Devil-Worship in France
Book Excerpt
Much about the same period it became evident that a marked change had passed over certain aspects of thought in "the most enlightened city of the world," and that among the jeunesse dorée, in particular, there was a strong revulsion against paramount material philosophy; an epoch of transcendental and mystic feeling was, in fact, beginning. Old associations, having transcendental objects, were in course of revival, or were coming into renewed prominence. Martinists, Gnostics, Kabbalists, and a score of orders or fraternities of which we vaguely hear about the period of the French Revolution, began to manifest great activity; periodicals of a mystical tendency--not spiritualistic, not neo-theosophical, but Hermetic, Kabbalistic, and theurgic--were established, and met with success; books which had grievously weighted the shelves of their publishers for something like a quarter of a century were suddenly in demand,