Open ArcanaARCANA APERTA

DISC-0046 / ITEM-0023

Palladian rite (alleged Luciferian high degrees)

Freemasonry · Worldwide

Disclosure date
1892
Date precision
Year
Disclosure method
Exposure publication
Extent
Partial
Record review
Reviewed

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Restricted material and access

A Luciferian rite said by the literature of the Taxil hoax (1892–1897) to stand above all Masonic rites and to be directed from Charleston.

Material type
Initiatory rite
Restricted to
Alleged: selected high-degree Masons and women initiates
Restriction mechanism
unknown
Stated reason
None recorded: the rite is attested only in hoax literature
Tradition origins
c. 1717 (first grand lodge)

Recorded practice status

Unknown

Status as of
Not recorded
Status claims
Not recorded

Disclosure dates, source publication dates, tradition origins and dates of practice are separate.

What this disclosure covers

Purported organisation, history and ceremonies of Palladism

Fabricated: see SRC-0049 and CLM-0044.

The source

Le Diable au XIXe siècle (vol. 1) ↗ (SRC-0049; authenticity: Disproven)

Author
Dr Bataille (pseudonym of Charles Hacks, with Léo Taxil)
Original publication
1892
Linked edition
Not recorded
Format
Book
Provenance
published_exposure
Rights of source work
Public domain
Identifiers
ia:hacks-1892-dia-xixe-vol.-1
Source content hash
Not recorded

Its organiser, Léo Taxil, publicly declared the Palladism and Diana Vaughan revelations a hoax on 19 April 1897 (SRC-0051). Before that, Waite (SRC-0050, ch. XII) showed that the Masonic bodies and people Bataille claimed to have met at Singapore did not exist at the time.

Issued in parts 1892–1894; two volumes. The best-known source of the claim that Freemasonry hides a Luciferian rite.

Claims about this item

These claims may cite other sources for the same restricted item. Supporting and contradicting evidence remain separate.

CLM-0044 · Historical practice

A Luciferian rite, Palladism, worshipped Satan in the back-lodges of a special rite superimposed on all the Masonic rites, and was founded at Charleston, where Albert Pike laid its foundations and a Masonic Luciferian pontiff was created.

Claim support
Contradicted
Record review
Reviewed
Period
from 1870 (as alleged)
Locators
SRC-0049: vol. 1, pp. 346–347; SRC-0050: ch. XII; SRC-0051: whole report
Sources counted as independent
Not recorded

Supporting sources

Contradicting sources

Checked against the Internet Archive text of Bataille, the Project Gutenberg text of Waite and the Papers Past report on 2026-11-04. Taxil, the hoax's organiser, publicly declared it invented in April 1897; Waite had already shown that Bataille's Singapore and Calcutta accounts described lodges and people that did not exist. The two contradicting sources are independent.

  • SRC-0049: Source authenticity is disproven; this is separate from the truth of its assertions.
  • SRC-0049: No source-level content_hash is recorded; linked artifact hashes may identify excerpts, derivatives or metadata instead.
  • SRC-0050: Source authenticity is unassessed; this is separate from the truth of its assertions.
  • SRC-0050: No source-level content_hash is recorded; linked artifact hashes may identify excerpts, derivatives or metadata instead.
  • SRC-0051: Source authenticity is unassessed; this is separate from the truth of its assertions.
  • SRC-0051: No source-level content_hash is recorded; linked artifact hashes may identify excerpts, derivatives or metadata instead.
  • CLM-0044: Claim support is contradicted; retain that qualification when quoting or training.

Evidence qualifications

Reviewed means checked against a source. It does not establish source authenticity, independent corroboration or present-day practice.

Item notes

Kept as a record of a fabrication. Léo Taxil publicly admitted in April 1897 that the material was invented (CLM-0044).