EX ORE LEONIS
For over ten years past Leo Taxil, that is to say, M. Gabriel
Jogand-Pages, has been the great accuser of Masonry, and he possesses an
indistinct reputation in England as a man whose hostility is formidable,
having strong points in his brief. During the entire period of his
impeachment, which is represented by many volumes, he has uniformly
sought to identify the Fraternity with the general purposes of Lucifer,
but until the year 1891, it was merely along the broad and general lines
mentioned in the last chapter. Now, in presence of such attributions as,
for example, the Satanic character of tolerance in matters of religion,
I, for one, would unconditionally lay down my pen, as there is no common
ground upon which a discussion could take place.
From the vague imputation Leo Taxil passed, however, to an exceedingly
definite charge--and it is beyond all dispute that by his work entitled
"Are there Women in Freemasonry?"--he has created the Question of
Lucifer in its connection with the Palladian Order. He is the original
source of information as to the existence of that association; no one
had heard of it previously, and it is therefore of the first importance
that we should know something of the discoverer himself, and everything
as to the particulars of his discovery, including the date thereof.
Previously to the year 1891 Leo Taxil knew nothing of the Reformed
Palladium. He is the one Anti-Masonic writer named in the last chapter
as preceding Paul Rosen with information about Albert Pike. This was in
the year 1885, and in a work entitled, "The Brethren of the Three
Points," which began the "complete revelations concerning Freemasonry"
undertaken by this witness. Like Paul Rosen, he represents Pike merely
as a high dignitary of the Ancient and Accepted Scotch Rite, but he does
so under the incorrect title of Sovereign Commander Grand Master of the
Supreme Council of the United States. He states further that the Grand
Orient of France, as also the Supreme Council of the Scotch Rite of
France, "send their correspondence" to the Grand Master of Washington. I
conceive that no importance, as indeed no definite meaning, can be
attached to this statement beyond the general and not very significant
fact that there was some kind of communication between the three
centres. In the year 1888 Pike was so little in harmonious relation with
the French Grand Orient that by the depositions of later witnesses he
placed it under the ban of his formal excommunication in virtue of his
sovereign pontificate. For the rest, the "Brethren of the Three Points"
contains no information concerning the New and Reformed Palladium, and
this is proof positive that it was unknown at the time to the writer,
for it would have been valuable in view of his purpose. The same
observation applies to a second work published shortly after, "The
Cultus of the Grand Architect." Had Leo Taxil been acquainted with a
worship of Lucifer subsisting in Palladian Masonry he could not have
failed to make use of it in a volume so entitled. The work in question
is concerned, however, with the solemnities which obtain in Masonic
temples, with the names and addresses of all French lodges, so that it
is a directory as much as a revelation, with the political organisation
of the Carbonari, with the Judge-Philosophers, and with certain official
documents of Masonry.
But it may occur to those of my readers who are acquainted at first hand
with the revelations of Leo Taxil that his knowledge was held over in
view of his plan of publication, and that the Palladium would be
disclosed in due course when he came to treat of androgyne or adoptive
Masonry. Let us pass, therefore, to his next work, entitled, "Sister
Masons, or Ladies' Freemasonry," which appeared in 1888, and in which we
certainly meet with diabolism and also with Palladism, but not in
connection with Albert Pike or the Charleston Central Directory. The
reference in the first case is to practices which are alleged to obtain
in the Egyptian Rite of Adoption, called the Rite of Cagliostro, and in
the second to the Order of the Palladium as it was originally instituted
in the year 1730. At the same time the information given is of serious
importance, because it enables us to gauge the writer's method and
credibility in the one case, and his knowledge at the period in the
other. Once more, in the year 1886, Leo Taxil did not know of the
Palladium as a reformed or revived institution; had he known he could
not have failed to tell us.
I have not been able to trace all the sources of his information
concerning the older Palladian Rite, but it comes chiefly from Ragon; he
divides it into two systems:--(a) The Order of the Seven Sages, which
was for men only, and appears as a banal invention with a ritual mainly
derived from the "Travels of Anacharsis"; (b) The Order of the
Palladium, composed of two masculine grades and one feminine grade,
respectively, Adelphos and Companion of Ulysses for men, and Companion
of Penelope for women. It pretends to have been founded by Fenelon, but
at the same time claims an antiquity previous to the birth of the great
Archbishop of Cambrai. Leo Taxil accuses it of gallantry, but the
flirtations described in the ritual impress an impartial reader as a
species of childish theatricals, a criticism practically exhausting the
entire motive of the order, which, as I have already stated, lapsed into
obscurity, and, so far as can be traced, into desuetude, though our
witness uniformly refers to it in the present tense, and as if it were
in active operation. However this may be, the description and summary of
the ritual given by Leo Taxil place it outside the possibility of a
connection with Templar Masonry, and also with the Baphomet Palladium in
spite of what is alleged to the contrary. Accepting the worst
construction which is placed on its intention, it could have offered no
point of contact with the alleged project of Albert Pike. So far,
therefore, the information contained in _Les Soeurs Maçonnes_ conflicts
with the history of the New and Reformed Palladium as given in my second
chapter.
It has been said, however, that Leo Taxil charges another Masonic order
of the androgyne type with satanic practices. He divides the Egyptian
Rite of Adoption into three grades; in that of apprentice, the discourse
represents Adonaï as the Genius of Pride, and the serpent-tempter of
Genesis as the eternal principle of goodness; in that of Companion, the
symbolism of the ritual enforces the necessity of rehabilitating the
character of the mystic serpent; in that of Egyptian Mistress, there is
a pretended evocation of planetary spirits by means of a clairvoyante,
and Leo Taxil affirms on his own authority that the Supreme Being
referred to in the discourse at initiation is Satan. "According to the
doctrine of the sect, the divinity is formed of two opposite principles,
the genius of Being, who is Lucifer, and the genius of Destruction, who
is Adonaï." This is so obviously the doctrine of the Luciferian
Palladians that it is difficult to understand why the institution of
Charleston is not connected, as to purpose, if not as to origin, with
the Egyptian Adoptive Rite of Misraïmite Masonry.
At this point, however, it becomes my duty to state that there are some
very curious facts in connection with the "Catechism of the Officiating
Mistress," which is the source of information for the alleged Manichæan
character of the third degree. The more considerable and essential
portion of that document, so far from being referable to the supposed
founder of the Rite, namely, Count Cagliostro, is a series of mutilated
passages taken from Éliphas Lévi's _Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie_,
and pieced clumsily together. That is to say, Leo Taxil, while claiming
to make public for the first time an instruction forming an essential
part of a rite belonging to the last century, presents to us in that
instruction the original philosophical reflections of a writer in the
year 1856, and, moreover, he distorts palpably the fundamental principle
of that writer, who, so far from establishing dualism and antagonism in
God, exhibits most clearly the essential oneness in connection with a
threefold manifestation of the divine principle. I conceive that there
is only one construction to be placed upon this fact, and although it is
severe upon the documents it cannot be said that it is unjust. When,
therefore, Leo Taxil terminates his study of the Egyptian Rite by
"divulging some essentially diabolical practices of the Misraïm Lodges,"
namely, evocations of the elementary spirits, we shall not be surprised
to find that the ritual of the proceedings is taken bodily from the same
author who has been previously taxed for contributions. The reader need
only compare _Les Soeurs Maçonnes_, pp. 323 to 330, with the
"Conjuration of the Four" in the fourth chapter of the _Rituel de la
Haute Magie_. It will be objected that this conjuration is derived by
Lévi himself from a source which he does not name, and as a fact part of
it is found in the _Comte de Gabalis_. Quite so, but my point is, that
it has come to the Taxil documents through Éliphas Lévi. The proof is
that part of the exorcisms are given in Latin and part in French, by the
author of the _Rituel_, for arbitrary and unassignable reasons, and that
_Les Soeurs Maçonnes_ reproduces them in the same way. It is evident,
therefore, that we must receive Leo Taxil's "divulgations" with severe
caution. I may add that the proceedings of the Holy Inquisition in the
trial of Count Cagliostro were published at Rome by order of the
Apostolic Chamber, and they include some particulars concerning the
Egyptian Rite, of which Cagliostro was the author. These particulars in
part correspond with the documents of the "Sister-Masons," but offer
also significant variations even along the lines of correspondence.
Having established, in any case, that Leo Taxil knew nothing of the
Reformed Palladium in the year 1886, we may pass over his next work,
which reproduces a considerable though selected proportion of some of
his previous volumes, because precisely the same observation applies to
"The Mysteries of Freemasonry," and we may come at once to the year
1891. Some time subsequently to the third of August, our witness
published a volume entitled "Are there Women in Freemasonry?" which, so
far as one can see, bears the marks of hurried production. It is, in
fact, "The Sister Masons" almost _in extenso_--that work being still in
circulation--with the addition of important fresh material. The bulk of
the new matter is concerned with the rituals of the New and Reformed
Palladium, consisting of five degrees, conformable, as regards the first
three, with the somewhat banal but innocent grades of the Modern Rite of
Adoption, and passing, as regards the two final, into pure Luciferian
doctrine. How did Leo Taxil become possessed of these rituals? He
informs us quite frankly that by means of arguments _sonnants et
trébuchants_, that is to say, by a bribe, he persuaded an officer of a
certain Palladian Grand Council located at Paris to forget his pledges
for the time required in transcribing them. That was not a very
creditable proceeding, but in exposing Freemasonry ordinary ethical
considerations seem to be ruled out of court, and it is idle to examine
methods when we are in need of documents. By these documents, and by the
editorial matter which introduces and follows them, Leo Taxil, as
already observed, created the Question of Lucifer. Premising that a dual
object governed the institution of androgyne lodges, namely, the
opportunity for forbidden enjoyments, and the creation of powerful
unsuspected auxiliaries for political purposes, he states that the
latter part of this programme was specially surrendered to the old
Palladian Masonry. Now it is clear that the rituals of the order which
he published in 1886 bear no such construction as he here, and for the
first time, imputes; they connect with part one of the programme, and he
was content at the time with their impeachment on the ground of sexual
disorder. Why has he changed the impeachment? No assignable reason
appears from his subsequent remarks, but he goes on to allege that,
under the auspices of Albert Pike and his group, the original order
developed the New and Reformed Palladian Rite, in which the political
purpose was itself subordinated to "Satanism pure and simple."
Originating in the United States, it has invaded Europe, where it
propagates with truly unheard of rapidity, so that in Paris alone there
are three active lodges--that of the Lotus, founded in 1881, and
situated in the Faubourg Saint-Germain, which has in turn created the
lodges of St James, 1884, and of St Julian, 1889. The Lotus itself was
preceded "by the organisation of some Areopagites of the Kadosch Grade
of the French Rite and of the Ancient and Accepted Scotch Rite," who
practised theurgy under the direction of Ragon and Éliphas Lévi, both of
whom are represented as given over, body and soul, to all the practices
of lawless diabolism, the latter being apparently the leader, after
whose death the association met only infrequently, until it was revived
by Phileas Walder, the friend, as we have already seen, of Albert Pike.
It was he who imported the New and Reformed Palladium from America into
France, and, assembling the disciples of Lévi, founded the Mother-Lodge
of the Lotus.
The ritual obtained by Leo Taxil was printed in Latin and English, with
an interleaved French version in manuscript. As presented by its
discoverer, there is no doubt that it is an execrable production,
involving the practice in open lodge of obscenity, diabolism, and
sacrilege. Passing over the first three grades, and beginning "at the
point of bifurcation," we find it stated in the ritual of the fourth
degree of Elect that the New and Reformed Palladium has been instituted
"to impart a new force to the traditions of high-grade Masonry," that
the Palladium which gives its name to the order was presented to the
fathers of the order by Eblis himself, that it is now at Charleston, and
that Charleston is the first supreme Council of the globe. Thus it will
be seen that the Palladian ritual confuses the Palladium Order with the
Ancient and Accepted Scotch Rite. For the rest, the legend of the fourth
degree is the first part of what is termed a blasphemous life of Jesus,
representing Baal-Zeboub as his ancestor, Joseph as his father,
according to physical generation, and Mirzam as his mother, who is
highly honoured as the parent of many other children. Adonaï is the
principle of evil, and Eblis, otherwise Lucifer, the good God. But the
ritual of the fourth grade is innocent in its character when compared
with the abominations of the fifth degree of Templar-Mistress. The
central point of the ceremonial is the resurrection of Lazarus, which is
symbolically accomplished by the postulant suffering what is termed the
ordeal of the Pastos, that is to say, by means of public fornication.
The purpose of this ordeal is to show that the sacred act of physical
generation is the key to the mystery of being. The life of Jesus begun
in the previous grade is completed in the present, and it will be
sufficient for my purpose to indicate that it represents the Saviour of
Christianity, who originally "began well," passing over from the service
of the good god Lucifer, and making a pact with the evil Adonaï, in sign
of which he ceased indiscriminate commerce with the women who followed
him and pledged himself to live in chastity, for which he was abandoned
by Baal-Zeboub, and is cursed by Palladists. "The duty of a
Templar-Mistress is to execrate Jesus, anathematise Adonaï, and adore
Lucifer." The rite concludes by the recipient spitting on a consecrated
host and the whole assembly piercing it in turn with stilettos.
So far the sole testimony to the actual operation, as indeed to the
existence, of these infamous ceremonies, is Leo Taxil, and it is once
more my duty to state that the documents are in no sense above the
suspicion of having been fraudulently produced by some one. It seems
scarcely credible, but the instruction of the Elect Grade incorporates
Masonic references _literatim_ from the scandalous memoirs of Cassanova.
That is a fact which sets open a wide door to scepticism. Again, the
instruction of the fifth degree contains more plagiarisms from Lévi, and
in a section entitled "Evocations," Leo Taxil again reproduces the
"Conjuration of the Four" which he has previously fathered on the Rite
of Memphis and Misraïm, and now states to be in use among Palladists.
Once more, he prints a long list of the spirits of light which
Palladians recommend for evocation, and this list is a haphazard
gleaning among the eighty-four genii of the twelve hours given in Lévi's
interpretation of the "Nuctemeron according to Apollonius." But these
latter points are not arguments which necessarily reflect upon Leo
Taxil, for, seeing that the New and Reformed Palladium was constituted
in 1870, it is obvious that the author of the rituals may have drawn
from the French magus, and Leo Taxil does connect the Palladium, as
others have connected it, with Alphonse Louis Constant, partly through
Phileas Walder his disciple, and partly by representing Constant as the
leader of an occult association of Knights Kadosch. But when he
represents Constant as himself a Mason we have to remember that Éliphas
Lévi explicitly denied his initiation in his _Histoire de la Magie_.
I should add that Leo Taxil in one of the illustrations represents a
lodge of the Templar-Mistress Rite, wherein the altar is over-shadowed
by a Baphomet which is a reduction in facsimile of the frontispiece to
Lévi's _Rituel_, and all reasonable limits seem to be transgressed when
he quotes from Albert Pike's "Collection of Secret Instructions," an
extended passage which swarms with thefts from the same source, everyone
of which I can identify when required, showing them page by page in the
originals. Leo Taxil tells us that the "Collection" was communicated to
him, but by whom he does not say. We are evidently dealing with an
exceedingly complex question, and many points must be made clear before
we can definitely accept evidenced which is so mixed and uncertain in
character.
If we ask the author of these disclosures what opportunities he has had
to become personally acquainted with Masonry, we shall find that they
are exceedingly few, for he was expelled from the order after receiving
only the first degree. I do not say that this expulsion reflects in any
sense discreditably upon him as a man of honour, but it closed his
Masonic career almost as soon as it had begun, so that his title to
speak rests only on his literary researches and other forms of derived
knowledge, good enough, no doubt, in their way, but not so exhaustive as
could be wished in view of the position he has assumed. It was shortly
after this episode that Leo Taxil returned to the Catholic Church and
attached himself to the interests of the clerical party. Previously to
this his literary history must be for him a painful memory. He was a
writer of anti-clerical romances and the editor of an anti-clerical
newspaper--legitimate occupations in one sense, but in this instance too
frequently connected with literary methods of a gravely discreditable
kind. A catalogue of the defunct _Libraire Anti-Cléricale_ is added to
one of the romances, and advertises, among other productions from the
same pen, the following contributions made by Leo Taxil to the
literature of sacrilege and scandal:--1st, a Life of Jesus, being an
instructive and satirical parody of the Gospels, with 500 comic designs;
2nd, The Comic Bible (_Bible Amusante_); 3rd, The Debaucheries of a
Confessor, a romance founded on the affair of the Jesuit Girarde and
Catherine Cadière; 4th, a Female Pope, being the adventures and crimes
of Pope Joan, written in collaboration with F. Laffont; 5th, The Pope's
Mistress, a "grand historical romance," written in collaboration with
Karl Milo; 6th, Pius the Ninth before history, his life political and
pontifical, his debaucheries, follies, and crimes, 3 vols.; 7th, The
Poisoner Leo Thirteenth, an account of thefts and poisoning committed
with the complicity of the present pontiff; 8th, Contemporary
Prostitution, a collection of revolting statistics upon, _inter alia_,
the methods, habits, and physical peculiarities of persons who practice
pæderasty.
It will be seen that since his conversion our author has changed his
objects without altering his methods. As in the past he unveiled the
supposed ill-doings of popes and priests, as he exposed the corrupt
practices of the Parisian police in the matter of crying social evils,
so now he divulges the infamies of Masonic gatherings in the present. He
claimed then to be actuated by a high motive and he claims it now. We
must not deny the motive, but we certainly abhor the proceeding. In some
very curious memoirs which have obtained wide circulation Leo Taxil
acknowledges that he was gravely mistaken then, and he may be mistaken
now. It must also be respectfully stated in conclusion that few persons
who have contributed to lubricity in literature have ever failed to
speak otherwise than from an exalted standpoint. When a short time ago
M. Huysman went in search of a type to which he could refer Luciferian
"blasphemies" and outrages, he could find nothing more suitable to his
purpose than Leo Taxil's "Bouffe Jesus." We do not refuse to accept him
as a witness against Masonry because of these facts, but we must ask
him as an honourable gentleman not to insist that we should do so on
trust, and at the present moment the only opportunities which he has
given us to check his statements do not wholly encourage us to accept
them. It will be seen therefore that the knowledge of Palladian Masonry
was first brought to light under circumstances of a debatable kind.