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Thems the Vagaries..... -
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Robert D’Onston Stephenson wrote a pseudonymous article for the Pall Mall Gazette arguing that JtR was an occultist influenced by Eliphas Levi.
Pall Mall Gazette, 1 December 1888, link
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Now, in one of the books by the great modern occultist who wrote under the nom de plume of 'Eliphaz Levy', 'Le Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie,' we find the most elaborate directions for working magical spells of all kinds. The second volume has a chapter on Necromancy, or black magic, which the author justly denounces as a profanation. Black magic employs the agencies of evil spirits and demons, instead of the beneficent spirits directed by the adepts of la haute magie. At the same time he gives the clearest and fullest details of the necessary steps for evocation by this means, and it is in the list of substances prescribed as absolutely necessary to success that we find the link which joins modern French necromancy with the quest of the East-end murderer. These substances are in themselves horrible, and difficult to procure. They can only be obtained by means of the most appalling crimes, of which murder and mutilation of the dead are the least heinous. Among them are strips of the skin of a suicide, nails from a murderer's gallows, candles made from human fat, the head of a black cat which has been fed forty days on human flesh, the horns of a goat which has been made the instrument of an infamous capital crime, and a preparation made from a certain portion of the body of a harlot. This last point is insisted upon as essential and it was this extraordinary fact that first drew my attention to the possible connection of the murderer with the black art.
Further, in the practice of evocation the sacrifice of human victims was a necessary part of the process, and the profanation of the cross and other emblems usually considered sacred was also enjoined. In this connection it will be well to remember one most extraordinary and unparalleled circumstance in the commission of the Whitechapel murders, and a thing which could not by any possibility have been brought about fortuitously. Leaving out the last murder, committed indoors, which was most probably not committed by the fiend of whom we speak, we find that the sites of the murders, six in number, form a perfect cross. That is to say, a line ruled from No. 3 to No. 6, on a map having the murder sites marked and numbered, passes exactly through Nos. 1 and 2, while the cross arms are accurately formed by a line from No. 4 to 5. The seventh, or Dorset-street murder, does not fall within either of these lines, and there is nothing to connect it with the others except the mutilations. But the mutilations in this latter case were evidently not made by any one having the practical knowledge of the knife and the position of the respective organs which was exhibited in the other six cases, and also in the mutilated trunk found in the new police-buildings, which was probably the first of the series of murders, and was committed somewhere on the lines of the cross, the body being removed at the time. Did the murderer, then, designing to offer the mystic number of seven human sacrifices in the form of a cross - a form which he intended to profane - deliberately pick out beforehand on a map the places in which he would offer them to his infernal deity of murder? If not, surely these six coincidences (?) are the most marvellous event of our time.
To those persons to whom this theory may seem somewhat farfetched, we would merely remark that the French book referred to was only published a few years ago; that thousands of copies were sold; that societies have been formed for the study and practice of its teachings and philosophy; and, finally, that within the last twelve months an English edition has been issued. In all things history repeats itself, and the superstitions of yesterday become the creeds of today.
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Here are some quotes from Doubleday's translation of Eliphas Levi on the subject of Black Magic.
The Word (New York), Volume 18, November, 1913, Page 121
The instrument of spells is nothing else than the great magic agent itself, which, under the influence of a wicked volition, then becomes really and positively the devil.
Witchcraft, properly so called, that is, the ceremonial operation with a view to cast a spell, only acts upon the operator and serves to fix and to confirm his will by uniting a definite purpose with perseverance and effort—-two conditions which render the willing effective. The more difficult or horrible the operation, the more effective it is, because it acts more on the imagination and confirms the effort in direct proportion to the resistance.
This explains the strangeness and even the atrocity of the operations of black magic among the ancients and in the middle ages; the devil's masses; the sacraments administered to reptiles; the effusions of blood; human sacrifices and other monstrosities which are the very essence or reality of the goétic art of necromancy. Such practices have drawn in all ages upon sorcerers the just repression of the laws. Black magic is really only a combination of sacrileges and of graduated murders in order to pervert forever a human will, and realize in a living man the hideous phantom of the devil. Hence it is, properly speaking, the religion of the devil, the worship of darkness, the hatred of good carried on to its highest paroxysm; it is the incarnation of death and the permanent creation of hell.
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The Word (New York), Volume 23, July, 1916, Page 256
In the Middle Ages necromancers violated the tombs, composed philters, and ointments with the fat and blood of corpses. They mixed with it aconite, belladonna and the poisonous toadstool. Then they boiled these frightful mixtures, and skimmed them over fires composed of human bones and of crucifixes stolen from the churches. They mingled in them the powders of dried toads, and the ashes of consecrated wafers. Next they rubbed their temples, hands and breasts, with the infernal ointment, tracing the diabolic pentacle, evoking the dead under gibbets or in abandoned graveyards. Their howlings were heard from afar, and belated travelers believed that they saw legions of phantoms come out of the earth. The very trees, in their eyes, took shapes which caused fear. They saw fiery eyes glow in the bushes, and the frogs of the marshes seemed to repeat, in hoarse tones, the mysterious words of the Sabbath. It was the magnetism of hallucination, and the contagion of madness.
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This seems to be the passage referred to in Stephenson's PMG article, but unless "a linen cloth which was spun by a prostitute" is some sort of coded reference, I don't see a reference to the key ingredient which ties this rite to the Whitechapel murders. Stephenson seems to have been working from memory when he wrote his article since he got some of the details wrong. Frankly, after someone had done all of these things, I would think Satan would be embarrassed to be seen with him.
The Word (New York), Volume 24, December, 1916, Pages 183-185
It is essential afterward:
Firstly, to profane the ceremonies of the worship in which we believe, and to tread under foot the most sacred symbols.
Secondly, to make a bloody sacrifice.
Thirdly, to procure the magic fork. This is a branch of a single shoot of the hazel-nut tree or almond tree, which must be severed by one cut of a knife which shall have served at the sacrifice. This small wand should terminate in a fork. It is necessary to plate this wooden fork with an iron or steel fork made from the very blade of the knife which severed it.
It is necessary to fast fifteen days, making but one repast after sunset, without salt. This repast should be of black bread and blood, seasoned with spices, without salt, or black beans, and with milky and narcotic herbs. Also, every five days to be intoxicated after the sun goes down, on wine, in which for five hours five heads of poppies and five ounces of triturated hemp-seed are infused. The whole contained in a linen cloth which was spun by a prostitute. (Strictly speaking, the first cloth at hand will answer, if it was spun by a woman.)
The evocations can take place either on the night of Monday or Tuesday, or on that of Wednesday or Saturday.
It is necessary to choose a solitary place with a bad reputation, such as a cemetery haunted by evil spirits, a ruin that is feared in the country, the cellar of an abandoned convent, the place where murder has been committed, a Druid altar, or an ancient temple for idols.
It is necessary to provide oneself with a black robe, without seams or sleeves; with a leaden cup made under the signs of Venus and Saturn; with two candles of human fat fixed in two candlesticks of black wood cut in the form of a crescent; with two crowns of vervain; with a magic sword having a black handle; with the magic fork; with a copper vase containing the blood of the victim; with a shuttle containing perfumes which shall be of incense, camphor, aloes, ambergris, storax, incorporated and kneaded with the blood of a he-goat, of a mule and of a bat. Four nails must also be torn out of the coffin of a culprit that was executed; the head of a black cat fed on human flesh for five days; a bat drowned in blood; the horns of a goat cum quo puella concubuerit; and the skull of a parricide. All of these horrible objects being brought together, which are difficult to collect, this is the way they are disposed.
A perfect circle is to be traced with the sword, reserving, however, a break or outlet. A triangle is to be inscribed in the circle; the pentacle traced by the sword to be colored with blood; then at one of the angles of the triangle the chafing dish on three legs is to be placed, which also should have been counted among the indispensable articles. At the opposite base of the triangle, three little circles are to be made for the operator and his two assistants, and behind the operator's circle is to be traced the sign of the Labarum or the monogram of Constantine, not with the blood of the victim, but with that of the operator himself. The operator, or his acolytes, should have their feet bare and their heads covered.
The skin of the immolated victim will also be brought. This skin cut in strips, is to be placed in the circle, and will form an interior circle to be fixed at the corners with four nails of the executed person. Near the four nails, outside the circle, should be placed the cat's head, the human (or rather inhuman) skull; the goat's horns, and the bats. They should be sprinkled with a sprig of birch dipped in the blood of the victim; next a fire of alder and cypress woods is to be lighted; the two magic candles shall be placed to the right and left of the operator in the crowns of vervain. (See the figure at the commencement of this chapter.)
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Comment
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For comparison, here's the same passage in a translation published in 1886, which seems to be the one referred to at the end of the PMG article.
The Mysteries of Magic: A Digest of the Writings of Eliphas Lévi (London: George Redway, 1886), link
By Éliphas Lévi, Arthur Edward Waite
Pages 160-162
It is requisite afterwards:—-Firstly, to profane the ceremonies of the religion one belongs to and trample its holiest symbols under foot; secondly, to make a bloody sacrifice; thirdly, to procure the magic fork. This is a branch of a single beam of hazel or almond, which must be cut at a single stroke with the new knife used in the sacrifice; the rod must terminate in a fork which must be bound with iron or with steel made from the same knife that it has been cut with. A fifteen days fast must be observed, taking only one meal without salt after sundown; this repast must be made off black bread and blood seasoned with unsalted spices, or off black beans, and milky, narcotic herbs; every five days, after sunset, one must get drunk on wine in which five heads of black poppies and five ounces of bruised hemp have been steeped, the whole being contained in a cloth woven by a prostitute, or, strictly, the first cloth at hand may be used, if woven by a woman. The evocation may be performed either during the night between Monday and Tuesday or that between Friday and Saturday. A solitary and prohibited place must be chosen, such as a cemetery haunted by evil spirits, an avoided ruin in the country, the vault of an abandoned convent, the spot where an assassination has been perpetrated, a druidic altar, or a former temple of idols. A black robe without seams or sleeves must be provided, a leaden cap blazoned with the signs of the Moon, Venus, and Saturn, two candles of human fat set in crescent-shaped candlesticks of black wood, a magic sword with a black handle, the magic fork, a copper vase holding the blood of the victim, a censer containing incense, camphor, aloes, ambergris, and storax, mixed and moistened with the blood of a goat, a mole, and a bat; four nails torn from the coffin of an executed criminal, the head of a black cat which has been fed on human flesh for five days, a bat drowned in blood, the horns of a goat cum quo puella concubuerit, and the skull of a parricide, are also indispensable. All these horrible and with difficulty collected objects being obtained, they must be arranged as follows:— A perfect circle must be traced with the sword, an opening or way out being, however, left; in the circle a triangle must be inscribed, and the pantacle thus traced by the sword must be dyed with blood ; then, at one of the angles of the triangle the three-footed chafing-dish must be placed, which should also have been mentioned among the indispensable objects; at the opposite base of the triangle three small circles must be made for the operator and his assistants, and behind the circle of the former, not with the blood of the victim but with the operator's own blood, there must be traced the sign of the labarum or the monogram of Constantine. The operator or his acolytes should have naked feet and covered heads. The skin of the immolated victim must have also been brought, and, cut up into strips, must be placed within the circle forming an inner circle fastened at four corners with the four nails already spoken of. Near these nails, but without the circle, must be placed the cat's head, the human, or rather the inhuman skull, the goat's horns, and the bat; they must be aspersed with a branch of birch dipped in the victim's blood, then a fire of cypress and alder wood must be lighted, and the two magic candles placed on the right and left of the operator circled with vervain wreaths
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A link to the passage in an 1861 French edition.
Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie, Volume 1 (Paris: Germer Balliere, 1861), link
by Éliphas Lévi
Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie, Volume 2 (Paris: Germer Balliere, 1861), link
by Éliphas Lévi
Pages 227-228
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