[218.] Michelet, op. cit., p. 10. "L'élément sémitique, juif et arabe, était fort en Languedoc." Cf. A.E. Waite, The Secret Tradition in Freemasonry, I. 118: "The South of France was a centre from which went forth much of the base occultism of Jewry as well as its theosophical dreams."
[219.] Michelet, op. cit., p. 12.
[220.] Ibid., p. 15.
[221.] Graetz, History of the Jews, III. 517.
[222.] Thus Hastings' Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics omits all reference to Satanism before 1880 and observes: "The evidence of the existence of either Satanists or Palladists consists entirely of the writings of a group of men in Paris." It then proceeds to devote five columns out of the six and a half which compose the article to describing the works of two notorious romancers, Léo Taxil and Bataille. There is not a word of real information to be found here.
[223.] Précis of Eliphas Lévi's writings by Arthur E. Waite, The Mysteries of Magic, p. 215.
[224.] Jewish Encyclopædia, article on Cabala.
[225.] Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie, II. 220 (1861). It is curious to notice that Sir James Frazer, in his vast compendium on magic, The Golden Bough, never once refers to any of the higher adepts--Jews, Rosicrucians, Satanists, etc., or to the Cabala as a source of inspiration. The whole subject is treated as if the cult of magic were the spontaneous outcome of primitive or peasant mentality.
[226.] Histoire de la Magie, p. 289.
[227.] Talmud, treatise Berakhoth, folio 6. The Talmud also gives directions on the manner of guarding against occult powers and the onslaught of disease. The tract Pesachim declares that he who stands naked before a candle is liable to be seized with epilepsy. The same tract also states that "a man should not go out alone on the night following the fourth day or on the night following the Sabbath, because an evil spirit, called Agrath, the daughter of Ma'hlath, together with one hundred and eighty thousand other evil spirits, go forth into the world and have the right to injure anyone they should chance to meet."