Devil-Worship in France: The Question of Lucifer

The aim of this book was to debunk the notorious late 19th-century hoax of Leo Taxil. The latter was a French anti-clericalist, suddenly converted to Catholicism in 1885. In his new religion, he started his loud campaign against Freemasonry, which was even sanctioned by the pope. Taxil wrote a number of books in which he claimed that Freemasonry was a worldwide satanic conspiracy. In the presented here book, Waite systematically debunks Taxil, citing factual inaccuracies, plagiarism, and absurdities. Waite's language is witty, sarcastic, and utilizes extensive firsthand knowledge of Victorian mystical and masonic groups to demolish Taxil. A year after Waite's publication, Taxil summoned a press conference where he declared that his conversion to Catholicism was a fake and that he created his absurd texts to embarrass the Catholic church. He also confessed that his only motive for targeting the Freemasons was their rejection of his application to join them.

Arthur Edward Waite (1857 - 1942) was an American-born British writer and scholarly mystic who created an extensive oeuvre on occult and esoteric matters. He is also famous as the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot deck creator. The historical value of Waite's works consist-ed in his first-ever attempt to prepare a systematic study of the history of western occultism. He studied divination, esotericism, Rosicrucianism, Freemasonry, ceremonial magic, Kabbalism, and alchemy. He also translated and reissued several mystical and alchemical works. Many of his stud-ies were dedicated to the question of the search for the Holy Grail.