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To: zazas-l@hollyfeld.org (ZAZAS-L Satanist Elist)
From: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (nocTifer)
Subject: (Z) Satanism (Rudwin)
Date: Mon, 19 Oct 1998 19:21:53 -0700 (PDT)

49981019 IIIom Hail Satan!

recently I procured the following two texts from Berkeley bookstores:
_The Devil in Legend and Literature_, by Maximilian Rudwin, 1973 (1931)
and _The Devil in Britain and America_, by John Ashton, 1972.  I've
been looking at the first one (Rudwin, recommended) for a couple weeks
on and off, and I extract the following comments regaring Satanism 
which I will be adding to the TOKUS Satanism Archives (/Propaganda 
directory, which contains expressions about Satanism or satanism by 
those who do not identify as Satanists themselves).  there is also a
good bit about Satan here which I hope to one day add as well.

blessed beast!
tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (nocTifer)

     TOKUS Satanism Archives: http://www.abyss.com/tokus/toksat.html

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

	The fact is that the notion of the Devil or Satanism is
	practically synonymous with the idea of Evil, and its
	train of consequences, such as pain, want, woe, jealousy,
	lust, malice, vindictiveness and the like....
	_________________________________________________________
	_The Devil in Legend and Literature_, by Maximilian 
	  Rudwin, 1973 (1931); p. 69.
	-----------------------------


	The predominance of women over men in the witch-cult is
	easily explained by the fact thta women are more
	conservative than men and hold more firmly to ancient
	beliefs and traditions.  Jules Michelet, however,
	maintains that so many members of the weaker sex
	surrendered themselves to Satanism in medieval times
	for the reason that Satan lifted woman from the low
	position in which she had been held by the Church.
	His portrait of the medieval witch contains more poetry
	than history.  In his opinion, she is the forerunner
	of the modern social reformer and natural scientist.
	She had neither father nor mother, nor son, nor husband,
	nor family.  She was a marvel, an aerolith, alighted no
	one knew whence.  Her place of abode was in spots
	impracticable, in a forest of brambles, on a wild moor
	where thorn and thistle forebade approach.  She passed 
	the night under an old cromlech.  If any one found her
	there, she was isolated by the common dread; she was
	surrounded, as it were, by a ring of fire, and yet she
	was a woman....
	________________________
	Ibid., p. 156.
	-------------- 


	Nor is devil-worship wholly extinct in modern times.
	Contemporary Satanism, however, is not historic, but
	eclectic.  It is not directly connected with medieval
	witchcraft, although it borrowed many elements from the
	cult.  In contrast to the medieval witch-cult, modern
	Satanism is practiced by the cultured classes in the
	European capitals.  Huysmans in his novel _La-Bas_
	affirms that "the cult of Satan survives in France as
	in the other principal European countries and that it
	has been unknown even in England during the past
	hundred years."

	[AUTHOR'S NOTE: Huysmans reiterated his firm belief
	 in the existence of the Satanic cult in the prefatory
	essay he contributed to Jules Bois's Book, _le Satanisme
	et la magie_ (1895).]

	The English critic, Mr. Arthur Symons, who certainly
	cannot be accused of credulity, maintains that "all
	but the most horrible practices of the sacrilegious
	magic of the Middle Ages are yet performed from time
	to time in a secrecy which is all but absolute....
	The Reverend Mr. Montague Summers likewise asserts that
	"Satanists yet celebrate the Black Mass in London,
	Brighton, Paris, Lyon, Bruges, Berlin, Milan, and
	alas! in Rome itself. ...  Often they seem to
	concentrate their vile energies in quiet cathedral
	cities of England, France and Italy."

	[AUTHOR'S NOTE: Montague Summers: _The History of
	 Witchcraft and Demonology_, London 1926.]

	
	Although Huysmans' presentation of modern Satanism
	is offered in the form fiction, the impression must
	not be gained that it was evolved out of the author's
	imagination.  As a naturalist, Huysmans relied for his
	material wholly on observation and documentation.  He
	must have read hundreds of folios and collected
	mountains of notes in the preparation of his book,
	which Leon Bloy calls a cataclysm of documents.
	Huysmans supplemented his reading by personal
	observation.  For several years previous to the publi-
	cation of his novel, he zealously frequented the
	circles of the Rosicrucians, Illuminists...,
	spiritualists and other occultists of the type of the
	Marquis de Guaita, who, in 1888, founded the neo-
	Rosicrucian Society of Paris, and Josephin Peladan,
	who assumed the title of Sar and who dabbled in all
	sorts of diabolism.  The bulk of his information
	with regard to modern Satanism was furnished Huysmans
	by the ex-abbe Boullan, of Lyons, to whom he addressed
	himself in a letter during the preparation of his
	novel, stating that he wished proofs of Satanism "in
	order to be able to affirm that the Devil existed,
	that he reigned, that the power he had in the Middle
	Ages had not diminished and that he still was the
	absolute Master, the Omniarch."  This ex-abbe, who
	figures in _La-Bas_ under the most flattering aspects
	as Dr. Johannes, an exorcist, was well competent to
	furnish the desired information, inasmuch as he
	himself committed the acts which he attributed to
	others.  He hoodwinked Huysmans with regard to his
	own work, presenting himself as an exorcist and a
	victim of the machinations of certain unfrocked
	priests, to whom he ascribed the very deeds committed
	by himself.  The principal proofs of the existence of
	a cult of Satan furnished by Boullan to Huysmans were
	the frequent thefts of consecrated wafers throughout
	France, which, as he maintained, were employed in the
	celebration of the Black Mass.
	______________________________________________________
	Ibid., pp. 164-5.
	-----------------

	The contemporary cult of Satan is primarily a diabolism
	of debauchery.  The principal part of the modern Black
	Mass consists of sexual perversions of all kinds.  The
	materialist De Hermies in _La Bas_ reveals a deep insight
	into human nature when, with regard to Durtal's
	description of the Black Mass supposedly celebrated in
	Paris, he remarks: "Je suis sur qu'en invoquant
	Belzebuth, ils pensent aux prelibations charnelles" (I
	am certain that in invoking Beelzebub, they only think
	of carnal prelibations).

	[AUTHOR'S NOTE: Mr. Harry Klemp, in an article contributed
	 to the Sunday edition of the New York *World*, of August
	 2, 1914, described the activities of a Satanic cult in
	 London, which he claimed had even spread to this country.

	 It is not the object of this book to go at length into
	 the matter of modern devil-worship in France, but the
	 reader, who is interested in this question, will find
	 ample material in the following books and magazine
	 articles: Alexandre Erdan: _la France mystique_ (1853);
	 Charles Sauvestre: _les Congregations religieuses
	 devoilees_ (1867); Stanislaus de Guaita: _Essais de
	 sciences maudites_ (1886).  M. Jules Bois, who is at
	 present residing in the United States, has constituted
	 himself the historian of modern Satanism by his book
	 _les Petites religions de Paris_ (1893) and especially
	 by his study _le Satanisme et la magie_ (1895).  M. Bois's
	 views on modern Satanism are detailed by Miss Marie A.
	 Belloc in her interview with this French writer, which
	 appeared under the title: "Satanism: Ancient and Modern"
	 in the London monthly magazine 'The Humanitarian', vol. XI
	 (1897), pp. 81-7, and by Thomas Walsh in his article
	 "The Amateurs of Satan" published in the New York
	 'Bookman', vol. IX (1899), pp. 220-23. {if you have access
	 to either of these publications I would pay you for the
	 photocopies and shipping; contact me in email please -- tn}
	 M. Bois has in recent years found a competitor in
	 R. Schwaeble, who has written the novel _Chez Satan: Roman
	 de moeurs de satanistes contemporains_ (1906) and the two
	 studies _le Satanisme flagelle; Satanistes contemporains,
	 incubat, succubat, sadisme et satanisme_ (1912), and
	 _Chez Satan, Pages a l'Index.  Possession_ (1913)....]

	Huysmans, following the lead of other ultra-Catholic
	writers, includes the Masons among the devil-worshippers
	in his novel _La-Bas_.  But especially in his preface to
	Jules Bois's study on Satanism, he expresses his belief
	that the Masons worship the Devil, although he calls them
	Luciferians in contrast to the Satanists and thus renders
	them slighly less odious than other devil-worshippers.
	The distinction between these two classes of diabolists
	consists in the fact that, while the Satanists worship
	the Devil as the spirit of evil, the Luciferians see in
	him the spirit of good.  Huysmans has many surprises for
	the American reader.  One may learn from him that devil-
	worship existed in our country as well as in Europe, and
	that Americans were at the head of the two international
	associations for the Propagation of the Faith in the
	Prince of Darkness.  Huysmans asserts that the
	"Re-Theurgists-Optimates," 

	[AUTHOR'S NOTE: This extraordinary phrase is, according
	 to Mr. F. Legge, "apparently composed of three
	 languages: Optimates is used by Cicero for the
	 aristocratic, as opposed to the popular, party; Theurgos
	 is a man who works wonders by means of the gods, ...
	 Re is apparently the Egyptian sun-god Ra" ("Devil-worship
	 and Freemasonry" in 'The Contemporary Review, vol. LXX
	 {1896}, p. 472, note).]

	founded in 1855, with headquarters in America, had for
	Grand Master no less a person than the poet Longfellow,
	whose official title was "Grand-Pretre du Nouveau Magisme
	Evocateur" (High Priest of the New Evocatory Sorcery).

	[AUTHOR'S NOTE: Huysmans innocently followed his
	 authorities, who, curiously enough, confused the poet
	 Longfellow with a Scotchman by the same name, who was
	 said to have helped in the organization of the "New
	 Reformed Palladium."  Cf. Arthur Edward Waite: _Devil-
	 Worship in France_ (London, 1896), p. 35.]

	At the head of the second diabolical organization in
	America stood the Southern poet General Albert Pike,
	who was called "le vicaire du Tres-Bas, le pontife
	installe dans la Rome infernale" (the vicar of the
	Very-Low, the Pontiff installed in the Infernal Rome),
	by which infernal Rome was meant our good Southern town
	of Charleston, S.C.  Albert Pike, together with the
	Mormon bishop John Taylor, is alleged to  have introduced
	into France, in 1881, the so-called "Maconnerie Palladique"
	(Palladic, i.e. Luciferian Masonry).

	[AUTHOR'S NOTE: Ibid., pp. 32 ff.]
	__________________________________
	Ibid., pp. 166-7.
	-----------------


	"Faust", especially in its diabolical aspects, strongly
	influenced French imagination during the Romantic period.
	Mephistopheles with his *rictus infernal* was the rage of
	the Romantics.  These children of the Revolution, with
	their strong swayings toward Satanism, went wild over the
	wit of this Mocker of Mankind.  They almost deified the
	Devil and actually swore by Mephistopheles and the
	Walpurgis Night.

	[TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: Rudwin's preface to this text is
	 interestingly dated "Walpurgis Night 1931".  tn]

	Painters devoted their talents to transferring this
	"Satanism" to their canvases.  Delacroix painted the
	Walpurgis Night, and Louis Boulanger the Witches'
	Sabbath.  The great Romantic composer, Berlioz, in his
	*Damnation* de Faust (1846), based on Gerard de Nerval's
	version, knew how to bring out the diabolical element in
	the Goethean poem, the appeal of which its French
	translator rendered so well into French.
	________________________________________
	Ibid., p. 206.
	--------------


	The idea of the devil-compact occurred frequently
	in the lituratures of the various European countries,
	during the first half of the last century, even in
	the works which cannot be traced to Goethe's influence.
	Medievalism, which formed an important part of  
	Romanticism in all European countries, also implied
	diabolism.  The Devil, as is well known, occupied a
	position of paramount importance in medieval arts and
	letters.  He was a prominent and popular character in
	the mystery-plays.  The interest which Romanticism
	showed in medieval legend and history brought into
	literature magic potions, Witches' Sabbaths, devil-
	compacts and all other sorts of Satanism.

	[AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thus Victor Hugo's _Notre-Dame de Paris_
	 (1831), which is a resuscitation of medievalism, contains
	 the medieval belief in sorcery, alchemy, the devil-
	 compact and the Witches' Sabbath.  The arch-deacon of 
	 Notre-Dame, Claude Frollo, an alchemist, if not a
	 sorcerer, is believed to have closed a compact with the
	 Devil.  Quasimodo, the hunchbacked bell-ringer, is
	 supposed to be a demon bound to serve the arch-deacon
	 for a given time, at the end of which he will carry off
	 his soul by way of payment.]

	In England, the Gothic School of fiction brought diabolism
	into vogue as far back as the last quarter of the
	eighteenth century.
	__________________________________________________________
	Ibid., pp. 209-10.
	------------------


	Just as pessimism leads to anti-theism, anti-theism leads to
	Satanism.  If what has been considered good is found to be
	evil, what oppooses it must necessarily be good.  Thus the
	denunciation of the Deity led to the sanctification of Satan.
	If the ruler of an evil world is bad, his adversary must
	necessarily be good.  This paradox accounts for the belief
	held by many Romantics that Satan was wronged and that there
	was, as Vigny asserted, a great historical case to be judged
	anew before the court of our conscience.  Baudelaire, who
	addressed prayers to Satan, also argued from this assumption
	when he termed the Devil "Dieu trahi par le sort" -- "a
	Deity betrayed by Destiny."  Thus was born among the
	Romantics the wish for Satan's return to heaven, with the
	aim of delivering man from the cruelty of his Creator.
	In the modern Anatole France's _la Revolte des Anges_ (1914),
	however, Satan declines an opportunity to head a second
	revolution against his adversary.  He decides in the end
	that it is not worth the effort to supplant the King of
	Heaven, as a successful revolt with a new ruler will make
	so little difference on earth that he really prefers to
	remain in the Opposition.  Power makes for tyranny; rebellion
	is the essence of nobility.

	It must not be denied, however, that among the Romantics
	many might be named who were led to their adoration of Satan
	through their love of evil.  Instead of exchanging, they
	accepted the traditional conceptions of the Deity and the
	Devil, nevertheless substituting Satan for the Saviour
	in their adoration.  "Naturally," says Max Nordau in his
	_Entartung_ (1893), "the love of evil can only take the
	form of devil-worship or diabolism, if the subject is a
	believer, that is if the supernatural is held to be a real
	thing.  Only he who is rooted with all his feelings in
	religious faith will, if he suffers from moral aberration,
	seek bliss in the adoration of Satan, and in impassioned
	blasphemy of God and the Saviour."

	We know of at least two groups in Paris who, in the first
	half of the last century, organized a Satanic cult and
	created a class of poetry expressing their worship of
	Satan and predicting his usurpation of the power of
	heaven.

	[AUTHOR'S NOTE: Cf. Louis Maigron: _le Romantisme et les
	 maeurs_ (1910), p. 187.]

	Just as the Christians gathered on Sunday morning to sing
	glory to God, these diabolists congregated on Sunday
	evening to honor Satan with hymns and harpings, and to
	address prayers to the powers of Evil for alliance and
	aid.  Each member of the group officiated in turn; in
	other words, recited the versed he had written for the
	occasion.  These extravagants, in their eagerness to
	show their opposition to all orthodoxy, proclaimed that
	"fair is foul and foul is fair."  "Evil," they declared,
	be thou my good, and good my evil."  Thus the son of
	poor Pierre Huet declares in Eugene Sue's _Salamandre_
	(1832): "Vice, crime, infamie, voila les seules choses
	qui ne trompent jamais."  These diabolists expressed
	delight over the works of the Devil and disgust for the
	acts of the Deity.  They even argued the merits of the
	seven deadly sins.  Eugene Sue sang the praises of the
	seven sins in his _Sept peches capitaux_ (1847-9).  In
	all likelihood a few among them went even so far as to
	put their teachings into practice, and "romanticized"
	their lives, as they called such perversions in those
	Romantic days.  The Romantic search for new sensations
	led to all sorts of sexual aberrations.  In this manner,
	the Romantic rant about self-expression and self-fulfill-
	ment was reduced to the ridiculous.  These devotees of
	the Devil wished and prayed for a universal reign of evil,
	and predicted the day when the Devil should regain heaven,
	wrest the reins of government from the hands of God, and
	clutch the world completely in his claws.
	__________________________________________________________
	Ibid., pp. 306-7.
	-----------------


	...Baudelaire ... had a great admiration for the English
	novelists of the School of Terror, particularly Lewis
	and Maturin.  He speaks of Melmoth and his devil-compact
	in the _Paradis artificiels_ (1860) and in his diary
	calls Melmoth "the great Satanical creation of the
	Reverend Maturin."  But Baudelaire would have invented
	his Satanism the Melmoths of Maturin and Balzac.  On
	this subject, consult the recent article by G.T. Clapton,
	'Balzac, Baudelaire and Maturin,' "The French Quarterly,"
	June and September,1930.
	_________________________________________________________
	Ibid., p. 315.
	--------------

EOF
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