Harvest Home

Satanism

Religious Satanism -Its Organizations:

Modern Satanism really begins with Anton Szandor LaVey (b. 1930). On Apri130, 1966 he created the Church of Satan. Anton drew on his previous experience as a lion tamer and side show barker, and on his readings into psychology, magick etc, and wrote the Satanic Bible in 1969. This was followed by Satanic Witch (1970) and The Satanic Rituals (1972). These are essentially the only available books which accurately describe Satanism. Books written by non-Satanic authors are plentiful, but are usually filled with misinformation.

In 1975, one of LaVey's followers, Michael Aquino left the Church after a disagreement, and organized the Temple of Set. This form of religious Satanism is devoted to the worship of a pre-Satanic deity, the Egyptian God Set. There are probably about 3,000 religious Satanists in North America; almost all are affiliated in fact or belief with the Church of Satan.

Religious Satanism -Its Beliefs and Practices:

At the core of La Vey's teachings are the nine Satanic Statements. In abridged form, they state that Satan represents:
1. indulgence, not abstinence
2. vital existence, not spiritual pipe dreams,
3. undefiled wisdom, not hypocritical self-deceit
4. kindness to those deserving of it, not love wasted on ingrates 5. vengeance, not turning the other cheek
6. responsibility to the responsible, instead of concern for psychic vampires 7. man as just another animal -the most vicious of all 8. gratification of all ones desires
9. the best friend that the Christian Church has had as he has kept it in business for centuries
La V ey's theology contain the following concepts:
     - People have created Gods in many forms; pick one that might be useful to you.
     - Heaven and hell do not exist.
     - Satan is unrelated to the modern (post 1400 AD) concept of the Christian devil. They look upon him as a God who                      represents the carnal, earthly, and mundane aspects of life. D Satan is not a being; he is a force of nature.
     - Ritual killing ( of humans or animals) are not allowed. Blood drawn from a victim is useless. Victims are killed symbolically             not actually.
     - Human life is held in sacred regard.
     - The highest of all Satanic holidays is the birthday of the Satanist. Of less importance are
     - Walpurgusnacht (evening of April 30) and Halloween (evening of October 31),
     - Solstices in June and December,
     - Equinoxes in March and September,
     - Satanic Revels are held five to six weeks after each equinox and solstice
     - Black Masses (parodies of the Roman Catholic religious service) are not performed by Satanists ( except perhaps for                  entertainment or publicity value )

La V ey's rituals and ceremonies contain the following concepts:

     - Names used include Satan, Lucifer, Belial and Leviathan.
     - Ceremonies are pageants which are used to celebrate a person or element of faith.
     - Magick rituals consist of three types:
               1. Sex magic (includes masturbation),
               2. Healing or happiness ritual, and
               3. Destruction ritual (may include sticking pins in a doll; drawing a picture or writing a description of the victims death;                       delivering a soliloquy, etc). Destruction rituals are best performed by a group.
     - Male Satanists wear full length black robes, with or without a hood.
     - Young women wear sexually suggestive clothing; older women wear all black.
     - All Satanists wear amulets with the symbol of Baphomet, described above
     - Altar: When the Satanic Bible was written (1969) a nude woman was customarily used as an altar, since Satanism is                    regarded as a religion of the flesh, not of the spirit. She reclined on an altar which was trapezoidal in shape, about 1 m high        and 2 m long and placed against the West wall of the room. Her head pointed South. A live altar is now rarely used.
     - One white candle is placed to the right of the altar; it symbolizes the belief of Satanists in the hypocrisy of "White Magicians"         and Wiccans because of the latter's insistence to do no harm to others. At least one black candle, representing the Powers         of Darkness, is placed to the left of the altar .Additional black candles are oriented as needed to provide sufficient                       illumination.

The following tools are used:

     - A bell is rung nine times at the beginning and end of the ritual; the Satanic priest rotates counter-clockwise as he rings the          bell
     - A chalice is ideally made of silver; it may not be formed of gold because that is a metal that Wiccans use, and Satanists              want do distance themselves as much as possible from Wicca.
     - Other ritual tools include a gong, sword, elixir (usually wine), phallus, and parchment. They and the chalice and bell are               placed on a small table near the alter.
     - The language used during magical ritual is Enochian, whose words variously sounds similar to Arabic, Hebrew or Latin. It is         of ancient and unknown origin.

Page [1] [2] [3] [4]

[Home] [Book of Shadows] [Sabbats] [World Religions] [Library] [Astrology] [Esbats] [The Tarot] [Links] [Webweaving] [The Wiccan Rede]