THE NEWCASTLE DAILY CHRONICLE

Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Northumberland, England

1 October 1929

(page 1)

DEVIL WORSHIP GROWING IN FRANCE.

Votaries Who Seek to Cheat Satan in “Pacts.”

SOULS FOR RICHES.

Devil worshippers who try to cheat Satan, votaries of black magic, witchcraft and other occult practices are said to be increasing in number in many parts of France, according to a prominent French lawyer, M. Maurice Garcon.

Following on the enforced departure of Aleister Crowley, known as the High Priest of Black Magic, frequent cases of devil-worship have come to the notice of the French police, it was stated.

MIDNIGHT MEETINGS.

The most popular rendezvous of these votaries of Satan is said to be Fontainebleau Forest, where on moonless nights mystic rites begin as midnight chimes.

A magic circle is drawn in which worshippers gather on their knees, after marking cabalistic signs on the ground. Bowls of incense are lighted while a priest invokes the evil spirits.

Appeals for worldly riches are made, the supplicants promising in return to give their souls to Satan, stated M. Garcon in an address to the Paris Institute of Metaphysics.

One of the strangest features of this devil-worship is the legal form it sometimes takes. Maitre Garcon testified that pacts with Satan are written out on foolscap in legal form and signed in blood. Most of these revealed an effort to cheat the devil through the insertion of some tricky legal phrase.

“ENTITLED TO CHEAT.”

The lawyer explained that most of the worshippers regarded the devil as an unscrupulous trafficker in evil, and felt entitled to cheat him of their souls if they could.

During his address Maitre Garcon related that he had witnessed black masses in which evil spirits and even the devil himself were invoked.

None of the ceremonies have included human sacrifice.