At set of sun, at midnight, in twilight of dawn and eve, the legions of evil were abroad on their mission of terror. Under the influence of this belief the world became to the mind and imagination of man a place of dread. So widespread, so intense was the belief in the Powers of Evil that it may truly be said the Devil reigned supreme, if the strength and fervor of a universal fear be weighed against the weak and wavering manifestations of love and goodwill, peace and charity enjoined by religion in the worship of God. To gain limitless power over god, demon and man for personal aggrandizement and glorification to cheat, trick and mock to gratify base appetites to aid religious bigotry and jealousies to satisfy private and public enmities to further political intrigue to encompass disease, calamity and death-these were the ends and aims of Black Magic and its followers. In Black Magic human perversity found the means of ministering to its most terrible demands and the possible attainment of its darkest imaginings. The south of France next became a hotbed of sorcery, whence it branched northwards to Paris and the countries and islands beyond, southward to Italy, finally extending into the Tyrol and Germany. Spain is said to have excelled all in infamy, to have plumbed the depths of the abyss.

Some historians have tried to trace the areas in Europe most affected by these devilish practices. This art and its attendant practices can be traced from the time of the ancient Egyptians and Persians, from the Greeks and Hebrews to the period when it reached its apogee in the Middle Ages, thus forming an unbroken chain for in mediaeval magic may be found the perpetuation of the popular rites of paganism-the ancient gods had become devils, their mysteries orgies, their worship sorcery. Black Magic as practiced in mediaeval times may be defined as the use of supernatural knowledge for the purposes of evil, the invocation of diabolic and infernal powers that they may become the slaves and emissaries of man's will in short, a perversion of legitimate mystic science.

Secret teachings of black magic pdf