A RECORD OF THINGS SEEN AND HEARD IN THE
SECRET SOCIETIES ACCORDING TO THE
EVIDENCE OF INITIATES
BY
“The first in this plot was Lucifer.”—Thomas Vaughan
LONDON
GEORGE REDWAY
1896
The term Modern Satanism is not intended to signify the development ofsome new aspect of old doctrine concerning demonology, or some newargument for the personification of the evil principle in universalnature. It is intended to signify the alleged revival, or, at least, thereappearance to some extent in public, of a cultus diabolicus, orformal religion of the devil, the existence of which, in the middleages, is registered by the known facts of the Black Sabbath, adepartment, however, of historical research, to which full justice yetremains to be done. By the hypothesis, such a religion may assume one oftwo forms; it may be a worship of the evil principle as such, namely, aconscious attempt on the part of human minds to identify themselves withthat principle, or it may be the worship of a power which is regarded asevil by other religions, from which[vi] view the worshippers in questiondissent. The necessity for this distinction I shall make apparent in thefirst chapter of this book. A religion of the darkness, subsisting undereach of these distinctive forms, is said to be in practice at thepresent moment, and to be characterised, as it was in the past, by thestrong evidence of miracles,—in other words, by transcendentalphenomena of a very extraordinary kind, connecting in a direct mannerwith what is generically termed Black Magic. Now, Black Magic in thepast may have been imposture reinforced by delusion, and to state thatit is recurring at the present day does not commit anyone to an opinionupon its veridical origin. To say, also, that the existence of moderndiabolism has passed from the region of rumour into that of exhaustiveand detailed statement, is to record a matter of fact, and I must addthat the evidence in hand, whatever its ultimate value, can be regardedlightly by those only who are unacquainted with its extent andcharacter. This evidence is, broadly, of three kinds:—(a) Thetestimony of inde[vii]pendent men of letters, who would seem to have come incontact therewith; (b) the testimony volunteered by former initiatesof such secret associations as are dedicated to a cultus diabolicus;(c) the testimony of certain writers, claiming special sources ofinformation, and defending some affected interests of the Roman CatholicChurch.
My purpose in this book is to distinguish, so far as may be possible,what is true from what is false in the evidence, and I have undertakenthe task, firstly, because modern mystics are accused, en masse, ofbeing concerned in this cultus; secondly, because the existence ofmodern Satanism has given opportunity to a conspiracy of falsehood whichis wide in its ramifications, and serious on account of its source;thirdly, because the question itself has awakened considerable interestboth within and without transcendental circles, and it is desirable toreplace hazy and exaggerated notions by a clear and formal statement.
I have connected the new diabolism with France in my title, because theevidence in[viii] each of its kinds has been filed by French writers, and wehave no other source of information. So far as