MISTER MYSTERY RESPONDS

“The Order of the Temple of the Rose and the Cross", founded by Josephin Peladan by inspiration of the Green Fairy, was just one of the numerous occultist Orders that proliferated at the end of the 19th century. Its members practiced Occultism, which mean that they had to be hidden for many hours, crouched behind a door, waiting for some unwary chap to come out, then jumping on him and tattooing on his chest the symbol of the Order (in this case, a rose and a cross). From that moment, he was "ordered", which implied seeming circumspect, stop eating meat and stop participating in mundane entertainments such as sack races, boules, dances and backflips. Nor could he wear garments of flashy colors that would draw attention to him, since the whole thing consisted of going unnoticed, which the occultists also achieved by walking stooped, on tiptoe and with their faces covered by a mask. When Josephin Peladan captured Eric Satie for his Order, the young pianist had begun to de...

Eric Satie, the pianist of the cabaret "Le Chat Noir" (The Black Cat), would eventually become one of the most exquisite composers of the French “Fin de Siècle”. But at the beginning, his piano technique was so scanty, and his shyness so great, that he restricted himself to pressing the same key for an entire evening. This exasperated the bourgeois clients, but delighted the artists because, combined with the ingestion of absinthe, it made them enter a kind of hypnotic trance. During an evening at Le Chat Noir, the painter and artists' model Suzanne Valadon fell into a deep hypnotic trance triggered by Satie's music. When at dawn Satie returned home, he received the unexpected visit of Suzanne who, to his amazement, fell into his arms. It’s thought that this was the first and last love affair of Satie, who maintained his whole life an almost supernatural love for Suzanne. This was the most pleasing incident that his minimalist music caused to the shy pianist and comp...