Devil Worship in France - Couverture souple

Waite, Professor Arthur Edward

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1602062269 ISBN 13 : 9781602062269

Editeur : Cosimo Classics, 2007

Synopsis

Do Freemasons worship Satan? It was once "common knowledge" that they did... until, ironically, a famous occultist debunked this preposterous belief. Waite, a preeminent 19th-century expert in esoterica, here examines the outrageous claims of Leo Taxil, who shot to fame in the 1880s and '90s with his stories about "Diabolism" among the Masons, ripping them to shreds in his uniquely sharp, droll voice and offering his own keen insights into Victorian mysticism along the way. This highly entertaining work, a classic of rationalistic literature first published in 1896, will fascinate and delight students of secret societies, paranormal skeptics, and readers of the history of religion alike. American-born British author ARTHUR EDWARD WAITE (1857-1942) was cocreator of the famous 1910 Rider-Waite Tarot deck. Among his numerous books are Book of Ceremonial Magic, The Holy Kabbalah, and New Encyclopedia of Freemasonry.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

The term Modern Satanism is not intended to signify the development of some new aspect of old doctrine concerning demonology, or some new argument for the personification of the evil principle in universal nature. It is intended to signify the alleged revival, or, at least, the reappearance to some extent in public, of a cultus diabolicus, or formal religion of the devil, the existence of which, in the middle ages, is registered by the known facts of the Black Sabbath, a department, however, of historical research, to which full justice yet remains to be done. By the hypothesis, such a religion may assume one of two forms; it may be a worship of the evil principle as such, namely, a conscious attempt on the part of human minds to identify themselves with that principle, or it may be the worship of a power which is regarded as evil by other religions, from which view the worshippers in question dissent. The necessity for this distinction I shall make apparent in the first chapter of this book. A religion of the darkness, subsisting under each of these distinctive forms, is said to be in practice at the present moment, and to be characterised, as it was in the past, by the strong evidence of miracles,—in other words, by transcendental phenomena of a very extraordinary kind, connecting in a direct manner with what is generically termed Black Magic.

Biographie de l'auteur

Arthur Edward Waite (2 October 1857 – 19 May 1942) was a British poet and scholarly mystic who wrote extensively on occult and esoteric matters, and was the co-creator of the Rider-Waite Tarot deck. He was born in the United States. His father died when he was very young, and his mother returned to her home country of England, where he was then raised. The death of his sister in 1874 soon attracted him into psychical research. At 21, he began to read regularly in the Library of the British Museum, studying many branches of esotericism. He joined the Outer Order of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in January 1891 after being introduced by E.W. Berridge. In 1893 he withdrew from the Golden Dawn. In 1896 he rejoined the Outer Order of the Golden Dawn. In 1899 he entered the Second order of the Golden Dawn. He became a Freemason in 1901, and entered the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia in 1902. He was a prolific author and wrote occult texts on subjects including divination, esotericism, Rosicrucianism, Freemasonry, and ceremonial magic, Kabbalism and alchemy; he also translated and reissued several important mystical and alchemical works. His works on the Holy Grail, influenced by his friendship with Arthur Machen, were particularly notable.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Cosimo Classics
• Date d'édition: 2007
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1602062269
• ISBN 13: 9781602062269
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 340
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible