hildebrand took up the cause of\nthe lawful pontiff with such force of eloquence that the Emperor drew\nback in confusion and asked pardon for his own criminal attempts. The\nHildebrand in question was already in the sight of providence that\nfulminating Gregory VII who was to come and who thus inaugurated the\nwork of his life. The anti-pope was deposed by the Council of Mantua\nand Henry IV obtained his pardon. Cadalus returned into obscurity\nand it is then probably that he decided to become the high priest\nof sorcerers and apostates, in which capacity, and under the name of\nHonorius II, he composed the Grimoire that passes under this name.[224]\n\n[Illustration: OCCULT SEALS AND PRIMITIVE EGYPTIAN TAROTS]\n\nWhat is known of the anti-pope\u2019s character lends colour to an\naccusation of the kind; he was daring in the presence of the weak,\ngrovelling in that of the strong, debauched and intriguing, devoid of\nfaith and morals, seeing nothing in religion but an engine of impunity\nand rapine. For such a person, the Christian virtues were obstacles and\nfaith in the clergy was a difficulty which had to be overcome; he would\ntherefore make priests after his own heart, or capable, that is to say,\nof all crimes and sacrileges. Now, this would seem to have been the\npurpose in chief of the Grimoire called that of Honorius.\n\nThe work in question is not without importance for those who are\ncurious in the science. It appears at first sight to be a mere tissue\nof revolting absurdities,[225] but for those who are initiated in the\nsigns and secrets of the Kabalah, it is literally a monument of human\nperversity, for the devil appears therein as an instrument of power.\n\nTo utilise human credulity and to turn the bugbear which dominates it\nto the account of the adept and his caprices\u2014such is the secret of\nthe work. It aspires to make darkness darker before the eyes of the\nmultitude by usurping the torch of science, which at need, and in bold\nhands, may become that of butchers and incendiaries. To identify faith\nwith servitude, reserving power and liberty for oneself, is indeed to\nimagine the reign of Satan on earth, and it should not be surprising if\nthe authors of such a conspiracy against public good sense and religion\nshould hope to manifest and, in a sense, to incarnate on earth the\nfantastic sovereign of the evil empire.\n\nThe doctrine of this Grimoire is the same as that of Simon and the\nmajority of the Gnostics: it is the substitution[226] of the passive\nfor the active principle. A pantacle which forms a frontispiece to the\nwork gives expression to this doctrine, being passion as predominant\nover reason, sensualism deified and the woman in priority to the man, a\ntendency which recurs in all antichristian mystic systems. The crescent\nmoon of Isis occupies the centre of the figure and it is encompassed\nby three triangles, one within another. The triangle is surmounted\nby a _crux ansata_ with double cross-bar. It is inscribed within a\ncircle and within the space formed by the three segments of the circle\nthere is on one side the sign of the spirit and the Kabalistic seal of\nSolomon, on the others the magic knife and the initial letter of the\nbinary, below a reversed cross forming the figure of the lingam, and\nthe name of God \u05d0\u05dc= AL, also reversed. About the circle is written:\n\u201cObey your superiors and be subject unto them, for they will see that\nyou do.\u201d[227]\n\nRendered into a symbol or profession of faith, this pantacle is\ntherefore textually as follows:\u2014Fatality reigns by virtue of\nmathematics, and there is no other God than Nature. Dogmas are aids\nto sacerdotal power and are imposed on the multitude to justify\nsacrifices. The initiate is above any religion and makes use of all,\nbut that which he says is the antithesis of that which he believes. The\nlaw of obedience prescribes and does not explain; initiates are made to\ncommand and those who are profane to obey.\n\nAll who have studied the occult sciences know that the old magicians\nnever expressed their doctrine in writing but formulated it by the\nsymbolical characters of pantacles. On the second page of the book\nthere are two circular magical seals. In the first is the square of\nthe Tetragram with an inversion and substitution of names. Instead of\n\u05d0\u05d4\u05d9\u05d4 = EIEIE \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4 = JEHOVAH; \u05d0\u05d3\u05e0\u05d9 = ADONAI; \u05d0\u05d2\u05dc\u05d0 = AGLA\u2014the four sacred\nwords signifying:[228] The Absolute Being is Jehovah, the Lord in\nThree Persons, God and the hierarchy of the Church, the author of the\nGrimoire has substituted: \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4, JEHOVAH; \u05d0\u05d3\u05e0\u05d9, ADNI; \u05d3\u05e8\u05d0\u05e8, D\u2019RAR; \u05d0\u05d4\u05d9\u05d4,\nEIEIE\u2014which signifies: Jehovah, the Lord, is none other than the fatal\nprinciple of eternal rebirth, personified by this same rebirth in the\nAbsolute Being.\n\nAbout the square within the circle is the name of Jehovah in its\nproper form, but also reversed; on the left is that of Adonai and on\nthe right are the three letters \u05d0\u05d4\u05d5, ACHV, followed by two points, the\nwhole meaning: Heaven and hell are each the reflection of each; that\nwhich is above is as that which is below; God is humanity\u2014humanity\nbeing expressed by the letters ACHV, which are the initials of Adam and\nEve.[229]\n\nOn the second seal is the name \u05d0\u05e8\u05d0\u05e8\u05d9\u05ea\u05d0, ARARITA, and below it is \u05e8\u05d0\u05e9,\nRASH, encircling twenty-six Kabalistic characters. Below the seal are\nten Hebrew letters, given in the following order: \u05d9\u05d1 \u05d8\u05d1\u05d4\u05d1\u05e8\u05e8\u05e8\u05e8. The\nwhole is a formula of materialism and fatality, which is too long, and,\nit may be, too perilous for explanation in this place. The prologue of\nthe Grimoire comes next in order and may be given at full length.[230]\n\n\u201cThe Holy Apostolic Chair, unto which the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven\nare given by those words that Christ Jesus addressed to St. Peter: I\ngive unto thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and unto thee alone\nthe power of commanding the Prince of Darkness and his angels, who,\nas slaves to their master, do owe him honour, glory and obedience,\nby virtue of those other words of Christ Jesus, addressed to Satan\nhimself: Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou\nserve\u2014hence by the power of these Keys the Head of the Church has been\nmade the Lord of hell. But seeing that until this present the Sovereign\nPontiffs have alone had the charge of evoking and commanding Spirits,\nHis Holiness Honorius II, being moved by his pastoral care, has desired\nbenignly to communicate the science and power of evocations and of\nempire over spirits to his venerable Brethren in Jesus Christ, with the\nconjurations which must be used in such case; now therefore the whole\nis contained in the Bull which here follows.\u201d\n\nHere in all truth is the pontificate of hell, that sacrilegious\npriesthood of anti-popes which Dante seems to stigmatise in the\nraucous cry uttered by one of his princes of perdition: _Pope Satan,\nPope Satan: Aleppe_. Let the legitimate pontiff continue as prince of\nheaven; it is enough for the anti-pope Cadalus to be the sovereign of\nhell. \u201cBe He the God of good, for god of evil am I; we are divided, but\nmy power is equal.\u201d\n\nThe Bull of the infernal pontiff follows,[231] and the mystery of\ndarksome evocations is expounded therein with a terrific knowledge\nconcealed under superstitious and sacrilegious forms. Fastings,\nwatchings, profanation of mysteries, allegorical ceremonies and bloody\nsacrifices are combined with artful malice. The evocations are not\ndeficient in poetry or in enthusiasm, mingled with horror. For example,\nthe author ordains that an operator should rise at midnight on the\nThursday in the first week of evocations, should sprinkle his room with\nholy water and light a taper of yellow wax\u2014prepared on the previous\nday and pierced in the form of a cross. By the uncertain light of this\ncandle, he must enter a church alone and read the Office of the Dead\nin a low voice, substituting in place of the ninth lesson at Matins\nthe following rhythmic invocation which is here translated from the\nLatin, preserving its strange form and its refrains, which recall the\nmonotonous incantations of old-world sorcerers.\n\n O Lord, deliver me from the infernal terrors,\n Exempt my spirit from sepulchral larv\u00e6;\n To seek them out I shall go down to their hell unaffrighted:\n I shall impose my will for a law upon them.\n\n I will call upon night and its darkness to bring forth splendour:\n Rise up, O Sun; and, Moon, be thou white and brilliant;\n To the shades of hell I will speak and confess no terror:\n I shall impose my will for a law upon them.\n\n Dreadful in aspect are they, their forms in appearance fantastic:\n I will that the demons shall once again become angels.\n Whence to their nameless distortion I speak, never fearing:\n I shall impose my will for a law upon them.\n\n These shades are illusions evoked by the eye affrighted;\n I and I only can heal their loveliness blasted,\n And into the deeps of hell I plunge unaffrighted:\n I shall impose my will for a law upon them.[232]\n\nAfter many other ceremonies there comes the night of evocation. In a\nsinister place, in the light of a fire kindled with broken crosses, a\ncircle is traced with the embers of a cross, reciting while so doing a\nmagical hymn containing versicles of several psalms. It may be rendered\nas follows:[233]\n\n\u201cO Lord, the king rejoices in Thy power; let me finish the work of\nmy birth. May shadows of evil and spectres of night be as dust blown\nbefore the wind.... O Lord, hell is enlightened and shines in Thy\npresence; by Thee do all things end and all begin by Thee: JEHOVAH,\nTSABAOTH, ELOHIM, ELOI, HELION, HELIOS, JODHEVAH, SHADDAI. The Lion\nof Judah rises in His glory; He comes to complete the victory of King\nDavid. I open the seven seals of the dread book. Satan falls from\nheaven, like summer lightning. Thou hast said to me: Be far from thee\nhell and its tortures; they shall not draw to thy pure abodes. Thine\neyes shall withstand the gaze of the basilisk; thy feet shall walk\nfearlessly on the asp; thou shalt take up serpents, and they shall be\nconquered by thy smile; thou shalt drink poisons, and they shall in\nnowise hurt thee. ELOHIM, ELOHAB, TSABAOTH, HELIOS, EHYEH, EIEAZEREIE,\nO THEOS, TSEHYROS. The earth is the Lord\u2019s and the fulness thereof; He\nhath established it over the gaping abyss. Who shall go up unto the\nmountain of the Lord? The innocent of hands and clean of heart; he who\nhath not held truth in captivity, nor hath received it to let it remain\nidle; he who hath conceived the height in his soul and hath not sworn\nby a lying word. The same shall receive strength for his domain, and\nhereof is the infinite of human birth, generation by earth and fire,\nthe divine bringing forth of those who seek God. Princes of Nature,\nenlarge your doors; yoke of heaven, I lift thee. Come to me, ye holy\ncohorts: behold the King of glory. He hath earned his name; he holds in\nhis hand the seal of Solomon. The master hath broken the black bondage\nof Satan and hath led captivity captive. The Lord alone is God, and\nHe only is King. To Thee only be glory, O Lord; glory and glory to\nThee.\u201d[234]\n\nOne seems to hear the sombre puritans of Walter Scott or Victor Hugo\naccompanying, with fanatic psalmody, the nameless work of sorcerers in\n_Faust_ or _Macbeth_.\n\nIn a conjuration addressed to the shade of the giant Nimrod, the wild\nhuntsman who began the Tower of Babel, the adept of Honorius menaces\nthat ancient reprobate with the riveting of his chains and with torture\nincreased daily, should he fail in immediate obedience to the will\nof the operator. It is the sublimity of pride in delirium, and this\nanti-pope, who could only understand a high-priest as a ruler of hell,\nseems to yearn after the usurped and mournful right of tormenting the\ndead eternally, as if in revenge for the contempt and rejection of the\nliving.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER II\n\n APPEARANCE OF THE BOHEMIAN NOMADS\n\n\nAt the beginning of the fifteenth century hordes of unknown swarthy\nwanderers began to spread through Europe.[235] Sometimes denominated\nBohemians, because they claimed to come from Bohemia, sometimes\nEgyptians, because their leader assumed the title of Duke of Egypt,\nthey exercised the arts of divination, larceny and marauding. They\nwere nomadic tribes, bivouacking in huts of their own construction;\ntheir religion was unknown; they gave themselves out to be Christians;\nbut their orthodoxy was more than doubtful. Among themselves, they\npractised communism and promiscuity, and in their divinations they made\nuse of a strange sequence of signs, allegorical in form, and depending\nfrom the virtues of numbers. Whence came they? Of what accursed\nand vanished world were they the surviving waifs? Were they, as\nsuperstitious people believed, the offspring of sorceresses and demons?\nWhat expiring and betrayed Saviour had condemned them to roam for ever?\nWas this the family at large of the Wandering Jew, or the remnants of\nthe ten tribes of Israel, lost sight of in captivity and long enchained\nby Gog and Magog in unknown regions? Such were the doubting questions\nat the passage of these mysterious strangers, who seemed to retain only\nthe superstitions and vices of a vanished civilisation. Enemies of\ntoil, they respected neither property nor family; they dragged their\nwomen and children after them; they pestered the peace of honest\nhouse-dwellers with their pretended divinations. However all this may\nbe, their first encampment in the vicinity of Paris is told by one\nwriter as follows:\u2014\n\n\u201cIn the next year, 1427, on the Sunday after the middle of August,\nbeing the 17th of the month, there came to the environs of Paris twelve\nso-called penitentiaries\u2014a duke, earl and ten men, all on horses,\nsaying that they were good Christians, originally of Lower Egypt. They\nstated further that in former times they were conquered and turned\nto Christianity, those refusing being put to death, while those who\nconsented to baptism were left as rulers of the country. Some time\nsubsequently the Saracens invaded them, and many who were not firm in\nthe faith made no attempt to withstand or defend their country, as in\nduty bound, but submitted, became Saracens and abjured our Saviour. The\nEmperor of Germany, the King of Poland and other rulers having learned\nthat the people renounced their faith so easily, becoming Saracens and\nidolaters, fell upon them and conquered them again easily. It appeared\nat first as if they had the intention to leave them in their country,\nso that they might be led back to Christianity, but, after deliberation\nin council, the emperor and the rest of the kings ordained that they\nshould never own land in their native country without the consent of\nthe Pope, to obtain which, they must journey to Rome. Thither they\nproceeded in a great body, the young and the old, involving great\nsuffering for the little ones. They made confession of their sins at\nRome, and the Pope, after considering with his advisers, imposed on\nthem, by way of penance, a seven years\u2019 wandering through the world,\nsleeping in no bed. He ordained further that every bishop and croziered\nabbot should give them, once and for all, ten livres of the Tours\ncurrency as a contribution towards their expenses. He presented them\nwith letters to this effect, gave them his benediction, and for five\nyears they had been wandering through the world.\n\n\u201cSome days afterwards, being the day of the martyrdom of St. John\nthe Baptist, or August 29, the general horde followed and were not\npermitted to enter within Paris, but were lodged at the Chapelle St.\nDenis. They numbered about 120 persons, including women and children.\nThey stated that when they left their own country they consisted of\none thousand or twelve hundred souls; the others had died on the road,\ntheir king and queen among them; the survivors were still expecting to\nbecome possessors of worldly goods, for the holy father had promised\nthem good and fertile lands when their penance was finished.\n\n\u201cWhile they were at the chapel there was never so great a crowd at\nbenediction, for the people flocked to see them from St. Denis,\nParis, and the suburbs. Their children, both boys and girls, were the\ncleverest tricksters. Nearly all had their ears pierced and in each\near were one or two silver rings, which they said were a sign of good\nbirth in their own country; they were exceedingly dark and with woolly\nhair. The women were the ugliest and blackest ever seen; their faces\nwere covered with sores, their hair was black as the tail of a horse,\ntheir clothes consisted of an old _flaussoie_ or _schiavina_ tied\nover the shoulder by a cord or morsel of cloth, and beneath it a poor\nshirt. In a word, they were the most wretched creatures who had ever\nbeen seen in France, within the memory of the oldest inhabitant. Their\npoverty notwithstanding, they had sorceresses among them who inspected\nthe hand, telling what had happened to the person consulting them in\ntheir past life and what awaited them in the future. They disturbed\nthe peace of households, for they denounced husband to wife and wife\nto husband. And what was still worse, while talking to people about\ntheir magic art, they managed to fill their purses by emptying those of\ntheir hearers. One citizen of Paris who gives account of these facts\nadds that he himself talked to them three or four times without losing\na halfpenny; but this is the report of the people everywhere, and the\nnews reached the bishop of Paris, who went thither taking a Minorite\nfriar called the little Jacobin, and he, by the bishop\u2019s command,\npreached a great sermon and excommunicated all, male and female who had\ntold fortunes and all who had shewn their hands. The horde was ordered\naway and departed accordingly on September 8, proceeding towards\nPontoise.\u201d\n\nIt is not known whether they continued their journey North of the\ncapital, but their memory has survived in a corner of the Department\ndu Nord. \u201cAs a fact, in a wood near the village of Hamel, five hundred\nfeet from a druidic monument consisting of six stones, there is a\nfountain which is called the Sorcerer\u2019s Kitchen, and it is there,\naccording to tradition, that the _Cara Maras_ rested and quenched\ntheir thirst. Now these were assuredly the _Caras\u2019mar_, namely, the\nBohemians, or wandering sorcerers and diviners, to whom ancient Flemish\ncharters granted the right to be fed by the inhabitants.\u201d\n\nThey left Paris, but others came in their place, so that France was\nexploited as much as other countries. There is no record of their\nlanding in England or in Scotland, but before very long the latter\nkingdom numbered more than one hundred thousand.[236] They were called\n_seard_ and _caird_, as much as to say artisans, craftsmen, for the\nScotch word is derived from the Sanskrit k + r, whence comes the verb\nto do, the _Ker-aben_ of the gipsies and the Latin _cerdo_ or bungler,\nwhich they are not. If there was no trace of them at the same period\nin northern Spain, where the Christians took refuge against the Moslem\ndomination, it was doubtless because the Arabs in the South were more\nto their liking; however, under John II the gipsies were clearly\ndistinguished from these latter, though no one knew whence they came.\nTo sum up, it came about that, from the time in question forward,\nthey were generally known over the whole European continent. One of\nthe bands of king Sindel appeared at Ratisbon in 1433, while Sindel\nhimself, accompanied by his reserve, camped in Bavaria in 1439. He\nseemed to have come from Bohemia, for the Bavarians, unaware that in\n1433 the tribe had given themselves out as Egyptians, termed them\nBohemians, under which name they reappeared in France and so have been\nknown therein. Willy-nilly, they were tolerated. Some perambulated\nthe mountains, seeking gold in the rivers; some forged shoes for\nhorses and chains for dogs; others\u2014more marauders than pilgrims\u2014crept\nabout, ferreting everywhere, and everywhere thieved and pilfered. A\nfew of them, weary of shifting and fixing their tents continually,\ncame to a stand and hollowed out hovels, square huts of four to six\nfeet, underground, and covered with a roof of green branches, the\nridge of which, set across two stakes, in the form of a Y, rose\nscarcely more than two feet above the soil. It was in this den, of\nwhich little more than the name has remained in France, that the whole\nfamily was huddled together pell-mell. In such a lodging, with no\nopening but the door and a hole for the smoke, the father hammered,\nthe children\u2014crouched round the fire\u2014blew the bellows and the mother\nboiled the pot, which contained only the spoil of poaching. Among\nold clothes, a bridle and a knapsack hung from long wooden nails,\nwith no other furniture than an anvil, pincers and hammer\u2014there met\ncredulity and love, maid and knight, lady of the manor and page.\nThere they shewed their bare white hands to the penetrating glance of\nthe sibyl; there love was purchased, happiness was sold, and lying\nfound its recompense. Thence came mountebanks and cardsharpers, the\nstar-spangled robe and peaked hat of the magician, the vagrants and\ntheir slang, street dancers and daughters of joy. It was the kingdom\nof idleness and _trupherie_, of Villon manners and free meals. They\nwere people who were continually busy in doing nothing, as a simple\nstory-teller of the middle ages terms it. A scholar who is equally\nmodest and distinguished, M. Vaillant, author of a history of the\n_Rom-Muni_ or Bohemians, some of whose pages we have cited, gives no\nmore flattering portrait, though he ascribes to the gipsies great\nimportance in the sacerdotal history of the ancient world. He recounts\nhow these strange Protestants of primitive civilisation, travelling\nthrough the ages with a malediction on their foreheads and rapine\nin their hands, excited curiosity at first, then mistrust, finally\nproscription and hatred on the part of medi\u00e6val Christians. It will be\nreadily understood what dangers might attach to this people without\na fatherland, parasites or the whole world and citizens of nowhere.\nThey were Bedouins who perambulated empires like deserts; they were\nnomadic thieves who glided about everywhere and remained nowhere. It\ncame to pass speedily that the people regarded them as sorcerers,\neven as demons, casters of lots, stealers of children, and there was\nsome ground for all this. Moreover, the nomads began to be accused\neverywhere of celebrating frightful mysteries in secret; they were held\nresponsible for all unknown murders, for all mysterious abductions,\nas the Greeks of Damascus accused the Jews of killing one of their\nfraternity and drinking his blood. It was affirmed that they preferred\nboys and girls from twelve to fifteen years old. Here was an effectual\nway to insure that they should be held in horror and avoided by the\nyoung; but it was odious all the same, for the child and the common\npeople are only too credulous, while as fear begets hatred, so also\nit tends to breed persecution. It was this which came to pass; they\nwere not only avoided and fled from, but they were refused fire and\nwater; Europe became like India in their respect and every Christian\nwas a Brahman armed against them. In some countries, if a young girl\napproached one of them to give alms out of charity, her distracted\ngoverness would warn her to beware, for the gipsy was a _katkaon_, an\nogre, who would suck her blood when she was asleep in the night. The\ngirl drew back trembling. If a boy passed near enough for his shadow to\nfall on the wall near which they were seated, and where perhaps a whole\ngipsy family was eating or basking in the sun, his master would cry:\n\u201cKeep off, child; these vampires will steal your shadow and your soul\nwill dance at their Sabbath through all eternity.\u201d So did Christian\nhatred resuscitate the _lemures_ and goblins, the vampires and ogres\nas a ground of their impeachment. \u201cThey were descended from Mambres,\nwhose miracles competed against those of Moses; they were sent by the\nking of Egypt to spy everywhere on the children of Israel and render\ntheir lot intolerable; they were the murderers made use of by Herod to\nexterminate the first-born of Bethlehem; they were pagans indeed, for\nothers, but they did not understand a single word of Egyptian, their\nlanguage comprising, on the contrary, a good deal of Hebrew, and they\nwere therefore the refuse of that abject race who slept in the tombs\nof Judea after devouring the corpses which they contained; they were\notherwise those miscreant Jews who were tortured, chased and burned in\n1348 for having poisoned our wells and cisterns, and they had returned\nonce again to the work. As a final alternative, whether Jews or\nEgyptians, Essenians or Chusians, Pharaohnians or Caphtorians, Assyrian\nBalistari or Philistines of Canaan, they were renegades, and it was\ntestified in Saxony, France and everywhere that they were fit only for\nburning and hanging.\n\nThe proscription which came upon them fell also on that strange book in\nwhich they used to consult destiny and to obtain oracles. Its coloured\ncards bearing incomprehensible figures are undoubtedly the monumental\nsummary of all ancient revelations, the key to Egyptian hieroglyphics,\nthe keys also of Solomon, the primeval scriptures of Enoch and Hermes.\nThe author to whom we refer gives proof here of uncommon sagacity,\nspeaking of the Tarot as a man who as yet does not understand it\nperfectly but has made it a profound study. What he says is as follows:\u2014\n\n\u201cThe form, disposition, arrangement of these tablets, and of the\nfigures which they depict, though considerably modified by time, are\nso manifestly allegorical, while the allegories correspond so closely\nto the civil, philosophical and religious doctrine of antiquity, that\none is compelled to regard them as a synthesis of the matter of faith\namong ancient peoples. We have sought to make evident already that\nthe Tarot is a deduction from the sidereal _Book of Enoch_, who is\nHenochia; that it is modelled on the astral wheel of Athor, who is\nAs-taroth; that, like the Indian Ot-tara, which is the polar bear or\nArc-tura in the northern hemisphere, it is the force major (_tarie_),\non which rests the solidity of the world and the sidereal firmament\nof earth. Consequently, like the polar Bear, which is regarded as the\nchariot of the sun, the chariot of David and of Arthur, it is the Greek\nfortune, the Chinese destiny, the Egyptian hazard, the lot of the\nRomanies; and that, in their unceasing revolution about the polar Bear,\nthe stars pour down on earth those auspices and fatalities, that light\nand shadow, cold and heat, whence flow the good and evil, the love and\nhatred which make up human happiness.\n\n\u201cIf the origin of this book is so lost in the night of time that\nno one knows where or when it was invented, everything leads us to\nbelieve that it is of Indo-Tartaric origin and that, variously modified\namong ancient nations, according to the phases of their doctrines and\nthe characteristics of their wise men, it was one of their books of\noccult science, possibly even one of their sibylline books. We have\nsufficiently indicated the road by which it has reached us; we have\nseen that it must have been known to the Romans and that it came to\nthem not only from the first days of the empire but of the Republic\nitself, by the intervention of those numerous strangers of eastern\norigin, who were initiated into the mysteries of Bacchus and of Isis,\nand who brought their knowledge to the heirs of Numa.\u201d\n\nVaillant does not say that the four hieroglyphical signs of the\nTarot\u2014being Wands, Cups, Swords and Deniers, or golden circles\u2014are\nfound in Homer, sculptured on the shield of Achilles; but according to\nhim: \u201cthe Cups are the arcs or arches of time, the vessels or ships of\nheaven. The Deniers are the constellations, fixed and movable stars.\nThe Swords are fires, flames, rays; the Wands are shadows, stones,\ntrees, plants. The Ace of Cups is the vase of the universe, the arch of\ncelestial truth, the principle of earth. The Ace of Deniers is the sun,\nthe great eye of the world, the sustenance and element of life. The\nAce of Swords is the spear of Mars, whence come wars, misfortunes and\nvictories. The Ace of Wands is the serpent\u2019s eye, the pastoral crook,\nthe cowherd\u2019s goad, the club of Hercules, the emblem of agriculture.\nThe two of Cups is the cow, Io or Isis, and the bull Apis or Mnevis.\nThe three of Cups is Isis, the moon, lady and queen of night. The\nthree of Deniers is Osiris, the sun, lord and king of day. The nine of\nDeniers is the messenger Mercury, or the angel Gabriel. The nine of\nCups is the gestation of good destiny, whence comes happiness.\u201d\n\nFinally, M. Vaillant tells us that there is a Chinese diagram\nconsisting of characters which form great oblong compartments, of\nequal size and precisely that of the Tarot cards. These compartments\nare arranged in six perpendicular columns, the first five consisting\nof fourteen compartments each, making seventy in all; whilst the sixth\nis only half filled and contains seven compartments. Moreover, this\ndiagram is formed after the same combination of the number seven; each\ncomplete column is of twice seven or fourteen compartments, while the\nhalf column contains seven compartments. It is so much like the Tarot\nthat the four suits of the latter occupy the four first columns; in\nthe fifth column are the twenty-one trumps, while the seven remaining\ntrumps are in the sixth column, the last representing the six days\nconstituting the week of creation. Now, according to the Chinese, this\ndiagram goes back to the first epoch of their empire, being the drying\nup of the waters of the deluge by IAO. The conclusion is, therefore,\nthat this is either the original Tarot or a copy thereof; that in any\ncase the Tarot is anterior to Moses, is referable to the beginning of\nthe ages, or the epoch of the formulation of the Zodiac; and that its\nage is consequently six thousand six hundred years.[237]\n\n\u201cSuch is the Romany Tarot from which by transposition the Hebrews have\nmade the word _Torah_, signifying the Law of Jehovah. So far then from\nbeing a game, as it is at the present day, it was a book, and a serious\nbook, the book of symbols and of emblems, of analogies or the relations\nbetween stars and man; the book of destiny, by the aid of which the\nsorcerer unveiled the mysteries of fortune. Its figures, their names,\ntheir number, and the oracles drawn from these made it naturally\nregarded by Christians as the instrument of a diabolical art, a work of\nMagic. It will be hence understood with what severity they proscribed\nit, the moment it became known to them by that abuse of confidence\nwhich the rashness of the _Sagi_ committed on public credulity. In this\nmanner, faith being lost in its message, the Tarot became a game, while\nits pictures underwent modification according to the taste of nations\nand the successive spirit of centuries.[238] It is to the work in this\ntrivial form that we owe our modern playing cards, the combinations\nof which are comparable to those of the Tarot in the same way as the\ngame of draughts is comparable to the game of chess. It follows that\nthe origin of cards is attributed wrongly to the reign of Charles VI,\nand it may be noted further that the initiates of the Order of the\nBelt, established before 1332 by Alphons XI, king of Castile, pledged\nthemselves not to play cards. Le Sage tells us that, in the days of\nCharles V, St. Bernard of Sienna condemned cards to be burnt and that\nthey were then called _triumphales_ after the game of triumph played in\nhonour of the victorious Osiris or Ormuzd, represented by one of the\nTarot cards. Furthermore, that king himself proscribed cards in 1369\nand the reason that little Jean de Saintr\u00e9 was honoured by his favour\nwas because he did not play. In those days cards were termed _Naipes_\nin Spain and _Naibi_ in Italy, the _Naibi_ being she-devils, sibyls and\npythonesses.\u201d\n\nM. Vaillant, from whom we have been again quoting, considers therefore\nthat the Tarot has been modified and altered, which is true for the\nGerman examples bearing Chinese figures, but not for those of Italy,\nwhich have only been altered in details, nor for those of Besan\u00e7on,\nin which traces remain of primitive Egyptian hieroglyphics. In the\n_Doctrine and Ritual of Transcendental Magic_, we have shewn how\nuntoward in their results were the labours of Etteilla or Alliette\nin respect of the Tarot. This illuminated hairdresser, after working\nfor thirty years, only succeeded in producing a bastard set, the Keys\nof which are transposed, so that the numbers no longer answer to the\nsigns. In a word, it is a Tarot suited to Etteilla and to the measure\nof his intelligence, which was not of great extent.\n\nWe are scarcely in agreement with M. Vaillant, when he suggests that\nthe gipsies were the lawful proprietors of this key to initiations.\nThey owed it doubtless to the infidelity or imprudence of some\nKabalistic Jew. The gipsies originated in India, or their historian\nhas at least shown the likelihood of this theory. Now the extant Tarot\nis certainly that of the gipsies and has come to us by way of Judea. As\na fact, its keys are in correspondence with the letters of the Hebrew\nalphabet, and some of its figures reproduce even their forms. What then\nwere the gipsies? As a poet has said: They were the debased remnant of\nan ancient world; they were a sect of Indian Gnostics, whose communism\ncaused them to be proscribed in every land; as they may be said to\nadmit practically, they were profaners of the Great Arcanum, overtaken\nby a fatal malediction. A horde misled by some enthusiastic fakir,\nthey had become wanderers through the world, protesting against all\ncivilisations in the name of a pretended natural law which dispensed\nthem from almost every duty. Now the law which seeks to prevail in\nviolation of duty is aggression, pillage and rapine; it is the hand of\nCain raised against his brother, and society in defending itself seems\nto be avenging the death of Abel.\n\nIn 1840 certain mechanics of the Faubourg St. Antoine, weary, as they\nput it, of being hoodwinked by journalists and of serving as tools\nfor the ambition of ready speech-makers, resolved to found and to\nedit a journal of pure radicalism and of logic apart from evasion\nor circumlocution. They combined therefore and deliberated for the\nfirm establishment of their doctrines; they took as their basis the\nrepublican device of liberty, equality and the rest. But liberty seemed\nto them incompatible with the duty of labour, equality with the law\nof property, and they therefore decided on communism. One of them,\nhowever, pointed out that in communism the sharpest would preside over\nthe division and would get the lion\u2019s share; it was decreed thereupon\nthat no one should have the right to intellectual superiority. But\nit was further remarked that even physical beauty might constitute\nan aristocracy, so they decreed that there should be an equality\nin ugliness. Finally, as those who till the ground are yoked to\nthe ground, it was settled that true communists could not follow\nagriculture, must have only the world for their fatherland and humanity\nitself for their family, whence it became them to have recourse to\ncaravans and go round the world eternally. We are not relating a\nparable, we have known those who were present at the convention in\nquestion and we have read the first number of their journal, which was\nentitled _The Humanitarian_ and was suppressed in 1841. As to this, the\npress reports of the period may be consulted. Had the journal continued\nand had the incipient sect recruited proselytes for the Icarian\nemigration, as the old attorney Cabet was doing at the same period, a\nnew race of Bohemians would have been organised, and vagabondage would\nhave counted one race the more.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER III\n\n LEGEND AND HISTORY OF RAYMUND LULLY\n\n\nWe have explained that the Church proscribed initiation because\nit was indignant at the profanations of the Gnosis. When Mohammed\narmed eastern fanaticism against faith he opposed savage and warlike\ncredulity to the piety which is ignorant but which prays. His\nsuccessors set foot in Europe and threatened to overrun it speedily.\nThe Christians said: Providence is chastising us; and the Moslems\nanswered: Fatality is on our side.\n\nThe Jewish Kabalists, who were in dread of being burnt as sorcerers in\ncountries called catholic, sought an asylum among the Arabs, for these\nin their eyes were heretics but not idolaters. They admitted some of\nthem to a knowledge of their mysteries, and Islam, which had already\nconquered by force, was before long in a position to hope that it might\nprevail also by science over those whom educated Araby termed in its\ndisdain the barbarians of the West. To onslaughts of physical force\nthe genius of France opposed the strokes of its own terrific hammer.\nBefore the flowing tide of Mohammedan armies a mail-clad finger had\ntraced a clear line and a mighty voice of victory cried to the flood:\nThou shalt go no further. The genius of science raised up Raymund\nLully, and he reclaimed the heritage of Solomon for that Saviour Who\nwas the Son of David; it was he who for the first time called the\nchildren of blind faith to the splendours of universal knowledge. The\npseudo-scholars, and the people who are wise in their own conceit,\ncontinue to speak with scorn of this truly great man; but the popular\ninstinct has avenged him. Romance and legend have taken up his story,\nwith the result that he is pictured as one impassioned like Abelard,\ninitiated like Faust, an alchemist even as Hermes, a man of penitence\nand learning like St. Jerome, a rover after the manner of the Wandering\nJew, a martyr in fine like St. Stephen, and one who was glorious in\ndeath almost as the Saviour of the world.\n\nLet us make our beginning with the romance: it is one of the most\ntouching and beautiful that have come within our knowledge.\n\nOn a certain Sunday, in the year 1250, a beautiful and accomplished\nlady, named Ambrosia di Castello, originally of Genoa, went, as she was\naccustomed, to hear mass in the church of Palma, a town in the island\nof Majorca. A mounted cavalier of distinguished appearance and richly\ndressed, who was passing at the time in the street, noticed the lady\nand pulled up as one thunderstruck. She entered the church, quickly\ndisappearing in the shadow of the great porch. The cavalier, quite\nunconscious of what he did, spurred his horse and rode after her into\nthe midst of the affrighted worshippers. Great was the astonishment\nand scandal. The cavalier was well known; he was the Seigneur Raymund\nLully, Seneschal of the Isles and Mayor of the Palace. He had a wife\nand three children, while Ambrosia di Castello was also married and\nenjoyed, moreover, an irreproachable reputation. Raymund Lully passed\ntherefore for a great libertine. His equestrian entrance into the\nchurch of Palma was noised over the whole town, and Ambrosia, in the\ngreatest confusion, sought the advice of her husband. He was apparently\na man of sense, and he did not consider his wife insulted because\nher beauty had turned the head of a young and brilliant nobleman. He\nproposed that Ambrosia should cure her admirer by a folly as grotesque\nas his own. Meanwhile, Raymund Lully had written already to the lady,\nto excuse, or rather to accuse himself still further. What had prompted\nhim, he said, was \u201cstrange, supernatural, irresistible.\u201d He respected\nher honour and the affections which, he knew, belonged to another;\nbut he had been overwhelmed. He felt that his imprudence required\nfor its expiation high self-devotion, great sacrifices, miracles\nto be accomplished, the penitence of a Stylite and the feats of a\nknight-errant.\n\nAmbrosia answered: \u201cTo respond adequately to a love which you term\nsupernatural would require an immortal existence. If this love be\nsacrificed heroically to our respective duties during the lives of\nthose who are dear to each of us, it will, beyond all doubt, create\nfor itself an eternity at that moment when conscience and the world\nwill permit us to love one another. It is said that there is an elixir\nof life; seek to discover it, and when you are certain that you have\nsucceeded, come and see me. Till then, live for your wife and your\nchildren, as I also will live for the husband whom I love; and if you\nmeet me in the street make no sign of recognition.\u201d\n\nIt was evidently a gracious _cong\u00e9_, which put off her lover till\nDoomsday; but he refused to understand it as such, and from that day\nforth the brilliant noble disappeared to make room for the grave and\nthoughtful alchemist. Don Juan had become Faust. Many years passed\naway; the wife of Raymund Lully died; Ambrosia di Castello in her turn\nbecame a widow; but the alchemist appeared to have forgotten her and to\nbe absorbed only in his sublime work.\n\nAt length, one day, the widow being alone, Raymund Lully was announced,\nand there entered the apartment a bald and emaciated old man, who held\nin his hand a phial filled with a bright and ruddy elixir. He advanced\nwith unsteady step, seeking her with his eyes. The object which they\nsought was before them but he did not recognise her, who in his\nimagination had remained always young and beautiful.\n\n\u201cIt is I,\u201d she said at length. \u201cWhat would you with me?\u201d\n\nAt the accents of that voice, the alchemist startled violently; he\nrecognised her whom he had thought fondly to find unchanged. Casting\nhimself on his knees at her feet, he offered her the phial, saying:\n\u201cTake it, drink it, it is life. Thirty years of my own existence are\ncomprised in it; but I have tried it, and I know that it is the elixir\nof immortality.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat,\u201d asked Ambrosia, with a sad smile, \u201chave you yourself drunk it?\u201d\n\n\u201cFor two months,\u201d replied Raymund, \u201cafter having taken a quantity of\nthe elixir equal to that which is contained here, I have abstained\nfrom all other nourishment. The pangs of hunger have tormented me; but\nnot only have I not died, I am conscious within me of an unparalleled\naccession of strength and life.\u201d\n\n\u201cI believe you,\u201d said Ambrosia, \u201cbut this elixir, which preserves\nexistence, is powerless to restore lost youth. My poor friend, look at\nyourself,\u201d and she held up a mirror before him.\n\nRaymund Lully recoiled, for it is affirmed by the legend that he had\nnever surveyed himself in this manner during the thirty years of his\nlabours.\n\n\u201cAnd now, Raymund,\u201d continued Ambrosia, \u201clook at me,\u201d and she unbound\nher hair, which was white as snow; then, loosening the clasps of her\nrobe, she exposed to him her breast, which was almost eaten away\nby a cancer. \u201cIs it this,\u201d she asked piteously, \u201cwhich you wish to\nimmortalise?\u201d\n\nThen, seeing the consternation of the alchemist, she continued: \u201cFor\nthirty years I have loved you, and I would not doom you to a perpetual\nprison in the body of an infirm old man; in your turn, do not condemn\nme. Spare me this death which you term life. Let me suffer the change\nwhich is necessary before I can live again truly: let us renew our\nnature with an eternal youth. I have no wish for your elixir, which\nprolongs only the night of the tomb: I aspire to immortality.\u201d\n\nRaymond Lully thereupon cast down the phial, which was broken on the\nground.\n\n\u201cI deliver you,\u201d he said, \u201cand for your sake I remain in prison. Live\nin the immortality of heaven, while I am condemned for ever to a living\ndeath on this earth.\u201d\n\nThen, hiding his face in his hands, he went away weeping. Some months\nafter, a monk of the Order of St. Francis assisted Ambrosia di Castello\nin her last moments. This monk was the alchemist, Raymund Lully. The\nromance ends here and the legend follows. This legend merges several\nbearers at different periods of the name Raymund Lully into a single\npersonality, and thus endows the repentant alchemist with a few\ncenturies of existence and expiation. On the day when the unfortunate\nadept should have expired naturally, he experienced all the agonies\nof dissolution; then, at the supreme crisis, he felt life again take\npossession of his frame, like the vulture of Prometheus resuming its\nbanquet. The Saviour of the world, Who had stretched forth His hand\ntowards him, returned sorrowfully into heaven, and Raymond Lully found\nhimself still on earth, with no hope of dying.\n\nHe betook himself to prayer, and devoted his existence to good works;\nGod granted him all graces save that of death, but of what profit are\nthe others in the absence of that which should complete and crown them\nall? One day the Tree of Knowledge was shewn to him, laden with its\nluminous fruits; he understood being and its harmonies; he divined the\nKabalah; he established the foundations and sketched the plan of an\nuniversal science, from which time he was saluted as the illuminated\ndoctor. So did he obtain glory, that fatal recompense of toil which\nGod, in His mercy, seldom confers upon great men till after their\ndeath, because it intoxicates and poisons the living. But Raymund\nLully, who could not by death give place to the glory after, might have\noccasion to fear that it would perish before himself, and meanwhile it\ncould seem to him only a derision of his immortal misfortune.\n\nHe knew how to make gold, so that he might purchase the world and all\nits kingdoms, yet he could not assure to himself the humblest tomb. He\nwas the pauper of immortality. Everywhere he went begging for death,\nand no one was able to give it him. The courtly nobleman had become an\nabsorbed alchemist, the alchemist a monk; the monk became preacher,\nphilosopher, ascetic, saint, and, last of all, missionary. He engaged\nhand to hand with the learned men of Arabia; he battled victoriously\nagainst Islamism, and had everything to fear from the fury of its\nprofessors. Everything to fear\u2014this means that he had something to\nhope, and that which he hoped for was death.[239]\n\nHe engaged a young Arab of the most fanatical class as his attendant,\nand posed before him as the scourge of the religion of Mohammed. The\nArab assassinated his master, which was what he expected; but Raymond\nLully did not die; it was the assassin that he would fain have forgiven\nwho killed himself in despair at his failure, so that conscience had an\nadded burden instead of deliverance and peace.\n\nHe was scarcely cured of his wounds when he embarked for Tunis, in\nwhich place he preached Christianity openly; but the Bey in admiration\nof his learning and his courage protected him against the madness of\nthe crowd and caused him to re-embark with all his books. Before long\nhe returned to the same parts, preaching at Bone, Bougia and other\nAfrican towns; the Moslems were stupefied and feared to lay hands upon\nhim. In the end he revisited Tunis and collecting the people in the\nstreets, he proclaimed that, though driven from the place, he had come\nback to confound the impious doctrines of Mohammed and to die for Jesus\nChrist. This time there was no protection possible, the enraged people\nhunted him, a veritable insurrection broke out; he fled, to encourage\nthem further; already he was broken by many blows, pouring with blood,\ncovered with wounds; and yet he continued to live. He sank finally,\nburied\u2014literally speaking\u2014under a mountain of stones.\n\nOn the same night, says the legend, two Genoese merchants, Steven\nColon and Louis de Pastorga, sailing over the open sea, beheld a great\nlight shining from the port of Tunis. They changed their course and,\napproaching the shore, discovered a mound of stones, which diffused far\nand near this miraculous splendour. They landed in great astonishment,\nand finally discovered the body of Raymund Lully, mangled but still\nbreathing. He was taken on board the ship and carried to Majorca, where\nin sight of his native land the martyr was permitted to expire. God set\nhim free by a miracle and his penance was so finished.\n\nSuch is the odyssey of the fabulous Raymund Lully; let us come now to\nthe historical realities.\n\nRaymund Lully, the philosopher and adept, being the one who deserved\nthe title of illuminated doctor, was the son of that seneschal of\nMajorca who was made famous by his ill-starred passion for Ambrosia\ndi Castello.[240] He did not discover the elixir of immortality, but\nhe made gold in England for King Edward III, and this gold was called\n_aurum Raymundi_. There are extant certain very rare coins which are\ncalled _Raymundins_ by experts. Louis Figuier identifies these with the\nrose-nobles which were struck during the reign in question,[241] and\nsuggests, a little frivolously, that the alchemy of Raymund Lully was\nonly a sophistication of gold which would be difficult to detect at a\nperiod when chemical processes were much less perfect than they are at\nthe present day. This notwithstanding, he recognises the scientific\nimportance of Lully and gives his judgment concerning him as follows:\u2014\n\n\u201cRaymund Lully, whose genius embraced all branches of human knowledge,\nand who brought together in the _Ars Magna_ a vast system of\nphilosophy, summarising the encyclop\u00e6dic principles of science as\nit then stood, could not fail to bequeathe a valuable heritage to\nchymists. He perfected and described carefully various compounds which\nare used widely in chemistry; we owe him the preparation of carbonate\nof potassium by means of tartar and by wood ashes, the rectification of\nspirits of wine, the preparation of essential oils, the cuppellation of\nsilver, and the preparation of sweet mercury.\u201d[242]\n\nOther scientists, feeling sure that the rose-nobles were pure as gold,\nhave speculated that, having regard to the very imperfect processes\nof practical chemistry during the middle ages, such transmutations\nas those of Raymund Lully, and indeed other adepts, were merely\nthe separation of the gold found in silver mines, and purified by\nmeans of antimony, which is actually indicated, in a great number of\nHermetic symbols, as the efficient and chief element in the Powder of\nProjection.[243] We agree with them that chemistry was non-existent at\nthe period in question, and we may add that it was created by adepts\nor rather that the adepts, while keeping to themselves those synthetic\nsecrets which were the treasure of the magical sanctuaries, instructed\ntheir contemporaries as to some of the analytical processes. These were\nafterwards perfected, but they have not as yet led men of science to\nreach that ancient synthesis which constitutes Hermetic philosophy, in\nthe proper sense of the term.\n\nIn his philosophical _Testament_, Raymund Lully has set forth all the\nprinciples of this science, but in a veiled manner, following the\npractice and indeed the duty of adepts. He also composed a _Key_ to\nthe _Testament_ mentioned, and finally a _Key_ to the _Key_ or, more\ndefinitely, a codicil, which is in our opinion the most important of\nhis writings on alchemy. Its principles and modes of procedure have\nnothing in common either with the sophistication of pure metals or\nwith the separation of alloys. As a theory, it is in conformity with\nthe principles of Geber and as a practice with those of Arnaldus de\nVillanova; in respect of doctrine it is in conformity with the most\nexalted ideas of the Kabalah. Those earnest minds, who refuse to be\ndiscouraged by the discredit into which ignorance brings the great\nthings, should study Kabalistically the codicil of Raymund Lully, if\nthey seek to carry on that research of the absolute which was followed\nby the greatest men of genius in the elder world.[244]\n\nThe whole life of this pre-eminent adept, the first initiate after St.\nJohn who was devoted to the hierarchic apostolate of holy orthodoxy\u2014his\nentire life, we repeat, was passed in pious foundations, in preachings,\nin immense scientific labours. Thus, in 1276, he established at Palma\na college of Franciscans dedicated to the study of Oriental languages,\nand Arabic especially, with the object of refuting the works of\nMohammedan doctors and of preaching the Christian faith among the\nMoors. John XXI confirmed this institution by a pastoral letter dated\nfrom Viterbo on December 16, in the first year of his pontificate.\n\nFrom 1293 to 1311, Lully solicited and obtained from Pope Nicholas\nIV and from the kings of France, Sicily, Cyprus and Majorca, the\nestablishment of many other colleges for the same purpose. Wherever\nhe went he gave instructions in his Great Art, which is an universal\nsynthesis of human knowledge, and has as its prime object the\ninstitution of one language among men as also one mode of thought. He\nvisited Paris and there astonished the most learned doctors; afterwards\nhe crossed over to Spain, tarried at Complute, where he founded a\ncentral academy for the study of languages and sciences. He reformed\na number of convents, went on to Italy and recruited soldiers for a\nnew military order, the institution of which he advocated at the very\nCouncil of Vienna which condemned the Templars. The catholic science\nand the true initiation of St. John were intended thereby to rescue the\nprotecting sword of the Temple from faithless hands. The great ones of\nthis world derided poor Raymund Lully, and yet in their own despite\nthey did all that he desired. This illuminated personality, termed\nby derision Raymund the Fantastic, seems to have been pope of popes\nand king of kings; he was poor as Job and gave alms to sovereigns; he\nwas called a fool, and he was of that order of folly which confounds\nsages. The greatest politician of the period, Cardinal Ximenes, whose\nmind was as vast as it was serious, never spoke of him except as the\ndivine Raymund Lully and the most enlightened doctor. He died in 1314,\naccording to Genebrard, or in 1315, according to the author of the\npreface to the _Meditations_ of the Hermit Blaquerne. He was eighty\nyears old, and the end of his toilsome and holy existence came on the\nFestival of the martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul.[245]\n\nA disciple of the great Kabalists, Raymund Lully sought to establish an\nabsolute and universal philosophy by substituting for the conventional\nabstractions of systems a fixed notion of natural actualities and by\nsubstituting a simple and natural mode of expression for the ambiguous\nterms of scholasticism. He condemned the definitions of the scholars\nat his period because they perpetuated disputes by their inexactitude\nand amphibology. According to Aristotle, man is a reasonable animal,\nbut it may be replied that he is not an animal and is only rarely\nreasonable. Moreover, the words animal and reasonable cannot be brought\ninto harmony; a fool, in this sense, would not be a man, and so forth.\nRaymund Lully defined things by their right names and not by their\nsynonyms or approximations; afterwards he explained the names by\netymology. To the question\u2014What is man?\u2014he would therefore reply that\nthe word, in its general acceptation, signifies the state of being\nhuman, but taken in a particular acceptation it designates the human\npersonality. What, however is this human personality? Originally, it is\nthe personality which God made by breathing life into a body compounded\nof earth (_humus_); literally it is you, it is I, it is Peter, Paul,\nand so on. Those who were accustomed to scientific jargon protested\nto the illuminated doctor that anyone could talk like this; that on\nthe basis of such a method the whole world might pose as learned; and\nthat popular common sense would be preferred before the doctrine of\nacademies. \u201cThat is just what I wish,\u201d was the answer of Raymund Lully\nin his great simplicity. Hence the reproach of puerility made against\nhis enlightened theory; and puerile it was in a sense, but with the\npuerility of His counsel Who said: \u201cExcept ye become as one of these\nlittle ones, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of heaven.\u201d Is not the\nKingdom of Heaven also that of science, seeing that the celestial life\nof God and men is but understanding and love?\n\nThe design of Raymund Lully was to set the Christianised Kabalah\nagainst the fatalistic _magia_ of the Arabs, Egyptian traditions\nagainst those of India, the Magic of Light against Black Magic. He\ntestified that, in the last days, the doctrines of Antichrist would\nbe a materialised realism and that there would be a recrudescence of\nall the monstrosities of evil Magic. Hence he sought to prepare minds\nfor the return of Enoch, or otherwise for the final revelation of that\nscience the key of which is in the hieroglyphical alphabets of Enoch.\nThis harmonising light of reason and faith is to precede the Messianic\nand universal reign of Christianity on earth. So was Lully a great\nprophet for true Kabalists and seers, while for sceptics who at least\ncan respect exalted characters and noble aspirations, he was a sublime\ndreamer.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER IV\n\n ON CERTAIN ALCHEMISTS\n\n\nNicholas Flamel belongs to alchemy exclusively, and he enters only into\nour consideration because of the hieroglyphical book of Abraham the\nJew, in which the scrivener of the rue Saint-Jacques-la-Boucherie found\nthe absolute keys of the Great Work. This book was founded on the Keys\nof the Tarot and was simply a hieroglyphical and Hermetic commentary\non the _Sepher Yetzirah_. We find as a fact, by the description of\nFlamel himself, that the leaves were 21 in number, making 22 with the\ntitle,[246] and that they were divided into three septenaries, having\na blank leaf at every seventh page. Let us here bear in mind that the\nApocalypse, that sublime Kabalistic and prophetic summary of all occult\ntypes, also divided its symbols into three septenaries, between each of\nwhich there is silence in heaven, thus instituting a striking analogy\nwith the uninscribed leaf in the mystic book of Flamel.[247] The\nseptenaries of the Apocalypse are (_a_) seven seals to open, meaning\nseven mysteries to be learned and seven difficulties to be overcome;\n(_b_) seven trumpets to sound, being seven utterances to understand;\n(_c_) seven vials to empty, which signify seven substances which must\nbe volatilised and fixed.\n\nIn the work of Flamel the first seventh leaf has as its hieroglyphical\ncharacter the wand of Moses overcoming the serpents brought forth by\nthe magicians of Pharaoh. They are seen devouring one another, and the\nfigure as a whole is analogous to the Victor of the Tarot, yoking to\nhis cubic chariot the white and black sphinxes of Egyptian Magic. The\nsymbol in question corresponds to the seventh dogma in the creed of\nMaimonides: we acknowledge but one prophet, who is Moses. It represents\nthe unity of science and the work; it represents further the Mercury of\nthe Wise, which is formed by the dissolution of composites and by the\nreciprocal action of the Sulphur and Salt of metals.\n\nThe emblem on the fourteenth page was the Brazen Serpent set upon a\ncross. The cross represents the marriage of the purified Sulphur and\nSalt, as also the condensation of the Astral Light. The fourteenth\nTrump card in the Tarot depicts an angel, who is the spirit of the\nearth, mingling the liquids in two ewers, one of gold and one of\nsilver. It is the same symbol formulated after another manner. On the\n21st leaf of Flamel\u2019s book there was the type of space and universal\nlife, represented by a desert with springs of water and serpents\ngliding hither and thither.[248] In the Tarot, space is typified by\nthe four signs allocated to the cardinal points of heaven, and life\nis represented by a naked girl dancing in a circle. Flamel does not\nspecify the number of springs and serpents, but the former would\nprobably be four, springing from one source, as in the Pantacle of\nEden; the serpents would be four, seven, nine or ten.\n\nOn the fourth leaf was the figure of Time, preparing to cut off the\nfeet of Mercury. Close by was a rose-tree in blossom, the root being\nblue, the stem white, the leaves red, and the flowers golden.[249] The\nnumber four is that of elemental realisation. Time is atmospheric\nnitre; his scythe is the acid which is extracted from this nitre,\nand the Mercury is fixed thereby, being transformed into salt. The\nrose-tree represents the Work and the successive colours which\ncharacterise its stages: it is the mastery passing through the black,\nwhite and red aspects, out of which gold is produced as a blossom that\nbuds and unfolds.\n\nThe number 5 is that of the Great Mystery, and on the fifth page blind\nmen were represented digging up the ground round the rose-tree in\nsearch of the grand agent which is present everywhere. Some others,\nwho were better advised, were weighing a white water, resembling a\nsolidified air.[250] On the reverse side of this page was the massacre\nof the innocents, with the sun and moon descending to bathe in their\nblood. This allegory, which is the literal secret of Hermetic art, has\nreference to that process of taking air into air, as Aristeus[251]\nputs it; or, to speak intelligible language, of using air as force,\nexpanding it by means of Astral Light, just as water is changed into\nsteam by the action of fire. This can be accomplished by the aid of\nelectricity, magnets and a powerful projection of the operator\u2019s\nwill, when directed by science and good intent. The children\u2019s blood\nrepresents that essential light which is extracted by philosophical\nfire from elementary bodies. When it is said that the sun and moon come\ndown to bathe, the meaning is that the silver therein is tinctured into\ngold and that the gold acquires a grade of purity by which its sulphur\nis transformed into the true Powder of Projection.\n\nWe are not writing a treatise on alchemy, although this science\nis really Transcendental Magic put into operation; we reserve its\nrevelations and wonders for other special and more extended works.\n\nPopular tradition affirms that Flamel did not die and that he buried a\ntreasure under the tower of Saint-Jacques-la-Boucherie. According to\nilluminated adepts, this treasure, contained in a cedar box covered\nwith plates of the seven metals, was the original copy of the famous\nbook attributed to Abraham the Jew, with commentaries in the writing\nof Flamel and sufficient specimens of the Powder of Projection to\ntransmute the sea into gold, supposing that the sea were Mercury.\n\nAfter Flamel came Bernard Trevisan, Basil Valentine and other famous\nalchemists. The twelve Keys of Basil Valentine are at once Kabalistic,\nmagical and Hermetic. Then in 1480 appeared Trithemius, who was the\nmaster of Cornelius Agrippa and the greatest dogmatic magician of the\nmiddle ages. Trithemius was an abbot of the Order of St. Benedict,\nof irreproachable orthodoxy and unimpeachable conduct. He was not so\nimprudent as to write openly on occult philosophy, like his venturesome\ndisciple Agrippa. All his magical works turn on the art of concealing\nmysteries, while his doctrine was expressed in a pantacle, after the\nmanner of true adepts. This pantacle is excessively rare, and is found\nonly in a few manuscript copies of his tract _De Septem Secundeis_.\nA Polish gentleman and man of exalted mind and noble heart, Count\nAlexander Branistki possesses a curious example which he has kindly\nshewn to us. The pantacle consists of two triangles joined at the base,\none white and the other black. At the apex of the black triangle there\nis a fool crouching, who turns his head with difficulty and gazes\nawe-struck into the triangle, where his own likeness is reflected.\nOn the apex of the white triangle stands a man in the prime of life,\narmed as a knight, having a steady glance and an attitude of strong\nand peaceful command. In this triangle are inscribed the letters of\nthe divine Tetragram. The natural and exoteric sense of the emblem may\nbe explained by an aphorism as follows: The wise man rests in the fear\nof the true God, but the fool is overwhelmed by the terror of a false\ngod made in his own image. By meditating on the pantacle as a whole,\nand thereafter on its constituents successively, the adepts, however,\nwill find therein the last word of Kabalism and the unspeakable formula\nof the Great Arcanum. In other words, it is the distinction between\nmiracles and prodigies, the secret of apparitions, the universal theory\nof magnetism and the science of all mysteries.\n\nTrithemius composed a history of Magic, written entirely in pantacles,\nunder the title: _Veterum Sophorum Sigilla et Imagines Magic\u00e6_. In\nhis _Steganography_ and _Polygraphy_ he gives the key to all occult\nwritings and explains in veiled terms the real science of incantations\nand evocations. Trithemius is in Magic the master of masters, and we\nhave no hesitation in proclaiming him the most wise and learned of\nadepts.\n\nIt is otherwise with Cornelius Agrippa, who was a seeker all his life\nand attained neither science nor peace. His books are full of erudition\nand assurance; he was himself of an independent and phantastic\ncharacter, so it came about that he passed for an abominable sorcerer\nand was persecuted by the priesthood and princes. In the end he wrote\nagainst the sciences which had failed to bring him happiness, and he\ndied in misery and abandonment.\n\nWe now come to the mild and pleasing figure of that learned and sublime\nPostel who is known only by his over-mystical love for an elderly but\nilluminated woman. There is something far different in Postel from the\ndisciple of Mother Jeanne, but vulgar minds prefer to disparage rather\nthan to learn and have no wish to see anything better in him. It is not\nfor the benefit of these that we propose to make known the genius of\nWilliam Postel.\n\nHe was the son of a poor peasant, belonging to the district of\nBarenton in Normandy; by force of perseverance and much sacrifice,\nhe contrived to teach himself and became the most learned man of his\ntime; but poverty pursued him always and want occasionally compelled\nhim to sell his books. Full of resignation and sweetness, he worked\nlike a labouring man to win a morsel of bread and then went back to\nhis studies. He acquired all known languages and sciences of his\nperiod; he discovered rare and priceless manuscripts, including the\napocryphal gospels and the _Sepher Yetzirah_; he initiated himself\ninto the mysteries of the transcendental Kabalah,[252] and in his\nsimple admiration for that absolute truth, for that supreme reason of\nall philosophies and dogmas, it was his ambition to reveal it to the\nworld. He therefore spoke the language of mysteries openly and wrote\na book entitled the _Key of Things kept Secret from the Foundation of\nthe World_.[253] He dedicated this work to the fathers assembled at the\nCouncil of Trent, entreating them to enter the path of conciliation and\nuniversal synthesis. No one understood him, some accused him of heresy\nand the most moderate were contented to say that he was a fool.\n\nThe Trinity, according to Postel, made man in Its image and Its\nlikeness. The human body is dual and its triadic unity is through the\nunion of the two halves. The human soul is also dual; it is _animus_\nand _anima_, or intellect and emotion; it has also two sexes, the male\nbeing resident in the head and the female in the heart. Redemption in\nits completion must also be dual in humanity; the mind by its purity\nmakes good the errors of the heart, and then the generosity of the\nheart must rescue the egoistic barrenness of the brain. Christianity,\nfrom Postel\u2019s standpoint, has been so far understood only by the\nreasoning mind and has not entered into the heart. The Word has been\nmade man, but the world will be saved when the Word shall have been\nmade woman. The sublime grandeurs of the spirit of love will be taught\nby the maternal genius of religion, and then reason will be harmonised\nwith faith, because it will comprehend, interpret and restrain the\nsacred excesses of devotion.\n\nObserve, he remarks, how religion is understood by the majority of\nChristians; it is only as an ignorant and persecuting partiality, a\nsuperstitious and stupid stubbornness, and fear\u2014base fear\u2014above all.\nWhy is this? Because those who profess it have not the woman-heart,\nbecause they are foreign to the divine enthusiasms of that mother-love\nwhich explains all religion. The power that has invaded the brain\nand binds the spirit is not that of the good, understanding and\nlongsuffering God; it is of the wicked, imbecile and cowardly Satan.\nIt comes about in this manner that there is far more fear of the devil\nthan love for the Divine. The frozen and shrivelled brain weighs on\nthe dead heart like a tombstone. What an awakening will it be for\nunderstanding, what a rebirth for reason, what a victory for truth\nwhen the heart shall be raised by grace. Why am I the first and almost\nthe only person to comprehend this, and what can one who has attained\nresurrection perform alone among the dead who can hear nothing? Come\ntherefore and come quickly, O mother-spirit, who appeared to me at\nVenice in the soul of a virgin inspired by God; descend and teach the\nwomen of the new world their redeeming mission and their apostolate of\nholy and spiritual life.\n\nIt is a fact that Postel owed these noble inspirations to a pious woman\nnamed Jeanne, whose acquaintance he had made at Venice. He was the\nspiritual adviser of this elect soul and was drawn into the current\nof mystic poetry which eddied about her. When he administered the\nEucharist to her she became radiant and transfigured in his eyes, and\nalthough she was more than fifty years old, the poor priest confesses\ninnocently that he would have taken her for less than fifteen: so\ndid the sympathy of their hearts transform her in his eyes. One must\nhave followed the life of asceticism to understand such celestial\nhallucinations and lyrical puerilities, such a mystic marriage between\ntwo virginal beings, such extraordinary enthusiasms of love in two pure\nsouls. In her he discerned the living spirit of Jesus Christ by which\nthe world would be regenerated. I have seen, says he, this light of the\nheart which will drive the hideous spectre of Satan from all minds; it\nis no chimera of my dreams; she has appeared in the world, has taken\nflesh in a maid, in whom I have hailed the mother of the world to\ncome. This is analysing rather than translating Postel, but the rapid\nabridgment of his sentiments and language will make plain that he spoke\nfiguratively and, as maintained by the learned Jesuit Desbillons, in\nhis notice on the life and works of Postel, that nothing was further\nfrom his thoughts than to represent, as some have pretended, a second\nincarnation of divinity in this poor hospital sister who had only drawn\nhim by the brightness of her humble virtues. We are utterly certain\nthat all those who have slandered and ridiculed Postel are not worth\none M\u00e8re Jeanne.\n\nThe mystical relations of Postel and the nun continued for about five\nyears, at the end of which time she died, assuring her confessor that\nshe would never be parted from him but would help him when freed from\nthe bonds of material life. \u201cShe kept her promise,\u201d says Postel; \u201cshe\nhas been with me at Paris, has enlightened me with her own light and\nhas harmonised my reason and my faith. Two years after her ascent\ninto heaven, her spiritual body and substance descended into me and\npermeated sensibly my whole body, so that it is she rather than\nmyself who lives in me.\u201d After this experience Postel always regarded\nhimself as a risen being and signed himself _Postellus Restitutus_. As\na matter of fact one curious result followed; his white hair became\nagain black, his wrinkles disappeared and the ruddy colour of youth\nwas assumed by his countenance, previously made thin and pallid by his\nausterities and vigils. His derisive biographers assert that he dyed\nhis hair and painted his face; it was insufficient to picture him as a\nfool, and so out of his noble and generous character they produced a\njuggler and charlatan. Assuredly the imbecility or bad faith of cold\nand sceptic minds, when they pass judgment on enthusiastic hearts, is\nmore wonderful than the eloquent unreason of the latter.\n\n\u201cIt has been imagined,\u201d writes Father Desbillons, \u201cand is still, I\nunderstand, believed that the regeneration supposed to have been\naccomplished by Mother Jeanne is the foundation of his system; it\nhad however been completely developed before he was aware of her\nexistence, and he never departed from it, unless indeed he did so\na few years before his death. It had come into his mind that the\nevangelical reign of Jesus Christ, established by the Apostles, could\nbe no longer maintained among Christians or propagated among infidels\nunless enforced by the light of reason. To this principle, which\naffected him personally, he added another, being the destination of\nthe king of France to universal monarchy. The way of the Second Advent\nmust be prepared by conquest of hearts and conviction of minds, that\nthere may be henceforth but one faith and Jesus Christ reigning over\nthe whole world in the person of a single king and in virtue of one\nlaw.\u201d According to Father Desbillons, this proves that Postel was mad.\nMad for having thought that religion should reign over minds by the\nsupreme reason of its doctrine and that the monarchy, to be strong\nand permanent, should bind hearts together by the victories of public\nprosperity under the dominion of peace. Mad for having believed in the\ncoming of that kingdom about which we say daily\u2014His kingdom come. Mad\nbecause he believed in reason and justice on earth. Well, well, they\nspoke truly; poor Postel was mad. The proof of his madness is that\nhe wrote, as already said, to the Fathers of the Council of Trent,\nentreating them to bless the whole world and to launch anathemas\nagainst no one. As another example, he tried to convert the Jesuits\nand cause them to preach universal concord among men\u2014peace between\nsovereigns, reason among priests, and goodness among the princes of\nthis world. In fine, as a last and supreme madness, he neglected the\nbenefits of this world and the favour of the great, lived always humbly\nand in poverty, possessed nothing but his knowledge and his books, and\ndesired nothing but truth and justice. May God give peace to the soul\nof poor William Postel.\n\nHe was so mild and so good that his ecclesiastical superiors took pity\nupon him and, thinking probably, as was said later on of La Fontaine,\nthat he was more silly than wicked, they were contented with shutting\nhim up in his convent for the rest of his days. Postel was grateful for\nthe quiet thus ensured toward the close of life, and he died peaceably,\nretracting everything that his superiors required. The man of universal\nconcord could not be an anarchist; he was before all things the\nsincerest of catholics and humblest of Christians. The works of Postel\nwill be rediscovered one of these days and will be read with wonder.\n\n[Illustration: THE SEVEN PLANETS AND THEIR GENII]\n\nLet us pass to another maniac who was called Theophrastus Aureolus\nBombast and was known in the World of Magic under the famous name\nof Paracelsus. There is no need to recapitulate what has been said\nconcerning this master in our _Doctrine and Ritual of Transcendental\nMagic_, but something may be added on the occult medicine restored by\nParacelsus. This truly universal medicine is based upon a spacious\ntheory of light, called by adepts fluid or potable gold. Light, that\ncreative agent, the vibrations of which are the movement and life of\nall things; light, latent in the universal ether, radiating about\nabsorbing centres, which, being saturated thereby, project movement\nand life in their turn, so forming creative currents; light, astralised\nin the stars, animalised in animals, humanised in human beings; light,\nwhich vegetates in plants, glistens in metals, produces all forms of\nNature and equilibrates all by the laws of universal sympathy\u2014this\nis that light which exhibits the phenomena of magnetism, divined by\nParacelsus, which tinctures the blood, being released from the air as\nit is inhaled and discharged by the hermetic bellows of the lungs. The\nblood then becomes a true elixir of life, wherein ruby and magnetic\nglobules of vital light float in a slightly gilded fluid. These\nglobules are actual seeds, ready to assume all forms of that world\nwhereof the human body is an abridgment. They can become rarefied and\ncoagulated, so renewing the humours which circulate in the nerves and\nin the flesh encompassing the bones. They radiate outside, or rather,\nin rarefying, they are drawn by the currents of light and circulate in\nthe astral body\u2014that interior and luminous body which is dilated by\nthe imagination of ecstatics, so that their blood sometimes colours\nobjects at a distance when these have been penetrated and identified\nwith the astral body. In a special work on occult medicine that which\nis stated here will be proved, however strange and paradoxical it may\nseem at first sight to men of science.[254] Such were the bases of\nmedicine as put forward by Paracelsus; he cured by sympathy of light;\nhe administered medicaments not to the outward material body, which is\nentirely passive, which can be rent and cut up without feeling anything\nwhen the astral body has withdrawn, but to the inward medium, to that\nvehicle which is the source of sensations. The quintessence of these\nhe renewed by sympathetic quintessences. For example, he healed wounds\nby applying powerful reactives to the spilt blood, thus sending back\nits physical soul and purified sap to the body. To cure a diseased\nlimb he made a limb of wax and, by will-power, transferred thereto the\nmagnetism of the diseased limb. Then he treated the wax with vitriol,\niron and fire, thus reacting by imagination and magnetic correspondence\non the sick person himself, to whom the limb of wax had become an\nappendix and supplement. Paracelsus knew the mysteries of blood; he\nknew why the priests of Baal made incisions with knives in their flesh,\nand then brought down fire from heaven; he knew why orientals poured\nout their blood before a woman to inspire her with physical love; he\nknew how spilt blood cries for vengeance or mercy and fills the air\nwith angels or demons. Blood is the instrument of dreams and multiplies\nimages in the brain during sleep, because it is full of the Astral\nLight. Its globules are bisexual, magnetised and metalled, sympathetic\nand repelling. All forms and images in the world can be evoked from the\nphysical soul or blood.\n\n\u201cAt Baroche,\u201d says the estimable traveller Tavernier,[255] \u201cthere is\na first-class English house, which I reached on a certain day with\nthe English president, on my way from Agra to Surat. There came also\ncertain jugglers, asking leave to exhibit some of their professional\nskill, and the president was curious to see it. In the first place\nthey lighted a great fire, at which they heated iron chains, then\nwound them about their bodies and pretended that they were suffering\nin consequence, but no harm followed. They next took a morsel of wood,\nset it in the ground and asked one of the spectators to choose what\nfruit he liked. His choice fell upon mangoes, and thereupon one of\nthe performers put a shroud about him and squatted on the ground five\nor six times. I had the curiosity to ascend to an upper room, where I\ncould see through a fold in the sheet what was being done by the man.\nHe was actually cutting the flesh under the arm-pits with a razor, and\nrubbing the wood with his blood. Each time he rose up the wood grew\nvisibly; on the third occasion there were branches and buds thereon, on\nthe fourth the tree was covered with leaves, and on the fifth it was\nbearing flowers.\n\n\u201cThe English president had brought his chaplain from Amadabat to\nbaptize a child of the Dutch commander, the president acting as\ngodfather. The Dutch, it should be mentioned, do not have chaplains\nexcept where soldiers and merchants are gathered together. The English\nclergyman began by protesting that he could not consent to Christians\nassisting at such spectacles, and when he saw how the performers\nbrought forth from a bit of dry wood, in less than half an hour, a\ntree of four or five feet in height, having leaves and flowers as in\nspringtime, he felt it his duty to put an end to the business. He\nannounced therefore that he would not administer communion to those\nwho persisted in witnessing such occurrences. The president was thus\ncompelled to dismiss the jugglers.\u201d\n\nDr. Clever de Maldigny, to whom we owe this extract, regrets that\nthe growth of the mangoes was thus stopped abruptly, but he does not\nexplain the occurrence. To our mind it was a case of fascination by the\nmagnetism of the radiant light of blood, a phenomenon of magnetised\nelectricity, identical with that termed palingenesis, by which a living\nplant is made to appear in a vessel containing ashes of the same plant\nlong since perished.\n\nOf such were the secrets known by Paracelsus, and it was in the\napplication of these hidden natural forces to purposes of medicine that\nhe made at once so many admirers and enemies. For the rest, he was by\nno means a simple personality like Postel; he was naturally aggressive\nand of the mountebank type; so did he affirm that his familiar spirit\nwas hidden in the pommel of his great sword, and never left his side.\nHis life was an unceasing struggle; he travelled, debated, wrote,\ntaught. He was more eager about physical results than moral conquests,\nand while first among practical magicians he was last among adepts\nof wisdom. His philosophy was one of sagacity and, on his own part,\nhe termed it _philosophia sagax_.[256] He divined more than anyone\nwithout knowing anything completely. There is nothing to equal his\nintuitions, unless it be the rashness of his commentaries. He was a\nman of intrepid experiences, intoxicated with his own opinions, his\nown talk, intoxicated otherwise on occasion, if we may believe some\nof his biographers. The works which he has left are precious for\nscience, but they must be read with caution. He may be called the\ndivine Paracelsus, understood in the sense of diviner; he is an oracle,\nbut not a true master. He is great above all as a physician, for he\nhad found the Universal Medicine. This notwithstanding, he could not\nprolong his own life, and he died, while still young, worn out by work\nand by excesses.[257] He left behind him a name shining with fantastic\nand ambiguous glory, due to discoveries by which his contemporaries\nfailed to profit. He had not uttered his last word, and is one of those\nmysterious beings of whom it may be said, as of Enoch and St. John: He\nis not dead, and he will come again upon earth before the last day.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER V\n\n SOME FAMOUS SORCERERS AND MAGICIANS\n\n\nAmidst a great multiplicity of commentaries and studies on the work of\nDante, no one, that we are aware, has signalised its characteristic\nin chief. The masterpiece of the glorious Ghibelline is a declaration\nof war against the papacy by a daring revelation of mysteries. The\nepic of Dante is Johannite and Gnostic; it is a bold application of\nKabalistic figures and numbers to Christian dogmas, and is further\na secret negation of the absolute element therein; his visit to the\nsupernatural worlds takes place like an initiation into the Mysteries\nof Eleusis and Thebes. He is guided and protected by Virgil amidst the\ncircles of the new Tartarus, as if the tender and melancholy prophet of\nthe destinies of the son of Pollio were, in the eyes of the Florentine\npoet, the illegitimate yet true father of the Christian epic. Thanks to\nthe pagan genius of Virgil, Dante emerges from that gulf above the door\nof which he had read the sentence of despair; he escapes by standing\non his head, which means by reversing dogma. So does he ascend to the\nlight, using the demon himself, like a monstrous ladder; by the force\nof terror he emerges from terror, from the horrible by the power of\nhorror. He seems to testify that hell is without egress for those only\nwho cannot go back on themselves; he takes the devil against the grain,\nif I may use so familiar an expression, and attains emancipation by\naudacity.[258] This is truly protestantism surpassed, and the poet of\nRome\u2019s enemies has already divined Faust ascending to heaven on the\nhead of the defeated Mephistopheles. Observe also that the hell of\nDante is but a negative purgatory, by which is meant that his purgatory\nseems to take form in his hell, as if in a mould; it is like the lid\nor stopper of the gulf, and it will be understood that the Florentine\ntitan in scaling Paradise meant to kick purgatory into hell.[259]\n\nHis heaven is composed of a series of Kabalistic circles divided by\na cross, like the pantacle of Ezekiel; in the centre of this cross\na rose blossoms, thus for the first time manifesting publicly and\nalmost explaining categorically the symbol of the Rosicrucians. We say\nfor the first time because William of Lorris, who died in 1260, five\nyears before the birth of Dante, did not complete the _Romance of the\nRose_, his mantle falling upon Clopinel some fifty years later. It\nwill be discovered with a certain astonishment that the _Romance of\nthe Rose_ and the _Divine Comedy_ are two opposite forms of a single\nwork\u2014initiation by independence of spirit, satire on all contemporary\ninstitutions and an allegorical formula of the grand secrets of the\nBrotherhood of the Rosy Cross.\n\nThese important manifestations of occultism coincide with the fall of\nthe Templars, since Jean de Meung, or Clopinel, a contemporary of Dante\nin the old age of the latter, flourished during his best years at the\ncourt of Philip the Fair. The _Romance of the Rose_ is the epic of\nold France, a profound work in a trivial form, a revelation of occult\nmysteries as instructed as that of Apuleius. The roses of Flamel, Jean\nde Meung and Dante belong to the same bush.\n\nA genius like Dante could not be an arch-heretic. Great men give an\nimpetus to intelligence, and the impetus takes effect subsequently\nin activities which are started by restless mediocrities. It may\nhave been that Dante was never read and he would assuredly not have\nbeen understood by Luther. This notwithstanding, the mission of the\nGhibellines, made fruitful by the potent thought of the poet, raised up\nthe empire against the papacy by slow degrees; it was continued from\ncentury to century under various names, and in the end it made Germany\nprotestant. It was certainly not Luther who produced the Reformation;\nit was the latter which took possession of Luther and impelled him\nforward. This square-shouldered monk could boast only obstinacy and\ndaring, but he was the needful instrument for revolutionary ideas.\nLuther was the Danton of anarchic theology; superstitious and rash,\nhe believed that he was obsessed by the devil; it was the devil who\ndictated his arguments against the Church, made him declaim, spout\nnonsense, and above all things write. The inspiring genius of all the\nCains asked nothing at that time but ink, preassured that, given this\nfluid flowing from the pen of Luther, there would be presently a sea of\nblood. Luther was conscious of the fact, and he hated the devil because\nhe was another master; one day he threw the ink-horn at his head, as\nif to satiate him by the violent libation. The episode recalls that\njocular regicide who daubed his accomplices with ink when he signed the\ndeath-warrant of Charles I.\n\nThe device of Luther was: \u201cTurk rather than papist;\u201d and as a fact\nprotestantism at its root is, like Islamism, simple Deism organised\ninto a conventional cultus, or if it differs therefrom it is only by\nits remnants of catholicism imperfectly effaced. From the standpoint of\nthe negation of catholic dogma, the protestants are Moslems with a few\nsuperstitions the more and a prophet the less.\n\nMen renounce God less unwillingly than they give up the devil, as the\napostates of all times have proved abundantly. Speedily subdivided by\nanarchy, the disciples of Luther had but one bond of belief in common;\nall had faith in Satan, and this spectre, magnifying in proportion as\ntheir spirit of revolt took them the farther from God, reached terrible\nproportions at last. Carlostad, archdeacon of W\u00fcrtemberg, being one day\nin the pulpit, saw a black man enter the temple, take a seat in front\nof him and stare at him with dreadful fixity through the entire length\nof his sermon. He became anxious, left the pulpit and questioned the\nassistants; but no one had seen the phantom. Carlostad returned home\nin a state of dismay; he was met by the youngest of his sons, who said\nthat a stranger in black had inquired for him and promised to return in\nthree days. There was no room for doubt in the mind of the hallucinated\narchdeacon; that stranger was the spectre of his vision. A fever was\nbrought on by his terror, he retired to bed and died before the third\nday.\n\nThese unhappy heretics were afraid of their own shadows; their\nconsciences had remained catholic and consigned them to hell without\npity. Walking one evening with his wife Catherine de Bora, Luther\nlooked up to heaven, which was bright with stars, and said in an\nundertone, as he sighed deeply: \u201cAh, beautiful sky, which I shall\nnever see!\u201d \u201cWhat!\u201d exclaimed his wife. \u201cDo you then think that you are\ncondemned?\u201d Luther answered: \u201cWho knows whether God will not punish\nus for having been unfaithful to our vows?\u201d Supposing that Catherine,\nseeing his lack of self-confidence, had cursed and left him, it may\nbe that the reformer, overcome by the Divine Warning, would have\nrecognised his criminal offence in betraying that Church which was his\nfirst spouse and would have turned weeping towards the cloister which\nhe had left wilfully. But God, Who withstands the proud, doubtless\nfound him unworthy of this saving affliction. The sacrilegious comedy\nof Luther\u2019s marriage was the providential punishment of his pride, and\nas he remained obstinate in his sin, that punishment was always with\nhim and derided him to the end. He died between the devil and his wife,\nappalled at the one and exceedingly embarrassed by the other.\n\nCorruption and superstition are well paired together. The epoch of the\ndissolute Renaissance, equally persecuting and credulous, was certainly\nnot that of the second birth of reason. Catherine de M\u00e9dicis was a\nsorceress, Charles IX consulted necromancers, Henry III played at\ndevotion and debauch. It was the heyday then of astrologers, though a\nfew of them were tortured from time to time, to make them change their\npredictions. There were, moreover, the court sorcerers, who dabbled a\nlittle in poisoning and deserved the hangman\u2019s rope. _Trois-\u00c9chelles_,\nthe magician of Charles IX, was a juggler and rogue; one day he made\nconfession to the King and his misdeeds were not peccadillos; the King\nforgave him, but promised his cure on the gallows if he had a relapse;\nhe did relapse, and was hanged in due course.[260]\n\nWhen the League vowed the death of the weakly and miserable Henri III\nit had recourse to witchcraft and Black Magic. L\u2019\u00c9toile[261] declares\nthat a wax image of the King was set on the altars where priests of the\nLeague said Mass, and that the image was stabbed with a knife during\na prayer embodying maledictions and anathemas. When the King failed\nto die with sufficient celerity, it was concluded that he was also a\nsorcerer. Pamphlets were published representing Henri III as holding\nconventions where the crimes of Sodom and Gomorrah were but the prelude\nof more frightful and unheard of outrages. Included among the King\u2019s\nminions there was said to be one who was the devil in person, and young\nvirgins were abducted and prostituted by force to Beelzebub.[262]\nThe people believed these fables, and a fanatic was found at last\nto execute the threats of sorcery. Jacques Cl\u00e9ment suffered from\nvisions and imperious voices, which commanded him to kill the King;\nhe sought regicide like a martyr and died laughing like the heroes of\nScandinavian mythology. Scandal-mongering chronicles have pretended\nthat a great lady of the court supplemented the inspirations of the\nmonk\u2019s solitude by the magnetism of her caresses; but the anecdote is\nwanting in probability. It was the monk\u2019s continence which promoted\nhis exaltation, and had he begun to lead the blind life of passion an\nunsatiable appetite for pleasure would have possessed his entire nature\nand he would not have been willing to die.\n\nWhilst religious wars incarnadined the world, secret illuministic\nassociations, which were nothing but theurgic and magical schools, were\nincorporated in Germany. The most ancient of these seems to have been\nthat of the Rosicrucians, whose symbols go back to the times of the\nGuelphs and the Ghibellines, as we see by the allegories in the poem of\nDante and by the emblems in the _Romance of the Rose_.\n\nThe rose, which from all times has been the type of beauty, life, love\nand pleasure, expressed mystically the secret thought of all protests\nmanifested at the Renaissance.[263] It was the flesh in rebellion\nagainst the oppression of spirit; it was Nature testifying that, like\ngrace, she was a daughter of God; it was love refusing to be stifled by\nthe celibate; it was life in revolt against sterility; it was humanity\naspiring towards natural religion, full of reason and love, founded\non the revelations of the harmony of being, of which the rose, for\ninitiates, was the living floral symbol. It is in truth a pantacle; the\nform is circular, the leaves of the corolla are heart-shaped and rest\nharmoniously on one another; its tint offers the most harmonious shades\nof the primitive colours; its calyx is of purple and gold. We have seen\nthat Flamel, or rather the _Book of Abraham the Jew_, represents it\nas the hieroglyphical sign of the fulfilment of the Great Work.[264]\nHere is the key to the romance of Clopinel and William de Lorris. The\nconquest of the rose was the problem offered by initiation to science,\nwhilst religion was at work to prepare and to establish the universal,\nexclusive and final triumph of the Cross.\n\nThe problem proposed by high initiation was the union of the\nRose and the Cross, and in effect occult philosophy, being the\nuniversal synthesis, must take into account all phenomena of being.\nConsidered solely as a physiological fact, religion is the revelation\nand satisfaction of a need of souls. Its existence as a fact is\nscientific, and to deny it would be a denial of humanity itself. No\none has invented it; like laws and civilisations, it is formed by\nthe necessities of moral life. From this merely philosophical and\nrestrained standpoint, religion must be regarded as fatal if one\nexplains all by fatality, and as Divine if one confesses to a Supreme\nIntelligence as the mainspring of natural laws.[265] Hence it follows\nthat the characteristic of every religion, properly so called, being\nto depend directly from Divinity by a supernatural revelation\u2014no other\nmode of transmission providing a sufficient sanction of dogma\u2014it must\nbe concluded that the true natural religion is religion that has been\nrevealed; this is to say, it is natural to adopt a religion only on the\nunderstanding that it has been revealed, every true religion exhorting\nsacrifices, and man having neither the power nor right to impose the\nsame on his fellow-creatures, outside and especially above the ordinary\nconditions of humanity.\n\nProceeding from this strictly rational principle, the Rosicrucians\nwere led to respect the dominant hierarchic and revealed religion.\nThey could be therefore no more the enemies of the papacy than of\nlegitimate monarchy, while if they conspired against popes and kings,\nit was because they considered these or those personally as apostates\nin respect of duty and supreme abettors of anarchy.[266] What in fact\nis a despot\u2014whether spiritual or temporal\u2014but a crowned anarchist?\nIt is possible to explain in this manner the protestantism and even\nradicalism of certain great adepts, who were assuredly more catholic\nthan some popes and more monarchic than some kings\u2014of certain eccentric\nadepts, such as Henry Khunrath and the true _illuminati_ of his school.\n\nBy all but those who have made a particular study of the occult\nsciences, Khunrath is practically unknown; he is a master\nnotwithstanding, and one of the first rank. He is a sovereign prince of\nthe Rosy Cross, worthy in all respects of this scientific and mystical\ntitle.[267] His pantacles are splendid as the light of the _Book of\nSplendour_, called _Zohar_; they are learned as Trithemius, precise\nlike Pythagoras, complete in their disclosure of the Great Work as the\nbook of Abraham and Nicholas Flamel.\n\nKhunrath, who was chemist and physician, was born in 1502, and he\nwas forty-two years old when he attained transcendent theosophical\ninitiation.[268] The _Amphitheatre of Eternal Wisdom_, which is\nthe most remarkable of his works, was published in 1598, for the\napprobation of the Emperor Rudolph annexed thereto was dated on\nJune 1 of the year in question.[269] Though professing a radical\nprotestantism, the author claims loudly the titles of catholic and\northodox; he testifies that he possesses, but keeps secret as he ought,\na key to the Apocalypse, which key is one and threefold, even as\nuniversal science. The division of the work is sevenfold, and through\nthese sections are distributed the seven degrees of initiation into\ntranscendental philosophy. The text is a mystical commentary on the\noracles of Solomon,[270] and the work ends with a series of synoptic\nschedules which are the synthesis of Magic and the occult Kabalah\u2014so\nfar as concerns that which can be made public in writing. The rest,\nbeing the esoteric and inexpressible part of the science, is formulated\nin magnificent pantacles carefully designed and engraved. These are\nnine in number, as follows: (1) The dogma of Hermes; (2) Magical\nrealisation; (3) The path of wisdom and the initial procedure in\nthe work; (4) The Gate of the Sanctuary enlightened by seven mystic\nrays; (5) A Rose of Light, in the centre of which a human figure is\nextending its arms in the form of a cross; (6) The magical laboratory\nof Khunrath, demonstrating the necessary union of prayer and work; (7)\nThe absolute synthesis of science; (8) Universal equilibrium; (9) A\nsummary of Khunrath\u2019s personal doctrine, embodying an energetic protest\nagainst all his detractors.[271] It is a Hermetic pantacle surrounded\nby a German caricature, full of liveliness and ingenuous choler. The\nphilosopher\u2019s enemies are depicted as insects, zanies, oxen, and\nasses, the whole being decorated with Latin legends and gross German\nepigrams. Khunrath is shewn on the right in the garb of a citizen,\nand on the left in that of his student\u2019s apartment; in both he makes\nfaces at his adversaries. As a townsman he is armed with a sword and\ntramples on the tail of a serpent; as a student he is carrying a pair\nof tongs and is crushing the serpent\u2019s head. In public he demonstrates\nand at home instructs, but as indicated by his gestures, the truth is\nthe same always and expressed with disdain for the impure breath of his\nadversaries. The latter notwithstanding is so pestilential that the\nbirds of heaven fall dead at their feet. This exceedingly curious plate\nis wanting in many copies of the work.\n\nThe book as a whole contains all mysteries of the highest initiation.\nAs the title announces, it is Christo-Kabalistic, Divine-magical,\nphysico-chemical, threefold-one, and universal. It is a true manual\nof Transcendental Magic and Hermetic Philosophy. A more complete and\nperfect initiation cannot be found elsewhere, unless indeed it is in\nthe _Sepher Yetzirah_ and _Zohar_. In the four important corollaries\nwhich follow the explanation of the third figure, Khunrath establishes:\n(1) That the cost of accomplishing the Great Work (apart from the\noperator\u2019s maintenance and personal expenses) should not exceed the sum\nof thirty thalers. He adds: \u201cI speak with authority, having learned\nfrom one who had knowledge; those who expend more deceive themselves\nand waste their money.\u201d It follows that either Khunrath had not himself\ncomposed the Philosophical Stone or did not wish to admit it for fear\nof persecution. He proceeds to establish the duty of the adept not to\ndevote more than the tenth part of his wealth to his personal use,\nthe rest being consecrated to the glory of God and works of charity.\nFinally, he affirms that the mysteries of Christianity and Nature\ninterpret and illuminate one another, and that the future reign of\nMessiah will rest on the dual foundation of science and faith. The\noracles of the Gospel being thus confirmed by the book of Nature, it\nwill be possible to convince Jews and Mohammedans regarding the truth\nof Christianity on the grounds of science and reason, so that\u2014with the\nhelp of Divine Grace\u2014they will be converted infallibly to the religion\nof unity. He ends with this maxim: \u201cThe seal of Nature and of Art is\nsimplicity.\u201d\n\nContemporary with Khunrath there was another initiated doctor, Hermetic\nphilosopher and disciple of Paracelsian medicine; this was Oswald\nCrollius, author of the _Book of Signatures, or True and Vital Anatomy\nof the Greater and Lesser World_.[272] The preface to this work is a\nsketch of Hermetic philosophy, exceedingly well done; Crollius seeks\nto demonstrate that God and Nature have, so to speak, signed all\ntheir works, that every product of a given natural force bears the\nstamp of that force printed in indelible characters, so that he who\nis initiated in the occult writings can read, as in an open book, the\nsympathies and antipathies of things, the properties of substances and\nall other secrets of creation. The characters of different writings\nwere borrowed primitively from these natural signatures existing in\nstars and flowers, on mountains and the smallest pebble. The figures of\ncrystals, the marks on minerals, were impressions of the thought which\nthe Creator had in their formation. The idea is rich in poetry and\ngrandeur, but we lack any grammar of this mysterious language of worlds\nand a methodical vocabulary of this primitive and absolute speech. King\nSolomon alone is credited with having accomplished the dual labour;\nbut the books of Solomon are lost. The enterprise of Crollius was not\na reconstitution of these, but an attempt to discover the fundamental\nprinciples obtaining in the universal language of the creative Word.\n\nIt was recognised on these principles that the original hieroglyphics,\nbased on the prime elements of geometry, corresponded to the\nconstitutive and essential laws of forms, determined by alternating\nor combined movements, which, in their turn, were determined by\nequilibratory attractions. Simples were distinguished from composites\nby their external figures; and by the correspondence between figures\nand numbers it became possible to make a mathematical classification\nof all substances revealed by the lines of their surfaces. At the root\nof these endeavours, which are reminiscences of Edenic science, there\nis a whole world of discoveries awaiting the sciences. Paracelsus had\ndivined them, Crollius indicates them, another who shall follow will\nrealise and provide the demonstration concerning them. What seemed the\nfolly of yesterday will be the genius of to-morrow, and progress will\nhail the sublime seekers who first looked into this lost and recovered\nworld, this Atlantis of human knowledge.\n\nThe beginning of the seventeenth century was the great epoch of\nalchemy; it was the period of Philip Muller, John Torneburg, Michael\nMaier, Ortelius, Poterius, Samuel Norton, Baron de Beausoleil,\nDavid Planis Campe, Jean Duchesne, Robert Fludd, Benjamin Mustapha,\nD\u2019Espagnet, the Cosmopolite\u2014who is in the first rank\u2014de Nuisement, who\ntranslated and published the Cosmopolite\u2019s writings, John Baptist van\nHelmont, Eiren\u00e6us Philalethes, Rodolph Glauber, the sublime shoemaker\nJacob B\u00f6hme.[273] The chief among these initiates were devoted to\nthe researches of Transcendental Magic, but they concealed most\ncarefully that detested name under the veil of Hermetic experiments.\nThe Mercury of the Wise which they desired to discover and hand on to\ntheir disciples was the scientific and religious synthesis, the peace\nwhich abides in the sovereign unity. The mystics themselves were but\nblind believers in the true _illuminati_, while illuminism, properly so\ncalled, was the universal science of light.\n\nIn the spring of 1623 the following strange proclamation was placarded\nthrough the streets of Paris: \u201cWe who are the authorised messengers of\nthe Brothers of the Rosy Cross, making visible and invisible sojourn in\nthis town, by the grace of the Most High, towards Whom the hearts of\nsages turn, do give instruction, without external means, in speaking\nthe language of the countries wherein we dwell,[274] and do rescue\nmen who are our fellow-workers from terror and from death. If anyone\nshall seek us out of mere curiosity, he will never communicate with\nus; but if he be actuated by an earnest desire to be inscribed on the\nregister of our fraternity, we, who are discerners of thoughts, will\nmake manifest to such an one the truth of our promises, so only that we\ndo not disclose the place of our abode, since thought in its union with\nthe firm will of the reader shall be sufficient to make us known to him\nand him likewise to us.\u201d\n\nPublic opinion took hold of this mysterious manifesto, and if anyone\nasked openly who were those Brothers of the Rosy Cross, an unknown\npersonage would perchance take the inquirer apart, and say to him\ngravely[275]: \u201cPredestined to the reformation which must take place\nspeedily in the whole universe, the Rosicrucians are depositaries of\nsupreme wisdom, and as undisturbed possessors of all gifts of Nature,\nthey can dispense these at pleasure. In whatsoever place they may be,\nthey know all things which are going on in the rest of the world better\nthan if they were present amongst them; they are superior to hunger\nand thirst and have neither age nor disease to fear. They can command\nthe most powerful spirits and genii. God has covered them with a cloud\nto protect them from their enemies, and they cannot be seen except\nby their own consent\u2014had anyone eyes more piercing than those of the\neagle. Their general assemblies are held in the pyramids of Egypt; but,\neven as the rock whence issued the spring of Moses, these pyramids\nproceed with them into the desert and will follow them until they enter\nthe Promised Land.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VI\n\n SOME MAGICAL PROSECUTIONS\n\n\nThe Greek author of the allegorical Tablet of Cebes gives expression to\nthis admirable conclusion: \u201cThere is one only real good to be desired,\nand this is wisdom; there is but one evil to fear, and it is madness.\u201d\nMoral evil, wickedness and crime are indeed and literally mania. Father\nHilarion Tissot has therefore our heartfelt sympathy when he proclaims\nwithout ceasing in his extravagantly daring pamphlets that in place\nof punishing criminals we must take them under our charge and cure\nthem. But, sympathy notwithstanding reason rises in protest against\nexcessively charitable interpretations of crime, the consequence\nof which would be to destroy the sanction of morality by disarming\nlaw. We liken mania to intoxication, and seeing that the latter is\nnearly always voluntary, we applaud the wisdom of judges who punish\nthe misdemeanours and crimes committed in the state of drunkenness,\nnot regarding the voluntary loss of reason as an excuse. There may\ncome even a day when the self-induced condition will be counted as an\naggravating circumstance and when the intelligent being who by his\nown act sets himself outside reason will find that he is also outside\nthe pale of law. Is not law the reason of humanity? Woe to him who\ngets drunk, whether with wine, pride, hatred, or even love. He becomes\nblind, unjust, the sport of circumstance; he is a walking scourge and\nliving fatality; he may slay or violate; he is an unchained fool, and\nlet him be denounced as such. Society has the right of self-defence; it\nis more than a right, it is duty, for society has children.\n\nThese reflections are prompted by the magical prosecutions of which\nwe have to give some account. The Church and Society have been too\noften charged with the judicial murder of fools. We admit that the\nsorcerers were fools, but theirs was the folly of perversity. If some\ninnocent but diseased persons have perished among them, these things\nare misfortunes for which neither Society nor the Church can be held\nresponsible. Every man who is condemned according to the laws of his\ncountry and the judicial forms of his time is condemned justly, his\npossible innocence being henceforth in the hands of God: before men he\nis and must remain guilty.\n\nIn a remarkable romance, called _The Sorceresses\u2019 Sabbath_,[276] Ludwig\nTieck depicts a holy woman, a poor old creature outworn by macerations,\nmentally enfeebled by fasts and prayers, who, being full of horror\nat sorcerers, yet disposed by excess of humility to accuse herself\nof all crimes, ends in believing that she is a witch, confesses it,\nis convicted by error and prejudgment, and finally is burnt alive.\nWhat would such a history prove, supposing that it were true? Neither\nmore nor less than the possibility of a judicial blunder. But if such\nmistakes are possible in fact they cannot be so in equity, or what\nwould become of human justice? Socrates condemned to death might have\nhad recourse to flight and his own judges would have furnished the\nmeans, but he respected the laws and resolved therefore to die.\n\nThe severity of certain sentences must be blamed to the laws and not\nthe tribunals of the middle ages. Was Gilles de Laval, whose crimes and\ntheir punishment have been narrated, condemned unjustly, and must he be\nabsolved as a fool? Were those horrible imbeciles innocent who composed\nphiltres from the fat of little children? Moreover, Black Magic was the\ngeneral mania of this unfortunate epoch. By their incessant application\nto questions of sorcery, the very judges occasionally ended by\nthinking that they also had committed the same crimes. The plague\nbecame epidemic in many localities and executions seemed to multiply\nthe guilty.\n\nDemonographers like Delancre, Delrio, Sprenger, Bodin, and Torreblanca\ngive reports of many prosecutions, the details of which are equally\ntedious and revolting. The condemned creatures were mostly hallucinated\nand idiotic, but they were wicked in their idiocy and dangerous in\ntheir hallucination. Erotic passion, greed and hatred were the chief\ncauses which brought about disorder in their reason: they were indeed\ncapable of anything. Sprenger says that sorceresses were in league\nwith midwives to secure dead bodies of new-born children. The midwives\nkilled these innocents at the very moment of their birth, driving long\nneedles into the brain. The babe was said to have been still-born and\nwas buried as such; on the night following, the stryges dug up the\nground and removed the corpse, which they stewed in a pan with narcotic\nand poisonous herbs, afterwards distilling this human gelatine. The\nliquor did duty as an elixir of long life, and the solid part\u2014pounded\nand incorporated with soot and the grease of a black cat\u2014was used for\nmagical rubbing. The stomach turns with loathing at such abominable\nrevelations, and pity is silenced by anger; but when one refers to\nthe trials themselves, sees the credulity and cruelty of judges, the\nlying promises of mercy employed to extract admissions, the atrocious\ntortures, obscene examinations, shameful and ridiculous precautions,\nand finally the public execution, with the derisive ministrations of\na priesthood which surrendered to the secular arm and asked mercy on\nthose whom it had just condemned to death, amidst all this chaos one\nis forced to conclude that religion alone rests holy, but that human\nbeings are all and equally either idiots or scoundrels.\n\nIn the year 1598 a priest of Limousin, named Pierre Aupetit, was\nburned alive for ridiculous confessions extracted from him by\ntorture.[277] In 1599 a woman named Antide Collas was burned at D\u00f4le\nbecause there was something abnormal in her sexual conformation, and it\nwas regarded as explicable only by a shameful intercourse with Satan.\nRepeatedly put to the torture, stripped, scrutinised by doctors and\njudges, overwhelmed with shame and suffering, the unfortunate being\nconfessed everything that she might somehow end it all.[278] Henri\nBoguet, judge of Saint-Claude, relates how he caused a woman to be\ntortured as a sorceress because there was a piece missing from the\ncross of her rosary, and it was a certain sign of witchcraft in the\nview of this ferocious maniac. A child of twelve years, brought up by\nthe inquisitors, accused his own father of taking him to the Sabbath.\nThe father died in prison as the result of his sufferings, and it\nwas proposed to burn the boy, which was opposed by Boguet\u2014who made a\nvirtue of the clemency. Rollande de Vernois, thirty-five years old,\nwas imprisoned in such a freezing dungeon that she promised to admit\nherself guilty of Magic if she might be allowed to go near a fire.\nAs soon as she felt its warmth she fell into frightful convulsions,\naccompanied by fever and delirium. In this condition she was put to\nthe torture, made every required statement, and was dragged in a dying\ncondition to the stake. A storm broke out, extinguished the fire, and\nthereupon Boguet gloated over the sentence which he had pronounced,\nsince she who in appearance was thus protected by heaven must really\nand incontestably be aided by the devil. This same judge burnt Pierre\nGaudillon and Pierre le Gros for travelling by night, the one in the\nform of a hare and the other in that of a wolf.\n\nBut the prosecution which caused the greatest stir at the beginning of\nthe seventeenth century was that of Messire Louis Gaufridi, cur\u00e9 of the\nparish of Accoules, at Marseilles. The scandal of this affair created a\nfatal precedent, which was only followed too faithfully. It was a case\nof priests accusing a priest, of a minister dragged before a tribunal\nof his associates in the ministry. Constantine had said that if he\nfound a priest dishonouring his calling by some shameful sin he would\ncover him with his own purple, which was a beautiful and royal saying,\nfor the priesthood ought to be stainless, even as justice is infallible\nin the presence of public morality.[279]\n\nIn December 1610 a young woman of Marseilles went on a pilgrimage to\nSainte-Baume in Provence, and there fell into ecstasy and convulsions.\nShe was named Magdelaine de la Palud. Louise Capeau, another devotee,\nwas similarly seized some short time after.[280] The Dominicans\nand Capuchins believed that it was possession by the devil and had\nrecourse to exorcisms. The result was that Magdelaine de la Palud and\nher fellow-victim presented that spectacle which was renewed so often\na century later during the epidemic of convulsions. They screamed,\nwrithed, begged to be beaten and trampled under foot. One day six men\nwalked successively over the breast of Magdelaine without the slightest\nsuffering on her part. While in this state she made confession of the\nmost extraordinary licentiousness, saying that she had given herself,\nbody and soul, to the devil, to whom she had been affianced by a priest\nnamed Gaufridi.[281] So far from incarcerating the distracted girl,\nshe obtained a hearing, and the exorcising monks despatched three\nCapuchins to Marseilles for the purpose of secretly acquainting the\necclesiastical superiors with the state of affairs at Sainte-Baume,\nthe object, if possible, being to bring the cur\u00e9 Gaufridi thither and\nconfront him with the supposed demons.[282]\n\nFurthermore, the monks put on record the infernal inspirations of the\ntwo hysterics, which were discourses full of ignorant and fanatical\ndevotion, presenting religion as this was understood by the exorcists\nthemselves. In a word, the possessed women seemed to be relating the\ndreams of those who exorcised them: it was precisely the phenomena of\ntable-rapping and mediums in our own days. The devils assumed names not\nless incongruous than those of the spirits in America; they declaimed\nagainst printing and books, delivering sermons worthy of the most\nfervent and illiterate Capuchins. In the presence of demons made in\ntheir own image and their own likeness, the fathers were confirmed in\nthe fact of the possession and in the veracity of the infernal spirits.\nThe phantoms of their diseased imaginations assumed bodily shape and\nliving manifestation in the two women, whose obscene admissions at once\nstimulated their curiosity and their indignation, full of secret lust.\nSuch were their dispositions when the unhappy Louis Gaufridi was at\nlength brought before them.\n\nGaufridi was an all too worldly priest, of agreeable countenance,\nweak character and more than dubious morality.[283] He had been the\nconfessor of Magdelaine de la Palud and had inspired her with an\ninsatiable passion, which, being changed by jealousy into hatred,\nbecame a fatality and drew the unfortunate priest into its whirlpool of\nmadness, by which he was carried ultimately to the stake. Whatsoever\nwas said by the accused in his own defence was turned against him. He\ncalled on God and Christ Jesus, on the Blessed Mother of Christ and the\nprecursor St. John Baptist; but they answered: You are excellent at\nreciting the Litanies of the Sabbath. By God, you understand Lucifer;\nby Jesus Christ, Beelzebub; by the Holy Virgin, the apostate mother of\nAntichrist; by St. John Baptist, the false prophet and precursor of Gog\nand Magog.\n\nGaufridi was put to the torture and promised mercy if he would sign\nthe declarations of Magdelaine de la Palud. Distracted, circumvented,\nbroken, the poor priest signed whatever was required; it was sufficient\nfor his burning, and this was the object in view.[284] This also was\nthe frightful spectacle which the Proven\u00e7al Capuchins gave to the\npeople as a lesson in violating the privileges of the sanctuary. They\nshewed how priests are killed, and the people remembered later on. A\nrabbi who witnessed the prodigies which went before the destruction of\nJerusalem by Titus exclaimed: \u201cO Holy Temple, what is it that possesses\nthee, and why frighten thyself in this manner? \u201cNeither Chair of\nPeter nor bishops protested against the murder of Gaufridi, but the\neighteenth century was to come, bringing the Revolution in its wake.\n\nOne of the possessed women[285] who had destroyed the cur\u00e9 of Accoules\ntestified that the demon was leaving her to prepare the murder of\nanother priest, whom she named prophetically in advance and in the\nabsence of all personal knowledge: this was Urbain Grandier. It was\nthen the reign of that terrible Cardinal de Richelieu, for whom\nabsolute authority alone could guarantee the salvation of states;\nunfortunately his tendencies were political and subtle rather than\ntruly Christian. One limitation which characterised this great man\nwas a certain narrowness of heart, which made him sensible to personal\noffence and also implacable in revenge. And further, that which he was\nleast ready to pardon in talent was independence; while he preferred\nmen of parts for auxiliaries rather than flatterers, he took a certain\npleasure in destroying whatsoever desired to shine apart from him. His\nambition was to dominate all; Father Joseph was his right hand and\nLaubardemont his left.\n\nThere was then in the provinces, at Loudun, an ecclesiastic of\nremarkable genius and exalted character, possessed also of learning and\ntalent but lacking in circumspection. Made to please multitudes and\nattract the sympathies of the great, he might on occasion have become\na dangerous partisan; protestantism was at that period bestirring in\nFrance, and the cur\u00e9 of St. Peter\u2019s at Loudun, predisposed to the new\nideas by his dislike of ecclesiastical celibacy, might prove at the\nhead of such a party a preacher more brilliant than Calvin and not less\ndaring than Luther. He was named Urbain Grandier. Serious differences\nwith his bishop had already given instances of his ability and his\ninflexible character, but by mischance it was maladroit ability, since\nfrom enemies who were powerful he had appealed to the King and not,\nunhappily, to the Cardinal. The King held that he was right, but it\nremained for the Cardinal to teach him how far he was wrong. Grandier\nmeanwhile had gone back in triumph to Loudun, and had indulged in the\nunclerical display of entering the town bearing a branch of laurel.\nFrom that time he was lost.[286]\n\nThe Lady-Superior of the Ursuline nuns at Loudun was named Mother\nJeanne des Anges in religion, otherwise, Jeanne de Belfiel,\ngrand-daughter of the Baron de Cose. She could not be termed fervent\nin piety, and her convent was not to be ranked among the strictest in\nthe country; in particular, nocturnal scenes took place which were\nattributed to spirits.[287] Relatives withdrew boarders, and the house\nwas on the point of being denuded of all resources. Grandier was\nresponsible for certain intrigues and was a little careless regarding\nthem, while he was much too public a character for the idleness of a\nsmall town not to make a noise over his shortcomings. The pupils of the\nUrsulines heard them discussed mysteriously by their parents; the nuns\nspoke of them, deploring the scandal and dwelling over much upon him\nthrough whom it arose; of that which they talked by day they dreamed by\nnight; and so it came about that at night they saw him appear in their\ndormitories under circumstances which were conformable with his alleged\nmorals; they uttered cries, believed themselves obsessed, and in this\nmanner the devil was let loose among them.\n\nThe directors of the nuns, who were mortal enemies of Grandier, did\nnot fail to perceive the advantage they could draw from the affair in\nthe interests of their rancour and in those of the convent.[288] They\nbegan to perform exorcisms\u2014at first privately and afterwards in public.\nThe friends of Grandier felt that there was a plot hatching, and\nwere anxious that he should exchange his benefice, in order to leave\nLoudun, believing that everything would quiet down when he was gone.\nBut Grandier was brave and could not tolerate yielding to calumny;\nhe remained therefore and was arrested one morning as he entered his\nchurch, clothed in sacerdotal vestments. He was treated forthwith as\na State prisoner; his papers were seized, seals were placed on his\neffects, and he was conducted, under a strong guard, to the fortress at\nAngers. Meanwhile a dungeon was prepared for him at Loudun which seemed\nintended for a wild beast rather than a man. Richelieu, informed of\neverything, had despatched Laubardemont to make an end of Grandier and\nforbade the parliament to take cognisance of the affair.\n\nIf the conduct of the Cur\u00e9 of Saint-Pierre had been that of a\nworldling, the demeanour of Grandier, a prisoner on a charge of Magic,\nwas that of a hero and a martyr: so does adversity reveal great souls,\nand it is much easier to withstand suffering than prosperity. He wrote\nto his mother: \u201cI bear my affliction with patience and pity yours more\nthan my own. I am very unwell, having no bed; try to have mine brought\nme; for if the body does not rest the mind gives way. Send me also my\nbreviary, a bible, and St. Thomas for my consolation. For the rest, do\nnot grieve; I hope that God will vindicate my innocence.\u201d[289]\n\nThere is no question that God does sooner or later take the part of\npersecuted innocence, but He does not invariably deliver it from\nenemies on earth, save indeed by death. This lesson was about to be\nlearned by Grandier. On our own part, do not let us represent men worse\nthan they are in fact; his enemies did not believe in his innocence;\nthey pursued him with fury, but he whom they pursued was for them a\ngreat criminal.\n\nThe phenomena of hysteria were little understood at the time, and\nsomnambulism was quite unknown; the convulsions of nuns; their\nbodily motions exceeding all normal human power; their astonishing\nevidences of second sight were things of a nature to convince the\nleast credulous. A well known atheist of the day, being the Sieur de\nK\u00e9riolet, counsellor in the parliament of Brittany, came to witness\nthe exorcisms and to deride them. The nuns, who had never seen him,\naddressed him by name and published sins which he supposed to be\nunknown to anyone. He was so overwhelmed that he passed from one\nextreme to another, like all hot-headed natures; he shed tears, made\nhis confession and dedicated his remaining days to the strictest\nasceticism.\n\nThe sophistry of the exorcists of Loudun was that absurd unreason which\nM. de Mirville has the courage to sustain at the present day: the devil\nis the author of all phenomena which cannot be explained by known laws\nof Nature. To this illogical maxim they joined another which was, so to\nspeak, an article of faith: the devil who has been duly exorcised is\ncompelled to speak the truth and can therefore be admitted as a witness\nin the cause of justice.\n\nThe unfortunate Grandier was not therefore delivered into the hands\nof malefactors but rather of raving maniacs, who, strong in their\nrectitude of conscience, gave the fullest publicity to this incredible\nprosecution. Such a scandal had never afflicted the church\u2014howling,\nwrithing nuns, making the most obscene gestures, blaspheming, striving\nto cast themselves on Grandier like the Bacchantes on Orpheus; the most\nsacred things of religion mixed up with this hideous spectacle and\ndrawn in the filth thereof; amidst all Grandier alone calm, shrugging\nhis shoulders and defending himself with dignity and mildness; in fine,\npallid, distraught judges, sweating profusely, and Laubardemont in his\nred robe, hovering over the conflict, like a vulture awaiting a corpse:\nsuch was the prosecution of Urbain Grandier.\n\nLet us say for the honour of humanity that one is compelled to assume\ngood faith in exorcists and judges alike, for such a conspiracy as\nwould be involved in the legal murder of the accused is happily\nimpossible. Monsters are as uncommon as heroes; the mass is composed of\nmediocrities, equally incapable of great virtues and great crimes. The\nholiest persons of the day believed in the possession at Loudun; even\nSt. Vincent de Paul was not unacquainted with its history and was asked\nto give his opinion about it. Richelieu himself, though he might in any\ncase have found some way of getting rid of Grandier, ended by believing\nhim guilty. His death was the crime arising from the ignorance and\nprejudice of the period; it was a catastrophe rather than a murder.\n\nWe spare our readers the details of his tortures: he remained firm,\nresigned, patient, although confessing nothing; he did not even affect\nto despise his judges but prayed mildly for the exorcists to spare\nhim: \u201cAnd you, my fathers,\u201d he said to them, \u201cabate the rigour of my\ntorments, and reduce not my soul to despair.\u201d Through this moan of\ncomplaining nature, one discerns all the meekness of the Christian\nwho forgives. To hide their emotion, the exorcists replied with\ninvectives, and the executioners wept.[290] Three nuns, in one of\ntheir lucid moments, cast themselves before the tribunal, crying that\nGrandier was innocent, but it was believed that the devil was speaking\nby their mouth,[291] and their declaration only hastened the end.\nUrbain Grandier was burnt alive on August 18, 1634. He was patient\nand resigned to the end. When he was taken from the cart, his legs\nbeing broken, he fell heavily face down on the earth without uttering\na single cry or groan. A Franciscan, named Father Grillau, squeezed\nthrough the crowd and raised up the sufferer, whom he embraced weeping:\n\u201cI bring you,\u201d said he, \u201cthe blessing of your mother: she and I pray\nGod for you.\u201d \u201cThank you, my father,\u201d answered Grandier; \u201cyou alone\npity me; console my poor mother and be a son unto her.\u201d The provost\u2019s\nlieutenant, deeply affected, then said to him: \u201cSir, forgive me the\npart I am compelled to take in your anguish.\u201d And Grandier answered:\n\u201cYou have not offended me and are obliged to fulfil the duties\ncommitted to your charge.\u201d They had promised to strangle him before the\nburning, but when the executioner sought to tighten the rope it proved\nto be knotted, and the unfortunate Cur\u00e9 de St. Pierre fell alive into\nthe flames.\n\nThe chief exorcists, Fathers Tranquille and Lactance, died soon after\nin the delirium of violent frenzy; Father Surin, who succeeded them,\nbecame imbecile; Manoury, the surgeon who assisted at the torturing of\nGrandier, died haunted by the phantom of his victim. Laubardemont lost\nhis son in a tragical manner and fell into disgrace with his master;\nthe nuns remained idiots. So is it true that the question was one of a\nterrible and contagious malady, the mental disease of false zeal and\nfalse devotion. Providence punishes people by their own faults and\ninstructs them by the sad consequences of their errors.\n\nTen years after the death of Grandier, the Loudun scandals were renewed\nin Normandy, where the nuns of Louviers accused two priests of having\nbewitched them. Of these priests, one was already dead, but they\nviolated the sanctity of the tomb to disinter his corpse. The details\nof the possession were identical with those of Loudun and Sainte-Baume.\nThe hysterical women translated into foul language the nightmares of\ntheir directors. Both priests were condemned to the flames, and\u2014to\nincrease the horror\u2014a living man and a corpse were bound to the same\nstake. The punishment of Mezentius, that fiction of a pagan poet, came\nso to be realised by Christians; a Christian people assisted coldly at\nthe sacrilegious execution, and the ministers did not realise that in\nthus profaning at once the priestly office and the dead, they gave\na frightful precedent to impiety. When the call came, the eighteenth\ncentury arrived to extinguish the fires with the blood of priests, and,\nas it happens almost invariably, the good paid for the wicked. At the\nbeginning of that century the burning of human beings still proceeded;\nthough faith was dead, hypocrisy abandoned the youthful Labarre to the\nmost horrible tortures because he refused to uncover when a procession\nwent by. Voltaire was then in evidence and conscious in his heart of\na vocation like that of Attila. While human passions were profaning\nreligion, God sent this new destroyer to remove religion from a world\nwhich was no longer worthy of it.\n\nIn 1731, a young woman of Toulon, named Catherine Cadi\u00e8re, accused\nher confessor, the Jesuit Girard, of seduction and Magic. She was a\nstigmatised ecstatic who had long passed as a saint. Her history is one\nof lascivious swoons, secret flagellations and lewd sensations. Where\nis the sink of infamy with mysteries comparable to those of celibate\nimagination disordered by dangerous mysticism? The woman was not\nbelieved on her mere word and Father Girard escaped condemnation; the\nscandal for this reason was not less great, but the noise which it made\nwas echoed by a burst of laughter: we have said that Voltaire was among\nus.\n\nSuperstitious people till then had explained extraordinary phenomena by\nthe intervention of the devil and of spirits; equally absurd on its own\npart, the school of Voltaire, in the face of all evidence, denied the\nphenomena themselves. It was said by the one side that whatsoever we\ncannot explain comes from the devil; the answer on the other side was,\nthat the things which we cannot explain do not exist. By reproducing\nunder analogous circumstances the same series of eccentric and\nwonderful facts, Nature protested in the one case against presumptuous\nignorance and in the other against deficient science.\n\nPhysical disturbances have, in all times, accompanied certain nervous\nmaladies; fools, epileptics, cataleptics, victims of hysteria have\nexceptional faculties, are subject to infectious hallucinations\nand produce occasionally, in the atmosphere or in surrounding\nobjects, certain commotions and derangements. He who is hallucinated\nexteriorises his dreams and is tormented by his own shadow; the body\nis surrounded with its own reflections, distorted by the sufferings\nof the brain; the subject beholds his own image in the Astral Light;\nthe powerful currents of that light, acting like a magnet, displace\nand overturn furniture; noises are then heard and voices sound as in\ndreams. These phenomena, so often repeated at this day that they have\nbecome vulgar, were attributed by our fathers to phantoms and demons.\nVoltairian philosophy found it more easy to deny them, treating the\nocular witnesses of the most incontestable facts as so many imbeciles\nand idiots.\n\nWhat, for example, is better accredited than the extraordinary\nconvulsions at the grave of Paris the deacon, or at the meetings\nof Saint-M\u00e9dard ecstatics? What is the explanation of the strange\nbuffetings demanded by the convulsionaries? Blows rained by thousands\non the head, compressions which would have crushed a hippopotamus,\ntorsions of breasts with iron pincers, even crucifixion with nails\ndriven into hands and feet? And then the superhuman contortions and\nlevitations? The followers of Voltaire refused to see anything but\nsport and frolic therein; the Jansenists cried miracle; the true\nCatholics sighed; science which should have intervened, and that only,\nto explain the fantastic disease, held aloof. It is to her nevertheless\nthat there now belong the Ursulines of Loudun, the nuns of Louviers,\nthe convulsionaries and the American mediums. The phenomena of\nmagnetism have placed science on the path of new discoveries, and the\ncoming chemical synthesis will lead our physicians to a knowledge of\nthe Astral Light. When this universal force is once known, what will\nprevent them from determining the strength, number and direction of its\nmagnets? A revolution will follow in science and there will be a return\nto the Transcendental Magic of Chaldea.\n\nMuch has been talked about the presbytery of Cideville; De Mirville,\nGougenot Desmousseaux and other uncritical believers have seen in the\nstrange occurrences which took place therein a contemporary revelation\nof the devil; but the same things happened at Saint-Maur in 1706,\nand thither all Paris flocked. There were great rappings on walls,\nbeds rocked without being touched, other furniture was displaced. The\nmanifestations finished in a climax during which the master of the\nhouse, a young man of twenty-four or twenty-five years old, and a\nperson of weak constitution, fell into a deep swoon and believed that\nhe heard spirits speaking to him at great length, though he could never\nrepeat subsequently a single word that they said.\n\nOne history of an apparition at the beginning of the eighteenth century\nmay here follow; the simplicity of the account proves its authenticity;\nthere are certain characteristics of truth which cannot be simulated by\ninventors.\n\nA pious priest of Valognes, named B\u00e9zuel, was invited to dinner on\nJanuary 7, 1708 by a lady related to the Abb\u00e9 de Saint-Pierre, the Abb\u00e9\nbeing also of the company, and the priest recounted, at their request,\nthe appearance of one of his deceased comrades in open day, some twelve\nyears previously. In 1695, he told them that he was a young scholar,\nabout fifteen years old and that he was acquainted with two lads, sons\nof Abaqu\u00e8ne, a solicitor, who were scholars like himself. \u201cThe elder\nwas my own age and the other, who was some eighteen months younger,\nwas named Desfontaines; we walked together and shared our amusements;\nand whether or not Desfontaines had greater friendship for me, or was\nmore lively, more affable, more intelligent than his brother, I know\nthat I cared for him more. We were wandering in the cloister of the\nCapucins, in 1696, when he told me that he had been reading a story of\ntwo friends who had promised one another that whichever of them died\nfirst should bring news of his condition to him who survived; that one\nof them who did pass away redeemed his pledge and told the survivor\nastonishing things. Desfontaines then said that he had a favour to\nask me, which was to make a similar promise, he doing likewise on his\nown part. I was, however, unwilling and indeed declined the proposal;\nseveral months passed away, during which he recurred frequently to the\nidea, I always resisting. About August, 1696, when he was on the point\nof leaving to continue his studies at Caen, he pressed me so much,\nand with tears in his eyes, that at length I consented. He produced\nthereupon two little slips of paper on which he had written beforehand,\none signed with his blood and in which he promised me, in the event of\nhis death, to give me news of his state, the other in which I entered\ninto a similar bond. I pricked my finger, and with the blood which\nissued therefrom I signed my own name. He was delighted to receive the\npromise and embraced me with a thousand thanks. Some time after he\nleft, accompanied by his brother; the separation was grievous to both\nof us; we wrote from time to time, and then there was a silence for\nthe space of six weeks, after which the event happened that I am about\nto relate. On July 31, 1697, being a Thursday and a day which I shall\nalways remember, the late M. de Sortoville, with whom I lodged and\nwho was always exceedingly good to me, begged me to go into a meadow\nadjoining the Franciscan monastery and help his people in haymaking.\nI had not been there for more than a quarter of an hour when, about\nhalf past two, I suddenly felt giddy and overcome with weakness. It\nwas to no purpose that I tried to lean on my hay-fork; I felt obliged\nto lie down on the hay and so remained for about half an hour, trying\nto recover my strength. The feeling passed away but, having never had\nsuch an experience previously, it caused me some surprise, and I feared\nthat it was the beginning of an illness. I have no special recollection\nregarding the remainder of the day, but on the following night I slept\nless than usual.\n\n\u201cAt the same hour next day, as I was walking in the meadow with M. de\nSaint-Simon, grandson of M. de Sortoville, then about ten years old,\nI was overcome in exactly the same way and sat down in the shade on\na stone. It passed again and we continued our walk; nothing further\noccurred on that day and the next night I slept scarcely at all.\nFinally, on the morrow, being the second day of August, I was in the\nloft where they stacked the hay at precisely the same hour, when I was\nagain seized with a similar giddiness and weakness, but more serious\nthan before. I swooned and lost all consciousness. One of the servants\nsaw me and asked what was the matter, to which it is said that I\nreplied, stating that I had seen what I should have never believed.\nI do not however recollect either the question or answer. The memory\nwhich does remain with me is that I had seen someone in a state of\nnakedness to the waist, but it was not anyone whom I recognised. I\nwas helped down the ladder; I held tight to the rungs; but when I saw\nDesfontaines, my comrade, at the foot of the ladder, the weakness\nreturned, my head fell between two of the rungs and again I lost\nconsciousness. I was laid upon a wide beam which served for a bench on\nthe Grande Place des Capucins; I saw nothing of M. de Sortoville nor of\nhis servants, though they were present, but I observed Desfontaines,\nstill by the foot of the ladder, signalling for me to come to him,\nand I drew back on my seat as if to make room for him. Those who were\nby me and whom I did not see, though my eyes were open, observed this\nmovement. He did not respond and I rose to go towards him; he then\ncame forward and taking my left arm in his own right arm, he led me\nsome paces forward into a quiet street, with arms still interlocked.\nThe servants thinking that my giddiness had passed and that I was\ngoing about some business of my own, went back to their work, with the\nexception of one youth, who told M. de Sortoville that I was talking to\nmyself. He came up to me and heard me questioning and answering, as he\nhas since told me. I was there for nearly three quarters of an hour,\ntalking to Desfontaines, who said: I promised that if I died before\nyou I would come and tell you. I was drowned the day before yesterday\nin the river at Caen. It was just about this time, and I was walking\nwith some friends; it was exceedingly warm, we decided to bathe, a\nweakness came over me and I sank to the bottom. My companion, the Abb\u00e9\nde Menil-Jean, dived to bring me up. I caught hold of his leg and as\nI clung very tight he may have thought that it was a salmon or he may\nhave had to come up quickly, but he struck out so roughly with his leg\nthat I received a blow upon the chest, throwing me again to the bottom,\nwhere the depth is considerable at that point!\n\n\u201cDesfontaines subsequently told me all that had happened in their walk\nand the subjects discussed between them. I was anxious to learn whether\nhe was saved, whether he was damned, whether he was in purgatory,\nwhether I was myself in a state of grace and whether I should follow\nhim speedily; but he continued speaking as if he had not heard, or\nrefused to listen. I tried to embrace him several times, but I seemed\nto embrace nothing; yet I felt him still holding me tight by the arm,\nand when I attempted to turn away my head, so as not to see him because\nof the grief which it caused me, he tightened his grasp as if to compel\nme to look as well as to listen. He seemed taller than when I had last\nseen him and taller even than he was at the time of death, though he\nhad grown a good deal during the eighteen months since we met. I\nsaw him as far as his waist only and he was naked, his head bare and\na white paper twisted in his beautiful fair hair over the forehead;\nthe paper had writing on it, but I could read only the word: IN, &c.\nHis voice was the same voice; he seemed neither gay nor sad, but in a\ncalm and tranquil state. He begged me on his brother\u2019s return to give\nhim certain messages for his father and mother; he begged me also to\nsay the seven penitential psalms, which had been imposed on him as a\npenance the previous Sunday and which he had not yet recited. Finally,\nhe again advised me to speak to his brother and then bade me farewell,\nsaying as he went: \u2018Till I see you again,\u2019 which was our usual formula\nwhen we parted at the end of a walk. He told me also that at the time\nhe was drowned his brother, who was making a translation, regretted\nhaving let him go apart from him, in case of an accident. He described\nso well where he was drowned and the tree in the Avenue de Louvigny\non which he had cut some words that two years afterwards, when in the\ncompany of the late Chevalier de Gotot, one who was with him at the\ntime, I pointed out the very spot and counting the trees on one side,\nas Desfontaines had specified, I went straight to the tree, there to\nfind the inscription. I learned also that it was true about the seven\npsalms which had been given him as a penance at confession. His brother\nalso told me that he was writing his translation and reproached himself\nfor not being with him.\n\n\u201cAs a month went by before I was able to do as Desfontaines asked me\nin regard to his brother, he appeared to me on two other occasions\nbefore dinner in a country house a few miles away, to which I had\nbeen invited. Feeling unwell, I made an excuse of being tired, saying\nthat it was nothing and that I should return. I went into a corner\nof the garden and Desfontaines reproached me for not having spoken\nto his brother; he talked to me for a quarter of an hour, but would\nnot answer questions on my own part. The second appearance was in\nthe morning, as I was going to Notre Dame de la Victoire, but the\napparition was for a shorter time; he impressed on me about speaking\nto his brother and left me repeating: \u2018Till I see you again\u2019\u2014still\nwithout answering my questions. One remarkable fact is that I always\nhad a pain in the arm where he had taken a hold of me the first time,\nand it remained till I had spoken to his brother. For three days I had\nno sleep owing to the astonishment in which I was. After the first\nconversation I told M. de Varonville, my schoolfellow and neighbour,\nthat Desfontaines had been drowned, that he had appeared to me and told\nme so. He hurried to his relations, asking whether this was true; they\nhad just had news on the subject but, owing to a misunderstanding,\nbelieved that it was the elder boy. He assured me that he had seen\nthe letter of Desfontaines and he thought that this was correct; I\nmaintained that it must be wrong, for Desfontaines himself had appeared\nto me. He went again to his relatives and returned in tears saying: \u2018It\nis only too true.\u2019\n\n\u201cNothing has happened to me since, and such was my experience simply.\nIt has been told in many ways, but I have never related it otherwise\nthan as I do now. The late Chevalier de Gotot stated that Desfontaines\nalso appeared to M. de Menil-Jean, but I do not know him. He is fifty\nmiles from here, near Argentan, and I can tell you no more.\u201d\n\nWe should notice the characteristics of dream which prevail\nthroughout in this vision of a man who is awake, but in a state of\nsemi-asphyxiation produced by the emanations of the hay. The astral\nintoxication following congestion of the brain will be recognised.\nThe somnambulistic condition which followed showed M. B\u00e9zuel the last\nliving reflection left by his friend in the Astral Light. He was naked\nand was visible down to the waist only, because the rest of his body\nwas immersed in the water of the river. The supposed paper in his hair\nwas probably a handkerchief used to confine his hair when bathing.\nB\u00e9zuel had further a somnambulistic intuition of all that took place,\nand it seemed to him that he was learning it from the lips of his\nfriend. The friend appeared neither sad nor gay, an indication of the\nimpression made upon him by an image which was lifeless and consisting\nonly of reminiscence and reflection. On the occasion of the first\nvision, M. B\u00e9zuel, intoxicated by the scent of the hay, fell off the\nladder and injured his arm; it seemed, with the logic of dreams that\nhis friend was grasping the arm, and when he came to himself, he still\nfelt the pain, which is explained quite naturally by the hurt that he\nhad received. For the rest, the conversation of the deceased person was\nsimply retrospective; there was nothing about death or the other life,\nproving once more how impossible is the barrier which separates this\nworld from the next.\n\nIn the prophecy of Ezekiel life is represented by wheels which turn\nwithin one another; the elementary forms are symbolised by four\nbeasts, which ascend and descend with the wheel and pursue one another\nwithout ever overtaking, like the signs of the Zodiac. The wheels of\nperpetual movement never return on themselves; forms never go back to\nthe stations which they have quitted; to return whence one has come,\nthe entire circle must have been traversed in a progress always the\nsame and yet always new. The conclusion is that whatsoever manifests\nto us in this life is a phenomenon which belongs to this life and it\nis not given here below to our thought, to our imagination, or even to\nour hallucinations and our dreams, to overstep even for an instant the\nformidable barriers of death.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VII\n\n THE MAGICAL ORIGIN OF FREEMASONRY\n\n\nThat great Kabalistical association known in Europe under the name of\nMasonry appeared suddenly in the world when revolt against the Church\nhad just succeeded in dismembering Christian unity. The historians\nof the Order are one and all in a difficulty when seeking to explain\nits origin. According to some, it derived from a certain guild of\nMasons who were incorporated for the construction of the cathedral of\nStrasburg. Others refer its foundation to Cromwell, without pausing\nto consider whether the Rites of English Masonry in the days of the\nProtector were not more probably developed as a counterblast to this\nleader of Puritanical anarchy. In fine, some are so ignorant that they\nattribute to the Jesuits the maintenance and direction, if not indeed\nthe invention, of a society long preserved in secret and always wrapped\nin mystery.[292] Setting aside this last view, which refutes itself,\nwe can reconcile the others by admitting that the Masonic Brethren\nborrowed their name and some emblems of their art from the builders\nof Strasburg cathedral, and that their first public manifestation\ntook place in England, owing to radical institutions and in spite of\nCromwell\u2019s despotism. It may be added that the Templars were their\nmodels, the Rosicrucians their immediate progenitors,[293] and the\nJohannite sectarians their more remote ancestors. Their doctrine is\nthat of Zoroaster and of Hermes, their law is progressive initiation,\ntheir principle is equality\u2014regulated by the hierarchy and universal\nfraternity. They are successors of the school of Alexandria, as of all\nantique initiations, custodians of the secrets of the _Apocalypse_\nand the _Zohar_. Truth is the object of their worship, and they\nrepresent truth as light; they tolerate all forms of faith, profess\none philosophy, seek truth only, teach reality, and their plan is to\nlead all human intelligence by gradual steps into the domain of reason.\nThe allegorical end of Freemasonry is the rebuilding of Solomon\u2019s\nTemple; the real end is the restoration of social unity by an alliance\nbetween reason and faith and by reverting to the principle of the\nhierarchy,[294] based on science and virtue, the path of initiation and\nits ordeals serving as steps of ascent. Nothing, it will be seen, is\nmore beautiful, nothing greater than are such ideas and dedications;\nunhappily the doctrines of unity and submission to the hierarchy have\nnot been maintained in universal Masonry. In addition to that which was\northodox there arose a dissident Masonry, and all that is worst in the\ncalamities of the French Revolution were the result of this schism.\n\nNow, the Freemasons have their sacred legend, which is that of Hiram,\ncompleted by another concerning Cyrus and Zerubbabel. The legend of\nHiram is as follows. When Solomon projected his Temple, he entrusted\nthe plans to an architect called Hiram. This master-builder, to ensure\norder in the work, divided the craftsmen according to their degrees\nof skill. They were a great multitude, and in order to recognise\ncraftsmen, so that they might be classified according to merit or\nremunerated in proportion to their work, he provided Pass-Words and\nparticular Signs for each of three categories, or otherwise for the\nApprentices, the Companions and the Masters. It came about that three\nCompanions coveted the rank of Master without having earned it by their\nability. They set an ambush at the three chief gates of the Temple, and\nwhen Hiram was issuing from one of them, the first of these Companions\ndemanded the Master-Word, threatening the architect with his rule.\nHiram answered: \u201cIt is not thus that I received it.\u201d Thereupon the\nCompanion in his fury struck him with the iron tool and gave him the\nfirst wound. The builder fled to the second gate, where he met with\nthe second Companion, who made the same demand and received the same\nanswer. On this occasion Hiram was struck with a square or, as others\nsay, with a lever. At the third gate there stood the third assassin,\nwho completed the work with a mallet. The three companions concealed\nthe corpse under a heap of rubbish, planted on the improvised grave\na branch of acacia, and then took flight like Cain after the murder\nof Abel. Solomon, however, finding that his architect did not return,\nsent nine Masters to seek him, when the branch of acacia revealed the\ncorpse. They drew it from beneath the rubbish, and as it had laid long\ntherein, they uttered in so doing a word signifying that the flesh was\nfalling from the bones. The last offices were rendered duly to Hiram,\nand twenty-seven Masters were despatched subsequently by Solomon in\nsearch of the murderers. The first of these was taken by surprise in a\ncavern; a lamp was burning near him, a stream flowed at his feet and a\ndagger lay for his defence beside him. The Master who had been first\nto enter recognised the assassin, seized the weapon and stabbed him\nwith the exclamation _Nekam_\u2014a word signifying vengeance. The head was\ncarried to Solomon, who shuddered at the sight and said to the avenger:\n\u201cUnhappy being, did you not know that I reserved to myself the right\nof punishment?\u201d Then all the Masters fell on their knees before the\nking and entreated pardon for him whose zeal had carried him away.\nThe second murderer was betrayed by one with whom he had found an\nasylum. He was concealed in a rock near to a burning bush; a rainbow\nshone above the rock, and a dog lay near him. Eluding the vigilance\nof the dog, the Masters seized the criminal, bound and carried him to\nJerusalem, where he perished in the utmost tortures. The third assassin\nwas slain by a lion, and the beast had to be overcome before the body\ncould be secured. Other versions say that he defended himself with a\nhatchet when the Masters fell upon him, but they succeeded in disarming\nhim and he was led to Solomon who caused him to expiate his crime.[295]\n\nSuch is the first legend and its explanation now follows. Solomon\npersonifies supreme science and wisdom. The Temple is the realisation\nand emblem of the hierarchic reign of truth and reason on earth.\nHiram is the man who, by science and wisdom, has attained empire.\nHe governs by justice and order, rendering to each according to his\nworks. Each Degree is in correspondence with a word, which expresses\nthe sense thereof. For Hiram the word is one, but it is expressed\nafter three manners. One is for the Apprentices and can be uttered by\nthem; it signifies Nature and is explained by Work. Another is for the\nCompanions; in their case it signifies thought and is explained by\nStudy. The third is for Masters; in their mouth it signifies truth and\nis explained by Wisdom. As to the word itself, it is used to designate\nGod, Whose true name is indicible and incommunicable. Thus there are\nthree degrees in the hierarchy and three entrances of the Temple; there\nare three modes of light and there are three forces in Nature, which\nforces are symbolised by the Rule that measures, the Lever which lifts\nand the Mallet which consolidates. The rebellion of brutal instincts\nagainst the hierarchic aristocracy of wisdom arms itself successfully\nwith these three forces and turns them from their proper uses.\nThere are three typical rebels\u2014the rebel against Nature, the rebel\nagainst Science and the rebel against Truth. They were represented\nin the classical Hades by the three heads of Cerberus; in the Bible\nby Koran, Dathan and Abiram; while in the Masonic legend they are\ndistinguished by names which vary in the different Rites. The first,\nwho is usually called Abiram, or the murderer of Hiram, is he who\nstrikes the Grand Master with the rule; this is the story of the just\nman immolated by human passion under the pretence of law. The second,\nnamed Mephibosheth, after a ridiculous and feeble pretender to the\nthrone of David, attacks Hiram with the lever or the square. So does\nthe popular square or lever of insensate equality become an instrument\nof tyranny in the hands of the multitude, and assails, still more\ngrievously than the rule, the royalty of wisdom and virtue. The third\nin fine despatches Hiram with a mallet: so act the brutal instincts\nwhen they seek to establish order, in the name of violence and of fear,\nby crushing intelligence.[296]\n\nThe branch of acacia over the tomb of Hiram is like the cross on our\naltars; it is a sign of knowledge which outlives knowledge itself;\nit is the green sprig which presages another spring. When men have\ndisturbed in this manner the order of Nature, Providence intervenes to\nrestore it, as Solomon to avenge the death of the Master-Builder. He\nwho has struck with the rule shall perish by the poignard. He who has\nattacked with the lever or square shall make expiation under the axe of\nthe law: it is the eternal judgment on regicides. He who has slain with\nthe mallet shall be the victim of that power which he misused. He who\nwould slay with the rule is betrayed by the very lamp which lights him\nand by the stream from which he drinks: it is the law of retaliation.\nHe who would destroy with the lever is surprised when his watchfulness\nfails like a sleeping dog, and he is given up by his own accomplices,\nfor anarchy is the mother of treason. He who struck with the mallet\nis devoured by the lion, which is a variant of the sphinx of \u0152dipus,\nwhile he who can conquer the lion shall deserve to succeed Hiram.\nThe decaying body of the Builder indicates that forms may change but\nthe spirit remains. The spring of water in the vicinity of the first\nmurderer recalls that deluge which punished crimes against Nature. The\nburning bush and rainbow which betray the second assassin typify life\nand light denouncing outrage on thought. Finally, the vanquished lion\nrepresents the triumph of mind over matter and the definite subjection\nof force to intelligence. From the dawn of the intellectual travail by\nwhich the Temple of unity is erected, Hiram has been slain often, but\never he has risen from the dead. He is Adonis destroyed by the wild\nboar, Osiris put to death by Typhon, Pythagoras in his proscription,\nOrpheus torn to pieces by Bacchantes, Moses abandoned in the caverns\nof Mount Nebo, Jesus crucified by Judas, Caiaphas and Pilate. Now\nthose are true Masons who seek persistently to rebuild the Temple in\naccordance with the plan of Hiram.\n\nSuch is the great and the chief legend of Masonry; there are others\nthat are no less beautiful and no less profound; but we do not feel\njustified in divulging their mysteries. Albeit we have received\ninitiation only from God and our researches,[297] we shall keep the\nsecrets of transcendental Freemasonry as we keep our own secrets.\nHaving attained by our efforts to a grade of knowledge which imposes\nsilence, we regard ourselves as pledged by our convictions even more\nthan by an oath. Science is a _noblesse qui oblige_ and we shall in\nno wise fail to deserve the princely crown of the Rosy Cross. We also\nbelieve in the resurrection of Hiram.\n\nThe Rites of Masonry are designed to transmit a memorial of the\nlegends of initiation and to preserve them among the Brethren. Now,\nif Masonry is thus holy and thus sublime, we may be asked how it came\nto be proscribed and condemned so often by the Church; but we have\nalready replied to this question when its divisions and profanations\nwere mentioned. Masonry is the Gnosis and the false Gnostics caused\nthe condemnation of the true. The latter were driven into concealment,\nnot through fear of the light, for the light is that which they\ndesire, that which they seek and adore; but they stood in dread of the\nsacrilegious\u2014that is to say, of false interpreters, calumniators, the\nderision of the sceptic, the enemies of all belief and all morality.\nMoreover, at the present day, there are many who think that they are\nMasons and yet do not know the meaning of their Rites, having lost the\nKey of the Mysteries. They misconstrue even their symbolical pictures\nand those hieroglyphic signs which are emblazoned on the carpets of\ntheir Lodges. These pictures and signs are the pages of a book of\nabsolute and universal science. They can be read by means of the\nKabalistic keys and hold nothing in concealment for the initiate who\nalready possesses those of Solomon.\n\nMasonry has not merely been profaned but has served as the veil and\npretext of anarchic conspiracies depending from the secret influence\nof the vindicators of Jacques de Molay, and of those who continued the\nschismatic work of the Temple. In place of avenging the death of Hiram\nthey have avenged that of his assassins. The anarchists have resumed\nthe rule, square and mallet, writing upon them the words Liberty,\nEquality, Fraternity\u2014Liberty, that is to say, for all the lusts,\nEquality in degradation and Fraternity in the work of destruction. Such\nare the men whom the Church has condemned justly and will condemn for\never.\n\n\n\n\n BOOK VI\n\n _MAGIC AND THE REVOLUTION_\n\n \u05d5\u2014VAU\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER I\n\n REMARKABLE AUTHORS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY\n\n\nChina was practically unknown to the outside world until the end of\nthe seventeenth century, when its vast empire, explored in part by\nour missionaries, began to be revealed by them and appeared like a\nnecropolis of all sciences in the past. The Chinese may be compared\nto a race of mummies; nothing progresses with them, for they live in\nthe immobility of their traditions, from which the spirit and the life\nhave long since withdrawn. They know nothing any longer, but they\nhave a vague recollection of everything. The genius of China is the\ndragon of the Hesperides\u2014which defends the golden apples in the garden\nof science. Their human type of divinity, instead of conquering the\ndragon, like Cadmus, cowers fascinated and magnetised by the monster\nwho flashes before it a changing mirage of its scales. Mystery alone\nis alive in China, science is in a state of lethargy, or at least\nis in a deep sleep and speaks only in dream. We have said that the\nChinese Tarot is based on the same Kabalistic and absolute data as the\nHebrew _Sepher Yetzirah_; but China has also a hieroglyphical book\nconsisting exclusively of combinations of two figures; this is the\n_Y-Kim_,[298] attributed to the emperor Fo-Hi, and M. de Maison, in\nhis _Letters on China_, states that it is utterly indecipherable. Its\ndifficulties however are not greater than those of the _Zohar_, of\nwhich it appears to be a curious complement and is indeed a valuable\nappendix thereto. The _Zohar_ explains the work of the Balance, or of\nuniversal equilibrium, and the _Y-Kim_ is the hieroglyphic and ciphered\ndemonstration thereof. The key of the work is a pantacle known as the\nTrigrams of Fo-Hi. According to a legend related in the _Vay-Ky_, a\ncollection of great authority in China, composed by Leon-Tao-Yuen,\nunder the dynasty of the Soms, some seven or eight hundred years ago,\nthe emperor Fo-Hi was meditating one day on the bank of a river about\nthe great secrets of Nature, when he saw a sphinx come out of the\nwater, meaning an allegorical animal, having the composite form of a\nhorse and a dragon. Its head was elongated like that of a horse, it\nhad four feet and ended in the tail of a serpent; the back was covered\nwith scales, on each of which there shone the symbol of the mysterious\nTrigrams; they were smaller towards the extremities than those on the\nbreast and back, but were in perfect harmony throughout. The dragon was\nreflected in the water but with all its characteristics inverted. This\nserpentine horse, the inspirer or rather the bearer of inspirations,\nlike the Pegasus of Greek mythology, that symbol of universal light,\nor like the serpent of Kronos, initiated Fo-Hi into universal science.\nThe Trigrams served as the introduction; he numbered the scales and\ncombined the Trigrams in such a manner that he conceived a synthesis of\nthe sciences compared and united with one another by the pre-existent\nand necessary harmonies of Nature. The tables of the _Y-Kim_ were the\nresult of this marvellous combination. The numbers of Fo-Hi are the\nsame as those of the Kabalah, while his pantacle is analogous to\nthat of Solomon, as explained already in our _Doctrine and Ritual of\nTranscendental Magic_.[299] His tables correspond to the thirty-two\nPaths and the fifty Gates of Light; consequently the _Y-Kim_ cannot\nbe obscure for those who have the key of the _Sepher Yetzirah_ and\n_Zohar_.[300]\n\nThe science of absolute philosophy has therefore existed in China;\nthe Kims are commentaries on this Absolute which is hidden from\nthe profane, and their relation to the _Y-Kim_ is like that of the\nPentateuch of Moses to the Revelations in the _Sepher Dzenioutha_,\nwhich is the _Book of Mysteries_ and the key of the Hebrew\n_Zohar_.[301] Kong-fu-tzee, or Confucius, was the revealer or veiler\nof this Kabalah, the existence of which he might have denied, to turn\nthe researches of the profane into a wrong path, just as that learned\nTalmudist Maimonides denied the realities of the Key of Solomon. After\nConfucius came the materialistic Fo, who substituted the traditions of\nIndian sorcery for the remnants of Egyptian Transcendental Magic. The\ncultus of Fo paralysed the progress of the sciences in China, and the\nabortive civilisation of this great people collapsed into routine and\nstupor.\n\nA philosopher of sagacity and admirable profundity, the learned\nLeibnitz, who deserved most assuredly initiation into the supreme\ntruths of absolute science, thought that he could discern in the\n_Y-Kim_ his own discovery of the differential calculus, while in the\nstraight and divided line he recognised the characters 1 0, employed\nin his own calculations. He was on the threshold of the truth, but,\nseeing it in only one of its details, he could not grasp it as a whole.\n\nThe most important discoveries on religious antiquities in China have\nbeen the result of theological disputes.[302] This came about through\nthe question whether the Jesuits were justified in permitting the\nworship of heaven and ancestral worship among the Chinese who were\nconverted to Christianity\u2014in other words, whether the educated Chinese\nregarded their heaven as God or simply as space and Nature. It was\nreasonable to have recourse to the educated themselves and to public\ngood sense, but these do not constitute theological authorities.\nThere was therefore much debate, much writing and more intriguing;\nthe Jesuits were fundamentally right but were wrong in their mode of\nprocedure, with the result that fresh difficulties were created which\nhave not been yet overcome and which still continue in China to cost\nthe blood of our indefatigable martyrs.\n\n[Illustration: THE GREAT HERMETIC ARCANUM]\n\nWhilst the conquests of religion in Asia were thus disputed, a great\nspirit of unrest was agitating Europe; the Christian faith seemed\non the point of being extinguished, though on every side there was\na rumour of new revelations and miracles. A man who had a definite\nposition in science and in the world otherwise, namely, Emmanuel\nSwedenborg, was astonishing Sweden by his visions, and Germany was\nswarming with new _illuminati_. Dissident mysticism conspired to\nreplace the mysteries of hierarchic religion by mysteries of anarchy; a\ncatastrophe was in preparation and was imminent. Swedenborg, the most\nsincere and the mildest among the prophets of false illuminism, was\nnot for this less dangerous than the others. As a fact, the pretence\nthat all men are called to communicate immediately with heaven[303]\nreplaces regular religious instruction and progressive initiation by\nevery divagation of enthusiasm, by all excesses of imagination and of\ndream. The intelligent _illuminati_ felt that religion was a great\nneed of humanity and hence must never be destroyed; not only religion\nitself but the fanaticism which it carries along with it as a fatal\nconsequence of enthusiasm inspired by ignorance, were, however, to be\nused as arms for the overthrow of hierarchic church authority, they\nrecognising that from the war of fanaticism there would issue a new\nhierarchy, of which they hoped to be founders and chiefs. \u201cYou shall be\nas gods, knowing all without having the trouble of learning anything;\nyou shall be as kings, possessing everything without the trouble of\nacquiring anything.\u201d Such, in a summary form, are the promises of\nthe revolutionary spirit to envious multitudes. The revolutionary\nspirit is the spirit of death; it is the old serpent of Genesis, which\nnotwithstanding it is the father of movement and of progress, seeing\nthat generations are renewed only by death. It is for this reason that\nthe Indians worship Siva, the pitiless destroyer, whose symbolical form\nwas that of physical love and material generation.\n\nThe system of Swedenborg is no other than the Kabalah, _minus_ the\nprinciple of hierarchy;[304] it is the temple without key-stone\nand without base; it is a vast edifice, fortunately all airy and\nphantastic, for had anyone attempted to realise it on this earth it\nwould collapse upon the head of the first child who sought, not indeed\nto overthrow it, but merely to lean against one of its chief pillars.\nTo organise anarchy is the problem which the revolutionaries have\nundertaken to solve, and it is with them for ever; it is the rock of\nSisyphus which will invariably fall back upon them. To exist for a\nsingle moment they are and will ever be compelled fatally to improvise\na despotism having no other justification than necessity, and it is\none which is blind and violent like anarchy. Emancipation from the\nharmonious monarchy of reason is attained only by passing under the\ndisorderly dictatorship of folly.\n\nThe means proposed indirectly by Swedenborg for communication with the\nsupernatural world constitute an intermediate state allied to dream,\necstasy and catalepsy. The illuminated Swede affirmed the possibility\nof such a state, without furnishing any intimation as to the practices\nnecessary for its attainment.[305] Perhaps his disciples, in order\nto supply the omission, might have had recourse to Indian Ceremonial\nMagic, when a genius came forward to complete the prophetic and\nKabalistic intuitions of Swedenborg by a natural thaumaturgy. This man\nwas a German physician named Mesmer. It was he who had the glory of\nrediscovering, apart from initiation and apart from occult knowledge,\nthe universal agent of light and its prodigies. His _Aphorisms_, which\nscholars of his time regarded as a bundle of paradoxes, will ultimately\nform a basis for the physical synthesis.[306]\n\nMesmer postulated two modes in natural being; these are substance\nand life, producing that fixity and movement which constitute the\nequilibrium of things. He recognised further the existence of a first\nmatter, which is fluidic, universal, capable of fixity and motion; its\nfixation determines the constitution of substances, while its continual\nmotion modifies and renews forms. This fluidic matter is active and\npassive; as passive it indraws and as active it projects itself. In\nvirtue of this matter the world and those who dwell therein attract and\nrepel; it passes through all by a circulation comparable to that of the\nblood. It maintains and renews the life of all beings, is the agent of\ntheir force and may become the instrument of their will. Prodigies are\nresults of exceptional wills or energies. The phenomena of cohesion and\nelasticity, of density or subtlety in bodies, are produced by various\ncombinations of these two properties in the universal fluid or first\nmatter. Disease, like all physical disorders, is owing to a derangement\nin the normal equilibrium of the first matter in this or that organised\nbody. Organised bodies are sympathetic or antipathetic to one another,\nby reason of their particular equilibrium. Sympathetic bodies may\ncure each other, restoring their equilibrium mutually. This capacity\nof bodies to equilibrate one another by the attraction or projection\nof the first matter, was called magnetism by Mesmer, and as it varies\naccording to the forms in which it acts, he termed it animal magnetism\nwhen he studied its phenomena in living beings.\n\nMesmer proved his theory by his experiments, which were crowned with\ncomplete success. Having observed the analogy between the phenomena\nof animal magnetism and those of electricity, he made use of metallic\nconductors, connecting with a common reservoir containing earth and\nwater, so as to absorb and project the two forces. The complicated\napparatus of tubs has now been abandoned, as it can be replaced by a\nliving chain of hands superposed upon a circular non-conducting body\nlike a wooden table, or on silk or wool. He subsequently applied to\nliving organised beings the processes of metallic magnetisation and\nattained certitude as to the reality and similitude of the phenomena\nwhich followed. One step only was left for him to take, and it was to\naffirm that the effects attributed in physics to the four imponderable\nfluids are diverse manifestations of one and the same force\ndifferentiated by its usages, and that this force\u2014inseparable from the\nfirst and universal matter which it sets in motion\u2014now resplendent,\nnow igneous, now electric, now magnetic, has but one name, indicated\nby Moses in Genesis, when he describes its manifestation by the _fiat_\nof the Almighty before all substances and all forms: that Word is THE\nLIGHT\u2014\u05d4\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d5\u05e8.\n\nLet us now have the courage to affirm one truth which will be\nacknowledged hereafter. The great thing of the eighteenth century is\nnot the _Encyclopedia_, not the sneering and derisive philosophy of\nVoltaire, not the negative metaphysics of Diderot and D\u2019Alembert, not\nthe malignant philanthropy of Rousseau: it is the sympathetic and\nmiraculous physics of Mesmer. Mesmer is grand as Prometheus; he has\ngiven men that fire from heaven which Franklin could only direct.\nThere was wanting to the genius of Mesmer neither the sanction of\nhatred nor the consecration of persecution and insult; he was hunted\nout of Germany, ridiculed in France, which, however, provided him\nwith a fortune, for his cures were evident, and the patients who went\nto him paid him, though they may have stated afterwards that their\nrestoration was a matter of chance, so that they might not draw down\nupon themselves the hostility of the learned. The authorised bodies did\nnot even so far honour the thaumaturge as to examine his discovery,\nand the great man resigned himself perforce to pass for a skilful\nimpostor. It was only the really instructed who were not hostile to\nmesmerism; sincerely religious persons were alarmed by the dangers of\nthe new discovery, while the superstitious cried out at the scandal and\nthe Magic. The wise foresaw abuses; the imbecile would not so much\nas tolerate the exercise of this marvellous power. Some thought that\nthe miracles of the Saviour and his saints would be denied in the name\nof magnetism; others wondered how it would fare with the power of the\ndevil. True religion, notwithstanding, has nothing to fear from the\ndiscovery of truth; and further, in putting a limit to human power,\ndoes not magnetism give a new sanction to divine miracles instead of\ndestroying them? It follows that the fools will ascribe fewer prodigies\nto the devil, which will leave them the less opportunity to exercise\ntheir hatred and their rage; but persons of real piety will not find\nthis a ground of complaint. The devil must lose ground when light\nmanifests and ignorance recedes; but the conquests of science and of\nlight extend, strengthen and increase more and more our love of the\nempire and the glory of God.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER II\n\n THAUMATURGIC PERSONALITIES OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY\n\n\nThe eighteenth century was credulous about nothing but Magic, and\nthe explanation is that vague beliefs are the religion of souls\ndevoid of true faith. The miracles of Jesus Christ were denied, while\nresurrections were ascribed to the Comte de Saint-Germain. This\nexceptional personality was a mysterious theosophist who was credited\nwith possessing the secrets of the Great Work, and the manufacture of\ndiamonds and of precious stones. For the rest, he was a man of the\nworld, agreeable in conversation and highly distinguished in manners.\nMadame de Genlis, who saw him almost daily during his early years, says\nthat even his representations of gems in pictures had a natural fire\nand gleam, the secret of which could not be divined by any chemist\nor painter. None of his pictures are in evidence, and it can only be\nspeculated whether he had contrived to fix light on canvas or whether\nhe employed a preparation of mother-of-pearl, or some metallic coating.\n\nThe Comte de Saint-Germain professed the Catholic Religion and\nconformed to its practices with great fidelity. This notwithstanding,\nthere were reports of suspicious evocations and strange apparitions; he\nclaimed also to have the secret of eternal youth. Was this mysticism\nor was it madness? His family connections were unknown and to hear him\ntalk of past events suggested that he had lived for many centuries. Of\nall that was in kinship with occult science he said but little, and\nwhen the benefit of initiation was demanded at his hands he pretended\nto know nothing on the subject. He chose his own disciples, required\npassive obedience on their part and then talked of a royalty to which\nthey were called, being that of Melchisedek and Solomon, a royalty of\ninitiation, which is a priesthood at the same time. \u201cBe the torch of\nthe world,\u201d he said. \u201cIf your light is that only of a planet, you will\nbe as nothing in the sight of God. I reserve for you a splendour, of\nwhich the solar glory is a shadow. You shall guide the course of stars\nand those who rule empires shall be governed by you.\u201d\n\nThese promises, the proper meaning of which is quite intelligible to\ntrue adepts, are recorded substantially, if not in the words here\ngiven, by the anonymous author of a _History of Secret Societies in\nGermany_,[307] and they are evidence as to the school of initiation\nwith which the Comte de Saint-Germain was connected. The following\ndetails have been so far unknown concerning him.\n\nThe Comte de Saint-Germain was born at Lentmeritz in Bohemia, at\nthe end of the seventeenth century. He was either the natural or an\nadopted son of a Rosicrucian who called himself _Comes Cabalicus_\u2014the\nCompanion Kabalist\u2014ridiculed under the name of Comte de Gabalis by the\nunfortunate Abb\u00e9 de Villars.[308] Saint-Germain never spoke of his\nfather, but he mentions that he led a life of proscription and errantry\nin a world of forest, having his mother as companion. This was at the\nage of seven years, which, however, is to be understood symbolically\nand is that of the initiate when he is advanced to the Grade of Master.\nHis mother was the science of the adepts, while the forest, in the same\nkind of language, signifies empires devoid of the true civilisation and\nlight. The principles of Saint-Germain were those of the Rosy Cross,\nand in his own country he established a society from which he separated\nsubsequently when anarchic doctrines became prevalent in fellowships\nwhich incorporated new partisans of the Gnosis. Hence he was disowned\nby his brethren, was charged even with treason, and some memorials on\nilluminism seem to hint that he was immured in the dungeons of the\nCastle of Ruel. On the other hand, Madame de Genlis tells us that he\ndied in the Duchy of Holstein, a prey to his own conscience and terrors\nof the life beyond.[309] It is certain in any case that he vanished\nsuddenly from Paris, no one exactly knowing where, and that his\ncompanions in illumination permitted the veil of silence and oblivion\nto fall as far as possible upon his memory. The association which he\nhad formed under the title of Saint-Jakin\u2014which has been turned into\nSaint Joachim\u2014continued till the Revolution, when it dissolved or was\ntransformed, like so many others. A story is told concerning it in a\npamphlet against illuminism; it is derived from a correspondence in\nVienna and, though it is worth reproducing, there is nothing that can\nbe termed certain or authentic therein.\n\n\u201cOwing to your introduction, I had a cordial welcome from M. N. Z.,\nwho had been informed already of my arrival. Of the harmonica he\napproved highly. He spoke first of all about certain trials, but of\nthis I understood nothing; it is of late only that I have been able\nto grasp the meaning. Yesterday, towards evening, I accompanied him to\nhis country house, the grounds of which are very beautiful. Temples,\ngrottos, cascades, labyrinths, caves form a long vista of enchantments;\nbut an exceedingly high wall which encompasses the whole pleasaunce was\nextremely displeasing to me, for beyond this there is also a wonderful\nprospect.... I had brought the harmonica with me, at the instance of\nM. N. Z., with the idea of playing on it for a few minutes in a place\nindicated, and on receiving an agreed signal.[310] The visit to the\ngarden over, he took me to a room in the front of the house and there\nleft me, somewhat quickly and under a trivial pretext. It was now very\nlate; he did not return; weariness and the wish to sleep began to come\nover me, when I was interrupted by the arrival of several coaches. I\nopened the window, but, being night, I could see nothing, and I was\nmuch puzzled by the low and mysterious whispering of those who seemed\nentering the house. Sleep now overcame me, and an hour must have passed\naway, when I was awakened by a servant who was sent to conduct me and\nalso carry the instrument. He walked very quickly and far in advance\nof myself, I following mechanically, when I heard the sound of horns,\nwhich seemed to issue from the depths of a cave. At this moment I lost\nsight of my guide and, proceeding in the direction from which the noise\nseemed to be coming, I half descended a staircase leading to a vault,\nfrom which, to my utter surprise, a funeral chant arose, and I saw\ndistinctly a corpse in an open coffin.\n\n\u201cOn one side stood a man clothed in white, covered with blood; it\nappeared to me that a vein had been opened in his right arm. With the\nexception of those who were helping him, all present were shrouded in\nlong black mantles and were armed with drawn swords. So far as I could\njudge in my state of terror, the entrance to the vault was strewn with\nhuman bones, heaped one upon another. The only light which illuminated\nthe mournful spectacle was that of a flame, such as is produced by\nspirits of wine.\n\n\u201cUncertain whether I should be able to overtake my guide, I retreated\nhurriedly and found him in search of myself a few paces away; there\nwas a haggard look in his eyes, and taking my hand in rather an uneasy\nmanner, he led me into a singular garden, where I began to think\nthat I must have been transported by magic. The brilliance produced\nby a vast number of lamps, the murmur of falling waters, the singing\nof mechanical nightingales and the perfume which seemed to exhale\neverywhere exalted my imagination at the outset. I was hidden behind a\ngreen arbour, the interior of which was richly decorated, and thither\nthey brought immediately a person in a fainting state, apparently the\none who had occupied the coffin in the vault. It was at this point that\nI received the agreed signal to play my instrument. Disturbed very much\nby the whole scene, there is no doubt that a good deal escaped me,[311]\nbut I could see that the swooning person came to himself as soon as I\ntouched the harmonica; he also began to ask questions with an accent of\nastonishment, saying: \u2018Where am I? What is this voice?\u2019 Shouts of joy,\naccompanied by trumpets and timbrels, were the only answer. Everyone\nran to arms and plunging into the depths of the garden were quickly out\nof sight. I am still in agitation as I write these lines; and if I had\nnot taken the precaution to make my notes on the spot, I should regard\nit to-day as a dream.\u201d\n\nThe most inexplicable part of this scene is the presence of the\nuninitiated person who tells the story. How the association could\nthus risk the betrayal of its mysteries is a question that cannot be\nanswered, but the mysteries themselves can be explained easily.[312]\nThe successors of the old Rosicrucians, modifying little by little the\naustere and hierarchic methods of their precursors in initiation, had\nbecome a mystic sect and had embraced zealously the Templar magical\ndoctrines, as a result of which they regarded themselves as the sole\ndepositaries of the secrets intimated by the Gospel according to St.\nJohn. They regarded the narratives of that Gospel as an allegorical\nsequence of rites designed to complete initiation, and they believed\nthat the history of Christ must be realised in the person of each one\nof the adepts. Furthermore, they recounted a Gnostic legend, according\nto which the Saviour, instead of being buried in the new tomb of\nJoseph of Arimathea, having been swathed and perfumed, was brought\nback to life in the house of St. John. This was the pretended mystery\nwhich they celebrated to the sound of horns and harmonica.[313] The\nCandidate was invited to offer up his life and was actually subjected\nto bleeding which caused him to swoon. This swoon was called death\nand when he returned to himself, his resurrection was celebrated\namidst outbursts of joy and gladness. The varied emotions produced,\nthe scenes, by turns mournful and brilliant, must have permanently\nimpressed the candidate\u2019s imagination, and rendered him either\nfanatical or lucid. Many believed that a real resurrection took place\nin themselves and felt convinced that they were no longer subject\nto death. The heads of the society thus had at the service of their\nconcealed projects the most formidable of all instruments, namely,\nmadness, and secured on the part of their adepts that blind and\ntireless devotion which unreason produces more often and more surely\nthan goodwill.\n\nThe sect of Saint-Jakin was therefore an order of Gnostics steeped in\nthe illusions of the Magic of Fascination; it drew from Rosicrucians\nand Templars; and its particular name was one of the two names\u2014_Jachin_\nand _Boaz_\u2014engraven on the chief pillars of Solomon\u2019s Temple. In Hebrew\nthe initial letter of _Jachin_ is _Yod_, a sacred letter of the Hebrew\nalphabet, and also the initial of Jehovah, which Divine Name was indeed\nveiled from the profane under that of _Jachin_, whence the designation\nSaint-Jakin. The members of this order were theosophists, unwisely\naddicted to theurgic processes.[314]\n\nAll that is told of the mysterious Comte de Saint-Germain supports\nthe idea that he was a skilful physician and a distinguished chemist.\nHe is said to have known how to fuse diamonds so that there was no\ntrace of the operation; he could also purify precious stones, thus\nmaking the most common and imperfect of high value. That imbecile and\nanonymous author[315] whom we have already cited places the latter\nclaim to his credit but denies that he ever made gold, as if one\ndid not make gold in the making of precious stones. Saint-Germain\nalso invented, according to the same authority, and bequeathed to\nthe industrial sciences, the art of imparting greater brilliance and\nductility to copper\u2014another invention sufficient to prove the fortune\nof him who devised it. Performances of this kind make us forgive the\nComte de Saint-Germain for having been acquainted with Queen Cleopatra\nand for chatting familiarly with the Queen of Sheba. He was otherwise\ngood-natured and gallant; he was one who loved children and amused\nhimself by providing them with delicious sweetmeats and marvellous\ntoys; he was dark and of small stature, dressed richly but with great\ntaste and cultivating all the refinements of luxury. He is said to have\nbeen received familiarly by Louis XV, and was engrossed with him over\nquestions of diamonds and other precious stones. It is probable that\nthis monarch, entirely governed by courtesans and given up to pleasure,\nwas rather yielding to some caprice of feminine curiosity than to any\nserious concern for science when he invited Saint-Germain to certain\nprivate audiences. The Comte was the fashion for a moment, and as he\nwas an amiable and youthful Methuselah, who knew how to combine the\ntattle of a rou\u00e9 with the ecstasies of a theosophist, he was the rage\nin certain circles, though speedily replaced by other phantasiasts. So\ngoes the world.\n\nIt is said that Saint-Germain was no other than that mysterious\nAlthotas who was the Master in Magic of another adept with whom we are\nabout to be occupied and who took the Kabalistic name of Acharat. The\nsupposition has no foundation, as will be seen in due course.\n\nWhilst the Comte de Saint-Germain was thus in request at Paris,\nanother mysterious adept was on his way through the world, recruiting\napostles for the philosophy of Hermes. He was an alchemist who called\nhimself Lascaris and gave out that he was an eastern archimandrite,\ncharged with collecting alms for a Greek convent. The distinction was\nthis, that instead of demanding money, Lascaris seemed occupied, so\nto speak, in sowing his path with gold and leaving the trail of it\nbehind him wherever he went. His appearances were momentary only and\nhis guises many; here he was old and in the next place still a young\nman. He did not make gold in public on his own part, but caused it\nto be made by his disciples, with whom he left at parting a little\nof the powder of projection. Nothing is better established than the\ntransmutations operated by these emissaries of Lascaris. M. Louis\nFiguier, in his learned work on the alchemists, does not question\neither their reality or their importance. Now, in physics above all,\nthere in nothing more inexorable than facts, and it must be therefore\nconcluded from these that the Philosophical Stone is not a matter of\nreverie, if the vast tradition of occultism, the ancient mythologies\nand the serious researches of great men in all ages are not otherwise\nsufficient to establish its real existence.[316] A modern chemist, who\nhas not failed to publish his secret, has arrived at the extraction\nof gold from silver by a ruinous process, for the silver sacrificed\nby him does not produce in gold more than the tenth of its value, or\nthereabouts. Agrippa, who never attained the universal dissolvent, was\nnotwithstanding more fortunate than our chemist, for he did obtain gold\nwhich was equivalent in value to the silver employed in his process\nand did not therefore lose his labour absolutely, if to employ it in\nresearch after the grand secrets of Nature can be called loss.\n\nTo set men upon researches which might lead them to the absolute\nphilosophy by the attraction of gold, such would appear to have\nbeen the end of the propaganda connected with the name of Lascaris;\nreflection on Hermetic books would of necessity lead those who\nstudied to a knowledge of the Kabalah. As a fact, the initiates of\nthe eighteenth century thought that their time had come\u2014some for\nthe foundation of a new hierarchy, others for the subversion of all\nauthority and for setting on the summits of the social order the level\nof equality. The Secret Societies sent their scouts through the world\nto sound opinion, and at need awaken it. After Saint-Germain and\nLascaris came Mesmer, and Mesmer was succeeded by Cagliostro. But they\nwere not all of the same school: Saint-Germain was the ambassador of\nilluminated theosophists, while Lascaris represented the naturalists\nattached to the tradition of Hermes. Cagliostro was the agent of the\nTemplars, and this is how he came to announce, in a circular addressed\nto all Masons in London, that the time had come to build the Temple\nof the Eternal. Like the Templars, Cagliostro was addicted to the\npractices of Black Magic and to the fatal science of evocations. He\ndivined past and present, predicted things to come, wrought marvellous\ncures and pretended to make gold. He introduced a new Rite under the\nname of Egyptian Masonry and sought to restore the mysterious worship\nof Isis. Wearing a _nemys_ like that of the Theban sphinx, he presided\nin person over nocturnal assemblies, in chambers emblazoned with\nhieroglyphics and lighted by torches. His priestesses were young girls,\nwhom he called doves, and he placed them in a condition of ecstasy\nby means of hydromancy in order to obtain oracles, water being an\nexcellent conductor, a powerful reflector, and highly refracting medium\nfor the Astral Light, as proved by sea and cloud mirages.\n\nIt is obvious that Cagliostro was a successor of Mesmer and had the\nkey of mediumistic phenomena; he was himself a medium, meaning that he\nwas a man whose nervous organisation was exceptionally impressionable,\nand to this he joined a fund of ingenuity and assurance, public\nexaggeration and the imagination\u2014especially of women\u2014supplying the\nrest. Cagliostro had an extravagant success; his bust was to be seen\neverywhere\u2014inscribed: \u201cThe divine Cagliostro.\u201d A reaction equivalent\nto the enthusiasm was of course to be foreseen; after having been a\ngod, he became an intriguer and impostor, the debaucher of his wife, a\nscoundrel in fine, to whom the Roman Inquisition shewed grace by merely\ncondemning him to perpetual imprisonment. The fact that his wife sold\nhim lends colour to the idea that previously he had sold his wife.[317]\nHe was taken in a snare, his prosecution followed and his accusers\npublished as much of the process as they pleased. The revolution came\nin the meantime, and everyone forgot Cagliostro.\n\nThis adept is, however, by no means without importance in the history\nof Magic; his Seal is as significant as that of Solomon and attests his\ninitiation into the highest secrets of science. As explained by the\nKabalistic letters of the names Acharat and Althotas, it expresses\nthe chief characteristics of the Great Arcanum and the Great Work.\nIt is a serpent pierced by an arrow, thus representing the letter\n_Aleph_, an image of the union between active and passive, spirit and\nlife, will and light. The arrow is that of the antique Apollo, while\nthe serpent is the python of fable, the green dragon of Hermetic\nphilosophy. The letter _Aleph_ represents equilibrated unity. This\npantacle is reproduced under various forms in the talismans of old\nMagic, but occasionally the serpent is replaced by the peacock of Juno,\nthe peacock with the royal head and the tail of many colours. This\nis an emblem of analysed light, that bird of the _Magnum Opus_, the\nplumage of which is all sparkling with gold. At other times, instead\nof the emblazoned peacock, there is a white lamb, the young solar\nram bearing the cross, as still seen in the armorial bearings of the\ncity of Rouen. The peacock, the ram and the serpent have the same\nhieroglyphical meaning\u2014that of the passive principle and the sceptre\nof Juno. The cross and arrow signify the active principle, will,\nmagical action, the coagulation of the dissolvant, the fixation of the\nvolatile by projection and the penetration of earth by fire. The union\nof the two is the universal balance, the Great Arcanum, the Great Work,\nthe equilibrium of _Jachin_ and _Boaz_. The initials L.P.D., which\naccompany this figure, signify Liberty, Power, Duty, and also Light,\nProportion, Density; Law, Principle, and Right. The Freemasons have\nchanged the order of these initials, and in the form of L\u2234D\u2234P\u2234[318]\nthey render them as _Libert\u00e9 de Penser_, Liberty of Thought, inscribing\nthese on a symbolical bridge, but for those who are not initiated they\nsubstitute _Libert\u00e9 de Passer_, Liberty of Passage. In the records of\nthe prosecution of Cagliostro it is said that his examination elicited\nanother meaning as follows: _Lilia destrue pedibus_: Trample the lilies\nunder foot; and in support of this version may be cited a masonic\nmedal of the 16th or 17th century, depicting a branch of lilies severed\nby a sword, having these words on the exergue: _Talem dabit ultio\nmessem_\u2014Revenge shall give this harvest.\n\nThe name Acharat, assumed by Cagliostro, is written Kabalistically\nthus: \u05d0\u05e9\u200f\u200e, \u05d0\u05e8\u200f\u200e, \u05d0\u05ea\u200f\u200e, and expresses the triple unity: \u05d0\u05e9, the unity of\nprinciple and beginning; \u05d0\u05d3, the unity of life and perpetuity of\nregenerating movement; and \u05d0\u05ea, the unity of end in an absolute\nsynthesis.\n\nThe name Althotas, or that of Cagliostro\u2019s master, is composed of\nthe word _Thot_, with the syllables _Al_ and _As_, which, if read\nKabalistically are _Sala_, meaning messenger or envoy. The name as a\nwhole therefore signifies: _Thot_, the messenger of the Egyptians, and\nsuch in effect was he whom Cagliostro recognised as his master above\nall others.[319]\n\nAnother title adopted by Cagliostro was that of the Grand Copht, and\nhis doctrine had the twofold object of moral and physical regeneration.\nThe precepts of moral regeneration according to the Grand Copht were\nas follows: \u201cYou shall go up Mount Sinai with Moses; you shall ascend\nCalvary; with Phaleg you shall climb Thabor, and shall stand on Carmel\nwith Elias. You shall build your tabernacle on the summit of the\nmountain; it shall consist of three wings or divisions, but these shall\nbe joined together and that in the centre shall have three storeys.\nThe refectory shall be on the ground-floor. Above it there shall be a\ncircular chamber with twelve beds round the walls and one bed in the\ncentre: this shall be the place of sleep and dreams. The uppermost room\nshall be square, having four windows in each of the four quarters; and\nthis shall be the room of light. There, and alone, you shall pray for\nforty days and sleep for forty nights in the dormitory of the Twelve\nMasters. Then shall you receive the signatures of the seven genii\nand the pentagram traced on a sheet of virgin parchment. It is the\nsign which no man knoweth, save he who receiveth it. It is the secret\ncharacter inscribed on the white stone mentioned in the prophecy of the\nyoungest of the Twelve Masters. Your spirit shall be illuminated by\ndivine fire and your body shall become as pure as that of a child. Your\npenetration shall be without limits and great shall be also your power;\nyou shall enter into that perfect repose which is the beginning of\nimmortality; it shall be possible for you to say truly and apart from\nall pride: I am he who is.\u201d\n\nThis enigma signifies that in order to attain moral regeneration, the\ntranscendent Kabalah must be studied, understood and realised. The\nthree chambers are the alliance of physical life, religious aspirations\nand philosophical light; the Twelve Masters are the great revealers,\nwhose symbols must be understood; the signatures of the seven spirits\nmean the knowledge of the Great Arcanum. The whole is therefore\nallegorical, and it is no more a question of building a house of three\nstoreys than a temple at Jerusalem in Masonry.\n\nLet us now turn to the secret of physical regeneration, to attain\nwhich\u2014according to the occult prescription of the Grand Copht\u2014a retreat\nof forty days, after the manner of a jubilee, must be made once in\nevery fifty years, beginning during the full moon of May, in the\ncompany of one faithful person only. It must be also a fast of forty\ndays, drinking May-dew\u2014collected from sprouting corn with a cloth of\npure white linen\u2014and eating new and tender herbs. The repast should\nbegin with a large glass of dew and end with a biscuit or crust of\nbread. There should be slight bleeding on the seventeenth day. Balm\nof Azoth[320] should then be taken morning and evening, beginning with\na dose of six drops and increasing by two drops daily till the end of\nthe thirty-second day. At the dawn which follows thereafter renew the\nslight bleeding; then take to your bed and remain in it till the end of\nthe fortieth day.\n\nOn the first awakening after the bleeding, take the first grain\nof Universal Medicine. A swoon of three hours will be followed by\nconvulsions, sweats and much purging, necessitating a change both\nof bed and linen. At this stage a broth of lean beef must be taken,\nseasoned with rice, sage, valerian, vervain and balm. On the day\nfollowing take the second grain of Universal Medicine, which is Astral\nMercury combined with Sulphur of Gold. On the next day have a warm\nbath. On the thirty-sixth day drink a glass of Egyptian wine, and on\nthe thirty-seventh take the third and last grain of Universal Medicine.\nA profound sleep will follow, during which the hair, teeth, nails and\nskin will be renewed. The prescription for the thirty-eighth day is\nanother warm bath, steeping aromatic herbs in the water, of the same\nkind as those specified for the broth. On the thirty-ninth day drink\nten drops of Elixir of Acharat in two spoonsful of red wine. The work\nwill be finished on the fortieth day, and the aged man will be renewed\nin youth.[321]\n\nBy means of this jubilary regimen, Cagliostro claimed to have lived for\nmany centuries. It will be seen that it is a variation of the famous\nBath of Immortality in use among the Menandrian Gnostics.[322] The\nquestion is whether Cagliostro believed in it seriously. However this\nmay be, before his judges he shewed much firmness and presence of mind,\nprofessing that he was a catholic who honoured the pope as supreme\nchief of the religious hierarchy. On matters relating to the occult\nsciences he replied enigmatically and when accused of being absurd\nand incomprehensible he told his examiners that they had no ground of\njudgment, at which they were offended, and ordered him to enumerate\nthe seven deadly sins. Having recited lust, avarice, envy, gluttony\nand sloth, they reminded him that he had omitted pride and anger. To\nthis the accused retorted: \u201cPardon me; I had not forgotten them, but\nI did not include them out of respect for yourselves and for fear of\noffending you further.\u201d\n\nHe was condemned to death, which was afterwards commuted to perpetual\nimprisonment. In his dungeon Cagliostro asked to make his confession\nand himself designated the priest, who was a man of his own figure\nand stature.[323] The confessor visited him and was seen to take his\ndeparture at the end of a certain time. Some hours after the gaoler\nentered the cell and found the body of a strangled man clothed in the\ngarments of Cagliostro, but the priest himself was never seen again.\nLovers of the marvellous declare that the Grand Copht is at this day in\nAmerica, being the supreme and invisible pontiff of the believers in\nspirit-rapping.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER III\n\n PROPHECIES OF CAZOTTE\n\n\nThe school of unknown philosophers founded by Martines de Pasqually and\ncontinued by L. C. de Saint-Martin seems to have incorporated the last\nadepts of true initiation. Saint-Martin was acquainted with the ancient\nkey of the Tarot\u2014the mystery, that is to say, of sacred alphabets and\nhieratic hieroglyphics. He has left many very curious pantacles which\nhave never been engraved and of which we possess copies. One of them\nis the traditional key of the Great Work and is called by Saint-Martin\nthe key of hell, because it is that of riches.[324] The Martinists were\nthe last Christians in the cohort of _illumin\u00e9s_, and it was they who\ninitiated the famous Cazotte.\n\nWe have said that during the eighteenth century a schism took place in\nilluminism: on the one hand, the wardens of the traditions concerning\nNature and science wished to restore the hierarchy; there were others,\non the contrary, who desired to level all things by disclosing the\nGreat Arcanum, thus rendering the royalty and priesthood alike\nimpossible in the world. Among the latter, some were ambitious and\nunscrupulous, seeking to erect a throne for themselves over the ruins\nof the world. Others were dupes and zanies. The true initiates beheld\nwith dismay the launching of society towards the abyss, and they\nforesaw all the terrors of anarchy. That revolution which was destined\nat a later period to manifest before the dying genius of Vergniaud\nunder the sombre figure of Saturn devouring his children had already\nshewn itself fully armed in the prophetic dreams of Cazotte. On a\ncertain evening, when he was surrounded by blind instruments of the\nJacobinism to come, he predicted the doom of all\u2014for the strongest and\nweakest the scaffold, for the enthusiasts, suicide\u2014and his prophecy,\nwhich at the moment was rather like a sombre jest, was destined\nto be realised amply.[325] As a fact, it was only the calculus of\nprobabilities, and it proved strictly correct because it dealt with\nchances which had already become fatal consequences. La Harpe, who was\nimpressed by the prediction, amplified the details, to make it appear\nmore marvellous.[326] He mentioned, for example, the exact number of\ntimes that a certain guest of the moment would draw the razor across\nhis throat. Poetic licence of this kind may be forgiven to the tellers\nof unusual stories; such adornments are of the substance of style and\npoetry rather than untruths.\n\nThe gift of absolute liberty to men who are unequal by Nature is an\norganisation of social war; when those who should restrain the headlong\ninstincts of the crowd are so mad as to unloose them, it does not\nneed a great magician to foresee that they will be the first to be\ndevoured, since animal lusts are bound to prey upon one another until\nthe appearance of a bold and skilful huntsman who will end them by\nshot and snare. Cazotte foresaw Marat, as Marat in his turn foresaw\nreaction and a dictator. Cazotte made his first appearance in public\nas the author of some literary trifles and it is said that he owed his\ninitiation to the romance of _Le Diable Amoureux_. There is no question\nthat it is full of magical intuitions, and love, that supreme ordeal\nof life, is depicted in its pages under the true light of the doctrine\nof adeptship. Passion in a state of delirium and folly invincible for\nthose who are slaves of imagination, physical love is but death in the\nguise of allurement, seeking to renew its harvest by means of birth.\nThe physical Venus is death, painted and habited like a courtesan;\nCupid also is a destroyer, like his mother, for whom he recruits\nvictims. When the courtesan is satiated, death unmasks and calls in\nturn for its prey. This is why the Church\u2014which safeguards birth by\nsanctifying marriage\u2014lays bare in their true colours the debaucheries\nwhich are mortal, by condemning without pity all the disorders of love.\nIf she who is beloved is not indeed an angel, earning immortality by\nsacrifice to duty in the arms of him whom she loves, she is a _stryge_\nwho expends, exhausts and slays him, finally exposing herself before\nhim in all the hideousness of her animal egoism. Woe to the victims of\nthe _Le Diable Amoureux_, thrice woe to those who are beguiled by the\nlascivious endearments of Biondetta. Speedily the gracious countenance\nof the girl will change into that camel\u2019s head which appears so\ntragically at the end of the romance of Cazotte.\n\nAccording to the Kabalists there are two queens of the _stryges_ in\n_Sheol_\u2014one is Lilith, the mother of abortions, and the other is\nNehamah, fatal and murderous in her beauty. When a man is false to\nthe spouse set apart for him by heaven, when he is abandoned to the\ndisorders of a sterile passion, God withdraws his legitimate bride\nand delivers him to the embraces of Nehamah, who assumes at need all\ncharms of maidenhood and of love; she turns the hearts of fathers, and\nat her instigation they abandon all the duties owing to their children;\nshe brings married men to widowhood; while those who are consecrated to\nGod she coerces into sacrilegious marriage. When she assumes the role\nof a wife she is, however, unmasked easily, for on her marriage-day\nshe appears in a state of baldness, that hair which is the veil of\nmodesty for womanhood being forbidden her on this occasion. Later on\nshe assumes airs of despair and disgust with existence; she preaches\nsuicide, deserts him who cohabits with her, having first sealed him\nbetween the eyes with an infernal star. The Kabalists say further that\nNehamah may become a mother but she never rears her children, as she\ngives them to her fatal sister to devour.\n\nThese Kabalistic allegories, which are found in the Hebrew book\nconcerning the Revolution of Souls, included by Rosenroth in the\ncollection of the _Kabbala Denudata_, and otherwise met with in\nTalmudic commentaries on the _Sota_ must have been either known or\ndivined by the author of _Le Diable Amoureux_.[327] Hence we are told\nthat after the publication of his novel, Cazotte had a visit from an\nunknown person who was wrapped in a mantle, after the traditional\nmanner of emissaries of the Secret Tribunal. The visitor made signs to\nCazotte which he failed to understand and then asked whether indeed\nhe had not been initiated. On receiving a reply in the negative, the\nstranger assumed a less sombre expression and then said: \u201cI perceive\nthat you are not an unfaithful recipient of our secrets but rather\na vessel of election prepared for knowledge. Do you wish to rule\nin reality over human passions and over impure spirits?\u201d Cazotte\ndisplayed his curiosity; a long talk followed; it was the preface\nto other meetings; and the author of _Le Diable Amoureux_ was called\nto initiation at the end. He became a devout supporter of order and\nauthority as a consequence and also a redoubtable enemy of anarchists.\n\nWe have seen that, according to the symbolism of Cagliostro, there\nis a mountain into which those must go up who are on the quest of\nregeneration; this mountain is white with light, like Tabor, or red\nwith fire and blood, like Sinai and Calvary. The _Zohar_ says that\nthere are two chromatic syntheses; one of them is white and is that\nof peace and moral light; the other, which is red, is that of war and\nmaterial life. The Jacobins had plotted to unrol the standard of blood,\nand their altar was erected on the red mountain. Cazotte was enrolled\nunder the banner of light, and his mystical tabernacle was established\non the white mountain. That which was stained with blood triumphed\nfor a moment, and Cazotte was proscribed. The heroic girl who was his\ndaughter saved him from the slaughter at the Abbey; it so happened that\nthe prefix denoting nobility was not attached to her name and she was\nspared therefore that horrible toast of fraternity which immortalised\nthe filial piety of Mlle. de Sombreuil, who, to be vindicated from\nthe charge of aristocracy, drank the health of her father in the\nblood-stained glass of cut-throats.\n\nCazotte was in a position to foretell his own death, because conscience\ncompelled him to fight against anarchy even to the last. He obeyed it,\nwas arrested for the second time and brought before the revolutionary\ntribunal as one condemned already. The President who pronounced his\nsentence added an allocution full of esteem and regret, pledging his\nvictim to be worthy of himself unto the end and to die nobly as he had\nlived. Even in episodes of the tribunal, the revolution was a civil war\nand the brethren exchanged salutations as they condemned one another to\ndeath. The explanation is that there was the sincerity of conviction\non both sides and both were entitled to respect. Whosoever dies for\nthat which he thinks to be true is a hero even in his deception, and\nthe anarchists of the ensanguined mountain were not only intrepid when\ndespatching others to the scaffold, but ascended it themselves without\nblanching. Let God and posterity be their judges.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER IV\n\n THE FRENCH REVOLUTION\n\n\nOnce there was a man in the world who was soured on discovering that\nhis disposition was cowardly and vicious, and he visited his consequent\ndisgust on society at large. He was an ill-starred lover of Nature,\nand Nature in her wrath armed him with eloquence as with a scourge.\nHe dared to plead the cause of ignorance in the face of science, of\nsavagery in the face of civilisation, of all low-life deeps in the face\nof all social heights. Instinctively the populace pelted this maniac,\nyet he was welcomed by the great and lionised by women. His success was\nso signal that, by revulsion, his hatred of humanity increased, and he\nended in suicide as the final issue of his rage and disgust. After his\ndeath the world was shaken in its attempts to realise the dreams of\nJean Jacques Rousseau, and that silent conspiracy which ever since the\nmurder of Jacques de Molay had sworn destruction to the social edifice,\ninaugurated in Rue Platri\u00e8re, and in the very house where Rousseau had\nonce lived, a Masonic Lodge, with the fanatic of Geneva as its patron\nsaint. This Lodge became the centre of the revolutionary propaganda,\nand thither came a prince of the blood royal, vowing destruction to the\nsuccessors of Philip the Fair over the tomb of the Templar.\n\nIt was the nobility of the eighteenth century which corrupted the\npeople; the aristocracy of that period were seized with a mania for\nequality, which took its rise in the orgies of the Regency; low company\nwas kept for the pleasure of it and the court obtained diversion in\ntalking the language of the slums. The archives of the Order of the\nTemple[328] testify that the Regent was its Grand Master, that he\nhad as his successors the Duc de Maine, the princes of Bourbon-Cond\u00e9\nand Bourbon-Conti, and the Duc de Coss\u00e9-Brissac. Cagliostro drew\nauxiliaries from the middle class to swell the membership of his\nEgyptian Rite; everyone was eager to obey the secret and irresistible\nimpulse which drove decadent civilisation to its destruction. Events\ndid not tarry, but as if impelled by hands unseen, they were heaped one\nupon another, after the manner foreseen by Cazotte. The unfortunate\nLouis XVI was led by his worst enemies, who at once prearranged\nand stultified the paltry project of evasion which brought about\nthe catastrophe of Varennes, just as they had done with the orgie\nat Versailles and the massacre of August 10. On every side they\ncompromised the king; at every turn they saved him from the fury of the\npeople, to foment that fury and ensure the dire event which had been\nin preparation for centuries. A scaffold was essential to complete the\nrevenge of the Templars.\n\nAmidst the pressure of civil war, the National Assembly suspended the\npowers of the king and assigned him the Luxembourg as his residence;\nbut another and more secret assembly had ruled otherwise. A prison\nwas to be the residence of the fallen monarch, and that prison was\nnone other than the old palace of the Templars, which had survived,\nwith keep and turrets, to await the royal victim doomed by inexorable\nmemories. There he was duly interned, while the flower of French\necclesiasticism was either in exile or at the Abbey. Artillery\nthundered on the Pont Neuf, menacing posters proclaimed that the\ncountry was in danger, unknown personages organised successive\nslaughters, while a hideous and gigantic being, covered with a long\nbeard, was to be seen wheresoever there were priests to murder.\n\u201cBehold,\u201d he cried with a savage sneer, \u201cthis is for the Albigenses and\nthe Vaudois; this is for the Templars, this for St. Bartholomew and\nthis for the exiles of the Cevennes.\u201d As one who was beside himself, he\nsmote unceasingly, now with the sabre and now with axe or club. Arms\nbroke and were replaced in his hands; from head to foot he was clothed\nin blood, swearing with frightful blasphemies that in blood only he\nwould wash. It was this man who proposed the toast of the nation to\nthe angelical Mdlle. de Sombreuil. Meanwhile another angel prayed and\nwept in the tower of the Temple, offering to God her own sufferings and\nthose of two children to obtain pardon for the royalty of France. All\nthe agonies and all the tears of that virgin martyr, the saintly Mme.\nElizabeth, were necessary for the expiation of the imbecile joys which\ncharacterised courtesans like Mme. de Pompadour and Mme. du Barry.\n\nJacobinism had received its distinctive name before the old Church\nof the Jacobins was chosen as the headquarters of conspiracy; it was\nderived from the name Jacques\u2014an ominous symbol and one which spelt\nrevolution. French iconoclasts have always been called Jacques; that\nphilosopher whose fatal celebrity prepared new Jacqueries and was a\npeg on which to hang the sanguinary projects of Johannite schemers\nbore the name of Jean Jacques, while those who were prime movers in\nthe French Revolution had sworn in secret the destruction of throne\nand altar over the tomb of Jacques de Molay. At the very moment when\nLouis XVI suffered under the axe of revolution, the man with a long\nbeard\u2014that wandering Jew, significant of vengeance and murder\u2014ascended\nthe scaffold and, confronting the appalled spectators, took the royal\nblood in both hands, casting it over the heads of the people, and\ncrying with his terrible voice: \u201cPeople of France, I baptise you in\nthe name of Jacques and of liberty.\u201d[329] So ended half of the work,\nand it was henceforth against the Pope that the army of the Temple\ndirected all its efforts. Spoliation of churches, profanation of sacred\nthings, mock processions, inauguration of the cultus of reason in the\nmetropolis of Paris\u2014these were the signals in chief of the war in\nits new phase. The Pope was burnt in effigy at the Palais Royal, and\npresently the armies of the Republic prepared to march on Rome. Jacques\nde Molay and his companions were martyrs possibly, but their avengers\ndishonoured their memory. Royalty was regenerated on the scaffold of\nLouis XVI; the Church triumphed in the captivity of Pius VI, when he\nwas taken a prisoner to Valence, perishing of fatigue and suffering.\nBut the unworthy successors of that old chivalry of the Temple perished\nin their turn, overwhelmed by disastrous victory.\n\nSignal abuses had characterised the ecclesiastical state and grave\nscandals were entailed by the misfortune of great riches; but when the\nriches melted away, the pre-eminent virtues returned. Such transitory\ndisasters and such a spiritual triumph were predicted in the Apocalypse\nof St. Methodius, to which reference has been made already. We have\na black letter copy of the work mentioned, printed in 1527 and\nembellished with amazing designs. Unworthy priests are shewn in the\nact of casting the sacred elements to swine; the populace in a state\nof rebellion are seen assassinating the priests and breaking their\nsacramental vessels on their heads; the Pope appears as a prisoner\nin the hands of soldiers; a crowned knight raises with one hand the\nstandard of France, and with the other draws his sword against Italy.\nFinally, two eagles are depicted on either side of a cock, bearing a\ncrown on his head and a double _fleur de lys_ on his breast. One of the\neagles combines with griffins and unicorns to drive the vulture from\nhis eyrie; and there is a host of other marvels. This singular book may\nbe compared with an illustrated edition of the prophecies attributed\nto Abb\u00e9 Joachim, the Calabrian, wherein are exhibited portraits of\nall the Popes to come, with the allegorical signs of their respective\npontificates, down to the coming of Anti-Christ. These are strange\nchronicles of futurity, pictured as things of the past; they seem to\nintimate a succession of worlds wherein events are repeated, so that\nthe prevision of things to come is the evocation of shadows already\nlost in the past.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER V\n\n PHENOMENA OF MEDIOMANIA\n\n\nIn the year 1772, a certain parishioner of Saint-Mand\u00e9, named Loiseaut,\nbeing at Church, believed that he saw an extraordinary person kneeling\nclose by him; this was a very swarthy man, whose only garment was a\npair of coarse worsted drawers. His beard was long, his hair woolly,\nand about his neck there was a ruddy circular scar. He carried a book,\nhaving the following inscription emblazoned in golden letters: _Ecce\nAgnus Dei_.\n\nLoiseaut observed with astonishment that no one but himself seemed\naware of this strange presence, but he finished his devotions and\nreturned home, where the same personage was awaiting him. He drew\nnearer to ask who he was and what might his business be, when the\nfantastic visitor vanished. Loiseaut retired to bed in a fever and\nunable to sleep. The same night he found his room illuminated suddenly\nby a ruddy glow; he sprang up in bed, believing that the place was\non fire; and then on a table in the very centre of the room he saw a\ngold plate, wherein the head of his visitor was swimming in blood,\nencompassed by a red nimbus. The eyes rolled terribly, the mouth\nopened, a strange and hissing voice said: \u201cI await the heads of kings,\nthe heads of the courtesans of kings; I await Herod and Herodias.\u201d The\nnimbus faded and the sick man saw no more.[330]\n\nSome days after he had recovered sufficiently to resume his usual\noccupations. As he was crossing the Place Louis XV, a beggar accosted\nhim and Loiseaut, without looking, threw a coin into his hat. \u201cThank\nyou,\u201d said the recipient, \u201cit is a king\u2019s head; but here,\u201d and he\npointed towards the middle place of the thoroughfare, \u201cthere will fall\nanother, and it is that for which I am waiting.\u201d Loiseaut looked with\nastonishment towards the speaker and uttered a cry when he recognised\nthe strange figure of his vision. \u201cBe silent,\u201d said the mendicant;\n\u201cthey will take you for a fool, as no one but yourself can see me.\nYou have recognised me, I know, and to you I confess that I am John\nBaptist, the Precursor. I am here to predict the punishment which will\nbefall the successors of Herod and the heirs of Ca\u00efaphas; you may\nrepeat all that I tell you.\u201d\n\nFrom this time forward Loiseaut believed that St. John was present\nvisibly at his side, almost from day to day. The vision spoke to him\nlong and frequently on the woes which would befall France and the\nChurch. Loiseaut related his vision to several persons, who were not\nonly impressed but became seers on their own part. They formed among\nthemselves a mystical society which met in great secrecy. It was their\ncustom to sit in a circle, holding hands and awaiting communications\nin silence. This might continue for hours, and then the figure of the\nBaptist would appear in the midst of them. They fell, concurrently or\nsuccessively, into the magnetic sleep and saw, passing before their\neyes, the future scenes of the revolution, with the restoration which\nwould come thereafter.\n\nThe spiritual director of this sect or circle was a monk named Dom\nGerle, who became also their leader on the death of Loiseaut in\n1788.[331] At the epoch of the Revolution, however, having been won\nover by republican enthusiasm, Dom Gerle was expelled by the other\nmembers, acting on the inspirations of their chief somnambulist, who\nwas known as Sister Fran\u00e7oise Andr\u00e9. He had a somnambulist of his\nown, and in a Parisian garret he followed what was then the new craft\nof a mesmerist. The seeress in question was an old and nearly blind\nwoman, named Catherine Th\u00e9ot; she prophesied, and her predictions were\nrealised; she cured many who were sick; and as her forecasts had a\npolitical cast invariably, the police of the _Comit\u00e9 de salut public_\nwere not slow in taking up the matter.\n\nOne evening, Catherine Th\u00e9ot was in an ecstasy, surrounded by her\nadepts. \u201cHearken,\u201d she exclaimed, \u201cI hear the sound of his footsteps;\nhe is the mysterious chosen one of Providence, the angel of revolution,\nat once its saviour and victim, king of ruins and regeneration. Do you\nsee him? He draws nigh. He also has been encircled by the ruddy nimbus\nof the Precursor; it is he who shall bear all crimes of those who are\nabout to immolate him. Great are thy destinies, O thou who shalt close\nthe abyss by casting thyself therein. Do you not behold him, adorned\nas if for a festival, carrying flowers in his hands\u2014garlands which are\ncrowns of his martyrdom.\u201d Then sobbing and melting into tears: \u201cHow\ncruel is thine ordeal, my son; and how many ingrates shall curse thy\nmemory through the ages. Rise up, and kneel down: he comes; the king\ncomes\u2014he is the king of bloody sacrifices.\u201d\n\nAt this moment the door opened quickly; a man entered enveloped in a\ncloak and having his hat drawn over his eyes. Those who were present\nrose up; Catherine Th\u00e9ot stretched forth her arms towards the new comer\nand said as her hands trembled: \u201cI knew that you must come, and I have\nawaited your coming. He who is at my right side, but unseen by you,\nshewed you to me yesterday, when an accusation was lodged against us.\nWe are accused of conspiring for the king, and of a king I have indeed\nspoken; it is he whom the Precursor reveals to me at this present\nmoment, having a crown steeped in blood, and I know over whose head it\nis placed\u2014your own, Maximilian.\u201d\n\nAt this name the unknown started, as if a red hot steel had entered his\nbreast. He cast a swift and anxious glance about him, after which his\nexpression became again impassible.\n\n\u201cWhat would you say? I fail to understand,\u201d he murmured in a short and\nabrupt manner.\n\n\u201cI would say,\u201d replied Catherine Th\u00e9ot, \u201c that the sun will beam\nbrightly on that day when a man clothed in blue and bearing a sceptre\nof flowers shall be for one moment the king and saviour of the world.\nI would say that you shall be great as Moses and as Orpheus, when,\ntrampling on the head of that monster which is ready to devour you, you\nshall testify to headsmen and to victims that God is. Cease from this\nmasking, Robespierre; shew us rather without paling that valiant head\nwhich God is about to cast in the empty scale of his balance. The head\nof Louis XVI is heavy and yours can only be its counterpoise.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo you threaten?\u201d asked Robespierre coldly, letting his cloak fall.\n\u201cDo you think by this juggling to startle my patriotism and influence\nmy conscience? Do you hope by fanatical measures and old wives\u2019 fables\nto surprise my resolves as you have played the spy on my proceedings?\nYou have looked for me, it would seem, and woe to you because you have\nlooked. Since you compel the curiosity-seeker, the anonymous visitor\nand observer to be Maximilian Robespierre, representative of the\npeople, as such I denounce you to the committee of public weal, and I\nshall proceed to have you arrested.\u201d\n\nHaving said these words, Robespierre cast his cloak round his powdered\nhead and walked stiffly to the door. No one dared to detain and none to\naddress him. Catherine Th\u00e9ot clasped her hands and said: \u201cRespect his\nwill, for he is king and pontiff of the new age. If he strike us, it is\nthat God wills to strike us; lay bare the throat before the knife of\nProvidence.\u201d\n\nThe initiates of Catherine Th\u00e9ot waited expecting their arrest\nthrough the whole night, but no one appeared. They separated on the\nfollowing day. Two or three further days and nights elapsed, during\nwhich the members of the sect made no attempt at concealment. On the\nfifth day, Catherine Th\u00e9ot and those who were called her accomplices\nwere denounced to the Jacobins by a secret enemy of Robespierre\nwho insinuated skilfully to his hearers certain doubts against the\ntribune\u2014a dictatorship had been mentioned, the very name of king\nwas pronounced. Robespierre knew, and how came he to tolerate it?\nRobespierre shrugged his shoulders, but on the morrow Catherine Th\u00e9ot,\nDom Gerle and some others were arrested and consigned to those prisons\nwhich, once entered, opened only to furnish his daily task to the\nheadsman.\n\nThe story of Robespierre\u2019s interview with Catherine Th\u00e9ot had\ntranspired, one knows not how.[332] Already the counter-police of the\nThermidorians were watching the presumed dictator, whom they accused\nof mysticism because he believed in God. Robespierre notwithstanding\nwas neither the friend nor enemy of the sect of New Johannites. He\nwent to Catherine Th\u00e9ot that he might take account of phenomena, and\ndissatisfied at having been recognised he departed with threats which\nhe did not attempt to fulfil; those who converted the conventicle of\nthe old monk and ecstatic into a sect of conspiracy hoped to derive\nfrom the proceeding a doubt or an opportunity for ridicule attaching\nto the reputation of the incorruptible Maximilian. The prophecy of\nCatherine Th\u00e9ot was fulfilled by the inauguration of the worship of the\nSupreme Being and the swift reaction of Thermidor.\n\nDuring this time the sect which had gathered about Sister Andr\u00e9, whose\nrevelations were recorded by a Sieur Ducy, continued their visions and\nmiracles. The fixed notion which they cherished was to preserve the\nlegitimacy by the future reign of Louis XVII.[333] Times out of number\nthey saved in dream the poor little orphan of the Temple and believed\nalso that they had saved him literally. Old prophecies promised the\nthrone of the lilies to a young man who had been once a captive. So\nBridget, St. Hildegarde, Bernard Tollard, Lichtemberger\u2014all foretold a\nmiraculous restoration after great disasters.[334] The Neo-Johannites\nwere the interpreters and multipliers of these forecasts; a Louis XVII\nnever failed them; they had seven or eight in succession, all perfectly\nauthentic and not less perfectly preserved. It is to the influence of\nthis sect that we owe at a later period the revelations of the peasant\nMartin de Gallardon and the prodigies of Vintras.\n\nIn this magnetic circle, as in the assemblies of Quakers or Shakers of\nGreat Britain, enthusiasm proved contagious, and was propagated from\none to another. After the death of Sister Andr\u00e9, second sight and the\ngift of prophecy devolved upon a certain Legros, who was at Charenton\nwhen Martin was incarcerated provisionally therein. He recognised a\nbrother in the Beauceron peasant whom he had never seen. All these\npartisans, by force of willing Louis XVII created him in a certain\nsense; that is to say, they worked such efficacious hallucinations that\nmediums were made in the image and likeness of the magnetic type, and\nbelieving themselves to be literally the royal child escaped from the\nTemple, they attracted all the reflections of this gentle and frail\nvictim, so even that they remembered circumstances known only to the\nfamily of Louis XVI. This phenomenon, however incredible it may appear,\nis neither impossible nor unheard of. Paracelsus states that if, by\nan extraordinary effort of will, one can picture oneself as another\nperson, one would know thereby and forthwith the inmost thought of\nthat person, and would attract his most secret memories. Often after a\nconversation which has placed us in thought-affinity with a companion\nin conversation, we dream reminiscences of his private life. Among the\nsimulators of Louis XVII we must therefore recognise some who were not\nimpostors, but hallucinated beings, and among these last is the Swiss\nwho is named Na\u00fcndorff, a visionary like Swedenborg, one indeed so\ncontagious in his conviction that old servants of the royal family have\nrecognised him and cast themselves weeping at his feet. He bore the\nparticular signs and scars of Louis XVII; he recounted his infancy with\na startling appearance of truth and entered into minute details, which\nare decisive for private remembrances. His very features would have\nbeen those of the orphan of Louis XVI, had he really lived. One thing\nonly in fine was wanting for the pretender to have been Louis XVII\ntruly, and that is not to have been Na\u00fcndorff.[335]\n\nSuch was the contagious magnetic power of this deluded person that\neven his death did not undeceive any of the believers in his reign\nto come. We have seen one of the most convinced, to whom we timidly\nobjected\u2014when he spoke of the approaching restoration of what he\ncalled the true legitimacy\u2014that his Louis XVII was dead. \u201cIs it then\nmore difficult for God to raise him from death than it was for those\nwho preceded us to save him from the Temple?\u201d Such was the answer\ngiven us\u2014and this with a smile so triumphant that almost it seemed\ndisdainful. We had nothing to rejoin on our own part, but were rather\ncompelled to bow in the presence of such a conviction.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VI\n\n THE GERMAN ILLUMINATI\n\n\nGermany is the native land of metaphysical mysticism and phantoms. A\nphantom itself of the old Roman empire, it seems always to invoke the\nmighty shade of Hermann, consecrating in his honour the simulacrum\nof the captive eagles of Varus. The patriotism of young Germany is\ninvariably that of the Germans in elder days. They have no thought of\ninvading the laughing land of Italy; they accept the situation, as it\nstands, simply as a matter of revenge; but they would die a thousand\ntimes in the defence of their hearths and homes. They love their old\ncastles, their old legends of the banks of the Rhine; they read with\nthe uttermost patience the darksome treatises of their philosophy;\nthey behold in the fogs of their sky and in the smoke of their pipes\na thousand things inexpressible, by which they are initiated into\nthe marvels of the other world. Long before there was any question\nof mediums and their evocations in America and France, Prussia had\nits _illuminati_ and seers, who had habitual communications with the\ndead. At Berlin, a great noble built a house destined for evocations;\nKing Frederick William was very curious about all such mysteries and\nwas often immured in this house with an adept named Steinert. His\nexperiences were so signal that a state of exhaustion supervened and he\nhad to be restored with drops of some magical elixir analogous to that\nof Cagliostro. There is a secret correspondence belonging to the reign\nin question which is cited by the Marquis de Luchet in his work against\nthe _illuminati_, and it contains a description of the dark chamber\nin which the evocations were performed. It was a square apartment,\ndivided by a transparent veil; the magical furnace or altar of perfumes\nwas erected in front of the veil and behind was a pedestal on which\nthe spirit manifested. In his German work upon Magic, Eckartshausen\ndescribes the whole of the fantastic apparatus, being a system of\nmachines and operations by which imagination was helped to create the\nphantoms desired, those who consulted the oracle being in a kind of\nwaking somnambulism, comparable to the nervous excitement produced by\nopium or hasheesh. Those who are contented with the explanations given\nby the author just mentioned will regard the apparitions as magic\nlantern effects, but there is more in it assuredly than this, while\nthe magic lantern was only an accessory instrument in the business and\none in no sense necessary for the production of the phenomenon. The\nimages of persons once known on earth and now called up by thought do\nnot appear as reflections of coloured glass; the pictures painted by a\nlantern do not speak, nor do they give answers to question on matters\nof conscience. The king of Prussia, to whom the house belonged, was\nwell acquainted with all the apparatus and was not therefore duped by\njugglery, as the author of the secret correspondence pretends. The\nnatural means paved the way for the prodigy but did not perform the\nlatter; and the things which occurred were of a kind to surprise and\ndisturb the most inveterate sceptic.[336] Schroepfer, moreover made\nuse of no magic lantern and no veil, but those who came to him drank\na kind of punch which he prepared; the forms which then appeared by\nhis mediation were like those of the American Home, that is to say,\npartially materialised, and they caused a curious sensation in persons\nwho sought to touch them. The experience was analogous to an electric\ndisturbance, making the flesh creep, and there would have been no such\nsensation if people had moistened their hands before touching the\napparition. Schroepfer acted in good faith, as does also the American\nHome; he believed in the reality of the spirits evoked by him, and he\nkilled himself when he began to doubt it.[337]\n\nLavater, who also died violently, was utterly given over to evocations;\nhe had two spirits at his command and belonged to a circle which\ncultivated catalepsy by the help of a harmonica. A magical chain was\nformed; a species of imbecile served as the spirit\u2019s interpreter and\nwrote under his control.[338] This spirit gave out that he was a\nJewish Kabalist who died before the birth of Jesus Christ, and the\nthings which the medium recorded under his influence were worthy of\nCahagnet\u2019s somnambulists.[339] There was, for example, a revelation\non sufferings in the life beyond, the communicating spirit stating\nthat the soul of the emperor Francis was compelled to calculate the\nnumber and exact condition of all the snail-shells which may exist\nand have existed in the whole universe. He made known also that\nthe true names of the three Magi were not, as tradition tells us,\nGaspar, Melchior and Balthazar, but on the contrary Vrasapharmion,\nMelchisedek and Baleathrasaron; it is like reading the names written\nby our modern process of table-turning. The spirit also testified that\nhe was himself doing penance for having threatened his father with\nthe magical sword and that he felt disposed to make his friends a\npresent of his portrait. Paper, paints and brushes were placed at his\nrequest behind a screen; he was then seen to design on the screen the\noutline of a small hand; a slight friction was audible on the paper;\nwhen it ceased everyone pressed forward and found rudely painted the\nlikeness of an old Rabbi vested in black, with a white ruffle over the\nshoulders and a black skull-cap, a costume altogether eccentric for\na personage who was anterior to Jesus Christ. The painting, for the\nrest, was smudged and ill-drawn, resembling the work of a child amusing\nhimself by daubing with eyes shut.[340] The written instructions of\nthe medium under the inspiration of Gablidone vie in their obscurity\nwith the characteristics of German metaphysicians. \u201cThe attribute of\nmajesty must not be conferred lightly,\u201d says this authority, \u201cfor\nmajesty is a derivation from Mage, seeing that the Magi were pontiffs\nand kings; they were therefore the primeval majesties. It is against\nthe majesty of God that we offend when we sin mortally; we wound Him\nas Father, casting death into the sources of life. The fountain of the\nFather is light and life; that of the Son is blood and water; while\nthe splendour of the Holy Spirit is fire and gold. We sin against the\nFather by falsehood, against the Son by hatred and against the Holy\nSpirit by debauchery, which is the work of death and destruction.\u201d\nThe good Lavater received these communications like oracles and when\nhe asked for some further illuminations, Gablidone proceeded as\nfollows: \u201cThe great revealer of mysteries shall come, and he will be\nborn in the next century. The religion of the patriarchs will then\nbe known on earth; it will explain to mankind the triad of _Agion_,\n_Helion_, _Tetragrammaton_; and the Saviour whose body is girt with a\ntriangle shall be shewn on the fourth step of the altar; the apex of\nthe triangle will be red and the device of mystery thereon will be:\n_Venite ad patres osphal_. One of the auditors demanded the meaning\nof the last word, and the medium wrote as follows without other\nexplanations: _Alphos, M: Aphon, Eliphismatis_. Certain interpreters\nhave concluded that the magus whose advent was announced in the course\nof the nineteenth century would be named Maphon and would be the son of\nEliphisma, but this reading may be somewhat speculative.\n\nThere is nothing more dangerous than mysticism, for the mania which it\nbegets baffles every combination of human wisdom. It is ever the fools\nwho upset the world and that which great statesmen never foresee is\nthe desperate work of a maniac. The architect of the temple of Diana\nat Ephesus promised himself eternal glory, but he counted without\nErostratus. The Girondins did not foresee Marat. What is needed to\nalter the equilibrium of the world? asked Pascal, on the subject of\nCromwell. The answer is, a speck of gravel formed by chance in the\nentrails of a man. So do the great events come about through causes\nwhich in themselves are nothing. When any temple of civilisation\ncrashes down, it is always the work of a blind man, like Samson, who\nshakes the pillars thereof. Some wretched preacher, belonging to the\ndregs of the people, is suffering from insomnia and believes himself\nelected to deliver the world from anti-Christ. Accordingly he stabs\nHenry IV and reveals to France in its consternation the name of\nRavaillac. The German thaumaturgists regarded Napoleon as the Apollyon\nmentioned in the Apocalypse and one of their neophytes, named Stabs,\ncame forward to kill the military Atlas, who at the given moment was\ncarrying on his shoulders a world snatched from the chaos of anarchy.\nBut that magnetic influence which the Emperor called his star was\nmore potent than the fanatical impulse of the German occult circles.\nStabs could not or dared not strike; Napoleon himself questioned him;\nhe admired his resolution and courage; but, as he understood his own\ngreatness, he would not detract from the new Scevola by forgiving him;\nhe shewed his estimation indeed by taking him seriously and allowing\nhim to be shot.\n\nCarl Sand, who killed Kotzebue, was also an unfortunate derelict child\nof mysticism, misled by the secret societies, in which vengeance was\nsworn upon daggers. Kotzebue may have deserved cudgelling, but the\nweapon of Sand reinstated and made him a martyr. It is indeed grand to\nperish as the enemy and victim of those who wreak vengeance by means\nof ambuscades and assassinations. The secret societies of Germany\npractised rites which were less or more comparable to those of Magic.\nIn the brotherhood of Mopses, for example, the mysteries of the Sabbath\nand the secret reception of Templars were renewed in mitigated and\nalmost humorous forms. The Baphometic Goat was replaced by a dog, as\nif Hermanubis were substituted for Pan, or science for Nature\u2014the\nlatter being an equivalent change, since Nature is known solely by\nthe intermediation of science. The two sexes were admitted by the\nMopses, as was the case at the Sabbath; the reception was accompanied\nby barkings and grimaces, and, as among the Templars, the Neophyte was\ninvited to take his choice between kissing the back parts of the devil,\nthe Grand Master or the Mopse, which was a small image of card-board,\ncovered with silk, and representing a dog, called _Mops_ in German.\nThe salutation in question was the condition of reception and recalls\nthat which was offered to the Goat of Mendes in the initiations of the\nSabbath. The Mopses took no pledges other than on their word of honour,\nwhich is the most sacred of all oaths for self-respecting people. Their\nmeetings were occasions for dancing and festivity\u2014again like those of\nthe Sabbath\u2014except that the ladies were clothed, and did not hang live\ncats from their girdles or eat little children: it was altogether a\ncivilised Sabbath.[341]\n\nMagic had its epic in Germany and the Sabbath its great poet; the\nepic was the colossal drama of _Faust_\u2014that completed Babel of human\ngenius. Goethe was initiated into all mysteries of magical philosophy;\nin his youth he had even practised the ceremonial part. The result\nof his daring experiments was to produce in him, for the time being,\na profound disgust with life and a strong inclination towards death.\nAs a fact, he accomplished his suicide, not by a literal act but in\na book; he composed the romance of _Werther_, the fatal work which\npreaches death and has had so many proselytes; then, victorious over\ndiscouragement and disgust, and having entered the serene realms of\npeace and truth, he wrote _Faust_. It is a magnificent commentary on\none of the most beautiful episodes in the Gospel\u2014the parable of the\nprodigal son. It is initiation into sin by rebellious science, into\nsuffering by sin, into expiation and harmonious science by suffering.\nHuman genius, represented by Faust, employs as its lackey the spirit of\nevil, who aspires to become master; it exhausts quickly all the delight\nthat is attributed by imagination to unlawful love; it goes through\norgies of folly; then, drawn by the charm of sovereign beauty, it\nrises from the abyss of disillusion to the heights of abstraction and\nimperishable beauty. There Mephistopheles is at his ease no longer; the\nimplacable laughter turns sad; Voltaire gives place to Chateaubriand.\nIn proportion as the light manifests, the angel of Darkness writhes and\ntosses; he is bound by celestial angels; he admires them against his\nwill; he loves, weeps and is conquered.\n\nIn the first part of the drama, we see Faust separated by violence from\nMargaret; the heavenly voices cry that she is saved, even as she is\nbeing led to execution. But can that Faust be lost who is always loved\nby Margaret? Is not his heart already espoused to heaven? The great\nwork of redemption in virtue of solidarity moves on to its fulfilment.\nHow should the victim ever be consoled for her sufferings, did she\nnot convert her executioner? Is not forgiveness the revenge of the\nchildren of heaven? The love which has first reached the empyrean draws\nscience after it by sympathy; Christianity uprises in its admirable\nsynthesis. The new Eve has washed the mark from the forehead of Cain\nwith the blood of Abel, and she weeps with joy over her two children,\nwho hold her in their joint embrace. To make room for the extension\nof heaven, hell\u2014which has become useless\u2014ceases. The problem of evil\nhas found its definitive solution, and good\u2014alone necessary and alone\ntriumphant\u2014shall reign henceforth eternally.\n\nHereof is the glorious dream of the greatest of all poets, but the\nphilosopher, by misfortune, forgets the laws of equilibrium; he\nwould swallow up light in a shadowless splendour and motion in an\nabsolute repose, which would signify cessation of life. So long as\nthere is visible light, there will be shadow in proportion therewith.\nRepose will never be happiness, unless equilibrated by an analogous\nand contrary movement. So long as there shall be free benediction,\nblasphemy will remain possible; so long as heaven remains, a hell there\nwill also be. It is the unchangeable law of Nature and the eternal will\nof that justice whose other name is God.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VII\n\n EMPIRE AND RESTORATION\n\n\nNapoleon filled the world with wonders, and in that world was himself\nthe greatest wonder of all. The Empress Josephine, his wife, curious\nand credulous as a creole, passed from enchantments to enchantments.\nA glory of this kind had, as we are told, been promised her by an old\ngipsy woman, and the folk of the countryside still believe that she\nwas herself the Emperor\u2019s good genius. As a fact, she was a sweet\nand modest counsellor who would have saved him from many perils, had\nhe always listened to her warnings, but he was impelled forward by\nfatality, or rather by providence, and that which was to befall him\nhad been decreed beforehand. In a prophecy attributed to St. C\u00e9saire\nbut signed Jean de Vatiguerro, and found in the _Liber Mirabilis_, a\ncollection of predictions printed in 1524,[342] there are the following\nastonishing sentences.\n\n\u201cThe churches shall be defiled and profaned, and the public worship\nsuspended. The eagle shall take flight over the world and overcome many\nnations. The greatest prince and most august sovereign in all the West\nshall be put to rout after a supernatural defeat. A most noble prince\nshall be sent into captivity by his enemies and shall mourn in thinking\nof those who were devoted to him. Before peace is restored to France,\nthe same events shall be repeated again and again. The eagle shall be\ncrowned with a triple diadem, shall return victorious to his eyrie and\nshall leave it only to ascend into heaven.\u201d\n\nAfter predicting the spoliation of churches and the murder of priests,\nNostradamus foretells the birth of an emperor in the vicinity of Italy\nand says that his reign will cost France a great outpouring of blood,\nwhile those who belong to him will betray him and charge him with the\nspilling of blood.\n\n \u201cAn Emperor shall be born near Italy,\n Who shall cost dear to the Empire:\n They shall say, With what people he keepeth company!\n He shall be found less a prince than a butcher.\n\n From a simple soldier he shall come to have the supreme command,\n From a short gown he shall come to the long one;\n Valiant in arms, no worse man in the Church,\n He shall vex the priests, as water doth a sponge.\u201d[343]\n\nThis is to say that at the moment when the church experiences the\ngreatest calamities, he will overwhelm the priests with benefits. In\na collection of prophecies published in 1820, and of which we possess\na copy, the following phrase occurs after a prediction concerning\nNapoleon I: \u201cAnd the nephew will accomplish that which the uncle failed\nto do.\u201d The celebrated Mlle. Lenormand had in her library a volume in\nboards with a parchment back, containing the _Treatise of Olivarius on\nProphecies_, followed by ten manuscript pages, in which the reign of\nNapoleon and his downfall were announced formally. The seeress imparted\nthe contents of this work to the Empress Josephine. Having mentioned\nMlle. Lenormand, a few further words may be added about this singular\nwoman; she was stout and extremely plain, emphatic in talk, ludicrous\nin style, but a waking somnambulist of conspicuous lucidity. She was\nthe fashionable seeress under the First Empire and the Restoration.\nThere is nothing more wearisome than are her writings, but as a teller\nof fortunes by cards she was most successful.\n\nCartomancy, as restored in France by Etteilla, is literally the\nquestioning of fate by signs agreed on beforehand. These in combination\nwith numbers suggest oracles to the medium, who is biologised by\nstaring at them. The signs are drawn by chance, after having shuffled\nthem slowly; they are arranged according to Kabalistic numbers,\nand they respond invariably to the thoughts of those who question\nthem, seriously and in good faith, for all of us carry a world of\npresentiments within us which any pretext will formulate. Susceptible\nand sensitive natures receive from us a magnetic shock which conveys\nto them the impression of our nervous state. The medium can then read\nour fears and hopes in ripples of water, forms of clouds, counters cast\nhaphazard on the ground, in the marks made on a plate by the grouts of\ncoffee, in the lottery of a card-game, or in the Tarot symbols.\n\nAs an erudite Kabalistic book, all combinations of which reveal\nthe harmonies pre-existing between signs, letters and numbers, the\npractical value of the Tarot is truly and above all marvellous. But we\ncannot with impunity, by such means, extort from ourselves the secrets\nof our intimate communication with the universal light. The questioning\nof cards and Tarots is a literal evocation, which cannot be performed\napart from danger and crime. By evocations we compel our astral body to\nappear before us; in divination we force it to speak. We provide a body\nfor our chim\u00e6ras by so doing, and we make a proximate reality of that\nfuture which will actually become ours when it is called up by power of\nthe word and is embraced by faith. To acquire the habit of divination\nand of magnetic consultations is to make a compact with vertigo, and we\nhave established already that vertigo is hell.\n\nMlle. Lenormand was infatuated with herself and with her art;\nshe thought that the world could not go on without her and that\nshe was necessary to the equilibrium of Europe. At the Congress\nof Aix-la-Chapelle, the seeress made her appearance with all her\nproperties, did business at all the customs, and pestered all the\nauthorities, so that they were compelled in a sense to concern\nthemselves with her; she was truly the fly on the wheel, and what a\nfly! On her return she published her impressions with a frontispiece\nrepresenting herself surrounded by all the powers, who consulted her\nand trembled in her presence.[344]\n\nThe great events which had just come to pass in the world turned all\nminds towards mysticism; a religious reaction began and the royalties\nconstituting the Holy Alliance felt the need of attaching their\nunited sceptres to the cross. The Emperor Alexander in particular\nbelieved that the hour was come for Holy Russia to convert the world\nto universal orthodoxy. The intriguing and turbulent sect of the\nSaviours of Louis XVII sought to profit by this tendency for the\nfoundation of a new priesthood, and it succeeded in introducing one of\nits seeresses to the notice of the Russian Emperor. Madame Bouche was\nthe name of this new Catherine Th\u00e9ot, but she was called Sister Salome\nby the sect.[345] She spent eighteen months at the Imperial Court and\nhad many secret conferences with Alexander, but he had more of pious\nimagination than true enthusiasm; he delighted in the marvellous and\npretended that it amused him. It came about that his confidants in this\nclass of interests presented him with another prophetess, and Sister\nSalome was forgotten. Her successor was Madame de Krudener, an amiable\ncoquette full of piety and virtue, who created but was not herself\nVal\u00e9rie.[346] It was, however, her ambition to pass as the heroine\nof her own book, and when one of her intimate friends pressed her to\nidentify the hero, she mentioned an eminent personality of that period.\n\u201cAh then,\u201d said her friend, \u201cthe catastrophe of your book is not in\nconformity with the facts, for the gentleman in question is not dead.\u201d\nBut Madame de Krudener replied, \u201cOh, my dear, he is little better than\ndead,\u201d and the retort was her fortune. The influence of Madame de\nKrudener on the somewhat weak mind of Alexander was strong enough to\nconcern his advisers; he was often shut up with her in prayer, but in\nthe end she was lost by excess of zeal. One day the Emperor was taking\nleave of her when she threw herself before him, conjuring him not to go\nout and explaining how God had made known to her that he was in great\ndanger, that there was a plot against his life, and that an assassin\nwas concealed in the palace. The Emperor was alarmed and summoned\nthe guards; a search followed, and some poor wretch was ultimately\ndiscovered with a dagger. In confusion he finished by confessing that\nhe had been introduced by Madame de Krudener herself.[347] Was it true,\nand had the lady played the part of Latude in the vicinity of Madame\nde Pompadour? Was it false, and, secreted by the Emperor\u2019s enemies, was\nthe man\u2019s mission\u2014in the event of the murder failing\u2014to destroy Madame\nde Krudener? Either way, the poor prophetess was lost, for the Emperor,\nin his shame at being regarded as a dupe, sent her about her business\nwithout hearing her, and she had reason to think herself fortunate in\nescaping so easily.\n\nThe little church of Louis XVII did not conclude that it was beaten\nby the disgrace of Madame Bouche, while in that of Madame de Krudener\nit beheld a Divine punishment. The prophecies continued and were\nreinforced, as required, by miracles. In the reign of Louis XVIII they\nput forward a peasant of La Beauce, named Martin,[348] who declared\nthat he had seen an angel.\n\nFrom the description which he gave the angel in question was in the\nguise of a lackey belonging to some good family; he had a long surtout,\ncut very close at the waist and of a yellow colour; he was pale and\nthin, with a hat which was probably adorned with gold lace. The strange\nthing is that the seer managed to be taken seriously and obtained an\ninterview with the king, furnishing one more instance of the resources\nin persistence and boldness. It is said that the king was astonished\nby revelations concerning his private life, in which there is nothing\nthat is impossible or even of an extraordinary nature, now that the\nphenomena of magnetism are better authenticated and known. Moreover,\nLouis XVIII was sufficiently sceptical to be credulous. Doubt in the\npresence of existence and its harmonies, scepticism in the face of\nthe eternal mathematics and immutable laws of life, by which Divinity\nis manifested everywhere\u2014this assuredly is the most imbecile of\nsuperstitions and the least excusable, as it is the most dangerous, of\nall credulities.\n\n\n\n\n BOOK VII\n\n _MAGIC IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY_\n\n \u05d6\u2014ZAIN\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER I\n\n MAGNETIC MYSTICS AND MATERIALISTS\n\n\nThe denial of the fundamental doctrine of catholic religion, formulated\nso magnificently in the poem of _Faust_, had borne its fruits in the\nworld. Morality deprived of its eternal sanction became doubtful\nand unsettled. A materialistic mystic turned about the system of\nSwedenborg to create on earth a paradise of attractions in proportion\nto destinies. By the word attractions Fourier understood the sensuous\npassions, and to these he promised an integral and absolute expansion.\nGod, who is the Supreme Reason, marks such condemned doctrines with a\nterrible seal; the disciples of Fourier began by absurdity and ended in\nmadness.[349]\n\nThey believed seriously that the ocean would be presently transformed\ninto an immeasurable bowl of lemonade; they believed also in the future\ncreation of anti-lions and anti-serpents, in epistolary correspondence\nto be established between the planets. We forbear speaking of the\nfamous tail, thirty-two feet in length, with which it is reported\nthat the human species was to be adorned, because it would appear\nthat they had the generosity to set this notion aside as, according\nto their master, a purely hypothetical question. To such absurdities\ndoes the denial of equilibrium lead. And at the bottom of all these\nfollies there is more logic than would be thought. The same reason\nwhich necessitates suffering in humanity renders indispensable the\nbitterness of sea-water; grant the integral expansion of instincts, and\nyou can no longer admit the existence of wild beasts; endow man with\nthe capacity of satisfying his appetites as the sum of all morality,\nand he will still have something to envy in ourang-outangs and monkeys.\nTo deny hell is also to deny heaven, seeing that, according to the\nmost exalted interpretation of the Great Hermetic Dogma, hell is the\nequilibrating reason of heaven, for harmony results from the analogy\nof contraries. _Quod superius, sicut quod inferius._ Superiority\npresupposes inferiority; the depth determines the height, and to fill\nup the valleys is to efface mountains; so also to take away shadows\nwould be to destroy light, as this is only visible by the graduated\ncontrast of darkness and day; an universal obscurity would be produced\nby all-dazzling brilliance. The very existence of colours in light\nis due to the presence of shadow; it is the triple alliance of day\nand night, the luminous image of dogma, the light made shadow, as the\nSaviour is the Word made man. All this rests on the same law, which\nis the first law of creation, the one absolute law of Nature, being\nthat of the distinction and harmonious balancing of opposing forces in\nuniversal equilibrium.\n\n[Illustration: GENERAL PLAN OF KABALISTIC DOCTRINE]\n\nThat which has revolted public conscience is not the dogma of hell\nbut its rash interpretation. Those barbarous dreams of the middle\nages, those atrocious and obscene tortures, sculptured on the porticos\nof churches, that infamous cauldron for the cooking of human flesh\nwhich lives for ever, so that it may for ever suffer, while the elect\nare rejoiced by the smoke\u2014all this is absurd and impious; but none\nof it belongs to the sacred doctrine of the Church. The cruelty\nattributed to God constitutes the most frightful of blasphemies, and\nit is precisely for this reason that evil is for ever irremediable\nwhile the will of man rejects the divine goodness. God inflicts the\ntortures of reprobation on those who are damned only as He causes\nthe death of the suicide. \u201cWork in order to possess, and you will be\nhappy\u201d\u2014so speaks the Supreme Justice to man.\u2014\u201cI would possess and enjoy\nwithout labour.\u201d\u2014\u201cYou will then be a robber and will suffer.\u201d\u2014\u201cI will\nrebel.\u201d\u2014\u201cYou will be broken and will suffer further.\u201d\u2014\u201cI will rebel for\never.\u201d\u2014\u201cThen shall you suffer eternally.\u201d Such is the decree of the\nAbsolute Reason and the Sovereign Justice: what can be answered hereto\nby human pride and folly?\n\nReligion has no greater enemy than unbridled mysticism, which mistakes\nits feverish visions for divine revelations. It is not the theologians\nwho have created the devil\u2019s empire, but the false devotees and\nsorcerers. To believe a vision of the brain rather than the authority\nof public reason or piety has been ever the beginning of heresy in\nreligion and of folly in the order of human philosophy; a fool would\nnot be a fool if he believed in the reason of others. Visions have\nnever been wanting to piety in revolt, nor chimeras to reason which\nexcommunicates and banishes itself. From this point of view, magnetism\nhas its dangers assuredly, for the state which it induces leads to\nhallucination as easily as to lucid intuition. We are dealing in this\nchapter, on the one hand, with mystic magnetisers, with materialistic\nmagnetisers on the other hand, and we would warn them in the name of\nscience concerning the risks which they run. Divinations, magnetic\nexperiences and evocations belong to one and the same order of\nphenomena, being those which cannot be misemployed without danger to\nreason and life.\n\nSome thirty or forty years ago a choirmaster of Notre Dame, who,\nfor the rest, was an exceedingly pious and estimable man, became\ninfatuated with mesmerism and gave himself up to its experiences; he\nalso devoted more time than was reasonable to the study of the mystics,\nand above all the vertiginous Swedenborg. Mental exhaustion followed,\nand as it was accompanied by sleeplessness, he used to rise and\ncontinue his studies; if this failed to quiet the restlessness of his\nbrain, he took the key of the church, entered it by the _Porte Rouge_,\nrepaired to the choir which was lighted only by the feeble lamp of the\nHigh Altar, took refuge in his stall and there remained till morning,\nimmersed in prayers and profound meditation.\n\nThere came a night when eternal damnation formed the subject of his\nreflections, in connection with the menacing doctrine of the small\nnumber of the elect. He was unable to reconcile such rigorous exclusion\nof the majority with the infinite goodness of that God Who, according\nto Holy Scripture, wills the salvation of all and their attainment of\ntruth. He thought also of those fiery torments which the most cruel\nof earthly tyrants would not, were it possible, inflict for one day\nonly on his worst enemy. Doubt entered his heart by all its avenues,\nand he had recourse to the conciliating explanations of theology. The\nchurch does not define the fire of hell; according to the gospel it\nis eternal, but it is nowhere written that the greater number of men\nare destined to suffer eternally. Many of the condemned may undergo\nonly the privation of God; above all the church forbids absolutely the\nassumption of individual damnation. Pagans can be saved by the baptism\nof desire, scandalous sinners by sudden and perfect contrition, and in\nfine we must hope for all, as we must pray also for all, save one only,\nbeing he of whom the Saviour said that it would have been better for\nhim had that man never been born.\n\nThe last thought brought the choirmaster to a pause, and it came upon\nhim suddenly that a single man was thus carrying officially the burden\nof condemnation for centuries, that Judas Iscariot, who is the subject\nof reference in the passage of Scripture quoted, after so far repenting\nhis crime that he died because of it, had become the scapegoat of\nhumanity, the Atlas of hell, the Prometheus of damnation. Yet he it was\nwhom the Saviour on the threshold of death had termed his friend. The\nchoirmaster\u2019s eyes filled with tears, redemption seemed ineffectual\nif it failed to save Judas. \u201cFor him and for him only,\u201d he exclaimed\nin his exaltation, \u201cwould I have died a second time, had I been the\nSaviour. Yet is not Jesus Christ a thousand times better than I am, and\nwhat must He then be doing in heaven, if I am weeping on earth for His\nhapless apostle?... What He is doing,\u201d added the priest, his exaltation\nincreasing, \u201cis to pity me and console me; I feel it. He is telling\nmy heart that the pariah of the gospel is saved and that he will\nbecome, by the long malediction which still weighs upon his memory,\nthe redeemer of all pariahs.... Now, if it be so, a new gospel must\nbe proclaimed to the world, and it will be one of infinite, universal\nmercy\u2014in the name of the regenerated Judas.... But I am astray, I am a\nheretic, a reprobate ... and yet, no\u2014for I am sincere.\u201d Then clasping\nhis hands fervently, the choirmaster added: \u201cMy God, vouchsafe me that\nwhich Thou didst not refuse unto faith of old and which Thou dost not\nrefuse now\u2014a miracle to convince and reassure me, a miracle as the\ntestimony of a new mission.\u201d\n\nThe enthusiast then rose and in that silence of the night which is\nso formidable at the foot of altars, in the vastness of the mute and\ndarksome church, he pronounced the following evocation in loud tones,\nbut slowly and solemnly: \u201cThou who hast been cursed for eighteen\ncenturies, thou for whom I weep, for thou dost seem to have taken\nhell solely unto thyself, so that heaven may be left for us; thou,\nunfortunate Judas, if it be true that the blood of thy Master has\npurified thee, so that thou art saved indeed, come and lay thy hands\nupon me, for the priesthood of mercy and love.\u201d\n\nWhile the echo of these words was still murmuring through the\naffrighted arches, the choirmaster rose up, crossed the choir and knelt\nunder the lamp before the High Altar. He tells us, for the account is\nrelated by himself, that he felt positively and really two warm and\nliving hands placed upon his head, as bishops impose them on the day of\nordination. He was not sleeping or swooning and he felt them; it was a\nreal contact which lasted for several minutes. He became certain that\nGod had heard him, that a miracle had been performed, new duties had\nbeen imposed, and that a new life was for him begun; from to-morrow he\nmust be a new man. But on the morrow the unhappy choirmaster was mad.\n\nThe dream of a heaven without hell, the dream of Faust has made other\nvictims innumerable in this hapless century of doubt and egoism,\nwhich has only succeeded on its own part in the realisation of a hell\nwithout a heaven. God Himself has become of no effect in a system\nwhere all is permissible, where all things count for good. Men who\nhave reached the point where they fear no longer a Supreme Judge,\nfind it easy to dispense with that God of simple folk, who is less\nof a God in reality than the simple folk themselves. The fools, who\nvaunt themselves as conquerors of the devil, end by making themselves\ngods. Our age is above all that of these pseudo-divine mummers, and we\nhave known all grades of them. The god Ganneau, a good and too poetic\nnature, who would have given his shirt to the poor, who reinstated\nthieves, who admired Lacenaire, and who would not have hurt a fly; the\ngod Cheneau, a dealer in buttons in the rue Croix des Petits-Champs,\na visionary like Swedenborg, and recording his inspirations in the\nstyle of Jeannot;[350] the god Tourreil, an excellent personage who\ndeified woman and decided that Adam had been extracted from Eve; the\ngod Auguste Comte, who preserved the Catholic religion intact with two\nonly exceptions, being the existence of God and the immortality of the\nsoul; the god Wronski, he being a true scholar, who had the glory and\nthe happiness to rediscover the first theorems of the Kabalah, and\nwho, having sold their communication for 150,000 francs to a wealthy\nimbecile named Arson, has borne witness in one of his most serious\nworks that the said Arson, having refused to pay him in full, has\nbecome actually and literally the beast of the _Apocalypse_. With a\nview of enforcing payment, Wronski published a pamphlet entitled _Yes\nor No\u2014that is to say, have you or have you not, yes or no, purchased\nfrom me for 150,000 francs my discovery of the absolute?_\n\nLest we should be accused of injustice towards one whose works have\nproved useful to ourselves, and whose eulogium has been pronounced\nin our former publications, we will give verbatim the passage in\nWronski\u2019s _Reform of Philosophy_, p. 512, which calls the attention of\nan indifferent universe to the pamphlet above mentioned. It will also\noffer a curious specimen of the style adopted by this merchant in the\nAbsolute.\n\n\u201cThis fact of the discovery of the Absolute, against which people have\nappeared to rebel so strongly, has already been established undeniably\nby means of a great scandal, that of the famous _Yes or No_, not less\ndecisive by the brilliant victory of truth which followed therefrom\nthan remarkable by the sudden manifestation of the symbolic being\nforeshadowed in the _Apocalypse_, the monster of creation who bears\nthe name Mystery on his forehead, and who on this occasion, fearing\nto be mortally wounded, can no longer hide his hideous contortions in\ndarkness, but comes through the medium of newspapers and by other modes\nof publicity to expose in the open day his infernal rage and the height\nof his imposture, &c.\u201d\n\nIt is good to know that this unfortunate Arson, here accused, had\nalready expended on the hierophant some forty or fifty thousand francs.\nWe have attained after Wronski that Absolute which he sold so dearly,\nand we have given it without price to our readers, for truth is due\nto the world, and none has the right to appropriate or turn it into\ntrade and merchandise. May this one act of justice atone for the error\nof a man who perished in a condition approaching want after having\nworked so hard, though not indeed for science, but to enrich himself by\nmeans of knowledge that he may have been unworthy to understand or to\npossess.[351]\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER II\n\n HALLUCINATIONS\n\n\nA root of ambition or cupidity is found invariably beneath the\nfanaticism of all the sects. Christ Jesus Himself reprimanded often and\nseverely those of His disciples who cleaved to Him, during the days of\nHis privations and exile in His own land, with the hope that they would\ncome into a kingdom wherein they would occupy the seats of the mighty.\nThe more egregious the expectations are, the more they inveigle some\nimaginations; and people are then prepared to pay for the felicity of\nhope with their whole purse and indeed their whole personality. It is\nthus that the god Wronski ruined those imbeciles to whom he promised\nthe Absolute; it is thus that the god Auguste Comte drew an annuity\nof 6000 francs at the expense of his worshippers, among whom he had\ndistributed fantastic dignities in advance, to become realisable when\nhis doctrine should have conquered the world. It is thus that certain\nmediums draw money from innumerable dupes by promising them treasures\nwhich the spirits always make away with. Some of these impostors really\nbelieve in their promises, and it is these precisely who are the\nmost unwearying and the boldest in their intrigues. Money, miracles,\nprophecies, none of these fail them, because theirs is that absolute of\nwill and action which really works wonders, so that they are magicians\nwithout knowing it.\n\nFrom this point of view, that sect which may be termed the Saviours of\nLouis XVII belongs to the history of Magic. The mania of these people\nis so contagious that it draws within the circle of their belief even\nthose who have come forward to combat them. They procure the most\nimportant and rare documents, collect the most exceptional testimonies,\nevoke forgotten memories, command the army of dreams, insure the\napparition of angels to Martin, of blood to Rose Tamissier, of an angel\nin tatters to Eug\u00e8ne Vintras. The last history is curious on account or\nits extraordinary consequences, and we shall therefore recite it.\n\nIn 1839, the Saviours of Louis XVII, who had filled the almanacs with\nprophecies for 1840, seemed to have assumed that if the whole world\ncould be made to expect a revolution, that revolution would not fail to\nbe accomplished; but having no longer their prophet Martin, they set\nabout to secure another. Some of their most zealous agents were then in\nNormandy, of which the pretended Louis XVII claimed to be Duke. They\ncast their eyes on a devout labourer, with an excitable but weak brain,\nand they planned the following device. They framed a letter addressed\nto the prince, meaning the pretender, filled it with emphatic promises\nconcerning the reign to come, in combination with mystical expressions\ncalculated to influence a person of feeble mentality, and then arranged\nthat it should come into the hands of the peasant in question, who was\nnamed Eug\u00e8ne Vintras, under circumstances as to which he may be left to\nspeak for himself.\n\n \u201c_August 6, 1839._\n\n \u201cTowards nine o\u2019clock I was occupied in writing, when there was a\n knock at the door of the room in which I sat, and supposing that it\n was a workman who came on business, I said rather brusquely: \u2018Come\n in.\u2019 Much to my astonishment, in place of the expected workman, I saw\n an old man in rags. I asked merely what he wanted. He answered with\n much tranquillity, \u2018Don\u2019t disturb yourself, Pierre Michel.\u2019 Now, these\n names are never used in addressing me, for I am known everywhere as\n Eug\u00e8ne, and even in signing documents I do not make use of my first\n names. I was conscious of a certain emotion at the old man\u2019s answer,\n and this increased when he said: \u2018I am utterly tired, and wherever I\n appear they treat me with disdain, or as a thief.\u2019 The words alarmed\n me considerably, though they were spoken in a saddened and even a\n woeful tone. I arose and placed a ten sous piece in his hand, saying,\n \u2018I do not take you for that, my good man,\u2019 and while speaking, I made\n him understand that I wished to see him out. He received it in silence\n but turned his back with a pained air. No sooner had he set foot on\n the last step than I shut the door and locked it. I did not hear him\n go down, so I called a workman and told him to come up to my room.\n Under some business pretext, I was wishing him to search with me all\n the possible places which might conceal my old man, whom I had not\n seen go out. The workman came accordingly. I left the room in his\n company, again locking my door. I hunted through all the nooks and\n corners, but saw nothing.\n\n \u201cI was about to enter the factory when I heard on a sudden the bell\n ringing for mass and felt glad that, notwithstanding the disturbance,\n I could assist at the sacred ceremony. I ran back to my room to obtain\n a prayer book and, on the table where I had been writing, I found a\n letter addressed to Mme. de Gener\u00e8s in London; it was written and\n signed by M. Paul de Montfleury of Caen, and embodied a refutation\n of heresy, together with a profession of orthodox faith. The address\n notwithstanding, this letter was intended to place before the Duke of\n Normandy the most important truths of our holy Catholic, Apostolic and\n Roman religion. On the document was laid the ten sous piece which I\n had given to the old man.\u201d\n\nIn another communication, Pierre Michel admits that the face of his\nvisitor was not unknown to him, but that he was struck with strange\nfear by his sudden appearance, that he barred and barricaded the door\nwhen he went out and listened a long time, hoping to hear him go down.\nAs Vintras heard nothing, there is no doubt that the mendicant took off\nhis shoes so that he might descend, making no noise. Vintras ran to the\nwindow but did not see him depart, the explanation being that he had\ndone so some time previously. Our witness, in the end, is upset, calls\nfor help, looks everywhere, finally coming across the letter which he\nwas meant to read, but it is for him evidently a letter fallen from\nheaven. Behold Vintras, devoted henceforth to Louis XVII, behold him\nalso a visionary for the rest of his days, as the apparition of the old\nmendicant never quits him henceforward. Then seeing that he addressed\nVintras as Pierre Michel, the latter regards him as the archangel\nMichael, by an association of ideas which is analogous to that of\ndreams.[352] The deluded supporters of Louis XVII had divined, with the\nsecond sight of maniacs, the right moment for impressing the feeble\nwits of Vintras so as to make him by a single experience at once an\n_illumin\u00e9_ and a prophet.\n\nThe sect of Louis XVII consists more especially of persons belonging to\nthe service of the legitimate royalty, and when Vintras became their\nmedium, he was the faithful mirror of their imaginations filled with\nromanesque memories and obsolete mysticism. In the visions of the new\nprophet there were everywhere lilies steeped in blood,[353] angels\nhabited like knights, saints disguised as troubadours. Thereafter\ncame hosts affixed on blue silk. Vintras had bloody sweats, his blood\nappeared on hosts, where it pictured hearts with inscriptions in the\nhandwriting and spelling of Vintras; empty chalices were filled\nsuddenly with wine, and where the wine fell the stains were like those\nof blood. The initiates believed that they heard delightful music and\nbreathed unknown perfumes; priests, invited to witness the prodigies,\nwere carried away in the current of enthusiasm. One of them, from\nthe diocese of Tours, an old and venerable ecclesiastic, left his\ncure to follow the prophet.[354] We have personally seen this priest;\nhe has narrated the marvels of Vintras with the most perfect accent\nof conviction; he has shewn us hosts intincted with blood in a most\ninexplicable manner; he has communicated to us copies of official\nproceedings signed by more than fifty witnesses, all honorable persons,\noccupying positions in the world\u2014artists, physicians, lawyers, a\nChevalier de Razac and a Duchesse d\u2019Armaill\u00e9. Doctors have analysed the\ncrimson fluid which flowed from the hosts and have certified that it\nwas human blood; the very enemies of Vintras, and he has cruel enemies,\ndo not dispute the miracles, but refer them to the devil. \u201cNow,\u201d said\nthe Abb\u00e9 Chavoz, the priest of Touraine whom we have mentioned, \u201ccan\nyou tolerate the notion of the demon falsifying the blood of Christ\nJesus on hosts which have been regularly consecrated?\u201d Abb\u00e9 Chavoz is a\nreal priest, and the signs in question appeared in hosts which had been\nhallowed by him. This notwithstanding, the sect of Vintras is anarchic\nand absurd, and God would not therefore perform miracles in its favour.\nThere remains the natural explanation of such phenomena, and in the\ncourse of the present work it has been indicated sufficiently to make\nfurther development needless.\n\nVintras, whom his partisans represent as a new Christ, has also had his\nIscariots; two members of the sect, a certain Gozzoli and another named\nAlexandre Geoffroi, published the most scandalous revelations against\nhim.[355] According to them, the devotees of Tilly-sur-Seules\u2014which\nwas the place of their residence\u2014were given over to the most obscene\npractices; they celebrated in their private chapel, which they termed\nthe upper chamber, sacrilegious masses, at which the elect assisted\nin a state of complete nudity. At a given moment all present fell\ninto a paroxysm, and with tears and cries of \u201cLove, Love,\u201d they cast\nthemselves into each other\u2019s arms; the rest we may be permitted to\nsuppress. It was like the orgies of the old Gnostics, but without even\ntaking the precaution to extinguish the lights. Alexandre Geoffroi\ntestifies that Vintras initiated him into a kind of prayer which\nconsisted in the monstrous act of Onan, committed at the foot of the\naltar, but here the accuser is too odious to be believed on his own\nword. Abb\u00e9 Chavoz, to whom we mentioned these infamous impeachments,\nexplained that they must be attributed to the hatred of two men who\nhad been expelled from the association for having been guilty on their\nown part of the acts which they attributed to Vintras. However it may\nbe, moral disorders engender naturally those of a physical kind, and\nabnormal excitements of the nervous system produce almost invariably\neccentric irregularities in morals: if therefore Vintras is innocent,\nhe might have been and may yet be guilty. His sect was condemned\nformally by Gregory XVI in his brief, dated November 8, 1843.\n\nWe append a specimen of the style which this _illumin\u00e9_ adopted; he\nis a man without education and his bombastic writings swarm with\ngrammatical errors.\n\n\u201cSleep, sleep, ye indolent mortals; rest, and still rest on your soft\ncouches; smile at your dreams of festivals and grandeurs. The angel of\nthe covenant has come down on your mountains; he has written his name\neven in the cups of your flowers; the rings on his feet have touched\nthe rivers which are your pride and hope; the oaks of your forests have\nborrowed the tincture of a new morning from the radiance of his brow;\nthe sea has made answer to his glance with a yearning leap. She has\ngone before him; prostrate yourselves upon the earth and be not alarmed\nat the continuous sound heard in the graves beneath. Sleep, and still\nsleep. He is engraving his name on the high hills; he is calling on\ntime to speed his ship, and I have seen the oldest of the old smile at\nhim. Sleep therefore and sleep; Elias, in the West, sets a cross at\nthe gate of the temple; he seals it with fire and with the steel of a\ndagger.\u201d\n\nStill the temple, and still fire and dagger. It is strange assuredly\nhow the fools reflect one another; all fanaticisms interweave their\ninspirations and the prophet of Louis XVII is here an echo of the\nvengeance-cry of the Templars.\n\nIt is true that Vintras does not hold himself responsible for what\nhe writes; this is how he speaks on the subject. \u201cIf my mind counted\nfor anything in these condemned works, I should bow my head and fear\nwould possess my soul. But the work is not my work, and I have had no\nconcurrence therein, either by research or desire. Calm is within me;\nmy couch knows no vigils; watches have not wearied my eyes; my sleep is\npure, as when God first gave it; I can say to my God with a free heart:\n_Custodi animam meum et erue me: non erubescam, quoniam speravi in te_.\u201d\n\nAnother reputed reformer, he who posed as the Messiah of prisons and\nthe scaffold, namely, Lacenaire, with whom we do not assuredly seek\nto compare Vintras, wrote thus in his prison: \u201cAs a chaste and pure\nvirgin, I wake and I sleep, ever in dreams of love. Who shall teach me\nthe meaning of remorse?\u201d The argument of Vintras, in order to legalise\nhis inspiration, is not therefore conclusive, for it has also served\nLacenaire, to excuse and even legitimise not only reveries but crimes.\n\nCondemned by the Pope, the sect of Tilly-sur-Seules condemned the\nPope in their turn, and Vintras, on his private warrant, constituted\nhimself sovereign pontiff. The shape of his priestly vestments was\nrevealed to him; he wears a golden diadem, having an Indian lingam\nover the forehead; he is vested in a purple robe and carries a magical\nsceptre terminated by a hand, the fingers of which are closed excepting\nthe thumb and little finger, being those consecrated to Venus and\nMercury, emblematic of the antique hermaphrodite, the emblem of the\nold ceremonial orgies and the obscene pageants of the Sabbath. So\ndo the memories and reflections of Black Magic, transmitted by the\nAstral Light, connect the mysteries of India and the profane worship\nof Baphomet with the ecstasies of this contagious being, whose\ninfirmary is at London, and who continues there to make proselytes and\nvictims.[356]\n\nThe exaltation of the unfortunate prophet is by no means exempt from\nterrors and remorse, whatever he may have alleged to the contrary, and\nmournful confessions escape him from time to time. An example occurs\nin a letter written to one of his most intimate friends. \u201cI am always\nexpecting new torments. Tomorrow the Verger family will come, and I\nshall behold in their faces the purity of their soul manifested in\ntheir joy of spirit. It will recall my past happiness; names will be\nmentioned which I pronounced lovingly myself in days not far away. That\nwhich will be a delight for others will bring me new tortures. I shall\nsit at the table, and whilst my heart is pierced with a sword, I shall\nhave to smile. O, if perchance those terrible words which I have heard\nwere not eternal, I might still embrace my cruel torment. Pardon, most\ndear, I cannot live without loving God. Listen, if your human charity\npermits you, as minister of the living God; I do not protest; he whom\nyour Master has spewed out of his mouth must be anathematised by you:\nOn the night of Monday, being May 17 or 18, a frightful dream struck\na mortal blow at soul and body alike. I was at Sainte-Paix, and there\nwas no one in the house, though the doors were open. I had ascended\nhurriedly to the holy chapel and was about to open the door when I\nsaw emblazoned thereon in characters of fire: \u2018Dare not to enter this\nplace, thou whom I have spewed from my mouth.\u2019... I could not retreat;\nI fell down overcome on the first step; and you can judge of my terror\nwhen I saw on every side a vast and deep abyss, with hideous monsters\ntherein who hailed me as their brother. The thought came to me at that\nmoment that the holy archangel also once called me his brother. What a\ndifference. His salutation caused my soul to leap with the most intense\njoy; and at theirs I writhed in convulsions similar to those which they\nhad experienced through the power with which God endowed my cross of\ngrace at their apparition on April 28 last.\n\n\u201cI tried to cling to something, so that I might not fall into the\nbottomless gulf. I turned to the Mother of God, the divine Mary, and\ncalled on her to help me. She was deaf to my voice. During all this\ntime I continued writhing, leaving strips of my skin on the rugged\npoints which bordered this terrible abyss. Suddenly whirlpools of flame\nrose towards me from that depth wherein I was about to fall. I heard\nyells of ferocious joy and could pray no longer, when a voice more\nterrific than long echoes of thunder in a violent tempest filled my\nears, uttering these words: \u2018You think to overcome me but it is you who\nare conquered. I have taught you to be humble after my manner. Come,\ntaste of my sweetness; be numbered among my elect, and learn also to\nknow the tyrant of heaven; join with us in uttering blasphemies and\nimprecations against him; all else is useless, so far as you are\nconcerned.\u2019 Then after a scream of laughter the voice added: \u2018Behold\nMary, her whom you called your shield against us; behold her gracious\nsmile and listen to her gentle voice.\u2019\n\n\u201cDear friend, I saw her above the abyss; her eyes of celestial blue\nwere filled with fire, her red lips were violet, her mild and divine\nvoice had become hard and terrible, and like thunderbolt she hurled\nthese words at me: \u2018Writhe, proud one, in those fiery regions inhabited\nby demons.\u2019\n\n\u201cAll my blood flowed back to my heart; it seemed that the hour had\nstruck wherein an earthly hell was to replace the hell that is eternal;\nI could still utter a few words of the _Ave, Maria_. How the time\npassed I knew not, but on returning the servant was asleep and said\nthat it was late. O, if only I revealed to the enemies of the Work of\nMercy that which passes within me, would they not cry victory? They\nwould say that here indeed was evidence of monomania. Would God that it\nwere so, for I should have less to lament. And yet fear nothing; if God\nwill not hear my voice when it pleads my own cause, I will pray Him to\ndouble my sufferings, on condition that he hides them from my enemies.\u201d\n\nHere triumphant hallucination reaches the point of the sublime; Vintras\nconsents to be damned, provided he is not classed as a fool. It is\nthe last instinct of reason\u2019s inestimable value, surviving reason\nitself. The drunken man is afraid only of being regarded as drunk;\nthe monomaniac chooses death rather than admit his delirium. The\nexplanation is that, according to the beautiful sentence of Cebes,\nalready quoted, there is only one good desirable for man; it is that\nwisdom which is the practice of reason: there is also one only true and\nsupreme misfortune to dread, which is madness.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER III\n\n MESMERISTS AND SOMNAMBULISTS\n\n\nThe Church in its great wisdom forbids us to consult oracles and to\nviolate by indiscreet curiosity the secrets of futurity. In our day\nthe voice of the Church is no longer heeded; the people go back to\ndiviners and pythonesses; the somnambulists have become prophets for\nthose who believe no longer in the gospel precepts. It is not realised\nthat preoccupation over a predicted event suppresses our freedom in\na sense and paralyses our means of defence; by consulting Magic, to\nforesee future events, we give earnests to fatality. The somnambulists\nare the sibyls of our epoch, as the sibyls were somnambulists of\nantiquity; happy are those querents who do not place their credulity at\nthe service of immoral or senseless magnetists, for by the very fact of\ntheir friendly consultations they place themselves in communion with\nthe immorality or folly of those who inspire the oracle; the business\nof the mesmerist is easy and his dupes are manifold. Among those who\nare devoted to magnetism it is therefore important to know who are in\nearnest.\n\nAmong these, M. le Baron Du Potet must be placed in the front rank, and\nhis conscientious work has already done much to advance the science\nof Mesmer. He has opened at Paris a practical school of magnetism,\nto which the public is admitted for instruction in the processes and\nverification of the phenomena obtained.\n\nBaron Du Potet is of an exceptional and highly intuitive nature. Like\nall our contemporaries, including the most instructed, he knows nothing\nof the Kabalah and its mysteries, but magnetism has notwithstanding\nrevealed to him the science of Magic, and as it is still dread in his\neyes, he has concealed that which he has found, even while feeling\nit necessary to reveal it. The book which he has written on the\nsubject is sold only to his adepts and then under the seal absolute\nof secrecy.[357] We have entered into no bond with M. Du Potet,\nbut we shall reserve his secret out of respect for the convictions\nof a hierophant. It is sufficient to say that his work is the most\nremarkable of all products of pure intuition. We do not regard it as\ndangerous, because the writer indicates forces without being precise\nas to their use. He is aware that we can do good or evil, can destroy\nor save by means of magnetic processes, but the nature of these is\nnot clearly and practically put forward, on which we offer him our\nfelicitations, for the right of life and death presupposes a divine\nsovereignty, and we should regard its possessor as unworthy if he\nconsented to sell it\u2014in what manner soever.\n\nM. Du Potet establishes triumphantly the existence of that universal\nlight wherein lucids perceive all images and all reflections of\nthought. He assists the vital projection of this light by means of an\nabsorbent apparatus which he calls the Magic Mirror; it is simply a\ncircle or square covered with powdered charcoal, finely sifted. In this\nnegative space, the combined light projected by the magnetic subject\nand the operator soon tinges and realises the forms corresponding to\ntheir nervous impressions. The somnambulist sees manifested therein all\ndreams of opium and hasheesh, and if he were not distracted from the\nspectacle convulsions would follow.\n\nThe phenomena are analogous to those of hydromancy as practised by\nCagliostro; the process of staring at water dazzles and troubles the\nsight; the fatigue of the eye, in its turn, favours hallucinations\nof the brain. Cagliostro sought to secure for his experiments\nvirgin subjects in a state of perfect innocence, so as to set\naside interference due to nervous divagations occasioned by erotic\nreminiscences. Du Potet\u2019s Magic Mirror is perhaps more fatiguing for\nthe nervous system as a whole, but the dazzlements of hydromancy would\nhave a more dangerous effect upon the brain.[358]\n\nM. Du Potet is one of those deeply convinced men who suffer bravely the\ndisdain of science and the prejudgment of opinion, repeating beneath\nhis breath the profession of secret faith cherished by Galileo: _E\npur si muove_. It has been discovered quite recently that the tables\nturn, as the earth itself turns, and that human magnetisation imparts\nto portable articles, made subject to the influence of mediums, a\nspecific movement of rotation. Objects of extraordinary weight can be\nlifted and transported through space by this force, for weight exists\nonly by reason of equilibrium between the two forces of the Astral\nLight. Augment the action of one of them and the other will give way\nimmediately. Now, if the nervous apparatus indraws and expels this\nlight, rendering it positive or negative according to the personal\nsuper-excitation of the subject, all inert bodies submitted to its\naction and impregnated with its life will become lighter or heavier,\nfollowing the flux and reflux of the light which\u2014in the new equilibrium\nof its movement\u2014draws porous bodies and non-conductors about a living\ncentre, as planets in space are drawn, balanced and gravitate about\ntheir sun.\n\nThis excentric power of attraction or projection supposes invariably\na diseased condition in the person who is the subject thereof; the\nmediums are all excentric and badly equilibrated beings; mediomania\nsupposes or occasions a sequence of other nervous manias, fixed\nnotions, deordinated appetites, disorderly erotomania, tendencies to\nmurder or suicide. Among persons so affected moral responsibility\nseems to exist no more; they do evil with good as their motive; they\nshed tears of emotion in a church and may be surprised at bacchanalian\norgies. They have a way of explaining everything\u2014by the devil or the\nspirits which obsess and carry them away. What would you have of them?\nThey live no more in themselves; some mysterious creature animates them\nand acts in their place; this being is named \u201cLegion.\u201d\n\nThe reiterated efforts of a healthy person to develop mediumistic\nfaculties cause fatigue, disease and may even derange reason. It\nis this which happened to Victor Hennequin, formerly an editor of\n_La D\u00e9mocratie Pacifique_ and, after 1848, a member of the National\nAssembly. He was a young barrister, with a plentiful flow of eloquence,\nwanting neither education nor talent, but he was infatuated with the\nreveries of Fourier. Being banished as an after consequence of December\n2, he took up table-turning during his enforced inactivity; he fell a\nvictim all too soon to mediomania and believed himself an instrument\nfor the revelations of the soul of the earth. He published a book\nentitled: _Save the Human Race_; it was a medley of socialistic and\nChristian reminiscences; a last gleam of reason flickered therein; but\nthe experiences continued and folly triumphed. In a final work, of\nwhich only one volume was issued, Victor Hennequin represents God in\nthe guise of an immense polypus located at the centre of the earth,\nhaving antennae and horns turned inwards like tendrils all over his\nbrain, as also over that of his wife Octavia. Soon afterwards it was\nreported that Victor Hennequin had died from the consequences of a\nmaniacal paroxysm in a madhouse.[359]\n\nWe have also heard of a lady belonging to the aristocracy who gave\nherself up to communications with pretended spirits in tables and who,\nscandalised beyond measure at the unsuitable replies of her particular\npiece of furniture, undertook a journey to Rome to submit the heretical\narticle to the chair of St. Peter. She carried it with her and had an\n_auto-da-f\u00e9_ in the capital of the Christian world. Better to burn\nher furniture than to court madness, and to say the truth it was an\nimminent danger for the lady here in question. Let us not laugh at\nthe episode\u2014for we are children of an age of reason in which men who\npass as serious, like the Comte de Mirville, ascribe to the devil\nunexplained phenomena of Nature.\n\nIn a drama which is well known on the boulevards there is much to be\nheard of a magician who, requiring a formidable auxiliary, created an\nautomaton, being a monster with the paws of a lion, a bull\u2019s horns\nand the scales of leviathan. To this hybrid sphinx he imparted life,\nbut took flight incontinently, being terrified at the work of his\nhands. The monster followed in pursuit, appeared between him and his\nbetrothed, set fire to his house, burnt his father, carried off his\nson, and continuing the chase to the sea, followed him on board a ship\nwhich he caused to be engulphed, but finally made an end of himself\namidst thunder. This awful spectacle, rendered visible by fear, has\nbeen realised in the history of humanity; poetry has personified the\nphantom of evil and has endowed it with all forces of Nature. It has\nsought to enlist the chimera as an aid to morality, and has then\ngone in fear of the ugliness begotten by its own dreams. From this\ntime forward, the monster has pursued us through the ages; it makes\ngrimaces between us and the objects of our love; an impure nightmare,\nit strangles our children in their sleep; it carries through creation,\nthat father\u2019s house of humanity, the inextinguishable torch of hell;\nit burns and tortures our parents everlastingly; it spreads black\nwings to hide heaven from our eyes; it shrieks to us: \u201cHope no more.\u201d\nIt mounts the crupper and gallops behind us like remorse; it plunges\ninto the ocean of despair the last rock of our hopes; it is the old\nPersian Ahriman, the Egyptian Typhon, the darksome god confessed by the\nheretics of Manes, the Comte de Mirville and the Black Magic of the\ndevil; it is the world\u2019s horror and the idol of bad Christians. Men\nhave tried to laugh at it and have been afraid; they have caricatured\nit and then trembled, for the cartoons have seemed to take life and\nto mock at those who made them. All this notwithstanding, its reign\nis over, though it will not perish overwhelmed by a bolt from heaven;\nscience has conquered the lightning and converted it into torches; the\nmonster will dissolve before the brightness of science and truth; the\ngenius of ignorance and darkness can only be blasted by the light.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER IV\n\n THE FANTASTIC SIDE OF MAGICAL LITERATURE\n\n\nIt is now twenty years since Alphonse Esquiros,[360] one of the\nfriends of our childhood, issued a work of high fantasy, entitled\nthe _Magician_. All that the romanticism of that period conceived to\nbe most bizarre was embodied in the story; the author provided his\nmagus with a seraglio of dead ladies, embalmed according to a process\nwhich has since been discovered by Gannal. The characters included\nan automaton of bronze who preached chastity, a hermaphrodite who\nwas in love with the moon and conducted a regular correspondence\nwith that satellite: there were other wonderful things which one has\nforgotten at this day. Alphonse Esquiros may be said to have founded\na school of fantasiasts in Magic by the publication of this romance,\nits most distinguished present representative being the young and\ninteresting Henri Delaage, who is a productive writer, an unrecognised\nthaumaturgist and a gifted charmer. His style is not less astonishing\nthan were the notions of Alphonse Esquiros, his initiator and master.\nThus, in his book dealing with those who have risen from the dead, he\nremarks as follows concerning some objection against Christianity: \u201cI\ntake this objection by the throat and, when I loose my grasp, the earth\nshall resound sullenly under the weight of its strangled corpse.\u201d It\nis true that his reply to the objection comes to very little; but what\nwould you, when an objection has been strangled and when the earth has\nresounded sullenly under the weight of its body?\n\nWe have said that Henri Delaage is an unrecognised thaumaturgist. As a\nfact he has informed a person of our acquaintance that during a winter\nwhen influenza was prevalent, it was sufficient for him to enter a\nroom and every one who happened to be therein was cured immediately.\nUnhappily he became himself a victim of the miracle, for he contracted\na slight hoarseness which has never left him. Many of our friends\ndeclare that he has the gift of ubiquity; he is left at the office of\n_La Patrie_ and is found again with his publisher Dantu; one retires in\ndismay and goes home, there to find\u2014Delaage awaiting one\u2019s arrival. He\nis a skilful charmer. A society lady who had been reading one of his\nbooks testified that she knew nothing better written or more beautiful,\nbut it is not to his works alone that Delaage imparts beauty. We had\nbeen reading an article signed Fiorentino which said that the physical\nattractions of the young magician equalled or even surpassed those of\nangels. We encountered Delaage and questioned him with curiosity on\nthis singular revelation. Delaage then put his hand in his waistcoat,\nturned three parts round and looked smiling to heaven; it happened\nfortunately that we were carrying the _Enchiridion_ of Leo III, which\nis known to preserve from enchantments, so that the charmer\u2019s angelical\nbeauty was hidden from our eyes. Let us offer on our part a more\nserious eulogium to Henri Delaage than do those who admire his good\nlooks; he is sincere when he says that he is a catholic and when he\nproclaims loudly his love and respect for religion. Now religion can\nmake you a saint, and this title is more estimable and glorious than\nthat of a sorcerer.[361]\n\nIt is owing to his rank as a publicist that we have placed this young\nman in the first place among the Fantasiasts of Magic, but in all other\nrespects it belongs to the Comte D\u2019Ourches, a man of venerable age who\nhas devoted his life and fortune to mesmeric experiments. Ladies in a\nstate of somnambulism, and any furniture at his house, give themselves\nup to frenzied dances; the furniture becomes worn out and is broken,\nbut it is said that the ladies are all the better for their gyrations.\n\nFor a long time the Comte D\u2019Ourches has been dominated by a fixed idea,\nwhich is the fear of being buried alive, and he has written a number of\nmemorials on the need for verifying decease in a more certain way than\nobtains usually. He has some justification for such a fear on his own\npart because his temperament is plethoric, while his extreme nervous\nsusceptibility, continually superexcited by experiments with fair\nsomnambulists, may expose him to attacks of apoplexy. In magnetism he\nis the pupil of Abb\u00e9 Faria and in necromancy he belongs to the school\nof Baron de Guldenstubb\u00e9. The latter has published a work entitled\n_Practical Experimental Pneumatology, or the Reality of Spirits and the\nMarvellous Phenomenon of their Direct Writing_. He gives an account\nof his discovery as follows: \u201cIt was in the course of the year 1850,\nor about three years prior to the epidemic of table-rapping, that\nthe author sought to introduce into France the circles of American\nspiritualism, the mysterious Rochester knockings and the purely\nautomatic writing of mediums. Unfortunately he met with many obstacles\nraised by other mesmerists. Those who were committed to the hypothesis\nof a magnetic fluid, and even those who styled themselves Spiritual\nMesmerists, but who were really inferior inducers of somnambulism,\ntreated the mysterious knockings of American Spiritualism as visionary\nfollies. It was therefore only after more than six months that the\nauthor was able to form his first circle on the American plan, and\nthen thanks to the zealous concurrence of M. Roustan, a former member\nof the _Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 des Magn\u00e9tiseurs Spiritualistes_, a simple man who was\nfull of enthusiasm for the holy cause of spiritualism. We were joined\nby a number of other persons, amongst whom was the Abb\u00e9 Ch\u00e2tel,[362]\nfounder of the \u00c9glise Fran\u00e7aise, who, despite his rationalistic\ntendencies, ended by admitting the reality of objective and\nsupernatural revelation, as an indispensable condition of spiritualism\nand all practical religions. Setting aside the moral conditions, which\nare equally requisite, it is known that American circles are based on\nthe distinction of positive and electric or negative magnetic currents.\n\n\u201cThe circles consist of twelve persons, representing in equal\nproportions the positive and negative or sensitive elements. This\ndistinction does not follow the sex of the members, though generally\nwomen are negative and sensitive, while men are positive and magnetic.\nThe mental and physical constitution of each individual must be studied\nbefore forming the circles, for some delicate women have masculine\nqualities, while some strong men are, morally speaking, women. A table\nis placed in a clear and ventilated spot; the medium is seated at one\nend and entirely isolated; by his calm and contemplative quietude he\nserves as a conductor for the electricity, and it may be noted that a\ngood somnambulist is usually an excellent medium. The six electrical\nor negative dispositions, which are generally recognised by their\nemotional qualities and their sensibility, are placed at the right of\nthe medium, the most sensitive of all being next him. The same rule is\nfollowed with the positive personalities, who are at the left of the\nmedium, with the most positive among them next to him. In order to form\na chain, the twelve persons each place their right hand on the table\nand their left hand on that of their neighbour, thus making a circle\nround the table. Observe that the medium or mediums, if there be more\nthan one, are entirely isolated from those who form the chain.\n\n\u201cAfter a number of s\u00e9ances, certain remarkable phenomena have been\nobtained, such as simultaneous shocks, felt by all present at the\nmoment of mental evocation on the part of the most intelligent persons.\nIt is the same with mysterious knockings and other strange sounds;\nmany people, including those least sensitive, have had simultaneous\nvisions, though remaining in the ordinary waking state. Sensitive\npersons have acquired that most wonderful gift of mediumship, namely,\nautomatic writing as the result of an invisible attraction which uses\nthe non-intelligent instrument of a human arm to express its ideas.\nFor the rest, nonsensitive persons experience the mysterious influence\nof an external wind, but the effect is not strong enough to put their\nlimbs in motion. All these phenomena, obtained according to the mode\nof American spiritualism, have the defect of being more or less\nindirect, because it is impossible in these experiences to dispense\nwith the mediation of a human being or medium. It is the same with the\ntable-turning which invaded Europe in the middle of the year 1853.\n\n\u201cThe author has had many table experiences with his honourable friend,\nthe Comte d\u2019Ourches, one of the most instructed persons in Magic and\nthe Occult Sciences. We attained by degrees the point when tables\nmoved apart from any contact whatever, while the Comte d\u2019Ourches has\ncaused them to rise, also without contact. The author has made tables\nrush across a room with great rapidity and not only without contact\nbut without the magnetic aid of a circle of sitters. The vibration of\npiano-chords under similar circumstances took place on January 20,\n1856, in the presence of the Comte de Szapary and Comte d\u2019Ourches. Now\nall such phenomena are proof positive of certain occult forces, but\nthey do not demonstrate adequately the real and substantial existence\nof unseen intelligences, independent of our will and imagination,\nthough the limits of these have been vastly extended in respect\nof their possibilities. Hence the reproach made against American\nspiritualists, because their communications with the world of spirits\nare so insignificant in character, being confined to mysterious\nknockings and other sound vibrations. As a fact, there is no direct\nphenomenon at once intelligent and material, independent of our will\nand imagination, to compare with the direct writing of spirits, who\nhave neither been invoked nor evoked, and it is this only which offers\nirrefutable proof as to the reality of the supernatural world.\n\n\u201cThe author, being always in search of such proof, at once intelligent\nand palpable, concerning the substantial reality of the supernatural\nworld, in order to demonstrate by certain facts the immortality of\nthe soul, has never wearied of addressing fervent prayers to the\nEternal, that He might vouchsafe to indicate an infallible means for\nstrengthening that faith in immortality which is the eternal basis of\nreligion. The Eternal, Whose mercy is infinite, has abundantly answered\nthis feeble prayer. On August 1st, 1856, the idea came to the author\nof trying whether spirits could write directly, that is, apart from\nthe presence of a medium. Remembering the marvellous direct writing of\nthe Decalogue, communicated to Moses, and that other writing, equally\ndirect and mysterious, at the feast of Belshazzar, recorded by Daniel;\nhaving further heard about those modern mysteries of Stratford in\nAmerica, where certain strange and illegible characters were found\nupon slips of paper, apparently apart from mediumship, the author\nsought to establish the actuality of such important phenomena, if\nindeed within the limits of possibility.\n\n\u201cHe therefore placed a sheet of blank letter paper and a sharply\npointed pencil in a box, which he then locked and carried the key about\nhim, imparting his design to no one. Twelve days he waited in vain, but\nwhat was his astonishment on August 13, 1856, when he found certain\nmysterious characters traced on the paper. He repeated the experiment\nten times on that day, placing a new sheet of paper each time in the\nbox, with the same result invariably. On the following day he made\ntwenty experiments but left the box open, without losing sight of it.\nHe witnessed the formation of characters and words in the Esthonian\nlanguage with no motion of the pencil. The latter being obviously\nuseless he decided to dispense with it and placed blank paper sometimes\non a table of his own, sometimes on the pedestals of old statues, on\nsarcophagi, on urns, &c., in the Louvre, at St. Denis, at the church\nof St. \u00c9tienne du Mont, &c. Similar experiments were made in different\ncemeteries of Paris, but the author has no liking for cemeteries, while\nmost spirits prefer the localities where they have lived on earth to\nthose in which their mortal remains are laid to rest.\u201d\n\nWe are far from disputing the singular phenomena observed by Baron de\nGuldenstubb\u00e9, but would point out to him that the discovery had been\nmade previously by Lavater and that the water-colour portrait[363]\npainted by the Kabalist Gablidone is of far greater importance than\nthe few lines of writing obtained on his part. Speaking next in the\nname of science, we would tell him, not indeed for his benefit, seeing\nthat he will not believe us, but for serious observers of these strange\nphenomena, that the writings obtained by him do not come from the\nother world but have been made unconsciously by himself. We would say\nto him that your experiments, so unduly multiplied, and the excessive\ntension of your will, have destroyed the equilibrium of your fluidic\nand astral body; you have compelled it to realise your dreams and it\nhas traced, in characters borrowed from your own remembrance, the\nreflections of your imagination and of your thoughts. Had you been\nplaced in a perfectly lucid state of magnetic sleep, you would have\nseen a luminous counterpart of your hand, lengthened out like a shadow\nin the setting sun; you would have seen it trace on the paper prepared\nby yourself or your friends those characters which have so much\nsurprised you. That corporeal light which emanates from the earth and\nfrom you is contained by a fluidic envelope of extreme elasticity, and\nthat envelope is formed from the quintessence of your vital spirits\nand your blood. This quintessence derives from the light a colour\ndetermined by your secret will; it is made in the likeness of your\ndream, and the characters are impressed on the paper as signs on the\nbodies of unborn children are imprinted by the imagination of their\nmothers. That which seems to you ink is your blackened and transfigured\nblood. You are expending yourself in proportion as such writings\nmultiply. If you continue your experiments, your brain will be weakened\ngradually and your memory will suffer. You will experience unspeakable\npains in the joints of the limbs and fingers, and you will finally die,\neither struck down suddenly or after a prolonged agony, characterised\nby hallucinations and madness. So much for Baron de Guldenstubb\u00e9.\n\nTo the Comte d\u2019Ourches we would say: You will not be buried alive,\nbut you run the risk of dying by the very precautions which you\nare taking against such a possibility. The awakening of those who\nare so buried can only be rapid and brief, but they may live long\nunderground, conserved by the Astral Light in a complete state of lucid\nsomnambulism. Their souls are then bound to the sleeping body by an\ninvisible chain, and if those souls are greedy and criminal, they can\ndraw on the quintessence of the blood in persons who are naturally\nasleep; they can transmit this sap to their interred bodies for their\nlonger preservation, in the vague hope that they may be restored\nultimately to life. It is this frightful phenomenon which is called\nvampirism, and its reality has been established by many cases as well\nattested as the most serious things in history. If you question the\npossibility of this magnetic life of the human body under earth, read\nthe following account of an English officer, named Osborne, the good\nfaith of which was attested to Baron du Potet by General Ventura.\n\n\u201cOn June 6, 1838,\u201d says Mr. Osborne, \u201cthe monotony of our camp-life\nwas happily interrupted by the arrival of an individual who was famous\nthroughout the Punjaub. He was the subject of great veneration among\nthe Sikhs because of his power to remain buried underground for so\nlong a time as he pleased. Such extraordinary stories are told of this\nman, and their authenticity has been guaranteed by so many reputable\npersons, that we were most anxious to see him. He told us on his own\npart that he had followed this business of interment for a number of\nyears in various parts of India. Among serious and creditable people\nwho have borne witness in his favour I may mention Captain Wade, the\npolitical agent at Lodhran. This officer has told me most seriously\nthat he himself assisted at the resurrection of the said fakir after\na burial which took place several months previously, in the presence\nof General Ventura, the Maharajah and the principal Sikh chiefs. The\ndetails concerning the interment as given to Captain Wade, and those\nwhich he added on his own authority respecting the exhumation are as\nfollows.\n\n\u201cAfter certain precautions which lasted for several days and the\ndetails of which are distasteful, the fakir announced that he was ready\nto undergo the trial. The Maharajah, Sikh chiefs and General Ventura\nassembled round a grave of stone-work constructed for the express\npurpose. In their presence the fakir sealed up with wax every opening\nof his body by which air could enter, with the exception of the mouth;\nhe then cast off his garments, was enveloped in a linen bag and, by his\nown wish, his tongue was turned back so that it obstructed the gullet.\nHe fell after this into a kind of lethargy. The bag which contained him\nwas closed up, and a seal was placed therein by the Maharajah. It was\nthen put into a sealed and padlocked chest, which was lowered into the\ngrave. A large quantity of earth was thrown on it; it was trodden down\nand barley was sown therein. Finally, sentinels were stationed round\nthe spot, with orders to watch day and night.\n\n\u201cThese precautions notwithstanding, the Maharajah still had doubts;\nthrice during the period of ten months, during which the fakir was\nto remain interred, he visited the grave and had it opened in his\npresence, but the body was in the sack, just as it had been placed\ntherein, cold and inanimate to all appearance. When the ten months had\nexpired, the fakir was exhumed finally. General Ventura and Captain\nWade undid the padlocks, broke the seals and raised the chest from the\ngrave. The fakir was taken out, but there was no indication of life\neither at heart or pulse. As a first means to reanimate him, one of the\nspectators inserted his finger very gently in the mouth and restored\nthe tongue to its natural position. The top of the head was the sole\nseat of any sensible heat. By pouring warm water slowly over the\nbody, some signs of life were obtained by degrees. After two hours of\nattention, the fakir rose up and began to move about smiling.\n\n\u201cThe extraordinary being declared that he had delicious dreams during\nhis entombment, but that the time of awaking was always exceedingly\npainful and that he was in a state of vertigo before his return\nto consciousness; his age is about thirty years, his countenance\nis ill-favoured and his expression somewhat crafty. We had long\nconversations with him, and he offered to be buried in our presence.\nWe took him at his word and appointed a meeting at Lahore, where we\npromised that he would remain underground throughout our stay in that\ncity.\u201d\n\nSuch was the story of Osborne. The question was whether the fakir would\nreally allow himself to be interred once more. The new experiment might\nwell be decisive. But that which happened was as follows.\n\n\u201cFifteen days after the fakir\u2019s visit to their camp, the English\nofficers arrived at Lahore. They chose a spot which seemed favourable\nfor the coming operation, had a mural tomb constructed, as well\nas a very solid chest, and then awaited the fakir. He came on the\nday following, expressing an ardent desire to prove that he was no\nimpostor. He stated further that he had made the necessary preparations\nfor an experiment, but his demeanour evidenced a certain disquiet\nand despondency. He began to stipulate concerning his compensation,\nwhich was fixed at fifteen hundred rupees down and two thousand rupees\nannually, which the officers undertook to obtain from the king.\nSatisfied on this point, he wished to be informed as to the precautions\nthat they were proposing to take. The officers shewed him the chest,\nthe keys belonging thereto, and warned him that sentinels chosen among\nthe English soldiers would watch round the place for a week. The\nfakir cried out and gave vent to much abuse of the _Firinghees_ and\nsceptics, who sought to rob him of his reputation. He expressed also\na fear that some attempt would be made on his life and, refusing to\ntrust himself entirely to the surveillance of Europeans, he demanded\nthat duplicate keys should be committed to one of his co-religionists,\nfurther insisting\u2014and this indeed above all\u2014that the sentries should\nnot be enemies of his faith. The officers declined to entertain these\nconditions; several interviews followed, leading to no result; and\nfinally the fakir intimated, through one of the Sikh chiefs, that the\nMaharajah having menaced him with his anger if he did not fulfil his\nengagement with the English, it was his wish to undertake the trial,\nthough he rested assured that the sole object of the officers was to\ndeprive him of life, and that he would never come forth from his tomb.\nThe officers admitted that, as to the last point, they all shared his\nconviction, adding that as they did not wish to have his death as a\nreproach against them, they relieved him of his promise.\n\n\u201cAre such hesitations and fears proof positive against the fakir? Does\nit follow that all who have testified previously how they had beheld\nwith their own eyes the occurrences to which he owes his celebrity have\nbeen guilty of deception themselves or were the victims of skilful\ntrickery? We confess that, having regard to the extent and quality\nof the evidence, we cannot doubt that the fakir was frequently and\nliterally interred; and even admitting that after his burial he has on\neach occasion continued to communicate with the world above ground, it\nwould still be inexplicable how he could be deprived of respiration\nduring the time which intervened between his burial and that moment\nwhen his accomplices came to his aid. Mr. Osborne adds in a note a\nquotation from the _Medical Topography of Lodhiana_, by Dr. MacGregor,\nan English physician, who assisted at one of the exhumations, was\na witness of the fakir\u2019s lethargy, of his gradual return to life,\nand who tries seriously to explain it. Mr. Boileau, another English\nofficer, in a work published some years ago, recounts how he witnessed\nanother experience which reproduced all the facts in precisely the\nsame manner. Those who are anxious to satisfy their curiosity more\nfully, those who discern in the narrative an indication of a curious\nphysiological fact, may refer with confidence to the sources which are\nhere indicated.\u201d\n\nA number of official records of the exhumation of vampires are\nstill extant. In each case the flesh was in a remarkable state of\npreservation, but blood oozed from the body, the hair had grown in\nan abnormal manner and protruded in tufts through the chinks of the\ncoffin. There was no sign of life in the respiratory apparatus, save in\nthe heart only, and this seemed to have become a vegetable rather than\nan animal organ. To kill the vampire, a stake had to be driven through\nthe breast and then a frightful cry shewed that the somnambulist of\nthe grave had awakened with a start into a veritable death. To render\nsuch death definitive, swords were driven point upward into the\nvampire\u2019s grave, for the phantoms of Astral Light are disintegrated by\nthe action of metallic points, which attract that light towards the\ncommon reservoir and dissipate its coagulated clusters. To reassure\nnervous people, it may be added that cases of vampirism are fortunately\nexceedingly rare and that no one who is healthy in mind and body can be\npersonally victimised, unless he or she has been abandoned, body and\nsoul, to the creature in its lifetime by some criminal complicity or\nirregular passion.\n\nThe following history of a vampire is related by Tournefort in his\n_Voyage to the Levant_.[364]\n\n\u201cIn the island of Mycona we witnessed a very singular scene, being\nthe alleged return of a deceased person after interment. In northern\nEurope those who come back in this manner are called vampires, while\nthe Greeks designated them under the name of _Broucolaques_. The case\nin question was that of a peasant of Mycona who was naturally gloomy\nand quarrelsome. It is a circumstance worthy of note, on account of\nparallel instances. He was killed in the countryside, no one knew why\nor by whom. Two days after his burial in a church of the city, a report\nwent abroad that he was seen nightly wandering about at a great pace.\nHe also visited houses, turned over the furniture, put out the lights,\nembraced people from behind and performed innumerable other tricks.\nAt first it was a laughing matter, but it took a serious turn when\nreliable people began to complain. The priests themselves certified\nto the fact, and no doubt they had their reasons. Recourse was had\nto masses, said for the purpose, but the peasant continued the same\ncourse with no sign of amendment. After several meetings of the chief\npersons, priests and monks of the town, it was concluded to wait for\nthe expiration of nine days after the interment, following I know\nnot what ancient procedure. On the tenth day a mass was said in the\nchurch wherein the body had been buried, for the purpose of expelling\nthe demon who was thought to have entered into it. The mass over, the\ncorpse was disinterred and the heart removed. It was necessary to burn\nincense owing to the evil smell, but the combination made bad worse\nand almost stifled those present. It was testified that a thick smoke\nexhaled from the corpse, and we who were present at the operations did\nnot venture to suggest that it was really the smoke of the incense.\nThere were also those who affirmed that the blood of the unfortunate\nperson was abnormally scarlet, while yet others declared that the\nflesh was still warm, whence it was concluded that the deceased person\nwas seriously wrong in not being properly dead, or rather in allowing\nhimself to be brought to life by the devil. This is precisely the\nidea which obtains concerning the vampire, and that word began to be\nrepeated persistently. A crowd assembled, loudly protesting that the\nbody was obviously not rigid when it was carried to the church for\nburial and that it was therefore a veritable vampire.\n\n\u201cAppeal being made to us, we expressed the opinion that the person was\nundoubtedly dead, and as for the supposed scarlet blood, it was easy\nto see that it was only bad smelling slime. For the rest, we attempted\nto cure or at least not provoke further their excited imaginations\nby explaining the fumes and warmth attributed to the corpse. Such\narguments notwithstanding, it was determined to burn the heart of the\ndeceased person, but after this had been done he was not more amenable\nthan formerly and indeed created greater stir. He was accused of\nbeating people at night, of breaking down doors and windows, tearing\ngarments and emptying pitchers and bottles. Altogether, the deceased\nmade himself highly objectionable. There is reason to believe that he\nspared no house save that of the consul, in which we happened to be\nlodging. Every imagination was overwrought, people of good sense being\naffected as much as others. A disease of the brain seemed abroad, as\ndangerous as that of madness; entire families abandoned their houses\nand carried their pallets to the outskirts, there to pass the night.\nEven then they complained of fresh insults, and the most sober retired\ninto the country. Citizens who were imbued with a sense of public\nzeal decided that one essential detail had been missed, so far, in\nthe observance; from their point of view, the mass should have been\ncelebrated after and not before removing the heart from the body. With\nthis precaution it was pretended that the devil would have been taken\nby surprise and would not have attempted to return; but unfortunately\nthey began with the mass, which gave him time to depart and he was able\nto come back at his ease. These considerations left matters in their\noriginal state of difficulty. There were meetings and still meetings,\nboth evening and morning; there were processions for three days and\nthree nights; fasts were imposed on the priests; houses were visited\nby them, _aspergillus_ in hand; there was sprinkling with holy water\nand doors were purified. Even the mouth of the miserable vampire was\nfilled with holy water.\n\n\u201cIn the midst of such prepossessions, our course was to say nothing;\nwe should have been regarded as jesters and infidels. What however\nwas to be done to help the inhabitants? Every morning brought a fresh\nscene in the comedy by the recital of new pranks of this nightbird,\nwho was even accused of committing the most abominable crimes. We\ndid, however, represent more than once to the governor of the town\nthat in our own country, under such circumstances, a watch would\nnot fail to be set, to take note of what passed. The precaution was\nultimately taken and led to the arrest of some vagabonds who were\nundoubtedly at the bottom of the disorder. It was, of course, relaxed\ntoo soon, and two days subsequently, to atone for the fast which the\nsaid wastrels had undergone in prison, they betook themselves to\nemptying the wine jars in some of the abandoned houses. After driving\nin numberless drawn swords over the grave of the body, people now\nreturned to their prayers, combined with disinterring the corpse as\ncaprice led them, when an Albanian, who happened to be there, pointed\nout in an authoritative tone that it was highly ridiculous, in a case\nof the kind, to make use of the swords of Christians; these being\ncross-handled effectually prevented the devil from leaving the body\nand his recommendation was therefore to substitute Turkish sabres.\nThe advice of this expert came to nothing; the vampire was not more\ntractable, and they knew not what saint to invoke, when all with one\nvoice, as if a word of command had been given, cried out through the\nwhole town that the vampire must be burned completely, after which they\nmight defy the devil, and that certainly it was better to have recourse\nto this extremity rather than that the island should be deserted. As a\nfact, certain families were preparing already for their departure.\n\n\u201cThe vampire was therefore carried, by order of the governors, to\nthe extremity of the isle of St. George, where a great pyre had been\nprepared with tar, lest even dry wood should not kindle quickly enough.\nWhat remained of the miserable body was cast therein and speedily\nconsumed. This was on the first day of January, 1701. Henceforth there\nwere no complaints against the vampire; it was agreed that the devil\nhad that time been overreached and songs were made to deride him.\u201d\n\nIt is to be observed in this account of Tournefort that he admits\nthe reality of the visions which paralysed the whole people. He\ndoes not deny the flexibility or warmth of the corpse but seeks to\nexplain these with the praiseworthy object of reassuring those who\nwere concerned. He does not mention the decomposition of the body\nbut only its evil smell, which is not less characteristic of vampire\ncorpses than of venomous toadstools. Finally he allows that once the\nbody was burned, the wonders and visions ceased. But we have wandered\nfar from the subject of Fantasiasts in Magic; let us return to them\nand, forgetting the problem of vampires, a word shall be said on\nthe cartomancist, Edmond. He is the pet sorcerer of ladies in the\nQuartier de Notre Dame de Lorette and he occupies, in the Rue Fontaine\nSt. Georges, No. 30, a dainty little room, where the vestibule is\nalways full of clients, including those occasionally of the male sex.\nEdmond is a man of tall stature, somewhat stout, of pale complexion,\nopen countenance and sympathetic voice. He appears to believe in\nhis own art and carries on conscientiously the methods of people\nlike Etteilla and Mdlle. Lenormand. We have questioned him as to his\nprocesses, and he has answered frankly and civilly that he has been\npassionately devoted to the occult sciences from childhood; that he\nbegan divination early; that he is unacquainted with the philosophical\nsecrets of transcendental knowledge; and that the keys of the Kabalah\nof Solomon are not in his possession. He states, however, that he is\nhighly sensitive and that the mere proximity of his clients impresses\nhim so keenly that in a way he feels their destiny. \u201cI seem to hear\nsingular noises and clankings of chains about those who are doomed\nto the scaffold, cries and moans round those who will die violently.\nSupernatural odours assail and almost stifle me. One day, in the\npresence of a veiled lady, clothed in black, I began to tremble at\nan odour of straw and blood. \u2018Madam,\u2019 I cried, \u2018pray leave here, for\nyou are surrounded by an atmosphere of murder and prison.\u2019 \u2018You say\ntruly,\u2019 she answered, unveiling her pale face, \u2018I have been accused of\ninfanticide and have just come out of prison. Since you have seen the\npast, tell me also the future.\u2019\u201d\n\nOne of our friends and disciples in Kabalism, utterly unknown to\nEdmond, went on a day to consult him and having paid in advance he\nawaited the oracles, when Edmond, rising respectfully, begged him to\ntake back his money. \u201cI have nothing to tell you,\u201d he explained; \u201cyour\ndestiny is closed against me by the key of occultism; whatsoever I\nmight say you would know already as well as myself.\u201d He shewed him out\nwith many bows.\n\nEdmond is also occupied with judicial astrology; he erects horoscopes\nand judges nativities at very moderate prices. In a word he deals\nwith everything belonging to his business, which is otherwise a\nwearisome and disenchanting thing. With how many disordered brains and\ndiseased hearts must he be continually in relation, and the imbecile\nrequirements of some, the unjust reproaches of others, the tiring\nconfidences, the demands for philtres and spells, the obsessions of\nfools, all combine in making him gain his income hardly. To sum up,\nEdmond is a somnambulist like Alexis; he is self-magnetised by his\ncards and by the diabolical figures which adorn them; he wears black\nand gives his consultations in a black cabinet; in a word, he is the\nprophet of mystery.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER V\n\n SOME PRIVATE RECOLLECTIONS OF THE WRITER\n\n\nOn a certain morning in 1839 the author of this book had a visit\nfrom Alphonse Esquiros, who said: \u201cLet us pay our respects to the\nMapah.\u201d[365] The natural question arose: \u201cBut in any case, who or what\nis the Mapah?\u201d ... \u201cHe is a god,\u201d was the answer.... \u201cMany thanks,\u201d\nsaid the author, \u201cbut I pay my devotions only to gods unseen.\u201d... \u201cCome\nnotwithstanding; he is the most eloquent, most radiant and magnificent\nfool in the visible order of things.... \u201cMy friend, I am in terror of\nfools: their complaint is contagious.\u201d ... \u201cGranted, _dilectissime_,\nand yet I am calling on you.\u201d... \u201cAdmitted, and things being so, we\nwill pay our respects to the Mapah.\u201d\n\nIn an appalling garret there was a bearded man of majestic demeanour\nwho invariably wore over his clothes the tattered cloak of a woman,\nand had in consequence rather the air of a destitute dervish. He was\nsurrounded by several men, bearded and ecstatic like himself, and in\naddition to these there was a woman with motionless features, who\nseemed like an entranced somnambulist. The prophet\u2019s manner was\nabrupt and yet sympathetic; he had hallucinated eyes and an infectious\nquality of eloquence. He spoke with emphasis, warmed to his subject\nquickly, chafed and fumed till a white froth gathered on his lips.\nAbb\u00e9 Lamennais was once termed \u201cold ninety-three fulfilling its\nEaster duties.\u201d The catch phrase is more suited to the Mapah and his\nmysticism, as will be shewn by a fragment from one of his lyrical\nenthusiasms.\n\n\u201cTransgression was inevitable for man: it was decreed by his destiny,\nthat he might be the instrument of his own reconstruction, that the\ngreatness and majesty of God might be manifested in the majesty and\ngreatness of human toil, passing through its successive phases of\nlight and darkness. But primitive unity was destroyed by the Fall;\nsuffering entered the world in the guise of the serpent, and the Tree\nof Life became the Tree of Death. Things being at this pass, God said\nto the woman: \u2018In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children,\u2019 yet added\nafterwards: \u2018Thou shalt crush the serpent\u2019s head.\u2019 And the first slave\nwas a woman; she accepted her divine mission, and the pains of travail\nbegan. From the first hour of the Fall, the task of humanity has been,\nfor this reason, a great and terrible task of initiation. For this also\nthe terms of that initiation are all equally sacred in the eyes of God.\nTheir _Alpha_ is our common mother Eve, while the _Omega_ is Liberty,\nwho is our common mother also.\n\n\u201cI beheld a vast ship, having a gigantic mast with its crow\u2019s nest\nat the top; one of the ship\u2019s extremities looked to the West, the\nother to the East. On the western side it was poised upon the cloudy\nsummits of three mountains, their bases lost in a raging sea. On the\nflank of each mountain was inscribed its ominous name. The first was\nGolgotha, the second Mont St. Jean, but the third was St. Helena. In\nthe middle way of the mast, on the western side, there was erected a\nfive-armed cross,[366] on which a woman was expiring. The inscription\nabove her head was: FRANCE: JUNE 18, 1815: GOOD FRIDAY. The five arms\nof the cross represented the five divisions of the globe; the woman\u2019s\nhead rested on Europe and was encircled by a cloud. But at the end\nof the ship to the East there was no darkness; and the keel paused\nat the threshold of the city of God, by the summit of a triumphal\narch in the full rays of the sun. Here the woman reappeared, but this\ntime transfigured and glorious. She rolled away the stone from the\nsepulchre, and on that stone was written: RESTORATION, days of the\ntomb: July 29, 1830: EASTER.\u201d\n\nIt will be seen that the Mapah was a successor of Catherine Th\u00e9ot and\nDom Gerle; and yet\u2014such is the strange sympathy between follies\u2014he\ntold us one day confidentially that he was Louis XVII returned to\nearth for a work of regeneration, while the woman who shared his\nlife was Marie Antoinette of France. He explained further that his\nrevolutionary theories were the last word of the violent pretensions\nof Cain, destined as such to insure, by a fatal reaction, the victory\nof the just Abel. Now Esquiros and I visited the Mapah to enjoy his\nextravagances, but our imaginations were overcome by his eloquence. We\nwere two college friends, like Louis Lambert and Balzac, and we had\nnourished dreams in common concerning impossible renunciations and\nunheard of heroisms. After visiting Ganneau, for this was the name of\nthe Mapah, we took it into our heads that it would be a great thing\nto communicate the last word of revolution to the world and to seal\nthe abyss of anarchy, like Curtius, by casting ourselves therein. Our\nstudents\u2019 extravagance gave birth to the _Gospel of the People_ and the\n_Bible of Liberty_, follies for which Esquiros and his ill-starred\nfriend paid but too dearly. Hereof is the danger of enthusiastic\nmanias; they are catching; one does not approach with impunity the edge\nof the precipice of madness.\n\nThe incident which now follows is a different and more terrible\nfatality. A nervous and delicate young man named Sobrier was numbered\namong the Mapah\u2019s disciples; he lost his head completely and believed\nhimself predestined to save the world by provoking the supreme\ncrisis of an universal revolution. The days of 1848 drew towards the\nthreshold. A commotion had led to some change in the ministry, but\nthe episode seemed closed. Paris had an air of contentment and the\nboulevards were illuminated. Suddenly a young man appeared in the\npopulous streets of the Quartier Saint-Martin. He was preceded by two\nstreet Arabs, one bearing a torch and the other beating to arms. A\nlarge crowd gathered; the young man got upon a post and harangued the\npeople. His words were incoherent and incendiary, but the gist was to\nproceed to the Boulevard des Capucines and acquaint the ministry with\nthe will of the people. The demoniac repeated the same harangue at\nevery corner of the streets and presently he was marching at the head\nof a great concourse, a pistol in each hand, still heralded by torch\nand tambour. The frequenters of the boulevards joined out of mere\ncuriosity, and subsequently it was a crowd no longer but the massed\npopulace surging through the Boulevard des Italiens. In the midst of\nthis the young man and his street Arabs disappeared, but before the\nHotel des Capucines a pistol-shot was fired upon the people. This shot\nwas the revolution, and it was fired by a fool.\n\nThroughout that night two carts loaded with corpses perambulated the\nstreets by torchlight; on the morrow all Paris was barricaded, and\nSobrier was reported at home in a state of unconsciousness. It was he\nwho, without knowing what he did, had for a moment shaken the world.\nGanneau and Sobrier are dead and no harm is done them by reciting this\nterrible instance of the magnetism of enthusiasts and the fatalities\nwhich may be entailed by the nervous diseases of certain persons. The\nstory is drawn from a reliable source and its revelations may sooth\nthe conscience of that Belisarius of poetry who is the author of the\n_History of the Girondins_.\n\nThe magnetic phenomena produced by Ganneau continued even after his\ndeath. His widow, a woman of no education and little intelligence,\nthe daughter of an honest peasant of Auvergne, remained in the static\nsomnambulism in which she had been placed by her husband.[367] Like\nthe child which assumes the form of its mother\u2019s imagination, she has\nbecome a living image of Marie Antoinette, when a prisoner at the\nConciergerie. Her manners are those of a queen who is widowed and\ndesolate for ever; a complaint sometimes escapes her, as though she\nwere weary of her dream, but she is sovereignly indignant with any\nwho seek to awake her. For the rest, she has no symptom of mental\nalienation; her outward conduct is reasonable, her life perfectly\nhonourable and regular. Nothing is more pathetic, to our thinking, than\nthis persistent obsession of a being fondly loved who lives again in\na conjugal hallucination. Had Artemis existed literally it would be\npermissible to believe that Mausol was also a powerful mesmerist, and\nthat he had gained and fixed for ever the affections of an extremely\nsensitive woman, outside all limits of free will and reason.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VI\n\n THE OCCULT SCIENCES\n\n\nThe secret of the occult sciences is that of Nature herself; it is the\nsecret of the generation of angels and worlds; it is that of God\u2019s\nown omnipotence. \u201cYe shall be as the Elohim, knowing good and evil.\u201d\nSo testified the serpent of Genesis, and so did the Tree of Knowledge\nbecome the Tree of Death. For six thousand years the martyrs of science\nhave toiled and perished at the foot of this Tree, so that it may\nbecome once more the Tree of Life.\n\nThat Absolute which is sought by the foolish and found only by\nthe wise is the truth, the reality and the reason of universal\nequilibrium. Such equilibrium is the harmony which proceeds from the\nanalogy of opposites. Humanity has sought so far to balance itself as\nif on one leg\u2014now on one and now again on the other. Civilisations\nhave sprung up and have fallen, through the anarchic alienation of\ndespotism, or alternatively through the despotic anarchy of revolt.\nHere superstitious enthusiasms and there the pitiful schemes of\nmaterialistic instinct have misguided the nations; but at last it\nis God Himself Who impels the world towards believing reason and\nreasonable beliefs. We have had enough and to spare of the prophets\napart from philosophy and the philosophers destitute of religion. Blind\nbelievers and sceptics are on a par with one another, and both are\nequally remote from eternal salvation.\n\nIn the chaos of universal doubt, and amidst the conflict of science\nand faith, the great men and the seers figure as sickly artists,\nseeking the ideal beauty at the risk of their reason and their life.\nLook at them now even\u2014these sublime children. They are whimsical and\nnervous, like women; a shadow maims them; reason injures; they are\nunjust even to each other; and though assuredly on the quest of crowns,\nin their fantastic excesses they are the first to be guilty of that\nwhich Pythagoras forbids in one of his admirable symbols; they are the\nfirst to revile crowns and to trample them under their feet. They are\nfanatics of glory; but the good God has bound them by the chains of\nopinion, so that they may not be openly dangerous.\n\nGenius is judged by the tribunal of mediocrity, and this judgment\nis without appeal, because, being the light of the world, genius is\naccounted as a thing that is null and dead whenever it ceases to\nenlighten. The ecstasy of the poet is controlled by the indifference of\nthe prosaic multitude, and every enthusiast who is rejected by general\ngood sense is a fool and not a genius. Do not count the great artists\nas bondsmen of the ignorant crowd, for it is the crowd which imparts to\ntheir talent the balance of reason.\n\nLight is the equilibrium between shadow and brightness. Motion is the\nequilibrium between inertia and activity. Authority is the equilibrium\nbetween liberty and power. Wisdom is equilibrium in thought; virtue is\nequilibrium in the affections; beauty is equilibrium in form. Outlines\nthat are lovely are true outlines, and the magnificence of Nature is an\nalgebra of graces and splendours. Whatsoever is true is beautiful; all\nthat is beautiful should be true. Heaven and hell are the equilibrium\nof moral life; good and evil are the equilibrium of liberty.\n\nThe Great Work is the attainment of that middle point in which\nequilibrating force abides. Furthermore, the reactions of equilibrated\nforce do everywhere conserve universal life by the perpetual motion\nof birth and death. It is for this reason that the philosophers have\ncompared their gold to the sun. For the same reason that same gold\ncures all diseases of the soul and communicates immortality. Those\nwho have found this middle point are true and wonder-working adepts\nof science and reason. They are masters of the wealth of worlds,\nconfidants and friends of the princes of heaven itself, and Nature\nobeys them because they will what is willed by the law which is the\nmotive power of Nature. It is this which the Saviour of the world spoke\nof as the Kingdom of Heaven; this also is the _Sanctum Regnum_ of the\nHoly Kabalah. It is the Crown and Ring of Solomon; it is the Sceptre of\nJoseph which the stars obeyed in heaven and the harvests on earth.\n\nWe have discovered this secret of omnipotence; it is not for sale\nin the market; but if God had commanded us to set a price thereon,\nwe question whether the whole fortune of the buyers would seem its\nequivalent. Not for ourselves but for them, we should demand in\naddition their undivided soul and their entire life.\n\n[Illustration: APOCALYPTIC KEY]\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VII\n\n SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION\n\n\nIt remains for us to summarise and conclude. To summarise the history\nof a science is to summarise the science itself, and we are therefore\nto recapitulate the great principles of initiation, as preserved and\ntransmitted through all the ages. Magical science is the absolute\nscience of equilibrium. It is essentially religious; it presided at the\nformation of dogmas in the antique world and has been thus the nursing\nmother of all civilisations. O chaste and mysterious mother who, in\ngiving milk of poetry and inspiration to the dawning generations,\ndidst cover thy face and breast. Before all things she directs us\nto believe in God and to adore without seeking to define Him, since\na God in definition is to some extent a finite God. And after Deity\nshe points to eternal mathematics and equilibrated forces as to the\nsovereign principles of things. It is said in the Bible that God has\nordered all things according to weight, number and measure. _Omnia in\npondere et numero et mensura disposuit Deus._ Weight is equilibrium,\nnumber is quantity, measure is proportion\u2014these three, and these\nare the eternal or divine basis of the science of Nature. Here now\nis the formula of equilibrium: Harmony results from the analogy of\ncontraries. Number is the scale of analogies, the proportion of which\nis measure. The entire occult philosophy of the _Zohar_ might be termed\nthe science of equilibrium.[368] The key of numbers is found in the\n_Sepher Yetzirah_; their generation is analogous to the affiliation\nof ideas and the production of forms. On this account the illuminated\nhierophants of the Kabalah combined the hieroglyphic signs of numbers,\nideas and forms in their sacred alphabet. The combinations of this\nalphabet give equations of ideas, and comprise by way of indication\nall possible combinations in natural forms. According to Genesis, God\nmade man in His image, but as man is the living synthesis of creation,\nit follows that creation itself is made in the likeness of God. There\nare three things in the universe\u2014the Spirit, the plastic mediator and\nmatter. The ancients assigned to spirit, as its immediate instrument,\nthat igneous fluid to which they gave the generic name of Sulphur; to\nthe plastic mediator, they assigned the name of Mercury, because of\nthe symbolism represented by the Caduceus; to matter, they gave the\nname of Salt, because of the fixed salt which remains after combustion,\nresisting the further action of fire. Sulphur was compared with the\nFather on account of the generative action of fire; Mercury with the\nMother, because of its power of attraction and reproduction; and\nSalt, in fine, was the Child, or that substance which is subjected to\neducation by Nature. For them also the creative substance was one, and\nthe name which they gave it was Light. Positive or igneous light was\nvolatile Sulphur; light in the negative state, or made visible by the\nvibrations of fire, was the fluidic or ethereal Mercury; and light\nneutralised, or shadow, the coagulated or fixed composite under the\nform of earth, was termed Salt.\n\nAfter such manner did Hermes Trismegistus formulate his symbol, which\nis called the Emerald Tablet: \u201cThat which is above is like that which\nis below, and that which is below is like that which is above, for the\noperations of the wonders of the one thing.\u201d[369] This means that the\nuniversal movement is produced by the analogies of fixed and volatile,\nthe volatile tending to be fixed and the fixed to become volatile, thus\nproducing a continual exchange between the modes of the one substance\nand, from the fact of the exchange, the combinations of universal form\nin everlasting renewal.\n\nThe fire is Osiris, or the sun; the light is Isis, or the moon;\nthey are the father and mother of that grand Telesma which is the\nuniversal substance\u2014not that they are its creators but rather its\ngenerating powers, the combined effort of which produces the fixed\nor earth, whence Hermes says that this force has reached its plenary\nmanifestation when earth has been formed therefrom. Osiris is not\ntherefore God, even for the great hierophants of the Egyptian\nsanctuary; he is the igneous or luminous shadow of the intellectual\nprinciple of life, and hence in the supreme moment of initiation a\nflying voice whispered in the ear of the adept that dubious revelation:\n\u201cOsiris is a black god.\u201d Woe to the recipient whose understanding had\nnot been raised by faith above the purely physical symbols of Egyptian\nrevelation. Such words would become for him a formula of atheism, and\nhis mind would be struck with blindness. But for the believer, more\nexalted in intelligence, those same words sounded like an earnest of\nthe most sublime hopes. It was as if the initiator said to him: \u201cMy\nchild, you mistake a lamp for the sun, but that lamp is only a star of\nnight. Still, the true sun exists; leave therefore the night and seek\nthe day.\u201d\n\nThat which the ancients understood by the four elements in no wise\nsignified simple bodies, but rather the four elementary manifestations\nof the one substance. These modes were represented by the sphinx,\nits wings corresponding to air, the woman\u2019s breasts to water, the\nbody of the bull to earth, and the lion\u2019s claws to fire. The one\nsubstance, thrice threefold in essential mode and tetradic in the form\nof manifestation\u2014such is the secret of the three pyramids, triangular\nin respect of their elevation, square at the base and guarded by\nthe sphinx. In raising these monuments Egypt attempted to erect the\nHerculean pillars of universal science. Sands have accumulated,\ncenturies have passed, but the pyramids in their eternal greatness\nstill propound to the nations that enigma of which the solution is\nlost. As to the sphinx, it seems to have sunk in the dust of ages. The\ngreat empires of Daniel have reigned by turn upon the earth and have\ngone down into the tomb, overwhelmed by their own weight. Conquests on\nthe field of battle, monuments of labour, results of human passions\u2014all\nare engulphed with the symbolic body of the sphinx; now only the human\nhead rises over the desert sands as if looking for the universal empire\nof thought.\n\nDivine or die\u2014such was the terrible dilemma proposed by the sphinx\nto the Candidates for Theban royalty. The reason is that the secrets\nof science are actually those of life; the alternatives are to reign\nor to serve, to be or not to be. The natural forces will break us if\nwe do not put them to use for the conquest of the world. There is no\nmean between the height of kinghood and the abyss of the victim state,\nunless we are content to be counted among those who are nothing because\nthey ask not why or what they are.\n\nThe composite form of the sphinx also represents by hieroglyphical\nanalogy the four properties of the universal agent, that is to say,\nthe Astral Light\u2014dissolving, coagulating, heating and cooling. These\nfour properties, directed by the will of man, can modify all phases of\nNature, producing life or death, health or disease, love or hatred,\nwealth even or poverty, in accordance with the given impulsion.\nThey can place all the reflections of the light at the service of\nimagination; they are the paradoxical solution of the wildest\nquestions which can be set for Transcendental Magic. Specimens of these\nparadoxical questions shall here follow, together with the answers\nthereto: (1) Is it possible to escape death? (2) Is there such a thing\nas the Philosophical Stone, and what must be done to find it? (3) Is\nit possible to be served by spirits? (4) What is meant by the Key,\nRing and Seal of Solomon? (5) Is it possible to predict the future by\nreliable calculations? (6) Can good or evil be worked at will by means\nof magical power? (7) What must be done to become a true magician? (8)\nWhat are the precise forces put in operation by Black Magic?\n\nWe term these questions paradoxical because they are outside all that\nis understood as science, while at the same time they seem negatived\nby faith. If propounded by an uninitiated person, they are merely\nfoolhardy, while their complete solution, if given by an adept, would\nseem like a sacrilege. God and Nature alike have closed the Sanctuary\nof Transcendent Science and this in such a manner that, beyond a\ncertain limit, he who knows would speak to no purpose, because he\nwould not be understood. The revelation of the Great Magical Secret is\ntherefore happily impossible. The replies which we are about to give\nwill be the last possible expression of the word in Magic, and they\nwill be put in all clearness, but we do not guarantee to make them\ncomprehensible to our readers.\n\nIn respect of the first and second, it is possible to escape death\nafter two manners\u2014in time and in eternity. We escape it in time by the\ncure of diseases and by avoiding the infirmities of old age; we escape\nit in respect of eternity by perpetuating in memory personal identity\namidst the transformations of existence. Let it be certified (1) that\nthe life resulting from motion can only be maintained by the succession\nand the perfecting of forms; (2) that the science of perpetual motion\nis the science of life; (3) that the purpose of this science is the\ncorrect apprehension of equilibrated influences; (4) that all renewal\noperates by destruction, each generation therefore involving a death\nand each death a generation. Let us now further certify, with the\nancient sages, that the universal principle of life is a substantial\nmovement or a substance which is eternally and essentially moved and\nmover, invisible and impalpable, in a volatile state and manifesting\nmaterially when it becomes fixed by the phenomena of polarisation. This\nsubstance is indefectible, incorruptible and consequently immortal;\nbut its manifestations in the world of form are subject to eternal\nmutation by the perpetuity of movement. Thus all dies because all\nlives, and if it were possible to make any form eternal, then motion\nwould be arrested and the only real death would be thus created. To\nimprison a soul for ever in a mummified human body, such would be\nthe terrible solution of that magical paradox concerning pretended\nimmortality in the same body and on the same earth. All is regenerated\nby the universal dissolvant of the first substance. The force of this\ndissolvant is concentrated in the quintessence\u2014that is to say, at the\nequilibrating centre of a dual polarity. The four elements of the\nancients are the four forces of the universal magnet, represented by\nthe figure of a cross, which cross revolves indefinitely about its\nown centre and so propounds the enigma respecting the quadrature of\nthe circle. The Creative Word speaks from the middle of the cross\nand cries: \u201cIt is finished.\u201d It is in the exact proportion of the\nfour elementary forms that we must seek the Universal Medicine of\nbodies, even as the Medicine of the Soul is offered by religion in\nHim Who gives Himself eternally on the cross for the salvation of the\nworld. The magnetic state and polarisation of the heavenly bodies\nresults from their equilibrated gravitation about suns, which are the\ncommon reservoirs of their electro-magnetism. The vibration of the\nquintessence about common reservoirs manifests by light, and the\npolarisation of light is revealed by colours. White is the colour of\nthe quintessence; this colour condenses towards its negative pole\nas blue and becomes fixed as black; while it condenses towards its\npositive pole as yellow and becomes fixed as red. Thus centrifugal life\nproceeds always from black to red, passing by white, and centripetal\nlife returns from red to black, following the same path. The four\nintermediates or mixed hues produce with the three primary colours what\nare called the seven colours of the prism and the solar spectrum. These\nseven colours form seven atmospheres or seven luminous zones round each\nsun, and the planet which is dominant in each zone is magnetised in a\nmanner analogous to the colour of its atmosphere. In the depths of the\nearth, metals are formed like planets in the sky, by the particular\ninfluences of a latent light which decomposes when traversing certain\nregions. To take possession of a subject in which the metallic light\nis latent, before it becomes specialised, and drive it to the extreme\npositive pole, that is to say, to the live red, by the help of a fire\nderived from the light itself\u2014such is the secret in full of the Great\nWork. It will be understood that this positive light at its extreme\ndegree of condensation is life itself in a fixed state, serving as a\nuniversal dissolvant and as a medicine for all Kingdoms of Nature.\nBut to extract from marcassite, stibium and philosophical arsenic the\nliving and bisexual metallic sperm, we must have a prime dissolvant\nwhich is a mineral saline menstruum, and there must be, moreover, the\nconcurrence of magnetism and electricity. The rest proceeds of itself\nin a single vessel, being the athanor, and by the graduated fire of one\nlamp. The adepts say that it is a work of women and children.\n\nThe heat, light, electricity and magnetism of modern chemists and\nphysicists were for the ancients elementary phenomenal manifestations\nof one substance, called _Aour_, _Od_ and _Ob_\u2014that is to say, \u05d0\u05d5\u05db\n\u05d0\u05d5\u05d3 \u05d0\u05d5\u05d3 _Od_ is the active, _Ob_ the passive, and _Aour_ is the name\nof the bisexual and equilibrated composite which is signified when\nthe Hermetic philosophers speak of gold. Vulgar gold is metalised\n_Aour_ and philosophical gold is the same _Aour_ in the state of a\nsoluble gem. Theoretically, according to the transcendental science\nof antiquity, the Philosophical Stone which heals all diseases\nand accomplishes the transmutation of metals exists therefore\nincontestably. Does it, however, or can it, exist in fact? If we answer\nthis in the affirmative, no one will believe, and the simple statement\nshall stand as a paradoxical solution of the paradoxes expressed by\nthe two first questions, without dealing with the problem as to what\nmust be done in order to find the Philosophical Stone. M. de la Palisse\nwould reply in our place that in order to find one must of necessity\nseek, unless indeed discovery is a matter of chance. Enough has been\nsaid to direct and facilitate research.\n\nThe third and fourth questions concern the ministry of spirits and the\nKey, Seal and Ring of Solomon. When the Saviour of the world, at His\ntemptation in the desert, overcame the three lusts which keep the soul\nin bondage\u2014that is to say, the lust of the appetites, lust of ambition\nand lust of greed\u2014it is written that the angels came down to serve Him.\nThe explanation is that spirits are subject to the sovereign spirit,\nand he is the sovereign spirit who binds the rebellious turbulence and\nunlawful propensities of the flesh. It should be noted at the same time\nthat to reverse the natural order of communication subsisting between\nthings which are, is opposed to the law of Providence. We do not find\nthat the Saviour of the world and his Apostles evoked the souls of the\ndead. The immortality of the soul, being one of the most consoling\ndogmas of religion, is reserved for the aspirations of faith and will\nnever be proved by facts accessible to the criticism of science. Loss\nof reason, or its distraction at the very least, is hence and will\nbe always the penalty of those who dare to pry into the other life\nwith the eyes of this world only. Hence also magical traditions always\nrepresent the spirits of the dead as responding to evocations with sad\nand angry countenances. They complain of being troubled in their repose\nand they proffer only reproaches and menaces. The Keys of Solomon are\nreligious and rational forces expressed by signs, and their use is not\nso much in the evocation of spirits as to shield us from aberration in\nexperiences relative to the occult sciences. The Seal is the synthesis\nof the Keys and the Ring indicates its use. The Ring of Solomon is at\nonce round and square, and it represents the mystery of the quadrature\nof the circle. It is composed of seven squares so arranged that they\nform a circle. Their bezels are round and square, one being of gold and\nthe other of silver. The Ring should be a filagree of the seven metals.\nIn the silver setting a white stone is placed and in the gold one\nthere is a red stone. The white stone bears the sign of the Macrocosm,\nwhile the Microcosm is on the red stone. When the Ring is worn upon\nthe finger, one of the stones should be turned inward and the other\noutward, accordingly as it is desired to command spirits of light or\ndarkness. The plenary powers of this Ring can be accounted for in a\nfew words. The will is omnipotent when armed with the living forces of\nNature. Thought is idle and dead until it manifests by word or sign;\nit can therefore neither spur nor direct will. The sign, being the\nindispensable form of thought, is the necessary instrument of will. The\nmore perfect the sign the more powerfully is the thought formulated,\nand the will is consequently directed with more force. Blind faith\nmoves mountains, and what therefore would be possible to faith if\nenlightened by complete and indubitable science? If the soul could\nconcentrate its plenary understanding and energy in the utterance of a\nsingle word, would not that word be all-powerful? The Ring of Solomon,\nwith its double seal, typifies all science and faith of the Magi\nexpressed by one sign. It symbolises the powers of heaven and earth and\nthe sacred laws which rule them, whether in the celestial Macrocosm\nor in the Microcosm of man. It is the talisman of talismans and the\npantacle which is above pantacles. As a sign of life it is omnipotent,\nbut it is without efficacy as a dead sign: intelligence and faith, the\nintelligence of Nature and faith in its eternally Active Cause\u2014of such\nis the life of signs.\n\nThe profound study of natural mysteries may alienate the casual\nobserver from God because mental fatigue paralyses the aspirations\nof the heart. It is in this sense that the occult sciences may be\ndangerous and even fatal for certain personalities. Mathematical\nexactitude, the absolute rigour of natural laws, their harmony and\nsimplicity, suggest to many an inevitable, eternal, inexorable\nmechanism, and for such as these Providence recedes behind the iron\nwheels of a clock in perpetual motion. They fail to reflect on the\nindubitable fact of freedom and autocracy in thinking beings. A man\ndisposes at his will of creatures organised like himself; he can\nsnare birds in the air, fish in the water and wild beasts in the\nforest; he can cut down or burn entire forests; he can mine and blast\nrocks, or even mountains; he can modify all forms about him; and yet,\nnotwithstanding the supreme analogies of Nature, he refuses to believe\nthat other intelligent beings might at their will disintegrate and\nconsume worlds, extinguish suns by a breath or reduce them to starry\ndust\u2014beings so great that they are too much for our faculty of sight,\neven as we, in our turn, are probably inappreciable to the eye of the\nmite or worm. And if such beings exist without the universe being\ndestroyed a thousand times over, must we not admit that they are\nunder obedience to a supreme will, a wise and omnipotent force, which\nforbids them to annihilate worlds, even as it forbids us to destroy the\nswallow\u2019s nest and the chrysalis of the butterfly? For the Magus who\nis conscious of this power in the deep places of his nature and who\ndiscerns in universal law the instruments of eternal justice, the Seal\nof Solomon, his Keys and his Ring are tokens of supreme royalty.\n\nThe next questions concern the prediction of things to come by means\nof reliable calculations and the working of good or evil by magical\ninfluence. The answers are in this wise. Two chess players of equal\nskill being seated at a table and having opened the game, which of\nthem will win? Assuredly the more watchful of the two. If I knew the\npreoccupations of both, I could foresee certainly the result of their\nmatch. To foresee is to win at chess, and it is the same in the game\nof life. In life nothing comes by chance; chance is the unforeseen,\nbut that which the ignorant fail to perceive in advance has been\naccounted for already by the sage. All events, like all forms, result\neither from a conflict or from a balancing of forces, which forces\ncan be represented by numbers. The future may thus be determined in\nadvance by calculation. Every extreme action is counterpoised by an\nequivalent reaction. So laughter presages tears, and for this reason\nour Saviour said: \u201cBlessed are those who mourn.\u201d He said also, and\nagain for the same reason: \u201cHe that exalteth himself shall be abased,\nand he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.\u201d To-day Nebuchadnezzar\nis a god, to-morrow he will be changed into a beast. To-day Alexander\nmakes his triumphal entry into Babylon and has incense offered to him\non all the altars; but to-morrow he will die in a state of degraded\ndrunkenness. The future is in the past, and the past is also in the\nfuture. When genius foresees, it remembers. Effects are linked together\nso inevitably and so exactly to their causes, and become on their own\npart the causes for further effects in such conformity with the first\nas regards their manner of production, that a single fact may reveal\nto a seer an entire succession of mysteries. The coming of Christ\nmakes that of Anti-Christ a certainty; but the advent of Anti-Christ\nwill precede the triumph of the Holy Spirit. The money-seeking epoch\nin which we now live is the precursor of more lavish charities and of\ngreater good works than the world has yet known.\n\nBut it must be understood that the will of man modifies blind causes\nand that a single impetus started by him may change the equilibrium\nof an entire world. If such is man\u2019s power in the world under his\ndominion, what must be that of the intelligences which rule the suns?\nThe least of the _Egregores_, with a breath, and by dilating suddenly\nthe latent caloric of our earth, might shatter and reduce it into a\ncloud of dust. Man also can dissipate by a breath all the happiness of\none of his kind. Human beings are magnetised like worlds; like suns,\nthey irradiate their particular light; some are more absorbent, some\ngive forth more freely. No one is isolated in this world; each is a\nfatality or a providence. Augustus and Cinna encounter; both are proud\nand implacable; and hereof is fatality. That fatality makes Cinna\nseek to slay Augustus, who is impelled as fatally to punish him; but\nhe elects to forgive. Here fatality is changed into providence, and\nthe epoch of Augustus, inaugurated by this sublime beneficence, was\nworthy to witness the birth of Him Who said: \u201cForgive your enemies.\u201d By\nextending his mercy to Cinna, Augustus atoned for all the revenge of\nOctavius. So long as man is subject to the dictates of fatality, he is\nprofane\u2014that is to say, a man who must be excluded from the sanctuary\nof knowledge, because in his hands knowledge would become a terrible\ninstrument of destruction. On the contrary, the man who is free, who\ngoverns by understanding the blind instincts of life, is essentially a\npreserver and repairer, for Nature is the domain of his power and the\ntemple of his immortality. When the uninitiated seeks to do good the\nresult is evil. On the other hand, the true initiate can never will to\ndo evil; if he strikes it is to chastise and to cure. The breath of the\nuninitiated is deadly, that of the initiate is life-giving. He who is\nprofane suffers that others may suffer also, but the initiate endures\nin order that others may be spared. He who is profane steeps his arrows\nin his own blood and poisons them; he who is initiated cures the most\ncruel wounds by a single drop of his blood.\n\nThe last questions are what must be done to become a true magician and\nin what precisely do the powers of Black Magic consist? Now, he who\ndisposes of the secret forces of Nature and yet does not risk being\ncrushed by them\u2014he is a true magician. He is known by his works and\nby his end, which is always a great sacrifice. Zoroaster created the\nprimitive doctrines and civilisations of the East, after which he\nvanished in a tempest like \u0152dipus. Orpheus gave poetry to Greece and\nwith that poetry the beauty of all high things; he then perished in an\norgie in which he refused to join. All his virtues notwithstanding,\nJulian was only an initiate of Black Magic; his death was that of a\nvictim and not of a martyr; it was an annihilation and a defeat: he\nfailed to understand his epoch. Though acquainted with the Doctrine of\nTranscendental Magic, he misapplied the Ritual. Apollonius of Tyana and\nSynesius were simply wonderful philosophers; they cultivated the true\nscience but did nothing for posterity. At their period the Magi of the\nGospel reigned in the three parts of the known world, and the oracles\nwere silenced by the cries of the babe of Bethlehem. The King of Kings,\nthe Magus of all Magi, had come into the world and the ritual-worships,\nthe laws, the empires, all were changed. There is a void in the world\nof marvels between Jesus Christ and Napoleon. That incarnate word\nof battle, that armed Messiah who was the bearer of the last name,\ncame blindly and unconsciously to complete the Christian message.\nThis revelation had so far taught us how to die, but the Napoleonic\ncivilisation has shewn us how to conquer. The two messages\u2014sacrifice\nand victory, how to suffer, to die, to strive and to overcome\u2014contrary\nas they are in appearance\u2014comprise in their union the great secret of\nhonour. Cross of the Saviour and cross of valour, you are incomplete\nwhen apart from one another, for he only knows how to conquer who has\nlearned self-devotion, even to death, and how can this be attained\nexcept by belief in eternal life? Though he died in appearance,\nNapoleon is destined to return in the person of one who will realise\nhis spirit. Solomon and Charlemagne will return also in the person of\na single monarch; and then St. John the Evangelist, who according to\ntradition shall be reborn at the end of time, will appear as sovereign\npontiff, the apostle of understanding and of love. The combination of\nthese two rulers, announced by all the prophets, will bring about the\nwonder of the world\u2019s regeneration. The science of the true magician\nwill be then at its zenith, for so far our workers of miracles have\nbeen for the most part sorcerers and bondsmen\u2014that is to say, the blind\ninstruments of chance. Now, the masters whom fatality casts upon the\nworld are soon overthrown thereby, and those who conquer in the name of\ntheir passions shall fall the prey of those passions. When Prometheus\nin his jealousy of Jupiter stole the thunderbolts of the god, he sought\nto create an immortal eagle, but what he made and immortalised was\na vulture. We hear in another fable of that impious king Ixion, who\nwould have ravished the queen of heaven, but that which he received\nin his arms was a faithless cloud, and he was bound by fiery serpents\nto the inexorable wheel of destiny. These profound allegories are a\nwarning to false adepts, profaners of Magic Science and partisans of\nBlack Magic. The power of Black Magic is a contagion of vertigo and an\nepidemic of unreason. The fatality of passion is like a fiery serpent\nwhich twists and writhes about the world devouring the souls therein.\nBut intelligence\u2014peaceable, smiling and full of love\u2014represented by the\nMother of God, sets her foot upon its head. Fatality consumes itself\nand is that old serpent of Kronos eternally devouring its tail. Rather\nthere are two hostile serpents striving one with another, until such\ntime as harmony intervenes to enchant them and make them interlace\npeaceably around the caduceus of Hermes.\n\n\n CONCLUSION\n\nThe most intemperate and absurd of all faiths is to believe that there\nis no universal and absolute intelligent principle. It is a faith,\nsince it involves the negation of the indefinite and indefinable; it is\nintemperate, for it is isolating and desolating; it is absurd, because\nit supposes complete nothing in place of most complete perfection.\nIn Nature all is preserved by equilibrium and renewed by activity.\nEquilibrium in order and activity signifies progress. The science of\nequilibrium and movement is the absolute science of Nature. Man by its\naid can produce and direct natural phenomena as he rises ever towards\nintelligence that is higher and more perfect than his own. Moral\nequilibrium is the concurrence of science and faith, distinct in their\nforces but joined in their action to endow the spirit and heart of man\nwith that rule which is reason. The science which denies faith is not\nless unreasonable than the faith which denies science.\n\nThe object of faith cannot be defined and still less denied by science;\nscience, on the contrary, is itself called to substantiate the\nrational basis of the hypotheses of faith. An isolated belief does not\nconstitute faith, because it lacks authority and hence moral guarantee;\nit tends to fanaticism and superstition. Faith is the confidence which\nis imparted by religion\u2014that is to say, by the communion of belief.\nTrue religion is constituted by universal suffrage. It is therefore\never and essentially catholic\u2014that is to say, universal. It is an\nideal dictatorship proclaimed generally in the revolutionary domain of\nthe unknown. When the law of equilibrium is understood more adequately\nit will put an end to all the wars and revolutions of the old world.\nThere has been conflict between powers as between moral forces. The\npapacy is blamed because it clings to temporal power, but what is\nforgotten is the protestant tendency towards usurpation of spiritual\npower. So long as the royalties put forward a pretension to be popes,\nso long will the popes be driven, by the same law of equilibrium, to\nthe pretension of being kings. The whole world continues to dream of\nunity in political power, but it does not understand the power resident\nin equilibrated dualism. Confronted by the royal usurpers of spiritual\npower, if the Pope were king no longer, he would be no longer anything.\nIn the temporal order he is subject, like others, to the prejudgments\nof his time; he dare not therefore abdicate his temporal power, if\nsuch abdication would be a scandal for a considerable part of the\nworld. When the sovereign opinion of the universe shall have proclaimed\npublicly that a temporal prince cannot be Pope; when the Czar of all\nthe Russias and the King of Great Britain shall have renounced their\nderisive priesthood; the Pope will know that which remains to be done\non his own part. Till then he must struggle, and if needs be must die,\nto maintain the integrity of St. Peter\u2019s patrimony.\n\nThe science of moral equilibrium will put an end to religious disputes\nand philosophical blasphemies. Men of understanding will be also men of\nreligion when it comes to be recognised that religion does not impeach\nthe freedom of conscience, and when those who are truly religious shall\nrespect that science which recognises on its own part the existence\nand necessity of an universal religion. Such science will flood the\nphilosophy of history with new light, and will furnish a synthetic\nplan of all the natural sciences. The law of equilibrated forces\nand of organic compensations will reveal a new chemistry and a new\nphysics. So from discovery to discovery we shall work back to Hermetic\nphilosophy, and shall be astonished at those prodigies of simplicity\nand brilliance which have been for so long and long forgotten.\n\nPhilosophy in that day will be exact like mathematics, for true\nideas\u2014being those which are identical with the living order and so\nconstituting the science of reality\u2014shall combine with reason and\njustice to furnish exact proportions and equations as rigorous as\nnumbers. Error thenceforth will be possible to ignorance alone, and\ntrue knowledge will be free from self-deception. Aestheticism will be\nsubordinated no longer to caprices of taste which change as fashions\nchange. If the beautiful is the splendour of the true, we shall be\nable to calculate without error the radiation of a light of which the\nsource shall be certainly known and determined with exact precision.\nPoetry will abound no longer with foolish and subversive tendencies,\nnor will poets be those dangerous enchanters whom Plato crowned with\nflowers and banished from his republic; they will be rather magicians\nof reason and gracious mathematicians of harmony. Does this mean that\nthe earth will become an Eldorado? No, for so long as humanity exists,\nthere will be children, meaning those who are weak, small, ignorant\nand poor. But society will be governed by its true masters, and there\nwill be no irremediable evil in human life. It will be understood that\nthe divine miracles are those of eternal order, and the phantoms of\nimagination will be worshipped no longer on the faith of unexplained\nwonders. The abnormal character of certain phenomena is only a proof of\nour ignorance in the presence of the laws of Nature. When God designs\nto communicate the knowledge of Himself He enlightens our reason and\ndoes not seek to confound or surprise it. In that day we shall know the\nutmost limit of the power of man who is created in the image of God;\nwe shall realise that he also is a creator in his own sphere and that\nhis goodness, directed by Eternal Reason, is a lower providence for\nbeings which are placed by Nature under his influence and domination.\nReligion will then and for evermore have nothing to fear from progress,\nand will follow in the course thereof. The Blessed Vincent de Lerins, a\ndoctor justly venerated in the golden chain of catholicism, expresses\nadmirably this accord between progress and conservative authority.\nAccording to him, true faith is worthy of our confidence only on\naccount of that invariable authority which safeguards its dogmas from\nthe caprices of human ignorance. \u201cThis notwithstanding,\u201d adds Vincent\nde Lerins, \u201csuch immobility is not death; on the contrary, it preserves\na germ of life for the future. That which we believe to-day without\nunderstanding will be understood by the future, which will rejoice\nin the knowledge thereof. _Posteritas intellectum gratuletur, quod\nante vetustas non intellectum venerabatur._ If therefore we are asked\nwhether all progress is excluded from the religion of Christ Jesus,\nthe answer is no, assuredly, for great is the progress expected. Who\nindeed would be so jealous of humanity and at such enmity with God as\nto wish to hinder progress? But the condition is that it should be\nprogress in reality, and not change of belief. Progress is the growth\nand development of each thing according to its class and its nature.\nDisorder is confusion and the medley of things and their nature. There\nmust be undoubtedly a difference in the degrees of intelligence,\nscience and wisdom, as much for men in general as for each man in\nparticular, according to the natural succession of epochs in the\nChurch, but so only that all be conserved and that dogma shall ever\ncherish the same spirit and maintain the same definition. Religion\nshould develop souls successively, as life develops bodies which remain\nthe same through all the stages of their growth. How great is the\ndifference between the infantile flower of early years and the maturity\nof age. The old notwithstanding are the same in respect of personality\nas they were in boyhood; it is the exterior and the appearances which\nhave changed. The limbs of an infant in the cradle are exceedingly\nfrail, yet are they the same organs, having the same root principles,\nas those of the man; and this must be so, for otherwise there is\ndeformity or death.\n\n\u201cThe analogy obtains in the religion of Jesus Christ, for progress\ntherein is fulfilled according to the same conditions and following\nsimilar laws. It grows with the years, with the years it increases\nin strength, but nothing is added to the sum total of its being.\nIt was born complete and perfect in respect of proportions, and it\ngrows and extends without changing. Our fathers sowed the wheat, and\nour nephews ought not to reap tares. The intermediate crops change\nnothing in the nature of the grain; we leave it perforce as we take it.\nCatholicism planted roses, and is it for us to substitute brambles? No,\nunquestionably; otherwise, woe to us. The balm and cinnamon of this\nspiritual paradise must not change in our hands to aconite and poison.\nAll whatsoever which in the Church, that lovely land of God, has been\nsown by the fathers must be cultivated and nourished by the sons. This\nonly must grow, and this alone blossom; but it may increase, and it\nshould develop. As a fact, God permits that the dogmas of his heavenly\nphilosophy shall be studied, developed, polished in a certain sense;\nbut that which is forbidden is to change them, and that which is a\ncrime is to prune them or to mutilate. May new light come down on them\nand the wise distinctions multiply, but let them ever preserve their\nfulness, their integrity and their native quality.\u201d\n\nLet us therefore take it for granted that all conquests of science in\nthe past have been achieved for the profit of the universal Church,\nand, with Vincent de Lerins, let us allocate thereto the undivided\nheritage of all progress to come. Unto her be the great aspirations\nof Zoroaster and all discoveries of Hermes; hers be the Key of the\nHoly Arch and the Ring of Solomon, for she represents the holy and\nimmutable hierarchy. She is stronger by reason of her struggles and\nis grounded by her apparent falls in still greater stability. She\nsuffers in order that she may reign; she is cast down that she may be\nexalted in her rising; and she dies that she may rise again. \u201cWe must\nbe prepared,\u201d says Comte Joseph de Maistre, \u201cfor a great event in the\ndivine order; we are moving towards it at an accelerated pace, which\nmust be manifest to all observers, while striking oracles announce\nthat the hour is at hand. Many prophecies in the _Apocalypse_ have\nreference to these modern times. One writer has gone so far as to\nsay that the event is already inaugurated and that the French nation\nis destined to become the great instrument of the most mighty of all\nrevolutions. There is perhaps no truly religious man in all Europe\u2014I\nspeak of the educated classes\u2014who is not in expectation of something\nextraordinary at this present moment. Does a general presentiment of\nthe kind count for nothing? Go back through past ages, even to the\nbirth of our Saviour. At that period a high and mysterious voice,\nbeginning in the eastern realms, proclaimed that the East was about\nto triumph, that a conqueror would come out of Judea, that a divine\ninfant was given us, that he would descend from highest heaven and\nrestore the golden age upon the earth. Such ideas were spread abroad\neverywhere, and as they lent themselves to poetry above all things,\nthey were taken over by the greatest of Latin poets and emblazoned\nwith brilliant hues in his _Pollio_. To-day, as in the time of Virgil,\nthe universe is in expectation, and how on our part shall we despise\nsuch strong persuasion, or by what right condemn those who are devoted\nto sacred researches on the indications of divine signs? If you seek\nproof of what is in store, look at the sciences themselves; consider\nthe progress of chemistry, of astronomy also, and you will see where\nthey are leading. Would you think, for example, that Newton takes\nus back to Pythagoras and that it will be proved presently that the\nheavenly bodies are set in motion, like human bodies, by intelligences\njoined thereto? We know not how, but this is what is on the point of\nbeing verified beyond all dispute. Such doctrine may seem paradoxical\nand even ridiculous, because current opinion imposes this view; but\nlet us wait till the natural affinity of religion and science marry\nboth in the mind of a single man of genius. His advent cannot be far\noff, and then the opinions which now seem bizarre or irrational will\nbecome axioms which no one will question, while people will talk of our\npresent stupidity as they now speak of medi\u00e6val superstition.\u201d[370]\n\nAccording to St. Thomas, and it is a beautiful utterance: \u201cAll that\nGod wills is just, but that which is just should not be so designated\nonly because God wills it\u201d\u2014_Non ex hoc dicitur justum quod Deus illud\nvult_. The moral doctrine of the future is contained herein, and from\nits fruitful principle one deduction follows immediately: not only is\nit good from the standpoint of faith to do what is ordained by God, but\neven from the standpoint of reason it is excellent and rational to obey\nHim. Man can therefore say: I do good not only because God wills it but\nbecause I also will. The will of humanity may be thus at once free and\nin conformity, for reason\u2014demonstrating in an irrecusable fashion the\nwisdom of the prescriptions of faith\u2014will act on its proper impulse by\nfollowing the divine law, of which reason thus becomes, as it were, the\nhuman sanction. From that time forward superstition and impiety will be\nno longer possible, while from these considerations it follows that in\nreligion and in practical\u2014that is to say, in moral\u2014philosophy, there\nwill be an absolute authority, and moral dogmas will alone be revealed\nand established. Till then we shall have the pain and consternation\nof seeing daily the most simple and universal questions of right and\nduty challenged, while if blasphemies are reduced to silence, it is one\nthing to impose such silence but another to persuade and convert.\n\nSo long as Transcendent Magic was profaned by the wickedness of men,\nthe Church of necessity proscribed it. False Gnostics have discredited\nthat name of Gnosticism which was once so pure; sorcerers have outraged\nthe children of the Magi; but religion, that friend of tradition and\nguardian of the treasures of antiquity, can no longer reject a doctrine\nanterior to the Bible and in perfect accord with traditional respect\nfor the past, as well as with our most vital hopes for progress in the\nfuture. The common people are initiated by toil and by faith into the\nright of property and knowledge. There will be always such a people,\nas there will be children always; but when the aristocracy, endowed\nwith wisdom, shall become a mother to the people, the path of personal,\nsuccessive, gradual emancipation will be open to all, and he that is\ncalled will thereby be enabled through his own efforts to attain the\nrank of the elect. This is that mystery of the future which antique\ninitiation concealed in its dark recesses. The miracles of Nature made\nsubject to the will of man are reserved for the elect to come. The\ncrook of the priesthood shall become the rod of miracles; it was so in\nthe time of Moses and of Hermes; it will be so again. The sceptre of\nthe Magus will be that of the world\u2019s king or emperor; and that person\nwill by right be first among men who shall have shewn himself greatest\nof all in knowledge and in virtue. Magic, at that time, will be no\nlonger an occult science except for the ignorant; it will be one that\nis incontestable for all. Then shall universal revelation resolder one\nto another all links of its golden chain; the human epic will close\nand even the efforts of Titans will have served only to restore the\naltar of the true God. All forms which have clothed the divine thought\nsuccessively will be reborn immortal and perfect. All those features\nsketched by the successive art of nations will be united to form the\nperfect image of God. Having been purified and brought out of chaos,\ndogma will give birth naturally to an infallible ethic, and the social\norder will be constituted on this basis. Systems which are now in\nwarfare are dreams of the twilight; let them pass. The sun shines and\nthe earth follows its course; distracted is he who doubts that the day\nis coming. Distracted also are those who say that catholicism is only a\ndead trunk and that we must put the axe thereto. They do not see that\nbeneath its dry bark the living tree is renewed unceasingly. Truth has\nno past and no future; it is eternal; it is not that which ends; it is\nour dream only. Hammer and hatchet, which destroy in the sight of man,\nare in God\u2019s hand as the knife of a pruner, and the dead branches\u2014being\nsuperstitions and heresies in religion, science and politics\u2014can alone\nbe lopped from the tree of everlasting convictions and beliefs.\n\nIt has been the purpose of this History of Magic to demonstrate, that,\nat the beginning, the symbols of religion were those also of science,\nwhich was then in concealment. May religion and science, reunited in\nthe future, give help and shew love to one another, like two sisters,\nfor theirs has been one cradle.\n\n\nHere ends the History of Magic\n\n\n\n\n APPENDIX\n\n AUTHOR\u2019S PREFACE PREFIXED TO THE FIRST EDITION[371]\n\n\nThe works of \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi on the science of the ancient magi are\nintended to form a complete course, divided into three parts. The first\npart contains the Doctrine and Ritual of Transcendental Magic; the\nsecond is The History of Magic; and the third will be published later\nunder the title of The Key to the Great Mysteries. Taken separately,\neach of these parts gives a complete instruction and seems to contain\nthe whole science; but in order to a full understanding of one it is\nindispensable to study the two others carefully.\n\nThe triadic division of our undertaking has been imposed by the science\nitself, because our discovery of its great mysteries rests entirely\nupon the significance which the old hierophants attached to numbers.\nTHREE was for them the generating number, and in the exposition of\nevery doctrine they had regard to (_a_) the theory on which it was\nbased, (_b_) its realisation and (_c_) its application to all possible\nuses. Whether philosophical or religious, thus were dogmas formed; and\nthus the dogmatic synthesis of that Christianity which was heir of the\nmagi imposes on our faith the recognition of Three Persons in one God\nand three mysteries in universal religion.\n\nWe have followed in the arrangement of the two works already\npublished, and shall follow in the third work, the plan indicated by\nthe Kabalah\u2014that is to say, by the purest tradition of occultism.\nOur Doctrine and Ritual are each divided into twenty-two chapters\ndistinguished by the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. We\nhave set at the head of each chapter the letter thereto belonging and\nthe Latin words which, according to the best writers, represent its\nhieroglyphical meaning. For example, at the head of the first chapter\nwill be found:\u2014\n\n 1 \u05d0 A\n\n THE RECIPIENT\n Disciplina\n Ensoph\n Kether\n\nThe explanation is that the letter _Aleph_-equivalent to A in Latin,\nand having the number 1 as its numerical value\u2014signifies the Recipient,\nthe man who is called to initiation, the qualified personality,\ncorresponding to the Bachelor of the Tarot. It signifies also\n_disciplina_, or dogmatic syllepsis; _Ensoph_, or being in its general\nand primary conception; and finally, _Kether_, or the Crown, which,\nin Kabalistic theology, is the first and obscure idea of Divinity.\nThe chapter in question is the development of the title and the title\ncontains hieroglyphically the whole chapter.\n\nThe History of Magic, which follows, narrates and explains, according\nto the general theory of the science furnished in the Doctrine and\nRitual, the realisation of that science through the ages. As the\nintroduction explains, it is constituted in harmony with the number\nseven\u2014the septenary being the number of the creative week and of Divine\nRealisation.\n\nThe Key to the Great Mysteries will be established on the number\nfour\u2014which is that of the enigmatic forms of the sphinx and of\nelementary manifestations. It is also the number of the square and\nof force. In the book referred to, certitude will be established on\nirremovable bases. The enigma of the sphinx will have its complete\nsolution and our readers will be provided with that Key of things kept\nsecret from the foundation of the world which the learned Postel only\ndared to depict enigmatically in one of his most obscure books, giving\nno satisfactory explanation.\n\nThe History of Magic explains the affirmations found in the Doctrine\nand Ritual; the Key of the Great Mysteries will complete and explain\nthe History of Magic. In this manner, for the attentive reader at\nleast, we trust that nothing will be found wanting in our revelation\nof the secrets of Jewish Kabalism and of Supreme Magic\u2014whether that of\nZoroaster or of Hermes.\n\nThe writer of these books gives lessons willingly to serious and\ninterested persons in search of these; but once and for all he desires\nto forewarn his readers that he tells no fortunes, does not teach\ndivination, makes no predictions, composes no philtres and lends\nhimself to no sorcery and no evocation. He is a man of science, not a\nman of deception. He condemns energetically whatsoever is condemned by\nreligion, and hence he must not be confounded with persons who can be\napproached without hesitation on a question of applying their knowledge\nto a dangerous or illicit use. For the rest he welcomes honest\ncriticism, but he fails to understand certain hostilities. Serious\nstudy and conscientious labour are superior to all attacks; and the\nfirst blessings which they procure, for those who can appreciate them,\nare profound peace and universal benevolence.\n\n \u00c9LIPHAS L\u00c9VI.\n\n _September 1st, 1859._\n\n\n\n\n INDEX\n\n Abel, 21, 117\n\n Abiram, 386\n\n Abraham, 3, 48, 64, 101, 108, 146, 180, 219\n\n Abraham the Jew, 331, 351, 353\n\n Absolute, 2, 459, 500\n\n _Acharat_, 410, 412, 414\n\n Achilles, 133, 150\n\n Adam, 11, 40, 41, 42, 46, 111, 188, 243, 244, 259, 301, 459\n\n Adam, Book of the Penitence of, 41-43\n\n _Adam Kadmon_, 51\n\n _Adhi-Nari_, 64\n\n Adolphus of Schleswig, 253\n\n _Adonai_, 103, 229, 248, 249\n\n Aeschylus, 86\n\n Agamemnon, 150\n\n Agde, Council of, 241\n\n Agesilaus, 121\n\n _Agla_, 103, 104, 248\n\n Agrippa, H. Cornelius, 90, 335\n\n _Ahih_, 103, 301\n\n Ahriman, 9, 16, 25\n\n _Al_, 300\n\n Albertus Magnus, 89, 258, 261\n\n Albigenses, 128, 424\n\n Alchemy, 85, 143, 195-197, 259, 262, 263, 279, 327, 331-334, 355, 357,\n 411, 509, 510\n\n Alcides, 86\n\n Alcmene, 121\n\n _Aleph_, 33, 34, 411\n\n Alexandria, School of, 74, 110, 215-219\n\n Alfarabius, 262\n\n Alphabet, Hebrew, 78, 103, 104, 152, 211\n\n Alphonso XI, 316\n\n _Althotas_, 410, 412\n\n Amasis, King, 92\n\n Ammonius, 165, 215\n\n Amphion, 82\n\n Analogy, 20, 22, 176, 521\n\n Andr\u00e9, Fran\u00e7oise, 429, 432\n\n Antichrist, 53\n\n Apis, 80\n\n Apocalypse, 44, 49, 101, 173, 174, 383, 522\n\n Apocrypha, 174\n\n Apollonius, of Tyana, 193-198, 515\n\n Apuleius, 204-207\n\n _Ararita_, 301\n\n Arcanum, Great. _See_ Great Secret\n\n Archedemus, 137\n\n Aristeus, 262, 263, 377\n\n Aristotle, 53, 123, 124, 261, 329\n\n Arius, 213\n\n Ark of the Covenant, 42\n\n Aroux, Eug\u00e8ne, 346, 351\n\n Art, Royal, 1, 77, 120\n\n Art, Sacerdotal, 120, 121, 122\n\n Artephius, 262\n\n Asclepios, 115\n\n Astarte, 61\n\n Astrology, 88\n\n Athanor, 196\n\n Augury, 162\n\n Augustine, St., 7, 207\n\n Aupetit, Pierre, 363\n\n\n Babel, 117, 118\n\n Bacchantes, 126, 148, 161\n\n Bacchus, 148, 152\n\n Baldwin II, 265\n\n Ballanche, 88\n\n Balmes, James, 178\n\n _Balneum Mari\u00e6_, 196\n\n Baphomet, 269\n\n Bartolocci, 257\n\n Beausoleil, Baron de, 357\n\n Bel, 229\n\n Belphegor, 119\n\n Belshazzar, 157\n\n Belus, 59, 62\n\n Benjamin, Tribe of, 159\n\n Bermechobus, 44\n\n Bernard of Sienna, St., 316\n\n Bernard of Saxe-Weimar, Prince, 415\n\n _Berthe au Grand Pied_, 233\n\n Berthelot, 74\n\n _Beth_, 33\n\n _Binah_, 116\n\n Blaquerne, Hermit, 329\n\n _Boaz_, 21, 42, 179, 411\n\n Bodinus, 349, 362, 363\n\n Boguet, Henri, 363\n\n Bohani, 64\n\n B\u00f6hme, Jacob, 138, 357\n\n Boismont, Brierre de, 131, 132, 191, 241\n\n Bonaventura, St., 50\n\n Boniface, Bishop of Mayence, 242\n\n _Book of Ceremonial Magic_, 130, 214, 250, 298, 299\n\n Bossuet, 6, 30\n\n Bouche, Madame, 446\n\n Brahma, 47\n\n Brahmans, 198\n\n Brennus, 228\n\n Bryant, Jacob, 53, 136\n\n Buddha, 66\n\n\n Cadmus, 82, 83, 148, 149\n\n Caduceus, 149, 517\n\n Cagliostro, Count, 409-415, 417, 473\n\n Cahagnet, 437\n\n Cain, 21, 45, 47, 48, 64, 72, 85, 117, 139\n\n Calchas, 150\n\n Calf, Golden, 80\n\n Calvin, John, 128\n\n Camul, 229\n\n Canaan, 46, 119\n\n Cardan, Jerome, 217\n\n Cartomancy, 151, 445. _See_ Tarot\n\n Cazotte, Jacques, 416-421\n\n Cebes, Table of, 142, 360, 470\n\n Cedron, 42\n\n Certon, Salomon, 162\n\n Chamos, 119\n\n Charistia, 158, 159\n\n Charity, 178, 179\n\n Charlemagne, 245, 246-251, 252, 254, 516\n\n Charles Martel, 242\n\n Charles the Bald, 256\n\n Charles VI, 316\n\n Charles VI, of Austria, 441\n\n Charles VII, 271\n\n Charles IX, 349\n\n Charvoz, Abb\u00e9, 465\n\n Chastity, 153, 154\n\n Chateaubriand, 200, 232\n\n Chilperic, 235, 236\n\n _Chokmah_, 7, 116\n\n Christ, 1, 11, 20, 29, 42, 43, 145, 157, 171, 173, 264, 266, 405, 454,\n 508, 515\n\n Christian, P., 417\n\n Church, Catholic, 13, 20, 35, 115, 145, 171, 287, 454, 455\n\n Circe, 90\n\n Clairvoyance, 18, 58, 70\n\n Clavel, 441\n\n Clement, St., 208\n\n Clement V, Pope, 265\n\n Cleopatra, 262\n\n Clothilde, St., 234, 235\n\n Clovis, 235, 236\n\n Cocytus, 141\n\n _C\u0153lum Sephiroticum_, 137\n\n Comte, Auguste, 459, 461\n\n Confucius, 3, 393\n\n Constance of Provence, 256, 257\n\n Cooper-Oakley, Isabel, 401\n\n Corinth, Bride of, 223 _et seq._\n\n Cornuphis, 121\n\n Cosmopolite, _i.e._ Alexander Seton, 357\n\n Cremer, John, 326\n\n Crollius, Oswald, 356, 357\n\n Cross of Eden, 208\n\n Cuvier, 227\n\n Cyprian, Prayer of St., 203\n\n\n Daath, 116\n\n Dacier, 176\n\n _Daleth_, 33, 34\n\n Damis, 195, 197\n\n Daniel, 52, 92\n\n Dante, 34, 142, 345 _et seq._, 347, 351\n\n Darboy, Monsignor, 218\n\n Davies, 136\n\n _Dea, Bona_, 155\n\n De Cauzons, P., 257\n\n De Coss\u00e9 Brissac, Duc, 423\n\n De Gabalis, Comte, 245\n\n De Genlis, Madame, 402\n\n Dejanira, 133, 134\n\n Delaage, Henri, 477, 478\n\n Delancre, 362, 363\n\n De Lerins, Blessed Vincent, 520, 521\n\n Deleuze, 404, 417\n\n De Luchet, Marquis, 403, 405, 438, 483\n\n Delrio, 362\n\n Deluge, 40, 46, 117\n\n De Maistre, Comte Joseph, 5, 28, 106, 177, 240, 522\n\n De Marnier, Duc, 423\n\n De M\u00e9dicis, Catharine, 349\n\n De Mirville, Comte, 241, 285, 335, 475, 476\n\n Democritus, 120\n\n De Paul, St. Vincent, 179\n\n Desbillons, 338, 339\n\n Desmousseux, G., 375\n\n D\u2019Espagnet, 357\n\n De Sombreuil, Mdlle., 420, 424\n\n Deussen, 67\n\n De Vatiguerro, Jean, 443\n\n De Villanova, Arnaldus, 327\n\n De Villars, Abb\u00e9, 109, 110, 401\n\n Devil, 12, 13, 14, 15, 187 _et seq._, 281 _et seq._\n\n Diana, 161\n\n Dionysius, 217, 218, 219\n\n Dionysius the Younger, 137\n\n Diseases, Astral, 159\n\n _Doctrine and Ritual of Transcendental Magic_, 13, 29, 116, 172, 230,\n 393\n\n Dodona, Oaks of, 84\n\n Dominic, St., 262, 292\n\n Donatists, 128\n\n D\u2019Ourches, Comte, 479, 481, 482, 484\n\n Dositheus, 180\n\n Dreams, 163\n\n Druids, 229-231, 232, 251\n\n Duchesne, 257\n\n Du Fresnoy, Lenglet, 327\n\n Du Perron, Anquetil, 67\n\n Du Potet, Baron, 57, 60, 71, 130, 471, 472, 473, 485\n\n Dupuis, 3, 4\n\n _Dzenioutha Sepher_, 393\n\n\n Eckartshausen, Karl von, 436\n\n Ecstasy, 71, 109, 132\n\n Eden and Earthly Paradise, 41, 45, 115, 244\n\n Edmond, 493, 494\n\n Egeria, 152\n\n Elementary Spirits, 111, 244\n\n Eleusis, 134, 161, 345\n\n Elizabeth, Mme., 424\n\n _Elohim, Elohim Tzabaoth_, 135, 247, 283\n\n _Empus\u00e6_, 90\n\n _Enchiridion_, 214, 247-250, 478\n\n Enoch, 344\n\n _Enoch, Book of_, 39, 40, 43, 44, 46\n\n _Ensoph_, 44, 137\n\n Equilibrium, 149, 165, 501, 503, 517, 518, 519\n\n Erdan, A., 453, 472, 495, 499\n\n Eros and Anteros, 179\n\n Esquiros, Alphonse, 477, 495, 497\n\n Etteilla, 77, 316, 445\n\n Eucharist, 177, 178, 210\n\n Eudoxus, 53\n\n Euripides, 161\n\n Eurydice, 87\n\n Eve, 17, 117, 244, 301, 459\n\n Evil, 13, 14\n\n Ezekiel, 92, 265, 381\n\n\n Faber, Rev. G. S., 136\n\n Fabr\u00e9-Palaprat, 423\n\n Faith and Science, 10, 27, 178, 517, 518\n\n Figuier, Louis, 74, 327, 409\n\n Fire, Secret, 196\n\n Flamel, Nicholas, 331-334, 347, 351, 353\n\n Fludd, Robert, 357\n\n Fo-Hi, 392\n\n Fontenelle, 156\n\n Fourier, 117, 286, 453\n\n _Four Sons of Aymon_, 246\n\n Franck, Adolphe, 49\n\n Fredegonde, 235, 236, 237, 238\n\n Frederick William, King, 435\n\n Freemasonry, Freemasons, 4, 9, 21, 29, 54, 266, 382-388\n\n French Revolution, 190\n\n\n Gaffarel, 280\n\n Ganneau, 458, 495, 497, 499\n\n Garden of Olives, 42\n\n _Garden of Pomegranates_, 21\n\n Garinet, Jules, 235, 243, 245, 252, 258, 371\n\n Gaufridi, Louis, 364-366\n\n Geber, 262\n\n Genebrard, 329\n\n Geoffrey de St. Omer, 265\n\n Geomancy, 151\n\n Gerle, Dom, 428-431, 497\n\n Gilles de Laval, 272-280, 282, 361\n\n _Gimel_, 34\n\n Gipsies, 306-318\n\n Girard, 373\n\n Glauber, Richard, 357\n\n Gnosis, Gnosticism, Gnostics, 4, 54, 65, 184, 198, 208, 209, 211, 264,\n 269, 291, 345, 388, 406, 415, 524\n\n Goethe and the _Faust_, 200, 305, 320, 441, 442, 453, 458\n\n _G\u00f6etia_, 64, 67, 89, 110, 153, 174\n\n _Golden Ass_, 205, 206\n\n Golden Fleece, 83, 84, 85\n\n _Golden Legend_, 200, 204\n\n Graces, Three, 159\n\n Grandier, Urbain, 367-372\n\n Gregory, St., 158\n\n Gregory of Tours, 237, 242\n\n Gregory XVI, Pope, 466\n\n Grimoires, Various, 130, 279, 293, 297-305\n\n Gringonneur, Jacques, 79\n\n Guldenstubb\u00e9, Baron de, 286, 480, 483, 484\n\n Gymnosophists, 66\n\n\n Hagar, 48\n\n Ham, 48, 85, 117, 118, 127\n\n _He_, 74\n\n Hecate, 161\n\n Helena, 183\n\n Helmont, J. B. van, 357\n\n Hennequin, Victor, 474\n\n Henry III, 349, 350\n\n Heraclitus, 120\n\n Hercules, 84, 123, 133\n\n Hermanubis, 80\n\n Hermes, 53, 73, 74, 75, 134, 260\n\n Hiram, 383-387\n\n Hierarchy, Descending, 191\n\n Hierophants, 156\n\n _Hod_, 21\n\n Homer, 83, 133, 437\n\n Honorius II, 298, 299\n\n Honorius III, 292\n\n Hugh de Payens, 265, 266, 268, 270\n\n Hussites, 128\n\n Hypatia, 215\n\n Hyphasis, 194\n\n\n Iao, 140\n\n Iliad, 85\n\n Illuminati, 4, 54, 148, 284, 435 _et seq._\n\n Immortality, 99\n\n Irminsul, 228\n\n Isaac de Loria, 419\n\n Isaiah, 11\n\n Isis, 25, 80, 138, 233, 505\n\n Ixion, 142\n\n Iynx, 77, 78\n\n\n Jachin, 21, 42, 179, 411\n\n Jacob, 7, 8, 159\n\n Jason, 84, 85\n\n Jean d\u2019Arras, 234\n\n Jean de Meung, 346, 347\n\n Jean Hachette, 230\n\n Jechiel, Rabbi, 239, 240, 257, 258\n\n Jehovah, 80, 103, 104, 105, 248, 249, 301, 304\n\n Joachim, Abb\u00e9, 426\n\n Joan, Pope, 28\n\n Joan of Arc, 230, 234, 271, 272\n\n Johannite Doctrine, 174, 266, 267, 268, 269, 345, 382, 424, 431\n\n John, St., 29, 43, 44, 49, 101, 138, 208, 214, 264, 268, 328, 344,\n 405, 516\n\n Jonah, 208\n\n Joseph, 76\n\n Josephine, Empress, 443, 444\n\n Jude, St., 39\n\n Julian the Apostate, 193, 198, 515\n\n Juno, 83\n\n Jupiter, 7, 86, 111, 152, 161;\n Jupiter and Semele, 19\n\n Justina, Legend of, 200-202\n\n Juvenal, 154\n\n\n Kabalah, 3, 20, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 33, 34, 41, 43, 48, 49, 65, 77,\n 101-112, 136, 138, 143, 146, 171, 174, 192, 213, 229, 263, 265,\n 327, 330, 335, 354, 393, 395, 409, 413, 418, 419. _See_ Zohar\n\n _Kether_, 7\n\n Keturah, 64\n\n Khnoubis, 140\n\n Khunrath, Heinrich, 29, 263, 353-356\n\n Kircher, Athanasius, 77, 156\n\n Klodswinthe, 235\n\n K\u00f6lmer, 412\n\n Koran, 241\n\n Kotzebue, 440\n\n Koung-Tseu, 146\n\n Krishna, 66\n\n Krudener, Madame de, 446-448\n\n\n Labarum, 250\n\n Lacenaire, 467\n\n Lactantius, 141\n\n La Harpe, 417\n\n Lamech, 72\n\n _Lami\u00e6_, 90\n\n Lamennais, Abb\u00e9, 496\n\n Land, Promised, 159\n\n _Larv\u00e6_, 111, 112, 128, 141\n\n Lascaris, 408, 409\n\n Lavater, 437, 483\n\n Laysis, 93\n\n Leibnitz, 393, 394\n\n _Lemures_, 141\n\n Lenormand, 444, 445, 446, 493\n\n Leo III, Pope, 214, 248\n\n Leon-Tao-Yuan, 392\n\n Lethe, 99, 141\n\n L\u2019\u00c9toile, 350\n\n _Liber Mirabilis_, 44\n\n Light, Astral, 13, 16, 18, 19, 57, 59, 61, 71, 73, 98, 104, 109, 110,\n 127, 131, 157, 164, 175, 181, 185, 188, 189, 190, 195, 213, 279,\n 332, 342, 410, 468, 506\n\n Lilith, 418\n\n _Little Albert_, 160, 261\n\n Loiseaut, 427\n\n Lopukhin, 45\n\n Louis, St., 239, 257\n\n Louis the Pious, 245, 256\n\n Louis XVI, 423, 424, 425, 433\n\n Louis XVII, 433, 434, 446, 448, 461, 462, 467, 497\n\n Louis XVIII, 448\n\n Lucifer, 11, 12, 14, 187, 188, 192\n\n Lucretia, 154\n\n Lully, Raymund, 319-330\n\n Luther, Martin, 28, 347-349\n\n\n Macrocosm, 511, 512\n\n Magi, 1, 55, 59, 62, 67, 147, 160, 180, 186, 228, 515\n\n Magi, the Three, 1, 66, 146, 147\n\n Magic: as the science of the ancient Magi, 1;\n as certitude in philosophy and religion, 2;\n its profanation, 4;\n as the science of the devil, 9;\n its Great Secret, 17;\n opens the Temple of Nature, 30;\n does not explain the mysteries of religion, 30;\n its chief attraction, 31;\n distinction between good and evil, 45;\n spurious Magic of India, 45;\n term of, 58;\n its perfect doctrine in Egypt, 73;\n its summary in the Emerald Tablet, 74;\n miracles of Moses not referable to Magic, 79;\n Magic of Light, 180;\n Magic of the old sanctuaries, 193;\n Magic of works, 262;\n why Magic is proscribed by the Church, 524;\n the future of Magic, 524, 525\n\n Magic, Black, 17, 64, 71, 89, 90, 118, 126, 129, 130, 138, 190, 209,\n 223, 255, 260, 273, 291, 350, 361, 468, 476, 507, 515\n\n Magnetism, 19, 20\n\n Mahomet, 28, 241\n\n Maia, 157\n\n Maier, Michael, 357\n\n Maimonides, 393\n\n _Malkuth_, 21\n\n Manes, 54, 144\n\n Manicheans, 16, 198\n\n _Mapah._ _See_ Ganneau\n\n Marat, 47, 418, 439\n\n Marcellinus, 198\n\n Marcos, 210, 212\n\n Mars, 85\n\n Martin de Gallardon, 432, 462\n\n Martinists, 16\n\n Mary the Virgin, 10, 23, 24, 88, 149, 155, 157, 175, 176, 255, 517\n\n Matter Jacques, 210, 269\n\n Mead, G. R. S., 56, 57, 58, 77\n\n Medea, 84, 85, 91\n\n Medicine, Universal, 133, 414, 508\n\n Mediums, 164, 427 _et seq._, 475, 479-483\n\n Melchisedek, 180, 401\n\n Melusine, 233, 234\n\n Memphis, 121, 134\n\n Menander, 186, 415\n\n Mercury, 74, 104, 196, 332, 333, 358, 504;\n Hymn of Mercury, 162;\n Astral Mercury, 414\n\n Mesmer, Anton, 57, 396-399\n\n Methodius, St., 44, 45, 425\n\n M\u00e8ves, Aug., 433\n\n Microcosm, 263, 511, 512\n\n Minerva, 83, 150\n\n Minos, 161\n\n Mithraic Mysteries, 117\n\n Molay, Jacques de, 271, 422, 424\n\n Moloch, 119\n\n Montanists, 211\n\n Mopses, Order of, 440, 441\n\n Morien, 262\n\n Moses, 8, 18, 42, 76, 77, 79, 80, 101, 115, 135, 145, 283, 331, 524;\n Wand of, 8, 42, 79, 80, 115\n\n Muller, Philip, 357\n\n Mus\u00e6us, 86\n\n Mustapha, Benjamin, 357\n\n Mysteries, Greek, 135\n\n Mysteries, Ancient, 8\n\n\n Napoleon, 417, 443, 444\n\n Naud\u00e9, Gabriel, 295, 358, 433, 434\n\n Necromancy, 144\n\n Nehamah, 418\n\n Nero, 184, 185\n\n _Netzach_, 7, 21\n\n Nicholas IV, Pope, 328\n\n Nicodemus, Gospel of, 43\n\n Nic\u00e6a, Council of, 213\n\n Nimrod, 59\n\n Ninus, 61, 63\n\n Noah, 40, 46\n\n Norton, Thomas, 357\n\n Nostradamus, Michael, 444\n\n Numa, 55, 60, 92, 152, 155\n\n\n Oberon, 246\n\n Odyssey, 85\n\n \u0152dipus, 86, 134, 515\n\n Olivarius, 444\n\n _Om_, 69\n\n Omphale, 134\n\n Oracles, 174, 175\n\n Orl\u00e9ans, Council of, 241\n\n Orpheus, 3, 82, 85, 87, 88, 126, 134, 148, 149, 152, 515\n\n Ortelius, 357\n\n Osiris, 25, 80, 208, 505\n\n Ostanes, 262\n\n _Oupnek\u2019hat_, 67-72\n\n\n Pan, 174\n\n Pantacle of Mars, 167\n\n Pantacle of Mercury, 167\n\n Pantacle of Saturn, 167\n\n Pantacle of Venus, 166\n\n Pantacle of the Moon, 166\n\n Pantacle of the Sun, 166\n\n Pantacle of Jupiter, 167\n\n Pantarba, 197\n\n Pantheism, 66\n\n Pantheus, 146, 152\n\n Paracelsus, 111, 231, 263, 340, 341, 342, 344\n\n Paradise, Earthly, 41, 115, 141\n\n Paris the Deacon, 185\n\n Parmenides, 155\n\n Pascal, 50, 51, 439\n\n Pasqually, Martines de, 17, 89, 416\n\n Paths, Thirty-two, 78\n\n Patricius, Franciscus, 54, 56, 57\n\n Paul, St., 11\n\n Penelope, 150\n\n Pentagram, 2\n\n Pentheus, 148\n\n Pepin the Short, 242\n\n Pernety, A. J., 85\n\n Peter, St., 182, 183, 185, 214\n\n Peter Lombard, 261\n\n Peter the Venerable, 261\n\n Petronius, 185\n\n Pharamond, 238\n\n Pharaoh and his Magicians, 17, 18, 79, 80\n\n Philalethes, 357\n\n Philip, St., 182\n\n Philip the Fair, 265, 270, 422\n\n Philostratus, 193, 194\n\n Photius, 265\n\n Physiognomy, 97\n\n Picus de Mirandula, 109\n\n Pignorius, L., 77\n\n Pillars, 140\n\n Pison, Lucius, 55\n\n Pistorius, 78\n\n Planis Campe, David, 357\n\n Platina, 293, 296\n\n Plato, 56, 86, 121, 122, 124, 135, 136, 138, 142, 143, 167, 214, 215,\n 519\n\n Pliny, 55\n\n Plotinus, 165, 215\n\n Polonus, Martinus, 294\n\n Polycrates, 92\n\n Porphyry, 160, 161, 165, 215\n\n Postel, William, 43, 335-340\n\n Pot of Manna, 42\n\n Poterius, 357\n\n Prometheus, 85, 86, 111, 207, 260, 261\n\n Proserpine, 152, 161\n\n Protestantism, 145, 146, 179\n\n _Protoplastes_, 110\n\n Psyche, 205\n\n Punishment, Eternal, 7\n\n Puritans, 128\n\n Pyramids, 173\n\n Pyrrhos, 120\n\n Pythagoras, 88, 92-100, 135, 140, 155, 523\n\n\n Ragon, J. M., 70, 382\n\n _Regnum Sanctum_, 1, 502\n\n _Reichstheater_ of M\u00fcller, 254\n\n Reincarnation, 99, 100\n\n Reuchlin, John, 3\n\n Richard C\u0153ur de Lion, 270\n\n Richemont, Baron de, 433\n\n Robert the Pious, 256\n\n Robespierre, 47, 430, 431, 432\n\n Roland, 246, 247\n\n _Romance of the Rose_, 115, 351\n\n Romarius, 262\n\n Rose-nobles, 326\n\n Rosenroth, Baron Knorr von, 49, 419\n\n Rosicrucians, 4, 29, 100, 116, 249, 346, 352, 353, 358, 359, 382, 401,\n 402, 405, 406\n\n Rossetti, Gabriele, 346\n\n Rousseau, 47, 125, 177, 422\n\n Rulandus, Martinus, 74, 414\n\n\n Saint-Foix, 229\n\n Saint-Germain, Comte de, 234, 400, 406, 407, 408, 409\n\n Saint-Martin, L. C. de, 16, 17, 416\n\n Saint-M\u00e9dard, 374\n\n Saint-Simon, 26\n\n Saint-Victor, Adam de, 44\n\n Salic Laws, 238-241\n\n Salmanas, 262\n\n Salt, 45, 104, 196, 504\n\n Samaria, 182, 204\n\n Sand, Carl, 440\n\n Sardanapalus, 62, 63\n\n Satan, 12, 14, 15, 16, 139, 157, 192\n\n Schroepfer, 436\n\n Schur\u00e9, Edouard, 92\n\n Second Birth, 133\n\n Secret, Great, 2, 23, 143, 199, 411;\n Great Magical Secret, 507\n\n Secret Societies, 33\n\n\n _Secret Tradition in Freemasonry_, 265, 437\n\n Semiramis, 59, 61\n\n _Sephiroth_, 7, 21, 65, 103, 116, 137, 249\n\n Sergius IV, Pope, 296\n\n Seth, 41, 45, 46, 48, 101\n\n Shelley, P. B., 162\n\n Sibyls, 150, 151\n\n Simon Magus, 180-186, 209, 415\n\n Sisyphus, 142\n\n Sixtus IV, 296\n\n Sobrier, 498\n\n Socrates, 64, 120\n\n Solomon, 145, 384, 385, 386, 401, 516;\n Keys of, 105, 393, 507, 510-513;\n Ring of, 502, 507, 510, 511, 513;\n Seal of, 507, 510, 511, 513;\n Star of, 75, 249;\n Pillars of, 21, 27;\n Temple of, 145, 146, 167, 179, 265, 383, 384, 385, 387\n\n Sphinx, 475, 506\n\n Spirits, Return of, 106, 107, 108\n\n Sprenger, 362\n\n Star, Blazing, 1\n\n Steinert, 435\n\n Stone, Corner, 173;\n Stone of the Philosophers, 196, 197;\n Philosophical Stone, 262, 510\n\n _Stryges_, 90, 144\n\n Sulphur, 104, 196, 504\n\n Superstition, 158\n\n Swedenborg, Emmanuel, 51, 394-396, 433, 453, 456\n\n Sword of the Cherubim, 117\n\n Sylvester II, Pope, 292, 293, 294, 295, 296\n\n Synesius, 208, 215, 216, 217, 515\n\n\n Table of Bembo, 77;\n Table of Emerald, 73, 74;\n Table of Denderah, 4;\n Tables of the Law, 42\n\n Tabor, 420\n\n Talleyrand, 297\n\n _Talmud_, 20, 172, 239, 240\n\n Tantalus, 142\n\n Taranis, 228\n\n Tarchon, 92\n\n _Tarot_, 57, 58, 78, 79, 105, 151, 312, 313, 314, 315, 316, 317, 416,\n 445;\n Chinese, 391-393\n\n Tavernier, 342\n\n Telesma, 73, 74, 505\n\n Templar, Knights, 8, 265-271, 291, 328, 406, 422, 423, 424, 425, 467\n\n Temple, Second, 266\n\n Temporal Power, 517, 518\n\n Tenarus, 142\n\n Teresa, St., 9\n\n Tertullian, 10, 204, 211\n\n Tetrad, 93, 95\n\n Teutas, 228, 229\n\n Thales, 140\n\n Thebes, 3, 82, 83\n\n Theoclet, 268\n\n Theosophy, 138\n\n Th\u00e9ot, Catherine, 429-432, 446, 497\n\n Thomas Aquinas, St., 6, 259, 261, 523\n\n Thoth, 229;\n Book of, 43, 121. _See_ Tarot\n\n Tieck, Ludwig, 361\n\n Tigellinus, 185\n\n Tiresias, 149, 150\n\n Tissot, Hilarion, 189, 283, 360\n\n _Toldoth Jeshu, Sepher_, 172, 268\n\n Torneburg, John, 357\n\n Torreblanca, F., 90, 190, 362\n\n Tournefort, 489, 493\n\n Tree of Knowledge, 41, 115, 116, 323\n\n Tree of Life, 41\n\n Trent, Council of, 336, 340\n\n Trevisan, Bernard, 334\n\n Tribunal, Secret, 250-254\n\n Trigonum, 392\n\n Trimalcyon, 184\n\n Trithemius, Abbot, 334, 335, 352\n\n Trois-\u00c9chelles, 349\n\n Trophonius, 139\n\n Tullus Hostilius, 55\n\n Typhon, 25\n\n\n Vaillant, 311, 313, 314, 315, 316\n\n Valentine, Basil, 210, 334\n\n Vampires, 112, 144, 147, 489-493\n\n _Vau_, 34\n\n Vaudois, 128, 424\n\n Vedas, 65\n\n Velleda, 232\n\n Venus, 61, 82, 157, 159\n\n Vienna, Council of, 328\n\n Vintras, Eug\u00e8ne, 212, 462-470\n\n Virgil, 86\n\n Vishnu, 64, 65, 66\n\n Voltaire, 3, 106, 116, 155, 373, 374\n\n\n Westcott, W. Wynn, 78\n\n William of Brunswick, 253\n\n William of Loris, 346, 351\n\n William of Malmesbury, 295\n\n Williams, Eleazar, 433\n\n Woman, 22, 25, 232-237\n\n Wonders, Seven, 166-168\n\n Word, Sacred, &c., 3, 20, 76, 89, 124, 135, 137, 167, 171, 172, 173,\n 213, 283, 286, 337, 454, 508\n\n Work, Great, 84, 85, 133, 195, 197, 259, 351, 355, 416, 501, 509\n\n Wronski, Hoene, 459, 460, 461\n\n\n Yetzirah, Sepher, 20, 43, 48, 49, 52, 77, 78, 173, 219, 331, 336, 355,\n 391, 504\n\n _Y-Kim_, 392-394\n\n\n Zain, 34\n\n Zedekias, 243\n\n Zerubbabel, 266, 383\n\n _Zohar_, Sepher Ha, 20, 25, 27, 34, 40, 41, 46, 48, 50, 51, 52, 82,\n 98, 99, 109, 117, 137, 141, 146, 147, 173, 197, 207, 211, 249, 259,\n 336, 358, 383, 393, 420, 503\n\n Zoroaster, 3, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 60, 63, 66, 75, 76, 84, 180, 515,\n 522\n\n\n THE END\n\n\n _Printed wholly in England for the_ MUSTON COMPANY.\n\n_By_ LOWE & BRYDONE, PRINTERS, LTD., PARK STREET, CAMDEN TOWN, LONDON,\n N.W.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[1] The word signifies reception, and in Rabbinical Hebrew it denotes\ndoctrine so communicated\u2014that is to say, by a tradition handed down\nor received from the past. John Reuchlin specifies it as symbolical\nreception, signifying that the doctrine is not comprised simply in\nits surface meaning. He says further that it is of Divine Revelation,\nand that it belongs primarily to the life-giving contemplation\nof God. This is in the universal sense, but it is concerned also\nwith secret teaching respecting particular things, meaning things\nmanifest\u2014_contemplatio formarum separatarum_.\n\n[2] The reference is to _L\u2019Origine de tous les Cultes, ou Religion\nUniverselle_, 12 vols. in 8vo, together with an atlas in 4to. Paris,\n1794. The work endeavoured to shew the unity of dogma under the\nmultiplicity of symbols and allegories. In other words, it explained\nreligion by astronomy, the cultus in the light of the calendar,\nmysteries of grace by means of natural phenomena. An abridgment in a\nsmall volume appeared about 1821. The Table of Denderah or Dendra was a\ngreat zodiac sculptured on the ceiling of the portico belonging to the\nTemple at that place, which was the ancient Tentyrio.\n\n[3] _Sed omnia in mensura, et numero, et pondere disposuisti_: \u201cBut\nThou hast ordered all things in measure and number and weight.\u201d\u2014WISDOM,\nxi. 21.\n\n[4] The conventional Hexagram presents in pictorial symbolism the root\ndoctrine of the Hermetic Emerald Tablet: \u201cThat which is above is equal\nto that which is below.\u201d It is the sign of the interpenetration of\nworlds.\n\n[5] According to the _Zohar_, Pt. I., fol. 21_a_, 21_b_, it was with\nthe guardian angel of Esau that Jacob wrestled at the place which he\nnamed Peniel. The angel could not prevail against Jacob because the\nlatter derived his strength from the Supreme Light, _Kether_, and from\n_Chokmah_, which is the second hypostasis. He therefore smote Jacob on\nthe right thigh, which signifies the seventh _Sephira_, or _Netzach_.\n\n[6] The more usual argument of high orthodox theology in the Latin\nschool is that a sin against the Infinite Being is one of infinite\nculpability. If it were suggested in rejoinder that it must be one of\ninfinite inconsequence, so far as that Being is concerned, it might not\nbe more reasonable than the argument, but it would do less outrage to\nlogic.\n\n[7] It is to be noted, however, that there was mockery of its kind in\nthe middle ages, that Satan and his emissaries in folk-lore appear\nunder ridiculous lights. There is the prototypical story of the devil\nwho gave a course of lectures on Black Magic at the University of\nSalamanca and demanded, as a consideration, the soul of one of his\nhearers; but he was cheated with the student\u2019s shadow.\n\n[8] In his earlier work, _The Doctrine and Ritual of Transcendental\nMagic_, \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi affirms (_a_) on the authority of a writer whom\nhe does not name, that the devil is God, as understood by the wicked;\n(_b_) on another authority, that the devil is composed of God\u2019s ruins;\n(_c_) that the devil is the Great Magical Agent employed for evil\npurposes by a perverse will; (_d_) that he is death masquerading in the\ncast-off garments of life; (_e_) that Satan, Beelzebub, Adramelek, &c.,\ndo not designate spiritual unities, but legions of impure spirits.\n\n[9] In speaking of evil and a possible Prince of Darkness, it is\nnecessary to proceed carefully, if we are confined, like \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi,\nwithin the measures of a theory of opposites. The definition of evil as\nthe absence of rectitude is entirely insufficient to cover the facts\nof experience; it is that indeed, but it is also as much more as may\nbe necessary to account for its positive and active side. The truth is\nthat positive and negative are on both sides of the eternal balance of\nthings postulated by the theory. So far as it goes, evil is the absence\nof rectitude, and, so far as it goes also, rectitude is the absence of\nevil; but the vital aspects of good and bad have slipped between the\nfingers of definition in both cases.\n\n[10] Saint-Martin recognises the existence of an astral region, which\nis apparently that of sidereal rule. There is, in his view a certain\nscience of this region, and of this the active branch is theurgic,\nwhile the passive engenders somnambulism. These divisions constitute\nthe elementary science of the astral, but above these there is one\nwhich is more fatal and dangerous, of which he refuses to speak. There\nis no Martinistic doctrine concerning the Astral Light, understood\nas an universal medium. \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi seems to have used the term\nMartinism in a general sense, as if it included the school of Martines\nde Pasqually. Pasqually, however, has no doctrine concerning the Astral\nLight. Modern French Martinism has read it into Saint-Martin\u2019s rather\nridiculous \u201cepico-magical poem\u201d or allegory, called _Le Crocodile_,\nmuch as another school of experiment might find therein a veiled\naccount of the Akasic records and the mode of their study. I refer to\nthe story of Atlantis, which begins at _Chant 64_ and occupies a large\npart of the book. The account of the Chair of Silence is very curious\nin this connection.\n\n[11] If the word is of Greek origin it seems to connect with the idea\nof watchers rather than leaders. Cf. [Greek ho egr\u00eagoros] = Vigil, in\nthe Septuagint.\n\n[12] The Kabalistic explanation is (_a_) that Egyptian Magic was real\nMagic; (_b_) that its wisdom was of the lowermost degree only; (_c_)\nthat it was overcome by the superior degrees, by which the serpent\nabove, or Metatron, dominates the serpent below, namely, Samael. See\n_Zohar_, Part II., fol. 28_a_.\n\n[13] Elsewhere \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi suggests that Pharaoh\u2019s magicians refused\nrather than failed and that the production of flies was beneath the\ndignity of their Magic.\n\n[14] It should be mentioned that this enumeration is in the reverse\norder of chronology, and it is not, as it happens, even in accordance\nwith what may be called traditional chronology. Legend says\u2014and \u00c9liphas\nL\u00e9vi himself mentions subsequently\u2014that the _Sepher Yetzirah_ was the\nwork of Abraham and that the _Zohar_ is in its root-matter a literal\nrecord of discourses delivered by R. Simeon Ben Jochai, after the fall\nof Jerusalem, A.D. 70. The Jerusalem and Babylon Talmuds are admittedly\ngrowths of some centuries.\n\n[15] The meanings ascribed to the names and inscriptions on the two\nPillars of the Temple will be of curious interest to members of the\nMasonic Fraternity, who will be reminded of variants with which they\nare themselves familiar. It must be said, however, that the explanation\nof L\u00e9vi corresponds neither to Masonic nor Kabalistic symbolism.\nAccording to the latter _Boaz_ is the left-hand Pillar, being that of\nSeverity in the scheme of the Sephirotic Tree; it answers to _Hod_, and\nthe meaning attached to its name is Strength and Vigour. _Jachin_ is on\nthe right hand, answering to _Netzach_ on the Tree; it signifies the\nstate of becoming established. That which is made firm between _Hod_\nand _Netzach_ is _Malkuth_, or the kingdom below. This is the late\nKabalism of the tract entitled _Garden of Pomegranates_.\n\n[16] This is the particular construction which is placed by L\u00e9vi on the\ntexts with which he is assuming to deal, and it is not really justified\nby these. The _Zohar_ has, however, a doctrine of the Unknown Darkness.\nThe Infinite is neither light nor splendour, though all lights emanate\ntherefrom. It is a Supreme Will, exceeding human comprehension, and\nmore mysterious than all mysteries. See _Zohar_, Part I., fol. 239_a_.\n\n[17] \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi does not seem always to have made the most of his\nopportunities as regards the texts of Kabalism and the literature\nthereto belonging which were available at his period in Latin and\ncertain modern languages, including his own. He had otherwise little\nopportunity of learning the real message of the Zoharic cycle. Taking\nall the circumstances into consideration, his guesses were sometimes\nvery shrewd, and here and there carry with them the suggestion\nof intuitions. The teaching of the _Zohar_ on the subject of sex\npostulates, like so much of its doctrine, a secret tradition to which\nit never gives expression in fulness, though it is incessantly lifting\nnow one and now another corner of the veil. It is, however, impossible\nto speak of it within the limit of a note.\n\n[18] It was not a master-word but a mode of greeting; it was neither\nMasonic nor Kabalistic; it was a Rosicrucian formula. It may be added\nthat: \u201cPeace profound, my brethren\u201d\u2014was answered by: \u201cEmanuel; God is\nwith us.\u201d It is a perfect and highly mystical mode of salutation.\n\n[19] Perhaps the true explanation in respect of Henry Khunrath is that,\nseemingly, he was of the Lutheran persuasion as one of the accidents\nof his birth, but in the higher consciousness he was, as he could be\nonly, catholic. As regards the resolute protestantism, \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi\nsays in his _Ritual of Transcendental Magic_ that Khunrath \u201caffects\nChristianity in expressions and in signs, but it is easy to see that\nhis Christ is the Abraxas, the luminous pentagram radiating on the\nastronomical cross, the incarnation in humanity of the sovereign sun\ncelebrated by the Emperor Julian.\u201d See my translation of the _Doctrine\nand Ritual of Transcendental Magic_, p. 257.\n\n[20] \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi has said previously (_a_) that the Church ignores\nMagic\u2014for she must either ignore it or perish; (_b_) that Magic, as\nunderstood by him, is absolute religion as well as absolute science;\n(_c_) that it should regenerate all forms of worship.\n\n[21] If it be worth while to say so the translation of this passage\ndoes not follow the text, which suggests that the act of conception\u2014on\nthe female side\u2014involves suffering. The text reads: _C\u2019est le plaisir\nqui f\u00e9conde, mais c\u2019est la douleur qui con\u00e7oit et enfante_.\n\n[22] According to the _Zohar_, the letter _Aleph_ is a sacrament of the\nunity which is in God, and it is thereby and therein that man obtains\nunity. _Beth_ is the basis of the work of creation, and in a sense also\nits instrument. _Gimel_ represents the charity and beneficence which\nare the help of poverty, designated by the letter _Daleth_. The letters\n_He_ and _Vau_ are part of the mystery which is contained in the Divine\nName\u2014 \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4. The letter _Zain_ is likened to a sharp sword or dagger.\n\n[23] The account which follows may be compared with that which\nis found, _s.v._ _Apocryphes_ in \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi\u2019s _Dictionnaire de\nLitt\u00e9rature Chr\u00e9tienne_, mentioned in my preface to the present\ntranslation. It describes the legend concerning the fall of certain\nangels as _une assez singuli\u00e8re histoire_. He refers also to the\nvarious extant versions of the book, and to those in particular which\ndiffer from the \u201cprimitive\u201d codex, being (_a_) that which he uses,\nand (_b_) \u201cthat which St. Jude cites in his catholic epistle as an\nauthentic\u201d work, actually composed by the prophet Enoch, to whom it is\nattributed.\n\n[24] The _Zohar_ says that the Ark of Noah was a symbol of the Ark of\nthe Covenant, that his entrance therein saved the world, and that this\nmystery is in analogy with the Supreme Mystery. At this point there is\na sex-implicit throughout the Kabalistic commentary, and the nature of\nthe \u201cunbridled appetite\u201d which brought about the deluge is identified\nwith that sin which caused the destruction of Judah\u2019s second son, as\ntold in Genesis c. xxxviii. See _Zohar_, Part I., section _Toldoth\nNoah_. It is intimated also that the souls of those who perished in the\ndeluge were to be blotted out, like the remembrance of Amalek. Part\nI., fol. 25_a_. They will not even be included in the resurrection\nwhich shall go before the Last Judgment. Fol. 68_b_. At the same time\nthe chastisement would have been suspended had Noah prayed to God like\nMoses, but the tradition supposes him to have asked only concerning\nhimself. _Zohar_, Part III., fol. 14_b_. The Holy Land was not covered\nby the waters of the deluge. Part II., fol. 197_a_.\n\n[25] It was the Rod of Aaron, not that of Moses, which, according to\nHeb. ix. 4, was placed in the Ark of the Covenant, together with the\nTables of the Law and the Pot of Manna. It is said, however, most\nclearly in I Kings, viii. 9, that \u201cthere was nothing in the ark save\nthe two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb.\u201d\n\n[26] Whatever the date to which the _Book of the Penitence of Adam_\nmay be referable, it represents one form of a legend which was spread\nwidely in the Middle Ages. _The Gospel of Nicodemus_ seems to have\ninstituted the first analogy between the Tree of Knowledge and the\nTree of the Cross. \u201cAll ye who have died through the wood which this\nman\u201d\u2014Adam\u2014\u201chath touched: all of you I will make alive again by the\nwood of the cross.\u201d The legend of the triple branch, under a strange\ntransformation, reappears in that chronicle of the Holy Graal which has\nbeen ascribed to the authorship of Walter Map. There is no end to the\nstories which represent Christ dying upon a tree which was a cutting\nfrom the Tree of Knowledge. This is how the Tree of Knowledge becomes\nthe Tree of Life in Christian legend.\n\n[27] The _Clavis Absconditorum \u00e0 Constitutione Mundi_, which is the\nchief work of Postel, outside his translation of the _Sepher Yetzirah_,\naffirms that Enoch was born at the time when Christ the Mediator would\nhave been manifested in the flesh as the incarnation of perfect Virtue,\nsupposing that man had remained in his first estate. There is no\nreference to a _Genesis of Enoch_.\n\n[28] _Hic intrat vivus foveam_\u2014he, being still alive, enters the tomb,\nsays Adam of St. Victor in his third Sequence for Dec. 27.\n\n[29] There were two canonised bishops bearing the name of Methodius\nat widely different periods, and as both were writers it is an open\nquestion to which of them the reference is intended. It is probably\nto Methodius of Olympus, who was martyred about 311. Methodius, the\nPatriarch of Constantinople, died in 846. There is not the least reason\nto suppose that the Apocalypse under the name of Bermechobus was the\nwork of either.\n\n[30] Compare Lopukhin\u2019s _Quelques Traits de l\u2019Eglise Int\u00e9rieure_,\nwhere the sanctuary which was inaugurated by Adam is connected more\nespecially with Abel, and was presumably maintained afterwards by Seth.\nIn opposition thereto was the Church of Cain, which was anti-Christian\nfrom its beginning. See my introduction to Mr. Nicholson\u2019s translation,\npp. 6, 7, and the text, p. 59\u2014_Some Characteristics of the Interior\nChurch_, 1912.\n\n[31] According to the _Zohar_, the intoxication of Noah contains a\nmystery of wisdom. He was really sounding the depths of that sin which\nwas the downfall of the first man, and his object was to find a remedy.\nIn this he failed, and \u201cwas drunken,\u201d seeking to lay bare the divine\nessence, without the intellectual power to explore it. _Section Toldoth\nNoah._\n\n[32] The _Sepher Ha Zohar_ affirms in several places that the Law was\noffered to the Gentiles, and was by them refused.\n\n[33] The authority for this statement is wanting. The _Zohar_ dwells\non Genesis xxi. 9: \u201cAnd Sarah saw the son of Hagar,\u201d &c., implying\nthat she did not acknowledge him as the son of Abraham, but of the\nEgyptian only. The Patriarch, however, regarded him as his own son.\nSarah\u2019s desire to expel them is justified on the ground that she had\nseen Ishmael worshipping the stars of heaven. See _Zohar_, Part I.,\nfol. 118. There is no allusion to the alleged gifts of the father, the\nscripture making it evident abundantly that the bread and bottle of\nwater are for once to be understood literally.\n\n[34] Even at the period of \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi, it did not require a\nrabbinical scholar or a knowledge of Aramaic to prevent any fairly\ninformed person from suggesting that the _Book of Concealed Mystery_,\nbeing the text here referred to, is the beginning of the _Zohar_.\nIt follows the _Commentary on Exodus_, about midway in the whole\ncollection, which covers the entire Pentateuch. It so happens that the\nlittle tract in question is the first of three sections rendered into\nLatin by Rosenroth, and this must have deceived L\u00e9vi, as a consequence\nof utterly careless reading. There was plenty of opportunity for\ncorrection in the _Kabbala Denudata_, and so also in _La Kabbale_\u2014an\ninteresting but very imperfect study by Adolphe Franck, which appeared\nin 1843.\n\n[35] There is no real analogy between the image attributed to Pascal\nand that of the Zoharic _Book of Concealment_. I have not verified\nthe reference to Pascal, as the opportunity is not given by L\u00e9vi, but\nI have explained elsewhere that the idea was probably drawn from S.\nBonaventura, who speaks of that _sph\u00e6ra intelligibilis, cujus centrum\nest ubique et circumferentia nusquam_. See _Itinerarium Mentis ad\nDeum_. I have inferred that S. Bonaventura himself derived from a\nHermetic book. As regards the symbolism of the Balance, the _Book of\nConcealed Mystery_ says (_a_) that in creating the world, God weighed\nin the Balance what had not been weighed previously, (_b_) that the\nBalance was suspended in a region where before there was no Balance,\n(_c_) that it served for bodies as well as souls, for beings then in\nexistence and for those who would exist subsequently. These are the\nonly references to this subject found in the tract.\n\n[36] As such it is old, and a monograph on the subject is included by\nJacob Bryant in his _Analysis of Antient Mythology_, vol. ii. p. 38 _et\nseq._ Following the authorities of his period, and especially Huetius,\nhe says that \u201cthey have supposed a Zoroaster, wherever there was a\nZoroastrian: that is, wherever the religion of the Magi was adopted,\nor revived.\u201d The two Zoroasters of L\u00e9vi represent two principles of\nreligious philosophy.\n\n[37] An English translation of the Chald\u00e6an Oracles by Thomas Taylor,\nthe Platonist, claims to have added fifty oracles and fragments not\nincluded in the collection of Fabricius. Mr. Mead says that the subject\nwas never treated scientifically till the appearance of J. Kroll\u2019s _De\nOraculis Chaldaicis_ at Breslau, in 1894.\n\n[38] It must be understood that this summary or digest is an\nexceedingly free rendering, and it seems scarcely in accordance with\nthe text on which \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi worked. Following the text of Kroll, Mr.\nMead translates the first lines as follows: \u201cNature persuades us that\nthe Daimones are pure, and things that grow from evil matter useful and\ngood.\u201d The last lines are rendered: \u201cBut when thou dost behold the very\nsacred Fire with dancing radiance flashing formless through the depths\nof the whole world, then hearken to the Voice of Fire.\u201d\n\n[39] See my _Key to the Tarot_, 1910, p. 32, and the cards which\naccompany this handbook. See also my _Pictorial Key to the Tarot_,\n1911, pp. 144-147.\n\n[40] One of the Chald\u00e6an Oracles has the following counsel: \u201cLabour\nthou around the _Strophalos_ of Hecate,\u201d which Mr. G. R. S. Mead\ntranslates: \u201cBe active (or operative) round the Hecatic spinning\nthing.\u201d He adds by way of commentary that _Strophalos_ may sometimes\nmean a top. \u201cIn the Mysteries tops were included among the playthings\nof the young Bacchus, or Iacchus. They represented ... the fixed stars\n(humming tops) and planets (whipping tops).\u201d\u2014_The Chald\u00e6an Oracles_,\nvol. ii. pp. 17, 18.\n\n[41] Accepting this definition of the term of occult research, we can\ndiscern after what manner it differs from the mystic term. The one, by\nthis hypothesis, is lucidity obtained in artificial sleep which stills\nthe senses, and the other is Divine Realisation in the spirit after the\nimages of material things and of the mind-world have been cast out, so\nthat the sanctified man is alone with God in the stillness.\n\n[42] This was _La Magie D\u00e9voil\u00e9e_, which was circulated in great\nsecrecy. Later on, and probably after the decease of the author, it\nappeared in the ordinary way, and in 1886 an English translation was\nannounced under the editorship of Mr. J. S. Farmer, but I believe that\nit was never published.\n\n[43] \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi adds in a note that, according to Suidas, Cedrenus\nand the _Chronicle of Alexandria_ it was Zoroaster himself who, seated\nin his palace, disappeared suddenly and by his own will, with all his\nsecrets and all his riches, in a great peal of thunder. He explains\nthat every king who exercised divine power passed for an incarnation of\nZoroaster, and that Sardanapalus converted his pyre into an apotheosis.\n\n[44] The analysis of \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi requires to be checked at all\npoints. He followed the Latin version of Anquetil Duperron, made from\na Persian text, and this is so rare as to be almost unobtainable. I\nshall therefore deserve well of my readers by furnishing the following\nextract from Deussen\u2019s _Religion and Philosophy of India_, regarding\nthe _Oupnek\u2019hat_:\n\n\u201cA position apart from the 52 and the 108 Upanishads is occupied by\nthat collection of 50 Upanishads which, under the name of _Oupnek\u2019hat_,\nwas translated from the Sanskrit into the Persian in the year 1656 at\nthe instance of the Sultan Mohammed Dara Shakoh, and from the Persian\ninto the Latin in 1801-2 by Anquetil Duperron. The _Oupnek\u2019hat_\nprofesses to be a general collection of Upanishads. It contains under\ntwelve divisions the Upanishads of the three older Vedas, and with\nthem 26 Atharva Upanishads that are known from other sources. It\nfurther comprises eight treatises peculiar to itself, five of which\nhave not up to the present time been proved to exist elsewhere, and\nof which therefore a rendering from the Persian-Latin of Anquetil\nis alone possible. Finally the _Oupnek\u2019hat_ contains four treatises\nfrom the Vaj. Samh. 16, 31, 32, 34, of which the first is met with\nin a shorter form in other collections also, as in the Nilarudra\nUpanishad, while the three last have nowhere else found admission. The\nreception of these treatises from the Samhita into the body of the\nUpanishads, as though there were danger of their falling otherwise\ninto oblivion, makes us infer a comparatively later date for the\n_Oupnek\u2019hat_ collection itself, although as early as 1656 the Persian\ntranslators made no claim to be the original compilers, but took the\ncollection over already complete. Owing to the excessive literality\nwith which Anquetil Duperron rendered these Upanishads word by word\nfrom the Persian into Latin, while preserving the syntax of the former\nlanguage\u2014a literality that stands in striking contrast to the freedom\nwith which the Persian translators treated the Sanskrit text\u2014the\n_Oupnek\u2019hat_ is a very difficult book to read; and an insight as keen\nas that of Schopenhauer was required in order to discover within this\nrepellant husk a kernel of invaluable philosophical significance,\nand to turn it to account for his own system. An examination of\nthe material placed at our disposal in the _Oupnek\u2019hat_ was first\nundertaken by A. Weber, Ind. Stud. I, II, ix., on the basis of the\nSanskrit text. Meanwhile the original texts were published in the\n_Bibliotheca Indica_ in part with elaborate commentaries, and again\nin the Anandas\u2019rama series. The two longest, and some of the shorter\ntreatises have appeared in a literal German rendering by O. Bohtlingk.\nMax M\u00fcller translated the twelve oldest Upanishads in _Sacred Books\nof the East_, vol. i. 15. And my own translation of the 60 Upanishads\ncontains complete texts of this character which, upon the strength\nof their regular occurrence in the Indian collections and lists of\nthe Upanishads, may lay claim to a certain canonicity. The prefixed\nintroductions and the notes treat exhaustively of the matter and\ncomposition of the several treatises.\u201d\n\n[45] This forms the second book of the collection entitled _Orthodoxie\nMa\u00e7onnique_, which was published in 1853. The account of magical discs\nand the planets corresponding to them will be found on pp. 498-501.\nRagon pretended that there was a system of Occult Masonry in three\nDegrees.\n\n[46] The legend concerning the Emerald Tablet is that it was found by\nAlexander the Great in the tomb of Hermes, which was hidden by the\npriests of Egypt in the depths of the Great Pyramid of Gizeh. It was\nsupposed to have been written by Hermes on a large plate of emerald by\nmeans of a pointed diamond. I believe that there is no Greek version\nextant, and it is referred by Louis Figuier to the seventh century of\nthe Christian era, or thereabouts. See _L\u2019Alchimie et les Alchimistes_,\np. 42.\n\n[47] In his _Lexicon Alchemi\u00e6_ Rulandus reminds us that \u201cthe old\nastronomers dedicated the Emerald to Mercury,\u201d and Berthelot says that\nthis was in conformity with Egyptian ideas, which classed the Emerald\nand Sapphire in their list of metals. See _Collection des Anciens\nAlchimistes Grecs, premi\u00e8re livraison_, p. 269. The planet Mercury\nwas the planet Hermes and it may be that some mystical connection was\nsupposed between quicksilver and the precious stone. This would have\nbeen in Gr\u00e6co-Alexandrian times, if ever, as ancient Egypt does not\nseem to have been acquainted with quicksilver.\n\n[48] The text says: _le triple binaire ou le mirage du triangle_, but\nit is obvious that the reflected triad cannot be termed binary. The\nexpression is confused, but the meaning is that the first triangle\nequals unity, or the number 1; the second triad corresponds to the\nduad, or number 2; the third triad to the number 3, and so onward.\n\n[49] The reference is to Athanasius Kircher\u2019s _\u0152dipus \u00c6gyptiacus_, 3\nvols. in folio, bound usually in four, published at Rome, 1652-1654.\nThe _Mensa Isiaca_, being the Bembine Tablet, so called because its\ndiscovery is connected with the name of Cardinal Bembo, is in the\nthird volume\u2014a folding plate beautifully produced. The original is\nexceedingly late and is roughly termed a forgery. In 1669 the Tablet\nwas reproduced on a larger scale by means of a number of folding\nplates in the _Mensa Isiaca_ of Laurentius Pignorius. Both works are\nexceedingly rare. I suppose that these are the only records of the\nTablet now extant, with the exception of a large copy in my possession\nmade from the above sources.\n\n[50] Mr. G. R. S. Mead tells us that _Iynx_ in its root-meaning,\naccording to Proclus, signifies the \u201cpower of transmission\u201d which is\nsaid in the Chald\u00e6an Oracles \u201cto sustain the fountains.\u201d Mr. Mead\nthinks that the _Iyinges_ were reproduced (_a_) as Living Spheres and\n(_b_) as Winged Globes. He thinks, also, that (_a_) the Mind on the\nplane of reality put forth (_b_) the one _Iyinx_, (_c_) after this\nthree _Iyinges_, called paternal and ineffable, and finally (_d_)\nthere may have been hosts of subordinate _Iyinges_. They were \u201cfree\nintelligences.\u201d It seems to follow that the _Iynx_ was not \u201can emblem\nof universal being,\u201d but a product of the Eternal Mind.\n\n[51] It may be mentioned that the Hebrew alphabet was divided into\n(_a_) Three Mother Letters, namely, _Aleph_, _Mem_ and _Shin_; (_b_)\nSeven Double Letters, being _Beth_, _Gimel_, _Daleth_, _Kaph_, _Pe_,\n_Resh_, _Tau_; and (_c_) Twelve Simple Letters, or _He_, _Vau_, _Zain_,\n_Heth_, _Teth_, _Yod_, _Lamed_, _Nun_, _Samech_, _Ayin_, _Tsade_,\n_Quoph_.\n\n[52] The _Sepher Yetzirah_ was first made known to Latin reading\nEurope by William Postel. Publication took place at B\u00e2le in 1547. It\nis said to have been reissued at Amsterdam in 1646. The collection\nof Pistorius, entitled _Artis Cabalistic\u00e6 Scriptores_, belongs to\n1587. Later and modern editions of the _Book of Formation_ are fairly\nnumerous. It was translated into French, together with the Arabic\ncommentary of R. Saadya Gaon, by Mayor Lambert, in 1891. An English\nversion by Dr. W. Wynn Westcott will serve the purpose of the general\nreader.\n\n[53] The Tarots of this period belong to the year 1393, and it has\nbeen suggested recently in France that the artist Charles Gringonneur\nwas really their inventor. It is useful to note this opinion, but I do\nnot think that any importance attaches to it. The extant Gringonneur\nexamples in the _Biblioth\u00e8que Nationale_ have also been said to be\nof Italian origin and not therefore his work. The Venetian Tarots\nhave been sometimes regarded as the oldest known form. The historical\nquestion is obscure beyond all extrication at present.\n\n[54] In face of existing evidence, the description of the Tarot Trumps\nMajor as a Kabalistic alphabet has as much and as little to support it\nas the claim that they constitute an Egyptian _Book of Thoth_. It has\nbeen reported to me, however, that there is an unknown Jewish Tarot,\nand it may interest students of the subject to know that before long\nI hope to be able to give some account at first hand concerning it.\nThere is little reason to suppose that it will prove (_a_) ancient or\n(_b_) Kabalistic; but as one never knows what is at one\u2019s threshold,\nI put the fact on record for whatever it may be worth in the future.\nMeanwhile, it is quite idle to say that our popular fortune-telling\nTarots are of Jewish origin.\n\n[55] The interpretation of L\u00e9vi seems to hesitate between several\nfields of symbolism, and what follows at this point suggests that the\nGolden Fleece is an allegory of metallic transmutation by means of\nalchemy. It was so regarded by many of the later disciples of this\nart. According to Antoine Joseph Pernety, the Golden Fleece is the\nsymbol of the matter of the Great Work; the labours of Jason are an\nallegory concerning the operations therein and of the signs of progress\ntowards perfection. The attainment of this Fleece signifies that of\nthe Powder of Projection and the Universal Medicine. See _Dictionnaire\nMytho-Herm\u00e9tique_ and _Les Fables Egyptiennes et Grecques_, both by\nPernety, and in particular vol. i. of the latter work, pp. 437-494.\n\n[56] Among several bearers of this name, I suppose that the reference\nis to him who, by tradition, was either the disciple or son of\nOrpheus, commemorated by Virgil. None of his poems are extant,\nso that the argument seems to fail. The antiquity of the Orphic\npoems\u2014_Argonautica_, Hymns, etc.\u2014is another question, and the\nconclusions of criticism on the subject are well known.\n\n[57] Almost any of the demonologists will serve at need. The\nJesuit Martinus Delrio, who wrote _Disquisitionum Magicarum Libri\nSex_ has plenty to say about _Lami\u00e6_ and _Stryges_. There is also\nJoannes Wierus, the pupil of Cornelius Agrippa, whose famous work\non the Illusions and Impostures of Sorcery\u2014_Histoires, Disputes et\nDiscours_\u2014was rendered from Latin into French, in 1885.\n\n[58] I do not know how this fable originated and the question is\nnot worth the pains which would be necessary to elucidate it. It is\nnarrated by \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi as matter of historical fact; but there is\nno question that M. Edouard Schur\u00e9, who owes so much to the occultist\nwho preceded him, would have been glad to include it in his romantic\nbiography of Pythagoras, if it had not been too mythical even for his\npurpose. He is content as it is to suggest that the sage of Samos had\nstudied Jewish monotheism during a stay of twelve years at Babylon.\n\n[59] The authorship of the _Golden Verses_ is of course a debated\npoint; and it is an old suggestion that their real writer was Lysis,\nthe preceptor of Epaminondas and an exponent of Pythagorean philosophy\nabout 388 B.C., his master being referred to the beginning of the sixth\ncentury B.C. I should add that \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi has presented the Verses in\na metrical form of his own, which reflects the originals at a very far\ndistance. I have not followed this rendering but have had recourse to\nthat of Mr. G. R. S. Mead.\n\n[60] Among the appendices to the second part of the _Zohar_ there is\na short section on physiognomy, and it embodies some very curious\nmaterials. We learn, for example, that if a man who has certain\nspecified characteristics of colour and feature should turn to God, a\nwhite blemish will form on the pupil of his right eye. He who has three\nsemi-circular wrinkles on his forehead and whose eyes are shining will\nbehold the downfall of his enemies. A man who has committed an adultery\nand has not repented is recognisable by a growth beneath the navel, and\nthereon will be found two hairs. Should he do penance, the hairs will\ndisappear but the swelling will remain. A man who has a beauty-spot on\nhis ear will be a great master of the Law and will die young. Two long\nhairs between the shoulders indicate a person who is given to swearing\nincessantly in an objectless manner. It will be seen that these details\nbelong to a neglected part of the science, and I am a little at a loss\nto know how \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi would have pressed them into his service, if\nhe had been fully acquainted with the work which he quotes so often.\n\n[61] It happens that the hypothesis of reincarnation was personally\nunwelcome to \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi, and he did not know enough of Zoharic\nKabalism to realise that it is of some importance therein. The\ntraditions concerning the teaching of Pythagoras must be taken at their\nproper value, but there is no question that, according to these, he\nwas an important champion of what used to be called the doctrine of\nmetempsychosis, understood as the soul\u2019s transmigration into successive\nbodies. He himself had been (_a_) \u00c6thalides, a son of Mercury; (_b_)\nEuphorbus, son of Panthus, who perished at the hands of Menelaus in the\nTrojan war; (_c_) Hermotimus, a prophet of Clazomen\u00e6, a city of Ionia;\n(_d_) a humble fisherman, and finally (_e_) the philosopher of Samos.\n\n[62] _In memoria \u00e6terna erit justus._\n\n[63] \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi has forgotten that the word \u201cineffable\u201d means\nsomething which cannot be expressed; he intended to say that, according\nto the Kabalists, the efficacious name was hidden.\n\n[64] All later Kabalists agree that _Tetragrammaton_ is the root and\nfoundation of the Divine Names. In the Sephirotic system one of the\nallocations makes _Chokmah_, or Supernal Wisdom, to correspond with the\n_Yod_ of Tetragrammaton. _Kether_, which is the Crown, is said to have\nno letter attributed thereto, because the mystery of _Ain Soph_, the\nhidden abyss of the Godhead, is implied therein. However, the apex of\n_Yod_ does in a sense intimate concerning _Kether_. _He_ is the second\nletter in the Divine Tetrad, and it is ascribed to _Binah_, or Supernal\nUnderstanding, wherein is all life comprehended. This is the abode of\nthe _Shekinah_ in transcendence. The third letter is _Vau_, and it\nis said to contain the six _Sephiroth_ from _Chesed_ to _Yesod_. The\nsecond _He_ is the fourth and last letter; it corresponds to _Malkuth_,\nor the Kingdom, wherein is the mystery of the unity of God. This is the\nabode of the _Shekinah_ in manifestation. Thus, _Yod_, _He_, _Vau_,\n_He_, which we render Jehovah, contains all the ten _Sephiroth_. There\nare, however, other allocations.\n\n[65] \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi must have meant to say seven letters, but the point\ndoes not signify. According to Rosenroth, the Tetragrammaton with\nvowel-points is the eighth Divine Name\u2014 \u05d9\u05b1\u05d4\u05b9\u05d5\u05b4\u05d4. The points are those of\n_Elohim_ and it is read as that Name. This signifies the concealment of\nthe \u201cIneffable\u201d Name, on account of the exile of Israel.\n\n[66] This is the Divine Name which is most in proximity to created\nthings. See the excursus thereon in _Kabbala Denudata_, vol. i. pp.\n32-41.\n\n[67] Cf. the _Zohar_, Part i. folio 15a, on Exodus iii. 14: \u201cAnd God\nsaid unto Moses: I am that I am\u201d\u2014 \u05d0\u05d4\u05d9\u05d4 \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d0\u05d4\u05d9\u05d4\n\n[68] According to the Rabbinical Lexicon of Buxtorf, _Agla_ is\nformed from the initial letters of the sentence \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d2\u05d1\u05d5\u05e8 \u05dc\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u05d0\u05d3\u05e0\u05d9\n= _Tu potens es in s\u00e6culum, Domine_. There seems to be no Kabalistic\nauthority for its explanation by L\u00e9vi, and the word occurs very seldom\nin the _Zohar_.\n\n[69] According to Petrus Galatinus, in _De Arcanis Catholic\u00e6 Veritatis_,\nthe word _Agla_ expresses the infinite power of the Divine Trinity.\nLike \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi, he gives us the separate significance of each letter\nand, like Buxtorf, he makes them the initials of the sentence already\nquoted, his rendering being: _Tu potens in \u00e6ternum Dominus_. He terms\n_Agla Nomen Dei_, for which there seems to be as much and as little\nauthority as there is for the suggestion that the _Divina potentia_ is\nthat of the Trinity.\n\n[70] A very full exposition of this Name will be found in\nthe section entitled _De Cabale Hebr\u00e6orum_, forming part of Kircher\u2019s\n_magnum opus_, the _\u0152dipus \u00c6gyptiacus_. It is curious that a tract\nso important as this, within its own measures, and written with the\nuttermost simplicity, does not appear to have been translated, even\ninto the French language.\n\n[71] I must admit that this reference escapes me. The Tarot\nconsists of four suits of 14 cards each and there are 22 Trumps Major,\nmaking 78 cards in all.\n\n[72] The axiom has rather a convincing air, but the analogy\nis wrong, and the word \u201creturn\u201d is a blunder of popular speech. The\npossibility of communication with those who have left this life is\na question of the interpenetration of worlds. To say that the human\nspirit departs or comes back is a symbolic expression, like the\nstatement that heaven is above us.\n\n[73] The analogy is again wrong and the creation of a\nmaterialistic mind. The return of the soul to God is not annihilation\nbut life for evermore, and it is union with all life.\n\n[74] The soul sheds one envelope, in which it has prepared\nanother.\n\n[75] This expression may tend to confusion. The consciousness\nand activity of the soul are manifested by means of that vehicle in\nwhich it happens to reside. It is not they that belong to the vehicle,\nbut it is the vehicle that is used by them.\n\n[76] There is no Kabalistic authority for the sun as the abode\nof souls.\n\n[77] Kabalism is silent on the question of communication\nwith those who have left this life, though tacitly it must admit the\npossibility on the evidence of the case of Samuel. The axiom that the\nspirit clothes itself to come down and unclothes itself to go up is one\nof the so-called _conclusiones Kabbalistic\u00e6_ of Picus de Mirandula, but\nit is found substantially in the _Zohar_, and as regards the descent,\nthis is just what occurs _ex hypothesi_ in the phenomena of spiritistic\nmaterialisations. As regards the parable of the rich man, it has\nnothing to do with the question of so-called spirit-return; those who\nwere in the bosom of Abraham had as much left this life as those who\nwere in Sheol.\n\n[78] It depends on those who have left us. What of the earthly\nand the evil? Why should the bond between them and us\u2014supposing that\nthere is a bond\u2014be that of our highest feelings?\n\n[79] The fact is that he was assassinated, the inference\nis that it was by or at the instance of those whose secrets he was\nsupposed to have betrayed. The murderers, also by inference, were\nsaid to be Brethren of the Rosy Cross. It may be mentioned that the\n_Comte de Gabalis_ contains the theory of communication with elementary\nspirits, being those of earth, air, fire and water; but the mode\nof treatment suggests that it is a _jeu d\u2019esprit_. The _Nouveaux\nEntretiens sur les Sciences Secr\u00e8tes_, _G\u00e9nies Assistants_ and _Le\nGnome Irr\u00e9concilable_, which are supposed sequels, are forgeries, of\nlater periods.\n\n[80] Elsewhere in his works \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi says that the Astral\nLight is (_a_) the _Od_ of the Hebrews, (_b_) an electro-magnetic\nether, (_c_) a vital and luminous caloric, (_d_) the instrument of\nlife, (_e_) the instrument of the omnipotence of Adam, (_f_) the\nuniversal glass of visions. It follows the law of magnetic currents, is\nsubject to fixation by a supreme projection of will-power, is the first\nenvelope of the soul, and the mirror of imagination. He terms it also\nmagnetised electricity. It would seem that his contemporary disciples\nin France have abandoned the theory of their master, or perhaps I\nshould say rather its doctrinal part. On the other hand, it has perhaps\nreappeared, under theosophical auspices, as the reservoir of the akasic\nrecords.\n\n[81] There are also references to Lilith, a demon-wife of\nAdam, in the _Zohar_; she is called the instigator of chastisements\nand was really the wife of Samael, the evil angel. It may be added\nthat, according to Paracelsus, the elementaries _non sunt progeniti ex\nAdamo_. See _Liber de Nymphis, Sylphis, Pygm\u00e6is et Salamandris, Tract.\nI, cap. 1._.\n\n[82] In respect of male celibates, the physiological\nparticulars referred to are the blind yearning of Nature after the\nnuptial state and, with a tentative reserve in respect of the life of\nsanctity, it is shame to those who neglect the warning or turn it to\nthe account of sin.\n\n[83] This is one construction of the symbol and is a little\ntinctured by \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi\u2019s sincere admiration for the understanding\nwhich lay behind the _Romance of the Rose_. The text of Genesis says\nthat a river rose to water the Garden \u201cand from thence it was parted\nand became into four heads,\u201d or four sources of rivers. These rivers\ndid not water the Garden but the world without, and their names are\nfamiliar in the geography of the ancient world. The mystic pantacle\nof Eden shews therefore an enclosure constituted by a ring or circle\nof water, an island like that of Avalon, which is another Garden of\nApples, and the waters flow out therefrom towards the four points of\nheaven: they form therefore a cross, and in the centre of that cross is\nthe Paradise. If the reader will bear in mind that, according to the\nsecret tradition, Adam was set to grow roses in the Garden of Eden, he\nwill understand at what place of the world the symbolism of the Rosy\nCross takes its origin.\n\n[84] This is true, but it is only the science of this world\nin the sense that the greater includes the lesser. It is really the\nsupernal knowledge which is called _Daath_ in Kabalism, arising from\nthe union of _Chokmah_ and _Binah_, or Wisdom and Understanding.\n\n[85] The commentary of the _Zohar_ on Genesis, vi. 2\u2014\u201cthe\nsons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair\u201d\u2014affirms that\nthe angels were cast out of heaven as soon as they had conceived the\ndesire therein suggested. Aza and Azael were the chiefs of these fallen\nspirits. Subsequently they taught Magic to men.\n\n[86] The design of the builders, according to the _Zohar_,\nPart I, Fol. 75^a, was to abandon the celestial domain for that of\nSatan. They desired to rebuild heaven, apparently in the likeness of\ntheir own evil desires. They were the same quality of souls as the\n\u201cgiants in the earth in those days\u201d and \u201cthe mighty men which were of\nold, men of renown.\u201d See Genesis, c. vi. v. 4 and _Zohar_, Part I, Fol.\n25^b.\n\n[87] Zoharic Kabalism was dissatisfied with the visitation\nof the offence of Ham on his apparently innocent son, Canaan, and it\naccounted for the malediction pronounced upon the latter by the fact\nthat he had removed the _testes_ from the person of his grandfather\nNoah. On the surface this is a ridiculous enormity, but it is a\nconcealed intimation that the whole Noetic myths is, like Paradise\nitself, a mystery of sex shadowed forth in symbolism.\n\n[88] It should be needless to say that this is a mere\npresumption and is not even founded on any legend concerning the\ntravels of Plato. He is said to have been in Egypt for a period which\nhas been estimated at thirteen years.\n\n[89] He was a disciple of Plato who is supposed not only to\nhave been illustrious for his knowledge of geometry but to have paid\nthe usual pilgrim\u2019s visit to Egypt and to have returned an adept in\nastronomy.\n\n[90] We have, unhappily, to remember that \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi himself\nwrote a great deal, and assuredly to little purpose, on the subject\nof squaring the circle and on perpetual motion. Elsewhere he tells us\nthat the revolution of a square about its centre describes a circle,\nand thus the circle is squared. He also invented, in imagination, a\nclock which wound itself up in the process of running itself down, and\nthis was perpetual motion\u2014presumably, unless the mechanism happened to\nstop working or to wear itself out. The reader may settle for himself\nwhether in these phantasies he was in hiding like an adept or pursuing\nlike a fool.\n\n[91] The only remark which is requisite on this chapter is\nthat it involves throughout an abuse of the word Mysticism, which has\nnothing to do with religious anarchy, sects or magic. See, however, my\npreface to the present translation.\n\n[92] The history of persecution may be left to speak for\nitself on the validity of this plea and the postulated principle\nmentioned by \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi may even be thought to have concealed a stab\nfrom behind in the dark. In any case, the alleged horror of blood is\nbest illustrated by the method of pyre and faggot.\n\n[93] \u201cChange not the barbarous names of evocation,\u201d says\none of the oracles attributed to Zoroaster, as we have seen, and the\nreason given is because of their \u201cineffable power.\u201d This was the true\nZoroaster of \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi, and he was not, _ex hypothesi_, an exponent\nof Black Magic. \u201cBarbarian words and signs unknown\u201d are not less in\nfavour with the so-called white variety.\n\n[94] See my _Book of Ceremonial Magic_, pp. 100-102, for a\nstudy of this Grimoire.\n\n[95] The reference is to a work entitled _Des Hallucinations,\nou Histoire raisonn\u00e9e des Apparitions, des Visions, des Songes, de\nl\u2019Extase, du Magn\u00e9tisme et du Somnambulisme_. It was first published\nabout 1850 and was of authority at its period. Its large array of\nmaterials will be always valuable. I believe that it was translated\ninto English.\n\n[96] There is no need to say that the Second Birth, to which\nallusion is made by Christ, is not comprehended by any notion of a\nmoral change, though such change is involved. Morality is the gate of\nspiritual life but is not its sanctuary.\n\n[97] The point which escapes in this synopsis of Egyptian\ninitiation is that which distinguishes the official mysteries\u2014like\nMasonry\u2014from vital initiation, and I mention it here because there are\nmemorials of Egyptian mysteries which suggest that they were no mere\nsymbolical pageants but did communicate\u2014to those who could receive\u2014the\nlife which is behind such symbolism.\n\n[98] The analogy here instituted assumes in respect of the\nGreek mysteries that which has been implied previously regarding\nthose of Egypt. The laws and by-laws of the schools of philosophy,\nwhatever they exacted from pupils, were not imitations of the grades\nof initiation and advancement communicated in priestly sanctuaries,\nif there was mystic life in those sanctuaries. Even if they were\nmerely pageants, the comparison does not obtain; for it is obvious\nthat Pythagoras and Plato did not confer degrees by way of ritual.\nMatriculation and \u201cthe little go\u201d are not ceremonial observances in the\npath of symbolism.\n\n[99] The truth is that in so far as the Jewish Kabalah\ncontains a _Logos_ philosophy, so far it embodies confused\nreminiscences of Alexandrian schools of thought. \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi reminds\none of Jacob Bryant, Davies and the respectable Mr. Faber, who\nexplained the whole universe of history by the help of Shem, Ham and\nJaphet, the deluge and the Ark of Noah. He saw the Kabalah everywhere;\nhad he spoken of a secret tradition subsisting in all times, of which\nKabalism is a part in reflection, he would have been less confused and\nconfusing; but he applied to the whole a term which is peculiar to a\npart. It is said in the _Zohar_ that the Word which discovers unto us\nthe supreme mysteries is generated by the union of light and darkness.\nPart I, Fol. 32a. It is said also that the Word dwells in the superior\nheavens, Fol. 33b. And there are other references.\n\n[100] Dacier was a translator in the latter part of the\neighteenth century, and his study on the _Doctrine of Plato_ appeared\nin the third volume of a collection entitled _Biblioth\u00e8que des Anciens\nPhilosophes_, which began publication in 1771.\n\n[101] Those who may wish to be acquainted with the sources from which\nL\u00e9vi drew some of his materials may consult _C\u0153lum Sephiroticum_, by J.\nC. Steebius, an old folio which appeared in 1679, as well as Reuchlin\nand Rosenroth. They will see how things change in his hands. According\nto the _Zohar_, _Ain Soph_ reflects immediately into _Kether_ on the\npath of manifestation. It is not correct to say that the king is _Ain\nSoph_ in Kabalism and the letter of Plato is devoid of sephirotic\nanalogies.\n\n[102] It must be said that the Greek word \u03b8\u03b5\u03bf\u03c3\u03bf\u03c6\u03b9\u03b1 did not pass into\nLatin in classical times and was unknown throughout the middle ages.\nAs an illustration of its occult prevalence, I cannot trace that it\nwas used by Paracelsus. In so far as it can be said to have become\nprevalent, it was in a mystic sense only, as in the proper use of words\nit could alone be. It was made familiar by Jacob B\u00f6hme.\n\n[103] The classical authorities for the visitation of the cave of\nTrophonius include Pausanias of C\u00e6sarea, who wrote the history of\nGreece, Cicero, Pliny and Philostratus, not to mention the allusion\nfound in the _Clouds_ of Aristophanes. The account of \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi\nmust be taken with certain reservations, but it is not a matter in\nwhich accuracy or its opposite is of any consequence outside scholarly\nresearch. There were various sacrifices and other ceremonies prior to\nthe visitation, and the candidate for the experience usually descended\nalone. It is not, I think, on record that the effect of the visit was\nlasting.\n\n[104] The actual formula seems to have been: \u201cHe has consulted the\noracle of Trophonius.\u201d\n\n[105] There is no question that, according to the _Zohar_, the sun is\nthe centre of the planetary system, of which planets the earth is one.\n\n[106] There is extraordinary confusion, at the least by way of\nexpression, in this paragraph, which will inevitably create in the\nreader a notion that the work of Cebes was a picture. As a fact, it is\na description of human life contained in a dialogue, to which the title\nof _Tabula_ was given. It has been printed several times, and once, I\nbelieve, at Glasgow, in 1747.\n\n[107] I have intimated elsewhere that the _Zohar_ is in several\nrespects a work of high entertainment, and that its reading is much\nmore diverting than Arabian or Ambrosial Nights. But \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi is\nright in saying that it calls for some preliminary training. He does\nnot quite mean, however, what I mean in making the suggestion. On the\nserious side the _Zohar_ is assuredly a work of initiation and one of\nthe great books of the world, though Sir John Lubbock and others of\nkindred enterprise did not happen to know of it. L\u00e9vi is substantially\nright also in saying that it requires a key, though his meaning is\nnot expressed rightly. The explanation is that it is not a methodical\nsystem and presupposes throughout, on the part of its readers, an\nacquaintance with the tradition which it embodies in allusive form.\n\n[108] It is difficult to say what authority was followed in producing\nthis account. Pentheus was the second King of Thebes, succeeding\nCadmus, who built the city. Bacchus was the son of Semele, the\ndaughter of Cadmus, by Jupiter, but he was never a candidate for the\nTheban throne. The offence of Pentheus was not one of usurpation but\nof refusal to recognise the divinity of Bacchus. He was not torn to\npieces by the daughters of Cadmus, but by a crowd of Bacchanals, among\nwhom was his own mother. It is impossible to turn this story into an\nallegory of pantheism, as L\u00e9vi proceeds to do.\n\n[109] The classical story is the very contrary of this. The effect of\nhis experiments with the serpents was like that of passing through\nthe foot of the rainbow; Tiresias was changed into a girl. He married\nin this form; but having met a second time with some other interlaced\nserpents, he again smote them and recovered his original sex. So far\nfrom being unable to consummate marriage in either case, he became\nan authority with the gods on the comparative extent of satisfaction\nattained by the two sexes in the act of sex.\n\n[110] The term geometrical scarcely applies to the figures of geomancy.\n\n[111] The Bacchus who was depicted with horns was the son of Jupiter\nand Proserpine. As regards the androgynous nature of Iacchos, I do\nnot know L\u00e9vi\u2019s authority, but such a characteristic was ascribed to\nseveral deities, though sometimes against general likelihood. It was\neven said of Jupiter that he was a man but also an immortal maid.\n\n[112] L\u00e9vi affirms elsewhere that the satisfaction of all the calls of\nsense is required for the work of philosophy. In the present place he\nconfuses the issue by implying that chastity means either celibacy or\nthe virgin state. Yet he did not fail to understand that the nuptial\nlife is also a life of chastity; he speaks eloquently of the home and\nits sanctity, and he alludes elsewhere to the chaste and conjugal Venus.\n\n[113] There were two pagan festivals which have a certain likeness\nbetween them: (_a_) _Charisia_, which was in honour of Aglaia, Thalia\nand Euphrosyne, the _Charites_ or Graces. It was celebrated by dances\nat night, and the person who maintained the exercise longest was\npresented with a cake, (_b_) _Charistia_, a Roman festival, for the\nreconciliation of relations and friends, at which food was eaten. It\ncould be wished for the perpetuity and catholicity of the sacraments\nthat there were traces of an Eucharist in the Christian sense prior to\nChristian times.\n\n[114] It may be mentioned that 13 is also the number of resurrection,\nor birth into new life.\n\n[115] The Grimoire mentioned under the name of _Little Albert_ is\ncalled in the Latin edition _Alberti Parvi Lucii Libellus_, and is \u201ca\ntreasure of marvellous secrets.\u201d The original intention was to father\nit on _Albertus Magnus_, and in fact there is another collection which\nis known as the _Great Albert_. It is of similar value.\n\n[116] I have suffered these lines to stand as they are given by \u00c9liphas\nL\u00e9vi, following the French translation of Salomon Certon. Shelley, who\nrendered Homer\u2019s _Hymn to Mercury_ into verse which is unworthy of his\nname, represented the Greek original by asterisks at this point, and I\nhave taken a lesson from the counsel. L\u00e9vi gives some further lines\u2014I\nscarcely know why, but they stand as follows in Shelley\u2019s version:\n\n \u201cPh\u0153bus on the grass\n Him threw, and whilst all that he had designed\n He did perform\u2014eager although to pass,\n Apollo darted from his mighty mind\n Towards the subtle babe the following scoff:\u2014\n \u2018Do not imagine this will get you off,\n\n \u201c\u2018You little swaddled child of Jove and May!\u2019\n And seized him: \u2018By this omen I shall trace\n My noble herds, and you shall lead the way.\u2019\u201d\n\n\n[117] We shall meet with this sect accordingly, and it will be found\nthat the present remark is either (_a_) not intended to justify the\nalleged traditional interpretation or (_b_) that the initial reference\nhas to be qualified by its subsequent extension. Johannite Christianity\nhas been the subject of much romancing among the exponents of\nHigh-Grade Masonry. Woodford\u2019s _Cyclop\u00e6dia of Freemasonry_ identifies\nits followers with Nazarenes and Nasarites, and adds that they regarded\nSt. John the Baptist as \u201cthe only true prophet.\u201d One order of Templar\nMasonry, which is now extinct, seems to have claimed connection with\nthe Johannite sect.\n\n[118] I have quoted elsewhere the previous remark of the author on the\nsame subject as a curious example of how things are apt to strike a\nFrench exponent of occultism at different periods of time and in other\nstates of emotion. \u201cSt. Paul burnt the books of Trismegistus\u201d\u2014not\nG\u00f6etic texts or works of necromancy; \u201cOmar burned the disciples of\nTrismegistus (?) and St. Paul. O persecutors! O incendiaries! O\ncoffers! When will you finish your work of darkness and destruction!\u201d\nThis is from the _Rituel de la Haute Magie_, p. 327.\n\n[119] In his _Fundamental Philosophy_, James Balmes seeks to shew\nthat the Eucharistic Mystery, understood in the literal sense of\ntransubstantiation, is not absurd in itself, that is to say, is\nnot intrinsically contradictory. To establish that it is, one\nmust demonstrate: (_a_) that to abstract passive sensibility from\nmatter is to destroy the principle of contradiction; (_b_) that the\ncorrespondences between our sense organs and objects are intrinsically\nimmutable; (_c_) that it is absolutely necessary for impressions to be\ntransmitted to the sensitive faculties of the soul by those organs and\nthat they can never be transmitted otherwise. See Book III, _Extension\nand Space_, c. 33, _Triumph of Religion_. I make this citation because\nit seems to me that \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi acted incautiously in debating the\nobservation of Rousseau.\n\n[120] The place of his birth is uncertain; Cyprus is one of the\nalternatives.\n\n[121] This is Dositheus of Samaria, who was contemporary with Christ.\nThere is an account of him by St. Epiphanius and he is also mentioned\nby Photius.\n\n[122] It is, I believe, one of the Christian apologists who mentions\nthat Helen was found by Simon in a house of ill-fame at Tyre. It is\nsaid otherwise that she was Helen of Troy in a previous incarnation.\n\n[123] Because they were both favourites of Nero, or because the\nreference to a feast reminded \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi of the celebrated Banquet in\nthe _Satyricon_ of Petronius Arbiter. Sophronius Tigellinus was one of\nNero\u2019s ministers.\n\n[124] The dispute between St. Peter and Simon the Magician is not a\nmatter of popular rumour; it is a methodical account contained in\none of the forged _Recognitions_ ascribed to St. Clement. It will be\nunderstood that the version presented by \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi is decorated by\nhis own imagination. It seems generally regarded as certain that Simon\nvisited Rome to enrol disciples, and there is the authority of Eusebius\nfor some kind of meeting with St. Peter.\n\n[125] It might be more accurate to say that there were many successors,\nof whom Menander was the chief. So also there were many Simonian sects,\nincluding the school which followed Dositheus, described by L\u00e9vi and\nothers as the master of Simon. Menander claimed to be the envoy of the\nSupreme Power of God.\n\n[126] They were not included at the period\u2014about 1865\u2014in _La France\nMystique_ of Erdan, though it contained _choses inouies_; and\nthey are not found among _les petites religions de Paris_ at the\npresent day, though it contains a Gnostic church confessing to a\nhierarchic government and, I believe, with an authorised branch at San\nFrancisco\u2014perhaps less _in partibus infidelium_ than is the sect in its\nown country.\n\n[127] I have given L\u00e9vi\u2019s version literally without pretending to\naccount for it. In the authorised version the passage reads: \u201cIf thou\ndoest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his\ndesire, and thou shalt rule over him.\u201d Genesis, iv. 7.\n\n[128] I suppose that reference is intended to _Epitome Delictorum, sive\nde Magia, in qua aperta vel occulta invocatio D\u00e6monum_, &c., 4to. I\nhave no record of the first edition, but it was reprinted at Leyden in\n1679.\n\n[129] It has to be observed that the Hyphasis was a certain river of\nIndia which is assigned by tradition as the boundary of Alexander\u2019s\nconquests. Had \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi been acquainted with this fact he might\nhave allegorised with success thereon.\n\n[130] It is noticeable that the alchemists of past centuries, who were\nso apt to see the Hermetic Mystery at large in all literature, and\nwho fathered many mythical treatises on the great and the holy men\nof old, are silent regarding Apollonius. I am far from admitting the\ninterpretation of \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi, as Philostratus belongs to the dawn\nof the third century, when alchemy may be said to have been unborn;\nbut I am sure that if the early expositors had known the life of\nApollonius, they might almost have suspected something. Even the Abb\u00e9\nPernety missed the obvious opportunity in his discourse on the Hermetic\nsignificance of the Greek and Egyptian fables.\n\n[131] It must be remembered that the Stone in symbolism is far older\nthan the particular symbol which is called the Philosophical Stone, or\nStone of Alchemy.\n\n[132] The last statement obtains in respect of the Mystic Stone, as\nunderstood, for example, by Zoharic writers.\n\n[133] The introduction to the _Dogme de la Haute Magie_ says: (_a_)\nThat Julian was one of the illuminated and an initiate of the first\norder; (_b_) That he was a Gnostic allured by the allegories of Greek\npolytheism; (_c_) That he had the satisfaction of expiring like\nEpaminondas with the periods of Cato.\n\n[134] The _Golden Legend_ was compiled about 1275 by Jacobus de\nVoragine, Archbishop of Genoa. His authorities were (_a_) Eusebius,\n(_b_) St. Jerome, (_c_) legendary matter. I am sure that Kabalistic\nmysteries and Johannite initiation must look elsewhere for their\nrecords. The suggestion, however, is not worth debating.\n\n[135] In the _Golden Legend_ the story is entitled \u201cOf St. Justina,\u201d\nwhose festival is on September 26. St. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, is\nentirely distinct from the Cyprian of legend.\n\n[136] This pictorial sign appears in an old Grimoire.\n\n[137] With this reverie of \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi on the subject of the\nmystic ass let us compare another which is of an entirely different\norder, though it belongs to the same category, (1) It is recorded by\nJosephus that a certain Jew named Onias obtained leave from Ptolemy\nPhilometor to build a temple in honour of God at a certain place in\nArabia which was subsequently called Onium, after the founder. (2)\nThis Onium was not Heliopolis, as supposed commonly. (3) The Temple\nat Onium, on account of a similitude of sound, was connected with\nthe Greek word \u03bf\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2, signifying Ass. (4) The Greeks in consequence\nbelieved themselves to have discovered the secret object of Jewish\nworship, being the animal in question. (5) It was asserted that there\nwas an ass\u2019s head in the vestibule of every Jewish temple. (6) As the\nGreeks did not closely distinguish between Jews and Christians, the\nass came also to be called the god of the Christians.\u2014Jacob Bryant:\n_Analysis of Antient Mythology_, 3rd edition, vol. vi. pp. 82 _et seq._\n\n[138] The commentary of the _Zohar_ on Genesis ii. 22, says that\nthe words\u2014\u201cwhich the Lord God had taken from man\u201d\u2014signify that the\nTradition has issued from the Written Doctrine. The words \u201cand brought\nhim to man\u201d indicate that the Traditional Law must not remain isolated:\nit can only exist in union with the Written Law. Part I, Fol. 48^b. It\nfollows, and is made plain elsewhere, that man is the Written Law and\nwoman the Secret Doctrine.\n\n[139] In one of the pictorial symbols of Alchemy the head of the winged\nsolar man is represented rising from a chest. It is a recurring image.\n\n[140] It is obvious that \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi pictures only the dark side of\nGnosticism; he says nothing and perhaps knew nothing of the higher\naspects. His stricture on the copulation of Eons reads strangely for a\ndefender of Kabalism, seeing that the _Zohar_ abounds in similar images.\n\n[141] This statement requires to be checked by a French authority of\nthe period, with whom \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi could not fail to be acquainted. I\nrefer to Jacques Matter and his _Histoire Critique du Gnosticisme_, a\nsecond and enlarged edition of which was published in 1843. According\nto the testimony of this writer: (_a_) Some Gnostics rejected the\nEucharist entirely; (_b_) Those who preserved it never taught the real\ncommunication of man in the flesh and blood of the Saviour; (_c_) for\nthem it was an emblem of their mystic union with a being belonging\nto the Pleroma; (_d_) The wonder-working Eucharist was particular to\nMarcos, but according to St. Iren\u00e6us it was the result of trickery;\n(_e_) He filled chalices with wine and water, pronounced over them a\nformula of his own, and caused these liquids to appear purple and ruby\nin colour. _Op. cit._, vol. ii. pp. 344-346.\n\n[142] This assertion is merely a matter of inference.\n\n[143] The materials here embodied come direct from Matter, and the\nlast sentence is almost in his own words. The earlier writer says\nthat he caused women to bless the chalice. Nothing is said as to the\nintervention of men, other than Marcos, in the celebration.\n\n[144] The dream ascribed to Marcos and his followers is that, however,\nof the _Zohar_, the opening section of which describes the letters of\nthe Hebrew alphabet as coming before God in succession, praying to\nbe used in the work of creation which was about to begin. They were\nset aside in their turn for the reason applying to each, with the\nexception of _Beth_, which was taken as the basis of the work, while\n_Aleph_ was installed as the first of all the letters, the Master of\nthe Universe affirming that His own Divine Unity was in virtue of this\nletter. The meaning was that _Aleph_ corresponds to the No. 1. This,\nsays the _Zohar_, with ingenuous subtlety, is why the two first words\nof Scripture have _Beth_ as their initial and the two next words have\n_Aleph_.\u2014_Zohar_, Part I, Fols. 2b-3b.\n\n[145] It will be seen in a later section that this charge against\nVintras rests upon the evidence of persons expelled from the sect which\nhe founded, and, so far as I am aware, it has not been put forward\nseriously.\n\n[146] The question, however, stood over until the appearance of _La\nClef des Grands Myst\u00e8res_, a considerable part of which is embodied\nin the digest of L\u00e9vi\u2019s writings which I published long since as _The\nMysteries of Magic_. The Astral Light is explained as \u201cmagnetised\nelectricity \u201c\u2014as already quoted.\n\n[147] In my _Book of Ceremonial Magic_ I have given full opportunities\nfor the judgment of this so-called occult ritual, which should\ncertainly have been kept in concealment, or better still allowed to\nperish, not on account of its secrets but because it is in all respects\nworthless, and its ascription to Leo III an insult to that pontiff.\n\n[148] It is laid down in the work of Synesius (_a_) that chastity and\ntemperance are indispensable for the knowledge of divination by dreams;\n(_b_) that these being granted, divination by dreams is both valuable\nand simple; (_c_) that all things past, present and future convey their\nimages to us; (_d_) that there is no general rule of interpretation;\n(_e_) that each should make his divinatory science for himself, by\nnoting his dreams. The philosopher gives some account of the profit\nwhich he had derived personally from a study of the images of sleep.\nDivination also preserved him from the ambushes laid by certain\nmagicians, so that he suffered no harm at their hands.\n\n[149] \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi\u2019s knowledge of the works attributed to Dionysius is\ndoubtless derived from the translation of Monsignor Darboy, Archbishop\nof Paris, which appeared in 1845. There is an elaborate introduction\ndesigned to establish the authenticity of the texts and this is\nexcellent, at least for its period, as a piece of special pleading.\nThe reader who refers to the treatise on Divine Names need not be\ndistressed when he finds that it embodies no mysteries of rabbinical\ntheology. To many of us at the present day the most important of the\nDionysian writings is that on Mystical Theology, which is omitted\nin the enumeration of L\u00e9vi and not perhaps unnaturally, as it is a\n_pelagus divinitatis_ over which he would not have ventured to sail.\n\n[150] Goethe.\n\n[151] This explanation is not in accordance with the recorded facts for\nwhich Phlegon and Proclus are the authorities. The works of Phlegon\nwere published at Leyden in 1620, under the editorship of Meursius\nand again in 1775 at Halle, by Franzius; they contain the story of\nPhilinnion\u2014as the name is spelt by Phlegon. Machates was a foreign\nfriend of Demostratus from Pella, not an innkeeper. Philinnion appeared\nto him after her death in the house of his parents and declared her\nlove. Her intercourse with Machates was discovered accidentally by a\nservant, and the _denouement_ is much as it is given in the present\nplace. Philinnion said, however, that she acted with the consent of\nthe gods. \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi accounts for his discrepancies by an appeal to\nthe narratives of French demonographers, but he makes no references by\nwhich we can check him. He states, however, that they are answerable\nfor the alleged fact that Machates was the keeper of a tavern. The date\nof the actual occurrence is the reign of Philip II of Macedon, and the\n\u201cEmperor\u201d referred to should be King Philip. L\u00e9vi confuses the date of\nPhlegon (Hadrian\u2019s reign) with the date of the incident. Phlegon was\nmerely a collector of curious stories, and could not, of course, have\nwitnessed an incident which took place 500 years before his birth!\n\n[152] It will be understood at the present day that this is reverie\nand only serves to remind us that Aristotle ascribed the philosophy\nof Greece to a source in Gaul, while it is affirmed by Clement of\nAlexandria that Pythagoras derived therefrom. It is thought now, on\nthe other hand, that Druidism in its later developments may have been\ninfluenced not only by Greek but also by Ph\u0153nician ideas.\n\n[153] In Druidic mythology, Belen, otherwise Heol, was the sun-god;\nCamael was god of war. The highest divinity is believed to have been\nthat Esus who is mentioned by Lucan. He is represented by the circle,\nas a sign of infinity, and all fate was beneath him. The most important\ngoddess was Keridwen, who presided over wisdom. The conclusion of\nL\u00e9vi\u2019s enumeration is like the beginning\u2014a dream.\n\n[154] A note by \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi says that a Druidic statue was found at\nChartres, having the inscription: VIRGINI PARITUR\u00c6. It is curious that\nDruidic inscriptions should be in the Latin tongue.\n\n[155] It was supposed to increase the species by preventing sterility,\nand it was dignified by other ascribed virtues; it was the ethereal\ntree and the growth of the high summit. It was included among the\ningredients of the mystical cauldron of Keridwen, in which genius,\ninspiration and serenity were said to dwell.\n\n[156] The same occult importance attaches to this statement as to\nanother in the _Dogme et Rituel_, where \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi, explaining the\nsuperstitions of the past, affirms for those who can suffer it that the\ntoad is not poisonous but is a sponge for poisons. I suppose, however,\nit is obvious that if \u201cpopular confidence\u201d can render mistletoe\nmagnetic, popular distrust may instil poison into toads.\n\n[157] The floating traditions and _chansons_ concerning Melusine were\ncollected by Jean d\u2019Arras into a beautiful romance of chivalry, at the\nclose of the fourteenth century.\n\n[158] Whether this hypothesis of antiquity is warranted or not, the\nfact that it is adopted should have prevented \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi from\ncharacterising the romance of Melusine as an imitation pf the fable of\nPsyche: it is obviously the reverse side. The allegory in the latter\ncase is that of the assumption of the soul by the Divine Spirit, so\nthat all which is capable of redemption in our human nature, its\nemotion, its desire and its love, may enter into the glorious estate\nof the mystic marriage. The allegory in the former case is that of the\nunion instituted between the psychic part and all that is of earth in\nour nature; but this earth is not capable of true marriage, and whereas\nthe other experiment ends in the world of unity, this terminates, as it\ncan only, in that of separation.\n\n[159] See Jules Garinet: _Histoire de la Magie en France_, 1818, pp.\n11, 12.\n\n[160] The story of Fredegonde and her connection with sorcery is told\nby Gregory of Tours, but \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi derived it from Jules Garinet,\nalready cited. The particulars concerning Klodswinthe appear to be his\nown invention, of which her imputed discourse bears all the marks.\n\n[161] See Garinet, _Histoire de la Magie en France_, pp. 14-16, and\nTh. de Cauzons, _La Magie et la Sorcellerie en France_, vol. ii. p.\n100. The original authority is again Gregory of Tours: _Histoire des\nFrancs_, Book VI, c. 35. The account of L\u00e9vi is rather incorrect,\nfor after unheard-of tortures, the life of Mummol was spared, but he\ndied on the way to Bordeaux. It does not appear that he defied his\nexecutioners and the renewed torture was ordained by Chilperic.\n\n[162] The work in question is called _Acta Disputationis cum quodam\nNicolai_.\n\n[163] A story of the days of St. Louis is obviously not Talmudic and\nthe antiquity of the idea of immortality among the Jews fortunately\nrests on a better foundation than this. The criticism exposes the\ncarelessness of L\u00e9vi if he is regarded as a man of learning. Some will\nthink that he traded on the ignorance of his readers.\n\n[164] What was actually intended by the expression _amatores diaboli_\nshould have been perfectly well understood by \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi. It\ncorresponds to the legends concerning _incubi_ and _succubi_. For a\nspecific example see Brierre de Boismont, _Des Hallucinations_, p. 151\n_et seq._\n\n[165] The story comes from Gregory of Tours.\n\n[166] The account of Zedekias and the atmospheric marvels is taken from\nGarinet, pp. 34 _et seq._\n\n[167] See pp. 34-37 of his History. But the account in Garinet is\nderived from the _Cinqui\u00e8me Entretien_ in the romance entitled _Le\nComte de Gabalis_.\n\n[168] It is not in reality an occult tradition; it is simply the\nunauthorised claim of the grimoire.\n\n[169] It should be mentioned that this enumeration of assumptions\nexpressed or implied in the claims of occult tradition, by the\nhypothesis of its present exponent, has nothing to do with the\n_Enchiridion_, which makes only two claims, and these are particular\nto itself. They are (_a_) that it was sent to Charlemagne by Pope\nLeo and (_b_) that certain prayers, which rank as its chief feature,\npossess mysterious power. The suggestion of L\u00e9vi\u2019s next paragraph\nnotwithstanding, there is no other point of view from which the book\ncan be regarded.\n\n[170] It is said elsewhere by \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi that the _Enchiridion_ has\nnever been published with its true figures, and one is led to suppose\nthat a more important MS. copy may have been in his possession. The\nplates which he describes belong to a printed edition, but there are no\nparticulars concerning it. Most of the symbols are perfectly well known\notherwise, and I have given them in the _Book of Ceremonial Magic_,\nwhere they were taken from examples with which I am acquainted. Some of\nthem correspond to the description of L\u00e9vi.\n\n[171] _Adonai_ according to the _Zohar_ is one of the titles of\n_Shekinah_.\n\n[172] He has said elsewhere (_a_) that to pronounce the word _Agla_\nKabalistically is to undergo all the trials of initiation and fulfil\nall its works; (_b_) that the occult forces which comprise the empire\nof Hermes are obedient to him who can pronounce, according to science,\nthe incommunicable name of _Agla_; _(c_) and that its letters represent\n(1) unity, (2) fecundity, (3) the perfect cycle, and (4) the expression\nof the synthesis.\n\n[173] He means that it symbolises the Creative Intelligence rising\nover the waters of creation. It is not, strictly speaking, Zoharic\nsymbolism, but it corresponds to his own construction of one of the\nsections, namely, the _Book of Concealment_.\n\n[174] It is more especially a Rosicrucian number, and its importance in\nKabalism arises from its frequent recurrence in the scriptures of the\nOld Testament. When the days of the greater exile draw to their close,\nand judgment is coming upon all the peoples and all the kings of the\nworld who have oppressed Israel, it is said that a pillar of fire shall\nbe raised from earth to heaven and shall be visible to everyone for a\nperiod of forty days. The King Messiah will leave that place which is\ncalled the Bird\u2019s Nest in the Garden of Eden and will manifest in the\nland of Galilee. At the end of the forty days a splendid star of all\ncolours will appear in the East, &c. _Zohar_, Part II., fol. 7b.\n\n[175] A reference to Plate III in the _Book of Ceremonial Magic_ will\nshew that the emblem in question is not the Labarum. For a design which\nis intended to represent the latter, see Plate IV, Fig. 2. There is\nreally no connection between the Sigils of the _Enchiridion_ and the\ntext of the work.\n\n[176] \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi wrote and published much after the _History of\nMagic_, but the intention here expressed did not pass into realisation.\n\n[177] At the period in question Westphalia comprehended the region\nbetween the Rhine and the Weser. Its southern boundary was the\nmountains of Hesse; its northern the district of Friesland, which at\nthat time extended from Holland to Schleswig.\n\n[178] No secret mission in the sense intended by \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi was ever\nentrusted by Charlemagne. He had overcome the Saxons of Westphalia\nafter a thirty years\u2019 war, had enforced the religion of the conqueror\nupon them, and had established a Frankish system of government therein.\n\n[179] The origin of the Secret Tribunal is clouded, like all the\nhistory of its period, but it is quite certain that it is referable\nto the middle of the thirteenth century. It should be added that\n\u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi was by no means author of the Charlemagne hypothesis,\nwhich had been advanced many years previously. The competitive views\nare numerous. It will be seen directly that a document of the Tribunal\nclaims that it originated in the days of Charlemagne, supposing that it\nhas been quoted correctly. Jules Garinet supported the claim without\nshewing any knowledge on the subject.\n\n[180] The meetings of the Tribunal were frequently held in the\ntown-house and the castle, sometimes in the market-place, and on rare\noccasions in churchyards. There is only one record concerning a session\nunderground. The general place was under trees in the open air.\n\n[181] An accused person had the right to conduct his own defence, or he\ncould bring an advocate with him. There were also certain circumstances\nunder which there was the right of appeal.\n\n[182] The evidence is wanting for this extraordinary statement. \u00c9liphas\nL\u00e9vi seems to have been under the impression that the Tribunal was\nlike a Masonic Grand Lodge, with one mode and place of meeting. It was\nnaturally composed of many tribunals and met, as we have seen, in all\nkinds of places.\n\n[183] That this statement is amply justified may be seen by a reference\nto _La Magie et la Sorcellerie en France_, by T. De Cauzons, a work of\nconsiderable research published within the last few years in 4 vols.\nThe section entitled _La Magie sous les premiers Cap\u00e9tiens_ is a record\nof trivialities concerning diabolical manifestations and can have been\nincluded only for the sake of chronological completeness.\n\n[184] The story of Rabbi Jechiel\u2019s device of self-protection is told\nby Bartolocci, _s.v._ R. Jechiel de Parisio, in the _Magna Bibliotheca\nRabbinica_, vol. iii. pp. 834, 835. It is on the authority of R.\nGhedalia ben David Iacchia. But although Jechiel is supposed to have\nbeen a magician there was neither electricity nor magic in his process,\nonly a kind of trap at his own door step or threshold.\n\n[185] It so happens that he went to see him and fell into the trap of\nthe Jew. Garinet is the authority for the imaginary visit to the court\nof St. Louis. He follows Sauval.\n\n[186] This paragraph is adapted from Garinet, _Hist. de la Magie en\nFrance_, p. 76.\n\n[187] Many treatises on alchemy have been fathered on Albertus Magnus,\nincluding _Libellus de Alchymia_ and _Concordantia Philosophorum_.\n\n[188] According to the _Zohar_, Adam was formed of earth brought from\nthe four quarters, and this is really an allusion to the symbolic\ncorrespondence between the parts of his personality and the four\nelements of ancient physics.\n\n[189] The universal secret which was sought by mystic Alchemy was more\ntruly that of the life of life; it was the quest of transmutation in\nGod.\n\n[190] The thesis of physical Alchemy was that Nature always intended\nto produce gold but was thwarted by the impurity of the _media_ amidst\nwhich she worked under the earth. The inferior metals resulted. The end\nof Hermetic art was to complete the design of Nature and raise what is\nbase to perfection.\n\n[191] St. Thomas Aquinas wrote eight treatises on alchemy, if the\nascriptions of the literature could be trusted. They are of the same\nauthenticity as those of Albertus Magnus.\n\n[192] The study in question was enjoined in a particular manner by Leo\nXIII.\n\n[193] I do not know or have forgotten how this legend originated, but\nin any case no works on transmutation have been imputed to St. Dominic,\nwhich leads me to think that the story of his adeptship did not attain\nany considerable currency.\n\n[194] A fragment of Ostanes is included in the Byzantine collection\nof ancient alchemists. Romarius should read Comarius, whose tract in\nthe same collection is supposed to be addressed to Cleopatra. Salmanas\nwrote on the fabrication of artificial pearls and was supposed to be an\nArab. A treatise on weights and measures is attributed to Cleopatra and\nthere are also some Latin forgeries. The other names are well known in\nthe literature of Alchemy.\n\n[195] This must be understood in the general sense of the Secret\nTradition perpetuated in various forms through Christian times. The\nTemplars had no concern in the secret schools of Jewry. On the basis of\nthe official process which resulted in their condemnation, they have\nbeen accused of Black Magic, Sorcery and of entering into a league with\nthe Order of Assassins.\n\n[196] I have dealt with the claims of this speculation in my _Secret\nTradition in Freemasonry_, vol. i. p. 300 _et seq._\n\n[197] The reference is really to the fourth chapter of the apocryphal\n_Book of Nehemiah_, which is the _Second Book of Esdras_, and to the\nMasons of Nehemiah, not of Zerubbabel. The latter was concerned with\nthe building of the Second Temple and the former with that of the walls\nabout Jerusalem. Half of the young men did the work of restoring the\nfortifications and half stood in readiness to fight. The builders also\nwere girded with a sword about the reins. The sword in one hand and\ntrowel in another is a symbolical expression.\n\n[198] It is obvious that the arrangement of four triangular blades\nin a cruciform pattern would constitute an ordinary Maltese cross\nor cross of the Knights of St. John. This was an Assyrian emblem in\npre-Christian times.\n\n[199] The blasphemous fiction is well known and its root is in the\n_Sepher Toldos Jeshu_; it is inaccurate to call it a tradition; more\nproperly it is a lying invention. I have failed to discover a source\nfor the Theoclet story, but it is barely possible that it may have\nrisen up within the circle of Fabr\u00e9 Palaprat\u2019s _Ordre du Temple_.\n\n[200] In the year 1844 Jacques Matter made a special study of the\naccusations against Knights Templar in his _Histoire Critique du\nGnosticisme_, vol. iii. p. 315 _et seq._ He states that the alleged\npreference of the Templars for St. John\u2019s Gospel is nowhere attested\nby the history of the Order. They were not therefore tinctured by\nremanents of Paulician Gnosticism, as it is not likely that they would\nbe.\n\n[201] Elsewhere \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi says: (_a_) That the hypothetical idol\nBaphomet was a symbolical figure representing the First Matter of the\n_Magnum Opus_, which is the Astral Light; (_b_) That it signified\nfurther the god Pan, which may be identified with \u201cthe Christ of\ndissident sacerdotalism\u201d; (_c_) That the Baphometic head is \u201ca\nbeautiful allegory which attributes to thought alone the first and\ncreative cause\u201d; and finally, (_d_) That it is \u201cnothing more than an\ninnocent and even a pious hieroglyph.\u201d\n\n[202] The suggestion is that they were summoned by Jacques de Molay\nto appear before the Divine Tribunal within a year and a day, there\nto answer for their injustice, and that they died within the time\nmentioned, which does not happen to be true.\n\n[203] The revision of the process which condemned the Maid of Orl\u00e9ans\nwas begun by Charles VII himself in 1449. In 1552 twelve articles\nwere drawn up, designed to exhibit its illegality and injustice. For\npolitical reasons, meaning the relations between France and England,\nthe mother and brothers of Joan were made plaintiffs at Rome, and Pope\nCallixtus V appointed a commission. In 1456 the commission pronounced\nits judgment, reversing and annulling the first process on the ground\nof roguery, calumny, injustice, contradictions and manifest error in\nfact and law.\u2014_La Magie et la Sorcellerie en France_, vol. ii. pp.\n514-518.\n\n[204] It has been suggested that the charge of sorcery covered a\npolitical conspiracy for his destruction and was of the same value as\nthe same charge in respect of the Knights Templar.\n\n[205] Francesco Prelati seems to have been a magician by profession and\nas regards Gilles de Sill\u00e9, it is said otherwise that he was a priest\nof St. Malo.\n\n[206] This was Catherine de Thouars, and it was to her that the bulk of\nhis fortune was due. He is said to have been one of the richest nobles\nin Europe.\n\n[207] It will be understood that what follows is merely romantic\nnarrative. See _Gilles de Rais, dit Barbe Bleue_, by Bossard et Maulde.\n\n[208] The account at this point represents the admixture of the\nBlue-Beard or folk-element and may be read in conjunction with Perrault.\n\n[209] It does not appear that Francesco Pr\u00e9lati and Gilles de Sill\u00e9\nwere brought to account subsequently.\n\n[210] He was really cited to appear before Jean de Malestroit, Bishop\nof Nantes and Chancellor of Brittany. He obeyed this summons.\n\n[211] The records say that he was insolent at the beginning but soon\nchanged his methods, and the confession which he made involved two of\nhis servants, named Henri and Poitou.\n\n[212] It was the servants of Gilles de Rais who accused him under\ntorture.\n\n[213] This explanation is absolutely supposititious, there being no\ntittle of evidence for the existence of such a process in the records\nof Black Magic. It is of course possible that some readers may ascribe\nsecret sources of information to \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi. Speaking generally,\nBlack Magic and the synonymous white variety were concerned little\nenough in alchemical processes, good or bad. Their amateurs and adepts\nsought enrichment by the discovery of buried treasures with the\nassistance of demons; they sought also to communicate with evil spirits\nwho could bring gold and precious stones from the mines, or who could\nthemselves accomplish transmutation.\n\n[214] It is just to say that Gaffarel wrote in defence of the Jews and\nto clear them of many accusations besides those made by Philo. His\nthesis was that many things were falsely imposed upon them.\n\n[215] His fate was shared by the servants already mentioned, who are\nsaid to have been his accomplices.\n\n[216] The Marquis Eudes de Mirville wrote _Des Esprits et de leurs\nManifestations Fluidiques devant la Science Moderne_, 1858, and other\nlarge books, which were highly recommended by ecclesiastical authority\nof the day. He saw the intervention of Satanism everywhere in psychic\nand occult phenomena. Remove the personality of Satan and \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi\nsays exactly the same thing.\n\n[217] The reference is to _La R\u00e9alit\u00e9 des Esprits et le Ph\u00e9nom\u00e8ne\nMerveilleux de leur \u00c9criture Directe_. It appeared in 1857 and is a\nvery curious collection of materials. Long after, or in 1875, the same\nwriter published _La Morale Universelle_, which seems to be a plea for\nsecular education.\n\n[218] The reader should understand that \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi is only giving\nexpression to a point of view; it must not be supposed that there were\nadepts\u2014either true or false\u2014who said or thought the things which are\nhere set down at the period in question, or indeed at any other period.\n\n[219] See Gabriel Naud\u00e9: _Apologie pour les Grands Hommes faussement\naccus\u00e9s de la Magie_.\n\n[220] Bartholem\u00e6us Platina was assistant-librarian of the Vatican, and\nhis _Opus in Vitas Summorum Pontificum_ appeared at Venice in 1479, two\nyears before his death.\n\n[221] \u201cLet the popes see to it,\u201d he remarks, according to a Note of\nL\u00e9vi; \u201cit is they who are concerned in the question.\u201d\n\n[222] \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi, in his defence of the Catholic Religion, by\nwhich he means that of Rome, reminds one of Talleyrand proceeding to\nconsecrate and entreating his familiars about him not to make him\nlaugh: in the symbolic language of the man in the street, his tongue\nis so evidently in his cheek. An open enemy of Rome would think twice\nbefore saying that the pope who authorised the instruments which were\nused in the execrable massacres of Albigensians and Vaudois was \u201cso\neminently catholic.\u201d\n\n[223] I refer the readers of this section to my _Book of Ceremonial\nMagic_, where the content and history of this Grimoire are considered\nwith special reference to the criticism of \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi.\n\n[224] I have mentioned in the _Book of Ceremonial Magic_ that the first\nedition of the _Grimoire of Honorius_ is referred to 1629, being about\n900 years after the death of its alleged author. I have also referred\nit to its proper source in the _Sworn Book of Honorius_, which belongs\nto the fourteenth century. The Honorius here in question was the\nspokesman of magicians assembled at a mythical place. He is described\nas the son of Euclid and Master of the Thebans.\n\n[225] This is another way of stating that it is precisely of the same\ncharacter as the _Key of Solomon the King_, the _Keys of Rabbi Solomon_\nand the _Magical Elements of Peter de Abano_, which correspond to the\ndescription given.\n\n[226] The Grimoire is, on the contrary, a Ritual for the evocation of\nevil spirits and, granting only the legality of this operation, it is\nconformable in all respects to the doctrine of the Latin Church. Now,\nit is idle to say that this Church substitutes the passive for the\nactive principle, the cultus of the Blessed Virgin notwithstanding.\n\n[227] I am not acquainted with this frontispiece, but I have seen a\ncopy having a design on the title-page representing the sun within an\ninverted triangle.\n\n[228] This exegesis is personal to \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi and has no authority in\nKabalism, as there is no need to say, seeing that the Secret Tradition\nin Jewry did not maintain the hierarchy of the Latin Church. In the\n_Zohar_, Adonai is a title of _Shekinah_, as already stated.\n\n[229] On the assumption of course that the letter _Aleph_ stands for\n_Adam_, while _Cheth_ and _Vau_ are the first letters in the name of\n_Eve_. The interpretation throughout is of the same value and \u00c9liphas\nL\u00e9vi was not more serious in expressing it than I am in translating it.\nThe _Grimoire of Honorius_ is no such abyss of decorative philosophical\niniquity.\n\n[230] I have used the translation made from the Grimoire itself,\npublished in my _Book of Ceremonial Magic_, p. 107.\n\n[231] It affirms that the power to command demons is resident in\nthe Seat of Peter and then proceeds to communicate that power by\ndispensation to \u201cvenerable brethren and dear sons in Jesus Christ,\u201d\nbeing those comprised in the ranks of the ecclesiastical hierarchy.\n\n[232] It must be explained that the oration in the Grimoire is not\nrhythmic, but the \u201cwhen I shall impose my will upon them\u201d recurs\nseveral times, literally or in substance. In this manner \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi\ngets the refrain of his verses: _Je leur imposerai ma volont\u00e9 pour\nloi_. His metrical rendering is well conceived and executed.\n\n[233] I have rendered in prose that which is given by L\u00e9vi in\nverse, which is anything but in the words of the Ritual. Compare my\ntranslation of the prayer taken from the Grimoire in the _Book of\nCeremonial Magic_, pp. 280-282.\n\n[234] The Ritual proceeds to the conjuration of the Kings presiding in\nthe four quarters of heaven and the evil angels who rule over the days\nof the week.\n\n[235] The presence of the gipsies in Europe can be traced prior to the\nfifteenth century.\n\n[236] The authority of George Borrow is quoted for this statement.\n\n[237] Long before Vaillant, this Chinese inscription was described by\nCourt de Gebelin, who also believed that it was a form of the Tarot.\n\n[238] If certain beautiful Tarot cards preserved in the Biblioth\u00e8que du\nRoi and at the Mus\u00e9e Carrer are the work of Jacques Gringonneur, which\nis disputed, as we have seen, then the Tarot is first heard of in 1393\nand as it was in 1423 that St. Bernardin of Sienna preached against\nplaying cards, which were no doubt Tarots, it is probable that they\nwere put to the same use at the earlier date that they were put to at\nthe later.\n\n[239] The romantic history of Raymund Lully on which \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi\nworked was written by Jean Marie de Vernon.\n\n[240] What is certain historically is as follows: (_a_) That the story\nof Ambrosia di Castello, so far as regards its root-matter, concerns\nthe original and only Raymund Lully, who was the author of the _Ars\nMagna_; (_b_) That it is in all probability fictitious; (_c_) That it\nhas been decorated and dramatised by \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi, who has done his\nwork admirably; (_d_) That concerning the father of the illuminated\ndoctor we know only that he was a great soldier; (_e_) That the author\nof the alchemical treatises was not the author of the _Ars Magna_;\n(_f_) That the alchemical writer is said to have been (1) another\nRaymund Lully, which, I think, means only that he assumed the name in\norder to father his works upon a celebrated person, and (2) a proselyte\nof the gate, being a person who becomes a Jew, but this is manifestly\ncontradicted by the evidence of the alchemical texts; (_g_) That when\nthe works of Raymund Lully were collected, at the end of the eighteenth\ncentury, into eight enormous folio volumes, we find, as I have said\nelsewhere, a third Raymund Lully, who was a mystic; but as to his real\nidentity we know nothing.\n\n[241] Rose Nobles were replaced by Angels in 1465, _temp._ Edward IV.\n\n[242] Louis Figuier wrote occult romances under the guise of history,\nand did not know what he was talking about in respect of the _Ars\nMagna_. There is no reason to suppose that it had even passed through\nhis hands. It was otherwise as regards the little alchemical texts; and\nthere is no reason to question what he says concerning them.\n\n[243] The story of a transmutation performed by some one called Raymund\nLully in England depends from the alchemical texts mentioned, and is\ntherefore no evidence, and from a forged Testament of John Cremer, who\ncalled himself Abbot of Westminster, but no person of this name filled\nthe office in question, either at the supposed period or any other.\n\n[244] The tracts extant under the name of the alchemical Raymund\nLully are enumerated by Lenglet du Fresnoy in connection with those\nattributed to the author of the _Ars Magna_. Mangetus printed sixteen\nin his _Bibliotheca Chemica Curiosa_, 1702. The _Codicillus_, _Vade\nMecum_, or _Cantilena_ is a considerable work, divided into 74 chapters.\n\n[245] The reader may consult at this point my study of the life and\nwritings of Raymund Lully in the _Lives of Alchemystical Philosophers_,\npp. 68-88.\n\n[246] There is no reference to a title in the original text.\n\n[247] It is stated once only in the Apocalypse that \u201cthere was silence\nin heaven about the space of half an hour.\u201d See Chapter VIII, verse 1.\n\n[248] The _Book of Nicholas Flamel_ describes the symbols as follows:\n(1) A Wand and serpents devouring one another; (2) a Cross, on which\na serpent was crucified; (3) Deserts, in the midst of which were many\nfair fountains, whence issued a number of serpents that glided here and\nthere.\n\n[249] Mercury and Saturn\u2014as Flamel supposed them to be\u2014were depicted\non the obverse side of this leaf and the symbolic flower was on the\nreverse side. It is not said to be a rose, but simply a fair flower.\nThe rose-tree was on the obverse side of the fifth leaf.\n\n[250] The original has no reference to solidified air.\n\n[251] Otherwise, Arisleus, who figures prominently in the discourses of\nthe _Turba Philosophorum_.\n\n[252] There is an old story that he translated the _Sepher Ha Zohar_\ninto Latin, but the manuscript has never been found.\n\n[253] It was first published at Basel and afterwards at Amsterdam in\n1646. In 1899 the second edition was rendered into French. It deserves\nand will repay careful reading from the mystic point of view.\n\n[254] This promise represents another unfulfilled intention of \u00c9liphas\nL\u00e9vi.\n\n[255] See _Les Six Voyages de Jean Baptiste Tavernier, en Turquie, en\nPerse et aux Indes_, Paris, 1676. There were five French editions, and\nthe work was also translated into English.\n\n[256] This is really the title of a particular treatise, but as it is\nexceedingly long and may be said to be _de omnibus rebus_, it may not\nbe taken unjustly to represent his philosophy at large.\n\n[257] The latest and most successful apologist of Paracelsus says that\nthe charge of intemperance was invented by his enemies. See the _Life\nof Paracelsus_, by Miss Anna M. Stoddart, 1911.\n\n[258] \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi, who rather misquotes Dante, held that he had\nperformed the same kind of mental pilgrimage, and had escaped in the\nsame manner\u2014by reversing dogma. He says elsewhere: \u201cIt was after he had\ndescended from gulf to gulf and from horror to horror to the bottom of\nthe seventh circle of the abyss ... that Dante ... rose consoled and\nvictorious to the light. We have performed the same journey, and we\npresent ourselves before the world with tranquillity on our countenance\nand peace in our heart ... to assure mankind that hell and the devil\n... and all the rest of the dismal phantasmagoria are a nightmare of\nmadness.\u201d\n\n[259] The interpretation of the _Divine Comedy_ as embodying an act\nof war against the papacy was begun by Gabriele Rossetti, about 1830,\nin his _Disquisitions on the Anti-Papal Spirit which produced the\nReformation_. For the obscure and dubious tenets to which \u00c9liphas\nL\u00e9vi gives the name of Johannite, he substitutes the doctrines of\nAlbigenses and Waldenses. The same thesis, taken over from its Italian\ndeviser, was maintained in the same interest by Eug\u00e8ne Aroux, firstly\nin _Les Myst\u00eares de la Chevalerie_, and afterwards in the great body\nof annotation attached to his translation of Dante. The latter work\nappeared in 1856. The interpretation of L\u00e9vi is a variant of that of\nAroux. The disquisitions of the French writer are a fountain of joy for\ncriticism. He produced yet another monument, being _Dante, H\u00e9r\u00e9tique,\nRevolutionnaire et Socialiste_, 1854. He was a devoted member of the\nLatin Church, though I think that there would have been joy among the\nfaithful had his books been burnt at Rome.\n\n[260] The authority is the demonographer Bodin. Trois-\u00c9chelles\nconfessed to the King that he had given himself over to a spirit who\nenabled him to perform prodigies. He was forgiven on condition that he\ndenounced others who were guilty of sorcery. It is supposed that his\nsubsequent condemnation was the consequence of new operations on his\nown part.\n\n[261] That is, Pierre de l\u2019\u00c9toile. See _V\u00e9ritable Fatalit\u00e9 de Saint\nCloud_, art. 8.\n\n[262] This account is drawn from Garinet, who cites two pamphlets\nof the period: (A) _Les Sorcelleries de Henri de Valois, et les\nOblations qu\u2019il faisait au Diable dans le Bois de Vincennes_, 1589; (B)\n_Remonstrances \u00e0 Henri de Valois sur les choses horribles envoy\u00e9es par\nun enfant de Paris_, 1589.\n\n[263] Compare Aroux: _La Com\u00e9die de Dante_, vol. ii., p. 33 of his\n_Clef de la Com\u00e9die_. The Rose is \u201cthe Albigensian Church and its\ndoctrines ... transformed into a mystic flower.\u201d Hence the immense\nvogue of the romance of William of Lorris, despite the anathemas of\nGerson.\n\n[264] The words of Flamel are as follows: \u201cOn the fifth leaf was a fair\nrose-tree, flowered, in the midst of a garden, growing up against a\nhollow oak, at the foot whereof bubbled forth a fountain of pure white\nwater, which ran headlong down into the depths below. Yet it passed\nthrough the hands of a great number of people who digged in the earth,\nseeking after it, but, by reason of their blindness, none of them knew\nit, except a very few, who considered its weight.\u201d _Le Livre de Nicolas\nFlamel._\n\n[265] It will be seen that this is the counter-thesis to the\nexplanation of the spiritual world by means of natural law; it is the\nexplanation of the natural world by means of spiritual law. So also\n\u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi is right when he goes on to affirm in substance that the\nreligion of supernatural grace is the font of natural religion. It is\nin the light of the instituted sacraments that we find the hidden grace\nof those in Nature.\n\n[266] \u201cWe do now securely call the Pope Antichrist, which was formerly\na capital offence.... We do hereby condemn the East and the West,\nmeaning the Pope and Mahomet.... He (the Pope) shall be torn in pieces\nwith nails, and a final groan shall end his ass\u2019s braying.... The\njudgment due to the Roman impostor who now poureth his blasphemies\nwith open mouth against Christ.... The mouth of this viper shall be\nstopped.\u201d See _Confessio Fraternitatis_, R.C., 1616.\n\n[267] The Masonic title of Sovereign Princes Rose-Croix ascribed in\nFrance to the members of the Eighteenth Degree, under the obedience of\nthe Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, has been changed in England to\nExcellent and Perfect Princes. The old Rosicrucian title was that of\n_Frater_, and the head of the Order was termed _Imperator_.\n\n[268] I have let this date stand, as it is difficult to say what\n\u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi is driving at. Khunrath was born in 1559 or 1560, and he\ndied early in the seventeenth century.\n\n[269] This is a mistake. The _Amphitheatrum_ appeared in 1609, the\nlicence having been obtained previously.\n\n[270] The work contains (_a_) 365 versicles drawn from _Proverbs_ and\nthe apocryphal _Book of Wisdom_, the Latin Vulgate being printed side\nby side with a new translation by Khunrath. These versicles are divided\ninto seven grades. (_b_) An interpretation at length of each versicle.\n(_c_) An introduction to the first engraved plate; (_d_) to the second;\n(_e_) to the third; (_f_) to the fourth; and (_g_) an epilogue or\nconclusion to the whole work.\n\n[271] \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi has misplaced most of the plates, and it is\ndifficult to follow his descriptions. No. 1 is the laboratory and\noratory of the adept. No. 2 is apparently that which he calls the Path\nof Wisdom. No. 3 is the Philosophical Stone. No. 4 is that which L\u00e9vi\ndescribes as the Dogma of Hermes, because the sentences of the Emerald\nTablet are inscribed on a Rock of Ages or Mountain of Initiation. No. 5\nis the Gate of the Sanctuary, but it is enlightened by three rays. No.\n6 is that which L\u00e9vi terms a Rose of Light, but it is really the sun\nwith Christ in the centre. Nos. 7 and 9 correspond to the descriptions\ngiven; but No. 8 is scarcely a doctrine of equilibrium: it is the\ndoctrine of regeneration through Christ, in Whom the law is fulfilled.\n\n[272] The _Basilica Chymica_ was translated into French by J. Marcel\nde Boulene and published at Lyons in 1624. It was reprinted at Paris\nin 1633. The third part is the _Book of Signatures_. The Latin edition\nappeared at Frankfort in 1608.\n\n[273] Some of these names are exceedingly obscure, and no importance\nattaches to their literary remains. Philip Muller wrote _Miracula\net Mysteria Medico-Chymica_, 1614. It was printed eight times at\nvarious places. Of John Torneburg I have no record. Ortelius was a\ncommentator on Sendivogius; Michael Poterius or Potier was the author\nof ten alchemical tracts, but I have never heard that they were in\nestimation among lovers of the art. The Baron de Beausoleil was still\nmore voluminous and is better known. The works of David de Planis Campe\nwere collected into a folio in 1646; he is regarded as an alchemical\ndreamer. Duchesne was _Sieur de la Violette_, and his writings are in\nsix volumes. Benjamin Mustapha, or rather Mussaphia, wrote on potable\ngold. The other names are known to science, as L\u00e9vi would express it,\nand are famous therein.\n\n[274] The sum of this intimation is a little obscure. See my _Real\nHistory of the Rosicrucians_, pp. 388-390, for various versions of the\nproclamation.\n\n[275] I have been unable to find the authority for this discourse, as a\nwhole, but some fragments of it are cited by Gabriel Naud\u00e9.\n\n[276] There does not appear to be a story with this title either in\n_The Phantasus_ or elsewhere in the works of Tieck.\n\n[277] See Pierre De Lancre: _Tableau de l\u2019Inconstance des D\u00e9mons_, Book\nVI., Discourse 4. But \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi seems to have followed the summary\naccount of Garinet.\n\n[278] The account is in Bodin and in the record of Henri Boguet. Her\nphysical peculiarity is described as _un trou qu\u2019elle avait au dessous\nde sa parti gorri\u00e8re_. The work of Boguet is entitled _Discours\nEx\u00e9crables des Sorciers_, 1602. It is exceedingly rare.\n\n[279] The prosecution and execution of secular priests and monks recur\nfrequently throughout the annals of sorcery.\n\n[280] The names appear to have been Madeleine de Mandol, daughter of\nthe Seigneur de la Palud and Louise Capel.\n\n[281] The actual charges were (_a_) that Madeleine was seduced by\nGaufridi when she was nine years old, (_b_) that he had taken her to\nthe Sabbath, (_c_) that he had sent her 666 devils. To Louise he had\nsent four only.\n\n[282] See _L\u2019Histoire Admirable de la Possession et de la Conversion\nd\u2019une P\u00e9nitente s\u00e9duite par un Magicien_, by the Inquisitor Micha\u00eblis,\n1612.\n\n[283] He was a priest of Marseilles and cur\u00e9 of Accoules.\n\n[284] The confession included: (1) Visions of Lucifer, (2) compact\nwith him, (3) obtaining the love of women by breathing upon them, (4)\nvisiting the Black Sabbath, (5) celebration of Black Masses, &c.\n\n[285] Louise is heard of no further in the history of the period.\nMadeleine was cast out by her family and lived on alms at Avignon, till\nin 1653 the Parliament of Aix condemned her to perpetual seclusion.\n\n[286] The historical facts are that Grandier insisted on one occasion\nin taking precedence of Richelieu, then Bishop of Lu\u00e7on and in disgrace\nat Coussay. It is not even quite clear that the priest appealed to the\nKing, but he was involved in much litigation on charges of immorality.\nIt is just, however, to add that, according to Garinet, Grandier went\nto Paris and pleaded his cause before the King.\n\n[287] The first victim of the phenomena appears to have been the Lady\nSuperior.\n\n[288] The director of the convent was named Mignon, and he called to\nhis assistance not only certain Carmelites but a secular priest of the\ndistrict, who was a great believer in diabolical interventions.\n\n[289] This letter is quoted by Garinet, pp. 218, 219.\n\n[290] Notwithstanding the application of what was called the ordinary\nand extraordinary torture, no confession of guilt in respect of the\ncharges was ever extracted from Grandier, who indeed refused to reply.\n\u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi\u2019s picture of his deportment is throughout accurate as well\nas admirably told.\n\n[291] This took place as stated and, moreover, the inhabitants of the\ntown, after a meeting in the town hall, wrote to the King complaining\nof the pretence, absurdity and vexation of the process. See Garinet,\n_Pi\u00e8ces Justificatives_, No. XVI.\n\n[292] This remark, in which I concur unreservedly, may be noted by\nstudents of Masonic history as an offset against the pretentious\nnonsense which has been talked on the subject by French makers of fable\nand especially by J. M. Ragon, the dullest and most imbecile of all.\n\n[293] This opinion is showing signs of recrudescence at the present\nday, and it is well to say that there is no evidence to support it.\n\n[294] It may be mentioned that Masonry, wheresoever established, is\nelective and not hierarchical.\n\n[295] The Legend of Hiram has been told after several manners. English\nMasons will see that the present version is utterly incorrect, and it\nmay be added further that it incorporates reveries borrowed from old\nHigh Grades.\n\n[296] The names ascribed to the three assassins are High Grade\ninventions, and so also is all that follows concerning them.\n\n[297] It is understood that \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi entered Masonry in the\nordinary way, but it is quite true that vital integration therein and\nreal understanding thereof are consequences of personal work.\n\n[298] It has been called the most ancient of all the Chinese books,\nbeing ascribed to the year 3468 B.C. It consists of 10 chapters.\n\n[299] See my translation of this work: _Transcendental Magic: Its\nDoctrine and Ritual_, 1896.\n\n[300] It will be observed and appreciated at its proper value that\n\u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi does not attempt to elucidate the Chinese puzzle of which\nhe claims to possess the key, and the explanation is that if he had\nknown his subject critically he would not have attempted to create\nZoharic analogies which in the nature of things are non-existent.\n\n[301] The _Book of Concealed Mystery_ is not a key to the _Zohar_; it\nis one of the tracts inserted therein and its influence on the text at\nlarge is almost _nil_.\n\n[302] It will be noticed that this remark is not borne out by the\ninstance which is supposed to illustrate it and that the lucubration\non China is a curious preamble to a study of remarkable authors of the\neighteenth century, who had nothing to do with China.\n\n[303] Emmanuel Swedenborg never gave expression to this view, and in\nrespect of the criticism as a whole, it must be remarked that the\ncommunications which came to him came unawares, his psychic states not\nbeing self-induced.\n\n[304] The Kabalah has no principle of the hierarchy; its one counsel is\nthe study of the Doctrine and that study continually brought forward\nnew developments of the deep meanings which lay behind (_a_) the Law,\n(_b_) the prophets and (_c_) the historical books of the Old Testament.\nThe _Zohar_ presupposes throughout a widely diffused knowledge of its\nSecret Doctrine, as already intimated.\n\n[305] He was the recipient of a revelation and was not concerned with\nassisting those whom he addressed to attain the interior states into\nwhich he entered himself. He was bent only on delivering the message\nwhich he had received.\n\n[306] \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi refers to a work entitled: _Mesmer\u2014M\u00e9moires et\nAphorismes Suivis des Proc\u00e9d\u00e9s d\u2019Eslon_, 1846. The Aphorisms of Anton\nMesmer have been frequently reprinted.\n\n[307] The reference is probably to a French work, which in the absence\nof date and fuller description cannot be identified with certainty.\n\n[308] The writer in question certifies (_a_) that the Comte de Gabalis\nwas a German, (_b_) that he was a great nobleman and a great Kabalist,\n(_c_) that his lands were on the frontiers of Poland, (_d_) that he\nwas a man of good presence who spoke French with a foreign accent.\nSaint-Germain testified on his own part to Prince Karl of Hesse that\nhe was the son of Prince Ragoczy of Transylvania. Perhaps the latter\nplace will be regarded as sufficiently in proximity to Poland to make\nthe story of \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi a little less unlikely than it appears on\nthe surface. But the prince in question was Franz-Leopold Ragoczy,\nwho spent his life in conspiracies against the Austrian Empire, \u201cwith\nthe object of regaining his independent power\u201d and the freedom of his\nprincipality. No more unlikely person can be thought of as the original\nof the ridiculous Comte de Gabalis, and the Comte de Saint-Germain\nnever intimated that he belonged to a line of Kabalists, least of all\nsuch a Kabalist and occultist as is depicted by the Abb\u00e9 de Villars.\nSee Mrs. Cooper Oakley\u2019s _Monograph on the Comte de St. Germain_,\nMilan, 1912.\n\n[309] See Madame la Comtesse de Genlis: _M\u00e9moires In\u00e9dites pour servir\n\u00e0 l\u2019Histoire des XVIII^{me} et XIX^{me} Si\u00e8cles_.\n\n[310] See the _Essai sur la Secte des Illumin\u00e9s_, which appeared\nanonymously in 1789, the author being the Marquis de Luchet. The\nstory here reproduced is given in Note XV to the essay in question.\nIt affirms that the Order of Initiated Knights and Brethren of Asia\nbecame the Order of St. Joachim about 1786. There is no mention of\nSaint-Germain in this Note.\n\n[311] \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi explains in a note that the neophyte whose\nexperience is related, and who was mistaken for a corpse, was in\na state of somnambulism induced by magnetism. In respect of the\ngreen arbour, and the effects produced by the harmonica, he refers\nto Deleuze: _Histoire Critique du Magn\u00e9tisme Animal_, 2nd edition,\n1829. It contains curious accounts of the magnetic chain and trough,\nmagnetised trees, music, the voice of the mesmerist and the instruments\nemployed by him. L\u00e9vi adds that the author was a partisan of mesmerism\nwhich does not leave his opinions open to suspicion. I do not know what\nthis is intended to convey, but the work of Deleuze was of authority in\nits own day and is still worth reading.\n\n[312] It will be observed that \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi is taking the story more\nseriously than he proposed to do at the beginning. If therefore I may\non my own part take the Marquis de Luchet for a moment in the same\nmanner and assume that he was right in saying that the Order of Saint\nJoachim was a transformation of the Knights and Brethren of Asia, it\nseems certain that the latter did not owe their origin to Saint-Germain\nand that their connection with Rosicrucianism was of the Masonic kind\nonly, members of the fifth degree being called True Brothers Rose\nCroix, otherwise Masters of the Sages, Royal Priests, and Brothers of\nthe Grade of Melchisedek.\n\n[313] Compare the ribaldries of the Marquis de Luchet respecting the\nHarmonica and his supplementary account of its use in the evocations of\nLavater.\n\n[314] _Jachin_ is connected in Kabalism with the _Sephira Netzach_,\nbecause it is the right hand pillar, and on account of _Netzach_,\n_Jachin_ is in correspondence with \u05e6\u05d1\u05d0\u05d5\u05d4 \u05d9\u05d3\u05d5\u05d3 and \u05e6\u05d1\u05d0\u05d5\u05d4. The Divine\nName _Tetragrammaton_ cannot be said on Kabalistical authority to\nbe veiled in _Netzach_. It was really veiled in Adonai because of\n_Shekinah_, and the cohabiting glory between the cherubim was the\nmanifestation, vestment and concealment of Jehovah.\n\n[315] There is no secret as to the authorship of the tract on\nIlluminism, and L\u00e9vi could have been enlightened on the subject by his\nfriend, J. M. Ragon. So far from being imbecile, the monograph of the\nMarquis de Luchet is entertaining if it is not brilliant. As to the\ntransmutations of Saint-Germain, it is meant that there is no evidence\nof gold being produced by his methods, but it is otherwise in respect\nof precious stones. For the exoneration of De Luchet it does not\nsignify that the evidence is bad.\n\n[316] See _L\u2019Alchimie et les Alchimistes_, by Louis Figuier, pp. 320\n_et seq._ I have intimated that it is very difficult to trust this\nwriter in matters of historical fact, but he represents Lascaris as\nappearing in Germany at the end of the seventeenth century, being then\nabout fifty years old, and in any case it is a mistake to say that he\nwas in evidence when the Comte de Saint-Germain was making a sensation\nin Paris. Lascaris had long since vanished from the theatre of Hermetic\nevents.\n\n[317] It was in the presence of the rack that the testimony of his wife\nwas extracted, and I suppose that there is no one at this day who will\ncount it as infidelity on her part.\n\n[318] This device is inscribed on the symbolic bridge which is\nmentioned in the Grade of Knight of the East, or of the Sword.\n\n[319] According to the account of himself which Cagliostro gave at the\nfamous trial arising out of the Diamond Necklace affair, Acharat was\nthe name which he bore in the years of childhood which he spent at\nMedina. His \u201cgovernor\u201d was Althotas, who has been sometimes identified\nwith K\u00f6lmer, the instructor of Weishaupt in Magic.\n\n[320] In his _Lexicon Alchimiae_, 1612, Martinus Rulandus explains\nthat, according to the system of Paracelsus, Azoth was the Universal\nMedicine, though for others it is one of the names ascribed to\nthe Philosophical Stone. It was evidently neither in the process\nof Cagliostro, but\u2014if questioned\u2014he might have identified it with\nPhilosophical Mercury, a substance which can be extracted from any\nmetallic body.\n\n[321] It is interesting to note that Mr. W. R. H. Trowbridge, who\nhas made the latest attempt to exonerate Cagliostro, has omitted all\nreference to the regeneration processes and the alleged attempt to\nrenew thereby the youth of Cardinal de Rohan.\n\n[322] As seen already, Menander was the successor of Simon Magus, and\nthe baptism which he performed was claimed to confer immortality.\n\n[323] This story has been altered from the original narrative to make\nit appear that Cagliostro escaped. He did nothing of the sort, for the\nmonk proved the stronger of the two. Prince Bernard of Saxe-Weimar is\nthe authority for the account, and he is said to have guaranteed its\naccuracy.\n\n[324] Saint-Martin did not continue the school of theurgic Masonry\nfounded by Martines de Pasqually. He abandoned the school and all\nactive connection with Rites and Lodges. The evidence for his\nacquaintance with the Tarot rests on the fact that his _Tableau Natural\ndes Rapports qui existent entre Dieu, l\u2019Homme et l\u2019Univers_ happens\nto be divided into 22 sections, and there are 22 Tarot Trumps Major.\nOn the same evidence the same assertion is made in respect of the\nApocalypse. That which seemed adequate for \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi continues to be\nfound sufficient for the school of Martinism to-day and for its Grand\nMaster, Papus.\n\n[325] See Deleuze: _M\u00e9moires sur la Facult\u00e9 de la Pr\u00e9vision_, 1836.\n\n[326] The reader who is in search of romances may also consult P.\nChristian: _Histoire de la Magie_, published about 1871. It pretends\nthat Court de Gebelin left an account in MS. of the interrogation of\nCount Cagliostro in the presence of many Masonic dignitaries, including\nCazotte, at the Masonic Convention of Paris. The date was May 10, 1785.\nCagliostro on that occasion predicted the chief events of the French\nRevolution, and, at the suggestion of Cazotte, gave the name, then\nunknown, of the Corsican, Napoleon Bonaparte.\n\n[327] _The Tractatus de Revolutionibus Animarum_ was the work of R.\nIsaac de Loria, a German Kabalist. It is contained in the second volume\nof _Kabbala Denudata_. It is not allegorical and it has no Talmudic\nor Zoharic authority. As it was translated into French in 1905, most\npeople can judge for themselves on the subject.\n\n[328] The reference is here to the latest development of Templary under\nthe \u00e6gis of Fabr\u00e9-Palaprat. It came into public knowledge about 1805,\nand its invention is not much earlier. Its documents were fictitious,\nlike its claims.\n\n[329] \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi mentions in a note that he quotes these words as\nthey were given to him by an old man who heard them. They are cited\ndifferently in the _Journal_ of Prudhomme.\n\n[330] I have failed to trace this story to its source, but \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi\nwas curiously instructed in the byways of French occult history, and\nthough he could seldom resist the decoration and improvement of his\nnarratives, they had always a basis in fact.\n\n[331] Christian Antoine Gerle was born in 1740 and died in 1805. He\nwas a Carthusian, who came into some prominence under the Constituent\nAssembly. On April 10, 1790, Dom Gerle proposed a decree that \u201cthe\nCatholic, Apostolic and Roman Church was and should remain always\nthe religion of the nation, and that its worship should be alone\nauthorised.\u201d See Albert Sorel: _L\u2019Europe et la R\u00e9volution Fran\u00e7aise_,\nvol. ii. p. 121. He was imprisoned at the Conciergerie but was\nliberated, and during the reign of Napoleon he was appointed to an\noffice in the Home Department.\n\n[332] She is said to have been imprisoned in the Bastille, but\nthis seems to be an error, for it is certain that she died in the\nConciergerie at the age of 70. She called herself the mother of God,\nprophesied the speedy advent of a Messiah and promised that eternal\nlife would then begin for the elect.\n\n[333] See my _Studies in Mysticism_, pp. 99-111, for a summary account\nof the Saviours of Louis XVII.\n\n[334] St. Hildegarde died in 1179 at the age of 81. She wrote three\nbooks of Revelations, which were approved by the Council of Tr\u00e8ves, and\nLatin authorities have termed her one of the most illustrious mystics\nof Germany. In the fifteenth century the Council of Basle approved the\nRevelations of St. Bridget, who was born about 1307 and she died on\nJuly 23, 1373. A translation in full of her memorial was published at\nAvignon in four small volumes, dated 1850.\n\n[335] Out of a great body of claimants, computed by one writer to have\nbeen forty, and by another two hundred in number, there are four who\nmay rank as competitors at least one with another for recognition as\nthe escaped Dauphin: they are the Baron de Richemont, Augustus M\u00e8ves,\nEleazar Williams and Na\u00fcndorff.\n\n[336] The work of De Luchet is quite worthless from the evidential\nstandpoint, but the so-called correspondence is cited in a Note on\npp. 182-186 of the essay. It appears that the House Magical had been\nsold to King Frederick William, but the person who assisted at the\nevocations is called _un grand Seigneur_, which may or may not veil\nthe royal identity. Moreover, Steinert was the adept who compounded\nthe \u201cmagical elixir,\u201d and was pensioned on this account; but it is not\nstated that he was the magus of the ceremonial proceedings. I have been\nunable to check the recital of Eckartshausen, which is very difficult\nto meet with in England.\n\n[337] In the _Secret Tradition in Freemasonry_ I have indicated that\nSchroepfer is, on the whole, rather likely to have possessed some\npsychic powers, which notwithstanding his story ran the usual course of\nimposture. As he practised evocation perpetually, his suicide can be\naccounted for owing to the conditions which supervened on this account.\nThere seems no real reason to suppose that he killed himself because he\ndoubted his powers; however, the question does not signify.\n\n[338] It is just to say that another side of Lavater is shewn in\nhis _Secret Journal of a Self-Observer_, which is a very curious\nmemorial\u2014or human document, as it would be termed in our modern\nlanguage of inexactitude. It contains no suggestion of evocations and\ndealings with Jewish Kabalists, in or out of the flesh.\n\n[339] Cahagnet is the author of the following works: _Arcanes de la\nVie Future_, 3 vols., 1848-1854; _Lumi\u00e8re des Morts_, 1851; _Magie\nMagn\u00e9tique_, 2nd Edition, 1858; _Sanctuaire du Spiritualisme_, 1850;\n_R\u00e9v\u00e9lations d\u2019outre Tombe_, 1856.\n\n[340] This account is taken from Note XV. appended to the _Essai\nsur la Secte des Illumin\u00e9s_, but the Marquis de Luchet depended on\nanother writer, the latter drawing from Lavater\u2019s _Spiritus Familiaris\nGablidone_, published at Frankfort and Leipsic in 1787.\n\n[341] It is suggested by Clavel that when Charles VI suppressed\nMasonry in Austria, owing to a Bull of Pope Clement XII, the brethren\nof certain lodges instituted the Order of Mopses to fill the gap. See\n_Histoire Pittoresque de la Francma\u00e7onnerie_, 3rd edition, 1844, p.\n154. Ragon reproduces the opinion in his _Manuel de l\u2019Initi\u00e9_, 1861, p.\n88.\n\n[342] _Liber Mirabilis: qui Prophetias: Revelationesque: nec non res\nmirandas: preteritas: presentes: et futuras aperte demonstrat_, 1522.\nThe work is in two parts, of which the first is in Latin and the second\nin French.\n\n[343] I have used the seventeenth century English translation. The\noriginal says: _En l\u2019Eglise au plus pire, traiter les pr\u00eatres comme\nl\u2019eau fait l\u2019\u00e9ponge_. I do not quite see how L\u00e9vi\u2019s explanation\nfollows, but the point is not worth discussing.\n\n[344] _Les Derni\u00e8res Proph\u00e9ties de Mlle. Lenormand_ appeared in 1843\nand are joyful reading. She was born at Alen\u00e7on in 1772 and died on\nJune 25, 1843.\n\n[345] I have failed to verify the statement that this person had access\nto the Emperor Alexander.\n\n[346] It should be understood that _Val\u00e9rie_ appeared at Paris in\n1803, when the writer was thirty-nine years old. Her acquaintance with\nthe Russian Emperor was eleven years later, and it was during the\nintervening period that her spiritual development took place. She was\nno longer an amiable coquette, though the description may once have\napplied to her. There is no question that the portrait of _Val\u00e9rie_\nwas, and was intended to be, her own portrait. As to the identity of\nher hero, he was her husband\u2019s secretary and there was no intimacy\nbetween them in the evil sense of the term, though she was not of\nunblemished reputation in other respects.\n\n[347] It was the Empress Elizabeth, wife of Alexander, who first\nbrought Madame de Krudener to the notice of her husband. She shewed him\nsome of her letters to draw him under religious influence. The King and\nmystic met, under singular circumstances, on June 4, 1815. Madame de\nKrudener was 13 years older than the Emperor, with pale, emaciated and\ndrawn features. The story repeated by \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi, whencesoever it may\ncome, is an execrable calumny. The acquaintance began at W\u00fcrtemberg and\ncontinued during the Emperor\u2019s residence in Paris, or till September\n28, 1815. Those were the days which ended in the proclamation of the\nHoly Alliance, and Madame de Krudener\u2019s part in that work is a matter\nof history.\n\n[348] Thomas Ignatius Martin is said to have foretold the revolution\nof 1830, but the fact is dubious. In his interview with Louis XVIII he\nis said also to have told the French King that he was not the rightful\noccupant of the French throne, but this is more than dubious. The\nparticular legitimacy which he supported was that of Na\u00fcndorff.\n\n[349] See _La France Mystique_, by Alexandre Erdan, vol. ii. p. 135 _et\nseq._ for notices of four chief disciples of Fourier, the maddest being\nVictor Hennequin.\n\n[350] He was the prophet of a third and final alliance between God and\nman.\n\n[351] It is said that after the rupture of his relations with Wronski,\nM. Arson instituted a kind of humanitarian religion on his own account,\nand combined it with some aspect of metempsychosis speculations.\n\n[352] The discourses of St. Michael with Vintras are said to have\nconcerned (_a_) the destinies of France, (_b_) the future of religion,\n(_c_) the reform of the clergy. The Blessed Virgin, St. Joseph and\nChrist Himself also visited the seer, according to his own testimony.\n\n[353] _L\u2019\u0152uvre de la Mis\u00e9ricorde prit une teinte fleur-de-lys tr\u00e8s\nprononc\u00e9e._\u2014Alexandre Erdan.\n\n[354] See my _Mysteries of Magic: a Digest of the Writings of \u00c9liphas\nL\u00e9vi_.\n\n[355] The charges are contained in a pamphlet entitled _Le Proph\u00e8te\nVintras_, published by Gozzoli in 1851. I do not think that Geoffroi\nwrote anything.\n\n[356] Vintras was arrested at Tilly-sur-Seules in 1842 on a charge\nof roguery; he was tried at Caen and condemned to five years\u2019\nimprisonment. After his release in 1848, he found an asylum in England.\n\n[357] See _La France Mystique_, vol. i. p. 36 _et seq._ for a\ncontemporary account of Du Potet and of the periodical magnetic\n_s\u00e9ances_ which took place _au dessus du restaurant des Fr\u00e8res\nProven\u00e7aux, au Perron du Palais-Royal_.\n\n[358] According to another account, the Magic Mirror was an ordinary\ncircle of evocation drawn with charcoal. Wandering spirits were\nsupposed to be conjured therein.\n\n[359] His madness is said otherwise to have been partial, or\ncharacterised by many lucid intervals. His second work was _Religion_,\nand it preached the doctrine of reincarnation, with periodical changes\nof sex. It described the Deity as an infinite substance in which\ncirculated myriads of soul-entities.\n\n[360] His other works include the _Gospel of the People_, 1840, to\nwhich \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi refers subsequently. For this he was imprisoned.\nIn 1847 he published a _Histoire des Montagnards_. At the end of 1851\nhe was compelled to leave France, and seems to have lived in England.\nHenri Alphonse Esquiros was born in 1814.\n\n[361] Henri Delaage seems to have taken the question of physical\nbeauty rather seriously to heart. In 1850, under the title of\n_Perfectionnement physique de la Race Humaine_, he made a collection of\nprocesses and methods for acquiring beauty, drawn\u2014as he claimed\u2014from\nChaldean Magi and Hermetic Philosophers.\n\n[362] The \u00c9glise Fran\u00e7aise was forcibly closed about 1840, but in 1848\nan attempt was made to reopen it in a small room. A particular kind\nof Mass was celebrated in the French language, and it appears that\nthe church had fixed festivals of its own. In doctrinal matters, Abb\u00e9\nCh\u00e2tel regarded the relation between God and the universe as comparable\nto that between the soul and body, \u201cbut in an infinitely more excellent\nmanner.\u201d Paradise, Purgatory and Hell were alike abolished, and in\ntheir place two states were substituted, one of glory and felicity, the\nother of reparation.\n\n[363] See the appendix to _Essai sur le Secte des Illumin\u00e9s_, by the\nMarquis de Luchet, already quoted.\n\n[364] Joseph Pitton de Tournefort: _Relation d\u2019un Voyage du Levant_,\n1717, 2 vols. It was translated into English and published in 3 vols.,\n1741.\n\n[365] I wish that it were possible to quote the moving panegyric on\nGanneau in a letter addressed by \u00c9liphas L\u00e9vi to Alexandre Erdan and\nprinted by him in _La France Mystique_, vol. ii. p. 184-188. He is\ndescribed as one of the _\u00e9lite_ of intelligence, an artist, a poet of\noriginal and inexhaustible eloquence. He was sometimes bizarre but\nnever absurd or wearisome. He was, finally, one of those hearts under\nthe inspiration of which the zealous will crucify themselves with joy\nfor the ungrateful. Erdan once saw Ganneau addressing a crowd in the\nPlace de la Concorde, \u201cuplifting his great arms and raising to heaven\nhis beautiful Christ-like head.\u201d\n\n[366] I suppose that this would be a St. Andrew\u2019s cross with the\naddition of a vertical branch, on which would rest the head of the\ncrucified person.\n\n[367] There was a son of this marriage, and in 1855 M. Alexandre Erdan\nwas inquiring what had become of him.\n\n[368] To suggest that the _Zohar_ exists to propound and interpret a\nthesis of equilibrium is like saying that the vast text is written\nabout the legend of the Edomite Kings or that it is a violent attack on\nChristianity, because there is a reference to each of these subjects.\nThe symbolism of the Balance is practically confined to a single tract\nimbedded in the _Zohar_.\n\n[369] \u201cGod stretched forth His right hand and created the world above,\nand He stretched forth His left hand and created the world below....\nGod created the world below on the model of the world above, for the\nimage is found beneath of all that abides on high.\u201d\u2014_Zohar_, Part II.,\nfol. 20a.\n\n[370] Joseph de Maistre: _Soir\u00e9es de St. P\u00e9tersbourg_, 1821, p. 308.\n\n[371] For the sake of completeness, I have included this preface,\nthough from some points of view it might have been reasonably omitted\naltogether.","title":"The history of magic : $b including a clear and precise exposition of its procedure, its rites and its mysteries","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":180190}