It has been a long time since I wrote something Outlander related. I had a lot of traveling to do at the end of last year, and I was hoping to upgrade my whole blog (that did not go well), which delayed me in writing the first few weeks of this year. I have decided to finish reading the Lord John series. Of course, there is no much to write about them, but they are well-written with lots of historical details. They would not allow you to fall asleep while reading them. I still have to write a post about Voyager, too.
While reading “Lord John and the Hellfire Club,” the thought about Les Disciples du Mal mentioned in Dragonfly in Amber came to my mind. Of course, Les Disciples were creating havoc in the streets of Paris with their initiation rites. Similarly, the Hellfire Club has an initiation rite of Satanist nature. Lord John describes the rite as a parody of the mass. During the ceremony, members are robed like monks (32-33). George Everett mentions that the final stages of the ritual involve having sex with a victim, who will eventually get sacrificed (36). The Hellfire Club accepts any type of abomination except same-sex orientation (37).
Something that I have noticed about these societies is that their members are male and belong to the nobility. As a result, I am planning to buy myself the following book since I have the feeling that Lord John would always encounter groups of this nature because of his same-sex preferences and the status he holds in society:
The Hellfire Club by Daniel P. Mannix
Not all secret societies were composed of nobles or people with means. The following article includes a list of some that were or are still active in North America: Secret Societies. TheMolly Maguires attracted me the most. The group was composed of Irish immigrants who were involved in ganglike activities.