In 1787, she purchased the Élysée Palace from Louis XVI and had a hamlet constructed there; inspired by the Hameau de Chantilly at the Château de Chantilly. She became interested in the occult, studying the supernatural arts of chiromancy, astrology, dream interpretation, and animal magnetism. Her "salon" was renowned throughout Europe for its liberty of thought and the brilliant wits who frequented it. Bathilde was the Grand Mistress of the French Masonic Lodge of Adoption, in parallel to her brother Philippe being the Grand Master of the male Freemasons in France.